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#it’s mad. we got one day of snow this winter. and it was washed away the next day by rain
idlestxrs · 8 months
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Alone in winter | Geto Suguru x gn!reader
Summary: After Geto's spiral into madness, Gojo began to grow more cold towards you every passing hour. Your once happy trio is beginning to feel more and more like...just yourself. That is until one snowy evening, a familiar face lights a fire in your heart you never realized you had before. Genre: friends to lovers, angst to mild fluff Notes: Inspired by (G)I-DLE's song "Hann (Alone in winter)"
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"Satoru?" You looked up at him as he stared off into the night, sitting on the balcony of the apartment you both shared. He simply turned to look at you, not making a sound. "I'm glad you're still here with me." You spoke softly to him. The only sounds that could be heard were that of the cold wind of the winter blowing softly in the night. He nodded his head at your comment and went back to spacing out. Ever since Suguru had gone off the deep end, nothing had been the same. Especially not with Satoru Gojo. He mentally blamed you for not being able to save Geto from himself, however deep inside Gojo knew you he was more guilty than you ever would be. He had been the one to lash out at Geto after getting frustrated with him. You'd always pull Geto aside to comfort him when his mind became troubled and actually listened to him, as opposed to Gojo's one track mind of trying to get him back on track to becoming the strongest sorcerers in history. Gojo wanted to say you enabled Geto's thoughts by consoling him when they'd get bad, but in reality Gojo was just bitter he hadn't been as good of a friend to him before he eventually spiraled the same way you had. Now he was pushing you away too. He'd rather forget about Geto all together and carry on, and you were a constant reminder of the missing piece of what used to be a perfect trio. Three best friends, all broken in one way or another by a world that failed them all. The colder Gojo got, the closer you felt like wanting to run away too in hopes of finding Geto. If you did find him, would he kill you? You really didn't care. Everything around you felt like it was crumbling into into pieces. Gojo was going to lose you too if he didn't get his act together, but you never had the nerve to say anything to him. His coldness only made it harder to speak with him, someone you use to be able to tell anything. "I mean it Satoru. I'm really happy we still have each other." You repeated yourself hoping for more of a response, but he still continued to ignore you. You got up from your seat next to him and went inside. You stormed into your room and grabbed your phone before grabbing some shoes and a jacket to go outside. Sure it was late at night, and cold, but you didn't really care anymore. Staring at the stars while walking, you noticed how some twinkled brighter than others. It reminded you of yourself. You used to be one of those brighter stars, but you knew your light was beginning to fade. The cold metal bench Gojo, Geto and yourself used to sit on seemed to taunt you as you sat down on it, reminding you even more of why you were hurting so much. The bone chilling feeling didn't only come from the temperature, but from the memories that were flooding back so rapidly. Good and bad. A doleful feeling washed over you and you thought back to the day you remembered all too well. The day you witnessed Geto break. You brought your knees up to your chest and wrapped your arms around your legs, resting your head on them as you sat on the bench and cried. The wind whistled as snow began to fall from the ground. You didn't care if it was cold outside. You were used to it. Closing your eyes, you pictured a time when you were happier in your head as the chilling wind blew your hair around. Suddenly, footsteps began to approach the bench and you felt that someone had sat down next to you. As you opened your eyes, you almost couldn't believe them. Did you just fall too far into a daydream or what?
"Long time no see, Y/N." The man spoke. His voice was a bit raspy from the cold, but his dark eyes and long black hair were unmistakable. "Is it really you?" A desperate tone echoed through your words. "Would I be sitting next to you so closely if it wasn't?" Geto chuckled. His voice sounded like pure honey. You stood up off the bench and he did the same. He pulled you into a hug. "What are you doing out here all alone?" He lowered his voice. He was still on the run after all and he would never risk getting you put in harms way. Ever since he left Jujutsu society a year ago and became who he was now, he never showed up much. There were times you swore you saw him in public, but this was the first time actually seeing him. You cried into his arms. Everything had been so hard without him. You hated him for what he'd done, but it was merely a hate for his actions. You could never hate him. As you both pulled away from the hug, Geto sat back down on the bench and gave you a warm, inviting smile. You laid down on the bench so that your head was in his lap. He looked down at you and you looked up at him, both smiling at each other. After talking to each other for hours about life on the bench, catching up with one another, he noticed the feint light of the sun. "Want me to walk you home?" He offered. He knew the dangers that would follow if he was spotted, but he didn't care. He'd die for you if he had to. Overtime he realized the feelings he had for you too, yet neither of you had mentioned them yet. "No." You spoke with a smile on your face. "You can take me anywhere, just not home." Your words threw him for a loop. "What exactly do you mean, Y/N?" He thought he knew what you meant, but he had to make sure he wasn't assuming things. "I want to go with you." You said bluntly. Selfishly he wanted to tell you to come along, but he knew for your safety it wasn't a good idea. "As much as I'd love that, you can't. The higher-ups will start hunting you down if they catch wind you ran off with me. I can't let you put yourself in harms way for me." He hugged you tightly and a tear fell down his cheek. He didn't want to let you go, but he had to. "I don't care. I can protect myself, and you. Just like I know you can protect yourself, and me." He heard the determination in your voice. It sounded to him like you had already made this decision a long time ago. You were just waiting to find him again. "But what about Satoru?" He posed another question he thought would challenge you. Instead, it pushed a button he had no idea was there. "I don't care about him anymore. I tried to be there for him but he ignored me. He doesn't care about me either. Trust me. I did my best, but it wasn't enough for him. Ever." You snapped. Geto looked shocked, but ultimately, tried to be understanding. "Well. There's no talking you out of this, huh?" He chuckled. "Then come on. Let's get going before the sun comes up." He placed a kiss on your cheek and gave you another quick hug before leading the way. He was looking forward to living with you.
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noirsfantasy · 5 months
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On the second day of Christmas…
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𝔖𝔭𝔦𝔩𝔩𝔢𝔡 𝔇𝔢𝔩𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔰
𝔭𝔞𝔦𝔯𝔦𝔫𝔤 ➛ Lakeith Stanfield x Black!Fem Reader
type ➛ Fluff
𝔴𝔬𝔯𝔡 𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱 ➛ 901
𝔰𝔶𝔫𝔬𝔭𝔰𝔦𝔰 ➛ You’re at your favorite café, drinking your favorite drink, during your favorite season. It can’t get any better than that, can it? The answer is yes, it can. You spot an handsome man sitting near you and, deciding to try your luck, approach. Unfortunately, before you can even get a word out, you spill your drink on him. Although, instead of him getting mad, it gives you both the opportunity to get to know each other!
𝔞/𝔫 ➛ I love cute little short stories like this. I might add another part sometime, but idk yet. But until then, enjoy!
12 Days of Christmas Masterlist
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Cozy Christmas tunes play softly in the background as I sit at a small table by the window at my favorite café, sipping on a steaming cup of hot chocolate. The air outside is crisp with a light dusting of snow, and the café is adorned with twinkling lights and festive decorations.
My fingers trace the rim of my cup as I notice a handsome man sitting at the table across from me. Something about him catches my attention, he has a mysterious aura that I'm drawn to. Although, I don't make a move. I just keep to myself, sipping gingerly from my mug. The man is staring out the window, absorbed by the winter scene outside. He's got a cup of his own, untouched as if he'd forgotten about it.
I don't realize that I've been staring until our eyes meet and I quickly look away, glancing around the cafe in search of something else to look at. However, I find my eyes wandering back to his.
As if there were some gravitational pull between us, I muster up the courage to walk up to his table and strike up a conversation. But it seems that fate has other plans.
"Hey, I-" Before I can even get the words out of my mouth, I clumsily fall foward, spilling his drink and mine. The man jumps up out of his seat as the hot liquid spills onto his sweater and pants.
"Oh my God! I am so sorry! I really didn't mean to," I stammer, my cheeks flushing with embarrassment as I rush to get napkins. He doesn't seem to have that much of a reaction, but I keep apologizing.
"I'll pay for the dry cleaning. I'm really sorry!" I hand him the napkins and he cracks a smile. He then breaks into a warm chuckle, genuinely amused by the entire situation.
"It's fine, really," He assures me with a warm smile. "Accidents happen and I've had worse days." He says as he attempts to dry his clothes with the napkins. I bite my lip, still heavily embarrassed by my actions.
"Well, at least let me get you a new drink." My request is met with the man shaking his head once more.
"No, I insist, let me get you a drink, miss..." He pauses, not knowing what to call me.
"Oh, where are my manners. My name is Y/N." I introduce myself, holding my hand out. He puts the wet napkins onto the table and wipes his hand before shaking mine.
"Lakeith," He flashes me another smile. "Wait here, I'll be right back." He doesn't wait for my response before heading to order us new drinks. I take that time to grab a couple more napkins and wipe the rest of the mess off of the table he was sitting at.
When Lakeith comes back to the table after ordering, a wave of relief washes over me. He laughs as I apologize once more, his reassurance and easygoing nature making me chuckle as well. We sit across from each other, the initial awkwardness now replaced with shared laughter. It's not long before our fresh cups of hot chocolate are brought to our table.
"I'll make sure these ones come with extra caution," he says with a playful grin on his face. I giggle at the remark.
"Maybe I should drink mine with a lid to be safe," I reply as I gently take a sip from my mug.
"So, Y/N, you come here often?" He questions, causing me to choke back a laugh at the corny line. I place my mug back on the coaster and reply.
"I come here every once in a while. It's really nice this time of the year, yknow? A nice cup of hot coco on a snowy day like this." Lakeith's gaze shifts to the snowy scene outside.
"I can agree. Honestly, I like to sit here and observe people. It's nice to see the city come alive with the holidays." His eyes light up as he speaks. I nod in agreement.
"Absolutely, it's a beautiful sight. I feel like magical things happen this time of year." I admit, blushing softly. Lakeith gazes at me, a warm smile on his face. He looks down at his mug and lifts it up, holding it out towards me.
"To unexpected encounters... and the magic of the season."
I smile, clinking my cup against his, "To spilled drinks and cute strangers." My response has a bit of a flirty undertone and we both share a grin as we sip from our cups. The conversation flows effortlessly as we learn more about each other. It seems as if Lakeith and I are the only ones in the room right now. It's refreshing to be able to connect with someone who I just met and I'm eager to know more.
As we continue talking, the ambiance of the café seems to fade into the background, leaving just Lakeith and me in our little bubble of warmth and laughter. The hum of Christmas tunes and chatter dampens around us as our conversation deepens. I was right in my earlier statement. The magic of Christmas wraps around us like a comforting embrace, and in this fleeting moment, I realize that sometimes, spilled drinks and chance encounters can lead to something far more enchanting than we could have ever imagined.
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safethaw · 2 months
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Roof Ice Dams: Causes And Cures.
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Let's face it: Winter can be a love-hate affair. As much as we adore the snow-capped sceneries and icicle bling, there's that annoying guest that tends to overstay its welcome—ice dams on roofs. So, why do they crash our winter party, and how do we kindly (or not-so-kindly) show them the door? Grab your cocoa; it's storytime. Behind The Ice Curtain: The Birth Of Ice Dams On Roofs First things first, let's get to know our frosty foe a bit better. Ice dams on roofs aren't just Mother Nature having a cheeky laugh at our expense; there's a method in this icy madness. Picture this scenario: It's a bone-chilling day outside, and your roof is all snug under a blanket of snow. Inside, though, it's toasty warm, thanks to that heating you've got cranked up. Now, this warmth sneaks up to the roof, making the snow's underbelly melt. This mischief water tiptoes down the roof, but as it hits the colder edges—boom! It freezes, setting the stage for our infamous ice dam. Now, any meltwater coming behind it gets trapped, and before you know it, you're looking at potential leaks and water damage. Talk about a party crasher! The Salty Mess: How To Get Rid Of Ice Dams? So, you're thinking, "I'll just toss some salt up there or get those chemical deicers." Hold up! Time for a reality check. While salt may be the darling of our kitchen, it's the nemesis of our roofs. Continual use can eat away at metal gutters, and downspouts, and don't even get me started on what it does to plants when it washes off. And those chemical concoctions? They're like that friend who seems sweet but gossips behind your back, slowly ruining the health of your roof tiles. Enter The Hero: Safe Thaw How about a solution that's kind to both your roof and Mother Earth? Meet Safe Thaw. Here's why it's the toast of the town: - Clean and Green: Forget chlorides or toxins. Safe Thaw’s got none of that nasty stuff. It’s like giving your roof a green smoothie instead of junk food. - Runs a Marathon, Not a Sprint: With Safe Thaw, it's not just about today. Its concentrated formula promises to have your back, snowstorm after snowstorm. - Safety First: Worried about your rooftop equipment or any other machinery? Relax, kick back. Safe Thaw's non-corrosive formula means no rust, no damage, and definitely no electrifying surprises. - A Cut Above: Safe Thaw isn't your average Joe. It's a blend of pure genius, combining a crystalline amide core with a nifty glycol twist. Stay One Step Ahead Sure, Safe Thaw is great for damage control, but what about preventing the icy invasion from the get-go? A couple of pointers: - Up Your Insulation Game: A well-insulated attic is like a warm hat for your house—keeps the heat where it belongs. - Vent, Vent, Vent: A breezy attic can stop that snow from melting too fast and going rogue. - Keep an Eye Out: After a snow party outside, check for any budding ice dams. To Sum It Up... Winters should be all about snowball fights and cozy firesides, not roofing headaches. Armed with a sprinkle of knowledge, a dash of prevention, and our trusty sidekick Safe Thaw, those pesky ice dams better watch out! Stay warm and dry, folks! Read the full article
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Hearth
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(dabi) t.todoroki / reader
genre: prohero!touya, fluff
warning(s)!!: cursing ofc, dabi's atittude/snark, he's still dabi- just not a villain lol, he doesn't have his burns just his piercings, bloody piercings/lip
synposis: touya comes home with a bloody lip and three missing nose piercings, you get the honor of cleaning him up and getting him to bed for a well-deserved rest
w.count: 2.4k (probably the shortest thing i've written in years and no that's not a joke)
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“Shit, that stings,” Touya hissed to himself as he felt around the bloody and bruised right nostril of his nose where three small piercings should have been. He hissed as he quickly took his fingers away from the small holes missing their jewelry. “I can’t wear nothing around here, damn.”
The commotion around him was hardly his focus when his nose stung so much, not even his split lip bothered him when he licked over it- too focused on his poor nose. It was pitiful really, getting into a scrap with a low-level thug trying to run off with a duffel full of loose bills from some random convenient store. He was fine overall, not being too unfamiliar with fistfights without having to use his quirk, but the thug sure did a number on him when he grabbed at his face- probably aiming to yank on his hair, but falling short- and somehow ripping all three of his studs from his nose.
Blood dripped in small drops off the side of his nostril and from inside his nose, creating a slow stream to his top lip which entered his mouth- filling it with the metallic taste of his blood. His pierced tongue’s metal bar tasted nothing like the iron of blood and he shook his head in distaste.
He sniffed and palmed gently at his minor wound before the cops showed up and wrapped up the situation. They offered to have his injuries cleaned up at the station- but he was so close to being finished with patrol and heading back home he didn’t bother. It wasn’t like he was in any sort of critical pain, he just wanted to rip his nose off.
His patrolling went smoothly after that, the small scuffle being the highlight of his evening and as he walked, bored back to the agency he was working at with his father (begrudgingly), he changed and slung his duffel with his gear and suit inside over his shoulder. He’d leave all this stuff in the changing room locker with his name on it and a secure lock- but you had insisted he bring it home tonight so it all could be tuned up and cleaned properly. You were a stickler about that.
Touya damn near broke into a run, mad-dashing it to the door, when he heard his father behind him call out his name when he was so, so close to the agency doors. As far as he was concerned, he was done for the day.
D o n e.
Endeavor could suck it.
He wasn’t sure how far he ran before he deemed it safe enough to slow his strides, but then the chills set it. He wasn’t cold- even if it was the middle of winter- all thanks to the cold resistance he inherited from his mother winter wasn't really ever that cold to him. If anything the sweater and joggers he wore were almost too warm with his swift escape from work.
He stopped at the corner of the sidewalk, waiting for the traffic lights to signal he could safely cross the road and have the right to sue if someone were to hit him, and looked up at the grey clouds. It looked like it was due to snow again and he chuckled to himself at mentally picturing you shiver just at the mere thought of more snow. Lowing his chin back down to look ahead, his pace quickened, already more than ready to be home.
“Hey, babe! I’m back!” Touya called into the house. The difference in temperature made him shiver- even if again, he wasn’t truly cold in the first place. Heeling off his shoes and setting them on the shoe rack, he walked inside.
“I’m in the kitchen!” You called back. He chuckled to himself as he walked into the living room first, dropping off his hero-filled duffle on the couch, and then swiveled on his heel to head into the kitchen. As he passed under the doorway, he grabbed the bottom of his sweater, pulling it up over his head and completely off as it rested on his forearms- shaking out his white hair.
You looked over your shoulder at the movement and immediately went back to whatever it was you were doing. Shaking your head in small shakes with a quiet sigh.
“Do you really need to undress in the kitchen?”
“What?” He smirked, tossing the sweater on a barstool as he basically pranced his way to your side, slinging one arm around your waist loosely with the other coming to mess with the soapy water you were currently washing dishes in. He picked up a finger-load of suds and flicked them at you, making you try and crush his toes under your heels- to which you failed. “It’s hot in here.”
“That is probably the lamest excuse you've ever used to strip,” you teased as you kept doing your thing. Looking around the counter, he saw take-out containers. Before he could question them, you started talking again. “I really didn’t want to cook today, so I ordered in. I hope that's fine.” Touya shrugged.
He wouldn't want to come home after a day of work and cook either, so it worked for him.
Detaching from you, he danced over to the containers he knew were his and took them to the island where he slid into the barstool his sweater was on and sat down on it. As you finished up, you turned to finally take a proper look at your boyfriend after his day. Your eyebrows furrowed as your eyes narrowed.
Was that dried blood under his nose? And was his lip split?
“Touya?”
“Whuat,” he muttered with a trail of noodles hanging from his lips between chopsticks, muffling his voice. Ever the mannerless fool.
“Do we wanna talk about the blood on your face?”
He swallowed his bite as he started scrapping around for more noodles and fewer vegetables in his container. “No, not really.”
You rolled your eyes as you left the kitchen and him to his food. Digging around in the bathroom, you tossed a few things in a small basket and went back to the kitchen where he had successfully separated all his greens from his food and set them aside. You sat on the stool next to him as he finished.
“You know it’s not good for you if you don’t eat your vegetables.”
“Oh, boo-hoo. I ain’t eatin’ ‘em.” You spun to face him as you grabbed his knee and spun his stool to face you in turn. In your basket of bathroom items were things to clean up his face.
You took his chin in your hand and twisted his jaw back and forth to look for any other injuries. “I ain’t all that banged up. Just this,” he told you with a huff. Looking at his chest and shoulders and stomach- it seemed he was telling the truth. There were no other injuries.
You would hate to see the poor guy he got into it with if all Touya had was a split lip and... all three missing piercings? You hadn't actually noticed his piercings were completely gone.
“How in the world did you lose your piercings?”
“Some prick tore them out. Got pretty into it with ‘em over it.”
“Of course you did,” you rolled your eyes again as you emptied your basket and grabbed a cotton ball between the prongs of a pair of tweezers, and coated it in saline. “Look down,” you told him as his chin dipped to your instruction and you began to clean his piercing holes. You saw his lips twitch in a silent hiss as you cleaned them as gently as possible.
Touya didn’t move from your touch at all aside from a wince here or there. When you pulled back to clean the blood on his lip and skin, he kept as still as he could as he just looked down at you. Watching you work with your eyes focused and brows pulled in concentration always made him want to laugh at how cute you looked. You were a wonder to him.
A wonder on how he managed to snag you as his own.
When you finished, you were throwing your stuff back into the basket to take back into the bathroom when you felt a weight on your shoulder. Glancing without moving your head, you caught in the corner of your vision Touya’s nest of white hair brushing your cheek and chin. His forehead rested on your shoulder as you relaxed, your boney shoulder couldn’t be comfortable to lay on.
“You’ll want to leave any new piercing out of your nose for a bit.”
“Hmm,” he gave you a small hum, but you weren’t sure if he actually heard you or was just responding to respond. He had a bad habit of hearing but not exactly listening.
Moving your head as slowly as possible to not disturb whatever moment he was trying to create with you, you saw the digital numbers on the stove showing close to midnight. While it was rare to get a quiet and soft moment with Touya, you knew he couldn’t sit with his ass on a barstool and his head on your shoulder all night. He had to shower and get changed for bed where he can sleep on a comfortable mattress.
You rotated your arm causing his forehead to push further into you, sliding to where it rested against your neck, and his cheek pushed into your shoulder instead. You reached around and rubbed his back to which he hummed at- pleased with the touch. His skin was always so warm, it almost made you envious with each shiver you would get from the chilled winter air.
“Touya,” you softly called to not drill a nail into the peace of the kitchen. He said nothing. He didn’t even hum at you, but you knew he was listening. “We have to get up. You need a shower and sleep.”
“Can’t we stay like this a while longer?” You almost gave in but looked at the clock again. As far as you knew, he had to go back to work tomorrow so he needed to get into bed asap. It pulled at your heart, but you couldn't let him stay up any later than necessary.
“No, we can’t,” you let him down easily with a soft voice and with your hand still trailing up and down along his spine. “Come on,” you shrug, “up.”
He groaned as he sat up and slid from his stool, you doing the same as you grabbed your basket of things to put back in the bathroom. Touya followed you as he rubbed at his neck and silently let out a yawn he tried hiding from you just so he couldn’t avoid admitting you were right and that he needed to go to sleep.
As you were putting things back where they belonged, Dabi had opened the door of the wide, standing, glass shower and turned the water on- waiting for the temperature to be perfect. He looked over his shoulder, seeing you putting back the saline behind the mirror in the medicine cabinet. He took the chance when the mirror was away from him and you to sneak up behind you, the running shower water masking his footsteps.
He slowly reached around your head, shutting the cabinet as the mirror swung back to face you, Touya behind you. He dropped his arm over your shoulder and lowered his head to kiss the back of yours, his other arm wrapping lazily over your chest.
“Shower with me,” he cooed, dying his voice in honey to get you to join him without a fight. When you agreed, the shit-eating grin he had on his stupid face made you want to pull on his bottom lip and reopen the split in it or maybe force open his mouth and rip out the bar in his tongue.
He always got what he wanted and it was so not fair.
After promising no funny business in the shower, getting out, drying off, and getting ready for bed, Touya was insistent that the thermostat be turned down to 68F which was absolutely not going to happen. That was way too cold for the middle of the night in the middle of winter! He may be a walking space heater, but you weren’t.
Except, when you crawled into bed, you puffed and pouted because of course he always got his way. The temperature in the dark house was a chilly 68F and you were bundled in blankets- sulking.
“Oh, don’t be such a baby,” he laughed as he yanked the blanket that was tucked around you away to slither his way beside you instead. As he tangled his legs with yours he was immediately pulling you closer to him by the back of your knees. One of his arms under your head to curl his wrist inward to scratch the back of your head and the other around your side to rub your back. You suddenly understood.
He just wanted to lay as close as possible to you and not verbally say it. You tried containing your small laughter at his attempt at being coy.
“What?” He groaned as he shut his eyes, trying to get sleep to come to him. You dug your face into his neck, which he happily accepted as he pushed his cheek against your forehead in return.
“Nothing,” you told him.
“Just go to sleep.”
When the next morning rolled around and Touya’s phone had begun to ring for the fourth time, you had pried his arm off you and looked over his shoulder. The screen was showing his father calling him and as you rubbed your eyes and reached over to answer it for him- since he slept like a log- your wrist was caught and you were shoved back down into his chest.
Touya, who had been awake for some time now, was well aware he was exceptionally late to the agency and no he was in no rush to get there any time soon. The old man can call all he wants- he wasn’t going in just yet. There was a reason the old man was the only member of his family to not know his address.
Endeavor can still suck it.
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a/n: for some reason the image of prohero touya coming home to just coze with his partner after another day just popped in my brain and has been relentlessly curb-stomping me into an early grave
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tomtenadia · 3 years
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A Little Braver - 24
Hello everyone! Here we are with chapter 24
It’s winter in Orynth and the guys have a busy day. Rowan and Lorcan enjoy their ride with the team and we also have some Elorcan gossip.
Rowan and Lorcan also talk and we discover something about Lyria...
Have fun!
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The following morning Aelin woke up abruptly and missed the warm body at her side and curled under the duvet in a human burrito.
“Ro?” She called with just her head peeking from under her cover.
A moment later he sat down in bed offering her a cup of coffee.
“Cold.”
He leaned over to kiss her “it snowed last night. There’s over a metre of snow outside.”
“Lovely,” she protested “heaters fires, accidents, roof collapses due to snow, slips, more road accidents, pile ups.”
“Doom and gloom this early in the morning?”
She groaned and grabbed the coffee, sitting up with still the duvet all around her “I love snow and winter, but on my day off.” She took a sip of her coffee “house fires increase wildly. All those mantlepieces not properly attended. Electrical fires because too many appliances are connected to an outlet. And let’s not forget carbon monoxide related deaths. Such a magical time.”
“We’ll build a snowman when you are off shift.”
Then he offered her a plate full of scrambled eggs and bacon.
“You definitely know how to woo a woman.” She grabbed the plate and tucked in happily.
“You and Lorcan need to stay on the truck. No matter what’s going on outside.”
Rowan nodded “we will.” And he kissed her head. He was really looking forward to ride with the team.
An hour later they were walking across the yard in front of the station when Lorcan and Elide arrived as well. Together. Hand in hand.
Aelin tugged Rowan gently and he nodded.
“Arriving together?” Joked Aelin “naughty, naughty girl.”
Elide smiled “yes, I slept at Lorcan’s. Guilty.”
“Hey, I am just happy for you two.” 
The four walked into the station and while Elide and Aelin went to get changed, the two men went to the common room where some members of the team were already there.
“The posh boys are here.” Shouted Aedion as soon as they stepped in.
Rowan bowed “indeed we are.” Then he noticed two new women and went to introduce himself “Hi, I am Rowan.”
“This is Borte, our new truck candidate,” Aedion went to the woman’s side and made the introductions “he is the captain’s flying boy,” then he pointed at Lorcan “grumpy pants over here is Lorcan. He grunts a lot but does not bite. And he’s Elide’s.”
Rowan burst out laughing.
“This young lady here is Evangeline.” And he moved to the side of the blonde-haired woman “she is our paramedic in training. She is riding with Lys and Elide.”
Rowan greeted her back and she gave him a timid smile.
Aelin arrived a moment later and went to give a kiss on the cheek of her cousin “did you remove all the snow from the entrance all alone?”
“No, he had two minions.” Said Brullo sprawled on the sofa watching tv “the man is a tyrant.”
“My arms are useless.” Complained Ress.
Aelin patted both on the shoulders “well, better get ready for a busy day. From the pile of reports I have on my desk from second shift it looks like we are in for a treat.”
“Are truck and engine all stocked up and ready?”
Aedion nodded “I did a check and we are good.”
“Lys and Elide are doing a final check on the ambulance for supplies.”
In that instant dispatch alarm went off calling all units of east station on site for a structure fire.
“Here we go guys.” They all scrambled, wore their gear and reached the trucks.
“You two, in there and stay put, ok?”
The two men nodded.
The trucks left the station and Rowan felt a thrill run through his spine.
“What’s a structure fire?”
“Bad news,” joked Brullo at Rowan’s side.
“Or usually, what we call Monday.” Added Aelin never averting the eyes from the road.
Rowan stared at Nox driving and was impressed at the skill. He navigated busy intersections with confidence.
Aelin honked the horn a few times “move, you idiots.” The traffic peeled to the side and the engine resumed its run swiftly.
Once they arrived at the site Rowan gasped. The fire had enveloped the entire house.
“That is a structure fire,” said Aelin and the team got off truck and engine and Aelin started to give orders.
“Manon, Luca, venting the back.”
“Wes you are taking second floor with me. Aedion, Kyllian, Nox, you go to the first floor. Borte you go with them and stick to Aedion. Asterin, Ansel, you do ground floor. Brullo, Ren you are at the water lines. We need to be quick.”
Both Rowan and Lorcan were watching the scene speechless.
“I know she does this on a daily basis, but seeing her jumping into a building on fire is different than just imagining it.”
Dorian arrived on the scene a moment later and got an update from Brullo and Ren who were ready with the water lines.
“Chief, captain, you have two minutes to finish primary search and rescue then you all evacuate.” He looked up at the fire and flinched “Manon, how’s that venting going?”
“Venting now, sir.”
Temporary relief washed over him when he saw Nox run out with a woman in tow.
Lorcan’s eyes set on Elide, jumping in the woman’s rescue with Lysandra.
Rowan stared as more firefighters came out with people but never Aelin. He noticed Dorian staring at the fire nervously “Evacuate now.” He ordered over the radio. The chief must have noticed a change in the fire to call for abandoning the rescue. Rowan followed in fascination trying to remember some of the thing about fire he had read in Aelin’s books.
Aelin was walking low, almost crawling looking for people hiding below the smoke “fire department call out.”
“I am all clear, we need to go.” Said Wesley at her back.
Aelin had a last look around and was about to leave the room when she heard a voice “Wes, get out. I got this.”
“Cap, we need to go. The chief ordered us to evacuate.”
“Wes, get out.” She shouted and left, running to the locked door where she heard the voice coming from.
She gave her back to the door and kicked it open. Then she turned and saw a crib and inside there was a toddler. 
“Aelin, get the hell out now.” Dorian’s voice came over the radio. She picked up the boy and squeezed him in her fire jacket and held him close for protection.
“Come on… come on…” Rowan heard Dorian’s order and his heart was racing painfully. Why wasn’t she listening?
Then he saw it the flareup in her floor and shouted “Aelin, please…”
Aelin looked around the room and realised the flashover had cut off her only exit route. Then ran to the window and with her elbow she smashed the glass all while holding the infant.
“There!” shouted someone from a lower level.
“Ress, move the aerial to her.” 
Aelin leaned over and sat astride on the window ledge.
Aedion ran up the aerial and grabbed the toddler “I got him, get your arse in here.”
She was about to fully climb over when another flashover rocked the house and Aelin got thrown off balance and grabbed the ledge with her hands and hung there.
Aedion saw her and ran back up “give me a hand.” The man grabbed a hand and pulled her over on the aerial.
“You are fucking crazy.” He told her quietly.
She followed him down and she was on the street again.
“I said evacuate.” Shouted Dorian.
“Don’t.” She bit back “I saved that boy’s life.” 
“Sit.” Dorian ordered her. Aelin removed her mask and marched off to sit against the truck, rotating her shoulders to ease the pain.
Lysandra passed her a bottle of water “are you okay?”
Aelin nodded while drinking eagerly and watching while the rest of the team put the fire out.
Rowan opened the door of the engine and went to her “you are insane. And I think I almost lost it in there.”
“I am fine.” She told him quietly extending her hand to him.
He marched back in the engine, joining Lorcan.
“Do you still think women can’t do dangerous jobs?” He bit back. A part of him was a bit mad at Aelin. What she did had been insane. But he could not ignore the deep sense of pride he had in her. He was utterly in love with a super badass woman. He watched as the team slowly wrapped up their jobs. Dorian had called for a secondary search and they were getting out the burnt down house right now. Aelin still sitting on the front bumper of the truck grounded by Dorian.
He looked at her and smiled. She was covered in soot but she still looked stunning to him. Rowan turned his head and saw Lorcan still studying Elide while she went from victim to victim and checked them out with Lysandra.
“I think I am badly in love with Elide.” He said very, very quietly.
“You what?”
“You heard me, Whitethorn. Don’t make me say it twice.”
“Would it be so bad?” Asked Rowan, sitting beside him.
“I don’t want to fuck this up.”
“Well, don’t.” In that instant the door opened and the team climbed back in. He took a seat behind Aelin and with his hand extended he brushed her cheek and she took his hand gently “did you enjoy the show?”
“It was literally terrifying.”
“Main to all units. Car accident on Southside. Multiple vehicles involved.”
“Copy that main, east station is en route. Dispatch an ambulance on site. Our one is on its way to Orynth general.” Replied Aelin over the radio.
“Copy that east. We are sending an ambulance to assist.”
“Punch it, Nox.”
“You two boys are in for a ride. A nice fire and a car pile-up. We just need a chemical spillage and most of the fun is complete.”
“Don’t jink it,” said Asterin from behind.
They drove for a short distance and at the site Rowan looked out of the window and saw a few cars all smashed against each other.
Aelin and the team got off engine and truck and she patted at his window and blew him a kiss and ran away.
Seeing her in action he suddenly realised why she ate so much.
“Luca, you come with me we’ll take the upturned car.” She shouted at the youngster “Aedion, take the red one with Ansel and Borte. Everyone spread and take the other cars. Remember fuel leaks.”
Luca grabbed his tools and started trying to pry open the door. 
Aelin kneeled down and checked the woman “I need a c-collar,” she screamed to the paramedics.
The woman’s head was bloodied, she checked the pulse through the cracked window and found it weak and she was not breathing.
Luca finally did manage to get the door open and together they pulled it away. Aelin sneaked into the front of the car and pulled the collar around the woman’s neck.
Lysandra and Elide were back from the hospital run and joined them ready and waiting for their patient.
“Aelin, you need to pull her out quickly.”
“I know,” snapped Aelin trying to cut the belt. Once the belt was free she realised the woman’s legs were stuck.
“Luca, I need spreaders. Right now.” She told him and the young man ran to the truck to grab the tool. He came back and with some acrobatics Aelin placed the tool in the area where the pedals were and started separating the metal. “As soon as she is free grab her.”
The metal slowly bent and freed the woman’s legs. “Go.” Luca took the woman and passed her in the care of the paramedics.
“Evangeline, grab an intubation kit and intubate the woman.”
The young woman nodded and Aelin stared with worry.
Once she was intubated Elide and Lysandra continued to do all possible to revive the woman. Aelin and Luca towered over them ready to help if needed.
She saw them use a defibrillator.
“Pushing epi.” She heard Elide say and Aelin knew from her emergency medical training that it was bad.
She paced nervously running a hand in her dirty hair. She took stock of the situation and noticed a few people out of the cars and being helped out and looked after by the other ambulances. Good at least the others did manage to save someone.
Aelin heard the long continuous beep of a flat line and realised the woman did not make it. Then she heard Lysandra calling it.
“Sorry, Aelin.”
Luca was at her side in an instant “cap, we did all we could.”
“Well, it was not enough.” She snapped while in her head she started going through all she could have done differently.
“Aelin,” Lysandra stood to face her friend “there was very little you could have done differently.” Knowing exactly where her friend’s mind had wandered off “She was in bad shape already. We did all we could, as Luca said.”
Dorian joined them a moment later “Aelin, come.”
They moved to the side “Get it out of the system quickly. Yes, you lost one person and it hurts, but I kept an eye on you and you haven’t done anything that I wouldn’t have done myself. You tried. But that was the car in worst shape.” He patted her shoulder “think about the boy you saved from the fire. Think about the second chance you gave him.”
Aelin nodded and walked away and joined her team in packing up all the gear once they were done. 
Once she climbed back on the engine she looked at Rowan and his expression was full of worry for her. Gods, she just wanted to melt in his arms for ten minutes and shut down everything. She felt his hand sneak in the space between seat and door and try to grab hers. He didn’t say anything. He just held her hand.
They arrived back at the station not long after.
Aelin got off the engine and started removing her turnout gear.
“Aedion, take Borte and show her the checks to do to the engines after a call. I’ll take the equipment. Before heading to their duties they all ran to the bathrooms to remove the layers of soot and dirt from the two calls.
Once everyone had stored their gear Aelin hid in the room for equipment and began doing her checks and clean it. She needed some time alone.
Ten minutes later a head of silver hair peeked through the open door “hey,” he said quietly.
“Come in,” she said to him and Rowan took a step in and sat on the bench at her side.
“I am in awe.” His knuckles brushed her cheek “I had an idea of what you guys did, but seeing it for real. I was amazed. But also utterly terrified.”
“I could not help that woman, though.” She said sadly, placing a mask on the ground “she died.”
“Fireheart, I heard what Dorian said and I agree. I am sure you did all you could. Her car looked in pretty banged up state from my corner. If she survived it would have been a big damn miracle.”
“I know,” she let out a loose breath “I know.” Her head heavy against a jacket “it’s just not easy. I knew she was in bad conditions but I still wanted to save her.”
“Come here.” He pulled her to him “I have a piece of gossip for you.”
Her head whipped to him and he saw a smile finally appear.
“Lorcan admitted to me he thinks he is badly in love with Elide.”
Aelin’s hand went to her mouth in surprise “this is big.”
Rowan nodded “I don’t think he told her yet. He is just worried he will mess it up.”
“He’d better not. Elide has strong feelings for him as well. He breaks her heart and I will have his head.”
He nodded “I have been keeping an eye on him.”
“Good, now go back to the others and let me finish.”
He leaned forward and kissed her deeply. Aelin dropped what she had in her hands and once free they grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him closer to her and then on top of her as she leaned back on the bench. He caged her head between his arms and was about to kiss her again when dispatch alarm went off.
“Really?” She stood quickly and kisses him “stay at the station.” He nodded and she ran out. And he walked out slowly and joined Lorcan and both men stared at the vehicles leave the floor.
“Are they alway this busy? They have been back for forty minutes.”
Rowan sighed “Aelin mentioned this morning that with snow, things tend to get busier.” Then he had an idea “ever built a snowman?”
Lorcan rolled his eyes “yes, I was a kid once too, remember?”
“Get your coat back on and come with me.”
Once both men were ready with warm clothes Rowan walked outside to the front of the fire station near the entrance “Here.” Said Rowan pointing at the spot.
“Here what?”
“The snowman. To cheer them up. They had a stressful morning and probably it will not slow down.”
Lorcan tied his hair and started rolling the snow to form a ball for the body. Rowan smiled and joined him, preparing a second one. Once Lorcan had the bottom part ready, Rowan lifted the second one on top and both started fixing the body to give it an even shape. Then Rowan created a smaller ball for the head. Once done he lifted the final piece and took a step back to look at their work “not too bad.”
Lorcan removed his scarf and placed it around the snowman’s neck. Then Rowan ran back inside in Aelin’s office and grabbed the plastic fake firefighter hat he had won the day they did drills, got back and placed it on the snowman. Finally they gave him eyes and a mouth and Lorcan added some wooden sticks at the side so that they looked like arms.
Rowan looked around and then spotted something more he could add. He ran to a corner and picked up an abandoned tool.
“What is that?”
Rowan lifted the tool “I think Aelin called it an Halligan bar. The guys use it to pry open things.” He explained placing it near the sticky hand of the snowman “now he looks perfect.”
Once they were done the two men went back into the station and decided to prepare a meal for them “they must be famished.”
Lorcan nodded “I agree. Let’s prepare a nice meal.”
They were halfway through making lunch when they heard the trucks finally return and both ran outside, and only truck and engine appeared. The ambulance must have gone to the hospital.
Rowan’s eyes landed on a wet Aelin, her body wrapped in a few thick blankets. He ran to her and wrapped his arms around her frame. She was freezing and he felt her shiver and her teeth clattering “What happened?” His hands brushed her back quickly.
“We had two calls. Another fire and then a kid who fell in the water while skating on the frozen lake in a park. Aelin grabbed the kid but fell in when the rope dropped.” Explained Aedion.
As on pure instinct Rowan got into action. He took Aelin and dragged her to her quarters “we need to get you out of those wet clothes.”
She stood in front of him shaking and hugging the blankets against her body. Slowly he helped her remove all the layers until she was stark naked in front of him.
“Any..” teeth clattering “any excuse to get me naked.” Her tone was deep with tiredness.
He chuckled and went to the shower block to grab some towels and once back he begun drying her up.
“I’ll be back in a second.” Rowan disappeared once more and this time went to Aedion “do you have any spare clothes for Aelin?”
The man nodded and he was back a few minutes later with a pile of dry clothes in his hands “how is she doing?”
“Trying to warm her up.” He was about to move away when he turned to the man “what the heck happened?”
“Aelin wanted Borte to practice with the ropes in a real situation so she had Borte drop her in the ice crack to help the boy. The girl lost hold of the rope. It happened so fast that I was not quick enough to grab her,” he explained “She kept diving in in the cold water until she grabbed the boy. Only once he was safe she let us help her out.”
“You should have taken her to the hospital.” Rowan bit back annoyed.
“Don’t you think we tried?” Aedion matched him in tone “she is stubborn. She refused treatment.” 
Rowan growled and grabbed the clothes “thanks for this.” And ran back to her quarters.
Aelin was sitting on her bed, the blankets still wrapped around her.
“I have dry clothes for you.”
“I have spare bra and knickers in my locker. The combination is your birthday.” Her speech was slow and he could feel her exhaustion.
Rowan gave her a smirk and rushed out once again and returning not long after with the garments.
“My underwear doesn’t scare you anymore?”
Rowan chuckled “we live together and I have seen enough of your daring lingerie not to be affected.”
Aelin slowly dressed up again and when she was done Rowan pulled back the blankets and pushed her legs under and finished drying her hair “now you relax, I’ll see if I can get some hot food for you.” A gentle kiss on her head.
Rowan then went to Lorcan and asked him to make something hot for her. She was still shivering hard and he was getting very nervous.
He was back in her quarters when Lysandra popped in with a bag in her hands “do you mind if I check on her?”
He stood “no, please.”
Lysandra took her temperature “still 33 degrees. It was 32 when we took her out.” She grabbed the transparent bag at her side “this is an IV of warm saline, it will help her and should bring her temperature up.”
“Lorcan is making something hot for her.”
Lysandra nodded “have water at her side as well.” And Rowan nodded “it might take a while before her temperature goes up again and she will be exhausted.”
The woman then hanged the IV bag against the edge of her closet and left.
Dispatch alarm went off again and Aelin made a move but Rowan stopped her “you are not going anywhere.”
“I-I am the cap-captain. I have to.” She was still shivering from the cold.
He ran to the apparatus floor “Aedion, Aelin is not coming. She is still cold.”
“I was not expecting her to. I told Dorian she is out for today.”
“Thank you.”
The man nodded.
“Stay safe, all of you.”
Lorcan met him halfway “I am making soup.”
Rowan patted his arm “thank you.”
“Lorcan is making you soup.” He announced as he got back to her “we’ll go home as soon as you are feeling warmer.”
“I am fine.”
“No,” he brushed his hand through her hair “you are still shivery. You eat something hot. Warm up and then we’ll see.”
“I should be with the guys.”
Rowan shook his head “Aedion alerted Dorian and told him you are out for the day.”
Aelin was about to reply but Lorcan joined them carrying a bowl with hot soup.
“How is our fearless leader doing?” He asked while placing the bowl on her night stand with a spoon on the side.
“Still feeling cold.”
“I hope you’ll like the soup. I made it the other night for Elide and she loved it.”
“Thank you, Lorcan.”
He gave her a quick salute and a tight smile and disappeared.
“Are we sure he is the same man?”
Rowan shrugged and grabbed the bowl but Aelin snatched it from his hands “don’t you dare and try to spoon feed me. Stop fussing, captain.”
“Fine.” He stood “I’ll leave you to it.” And left.
He reached Lorcan who was sitting on the sofa watching tv.
“You okay?” He sat beside him.
“Yeah. I put the food away until they are back.” He sighed “I thought we had it bad in our last mission but the guys don’t seem to have too much downtime either.”
“Yeah, today is pretty bad. I saw them on slow days when they have even time to play games. Today has been hell.”
“How’s Aelin doing?”
Rowan’s head snapped in his direction “this is the first time you finally call her with her name. It’s always the captain or your woman.”
Lorcan cleared his voice almost embarrassed “I am starting to like her.”
“Good because I am planning on keeping her around.”
“At least she is not whiny.”
Rowan sighed. He knew Lorcan never liked Lyria. He was the only person who had been the most vocal about his disagreement in him marrying the woman. His other friends were not her fans but had shown him support when he proposed and after. Lorcan had always made his opinion clear. He had told him in his face that he was marrying the wrong woman.
“Well, at least you approve of this one.”
Lorcan snorted “damn man, there is no comparison. Lyria used the marriage to try and change you into her puppet and when it did not work she lost it and became this jealous bitch.” He stood and paced “she came to me and begged me to invent an excuse to fire you.”
“I did not know.”
“I never told you because for some crazy reason you seemed attached to her. Truth is… the woman was toxic.” He stopped in front of Rowan “Essar told me she saw her a few times in a club with another man, while we were away.”
Rowan leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes “that I suspected, just as much as I suspected that the baby was not mine.” He confessed “before we deployed for the mission in which I had to go home for her funeral I found the divorce paper she had ready.”
“And you still grieved.”
“She was my wife.” He almost shouted “yes, she was not perfect but I loved her.”
“Loved her as much as you love Aelin? Because in all the time I have known you I have never seen you with a woman the way you are with Aelin.”
“No, not even close.”
“Would you marry her?”
Rowan only indulged on that thought once. It was far too early. They had just started to actually build their relationship. He was happy where they were right now.
“Not while I am still on active duty. I promised myself that next time I get married I will not be an absent husband again. And I want a family one day. I just need to hold on for a bit. Less than five years and the prison is over.”
“I can make a few calls and get you a full time position at pilot school. I know you have been having issue with the force recently but your skills are vital.”
Rowan shook his head “Thanks but no. Once I retire I will be out forever and I have another path in mind. I want to train to become a paramedic and work in a firehouse.”
“Well, I guess your time as nurse Whitethorn will come handy on your application.”
Rowan flipped him off and patted his leg “let me go and check on Aelin.”
He left Lorcan and joined Aelin and found her wrapped under the blankets with just her face peeking out. Her phone against the head of the bed. He smiled when he saw the bowl completely empty. Good.
“Hey you,” he sat her side and brushed her head “how are you feeling?”
“Not great and I can’t seem to shake the cold from my bones and I feel so tired.”
He lay down at her side and tucked her against his body and looked at the saline bag “the IV is almost finished.”
“You need skin to skin to keep me warm.”
He flipped her nose “we can’t do that here at the fire station so this is it for now.”
“I am going to write a review on the sexy nurse website that sent you and complain that I am not satisfied with the service.”
“Menace.”
“Are the guys still out?”
Rowan nodded “Lorcan prepared lunch for everyone and I hope they will have time to sit down and eat when they come back.”
Rowan nodded “what were you watching?” He asked as he noticed her phone playing a movie.
“I don’t know a random fantasy series Netflix recommended. I wasn’t paying much attention.”
He bent his legs and placed the phone against them and put an arm around her shoulder “well, let’s watch trash tv together.” He made sure she was all tucked in and cozy.
Eventually he heard the squad come back in the station, turned his head and noticed Aelin napping. He stood and joined the team at the front. They all looked exhausted and he hoped Lorcan’s meal would be enough to cheer them up.
“I saw our new frozen candidate.” Joked Brullo while shedding his turnout gear.
“Lorcan and I thought it would cheer you up guys.”
The tall dark-haired man joined them as well “I have loads of food ready. Come and eat before you get called again.”
The team cheered and scrambled into the kitchen. Aedion joined Rowan “how is she doing?”
“Warming up but tired. She is sleeping now.”
“How was the last call?” Asked Lorcan curious.
“Drunken driver. Crashed into a car with a family. The father is a goner and one of the kids is in bad shape.” Explained Manon reining in her rage.
Lorcan cursed savagely “the bastard.”
The conversation died after that, the topic too hard to even add anything else.
“Thank you for lunch, both of you,” said Elide, giving a smile to both Lorcan and Rowan.
“Honestly, it was all Lorcan, I was busy playing nurse.” Added Rowan.
In that moment Dorian popped in.
“Chief!” Shouted Ren “come have food.”
The chief sat down and joined the team “how are you all doing? You guys had a long day.”
No one said much “I went at the hospital and checked on the last family you saved from the drunken driver. The doctors are confident the boy will make a full recovery with time.”
Everyone sighed in relief.
He took a bite “how is Aelin doing?”
“She is in her bunk, sleeping under a pile of blankets. She is very tired and cold.” Rowan explained.
“Is she warming up now?”asked Lysandra “she was showing some very early stages of hypothermia. Her temperature was around 32 degree when we pulled her out.”
“She did not accept to be taken to the hospital.” Pointed out Aedion with a bit of annoyance in his voice.
“I heard that.” Continued Dorian “we should have pushed her. Aelin can be stubborn.”
 A few snorts echoed in the room.
In that instant Aelin walked into the room with her hoodie on and a blanket around her.
“Hey,” Rowan stood and went to her “what are you doing here?”
“I didn’t want to be alone.” And she sat heavily in Rowan’s lap, never letting the blanket go.
“How are you feeling?”
“Hungry,” she croaked.
Everyone laughed and Rowan gave her his seat and placed a plate in front of her. Lysandra sneaked in and took her temperature very quickly “35.5 you are almost back to normal. Do you still feel cold?”
Aelin took a bite “I still don’t feel great.”
“That is normal. Your body went through a lot of shock.” Explained Elide.
“Captain Whitethorn, make sure she takes tomorrow off. This is an order.” Said Dorian staring at the other man. 
“I am getting used to play nurse.”
Lorcan snorted “you can ask Lysandra or Elide to give you a ride in the ambulance, paramedic Whitethorn.” Rowan glared at him. That was something he had confessed only to Aelin and Lorcan.
“What is he talking about?” Asked Brullo curiously.
“I…” Rowan sighed “when I retire from the TAF in less than five years I want to retrain as a paramedic and work in a firehouse.”
“That is awesome,” shouted Asterin, sipping on her tea.
“You know that women will pretend to be sick to be treated by you?” Joked Ansel winking at him.
“Over my dead body.” Added Aelin while eating her food.
“If you need help to get into the program you let me know. I know it’s still a long time away, but, I work closely with the board and some of the trainers.” Added Dorian with a big smile.
Rowan nodded “thank you, sir. I will keep it in mind.”
“Are you sure you will be okay with leaving the airforce?” Asked Nox.
“I already did 12 years and signed up for five more a while ago. I will have no regrets when I retire.” He explained
Aedion was about to add something when dispatch alarm went off.
Dorian stood “come on guys. It’s one of those days.” Then he looked at Rowan “take her home.”
They all disappeared and Aelin sighed and drank more hot tea. Rowan and Lorcan tidied up the table and the kitchen.
*
It was an hour later when Rowan and Aelin got back home. He took her to the bedroom and she curled in bed hugging bird Rowan.
“Go under the blankets,” he said, pulling the duvet over her head “I can make you some tea.”
Aelin nodded “green tea, please?”
 He kissed her head “yes, milady.”
Rowan came back five minutes later with a pot of tea and a cup “here you go.” Then he touched her forehead with his hand “you seem to get warmer.” Another kiss on her head “that is good.”
He climbed in bed and opened his laptop and started Netflix “Fancy watching something silly?”
“Can we watch a stupid movie that we can make fun of?”
Rowan chuckled and browsed a few titles “what do you think?” He pointed at a movie “this one seems quite silly.”
Aelin nodded and he placed the laptop on their legs, bird Rowan tucked between them and then his arm went around Aelin’s and pulled her to him.
“You got a day off tomorrow. We can go to the theatre if you feel like it.”
Aelin’s head snapped toward him and she smiled “I’d love to.” She grabbed her phone and showed him something “have you seen this play?”
Rowan had a look on her phone and nodded and her saddened face broke his heart “hey,” he took her hand “we can go and see it. The first time I went I was on my own and I had no one with whom to enjoy it with.” She gave him a smile “I want to go with you. Also, it was another production. So it won’t be the same play.”
Aelin grabbed bird Rowan “yes, captain.” She said in a funny voice “I want to go to the theatre with you.” She brushed the toy in Rowan’s face “are you my boyfriend, sexy man?”
Rowan took the toy “you are actually cuter than your owner.”
“You are a mean man.” She hit him with a pillow.
“What do you think, birdie? She is also violent.” He hugged the toy “you and I we need to stick together, partner. Such a tyrant.”
“Well, I’ll let you two make out and I’ll go and make out with the last few chocolate brownies left.” She got off the bed and walked away swaying her hips on purpose to taunt Rowan “they are better boyfriend material than the current one.”
Rowan growled and got off the bed and padded quickly to the kitchen lifted her in his arms and placed her on the counter, his arms at either side of her.
Aelin’s stare was mischievous and she leaned over for a kiss but he moved away and Aelin pulled him back to her “come here, Whitethorn. Stop annoying me.”
“I should have really read the terms and conditions of this relationship.” He teased her moving a bit closer, reducing the space between their bodies.
“You might eventually get out of the airforce, but you are not getting out of this.” She whispered against his lips. Then tensed for a brief second realising the enormity of what she had just said. Truth was she did not want let go of him. A part of her, one that she kept still hidden, desired that they would one day become more. And those thoughts terrified her. She had gone from hating the man, to wishing he would never leave her. It was crazy but her heart was telling that what she was feeling was real.
Rowan stared at her, his pine green eyes on her and an expression that she could not read. Terror seeping through her that she had gone too far and ruined the moment.
“Is that a promise?” His voice low, almost hopeful, his gaze never averting hers. 
Aelin’s heart raced madly “if you want it.” She shook her head “I am sorry, it just came out.”
His hand joined hers on her knee and twinned his fingers to hers “did you mean it, though?”
Aelin slowly nodded and he smiled at her. His lips tugged up and the smile reached his eyes in a way that never fully happened before. The result left her breathless. Gods, he was even more stunning than usual. And she knew she had just seen a side of Rowan probably no one ever saw before. He smiled with others but she knew they were not full smiles. But this one… this one was something rare.
“And that’s all it matters for now.” His free hand brushed her face “there’s no hurry and I am loving this. Getting to know you. Spending time together. Spoiling you.”
“I am loving it too. So very much.” Her body inched closer “are you finally going to kiss me or you placed me on the counter to brag that you are taller than me?”
Rowan closed the distance and the kiss was everything but gentle. His hand shifted and grabbed her buttocks pulling her close while Aelin hands found their target on his back.
“We shouldn’t.” He pulled away “you need to rest.”
Aelin grabbed the collar of his t-shirt “you get me all wet and then back away? A nice energetic tumble in the sheets will get me all exhausted and ready for bed.”
Rowan did not answer, he just lifted her in his arms and her legs wrapped around his back and he carried her to the bedroom.
“Good boy.” She whispered.
And Rowan realised, while leaning forward to steal a kiss from her, that if he could do this for the rest of his existence, he’d be the happiest man of earth. 
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@bruiseonthefaceofhumanity​
@acreativelydifferentlove
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@leiawritesstories​
@clairec79
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clareguilty · 3 years
Text
Coal Fires and Snowstorms
This was a request fic that was originally for the Overwatch cowboy but I changed to Arthur Morgan for... apparent reasons Arthur Morgan/F!Reader (reader also has big enby vibes) Rating: Mature | No Warnings Word Count: ~2,200
Arthur wakes with a wheeze, bolting upright and smacking his chest with his fist as he tries to pull in enough air.
He’s shirtless, but a woven blanket had been draped over him while he was unconscious. A ray of light cuts through a grimy window. The angle is harsh enough that it’s probably late in the evening.
The last thing Arthur can remember is the dark of the night and the clamoring of the law on his heels. So he’s been out for at least a day.
His lips are dry and cracked, and his muscles groan in protest with every movement. God, his head is pounding like he was hit by a damn train.
A door creaks open, and there’s a squeak of surprise. “Oh! You’re awake!”
Arthur blinks in the harsh sunlight that’s streaming into the small cabin. Whoever is there is bundled up in furs and a jacket with a bow over their shoulder. They’ve got two armfuls of game practically swallowing them.
“Who are you? Where am I?” He means for it to sound rough and demanding, but it’s more croaky and pathetic when the words pass his lips.
“I’m not really anybody, and this is my cabin up in Cumberland. The law chased you a long ways from Annesburg didn’t they? You must have done something real bad.” The hunter dumps all the game onto the table and rushes to the bedroll where Arthur lays. “You aren’t hurt too bad or nothing, but you’ve got a real nasty cough. I’ve got tea and herbs that should help. I bandaged up all the bleeding bits as best I could”
Arthur is bewildered. He knows there had been a fire in Annesburg -- the coal had gone up in a pyre in seconds. Somehow, he had gotten separated from Dutch and the others. The smoke had taken him like crows to a carcass, and he was lucky to make it across the ridge with the way his eyes and lungs were burning.
The last thing he remembered was the pinkertons still on his heels and the darkness of the trees as he tried to hide in the brush. He must have made it to cover before the smoke and the soot finally got him.
He flinches as the hunter sticks an open flask under his nose. “Tea. It’s bitter but you’ll need it.”
Arthur sniffs the mouth of the flask, but it sure does just smell like weeds and water. He takes a sip and wrinkles his nose. But the flavor is a small price to pay for the way the liquid soothes the burning in his mouth and throat.
“Thank you,” he says. “You could have left me in those woods to rot. I appreciate you dragging my sorry ass back here.”
You grin and pat the bandage on his arm. “It weren’t much trouble, but you sure are one large fella.” Arthur thinks you must be a young boy -- it’s hard to tell. Your hair is short under your cap but your voice isn’t all that low.
You turn to the game on the table and grab a knife from your belt. “I hunted enough for the both of us the next few days. It’s gonna be a while before you’ve got your strength back, and a snowstorm is rolling in off the Grizzlies anyways.”
Arthur frowns. “Bit early for snow, isn’t it?”
You shrug. “Winter never listens to me. At least the game was out. Everyone is trying to feed as much as they can before it gets too cold to hunt. That includes us.”
Arthur grunts and struggles to his feet. “I can help with those,” he offers.
You watch him with narrowed eyes, obviously skeptical of Arthur’s strength. “Take the small ones,” you offer up the rabbits and squirrels.
Arthur usually doesn’t have a problem skinning game, but the smoke must have gotten to him more than he thought because he finds himself having to take a rest after just a few minutes. He finishes off the flask of tea and sorts through his pack and weapons.
“My horse…” he asks after a while.
“She’s fine,” you say. “I found her not far from where you were unconscious and she helped me get you back here. She’s out back with my Old Girl.”
“Thank you,” Arthur sounds genuinely touched. “She really means a lot to me.”
You shoot him another smile. “You’re nothing but a big softie, ain’t ya? What could you have done to have the law chasing you all the way across the damn country?”
Arthur rubs the back of his neck, flushing in embarrassment. “My folks might have blown up Annesburg? I don’t actually know how much of it is left…”
“Ha!” you bark. “You’re with them van der Linde folks?”
Arthur’s silence is answer enough.
“I won’t judge,” you shrug. “You’re safe as long as you want to rest here.”
And rest Arthur does. He’s confined to the bedroll, rolled out on a warm pile of furs near the stove. You’re good company, witty and friendly and far too nosy for your own good. Arthur learns that you’ve has been living in these parts for a few years now, trapping and hunting and crafting to sell in town every few weeks. It’s more of a living than Arthur could ever ask for. Arthur thinks he might be sweet on you.
It’s another day before he’s got the strength to walk. He makes it outside to his horse, glad to see that she’s well taken care of. You had said you were going off to bathe in a nearby stream, and Arthur follows the sound of the water.
He’s not expecting what he finds. The water is shallow but fast moving, and he sees a familiar jacket hung on a branch by the bank.
You’re turned away, rinsing in the ice cold water, and Arthur can see the gooseflesh on your skin.
But when you turn slightly, it’s the swell of breasts and the curve of hips that catches Arthur’s attention. He averts his eyes quickly, darting back towards the cabin with his cheeks stained pink.
Now that he thinks about it, you had never said that you were a man. Arthur had simply figured it was most likely. The soft voice and gentle features make more sense now.
“You had better wash up if you want to,” you say when you return to the cabin. “The snow is coming in tonight. I can smell it. I stocked up on herbs for your cough and we’ve got plenty of provisions. I’m gonna split some more wood to bring inside.”
Arthur can’t help but find it attractive that you’re so knowledgeable and well prepared. He makes his way to the stream on his own and washes up in the frigid water, pushing through another coughing fit when the cold makes his muscles seize.
It’s already getting colder when he gets back inside. His weak breath fogs even inside the cabin and the little stove can’t do nearly enough to warm the small space.
“You’re going to freeze,” he tells you. He’s big enough to handle the cold -- spent a damn month up in the grizzlies without much of a problem -- but you surely won’t last the snowstorm.
“I’ve made it before,” you say with a huff and a glare. “I’ve got plenty of furs to keep me warm.”
“Put your bedroll beside mine,” Arthur insists. “We can share the blankets.”
The snow begins to fall, sticking to the ground in wet clumps, and you brace yourselves for the days to come. You’re practically strangers -- save for the fact that you had dragged Arthur out of the woods and saved his life. Now you have no choice but to rely on each other until the snow melts.
Arthur wakes in the night to your violent shivering under the blankets. He pulls you so that you’re pressed against his chest, tucking both of you under the quilts closer together. “I thought you said you’d made it through this before?”
You huff, teeth chattering. “I survived. I never said I kept warm.”
“Stay close to me. It’s my turn to keep you alive.” He drifts back to sleep to the howl of the winter winds.
The next morning he’s greeted by a bowl of piping stew that makes his sinuses burn. “I had some jarred peppers I keep for weather just like this. You’re in no condition for liquor so this is the best you’re gonna get.”
Arthur accepts the stew graciously. He’s not ready for the way you stand on your tippy toes to kiss him on the cheek when he offers to wash both of the bowls.
You pass the time snowed in with several rounds of cards. Arthur tells stories about him and the gang until his throat aches and he starts coughing again, and so the you regale Arthur with your life’s tale and a few stories you picked up over the years. You’re curled up next to each other in front of the stove, and you have no shame about burrowing against Arthur in a quest for body heat. He lets you steal as much as you want.
“I thought you were a boy when I first woke up,” Arthur says.
You shrug. “Most people do. I find it makes things easier a lot of the time. How’d you figure me out?” You don’t seem to feel too strongly one way or another about how Arthur and others see you.
Arthur hides his embarrassment behind a cough. “I, uh, caught you washing up in the stream.”
“Oh,” you laugh, “that’s pretty solid proof, ain’t it.” You’re smiling, not shy at all. “You’re not mad at me for lying, are you?”
“You never lied,” Arthur says. “I just came to my own conclusions. Doesn’t matter much to me anyways, whether you’re a man or a woman.”
You frown at that. “Doesn’t matter?”
“Nah,” Arthur ruffles your short hair. “You’re cute either way.”
It’s the right thing to say. The frown disappears and you settle back against him, humming contentedly.
He wakes in the night to the feeling of your breath on his neck. You shift and your lips brush against his skin. He can’t help the way his whole body tenses at the sensation. His arm is draped around your waist, holding you close because he knows you’ll freeze if he doesn’t.
He pulls you in closer. Every inch where your skin touches his feels oversensitive and hot. You’re still asleep -- he can tell from how slow you breath against his skin, but you reach an arm around his neck and burrow against him.
His heart begins to race. He’s flushed and half asleep and you fit against him so well in this tiny cabin that you’ve made your home. One of his hands slides down your back. You moan as his palm passes over the small of your back and the curve of your ass. His hand comes to the back of your thigh, but you shift again and rock your hips against him.
He gasps, then has to fight back a cough. He doesn’t want to wake you, but your quest for warmth has you plastered against him in a very compromising position. It’s starting to make his long johns downright painful, and he thinks he’ll combust in shame.
You rock against him once more, mumbling sleepily into his skin.
“Darlin’” he croaks. But the sound doesn’t wake you. He tries to wriggle an arm between you so he can push you off, but instead he winds up with a handful of your breast, and the most gorgeous sound he’s ever heard escapes your lips.
He freezes. He’s painfully hard now, and you’re still gently rocking against him in your sleep, perhaps even more so now that he’s got a hand on your chest.
“Arthur, please,” you whine.
He’s pretty sure you’re awake by now, so he readjusts his hand and rubs his thumb over the peak of your nipple. You let out another breathy moan against his skin. This time when he runs a hand over your ass he lets himself take a moment to appreciate how it feels under his palm, they way his fingers sink into the soft skin beneath your winter sleep clothes. He once again places his hand on the back of your thigh and pulls you so that your hips are lined up with his, straddling him under the blankets.
You whine against him once more and grind your hips downward. The friction does way more for him than he imagines it must for you, and his vision whites out momentarily at the heat and weight of you against him.
He loses himself in the motion of your hips for several long moments, but then your whines grow frustrated and unsatisfied and he knows exactly what your after.
Gripping both of your hips tightly, he flips you both so that you’re laying back on the bedroll and he’s kneeling over you.
Your eyes fly open.
“Arthur?”
“You were asleep?” he looks absolutely bewildered.
“I thought so? I was having the best dream.” Your eyes look past him as you remember.
“I don’t think you were dreaming, sweetheart,” he chuckles. He leans in to place an open mouthed kiss against your neck. You gasp and dig your nails into his shoulder.
“Then I think you had better keep going, cowboy.”
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Text
Pull
Sequel to Push
Warnings: noncon sex, oral, violence, abuse, and death.
This is Lee Bodecker (who is already dark!af) and explicit. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.
Summary: The sheriff keeps coming around.
Note: Okay, so probably a three-parter. I didn’t intend for this to go beyond a one shot but same old story, eh.
Hope you enjoy it. Thank you. Love you guys!
Please leave some feedback, like and reblog <3
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“Oh what the hell she says I just can't win for losing And she lays back down”
-Her Diamonds, Rob Thomas
🚔
You stared out the window. The trees along the edge of the yard were pale and barren, a sheet of frost laid over the ground. There was a wailing in your head. The tears blurred your vision and your fingernails curled into the lip of the sink.
"Goddamn it, girl," you flinched at your father's voice. "The kettle's fucking screaming."
You pushed yourself away from the sink and shook away the haze. You turned the knob and moved the kettle to the front burner. You took off the lid of the percolator and poured the piping water inside. You left the coffee to brew and turned your back to the stove.
"Are you alright?" Will asked as he cut up his eggs with his fork.
"She's fine. She just ain't wanna do her work." Your father growled through a mouthful. "Way she's been draggin' her ass lately like the rest of us ain't work a lot harder than rinsing a pan or sweeping a dang floor."
"I've been doing all that, daddy." You cringed after you spoke. Not just because you knew you're father wouldn't like it but because that word, 'daddy', tickled that memory in the back of your head.
"Try to do it without makin' a bigger mess," he snarled. "Your ma raised you better. She was still here, she'd be shakin' her head."
Not just at me, you thought but kept it to yourself. You turned and filled the four cups lined up with coffee. You set each before the men at the table. Your brothers thanked you, your father grumbled for the sugar. You set the dish in the centre of the table and backed away. 
You would eat after them. A bowl of porridge with cinnamon as your daddy went to his shed and the boys drove into town. Your only peace for the day although you hadn't had any since that night.
Six days. You counted each in your head. Laying in your bed, sleepless. Even after almost a week, you still felt the Sheriff's intrusion. You were still sore; bruises on your ass and thighs, a hole deep in your being. You closed your eyes and you were bent over the chair or the table. Your skin crawled and your stomach flipped. You couldn't shake the terrible shadow from your mind.
They left without ado, the boys in an argument over Mr. Calver's new car and what year it was. You cleared the table and sat to make yourself eat. It was hard but after a two day fast, you'd almost passed out against the burning stove. So you ate without tasting and washed the dishes.
You found yourself gazing out the window again. Snow began to fall and you shivered. You looked down, your hands mindlessly in the dishwater that had long turned cold. You pulled the plug and dried your pruned hands. 
The gravel crunched outside as the wind battered flakes against the window panes.
Your heart dropped. It used to be weeks between visits, sometimes a whole month. As of late, Sheriff Bodecker had taken to visiting more often. You were never very vain but you suspected it might be on your account. How could it not be?
You went to the door and peeked out the tall window beside it. It was him. The lights atop the cruiser and the emblem painted across the door. It was early but every visit was unexpected.
He looked at the house and you let go of the curtain. You pressed yourself to the door and listened. His footsteps trailed away and he knocked on the shed door. Your father answered in his usual gruff demeanor.
You felt brittle as you pushed away from the door. You walked to the stairs and looked up. The carpet was worn away by years of steps taken up and down. You leaned against the railing as you climbed. Don’t think about the man below and perhaps he wouldn’t think of you.
You took a cloth from the linen closet at the end of the hall and began to wipe down the plates that decorated the wall. Each was painted with a landmark; Niagara Falls, the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, the Pyramids in Giza. You focused on cleaning each, even as your hands shook and your legs threatened to crumple.
His hands on you, his sickly sweet breath, his body crushed against you. You gripped the plate with the image of the Coliseum. You stared at the hundreds of windows, the falling facade. Your eye overflowed and the door below slammed.
You sniffed and set the plate back in the hooks. You wiped your eyes with the sleeve of your sweater and wiped the top of the side table. Thick soles climbed the stairs and a figure stopped in your peripheral. You turned as Lee peered down at you, fingering the heel of his gun as he neared.
“Your pa said I could use the facility,” he said.
“Behind me,” you said quietly as you picked up the vase and wiped the inside. 
“What’re you doin’? Tryna hide from me up here?” He tapped two fingers on the table.
You shook your head and put the pot down. You looked at the old sepia picture of your parents beside it.
“You know, I was wanting to come back sooner but… duty calls.” He lowered his voice as he leaned close, “There’s not much to do sittin’ around in the cruiser. I end up thinking of you. Wishin’ it was your hand down my pants instead of mine.”
“Sheriff,” you breathed. “Please, don’t--”
“You mad ‘cause I been gone, I get it. Not right of a man to be with a woman than just leave her waitin’,” he touched your cheek as you looked away. “You smell nice.”
“You better do your business and get goin’, sheriff,” you uttered. “I got laundry to do.”
“No point in actin’ all coy anymore,” his hand stretched over your jaw and he forced you to look at him. “And I can’t hold out much longer. You remember the river, where I take my break, you meet me there at midnight, after your pa’s asleep.”
“It’s snowing,” you argued.
“I don’t care if it’s a goddamn blizzard. You come find me or I find you,” he snarled and his hand slipped down to the top of your dress. He undid the top two buttons and squeezed your tits together as he watched them with a lewd leer. “I gotta pay more attention to these… but that ass is so nice.”
“My daddy--”
“Half drunk, as usual,” he huffed, “I could fuck you on his bed right now and he’d be none the wiser.” He purred and admired your tits as he bounced them. “Midnight… I’ll keep the car warm for you.”
He winked and dropped his hands, his palm brushing over the front of his pants and causing him to groan. He turned away and unbuckled his pants as he entered the bathroom. He kicked the door closed and you whimpered.
If your daddy found out what had happened, even if it was the Sheriff, he’d string you up by your knickers.
🚔
You found the flashlight under the stairs and waited until the house was filled with snores. The old standing clock ticked as you counted down the hours sat on the stairs across from the front door. The snow wasn’t thick but enough to make it slippery. With the night, the temperature dropped and seeped in around the windows. It would take you a while to get through the woods.
You opened the front door carefully. You wore the old hand-me-down coat and your heavy boots. You hated the forest after dark. When you were kids, your older brothers like to tell tales of grisly murders and other atrocious acts there. You’d since learn much of those were fantasy but it didn’t make them any less sinister.
You flipped the flashlight on as you neared the trees. You hit it twice to get the bulb alight. You pointed it ahead of you and followed the glow like a beacon. If your daddy knew what you were about, if your mama was alive to know it… you could hardly bear it yourself.
Your teeth chattered as the bitter wind swept under your skirt and you crossed your free arm over your middle. You hunched against the cold as flakes began to fall once more. You heard the river ahead of you and came out onto the dirty shore.
Bodecker’s cruiser sat waiting, his flashlight on the dash as it lit up the interior. You saw him in the yellow haze as you neared. He got out as he spotted you and rounded the car. His breath fogged before him and he rubbed his hands together.
“Got the heat on, not that you’ll be cold for long,” he said, “Come on,” he opened the back door and reached for the flashlight. You handed it to him as he waved you into the car. “On your back.”
He was out of pretense, out of patience. You sat and shimmied back on the seat. He got in behind you and pulled the door closed as he huddled on his knees on the seat. He was bent awkwardly as he grabbed at your skirt.
“Common, let’s get these off,” he reached up and grabbed the waist of your wool tights and jolted them down your thighs. “It’s so fucking cold. I don’t know we can keep to the car through the winter.” He left your tights at your knees and tore down your underwear. He pushed your legs up so they hung around him, the wool stretched across his stomach. “There’s a hotel in town. We can drive in…”
His voice trailed off as he fumbled with his pants. He grunted and planted a hand beside your head as he bent over you. He slapped the tip of his cock against your cunt as you turned your face away from him. You pressed your lips together. Better to have it done with.
“What’s the matter, girl?” He grabbed your chin and turned your head. “Open your eyes…” he rubbed his nose against yours and pushed against your entrance. “Look at your daddy, girl.”
“Please--” You opened your eyes and begged. “Please, don’t make--”
He impaled you and let out a long groan. You yelped and as you curled beneath him and he sank to his limit. It hurt just as much as before. He hit the same bruises as he began to thrust.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he said with each tilt of his hips, “You don’t know how I’ve been thinking about you.”
He pushed himself up as he continued to move against you. He unzipped your coat and unbuttoned your blouse with some difficulty. He ripped your jacket, shirt, and brassiere strap down your shoulder. He grabbed your tit as it fell loose and toyed with your nipple. He flicked with his thumb and circled the hard nub.
“You need to dress yourself up, girl,” He purred between thick breaths. “Show off what you got. Just for me, no one else.”
“I can’t-- I can’t--” You squealed as he sped up and sent a pang up your spine. “Ow, ow, ow.”
“I ain’t care about your pa,” he murmured, “I’ll buy you something nice, hmmm? Then I can fuck you in that.”
You blinked away the tears as they threatened. This man could use your body but he wouldn’t see you cry. You hadn’t truly done that since your mama’s funeral. 
The car rocked with him. He crushed you into the seat as his feet hit the door. He was too tall to be crammed in the back of the cruiser atop you but it barely seemed to matter. The leather of his coat squeaked as he hammered into you and the scent of his sweat permeated the air. 
He dropped down on you, smothering you as his hips kept going. He nuzzled your ear and gave a throaty grunt. He came and slapped the seat beside your head. He slowed and went limp over you, out of breath as he shuddered.
“Mmm, can I use my cuffs on you next time, girl?” He lifted his head and tickled your temple. “Hmm? You can be my perp?”
You stared at him, mortified. You nodded, unable to speak.
“Tomorrow,” he rasped, “I won’t wait another week.”
🚔
Your nights belonged to the Sheriff and the days had never truly been your own. Two weeks of his sick game, trekking through the dark, cold woods to his cruiser by the frozen river. Face down on his seat, cuffs behind your back, him behind you, on top of you.
That day, he’d been by to see your father. He found you in the kitchen before he went. “Forget the underwear tonight, girl.” That was all he said before he left you to dread him again.
The same path, the same bobbing light before you, the knot deep in your gut. You were as sick with yourself as you were with him. You let him use you. Maybe you didn’t have a choice but you didn’t fight. You just laid there and waited for him to finish.
As you walked through the woods, you still jumped at every snapped twig and every rustle. It all seemed louder that night. The wind was wild and the branches shook above, no leaves left to block the moonlight.
He took your jacket off that night. You shivered and he cuffed your hands behind your back. He bent you over the hood and hiked up your skirt. Your thigh highs began to sag as he entered you. Your cheek nearly stuck to the cold metal of the car as he pushed your head down.
“Fuck yeah, girl, you like when daddy fucks you?” He snarled as he slapped your ass. The open zipper of his jacket brushed your skin and his pants scratched the top of your thighs. “Hmm, you like being a whore?” He tugged on the cuffs as he fucked you harder. “That’s it.”
He snorted and slowed. You sensed a disturbance and he reached to his loose belt.
“Who’s there?” He called out as he slipped out of you.
“I fucking knew you was sneakin’ around,” Your father’s voice cut through the air. “Might be with a policeman but it don’t make it any better, you tramp.”
You tried to stand and Bodecker pushed you back down. “She’s a grown woman and times are changin’, Rhett. Why don’t you go back home? You know I’ll get her there safe.”
“Home? Uh uh, she can stay out in the cold. I won’t have no whore under my roof.”
“Now, let’s not be rash, Rhett, I’ll take care of her. You won’t have to. I was just--”
“Everyone knows about you, Lee,” your father barked, “This where you take your other whores?”
“I’m a changed man,” Bodecker insisted and you heard a subtle snap. You watched as their shadows got closer in the dark lit up only by the flashlight thrown onto the ground. “She’s--”
“You can keep her. Maybe you can find a man who will buy or sell her when you’re done.”
“Don’t be sayin’ that--”
“You fat fuck, don’t you--”
You were deafened by the sudden bang and your ears rang as your father’s body slumped to the floor. You stood with some trouble and stumbled back. You heard your father gasping as he twitched in the dirt. Bodecker turned and caught you before you could stepped away from the hood.
“I didn’t tell you to get up,” He growled as he bent you over the hood again.
“Daddy!” You cried out. “What did you do? Daddy--”
“I told you,” he pressed the gun to your head and poked around until he slid back inside you, “He ain’t your daddy no more.”
Your boots kicked in the dirt as he fucked you. The cold metal of the gun had you frozen, your eyes on your father’s body as the life slowly drained from him. You closed your eyes as his last, moist breaths escaped him. You bit down; you couldn’t cry, not even then.
You didn’t even notice as Bodecker finished and backed away. As his cum leaked from you and your legs folded. You fell onto the cold ground and he hauled you up into the back seat. He slammed the door and got in the front.
“Daddy…” You muttered.
“Pity. You never know what scoundrels are hanging out in the woods after dark,” Bodecker said as he started the car. “That’s some bad news to wake up to, isn’t is, girl?”
“Wh-why-why?” You stammered.
“Shhhh, you gotta be quiet, girl,” he coaxed, “‘Specially when drop you off. Better not wake any of your brothers, right?” He was quiet for a moment and cleared his throat loudly, “Right?”
“Right,” you whispered as your sticky thighs rubbed together, “Right, right, right…”
🚔
“Now, girl, you go inside and put your clothes in a bag and wash yourself up.” Those were Bodecker’s instructions as he dropped you off. 
You didn’t remember doing it but you awoke with damp sheets and a bag by your bed. You rolled over, stiff from the night spent tense and rolling back and forth. It hadn’t really been sleep. More shock.
You laid there. Numb. You heard the gurgling again. Saw the lifeless black form of your father’s body in the dirt. It wasn’t real. You’d go downstairs and he’d be there. Once you put on the coffee he’d get up and demand a cup. It couldn’t be real.
You sat up and kicked the bag under your bed. You wore the grey dress with the pleats, a black sweater over it, with black stockings, and your mary janes. You descended the stairs one at a time and put the kettle on the stove. You stared out the window. It had snowed more in the last hours of the night.
You got out the tray of eggs and the sausages. You searched for the large skillet and Will walked in with a yawn. He was always the first up. You stared at him as he sat at the table. You tried to say something, maybe you said ‘good morning’, and then you went back to your work.
Arn and Cal came shortly after. None of the three mentioned your father’s absence. It wasn’t that unusual. Sometimes he drank too much, sometimes he had been up for hours or hadn’t slept at all. You served them and added the bacon grease to the jar of lard.
Where was he? He couldn’t be there. In the dirt. In his own blood. Dead. No, he was going to come right through that door.
You heard the tires before the knock. Your heart raced as reality closed in around you. Arn got up to answer it and came back with the sheriff. He didn’t even acknowledge you as he nodded at the men around the table.
“Pa’s not awake yet,” Will said and chewed the edge of a strip of bacon.
“Well, I think…” Bodecker hooked his thumb in his belt, his stomach sticking out awkwardly, “I think we need to talk about your pa. Can I sit?”
“Course, sir,” Cal said, “Should be enough fixins if you want some.”
“No, no thank you,” Bodecker sat heavily and sighed. He was an effective actor. “Look, your pa… well, we don’t know exactly what happened but… we all agree he must’ve been drunk.”
“What’s goin’ on?” Arn snipped, “What do you mean? Pa is here--”
“You remember when he went to bed last night?” Bodecker asked.
“Well…” Cal frowned and looked at his brother. “Well, I think I laid down before him.”
“Me too,” Arn said.
“I’m always the first asleep,” Will added. “Same with my sister.”
You gulped as the sheriff finally looked at you. “Well, you know we had them flyers around town for the longest time about the woods. About the criminals we got hangin’ around these days and there’s really no easy way for me to say it but it looks like your pa ran into one of them last night.”
“All the way out in the woods? But why?” Cal asked.
Arn’s nostrils flared as he shook his head. “Because he got no sense. You remember last summer. We found him face down in a bog out there. Took the three of us to get him out.”
“Yeah, but so late…”
“You know how he’s been since ma.” Will intoned.
You were dizzy. You grabbed onto the counter as your legs turned to liquid and you cried out. “No!” You fell to your knees and touched your forehead. You knew it was real, you’d seen it, but you had wanted so badly for it to have been a dream. A nightmare.
Will was the first at your side. Bodecker helped him lifted you back to your feet and get you to a chair. Arn and Cal watched in concern.
“You sure it was our pa?” Arn asked.
“I’ll save you the sight. I can assure you it’s him.” Bodecker said as he rubbed your shoulder and Will stood over you. “She should be fine. Get her some water. It’s the shock. You know the ladyfolk and their temperaments. They aren’t so equipped for things like this.”
“Any idea who? Why?” Arn prodded.
“Don’t think your pa had the sense to take his wallet but his belt buckle was gone and we can’t be sure what else they took,” Bodecker took your hand and caressed the back of it, “Honey, you drink tea? You want your brothers’ get you some?”
“I-- I--- You--You--” You stuttered.
“Come on, boys, let’s get her laying down,” Bodecker said as he stood. “She’s just havin’ a moment.”
Will and Cal lifted you out of the chair and carried you to the sofa in the front room. You were stiff as a board as they angled you onto the cushion and you could only babble at the ceiling.
“Go get that tea going, Will,” Bodecker ordered, “Cal, you go get her something to keep her warm.” Arn stood in the doorway and watched. “And Arn, get some wood for the fire. We should get it going.”
The boys dispersed as you laid across the couch. Bodecker touched your shoulder and you latched onto his wrist.
“You--” You hissed.
“Shhh, I only did what I had to. What you made me do,” he whispered, “‘cause you weren’t careful.”
You turned your head back and forth and squirmed. “No, no, no! You raped me! You killed my daddy!’
He covered your mouth and leaned over you. “Shut up! Shut up!” He sneered and his other hand went to your throat. “Now you got your clothes in a bag.” You nodded with wide eyes. “Good. I’m gonna take your brothers into town and you’re gonna burn them. Got it?” You nodded again. “And you’re gonna shut up.”
He released you roughly and stood as Cal came in with a blanket and tossed it over you. Bodecker helped straighten it and looked around.
“Think y’all should come back with me. We can get you sorted at the station then see about the caretaker.”
“All that already?” Arn asked.
“I ain’t rushing. Bodies don’t keep long, though. Investigations neither. We’ll get some statements from you boys and you’ll be free to choose what you wanna do from there.”
🚔
Will stayed home from school to keep watch over you. You didn’t know what was wrong with you. When your ma died, you didn’t feel this empty. You had cried for her, mourned for her. But now all you could do was sit there. Was it your fault? Even if Bodecker had pulled the trigger, you had brought your father there. You had been so concerned with keeping the sheriff from telling your secret, you had failed to hide it yourself.
Bodecker stopped by almost daily. He claimed it was to ask more questions or check on the family but you didn’t miss the way he looked at you. The way he made the excuse to be in the same room when he talked to your brothers. The way he shifted on his feet and peered around the house in silent triumph.
On the fifth day, you made Will go to school. He shouldn’t miss class because of you. He was the only one out of the boys who had ever read a book full through. So you saw them off, a proper breakfast for them for the first time since that horrifying morning, and you went about the list of undone chores.
You looked out the window at the shed. Your daddy never said much to you but you were used to his presence; the noise of his activity just outside. You couldn’t blame him for his faults, he’d fought a war, he’d worked hard, and he’d lost a wife. And now he was dead because of you.
You were scrubbing the floor when you heard the engine and the rubber treads on snow. You didn’t stop as you tried to scour away the salt stains and layer of dirt from the hallway. Boots clambered up the stairs and you kept your head down. 
No knock, no warning as Bodecker opened the door. You looked up at him as he kicked the snow off his feet.
“You’re up and about today,” he said in a pandering tone.
You said nothing and focused on your work. He took off his jacket and hung it on the rack in the corner. He wiped his boots on the mat and watched you. He hummed as he tapped his toe.
“I like that. You on all fours.” He taunted.
You sat back on your heels and dropped the rag in the bucket. “I got cleaning to do, Sheriff, and if you don’t recall, my daddy’s gone… for good.”
“Oh, I know it,” he said as you lifted the pail and he followed you to the kitchen. “But do you? Do you really know it?”
You dumped the water down the sink and plunked the empty bucket on the floor. “I know it and I know who done it. I saw you. How could you?”
“Your brother Arn’s gonna get the house in the will. He’ll be lookin’ for a wife soon. Means Cal’s gonna have to get his own place, take Will with him or get a wife of his own. And you? Where does that leave you?”
“There’s jobs for me out there, I can clean, I can cook,  I’m sure I could waitress,” you argued as you crossed to him. You grabbed his arms and tried to shove him. “Go. You don’t need to worry about me. I’d prefer it if you left me alone all together. You got what you wanted, Sheriff.”
“Not all of it,” he smirked. “You gonna drive yourself mad with all this.”
“What do you care?” You slapped his chest with both hands. “You don’t care about no one but you. You killed him!” You hit him again, “You killed him!”
He grabbed your upper arms and shook you. “You shut up about that now. You say anything again and you’ll be lyin’ beside him. If that ain’t enough, I’ll put your brothers there first.”
You reeled as if he’d slapped you. Your lip quivered and you sucked it in to keep from sobbing. “What do you want from me? I never wanted any of this.”
“You can’t know what you want, girl,” he wrenched you back and turned as he dragged you through to the living room. “So let me show you what you want. What your new daddy can do for you.”
“Get off of me!” You wrestled with him as he angled you around the couch. He shoved you and you fell back onto the cushions. “Leave me alone!”
He forced you back as you tried to stand and grabbed your chin. He squeezed as he looked down at you.
“Take them bloomers off now,” he ordered. “And hush your mouth.” You gaped up at him. He turned his hand and rested it against your cheek. “There’s one sure way to knock some sense into a woman,” he slapped you lightly, “You can decide if this lesson is an easy one or not.”
You sat back as you shrugged away his hand. You winced and lifted your pelvis and slipped off your underwear. As you did, your stockings bunched at your knees. Lee watched you with thick breath and purred. He knelt down and pushed your legs apart.
“Put your arms up. Just across the couch. Relax.” He directed as he got closer. “I wanna show you somethin’ makes the girls happy.”
“What are you--”
“You stop asking questions before I make it so you can’t. Now,” he squeezed your knees and his hands slipped up your thighs as he urged them further apart, “Just don’t think. Just sit there.”
He lifted your skirt over your head, one hand still on your legs. His warm breath tickled your pelvis and you squirmed. He pinched you and you exclaimed. You stilled and he slid his tongue down your cunt and poked between your folds. You choked on air as he dragged the tip of his tongue around your bud and your legs tense as your feet tried to arch in your flats.
He delved more firmly into your pussy and you grabbed onto the sofa. Your heart sped up and you pushed your pelvis out without thinking. You looked down at his head draped in your skirt as his mouth made sloppy noises. You felt a strange tingle as he kept on and your neck was pricked as you filled with guilt. It should feel good, whatever he was doing.
“Stop, please, Sheriff,” you begged.
He lapped hungrily as he ignored you and his hands gripped your hips. He pushed you into the couch as he devoured you and drew your pleasure to a point on his tongue. Your breath hitched and you moaned without thinking. You wanted him to stop but more, you wanted him to keep going.
And he did. He seemed to enjoy it just as much as your core pulsed. Your fingers dug into the cushion and your toes curled. You cried out, a voice that didn’t sound like yours, and rocked your pelvis against his face as you were overcome with delirium. You’d never felt so delicious.
Every ounce of strength drained from you. You panted as you slouched against the couch and he pulled away. Your skirt slipped from his head and his lips shone with your juices. He rubbed your legs and watched you writhe as your nerves were overwrought.
He stood with a grunt and unbuckled his belt. He licked his lips and tilted his head. “I knew you wanted me and now you know it too,” he said, “Now you show me that ass. You know I can’t resist.”
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zodiyack · 3 years
Text
Smile
Pairing: Thomas Shelby x Female!Reader
Warnings: Cuteness?, fluff, swearing, no proofreading
Words: 2,191
Summary: A cold winter’s night gives Tommy inspiration to go for the woman he desires. After all, what gentleman would let a lady walk home in the teeth chattering cold?
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Taglist: @matth1w, @redspaceace-writes, @captivatedbycillianmurphy​, @stydia-4-ever​, @simonsbluee​, @marquelapage​, @stuckysslag​, @darling-i-read-it​, @psychkunox​, @peakyxtommy​, @jenepleurepasbaby​, @thewarriorprincessxo​, @sebastianstanslefteyebrow​, @fandom-puff​
Masterlist | Peaky Blinders Masterlist | Cillian Murphy Masterlist
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The woman who worked with his family, sitting at the front of the betting shop despite being someone who should never have to see what horrors the Shelbys have. She was the one Tommy dreamt of the few times he’d actually been able to sleep. His heart thundered as he passed her, waving a hand with a kind and welcoming smile, a genuine one at that. His family could tease him all they’d like, but Y/n L/n had stolen Thomas’ heart and he was perfectly fine with that.
However, he wasn’t the best at telling her so. He could talk to her just fine but telling her he fancied her... Y/n was far too innocent. Sure, she wasn’t literally innocent but he couldn’t bear to bring her into the shit-show disguised as “family-business”. The smile she returned to him every time he passed her only reminded him of that.
“Mr. Shelby? You-” His head perked up, expression of deep thought washing away at the sound of her soft voice. Oh, her beautiful voice. It serenaded him without either of the two even realizing it.
“Again, please Y/n, call me Tommy.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” he let out a small chuckle, “I promise. Now, what about me?”
“Um... Oh! Yes! You have a visitor. I assume it’s about some Peaky Business so I told them I’d get you.”
Tommy nodded. “Thank you, Y/n.” His eyes had been fixated on her long enough to notice more about her appearance than he had a  The pink on the tip of her nose, the slightest hue of blue on her lips. “Y/n...come here please.”
“Alright...” She did as she was told. A small nervous feeling bounced around in her gut, alarm bells ringing. Tommy was hard to read, but the request scared her more. Ada was the one who got her the job, Tommy was the one who let her keep the job. Was he having second thoughts?
Before another worrying thought could make its way to her head, Tommy swung his coat over Y/n’s shoulders. A little sigh of relief, yet also a gasp of surprise, escaped Y/n’s lips as the coat began to envelope her in its warmth. Caught in the moment, her eyes flicked to Tommy’s, his to hers. They just stared. And yet, neither of them minded.
His face... It was like a Greek god, or an angel maybe? So imperfectly perfect.
That’s what he was.
She thought about his smile, not currently visible, but always on her mind. It looked so handsome, so charming, and, dare she say, pretty. His smile brought hers to her face. Even if it was hiding in the pits of the darkest, deepest, smallest hiding place on a bad day, his own called hers to the surface almost instantly.
The beautiful blue of Tommy’s orbs, like sapphires sparkling in the light that bounced off them or a mad ocean; the rage secretly a symphony as each wave crashed and washed away, a symphony only those who stopped to listen, actually listen, could hear. She had so many words and ways to describe the almost child-like look in his eyes, full of a hidden innocence ironically enough, but a knock at the door tore them away from her before they even reached her mouth.
 “Mr. Shelby? If you and your...uh...friend are done here, I have some business to talk with you.” The man was impatient. Luckily, his scare drew an instant reaction from Y/n. She had hurriedly turned around to face the guest with a flushed expression across her face the moment the door swung open. With her attention elsewhere, she missed the wince the man elicited from Tommy when he called Y/n his “friend”.
“Yes. We’re done. Y/n, you may go back to your work now.” He excused her with the same lift of his lips he’d always given her, only this time, the corners of his mouth were a little higher, a little closer to his eyes. This was progress.
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A thin sheet of snow, white as angel’s wings, cloaked Small Heath. The waters were slick with ice. The cold wrapped its arms round Birmingham, Mother Nature hoping to warm her children and herself regardless of her cold skin. It nipped at the tips of noses like she was booping her finger against them in attempt to draw a smile from her shivering children.
Tommy cursed to himself. It felt so much colder than it did at the start of the day- one person on his mind upon the realization. Y/n had left a little prior to Thomas, just like she did every other day. Her reddened nose, her trembling lips as her teeth subtly and silently chattered, her fragile form even more so with her arms wrapped around her and Tommy’s coat in attempt to gain warmth. The images never seemed to leave his brain, especially not when she returned his coat.
He began to walk home, still focused on Y/n. Pondering up a variety of situations, good and bad, he tried to reassure himself. Constant anxiety was not new for Tommy. He worried for his family, for his friends- for Y/n... Too much was on his mind but he couldn’t seem to shake any of it off.
Although he was looking straight ahead- looking where he was going, he wasn’t entirely paying attention. A grunt slipped from his throat as he walked into someone, knocking them over and causing him to stumble. Normally, he’d just tell them to watch it, but as he regained focus on what’s in front of him rather than what’s been bothering him, he paused.
She too was surprised, having literally been knocked off her feet by none other than Thomas fucking Shelby. Her head jerked upwards to see who had walked into her, a similar intensity as Tommy’s. But she softened as well, untensing when his face, those baby blue gems, came into her view. He looked so puzzled, so...guilty.
“Fuck!” He was quick to drop the ground and help her up, checking her for any form of injury. “Are you alright, Y/n?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Are you alright? You look frightened-”
“I wasn’t paying any attention to my surroundings, I must’ve walked right into you. You know I didn’t mean for that to happen, love? It was purely on accident. Is there any way I can make it up to you? Anything at all?”
“Tommy. It’s alright.” The way she said his name was comforting. Her voice was soothing as usual. Her hand came to his upper arm, a relaxed and friendly grip. She gave him a squeeze, letting him know she meant it, that she was serious. “But, before I answer your second question, please, answer mine.”
Thomas was ready to ignore her, lips already parting to ask her again, but the sincerity of her concerned demeanor crumbled the facade he’d put up. He released a heavy sigh, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “I’m just- ...worried.” It took a lot for him to admit some things, but the feeling of relief that surged through him after he told her...it felt like she took the burden from his shoulders.
“About what?”
He looked around for a minute and then suddenly stopped. Now that he thought about it, they weren’t that far from his place. He looked back to her. Her form was just as cold as it was this morning, the color of her lips had darkened, likely from longer time in colder weather.
“How about this. You come with me, to my place, we warm you up, get you a cup of tea, and then I’ll tell you.”
“W-what? No, Tom, you don’t have to-” There it was again. His name. She was like a siren, luring Thomas Michael Shelby, the helpless sailor, his name entwined with her voice- her melody. Her form did not change, as it was her he desired most.
“No, I do. I’m the reason you were on the ground, I’m the reason you’re covered in snow, but I’ll be damned if I become the reason you freeze to death out here.”
“I won’t-”
“You live quite some distance away,” his final attempt, a pleading sigh to mark it as so, and he was determined to make it a strong one, “...at least let me drive you home.”
She looked to be in serious contemplation of his offer, biting her lip and rocking back in forth to collect some warmth from movement before she returned her eyes to his. “...Fine.”
“I’d still like to get you warmed up though, so you can’t turn me down about that, yeah?”
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The air escaping her parted lips could just barely be seen. Huddled by the fire, wrapped in Tommy’s sheets with a mug in her hands resting close to her face, the sinister chill was retreating from her body. Tommy felt his heart speed as he watched her. It felt...right. It felt right to have her be safe and warm, just as it felt right to have her there, with him.
Though a number of feelings were checked as “right”, there was a rather large one that didn’t. There was a feeling that wasn’t right, that hadn’t been satiated. His feelings for her poked at him, urging him to kiss her, hug her, ask her, to do something! Anything!
“You going to tell me what was on your mind, or was that just a trick to get me to accept your ride home, Mr. Shelby?” The grin that was present on her lips could be practically be heard as she asked the question.
“Not a trick, I promise.” His chuckle brought a chortle to Y/n’s mouth. He walked to the fire, sitting beside her. “I’ll tell you. But first...you have to promise me something.”
“Yes, anything.”
“Promise me that you won’t go spreading my business where it doesn’t need to be.” He took a deep inhale, exhaling it as he prepared to speak his next request involving her reaction. “And promise me this won’t affect our relationship.”
Her brows furrowed in confusion. “...I-...  I promise, but, ...I don’t understand how it could make a change between us?”
“It just...” He lifted his hands, scanning his brain for the right words. His hands dropped, making a small sound as they hit his thighs, the sound hidden only slightly by his sigh. “It just can.”
“How so? I mean, surely it’s-”
“I was worried about you.”
“O-oh? Thank you, that’s very-”  She didn’t understand. But how could he blame her with her lack of context?
“No. I was worried about you because I seem...” a pause to get it out. “I seem to have fallen in love with you.” He looked into the fire with an intensity. He looked at it as if looking at her would make him crumble on the spot. The moments passing by without any response from her made the fire so much more entertaining. Tommy Shelby couldn’t be scared by much, he’d already been through war, but this? It scared him.
A part of him wanted to look at her, see the reaction just in case it was just a lack of verbal response...but another part didn’t want to face the disappointment. Y/n was a nice woman and Tommy could never bring himself to hate her. Losing her would be hard, but seeing her at work would be harder. Tearing her from the job she cherished would be harder. He couldn’t do that to her.
Luckily, “Your eyes are so pretty...” he didn’t have to. “Your eyes, your smile-  everything about you has the stars jealous of its beauty. Personally, I wondered if our lips would meet. Today, in your office. It took everything in me not to surge forward, taste your lips on mine.” She snickered lightly, “Excuse my bluntness.”
“I like your bluntness. I only wish I’d been gifted with it.” He joined in, turning to face her, finally. He took a moment to admire the way her features looked in the orangey light from the fire. His eyes, observing her face with great interest, traveled to her lips before flicking back up to hers.
“Is that so?... Well, Tommy, now’s a good time to be blunt.”
“Pardon?”
She’d seen it. Fixated, just like him, on his eyes, specifically. “If you want to kiss me, just say so.” She’d caught him, easily with how entranced they both were.
He thought to himself. What’s blunter than saying he wanted to kiss her?
It happened in one swift motion. One second she was giving him a smug quirk of her brow, the next, her lips her locked with his. They pulled away, slowly and hesitatingly. “That was...as blunt as I could be.”
A laugh erupted from her. The sound sweeter than the songbirds. Then, Tommy smiled. Even if he wouldn’t be her target, in a boat on a restless sea, he knew, without a single doubt, that he’d go to her willingly. In fact, he did. And upon reaching the siren, perched on a sturdy ledge-like-rock, he realized she meant no harm. Tommy smiled. The smile reached his eyes.
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TO FIND YOUR KISS IS NOW LIVE!  
Authors will be revealed next week!  For now all fics are anonymous.  Treats can be posted through author reveals on 2/21.  We will post an updated masterpost at that time.
To Find Your Kiss collection on AO3 | Treats Masterpost
GIFT FIC MASTERPOST
- Reap the Stars for abbytheatre08
The prompt: After Ben's death, Rey goes mad and turns to the dark side. Only Ben's not dead anymore. ----------------------- She is consuming fire, magnificent in her rage. She will burn the galaxy to its foundations, until the ashes rain down and pile high as mountains. She will gather them into bouquets and scatter them like petals upon his grave.
He will be remembered, and they will not.
Call him The Light Bearer and Joy Giver. Call him He Who Loved and Laid Down His Life. Call him Ben.
- we are question marks that hang above the endless unexplained for AlwaysEverlark
The first time she walked into his club, she was looking for a job. Kylo took one look at her—the stubborn pout of her lip, the determined glint in her eyes, the ruddy glow of her face where the sun had kissed it—and swallowed a lump in his throat that was shaped like the words you’re too good for this place.
They needed a singer. Kira Johnson could hold a tune, knew the old standards, and had a knockout pair of tits to boot. A few slinky ballgowns and a touch of lipstick, and she’d more than do the trick of distracting suckers long enough to part them from their money.
The club solely needed to break even; anything they made on top of the Syndicate’s cut was gravy, and Kylo Ren had been lining his pockets with his own take for long enough that he could see Kira for the lump of clay that she was: rough-hewn, misshapen, but soft and supple and sure to curve under his touch.
- Eighty Bucks Says Sweetheart for Amoreusou
Ben likes puzzles. Rey needs help with a bunch of them. Good thing it's a slow day at the office.
- Seldom Visions for Andrina_Nightshade
After visiting an old Sith temple, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren has fallen into a deep sleep when he pricks his finger on the point of a red crystal. Rey become is the first to find him, but his rescuer isn't just any general or pilot, it's the woman he shares a soul with, who haunts his waking hours, who still sees him even in his sleep.
- The Dyad for aneighthdomain
Based of the Prompt: Groundhog Day scenario. Ben and Rey keep getting sent back to the first time they met and no matter what they do, Ben always dies so they stop trying to change events and just live a life time in the year between and couple of weeks and run away together.
- Saudade: The Love That Remains for AnneAnna
- The Delegation for aNerdObsessed
A humanitarian delegation from Naboo arrives at Niima Outpost. Rey is skeptical, to say the least.
- i don't want you like a best friend for anopendoor
It’s not like she hadn’t seen this coming—Rose told her weeks ago that he was invited. It was an inevitability Rey was always going to have to face, she just didn’t think that Rose would be so merciful as to also give every guest a plus one.
But Rey can’t really be upset—and she is totally, unequivocally not upset—that Ben's bringing someone because, well.
She is, too.
- Love is Weakness for bittersnake
“He’s someone I found on my recent trip to Corellia,” Rey replies placidly, her face practiced in its boredom. “It doesn’t mean anything.”
“Love is weakness,” her grandfather reminds her, the way he has for years. It’s why he doesn’t love her. He will not be weak. It’s why she doesn’t love him, either.
- in sickness and in health (with health being less likely) for BlueButterflyKisses
Deciding to spend the rest of their lives together is the easy part for both Rey and Ben; the trouble is in how to propose.
- Snowed In for Blueyedgurl
Never in her wildest dreams did Rey Johnson think she would ever get to meet her favorite other Kylo Ren. She also would have never entertained the idea of the scenario she found herself in. How did a hike in the woods lead to a snowstorm and taking shelter in a remote cabin in the woods? The idea was so ridiculous but had become reality. Stuck inside with a handsome stranger surrounded by a winter storm, Rey wonders what will happen with no power and only one bed. Will they be polite co-habitants stuck in a strange set of circumstances or is there room for something more?
- Curses, Comforts and Capybaras for Bombastique
Arrogant CEO bites off more than he can chew when he angers a witch... And suddenly finds himself transformed into a capybara. Can kindhearted wildlife rehabber Rey Niima help him break the curse?
- To Heal a Broken Soul for Cat2000
Ben survives the fallout of Exegol, but his connection to the physical world is in danger. Rey tends to him as she searched for a way to heal him.
- holding me like water in your hands for Ceallaigh
After Hux finds out Ben killed Snoke, Hux encases Ben in Carbonite. Rey refuses to let Ben stay frozen forever so she mounts a rescue.
- Like a Thief in the Night for chagrins
Their bond won't let them be alone. At least this time it's the middle of the night and they can't get into a shouting match.
- The Chance for Crysania
When Rey and Ben, long time co-workers who have never been able to admit their feelings to each other, go on a weekend retreat to work on a movie adaptation script together, a Nor’easter leaves them snowed in. On Valentine’s Day.
- Awake for cuddlesome
Something inside him is awake, and something inside her is about to wake up.
An alternate interrogation scene.
- darkness rises, and light to meet it for czechia
After the throne room, Jedi Ben Solo and Kira Ren meet again a year later.
- Not Quite a Fairytale for DarkMage13
Rey lets a stranger use the phone of the café she works at late one night. It changes the whole course of her life.
- You Won't Escape Me ('Cause I Set You Free) for DoorKeeper9
- The Canvas of Your Skin for darlingreadsalot
She was incapable of touching him without drawing blood, it seemed. Lines like vermillion paint streaked where her fingers sketched down the contours of his face, his back, and now his chest.
In which a Force bond is splintered, a resurrection goes wrong, a kiss is forgotten, and two almost-lovers avoid speaking for the better half of a year.
- Fleeing the Storm for driverfever
As the granddaughter of an merciless aristocrat, Rey’s life hangs on a thread at the hands of the French Revolutionaries. When her childhood friend, Ben, offers to platonically marry her in order to take her to his home in England to safety, she has no choice but to accept.
But her suitor and revolutionary Hux won’t give her up so easily. Hounded by revolutionaries and falling in love, Rey and Ben must use all their wits to flee Paris and make it to England.
- Equal Measure for dustoftheancients
When Princess Rey of Coruscant calls upon the cursed Sir Kylo Ren to help her escape her grandfather the emperor’s political machinations, she discovers freedom in the ancient familial magic that binds them together.
- Benimina Solo's Late On-Set Force Ability for Evangel10n
Benimina Solo has never, not even once, had an ounce of Force Sensitivity. She's done a great deal to move on with her life after failing out of her uncle's Jedi training school. So when Rey Palpatine comes into her life and suddenly everything changes, she's not a happy camper.
- Splatter for expendable
“You’re Palpatine’s girl,” he says coldly.
“His chief of staff, yes.” Rey’s eyes narrow. “And you have your hand on my ass, Kylo. Kindly take it off.”
“Or what?”
AKA powerful corporate rivals Kylo and Rey put the hate in love/hate.
- The Haunted Mirror for FangirlintheForest
When Rey travels to UK to attend the reading of his grandfather will, a grandfather she didn't know existed until that very moment, she finds a house, and a old story that will haunt her...
- i'm your secretary for firelord65
Kaydel pressed her lips together in a thin line, passing a pile of datapads over the desk. “I don’t know what that pretentious nerf herder has put into your brain, but these are tales of the key roles women have played in past rebellions.” She stood, tapping the pile. “They’re great reads,” she added, with a pointed raise of her eyebrow.
- and they danced across the sky for flipflop_diva
When he was still a child, he constantly watched the blue butterflies as they danced in the sky.
They seemed to be calling him, aiding him each instance that icy-cold darkness flowed through his very veins. The magnificent creatures saved him from the voices. They drowned out the incessant chatter in his head. Temporarily cleared away all the anger. During those brief respites, watching those blue wings flutter in the sky, Ben felt free.
But that’s another life. Another world. Another time. Another, another, another.
And Kylo's no longer a child.
No. He welcomes the darkness now. Embraces it.
- Finding The Answer for FrenchMartiniPlease
Rey pines for Ben Solo…so why does her soulmate mark always drain of colour whenever she gets close to him?
- Almost Unforgettable for HopeRebel
The woman in the mirror has blood on her clothes, cash in her bag, and a letter from her husband telling her it's better to forget. Well, he got his wish. She forgot everything-- including her name. And she wasn't the only one afflicted.
It'll take the combined efforts of gumshoes, a flatfoot, a washed-up Hollywood starlet, and more to get to the bottom of this bad business. In the end, these things always come back to the beginning.
- The Curl of a Sigh for irridesca
During the last song in Maxine’s set, a song she announces is called “Soul Companion,” Ben heads back out to the lobby to look for Rey. He finds her not with his eyes but with one broad shoulder, when he bumps into her and knocks her gig bag out of her hands and onto the plush carpet.
- and they were roommates for Lady_of_Haven
When Ben loses a bet to his roommate, Rey, he has to eat her out for 30 days.
- torn away from you (my heart is broken) for lakerose
The Force binds more than minds.
- If You Take Me for literallynoonecares
She sighed wistfully as she watched her two friends lean in toward each other as they danced, their lips meeting and melding together as they seemed to become one person instead of two separate beings. She had seen them kiss so many times, but this kiss … it was special.“I just want someone to kiss me like that,” she mused softly to herself, her eyes not leaving her friends.“I could make that happen if you wanted.”
- 3 Days in Vienna for Like_A_Dove
Kylo Ren, trained mercenary Alpha assassin, is on a mission—assassinate Chancellor Palpatine and bring his underground authoritarian regime to an end. It’s what the First Order demands, for the better of society.
It should be an easy task. He’s been getting close to the Chancellor and his cronies for years. So how is it that the unexpected appearance of an Omega, with a seemingly similar mission—and a wholly inconveniencing scent—become a distraction he hadn’t accounted for?
- Confidence and Desire for LittleLostStar
“Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually, the confidence will follow.” - Carrie Fisher
- Love brightens even the most monstrous parts of ourselves for LRRH17
No one knows since when the giant, black bear has lived in the forest near Theed. Many stories about the origin of Kylo Ren circulate in the small village. After Rey has run away from Jakku, and arrived in Theed she has heard them all of, but has never actually meet the creature. This changes when her and her friends get attacked by bandits on their way back from Otoh Gunga.
- Your Sweetness Comes With Sugar on the Side for Lutrosis
Rey's daughter loses her mother as she wanders around the Supermarket. Ben finds her and the two connect over both being Type 1 diabetics. They find Rey, and Ben and Rey are instantly smitten. As they date and fall in love they discover that Jade and Ben are connected more than they thought and healing is brought to the Solo/Skywalker clan.
- Allegories, or Allusions to Real Life for maq_moon
“Boys, please stop arguing.” Rose rubbed her temples. “Poe, we get it, you’re childhood best buddies, you’ve got a better grasp on his character than some rando of a rando you met at a party. Finn, for fuck’s sake, we’ve been working with Ben for months. I’m pretty sure if he’s a serial killer or whatever, it would have come out by now.” Finn sat back in his seat, grumbling. “Not how serial killers work.” Rey was going to have a headache if this continued any longer, so she lied through her teeth at the reality of a new player joining their D&D party. "He seems nice." She didn’t trust a single inch of skin on that man. "I'm sure it'll be fine."
- A Mad Man, with a Box for MBlair
Rey and Ben meet, move in together, get engaged, and marry.
- Invite the Wild In for midwinterspring
Kylo Ren, the mysterious senator who appeared from out of the deserts of Jakku and somehow brought them back to life, has spent a long and unproductive session on Hosnian Prime. Now, it's time to go home. After all, there's someone waiting for him and so much for them to do together.
(The ancient Sith had some interesting rituals.)
- Purim Party for MissCoppelia
Rey goes back to visit her foster mother for a Purim celebration. She meets Ben Solo who's visiting his parents, who are friends with her foster mother. They have an attraction to each other right away, but try to play it cool.
- The Banished Heart for misszeldasayre
On Rey of Niima’s nineteenth name day, Jakku gains a new wizard.
Jakku is a withering outpost of the kingdom, and its people hope the new wizard - the mysterious Kylo Ren - will bring them the rains the land needs to heal. Rey is a lonely, clanless girl living in Niima, and she has a secret. One she hopes the wizard will be able to help her with too.
- The Smuggler's Bride for MyJediLife
Miss Rey Nemo is the new mistress of Manor Takodana, left to her by the late Lord Skywalker. When a strange man named Kylo Ren appears on her doorstep, she decides to hire him as her new groundskeeper. As Rey faces sinister threats and secrets are revealed, Kylo Ren may be the only person who can save her.
- Annabel Lee for myownlittleinfinity
Rey keeps finding these ... notes in her locker. She doesn't quite get them. They seem like love notes, but she doesn't know who they could be from. Meanwhile she's paired up with Ben Solo (who hates her despite her gigantic crush on him) for this English assignment. Who knows how THIS will go.
- with my body i thee worship for niennathegrey
Miss Rey Nemo is the new mistress of Manor Takodana, left to her by the late Lord Skywalker. When a strange man named Kylo Ren appears on her doorstep, she decides to hire him as her new groundskeeper. As Rey faces sinister threats and secrets are revealed, Kylo Ren may be the only person who can save her.
- the losing game for no_big_deal
Sith Princess Rey Palpatine is given a peculiar gift for her Life Day: a Jedi. Not only that, one who is boorish, spirited, and stubborn. But, he presents an opportunity: one that could liberate her from a life under the thumb of her grandfather. She has seven weeks to change his heart before all her freedom is taken from her - forever.
- standing right in front of you for notkellymarie
When Senator Solo's engagement is pushed forward, he and his Jedi bodyguard, Rey, travel to Naboo alone for the announcement ball. The pair despise each other, constantly bickering and disagreeing with each other, which makes spending extensive amounts of time alone together all that more difficult. Until of course, one of them breaks...
- the good, the bad, and the smuggling for OccasionallyCreative
Ben Solo is a seasoned smuggler. And he’s not bad at it, either. But when bounty hunter Rey offers him a temporary partnership he can’t refuse, Ben will find himself pushed to the limits of his skill, patience, and resourcefulness on a job that’s dangerous enough to be his last.
It’s like his dad used to say: bounty hunters are nothing but trouble, kid.
- Whatever our souls are made of...his and mine are the same for Padawan_Writer
Ben and Rey meet only after Kylo has defected from the First Order and returned to the Resistance and his mother. Will the dyad still find a way to be?
- They say that only the dead have seen the end of war for politicalpadmé
“He traded his life for mine,” Rey choked, stomping back and forth in front of him so fast he could barely keep track of her. “He died. He died so I didn’t have to—and it’s not—it’s—after everything he’s gone through—it’s not fair.” Tears were running down her cheeks now, and Poe wanted to do nothing more than hug her, but there was nothing he could say—nothing she would want to hear. Poe remembered all the people he’d lost, all the times he had raged and screamed and cried about the unfairness of it all. “Leia sacrificed herself to bring him back,” Rey declared suddenly, ceasing her constant pacing around the fire as she looked straight at him. “And he sacrificed himself for me—and now no one’s going to know. All he’ll be remembered as is Kylo Ren, but he was—he was so much more.” She exhaled with a shudder and whispered, “He was a part of me, and I—I don’t feel whole without him.” ~
A Force Ghost Ben/Rey love story, with a side of rebuilding the galaxy.
- Cicatrix for Priestly
Getting cut up by Rey on Starkiller awakens something in Kylo.
- I Will Always Be With You for Prix
But she wouldn’t be able to hide her pregnancy for much longer. She was starting to show, and her friends would start asking questions. She would have to give them answers, some of them would not understand, and none of them would accept.
She carried his child. The tiny spark of light woven with darkness, just like her. Just like his father.
—————
The world has gone dark More times than you Or your mother Or your grandmother Can remember. And every hurricane That was meant to be The end of it all Had instead ended In sunshine again.
So believe me When I say; You will survive this And the next one too.
World’s End—Nikita Gill
- all my daydreams are disasters for QueenOfCarrotFlowers
During her search for the infamous Luke Skywalker — the man who predicted a devastating earthquake in New Madrid, Missouri — Rey finds herself entangled in Luke’s family history and with his brooding nephew, Ben Solo.
- on what ground I was founded (when I first saw you) for redbelles
Kylo dreams of Rey after the Battle of Crait. And the yearning is mutual...
Some Force Bond dream smut inspired by "Shrike" and "NFWMB" by Hozier.
- Last Summer for Reykenobi68
Rey had started to get used to Ben not living next door anymore by the time the holidays came around. Then he's back for the holidays. Rey is really expecting things to go wrong after the way he left at the end of the summer. ut is it really going to be that bad.
- The Long Way Home for reylotrash711
In the aftermath of Exegol, Ben and Rey are divided by misunderstandings.  It will take time and danger for them to work things out.
- Under the moonlight for shariling
I don't know why I followed you here. She wanted to reply. Maybe because you're so tall I couldn't help but notice you. Maybe it's because of your hair or the way you move, or maybe it's because of that kind of melancholic look in your eyes. There is something about you that I find terribly attractive and I don’t know what it is: maybe the moon or the alcohol or the wolf I have met before infected me with some strange parasite and now I am hopelessly attracted to dogs, I do not know. She could have said one of these things, any of them, instead she said: “I've never bitten anyone before, and I want you to be my first.”
- Fallen for shipperofdarkness
Prompt: Devil!Ben and Angel!Rey or Angel!Ben and Devil!Rey. How do these two on completely opposite sides fall in love and defy worlds to be together?
- come away with me for silentfleur
Rey owns a tinker shop, but her life changes when she meets Ben Solo and is cursed by a witch. Not necessarily in that order.
- A Picture of Me Without You for SpaceWaffleHouseTM
"I suppose I'd somehow struggle through / But I'd hate to picture myself without you."
It's impossible not to have a soulmark. It's not a big deal, not in the lax and gin-soaked speakeasies of 1920s Manhattan, but it's still a heavy weight to bear, as Ben Solo and Rey find out side by side.
- Lips Raw With Love for stellardarlings
Their kiss on Exegol wasn't their first kiss...
Nor would it be their last.
- Everyone Makes Divine Mistakes for Takekurabehime
Jedi Knight Ben Solo is sent to Naboo on an errand of mercy (and to visit his grandparents). He arrives in springtime; but will he be able to complete his mission without finding himself distracted and bewildered when love and intrigue waft through the fragrant air?
- Glitter & Gold for TearoomSaloon
Rey is lead singer in an up-and-coming glam metal band. They've finally got steady performances, but that means playing at the same club as the Knights of Ren, whose lead singer definitely isn't interested in any competition.
- To kiss like lovers do for the-reylo-void (Anysia)
Ben and Rey spend their formative years growing up together in Medieval Scotland and it looks like they will end up together. Circumstances intervene and Rey loses her chance to be with him. Devastated, she carries on until the day clan Ren attacks Castle Jakku lead by the notorious killer Kylo Ren.
- Snow Turns To Rain for thehobbem
For a moment, he wanted to ask what she meant, but if he was being completely honest, he already knew.  He asked himself that same question over the years, and none more often than tonight, since seeing her again.  Was leaving worth it?  Was going their separate ways worth leaving each other?
 “I’m not sure,” he said finally, shaking his head.  “I’m happy...” he said, and she tensed a little, so he continued, “with my work.  I’m glad I’m doing what I love, but....”
 “But?”
 “But it wasn’t the only thing I loved.”
- Change the Dance for theresonatinglight
- Meet Me in the Woods for thewayofthetrashcompactor (BriarLily)
“What do you mean no one goes in there?” A chuckle. “It’s haunted. People see all sorts of weird things in there and some don’t ever come out. You’re better off living with your curiosity.” Rey wakes in a shadowy forest with no memory of where she came from, only her name. With the help of the resident guardian she takes a journey to figure out her past, and maybe even discover her future.
- permanent calligraphy (your name on me forever) for Thursdaygirl
As they continue to work together, two things become clear. One: Ben Solo is an enigma. He’s preppy yet humble, privileged yet introspective. He’s the opposite of lazy; she kicks herself every day for assuming otherwise. And two: Ben Solo will never love her.
- show me the stars. for tmwillson3
“I don’t hate Christmas, I just don’t love it the way you do.” Lifting his head, he pulls a face, loosening up a tangled ornament of a poodle with pink, curly fluff. Rey snatches it from him possessively, tossing it back to the cart. “No one loves it the way you do, to be fair.”
“Now that’s the truth,” says Poe, who Finn invited about half an hour ago to keep him company.
“People have bad taste, I don’t know what to say.” Huffing, Rey scrolls through her phone with more intent. “Neither of you are helping me, anyway.”
“What’s the problem?” says Poe.
“Rey thinks her hot neighbor hates her —”
“He does hate me.”
“ — When really he’s been flirting with her for the past, oh I don’t know, how long have you lived there?”
- I realized that I need you, I wondered if I could come home for VR_Trakowski
Rey is doing exploration work for the Resistance, searching for force sensitive planets so any force sensitives that they find have a place to train.
One day, midflight she finds a slip of paper with the elegant scrawling words of the ones that came before. The ones that she found when Ben still roamed the galaxy.
When she lands on a dark and barren planet she is forced to face the feelings she thought she buried.
- Shadows of the Moon for walkingsaladshooter
The hallways got darker, the corridors grew longer. Shadows stretched across the walls. The ghosts of Breha Manor grew each night.
Rey clutched her necklace. Ben met her gaze.
And every night, there was weeping.
- show the way (the world could be) for writergenie
In the aftermath of the Battle of Crait, Rey struggles to find her place among the Resistance. However, her lingering Force bond with Kylo— Ben— whatever name he calls himself— complicates things, blurring the line between friend and foe.
When the tension threatens to boil over and a desperate plan goes awry, Rey begins to wonder whether there really is a line between light and dark after all.
(Stars do burn brightest in the blackness of space.)
- why don't we go (somewhere only we know) for XarisEirene
The bond snaps back into place, even stronger than before. He is here. With Rey, yes, but with Luke - Luke, who is looking at them now with that same dangerous glint in his eye that haunts Ben’s dreams.
- renewed, transfigured, in another pattern for yodalorian
Rey mourns on Tatooine while Ben is stuck in the World Between Worlds. But neither of them are alone, and blue butterflies light a path back to each other.
156 notes · View notes
jaedore · 3 years
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𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 | 𝐭𝐰𝐨
𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: jaehyun x reader
𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: mythology!au, romance, loads of angst, smut (future chapters)
𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: swearing, violence (choking) -if you are uncomfortable with these themes then i highly suggest you no longer interact!
𝐚/𝐧: IM TRYING AGAIN SO LETS SEE HOW IT GOES OR I MIGHT CRY. as always, italicized text are thoughts/emphases (you’ll know)
[ 7.5 k words ]
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You huff, rolling your eyes as you walk out of the room. You hated everything about Jaehyun, his stupid ego, his stupid face, his stupid hair, everything. It was like he was made to hate everyone, including you.
“Hey!” you recognize Mark’s voice, making you snap your head up from the ground.
“Hey, Mark,” you thinned your lips.
“You okay?” he noticed you clutching your arm.
“I’m fine.”
“Wanna go practice then?” Mark raised a brow at you.
“Well since Jaehyun ruined my chance to, why not?” you painted a disguised look on your face by just the name of the so-called male.
Certainly surprised, Mark’s head slightly jolted back, “Jaehyun’s...practicing?” it was rare for the hot-headed male to practice in his free time, so when Mark heard it he didn’t know how to take it.
“Yeah,” you roll your eyes, “with Aera. Do what you want with that information. I’ll be waiting for you outside.”
Your footsteps were synchronous with Mark’s as he walked to the dagger room and you, to wait outside for him. Before you could open the door, you heard Mark scold Jaehyun and you couldn’t stop the smirk from growing on your lips.
You sat on one of the rocks that decorated the entrance as you waited for Mark, no one was here this early yet so everything was nice and peaceful. The birds chirped among the green trees spring provided, you were thankful that the training center was in the middle of the woods, it was far from the busy life on Mount Olympus. Far from the noise, the chaos, the rules, and the pressure of living a life as a child of a god/goddess.
It only took a few minutes before you heard the door swing open, you snap your head expecting to see Mark, but instead see Jaehyun storming out with his hands clenched in fists. You avoid eye-contact, your eyes growing big at the realization of what you may have just caused. You can hear Jaehyun mumble something from his lips, but you’re too timid to listen closely. Once you see his figure stomp off into the woods, you glance up to see Mark’s forehead creased and his arms crossed in front of him.
“Is he always so hateful towards you?” he chirps up, both of your eyes glued to the back of Jaehyun. You shrug as Mark passes you towards the clearing of the waterfall where you two usually practice.
“Seems like he’s always got something to hate,” you follow your friend into the woods, the narrow trail of dirt small enough for only the two of you.
“I wonder if Hades is like that too,” he whispers in thought.
No, he’s not, you thought to yourself. You remember last night’s event, the kind smile adorned his father’s face as his calm voice could lull you to sleep. At first glance, no one would think that he was the king of the underworld. Curiosity sits on your shoulders as you think how different the two are.
“What’d you even say to him?” you glance at the mud that splatters on your boot.
“I just told him that this is a room to train, not flirt.”
You sigh and shake your head, “Mark, that’s exactly what I said to Jaehyun too. Now he knows that I’m the one who told you.”
“Maybe that’s why he was so mad,” you could see him cock his head to the side.
You scoff at his oblivious remark, “Yeah, no shit, Mark.”
After a few more steps, the clearing to the azure waterfall and rocky boulders painted the scene in front of you and Mark bringing you both peace of mind. A feeling of relief washed over you, making you forget all the pressure and hate in the world.
Taking notice of the tenseness in your shoulder escaping with your breath, he whispers, “don’t worry, he’s probably just like that. I wouldn’t take it personally.”
“I know,” you thinned your lips. Of course, you knew that Jaehyun had something against everyone, but why did it feel like it was just against you? And why did you care so much?
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With sore muscles and bruised fists, you and Mark were side by side walking back to the training center where all the students began to pour in for their daily lessons. The chattering of students became louder as you two got closer.
You and Mark were in the middle of talking when a tall man ran next to you, the smell of him immediately giving away who he was.
“Hey, Y/N!”
You turn your head to see Lucas, son of Psyche, Goddess of Soul, and Compassion, with a beaming smile shining at you. You couldn’t help but greet him back with your biggest smile and a little laugh because of the trance he had on you. Lucas is always happy, he’s always kind and spreading his love around to others making sure they were happy. He was like the water on a hot day.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Mark whispered to you, giving you raised, yet suggestive brows. You scowl at him for him almost being obvious, but Lucas’s laughter pulled your attention.
“Where’d you two go?” he asked.
“We just went for a walk,” you replied, being completely aware of the white lie you just told. It just wouldn’t be fair for him and others to find out that you were getting private lessons with Mark.
“Cool, cool, you two are close?”
Your gaze from the ground pulls your eyes to Lucas’s, it’s filled with wonder, curiosity, and a bit of hope, “yeah, we’re just good friends.”
“Friends,” Lucas laughs, it rings in your ear, the lovely sound of him expressing amusement lifts the corner of your lips, “well, then...do you wanna grab lunch together today? I know a place where we can eat, too-” he leans closer to you, “-plus, it’s better than the cafeteria.”
You chuckle a bit, raising a brow because you were not expecting him to ask you out for lunch, “like a date?”
Lucas nodded, “Yeah, you can call it that.”
Immediate heat rose to your cheeks, making your heart thump a little faster and constricting your throat, “y-yeah, we can do that.”
“Great, I’ll see you later then,” Lucas lightly punches your arm and runs to catch up with another friend and as you watch him go, your eyes follow his path and cross Jaehyun.
Your jaw clenches at the male as he sends fire bullets to your chest, your entire body tenses up that you run to the opposite entrance to avoid him. You shut the doors behind you with a gulp, but the second you turn around, a dark aura settles in your bones.
Dressed in dark leather and a cold stare, Jaehyun stands before you, his presence bringing the entire world down with him. “Was my father at your house last night?”
You inhaled a drawn-out breath at his question, almost wanting to just ignore it and walk past him, but something in your mind stops you from doing so. “Yes.”
Jaehyun narrows his eyes at you, the eyes that are sharp as a knife and could cut you at a glance, “why?”
“I don’t know Jaehyun, he was there before I got home. All I knew was that he needed to talk to my mother,” you reply as you find the courage to move past him, but as you did, you could sense the suspicious demeanor sitting on his shoulders, “don’t worry, it had something to do with the affairs of Olympus.”
“You don’t know that,” you stop in your tracks and turn back around, viewing his back.
“Yes, I do, Jaehyun. They wouldn’t tell me anything, so I’m pretty sure something’s going on, not between them, but on Olympus,” you reassure him, hesitating to put your hand on his shoulder.
No one knows the relationship between him and his father, the only thing everyone knew was that it was a tense relationship. Cautiously, you set your hand on his shoulder to relieve him. His sturdy shoulders that felt like they were holding up the entire world, slightly slumped, relaxing in your touch. You thinned your lips, thankful that at least part of him trusted you, but it only resulted in him snapping around to clutch your arm, the same arm that he grasped yesterday that had turned to hues of blue and red. You gasp at the solid grip he had on you, the pain from your bruise coming back as he tightened it. Your eyes widened at his dark orbs, making you feel timid and weak in his stare.
Jaehyun pulled you close to his chest, his strong muscles against your forearm and the smell of ashes, musk, and spice wafting to your nose. With the tiny time, you had to glance at him, his sharp features allured you to stare, even more, he was so beautiful up close. His skin was pale as the winter snow, yet his lips were as red as the cherry blossoms in the spring, everything about him hypnotized you that you didn’t even notice him lowering his head to your gaze.
“Look at me,” Jaehyun’s voice is low, almost quiet but still powerful, “I told you to never touch me again,” his voice is poison to your ears that injects fear in your veins.
You winced as you felt him tighten his hold a little bit more, but you managed to push him away from you, his grip easily slipping off like butter.
“Then don’t touch me either,” your brows creased at him before you turned on your heel to walk back to where everyone else was.
You could feel his gaze burning through your back, but you couldn’t help but turn back and see him staring right back into your soul. So you quickly walked until you saw civilization again, the buzz of lower-class students and the sounds of lockers slamming.
“Hey, where’d you go?” Mark came up behind you, making you jump.
“I-I uh, nowhere, it doesn’t matter,” you huff.
Behind you, Jaehyun turned from the corner you came out of, which sent questions out of Mark’s mouth. Such as, why you came out of the same place Jaehyun did if you were walking to him, what he had to say, etc. but you only shooed him off, picking up your pace to walk to the hand-to-hand combat room.
As much as you tried avoiding Jaehyun, the thought of him was engraved on the inside of your head. It didn’t help that since you two were in the same rankings, you’d have to train with him. Rank A, only for the best. When you found out Jaehyun was in the same class rank as you, you couldn’t help but feel a bitter taste on the tip of your tongue. You knew he was going to be trouble from the beginning.
“Um..okay, you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine Mark,” you huff at his question and he gets the signal that you no longer wanted to talk about it. That’s how you always were, you always brushed your problems to the side, and Mark’s afraid that one day, they might pile up so high on your shoulders that you’d combust and destroy yourself.
Nonetheless, Mark hums, glancing at how you purse your lips forcefully, “if you say so. What did Lucas have to say to you?”
Like the only light bulb in the only room, your eyes immediately lit up to the male’s name, “he asked me if I wanted to grab lunch with him and eat somewhere else...with just the two of us,” you thin your lips and fiddle with your fingers, even the thought of Lucas made you happy. A sudden outburst of Mark’s laughter makes you snap your thoughts to reality so you slap his arm at his lack of seriousness, “what’s so funny?”
“Nothing,” Mark clutches his stomach, his other hand shielding himself from you, “it’s just weird seeing you act this way because of some boy.”
“He’s not just some boy,” you narrow your eyes at Mark, “he’s Lucas,” you giggle, your eyes closing in innocence.
“I guess I shouldn’t say ‘weird’. It’s different, but it’s a good different, I guess,” he shrugs and walks towards the arena because it’s almost time for training.
“You guess?” you run after him.
“Yeah,” his voice raises in reassurance as he opens the door, the smell of iron protruding the air and the feeling of cement on the heels of your feet.
You slightly pout your lips and blink in your thoughts, are you really that intense that you never showed any sort of happy emotion? You never focused on anything else other than training and perfecting your skills, but now that you have, a new feeling settles on your heart.
“Don’t think about it so much,” Mark nudges you and walks ahead of you to talk to the other trainers.
You watch him jog up to the others, soaking in what he said, but it spills out of your head the second you feel a hard push on your shoulder from the person behind you. Turning your head, the person who shoved you was no one other than Jung Jaehyun, he doesn’t even look back at you as he passes you, but you give him a dirty look and inhale a sharp breath. The things he does to test your patience.
“Asshat.”
It’s only a few minutes until the other students in your ranking pour in, it’s a small group, but it’s a proud group because everyone had to train endlessly to get to the top rank. There are a few new faces, but most of the students are ones you’ve seen for a while, you nod to greet them as they all step in and stand behind you. As expected, it doesn't take too long when you begin hearing whispers from them.
“Jaehyun’s in the top group?”
“How did he make it?”
“Is he really that good?”
“Hades probably bought him his rank.”
“Or he’s just really good.”
“Yeah, he’s really attractive too.”
You roll your eyes, but immediately catch Jaehyun’s stare. You hold his gaze raising a brow and mouthing “what?” to him because it seems like at this point, he’s just looking at you to look at you. Jaehyun peels his eyes from you to look at the other students, greeting them also. The gesture is kind, his lips thinned, not lifted, but his demeanor changes and it disgusts you.
“I know! Do you think he’s talking to anyone?”
You exhale a scoff, your tongue poking out from the inside of your cheek as you turn your head, “we’re here to train. You’ve made it this far, so if your mind is still focused on catching someone’s attention, go to the Aquatic then,” your whisper is sharp, almost on the brink of cruelness.
You didn’t have time to train with others who didn’t take training seriously, if they didn’t and were focused on other things, you urged them to leave. In this case, you suggested they leave for the famous club on Mount Olympus, Aquatic, since their mind is focused on catching someone’s eye, specifically Jaehyun’s. He’s not even that great, he’s an ass.
“Alright everyone, we’re gonna start,” Mark claps his hand, gaining attention from everyone.
“Newbies, welcome, this is going to be your first day in hell,” one of the other trainers said, earning a slap in the arm from Mark.
“No, it’s not, but we will be training you to be the best. Your limits will be pushed and you might cry, but we’re only trying to make you the best of the best,” Mark explains, eyeing his peer.
“If your mind isn’t in this training room right now, then I suggest you leave or else this will be a very, very long 4 hours,” a smirk grows on the other trainer, you can’t help but mentally laugh because of how he’s trying to explain this process by scaring the newcomers. You can see the slight fear and nervousness in their eyes.
“So that being said,” Mark claps his hands again, “we’ll be testing where your skills are. You’ll be paired up with someone who’s already been training on this team for years and will be required to fight them in front of us. We just want to see where you are and if you have potential in this rank.”
“And if we don’t?” One of the girls behind you speaks up, everyone’s head turning towards you.
“Then you get demoted to the ranking before this one. As in, you go back into your old ranking group until we see that you’re ready to join,” you turn your head and reply to the girl, you raise your eyebrow at her for her lack of focus from before.
“Just as Y/N said,” Mark responds.
“Then why recruit us?” She asks.
“You’ve scored well in your old ranks, which has gained you access to this ranking group, but we have to see if you’re good enough or have the potential to train with us. We have to see if you blend in well,” a female trainer adds.
“To see if we’re good enough?” the newcomer doesn’t stop with her questions as she repeats the female trainer’s latest comment.
“Look,” you turn until you’re completely facing her, “if you want to be here so bad, then shut your mouth and stop wasting time. Focus on training and getting better instead of asking questions about your own abilities, which you should know about unless you’re actually not as good as you seem.” You tilt your head when the corner of your lip lifts into a smirk, you don’t mean to be intimidating, but she’s wasting everyone’s time.
The newbie flashes you a distasteful scoff but glances back up at the trainers who also seem to be on your side. If you heard correctly, you thought you heard Jaehyun chuckle, but you ignore it when you see the narrowness of his eyes.
“She’s right,” the female trainer defends you, clapping her hands to end the discussion and to start training, “okay, we’re gonna pair you guys up now.”
Name after name was called until it was just you and the new girl who couldn’t keep her trap shut. She had a mouth, but did she have the skills?
“Newbie, you’re with Y/N,” the second you heard your name, your lips pressed together, an impatient sigh escaping your nose.
“Come on, let’s go,” you don’t glance at her as you lead her to the area you’d usually warm up to train, “as you probably already know, I’m Y/N.”
“Maeve,” it’s a pretty name, you’ll give her that, but she says it quietly, timidly, contradicting the time she had just opened her mouth to the most respectable trainers.
Her heavy steps are heard as she follows you, both of your frustrated auras tainting the air surrounding you two. Once you get to your spot, you begin jogging wall to wall to get yourself warmed up while she begins stretching. You raised a brow at her, but didn’t think too much of it, you needed to get focused because no matter what skill level she was at, both of you had something to learn from this. You ran, jogged, did some push-ups and sit-ups before you heard the faint name of Jaehyun’s get called. You glanced up to see he was paired up with one of the male newcomers, who was almost as tall as Jaehyun, but not as lean as him. When they walked up, the newcomer walked as if he possessed a sense of confidence, like he knew he was going to beat Jaehyun. Nonsense, you mentally scoff to yourself as you eyed him.
When Mark blew the whistle, the newcomer proved you wrong, he was doing certainly well with his sharp tactics and blocking defenses. You had a feeling of what Jaehyun was doing, it’s something you do too, he was waiting for the newbie to use all of their energy before attacking them. A corner of your lips slowly lifts when you are deemed correct. As the newcomer begins to stumble, Jaehyun goes for the male, immediately punching his jaw, then his rib. The newcomer trips over his own feet and-
“You got a thing for him or something?” Maeve questioned you.
“Who- Jaehyun?” you scan her up and down, she holds a smirk on her lips as she’s in a runner’s lunge. She’s dressed in the regular uniform but dressed it in her style, which you hate to admit, looked good.
“Yeah, you know he and Aera have a thing, right?” she narrows her eyes at you, signifying that you didn’t want to get involved.
“Oh, and is that such a big deal?” you also go into the lunge until you’re at her eye-level, “Please-” you scoff, “-why would I even care to be interested in someone like him?”
She laughs at your remark, but lunges closer to your face attempting to intimidate you, “you think you’re so high up there, huh?”
Your eyes shoot daggers at her, “what are you even talking about?”
“You clearly think that since you’re the daughter of Athena, you think that you’re so good, so high up there, better than everyone else when we all know that you’re not. That this-” she points her finger up and down at your figure, “is just a show. You’re not as good as you think you are, as everyone sees you as.”
You stand up, eyeing her figure that stretches below you, “what are you trying to do? Provoke me?”
The newcomer with apparently a big ego now, stands up and gives you the same dirty expression you’re giving her, “What if I am?”
“Y/N, newbie, you’re up now!” Mark yells at you two.
You throw a smirk at her, “well consider myself provoked. Get ready for it,” you raise a brow and nudge your shoulder with her’s as you walk past her to the ring.
Passing by Mark, you flash him a prideful smile, but he clutches your arm before you could even pass him, “be gentle.”
You scoff, “don’t worry, she’ll get what she asked for.”
Mark only shakes his head as he leads the two of you to the ring. You and the newcomer both glare at each other, her with hate and you with amusement. It only takes three whistle blows until you two begin in your fighting stance. She’s quick and sharp in her movements as she attempts to throw a jab at you, but you’re faster at defending yourself. You have more force to your movements, so you punch her back, immediately coming in contact with her cheek. The newcomer spits out the blood that spills from the corner of her lip and while she’s distracted, you roundhouse kick the side of her face anticipating the sound of her body thumping the ground.
You stand and wait for her to get up and fight you, but she doesn’t. The next thing you knew, you felt contact with her feet against yours, she swung them under you, making you fall on your back, which results in you roughly falling on your back. Your breathing stutters as your chest heaves, but the next thing you knew, her hands made contact with your neck and she didn’t even show you mercy when she rapidly began to tighten her grasp on you. Your eyes widen as your passageway to air is blocked, you begin to thrash your limbs, hitting everything you could as stars begin to blanket your vision. Every second in your hold comes with a constricting pain, releasing almost every kind of worry in your head. You swore you almost saw her eyes turn black when she saw your struggle.
You can hear the shouts of trainers and chaos around you swirling through blurred vision. Everything was faint but you knew the person who managed to get the girl off of you. He lifted you onto your feet, with his arms wrapping around your limp body, knowing that you needed oxygen in your brain and blood back in your veins.
“It’s okay, I got you, I got you. You’re gonna be okay,” Jaehyun whispers in your ear, your head falling against his chest, your eyes slowly opening and closing each second as he strives to keep you standing. Each and every inhale you take is a sting to your throat, the constricting muscles feeling like they’re on fire.
“Let go of me,” you murmur through a hushed tone, weakly trying to push yourself away from him.
“Stop fighting me, let me help you,” he grunts as your body rejects any kind of his physical support.
“I don’t-” you cough, “-need...your help.”
“Shut up,” he mumbles into your ear, eyeing the trainers trying to get a hold of the newcomer who choked you.
You clutch onto Jaehyun’s arm as you glance back. Your vision is slowly returning but you can still see black in her eyes and the veins of her neck, every part of her is drowned in fury, chaos, and darkness, more intense than the male who holds you. She struggles in the trainers’ hold, the growls and screams of outrage screeching your ear.
With a wheeze, you shut your eyes at her piercing shriek, “just get me the hell out of here.”
Jaehyun does just that, he holds onto your shoulders but makes sure you’re still supported as he leads you to the infirmary. He can hear your stuttering breaths and tiny coughs. You bring your hand up to your neck, massaging the bruises and pain.
“I can walk myself,” you grumble under your breath, which is literally just your raspy voice now.
“Fine,” Jaehyun immediately lets go of you, giving you a slight push as he leaves you be, but it only leads you to fall on your knees and your palms stopping you from face planting.
You violently cough, your body still weak and slow in gaining air and strength. Glancing up at Jaehyun, he eyes you with a smug look, orbs filled with brutality. He knows that you clearly need help, your trembling breaths are begging for it but you don’t plead for his help. The last thing you want to do is ask for his help, along with being seen as weak and helpless, you didn’t want anyone’s pity.
You hear Jaehyun sighing at your crouched figure and your hand that clutches your chest, “that’s what I thought,” the taps of his feet become louder the closer he gets to you.
This time, he briskly lifts you into his arms with his hard chest against your arm. The steady bounce in his steps has your arm feeling the muscles of him, your hand fumbling with the fabric of your uniform on top of your chest. You try your best to hide the slight blush in your cheeks by looking somewhere else but your eyes land on his neck. Adorned with fine black ink into the image of a creature, it stares back at you as you admire the art that lays on his soft skin. If it wasn’t for the vile creature that stamped his neck, you would’ve perceived the artwork as fragile as an ancient vase of Olympus.
Jaehyun spares you a glance and sneers at you, “got enough air in your head, yet?”
You gulp and blink elsewhere, “yes.”
Jaehyun kicks open the door to the infirmary and lays you on the bed, “great. Now you owe me,” and proceeds to leave.
“Oh my gosh, what happened to you?” Kun’s eyes widen into space planets.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” you hush him, your voice still strained.
Kun thins his lips and tends to your care. He’s gentle and careful in adding ointment on your neck, fully aware of how sensitive you are, “you probably won’t be able to speak loudly for the next couple of days, but give it time. Your throat needs to rest, so take it easy, alright?”
You nod, sucking your bottom lip as you raise your neck for more exposure, hoping that you were making his job easier. The taunting memories of what just happened come fully back in your mind, the image of the newcomer’s black eyes and veins flashes across your brain, making you gasp and jolt away from Kun’s hold.
“Did that hurt? I’m sorry!”
You softly shake your head, “no, no...sorry, I was just thinking.”
Kun peers up at you, “wanna talk about it?” You sit on the cot, contemplating your next question, but he can tell that it slightly troubles you like a phantom itch, “we don’t have to.”
“Do you know who Maeve is?” you whisper gently, but your hand grips your knee to distract yourself from the pain.
“Maeve?” his forehead creases in wonder, his mind trying to recollect any faint memory of the name, but he shakes his head, “no, I don’t think I’ve heard of her.”
You hum at his response, it was usual for you to not know everyone that attended the training center. Those who enrolled were children of the gods/goddesses, demigods, and even children of those who had the faintest amount of power that flowed through their veins. Even if you could, no one was allowed to ask or look up the background of another student, no matter how well known they already were, it was one of the morals held at the center.
“Why?”
“She’s the one who caused this. Just wanted to know what she holds,” you respond, referring to her power, knowing who her birth giver was would be super beneficial.
“Oh? And what would you do with that information?”
“Use it for it’s good.”
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Seems like I’m getting eaten alive more and more as I get near Jaehyun. You rub your neck, the cloth softly sticking to the ointment that Kun had just put on. He let you lay down for the time being until you were stable enough to finally be on your own and since you couldn’t talk, you listened to Kun’s rambling on his studies of the human beings that live on Earth. You had to stop him mid-sentence because you had a lunch date.
“Y/N!” your eyes snap up at the call of your name from your favorite person. Lucas, like the fresh breath of air you needed, ran to you with his big smile, gums showing his enthusiasm, and both of your lunches in his hands.
“Lucas,” you smile, your voice cracking at the male, you quickly clear your throat in the gentlest way possible as he sets a bowl of soup in your hand.
“Hi,” he huffs, “I heard what happened, so I bought you soup instead of a sandwich,” Lucas lightly nudges your arm towards the door that leads outside, assuming that’s where he plans to take you.
You stay quiet and shy when you follow him, a little too nervous to converse. The gravel beneath your scuffing feet turns into grass and then into leaves, the crunch filling up the silence between you two.
“So who’s the culprit?”
“Maeve,” your jaw tenses up when her name slips bitterly from your lips.
Lucas inhales a sharp breath, his head tilting to the side to think, “Never heard of her.”
“You don’t want to,” you mumble under your breath.
When you can hear the familiar sound of a waterfall and the crisp smell it brings, you quietly laugh to yourself as your head shakes. Disappointment taints your laughter when you wonder how Lucas found out about this place.
“It’s so pretty, isn’t it?”
“Yeah...how did you find this place?” You ask, your hand brushing against the branch that always blocks your way as you come in.
“Just a little exploring in my free time,” Lucas follows closely behind you, “come, let’s sit here.”
He leads you to the perfectly sized rocks, little does he know that you and Mark usually sit on it after your private training. He offers to open your container of soup and you let him, being the gentleman he is. Something about Lucas makes you feel at ease like he’s the four-leaf clover that can overturn the back luck that’s been happening. His laughter that soundwaves to your ears widens the smile on your face, he makes you laugh like no one’s ever made you.
You two spend time sitting on the rocks, you slurping your soup and him chewing away his sandwich as you both peer at the waterfall. With the little time you two have, it doesn’t stop him from sprinkling his little jokes from time to time, growing a smile on your face in doing so. You can’t help but feel so blissful when you’re with him, everything about him is so happy and compassionate, it’s easier to say so since he’s the child of Psyche.
“You okay?” abruptly, Lucas asks you in the middle of clutching your stomach from laughing so much.
“Yeah, why do you ask?”
“I don’t know, I’ve just never seen you laugh this much,” he shrugs, crumpling the plastic wrap of his finished sandwich.
“Maybe no one’s made me laugh this much before,” you manage to calm down, your voice returning to a quiet tone.
A pleasant smile expands Lucas’s lips, his eyes glimmer almost reflecting the waterfall and he leans in closer to you, “May I?”
You chuckle at his politeness, a part of you pleased that he had these kinds of manners, “of course.”
Gently, you felt his hands caress your jaw, and leans in closer to you, closing the gap between your lips. It’s slow, with a hint of playfulness, though he’s so careful with you that you can’t help but melt in his embrace. He makes up all of the bad luck that’s happened this week. The plumpness of Lucas’s lips left you craving for more and more, your hands resting on his chest as his hands wrapped around your waist.
“You don’t know how long I’ve waited to do that,” Lucas whispers as he pulls away from you.
“Should’ve done it sooner,” your eyes scanned his lips up to his eyes.
You’ve known Lucas for a couple of years, your mother and his are pretty good friends, so you’d see him around at some of the gatherings his mother would host. He was a little boy when you first met him, but you’d always see him playing in the mud with some of the other kids while you sat with your mother. The moment you knew that you had feelings for him was that time when you two were still young and other kids were making fun of you for not being like other girls, a lot of the kids were afraid of becoming your friend because you were good at defending at yourself, they’d think that you’d hit them, so they distanced themselves from you. Until, Lucas stood up for you and just said that you’re just like them, just good at fighting. You will never forget the smile he flashed you when he said those words, even if they don’t sound deep and serious, it meant everything to you as a child, and now.
Like a gentleman, Lucas let you finish your lunch slowly until you two trekked back to the training center. Since it was a Friday, training was a little more laid back in the second half of the day.
“Will you be going to the bonfire tonight?” he asks you, offering to grab your bowl.
“Yeah,” you turn your head to him as the leaves turn into gravel again, “you?”
“Of course, I’d never miss a good bonfire,” he gently nudges you, but before he can speak Marks walks up to the two of you.
“Mark.”
“I’ll see you later?” Lucas whispers, you nod to see him leave you and Mark alone.
“What’s up?”
“She’s calmed down if you wanna talk to her,” Mark lowers his gaze to your neck.
“I really don’t wanna talk to that bitch right now,” your eyes deadpan to elsewhere.
“Fine, then do you wanna see her?”
Your eyes switch back to Mark in curiosity, “does she still look the same?”
“A bit, she’s calmed down though.”
“Okay,” you inhale careful breath, “let’s go then.”
You follow Mark into the interrogation room where she sits alone, isolated in the cement walls. Mark opens the door to the other room, where you can see her but she can’t see you. In it, you find Jaehyun standing with his arms crossed as he observes her, his forehead creasing with wonder because he’s never seen anyone like this before.
“What is he doing here?” you whisper to Mark.
Apparently, you weren’t as quiet as you thought, “If there’s anyone that knows anything about hatred, it’s going to be me,” Jaehyun answers you, but doesn’t give you a glance.
You turn to Mark and all he does is just roll his eyes and nod, Jaehyun almost taking the words out of his mouth. You slowly walk up next to Jaehyun who stares at Maeve. Her eyes are still painted black, her veins tainted with black on her neck slowly disappearing, but still visible. Her hands are chained, attached to the metal table that’s drilled into the ground but there’s black smoke that surrounds her, almost as if she’s their master and whatever that smoke is, is her protection.
“So no one knows who her parents are?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Jaehyun responds.
“Do you think your dad would know?” you discreetly ask.
“Maybe, maybe not. I only know her name and I doubt that’d be helpful at all,” he shrugs.
“Y/N, when she came onto you, did she look like this too?”
Even the thought of it weakened your knees, but you shoved it deep into your mind with a stinging gulp, “yeah, everything except the smoke,” you can recall almost everything you saw, but another part of you doubts yourself, what if it’s just the lack of oxygen that made me see it falsely at the time?
“Do you think it’s because of something you said to her?” Mark inquired.
“I’m positive, if anything, she’s the one that provoked me,” you look at Maeve, the way both her eyes pools into blackness, it’s haunting and it does nothing but sends chills down your spine and grows goosebumps on your skin.
“I don’t believe you,” Jaehyun chirps and your head snaps to him, “I mean clearly, you did something to piss her off and literally choke you. Everyone knows you have a lurking temper.”
“I didn’t say anything to her Jaehyun,” you sneer.
“Okay, okay guys, let's not start something here,” Mark interrupts Jaehyun before he could even speak. His eyes are still fixed on Maeve, but his head is empty. He has no idea what he’s going to do with her.
You were just about to speak up again until you felt the familiar constricting feeling on your neck again, you clutch onto it but there’s nothing there other than your hands. You look at Maeve from the other side of the window and she’s looking directly at you with a smug look, she can see me, it seems like she holds some kind of power that can be telepathically sent through whatever surface she wants it to penetrate through. Panic settles in your eyes, widening them and you clutch onto anything that you can. Your hands land on Jaehyun’s arm and you grip onto it, catching both his and Mark’s attention. Like before, her grip doesn’t show you any kind of mercy and the pain from before slithers into your skin.
Before your knees go weak, you let out a loud cry, and tears spill from your eyes, but Jaehyun's quick in catching you. You felt as if everything went in slow motion, but nothing was visible to you, the only thing you could see was Jaehyun’s alarmed eyes, his dark orbs begging you to keep fighting. Funny, considering that it never seems like that whenever you encounter him.
“Kill her,” Jaehyun shutters.
“You know I can’t do that,” Mark panics.
“Mark, fucking kill Maeve before she kills Y/N!” Jaehyun shouts at the trainer, his veins swelling from his neck, which results in Mark running to the other room and completely knocking Maeve out of her state.
Mark doesn’t exactly kill because that would be illegal, but he does enough to knock her out and when he does, everything dissolves in the air, the black smoke evaporates and the translucent force falls into the cement, never to be seen. You gasp for air as your body shakes in hysteria, your hands clutching at the fabric that lays on your chest as the painful relief of air slowly comes back to you. You can’t help but become fearful of it coming again and you not making out of it alive.
“It’s okay, you’re okay,” Jaehyun tightens his hold on you, somehow the feeling of it brings you back to Olympus.
You stay in his arms, letting him rock you until you gain enough consciousness to push him away. You support yourself on your elbows before gathering the strength to run out of there, leaving Jaehyun foiled. Running through the walls, you don’t give care to those who look at you with bizarreness or concern, you have to go home, I need to get out of here, I need to get out of here. You repeat it to yourself over and over again until you’re actually out of the training center. Finding the nearest large rock, you plunk on it to attain the sufficient air to go on. After a couple of minutes of staring at the top of trees meeting the blue sky, you slowly stand up to walk towards town. You needed to go visit your mother, Athena.
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Everything about the building she works in is luxurious, made in marble, lit with expensive diamond chandeliers, and the smell of champagne wafts to your nose. Each person you pass by gives you a respectable greeting, you do your best to return it in the friendliest way possible. Your mother is the Commander in Chief at Olympus Affairs, she’s in charge of anything that has to do with the welfare of Mount Olympus, given her title of being the goddess of warfare, wisdom, and other affairs.
“Y/N,” your mother shoots from her chair and runs to you, “what happened to your neck?” she glances at the fragility of your neck and winces in concern as she sees hues of reds and purples taint your once smooth skin.  
“That’s why I'm here, mother-” you walk to her computer that sits on her desk, “-do you know anyone’s daughter with the name of Maeve?” you begin typing in her database, trying to look for any kind of evidence, proof that you weren’t going crazy.
“Not that I can remember, why? Is she the one who did this to you?”
“Yeah,” you type her name and thousands of results turn up, you’re just thankful that ‘Maeve’ isn’t a common name on Olympus or else you would’ve gotten more, “twice.”
“Oh dear,” your mother cups her mouth in shock, “I need to talk to the center.”
You stop your mother from pulling out your phone, “No, mother stop. Please.”
Your mother gasps in disbelief, “you could’ve died!”
Another gasp rips through the air and this time it’s yours, “Her mother is Eris, who can manipulate shadows,” you whisper the latter, connecting the dots that Maeve must’ve inherited some of her mother’s shadow manipulation abilities. When you don’t hear anything from your mother, you turn to see the colors in her face flush with pallor as she grabs the phone.
“Mother, what’s wrong?” you stand from bending over her desk with furrowed brows. And who is she calling?
“She’s back...this isn’t good...I thought so too...when are you available to talk?... Two days?!? Do you know how serious this is?!?!” you jump from the anger in your mother’s voice, “Fine. I’ll come by then-” your mother looks at you, “-and I’m bringing my daughter with me...Why?...Because she literally almost killed my only daughter you JACKASS!” With that she ends the call and slams her phone on her glass desk, you swore you could feel not only her glass desk crack but the windows behind you two that stretch from the ground to the ceiling.
“Who did you call?” you ask nervously, a bit of you already know the answer but you didn’t want to hear it.
With her hands propped on her hips, your mother replies, “Hades, we’re having dinner at their place in two days.”
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bvccy · 3 years
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Tenderness and Ferocity | 6. The Last Day
Pairing: Winter Soldier!Bucky Barnes x Hydra!Reader Fic Synopsis: The Winter Soldier is starting to make stupid mistakes in the field, which is Bucky's way of trying to wrest back control and sabotage his handlers. Hydra brings a new doctor to figure out what's wrong with him and fix it. As she spends time with him, she becomes fond of the Winter Soldier, and he becomes fond of her. Bucky has other ideas. Or, a fic in which the Winter Soldier is the good guy and Bucky is actually the bad guy. Warnings for this chapter: Angst, some Violence Word count: 1858 Read on AO3: [link] [Previous Chapter] [Fic Masterlist] [Next Chapter]
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"To get everything you want is not a good thing. Disease makes health seem sweet. Hunger leads to the appreciation of being full-fed. Tiredness creates the enjoyment of resting."
— Heraclitus
She wasn't supposed to be in the office on that day, at that hour. She spent all of the previous day mismanaging her tasks and various paperwork to create the plausibility of needing overtime. It was easy enough to convince one of her friends to drive her to the Headquarters, and she picked one that had no family just in case Hydra got overzealous… later.
One small mercy was that the whole building was mostly empty, except for the bare-bones of military personnel and the medical staff getting the Asset ready. They were due to fly him out late at night, and the sun was low in the sky.
The few staff who were there were surprised to see her, but she reassured them with easy smiles and a ditzy attitude that everything was fine. The Director was still in a meeting, said Suzi at the front desk, but he'd been there for hours and should be out any minute. And the Asset? "In his cell."
She went into her office like it was any other day, put on her lab coat, put her things the same place she usually did, and took only what she needed.
The way to the Soldier's cell was something she had mapped out a few days ago, first out of curiosity, then determination — and while she was at it, took note of a few more interesting pathways through the facility. The only thing to worry about were the guards.
"I'm here for a final evaluation before he's in the field."
"We weren't informed about that."
"Then go ahead and call the Director. I'm sure the Standard Operating Procedures are foremost in his mind."
The two guardsmen looked at each other, silently goading the other to pick up the radio while she nervously twirled a syringe with one hand, clenched a well-loved page in her pocked with the other.
"Go on, call him."
"…Door opened."
Her Soldier was waiting on the bed in his frightening black gear, hands clenched, feet apart, looking ready to pounce. He must have heard her coming a corridor away, and once he finally saw her there, his face broke into the most brilliant smile.
She grinned and snuck in the corner, right beneath the view of the camera. Silently, she beckoned him closer and uncapped the syringe, nodding to the men outside. He subdued them easily enough and, without even asking what she was thinking, followed her out: down the winding corridors, through parts stuck in reconstruction, in and out of the large dark meeting rooms she had the keys for.
They inevitably met a few guards on patrol, which the Asset could hear much in advance. When he first stopped her, arm out and hard which nearly took the wind out of her, she was frightened for a moment that he'd changed his mind. But he kept his eyes straight ahead, and she could tell by looking at him that he was listening intently.
With a feline slink, he stepped back and kept her behind him, further, further, into the doorway of a locked room while he holstered the guns they took from his keepers. She held onto him and steadied her breath against his back while he waited, silent as a statue, for the right moment. The men reached and passed them by, only just noticing him when it was too late — when one had his neck broken and the other was knocked out.
"Turn." he told her. She faced the wall without thinking and only heard a fleshy crack as he caved in the man's skull. Then he took her hand in his and led her away.
When there were too many at once, five of them approaching from somewhere to the left, he had them both crouch down in wait until the targets passed by the mouth of their corridor. They probably couldn't even see her, a minuscule target shielded behind him, as he steadily took them down with a shot to the head before they could even reach for their coms. The sound echoed through the emptiness, but she assured him they were almost out.
Within minutes, they reached a long white corridor, more civilian looking than the rest. At its end, an open door leading to a vast field and rows of jeeps and busses.
"We've made it." she laughed breathlessly, looking up to find him still tense and alert but smiling with her.
One leaping step after another and suddenly, in one breath, he was out. He had been out before, of course, but never like this. The coolth of the evening in early spring soothed his flushed skin as he walked out over the blackened earth and melting snow, a pale sun dipping beyond the horizon.
The Soldier already eyed a vehicle that looked good for the terrain, easy to hijack, small enough to be dumped somewhere once they were far enough away to start covering their tracks. He turned around to see her catching her breath as she took in the sight of him with pride, and relief, and some fear. She threw a chain of keys at him and he caught it mid-air.
"They're colour-coded with the jeeps. If you go South, in 15 miles there's an apartment complex. That's where the staff lives, keep driving. There are trackers on all the cars, but they stop transmitting beyond a 70 mile radius. Nearest settlement is 90 miles South-Southwest, an old fishing town."
"What?"
"The gate behind you, further that way, it'll be locked by now but the hinges are old and rusted."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"So you can escape, of course."
"But you're coming with me."
"I can't."
It was then that he noticed she hadn't stepped a foot outside, standing in the doorway at the very edge, one hand holding onto the frame. The rest of the facility was open behind her, a hungry maw empty and quiet.
"What do you mean you can't? Come with me."
"I took a oath. I can't leave my post unless dismissed or dead." she recited with chill equipoise.
Just like in the bad old days, the Soldier felt madness creeping in. "Then why let me go?"
"Hydra serves a noble goal, but what they were doing to you was wrong. They've never understood that, because they don't want to, because it's not convenient right now."
In the distance, through layers of concrete, he could hear them shouting to each other, panicking, having found the bodies. It wouldn't take long for them to figure it out.
"You know what they'll do to you…" he said, coming closer and just about ready to grab her but stopping, for now, right in front. The heat radiating off his body kept the evening breeze away and warmed her.
She felt the same horror he felt, but just shook her head. "I have to keep my honour."
"You don't need honor, you're just a dame!"
She cracked a smile at his odd choice of words, the unintended slight washing over her, 'just a…'. "Then why does it matter what happens to me?"
He placed his arms on either side, crowding her in the doorway and poised to pull her out. The shouting was always getting closer, she should start to hear it soon. "Because you're mine."
The smile paled from her lips and he thought he had finally gotten through. She looked around, searching for something and moved slightly closer, almost in his arms… And then a wall of metal bars came up at the push of a button, her sad face left in its penumbra. He gripped them instantly and started pulling.
"It's no use, even your arm isn't enough to break them." she consoled, placing her hands on his fists as much for his benefit as for her own. But he wouldn't let go and obstinately shook his head, mute with anger and going through any number of wild schemes in his head that could break her out.
"You know… I've always loved perfection, which is so well embodied in you." she spoke, leaning forward and holding his gaze. "They couldn't destroy you. They could only displace you, for a while. They can't destroy me either." she tried to comfort him. "Nothing can be destroyed. So don't worry."
He wanted to argue with her that it wasn't the same thing at all, that she was crazy, that it could be so bad, so much worse than she could imagine. As if reading his mind, she smiled and shook her head, and gave him a small kiss from between the bars. Then she turned around in a white flutter and ran away, down the corridor, further inside, the echo of her high heels clipping on the concrete drowned out by his angry shouts. She disappeared around the corner to the right, head kept intently down and not daring to look at him again. She kept one hand in her pocket, secretly caressing that white page with the clock he'd drawn for her.
The Soldier shook at the cage that stood in his way until he heard the boots and rattling of ammo one door away, and a gate opening further afield, outside. When the first shot rang and hit above his head, he turned and emptied what was left of a cartridge into the guardsman without even thinking. Then in an instant, one thoughtless instinct moved his body to the vehicle he had picked earlier. He planned to go back for her, but a thought in his head said: Later. The black car keys went in, just like she said, and he quickly found himself driving away. Now he just needed to find another way into the building. Sure, later.
One hand on the steering wheel, he took aim at the hinges of the closed gate in front and blew them loose enough for him to speed through and break it open, while shots rang out behind him. Maybe it was the air or the temperature outside, but he suddenly noticed just how heavy his left arm was, how cold, and how rigid. He didn't mean to drive very far, just far enough that he'd be out of sight and could circle around another way. He had to go back for her. Just a little bit later.
He navigated the half-frozen terrain to cross the 70 miles in well under an hour, the sound of his pursuers long faded away. He ditched the car in an overgrown ravine, and by midnight he reached the sleepy town she'd mentioned. His heart could finally afford to shrivel in his chest at the realisation that he hadn't gone back, and she wasn't there.
She must have known this place, must have seen once what he was seeing now, stepped on the same dirt road, breathed a different air under the shelter of the same sky — once, longer ago, before she knew him. His feet carried him on as his mind stayed behind and he struggled with himself, and with the burden of her last request — to not worry anymore.
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Tagging: @chipilerendi @themaskismyface​
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tomtenadia · 3 years
Text
A Little Braver ch.6
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Here we go with chapter 6. I edited but if you see any typos I am sorry I had a long day at work.
During the call they attend in the chapter they mention a substance called ANFO. Click here for more info. I did some research hopefully it makes sense. I am no an expert but I needed something for the scene.
Our two idiots... well, I hope you will be happy (for now) *evil laughter*
I hope you will enjoy the chapter
-------------
Three months later.
Rowan landed back at the airbase in the morning. The carrier had docked on the coast a few hours earlier on and then they had flown back to the base with their jets.
He got off his plane and smelled the air of home. Winter had given way to spring and he could smell flowers and wondered if the kingsflames were in bloom already.
“Damn it feels good to be back.” Shouted Gavriel getting off his jet and stretching his back “I am dying for a very long relaxing bath. And peace, without you idiots annoying me.”
“Oh yeah,” said Fenrys “Not having to hear Connall and Vaughan snore will be so good.” He turned to Rowan and Gavriel “Not everyone has the rank to get their own quarters.”
Rowan pretended not to hear the youngster and started walking around his aircraft to do his post-flight checks. He had enough of their bickering and of Fenrys moaning in general.
“Guys.” He bellowed “Less talking and do your post-flight checks.”
“Someone is grumpy.” Added Fenrys.
Connall slapped him on the back of his neck “don’t anger the man even further. Now shut up and do your job. I am so tired of your voice.”
Rowan silently thanked Connall for putting his twin in place.
Once he was done, Rowan grabbed his duffel bag and went to the changing room and took a shower. He would take a proper one at home, for now he just wanted to remove some dirt from him.  
The changing room was busy and he opened his locker with a sigh. He definitely needed peace and quiet and not to be in close quarters for a while.
“I am so looking forward to my month off.” Commented Gavriel “and decent food. I want to sit down for a meal for more than ten minutes.” Then he turned to Rowan “Any plans?”
“Not really.” He shrugged.
“Are you going to see your captain?”
“I don’t know.” He said quickly. He did his best to put her out of his mind during those months away. To ignore those pesky feeling that had been taking root in him even while far away from her. He had hated how he left her and throwing himself into work had been the best way to try and forget. But now he was back and he felt as if he was stuck.
He put his uniform back on and grabbed his stuff “Just stay out of trouble,” he told them before leaving the room.
While walking to his office he pulled his mobile out of the bag, switched it back on and a barrage of notifications hit him and two voicemails awaited him. The first one was from Aelin and she was mad at him. How could he blame her. He had disappeared without a word. How could he even begin to apologise? When he listened to the second and a glimmer of hope appeared in front of him. She wanted to talk. He grabbed his stuff and blitzed out of the airbase. The taxi he had called arrived ten minutes later and once at the station he paid the driver and got off, his duffel bag on his shoulder. An array of emotions passed through him while he moved the first step in the direction of the firehouse, panic being at the top of the list.
He lifted his sunglasses on his head and took in the scene in the distance. Two fire engines were parked in front of the yard. Aelin and the rest of the team were washing them, the day was sunny and mild so the perfect occasion. He chuckled and noticed that she was standing. She was walking normally and he sighed. Rowan found himself staring at her walking around the truck and shouting orders. She was just as stunning as he remembered her. He missed her. He realised in that instant looking at her from far away that somehow, although there was nothing but vitriol between the two, he just missed her. Was his heart actually racing?
Aelin lifted her gaze for one instant and in the distance on the pavement she noticed a tall figure with silver hair. She squeezed the sponge and threw it in the bucket, then stood and marched to him doing all her best to maintain her cool to try and pass as aloof and not minimally interested that he was back. A lie to herself she struggled to believe.
“I am back safely.” He said when she was close enough.
“Well, at least you can do your job well enough to stay alive.” Her tone was hard and unforgiving.
Of course she was still mad at him, what was he expecting?
“Follow me.” She turned around and began walking back inside the station and Rowan knew she was headed for her office. Better have some privacy, he had a feeling he was not going not enjoy the conversation.
“Sit,” she ordered, once inside her office and he complied like a good soldier.
She moved around the desk and plopped on her chair.
“Aelin I—“
“No, you don’t get to go first,” annoyance quite thick in her voice “You left.” She sat up straight “you left me at the hospital and left again three days later for your mission and neither time you bothered to tell me why. You left.” She searched for his gaze and looked at his pine green eyes “Do you have any idea how I felt when I fully woke up and found out you never got back?” She told him unleashing all the anger she had bottled up while he was away “I went to your airbase and I was told by one of the guards that you all had gone for a week already.” She was not shouting but her tone was full of annoyance toward him.
Rowan had thought over and over again how he could apologise to her, but doing so it would mean reveal his secret and he was not sure he could. He should expose his fears and come clean with her, she had lost, just like him, she would understand his struggle.
Eventually he stood and started pacing “I heard what you said in the hospital… about your feelings. And I panicked.” He stopped for a moment “I freaked out because…” he collapsed on the chair, his head in his hands and Aelin knew exactly why but she had to hear him say it.
He had to do it, be a little braver and tell her why he fled, it was his only chance if he even contemplated the idea of being with her or to have any kind of relationship.
“I am scared of getting involved again.” He sighed deeply and Aelin saw pain in his eyes “Over a year and a half ago I lost my wife.” He confessed and Aelin gripped her hands under the table to avoid crying. “She died in a car crash. It was winter and the roads were bad and she just… lost control of the car according to the police.” He looked away for a second “Lyria was also pregnant.” His voice trembled for a moment. “I was away. I was on the other side of the continent when it happened. I left my pregnant wife alone.”
Aelin’s eyes became wet all of a sudden.
“She was going to leave me.” He admitted painfully and Aelin almost gasped at the unexpected ammission “a few days before I left I was looking for something for her in her drawer and saw the papers. She had all the documents ready to file for divorce, my signature was the only thing missing. She had also a letter from her lawyer saying that she would win full custody of our child since, because of my job, I was not fit to look after a child. I would probably win to see my child from time to time.” He stood again “I never told her that I had found out. I left for my mission and she didn’t even come to the airbase with me as she used to do in the past.” He ran his hand through his hair “I loved her. But apparently not enough.” He stopped again as if to gather his thoughts “I got a short compassionate leave and when I got back I just threw myself into work. It kept my mind busy. Since then I haven’t been with anyone.”
“I know.” Aelin whispered and he look at her in a strange way”About the accident, I mean.” She said softly.
“One day I was curious and I looked you up.” She stood and went around the table and sat at the front, facing him. No barriers between them “I read about your wife. Then I read the article about her accident.” She hoped she was not to mess up this one “I recognised our engine in one of the photos from the article.
His gaze widened.
“My team and I attended the accident.” And stared at him but his expression was illegible “It was bad. Only one person survived that night. I had nightmares about it for a week. She… your wife… I think she did not suffer much. I know it’s not much consolation, but from the dynamics it was probably instantaneous.”
Rowan looked at her and she saw tears in his eyes.
“I still have the file.”
“No.” He said calmly “I don’t think I can.”
She took a step to him and took his hand in hers “I know the pain” it was time for her confession. It was only fair.
Rowan looked at her and remembered about the man she had lost.
“His name was Sam. He was a firefighter and a captain at west station. I lost him over a year ago. He attended a call. We could not assist straight away because we were busy on another one. Once we were done we ran in their help. I was too late.” She buried her face in her hands “when I got there they were just carrying his body outside the building.” She looked at him “he did not die a nice death. He suffered and I was not there. I was too late to help him.” She squeezed his hand “I know your pain and your fears because they are the same as mine.” She took another step toward him “losing Sam almost destroyed me. I can’t go through that a second time.”
“How do you get out of the abysm?” He asked tenderly, both with eyes moist.
“One step at a time.” She added and her body was now almost close to his.
Rowan hesitated for an instant then his arm reached out and pulled her closer “Together, then” he whispered, leaning his chin on her head “we can try together.”
“Yeah…” she whispered, her hands against his chest “I am sorry I was mad at you.”
“Shhh… I deserved it.”
She leaned closer and inhaled his scent of pine and snow. He always smelled of home.
“I am sorry I was always so mean to you. I think I was just trying to push you away and keep my distance.”
Aelin smiled and with her fingers brushed his name tag “I think we both did our best to show our unpleasant side.”
She felt him tighten his arms around her “Can we please not? I don’t mean not fighting because I have a feeling that we might get into a few fights from time to time. I mean stop being actually nasty to each other.” He admitted and she felt his thumb tracing circles on her back “whatever this is… I want to give it a go. If you are okay of course,”
She looked up at him and saw a faint smile that reached his eyes. Even with a small smile the man was stunning. She didn’t want to think about with a proper smile.
“Yeah. I want to. I am still terrified, though.”
“That makes two of us.”
“So, where do we start, captain?”
“You owe me two so what about we start with me taking you out for dinner and then we move from there?”
Aelin chuckled “Do you have your mortgage ready?”
He smiled. He gave her an actual real smile and Aelin had to restrain her instinct to slam him against the door and have her way with him.
“The bank apparently does not offer mortgages to pay for meals.” He pulled back a bit to look at her “are you free tomorrow night? I am on my month off so I am totally free.”
Aelin nodded “yes, we will be coming off night shift around 9am. I can go home, sleep and I will see you at night.”
“I still have your address. Can I pick you up at seven?”
“I think I will be alive again by that time.”
“What do we say to our friends if they ask?”
“None of their business.”
He looked down at her “I like it.”
They pulled apart and Aelin went back to sitting on the desk and him on the chair “So your knee is okay again?”
“Yes, physio was a bitch but it’s getting better. The guys, as a joke, gave me kneepads.”
She saw him smile and she realised she would say all sort of stupid things to see that reaction in him. The result left her breathless.
“And you performance review?”
She gave him the biggest grin ever “We crushed it. Absolutely nailed it and I am so proud of my team”
“I had no doubts.” He leaned back on the chair “and I see that you got another engine. That must be great news for you guys.”
She nodded “we got it two weeks ago. It was all thanks to the protest after the embankment fire. Dorian pushed and he got it.” She took a pen and tapped it on her knee “we still don’t have a full team, so at the moment we use it if  the situation requires it and we split our team and Aedion leads it. It’s not optimal but the team is coming,” she explained “west is giving us half of their experienced team in their second truck and they are taking half rookies so we’ll both have a truck of mixed crews. Again, not the best but we can’t have an engine with all newbies.”
“That is wonderful.”
“You interview helped as well. The one outside the hospital.���
He looked away for a moment “they made me so mad. Giving all the credit to us when we did very little. I had to.”
“Thank you.”
In that instant the dispatch alarm went off.
“Shit.” She jumped off the table “Don’t go anywhere. There’s a tv, a kitchen. Stay here.”
He nodded and grabbed her hand “Be safe, please.”
She nodded and ran outside.
“There you are. You are the last one here.” Joked Aedion while they were both getting ready.
“She was with her captain.” Added Ansel with a wicked smile.
“Uh, getting nasty in the office?” Added Brullo.
Aelin opened the door and jumped in the engine at her seat “stop behaving like children and jump in the bloody truck right now.”
“Aedion, you lead the second one. ”
Rowan noticed the two engines and the ambulance drive away and once they were away he wandered around the empty space.
He walked around the deserted station and tried to discover more about that interesting team. He walked back the same way as her office and found a corridor that lead to their beds. On a wall there were pictures of the whole team. He stared at Aelin’s picture. She had the most beautiful grin and it was so like her. He smiled at her and traced his step back to the resting area. He sat on the sofa and switched on the tv and on the news he saw a raging fire as breaking news and he guessed that’s where they were going. The headline quoted a fire in an explosive warehouse near a quarry. It looked terrifying.
“Aedion,” said Aelin over the radio “we are going to the warehouse near the quarry. Explosives. This is your kingdom.”
“I saw it.  Dispatch confirmed west is coming as well. It must be bad for four engines.”
They arrived at the site five minutes later.
Aelin jumped off the truck “Fuck.” Was her first reaction at the scene in front of them.
In the distance she heard the evacuation sirens for the quarry. West station arrived a moment later.
The fire was raging. Luckily the warehouse was near a quarry and away from inhabited areas, that at least was a start.
She saw a man with a high visibility jacket and ran to him.
“Captain Galathynius.” She introduced herself.
“Captain. I am the manager.” He explained “We evacuated the quarry in time as soon as we heard the first explosion. The warehouse team was loading a new load of explosives to be sent to the quarry. Something must have gone wrong. We lost contact with the team in the north wing where we store the explosives.”
Aedion arrived a moment later “what are we dealing with?”
“Mostly ANFO.” Replied the manager “it was meant to be moved.”
“Do you store any other agent or fuels?”
The manager nodded “but in a separate section. Something must have gone wrong while carrying it away. ANFO must have been in contact with any of the other fuels we use. ANFO is just an oxidiser” the manager explained and Aedion nodded aware of how ANFO worked.
“How many people do you have in the warehouse?’ Asked Aelin trying to assess the situation.
“About 60 and I have 40 accounted for.”
“We’ll get them out.” She said. Grabbed Aedion’s arm and walked away.
“Still twenty people inside. You are the expert. What are the chances I can send the team in and make it out alive?”
“Heat will cause ANFO to detonate. The fire is spreading qui—“
Another savage explosion ravaged the area. The blast so strong that the aftershock was felt quite a distance away. Aedion had pulled Aelin down on the ground and when they lifted their heads they noticed the rest of the team had done the same.
“Thomas,” she shouted while standing up “Connect to the water supply and get the water going and keep the temperature down as much as you can.”
He nodded and spurred his team into action.
“Aedion, you and I are going in.”
The man nodded.
“Luca, Brullo, keep the water going as well. We need to cool down the place as much as possible.” Then she walked to Thomas “Aedion and I are going in. There are still twenty people trapped. We’ll see if we can do something. Call dispatch and order all the units they can send in.”
“You can’t be serious.” The other captain protested “Dorian will not be happy.”
“I am.” she said finishing to don her gear fully “we’ll se you on the flip side. Keep the water coming.”
He stared at her and Aedion ran to the area less affected by the fire. It was a suicide mission and Dorian was not going to be happy.
Back at the station, Rowan was on the edge of his seat. He had felt the explosion, heard it mostly. He kept staring at the screen where he had seen Aelin and Aedion running into the building and his heart raced to the point of pain. There was no way there was anyone alive in that inferno. Why was she risking her life like that?
The four engines were woking hard channeling as much water as possible on the building but from his perspective it seemed like the fire was not yielding at all. He stood and started pacing.
In that moment Lorcan called him “Are you seeing the news about the fire?”
“Yeah.” Rowan replied not removing his eyes from the tv.
“They are there.”
“I know.” Rowan felt sick “Aelin just went in.”
“Are you at home?” The man on the line asked.
“No, at the station.”
“Let me know when they are back.”
Rowan hung up and resumed his pacing.
Dorian arrived on the scene and ran to Thomas as soon as he noticed the captain.
“Where are they?” He asked with panic in his voice.
Thomas inclined his head and indicated the building and Dorian swore savagely.
“How long? I got an update on my way here.”
“Five minutes.” Added the captain directing the water to another area of the building “I have called for more units. Two more are on their way.”
“That is not enough,” raged Dorian grabbing his phone. He walked away calling someone. When he came back he was slightly less furious “Being the chief has its perks. All the units available are coming in. This is not—“ another explosion.
Much stronger than the previous one. A mushroom of yellow fire went up in the sky and the blast rocked the ground all the way to Orynth.
“Chief to Captain. Aelin please come in.” No answer.
“Aelin, damn answer that bloody radio.” He started pacing nervously and a hand ran through his hair “Aedion, come in.”
“Fuck, fuck.”
In that instant the sound of sirens filled the air.
Dorian turned and saw a long line of engines filing down the main track.
He ran to the station captains and started shouting orders. The other engines deployed around the warehouse and started tackling the fire.
Thomas joined Dorian “I am going in. My men are manning the engine and the hoses. I am going to get them out.”
“No you are not.” The tone in Dorian’s word was harsh “I am not having another one of my captains in that building. They should not be inside in the first place.”
“We have still twenty civilians trapped inside.”
“Captain, you and I have done this job for a while. You know better than me that with three such explosions the chances someone inside is still alive are slim. We stop the fire and hope they are safe.”
“Do nothing?” Thomas shouted “How the fuck do you expect me to do nothing?”
“I am the chief, I am ordering.”
Thomas stormed away and resumed his position with the attack lines with the rest of his team.
“Aedion?” Aelin’s voice was faint. She removed the pile of debris from her body and tried to stand “Aedion?” She called again, panic rising. The smoke and fire were making visibility non existent “AEDION.” She shouted.
A moment later she heard a groan and noticed his bulking figure sprawled on the floor. She ran to him and saw he was awake “answer me for fuck’s sake.”
He removed his mask “my oxygen tank is bust.”
She removed hers and passed it to him “use mine, I still have some juice left.”
“We need to get out.”
“We haven’t found anyone.”
“Aelin,” he breathed removing the mask and giving it back to her “we need to get out. Another explosion like the last one and we are roast. And the fumes are bad. We don’t have long.”
“Fine.” She helped him stand. Slowly they tried to navigate their way through the fire and smoke.
The radio crackled static as they took a few steps deeper in the inferno.
“I heard something.” Aelin moved to the sound and Aedion followed. They found a heavy door and opened it slowly. Inside they found the twenty workers still missing.
“Is anyone injured?”
A woman nodded and showed her leg that clearly had a fracture and then pointed at at another man who lay unconscious.
“We’ll get you out of here.” She looked at their scared faces “pull up you clothes and cover mouth and noses” then she crouched down and offered the woman a piggyback. Aedion placed the unconscious man on his shoulder. She started to walk but one of the workers stopped her “This way.” They walked to a door that was locked.
“It’s a secondary route. It will take us to some tunnels underneath.”
Aelin looked at Aedion and the man nodded. It was their only option. They deposited their victims on the ground and with their axes they started knocking down the heavy door. Once through they recovered the people and walked on “stay behind us. Do not walk away form the big man behind me. Hold hands and form a line like at school.”
The civilians nodded and followed. The tunnels were full of smoke. They needed to be quick. The fumes from ANFO were toxic. Her oxygen tank started beeping and she knew she had ran out of juice as well.
“This way,” said the man who seemed to know about the tunnels “these were used in the olden days when we still used dynamite to blast the quarry. They would carry it under here. Apparently it was safer than outside were there were people everywhere. They never had any accident.”
Aelin followed the man with apprehension, everyone had started coughing quite badly.
“How far?”
“Not long. We are almost out. My dad was a worker here in the olden days. He told me everything about the tunnels.”
She heard Aedion cough behind her and she followed next.
Then she felt it. The breeze and a few minutes later the tunnel opened up right in front of the quarry. Everyone collapsed exhausted and took great gulps of air. Aelin looked up and saw the fire was diminishing and gasped when she noticed the crazy amount on fire engines.
“Captain, Thomas,” she croaked, while her chest spasmed in another fit of coughing.
“Chief, captain, where are you?”
Fuck, of course Dorian was there. Lovely, a dressing down from him was all she needed “In front of the quarry, we found some tunnels. We have all civilians with us.” And her coughing resumed savagely.
Dorian walked to the manager “my men saved your trapped civilians. They mentioned some tunnels.”
The manager nodded “follow me,” they reached some SUVs, Dorian jumped in and they started driving. Not long after they stopped in a car park and Dorian in the distance noticed two firefighters uniforms.
“You damn fools,” he shouted when he was in close range “that was definitely one of the most stupid thing you two have ever done.”
Aelin coughed “Glad to see you too, buddy.”
Aedion stood “ two of the civvies are injured, the other ones just need to be checked.”
“Load them in the SUVs,” said the manager “we’ll take you all back to the main area with the EMTs.”
“Civilians first, Aedion and I can wait.” The man helped carry the survivors and sat back beside Aelin waiting for their turn and breathing deeply.
Dorian stood in front of them glaring “The whole fire department in the region has been mobilised for this.” He looked away “how did you two survive the two explosions?”
“We have super power.” She joked but from Dorian’s reaction she realised she had gone too far. The man was pissed.
“I should be mad at both of you and suspend you for being reckless.” He growled “Instead I will just keep on venting my displeasure for a few days more and also thank you for saving the civilians. But I am still displeased with you two. You do your job, you do not play heroes. Do you both read me in this?”
The two nodded silently without adding any comments to avoid angering Dorian even more.
The SUVs came back and both Aelin and Aedion made their way to the vehicles after the chief ordered them to get their arses back to their teams.
When they got back to where their team was cheers erupted.
Thomas passed his hose to a team member and ran to hug Aelin “you idiot. You damn idiot.”
“Such sweet words.” She joked patting the man on the back.
Aedion was dragged away by Lysandra for some checks and now Elide was pulling her jacket “come on, you will smooch later. Now I need to check on you. It’s protocol and you inhaled enough shit for today.”
Rowan noticed the black SUVs bring back some civilians and his worry grew when neither Aelin nor Aedion appeared. The flames were now under control thanks to the effort of all the engines involved.
Then he spotted her, her dirty blonde hair popping out of one of the SUVs that had just come back, and Aedion followed.
He collapsed on the sofa and finally let out the breath he had no idea he had been holding. She looked a mess but she was walking. She was fine. He saw the west captain ran for her and hug her and for a very brief second a pang of jealousy hit him. The he realised it was just a colleague being relieved to see they were alive. 
Elide dragged Aelin away to the ambulance and he hoped Lorcan was following the news. Elide was petite but he had a feeling the woman had just as much fire as Aelin.
He relaxed and then he had an idea. He grabbed the phone and rang Gavriel “Hey man, listen I have an idea and I need your help.”
Aelin sat on a gurney in an ambulance, with an oxygen mask attached to her face.
“I am fine,” she complained, trying to remove it, but Elide slapped her hand.
“You are violent.”
“What were you two thinking? You and that idiot cousin of yours? Going inside that hell?” The woman complained checking again her blood pressure and oxygen levels.
“It’s our job.”
“Not when the bloody place is about to blow up. You scared the heck out of everyone.”
“How’s Aedion?”
“Probably getting beaten up by Lys.”
Aelin laughed and more coughing wrecked her body. When she reopened her eyes her entire team was in front of the ambulance “Don’t you two do that ever again. You crazy bastards.” Were the loving words coming from Ansel. Everyone nodded “Dorian had to call all the fire trucks in the area.” Explained Ress.
“I guess you two will soon receive another invite from the mayor.” Joked Nox and Aelin gasped.
Brullo looked at her with a grin “that’s what you get at playing damn heroes. Police has been stopping people coming any closer all night. There is a sea of reporters out there.”
“Don’t you have jobs to do?” Groaned Elide “let the woman recover.”
“I always forget how scary you can be Lochan.” Ren shouted back at her while walking away from them.
“How are you feeling? Can you breath better?”
Aelin nodded.
“Your oxygen levels are back to normal. Does it hurt when you breath?”
“No, I am fine.”
It was much, much later when they did manage to finally get back to the station. Aelin got off the truck and then a wall of muscles slammed into her and enveloped her in a fierce hug. She looked up and noticed a pair of green eyes staring at her. She leaned her head against his chest for a second and the smell of pine and snow hit her. His scent.
“Don’t do that ever again.” He whispered in her ear.
“Where you worried about me, captain?” Then she pulled back noticing her team staring at the two. Fuck, no one knew they had sort of reconciled.
“What is the arsehole doing here?” Shouted Aedion pulling Aelin away from Rowan.
“He was here before the call. I told him to wait for me. That’s why he is here. And his name is not arsehole.” She growled back at her cousin.
Then a few more people came out of the station and they recognised Rowan’s squadron.
“We made food. Gavriel is a great cook. We helped. I just thought that you might all be starving.”
“Damn he is good,” said Ansel looking at Rowan from top to bottom.
Lorcan looked at Elide and the woman smiled at him. He tried to smile back but he was nervous and instead walked back to the station with the rest of the group.
“They need domesticating,” commented Lysandra when she noticed her friend’s dejected expression “Let’s go, I hope the food is as good as last time.”
Rowan and Aelin were the only two left behind “Sorry I hugged you in public.”
She shook her head “It’s fine. It actually felt nice.” Then smiled “I just hope you are now ready for all the comments that are going to rain on us as soon as we get back in there.” She brushed his uniform “I covered you in soot.”
“I don’t care. I have never been more terrified in my life. And I had some hairy experiences in my job.”
“Sorry,” she looked down but she felt his fingers lift her chin.
“You were amazing. Totally insane, but I am in awe.”
He took her shoulder “come on, you need food and we got loads ready.”
Together they walked back and Aelin walked to the sink to wash her face. She wanted a shower but she wanted food more.
“Aedion you could have at least washed your face.” She sat beside Rowan and noticed her cousin’s state.
“I am hungry.”
“Lys, did you kiss him in that state?”
“Hell no,” said the woman taking a bite of her food “I gave him a pat on the back and told him to get his arse in the ambulance.”
“Uh, someone is not getting any tonight.” Chimed Ress and the group laughed.
“Probably more than you, boyo.”growled back Aedion without rising his gaze from his meal.
“Well, someone is definitely getting some,” added Fenrys and nodded to Aelin and Rowan who were just sitting normally eating their food, not even brushing against each other.
Rowan growled at the man and Aelin laughed.
“So what is it with you two?” Asked Elide curious.
Aelin and Rowan’s head popped up from their plates.
“You hugged, he did all of this, are you two dating and pretending to fight so we don’t annoy you?”
“We are just us for now.”explained Aelin “before the fire we talked.”
“We are figuring things out. No labels. No rush. One step at a time.” He grabbed Aelin’s hand under the table and turned to her “we will let things develop.”
“That’s boring.” Comment Aedion, mouth half full.
Aelin snorted out loud “You pined after Lysandra for two years. Two years of driving me crazy because you were head over heels for her but could not make up your mind.”
“Aelin.” Shouted the man.
“Two years?” Asked Lysandra “why you never told me?”
“You know him. He always tries to do the right thing. He kept telling himself that it was not proper since you worked together. I had to read him the regulations and tell him that EMTs are not under our chain of command so he was in the clear. Had it be Ansel, now that would have been an issue since he is her superior.” Explained Aelin who enjoyed the shift of the conversation moving away from her and Rowan.
“You are an idiot.”
She noticed Lorcan throwing glances at Elide and she elbowed Rowan but he had noticed as well.
Elide stared at Lorcan, then blushed savagely and went back to her food “this is amazing,” she said out loud.
“Lorcan made those.” Said Gavriel and Aelin was sure that the man had noticed the exchanges as well.
“So you are a good cook as well?”
Lorcan grunted but Connall elbowed him. A very brave manoeuvre considering that Lorcan was his boss.
“I live on my own. I need to know how to cook.” He managed, never looking at her.
Aelin texted Rowan is he always this bad at flirting?
She could hear Rowan silent laugh this is actually going well for his standards.
Aelin rolled her eyes “who has a house big enough with a garden that we can have a nice barbecue? All of us? Just to get to know each other?” Announced Aelin.
Gavriel raised his hand “I do. I have a big yard and I haven’t used my barbecue since last year.”
“Awesome. What about this Saturday?We are off and you guys are on your month off. So it’s perfect.”
“How do you know about our month off?” Asked Fenrys, staring at Rowan.
“Ro— Captain Whitethorn told me.”
“Oh, of course he did, didn’t he?”
She was going to slap Fenrys.
“Lieutenant, I don’t see why it might be any of your business what the captain and I talk about.” Rowan had put on his captain voice and Fenrys went back to his food.
“The barbecue sounds amazing, spring is in full swing.”
“Good,” said Aelin standing and going to the fridge “I think we all need it after tonight.” Then she brought a bottle of coke to the table “we  can’t have wine because we are still on shift.”
“It’s fine,” said Vaughan “we are used to stay dry.” And he pointed at Rowan and Lorcan “their no booze policy is outrageous. We can’t even drink when we are off shift.”
“Blame the twins,” replied Rowan “they are the ones who got drunk, brought two girls on a heavily secure aircraft carrier, got busted and are still on active duty just because Lorcan and I saved their arses.”
“Oh yeah, that was epic.”
“So after that, Rowan and I decided to tighten things and now they can only drink once their mission is over and their arses are back on Terrasen.” Explained Lorcan.
“That’s brutal,” commented Aedion.
The twins had gone silent all of a sudden.
“It must be hard keeping big kids in place,” Elide asked Lorcan and the man attempted a smile at the woman.
“That’s why Rowan is the one who deals with that. He is the babysitter. The perks of rank.”
Rowan gave Lorcan a rude gesture and Aelin burst out laughing.
“You are lucky we are off duty, Whitethorn.”
“Why? Are you going to spank me?”
The group burst into laughter. No one expected the stiff necked captain to come out with such a remark.
“No, because you might like it and it’s gross.”
Aelin was in stitches, her stomach in pain from too much laughing.
“Who is the kinkiest?” Asked Lysandra.
The fire station team pointed at Ansel and the woman stood and bowed happy to be the winner of such a title.
The pilots group pointed at Lorcan and Elide blushed savagely.
“I think he and Essar covered every place of their houses and tried every position known to the human race.” Commented Gavriel.
Elide stared at Aelin in disbelief and Aelin knew the woman’s fears. Elide was the opposite and had no experience and could see why Elide was now panicking.
After their meal, the fire station boys had been put on kitchen duty and were washing dishes and cleaning, while Ansel, Lys, Elide and Aelin were having their meeting in the ambulance.
“I can’t.” Said Elide.
“Why?” Asked Ansel.
“Did you hear Gavriel? Lorcan is basically a sex god and I am the opposite.”
“There is no need to freak out now. All you are doing is staring at each other. When the time comes you just have to talk to him.” Explained Lysandra calmly.
“And tell him what? Sorry Lorcan I do not know what to do with men?”
“Yes,” said Aelin “if he is a decent man he will understand.”
“If he is not, I‘ll deal with him.” Aelin liked Ansel a lot. The woman wan’t always easy to get along with but when it came to them four they had formed their tiny support group and Ansel would back them up at all times. She was loyal and quite an awesome firefighter.
“Yeah but he might want to do things I do not feel comfortable with.”
“Consent, Elide.” Said Ansel sternly “If you say no it’s no. If the bastard pushes, you dump his arse straight away because he is not worth it.”
“Ansel is right,” said Aelin, taking Elide’s hand “If you want to go slow, you tell him. If he says no, well he can fuck off.”
Rowan was helping in the kitchen when he noticed all the women had disappeared “where did they go?” He could not see them anywhere.
“Girls meeting in the ambulance.” Explained Aedion “Aelin, Lys, Elide and Ansel sit in the back of the ambulance and have their girls meetings. Probably to gossip or complain about us.”
“Oh.” Was Rowan’s only comment.
“But I think tonight you and I are in the clear.” He finished washing the dishes “I got a feeling they are talking about Elide and Lorcan.”
“So everyone noticed, eh?”
“They were definitely not being subtle.” Replied Aedion “you tell you CO to go easy on her. He breaks her heart, I break him.” Then he turned to Rowan “same goes to you. You break Aelin’s heart and you are a dead man. She has been through enough.”
Rowan leaned against the counter “I know about Sam.”
Aedion’s mouth fell open.
“She told me.” Rowan admitted quietly while drying some of the dishes “We are taking things slow.” Confessed Rowan. He felt like he could talk easily to the man, although he was positive Aedion was not his biggest fan “I lost my wife over a year and a half ago. I know how Aelin feels.”
“I am sorry, man.”
Rowan brushed him off “Aelin and I are trying. But I don’t want to hurt her anymore.”
“You’d better.”
In that instant the kitchen became populated again and the two stopped talking.
“We gave the guys the tour,” explained Ress, happily “are the girls still in their meeting?”
“Looks like,” said Aedion and patted Rowan on the shoulder “guys I am going for a shower.”
“Go and make yourself pretty for your woman.”
Eventually the women came back as well and Lysandra cheered when she was told Aedion had gone for a shower.
Aelin walked to Lorcan “can I talk to you?”
The man looked at her with a questioning look.
They walked outside in the yard “do you like Elide? Are you interested in her?”
The man looked away clearly not comfortable talking about his feelings.
“Elide likes you, for some obscure reason. She is wonderful and a dear friend of mine. She does not have the same… experience you have. You are free to try and date her if she is okay with it. But you break her heart, you hurt her and I swear you’ll be flying from Terrasen under false identity because Lys, Ansel and I will come after you.” The man was a giant but she was not scared “do you read me on that, sir?”
Lorcan nodded.
“Now you stop playing side glances and go ask her out for a coffee.”
“Are you planning on managing my relationship with her?” He asked annoyed.
“No, but I will be watching you.” And walked away.
With her eyes she followed the man going to talk to Elide and once he was done she saw her friend giving her the thumbs up.
Happy with her job she went to find Rowan and found him sitting hiding beside one of the engines.
“Hey,” she said sitting down beside him “what are you doing down here alone?”
He replied with a heavy sigh “Our two teams together get along a bit too much. I just needed peace and quiet. I landed only this morning. We haven’t slept in a while and jet lag and all. I am a bit wiped.”
“You should go home.”
He leaned his head against the vehicle ‘you should too… after the night you had.”
“Can’t, night shift remember? I will go and take a shower though, and collapse on my bunk. But I am stuck here until tomorrow and hope no more emergencies.”
“It’s not fair though. After that fire you should go home and have someone relieve you.”
“That’s not how it works, captain.” She stood “go home. Sleep, I believe you promised a lady to go out for a meal.”
“Yes, and hopefully this lady will find some time to relax as well.”
Rowan stood as well and stopped in front of her.
“Thank you for the meal. It was awesome.”
“You deserved it.”
She grabbed the tips of his fingers and held them gently “I will see you tonight at seven.”
“Hopefully with less dirt on you.”
She flipped him off and walked away. Rowan chuckled and in the end took his leave as well.
TAGS:
@rowaelinismyotp
@jlinez
@swankii-art-teacher
@courtofjurdan
@whimsicallyreading
@tillyrubes10
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fandom-puff · 4 years
Text
Exhaustion
Pairing: Jon Snow x reader
Requested by: anon
Summary: you’ve been up for well over a day, helping Queen Sansa with returning winterfell to its former glory. Jon, back from the Wall now that Greyworm has ventured to Naath grows increasingly concerned for your health as you wear yourself to the bone
AN: so yeah this is totally a season 8 fix it bc we all got incredibly screwed over :) can you tell I’m not too fond of Danaerys after about... season 1? Anyways I love writing for game of thrones lol! Gif creds, as always, to the owner <3 ALSO: YNN= your nickname
Warnings: sleep exhaustion, season 8 spoilers
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“There is damage to the wall, my queen, the entrance to the castle as well. The stables were burnt by dragon fire, the armoury... well, most of it is gone. The statues of the direwolves are also destroyed, more so than when the Bolton’s were here,”
Sansa nodded slowly, her hands grasping the ornate wood carvings of the arms of her throne. She looked sideways to you, her closest friend and most loyal advisor, a lady from a lesser house in the north. You turned to the fellow Northman in front of you and surveyed him for a moment.
“For now, we have little need of an armoury. For any horses who survived the dragon fire, we will source wood to build a temporary stable so they may sleep out of the cold,” you said.
“Lord Bronson, please see that the horses are kept sheltered and that any builders hired are paid adequately for their time,” the queen addressed her newly appointed master of coin. “As for the damage to the wall of the castle, we need stone and men to rebuild it. Scope around for volunteers in the keep, they too will be paid for their extra work,” the man nodded and bowed to his queen. “As for the statues... have the Smithy melt down any damaged weapons and use the steel to remodel the Direwolves,” the master of coin scribbled down the funds and nodded.
“That is all, my queen,” the man said.
“And what of the Northmen? Those nearer the wall will have been hit hard by winter and the night king. The harvests were poor, the livestock is weak. We have an excess in our own kitchens. I want hearty food and good ingredients delivered to the villagers to ensure they survive until a more permanent solution is found,”
“Your highness, perhaps we should send a raven to your brother in the south? Out of loyalty to you and his ally, the North, arrangements can be made between the Crownlands and their ports and the fertile grounds of the Reach? Just because the North is now independent does not mean we ought to sever trade links entirely,” you said slowly, your hands clasped in your lap.
Sansa was quiet for a moment. You could see the internal struggle between wanting to do everything herself without help from the south, and wanting to keep the people fed and strong. She turned to you slowly. “Have a message sent to Bran,” she said firmly, nodding slowly to show she trusted you. “Surely there are resources we can trade with Kings Landing. Have another sent to Highgarden, I believe the Reach was relatively unscathed by the Mad Queen,” you bit back a smirk at that nickname. “They have always been fond of our embroidery,” you nodded. “Thank you for your report,” Sansa turned again to the man in front of her. “We will set to work as soon as possible. You are dismissed. Go and see to your wife, my Lord, I believe she is reaching the end of her pregnancy,” she smiled kindly, and with a low bow, the man left the hall.
With no one in the room but herself, you and the master of coin, Sansa sagged into her throne.
“You’re doing wonderfully, your highness,” you said gently, smiling softly at her. “Winterfell is almost restored and I have never seen a ruler show such compassion and sensibility to her subjects. The King of the South will help us- he probably knows already. And if need be, I will tell my brother that I’m staying at winterfell a while longer, should you need me. I trust him not to run my House’s keep to the ground while I’m gone,”
Sansa smiled at you with appreciation, and she soon gave you leave while she went to visit her Maester. As you were reaching the door, she called out. “YN! I’ve had word from Castle Black. Jon is returning to Winterfell. He should be here tonight,” you tried to hide your excited smile, and couldve sworn you saw a sly smirk tugging at Sansa’s lips as you bowed slightly and hurried off to your chamber.
Jon was coming back! You had been furious when the unsullied had him banished to the wall for killing the Mad Dragon Queen. From the moment you saw Danaerys, you did not trust her in the slightest, having heard the stories from across the Narrow Sea. In your eyes she was a glorified tyrant, as mad as her father and as deceptive as Queen Cersei. You knew she was almost nothing without her dragons, which caused more harm than good. Breaker of chains, she had called herself, when in reality she forged chains of her own- bend the knee or die was not a free choice, it was a threat, and had Danaerys Targaryen taken the throne as she was adamant she deserved it, you would’ve been slaughtered for your loyalty to the North, to the Old Gods, to your family, your friends, and not to a glamorous tyrant who would surely burn Westeros to the ground just as her father had planned.
Once returned to the north, you and Sansa had spoken of Jon a few times, and Sansa always got a mischievous glint in her eyes when you did. She must have planned his return, as he had no real need to stay beyond the wall after the Unsullied left for Naath. Smiling to yourself, you set to preparing yourself for dinner, asking a few passing maids to help you draw a bath. Unlike most nobles, you helped the maids, rather than watch them, and spoke kindly as you heated the water for your bath. Once there was enough water, you thanked them and allowed them to leave as you bathed, washing your hair and scrubbing your skin. Once towelled dry, you rubbed sweet smelling oils into your skin, before slipping into your smallclothes and a simple, yet beautiful, dark green gown, discretely embroidered with your house’s sigil at the trim of the neckline and up from the wrists of your long sleeves. Lacing the dress up at the side, you sat in front of your mirror and set about sorting out your hair, towelling it dry and braiding it around your head. Finally, you fastened a simple silver chain around your neck, your sigil hanging over your heart.
Smiling to yourself, you stood, leaving your chamber and walking to the Great Hall where dinner was normally held. When you slipped through the door, however, the room was empty, only a few candles lit. Frowning, you turned, hearing the sound of two sets of footsteps as Sansa and Jon rounded the corner. Sansa trailed off from what she had been saying and smirked slightly as she pushed Jon towards you.
“Er... Lady YLN,” he spoke in his thick, northern burr. You repressed a shiver and have him a bright smile.
“Jon! Just YN, remember?” You said, slowly walking towards him. Gladly, he accepted your embrace, and you buried your face into the thick furs at his shoulder, not caring about the flecks of snow. You pulled away and beamed at eachother, before Sansa cleared her throat.
“I thought we’d take dinner in my chambers,” she said. “The three of us reunited,” you both nodded and followed your queen. “Jon, I’ve had a room prepared for you, there should be a fire to warm you and new clothes there too,”
“But, your majesty, I... I took the black. I’m in exile,” he said lowly, frowning.
Sansa merely smiled and carried on walking. “No. You were in exile, therefore unable to take an oath of any sort. That, however, was when the unsullied insisted on ‘justice’. The unsullied are settled in Naath, and furthermore, you are a Northman. The north is an independent kingdom. Therefore, you are released from your exile,”
You shook your head fondly at your friend as you entered her chambers, were a maid was laying out the table. She turned when she heard the door and sunk into a low curtsey. “Thank you Amya,” Sansa said. “This looks wonderful,”
“Yes m’lady,” the young girl said, smiling proudly as she was dismissed.
Once fed and watered, the three of you retired to Sansa’s personal chamber, drinking wine and sharing anecdotes. Already smiling serenely from the wine at dinner, having more was making you feel a little floaty. You stifled a yawn as you fiddled with your necklace as you listened to Jon. “YN... you look exhausted,” he said softly, tipping your chin up to face him properly. The flickering light of the hearth highlighted the growing bags under your eyes and how glazed over your eyes were.
“‘M alright,” you mumbled, resting your head on his shoulder. “Can stay up a bit longer. Finish your story,” you insisted, but your eyes were already fluttering shut.
Sansa pursed her lips. “YN... after last night’s small council meeting, did you even go to sleep?” She asked gently. “And today... we’ve had about 15 lords and 12 smallfolk coming in for audiences, all of which you attended...”
You smiled slightly. “Was in the library last night, Sansa...” you mumbled. “Needed to look up the logistics and the finances,”
“Oh, YNN, we have a Maester and master of coin to do that,” she said gently, reaching over to place her hand over yours. “What about when the maester called for a break?”
“I went to start on the letters to my brother and the King in the South,” you mumbled. “And Highgarden...” you let Sansa hold your hand and give it a firm squeeze, still nuzzling you’re face into Jon’s furs as the last two days finally caught up with you. “Nodded off at my desk, though, so I’ll have to start the letter to King Bran again,”
Sansa frowned. “YNN, you’re working too hard. I appreciate it immensely, but I cannot expect you to help me if you aren’t taking care of yourself. Tonight you will rest, and when morning comes you may rest some more. You are allowed to care for yourself, alright? You must. Because without you by my side, I question everything I do. I need you by my side. The north needs you in excellent condition. And so does Jon,” you nodded slowly in understanding, but her soothing words and gentle tone were lulling you to sleep. “I want to make you my hand, YN. But first, you need to sleep,” you nodded again and let out a mumbled ‘yes, my queen’ as you finally turned your head fully into Jon’s furs and let exhaustion take you.
What felt like an eternity later, you were jostled awake. You let out a small noise of complaint and nuzzled you’re face further into the soft thick furs in front of you, your fingertips brushing a lock of curled hair...
“Jon?” You whispered, barely audible.
“Shhh, I’m here. Gotta get you to bed, YN. no arguing, now. Queen’s orders,” you nodded, and mumbled ‘alright’ as he carried you to your chamber. He found your bed already turned down, and gently lowered you into it, letting you wriggle out of your dress. He averted his eyes as you tugged the covers over yourself, despite it being dark. You settled into the pillows, already drifting deeper into your slumber, when you heard the door creak open.
“Jon?” You murmured, reaching an arm out for him.
“Yeah?”
“Stay?”
Your eyes were shut and you were practically asleep, but you heard the door shut and lock and the sound of heavy leathers and cloaks hit the ground. Best of all, you soon felt the safe warmth of Jon pressed against your side.
Tag List: @diksy1112 @zodiyack @soleil-dor @sleepylunarwolf
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autumn-writes · 3 years
Note
Hi!! so can it be where Y/N and Hajime were together but as time pass by they slowly loses their interaction one another... Then Y/N decided to break up since their not that communicative and too busy of their life? fem reader please! angst go brrr 😭
If you want an happy ending, you can actually add it too if you want 😌
hiya anon! sorry i couldn't get to your request sooner! i had to take some time to think of how i could approach this! i changed up some stuff so uh, i hope your still like this.
angst? angst 👀
one shot below contains a female reader. this one shot will be written in the female reader's (or in other words s/o's) point of view
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Take me back to
spring
Hajime Hinata x Female Reader
﹋﹋﹋﹋
We fell in love at spring
The words you said to me that day stay ringing in my ears, playing on repeat in my brain all day. Three words full of so much love and so much affection.
"I love you."
I couldn't get your voice out of my head. It was as if the words that came out of your mouth were straight out of a song that had an incredible melody, with you and me being the actors in a music video.
Love so fluffy and love so sweet. The way you held me so close to your chest and peppered kisses on my bare neck. Your soft lips leaving imprints and bliss as they left.
Your eyes shined as bright as the stars in the night sky. They had always gleamed with so much happiness and contentment that I wished things would just stay the way they are.
You were my light and my joy. The crescent moon in my dark nights and the sunshine on rainy days. I loved you as much as you loved me. Spring was beautiful and I felt complete.
Our love was beautiful. They were the flowers blooming in the grassy fields we loved to go to.
On came Summer and we had so much fun, basking in the warm rays of the wonderful Sun
Summer arrived and our relationship thrived. We've been together for a few months and the love in your eyes only seemed to grow stronger with every single day. We basked in the afternoon sunlight, the sun's rays kissing our skin. Melodious laughter ruptured out our lips as we enjoyed our time playing in the warm sand.
Love so fiery and passionate, the fire of our love matching the hotness of the season. We did so much during Summer, our bond strengthening with every passing second. Your eyes fixated on me was enough to light me afire. My heart burned with the passion we had for each other.
The nights were opposite to the mornings, freezing and quiet. You kept me warm with your loving embrace, heat enveloping me as I would melt into your body's heat.
Feeling so young and so fresh, our problems washed away by the sea, the only thing I can hope for us future with you and me.
Smiles and kisses exchanged between us, followed by laughter and innocent fun. Summer was a season where we could do so much with limited time, if only time could've froze but it seems the scorching summer temperature melted my wishes away.
You met her in Autumn and is it just me? Did the light in your eyes suddenly stop twinkling?
Chiaki this, Chiaki that. Could you stop talking about how amazing she is for a second, Hajime?
My heart ached each time you went out of your way to stay with her. It longed for you to come back, but you never did.
Our problems started to take effect. Your piercing shouts hurting me more. Is it so wrong to just ask for some time together?
Every time I looked in your eyes, they looked so dim, as if all light had been sucked out of it. Even when I greeted you, even when I got you the things you wanted, the twinkle that had once been present wouldn't return.
But why did I see them when you were talking to her?
I am nothing like her, and I cannot be her. Maybe that's who you wanted? Perhaps you're tired. Let's wait a bit longer and see what happens next.
Dull. That's what you were. The fire that was once lit in our hearts burning out by the chilly wind provided by Winter.
It was gone. The fire in our hearts no longer burned for the other. I was numb to the amount of pain you've caused. Numb to the number of times you got mad at me. In the end, I stopped feeling.
The passion that was once present in me, now all I can feel is just my heart being empty. It was hollow, nothing inside.
Wearing a jacket and walking by the porch, never imagined it could be this cold. I waited for you and waited. Five, ten, fifteen minutes. Even twenty went by and you still hadn't arrived.
It was almost late in the night when I heard a quiet knock on the door. Walking up to it I'd seen a sight that I've seen before.
You looked at me like I was nothing. Like I was a ghost that you saw at a random attraction. A look full of boredom in contrast to mine with a look of annoyance.
"Where have you been—"
"Look. This isn't going to work. I'm so sorry S/O but it's just— I love her. I don't like you. I know that at once I did, but it sort of just, disappeared."
Silence. We were both stuck just looking at our shoes.
Nodding solemnly, I closed the door. I could hear a sigh coming from the other side before the sounds of the snow being stepped on reached my ears.
Alone. That's what I was. The piercing cold of the snow outside seemed to just make fun of me. The tears falling from my eyes drying up before I could even wipe them. No longer being held in your embrace, I was forced to hold myself in a desperate attempt at keeping warm.
The flowers from our time at Spring had closed, and so did our relationship.
The snow started to melt, but only this time, you weren't here
I sat in the field we once loved to visit. My heart aching at the thought of you not being here with me to enjoy the gentle breeze.
This spring was different, now it had no you and me. I was forced to watch the flowers by myself, no one here to make comments on their beauty but me.
You were my spring, I your flower. You had found another flower, and I had wilted without you.
.
.
.
Take me back to the Spring I loved and knew. To the Spring season where it was still me and you.
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here you go, anon! this is pretty terrible and i'm sorry i made you wait ;;-;; i really wanted to write this to the best of my abilities but it seems that was a fail, haha. if you'd like me to re-write this, i'll do my best to do so.
take care of yourself, anon. eat your meals, stay hydrated, and don't overwork yourself! stay safe.
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eerythingisshaka · 3 years
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Ficmas Day #24 “Christmas Ain’t Christmas Without Tre”
[Trevante Rhodes x Reader]
Word Count: 1.8k
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Running out of your work building, you curse under your breath as the snow falls heavily to the ground.  You have a bad habit of not checking the weather and in the winter time that spells for a potential disaster, much like tonight.  The snow, coupled with the fact your car is in the shop, means getting home is not going to be easy.  
You blow your hand for heat as your other roots through your coat pocket for your phone.  Scrolling through a rideshare app, the little map showing your area has no cars available for picking you up.
“Fuck!  Why is everyone so scared of the fucking snow?”  You look around and see the diner down the street from you is still open and take a chance on heading for it.  You teeth chatter the whole time as you run and the wind blows flakes into your eyes.  Crossing the street you hop the curb but your heel hits a bit of ice, making you fall flat on your behind.
You wince in pain and get up slowly, walking up to the door and letting yourself in.
“Aw man, lady!  You ok?  I saw that from back here.  That was a damn nasty fall!”  The employee behind the counter shakes their head as they bring dishes back to wash.  You wave a hand signaling you’re fine.
“I just need to sit here.  Warm up and wait for a ride.”  You slide into a booth and groan in relief as you sink into comfort.
“You’re not gonna see a car in this.”
You look up and see Trevante standing by you in a camel colored coat looking suave and manicured as usual.  You can tell his eyes are a bit nervous though.
“How in the hell, of all places, are you here right now?”  you ask harshly.
Trevante looks away with a quick smile.  “I’m just here catching some late night eating.  Doesn’t mean anything with you.  I’m just about ready to head out anyway so-”
You sit up quickly.  “Wait, you drove?  Can I ride with you?”
Trevante’s eyes widened.  “Don’t you have a license?”
“Yeah, but my car is in the shop.  Plus no rides for me to call, so...please?”
Trevante’s expression gives you an instant feeling of regret.  “Wow, we say please now?  You’ve grown up, girl.”
“Ahhh whatever dude, just help me out.  We never gotta do this shit again.”
He points his hand out for you to lead the way out the door.  As you both walk through the parking lot, your mind runs some scenarios through your head: awkward conversation, awkward silence, his hand reaches for the gear but you think he wants your hand and you catch his and he looks at you funny-
“Why are you so quiet?”
You jump as he breaks your inner monologue.  “What do you mean?”
“I mean, you’re kinda acting weird.  My car’s right here.”  
You go around to the passenger side as he unlocks the doors, sliding into the seat and quickly shutting the door.
“It’s cold.”
Trevante turns his motor on.  “No shit it is.”
You adjust the vents in the dashboard so that the air flows your way directly.  “I mean that’s why I’m not talking much.”
“Ok.”  
The car is silent except for the roar of the heat circulating around you.  You wriggle in your seat trying to find a comfortable position but with little progress as your knees hit the dash in front of you constantly.  Reaching under the seat, you pull the bar to slide the seat farther back.
“You changing my shit over there?”  Trevante asks 
You reach for the side of the seat to lean it back a little.  “Can I have this one time courtesy?  Ain’t my fault you let little people ride in your car now.”
“I don’t let anyone ride in my car or make any changes in my car.”
You scoff, leaning back and crossing your ankles.  “You let me do whatever I wanted in this car.”
Trevante grips the steering wheel and looks up through the windshield.  “That was before.”
“Yeah, you right.  My man has a bigger ride than this so it’s usually not an issue but…”  You don’t finish your sentence as you feel the atmosphere change in the car.  You look sideways at Trevante but he’s facing his driver’s side window.  You silently curse yourself for coming off as boasting and try to change the subject.
“You gonna drive or what?”  
Trevante leans back with his hands in his lap.  “I’m waiting for this snow to pass.”
“What do you mean?  That might take all night, I gotta go home now.”
“You meeting somebody or something?”
“Maybe, like that’s your business anyway!”
Trevante laughs in a way that isn’t funny.  “That’s crazy.”
You turn to confront him.  “What is?  I don’t have all day to be here.”
“You’re coming at me while I’m trying to help your stranded ass!”
“No one asked you to-”
Trevante leans forward waiting.  “Say again?  No one asked me...to help?  Was that what you were gonna say?”
You sit back quietly, watching the snow fall against the window in fat clumps.  You ask yourself why you’re so mad and combative but maintain a wall for the time being and hoping for the snow to stop.
Trevante fidgets with a vent that is turned to you, adjusting it to blow in his direction.  “What happened to your car?”
You clear your throat.  “It’s a transmission thing or something.”
“Damn, it’s still got that issue?”
You nod.  “Yeah but, it’s fine.  It’ll get handled.”
“Ok.  I could’ve looked at it but-”
“I don’t need the help.”
Silence overtakes you both again as the snow entrances you, filling each space of the window.  
“Remember when I got you that shelf for your TV?  And it delivered that afternoon, but I had to go to work so I said I’ll put it together when I got off.  And when I got home-”
You snort laughing at the memory.  “It look like someone broke in and destroyed a perfectly good shelf.”
Trevante laughs with you, covering his face.  “Girl, don’t nobody fuck that up like you, man I coudn’t even do nothing with it.  Half the pieces were missing and it look like you beat it with a hammer at some point.”
“It was frustrating!  I did my best!  There you go hating!”
Trevante shakes his head.  “I’m not hating.  Like you said, you did your best.  You try a LOT.”
“It’s my best quality!  Giving up is not my forte!”  
You study the fabric of Trevante’s from his bicep to his wrist.  When your eyes land on his hand, you see an old scar from the very shelf debacle.  
You lightly smack the back of his hand to get his attention.  “Let me ask you for one favor:  Come with me to get my car so I know they not tryna charge me out my ass for it.”
Trevante shrugs his shoulders with uncertainty.  “I’m not sure.  What do I get out of that?  Driving you home here, checking your car out there?  What’s in it for me?”
“Nothing but a job well done.”  You wriggle down in your seat comfortably.  As time passes, the snow seems to be getting worse.  Trevante turns off the car’s engine.
“Why you doin that?  It’s gonna get cold!”  Your complaints fall on deaf ears however as Trevante remains steadfast in conserving energy.
“If I don’t have any gas to take you home, then what will happen?”
You groan, feeling the chill of the outside seeping in within minutes.  You shiver, pulling your coat tighter around and leaning into your knees so you form a ball.
“It’s not all that!  Come on!”
“I don’t have any other choice!  You’re freezing me out!”  
Trevante sighs, placing a hand on your back to give you a shake.  “Come over.”
You peek over at him cautiously.  
“Since you’re in my care, I’m offering a heat source.  Take it or leave it.”  He waits with his coat half open to you patiently.
You lean over to him without hesitation, feeling his strength as you lay against him.  Resting your heart on his chest, you hear his heart beating loud and strong.  Its percussive hum settles your mind, relaxing you as you drift off to sleep.
When your eyes open again, you barely can tell your surroundings as the area seems darker than before.  Your hands slide from around his waist as you look up.
“The snow stopped,’ you say out loud, waking Trevante with a slight jolt.
Trevante rubs his eyes and yawns aggressively.  “Shit, how long did we sleep for?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t wanna get up.”
Trevante squeezes your arm with sleep still in his voice.  “Nah, we’ll sleep better once we out this car.”
You sigh.  “Fine.”
Turning our face up to him, you give him a peck on his lips before thinking and freeze in place.  You and Trevante stare into each other’s eyes as your lips lock, frozen in fear.  You pull  yourself back slowly.
“I wasn’t thinking.”
Trevante doesn’t say anything.  He just continues to stare, unblinking.  “I don’t need a reason.”
Once your gaze fell from your eyes to his lips, your body catapults towards him again, snaking your way around him to let his seat back flat.
As you crawl across to straddle him, Trevante looks around worried.  “What about the man you talked about?”
“I lied.”  You swing your leg around and start undoing his pants.  “I don’t know why, I don’t wanna talk about it.”
“But-”
You pause unzipping him with a huff.  “I don’t need an explanation!  You don’t need a reason!  That works, yeah?”
His hands reach around you, pulling you in to him.  He helps you out of your bottoms, feeling your hottest outside of your clothes than in them.  You kiss the familiarity of his hands as they travel every area of you enjoying the ride in his driver’s seat.  Your body shakes from being reintroduced to him, unable to calmly enjoy the feast for fear of being hungry again.
When he drops you off at your residence a while later, you hesitate getting out of the car.  When he reaches for your hand, you squeeze it tightly.
“I’ll see you later, you know?”
He nods.  “Of course.  You know where I am.  Just text me before the car is ready though so I don’t feel used.”
You laugh quietly.  “Come in.   Just come inside.”
He looks away with restraint.  “That’s dangerous for us.”
“Walk me to the door.”
You get out of the car, waiting for him to follow you.  As you get your keys out of your pocket and in the door.
“Imma go now.”
You walk in and leave the door open for him.
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stxrrywildflower · 4 years
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midnight swim
pairing - spencer reid x reader
summary - spencer helps warm you up after a slight girls night mishap
warnings - cursing, mentions of case
word count - ?
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you, emily. j.j., and penelope always tried to do girls night as much as possible. however, between the constant traveling you did, they didn’t happen often. tonight was the exception.
after a suprisingly relaxing day at work, j.j. suggested you all got together at her home as will and the boys were away on vacation. spencer waved you off with a kiss on the cheek and a “have fun,” before you went to your apartment to change and grab a bag just in case you got called in.
you knocked on j.j.’s front door before stepping back. when the blonde agent opened the door, she was already grinning with a glass of wine in hand. you both giggled and walked inside to the living room. penelope and emily were already there, each in their own loungewear.
while j.j. put some random movie on tv, the rest of you all settled down into the mess of pillows and blankets on the floor and couch. you leaned into emily and took a sip of your wine. nights where you could just settle down and spend time together were incredibly relaxing.
it was around midnight when the snow started. the movie had just ended and you all weren’t even tipsy yet. naturally, the group decided to go out onto the deck.
“damn it’s cold,” emily announced, “hey, why isn’t your pool covered up?” j.j. turned to her friend, “first off, it isn’t a pool em. it’s more of a swim spa. will is supposed to fix the temperature when he gets back.”
you sat along the edge of the swim spa and ran your fingers along the water. “so it is really cold i assume?” penelope asked. “yeah it is,” you replied.
a smirk appeared on j.j.’s face meaning only one thing. “j.j., no,” you spoke, putting your hands on in defense. the blonde woman stood up, walking over to you. both of you continued to laugh as she chased you around the deck.
finally, your body was shoved into the freezing water. you used the bottom to push you back up. after flicking your hair back and wiping your face of the water droplets, you noticed everyone else laughing. you, however, were incredibly cold and only slightly warm.
your teeth chattered as emily helped you out. now, the four of you were standing on the snowy deck and only you were soaking wet. “not fucking funny,” you cursed through your shaky demeanor.
as the cherry on top, all four of your phones went off. “how mad would you be if i told you we have round table in thirty,” emily questioned. your expression turned into a grimace as you narrowed your eyes. “oh you’ve got to be kidding me.”
“well i’m only ten minutes from quantico so we can leave in twenty. that should give us all time to get ready. y/n you can take a quick shower to warm up if you want,” j.j. offered.
you grabbed your bag and headed upstairs to the bathroom. there wasn’t enough time for you to wash your hair, all you could do was rinse off. still, the warm water felt amazing on your skin. however, once you stepped out, you felt more cold then before.
usually, with either late or extremely early cases, dress code was much more relaxed. you were hoping that today was the same. you got changed into your usual pants, shirt, and boots before slipping on a sweatshirt and then your winter coat. your hair was still wet and fell around your head in its usual style. overall, it looked like you had just showered and rushed to work.
“ready to go?” j.j. asked. all three of you nodded in response, each grabbing your bags and making your way to the car. the heat in the car was pretty high, helping you warm up.
with a wave to the receptionist at the front desk, you all piled into the elevator to head up to the fourth floor. after walking into the bullpen, penelope went right up to the conference room to prep for briefing while you, emily, and j.j. all moved to sit at your desks.
“what happened to you?” spencer questioned.
you looked over to see a sympathetic look from your boyfriend. “ask j.j.,” you spoke, rubbing your arms together. both spencer and morgan turned towards their fellow agent who threw her arms up in defense. “maybe i pushed her in the pool,” j.j.’s voice trailed off.
spencer teacher under his desk and into his bag. after pulling out a blanket, he stood up and draped it over your shoulders. you squeezed his hand as a thank you. and with a kiss to the side of your head, spencer sat down once again.
when hotch stepped out of his office and tapped a case file, you all headed up to the conference room. the blanket stayed on your shoulders as spencer walked beside you. “are you still cold?” spencer asked as you two sat down next to each other making you nod.
despite your chairs already being directly next to one another, spencer pulled on the arm to bring you closer. while penelope ran over the case details, spencer rubbed shapes on your thigh. the gesture alone made you smile.
instead of the usual ‘wheels up in thirty,’ this time it was as soon as possible.
once on the airplane, you slide into the window seat in the group of four. emily and morgan sat scross from you while spencer joined you at your side. you snuggled into your boyfriends side, the blanket moving from your shoulders to cover you two. you were practically on his lap at this point but at least you were warm.
“please don’t let me every go midnight swimming again,” you mumbled, your eyes already shut. spencer chuckled softly, “alright sweetheart, i won’t.”
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