A Stitch In Time Saves Nine
Pairings: Dark!Jefferson/Mad Hatter x Reader
Summary: Jefferson harshly reminds Reader about a rule she broke.
Warning: Jefferson is not a good guy in this- yandere, minor injury to reader, drugged, manhandling, mentions of needles
Word Count: 2.2k
The steam swirled and lifted, abandoning the teacup and taking with it the warmth. The house was quiet this morning, except for Jefferson’s deep snores slipping past the broken bedroom door.
Your body grew colder the longer you watched the steam escape, spreading itself thin and dancing faster away. It was similar to how your last hopes felt when leaving you.
Eventually, there would only be a shell left holding cold liquid. Because you can’t put steam back in a mug.
You cradled your bruised hand, nestling it closer against your corset. The rivets were expensive and ribbons colorful, but your bloodied fingers were ruining the workmanship.
You’d give it all up- forgo the fine tea parties and discard all the enviable riches- to be able to return to your small village, away from him. But to regain your freedom and leave Jefferson behind was a hope cruelly curling up and dying inside you.
You tried blocking out what just happened. The event created a headache behind your eyes, but the thoughts still wouldn’t stop repeating themselves.
The way the bedroom door broke open when he screamed at you for trying to lock it. The look on his face when he crashed through it, yanking you across the room without stopping. How he seemed to take it personally when you tripped over the bedroom rug and fell onto the ground.
Snarling like an animal, he flipped you onto your back and dragged your body across the floor.
His rage paused for a moment when you caught him off guard, grabbing onto the bottom of splintered door frame, bracing yourself.
You gripped the broken frame harder as you begged Jefferson to leave you alone and calm down. You thought he might- until he came by your side and slammed the door against your hand.
“There are no locked doors in my house!” Jefferson roared over your screams.
The pain was blinding and it allowed him to easily pull you down the hallway as you cried and clutched your fingers.
Each of his steps sent your skirt peeling further back up along your thighs. Your feet bounced against the kitchen floor when he finally dropped your legs.
“It’s not broken,” Jefferson straddled you, grabbing your damaged hand. “Behave- and keep it that way.”
Your mouth wobbled without sound, your shaking lips were enough for Jefferson to know you heard him.
With narrowed eyes and a nod, he stepped over you, crushing the embroidery on your skirt with his boots. He rummaged and cursed throughout in the kitchen, pulling open drawers and slamming cabinet doors.
You attempted to sit up without adding any extra weight onto your hand, cautiously watching him put the kettle on before setting out two cups and two teapots. You tracked him with wary eyes and tried smothering your pain. Despite it being excruciating, you knew better to complain.
Fear prickled the back of your neck when he pulled a key out of his coat pocket and unlocked the side cabinet. He removed several glass jars of herbs by feel alone- too consumed with cursing under his breath as he filled each teapot with different glassed ingredients.
“Take a seat at the table, rabbit,” he ordered, the kettle screaming over him. After dropping loose tea in both teapots, he filled them with the boiling water.
You knew what kind of blend was steeping in the one pot, your teapot. A special mix Jefferson served whenever you suffered from emotional outbursts. Hysterics brought on from being kept here and no one daring to cross the Mad Hatter by helping you out. Ordinarily, he would calmly pour you a cup and tenderly tell you to drink, promising how he’d make you feel better. Then he’d push a plate of biscuits over and tell you to eat.
But he was far from calm now.
Bile burned your throat as you readied yourself to sit. The ends of his misshapen curls brushed the high collar of his tailored coat and hid his sneer until he fully turned towards you.
His anger scared you away from the chair, surprising yourself at his disobeying his order.
“I told you to sit,” Jefferson reminded you coldly, placing the teapots and tray down on the table.
His eyebrows rose as you silently took several more wobbly steps away from the table.
“Ohhh... don’t run now, rabbit,” He mocked, wrenching a sewing tin off the pine shelf. “You were doing so good.”
Shaking the tin in the air, he easily closed in on you when the bookcase halted your retreat. The edge of the table dug into your hip when you tucked yourself between the two pieces of furniture along the wall.
“Please... Jefferson, I’m- I’m sorry,” the frantic pitches in your tone revealed how scared you were.
With a few heavy steps, Jefferson cut the remaining space between you both. His eyes moved rapidly before settling upon your injured hand.
“Remind me again, rabbit. What were the rules,” his voice hardened around each word.
Rules? Law? Orders? Everything was a command from him. And there were too many to remember, but you knew better than to say that. You tried pushing down the fear, thinking of a way to quell the rabid look in his eyes. But your delay only chafed him further.
For all his dangerous past outbursts at others within the town, you never saw him quite this unstable and threatening before to you.
His whispered nickname for you held more weight now, fully understanding people’s unease when he became agitated.
But this was more than agitation. His pupils were dilated, his breathing monstrously loud, his hair twisted along his brows from sweat; this Jefferson before you, he was in every sense the Mad Hatter.
With a swift kick, he knocked the table against the wall causing it to jam further into your hip. Pain bloomed along your side and the framed paintings rattled beside your head.
“Don’t make me wait, rabbit,” Jefferson sneered. “Say what you did wrong.”
“... I shou-shouldn’t have closed the door-”
“-In my face!” he spat.
“In... in your face,” you repeated slowly, eyes to the floor. "I'm sorry."
The air in the room thickened and solidified. Neither of you moved, predator and prey. The room fell almost completely silent except for the heartbeat echoing in your ears as Jefferson’s chest heaving.
“Go on,” Jefferson taunted, moving the sewing kit from one hand to the other. “You’re not done yet, little rabbit.”
“I shouldn’t have... I shouldn’t have tried to lock the door.”
“Ohhh, there it is, bunny,” he cooed with encouragement. “Heart of the matter.”
Your eyes rose, surprised by his quick change to a calmer tone. The pet name lit a small spark of hope.
Absent-mindedly you traced the scars on your hand. Honing in on the tender dots that peppered either side of your thumb and index finger. Shiny and smooth, slightly puckered and raised, the marks ran themselves in a line along your skin.
Remembering that small spark of safety that day, you scoffed. Hope really was like steam running away from a teacup- breaking itself apart in order to flee faster.
“Take yourself back to the table,” Jefferson ordered. “Drink your tea.”
“But. Please, Jefferson...”
“Go.”
Cradling your hand, you shuffled to the chair with him at your heels.
“I’ll take care of you, bunny. I’ll help you remember the rules,” he pulled the seat out for you and pushed you closer to the table.
You looked at the place setting, the teapot with the special blend set in front of you.
“Here. This will help,” Jefferson nudged the cup closer and placed the sewing tin by you.
“Would… would you like me to get some biscuits?” You asked between hesitant sips, testing the air between you two.
The tea tasted different than your usual dose of docile blend, a bit sweeter. But there wasn't any sugar on the table.
“You really think you deserve a treat?” Jefferson chuckled darkly into his own cup. “Take another drink, rabbit.”
You glanced up over the rim, noting the change in pet names.
He stared at you harder, eyeing the lip of the cup resting against your mouth that you weren’t consuming.
The cup felt heavy for a moment, then it felt oddly and incredibly light. Closing your eyes, you blew on the hot liquid and took another sip.
“Good,” He nodded at your compliance. “Drink more, bunny. You’ll need it.”
Jefferson’s voice sounded further away- but when you opened your eyes, he was still seated at the table. You blinked and the teacup tilted slightly in your hand.
The liquid dribbled down over your fingers. It felt… wet? You set the teacup on the table, afraid it might slip from your grasp. A rush of lightheadedness ran over you.
“How do you feel?” Jefferson opened the sewing tin and removed the cloth covering the stitching tools.
It took you a moment to realize he was talking to you. It took another moment to understand his question. How did you feel? You didn’t feel... right.
“I think... I think I need to lie down,” you slowly mumbled. “Please.”
Jefferson grunted with amusement, “Such polite manners at our impromptu tea party. It’s a shame you couldn’t remember to mind them earlier, rabbit.”
His chair scraped the floor as he moved closer, taking your injured hand in his. You felt your arm being moved, but couldn’t feel his actual touch. Your head lulled heavily to the side.
‘Rabbit,’ you thought with a frown. ‘Rabbit, wasn’t the good pet name. Was it?’
You fought your eyes from closing when you heard Jefferson rustling through the sewing tin.
“Relax, bunny. I’ll fix you up,” he vowed, threading the heavy, curved needle. “Like embroidering fine leather. We know how good I am with my hands.”
‘Bunny,’ you smiled, your head tipped back, loosely this time. Everything felt weightless. ‘Oh, Bunny. Bunny was the good name.’
Jefferson covered his forearm over yours. Pushing your injured fingers together, he squeezed your thumb up close. Pinching the skin together with a small clamp, he eyed the perfect guideline of skin that appeared between your finger and thumb.
“I’ll help you remember the rules, bunny,” Jefferson promised.
Raising his hand at an angle, Jefferson pressed the thick, hooked needle against your soft flesh and pierced you easily. Lightly humming, he slid the head of the needle through the other side of your skin with little resistance. As the needle’s sharp point emerged from you, a satisfied smile covered Jefferson’s face.
“Your skin is such a fine material, bunny. Much more buttery than any expensive leathers,” he complimented.
With a slight twist of his wrist, he rotated the pliers in his hand and followed the curve of the needle.
“No, no. Don’t fight. I don’t want to stitch a crooked line,” Jefferson warned, pulling the thick needle fully out.
Extending his arm, he dragged the curved hook away from you and closely watched the thread tunnel itself through the holes of your soft skin. Tugging the string taut with a grin, he knotted the end with a jerk, testing your skin to jump and comply.
“Good, little bunny,” he praised, knotting the thread again.
You whimpered on the second piercing, this one deeper than the first. Your eyes fluttered at the slight pinching sensations the thread made as it traveled in you.
You closed your eyes tighter when he pushed and pulled too harshly. You refused to look at his craftsmanship, the thought of the thread moving through your flesh made your legs kick out under the table.
“Don’t act like a scared little rabbit, bunny. I’m helping you,” Jefferson remarked impatiently, moving his body and pressing his weight down harder on your arm. “This will be your reminder to not touch the things you shouldn't.”
The drug-infused tea left you too lethargic to fight. But you finally saw what he had done, after allowing you to pull your arm out from under him.
He finished knotting the end of the thread and cut away the extra string. Unclamping your skin, he leaned back in his chair, permitting you to see the tailored project.
Jefferson didn’t fix your injury with stitches like you initially believed. Instead, he had sewn your thumb up against your index finger.
“Without the use of your thumb, you won’t be so tempted to close doors and turn locks,” Jefferson kissed the top of your head and gathered his tools. “Never worry, bunny. I’ll always be with you to help you remember.”
Before you passed out at the table, you heard him say, “One can feel dead and still be breathing, bunny. I know how that can be, but I won’t let that be you. We’re going to make each other happy. I’ll wake you later to finish your tea. I don’t want you in too much pain. There might even be a biscuit for you.”
A waking groan traveled out of the bedroom, followed by a deep morning cough and the sound of the bed shifting. Those scarred specks on your hand were now your reminder. Probably the most important one- the Mad Hatter would always be yours.
Quickly wiping your eyes, you shook away the memory. The smell of the biscuits cooling and the fireplace crackling offered a small, temporary comfort. Until his footsteps sounded across the kitchen floor and you felt his presence by your back.
“Good Morning, bunny. Is there tea ready?” Jefferson gave your shoulders a squeeze and kissed the curve of your neck with a moan. “God, you smell delicious- like freshly baked biscuits.
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Walking on a dream
PAIRING: SEBASTIAN STAN X READER
WORD COUNT: 1062
DESCRIPTION: you and Sebastian meet at the gym and this results in the beginning of a beautiful relationship
WARNINGS: Making out?
A/N: first off, happy birthday Sebastian!!!! second, this was very rushed because I wanted to post something for his birthday!! ignore any typos, I wrote this on my phone please please!!! and Let me know if you like it! p.s- this was inspired by the gym picture Sebastian uploaded
You were sent on a work trip by your law firm to the United States. Being one of the leading global firms, your company picked out the best hotel in town for you. It was a week-long trip and you had no plans on making new friends, let alone a boyfriend.
On the day you landed, you decided to sleep off the jet-lag and not do much, but you woke up in the middle of the night with full energy. You decided to hit the gym so that it would wear you out and you could go back to sleep. You changed to your gymming attire and put away your nightclothes.
You took your phone, a towel, and a water bottle and made your way to the hotel gym. While you were walking your phone buzzed. A notification popped up.
‘Sebastian Stan just posted a photo’ You quickly opened it and saw the picture.
The sight was breathtaking. It was a mirror selfie of Sebastian in a gym. His rock hard abs on full display and a vein popping out of his left arm making it very evident that he had just worked out. While walking, you were ogling at the picture.
You finally shut your phone as you reached the gym. It was empty when you walked in.
You plugged your headphones into your phone and picked a treadmill to run on.
You set your pace and ran on it, unbothered by your sorroundings.
A little while later you stopped to drink water. You got down from the treadmill and picked up your bottle when you saw someone was behind you. His shirtless back was facing you, and you could see his back muscles flex as he ran on the treadmill. You did not have very pg-13 thoughts then.
You cleared your throat and drank some water. Thankful that he was wearing headphones and wouldn’t be able to hear you, you got back to running but couldn’t get the stranger off your mind. Something about him seemed very familiar.
You finally grew tired and you decided to go back to bed. You had been in the gym for an hour and a half and realized that the mystery man was no longer there. You shrugged and made your way to your room.
The next morning you woke up and went to shower. You changed into your work clothes and headed out for your meetings.
At the end of the day, when you returned to your hotel room, you found out that Sebastian Stan was in the same city as you. The chances of him staying in the same hotel as you were slim but nonetheless, still there.
Fangirling to yourself, you decided to explore the city in hopes that you would bump into him somehow. You didn’t want to stalk him and invade his privacy. Atlanta was beautiful at night. You took a stroll along the streets and got some waffles to eat. Overall it was a very calming walk.
Disappointed that you didn’t accidentally bump into Sebastian, you went back to your room.
You were about to fall asleep when your trainer called.
“Hey (Y/N) your workout for the day is ready. Get your ass up and go to the gym”
“Hello to you too Danielle. And no, I worked out last night I’m not going to the gym today”
“(Y/N) get your ass up or I will make you do double sets when you come back”
“Stop threatening me this is abuse”
“Love you too. I’m going to WhatsApp you the workout. You better do it.”
“How will you know if I haven’t done it?”
“Girl I keep a track of your heart rate through your Fitbit”
“Screw you” You heard your friend laugh and you hung up on her.
You decided that you would go at midnight when the gym would be empty and decided to take a nap.
You woke up a couple of hours later and changed your clothes into gymming attire and ran down. A sudden burst of energy shot through your veins as you went down the lift.
You walked to the gym and saw that it was empty.
The first task on the agenda was 10 mins of cardio at 7 speed. You cursed under your breath because it was like running a marathon.
You got on the treadmill and began to run. You wore your headphones making you completely oblivious to your surroundings.
10 minutes later you got down and checked the next exercise. Slowly, you made your way through the list and soon you received a thumbs-up emoji from your trainer.
That was your signal to leave.
You shut the treadmill machine and stepped away from it. The same man from last night was present there. Except for this time, he was fully clothed. You saw him stop his machine and you quickly turned around and began to walk towards the water dispenser. You drank some water and threw the cup.
You went to pick up your phone from the treadmill when you caught the mystery man’s face. It was none other than Sebastian Stan. You tried not to react but, judging by the smirk on his face you knew that he found out. You politely smiled at him, not wanting to interrupt his workout and decided to leave.
“Hey wait” You looked back at him with a confused look on your face
“You left your headphones”
“Oh, thank you” You reached out your hands to take it from his
“You’re welcome” He lightly smiled at you
“I’m Sebastian, but I think you already know that so its only fair if I know your name”
“I’m (Y/N) and I’m sorry if I disturbed you”
“You did not (Y/N), in fact, I was just about to go back to my room” You nodded towards him
“Why do you work out in the middle of the night?”
“Well yesterday I couldn’t fall asleep and today my trainer basically threatened me” You chuckled “How about you?”
“Same, not able to fall asleep” suddenly the room was filled with tension. Anyone who entered the room would be able to guess what was going to happen. But not (Y/N).
Sebastian grabbed your hand and pulled you towards his chest.
“I saw you looking at me yesterday doll” You gasped as he stared into your eyes.
Not being able to predict what he was about to do next, you stayed there.
“As much as I want to kiss you right now, I would like to take you on a date first. So (Y/N), will you go on a date with me”
“Yes. I will.”
Sebastian let go of you. Flustered and not able to think straight, you grabbed him by his shirt and planted your lips on his.
His arms wrapped around your waist and yours were placed on his chest. You both pulled away panting.
You grabbed him again and fiercely kissed him.
“Doll, I think you should stop if you don’t want this go too far” he whispered against your lips
“Maybe I want this to go far”
“Your wish is my command. Your room or mine?”
“Yours”
With that, you woke up the next morning, naked under the sheets next to Sebastian Stan.
His arms were around you and legs tangled together.
You wondered if this was just a one night stand or would it go further. Lost in your thoughts, you did not realize that the sex-god had woken up.
“Good morning doll” His hoarse voice sounded insanely sexy in the morning and the little nickname gave you butterflies.
“Good morning Sebastian” you looked at him and drank in his appearance.
Everything about him was beautiful. His hair was messy due to last night’s events and there were red marks over his neck and collar.
“What are you looking at?” he asked with a smile on his face. You shook your head and cuddled into him.
‘“We’re still on for that date right? I was not joking when I told you that I want to get to know you”
“Yes Seb, were still on for that date. However, I should go now, I have meetings to go to”
“5 more minutes” and he hid his head in your neck. You could get used to this. You wanted to, but you had to wait.
“Ok 5 minutes are up, I have to go or I’ll get fired” he sighed and kissed your lips. You didn't want to let him go, but duty calls.
“Come to my room at 8 today. My room number is 786”
“Okay doll. See you” he smirked as you got dressed and ran to your room.
Your whole day was amazing and the date was even better. You both managed to stay without tearing each other's clothes for some time.
You were lying down next to Sebastian and he was mindlessly playing with your hands
“What will happen to us when the week is done Seb?”
“When the week is done, you will go back home and I will too. But we will make it work (Y/N), I really like you and I want to see where this goes”
And he was not wrong for taking the chance. Because right now both of you were sitting next to each other, him wearing a blue tux matching with his eyes and you wearing the most gorgeous white wedding dress as your best friend narrated this story.
“So Mrs.Stan, ready to recreate our first night together?” Sebastian whispered which sent a shiver down your spine.
“Can’t wait, it is like I’m walking on a dream”
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