#so anyway thanks to my surgeon she was the best

[tonyboneysblog]

MOTHER HEN: PART TWO

parings: hawks x mother!reader

word count: 1.9k

warnings: minor character death!

notes: THANK YOU FOR ALL THE LOVE ON PART ONE, ITS ALWAYS APPRECIATED❤️

summary: you, the mother of Tokoyami Fumikage, are just a simple nurse! Who has caught the eye of a certain pro.

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

your alarm is blaring at 4:00 in the morning, work always has you coming in at weird times.

but you so warm in your bed, the comforters are the just right amount of warmth, the fan is blowing at the perfect speed, and your in the perfect position.

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

maybe work can wait for at least one day…no people need your there- if you asked for an off day you and someone died you could never forgive yourself.

So you begrudgingly rise from your bed, getting ready for your day.

Washing your face, brushing your teeth, dressing yourself, etc.

You walk out of your room making your way into the kitchen, while on your way you spot Tokoyami on the couch.

“Fumikage?” you say sleepily.

His head peeks up from the couch slowly, “uhm, hi mom..”

“what’re you doing up?”

“nothing.”

You sigh, “did you get some sleep at least?”

“Yea I-i did mama, don’t worry.” He scratches at his head.

“We’ll make sure to take a nap at least before you get ready for school…” you ruffle the feathers on the top of his head and kiss his forehead.

Tokoyami yawns, “I’ll see you soon, mama.”

you smile, “Course sweetie…”

You make your way out of the house finally, getting into your car and driving to work.

As you pull in there are multiple ambulances surrounding the hospital, which isn’t unusual but it wakes you up from your tiredness.

Was there an accident? It seems like there’s a lot more than there should be usually…but you didn’t see anything on the news? well you forgot to turn it on.

You walk into the hospital and check in, nurses are going everywhere and nowhere at the same time. What happed anyways?

You can see Emi, your co-worker, run up to you. See seems more stressed than usual…

“Oh y/n, thank the gods your here- t-there was an accident up the street, some building collapsed, and we are almost fully packed.” She says hurriedly.

“Hey, hey calm down. We can handle this okay, Emi?”

“O-okay” she takes a quick deep breath, “You need to be at room D3 at the intensive care unit, they need more hands.”

“Got it, deep breaths okay? I’ll see you later.” You walk away, well that explains why there’s so many people here.

You’ve never really worked at the intensive care unit before but people usually make it back to stability in your hands.

Emi days you have a magical touch, Fumikage says it’s because you’re amazing.

You walk into the intensive care unit, a another nurse, Monika, waves you down to the room.

You hurry in, the patient isn’t in the best shape. doctor starts talking about an emergency surgery.

You sanitize and put your gear on, starting it immediately, you listen when the surgeon calls for a new instrument.

You’re worried, you keep your eye on the monitor- is it supposed to be going down like that?

The surgery continues.

the monitor drops.

“8:17, time of death.”

it hits you like a brick.

Monika pats your back, she basically lives in intensive care. She knows what it’s like.

“There was nothing you could do, there in a better place, okay?” She says trying to comfort you.

You haven’t experienced a death yet while working, which sounds insane since you work all the time but..you’ve never seen it.

you’ve never heard the monitor stop beeping.

You have to continue though- you need too.

You have other people to save so you keep working, that’s what Fumikages father hated about you.

5 dead, 34 injured. That was the count at the end of the day, apparently hero’s were still pulling out body’s from the rumble.

“Take your break, y/n” Monika says.

That’s really the only thing you can do at the moment.

So you sit down next to Emi, her head is in her hands.

“Do you think we did enough?” She says with sorrow in her voice.

“I don’t know.”

Her voice shakes, “That was my first time I saw someone die on the table like that.”

“Yea, mine too.”

“I’m sorry, y/n.” Her voice breaks.

It’s okay thought, all of this just toughens you up! sometimes it haunts your dreams but you always wake up in the end.

You started dreaming it was Fumikage on the table and not just some patient.

it makes you want to vomit.

You hear Monika walking around the corner, she waves.

She hands you a drink, “Here”

“Wish it were alcohol”, you chuckle.

“Well apple juice is all we got, don’t get stuck in your head y/n.”

“Tell that to Emi.” You take a swig of the apple juice.

Monika sits next to Emi and starts talking to her so softly you can’t really pick up on it.

It’s 5:18, you haven’t eaten yet, it’s probably a good time to clock out.

Maybe you’ll go to that new chicken place, Fumikage said it was good.

So you decide to walk there, you don’t really trust yourself to drive at the moment anyways.

It’s close to the hospital so it was an easy walk, your legs ached a little bit and they only ached more at the thought of walking back to your car.

You walk in with a ding from the door, you texted Fumikage on the way to ask for his order.

You look around for a moment then walk up to the counter, ordering you and your sons meals.

They ring it up and give it to you, you sit

down and one of the booths.

You start to eat, re-thinking all of the events of your day until you can hear someone slide into your booth while you’re munching on your food!

You look up to see who would do that, because yknow-boundaries, only to see the bird hero?

“Rough day?” He says with a soft smile.

you sigh, “you don’t even know.”

He giggles, “yea, you look rough Mrs. Nurse.”

you shot him a glare, he just shrugs.

“How’s your kid, U.A. And all that?”

“Ah, he’s doing good, not getting enough sleep though.”

He raises his eyebrows and shakes his head, “no good, needs his beauty rest.”

You smile softly, suppose some hero’s also save people how are just having a rough day.

He focuses, “And how’s the old ball and chain?”

“The what?”

“your…husband?” He says hesitantly.

“Oh!” You laugh, “please haven’t seen him since I was 16.”

He blushes and stammers, “Sorry, I-i just thought..yknow?”

“Thought he’d stay? we were young yknow, he didn’t want my son and I did.”

“sorry to hear that.”

“We always fought anyways so, good riddance I suppose.” You chuckle.

Hawks sneaks away a fry from your bag of food, “We keep meeting, don’t we?”

“Yea, you might be a stalker, Hawks.”

He blushes as his wings puff up, “n-not true!”

you laugh, it’s nice.

This is nice.

You look at the time on your phone, 5:48, you don’t wanna worry Fumikage so-

“Oh gosh, I need to go.” You say in an apologetic voice.

“I can fly you back.”

“I have my own wings, hawks.”

“You look tired.”

“I am, but I have a car I need to take home so-“

“Why drive when you have wings?”

Good question, your wings are actually too small to carry your weight through the sky so there’s not really a point throwing yourself off a roof to see if you actually can.

“You can walk me to my car?”

“great idea, mama bird.”

“Mama bird?”

“Well you’re a mom and I assume that your son has a bird quirk…so.”

I mean he’s correct. The two of you leave the restaurant with the food in tow, making your way to your car.

Hawks wings jitter anxiously though he shows composure, “So, his old man ain’t around?”

“Nah, left right when he found out, haven’t really tried to date since- well I have but yknow.”

“Hard out there for single moms?”

“Yea, it was bad about 4 years ago? Met this guy and he put his hands on Fumikage, called the cops and made sure he stayed far away from him.”

Hawks looks off to the side slightly, lost in thought but only for a moment.

“My car is right here.”

He grins, “Nice car, Mrs nurse.”

“Oh please, it’s Y/N Tokoyami” you chuckle out.

“Got it in my brain.” He points towards his head.

You just laugh and shake your head while getting into your car.

Hawks stands next to your window, “see you again?”

“We keep meeting so probably- how’s your head also?”

“Hm, from what?” He questions.

“The hospital remember? I’m surprised you’re already back on patrol.”

Hawks rubs the back of his neck, “guess you just have a magic touch?”

You laugh and shake your hand while rolling up your window, reminds you of Emi- wonder how she’s doing.

You start to drive home, you can see hawks waving in the rear view mirror, he’s nice.

Fumikage will be happy, you hope he had a good day.

You hope hawks had a good day too.

Finally you reach home, you probably look like a walking zombie who had a death grip on a chicken bag when they died.

Tokoyami greets you right when you open the door.

“Mother, I heard about the building- a-and I was worried that-“

“Don’t worry so much Fumi..your mama saved people too.”

Fumikages speech slows, “It’s just…I know how you get.”

You really wish you didn’t have to be all down in the dumps in front of Fumikage.

Long days and stressful days at the hospital always get to you, you wished that they didn’t.

Sure it was your first time actively seeing someone die in the hospital but you always knew that you’d see it one day.

“Hey look on the bright side, I got chicken?”

Fumikage sighs, “I hope you know my classmates would consider that cannibalism.”

“They better be nice to you.”

“They are- well we haven’t really talked but no one’s really mean.” Tokoyami responds sheepishly.

“Don’t lie to me, silly goose”

Fumikage starts to unpack the food bag, “well there’s this one boy, bakugo, he is like obsessed with destroying another boy named Midoriya.”

“Destroying?” You giggle.

Fumikage sits down at the table, “yea totally, we were paired up today to act like hero’s and villains- and they got the opposite from each-other and they destroyed the whole building!”

again, that’s an email.

“Who’d you get paired up with?”

Fumikage looks away from your curious gaze, “this girl named Tsu.”

“Is she cute?”

“mama.”

You laugh, “I’m just asking!”

Fumikage retorts, “What about that hawks guy, is he cute?”

“Now why’re talking about him, hm?”

“Press caught him walking you to your car, scandalous old woman.”

Ah, the paparazzi….you wish you could send an email about them.

You gasp dramatically, “Old woman?!”

“Answer my question!”

“He’s alright, I like em rougher you know?”

Fumikage gags, “gross, mama.”

“You asked!”

You and Fumikage continued talking about small things that happen in your day, apparently a boy named Shoto slipped on his own ice while no one was looking- except Fumikage was.

Now reaching almost ten o’clock, you force Fumikage and yourself to bed.

Fumikage begrudgingly walks over to his bedroom, still wanting to talk to you a little more.

“Night, mama.”

You walk over and kiss his temple, ruffling his feathers.

“Night night, my little chick.”

Fumikage shakes his head and retreats to his room, you return to yours as well.

Cuddling into your nest, which is really just your bed with an in godly amount of pillows, blankets, and plushies- you let sleep come over you.

You wonder if hawks gets to sleep this good at night, or even if he has someone to talk to about his tough days.

Wait, why’re you thinking about him anyways?

PART THREE: MOTHER HEN: PART THREE

#anime #fanfics #hawks x reader #takami keigo #bnha hawks #keigo x you #mha takami keigo #spotify #hawks x y/n #mha #takami keigo x reader #keigo x y/n #keigo x reader #keigo takami #keigo takami x reader #bnha keigo #fumikage tokoyami

[imtryingbuck]

She’s gone

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x fem!Reader

Summary: The team lose their friend (I’m bad at summaries sorry)

Word count: 1,695

Warnings: Angst. Sad times. Swearing. Reader threatens to bite people. Children get thrown (fun) Death

Translation: мисс мисс плохой парень - miss, miss bad guy./ ты хочешь летать? - do you want to fly? (if translations are wrong please let me know, thank you)

Masterlist   Series Masterlist

6 years ago.

Fury and Maria walked into the briefing room where everyone was waiting “I’m just going to get straight to the point, an organisation going by the name of The Reapers have threatened to blow up a hospital in Russia- yes Y/n?”

“Why?”

“I was just getting to that part”

“Okay you can proceed”

“Why thank you. Now as I was saying, they want their leader to be treated for- yes Y/n?”

“What’s wrong with him?”

“You know Birdie if you stop interrupting me you might find out” Smiling sarcastically towards her.

“That’s true, continue Mr Furry” Everyone chuckles at her nickname for him.

“Their leader has a heart defect, a British heart surgeon who is the best of the best is in Russia to help out - Y/n put your hand down - they want him to be treated, they’ve been flagged up by the FBI as a terrorist organisation so obviously they’re not getting any help. Now they’re threatening to blow said hospital up, now Y/n you can ask your question”

“Why don’t they just do it and just fuck up - language I know - by putting in a teeny tiny little bomb inside of his chest, wait until he leaves and then… BAM, he dead.” She slams her hand on to the table “Ow that hurt. But anyway why don’t they just do that instead of letting hundreds of innocent people die?”

“She’s got a point” Tony agrees.

“Thanks dad” Receiving a salute as a response.

“Where will we get this teeny tiny little bomb from?” Fury asks with his arms crossed.

“Me”. Saying it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world “I’ve been working on it for awhile now and it’s great, my little baby is perfect if I do say so myself” She speaks with pride lacing her voice.

“It won’t work, the FBI wants them alive so they can be questioned”

“But why? And also why are we being involved if we can’t kill them?”

“I don’t know, it makes no sense to me either and the reason why you’re being involved is to be there when they do something-“

“Oh fantastic. So we just have to wait for them to do something bad and then we can kill them”

“The girl might have a point” A voice comes from the doorway.

“Ew I’m a woman”

“Sorry, the woman might have a point”

“And who are you?” Steve asks.

“I’m Special Agent Lloyd Johansson with the FBI Counter Terrorist Unit. As I was saying this gir-woman might be on to something. Okay let’s say we have a bomb placed in him how close by does he have to be in order for it to go off?”

“I can set it off from the comfort of my bed”

“If I give the go ahead on this Fury I want her to be a member of my Unit”

Everyone was ready to protest at Agent Lloyds comment but Y/n jumped in first

“Over my dead body! No. No fucking way will I work for the FBI. Nope. No. Fury I won’t do it! I’ll eat his face off if I have to!”

The whole room fell silent at her last words.

“Okay maybe I won’t eat his face, Jesus people it was a joke! But no Larry I won’t join your unit”

“Lloyd, my names Lloyd”

“Sorry Lawrence. But no means no, thanks for playing though” 

Lloyd speaks directly to Fury “I like this one! Okay you’ve got the go ahead to plant this bomb but I will be joining you guys”

“Suit up we leave in 20 minutes” Fury says as he leaves the room.

On the quinjet 15 minutes later Fury’s telling everyone their part. Y/n was sat down and was getting her headphones out when Lloyd sits down next to her.

“Hey”

“Hi?”

“What’s your name again?”

“Natwanda”

“No it’s not” He chuckles.

“Why ask me when you already know the answer?”

“Why does Fury call you Birdie?” Lloyd asks changing the subject.

“Because I have a bird tattoo”

“Why a bird?”

“It’s free. Just like me”

“Cool so are you datin-“

“Yeah, see the guy with the metal arm who’s giving you dirty looks. Him. And he’ll break you like a pretzel”. She gets up and moves closer to Bucky.

“Like a pretzel?” Bucky chuckles.

“Yep, hey you wanna listen to some music with me?” Already handing him one of the buds.

“It’s not going to be Black Sabbath again will it?”

“Bee Gees?”

“That’s fine”

“Don’t wanna hurt your precious old man ears now do we?”

“What was that?”

“Nothing”

Touching down near the hospital, the team moved into place.

“Buck something’s not right about this…”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, something’s off”

And just as she said that all that was heard was gunshots and screams.

“Everyone move in!”

Gunfire and chaos erupted from all around as Y/n approached alongside with Bucky who was followed closely by Steve and Nat.

“Get down” Steve orders a split second before he throws his shield. “Y/n go left, Bucky go right, Nat you stick with me”

“Ay Ay Captain” Y/n salutes as she takes the left corridor.

There was way more of The Reapers than they had originally thought. As her gun gets jammed she throws it to the ground and releases her claws, trying to push The Reapers back and help getting people out as much as she could.

She had just cleared the 7th or 8th room when she heard Thor’s deep voice from the other end, as she turned to face him a huge explosion hit from her end of the corridor.

She could hear Bucky’s and Thor’s screams coming from her comms though she was to disoriented from the blast she managed to mumble out “I’m okay. I’m okay Buck I promise”.

Hearing her voice come through his comms and hearing her repeat she’s okay calmed him down. He was busy helping doctors move patient after patient out of harms way when the whole building shook. His heart jumped to his throat as he realised the explosion came from her end of the hospital.

Slowly the gunfire ceased, they all met up at the checkpoint they had agreed to. As soon as Bucky sees her he pulls her to him for a hug, checking over for injuries straight after.

“We still have kids on this side of the building we need to get out” Nat says.

“We’ll get them don’t worry. Y/n are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Someone best have a donut ready for me soon or I’m gonna start biting people”

“You and your donuts kid. C’mon let’s get to work” Tony chuckles.

A little girl no older than 8 grabbed Y/n’s attention by pulling on her arm “мисс, мисс плохой парень” pointing over to a man who had a gun pointed at Thor.

“ты хочешь летать?” She asked the little girl who just smiled and nodded, “Bucky! Catch” just as he turns around, he sees a little girl being thrown towards him.

Running towards Thor a gun is shot. Then another.

“Y/n? Y/n are you hit?” Thor panics.

“Yeah but I’ll live, he won’t though”.

“You…you took a bullet for me? What were you thinking?”

“Of course I did, and I’ll happily do it again. And Thor my love, you should know me well enough by now, I don’t think, haven’t got a brain inside my skull” Chuckling as she walks off.

“Lady Y/n you need to ge-“

“Thor I’m fine, I promise”

Going back to where she was originally at before she continued to help passing the kids in to Bucky’s waiting arms. All that was left on that side of the building was Y/n, Thor and 5 more children.

“Thor jump down next to Buck, and I’ll throw these kids at you two”

“What’s with you and throwing kids?” Bucky asked.

“It’s fun, no honestly it is and they love it. Well that little girl did anyway, come on Thor I haven’t got all day”

Thor listens to her, jumping down to stand by Bucky they both wait for these poor little children to be thrown at them. Just as she has the second to last one, a boy who looked up at her with wide brown eyes, she smiled and whispered “It’s okay”.

Holding the little boy in her arms she heard the sound of the building shifting “That’s not good” she whispered mainly to herself. “Thor! Catch!”. As soon as the child is free from her fingers the building starts to collapse.

“Y/n get out of there!” Screamed Steve.

But she couldn’t. There was another child, and there was no way on earth she would have left it behind. So she scrambled to get her, pulling the crying and terrified child into her arms she shouts over the deafening noise of bricks falling “Bucky!” As quickly as he could he hands the child over to an agent, just as they all hear one final gunshot.

Turning towards Y/n he sees her standing there with wide eyes, her mouth open and closes as she gasped for air. His blue eyes already filling with tears trail downwards until they land on the crimson circular splatter on her chest.

No one could move. Everyone was frozen.

The building came tumbling down.

“No! No! Y/n! Y/n! Baby answer me!” Bucky screamed “No no no no no” He kept repeating.

Thor gripped onto the super soldier as they both fell to their knees, holding his friend tightly in his arms as the soldier lets out gut-wrenching sobs that tore through his chest, screams echoing the now quiet street.

Fury drops to his knees, his trembling hands cover his head. Trying his hardest to make himself smaller.

The Avengers fall to their knees one by one with tears streaming down their cheeks. Their bodies each shook with an onslaught of sobs and tears.

Each agent of SHIELD followed suit.

Lloyd walks off and once he’s around the corner he raised both hands and says “Hail Hydra” before falling to the ground, foam pouring from his mouth.

Next>

~ banner credit goes to @sweetpeapod ~

#marvel #bucky barnes #bucky barns x y/n #marvel fanfiction #bucky barnes x reader #marvel fic #bucky barnes x you #bucky x reader #bucky x y/n #bucky x you #Asset #Bucky Barnes Asset series #avengers x fem!reader #avengers x y/n #avengers x reader #bucky and reader #bucky angst #Bucky Barnes angst #bucky barnes series #bucky fic

[be-missed]

Not Strong Enough (Chap 6)

Jenna Ortega x Fem!Reader

(pictures not mine)

Summary: Jenna was visiting her mom in the hospital to drop off the food that will be eaten for the hospital party, but she met a resident surgeon and she thought "God forbid I ran into an accident, but I want her to open me and stitch me up." While the surgeon tries her best to keep her fan girling low-key.

Warning: curse words.

A/N: uhm, hi thanks for waiting, enjoy!

Words: 2.6K

Masterlist

Chap 1 | Chap 2 | Chap 3 | Chap 4 | Chap 5

______________________________________________________________

Chap 6

"What the fuck is happening?" Ava said as she enters the breakroom, Y/N is breathing with the help of a paper bag, Beatrice on her side guiding her how to properly breathe, and Camila in front of them with her phone out capturing every moment that Y/N is losing.

"You should've entered earlier Ava, Y/N was panicking because Y/N is going to have dinner with Jenna's family tonight" Camila exclaimed while checking all the photos that she have earlier of Y/N.

Y/N then crumpled the paper bag and throw it to Camila "You asshole, are you really my friend? You should be helping me!" while Camila just laughed and said "Beatrice is by your side, and helping you breathe is a one man job anyway" smirking to herself while Y/N answered "Okay, that's it, I don't give you the permission to talk to Jenna."

And as if on cue, the breakroom door then opened and Jenna entered.

"Who am I not talking to?" Jenna asked Y/N with a raised eyebrow and a smile. Y/N then started to look at Bea while Ava kicked Y/N under the table and whispered "Get your shit together."

"Hey" Y/N said while she waved to Jenna and invited her to seat in their table. The girl who just entered put a paper bag in the middle of the table, "Here are uhm, some cookies that I baked earlier, just a small treat for you all."

Ava started to open the bag and bring out the container with Beatrice helping her, Camila is still standing in front of them and said "So Jenna, as I promised you last time, I'm gonna show you my Wednesday Dance."

Jenna then looked at Y/N who was shaking her head and said "Please say no..." Jenna doesn't have the chance to answer when they heard the Bloody Mary Sped up Version in Camila's phone.

Camila stood up in front of them, tapping her foot with the beat. Beatrice was shaking her head and trying to not laugh, Ava was eating a cookie and enjoying the act, while Y/N landed her hand on Jenna's thigh and whispered "You don't have to do this" with a sad smile.

I'll dance, dance, dance,

With my hands, hands, hands

Camila started to dance, Jenna was nodding her head to the beat, Beatrice palmed her face, and Ava is clapping. Y/N's phone vibrated and got a message from their co-surgeon that all of the residents are needed in the surgery room.

Above my head, head, head like Jesus said

"Uhm, Bea & Ava, I think we are needed in the surgery room, we need to get going" Y/N said tapping the table to get the attention of the three of them, "Okay, show is over Camila, you can wait for us in here so that we can go home together" Beatrice said, while walking out with Ava.

Y/N looked at Jenna and said "Hey, will you be okay here? I'll be going back to you after, okay?" Jenna then nodded and replies "Duty calls, yes, I'll be waiting for you. I think me and Camila might bond for now."

With what she heard, Camila jumped up and down. But before Y/N reached the door, Jenna pulled Y/N and kissed her on her cheek and said "Work well."

Jenna then went back to the seat and Camila is side eyeing her, "What? You are creeping me out" Jenna said, "What was that for?" Camila asked the other girl with her eye brows raised, "Nothing, Y/N told me friends kiss each other's cheek so we just kinda did... for fun..." Jenna answered, not really telling the truth that she just wants to kiss Y/N, but Y/N did tell her about that so...

"Okay, friends... So did Y/N showed you her collection of her funko pops?" Camila asked Jenna, "Uhm no, actually I haven't been into her house" and that surprised Camila, "WHAT? She have all of the funkos of your character and what do you mean you haven't been to her house?"

"Funkos... of all of my characters?", Jenna thought, "Why would Y/N have funkos of my characters?" Jenna asked, "Well in the first place, she is like one of your biggest fan, she also went to some of your movie premiers but not lucky enough to get your autograph, and like she have a massive crush on you ever since, so like..." Camila ended with a shrug, Jenna was just listening to this new information that she is getting.

Camila then continued "Yeah, and we were like so surprised when you released a Nighttime Routine with Harper's Bazaar and Y/N was like, viewed that a hundred times and was like so dreamy about it. You know, I thought she knew that because like, you know, you are her friend so I thought you'll advise her with that, but I guess not since she fucking screamed at my ear when she refreshed her YouTube."

There is only one thing in Jenna's mind, "What the fuck?" and as for the Harper Bazaar's video, she saw Y/N all smiley while watching Melissa, so she contacted her agent if she can also do that video, and Jenna did that because she was just jealous on how Y/N is all smiley watching the video, before Jenna gets to ask Camila again, the three surgeon enters the breakroom.

Y/N went towards Jenna and asked "Do you wanna go home? Your mom said she'll be with your dad and you can come home with me..." and Jenna just nodded her head and said their good bye's to the other doctors.

Inside the car, Jenna is looking at Y/N and its creeping Y/N somehow, since she feels that Jenna is hiding something, "Why are you looking at me like that?" Y/N asked, "Nothing, I just learned something new today, and also, can I come to your house?" Jenna asked.

Y/N stepped on the break, "I'm sorry, uhm... Yeah sure, we can have dinner in my house next time" Jenna accepted the answer "That sounds fun, I can't wait" and smiled at Y/N.

---

Getting home, Y/N got acquainted with Jenna's family, seating at the sofa talking to Jenna's dad, going to the kitchen to help Jenna's mom, running around to chase Jenna's nieces and nephews, talks about social issues with Jenna's siblings.

Jenna pulled Y/N next to the stairs, away from everyone, "Are you good?" Y/N asked, "Yes, I just pulled you to the side to let you breathe, you're like a talking machine out there" Jenna answered with a smile, appreciating the effort that Y/N puts to get to know her family.

"Well, I mean your family is nice and they are fun so, I can't say that I'm getting tired, I actually enjoy it" Y/N says and leans her back to the wall waiting for Jenna to say something, but instead, Jenna just walked closer to her and smiled at Y/N.

Y/N feels a big hole inside her stomach is forming while Jenna just situated herself between Y/N's legs and rest both of her arms in Y/N's shoulder. "What are you doing?" Y/N swallowed and asked Jenna with a shake in her voice, "Nothing, just situating myself" Jenna answered and assisted Y/N's hand to rest in her hips.

Jenna rounded her arms tightly into Y/N's neck and played with the baby hair in her nape. Jenna stared intently to those beautiful eyes that she adored ever since Y/N greeted her in the hospital. Y/N's breathing becomes quick, with her proximity to Jenna.

"Hey relax, it's just me and you" Jenna said quietly and tries to help Y/N to slow down her breathing "Relax, it's just me and you, yeah?"

After a few seconds, Y/N relaxes her arms and tightens it hold around Jenna's waist that made them closer than they were. "I like this" Y/N said that made Jenna smile and said "Then probably you'll like this more."

Before Y/N gets to process what Jenna said, the other girl kissed her in the lips that surprised Y/N, she was like a stone for a second and Jenna felt that Y/N is not reciprocating the kiss, so she started to pull away, not until Y/N's arms tightened and kissed Jenna back.

Jenna's pushed Y/N's head towards her and tilts her head to make the kiss deeper and keep Y/N in her arms and her lips longer. Y/N bit Jenna's lip and pulled away slightly util their foreheads are touching.

"Dinner's ready, come to the table now!" Jenna's mom yelled from the kitchen.

Y/N and Jenna are just staring at each other with a lingering smile plastered in their faces.

A knock on the wall beside the stairs stopped them from their own bubble, "Girls, dinner is ready, come on."

The whole family started to sit in their places, while Y/N and Jenna got situated, Aliyah said "Y/N, i think your lipstick is smudged, here wipe it" and handed Y/N a tissue with a smirk in her lips, and the whole family looked at Y/N looking like a deer caught in headlights while Jenna reached for the tissue and wiped her own lipstick in Y/N's lips.

"Okay, let's dig in" Jenna's mother said to ease the situation.

The whole dinner was filled with chatters, laughter, and banters with each of them enjoying the food and the company of each other. To note, Jenna kept her left hand situated into Y/N's lap the whole dinner and eats with her right hand that made Y/N's heart beats so fast.

After the movie, everyone gets up and started to say their good nights and went to their room, as for Y/N, she started to walk towards the door and said her good bye's and thank you's to the family.

"Are you leaving?" Jenna asked while Y/N is holding her hand, "Sad to say, but yes, I need to sleep to" Y/N said with a sad smile "Can you like stay? Please" Jenna said and squeezed Y/N's hand "...please" Jenna added and she sounded so small.

Y/N answered "Sure, I would love to" and the two of them went up and straight to Jenna's room, "I don't have any clothes though" Y/N stated and Jenna answered "Don't worry you can wear mine."

The both of them got inside Jenna's room and Y/N's eyes roam, trying to embed every detail that she can see "Here, think my clothes can fit you?" Jenna said while handling Y/N her oversize clothes "Yeah, your clothes would totally fit me." Y/N replied with a smile and went inside the bathroom to shower and change.

After minutes, Y/N went out and saw Jenna was now under the covers using her phone, "So you're a right side of the bed sleeper?" Y/N asked that made Jenna look up, and wow oh wow, Y/N looks so cute in her clothes, and also the first time Jenna saw Y/N with house clothes. Y/N looks soft and small without her white coat and her formal clothes on, Jenna thought.

Y/N got situated beside Jenna. The two just looked at each other, wiggling their eyebrows at each other and smiling, "What?" Jenna said "Nothing" Y/N answered.

Jenna seated closer to Y/N and reached for Y/N's hand, "About earlier... I uhm. I'm not sorry for kissing you, just so you know. I have been wanting to do that ever since" Jenna said, "It's okay, I'm not sorry too" Y/N said, so what Jenna did is to lean in and kiss Y/N again, which Y/N gladly reciprocated, but before everything got out of hand, Jenna pulled away and remembered what Camila said to her earlier and plan to tease Y/N.

"So, what's your favorite show of mine?" Jenna asked with a smirk, "Huh?" Y/N played it off and tried to act like she doesn't know it "Camila told me earlier that you like my movies and you have a crush on me" Jenna added. If Y/N was not red earlier, well she is definitely now, heat creeping up her cheeks and pulling Jenna's blanket to cover her face.

"Come on don't be shy now, you just kissed me" Jenna stated as she situated herself on top of Y/N and started o tickle the other girl. Fits of laughter can be heard, "Okay, Okay stop please" Y/N said while giggling "I'll tell you my favorite show of yours" Y/N added.

Stopping her movements, Jenna helped Y/N to fix her hair, "Ok, so what's your favorite?" Jenna asked, "Iron Man 3, I really like how you sat the whole scene" Y/N stated, and Jenna slapped Y/N's arm and exclaimed "Be serious oh my god!" Y/N laughed and answered "It's The Fallout, honestly, I love Vada."

It surprised Jenna since the answer she got commonly are Scream or Wednesday, so she again asked Y/N "What makes you love Vada then?" Y/N shrugged and answered "Well first of all, she is a trauma survivor, and I loved how the movie showed a different perspective of how a teenager cope to such trauma" and Jenna did agree to Y/N, "But most of all, Vada is a girl kisser so..." Y/N added.

"You can't be really serious, yeah?" Jenna answered trying to get off of Y/N, but Y/N held Jenna's hip to stay in place "Stay on top of me, I'm starting to like your weight on top of me" Y/N said with a loving smile.

With that, Jenna situated herself and lay herself down on top of Y/N.

"On a serious note, I'm really just curious" Y/N started caressing Jenna's back "I don't know, I just need to be sure okay. Don't laugh at me please" Jenna lift herself up and look at Y/N "Please just say it."

"Do you like... like me or I don't know, I mean, do you like me as you know... do you like envision me as your girl friend or something, I mean not to jump into conclusions, but like you know, I just want to know like, are we dating? Or like a winter thing?" Y/N stuttered and Jenna just looked at her.

"I just brought you to our family dinner, yeah?" Jenna asked.

Y/N nods,

"I hold your hand and rubs your thigh at dinner?" Jenna asked.

Y/N nods,

"I kissed you, in the lips, hard, and deep before dinner, yes?" Jenna aksed.

Y/N nods,

"I invited you inside my room, let you wear my clothes, I lay on top of you, kisses you again, and listen to you talk, yes?" Jenna asked for the last time.

And Y/N nods for the last time.

Jenna sighs and sits, "Yes, I like you Y/N. I also want to be your girlfriend, and yes, we are dating, if you want to. I mean, if you don't want to dat-"

Before Jenna finished her sentence, Y/N kissed her and yelled "YES! Oh my god" Y/N is now doing her happy dance while Jenna just smiled at the girl "Okay let's get to sleep now."

Y/N lay down Jenna on top of her, "Good night" Y/N whispered and Jenna answered back "Good night and sweet dreams" and kissed Y/N's collar bones.

______________________________________________________________

Chapter 7

A/N: FINALLY I FINISHED THIS. Hope you enjoy! Open for Comments and Suggestions. To those people who leave comments on my work, I really appreciate you, thank you! Also added a word count just because I feel like this is my current longest story (really not sure, I just feel like it, lol).

What's your favourite show/movie of Jenna?

#jenna ortega #jenna ortega x fem!reader #jenna ortega x reader #jenna ortega x y/n #jenna ortega x you #fanfic #fiction #jenna ortega imagine

[possibilistfanfiction]

anything surgeons au, especially butch!bea omg

[an accidental 2.7k words of baby tai for the culture]

//

you don’t ask for beatrice to consult on the case just because the baby really does look like her in a tangible way: brown eyes that shine in the sun; gold skin; soft dark hair; a happy smile. tai — an orphan, which you also don’t prioritize when you ask her, but whatever — is small for her three months and quite sick, a bad valve in her tiny heart doing more damage than good. 

it’s a difficult surgery, complicated and intricate and, even though you’re the best in your field, a hardcore rockstar, you’re not a cardio surgeon. you ask beatrice to consult on the case because, even if you’d never admit it aloud in front of her, she is the best in the world.

‘dr. villaumbrosia,’ beatrice says, meeting you outside the picu. she’s not operating today, you’re fairly certain, or at least hasn’t yet, based on her neat navy slacks and oatmeal-colored sweater under her white coat, chelsea boots certainly not what she would wear in the OR, her buzzed hair not hidden under one of her surgical caps, her wedding band still on her finger rather than tucked away, pinned to the inside of her scrubs. you’ve known her for years and years, have watched her fail and succeed and succeed and succeed, have watched her fall in love and get married, have watched her build a home, a life — which includes you, in all the ways that matter, in the ways you will very rarely thank each other for and feel anyway. 

but still, ‘dr. choi,’ you say, ‘thanks for coming.’

she nods. ‘it sounded like an interesting case from your summary.’ she takes the ipad you offer her and looks at the scans of tai’s heart, then her vitals, then the scans again, a little closer and with something like wonder filling her eyes, just at the corners but enough for you to feel a spark of hope in your chest. she looks up at you. ‘we can do this, i think.’

‘yeah?’

‘it’ll be —‘ she pauses, nods to reassure both of you, sets her shoulders, and you know that’s it — ‘it’ll be difficult, but it’s not impossible.’

‘agreed.’

‘can i meet her, then? the patient? i’d like to get an idea of how small this heart actually is.’ 

‘of course.’ you open the door and it’s just like any other consult; beatrice is always brave enough to partner up on any peds cases, even the most heartbreaking, the most hopeless. 

tai smiles at beatrice, who is always good with children the same way you are: you talk to them like human beings, and you listen, and you take things seriously — their pain and their fear and their recovery. tai is too little to tell you anything, but beatrice still leans toward her gently and smiles at her babbling, runs a gentle hand over her soft hair, makes sure to warm the head of her stethoscope up on her thigh before pressing it to tai’s chest. 

there’s no way for you to realize it at the time, but you will swear for years that you knew, even before beatrice and certainly before ava, that tai was special; beatrice closes her eyes and listens to tai’s failing heart carefully. ‘i’ll need an updated echo,’ she tells you and your intern, standing uselessly behind you. ‘and then, if you’re free afterward, dr. villambrosia, let’s meet in the skills lab? i’d like to run through the procedure.’

‘that works for me.’

she nods once, seriously. ‘no parents?’

you shake your head. ‘she’s here through my org, from chengdu.’

beatrice considers this briefly but soldiers on, like she and ava haven’t had quiet, sad fights about children and adoption and a family and a home. ‘if you feel comfortable, i can hand off my follow-ups this afternoon to dr. amunet and we can get this taken care of. it’ll be a long recovery, so i’d rather it not degrade any further if we wait.’

‘as long as the run-through feels good,’ you say, ‘i think it’s the best course of treatment.’

beatrice nods, smiles once down at tai and rubs her little chest while tai squirms and babbles happily. for such a sick kid — on oxygen and a feeding tube, two ivs because her veins are so small — she’s generally happy, bright in a way that peds usually isn’t. she’s not guaranteed to survive so, like all of your patients, you don’t get too attached. beatrice hasn’t had that problem before, either, caring but not too much, unlike ava, who feels each loss as if it’s his own. but the way that beatrice lingers and lets tai hold onto her fingers while she tells your intern exactly what she wants from the ekg and bloodwork — you think this might be different. 

/

it’s touch and go for a while: you and beatrice are brilliant surgeons but, even with all of the tests and scans and practice, tai’s surgery is longer and more difficult than you could’ve prepared for: her heart is weak and so, so small; even beatrice struggles to place the careful, clever sutures you’ve watched her throw with ease, most surgeries, and for years. it takes longer than you would’ve liked to get her off bypass, much longer than you would’ve liked for her heart to start beating again in beatrice’s hands. 

but: it does beat. weak and small, yes, but sure, and steady, and even, all the valves and ventricles ready to heal as they should be. tai’s cheeks, once she’s settled in the picu again, are rosy, her skin warm, her oxygen sats already up comfortably from before. you’d wired her sternum shut and the incision running down her tiny chest will leave a scar, and she’ll probably need another procedure or two as she gets older — but she will get older, as far as you can tell. 

beatrice goes through — a little unexpected for the aftermath of a successful surgery, and far beyond the end of her relatively easy scheduled shift — all of the potential complications tai could face, how she was without a flow of properly oxygenated blood to her brain for an amount of time that frustrated her — maybe even frightened her. for as long as you’ve known beatrice — dr. choi — through undergrad and medical school, then residency and fellowships, into your first few years as attendings, she’s as unflappable as they come, unless it’s someone she loves who might be hurt, who might not get well. you’ve seen it with ava and her back, and shannon and mary after a car accident that looked much worse than it actually was, and even one time camila got the flu. 

it surprises you in the moment when beatrice, carefully taking off her scrub cap — patterned with little otters and rainbows, a ridiculous gift from ava that beatrice horrifically wears with not a single ounce of hesitation or embarrassment — slips into her hospital-issued fleece quarterzip and sits down in the chair by tai’s bassinet once you and the nurses get all of her machines situated. 

‘i’ll stay with her, dr. villaumbrosia,’ beatrice says, soft and formal.

‘there’s plenty of nurses, and dr. amunet, if you want to go home.’

beatrice shakes her head and leans over tai’s sleeping form, heavily sedated for the next few days so she’s not in pain, and runs a gentle finger along her cheek. ‘she — she doesn’t have anyone,’ she says, as much explanation as you need. ‘plus, dr. silva is on call tonight anyway.’

you resist the urge to say something mean about ava; he’s actually very talented and smart and he makes your best friend, your sister, very happy, and very full — even if he is the most annoying person you know. tai is alone, and all beatrice has to go home to, right now, is a beautiful house that’s empty of all of the life ava brings anywhere, leftovers in the fridge, a house that you know has an empty bedroom just down the hall from the primary, holding a lot of ava’s patient, quiet hope in the space.

‘okay,’ you say, not bothering her, just this once: tai is very small and still very sick; you’ve read enough studies to know that comfort, especially with babies who haven’t known as much of it as they should, can be extremely monumental in their ability to heal. ‘i’m sure you can handle if anything pops up, but i’d like to know anyway. text me.’

beatrice looks up from tai to nod, a grim smile on her face mellowed, seemingly, by tai’s steady breaths against beatrice’s palm. ‘will do.’

you nod and don’t bother to ask for anything else from her, taking your leave while she takes her glasses off and rubs her eyes, then slumps a little in the chair but keeps her hand on tai’s stomach, soothing and warm and present. tai has been alone her entire life, even if it’s only been very short; you believe that her body will know that she’s not anymore, at least for now.

/

it’s not often that you choose to come to work early, not often that you allow yourself to have much attachment to patients and their outcomes beyond whether or not you practiced the best medicine possible — no one would be able to do peds and neonatal surgery if they did — but you park far before the sun comes up and force yourself to grab three cups of coffee from the cafe before you head to the picu.

it doesn’t surprise you when you see both beatrice and ava by tai’s bassinet now, beatrice fast asleep, slumped over fully on ava’s shoulder, and ava scrolling through an ipad, probably taking care of charting here rather than in her office. ava smiles up at you, never deterred by your grumbling or eye rolls, and, just this once, you smile back.

‘dr. silva,’ you greet. ‘how’s she doing?’ you ask, handing him the coffee.

‘totally steady all night,’ ava says quietly, sounding far too proud of a baby that isn’t even really beatrice’s patient, let alone theirs. ‘she’s really strong, even if she’s small.’

you look over tai’s vitals from the past night quickly and it’s true, she is getting better even faster than you could’ve hoped. ‘she is.’

ava smiles, then looks over at a fast asleep beatrice, a little aching. ’bea said she’s an orphan?’

you sit down next to them both and nod; you assume beatrice gave ava enough of the details. ‘we’ll work to place her with a good family once she’s recovered well.’ the warning is unspoken: don’t get too attached.

ava looks over at beatrice, who has spent the entire night asleep in the picu over a baby whose heart she massaged until it beat again in her hands. he nods. ‘yeah,’ he says, hopeful despite it all. ‘yeah.’

/

‘i — i can do it.’

‘dr. choi.’

‘no,’ beatrice says, ‘it’s fine. i’m on call tonight, and it’s good for her.’

it is, you both know it, but tai is healing and, if all goes according to plan, will be released in a week or two, hopefully to a family who’s equipped to care for her, to raise her gently and generously and well. beatrice — and ava, whenever they make up a very flimsy excuse — have been in tai’s room often, and you know they’ve grown attached even though you warned them not to. but beatrice taking her scrub top off and picking tai up gently, careful of her leads and her still-tender chest, and then holding her close and settling into a rocking chair. 

‘beatrice,’ you say, sitting down across from her. 

‘have you — has there been a family chosen?’

you’re not the one in charge of any of that, your contributions to the organization being both your sixth-generation-surgeon money and your sixth-generation-surgeon talent, but you know there hasn’t been a decision made yet. you shake your head. 

she nods. ‘we…’ she swallows, readjusts so tai is held even closer, her left ear close to beatrice’s heart. ‘i spoke with ava. a lot, actually. and, well, you obviously know i’m chinese; i can teach her how to speak mandarin and make mapo doufu and she won’t — she won’t miss that part. and ava knows about not having a family of origin, and he’s, like, the best. and,’ she continues, ‘we’re both surgeons. you know she’s going to need care now, but also her whole life, and i — i fixed her heart.’ she can’t even look at you, just looks at tai’s peaceful little face as her voice gets wobbly and she sniffles. 

beatrice, above all, means what she says. she’s maybe one of the least impulsive people you’ve ever met, agonizing for as long as you’ve known her over haircuts and new hiking gear and dinner reservations, as methodical as it comes when she practices medicine. 

‘i —‘ she looks at tai once more and then takes a deep breath and meets your eyes. ‘i love her.’

you know, more than anything, ava has made beatrice want to be brave. you let it sink in, let it hit you like a tidal wave of easy warmth, then really let yourself look at your oldest friend and every careful thing about her, lean muscles and long-healed scars, the most careful thing held against her chest — the same skin, bathed in the light of an easy sunrise. ‘well okay then.’

beatrice seems surprised, for a moment, as if you would say no, or doubt her, or discourage or argue. ‘really?’

you nod, brusque mostly so you don’t cry. ‘i’ll connect you with aja; she’ll be able to help you with all the paperwork. i’ll put in my recommendation, of course.’

beatrice adjusts tai so she can free a hand to wipe a few tears. ‘thank you, lilith.’

‘let’s just hope she takes after you, not ava.’

beatrice laughs, and it makes tai smile.

/

‘no.’

‘she’s —‘

‘your daughter,’ you say. ‘you’re not tai’s doctor any longer, haven’t been in months.’

beatrice frowns, arms crossed. ava smiles far too serenely for your liking next to her.

‘she’ll be fine, babe,’ she says. ‘it’s just a post-op, super normal.’ she turns toward tai, happily squealing at a nurse playing peak-a-boo with her while they get her situated on the exam table. 

beatrice glowers but concedes, softening immediately when ava squeezes her bicep. they’re both definitely exhausted but happier than you could’ve really imagined; the empty bedroom now filled with a plethora of toys and clothes, colorful animals on the walls, a safe crib with a space mobile you’d personally given them. it makes sense to you, easily, that they’re good parents — kind and attentive and funny — even if, right now, they’re driving you insane. they’re both in comfortable clothes, not bothering with anything more on their shared day off. 

you have to physically shoo beatrice away as you’re listening to tai’s heart, which is ridiculous because you’re sure beatrice does it at home, probably every night. you’re more relieved than you would ever let on that her heartbeat is normal and steady — perfect, as far as you’re concerned. you go through the rest of her check-up and she’s as healthy as can be, gaining weight well, rolling over, holding her head up, starting to eat baby food — yes to bananas; no to green beans so far — not sleep regressing as much as they’d feared. 

‘she’s doing great,’ you reassure. 

‘fuck yeah she is,’ ava says, then sighs. ‘before either of you start, first of all, language is all relative.’

‘ava, we can’t have her first word being f—‘

‘— secondly,’ ava interrupts, then looks at beatrice putting tai back into her dinosaur onesie, slipping a warm cap onto her head, ‘she’s the best baby of all time.’

‘she is wonderful,’ beatrice says, still a little reverent.

ava elbows you as beatrice carefully pulls socks onto tai’s feet. ‘one of the better ones i’ve met,’ you concede, because you really do love tai, and, all things considered, she’s an easy, happy baby. ‘certainly better than i thought would be possible with either of you.’

ava rolls her eyes. ‘i read your recommendation.’ horrifyingly, she starts reciting it, so you move as quickly as you can.

‘i have a tight schedule today,’ you interrupt, beatrice laughing quietly, smiling at both of you with far too much amusement.

‘bye lil,’ she says. ‘thanks for everything.’

‘yeah, yeah,’ you say, but there’s no bite to it. ‘see you at dinner.’

#wn fic #avatrice fic #avatrice #surgeons au #i don’t often imagine them as moms but oh boy when i DO #tai … i love her. lilith also loves her #butch bea 🥺🫡 #a mom!!!! #if u rmb how zola was adopted in grey’s anatomy no u don’t but also objectively better w queer ppl 💁 #also sorry if u know things about medicine. in the spirit of grey’s anatomy #it is merely a plot vehicle here lol #also yes lilith does peds bc she is HARDCORE

[justagalwhowrites]

HI BESTIE !!! 🫂

i was wondering how Joel would react to Doc spoiling him ROTTEN after she got that big girl money 🫦 (in the lavender au)

(because i know she will spoil him so much as a thank you for his unwavering support throughout her career 🥹)

OMG Hi Bestie!

I love this ask so so SO much. Joel is so soft with his girls and he deserves all the good things, including his wife treating him to all the best things once she's a big time surgeon.

This is just the perfect prompt for our favorite man's birthday, too! I hope this is just what you were hoping for. Love you!

Spoiled

After years of Joel taking care of you, you take care of Joel. A one shot set in the Lavender AU timeline.

Yes I know it's not a Joel gif but it fits the fic so well I had to.

Pairing: Joel Miller x Female Reader (Joel and Doc from the Lavender AU)

Warnings: Fluff and smut, smut and fluff. No use of Y/N. Minors DNI 18+ only.

Length: 4.4K

It started with a shopping trip in Houston for Sarah’s wedding. 

She needed a dress for the rehearsal and her bachelorette party and the malls in Austin just weren’t cutting it. 

“I’m telling you,” she said after coming up empty handed on another Saturday spent shopping as the two of you ate salads and drank sweet tea at a patio cafe. “We need to go to Houston. We haven’t found anything for you, either.”

“I can just…” you began, but Sarah cut you off. 

“Mom,” she raised her brows. “You do not get to say ‘just’ anything about my wedding, come on.” 

You rolled your eyes a little but smiled. 

“Alright,” you put your hands up in surrender. “I’ve got the weekend off again in two weeks, I’ll get us a hotel room in Houston and we can shop til we drop.” 

“I’m going to get you comfortable with spending some of those big surgeon bucks one of these days,” she said. “You need to treat yourself! Live a little!” 

“I live plenty, thank you,” you replied. “And I do it just fine in my Goodwill jeans.” 

“Whatever you say,” she smirked a little, flagging down the server and grabbing the bill before you had a chance to fight her on it. 

Sarah might have had a point. You’d been an attending for the better part of a year now and the jump in pay had been staggering. You were making more now in a year than you had your entire life - or it felt that way, anyway. You’d already made good progress paying off your student loans but you made quick work of the rest. Joel had asked if you wanted to move - something bigger or better somehow - now that you could easily afford it but you’d just frowned at him, almost hurt. 

“This is our home,” you said. “I fell in love with you here, Sarah grew up here, we made Evie here. This is the first place I ever really felt like I belonged, I don’t want to leave.” 

Joel just smiled and kissed your forehead. 

“Then we’ll stay,” he said. “Moving’s a fuckin’ hassle anyway.” 

You’d just been saving money, not really sure what to do with it. You donated some of it, stopped spending time clipping coupons, finally bought a car that was from this decade (but still used). But actually spending it made you anxious. You’d never had money before. You weren’t poor, exactly. You’d always had enough to eat and a roof over your head but you almost never bought new clothes, had never really traveled outside of places that you could easily get to by car. You were pretty sure you’d never even been in a car that wasn’t at least 10 years old before you came to college and your friend Cassie gave you a ride to the store in her new BMW. It was hard to get used to the idea that money could be spent at all, that it wasn’t already earmarked for some bill or, if there was any left, that it had to be saved for a rainy day. 

“You gotta actually spend some of that hard earned money on yourself, Baby,” Joel said as you headed outside to meet Sarah for your weekend in Houston. “Buy some ridiculously expensive dress that I’m gonna want to rip off you in seconds or some purse that’s $1,000 for reasons I don’t understand.” 

“That’s two mortgage payments,” you said, eyes wide. 

“Baby.” 

“Right, right,” you nodded. “On a mission, spend money. Got it.” 

“On yourself,” he added. “Not Sarah. Or not just Sarah, anyway. You two have fun.” 

“You too,” you said, stretching up to kiss him goodbye. “Don’t let Evie con you into giving her candy when she gets home from school.” 

“What wild thing and I get up to when you’re not around is none of your business,” he gave you one last peck on the lips. “Now go, stop worryin’, live a little.” 

The mall in Houston was almost overwhelming. Not in the crowds way malls sometimes were for you, thank goodness, but with the kinds of stores. There were names you recognized from Cassie’s closet and from some of the trust fund girls in your med school program but you realized quickly you had no concept of what things like this actually cost. 

Sarah picked a dress for the rehearsal that was nearly $600 and you choked on the champagne the sales person had given you to sip while Sarah tried on options. 

“You really buy $600 dresses?” You gaped at her as you wandered back into the store from the dressing rooms. 

“Not all the time,” she shrugged. “But we make good money and sometimes it’s fun to buy something nice.” 

She held up a floor length gown to you, the bottom pooling on the ground. 

“That’s too long,” you said. 

“Well we’d get it tailored,” she laughed a little. “Come on, try it on.” 

Another sales person wandered over and offered to set up a fitting room and you snuck a peek at the price tag. Your eyes went wide. 

“That dress is $1200!” You whispered at Sarah as you trailed after the attendant. 

“And it’s for my wedding,” she replied. “And don’t you have that gala thing every spring for work? You can wear it for that, you need a new dress for that anyway. Plus I’m the bride and I say you have to try it on. You can’t disappoint the bride.” 

You sighed and went into the fitting room, feeling utterly out of place in your second hand Levis and vintage top you’d picked up on a shopping trip a few weeks back that felt much more your speed. 

But the dress - outside of the length - looked like it had been made for you. The silk hugged your every curve, the neckline dipping just low enough to display just enough cleavage to be sexy but not so much that it would be scandalous. It was simple, no embellishments beyond the structure of the dress and the deep emerald green of the fabric. Normally you’d have scoffed at something so basic fetching such a high price but, now that it was on your body, you understood it. It was like you’d put on a work of art and, in doing so, become art yourself. 

“OK you can’t laugh,” you said. “But I’m coming out.” 

Sarah was waiting patiently in the little show room attached to your fitting room and you had to hold up the hem of the dress to not trip but she gasped all the same. 

“Oh Mom,” her hand went to her mouth, her eyes wide. “You look incredible.” 

“Yeah?” You asked, turning in the mirrors to look at yourself from every angle. “I don’t look like I’m playing dress up?” 

“Not at all,” she spoke with almost a sense of reverence, looking you up and down. “You’re getting that dress. I’ll buy it for you if you won’t…” 

“No, Sarah,” you protested but she pulled out her phone and snapped a picture before you had a chance to really realize what she was doing. “What was that for?” 

“I’m sending this to Dad…” her voice trailed off and she took a sip of champagne just as her phone rang. She smirked and answered, putting it on speaker phone. “Speak of the devil. Hey old man, your wife is trying to tell me this dress costs too much.” 

“I don’t care if that dress costs $200,000 she’s bringing it home,” Joel said. “She hear me?” 

“Yes,” Sarah smiled, a shit eating grin if there ever was one. 

“Good,” he said. “Baby, you look so damn amazing I’m about to jump in the truck and drive over there just to see you in that thing in person sooner. Save me a trip, bring it home, alright?” 

“Alright,” you sighed. 

“Didn’t quite hear that,” Joel said. 

“I said alright you dork,” you said a little, grinning in spite of yourself. 

“That’s my girl.” 

You bought the dress. And a bag that Sarah insisted you needed for work because she was tired of seeing you haul around a canvas tote. And shoes for the dress. 

When you passed the jeweler window, you were on the way to the car after spending so much money you were surprised you hadn’t fainted. You stopped, the hanger with the garment bag for the dress hooked in your fingers over your shoulder, and looked at the watch sitting in the window. 

It was large and silver but not too ornate, no diamonds or anything like that. The face of the watch was black with elegant white roman numerals on the face. 

“What?” Sarah asked, stopping next to you. 

“Do you think your dad would like that?” You asked, head cocked a little, still looking at the timepiece through the glass. 

“Yeah,” Sarah said after a moment. “Seems like a him watch, if he were going to wear a nice watch, anyway.” 

Joel did already have a watch. A simple one with a green strap and silver colored case and a black face. You and Sarah had picked it out together for his birthday one year. She’d been giddy about it, you had to all but beg her to keep it a secret for a few days until it came time to give it to him. He loved the thing, wore it every day, even more than a decade later. 

But your career wasn’t the only one that had advanced. Joel was no longer doing the manual labor of a contractor every day. More often than not, he was going to meet with clients and arrange contracts and make plans. For a lot of those meetings, he wore a suit and, for a lot of those meetings, you saw him stick his watch in his pocket before leaving the house instead of putting it on. 

“Hard sometimes,” he said when you’d asked him about it. “Fittin’ in with these clients.” 

“Let me just…” you doubled back to the entrance to the store and went inside. 

The watch was more than you thought it would be. A lot more. So, so much more. You watched as the sale’s person’s eyes went from encouraging and hopeful to let down when you reacted to the price. 

“One second,” you smiled sheepishly and pulled out your phone, going into your banking app. Even after spending an arm and a leg on yourself that day, the number in your personal checking account seemed obscenely high. More money than you’d ever had at once until very, very recently. You could afford the watch. You looked at the sales person and smiled. 

“I’ll take it.” 

You had several very strong cocktails when out to dinner with Sarah that night to make yourself feel a little better about spending thousands of dollars on things like clothes and a watch and she just smiled. 

“See, Mom? You spent some money on yourself and the apocalypse did not happen, I think you can actually buy yourself things from time to time.” 

“And things for your dad,” you said. “Because he needs nice things, too.” 

When you got home, Joel insisted that you model the dress for him. 

“It needs to be tailored,” you tried to protest. 

“Not for me to take it off you it doesn’t,” he smiled from his spot on the couch, beer in hand. 

“Fine,” you said. “But only if you let me model everything I bought and you can’t return any of it.” 

“Deal.” 

You went to your bedroom and put on the dress and the shoes and took the watch out of the bag, the face almost comically large on your wrist, before going back to the living room, hem of the dress in hand. 

“Jesus Christ Baby,” he looked at you, his eyes wide. “You look… fuck me.” 

“That is the idea,” you winked. “You like it?” 

“Like is a fuckin’ understatement,” he said, getting up and walking around you slowly, his eyes going up and down your body. “You know, Evie’s at a friend’s for two more hours…” 

“So you’re not going to make me return anything I have on?” You asked. 

“Fuck no.” 

“Not this dress?” You started unzipping the side before sliding the straps down your arms. 

“Dress stays,” he said, gently tugging it down and exposing your chest, kissing the swell of your breasts. 

“What about the shoes?” You asked, putting a sandaled foot out from below the hem. He glanced down, eyes ranging over the straps. 

“Those stay, too,” he said, going back to kissing your chest. “Everything you’ve got on stays, already agreed to that.” 

“Good,” you said as he made it to your neck. “Even this?” 

You held up your wrist, the watch sliding down your arm. 

He frowned, looking at it. 

“Don’t look like you’re style,” he said. “But if it makes you happy, Baby, keep it.” 

“Never said it was for me, Joel,” you smiled a little. You watched him piece it together, taking a moment for him to dawn on him. 

“No,” he shook his head, looking from your arm to your face. “No, you were supposed to get stuff for yourself for a change not…” 

“I did get stuff for me,” you said. “And I got this for you. Because you’re wearing suits more now and I wanted you to have the watch for that. So really, it is for me.” 

He took your wrist gently in one hand, elbow in the other, tilting your arm this way and that to look at the watch in different lights. 

“Baby, this…” he shook his head again. “This is too much, this is…” 

“Not for you,” you cut him off. “Not after everything you’ve given me. This is not enough. But it’s a start. Besides, you said I got to keep everything I was wearing. You already agreed to it, Miller.” 

“Baby,” he sighed. 

“Joel,” you smiled a little. “You’re my husband. Let me give you something nice. Please.” 

He brought the inside of your wrist to his lips and kissed you there, making your pulse flutter against his mouth. 

“Already gave me the best thing there is,” he said. “Anything more feels like I’m stealin’ it.” 

“Steal whatever you want, Miller,” you teased. “But you’re keeping the watch.” 

Joel ended up wearing the watch often. Not as much as the Sarah watch - and he stuck with the Sarah watch for her wedding - but at least once a week for meetings where he needed to dress up for. Every time you gave him a little knowing smile and every time he rolled his eyes a little before kissing you goodbye. But you had yet to get him to accept anything like it in the years since, Joel trying to dodge everything every time you spent money on him. 

So when his birthday was around the corner, you were bound and determined to get him something good. 

“Anything you want for your birthday?” You asked as you, Joel and Ellie wandered around a street fair, meandering towards the car show. “Anything you want to do?” 

“S’not like it’s a big one,” he shrugged. “Just 56. Would love to see all my girls, of course. Could use some new tongs for the grill.” 

“Tongs?” Ellie said, brows raised. “Seriously? Old people are so WEIRD.” 

“You know what kiddo?” Joel smiled a little, faking exasperation. “We’ll see how you’re doin’ when you’re pushin’ 60.” 

“Ew,” she crinkled her nose and wandered to the first car in the row of vehicles on display. You laughed, strolling along with Joel until he stopped at a beautiful old convertible, giving a low whistle. 

“What?” You asked. 

“Just a pretty fuckin’ car,” he said, his hands in his pockets as he walked slowly around it. “Always wanted one of these when I was a kid.” 

“Yeah?” You asked, getting an idea. 

“Neighbor had one,” he nodded. “Let me ride in the back once. Coolest fuckin’ car.” 

He looked over every inch of the thing and Ellie caught up with you while he did, pouting a little as she leaned on the door of the car, her chin propped on her folded arms. 

“I’m starving,” she groaned. “Can I go get some fries at least?” 

“Sure,” you laughed a little, pulling some cash out of your pocket. “Grab me a lemonade, too?” 

You watched as she went to the food stands and you and Joel moved on, walking slowly down the row of cars when Ellie caught up with you again, passing you the lemonade. Joel stole a fry from her cup. 

“Hey!” She protested. “Go get your own!” 

“Might have to,” he said, giving her a wink. “Back in a sec.” 

You waited until he was out of earshot before you grabbed Ellie. 

“Do me a favor,” you said. “That car we were looking at? The blue one? Can you go talk to the owner and find out what make, model and year it is?” 

“I guess,” she frowned. “Why?” 

“Because,” you said. “I found something your dad wants besides tongs.” 

You went and stood in line with Joel, keeping him distracted while Ellie did recon. She took some pictures of the car and texted you all the information which you texted to Andrew as Joel drove home from the fair. 

“Can you help me find this car?” You asked him. “One that’s for sale?”

“Becoming a collector?” He texted back. 

“Joel’s birthday,” you added a smilie face emoji. 

“Excellent,” he replied. “I’ll find you something, don’t worry.” 

It took a few weeks but Andrew found the car. A blue 1967 Mustang Convertible that was being sold down in San Antonio. He went down with you to help you test drive it - you didn’t know a damn thing about cars - and you bought it on the spot. 

“He’s going to freak the fuck out,” Andrew said, driving it home since you couldn’t drive stick. “Seriously, you might give the man a heart attack…” 

You rolled your eyes but laughed all the same. 

“I really hope he loves it,” you said, running your fingers over the dash. 

“I’ll take it off your hands if he doesn’t,” Andrew smiled. “Just don’t tell Jess.” 

Tommy agreed to store the car in his garage until Joel’s party at his house in two weeks and you were giddy as you drove home, feeling like a kid at Christmas as you tried to keep the car a secret. 

By the time the party rolled around, even Ellie was excited and having a hard time holding it together. 

“It’s really just a cookout at Tommy’s,” Joel said as the three of you piled in the car to head over. “Not sure why you two are actin’ like we’re going to fuckin’ Six Flags…” 

“Tommy’s cooler than you,” Ellie said. “Nice to spend time with someone who isn’t a total dinosaur…” 

“Alright, in the car kiddo,” Joel smiled and shook his head a little. “Can’t take you anywhere ’til seatbelts are on, let’s go!” 

You texted Tommy that you were on the way and he responded with a picture of the car, shiny in his driveway with a big, red bow on the hood. 

“He’s going to lose his mind, Kid,” he texted back. “Please tell Maria I want this same treatment when I’m old.” 

“Better put in some work to deserve it, Miller,” you replied, smiling a little. 

Joel parked on the street, frowning at the car in Tommy’s driveway. 

“When the hell’d Tommy get a Mustang?” He got out, his frown deepening. You almost laughed. 

“He didn’t,” you smiled, so big it was like your face was going to crack. 

Joel looked confused for half a moment before his mouth dropped open in shock. 

“No,” he shook his head. Ellie leaned between the front seats, grinning hugely, “No, no that’s… Baby. No.” 

“Suck it up, old man,” Ellie smirked as Sarah and Brandon came out of the house, little Carson making a beeline for the car. Sarah and Brandon waved as Tommy and Maria joined them in the yard. Ellie pulled the keys out of her pocket and dangled them between you and Joel. He took them, staring at them in his hand for a second.

“Should take it before I do,” Tommy hollered and you laughed as you got out of the car and followed an almost dazed Joel toward the Mustang. 

He walked, in awe, around the car twice. 

“I…” he said but stopped, staring at the convertible for a moment. “I don’t….” 

“Do you like it?” You asked, coming up beside him and wrapping your arms around his waist. 

“Fuckin’ love it,” he said, immediately looking at you. “But Baby, this is too much, way too much, I can’t…” 

“Yes you can,” you smiled up at him. He looked down at you, the awed expression still on his face. “After everything you’ve done for me? For us? Everything you’ve sacrificed, all the ways you take care of me and our girls? The life you gave me? Still not enough, Joel. Not for you.” 

He pulled you tight to him and kissed the top of your head. 

“I love you,” he said, his voice wet. “So goddamn much, Baby.” 

Tommy set up chairs and a table in the front yard so everyone could sit near the car while celebrating Joel. He kept looking over at it in disbelief before looking at you with eyes filled with gratitude and wonder. You couldn’t remember the last time your heart felt quite so full. 

You drove Ellie home, following slowly behind Joel in the new convertible. 

“OK I know what this shit means,” Ellie said, gesturing between you and Joel after you got home, your husband clutching you to his side. “Try to keep it down and not be gross about it because ugh.” 

“Was actually going to see if you wanted to take the car for a spin,” you smiled up at Joel. “Just you and me. Assuming Ellie will behave herself and actually go to bed at a reasonable time.” 

“Anything to get away from whatever that is,” Ellie said, smiling a little as she went to her room. You laughed. 

“So,” you said, once she closed the door to her room. You looked up at Joel, smiling. “Care to take me for a ride, Mr. Miller?” 

He grinned.

“Whatever you say, Mrs. Miller.” 

He took you through town slowly, down quiet side streets filled with sleeping people and past businesses that had closed for the night, until the two of you ended up at a large park on the edge of town where things were a little darker and you could see some of the stars. 

“I can’t believe you got me a car, Baby,” he said, his hands running over the steering wheel. His smile was so big you could see it even in the dim light of the moon. “It’s really…” 

“If you say it’s too much again, Joel, I will go and buy you a second one on principle.” 

He laughed at that. 

“I was gonna say it was the best gift I’ve ever gotten,” he said, turning to look at you. “Besides you and the girls of course.” 

“Oh, of course,” you smiled. 

He leaned in and kissed you gently. 

“Not sure what I did to deserve you,” he said. “But I sure am grateful for it.” 

Your kiss shifted and you started climbing over the center console, Joel taking a second to move his seat all the way back. You bunched your skirt around your hips and settled over him, kissing him harder, more eager. 

“I’m pretty damn grateful for you,” you whispered against his mouth, his hands going to your hips. You ground down on him and he moaned, pressing his hard length up against you through his jeans. “And I think the birthday boy should get laid in his dream car.” 

“Dream car,” he said, kissing you. “Dream woman.” He kissed you again. “Perfect fuckin’ birthday.” 

You unzipped his fly as you kissed him and tucked your panties to the side, notching his cock against your entrance. He moaned as you sank slowly down onto him, taking all of him inside of you, savoring how he filled you. 

You started slowly, just grinding him deeper into you as you kissed him, his tongue licking into your mouth. 

“You feel fuckin’ amazing Baby,” he moaned, kissing down your throat until he reached your breasts, cleavage bared in your v-neck top. “Always feel so damn good…” 

He was thrusting up into you, trying to set his own pace, and you decided to allow that, matching him stroke for stroke as he groaned below you. His hands ranged up your back, pawing at your shirt until be was able to raise it enough to slide below it and get at your skin with a satisfied moan. He clutched you close, so close that you could hardly move over him anymore. Instead, he fucked up into you, making you whimper and your channel tighten around him. 

“C’mon Baby,” he grunted, voice strained. “Want you to come for me. All I want now is you to come for me, come all over me, fuck Baby…” 

You bit down on his shoulder to keep quiet, the sounds of crickets and cicadas on the air as you came, your sex throbbed around him. You whimpered against him as you came down from your high and he kept working you, his grip on you tightening. 

“Fuck Baby,” he gasped. “Feel too good, I’m gonna… fuck… I’m…” 

He cut himself off with a groan, thrusting deep and filling you, his grip on you relaxing enough that you could sit up a little. You looked at him in the moonlight his eyes closed, a blissed out look on his face. You smiled a little, brushing his more unruly curls back from his forehead. 

“I love you so much, Baby,” he smiled a little, eyes still closed. 

“So I did alright for your birthday?” You teased lightly, his softening cock still buried inside you. 

He laughed. 

“Did perfect,” he tugged you close enough that he could kiss you again, careful to not push you back against the horn. “Perfect fuckin’ birthday, perfect fuckin’ woman, perfect fuckin’ wife.” 

“Good,” you smiled, kissing him. “You deserve it, Joel. You deserve the world.” 

#fanfic #joel miller x female reader #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #lavender #joel miller smut #joel miller x oc

[toomuchracket]

elope with me (ross x reader fluff)

day 5 of promptober75!! ross and shy gf have some mad realisations in the backseat of birthday party!matty's car on the way to edinburgh. that sounds dirty but actually this is the fluffiest thing of all time lol. i've missed writing for ross, and i really hope you guys like this as much as i do <3

"and then she says, and this is no word of a lie, that she thinks the cannibalism is romantic. romantic!"

matty's tone is incredulous, and so is his face, visible in the rearview mirror. the car swerves slightly as he looks back at you and ross, both of you giggling in the backseat at your friend and his impassioned rant against some film he'd watched recently. 

his fiancée lightly slaps his arm. "stop bitching about me and keep your eyes on the road, please! honestly. sorry, guys."

you laugh as she turns to you and rolls her eyes, before her attention is diverted by matty picking up her hand and kissing it in wordless apology. ross squeezes your own hand and winks at you, letting the peaceful silence linger for a second before he speaks again. "so do you recommend the film, then?"

"yes!"

"absolutely fucking not."

"it's genuinely a good film, ross, it's not matty's fault he's too much of a coward to enjoy it," your friend glares at matty, then turns to lock eyes with you. "you actually might like it, babe. it reminded me of that ethel cain song you told me to listen to."

"oh, strangers?" you say, straightening up in your seat. "yeah, that's romantically cannibalistic, i s'pose. i might give it a watch once we're home."

"christ, not you as well, babe," matty groans, lightly thumping his head off the steering wheel. "i thought you were sane."

ross laughs. "nah, she's just so quiet that she lulls you into a false sense of security, before she reveals her weirdo tendencies," he says cheekily, snuggling into you as your cheeks heat up. "what's that museum you want to go to, again?"

"the surgeons' hall."

"that's the one. brains in jars, and weird shit like that," ross shudders. "creepy."

"i'm cool not going, if you don't want to," you say meekly. "i just don't know the city, s'all, so i don't fancy going alone in case i get lost. streets on top of other streets and all that."

ross opens his mouth, but matty's fiancée gets there first. "no, i'll go with you, lovely! we could make an afternoon of it, get a drink afterwards. or food, if we can stomach it."

the relief on ross's face is so obvious it almost makes you laugh.

you smile at your friend. "if you're not too tired after your event, absolutely. thank you for offering, babe."

"yeah, thanks indeed," ross grins. he catches his best friend's eye in the rearview mirror. "while the girls are off being weird… pub?"

matty nods. "pub."

"i would also like to go to the pub, though," his fiancée interjects. "s'been too long since i had a drink in a good scottish one. we could meet you after our museum trip, couldn't we, babe?"

"that sounds good," you reply. "i take it you're excited to be back in edinburgh, then? you spent some time here before you moved to london, didn't you?"

"babe, you have no idea how much i'm looking forward to it," your friend sighs. "i'm kinda nervous, though. the book festival is a big deal. and i'm worried nobody will ask me any questions at my talk."

ross scoffs. "oh please, you have more fans than we do - don't deny it, matty, you know i'm right. you'll be fighting off people trying to ask you stuff, mate."

"yeah, it'll be great!" you add, smiling warmly.

she smiles just as warmly in return. "well, i hope you're right. maybe you'd better prepare a question, though, just in case no one else wants to talk."

your eyes widen, and you shake your head. "i love you, but there's no way i'm talking in public."

"i'll do it," comes the voice from the driver's seat.

everyone else in the car rolls their eyes. "anything to pull focus," ross mutters under his breath.

matty hears him, though. "oh, shut up, ross. anyway," he clears his throat. "we're about to cross the border, into the land of the soundest people on the fucking planet."

ross cheers when he sees the "welcome to scotland" roadsign, which makes you all laugh. "you know, i always forget that gretna is literally right on the other side of the border."

you look out of the window. sure enough, you're already driving past houses and shops and little grey stone buildings. "this is the place where people come to get married, right? why is that?"

"oh, history lecture incoming," matty laughs - again, his fiancée smacks him on the arm. "go on, rass."

ross rolls his eyes, but turns in his seat to face you. the warmth in those deep brown eyes of his is so distracting, but you're interested in the history of the place, so you try your best to focus on your boyfriend's words as best you can. "short version is that in the 1750s, you couldn't get married in england or wales without parental consent if you were under 21, but that rule didn't apply in scotland, so people used to sneak off and get married here because it was right across the border. and as long as there were two witnesses, practically anyone could officiate - loads of the blacksmiths performed ceremonies at their anvils, probably because couples needed to get wedding rings somewhere, and now every wedding that takes place in any venue here is done over an anvil. obviously laws are different now, but people still flock to gretna for quick, almost clandestine marriages - total opposite of what the pair of clowns in the front seat have got planned, basically."

"oh, shush, it'll be beautiful. i'm excited," you say, smiling at your friends before turning to gaze out at the town. "and that's interesting, that story. it's also kind of beautiful, i think, the urgency of it all. loving someone so much that you just run away together and get married as soon as you can, no circumstance, no fuss, just love compelling you."

even though you're not looking at anyone as you talk about love and marriage, you find your thoughts focusing on a familiar pair of dark brown eyes, a soft smile, dimpled cheeks, strong arms that feel like home. suddenly a little bit lightheaded, you open your window slightly and turn back to face the rest of the now-silent car's occupants, and immediately wish you hadn't.

ross and your friend have turned to look at you directly, and matty's peering at you through the rearview mirror; all three of them are smiling, but the lack of response sends you into panic mode. 

cheeks aflame and heart racing, you start speaking again, far more frantically than before. "i didn't mean to offend the two of you in saying that, by the way, i know you guys are so in love and it's so sweet to see because i love you and i love seeing you happy, and your wedding is going to be perfect and so romantic and i'm so touched that you asked me to be a part of it, and as much as i find the urgency of a gretna wedding romantic i also think it's very sensible to plan the day out in advance because obviously it's such a huge deal, marriage, and i do see the appeal in marrying surrounded by everyone you like and love, i just don't know that it would be for me, but like i said i think your day will be beautiful and-"

"love, slow down, breathe," ross takes your hand in his, rubbing slow circles into your palm - your breathing and heart rate both begin to regulate merely because of his touch. "nobody's offended."

you look nervously toward the front seat. "you're sure?"

"not offended in the slightest, babe," matty says, in the gentle tone you've learned he reserves for the people he loves most in the world. "my girl and i just like showing off."

"speak for yourself, freak," his fiancée scoffs, but her face softens as she looks at him. "nah, it's not about showing off, for me. i just didn't think that true love - like proper romantic fairytale stuff - existed in my world until i met matty. and i want our wedding to reflect that."

your heart glows for them. "that's beautiful."

she shrugs. "it's just my experience. what's yours, if you don't mind me asking? i love the way you two are with each other. i'd love to know how you describe it."

"well, i'm nowhere near as eloquent as you, but i'll try," you say. but the words come easy - all you have to do is look at ross, and your love for him becomes too much to keep to yourself. "for me… it's all about comfort, safety, dependability. i know some of the great love stories have their drastic peaks and troughs, and love can drive you absolutely insane, but that's not the case for us. that's not what i want, or need. i need somebody who shows up for me consistently, who makes me feel secure enough to be more myself, who loves me exactly the same way every day. ross does that for me so effortlessly without ever being boring; there are always new things to learn about him. and i hope he feels the same way about me. it's a quiet kind of love, i think, but it's definitely deep, and true."

you smile bashfully at your boyfriend, who leans forward as far as his seatbelt allows to kiss you softly. "yeah, i think you hit the nail on the head with that description, darling," he murmurs, thumb gently caressing your warm cheek. "just you and i in our own little world."

your tender moment is interrupted by sniffling from the front seat. "for goodness' sake," matty says, wiping his eyes. "i can't believe the pair of you are making me cry in my own car. illegal move."

"shhhh, baby," his fiancée - also teary, you notice - coos, ruffling his hair. she leans over her own arm to grin at you and ross. "you two are so lovely, you know that? coming here with us to support me, and sharing your thoughts like that. i love you, i love your love, and i love that we're all feeling the love today. it's sweet."

"yeah, it is," ross agrees. you snuggle into him as best you can, breathing in the cologne and fabric softener scent of his hoodie and soaking up his warmth like he's the sun. it's not an inaccurate metaphor, actually - he is the centre of your universe, after all. "are you tired, my love?"

"little bit."

"here," ross quickly unfastens your seatbelt and pulls you into the middle seat, thus pulling you closer to him. he gently makes sure you have your new seatbelt on, before wrapping an arm around you and repositioning you against his chest. "go to sleep, darling, we still have a bit of time left in the car."

"will you wake me up when we get into the pretty part of edinburgh?"

ross smiles down at you, so tenderly you could cry. "course i will."

you smile back, eyelids already growing heavy. "alright."

sleep comes easy to you, cosied up safely in ross's arms. as always, he's the subject of your dreams, but the plot of this particular one is a new one to you. well, not totally. you've dreamt of marrying ross before, but the setting has never been so hyper-specific, or recognisable - little stone grey buildings, your hand and his both adorned with wedding rings, clasped together over an anvil, him in a kilt, you in a long white dress, your friends from the front seat of the car smiling and crying happily in the background.

the dream permeates your brain from that point on, even in your waking hours, too. you aren't sure whether it's the abundance of tartan dotted around the royal mile making you think of dream-ross's wedding kilt, or the grey façades of the buildings in the old town making you think of the far less elaborate ones in gretna, or if it's just ross's hand in your own as you wander around the city making you think of wedding rings, but you can't get the thought about running off to gretna with him out of your mind. 

it's funny, you think; you've only spoken about marriage enough to know that it's something you both want at some point, so your brain's constant defaulting to thoughts of eloping, of all things, should utterly terrify you. but like everything else in your relationship with ross, it feels easy, and natural, and right. the thing that scares you the most, actually, is how best to bring it up to your boyfriend.

as it turns out, though, you don't even have to. because, on your final night in edinburgh, ross mentions it first.

it happens after dinner, after drinks, after a singalong in the pub with the trad folk band playing songs none of you knew. you'd laughed and smiled until your cheeks hurt, and danced until your feet did too. ross carried you the whole way back to the hotel - no mean feat, considering he had to go at the same pace as an overly-tipsy matty and his wife-to-be - and he hasn't really let go of you since; not in the quick shower you took to rid yourself of "pub smell" and makeup, not while you brushed your teeth, and not in bed, where he's curled around you protectively as you lie on your side.

he's straight to the point, as usual, however. "you've been thinking about us eloping in gretna, haven't you?"

if you were any less intoxicated, you would panic. instead, you roll over lazily to face him, smiling shyly. "how could you tell?"

"your eyes lingered far longer they usually would on the window of that jewellers near victoria street," ross smiles, reaching to brush a stray bit of hair from your face. "that, and when you let me use your phone to google taxi numbers the other night i saw 'gretna marriage license rules' in your recent searches."

"you're very perceptive, macdonald."

"i try. so… what are the rules?"

"well," you begin, thinking back to your findings. "you have to apply for one 29 days before you want to get married, so the registrars can do all their checks."

"29 days?"

"yeah."

ross grins. "well, i've waited this long. what's another month?"

"really? you want to elope, too?" your breath catches in your throat as you speak - out of sheer joy, though, not fear.

"love, if we could've, i'd have married you on the way home tomorrow," ross says softly. "i mean, we have witnesses - who i think we should ask to come back up with us again next month, by the way - and semi-nice outfits, and i could get us rings easy. what else do we need?"

"you're right, we're ready," you giggle. "and i agree with you about the witnesses. if only to see matty weep when we say i do, honestly."

"oh, he'll be a mess," ross snorts. he brings your hand to his lips. "so it's settled, then? we're doing this?"

you lean forward to kiss him - softly, but not without an undercurrent of love and passion and desire. "yeah, we're doing this. one month, sweetheart, and i'm officially yours forever."

"looking forward to it, my love."

#mads does writing #ross macdonald fluff #ross macdonald x reader #ross x reader #ross macdonald fic #ross macdonald fanfiction #ross macdonald fanfic #shy gf #promptober75 #mads muses

[cosmereplay]

I'm thinking about Lirin again

"Unless it's a long con of some sort," Lirin said, his eyes narrowing. Rlain hummed to Reconciliation. "I'm surprised to hear of your suspicion. Kaladin said you always saw the the best in people." "My son doesn't know me nearly as well as he presumes," Lirin said. RoW, Chapter 79 Open Wound

Ok so this really got me thinking that Lirin has not shared a major part of his history with Kaladin.

What we know: he was trained in medicine but not in Kharbranth, and his specialty is surgery.

We don't have a date for Lirin's birth but we do for Hesina, which is around 1133. That makes her 13 years younger than Dalinar, who was born around 1120. I'm going to assume that Lirin is closer to Hesina's age.

The Unification War began in 1139, which meant both Hesina and Lirin grew up with news of war across Alethkar and the would-be king intending to rule it. By 1145, when Hesina would've been around 12, Gavilar was crowned King of Alethkar.

In 1150, when Hesina was 17, she married Lirin. One year later, Dalinar began his military campaign against Herdaz. Assuming that they settled in Hearthstone after they got married, that puts them both very close to the fighting.

Hearthstone is very close to the Herdazian border, so Sadeas soldiers probably would've joined with the Kholin army to fight. It was a border war, and Lirin might've lived near the border.

Anyway, my guess is that Lirin previously served as a field surgeon or medic in Sadeas' army during the Herdazian border war. Where other soldiers would've been fighting for honour, Lirin might've joined to save his home.

That was prime Blackthorn days, too. I wonder if Lirin ever saw him fight, or if he ever tried to stitch up the people Dalinar had crushed in his wake. No wonder Lirin doesn't salute him, even after he's king.

There's a lot of speculation here, but at the very least it might point us in a fun direction or make a good fanfic for someone.

(thanks again to Jofwu for his incredible Stormlight Archive Timeline, which I refer to on a regular basis)

#lirin stormblessed #stormlight archive #theorizing and speculating #rhythm of war #row spoilers #oathbringer #oathbringer spoilers

[lulubelle814]

In Every Life - Part 3

Part 2 - In Every Life Masterlist

Masterlist

Present Day (1975)

Everything was on fire.  Smoke and screams filled the air.  He was glad she wasn’t here to witness this, but he knew it’s what he deserved for what happened to her, for trying to move on afterwards.

Glancing over the balcony wall, the building next to theirs was suffering a similar fate.  Thankfully that’s where the chaos and destruction seemed to end.  In the far distance, he saw the city, quiet in the early morning hours.  He could almost spot the neighborhood where they were supposed to live together before it happened.  

Bitter-sweet memories / That's all I'm taking with me / Good-bye, please don't cry

He could hear the music floating on the wind, reminding him of the enormous hold in his heart.

1 year ago

Valerie needed to get out of her apartment for some fresh air, and it was such a beautiful day.  Grabbing her purse and a book, she headed outside and down the block.

Standing at the crosswalk, she patiently waited for the crossing sign to give the go ahead to cross safely when someone walked past her, evidently not paying attention.  He was, however, jolted back to the present by someone grabbing his arm and pulling him back just as a car was about to hit him.  The gentleman managed to keep himself upright.  Looking at his savior, she was just a tad shorter than him with wavy auburn hair and the bluest eyes he’d ever seen.  “I can’t believe I almost walked straight into traffic,” he exclaimed.  “I’ve never done that before.  I swear.”

She smiled at him.  “It happens to the best of us.”  

Although embarrassed, he introduced himself.  “I’m Robert Laing.”  

“Valerie Hutton.”

“Can I buy you a cup of coffee to thank you?”

She nodded.  “I’d love that.  I was just on my way to get one anyways.”  It seemed fortune favored him this morning.

Once safe to do so, they crossed the street together.  There was a diner she enjoyed going to since she moved to the area a few weeks ago.  Evidently he was also a fan of the same diner.  Sitting down, he ordered a coffee while she had tea.

Looking back at him, she had to ask. “So what made you so preoccupied that you almost walked into traffic?”

She smiled and laughed a little, as did he. “I've got this complicated surgery later this afternoon, and I keep going over it in my head. I want to make sure it goes well.”

Frowning, she was confused. “I'm you're having surgery, should you be drinking coffee? I thought you couldn't eat or drink for, like, hours before going under the knife.”

He raised his eyebrows, confused a bit before it dawned on him. “Oh! I should probably clarify. I'm a doctor. A surgeon actually.”

‘Impressive,’ she thought. “What kind of doctor?”

“A neurosurgeon actually. My patient this afternoon has a tumor that's delicate to operate on, and I want to make sure it goes as well as it possibly can.”

“Well, walking into traffic isn't one of those things, I hope.” Valerie smiled at her own joke. Robert laughed as well. “No, it definitely is not. Thank you again for saving me. I feel like buying you a cup of tea isn't thanks enough. Maybe I could take you to dinner tomorrow?”

“I'd love that. Plus you can tell me how the surgery went.”

“Sounds like a great plan to me.” He realized he hadn't eaten breakfast yet this morning and was feeling a bit peckish. “I'm going to order some breakfast. You're welcome to order something as well. It's on me.”

“Oh, breakfast AND dinner? You really know the way to my heart.” She laughed, as did he. When the waitress came back with their drinks, they ordered some food: pancakes for her and an omelet for him. As they chatted, they ended up sharing bits of their food with each other. 

“So what do you do for a living, if I may ask?”

“I'm a secretary at a law firm. It's nothing fancy, but it pays the bills. I mostly just answer phones, file paperwork, and let my boss know when their clients arrive.”

She was certain at that moment that he’d make an excuse to cancel their dinner date for the following night.  Why would a neurosurgeon be interested in dating a secretary?  Oh well.  She at least got to have breakfast with him.  But maybe he wouldn’t cancel?  While they had just barely met, she had this feeling about him, that he wasn’t that kind of guy, that she wanted to spend more time with him.  What she didn’t know was that he felt the same.  Not about the job comparison but that he also desired to spend more time with her.  It’s like there was some sort of connection from the moment he saw her when she pulled him back just in time to avoid getting hit by a car.

When their dinner date rolled around the next evening, they could barely take their eyes off each other, playing a bit of footsie under the table.  It was like they’d been together for years and the rest was only minor details.

“How did the surgery go?”  She was genuinely curious, not just asking to be polite which surprised him a bit.  The ladies he usually went on dates with didn’t care about the actual surgeries, more just that he was a doctor.

“It went very well!  Thank you for asking.  I was able to get the entire tumor removed, and my patient is recovering well so far.  That’s all thanks to you by saving me from walking in front of a car while being stuck in my own head.  I quite enjoy telling my colleagues that I was saved by a beautiful woman who agreed to have dinner with me.”

She could help the blush that spread across her cheeks, feeling slightly embarrassed.  She wasn’t used to being complimented like that.  Usually when that happened, she was being cat-called by construction workers or getting hit on by random drunks (which is why she steered clear of going to bars at this point in her life).  “You are too kind, Robert.”

“I mean it! You are the most captivating woman I’ve ever encountered.  While I do not relish the thought of being hit by a car, I’m glad it gave us a chance to meet.” She blushed again. “How was your day at the office?”  He genuinely wanted to get to know her.

“It was the same for the most part.”  He raised an eyebrow at her statement, silently inquiring what made it different.  “A new client came in today, and something about him just gave me the creeps.  My boss has different kinds of clients, but something about this guy just ....”  She shuttered. “I’ll be very glad when their business is concluded.  I hope it won’t take long.  Roger was fingered as the guy who robbed that petrol station a couple of weeks ago, but the entire case (from the bits I’ve heard) are largely circumstantial.”

“I’m so sorry, darling.  I can’t imagine what that must feel like.  If he does give you trouble, let me know?  I’d happily defend your honor.”  It was easy to tell he meant every single word.  There was just something about Robert that made her feel safe, like she could run to him with any problem, and he’d solve it for her. Frankly, it scared her a little as well, to feel this way about an almost complete stranger.  The only person in her life that she’d felt this way about before was her dad, but he passed a few years ago, heart attack.  

“I really appreciate that.  Really.  More than you know.”  He could tell from her response that she didn’t have someone like that in her life, and it made him sad and even more determined to be there for her when she needed it.  He decided at that moment that no matter if this worked out or not, he’d be there whenever she needed someone, but there was no way he’d let this incredible woman walk away without a fight should something happen.

Looking at the menu, everything sounded incredible.  She ordered the shrimp garlic pasta while he ordered the lasagna.  Both looked so good that they ended up sharing their dishes.  When she offered some to him on her fork (with the intention of putting it on his plate), he instead leaned forward and ate it directly off the utensil causing butterflies to explode in her stomach.  So when he held up a piece of his lasagna for her to try, she did the same.  It then took everything he had not to just jump across the table to kiss her silly.

To say dinner went well was an understatement.  Valerie didn’t have a car.  So she splurged and got a taxi.  Rather than take a taxi back home, Robert offered her a ride.  When she gave him the cross streets for her apartment, he got excited as it was not that far from his place.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he exclaimed.  “I live on the other side of Creston street!”

“By that beautiful flower shop?”

“That’s the one!”

“No way!  You’re maybe a 10 minute walk from here.  Talk about coincidence!” 

Parking his car, he walked her up to her apartment.  Not wanting to get ahead of himself and scare her, he gave her a kiss on the cheek.  “I’d like to see you again, if that’s alright.”  She agreed, and they made plans to go to the new Robert Redford movie, The Great Gatsby.

She woke up early the next morning to a light knock on the door.  Looking through the peephole, she didn’t see anyone.  Maybe it was a delivery or something?  Opening her door, she saw the most beautiful bouquet of peonies.

Tucked inside, she found a card.

These pale in comparison to your beauty.  Thank you for a wonderful evening. -Robert

She squeed so loud with joy that her elderly neighbor opened their door.  “Is everything alright, dear?”

“Yes, sorry Ms. Tully.”  She loved her neighbor.  Ms. Tully welcomed Valerie to the building when she moved in.  Her husband had died some years before, and Valerie took it upon herself to look after her sweet neighbor.  She was small but mighty.  Someone had tried to rob her on the street a while back, and she beat them with her cane, scolding them to the point that they turned themselves into the police to protect him from her.  As it turned out, the police had been looking for the would-be robber as he’d attacked several women to steal their purses.  The arresting officer at the precinct laughed when the robber told him why he turned himself in, not believing an elderly lady would be able to do such a thing.

“Why don’t you come over for a cuppa and tell me about the gentleman who sent those?”  Ms. Tully always had the best biscuits, and Valerie could never turn her down.  After placing the flowers on her coffee table, she scurried over to her neighbor’s place.

As soon as she sat down, Muffin jumped into her lap, demanding pets.  Muffin was an overweight but very sweet calico.  Well, sweet to her and Ms. Tully.  Muffin typically hated most people and had the tendency to lay in the window to judge everyone walking by.  Her mortal enemy was the bird who would regularly sit on a branch just outside the window and mock her, at least that’s how muffin felt.  Okay, fine.  Muffin was a spiteful old bitch who was very picky about who she liked.

Ms. Tully brought over a pot of tea with 2 cups and a fresh batch of homemade biscuits.  Valerie told her all about Robert: how they met, him taking her to breakfast, and their date last night.  No detail was spared.  

“That’s how I felt about my Steve.  People said love at first sight doesn’t exist, but I can assure you it does.  We met when my friends took me out dancing.  When I saw him, it was like everyone else ceased to exist.  We danced all night, and then he walked me home.”

Valerie loved when Ms. Tully would tell stories about her husband.  She wanted that, a relationship like the Tullys.  The only problem is that other than her neighbor, those stories only seemed to exist in fairy tales.  At least until she ran into Robert.  They’d only known each other a few days, but from the moment their eyes met on that street corner, nothing else seemed to matter.  

It’s not that she was unhappy with her life.  In fact, she was quite content. She had a good boss, a couple of good friends, an elderly neighbor she adored, and an apartment she loved.  If that was all she got in life, she was very happy with it.

“If he hurts you in any way, he’ll have me to deal with.”  Valerie laughed, imagining Ms. Tully beat Robert (who was more than a foot taller than her dear neighbor) with her cane.

“I’ll be sure to let him know.”  She couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when she told him.  It was inevitable that Robert would meet Ms. Tully, and she’d put the fear of God in him.

Val had to leave.  There were a few things she had to take care of today, namely her laundry.  Her building didn’t have machines.  So she packed up her laundry in a large basket, a book, and a fist full of quarters and headed to the laundromat for the next 3 hours (depending how many machines were available).  When she arrived, there were (thankfully) 2 machines available.  She promptly filled them up and started her wash before tucking away in a chair with her book.  

Not even a few pages in, she heard the door open and felt a pair of eyes on her.  Looking up, Robert was looking at her while holding his own bag of laundry.

“Fancy meeting you here.”  They both laughed.

“I’d think a fancy doctor like you would have your stuff dry cleaned.”

He grinned, loving her snarky remark.  “Just for my suits.  For everything else, I prefer to slum it.”  She couldn’t hold in a snorting laugh which made him smile even more.  He wanted to hear more of that laugh.

Thankfully more machines were becoming free, allowing him to start his own laundry.  While he did that, she cleared out the seat next to her in case he wanted to sit there, which he did.  He’d brought his own book to entertain himself.  Instead, they spend the next couple of hours chatting and laughing.

She told him about Ms. Tully’s warning.  “You’ll have to meet her sometime.  Watch out though.  Her cat hates people.  Well, most people.”

“I’ll be sure to pack my pockets with treats.  My mum had a cat like that, and bacon was the way to his heart.”

“I think bacon is the way to most people’s hearts.”  The entire time they were there, neither touched their books.  

“Normally I try to do my laundry on a Thursday evening, but the surgery ran long.”

“I usually come on a Friday night, but I had a date with this cute guy.”

He raised an eyebrow and smirked.  “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.  It went well at first, but I don’t think anything will come of it.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, he didn't seem to pay attention and almost walked straight into traffic.”  

He laughed.  At some point, his arm rested on the back of her chair.  In her imagination, she could see them doing laundry together for the coming months until they got married.  He’d buy a house with a washer and dryer.  Then they’d do laundry together while taking care of their kids.  She could see the toys strewn around the living room, the books relocated to a little library room that also acted as a home office when he needed to work on paperwork.  The kids would play around the backyard with 

She had to shake herself out of that image.  There was no telling if this would work out or not, and she didn’t want to get ahead of herself.  But it was just such a beautiful picture in her mind.  Little did she know that he was picturing something similar.

“Thank you so much for the flowers.  They’re beautiful!  Peonies are my favorite, especially white and lavender ones.”

“I’m so glad you like them.  I saw them at the flower shop when I was passing by, and they made me think of you.  I couldn’t not get them for you.”  He made a mental note about the peony being her favorite.

When their laundry was done, they used one of the tables to fold everything.  It was hard not to laugh watching him struggle to fold a fitted sheet.  She took it from him and folded it (mostly) for him.  “That’s much better than anything I can do with that.  It seems like they make those things impossible to fold.  Sometimes I just roll it up and toss it in a cupboard.”

“I get that.  I’m not great at folding those, but Ms. Tully showed me how she folds hers.  I can’t do it nearly as well as she can.  That’s about as close as I can get.”  

Robert didn’t care one bit, not even if she had set the sheet on fire or thrown it in the bin.  Running into her at the laundromat made his day.  There was just something about her he couldn’t put his finger on, but being even in her vicinity brought him comfort and helped him to relax.  His colleagues had been giving him a hard time for quite a while, even trying to set him up on dates.  Women would very openly flirt with him as well.  He was just never interested.

She handed the sheet back to him, and his hands brushed hers as he went to take it from her.  That one touch made him forget where they were.  He tossed the sheet carelessly into his basket as he leaned down, placed a hand on her cheek, and lightly placed his lips on hers.  The moment their lips touched was like fireworks.  She leaned up into him, returning his kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck.  As he wrapped his around her waist, a distinct coughing sound brought them back to reality causing them to pull apart.  Looking around, the handful of patrons in the laundromat were all staring at them.  “Get a room,” someone said.  Sheepishly, they finished folding their laundry and headed their separate ways.

Two weeks had passed.  Robert and Valerie continue to go on dates, and he’d kiss her each time he took her home.  Last night he’d taken her dancing, which she hadn’t done in a long time.  Neither had he, in fact.  But they both had so much fun.

Today, however, he was at the hospital.  There was a minor surgery he was performing.  She’d come back from grocery shopping to find Ms. Tully’s door broken open.  Logically she knew she should call the police, but that thought went out the window when she heard Muffin’s meows.  Dropping her bags by her door, she ran into Ms. Tully’s place to find it in shambles.  Muffin came out and led Valerie to where Ms. Tully was unconscious on the floor, bleeding from the back of her head.  She ran over to check that she was still breathing.  Placing 2 fingers on the pulse point in her neck, Ms. Tully was definitely still alive.  Hurriedly, she rang the police, giving them the address and apartment number.  While she waited, she stayed with her elderly neighbor, knowing enough, at least, not to move her.  

The police arrived a few minutes later along with an ambulance.  Valerie answered questions while the paramedics loaded Ms. Tully into the ambulance.  When all was said and done, they let her know which hospital her neighbor would be taken to before leaving her alone.  

Before anything else, she took Muffin to her apartment so that the cat wouldn’t get hurt accidentally by the broken glass and such.  She also took over the cat’s food (putting it in a cupboard in the hall) and litter box (which she put in the spare bathroom).  Now that Muffin was safe, she spent the next couple of hours cleaning up her neighbor’s apartment, trying to salvage what she could.  

Another caring neighbor had seen the aftermath with the door in shambles and, without asking, worked on repairing what he could.  It would stand well enough to appear secure, but in the end, the door would need replacing.  He took the liberty of talking with the landlord who had the door replaced very quickly.  The landlord had a sweet spot for Ms. Tully especially as she was the longest running tennant he’d had in that building with little to no issues.

Once the door was replaced, he left a copy of the keys with Val who would give them to her neighbor.  When all was said and done, she hopped in a cab to the mentioned hospital.  Finding the welcome desk, she asked about Ms. Tully.  She was in surgery as they’d found a brain clot from being hit on the back of her head but the attending surgeon should be done shortly.  The kind nurse said they’d keep her up to date if she was staying, which of course she was.

It was at least another hour later when the nurse told her that the doctor would be out shortly to talk to her.  When the doctor came out, he asked the nurse who was the one here for his patient.  Pointing to Valerie (who had her back facing the nurse), he walked over to her.

“Are you here for…..Valerie?”  Hearing his voice, she looked up, seeing Robert in his scrubs.  She wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him.  She began to cry on his chest.  He sat them down and held her close.  “I didn’t think when I saw the name Tully that it would be your neighbor, darling.”  He shushed and cooed into her ear, trying to help calm her down.

“It was so awful, Robert!  I was only gone for maybe 20 minutes to get a few things from the store.  When I came back, her door was wide open…..glass everywhere………”  He continued to console her, trying to help her calm down.

“It’s alright darling.  She’s alright thanks to you.”  He pulled back to look her in the eyes.  “She’s a fighter, that one.  Ms. Tully has a fair number of bruises and a fractured right arm.  The most alarming part was the brain clot from where she’d been hit, but I was able to get it cleaned up.  It’ll take a while, but she’ll recover.”

Knowing that it was her Robert who performed the operation brought her an immense amount of relief.  “I’ve got Muffin set up at my place.”  She thought for a minute.  “Who could have done this?  Who would attack poor Ms. Tully?  IN HER OWN HOME!”

“I don’t know, darling.  I don’t know.  But I’m sure the police are working very hard to find out who did this.  She’s in recovery right now.  I need to go check on her.  I’ll come get you once she’s settled in a room?”  She nodded.

When he came back to the waiting room, he guided her back to his elderly patient’s room.  Being the head neurosurgeon, he pulled some strings to get Ms. Tully her own room.  It even had a view of the hospital garden.

Valerie was happy to see her neighbor awake already.  Robert checked her vitals and looked over the stitches in her head to make sure everything was still holding properly.

“Valerie, I know you’ve been seeing that gentleman you told me about, but I think Dr. Laing here is a real catch.  Just look at him!”

Robert blushed, and Valerie was shocked.  “Ms. Tully!  You just got out of surgery, and you’re trying to set me up with your doctor?”

Ms. Tully grinned as she nodded.  Rather than tell her who Robert was to her, she walked over and gazed into his eyes.  “I suppose you’re right.  He is very easy on the eyes.  I wonder…..”  She leaned up and kissed him.  “Yep, good kisser.  I think you’re right, Ms. Tully.”

Robert wasn’t sure what to do at this point until Valerie broke down laughing.  “Ms. Tully, this is the man I’ve been telling you about, Robert.”  Ms. Tully looked between the two before narrowing her eyes at her doctor.  “If you do anything at all to hurt her, you’ll have to answer to me.  And keep that dingle-doodle to yourself.”

Robert held his hands up in retreat.  “You have my word, Ms. Tully.”

Valerie giggled a bit before turning back to her neighbor.  “Don’t worry about Muffin.  She’s at my place.  I’ve got her food and litter box.  Mr. Jenkins already replaced your door, and he gave me the spare keys.”  

Robert took his turn, this time as Dr. Laing.  “Surgery went well.  You had a clot from the hit to your head, but it’s cleaned up.  Your right arm is fractured, and you’ve got a fair number of bruises.  I’d like to keep you here for a week to make sure you’re healing well.  We’ve also got you on some medications to help with the pain.  Is that alright, Ms. Tully?  Do you have any questions?”

Rather than address her doctor, Ms. Tully looked to Valerie.  “Is Muffin alright?  She gave the man a fright, scratching and clawing at him.  Even bit his ass.  I’ve never seen Muffin move like that before, especially for an old fat cat.”

“She’s good.  I looked her over, and nothing seemed to be wrong.  I’ll take good care of her until you get home.”  It was touching how she was more worried about the cat than herself.  “Is there anyone you want me to call?”

In the end, Ms. Tully had Val call her son.  Robert offered to call himself as he was her doctor, but Val thought it would be better coming from her.  The call was brief, and her son was at the hospital within the hour.

“Mum, I’ve told you that you shouldn’t be living alone!”

She scowled.  “I can take care of myself.  I don’t need a caretaker.  I won’t let you put me in a nursing home.”

Robert interjected.  “I hate to say this, but I agree with your son.  Valerie was fortunate to find you as quickly as she did, which is why you're in better shape than what could have happened.”

Acting like a petulant child, Ms. Tully pointed at Robert.  “You’re officially on my shit list.”  It wasn’t the first time a patient had told him that, and he didn’t mind.  He had their best interests at heart.

“Mum, I know you don’t want to go into a nursing home.  I wouldn’t do that to you, but Diane and I would like you to consider moving in with us.  You’d have your own space, but we’d be near.  I know you want to be independent, but we worry about you.”

No decisions were made that night, but Ms. Tully consented to at least think about it.  Valerie assured her that Muffin was fine at her place, and she’d take good care of her cat.

Since his shift was over and all patients had been checked on, Robert drove Valerie home so she wouldn’t have to pay for another taxi.  Well, that and he wanted to see the state of everything for himself.  Valerie used the new key to get into Ms. Tully’s place.  There was still cleaning to do and furniture to put back in place, but it was enough to rattle him.  He moved the heavy  furniture back in place.  It was evident that whomever broke in was checking loads of places for where the elderly resident might hide money or anything of value.  The overturned couch was no surprise.  His own grandma used to hide cash in her couch.  

They eventually made their way over to Valerie’s place next door.  Robert spotted a folded notice on her door and grabbed it for her.  Looking around, most doors had the same one on theirs.  Handing it to her, she didn’t hesitate to open it with Robert reading over her shoulder.  It was a short message from the landlord advising that there was a break-in, that it was an isolated incident, and that he would be working with the police to find out how the intruder got into the building.

Opening the door, Muffin came running to her.  Picking her up, Muffin sniffed Robert, unsure of him at first until she caught a whiff of both her owner and her favorite person (Valerie) all over him.  She gave him a tentative approval and allowed him to pet her.  Robert gave the cat a quick look over to double check she was okay, which she thankfully was.  This cat likely prevented the intruder from doing more damage to Ms. Tully.

“It scares me that someone broke into your building.”  Looking around her apartment, all he could see in that moment was someone breaking in and tearing her place apart.

“Same.  This is usually a pretty safe neighborhood.”  He could tell she was scared that it might happen again.  They sat down on her sofa, and Muffin curled up in her lap while Robert wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Taking a deep breath, a thought came to his mind. “I have a proposal.”

She hummed in response as she continued to pet the cat.  Her mind was spiraling with thoughts of what would have happened to Ms. Tully if she hadn’t found her so quickly.

“You’re welcome to say no, but how about you stay at my place for a couple of days?  At least until they figure out how the guy got in and can fix it?”

“I…what?”

“I have plenty of space.  You can even sleep in the guestroom.  I promise to be a perfect gentleman.  Absolutely nothing will happen without your express consent.”

She was a bit surprised at his offer.   “We’ve only known each other a few weeks, Robert.  Are you sure about this?”

“I’m very sure.  If you don’t want to stay at mine, I could sleep here on the couch?  I just worry for your safety right now.  I couldn’t bear it if something happened to you.”

It was easy to see the concern in his eyes.  There was no sign of lies in anything he said, and she knew he’d keep his promise.  In fact, it brought her a sense of comfort.  “What about Muffin?”

“Muffin is always welcome.  I don’t have any pets, and she can have the run of the place.”  The cat lifted her head, looking up at Robert as if she understood what he’d said and gave her answer by moving over to Robert and curling up in his lap.

“I think that’s a yes from Muffin.”  They both laughed.  Val packed a few things while Robert loaded up the litter box, food bowl, water bowl, and bag of food for the kitty.  Once she had everything else together, he took her bags to his car as well.  She carried Muffin in her lap during the short drive to his place.

He let her inside before unloading everything from his car.  He showed her to the guestroom while Muffin explored his house, deeming it acceptable.  Robert gave her a spare key.  “I don’t want you to feel like I’m holding you hostage or anything.”

“Not at all.  I’ve just………..okay.  Don’t laugh at me when I say this, but I’ve never stayed over at a man’s place before, not by myself.”

“Why would I laugh at that?  I don’t see anything wrong with it.  If it helps you feel better, I’ve never invited women to stay over, except for my sister.”  He took his hands in hers.  “I know a lot of this is new to both of us, but I swear I won’t do anything to make you uncomfortable.  If you don’t feel alright staying here with me, then I’ll go stay in a hotel so you can be here with Muffin.”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that.  This is your house, your place.”

“You mean so much more to me.  Just promise me you’ll let me know if something bothers you?”

Valerie nodded.  “Okay.”  He picked up her bags and placed them in the guest room.  She put the litter box in the guest bathroom while Robert placed the bowls in the kitchen, filling one with water.  Muffin didn’t hesitate to make herself comfortable on his loveseat, claiming the entire thing for herself.  Valerie changed into some sleepwear before going back to the living room.

He had changed as well, into a pair of joggers and his old Cambridge shirt.  “I have pizza on the way.” 

They turned on the TV to watch whatever was on (it was an old episode of Doctor Who).  

“How is it that you have this house but no washer/dryer?”  It just dawned on her that with a place this size, it didn’t make sense.

“I started renting this place about 3 months ago, but it didn’t come with them.  I have the hookups for them, but I just keep forgetting to do it until laundry day happens.”

“I’ll go with you, if you’d like?  I don’t know anything about buying a washer/dryer set, but I can keep you company.  We can go on your next day off.  I’ll make a list of local places we can go to.”

He grinned.  “I’d like that.”

Once the pizza arrived, they dug right in.  She was still a little too rattled to be able to eat much, but she was able to consume a couple of slices before she curled up next to Robert, laying her head on his chest.  

He started to yawn and looked at his watch.  It was later than he thought.  He started to get up before realizing she was asleep against him.  Instead of moving her, he reached and grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch to spread over them both.

When he woke up in the morning, she was gone.  As he started to look around, he could smell something cooking in the kitchen.  Slowly getting up, he made his way towards the amazing smell and found her cooking eggs and bacon.  “I could get used to this if you’re not careful.”

“It’s the least I could do for you letting me stay here for a couple of days.”

While she finished cooking, he set the table.  He really could see them doing this on a regular basis, and it felt good.  “I have to go to the hospital today.  I don’t have any surgeries planned, but I have patients to check on and paperwork to go through.”

“I have to go to work as well.  Do you have time to drop me off?”

Smiling, he could definitely get used to this.  “Of course, darling.  In fact, how about you drop me off at the hospital?  You can come by and see Ms. Tully when you’re off work, and I should be ready to leave around then as well.”

“First you trust me with your house, and now with your car?  You must really like me or something.”  Valerie couldn’t help the giant smile from spreading across her face.

“I really do.  Actually, I……” Taking a deep breath, he continued.  “I love you, Valerie.  I know it hasn’t been long, but I do.  I’ve never felt this way about anyone.”

She placed a hand on his mouth to stop his rambling.  “I love you too.”  With those words returned, he swept her into his lap and kissed her madly, never wanting to let go, not that she minded one bit.  

Pulling back, he laid his forehead on hers.  “I’ve wanted to tell you that for a while but was afraid you wouldn’t feel the same.  I know this is fast, but….”

Valerie placed her hands on the sides of his neck.  “It is, but it also feels right.”  Her words gave him the reassurance he needed.  Leaning up, she kissed him softly before getting off his lap.  “We’d better get ready for work, mister.”

She sauntered off to the guest room to get ready.  As he got ready in his room, his mind was a whirlpool of thoughts.  It’d only been 2 months.  In his previous relationships, he’d always felt this need to run and hide, afraid to commit.  This time it was the opposite.  From the moment they ran into each other at the crosswalk, he wanted to be with her, stay with her for as long as she’d have him.  Knowing she loved him too was the icing on the cake.

A knock on his bedroom door broke him out of his stupor as he was putting on his tie.

“Does this look okay?”  

“You look amazing.  I’m not sure I can let you out of the house in that.  In fact, I’m not sure I can ever let you leave again.” He smiled, joking of course.  Seeing her look so incredible caused him to forget how to tie a tie.  So she walked over and helped him.  “I could say the same about you, mister.”  

Present Day (1975)

He could hear screams coming from every direction, but none phased him.  This wasn’t where he wanted to be.  No.  He wanted to be at home with his new bride, but fate had other plans.  Damn fate.  Since that was taken from him, this was where he felt he belonged: alone, waiting for the building to finish consuming him.  This is what he deserved after what he did…..well, more like what he didn’t do.

The only thoughts he allowed to pass through his mind at this point was his beloved Valerie and how much he missed her.  

Tears fell down his face again, thinking of her.  Today was supposed to be their wedding day.

4 months ago

The lease on her apartment would be up soon.  With Ms. Tully gone to live with her son, Valerie wasn’t keen on staying.  Her landlord was kind and said she could stay longer as long as she gave him a 30 day notice.  While he enjoyed having her as a tenant and didn’t want her to leave, he had too much respect for her.  She’d always been kind to him, on time with the rent, and all the help she gave Ms. Tully when the break-in occurred.  

Looking at her left hand, she admired the ring.  Robert really had great taste.  While she never imagined getting engaged, she had absolutely no doubts that he’s the one and couldn’t wait to spend the rest of her life with him.

This afternoon, Robert was taking her to look at a house.  “Why are we looking at new places?  Your house works the way it is.”

He looked over at her from the driver’s seat.  “That’s true, but it’s only a rental.  I’d like for us to have our own little slice of paradise.”

He pulled up to a beautiful cottage.

To say she was stunned would be an understatement.  This was her dream home!  “You’ve got to be shitting me.”

She got out of the car and started looking around.  He took his time catching up to her, laughing a bit in the process.  “Is it to your liking?”

Valerie was speechless.  Taking her hand, Robert took her on a tour of the house, showing her the bedrooms, living room, kitchen, and such.  Her favorite part though was the garden out back.  “You can decorate or set up however you’d like.”

She turned to look at him. “Robert, I love it, but this is too much.  I can’t begin to imagine what a place like this costs, not to mention decorating it?  Plus there has to be several others looking at this place, too.”

Robert grinned.  “I wouldn’t say that last bit.”

“What do you mean?”  Confusion spread across her face.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys.  “Because it’s ours.”

Birds fled at the sound of her squealed excitement and jumped into his arms, nearly knocking him over.  “What?  Really??  I can’t believe you bought this place!  It’s perfect!”

Holding her, he spun around a couple times before kissing her and setting her back on her feet.  “You deserve nothing but the best, my dearest.  The wedding isn’t for another 3 or 4 months, but I know your lease is up.  When I saw this place, I knew it was the one.  It will also remove the need to renew your lease on a month-to-month basis.  That was incredibly kind of your landlord to offer, but we can go ahead and move you in here.  As the wedding gets closer, I can pack up my place to move in once we are married.”

“I love you so much, Robert.  You are the most wonderful man I’ve ever known.”

“I love you, too, my darling girl.  You deserve all this and more.”  He took her hand and guided her over to the garage.  “There’s one more thing.”  Opening the garage, they found a brand new Jaguar.

“Oh Robert!  You really shouldn’t have.”

“Yes, I should.  You deserve nothing but the best.  Plus, it’ll be easier than trying to juggle one car between the two of us for going to work……..or picking up the kids…..”

“You want kids?”

He smiled and nodded.  “I do.”

“Me, too.”  Rather than rushing up to him again, she sauntered to him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and gave him a sweet kiss.

The next week was filled with packing and moving.  Most of her furniture was sold or donated.  In between everything, wedding plans were being made.  Everything was coming together.   There was even talk about getting a dog.  With so much already going on, they decided to wait until after the wedding to look for just the right dog.

To make unpacking easier, Val had labeled each box by room.  That way when they unloaded boxes, they were put into the room where the contents would be placed.  Hanging up the clothes was easy followed by the kitchen boxes so she could start cooking once she’d gone grocery shopping.

Hearing a knock at the door, she answered it only to find her fiance.  “You know you can let yourself in, right?  Or did you lose your key already?”

“I just didn’t want to walk in on you naked or such.  Not that I would mind, but I figure you might.”

She paused, thinking for a moment.  “Excellent point.  Thank you.  So what are you doing here?  I thought you had surgery this morning?”

He sat on the back of the couch and sighed.  “It got canceled.  When I left last night, she was stable, but something happened overnight, and the patient didn’t make it.”  She walked over to him and gave him a hug which he appreciated.

“I’m so sorry.  That can’t be easy.”

“It’s okay, but enough about me.  I came by to take you out to brunch.  You’ve been working so hard on unpacking and setting things up that I thought you’d like a break.”

She rummaged around in her purse. “I completely forgot to take my keys back to my landlord.  Do you think we could swing by my old place while we’re out?”

Wrapping an arm around her from the side, he leaned over and placed a kiss on the top of her head.  “We can do whatever you’d like.”

They walked out to his car.  Being a gentleman, he opened her door before going around to his own.  The car started with a beautiful rumble, and they made their way into town and to her old complex.  “Would you like me to take them in for you?”  He offered, but she declined.  “I’ll only be a minute.”  She disappeared into the building, coming back out about 10 minutes later.

After brunch, they decided to go on a ride through the countryside.  There was no specific route or destination in mind.  They just went wherever their hearts told them, or at least until the car was almost out of petrol which they took as a sign to head back.

Robert pulled up to a petrol station.  There were 2 other cars there: one was empty but still running by the front door.  The other was parked off to the side, likely belonging to the attendant inside.  He felt this unease as they pulled up next to the petrol pump.  “I think we should maybe try the next petrol station.  Something feels, I don’t know, off?”

Val patted his shoulder. “It’s alright, Robert.  We’re already here.  Go ahead and get the tank filled while I run in to get us some drinks?  I’ll pay for the petrol while I’m inside.”  His gut told him they should leave right then, but he conceded.  “Alright, but let's be quick.  There’s just something about this place that gives me the creeps.”

She agreed, picking up her purse and walking inside.  He got out of the car and started to fill the car up.  Just as it finished and was placing the handle away, there was a loud bang.  Not even thinking about it, he ran inside.  He needed to make sure Valerie was alright.  As he opened the door, a man flew out, almost plowing over Robert in his haste to get away.  If he’d thought about it for even a second, he would have seen the gun in the man’s hand and the blood splatter on his shirt, but he was too focused on finding Valerie.

His eyes darted everywhere.  Moving further into the petrol station, there she was on the ground, gunshot wound to the abdomen, bleeding profusely.  He dove to her side, taking off his jacket to try to stop the flow of blood, but even his medical knowledge told him there was nothing he could do, but all logic had left him at that point.  The bullet had gone through her kidney causing her to go through hypovolemic shock.  

“So cold.”  It was difficult to understand her, but he could feel her getting colder by the second.  He scooped her up, holding her close in the vain hope that he could keep her warm, keep her alive.  Just as long as she was in his arms, everything would be okay.

As he held her, he kept brushing her hair with one hand, trying to tell her everything was fine, that help was on the way, and she’d be fine, that she just needed to hold on, but her pulse continued to grow weak.  The tears on her face slowed down as she looked into his eyes.

Bitter-sweet memories / That's all I'm taking with me / Good-bye, please don't cry

“I love you,” she squeaked out.

“I love you, my darling Valerie.  Always.”  His tears started falling faster.

He could feel her heart slowing.  “Always,” she whispered with the last of her breath.  Robert held her body tightly, rocking back and forth as he cried, his reason for living now gone.  It took two police officers and a paramedic to get him to let go of her so they could take the body away.

Present Day (1975)

That was the absolute worst day of his life.  He blamed himself, saying he should have gone with his gut feeling and left to get petrol elsewhere, or at least gone in to pay himself.  Maybe then she’d be here with him or instead of him.  “It should have been me,” he cried to himself.

The foundation was crumbling, the support beams falling.  Robert didn’t care.  He’d only moved to this apartment building because he couldn’t bear living in the house meant for him and Valerie.  Friends and colleagues helped him take care of her belongings and relisted the house while he moved into this concrete monstrosity.  It felt cold and unfeeling from the moment he stepped inside, exactly what he thought he deserved.

The balcony rumbled, vibrating harshly.  Closing his eyes, he accepted his fate just as the balcony on his 25th floor apartment gave way, the building collapsing in fire and dust.

Taglist: @vbecker10

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[the-fiction-witch]

Mrs Dawkins P14 - P17

Media The Artful Dodger

Character Jack Dawkins

Couple Jack X Reader

Rating Sweet + Flirty

Series: Mrs Dawkins

P1 - P5 P6-P10 P11-13

I blushed but nodded, he came over and offered his hand.

"Would the lady like to take a walk in the moonlit gardens?"

"I would love to sir." I giggled as I took his hand, he helped me up and we walked down the porch steps and into the garden, as much as I wanted to hold his hand I did put some space between us as we walked.

Our feet made their way through the grass, past the flowers and sweet statues of the garden, lit only by the pale moonlight and the fiery glow from the windows of the house, 

"How long do you think they'll fall for it?"

"A while I suspect," he chuckled, "People always seem to trust me," 

"I suppose you're a very trustworthy-looking man,"

"It's a perk of being a doctor," he winked, 

"I suppose so,"

"So? May I ask what you do when you're doing when you're not doing this?"

"Ohh, Drawing."

"Drawing? Drawing what?"

"Anything, I find the form particularly facilitating."

"Do you?" 

"Umm every subject is different I love to draw, and differences to use the lines and shadow to sculpt the muscles, the bones, all the little intricacies that make us function." 

"Really?"

"Umm," I nodded, 

"I bet you'd find surgery fascinating." He smiled, "Peeling away at everything until you see the very building bricks of people."

"I imagine I would,"

"Anything else?"

"My father likes for me to sing, and play piano."

"Ohh? You don't?"

"Not really. I find it boring."

"That's fair I suppose," He chuckled, "But I'd love to know what your life was like... before you came here?"

"Ohh, Well we lived in London before then Father made his money in shipping. Ran his business for many years, and figured he could make a killing down here, so down here we moved. We haven't been here long still getting used to the place, but I hope at least now I have some more freedom to go out and see the place." 

"That's sweet, I'd love to show you around one day."

"It's alright I wouldn't want to take you from your work."

"It's no trouble I'd love to." 

"Perhaps one afternoon," I blushed, 

"You don't much look like your mother," 

"Oh?"

"You two hardly look anything alike."

"ohh... Uhh you mean the lady-"

"Yes?"

"That is not my mother," I chuckled,

"Oh?"

"she's my governess"

"Ohh Forgive me I-"

"It's alright. Miss Hardcastle My governess since I was a child."

"I see, So where's your mother?"

"Buried back in London." 

"I'm so sorry Y/n," He said taking my hand,

"It's alright, long time ago." I said, "But I would like to know about you if you'll allow me?"

"Of course," He smiled as we continued to walk, "Well, not much to say joined the Navy at fourteen, stayed there for ten years and worked my way up to surgeon lieutenant before I left." 

"Oh Impressive," I giggled, "under?"

"Captin Grimm, a Splendid man, took a lot of pity on me." 

"Young though to have retired?"

"I fancied a change, and I could be of far more use around here." He smiled, 

"I suppose that's true," I nodded, "You like it here?" 

"I find it very palatable" he chuckled, "do you it here?"

"So far, it's been very pleasant." I nodded, "I admit helped by your kindness,"

"My kindness? Well, I am thrilled to have made your time here more enjoyable." he smiled, "How is your hand?"

"Much better now,"

"Good, I half expected you in your pearls tonight."

"I considered it, was told it would be too much."

"Fair enough, I must admit you do look mesmerizing."

"Ohhh... Thank you, Jack." I blushed, "You do look incredibly handsome too." 

"My, I shall treasure such a compliment from such a lovely lady." He smiled, "I did my best, not used to this sort of thing."

"Well, you impressed me all the same."

"I did?"

"Very much,"

"I'm glad, this is the only shirt I own where the sleeves aren't stained with blood so bear in mind you will likely never see me like this again." 

I giggled, "That's alright I prefer your other clothes anyway."

"You do?" He smirked,

"Ohh well I uhhh-" 

"I think you've looked beautiful every time I've seen you," he smiled, "But tonight you are impressive."

"Thank you," I blushed, I spotted a small stone bench in the garden so I went and sat down for a moment, he came over and sat down beside me slipped off his jacket to sit it beside him, 

"So, your father has any boys he's planning on having you see?"

"I don't think so, I'm sure there will be men tonight having since danced with me who will go to Father with their intentions and they'll visit in the coming days," I explained, 

"Do you have any plans on telling your father, about any men who have taken your interest?"

"Perhaps." 

"Perhaps?"

"Perhaps," I giggled, 

"Will I be on that list?" he asked, 

"Outspoken, aren't you?" 

"Why bother with dancing around the point?"

"I suppose," I smiled looking up to the orange tree over my head, I reached up to grab an orange but  my fingertips only just graced the bottom, He chuckled and plucked it for me handing me or orange, "Thank you," I smiled, 

"You're welcome, So? Will I be on the list of boys you talk to our father about?"

I nodded sheepishly, "I can remove you if you'd prefer."

"No, no I'd love to be included," 

"You would?" I asked peeling the orange and starting to eat a couple of segments offering him some too,

"I would." he nodded taking a couple too, "In fact if you'd let me? I'd like to talk to your father."

"you would?"

"I would." He nodded, "Would you allow me that?"

"You do not need my permission." 

"No, but still I am asking for it." 

I blushed hard but smiled. "Then I grant it, happily."

"Is it something you'd want?"

"Very much." I nodded, "But I do not wish to burden you with-"

"I want to. Very much." He said taking my hand in his and making me drop the orange peel, "Y/n there is something about you that I can not deny, I have attempted to conceal it, to refuse it, but here I am outright accepting it. You have unnerved me more than any other woman I have ever met, I want to see you again. That much I am certain."

"I admit I feel the same, there seems to be an energy between us that I cannot name or place, I cannot refuse it, not at all, I am beyond certain that I want to see you again."

"I wish we could, but it pains me..."

"Why would it pain you?"

"Becuase I know if I do, these feelings will long grow."

"I do hope they would,"

"I know they would. every new thing I learn about you feels like an etching on my heart,"

"Ohh Jack," I smiled 

"I want us... to be so much more."

"I- I do too." 

"But I know nothing can come of it."

"Why ever not?"

"The world will never allow us to marry, y/n." He whispered, 

"You misjudge my family," I blushed, "My father will allow me to marry whatever man makes me happy,"

"Then do I? make you happy?"

"Very much Jack," I smiled, "He cares only for my joy, and for the social rules. Providing all rules were followed he would have no problem with us."

He chuckled, "I am not too good at following rules." 

"There would not be many, but would you try? for me?"

He smiled and stroked my cheek his callus fingers moved across my skin which made my heart flutter, "For you?" He asked, "I would do anything," he cooed before he moved and ran the tip of his nose against the bridge of my own our foreheads together, My eyes fluttered shut my hands held his and his upper arm, sighing in a sweet joy, feeling my heart race at the mere object of our proximity. "Would you grant me to break one rule tonight?"

"Which one?"

"Let me kiss you." 

"Absolutely," I smiled, 

he needed no other word, closing the gap between our lips for a soft and slow kiss. His lips were slightly chapped but smooth, I could taste the orange on his lips still, smell the sweet scent of his aftershave, the feeling is soft skin against my own, I closed my eyes enjoying every sensation, he pulled back our kiss only lasting a few seconds but we both knew it felt like more, He lingered close as we both took back our breaths. 

"Oh my..." I blushed, 

"Better then I had imagined." He smiled,

"So you imagined?"

"so many times,"

"As did I."

"It succeeded mine, beyond any imagination, did I-"

"You did. More the I had ever thought." I smiled, "Jack... You're kisses, though lasting a second made me feel like we had travelled to the moon and back." 

"As do yours y/n." He smiled, "Will you let me take you again?"

"A thousand times more," I smiled closing the gap between us, 

We kissed, slowly and sweetly with such admiration, without lust but longing, like we couldn't bear for this to end, our lips moved back and forth to kiss over and over, each kiss caused butterflies in my stomach, fireworks in my mind, I wanted nothing more than to touch him, to be connected with him in every day we could, as crazy as it sounds like I wanted to climb inside and be one with him.... god that sounds nuts but it's truly how I felt. and clearly he felt the same as our energy matched perfectly his hand slipped from my face to hold my hands in his in front of our chests. I felt so heavenly that my heart I could see the world burning around us and still I would smile. I could have kissed him forever. 

but... 

From behind him, we head a cough. 

I pulled back in surprise hearing a loud cough, and quickly moved my hands away from Jack's, as soon as I opened my eyes I saw her.

Miss Hardcastle, stood having approached us in the garden, given the timing of her cough and her... very unhappy look. She had undoubtedly caught us. 

Jack was confused I assume having not heard the cough as he looked disappointed, upset when I had so suddenly ended our kiss and now looked as if I wanted nothing to do with him. But he noticed my eyes and glanced over his shoulder, and he jumped as he saw her there immediately the colour drained from his face as he too realized... 

We're fucked. 

My mind began to spiral in panic, she was the most rule-abiding etiquette-driven person I had ever met, she would surely tell my father and Jack and I would never be allowed near each other again. 

She cleared her throat again and stepped closer, "I think Miss Everset has had enough air now doctor, You best head inside wouldn't want you to miss the party."

"Yes of course." he nodded, He gave me a faint smile before he took his coat and stood up, as he past her she handed him a white handkerchief from the pocket of her dress, clearly for him to wipe my slightly smudged lipstick off his lips, he took it and headed back through the garden towards the house, 

Miss Hardcastle merely stood there watching me, giving me no place to turn. She waited silently until Jack was out of earshot. 

"Y/n."

"Yes miss?"

She moved and sat on the bench in Jack's place, she took my hand in hers. "Was this moment consensual?" 

"What?" I asked,

"Was the moment I just witnessed consensual?" 

"It was," I nodded, I knew it would be worse to lie to her, "It was consensual."

"Was it reciprocal?"

"Yes."

She nodded, 

"Will you tell my father?"

"Tell him what?"

"About what I and Dr Dawkins were -"

"Why would I tell him about the doctor helping you catch your breath?" She asked giving me a small wink "But we should head back now." She said 

"we should," I nodded, 

She helped me up and we walked arm in arm back towards the house, "Mr Dawkins?" She asked, 

"Dr Dawkins," I corrected,

"Ohh I see. Royal College?"

"Ex-Navy."

"Ohhh... Your father will certainly like him."

"I hope so." I blushed, 

"You know his... particular mix of Sandy Cove and Caramel Drizzle does seem, familiar to me." She smiled wickedly 

I blushed to think of the two paint colours I had combined on my painting a few days ago to mix into Jack's hair, 

"From a recent... Easel." 

"Perhaps." I blushed, 

"I see, What shall we entitle this painting then?"

"Jack."

"Jack, I see." She nodded as she returned me to the house and the party,

I did a few more dances with the men who still wanted them, but the evening was mostly dying down, I did spot a nervous Jack being a wallflower to the party and I simply smiled at him which calmed him considerably, until it came time like any party where people seem to leave almost all at once, so father and I stood between my father and Miss Hardcastle close the door and bidding goodbye to many guests, my hand was even getting tired from all the kisses. But I did my best to hide my blush as Jack approached having put his jacket back on and clearly trying to hide his own blush. I did notice as he approached Miss Hardcastle shot me a look almost questionable as if silently asking 

'This the one?' and I nodded in return, 

"It was a perfect evening Mr Everset, I thank you greatly for allowing me an invitation." He smiled 

"Of course, of course, my good man. You took such good care of my Y/n when we visited the hospital, always best to keep a doctor in the good graces." 

"Quiet right sir, but truly I had an amazing time you must invite me to your next event."

"Oh you'll be on our guest list I'm sure" 

Jack then turned his attention to me as politely as he could, "I thank you greatly for inviting me Miss Everset, I wouldn't have missed it for the world. It was an absolute pleasure to witness your debut and our dance is something I shall truly treasure."

"As will I Dr Dawkins," I smiled, He gently took my hand and kissed it sweetly but as his hand slipped away I realized he had left a note in my hand, I hid it as secretly as I could and luckily Miss Hardcastle was the only one to spot it so as I set my hand to my side she took the note from me hiding it in her pocket so I could use my hand still, 

"Have a lovely evening, Both of you."

"You too Dr Dawkins," My father smiled,

Jack then left and for a moment Miss Hardcastle and I shared a look and had to prevent us both from giggling like schoolgirls.

We bidded goodnight to everyone else of course and once the last guest was gone my father took my hands and kissed my hair, "I do dare say that was a rousing success." 

"I do think so Father,"

"I'm sure you have your list, I know I have mine."

"I do father."

"Very good, but it's late we will talk once you have had the time to mull things over in sleep. But I shall see you for breakfast." 

"Yes, see you for breakfast, goodnight Father."

"Goodnight my sweet." 

Miss Hardcastle then took me to my room and stood me in my mirror to slowly work at undoing my dress for me. Helping me get changed for bed given the various layers and complicated ties. 

"I expect then we shall be seeing more of Dr Dawkins?"

"I do hope so,"

"I won't say a word. But I best not catch this sort of nonsense again."

"Yes, Miss." I nodded 

"Good," She said as finally the dress was off me and I could slip on my nightie "Get some rest," she said as she helped me to the bed tucking me in and she headed me the note from her pocket as she shut off the light and shut the door, 

I giggled as soon as she was gone taking the note still folded tight, I smiled and unfolded it seeing the sweet note clearly written in a rush I even noticed the paper it was written on was merely some ripped paper from my fathers office, 

'Dearest Y/n, 

Tonight has been utterly unexplainable, I wish my words could do you and this evening justice. 

I do hope I didn't cause you too much trouble and can forgive me for getting us caught. 

If you still want to see me, I'll come and wait by our bench in your garden tomorrow once the sun sets meet me there and we will discuss how we shall proceed. 

I cannot wait to see you, and if I don't I shall understand. 

Have a good night, sleep well.

My Darling, My Y/n, My 'hopeful' Future Mrs Dawkins.

Yours affectionately 

Jack X' 

I giggled as I read it unable to hold back my smiles, he wanted to see me again, he wanted us to speak of how to proceed, I was so immensely happy, the mere kiss on the page was enough to make my heart heavy. and I pulled the note to my chest almost rolling around my bed and kicking my feet with joy.

I had not thought about such a thing, but now it was all I could dream of, to one day be Mrs Dawkins. 

I woke to the sound of the adult bird in the nest outside my window singing sweet songs. I couldn't help but smile as I lay in my bed, my legs knotted with my sheets, Jack's note still clutched to my breast. I lay enjoying the shadows cast by the sun for a good few minutes before I forced myself out of bed. I refolded the note along its lines and kissed it before I hid it in my bedside drawer.

I got up and began to dress for the day ahead, into my light blue day dress as I wasn't planning on going out today. I began to sing with the bird and sang the same sweet, beautiful song as I dressed.

"Good Morning Miss Everset." Miss Hardcastle said as she arrived to my room,

"Good Morning," I smiled as I sang,

She chuckled, "Who'd have known a boy would be the best way to get you to practice your vocals,"

I giggled a little as I finished my dress and put a brush through my hair,

"Breakfast is ready and your father is waiting." She said,

"Lovely," I smiled as I set my brush down and followed her down to the dining room, where my father sat in his usual seat eating his breakfast, he looked up, saw me and smiled.

"My, My, been a while since I saw you smile so widely,"

"It's a good day," I smiled,

"It certainly is my sweet." He chuckled,

The maid then brought my breakfast and I had a plate of fried eggs, hashbrowns, french toast and even some bacon. I thanked her and looked at my father questionably, He smiled.

"You don't have a debutante dress to fit into."

I blushed but happily tucked in after so long of waiting for some good food, We sat and ate in silence and once my plate was empty he got up from his heat and came to me, he offered his hand.

"Come my sweet." He cooed,

I took his hand and followed him to his office, He took a seat at his desk before he took one out of his desk drawer. I giggled and paced the room playfully.

"Now once you went to bed I made myself a list of all of the gentle boys I think would be good suitors going forward and I couple did whisper of potential intentions last night but I promised you I would not speak on your behalf and I did not say a word my sweet." he explained, "I'm sure you must have a list of your own those we agree on we can take steps, now to keep it simple Yes, perhaps and No."

"Yes Father," I nodded,

"Good girl, Now we shall begin, Lord Arthur Lindsey?"

"Remind me?"

"Very tall chap, smelt of roses."

I was reminded

"Well..."

"Y/n, I do not want you to lie to me, I don't care who you marry so please just be honest with me."

"No,"

"Alright, Mr Damiris?"

"No, too old."

"I see, Mr Small?"

"Too Tall, Ironicly."

"Mr Ryan?"

"Perhaps."

"Ohh our first perhaps?"

"He was pleasant enough,"

"Good, Mr Sapping?"

"Stank of fish?"

"Yes, the fishmonger's son."

"No."

"Alright, Interesting those were my top five candidates." He chuckled as he made notes, "Clearly I am not up to date with the things ladies like." He laughed,

"Perhaps not Father,"

"Well we push on," he said,

This went on for the rest of the morning, him listing names and us discussing them, I did my best to not be so tunnel-visioned and I did allow him to make up a small list of men I would allow us to continue to keep on the back burner as it were, just in case things do not go as I wish them too.

I even gave my father some names making sure I mixed a few others into my list. I didn't want to make it seem like my mind was already made up given I still didn't know truly where Jack stood, and I wouldn't know until I saw him tonight, if that would even be discussed at all tonight. I didn't want my father to think I was ignoring others, or focusing too much, and of course not letting him in at the fact I had all but decided before even my ball would only make him wonder why such an expense was necessary. Even if I was wondering that myself now.

"That is all?"

"There, is one more father."

"Ahh perfect last one then for my list, He a perhaps?"

"Uhh no. He's a yes."

"A yes? My goodness our one and only yes. Well let's hear it then who is the chap who's bewitched my sweet into giving out her one and only yes?"

"Dr. Dawkins," I did my best not to blush, fiddled with my fingers in the few seconds I waited for his response.

"Dr. Dawkins?"

"Yes, Father,"

"Alright," He nodded adding him to the list, "I take it he... amuses you?"

I blushed, "He does amuse me," I forced back laughter, I knew what my father wanted to ask but given society, our time, and our lifestyle, such a thing cannot be said between us even if he is my father.

"Will you allow me your ear?"

"Of course Father,"

"Money." he said, "Doctors don't make much money,"

"I'm aware."

"Your life would change, your lifestyle would be different, he it's very unlikely he'd be able to keep you in the lifestyle to which you have become accustomed."

"That's true," I nodded, "I thought you said I could marry whomever I wanted? a Lord, a butcher, a baker, a doctor?"

He smirked, "So already you think of Dr Dawkins in the terms of marriage."

I blushed and realized my error, "I think of all men who may wish to court me in the terms of marriage, one should not enter a courtship without seeing marriage."

"Good girl," he nodded, "Alright, I do say you can marry whomever you like I am not going to stop you marrying a poorer if that is your choosing but I just wish to discuss as we have the other men." He said,

"Thank you, father,"

"But still, I want you to know these things before any sort of decisions are made, as I said doctors don't make much."

"I am sure a humble life is one that I could return to."

"Doctors work often, weekends, weekdays, time off its not much to them. You'd be alone a lot, he would not be able to spend all his days with you."

"No, but we would simply be forced to savour every moment we are together."

"Doctors often are cynical, emotionless, it comes with the job you witness such horrors, such death."

"But you also witness life, the spark and fight of true humanity. And I imagine it gives them such a drive, such an unstoppable determination for each moment, to survive above all else."

He nodded, "Dawkins." He chuckled, "Mrs Y/n Dawkins, it has a ring I can't deny. Very good, He is your one and only yes. But we shall proceed with all as discussed and we shall we how the fruits fall."

"Thank you, father," I smiled going to leave,

"Y/n?"

"Yes?"

"If he comes to see me, and does all as he should." He said, "The shortest courtship I'll allow is six months."

"Good to know, Thank you, father." I nodded before I scampered away. 

I picked out a pretty dress and brushed my hair, I gave myself a good perfume spritz before I left my room and headed downstairs but I was caught at the kitchen door.

"Something you wanted Miss Everset?" Miss Hardcastle asked helping the maid clean from dinner,

"Ohh, I was just going for a walk in the garden, before I settled myself to bed."

"In the dark?"

"I fancied a moonlit stroll."

"Alright, just don't be too late."

"I won't!" I smiled as I bolted out the door and headed into the garden, I held my dress above the grass as I walked as fast as I could without drawing suspicion back to the sweet stone bench from last night, under the orange tree, the little bench like last night bathed in a sweet white grey ray of moonlight. I thought of last night and felt giddy with excitement to see him again, to have his hand grace my own, to have our lips entwined once more, to speak with him about our plans, our future, a life we were to build.

I went and perched myself where I had yesterday, Plucking an orange as I sat for a moment I tossed it back and forth between my hands. Every second felt like an hour of wait, I counted the stars in the sky, the leaves in the tree, the flowers of the garden, and my own heartbeats that got slower and slower as my excitement turned to solo fear while I waited, but he didn't come and each time I looked and saw no sign of him my heart sank a little lower until it was firm in my feet.

Perhaps he has forgotten about me?

Perhaps last night was merely a trick of the moon and wine and once home he realized his foolishness?

Perhaps all of this was merely a joke at my innocent expense?

Perhaps, he was not coming?

Perhaps I had merely been foolish to believe him?

I sighed and rolled my orange away across the grass, I knew I would have to go back inside or else people would come looking for me.

My heart felt so utterly broken, my heart felt weak and frail, I felt so stupid, tears welled up in my eyes, and my hands shook, my breaths unsteady and sharp.

I waited longer than I should have, all in hope but as the hours ticked by he never arrived.

To think I had told my father of him, I had risked Miss Hardcastle telling my father for him, I had let him kiss me, I had let him touch my hand, let him break so many rules with me all of which if word ever escaped this place my reputation would forever be broken.

I was so, so willing... so happy, so blindly in love that ... I'd have given him everything.

I'd have committed here and now to him forever, I'd begun to build a life in my mind with him, I'd have sworn myself to him this night if he had asked it, I'd have packed my things and followed him away to a world unknown if he had asked it of me.

I'd have made him my world.

But he didn't come for me.

I wiped my tears and stood, I fixed my dress and started on the walk inside.

I kept turning back in the hope that he'd be there just catching me before I go but... I went in and up to my room.

I lay on my bed fighting back the tears taking his note and re-reading it making sure I was not been at fault but no.

Our bench, as the sun sets.

He hadn't come.

"I trusted you..." I began to cry, "Where are you, Jack?" 

#tbs #thomas brodie sangster #thomas sangster #thomasbrodiesangster #tbs smut #tbs imagines #thomas sangster imagine #tbs imagine #thomas brodie sangster imagine #thomas brodie sangster smut #doctor jack dawkins #jack dawkins #jackdawkins #jack #jackdawkinsartfuldodger #the artful dodger #theartfuldodgerjack #thearttfuldodger #theartfuldogger

[glazedtrash721]

Beware, this is a LONG post!!

TW: a lil' scopophobia perhaps

So, you know how there's a boat load of Welcome Home AUs floating around?

Well, now there's one more!! (And even more given some time!)

Let me introduce you to my first Welcome Home AU:

Children's Hospital AU!!

In this AU, all of our lovely neighbors are staff at the town's local Children's Hospital, which is officially titled the "Healthy Home Children's Hospital", or HHCH for short! This AU doesn't really have any spooky or funky elements to it, as I was pretty desperate for ideas that haven't already been done when I thought of it. Although, this AU does serve its purpose in being very cute and wholesome, and I'm sure that it could make for some fun content!

Characters and more info can be found under the break!

By the way, these drawings are not to scale! I just made them so that they would fit on the page :/

Anyways...

Let us first start with the Doctors!

Doctors Darling, Joyful, and Frankly have bested too many years of medical school and are now here to take care of their young patients! Both Dr. Wally Darling and Dr. Julie Joyful are physicians, and they can be found buzzing around the hospital, tending to whoever needs it! Dr. Darling, with his calm and cool energy, is more often assigned to older and more anxious kids. Dr. Joyful, on the other hand, is often tasked with the care of younger children and babies with her more energetic and sweet personality. Dr. Frank Frankly is the surgeon of the group, and he excells with his steady hands and his thirst for knowledge and for solving problems! Dispite his grumpy appearance, the children find him a joy to see when he checks up on them before and after surgery!

Next, we have the Nurses!

Nurses Sally, Barnaby, and Howdy help make up the back bone of the hospital, and they are always on their toes helping those in need! Nurse Sally can typically be found in the ER, where her quick feet and her sunny disposition are a must have, though she can be found bouncing all over the hospital! Nurse Barnaby never fails to put a smile on a patient's face with his funny jokes, and he is a dream when someone needs a distraction from a needle or anything else that may be frightening them! Nurse Howdy is extremely handy with his four hands and arms, making him an amazing multi-tasker! He is also a master of hugs, and he is wonderful with calming down particularly upset patients. He and Barnaby are also often called on the occurrence where a patient (or even parent!) needs restrained, thanks to their size and even tempers!

Lastly, we have those with more miscellaneous jobs!

Mr. Eddie and Ms. Poppy also have important jobs that help the hospital and its patients! Eddie is the HHCH's trusty mailman! He takes gifts and letters from the mail room and gift shop and delivers them to their recipients. As he knows the hospital's layout like the back of his hand, he also often accompanys visitors and volunteers, such as those who bring therapy dogs and such! He also takes extra care to dress up on holidays and other occasions! Ms. Poppy is an Emotional Consultant, and she is there to help patients and their families make difficult decisions, usually regarding treatment. Still the nervous bird that she is, she still tries to put on a brave face and a warm smile to those who need a little extra guidance or reassurance.

They're all colorless now, but I'll probably add that soon lol.

Also, I haven't designed Home yet, but I imagine he'd be the Headmaster of the hospital or something similar? I may give him a design later on.

Anyways, that concludes my first Welcome Home AU! Feel free to ask for any specific info that you want me to elaborate on, and feel free to use these silly dudes in your own fan content, given that it's not sussy (NSFW in the sexual way), and that a lil' credit is given! Otherwise, go ham!

#welcome home #welcomehome #art #welcome home arg #welcome home au #au #my art #wally darling #julie joyful #frank frankly #welcome home wally #welcome home julie #welcome home frank #sally starlet #barnaby b beagle #howdy pillar #welcome home sally #welcome home barnaby #welcome home howdy #eddie dear #poppy partridge #welcome home eddie #welcome home poppy #these little sillies are in charge of your healthcare #your health is in their little puppet hands #imagine how many jokes howdy could charge you #man healthcare is so expensive I have to tell this caterpillar 105 498 knock knock jokes #welcome home children's hospital au #this is so many tags my golly

[tomwaterbabies]

I hope the surgery went well and recovery goes smoothly!!! You asked for asks and I saw you have some robo Varian art that's been eating my brain for a few days now. I guess not technically a question but I'd love to hear more about that au if you wanna ramble 👉👈

HEYYY thank you so much! it went really well and the pain is super minimal rn, i can even sit up on my desk! which was recommended by my surgeon to do anyway so thats rad

ANYWAYSSSSS... THANK YOU for the kind words im so glad you like it!! and THANK YOU for reminding me of the fact i never posted about my robot au like i had meant to 💀

here it is NOW (and to anyone who hasnt seen the art here it be)

this is long as hell btw. so sorry

SO. setting i imagine is similar to typical vat7k BUT a little darker and more dystopian. think steampunk industrial stuff... which i know hugo's kingdom is already like lol but just imagine it like. in a lot more places. this is basically a "steampunk" au too

robots are VERY common. invented by a group of scientists with the main ones being donella and ulla

robots are used as service etc etc. theyre not sentient at all so this isnt like. some unethical practice

but ulla and donella are OBSESSED with making them more and more advanced, theyre besties and all that. but ulla is Particularly obsessed with making the Perfect Robot

we know that ulla is kind of messed up in the head. in this au she kind of messes way too much with robot sentience WHILE ALSO getting obsessed with the eternal library. same stuff happens eventually. donella and ulla fight about the eternal library etc etc

BUT ALSO... ulla is working on her Magnum Opus. a son for her and her husband, who she is making to be the perfect robot. quirin is unaware of the shit shes doing and fully trusts her and supports this passion project

and well! she does make the first Sentient Robot. with the use of science and Magical Knowledge she was able to basically give life force through magical means into the robot. The robot of course she named varian. and not only is he sentient, but he looks completely human

she did some messed up stuff tho! again! she's programmed him with fake memories so he thinks he has lived a life fully as a human. he's also programmed to not notice things like the small seams on his body and all that. like his code just immediately disregards all that

anywaysss. after ulla disappears, quirin is dedicated to taking care of varian. he figures it's best to follow with ulla's choice of making sure varian doesnt know hes a robot

MEANWHILE ! because of the schism between ulla and donella, there was some wack shit that happened. namely robots going completely crazy. now all robots are Murder Robots. so the world is pretty Dystopian at the moment

Varian decides he wants to go out and find the source of what made the robots go crazy. bc this sucks lol. like everyone is Just Miserable

so he meets his friends. nuru, yong, hugo!

LETS TALK ABOUT HUGO

hugo works for donella. hugo also absolutely HATES robots. the robots have been messing shit up since he was a kiddo

he's kind of like a robot hunter. harvesting them for parts as well as getting rid of them bc theyre dangerous. usually donella directs him to different missions. and now shes telling him to join this guy (varian) bc she wants the secrets that ulla had hidden and varian is sure as hell after them

sooooo at one point. varian gets hurt maybe, or interacts with something that breaks the code in him or whatever. the code that stops him from noticing his robotic qualities. i think he probably would get super injured and like. he and all his friends stare in shock and horror as some sort of gash or sparks or whatever show a metallic inside

they all find out he's a robot together weeeee. no one is having a good time

so he's living with existential crisis. he's away from his dad so he cant travel all the way back to be like hey What The Fuck. AND he's still dedicated to his goal. but now he's just. confused, scared, and unsure if he's worthy of his humanity that he thought he had

they all try to work with this new discovery (which i think would happen earlier on rather than way later). hugo especially is like. having a crisis. bc he's always hated robots and for good reason. but varian... varian is SO human. he thinks, he feels, he cares, etc. he's more Human than a lot of the Flesh and Blood people he's been around

so you know, hugo starts to fall in love with him anyway. lots of excellent scenes of him helping varian with his mechanics, etc

and of course varian starts falling in love with him too, but is dealing with a lot of confusion as well. like is he even real, doesnt hugo deserve to be loved by a Human and not a Robot, etc etc

ok jesus christ. i think thats all the main stuff. woaghghg

#you activated something neurodivergent i think #varigo #vat7k #asks

[laugtherhyena]

Playlist listened to while writing; https://spotify.link/WzxvdTKBCJb

Holy shit dude, the ceo of rei angst wrote some rei angst what the HELL!! We have to kill her guys she cant keep getting away with this.

Anyways im gonna be writing about a lot of these nerds. I just love rei. This is really rushed and I am really sleepy so it is not my best writing.

Also i cannot write teruya so you will habe to ppppUT UP WITH IT.

Warnings for like. Violence and my attempt at writing a breakdown.

-

Rei held the rusty pipe like a baseball bat, swinging for a homerun as she smacked off the head of someone she once knew. Someone who had abandoned her long ago.

The rotting head of what used to be her mother rolled on the ground, sickly green skin squishing against the ground and stared up at her with lifeless eyes.

“I didn’t want to see you again like this,” Rei hissed as her chest heaved, “i wanted to see you staring with regret as you saw your daughter on top of the world. I didn’t want to kill you or see you dead.”

That had been the second time she had run into her zombified mother. The first, she had been a coward, unable to kill her and her father– the two people she hated most, the two people who had abandoned her and left her on the streets.

Where had all her rage gone that time. When had she become soft.

-

Midori clung to Ryutaro with all the strength in her frail body. “My brother,” she whispered, “i saw my brother’s corpse down there. Kakeru… he… they got Kakeru… they killed Kakeu…”

He didn’t say much in return, but he did pat her hand briefly– the only comforting action he could manage while carrying her.

“I see a store up ahead. Let’s stop by there for supplies.” Keisuke pointed out to the leader of the bunch.

Setsuka patted the clown on the back and gave him a smile. “Sounds good, lead the way. Maki, do you need me to carry Yamaguchi for a bit?”

Midori wrapped her arms and legs around Ryutaro a bit tighter at the suggestion, very much attached to the guy who had found her and saved her from zombies.

“I’ll be fine until we reach the stop.” The blonde nodded his acknowledgement to the bluenette, forcing a smile as he struggled to catch up.

The group walked in silence for a bit, the only sounds being the orchestra of distant zombie groans.

“Miss Yamaguchi,” Hikaru said after bit, his tone fatherly like usual, “may I check your pulse soon? And may I check if the swelling on your ankles has gone down?”

“Yeah, that… sounds good. Thank you, Uncle.”

-

Kanata removed the bandages from Ayame’s arm gradually.

“There isn’t any sign of infection, Hatano. Kinjo and Maki are still out, so… uhm… can I get you something to eat?” The surgeon spoke softly as she stared at the sprinter.

“I’m not hungry…” Ayame mumbled.

“Inori!” Tomori slammed the door open, her eyes sunken from lack of sleep, “i think i got bit. Check! Check, please!!”

Kanata bit back a sigh of exasperation and forced out her cheerful smile. “Of course. Where do you think you were bit this time?”

“My ankle. They went after my ankle so I couldn’t run! They’re going to eat me. I’m going to die, aren’t I? Oh, god, I’m going to die!” The cheerleader’s words were jumbled together and practically nonsensical. She grabbed onto Kanata’s shoulders as she spoke, her nails digging into the other’s lab coat and pressing her skin uncomfortably.

“Miss Tomori,” Kanata winced, “please let go of me. I will check your ankle, but I am sure you are fine.”

“I’m not fine!” Kizuna wailed before glaring accusatory daggers at Ayame. “If you… if you hadn't gotten yourself bitten! If you had just seen that bitch for what she is! We wouldnt be doomed! You’ve doomed us all!”

Ayame took the words without fighting back. What had been the point in fighting anymore? Kizuna was right. She had doomed them all.

“Miss Tomori, please… Taira had us all fooled… if Miss Hatano is to blame, then so are the rest of us…” the blonde murmured. “Please sit down so I can check your ankle…”

-

Mindless. Kinji was mindless. His faith had only been able to spare him for so long.

His teeth were decayed now. His skin was green and purple and yellow. His eyes were dull. His cheeks were sunken.

It was incredible that his mind stayed intact long enough for him to bury as many as he did. The only bodies he didn’t put 6 feet under, the only bodies he couldn’t handle burying, were those of the people he knew.

But what was the point?

-

Yuki held his stomach as he choked up and spat out the last meal he had, beans that had barelt even begun to digest.

“Urgh… gross…” he mumbled to himself.

Shinji was away at the moment, scouting out for the next safe place for them to go and likely trying to find his family in the process.

The lucky student fought back envious tears. At least they knew there was a chance that Shinji’s family was alive– they found his mother, Aiko, brutally murdered in the Maeda household. Her corpse was bloated and rotted when they found it.

The sight still haunted his dreams. He couldn’t even keep.meals down since he saw it.

-

Mikako peered into her brother’s lab. He hadn’t eaten in quite some time, nor had he slept.

“Yamato…” she whispered hesitantly.

He spun around with a dart ready in his hand. He only lowered it after he registered it was her.

“Mikako, I’ve told you to leave me alone. I need to find a cure, or no one will be safe.” The inventor turned back to his work and threw a crumpled up piece of paper to the side.

“I’m sure someone else is searching for a cure, Yamato. Why not try to make a vaccine? Some sort of immunity would help while someone else finds a cure.” The exorcist suggested.

Her brother didn’t seem to have heard. That, or he was ignoring her.

“Ah… nevermind.” She straightened her back and spun on her heel to hunt down their other classmates.

For the newcomers, Satsuki was putting on a performance– juggling empty bottles and broken gadgets whilst telling jokes. That could not be safe, but Haruhiko seemed to have his eyes on her.

The bunker door heaved open, and Teruya’s team came in, carrying boxes full of food and other supplies.

“We’re back with dinner!” The merchant shouted.

Mikako rushed over to take the box from him.

“Thank you, Otori, this should be good for at least a week. You and your scavenger team did good.”

He grinned at her and handed his box over. “Thanks! We uh…” he hesitated, “We saw Taira and Maeda… err… Utsuro? On our flight back… they looked like they were heading somewhere… dunno where…”

She bit her tongue and nodded thankfully at him. “Thank you for telling me.”

-

Thats it. Im hungry good bye.

Aw yeah infection Au moment! I do remember you saying a while back that you wanted to write something about Rei in this Au and MAN her part has gotta be my favorite out of these little snippets.

I really like taking a look at how a bunch of the cast is doing, seeing the way you wrote them in those situations was pretty fun! It reminded me how much i like the idea of Setsuka's like group with the 6.5 cast and how Kanata probably wishes she has a degree in psychology to properly deal with Ayame and Kizuna (she may feel as if she's not doing enough for them seing as her kindness can only bring her so far when dealing with their turmoil)

#i really like thinking about the voids + hibiki in this au too #i never explained this before because i wanted to draw something for it but oh well #basically at one point the voids (as in Nikei Hajime and Emma since Iroha has been zombified and ran away by now) steal some suplies from #Syobai's apocalypse mob. so he sends Kanade and Hibiki to “take care of them” for him #because Kanade has deal with Syobai where she's essentially works as his executor whenever he needs it #and in exchange he lets her take things rom his stocks when she pleases (she mainly takes weapons. the crazier the better) #and you know. Hibiki i in her puppet stage so she goes along #so the twins go after the voids in their mad max-esc apocalypse car and after a while Kanade manages to corner them #and Hibiki takes this opportunity to stab her in the back :) literally #because turns out Hibiki snapped out of her puppet stage at some point a while back. and seeing Kanades terrifying true nature #she wanted to put an end to her madness but for the time being she kept pretending to be under her control. because she wa looking for the #right opportunity to deal a killing blow without because Kanade is a better fighter than her #this opportunity turned out to be the voids! she explains the whole story to them and offers to do something for them to make up #for the hell Kanade and her put them through (chasing them around for several days and getting into fights) #so Hajime asks for her to hand over all of her supplies. Emma asks for the car. and Nikei asks her if she has any information about #a possible cure for the virus (because he feels somewhat guilty for what happened to Iroha) and Hibiki tells her she knows of a scientist #that's working on one and recives chemicals suplies from Syobai (because he wants this capitalize on this cure whenever it gets done) #So by Nikei's orders Hibiki tricks Mikado into giving her a stash of Kokoro's solution and goes with the voids in a search for Iroha #so that they can give her the prototype cure (which works just as a virus suppressant so far) before she reaches a stage where her mind is #too far gone. so overtime Hibiki essentially becomes a void member and she has friends again for the first time since forever #i like infection au Hibiki a lot. i had a sketch of her and Kanade somewhere i think #super danganronpa another 2 #danganronpa another #dra #sdra2 #zombie au #infection au #hyena ramblings

[powerfulscribbles]

In Need of An Aid - A G/t Elden Ring fic

Prologue | Chp. 1 | Chp. 2 | Chp. 3

Chapter 3: Floral Scent

->Read the chapter on ao3<-

Chapter summary: Varré relives a very sweet moment, before learning the news and dealing with the aftermath of the invasion.

Warnings: swearing, fearplay, some slight creepiness.

This story contains g/t stuff, so if that's not your thing it's in your best interest to click away! Thank thee kindly~

Words: 6k~

~ ° ~ ° ~ ° ~ ° ~ ° ~ ° ~ ° ~ ° ~ ° ~ ° ~ ° ~ ° ~ ° ~ ° ~ ° ~

~Limgrave, First Step site of grace. 1 day and 16 hours before the meeting.~

“A gift? For me?”

“Yes! All yours! Please accept it!” the Tarnished woman cheered, offering him a small bouquet.

It was finely garnished with various types of flowers. Golden lilies, Erdleaf flowers and some slightly wilted sunflowers, held together by a bunch of evergreen leaves at the base.

Those flowers…

“I thought you might appreciate these!”

“But…”

“Mh? What’s wrong? You don’t like them?”

“Oh I do actually, I’m… very flattered, thank you. But… why would you hand me such a present? I… I haven’t done anything remarkable or noteworthy” the surgeon said.

“Heh, nonsense. You had the patience of explaining how the guidance of grace works, and then you gave me directions, pointing me right to Stormveil’s Castle, to Godrick. Actually, you even mentioned his new trick up his sleeve! So when I went to fight him I was more prepared, and now he’s no more!” Valyssa said, smiling brightly.

“You did it? Oh, my sincerest congratulations! I always knew you would succeed.”

“Heh, thank you, you’re too kind” she said, looking down bashfully.

“I only speak the truth. Although decrepit as he was, taking down old Godrick must not have been an easy feat.”

“Yeah it wasn’t. Dodging his big axe attacks was quite the challenge, and the dragon head was a whole problem on its own. But as you can see, this is his Great Rune!” she continued, retrieving from her bag a big, greyish rune made out of a golden circle, with three ellipses that met each other in the middle.

“I still need to restore its power at the Divine Tower, but here it is! In all its glory! And it’s all thanks to you!”

“Me? Oh no no, I appreciate the sentiment, but you did all the work. I merely provided the basic information so you would triumph in your deed.”

“Still, isn’t it something I should be grateful for?”

“What do you mean by that?” Varré asked, inquiring.

“What I’m saying is, I don’t think I should take everything for granted. I’ve arrived here in the Lands Between just a few weeks ago, and even though I don’t remember much from my past, it’s obvious that here things aren’t too different. Although there are some kind people who are willing to help, there are also selfish, greedy folks who don’t want anything to do with you or just don’t care.”

She sighed, her jade green eyes looking down.

“That’s why I think we should appreciate and cherish each positive moment, since we don’t see them very often.”

A pause. So they could both reflect.

“…Yes. I suppose we should” Varré admitted, clutching to the gifted bouquet he’d just received.

“Very beautiful flowers. You have good taste.”

And it’s peculiars that, of all flowers, you have instinctively picked these lilies in particular.

“Now you’re the one doing the flattering, haha” she laughed. “I hope they’re not poisonous by the way. I thought they looked pretty and decided to craft a small bouquet out of them.”

The surgeon chuckled.

“Oh absolutely not! They’re safe to be plucked, even though they happen to be very uncommon to find. How did you come across them? I haven’t seen any in such a long while.”

“Uh… I think I found them in the inner side of a church, here in Limgrave? Like, it’s that one church in Mistwood, near Caelid.”

“Ah yes, that would be the Third Church of Marika, to the east. And it’s there you gathered the lilies?”

“Yep, they were right underneath Queen Marika’s statue, if I recall correctly.”

Hm, I can see that.

“Anyway, if they’re so rare that’s one more reason to keep them, right?” she chirped, smiling from ear to ear.

Thump-thump.

So sweet.

“You are right, in fact I’ll hold onto the bouquet. I can’t say no to such a wonderful gift, crafted with so much care, nor I can thank you enough for it”

“Oh it’s nothing!” she said softly.

“Changing the subject, there is something I wanted to ask. Have you had the chance to have an audience the Two Fingers, in the inner chamber of the Roundtable Hold?”

“Not yet unfortunately, but I’ll be seeing them shortly.”

“Good idea. Having acquired a Great Rune, you’re now a true member of the Roundtable Hold. Thus, the doors to the inner chamber must have opened, so they can receive you at any time.”

“Oh I see. Mmmmm, maybe I shouldn’t leave them waiting, then” she decided.

“A wise choice. And after your audience, come and pay me a visit again. I might not be here by the time you arrive, so I’ll leave a message for you in that case. Would that be alright with you?”

“Yeah, sounds good. I feel like we’re going to discuss about a lot of things, the next time we’re seeing each other.”

Oh, you have no idea.  

“Well then, see you soon! Bye!” she waved at him happily.

“Be well. Until next time.”

She smiled wider and approached the nearby site of grace, focusing her hand on the it before disappearing in rays of golden light.

The surgeon watched her leave, before bringing the flowers to his chest.

Nobody had ever given him a bouquet. Even better, these golden lilies, belonging to the Luminary’s consort, were no mere coincidence.

A promising sign. Divine, even.

He moved the flowers closer to his face, so he could smell their delicate scent.

… I look forward to see you again.  

~Liurnia of the Lakes, Rose Church. 3 hours past the meeting time.~

She’s not coming…?

Was he wrong? Did he… misinterpret her actions?

Her words?

The white mask could easily remember just how joyful she was the last time he had seen her… Had something changed?

His heart ached in sorrow and worry.

Hopefully not…

“Varré?” a feminine voice called out to him, dragging him out of his internal doubts.

A woman wearing a drake knight armor had approached him. Her cape crafted with a dragon wing membrane fluttered gently in the cool breeze of the damp region.

“Violet Finger Eleonora? What brings you here? Is something the matter?” the white mask asked, surprised.

“Yes, actually. Something requiring your attention. Word is spreading in the dynasty, that a Bloody Finger invaded a Tarnished without requesting it to a superior beforehand, only a few hours past.”

The surgeon sighed softly, attempting to keep his serious demeanor.

“…That isn’t too surprising unfortunately, it’s already happened before. I’ll make sure to deal with them after journeying back to the dynasty. I’m waiting for an important disciple at this very moment.”

“Is this disciple, by any chance, a woman that rides around on a spectral steed? Wearing a vagabond knight’s armor, usually armed with a greatsword?”

“Precisely. Have you met her before?”

“I haven’t, actually. But she perfectly fits the description provided by that Bloody Finger.”

Eleonora couldn’t notice it, but Varré’s heart skipped a beat.

“What you’re saying is… She’s the Tarnished that fell target of such invasion.”

She nodded somberly. “Correct.”

The surgeon’s mouth felt dry, all of a sudden. If the mask could keep his expression a secret, the pale golden eyes betrayed his deep concern and pain.

“…Who was it? Do you know who committed the violation?”

“I do. Nerijus slipped up when he came directly to me, to inform me the Hunter Yura still lurks around. He was defeated by him, from what it looks like.”

That fool Nerijus… What… What did he think he was doing?

Varré did his best to keep his composure.

“Even though Yura must be getting on years now, he’s still the capable swordsman he’s always been. And here I thought he had retired.”

“We all did. But if Nerijus is telling the truth, we have quite the situation on our hands. First your Tarnished, then him, as a Bloody Finger Hunter” Eleonora explained.

“I’ll see to both of these matters.”

“… And if he proves himself to be a more serious threat than expected, do not hesitate to request assistance. I know how hard it’s going to be, for you” the surgeon reassured her.

“Worry not.” She placed her hand on her poleblade. “I will not falter.”

“As you wish. I trust in your skills. You will do a fine job, if he ever comes looking for you.”

The woman nodded, almost coldly.

“We shall head back to the dynasty now, and solve this madness” Varré said, before bowing reverently to her.

“I thank you deeply for the report, Eleonora. You’re a Violet Finger worthy of its name” the man praised her.

“Just doing my job. When someone else clearly misbehaved.”

~°~

“You have quite the explanations to do. And I hope you had good reasons to go behind the interests of the dynasty, which I believe you do not.”

The Bloody Finger Nerijus sat before the Varré in the latter’s study. He had removed his black, embroidered hood and now the big red trident was very visible on his annoyed face. The surgeon merely welcomed him at his desk with a stern look, while two Sanguine Nobles stayed by the door behind the guilty man. A third instead remained by Varré’s side.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, you don’t? Is going behind your superiors’ back that much of a habit, to you?”

“And not only that, of all Tarnished, you simply had to go after her? The number one pawn that could even pose a threat to the whole dynasty, if not our mighty Luminary?”

“I… I wanted a real challenge. I didn’t think I would beat her so easily!”

“But why risking the odds at all, when there are other strong Tarnished that have nothing to do with the dynasty?”

“None but her has taken on a demigod, and succeeded” Nerijus specified.

“Yes, but that’s precisely why we need her allegiance in the first place! To assure her a place under the Luminary’s guidance and love. Attacking her was nothing but pointless and counterproductive on your part.”

The Bloody Finger grumbled, refusing to meet the other man’s gaze.

“Well then, fine, I got carried away. I should’ve consulted with someone of a higher rank beforehand. I’m in the wrong. Are you happy now?”

Varré’s lips tightened in a thin line behind his mask. “Watch your tongue, Nerijus. And behave. I now need more information about the invasion.”

The surgeon opened a drawer from his desk, taking out a small vial of ink and a quill, along with a register. It contained various files about different Bloody Fingers. When he found his, he cleared his throat.

“Tell me where you fought her, how it went, and the weapons and tools you have utilized.”

Another snort from the grey-skinned man.

“Fine. I invaded her by the Murkwater river. She had just come out of a cave when I spotted her. I almost killed her before the Hunter Yura appeared and pierced my chest from behind with his Nagakiba, vanquishing me. And I had brought two Reduvia daggers as usual, then a bunch of Swarm pots and two Freezing pots.”

The white mask gave him a quick glare, before dipping his quill in the ink and writing down the details on the refined paper.

“Well then, is that all?” he asked, raising his pale golden eyes from the book to look directly at his subordinate, who seemed reluctant to return the gaze.

“That was everything, right?”

The two Sanguine Nobles who guarded the door now approached Nerijus from behind, until they were too close for comfort.

The Bloody Finger shook his head.

“N-no. I forced her to drink a potion that I had brought along. It made her shrink, until she was only a few inches tall. I had received it from Esgar some days ago, and I wished to try it out.”

“… I beg your pardon?”

“I know Esgar has been experimenting on a new blood-driven tool for the past months. He promised he would let me test it, once it was ready.”

“It is true, he has been busier than usual of late. So he succeeded? That potion was the brand new tool for the dynasty?”

Nerijus nodded. “It was.”

“…So she turned no bigger than a smoldering butterfly?” the surgeon asked.

 “Yeah. She probably still is, Esgar guaranteed that the potion wouldn’t wear off any time soon after .”

“… I see. Did he also let you in on an antidote? Or some other way to counter its effect, or reverse it.”

“No, as far as I know. The potion was created as an extra tool to debilitate a target before the elimination. And as such, whoever drinks it is usually not expected to survive the invasion.”

“… Something isn’t right, however” Varré pointed out.

“Esgar has left the Mausoleum for the capital of Leyndell around two weeks ago, in search of the Luminary’s shackle… How did you obtain his final approval to not only bring that potion with you, but to use it as well?”

No response came from the grey-skinned Bloody Finger, who lowered his gaze.

“You didn’t wait for his return, did you?”

“And how could you, after all? You must have been so eager to try it out…” the surgeon continued.

Nerijus simply frowned as he locked his eyes full of hatred with his superior.

“But if, as you have said, you wished to only challenge her strength…”

“Why then in the name of the Formless Mother did you go as far as administering a potion that reduced her size by force?”

Nerijus sighed again.

“I saw that as a golden opportunity to weaken her! Who else should we use our most powerful tools, if not on our strongest enemies?”

“But that’s exactly the point, she was not an enemy to the dynasty! To me…”

“… it just sounds like you also took the opportunity to finish the job in a more grotesque and humiliating way for her. You treated her like prey!”

Varré sighed in exasperation.

“You just acted like a thoughtless, reckless, disrespectful ruffian, and that is not the type of behavior the dynasty should represent, nor be associated with.”

“Oh, you think all the other Bloody Fingers shy away from a good bloodshed? You can see it in our eyes, you’ve anointed us yourself! Even the others are all sooo eager to just get their hands on a poor bystander and slit their throat right and there!” Nerijus retorted.

“Enough!” the surgeon yelled.

“You will not speak ill of me, or your fellow Bloody Finger siblings any further. The fact that you even have the nerve to argue back and compare their noble behavior to yours is beyond outrageous.”

“This being said, theft among fellow dynasty members is not to be overlooked. And let me get this straight.”

“Not only you didn’t inform a superior of your invasion beforehand, and gravely endangered an essential pawn for the dynasty, but you also made use of unauthorized enchanted equipment, taken without the proper owner’s permission, and  lied shamelessly about it.”

Varré slowly raised from his chair, splaying out his arms on the desk so he could lean forward as he faced his underling.

“All this information is more than enough to allow me to relocate you to the dungeon for an adequate amount of time. So you can reconsider your actions.”

His subordinate raised from his chair in clear anger.

“What? Why? Because I decided to go after your precious sweetheart, is that it? I disrupted your well thought-out plans of turning her into a bloodthirsty sucker like all the others before her?”

The yelling turned to silence. Not even a pin drop could be heard as the two men stared at each other in the eye. Varré just looked at his subordinate, unfazed, while the main hand of all three Sanguine Nobles crept to the sheath of their helice, in preparation for the incoming bloodshed.

But the Bloody Finger soon backed off, sitting back down on his chair with a grunt. The horned creatures returned to their neutral position, but never lowered their guard.

“You know, Nerijus. I’ve always seen endless potential in you. Even long before your anointment, you never disappointed with your impressive amount of slaughter. But I’ve been doubting your careless behaviour for far too long now.”

“I see some fixing is in order. And I will gladly take care of that myself. I’m certain you won’t mind, will you? Sanguine Nobles, take him away. To the dungeon you go.”

The Bloody Finger’s red eyes widened in fear as he bolted from his chair.

“W-wait! If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have known about Yura!”

“Ah yes, that tiny itty bitty detail. It would alleviate your sentence by about a day or two, if only you didn’t draw his attention by picking a very inconvenient target. Get him out of my sight. I have seen enough of his face for today.”

Nerijus snarled and struggled as he was dragged outside the study, but the surgeon was already too focused on his next move to care. Every sound and noise around him was dampened as he was absorbed in thought.

Shrinking her? Why? What was even the point of that? He was going to ruin everything!

He felt himself hyperventilate all of a sudden, in terror of what could possibly happen in the future.

With how things are now, she is going to mistrust me if she is to find out about the dynasty from unreliable sources, such as Yura. What happened with Nerijus wasn’t supposed to be her first impression of it!

The white mask desperately clutched his head with his hands.

How is he going to get her closer to him and keep her at bay, if she knew about his position? And what about the trails? There’s no way she can take any of them in her current conditions.

Varré took come deep breaths. In and out, slowly.

It’s okay. It’s going to be alright.

Maybe he could salvage the situation nonetheless.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

And that’s when a familiar, cherished words resonated in his mind again.

“Go ahead and claim it. Take it. It is yours to have.”

Could…

Could have the Luminary known about this matter already, when he summoned me to see him?

…

A sly grin made its way under his mask.

Yes… It all makes sense now.

… I know what I must do.

…

Yura must have brought her to a safe place close to where the invasion happened, if she was so in peril of death. He can’t have gone too far.

But first, I shall have Esgar’s room searched, to locate any notes from this last research of his. He’s no fool, he must have invented a way to nullify the effects of his own potion.

And although he will not be pleased we have looked through his belongings, there is no easy out of it. I’m not going to send an envoy or a research party to the Leyndell undergrounds, just so we can find where he is and bother him to ask if he’s developed an antidote already. It would be a waste of time and resources for everybody.

“I have a request for you” the surgeon finally said, turning to the Sanguine Noble to his right.

“I want you to search the private rooms of Esgar, our Priest of Blood, and bring me the tome where he usually catalogues his blood experiments. Pick all the locks that block your way, if necessary. And please fetch me the Ravenmount assassin, at once. I have a job to assign him.”

~°~

Valyssa’s eyes slowly opened, one by one. Her vision was very blurry, causing her to blink a few times to adjust to the light brought by the massive bonfire in the cave.

I’m… I’m still alive?

“Mmmmrrr…” she complained, shielding her eyes with a hand.

Her whole body hurt, like she had fought Godrick a second time. With some groans, she tried to move to a sitting position, but pain flared up in her wounds again, causing her to hiss.

Her noises didn’t get unnoticed.

“Ah friend, you’re awake at last! Easy easy, you’re still not in top notch condition!” A booming voice coming from above her made her gasp, and she turned around to face the merchant.

“Woah Patches, when did your voice get so lou-“

She couldn’t speak anymore as she looked up. Her eyes were all wide in fear, which took control of her so suddenly as she crawled on her back to create some distance from her now giant pal. Her heart was beating so fast, it was almost making its way out of her chest.

“What??? How??? I-i… I…”

“Hey hey, careful dude! Everything is fine!  You’re going to be alright!” the man said with a lower tone, backing away to give her some space.

She seemed to calm down a little, but her hand still had moved on instinct to the back of her neck, where the hilt of her greatsword usually remained. Only to grasp at nothing.

“Uh? Where’s my sword?” she asked, looking around hoping to spot her weapon somewhere nearby.

“You… must have dropped it in the river, while you were fighting… some guy?”

“Uh? Oh…” she suddenly recalled.

“So that’s how it happened, I… wasn’t hallucinating then… he did look bigger, but… I thought that was due to frostbite or something.”

“Nope, you really are as tall as an apple as you were then, my friend.”

Valyssa sighed.

“… Do you think you could go and get me my sword, please?” she pleaded.

“Oh trust me friend, I would, but it’s dark outside now, and even with a torch you wouldn’t see a thing in the river. And I wouldn’t dare leaving you alone even if it’s for a few minutes. Plus… it might be oversized for you now.”

“You mean… it didn’t shrink with me?”

“I didn’t see it in the water, but again we didn’t stop by for long, Yura and I.”

 Yura? Who’s Yura?

“Is that the person who saved me?”

“Yep, that’s him” Patches confirmed.

“Ugh… Unfortunately I must have blacked out when he did, because the last thing I remember was biting into that cloaked jerk’s hand as hard as I could” Valyssa said, mumbling.

That bastard really did me dirty, with those pots.

“Girl, you really did fight till the very end! Despite being shrunken and all!”

“Oh? I mean… yeah. I really didn’t want to go like that, you know? Plus that asshole forced me to drink his fucking potion and almost made me drown.”

“What a scum…” Patches snarled.

She checked her pockets, and was happy to see her crimson tear flask was still there.

“Hey, at least I still have this! It did shrink with me!”

She took a few sips, humming contentedly. “Ah! That’s better!” she said, looking down to her body. She grimaced at her own wounds and bruises.

These are quite nasty, though. They might take a few more time to heal. I still feel all of them.

But hey, at least I don’t wince whenever I breathe! That’s an improvement, she thought, smiling weakly.

“Hey uh, could I ask you something?” Patches spoke, out of the blue.

“Oh! Yes?” she replied, looking up at him.

“I know you’re still shaken up and terrified by the whole ‘I’m small now’ situation, but… I can actually barely hear ya from uh… ‘up here’, pal? Would it be alright if I lift you up a little bit?”

“Uh… I’m… I’m not sure” she stuttered, getting paler all of a sudden.

“Oh all good, all good. The last thing I’d want is making you uncomfortable.”

She nodded. “I… I mean… maybe we could find a compromise? Like… you could place me on the stool next to you, so you can hear me and I’m not constantly shivering in fear.”

“Well sure, alright. That’s actually a smart solution.”

Nodding again, she carefully got up and looked up at her big friend expectantly.

Patches very slowly approached her with his gloved hand. One inch at a time.

When his digits were close, she instinctively flinched and squeezed her eyes shut. A thumb and two more fingers carefully pinched her by her belly and back, sandwiching her in between.

Oh god…, she thought nervously.

And with a gentle tip, the hand was now lifting her up in the air, from the Warming Stones she had been resting on. With no rush.

Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod

Her heartbeat and breathing accelerated, but she tried to focus on remaining calm.

She inhaled and exhaled deeply, thinking of something positive.

Flowers. Tons of flowers. A whole field of blooming flowers.

Patches in the meantime had picked up on her anxiety, and stopped raising her from the ground.

“Should I… put you back down? You don’t look well.”

She shook her head. “No, I want to do this. Let’s continue.”

The merchant nodded with a concerned expression. “Alright.”

And he continued to lift her up. After a while, Valyssa decided to open her eyes, hesitantly at first. She could now see that the stool was in reach now, and so the man was carefully placing her onto it.

When her boots touched the wooden “ground”, she immediately sat down, breathing deeply some more.

“Oof… We… we did it.”

“Yes! Congrats for not freaking out too much there! You did pretty well!”

“Oh… Thank… thank you Patches” she said, as she was calming down more and more.

The bald Tarnished smiled weakly, before looking down somberly.

“This just made me realize… I must be some sort of behemoth to you now.”

“Mmmmm… uhm… yes, kinda, to be honest. To me you’re much bigger and taller than any of those Trolls that wander around Limgrave.”

“But definitely more friendly and not as scary, right?” he joked.

“Well… You could’ve crushed me between your fingers just now, but you didn’t.”

“True, you’re still all in one piece! See?”

“Yeah… I… I guess it wasn’t that bad after all” she smiled, blushing lightly.

Nobody spoke for a few moments.

“But.” she continued, raising a finger in a fake condescending way.

“You did give me a scare the first time we met, when you jumped down that cliff behind me” she giggled.

“I took you for a demi-human! And you were in the middle of stealing my clothes pal, don’t you deny it” he smirked.

Her cheeks turned red in embarrassment. “The chest was right there, with no one around. Someone would think some good loot was inside!”

“Aaaaand instead you only found my shirt and pants” he said with a grin.

“Hey, at least I gave them back to you. And c’mon, even you would’ve opened an alluring chest like that!”

“Me? Being greedy? Nope! That wouldn’t be me!”

She groaned, before a soft smile made its way onto her lips.

A sudden rustling sound made the merchant turn around incredibly fast towards the entrance.

He leaned towards her to whisper as quietly as he could.

“Someone’s outside this cave right now. If they’re a customer, I’ll be sending them on their way. If not, I’ll deal with them in the best way I can. Either way, get ready to hide somewhere, okay?”

Valyssa was hesitant at first, but then nodded less worryingly.

Patches took a deep breath and gently placed her back on the ground, before he picked up his usual spear and greatshield and headed to the entrance of his shop. The green-eyed woman in the meantime sprinted away as fast as she could, looking around for a good spot to conceal herself under.

“Hello, the shop is closed until further notice! I suggest going to the merchant Kalé instead, at the Church of Elleh! Now leave quietly, or you’ll have to face me and my men!” the untethered Tarnished exclaimed.

No response.

“Well, that’s it then!” he yelled, before an arrow pierced his shoulder through his leather armor, making him wince.

As he moved away from the entrance to lean against the stone, another arrow passed by him, getting stuck in the soil. It looked like it was made out of a thin animal bone, a light purple substance slowly dripping from the tip.

As soon as he could he whistled loudly with his fingers. “C’mon boys, get them!” he bellowed. But nobody came to assist him.

“… Guys?” he called out, before he started to feel weaker and… drowsy? He could barely keep his eyes open, but he did his best to keep going as he drew out one of the acid spraymists he always had on him.

He quickly drank it and immediately spew out an orange cloud in front of him. It wouldn’t do much, but at least it’d keep the attacker at bay for a while, and give Valyssa some more time to hide.

The merchant didn’t expect the mysterious foe to ignore the acid cloud altogether, however. They walked right in, wearing a banished knight set with a scarf that surrounded the helmet and fell on their shoulders.

They immediately approached Patches with a strange-looking branch. The emblem of an unalloyed gold tree appeared before he pierced him with it, releasing a dark pink mist around him.

The merchant coughed, but soon fell on his knees due to the enchantment and his own tiredness. The spear and shield were dropped to the side.

“Now you will answer to some of my questions” he spoke, with a deep, rich voice.

The untethered Tarnished nodded, as if he wasn’t in control of his actions. “Y-yes. Anything you say is my command.”

“Very well. Tell me, where is the Bloody Finger Hunter Yura? Why isn’t he here?”

“He… he left. He said he was going to look into whatever made Valyssa shrink. First he mentioned his shack, and then the Academy of Raya Lucaria as a second location if he couldn’t find anything about it.”

“Noted. Where is the girl? Did he bring her along?”

Patches shook his head.

“She’s somewhere in this cave. I told her to hide because I heard you coming. She was badly injured and Yura deemed the journey was too risky for her.”

“Good. Thank you for the useful information. Now you can shut your eyes and rest. The next time will wake up, you will have no memory of what has just transpired. Understood?”

The merchant nodded again, more absent-mindedly this time as his eyelids closed.

“I… I understand.” And he was soon out like a light, falling to the ground.

The banished knight moved away from him and had a good look around. The inner cave wasn’t too big, but there were definitely many hiding places for a tiny person. A couple of small unkempt bushes, some empty barrels piled up in different spots, a few sacks of flour, some bundles of twigs gathered around, a single open chest…

He checked behind the barrels first, lifting them carefully to avoid them falling and crushing her by accident. The bushes were searched next by moving the leaves away, but again, there was no sign of her. And no luck with the sacks of flour and the bundles of twigs either.

Then he realized, the chest was only touching the ground where its legs were. The rest of it remained above the dirt and gravel, creating a small gap of about an inch and a half. Ideal, for someone tiny to crawl under and hide.

So the banished knight knelt before the chest and took a peek underneath.

Laid down on her stomach, a miniature woman stared back at him with horror in her watery eyes, her hands tightly clasping around her mouth to stifle any whimper and sob that may come out.

“Ah, there you are.”

His grave voice made her wince, but she immediately started to crawl back frantically and as fast as she could, as a hand gloved in metal began to make its way towards her.

“S-stay a-away!”

The chest was suddenly ripped from above her though, exposing her again to the light of the bonfire.

Before she could get up and run, the same fingers grabbed her by her sides, lifting her up from the ground and enclosing her into a fist.

“N-no! L-let me go! P-please!” Valyssa cried out, wriggling as much as she could in the giant’s grasp.

“A-are you here to finish what you had started? So you can crush me into a pulp or drown me again, and feel better about yourself?” she spat out, wriggling like crazy.

The banished knight didn’t respond.

Is he… thinking? Hesitating?

“A-answer me!” she shouted, desperately.

Instead, he grabbed a handkerchief from a pouch and gently pressed it on her face. She struggled and whimpered as much as she could, even scraping her nails on the metal digits, but when the soporific grease got to her, she fell limp in his grasp like a lifeless doll.

Seemingly satisfied, the foe tossed the handkerchief into the makeshift bonfire, and that’s when he noticed the Warming Stones next to it.

With decision, he smashed them under his boots, making sure they all broke down in smithereens before walking out towards the exit.

He passed by Patches’ bandits as he did, all passed out thanks to the same sleeping bolts that made their boss fall asleep.

~°~

Outside, the fire that usually signaled the entrance of the cave had been extinguished, leaving only the burnt, glowing embers.

Not far from it, another man was waiting, leaning against the wall of rock beside the entrance to the cave. His dark outfit, consisting of a tight skeletal mask and a robe made out of black feathers of a bird of prey, allowed him to camouflage perfectly with his surroundings in the dim light of the night.

When his colleague made its way out of the cavern, he approached him in silence.

“The Tarnished is here with me, but alas, the Hunter Yura had left long before our arrival. He’s supposedly headed to his hideout first, and then to the Academy of Raya Lucaria. Track him down and dispose of him, will you?” the banished knight ordered.

The Ravenmount assassin bowed slightly with his head, before ducking and doing a leap into the air as he disappeared, leaving only some black feathers in his place.

That’s taken care of as well.

After a quick look around to avoid prying eyes, the banished knight slowly removed his helm.

His brown hair, held together by a messy ponytail, was the first to emerge from underneath the metal. A dark red trident was carved on his forehead, and some sweat drops were running down by his light stubble.

Oh my. I don’t think I’ve ever worn an armor this heavy. This was quite the ordeal.

But it was worth every single second.

His pale golden eyes fell on the asleep tiny woman in his hands. He held her close to his chest, wrapping her in the scarf adorning the helm, so she wouldn’t suffer the cold and remain warm.

From his pouch, he retrieved something that looked like a caramelized chestnut, and slipped it into his mouth.

When it dissolved, he finally was able to speak with his usual raspy, dry voice once more.

“Oh my love… Just look at what that disgraced fiend did to you. But worry not, you’re safe now.”

He leaned down and pecked the top of her head, grazing his lips against her hair as gently as possible. Despite scurrying around in some dust and dirt, she still smelled of chamomile and wildflowers.

“Where you waiting on Yura alone, with that lousy merchant? Mh?” he whispered.

“Well, no need to do that anymore. I wouldn’t be forced to take such drastic measures if it wasn’t necessary… You will understand, in due time” he said as he drew out his Pureblood Knight's medal, the red trident making its appearance and allowing him a safe travel back to the Dynasty Palace.

#:) #my favorite chapter to write so far #it's huge but i loved every single part of it #enjoy! 💕 #elden ring fic #elden ring writing #elden ring #white mask varre x oc #varre x tarnished #white mask varre #eleonora violet bloody finger #bloody finger nerijus #patches the untethered #patches #bloody finger ravenmount assassin #oc: valyssa #fearplay #tw fearplay #g/t fearplay #giant/tiny #g/t writing #my writing #g/t

[darklydeliciousdesires]

The Dark Passenger - Chapter Twenty Two & Epilogue.

So, besties. I did originally have another chapter after this, but after sitting on it for a couple of weeks after finishing and then re-reading it a few times, I decreed that it was mostly me rambling on and I didn’t like it, so I cut it to a final chapter and epilogue, a result I was much happier with. I can only hope you agree! Thank you so much for your engagement with this story, I’ve been so thrilled with the love it had received along the way. You’ve been a wonderful audience :)

Previous chapters - One  Two  Three  Four  Five  Six  Seven  Eight  Nine  Ten  Eleven  Twelve  Thirteen  Fourteen  Fifteen  Sixteen  Seventeen  Eighteen  Nineteen  Twenty  Twenty One

Words - 4,770

Warnings - 18+ content throughout, minors DNI!

Tag list - In the comments. Please DM to be added/removed

“Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you,” EZ apologised, turning to stroke Camille’s arm through the darkness. She reached for the bedside lamp, switching it on.  

“It’s alright, I wasn’t really fully asleep anyway. I didn’t expect you to be, for obvious reasons.” It was 4am, and they had to be at the hospital by eight, EZ parched and hungry, of course on strict nil by mouth orders, since his surgery was scheduled for 9:30am. “Silly question, but how are you feeling?”

He shuffled closer to her, Camille turning onto her back, EZ resting his head in the crook of her shoulder. “Scared to fucking death, if I’m honest. I trust Doctor Shepherd, I really do because she’s such a surgical genius, going by her track record, but still. I’m frightened, that this might be my last morning lying in bed with you.”  

Her emotions wanted to succumb to the heavy stirring his words prompted, but she swallowed down the lump in her throat. She had to be strong for both of them. “It won’t be the last, baby. God can’t take you from me yet. It isn’t your time, I know it. You haven’t been put through all of this not to make it over the final hurdle.”

“You always say all the right things,” he mumbled, turning to kiss the side of her neck, wrapping himself around her, the warmth of her skin comforting. “I hope I live to hear you tell me many more.”  

She stroked his head, her nails raking softly over the little bits of new hair growth. “You will, my darling. You will.” She curled around him, holding him tightly, giving him all of the comfort he sought, glad when she heard him begin to snore softly, dozing in her arms for a couple of hours.  

He awoke at 6:30am, this time deciding to get up, shutting himself into the bathroom and shedding tears he didn’t want her to see while he took a shower, trying to hold onto a little optimism beneath the fear that was gripping him, the trepidation he felt at knowing he was about to be put under anaesthetic for a minimum of twelve hours while someone cut into his brain.  

After pulling himself together, he thought upon the reasoning that had calmed him, knowing that Doctor Shepherd did this daily, that it was her field of expertise, marvelling to himself that something that was so huge for him was just another day for her. He was in awe at that kind of poise and control, thinking that it could have been him with someone else’s life in his hands, had his life gone to how he once planned it and he’d become a cardiovascular surgeon.  

By the time he’d cleaned his teeth and dressed, he was feeling a little more positive, but the grip he held Camille’s hand with as they left the hotel room at just gone 7am was tight, nonetheless.  

“Good morning, Mr Reyes, Miss Smith,” Doctor Shepherd greeted them with at just coming up to 9am, smiling brightly as she entered his room. “Okay, so all of your pre-op stats look good, do you have any questions before we take you down?”  

“I don’t think so, no,” he spoke, Amelia seeing it clearly in him, the nerves.  

“Alright, that’s fine. Try to relax, remember, you’re in the best hands. I’ll see you down there.” She nodded curtly and left, going to prepare herself and take a last look at her notes prior to beginning what was to be a long and difficult surgery, but one she was extremely confident over. When it was time for him to go, he held Camille one last time, exchanging kisses with her. How she managed to hold herself together, she didn’t know, her voice shaking a little with emotion.

“I’ll see you later tonight, or tomorrow morning, depending. I’m not leaving the hospital at all. I’ll be right here when you wake up, I promise,” she vouched, her lips meeting his again. “I love you so much.”

“Love you too, baby. Remember that, alright. You’re the entire world to me.” One last kiss and he was wheeled out of the room, Camille waiting until the bed had vanished from view around the corner before she allowed herself the tears she’d held onto so tightly to fall, having a little cry as she made her way to the waiting room.  

“Good morning, everyone. Alright, we have Ezekiel Reyes here, thirty-five years old, with a grade five glioblastoma upon the frontal lobe as you can see, with a push of two millimetres into the temporal. The previous prognosis was inoperable, but we all know I love a challenge on a Thursday morning, and we have just that right here. Right, shall we begin? Start the clock. Ten blade, please.” With that, the first incision was made, the viewing gallery full of the residents who wished they could have been chosen to be in the OR with Doctor Shepherd, all curious to watch the huge surgery unfold.  

“This margin is so much better than I expected, I can get a beautiful, clean cut along this side. Suction, please,” Amelia began after assessing the area, slicing carefully along the outer wall of the tumour, stopping after a couple of millimetres progress, observing the MRI beamed images, checking her patient’s stats as she and Doctor Anders, her attending, shared thoughts. “Continuing laterally over the parameter onto the posterior ramus, I shan’t divert here until I need to. Look at this, god, he’s lucky. Death can go screw himself. He’s not coming for this man, not today.”

Doctor Anders agreed, his eyes flitting up to the clock. Five hours, thirty-two minutes. At eight hours, the progression had led to the base of the tumour, Ameila stepping back, asking for a few moments while she considered her options in how to proceed. She studied the scans, muttering to herself, taking a breath as she rocked on her heels, her feet tingling a little. “Twelve blade, please. Proceeding bi-laterally against the inferior temporal sulci. Margins are less clear here.”  

Less clear was an understatement, Amelia needing a further four hours just to cut around that small area, leading up to the superior temporal sulci by the time the clock ticked over into twelve hours, and only half of the tumour cut away. “You shall not get the better of me, beast. No, you shall not.” She spoke confidently, Doctor Anders having left a short time ago, her reliable soundboard that was Richard Webber at her side.  

“Take a pause if you’re unsure, Shepherd,” he advised, watching her blink tightly a few times, knowing she was beginning to stress herself. “Leaving a tiny amount around the hippocampus isn’t a failure if you aren’t sure. Radiotherapy can see to the rest.”

She took a deep breath, nodding. “I know, I know.” Her eyes crinkled in smile as she looked to her side. “You know I don’t enjoy being beaten, though.”

Richard made a small ‘hmph’ that had her chuckling softly. “Tell me something I don’t know. You and your brother, exactly the same.” She thought of her late sibling then and all his surgical brilliance in the same field, closing her eyes for a second, wishing she had a direct line to the other side. “What would Derek do?” The question she thought resounded through her head, looking to the MRI again, her brain ticking along with the minutes.  

By thirteen hours and twenty-four minutes, she knew how to proceed.

By fourteen hours, she had made her progress around the hippocampus.

By fifteen hours, she was working onto where the tumour pressed against the temporal lobe.

By nineteen hours and beyond exhausted, she ready to close.

For the entire time, Camille had sat an anxious wreck in the waiting area of Grey-Sloane, napping for a few minutes here and there. At just past four thirty in the morning, she looked up to see a welcome sight in the appearance of a tired looking Doctor Shepherd.  

“Well, that was the most complex surgery I have had task me for a number of years, but I’m pleased to say that all went well. I managed to get it all out, every last bit,” she revealed, Camille gasping, getting up to throw her arms around the brilliant surgeon who stood before her, the doctor giving her a fleeting hug before pulling away. “Now comes the part of waiting to see if anything has been affected where his speech and motor skills are concerned. This can be very tricky to tell, even though nothing happened surgically that would point a definitive finger to such, it’s all so complicated that we do have to wait until he comes around. You should go and sleep, and we will call you when he awakes. It could be hours yet.”  

Camille was resolute, though. She would not leave that hospital until he did wake. “I think I’m going to stay here, I can’t leave until I’ve seen him. I also cannot thank you enough for what you did for him. Thank you so, so much, Doctor Shepherd. You’re incredible.”

She nodded at the praise, smiling. “I do what I can, and I am pleased I could do this for him, for you both. Try and get some rest, I’m going to do just the same. I’ll remain right here so I’m close by in his immediate post-surgery hours. One of the nurses will come and fetch you once he’s regained consciousness.” Camille thanked her again, taking a seat, kicking off her shoes in the mostly deserted waiting area and curling up on the seats. The relief of knowing that her love had made it through the surgery was so great, she was asleep within minutes.  

Five hours later and a nurse shook her awake, smiling kindly. “Miss Smith? Mr Reyes awoke briefly, but it was fleeting. If you’d like to come through, you can sit with him now. It might be a long wait until he wakes again, but the fact that he did open his eyes only for a moment is a very positive sign.” She took a moment to quickly go outside and let his family and hers know that he’d come through the surgery, telling them she’d call when she had more news before being taken up to his room in recovery.  

It was frightening, to see him covered in wires, his head back to completely clean shaven, not that she could see much around the myriad of dressings and bandages, his chest slowly rising and falling as the machine he was attached to breathed for him. She leaned down and gently kissed his cheek, tears running down her face. “Told you so,” she whispered, grasping his hand softly, taking a seat at his side. “Told you god wouldn’t take you from me just yet.”  

She sat and talked to him, getting up to stretch, napping a little more, only leaving to go and fetch herself coffee on a couple of occasions and stretch her legs, reading one of the two books she’d brought along with her. It was coming up to 6pm when she practically threw the book on the floor, feeling his arm twitch against hers and looking up to see his eyes open, immediately buzzing for the nurse.  

She was asked to leave while she and one of the surgeons who had been in the OR with him, Doctor Webber, checked him over, Doctor Shepherd joining them after a few minutes. Camille couldn’t see much through the partially closed blinds, but when one of the nurses stepped out, she could make out that his breathing tube had been removed, which was a good sign, she thought, for him to be breathing on his own thirteen and a half hours post op.  

“Okay, Miss Smith, we can have you back in now. We’ve given him a first assessment, and he is completely cognitive, I am thrilled to reveal. Except... it’s all in Spanish. Now, this is not unheard of, I myself began replying in French after my own tumour removal, but in the hours to follow I did revert back to English. He understands everything we’re asking of him, but Doctor Webber and I have only a basic grasp on the language. I don’t suppose you could help us out there?” she asked, Camille smiling.

“I can, actually. I learned Spanish at school. I’m not completely fluent, but I know enough to get me by.” She stood up, walking back in, receiving a very tired smile from EZ, grasping his hand in both of hers as she leaned to kiss him.  

“Well, I take it from that, you know exactly who this young lady is?” Doctor Webber asked, EZ nodding minimally.  

“Si, mi novia, Camille,” he spoke, before focusing on her. “Cómo estás, querida?”

“I’m fine, baby. I’m just fine. A little thrown, hearing you talking to me in Spanish, but Doctor Shepherd tells me that this can happen after surgery.”  

Immediately, EZ looked confused, beginning to speak again, Camille nodding as she took it in. “He says he isn’t consciously doing it. He’s thinking in English, but when he comes to speak, it’s all coming out in Spanish.” She paused while he spoke again, laughing at his words. “He says his mom would be proud, and his brother would be pissed off because he was always the one more fluent than he.”  

The doctors both laughed softly. “Well, everything else is perfectly normal on first assessment, and we will take you down for an MRI shortly, once you’ve had something to eat as you’re likely starving by now,” Doctor Webber explained, he and Doctor Shepherd leaving them to talk, EZ revealing he was so hungry, he could happily eat a shoe as long as it had mustard on it. 

After he was brought fruit and a sandwich, both of which he ate like he’d never seen food before, he was taken down for a scan, brought back up asleep, since he’d apparently conked out while in the machine, the porter telling Camille it had taken four people to lift him again and still, he hadn’t woken.  

It was no surprise to her, knowing exactly how heavy her boyfriend was, or that he’d fallen asleep again. He must’ve been so tired, and in pain too. She was just glad that everything appeared to be normal. His balance and motor skills would furtherly be assessed in the following days, but the fact he could grasp things and feed himself were progressive signs that all was well.  

“Te ves cansanda, mi amor,” he told her, stroking her face with his thumb.  

“I am, honey. I’m very tired. They said I can stay here for a few more hours, though,” she revealed, stifling a yawn.

“Well, I think I’ll be going back to sleep soon, so you should go back to the hotel.” They both then looked at one another with wide eyes. “That was in English, wasn’t it? I didn’t just think that and not speak it, did I?”  

She beamed at him. “No, it was in English. Either that or I’m suddenly telepathic.” He laughed, wincing a little. “God, the fucking headache I have right now. I mean, it’s preferable to the tumour, so I’m not gonna complain much, but yeah. Ouch.”  

“I think I’ll leave you to rest, then, as much as I really don’t want to, and come back in the morning.” He agreed that it was a good idea, kissing her goodbye, telling her over and over how much he loved her, clicking the morphine drip he was attached to as soon as she’d left, feeling woozy in the following seconds. Before the dose sent him to sleep, though, he smiled into the dim light of his room, two words resounding through his very sore head.

“It’s gone.”

A happy tear trickled down his cheek as he dozed off.  

Epilogue

“So, how big is your scar, then?” Angel asked, sitting on his hotel room bed, Bella next to him as they chatted via FaceTime with EZ, the latter laughing at his sister-in-law.  

“Sorry, I know I shouldn’t laugh, B, but your face!”  

She frowned, his laughter bursting forth. “I look ridiculous!” Falling asleep in sunglasses had left her with the white marks on her face from such, Angel turning to her and snorting before cracking up, He received a slapped arm for it, Bella mildly fuming.

“As for how big the scar is, I have no idea. They changed the dressing but it’s still a little tender, so it has to remain covered for now,” EZ then went on to explain. “I did manage to walk today, though. They didn’t want to get me up on my feet for forty-eight hours while I rested, so yeah, I managed that okay. Nearly flattened Camille when I wobbled, but other than that, I’m all good.”

“That’s good to hear, bro. Not that you nearly took Camille out, but that you’re making progress. We were nervous as hell, all the way through those nineteen hours, man. I’m so relieved you’ve made it out the other side and shit, and you can put all this behind you. You tell that surgeon from me that she’s a goddamned genius!” EZ vouched that he would before letting them go, the door opening to reveal Camille with a familiar paper bag in her hand.  

“Here you go, don’t demolish it all at once,” she told him, handing him the takeout bag from a burger place they’d visited the day before his surgery. The hospital food wasn’t bad at all, but all EZ had been able to think about for the last day was the triple bacon cheeseburger he’d loved so much, Camille telling him she’d fetch one for him on her way in.

“I cannot promise you that at all. Here, I take it one of these is for you?” he replied, taking out one of the two cartons of fries.”

She took it with thanks, placing the drinks down on the cabinet to the side of his bed. “Yes, they are. I did have a chicken burger, but that was gone before I even jumped into the Uber, I was so hungry! Oh, I spoke to mom and dad this morning, they send their love.”

“Tell ‘em the same back, or actually I’ll FaceTime with them later, once they’re back from work. Hang on... what day is it?” He was a little cloudy on that at times, but it was to be expected after all he’d gone through.  

“Monday, so yes, they’ll be home from about six tonight,” she confirmed, covering her mouth with her hand as she chewed through her fries. “How are you feeling? Did they get you up again today yet?”

“Only to go to the bathroom, which I managed okay. Doctor Shepherd said that she feels confident enough that I should be able to leave tomorrow, should everything still be progressing like it is.” It was, EZ being discharged just after 10am, surprised at how swiftly it was all moving. He’d expected that he’d need weeks in hospital prior to his first talk with Doctor Shepherd, not understanding how if all his vitals were fine and his brain showing good progress after the surgery, he only needed to keep resting.  

He did so in the beautiful surroundings of their hotel room, going straight back to bed again, tired, as he was told to expect for the first few weeks post-surgery. Naturally, he had headaches as well, but nothing that couldn’t be controlled with his painkillers. One headache he’d been anticipating the cease of, an external one, came to an end three days after he’d arrived back at the hotel, receiving a call from an unknown number on his pre-pay.  

“Ezekiel.” He’d recognise the strong Irish lilt anywhere, despite only having met the woman once. “I just thought I’d call to let you know that the dominoes have toppled, and I will drive to meet with your VP later this week in order to discuss our arrangement in more detail, since I know you’re still incapacitated at the moment. I'm eager to get this moving.” She paused, lighting a cigarette. “How’d it go, by the way?”

He was surprised she cared, but he could detect a genuine interest in her tones. He’d decided it would be in the best interest of the club, and future harmony with the Sons to reveal his health issues, should he have died on the table, so warned Chibs during their meeting there could be a chance that going forward, it might be Bishop he’d be dealing with, should the worst have happened. “Thanks for the update. As for the surgery, it went well. Nineteen hours saw the entire thing removed.”

Abi’s eyebrows rose significantly. “Jesus in tap shoes, that was a battle, eh? Well, heal well, and I’ll see you at some point in the future, so.” The line clicked dead before he could reply, EZ smiling to himself, his affairs all now in perfect order. With the figureheads of the LNG all taken out in a systematic strike, leaving the foot soldiers in the wind without leadership, the tie was severed. The Mayans were free of it, and for that moment, he was free to focus on someone much, much lovelier.

“How was your bath?” he asked, closing the door after accepting the room service cart that had brought up their dinner.  

Immediately, Camille flapped her hands in the direction of the bed. “Get back in there!”

“Damn, I wish you were ordering me back here under the promise of climbing on me.” His confession made her laugh as she dressed in her shorts and vest sleep set, grabbing their plates and taking them to the bed.  

“No heavy exerting yourself, doctor’s orders, and you will follow them!”  

“Yes, Marge,” he couldn’t help but tease, receiving a soft slap to the chest before she passed over his steak and fries, her mouth-watering at the smell of her plate of spaghetti carbonara. “All jokes aside, I couldn’t have done any of this without you. Thank you, baby, for taking such good care of me.”  

She reached for him, stroking his shoulder. “It’s what I’m here for.”  

Truly, Camille was his godsend, his shining light, the one person who had refused to let him slide into the jaws of fate. She’d never given up on him, and she never would. In turn, he showed her every day going forward, just how thankful he was for such devotion.

Fifteen months later...

“Camille,” Molly, one of her beauticians called from the counter, Camille at the back of her beauty shop preparing everyone a cold drink. “There’s a gigantic bunch of white roses coming this way.”

She walked forward, grinning happily as she took the delivery from the girl struggling with them, thanking her while taking the card.

‘Happy anniversary, mi amor. Thank you for being so wonderful, for making me proud you’re mine each and every day, and for loving me just as much as I love you. EZ xx’

What a stark contrast it was, from two years before when he’d sent her white roses, all in the interests of keeping her hooked on him, regardless of how he treated her. Now, he sent them to show his love, but his actions and his words always outshone such gestures. He’d promised her he’d show himself to be worthy of her devotion to him, and it was a promise he’d kept.  

Shortly after their first Christmas together, Camille had left her job at The Lunar Lounge, finding the perfect property to open her salon in, the business thriving, her customers always leaving with the kind of cheer the proprietor greeted every single one of them who came walking through her door with. She still had her little house, and EZ his apartment over the clubhouse, both enjoying that although very much together, they could have their separate spaces still, a few nights a week spent at hers, a few at his, and a couple free to do as they pleased.

That night, they would be at neither property, though.  

“Are you ready?” EZ asked at 6pm, arriving promptly at Camille’s to collect her.  

She locked her front door behind her, turning to take the helmet he proffered forth. “Sure am, but I wish you’d tell me where we’re going!”  

“You’ll see.” Oh, how she hated when he kept things from her. Just over fifty minutes later, though, and with the sun beginning to sink into the horizon, they pulled up at the coast.  

“You always tell me I never take you to the beach enough, so here we are,” he spoke, stowing their helmets away, Camille scanning her surroundings.  

“This isn’t far from Bella’s mom’s place, is it?” she spoke, recognising the area, although they’d turned off prior to taking the route that led to Deb’s home.

“Yeah, it’s about a twenty-minute walk that way.” he confirmed, pointing over at the row of beach houses, which all looked like dots in the distance, both descending the small verge that led down to the sand, taking off their shoes, EZ then taking her hand in his.  

They walked for just over twenty minutes along the shore, enjoying the sunset, talking about their respective days, EZ suddenly looking worried.  

“Shit,” he began, patting his pockets down. “Oh, fuck. I think I dropped my keys.”

Camille’s eyes widened. “Are you sure? I swear, I thought I saw you put them in your hoodie pocket. Are they not there?”  

“Nope, but I heard them jingling not long ago, so they must be further on up the beach.” Back they began to walk, EZ trailing back deliberately. “Babe?”

She stopped, turning around, her hands flying to her mouth to see him there, down on one knee, a ring box flipped open.

“Camille Teresa Smith, you mean more to me than words can ever express. You’re the love and light of my life, and I’m thankful for you with every breath I breathe. Will you marry me?”  

Her eyes filled with tears in an instant. “Oh my god! Oh my god!” she cried. “Yes!”

It was the greatest answer to a question he’d ever received, pulling the cushion cut diamond ring from the box and sliding onto her finger, her hand trembling, pocketing the box again before he stood with her in his arms, hugging her tightly. He let her down, sharing kisses, Camille’s ears pricking up to a sudden noise coming from the houses.  

“What the...” she exclaimed, looking up the beach to see all their friends and family come running from Deb’s property, Camille screaming with laughter.

“Yeah, about that,” EZ began, turning to see Marge and John leading the pack. “Kinda thought you might want to celebrate with everyone you love most.”  

She couldn’t help but tease him. “And what if I’d said no?”  

“Then they’d have got me plenty drunk to help ease the pain, I guess.” They looked at each other and laughed, Marge launching herself towards her daughter, hugging her tightly as she offered her congratulations, John pulling him into a warm hug.  

“Son, I’m thrilled for you,” he spoke warmly, hand rubbing his head with affection. “You too, Camie.”

“Oh my god, we’re going to be sisters-in law!” Bella cried, bouncing up into Camille’s arms as she laughed with happiness, placing her down, moving to hug Felipe.  

“Thank you,” he spoke, stepping to the side with her, touching a tender hand to her cheek. “Thank you for loving him as much as you do. I know I might’ve been a cranky, old pain in your ass when we first met, but I see it. Your love got him through the hardest time in his life, and for that, I will never stop being thankful to you, Camille.”

She was touched beyond words, hugging her future father-in-law again, kissing his cheek before one by one, she was congratulated by everyone present, all of them heading back up to the house.  

“Shall we?” EZ spoke, jerking his head in the direction.  

“Yes, lets.”  

And so there they went, heading off into their life together, the dark passenger of their past long gone from the ride they’d begun together, heading off along that long road. It had been rocky to begin with, but now, the road ahead was smooth, and the only passenger upon their journey with them was happiness.  

The End.  

#ez reyes #ez reyes fanfiction #ez reyes smut #ez reyes imagine #ez reyes x ofc #ez reyes fanfic #ez reyes fic #mayans mc #mayans mc fanfiction #mayans mc fanfic #mayans mc smut #mayans mc imagine #mayans mc fic

[possibilistfanfiction]

not truly a prompt but would love some more outside perspective for surgeons au

‘dr. v, hey, what’s up?’ silva says, leaning against the doorframe of the supply closet with far too much aplomb for someone who spilled chili all over himself in the cafeteria — in front of beatrice, who had, horrifyingly, just rolled her eyes with a smile — merely an hour ago.

‘silva.’

you’re a little proud when dr. silva — usually infuriatingly unflappable — gulps. ‘hey, so, uh, well. i’m saying this in confidence.’

you resist the urge to just walk past her, because you definitely could, and you’re way too busy, but she’s unfortunately actually a great intern, switched to your service after beatrice told chief superion they had feelings for each other. which, well — it seems serious, and dr. silva has made beatrice, your best friend — your sister — happy, happier than you’ve ever seen her, so you’ve come to terms with the fact that ava silva is probably going to be in your life for a long time now.

‘go on,’ you say.

ava nods, steps into the supply closet and closes the door, glancing behind him quickly. 

‘the coast is clear, for whatever secret you’re about to divulge that i’m sure i won’t want to know.’ you know the coast is clear because you come into this particular supply closet to catch your breath when days are chaotic and overwhelming, to, on occasion, shed a tear or two over a bad outcome or, even more embarrassingly, a great outcome, too much family thanks sent your way. 

dr. silva isn’t deterred at all. ‘okay. um. beatrice cried herself to sleep last night. and last thursday night too. i know she doesn’t want me to know, or i guess, she probably doesn’t, but, like, i care about her, a lot, and i lov— ‘ ava shakes his head, a little panicked, but then soldiers on. ‘do you know why? is there anything i can do?’

beatrice, you are well aware of, has therapy every thursday, barring emergencies she can’t get out of. you also know, from years and years of watching her hold feelings in for days, weeks even, until she explodes a little, that beatrice is a slow processor, someone who needs her time to understand what she’s feeling. before she met ava, you’d text her every thursday, after she’d gone to the dojo or climbed or run, and you’d read a new study together (not sworn to secrecy) or catch up on love island (sworn to absolute secrecy). 

but now there’s dr. silva — ava; there’s someone for beatrice to be held by, someone to warm the cool side of the bed. you can understand from when you first started dating camila, the sheer panic that she would realize you needed things, the sheer panic that you needed her, that beatrice doesn’t want to share with ava whatever was difficult or sad or hard to process. beatrice is excellent at most things, including kindness, and especially including steadiness, and you know, no matter how open she is in therapy, that what she grew up having shoved down her throat is not an easy thing to overcome. 

‘she has therapy, thursday morning, every week if she can make it.’ maybe beatrice would be mad at you, but you don’t think so — sometimes it’s easier to have help, anyway. 

‘oh,’ dr. silva says, their shoulders relaxing immediately. ‘well that makes a ton of sense. i was worried it was my cooking or taste in music or something.’

‘i’m sure those things don’t help.’

she rolls her eyes. ‘thanks for telling me.’ thanks for knowing beatrice so well; thanks for loving her too goes unspoken; to dr. silva’s credit, she does seem to understand that there are lines too tender for her to cross.

you nod, just once, and motion toward the door. dr. silva steps aside, a little hurried, trying to be polite — for once.

‘i need post-ops on mr. williams, and then we have a consult with dr. masters.’

‘sexy.’

‘i can get you fired, you know.’

dr. silva’s grin, under the florescent lights in the hallway, is almost rakish. ‘i do know that, and i also know you wouldn’t.’

‘the next abscess i see is yours.’

ava just laughs.

/

beatrice slips into the supply closet silently, just behind you, a week later.

‘jesus,’ you grumble. ‘i’ve got to find a new spot.’

she’s undeterred, wearing a fleece over her scrubs and a bright orange fisherman’s beanie — silva’s undoubtedly; beatrice would never buy anything bright orange herself — a neat canvas tote from her favorite coffee shop on her shoulder — tired, and on her way out. ‘did you tell ava i had therapy on thursdays.’

‘well, you do.’

she clenches her jaw, seems to toy with what she wants to say. ‘thank you,’ she settles on, surprisingly but also not: beatrice is kind, above all else; kinder than you ever expect. 

‘i apologize,’ you find yourself offering, ‘if i overstepped.’

she shakes her head. ‘it’s — was it hard for you?’

‘camila?’

she sags back against the closed door. ‘letting someone in, like that.’

‘well, i certainly didn’t choose ava.’

beatrice laughs, a little, but, ‘i don’t feel as if i had much of a choice. he’s, just, spectacular.’

you refrain from saying anything mean; there will be time enough, years and years and years of it if beatrice has any say. ‘he took care of you?’

‘as much as i let her.’

you have to smile, then; there are a handful of times you’ve been in charge of taking care of beatrice: after her parents visit, each time, especially in college, tears and hours of sparring; after she had top surgery, helping her take a bath and deal with her drains; once when she got food poisoning from a sketchy burger place she resolutely loved. ‘no small task.’

‘we’ve got to get better at that, don’t we?’

’speak for yourself. i’m a seasoned professional.’

‘ah yes, you, remarkably comfortable accepting affection and care. since the moment we met.’

you laugh; you can’t help yourself. ‘you’re happy?’

‘beyond.’

’sure you couldn’t pick someone less… ava?’

beatrice elbows you but it’s lacking any malice. you sling an arm around her shoulders, as close to a hug as you’d get under normal circumstances, especially at work. ‘you know,’ she says, ‘everyone knows you come in here to decompress. you’re not stealthy.’

you shrug. ‘intimidating, then. no one interrupts me.’

she lets you have it with just a small smile, kind once again, and makes to slip out the door. ‘i’ll leave you to it then.’

‘sure.’

‘drinks later when you get off? perhaps just the two of us?’ a measure of care you’ve never been brave enough to offer but are always grateful to accept — your oldest friend.

‘i would really like that, beatrice.’

she nods. ‘text me when you’re done.’

#wn #wn fic #avatrice #avatrice fic #surgeons au #butch bea 🥺🫡 #lilith she is so much i Love writing her lol

[b0nnieba3]

I did something bad. (Chapter 1)

Abbyxf!reader fanfic

chapter 2 here

disclaimer: this isn’t proofread so if there’s spelling mistakes please don’t pitchfork my ass. hope yall enjoy ive never written smut in my life 😊😊

🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚

contains: college abby, roommate abby, top abby, bottom reader, substance use(marijuana), praise, boob play, thigh play, dacryphilia

🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸

New year, new school, and new house. You had moved in with Ellie and her new girlfriend Dina. You were all going to the same college and decided it would be easier to live in a flat together. It wasn’t a villa or anything, there was always something wrong. Whether it be plumbing issues or no electricity, you couldn’t spend a day in peace. Ellie had been your best-friend for as long as you can remember, you’ve both been dreaming to enter this school. You even received and opened your acceptance letters at the same time. You were inseparable really. Both of you got into an Ivy League on a full four year scholarship. Yet, when Dina came into the picture, Ellie subconsciously started pushing you away to make more room for her girlfriend.

Being the third wheel was exhausting, and Ellie and Dina were loud. Very loud. It was impossible to get a goodnight’s rest, so you decided to start going out at night. You weren’t going to be able to sleep anyway so might aswell take advantage of that. That’s when you met her: Tall, maybe 6’0; always wearing oversized sweaters that hid her body (connecticut was already freezing in september so it was understandable); blond with her hair always in a tight braid that pulled her features back just a little. You met her on your first run-out at the bar. She was the only one there with you. You didn’t know her name, only what she looked like. You had assumed she was older than you, you were only 18 with a fake ID entering bars just to get away from your horny roomates always having sex in the middle of the night. You wouldn’t really look in her direction, just casual glances nothing more. You guys talked only once, and she was the one who initiated the conversation.

“Hey you dropped something” she said, handing you your wallet.

At the time you didn’t say much but a quick “thanks” as you exited the bar. You thought it was nice of her, but when you turned around to look at her face, she seemed annoyed. It was definitely something you did, since you are always so nonchalant to everyone you talk to, quite condescending too. You’re just very irritable and people often don’t want to talk to you. Except Ellie, who still had a hard time getting through that thick shell of yours. So a simple thanks you tell someone will always be taken as annoyance. The fact that you didn’t even look at her in the eyes when she said it may have played a part in it too. It didn’t matter now, because you were convinced she probably hated your guts just for that. No way were you going to try to be friends with her after this.

In a couple days, you would be sitting in an auditorium with atleast a hundred people, listening to a professor explain biology at Yale University to a bunch of 18 year old that just left highschool. Ellie was going to be sitting next to you like you’d be hoping since the start of the school year. You’ve never sat next to anyone else.

You’ve dreamed of being a surgeon since you were four. Ellie was going down the path to become an astronaut. Biology was the only class you had in common with eachother so you wanted to spend as much time with her as possible.

Or so you thought.

“Hey Y/N, Dina wanted me to sit next to her I hope it’s not a problem.”

“She’s studying biology too?” you ask, slightly disappointed that Ellie left you by yourself. She could see you were upset, so she did her best to reassure you.

“You’re gonna be okay don’t worry, maybe you’ll meet someone and make new friends.”

“Don’t think I can do that.”

Ellie laughs, she knows you. She also knows you can take care of yourself. You’re just a little bit too dependent.

After a bit of a quarel, you relunctantly agree to sit somewhere else. The room is filled to the brim with students but the seat next to you is empty. “do i smell that bad?” you thought to yourself. You decide to rest your head in your arms on the table, waiting for the professor to start the class. It’s the first day so there’s obviously going to be tardy students. Still, the seat next to you remains as empty as ever.

“Class will be starting now, open your books to page 28.” said the teacher as he turned on the video-projector.

“Sorry I’m late! my alarm didn’t go off please excuse me sir.” said someone as they barged into the room. You were too lazy to lift your head up from the table to look at who it was. You hadn’t even taken out your book like the professor asked you to.

“Ms. Anderson you’re excused. It shall not happen again? understood?”

“Understood.” the girl replied.

“You can sit down now, no need to stay there.”

“There’s no empty seats sir.”

“There’s an empty seat right there, now go.” he replied, probably pointing towards you as you knew where the only seat left was.

Your head still in your arms, you didn’t bother to look at who your new seat-mate was. a quick greeting was exchanged but that didn’t make you budge an inch. 30 minutes into the lecture and you were still resting your head; half asleep, half listening to what the professor was saying. the teacher’s lecture was boring, and listening to him became harder and harder as your eyelids got heavier and heavier.

“Hey, do you have a pen i could borrow? i forgot mine at home” said a voice as you felt something cold pressing your shoulder.

You must have been sleeping because the sudden contact made your whole body jump.

“Huh? Wha-“ you rub your eyes with the palm of your hands as you slowly lift yourself up from the desk, eyes still closed.

“I asked if you had a pen?” said the voice a second time. You couldn’t understand what was happening around you but you quickly realised that this was the tardy girl sitting next to you asking you this. you grabbed the pen sitting on your left side, the side facing away from the girl and turned around to give it to her. And then you stunned.

“You!” you both said in unison, eyes wide open, jaw on the floor. soon your eyes narrowed themselves into thin slits as you examined the girl. She was doing the same, and she seemed even more shocked than you to find you here.

“You’re not 21?”

“You’re a freshman?” the girl replied back in a heartbeat.

Quick glances were exchanged between the two of you. Without saying a word you handed her the pen she asked. She struggled to take it out of your hands because your grip was so tight you were practically breaking the pen in half.

So this Ms. Anderson was the girl who frequented the same bar as you. And although you thought she was older than you, it turns out you both go to the same college.

And that’s where it started, her. For some reason, she was in every class, lecture, and after school club you had. She was everywhere. Constantly throwing a spanner in the works at everything you did. And the worse part is, she did everything she could to be paired with you. Not because she wanted to be friends, it was just to annoy you. She knew you didn’t like her and for some reason made it her life’s goal to fuck with you.

Yet you still didn’t know her name.

“Sorry I’m late!”

“Class started at 8, it is 8:20. Care to explain Anderson?”

“Traffic jam, sir”

“That’s another warning miss” the teacher replied.

“Yes sir I understand” Anderson sprinted towards the seat next to you and slumped on the chair. You grunted in displeasure.

“Hi Y/N! how’s it going?” she nagged you. You hated it.

“Good thank you.” you replied with the most irritated tone.

“Relax princess, I’m not here to bite you!” That’s another thing she did. Call you princess. You despised it and she knew. She knew damn well.

You never talked to her, she was always the one talking to you. Always starting and ending the conversations. Conversations that never lasted more than three sentences . She seemed extra riled up today, because you simply couldn’t get her to stop talking to you.

“Do you have a pen?”

“What time is it?”

“I’m hungry”

“What’s the answer to the 3rd question?”

“Can you pass me your notes? the professor is going to fast”

Shut the fuck up! you thought to yourself. Or not, you might’ve said it outloud yelling, judging by everyone’s face around you.

Shit.

“Woah there princess! No need to yell i’m right here!” she answered with a sly grin on her face.

“Will you stop talking?” you demanded, tightly wrapping your fingers around your pen as your head spun towards Anderson in disgust.

“You two at the back” said the professor as he pointed his stereotypical yellow ruler in your direction. “Out of my classroom now, I don’t need disturbance. You’ll wait in the halls till i allow you to leave”.

“But sir I-“ you exasperately try to defend yourself to no avail. Teacher doesn’t want to hear it.

You pack your things and head to the door, Anderson following closely behind. She’s laughing about it. God she’s so annoying.

You wait out in the hall for the professor until the lecture ends. 15 minutes of waiting, 15 minutes of Anderson bothering you with dumb questions. Will she ever shut up?

“Are you done?” you exhale.

“Done with what?” she looked at you dumbfounded.

“Done with this? all of this? being annoying?” you pause and examine her body language. she was confident, confident in the way she was exhausting you alright.

“No idea what you’re talking about” she said shrugging.

Before you could retaliate, the students started leaving, which meant that you’d soon be able to get away from this annoying prick polluting your college life.

“You two, back in here please” the teacher called out from his desk.

He handed a block of paper to you and left anderson empty handed.

“Why is she not getting any work?” you protested, glaring at the girl like she had just killed you dad.

“You’re going to be in a group project together. Since you both seem to love disrupting my class and making noise, i’ll let you two work together on this project.”

“What?” you gasped, your eyes rapidly switching from the teacher to anderson, like a game of ping pong.

“Awesome!” you heard her whisper as she got all excited. She was definitely doing this on purpose.

“You’ve got till the end of the semester to do this project.”

“Are we obligated to work in a group together?” you complained trying to bargain with him to let you work on it by yourself.

“No can do miss” he replied shaking his head to confirm what he was saying. “This project is worth half your grade this semester by the way!”.

Great, now you’re definitely stuck with her.

“Oh you and I are going to have so much fun doing this thing together” she snarked at you as your cheeks grew red out of fustration. You didn’t have time to get angry, you had another class soon. She would be there too as always, but what else were you to do but complain?

After a long and exhausting day of having anderson in your way, you finally headed back to your flat. Ellie and Dina were already there. You put your hand on the handle praying that they weren’t going at it on the couch.

“Hi Y/N!” Dina said as she greeted you with a warm hug. As much as you disliked it when Ellie made last minute plans with her, Dina was actually the sweetest person you knew.

“Hey Dina, I’m tired. I’m going to my room. Classes were too much today.”

“You’re not going to eat?” she worried. Dina was such a caring person, and a great chef too.

“I bet the food you made tastes great, I’m just not hungry.”

“I’ll save you a plate then.” Dina said as you dragged your legs to the staircase heading to your room.

“Ofcourse, thanks Dina.”

As soon as you entered your room, your whole body collapsed onto your bed. That girl was exhausting, you were practically never awake in the flat. Ellie and Dina had calmed down with the sex bit when you were there, which gave you the peace and quiet you needed to rest your delicate head on you pillows. Before you closed your eyes for good, you decidedly to check your socials. As you mindlessly scrolled through instagram, you saw a post ellie had shared on her story that peaked your interest.

“What the-“ you said as you began your little investigation.

That girl Anderson girl was in the picture, at the very left side. It was at a small get together with a dozen other people, you doubted that Ellie even knew what her name was. So instead you tried searching for her socials. She had none, zero socials. Your little Sherlock Holmes moment came to a halt. There was no use trying to figure out who this mystery girl was. You’ll just have to try reading that teacher’s attendance sheet, in the hopes you’ll find anderson’s first name.

***

“There’s a party at Jesse’s later at 9, you wanna come?” Ellie asked the next morning. It was a saturday so people were more likely to have fun.

“Who’s Jesse?” you responded with a mouthful of pancakes.

“He’s a friend of Dina’s. They met on campus earlier this year. He’s got a flat down 5 blocks from ours.”

“That’s not very far away.” you added. “Who’s gonna be there?”

“You, Dina, Me, Jesse, Abby, others” she counted the names on her fingers as she said them to you. “That’s who I know is coming, but it’s open invitation so we’ll probably be more than that.”

You knew Dina, Ellie and now Jesse, but who was Abby exactly?

“Who’s Abby?” you asked

“You don’t know who she is? You’re in the same classes and lectures as her. You guys sit next to eachother all the time!” Ellie exclaimed

Your mind goes blank for a couple of seconds, and quickly starts to process this new piece of information. And then your eyes snapped open as your body jumped from your seat.

“That Anderson girl’s name is Abby?” you yelp out in complete shock.

“Abigail, Abby for short, Abs if you’re friends. No one calls her Abigail, it’s what I’ve heard.” Ellie recited like she’s already said this to people a million times.

“Why is she invited?” you questioned as you angrily shove more and more pancakes in your mouth.

“I’m surprised you don’t know her name she’s quite known here. She’s also Owen’s friend”

“Who Owen?” you asked cluelessly.

“Oh yeah you don’t know Owen either!” Ellie exclaimed. “Who do you know then?”

You thought for a second. You never really go out to make friends, and often find yourself napping on your college notes.

“You…Dina. And apparently the Anderson girl”

“Her name is Abby.” Ellie corrected.

“I know, I don’t care”

Ellie typed something on her phone. A couple second later you received a message from her with an adress.

“That’s where the party will be and I want you to be there okay? Will you do it for me?” Ellie was so sweet with you, you knew it would kill her if you didn’t go. You sighed in defeat.

“Fine, I’ll be there I promise.”

Ellie smiled and thanked you for trying your best. She was doing everything she could to get you out of your shell, but it was hard. You hated seeing her sad so you decided to do this for her and her only. You’d just have to keep up with Abby the entire night.

You arrived at the party a couple minutes after Ellie and Dina. There were already so many people there, but Abby hadn’t arrived yet. “Thank god” you thought to yourself. Jesse’s flat was as bad as yours, the door to the kitchen was nonexistent and one of the windows were shattered. Atleast Dina, Ellie, and you weren’t the only ones struggling out here.

“You must be Y/N” said a tall asian man with a welcoming aura surrounding him.

“You must be Jesse I presume?”

“Yup, that’s me! Ellie told me alot about you. She also told me you were quite the reserved one.”

You squinted your eyes as you forced a half-assed smile.

“Yeah I guess I am…” You took another look at the house. It wasn’t as big as yours, probably had 3 rooms and a single shared bathroom like yours. Since Ellie amd Dina slept in the same bed, your flat had an extra room that nobody used. Ellie had talked about wanting to find a new roommate to fill in that void.

“Nice house” you said.

“It’s not that nice I’ll be honest. Especially when you live with two other dudes that for some reason never clean up after themselves.” He sighed as he glared at someone in the distance.

“Who’re your roommates?”

“Owen and Manny” he replied as he took a sip out of his red solo cup. “They’re actually a pain in the ass, such frat boys I swear…”

You look back to see who Jesse was staring at, assuming it was probably Owen and Manny. Ellie mentioned that Owen and Abby were friends and that’s how she probably ended up on those pictures you saw on instagram.

“He’s Anderson’s friend right? Owen? Ellie told me.” You said your head still facing away from Jesse as you continued to stare at the two idiots play fighting with eachother.

“Abby? Yeah they’re best-friends. The only thing separating them is the distance Abby has to drive to get to campus.”

After a nice conversation you found out that Jesse met Owen through craig’s list while searching for a roommate. You also found out that Owen was in almost all the same classes as you and when you asked Jesse if he knew what profession he was studying to get into, he answered “Medecine, I think.”. It made you think that maybe Abby had all the same classes as you because she also wanted to become a surgeon. Or maybe she picked all the same classes as you just to be a pest and annoy you at every chance she got. You preferred the second option.

And then she arrived. Your sworn enemy. Abby Anderson.

If you told anyone at this party that you considered Abby your arch-nemesis, they’d look at you like you were insane. Ellie was right, she was known. Especially with the girls. Everybody was greeting her, except you ofcourse.

“What’s up Princess? I didn’t know you’d be here, this made my night a hundred times better!” she exclaimed as she grabbed you by the shoulders.

“Can you not?” you sneered, she gently removed her hands off of you and dusted your top.

“My bad Princess I didn’t know you were so irritated today.”

You rolled your eyes and walked away, half consumed solo-cup in your hand. Abby followed you like a lost puppy, still blabbering about whatever. You definitely weren’t listening. You could see Ellie in the distance talking to Dina. That was your key to exit this conversation.

“Nice talking to you Anderson.” you said as you switfly escaped her.

You walked up to Ellie and Dina, who were talking about going on a weekend date to New York. Which meant you’d have the entire house to yourself.

“And when would this be happening” you asked as you interrupted their conversation.

“Next week probably, we’re going to see a musical together.” Dina explained with a smile on her face. Sometimes when you looked at Dina you understood why Ellie spent so much time with her. She was gorgeous.

“I’m gonna get another drink babe, I’ll be right back” Ellie said as she kissed her girlfriend.

“Okay!” she happily replied as she kissed her back.

You and Dina continued to talk for a bit about the musical they were going to be seeing. Talking with Dina was so heartwarming, she was such a great listener. You just got along very well with her, it makes you forgive Ellie for slowly pushing you away. You looked around to see where Ellie was, it had been 30 minutes since she said she’d be back. That’s when you saw her talking to Abby. What the hell could they even be talking about? You scoffed.

“Everything alright Y/N?” Dina asked as she rested her hand on your shoulder as a way to comfort you.

“Yeah I’m alright don’t worry.” You answered, angrily chugging down your drink as you stared menacingly at Abby. Abby noticed and smiled. You didn’t.

You walked away from Dina when she noticed you were looking in Ellie’s direction. You were all alone again. You didn’t mind. You knew basically nobody here unlike Abby, who was the life of the party. She was chugging down beers in near seconds as everyone chanted and cheered her on. She was having arm wrestling fights with every dude at the party, and she always came out on top. She was drunk out of her mind. This girl was a crazy drunk. She smashed a flower pot on her head for no reason just because Owen told her to. You could also see her try and fail miserably at flirting with the girls at the party. You couldn’t help but watch this mess unfold before your very eyes. You also watched as Owen and Manny dropped an ice cold bucket on Abby just because she was complaining that it was “burning in here”. Abby was a frat boy at heart.

Your cup was empty, you already had four drinks but you just needed an excuse to get away from a random couple making out on the couch where you were sitting. You were alone, Ellie and Dina nowhere to be found. You could’ve tried talking to Jesse a bit more but you didn’t know what to talk to him about, and he seemed too busy being drunk trying to hit on some random girl. The alcohol was starting to take effect on you. The typically cold weather in Connecticut seemed to be non existent all of the sudden. You were sweating like crazy which made your sweater uncomfortable to wear. It was sticking to your skin and you didn’t like that. You kinda wished another ice bucket was lying around. You took it off to cool down a little. You were wearing a nice dress under your top. It was knee length but somehow still kept you warm enough to not get frostbite. It hugged you in a nice way which made you love the dress.

Someone else at the party was also quite fond of what you were wearing, and thought it was an invitation to smack you right in the ass. You wriggled yourself at such lightspeeds the entirety of the contents in your cup escaped onto the floor, staining your dress in the process. Great.

“Hey, what the fuck?” you yell out as you placed your hand on the cheek that had just been hit.

“I want a piece of that!” yelled this obviously not sober dude at you as if you weren’t standing right front of him. “What a jerk” you thought. Before you could even begin to deal with this idiotic drunk guy, you saw someone charging at you from the corner of your eye. Not at you actually, at the pervert. In the blink of an eye, you watched as Abby ran from across the room to deliver the most vicious punch you’ve ever seen someone perform. It knocked the guy out cold, breaking his jaw in the process. He was lying down on floor, his mouth pooling in blood.

You were so focused on the guy that you didn’t even realise Abby was standing over him with nothing but a tank top. It was so tight you could see evey detail of her body. And her arms, oh her arms. They were so muscular and covered in patchworks. You’d never seen them before, she was always wearing loose sweaters, that made her look thrice as big. She did come in the party wearing a sweater but she probably had to remove it after having the bright idea of drenching herself in cold water. She was so muscular it was mesmerising. She was soaking from head to toe, which made her glisten under the living room light. You were devouring her with your eyes, you couldn’t take them off her. Maybe it was the alcohol you didn’t know. You didn’t want to know. Abby stretched her arms, which in result lifted up her shirt to reveal a tattoo on her lower abdomen, under her belly button where you could distinguish a silver naval piercing. You felt weird. “It’s just the alcohol” you thought. No way in hell were you getting butterflies over her! Not Anderson, never.

You watched as Abby kneeled down to completely obliterate an already unconscious guy on the floor. Her gaze was savage, she looked absolutely terrifying. Her lips were trembling, probably from the fact that she got ice dumped on her not even 10 minutes ago. Actual steam was coming off of her body. It was insane to watch. You weren’t the only one watching this scene unfold before your very eyes. She just kept punching and punching and punching and punching. At every swing, her tight braid became slightly undone, pieces of baby-hairs were falling onto her forehead everytime she struck him. She didn’t stop until Owen, Manny, and Jesse forcefully removed her from his practically dead body. She was extra strong, it was almost impossible to seperate her from the guy. Ellie came in to help and only with the power of four people did they successfully take Abby away from the dude.

“Party is over y’all, go home” Owen yelled out loud, only to be met with disgruntled drunks and loads of “Thanks jerk”. You couldn’t tell if they were directed at the pervert that assaulted you or Abby who assaulted him back.

“C’mon Y/N we’re going home too” Ellie said as she grabbed you by the shoulder to help you walk out the door.

Back in your room after a long and cold shower, you were beginning to sober up just a little. You started reminiscing today’s party and the event that lead to it’s demise. You didn’t understand why Abby would beat up a guy for you, and why you felt that way when seeing her do it. Were you developing a crush on your arch-nemesis?

“Hell to the fucking no.” you said out-loud as you twisted yourself to the side, eventually falling asleep.

***

It was a couple days after the incident, Abby was still as annoying as always, but something changed in the way you too interacted with eachother. Atleast on your end. You became meaner and meaner as a way to make Abby unaware of how you felt about her during the party, but you were failing miserably. She just simply wouldn’t let go. You’d go as far as insult her to her face and all she could do was laugh.

“You ok Princess? You’ve been very grumpy lately.”

“Anderson you’re so fucking annoying” you replied angrily.

Abby was examining you, her face seemed very focused, like she was looking for something. You couldn’t help but stare back at her. Until you were caught.

“Was it something I said?” she asked with an eyebrow raised. What was she even talking about?

“Ofcourse it’s something you said! You’re always in my way, constantly being a prick!” you called out, thinking her whole ordeal was finally over.

“No, not that.” she paused. “You’re blushing like crazy..”.

Were you? surely not, she was most definitely lying.

“Liar.”

“Am not! Just look at yourself!” she grabbed her phone out of her pocket, and handed it to you with the camera app open. She was lying. Which in result did make your cheeks heat up from the blood rushing to them, out of frustration.

“God I love messing with you.” she laughed as she walked away, forgetting her phone was still in your hands. You just stood there, not knowing what to do. You didn’t want to run after her to give her the phone back so you decided it was best for you if you dropped it off at the lost and found.

You were about to drop it off for good when curiosity got the best of you. You wanted to check if she really did have no socials. Her phone was unlocked, there was no password. She truly did not have any social media, except dating apps. Like alot of them. most of them were lesbian dating apps, maybe she was trying to get a girlfriend? You saw her flirt with a bunch of girls at Jesse’s so the apps were perhaps unsuccessful. You didn’t want to check, it didn’t matter anyway.

“Okay maybe just her profile I won’t check anything else.” and that’s what you did, you opened her Her account and stalked her profile. “She’s been to Seattle? Huh” you said as you scrolled through her pictures. That made you even more curious, so you decided to check her gallery. Something in you just really wanted to find something that could ruin her social life and make here not talk to you ever again. Her photos were more than normal, lots of landscape pictures, college notes, selfies with friends. There wasn’t anything peaking your interest. Except maybe her schedule that you airdropped to yourself.

“There’s got to be something!” you said as you continued to frantically search through Abby’s personal life. And then you found it. Bingo.

It was a picture of Abby, with nothing but a towel on her hips, sitting down flexing all her abs flexing. She was still wet from the shower she had probably taken moments before this picture was captured. Her blond hair was covering her chest, but you could still see the general shape of her breasts. They were small, and quite nice looking. You couldn’t help but stare. Which made you forget you were in broad daylight, going through someone else’s phone, mouthwatering over their nudes.

“This is insane why am I doing this.” you whispered to yourself.

Yet this made you want to see what else she was hiding. You kept scrolling, noticing that every picture after that were nothing but nudes. Abby’s body on full display. Nothing else.

“Who the hell is she sending these to?”

You continued to scroll, until a video popped up. It was the kind of video you would hate for someone to see if they were scrolling through your gallery. It was a video Abby had taken, from her point of view, of a girl she was giving backshots to. You were so captivated by the video you didn’t notice Jesse tapping you on your shoulder.

“Oh my god!” you gasped as you quickly turned off the phone and placed it in your pocket.

“How’s it going Y/N?” he asked.

“Oh hi Jesse, I’m doing great thanks.” you said as you tried calming down.

“Did I scare you? I’m sorry”

“No need to apologise, it’s okay.” you reassure him, hoping he hadn’t seen what you were watching.

“Did you loose something? Saw you were headed to the lost and found…” he questioned as he turned his face to look at the place you were supposed to drop Abby’s phone off to.

You hesitated for a second.

“No, actually. I just remembered where I put it. Thanks Jess!” you thanked him as you sprinted away, leaving him dumbfounded.

“Thank? You?” he replied, very confused.

As you walked away, you took the phone out of your pocket again, curious as to what other videos Abby had hidden on there. It was nothing but sex. nudes, sex, nudes, sex. It was never ending. Wasn’t she scared to get caught with such contents on her phone?

“This is so wrong.” you snapped back into reality, placing the phone as deep in your bag as you could, until you forgot it was even there.

You were now home, after dinner, revising your notes, when you got a text from an unknown number.

“Hey Princess, It’s Abby.

We still haven’t started working on that mandatory group project and I really don’t want to make you fail this class, so It’d be cool if we met up at the library?

PS: i hope those pictures on the phone you didn’t give back were good enough for you.”

Silence, nothing but silence. You felt a pit form in your stomach, your throat was knotting and your palms were sweaty. She knew you would try to snoop around her stuff and planned this whole thing from start to finish. She wanted you to find the pictures. And it worked, it worked so fucking well.

“How the fuck did you get my number?” you nervously typed

“Ellie was nice enough to lend me a hand”

Ofcourse it was Ellie. You left your room running to find Ellie watching a movie on the couch with Dina.

“Why did you give my number to Anderson?” you angrily demanded. Ellie signalled to Dina that she should leave for a moment.

“She said you guys had an important group-project due for one of your classes and you hadn’t even begun to do it! I thought I was doing a nice thing why are you mad Y/N?”

You sighed out of fustration, not knowing what to say. You weren’t going to tell you best friend you found and kept staring at abby’s nudes for the last couple of hours.

“Atleast tell me you’re giving me number away to someone.”

“Alright I’m sorry. You’re right I should’ve told you first.” Ellie said, she was genuinely sorry. You forgave her in a heartbeat. You could never get mad at Ellie. As you two hugged it out, you noticed a particular sent coming off of her.

“You smell like weed”

“I know” she replied, still in the hug

“Why do you smell like weed?”

“Haven’t you noticed the weed garden in the backyard?” Ellie pulled away from the hug to point out the window. You never went into the backyard, so you definitely didn’t notice Ellie growing pot out there.

“No actually…I haven’t.” you looked at Ellie as she slightly giggled. “Are you dealing drugs?”

“I’m the number one weed dealer on campus!” she proudfully said out loud.

“You’re in an Ivy League, I don’t think this is something you should be proud of.”

Ellie laughed as you stayed there, lookinf at her with the most confused face ever.

“What’s so funny I’m being serious! What if you get expelled?”

“I’ve literally smoked with my professors i’ll be alright. This isn’t the 2010’s anymore you don’t go to prison for selling weed” Ellie said, pulling out a joint from her back pocket. “You wanna have a go?”

You hesitated but Ellie said it was okay so you agreed to smoke, just a bit. Dina came back in to join you guys. The smoking session was was good it made you forget all your current stresses in life. The weed must’ve been so good for Ellie and Dina that they started making out on the couch. That was your cue to leave, because you knew that in about two seconds, all their clothes would be on the floor.

You were lying down on your bed, stomach to the ceiling, mindlessly scrolling through your socials. There was nothing interesting, no exiting news, no music to listen to, nothing. Yet, you kept thinking about Abby’s message. Over and over and over and over again. You were scared that you got caught, but also didn’t want to give the phone back. If you did she would know you were guilty.

“I should’ve just dropped it off” you sighed as you turned off your phone.

“she’s gonna be begging for the phone I have to give it back” you thought to yourself. You turned the phone back on and sent abby a message.

“Library tomorrow at four, i’ll bring the phone”.

And there you were, the next day, in the library waiting for Abby to get there.

“She’s late.” you said, your arms crossed. “I said 4 it’s 4:15”.

You sat down and got to work. You weren’t going to wait for her. You’d just drop her phone off at the lost and found like you were supposed to do. A couple of minutes later, she finally arrived.

“Don’t say anything I know I’m late, I got held up by…uh…something.” she stuttered trying to find the right words.

“Sit down we have work to do.” your eyes were glued to your screen as you typed frantically on the keyboard. “I have your phone, take it.” you handed the phone, your eyes still concentrated on the screen.

During your study session, Abby was quieter than usual. She only ever talked to you to ask you something regarding the project. It felt bizzare, you didn’t like it.

“Why are you acting like this?” you finally snapped.

“Like what?”

“You’re so…normal all of the sudden?” you gestured towards her as you frowned.

Abby looked at you, tilting her head to the side.

“Would you rather I’d be annoying the fuck out of you like I do on a daily basis? Need I remind you this thing is worth half of our grade this semester?”

“So you do do it on purpose!” you clapped back.

“Do I?” she grinned as you rolled your eyes. There she was, the Abby you know.

“Just get back to work we’re almost done with this first part.”

At the end of the day, you and Abby ended up getting pretty far into the project. She was actually really smart and determined. She didn’t say anything about the phone after you gave it back to her. You thought it was better that way. You still had her schedule on your phone. You hadn’t even taken a glance at it. When you did you saw how similar your schedules were, the only thing that changed was her being in the women’s rugby club. With her build, it made alot of sense for her to be playing that sport.

The next few day were suspiciously normal. Abby was still sitting next to you in every class. Everything was way too normal for your taste. Even when you thought she’d go back to her roots and make you want to rip your hair out, she didn’t. It drove you mad. You had no idea what she had in store for you.

On friday, Dina and Ellie had already left for New York and asked if you could take care of groceries. You hadn’t seen Abby all day today, a rare phenomenon that you wished would happen all the time. And your roommates wouldn’t be here for a whole weekend you’d have the house all to yourself. A literal paradise.

Actual hell was standing in front of you when you got back from the store.

“What the hell are you doing here?” practically screamed out loud, dropping the groceries on the floor.

Abby held out her hand, trying to get you to shake it. You were so shocked to see her here you couldn’t even move a muscle.

“Hi Princess! nice house.” she took her hand away as she noticed you wouldn’t be shaking it anytime soon.

“I asked you what you were doing here.” you repeated, seeing her face in your house, thr only place she usually never was, made you so mad you felt like you were popping multiple blood vessels from being so infuriated.

“I’m your new roommate, get used to it.” something in her tone shifted, it felt threatening but so hot at the same time. You gasped quietly as she said it, getting so close to you, looking at you up and down. You felt weak, defeated even. You finally understood why Abby and Ellie were talking at the party last week.

You and Ellie were going to have a long, very long conversation as soon as she got back from New York.

***

Having Abby around at home was the worst thing that could ever happen to you. She was constantly playing music extremely loud, which made it impossible for you to study or get an inch of sleep. She’d also bring so many girls home, probably from those dating apps you saw on her phone. It hadn’t even been a day since she moved in, you’d already seen atleast four girls walk in and out of the house. You really wanted to ask Ellie what went through her head to choose a roommate like her, but Ellie told you contacting her during her trip was useless. She’d have her phone on DND the entire time. You were stuck here, with her.

She didn’t talk to you once the entire day, you were more than ready to tell her to fuck off if she did. You knew she would eventually do it. Abby’s music taste was actually really good, you’d often catch yourself humming the tunes or shazaming the songs to add to your playlist. You wouldn’t ever tell her that. Way too embarrassing. But it was super loud, you couldn’t get anything done around the house. This had to end now.

You walked up the stairs to her room, conveniently placed right in front of yours. Music blasting from the other side of the white door. You knocked on it a few times. No answer.

“Anderson!” you called out. Still no answer. You started banging on the door, trying to get her attention.

You heard the door unlock, and Abby slowly appearing in front of you, she was towering over you, her arm leaning on the door frame, eyeing you up and down. You could see a girl, bare-chest sitting on the bed, waiting for Abby to come back to bed. The sheets were turned upside down, pillows and clothes on the floor. The comforter was halfway on the bed halway dragging across the carpet. Abby was in her bra and a short she probably put on seconds before opening the door. The strap harness was peaking out of the shorts, which made you stare directly at her hips. Abby noticed but didn’t say anything, she only smiled.

“Turn that shit down I can’t concentrate.” you pestered, glancing at the girl on Abby’s bed.

“I can’t, sorry Princess.” she apologised without really apologising.

“And why is that?”

Abby pointed back to the girl with her thumb.

“Would you rather listen to her moan and scream my name? I’m doing you a favour sweetheart.”

You sighed and rolled your eyes. She was right, you didn’t want to hear some girl scream Abby’s name. You also didn’t want to hear music blasting 24/7 in your ears. Especially if it wasn’t your music. You had to make a decision.

“I don’t care, turn the music off. She can scream all she wants just don’t blast music around me.”.

“Alright Princess, you asked for it.”

You mocked her words, rolling your eyes so far back you could see the inside of your head.

“Make fun of me all you want, soon enough you’ll be the one looking down on my tramp stamp. I promise you that Princess.” Abby muttered into your ear.

You stopped, cheeks flushed, heart beating fast. “What was that all about?” you wondered. She was practically ogling you, glaring at your eyes. She scoffed and slammed the door on your face, leaving you in the hallway.

back in your room, you sighed in relief as you heard the music stop completely. But soon enough the moans and screams started, and you couldn’t stand it. You weren’t going to get up and tell her that you changed your mind, no. That would mean defeat. You’ll just have to endure. Endure by slamming your pillow into your face and screaming as loud as you can.

Abby heard your cries of agony, and probably thought it would be funny to make even more noise. Which again, drove you mad.

Even with your noise cancelling headphones, the sounds coming from Abby’s bedroom still tickled your eardrums. You were tired, you needed sleep. You put on some music and went to bed, not caring about anything else other than yourself.

The next morning, you woke up later than usual. Ellie and Dina would be back this evening and you wanted to make sure the house was clean at their arrival. You’d have to do everything by yourself ofcourse, because you hated the only other person in the house and weren’t going to ask them for help.

Sweeping and mopping the floor like a maniac with music blasting in your ears was like therapy to you. It helped you focus, but also didn’t help when someone was trying to get your attention.

“I’m talking to you!” Abby snapped her fingers at you.

You quickly removed your headphones off of your head and let them rest on your shoulders, music still playing.

“What?” you annoyingly rolled your eyes. What could she possibly want now…

“Why are you mopping the floors?”

“Why do you think Anderson?” you mocked her, she looked at you with a poker face eyeing you up and down.

“I don’t know you tell me” she leaned against the wall as she smirked.

You scoffed and put your music back on. Abby wasn’t having it, she grabbed the device and yanked it off of you.

“Hey! What the fuck?” you yelped out trying to reach your headphones.

“No you’re not getting this back with that attitude of yours!” she teased as you got flustered and impatient.

“You know exactly why i’m cleaning right now why the fuck are you doing all this?”

Abby put the headphones on bookshelf next to her.

“Because it makes you look pathetic!” she laughed, and laughed and laughed as you stood there and watched this girl fold herself in two. Then she stopped, stopped and stared at you with such daring eyes. Confidence was radiating from her core. She had you paralysed, unable to move unable to speak. She leaned into your ear, her breath hot and heavy down your neck. You bit your lip, eager to find out what she was going to tell you. The sensation felt oh too familiar, it was just like last night, when she promised you she’d have you sucking on her cock. She breathed in, you held your breath.

“It turns me on” she slowly whispered into your ear. You gasped, letting out a small moan that reached Abby’s own ears. She smiled and walked away, leaving you with your mop, headphones and rampant imagination.

“Hey Y/N me and Dina won’t make it back till tuesday, i hope that’s okay with you.” you were listening to your voicemails, and were now left dumbfounded at this new piece of information. You still hated Abby and didn’t know how you would survive another two days alone with her. But you also wanted something to happen between the two of you, and you’ve been thinking about it, thinking about her. Thinking about her fucking you.

She hadn’t brought that many girls that day, probably because she understood you needed some time to clean. At around 9 pm, a girl walked through the door and greeted you with a smile.

“You don’t need to talk to me she’s upstairs on your right.” you pointed to the stairway as the girl nodded in embarrassment.

Most of the girls that Abby would have sex with were all from your university, some of them you’ve seen in your lectures, others you’ve conversated with.

Since the girls wouldn’t be back for now, you decided to go into your room and finish studying for the night. Abby may be annoying but she hasn’t played any music since you asked her to refrain from doing so around you. Which you found quite endearing of her. It’s not that you hate music or anything she listens to. It’s just so loud and loud music that doesn’t come from your own headphones makes you feel nauseous.

Sitting in your desk, music playing, twirling your pen between your fingers: You couldn’t concentrate. The music wasn’t hitting right, you just kept skipping and skipping each songs. It was as if you had developed an allergy to music. You turned off your phone and sat in your bubble of silence, head in your hands as you stared at your notes.

You couldn’t study anymore, your mind was too distracted to focus. You put your notes to the side and lied down on your bed, taking your headphones off in the process. Lying on your back, facing the ceiling, arm spread to each side, you could hear the cries of pleasure coming from the room 3 feet from your door. You couldn’t focus and you could sleep. You couldn’t do anything. You could only heed the words that came out of the girls mouth.

“Abby.”

“Abby…”

“Fuck, Abby!” over and over again.

Her name was plastered on your mind, you couldn’t shake her off your thoughts. Soon enough you found yourself imagining what it would be like if you were the one in that room. If you were the one she was kissing, biting, making love to. If you were the one she was fucking with praise, the one she was making sure felt good, the one she was making sure had hickeys in places only she could see.

Making up scenarios was the cure to your insomnia, because you ended up falling asleep as your imagination did its work.

You fell asleep thinking about yourself being one of abby’s one night stands. Or maybe even more than that…

“Shit…” you whispered to yourself as you woke up from the sound of your alarm. All the thoughts and sexual fantasies you had about your roommate last night suddenly came back. You were so embarrassed, if mind reading was a thing abby would be making fun of you right now. You just know it, it’s in her nature to do so.

You left your room to go downstairs, abby hadn’t woken up yet. You rubbed your eyes and lazily dragged your feet to the kitchen. You grabbed a box of cereal, milk, a bowl and a spoon, and slumped yourself on the dining table. In the course of you preparing your breakfast , you couldn’t help but picture abby bending you over the kitchen counter to eat you out.

“It’s 7 in the morning…” you say to yourself out loud.

“Yeah good morning to you too princess” said an all too familiar voice.

“Not you…” you huffed, barely able to keep your head up. Seeing her stand in front of you right now made the sexual thoughts even more prominent. You hid your gaze from her as you looked down at your unappealing bowl of cereal.

Abby shrugged and grabbed her keys from the shelf next to the front door.

“Seems you’re not in the mood for a nice morning talk. I’m going for a run if you need me just call.”

“Never gonna happen.” you tell her as she leaves the house. The loud bang of the front door shutting shook you awake. You took one last peak at your breakfast before deciding to throw it in the trash.

“I need a blunt.”

You went outside to ellie’s weed garden. You didn’t think Ellie would mind if you took a couple grams, and incase she does, you had 20 bucks waiting for her in your pockets. There wasn’t much to find, Ellie must’ve already harvested the leaves, which meant the weed was probably in her roo already bagged.

You ran back into the house, and into Ellie’s room. You searched all over for her stash untill you opened her closet.

“Oh my god that’s alot of weed” you exclaimed outloud.

You took a look at the neatly organized weed shelf, wondering where Ellie kept her excess clothes.

“She must sell pretty well if she’s got that much on her right now.” you said as you grabbed a bag of weed. It was a little blue ziploc bag of about 3.5 grams. You dropped a 20 dollar bill on her night stand. To smoke the weed you would need something to roll it with and a lighter, which Ellie probably had somewhere in her room. And she did, It was in her nightstand drawer.

Back downstairs, you were sitting on the couch, rolling yourself a blunt as the tv played some random show you didn’t care about. You had a hard time doing the movement with your fingers but you eventually got it.

Now there you were, smoking your weed, watching tv without really watching it. You felt at peace, with your mind finally being quiet. There was nothing in this world that could disturb your peace. Absolutely nothing. You felt like everything was unreal, you felt like you were floating in the air. Every hit you took made your contracted muscles relax bit by bit. Yoo hadn’t felt like this in a while. You laid in a noce position, head laying over the arm rest, looking back at the front door, your view was upside down which was trippy but you enjoyed it.

You heard the door unlock, Abby was back. She looked at you and laughed, before dropping her stuff on the floor.

“Smells good in here. What’ya smoking princess?”

“My problems away…” you groaned before smoking your blunt again.

“Cool. Scooch, I wanna smoke too.” Abby said as she lifted your legs off the couch to have some space to sit down.

You rolled your eyes and moaned in displeasure. This was your moment not hers and you didn’t want to share this blunt.

“Can’t you get your own weed?”

Abby took the blunt out of your hands. You didn’t fight back amd just let her have a go. You weren’t in the mood for any bickering, you were just here to relax.

You watched as Abby brought the jay to her and wrapped her lips around the tip. You couldn’t take your eyes off of her, and when she handed it back to you, you were still mesmerised by her pouty and glistening lips.

“Y/N? the weed.” she waved her hand in front of your face, pulling you out of the trance. “You seem thoughtful, what are you thinking about?” she asked as she readjusted herself on the couch.

You looked at her in the eyes for what seemed like an eternity.

“I forgot” you grabbed the marijuana from her hands and smoked it.

You both sat there watching tv, smoking a doja. Abby kept trying to start a conversation but you were so out of it that the only thing you would answer was a quick “uhuh” with your eyes glued to the show playing. You had no idea what show was playing, and neither did Abby, who’s conversation started were making less and less sense.

“Do you think penguins have sex?” Abby asked as she stared at the popcorn ceiling.

“how the fuck do you think they populate the southern hemisphere.”

“Mitosis?”

“What’s wrong with your toes?” you questioned, your eyebrow raised to the sky.

“Y/N what the fuck are you talking about?” she laughed, hauling you in her guffawing.

“I don’t even know, I’m so high!” you wiped your tears of laughter from your face as Abby twisted herself all over the place from laughing so hard.

You both laughed and laughed, something that wouldn’t be happening if it wasn’t for the drug in your system. You stopped laughing just to look at Abby, and all of a sudden all those thoughts you’ve been having about her came back. This time, you didn’t want them to go away, you embraced them fully.

“I’ve been thinking about you, you know?” Abby looked up, shocked at what you had just said.

“Why’s that? are you thinking about murdering me in my sleep or something?”

“Yes, but that’s not what I’m talking about.” you explained, your eyes gazing into hers.

“Then what is it?”

Her eyes were dull and reddish. her braid was loose and her naval piercing was peeping through her lifted tshirt. She probably forgot to readjust it when was folding herself in two laughing. You couldn’t stop staring, and it made the thoughts of her louder and louder. What she had said the other night just kept replaying in your head overand over again: “It turns me on”.

“Sexual thoughts.” you confessed.

Abby’s eyes flew wide open, it was as if you had dropped a bomb in front of her. She blinked a few times whilst looking at you, thinking she was dreaming.

“I’m going to be honest, I was just messing with you. I really like seeing you embarrassed.” Abby muttered in embarrassment. She didn’t think her flirting would end up like this.

“I don’t care, I can’t stop thinking about you and what I want you to do to me.”

She didn’t say anything and just looked at you. No words were exchanged, no giggle, no sigh, no nothing. It was only the both of you in this world.

“And what exactly am I doing in that imagination of yours?” she incquired, a smile on her face.

You got up from the couch, and slowly walked up to her, sitting on her lap, face to face. Her face was bright red but she pretended like it wasn’t. She was hesitant to put her hands on you but you gave her a looked that said: “I want you to, please do it.”

“I’d rather just show you.”

“You can show me and explain it at the same time.” Abby said as you brought yourself closer to her, inches away from her nose.

“Well, first of all, I don’t have a top on.” you said as you took your pyjama shirt off. You didn’t have anything else on. Your nude chest was in full front view of Abby, who couldn’t stop looking at it. “And you’re looking at them with your hands…” you added as you grab her hands from your waist and place them on your breasts. You hands were wrapped around her wrists. She was silent, letting you speak without interrupting. She fondled your boobs like dough, gently brushing your nipples with her thumbs. She seemed so focused on what she was doing. It was hot. Very hot. She was very hot. Maybe it was the weed talking or these were your own thoughts. Abby seemed scared to look at you in the eyes, like an infant being scolded by their parents, her head down staring at your boobs. You grabbed her by the back of her hand, running your fingers through her braid as you pulled her head back. You watched as her eyes wandered away from yours, awkwardly glancing over at the dinner table. “Eyes up here Anderson” you exclaimed as you rested your lips on hers. You were a mess, kissing her like you’ve never been kissed before. Your breasts were pressing on Abby’s collarbone, her hands back on your waist as you continued playing with her hair, undoing her braid in the process. You moaned into the kiss as she slowly slid her hand down your short, twisting her fingers around your undergarment, her thumb placed in the crevace of your thigh. She groaned as you moved from her lips to her neck. She was quiet when she was with you, it wasn’t like with those girls.

“You’re usually louder than this.”

“What do you mean?” Abby asked intrigued and slightly confused.

“When you’re fucking those girls, you don’t scruple to be loud.” you tell her, each words hanging by a thread of jealousy and envious sexual desire.

Your words rang through abby’s head, like a wake up call. Suddenly, she took the lead. She kissed you like she needed it. Like she needs air to breath. Like she was starving, practically eating your face off. The heat of her breath in your mouth, her groans travelling through the air.

“Please…” you whispered into her ear.

“If you want something you’re gonna have to tell me, I can’t guess.”

“I need you, please.” you whimpered, breath shaky as she kissed your chest, licking your nipples and sucking them. They were hard and sensitive, her kissing made you beg for more. You could barely contain yourself. She stopped and stares at you as you found yourself grinding on her thigh, the fabric of her sweatpants creating the perfect friction for you to pleasure yourself on.

“Holy shit.” is the only thing she could think of saying. She lifted her leg slightly, making you slide closer to her. She was in awe at your movements, how your hips had a mind of their own. She kept repeating the phrase “You’re so beautiful.” over and over again. You were practically crying trying desperately to finish. Abby thought it was hot seeing you so tearful.

“Do you need my help princess?” Abby asked. You quickly nodded as you bit your lip. Abby grasped you by your sides, and started moving you on her thigh. you were a complete mess, barely able to form a sentence.

“You’re doing so good.” Abby said, amazed by your presence. Deep down she knew this might not last long, and that soon enough the weed would lose it’s effect on you and you would go back to your old ways.

“I need to cum.” you stammered, falling apart at every feel of your clit grazing the fabric of abby’s tracksuit.

“You can do it on my thigh. You deserve it.” and that’s exactly what you did. her thigh was covered in your fluids. some of it got on the couch too. Abby didn’t care, she didn’t care at all. You were deeply exhausted from the weed and the sex, you could barely hold yourself up.

“So tired…” you mumbled as you collapsed on Abby’s shoulder. She shook you in an attempt to wake you up but was unsuccessful. She picked you and threw you over her shoulder, heading to the bathroom to wash you off.

Holy shit, you just had sex with Abby Anderson.

#abby tlou #abby the last of us #abby anderson #firsttumblrpostholyshit #idk what tags to put cuz idk what is even happening #I LOVE ABBY SHES SO HAWT #this was supposed to be a personal fanfic but i decided to be nice and share it to the world #lesbian sex is like art to me #abby x fem!reader #writing a college fic but idk how college works #dacryphilia