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toloveawarlord · 3 years

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Ch. 6

Characters: Edgar Bright, Iris Adley, Sean

Pairing: Edgar x Iris

Tagging: @plumpblueberry

“You can’t blame them for being curious. No one knows what Sir Edgar is having you do as his second,” Sean said, lounging back on the perfectly made bed. He and all the others that were under the Jack of Hearts were hovering around me, asking an infinite amount of questions about the allusive and mysterious Edgar Bright…ever since he appointed me as his second.

I buttoned up my uniform shirt with visible annoyance. “I’m basically a glorified secretary, organizing documents, keeping notes about important dates and meetings, and pretending to be him when penning letters that he finds too boring while he sits on the sofa sipping tea.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t work. Soldiers came and went all day long with reports and documents. When he wasn’t in his quarters, he was in meetings with Jonah and Lancelot or officials in Central Quarter, on top of training his own troop of soldiers with a warm smile and steel fist. And yet, when we were alone, he turned into a candy gobbling child that enjoyed causing me a headache.

“Aren’t you tired? You don’t return from your duties until the early morning hours and then turn around and be up at first call at 7 like the rest of us.” He was just as intrigued by my new position as the others, but for more reasons. Every day he asked if we’d spoken about my predicament and the answer remained a stern no.

“Tired of his ridiculously idiot game? Yes.”

“Aw, that’s no way to speak about your adoring superior.”

The only slightly peaceful part of my day came crashing down at the presence of the Jack of Hearts. He’d let himself into the room without any warning, apparently a recurring trait of his. I can’t exactly complain, outwardly at least.

I rested against the bed to slip on my boots, tugging the laces extra tight while imaging the thin string to be around his neck. The whispers from the hallway not so quiet, nearly bringing a large commotion to the barrack hallway. “I’ll assume you’re here for business, sir.”

“Sean, you will be in Central Quarter today.” Edgar gave the order with a hint of edge to his voice. He received a salute and Sean scuttled off to leave us. One quick glance over his shoulder and the rest of the soldiers scattered before those mischievous jade irises were turned on me. “You will be accompanying to patrol the forest. Won’t that be fun, Iris?”

“Are you going to insist on calling me that when we’re alone?”

“It is your name. Besides, the expressions you make are worth any risk.”

I swiped my hat from the rack, settling it on my blonde locks, adjusting it with stiff movements. I made a silent vow to work on how I outwardly reacted to his taunts, if only to irritate him a fraction of how he irritated him.

Outside of his personal unit, the soldiers continued to treat me like an outsider. They glared when they thought none of the ranking officers were watching. They whispered in ear shot of me, insisting on being petty about my sudden rise in position. Only the ones within Edgar’s unit had begun to accept me, at least enough to not avoid me during meals and free time.

The leaves crunched beneath his boots, the Jack of Hearts strolling with a spring his step. His good mood almost contagious. It was strange, simultaneously keeping up my guard while also lowering it at times around him. He hadn’t broken his word and exposed my secret. “Iris, lost in thought, are we? I do hope it’s me on your mind.”

Jade irises mischievously reflecting my own clear, blue ones. Edgar’s face mere inches.

I took a step back only to hit a tree. The pain dull but grounded me back in reality.

Quick to close the distance, like a wild cat slinking up to its cornered prey, Edgar’s grin grew wider. “You make a pretty boy, but I prefer the real Iris.” Gloved fingers expertly removing the earring and pocketing it in seconds. “I’ll hold onto this until it’s time to return.”

Without the magic, nothing hid the fact that I was a woman. It would be unlikely for the army to send multiple soldiers on this patrol, but not unheard of. And yet, winning an argument with a rock was more attainable than reasoning with the gentle demon.

The forest was peaceful. Although not many ventured in due to the rumors surrounding it, bandits tended to gather on occasion. The town was abuzz with talk of some unsavory types moving between Central Quarter and the Forbidden Forest. Edgar had been tasked with uncovering and eliminating them.

“I did some digging, but there’s no record of where your brother disappeared to. Not even your parents have any inkling. I suspect that you have some idea.” He broke the silence as he adjusted his gait to fall in step with me.

“I don’t. He never told me where he was going. Only that the girl he’d fallen obsessively in love with was the reason he wouldn’t take his position in the army.” The night he’d left still seared freshly in my mind. It made little sense. He had been handed the fourth highest rank in the Red Army and he abandoned it for a woman.

Edgar hummed in response, gaze lifting to the treetops above us. “Peculiar, but I hear that love makes one do crazy things.”

“He’s an absolute fool. Love is an abstract idea that is fleeting. He barely knew her, and yet he threw away his whole life, making a traitor of himself, of our family. For what?” He’d said that he might be gone for a while, years. At that time, it would be much too late. Our family would be ostracized, the position given by birthright erased and passed on to some distant blood relative.

“You’ve never been in love, have you, Iris?”

I gave him a disgusted glare before replying, “No. I’ll wager you haven’t either.”

He snickered from behind his palm, not making any attempts to avoid my slap to his arm. “You’re right. I’ve little time for dalliances with women. I have been approached, but taking a wife is not of importance to me.” For a second, the facade slipped, and I saw the flash of melancholy cross his features. Then it was gone, replaced with that empty smile. “I imagine you’ve had plenty of men throwing themselves at you.”

“You mean at my father.” I shivered in absolute revulsion. None of them had approached me directly. Whispers of how I could be harsh and hard to please were always circling me like rampant sharks. Negotiations went through my father, and I never accepted a single one. “I have no desire to be someone’s wife.”

“You’d rather be a solider?”

There was no judgement or ridicule in his question, as it had been with all the men previous in my life. Any time I trained with a sword or learned hand to hand combat, they all had a similar tone. It’s not for a woman. I would prove them all wrong. “Yes. Only the Red Army has rules against women joining. It seems obvious that after 500 years, perhaps a different perspective might be advantageous.”

“War is not made for the weak.”

“Weak and female are not synonymous.”

Jade eyes crinkled as he smiled at me. “Oh, I’m well aware of your strengths, Iris. And I, for one, have no qualms with you being in the army. It’s not simply a matter of changing laws.”

The politics. It’s always about the politics among the Red elites.

The scent of smoke drifted through the trees, silencing our discussion. The rumors were proving to be true. We both became silent, like ghosts leaving no trace of their existence as we neared the campsite. Only one man guarded the camp.

“We’ll wait until nightfall, and all of them are to be captured.” His whisper carried the weight of his position. The teasing superior vanished without a trace, replaced with the Jack of Hearts giving his soldier an unbreakable order. His gaze only flickered to me long enough to see my nod before returning to our targets.

They came and went, five of them in total. As the sun began to slide beyond the horizon. Once the light faded, the group all gathered around the fire, clinking dirty glasses of stolen booze, and rifling through their treasures. Edgar gave a signal, directing me to circle to the other side.

Blending in with the darkness was easy. The moon cast slivers of silver light between the leaves rustling in the wind. I crouched by a thick bush, waiting patiently for our moment to attack. I hadn’t, however, expected him to announce himself.

“Good evening, gentlemen.” Edgar startled the whole lot of them, hand lightly gripping the hilt of his sword. The fire crackled as one choked on his drink at the sudden appearance of the officer. “You’ve caused quite the ruckus in town. It’s time to answer for your crimes.”

Swords and knives were drawn, all eyes focused solely on the single man in the crisp white uniform. Their bravery coupled with cowardice as they collectively moved the opposite direction with slow steps, save for their so-called leader. He alone faced the gentle demon with a scowl.

He gave a howl and lunged at Edgar, only to grab air and lose his breath as his torso connected with the Jack of Heart’s knee.

Tension rose through the campsite. Some were frozen in their spot, watching the imminent defeat of their boss. But one... there’s always one, who decides to save themselves and run.

Unlucky for him.

The wheeze that passed his lips when I wrenched my elbow back into his throat divided the attention. He collapsed to the dirt, body curling up as he clutched his neck and struggled to catch his breath. “How pathetic,” I said, drawing my own sword from its sheath.

There’s two of them?

Who cares! Just take them out and let’s get out of here!

They were barely worth any effort. Their form sloppy and no coordination between them. Although it hadn’t been too long since being under Edgar’s guidance, I had picked up on some quirks of his. In the beginning, the soldiers in the unit avoided me, leaving Edgar to spar with me most of the time. I’d learned his movements quite well.

“I’m impressed. You’ve done so well,” Edgar praised with a pat on my shoulder. He chuckled as I brushed it off.

I finished the knot on the last rope, creating a line of prisoners so they couldn’t try to escape. “I didn’t ask for your evaluation.”

“But that’s my job. Your hand to hand could use a little work. I’d be happy to teach you.” His eager grin disappeared at the voice of the leader of the bandits. I hadn’t witnessed the demon side of him until now.

Since when did the Red Army employ women?

I turned away, remembering that he still had my earring and no magic had shielded my features. Edgar slipped it into my palm without a word before slinking up to the angered prisoner.

“He is quite pretty for a boy, I’ll admit. You’d do well to keep your mouth shut.” The malice laced in his words paired perfectly with the dagger pressed a little too hard against his prey’s throat. His threat received with a silent nod.

I trailed behind, lost deeply in thought. It hadn’t been necessary. There was no reason for him to say anything. No one would have believed the word of a criminal over the Jack. There’s no logical reasoning behind why Edgar had protected me, nor why I can’t simply say thank you and move on.

My cheeks were unbearably hot.

Why did he confuse me so much?

#ikemen revolution #ikerev #edgar bright #iris adley #ikerev oc #finally #iris is beginning to have feelings #even though she has no idea what those feelings are

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whatcouldgowrong-ohthat · 4 years

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Us and Andie Ch. 7

Summary: Bucky works as an Avenger because it’s what’s right. He feels he has sins he’ll never be able to make up for, but he’ll spend the rest of his life trying. However, his life takes an unexpected turn when he comes across Andie, the daughter of recently divorced Y/N. The life he had once “maintained” in hopes of surviving changes as his heart warms for a tough-as-nails nurse and her wonderful daughter.

Pairing: Bucky x singleparent!Reader

Word Count: 3336 words

Series Masterlist - Masterlist

Y/N knew Bucky was trying to comfort her. His hand, she felt its weight on her shoulder, but any warmth was lost. She heard her heart racing in her ears. It was pounding, practically threatening to tear through her ribcage. And yet all she could focus on was the fact that her ex-husband was only a few feet away, crouched next to his kids and pointing at different fish.

What a dick.

“Y/N?” Finally, Bucky’s voice forced itself through her panic. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her register his voice. Her shoulders visibly relaxed. She blinked, everything about her sluggish in that moment. “Y/N, let’s just go.”

She looked down at Andie, noticing the slight shimmer in the hand clinging to her own. In the dim light, no one else could notice it. But Y/N? She knew her kid. “Come on, Babygirl,” she whispered, pressing a kiss to Andie’s beanie. “Let’s go see something else.”

Andie nodded, lip trembling as tears threatened to fall. She never knew what this feeling was, but if she had to describe it, it was like someone sitting on her chest while taking punches to her gut. Everything felt heavy. “I want to go see the sharks,” she mumbled. Her words were lost on Y/N, but Bucky heard her easily.

“Then let’s do it.” Bucky squeezed her hand and pulled her long. His sole mission in that moment was to get Andie and Y/N somewhere they were comfortable. Somewhere they felt safe. As he pulled them along, he tucked Y/N under his arm, feeling how rigid she went just under instinct. He knew it wasn’t because of him, but the action still stung.

“Y/N?”

She paused, looking at Bucky for a moment. Everything in her had hoped that it was Bucky that had said her name. But judging by the look on his face, it wasn’t. Y/N looked down at Andie. Her daughter was watching her intently, fixated on what Y/N would do next. What was the right thing to do in a situation like this? Was there even a right thing?

Sighing softly, what had felt like minutes was truly only a few seconds. She turned around, not surprised that it was just him. It was always just him. Always separating the life he once had and the life he was living.

“Ethan.”

Y/N glanced just past him. His two boys were still fixated on the aquarium. His wife was taking care of them, obviously, but also keeping an eye on her husband. On her. Shifting her gaze back to Ethan, she said, “I would have thought you would ignore us.”

Ethan noticed she wasn’t alone. Bucky was sure of it. He caught the recognition in Ethan’s eyes and seeing this man in front of him made his blood boil. The gears in his arm whirred as he clenched his fist. But his face remained passive. He had to be calm for Andie and Y/N. He had to be prepared for anything Ethan threw their way.

But he wasn’t. There was no way he could be prepared for Ethan to laugh.

He was shaking his head, laughing at the accusation Y/N had thrown his way. “Still as vindictive as ever, huh, Y/N?” He took in her appearance, the sight of him ogling her making Bucky’s skin crawl. “How long has it been?”

She clenched her jaw, her nails digging into her palms as she squeezed as tight as possible. “Five years. That was the last time we saw each other in court.”

“And still you’re so hateful.” He offered a sympathetic smile and Y/N wanted to slap it off his face. “It’s a shame. I would’ve thought raising a kid would make you more forgiving.” He looked at Bucky, the smile on his face shifting to one of pity. “I can only imagine what lies she’s told you, right?”

Bucky was silent, his hand gently pushing Andie behind him. It was as if he hoped that one gesture would be enough to shield her from whatever bullshit kept spilling out of Ethan’s mouth. “I’m a pretty good judge of character.”

Ethan nodded before looking at Y/N. “Well, I just wanted to say hi. You – “ He shrugged. “You look good. How’s Lauren?”

Oh, Bucky wanted to hit him. He wanted to pulverize him. He could even picture it – slamming Ethan’s smug face into the glass, feeding him to the sharks. He didn’t even need his metal hand to kill this asshole. How dare he not even call his own child by her name?

Andie peeked out from around him, finally speaking up. “My name’s Andie.”

Ethan jumped, looking down at the girl. She was tucked into Bucky’s side. To any onlooker, she looked like Bucky’s kid. And for some reason that made Ethan angry. That was his family first. Bucky was just passing through. “Andie, huh?” He smiled at her and, while the sight made Y/N and Bucky sick to their stomach, the slightest hint of affection from her father made Andie feel more at ease. She stepped out from behind Bucky entirely, smiling back. “Well, I look forward to getting to know you. That is,” he glanced at Y/N, hiding the smirk he so desperately wanted to share. “If Y/N will let me.”

Her blood went cold. Of course. Of course he would play the victim card, acting like he wanted a relationship that they both knew he had no interest in. Bucky frowned, glancing at Y/N for confirmation that this was just Ethan being Ethan.

“You really want to spend time with me?” There was so much hope in Andie’s voice and it broke Y/N’s heart to hear. She had hoped Andie would know better, but she was a kid. That was asking far too much.

“Andie, he’s – “ Bucky’s sentence died on his lips when he saw the briefest shake of Y/N’s head. This wasn’t his place. It wasn’t even hers.

“Little Andie, I would love nothing more.” Ethan’s sickeningly sweet smile was practically hypnotizing to the girl, filling her with hope and possibility and the ideas of what memories she could have with her dad.

“Could I – Could I meet them?” Andie pointed to his other family and he looked back.

He sighed softly and shook his head. “Uh…Not right now,” Ethan told Andie. He looked at her, smiled yes, but it didn’t go unnoticed by Y/N and Bucky that he refused to touch her. Everything was an act. “But I’m sure your mom and I can figure out something soon for you guys, yeah?”

Andie was glowing, grinning from ear to ear as she nodded. Any fears she had had when she noticed her father before? They were gone. Out the window and long since forgotten. All she could think about now was the possibility of seeing her dad and getting to know her brothers.

It was a show to give a little girl hope. Only to crush it and make Y/N look like the villain.

“But right now, you need to spend time with your mom and her – “ He looked at Bucky, raising an eyebrow. “Friend?”

Bucky clenched his jaw and Ethan’s smile stretched a little wider when he noticed it. A crack in that tough exterior. He looked back at Andie. “Have fun, okay?” Ethan waved goodbye, nodding to Y/N and Bucky before retreating back to his family. He wrapped an arm around his wife’s waist, already forgetting about the interaction.

But Andie hadn’t. She was staring at them and with the smallest wave of her hand, she whispered, “Bye, Dad.”

And Y/N felt everything in her shatter.

“I think we should get out of here,” she whispered to Bucky.

He turned his attention back to her and wrapped an arm around her, nodding. “Can I take you two back to my place? Cook you some food?”

Y/N was hardly paying attention, replaying what had just happened as if it was a worn VHS tape, willing it to destroy itself. But she wasn’t ready to go back to her apartment. She wasn’t ready to go back to a reality where Andie would be up late, drawing potential memories only to someday be crying and screaming at her, blaming her for everything.

No, she wasn’t ready for the next coming weeks.

“Please,” she murmured, the hand that had been in her jacket now desperately finding his hand. She clung to him, needing to feel grounded. Eyes still fixated on Andie, she told him, “I need to live outside of reality a little longer.”

-.-.-.-

The smell of burgers filled his apartment, wafting through and reminding them of just how hungry they were. Luckily, Andie’s favorite foods were two things: Mac ‘n’ Cheese and burgers. Two things he could easily make. But since burgers took a little longer, he decided on those for the evening. He glanced across the open concept apartment, his eyes landing on Andie. She was currently sitting on his couch with How to Train Your Dragon playing. Apparently, the kid really liked cartoons and there was something about this one that had her hooked.

Bucky had yet to figure out what it was.

“Thanks for this.”

He looked over his shoulder as Y/N came to his side. She leaned against the counter, the smile on her face clearly not reaching her eyes. Keeping his voice down, he asked, “Of course. Do you want to talk about it?”

She chuckled softly, looking down at the cooking meat. “Not really. I wish I could say I was surprised, but when we were in and out of court, he pulled this shit all the time. She was so young then, I thought she’d grow out of that. But…” Bucky followed her gaze, noticing that it was Andie she was so focused on once again. “Some things never really change.”

“He’s going to break her heart, isn’t she?”

Y/N nodded. “And I’ll take the fall for it. But I’m okay with that.” He frowned, the new face making her nudge him. “I am. It’s part of being a parent. I’m supposed to be there to catch her when she falls.”

“But who catches you?”

The question surprised her. She looked at Bucky, searching his face. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her, instead focusing on the burgers, flipping them. How had she managed to have the sweetest Avenger stumble into her life? And not only that, how was she so lucky to get him to stick around? She hopped onto the counter and brought her knee under her chin, wrapping her arms around herself. “I guess…I do.”

Bucky frowned. He set down the spatula and glanced at the little girl, making sure she wasn’t paying attention to them. Turning back to Y/N, he tugged at her calf and dropped her leg. He stepped between them, hands wanting to rest on her thighs but instead choosing the counter. It was cold against his hand, but he didn’t comment. No, instead his attention was fixated on something far more important.

Y/N’s eyes.

“Bucky? What is it?”

“Could I?”

She raised an eyebrow, not quite realizing what he was asking. “Could you what? Finish cooking dinner?”

Bucky smiled, shaking his head. “No.” He took a shaky breath, his stomach churning from nerves as his heart fluttered and palm grew sweaty. “Could I catch you?”

Y/N felt her cheeks heat and was far too sure she was blushing from head to toe. “You – What?”

Bucky smiled ever so slightly, brushing some hair out of her face before his fingertips brushed against her cheek. He kept his voice hushed, fathering as much courage as he could for what he was about to say. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but I genuinely care about you and Andie. And after seeing what happened today? With your ex?” He stepped closer, forehead lightly pressing against hers. He was careful, providing space if she wanted to push him away. But she didn’t. She seemed to crave the intimacy within the moment. “I want to be there for you. Both of you, but if you’re going to be putting Andie first, someone needs to put you first. If you’re okay with it, I would like to be that someone.”

Y/N bit her lip, unable to believe what she was hearing. “You’re an Avenger.”

He breathed a laugh. His warm breath fanned over her face as he asked, “What’s your point?”

“We have two very different lifestyles?” She brought her lip between her teeth, gnawing at it as her nerves started getting the best of her. “I’m a nurse and a single mom. You’re the Winter Soldier and an Avenger. It’s not like we’d run into each other in a coffee shop during normal circumstances.”

“Okay.” He was with her so far.

“The reason we entered each other’s lives was because of Andie. Because you were playing hero. And I – “ I don’t need to fall for someone who plays hero for strangers. She cleared her throat. “Bucky, I like you, it’s just – “

Zzzz

Zzzzzz

Zzzz

Zzzzzz

Bucky wanted to throw his phone out the window. He did not want to answer that stupid thing, but it seemed Y/N wouldn’t let him ignore it. She offered him a small, weak smile. It was as if that phone had made her point. Grabbing the phone, she held it out to him. He saw Steve’s face staring back at him and grimaced.

Steve didn’t call unless it was important. Which…meant there was a mission.

One he had to be a part of.

Taking a step back, he took the phone. His pleading eyes met hers, silently asking her to just give him a second. She didn’t say anything, gesturing for him to take the call as she hopped on the floor. Bucky gently grabbed her arm, squeezing it as he answered the phone. He didn’t want to leave her, but he knew he still had responsibilities. He still had a past to make up for. “I’ll be right back,” he promised. As he stepped out of the room, the last thing she heard him say was, “What is it, Steve?”

Y/N chuckled at the annoyed tone in his voice. She turned her attention to the burgers, putting them on a plate and getting them set up. “Come on, Andie, get your food.”

Andie looked up, smiling from ear to ear. She jumped over the back of the couch and ran to the plate waiting for her. Her jaw dropped, staring at it with complete fascination. “It’s as big as my head!”

“Try not to make a mess,” Y/N teased. Andie was still unable to take her eyes away from the burger. It made both of them wonder just how much Bucky thought normal people ate.

As Andie ate her weight in her dinner, Y/N picked at her food. She kept thinking about what Bucky had said. He wanted to be there for her. And everything he was saying and doing screamed that he wanted it in more of a way than just friends. Was that true? Or was she just so out of touch with dating that she thought anything looked flirty?

“Mom?”

Y/N looked up, pulled away from her thoughts once again. Noticing that Andie had somehow managed to already get herself covered in food, she held back her laugh and asked, “What is it?”

“Do you think we’ll see Dad again? Soon? And that I’ll meet my brothers?”

She hesitated, her chest feeling tight as she thought about what the right thing would be to say. “I hope so. I think it’d be awesome if you could have a relationship with them.”

Andie stuff a couple chips in her mouth, asking around the mouthful, “But you always said you decide the visitations, right? So it is up to us in the end.”

Sorta. “I guess you could say it’s like that, Baby girl. But stop talking with your mouth full of food. It’s gross.”

“Blagh!” Andie stuck her tongue out, showing off her food and earning a grimace from Y/N.

“Stop! Now!”

Andie giggled and swallowed her food, going back to eat while Y/N shook her head. She looked around the apartment. Settling in like this? It felt too easy. Too simple. And that wasn’t possible for their situation, right? She was a single mom. She had to look out for a girl who now believed she could have a relationship with her dad. And Bucky? Bucky’s life was a whole other level of stressful and chaotic. Y/N was more than sure she couldn’t keep up with it. The level of stress in her life was always at a constant high and the idea of falling hard for someone like him? Someone who went on missions that put his life in danger? She didn’t need that risk. She didn’t need that stress.

And it was on that thought that Bucky returned to her. Judging by the look on his face, those exact worries she had been thinking about, were now rearing their ugly faces. “You don’t look happy,” she told him, handing him the last plate of food.

“Steve has a mission he wants me to go on. It’ll be him, me, Nat, and Sam.”

“Does that mean it’s Hydra related?”

Bucky looked at her, completely surprised. “How did you – “

“Keep in mind, you guys have been in my kid’s life for a month. I pay attention. And when it’s a mistake Tony makes, it tends to be him, Steve, maybe Natasha and Clint, and Bruce. Thor is rarely around anymore. Natasha and Sam tend to go with Steve on missions where a small, quiet team is a must. And you only get pulled in when your past is at risk nowadays.”

Bucky felt his heart swell with pride. She was paying attention. He knew it was mostly for Andie’s sake, but also he felt that…maybe it was because of him too? “You really were paying attention.”

“Always. I’m a nurse. Little details can be important.”

He smiled at that. “About your question,” he said, taking a sip of water. “Steve didn’t make it sound like that. I think it might have something to do with that Zemo guy. The one who framed me for killing King T’Chaka.” There was silence. It seemed Y/N wasn’t going to say anything, so he continued, “Steve tries to keep me off missions lately because of the time I’ve been spending with you and Andie, but he really wants me on this one.”

Y/N knew she had to understand. It was his job after all. Still, her heart hurt at the thought. “H – How long will you be gone?”

“Steve made it sound like it was short. Maybe a couple days at most.” Bucky watched her. Everything about her screamed that she was worried. With Ethan’s confrontation earlier and his confession, he knew her stress levels were up. She didn’t like new and unexpected. His whole life centered around that. So, he wanted to reassure her, telling her, “I was thinking…when I get back – “

“Let’s not talk about that right now.” Y/N looked up at him and it was then he got to peer into the emotions in her eyes. The ones she refused to let shine anywhere else. Mentally, she wasn’t ready. Not to talk at least.

And Bucky understood needing the right headspace.

“Okay. Then let’s eat. And finish the movie. I leave in the morning and – “

“And I’m sure we’ll be here when you get back.”

Bucky watched her as she went back to eating, his eyes looking for any tells that could possibly give her away. He needed something – hoped for anything. But Y/N was as good with her body language as Natasha or Clint. Guarded and locked up tight. He’d just have to wait.

Patience was a virtue, right?

It looked like they would all be practicing it for the time being. And reality? Reality was coming back far faster than Y/N had hoped for.

-.-.-.-.-

Tags:

@mr-robot-x

@buckyssoul

@purplekitten30

@booktease21

@lets--be-honest

@amnahs9695

@niahmariec

#bucky x reader #bucky x y/n #bucky x you #bucky fic #bucky au #us and andie

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monstersandmaw · 4 years

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Male triton Fae (Kaerio) x female character (Ellen) (sfw)

This was a commission for someone who appears to have infinite patience, so thank you very much for hanging on in there for so many months. I’m sorry, and I hope you enjoy this at last… It’s been up on my Patreon on early release, and now it’s time to put it up here.

It's the 'prequel' to the story with Adan, the Argonian-inspired marine iguana, and which you can find on Tumblr here. I don't think you really need to have read it to enjoy this one, but it might help a bit.

You can catch up on all my Fae Realm related posts and stories here on Patreon, but again, you don't need to in order to enjoy this. I hope.

Jaerhin - Prince of the Court of Fire aesthetic and info

Inikeira - Princess of the Court of Air aesthetic and info

'Poster boy' for the Fae Realm doodle

Fae Courts - 'wiki' style info post

Ystlynn - younger son of the Court of Spring, aesthetic and info

Cirdan - Prince of the Court of Winter, drawing and Fae Realm info

Fae seer/priest aesthetic, ideas, and fae world concepts

Content: serious injury to male character towards the beginning but it’s brief and not described in too much detail. Fluff, a dose of angst, and some more fluff. Sfw, with the odd touch/kiss. Word count: 9,385

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The tranquillity of the waves lapping the shore always soothed her on a level she couldn’t quite articulate. Moving away from the city in her early twenties, leaving it all behind for a quieter life atop the cliffs where she could gather herbs and tend to the folks who needed it had been rewarding, for sure, but the sharp ache of loneliness did still lance through her every now and again.

Perhaps if someone came along one day who caught her eye, then she might go along with it, but for now Ellen was content enough with her books and her herbs and her remedies. The small flock of chatty chickens, all too fond of the sound of their own clucking voices, and the near-silent stray black cat who had more recently adopted her, were enough company for the time being.

Gathering samphire in the wake of the retreating tide one early summer morning, just as the sun was starting to peek above the glass-perfect horizon, a splash from a rock pool up ahead caught her attention and she stood up straight from her task to see a figure slumped on his front over a rock in the shallows.

Her eyes widened and her heart leapt into her mouth at the sight of him, and she thought for an awful moment that he was dead. His skin was glacially pale, like finest marble, and his hair was long and dark, spilling down over his shoulders and back, sticking to his skin like seaweed. He was completely naked, but as she stared openly at him, shocked into a stupor by his beauty and his unexpected presence, she noticed the harpoon sticking out of his back and she covered her mouth with one hand.

The basket of freshly-gathered seaweed completely forgotten, she raced over to him, the toes of her bare feet digging into the wet sand as she flew to him. He tilted his face up a little at her arrival, his gaze vague and his irises so black that she almost couldn’t make out his pupils. The harpoon was lodged in his back, mercifully well clear of his spine, but it was obvious that he’d been shot from behind. It had missed everything important but was still lodged in the muscle of his back. The water had washed a lot of the blood away, but from the looks of him, he didn’t have much left in him.

“Easy,” she said, trying not to panic. “I’m going to help you, alright? I’m a physician. Stay put, and I’ll be right back.” With that, she didn’t linger long enough to hear if he made any response, and turned and ran at full tilt back towards the cliffs and the winding, switchback path that would lead to her wooden hut.

Her lungs burned as she scrabbled up the last stretch, her muscles searing and cramping from the sudden exertion, but she pushed herself on, only daring to catch her breath when she reached her front door and burst inside. Grabbing the necessary supplies from various cupboards and shelves and stuffing them into another basket, Ellen took a few steadying breaths before hurtling back down to the beach.

“Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead,” she chanted over and over as she ran back to him.

He hadn’t moved and for a horrible moment she thought that he had slipped away, but when he gave a shuddering gasp, his fingertips just twitching slightly, relief washed through her.

It took a long time to tend to him, and in less than ideal conditions. The water and alcohol she used to clean the wound would have to be sufficient, and mercifully he passed out when she had only just begun to remove the harpoon’s barbed tip. It was a cruel weapon, made for latching into the flesh of dolphins and sharks which would then be hauled out of the water, and shipped off to where the nobility of the inland cities would consume them on laden tables, attended by servants and entertained by captive fae on iron chains. The sight of the weapon disgusted her but she hadn’t time to focus on that. He needed stitching up, and she was damned if she was going to let him die on her now.

It should have occurred to her that any ordinary human being would never have survived such injuries, but Ellen was so focused on the immediate task of saving his life that the thought never crossed her racing mind.

When she could do no more for him, she leaned back, exhausted, and glanced to her right and saw that the tide was creeping back in towards the wide, sandy cove.

“How the hell am I going to get you up the cliff?” she mused aloud, stroking his long hair back from his beautiful face; the long strands were encrusted here and there with salt and she picked them loose while she mulled it over. He looked tired and strained, with dark circles under his eyes, and he looked more than a bit undernourished, but he was undeniably beautiful. Ellen removed her thick woollen cloak and laid it over his slender shoulders, spreading it down his back to try and keep him warm and give him a bit of dignity for the time being.

As if summoned back to consciousness by her touch, his eyelids fluttered, long lashes dancing like butterfly wings on his pale, bruised-looking skin. He looked up at her from where he was still slumped over the smooth rock beneath him and tried to move.

“Shh, steady,” she smiled, easing back a little so that he didn’t have to strain himself to look up at her. “That was quite the injury… Don’t move too much just yet.”

“Where am I?” he croaked, his rough voice like a handful of grit in his mouth. “You’re… You’re…” but whatever he was going to say, he cut himself off and looked around apprehensively, his eyes wide with obvious horror.

“Easy,” she said, trying to reassure the strange man. “I’ll need you to move in a minute because the tide is coming in. Do you think you can stand?”

He took an experimental draw of his lungs, winced, but then nodded.

“I’ll help you.”

It took… a long time.

Even with his light frame, he was unsteady on his legs to the point that a newborn deer might have fared better than he did. She clasped her cloak around his throat with a beautiful silver brooch - the only treasure she’d really kept from her life in the city before moving here - and slid her arm around his torso. Together they staggered and slipped up the path to the hut, and it was testament to her skills as a physician, trained in the city with the finest doctors and surgeons, that he didn’t rip his stitches open again. The wound was bleeding through the bandages, but when she inspected it briefly after taking the cloak off him, she found that it was just weeping after the exertion.

Ellen then laid the stranger down in her bed and he slid into sleep in a single, harsh exhale.

Exhaustion washed through her like a riptide and she staggered slightly, suddenly dizzy and weak after the frantic rush of racing to save his life and hauling him up the cliff path to her home. She parked herself in the chair beside the cold fireplace and took a moment to steady herself. The day was heating up now, and she had chores to attend to. Taking a deep breath, she rallied her strength and said, “Well, those chickens won’t take care of themselves…”

The stranger slept for the rest of the day, though she continued to check up on him in between her jobs. After retrieving her basket of samphire from the grasping foam of the incoming tide, she fed and greeted her slightly disgruntled chickens and collected their eggs. That done, she set about drawing some water from the well she’d had sunk when she’d first moved in by two very friendly minotaurs who lived only a mile or so away.

By the time Ellen had caught up on the day’s chores, the sun was sinking low behind the wind-blasted trees atop the cliffs, and she had just begun to grill some fish for their evening meal when she heard a grunt behind her in the one-roomed hut. She’d thought about asking the minotaurs to help her extend the small building, but it hardly seemed necessary. Maybe one day, but for now, this was enough.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, lifting the fish away from the heat, and the man blinked, staring around at the hut with wide, fearful eyes. “It’s alright,” she smiled. “My name is Ellen. You’re safe here.”

He gasped softly as she spoke her name, but other than that, he barely reacted. He still looked too surprised to find himself in someone else’s house. She supposed that was natural.

“Listen, do you want something to eat? You should try and start to recover your strength…”

He looked warily at the grilled fish and the small, charcoal cooking fire in the corner of the room, but unmistakable interest flared in his dark eyes and he licked his lips almost unconsciously.

She returned her attention to the meal, not wanting to overwhelm him. When she turned back to him, she found that he was sitting up and was making no attempt to cover himself whatsoever. He just sat there, gazing around at her home as if he’d never seen anything like it before.

“It’s not much,” she said, blushing. “And I wasn’t exactly expecting guests when I found you this morning.”

“It’s nice,” he murmured. “You saved my life,” he added, lightly touching the bandages around his ribcage that held the dressing in place on his back. His fingers were delicate and they trembled slightly as he moved them along the fabric. “You asked no price,” he whispered.

“You’re a tough one, for sure. Just having someone get better is reward enough for me,” Ellen said with a cheery note to her voice. The truth rang through her words, and it seemed to shock the young man.

“You know your craft,” he said. “You have no magic.” The way he spoke in short, softly-articulated sentences seemed odd, but she shrugged.

“Very few of us physicians actually have magic these days,” she said. “I know what I know, and I do what I can.”

He stared at her intently, and it was almost unnerving. “You’re very kind.”

Ellen had to bite her lips together as the blush crept up further her cheeks. “As I said, I do what I can. Now, are you hungry?”

He shook his head, but in the end she managed to convince him to cover up, and to eat something by saying he’d undo all her good work if he starved to death.

Shortly after finishing, he lay back on the bed and was asleep in minutes. She hadn’t even managed to ask him his name.

Deciding not to risk waking him by clattering around any more, she stepped outside into the balmy evening and closed up the chicken coop for the night. The cat slunk out of the shadows of the herb garden and trotted boldly over to her, his one white sock flashing in the dim remnants of the daylight. He butted his head against her calf and meowed a soft greeting, so of course, she stooped to give him a cuddle.

Ellen had no intention of sharing her tiny cot with the naked stranger, so she drew some spare blankets out of a cupboard and laid them down on the floor beside the empty fireplace. It was warm enough that she didn’t need much covering, so she used most of them as padding to lie on, dragged a cushion from a nearby chair, and drew a simple sheet up over her body to keep the chill of the middle of the night from her skin. Sleep was a long time coming, and for at least an hour, she lay staring up at the figure of the sleeping stranger in her bed. It felt so odd to have someone else in the cabin with her, but despite his quirky behaviour, she didn’t feel threatened by him.

As dawn crept through the small windows of her modest hut, Ellen woke with a soft sigh. Sleeping on the floor was hardly comfortable, but she’d got a good enough night’s sleep, and she stretched before turning her gaze up to her bed where the young man lay.

Except that in his place was not the young man she had remembered from the night before.

Lying under the blankets, though with its torso half exposed, was something from a fairytale or perhaps even a nightmare. The creature that lay there had blueish-green skin and delicately webbed hands, each finger ending in a talon the colour of lapis lazuli. Its face was still vaguely humanoid, but its eyes were almond shaped and huge, resting closed in sleep, and its nose was flat with slit nostrils, and thin, dark blue lips were drawn shut in a tight line. It had no hair, and its ears were marked by a three-pointed fin. Atop its head was another fin, like a crest, and each one glimmered softly like the scales of a fish, first seeming green, then blue, then silver as she stared in horror at it.

Larger scales glimmered down its turquoise neck and the skin on its chest was a dusky blue highlighted with paler green. It would have been beautiful to behold had she not been so terrified. “Fae,” she hissed, staggering to her feet and reeling backwards.

The creature’s eyes opened in a flash and when it registered the revulsion and fear on her face, it raised its hand and inspected what it found, flexing its fingers and spreading the webbing that stretched between them. Turning its eyes back on Ellen, it opened its mouth and she saw a row of savage, pointed teeth.

“Oh gods protect me,” she hissed, snatching up the iron fire poker from its hook beside the grate and brandishing it like a rapier between them. Not that she had the faintest idea how to use a rapier.

The creature’s fin-like ears drew back and it hissed like a cat at the sight of the iron. “Please,” it rasped, and she recognised the voice of the man from the day before in the guttural speech she heard now. “You saved me. I will not harm you. I just… I couldn’t hold this form…”

“You’re a… a fae, aren’t you?” she snarled. “Gods, I can’t believe I let you in here. I can’t believe I…” the colour drained from her cheeks as she realised that she’d told her true name to this creature. “Oh gods.”

“Please,” he said, shuffling and wincing as he tried to sit up. “I swear by the magic in my blood, by my connection to the Fae Realm, by the water that is my home, that I will not harm you.” His voice was strange, as though his tongue had difficulties with human speech around the razor sharp row of teeth in his mouth. “I will leave, but… I… I’m not sure I have the strength to shift again so soon.”

Ellen scowled, confused.

With a sigh, the fae lifted the blankets and revealed that his lower half was a powerful, muscular tail; all glimmering scales and soft, delicate looking fin, though she noticed on closer inspection that each fin was tipped with a barb that reminded her of lion fish. Beautiful but deadly like all Fae…

“Please, let me rest a little while longer,” he said, his voice cracking with obvious fatigue. “Then I will return to the sea, and I will attempt to find the fissure between the veil. I will never trouble you again.”

“I told you my name,” she hissed.

“A gift I will treasure,” he said, “And a trust I will never betray.”

“The only way it’d be fair is if you told me yours in return,” she snarled, still clutching the iron fire poker. “And what the hell are you doing here in the Mortal Realm in the first place?”

His shoulders slackened a little and he tipped his head back against her pillow. “That’s a rather longer story than I have the strength for at the moment. I will tell you though, if you’d truly like to know.”

Ellen just stood there, her breathing fast and shallow, her heart hammering in her ears. A Fae, here, in her cottage. In her bed.

The closest she’d come to one was in the bustling city market where there had been one in an iron cage, but that one had been the size of a skinny child and had had wings like a dragonfly and skin like hoarfrost on glass. There was an eerie kind of beauty to the Fae lying in her bed, with his inhuman eyes, vaguely reminiscent of the deep sea fish that sometimes got tangled up in the fishermen’s nets, and the iridescent blues and greens of his scales were almost mesmerising. She had to shake herself. Everyone knew the stories: Fae would trick you into giving up your soul and leave you nothing but a husk; Fae would steal your name and compel you to come back to their home realm where they would do unspeakable things to you…

And here she was with one in her bed who knew her true name. “Fool,” she whispered to herself.

“If I tell you my name,” he said, surprising her, “Will you trust me?”

“Not a chance,” she said. “But it’d be a start.”

“Kaerio,” he murmured. “My True Name is Kaerio. As a Fae, I cannot lie; you know it to be truth.”

And she did. She felt the truth of it hit her in the chest like a physical blow. “Kaerio,” she murmured, turning the sound of it over on her tongue. He shuddered violently under the covers and she looked at him. “What…?”

He chuffed a laugh, raw and devoid of humour. “I never thought I’d ever hear a human call my name…” he said. “We have stories about you too, to frighten our children…”

“Yeah, well, I never imagined I’d have a damned fae in my bed,” she snapped. “I should have known you weren’t human! No one would survive an injury like that if they weren’t… you know… How did you come to have a hunting harpoon in your back anyway?”

Kaerio sighed deeply and rolled carefully onto his side. His fluke flopped off the end of the bed, spreading its full width and somehow looking like hot-folded iridescent glass. It was stunning and fascinating, and she found herself staring openly at it.

When she looked up at him, his glassy eyes were fixed on her face. He had no white sclera - his large, almond-shaped eyes were like polished jet, and just as hard and cold as he gazed unblinkingly at her. She flushed unexpectedly under his scrutiny and he offered a soft, closed-lipped smile before speaking. “There was an attack on the Court of Water,” he said slowly, his gruff voice deep and sonorous as the high tide against the cliffs.

“The Court of Water?” she asked.

He hummed softly as he nodded. “There are twelve Courts in the Fae Realm, each ruled over by a prince or princess of the lesser Fae…” he tilted his head curiously at her. “You know nothing of this?”

“Why would I? We’re not exactly taught the political structure of the Fae Realm at school. We’re taught to be afraid of your kind from birth.”

His grin was lopsided and showed too many teeth. “Likewise,” he snorted. “Well, there’s always been animosity between certain Courts. I serve in the guard of the princess of the Court of Water, and I am also a messenger of sorts. I carry messages from the House of the Sea to court, and do my prince and princess’ bidding whenever a message needs to be taken elsewhere in the Realm. Providing it is reached by waterways, of course,” he added with a shrug.

“I… I don’t fully understand,” Ellen said, and instead she asked, “But… how did you end up here?”

Kaerio sighed. “I was bringing a message from our princess to the Prince of the Winter Court. He has some sway with the Court of Fire, and it was believed that the attack came from them. She hoped that Prince Círdan would be able to convince Prince Jaehrin to call off the attack… I have to go back,” he said, his head drooping despondently. “I never made it to the Court of Winter and… I don’t know what things are like there. The castle could still be under attack… My people…” His voice broke and he bit back a choked sob.

“I’m not going to pretend to understand the politics of what’s going on here, but none of that tells me how you ended up in the Mortal Realm…”

He swallowed his hurt for a moment and looked directly at her. “There were fire-charges and spells raining down from the ships as they bombarded our defences. I dove deep to avoid them and must have found one of the tears in the veil between our realms. They exist all over the place, but most of them are guarded by waystones or some kind of sentry. This was just… there. I’d swum through it before I knew what had happened, and I needed to surface. When I did, there was a fishing boat nearby, and the next thing I know there are spears and bolts hissing down around me.” He shifted his ribs a little and said, “I took one in the back and I must have shifted in panic. I’m not really sure. I rarely use this form.”

“Why not?”

“There’s very little need for legs in my line of work,” he said wryly.

“What will you do now then?” she asked, realising with a jolt that she had lowered her arm and her grip on the fire poker had relaxed to the point that she was almost about to drop it. Taking a deep breath and deciding that while he had his tail he couldn’t exactly leap at her and disembowel her with his claws from where he lay, she set it back down and sank into a chair at a safe distance from him.

“I need to heal,” he said. “It shouldn’t take long, but in the Mortal Realm I’m cut off from the Fae magic, so I don’t know… I… If I were strong enough to swim down to the gateway I could go home.”

“You want me to check the wound then?” she asked.

Kaerio was surprisingly sheepish as he nodded.

“Keep those claws to yourself,” Ellen growled as she pushed herself upright and crossed to him. On the way, she grabbed a pair of scissors from a side table and he went rigid at the sight of them.

He fell completely still as she laid her hands on him, but a second later a shiver ran the length of his body and he gasped.

Pausing, Ellen asked, “Did I hurt you?”

With a shake of his head, he fell still again, jaw set grimly, watching her while she brought the scissors to the bandages. It was only as she realised that these ones were iron and not steel, that she faltered. If she didn’t touch his skin with them, he’d be alright, so she continued, being doubly careful this time, and when he was unwrapped, she set them back on the table, out of sight.

The relief that washed through him was tangible. “Sorry about that,” she said and he gasped as she laid her fingertips on his ribcage, inspecting the wound.

“Your hands are cold,” he half-giggled and half-gasped.

“Sorry.”

“Cold hands, warm heart,” he grinned. “At least, that’s what they say at home. Not sure if you have that saying here. Do you? Have it here, I mean?”

Ellen frowned and snorted at the same time. “Are you nervous, Kaerio?” she purred playfully, overcome with a sudden rush of confidence. Perhaps it was his unexpected burst of nerves that egged her on.

“No,” he blurted, turning his face away, his fin-like ears tucking flat against his head.

“Well,” she said, poking carefully at the edges of the puncture wound with her fingertips. “You’ve healed miraculously overnight. It seems that your abilities have come with you from the Fae Realm. I wouldn’t recommend fighting a war just yet, but you should be able to swim at least.”

His muscles went slack with relief and he reached tentatively for her hand. When she didn’t immediately recoil, he took her fingers gently in his and ran the pad of his thumb over her knuckles. “Thank you,” he said. “What can I offer you as repayment?”

“You healed,” she said, still not withdrawing her hand from his cool, polite grip. “I told you, that’s all I want from any patient. Especially from a Fae. I don’t want anything else from you.”

He nodded. “That… That is not… That would not normally be… enough…”

She rolled her eyes and stepped back. “I can’t vouch for how well it’d hold up to you changing your form though. And I can’t carry you down to the beach.”

“One more day,” he said, sounding oddly reluctant. “May I trespass on your hospitality and patience for one more day?”

In fact, he ended up staying for two more days. As much as her wariness was still very present, her curiosity about his world surged to the forefront and she found herself sitting in a chair beside the bed while he told her as much as he was able to about the Fae Realm where he lived.

“There are twelve Courts, as I said,” he explained as he rested his weight on one arm, still lying on his side amongst her sheets and blankets. Every now and again his tail would twitch animatedly, his fluke lifting slightly in the manner of someone drumming their fingers on a tabletop while talking. “There are the four Elemental Courts of Fire, Water, Earth, and Air, and each of them have their own noble houses - such as the one I serve, the House of the Sea. There are the Seasonal Courts of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, and then there are the Solar Courts of Dawn, Day, Twilight and Night.”

Ellen nodded but remained quiet.

“The territory and influence of each court varies hugely. We are all ruled over by the Seelie and the Unseelie Fae, but they trouble us very little. So long as what we do poses no threat to the fabric of the Fae Realm itself, then they let our Courts squabble as we please. Someone is always pushing for more power, more control… it’s…” he waved a taloned hand, the tiny scales on his fingers sparkling in the summer light that poured in through the open doorway and window in an attempt to cool the room a little, “… tedious…” he finished.

There seemed to be something more than what he told her, but she didn’t push it. “And… forgive me, but I’ve only ever seen perhaps one fae other than you… What… What do your kind look like?”

“As varied as there are fish in the sea,” he laughed. “The lesser royalty - the princes and princesses of our Courts - tend to look mostly human… ish… Some have wings like butterflies or moths, while others have bone structure that’s definitely not quite the same as humans, but for the most part, the royal ones are not like me at any rate. Us lower Fae, the kelpies and shrikes, tritons and wraiths, have more monstrous forms. Of course, it’s said that our dear royalty also have ‘other’ forms which they choose not to take very often…”

“Other forms?”

“Monstrous forms, but they pride themselves on their exquisite beauty… No one wants to serve a creature who is anything less than the epitome of perfection after all…”

Ellen scowled at that, but who was she to judge the beauty standards of another culture, let alone an entirely different realm?

She asked Kaerio questions until his voice was hoarse and she eventually realised how long she’d been making him talk. Embarrassed and chagrined, she offered him water and food, both of which he took more readily this time.

As she sat on the edge of the bed to offer him the plate of hot, steamed fish, he gazed up at her, his features considerably softer now.

“What?” she asked, irritated by how unusually flustered she was.

“I’ve never met a human before,” he said. “You’re very beautiful.”

Whatever she’d been expecting him to say, it hadn’t been that. “Oh.”

“Have I offended?” he asked, a playful note in his voice.

She cocked an eyebrow at him. “You know you haven't. But I am wary of the kinds of stories we’re told about you…”

“Oh?” he asked, pushing himself upright and leaning against the wooden headboard behind him before taking the bowl of food from her. His claws scraped slightly on her fingers as she passed it to him and she fought off a little shiver.

“Yeah,” Ellen muttered, standing up and smoothing out her skirt unnecessarily. “It’s said you’ll charm us into falling in love with you.”

He snorted. “Why would we do that?”

The question took her by surprise. “I have no idea. But whenever someone goes missing, especially in rural communities, it’s always assumed that the Fae took them… More likely the cold or a wild cat or something if you ask me,” she added. “But then again, here you are.”

“And am I making you fall in love with me?” he asked dryly. “Is my unusual body so enticing?” There was a nasty bitterness in his voice that made her brows knit together in a frown.

Instead of scoffing at him the way he obviously assumed she would, she said quietly, “I think you’re very beautiful too.”

Kaerio nearly choked on a mouthful of his lunch.

Satisfied, and a little bit embarrassed, Ellen beat a hasty retreat with the excuse that she should have let the chickens out by now.

When she returned, Kaerio was asleep again, the empty plate resting in his slack hands, and she took the chance to look at him properly. Yes, he was beautiful.

By the time he had recovered enough to shift again, she watched him do it with the fascination of a scientist. His tail split and with a horrible cracking of bone, he twitched and jerked, the scales melting into his pale skin until the figure of the man she had first found lay before her, sweaty and breathing hard and clutching his ribs with one hand. His wound - which was beyond the reach of his fingers - was clearly still painful, even if it had almost completely healed. Winded, Kaerio looked up at her bashfully and wheezed, “Isn't this a more attractive form for you?”

She shrugged. “I’m not going to lie, you’re very pretty like this, but I think I almost prefer to see you as you are. Besides, you’ve got more colour when you’re a triton. You look like a corpse with all that pale skin…” she grinned.

He laughed weakly and sat up.

“Also you have absolutely no modesty when you’re a human,” she added quickly, chucking her cloak at him to cover up his privates.

He grinned but dutifully covered himself and said, “You’re a doctor. There’s no shame in a naked body…”

“No,” she said, “But you’re no longer in need of my help. It’s indecent.”

He stood carefully, swaying a little as he struggled to find his balance. “Perhaps I do need your help still,” he said quietly.

Ellen rolled her eyes at him but didn’t refuse him her arm as she led him down the path towards the beach.

“I suppose this is goodbye,” she said as she stood there at the tide line. Each stroke of the sea against the beach felt like claws reaching to drag him away and she couldn’t explain the lump she felt in her throat.

Kaerio read her expression clearly and stepped close. He brought his hand to her jaw and cupped her cheek, thumbing gently at her cheekbones as her eyes sparkled with unexpected tears. “What is it?” he asked. “What’s wrong? I thought you’d be pleased to see me gone…”

Ellen found herself shaking her head, her hair falling loose around her shoulders, tugged free by the stiff sea breeze. “I’ve… I’ve been alone here since I left the city…” she said. “I can’t believe I found…” Found what? Friendship? Companionship? “Found… whatever this has been… with one of the Fae…”

That seemed to surprise him. “I never asked you about your life,” he said, shame ringing through his words like a temple bell. “All I’ve done is talk about myself for two days…”

She smiled weakly. “I asked you, remember? I made you talk yourself hoarse with stories of your homeland…”

“I could try and come back,” he suggested and her heart leapt unbidden to her throat.

“It’s too dangerous, surely?” she said without conviction.

Kaerio’s dark eyes - seemingly human but with a strange depth to them that spoke of the fathomless depths of the sea - bore into her. “I think…” he said carefully, as if hardly daring to believe what he was saying, “I think it is you who has bewitched a Fae, human, and not the other way around. For you, I would risk returning. If you wish it of me.”

“Yes,” she breathed, trembling all over, and not from the wind.

“Then as soon as I have done my duty and delivered the message to Prince Círdan, I will return to you. I swear it. As my True Name is Kaerio, I swear to you that I will return to you.”

Something snapped in the air between the two of them and she gasped. The word of a Fae once given was a powerful thing. She nodded. “Be safe.”

He traced another arc across her cheek once more and unclasped her cloak. As he laid it across her outstretched arm, he bowed his head and kissed her hand.

Watching him walk into the waves wrenched strangely at her heart and she drew the cloak to her nose, inhaling the scent of him as he abandoned his human form, becoming little more than a ripple of green and blue amongst the shifting hues of the water. A second later his head cleared the surface again and he waved once at her before disappearing in a flash of sparkling light and a slap of his fluke.

Just when she’d begun to think he wouldn’t return, as she quilted a new blanket together by the light of the fire and in the middle of the worst summer storm she’d yet weathered in her little hut, barely protected by the twisted broom trees that clung to the edges of the cliff, someone pounded on her door.

Ellen leapt from the fireplace in alarm and flung open the door to a face full of rain and wind. Standing there, shivering and completely naked, was Kaerio.

She gasped his name and ushered him inside. “What the hell are you doing here in all this weather?” she chided him, steering him towards the fire and scrambling to fetch a towel to dry him off.

His teeth were chattering so badly he couldn’t respond immediately and she pressed a mug of hot tea into his frozen fingers a moment later. While he was simultaneously thawing out and drying off, she fished out a pair of old work trousers that she thought might fit him, even if they would be a little on the short side, and a linen shirt and round-necked, woollen pullover. Once he’d stuffed himself into them, and a pair of socks with which he seemed completely fascinated, he grinned up at her.

“Better?”

“Infinitely. How are you?”

“Apart from being startled out of my wits by the sudden re-appearance of a certain Fae in the middle of a ferocious storm? Fine,” she laughed, and was answered with a white-toothed smile.

“I’m glad,” he said, turning his attention to the steaming tea in his hands. “I thought of you often.”

“You’ve been gone two weeks,” she said. “I thought you weren’t coming back. What on earth possessed you to return tonight of all nights?”

“It’s the first chance I’ve had,” he shrugged. “And the weather wasn’t so bad on our side of the veil…” He looked up at her with his unnaturally dark eyes alight with concern. “Are the storms always this bad here?”

She shrugged and threw another log on the fire before drawing up a chair beside him. The firelight gilded his pale cheeks beautifully, and while he was hauntingly attractive in this form, she found she missed his even stranger triton form. “Some are. This isn’t unusual for this time of year. How did your wound heal, by the way?”

“Beautifully,” he said, rolling his shoulder and stretching out his previously-injured side as if to demonstrate. “It aches a bit sometimes, but it makes me think of you and your touch, so I don’t mind.” His paper-white cheeks flushed dark at that, and she laughed.

“I missed you too,” Ellen admitted.

They shared a bed that night, though he kept his touches chaste, limiting himself merely to holding her as the rain lashed the cabin.

When they woke in the morning, he had managed to remain in his human form and they walked along the beach together, picking up strange bits of debris that the storm had flung onto the sand. He found her a shell that she’d never seen before and told her that it was from the Fae Realm.

“When we get home I’ll drill a hole in it and hang it up,” she smiled, taking the clam-like lid of the shell from him and turning it in the light to make it glimmer like a pearl.

“They’re said to bring luck and love,” he commented.

She shot him a look and said, “Well, you came first but perhaps it’s a confirmation from the universe…”

Again, his cheeks flushed and he looked away.

“Am I wrong?”

His hands strayed to her hips and he made her halt, gazing at her with those deep eyes. “I shouldn’t do this,” he said.

“Do what?”

“Court you, fall for you… It’s… It’s madness. But… I cannot deny my feelings for you. You are a magnificent woman, Ellen. You’re smart and talented and I cherish the memories of our conversations, few as they may have been in number so far.”

Her heartbeat hammered against her ear drums and she licked her lips nervously. “So far?” she asked, staring up at him through her lashes.

Kaerio nodded. “I… I hope to return… The conflict at home has passed, much as the storm from last night has eased. The Court of Fire has agreed not to launch any more attacks on us, and in return we have agreed to allow them passage across the widest river in our kingdom. There’s a small finger of our land that extends along their territory, and they wish access to the river… Our princess agreed to let them use our ferries, but not to build the bridge they requested.”

“Is that going to be enough for them?” she asked apprehensively, very aware of his palms on her hips still.

“It’s… For now, it’s enough.” He tilted her chin up with a delicate touch of his curled fingers. “And if you will allow me, I would like to return to you more frequently.”

With a smile, she accepted.

By the end of the summer, as the autumn sea mists rolled in and choked the land in drenching fog that chilled her to the bone for days at a time, she had spent many an afternoon on the sands with him, both in his triton form and his human, though mostly in his triton to save him the effort and pain of shifting.

“You’re sure you don’t mind?” he’d asked on one particular occasion as she lay in his arms while he trailed his claws through her hair.

She replied by pressing her hand flat against his stomach and stroking the smooth scales there with fascination and affection. “You’re beautiful. Why would I mind?”

He’d smiled and kissed her head, and had remained as he was.

The winter weather made their visits harder. Shivering and soaked, he would stagger up the path to the hilltop and she would welcome him inside, but it was impractical to say the least.

“Kaerio, you can’t keep doing this to yourself,” she said as snow fell thick outside and chunks of ice floated like scum in the wide bay beyond. This time he’d arrived with a bleeding scalp from a chunk of debris in the stormy water and had needed patching up. “It’s… It’s taking a toll on you…”

The triton had embraced her, his human arms encircling her and holding her tight to him. “I can’t… not come and see you. I need you…” he said. “I… I’m bound to you, Ellen. I’m yours.”

Her heart clenched and she clutched at him. “Unless you take me to the Fae Realm forever, I -”

He cut her off by jerking backwards, eyes wide. “Ellen,” he breathed.

“What?”

“Do you make such a suggestion in earnest?” his gaze darted frantically between her eyes, searching her face for any artifice or deceit. When he found neither, he whispered, “You… You would really do that? Offer… that?”

“I can’t see another way to be with you,” she said. “I have no real ties here. There are other healers in the area, and… well… you said that humans are treated exceptionally well in the Court of Water. I could be free if I came to live with you…”

“You would give up all this? For me?” he whimpered, his eyes glazing with tears.

“Yes.”

Kaerio was clearly stunned, and made her promise to think it over. “I would have to make arrangements anyway,” he said. “I have a small cabin on the edge of the sea, though I don’t use it very often. It could be made habitable - comfortable - for you.” Excitement blazed in his eyes, and over the next three visits, all he could talk about was the advances he had made in preparing it for her.

Ellen, meanwhile, sold her chickens to a young man a few farms across who promised to look after them and asked no questions about why she wanted to sell them. She prepared her few meagre belongings and packed a large sack full of the clothes and items she wished to bring along. Kaerio had promised that she would be provided for there, so she packed only the things that meant the most to her.

Her triton went through the plan for getting her through the veil, how the magic would feel as it encased her and protected her from the water and the pressure, and how she would need to take it easy as she adapted to the Fae Realm. Just as Fae who slipped through the places where the barriers were frail found themselves unable to use their magic, weaker and more vulnerable to iron and rowan wood, so humans often felt dizzy and almost feverish in their first few days in the Fae Realm as ambient magic coursed through them and the strange, rich foods settled into their bodies.

Dancing with excitement on the shore, bag in hand, she waited for Kaerio on the day he had promised.

She waited while the sun climbed higher and the seagulls wheeled around her. The weather was freezing but bright; the winter day clear and still. The waves lapped gently at the sand, and all was perfect for a journey across the barrier.

She waited, fear fizzing away inside her, as the sun passed its zenith and began to sink down.

Tears came and went as she paced the shore, terrified that something had happened to him.

Eventually, near the deepening chill of sunset, a movement in the water caught her eye and she darted forwards, her thick leather boots splashing in the shallows. “Kae?”

The triton powered through the water and she crouched beside him as he hauled himself out of the reach of the waves, sending water splashing.

Ellen searched his body for sign of injury, but he seemed alright. “What happened? Where were you? I’ve been so worried.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, and at the sound of his voice she froze. His tone was cold. “You can’t come with me.”

She staggered, mind and body reeling. “What? But… we’ve been preparing for weeks… What’s changed?”

He shook his head and twitched his gaze back to the sea as if something might come boiling out of the waves after him like a kraken from the deep. “You can’t come with me, and…” he choked suddenly but forced himself to go on. “And I cannot come to see you again. You’ll be in danger if I do.”

Ellen’s whole world slid sideways and she crumpled softly onto her knees beside him, heedless of the water and the cold. “What?” she whispered. “No… No, Kae, I love you… We were going to… This… This can’t be happening.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, his words hollow. “You can’t come with me, and I don’t have long. I have to go.”

“No,” she cried, grasping for him. His skin was slippery from the water, like a landed fish straight from the ocean, and he rolled away from her, shuffling back into the water. “No! Kae, please! Tell me why! Please, just tell me… Tell me what I did wrong… You owe me that much.”

His fins were pinned back tightly against his body - a sure sign of his own distress - and he shook his head. “It isn’t you, Ellen,” he said. “I can’t explain it and I cannot lie, and I’m so sorry. It’s not worth the risk. I’m not worth the risk for you. I have to go. Do not try to follow,” he added when he caught the light in her eyes. “It’s too deep and you’ll die without my magic. Promise me…”

“I promise,” she repeated numbly. A larger wave washed up the beach and caressed her legs with its icy touch. She barely felt it.

“Ellen…” he crooned, pausing a little way off.

She didn’t hear him. Tears rolled down her cheeks, mingling with the salt water that swirled around her.

Kaerio crawled back up to her and laid his hand on her thigh. She stared at the paper-thin webbing that stretched between his fingers and hissed, “The stories were right after all. You were going to break my heart all along, weren’t you?”

His talons pricked her skin through her soaked trousers as his fingers clenched suddenly. “I’m sorry,” he said again but she gritted her teeth.

“Go,” she sobbed. “Go if it’s so important to you. Thank you for at least coming to tell me.”

The triton backed away into the water but lingered a little longer as she stumbled to her feet and dragged the canvas sack back up the beach. It felt like the weight of the whole world as she hauled it back up the cliff path. At the top of the winding route she paused and looked back just in time to see his fluke flash in the last of the daylight before she turned away. “Should have known better than to trust a Fae,” she spat in a bitter whisper.

The hut was dark and empty, like a shell stripped of life, an empty hive with no bees.

She would rebuild. She would survive the winter and she would put her promises of love to the Fae behind her. Sour thoughts swirled in her head that he’d never intended to take her with him after all, that he’d only wanted his summer fun with her and now that it was winter, he had moved on. She told herself this over and over until she believed it.

Seasons passed and though she looked out at the sea when she gathered the samphire and sea cabbage from the rocks and the shore, she never hoped to see him again and he never came back. A pod of migrating orca spouted spray into the air one calm evening and she half dared to hope that the movement was Kaerio, checking in on her, but they passed on their way north and left the cove still and silent, with only the gentle hush of the sea itself.

Months became years, and while she wrote to her family in the city, she never went back. Her niece came to visit one spring, which brought a much needed rush of life to the old place. Ellen had taken the minotaurs’ advice and extended the hut a little bit over the years, and she turned the spare room into a bedroom in anticipation of the girl’s arrival.

Yes, her joints ached a little more and she had to squint to read things clearly, but she felt invigorated by her lively niece’s presence. It was all going so well until that filthy reptilian Fae had shown up in almost the same state as her Kaerio had done on so many nights, cold and sluggish from the water and in need of some tenderness.

Everything inside her had screamed to chase the Fae away, to stake him with iron and throw him back into the sea where he could never hurt another again, but the laughter in her niece’s eyes at his jokes, the way Adan pitched in to help without expecting anything in return - unusual to say the least for a Fae - made her hesitate.

Between the two of them they even convinced her over time that perhaps things had ended wrongly with Kaerio, that the growing shadow in their land could have made him afraid for her, that perhaps he had done the only thing he could think of to make her stay away. She would never fully forgive him for not just telling her the truth, but she let her hardened heart soften a little at the cocky young Fae’s assurances that he would at least look for Kaerio when he went home.

“Aunt Ellen?” her niece asked as they stood in the doorway after waving Adan off that final time. “Are you alright?”

The reptilian Fae had strode off with the confidence and swagger of a young knight on a quest, and she had to smile. Ellen closed the door and sighed. “No,” she said. “It’s been forty or so years since I last saw Kaerio…”

Her beautiful niece smiled, hearing her unvoiced fears, and stepped close. “He’ll still love you,” she said. “And if he doesn’t, he doesn’t deserve your love in return.”

The fact that the girl had seen that Ellen had never stopped loving him moved her deeply. Perhaps she hadn’t even realised it herself until then. She smiled a watery smile and pulled the girl close and kissed her forehead. “You promise me you’ll be careful who you give your heart to, my darling?” she said, throat tight with emotion. “Even this Adan…”

She nodded and Ellen kissed her again before bustling about the hut, clearing up in the wake of their guest’s departure.

When her boots hit the sand that evening and she saw Adan standing there in the water with the figure of a human on his arm, her breath caught in her chest. His hair had turned silver-grey but it was still long - longer than ever now - and his eyes were still the same; still dark and still kind.

Ellen’s heart shattered.

Kaerio looked breathtakingly handsome. He had put on a bit of muscle and weight since she’d last seen him too, no longer the scrawny, half-starved young man he had been. His skin was also darker, as if he’d spent more time in the sun. There were scars on his cheek and neck, and as Adan fastened a cloak - which had been kept dry by magic, she supposed - about his shoulders her feet faltered and she just stood there, mute, afraid to go forward and afraid to go back. Kaerio brought a hand to cover his mouth and tears began to track down his cheeks at the sight of her.

With a gentle push at her back from the hand of her niece, she approached him.

Adan and her niece shared a look, but it was Kaerio who eventually broke the silence by chuckling, “I’m a bit shaky on my legs. It’s been decades since I’ve used them. Forgive me… Ellen…”

At the sound of her name, the spell broke and she fell forwards into his arms. Tears streamed down her cheeks as he caught her up in his embrace and kissed her.

“I’m so sorry,” he chanted against her lips, her cheeks, her neck. “I’m so sorry. I was so afraid for you and…”

“Shh,” she said, drawing back and stroking his own tears away with her thumbs. “Adan told me everything.” She knew about the shadow that had been growing in the Fae Realm, stealing souls and twisting them into vicious creatures that spread the darkness like a diseases. Humans, it seemed, were particularly vulnerable. “I know why you did it. Not that that makes it any easier, but… I understand now.”

“That little lizard,” Kaerio chuckled, shooting a look at the retreating backs of the other couple as they gave them some privacy for their reunion. “I nearly tore him to pieces when he came to my cabin babbling about some human woman…”

She managed a little laugh. “I’m glad you didn’t kill him,” she said. “My niece is rather fond of him for some reason…”

Suddenly breathless, Kaerio gasped, “I want to stay here. I… I’ve left everything behind. Will you let me stay?”

“Yes,” she gasped, clinging to him. The sea was in his hair, in the smell and the taste of his skin, but he was hers.

“I should have done that before,” he said. “I never should have tried to take you away from your world, and I was wrong to leave you the way I did. I’m so sorry, Ellen.”

“Come up to the house,” she said. As she thumbed the new scars on his face, she added, “And you can tell me the full story behind these scars.”

As they made their way up the path, she helped him when he stumbled, his legs shaky with disuse, and he laughed, blushing furiously.

Inside the stillness of her home, he looked around and said, “It’s hardly changed…”

“I might have changed,” she laughed, eyeing the matching creases around his eyes too, “But no, this place hasn’t changed much.”

Kaerio went suddenly still, his eyes fixed on the beam above her bed. “You kept it,” he breathed and she didn’t need to turn and follow his gaze to know that he was staring at the shell they had found on the beach.

“For luck and love, huh?” she said, taking his hand and letting him squeeze her fingers tightly.

“Luck and love,” he murmured, turning to face her with a smile in his dark eyes.

—

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whenimaunicorn · 4 years

Text

Nothing Good Comes After Midnight

Fandom: Wynonna Earp Characters: Bobo Del Rey, Original Female Character Rating: Explicit, please don’t read if you’re not 18+ Words: 2909

I didn’t have an exit strategy. In fact, as I stared back into his heavy gaze, I realized that I didn’t particularly want one. Wynonna thought that she could just ditch me for an idiot guy tonight… well I found my own idiot. Without breaking eye contact, I lifted the straw in my drink up to my mouth and took a good long sip while starting to ride Bobo’s lap to the beat.

Full Fic:

Fuck Purgatory and their not-having an open container law. I would have left, after realizing my friend had just ditched me to go home with her ex while I was in the bathroom, but I had ordered one more expensive cocktail before I checked my phone and got her drunken message. While I was pissed to be left alone at the bar, there was no way I was leaving without drinking what I’d paid for.

But I could feel the sharks circling in the water behind me. It was late enough in the night that any young woman alone on a barstool was gonna get mobbed. The first two guys buzzed off fairly easily after I straight-up growled at them, and then the front door slammed open.

There was something familiar about the scruffy, biker-looking guys that strutted in. Their eyes raked over the whole place, seeming unimpressed with all of us. I definitely knew the guy that walked in after them. Bobo Del Rey, the most fearsome revenant around. He was basically my friend Wynonna’s arch-enemy. There was no mistaking that thick, mohawk-cut hair, those steely eyes, the hulking presence. Did I say arch-enemy? More like arch-hottie.

And he saw me. His goons had failed to remember me and my associations, but the boss-man didn’t miss anything. He gave me a glare that could have meant any number of things, then walked with his crew over to an empty table at the back.

I thought that sense of ‘blood in the water’ was strong before. The back of my neck practically prickled now, though every time I turned to look over at Bobo, he wasn’t paying any particular attention to me at all. One of his boys had grabbed a bucket of beers and they were all just kind of sitting around. Creepy.

He was throwing me off my carefully composed “back the fuck off before I get stabby-stabby” vibes, too. Some sloppily-dressed man with an unkempt ponytail was sprawled over the barstool next to me, babbling and thinking he was getting somewhere.

“It’s a real anaconda, baby, you gotta come back to my place and see it,” he slurred into my ear. I wasn’t sure if he was talking about his dick or an actual snake; I had definitely not been paying any attention to him.

When he finally began to comprehend my lack of interest, he got mean. “What, you think you can do better than me tonight? You can’t be waiting for someone.”

My eyes slipped over to Bobo’s corner, involuntarily.

“Him?”

Something snapped inside me at his tone. “You know what? Yeah. Him.” I snatched my drink off the counter, still mostly full thanks to everyone’s inability to leave me alone and let me fucking enjoy it, and started stalking right over toward the gang of revenants.

Bobo’s eyes tracked me as I strode across the room. The jukebox was playing a wild woman anthem, the beat bold and infectious, and it put some swing into my hips. I let it. Didn’t I deserve to have some kind of fun tonight? Maybe make a bad decision too?

One of Bobo’s thugs made an aggressive posture at my approach, starting to stand, but the boss stilled him with a hand. They knew I was part of Wynonna’s crew. But as I had hoped, tonight Mr. Del Rey didn’t seem to care. He stared at me from under heavy brows and waved me on to approach him with a sharp flick of his wrist.

There were no seats left empty at his table, so I had to ask. “Can I sit with you?”

Bobo looked me up and down, with a sly little twist to his lip. “Maybe if you sit on my dick,” he growled.

Another bubble of irritated energy popped inside me. I stepped right up to him and swung my leg over his lap before my better self could catch up. And by then, I was committed. Bobo’s notched brows climbed to his hairline as I plopped down straddling his hips. I’d call his fucking bluff. I ground myself against his crotch in tight, exaggerated circles. “Oh yeah? Where is it? Can’t seem to find anything.”

Bobo snarled. His hands came down on both my hips, fingers curling hard. But instead of throwing me off, he took control of my movements and rocked me against him a few times more, slower and more in time to the music. “Keep moving like that, darlin’, and it’ll hit you.”

His pupils dilated as he watched me, as he felt me. His fingers slid slowly along my rocking hips. I tried to play it cool, sipping on my drink and glancing around the room, a little overwhelmed by the sizzle in his gaze. That, and the heat building up between my own legs. I’m not ashamed to say that when my clit rubbed up against some stiff fold in his pants I repeated the angle, working myself up even as I felt something start to poke against my inner thigh.

“Last call!” a gruff voice shouted over the noise of the bar. “Last call for alcohol.”

Bobo’s smile turned conspiratorial, then he looked past me. “How about a round of shots, Lou.” One of the thugs got up and pushed his way up to the suddenly-crowded bar.

“So, Y/N. You’ve certainly got my attention.” He shifted underneath me, and with a quick swipe of his hand the hard line that had been forming along Bobo’s thigh was moved to a more central location. With his grip on my hips he coaxed me to settle back down over it. I was glad I had chosen such thin pants to wear out tonight; I could feel every inch of him against my whole slit now, and goddamn did it feel good. “So, what’s your plan.”

“Hm?” I gave him a questioning look.

“Your little crew is always up to something.” He leaned his forehead in closer to my own, looking hard even though his fingers were playful along the hem of my shirt. “Is this the newest attempt to pump ol’ Bobo for information?”

A grin cracked my face. “Play your cards right, and I’ll be pumping you for something,” I cackled. Just couldn’t resist that opening. The laugh turned to a nervous giggle as Bobo’s face remained stoic. “No,” I amended swiftly, “nothing like that.”

“Good, because I don’t appreciate tricks.”

I leaned in, the spiking sense of danger only adding spice to the erotic charge in this corner of the bar. “I’m just a girl having a bad night, trying to figure out how to make it a little bit better.”

Bobo’s smile was slow and thick. “Mmm,” he purred as he brushed his nose along my cheek, “I can think of a few things that might help with that.”

I tilted my chin and that was all the invitation he needed to press his lips into mine. His beard was softer than I expected, sliding across my cheek before his tongue parted my lips. Bobo tasted like dark chocolate, charcoal, and mistakes that still feel kind of worth it in the morning. One of his hands spread across the back of my neck, holding me close, while the other slipped underneath my shirt. I responded by popping open the button on his jeans.

When the bartender says ‘last call,’ you don’t waste time.

The bottom of my shirt was shoved up over my tits when Lou came back with the shots. Bobo’s fingers were playing with the scalloped lace of my plunge-line bra. I tried to cover back up before turning to accept my shot glass, but Bobo’s hands curled over my own. “Let the boys have a little show,” he rumbled.

My nipples hardened at the dirty glory of the idea. I leaned back from my position on Bobo’s lap, letting my smile hang wide and sloppy as I twisted with my rack hanging out of my shirt and reached out for my drink.

Lou’s eyes were hungry. So were the rest of the boys, grinning like circling sharks as they watched the debauchery playing out in their boss’s lap. It was equal parts hot and frightening.

“Bottoms up,” Bobo said, drawing my attention back to him. The amber liquid flowed easily down my throat; it was shitty whiskey but when you hang out with Wynonna you kind of become a pro at knocking back cheap shots. Bobo’s lips were wet and I leaned in to lick the last of the burning liquor off of them.

The friction between our hips was getting unbearable, and between the gaze of ‘the boys’ and the fresh alcohol tingling through my limbs, I was dying to move. “Let’s go somewhere more private,” I purred into Bobo’s ear, then nipped his earlobe for good measure. We couldn’t do much more than we already had without getting kicked out of the bar, anyway.

“You got it, darlin’,” he drawled, and then seized the bottom of my ass with both hands. I felt his muscles clench gloriously between my thighs and then he was standing, with me still wrapped around his waist and squealing in delight. “Excuse me boys, I’ve gotta step out and take care of something.”

We made it halfway down the alley at the side of the building before Bobo pressed me into the wall and started assaulting my mouth and neck again. I felt the press of his erection under my suspended thighs and this time I regretted the choice of pants, rather than a skirt. How glorious it would have felt if he could just sink in to me right the fuck now.

He pawed at the barrier between us, as much as he could while still holding me up off the ground, and then made a frustrated groan. He put me down and before I could even get my balance, turned me to face the wall. One big hand slid down inside my pants, cupping my ass, fingers questing deeper between my legs. “You want me right now?” he all but snarled.

“Fuuuck,” I hissed as his fingertips pressed between my slick inner labia. He made a wordless noise with a similar tone as he played with the wetness I had ready for him there.

Two fingers found their way deeper, penetrating into needy flesh and making it hard for me to remember language was a thing that I could use to answer his question. I pressed myself over his hand and moaned, my own palms pressed against the cold concrete of the wall just so I could keep my balance. “Yeah.”

Bobo finger-fucked me a little harder, then slowed. “Yeah, what?” He nipped at my ear and I could see the flash of white teeth set in a smirk in the moonlight.

I squirmed over his hand. “Yeah, I want you.”

He loomed over me even more. “Want me to what.” His fingers pistoned and I let myself moan like a whore, egging him on.

“Want you to fuck me, Bobo Del Rey.”

“Good girl.” He wrenched my pants down past my knees, bit the side of my ass hard while he was down there, and got his erection of out of his pants faster than I would have thought possible. The line of his body came to cover mine against the wall, and he nipped the back of my neck like a dominant animal while he lined his hardness up against my cunt.

Bobo was thick enough that he didn’t exactly slide in easy. He kicked my feet apart, as wide as they could go with my pants still around my ankles, and pressed me to bend over until I was presented to him properly. Then he worked himself in, every inch a delicious stretch that overwhelmed the rest of my senses. “Fuck, Bobo!” I squealed.

His big hand clamped over my mouth.

“Don’t call attention,” he growled, and kept his hand there to muffle my screams as he rutted into me faster, more thoroughly. It was all I could do to press my hands into the wall against his pressure and try to keep my cheek from slamming into it as he fucked me within an inch of my life.

He could hear just enough of my whimpering cries under his smothering palm to notice when I was getting close to coming. I needed only a little something more to get there.

He let up the intensity just a fraction, so he could take his hand off my mouth. “Stay quiet now, baby girl,” he said, and reached down to find my clitoris.

It was clumsy, but it was all that I really needed. I swallowed a moan or two as he resumed the punishing pace with his cock, now driving my hips into the counterpressure of his strong fingers on that magic button. My orgasm boiled up fast and hard and I held my breath for the entire duration, not trusting myself not to scream at the joy of it.

I went a little limp when it was over, gulping in air with ragged breaths while Bobo continued to rut into me. The aftershocks were making my whole body sizzle. With a sudden hiss, the villain pulled out and pushed me down to my knees.

I turned willingly enough, sure that I knew what he was after. The discomfort of bare knees on the alley pavement only added a little submissive spice to the experience. Bobo had his cock in hand, pointed right between my eyes, and I knew I only had a moment to make my play.

I figured Bobo was like most guys, eager to blast me in the face like this was a porn video. But slutty as I am, I draw the line at calling a cab at the end of the night with cum still stuck in my hair. Just as he seemed ready to blow, I wrapped my hand around his shaft and made his fat head disappear in my mouth.

Bobo made a noise that was both surprised and pleased, and in just three eager, wholehearted sucks I had him groaning through his teeth as his cock jumped and sprayed against the roof of my mouth. I held him there even when it was done, all the way through his spasming, trembling finish. I always loved this moment, knowing I’d brought a powerful man to ‘the little death,’ and for this instant in time, at least, he was putty in my hands.

When he started to pull himself out of my mouth I pursed my lips, sucking him clean and making sure no stray drops were going to dribble out and mess up my shirt. I was still holding his cum in my mouth, as was my habit, ready to spit it out as soon as the way was clear.

But the demon was paying attention. His palm pressed over my lips, fingers wrapping around my jaw. “You’re going to swallow it,” he ordered. That little spike of humiliation was like icing on the cake of this whole wild evening. I looked Bobo right in the eyes and made a big show of gulping his seed down. His answering smile made it worth it too, that smug, masculine look guys get when they feel like their cum went into places they could be proud of.

Then, in a surprisingly gentlemanly gesture, he helped me to my feet.

I almost regretted putting my pants back on. If we had been in a more comfortable location, that last little exchange would have inspired me to get started on a round two. At least to convince him to eat me out. But looking up at Bobo’s wild and imposing silhouette in this moonlit alley, I didn’t think it was a good time to press my luck.

His hand was kneading the back of my neck softly as I re-dressed beside him. Awareness of my surroundings returning, I felt my guard coming back up. Most likely I was about to regret all of this, no matter how blazing hot the encounter had been; better not to drag it out. I stepped out from under his hand, avoiding his eyes and moving toward the main street.

“Can I call on you some time?” Bobo asked, surprising me again with his softness. But plenty of tough guys got that way, after.

I looked up at him with a cold smirk that would have made Wynonna proud. “Oh no, we are definitely chalking this one up to temporary insanity.”

He stiffened, eyes narrowing. “Back to enemies again, in the morning?”

I nodded. “Couldn’t be any other way.”

He cocked his head to the side, the lines of his mohawk amplifying the wild effect of the gesture. He glanced quickly at the sky. “Got a few hours left before daylight, then. Wanna make the most of it, come back with me to my trailer?”

More Bobo here

Taglist: @allsharingonebreath, @demoncrypt1066, @writingfromasgard, @that-was-not-supposed-to-happen, @peachieowl @savismith @ceridwenofwales @equalstrashflavoredtrash @ivarinleatherpants

#enemies to lovers #bobo del rey #bobo smut #bobo x ofc #bobo imagine

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operationoverdrive · 6 years

Text

power morphicon diary (2018)

twitter thread with pics and such ✨✨✨

now to recap the greatest weekend of my life:

brennan mejia (tyer, dino charge red)

the first ranger i met, his line was always really long i love my relevant king. i was shaking and speechless pearl had to speak for me, she told him i loved all latinx rangers and he said “good!”. he told us everyone got to keep 8 items from the set and he kept his energem, tyler’s boots, his dad’s bracelet, tyler’s red puffy vest (for me ofc), and other stuff idr because he was so beautiful i was physically unable to breathe.

later kat was reminiscing and said “i can’t believe azim had a mental breakdown because of us” and we turned the corner and a voice said “azim had a mental breakdown” GUESS WHO IT WAS! we all screamed, kat ran back around the corner but we all did end up in the elevator together and he was very chill even tho we were all wrecks

selwyn ward (tj, turbo red/in space blue)

idr planning to get a pic with selwyn but he has a magnetic forcefield that draws people to him and no one was in his line so he talked to us for a while and asked if we preferred turbo or space and which episode was our fave and he actually remembered the plot of mine (the curve ball). he was tight-lipped when we asked if he was in the anniversary even tho we pointed out a pic of him and chrysti was posted (BY HIM), it was so adorable he was squirming so much.

later we saw him while waiting for our car and we SCREAMED and he rushed right over and gave us all hugs and told us to make sure to come see him (he corrected himself when he saw pearl and remembered we’d already been)

brandon jay mclaren (jack, spd red)

i asked him to sign a marriage license and he almost died laughing, he was so happy. fyi he has never been proposed to by a fan before so @everyone in the world i need you to step it the fuck up

jorge vargas / adam tuominen (blake and hunter, ninja storm navy and crimson)

my first sighting of them was while we were waiting for our tickets and they were going to check in, as soon as i recognized jorge i screamed my lungs out and he was utterly bewildered but he waved while adam was living for it. everyone around me looked at me like we did NOT just see the actors of our generation and i chastised them all for failing at life. when they came back around jorge had his phone out to film the crowd and i screamed even louder and he waved really big and BLEW A KISS IN MY DIRECTION AND I ASCENDED TO HEAVEN

when i finally was able to meet them to take pics pearl had to drag me over and she immediately let jorge know i was his biggest fan and was the girl who shrieked every time she saw him. he came right around and gave me a big hug!!!! i couldn’t really talk to him for long nor do i remember what we talked about because i mean how do you hold yourself together in front of someone that means so much to you??? YOU DON’T THAT’S HOW!

it was easier to talk to adam bc i could actually remember how to breathe. he told us jorge was the second oldest in the cast even tho he was supposed to be hunter’s baby brother so it was a strange contradiction but he loved playing an older brother. he said he and jorge hung out just the two of them alot to strengthen their bond (i asked if they got drunk together and he laughed and said “well i wasn’t gonna say it but yes”. i told him hunter was a pink ranger and he laughed and said “Yea first male pink ranger!!!”

i saw them again when we were in line for the atm and this time they definitely recognized me and waved really big i love those thunder punks

megaforce panel

this was the only panel i went to bc pr fans don’t know how to act so they’re all boring or frustrating but thankfully the megacast is charming as hell and made every second entertaining and engaging

andrew and christina were late but when christina walked in i guess we screamed really loud because when she asked if we missed her john mark said “yes the christina masterson fan club is right there” and pointed to our group in the crowd

some fan asked them about the vrak is back two parter and the entire cast was like scrambling to remember if that was even an episode of their series, azim started talking about fight scenes and crates and confused vrak with vekar so i decided to yell that its the episode where robo knight dies and cameron was like “that must’ve been an episode my morpher was coincidentally turned off” and i was like “no you dummy you were kidnapped! orion was sleeping beauty!!” and he cracked up. john mark told me to calm down.

i asked christina if she prepared or studied anything about photography since emma is very passionate about it and she said her boyfriend at the time was a photographer and she was a model so she knew some basics and became a photographer herself

tracy lynn cruz (ashley, turbo/in space yellow)

even tho we were second in line we had to wait FOREVER bc some dude kept asking her about monsters. we ended up talking to her son who was helping with her booth and he was really nice! her husband was also there and wearing her merch it was so cute! i told tracy she needed to start a fashion line based on ashley’s wardrobe and when i almost forgot my debit card she told me “oh wait i can use this to start my fashion business”

davi santos (ivan, dino charge gold)

quite possible my favorite interaction of the entire con??? we approached him right as he arrived so we were the first to meet him! pearl and i were basically gushing as soon as we made it to the table and he was so confused bc we kept talking at the same time. i congratulated him on the new show and he said he hopes we all enjoy it. his booth was so cute, he was selling energems but the signs specifically said “zandarian energems” and his sign advertising his social media said “thine twitter, thine instagram, thine facebook” bc he’s a fucking NERD. he let me wear his jacket which was real and from the show, specifically from the episode sync or swim where they made a bunch of replica’s bc of the scene where they have to ruin it. he also kept his glasses on bc i asked him if we could be glasses twins and did ivan’s famed duck mouth selfie with me. then he hugged me and i died

azim rizk (jake, megaforce black/super mega green)

he recognized us as soon as we approached his booth and said he noticed our little “cluster” because we were so loud at the panel dkhgfmdg. he was literally the easiest person to talk to i could’ve spent all day talking about megaforce and how much i love it with just him. he was selling jake pins for FIVE DOLLARS and i told him to raise his prices bc he is hashtag worth it and also to make jake hoodies (he was wearing his one from the show!) and sell them and we would all be his investors. we were holding each other for the pic and he looked right at me and his face was really close so i screamed “omhy god don’t look at me” and he was like “oh sorry” so yea gia moran found dead in a ditch

the second time we saw him pearl recapped here

at one point when we were chilling behind his booth cameron was like ??? and i was like “we’re his security team please don’t look him directly in the eye” and he laughed. azim literally could not stop hugging us he was so cuddly and soft!!!!!!! he also told us he brought his spandex with him and if it would be Too Much if he put them on and were like no bitch that would be the best thing ever why is no one else doing it, but then i called him a nerd when he actually ended up wearing it just bc we told him too and he was like “Yes.”

christina The Main Event masterson (emma, megaforce/super mega pink)

my darling my angel my being of light the sweetest human to ever live, she was so kind and easygoing but the first time i met her i could not speak. the first time my brain turned to slime so i think all i told her was that emma was my favorite ranger of all time and i loved her so much and pearl brought up all the times emma kicked ass and i think i interjected with “the halloween baking episode!” and she said she didn’t like that episode bc emma didn’t get to dress up. pearl asked what emma would’ve been and she said a monarch butterfly we stan an intellectual

i took a second pic with her bc i am That Emma Stan aka i bought a child-sized megaforce pink t-shirt and squeezed into it just for the aesthetic. i was better about speaking this time and told her i loved her syfy movies truth or dare but how dare she make me watch her awful death scene, she told me her dad also hated that scene but we talked about how we loved that her character chose to take her destiny into her own hands. when i brought up zombie shark she cringed a little but i told her i thought it was a fun movie and she said she loved playing a shark. i asked if she got tips from john mark since he’s a shark ranger and she said “as if”, she and ciara had also commandeered all the boys’ helmets for some reason it was adorable. i told her the girls rightfully owned them anyway and she smiled. they were so many babies in line for the girls and they kept calling them by their character names it was the most heartwarming thing ever to hear a small child squeak out “hey gia!” I LVOE POWER RANGERS MEGAFROCE

hector david jr. (mike, samurai green)

first saw him at the valet and kat is the one who pointed him out like “He....” and we all started screaming and as he gains life from such activities he immediately rushed over and gave us all a huge group hug bc he is an angel sent from heaven

he was announced like one hour before the con so they literally just shoved him into najee’s booth it was so funny bc all the merch was blue ranger (i got a kevin t-shirt!) and hector’s one green ranger helmet. i told hector to sell me the shirt off his back and he said he’d think about it since it matched my outfit kdnhnkd. he kept doing flips and jumping over the table bc he’s part grasshopper i guess. when kat took her picture we had to wait while he did a flip and kat asked najee what was up with him and najee was like “thats just hector” lmao. i asked hector why he and brittany were the only rangers that didn’t get an intro scene where their helmets flashed and he said it all just boiled down to the writing but that we haven’t seen the last of mike and he wants to come as a villain so i’m like 👀🔍📝 noted. when we took our pic i l layed my head on his shoulder and he said “my prom date right here” and morphicon became little mix’s love me like you mv as he also agreed to be ben’s prom date i love hector david jr with all my heart. again SO MANY BABIES IN LINE FOR THE SAMURAI RANGERS!!! the kid ahead of us asked if the samurizer that najee had was real or was it a toy CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE

anna hutchison (lily, jungle fury yellow)

while in line for the atm we saw her entering and i screamed “we love you anna!” and she waved and smiled at us she’s so ethereal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! kat and i were the first (paying) people in line, she had lily figurines all over her table i love jungle fury’s number one stan. she is literally the sweetest person ever and so engaging. kat told her it was an absolute power move that she wore red instead of yellow and anna said she did it so she could lead the morph for once, i told her that lily could absolutely lead in yellow just fine and she laughed and agreed. when we were taking our pic kat mentioned how i didn’t like how some of my previous pics had turned out and anna said she’d wait until i signed off on them and we could retake them if i didn’t like them QUEEN OF CHARITY!! her handler was...really bad and the pics came out all shaky as soon as we saw them she and i exchanged looks and anna was like “uh yeah let’s try again” i still didn’t like how they came out but i stayed quiet the second time bc i was grateful enough to be in the presence of a literal heavenly being. she asked what other parts of the convention we were looking forward too and i told her she was the main event because we had been waiting for her all day and she hugged me!!! blonde yellow rangers respect ur leader

andrew gray (troy, megaforce/super mega red)

this man printed out an article that explained why super megaforce was the strongest team in power rangers history and cited it during the panel fuck everyone else i RESPECT HIM. when we came up to his booth i picked up the article and said he should have it on display and he told me i could keep the paper copy because he had A PRESERVED DISPLAY COPY ANDREW LOVES MEGAFORCE MORE THAN ANYONE. he was also the epitome of beauty and has the most intense nature about him so it was hard to think of things to say. i just told him i loved troy and he said “that’s cool man”, a chill legend. when we did our photo op he kept trying to talk to us and asked to see how the pic turned out a few times but my mouth just could not form words around him, years of academy training wasted.

katrina browne / katrina devine (marah and kapri, ninja storm)

literally the most excited and affectionate ladies at the con they were so happy to talk to people i told them that marah and kapri were the greatest villainesses of all time. they were so adorable and didn’t know what i was talking about when i said “let’s do the charlie’s angels pose!” so i had to show them. it was their first con and i asked them to please come back and they said it was so much fun so they really wanted to!

jack guzman (danny, wild force black)

he made a Comment and had me like ..........................give me my money back, but i got a cool danny jacket and i love it and i love danny delgado what’s a jock gizmo

mike ginn / li ming hu (gem and gemma, rpm silver and gold)

APPARENTLY my snake friends told mike ginn about me and how much i loved gem and gemma and how excited i was to meet them but that i was really shy around my faves so when he came over to take the pic and i told him my name he was like “omg you’re shy tabby!” and i immediately died. he kept trying to tell me it was okay and i was just giggling so much and trying to fake run away and li ming told mike to stop embarrassing me it was so cute. he asked for a hug to calm me down and he was so gentle i love him.

later when kat and i walked past mike’s booth he yelled “hey there’s tabby!” I HATE HMI SO MCUH WHY IS HE LIEK THIS

karan ashley (aisha, mmpr yellow)

she was selling so much merch we stan an entrepreneurial queen. i told her that i stan all mexican rangers and she said “yes i love that!”. she hugged me and told me that she loved that i was Ready with my cute pose and i told her it’s bc she emits cuteness energy and i thrived off of it but she said it came from me so i guess you could say we’re dating

other sightings

mike chat (chad, lightspeed blue): was hanging out at the beast morphers unveiling and i saw him and was like....,,,,,.,.,.oh myog do........ITC HAD!!!!!!!! but he had like a ring of handlers around him and the panel was going on and he wasn’t there as an official guest (he trained those auditioning for beast morphers including the 3 cast!!) so i didn’t approach him but he was wearing an all blue suit so thank you for my life

cerina vincent (maya, lost galaxy yellow): saw her as she was walking to the con and she recognized us when she saw me and kat standing in another line she’s literally sunshine personified

kevin kleinberg (trip, time force green): a bunch of people got into the elevator and it got too full for us but i noticed one of the men looked familiar and then it hit me “OH MYGOD YOU’RE KEVIN KLEINBERG ITS KEVIN KLEINBERG!” he smiled real big and waved and told me he liked my shirt (megaforce) as the doors closed, then i reminded everyone it was trip from time force and no one but me is valid

alycia purrott (syd, spd pink) +2: i talked to her while kat was getting her pic and asked why a full version of syd’s hit single was never released and she said she’d love to get hands on the original recording. i told her that it’d be the perfect SPD reunion if they all shot a music video together and she agreed. kat met all the spd rangers so i also spoke a bit to matt austin (bridge) and chris violette (sky) and matt said chris stole his poster design from greg and i said “that’s such a sky move” and he cracked up. i asked chris if he was having fun at the con and he said of course but i told him he didn’t have to lie and he gave me a look and said “i know right” and laughed, the spd cast is so funny

i also saw will shewfelt eating lunch, he was with his entire family which was adorable that they all came to see him at his power ranger event and his brother looks EXACTLY like him but tiny

anyway i love morphicon and power rangers and the hell clique and all you pr fans need to step it up and ask better questions at panels and be nicer to the actors and also do research and learn all their faces so ur not looking around wondering why i am screaming my head off because some lady passed by (IT WAS KARAN ASHLEY YOU UNGRATEFUL BRATS!!!!!)

can it be 2020 now?

#power morphicon 2018

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hannahindie · 7 years

Text

Museum of Death: Part 1

Characters: Theodore (OC-brief), Maggie (OC), Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester, Reader Word Count: 2,581 Warnings: Canon violence, death, things being creepy A/N: I wrote this for @amanda-teaches’s UNDERCOVER HUNTING CHALLENGE! Congrats on the followers, love! (I left it in all caps because it just felt so enthusiastic. lol) This is just the first part, and though I was only aiming for two...it might have a third. My goal was to write it in an episode format, which is drawing it out some, but I really love it so far. I hope you all do too. My undercover job was museum workers. This part doesn’t get quite into that, but part two will!

ALSO a big shout out to @wheresthekillswitch for helping me brainstorm this whole thing, and for picking out sweet fake names for them. This fic would not be nearly as cohesive without her. Thanks for helping my gears get going, lovely. :)

Also, there is an actual Museum of Death in New Orleans, but disclaimer, I don’t know much about it. This particular museum is based loosely on it, and I know that the details won’t really match. Just...uh...roll with it, I guess. lol A special shout out to Manda for helping me with my Cajun dialect. It’s way harder than I thought it would be, so just a round of applause for all ya’ll fantastic Benny writers. Shew. lol If you have any suggestions that would help, I would appreciate it!

Beta’d by the always beautiful and wonderful waterbear, @trexrambling: “I wasn't supposed to feel this way about a side character... thanks for those unwelcome HURT FEELS HANNAH!”

And my lovely and encouraging and fantastic @pinknerdpanda: “Omg! I cackled. This is so 10000% Dean. I can hear his voice in my head.”

As usual, tags are at the bottom. If you’d like to be added, please let me know!

The dull click of the security guard’s heels echoed through the darkened hallway, the sound deafening in the otherwise silent museum. Normally, this was his favorite kind of gig. There was something about walking through what would normally be bustling rooms and popular displays when it was dead silent, the only light the soft beam from his flashlight and the muted green glow of the emergency exit signs. But this time, something was different.

His wife had warned him when he’d taken this job that it was a bad idea. “You hav’to respek de dead, cher. Dat place...it is couillon*. You work dere, you will get notin’ but trouble, Theodore!” she had fretted as he got his things ready for his first day. He had assured her that, despite the unusual and macabre subject matter that the museum focused on, everything would be fine; it was just her deep-rooted superstitions that were clouding her judgement, and besides, they needed the money. She had stopped talking about it, but every night since then he had found an amulet of protection in his uniform pocket. Although he was not originally from Louisiana and did not share his wife’s Cajun superstitions and beliefs, he greatly appreciated her effort in trying to keep him safe.

He paused at one of the glass cases and stared at the contents inside. Staring back at him, her eyes almost as cold as the glass separating him from the black and white photo, was an angry looking woman, her eyes wild and hair a tangled mess around her weathered and scowling face. In all honesty, he did not like walking through the displays at this particular museum, but this one...this one was the one that always threw him off the most. There was something about the look in her eye, the flat, dead stare that always reminded him of a shark. He couldn’t help but stare, and he’d had to drag himself away more than once. He’d read the description over and over, had even Googled the woman’s name one early morning after he'd gotten home from his shift. She was unnerving, and he always felt an awkward shiver go down his spine while passing the glass case.

He jumped as the sudden booming sound of a door being slammed startled him out of his staring contest with the shark eyed woman. “Doc?”

His hand slipped down to the nightstick he carried, the only weapon he was permitted other than his heavy flashlight, and continued his round of the floor. Instead of turning to go towards the stairs leading to the second floor, he turned the opposite way, the direction that the curator's office was. Dr. Lyons, the most recent curator to come into the museum, often stayed late into the night. Lately, however, he had been staying even later in order to catalogue and sort the newest exhibit. He had been incredibly excited to share whatever it was and was working diligently in order to get it ready for public viewing as soon as possible. Dr. Lyons had always been nice to him, and in the few weeks that Theodore had been working at the museum he'd grown quite fond of the eccentric curator.

“Hey, Doc? You okay?” Theodore called quietly into the dark. He stopped at the closed office door and sighed. Lyons had always told him that, no matter what, he was welcome in his office, but something told Theodore that it was always better to keep closed doors exactly that; closed. “Doc? Do you need help with anything?” He reached out to knock on the door but paused, his knuckles just hovering over the pebbled glass. He was worried, the doctor was never this quiet, but everything in his gut said to walk away and to let someone else worry about it in the morning. After a moment of arguing with himself, the braver side of him won out and, instead of knocking, he let his hand move down to the worn, brass doorknob. “I'm coming in, Doc, it's just me.”

The door swung open with a groan, the old hinges cranky as they ground against each other. The room was dimly lit by an old desk lamp, the light a sickly yellow from the shade, and the shadows stretched long across the cluttered office. Unopened boxes and crates were stacked around the room, and one sat open on the desk.

“Doc?”

Theodore swung the MagLite around the room and the beam landed on a pair of leather dress shoes that were sticking out from behind the desk. “Oh, shit…” he whispered to no one as he slowly moved around so that he could see behind it. What he saw made him gasp.

Dr. Lyons was lying on his back, his glasses askew and his face frozen in what Theodore could only describe as pure terror. An already darkening bruise circled his throat, and his hands were clenched tightly at his sides. Theodore dropped to one knee, gently placed two fingers on the doctor’s throat, and groaned when he didn’t find a pulse. As he stood, he heard the dull thud of something hitting the floor. His hand automatically went to his shirt pocket where his wife had put the protection charm, and, finding it empty, he began to feel panic set in. He scanned the floor, looking for the small clay amulet. A wave of cold surrounded him, nearly freezing his breath in his chest, and he watched as the warm air he exhaled formed a small, frozen cloud.

“What the hell?” he thought to himself as the temperature continued to drop. He began to shiver, and the beam from his flashlight shimmied across the hardwood floor. The hair on the back of his neck stood up and he turned slowly to find himself face to face with the shark-eyed woman from the glass case.

“You...you can’t be here. You’re dead.” She gave him a cold smile, her crooked teeth dirty and sharp. “I looked it up, you were executed in 2002. You’re not real.” He heard the dull click of a pistol being cocked and his eyes widened. “Listen, I’m not a bad guy. I know how you feel about guys you think are bad, and I didn’t hurt you. I haven’t hurt anybody. I would never…” he trailed off when he felt the cold steel of a muzzle press against his forehead. “Please…no...I didn’t do anything! My wife is expecting me to come home, I promise I won’t do anything-” The loud crack of the pistol discharging interrupted Theodore, and he hit the floor, his wide eyes staring at the ceiling as a single drop of blood rolled down the bridge of his nose.

“Dean!” Sam’s voice echoed down the hall as he wandered the bunker looking for his brother. “Y/N! Where are you guys?”

“I’m in the kitchen!” Y/N shouted back as she blew a stray hair from her face, her flour covered hands too busy pressing dough into the pie plate to do the job themselves. She heard Sam’s long strides get louder as he approached the kitchen, and soon his large frame filled the doorway as he practically skipped down the steps, laptop in hand.

“Pie? What’s the occasion?”

Y/N rolled her eyes, “Does your brother need an occasion to demand pie?”

Sam laughed, “No, I guess not.” He sat down at the table and opened his laptop, “I found something, and I’m pretty sure it’s right up our alley.”

Y/N grabbed a bowl of chopped apples and poured the contents into the pie crust. “Oh yea? It’s been pretty quiet, you sure it’s one of our things?”

“Yep, pretty sure. Two people killed in a locked building. One was strangled and one was shot.”

“How does that make it ours? Anyone can strangle or shoot someone, and I think we both know that picking a lock isn’t exactly difficult.” She carefully laid the top crust over the perfectly mixed apples, cinnamon, and sugar, then pinched the edges closed.

“The strangulation, maybe. But this other guy was shot and there is no gun, no bullet, no GSR. It’s like he was shot with an invisible gun. Plus, the alarms were still set and all the doors were locked. Not a sign of break in anywhere.”

Y/N slipped the pie into the oven and set the timer. “Alright, that’s a valid reason. Where are we going?”

“New Orleans. It’s been awhile since we’ve been to Louisiana.” Sam closed his laptop and sat back in his chair, “So, do you know where Dean is?”

Y/N shook her head as she wiped her hands off on a towel, “No, but give it a minute. He’ll be here.”

“How do you know?”

Y/N closed her eyes and held up five fingers. Slowly, she began to count down silently, one finger at a time. Just as she got to only her pointer finger, Sam heard footsteps approaching the kitchen and Y/N smiled.

“Where’s the pie?” he demanded, his eyes narrowed as he searched for the source of the delicious smell.

Sam looked at Y/N, impressed, “Nice. How’d you know?”

Y/N shrugged, “Call it a gift.” She walked towards the door, then stopped and looked at Dean over her shoulder, “You’re going to have to take that pie to go, sweet cheeks. We’ve got a case.” She disappeared down the hall and Dean raised an eyebrow at Sam.

“A case? Where are we going?”

“New Orleans.” Sam opened his laptop and spun it around so that Dean could see it, “So, get this…”

“Are you freakin’ kidding me?” Dean griped as he and Sam strolled down the sidewalk, straightening his tie in annoyance as Sam’s last minute warning rang in his mind.

“It must have slipped my mind-” Sam started before Dean cut him off.

“Oh, really? You just failed to mention that this whole thing happened in a serial killer museum? That little nugget of information just ‘slipped your mind’?” Dean air quoted angrily.

“I didn’t think it was that important,” Sam mumbled.

Dean rolled his eyes, “No, it's because you have this freaky ass obsession with serial killers and you knew if you told me, I would have either relentlessly made fun of you or I would have refused to get involved. Luckily for you, I can't just let people get murdered. But I will relentlessly make fun of you. So what's the story with this woman, Nancy Grace?”

Sam glared at him and Dean smirked. “It’s the security guard’s wife. We’re going to see if her husband had told her anything about the museum. If it’s a haunting, maybe he mentioned something.”

They reached the front porch and Dean paused, his eyes narrowed as he leaned towards the porch post and ran his fingers over the small symbols that had been painstakingly carved into the wood. “Do these look familiar to you?”

Sam looked over Dean’s shoulder, “Huh...they’re five-spots.”

“Oh, yea, we saw them at that old hotel way back in the day, right? The one where that old lady was living in the attic.”

“Yea, it’s Hoodoo...but to make it a powerful charm for protection you have to fill whatever this is carved on with bloodweed. It wouldn’t be incredibly useful without it, and I don’t see any out here.”

“Huh, that’s weird. Oh well, maybe they didn’t realize that’s what it was.” Dean hopped up the steps and rapped on the door, “We are in New Orleans. It’s not like we aren’t surrounded by stuff like that, anyway.”

The door swung open, and a short, thin woman appeared in the darkened opening. Her red-rimmed eyes shifted from Dean to Sam and then back to Dean before she spoke. “I already spoke to de police.”

“Hello, ma'am, we truly are sorry to bother you. I’m Agent Tom Hannigan, this is my partner Agent Clay Miller. We’re with the FBI.” Dean flashed his badge, then quickly stowed it back in his pocket. “We just need to ask you a few questions.”

She looked between the two once more before pushing the door open wide enough to accommodate them, “If you are wid de FBI, I am Marie Laveau. You best make it quick. Close de door behind you, cher.”

Dean settled back into the flower print chair, the soft cushions nearly swallowing him, and balanced the hot mug of coffee on his knee. Sam was awkwardly shifting on the couch, his own mug of coffee cradled between both hands as he looked around the room. Photos of the victim and his wife were scattered around the room; on the coffee table, lining the mantle, arranged carefully on bookshelves. They looked happy, and Dean felt a sudden pang of sadness as the woman came back into the living room.

“Ma’am-”

“You can call me Maggie, cher. My mere is ma’am. Theo called me Magnolia… ‘My pretty Magnolia’, he would say, ‘Not everyone can have a flower to call dere own.’” She sighed, “He’s de only one dat called me dat.” She sat in the rocking chair by the window and picked up a picture of her and Theodore. “I knew dat museum was no good.”

Dean sat his mug on the coffee table and leaned his elbows on his knees, “Why did you think it was no good?”

Maggie raised an eyebrow, “De place is filled with killers, with monsters. It is like dey built a shrine to dese terr’ble people. I told him dey needed to respek de dead, but I didn’t mean de murderers. I meant de people dey killed.”

Dean glanced over at Sam, who looked down sheepishly. He turned his attention back to Maggie, “Do you think that’s the reason Dr. Lyons and Theodore were killed? Because they were being disrespectful?”

Maggie shook her head, “My Theo wouldn’t ever disrespek anyone. No, no...I made sure he’d be safe. Ev’ry day, I put a special charm in his pocket, a protection charm. When dey gave me his belongings, it wasn’t dere. I t’ink dat is what happened. De charm was lost, and den whatever got de doctor got Theo.” She sat the frame back on the table and sighed, “I don’t know what you boys really do, but you best be careful. Dere is somethin’ dangerous happenin’ in dat museum. Somet’in’ evil that shouldn’t be disturbed.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out two small charms, “Take dese, keep dem wit you. A lot of people t’ink I’m too old fashioned, and maybe I am...but it’s better to be safe dan sorry, and if I’m wrong, den not’in happens.” She held out her hand and both Sam and Dean leaned forward and took a charm.

Sam smiled gently at her, “Thank you, we really appreciate it. And I promise, we’ll take care of whatever this is.”

Dean nodded in agreement, “It’s what we do. I know we can’t bring Theo back, but we’ll make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

Maggie smiled sadly, “I hope you do.” Sam and Dean stood and walked towards the door, and Maggie held it open as they left. “You boys be careful, now,” she shouted after them, and Sam turned and gave her a small wave. She watched as they disappeared down the sidewalk and into a dark car, her chest tight with worry.

*In this instance, couillon is to mean foolish. I linked it, but there were a few definitions.

Like what you see? Would you like to see more? You can find my Master List here!

Forever Tags: @trexrambling @pinknerdpanda @wheresthekillswitch @emilywritesaboutdean @arryn-nyxx @emptywithout @escabell @charliebradbury1104 @jarpadandjensenaremyheroes @deanssweetheart23 @canadianjelly @super-not-naturall @aubreyreadsstuff @dean-winchesters-baby @melissaj616 @fandomismyspiritanimal @keepcalmandcarryondean @assbutt-still-in-hell @owllover123 @rosie-winchester @amionthetumbler @duubaduu @hiimaprofessionalfangirl @goldenolaf25 @authoressskr @nanie5 @mrssamfuckingwinchester @zincomms @kathaswings @crazynerdandproud @barbedwireandbubblegum @sandlee44 @boxywrites @justanotherdeangirl @smalltowndivaj @captainradicalpassion @myloveforyouxx-deactivated20171 @atc74 @mrsbateshotel53 @easelweasel @there-must-be-a-lock

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#amanda goes undercover #supernatural fanfiction #dean winchester #sam winchester #serial killers #new orleans #voodou #reader insert

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summer-youth · 5 years

Text

Short Stories

Golden hour is a coming of age story about a 16-year-old boy named Alex. He lives in South Carolina and his strict parents own a beach house near Myrtle beach. They go down there every single year, but in recent times, he met a girl that he can’t get off his mind after meeting him. After doing his own thing and living his life, a plot twist has been waiting for him. I wrote this story because I miss the sun and the warmth as much as any other person and writing this story has helped me feel it again.

Golden hour

Every year, me and my family go down to Myrtle beach every summer to enjoy the beach since I live pretty close by, and to avoid the overcrowding in Florida. Ever since Hurricane Florence things haven’t been the same around here, but it’s better than nothing. My dad makes my little sister come down here with us even though she would never be able to understand anything, 3 year old kids don’t have the memory to remember things like this and it just became a drag. He did this ever year since she was born, and whenever I get the chance, I leave and wander off on my own, and I’ll keep doing it.

Around the golden hour, the sun would be warm. In the mornings my little sister would want to go out, She had to be covered in a thick layer of sunscreen; it would be boiling. I remember one year, I burn the soles of my feet just because I stepped on hot sand. But now, it’s perfect. I always enjoyed seeing a blue sky turn into what I would like to assume is a visual representation of emotions. I loved to see the lights from the buildings stand out against the colours of the sky, and the sunset reflect against the ocean, whenever the golden hour comes along, I never wanted it to end.

All I saw were families having so much fun with their small children in the water. Sometimes I wished I was that small again. I started to think about how the school year ended, I ended up breaking up with my girlfriend Susanne because of the way she would make me buy her things and if I didn’t, I would be denounced a bad boyfriend. She also said I felt too much, it made no sense. Susanne is now dating the guy I was suspicious of, which is the funniest part. Soon enough, I felt the warm air drop every so often. Night was coming and I had to get back to my parents beach house before complete nightfall. Looking down at the lines of wood of the boardwalk, I remembered a few summers ago. I had someone walk next to me in this very moment.

I was around 14 at the time, I’m 16 now. I saw her down the boardwalk, and she approached me then proceeded to ask if I was with anyone. I wasn’t and surprisingly not suspicious of the fact that I was talking to a total stranger. She asked if she could hang out with me, I agreed. She looked like my age, and she was someone to talk to, so I just went along with it. She never told me her name or where she came from. All she told me was “Don’t you think better memories are made with questions unanswered?” She was spontaneous, that’s for sure, that’s why I keep remember that sentence with her face. When I was sitting in class I heard it being said in a book, and I remembered her. I don’t remember the book we were reading, I was always asleep in English class.

My best guess was that she was a foreigner. While we were walking along, she asked me a lot of questions about what was around the area, such as: what are some good things to eat, things to do, people to talk to. It was basic foreigner questions; someone that was not from here would ask. I took her to one of the most famous spots there, the SkyWheel. I’ve been on this thing probably a total of 20 times in my life, and it is a tourist attraction, so I thought, why not? When I showed it to her, she was so shocked; she had such an animated personality. She proceeded to say “We have one of these where I’m from, but this one is so much bigger!” in a chime that I would recognize even to this day if I heard it. I remember getting on it with her and all that happened was. Silence.

That silence was something that changed my life. I was always surrounded by noise, my sisters nonstop crying, my parents screaming at me to get the dishes done, and continuous gunshots and screaming from my friends when we played call of duty. How was I okay with silence? I looked at this girl began to realize that I felt oddly comfortable, that I spent a whole afternoon talking to this girl and I then sporadically thought about the end, the time when we’d have to part ways, strangely enough, I remember not wanting that. It was also my first time my mind raced to an ending.

When we stepped off the SkyWheel, she looked at me and said the sentence I had in the back in my head. “I have to go now, thanks for spending time with me.” And she left, she was gone, I didn’t have a chance to say anything to her, to ask for her number or anything. I didn't know where she was staying. She just ran off. I spent the rest of the summer wandering alone again. And did the same thing for the next summer and the next.

Everytime that I’m on the boardwalk in Myrtle beach I think about her. Was her visit a one time thing? Was she in the same scenario as me? Every summer I spend here I became so bored out of my mind that I even tried to pick up in surfing but when I found out about the heavy shark activity in the east coast, I decided I liked being alive. I’ve tried to make friends with some of the local kids, but they’re always on their phones or taking pictures of each other and then going back. I never understood social media, I don’t even have an Instagram. Maybe if I did, I could find the girl that I met.

My parents tend to be super strict, therefore I’m not allowed to have anything that isn’t organic or over ten grams of sugar, or use the Internet for anything other than school work or Netflix. I have Facebook but no one uses it anymore. Plus, because of our beach house, we don’t have WiFi either and this summer was meant for family time. I came up with the excuse that my sisters crying was giving me extreme headaches, and so they just let me be on my own. Sometimes I just sit around and draw stuff in the sand or I’ll use the money I saved up with my part-time job and go see a 4D movie every other day, or take a shell carving class, or just buy street food.

Now don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy it here during the summers, but the loneliness can be overbearing. I can’t talk to my friends back home and I have difficulty making friends here, and that girl that I can’t forget. I remember when I told the story to Susanne, and she started screaming at me, I can’t really vent to anyone about it so it’s just stuck to me. Every day is just a day to myself. I mean I like to be alone. I just hate being lonely.

Things changed though. It was mid July, and I was eating an ice cream cone and just walking around the entertainment District, checking out the wax museum for the millionth time, and while I was staring at the Marilyn Monroe was figure, there was someone beside me that asked me a question “you don’t think these are real huh?” And I looked over to see who was talking to me and it was her, I dropped my ice cream cone, and I was silent for a bit, I looked at her. She aged a bit, I mean so did i but it was shocking, like it was out of a story or something.

“How’d you find me?!” I asked her, she stared at me with very endearing eyes, as if she knew what she was pulling. She didn’t say anything back to me, she just smiled and walked out. I obviously followed her out and I re-asked the question “where have you been?!” And she just responded with “all that matters is I’m here now.” What? Well I wasn’t in the position to argue, I was happy to see her; I thought I’d never see her again. We walked out, and we caught up with what was happening with life, and I finally was able to ask “hey, could I please know your name so you don’t have to disappear again? I have to apply for colleges soon, so I might not be here next summer. My name is Alex.” She laughed at me.

“Oh look, the sun’s setting.”

The story “Summer school” is a lighthearted mystery story that was based off something that actually happened, sleep deprivation can cause kids to do some really silly things, and this was my experience. Many people leap ahead in summer school, or night school or just somewhere that isn’t regular school. The main character is sleep deprived and “loses” her glasses. She goes on a small journey (maybe like 5 minutes) to find them again. When she does find her glasses, the journey is what made her find opportunity.

Summer school It was around lunchtime and me and my friend Nas were trying to stay awake by looking at funny internet photos and new music, summer school is meant for two things and two things only. Sleep deprivation and high marks. Once that lunchtime was over, we both had to part ways to head to our own classes. I was sitting around in my summer School Classroom. The cool breeze of the air conditioning was so comforting. I was leaping ahead with English and I just made sure to get all of my work done ahead of time so I could just laze around. I had some really late nights and because of my fatigue, I decided to get some shut-eye on my desk. I placed my face into my folded arms to keep my head off of the surface of the desk. As I hear the typing of the keyboards around me, I was irritated and was not able to fall asleep in such a room. I lifted my head back up shortly. I found myself not being able to see. I felt a slight panic. I looked at my friend beside me, and they looked at me. I asked them, “Where are my glasses?” The familiar golden rims that I would see in my peripheral vision were gone, I was thinking, “What shall I do without my fair golden Glasses?!” That’s not actually what I thought, I just thought it was cool to think that. But I was curious to know where they went, I paid too much for those glasses just to lose them. They looked at me and smiled. I was confused as well as annoyed because they have a tendency to tease me for no reason. They replied with “I don't know.” Their line of sight wasn’t direct with mine, but it never is. All they cared about is getting an easy mark, they were of no help. Believing that he was teasing me once again, I just got up and asked my other friend. They also did the same thing, I started to get really irritated. I told them “I like seeing things clearly, you know. It is almost like it is my favourite sense- Maybe taste instead... Sight and taste together is pretty neat.” They kept trying to hold back laughter, I was really mad and no one took me seriously! I asked my teacher if I could go outside for a little bit and she allowed me to. I decided to call Nas, who was leaping ahead in math, to ask her if I left them with her at our lunch break. She said no, and I called her at the wrong time because she was in the middle of a math test. I still don’t get how she was able to answer. I went back into class and everyone was still doing their readings. I just sat at the table towards the glass windows and just watched the trees sway away. It was so nice outside, too bad that I was stuck inside for the next 4 hours. I put my head back down and actually fell asleep shortly. I had a short daydream about getting the mark I wanted in ENG4U. How I was able to rub it in everyone’s face that I got a 90 in the class and how I’d be on my way to going to university and everything would be fine and dandy. My teacher called on me and I jumped up. I went to go see what she was doing and as to why she called me. she was showing me one of the essays I did, and how I could have gotten a 100% if I didn’t make the small spelling mistakes and at that point I was tired, and a failure. When I’m tired, everything seems magnified by 100%. I honestly think the experience of senior level summer school has caused my caffeine addiction. I can’t seem to go a day without either an iced coffee or an energy drink. If not, I’ll be so tired. A few days before the glasses incident, A few days ago I went to the gas station before school, and since the only place to buy food near C. W Jeffrey is the gas station. I had a choice between the lovely red bull that tasted like battery acid, another iced coffee from Tim Hortons, or 5-hour energy. Something about the 5-hour energy scared me, when I brought it to class, I asked my peers if it was even legal to sell this to a child, we were around it as if it was an illegal substance, I was actually Terrified of it honestly, so I just kept it in my pencil pouch and kept it as a souvenir. It’s like a trophy of how far I had to go to stay away. 5-hour energy! About 30 minutes passed by since misplaced my glasses, and I’ve started to lose my patience. I was blessed with an air-conditioned library and a gorgeous view, but no one was helping, at all. Everyone was hurrying up to finish their essays and I finally lost my marbles. I finally got up and in a stern voice asked the majority of the people around me with the assumption that it was stolen and said “Who took my glasses!?” everyone that heard me looked at me and started laughing. Even my teacher did, it was embarrassing. I haven’t been laughed at like this since 5th grade. It wasn’t as mortifying. One of my classmates opened their camera on their phone and took a picture of me, and I was confused as to why, I asked her “why are you taking a photo of me?” I started to search for stains on my clothes, I was genuinely lost. Everyone was just looking at me and giggling, I just wanted my glasses. Everyone stopped laughing after a few minutes and the girl that took my photo showed it to me. The glasses were on my forehead. “Apparently you stole your own glasses.” they replied. Man, I felt dumb. I sat back down in shame and fixed my glasses back on. I went onto my phone to see that the girl posted it on her Instagram account that was meant for funny pictures. I thought it was funny and soon enough that girl became my friend. So did the guys that laughed at me. Michelle, and Kyle, they were really fun to talk to and when summer school was over, we all hung out during August. It was a ton of fun. “Maybe losing” my glasses was supposed to happen, to show my personality to people that didn’t really know me. Once summer school ended, and the final exam was written, we got our report cards and I got back a 94, talk about an overachiever!

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