#though ofc. they could be from another court which is also cool

[queenangst]

a theory on wrackingspelt, and what they mean to and for hob—

three episodes into a court of fey and flowers, the question of who wrackingspelt is and their relationship to captain hob only grows stronger. it’s very plausible and easy to read what we know of their dynamic as romantic, but i’m gonna quickly toss the idea of a platonic, familial dynamic on the table as a theory for fun.

here are the things we can infer about wrackingspelt so far:

wrackingspelt, and hob’s relationship with them, is a secret. perhaps even from the goblin court. so far, the only mentions of wrackingspelt have been from hob writing letters, and these letters remain unsent, kept by hob for safekeeping. both letters that have been written so far have also been written—or, intended to, though with wuvvy’s eavesdropping—alone and away from others. so we can guess that wrackingspelt may not be well known, or known at all. also, hob and wrackingspelt are separated, perhaps even beyond the bloom, though that wrackingspelt is not in attendance at the bloom suggests they may not be an archfey, or a person deemed of importance or necessary at such an event. additionally, of course, wrackingspelt is someone dear to hob, and someone to whom hob would confide his doubts and feelings to.

(also, though it may be silly, i think wrackingspelt is alive and they are separated from each other; e1′s letter could be interpreted as being written to someone who is dead, but e3′s letter seems to imply they are alive.)

onto theory, though this is really out of my own interest, i think it’d be cool if wrackingspelt isn’t a secret lover, but someone who is like a child to hob. perhaps a ward, or someone he could mentor. or maybe even a literal child.

this is all, of course, conjecture - both of hob’s letters, in what is definitely a deliberate move on brennan’s part, are longer than we get to know. there are contents and words we aren’t privy to. at most, the sentiment boils down to hob missing them and wanting to be together again.

Dearest Wrackingspelt, long are the hours of our absence, and with each passing moment I find the pain of that absence grow stronger and stronger. I think of you always.

My dearest Wrackingspelt, in the execution of one's duties in service to king and court, it becomes necessary at times to place in the confidence of one's most trusted and privileged compatriots, the secret misgivings of tender sentiment to which even steadiest hearts may be compelled in the face of rank uncertainty and tribulation, defiant of all preparation in the narrow precognition of their host, to wit, the burden of execrable misery, far from waning with the passing hours, counters all adages and aphorisms, whose musings on the passing of time are rendered mendacious...on the passage of time and its remediation of want or injury. It instead waxes with all the venom and ferocity of an asp, such that your humble servant must fail in knowing rest or peace or hope. It is a dull and dreary ache. The most dispassionate tempest whose ruinous wake strands what it cannot destroy. It has taken me 45 minutes to write the past four sentences.

So I shall speak more plainly. I wish that you were here. I wish that I could tell you that everything would be all right. And most urgently, I wish that you might one day read…

this theory also plays into interesting table dynamics. i think hob having a child, and being a father or mentor figure, helps contrast his relationship with andhera; as we see, andhera is clearly much younger than hob, and likely that is the reason why hob spared them out of his honor when they met at briar falls - but wrackingspelt being a child would also strengthen hob’s reason for sparing andhera.

despite the wording of the letters - even perceived romantically - i get the feeling that hob actually hasn’t been in a romantic relationship before. he’s clearly very used to being different from the members of the goblin court, and though he’s celebrated and valued for his military prowess, he doesn’t seem to see himself as someone who might be loved. who could be the object of someone’s returned affections, or someone who is valued.

Captain Hob: [to Rue] You must forgive my confusion. It is simply that it would have been the first time.

it’s hard to know exactly what hob meant, but during this conversation he does eventually seem to realize that rue had romantic intentions; i’d guess that hob meant “the first time” that he’d have been with someone or that anyone at all had showed interest.

his assumptions in the forest with rue are first that about the hunt, before he even considers the possibility that rue might be romantically interested in him. o think he feels he is not of the right station, nor does he feel worthy.

Captain Hob: ...You are a great Fey, Rue. Frankly, nothing could have prepared me to believe that the words of a Goblin would hold any weight with you.

...You deserve what you were seeking when we stepped into the forest together.

all this to say, i don’t think it’s unbelievable that wrackingspelt may not be a lover, but a child or ward young and dear to hob’s heart, the truth of which the other characters and we are unaware of yet.

#also this is meta and more personal so im putting it in the tags but: #brennan has said before that as a person hed love to be a father #so honestly like. i just think itd be really sweet if he played hob as a dad/mentor/similar figure instead of like. hob with a secret lover #THIS IS PROBABLY HORRIBLY WRONG I JUST THINK ITD BE COOL i want hob to be a dad.... #acofaf #d20 #acofaf spoilers #a court of fey and flowers #kp hob #captain hob #dimension 20 #JUST IN CASE IM RIGHT. YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST THOUGH #d20 meta #also this is all assuming wrackingspelt is a goblin bc the name sounds gobliny #though ofc. they could be from another court which is also cool #ALSO couldnt fit this into the post but like #im also feeling like maybe hob and wrackingspelt crossed paths or like. was born or WHATEVER during the time of the skirmishes #with the unseelie court #but i have nothing to back that claim its just i think itd be cool #with the child theory for that to really strongly play into hob sparing andhera

[ak8shi]

FWB HQ Boys: In which you beat the player at his own game!

warnings: Time skip spoilers, mentions of sex(all characters are 18+), alcohol, stupid people in love

a/n: ahh I’m sorry I’ve been a little MIA!!! But I’m back with this pls enjoy ! I think the fandom really make germaphobia his only personality trait sometimes which makes me sad because I think he’s actually a quirky/classy dude and very functional in social situations,, I hate to say it but ya’ll would get played by him… sorry.

━Sakusa Kiyoomi

Some of you may be like ???? Omi fucks around ?? how ?? BUT he definitely does in his own way

He probably doesn’t do much in high school to be honest, he’s mostly focused on improving as a volleyball player and achieving his goals

Once he reaches pro level though,,, it’s a different story lmfao

I can see him being picky as hell about his hookups, but just because he’s a bit of a germaphobe doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel attraction or doesn’t have needs…

….He’s so hot too… girl

His hook-ups are always taken seriously though… like he’s the type that feels like he has a professional image to upkeep, so he always arranges things beforehand; he’s definitely not messy about it and sets clear boundaries

I think what makes him kind of a player is how standoffish he can be…and he doesn’t really give anyone a chance because he doesn’t think they what it takes to deal with his lifestyle lmao

He’s just like, its easier to call the uber right after, get into the shower, and wait until he can hear the front door of his apartment shut I’m screamingg

Sakusa also isn’t one to kiss and tell, even with the boys… he doesn’t think its tasteful and would rather not have Atsumu up his ass about his flings

ANYWAYS,, let’s get into this, so you know Atsumu through mutual friends and met during college, and the two of you just instantly clicked since you also were a part of the same sports medicine program as him

Atsumu signed with MSBY and you were so happy for him, but you were bummed because you were busy with PT graduate school and couldn’t really attend any of his games

A year passed and you found yourself texting Tsumu to see if he could meet up and grab coffee since you were on winter break!!

You: hey I’m back in town wanna grab coffee sometime?

Him: who is this

You: I see you haven’t changed ❤️

LMFAO, so you catch up with Atsumu and he talks about his new career and his teammates, he seems so happy :(( we love to see that!!

He invites you to MSBY’s game the following weekend, and you’re pumped to go!! Tsumu got you great seats, and he meets you before warmups to make sure you’re okay finding your way around

Atsumu: don’t take yer eyes off me <3

You:

He’s so…

You’re enjoying the match and you even go to grab Onigiri from Osamu’s stand, but you can’t seem to look away from number 15 on Atsumu’s team

He’s .., scrumptious to say the least 🥴

Like he’s so composed and calculated on the court, and you find it so funny how he rolls his eyes whenever Tsumu says something to him and how Tsumu gets so heated about it 💀

The match ends and you go down to meet Atsumu near the lockers, showing the security your family/friend pass 😌

You walk through the halls trying to locate the setter, but you can’t seem to figure out where he is

The only person in the hall is the tall, dark haired man that caught your eye earlier; he is already walking towards the exit with a mask covering his face, his duffel bag slung over his shoulder, sweats embroidered with “Sakusa” adorning his body we’re all looking..... respectfully

He’s truly so intimidating but you’re like….highkey lost… so you don’t really have another option

You catch up with him, poking his shoulder gently; he turns around and his attention on you is almost STARTLING.. like his eyes are SO dark

Him: can I help you

You: sir… if you don’t rail me, I’m gonna have to intervene‼️😈😹

After getting over your initial shock, you hear multiple footsteps rumbling down the hallway towards the both of you

Sakusa lets out an annoyed sigh, muttering about how he has to go, but before he can escape you hear Atsumu’s loud voice LMFAO

“OMIIII, where are you goin’? Its team karaoke night remember?”

Tsumu sees you and slings an arm around your shoulders, “Oh-? So I see you’ve met our outside hitter Omi?”

You glance over at Sakusa, his expressionless eyes glued to your face, then slowly trailing down to analyze the way Atsumu casually has you tucked under his arm

Atsumu nudges him, and he grumbles that he’ll meet them after changing at home before walking off in the direction of the private parking garage

You meet the rest of the MSBY boys in the uber, and find them super friendly and welcoming; Bokuto and Hinata buy the first round of drinks at the karaoke bar, but you only have one because you have work to finish the next day WE STAN

Atsumu already has a pink glow setting into his cheeks when you see the boys turn their attention to Sakusa walking through the front door, looking as handsome as ever in his dress pants and fitted white t shirt

They all shout out incoherent hello’s, and he takes the only open seat next to you with a glass of gin and tonic in his hand he smells so good god

You’re unsure what comes over you, but you find yourself turning towards him, and you just start asking him about himself and his career, and surprisingly he’s very polite and much more animated than you previously thought

His voice is like…so alluring and he never looks away from you when you talk, its like he’s absorbing every word

Meanwhile, Atsumu is stumbling over the stage with Bokuto belting Love by Keisha Cole LMFAOO😭

Tsumu kind of ‘warned’ you in the car ride over that Sakusa was a germaphobe, but you know that Atsumu tends to invade people’s personal space sometimes and it probably wasn’t as dramatic as he made it out to be

However, you weren’t expecting the outside hitter to lean over from his seat after checking the time on his phone, whispering in your ear, asking you if you wanted to meet him at his place later than night WHEW

Girl I would be sweating… and you say yes ofc because who’s going to pass up this type of opportunity-

He gives you a charming smile and is like,, okay cool, I’ll see you later then 😊 I’m dead

Ya’ll exchange phone numbers and he’s like if you need any help with my idiot teammates let me know before he takes off

You don’t tell Tsumu about your little… entanglement plans dsnjaknda but honestly he wouldn’t even remember based on the way he’s slumped against you in the uber he owes you big time

You get home after dropping off Tsumu at Osamu’s, and operation dick appointment with the professional volleyball player is put into action 😈

He sends an uber over to get you ladies do not settle for less please, and you’re BIG nervous but in a good way as in you know this dick is about to be bomb af

SO you’re standing in front of his apartment door, and when he opens it, he’s still in the clothes he wore to the bar and its like 1 am he’s so powerful

Um I feel like he would get straight to it honestly, probably starts with a little convo on the couch and then…

YOU WEREN’T AWARE HE WAS SO DIRTY,,, it was SO good too like after getting home that night you’re going through a crisis… like you had so much chemistry together for having just met, and you wonder if he feels the same way🥺

You caught yourself in sleepless states some nights, kept awake by the thoughts of the way his hands felt against your skin, the way his five o’clock shadow gently rubbed against your face when you kissed, and how he would hold you(only after a thorough shower together of course)

As it happens more and more, he lets you into his life little by little, and you notice and remember small facts about him and he often remembers a lot of the things you tell him about you, its really enjoyable for both of you

Its weirdly domestic to a point but that’s why its so good for both of you???it adds a bit of spice ??

Sakusa: can you come over tonight

You: sorry the retainer is in already <3 no dick sucking for me tonight <3

Him: I bought pastries from that cafe you like

You: say less✈️ I’m coming💃

AND he HAS jokes okay, like he’s funny as hell and very witty when his true self comes out; but he’s also a HUGE tease and he’ll say something completely straight-faced that someone else might take offense to like “you look ugly,” but you just know he’s kidding from being around him long enough and from seeing the little glint in his dark eyes

It becomes a routine thing while you’re home honestly, and you try your best to hide it from Atsumu because you just KNOW you would never hear the end of it; for all he knows, you met him that one time at the bar and that was that

Everything is going smoothly until you slip up at one of their games

You were sitting in the waiting area with the team (mostly talking to Atsumu), when he just says something that makes your short circuit

Atsumu: what kind of animal do ya think omi would be? An octopus maybe?

You: yeah I mean with those flexible wrists it makes sense

Atsumu: what the fawk🤠

He’s like… how do you even know about his flexible wrists IT TOOK ME 6 MONTHS TO GET TO THAT STAGE WITH HIM-

Oops, lmfao so you kind of tell him about everything and he’s literally shocked for you, mostly because he doesn’t want you to get hurt :(

Atsumu: So I see he’s just sleeping with ANYONE anyone

LMAO noo he definitely thinks you’re too good for him and he kind of lectures you, telling you that he had a hunch that he messes around with girls like that, but also you’re an adult and you can take care of yourself, and it isn’t like it’s a serious thing!!

Meanwhile, Omi is like going through a bit of a crisis all alone because everything around him reminds him of you or something you said when you were together

He got with people who were compatible sexually often, but he never had the urge to have them stay over after the deed; he usually immediately called them an uber and wouldn’t speak to them again

He found himself thinking about seeing you in the stands at his games, wishing you were there to cheer for him only, and he adored the way you respected his boundaries unlike many of his hookups

Atsumu probably notices something is off with him at practice

Atsumu: hey…if ya ever want to talk about somethin’-

Sakusa: no

Girl… he doesn’t disclose any of this to anyone

Its nearing the end of your break, and you head over to sakusa’s for probably the last time before you go back to school

You’re kind of at the point where you don’t think anything will happen and you know you shouldn’t get your hopes up, and it goes how it usually goes? Except he kind of hugs you goodbye and your heart goes: 🦋🦋🦋

You go back to school, occasionally texting Tsumu about your graduate program, and before you know it, like 5 months pass by and you’re back for summer!

Tsumu texts you and is like… sorry but I’m forcing you to be my plus-one tonight for this dinner thing I have to go to

So you dress up and he comes to pick you up, and you’re really not sure why you were surprised to see Kiyoomi sitting at the table when you arrive you give Atsumu a nice smack on the back of the head for not warning you

You sit down at the table after greeting everyone, trying your best to not act awkward when you shoot sakusa a small smile that he returns politely (but you don’t see it because of his mask)

Atsumu sits weirdly close to you the entire dinner with his arm around the back of your chair, and he’s just acting strange in general??? Like he’s bragging about your degree program and about your accomplishments, you just know he’s trying something funny; but you don’t really say anything because you don’t want to disrespect him in front of the team’s staff as a guest

You almost choke on your wine and you catch on when Bokuto starts making comments after Atsumu says something,

Atsumu: …so yeah, pretty much she should be our next president in my humble opinion

Bokuto: 🙈WOAH. WHAT?😍 HOW COULD SHE GET ANY BETTER⁉️🙄 OR HOTTER⁉️💪🏼💋

You, sitting there: 🧍‍♀️

He’s so bad at acting I’m crying..,, it becomes so obvious that they’re trying to make Kiyoomi jealous

(the boys plotted beforehand, trying to get Omi to ask you out officially; after you left, he literally would never shut up about you whenever Atsumu mentioned you, and it was just obvious he was in his feels when it came to you)

Atsumu: she’s studying at a café tonight for finals

Sakusa: Yeah so I’m glad you brought it up, because I’ve been thinking about it for days. Fine I guess I’ll say it. Her favorite coffee blend is French roast and she only likes a dash of sugar with a lot of cream, but it has to be hazelnut creamer or else she doesn’t like any-

Everyone in the gym: 🗿

LMAO ANYWAYS ITS LOWKEY WORKING you look over at him and his face is like stone.. girl..

The dinner is almost over and Atsumu gets up to go to the restroom with a wink I hate him, and you get up to catch a breath of fresh air outside

You sit on a bench for a minute, calming yourself down after the eventful dinner, but then you see the door to the restaurant swing open, Sakusa looking around the corner before spotting you

Your heart pounds in your chest as he walks over and asks if he can join you, inspecting the bench before sitting down, pulling his mask down as well

He eases into a conversation by just asking you how you’re doing, basic stuff, but then in the middle of you going off on a tangent about your stupid professor, he stops you

“I missed you.”

He crosses his legs, not looking at you as he takes your hand, intertwines it with his, and places it in his lap

You gaze at him, taken back at his confession, noticing the slight pinkness tinging his pale cheeks

You say you missed him too, and then he’s asking you if you would like to go on an actual date with him

You: wait are you asking me out officially?

Him: Yes. No I’m not. Yes I am❤️

SKSLD Please he’s awkward help him a little, you agree and then you hear a tap on the window behind you, you turn around to see Tsumu, Bokuto and Adriah behind you with big grins on their faces LMFAO 🤡

Kiyoomi rolls his eyes, but you don’t miss the small upturn of the corners of his lips as he hears Bokuto happily scream through the glass

#dont even get me started w this i dont want to look at it anymore ❤️ #JUST TAKE IT LMFAOOOO #sakusa #sakusa kiyoomi #sakusa x reader #haikyuu!! #haikyu headcanons #hq #sakusa kiyoomi x you #haikyuu x reader

[havethetimeofyourstyles]

in which harry doesn’t like halloween until a certain pair of trick or treaters knock on his door.

a/n: HAPPY HARRYWEEN EVERYONE! personally don’t like halloween myself, but I hope everyone has a spooky and fun day (indoors, ofc)! here’s my first halloween piece that was meant to be a blurb, but turned out a little longer than expected, enjoy!

thank you to ira @stylesloveclub​ & cait @sweetcreatureinthedark​ for reading this over! <3

enjoy 5k words of teacher/dad!harry being cute

warnings: brief mention of death, mostly fluff

LETS TALK ABOUT PEBBLES & THE SCARECROW IN MY INBOX! pls let me know your thoughts!

pls rb to share! <3

Harry wasn’t fond of Halloween, if he’s being honest. 

The thought of people putting on scary masks, scaring little kids out of their driveway is something that was so unsettling to him. The scary movies that always release around the month of October that promoted their commercials, causing him to startle on the couch because of the jump scare was not something he looked forward to every year. Especially when those said movies would have their ad on the radio, which makes it even scarier because he could only listen. He would usually have his Bluetooth on with his own music playing, but when it’s only a five minute drive, he doesn’t bother with the Bluetooth. Either way, he doesn’t like it. 

Halloween is not fun, he would say every year. 

However, the upside to the month of October was something he looked forward to because that’s when the weather really changed. September would be sunny and hot still, but then comes around October and the sun would peek behind the clouds as the weather got colder. The leaves would fall from their branches and onto the ground, loving the sound of the crunchy leaves beneath his feet, especially building a pile and jumping into them. Not alone, of course, but with his baby girl who loved to just squeal and laugh at her dad whenever he would jump into the pile of orange leaves that he collected on their front lawn. 

Wynn, his daughter, also loved the change of fall weather just as much as he did. Harry would hype it up so much because October was the start of holiday season, and he loved being in a festive mood. So, naturally, Wynn picked up on his behavior and was just like her dad; jumping up and down when he would get excited. 

Another thing that he liked about Halloween was that he got to pass out candy to the fellow trick or treaters to all the students in the school during their Halloween bash, and to the kids in his friendly neighborhood. Every year, he would buy plenty of candy for the students—sometimes buying too much because he didn’t want anyone to be left out when they would walk up to him. But if he did have extra, he would save them for later that night for the kids in the neighborhood. 

He loved seeing the students’ reactions when he would tell them that they had a cool costume. He especially loved it when the kids would compliment his own costume. Some teachers didn’t really like to dress up on Halloween as they only wore a headband of some sorts or a festive t-shirt, but Harry liked to go all out. He’s been teaching for six years, and every year, he made sure to join in on the fun. One of his favorite costumes was when he dressed up as Peter Pan and Wynn was Tinker Bell. They always coordinated costumes, and Harry hoped that once she gets older, she would never stop wanting to match with him, but he knows that’s inevitable; he’ll just hold onto these moments for now. That was one of his favorites because Wynn just loved her costume so much that she didn’t want to take it off, so seeing her so happy in her princess dress just made his heart burst. 

But this year, he thinks he’s topped the previous years. 

As he said goodbye to Wynn, dropping her off at her class, he greeted her first grade teacher. 

“Oh! Don’t you both look absolutely adorable!” Mrs. Robin, an old lady who had been teaching for years and retiring this school year, said. 

“Thank you, Mrs. Robin. Think this year is my favorite,” Harry said, looking down at Wynn as she nodded her small head at him. Harry was dressed as Fred Flinstone and Wynn was Pebbles. He thought she was the absolute cutest, and he even did her hair the same way in the morning, but instead of a bone, he replaced it with a white bow. 

“You two always have the loveliest costumes!” Harry looked down at Wynn, raising his eyebrows at her to say thank you, and she looked at her teaching, thanking her. 

“Anyways, I gotta go get my class from their line. I’ll see you later at the bash,” he told Mrs. Robin. He bent down, meeting Wynn’s eye level. “Be good, okay?” His daughter nodded. “I’ll see you later. Make sure you say hi to me,” he reminded her. “Love you, bunches.” 

“Love you, tons,” the little girl replied, and he gave her forehead a kiss before she wrapped his arms around his shoulders, giving him a hug. They’ve always been inseparable, and Harry had separation anxiety whenever they part even if it’s just a little bit. And as much as he loves how much his daughter loves him, he hoped that she doesn’t suffer from it as well—although, he thinks it’s starting to begin. He couldn’t help it—he was an affectionate person and always loved to give her hugs and kisses, to which she would give them back. 

Harry quickly walked to his classroom, putting his belongings and the bags of candy down before walking out to pick up his class. Harry taught the third grade, and they were a smart bunch. He loved how it was in between sweet and cuteness, but also watching them grow. He thinks fourth and fifth grade was when they started to become too sassy and dramatic, so he liked being in between. 

“Hi, everyone! Happy Halloween!” He greeted, and his class cheered, some of his students telling him that he looked so cool, and Harry said thank you to them as he complimented them back. “Everyone follows me in a straight line. Don’t stop walking, don’t stray, don’t turn around, and please be sure to keep all hands and feet inside of the vehicle, got it?” They all nodded. “Alright, enjoy the ride, here we go!” He started walking as he smiled. He came up with that line when he was in his second year of teaching as he wanted his class to have fun while going into the classroom, so he acted like it was a rollercoaster, and the kids seemed to love it. 

When they got inside the classroom, the kids took their seats at their desk. Harry told them that they had to do a quick lesson before the Halloween bash, earning a groan throughout the classroom. 

“I know, I know. But it’ll be quick! And then we’ll all have fun after. Unless you all would prefer I teach the lesson after the bash and after lunch?” He asked, knowing what the answer would be. Usually on Halloween, they would have a lesson, the bash, lunch, and Harry would put on a movie as he passed out treats to fill in the rest of the day before the school day ended. Their heads shook as Harry chuckled. “I figured,” he said before he started the quick lesson on reading. 

The lesson only lasted thirty minutes, just in time to head out to the bash. All the classrooms were filing out to the courts, which was the larger area of the school that could fit all eighteen classrooms. The classrooms form a single line all around the three basketball courts, and each class would walk around in a single file line with their bags in hand as the teachers would pass out candy. Music would play and some of the staff would dress into one of those big floaty costumes to jump around in and entertain the other classes who were patiently waiting. The parents were allowed to join as well if they had the time to see their kids in cute costumes; the more the merrier. 

Harry’s class stood in their designated spot, having them line up, and he walked around to check if anyone got left behind, which no one did. The music started and classroom number one was instructed to do their lap, which were the kindergarten classes. Harry was classroom number eleven, so he got his big bowl of candy ready as the first class started to walk around. He saw some really fun costumes; one student was the sun and their friend was the moon, which he thought was so adorable. Once the class before the next was halfways, the next class was instructed to go. 

It went by fairly smoothly, although he could tell that some students were bored, which was understandable. Harry waited for Wynn’s class, in which she was in classroom number six, the last one of the first grade class. He spotted her in her bright green polka dot shirt and tortoise pants—she looked so adorable. He got his phone out when her class was close enough, taking a video of her at the same time as passing out candy. 

“Hi, Daddy!” She greeted, reaching up to hug him. 

“Oh, you’re the cutest. Hi, bubba,” he said as he hugged her back. The embrace was so sweet that he didn’t want to let go, and he didn’t until Wynn said something. 

“Uh, daddy, I gotta go now.” He snapped out of it, and saw that her class was onto the next two classes. He let go of her before kissing her cheek, saying see you later. 

The rest of the Halloween day went by smoothly. It was quite cold out, so the teachers were allowed to have the students eat inside if they wanted to. 

By the end of the day, he picked Wynn up from the front before he made sure his entire class was picked up safely. 

“Did you have fun?” Harry asked Wynn once he saw her. 

“Yeah! Look at all the candy!” She showed him her bag full of sweets. 

“Wow! Alright, let’s get home and sort through the ones you want and don’t want. Gonna have to pick fifteen,” he told her and she pouted. He hated that pout, even though it was adorable, it was a dangerous pout that had Harry almost give in, but he had to be the strong parent. “Sorry, pretty. Thems the rules. Last year I gave you ten, so I bumped it up by five.” 

“Alright…” she trailed off, and Harry chuckled. 

Before they left, he quickly caught Mrs. Robin before she walked away. “Oh, by the way, Mrs. Robin. Do you mind taking a picture of us? Realized I forgot to take one this morning.” 

“Of course, dear! Harry unlocked his phone and opened the camera up before handing it to her. She pointed the camera towards them as she snapped a few pictures of them. They were smiling brightly at the camera before Harry picked Lynn up, so they were the same height. “Here you are. Have a lovely Halloween, you two.” Mrs. Robin bid them goodbye as they both waved. Harry looked at the pictures, seeing that they were blurry and some of them had her finger in the lens. Harry brushed it off, chuckling to himself as he’ll figure out how you two will get a picture later. 

They headed to the car and on their way home to continue the fun with by getting and passing out more candy. 

The cold 5 p.m evening was relaxing and quiet as there weren’t many trick or treaters out just yet, only the little ones that needed to get their candy early in order to be back before bedtime. 

And that’s what you were doing with your three year old. You asked Penelope if she wanted to go and get candy, and just the sound of candy coming out from mommy’s mouth was music to her tiny ears, so she nodded her head. 

“Go now?” She asked, and you looked at the time as it was almost five in the evening. 

“Yeah! We can’t stay long because it’s gonna be cold and I don’t want you to get sick,” you told her. 

“No, I don’t want sick,” Penelope shook her head no. 

“Yeah, me either. I’ll bring a jacket just in case, don’t worry,” you reassured her, and she smiled. 

The jacket didn’t take long to put on. Once you felt the breeze rush through you, blowing away some of the leaves from the ground as Penelope was stomping on them, you immediately put her burnt orange teddy bear coat on over her scarecrow brown dress. You left the hood off since she was wearing a pointy black hat with a sunflower attached to it, which kept falling off everytime she jumped a little too much, might you add. So, you kept having to pick it up and put it back on her. 

You two had visited five houses so far, all houses being so lovely to Penelope as they complimented how adorable she was. Now, you were walking towards the next house when you suggested you go across the street since some of the other houses had signs already prepared saying ‘no candy!’

Penelope usually went with the flow, so she agreed as you two walked across the street and decided to just complete the entire block before walking back home before it got too cold and too late. 

“Go on, baby,” you encouraged her to knock on the black door. She ended up slapping the door with her open palm because she said knocking was hurting her hand. You waited at the bottom of the stairs for the owner of the house to open the door, and Penelope waited thirty seconds before she turned around with a pout on her face. “Don’t think they’re home yet. Lets go to the next one!” You said enthusiastically, hoping to lift her frown. She walked down the brick stairs as you reached out for her hand to hold. 

As you made it down the walkway and onto the sidewalk, you heard the door open frantically, making you turn around from the sudden noise and from a man calling out for you. 

“Wait, wait! I have candy!” The man ran down the walkway in a Fred Flinstone costume with a bucket of candy. You chuckled a bit because never did you imagine Fred himself was chasing after you. He was a very attractive man and he pulled the Flinstone costume quite well. “Sorry, I, uh, was just getting changed into my costume. I’m sorry it took so long. I didn’t realize people would be out trick or treating so early,” he said breathlessly from his rushed actions. 

You giggled. “Well, this one has to before she makes it for bedtime,” you referred to the little one who was jumping on the leaves. Harry looked down as his eyes beamed. 

“Well, look at you! Aren't you the cutest scarecrow!” Penelope looked up once she heard her costume. She smiled at the unknown man, but all she knew was that he had a bowl of candy that she would like to get her hands on. “I got lots of options here. You could choose one or two if you’d like.” Harry bent down to Penelope’s height, holding out the candy bowl to her. He had full fixed candy bars and candy packs, and you thought that must’ve been expensive. 

Penelope picked the candies she knew, which were a Hershey’s Cookies n’ Creme bar and a Twix bar. You raised them up to you, beaming proudly as you lowered her candy basket for her to put it in. 

“What do you say, baby?” 

She turned to Harry again. “Tank you!” 

“You’re welcome!” Harry responded. “Oh, uh, I’m Harry, by the way.” He shook your hand, introducing himself. He smiled, dimples popping out and you felt yourself blush. 

“I’m Y/N,” you smiled. 

“And who might this be?” He bent down again at Penelope. 

“I’m Pennie!” Your daughter introduced herself, and you smiled proudly. 

“It’s lovely to meet you both. You look amazing, Pennie! Although, your mummy doesn’t have a costume on,” he teased, looking at you as he smirked, making your heart flutter. 

“Well, mommy stayed up all night putting together and sewing her costume together, so I didn’t have time to make one for myself,” you explained. You were quite proud of Pennie’s costume. It was a brown dress with long sleeves that had different fall colored squares, but it was all one piece, so Pennie didn’t have to wear something underneath besides her leggings. 

“Wow, you made this? This looks amazing!” Harry complimented, and you humbly said thank your 

“So, uh, since your Fred Flinstone, is the rest of your family dressed up too?” You asked curiously. 

“Oh, no. Just my daughter,” he chuckled, “which by the way, you need to see her costume, one second.” Harry quickly walked into the house, calling out for his daughter. You and Pennie waited on the sidewalk. After a few seconds, Harry came out with his daughter holding his hand as you thought they were the cutest pair. 

“You two are just adorable!” You squealed as you looked at them fondly. 

“Hi, I’m Wynette, but I go by Wynn,” the six year old girl smiled as she introduced herself. 

“Hi, Wynn. I’m Y/N, and this is…Pennie, please stand up.” You found your daughter laying in the pile of leaves. Harry and Wynn laughed fondly. “Sorry about that.” You got Pennie to stand up, brushing her dress off from the dirt and mud. 

“It’s okay! Wynn and I love to jump and lay in the leaves all the time,” Harry said. “Oh! Actually, do you mind doing me a favor? I know we just met, but…” 

“Yeah, of course!” You accepted. 

“Do you mind getting a picture of us? We tried getting on earlier, but it was all blurry,” Harry chuckled, taking out his phone and opening up the camera. 

“Yeah, I got you.” You grabbed his phone as Harry and Wynn both smiled and posed. You lowered down the brightness a tad bit, and took multiple pics of them from different angles, even kicking some of the leaves to their feet to add to the fall effect. After you took plenty, you handed his phone back. “Let me know if you’d like me to take more.” 

“Wow, these are perfect!” Harry exclaimed as he looked at them. “Are you a photographer?” 

“Oh, no. I just really liked taking pictures when I was younger, so I always knew how to take good pictures on an iPhone,” you chuckled, making Harry laugh. Harry proceeded to joke that you should definitely be a photographer but only using a phone, and you teased back saying that you’ll think about it. 

Meanwhile as you two were talking, you two didn’t realize Pennie and Wynn playing in the leaves. Wynn was throwing a handful in the air as the leaves rained down onto the two of them. You smiled fondly at the two, and looked at Harry who was snapping some pictures. 

After a few moments, you called Pennie. “Alright, c’mon, baby. Let’s finish all these houses,” you reached out for her hand, but she pouted, shaking her head no. “Pennie…” 

“No, no! I don’t wanna leave!” Her eyes started tearing up as she frowned. 

“Don’t you want to get more candy?” You asked softly. She didn’t respond, rather turn towards Wynn and look at her with a pout. 

“Oh, uh, I think she wants Wynn to go with her,” Harry chimed in. “Think she got attached too easily within those ten minutes.” You let out a chuckle, knowing that he was right. 

“I’m sorry. Uh, she probably won’t leave your front lawn, but you totally don’t have to come with us, but-” 

“Nonsense! We’d love to go! Right, Wynn?” Wynn nodded her head happily as she continued playing with Pennie. “We usually trick or treat later in the evening, but we’d love to go with you now. I’ll just leave the candy out at the front.” 

“But wouldn’t the kids just take them all?” 

“Hey, that’s fine by me. As long as it’s going somewhere,” Harry shrugged. “Just give me one second to get the rest of the candy, and then we could go.” Harry walked back inside of the house. Wynn stayed with Pennie as you two watched them. You noticed Pennie wasn’t crying anymore, but she was giggling with tear stained cheeks as the older girl twirled her around. 

Two minutes later, Harry walked out of his house and locked the door before putting the candy bowl down onto the steps with a sign that said ‘take one, please!’ but he knew that no one was going to follow the sign’s instruction. After that, he turned towards you, smiling. “Shall we go?” You nodded your head as Harry gave Wynn her candy basket. 

The four of you walked on the leaf covered sidewalk; Wynn and Pennie were walking together in the front as you and Harry walked together behind them. 

“So, what do you do for a living?” You started the conversation. 

“I’m a third grade teacher. Have been for six years. What about you?” 

“I run a small business, selling jewelry and clothing. That’s all I do right now, and it’s gotten pretty big, so it’s taken care of a lot,” you smiled humbly. 

“Wow, that’s amazing. I could definitely see the talent through Pennie’s costume. I’d have to check it out sometime to support.” You smiled at that, giving him the name of your shop. 

The two of you continue walking, waiting for your children as they got candy, and getting to know one another. 

“Do you live around here?” He asked. “I mean, not in a creepy way,” he chuckled nervously. 

You giggled. “Yeah, I live about a block away. We usually walk on the opposite side, but decided to come on this side.” 

“Well, I’m glad you decided to come over here,” he said innocently, but it could be taken as flirtatious. 

“Me too,” you smiled softly. He smiled back as he thought you were the most beautiful person he’s ever seen that’s not related to him. You had soft eyes that looked at him with care, and a smile that he thought was the most gorgeous; you even had dimples on corners of mouth when you would smile, and he just thought that was the cutest thing. 

Obviously, he didn’t know that you were thinking the same thing as him. You felt somewhat intimidated by the tall, attractive, and kind man beside you. And you think his daughter is the cutest. They don’t really look alike, but she probably got her mom’s looks. Speaking of her mother… 

“So, the rest of your family didn’t want to come out with you two?” You asked curiously, still waiting for the answer if he was married or taken or not. 

“No, it’s actually just Wynn and I…” you hummed, smiling to yourself. “You’re probably wondering where Wynn’s mum is, huh?” He teased, noticing your flusteredness. 

“Oh, uh-” you stumbled. 

“It’s okay. I’m wondering if you’re taken too,” he said honestly. 

You chuckled nervously. “I’m not. Haven’t been since Penelope was born, actually.” 

“Do you mind me asking what happened?” 

“Only if you tell me what happened with Wynn’s mom,” you teased. “I mean, only if you want to.” Harry nodded, softly smiling. 

“Pennie’s dad and I got married three years before she was born. Spare the details, but we got a divorce after she was born because I found out that he had another family…and he chose them over us,” you explained. 

“Oh, wow, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s alright. I’m over it, and it was for the better because I didn’t want Pennie hearing us fight all the time and me yelling and asking where he’s been,” you breathed out a laugh. It seemed like the memory was just yesterday, but it’s been three years. 

“That must’ve been hard. Are you happier?” 

“Oh, yeah. Definitely. That’s when I launched my business because I couldn’t stay at home and do nothing, so I started to design.” 

“That’s amazing!” Harry smiled. 

“So, that’s my spooky story for today,” you chuckled, “what’s yours?”  

“Wel, uh…” 

“Don’t feel obligated to tell me because I told you my story,” you reassured, and he nodded. 

“Yeah, I know. But I want to tell you. Have a feeling we’re gonna be around each other a lot more often.” He pointed his eyes at the two girls walking in front of you. You smiled at the two holding hands. “But anyways, Wynn’s mother passed away when she was about two months old.” 

You softly gasped. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Harry.” 

“As well as her father too.” Your eyes widened as you suddenly stopped walking for a moment. You looked at him skeptically, studying him for a moment. Harry furrowed his brows once you touched his stomach. 

“What are you doing?” 

“Are you a ghost?” You asked seriously. His words caught you off guard that you actually thought you were imagining Harry the whole time. 

“What? No, I’m not,” he laughed. He totally understood why you thought that. 

“Okay, good. Thought I was tripping. I mean it is Halloween. Anyways, you were saying?” You gave him your full attention as you two started walking again. 

“Wynn’s actual parents passed during an accident. They were on their way back from a little date night. Her father, Alex, was my best friend, and I’m her godfather. So, after they passed, I was her guardian. But when they asked me to be her godfather, they told me the responsibilities and that if anything happened to them, to change Wynn’s last name to my own because they didn’t want her to live on with her life wondering who her real family was. So, I did as they told me. I changed it. And I’ve raised her her whole life, and she’s mine, y’know?” Harry told you, and you listened and nodded. 

“Does Wynn know?” 

“Yeah, she does. I told her last year because she wondered why she didn’t look like me, and I knew that I couldn’t just lie and hide it from her. She’s a smart girl, so I knew she would understand. She cried for a little bit—had an identity crisis and felt like she couldn’t call me dad anymore, but I told her that if she wanted to or not then I would be okay with it. Thankfully, she still does.” Harry looked at his feet as he walked, kicking the leaves around. 

“You’re a great dad, Harry. I’ve known you for about thirty minutes, but I just know you are. Wynn is the sweetest, and you’re doing amazing. But thank you for telling me all that. Know I’m a bit of a stranger,” you slightly laughed. 

“Just a tad bit, but I trust you—I feel it.” You smiled at him, nudging him as you walked, to which you earned one back. 

You all walked back to Harry’s house, and by the time you got there, Pennie was reaching up towards you, telling you to pick her up. She must’ve been tired from all the walking and jumping with her new mate, so she was getting sleepy. 

“I could drive you back, if you’d like?” Harry offered. 

“No, it’s okay! Not that far of a walk. Thank you for joining us, though! Pennie and myself really appreciated it and we had fun,” you smiled. 

“We did as well. We’ll see you around?” Harry said, and you nodded, waving goodbye. 

Harry watched as you two walked away, and he really did have a great time. He felt refreshed and relieved after talking to you, and he doesn’t remember the last time he’s had a decent conversation with someone without turning it into more that same day. 

Hopefully he will see you around. 

November 1st was your favorite. You started feeling the festive mood as it was getting closer and closer to the holidays. 

You and Pennie were out for a walk, and you offered to bring the stroller, but she shook her head, wanting to freely walk in the leaves. Taking the similar route as the night prior, you were hoping to see Harry. You were really infatuated with him, and you thought you two would be great friends, and maybe even more. 

Suddenly, Pennie let go of your hand and started running towards the familiar house from last night. She tan quite fast for a toddler, and you would have to ask her if she wanted to join track when she was older. 

“Penelope, get back here!” You chased after her, but it was too late when she slapped the door. You caught up to her and carried her. “Baby, please don’t run away from me like that again.” She said a soft ‘I’m sorry’ as you carried her off the walkway.

The door opened, revealing the familiar man. “Y/N? Pennie?” 

“I’m sorry! We were going for a walk and she ran away from me and ran here,” you said breathlessly, walking towards the front door again. 

Harry chuckled. “You wanna see Wynnie again, Pen?” Pennie’s eyes brightened at the sound of her friend’s name as she nodded. “Come on in!” 

“A-Are you sure?” You asked hesitantly. 

“Absolutely! We’re just cooking breakfast right now.” 

You two walked in slowly as Harry followed behind. You out Pennie down as she stayed close to you. When Harry shut the door, Pennie tugged on his pant leg. 

“Yes, sweetheart?” He bent down, giving his attention. 

“Can I have another candy?” She asked shyly, and Harry smiled. 

“Penelope…” you said. 

“What? H-He gives the full size candy bars!” You and Harry laughed loudly. 

“We have extra, but only if mummy lets you.” Pennie looked up at you with a pouty face, and of course, you gave in. 

“Alright, alright. But you’re only eating it after dinner, and you only get three pieces,” you chuckled. The little girl started jumping up and down happily. Harry looked at the two of you and smiled fondly, loving the dynamic between you two. 

Maybe he did like Halloween after all. 

happy halloween! come into my inbox and let’s talk <3

#harry styles fluff #dad!harry #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles ff #harry styles x you #harry styles x reader #harry styles one shot #harry styles blurb #harry styles angst #harryween #harry styles one direction #boyfriend!harry #harry #harry styles

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SakuAtsu Fanfic recs pt2 leggo

I promised a pt 2 and here it is! Link to pt 1 here :) I was lazy so given summaries (I cped this time, but in the future I might paraphrase), and ofc these aren’t all of the ones I loved, just some :D So in no particular order, have some SakuAtsu <3

As always, pls check WARNINGS, TAGS, and SUMMARIES for fics before reading (esp cause I didn’t put individual warnings PLEASE make sure you’re okay with the content!!!!!!) and make sure you’re taking care of yourselves (since mental health is key!) Stay healthy loves <3

Teach Me, Tune Me, Tempt Me by Anonymous (E) 38.8k // Sakusa Kiyoomi needs to conquer many lifelong fears in order to enter his first romantic relationship. Miya Atsumu is there to guide him every step of the way, even if the one Sakusa desires is someone else.

Flowers Bloom In Our Masks by UnicornFlowers (G) 24.5k // "Mysophobia, also known as verminophobia, germophobia, germaphobia, bacillophobia and bacteriophobia, is a pathological fear of contamination and germs." "You read that off of Wikipedia." "That's the point, Omi-kun. I read up on it fer you."

the art of folding a handkerchief by Emlee_J (T) 5.6k // “Atsumu-san’s just realised he likes Sakusa-san,” Shouyou says simply, as though announcing the weather. “Ahh,” Bokuto nods sagely, standing up straight and nodding his head, as though this was a perfectly normal thing to hear and not monumental in any way. “'Ahh?'” Atsumu protests, indignantly, “what do ya mean ‘ahh?’” “We were wondering when you were going to notice,” Bokuto shrugs, and Atsumu gawps at him. “'Scuse me?” He splutters, and whips his gaze around to Shouyou, who bobs his head at him in confirmation. “How did you two notice before I did?” Atsumu blurts out. "Most people do," Shouyou says softly. -In which Atsumu develops something annoying, like feelings for a teammate, but at least he has a couple of wingmen and Tobio's seemingly infinite resources to help him out.

for whom the heart beats by cielelyse (T) 1.6k // Atsumu's heart keeps skipping a beat whenever Sakusa's around - so often that it's baffling and honestly downright concerning. "I think I might have a medical condition," he says into the phone. "Good," says Osamu, and hangs up.

as you are by papertulips (G) 5.8k // Kiyoomi learns that falling for Atsumu is the easiest thing in the world.

Hide and seek by badreputation (E) 10.5k // It’s just a fleeting infatuation. As long as he pushes through it he’ll manage. So what if nowadays there isn’t a night where he doesn’t dream of Sakusa pinning him down on his own bed, in the shower or make Atsumu go down on his knees in the hallway? Those are just pesky details.

People Will Say We're in Love by tirralirra (T) 9.5k // “Saku...Atsu? What does that even mean?” Atsumu says, squinting at the device. People seem to think that Sakusa and Atsumu are in love, so they come up with a list of things to do to deter that. Maybe it would work...if they weren’t in love.

do not separate! by aalphard (T) 5k // He knows he likes peanut butter and the tuna onigiri Uncle Shamu makes for him. He knows he likes volleyball and the way his daddy looks so, so cool when he’s on court. He knows he likes drawing and playing with toy swords. He knows he likes reading and it’s even better when Atsumu is the one reading for him. He knows he likes to have pancakes in the morning but he also really, really likes tamagoyaki and he knows his daddy can’t make those at all. He tries, but fails every single time. He knows his daddy’s teammates like him and he knows they’ll help him if he wants to play with them one day. But the thing is he likes Uncle Omi-kun more than he likes the rest of them and that is a secret he won’t tell anyone that’s not his daddy. He doesn’t like to make people sad.“Omi?” “Yeah?” “Nao said he likes you more than he likes the rest of the team. Don’t tell’em.” or atsumu is a single dad and kiyoomi can't help but fall for him.

you make my heart burn by myhopeisjhope (G) 9.2k // “What’s up with that awful expression?” Atsumu asked. He leaned against the counter with his hip, looking directly at Kiyoomi, his regular fox-line grin plastered on his face. Kiyoomi made eye-contact with him then, his eyebrows knotting in annoyance, but Atsumu was too interested in the cute pair of beauty marks above Kiyoomi’s eye to care about the glare that was sent his way. “What’s up with that awful hair?” Kiyoomi shot back. And that was exactly when Atsumu decided he liked the guy. 

somewhere in the middle (i think we lied a little) by akanemnida (E) 4.3k // “Body worship,” Miya said instantly, after Kiyoomi asked him what he wanted as reward as the winner of their service ace competition. “I can do that,” Kiyoomi said with a frown. “God, you really are the vainest person on this planet—”Miya shook his head, smirking. “Nuh-uh, Omi-kun. I meant I wanted ‘ta worship ‘ya.”(Or: Sakusa and Atsumu and all the blurred lines in between.)

san'yō expressway, 6:17 pm by yamabato (T) 8.1k // Atsumu tilts his head to watch a slice of orange light bend over the impassive planes of Sakusa’s face. He is absolutely, ruthlessly beautiful. It makes Atsumu want to punch something—put his foot through the windshield—scream, maybe. Kiss him again, maybe. They have 344 kilometers to figure this one out.

affection by papertulips (G) 2.1k // "I gave you the key to my house for emergencies only." “This is an emergency.” “What?” Atsumu pouts, looking up at him with wide eyes that definitely work on Kiyoomi but he will never admit it. “I missed you.”

love could be labeled poison and we'd drink it anyways by myhopeisjhope (NR) 21.3k // "Huh?" is Atsumu's response, and it's seemingly the only thing the man could think of after the minute-long silence that stretched between them. "We should break up," Kiyoomi repeats, more clearly now. He doesn't let any emotion seep into his voice, keeping it neutral and detached, as if breaking up with Atsumu was the easiest thing ever, while in fact it's the complete opposite.

And I'll Ask for the Sea by meeks00 (T) 6.9k // When a couple of his teammates reveal that Atsumu has feelings for him, Sakusa doesn’t react well. It doesn’t help that Atsumu is his typical petty and salty self. --“Come on,” Atsumu is saying in a wheedling tone behind a bright grin. “Just stop,” Sakusa snaps suddenly. “Will you just leave me alone for once? I don’t even like you!”Normally, Sakusa’s words don’t phase Atsumu at all. He’ll talk over Sakusa or brush off any harsh words easily enough and might turn to someone else for the attention he apparently craves. But this time, Sakusa’s words seem to stop him cold, the smile freezing for just a moment on his face.

the Definition of Miya Atsumu, by Sakusa Kiyoomi by orphan_account (G) 4k // Miya Atsumu is a self-centred prick who thinks he's top shit. Underneath the word 'asshole' in the dictionary is a picture of his stupidly pretty face. Sakusa Kiyoomi's definition is, according to him, 100% correct, until he takes a closer look.

i’ll do anything you say (if you say it with your hands) by liliapocalypse (T) 7.6k // Seeing Sakusa stressed out, Atsumu writes random letters on Sakusa’s skin to soothe him during the team’s assisted stretches. Somewhere along the way, the touches shift from barely tolerable to something Sakusa actively craved for. One day, though, Atsumu accidentally writes a confession instead.

it ain't no matter of 'if' honey, it's just a matter of 'when' by irleggsy (M) 2.1k // With a beer in one hand and an accusatory pointer finger on the other, Sakusa slurred, shouted even, “Atsumu. If you wear those godforsaken cutoff camo jorts one more fucking time I’m breaking up with you.”Atsumu made a noise in his throat caught somewhere between a wheeze and a squawk that came out more of an avant-garde honk noise than anything else. He stared up at Sakusa with wide eyes, a bewildered smile just barely glued onto his face. Or: The MSBY Black Jackals go to a bar. Sakusa likes to run his mouth when he's drunk.

dog eat dog eat dog world by perennials (T) 8.4k // You are your first and only line of defense against the universe.

Who Could Have Seen This Coming? by crone_zone (M) 16.7k // Peering out the side of his eyes at the man walking beside him, Sakusa wondered why he’d impulsively changed his mind about his plans this evening when he’d noticed Miya’s reluctance. Surely he wasn’t worried about this asshole, was he?--In which Sakusa impulsively invites Atsumu over to his apartment when he sees he's upset and something entirely unexpected happens: he realizes he likes this asshole. Cue [off-camera]sex, mutual confessions, insecurity, and adorable losers who are opposite in all the right ways.

Miya Atsumu's unwavering love for Sakusa Kiyoomi and an unholy amount of terrible food analogies that should not have the right to Exist by aiviloti (G) 5.6k // Five times Miya Atsumu talks to (harasses) his friends and sibling because he has feelings for Sakusa and doesn't know what to do or how to deal with them and the one time he talks to Sakusa about it. “How do you make friends apart from showering them in praise?” Atsumu wails one night, and Osamu thinks, oh god, here we go again.

Sakusa's Secret Admirer by TwilaFrost (T) 20.2k // Every day after practice, Kiyoomi finds another letter inside his shoe locker. It's only every signed: -❤ He's determined to find this person. Is it crazy to fall in love with someone you've never met?

take what's yours and make it mine by claudusdiei (T) 5.9k // (this has a second fic hehe) atsumu falls in love four times in his life (or: in which atsumu gets his heart broken twice, has the self-awareness of a sober mule and really likes yellow tulips)

School Bus Yellow by yuuki (G) 4.9k // Atsumu has a crush on Sakusa, and it’s kind of ridiculous how much he likes a guy who wears ugly colored jackets and is afraid of germs.Though, Atsumu’s probably not all that great himself. He’s still figuring that part out.

show me how by emeraldpalace (G) 2.9k // Sakusa isn’t sure when or how it happened, but the fact remains: Miya Atsumu has become a comfortable constant in his life.

touch me (i want you to) by melstar (G) 3.9k // He should have seen it coming, really. Spend six months tip-toeing around the line of domesticity with the team’s resident germaphobe, and there was no way he’d be able to think of the guy the same way anymore. Or, Atsumu touches Sakusa's arm once and thus begins a downward spiral into the inescapable jaws of attraction.

Dreaming of You, Talking About You by kitkatwrites (T) 1.1k // Osamu learns that Atsumu talks in his sleep, especially about a certain wing spiker from Tokyo.

If your world falls apart, I'd start a riot by Serendipity (jenjaemrens) (NR) 3.1k // "It was Atsumu who was the older brother, but it was Osamu who was more protective of him. He would always protect Atsumu from things around them that could hurt him. "Or, the story of Sakusa Kiyoomi and Miya Atsumu through the eyes of Miya Osamu.

but soft what light by min_mintobe (T) 2.1k // "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day, Bokkun—" Atsumu drawls, "—hot. "In which Miya Atsumu woos Sakusa Kiyoomi by (gratuitously, seductively) quoting Shakespeare. One-shot.

sakusa kiyoomi's fixation on (miya atsumu's) lips by catsoncocaine (E) 3.7k // Everything about Atsumu is fucking beautiful, but there is one specific part of his that is like kryptonite for Kiyoomi. It is both his curse and his remedy, rendering him useless and yet egging him on to move at the same time. Kiyoomi hates it as much as he loves it.

The Jacket In Your Closet by dai_naning (T) 8.6k // According to the gossiping players around him, Miya Atsumu is an asshole. He's an incredible player in court and an obnoxious person off the court. He taunts people, points out their weakness, and doesn't give a shit if he's disliked or not. Some even say his teammates ostracize him. Sakusa looks at Miya Atsumu and can only see a player who keeps his eyes firmly forward, demanding the same to the players who want to stay on the court. Sakusa can't fault him for that. (That doesn't erase the fact that he's an asshole though. And that he's still the one who gave a jacket to a stranger.)

sakusa kiyoomi is....an uncle? by miyaudrey (T) 5.9k // “Oh, by the way, my nieces and nephews are going to be there.” “Your what now?” Or, Atsumu finds out three hours prior to a Sakusa family gathering that Kiyoomi is an uncle.

Confessions of a V-League Setter by Anubis_2701 (T) 3.3k // "Never?" Sakusa's lips thinned. "No, never. Now stop talking to me." Or, Atsumu discovers that Sakusa Kiyoomi, germaphobe and reluctant heartthrob of the Black Jackals, has never been confessed to before. He decides to change that.

Touch Me by cajynn (E) 3k // Sakusa actually likes being touched but he's very picky when it comes to who and how. When the who turns out to be Miya Atsumu he has a crisis.

Please Stop Crying by dauwtrappen (G) 2.9k // Friday starts off well until it doesn’t and Kiyoomi can hear something crash, feel something snap inside him when Miya, about to set him up for a quick attack, suddenly starts crying in the middle of their three-on-three. Kiyoomi doesn’t even react when the ball bounces off his head, doesn’t cringe when his face is smushed against the net briefly because he forgets to land in front of the it. He’s too shocked, too appalled with the tears pouring out from Miya’s eyes to care.

I can't take much more of your hesitating by playexodus (T) 2.7k // The curved sides of Atsumu’s pecs peek through that absurd tank top at just the right angle. Sakusa swallows. “Your entire chest is hanging out of that shirt. We’re in public. You could at least pretend to be a decent, morally upright person. Not to mention that this Los Angeles beach boy aesthetic is terrible on you.”Glancing back down at Atsumu’s chest to glare at his sharp, glistening collarbones is a bad idea. Sakusa wills his eyes to stay fixated on Atsumu’s face. As it turns out, this too, is a bad idea. “Oh?” Atsumu turns his half-lidded gaze onto Sakusa, the corners of his mouth curling. “Just to be clear: you’re definitely not enjoying the view then, Omi-Omi?”

curse breaking by allicanseeispink (T) 9.2k // Nearing the fourth hour of the silent treatment, Kiyoomi’s already frayed nerves began to whittle down to their last fibers. Today, it was raining. A proper Tokyo monsoon tantrum just shy of a full-blown typhoon that left puddles on sidewalks and fell from an angle so wicked it eluded umbrellas. It was raining and they haven’t spoken in almost four hours. (In which Sakusa wanders into the minefield that is Atsumu's feelings and tries not to blow things up.)

Summer Special: Omigiri by mika60 (T) 6.9k // Miya Osamu always comes up with the perfect marketing plan for his shop, even if it involves the two biggest idiots he knows.

a list of things sakusa kiyoomi hates by BrenH (T) 7.3k // “Just fuckin’ write shit down so ya remember it then. ”It was probably supposed to be a joke, just Osamu being as annoying and unhelpful as always, just reminding him that he shouldn’t have bothered trying to count on his brother for help. He’s forgotten about the whole thing until a few days later when he’s shopping and comes across a small, black notebook shaped like a cat, and his brother’s stupid suggestion flashes through his mind. Before he knows it, the cute little notebook is dropped in his basket, purchased, and in his possession. Or, the one where Osamu suggests Atsumu keep a notebook to track all the things Sakusa hates that he does, and he takes it further than he means to.

A Challenge, A Cat, and A Confession by Kitaa (G) 6.2k // Atsumu enjoys bothering Sakusa. One day he bothers him enough to be invited over to his apartment, only to discover that Sakusa has a plant, a cat, and a cute laugh.

Multiples Of Two by yuuki (G) 3.3k // He does everything in multiples of two. The day Sakusa Kiyoomi died, Atsumu checked his pulse twenty-eight times. Okay, so Sakusa Kiyoomi has never died. And Atsumu has never been close enough to Sakusa to be able to check his pulse. So what if Atsumu is just being dramatic again? He’s allowed to be dramatic when he’s in love with a man who has less emotion than a rock.

gold rush by sketchedsmiles (T) 18k // When the MSBY Black Jackals sign their newest team member, Sakusa Kiyoomi, Atsumu makes it his personal responsibility to befriend the indifferent player.

got sand in my eyes (and my shorts too, damn you miya) by luxnoctre (T) 4.7k // On one of their rare rest days, Hinata takes the part of the MSBY team to the beach. Chaos ensures. (or alternatively, do not piss off Sakusa when he is in the middle of relaxing)

mortality is found in the flesh of your sins by citronnes (M) 10.6k // dickhead one, sakusa kiyoomi. dickhead two, miya atsumu. neither understand how to communicate. Pray tell, why are you drawn to him?Are you drawn to him in the way he looks beautiful even when crying? When his eyes are red, shiny tears streaking down, lips quivering, is he beautiful?

This was v long ahahaha.... Anyway, is this finished? No LOL, but I’ll just make small additions via reblogs (?) over time. Maybe :) Sorry if you wanted me to ramble on about SakuAtsu,,,, slide into my messages/asks for that LOL. Maybe over time I’ll add the commentary from other posts I make in the future :’)

#sakuatsu #haikyuu fanfic rec #haikyuu fic recs #haikyuu!! #haikyuu #hq fic rec #anime #manga #sakuatsu fic recs #i'm a lazy person #also if you saw me saying i was gonna post kyouhaba #no you didnt #like i just said #lazy #there are a lot of fics in that one #anyway #all of these are really good #like i couldnt not put them all #ya know?

[justcallmenikki7]

BTS Reaction To: You Break Them Out of Jail

Mafia!Au

Summary: your mafia boyfriend ends in jail and you break them out of jail

Warnings: mafia au, shooting, death, badass!reader, crack, sexual undertones, the maknae causing ruckus, slight dom!reader (NO SMUT! It was just undertone towards jimin), and yeah, language.

Request:

Mind if I request A BTS mafia au reaction to their gf breaking em out of jail? Idk why but I rlly wanna see how u'd write this & I've seen so many things about how badass the mafia au males are (no hate, most of them are hella cool) so...how bout a BTS (mafia ofc) reaction to their gf being a badass? (Any scenario, etc I don't really mind)

W.C: 2.3K

Notes: wow, this was different in terms of writing about the reader being badass instead of being innocent lmao. I hope you all enjoy it! Also, I combined the two requests in this since they were similar to one another!

Jin:

Jin was not even worried about his supposed ‘time’ in prison during court. He knew that his smirk that he held during court infuriated both the judge and district attorney. He was sadistically pleased when the district attorney showed irritation when he asked, “why are you so happy? Are you happy from all of the murders and violence you have caused? Are you that sick in the head?”

Jin did not reply, but only gave him a wink and smirk.

Now, sitting in a prison cell, counting down the time until you came and broke him out of prison. When he heard commotion from down the wall, he knew it was time. Going to stand at the bars, he wrapped his hands around the bars, casually leaning so he can play the role of acting ‘suspicious’ on why there are gun shots being fired and people screaming. Once he saw your long hair and heard your voice ordering commands at his gang, he could not help but feel both turned on and in love.

“Where’s Kim Seokjin’s cell?” You demanded, gripping the collar of the guard.

“Fifth cell on the left,” he stuttered out, whimpering when he felt Taehyung’s gun being pressed to the side of his head.

Once you got in front of your husbands’ cell, you could not help but smile. “You look hot in a jumpsuit,” you winked at him.

When the jail cell opened, Jin brought you into him and gave you a deep, passionate kiss. Even though the two of you have been away from one another for two days, he still missed you like crazy.

“Hey, hyung, we gotta go or unless you want to be charcoal in t-minus five minutes, your choice.” Jungkook spoke sarcastically, leaned up against the wall casually, looking down at his watch.

“Watch it, Maknae.”

He was only answered with a bunny smile.

Yoongi:

Yoongi was leaned up against the wall outside, watching all of the other prisoners either play basketball or lift weights. He knew some of them, having ran into them on the streets or have done business with them, but that does not mean he is going to be buddies with them. The other ones, the ones he did not know, he found comical. From how they walked with such confidence and smugness, boasting about how what they did is worse than others to end up in prison.

Playing with the bracelet you got him for your second anniversary, he waited patiently for you. He knew that you were planning on how to break him out of this hell hole. So, when he saw a drome fly over the prison fence, he could not be filled with pride, knowing that his queen was saving him, something he found funny.

“What the fuck is that?” He heard the guards ask each other, but to be only answered by getting shot, the drome that Jungkook built having guns attached to it.

Screaming filled the outside, along with grenades going off.

Turning to look towards the explosion, he saw you walk out with a lady guard, gun pressed to her head as she led you to Yoongi. Once you saw him, you shot the guard, throwing her to the ground before you ran to your husband. When you got close enough, you jumped into Yoongi’s arms, legs wrapping around his waist.

“I fucking hate you, you know that?” Was the first thing you asked and the one thing that made Yoongi’s heart skip a beat happily.

“I know,” Yoongi smirked, taking your gun from you so he can get the both of you out of the shit hole of a prison.

Hoseok:

What scared the underground world the most is how equally crazy you and Hoseok are. Truthfully, the judge and district attorney, along with the police department were terrified when the newbie arrested Jung Hoseok and took him to court. He, obviously, was not warned about the one and only, Jung Hoseok.

Sitting through the whole trial with a blank, but deadly expression on his face, Hoseok was silent. He knew that the judge was terrified of him, which Hoseok found funny, playing with the old man by staring at him with a blank expression every time the judge and him made eye contact. Everyone in the court room that they will eventually be meeting their death soon from how they were going against the mafia boss.

Laying down on the uncomfortable bed, Hoseok stared blankly at the ceiling, messing with his rings. A terrified scream was what alerted him, but the laugh that followed after it had Hoseok’s heart soaring.

“Princess,” he whispered, but then scowled. “What the fuck is she doing?” He asked himself in disbelief.

“She is breaking your dumbass out of prison. Unless, you enjoy the bed and shitty food, then forget about it,” you answered sarcastically, arms crossed over your chest.

“Dumbass? Better watch your mouth princess,” Hoseok warned, smirk on his face as he walked up the bars.

“Fucking gross you guys, just unlock the jail cell and lets go before the swat gets here,” Yoongi groaned, shooting a guard.

Once you opened the cell, Hoseok brought you in, breath fanning across your neck, “Just wait until we get home.”

Looking up at him, a smile on your face. “Can’t wait,” you replied, kissing his lips sweetly. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

And he did.

Namjoon:

You walked into the prison, dressed in a pair of skintight jeans, black knee length boots, black blouse, and your hair curled tightly. A confident smirk was on your lips as you walked up to the window with the front desk lady sitting behind the window.

“How can I help you?” The lady asked bored, not looking up from her phone.

Rolling your eyes, you pulled your gun out from the back of your pants, cocking it, catching the lady’s attention. “Where is Kim Namjoon?” You demanded. Trying to call for back up, you shot her straight in the heart, sighing. “Dumbass.”

“Noona! You gotta chill,” Jimin teased, “I know you miss your Da—”

Slapping him, “watch it, Jiminie, or you’ll be in trouble yourself.” You whispered into his ear, drawing a whimper from the boy.

“We got the guards covered, the door is unlocked, here’s the key to his cell.” Hoseok ran up to you, handing you the keys.

“Thanks, Hoseokie.” You smiled, turning to look behind you, “Kookie, cover my ass!” You yelled, running to Namjoon, Jungkook right behind you.

“Kitten? Is that you?” You heard Namjoon call out, making your heart race. Stopping in front of his cell, you could not help but to tear up. Not seeing him for a week, you were emotional and missed your fiancé. “Don’t cry baby, I’m here now.” Unlocking his cell, you jumped into his arms, clinging onto him. “God, I’ve missed you.” Namjoon sighed, nuzzling your head, kissing the top of it. “Let’s go home.”

Jimin:

Jimin cringed at the food in front of him, even if you can call it that. “I’d rather starve than eat this shit,” he muttered to himself, pushing the tray away from him.

The sound of the lunchroom’s doors being slammed opened and two gunshots ringing throughout the room caught everyone’s attention. Commotion rose when two guards were shot, silencing the whole room. Heels clicked against the ground, a familiar sound to Jimin.

“Where is Park Jimin?” Your voice demanded, a beautiful sound to Jimin. Seokjin’s hand pointing towards the short man had you smiling brightly, relief flooding through your body at the sight of your boyfriend.

“What the fuck is this?” A prisoner demanded, standing up from his table.

Your smile turned into a scowl, eyes glaring at the male. “What does it matter to you, asshole?”

“You’re just breaking out your boyfriend, who in fact, is a murder and drug lord instead of the innocent ones? This is bullshit.” He yelled, stalking towards, only to be stopped by Taehyung and Jungkook.

Raising your gun, you shot the man in the head, annoyed by him. This caught everyone else’s attention. “Now, if anyone has a problem with this, then feel free to stand up and make your point. If not, then good for you for wanting to stay alive.”

Feeling an arm around your waist and the person leading you out of the lunchroom, you left the prison. “You being dominant and badass is a real turn on,” Jimin said, bringing a chuckle out of you.

“I was actually nervous as fuck.”

Taehyung:

Taehyung felt disgusting.

Normally, he is dressed in name brand designer clothes, such as Gucci. Right now, he is dressed in cheap jumpsuits, something that he can tell is irritating his skin. Picking at the clothes in the washrooms, he shivered in disgust at the stain that was on it. “Unsanitary,” he mumbled, shaking his head in disappointment.

Touching his face, he looked at himself in the cracked mirror, frowning once again at how dry his skin is. The sound of someone tapping on the window caught his attention. Looking up at the window that was displayed above the lockers, Taehyung saw your face pop out from the corner. He saw your eyes crinkle, a tell-tale sign of you smiling.

“Oh God, please tell me that she’s wearing a harness.” He prayed, wanting you to be secured in the harness you are obviously wearing to hang on the side of the building.

He saw you motion back, to which he did. Next thing he knew was the glass breaking, making him cringe at the sound, knowing that it caught the attention of guards. But what was surprising none came.

“Namjoon gassed the hallways, and Jimin cut off the cameras.” You answered his thoughts. “But, I am here to save you, Romeo!” You joked, throwing rope through the window for him to use to climb through the window.

“I’m coming, Juliet!” Taehyung laughed, shaking his head. Once the two of you climbed to the top of the building, he pulled you in for a hug.

“Oh!” You said excitedly, you grabbed the backpack from Yoongi, “Here’s some clothes to change in to.”

“You know me so well,” he chuckled, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

Jungkook:

As the guard was shoving Jungkook down the hallway to his cell, Jungkook could not help but to laugh.

“what the fuck are you laughing at, Jeon?” The guard demanded, shoving the mafia lead even harder from behind.

“Oh, just knowing that you are going to be dying soon.” Jungkook answered, smirking at the fact that the guard did not shove him again.

“Is that a threat, punk?” The guard demanded, but the underlying fear was evident in his voice, satisfying Jungkook.

“No, it is a promise.”

And true to his word, the sound of explosions coming from Block A caught their attention, only the reactions different. Jungkook was holding a proud smirk, knowing that you were behind this and the guard held the look of terror. Trying to reach someone over the walkie talkie, he did not realize that Jungkook was getting away.

“Fuck! Jeon get back here, now!”

As Jungkook was running down the hallway, he was hit with a bullet in the back of his shoulder, knocking him down to the ground. Jungkook let out a ‘fuck!’ from the pain he felt. The side door opened, revealing you standing with your hair in a messy bun and dust covering your face.

“Fuck no,” you growled from seeing your boyfriend on the ground, a bullet wound evident. Seeing the guard running towards you guys, you quickly took your gun out of your holster, pointing accurately at the guard before shooting him in the chest once and then the head for good measure.

“Why am I the one always getting shot,” your boyfriend groaned in irriation, “this is the second time this month.” He complained.

“Well, if you weren’t such a dumbass, then we wouldn’t be in this position.” You countered back.

“Stop being right,” Jungkook grumbled.

“I love you too, babe.”

#bts mafia reaction #bts mafia au #bts reactions #bts x reader #bts x you #kim seokjin #min yoongi #agust d #suga #jung hoseok #j-hope #kim namjoon #rm #park jimin #jimin #kim taehyung #v #jeon jungkook #jungguk #jin imagine #yoongi imagine #hoseok imagine #namjoon imagine #jimin imagine #taehyung imagine #jugnkook imagine #mafia bts #bts fluff #bts angst #bts crack

[waywardwrestlewritingwaif]

Raise the Stakes, Part 10

Hope you've enjoyed the pic/ inspiration spam I've ben posting! Here's the next section. YOu can find previous sections on the Master List.

Do I have an ending for this coming up? No. I have about 6 and I haven't decided which direction I'm going to go in. I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I'm not going to be able to "pick" an ending until after they have their match at Resurgence next week. But please feel free to message me and tell me what should happen. In the meantime...

Pairing: David Finlay x OFC x Jay White

Word count: 1,943

Content advisory: nothing really, although I guess there's some behavior that could be interpreted as creepy

You’re dimly aware of someone lifting you and carrying you and by the time you get backstage, you’re more or less fully conscious.

“Are you ok?” one of the production assistants comes running over.

“Yeah, I just haven’t had a lot to eat today,” you mumble. “I’m not hurt or anything.”

“I know it’s hot out there with the lights and everything.”

“Really, it’s ok, I just got a bit dizzy.”

The security guard looming over you, the man who brought you back here, looks a little skeptical.

“What happened?”

“You fainted.”

“No, I mean, what happened with the show? I saw that… Switchblade showed up.” You chuckle a little. “Did the other guys beat him up or are they all together?”

The production assistant smiles. “It was pretty cool. They kind of stared down but before anything happened, Juice and David went running out, so them and Callihan cleared the ring.”

“Nice.” You very much like the sound of that. “The good guys got one back.”

“Yeah, I mean Jay hit David and took him out at the end but it was pretty positive.”

“He what?”

“Yeah, after they’d driven everyone off, Jay jumped back in and did his blade runner thing on David. Looked pretty cool.”

Panic sets in.

“Is David ok?”

“I’m sure he is. Maybe his ego’s a bit bruised.”

“Where is he?”

You and David aren’t “out” as anything, you’re not even sure if you are anything, but you don’t care what anyone makes of it because you need to see him.

“I think he’s with the doctor,” the PA answers confusedly.

You’re immediately on your feet, all of your faculties returned, running for the medic’s office. When you get there, Juice tries to grab your arm but you dodge him and go skidding into the room where David is seated on the examination table. He looks at you like he’s surprised to see you.

“Are you alright?” he asks.

“Fine. Are you? I sort of fainted and… I heard you got hurt.”

He gives you a wink. “Nothing I haven’t felt before. This is just a precaution because I wasn’t expecting the…” He stares at you hard before addressing himself to the doctor. “Could you give us a minute?’

“No problem,” she sighs. “You look fine.”

David thrusts his chin out at Juice to tell him that he should back off too. His partner looks a little unsure but steps back a few paces.

Once you’re alone, David raises his arm, inviting you to come closer. When you’re within reach, he pulls you against him.

“I didn’t know,” you croak. “I had no idea about any of this, you have to believe me, I wouldn’t-”

“Hey,” he says softly, touching your cheek, “if you say you didn’t know then I believe you.”

“This is my fault, though. I made it worse.”

“Stop that. Jay’s an asshole. He always has to be angry about something. I beat him in Japan and you ditched him to come here.”

“For you,” you remind him.

He gives you a sweet kiss and runs his finger along the shell of your ear. “What do you mean, you fainted?”

“I just got dizzy. I haven’t really eaten.”

“Well let’s fix that. I’ll just finish up with the doc and we can go get something to eat.”

“You mean it?” It’s such a relief that he still wants to spend time with you that you feel like you’re going to pass out again.

“Yeah I mean it.” He grins and calls out for the doctor to come back in. She does a quick final check and determines that he can go.

He slips off the table and, as you go to leave, slips his arm around you. You respond in kind and it feels like your body is glowing.

Until you get into the hallway. There he is, talking to some of the guys, laughing away, the arrogance just rolling off him. He glances at the two of you with a sinister expression, his eyes locking onto yours until you turn your head away.

“You should kick his ass right here,” you growl.

David looks at you and shakes his head. “Not worth the trouble.” He gives you a squeeze before continuing, “Now what do you feel like eating?”

“At this point, anything that doesn’t eat me first.”

“I never did get my cheat pizza.”

“I think you deserve it,” you grin.

“So let’s go pick up some pizza. Then we can go back to your place and you can take care of me.”

A broad smile spreads across your face. “You aren’t getting sick of me yet?”

“Not even a little bit.”

He pulls you in front of him and kisses you full on, not wildly but enough to make it clear to anyone who sees you what’s going on. He chuckles when he lets you go and glances down the hallway where Jay is still holding court with his hangers-on.

“Jay,” he calls, waiting until he’s sure he has his enemy’s attention, “you lose.”

*

When you arrive at work on Monday, it’s with a considerable level of anxiety. Things have definitely gotten more complicated. Jay is, after all, a New Japan performer, and as the liaison between New Japan and US promotions, that means you’re supposed to work with him. Even the idea of being in the same room with him makes you shake a little. You and David finally spent a night apart so that he wouldn’t have to get up early when you did, but you’d still been texting until you both fell asleep. Truthfully, Jay hadn’t been on your mind as long as you were with David but now you can’t avoid thinking about him.

What you have with David feels amazing but it’s also new and fragile, a tiny shoot rising up from the soil, still trying to grow and lay down roots at the same time. You want to protect it and you know that Jay wants to kill it off because no one embarrasses him the way the two of you have. You don’t know what he’s planning to do, you just know you have to be wary of it.

For the first part of the day, it’s just backstage people and the production team going through what’s needed for the day’s tapings. Talent will arrive in the afternoon, followed by a small audience. You make your notes on who needs to be where and making sure it lines up with what Tokyo tells you they’re expecting. Some of them have to fly to California to do shows there and you need to make sure the tapings happening in the next few days aren’t going to interfere with any of those plans.

“Did you get it out of your system?”

He pounces on you out of nowhere, crowding you against the wall, eyes incandescent with anger. It’s hours before any of the performers are supposed to be here, which makes it a perfect time for him to ambush you.

“Get what out of my system, Jay?” you gasp, trying to hide how much he’s scared you.

“Don’t be coy,” he hisses. “This little romantic excursion you decided to send yourself on.”

“I told you, I felt like I’d accomplished all I could in the job and so I decided to grab this new opportunity-”

“I know exactly what you did and not because you told me anything. I got your cute little note. Blocking me on social media and everything was an especially nice touch. After everything we’d been through, everything I’d done for you, you didn’t even have the guts to say any of that bullshit to my face.”

“Ok, I should have done that. I owed you that. I apologize and I hope it didn’t cause you any…”

You look into his eyes and just freeze. He’s so sickeningly beautiful and frightening at that moment that there’s nothing you can do, not appease him, not flatter him, not reject him. You were right when you said you needed to get away from him to get over him, you just didn’t expect that he’d refuse to give you the chance.

“Aren’t you cute with your little prepared business speech. ‘I’m so sorry, Jay, I hope you found another person to do my job because that’s all that was going on, just me being your secretary.’ How long have you been memorizing that for when you finally had to see me again?

“You’ve had your fun, your laughs at my expense, but it ends now.”

“How fucking dare you!” Now you’ve found your voice and your strength. “You think you get to order me around like I’m something you own? I don’t work for you anymore. My job is here now. My life is here now.”

Jay straightens up to his full height, regarding you with a smirk. “Your life? Is that what you’re calling him now?”

“I meant just… everything.”

“Aw, David must feel so happy thinking this is where it ends.”

“As far as you and I are concerned, it has ended.” You glare at him. “I love him.”

The soft laugh he gives you is utterly unnerving. “You love me. You’ve loved me for years. Nothing’s changed. You ran off here because you got it in your head that you could make yourself love him, because you wanted to get back at me for whatever it is you think I’ve done to you. And you couldn’t even be around me and convince yourself at the same time that you really want him.”

“You arrogant prick. What the hell do you know about what I want?”

He laughs a little and captures your face with one hand, pressing his lips close to your ear.

“I love how angry you get when you know I’m right. And I love having you trapped like this.”

“Trapped how? I’m going to walk away from you and it’s going to be like this never happened. I’m going to have fun imagining David wiping that condescending look off your face for a few weeks until I finally get to see him do it.”

“Do you seriously think anyone in New Japan is going to think twice about dumping him if I tell them that I won’t work with him?”

“Whatever. He’s doing fine here.”

“Oh yes, he’s doing so well in Impact, the company that’s riding a wave of popularity because they’re working with other, bigger companies. I’m sure they’d stand up for him against all of their partners. I’m sure he’s so much more important to them than being able to work with me or any other real stars.”

He chuckles a little, pressing his face against yours.

“That’s the funny thing about forbidden doors. When they close, they all close at once.”

“Oh, so you’re threatening to get him shut out of every wrestling company just because you’re annoyed he stole your assistant.”

“You sell yourself short. But if you want to put it that way, yes.”

“You don’t have the attention span. You’ll get distracted by someone else you think has wronged you by the end of the week.”

“If that’s how you want to approach this, go right ahead. If I were a betting man, I wouldn’t like your odds of being right but I already know you’re going to do what you want.”

He grips your head firmly and plants a hard kiss on your forehead before backing off and sauntering down the hall as if nothing’s happened.

You were right when you told David he should stay away from you. This is bad.

#david finlay fanfic #david finlay imagine #jay white fanfic #jay white imagine #njpw fanfic #njpw imagine #impact wrestling fanfic #wrestling fanfiction #wayward wrestle writing

[snarkwrites]

honesty | shane walsh ; the walking dead

Notes:

I’ve always written Evie with Shane and I’ve always said that I wish I could find a beginning for the two that wasn’t so loaded or angst filled. I was in my feelings earlier about the dark path Shane’s life took after Rick came back. And I think that as this was taking place, I just kind of wondered.. What if I just started their whole story out here? So the idea took hold and I wrote this out? Anyway.. If I were to start their own sort of story ( which I’m not ruling out, it all depends on what you guys wanna see or not), I honestly believe I’ve finally found that solid starting point.

Also, fluff. Because now and then fluff is nice. There is a hot little touchy feely kissing session in here too, I got you fam.

Pairing:

Grimes!Sibling OFC, Evie x Shane Walsh.

Warnings:

An overload of fluff. Hurt comfort. Complete and total au version of Rick’s return to the world -and the group after awakening from his coma. Lori’s not cast in the best light when Evie’s doing her heavy internal reflecting. Pining.. Years of pining all built up until it just can’t be tolerated anymore and the words have to come out. 

Other Stuff:

[ faq | tag list doc ] 

Tagging:

@chasingeverybreakingwave​

@kyleoreillysknee​

@mrsstevenbuchananstark​ 

                                           H O N E S T Y,

I couldn’t sleep. My tent was leaking and the drip drip drip of the rain as it poured down from above were driving me to the brink of insanity. And maybe somewhere deep down, I was worried about Shane.

How he was going to handle things now that Rick was alive and a part of the group. He’d been through so much stress. He’d been the leader, stepping up and taking charge. Keeping the group that assembled at the quarry in the beginning together. Keeping us alive. 

And true to form, my brother showed up and it almost seemed as if Shane were forced to the side by literally everyone who depended on him before. Right off the bat, he seemed to just step right into a leadership position. 

But that wasn’t what bothered me most. What bothered me most was the pained look on his face when he watched Lori and Rick having their little heart warming reunion. Something had changed in Shane in that exact moment. His eyes had gone dull. It looked like he’d lost any shred of hope and any fight he had left.

And every part of me wanted to choke Lori for that. Because for as long as I’ve stood back watching things play out between my brother, his wife and a man that we were basically raised to think of as a brother, one thing has been a constant.

Lori’s always quick to use Shane when she needs him. She’s even quicker to let him go and turn her back on him when she’s gotten what she wants or needs.. Or she stands a chance to lose my brother.

I took a few deep breaths and shoved all of that out of my mind. Well, I tried to.

The leak in my tent wasn’t getting any smaller. And the more the rain came down, the louder the dripping got until finally, it succeeded in driving me from my  tent.

I found Shane sitting on the tailgate of his Bronco, the Mossberg beside him. He was sitting there, staring at his hands. Even from across our campground I could see the tension in his muscular frame.

And then something else clicked for me.

All this time I’ve kept one thing buried and hidden. Too afraid to voice it. I’ve always wanted Shane Walsh all to myself. I’ve always felt something beyond friendship for the man. And the feelings only seemed to grow with each year that passed in our lives.

Life’s too short to keep wondering.

Life’s entirely too short to keep sitting back. Watching things play out the way they always seem to between the three of them. I could be bitten and turned tomorrow and the thought that I’d die without ever even hinting that I loved him and cared for him deeply was unsettling to me.

Before I could chicken out, I crawled out of my tent. Jogging over to the Bronco just as the rain really picked up.

I cleared my throat and Shane looked up.

What had been so easy in theory became so much more complex than I anticipated. I went to open my mouth, to say anything, but the words wouldn’t come. Shane nodded to the space next to him on the tailgate and I hoisted myself up, swinging my legs as I settled in. 

“Yer soakin wet.” Shane mused. I could feel him staring at me. Damned if I could grow the necessary strength to meet his gaze though. God knows I tried at least a thousand times as I sat there, struggling with how to go about doing what I’d wandered over to do.

“Kind of what happens when your tent’s got a fucking hole in the roof.” I muttered, my eyes drifting down to bare and mud caked feet.

“ Didn’t get Rick t’ patch it?” just the flat tone he took had me frowning a little to myself. Hugging myself as the breeze picked up and I went from cooled down like I’d been bitching about wanting to be hours ago to me actually feeling a little cold.

“Nope.” I answered. 

We reached for the bottle of Jim Beam sitting between the two of us at the same time. My hand rested against the top of his hand and I took a few shaky breaths. My heart felt like it might just beat out of my chest at any second.

He let go of the bottle and I took a generous sip from it, holding it out to him. He glanced at me and took the bottle, taking a few long pulls before sitting it back down between us again. Then he cleared his throat.

“Y’ can’t sleep in a wet tent, hon. Fastest way t’ get sick. Especially with the wind blowin like it is.”

“Kind of why I’m here.” I admitted quietly, swinging my feet back and forth. Staring down at them intently because I did not dare glance over at him.

“Figured you’d go t’ Rick and Lori’s tent.” Shane muttered, a note of surprise creeping into his tone as he spoke.

“They need their time and space. Besides, if I have to spend one more second in closed quarters with that woman, I might actually snap and choke her to death.” I rambled, my words falling away at the end because I realized just how harsh my tone sounded.

Shane chuckled quietly. “Always wondered why y’ didn’t like her.”

“She played the two men I love most against each other and tried to make them hate each other. If it would’ve worked at any point, I would’ve probably killed her. She’s lucky I haven’t killed her since I came back, come to think of it.” I shrugged.

Beside me, Shane shifted around a little. Cleared his throat. His mouth opened and closed like he wanted to say something, but he didn’t say anything.

“ It never would’ve changed nothin between you n’ me, Evie. If she had come between me n’ Rick, I mean...”

I took a deep breath.

“ It would if I don’t mean love in the sense you think I do.” I quickly reached for the bottle of Jim Beam, anxious for anything to occupy my mouth before I made an unholy mess of this whole spur of the moment idea of mine.

Shane’s hand shot out, circling my wrist. Lowering the bottle I held in my hand back down to the tailgate. As soon as the bottle was out of my hand, his fingers curled under my chin, guiding my eyes up to meet his. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I love you. Not as a friend or a brother. “ ,, you could’ve been so much more graceful in your phrasing. Did you really have to just dump it all out like that?” my mind taunted and my stomach proceeded to twist itself into thousands of tiny little knots as I waited for something. Any kind of reaction one way or another from him.

When that reaction came, I was shocked, to say the least. He reached out, plucking me off the tailgate. Settling me in his lap.

“How then?” he questioned, his eyes searching mine. His tone firm and yet still… Unsure. Almost as if he were afraid to pin any hopes on anything.

“ I left town to try and escape it back then because it was driving me crazy. Standing by and watching you three and your rollercoaster. I… I tried a thousand times to tell you how I really felt.” I admitted quietly, toying with the front of his shirt to distract myself. He tilted my face again, making me keep eye contact. As a feeble afterthought I sighed and shook my head, added in a hushed whisper, “You don’t have to.. I’ll be okay if you don’t feel the same way. I just wanted to tell you.. In case something happens down the road.”

I was going to try and just gracefully extract myself from his lap and the situation so I could keep the thin shred of dignity I had left at this point, but his hands settled in place on my hips, holding me in his lap.

He chuckled quietly. Looking at me as if he wanted to say something, his mouth opened, only to close again as he shook his head. “So instead of just sayin somethin.. Y’ left.”

I cringed. It sounded every bit as ridiculous now as it did to me when I decided to do it. “ I was afraid, okay? I know she’s always been it for you. I just couldn’t stand back and watch everything play out anymore, I…” I trailed off because there was this look in his eyes as they fixed on me.

“Y’ didn’t have a clue, hm?”

My brow raised.

“ Why else would I pick fights with th’ idiots you tried datin all the time?”

My breath caught in my throat and I raised my hand, dragging it through my hair. Really trying to puzzle out things. 

“ Woman… I got y’ a locket. I wasn’t just spendin all my time over at your house because we were all friends. Most of it was because I could be around y’. I gave up back then because I figured you weren’t interested. Kind of the only reason why I ever let Lori get t’ me in the first place. Because I thought y’ deserved better than me.”

I reached down into the front of my shirt, pulling the locket he’d given me years ago out, showing him that not only did I still have the locket, I still wore it. It’s never actually left my neck since the night he gave it to me, silly as that sounds.

“I’ve been through four chains now. Held up court once because it fell off my neck before I was due in but I wasn’t going in the court room until I found it.” I admitted, managing a sheepish smile as I met his gaze, holding it. Scooting closer to him for warmth. He raised his hands, rubbing over my arms. My legs settled around his waist and I sighed quietly.

Taking a few long and shaky breaths to get myself centered. To process my surprise at his own admissions thus far.

Because I hadn’t been expecting things to take the turn they had, at all. I thought that if anything, I’d pour it all out and he’d awkwardly but politely point out that he didn’t feel anything at all for me. He’d try to let me down gently or something.

“Remember when I asked for that help senior year? The big English paper?” Shane muttered after a few seconds of us just wordlessly staring at each other, lost in thought. Trying to process everything. Clumsily touching each other, our bodies migrating closer together. He raised a hand, smoothing my hair back out of my eyes as I nodded yes to his question.

“ I didn’t need help. I just wanted to be around y’ without Rick popping in and out. Had myself all convinced that I was hot shit. That I could go for it n’ kiss ya. Every damn time I tried, always managed to talk myself out of it. Except that last time. When we leaned in at the same time and wound up bumpin noses and Rick wandered in? If he hadn’t, I was going for it again.”

I swallowed hard because that was one of many nights I replayed over and over again in my own mind.. Each time a different ending that seemed to pave the way for some fairytale ending.

,, if the world weren’t falling to pieces…” my mind was at it again, trying to stop me from going further, trying to make any excuse to back out now. But this time, I shoved down the thought. This time I wasn’t backing out. The world might be falling to pieces but that didn’t mean I couldn’t at least try to squeeze some shred of joy out of it before it all came to a grinding halt.

We were talking now. Being more open than we’d ever really been with each other.

He’d even managed a weak smile here and there. Which was more than I’d seen out of him in hours by this point.

I felt the weight of the world lifting just because I knew that if everything came to an abrupt end tomorrow, I’d finally gotten it all out. He knew that at least one person loved him. Wanted him. Needed him.

Somehow, I got the feeling that right now, he needed to know that almost as badly as I needed to finally get it off my chest.

His hands were starting to wander. Our mouths kept migrating closer and closer and it seemed as if the storm and everything else in the world around us was just sort of falling away. It was so quiet that I could hear my heart beating loud against my chest. My mouth brushed the corner of his mouth and then he snapped.

What started out as a clumsy little halfway kiss turned into his hands tangling in my hair and gripping my hip, pulling me completely against him as the hand tangled in my hair pulled it free from a messy braid and dragged through it, tugging at it. His teeth locked onto my bottom lip, tugging until it started swelling. My tongue dragged over the outline of his mouth slowly, savoring the moment for all it was. My fingers dug into his shoulder and carded through his hair as my legs squeezed his sides and I basically clung to him when our tongues tangled and our mouths crashed against each other, the soft smack of deep and hot, frenzied kisses echoing in the still all around us. Shattering the bubble that seemed to have formed to keep everything else at bay.

By the time I was rubbing against him clumsily, we were breaking apart to breathe and his forehead rested against mine. The hand on my hip raised, settling on my cheek as he rolled his thumb over and caressed it.

I yawned, cuddling myself against him. Looking over my shoulder to where my leaky tent sat unused across the campsite. Shane chuckled and turned my gaze back to him, closing the distance between our mouths all over again, muttering quietly into the kiss, “We should probably get some sleep. We’ll figure somethin out tomorrow. Y’ can borrow one of my shirts to get dry, darlin.”

I nodded, swallowing hard as the shock started to wear off at last, replaced by honest to God sheer bliss...

#shane walsh fanfiction #shane walsh fanfic #shane walsh imagine #shane walsh one shot #shane walsh imagines #shane walsh oneshot #my writing; shane walsh #my fics ; shane walsh #my oneshots; shane walsh #my fanfiction ; shane walsh

[wiypt-writes]

Riding High

Ch7: Ordinary People

Chapter Summary: Frank faces the aftermath of his dumbass choice whilst Mary heads to Boston for a few days. When the court case starts, emotions are running high and Frank finally confesses his feelings to Fliss.

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words. Flashback at the start involving domestic violence.

Chapter Pairings:  Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

A/N: Contains SPOILERS for the film!!!!! If you haven’t seen it please be aware of that before you read on. As a Lawyer I know how long the types of cases depicted in GIFTED can take, however they can also be done pretty fast. With that in mind, and because it fits with how I want the story to go I’m spreading it over approximately 6 weeks or so, so just roll with me!

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Riding High Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 6

"I saw you...he had his hands all over you."

"John, I didn't want him too...he was drunk, just being over friendly..."

Fliss cowered as a sneer crossed her husband's face, the features she found so handsome once upon a time were distorted in anger, his dark green eyes clouded with rage as he towered over where she sat on the crouch. In a flash he had reached out and grabbed a fist full of her hair, yanking her to her feet. Fliss gave a cry of pain, stumbling after him as he dragged her up the stairs. She tripped at one point, her hip colliding painfully with one of the steps but he paid it no attention.

No mercy.

"You're mine, Sugar.” He said, his voice steely. “You know that."

"I know," she sobbed as he threw her into the bedroom where she scrambled for purchase on the bed as he pushed her so hard she fell face down. Before Fliss could raise herself, John had grabbed the back of her neck and pushed her face harshly into the pillows.

"Why do you make me do this, Felicity?" He asked, releasing his hold as his thighs bracketed hers. Fliss heard the tell-tale clinking of his belt and she gave another sob, knowing full well what was coming. He roughly pushed her dress up over her hips, leaving her underwear clad ass exposed.

And then the leather stuck her. Again. And again. And again.

"I'll mark you so hard no one else will ever want you," he snarled as he continued his assault ignoring her screams of pain and pleas for him to leave her alone. “You’re mine..." Fliss sat bolt upright, gasping as she glanced around her bedroom. She was shaking violently, the dream had been so real, so vivid, she could almost physically feel the pain. John had belted her so badly that night she hadn't been able to ride for a week, and she still bore the marks where the buckle had ripped through her skin.

The worst thing was, that after he had finished, he had held her, stroking her hair, soothing her, explaining why he had to punish her so much. It was sick, twisted. Just like him. "He’s gone, he was to blame. I’m strong, not weak, I’m strong, not weak." she repeated her mantra through gritted teeth. Thor, hearing her breathing deeply and her trembling voice, jumped up onto her bed and shoved his head under her arm as she hugged her kneed tightly. Looking down at her faithful dog, she buried her face into his fur, holding him tight as she ran through her calming thoughts in her head. The sound of the ocean, the wind in her hair as she galloped on the beach, the soft and gentle hugs she received from her dad, her mum...and dare she even think it, Frank. And then another image filled her head. The sight of him kissing Bonnie at the bar.

“Wanker.” She muttered, wiping the tears from her face as Thor licked her cheek, his tail wagging as she stroked him. With a few more deep intakes of air, her breathing evened out and she gave Thor a final squeeze before she pushed the duvet down and swung her legs out of the bed and headed to the bathroom.

***** Frank had also woken up to a nightmare. His head was pounding from the shots he’d downed at the bar and being jerked awake by Bonnie’s screams as Mary had turned up in the apartment earlier than she was allowed on a Saturday hadn’t exactly helped the situation. He had fucked Mary’s school teacher for no reason other than the fact he was drunk, stressed and needed a release.

Well played, Adler, you fucking moron.

Thankfully, Bonnie seemed to be in the same place as him about the entire situation, hastily telling him that it should never have happened, something he profoundly agreed with, as he saw her out to a cab, apologising for Mary’s interruption, literally incapable of thinking of anything else to say. It was the most awkward morning after he had ever experienced in his life.

And there was something else compounding his growing bad mood. When he had finally checked his phone as he stood outside for a few moments after Bonnie had gone, hoping the fresh air would sort his head out, he realised he had a number of messages and missed calls from Fliss. Groaning he remembered that he should have called her after the court case but had completely forgotten. Firing her a quick apology, along with a promise to talk to her later when it was time for Mary’s lesson, before he headed back inside.

Mary was sat on the rug with her lego, pieces scattered all over, Ice Age playing on the TV.

“Awkward…” she sing songed

“Mary.” Frank looked at her for a moment and when she didn’t look at him he crouched down “Stop! Stop! Stop with the Legos. Listen.” he took a breath and she looked at him “Do we have a rule about Saturday morning?”

“What?” she asked softly

“Are you allowed in this apartment this early on Saturday morning?” Frank pressed, looking at her.

“No.” Mary sighed, averting her eyes from his.

“No!” Frank nodded, his voice a little louder before he paused again “Are you allowed to... hey!” he reached out to stop Mary as she returned to her Toys. “Stop! Enough with the Lego. Are you allowed to use Roberta's keys?”

“No.” she still wasn’t looking at him.

“No! So, hey! Look at me. Then why are you here? Huh? Can you answer me that?”

Mary’s eyes filled with tears but Frank was too angry at the fact she had disobeyed him to comfort her.

“You broke every rule! You just embarrassed me. We have these rules.” He angrily stood up, turning to head back out of the door into the kitchen “We've gone over them a hundred times!” And then, when he stepped on a piece of Lego in his bare feet, his frustration boiled over as he hopped on one leg, clutching the side of the dresser which was pushed flush against the wall.

“Shit…God, damned it…” He yelled as he slapped the side of the dresser, leaning against it, bending down to rub his foot. “Can I just get five minutes of my own life?”

At that Mary jumped up and bolted into his bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

Frank stood up, before he sighed, one hand on his hip, his eyes closed. He’d overreacted, he knew that. He was more pissed at himself for being an idiot than he was at Mary. He ran his hand over his face and glanced at the clock. Mary’s riding lesson was at two and it was now just pushing ten-thirty. Deciding to leave Mary to cool down before he made breakfast, he headed into the kitchen to clear up yesterday’s dishes.

He heard the door to his room click open about twenty minutes later. Giving her another ten he wiped the counter down before he made his way back into the main room and sat on the edge of her bed, where she was snuggled down in her alcove which sported a collection of shells they had stuck to the wood panels and a few photos, one of her mom, one of her and Frank and one of her and Fliss with Monty. She was huddled in the corner, Fred laying on her knee, the laptop resting on his back as she tapped away.

“Nothing that happened today was your fault.” Frank spoke gently and looked at her “I got mad at you...I was really mad at me,” he looked at her and she continued to ignore him, “and the manufacturers of Legos. They should all be in prison. So I'm sorry.” he said gently. She paused tapping but still didn’t look at him. “Do you forgive me?”

“Sure. Whatever.” she mumbled.

“Hey, close the laptop. Come on. Please.” He watched her as she avoided looking at him. “Doesn't count if it's not eye to eye.”

She hesitated so he asked again, gently. “Come on, please.”

With a sigh she did was she was told and looked at him. Her eyes, so like Diane’s, were full of sadness and Frank felt his gut twist in guilt.

“Do you really have no life because of me?” she whispered, her eyes shining with tears and Frank cursed himself for his outburst before.

He shook his head. “That's not what I said.” he looked at her.

“Did you mean it?” she pressed, not buying his statement for one minute, her voice soft.

“Last week you said I was the worst Uncle in the world, and you wished death upon me ‘cause I didn't buy you a piano.” Frank held her gaze. “Did you mean that?”

“No” Mary replied, her fingers tangling in Fred’s fur “Not entirely.”

“Well,” Frank said, not bothering to ask which bit she had actually meant. “There you go. We say things all the time we don't mean. So let's forget it, okay?”

“Okay” Mary agreed

“Okay.” Frank nodded, standing up

“Frank?” she called as he headed towards the door to head down and check the mail. He stopped and turned back, even though he couldn’t see her.

“Yeah?”

“Can I have a piano?”

“No.” he deadpanned, turning for the door.

He strode down across the lawn to the mail boxes, unlocked his and pulled out two letters. One looked like a bill, the other was in a manila coloured envelope, and was stamped with some kind of official seal.

“Was that really Mary's teacher this morning?” Roberta appeared. He glanced at her and returned to his post “And there was me thinking Fliss would stop you doing anything stupid.”

Frank’s head shot up “Fliss?” he frowned “What are you talking about?”

“She came here last night, to see you. Mary roped her into Karaoke before she left and said she was going to come and find you at Fergs”

Frank frowned. “Well she didn’t. I never saw her last night so she-”

Oh,fuck fuck fuck!

He trailed off with a groan as he realised that she had probably seen him with Bonnie and then felt a stinging slap round the back of his head.

“Shit!” He exclaimed, glaring at Roberta “Jesus, that fucking hurt!”

“Good.” she stared at him. “You know I have a book called ‘Fundamentals of Decision Making’. You can borrow it.”

He glared at her, he didn’t need this. Not now. His attention turned back to the letter and he noticed the seal was from the court house. With a frown he opened it. The header- ‘Highsmith, Kistler & Sellers Attorneys at Law’ -greeted him and he started to read. It was an order for him to surrender Mary for two days into Evelyn’s care, at a time and date to be agreed. It wasn’t unexpected but it was pretty fast considering it had only been agreed yesterday. His mother really wasn’t wasting any time.

“What is it?”  Roberta asked, noticing the frown on his face

“Its nothing.” he said, leaning on the post box, still reading the letter. “Looks like Mary gets to go to Boston for a couple days.” He noticed Roberta stiffen and he looked at her. “It's just two days. Relax.” he said gently.

Because he was always honest with Mary, he sat down once he was back inside and told her about the letter. She knew there was a court case going on, he had explained it all to her as best as he could so as not to cause her any worry. She soaked up the information and shrugged before saying that going to Boston sounded kinda cool. Frank simply nodded and said that he would sort out the dates on Monday. They ate a late breakfast-slash-early lunch and once Mary was changed and ready, they headed up to the riding school.

As Frank drove there his stomach was doing flips, the nerves at seeing Fliss were overwhelming, more so because he had no idea what he was going to say to her. It was strange, he felt guilty about the fact he’d slept with Bonnie, even though he had no real reason to. It wasn’t like he and Fliss were an item.

Fliss greeted Mary with the usual warmth before she turned her gaze to Frank, and he could see the hurt in her eyes, compounding that guilty feeling even more.

“Sorry I didn’t call you last night.” he offered and she shrugged.

“It’s okay, I know you were busy.” her voice carried no sarcasm, it was measured and cool but Frank knew she was referring to Bonnie, his suspicions confirmed. She turned away, barking an instruction to Joanne who looked at her, nodding.

Frank leaned on the paddock fence as he always did, a little way from the other parents and watched as Fliss taught the three girls, that gorgeous smile on her face. Mary was certainly getting the hang of it now and was able to trot around unaided. After about forty minutes they were done and heading out of the paddock. Fliss made no attempt to come and speak to him, like normal, and made straight for her office. Casting an eye on Mary who was leading Monty back to the stable he followed Fliss.

“I take it you’re mad at me.” he spoke tentatively.

“Why would I be mad at you?” she asked, pulling three cartons of apple juice out of the fridge for the kids.

“Because you saw me last night with Bonnie.” he pressed.

He saw her stiffen slightly before she took a breath and turned round.

“I’m not mad.” she shrugged.

“Could have fooled me.”

“I just, well I think you could have considered Mary a little more, that’s all.” “What does that mean?” he frowned.

“You know damned well what it means.” she looked at him “Mary told me before when we were tacking the ponies up that she saw Bonnie this morning, wrapped in one of your sheets. I mean, Jesus Frank that’s her teacher. Can you imagine how awkward its gonna be if any of the kids find out that you’re fucking her?” “Ok, I’m not fucking her.” Frank held his hand out to stop her.

“So what were you doing last night then?” Fliss hissed, “Playing scrabble?”

“Hang on, are we really arguing about this?” Frank looked at her, frowning. “Why? Why do you even care?”

He paused, looking at her. Her eyes locked onto his and she swallowed, and for a moment he hoped she was going to tell him what he wanted to hear but she shook her head and shrugged.

“You know what, you’re right. What, or who you do in your spare time is your business, not mine.”

With that she pushed past him and headed out into the yard. Frank let out another sigh before he headed out to collect Mary.

******

Fliss made no attempts to speak to Frank over the next few days. He messaged her to tell her about Mary heading to Boston at the end of the week and she replied politely, telling him that she was sure it would all work out, but beyond that she didn’t reach out further. However, she did call to wish Mary a safe trip to on the Thursday morning just before Evelyn arrived to pick her up, and told her she wanted to hear all about it when she came home on Saturday afternoon. By the time Frank got the phone back, Fliss had hung up.

“Frank she likes you. “ Roberta said when she popped over to wish Mary goodbye. Mary wasted no time in informing her that the reason Frank was in a bad mood wasn’t just because she was going to Boston, but also because Fliss was angry at him. Of course she had noticed, because she noticed everything. “She’s hurt and it’s yo’ own dumbass fault.”

Yeah, yeah he got that.

With Mary gone, he decided that night to take a cool box of beer down to the harbour and work late. He was in the middle of pulling a gear box apart when his phone went. It was a message from Bonnie asking if she could meet him to talk. Which was how he found himself sat on the deck of the boat, her opposite him, both wrapped in blankets and clutching bottles of Bud.

“I have had a series of nightmares, where I'm fired because of what happened. You get it?” Bonnie shook her head, rolling her eyes. Frank smiled at her as she laughed “And then I remind myself, that everything that happened, was just all the alcohol and people do far worse right?”

At that Frank laughed. “Yeah we were pretty drunk.”

Truth be told whilst he did think Bonnie was attractive, there was nothing there, and that was compounded by the fact that as he sat, looking at her, he felt no urges at all. She was simply another one of his Friday night hook ups, only this had turned out to be slightly more complicated.

Yeah, he should definitely borrow that book from Roberta

“So I guess, what I came here to say,” Bonnie sighed, “I think you’re a great guy Frank, and I’ve got your back on this damned custody case but, me and you…it just…” “Oh, absolutely, I’m with you.” Frank hastily agreed, thanking the Gods she’d brought it up before he had to. “It was a mistake.” Bonnie arched an eyebrow and he groaned. “Shit, I don’t mean that how it sounds but, well, it was, wasn’t it?”

She smiled and nodded, cocking her head to one side as she surveyed him. “I do think you need to speak to Fliss though.”

“Fliss?” Frank frowned, “What’s she got to do with this?”

You like her." Bonnie said simply.

Frank paused before he shook his head, smiling. “Is it that obvious?" "Well, if it wasn’t evident from the way you talk about her, the fact you called me by her name twice last night is most definitely a giveaway." Oh Jesus. Ground please open... "I called you by her name? When we- " he grimaced and she chuckled, raising her eyebrows "Oh God. Bonnie, I'm so sorry." He groaned and ran his hands over his face.

“Like we said, mistake.” Bonnie smiled, “Especially when you’re clearly hung up on another girl. “ "Yeah well, I think I've kinda blown it. Story of my life." Frank sighed taking a pull from his bottle.

“Blown it?”

“Yeah she's pretty pissed. She saw us in the bar and has hardly spoken a word to me since”

"And you’re giving up that easily?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t even know if she likes me in that way so…” He shrugged and Bonnie leaned forward slightly.

“If she’s that pissed at you over the fact that you hooked up with someone else then she absolutely feels something for you Frank." Bonnie smiled softly. “And it would be a shame to let something as stupid as a one night stand screw it all up for you.”

Frank looked at her for another moment or two before he finished his beer and offered Bonnie another one which she accepted and then asked him about the court case. Frank filled Bonnie in on the running order for the testimonies which would start on Tuesday before she bid him goodnight and left. He contemplated messaging Fliss once she was gone but decided against it. He would give her a few days to calm down, and give himself some time to figure out what the fuck he was going to say.

***** It was Saturday afternoon when Frank reached out.

Fliss was busy on a lesson when her phone went. Taking a quick minute to look at it, she read the message from Frank asking if it was ok if they swung by as Mary was home. With a deep breath she replied telling him it was fine, before she turned back to her client who was one of the boarders on the yard.

She had just about finished some thirty minutes or so later when she heard Mary calling her name. She turned and gave her a smile and a wave. Once she had finished with her client and taken payment, she turned to Mary and gave the girl a hug.

“Hey!” she beamed as Mary hugged her tight. “I missed you!”

“I missed you too!” Mary beamed “And so has Frank.”

“That so?” Fliss stood up straight and looked at him. He took a deep breath and shrugged, but the little smile on his face told Fliss that Mary had completely and utterly busted him. She rolled her eyes and then gave him a little smile of her own. “Coffee?”

“Yeah, sounds great.” He nodded, gratefully taking the olive branch she had offered.

They made their way into the office and Fliss moved to the small kitchenette area at the back, filling the coffee machine before she turned to Mary, leaning against the counter.

“So, tell me all about Boston.” Mary began to gush about all the things she had done, Fliss listening and asking questions as she made her and Frank a coffee. He took his with a thanks whilst Mary told Fliss how she had looked at some photos, learned more about her mom and then done some complicated Maths for a professor at a University. At that Fliss noticed Frank stiffen slightly and she looked at him, gently shaking her head. He smiled tightly and turned to look out over the yard, taking a few steps outside.

“And she has a piano.” Mary finished, “I mean I didn’t get to play it but…”

“You should come over to my mum’s.” Fliss smiled “She’ll let you play hers. That’s what she used to do, teach people music.”

Mary smiled, before she looked over at Frank who was stood watching a few people riding in the paddock, the lessons for the day having concluded which meant the boarders were free to do what they wanted.

“Are you still mad at Frank?” Mary looked at Fliss.

“Not really.” Fliss shook her head “I got a little bit cross but…” “Yeah, he can make me cross too.” Mary said wisely “He does dumb stuff sometimes.”

Fliss laughed and studied the young girl. “Yeah, you got that right.” “But he’s a good person.” Mary concluded.

“I know.” Fliss agreed, her eyes flicking to him before she looked back at Mary.

“I don’t want to live with Evelyn.” Mary shrugged “I mean she was nice and looks like my mom but…she’s bossy.” Fliss smiled.

“I want to stay with Frank.” Mary continued. “Because I know he loves me. And he did before he found out I was smart.”

Fliss felt a lump in her throat at the girl’s confession. She glanced over at Frank again who ran a hand over his face, rubbing at his eyes underneath his shades.

“Hey, Mary, why don’t you go say hi to Monty.” she said gently. “Tell Joanne I said you could help with the feeds.” “Yesss.” Mary cheered, scooting off her chair and shooting across the yard. Fliss saw Frank follow her with her eyes before he turned to her as she walked over to him.

“How you holding up?” she asked him gently.

“Apart from screwing up my life, I’m good.” Frank snorted, taking off his glasses and tucking them into the collar of his t-shirt. “Just hope I’m not screwing hers up as well.”

“Don’t’ say that.” Fliss shook her head “You know that’s not true. Mary’s fine.”

There was a pause before Frank took a deep breath and looked at Fliss. “I hate that we haven’t been talking. It’s been kinda lonely.”

“I thought you and Bonnie might have, ” she trailed off, shrugging, “gone out or something, I don’t know.”

Frank sighed “I’ve only seen her once since. And that was so we could have a straight up conversation about how what happened was a mistake”

“A mistake?” Fliss raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” Frank nodded. “And as far as mistakes go, that one was pretty spectacular.”

“And you actually said that to her?”

He nodded.

“Wow.” Fliss snorted.

“She agreed so we’re both going to try and forget it ever happened.” Frank shrugged and he Fliss’ gaze for a second before he took a deep breath “Is that why you’ve been ignoring me?” he pressed “Because you thought me and Bonnie, were, like together?”

Fliss swallowed and looked away, trying to think of something to say that didn’t give her feelings away. He’d hit the nail on the head. She had thought that, and more over she was jealous so had distanced herself on purpose.

“I just,” she looked back at him, “well, I suppose I didn’t want to step on any toes, so to speak, that’s all.”

“There’s none to step on, trust me.” Frank looked at her. “I don’t feel that way. Not towards Bonnie.”

Fliss looked at him, feeling her cheeks growing warm before she turned away and quickly changed the subject. “So err, anyway, she seems to have enjoyed Boston.”

Frank let out a large breath at the fact that Fliss had effectively withdrawn back from what he had felt had been the edge of a breakthrough there for the pair of them but, well, he had no right to be annoyed, especially after everything he’d done. “Yeah.” He nodded with a little smile.

“So what’s next?” she asked.

“Well she has a court interview with the Child Welfare department or whatever they’re called on Monday.”

“Sure it’ll be fine.” Fliss replied “It’s not like she’s treated badly or her welfare is an issue, Frank.”

“And the hearing starts in full on Tuesday.” He explained “They’re opening with a bang.” At his words Fliss frowned as he turned to face her. “Mary’s biological father has apparently signed an affidavit, nominating my mother as Mary’s legal guardian.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Fliss hissed, suddenly seething with anger as Frank shook his head “That’s a real shitty trick.”

“Yep” Frank agreed.

“Does Mary know?”

“No. I’ll have to tell her though, otherwise Evelyn will no doubt.”

“Your mother gets access to her again?”

“Whilst this is going on she gets visitation rights so…” Frank shrugged, and Fliss couldn’t help but notice his despondent nature.

“So when you gonna tell her?”

“Tuesday night, after it’s done. I don’t want her worrying or knowing he’s in town because if she knows and he doesn’t ask to see her, well at least once he’s gone then…” he bit his lip. “She’s gonna be upset either way but, what else can I do?”

“Nothing, just what you think is best.”  Fliss said gently “I told you before that’s all you can do Frank.” He looked at her and she sighed, opening her arms and he gladly stepped towards her, wrapping her up in a hug.

******

Tuesday rolled around far too quickly for Frank’s liking. The interviews on Monday went fairly smoothly, he had a little bit of a questioning over his TV choices for Mary but other than that he’d left that session feeling pretty okay about it.

And then he’d walked into court, seen his mother and the snivelling little shit that was now being questioned by his Mother’s Lawyer.

“Mr. Polland, are you the natural father of Mary Adler?”

“Yes. Yes, I am.”

Frank sat still, glaring at the ass hole sat in the dock.

“And how you can be certain of this?

“Well, I always knew, but then you had me take a DNA test.”

Course they did…

I would offer the test results as result of evidence of that Mr. Polland is the father and natural guardian of the minor. As well as an affidavit from Mr. Polland nominating Mrs. Adler the maternal grandmother as the legal guardian of the minor.”

Frank sat up slightly, his jaw clenching. This ass hole had no right to decide what was best for Mary, he’d never fucking met her. Greg touched his arm, shaking his head, telling him to keep quiet.

“No objections.” Greg spoke.

“Mr. Polland has Mrs. Adler offered you any monetary reward or employment for coming forward today?” Evelyn’s attorney continued.

No, sir. I have a job of my own.”

Frank suppressed a snort. Bullshit she hasn’t paid you.

“Thank you. No further questions, your Honour.”

Greg then stood up and waited a second before he opened his cross examination “Mr. Polland when was the last time you saw Mary?”

“I've never seen her.” Polland shifted slightly and Frank watched him intently.

“Why not?”

“By the time I heard about Diane…passing the baby was gone already.”

Her name is Mary, ass hole. Frank took a deep breath.

“Well, did you try and find her?” Greg pressed.

“Best I could. I couldn't just go and search the entire country.” Polland shook his head, trying to make a joke out of it. Frank was pleased to see the judge wasn’t laughing.

Greg nodded and paused again, before suddenly asking “Do you use a computer at work?”

“Sure.” Polland replied

“You know what? Help me out.” Cullen turned and grabbed his laptop “Let's google ‘Mary Adler’ and see what we find.” he placed the laptop on the dock and turned it towards Polland. He hesitated for a while and looked at the Judge who gestured with his hand, instructing him to do as he was told. Polland began to tap when Greg spoke again “You know what? You better add her middle name.”

Frank watched as Polland stopped, because of course he had no idea what her midde name was.

“It'll narrow it down. Eileen” Cullen informed him. Polland looked up and caught Frank’s eye, his face sheepish. Frank kept his face straight, his chin resting on his hand, fingers making an L-shape round his jaw as Polland looked away and began to tap.

“Yeah, Hit enter.” Greg nodded. “Okay, now head to page two…second hit. Would you please tell the court what you see there?”

Polland hesitated “It's a newspaper article called ‘Not so terrible twos’”

“And one of them is Mary Eileen Adler.”  Greg nodded “Same name as your daughter. Born on the same day as your daughter. With a photograph”

Polland looked at him.

“In your defence, you'd never recognize it…”

“Your Honour, this is...” Evelyn’s attorney stood up but Cullen was quick to cut him off

“Your Honour, if there's one thing here that's sadly obvious it's that Mr. Polland has never been a genuine guardian of the minor and his nomination of Mrs. Adler is no less disingenuous.” he looked at the Judge.

Frank shifted slightly as Judge Nicholls looked at Polland, then to Evelyn, then to him before he turned glanced at the notes in front of him.

“While the state of Florida gives deference to nomination by natural parent, I'm inclined to side with Mr. Cullen's laptop at this time.” he said, nodding at Cullen, effectively dismissing the affidavit. Frank allowed himself a relieved smile as Cullen nodded.

“Thank you, your Honor”

Once court was adjourned for the day, Frank obligingly walked his mother to her car when she asked him to. And as they walked, she told him about his step father Walter. Frank had found it odd how he wasn’t featuring in any of this, but his silent question was answered as Evelyn told him he moved out and bought a ranch in Montana.

“Bullshit.” Frank exclaimed as they walked in the sun, his suit jacket handing over his arm.

“Exactly. A man whose idea of roughing it is being too far from the ice machine at the Ritz Carlton now owns a thousand acres of grass and dung.”

“Walter Price is a cowboy.” Frank smiled, shaking his head, making a mental not to tell Fliss later. “Walter Price puts on a Brooke's brother suit to take out the garbage!”

“Well, now he has a cowboy hat and cowboy boots and a horse that doesn't know dressage.” Evelyn shook her head.

“Is there some logical reason for this?” Frank asked.

“Midlife crisis, apparently.”

“He's seventy.” Frank scoffed

“I know. Must have been on time delay or something. I guess I should be happy it wasn't a twent-five year old cocktail waitress. But then again an affair you can explain to friends in a minute. For this, you put on a pot of coffee.”

“And he's out there right now?”

“Yessiree!” Evelyn imitated a Western accent. “Riding the range!”

Frank lost himself for a moment as he and his mother joked, mocking exactly what his Step Father would look like. He hated to admit it, but at times like this he was reminded how similar he was to his mother. Same dry sense of humour, no nonsense nature…

“The fastest asset management in the West.” he snorted and Evelyn smiled.

“The man who shot Liberty Mutual. That's what I've been calling him” she said as they stopped at her car.

“That's really, really funny.” Frank chuckled, and then sighed as his mother opened the car door. He leaned down and spoke to the driver. “Take her to the airport.” he said, straightening up. “Go home, Evelyn. Or Montana. Rustle some cattle.” he said gently.

“You know I have no desire to hurt you. I hate it that we're at odds.”

And then, he was also reminded just how different they were too.

“We're always at odds.” he shrugged.

“Yes.” She said, almost sadly before she climbed in the car. “Hotel.” she instructed her driver, closing the door.

**** As anticipated, when he broke the news to Mary about her father, she had a meltdown and locked herself in the bathroom. No amount of coaxing from him or Roberta would draw her out. She was sobbing about how her dad didn’t want her…and then Frank was struck with an idea and he pulled out his phone to call in reinforcement which arrived in the shape of Fliss some twenty minutes later.

“I still can’t believe that wank stain was even given the time of day.” Fliss seethed as Frank greeted her outside. “I mean…”

“It’s done, his claim was thrown out but...”Frank nodded to where Roberta was stood outside locked bathroom door.

“Why you had to tell her that waste of oxygen was testifying I’ve no idea.” the woman shot him a look.

“Because it's the truth. And if I didn't, Evelyn would've.” Frank reasoned.

“If I was the dad of a little girl and I never saw her and I was in the same town. I would visit her.” Fliss heard Mary’s crying and Frank saw her face scrunch up in sympathy. “He didn't even need directions. He could've followed you here.”

“Ok, Roberta, can you…” Fliss asked gently. Roberta stood to the side and Fliss spoked to the door. “Mary, sweetheart, it’s me.”

“Lissy?” Mary sniffled.

“The one and only.” Fliss smiled, before she sighed “You know what, you’re right. He could have come to see you. But he didn’t. And that sucks, but it has nothing to do with you.”

“He doesn't even wanna see what I look like.” The girl sobbed again.

“You know I never met my dad either.” Fliss said gently “He abandoned my mum before I was born, made no attempt to see me at all, and then he was killed when I was 4 months old. He died without ever seeing my face. And you know what?”

“What?” Mary sniffed.

“That was his loss.” Fliss continued. “And then my mom met Bill when I was two, and he’s been my dad ever since. He looked after me and loved me, just like Frank does for you.” Fliss glanced at him and he dropped his hand from where it had been cupping his chin, folding his arms round his chest as he shot her a small smile. “Like we all do Mary, you’re so loved. By Frank, Roberta, me…” Fliss continued, “Now come on, open the door.”

There was a pause and they heard a rustle, before the lock on the door clicked and it opened. Mary stood in the doorway, her eyes red and wet from tears before she gave another sob and threw herself at Fliss. Fliss crouched down on one knee and held her back, gently rocking her and Frank felt his chest tighten at the display of affection.

And then he had an idea.

He crouched next to them, his hand gently reaching out to brush Mary’s hair back as she turned her head which was on Fliss’ shoulder to look at him.

“Put your shoes on. We're going for a ride.” he said to her softly. Then he turned to Fliss “You too, that is if you want to.”

“Sure.” she nodded.

“Roberta?” Frank looked at her, and she shook her head.

“Your truck only got three seats.” “We can take mine.” Fliss offered as Mary gently released her.

“No, I think you two got this.” she said, with a knowing smile.

*******

“What are we doing here?” Mary asked as they sat on the seats in the waiting room and Fliss found herself wondering the same thing. She hadn’t questioned Frank, he obviously had something up his sleeve.

“Waiting.”

“We can see that.” Fliss replied playfully, and he looked at her, rolling his eyes as Mary continued.

“Why?”

“Because I said so.” he shrugged, returning to the National Geographic magazine he was flicking through.

“How long do we have to stay here?”

“As long as it takes. And keep your voice down. It's a hospital.”

As long as it takes turned out to be an hour and a half. Through which time Mary had groaned, moaned, used Frank’s legs as a climbing frame, which Fliss noticed he had expertly ignored simply slouching in his seat, legs apart as Mary draped herself over them. Eventually she had curled up next to Fliss and laid her head on her lap, dozing off.

Fliss was busy reading something on her emails when she heard a bit of a commotion and the group at the other side of the waiting room all stood up. Frank’s eyes flew to them and then he gently gave Fliss a smile before he nudged Mary awake.

She blinked and watched as a man walked into the waiting room dressed in scrubs, a huge smile on his face.

“It's a boy.” he announced and the group erupted into cheers. Fliss glanced down at Mary who was watching in awe as everyone started to congratulate the man, all crying, sobbing with happiness, cheering, praising the lord.

“That's exactly how it was when you were born.” Frank spoke softly and Fliss then understood. He was showing Mary that she was loved, that she was wanted.

“This happy?” Mary asked

“This happy.” Frank confirmed.

“Who came out and told everybody?” she asked, and Frank leaned over gently brushing her hair behind her ear.

“I did.”

The emotion of the moment got to Fliss and her eyes watered. Frank raised his head and they shared a look as he smiled and she smiled back before Mary piped up.

“Can we stay for another?”

So they did, and when the next family all celebrated Mary jumped up, heading over to the group. They all smiled at her as she was swept into their celebrations. Fliss reached over and gently took Frank’s hand, giving his fingers a squeeze, a gesture he returned until Mary came back and pulled Fliss over to the group with her. Frank leaned back and watched as Fliss simply smiled and wiped her eyes as she congratulated the family and he let out a sigh, swallowing slightly, lost in his thoughts.

Eventually the family all dispersed to go and see their new arrival and he told Mary that it was too late to stay for another. She fell asleep on the way home against Fliss and when they got home it was a careful manoeuvre to get her out of the car without waking her up. He gently placed her in bed before he walked Fliss down to her car.

“Thank you.” he broke the silence.  “You were amazing before. You’re just amazing full stop.” he said, trailing off.

She blushed slightly and tucked her hair behind her ears.

“I mean it Lissy…” he sighed, “You just…”

He hesitated for a second before he reached out and gently placed his hand on her hip, pulling her softly towards him

“Frank.” she protested softly as his face dropped towards hers, her hands gently on his chest keeping him away from her “Look, I, ”

“I’m sorry.” he swallowed, his head dropping as he sighed at her rejection “You don’t have to explain.”

“It’s not even three weeks ago you were in bed with another woman.” she looked at him and he grimaced, pulling away.

“I know and I really wish that hadn’t happened” he sighed, the hand that had been on her hip moved and ran through his hair “My head was fucked and…”

“How do I know it isn’t now?”  Fliss looked at him “How do I, or you for that matter, know that this…” she gestured between them with her hand “…isn’t just an emotional response to what’s going on as well?”

“Because it’s not.” he shook his head, his eyes not leaving hers as he drove his message home “I care about you Fliss, more than just as friends, and I’m kicking myself now because what I did means you don’t believe me.”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you.” she took deep breath, as she looked down at her hands, the fingers of her right hand fiddling with her left. “And it’s not that I don’t feel the same.” She looked up at him, her voice quiet.

At her words a soft smile formed on his face as she continued to talk.

“But right now, you need to concentrate on Mary, and getting through this week.”

He nodded, swallowing “Yeah, I know, you’re right.”

She smiled, and reached up, taking his face in her soft hands. “But I promise you I’m not going anywhere.” her eyes locked onto his “And whatever this is,” she gestured between them once more, “if it’s right, then it’ll still be there when this is all over.”

She stood on her tip toes to place a gentle kiss to side of his mouth and he leaned down, pressing  his forehead against hers, his eyes closed as he swallowed. They stayed like that for a moment until Fliss backed away gently, squeezing his hand.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” he frowned

“Yeah, the Wicked Witch of The West is testifying is she not?”

Frank gave a huff of a laugh “Yeah she is.” “Like I said, you’re not alone. I’ll see you in the morning.”

He watched her climb in her car and waited until the tail lights had disappeared before he turned and headed inside. Finally all the cards were on the table, and it hadn’t been a rejection, quite the opposite actually.

For the first time in days, Frank slept soundly that night.

**** Chapter 8

#riding high #frank adler #frank adler x ofc #frank adler x original female character #gifted #gifted fan fic

[hedgefairy]

Okay, I know, I know, it's already old news, everybody and their uncle in the costuming community has already talked it over, but anyhoo, I made notes when I crawled my way through effing Bridgerton and I will be damned if I don't vomit them onto this site. I have 32 pages of this shit, I'm not gonna throw that away.

I'm also typing this on my phone because I'm stuck on a trainride that's just doubled in length because this is the 2021 Northern German snow storm. What, there's snowflakes on the rails? We cannot possibly keep up our schedule, say goodbye to 90% of the connections.

Okay, on to Bridgerton, Episode 1

We're in Britain (oh, London, okay), allegedly 1813. I see people who are clearly meant to be asympatico, but is this size incusivity I spot there? Daring! Gasp! Me li...

Oh wait, no. The character is promptly shamed for her figure (which is mostly caused by the horrible cut of her dress. Every size can look great in Regency garb, but never mind, we need to make the "fat one" look bad!).

Also, no shifts under the stays. Why. There was obviously enough budget, don't tell me you couldn't afford a few strappy tops - it's not like the rest is historically accurate, so it would have sufficed to send some poor underpaid intern to H&M and get some. Nvm, that wouldn't be sexay.

Wait, is the garishly dressed (always a sign of a character of bad character in a costume drama) woman Delphine from Selfridge? Does she always have to play bitches? That's not nice, and just because she has a recognisable face, which by modern (read: americanised) standards is not favourable enough. Ugh. But I like the actress, so I'll let it slide (for now).

Lol, buttocks.

Not sure about the girls' dresses. Also, the Queen is a WOC, cool!

Oh no, one of the Featherington sisters faints! But that's okay because the Featheringtons are just comic relief and foil anyway.

I get weird incest vibes from the Bridgertons.

So the court is clearly 18th century and the show is set in the 1810s. I've by now seen several explanations for this decision, I still think it robs the Queen of reproductions of her actual historical gowns which were heavily inspired by the 18th century but so. Magnificently. Weird. It would have been so neat, and more of a "hey, I'm kinda out of touch with things" vibe, but hey, I'm not the one getting paid for making those taffeta gowns here (her hair is glorious, tho).

I'm very into the intro.

That Regency gossip girl is a real b, not unlike the Dowager Countess of Downton (unpopular opinion, I think she's pretty overrated, yes, I like Maggie Smith).

Again, no shifts.

Where do I know the "pragmatic" Bridgerton sister from? Ah, it's The Paradise. And Jonathan Strange. (Wait, she's my age. And she's supposed to be a teenager. Man, do I love a good Dawson casting. I like the actress, though, she has a face ™!).

Aaaah. We get it. She's the spirited one. She also doesn't care about dresses because she's not like other girls™. I really like her voice (but she still doesn't sound like a teenager).

The heck is up with Lady F's dress and that of her friend? Oh, yeah. Antagonist fashion.

Of course the Featheringtons are Horrid Hags™ aside from Penny who's nice, but the pudgy one (at least we don't get a case of "she's not conventionally attractive so she's bad").

Oooh, the cousin! Supposed to suck, but ofc she's a stunner, and only Penny (who's the nice one, remember!) is delighted to have her around. She's also a POC, which is nice but apparently that means she does not follow fashion, hair-wise. I would have loved to see some Regency hair on her, it would have been so pretty *cries in Greek updo*

Ugh, we're still in Ep. 1, typing this on my phone was a bad idea.

Lady Danbury and the Duke guy are delightful with each other (more POC! So neat!).

The girl the oldest Bridgerbro screws is apparently a singer, which isn't up to status for his doucheship, and she doesn't wear a shift.

The music at the ball sounds like something from the Top 40s, but I'm woefully ignorant of contemporary music charts so I can't tell what it is. I like it when they do that in historical-ish works, making well-known pop or rock stuff work for the ambience (ugh, that dance scene to Golden Years in Knight's Tale. My heart. In a good way.)

I dig the Ducktail hair of Penny's crush. Oh, wait, that's a Bridgerbro. I don't quite get why the hair trends of the time don't apply to the POC characters or extras, but seeing how most white characters also show a shameful disregard for the weirdnes and gloriosity (that's not a word) that is early 1800s hair (the 1830s take the cake, tho) despite those hairdos being basically designed for white people hair, I don't think I care much (well, I do, but about all of them). Overall the hair is horrid and not very 1810s. Let's just leave it at that.

Like a good old romance novel (I've since been told that Bridgerton is supposed to be a pastiche of such novels, but I really couldn't tell from the series, not at all, and I'm not inclined to read the books) we have

a pretty, kind, superpure daughter of the main family

the mean matriarch (could have been an aunt, too, but here she's the mum) of the rivalling or antagonist family

a spirited daughter of the main family (in most romance novels this would be our heroine but so far she refreshingly lacks a love interest and pretty daughter seems to get the most screen time)

a Horrid Suitor™

a Hot Suitor™ who doesn't want attention

a really good and doting good parent

Lol, misheard Greece for Grease with Ducktail Bridgerbro, whose name is Colin, apparently. This is funny because of his Danny Zuko memorial hair.

Overall a bit too much bling for my taste, and too few pearls. It looks like an episode of My Super Sweet Sixteen with a Regency theme.

Of course the romance is going to be the Pretty One aka. Daphne and the Duke and he's even bros with her eldest bro. Wait, are they exes? I can haz bi? No? Aww, shucks. Maybe in another episode (spoiler: no).

Okay, WHAT is it with Lady F's dresses and hair. Like, she reminds me of Mars Attacks. Which, as you might remember, was not set in the Regency period.

Lord B (Bridgerbro the Eldest) sucks, he's screwing Opera Girl without any intention of marrying her but he's bitchy about his sister being ogled by his Eton (or wherever) bestie?

Oh, I'm in Hamburg now. And my train back home got canceled, so back to Berlin it is because there's not a single option to get to Hanover tonight, at least that's what the lady from the train station is saying, "oh well, you'll have to go back and try again tomorrow", so that's awesome...

Honestly, if it weren't so late and I didn't have things to do at home I'd find this terribly exciting.

Back to Bridgerton!

Where were we? Ah.

I can't even read my own annotation. Something about George III. I think I was upset about how they totally ignored that it's called Regency because George IV acted as the regent king, and he doesn't even feature in the series, I guess because they wanted to play up the Queen? Not a fan, because thanks to Horrible Histories I'm quite fond of that guy.

Again, no shifts.

Oh, look, it's Horrid Suitor™, destined for leftovers.

The Featherington cousin gets all the attention but no fleshed-out character.

Penny Featherington's dog is named Lord Byron, which ❤️

I like the Duke! He's there, drinking in his club (even though they're a patriarchal remnant of the past I have a weird appreciation for stuffy Gentlemen's Clubs, I blame Bertie Wooster and the Drones), calling Lord B out for his general fuckery.

Oh no, Ducktail Colin is more into the Cousin than Penny, who obviously pines for him!

Thank you, Lord B, for enabling Horrid Suitor™. Nobody asked you to be such a fucktwit.

The Queen is, of course, a bit of a bitch, but patronage from cool Lady *scrolls up for name* Danbury ensues for Protagonist Girl™ Daphne.

"I wish they had found a better trend language", what the heck did I even mean by that? That's what you get for just scribbling down notes while watching and simultaneously sewing. 18th century pants, in case you wanted to know.

Cousin is angry, probably because Lady F behaves like Cinderella's evil stepmother, because Cousin is prettier than her daughters and gets, like, all the suitors because Lord B bitched away everyone who wanted to get into Daphne's dowry ifyouknowwhatImeanwinkwinknudgenudge, right across the street into Cousins parlour.

The Bridgertons are annoyingly perfect. Ugh.

Oh look, it's "banter" between Daphne and Dukey! It's so Pride & Prejudice! It's almost a tiny bit Shakespeare! I put banter in parentheses because wow, nope, I'm not getting any chemistry here.

Uh, Lady B calls out Lord B (aka. her son aka. Bridgerbro the Eldest) for his screwery with Opera Girl and his outpimpery of his sister to Horrid Suitor™, buuuurrrrrnnn. He promptly calls of his affair with Opera Girl.

No shifts!

Penny gets to dance with Ducktail Colin at the thing! Good for her, but it's a country dance with jumping and fun, because she's a) the pudgy character and b) a Featherington, so it can't be something romantic and pretty (I personally like country dances, but they aren't protagonist dances).

Oooh, Cousin had her period, oh no, oh snap, oh she didn't, because she's PREGNANT! Shit, that's problematic, and not because she's an unmarried woman in the 1810s, but because she gets close to no lines at all so far, and suddenly she's pregnant and telling Lady F that she sucks for being privileged, violence ensues, this is ugly. Man, I get what some critics mean by "the POC actors*actresses get all the problems" and that not exactly being great.

Horrid Suitor™ makes property claims about Daphne, eeewwwww, thanks to Lord B's general suckiness, ewww, r@pe attempt ensues, was that really necessary? It doesn't really fit in with the rest of the series and generally nope, yay, broken nose! (which was indeed totally necessary). Nice one, and probably the only scene so far (spoiler: overall) in which I actually like Daphne. Dukey thinks a mean left hook is attractive, and, generally speaking, he's not wrong.

Daphne and Dukey come up with a pseudo-shakespearean plot to pretend to be totally into each other so she can attract suitors by being not available and he gets not to have fangirls by being not available, and as someone who has read a few too many historical-ish bodice rippers I know exactly where this is going. I mean, come on.

I can't see enough of the following choreography to complain about it. Man, I miss historical dance classes.

And that concludes Ep. 1! Finally! Thank you for getting this far, sorry for all of it (especially typos, it's the bane of unwanted autocorrect), I guess?

Update on the train situation: I've been told by the ticket control person that I shouldn't get my hopes up until noon tomorrow.

To be continued,

because I didn't take these 32 pages of notes for nothing.

#Bridgerton #Hedgewatch #historical costuming #Well not really because wow these costumes #Thank you for travelling with Deutsche Bahn #2021 norther Germany snow storm #Trainwriting #Snarky commentary #I wish I was better at captions but it's late and I've been wearing a mask for four hours straight now and I'm hungry #Bridgerbore

[thestayway90]

Reign of Lies: Chapter 1 (SKZ Royal Fantasy AU)

Author: thestayway90

WC: 2873

Warnings: None

Characters: Stray Kids OT8 Royal Family, Alexis (OFC), Elora (OFC)

Relationships: Changbin x Alexis (OFC)

Summary: An angsty Royal AU where Alexis (OFC), as her fathers only daughter and therefore the kingdoms only Princess, is sent to marry a Prince of their rival Kingdom to ensure Peace. However, after arriving at her new home, Alexis quickly finds out not all is what it seems…

Author’s Note: Hello lovelies! Did I start another series even though I’ve already got one still ongoing??? yes yes I did...

But in my defence I've had this idea sitting for a while and finally got round to doing something with it!!! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.

Also a side note this will contain SKZxSKZ relationships... obviously these are written for fanfic and not based on reality so please don't take them seriously... this is all just for fun and entertainments sake :)

I’m a little nervous about posting this one but enjoy <3

Alexis straightened her skirts nervously. Her outfit felt heavy and suffocating in the warm sunlight that streamed through a large side window. The climate was so much warmer here than the cooler weather she was used to back home.

Elora stepped in front of her, deft fingers fixing Alexis’ collar as she told the older girl briskly, “Walk in there with your head held high and show them what you’re made of.”

Alexis smiled down at her sister and best friend, grasping one of her hands tightly. “What would I do without you?” She asked rhetorically as Elora took a step back, staying on Alexis’ right where she would always be within sight.

“You would be a mess,” Elora replied unnecessarily in a deadpan voice, drawing a surprised laugh from her sister.

Suddenly the double doors in front of the two girls was flung wide open and a herald bellowed loudly into the large space behind. “Princess Alexis, Duchess of Vitova and Alzilicia, beloved Daughter of King Tobias of Mava.” He took a breath then continued as the girls took their first steps through the doorway. “And her companion, Lady Elora.”

Alexis concentrated on not tripping over her cumbersome skirts, keeping her eyes on the floor until she reached the foot of a set of stairs that led up onto a low platform.

Pausing at the end, she sunk into a low curtesy, seeing Elora copy the movement in her peripheral vision, and finally looked up.

She sucked in a breath, wobbling a little in the curtsey she was still holding, as her eyes swept over eight imposing figures ranged around the front of the room.

Standing proud in the centre was who, she imagined must be, the King she had heard so much about. King Chan didn’t look as imposing as his reputation would suggest, an easy smile gracing his lips, his black hair cut short and shockingly coloured a bright ruby red on top.

Standing slightly back from his right shoulder was a man with the sculptured looks of a statue, and to the kings left stood four boys, who Alexis assumed were the Kings younger brothers, the Princes of Roalun. Alexis let her eyes linger on the four figures, wondering which one was Prince Changbin, her soon to be husband.

Finally her gaze fell on two boys, standing to the side of the platform, her eyes widening as she took in the most beautiful people she had ever seen. One was tall and lean, long blonde locks falling over his forehead, partly covering intense liquid brown eyes. The other was shorter with a petite figure and silvery blonde hair that seemed to shine even in the shadows he stood in. But it was his eyes that drew the most attention. One was such a dark brown that it looked black, the other, in stark contrast was a shockingly bright light blue. The pair made such an achingly beautiful sight that Alexis had to advert her eyes but couldn’t stop herself continuing to steal glances in their direction.

Alexis straightened from her curtesy and, heeding her sisters advice, held her head high, fixing the King with an unwavering gaze.

To her surprise King Chan smiled even wider at her and launched himself down the stairs, wrapping her in a tight hug when he reached the bottom.

“Welcome, Princess Alexis. The Kingdom of Roalun is so pleased to have you here at last.”

The King pulled back and kissed her on both cheeks.

Alexis startled a little, feeling unbalanced as she replied slightly stiffly, “Thank you for the kind welcome, Your Majesty.”

“Oh none of that,” the King scoffed, waving a hand at her. “We are soon to be Brother and Sister. Chan will do just fine.” Chan motioned for the five boys still up on the platform to join him.

He grabbed the sculpted man first, pulling him to his side and wrapping an arm lovingly around his waist. “Let me introduce you to my Husband, Prince Minho.”

Minho inclined his head, his feelings hidden behind his cool expression. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Princess Alexis.”

“Just Alexis please,” Alexis insisted, getting the feeling that this court preferred a less formal approach to their Royalty.

“And these three are my baby brothers.” The boys grimaced at the title, none of them looking even close to being babies. “Prince Jisung, Prince Seungmin and the youngest, Prince Jeongin.”

Alexis’ eyes drifted over the three very different brothers but her gaze settled at the last boy, standing silently, head bowed.

“And this is Prince Changbin, Heir to Roalun and your future spouse,” Chan introduced so casually that Alexis fought not to wince at the informality.

Changbin finally looked up, bowing low to her. “It is a great pleasure to meet you, Princess. I hope your time here will be agreeable.”

Alexis felt her heart drop at his distant but polite distant tone. His greeting made it sound like she was only visiting for a holiday, not moving to a completely foreign kingdom to become his wife.

Before she could speak to him at all, Changbin gave her another quick bow and then turned to Chan. “I really must be going, brother. The Generals are waiting for me.”

Chan’s brow creased into a frown but he nodded his consent. Changbin retreated at a brisk pace, Alexis watching after him in confusion.

Chan cleared his throat. “Unfortunately my brothers position as the Head of Military keeps him very busy.”

Alexis smiled and nodded her understanding, hiding her consternation behind what she hoped was a polite bland expression.

Chan then beckoned to the two boys still standing to one side.  “And these two fine gentlemen are my brothers, Lord Hyunjin and Lord Felix.”

Hyunjin groaned in a dramatic voice, rolling his eyes as he approached. “You know how I hate being introduced as Lord, Channie,” the tall blonde complained. He reached over and grasped one of Alexis’ hands, placing a quick kiss onto the back of it, smiling crookedly up at her. “I’m so happy to meet you, Alexis. I’m very glad to finally be adding some femininity to our little family.”

Chan glared at the inappropriate words while Alexis struggled not to turn and look at Elora as she heard the other girl suppressing laughter.

Alexis concentrated her attention back on the King. “I thought you only had four brothers?” She questioned unthinkingly, her curiosity around the weird dynamic of this foreign court getting the better of her.

Chan gave a loud bark of laughter, pleased at her straight forwardness. “Hyunjin and Felix’s father was my father’s best friend and advisor. When their parents passed away my father took them in as his own. We’ve spent our whole lives together.”

Alexis turned her eyes on the two brothers, Felix having joined them, standing silently next Hyunjin. “I’m very sorry for your loss. I didn’t mean to pry.”

“It’s fine. Ask away,” Hyunjin said flippantly, waving his hands around airily. “This is to be your family as well. You have a right to ask about it.”

“Talking about family,” Alexis turned and beckoned Elora towards her, grabbing hold of the younger girls arm and holding her tight against her side, relieved at her solid presence. “This is my sister, Lady Elora.”

“Just Elora please,” Elora interrupted, shaking her head at the formal title.

“Lovely to meet you, Elora,” Chan said, smiling widely at Alexis’ sister, putting Alexis at ease.

Alexis immediately felt favourable towards anyone who treated Elora with kindness and respect. The younger girl had too often received scorn and distain from others, making Alexis very protective of her sister.

“I’m sure you are tired after your long journey,” the one called Jisung spoke up, clearly picking up the signs of exhaustion that both Alexis and Elora was exhibiting. “Should I show you to your rooms now so you can have a rest before dinner?” The kind boy posed it as a question, not wanting to impose on them.

“If His Majes…” Alexis stopped herself and continued pink staining her cheeks, unused to such informality. “If Chan does not mind us being excused. A rest sounds wonderful right now.”

Chan frowned a little, concern creasing his brow. “Oh dear. In my excitement I forgot what a long day you’ve both had. Of course you may go, please. Go rest and we can talk more over dinner.”

Chan gave both Alexis and Elora tight hugs before Jisung beckoned for them to follow him out. Alexis and Elora curtseyed to the royal family and then exited the throne room, feeling much more relaxed than when they had entered.

Jisung chatted amiably as he led them through a maze of corridors before stopping in front of a pair of large doors. Alexis looked at the masterpiece in front of her in awe as she heard Elora’s quiet exclamation of amazement.

Jisung had a smug look on his face. “Do you like them? They were specifically made for you. In fact the whole room was specifically decorated for you.”

Alexis felt her heart constrict at the startling act of thoughtfulness that she hadn’t expected when being forced into an arranged marriage in a country at war with her own.

The doors were painted a solid gold with beautifully ornate pearl and turquoise inlays making up intricate patterns of flowers and animals. Alexis raised a hand to brush against a perfect depiction of a peacock with full plumage proudly of display.

“He heard you liked animals.” Jisung’s voice pulled Alexis out of her reverie and back to the present.

“Who heard?” She asked unthinkingly, still in awe of the artwork that was simply the entrance to her rooms.

“Changbin of course,” Jisung said matter-of-factly, reaching over and pushing the doors open. “The inside is all Hyunjin though,” the boy continued as he stepped inside, Elora following close behind him.

Alexis took one more moment to admire the first sign of consideration that she’d received from her future spouse, before following the other two inside.

This time the opulence before her made Alexis’ jaw drop and eyes widen in shock, as she turned in a full 360 to try and take in every detail surrounding them.

The colour palette of the door was continued into the rooms, gold, pearl and turquoise hues mirrored throughout the furnishings and decorations.

They were standing in a large sitting area, the ceiling draped in gold and white cloth, a large brazier of gold hung from the ceiling dripping strings of pearls that sparkled in the late afternoon light. The chairs were large and comfy, their brilliant turquoise upholstery offset by gold trim. A low table stood before a fireplace, surrounded by multicoloured floor cushions and covered by an intricately embroidered table runner that depicted brightly coloured scenes of animals found in Roalun. Through a set of white shuttered doors to her right, Alexis could see an absolutely enormous fourposter bed draped with beautiful hangings of sheer gold and turquoise.

But what attracted Alexis attention the most were the doors directly in front of her that were flung wide open giving an unobstructed view of the outside. She walked over, feeling like she was in a haze, out onto a large balcony, pressing up against the railing as she took in the view.

As the Palace was built strategically at the top of a hill, the city of Epiris was laid out like a tapestry below her, extending down the slope until it hit the bank of Lake Lilies, continuing to spread along the lakes edge on either side. The lake was a breathtaking sight, glistening in the sunlight, large enough that you could barely glimpse the other side. She could see from her position the place where the Mairis River flowed into the lake and immediately took in the two garrison towers on either side, brows pinching when she remembered exactly why she was here.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” Jisung said as he came to stand beside her. Elora was still inside, already starting to unpack their trunks, always happier when things were in their proper place.

“It’s stunning,” Alexis agreed, closing her eyes for a moment and basking in the sunlight. They stood in silence for a moment, Alexis feeling slightly bewildered with how comfortable she was already feeling in her new home.

“Can I ask you something?” Jisung sounded hesitant. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t feel like it.”

Alexis opened her eyes and looked over at him. He now had his back towards the view, leaning against the railing as he fixed her with a serious look.

“Sure.”

“Did you have a choice? About coming here, I mean?”

Alexis considered the question for a moment, her silence making the other boy jittery.

“Not exactly,” Alexis finally answered. “I’m sure if I had put up more of a fuss, the King wouldn’t have sent me, but I’m also pretty sure if I’d done that he would’ve renounced my title, leaving me with no prospects and no way to keep Elora safe.”

Jisungs expression softened, pity shining in his eyes. “Not really a choice then,” he commented softly.

“Not really, no,” Alexis replied, giving him a small smile. He returned it with one of understanding, making Alexis wonder what non-choices had been given to him and the close-knit family around him.

“You know we didn’t even know Roalun had a Princess until Chan told us about you coming to marry one of us,” a voice chimed up from behind them, making both of them spin around in shock. Jeongin, the baby of the family, stood in the doorway, his face openly curious.

“Jeongin, you can’t just walk into other peoples rooms,” Jisung berated his younger brother, looking ready to throttle the boy.

“The door was open.” Jeongin shrugged slightly, not seemingly bothered by the scolding.

He fixed his gaze back on Alexis. “Are you really a Princess? Because I learnt in History that King Tobias only had sons.”

Jisung whacked the younger boy over the head. “You don’t ask questions like that you dimwit!”

“It’s okay. He should know if I’m to be his sister-in-law,” Alexis consoled the embarrassed elder boy.

She turned her gaze back to Jeongin. “My father is the King but my mother isn’t Queen Lillian. My mother is her sister, Lady Edelyn, the former Duchess of Vitova and Alzilicia. The Princes are my half-brothers. The reason you didn’t know that Roalun had a Princess is because up until a month ago there wasn’t one. Although the King had claimed me as his daughter, I was still only a Lady, one day to be Duchess of my mother lands. However, when the King saw an opportunity to seal the Peace Treaty with Roalun by connecting our two Kingdoms through marriage, he gave me the title of Princess and shipped me off here, and as my mother is dead there was no one to stop him doing it.”

Jeongin looked shocked, eyes wide as he tried to make sense of Alexis’ story. Jisung on the other hand didn’t look surprised, his expression empathetic, which made the newly made Princess feel a little bit better about exposing her complicated past.

“Does that make you a Princess as well?” Jeongin unthinkingly asked Elora as the other girl joined them.

Alexis stiffened, immediately shooting Jeongin a glare, even though she knew he didn’t mean any harm by it.

Elora grimaced and shook her head, quickly blurting out, “No, I will never be a Princess,” before quickly disappearing back inside.

Jisung slapped Jeongin over the head once again. “Idiot!”

“Wait, what did I say?” Jeongin was genuinely confused which made Alexis soften her irritation at the younger boy slightly.

“It’s a sensitive topic for Elora. Just leave it alone, alright,” she told him, a hand going to her forehead and her exhaustion finally caught up with her.

“If you don’t mind, I think I might go lay down for a bit,” she told the two boys, walking back inside.

“Of course. Someone will come and get get you when it’s time for dinner,” Jisung said, taking Jeongins arm and dragging him out of the room with him. Jeongin smiled widely and gave Alexis a cute wave goodbye before the door slammed shut in his face.

Alexis smiled and gave a chuckle at the cute boy, shaking her head as she went to check on Elora.

She found her sister already asleep on top of the covers of her bed in her own slightly smaller room. Her face was still scrunched in distress and Alexis reached out a hand to smooth the hair off of her forehead, Elora immediately relaxing at her touch. Sighing, Alexis grabbed a rug and covered her up, quietly tiptoeing out of the room and softly closing the door behind her.

Fighting to keep her eyes open, she stumbled into her own room and crawled into the massive bed, burrowing deep under the covers.

The last thing she saw before succumbing to sleep was the detailed picture of a Mountain Lion painted onto the ceiling of her room, the sparkling afternoon sunlight making it look alive.

#thestayway90 #thestayway90 writing #reign of lies #reign of lies thestayway90 #stray kids #skz #stray kids ot8 #stray kids imagine #stray kids au #skz imagine #skz au #stray kids x reader #bang chan #lee know #changbin #hyunjin #han #felix #seungmin #i.n. #changbin x reader #chan #minho #jisung #lee felix #yongbok #jeongin

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Riding High Ch7: Ordinary People

Chapter Summary: Frank feels the aftermath of his dumbassery

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words. Flash backs to domestic violence.

Chapter Pairings:  Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

A/N: Contains SPOILERS for the film!!!!! If you haven’t seen it please be aware of that before you read on. As a Lawyer I know how long the types of cases depicted in GIFTED can take, however they can also be done pretty fast. With that in mind, and because it fits with how I want the story to go I’m spreading it over approximately 6 weeks or so, so just roll with me! As always I’m a ho for a REBLOG and COMMENT!

Chapter Song: Ordinary People by John Legend

Series Masterlist Main Masterlist

“I saw you…he had his hands all over you.”

“John, I didn’t want him to…he was drunk, just being over friendly…”

Fliss cowered as a sneer crossed her husband’s face, the features she found so handsome once upon a time were distorted in anger, his dark green eyes clouded with rage as he towered over where she sat on the crouch. In a flash he had reached out and grabbed a fist full of her hair, yanking her to her feet. Fliss gave a cry of pain, stumbling after him as he dragged her up the stairs. She tripped at one point, her hip colliding painfully with one of the steps but he paid it no attention.

No mercy.

“You’re mine Sugar” he said, his voice steely “you know that.”

“I know…” she sobbed as he threw her into the bedroom. She scrambled for purchase on the bed as he pushed her hard so she fell face down, but before she could raise herself again he had grabbed the back of her neck and pushed her face into the pillows.

“Why do you make me do this, Felicity?” He asked, releasing his hold as his thighs bracketed hers. Fliss heard the tell-tale clinking of his belt and she gave another sob, knowing full well what was coming. He roughly pushed her dress up over her hips, leaving her underwear clad ass exposed.

And then the leather stuck her. Again. And again. And again.

“I’ll mark you so hard no one else will ever want you…” he snarled as he continued his assault. “You’re mine…“ Fliss sat bolt upright, gasping as she glanced around her bedroom. Thor, hearing her breathing jumped up onto her bed and shoved his head under her arm as she clamped her hands over her face. Looking down at him she buried her face into the dog’s fur, holding him tight as her breathing evened out. She ran through her calming thoughts in her head, imagining the sound of the ocean, the wind in her hair as she galloped on the beach, the soft and gentle hugs she received from her dad, her mum…and dare she even think it, Frank. And then another image filled he head. The sight of him kissing Bonnie at the bar.

“Wanker…” she muttered, wiping the tears from her face as Thor licked her cheek, his tail wagging as she stroked him. She was shaking slightly, the dream had been so real, so vivid, she could almost physically feel the pain. John had belted her so badly that night she hadn’t been able to ride for a week, and she still bore the marks where the buckle had ripped through her panties and skin.

The worst thing was, that after he had finished, he had held her, stroking her hair, soothing her, explaining why he had to punish her so much. It was sick, twisted. Just like him. “No power over me anymore, no power, no power…” she repeated her mantra through gritted teeth before she pushed the duvet down and swung her legs out of the bed and headed to the bathroom.

***** Frank had also woken up to a nightmare. His head was pounding from the shots he’d downed at the bar and being jerked awake by Bonnie’s screams as Mary had turned up in the apartment earlier than she was allowed on a Saturday hadn’t exactly helped the situation, not to mention the fact that he had fucked Mary’s school teacher for no reason other than the fact he was drunk, stressed and needed a release. Thankfully she seemed to be in the same place as him about the entire situation as he saw her out to a cab, apologising for Mary’s interruption, literally incapable of thinking of anything else to say. It was the most awkward morning after he had ever experienced.

And there was something else compounding his growing bad mood. When he had finally checked his phone as he stood outside for a few moments after Bonnie had gone, hoping the fresh air would sort his head out, he realised he had a number of messages from Fliss and a few missed calls. Groaning he remembered that he should have called her after the court case. Firing her a quick apology promising to talk to her later when it was time for Mary’s lesson, before he headed back inside.

Mary was sat on the rug with her lego, pieces scattered all over, Ice Age playing on the TV.

“Awkward…”  she sing songed

“Mary…” Frank looked at her for a moment and when she didn’t look at him he crouched down

“Stop! Stop! Stop with the Legos. Listen.” he took a breath and she looked at him “Do we have a rule about Saturday morning?”

“What?” she said softly

“Are you allowed in this apartment this early on Saturday morning?” Frank pressed, looking at her.

“No.” Mary sighed, averting her eyes from his.

“No!” Frank said, a little louder before he paused again “Are you allowed to… Hey!” he reached out to stop Mary as she returned to her Toys. “Stop! Enough with the Lego! Are you allowed to use Roberta’s keys?”

“No.” she still wasn’t looking at him.

“No!” Frank said, his voice gathering momentum “So, hey! Look at me. Then why are you here? Huh? Can you answer me that?”

Mary’s eyes filled with tears but Frank was too angry at the fact she had disobeyed him to comfort her.

“You broke every rule! You just embarrassed me. We have these rules.” he said standing up, turning to head back out of the door into the kitchen “We’ve gone over them a hundred times!” And then he stepped on a piece of Lego in his bare feet. His frustration boiled over as he hopped on one leg, clutching the side of the dresser which was pushed flush against the wall.

“Shit…” he yelled “God, damned it…” he slapped the side of the dresser, leaning against it,as he bent down to rub his foot  “Can I just get five minutes of my own life?”

At that Mary jumped up and bolted into his bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

Frank stood up, before he sighed, one hand on his hip, his eyes closed. He’d overreacted, he knew that. He was more pissed at himself for being an idiot than he was at Mary. He ran his hand over his face and glanced at the clock. Mary’s riding lesson was at 2 and it was now just pushing 10:30. Deciding to leave Mary to cool down before he made breakfast he headed into the kitchen to clear up yesterday’s dishes.

He heard the door to his room click open about twenty minutes later. Giving her another 10 he wiped the counter down before he made his way back into the main room and sat on the edge of her bed, where she was snuggled down in her alcove which sported a collection of shells they had stuck to the wood panels and a few photos, one of her mom, one of her and Frank and one of her and Fliss with Monty. She was huddled in the corner, Fred laying on her knee, the laptop resting on his back as she tapped away.

“Nothing that happened today was your fault.” Frank said gently and looked at her “I got mad at you…I was really mad at me…” he looked at her and she continued to ignore him “…and the manufacturers of Legos. They should all be in prison. So I’m sorry.” he said gently. She paused tapping but still didn’t look at him. “Do you forgive me?”

“Sure. Whatever.” she mumbled.

“Hey, close the laptop. Come on. Please. Doesn’t count if it’s not eye to eye.”

She hesitated so he asked again, gently. “Come on, please.”

With a sigh she did was she was told and looked at him, her eyes so like Diane’s were full of sadness and Frank felt his gut twist in guilt.

“Do you really have no life because of me?”

Fuck. Frank cursed himself for his outburst before and shook his head.

“That’s not what I said.” he looked at her.

“Did you mean it?” she pressed, not buying his statement for one minute, her voice soft.

“Last week you said I was the worst Uncle in the world and you wished death upon me ‘cause I didn’t buy you a piano.” Frank looked at her, holding her gaze. “Did you mean that?”

“No” Mary replied, her fingers tangling in Fred’s fur “Not entirely.”

“Well…” Frank said, “There you go. We say things all the time we don’t mean. So let’s forget it, okay?”

“Okay” Mary agreed

“Okay.”  Frank nodded, standing up

“Frank?” she called as he headed towards the door to head down and check the mail. He stopped and turned back, even though he couldn’t see her.

“Yeah?”

“Can I have a piano?”

��No.” he said, turning for the door.

He strode down across the lawn to the mail boxes, unlocked his and pulled out 2 letters. One looked like a bill, the other was in a manila coloured envelope, and was stamped with some kind of official seal.

“Was that really Mary's teacher this morning?” Roberta appeared. He glanced at her and returned to his post “And there was me thinking Fliss would stop you doing anything stupid…”

Frank’s head shot up “Fliss?” he frowned “What….”

“She came here last night, to see you. We roped her into Karaoke before she left and she said she was going to come and find you at Fergs”

Frank frowned. “Well she didn’t. I never saw her last night so she-”

Oh,fuck fuck fuck! He trailed off with a groan as he realised that she had probably seen him with Bonnie and then he felt a stinging slap round the back of his head.

“Shit!” He exclaimed, glaring at Roberta “Jesus…that fucking hurt!”

“Good…” she stared at him. “You know I have a book called ‘Fundamentals of Decision Making’. You can borrow it.” ‘

He glared at her, he didn’t need this. Not now. His attention turned back to the letter and he noticed the seal was from the court house. With a frown he opened it. The header- ‘Highsmith, Kistler & Sellers Attorneys at Law’ greeted him and he started to read. It was an order for him to surrender Mary for 2 days into Evelyn’s care, at a time and date to be agreed. It wasn’t unexpected but it was pretty fast considering it had only been agreed yesterday. His mother really wasn’t wasting any time.

“What is it?”  Roberta asked, noticing the frown on his face

“It’s nothing.” he said, leaning on the post box, still reading the letter “looks like Mary gets to go to Boston for a couple days.”

He noticed Roberta stiffen and he looked at her. “It’s just two days. Relax.” he said gently.

Because he was always honest with Mary he sat down once he was back inside and told her about the letter. She knew there was a court case going on, he had explained it all to her as best as he could so as not to cause her any worry. She soaked up the information and shrugged before saying that going to Boston sounded kinda cool. Frank simply nodded and said that he would sort out the dates on Monday before they ate lunch and headed up to the riding school. As he drove there his stomach was doing flips, the nerves at seeing Fliss were overwhelming, more so because he had no idea what he was going to say to her. It was strange, he felt guilty, even though he had no real reason to. They weren’t an item.

Fliss greeted Mary with the usual warmth before she turned her gaze to Frank, and he could see the hurt in her eyes, compounding that guilty feeling even more.

“Sorry I didn’t call you last night.” he offered and she shrugged.

“It’s ok, I know you were busy.” her voice carried no sarcasm, it was measured and cool but Frank knew she was referring to Bonnie, his suspicions confirmed. She turned away, barking an instruction to Joanne who looked at her, nodding.

Frank leaned on the paddock fence as he always did, a little way from the other parents and watched as Fliss taught the 3 girls, smile on her face. Mary was certainly getting the hang of it now and was able to trot around unaided. After about 40 minutes they were done and heading out of the paddock. Fliss made no attempt to come and speak to him, like normal, and made straight for her office. Casting and eye on Mary who was leading Monty back to the stable he followed Fliss.

“You’re mad at me.” he observed gently.

“Why would I be mad at you?” she replied, pulling 3 cartons of apple juice out of the fridge for the kids.

“Because you saw me last night with Bonnie.” he pressed.

He saw her stiffen slightly before she took a breath and turned round.

“I’m not mad.” she shrugged.

“Could have fooled me.”

“I just…well I think you should have considered Mary a little more, that’s all, instead of simply wanting to get your end away.“ “What does that mean?” he frowned.

“You know damned well what it means.” she looked at him “Mary told me she saw Bonnie this morning, I mean…Jesus Frank that’s her teacher…can you imagine how awkward its gonna be if any of the kids find out that you’re fucking her?” “Ok, I’m not fucking her…” Frank held his hand out to stop her.

“So what were you doing last night then?” Fliss hissed, “Playing scrabble?”

“Hang on, are we really arguing about this?” Frank looked at her, frowning “Why? Why are you so mad about it?”

He paused, looking at her. Her eyes locked onto his and she swallowed, and for a moment he hoped she was going to tell him what he wanted to hear but she shook her head and shrugged.

“You know what, you’re right. What, or who you do in your spare time is your business, not mine.”

With that she pushed past him and headed out into the yard. Frank let out another sigh before he headed out to find Mary.

******

Fliss made no attempts to speak to Frank over the next few days. He messaged her to tell her about Mary heading to Boston at the end of the week and she replied politely, telling him that she was sure it would all work out, but beyond that she didn’t reach out further. However, she did call to wish Mary a safe trip to Boston on the Thursday morning just before Evelyn arrived to pick her up, and told her she wanted to hear all about it when she came home on Saturday afternoon . By the time Frank got the phone back, Fliss had hung up.

“Frank she likes you. “ Roberta said when she popped over to wish Mary goodbye. Mary wasted no time in informing her the reason he was in a bad mood wasn’t just because she was going to Boston, but also because Fliss was angry at him. Of course she had noticed, because she noticed everyting. “She’s hurt and it’s yo own dumbass fault.” the woman concluded.

Yeah, yeah he got that.

With Mary gone, he decided that night to take a cool box of beer down to the harbour and work late. He was in the middle of pulling a gear box apart when his phone went. It was a message from Bonnie asking if she could meet him to talk. Which was how he found himself sat on the deck of the boat, her opposite him, both wrapped in blankets and clutching bottles of Bud.

“I have had a series of nightmares…where I’m fired…because of what happened. You get it?” Bonnie smiled, rolling her eyes. Frank smiled at her as she laughed “And then I remind myself, that everything that happened, was just all the alcohol and people do far worse right?”

At that Frank laughed. “Yeah we were pretty drunk.”

Truth be told whilst he did think Bonnie was attractive, there was nothing there, and that was compounded by the fact that as he sat there, looking at her, he felt no urges at all. She was simply another one of his Friday night hook ups, only this had turned out to be slightly more complicated.

Yeah, he should definitely borrow that book from Roberta

“So I guess, what I came here to say…” Bonnie sighed “I think you’re a great guy Frank, and I’ve got your back on this damned custody case but…me and you…it just…” “Oh, absolutely, I’m with you…” Frank said, agreeing quickly, thanking the Gods she’d brought it up before he had to. “It was a mistake…” Bonnie arched an eyebrow and he sighed .“Shit, I don’t mean that how it sounds but…well, it was, wasn’t it?”

She smiled and nodded, cocking her head to one side as she surveyed him. “I do think you need to speak to Fliss though?”

“Fliss?” Frank frowned, “What’s she got to do with this?”

"You like her.” Bonnie said simply.

Frank paused before he shook his head, smiling “that obvious?” “Yeah, and there’s the fact you called me by her name twice.” Oh Jesus. Ground please open… “What when we… ” he grimaced and she chuckled, raising her eyebrows “Oh God. Bonnie… I’m so sorry.” He groaned and ran his hands over his face.

What a fucking ass hole.

“Like we said, mistake…” Bonnie smiled, “Especially when you’re clearly hung up on another girl. “ “Yeah well whatever may or may not have been there, I think I’ve kinda blown it… story of my life.” Frank sighed taking a pull from his bottle.

“Blown it?”

“Yeah she’s pretty pissed. She saw us in the bar and has hardly spoken a word to me since”

“And you’re giving up that easily?” Bonnie raised an eyebrow. He sighed and she leaned forward slightly “Take it from me, another female, that if she’s that pissed at you over the fact that you hooked up with someone else then she feels something for you Frank.“

They stayed and chatted about the court case for a while and he filled Bonnie in on the running order for the testimonies which would start on Tuesday before she bid him goodnight and left. He contemplated messaging Fliss but decided against it. He worked late again on Friday, for the first time in months foregoing his trip to Ferg’s and by Saturday afternoon he was ready to welcome Mary home. He’d missed her.

“I’m loaded with swag!” she said, with an air of someone out of Gossip Girl, not that he’d seen a lot of that mind, as she skipped towards him and wrapped her arms around his waist as well she could with the bag she was carrying. His hand dropped to the back of her head as he hugged her before he looked up at his mother.

“Wanna come inside?” he asked as Mary skipped off calling Fred’s name.

“Cat.” she said, with a faint smile as she shook her head.

He nodded to her and turned to follow Mary.

“I need to ring Fliss…” Mary said immediately.

“Well, I got a better idea.” Frank said, “How about we head over there and see her?”

“Yesss.” Mary said, before she looked at him. “Are you friends again?”

“We never stopped being friends she’s just mad at me because I did something stupid, but don’t worry, it’ll work out.” he said.

I hope…

***** Fliss was busy on a lesson when her phone went. Taking a quick minute to look at it, she read the message from Frank asking if it was ok if they swung by as Mary was home. With a deep breath she replied telling him it was fine, before she turned back to her client who was one of the boarders on the yard.

She had just about finished some 30 minutes or so later when she heard Mary calling. She turned and gave her a smile and a wave. Once she had finished and taken payment, she turned to Mary and gave the girl a hug.

“Hey…” she smiled. Mary hugged her tight and Fliss chuckled before she glanced up at Frank “Coffee?”

He smiled, taking the olive branch she had offered. “Yeah, sounds great.”

They made their way into the office and Fliss moved to the small kitchenette area at the back, filling the coffee machine before she turned to Mary, leaning against the counter.

“So, tell me all about Boston.” Mary began to gush about all the things she had done, Fliss listening and asking questions as she made her and Frank a coffee. He took his with a thanks whilst Mary told Fliss how she had looked at some photos, learned more about her mom and then done some complicated Maths for a professor at a University. At that Fliss noticed Frank stiffen slightly and she looked at him, gently shaking her head. He smiled tightly and turned to look out over the yard, taking a few steps outside.

“And she has a piano…” Mary finished, “I mean I didn’t get to play it but…”

“You should come over to my mum’s.” Fliss smiled “She’ll let you play hers. That’s what she used to do, teach people music.”

Mary smiled, before she looked over at Frank who was stood watching a few people who were riding in the paddock, the lessons for the day having concluded which mean the boarders were free to do what they wanted.

“Are you still mad at Frank?” she turned back to Fliss.

“Not really.” Fliss said “I got a bit cross but…” “Yeah, he can make me cross too.” Mary said wisely “He does dumb stuff sometimes.”

Fliss laughed and studied the young girl “Yeah, you got that right.” “But he’s a good person.” she shrugged

“I know.” Fliss said, her eyes flicking to him before she looked back at Mary.

“I don’t want to live with Evelyn.” Mary shrugged “I mean she was nice and looks like my mom but…she’s bossy.” Fliss smiled.

“And I want to stay with Frank.” Mary continued “Because I know he loves me. And he did before he found out I was smart.”

Fliss felt a lump in her throat at the girl’s confession. She glanced over at Frank again who ran a hand over his face, rubbing at his eyes underneath his shades.

“Hey, Mary, why don’t you go say hi to Monty.” she said gently, “Tell Joanne I said you could help with the feeds.” “Yesss.” she said, scooting off her chair and shooting across the yard. Fliss saw Frank follow her with her eyes before he turned to her as she walked over to him.

“Hey.” she said, her tone soft. “How you holding up?” “Apart from screwing up my life, I’m good.” he snorted, taking off his glasses and tucking them into the collar of his t-shirt  “Just hope I’m not screwing hers up as well.”

“Don’t’ say that.” Fliss shook her head “You know that’s not true. Mary’s fine…”

“I hate that we haven’t been talking.” he said after a pause,  looking at her. “Been kinda lonely.”

“I thought you’d have been with Bonnie.” she said softly, shrugging.

Frank sighed “I’ve only seen her once, this week. And that was so we could have a straight up conversation about how what happened was a mistake”

“A mistake?” Fliss raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” Frank said “And as far as mistakes go…that one was pretty spectacular.”

“And you actually said that to her?”

He nodded.

“Wow… “ she snorted.

“She agreed so…” Frank shrugged and he held her gaze for a second before he took a deep breath “Is that why you’ve been ignoring me?” he pressed “Because you thought we were… you know, together?”

Fliss swallowed and looked away, trying to think of something to say that didn’t give her feelings away. He’d hit the nail on the head. She had thought that, and more over she was jealous so had distanced herself on purpose.

“I just…” she looked back at him, “Well, I didn’t want to step on any toes, so to speak, that’s all.”

“There’s none to step on, trust me.” Frank said gently.

“So err, anyway, she seems to have enjoyed Boston.” Fliss changed the subject.

“Yeah.” Frank said

“So what’s next?”

“Well she has a err, court interview with the Child Welfare department or whatever they’re called on Monday.” he said.

“Sure it’ll be fine.” Fliss replied “It’s not like she’s treated badly or her welfare is an issue Frank.”

“And the hearing starts in full on Tuesday.” he said “And they’re opening with a bang.” Fliss frowned as he turned to face her “Greg called me yesterday. Mary’s biological father has apparently signed an affidavit, nominating my mother as Mary’s legal guardian.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Fliss hissed, suddenly seething with anger as Frank shook his head “That’s a real shitty trick.”

“Yep” Frank agreed.

“Does Mary know?”

“No. I’ll have to tell her though, otherwise Evelyn will no doubt during her access.”

“She gets access?”

“Yeah, whilst this is going on she gets visitation rights so…” Frank shrugged, and Fliss couldn’t help but notice his despondent nature.

“So when you gonna tell her?”

“Tuesday night, after it’s done. I don’t want her worrying or knowing he’s in town because if she knows and he doesn’t ask to see her…at least once he’s gone then…” he bit his lip “She’s gonna be upset either way but, what else can I do?”

“Nothing but what you think is best.”  Fliss said gently “I told you before that’s all you can do Frank.” He looked at her and she sighed, opening her arms and he gladly stepped towards her, wrapping her up in a hug.

******

“Mr. Polland, are you the…natural father of Mary Adler?”

“Yes. Yes, I am.”

Frank sat still, glaring at the ass hole sat in the dock.

“And how you can be certain of this?

“Well, I always knew, but then you had me take a DNA test.”

Course they did…

I would offer the test results as result of evidence of that Mr. Polland is the father and natural guardian of the minor. As well as an affidavit from Mr. Polland nominating Mrs. Adler the maternal grandmother as the legal guardian of the minor.”

Frank sat up slightly, his jaw clenching. This ass hole had no right to decide what was best for Mary, he’d never fucking met her. Greg touched his arm, shaking his head before he stood up.

“No objections.”

“Mr. Polland has Mrs. Adler offered you any monetary reward or employment for coming forward today?” Evelyn’s attorney continued.

No, sir. I have a job of my own.”

Frank suppressed a snort. Bullshit she hasn’t paid you.

“Thank you. No further questions, your Honour.”

Cullen rose again and waited a second before he opened his cross examination “Mr. Polland when was the last time you saw Mary?”

“I've never seen her.” Polland shifted slightly and Frank watched him intently.

“Why not?”

“By the time I heard about Diane…passing the baby was gone already.”

Her name is Mary, ass hole… Frank took a deep breath.

“Well, did you try and find her?” Cullen pressed.

“Best I could. I couldn’t just go and search the entire country.” Polland shook his head, trying to make a joke out of it. Frank was pleased to see the judge wasn’t laughing.

Greg nodded and paused once more before suddenly asking “Do you use a computer at work?”

“Sure.” Polland replied

“You know what? Help me out.” Greg said, grabbing his laptop “Let's google 'Mary Adler’ and see what we find.” he placed the laptop on the dock and turned it towards Polland. The man hesitated for a while and looked at the Judge who gestured with his hand, instructing him to do as he was told. Polland began to tap when Jason spoke again “You know what? You better add her middle name.”

Frank watched as Polland stopped, because of course he had no idea what her midde name was.

“It'll narrow it down. Eileen” Cullen said. Polland looked up and caught Frank’s eye, his face sheepish. Frank kept his face straight, his chin resting on his hand, fingers making an L-shape round his jaw as Polland looked away and began to tap..

“Yeah, hit enter.” Greg instructed. “Ok, now head to page 2…second hit…would you please tell the court what you see there?”

Polland hesitated “It’s a newspaper article called ‘Not so terrible twos’”

“And one of them is Mary Eileen Adler.”  Greg nodded “Same name as your daughter. Born on the same day as your daughter. With a photograph”

Polland looked at him.

“In your defence, you’d never recognize it…”

“Your Honour, this is…” Evelyn’s attorney stood up but Cullen was quick to cut him off

“Your Honour, if there’s one thing here that's sadly obvious it’s that Mr. Polland has never been a genuine guardian of the minor and his nomination of Mrs. Adler is no less disingenuous.” he looked at the Judge.

Frank shifted slightly as Judge Nicholls looked at Polland, then to Evelyn, then to Frank before he turned glanced at the notes spread out in front of him.

“While the state of Florida gives difference to nomination by natural parent, I'm inclined to side with Mr. Cullen’s laptop at this time.” he said, nodding at Cullen, effectively dismissing the affidavit. Frank allowed himself a relieved smile as Greg nodded.

“Thank you, your Honor”

Frank walked his mother to her car, as she told him about his step father Walter. Frank had found it odd how he wasn’t featuring in any of this, but his question was answered as Evelyn told him he had bought a ranch in Montana.

“Bullshit.” he exclaimed as they strode down the path in the sun, his suit jacket handing over his arm.

“Exactly. A man whose idea of roughing it is being too far from the ice machine at the Ritz Carlton now owns a 1000 acres of grass and dung.”

“Walter Price is a cowboy.” Frank smiled, shaking his head.

“Walter Price who puts on a Brooke’s brother suit to take out the garbage now has a cowboy hat and cowboy boots and a horse that doesn’t know dressage.” Evelyn shook her head.

“Is there some logical reason for this?” Frank asked making a mental note to tell Fliss.

“Midlife crisis, apparently.”

“He’s 70.” Frank scoffed

“I know. Must have been on time delay or something. I guess I should be happy it wasn’t 25 year old cocktail waitress. But then again an affair you can explain to friends in a minute. For this, you put on a pot of coffee.”

“And he’s out there right now?”

“Yessiree!” Evelyn imitated a Western accent.

Frank lost himself for a moment as he and his mother joked, mocking exactly what his Step Father would look like. He hated to admit it, but at times like this he was reminded how similar he was to his mother. Same dry sense of humour, no nonsense nature…

“The fastest asset management in the West.” he snorted and Evelyn smiled.

“The man who shot Liberty Mutual. That’s what I’ve been calling him” she said as they stopped at her car.

“That’s really, really funny.” Frank said, and then sighed as she opened the car door. He leaned down and spoke to the driver  “Take her to the airport.” he said, straightening up. “Go home, Evelyn. Or Montana. Rustle some cattle.” he said gently.

“You know I have no desire to hurt you. I hate it that we’re at odds.” she said as she say in the car, looking at him through the open window.

And then, he was also reminded just how different they were too.

“We’re always at odds.” he shrugged.

“Yes.” She said, almost sadly before she spoke and issued an instructions to her driver, which Frank also realised as a direct defiance aimed at him “Hotel.” 

**** As anticipated, when Frank broke the news to Mary about her father she had a meltdown. What hadn’t anticioated was her locking herself in the bathroom and no amount of coaxing from him or Roberta managed to draw her out. She was crying her little heart out, sobbing about how her dad didn’t want her…and just before he kicked the door in he had a stroke of inspiration,  pulling out his phone to call in reinforcement.

It arrived in the shape of Fliss some 20 minutes later.

“I still can’t believe that wank stain was even given the time of day.” she seethed as Frank greeted her as she strode in the door.

“Well his claim was thrown out but…”Frank nodded to where Roberta was stood outside locked bathroom door.

“Why you had to tell her that asshole was testifying I’ve no idea.” the woman shot him a look.

“Because it’s the truth. And if I didn’t, Evelyn would’ve.” Frank reasoned.

“If I was the dad of a little girl and I never saw her… and I was in the same town… I would visit her.” Fliss heard Mary’s crying and Frank saw her face scrunch up in sympathy. “He didn’t even need directions. He could’ve followed you here.”

“Ok, Roberta, move…” Fliss said gently. Roberta stood to the side and Fliss spoked to the door. “Mary…honey, it’s me.”

“Lissy?” Mary sniffled.

“The one and only.” Fliss smiled, before she sighed “You know what, you’re right. He could have come to see you. But he didn’t. And that’s nothing to do with you.”

“He doesn’t even wanna see what I look like.” The girl sobbed again.

“I never met my dad either…” Fliss said gently “He abandoned my mum before I was born, and then he was killed when I was 4 months old. But before that he never made any attempt to see me. He died without ever seeing my face. And you know what?”

“What?” Mary sniffed.

“That’s his loss, just like it’s your…father’s loss, and I hate to use that word because he’s not really got any right to be called that.”

Mary said nothing, but Frank could hear her sniffling still.

“But then my mom met Bill when I was two, and he’s been my dad ever since. He looked after me and loved me, just like Frank does for you.” Fliss glanced at him and he dropped his hand from where it had been cupping his chin, folding his arms round his chest as he shot her a small smile. “Like we all do Mary, you’re so loved. By Frank, Roberta…me…” Fliss continued, “Now come on, open the door.”

There was a pause and they heard a rustle, before the lock on the door clicked and it opened. Mary stood in the doorway, her eyes red and wet from tears before she gave another sob and threw herself at Fliss. Fliss crouched down on one knee and held her back, gently rocking her and Frank felt his chest tighten at the display of affection.

And then he had an idea.

Fliss watched him as he crouched next to them, his hand gently reaching out to brush Mary’s hair back as she turned her head which was on Fliss’ shoulder to look at him.

“Put your shoes on. We're going for a ride.” he said to her softly. Then he turned to Fliss “You too that is if you want to.”

“Sure.” she nodded.

“Roberta?” Frank looked at her, and she shook her head.

“Your truck only got 3 seats.” “We can take mine.” Fliss offered as Mary gently released her.

“No, I think you two got this.” she said, smiling.

*******

“What are we doing here?” Mary asked as they sat on the seats in the waiting room and Fliss found herself wondering the same thing. She hadn’t questioned Frank, he obviously had something up his sleeve.

“Waiting.”

“We can see that.” Fliss said, and he looked at her,rolling his eyes as Mary continued.

“Why?”

“Because I said so.” he said, returning to the National Geographic magazine he was flicking through.

“How long do we have to stay here?”

“As long as it takes. And keep your voice down. It’s a hospital.” Frank said.

As long as it takes turned out to be an hour and a half. Through which time Mary had groaned, moaned, used Frank’s legs as a climbing frame, which Fliss noticed he had expertly ignored simply slouching in his seat, legs apart as Mary draped herself over them. Eventually she had curled up next to Fliss and laid her head on her lap, dozing off.

Fliss was busy reading something on her emails when she heard a bit of a commotion and the group at the other side of the waiting room all stood up. Frank’s eyes flew to them and then he gently gave Fliss a smile before he nudged Mary awake.

She blinked and watched as a man walked into the waiting room dressed in scrubs, a huge smile on his face.

“It’s a boy.” he announced and the group erupted into cheers. Fliss glanced down at Mary who was watching in awe as everyone started to congratulate the man, all crying, sobbing with happiness, cheering, praising the lord.

“That's exactly how it was when you were born.” Frank said softly and Fliss then understood. He was showing Mary that she was loved, that she was wanted.

“This happy?” Mary asked

“This happy.” Frank confirmed.

“Who came out and told everybody?” she asked, and Frank leaned over gently brushing her hair behind her ear.

“I did.” he said softly.

The emotion of the moment got to Fliss and her eyes watered. Frank raised his head and they shared a look as he smiled and she smiled back before Mary piped up.

“Can we stay for another?”

Frank smiled and Mary jumped up, heading over to the group. They all smiled at her as she was swept into their celebrations. Fliss reached over and gently took Frank’s hand, giving his fingers a squeeze, a gesture he returned until Mary came back and pulled Fliss over to the group with her. Frank leaned back and watched as Fliss simply smiled and wiped her eyes as she congratulated the family and he let out a sigh, swallowing slightly, lost in his thoughts.

Eventually the family all dispersed to go and see their new arrival and he told Mary that it was too late to stay for another. She fell asleep on the way home against Fliss and when they got back t was a careful manoeuvre between them both to get her out of the car without waking her up. He gently placed her in bed before he walked Fliss down to her jeep.

“Thank you.” he said to her gently “You were amazing before…you’re just…amazing.” he said, trailing off.

She blushed slightly and tucked her hair behind her ears.

“I mean it Lissy…” he said, “You…I dunno.”

He hesitated for a second before he reached out and gently placed his hand on her hip, pulling her softly towards him

“Frank…” she said softly as his face dropped towards hers, her hands gently on his chest keeping him away from her “Look, I…”

“I know.” he swallowed, his head dropping as he sighed at her rejection “You don’t have to explain.”

“It’s not even 2 weeks ago you were in bed with another woman.” she said gently and he grimaced, pulling away slightly.

“I know and I really wish that hadn’t happened” he sighed, the hand that had been on her hip moved and ran through his hair “There’s really nothing going on between me and Bonnie…it was just a one night. My head was fucked and…”

“How do I know it isn’t now?”  Fliss looked at him “How do I, or you for that matter, know that this…” she gestured between them with her hand “…isn’t just an emotional response to what’s going on as well?”

“Because it’s not.” he said, his eyes not leaving hers as he drove his message home “I care about you Fliss, more than just as friends…and I’m kicking myself now because what I did means you don’t believe me…”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you.” she said gently, shaking her head as she took deep breath. “And it’s not that I don’t feel the same…”

It’s not that I don’t feel the same At her words a soft smile formed on his face as she continued to talk.

“…but right now, you need to concentrate on Mary…and getting through this week.”

He nodded, swallowing “Yeah, maybe you’re right.”

“No maybe about it.” she smiled, and reaching up she took his face in her soft hands. “But I promise you I’m not going anywhere.” her eyes locked onto his “And whatever this is…” she gestured between them once more “if it’s right, then it’ll still be there when all this is over.”

She stood on her tip toes to place a gentle kiss to side of his mouth and he leaned down, pressing  his forehead against hers, his eyes closed as he swallowed. They stayed like that for a moment until Fliss backed away gently, squeezing his hand.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” she said softly.

“Tomorrow?” he frowned

“Yeah, the Wicked Witch of The West is testifying is she not?”

Frank gave a huff of a laugh “Yeah she is.” “Like I said, you’re not alone. I might bring a hosepipe,see if she melts. I’ll see you in the morning.”

He chuckled at her joke and watched her climb in her car, waiting until the tail lights had disappeared before he turned and headed inside. Finally all the cards were on the table, and it hadn’t been a rejection, quite the opposite actually.

For the first time in days, Frank slept soundly that night.

@the-omni-princess​​  @momobaby227​​ @geekofmanythings16​​ @angelofhell-666​​ @thewackywriter​​ @marvelfansworld​​​  @cobalt-gear​​  @asgardlover75​​ @jennmurawski13​​​​  @jtargaryen18​​​ @saiyanprincessswanie​​​  @navispalace​​​ @patzammit​​​  @joannaliceevans-fanficblog​​​  @icanfeelastormbrewing​​​ @djeniiscorner​​​  @ayamenimthiriel​​​  @coldmuffinbanditshoe​​​  @disneylovingal​​​ @madzmilllz​  @sgtjaamesbaarnes​​ @sweater-daddiesdumbdork​​ @southerngracela​  @goldenfightergir​ @kellymat​ @official-and-unstable-satan​ @pagesoflauren​ 

#riding high #frank adler x ofc #frank adler #gifted #gifted fan fic

[slashhinginghasher]

Midnight Star - Chromeskull x OFC - Part 1: Thief In the Night

Listen. I love the "Big Scary is only soft for their SO" as much as the next horny person, but I feel like we as a community have been largely overlooking the fact that Chromeskull canonically tortures and murders people (specifically women) for personal enjoyment. So I'm gonna be the nasty bitch that brings that side of him back up again lol.

You can also read this on my Ao3.

Marena hated a lot of things. But if she had to list them, “summer” would be very fucking near the top, and “summer in the Southern United States” would be right next to it. She hated the way the sun beat down like an anvil. She hated the sticky, suffocating humidity that draped itself over everything until it felt as though the entire world was sweating. She hated the waves of heat that emanated from the ground, even in the dead of night. She hated that even the fucking ocean provided no relief; she’d nearly gagged the first and only time she’d attempted a midnight swim, the water curling around her ankles like tepid bathwater. She wanted to peel off her clothes, shave her head, wriggle out of her skin. She wanted to crawl into a freezer and wait until winter, but that season didn’t seem to exist here in the armpit of the world, so maybe she’d stay there until she was dead.

There were no freezers to be found in the swampy vegetation bordering the empty road she followed. There was, however, an abundance of gnats, flies, mosquitoes, and other nameless biting, flying things so great that Marena was seriously considering setting herself on fire just to kill them off. She’d been on the road for weeks. Her feet were blistered. Her stomach was starting to eat itself. If she had to comb any more spanish moss out of her hair she was going to scream. But she kept going, one foot in front of the other, because it was better than turning back. And she stayed in this stupid sauna of a country because it was better than what lay across the ocean.

Marena walked, and dreamed of snow.

***

The car was a temptation. Shiny and black, it gave off an impression of speed even while sitting still. And it was gloriously unattended. Marena had been watching it for nearly fifteen minutes and had seen neither hide nor hair of the driver.

Her court-appointed therapist in Miami had said that a lot of her problems stemmed from a lack of impulse control. Marena thought that was bullshit. She could control her impulses just fine when she wanted; it was just that she so rarely wanted to. With a mental Fuck You to Dr. Call Me Linda, she pulled the wire hook out of her bag and popped the car’s lock in a matter of seconds.

The rest of the job was not so simple. The car was a newer model; the dashboard alone had enough electronics to power a small rocketship. At first, it resisted her efforts, almost as if it didn’t want to be stolen. Her nerves felt like a live wire as too many minutes stretched past, expecting the owner to return. Two screwdrivers and broken nail later, she resorted to swearing and brute force.

“Come on you piece of shit suka blyat’, START!” she snarled, forcing screwdriver number three into the keyhole with her fist and cranking it as hard as she could. The engine roared to life, the radio blaring a hip hop dance remix she’d heard outside at least half a dozen clubs. She slammed her hand against the power button and froze, the only sounds now the purring of the engine and the incessant insect chatter. Scarcely believing her luck, Marena slid into the leather driver’s seat and carefully shut the door. She tapped the gas pedal and grinned when the engine revved in response. Cranking the air conditioning and easing out onto the road, Marena let out a triumphant whoop and floored it.

***

The sky was turning a dusky, pre-dawn blue when the car slowed to a stop.

“What?” The tank was still half full. Marena stomped on the gas. No response. “Chto za khuynya? What the fuck?” She punched the steering column, punched the dashboard, succeeded only in scraping her knuckles. The car shut off. “No no no no…” The cooling engine ticked mockingly at her. “How the fuck…?”

The screen on the dashboard flared to life.

NOT YOURS, PIGGY

Marena’s very heartfelt Fuck! froze in her throat. She had to get out. She had to get out now. Eyes still on the screen, she pulled at the door handle. Locked. When did that happen? And why couldn’t she unlock it? Rage bubbled up in her chest as she yanked at the handle, rage at whatever bastard was controlling the car, and at her own stupid mistake for stealing a goddamned remote control car, of all the dumb fucking…. Marena forced herself to stop before she did something else idiotic, like ripping the handle off the door. Took a slow breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth. She scanned the futuristic dashboard. Too many buttons, probably not enough time to push them all, assuming they’d even respond to her touch.

Come on, Masha. You love to break shit. Duh. Marena pulled her only spare shirt out of her bag and quickly wrapped it around her elbow, planning to smash her way through the window.

The guy with the crowbar beat her to it.

***

The first thing Marena noticed when she came to was sweet, blessed cold, the kind one felt in warehouses with industrial AC systems.

The second thing she noticed was that she was chained to a chair. Literally chained; she could feel the links chilling her wrists and ankles. Another chain dug into her hips like a too-tight airplane seatbelt. Whoever tied her up knew what they were doing then; metal couldn’t be frayed or worked loose like fiber rope. And the restraint across her lap prevented her from bucking or contorting into a more favorable fighting position.

Speaking of fighting… all of her knives were still in place. Wrists, boots, back, pockets. Which meant one of three things:

1. This was a rush job. 2. Her mystery abductor was half an idiot and didn’t check her for weapons. 3. Her mystery abductor knew she was armed and didn’t do anything about it because they knew she wouldn’t be able to beat them in a fight anyway.

Marena really hoped it wasn’t the third one.

A quick mental check revealed that she was still fairly intact. Her muscles were stiff, her head ached, and she had a nasty case of dry-mouth, but she’d had hangovers worse than this before. The lack of a massive head injury meant she hadn’t been beaten unconscious, so she must have been drugged. She tried to think past the car window shattering, but couldn’t remember being forced to swallow or inhale anything. A needle, then?

Marena heard heavy footsteps approaching, then the rustle of fabric as someone settled in front of her. She briefly toyed with the idea of playing possum, but the need to face whatever was about to happen head-on won out. Not weak. Not anymore.

She opened her eyes and came face to face with a grinning skull.

Well, it was a mask shaped like a grinning skull, attached to a head that was most probably human. The mask shined in the weak light of… wherever the fuck she was. It was meant to be intimidating, distracting, and Marena forced herself to look away and take in the other details of her captor.

The guy was a beast. Crouched as he was, he was still eye-level with her. He’d dwarf her standing. Shaved head, black tailored suit (why though), black gloves (too thin to be leather, latex maybe?). The red light of a camcorder blinked from a mount on his right shoulder. She caught a glint of metal near his waistband but didn’t let her gaze linger long enough to identify exactly what type of weapon he was packing.

That familiar destructive urge, the need to kick and claw and tear, crept through her veins. Her fingers wanted to twitch. Her teeth wanted to clench. Marena forced herself into stillness. Not yet. Wait for the right time. Patience. The skull stared at her, motionless, expressionless, so she returned the favor. He pulled out a cell phone, typed something, and held it up for her to see.

HELLO PIGGY

Years of practice kept Marena’s face blank while a litany of choice curses flew through her head.

“This is about the car,” she said. It wasn’t a question. The skull nodded anyway, and reached for her.

Fuck it.

Marena lunged.

#laid to rest #chromeskull #chromeskull x ofc #jesse cromeans #my writing #marena polunochnaya

[ninjakitty15]

Chapter 16: Tale of the Cryptic Reaper (Loki x OFC Pairing)

"I feel like just ripping out their soul isn't enough punishment for breaking the natural order," I stated back at the cottage.

"Have you felt that before? It's like no pain imaginable," Zari argued.

"Which isn't very encouraging as I can imagine a lot. Even so, once it's out, it's done, they're done and shells don't feel shit."

"First, you'd have to go through all those annoying henchmen though," she reminded me.

"Like bugs on a windshield, they go splat, I just keep going and wipe em off."

"How many did you clean off in my shower?"

I shrugged. "Hard to say, it was dark. You're welcome to join us, you know? Could always use another mage in battle."

"Sorry, American Horror Story is on and my TiVo's full so I gotta watch while it's fresh."

I gave her a disbelieving look. "I got your American Horror Story right here, it's got gore, sex, taboo shit, foul language, and a really hot dude that just wants to fuck shit up with me."

"It's not AHS without Evan Peters."

"I mean if you wanted to, you could probably find him wherever Magneto went but whatever, I'll just take my Loki and go, I see how it is."

At that moment of course, Loki walked into the kitchen Zari and I were bickering in and arched an eyebrow at the two of us curiously. "Take me where?"

"Dude, what did I tell you about eavesdropping on our chats?" I countered.

"The walls here are rather thin, you can't blame me there."

"I could, it just wouldn't go over well in court."

Loki smirked at this and dipped his head as he closed the distance between us for a quick smooch. "What were you two discussing before me?"

"What to do about our new enemy," Zari replied for me. "If you do end up making shells out of them, save some souls for me, will ya?"

"If I don't decide to just rip em apart myself first, I'll keep that in mind," I assured her.

"I'd rather you don't knock down and entire block in a shower of rage and power again like last time, I'm fairly certain that's the reason you got on Hydra's radar in the first place. They're always looking for the next biggest form of mass destruction and then there's you, the cause of it."

"Listen sister, there's only one way to flush out all the rats in a building and that's to set it all on fire, how else was I gonna get every last bastard in one go?"

"Seek and destroy or I dunno, anything but what you fucking did?!"

I rolled my eyes at her. "Ain't nobody got time fo dat."

"Are you two always like this?" Loki spoke up in a tone of amusement.

"Like what?" we both asked in unison.

"Nevermind."

"You two can chill here for a while, I gotta run some errands and then maybe we can talk shop over food, yeah?" Zari stated hopefully.

"Sure thing, hun. Be safe but don't be a basic witch."

She winked at me. "Just my own charming self of course. Loki, if anything happens to her, there ain't a realm you can hide in that I won't find you." She grabbed her keys and purse and was out the door after that, leaving the two of us alone again.

"These stones your people all need, what kind of stones are they exactly?" asked Loki out of the blue.

I shrugged. "They started out as just your plain, ordinary yet somehow ridiculously expensive precious stones; rubies, emeralds, sapphires. When the first of us came to be and walked the earth, they quickly realized they couldn't just rely on themselves to climb ranks and survive, they needed something that could contain power for them without burning themselves out with it, something that could act as a reserve for them or a power cell, containing an extra bit of magic or lifeforce from them or what they obtained from their enemies but also something that wouldn't break or burn out as well, limitless even. Gemstones were the perfect vessel, not sure the actual arcane sciences of it but they absorb it without overloading or leaking. For eons, the stones were passed from loser to victor, essentially you keep what you kill until there was a time when either they went into hiding, their powers no longer worked for whatever reason, or they simply died out for a while. Of course, the stones were either hidden themselves or vanished with them and when the new generation of us came to be, we were basically left to vend for ourselves and had to find the stones our own way or die trying."

"And how did you find yours then?"

"Mine was more an accident than anything or maybe a coincidence, I didn't even realize what it actually was till much later in life. I don't remember names or faces but certain...events like that one are still in here. I was being chased by these mean kids that pegged me as a freak and they caught me and threw me into a mausoleum, chained, and padlocked the one door in and out of it shut with me inside. They thought since I talked to the dead so much I should remain with the remains. I couldn't break out, I was just a weak little kid, no one but those other kids were around to hear me call out, I could hear them snickering and laughing at me from outside so I just sat down and cried thinking no one would help me. I must've woke up the resident of the crypt because the door to his vault opened up then and out he popped to see who called for him. He stayed with me till I stopped crying and started realizing the dead aren't the ones I should be afraid of then crawled back into his final resting spot and the door burst open on its own, no one outside waiting for me. Where he sat next to me though while I was locked in there, was an antique necklace he seemingly left behind and me being the little girl that liked shiny cool things, picked it up, tucked it away in case the mean kids came back and try to steal it from me, and kept it ever since as a reminder the living are far worse than the dead."

"Even as a child, the dead seemed to follow you, to come to your call even when you didn't realize you were doing it and hadn't reached your full potential. Most children are left scarred for life in seeing death like that if at all. What of the others? Did they have an early encounter?"

"I don't think it matters when you find what you are so much as how you react to it. At the very least you gotta have some kind of compatibility with the dead, some kind of affinity with them or you'll be wasting more time and energy forcing your will on them since you don't understand each other. It also takes a strong stomach to some degree, I mean you're basically calling up a bunch of rotting, not remotely fresh from the grave hungry corpses. I remember when I saw my first one, I thought it was just dirty and the rot was what cooties looked like. Then when I got older I understood what was going on but I already came to terms with the dead so it didn't bother me what state they were in. I mean think about it, what kind of necromancer would you be if you were afraid of what you raise? What kind of leader is scared of their own subjects or soldiers? Would you want to follow that kind of person into battle?"

"Of course not, I'd want a leader that would die for me, a leader that I in turn would die for."

"Exactly, just as I would kill for you and die for you...either way, what bliss!"

Loki chuckled at this and kissed my head gently. "Let's not rush into that last bit if that's even possible for you. You know I have to admit, I was wrong about you being like my half sister Hela and I'm glad I was. You might both have dominion over the dead but she only had the one army under her control and they were quite mindless in obeying her, your reign seems more lenient in who to call to your aid and how to call to them."

"That sounds more like what we're gonna be up against with the traitors. How did you end up shaking her off in the end, I wasn't told the whole story."

"We unleashed the Fire Giant king Surtur on her and all of our realm while she was there so he'd destroy it before she could."

"Ah yes, very clever move that, betting that was either yours or Thor took entirely too long to come to that. Fire is one of the best and easiest methods in defeating the dead, that and beheading of course. That's not the clever part though, but the tactic in destroying the goal of your enemy rather than the enemy herself. Learned that in an old cartoon, Shaolin Showdown, sometimes you can still win without delivering their head on a golden platter, just ensure they don't reach their endgame another way. Enemies might be polar opposites in morals but their goals are often quite different and not just opposite as well."

"You are far too young to be that wise about battle tactics," Loki stated.

"Excuse you, when did I tell you how old I am or how long I've been dead even? All you know is I've been underground for five years, that should be it!"

"Maybe Stark found out more about you than he let on and found out who you were before you died," he challenged.

"Not bloody likely, it ain't just my memory that's been wiped, anything on me has been erased as well as anyone else's memory of me from the time before, it was pretty damn thorough."

"What about legal documents, don't you Midgardians have these papers of when you were conceived, birth certificates I believe they're called or a grave marker for when you died even?"

"An unmarked grave if there is one, the legal stuff is protected and hidden by top men."

"Who?"

"Top. Men."

Loki scowled at me, not amused by my lack of solid answers. "What happens if you destroy someone's stone? Can it be destroyed?"

"Not easily, that's for damned sure. The power inside the stones are released full force so worst case scenario you destroy yourself and gods know how much distance around you, you're unleashing eons of built up power that only get stronger with time. They can be broken up though that too is extremely hard to do and just as dangerous, shards of which can be put in different places and spread out though it's not wise to split power for more than one reason, there's always backlash for trying to make shortcuts like that."

"Do different stones have different powers or properties?"

I shrugged. "Probably, I don't know what the others are though."

"Do you know how many there are?"

"Not a lot but not the exact number, hopefully Hydra still hasn't gotten their hands on it, they won't know how to use it properly as its not in their blood but that's just as bad if not worse if they still tamper with it. Both the stones and the blades were designed specifically for us so they'd never fall into the wrong hands, though if they make the people they're meant for use it how they want that's another thing entirely."

"You almost sound worried there."

"We gotta fix this sooner rather than later or you'll get all your questions I can't answer, answered and there's a reason I can't tell you them, you're not meant to know."

"I have your back always...unless you're on it yourself, then I have your front which is the more enjoyable side if I'm being honest."

I arched an eyebrow at his blatant suggestion but grabbed him by the shirt collar regardless and pulled him down for a smooch. "You're lucky you're cute."

#loki fanfiction #loki fanfic #loki romance #avengers #zombies #necromancy #necromancer #nell the necromancer #loki x ofc #loki x original female character #loki and nell #loki x nell

[turnsoutnoonewasexaggerating]

AU where Neil was dying all along

• Guys I thought of something angsty • So you’re all gonna have to share the pain with me • So what if Neil had some kind of terminal illness; found out about it too late for it to be anything but terminal from never going to the hospital when with his mother (this is like pre-Milport but post Mary’s death) • This is some kind of terminal illness that doesn’t actually effect him physically that much yet (let me have this; Andrew got magic meds so) • Neil has to break out of the hospital with his drugs after his diagnosis (who knows why he was there to start with) and runs, ending up in Milport • He only plans to stay a night but then he’s like ‘fuck it I’m gonna die anyway’ • And joins the Exy team • Events continue as canon until Kev, Wymack and Andrew come to meet him • Neil doesn’t run from Kev this time, which is lucky because if Andrew had hit him with the racquet he might have broken one of Neil’s weakening bones • Instead he straight up is like ‘huh you don’t remember me’ because he’s already a dead man walking and he doesn’t care so much about the truths spilling out of his mouth like rips in his duffel bag • 'what are you talking about’ • 'Nathaniel at your service’ (snarky bastard) oh and Kev remembers that name even if he doesn’t remember Neil’s face. Neil’s not surprised • Kev tries to persuade Wymack and Andrew to just leave, freaking out, while Hernandez is like 'I didn’t know your full name was Nathaniel???’ 'I prefer Neil’ • Andrew is curious. Kevin seems scared but Andrew’s pretty sure it’s for “Nathaniel” not because of him • Still, Andrew’s never had the luxury of accepting only being “pretty” sure • Course Wymack still persuades Neil to come to Palmetto, especially when Neil explains he knows Kev coz he played at the Nest when he was little until his parents split and he left with his mum • It’s basically the truth • When he arrives at Palmetto Kevin is shook • 'What the Hell are you doing your father is still looking for you-’ in angry French ofc • 'I know. I reckon I’ve got a good year or two before he gets out on parole and turns up to kill me’ • Kevin thinks he’s absolutely insane, but then he doesn’t know that Neil’s going to die long before his father turns up so it’s a fair assumption • Neil dissolves his declining amount of meds in his water bottles and that is all he drinks which makes it rather difficult for Andrew to drug him (good thing too, who knows whether dust would’ve reacted with his meds) • Neil eventually clocks on at the sixth drink Andrew tries to offer him, and says Andrew can have the truth without the drugs thanks • Andrew doesn’t care about being called out but if Neil starts yelling about it someone might be good enough to call the police and then he’ll be fucked • He agrees, and Neil offers him the same truths he does in canon basically • Andrew offers to protect Neil in return for him keeping Kevin here. Neil doesn’t need Andrew’s protection, but just in case his father gets out on early parole or something, he accepts the deal, knowing Andrew won’t let him help with Kevin if he thinks Neil is doing it for free • He knows him so well already • Continue as canon except it’s his medical bills Riko throws in his face instead of his names at the banquet. • Not explicit enough for anyone else to get it but Neil is panicked • He’s pretty sure he wouldn’t be allowed to play if they knew he was dying and Exy is the only thing he wants to live for (oh honey child you have no idea what’s going to hit you) • Again, continue as canon • Drake happens • Neil sees Andrew’s scars and wishes he had a choice about dying • Easthaven, and Neil goes to Evermore, and it’s only two weeks but it’s two weeks without his meds and Neil is ridiculously weak • He explains it away by trauma making your immune system weak but Abby takes one look at him and knows it’s bullshit • She diagnoses him correctly and is like Neil what the fuck • Neil explains to her that he was terminal long before the Foxes, and he just wants to play Exy as long as he can • Abby is heartbroken • She has to tell David because they have to decide whether it’s safe for him to keep playing, but at Neil’s request she doesn’t tell him that Neil’s terminal • She replenishes his meds from the hospital but you can’t just go off them without consequences and Neil’s lost a lot more than two weeks off his lifespan • Abby thinks, if he stays on the meds, he’ll make it till the end of the year, but probably not past the summer and no one knows how much of that he’ll be able to play for • Somewhere before Andrew comes back from Easthaven, Riko gets word to Kev about Neil’s condition • Predictably, Kev freaks out, talking about how it’s hopeless and he might as well just go back to the Nest • This is where Neil and him have the conversation about Kevin being afraid to take his future 'you have a future, why won’t you just take it’ • Kev is suitably ashamed • He also thinks Neil should tell Andrew. Neil, being oblivious, doesn’t know why • Continue as canon • Wymack asks Neil to be the vice-cap next year. He doesn’t know how cruel he’s being but Neil can’t breathe • That is all he wants, everything he can’t have • He calls Andrew, and that time on the roof Andrew kisses him but this time Neil actually fully means his yes, not having a mental breakdown, because knowing you’re going to be killed vs actively dying does wonders for Neil’s introspection • For the money for the car, Neil asks Andrew to stop smoking instead of getting rid of the cracker dust. Andrew refuses, but Neil just asks him to have less cigarettes then (I am not saying Andrew starts vaping because he does not because Andrew is actually cool but he does agree to cut his cigarette intake down to just the one a day he shares with Neil on the roof) • Kev is more protective of Neil, desperate that no accident is going to take Neil before his illness • Andrew notices, coz he’s not an idiot, but he doesn’t know how to ask about it. For all he knows it’s just companionship from both now knowing what being in the nest is like • Besides, it’s like every day that Neil grows weaker, Kevin grows stronger and more confident, so Neil’s holding up his end of the deal • As Neil starts getting the countdown, he also starts coughing up blood, which he thinks is very poetic • Abby tells Neil the game on the day he will get a 0 in his countdown is going to have to be his last • Neil realises Andrew’s going to think he didn’t protect him properly even if Neil dies of his illness not his father • Neil persuades Andrew to break their deal the night Kevin comes home with a new tattoo, the proof that Kev doesn’t need him anymore • Quietly, in French, Neil thanks Kev for doing this before he dies. He knows the Foxes are going to be OK now • Kevin is already drunk and Neil’s words tip him over into full misery • 'what did you say to him? Could be useful to shut him up’ Asks Andrew • Neil flinches and Andrew is Concerned • 'Neil I’m taking a turn.’ • Neil looks at his hands and he doesn’t want to answer but he’s not about to start lying to his greatest regret, his best mistake • 'I told him thank you. For proving that he doesn’t need me anymore. For doing this now.’ • 'You were desperate to break our deal. Why?’ • 'It’s not your turn.’ Neil says eventually, and thinks that tomorrow, after the game, he’ll tell Andrew why, and he’ll tell him that he’s leaving. He doesn’t want to drag the Foxes through his death when they’ll have already lost the season. He’ll just leave, and only Andrew, Kevin and Abby will know he’s never coming back • The game happens, and Neil and Kevin are crazed on the court, Neil the most, knowing this is his last of the game that had always meant more to him than surviving. He plays with every inch of his being, even though they don’t need a massive points difference because, they don’t know it yet, but they’ve already lost the season. He plays for the game that brought him to the people that taught him what it was to live, to feel alive, to have friends and a family • To have Andrew, kisses and trust and keys and honesty • The call comes when he’s in the lockerroom and Neil just wants just another ten minutes, please, just ten minutes to say goodbye • He thought he’d get to say goodbye • The riot and Lola and the dashboard lighter, a cleaver, his father’s smile, 'I didn’t want time to take you out peacefully after all the trouble you caused me’, gunshots and coughing up so much blood Stuart thought he’d been caught in the crossfire, weak weak weak but clinging on, clinging on to say goodbye • He can’t get out of bed but he makes Browning bring the Foxes to him because Browning knows he’s on borrowed time and if he wastes it with useless posturing, Nathaniel might not get the chance to testify against his father • Andrew’s first in through the door, a livid bruise on his face that matches the look in his eye • 'Terminally ill?’ Are his only words and Neil is confused even as the other Foxes trail in, trying to understand what the problem is • 'You hate me, remember? I’m nothing. I didn’t think you’d care’ • Andrew wants to kill him, Andrew wants to tear him apart. He is losing everything, nevermind nothing. Neil is the one candlelight in his dark corner, and it turns out the candle has been running out of wax all along • Kevin has a bruised throat and grief striken eyes but he’s been hardened to this outcome since January. Something Andrew will never forgive him for • Abby and Wymack fought on the bus journey over, Wymack sick to his stomach as he thinks of the look in Neil’s eyes when he’d offered him the vice-captaincy • In the end, it was Neil’s choice • The Moriyamas can’t kill Neil now, so Neil tells the Foxes and the FBI his full story, his voice becoming quieter and wracked with coughs the longer he talks • He signs a few documents for the FBI and even Browning isn’t enough of a dick to ask him further questions in the time he has left • Neil asks Browning for something quietly, out of earshot of the Foxes, and Browning agrees, and leaves the room • The Foxes crowd around his bed. Nicky is already sobbing, but it’s quiet in a way Nicky never is. He latches onto one of Neil’s hands and refuses to let go • Matt has silent, less frequent tears falling softly into Dan’s hair where she’s tucked against his side, standing vigil at the end of Neil’s bed • She’s the one to ask how long he’s got, but it’s Abby that answers because Neil’s saving the last of his energy for more important words • 'A couple of hours. They offered to overdose him to save him the pain, but Neil wanted to say goodbye’ • He smiles tiredly at them when these words get a heartbroken response • 'You got with Andrew knowing you were going to die what kind of sick bastard does that?!’ Aaron finally bursts out, and it takes a lot of effort for Neil to loll his head to look at him • Andrew, who’s been stood at the back of the room, leaning against a wall but not taking his eyes off Neil, stiffens as the others exclaim at this new information • 'This was nothing.’ Andrew says, coldly. 'I made it nothing.’ • 'I was supposed to have a couple of years.’ Neil explains. 'But with the Nest and now this,’ And God if that isn’t the last thing Andrew wants to hear, that Neil didn’t only get hurt for him, but willingly took years off his lifespan on a fool’s mission that didn’t change anything- • Andrew leaves the room. • 'Tell him about Katelyn’ is Neil’s parting advice as Aaron follows • 'I’d say I’d make a fashion line in your honour Josten but the irony would be too much’ Allison says • She’s the last person to make Neil Josten laugh. One of the first too • 'Look after them?’ Neil asks of Renee, and her face is pained as she nods. Neil raises his free hand to touch hers with visible effort as she stands to leave with Allison. 'Look after yourself too.’ • 'It has been an honour to be part of your family.’ She says in return, knowing he won’t want her prayers or acknowledgement of the afterlife, but that he’ll get the former anyway. • She leaves because she doesn’t think she can stand to watch another death yet, at least not one she hasn’t inflicted. Besides, she has a feeling she needs to convince a certain blond to return • 'I’m expecting the Exy team to be fucking good by the time I get up there.’ Dan says, finally, and Wymack nods his agreement gruffly. • 'Take them to the championships.’ Neil replies. • Abby breaks at this point. She starts apologising to Neil, telling him she should have taken him off the court earlier, given him more time, worked out his illness earlier • Neil waves her off. 'Taking me off the court would’ve killed me faster’ and if that’s not dramatic Josten he doesn’t know what is • It’s at this point that Browning comes back • He has the papers all prepared for Nathaniel Wesninski to legally change his name • They look at him questioningly but Neil can’t summon the strength to explain as he scrawl his name across the paper painstakingly slowly • 'He said he wanted to die as Neil Josten. And he’s also made sure that your team has to be under FBI protection by telling you the same information as us. Sneaky bastard; he knows we have to protect witnesses.’ • 'I don’t want you to go.’ Matt bursts out, honestly and brokenly, incapable of putting on a brave face because God fucking damn it 'It isn’t fair! You’re my best friend I can’t-’ he chokes off and Neil grins, all teeth, returning the sentiment even as he begins to feel death creep into the room • 'Tell him.’ Neil breathes out in French, eyes flickering to Wymack. Kevin pales but nods stoically. Crossing his arms and taking the same posture as Wymack, it’s clear to see they’re related • 'Next year, the pro league award for the best striker will be called the Josten Cup.’ Kevin replies in the same language. It’s so typically a Kevin comfort that Neil almost smiles. He must have called in a lot of strings for that. 'Renee and I are working on getting Jean out of the Nest. I will make a deal with Ichirou. I’m the better striker.’ He asserts, and then shudders. 'But I can only hope to half the man you are.’ He cuts himself off, frowns at the floor, and speaks again. It takes everyone a second to realise it’s because Kevin needed to compose himself. 'You would’ve been Court.’ • Andrew bursts in before anyone can respond to that, and the relief that floods his features when he sees Neil’s eyes are still open shows how out of control Andrew still is. His eyes burn as he takes everyone in • 'Get out.’ No-one wants to leave, Matt and Nicky plant their shoes to the floor until Neil shoots them a look. 'I’ll call you in when we’re done.’ Andrew gets out through gritted teeth and eventually they go. • Andrew doesn’t come closer to the bed • 'You stupid fucking junkie.’ He hisses and Neil smiles lazily. Andrew stalks forward, hands shaking even as they are curled into fists • 'Yes or no?’ he bites out when there’s only an inch between their faces • 'Yes.’ Neil breathes out, because he doesn’t think Andrew will appreciate the irony of saying always. Andrew’s hands are gentle round Neil’s wrists as he guides them into Andrew’s hair in a way his lips are not • Neil tastes like blood and death but there’s something that’s still solidly loudmouth runaway, loudmouth fox, fierce and bright and so fucking alive that Andrew almost forgets they’re on his death bed • 'I was going to tell you after the game.’ Neil says against his lips. Andrew doesn’t reply, but the shakes wrack his whole body now. Neil moves his fingers listlessly in Andrew’s hair because that’s all the movement he’s capable of. 'Thank you.’ • 'For nothing?’ • 'For nothing.’ Neil agrees • 'Just don’t die.’ The words burst past Andrew’s lips without his permission, his control so shot it might never have existed. 'Just don’t fucking die Neil. Just stay.’ He knows this is something he can’t ask for. Whatever you’re willing to give, Neil trusted him not to ask for anything Neil couldn’t give him but Andrew doesn’t want anything else. • 'I’m staying.’ Neil promises. 'I’m staying right here’ • The others trickle back in • Nicky doesn’t make it back to Neil’s bedside, his legs failing him when he sees Andrew has taken his place at Neil’s hand, he just wanted his cousin to be happy, he just wanted- • Matt and Dan clasp Neil’s free hand between them as he’s propped up on his pillows by a sobbing Abby and a humbled Kevin • Wymack places a fatherly hand on his shoulder, and squeezes lightly • Neil takes them all in. His Foxes, his family • His gaze rests on Andrew last • 'Staring.’ Andrew whispers • Neil smiles and dies, the sunrise lighting his hair like fire

#andreil #tfc #aftg #angst angst angst #my writing #my headcanons #i'm sorry #andrew minyard #neil josten #matt boyd #kevin day #nicky hemmick #david wymack #abby winfield #dan wilds #aaron minyard #allison reynolds #renee walker #riko moriyama #TW: death

[xxxprettydeadgirlxxx]

Dark Paradise

Loki/OFC Rated M (for Violence and NSFW) Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20

                                                Chapter 21

"I can't believe he just gave us this apartment!" Octavia had assumed the two bedroom apartment would be like any normal apartment; small. Not even close. They could probably fit a family of twelve from looking at the size of this place. It had a large living room, dinning room, kitchen, two bathrooms; one included a laundry room, as well as the bedrooms. It was also conveniently furnished. "Are you sure there are only two bedrooms?”

"So it appears, though, the closets themselves are larger than my entire room." Loki scoffed, walking back out of the bathroom. "I feel ripped off."

"Who knew all you needed was a wife and kid to enjoy the finer things in life?" Octavia teased, giving him a quick kiss.

"Damn. If only I had seduced you sooner." he smirked. "Shall we try out the new bed?"

Octavia giggled."I should have known you'd suggest that. Which room?"

"The one with the bed." He grinned.

"Very funny."

"No, seriously, the other bedroom is empty."

"Oh." Octavia walked through the hallway until she found the empty room. "He must have left this one alone so we could decorate for the baby." she smiled. "That was sweet."

Loki grumbled. "Yeah, sweet."

Octavia glared at him. "Are you jealous? Don't think I missed all the possessiveness back there."

"I am not jealous." Loki protested. "I don't get jealous."

"Sure." Octavia eye rolled. "I could totally tell by the way the smoke was coming out of your ears." she giggled. "It's okay, I like possessive you."

"Oh, do you now?" Loki purred, picking her up off her feet.

"Put me down!" she shrieked. "I can walk!"

"I never got to do this, and since we have already walked inside-" he frowned. "-carrying you to the bedroom will just have to do."

She found it hard to complain when it put it like that. "Planning to seduce me, are you?"

"Always."

The bed was a lot larger than the bed Loki already had and they both found it way too comfortable. "Oh, my god. I'm in heaven. I feel like I'm laying on air."

"Agreed. I don't even know if I can have sex now. I'm way too comfortable, this should be a sin."

"I know." She snapped her heads towards Loki. "We could have cloud sex."

Loki chuckled. "Cloud sex?"

"That's what this feels like!"

"You are silly."

"Shut up."

Loki rolled over and pulled her against him. "How have you been feeling? Seriously."

"About what? Jane or the baby."

"Both."

"I'm still mad at Jane and she can kiss my pregnant ass and I actually haven't had to take Eir's tonic for a couple of days now." she smiled. "Maybe the morning sickness is finally gone, though, just in case I kept what she gave me."

"Good." He kissed her head. "When is your doctor's appointment?"

"Next week. Bruce said he's good. He'll also come here so we don't have to leave the tower. I can wear my pajama's." she exclaimed happily. Bruce came to Octavia earlier in the week and had told her about a friend of his who was one of the best OBGYNs in the country. She had agreed to meet the doctor and much to Bruce's pleasure he had even agreed to come there for every appointment.

"What is with you and pajama's?" Loki questioned. He had noticed she'd been wearing them a lot lately. He really didn't mind though, since they were much easier to pull off if he needed to.

"Hey, you try fitting my fat ass in my jeans." she laughed. "It sucks."

"So, what you are saying is you need new clothes?"

"Basically." she bit her lip. She really hated to ask Loki-for anything.

"Why didn't you say anything before?"

"Because I'm not used to being pampered okay. I had a job and shit. Independent woman and all that crap and now-"

"You're a Princess." Loki finished for her.

Octavia scoffed. "Exactly my point."

"Shhh. Enjoy the pampering."

Loki kissed her and it didn't take long before he had deepened it and she was sure that whole 'I don't think I can have sex now' thing was going totally out the window. Not that she minded. She had always enjoyed sex with Loki before anyway, but since she had become pregnant, she found herself aroused way more often than what she was comfortable with. Luckily, Loki was all too happy to help her take care of her 'problem.'

Octavia had been pulled on top of him, feeling the cool air hit her now exposed skin. She felt spoiled for never having to ruin the moment by removing annoying items such as clothes. Loki always took care of it with his Seidr. Octavia was already aching between her legs and took no time sinking down onto Loki, closing her eyes when she heard a soft moan escape his lips.

"In a hurry to have me, darling?" All she could do was hum and nod, since Loki had taken her hips and was now helping her move up and down. She could already feel the heat pulling into her stomach.

Loki hissed in a breath. "You're already so close. I love the way you respond to me, the way your sweet cunt tightens itself around my cock."

"Oh god, Loki!"

His words being sex themselves set her off and she came hard. The first time this had happened, she had been embarrassed she'd barely lasted five minutes, but Loki had assured her he didn't mind-in fact, he loved it, because now instead of the usual couple of orgasms, (depending on how long they had sex) she now basically had one giant orgasm the entire time. Though, Loki didn't last near as long as he use too, but she couldn't blame him. She was writhing and constricting on his dick the entire time now. The fact he had any control at all surprised them both.

Another week went by and by this time Loki and Octavia had their apartment mostly finished. The only room they lacked now was the baby room.

"Should we do pink?" Octavia frowned, staring at the blank white walls. "Everyone does pink."

"Green?" Loki suggested.

Octavia chuckled. "Why green?"

"I like green."

"I've noticed. What about purple?"

"I think green is better."

"It's a girl!" she laughed.

"So?" Loki shrugged. "Girls can't like green?"

"Well, okay, what theme are we going for?"

"Theme?"

"Yeah, like whinny the pooh, bears, Minnie Mouse-" she stopped talking once she realized Loki had NO idea what she was talking about. "You have no idea what any of that is, do you?"

"I know what bears are, but I don't know what bears and this room have to do with each other."

Octavia giggled. Her space alien husband was too cute. "You're cute."

"Don't call me such names!" Loki scolded, wrapping his arms around her waist and pushing her back towards the wall.

"No! We are not doing it in here!" she protested. "Baby room is off limits."

Loki frowned. "But it's empty?"

"No."

"Fine." Loki pouted. "Are you hungry?"

Octavia squeaked, "Yes!" She was always hungry.

"Then I'll make you lunch. Come."

Loki had made her a grilled chicken salad, filled with various vegetables and lots of ranch dressing. "Too much dressing!" Loki scolded. "It's isn't good for you and the baby."

"If you are going to control what I eat, I at least get ranch with my salad that I would have never eaten on a good day. BUT-you are a good cook, so it works." she took a bit. "Mmm. Correction, amazing cook. One day I may even cook for you if you'd let me."

"Number one-it's a salad, hard to screw up and two-you cooked for me for months, I can return the favor. Plus, you need to stay off your feet."

"Loki, I'm not even five months pregnant yet! Calm down." she scowled. "I won't break. Nothing bad is going to happen, so don't worry." Loki didn't say anything for several minutes. He remained quiet as he cleaned up the kitchen. Octavia wondered what she said wrong. "Are you mad at me?"

Loki stopped and looked at her. "No. Why would I be angry with you?"

"You stopped talking and got all weird."

"I was just in deep thought." Loki kissed her cheek. "I'm going to have a shower." He didn't give Octavia a chance to say anymore and left the room, leaving her wondering what the hell she did wrong.

@burningarbiterheart @mastreworld  @hellokittyismyspiritanimal @court-of-thorns-and-roses @mad-about-britain@ archy3001 @iamhisgloriouspurpose @scoobysnacks31 @sweetangelfan @Kidamon @myclock@prettyhatemachine01@catqueen434@worthyofthewhedonverse09@iwishiwasamutant@normanallthewayforever@wolfsmom1@helenaisabel@lokislonelylady @neurotic-narwhal @lokilover9

#loki #loki fic #Dark Paradise