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#tomorrow i’m just getting something looked at there won’t be any procedures to worry about
arthur-r · 2 years
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hii so i do have babysitting again and then here’s a run down of everything going on:
finishing babysitting at 4
heading to pizza work at 4:30
when i finish pizza work, an irl will pick me up and i will be staying the night at their house and not be online
at 11:00 tomorrow i have a doctors appointment about something scary, and i hope it will go well but i don’t know how long it will last
i have babysitting tomorrow again from 2:00-5:00 as usual
and then piano lessons at 5:15
i will probably not be around all the way until wednesday night after dinner or maybe thursday morning to be online
so it’ll kind of be a while. i hope everything goes good while i’m gone
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aajjks · 5 months
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⚠️⚠️⚠️
TPOL!JK
“it’s uh” you take a deep breath “it’s nothing. i think i’m just” you’re trying to think of a lie to steer jungkook the other way because he looks really concerned and you’re really scared. you want to cry and scream that you might be pregnant but the color from his face vanishes anytime you bring it up so “i think i’m just anxious about what my mom said. y’know? giving her grandkids and stuff but we can wait” you say trying to sound honest and jungkook caresses your face to tells you again that he really doesn’t want kids that if you want to see your mom, you can. “let me go put my stuff up, okay? i’ll be right back” you give him a kiss and his cheek and head to the shared bedroom where you lock yourself in the bathroom and take out all five pregnancy tests. “please, God, let it be a dream”
when you finish doing the standard procedure for the test, you wait to see what the test reads and as your friend predicted.
“no…nonononononoooo” you cry to yourself all five tests showing two lines that indicate that you are indeed pregnant. “how?! i took the fucking” you gasp because you remember forgetting to buy morning after pills and now..
“oh my God” you say. you quickly grab your phone and call yerin to tell her the news and she tells you to calm down but how can you be calm when the person you’re with doesn’t want any kids?
“do you want to…abort it?” asks yerin and you’re quiet on the other line. if you do abort the baby, you’ll still be with jungkook and he won’t have to be a dad but if you don’t, he’ll probably break up with you and never talk to you again because how could you forget about buying the damned morning after pills?
“we can do it tomorrow but i can’t use his card for it. he-he’ll know” you tell yerin and she say okay before setting the appointment up.
jungkook calls out for you to check on you while you’re scrambling to clean up all of the evidence that shows what you’ve really been doing.
“sorry, sorry. my period just came on” you lie again and though jungkook is confused, he believes you and you both carry on the rest of the day.
the next day, you’re at a clinic with yerin who sticks by your side the whole time. when it’s over, you’re a crying fit in the car and yerin cries with you. she doesn’t agree with your decision but she’s your friend no matter what and loves you so of course she was right there to support you. even if it wasn’t for you benefit but rather your partner who knew nothing about what was happening.
he carried on like everything was okay and so did you for awhile. three weeks later, you’re sort of happy and you don’t say a word to jungkook about what happened until you conveniently asked jungkook to fetch something out of your bag to which he discovers a receipt with five paid for pregnancy tests. IN YOUR BAG.
you aren’t pregnant are you? i mean…this receipt is clearly months old but why the hell would you buy five of them if you weren’t pregnant?
“let’s try for a baby” unless you were already pregnant?
“hey what’s taking you so long?” you say with a smile but your smile immediately goes away when you see the receipt in his hands. “i…i can explain jungkook i swear! it-it’s old! you don’t even have to worry about it because i fixed it so just..don’t worry about it”
pregnancy tests.
You bought pregnancy tests. And so much time ago. He’s just getting know about it now. And suddenly everything makes sense.
He tilts his head to look at you and the fear in your eyes confirms his suspicions, but what shocks him the most most is when you blurt out that you’ve fixed it.
He stalks towards you, his heartbeat dropping, “what do you mean?” He asks you calmly. The receipt clenched tightly in his hands. “Y-You were pregnant?” He chokes out.
This has to be a misunderstanding, he hopes that whatever he’s thinking is not true, how could you not tell him directly? And what do you mean by you fixed it?
“W-What did you fix yn??? Tell me.” He is standing right infront of you, eyes scared and he’s so close to crying. You didn’t even tell him anything.
“I swear to God yn tell me everything right now.” He barely manages to get the words out. “P-Please.”
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jessikahathaway · 3 years
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Baby Talk - Part I
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Hellooooo!
I've had this in my WIPs for a while and I wanted to get some of it out so that you all could enjoy it! Let me know what you think and if you want more??? Tag lists are open for all of my ongoing fics so if you want to be added just let me know!
Please enjoy!
Pairing: Jikook X Reader (Jimin X Reader X Jungkook)
Genre: Surrogacy!AU, Polyamorous!AU, Romance. (Future Smut)
Warnings: Medical Procedures, Assault (not descriptive), Profanity. If I forgot anything please let me know!
Words: 11.3k (Phew chill Jess~)
This wasn’t a big deal, you thought to yourself as you signed the paperwork in the clinic.
Just, you know, getting artificially inseminated for money. Nothing weird about that right?
Becoming a surrogate wasn’t something you’d planned on in your life, mainly sticking to your job and working towards a better tomorrow or whatever they say.
You were young, healthy and full of life.
The only thing you lacked, was a full bank account.
The realization hit a little harder than you thought it would. Being a receptionist wasn’t exactly what you’d had planned for your life but, it was simple work and it made you happy.
Going to college wasn’t really ever an option for you anyways. Your parents had died in an accident when you were little, forcing you to go live with your Great Aunt until you turned eighteen. She hadn’t forced you out, but you did leave. Wanting the adventures that life had to offer.
However, you quickly realized that it wasn’t easy pickings out in the world. That’s when the notice came to the door of your apartment that you either paid your late rent in full by the date or you could get your ass out.
Fear trickled down your spine at the thought of being homeless. You briefly thought of going back to your Aunts but, she lived out in the country and the city is where you’d made your home. As much as you cared about her, it just wasn’t going to happen.
That’s when your friend Namjoon and his husband Jim invited you over for dinner.
You were beyond excited, because these two had just had their baby girl Annie.
They had used the local fertility clinic to get a surrogate and had their baby just a month prior. You had been dying to meet the little bundle ever since you heard the news they were having a baby.
God, that kid was going to be spoiled rotten.
Quickly, you had gone over and enjoyed a nice meal with the three of them. Annie still partaking in formula.
You had tried to make conversation, but your eyes kept wandering to Annie and her little hands and feet. You felt a slight clench in your chest at the sight of her round face and sweet eyes.
“Earth to Y/N? You doing alright?” Namjoon’s voice echoed through their lovely, luxe apartment.
“Y-Yeah! Fine, I’m fine,” you smiled.
“You sure?” Jin asked, getting up to take his and Namjoon’s plates to the kitchen.
“Mhmm,” you said, eyes glancing back over at the baby.
“You’re so whipped, Annie has claimed yet another victim,” Namjoon snickered, looking at the blissful gaze your eyes had taken.
“You ever want kids, Y/N?” Jin asked, coming back in with dessert for each of you.
“I guess so, I mean. Just gotta find someone to make the baby with,” you joked half heartedly.
It was no secret among your friends that you were the black sheep. Not dating, not even entertaining the notion of having a significant other. The idea was, honestly, draining.
“Don’t feel like you have to be married to have a kid, Y/N. Single parenthood is just as valid as a couple,” Jin reminded.
“I’m nowhere near financially stable enough to pop out a kid right now,” you sighed.
“No? I thought the job at the hotel was treating you well,” Namjoon said.
“Yes and no, they treat me well. But pay me next to shit... I-I gotta make some quick cash, or I’m gonna be homeless,” you whispered.
“What?!?” The two men shouted, looking at you with heartbreak in their eyes.
“Y/N, why didn’t you tell us you were struggling! We could’ve done something!” Jin says, rubbing his face with frustration.
“No-No! It’s fine, I’ll figure it out! I always do,” you encouraged, trying to keep the fear out of your eyes.
“How far behind on rent are you?” Namjoon asked.
“A little under six grand,” you sighed.
“Y/N!” Your two friends looked distraught.
“I don’t understand how a society can function like this, I hate it,” Namjoon said, looking down at his dessert he no longer wanted.
Annie started fussing, kicking her feet and wanting attention.
Jin sighed and got up, taking his beautiful daughter with him. You and Namjoon sat in cold silence for a while. Neither of you willing to talk to the other.
You were too proud for your own good. Even if it meant crashing and burning, you’d do that before you took anyone’s pity.
“How can we help?” Namjoon asked, looking at you with so much worry.
“I really don’t know Joon, there’s no where that’ll give me that kinda money with my credit and... even if they did I couldn’t pay it back anyways,” you sighed.
“Have you thought about going to school for something? Maybe you can get a degree and, I don’t know I’m pulling at straws here,” he said.
“I can’t go to school Joon, with what money? And even worse, I wouldn’t know what to go into,” you said, swallowing down some more wine.
“I wish we could’ve had you surrogate for us. We paid that woman a small fortune. Had I known you were struggling I would, maybe you could’ve done it instead,” he said quietly.
“How much did you pay her?” You asked.
“Around $80,000,” he said, shrugging.
You choked.
“Damn you filthy rich kids,” you grumbled, crossing your arms over your chest.
“That’s it!” Namjoon said.
“Huh?” You asked, looking at him in confusion and despair.
“You can’t be our surrogate, but you could be someone else’s!”
Your body ran cold at the thought.
“I-I don’t know if I could do that Joon,” you said.
“Doesn’t your family have a high chance of twins?” He said, looking at you with a smile.
“I mean, yes but-”
“Say no more. I know a couple that’s been dreaming of a baby. They actually were supposed to meet the woman who wound up being our surrogate. But she decided to go with us. Jimin and Jungkook, they’re really good people Y/N,” Namjoon said, smiling.
“Namjoon, I don’t know if I can have a stranger’s baby!”
“I mean I won’t force you to sign up or anything. But Jungkook and Jimin are really good guys who have been waiting forever to have a baby. They said they wanted twins but, most importantly they wanted a healthy child. How sweet is that!”
You worried your lower lip with your teeth. This was just ridiculous. There’s no way you’d be able to do it. No way.
“Let me show you a picture of them!” Namjoon said, pulling out his phone.
“Joon really-”
Although, before you could argue anymore, you saw their faces.
A smaller, blond man. Whose smile was brighter than any star. And a taller, lean brunette who looked at the camera with a goofy grin.
“Jimin is the blond, Jungkook is the brunette,” Namjoon explained.
“Okay?” You said, trying to calm your racing heart.
They were both handsome. Deathly so, it made your stomach clench in a weird way to look at them. You wondered what kind of babies they would make. If they had that smile Jimin was packing, no one would be safe. That child would get whatever it wanted.
“I’m just saying, it doesn't have to be them but they’ve wanted a baby for so long and... you could help them with that and get a lump sum of cash on the side. Bad a bing bad a boom! No worries!”
It wasn’t such a hard decision in the end.
You needed the money.
So walking into the clinic had this weird sense of finality to it.
The receptionist looked at you with a smile.
“Hello dear, how can I help you?” She said.
“I-uh, wanted to sign up to be a potential surrogate?” You said, wringing your hands together.
“Of course! Did you bring your medical records and things of the like?”
You nodded quickly, handing over the required paperwork. She clicked away on her keyboard and got you all signed up and ready to go. Soon, you were getting your preliminary check up to see if you were able to have children.
Although your period had some irregularities in the past, the doctor’s said it was probably due to stress and the balancing out of hormones. But it would all work out, you were healthy and fertile!
You managed to tell Namjoon that you signed up without him having a full blown heart attack.
“How long until you need to be out of the apartment?” He asked, sipping his coffee.
“I need to be out in three weeks,” you said softly.
“Well shit you’re kinda on a time crunch there sweets, but don’t worry, you can do it! I’ll let Jimin and Jungkook know that you signed up, they’ll want to meet you. I know it,” he said.
“Namjoon, it’s okay. I don’t care who I surrogate for, as long as it’s soon,” you said, trying to keep your heart rate under control.
“Okay, but Y/N, I’m telling you. They’d be the perfect fit for you!” He said.
You said your goodbyes before hanging up the phone. The days to come would be challenging no doubt.
You were rather popular at the fertility clinic it seemed, because you’d had three meetings already.
One was a couple that had been trying for years and it just wasn’t happening so they were resorting to a different method. Although for this one they wanted to do an egg implantation. You weren’t sure you wanted to do that.
Another was an older couple who looked like they were just planning on having kids but their own clocks ran out.
But finally, you got one more call from the clinic.
“Miss Y/N, you’ve got another request for a meeting,” the receptionist on the other line said.
“Oh? With whom?” You asked.
“A Mr. Park Jimin and a Mr. Jeon Jungkook, they asked for you personally,” she said, tone light.
You almost spit out your drink.
Th-They had asked for you?
The fertility clinic was big, a huge database of surrogates and people willing to conceive for the right price.
But they had asked to meet you.
Personally.
“Miss Y/N? Still there?” The receptionist asked, sounding far away from you.
“Yes! Yes I’m here,” you said, coughing.
“Wonderful, they said if you were willing they’d like to treat you to a meal, of course I can’t give out your contact information without consent from you but if you’re willing to meet with them we can arrange this.”
You heard yourself agree before even thinking about it.
Soon, you were on your way to the higher end of town. Heading towards a good Korean Barbeque place that was notorious for having the best meat in town.
Walking in you looked around, noticing how luxurious the place was. It made you feel a little out of place to be honest. But, not letting that get to you the host came up and asked for your name.
“Miss Y/N, ah yes. You’re with the Jeon party, lovely. Come right this way,” he said, taking you back into the bowels of the beast it seemed.
Winding through tables and chairs you found yourself in front of a private room. You didn’t want to think about how much this cost, so you simply just let your mind wander to other fun topics.
Such as the fact that you were potentially meeting your surrogate partners.
“Mr. Jeon? Mr. Park? A Miss Y/N is here for you,” the host said, through the door.
“Let her in,” a higher pitched male voice said.
You bit your lip and waited as the door opened. You looked inside and saw a beautiful wooden table, laid out with the finest meats and other various types of noodles and food. Then, there was the other feast, one for your eyes.
Park Jimin was a smaller man, but so incredibly handsome it made your head swirl. His soft blond hair tucked under a beanie as he looked up at you with what could only be called wonder. He looked at you gently, a small smile making its way to his lips.
Jeon Jungkook was a different story. Lean but cut, tiny waist accentuated by his pants. His arms were strong looking and one was covered in tattoos. His hair was pulled away from his face in a precious man bun that made your heart stutter. His eyes were big and glassy, looking at you. As if breathing you in.
“Hi,” you said quietly. “I’m Y/N.”
“We know,” Jimin said with a gentle smile.
“Come, sit down,” Jungkook said, moving a chair out for you to sit.
“Okay,” you agreed, moving to sit down.
“Get whatever you want,” Jimin encouraged, handing you the menu politely.
“Thank you,” you blushed, trying to not faint with his eyes on you like that.
Ordering a few things for yourself the three of you sat there with awkward silence filling the space. Jungkook wouldn’t really look at you and Jimin seemed like he was too nervous to start.
“So,” you said, clearing your throat. “How long have you two been together?” You asked, trying to sound cheerful.
“Five years,” Jungkook said, placing his hand over his glass.
“Oh wow, congratulations,” you said, rubbing your hands on your thighs.
“Thank you,” Jimin breathed.
“Our friend Namjoon said you were kind of in a tight spot and needed some help financially, is this true?” Jungkook asked, finally glancing your way.
“Y-Yeah, I wish he wouldn’t just tell other people that but, no sense in denying the truth. I’m almost six grand behind on rent,” you sighed, rubbing your face.
Both of their faces fell, looking at each other in worry.
“It-It’s okay though! I’ll be okay, I always am,” you said, trying to keep your tone light.
“It’s okay to be scared, Y/N, I would be scared shitless if I were you,” Jungkook said, taking slow drinks from his glass.
“Yeah,” you sighed, trying to avoid the stinging in your eyes.
“What do you do for work?” Jimin asked, trying to keep the conversation from turning to dark.
“I’m a receptionist at the local hotel. It’s not much, but I really like it,” you said, a grin taking place on your face.
“Hey, if you like it then that means something,” Jimin encouraged.
“So, you two want to have a baby?” You said, trying to get down to the topic at hand.
“Yes, more than anything,” Jimin said, a wistful look crossing his face.
“That’s amazing, to love each other that much and want to build a family is... Super important,” you said, meaning every word.
“What does your family do, Y/N? Do they live here in the city?”
You awkwardly rubbed your hands together.
“Um, my Great Aunt lives out in the country. But, my parents and most of my other relatives have passed on,” you said, trying to hide the emotion that came up.
“Oh, so sorry for your loss,” Jungkook said, face pinching.
“It’s okay, it was a long time ago,” you whispered.
“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt,” Jimin argued.
“You’re right, but, it’s okay,” you said.
“So, you have a high chance for twins,” Jungkook said, looking at some papers you didn’t notice were on the table.
“Yes, my mother was a twin. It runs way back in my family,” you said.
“Jimin has a good chance of having twins as well,” Jungkook said, gesturing to his loving partner.
“I do I do,” he said with a grin.
“Do you two want a set of twins?” You asked.
“It’s preferred but not necessary. As long as we get a baby, that’s all that matters,” Jungkook said.
Soon, the food was delivered and Jungkook and Jimin insisted on cooking the food for you. Something about not stressing you out too much.
After a full meal, you leaned back and let your head fall comfortably. Jimin and Jungkook exchanged a glance at each other.
‘She’s the one,’ Jimin mouthed.
Jungkook smiled and nodded back.
“Thank you for the meal, I really do appreciate it. I haven’t eaten like that in months,” you said.
“Well, if you want to have our baby, we would gladly provide you with all the food you could want,” Jimin said.
“T-That’s alright, it wouldn’t be necessary-”
“Yes it would, Y/N. If you carry our child that means we’re responsible for you, everything you need or want will be yours. We swear,” Jungkook said.
“Right,” you swallowed thickly.
“Does that make you uncomfortable?” Jimin asked.
“I-I’ve never really been one for dependence on other people. You know? I like to do things myself if I can,” you said.
“Well, we wouldn’t force you to do anything of course but, if you did want or need anything, we would be more than happy to provide you with it,” Jungkook said.
“Thank you, that’s very sweet,” you said.
“You’d be carrying our child,” Jimin said as if it were obvious.
“Of course,” you said softly.
“Hey, if you don’t want to do this then don’t feel pressured. Don’t let money be an object in what you want to do with your life. It’s not healthy,” Jimin said.
“Thank you,” you said again.
“Well, I think it’s time to get going. I know you’ve met with other couples that have no doubt tried to convince you they’re the best option but... I really hope you chose us Y/N. You’d be the perfect surrogate for us,” Jungkook said, looking at you with a softened gaze.
And you knew it too.
You knew they were the couple you wanted to surrogate for, even if it cost you everything. You knew they deserved it. Not that any of the other families you had spoken to didn’t, but, they were the ones for you.
Your fertile window and ovulation were coming up so you had to make a choice and soon.
You’d met with the doctors at the clinic and they said that they were just waiting on you. Whomever you picked would have a meeting with you before the insemination on the rules and what you would have to do in regards to taking care of yourself. And then the money would be yours in full.
Calling the clinic you told them your answer.
“I would like to surrogate for Mr. Jeon and Mr. Park,” you said.
“Alrighty, I will give them a call and set up the appointment for them to get their end of the deal all set up and then we can get you all ready to go!” The receptionist said.
“Okay, thank you so much,” you said before hanging up.
Namjoon and Jin invited you over wanting to hear the news of everything going on with you.
And you couldn’t wait to see Annie again.
“Aw, you’re getting so big!” You said as you were greeted by Annie’s face in Jin’s arms.
“Yes she is!” Jin agreed. The cooing baby leaned forward, moving to capture your hair in her little fist.
You laughed and took her from Jin easily, he didn’t fight you and let you have your time with her. Rocking and bouncing her on your hip while the pair of them talked in the dining room.
Soon, a knocking came to the door.
Confusion swept over you, but regardless, you went to answer the door anyways.
Annie still on your hip, you opened the door to reveal Park Jimin and Jeon Jungkook, your new surrogate partners.
Frozen in shock the two of them looked at you as if they were equally confused.
You wondered if the clinic had told them you picked them yet. You had just gotten off the phone with them today, so you weren’t. Jungkook’s face went to you to Annie and then back to you.
“H-Hi?” You whispered.
“Y/N? What are you doing here?” Jimin asked, cocking his head to the side.
“Came to have dinner with Jinnie and Joon, and Annie of course,” you smiled, raising the little one up on your hip more.
“Oh, did you know we were coming?” Jungkook asked.
“No, I had no idea,” you said.
“Ah! Are those the boys?” Jin’s voice echoed throughout the hall.
“Yes!” You yelled back.
“Let them in Y/N! We invited them over too!” Namjoon said.
“Please come in,” you said, moving out of their way as the couple greeted Jin and Namjoon fondly.
It appeared as though there were no hard feelings in regards to them getting a surrogate they wanted. But, you could see Jungkook’s longing on his face when he looked at Annie in your arms.
“She’s beautiful,” Jimin said, looking down at Annie as you rocked her to sleep.
“Mhmm, gorgeous. She’ll be stealing hearts just like her dads,” you said.
“Hey, Y/N,” Jimin said, keeping his eyes trained on the little one in your arms.
“Did you make your decision yet? It said on your profile that your ovulation window was coming up and I was just curious,” he said quietly.
“I did,” you said.
Jimin’s face fell.
“I see,” he swallowed.
“Jimin-”
“Alright you two, paws off the baby, my turn!” Namjoon said, walking in.
You handed the sleeping baby over without a fuss before you and Jimin both walked out into the living room. Jimin whispered something to Jungkook and his face dropped. But you couldn’t find the words in your mouth. You wanted to tell them you picked them. You moved to talk to them when you felt Jin’s presence behind you.
“Y/N? You alright?” Jin asked, placing his hand on your shoulder.
“Yeah.”
It was getting later, and you were feeling sleepy from all the food you’d eaten during the night.
Jimin and Jungkook looked at your sleepy form and their hearts broke all over again.
“I can’t believe she didn’t pick us,” Jungkook said, face betraying how he felt.
“Babe, you can’t force her. I-I thought we had a good chance but,” Jimin sighed.
“I don’t want to keep looking for a surrogate if this is going to happen every time,” Jungkook said, pain coming through in his voice.
“Jungkook you know how badly I want this too right? It’s not just you hurting here,” Jimin said.
“We’ve been trying for two years to find a surrogate and when we find one we want, they always pick someone else. Why? Are we that undesirable? I don’t understand,” Jungkook sighed.
“It’s not that,” Jimin whispered. “Maybe it’s just not our turn yet.”
“When is it gonna be our turn, huh?” Jungkook said. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”
“We can’t give up,” Jimin said softly. “I don’t want to give up yet.”
“I know baby,” Jungkook said, kissing Jimin’s cheek softly.
You felt your heart pounding in your chest. These poor men were really hurting for a baby. A family to call their own.
Sitting up Jimin and Jungkook looked at you in fear.
“Y/N? Y-You were awake-oh God I’m so sorry you had to hear that-” Jimin said frantically.
“I picked you two,” you said.
Their eyes shot up to meet yours.
Jungkook’s were glossy from unshed tears and Jimin’s were widening by the second.
“You what?”
“I said I picked you two. I want to surrogate for you two,” you explained.
“But-in the nursery you said-” Jimin started.
“I said I had picked someone, I didn’t say who silly,” you smiled.
“Oh thank you Y/N!” Jungkook said, coming over to hold your hand in his.
“You don’t know what this means to us,” Jimin said.
“I know you two want this baby more than anything, I want to give it to you. Honestly, you two have waited long enough,” you said, heart stammering at the look of hope in their eyes.
“You’re perfect Y/N! Seriously!” Jimin cried, holding onto Jungkook for dear life.
“Thank you, you’re very sweet. I’m supposed to go in for the, you know, business end of it on Monday. They said they’d call you tomorrow. I just gave my answer today,” you told them.
“Okay, alright sounds good,” Jungkook said, wiping his eyes furiously.
“You gonna be okay?” You asked, looking at the two of them.
“Of course, more than okay.”
Monday creeped up on you quickly, faster than you thought.
You went to the clinic and sat down, getting signed in and everything before you saw Jungkook and Jimin waltz in looking like a million bucks.
Dressed head to toe in designer clothing, you realized you didn’t know what they did for a living. You hadn’t really looked at their profiles all that much. But you knew their baby would have everything they could ever want and more.
Smiling at them and waving, the two of them made their way over to you.
“Hey! What’s going on?” Jimin asked, sitting down in the chair next to you.
“Just waiting,” you said, looking at the pair of them together.
They looked like the traditional power couple. Strong, dependable and handsome to boot. It was kind of overwhelming.
Jungkook was wringing his hands together, biting his lip as he looked around the room.
“You alright Jungkook?”
“Yeah just-”
“Mr. Jeon, Mr. Park and Miss Y/N? The legal assistant will see you now,” a voice from the corner called.
“Let’s go,” you said, standing up and heading towards the back room.
You sat down and the rules of the road were laid out.
If you signed the contract Jimin and Jungkook were the parents of the child. You had no rights unless they said otherwise. You would be given a lump sum of money, transferred into your bank account the day they know you’re pregnant and expecting. If anything happens to the baby such as a miscarriage or something of the like that you had no control over, you would be able to keep the money. But, they would like to try again to see if the next one stuck better.
“So, if you conceive twins, which your likelihood is good, Mr. Jeon and Mr. Park have agreed to pay you double,” you almost choked on your drink.
Double?
“What?” You squeaked out.
“It’s written right here,” the legal assistant said, pointing to the document in her hands.
“Okay,” you said softly, not wanting to make either of them uncomfortable.
“The total of your payment will come to $153,000 dollars,” the legal assistant said. “If you conceive twins.”
Your head swirled.
What would you do with all that money? Jimin and Jungkook looked at you with worry.
“I-Is it not enough? We can give you more if you want-”
“No! No no, that is totally acceptable. More than,” you said.
“Okay, just making sure,” Jimin answered.
“If you would please initial here, Miss Y/N. And then a signature here at the bottom and then you two will also need to sign as well,” she said.
After all the paperwork was done your date for insemination was set.
Jimin and Jungkook looked at you as you walked out of the clinic.
“Hey! Y/N! Hold on,” Jungkook said, walking forward.
“Huh? What is it?” You asked turning around.
Jungkook’s bright eyes blinded you as he gazed into your own. But you kept your breathing steady as you could.
“Do you want a ride home? Jimin and I cleared our schedules so we could be here today, and... Well we don’t want you to get hurt or anything,” he said, pointing to the black suburban.
“Oh, it’s alright I was gonna go to the bookstore and get a few things and then head home but I’ll be fine, no worries,” you smiled.
“We insist, Y/N,” Jimin said, walking forward to take his partner’s hand.
“Um, well... It’s really not that far, I’m sure it’ll be okay,” you said.
“Well, if you’re really sure,” Jungkook said.
“Yeah, but I’ll see you two on Thursday right? That’s when I’m supposed to... Well, you know,” your said, looking down at your feet.
“Of course! If you want us to be there that is,” Jimin said.
“Yes, it’s your baby,” you said.
“Okay, we’ll see you Thursday then,” Jungkook agreed, waving at you before he and Jimin got into the suburban and left.
But you couldn’t help the feeling you had as you watched them drive away.
Sadness.
You walked into the clinic Thursday morning, sweat pooling in your palms. You were reaching the end of your wire at your apartment. And you weren’t going to get the money in time. You were worried and didn’t want to bother Namjoon and Jin... So you just kept it to yourself.
You felt the fear and worry eating you up inside as you sat in the waiting room.
The doctor called your name and you headed back towards the room, when someone shouted your name.
Jimin and Jungkook were there, smiling brightly at you.
Your heart eased at seeing the two men, so happy and radiant. Everything you weren’t currently. But, knowing you were giving them something so important really made you feel better. Even if it was just for the time being.
“Oh my gosh, we’re finally getting a baby!” Jimin squeaked.
“Easy, it’s probably not going to happen first try,” you reminded him of what the doctor said.
“Bet I could get you pregnant in one shot,” Jungkook smirked.
“Oh shush Kook. But if you got her pregnant you wouldn’t get those twins you want so badly now would you, butthead,” Jimin said, shoving the younger man around slightly.
You tried to keep yourself from blushing but the redness that twinged your cheeks was there regardless. You were here to get pregnant, that was the end goal of today.
“Alright, Miss Y/N, we’re going to take you back and get you all set and then Mr. Park and Mr. Jeon have said they wanted to take you home after. Is that alright with you?” The doctor asked.
“Yes, that’s fine,” you said.
“Okay, let’s head back then,” Jungkook gave you a gentle smile before Jimin came forward and gave your knuckles a quick kiss.
“Good luck, Y/N,” he said.
“Thanks,” you answered before heading back.
The whole process took around a hour and a half, most of it waiting.
The sensation wasn’t too bad, but you were a little uncomfortable. Everything was super sterile and not how you expected you’d get pregnant, but... It wasn’t your baby at the end of the day. You tried not to wiggle as you laid there, letting Jimin’s seed try to impregnate you.
Finally, the timer went off and you were allowed to leave to go home.
Jimin and Jungkook were sat in the waiting room, chatting with each other excitedly. You knew that this was it, that they were more than perfect for this baby. You were beyond happy you could give it to them.
“Y/N!” Jimin said, walking up to greet you.
“Hey,” you said easily, noticing Jungkook come up behind him.
“We’re here to take you home!” Jimin smiled.
“Thanks guys,” you said softly.
“We brought the car around already so you don’t have to walk too much. Don’t wanna spoil all our hard work,” Jimin said, looking at your tummy with affection.
“Like I said Jimin, it probably won’t happen this time. But you never know, you might have some strong swimmers,” you joked.
“You have no idea, Y/N,” he said, gazing into your eyes for a moment.
Your breath caught in your throat. He looked like an angel wrapped in sin, as if he were so good yet so bad for you. It made your head spin.
Jungkook held the car door open for you and you got in carefully. Jimin sat in the back with you while Jungkook sat up front.
Of course these two had a driver...
Jimin was looking out the window and noticed that they were getting into the sketchier part of town. His worry was eating him alive. He didn’t want the mother of his child staying here! That simply wouldn’t do.
You got out of the car, heading towards your apartment when the landlord approached you. Jungkook and Jimin were still getting out of the car when he exploded at you.
“There’s the little bitch now!” He growled, grabbing your wrist and twisting it painfully.
You yelped, trying not to move so much. It only made it hurt more.
“Let me go!” You said.
“You filthy cunt, you owe me almost six thousand dollars! And you dare to come back here without anything? Huh? Nothing? Where have you been huh? Selling your body to make some cash I bet, that’s what little whore’s like you do right? Fucking pathetic,” he spits at you.
“I-I just need a little more time-” a resounding smack is heard through the parking lot.
Jimin and Jungkook look up to see your head turned sharply to the side and a man gripping your wrist.
Both of the men flew off the handle.
“Let go of her you fucker!” Jungkook yelled, walking forward with purpose.
“Don’t you dare touch her!” Jimin growled, pulling you away from the man.
“Did you fucking hit her?” Jungkook said, looking at your reddened cheek.
“Bitch owes me money, she knows that-”
“Fucker!” Jungkook snarled, grabbing the man by his shirt and lifting him.
“Y/N? Sweetie can you hear me?” Jimin whispered. Your head was swimming with pain and discomfort. Your cheek was screaming at you. But what hurt worse was the embarrassment. They saw it all, that you couldn’t take care of yourself. How on earth were you going to take care of a baby if you got pregnant for nine months? Huh?
“I’m sorry,” you whispered.
“You have nothing to be sorry for, he hurt you. Jungkook put him down and call the cops,” Jimin said.
“I owe him money, I just-”
“You can’t arrest me! You fuckheads, do you know who I am?” He asked.
“Do you know who we are? Hi I’m Jeon Jungkook, heir to the Jeon Law Firm here in the city. You might have heard of us, and she is the mother of my future child and you won’t be putting your hands on her ever again,” Jungkook said.
“I just wanna leave, I don’t... I don’t wanna be here,” you whimpered.
“But Y/N,” Jimin said.
“Can we leave? Please?” You begged, looking up at him with a swollen cheek and glossy eyes. Jimin’s heart broke five times over, seeing you so upset.
“Jungkook, come on. Let’s go,” Jimin said.
“And leave her with this fucking piece of shit? I think not, no we’re going to-Y/N? Are you alright?” Jungkook asked, coming forward and looking at your face with a tenderness you didn’t know was there.
“We’ll take her home with us,” Jimin said easily.
“Okay, yeah. But we’re calling the cops on that dickbag when we get back. I want him arrested for hurting her,” Jungkook said with finality.
“Of course baby,” Jimin said, soothing the younger male.
“Can we just go?” You asked, looking up at them for a moment.
“Yes, of course we can, let’s get you in the car and go back to our place,” Jungkook said, coming forward and getting into the back seat this time. Jimin encouraged you to get inside, so you did, him following shortly thereafter.
“Take us home please,” Jungkook said, shutting the little window between the front of the car and the back.
You sat between the two men, each of them looking out the window and appearing to be deep in thought. You were as well. You hoped this didn’t affect your chances of getting pregnant. You don’t know what you’d do if you couldn’t get this baby. The prospect of so much money on the line, you very future.
Also, you worried for Jungkook and Jimin. You really wanted this to work for their sake too.
They’d been waiting so long.
You were swallowed into the dreamscape of your thoughts. Nothing really getting in or out of your mind. You were just reeling at everything that had happened in less than four hours. You had your first attempt at insemination, went home and got assaulted and now you were heading to the upper end of the city with the two men who wanted you to have a baby for them.
This was all so much to handle.
Finally, the car stopped moving and Jimin quickly ushered you out of the vehicle. You stood there and looked up at the stunning building with a weird sense of fear. It loomed over you, almost intimidatingly so.
Jimin told the driver to go park the car and take the rest of the day off while Jungkook gathered their things from the back. You looked around and noticed that people were staring at you.
No doubt you looked like a sore pink thumb right now. Tear stained and swollen cheeks making you look even more outlandish in the area. But, Jungkook quickly moved everyone inside.
The door man asked who you were and Jimin and Jungkook simply told the truth.
“She’s our surrogate, we’re having her stay with us for a while. If she needs anything, make sure she gets it!” Jimin said.
“Absolutely Mr. Park,” the doorman said.
“Come on Y/N,” Jungkook said, heading towards the elevator.
You followed behind them quickly, getting in the mirrored elevator. Looking at yourself you felt all the anxiety and fear come back. You didn’t belong here, you were wearing a pair of fucked up jeans, a flannel and t-shirt. They were dressed in beautiful clothing, dipped in the finest silks and satins.
You looked like a charity case no doubt.
It made your stomach churn in discomfort. But you kept your mouth shut. You were providing them with a service. And in turn they were paying you. It was a give and take situation. But you couldn’t help but feel as though you were taking more than you were giving.
Jungkook held the door while you and Jimin entered the house. You looked around and the apartment was massive. Bigger than your Aunt’s tiny house in the country. You wondered just how much money these two had.
Soon, Jimin was sitting you down on the couch and tending to your cheek. His heart crumpled when you flinched at his touch. He tried not to take it personally, you were literally just assaulted. But he hoped you weren’t scared of him, or Jungkook.
“Should I call the doctor?” Jungkook asked, coming in and sitting next to Jimin.
“No, she’s just a little swollen, she’ll be alright,” Jimin said, handing you the painkillers and some ice.
“Can she have that?” Jungkook asked, referring to the pain medicine.
“It’s acetaminophen she can have it,” Jimin confirmed.
“Okay,” he said, standing up and heading towards the kitchen.
“Are you hungry?” Jimin asked, looking at you for any signs of discomfort.
“Not particularly, but I should eat. Especially today,” you said, a weak smile on your face. Jimin nodded, but headed towards the kitchen regardless.
Soon after, a wonderful aroma filled the apartment. But you hadn’t moved from the couch, keeping your eyes trained on the TV Jimin turned on for you. You didn’t particularly want to watch the news, but you weren’t sure on how to work this TV. It made your brain hurt. But, whatever, you kept your eyes on the screen, not looking anywhere in particular.
Jimin soon came out, wearing a smile that must be a signature for him or something. He told you dinner was ready and to follow him. Turning off the TV with a swipe of his finger on the screen you marveled at the technology.
He patted your cheek and brought you into the dining room.
Jungkook was finishing putting the food out when you sat down. He and Jimin were deep in conversation. You picked at your food, eating a few pieces if Jimin put them on your plate. But other than that, you sat unmoving in the corner.
You supposed you were still in shock of what had happened today.
Soon, you felt the distinct cramping in your lower stomach, something you were told is to be expected. Especially if the pregnancy took. Letting out a puff of air, you held your stomach. It wasn’t terrible, but the discomfort had you adjusting in your seat.
Jungkook’s head snapped in your direction, carefully observing you.
“Everything alright? Y/N?” He asked, cocking his head to the side in a cute way.
Forcing a smile you nodded.
“Yeah, just cramping a little bit,” you said, keeping your hands together underneath the table.
“Is it bad?” Jungkook asked, leaning towards you.
“No-ah!” You said, clutching your stomach. It didn’t hurt as much as it caught you off guard. But the two men were beside you in seconds.
“Y/N? Do you want us to call the doctor?”
“Is there something we can get for you? Do you want more pain medicine?”
“N-No, honestly, I’m okay,” you said, giving them each a squeeze to their wrist.
Jimin nodded, standing up and moved to start cleaning up the meal. Jungkook placed a couple more pieces of meat on your plate, asking you to eat them. He thought it could help your cramping, but he mainly just wanted to see you eat something.
Soon, the pair of them had cleaned up the meal and had gathered some clothes for you to wear to bed.
“We’ll pick up some stuff for you to wear tomorrow,” Jungkook said smiling.
“N-No that’s alright I can go back and get my stuff,” you said.
“You’re not going anywhere near that building,” Jimin warned, voice low.
“What? I have to get my stuff-”
“We’ll have someone go collect your things and bring them back here,” Jimin said, careful.
“I can go it’s not a big deal-”
“Y/N, please, just let us take care of this,” Jungkook said, quietly coming over to your side.
You were far too tired to argue. But you already felt like a cat in a cage. So you waved off the disagreement and decided to just head to bed.
The cramping was still there, but not nearly as bad as it had been when you were at the table. Laying down helped, but you felt something in your underwear.
Quickly, you went to the bathroom and noticed some blood in your underwear. Biting your lip, you tried to keep yourself from panicking. Putting them back on you went to living room and found Jimin sitting on the couch, looking tired.
“J-Jimin,” you said quietly.
His head snapped up and he gave you a little smile.
“Yes, Y/N?” He asked, coming towards you. You sighed and ran your hands through your hair.
“I-I was bleeding,” you said, voice straining slightly.
“You were? Where?” He asked, brows furrowing.
“M-My, uh, I found it in my underwear,” you said, breathing in deeply.
“Was it a lot?” He asked, keeping a cool exterior.
“N-No, not a lot but it worried me,” you said, trying to keep yourself from freaking out on him.
“It’s normal to spot a little after the IUI, don’t worry. But tell me if anymore happens. They did just shove a tube up your business,” he said, laughing lightly.
Immediately you were put at ease. Sensing your relief, Jimin patted your shoulder.
“It’s okay to be nervous, we are,” Jimin said, nodding towards the closed door you assumed was to their bedroom.
“Yeah, I’m-I just really want this to work,” you confessed, feeling yourself relax a bit.
“We do too, more than anything,” Jimin answered, giving you a genuine grin.
“I’m glad that the baby will have you two as parents, makes me feel good knowing that they’ll be taken care of,” you smiled back.
Jimin’s face seemed to morph into a look of joy and agony at the same time.
“You’re too sweet, Y/N, honestly. Jungkook and I are beyond excited,” he explained.
“Have you always wanted to be a father?” You asked him, out of the blue. Jimin blushed and looked down at his feet.
“Y-Yeah, ever since I was little I always wanted a family to call my own. And when I met Jungkook I knew it was just meant to be you know? Like, everything just made sense,” he said, a sheepish look taking over his features.
“That’s so sweet,” you gushed.
“It’s the truth,” he shrugged.
“I want someone to look at me the way you look at Jungkook, like I’m their whole world and more. I’ve never been one for dating though,” you said, looking down at the floor, embarrassed.
“No? How many boyfriends or girlfriends have you had?” Jimin asked, not thinking. When the shocked look took over your face he back peddled. “I-I shouldn’t have asked, that doesn’t deem your worth or anything like that-”
“None,” you said, blushing bright red.
Jimin’s face changed.
“Tell me if I’m out of line here, but have you ever, uh... You know, um,” he said, rubbing his hands together.
“Oh? Sex? Yeah, I’ve done it before, but it wasn’t really anything special. I don’t even think I-um... Nevermind,” you said, biting your lip hard.
“You don’t think you what? You didn’t cum?” Jimin said, as if he were shocked.
“No! Now keep your voice down!” You yelped.
Jimin frowned.
“That’s horrible, you deserve better,” Jimin said matter of factly.
“It happens, but, this conversation has gotten away from us,” you said, trying to steer it away from your pathetic sex life and more towards the fact that you both need to go to bed. “I’m tired, had a long day.” You said, rubbing your arms.
“Of course, absolutely! If you need anything or something happens, our room is right here just come get us,” Jimin said.
“Okay, thanks,” you said, turning, but not before you wished him a good night.
Jimin gave you a small smile. “Good night, Y/N, sleep well.”
Soon your stuff was all moved into the boys apartment. You questioned when you would be leaving, but the boys said that you didn’t have to worry about departing for the foreseeable future.
They had originally wanted you to live with them if and when they found out you were pregnant, that way they could be there through it all. But, these stages after the insemination could be hard on you and they decided to keep you with them.
You felt like a little kid half the time, but you had to call in to work often because of these appointments. And quickly, they tired of it.
“Y/N, we love you and we want you to pick here to work, but honestly your attendance is a severe issue right now,” your supervisor said over the phone. You called in that day because you just were feeling super exhausted.
You hadn’t told them you’d signed up for a surrogacy. You weren’t sure how that would go over, but, maybe you had to if you wanted to save your job.
“I-I’m calling in all the time because I’m trying to get pregnant,” you said softly.
Laughter came from the other side of the phone.
You were being laughed at.
“Oh my God, Y/N, that’s hilarious! But seriously, I have to put you on a two week suspension without pay because-”
“Dawn, I'm serious. I signed up with the fertility clinic and I’m currently trying to become a surrogate for a lovely couple,” you said, honestly.
“Y/N, why did you sign up for that? As far as any of us knew, you weren’t that into kids,” Dawn said over the phone.
“I-I like kids, but the baby won’t be mine to keep. The couple gets to keep them once they are born. I lose all rights as a parent,” you explained.
“That’s kinda cruel... Let you carry the baby for nine months then force you to leave them. I don’t know if I could do that,” she said.
“I-It’s the way it is,” you said. “But I need to have the day off, I have an appointment at the clinic.”
“Y/N, would it be easier if we just let you quit?” Dawn said.
“What?!” You shrieked into the phone.
“Well, it’s a delicate time and we'd have you working on your feet for long hours. I don’t want anything to happen to you or your baby,” she said, sounding sad.
“But I don’t wanna leave you guys,” you whimpered.
“Well, once the little tike is born come back. We’ll hire you back, I promise. If you want to come back,” she offered.
“Y-You’ll really let me come back?” You said, biting your lip.
It would be nice to just focus on the pregnancy and helping Jungkook and Jimin. If you had the option, maybe it would be better to take her advice and go back when you were ready. Hopefully they don’t screw you over.
“Of course we will! We love you! But, right now isn’t the best time for you to be working. Focus on you and your little bundle okay? We’ll be waiting,” she said.
“Oh thank you Dawn! I love you guys too!”
After a little tears ‘see you later’, you hung up.
Soon, a soft knock came to your door. Looking up you saw Jungkook there, dressed to the nines looking at you. Raising a brow you assessed the situation.
“What’s up?” You said, setting your phone down to give him your undivided attention.
“I was wondering if you needed a ride to work, you’re already an hour late,” he said, pointing to the clock on your wall.
“Oh, about that,” you said, rubbing your hands together.
“Did something happen? Did they fire you for being our surrogate? Oh just let me make one phone call, that’s illegal! I’m a lawyer, let me talk some sense into them!” Jungkook said, turning to walk out.
“No, Jungkook! It’s fine, they told me to take the time off. To spend time focusing on myself and to take care of the baby,” you explained. “My job will be there when I’m ready to return.”
Jungkook stopped and looked at you. His features softened before nodding.
“Okay, but if they try to tell you you can’t go back when you’re ready, you just tell me. I won’t let anyone disrespect or lie to you,” he said, a stern look on his face.
“Thanks Jungkook, that means a lot,” you said, giving a smile.
“There’s food in the fridge, all you have to do is heat it up. You have the house to yourself so, do whatever you want,” Jungkook said, waving before walking out of your room.
You sat there for a minute, really mulling over what you wanted to do. Honestly, you were so sore and tired you just wanted to fall back asleep. But you decided that it was better to get up and do some activity. Hopefully that would be okay.
It had been about ten days since your IUI appointment and you were mainly just tired. Although fatigue was a symptom of an attachment. But that was the only symptom you were having, you were meant to test in a couple days to see if you were pregnant, but something had you worried.
If you weren’t pregnant, you’d have to wait a whole other month. They did tell you that sometimes it took multiple tries to successfully impregnate someone. But you really wanted this to work, you just wanted to get this going.
That way Jimin and Jungkook could have their baby already.
You knew they’d be amazing fathers, already with their dutiful actions towards you. So willing to do whatever you asked, but you tried your best not to pester them too much. You tried to make it as though you weren’t even there. But they insisted you join them for dinner so they could make sure you were eating well.
For your day you mainly just puttered around the house, picking up and doing little things that wouldn’t aggravate you. So, you settled down with a book in your hands and soft music playing in the background.
That’s how Jimin and Jungkook found you when they came home. Curled up on the couch with a novel between your fingers. Jimin smiled softly, looking at the picturesque scene.
“Do you think she’s pregnant?” Jungkook asked, looking at his boyfriend with apprehension.
“I hope so,” Jimin answered.
“She’s really tired lately, sleeping late and going to bed early. That’s a sign, right?” Jungkook said.
“It is, but that’s also a sign of a woman’s period coming up,” Jimin warned.
“Damn...” Jungkook said, rubbing his face.
“But I don’t know, she’s due to test soon so, we might have our baby,” Jimin soothed.
You looked up from your book, noticing the pair in the entryway. Giving them a shy smile, you waved, nose getting buried back in the book. Jimin laughed lightly, heading towards the kitchen.
The two cooked dinner, making something easy to digest. Your stomach was on the fritz yesterday so they want to make sure they don’t upset your sensitive tummy. But, as Jimin looked out at you reading on the couch, a blanket draped along your lap. He couldn’t help but love the domesticity of it all. You looked at peace, in your element and comfortable.
Jimin hoped it would stay that way. With you, comfy and cared for.
Jungkook rushed past with the boiling soup in his hands, moving quick like a little kid to set the table for you all. Jimin just laughed, smacking his butt when he came back.
“Hey! Paws off,” Jungkook pouted.
“Hmm? That’s not what you were saying the other night,” Jimin laughed at the scandalized look on Jungkook’s face. “I’m kidding, come on go get Y/N so we can eat.”
Jungkook went to gather you from the living room and was met with an unusual sight. You passed out, wrapped in the blanket with your book on the floor.
He smiled, moving towards you slowly. He placed a soft hand on your head, patting your hair gently. Your eyes opened slowly, looking up at him with sleepy eyes. Jungkook helped you up, leading you to the dining room.
The meal was quiet, Jungkook and Jimin making small talk with you, but mostly you were just eating peacefully.
You ate well and leaned back, as you tended to do when you were full and let out a huff. Jimin repressed the smile on his face with the back of his hand. Jungkook smiled openly, looking at your sleepy form.
Sitting back up you took a few more swallows of water before you stood up and thanked them for the meal and headed towards your room.
Jungkook and Jimin watched you go, each having a weird tightening in their chest at the sight of your swaying hips.
You had finally reached the two week mark.
Time to test.
Jimin and Jungkook went with you, driving you to the clinic for your appointment at the ass crack of dawn it felt like.
Jimin was chatting excitedly in the front seat with Jungkook. You could see the looks of love on their faces as they talked about their future with their child. It made butterflies rise in your stomach.
Quickly smacking your cheeks, you tried to forget the sensation of hope building in your belly.
Soon you were all at the clinic, Jimin helping you out of the car. The two men walked on either side of you, making sure everyone knew who you were here with. It made you feel protected, watched over.
Important.
After all the paperwork was done for the visit, Jungkook and Jimin sat down next to you. They interlocked their hands, smiling brightly at each other. You locked your hands together and looked down at them.
“Miss Y/N? Mr. Park and Mr. Jeon? Are you all ready?” A nurse called and you all headed back to a secluded room, a few chairs and the like ready. You saw the needles and everything set up and you swallowed hard.
You hated needles, with a passion.
But you’d done it before, so you’d do it again.
“Y/N? You okay?” Jungkook asked, looking at your paling face.
“Y-yeah, nervous around needles,” you confessed.
“Oh, do you want some water or something?”
“No I’m okay,” you encouraged.
“If you’re sure,” Jungkook said, looking like he wanted to do more...
“Alright! We’re gonna take some blood and a urine sample, so if you two would just wait outside for a moment while we get her changed, then you can come back in if you want,” the nurse explained.
You got changed and hopped up on the table.
They asked a bunch of questions, all fairly standard. Then they brought out the needles. Jimin saw you flinch when the packaging came off and you saw the syringe come closer.
“Hang on,” Jimin said, standing up.
The nurse stopped and looked up in confusion, that’s when Jimin took your hand in his and squeezed.
“You can hold my hand while they take your blood okay? Just squeeze if you need to,” he said, looking at your face for any signs of resistance.
You bit your lip and nodded.
The nurse took your blood quickly, getting a few vials full. Jungkook watched as his boyfriend held your hand the whole time, keeping you calm and at ease.
He hoped with everything he was that this had worked.
God, he wanted it to work so bad.
Soon, the two men were being ushered out of the room so you could do your urine sample.
After everything was done and over with, you got dressed and went to the waiting room. Jimin and Jungkook stood up when they saw you, waving you over to sit with them.
All three of you waited with baited breath as they ran the tests. They kept asking if you wanted anything, water, juice or something to eat. But you politely declined. Knowing if you put anything in your body right now you’d puke it up immediately with how nervous you were for the results.
They said it shouldn’t take too long.
It had been about an hour when a nurse popped her head out, signaling for all three of you to come back.
“Dr. Heinz will see you now,” she said, giving you all a small smile before leading you down the hallway towards the offices.
Shortly, you were sat on a comfortable sofa with Jungkook and Jimin in front of you. Jungkook and Jimin were holding onto each other so tight you feared for their circulation. But, Dr. Heinz was quick to get to the point.
“Well, I want to say, congratulations, Mr. Jeon and Mr. Park... Y/N is pregnant,” he said, talking like you weren’t in the room.
“Oh my God!” Jungkook shouted, standing up and hugging Jimin to him tightly. They kissed several times, tears falling freely down the new father’s faces. Dr. Heinz let them have their moment, smiling at the happy couple. You looked down at your stomach and bit your lip.
So this was really happening...
“Jungkook, I love you,” Jimin said, holding onto his boyfriend tightly.
“I love you too babe, I love you too,” Jungkook affirmed.
“Okay we do have to discuss her health however,” Dr. Heinz said, having the men sit down quickly.
“Is she alright?” Jimin said, looking at you with worry written all over his features.
“She’s at a very fragile point in the pregnancy. IUI can be tricky so we need to be very careful with what happens next. I don’t want her doing anything strenuous. Especially with the lower body until we can get her in for an ultrasound. Her uterus looked good on her preliminary but getting pregnant can really affect a woman’s body, so we need to take all the precautions,” Dr. Heinz explained.
“But is she going to be okay?” Jungkook asked, placing a gentle hand on yours.
You looked at his big hand covering yours, blinking slowly.
“I’m worried about her low white blood cell count. That makes her more susceptible to colds and infections, so you need to be very careful. Her red blood cell count was also low, showing early signs of anemia. So lots of red meat and protein to help keep her levels up. Although the anemia will be aggravated by the pregnancy, so make sure she doesn’t stand up too fast or tax herself too much,” he said.
“I am right here,” you said, glaring at the doctor.
“Sorry Miss Y/N, they’re the parents in this situation. I want them to be informed of your situation,” Dr. Heinz said bluntly.
“There are four of us in this room, I’ll remind you of that. Don’t talk like I’m not here please,” you said, folding your hands and crossing your legs.
Jimin almost burst out laughing.
Damn you were feisty!
He really liked that...
“I-I apologize, Miss Y/N,” he said, swallowing quickly before continuing on. “Also, you’re going to start having more symptoms than the fatigue you mentioned. Morning sickness is extremely common and expected, although every woman is different. Headaches, dizziness and blurred vision are also to be noted. Even some spotting can happen, but please do tell us if you’re spotting or bleeding. Now, do any of you have questions?” The doctor asked, looking at the boys and you.
“Is there any way to know if we are expecting, more than one?” Jimin asked, looking down at your stomach with pure adoration on his face.
“We won’t really know until she’s further along. Quite a bit further actually. But for now, enjoy this. Enjoy the early stages, it’ll be tough but you can pull through. I wish you all the best of luck,” Dr. Heinz said, handing some paperwork over to Jungkook before the three of you stood up and headed out.
Jimin and Jungkook were so excited, chatting with each other about if they were having twins. If the baby was a boy or girl. You were in the car, hands folded in your lap while you looked out the window.
Honestly, you were scared out of your mind.
The doctor had mentioned this was a really fragile part of the pregnancy. That you’d have to be careful, not to mention it was important for your own health as well. If something happened to the baby, something could happen to you and vice versa.
Jungkook insisted on taking everyone out for dinner.
This was a big occasion after all.
Sitting down in the very resturant you all had your first meal in, felt kinda surreal.
Now, you were pregnant with their baby. It felt kinda full circle.
Jimin and Jungkook insisted on getting whatever you wanted. But you weren’t terribly hungry yet, maybe it was the nerves of the whole day catching up. But you ordered a few things, making sure to eat. You knew it made them happy when you did, because it showed you cared about your body and the life growing inside of you.
Jungkook was drinking, a lot if you were being honest. Jimin just watched him as his cheeks flushed red as he continued to talk animatedly at the two of you. Smiling, you filled up Jungkook’s water before urging him to drink some.
“Thanks youuu,” he said, beaming at you.
“You’re welcome, but drink up okay?” You said, gesturing towards the glass.
He did as you asked, drinking all the water. You sighed in relief, knowing at least he’d be hydrated when he went to bed.
“Well, guess you aren’t driving you big lug,” Jimin laughed as he hauled Jungkook out of the restaurant a while later.
“Mmm, we’re having a baby baby!” Jungkook cooed at Jimin, holding his cheeks in between his hands.
“Mhmm, yes we are. Now get in the back with Y/N, okay?” Jimin said, opening the back and helping his very tipsy boyfriend inside. You were about to climb in when Jimin placed his hands on your hips, causing you to jolt so hard you smacked your head on the roof of the car.
“Ow, fuck,” you said, holding your head tightly.
“Y/N!” Jimin yelped. Jungkook’s head popped up.
“What happened?” He asked, looking at you with bleary eyes.
“I just smacked my head, I’m alright,” you said, rubbing your head gingerly.
“Can I take a look?” Jimin asked, biting his plump lips harshly.
“Y-yeah,” you said, leaning towards him.
Jimin’s gentle hands on your scalp proved to be dangerous. Because now, you wanted him to touch you here all the time. Combing his fingers through your hair. Massaging the tender flesh there.
“Well, you aren’t bleeding, but you’ll have a massive bump for a few days no doubt,” he reasoned.
“She’s gonna have a massive bump here soon too!” Jungkook cheered happily, pointing at your stomach.
“Jungkook, enough,” Jimin warned.
Grumbling to himself, Jungkook backed off.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Jimin asked. You nodded, already feeling the throbbing in the base of your skull starting.
“I’ll take a few pain killers when we get back,” you said.
“Okay,” Jimin said, running his hand from your head down to cradle your cheek in his palm. You’re cheeks heated up at the feeling of his skin on yours, but shortly he was retreating to the front of the car.
Soon, you were underway.
Jimin turned on the radio quietly, driving carefully around town.
Jungkook had managed to fall asleep against the window. When suddenly, the car was jerking to the side. Jimin laid on the horn, yelling a couple explicit words out the window. But, Jungkook’s body had already fallen into your lap.
His head rested comfortably against your thighs, arms draping across your legs. Jungkook continued to sleep peacefully while you inspected him. He had a beautiful nose, button like and slotting perfectly along with his already perfect features. His plush lips pouting as he slept. Your eyes widened at him, heart hammering in your chest as you gazed down at him.
He was incredibly handsome.
But, you knew his personality too. He was kind, but strong and sure of himself. He had an air of confidence that was almost infectious. But he also had a childish nature about him. Not immature, but there was something about the wonder in his eyes when he tried something new. Or the nostalgia that ran through him when he ate his favorite food or, just the sparkle in his eyes when Jimin came home.
You, as if possessed, took your hand and ran your fingers through his soft black hair. He groaned in his sleep, gripping your legs tighter. You continued to run your fingers through his hair, watching his face for any signs of discomfort.
Jimin looked in the rearview mirror and saw you stroking Jungkook’s head with a gentle hand. His heart thudded dangerously in his chest. You were so caring and tender, everything you did had purpose behind it.
Jimin felt relief flood him at the idea of you being the mother of he and Jungkook’s child. Technically just Jimin’s but Jungkook was also the father but he didn’t get any genetics in this one.
This one...
Did Jimin want to have more children?
You just got the announcement today and he was already giddy at the prospect of you growing large with his child. But confusion swept through him. Was this just because he was grateful to you? Or was it something more?
Looking at you and Jungkook in the back, he thinks he might already know the answer.
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animeomegas · 3 years
Text
Infertlie!Omega!Neji manages to become pregnant
Hello! Do you have any hc’s for what would happen if by some miracle Neji WAS able to become pregnant? Love ur stuff!! ❤️
(Hello! Ahh, I’m flattered! Hmm, if Neji was able to become pregnant… I have a few ideas. Enjoy~)
Warnings: miscarriage mention, suppressant abuse. 
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Finding out:
He’s been taking a pregnancy test every month for 18 months by this point, and nothing.
You have been telling him that he may have to start thinking about what he wants to do if he can’t have pups.
Neji knows whose fault it is that he can’t conceive.
He struggles to walk through the Hyuuga compound sometimes, knowing it’s their fault that he’s like this. That he’s broken.
You deny any such things, but he knows he is. And he’s very bitter and upset about it.
But he won’t give up yet.
2 years. That was the time frame he had given himself. If he couldn’t conceive within two years, then… Well, he didn’t want to think about that.
One morning when he doesn’t have a mission, he gets up and heads to the bathroom, taking the test automatically.
The feelings of hope and anxiety have long since faded after too many disappointments.
So, he grabs the test, gives it a cursory glance and goes to throw it in the bin before he realises what the test says.
He lifts the test back up, hand shaking. He doesn’t want to get his hopes up, but he could have sworn it said…
Positive.
He’s holding a positive pregnancy test.
His heart is beating very fast now. Neji just stands there for a few moments, unsure what to do.
He ends up taking all the pregnancy tests in the bathroom, seven in total.
And all of them are positive.
He won’t ever admit it, but he did cry a little (a lot).
But quickly the joy begins to fade, and fear sets in.
He needs to be so careful.
He can’t lose this baby, he just can’t.
He needs to stop taking missions, he needs to eat better, he needs to go to the hospital-
He works himself into a little panic, and then panics more because he is so scared the stress will make his lose his baby.
At this point, he’s been in the bathroom for like half an hour, so you tentatively knock and ask if he’s okay.
Neji was clutching the sink in the bathroom, staring at his reflection in the mirror and desperately trying to calm down. He needed to calm down, but he just couldn’t. He distantly realised that he was letting out quiet panicked whines, calling for you to help him automatically.
And then he heard a knock on the door, you were here. He let out a louder whine to try and signal to you that he needed you there with him.
“Neji?” your voice was a little alarmed, you must have heard his whining. “Neji, what’s wrong? Can I come in?”
He heard the door handle shake as you tried to open it against the lock.
“Neji, please, open the door.”
“I’m pregnant.” He blurted.
The door handle stopped moving. He waited anxiously for you to say something, still struggling under the weight of the anxiety clawing at his chest.
“…Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” he swallowed heavily. “I took all the tests.”
“Let me in please, my love.”
This time, Neji follows your request automatically. The lock clicks open, and you immediately step in. Neji can feel your eyes scanning him before they flit over to the abundance of pregnancy tests lying innocently in the sink.
A smile slowly creeps its way onto your face.
“Oh, baby boy, come here,” you opened you arms for him and he immediately stepped into the embrace. His heart was finally starting to calm down, as he took deep breaths of your scent. He was safe, he didn’t have to worry, you would be here to make sure everything was alright.
“We’ll go down to the hospital tomorrow, alright? Get everything checked out, but I don’t…” you hesitated.
“You don’t what?” He knew what you were going to say. ‘I don’t want you to get your hopes up.’
You shook your head. “Nevermind, let’s just book the appointment. Would you rather go to the hospital or see one of the clan medics?”
Neji grimaced. “Hospital. I know it’s weird, but… I don’t want them to know yet.”
You rubbed a hand on his lower back. “We won’t tell anyone until you’re ready, I promise.”
 Pregnancy:
The hospital visit went as well as you could have hoped.
Neji was indeed pregnant, and everything was progressing well for the moment.
But, of course, there were some concerns.
Neji was given a gentle reminder that he was at a high risk for a miscarriage.
He was also told that a traditional birth would be too risky for him, and that he would have to have a c-section.
And, while the mednin couldn’t be sure yet, it was unlikely that he would be able to breastfeed.
Neji took all the information with a detached nod, acknowledging what was being said, but not reacting to it.
As a Hyuuga, he kept his emotions firmly pressed down in public. His scent and face were completely normal. Few would have been able to tell that something was wrong.
But the second he stepped into your house, he just sagged.
He claimed to be tired and went to lay down upstairs. You let him go, knowing that he wanted his own space to process,
But it was hard to smell his sour scent and not come running.
Things got better, however.
Once he was past three months, the chances of a miscarriage reduced hugely, and Neji was much happier.
He threw everything he could into looking after himself and preparing for the pup.
He stopped taking missions as soon as he found out he was pregnant and started to babyproof the house and make the nursery.
The nursery was very traditional. A rocking chair, a wooden crib, handmade blankets and toys.
It was beautiful and Neji was very protective of it. He wanted it to be perfect.
He was protective over the pup in general, as well.
He didn’t let anyone other than you put their hands on his tummy.
As far as the physical pregnancy, Neji had some troubles, but he pushed his way through them with no complaints.
He was most infuriated by his constant need to go to the toilet.
Pain he could deal with, but the constant inconvenience started to grind on his nerves.
He was also a little restless when he was left by himself. Without missions or training he didn’t know what to do with himself a lot of the time.
When you were home with him, he was fine, but he got bored by himself.
“No.”
You sighed, “Again? We’ve been shopping for hours, Neji.”
“Do you want to buy poor-quality blankets for our pup?” he huffed, placing another rejected blanket onto the shelf.
“What about this one?” you suggested, holding up a lovely, soft blanket.
Neji squinted at him, pulling the tag towards him to read. He pulled a face a dropped the blanket.
“No.”
“What’s wrong this time?”
“It’s part polyester. I don’t want polyester in the blankets and toys, I already told you this. Let’s try the next shop.”
You grimaced, feet already sore from all the walking. “Why don’t we just get some blankets and toys commissioned? We can afford it, and then they would be exactly what you want.”
Neji stopped, contemplative. “That’s… actually a good idea.”
“Well, you don’t have to sound so shocked.”
Yes,” Neji smiled, ignoring your complaints. “I want to do that. Let’s head to the stationary shop so I can get some materials to draw up some sketches.”
“The stationary shop?” you whined. “Can’t we just go home for today?”
“No, if I’m pregnant and I can do it, so can you.”
 Labour:
With a pre-planned c-section, Neji knew in advance when he would be going to the hospital for the procedure.
He had packed and re-packed his bag four times, just to be sure that he had everything he needed.
Neji was very calm, but it seemed to be because of the shock more than anything else.
He was escorted in, and prepared for the procedure, and exactly on time, he went in for his c-section.
You sat with him, only able to see him head as the rest of him was sectioned off with a screen. You were told not to stand until you had the signal.
You gently stroked Neji’s hair away from his face as the mednin worked. He was drowsy and disoriented. He blinked at you slowly.
“Is… everything going okay?” he whispered to you.
“I think so, baby. How are you feeling?”
“I feel strange…”
“I bet you do,” you laughed gently, pressing a kiss to his head. “Just try to relax, okay? I’m right here with you.”
The operation was exhausting, and Neji ended up being unable to do much for two months while he recovered, but the pup was healthy and Neji couldn’t be happier.
He spent hours every day in the rocking chair in the nursery cradling his pup.
Neji didn’t let anyone outside of you and some mednin meet the pup until she was three months old because he was so protective.
Neji would never be so tacky as to refer to his child as a ‘miracle child’, but sometimes, he can’t help but think it.
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helplessly-nonstop · 3 years
Text
Laughing Gas Confession (L. Hemmings imagine)
I’ve been working on this fix for quite some time but since Luke decided to realize a new album, I finally managed to gain motivation to finish this fic! Anyway reader gets their wisdom teeth pulled and this is the results! Tagging my girlie @wrestlingfae
WC: 2352
-
Wisdom teeth. The bane of any person’s existence if they ever had the displeasure of them coming in. Truly the only thing a person could ever gain from them coming in might be the humerus videos you capture while on laughing gas. My experience however? A little less humorous and a lot more exposing.
“Come on, you’re being a baby about this, just go to the dentist and let them pull the wisdom teeth, you’ll feel much better!” Luke insisted as he shut the door behind us. I groaned as he continued to pester me about setting up a dentist appointment to remove the nightmares pressing against my jaw.
“Luke, I have no one to bring me home! They’re going to use laughing gas and I can’t drive while high.” I retorted, beginning to put away the groceries, only to press my fingers against the hinge of my jaw as the ache began to grow more painful. He stared at me with a disbelieving look then he exclaimed, “I’m off tour, I can take you! I mean, we’re best friends, isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? Take each other to the dentist, make sure you don’t ruin the Uber driver’s car flooring with vomit.”
“Okay, that was one time! That’s what you get for giving me Chipotle while I’m hammered. I mean, technically, me puking on that guy’s floor was your fault for letting me drink with Cal. You know he always encourages me to do bad things.” I insisted, handing him the milk to put away. He sighed, clearly realizing that I had won that point, and returned to our current argument, “Just let me take you. I swear, I won’t record you. I’ll just make sure you get there and back, safe and sound. Okay?”
We stared at one another for a while before I sighed, muttering, “Alright, fine, just make sure that I get there and back without breaking a bone.” His blue eyes sparkled at my agreement before he kissed me on my forehead then launched into making dinner as I dug through the freezer in search of an ice pack to press against my jaw. At least I’d finally get rid of these stupid wisdom teeth.
My appointment was set for tomorrow and dread was beginning to set in. Laughing gas loosened your lips and things that should remain a secret had the chance of slipping out. I was sitting on my bed, considering other options to pull my wisdom teeth without using laughing gas but ultimately came up empty. Unfortunately it seemed that this was the only way. Of course, I could have asked any of the other guys to take me to the dentist, but I feared that would hurt Luke. I just hoped that I could keep my secret locked away from even the grasps of the laughing gas..
“Today’s the day,” Luke crowed, bursting into my room, “C’mon, it’s time to take out those nasty wisdom teeth of yours!” I groaned and ducked my head beneath my pillow once again as I grumbled, “Why? Why did it have to be me to be cursed with a morning person as a best friend?” He flopped on my bed then lifted my pillow away from my face as he replied, “Balances out your night owl habits. Now come on, I bet you’re dying to get those bastards pulled.”
“It’s like you’re excited to see me suffer through recovery. Sadistic fuck. Alright, go, I’m getting dressed.” I muttered, shoving him off my bed. He groaned as he hit the floor then gave a small wave as he shut my bedroom door behind him, leaving me alone for the time being. I quickly changed and stared at the clock as I began to process what could happen.
Today was the day that I would risk the chance of exposing my love for my best friend of many years. What would I even do if I let it slip? Would he hate me? Would he reject me? Would he feel the same? So many thoughts raced through my head that I didn’t even notice that Luke had reentered, holding a hairbrush out to me. He cleared his throat and I glanced up with a sheepish smile then accepted the brush as he asked, “You need your shoes?” I looked around my room briefly and pointed to the stray pair of sneakers hiding beside my dresser before finishing brushing my hair.
He handed me my shoes and ran a hand through my hair as he assured me, “There’s nothing to worry about. They’re gonna take good care of you.” I smiled up at him and quickly pulled on my shoes before heading out the front door, sighing at the Los Angeles heat. We settled into the car and I stared out the window with a small sigh, prepared to finally get my teeth pulled.
“Hey you’re gonna be okay, there’s nothing to worry about. I’ve been to this dentist before, they’re really good.” Luke assured me, patting my hand. I smiled briefly then stared out the window, knowing damn good and well whether the dentist was good or not was at the bottom of my worry list for today.
We arrived at the dentist in fifteen minutes and I savored the knowledge that we wouldn’t be together while I’m high on laughing gas for too long. He guided me inside and I spoke to the nurse running the front desk while Luke investigated the assortment of pamphlets that were splayed across their wall. Settling back beside him, I gripped the arms of the chair, terror beginning to set in. What would happen as soon as I exited the exam room? Would I expose the truth? Could I prevent a secret from spilling out?
Long fingers slid over the top of my hand and I jerked out of my panic as Luke gave a tight squeeze. He smiled and assured me,”Hey it’s okay! I’ll be right here when you’re done, okay?” Just a few words and my heart began to settle. The nurse entered the waiting area then glanced up from his clipboard, calling my name. My best friend waved a hand towards the exam area then chirped, “A new life awaits you. One without pain.”
The words echoed in my head as I settled in the chair and the dentist coached me through how to breathe in the laughing gas before a haze settled over my thoughts. The operation was a quick procedure and the pressure of them removing the four monsters that evolution cursed us with was nothing compared to the relief I felt.
The nurse was kind enough to help Luke with guiding me to the car and I pressed my cheek against the cool glass of the window, poking my cheek to feel the gauze stuffed in my mouth. He swatted my hand away and chided, “Don’t do that, you’ll make it hurt worse later.” I pouted at his warning then mumbled,”You’re no fun, Luke. Why you gotta be a buzzkill?” He chuckled at my whining and ruffled my hair as he replied, “I’m not being a buzzkill, I’m saving you from yourself.”
We managed to go through the drive through without another incident of me being a disaster, which I’m sure he was thankful for. He tugged me out of the car and urged, “Come on, let’s get you inside, silly.”
“You know, I love you so fucking much, Lukey. Like holy shit.” I mumbled, leaning into his chest. He laughed as he guided me into the living room then replied, “I love you too. We should really get you laid down before you pass out on me. Doctor said by the time you got home, you’ll be about ready to sleep.” I smiled softly at him as I landed on the couch and insisted, “No, not- not like a best friend loves their best friend. I love you like a boyfriend and girlfriend love each other.”
His eyes widened at the statement then I began to lay down on the couch as I mumbled, “Prolly shouldn’t have said that but ya know how it is. Easy goes the truth you want most exposed. The subconscious is a strange place, Luke.” He gave a shallow nod and turned out of the living room then returned with a blanket, draping it over me as my eyes began to close. Long fingers brushed my cheek briefly then I heard him murmur something to me, but the pain medicine was beginning to settle in.
When I finally came to, I was still curled up on the couch, with a blanket curled around my shoulders and a pillow clutched to my cheek. Glancing around, I realized that Luke had disappeared from the living room, leaving me to nap by myself. I groaned, pressing a tender hand to my jaw, then mumbled, “Ah fuck, right. Wisdom teeth are gone.” I pushed off the couch and stumbled into the bathroom so I could pull the bloody gauze from my mouth. I moved my bottom jaw briefly, only to regret the decision as pain struck. I groaned and clenched my eyes closed, hoping that the agony would settle down.
“Hey, you’re up. You want something to eat? I made soup.” Luke asked, leaning against the bathroom doorway. I turned at the sound of his voice and questioned, “How long was I out?” He hummed at the question, glancing down at his phone screen as it chimed, then replied, “About four hours. Not a bad nap. Come on, let’s get some food for you.”
As the week progressed, I noticed Luke had become distant. He moved away when I leaned against him, particularly when he was texting which was never an issue in our friendship. We often flocked to one another when we were chatting with friends and even potential love interests so it was strange for him to shy away.
When I entered a room, he would leave just seconds later, as if he couldn’t stand the thought of standing in the same area as me. What had happened when my wisdom teeth were pulled? Had my behavior while dealing with the pain really drove my best friend away? Or worse, did I tell him my biggest secret while I was under the influence of laughing gas and pain medicine? And if so, how long would our friendship last?
I allowed his strange behavior to continue unquestioned for another week, hoping that it was a mere coincidence that he was acting so strange so soon after my wisdom teeth surgery. But I finally caved on demanding what his problem was when I tried to hug him, only for him to sidestep me.
“Was there- did I do something wrong? Because if I did, I’d really like to know what’s causing you to act like this towards me.” I asked, stepping forward to try and meet his eyes. He turned on his heel and ran a hand through his hair before he grumbled, “So that’s why you didn’t want me to take you to the dentist. Because you were afraid of telling me the truth while you were under?” I raised an eyebrow at him and began to ask what he meant, only to pause when his words sank in.
“Oh my god, I didn’t. Please tell me that I did not say what I think you’re saying that I said.” I rushed out, not caring if it had made any sense. He flickered his gaze up to me then he snapped, “How long? How long have you been hiding the fact that you’re in love with me?”
“I’m kind of hoping that’s an optional question to answer.” I admitted, twisting my fingers together. He whipped to face me and shouted, “Goddammit, this isn’t a fucking joke to me, so quit deflecting and tell me what I want to know!” I flinched back at his anger then demanded, “Why are you so pissed that I didn’t tell you that I’m in love with you? I have a right to hide things, Luke! It’s not like you feel- never mind, just let me take my medicine.”
He stepped in front of me and held a hand up as he said simply, “Finish what you were going to say. You know me so well, tell me what you were going to say.” I glanced up at him then murmured, “It’s not like you feel the same anyway.”
“But how would you know that? You’re dismissing me before you even give me the chance to tell you how I even feel! You think I’d take just someone to the dentist? I mean- fuck! I wish you’d just let me tell you how I actually feel instead of acting like I wouldn’t give you a second of my time. I’m in love with you, dammit!” he shouted, chest heaving. My jaw dropped as we stared at one another, silence settling over our living room, then he drew in a deep breath, hissing,”I wasn’t going to confess like this. You just riled me up so fast, dammit.”
“You're in love with me?” I croaked out, surprise taking over my anger. He drew in a deep breath, as if he was preparing to give a giant speech, then he whispered, “I’ve been in love with you since high school. I just thought that you only wanted to be friends.” I cupped his face and he leaned into me, pressing his forehead against mine then I mumbled, “I thought I never stood a chance. That’s why I never made a move. I was terrified of what would happen if you didn’t feel the same.”
“Two halves of a whole idiot on the same thing, I guess.” he replied, giving a small smile. I giggled and asked, “Would my other half give me a kiss then?” He gave me a gentle kiss then assured me, “The second that you’re all healed up, I’m going to kiss you so fucking hard.”
“You better keep that promise, pretty boy.”
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citrineghost · 3 years
Text
Avoiding Scams on Freelancing Sites
Hi there! I almost just got scammed today, and I’m going to take the LITTANY of red flags from this interaction and use it to teach you all about how to avoid scams.
I am not making very much money right now. I just lost one of the accounts I was writing for, so I am not not even making enough to pay my rent. So I am desperately looking for work. And, like many people desperately looking for work, my panicking subconscious is willing to see a red flag and brush it under the rug because
“I’m probably being paranoid.”
So, to all of my lovely artists, writers, editors, and other types of freelancers who are desperately looking for work, I would like to create a comprehensive list of things that you should NOT FUCKING IGNORE while looking for a job. Actually, the list will be formatted as things you should expect from your employer/interviewer and if these things are missing, get the fuck out of there.
1. Reputable Platforms
The first thing you should be expecting is to use reputable platforms. If you’re being asked for a virtual interview, you should expect your interviewer to invite you via Skype, Discord, (Maybe slack if they’re middle-aged), perhaps Whatsapp, or whatever website you’re using to find your job.
DO NOT go for interviews on Telegram. This app has been reported as very commonly being associated with scams. This is where my recent experience took place.
2. Willingness to Verify Legitimacy
The first thing you should do when being in contact with an interviewer or HR is ask them to verify their identity. 
This may not be necessary if doing a video call with someone pictured on an official company website, receiving emails or texts from addresses/numbers that are listed on an official company website, or if the job you’re being interviewed for was applied to directly on the company website. In these cases, you are not likely to be scammed, as you’re working with verifiably information.
If you meet someone on Indeed, Fiverr, Upwork, or any other freelancing/job site, keep your contact within the website’s chat system, email system, or whatever. This is how you remain protected under the hiring site’s TOS/Legal whatever. If you get scammed because you took your hiring process elsewhere, they will not help you.
That being said, if you DO take your interview off the site, it should be somewhere reputable and you should ask for your interviewer to verify their identity before doing literally anything else. The best way to get them to verify their identity is to ask them to email or text you from an address or phone number listed clearly on the official company website, by asking them to show you their state ID and checking it for photoshop influence, or by asking to do a video call for the interview and seeing for yourself that you’re being interviewed by someone who is pictured on the official company website as an employee.
3. Clear and Professional Procedures
Any professional working as an interviewer or human resources personnel will have a skillset related to communication and organization. When being interviewed you should expect a number of questions about your skills and how you’re valuable to the company, etc. However, this is easy to fake, as a scammer. What you need to look out for is that they show a clear amount of structure.
If you’re asked for an interview, no real company will demand you be quick about responding. If they’re interested in an interview, a legitimate company is not likely to ask you to do the interview immediately. They will ask you to schedule an interview time with them. They may ask if you have availabilities that day, but they will not just start interviewing you immediately.
After the interview, any professional company will tell you that they will get back to you when they’ve made a decision about your interview. No professional company will tell you to wait for an indefinite amount of time while they talk to HR peers. If a company Does want you to wait, because they intend to make a quick decision, they will give you an expected wait time, as that is the courteous and professional thing to do. They will not expect you to be on-call for this period of time. A time projection is simply to give you an idea of what to expect. For example, “I’ll be in touch within the next 1-3 hours about the results of your interview. Thank you for your time.”
Furthermore, if you are accepted for a job, any professional company will make a clear outline of exactly how they plan to introduce you into company life. They will respect your time and ask you to schedule things with them. For example, “Is there a period of 2-3 hours within the next few days where you would be available for an orientation?” 
No professional company will demand you do anything at any particular time. That is not how legitimate professionals treat new employees. You will be asked to schedule things with them. Even when you’re assigned work hours, if the exact hours you’re applying for are not listed in the job description you applied for, they will ask you to fill out some kind of time sheet to outline your availabilities, then schedule you for times within that outline.
4. Doesn’t Show Signs of Money Scamming
There are two major red flags when it comes to money scams. Your interviewer should never ask you what bank you use and your interviewer should never ever tell you they’re going to send you a check, unless they send your paycheck as a check.
One of the more common scams at the moment is run by people pretending to be members of legitimate companies, hiring freelancers for things like proofreading and editing. These remote positions may require home office hardware, right? The interviewer will tell you you’re missing some hardware and software that are required for the job. Then they’ll tell you that they will send a check that you can cash and use to buy the required materials.
This is even sketchier if they email you front and back images of the check and tell you to print it and then deposit it through mobile banking. The way this works is that, if you cash the check successfully, you will then buy the list of software, which is usually completely unrelated to the job you’re being hired for, then they will cancel the check, which hasn’t cleared completely. That leaves you with ~$2k dollars less in your bank and their money right back where it started in theirs. Presumably, the scammers are the ones selling the software. So, that $2k dollars you just spent is also going into their bank account.
Professional companies will never offer to send you checks to buy products. If they have official hardware or software that they want you to use, they will buy it themselves and then send it to you. There is never a reason why a new hire should buy hardware or software out of their own bank, whether they have been given money for it or not.
Furthermore, a legitimate company will never ever pay you before you have signed and sent your contract to them. One of the obvious giveaways of the scam I was almost caught in was that I was sent the contract last night and I asked if I could send it in today, since it was getting late. The interviewer agreed. I signed it in the morning and then asked him if I should send it in a reply to the email I got the original contract from or if there’s another email I need to send it to. He completely ignored my question, asked me how I was doing, and then went into the check-related information so I could buy software.
The issue was bothering me ALL DAY. I knew there was something extremely weird about that, so I asked again a few hours later. His response? “You have nothing to worry about.” ?????? I was aghast. I wasn’t worried at all! I just wanted an answer! If he had simply told me to respond to the email I’d gotten the contract from, I might have fallen for his scam! What a terrible scammer smdh
A Non-Exhaustive List of Other Red Flags
Your interviewer shows a poor grasp on the language
If your interviewer is making frequent grammatical errors that are glaringly obvious to any native speaker, that is a huge red flag. HR reps and interviewers are hired because of their communication skills. It is highly unlikely that someone who makes non-native-like errors is legitimate unless they are actually openly non-native, in which case, it’s not so alarming.
Your interviewer is showing impatience or demanding you at certain times
If your interviewer is telling you to “report back by 8am tomorrow” without any kind of prior agreement that this is an acceptable time for you to meet, that is extremely unprofessional and shows a lack of patience. Scammers want to get to the meat of their scam quickly and will use an air of professional superiority and authority to scare you into moving faster than necessary.
Your interviewer shows a lack of opening and closing statements
Along the lines of the clear processes that I mentioned above anybody who is initiating you in the job you’re taking should show clear opening and closing statements. What I mean by this is: professionals in human resources or management positions will not keep you as a social hostage. If you’ve been discussing how you’ll begin training or somesuch, they will not just leave you hanging. You should have a dedicated time slot where you will have your discussion and, at the end of it, your supervisor should make a closing statement. For example, “It looks like our time is running out for today. What would be a good time to pick this up tomorrow?”
If you feel like you are “on-call” and unable to leave the room because the interviewer or supervisor keeps messaging, has not outlined a time slot for you to talk in, won’t seem to let you go, or shows no indication of stopping, that is a really bad sign. Either the company is legitimate and TERRIBLE at professionalism (a great sign you should run anyway), or this is a scammer intent on getting you to follow their instructions as soon as they can.
Your interviewer ignores time zones or gets them wrong
When I was contacted about doing an interview yesterday, it was 4:30pm. I did the interview and was told I got the job. Immediately after, without asking if I was free, he began listing off instructions and things I was to expect. It wasn’t until 7:30pm that he sent me the contract and asked me to review it, sign it, and send it back that I finally asked if I could do that tomorrow. The interviewer was supposedly on the west coast and knew that I was on the east coast. He agreed by saying “Alright” and then told me to report to him “by 8am your time.”
There are 3 things about this that are weird. The first is that he demanded I show up at 8am to continue where we left off. Any professional would have asked when I’m available the next day to continue. the second is that he said “your time” instead of saying EST, as most professionals in the US would be apt to do. And, lastly, I showed up at 7:50am, ready to continue, because I’m that desperate that I’m willing to be pushed around, and he showed up at 9am on the dot. He had gotten the time wrong. Nobody who works professionally on the west coast is incapable of adding 3 hours to their time. It was a rookie mistake, or a mistake made by someone in a completely different time zone than they say they are.
When asked to verify their identity, your interviewer attempts to reassure you or refuses
When I finally was fed up and knew this must be a scam, I politely asked my interviewer to verify his identity by either showing me his US ID or by contacting me from his email or phone number listed on the official company website. He sent me a photoshopped nametag with a completely different person’s name and photo on it and said it was the company ID of the HR director. 
I have never seen a facade fall so pathetically. Why would literally any even remotely legitimate person do such a thing? It was sad, really. He deleted the message in less than a minute - no doubt to keep me from looking at it long enough to see how badly it was photoshopped - and then aggressively reassured me that the company meant me no harm and would pay for everything, etc. Any real professional would have simply sent me an email from the legitimate address, stating that they’re legitimate, and then continued on with the initiation process.
Learn from My Mistakes
I hope some of this was helpful for all of you lovely freelancers trying to find work. I thought I would know a scam when I saw one, and I did have a Bad Feeling about this whole thing, because it did feel too good to be true, but I was desperate enough that my judgement was heavily clouded, and that could happen to anyone.
Don’t ignore red flags - especially these ones. Stick up for yourself. Avoid confirmation bias. I looked things up repeatedly to confirm that the company was legitimate and that it’s normal to do things like mobile deposit a printed check and so on. Every time, I found an explanation that suited me. I even tried to cash the check. The only reason it didn’t work was because there was an error with the name on the check because I recently legally changed my name and PayPal was having some kind of issue updating in some areas of its website. It was after that that I realized this was all crashing down and I needed to reassess it all. Don’t let yourself get that deep into it.
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annabethy · 3 years
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Prompt: “This is a bad idea.” and I'm in the mood to read pregnancy fic?
in which annabeth is pregnant and bored, and percy is left to deal with her terrible, bone-breaking ideas,, percabeth
Annabeth must admit that being pregnant is rather boring. Especially when she’s stuck at home alone for a week while her husband’s busy at work.
She tries her best to occupy herself, but there’s only so much she can do when she’s in her third trimester, so it only takes forty-eight hours for the insanity to set in.
She lays in bed for hours on end, just scrolling through every form of social media she can find. There are a lot of them so it’s not difficult to find things that pique her interest. That includes finding very thorough videos on medical procedures she is less than qualified to be performing.
Annabeth comes to find that there’s a lot of videos of people cracking their backs and every other joint in their body, and it makes her laugh every single time she sees one. It’s probably the hormones if she’s being honest, but it doesn’t make her any less amused and desperate to try it out for herself.
Percy finds her like that, stuffed under piles of blankets that hides her stomach with her phone planted in front of her face. He stands in the doorway for a few moments, and she doesn’t notice him at first until he coos at her.
“It’s about time you got home,” Annabeth says, rolling over so that she’s facing him. She keeps the blankets wrapped around her shoulders as Percy sits in front of her.
“Hm.” Percy leans and presses a soft kiss to her forehead as he lets his thumb brush her cheek. “How are my girls?”
“Your girls are bored and want to try something with you.”
Percy groans, but the sparkle in his eyes gives him away. “Should I be worried?”
“Not at all,” she says. “I’ll be perfectly safe.”
Percy looks at her doubtfully. He squeezes her foot beneath the blanket in warning. “You notice how I never mentioned safety yet that’s the first thing you bring up? Makes me a little more worried if I’m being honest.”
“I saw it all over tiktok. It’ll be fine.”
Percy cracks a grin. “Oh? Because it’s on tiktok, you think it’s safe? Because I recall us almost burning the apartment down thanks to that app.”
Annabeth pouts, and he just laughs in her face. “Please?”
“Baby, you haven’t even told me what you wanted to do.”
“Okay, so there are these videos where someone lays on the floor and the other person gets on top of them—”
“Oh?”
“—and cracks their back.”
A beat passes between them. For a moment, she can’t read his face. He just stares at her for a good few second, and then…
“Absolutely not.”
“What? Why not?”
“I’m not a doctor! Do you want me to paralyze you?”
Annabeth whines. “But I’m pregnant and my back hurts.”
“You’re pregnant, and I’d rather not paralyze my wife.” Percy rolls his eyes fondly as she scowls at his refusal. He doesn’t even look the least bit guilty. “I can give you a massage?”
“I don’t want a massage, and it’s not like you can go more than five minutes before you end up giving me a…not massage.”
“How would you even lay on the floor with your belly that big?”
“What are you trying to say? I feel like you’re trying to say something mean.”
“I’m saying you’re pregnant,” he chastises. “Let’s do anything else. Just not that.”
Annabeth is about to argue, but then a new idea pops into her mind, and a devious grin morphs onto her face.
“Anything else?”
It seems that Percy realizes his dire mistake then.
That’s exactly how Percy ends up laying on the floor with Annabeth straddling his back. He’s too sweet for his own good, she thinks, having been willing to paralyze himself just so that she doesn’t have to.
Not that she’s going to paralyze him. She knows what she’s doing.
She hopes, anyways.
“Are you ready?”
“This is a bad idea.”
“This is a great idea,” she says. “Think about how much better you’re going to feel soon.”
“I’m more worried that I won’t be able to feel anything soon because my vision is going to turn black.”
“Better you than me, right?”
“You’re lucky I love you,” he breathes out. He reaches a hand behind him, his face still pressed against the ground, so he can grab her hand and squeeze. “Show me mercy, please?”
“I’m actually pretty mad at you right now, so I think I won’t. Thank you for the suggestion, though.”
Percy mutters something under his breath that she chooses to ignore as she lets go of his hand. Her hands begin running up and down the curve of his back while he tries to steady his breathing.
“I think I’m supposed to press here?” she questions out loud, pressing gently against the small of his back to show him. Her touch his gentle, but he jumps at it anyways.
Percy chokes. “Oh my god.”
“Should I count to three?”
“No, I’d rather not know when I’m going to lose all feeling,” he pleads.
And so she rubs his back a little bit more, contemplating whether this is actually a good idea. She decides to live vicariously through Percy, so she gives in and ends up pressing against his spine sharply.
A loud crack resounds throughout the room, and she can practically see the breath leave Percy’s body.
“Fuck!”
Annabeth tries to ask him if he’s okay, but she’s too busy laughing to the point that tears are welling in her eyes.
“I can’t breathe,” he chokes out, but his back his shaking in laughter of his own.
“Are–are you okay?” she manages, wiping at her eyes.
“I think I just saw god.”
“How did it feel?”
“It’s concerning when you can’t inhale,” he says, turning over so that his back is against the ground and, of course, out of her reach. “I thought I died for a second.”
“I think you should try it to me.”
Percy snorts and lets his hands reach up to grasp at her waist. “After that? Not a chance. I’m never listening to you again.”
“Not even if I say please?”
“When it comes to your tiktok chiropractic medical school? No.”
“But I thought you loved me,” she says, flicking his nose. He squirms a bit to get her hands away from his face but gives up when she just cups both his cheeks and leans down as much as she can so she can press a kiss to his lips.
“It’s because I love you and I want you to be safe,” he says against her. “Also because if I do it to you, you’ll want to do it to me again, and that’s something I never want to experience again.”
“Would you let me crack your neck instead?”
“Do you want to kill me? Have I been a bad husband? Is this just some big plot of revenge?”
“It’s revenge for leaving me home alone for the week while you work.”
“It’s supposed to be your vacation,” he says. “You’re supposed to rest.”
“Resting is for the weak.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he says. ��How about we make a deal?”
“Hm. Depends on what it is.”
“I’ll stay home with you, and we can do whatever you want as long as it doesn’t involve trying to break your back.”
Annabeth’s lips twitch. “Break my back or break my back?”
Percy taps her lightly on the cheek. “You’re being mean, so both.”
“Well, I did have a lot of time to look at other things we can do,” she relents, tilting her head innocently. He knows her well enough to know that it’s anything but innocent.
Percy pushes his way onto his elbows now, holding himself up like that. Her hands move to his stomach, and she can feel the muscles beneath his button-up that makes her bite her lip.
“You’ll really stay with me tomorrow?”
He holds his weight on one arm so the other hand can move beneath her chin. “If you’re going as crazy as you say you are, it’s probably for the best.”
“I’m going to show you crazy tomorrow, then.”
Percy laughs and kisses her once. “I look forward to it.”
True to her word, she does just that. The day is filled with disaster after disaster, but it’s also more than she’s laughed in a long time.
Who knew bad ideas could be so great?
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Yandere halloween ask yandere mad scientist! Bruno uses mind control chip to get darling to be the perfect spouse?
This ask right here made my mouth froth, I love Stepford wives so this ask just rolled along perfectly. Anyway enjoy!
This love
(Yandere mad scientist Bruno X female reader)
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You had always thought so highly of Dr Buccirati, you were his apprentice after all but there were times that you thought he just went a little too far with his work and this was one of them.
As he explained to you about how he made a chip that could modify an animal's behaviour. How the chip was planted in the rat's brain that you were holding.
"See (Y/n), look at how tame she is now" he said as he petted the poor creature's head.
"What do you intend to do with what you have learnt?" You asked with anger in your words.
"I intend to have the chip used to help with the conservation of the many animals that are close to being extinct. The animals will have the procedure and be put into captivity, they'll have no more issues with stress or aggressive behaviours which allows for them to be safely cared for and less risk during the reproduction cycle" he explained.
"So what you are saying is that you're going to be suppressing their natural survival instincts so they become domesticated?" You asked with a bitter taste on your tongue.
"That's exactly it, they'll have a safe place to repopulate and have nothing to worry about" he answered as he expressed his delight but it only made you grit your teeth in anger.
"I'm disgusted by what you are doing! You're essentially performing a lobotomy on these poor animals! You're playing god and taking away the emotions of a living creature!" You yelled at him.
"I've helped you work on some crazy things before… but I cross the line here!" You continued as you put the rat down in her cage before folding your arms at Bruno.
"Come on (y/n), you're overreacting… what I'm, no what we are working on is going to change history. So many species will be saved from becoming extinct. we will be two of the greatest scientific minds the world has ever know" he held your shoulder and lightly massaged it as he tried to convince you that there was no wrong in it.
"I don't know why you insist that this is a joint effort but I don't want anything to do with it, if people figure out how it works then it won't be long before this is used on humans… how many corrupt governments do you think would love to have this kind of technology used on their own people?" You rebuttal.
you glared at Bruno as you could see his usually calm demeanor wearing thin. He had his hands gripping his short black locks.
"(Y/n) the truth is that I love you, more than I could love anyone else. I want you to be by my side and I want you to be my equal…" he as his grip on you grew tighter.
"You are so intelligent and so beautiful… I just want you to do your best" he continued.
You pulled away the male with a shocked expression plastered on your face.
"Bruno… I didn't know you felt that way about me but I'm afraid I don't share the same feelings, I just don't think the chemistry is there between us" you told him before you headed to your bedroom.
🧪🧪🧪
You had decided you needed to cut ties from Bruno and finally begin your own work. You don't think anything could keep you working with him now. You began to pack your clothes back into your suitcase.
"(Y/n) are you planning on leaving now?" He asked as he rested himself against the door frame, he seemed to have recollected himself but to you something was off about his almost carefree tone.
"I intend to leave tomorrow" you said as you sat on your bed and folded your clothing.
"Don't you think you're blowing this out of proportion, can't we put the breaks on just talk about this over some tea..." he said as he slowly drew closer to you.
"I understand that you're upset and I didn't make things much better" he continued calmly before violently grabbing your hand causing you to fall back onto the bed before you heard a metallic click. You screamed as you tried to pull your hand back to find it was handcuffed to the head of the bed.
"What the hell?!" You screamed at Bruno who was now on top of you.
"I'm sorry that it had to come to this but I can't let you leave" he said.
"I love you too much to let you go… you're too good for this world" he continued.
You felt your stomach twist horribly and your vocal cords seize up. Your eyes were wide with horror.
"I dealt with my unrequited love for so long, I tried to just to put my feelings aside for you but I feel like if I keep it up any longer I'll explode" he rambled you tried to push him with your free hand but he was quick to hold it down.
🧪🧪🧪
It had been a month since he'd locked you up. You were curled up with your knees to your chest, you could see every little mark he'd ever left on your body, you still felt the sting that each love bite left on your skin. Today was cold and the chain and cuff around your ankle made it worse as you shivered in a silk nightgown.
You flinched as you heard the front door open. You had hoped that maybe that was anyone but Bruno, someone that could free you from this place. You heard a pair of footsteps draw closer, your hope dying as the same pattern tore into your brain… you knew he was home.
"(Y/n) I'm home" his voice was cheerful as he opened the door.
"I'm sorry I was later than usual… I found so many things I thought you'd like" he explained as he walked in with a large bag in his hand before placing it on the bed. You were hesitant to look but his sapphire eyes stared at you in anticipation, making your skin crawl.
You grabbed the bag and the first thing you pulled out was a 50s style white and black polka dotted dress. You looked at Bruno with a forced smile on your face.
"Bruno this is really nice but I've never really been a fan of dresses" you told him. He didn't respond. You pulled out another similar dress before picking out various boxes with golden jewelry till there was one more box inside, however it was rectangular in shape unlike the others. You pulled it out only to gasp in horror as you gazed upon the packaging of a pregnancy test. You looked back at him.
At this point you knew something was wrong, your stomach was telling you.
"What's going on?" You asked him with shakey words.
"I just need you to take it" he responded.
"Why?" 
"I need to know whether or not you're pregnant, it's urgent"
"Urgent, what's urgent?!" You yelled at him.
"You're being extremely vague, it's scaring me" you replied, unsure of what was so urgant. You really hoped you weren't, having to live knowing your child was of his blood.
"Just take it please, wouldn't you like to know as well?" He begged.
You had a bad feeling about this but if you knew now then you could try to do something about it if it did come back positive. You let out a defeated sigh as you unboxed the test.
"See you didn't need to make such a big deal about it dear" he said in a light hearted tone as he walked towards the bed and unlocked the shackle on your leg and allowed you to go to the bathroom.
You felt the relief wash over you as you saw the results. It was negative, perhaps you were getting yourself all worked up.
"(Y/n) dearest, what's the results?" Bruno asked from outside the bathroom door. You opened it and showed him, his eyes lit up with joy as he hugged you which was very odd indeed, you assumed he'd had baby fever… if that was the case shouldn't he be disappointed.
You recoiled as you felt a sharp jab on the inner side of your elbow. You saw the now empty syringe in his hand.
"What are you doing?!" You screamed as you stumbled back from his grasp. He looked at the syringe and let out a content hum before his eyes returned to you.
He contemplated on whether he should tell you or not but at this point you couldn't do anything to stop him so there was no point in hiding it.
"I remember back on the night you tried to leave fondly, in hindsight you gave me the most brilliant idea" he explained.
"That whole talk on how my chip could work on humans was really inspiring, so I'm going to do just that… if you won't love me like this, then I can just make you love me" he continued as a smile grew on his lips.
The shock hit you as he explained it all, it horrified you to imagine it. It shook you to the very core. Everything else seemed like a luxury in comparison to losing everything.
"Bruno, please don't do this! I love you so much!" You screamed as you draped your body over him.
"My dear I love you so much… I'll stay with you forever… I'll give you as many children as you want, please oh please don't do this!" You were practically sobbing as you tried to pull on his strings.
"I'll do anything for you, anything at all!" You continued as you felt everything becoming numb, he had you in his hands and he could do anything he wanted to you.
"Please Bruno, we can put this all behind us and start over… you never imprisoned me, you never did those things to me… we can be the happiest couple!" You pleaded to him as your eyelids grow heavy.
"Please… please… I won't be the same person you feel in love with if you do this…" your screams turned into a mutter and as you tried to fight off the deep abyss of unconsciousness you swore you could see a glimpse of your whole life with every slow blink.
🧪🧪🧪
"What you've made is amazing Bruno, you should be proud of your work" the man in front of Bruno complimented his work.
"Thank you sir, to be honest I wouldn't be here showing you this if it wasn't for my wonderful wife" he said as he beamed with joy.
"Oh, your wife must be an amazing woman to help you" the man replied.
"Yes she is. She always gave me the right idea when I was unsure, she'd be here with us right now if it weren't for the upcoming baby. She's just been so ecstatic about it since we found out" he stated as he had his head in his hand. He was over the moon with joy, he couldn't talk to someone without bringing up the fact that he was going to be a father soon.
"Oh congratulations, how long till it's due?" The male congratulated him.
"Oh it's close, we're expecting around October… It's hard to imagine that I'll be a father in two months"
"And how's the lucky lady feeling about this? My wife was pretty worried before our first" he asked.
"Oh she's been great, she's been taking it all in stride. I haven't seen her sick or having any mood swings like what most of us tend to expect" Bruno chuckled as he slumped back into his chair.
"We should probably get back on topic… I should probably explain how these chips work in detail"
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wonlouvre · 3 years
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pairing: doctor!wonwoo x lawyer!female oc genre: modern royalty, arranged marriage, fluff and future angst word count: 3.4k WARNINGS: ANGST (i think it’s just minor though), police and prosecution procedures (someone gets arrested).
a/n: disclaimer!! once again, i am in no way well-versed with investigations and trial procedures. please correct me i have made any mistakes. and!! if you noticed, i made revisions at part 7. our boo seungkwan is a prosecutor at the supreme prosecutor’s office instead of the justice department. they’re completely different agencies. anyway, this part will either make or break our couple. please send me what you think!! i hope you enjoy <3
eight: for all the wrong reasons | masterlist
Whatever you’re doing right now would probably go against Seungkwan’s superior’s orders and oath to the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office. But does he care? He doesn’t. Is he scared? He’s not. He never was, unless he’s engaging in something definitely illegal. Well, speaking about a particular case outside the circle of his office in the first place is already illegal. But you are inside and within the office already. Seungkwan will take care of the consequences later
Seungkwan is simple and quick enough to suggest meeting with you at the conference room of their building. He knows you and how much you want to know about this case. This is just a favor he’s returning because he’s grateful that the information you have about the victims made him one step closer to solving and ending this nightmare. 
The prosecutor also invited Wonwoo which could only mean that there are matters that involve the neighboring kingdom and that made you worry. It’s already shameful that this is happening within your kingdom’s territory. But to harm the people of the neighboring kingdom is a different kind of shame and disgust. Everything about this is shameful and disgusting. 
You could go straight to Their Majesties and talk about this, but the Prime Minister already released a statement earlier this morning to appease the public. After much colorful words and apologies, the Royal Family has pledged to cooperate in any investigation and invitation to the court. If you’re being honest, that’s good to hear. If you’re being a lawyer, that only means someone is guilty. 
Seungkwan is currently connecting his laptop to the projector in the background and as he’s about to finish, you can’t help but feel nervous. You were playing with your fingers when Wonwoo placed his hand on yours. He seems to have taken note of your actions whenever you feel a certain way and following that, he seems to finally know how to react to them.
It’s a relief that he’s here even though he shouldn’t have to. More than anyone else, you’re ashamed to be in front of Wonwoo. Ever since you met Jung and Sam, Wonwoo has been nothing but supportive and faithful. Although he has always been, it just got amplified this time around. You ask yourself, if you were to be with someone potentially involved in a crime syndicate, would you stay? Would you believe in them? Would you fight with them? 
You also wish you could ask Wonwoo that. But, a big part of you is afraid to know the obvious answer.
“Are you okay?” Wonwoo asks and the squeeze he gives your hand frees your mind from the scary thoughts plaguing it.
You squeeze his hand back and nod. “Yeah. Just a little tired.”
Wonwoo doesn’t press you any further and just nudges the strands of hair that’s been tickling your eyes. 
It’s right then Seungkwan clears his throat and takes his stand at the podium. “Good morning, Your Highness.”
You sit up straight and lean your elbows on the desk, all ears for what he has to say. 
“Tomorrow, at 12:00 in the afternoon, the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office together with the Justice Department will release a joint statement regarding this case. Today, I will brief you with the findings and facts of the initial investigation because I know we are all curious,” he starts before pressing the next arrow key on his laptop. “After this meeting, however, I won’t be able to disclose to you the developments of this case anymore because a week from now, the first trial will be held.
“I have requested the presence of His Highness, Prince Wonwoo, for this is something that concerns his people,” he continues to flash the next slide, “It has been confirmed by Immigration that the prime suspects and victims are citizens of the neighboring kingdom. The prosecution has already requested to Their Majesties of the neighboring Kingdom to grant us the right to investigate and try the prime suspects within our jurisdiction before we deport them. The request was granted and the prosecution is given 94 days to do what we should and what we can.”
You turn to Wonwoo to gauge his reaction. He meets your eyes and just nods, telling the two of you that the presentation can go on. You bring your attention back to Seungkwan and he proceeds to the next slide. 
“According to the orphanage, the victims were adopted earlier this year with complete and legal documents. So we can understand that technically, they weren’t smuggled,” he explains and points at the mentioned documents flashed on the screen. “Right now, we are investigating the following departments: Trade and Industry, Immigration, and Justice. Alongside with that, we are also investigating the orphanage, the Cabinet and,” a brief pause, “the Royal Family.”
The Royal Emblem flashed on the screen and it didn't look as moral as it used to when Seungkwan ended his presentation. You have no basis to make such claims, but you can’t be blamed either. You want to cry and scream because the anger is too much to bear. But you swallow everything and remain silent. 
“We understand that Her Highness expressed her desire to represent the victims, however the court cannot allow that,” Seungkwan says regretfully before announcing, “We would like to inform you that you could be summoned one of these days,” he then turns to Wonwoo,  “Furthermore, the victims will be interviewed and we ask His Highness to let Social Services take care of them. We respect your attachment and concern for them, but it is of utmost importance that they are in our custody.”
Wonwoo complies with a nod and asks one last question, “Is it confirmed that it’s a violation of the Protection of Children against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act?” 
Seungkwan nods and sighs, dejected. “The prime suspects are making it difficult, but we’re sure that it is.”
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“Don’t you have to go back to the hospital today?” You ask Wonwoo while you drape your coat on your office chair. 
“I took the day off,” he answers and makes himself comfortable on one of the couches. 
You nod and press the on button of your computer. “I’d love you to stay, but I mean it when I say that you won’t have a blast lounging here.”
Wonwoo laughs and the sound of it makes you smile. You watch him lean his head back against the soft cushion and close his eyes. You’re sure he’s thinking about it as much as you do. And it’s only making him even more tired than he already is. You breathe out a sigh and amble your way to take the space beside him. 
“Go home and sleep,” you whisper and gingerly tap his cheek. 
Wonwoo holds your wrist and nestles his face close to your palm. He opens his eyes shortly after and his gaze has got you blinking in surprise, making him grin. You give his cheek a playful pinch to which he groans against.
You only let go when he sits up straight and turns his body to you. He takes your hands and pulls you closer, your knees touching his.  “I’m actually going home, home tonight.”
You stiffen, aware of where this conversation is going. “Oh.”
“My family wants me present as they discuss this whole case,” he says while his fingers stroke the back of your hand. “It won’t be long though. Three days tops.”
You silently nod, keeping your eyes at your intertwined hands. You don’t have any recollection of talking about your engagement ring. It doesn’t have any history with Wonwoo’s ancestors of some sort. But, you know that he chose it with his father. It’s a stainless steel silver band, no diamond visible. But the words for eternity engraved on the inner portion is made of it. 
You’re suddenly afraid that the shine is already tarnished and you’d have to remove it. 
The two of you don’t need to admit and say everything out loud. But, your engagement is already tested and whatever the court rules is crucial for the survival of your relationship. You’re already uneasy because you don’t see yourself letting go of Wonwoo. You can’t let go of Wonwoo. But now he’s going home and you’re not so confident in what his parents would say. 
What if they don’t deem you fit to marry their Crowned Prince anymore?
“I have something to give you.” Wonwoo lets go of your one hand to pull out something from his pocket, making you bring your gaze back at him. He holds it in a fist and flips your other hand with your palm upwards. You were looking into his eyes when something cold met the warmth of your skin. 
It’s a necklace. 
“A promise of my return,” he says and fold your palms, your turn to hold it in a fist. “I know a lifebuoy doesn’t symbolize that, but you get my point.”
His wit relaxes the tensed atmosphere, making you giggle. “Thank you. I love it.”
Wonwoo regards you with a fond smile and slowly leans close to your face, the tip of his nose bumping against yours before finally pressing a tentative kiss on your lips. One peck, followed by a second and on the third he holds your jaw to continue. Your whole body grows hot as his kisses deepen and you kiss him back with the same fervor. It didn’t take long for him to nip and swipe his tongue at your bottom lip, a plea to allow him to kiss you further. You yield and your heart has never beat so fast. 
You clutch the necklace he gave you against his chest while your other hand smooths against his neck. Every day that you’re with Wonwoo, you wish for it to never end. Whenever he holds your hand, keeps you close by an arm around your waist and breathlessly kisses you; you want them always. You want him. You lov---
You stop yourself right there because you’re not ready to take the fall. 
At the same time, Wonwoo hesitantly pulls away from your lips but his forehead remains against yours. “Wait for me?” he whispers, lips still grazing yours. 
You seal your yes with another kiss.
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Jeongyeon holds her breath as she waits for your next question. You called her to your office to have an impromptu quiz game. This is not a traditional occurrence at your law firm but you figured that it wouldn’t be a waste of time to review your paralegal as the case is still on-going and the three day leave of your fiancé ends today.
“According to the Mining Act, foreigners are allowed to invest in mining activities of the kingdom. True or false?”
“I know this!” Jeongyeon shouts and raises her hand, asking for a moment. “False?”
You grin and give her a thumbs up. “Correct!”
“Yes!” She jumps and punches her fist up in the air. 
So far, she hasn’t given a single wrong answer and that makes you proud. You watch her dance excitedly around your office when your phone suddenly vibrates inside your pocket. Letting go of your questionnaire, you take it out and the message on the screen brings a smile on your face. 
j.ww: will be back tonight. dinner?
: can’t say no to that.
Wonwoo never failed to send you text messages or give you calls the past three days he was gone. They were always brief, but enough to assure you that you’re always on his mind. It’s a little corny for your age, but you can’t deny it gave you a sense of peace and security. It made your heart flutter as well but you’ll never say it out loud. 
Finally, he’ll be back tonight. You missed him so much and him not coming back didn’t fail to cross your mind each day. You’re hoping whatever he may have discussed with his parents concluded on a positive note. 
“Your Highness?” 
When you look up, you didn’t expect a tall man, wearing an all black suit, with sunglasses covering his eyes to greet you. You stand properly and put your phone back inside your coat pocket. 
“He didn’t have an appointment,” Jeongyeon sheepishly says. “But he insisted.”
The stranger removes his shades and gives you a smile. “Good day, Your Highness. My name is Kim Mingyu and I wish to seek your legal advice.”
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“So Mr. Kim, you want to start a business in our kingdom?”
Kim Mingyu is from the neighboring kingdom who’s apparently rich enough to venture to different kingdoms to expand his business and well, make himself richer. Foreigners are welcomed and allowed to establish their business here so long as they abide by the laws of the land. You have had foreign clients of that kind before, asking how to navigate around without facing legal disputes.
Some are nice and genuine, some are the opposite.
Kim Mingyu seems to be the latter.
Mingyu shakes his head as he sips at the iced water he requested. You can hear the ice cubes crushing as he chews on them and you’re regretting not declining his request for a consultation. This man exudes nothing but conceit and you honestly don’t have the time to stroke his ego. He chugs the whole glass before leaning his arms on the table. Meanwhile, you stayed composed with your back straight even though you’re starting to grow irritated at his actions. 
“No, Your Highness,” he answers. “I already have a business here.”
Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Then, what do you require my services for?”
He leans back on the chair again and crosses his arms. “I just want to improve it, but in a legal kind of way.”
“Okay,” you say under your breath, unsure if he’s bluffing you or not. “May I ask what’s your business, Mr. Kim?”
“Mining.”
A stunned silence befalls between the two of you. Is he serious?
“Mr. Kim, you have a mining business in this kingdom?” You try to clarify because maybe you heard him wrong. 
He gives you a high and mighty nod, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. 
“Foreigners are not allowed to engage in mining activities in this kingdom, Mr. Kim,” you remind him, your tone cold.
He shrugs his shoulders and gives you a sinister smirk. “It’s not that hard when you have someone powerful allowing it.”
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You are numb and in denial. 
Kim Mingyu is messing with your head, you try to make excuses to keep yourself sane as you run to the car and tell the driver to head straight to the Royal Residences. You don’t even know who that guy is. You don’t have any confirmation of his identity at all. He’s just stirring you up to get a reaction from you. You can’t be vulnerable and you’ll never be. The only way to do that is to stay rational and ask the people he mentioned yourself. 
Your phone is attached to your ear as you wait for Seungkwan to answer. He’s taking rather a while to answer than he used to but it’s okay. You just need to tell him your so-called visitor’s name earlier and maybe he can tell you something, anything, that can ease the growing fear inside your system.
“Your Highness,” he finally answers, just in time when the driver stops at the entryway of the house. You can hear someone shouting from the other line, but you ignore it.
“Seungkwan, do you perhaps know a guy named Kim MIngyu?” You ask and walk your way through the opened and unguarded doors. Odd, you thought, but you ignored it again and continued sprinting to the receiving area. “He was at my office earlier saying some crap about illegal mining, can you loo---”
Handcuffs.
And dozens of men in uniform surrounding your father, The King, made you stop on your tracks. 
“Y/N, I need you to listen to me.” 
But you can’t because this one man with a piece of paper held by one of his hands is talking to your father.
“His Majesty, King XXX, you are under arrest for aiding and allowing the presence and access of foreign nationals and businesses to the mineral resources of this Kingdom, a violation of the Mining Act of 19xx. You have the right to an attorney and in the event that you don’t, the Kingdom will provide you one. You have the right to remain silent and if you waive your right, anything you say can be used for or against you in court.”
 “Y/N?”
You heard what the Royal Police said, loud and clear. You also saw how your father stood up and comply, surrendering his hands to the man holding the handcuffs. When he finally raises his head and meets your eyes, your arm weakens making you drop your phone. Your father shows you a tight smile and quick nod, a false promise that everything will be okay.
You watch, frozen, as they take your father away and all you can hear is the sobs of your mother who couldn’t do anything to save her husband.
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The very moment the press took hold of your father’s quiet arrest, it became a mess outside of the residences. News reporters from various broadcasting stations have positioned themselves in front of the camera, making use of your home as their background as they tell the whole nation about the downfall of The King. 
Seungkwan’s words were frantic but painfully true. He has informed you that the prime suspects have dropped the names of every public figure involved in their crime and yes, that includes your father. They were able to present strong evidence in a short period of time, turning the tables and causing chaos at the prosecution. 
Seungkwan told you to stay put and let the Prime Minister do his job. But he wasn’t able to tell you that everything is under control and that your father may just be falsely accused. 
Because he’s not. 
You can see from the window that civilians have joined the crowd and they are livid. You haven’t said a word, you haven’t sat down, you haven’t done anything since you arrived. Your mother is inconsolable and all of the crying has exhausted her, making her faint. If it’s a mess outside what more inside this house with nothing but an eerie silence that’s crumbling you down. 
Eventually, your family will have to face the people you swore to serve with nothing but honesty. When that time comes, will you even have a face to show? Will you have the strength to see their disappointment and distrust? 
What about Wonwoo? What would he think of your father whom he respected? What about his parents who regarded your family with high praises? You tightly gripped on the necklace Wonwoo gave you as you imagined the endless scenarios that could likely end everything. You tightly gripped onto the lifebuoy pendant, holding onto what is left if there’s still at all.
“Your Highness, Prince Wonwoo has arrived.”
Wonwoo looked like he was dragging his whole body from how tired he has been over the past three days. But his pace quickened when he finally saw you. He drops his bag and coat with a resounding thud on the floor and races to meet you halfway and take you in his arms.
His firm embrace swept you off your feet and the only thing that’s helping him to breathe your scent is your arms locked around his neck. 
“What did Seungkwan say? I only heard about it on my way here.” Wonwoo removed his arms from your waist and opted to rub your arms who grew limp by your sides. 
“He couldn’t disclose the full details,” you answer and your head hangs low in humiliation. “My father will be dethroned and worse, imprisoned.”
Wonwoo couldn’t say anything to comfort or correct you and it’s okay. He wants to but you tell him through your eyes that he doesn’t have to. You have thought about it already. You have accepted your father’s fate and most importantly, the fate of your marriage. Wonwoo and his family doesn’t deserve to be entangled with your family’s disgraceful incompetence and lies. 
Maybe you and Wonwoo were betrothed for all the wrong reasons.
So with hot tears streaming down your face and heartbreak tearing you apart, you ask him again. 
“Do you really want to marry me Wonwoo?”
251 notes · View notes
imagines-r-s · 3 years
Text
sticking it
chapter 9 
a/n: idk why this chapter took so long, but here it is. for reference - in gymnastics, US Championships are the last meet before Olympic Trials, they’re a two day competition. any feedback is welcome. i’m kinda upset that this series (or at least this part) is almost done, but there is more to come with this series i promise. also had to repost bc it wasn’t showing up in the tags 
taglist: @butgilinsky @barbienoturbby @sunsetholland @lovenhlboys @sortagaysortahigh @hockey-racing-fubol @oopsiedoopsie23 @iwantahockeyhimbo @dreamsndior @itsurgirlgracie @heartshapedkissxs @lwstuff @handwrittenheroes
warnings: uh, i don’t think there’s anything, but if i miss something just let me know (the jamie mentioned is jamie oleksiak, not j b*nn)
sticking it masterlist
wc: 5.8
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(not my gif)
“Are you sure that you have everything?” Joel asked for the twentieth time in the past hour, “we can run back to yours if you need anything else”
“I feel like you’re just trying to get me to stay with you longer,” you said, skeptically.
“Is it working?”
“No, Bee, I have to leave at some point,”  you said, putting another bag of yours in his car,”I won’t be gone long.”
“Yeah, but you’ll be closer to the Stars and that has me worried,” he said, causing you to chuckle. 
“You worried about Seggy? Or Roope? Or Big Rig? Or Mi-”
“Okay, I get it.”
“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it, I love you and only you, shawty. Besides, I can only tolerate Texas weather for so long,” you said, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek.
“I love you, too, shawty,” he paused,”Wait,- that was rude.”
After packing the last of your bags into the car, you made your way to the airport to meet Marcus and Michelle. Once you arrived at the airport, Joel parked the car before the two of you headed into the airport. The four of you caught up for a while before Marcus suggested giving you and Joel time to say goodbye. 
“Is this how it feels when me and the guys leave for the road?” Joel asked, softly. 
“Yeah,” you said, smiling sadly. 
“Well, good thing I’m the one on the road all the time, I mean, I don’t like leaving you, but when I’m leaving it’s a different feeling, you know.”
“Well glad it makes you happy, buddy.”
“Did you just buddy me?” Joel asked, incredulously. 
“Did I?” you asked, laughing as Joel gasped in shock.
“Wow, I see how it is. I’ll remember that.”
“Go ahead, babe. Remember it however you want,” you paused when you saw the sad look on his face, reaching to hold his face in your hands, “hey, I’m only a text away, I might not be right here, but I will answer as soon as I can and we’ll facetime as much as you want these next few days.”
Joel nodded before looking up and seeing Marcus and Michelle headed your way, “we hate to cut this short, but we have to get going pretty soon.”
“I know I asked, but do you really have to go?”
“Yeah, Bee, I really have to go.”
“You better kick ass out there or else you’re just leaving for nothing,” he said, jokingly, “but honestly, I wish you the best of luck - I know you don’t need it, but I’ll say it anyway. Make sure to tell Nicole I said good luck and please make sure to wipe that smug look off Kathryn's face. Okay?”
“Yeah, of course,” you said, wrapping your arms around him as he pressed kiss to the top of your head. “I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you, too, but if you don’t go, the only thing you’ll be missing is your flight.”
“Wow, Bee, you are so funny.” 
“Well, one of us has to be the funny one in the relationship. Your mom jokes only get you so far far in life, babe,” he said, causing you to elbow him in the stomach. 
“I’m leaving now. I love you and I will text you when I land,” you leaned up for a quick goodbye kiss before grabbing your carry-on bag and heading to your gate. You avoided looking back, knowing that if you did, both of you wouldn’t let the other leave. 
“I think you chose a good one,” Marcus said once the three of you had sat down. 
“What?” you asked, shocked. 
“Joel. He seems like a good guy. He clearly cares about you and I can see that you care a lot about him, too. He clearly makes you happy,” Marcus added. 
Heat rushed up your face, to which you simply looked out the window, “yeah, he’s a good guy.”
“A cute one, too,” Michelle interrupted. 
“Yes, that too. But Michelle, you better lay off,” the three of you laughed as the flight attendants started to announce the safety procedures for your flight. The three of you did your own thing the rest of the flight: Marcus planning out how podium training would go, Michelle analyzing your routines, and you sleeping.
“Alright, so as soon as we land, we get luggage and go to our hotel. There is a small media event tomorrow morning before podium training, then podium training, then probably some more media. You will have the rest of the night to do whatever, I know you’ll probably go see your Dallas friends and that’s fine, just make it back in time. Then, Friday is the first day of competition, Saturday is the second day, then we have some free time Sunday,” Marcus read off to you, even with you half asleep. 
“Sounds lovely,” you grumbled. 
…..
“So, y/n, with your injury being a top priority, how different have practices been since you are still somewhat in recovery?” one of the journalists asked. You had stayed prepared for a multitude of questions having to do with your injury, so this question had an easy response.
“I would say, it’s definitely a totally new experience. I’ve had to tailor my focus to other aspects of this sport since the start of my recovery, whether that be drills, more conditioning, or changing up my routines. My team and I definitely have figured out what things work and what doesn’t and we continue to learn as I continue training,” you answered, swiftly. 
“Now obviously, you were the highest scorer in most of your competitions, even before your injury, how has competition changed for you? And what has inspired you to train harder?” another journalist asked. 
“I have to say, competition is slightly more nerve-wracking than before. I mean getting injured at a major competition definitely changes perspective for all aspects of it. I feel that I have to be more cautious when performing, whereas before I would just go with the motions. Something that’s inspired me has been that my competitors have continued training, I have a fair amount of competition - all of which are excellent athletes - which has helped motivate me a lot, but I also have an amazing support system back home who have made sure to give me that extra motivation when I need it,” you smiled. 
“Now, having to deal with that support system at home, who and how have they influenced your decisions of your journey through recovery?” which was the first question that made you smile. 
“Well first, a huge shoutout to my family, especially my cousin, Kevin. Without his support, I wouldn’t have ever tried to get back in the gym, he’s been there this whole time and I couldn’t be more grateful. Um, my coaches were so supportive of my comeback; my physical trainor, Adrian, who told me all the doctors were wrong and gave me the reality checks I needed; the whole Philadelphia Flyers roster and their families cheered me on the whole time, especially my boyfriend, Joel Farabee. My friends, my teammates, all of them pushed me where I needed to be,” you said, gratefully. 
“Thank you for your time, y/n. We wish you the best of luck this weekend,” the main announcer said to you before you went off to podium training. 
Marcus and Michelle had both told you only to warm up simplified versions of your routine, so that you could bring shock factor when you were actually performing. You had upgraded almost all of your tumbling back to where it was before injury, but no one needed to know that besides you and those in your gym. Podium training had gone very well, better than you had anticipated, so you were looking forward to how championships would go. 
As you packed up your gym bag and grabbed your phone, you saw all the messages you had from the Flyers group chat you had somehow found your way to. 
Bee: did you guys see that too?
Tiki Bar: if we are talking about the same thing, i think we did.
Patti Lapone: did she actually say nice things about us?
Kev: i really think the texas heat is getting to her already
G: she’s probably just feeling under the weather about competition, otherwise we might want to check if she is okay
Scotty: i think i misheard or i got hit in the head and didn’t realize it
Frosty: hell has frozen over
Bee: haha. frost. frozen. get it
Tiki Bar: beezer. 
G: i’ll make you do laps if you make another frost joke
Laughing at the texts in the group chat in reaction to your interview, you simply typed up a simple response: this is what i get when i’m nice, now you know why i’m not like this all the time. 
Luckily for you, you didn’t have to do any media after podium training, so you were able to leave whenever you wanted to. After checking with Marcus and Michelle, you made sure it was alright that you went off to go see Tyler and the rest of the guys. Assuming that they would be at practice, after changing out of your leo, you took the drive to the Stars practice facility.
Having come to Fort Worth so much for gymnastics and Dallas for a few hockey games, you had run into some of the Stars roster on multiple occasions. By the third time you had ran into them, and this time ran into was a very literal statement, you had exchanged social medias and most of the roster kept an eye out for any updates in your gymnastics career. During your recovery, the whole team constantly asked for updates about how you were and how gymnastics was going. 
Once you parked, you quietly made your way inside - not wanting to interrupt the practice. There were a few officials walking around, but most either paid you no mind or recognized you from times before you had been here. Walking towards the rink, your eyes settled on the boys doing laps for the last part of practice. It wasn’t until most of the guys were only talking and about to get off the ice that they noticed you. 
Tyler was the first to notice you, smiling and waving towards you, which caused most of the team to follow where he was looking and notice you. As the team headed to the locker room to change, you simply waited on one of the benches for them.
“I feel like you only came all this way to see my dogs,” Tyler said, making his way towards you. 
“No, I would never do such a thing, I obviously came here to say hi to you,” you stood up to give him a hug. 
“Mhm, whatever you say. Didn’t you have podium training today? How’d it go?”
“Well, it went pretty well actually. I did a few of my dismounts, but kept most of my landings safe just to be careful. But other than that everything went well.”
“As long as you kick ass tomorrow, I’m fine,” he said, honestly, “do you have anything else to do for the rest of the day or did you just come to say hi?”
“Well, I have no plans for the rest of the day, but I don’t want to intrude on any team plans.”
“You know you would never be intruding on anything with us, even if you are dating a Flyer,” Jamie O said from behind you. 
“God, Jamie, what the fuck? Where’d you come from?”
“Your mom’s house,” he said, earning a fist bump from Tyler. 
“I can’t even be upset, that was a good one,” you smiled as Jamie hugged you,”and don’t bring Joel into this.”
“My condolences.”
“Condolences? No one died?” you questioned.
“You are dating someone that plays for the Flyers,” Tyler said. 
“Damn, that’s harsh,” you replied. 
“Anyways, moving on. Me and a few other guys were coming over to mine for lunch and to hangout, if you want to come you are welcome to,” Tyler said to which you simply nodded. 
“Is that who I think it is?” another familiar voice rang out, causing you to whip your head around to see Roope and Jake heading your way. 
“Well, if you thought it was me, then you would be correct, my friend,” you retaliated. 
“I’m surprised they let you in here, considering you are dating a Flyer,” Otter said, jokingly. 
“Quit bringing the fact that I’m dating Bee into the conversation.”
“At least Nicole is in the safe zone,” Roope said, causing your eyes to widen, “y/n. What was that?”
“What was what?” you questioned as Roope simply narrowed his eyes.
“You did the thing.”
“What are you talking about, bestie?” 
“Oh, you have a habit of your face changing when you know something that will ruin the whole perspective or something or if you know a secret that will change the entire story. Very entertaining and concerning that you didn’t know,” Tyler added. 
“Um, well, didn’t expect to be psychoanalyzed by a bunch of hockey players today, but here we are.”
“Ok, I think we should head to mine and then, we can continue psychoanalyzing you,” Tyler suggested to which you all agreed. Roope, who had gotten a ride from Tyler in the morning, immediately hopped into your car as soon as you unlocked it. 
“What’s up with Nicole?” he asked as soon as you started driving. 
“What happened to hello? How are you?” you joked. 
“Listen, I’m asking now because I don’t want to talk about this with the guys there. But what did you mean?” he said, causing you to take a deep breath. It wasn’t like Roope and Nicole were ever together, but it was always an unspoken fling of sorts, that they never made official. 
“Look,-”
“Please, just tell me what’s happening,” he pleaded.
“Nicole and Nolan are sort of together,” you rushed out, causing a moment of silence to break out. You didn’t know what to expect as a reaction, considering they weren’t official and hadn’t really talked since the last time you and her were in Texas.
“Is she happy?” 
“Yeah, she’s happy.”
“Okay, that’s all I care about,” he said simply, which made your heart almost break for one of your closest friends. 
…..
Being able to spend time with some of your close friends that you hadn’t seen in a while was just what you needed to destress about championships. Maybe an intense game of uno with five of the most competitive people was exactly what some might call a destressor, but here you were. 
Tyler threw down his cards as he stood up dramatically, “no, because there is no way that a.) she already has an uno and that b.) all of you used your draw two cards against me.”
“Don’t be upset, Ty, that’s just how the game of uno is sometimes,” you replied, hiding a laugh. 
“Oh, shut up. I think you guys cheated,” Tyler accused. 
“I think you just don’t know how to play uno,” Jamie mumbled.
“Oh, yeah, real funny. I think you all teamed up against me and Jake dealt that way on purpose.”
“And we all think, you just can’t accept a loss in uno,” Roope added. 
“Fine, let’s settle this like men,” Tyler grabbed all the cards, attempting to shuffle them before accepting he couldn’t shuffle and handing them over to you to shuffle, “I’m watching you.”
“Oh, wow, so scared,” quickly shuffling them, doing a little bit more than usual to get Tyler off your case, you handed them back to him, “there you go.”
Another final round of uno, which ended up with you and Roope head to head as far as who would win, while Tyler had ended up with at least 15 cards to which Jamie was the first to speak up, “I think we should end here before someone gets hurt.”
“No, no, we’re fine. It’s fine. y/n, take your turn,” he said, eyes narrowing as he watched from beside you. Even if it was your last card, you dropped the draw 4, which made Tyler draw more cards. 
“Damn, that sucks,” you said, hiding a laugh. 
“What was that, y/n?” Tyler said.
“I said, damn, that sucks,” you repeated, watching Tyler closely as he stood up quickly once again, before practically chasing you. “Tyler, it’s just uno. Stop chasing me.”
“Oh, wow, ‘damn, that sucks’” Tyler mocked. 
As the other three watched, Jamie just grabbed the bowl of popcorn as they watched their friends running around chasing each other. “I see why we don’t play uno much,” Jake said. 
“Yep. Exactly. But no one listened when I advised against it,” Jamie said, taking a drink of his beer. 
“Tyler, watch yourself,” you said, as he stood on the opposite side of the couch. He started running one way, as you ran the other to avoid him, but he quickly sidestepped and caught up to you. Practically throwing you over his shoulder, he made his way out to the pool, “Tyler, let’s not do anything crazy here.”
“Oh, you mean like hold a draw four card until the end of the game,” Tyler said, as he tossed you into the deep end of his pool. 
“Children. Literal children,” Roope said, shaking his head, going to grab you a towel. 
Rising up from the water and quickly moving the hair out of your face, you swam over to where Tyler was, “hey, can you help me out?”
“Nah, I’m not falling for that one,” he stated. 
“Seriously, I won’t do anything right now, I promise,” you said, as you saw him reach his arm out to which you quickly grabbed and stood out of the pool. Walking towards Roope, who had grabbed you a towel, you turned back around to see Tyler still walking near the pool. Using this to your advantage, you ran and pushed Tyler into the pool. “Sorry, bestie,” you said, running to get the towel from Roope and running back in the house. 
After getting changed into one of Tyler’s extra shirts he had lying around, you were just hanging out with the guys when a familiar contact flashed on the screen to FaceTime, Jake who was right next to you immediately noticed, “ooh, better go talk to your man, y/n.”
“Shut the literal fuck up,” you called back, standing up to go the kitchen for privacy. Answering, you noticed that Joel was at Nolan and Kevin’s apartment, “were you that lonely without me, babe?”
“No, well maybe, but I’m helping them set up for the watch party tomorrow,” Joel said, taking a seat at their kitchen island, “how’d podium training go?”
“It went really well actually, I didn’t work the 3.5 just so that way I have something over their heads, you know. But other than that, it was all good. How are things at home?”
“Well, I mean no one is dead, which is always good. Um, debated getting a dog, my mom called, I told her about you. Uh, already told you about the watch party. I don’t think anything else interesting happened,” he said, shrugging as if he hadn’t just mentioned bringing you up to his mom. 
“Wait, you told your mom about me?”
“Well, she does follow me on Instagram, so after seeing the post she texted me asking and then she asked while we were on the phone. She wished you good luck, by the way. She’s  also visiting here with my dad in a few weeks and I’d really love it if you would meet them,” he said, shyly.
“Uh, yeah, yeah, of course,” you rushed out, hoping you didn’t sound as nervous as you were. 
“That sounded very unsure.”
“No, it’s fine. I just have never been at the spot in a relationship where I meet the parents, I’m just nervous. I don’t want to mess it up.”
“Babe, my mom already loves you, she was getting on my case about not telling her, but she already thinks very highly of you and I definitely hyped you up a little bit. You have nothing to worry about,” he reassured you, which made you smile. 
“Hey, y/n/n,” Kevin yelled. 
“Hey, Kev.”
“You were very nice in your interview today, it had all of us worried,” Kevin said, which caused you to roll your eyes in response. 
“Hey, I can be nice sometimes.”
“On very rare occasions, yes,” Joel added. 
“Whatever.” As you talked a little while longer with the guys, eventually Roope and Tyler had come in to say hi to everyone as well, which had you dying laughing as both of them gave the ‘you hurt her, we fly to Philly and hurt you’ talk that almost everyone had given him. 
Telling Joel you would call him back whenever you made it back to your hotel, you stayed with the guys for another couple of hours before heading back to your hotel. Nicole had spent most of the day after podium training resting and had met you in the hotel lobby when you got back.  
“So,- “ she didn’t even have to finish her sentence before you knew what she was saying. 
“Roope is doing good, he said he hopes things are going well,” you said, watching as a small smile crept up her face. 
“Well, good to know. Did you know KD is also staying at this hotel?”
“Well, considering this is the host hotel and most competitors are here, I am not all that shocked.”
“Yeah, but you probably didn’t know she’s legit a few rooms away from us, did ya?”
“No, guess not,” you said, “how’d you find that one out?”
“Well, let me set the scene for you. I go to get ice and then I hear her talking with, uh, whatever her name is, Callie or Carly, it starts with a C. Anyways, they were talking about you and me and how our skills have been less than recently and all this stuff about you not catching up to where you were - which I found so fucking funny because who has won gold at the past few meets? Not her. Anyways, all is fair in the sport of gymnastics, but I’m just excited to see her reaction to you doing the 3.5.”
“Damn, no pressure there, Nic.”
“Okay, but the thing is, you have the skill,” Nicole said, as you got into the elevator. “You have it down. It’s all up here, in your cranium,” she said, pointing to your head. 
“Alright, let’s just go to bed now,” you said, slowly removing her hand and opening the door to your hotel room. 
…..
“Hello everyone and welcome to Day One of the 2021 US Gymnastics Championships. We are very excited to see how today’s competition goes as this competition will decide who makes it onto the National Team and who will qualify for Olympic Trials,” Joel heard the announcer say as he made his way to sit with everyone in the living room. 
“Did you talk to her this morning?” Claude asked from beside him. 
“Yeah, usual pre-comp anxieties. Nolan talked to her and Nicole to give the usual pep talk and then we talked for a while on their way to the arena,” Joel answered, looking back to the TV to see you prepping for bars, “she said podium training went well, but Kathryn was talking shit, so all I know is she better kick her ass.”
“You know she will, it happens everytime. She gets in her head and still does amazing, just a casual Tuesday,” Scott added. 
“It’s not Tuesday?” Travis questioned.
“Yes, I know,” Scott said, confusing everyone. 
“Alright, moving on,” Joel reiterated. 
“And starting on bars, we have y/n y/l/n. Now if you remember, less than a year ago, y/n was injured at another competition doing a beam dismount that she might be competing in today’s competition. She is definitely one to watch as she has a reputation of scoring high in these meets, before and after her return. Her teammate, Nicole Carter, will be following up.”
Joel watched as you stepped away from the chalk box to start your routine, he watched intently as you jumped from the springboard to reach the high bar. He watched intently as you went through your routine. Release skills. Giants. Pirouettes. More release skills. More giants. Dismount. Stuck landing. 
“A great start to Day 1 for y/n, who seems pretty proud of how that routine went,” the announcer said, “rotation two will be beam, where we might see that 3.5 twist, which is currently in the process of being named by Kathryn Davis, who was the first to compete it at a major competition. Now the question everyone is wondering is will we see this skill from y/n today?”
“She’s doing it. Fucking dumbass,” Joel grumbled at the announcer. 
“Damn, Beezer, tell them how you really feel,” Travis replied, as everyone else laughed at Joel’s behavior before watching Nicole compete. Nicole’s routine ended with a stuck landing, the camera following her as she made her way off the platform and hugged you before the two of you did your secret handshake.
Knowing the next event was beam, Joel waited as other competitors did their routines as you were warming up. He knew this moment would make or break how the rest of the meet went and with this only being your second event, it needed to go well. 
Everyone watched anxiously as you saluted the judges, shaking your hands out before you reached to mount the beam. You took a deep breath before actually starting your routine. Starting the beginning choreography, you kept your movements sharp and clean. All the skills in your routine were sharp - doing this so if the dismount didn’t go well, it hopefully wouldn’t affect your score too much. 
Joel had memorized your routines, knowing you were approaching your dismount, he saw your movements become slightly hesitant. Watching as you did a quick pivot on the beam to prep for the dismount, he watched you take a deep breath. 
“C’mon, babe. You got it,” he said, and by whatever power was listening he watched your lips twitch up to a smile as you started your dismount. Going for the round-off and starting the twists, you did the three and a half twists, opening up to find your landing, and stuck your dismount. Joel’s smile grew even more when he saw how happy you were with your routine.
The rest of Day 1 of Championships went well for both you and Nicole; the two of you ending in the first and place spot in all around, with Kathryn following close behind. After the competition, both of you had your media conferences before you made your way back to the hotel. As both of you checked your phone, you saw the multiple notifications from various social medias.
“Dude, did you see what Ryanne posted?” Nicole asked, a look on her face that you couldn’t easily recognize. 
“No, hold on,” you opened Instagram to see she had tagged you in multiple posts on her instagram story: starting off with a picture of all the guys wearing a jersey with your and Nicole’s name on it, a picture of all the guys watching warms ups intently, a video of Joel and Travis debating the name of a skill from Nicole’s routine (Travis was right), a video of Joel watching you do your beam routine and cheering you on right as you go for your dismount, and then a video of everyone cheering as you and Nicole as they announced the end of day 1.
…..
After falling asleep with Joel on FaceTime, you woke up to your 6am alarm to get ready for Day 2 of championship, Joel - who had told you he would wake up with you - was still sound asleep. Getting you and Nicole an apple from the lobby, you talked to a few of your competitors and a few fans before heading back to yours and Nicole’s room. 
“Wake up, bitch, it’s Day 2 of Championships,” you said, jumping to lay next to Nicole on her bed.
“Leave me to die here, I don’t want to go. USAG can suck a homeless man’s dick,” she mumbled into the pillow. 
“That’s truly something, wait til the media teams hear about that one,” you joked, only to get a glare sent your way. 
“You know what? You can suck on one, too,” she responded, pulling the blanket over her head. 
“Well at least, there's less competition,” to which she quickly peaked out of the blanket.
“Oh, you wish. We’re neck and neck this time, so we’ll see who gets bragging rights.”
“Well if you don’t get out of bed, then we’ll never know,” you said, to which she only sent a glare your way. 
“Do we really have to get up and compete today? Do you think we could petition to reschedule?”
“I mean, I’m sure if we talked to people, we’d get a lot of signatures, but I don’t think it would go over well,” you said, grabbing your garment bag that held your leo for today, “I’m going to go get ready because I know if we end up talking to Joel and Nolan first, we won’t be ready in time.”
After you got ready, both you and Nicole got your pep talk from Nolan and Bee. On the way to the arena, both of you got a bunch of good luck messages - not just from your friends and family, but also from teammates and even some from most of the Stars roster. You had a feeling in your gut that today would be a good day. 
….. 
“Alright folks, Day 2 of Championships have been off to a great start and are about to come to a close. With Nicole Carter in first with a 57.605 All-Around score and Kathryn Davis in second with a 57.1, Cassie Riley in third with a 56.2, it comes down to the final rotations. y/n y/l/n is one of the last to go on floor today, who will need a score of at least a 13.5 to get first,” the announcer said. 
“And compared to her average score, this will be easily attainable. If she scores at least a 14.5, she’ll be first overall for both days of competition. She already has a for sure spot at Trials, even when you don’t consider scores. As long as she is able to hit all elements of this routine, she’ll be fine,” another announcer said. 
“Ok, you’re good, you just have to hit this routine and there’s no doubt you’ll make it to where you want to be. Deep breaths, Twinkle Toes,” Marcus said. 
Walking up the platform to get up to the floor, you took your spot at the edge of the floor, ready to salute the judge, and get the last meet of championships out of the way. After anxiously waiting, the judge finally saluted. Entering the floor with a determined walk, you took your spot waiting for the familiar sound of your floor music to ring out.
That familiar feeling of doing the sport you loved, once again, rushed through your veins. Block everything out and complete the routine, that’s all you had to do. Going to your starting pose, the music started. Going through the familiar motions of your routine, you stuck your first tumbling pass. Then came the leaps and jump sequence and all that was in between, with the additional three tumbling passes. 
You didn’t give yourself a chance to overthink about your routine, you knew that it wouldn’t benefit you in any way, but as you stepped off the floor you knew that you did what you could. As soon as you made it back to where Marcus and Nicole were sitting, you waited to see what your score was. 
Joel and everyone watching at home watched as you sat down to see what your score was. He had this dopey grin gracing his features from the amount of pride he felt in that moment. He didn’t care what your score was, he knew you had put whatever you could out on the mat. He listened to Travis for a moment until the announcer started up again for scores and awards, “and y/n y/l/n pulled through with the score that she needed, a 14.9 on floor. She placed first in All-Around, Carter following right behind, and Davis in third. If all goes this well at trials, I’d say we have a lot of good representation for the Olympic Games.”
…..
After the meet and countless amount of interviews both you and Nicole were extremely worn out and had both passed out on the flight back. As you and Nicole stepped out of the terminal, you were met with the familiar faces of your friends and family. You smiled as you saw Bee for the first time in a few days and despite how tired you were, you couldn’t stop yourself from running to him. 
He immediately caught you and did the cliche spin (the one you swore you would never do) before pulling you into a regular hug, “I’m so proud of you, babe. You have no idea.”
“Thank you. I surprisingly missed you,” you joked, laughing harder when Joel pulled you away slightly to catch a glimpse of your face. 
“Wow, aren’t I glad I was blessed with such a nice girlfriend? It’s crazy.”
“Absolutely insane.”
“Preposterous.”
“Can the two of you shut the fuck up?” Kevin asked, coming over to give you a hug, “you did good out there, y/n/n. You also kept all your bones intact, I’m proud.”
“Shut the fuck up, Kev.”
“Okay, aside from you getting onto Kev and Bee, I missed you, too,” Karly said from beside Travis. 
“I kinda did, too. You did amazing though, y/n/n. I’m proud,” Travis said. 
“Thank you, thank you. All in a hard day's work,” you said, shrugging. 
“Dude, you might want to go back to Beezer, he looks like a lost puppy watching you talk to us,” Travis pointed out, nodding in Joel’s direction who smiled when you caught his eye. 
“Yeah, not a shocking development,” you said, before walking back in Joel’s direction, “hey, Bee.”
“Hey, honey,” he said, wrapping his arms around you again, “you ready to go home?”
“Yeah, of course,” you leaned up to kiss his cheek. 
“Ew, guys. Get a room,” Kevin called out, fake gagging. 
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wicked-mind · 3 years
Text
Remember Me: Chapter Seven
Summary: Y/N and Bucky were the unlikely match when it came to love, but they were inseparable since they met. After a fight, Y/N left to be a trauma surgeon in the military and returns without her memories. How will Bucky remind Y/N how she is the fire in his bones?
Word Count: 4.4k
Warnings: Swearing (I like swearing. Adds character and sounds pretty to me lol), mentions of surgical procedures, car crash, miscarriage, John Walker, slight bit of PTSD.
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As always, any likes, reblog, or comments are appreciated (:
*gifs not mine
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Previously
Y/N removed her eyes from his face, listening to the story. Her forehead creased a moment as she thought about all that was said before meeting his gaze once again. A small smile curved on her lips and she leaned towards him, kissing his lips softly before pulling away slightly to look at him, “I forgive you, Bucky."
Bucky felt relief flood through him at her words, smiling down to her. He couldn’t find any words to say to her so instead he returned his arms around her body and pulled her closer, kissing her deeply. Those were words Bucky had waited to hear for so long and for a while he didn’t know if he would ever hear them from Y/N. Everything seemed right in the world for now, and even though he was worried about what was written in those journals John had given her due to what Steve had said, he hoped that whatever else it was would be forgiven also.
Truth was, Y/N always had forgiven Bucky for what was said the moment she left. She knew it was from his own fears. But what had broken her heart was hidden in the pages of those journals.
Chapter seven - The truth in the writing
Y/N wasn’t supposed to be back to work until noon, but she got called in early due to an apartment fire that would lead to multiple traumas coming in meaning it was all hands on deck. Bucky watched her pack the yellow folder John had given to her last night into her backpack before taking her to the hospital. He came back to Steve’s to find him and Peggy having some coffee. Bucky grabbed himself a mug of the dark liquid before leaning against the counter, “She took the journals with her.” He said over to Steve.
Peggy narrowed her eyes as they flickered between the two, “What journals?”
Steve sighed, sitting at the dining table next to Peggy, “Y/N’s friend, that blonde guy named John, brought some of her journals that were left behind at her base camp. Says there’s everything in there.” He informed.
“Yeah, including something we don’t know about.” Bucky grumbled out, “Something that made our break-up worse than just the words that were said.” He would be lying if he said he wasn’t worried. He replayed that night so many times in his head that every moment was burned into his brain and he couldn’t think of anything other than what was said before she left, “We gotta figure this out. So I can at least try to make it better after she reads whatever is in there.”
Peggy set her glass mug on the table, “Okay, then let’s walk through it.” She said helpfully, “Y/N came here that night after her shift and showed us the deployment papers with the date for her to leave set in a month, June 7th. She was so excited to tell you that she left immediately after. What happened at your house, James?”
Bucky sighs, setting his mug down on the counter to run a hand through his dark hair, “She came in all excited and jumped into my arms. Everything was fine and then she showed me the papers. We argued about it because I didn’t want her to go. I told her if she walked out those doors I wouldn’t be here waiting for her and not to come back. And then she left.” He flinched at his own words. He hated that he had said that to Y/N.
Steve leans back in his chair, “Then she came back here in tears and frantic. We tried to get her to talk to us about what happened but she just packed her bags, got in her car, and left.” He sighs, “I called her everyday for about four days until she finally picked up and told me she was fine, just needed some space, and she would be back soon. After that, I didn’t hear from her until she was deployed.”
Bucky cocks his head to the side at Steve, narrowing his eyes, “You never told me that.”
Steve scoffs slightly, “Yeah, well, you made my sister run away, we weren’t exactly on the best speaking terms, Buck.”
“So we have no idea where she was or what she was doing for a month before she was deployed?” Peggy interrupted, watching Bucky and Steve shake their heads to say no. She bit her bottom lip for a moment, “Maybe something happened in that month.”
Bucky looked over from Peggy to Steve, “What did she say while she was deployed?” He asks curiously, folding his arms as he leaned against the counter.
Steve looked from Peggy to Bucky, picking up his mug and bringing it to his lips for a drink before setting it back down, “Y/N called me when she got to the base, told me she made it safe and she was sorry she didn’t come back before she left, that she couldn’t come back. I asked her what happened between you two and she told me what was said. I told her you didn’t mean it and to at least give you a call.” He watched Bucky’s features soften for a moment, “There were a few more phone calls. She told me what you said hurt, but that she was okay and there was another reason she couldn’t come home or talk to you. We didn’t really talk about you two after that.”
Bucky groaned slightly. What had happened? The more he thought about it the more the timeline didn’t make sense. Everything had been fine between them the days, even weeks leading up to when she ran away were fine. He sighs looking back to Steve, “I don’t know, man.” He said, “Everything was great. We made cookies together, went on rides, had a Star Wars marathon. Everything was perfect… So perfect in fact I bought a damn engagement ring.”
Steve looked at Bucky with almost fully wide eyes before looking at Peggy who was sipping her coffee avoiding eye contact, “You knew about this, Peggy?”
Peggy put her coffee down, pursing her lips a little before speaking, “Of course I knew! Who do you think had to help him pick out the damn thing?”
Steve nodded and turned his attention back to Bucky, “Wow.” He said still nodding, “Well, now I really wish things would’ve gone differently. She would’ve been so excited.” He said with a small smile towards Bucky. Steve had always trusted Bucky with Y/N. The way he treated her was like a queen.
Bucky’s lips twitched into a small smile for a moment at Steve’s approval before it faded back into a stern line. He was going to ask Steve for help with the proposal when Bucky eventually figured out how to ask, but hadn’t gotten around to it before it all went to shit, “So nobody knows what the reason is…”
Steve nodded slowly, “Well… none of us know. But there is one person who does.”
Bucky groaned a little again and rubs his hand along his face, “God, I really hate John Walker.”
Y/N dealt with the wave of incoming traumas from the apartment building fire, running point on sorting patients by the degree of their injuries to create a steady flow in the operating room and emergency room. Once everything had died down, Y/N sat in the attending’s lounge eating a sandwich and starting to go through yellow folder from her backpack. There were photos of Y/N with Bucky and some of her with Steve and Peggy as well of her with John. There were also photos of her while she was deployed mostly doing silly poses in the middle of nowhere. She placed the photos back into the folder and pulled out the two notebooks next. They were leather-bound full sized journals. She opened the first one that looked just a bit more well used, figuring it was the first one. Her brow furrowed when she turned to the first page. It was dated at the top, May 15, 2019 but the rest of the page looked like the words had been gone over with permanent marker. Y/N turned to the next page and the next but for about ten pages over the next ten days from May 15th, all the words had been scribbled over with permanent marker, “Well, that’s just great.” She mutters out to herself softly, “Thanks me. Super helpful.”
Y/N finally found a page with actual words instead of just a page of black marker, the date read May 25th, 2019. It was filled with the words repeating ‘I am not my trauma.’ over and over again until the last line that read:
I’ll forget the piece that was taken away from me.
She frowned a little. What trauma did this refer to? What had happened? She turns the page quickly to read the next page.
May 26th, 2019
I leave in eleven days.
I want more than anything to call him. I don’t know what I would say. How do I explain what happened. Where do I begin?
He told me if I leave to never come back. That he won’t be waiting for me.
A part of me knows that’s a lie. I know he’d be there with open arms if he knew what happened.
I found that ring after all…
Y/N had to read the line over again a few times. Ring? There was a ring?
But how would he feel if he knew how ruined I was?
His sun swallowed into a dark pit.
He loves me. And I don’t think I’m me anymore.
Nobody wants broken things.
May 28th, 2019
I want to feel safe again.
They say writing down what I feel is going to ground me to reality. They also said I should call somebody. I can’t do that. I can’t let them know how much I hurt. I just want to run as far away as possible and that’s what I’ll do. I need to get out of here. It feels like I can’t breathe and everywhere I look I’m met with eyes filled with pity. It makes everything worse the way they look at me and stare. I get released tomorrow, I’m signing out AMA. Then it’s just nine more days. Maybe it’ll replace my trauma with a different trauma. Anything would be better than this.
I miss Bucky. I miss running my fingers through his hair and the way his stubble would brush against my skin. I miss being in his arms the most. They were so safe like nothing could ever hurt me. I wish I would’ve stayed then none of this would’ve happened. We could’ve just fought about it then go to bed and sort it out until I left. At least then I would’ve felt save and would’ve been safe.
I think the worst part about our fight was that I knew about the ring. I found it in his boxer drawer when putting away his laundry. You’d figure he would’ve picked a better hiding spot, but nope. He’s never been good at hiding things from me. I was halfway expecting him to propose when I showed him my deployment papers so we both had something to look forward to when I came back. I would’ve said yes in a heartbeat if he did. After all, James Buchanan Barnes is the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. But that’s not what happened. And here I am stuck in pain and guilt.
Y/N shut the book when she heard someone come in, wiping away some tears she hadn’t noticed falling from her cheeks. She looks over and put on her best smile for Chief Miller, “Afternoon, Chief.”
Miller had his hands tucked in his pockets, “Everything okay, Y/N?” He asks gently, nothing the tear brimmed eyes.
Y/N nodded, keeping the same smile on her face, “Yeah, everything’s good. A friend brought me some journals to see if they’ll help me remember. It’s just confusing and a lot to read.” She said softly, “Were you looking for me?”
Miller nodded at her words, “I’m sorry, that must be hard.” He said with a reassuring smile, “I was just getting all your medical records transferred over and one was locked from a hospital in Queens. I just wanted to ask if you wanted to unlock it so we have that information on file in case it’s needed in the future.”
Y/N tilted her head at him, her brow pulling together in confusion, “I don’t remember what the nature of that visit would be… Did it have a date? I can call the doctor from the hospital to get it unlocked if I know the date.”
“May 14th, 2019.” Miller replied, “The doctors name I think was Wanda Maximoff.”
Y/N nodded slowly at the date. It was the day before her journal started with the scribbled out pages. She pushed the journal into her backpack, “Thanks, Chief. I’ll give them a call.” She said with a small smile before standing and leaving the room. She found an empty office with a computer, googling the hospital in Queens and asking for Dr. Maximoff.
“This is Dr. Maximoff.” A woman with an accent said over the phone when Y/N was connected.
“Hi, this is Dr. Rogers from Brooklyn Mercy. I was calling about a locked file in my health records.”
“Oh, Y/N! How have you been? Are you back from deployment?”
“Been better… And yes, I am. I was calling because a medical report of mine from May 14, 2019 is sealed and I don’t remember the nature of the visit. I lost a lot of my memories due to an incident overseas and I’m trying to put pieces together.”
“I see.. I’m so sorry to hear that. Our hospital isn’t too far from Brooklyn Mercy, I think we should talk about this in person given the situation. I’ll drive down and meet you in about forty-five minutes, would that work?”
“That’d be perfect, thank you Dr. Maximoff.” Y/N said before enhancing goodbyes and hanging up. It felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest with how fast it was racing and she felt sick to her stomach as she tried to remember what happened. Whatever happened, it was bad enough that Dr. Maximoff was coming to tell her in person.
Y/N asked Chief Miller if he would be there when she went over the information with Maximoff, wanting some sort of support in case whatever happened was really bad. She kept adjusting herself in the chair in front of Chief Miller, nervous for whatever information was about to come out. She put on a small smile when Dr. Maximoff came into the office holding a medical file, shaking her hand and watching her take a seat in the chair next to her, “Nice to meet you again, Dr. Maximoff.”
“Oh call me Wanda. And again, I’m very sorry about your memory loss. I want to start by saying that we have support groups I can recommend after we talk about this information. Given that you don’t remember, it is possible you’ll go through all the emotions and grief again.” Wanda said before placing the file on Chief Miller’s desk and opening it slowly, “The night of May 14th, 2019 paramedics responded to an accident involving two vehicles. You were in one of them. It was determined the other driver was driving under the influence and had a large amount of alcohol in his system.”
Y/N nodded slowly, watching Wanda instead of looking at the file. Her eyes were full of kindness, even maybe a little pity, “What happened to the drunk driver?”
“He died in surgery. With the amount of alcohol in his system, the bleeding couldn’t be controlled and the damage was too severe.” Wanda said before continuing, “It was later determined that he was going forty miles per hour over the speed limit and from your statement, he was driving down the wrong side of the road with his headlights off. You didn’t see him coming until it was too late.”
“How bad was it?” Y/N asks softly, picking at her fingers nervously as she listened.
Wanda sighs, flipping through pages of the file on Chief Miller’s desk, “You sustained abdominal bleeding, two fractured ribs, and superficial lacerations that our head of plastic surgery took care of which is why there is no scarring. You made me promise not to call your emergency contacts.” Wanda paused, observing Y/N’s reaction but she was just sitting there nodding, “We took blood samples to cross match your blood so we couldn’t have to keep giving you O-negative blood. Those blood tests showed trace amounts of the hCG hormone. After we took care of the abdominal bleeding, you miscarried from stress. You didn’t know you were pregnant. You asked me to seal the records of the accident and you signed yourself out against medical advice.”
Y/N took a deep ragged breath, looking down at the floor in shock. The writings in the journal were making sense. She could hear Chief Miller and Wanda asking if she was okay but they sounded distant and like they were underwater. Flashes started coming back in her mind of that night. She was driving down the road back to her hotel she was staying at, crying and listening to sad songs on the radio when the crash happened. Y/N put her hand on her chest as her breathing became more erratic, it was like she couldn’t get enough air. She could see Wanda and Miller trying to ask if she was okay and calm her down but their voices were so different and everything around her was swaying. She remembered sitting in a hospital bed and crying over the news and the guilt she felt for leaving the safety of Bucky, “Can’t breathe…” She whispers out, trying to stand slowly from the chair. Y/N remembered the day after it happened, Wanda brought the journals to her hoping it would help to write what she was feeling since she wouldn’t contact anybody. She remembered the grief she felt as well as the shock and pain. This was the reason she didn’t come back to Bucky and avoided him, she didn’t know what to tell him. The world was swaying like she was on a boat and it felt like she was underwater, unable to get air in her lungs or hear the muffled sounds coming from Chief Miller and Wanda. She stumbled around at the room spinning, blinking rapidly before the world around her started fading to black and she fell onto the floor.
——
Steve, Peggy, and Bucky were still all trying to figure out events that lead up to Y/N running away a month before her deployment, trying to think of any clues that would help put the puzzle pieces together.
Steve’s phone starting ringing and he excused himself from the conversation to take the call, “Hello?”
“Hi, this is Doctor Miller, Chief of Surgery over at Brooklyn Mercy. Is this Steve Rogers, Y/N’s brother?”
“This is Steve. Is everything alright?” “Yes, everything is alright. I’m just giving you a call to ask you to come in. Your sister had a pretty serious panic attack and lost consciousness. I think it would be good if you came in.”
“What? Yeah, I’m on my way.” Steve said, walking back into the kitchen, “We have to go, Y/N’s been admitted to the hospital for a panic attack.”
Bucky frowns, “Probably read those damn journals.” He growled out, turning immediately and walking out the front door to his motorcycle and speeding down the road towards the hospital with Peggy and Steve right behind him in their car.
When they arrived at the hospital, Chief Miller was waiting for them at the front doors. He lead them up to the room Y/N was in where she was talking to Wanda with the door closed and crying, pulling an oxygen mask up to her mouth every so often. Bucky looked through the window to the room before noticing that none other than John Walker was standing a little bit away from the room leaning against the wall with a frown. Bucky immediately felt rage consume him, stomping over to John and pushing him against the wall, “What were in those journals?!” He yelled before landing a punch to John’s cheek.
John winced at the hit and pushed Bucky away from him, “She knew about the ring, asshole! She thought you were going to propose that night but instead you broke up with her!”
Chief Miller and Steve quickly pulled the two apart, Miller holding John back while Steve held Bucky back, “That’s not what it was about! Now knock if off before I call security.” Chief Miller said, moving to stand between the men, “Due to her privacy, I can’t tell you what it was but it wasn’t about a ring.”
“She knew about the ring?” Bucky said, wide eyed as he processed the words. No wonder she had been so mad at him and what he had said. She thought she was coming home to a potential proposal and instead he told her if she left to never come back.
Peggy had separated herself from all the testosterone and walked into the room Y/N was in, shutting the door behind her, “I’m Peggy, her sister-in-law.” She told Wanda before she took a seat on the edge of Y/N’s bed, gently taking her head, “Are you okay, honey?”
Y/N shook her head rapidly, keeping the oxygen mask pressed to her mouth and nose as she cried into it. She remembered the pain when Wanda had told her she miscarried and feeling alone due to the fight she had with Bucky. It was the reason she had ran- she didn’t feel like she had a home to go back to and she wouldn’t know what Bucky would think if she told him she had lost their child. All Bucky had wanted was to grow up and have a family with her and she ruined that. Her gaze set on Bucky through the window and she pulled the blanket on her legs up over her head, sobbing loudly underneath the blanket. How could she even look at him knowing what she knew now?
Wanda got up to close the blinds in the window before returning the chair placed next to the bed, “Y/N,” Wanda asks gently, reaching out a hand to rest reassuringly on Y/N’s leg over the blanket, “You’ve dealt with this pain alone for a long time and you’re going through it again like it’s fresh. You should talk to someone about it, you need support.”
Y/N pulled the blanket off her head at the sound of the blinds shutting, looking at Wanda through her blurry tear filled eyes, “I can’t…You… You tell Peggy… I can’t… I can’t.” She sobbed out, dropping the oxygen mask to her lap and putting her face in her hands.
Wanda looks over to Peggy who was eyeing her curiously, “The night of May 14th, 2019 Y/N was brought in after her car was hit by a drunk driver. We took care of all the injuries… But we found out she was about six weeks pregnant. Due to the stress of her injuries and the stress she was already under, she miscarried.”
Peggy’s jaw dropped at the news, slowly looking over to Y/N. She quickly adjusted herself on the bed to scoot closer to Y/N, pulling her into a secure hug and stroking her hair softly, “Shh… It’s okay… I’m so sorry, honey…I’m here…” She soothed gently. It all made sense of why Y/N didn’t come back before she was deployed and why she never talked to Bucky.
Eventually Wanda offered a light sedation for Y/N since she couldn’t stop crying and keep her breathing under control. Y/N drifted off to sleep from the sedative, her mind finally calming but the ache in her body didn’t fade. When she opened her eyes, it was nighttime. She looked over to the window to see Peggy and Steve talking to Wanda and Chief Miller outside of the room. Her attention was take when she felt a soft squeeze of her hand, looking over and seeing Bucky sitting in the chair staring at her with a small smile. The sight of him almost made her break again, pulling her hand out of his grasp and pulling the blanket up over her head to hide from his face.
“Hey, Y/N,” Bucky said with a small frown when she hid away from him under the blanket, “Baby, come on look at me. Talk to me.” He pleaded, trying to pull the blanket away from her face, “What happened, doll?”
Y.N eventually quit fighting the tug of war with the blanket, letting him pull it away from her face. She didn’t meet his gaze though, staring into her lap as tears started to roll down her face. She was amazed she still had any water left in her body to cry, “I can’t… You should go…”
“Fuck that, darlin. I’m not going anywhere when you’re crying.” Bucky told her, moving himself from the chair to sit by her bedside. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, leaning close and kissing her temple softly, “Talk to me, please.”
“I can’t.” Y/N replied, still not meeting his gaze as she shook her head, “I was finally feeling like everything was right in the world… Like I was back where I belonged with you… Safe.” She took in a sharp breath, releasing it slowly, “Now, it’s just all going to be ruined again. We’ll be ruined. You’ll leave.”
Bucky’s frown deepened at her words as scenarios ran through his mind of what Y/N could be talking about, studying her features intently, “No we won’t. I told you that you are the love of my life, Y/N. Nothing is going to change that.” He told her, moving his position to take her face in his hand and forcing her to look at him, “Now talk to me.”
Y/N stared at Bucky for what felt like forever, studying his face. She wondered what would reflect back to her in his eyes when she told him. Right now his eyes were pooled with concern for her but once she would tell him, they knew that concern would leave, “The night we fought… May seventh right?” She watched him nod, “On May fourteenth I was driving and I was hit by a drunk driver. I was taken to a hospital in Queens where I was treated.” She watched the concern grow in his eyes at her words, “I didn’t know I was six weeks pregnant and I lost the baby… Our baby… I would’ve came back if I knew, never left… But after I couldn’t come back to you.”
Bucky’s mouth parted slightly at the words, his eyes moving across the features of her face watching the tears leak down her face. He hadn’t even noticed his own tears starting to fall at the news. Guilt raked through his body at the words he had said that made her leave, put her in that position to get hurt. It would have never happened if he would’ve swallowed his own fear and anger at her deployment. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug, “I’m so sorry, doll.” He said through his own shaky breathes, trying to control his breathing as he cried, “I’m sorry, Y/N. I did this, it’s my fault… I’m so sorry.”
_____________________________________________________________Taglist: @vicmc624 @buckypops @shawnie--jo @ahahafudge @intothesoul @austynparksandpizza @stcrryslibrary
Shout out to @shawnie--jo for having a big brain and guessing correct (:
If I missed anybody on the taglist or you would like to be added, send me a quick message, comment, or ask. Thank you for the support (:
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fific7 · 3 years
Text
Dangerous and Divine - Part 16
Billy Russo x Reader
Summary: Billy Russo is an itch you don’t want to scratch. But he’s all over you like a rash.
A/N: This does not follow canon, it’s mainly fluff & lemon zest 🍋 The GIF is from Exposed, unreleased pilot show in case you’re wondering 😌... Billy vibes.
Warnings: 18+ NSFW due to mentions of sex. Some drinking & swearing.
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(My GIF)
So... after your heart-rate slowed back down to normal, you realised that, no matter how much you possibly empathised about Billy dropping her, there was no way you were going to sit back and let Madani keep coming after your man. She’d have a fight on her hands, that you could promise her.
You were trying to concentrate on your paperwork, you really were. But your mind kept circling back to Madani. Coming to a decision, you stood up and grabbed your things. Making your way downstairs, you walked through the café, stopping to let your team know that you’d be out for a while.
Getting on the subway, you made your way to Homeland HQ and asked the receptionist if you could speak to Agent Madani, specifying that you’d meet her there in Reception. You weren’t going to meet her in private, that was for damn sure. The receptionist made a call, then asked you to take a seat.
After a fifteen-minute wait, Madani and her heels came clicking their way over to you. Her eyebrows were presently in a permanently raised position. Standing up, you nodded to her and forced yourself to say civilly, “Good morning, Agent Madani.”
She nodded back at you, lips pursed. “You realise that approaching me while you have an active complaint against me is not correct procedure.”
Shrugging, you replied, “About as correct as you approaching Billy and asking him to meet you.” She flinched back, and you realised she didn’t think he would’ve told you. You carried on, “Agent Madani, this has got to stop. I feel you’re just going to keep on contacting him regardless, and you’re just going to keep getting rejected.” She opened her mouth to reply, but you held up your hand, “Hear me out, please. Look, I get it, I really do - you thought you might have something going for you with Billy. Then you find out he’s met someone else and he drops you. And I’m sorry about that. I wouldn’t be happy about that if it happened to me.”
She glanced round quickly to check there was no-one within earshot, before glaring back at you, but you carried on nevertheless, “I know you don’t believe this, but Billy and I do have a relationship, a real relationship - and yes, it’s all happened very quickly but sometimes that’s just how things do happen.” Folding her arms across herself, she huffed and said, “You’re right I don’t believe it. Billy Russo is the biggest damn player in New York City and if you think you’ve tied him down, you’re more of a fool than I thought. A damn naive, stupid, oblivious little fool.”
You nodded, “Uhuh... well, I thought a woman-to-woman talk about it might help, but I guess it’s obvious where you stand, and you’re not budging.” You started moving away, “Well, if I’m a fool then fine! - I’m a fool. That’ll be my problem to sort out. Bye, Agent Madani.” Turning, you made your way out of the building without a backward glance.
»»————————————-———- ⚜ ———————————-————-««
Billy was slowly swinging from one side to the other in his chair. His head was lying back against the headrest and his eyes gazed up at the ceiling. He was daydreaming about his girl, something he found himself doing more and more often these days. Thinking back to his visit to her office that morning, a slight smile curved over his lips. He loved it when she initiated sex. Not only did it give a big boost to his male ego - that he couldn’t deny - but it made him go all soft inside. To him, it meant that she wanted him as much as he wanted her, meant it wasn’t him starting things all the time. That’s what he was used to, after all. He’d always been the one in control.
He chuckled to himself, what in the fuck was happening to him? He was turning into a big gooey mess of a man. Shaking his head, he stood up and wandered over to the glass wall, looking down onto the training area below. He’d better get a grip of himself or one of the newbies would get one over on him, and he couldn’t have that.
»»————————————-———- ⚜ ———————————-————-««
You made it back to Chelsea shortly after your unproductive meeting with Madani. Slamming your office door behind you and flouncing over to your desk, you plopped down into your chair, dropping your bag down beside you.
That obtuse bloody woman!!! And she called you a fool! Pot and kettle, love, you thought, pot and bloody kettle. Now you were going to have to admit to Billy that you’d also met up with her, and all for nothing - a complete and utter waste of time. Oh well, at least you’d tried. Not your fault she couldn’t see the wood for the trees.
But if she chased after Billy just once more, you wouldn’t be responsible for your actions - Homeland agent or not.
»»————————————-———- ⚜ ———————————-————-««
Madani was quietly stewing back in her office. How dare she try to do the sister act thing, ‘I get it, I really do’ .....just who does she think she is?! Miss Bloody Perfect.
She would just bide her time. There was no way on god’s green earth that Billy Russo would stay faithful to her, it just wasn’t happening.
He’d damn well admitted he’d been attracted to her. That was enough for her, to grasp onto that small sliver of hope and hold onto it tight.
And when he did fall off the Faithful Wagon, she’d make sure she was there to see it. And to catch him as he fell.
»»————————————-———- ⚜ ———————————-————-««
After texting Billy to say you quite fancied a Vietnamese takeaway this evening, you went down into the café a little later on and had a long chat with Jake, catching him up on the Scorned Woman Situation. He started making you a macchiato, commenting, “She just really doesn’t get it, does she?” You leant closer to him, saying in a low voice, “The thing is, she’s succeeded in planting a seed of doubt in my head.” “What... about Billy?” You nodded, looking down. “He did have quite the reputation before he met me you know, Jake.”
He nodded, “You said. Are you thinking a leopard can’t change its spots?” You sighed, taking the small cup and saucer from him, “Well, yeah. She keeps saying he won’t stay faithful to me, hell - she even said it to his face! And... it is making me worry, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t. Everything’s fine now, but what if he gets bored? Sees a pretty face out and about somewhere, feels what he says he feels about me for them?”
Jake shrugged, “But that’s the test any relationship faces. You can’t play it out on ‘maybes’ and ‘what ifs’. Just gotta go with ‘the here and now’. Don’t you?” Nodding, you sipped your coffee before laughing, “What you say is true, oh Yoda.” He laughed, “I am wise beyond my years, little one!” You heard the café door opening behind you, and Jake chuckled, “And talk of the devil...!” Turning your head, you saw Billy homing in on you, big smile on his face and eyes glued to you. Jake whispered, “That looks like a pretty faithful doggy to me!”
You subtly elbowed him, before fully turning to Billy and smiling back. “Hello, handsome,” you greeted him, and you were surprised to see Billy’s face go a slight shade of pink. “Hi, beautiful,” he said back, before leaning down and kissing you shyly. His hand slid down your side and took hold of your fingers, lacing his with yours, eyes gazing into yours. Okay, you thought, I know I’ve been ribbing him about being a big sap but this is a whole new level of sappiness.
You drained the last of your coffee, and said to Jake, “I’m taking off now, Jakey boy, you OK to close up?” He mock-bowed, “But of course, my Princess.” You caught an irritated look on Billy’s face and smiled to yourself, he really was a jealous ass. With or without good reason.
You nipped back upstairs to get your things and when you came back down, you saw Jake and Billy almost facing off against each other, eyes glaring. What the....? You walked quickly over to them, “Hey, guys?” They broke eye contact, Jake looking embarrassed as he met your eyes, “Uhh... have a nice evening.” You swung round to Billy, who was studying his shoes with great interest. “Okay, Jake - thanks, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Billy’s head came up, “No! She won’t be in tomorrow.”
“What? Now, Billy, you know I’m always in the cafés on Saturday mornings,” you said with a hint of warning in your voice. He looked back at Jake, “I’ve got plans for tomorrow. You can cope, can’t you?” Jake bristled, “Of course I can!” Billy looked back at you, “See? All under control. Just for once, have a Saturday off, please sweetheart.” You looked at Jake, who just smiled at you, so you nodded, “OK, just this once, Russo.” Billy smirked in triumph and took your hand, pulling you along with him towards the door as you waved at Jake.
»»————————————-———- ⚜ ———————————-————-««
Billy almost dragged his girl out of the café, before that bastard Jake could say anything else. Who did that cheeky little shit think he was, trying to give him the “don’t hurt her or you’ll answer to me for it” speech! Her fuckin’ father or something?!
He was seething, but trying to hide it. Once they were both in the car and pulling out into the traffic, she turned slightly towards him, and he could feel her eyes boring into him, “Okay, Russo - spill.”
Sighing, he looked in his rear view mirror as he changed lanes and replied, “Your little pal back there started coming on like your Dad or big brother or sumthin’. Givin’ me the whole “if you mess her around I’ll come after you” spiel.”
Oh Jake, you thought, you numbskull. He meant well but.... obviously Billy hadn’t been impressed. You heaved a sigh and Billy glanced over at you, before making a right turn and swinging the car into his building’s underground parking lot.
“Look, that was my fault,” you said, as he parked up in his space and turned off the engine. He glanced over at you, “What d’ya mean, angel?” he asked as he unbuckled his seat belt, before opening his door and walking round to open yours. “Well... uhh, I went to see Madani this morning.” He was in the process of taking your hand as you got out of the car, but stopped and looked at you, mouth open. “You did what?” You slammed the car door. “Billy! I’m sick of her chasing after you!” He raised the remote and bleeped the car locked.
“Angel, you gotta be careful with her, she’s looking for ammo to fire back at us!” You nodded, “I know that. I met her in Reception so it was in public. I thought I’d try the woman-to-woman chat.” He took your hand in his as you both started walking to the lift doors. “Did it work?” he asked. “No it didn’t! She’s the most obtuse, stubborn woman I’ve come across in a long time.” “Uh-huh, that she definitely is. Tell me what you said to her?” The lift arrived and the doors opened, you and Billy walking into it. “Well, I told her that I got it. She thought she was gonna get somewhere with you, and you dropped her. I said I wouldn’t have been happy either. But that it had to stop, as she was just going to keep getting rejected.”
Billy chuckled, “Oh my, that must’ve gone down well.” You laughed, “She doesn’t believe we have an actual relationship, she said you were the biggest player in NYC and you’d never stay faithful to me. I get the feeling she’s gonna hang around just willing it to happen.” Billy tightened his grip on your hand, stroking your hair with his other hand, then your cheek. Before he could speak, you jumped in with, “And I might’ve admitted to Jake that she’d managed to plant that seed of doubt in my mind.” He closed his eyes, putting his head back against the lift wall. “Angel, please don’t be listenin’ to her bullshit!”
The lift doors opened, and you both began walking along to his apartment door. He suddenly stopped, wrapping his arms around you and kissing you hard. He pulled back, his dark eyes looking pained as he gazed at you, “You know she’s just tryin’ to stir things up between us, don’t you? That’s what she wants, for you to question me and my behaviour, to be suspicious of me, for us to argue.” He kissed you again, before burying his face in your hair, “Well, I ain’t gonna let that happen, sweetheart,” you heard, “....she ain’t gonna come between us. I will be faithful to you, I promise. Don’t want anyone else.”
»»————————————-———- ⚜ ———————————-————-««
After a very tasty and spicy Vietnamese meal which Billy had ordered in, you both lazed on the sofa nursing your beers. He was looking at you anxiously every so often, and eventually he burst out, “I swear to you on all that’s holy, I’ll keep it in my pants!” He was gazing at you, eyes wide and deep and dark and full of fear. Yes, fear. You reached over and laid your hand along his bristly cheek, “It’s okay, Billy! I believe you, poppet.” The smirk was back, “Uh, not with the poppet thing again!”
You laughed, “Yes! You’re my big sexy poppet.” Eyebrow wiggle, “Well, when you put it like that,” and your hand was lifted up and then placed under his sweatshirt, onto his lower abdomen, where you could stroke the treasure trail of hairs leading ever downwards to his ‘crown jewels’. “Mmmm,” he smiled, eyes closing, “....you gonna keep going, sweetheart?” You didn’t bother replying, just slid your hand further down and under the waistband of his briefs. You still marvelled at how big and hard Billy got, and you very happily took hold of what was clearly marked as ‘your property’ as far as you were concerned.
You relished the feel of his velvety skin and gave him a couple of very firm strokes, before cupping his balls in the palm of your other hand and squeezing. You were pleased to hear a long, low groan from Billy and looked up at him, seeing that his eyes were tight shut in pleasure.
“So, Billy,” you asked, “...what’re these plans you’ve got that are so important I had to take Saturday off?” He opened his eyes and grinned at you, “Can’t possibly tell ya, it’s a surprise.” You took a much firmer grip of him and his hips jerked forward, “Are you sure about that, Billy?” He laughed nervously, but replied, “Very sure, sweetheart.”
»»————————————-———- ⚜ ———————————-————-««
@blackbirddaredevil23 @galaxyjane @omgrachwrites @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead @ourloveisforthelovely @swthxrry
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lauras-collection · 3 years
Note
So I was hoping an angsty one with happy ending, Mobster Tom Holland arranged married to reader. He doesn't like her, refuses to talk to her, is bad boy and so much angsty, ignoring her etc etc but when he's shot she's there by his side when no one else is and he realizes how nice she is and apologies, but she makes him win her trust and love. And then a happy ending. Sorry of it's too detailed and long 😅
~clearing out my inbox, please don’t send any more requests~
Okay, so this request was elaborate enough to make a whole series from it :D I picked the being shot scene to write because it seems like a key scene? Anyway, sorry for the long wait and I hope you like it :)
Ps.: this is my first time writing mob!tom. it was a lot of fun so thank you for requesting that :)
Warnings: angst, blood, guns, being shot, thinking about a possible death? (let me know if there’s anything else I should mention)
-
This was supposed to be an easy job. In and out. But somewhere along the way, things had gotten out of hand. Tom’s got the suspicion that there’s a rat among his men. Someone who gave information to the rival.
The merchandise he’d planned to steal was nowhere to be seen. They’d taken it some other place before he got there.
Tom curses under his breath, then everything happens so quick he can’t even plan his moves the way he usually likes to.
Shots ring through the empty warehouse, the men who’d accompanied him immediately pulling their guns, firing back. But it’s already too late. Tom’s been hit. Startled, he places his hand over the wound in his side. You told him time and time again, to wear a bulletproof vest. But he’d refused. How would that look to his opponents? Besides, he’d rather get shot than do anything you tell him to.
“Tom? You alright?” Harrison calls out over the gunshots and Tom finds himself nodding. He needs to do something. So he pulls out his gun as well, firing off shots, blinking as he tries to focus on the people ducked behind steel pillars. He’s behind one as well, he doesn’t know if he’d still be alive if he wasn’t.
“We need to get out of here!” Someone shouts, it sounds like Harry but Tom can’t be too sure. Tom doesn’t want to leave, doesn’t want to admit defeat. But he’s still clutching his side, blood covering his hand, and his sight is starting to go fuzzy.
“C’mon. Let’s get moving!” Is the last thing he hears before he loses consciousness.
-
Despite Tom being a grade-A asshole to you most of the time (whenever he’s not ignoring you, that is), you still worry about him. He’s your husband after all, even if you didn’t choose to marry him. You know that deep down he has a heart. It’s just surrounded by thick concrete walls that had built up over the years of being the heir to one of the most powerful mobs in London.
Your marriage was a means to bring his clan ahead. Your family had been involved with the Hollands for decades, your marriage was planned even before you were born. There really hadn’t been anything you could’ve done about it. The fact that Tom had a deeply rooted hatred towards you didn’t deter either of your parents.
You’re arm candy most of the time, only accompanying Tom whenever there’s a public event he has to attend, and it frustrates you beyond belief. So you’re left worrying at home any time Tom goes out to defend or expand his territory. It’s not like you really want to stand in the line of fire. But you’d appreciate being seen as more than just the mousy wife who stays at home because that’s not who you are.
The front door crashes open all of a sudden making you jump up from your place on the sofa. Several voices are urgently talking and you can’t quite make out what they’re saying.
When you finally make it to the hallway you watch as Harrison and Sam carry Tom up the stairs on a makeshift stretcher. He’s covered in blood, his face pale. Your heart sinks into your stomach at the sight. Yes, you’ve been worried about him getting hurt, but you never expected it to ever actually happen. Tom has always had this invincible aura around him. Like nothing could harm him. But now he’s laying there, covered in his own blood, barely conscious.
“What happened?” You finally manage to ask. The question isn’t directed at anyone in particular, you just hope you’ll get an answer. You follow them upstairs to the bedroom you’re supposed to share but you’ve been the only one sleeping in the bed. Tom often spends the night in his office or the living room. It’s like he can’t stand to be close to you. They lay Tom on the neatly made bed and you hear Tom groan out in pain.
“Someone must’ve told on us” Harrison explains in a rush. “The merchandise was gone and they were waiting for us. They started shooting as soon as we got there. Tom got hit”
“I can see that!” You shriek. Your hands are shaking, eyes burning with tears as you watch Harry fuss around with Tom’s clothing. What if the bullet hit any vital organs? What if Tom doesn’t make it? The thought scares the shit out of you.
“The doctor’s gonna be here any minute now. Can you go and wait for him downstairs?” Harrison asks and you know that’s his way of giving you an out, an opportunity to catch your breath and comprehend the situation. But you can’t.
“I’m not leaving him!” You insist, making everyone’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. It’s not a secret that your marriage isn’t built on love. They see how Tom treats you. At the beginning they tried to reason with him, make him at least be civil with you. But Tom was stubborn. He just doesn’t like you.
Harrison thinks about your words for a moment, then slowly nods. “Okay,” He turns to one of the other men in the room “Dave?”
“I’m on it” then Dave leaves the room, presumably to wait for the doctor at the front door.
You make your way to the side of the bed and clasp Tom’s hand in yours. “I told you to wear a bulletproof vest, you idiot” You scold him because you don’t know what else to say. Tom huffs at that and you can imagine him rolling his eyes behind his closed lids. But he squeezes your hand anyway.
Hectic footsteps make their way upstairs and then the doctor’s there, telling you to leave the room.
“I’m not leaving him,” You say for the second time that night, your grip tightening on Tom’s hand.
“It’s not gonna be pretty,” The doctor says warily as he prepares his instruments.
“It’s not the first time I’m watching someone get fixed after being shot” You snap back at him. You’re not the delicate little girl everyone seems to think you are.
The doctor finally accepts the fact that you won’t leave your husband’s side and gets to work.
“He’s going to be alright, isn’t he?” You ask when the doctor packs up his things after the procedure. Tom is sleeping now but you can’t seem to let go of his hand.
“If there are no complications” The doctor nods “He should take it easy for a couple weeks though. He’s lost a lot of blood. I’ll check back in with you tomorrow. Call me if anything changes”
-
For the next couple of weeks, you take care of Tom. He doesn’t really know why you do it. He’s done nothing to deserve you treating him so lovingly. He thinks that it’s maybe just because that’s part of your vow to each other. In sickness and in health. But he knows it’s more than that. Your heart is so pure that you take care of him even though anyone else in your position would leave him to die. You haven’t left his side for longer than half an hour since he was carried in by his brother and best friend.
And Tom finally sees that he needs to treat you better. And right there, as he watches you babble on about something you saw on the news, he vows to himself that he’ll never let anyone hurt you, least of all him.
Masterlist
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wiypt-writes · 3 years
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Stark Spangled Rebirth
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Chapter 2: Is This A Test?
Summary: Steve begins his life at Camp Lehigh, throwing himself into training alongside the other candidates for Operation Rebirth and is shocked when on his first day he comes face to face with someone he hadn’t been expecting to see again…
Warnings: Bad Language words. Some over the clothes making out (NSFW, 18+)
Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark
A/N:  I might have taken a few liberties here with the way things worked in the Army in the 40s but, let’s face it, no more than the MCU did! Any mistakes are my own. I’ll probably spot them once posted but, whatever!
This series is my contribution of sorts to the CATF 10 Year Anniversary Challenge.
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 Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.
SSR Masterlist // Main Masterlist
Chapter 1
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At Camp Lehigh the new recruits were met by their Sergeant, who escorted them to their quarters. There it was explained to them that as they were to form part of a programme run by the Strategic Science Reserve, a separate unit from the rest of the army training at the base, but more would become clear in an hour or so when they reported for exercise. They were then issued their standard uniform, which was awkward for Steve as even the smallest sizes felt like they drowned him but he shrugged it off reminding himself that he had finally done it. He was here, training to be a soldier.
He changed and then Sergeant Duffy appeared again, barking at them to fall in line and they followed him down to an exercise field at the rear of the barracks. Here they once more lined up, Steve taking his place in between teo men whose names he couldn’t remember and they stood, waiting.
“Recruits, attention!”  A female voice called and Steve felt his mouth drop open, because he knew the owner of said voice. “Gentlemen, I’m Agent Stark, this is Agent Carter.”  He turned to face Katie as she began walking down the line, dressed in a sharp army uniform with another woman at her side and a man behind them both who was clutching a box which contained clip files. As she reached Steve, Katie stopped and looked at him, giving him a bashful, almost apologetic smile as the other woman continued to walk.
And wait. Her surname was Stark? As in, Howard Stark? Was that her husband? Had he kissed a married woman? Fuck! Steve swallowed his worry down and averted his eyes as Katie passed down the line following Agent Carter, their eyes flicking to each man in turn.
“We supervise all operations for this division.” Agent Carter spoke in a strong British accent before she was interrupted.
“What’s with the accent, Queen Victoria?” A man further down the line stated rather obnoxiously, causing Agent Carter to stop. Katie drew up alongside her, and Steve watched as, Katie’s hands fell to her hips and she studied the man who’d spoken out of line. “Thought I was signing up for the U.S. Army!”
“What’s your name, soldier?” Agent Carter asked.
“Gilmore Hodge, your Majesty.”
At that the two women exchanged a glance and Agent Carter took a deep breath. “Step forward, Hodge.”
The man obliged, a smirk on his face as he looked around a little, no doubt to check everyone was watching.
“Put your right foot forward.” Agent Carter instructed.
“Mmm… we gonna wrestle? Cause I got a few moves I know you’ll like.” Hodge spoke, before puckering his lips up in a kissing gesture.
Then, there was a flurry of movement and in a flash Katie was behind him, jerking his arm up his back. She aimed a sharp kick to the back of his knee causing Hodge to stumble to the floor. She went with him, her knee planted firmly in the base of his spine, arm twisting even more and he gave out a yell, “Okay, okay I yield.”
Steve gave a little huff of laughter, as did the man to his right as Katie stood up, not a hair out of place and smoothed down her jacket and trousers as Hodge rose to his feet. No sooner had he done that Agent Carter punched him hard, straight in the face.
And Steve laughed a little more this time, hastily straightening his face when he noticed a man, a Colonel according to the pips on his shoulders, hopping out of jeep as he barked to the two agents.
“Agent Carter, Agent Stark.”
Both of them wheeled round, springing to attention, saluting.
“Colonel Phillips.”
“Sir.”
“I see you’re breaking in the candidates. That’s good!” He nodded to the two women before he looked down at Hodge “Get your ass up out of that dirt and stand in that line at attention 'til somebody comes and tells you what to do.”
“Yes, Sir.” Hodge scrambled to his feet and slotted back into the place he’d been stood previously, looking a little sheepish.
Steve watched as Colonel Phillips started to walk down the line, addressing the new army recruits.  “General Patton has said that wars are fought with weapons but they are won by men. We are going to win this war because we have the best men…” He paused a little at that point as he looked at Steve. Steve kept his face straight, looking directly ahead. He knew full well what the Colonel was thinking, but he was here to prove him wrong. “And because they’re gonna get better. Much better. The Strategic Scientific Reserve is an Allied effort made up of the best minds in the free world. Our goal is to create the best army in history. But every army starts with one man. At the end of this week we will choose that man. He will be the first in a new breed of super-soldiers. And they, will personally escort Adolf Hitler to the gates of Hell.”
Super-Soldiers? The end of the week? That was five days away! Steve could hear a few murmurs down the line as some of the recruits began to exchange glances.
“Did I ask any of you to talk?” Phillips barked and silence fell once more. “The man we select will go through a procedure,” he continued, “an experimental procedure that, if successful, will significantly enhance his physical stature, amplifying all his qualities and abilities. This is not something we take lightly. It is for this reason that you will be assessed not just on your current physical abilities but your mental capacity and it won’t be easy. So if any of you are having second thoughts,” he once more paused at Steve who, as before, ignored him, “speak now or forever hold your peace.”
No one made a sound.
***** Whilst Steve didn’t have much time to think about Katie for the rest of the day as most of his energy was taken by keeping up with the afternoon’s exercise, he found himself with plenty of time to think about her over dinner. He kept himself to himself, taking a seat at the end of a large table in the mess hall, unable to prevent the sullen mood he found himself in.
He knew it was stupid, as he hardly knew the dame, but he felt betrayed, and if truth be told a little confused. Betrayed at the fact she’d kept her true identity and vocation from him, confused as to why she’d kissed him, especially if she was married and knew they’d end up working together. It confounded his original opinion that she’d done it out of some kind of obligation, a thank you if you will for him stepping in that day on the street. Not that he needed to step in, it was perfectly clear now she’d been able to handle herself.
He looked down at the tasteless bully beef and dumplings, before he sighed and continued to eat. Whilst he wasn’t particularly hungry he knew that he had to keep his strength up, especially if he wanted to have any chance to complete the training that was in store tomorrow. When he’d had his fill, he took the tray over to the clear down area and headed outside into the warm New Jersey evening.
It was still light, the birds in the trees singing their melodic evening chorus as Steve headed over the camp towards the sleeping barracks he and the other Project Rebirth candidates had been assigned to. He trudged down the dirt path, hands in his baggy uniform pockets when he heard Katie shouting to him. Taking a deep breath, he stopped, and turned to face her, saluting.
“Agent Stark.”
“Woah, at ease, we ain’t on parade now!” She shook her head.
“Yes Ma’am.” He dropped his arm but kept it firmly by his side, still standing to attention, focussing on a spot slightly behind her.
“What’s with the Ma’am?” She frowned but Steve ignored her question. Her frown deepened and she cocked her head to one side. “Wait, are you angry at me?” Steve’s eyes flicked to hers for a second and he swallowed looking away causing her to sigh. “Steve, I…”
“You lied to me.” He blurted out, his eyes returning to hers and she frowned.
“No, I just didn’t tell you my full story.” She shrugged, lamely.
“Where I come from that’s called lying.”
“Oh come on, Steve, it’s not like you actually asked what I did for a living!”
“I asked if ya worked for Howard Stark.” He folded his arms. “And you said you did.”
“Well, I do, sorta…”
“Oh, is that as well as sorta being married to him?”
“Married?” Katie’s eyes narrowed before they widened again and she grinned. “What, you think…oh my God Steve!” She let out a laugh.
“You know, I’ve had my fill of people laughing at me today.” He rolled his eyes and turned to leave, an angry flush spreading up his neck.
“Howie’s my brother!”
“Your brother?” He stopped dead.
“Yes, you know, same mom, same dad.”
Steve groaned, feeling like a total, total idiot and after a moment or two of cursing himself he turned back to face her, his face bashfully tinged red. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Tell you what?”
“That you were related? Or what it is that you actually do?”
“Because I didn’t know I was supposed to.” She looked at him. “Plus, I kinda liked not being Agent Katie Stark for a moment and just being, I dunno, some regular girl.”
Steve looked at her again before he glanced away, not quite sure what had come over him. He’d literally never had a conversation with a woman that lasted longer than a few minutes, if that, and here he was for the second time with her just rolling with it, and not just that, he was actually being a little rude. His ma would not be happy.
“I’m sorry.” He offered, his manner contrite. “That was rude. I guess, well, it was just a shock, that’s all.”
“Do you know how people usually react when I tell them what I actually do?” Katie sighed, shaking her head “Most guys run a mile.”
“Well, I’m not like most guys.” Steve instantly retorted, repeating the sentiment she had expressed to him mere days ago. She blinked a little, before she gave a huff of laughter and dropped her eyes to the floor.
“Touche, Rogers. Touche.”
“Can I ask you something?” Feeling emboldened Steve asked hastily, before he chickened out.
“Sure.” She nodded.
“Did you know? That I was gonna be here, I mean.”
“Not for certain.” Katie shook her head. “I had an idea when you told me it was a doctor from a Science Division that had recruited you but until I saw your name on the new-recruit roster this morning, I didn’t know for sure.”
“Right.” Steve nodded, licking his lips a little.
“Does it matter?” Katie frowned.
“Not especially.” He popped a shoulder. “Just kinda figured that if you knew you’d be seeing me each day, you wouldn’t have…you know…”
“Kissed you?”
“Yeah, that.” Steve felt the heat rise in his neck as he thought back to that moment. He ran his hand through his hair in a nervous fashion. “I mean I know you probably did it because you either felt kinda sorry for me or like you hadda thank me but this has gotta be awkward for you right? Seeing me every day as a reminder, but it’s not like I told anyone so-“
“Woah, woah, stop!” Katie shook her head, stepping towards him. “Steve, I don’t care who you told. I’m not embarrassed if that’s what you think.”
“You’re not?”
“No!” Katie looked at him like he was stupid. “And I didn’t kiss you because I felt sorry for you or because I felt I owed you, I kissed you because I wanted to.”
“You wanted to.” Steve looked at her, not quite sure if he believed her or not.
“Is that so hard to comprehend?”
“Frankly, yes!” He snorted. “I mean, look at ya. You’re…” he gestured with his hand towards her. “And I’m…”
“Well lucky for you I’m not a shallow bimbo then isn’t it?” She said, an air of annoyance in her tone. “I might be a Stark, and yes, I’m privileged which means I’m expected to act a certain way with a certain type of man from a certain type of background. Maybe I just wanna act how I wanna act, with who I choose. And your assumption right then? That’s exactly why I didn’t tell you.”
“Katie, I didn’t-” But even by the time he’d finished half his sentence, she’d turned on her heel and left “-mean it like that.” He finished a little lamely, watching her go. His hands dropped to his bony hips and he glanced at the floor, toeing the dirt slightly before he looked up and around.
He felt so out of place, the one thing he’d wanted to do and now he was here he felt as small and as insignificant as he had ever felt. And to top it off, he’d just upset probably the one person he could have relied upon for support. But it was more than that. He felt guilty, guilty that he’d upset her and made assumptions about her, when he actually in all fairness knew nothing about her. He’d judged a book by its cover, which was what he hated everyone doing to him. With a final groan he turned and headed back towards the sleeping quarters, to unpack the small chest of belongings he’d brought with him.
If today was anything to go by, it was going to be a long week.
***** Long was an understatement.
By Monday morning,  Steve had done five different physical assault courses, various runs loaded with equipment, taken part in a number of logic puzzles, had a one on one interview with Colonel Phillips, completed written, arithmetic and geography tests and been subject to another medical examination.  He was now on a fuck knows how many miles drill run, being barked at once more by Sergeant Duffy.
“Pick up the pace, ladies! Let’s go!”
Steve was running as fast as he could, but still lagged ten or fifteen yards behind the main formation of the group. His legs ached, his chest hurt but he was damned if he was giving up.
"Double time! Come on! Faster! Faster! Move! Move!”  Sergeant Duffy instructed as they rounded the corner of the dirt path, drawing up behind a jeep which was parked by a flag pole surrounded by white rocks on the ground. “Squad, halt!”
Finally, Steve could catch his breath. He bent over, hands on his knees as he inhaled deeply, watching the group of men as they gathered around their leader.
“That flag means we’re only at the halfway point.”
Half way? Great…just great.
“First man to bring it to me gets a ride back with Agent Carter. Move, move!”
Steve pushed his helmet back up his head, remaining where he was simply watching as the entire unit all tried to climb the pole. It was a free for all, men pushing each other out of the way, elbows flying, fists flailing. Steve however scanned the pole up and down, his brain logically thinking it through. There had to be a way to get that flag down without having to climb the pole, otherwise how did they put it up there in the first place?
“If that’s all you got, this army’s in trouble!” Duffy snapped “Get up there, Hodge! Come on! Get up there!”
Hodge, who had made it a few feet further than everyone else slid down to the ground and Duffy stood back, his arms folded, smirking a little. “Nobody’s got that flag in seventeen years!” He shook his head “Now fall back into line! Come on, fall in!”
That signalled the end of the little pole exercise, but not for Steve. As everyone cleared away he walked towards it, glancing first at the bottom of the pole, then up to the top, squinting slightly against the sun. If he was right…
“Rogers! I said fall in!” Duffy barked, but Steve ignored him as he bent down and pulled the pin out at the bottom of the pole causing it to fall with a loud crash to the ground in a cloud of dust. He tossed the pin to the floor with a clang as everyone fell silent, watching as he removed the flag from the rope which held it to the pole. He handed it to Sergeant Duffy on his way past.
“Thank you, sir.” He said gently as he climbed into the back of the jeep. Agent Carter turned to face him from her seat in the front and he shot her a smile which she returned, an amused look spreading across her features.
Steve was damned glad of that ride home as, following lunch, they were subjected to another physical activity, this one a seemingly endless circuit training involving star jumps, push up, sit ups you name it.
“Faster, ladies!” Agent Carter barked, as they were all busy doing push ups “Come on. My grandmother has more life in her, God rest her soul. Move it!”
A few more sets and she barked at them to get up, which they obeyed, springing to their feet just as Agent Stark arrived with Colonel Phillips and Dr Erskine. The three of them were clearly mid some debate, Katie looked a little annoyed and turned to Phillips snapping at him, her face flashing with anger. Erskine put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head gently and she rolled her eyes, turning away and looking over towards the group of men.  She locked eyes with Steve who watched her for a second, before Agent Carter’s voice hit his ears and he began the jumping jacks she had instructed them to partake in.
“Come on, girls.”
Steve had no idea how many he did, but he continued going, his arms and legs both spreading and then coming back together as he made jump after jump. He grit his teeth, powering through the burn he was feeling in his muscles, tossing his head out of the way slightly as his dog tags bounced off his chest after a particularly energetic leap, smacking him straight in the nose.
And then he heard it.
“GRENADE!”
All logic flew from Steve’s head and as the rest of the unit scattered he instinctively dived towards the explosive, covering it with his body, curling his knees into his chest in an attempt to minimise the impact to everyone round him.
“Get away!” He yelled, waving his arm as Agent Carter ran towards him, “get back!”
He remained curled in on himself, waiting and waiting but nothing happened. Eventually he looked up, to see everyone was slowly starting to go back to normal and he sat up, frowning a little, his mouth hanging slightly open.
“It was a dummy grenade. All clear. Back in formation.” Someone spoke as Steve glanced first at Agent Carter then over to Phillips and Erskine and finally Agent Stark. As his eyes met hers a smile crossed her face and a flash of something that looked suspiciously like pride filled her pretty features.
“Is this is a test?” He asked as he sat on the floor, completely bemused at what had just happened.
Katie tore her eyes from his to turn to Dr Erskine who was also smiling and they both simultaneously moved their attention to Colonel Phillips. He shot them both a withering look as he spoke before he turned to walk away. As he passed Katie he stopped, pointed to Steve who was now getting to his feet and she nodded, saluting.
Erskine beamed at Steve before he turned to follow Phillips away, once again patting Katie’s shoulder as he left. Steve dusted himself down and then simply watched as Katie walked over to Agent Carter, his eyes following her every move. She whispered something to the other woman who raised her eyebrows, a soft smile crossing her face. Both women then looked at him, before Peggy gave Katie a curt nod as she called the remaining soldiers back into line.
“Private Rogers,” Katie spoke, her eyes soft as she glanced at him, “with me.”
“Ma’am.” He scrambled after her, tripping over his feet slightly as he hurried to catch up with her, glancing back at the line of men who were now being addressed by Agent Carter before she dismissed them all.
“What…where are the rest of the guys goin’?” he began to ask and Katie turned to look at him as he fell into step besides her, to her left.
“They’re leaving.”
“Leaving?” Steve frowned.
“Yup.” Katie nodded as she led him across the training field and onto the gravel track. “They’ll be re-assigned to other units.”
“Other units?” Steve frowned, before her words finally registered “You mean…”
Katie stopped and turned to look at him, smiling as she brushed some of the dirt from his shoulder. “Congratulations. You’re gonna become our first Super Soldier.”
Steve blinked, swallowed and then shook his head. “Is this a joke?”
“No.” Katie shook her head. “I can assure you this is deadly serious.” She took a deep breath and turned to walk down the track to her right.
“Why me?” Steve blurted out as they rounded a row of military jeeps
Katie smiled at him “The fact you’re even asking that should tell you everything you need to know. But if you really want the detailed answer, you should ask Abe.”
“Who?”
“Dr Erskine.”
“Okay, I will, where is he?” Steve looked round almost as if he expected the Doctor to appear form behind the munitions store they were passing.
“I suspect on his way to Brooklyn to meet Howie at the lab.” Katie replied “He’ll be back later so you can talk to him then.”
“The lab’s in Brooklyn?” The surprise was evident in Steve’s voice as Katie led him to one of the large green dome like structures that housed the offices. “So that’s why you were there that day.”
Katie grinned. “Not just a pretty face, are ya?” She stood still, snapping to attention and saluted to the guard on the door who immediately saluted back.
“Agent Stark.” He greeted as he stepped to his right, opening the door for them both to step into. Steve followed behind her down a long corridor. They turned left at the end and Katie stopped outside a door to their right which held a name tag informing them that it was Colonel Phillips’ office.  She gave a sharp rap, and then without waiting for an answer opened the door and stepped in, Steve following.
The Colonel looked up as they entered the room, placing the pen he’d been writing with down on his desk.
“Shut the door.” Phillips barked and Steve scrambled to do as he was told before he drew himself up tall and saluted his superior. “At ease, Rogers.”
“Sir.” Steve nodded and relaxed as much as he could. At that point there was another knock on the door and he turned to see Agent Carter step inside.
“Ma’am.” Steve nodded to Peggy who smiled at him.
“So, I’m assuming Agent Stark has given you the low down?” Phillips spoke and Steve turned back to him, giving a nod.
“Yes, sir.”
“Good, saves me a job.”
“When don’t I?” Katie quipped and Steve’s eyes widened at the fact she’d basically just sassed a superior officer. There was a moment’s pause before Phillips snorted.
“One of these days, Agent Stark, that mouth is gonna get you into trouble.”
“I look forward to it.”
Phillips shot her another look which she met with a smirk and he scoffed a little, turning his attention to Steve. “So, Rogers, Dr Erskine has chosen you as the candidate to become our first Super Soldier.”
“It’s an honor, Sir.”
“Do you have any questions?” Peggy looked at Steve.
Steve pondered for a second. Truth be told he had a lot of questions, but the biggest one, the why, that was going to have to wait for Dr Erskine himself. He took a deep breath and looked up at the Agent before his eyes flicked to Colonel Phillips, and back again.
“What does the procedure actually entail?”
“Agent Stark, you wanna take this?” Phillips looked at her and she nodded.
“You’ll be injected with Erskine’s formula.” Katie looked at Steve “This will cause immediate change to your cells, your DNA. Then to stimulate the change and growth, you’ll be subjected to an intense permeation of Vita-Rays, in a chamber that my brother and Erskine developed especially.”
“Is it safe?” Steve asked.
Katie took a deep breath and shrugged. “On the animal test subjects we’ve used, yeah but I’m not gonna lie to you Steve, other than a Nazi scientist named Johan Schmidt the serum hasn’t been tested on any human subject.”
“What happened to this Schmidt guy?” Steve asked and Katie looked at Phillips, then Peggy, and when she turned back to him he swallowed a little at the look of apprehension on her face.
“It didn’t go the way he planned, but that said the formula was incomplete. Erskine will be able to tell you more tomorrow.” She answered softly. Steve thought on her words for a moment, his eyes still locked onto hers as she licked her lips, offering him nothing but a shrug. “In simple terms, we don’t know if it’s gonna work or not. So you need to think carefully.”
“When is it gonna happen?”
“The procedure will take place tomorrow morning.” Agent Carter spoke. “So you have little over fourteen hours.”
“So despite what Agent Stark says,” Phillips spoke, shooting Katie a look which she met with an equally annoyed one of her own, “there’s little to no time for contemplation.”
“There’s fourteen hours…” Katie began to protest.
“Did I ask for your input?” Phillips snapped and she narrowed her eyes.
“No, you never do. Maybe if you did we-“
“If you want to remain part of this unit you’ll stop that sentence right there.” Phillips pointed at her. Katie’s mouth pressed into a thin line and she folded her arms, shaking her head as she looked away. Steve’s eyes turned back to Phillips who spoke. “If you want out, now is the time to speak up so we can find someone else. Are you in, Rogers? Because if you are, after this meeting and you leave this room, there’s no going back.”
“But I’ve only had like five days of basic training.” Steve frowned “Is that going to be enough?”
“We’re on a schedule.” Phillips shrugged, “It’s going to have to be.”
“Your basic training, or lack thereof, shouldn’t be a problem.” Peggy shook her head “Our intention is to continue to train you up fully so that you’re prepared to lead the others who we, well, who we convert.”
Steve took a deep breath and glanced once more at Katie, who was staring to her left, her jaw set. Was he in? He began to logically step through things in his head. Steve wasn’t an idiot, he knew full well that if he said no he’d be shipped off to another unit and likely sent home or shoved into some kind of non-combat role due to his current lack of physical abilities or strength. The serum might not work, but then what? He ended up deformed? Or dead? But if he was perfectly honest with himself, having had a taste of what it was like to do what he always wanted to, if the opportunity was taken away from him, he might as well be dead anyway.
It was a no brainer as far as he was concerned. He had to do this.
“I’m in.” Steve nodded, his voice loaded with conviction as he gave a firm nod.
To the side of him Katie took a deep breath, an action mimicked by Colonel Phillips, before the older man turned to Agent Carter who stepped to the side revealing a piece of paper on the desk.
“In that case then I need you to sign this.” Phillips said “It’s a form stating that you consent to the procedure. Just a formality that Stark is insisting on.”
“God forbid we do things properly.” Katie mumbled. Phillips shot her another withering glare before he waved a pen at Steve. Steve stepped forward, took the pen off him and glanced down at the form. His eyes scanned it and then, without further hesitation he scribbled his name on the space at the bottom.
“Congratulations Private Rogers.” Phillips nodded as Agent Carter moved to place the form in a filing cabinet at the back.
“So, now what do I do?” Steve asked.
“You can do what the hell you want, within reason.” Phillips shrugged “But you can’t leave base, can’t risk anything happening to you. Not now.”
“By the time you get back to your barracks, everyone else will have packed up and left so I suggest you make the most of the peace and quiet.” Agent Carter smiled. “Because you’re going to be pretty busy from Tomorrow onwards.”
Steve nodded to show he understood and then he was dismissed. Saluting to Phillips he turned to leave the room, followed by Katie who herself was leaving to see her brother.
“Is there anything in particular you’d like to eat tonight?” She asked him as they left the building. “And I don’t mean any of the shit they serve in the mess.”
Steve looked up. “I suppose some of Mrs Tromley’s home made preserve is out of the question?”
“Leave it with me.” She smiled and Steve looked at her for a second before he took a deep breath.
“Look, Agent- Katie, I err, wanted to apologise for my outburst the other night. I was rude and…”
“It’s okay, I don’t hold a grudge.” She paused and turned to face him. “Alright that’s a lie, I do. But only against people who deserve it.”
“And I don’t?” Steve asked with a slight smile and she shrugged.
“For now, no. Plenty of time for me to change my mind though.” And with that, just as she had done at the expo she turned and left him standing there, tossing him a wink over her shoulder as she walked away.
 *****
Katie came through with the preserve, a small jar along with a crusty cob of bread was waiting in his bunk later that evening when he returned from the bathroom cabin. He ate sat on his bed, mulling everything over in his mind before he stood up and decided to go for a walk. He found a nice quiet spot hidden behind one of the munition sheds and sat to draw for a while, a particularly gnarled old tree the target of his attention. When the light diminished too much for him to see properly, he headed back and dropped his sketchbook into his rucksack before he settled down with a book open on his lap.
For the next few hours he tried to read but none of it was really sinking in. He had butterflies in his stomach, not nerves as such, but apprehension, definitely, at what he was letting himself in for. As he re-read the same sentence he’d been looking at for the last ten minutes, there was a knock at the door which made him jump slightly and he turned to look over his left shoulder as Dr Erskine stood in the doorway, a bottle and two glasses in his hand.
“May I?”
“Yeah.” Steve nodded, closing the book as Erskine walked over the floor, placing the glass on the trunk at the end of Steve’s bed.
“Can’t sleep?” Erskine asked as he moved towards the bed opposite Steve.
“I got the jitters, I guess.” Steve shrugged.
Erskine laughed “Me, too.”
“Can I ask you a question?” Steve dropped the book he had been reading down on the trunk next to the glass.
“Just one?” Erskine looked at Steve as he sat down facing him. Steve still had a lot of questions, but the one he wanted an answer to most was the one that flew out of his mouth.
“Why me?”
“I suppose that is the only question that matters.” Erskine said after a moment’s pause. He looked down at the bottle of schnapps he brought with him, turning the label so Steve could see it. “This is from Augsburg. My city. So many people forget that the first country that the Nazi’s invaded was their own.” He took a breath “You know, after the last war my people struggled. They felt weak. They felt small. And then Hitler comes along with the marching and the big show and the flags and the… and the… “ Erskine waved his hand as he took a deep breath, straightening his glasses “And he… he hears of me, my work and he finds me. And he says, ‘You’,” Erskine pointed to emphasise his point, “he says, ‘you will make us strong.’ Well, I am not interested.” Erskine shook his head as he placed the bottle on the floor between his feet, Steve’s eyes following his movements “So he sends the head of HYDRA, his research division. A brilliant scientist by the name of Johann Schmidt.”
That name Steve recognised from before, the one Katie told him about. He watched as Erskine continued talking, once more pushing his glasses up his nose. “Now, Schmidt is a member of the inner circle and he’s ambitious. He and Hitler share a passion for occult power and Teutonic myth. Hitler uses his fantasies to inspire his followers. But for Schmidt, it is not fantasy. For him, it is real. He has become convinced that there is a great power hidden in the Earth, left here by the Gods, waiting to be seized by a superior man. So when he hears about my formula and what it can do, he cannot resist.” Erskine paused as Steve looked at him, understanding immediately he was referring to Schmidt taking the formula. “Schmidt must become that superior man.”
Remembering what Katie had said, about it not going according to plan he looked at Erskine. “Did it make him stronger?”
“Yeah. But, there were other effects.” Erskine conceded, but didn’t elaborate further. “The serum was not ready. But more important, the man. The serum amplifies everything that is inside. So, good becomes great. Bad becomes worse.” He explained and Steve glanced down, taking all the information in “This is why you were chosen.”
At that Steve looked back up at him, his brow furrowing deeply as Erskine continued “Because a strong man, who has known power all his life, will lose respect for that power. But a weak man knows the value of strength, and knows compassion.”
“Thanks,” Steve said, frowning slightly, “I think.” He glanced at Erskine who smiled at him, and then waved in the direction of the two glasses on the trunk at the foot of the bed. As Steve took the glasses, pulling the top one out with his right hand, Erskine uncorked the schnapps and began to pour the liquid.
“Whatever happens tomorrow, you must promise me one thing.” Erskine said, corking the bottle one more and setting it down on the floor “That you will stay who you are.” Erskine took a glass off Steve and stared straight into his eyes, almost as if he was trying to drive the message home. “Not a perfect soldier, but a good-“ he pointed at Steve’s chest “- man.”
Steve took a deep breath, holding his glass up and he allowed that fleeting warmth of pride spread across his chest, just for a second, as he smiled. “To the little guys.”
“Ha ha!” Erskine agreed, chinking his glass against Steve’s but just as Steve was about to take a drink Erskine suddenly spluttered. “No! No! Wait! Wait! What I am doing?” He reached out, taking Steve’s glass off him “No! You have a procedure tomorrow. No fluids.”
Seriously?
Steve watched as Erskine poured the contents of Steve’s glass into his own and sighed a little, he’d been looking forward to that.
“All right. We’ll drink it after.” He shrugged.
“No! I don’t have procedure tomorrow.” Erskine gestured towards himself. “Drink it after? I drink it now.”
Steve gave a small smile as the doctor knocked back the clear liquid in the glass and was just about to speak to tease him a little about making sure he had a clear head for the morning, when there was another knock on the door. Steve’s head turned to look as Katie stepped inside the dorm, smiling.
“Sorry, I didn’t know you had company.” She looked at Erskine whose mouth curled up a little at one side in a knowing smirk.
“And that is my cue to leave.” He stood up. “I will see you in the morning, Steven.”
He squeezed Steve’s shoulder as he strode past, the bottle of schnapps in his hand as Katie moved to allow him through the doorway. He smiled once more before he shut the door behind him leaving the pair of them in the dim light of the bare sleeping room. Steve looked at Katie, inhaling deeply as even in the simple combat trousers and plain khaki t-shirt she was wearing she still looked effortlessly gorgeous. Her hair was pulled back off her face in a simple braid, and her skin was devoid of her usual make up, lips clear of their normal bright red paint. He realised with a slight swallow that this is what she’d look like at home, last thing at night and first thing in the morning…
He shifted a little on the side of his bed and watched as she walked over to take the spot Erskine had vacated.
“Are you supposed to be in here?” Steve finally spoke and she shrugged.
“Well, it probably wouldn’t be seen as appropriate if we were caught but…” She paused and gave a twitch of a smirk, “Steve, you’re gonna become a super soldier tomorrow, you can do what the hell you want!”
He inhaled a little sharply at her words as those inappropriate thoughts once more reared in his head and he felt his neck and cheeks grow warm.
“You’re adorable when you’re flustered.” She smiled.
“Thanks?” he shook his head before he glanced up at her. “So why are you here?”
“I wanted to see how you were.” She shrugged.
“Why?” he frowned.
“Why?” She looked at him, as if he’d just asked her the dumbest question on the planet. “Because I care about you Steve.”
“You care about me?” He repeated, the disbelief evident in his tone.
“Yeah.” She shrugged. “Of course I do.”
Steve watched her for a moment, and for the first time he caught a glimpse of something a little less composed under her normally cool and confident exterior. She was biting her lip, her teeth worrying at her plump bottom one as her right hand gently pulled at the knuckles of her left.
“You’re nervous.” He spoke suddenly and her eyes locked onto his, her throat bobbing as she swallowed. “What is it?”
“Nothing, just, well, this is a huge thing, Steve. A culmination of years of work from not just the SSR but Stark Industries, and Erskine.” She looked at him and shook her head, giving a little snort. “God I know that sounds pathetic compared to what you must be feeling.”
“Well, I’m a little twitchy, that’s fo’ sure, but I’m not scared scared, does that make sense?” He asked and she looked at him, a smile twisting on her lips.
“That’s because you’re ridiculously brave.”
“Or stupid.” He shrugged and she laughed, shaking her head.
“That’s one word I really wouldn’t use to describe you. I heard about the flag.”
“Yeah?” Steve chuckled a little and she grinned.
“Peggy said it was the best thing she’d ever seen. No one’s rendered Sergeant Duffy speechless before but he was pretty impressed that night at briefing.”
“It was just logic.” Steve flushed, rubbing at the back of his neck. “I’m pretty good at using my head. You haff’ to be when you’re as small and as weak as I am.”
“Don’t.” Katie shook her head.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t say that. You’re not weak.”
At that Steve gave a snort. “Come on Doll, physically I’m a wreck. That’s one of the reasons Erskine picked me.” no sooner had he spoke, he realised what he’d said and his eyes widen at the involuntary use of the pet term but Katie merely laughed, arching her brow.
“Doll?”
“Sorry Ma’am.” He winced “Just slipped out.”
“I’m flattered.” She chuckled, before giving a sigh. “But back to what you just said, about why Erskine picked you. It isn’t just because you’re physically weak. It’s because that serum amplifies everything about you Steve…”
“Yeah, good becomes great, bad becomes worse.” Steve repeated the words Erskine had spoken to him not five minutes ago.
“Exactly.” Katie looked at him. “Erskine could have chosen any one of the guys that were in here with you, but he didn’t. He saw something in you, something that none of the others had.” She bit her lip and grinned as she leaned back slightly on the bed. “You’re a lion disguised as a lamb, Rogers.” “Oh, jeez!” He snorted shaking his head as she laughed. “Now you sound like Bucky, that’s the kinda nonsense that jerk would come out with.”
At that Katie wrinkled her nose. “In that case I take it back.”
“Thank you, now I feel great.” Steve retorted sarcastically and she laughed loudly, snorting as she did so. Her eyes widened and she clamped her hand over her mouth as Steve chuckled at her very un-lady like manner, his head falling forward as his own laughs rang out around the barracks. Eventually, Katie managed to stop, wiping her eyes and she shook her head.
“Sometimes I think it’s a blessing my parents are no longer around. My mom especially would be horrified if they could see how uncouth I act at times.”
“I dunno.” He shrugged. “If you were my daughter I’d be pretty proud of how you turned out.”
Katie smiled shyly at his compliment. “Thanks Stevie. I’m sure yours would feel the same.”
He didn’t ask how she knew his parents were both dead, it was fairly obvious she would have read his file. Instead he simply smiled and looked down at his hands “I like to think so. Although I’m pretty sure if my ma was still around and knew what I was doing tomorrow she’d have a coupla’ things to say about it. And a few slaps ready for the back ‘o ma head!”
“Tell me about it.” Katie chuckled, “If my dad could see me here, right now. Man, he’d be apoplectic. ‘The army is no place for a woman’!” She mimicked a deep voice before she shook her head. “Mind you, not like I’ve never heard it before.” She took a deep breath and looked at him. “You’ve never commented on it though.”
Steve blinked and then shook his head, shrugging. “That’s not how my ma brought me up. She was a single parent for all my life, anything a man could do in the house she did just as well. Besides, I know what it’s like to be told no because of what or who you are.”
“Ironically, who I am kinda got me through the door.” Katie shrugged, and when Steve looked at her pondering what she meant, she continued. “I was already working for the CIA when Howie told me that Colonel Phillips had approached him about working for the SSR. Naturally I wanted in but of course there were grumbles about it because I was a female. But my brother put his foot-down, said we came as a team, so they relented. Plus, Peggy, or Agent Thirteen was she was then, was already in deep cover working for Schmidt as a maid in his personal mansion.” She licked he lips and shrugged. “Colonel Phillips convinced the CIA to send me undercover as Peggy’s friend, a go-between if you will meaning there was less risk of her cover being blown.” She paused and glanced at him as Steve simply watched, rapt with attention. “Over the next few months we obtained details of Schmidt’s plan, what he was intending to do with Erskine’s serum and we knew we couldn’t possibly let the Nazi’s perfect it. Since we rescued Erskine, he and Howard have been working on finishing the formula, building the necessary equipment to ensure that it works. And Peggy and I were given our reward which was permission to serve in the allied army as SSR Agents.”
“Permission?” Steve deadpanned and Katie snorted.
“Yup.”
“Interesting reward.”
“I’d have taken whatever chance they gave to me.” She shrugged. “It’s all I ever wanted to do.”
Steve looked at her, the similarities in their stories were striking even despite their different backgrounds. But he still didn’t get it. She was beautiful, could have married well, just like most gals of her status, and his confusion must have shown as she cocked her head to one side and studied him for a moment before she spoke again.
“Don’t you think I was right to do so?”
“No, I mean, yes I do. I guess I’m just curious as to why you’d wanna join the army if you’re a beautiful dame.”
At that both her eyebrows raised and he cursed himself. He’d managed most of this conversation so far not to put his foot in his mouth and now, wham, kicked himself straight in the teeth. “Or a beautiful… a woman.” He floundered for words “An agent, not a dame! You are beautiful, but…”
“Why do you get so nervous when you speak to me?” Katie asked and Steve shook his head, giving a little huff as she called him out, groaning a little.
“Because up until the point I met you I think the longest conversation I ever had with a woman would have been with Mrs Barnes or Mrs Tomley.” he looked up at her, before he glanced back down at his hands. “Women aren’t exactly lining up to dance with a guy they might step on.”
“You must have danced?” Katie frowned, and she seemed genuinely surprised at what he was admitting.
“Well, asking a woman to dance always seems so terrifying.” Steve shrugged “And the past few years just didn’t seem to matter that much. Figured I’d wait.”
“For what?”
“The right partner.” He said, his eyes still focussed on his hands. He could feel Katie looking at him and eventually he raised his eyes to see her smiling softly at him.
“Well, I think all the girls in Brooklyn are dumbasses for not noticing you.”  With her words she stood up and crossed to the bed he was sat on, taking a spot besides him. Steve swallowed, his entire body going rigid at the fact she was so close to him and she turned her face to look into his eyes. “You’re sweet”
He chuckled “You know I hear that a lot…you’re really sweet and all but…“
“Like I said,” she bumped her shoulder against his slightly, “dumbasses”
Steve looked at her before he felt his cheeks once more growing warm and he looked away, hastily, focussing on nothing in particular as her words echoed around his head. He didn’t know how to respond to praise, not in the sense in which she was giving it to him anyway.
“But seriously, why does me complimenting you make you so awkward, Steve?” She asked, and despite himself Steve’s head shot up to look at her once more, his mouth falling open at the fact that she’d unwittingly just read his mind.
He took a deep breath. “I guess I’m not used to it, that’s all.”
“I’m sorry if it makes you feel awkward.” She bit her bottom lip and looked down at her hands for a moment before she glanced back at him, her features soft, eyes alive in the dim light. “But I just, well, I like you Steve,” she whispered, “I mean, really like you.”
Steve felt his mouth go dry as her eyes flicked down to his lips, the same way they had at the Expo and he swallowed, the lump thick in his throat.
“I err, I…” He took a deep breath, the palms of his hands feeling clammy, those green emeralds sparkling as he looked at her, his mind willing him to summon the courage to say what he wanted to. And before he could chicken out, he blurted the words. “I like you too.”
Her cheeks flushed pink and she gently moved towards him, closing the already small distance between them as Steve reached up, with a shaky right hand, his actions completely instinctual. He gently cupped her cheek as his lips found hers and he kissed her, tentatively at first before soon the kiss was as deep as it had been at the Expo. His spare hand balled into a fist by his side as he was unsure exactly what to do with it until he felt Katie’s fingers gently work his away from his palm and she pulled his left arm towards her. Following her lead, he tentatively pressed his palm onto her hip as she shifted her weight slightly, wrapping her arms round his neck. She pulled him closer, the kiss growing deeper and Steve couldn’t help the soft little whimper that rolled in his throat.
As the involuntary noise filed the air between them he felt Katie’s lips smile against his and then, he was pitching forward as she fell slowly backwards, pulling him down with her as she sank onto the bunk. The movement came as surprise but he didn’t resist. With a shaky breath he paused for a moment, realising he had absolutely no idea what to do next other than run with it. So, after a second or so more deliberation, he went once more with his gut and crawled over her, resting his weight on his palms which he placed either side of her head before he dropped his face to hers and kissed her again. Her lips felt so soft against his, something he wasn’t sure he’d taken the time to appreciate before, or maybe it was all simply heightened by the fact he was lay over her, he had no idea. But what he did know was that when Katie placed both hands on his face, the pads of her finger tips cupping his jaw, it sent a jolt of electricity tingling all the way down his spine. She was the one to break away this time, breathing deeply as her head rest on his hard, army issued pillow, her eyes bouncing across both of his.
“You okay?” She asked and Steve nodded.
“Yeah, I err…” He swallowed and gave a little huff of shy laughter as he hung his head a little, peeking up a her shyly “I don’t know what I’m doing, or even if we should be doing it at all.”
“What do you mean if we should be doing it at all?”
“Well, we’re not…” He licked his lips “I mean, I should be taking you out, on a date or…well, at least doing things properly, not just…”
“Steve, we’re in the middle of a damned war.” Katie looked at him, cutting his protests off dead. “Every day could be your last, to hell with rules and being prim and proper.”
Steve had to concede she had a point, and as he looked into her eyes he could feel that last thread of his self-control starting to fray. Every inch of his body was on fire for her, he wanted nothing more than to kiss her stupid and feel her underneath him.
“Don’t over think it.” She muttered, her lips ghosting over his. “Just run with it.”
So he did. He kissed her hard, dropping to his elbows and pressing a little more of his weight on top of her, totally lost in her warmth and softness. He let out another soft sigh as he felt her shift underneath him and pulled away, turning his head so that his lips were inches from her neck as he recalled a part of a film he’d seen. He glanced up at her as she watched him, her pupils blown with a combination of lust and anticipation.
“Can I kiss you here?” He whispered softly.
“God, yes.” Katie sighed and he obliged, pressing his mouth to her neck. As he did so, his arms and hands moved downwards slowly, his fingers timidly resting on her hips as they gave a little jerk of their own accord, pushing up against him as she groaned slightly at the contact.  Steve pulled back to stare at her again, her noise shocking him slightly, not sure what to do next but Katie wordlessly answered his silent question by tilting her hips up again, and this time it was him who moaned.
“Katie, I don’t want you to feel like you have to do this or do anything-”
“It’s okay,” she said, her voice low and slightly breathy as she looked at him, her eyes, locking onto his. She pushed her head upwards, mouth seeking his out as her hands slid under his t- shirt. He twitched under her touch as the sensation of her gently dragging her nails across his flat, soft stomach sent a spike of desire, like a red hot poker through his entire body. Katie grasped the bottom of his T-shirt and he hesitated, not sure if he really wanted her to see him topless, but she gave an impatient yank, taking the decision away from him and he held his arms up so she could remove it. Once he was free he glanced down to see Katie looking at his chest. He swallowed, as her eyes roved his various pox marks and scars and shivered as she let her hands wander, tracing a path down towards the top of his khaki pants. Her eyes met his and she sat up slightly pushing him back a little to allow herself enough room to reach down and pull her own T-shirt over her head.
Steve’s mouth was dry again as he glanced down at her chest, her hair falling around her shoulders, breasts spilling over the tops of the simple, black balcony cups of her bra and his groin twitched, the crotch of his pants now painfully tight.
“You’re beautiful…” he whispered gently, and then he kissed her again. Her fingers gently took his hands and she guided them onto her, sliding them up her rib cage to her chest and he froze as he found himself once more unsure of his next move. Swallowing hard against the lump that felt like it was obstructing his entire throat he began to gently squeeze and knead the soft flesh and black lace, before he stopped again to consider his next move.
“It’s okay,” she encouraged and with a nod, his hands slid into the cups, teasing her taught nipples with his thumbs, acting completely on instinct, listening and watching her as she groaned gently, arching her back, her reaction telling him he was doing something right as all the time his groin automatically bumped against hers. Katie buried her fingers in his hair, pulling hard, forcing his head back sharply and as she tugged he let out another low growl. When she let go he stared down at her to see her smirking, her pupils blown so wide there was hardly any green left.
“Don’t stop,” her hands moved down to grab at his lower back, pulling him back against her as she moved her knees, bending them so that his pelvis was flush with her, his cock hard through the thin fabric of his trousers. Taking her lead, Steve ground against her again, and again, and as he continued his movements, he became aware that the rhythm of his hips was becoming more frantic and their kisses were growing more desperate.
“More,” Katie moaned into his mouth, and with movements that were completely and utterly automatic he gave her what she wanted, moving his hips even faster, rubbing against her in ways that had her clutching at his back like her life depended on it. Steve had never felt anything like this in his life. It was so good, so right, in a way nothing had ever felt so right before. It should have been wrong, rutting up against someone fully clothed, but God, his head was a whirl of lust, desire, and he didn’t give a fuck about anything else at that moment other than her as she lay underneath him
As he pressed up against her, the tightening across his lower stomach that he’d only felt before when bringing himself off warned him he was fast approaching his release. He let out another groan as he felt his movements beginning to lose rhythm and he moved his lips to her neck, pressing a kiss to her skin. Katie moaned brokenly and his mouth continued pressing kisses to the spot on her neck which seemed to drive her wild. She tipped her head back as he gently nipped beneath her ear with his teeth and a few more sloppy grinds against her she was done, fingers wrapped around his hair, her, hips bucking upwards, almost violently. Her voice was broken as she gasped out “Stevie…”and it was the single most beautiful sound he’d ever heard in his life as it tumbled from her lips. Seeing and feeling her fall apart in his arms sent him over the edge right behind her in a pure surge of ecstasy, his head dropping  to the crook of her shoulder and she gently ran her fingers through his hair.
There was no noise bar the sound of the crickets drifting in from the outside as they both lay, breathing deeply as they waited to regain control of their bodies, a light sheen of sweat beaded across Steve’s brow, wisps of his hair sticking to his skin. Finally mustering enough strength to move, he raised his head to look at her, to find her smiling as she pushed her head up, pressing a soft kiss to his lips.
“Wow,” she breathed and Steve let out a soft huff of laughter as he sat up to allow her the space to do the same, “you got game Soldier, I’ll give you that.”
Steve snorted and shook his head as he passed retrieved her t-shirt from the floor and passed it to her. “I’ve never done anything like that before.” He shrugged “I erm…”
“Let you into a secret.” She said gently, pulling her top over her head, flicking her hair back as she looked at him, her cheeks flushed with exertion. “Neither have I. Well, not to that extent anyway.”
“What?” Steve frowned “You’ve never…”
“You expecting me to be some kind of wild harlot or sumthin’ Stevie?” She teased as she stood up, Steve scrambling to his feet mimicking her.
“No I just, pretty girl like you, I thought…”
“What was it you said about waiting for the right partner?” She asked before she gently kissed him again. When she pulled away, her nose bumped his slightly and she pressed her forehead to his. “I best go. I don’t wanna but…” she glanced at the window and looked back at him. “I’ll see you tomorrow at the lab.”
“Sure.” Steve followed her a little before she stopped in the doorway and turned to smile at him once more.
“Whatever happens I want you to know that you’re already one of the bravest men I’ve ever met.” She took a deep breath. “You suddenly becoming all big and strong and…well, whatever, won’t change the fact that you already had the heart of a hero, certainly in my eyes anyway.”
And Steve could do nothing but smile as she left the room, closing the door behind her.
**** Chapter 3
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Text
Hey look it’s chap 2! They won’t all come out today I promise.
(Also the other characters tagged appear later in this chapter after the :readmore: this isn’t cross tagged for publicity purposes)
Let me know if you wanna get tagged when I post new chapters in “These Streets Are Made For Walking”. @sleepysnails.
Ao3 Link
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After school, Dream, George, and Sapnap tossed their bags into Techno’s trunk. Technically, he and Dream did have PowerPoint projects to complete, but it was a solo project and he already finished it at lunch.
Snagging the shotgun seat, Sapnap cheered, “To the mall!”
Techno grimaced. At least Sapnap was excited.
Actually, there was one good thing that came from them: friendship. Techno had met Dream at one of these mall fights while they went to different middle schools, then they ended up at the same high school and started to drag Dream’s other friends to them. Techno didn’t mind George and Sapnap, they were just more Dream’s friends than his.
Techno drove them out of the city, and they cruised down the highway for twenty minutes before pulling off to the exit towards the abandoned mall.
“I’ve never understood why this shit happens right after school,” George said.
Dream answered him, “It’s because the cops think this stuff happens at night. They don’t think to look for this stuff during the day.”
“Plus, there’s a lot more of the other stuff going on, so they’re busy.”
“Why do you know that, Sapnap?”
“Reasons.”
Techno rolled his eyes at the trio, and pulled the first aid kit and his backpack out of the trunk. “I’m gonna stay in the car today.” He handed the box to George. “Math homework due tomorrow,” he explained.
“Ah man. That’s too bad,” Dream said, stretching out his arms. “More practice for me.”
“Maybe you’ll even beat me next time,” Techno joked.
Dream wheezed, and Sapnap had to push him away towards the building.
Techno got back in his car, cranked the radio, and blasted the AC, shutting the windows tight. Throwing the bag into the seat next to him, Techno pulled out his binder, and opened it to a fresh piece of graph paper. Study time lasted all of forty minutes before the sirens rang out.
“Snitch,” he muttered to himself. He slumped down in his seat, and pulled out his phone. He debated who to text before deciding that George was least likely to be busy at any given moment.
Techno Got snitched Cops in lot
George Fuck Dream says leave Drop our stuff at Bad’s Drop Tubbo with Punz
Techno Roger
A squad of four cars descended on the parking lot. Most of the officers stormed the mall, but three stayed behind. Two began making their rounds around the parking lot, but--of course--the other was left behind to secure the entrance. It was standard procedure, so Techno wasn’t very surprised to see this happening.
Techno made the decision to continue doing his homework rather than try to get away. He tossed his phone on the passenger seat and turned the radio off.
He was calm. He was cool. He was doing his math homework. He was rolling down the window when prompted by a tap on the glass.
“Captain Craft,” the officer stated.
“Pleasure,” Techno responded.
“License and registration.”
Techno grabbed his wallet from his backpack and gave Captain Craft his license. He leaned over to the glove box to grab his car’s registration. “Afternoon Sir,” he muttered, handing over his paperwork.
“Techno Blade? Unique name.”
Techno snorted at the officer’s attempt at small talk. “Was born with it, I'm afraid.”
“That’s cool.” He handed Techno back his paperwork. “What are you doing here?”
Techno gestured to the paper in his lap. “Homework. Got a calculus test next week.”
“Smart kid.” Captain Craft was writing things down in his notebook. “Do you know why the police were called to this location?”
“No Sir.”
“What brings you here?”
“A quiet space to work, the foster home gets really loud. Normally this place is empty.”
“Normally it is,” Captain Craft agreed. “So you don’t know anything about a potential drug deal?”
The surprise on Techno’s face was genuine. Yeah this was an illegal ring, but drug deals? Really? “No Sir. I’m just doing my homework.”
“You promise?”
“Yeah,” Techno said, not playing the officer’s game.
Captain Craft leaned back to look at the backseat.
Techno had never been more thankful that Dream, Sapnap, and George liked throwing their stuff in the trunk for more leg room in the backseat.
Captain Craft patted the car. “Well. I feel comfortable letting you go free kid. Clearly you have nothing to do with this.”
“No Sir.”
“Techno Blade was it?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Do you have a number we could potentially call if need be?”
Now, Techno would have loved to give the officer his home number--giving the police a direct line of contact with his cell didn’t sound good--but that was a horrible idea. One of the other kids would pick up the phone, and they’d talk. Or the Foster Bitch would pick up, and she’d just cuss out the poor person who called. “Yeah. Let me get you my cell number.”
Captain Craft scribed the number down in his notebook. He flipped the page and ripped off the next page. “Doctor’s note to get you out of the parking lot.”
Techno snorted as he grabbed the paper. “Thanks.”
Techno shifted the car into reserve and pulled out of his parking spot. He drove towards the checkpoint and didn’t roll up the window until the officer standing guard approved his departure.
Techno arrived at Sapnap and Bad’s house. He pulled into the parking spot in the apartment’s garage that Bad paid for, so Sapnap’s friends could leave their cars when they came over. He grunted in annoyance at the weight of the three backpacks; there also wasn’t a convenient way to carry three backpacks. He rode the elevator up to the first floor and buzzed Bad’s apartments.
“Who’s there?” Bad’s voice crackles through the intercom.
“Techno, I’m here for delivery and pickup.”
Bad laughed.. “Hi Techno, they’re in the middle of something so it’ll be a little while.” The buzzer sounds and Techno steps into the room, taking the elevator to Bad’s floor, which was unreasonably high. How was Sapnap supposed to climb through the window late at night at this height?
Although Techno was required to have someone buzz him in, he conveniently had his own key for the door, and could use that. Techno couldn’t be bothered to remember which room was Sapnap’s, but he knew where the guest room was, so he tossed all their stuff in there.
“Hi Bad. Have any snacks?” Techno asked, entering the kitchen. Mario Kart sounds floated over from the living room. “It’s time to go home!” Techno called out to the kids.
“Why?” Tommy yelled back.
“Because. Also Tubbo, Dream said that I’m dropping you off with Purpled at Punz’s place.”
“Oh.” Techno could hear the way Tubbo’s face fell. “He got into something again?”
Techno took the plate of sandwiches from Bad and brought them out to the boys. He gave Tubbo a tight smile. “Apparently, but he’ll be fine.”
Once the boys finished their game--Ranboo won--they all bid Bad adieu and head back for Techno’s car. The boys and their backpacks file in. Tommy sat up front; Tubbo situated himself on the middle hump, and Purpled and Ranboo arranged their legs accordingly.
He let the boys karaoke on the way to Punz’s place. They were very loud, but it helps that he didn’t have to worry about where he was going, as he is far more familiar with these streets than he would have liked to be.
Techno pulls into the driveway. “Get out.”
“Thanks for the drive Blade!” Tubbo said, following Purpled out of the backseat.
“Good luck!” Ranboo yelled after them, stretching his legs into the newfound space he had at his disposal.
“Stay safe!” Tommy shouted, only half joking. “Let’s get out of here.”
Techno pulled out of the area once Tubbo and Purpled had made it into the house. He then drove them out of the slums to the richer areas of the city where Ranboo lived. He parked the car in Ranboo’s cul de sac.
“This is my stop,” Ranboo said lowly.
“This is your stop.” After a few minutes of silence Techno spoke again. “You gonna get out?”
“Yeah. Yeah.” Ranboo opened the door. “Thanks for the ride!” He pushed it shut once outside and walked up the lawn to his manor.
Tommy waved goodbye to his friend then turned to look straight ahead. “Let’s go back now.”
“Are you still mad at me for hanging out with Dream?”
Tommy didn’t respond.
Techno pressed on the gas and brought the car back to the main road. “I’m allowed to have friends, kid. I don’t need to explain myself to you.”
“Then stop. Stop defending yourself. You don’t need my approval.”
“When did you get older than me?”
“When you started hanging out with kids who get put in the newspaper for petty crimes!”
“I’ve been hanging out with Dream since long before you even got here.”
“And? People change. Little Dream isn't big Dream!”
“I know who my friends are,” Techno bit.
“I hope you do. Because Tubbo is having a sleepover with Purpled which means Dream isn’t home. And you were there. So what happened?”
All of Techno’s pent up energy left his body, and he fell into a steely expression. “Nothing.”
“Something happened! Why isn’t Dream home?”
Techno turned on the radio.
“Tell me bitch boy!”
“Do you want to eat tonight?” Techno shouted back at him, turning to face him directly now that they were stopped at a red light.
Tommy’s eyes were wide. He had one hand on his seat belt buckle and one on the door handle. He was as pressed away from Techno as he could get in the car. He was holding his breath and his body was tense. “Please,” he whimpered.
Techno tensed up as well. He had gone too far. He knew he had gone too far. That wasn’t cool playing on Tommy’s fears like that. “Tommy--”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’ll shut up. Please. I know it’s your stash. Please.”
“Tommy.” The light turned green. “We’ve been over this. My stash is your stash.”
Tommy mutely shook his head, refusing to reply.
Internally sighing, Techno tapped his finger on the side of the steering wheel, his brain working hard. He should have known not to say that with Tommy, but of course he had to mess up again.
The car behind them honked its horn loudly, jerking Techno out of his thoughts. He lifted his foot from the brake, and placed it down on the gas, accelerating forwards, and allowing the long line of traffic behind him to go.
Tommy still hadn't spoken, but was shaking slightly, and it wasn't because he was cold.
“My stash is your stash,” Techno reiterated, if only to fill the silence.
“No it’s not,” Tommy said in a small voice. “You keep saying it is, but it’s not.”
“Then steal from my stash to make your own stash. You’ve done that before.”
“Not from people I need to like me.”
Techno stopped looking at Tommy in hopes he would calm down slightly. “I do like you,” he reassured. “If I didn’t I wouldn’t be trying to convince you that we share a stash.”
Tommy fiddled with the radio stations and made a noncommittal sound of what Techno pretended was agreement.
Techno and Tommy spent the rest of the ride home in silence, Techno glancing at Tommy out of the corner of his eye the whole time.
When they arrived home, Techno put the car in park, and undid his seatbelt, but made no move to get out of the car. Twisting his neck, he looked Tommy in the eyes.
Techno knew what Tommy needed to hear, even if he hated having to need to say it. “You can eat tonight. Grab whatever you want from my stash.”
“Really?” Tommy asked more hopefully than Techno was comfortable with.
“Yeah.”
Tommy then bolted out of the car, as if to make sure he did the thing while he had permission before it was taken away abruptly.
Which Techno would never do. Techno was feeling like shit playing on Tommy’s insecurities to get him to shut up. That wasn’t cool and he knew that. Techno slowly pulled himself out of the car. He grabbed his backpack, and the one Tommy had left in his haste.
Walking slowly to the house, Techno gave Tommy some time to settle in before entering their shared space. Yes he generally wished that Tommy was quieter after 10pm, but tonight it would be for the wrong reasons.
At least Tommy didn’t seem to think Techno was about to hit him.
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