#was gonna be admitted to the hospital like the week i was gonna play for the first time LMAO | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

inkdrinkerworld · 1 year

Text

comfort

pairing: dbf!hotch x fem!reader

wc: 1.4k

cw: smut, dbf!hotch, period sex, fluff to smut to fluff, mention of cramps, 18+ONLY, MDNI

You should’ve known your dad would send him over. You really should’ve with the relationship you have with them both.

Your father hated leaving you alone, and when you’d gotten your period that morning and told him you were in a lot of pain, you really should’ve expected Aaron to be coming over when he was finished with work.

You had transformed the living room to a sort of blanket fort, old disney movies playing on the tv as you laid in your fluffiest pyjamas under the heavy duvet.

“Angel,” Aaron calls and you tip your head back, brows pulled quizzically.

“Did dad send you? ‘Cause I told him I’d be fine.”

Aaron toes his shoes off and drapes his jacket over the back of the sofa.

“He did say to come check on you, said you’d been having bad cramps.”

You’d known Aaron long enough that this kind of talk didn’t bother you, plus you were a grown woman, period talk no longer seemed as uncomfortable as it did when you were younger.

“I was, got my hot water bottle though, and chocolate.” you show Aaron the half finished block of chocolate, he laughs at how little remains.

“Good, I’m staying the night.” he admits and you smile wide and then temper it.

“You’re as bad as he is, I’m a big girl.” it’s teasing enough that Aaron rolls his eyes and hums.

You’d said the same thing a week ago when Aaron had been gone and you’d made yourself come on the phone with him.

If your dad knew that, he wouldn’t be too keen on sending Aaron to check up on you- but what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

“Are you? You’re sat watching Sleeping Beauty.” you hide your face in your covers and Aaron chuckles. He pulls your shoulders so you’re laying in his lap, Aaron’s hands rubbing through your hair as the movie plays on.

About halfway through, your water bottle ran cold and your cramps were almost demonic in their pressure.

There wasn’t much Aaron could do, but he tried to get your mind off the pain.

“Want me to refill it?” he asks softly, feeling your tears hit his dress pants.

“Please, I really can’t move.” he’s no stranger to how debilitating they’d gotten as you’d aged, Aaron remembers a couple months back when he’d carried you to the hospital because the pain seemed never to cease.

When he came back, you were putting on another movie, wiping your tears and sniffling.

“Here,” you took the bottle with a grateful smile, setting it on your stomach with a pleased sigh.

Aaron had meant to bring up another solution, a solution you’d both tried a couple times when you were alone like this.

He just wasn’t sure if you were up to it and despite how much it had helped, Aaron wouldn’t bring it up when you hadn’t even hinted.

You’d been thinking of it though, your mind running to how Aaron had helped you last month when your cramps had been awful and overwhelming.

You were halfway through Cinderella when Aaron had undone his shirt and patted your head, “I’m gonna go shower angel, I’ll be twenty minutes.”

“No,” you mumble, holding his hand making him pause. “Not yet. I want to try the thing,” you admit and sit up.

“Sweetheart,” you crawl into his lap then and Aaron sighs, holding you close to his chest. “What thing?”

Maybe it was a little mean to make you say it when Aaron knew what you wanted.

But he’d always been just that little bit mean enough to make your belly churn with excitement every time.

You rock your hips into his, groaning softly at the friction.

“Can we do what we did last time?” you ask and Aaron tilts your chin upwards, eyes peering into yours.

“You sure?” he needs you to be, as much as there’s attraction between the two of you, Aaron sometimes needs the reassurance that this, with him, is what you want.

It always will be, if you’re honest with yourself.

“Mhm, please Aaron.” he keeps you in his arms are he bounds the stairs to your bedroom, reaching for your towel and laying it on the bed before setting you atop it.

“You have to be patient.” he instructs gently, brushing your hair from your face before going to get the bin from your bathroom.

“They’re starting to hurt again,” you whine, and Aaron feels horribly about it, but he needs you to be comfortable above all else when this starts.

He sets a bottle of castor oil and peppermint oil on your bedside table before standing before you again.

“I’m gonna make it better okay, sunshine?” you nod, lifting your hips to help Aaron drag your shorts off along with your underwear.

“It’s gonna pinch a little remember?” He spreads your legs and finds your clit to distract you.

“Please Aaron,” you beg and he lines up with your entrance, pushing in slowly as he rubs at your clit, watching with pride as your body leans into his touch. “So good.”

Aaron moved slow, his body hovering over yours as he pushed into you, dragging pleasure from your body easily.

His lips kiss at your cheeks, jaw and temple, soft sweet words whispered into your skin.

“Fuck I’m getting close,” you cry, hands clawing at Aaron’s back as he focuses on rubbing tight circles on your clit. “Aaron, Aaron.”

His name is a pretty chant along with soft swears and cries of pleasure.

When you do come, Aaron stills, letting you soak his cock, groaning when your cunt becomes impossibly tighter around him.

“God, baby, you’re gonna make me come in you.” he whispers, hips snapping into yours once more. There’s something to tell of his precision and care even while he chases his own release.

“Please Aaron, I want it,” you do, you want it terribly. Your hands cup his cheeks as he spears into you, his pelvis brushing your clit with each thrust making you whine and squeal.

“Please come in me,” you beg, leaning upwards to lick at Aaron’s mouth, teeth nibbling on his lip, dragging his bottom lip into your mouth. “Please fill me up.”

Aaron’s hips buck and he claims your lips with a harsh, “Fuck you’re so good to me.”

He fills you up, and rubs your clit just a little to pull another orgasm from you because he could.

His nose nudges along your cheek as you both come down from your highs.

“Better?” he asks, large palms stroking at your cheek and jaw.

“So much,” you groan as he pulls out of you, using the towel to clean you up a little before helping you sit up. “Thank you.”

You lean in for a kiss that Aaron is more than happy to grant, hand leading your jaw as he deepens the kiss.

“You’re more than welcome, sunshine,” Aaron speaks the words to your lips and then pulls away, “Ready to shower now?”

Aaron is gentle as he showers with you, not letting you lift a finger to help him as he opts for your lavender shower gel rather than your usual oat and honey scent.

“C’mon angel, now isn’t time to be shy.” he says as you try to discreetly get your pad on.

“Shush,” you say, your hair hiding your cheeks as you bite your lip.

Aaron laughs at how whiny your voice sounds.

“Can we go back down? I want to finish Cinderella, and I wanna watch Anastasia after.”

Aaron chuckles as he slips into his forgotten pair of boxers from your last weekend together.

“Of course, we can order something to eat too. And maybe that giant chocolate chip cookie thing.”

You put on another pair of fluffy pyjamas and when you reach for your hair, Aaron lowers your hands and reach for the strands himself.

“Maybe?” you tip your chin backward and give Aaron a sad pout.

“Stop that,” he mutters, knowing he’d be purchasing the stupid chocolate chip cookie because of that look.

You laugh when his hands comb through your hair and braid it back rather than elaborating.

“I wonder what dad will think if he finds you here in just your underwear.” Aaron pinches at your ass as you walk in front of him.

“Nothing, cause he won’t see. Plus, I only care what you think,” he pulls you into his lap when you sit on the sofa again, the duvet covering you both soon after.

“And I know you love me in as little clothes as possible.” his words are whispered into that spot below your ear making you shiver.

“I should’ve played harder to get,” you joke but Aaron doesn’t find you funny in the slightest.

His teeth sink into your neck, “Brat,” he mumbles and you giggle. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

#aaronhotchner #aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner x black!reader #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner x you #aaron hotchner x yn #aaron hotchner imagine #aaron hotchner smut #aaron hotchner one shot #aaron hotchner blurb #aaron hotchner fanfiction #tw: period sex

1K notes · View notes

darkwitchoferie · 1 month

Text

Rosary

As he watched, he noticed that the chain was moving through his fingers like he was praying the rosary. Maybe he was, prayer certainly wouldn’t hurt in this situation. He considered praying himself, but Steve had given up on God the day an otherworldly creature came through the walls of the Byers house.

----

Eddie’s in the hospital after his heroics in the Upside Down. Steve and Wayne sit together, waiting for him to wake up.

Read on AO3 here.

Steve slouched in the uncomfortable hospital chair, glaring at the back of the nurse’s head who was checking Eddie’s vitals. How could the woman check a patient’s vitals when she was practically vibrating out of her own skin with how scared she was? He knew this nurse wasn’t the only one afraid of Eddie, because of his reputation and the cuffs attaching him to the bed, but she was the only one this obvious about it. Why bother sending her in here at all? Steve knew the kids, Robin, and Nancy were working on some sort of alibi or plan to keep Eddie from going to jail when he woke up, but until then, he was keeping an eye on the other man to make sure no one made off with him in the middle of the night.

Nancy’d asked him once, after he explained why he never left the hospital, who exactly he thought was going to kidnap an unconscious man. He wasn’t totally sure – either the cops, maybe the feds, or someone from the defunct government lab that Eleven had been raised in. Nancy had looked skeptical about the first two, after all there were no feds in town and the town cops couldn’t exactly hide a full grown man, but she admitted that the lab was a possibility. So she started making sure she and Robin came in once a day to relieve him so he could go home, shower, change, and eat some real food.

Steve continued to glare at the nurse as she marked Eddie’s chart, then turned on her heel to leave.

“That the nurse I saw leaving?” Wayne asked, pushing open the door with his hip and handing Steve one of the two coffees he carried.

“Mm-hm. Took his vitals.”

“She the one that shakes the whole time?”

“Mm. Like she’s afraid he’s gonna suddenly pop up and rip her heart out of her chest.”

Wayne snorted a laugh. Steve had been pretty damn proud of himself the first time he’d heard that laugh from Wayne. The older man hadn’t handled it well, seeing his nephew torn up and handcuffed to a bed – who would – but after a few days, he’d relaxed around Steve enough that the two of them started having small conversations about nothing consequential. The first snorted laugh had been over some passing comment about the Cardinals during the preseason baseball game they’d had on in the background. Steve had relaxed enough to smile himself. After that, their conversations became more frequent and with more substance to them.

Now, a month later, Steve felt like he’d known Wayne and Eddie his whole life. He learned a bit about the big things in Eddie’s childhood, the things Wayne was willing to share about Allen and Betty, his brother and deceased sister-in-law. Things like what Al Munson had been arrested for after his wife’s accidental suicide. A little about Betty’s drug addiction and how it terrified Wayne when Eddie started dealing. But he also got to hear stories about Wayne teaching Eddie to play guitar in the week after Betty’s funeral, or what it was like for Wayne and then Eddie growing up in a tiny town in Perry county, Kentucky. Introducing Eddie to first Woodie Guthrie and how that had somehow led the boy to heavy metal. How Wayne had left Kentucky after his own wife was killed in a car accident shortly after Betty’s death and how he felt guilty for abandoning Eddie when he knew what kind of a father Al was. And how relieved he was when Eddie joined him in Hawkins after Al’s arrest when he could have ended up with one of Wayne and Al’s sisters.

He heard about other, less heavy, topics too. Like Eddie falling out of a tree when he was eight and breaking his arm; about Eddie’s love for animals and how that translated to not going hunting which was considered incredibly weird for that part of the country, but also how that meant that the raccoons and stray cats of the trailer park gathered around the old Munson trailer because Eddie fed them all; how Eddie had tried to learn to roller skate one time and ended up with a concussion, giving up on any and all sports after that; and about his creative outlets other than DnD, like the fantasy novel he pretended he wasn’t writing but which Wayne had seen the seven different notebooks full of information about.

He figured he learned just as much about Wayne from those conversations as he did about Eddie, but he liked listening to them anyway. He liked that someone wanted to share their life stories with him, even if he was pretty sure that Wayne only talked to remind himself that Eddie was stronger than people gave him credit for. So he shared some of the high school stories he remembered about Eddie, making himself the target so the other kids in Hellfire wouldn’t get picked on as much, or how Dustin, Lucas, and Mike said he went out of his way to help the three of them when he could. Before Lucas had joined basketball at least.

He now, after getting to know him, understood Eddie’s seemingly off-handed comment about his uncle worrying about him. He’d wondered, at the time, if Wayne really would be worried. After all, in his experience, very few adults really worried about their kids. His parents certainly didn’t. He was pretty positive that the Wheelers would only start worrying if they hadn’t seen one of their kids in more than a week. He figured the Sinclairs and Max’s mom were about the same, seeing as they had never noticed anything that was going on with the kids. Claudia Henderson was better, but even then, he figured it’d be an unplanned day or two of not seeing Dustin before she started to worry. None of that applied to Joyce Byers, obviously. She worried about all of them, not just her own kids.

Wayne took his usual seat beside Eddie’s bed and settled into the quiet. Steve watched him out of the corner of his eye, recognizing that this would be a quiet day for Wayne, one where he didn’t have the energy to talk about his nephew, too consumed with worry that he wouldn’t wake up. He noticed that he’d taken Eddie’s necklace off, the one with the red pick that he’d taken to wearing after he came out of surgery, and was fiddling with it. As he watched, he noticed that the chain was moving through his fingers like he was praying the rosary. Maybe he was, prayer certainly wouldn’t hurt in this situation. He considered praying himself, but Steve had given up on God the day an otherworldly creature came through the walls of the Byers house.

He turned his attention more completely to Days of our Lives to give Wayne the illusion of privacy. He knew the older man wouldn’t be there more than a couple of hours, it was long past the ‘family emergency’ time off that the plant had given him and he’d be headed in for his overnight shift. When a commotion arose outside, Steve barely paid attention, too engrossed in the fictional drama on the screen. But then Eddie’s door swung open. He jumped up, only to back away again when he noticed Hopper in front of everyone else.

“Chief! This is –”

“Shitty police work, is what it is, Powell,” Hopper cut him off loudly, too loudly for a hospital, which probably helped explain the doctor and nurses who were behind Powell and Officer Callahan. Steve and Wayne watched as Hopper pulled his keys off his belt, strode to Eddie’s bed, and uncuffed him. “We don’t arrest people with no evidence, you know better. I taught you better. And reputation,” he steam rolled right over the beginning of Officer Powell’s complaint or excuse, “is not evidence. Now, do you have any actual evidence connecting Mr. Munson here to any of the victims? That doesn’t come from a girl’s distraught, and frankly stupid, boyfriend? No, you don’t. Wayne,” Hopper turned to Wayne, voice coming down to a more reasonable volume. “I’m sorry about the trouble here. I know it’s been rough for you.”

“Thanks, Hop,” Wayne shook his hand, more than a bit confused but willing to go along with whatever Hopper said as long as it meant his boy wouldn’t wake up with cuffs on his wrist. Steve wasn’t sure how Wayne and Hopper knew each other, just that the pair of them had apparently become good friends some years ago.

With a glare from Hopper, most of the room cleared out. Powell, who had been Chief last Steve knew, was the last to leave. “You got re-instated?” He asked, as soon as the door closed.

“About an hour ago. Took the time to look over Eddie’s file and the only thing they had on him was that someone said they saw Chrissy leave with him after the basketball game. Obviously they found nothing in the trailer, before it was destroyed, and there’s nothing tying him to Fred or Patrick’s deaths other than Carver’s ‘delusions’,” he explained, putting air quotes around delusions. They all knew Carver had really seen how Patrick died, but the only way the shadowy government types could keep things hidden about the Upside Down was to pretend he’d had some kind of psychotic break. “Probably people will still be suspicious of him, but he’s not going to be arrested. There’s nothing to arrest him for. Except the drugs, so make sure he keeps his nose clean with that. For a while, at least.” The last part was addressed to Wayne only, who grunted his agreement.

“Well, I’m real glad you’re back, Hop.”

“Me too. These idiots forgot how to do their jobs. Not surprised there was a witch hunt for your nephew with these morons manning the station. Anyway, Joyce said she’ll bring you two dinner. She’s making lasagna. El said she’s recovered and is willing to take a look in Eddie’s mind, make sure it is just healing that’s keeping him in a coma for so long, not that something else was done. If you’re okay with that, Wayne.”

Wayne glanced over at Steve, raising an eyebrow as if questioning him on whether he thought it was a good idea or not.

“If Supergirl says she’s up to it, I say go for it.” El had been drained after fighting her brother in Max’s mind. It had taken her almost a week to get any semblance of her powers back and she’d been working since then to get them back to where they should be.

“Alright, Hop. Whenever you’re able to bring her up.” A few hours later, before Wayne went off to work, Joyce brought El when she brought them lasagna. They cleared out of her way, only going into the hallway to let her do her thing. After a fairly short time, she came back out and announced that he was fine, there was no sign of anything from One, so it really was just healing from his injuries that was keeping him unconscious.

Over the next several days, their routine continued. Wayne came straight from work for an hour or two before going back to his buddy’s place, who’d been letting him stay since the destruction of his trailer. Steve still stayed in the room, except when Nancy and Robin came by to more or less force him to head home for a bit. He made polite, but not very interesting, conversation with Eddie’s friends when they came by. They were still, reasonably, wary of ‘King Steve’, so he understood why they didn’t talk to him much. The kids came by after school to share any gossip they’d heard about Eddie, which was much more interesting. Robin brought updates on the repair work that was being done to Family Video and the rest of the town. One/Vecna hadn’t succeeded in fully opening his portals, but it was apparently a near miss, with a lot of places taking a lot of damage. Particularly places in the center of town. They were blaming the damage, and any ‘delusions’ like Jason’s, on a gas main leak and explosion.

Wayne came back a couple hours before work and shared a couple more stories about younger-Eddie. Steve had started to share some stories about himself, but he didn’t really have any interesting things happen in his life before the Upside Down and it’s not like those were fun stories to revisit. Still, Steve told him some of it, just so he had a clearer idea of exactly what kind of mess Eddie’d stumbled into. And maybe because Wayne had shared the painful things about his and Eddie’s pasts.

Doctors and nurses came and went, checking on him to make sure he was healing like he should be. Dr. Roberts assured them that he was healing normally and that the coma was actually helping him to heal faster since his body didn’t need to do much else. They also started him on a form a physical therapy. Obviously he wasn’t moving on his own so it wasn’t normal physical therapy, but since the wounds were more or less healed, a physical therapist came in to do some limb stretches and things with him.

Then, in the middle of the night a little over a week after Hopper’s reinstatement, Eddie started thrashing around on the bed. Steve jumped out of his chair and hurried to the bed, reaching him just as his movements slowed.

“What fresh hell is this?” he croaked, voice scratchy from disuse, eyes narrowed against the light from his bedside table that Steve had been using to read by.

“It’s called a hospital, usually. Suppose it could be hell too.” Steve looked down at him with a smile, relieved to see clear brown eyes looking back up at him.

“Harrington?”

“Morning, Munson. Well, very very early morning.”

“What is happening?”

“You’re in Hawkins Hospital. They had to stitch you up. You lost a lot of blood too, man. Like, they weren’t sure you were gonna make it when we brought you in. Lemme get the nurse or doctor for you, okay?”

“Wait. Dustin?”

“He’s good. Sleeping at home right now. I’ll tell you all about in a few minutes.” Steve ducked out of the room and rushed to the nurse’s station. He probably could’ve used the call button, but figured this was better so they’d know what to expect. “He’s awake,” he told the night charge nurse, Janet.

“Awake?” She jumped up.

“And completely aware.” Janet shouted a few things Steve didn’t understand, something about codes, and she, another nurse, and one of the emergency room doctor’s rushed into Eddie’s room. Steve took that time to reach over Janet’s desk and make a phone call. “Hello sir, this is Steve Harrington. Could I speak with Wayne Munson? Yes, I understand he’s manning a machine right now. No sir, I…. I know bu…. Could you just tell him his nephew’s awake? Yes that’s right. Thank you.” Steve waited for just a minute until Wayne was on the line and he repeated himself. “Eddie’s up. The medical people are in with him now. Okay, I’ll let him know.”

Steve slipped back into Eddie’s room, watching the medical staff fuss over him. Janet turned to him as the others filtered out, gesturing him to come closer. “We’ll have Dr. Roberts check him over in the morning of course, but he’s aware, like you said. Mr. Munson, your cognitive function seems to all be normal, your vitals are as good as always, there’s the stiffness we expected in your reflexes. That’ll just take some time and physical therapy to get back to normal. If you could step back out for a moment, Steve, I’m going to remove his tubes.”

Steve winced in sympathy, knowing exactly what tubes Eddie had in his body. A very short time later, she came back out. “I’ll call his uncle’s work now, let him know.”

“I already did. He should be here soon.”

“Good. I’ll keep an eye out for him.”

Steve turned back into Eddie’s room, to see him sitting propped up on the raised bed and shifting uncomfortably. Rather than address it, since he figured he’d be embarrassed to talk about catheter removal, Steve made his way to the end of the bed and said, “Like I said, Dustin’s doing fine. He’ll be thrilled you’re awake. They all will. Max is also good, broken arm, but it’s healing good. Lucas had some bruises and a broken hand from Carver, who found them and broke into the Creel house. He’s fine, so is Erica. Well, she’s still pissed she can’t, and I quote “give that fucker what he deserves”. One of Carver’s friends tied her to the playground jungle gym while Carver went after her brother. He’s been arrested for assaulting Lucas and Max. Let’s see, Nance and Robin are totally fine. They had some bruising and shit from the vines, but it’s healed up. The Byers and Mike all made it back to town. They apparently had their own things going on and if you want to hear about that, Mike’ll talk your ear off about it, I’m sure. El’s got her powers back, so that’s been interesting. Hopper’s not dead and is police chief again. He’s also the reason you’re not cuffed to the bed any more. Told Powell off for being a bad cop, arresting you with no evidence.

Your stitches were taken out a few weeks ago, same as mine, but they said you had more internal damage than I did, so it’s not surprising you were out. And, uh, I think that’s it. Oh! The town took some pretty heavy damage, they’re still doing a lot of repairs. But, we won. Vecna’s ash, saw it myself. And your uncle knows everything. The kids told him while you were in surgery and I was being stitched up.”

“For how long?”

“Five weeks. Roughly.”

“Five weeks?”

“Mm-hm. We let El double check that you weren’t like, being held hostage in your own head or something.”

Behind Steve, the door was flung open. “Christ Jesus, Eddie! You damn near scared the life outta me.”

“Hey Wayne,” Eddie offered a watery smile, holding his hand out to his uncle. Steve silently excused himself to give the pair of them room when he noticed the tears in Eddie’s eyes.

Silently, Wayne held Eddie as close as he could, both of the silently crying into each others’ shoulders. After a while, when the pain in Wayne’s lower back got to be too much, he leaned back, slowly releasing his nephew. He sat down in his usual spot and just stared at him for a minute, basking in the knowledge that he was awake.

“What’ve I missed?”

“Your aunts have called a couple times.”

“You mean you called them.”

“Well, I had to tell everyone you were in the hospital. ‘Course, I didn’t tell ‘em the details. Your Mamaw’s doin’ what she does. She’ll be thrilled to hear it helped.” Eddie chuckled a little, before coughing. Wayne’s mom, his Mamaw, was a superstitious old woman at the best of times and would probably lose her mind if she knew exactly what had happened to Eddie. She was also known to be a folk healer by their neighbors and had definitely done some sort of healing-from-a-distance for Eddie. He’d decided when he was a kid to never ask her the details about what she did, always a little afraid to find out that she was making him drink something nasty when he was sick. “Steve tell you all the kids, and your friends, have been to visit you pretty much whenever they can?”

“He didn’t get to that part, just updated me on injuries and stuff before you came in.”

“Mm.” Wayne was quiet again, staring at his nephew. “You know you can tell me anything, Ed.”

“I know. Why?” Eddie narrowed his eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me about your boy? Or, I guess, why didn’t you tell me you’d finally made a move on the boy you been pinin’ after for years?”

“What?! What have you said to him?!” Eddie sat bolt upright and gripped his uncle’s wrist, panic all over his face.

“Calm down,” Wayne reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, gently rubbing his thumb back and forth to try to calm him down. “We’ve been gettin’ to know each other, is all.”

“Wayne, listen to me. We are not together. I have not made any moves. Steve is very, incredibly, straight. Still in love with his ex, even. He’s barely even my friend. And that’s only because of life-endangering circumstances. Oh, I need to lie back down.” Eddie slumped back against his pillows, releasing his hold on Wayne. “That was too much effort. That’s so dumb, all I did was sit up.”

“You’ve been out for over a month, kid. So, you’re not together?”

“Decidedly not.”

“Hm. I figured that’s why he spent every day all day in here with you. ‘Cept when the girls come in for a couple hours so he can go home and eat and stuff.”

“All day?” Eddie asked in disbelief.

“Mm. All day, every single day. He was here before me the first day they let you have visitors. Sits in that chair there and watches soaps all afternoon. Bet he could tell you all about ‘em.”

“God, of course he likes soap operas. Argh!” Eddie pressed his hands over his face, screaming into his palms.

“Well, that was weird. I feel like I’ve missed something,” Steve said, strolling back in with three cups. He passed Wayne’s coffee off to him and held out the third cup to Eddie, keeping ahold of his own. “Doc said you’re not allowed to have caffeine yet, so it’s apple juice. They tried to give you orange, but Wayne said you don’t like that. And they’re gonna bring up some food from the cafeteria soon, see how you tolerate solid food.”

“You talked about me?” Eddie turned an accusing stare on his uncle, not that Steve took much notice of it.

“Yep,” he said, popping the ‘p’ sound. “What were you screaming about when I walked in?”

“Nothing. What do you mean ‘yep’? As if it’s a totally normal thing?” He took a long drink of the apple juice. “God, that’s delicious.”

“Eddie, you were laying here unconscious, after doing something I distinctly remember telling you not to do,” he glared down at him for a second. “Who else were we gonna talk about?”

Eddie didn’t say anything for a minute. “Okay, so, how did I get here? Like, last I remember, I was looking up at Dustin and very much not gon – topside.” he cut himself off, changing what he was going to say when he saw the same upset look on Wayne and Steve’s faces.

“When Nance, Rob, and I got back to the trailer park, you were already unconscious and Dustin was….” Steve trailed off, eyes looking into some middle distance as if remembering exactly what Dustin looked like. “Anyway,” he shook himself out of it. “Nancy tore up some of our clothes and we got those around you as bandages, then I lifted you over my shoulder and hauled you into the trailer. Shit was starting to come apart then, but I was able to push you through the gate to the girls. Then we… borrowed Max’s mom’s car and got you here.”

“You carried me out?” Eddie would deny the blush and the spike in his heart monitor if anyone said anything, but neither of them mentioned it.

“Of course I did. You still had a pulse, Eddie. We were never gonna just leave you there. Even if…. Not gonna happen, we don’t leave people behind.”

“Well, heard the freak’s awake and I guess it’s true.” One of the night orderly’s pushed through the hospital door, pushing a cart with covered food on it in front of him.

“Out!” Steve demanded, jerking the cart away from him then crowding into the man’s space, forcing him back out the door.

This time when Eddie’s heart monitor showed the spike in his heart rate, Wayne turned to him with a knowing grin. Eddie glared and tried to make his heart beat slower.

“You okay, Ed?” Steve turned back toward him, pushing the cart himself. “I know you’re…. Your friends said you’re used to shit like that, but I mean, that doesn’t make it okay. Plus you just woke up.”

“Yeah, I’m good. Just… surprised me, I guess.” Wayne quickly turned his laugh into a fake cough. Steve turned a quizzical look to him, but otherwise said nothing.

“Well, at least we know he didn’t tamper with any of it, it’s all wrapped up.”

“Hospital food, yay.”

“Keep it down and I’ll see if Joyce can bring you some real food in the morning.”

“Joyce?”

“Byers. Will and Jon’s mom.”

“Huh. Dunno why I can never remember that’s her name. She’ll bring me food? Real food?”

“I’ll talk to her in the morning. Like the actual, post-dawn morning.”

“Fair.” With some trepidation, Eddie dug into the hospital-provided lunch meat sandwich, chips, and Jello. Then, a while later, he drifted off to sleep, complaining the whole time that he wasn’t tired and he’d been asleep for long enough.

A few minutes after he was out, Wayne said, “Thanks, Steve. I know I don’t say it ever, but thanks for being around and for looking after my nephew.”

“You never have to thank me for that, Wayne. I…,” he sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. “I like being useful and taking care of people.”

Steve went back to his borrowed copy of The Return of the King, while Wayne just sort of sat there, watching Eddie sleep and knowing that he was actually just asleep, not in a coma. The two of them eventually drifted off to sleep in their own, less than comfortable hospital chairs for a few hours after that. They were woken up when Dr. Roberts got in for his morning shift and came to see them first thing. Leaving Wayne with the doctor, Steve made his way back to the nurse’s station and asked to borrow the phone from the morning charge nurse, Sarah. He dialed the Byers/Hopper house first, even though it’d probably piss off Dustin if he knew.

“Hello?”

“Hey Jon. Is your mom awake?”

“She is. She’s making waffles. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing at all. Can you ask her if she can bring some of those waffles for Eddie?”

“He’s awake?!”

“He is,” Steve smiled, hearing the cacophony in the background that greeted Jonathon’s question.

“Shut up a minute!” He shouted to the people around him. “Sorry, we had all the boys over last night. I’ll call Nance and Robin, see if we can get in touch with his other friends. We’ll see you soon.”

“Thanks Jon, I appreciate it.”

With a smile on his face and feeling lighter than he had in the past month and a half, Steve strolled back into Eddie’s hospital room in time to hear Roberts say that the physical therapist would be down later in the morning to start Eddie’s full rehab.

“You’re in a good mood,” Eddie commented as Roberts left.

“Joyce is bringing waffles. And children.”

“Excellent,” he grinned.

“They’re also gonna tell your friends.”

Soon, the room was flooded with boisterous teenagers, all trying to catch Eddie up on the minute details and gossip of Hawkins that he’d missed. Steve was pretty sure he didn’t care much about the gossip, but was just glad to have everyone around. Though he could have, Steve didn’t leave the room, choosing instead to find a spot where he was out of the way and could just observe and relax. He ended up leaning against the wall, near the tv.

“Feeling better now that your crush is awake?”

“Sshh!!” Steve shushed Robin who had come over to lean on the wall beside him.

“Of course he is,” Nancy commented quietly from Robin’s other side.

“Will you two shut up?” he whisper-yelled at them. Nancy rolled her eyes, knowing no one could hear them over the children. “I shouldn’t have ever told you guys,” he groaned, dropping his head back against the tile.

“Told us?,” Robin chuckled. “Steve, you didn’t tell us anything. You had a full blown, hysteric crisis. The kind they lock women up in asylums for.”

“They don’t lock women up for hysteria anymore. Besides, you two would’ve been put away long before me.” Since the trip to Pennhurst, Robin had gotten very interested in psychology. She’d devoured the few books available at Hawkins’ library and was trying to learn more. Steve was fairly certain she knew now what she would go to college to study, even though she hadn’t said anything to him yet.

“The point still stands, you can’t be upset that you told us when you really came to us in a hysteric crisis.” Nancy said.

“Yes I can,” Steve insisted, crossing his arms over his chest. Robin laughed again, bumping her shoulder into his. “Besides, it’s not like it matters. You know –”

“Yeah, yeah, we know. Might not be into guys, especially jock guys.”

“On the other hand, he might be into guys who carried him out of hell,” Robin added.

“Fuck off, Rob.” Both girls laughed at him.

A few days later, with physical therapy progressing well and his wounds healed, Dr. Roberts released Eddie. They hadn’t gotten around to repairing the damage to the trailer park yet, and Wayne was still staying on his friend’s couch, who didn’t have room for Eddie too, so Steve did the logical thing and invited him to stay at his otherwise empty house. And if he mentally kicked himself for it, because now he was sure he’d make a fool of himself somehow, well, only he needed to know that.

Which is how he found himself strolling into his own home and hearing Eddie’s voice, with a thicker accent than usual, on what seemed to be the tail end of a phone call. “Yes, Mamaw, I’m healin’ good, thanks to you. Promise I’ll come home to see you, soon as I can. Love you too, Mamaw.”

Steve stepped in the hallway to see Eddie grinning at the phone as he hung up. “Does your accent always get thicker when you talk to your Mamaw?”

“Steve!” Eddie jumped a little. “Hi, didn’t hear you come in. What?”

Steve chuckled. “Your accent was thicker just then, when you were on the phone. Is that a Mamaw specific thing, or does it happen with your aunts and cousins too?”

“How do you…? Wayne.” Eddie’s accent had all but disappeared now.

“Yeah, Wayne. He told me about your family in Kentucky.”

“I’m afraid to ask what else he told you. But, no, it’s not a Mamaw specific thing. It happens with any of my family, even Wayne sometimes. It’s easier to hide with Wayne though, since there are other people with normal accents around.”

“Hide? You mean you do that on purpose, not just that you, I dunno, accidently started to sound like the people around you?”

Eddie snorted. “It’s definitely on purpose. I can handle the barbs about my music, DnD, even my hair. But I hate the looks of ‘oh he’s stupid’ or pity or whatever from the way I sound. It’s the way my Mamaw and my aunties sound. They ain’t stupid, Steve. They’re some of the smartest people I know. So’s Wayne, no matter what anyone says.” Steve listened, a small, fascinated smile on his face as Eddie’s accent got thicker again, the longer he ranted. “What is that look for?”

“Nothing, just, your accent’s back. Got thicker while you ranted. I’m kinda fascinated because that never happened with your table rants at school. I like it,” he shrugged, using the casual gesture to hide that he’d almost slipped and said ‘you’ instead of ‘it’.

“You… like it? Like, my accent?”

“Yeah. I mean, I like listening to you talk in general, but I definitely enjoy the accent. Anyway,” Steve continued on before he could respond to that. “Rob and Nance will be here soon. The brats want to have a movie night, so one of them is gonna stay to help set up, and me and the other one, probably Rob, are gonna head to the grocery store for supplies.”

“Wheeler, do something!” Eddie demanded a short while later, as soon as Steve’s car was down the drive and it was just the two of them.

“About what?”

“About Steve. Either take him back or let him down so he’s distracted.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Listen, I know he’s still got a thing for you. I saw the way he looked at you down there,” he tapped his toes once on the ground. “But I dunno if it’s just because he’s focused on me since I’m living with him for now, or what, but he’s getting weird, Wheeler.”

“Weird how? And stop calling me Wheeler, my name’s Nancy.”

“I was on the phone earlier with family back in Kentucky and Steve said he likes my voice. Likes listening to me and ‘enjoys my accent’.”

“You have an accent? Like your uncle’s?”

“Yes, but that’s not the point.”

“He’s not being weird. And he doesn’t still have a thing for me. We talked about that weeks ago, after Jon got back.”

“Ugh!” Eddie flopped down on the couch she was sitting on, head landing very near her lap. “So, what then?”

“Better question, why’re you making a big deal out of it? Why does it matter to you that he likes the sound of your voice?” Nancy reached out and gently ran her fingers through his curls.

“No reason, just seemed weird is all.”

“Uh huh. Try again.”

Eddie was silent for nearly five minutes. Nancy sat patiently waiting. “Okay, swear you won’t say anything to anyone? Except, you can talk to Wayne because he already knows.”

“I swear.”

“I may, possibly, have had a thing for Steve for… a while.”

“I feel like you could have been more vague with that answer if you tried,” she rolled her eyes, doing her best to hide her joy.

“Yeah, ‘cause it’s not awkward at all to talk about my crush on a guy to that guy’s ex-girlfriend,” Eddie rolled his eyes.

“So it’s a crush, huh?”

“Ugh!” He flopped over onto his stomach, burying his face in the couch.

Nancy chuckled at him, but otherwise said nothing, quietly planning in her head.

---

“Now what’s all this about girls?” Wayne asked, a couple days later when Nancy and Robin met him outside of work when he got off at 5:00 am.

“We need your help with Eddie and Steve,” Robin said, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“That right?” Nancy was pleased to note the little bit of mischief in his eyes when he asked.

“Mm-hm, and I think you know why.” The three of them sat in the bed of his pickup and made their plans.

---

“Please tell me I’m not the only one who finds this suspicious,” Eddie commented from the passenger seat.

“Why, our friends insisting on meeting us in the middle of nowhere with no explanation? No, not suspicious at all. Although, if they’d gotten Dustin in on it, I’d be more suspicious.”

“That’s fair. He’s obnoxious when he tries to be sneaky.” They both laughed. “Where are we going anyway?”

“The hill just outside town. The kids call it Weathertop, after the place in Lord of the Rings.” Eddie was silent long enough that Steve risked a quick glance over to see him staring in open-mouthed shock. “What?” he laughed.

“You know Lord of the Rings? Since when? I know you didn’t get my Mordor reference before.”

“I had a lot of time while you were in a coma,” Steve shrugged a shoulder. “Dustin let me borrow his copies, even The Hobbit,” he said proudly.

“You read The Hobbit and the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy while I was in a coma?”

“I mean, I only just finished Return of the King like two days ago. But yeah. I dunno, Wayne said it was one of your favorites. And plus, I know the kids like it. So, yeah.”

“No no, don’t add the brats to this. You read it because Wayne said it was one of my favorites?”

Steve sighed, gripping the steering wheel tighter, then relaxed again before answering. “Robin told me that a good way to get to know someone is by learning about their favorite things. Your music is apparently too much for my concussed head, it triggers a migraine. So, I went with books.”

“But you tried it? Listening to my music, I mean.”

“Yeah. I tried… oh hell, who was it? They’re on the front of your vest. Megadeth! Anyway, I was down for like a whole day with a migraine. But Wayne brought in a Woodie Guthrie cassette and that was way easier for me to listen to. I like him.”

“I need…. I need to take a minute and process that you tried to listen to my music, and read one of my favorite book series to try to get to know me while I was unconscious. This is blowing my mind. Seriously though, why would you… I mean, we didn’t even know each other before this whole thing started. Well, started for me anyway. I know you were involved way longer than I was. And I know Wayne was talkin’ to ya about me, so why the extra stuff, I guess is what I’m really wonderin’.” Steve listened with a small smile. Since he’d said something about like Eddie’s accent, he’d started to hear it more frequently. Yeah, Eddie still made an effort to sound ‘normal’, especially when other people were around. But when it was just them, or when he started off on a ramble like that, it got thicker again. “What are you so damn happy about?”

“It’s nothing,” Steve shook his head. “Are you still processing or did you actually want an answer?”

“I dunno. I kinda wanna make up my own thing. But anyway, do you know why they’re bringing us all the way out here?”

“No idea. I know Dustin had his Cerebro set up out here for a while.”

“Cerebro? You’re secretly a huge nerd, aren’t you Harrington?” Eddie chuckled.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” he grinned. “But I know some stuff. Hard to be friends with the kids and not know some of it.” He parked the car at the base of the hill as he spoke. “Alright, let’s see what these weirdos are up to now.”

As he got out of the car, Eddie looked around. “Do you find it as suspicious as I do that there’s no other cars – like Nancy’s or the Byers’ – and there’s no bikes?”

“I didn’t, until you just said something. I kind of assumed we were just here first.”

“Hm, yeah, I guess that’s possible.”

“Should I bring the bat?”

“The bat?” Eddie turned with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah.” Steve walked around to the back of his car, popped the trunk, and pulled out what at first made Eddie think of a medieval Morningstar, but turned out to be a regular wooden bat with nails hammered through it. “The bat,” Steve repeated, swinging the bat in his hand then bringing it to rest on his shoulder.

“Where… why…? Explain.” Steve laughed a little, but explained the history of the weapon, how Jon had created it way back when all the Upside Down stuff first starting happening to them, but how it had become Steve’s weapon after that first encounter. “I… I kinda wanna see you use that, actually. But yeah, sure, bring it just in case.”

Steve raised an eyebrow at Eddie saying he wanted to see him using it, but otherwise didn’t comment. Together, the pair of them made their way up to the top of the hill, then stopped dead at what greeted them. Steve was the first to understand what exactly was happening, and dropped the bat off his shoulder.

“It’s a date,” he said softly. “They set us up on a date.”

“They did not!”

“They very much did. Well, Nance, Rob, and Wayne did.”

“How… what makes you say that?”

“The blanket is from my downstairs closet, one of the ones that is meant to be used outside, and is the one Robin thinks has the most cushion. So she says. The whole layout, setup, whatever, looks like every time I ever set up a dinner or picnic for Nancy. And I’d bet money Wayne made the food – unless I’m very wrong, that’s a ham and turkey sandwich with mustard and pickles. Which I still maintain is gross, but he says is one of your favorites.” Steve turned to Eddie with a wide grin and held out his hand. “C’mon.”

“But…. But you’re straight.”

“I’m really not though.”

Hidden in the trees not too far away, Robin and Nancy watched as Steve tugged Eddie over to the picnic they’d just finished setting up. Sharing a high five, the two girls turned and headed to Nancy’s car which was parked a short distance away, and drove out to let Wayne know their plan worked.

#steddie #steddie fic

77 notes · View notes

v1olentdelights · 9 months

Text

Across a Crowded Room

Spencer Reid x reader - 2k words

TW: fire..., mention of like passing out and being in a hospital, just regular cm stuff, and my bad writing of how a fire starts? maybe

Summary: It had been a couple years since you and Spencer had seen each other. What happens when he gets a case in your hometown, and you reunite?

a/n: I can only think about having a job as a florist, so that's what we are gonna stick with. Hope you enjoy :) I know people cant just up and move... lets play pretend, okay. and thank you @magic-is-beauty for reading it over!

It had been a couple years since you had last seen Spencer Reid. You had met in a coffee shop you worked at. It was silly, but you had seen him come in a few times and thought he was cute, so you put your phone number on his cup one time. You could see how his cheeks turned bright red and how he turned towards you with a meek smile. Thank goodness he saw your number, because for the next 2 years you and Spencer would be best friends and dating. That was until he moved away.

On one of your many dates Spencer had told you he had big news. You were thinking that maybe he had been invited to teach.

“I’ve been invited to join the Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, Virginia!” he exclaimed. And for the first time in your relationship with Spencer, you felt disappointed. Well not necessarily with him, more so that he was leaving you.

“Oh, that's great Spence.” You tried to sound enthusiastic and supportive. But even Spencer could tell you weren’t.

“You’re not happy?” It was more of a statement.

“It's not that I’m not happy, I am really happy for you! You have wanted this for so long. But you are leaving me, and I’m going to miss you.”

“Well, I thought maybe you could come with me? There are a lot of great opportunities, especially considering D.C. is right next door.”

“You know I can’t Spencer. I have a whole life here, family, a job, there is too much.” You could see the light in his eyes dim slightly. “I’m sorry, you know if I could that I’d be there with you every step of the way.”

“No, no I totally understand. I just wish you could.”

You both had spent your last few weeks together well, but you knew what him leaving meant. There was nothing you could do to stop the impending goodbye. And you guys tried to keep in contact, you really did. But your lives moved on and there seemed to be less and less time for you to talk to one another, so you just slowly lost contact.

Over that time, you had moved back to your small hometown to take care of your sick grandmother while you balanced school and her flower shop.

The BAU received a case in Spencer's hometown, your run of the mill arsonist. It was nothing too crazy, they were sure to be back to home base within the week. Thankfully only a few people had died and fewer were injured in the last couple of fires.

Upon their arrival he was hit with a wave of nostalgia.

“Come on! I want to show you my favorite ice cream parlor! There is even a great bookstore next to it!” You were skipping down the street with Spencer's hand in yours, and you were going a bit fast but he would never admit that.

You had been gracious enough to invite Spencer to stay with you in your hometown for a few weeks during his last summer (unbeknownst to you) with you.

“I’m coming!” he laughed as he sped up his walking a bit. That afternoon was one of the most memorable days you’d ever had. You were letting Spencer in on a part of your life only a few got to experience.

“Come on Reid.” Hotch's voice pulled him out of his memory. On their way to the station, he was watching his life pass him by the whole way there. The Sunday afternoon walks, the dates at the small ice cream parlor you loved. They passed 2 of the crime scenes, one of which was that diner, both burnt to a crisp.

As they were setting everything up, the team could tell Spencer's mind was somewhere else. No one mentioned it though thinking it was just the feelings of being home arising. There wasn’t much to go off of other than the locations and how the fires were started, a match and gasoline.

Hotchner had ordered everyone to go back to the hotel and get a few hours of good sleep and then come back ready to work.

Spencer had been pacing the room for the past couple minutes contemplating texting you. He hadn’t deleted your number, and even if he had, he would have recalled it from memory.

If he were to text, what would he say? He hadn’t texted you in over a year now. Would a sudden message be weird? Spencer honestly just wanted to know if you were alright, the idea of you being in trouble or hurt made him sick. Maybe he could just say he’s in town and see if you wanted to catch up before he leaves. He would decide tomorrow, hopefully after gathering more information about the unsub.

After deciding a town meeting would best get the word out and maybe reveal a few suspects, everyone gathered in the town hall. They were giving a short but in-depth profile to the public. Spencer was mid-sentence about an arsonist's motives when he caught a pair of familiar eyes staring right back at him.

It was you. He’d recognize your eyes anywhere. Derek's cough and Emily’s staring kept him talking, playing the pause off as him forgetting something. After delivering the profile he excused himself and looked for you in the crowd. He didn’t get far before you grabbed his hand, he whipped around to see your small smile. “Hey Spencer, it's been a while.” For a moment you both were still, but as if his brain had restarted, he wrapped you in his arms tightly.

“I’ve missed you.” Both of you not pulling away for a moment, just taking in the moment. “I was going to text you, but-” he cut himself off, you’d understand. You always understood.

“When I heard the buzz around town I almost texted you too. But then I remembered you're the one who catches the big bad guy, I should probably let you work.” You let out an awkward laugh. The last time you had seen him was when you were saying goodbye.

You had taken Spencer to the airport so you could say goodbye, it was filled with tears, mostly from you, and plenty of hugs.

“I’ll call you every chance I get.” he reassured you with a kiss to the nose, bringing his hand up to wipe away your tears.

“I know, but what if you can’t? What if you get hurt and die? How will I know you’re okay?” you sounded pathetic honestly, it was obvious that Spencer would be okay, he was on a team with some of the world's best profilers and was incredibly smart. But it didn’t stop you from worrying.

“I'll be okay, I promise.” he pressed a gentle kiss, holding you tightly. Then you watched him walk through security and onto his new life.

“I’ll always make time for you.” He said it in a way that sounded desperate, a way that told you he really meant it. But he could feel the team's stares, he knew that not only would they be wanting an explanation as to who you were; but that he also needed to get back to catching the unsub.

“You go do what you need to do.” You nodded to the team, “And call me if you have time for lunch or dinner, we can catch up.” you rubbed his arm up and down once before walking away. Oh, how he hated watching you leave.

“Sooooo, are you gonna tell us who that was?” JJ asked in a teasing tone.

“A girlfriend?” Emily joked as she bumped into Derek. Rossi and David had an uninterested look on their face, but were totally listening in.

“Yes actually. We haven’t talked in a while though.” he turned back towards the way you left, hoping to see you again.

Now time was running out, if they were able to trust the timeline of the last 3 fires, today there would be another. There were police frequently patrolling the streets. There wasn’t much more that could be done. The police station was buzzing, everyone looking into people who were suspicious. However, since they lived in the small town, their observations and conclusions had to be taken with a grain of salt.

Then there was the ringing of a phone, everyone stopped for a moment. Someone picked it up only to hear an address then the phone hung up. The force was gearing up and peeling out of the parking lot calling in for the fire department, as was the team.

You were tending to some of your assortments in the back when you heard the jingle of your doorbell.

“I’ll be with you in just a moment.” as you were finishing up you heard a liquidy sound from the front of the store. As you came out a burst of flames emerged in front of you, slowly your flowers began to catch fire. The posters and Styrofoam, the rug, everything was catching fire, but you couldn’t make your way past to get out of the building. The fumes were rising, you thought you could hear sirens faintly.

Trying to move away from the flames you made your way to the back room. There was another door that led into the alleyway. However, the door was locked, you kept twisting and ramming into the door, but nothing worked. You began to feel dizzy and almost sick.

Stumbling back into the wall for some support you slid into a sitting position. They covered what to do in this situation in school, but not to this extent. Just as you were about to fade out you heard someone yelling. In an attempt to get someone's attention you yelped as loud as you could, though it wasn’t that powerful, the first responders could hear.

You could make out someone's figure as they wrapped their arms under your legs and back and carried you out.

Waking up you could hear the beeping of the hospital machines. Your hand twitches but it was held by something, though it quickly squeezed your hand. Opening your eyes, you saw your handsome Spencer looking at you.

“Hey, you're alright.” he smiled at you as he grabbed the water next to your bedside. “The shop isn’t going to make it, is it?”

“No, I don’t think it is. But I’d rather you have made it instead of the shop. I’m sorry about that, but you should be pleased to know we caught the guy.”

“Doing your job perfectly, just like I imagined.” grabbing his hand again you squeezed it gently.

“I thought about you every day. There is this coffee shop down the street from my apartment and it's almost exactly like the one we met at. But you’re not there, so it's not as perfect. And when I take the metro home, I think about what I would say to you.” He looks earnestly into your eyes “I think about you all the time, and I regret not taking you with me.”

“I couldn’t come then, you know that. I had too much to take care of at home.” He shakes his head slightly in understanding. “But I guess now that my shop is burnt down… I don’t have much else, my classes are online, and my lease is almost up.” It was almost comical how his face lit up.

“You could come back with me to D.C. I mean, only if you want to.”

You both looked at one another in a new light. You could truly pick up and leave now, and it made you ecstatic for the future.

“Only until I find a place of my own for now.” You brought his hand up to kiss his knuckles.

“Until you find your own place.” He smiled constantly. Unbeknownst to him, almost his whole team was standing just out of sight, eavesdropping, preparing for a gossip session with Penelope.

#grace writes #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds x y/n #criminal minds x reader #criminal minds fic #spencer reid #spencer reid x you #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid fluff #criminal minds fluff #criminal minds #x reader #reader insert

185 notes · View notes

venus-haze · 11 months

Text

I’ll Keep a Light in My Window (Starlight x Reader)

Summary: After her Believe Expo speech, it feels like everyone’s eyes are on Annie. Among the messages flooding her Instagram DMs is an encouraging one from you, an old friend from her Capes for Christ days. The two of you reconnect, and Annie finds more than friendship with you this time around.

Note: Woman reader, but no other descriptors are used. This is my first Starlight fic! I hope I did her justice since this is mostly from her perspective. Inspired by the song from The Get Down because it’s so Annie. Do not interact if you’re under 18 or post thinspo/ED content.

Word count: 2k

Warnings: This is pretty much fluff with some angst, related to canon events and mentions of homophobia in the context of American Christianity. Obviously playing with the plot of S1 for this fic. Do not interact if you’re under 18.

Despite the crowd’s chaos in response to her speech, Annie felt her smile falter when she got backstage and was met with varying degrees of rage and disgust. Her own mother looked like she’d spent the past five minutes sucking on sour candy.

‘Hello!’ Annie wanted to shout. ‘Did you see what I did out there? Aren’t you gonna congratulate me?’

Hughie had disappeared after meeting Ezekiel. She tried to pretend that him not even saying goodbye didn’t bother her. If she could get up on stage and bare her soul to thousands of people in person and millions at home, at the very least she could admit to herself that she was hurt.

The drive back to the tower was tense. Everyone seemed to avoid making eye contact with her. As if she’d done something wrong. The longer she sat with what she said and did, the more she was convinced she made the right choice. Between what The Deep had done to her and how she was treated after saving a girl from suffering the same fate, they were just mad she called them on her complacency.

As soon as she made it back to her suite, she pulled out her phone to find her Instagram had blown up even more than when she first joined The Seven. Her phone nearly crashed from the amount of notifications she had. Thousands of comments and messages, either rants or support. She scrolled through her clogged DMs, her stomach churning at the glimpses of abuse that piled on from irate strangers. One DM caught her attention, addressing her by her real name rather than Starlight.

Hesitantly, she tapped the message to see the full contents.

‘Holy shit Annie!! You’re so badass🤩 Our Capes for Christ counselors must be shitting themselves right now lmao way to go!’

There were a lot of people from her Capes for Christ days, a constant rotation of hopeful young superheroes ready to use their powers for the glory of the Lord. Looking back, it was just a self-righteous vanity project for their parents and whatever religious sycophants hovered around. She tapped your photo, bringing her to your profile. Your brief bio gave your first name and that you were living in the city, but your supe name was nowhere to be found.

She tapped your most recent photo. In a brightly lit hospital hallway, you posed in black scrubs with a handful of balloons. You’d posted it just a week earlier, the caption celebrating working as a nurse for three years. Most of the comments were congratulating you, but one comment finally jogged her memory.

‘might be thinking of someone else but were you red heart?’ someone commented.

You replied with, ‘Yeah I was a million years ago! Lamest name ever😂😂’

Right. Red Heart. Healing powers. Red Cross spokesgirl. White top with a red skirt and sparkly red shoes that reminded her of the Wizard of Oz. You were on the Capes for Christ circuit with her. At one point she considered you a close friend, close enough to invite you to the roller skating party she begged her mom for when she was ten, only allowed to invite three girls because that’s all they could afford. Memories of skating to Britney Spears songs and balancing a paper plate with room temperature pizza on her lap came back to her. You’d bought her one of the special edition birthday Barbies. Her mom never let her take it out of the box, claiming it’d be worth a lot of money some day. It was probably still collecting dust in their attic.

She could remember you going off to college after high school, dropping your superhero identity not long after. With healing powers, it made sense you’d go into nursing. Her mom had expressed a judgemental disbelief at your decision. Annie wished she at least had a choice like you.

She scrolled through more of your photos. You seemed to be doing well since you got out. Got out. Like it was a cult. Maybe in a way, it was.

Annie hit the follow button on your profile and messaged you back.

‘Thanks Y/N! I made a lot of people mad, but I’m glad I did it 😊’ she hesitated a moment before typing, ‘We should catch up sometime! You're still in New York right? I’m pretty new to the city.’

Before she could get too in her own head about whether asking you to hang out was weird when the two of you hadn’t spoken in years, you responded with the names of a few coffee shops on the Upper East Side and that you were off work the following day.

Her mood had tanked before meeting up with you, getting chewed out by Stilwell and feeling some guilt for Ashley losing her job. She had to remind herself it wasn’t her fault. If they hadn’t enabled a sex pest for years, she wouldn’t have had to make her speech.

Following the directions on her phone and getting a bit turned around in the subway, she walked up to the coffee shop a few minutes after eleven, when the two of you had agreed to meet. She rushed inside when she noticed you were already sitting at a table with your drink.

Annie sat down across from you with her coffee, playing with the cup sleeve. “I’m so glad you had time to hang out. I still don’t really know anyone here, and it’s nice to see a familiar face.”

“Yeah! I'm not really in touch with a lot of people from back then, but I can totally introduce you to my friends. It’s an adjustment, but the city has a lot to offer if you know where to look.”

“Way more to do than Des Moines at least.”

“I can’t believe I nearly forgot,” you said, lowering your voice to an excited whisper, “congrats on getting into The Seven! Out of everyone in our weird ass group growing up, I always had a feeling it was gonna be you.”

“Thanks.” She gave you a strained smile. “It’s not exactly what I expected, but I’m making the best of it.”

“Sometimes that’s the most you can do,” you said.

“How about you? What part of the hospital do you work in?”

“With my powers, they have me all over the place, but it’s good. I can see I’m really making a difference.”

“That’s what I want. Sometimes I feel like they just parade me around to look nice, but they won’t let me do anything,” she said. “Like that stupid new costume. It’s like they make me wear it just to humiliate me for helping that girl because I didn’t do it their way. I feel like a joke.”

“Not after the Believe Expo. Anyone would be an idiot not to take you seriously now,” you said. “I mean, you said what so many people were thinking but were too afraid to say. It’s bullshit they’re treating you like this.”

“No, it’s—I’ll deal. We’re supposed to be catching up, and I’m like dumping all my problems on you. How have you been? Are you seeing anyone?” she asked.

She wasn’t sure how she’d answer the question if you’d been the one to ask. Hughie could be so hot and cold, like he was hiding something.

You were silent for a few moments before answering. “Not really. My girlfriend and I broke up a few weeks ago.”

“That’s great! I mean—not great that you broke up, I’m so sorry,” Annie said frantically. “Just you being—dating women. I’m happy for you.”

“That means a lot, Annie. I kind of parted ways with Vought because of it. I mean, they have this progressive face, but then they let Ezekiel spout his bullshit and put their name on that too?” you ranted. “That’s just me. It’s pretty much impossible to have a career as a supe without Vought, so I don’t judge.”

“Do you think I’m crazy for trying to change things from the inside?”

“It can’t hurt to try. Then at least you know you did what you could.”

She smiled. At least she could vent to someone who understood and actually gave a damn. Hughie was nice, but he didn’t quite get it. There was always some kind of disconnect. Maeve wasn’t nearly the mentor she was hoping for. She got it a little better now. Maeve had been in The Seven for years, Annie could only imagine how much it’d wear her down.

On her way back from getting coffee, Annie stopped in front of a bookstore with a huge Vought display in the window. Her comics were front and center, a cardboard cut-out of her next to one of Homelander. The Deep’s comics were barely visible with clearance stickers slapped on the covers. Serves him right. She couldn’t believe he’d been her favorite at one point.

Sleepovers with the other Capes for Christ girls almost always led to a “who’s your favorite member of The Seven” discussion. The answers were always a lot of Homelander, some Lamplighter or Marathon Man, but you always answered Queen Maeve. Back then, she thought it was because you admired her strength, her trailblazing as the first woman in The Seven. Maybe it wasn’t that simple.

“That’s her! I swear to god it is!” Annie overheard someone whisper-yell.

“Who?”

“Starlight, over there!”

Annie kept her head down, speed-walking up the street. She ducked into the nearest subway, getting on the first train that stopped even though it was going further uptown. Pulling her hoodie up to obscure her face, she sighed. She had everything she ever dreamed of, but it seemed more and more like it was turning into a nightmare.

The following weeks were busy between her obligations with The Seven and helping Hughie with whatever cryptic stuff he was up to. She still found time to see you. Hanging out with you was the only thing that made her feel normal anymore. You were so confident in who you were, she felt comfortable finding out who she was outside of Starlight. With you, she could just be Annie.

All of a sudden her association with Hughie had Homelander nearly turning on her. Maeve took up for her in nothing less than a Hail Mary moment. Then, to make matters worse, her entire world came crashing down when she agreed to meet up with Hughie despite his fugitive status. She wasn’t born with her powers, no supe was. Instead her mom signed her life away to Vought and allowed them to basically experiment on her. The cherry on top of the melting ice cream sundae that’d become her life was definitely getting shot immediately after finding out the news.

When she came to in the hospital, she saw you in your scrubs, slouched in the chair next to her bed. She reached out, taking your hand in hers.

“Y/N?” she croaked out.

“Annie!” you exclaimed, jumping up from the chair. “Holy shit, how are you feeling? I did what I could when you got here. You heal fast, so you should be—“

“It’s all a lie! Our whole lives, Y/N! They fucking lied about everything!” she raged, her vision blurred by tears. “At least you got out. I feel so stupid.”

“Hey, don’t call my best friend stupid.”

She laughed weakly, sniffling a bit. “Thanks Y/N, for everything. All this time I was thinking I was doing what I wanted, but it was what everyone else wanted for me. It always has been.”

“Then start living for you, whatever that looks like. It’s never too late,” you said.

Her hand still intertwined with yours, she pulled you closer to her, your faces inches apart. Taking in your features, she admired how pretty you were. She’d always thought so, but didn’t know how to place it before. Since you’d reconnected, however, it was different. Butterflies in her stomach when you'd smile at her. Texts from you brightening her day. Hanging out with you being the highlight of her week. She didn’t have to try when it came to you.

“I think I’ll start now,” she whispered.

In a moment of nerve-wracking bravery, Annie pressed her lips to yours. Relief swept over her when you kissed her back, smiling against her lips. Whatever happened next, she knew she could get through it with you by her side.

#annie january x reader #starlight x reader #the boys x reader #annie january #starlight #the boys #the boys tv #the boys amazon

198 notes · View notes

cowgurrrl · 2 months

Note

JUST WATCHED THE SAG-AFTRA FOUNDATION VIDEO WITH PEDRO PASCAL ANDDDD.....gotta mention her but the idea of actress!reader having a similar segment for herself, getting similar questions while rockstar!joel is there to support her?? YES PLEASE, it'd be so cute !!! and actress!reader would have some amazing answers and little stories to share about her career me thinks

I love this idea!!

Good Old Days

Pairing: rockstar!joel miller x actress!reader

Summary: this ask!!

Warnings: unedited because I simply cannot be asked, the kids are so grown up in this :(, fun little reflections, I think that’s it!

It feels weird to be at a point in your career to be able to do a Career Retrospective with SAG-AFTRA, but it also feels well-earned. You’ve been in the business long enough to have seen a thing or two and you’re excited for the opportunity to get to talk about it. Plus, Joel took the day off from working at the label and is sitting in the audience of other card-carrying SAG actors. The woman interviewing you introduces you to the crowd and you walk out to modest applause and an especially loud whistle from Joel. You blow him a kiss before settling across from your interviewer, Kate, who immediately gets into it.

“Thank you so much for joining us today. Should we start with the question everyone probably asks you? When did you get your SAG card?” She asks and you laugh a little at the memory.

“I got my SAG card literally the second I got my first gig in LA. It was mandatory for the project and the project was Sweet Water-”

“That was your first gig when you got to LA?”

“Yeah. My apartment wasn’t even unpacked when I got sent home with the script and they were like, ‘make sure you mark in your script’ and all that stuff and I didn’t have a dining room table. I was literally marking stuff while sitting on the floor.”

“That’s must’ve been a big leap.”

“It was huge. This was a tiny pilot that was coming onto this huge scene of TV medical dramas and it wasn’t supposed to be set in this big city, it was a rural hospital, and we didn’t know if it was gonna get picked up. So, yeah, it was pretty scary for a second. My family was terrified but they told me they felt a little better once I was a part of the union.” You shrug, not knowing how much you actually believe that, but their support got you to where you are for a reason.

“That’s surprising to know, especially now that it’s a huge success.”

“We didn’t know for a long time if it was gonna flop or not,” you admit. “I remember Carolina and I would always get stuck doing night shoots and we’d just be exhausted and covered in the fake blood or whatever and we would look at each other like, ‘what the fuck are we doing?’ But I loved that character and I loved that show.”

“How did you get into acting before all that?” She asks and you stretch your memory back as far as you can.

“I think I was always interested in it. I worked at a movie theatre for a while just so I could go see movies for free and when we read plays in class, I would always get really excited. I did theatre throughout high school and college but it didn’t really start to feel like a real career until I started working. Like I would act in little short films and get paid like $100 for a week of work and I thought that was what acting was. So, I just kept taking on projects and kept working and then eventually got noticed but I think even if I didn’t get picked up, I would still be acting in some capacity.

“And you went to NYU?” She asks and you nod. “What drew you to NYU?”

“I mean, isn’t it every young actors dream to go to New York? I just thought that’s where people were actors and artists and I wanted to be a part of it. I moved to the city and knew absolutely no one and it was a real starving artist kinda vibe for a while. Like I was a waitress at two different restaurants and one of them was in Midtown and the other was in the Upper East side so I was constantly jumping boroughs and spending money on subway tickets. But it was a really great experience and I met a lot of incredibly talented people.”

“Including Carolina Garcia-Long.”

“Oh, especially Carolina Garcia-Long!” You exclaim, excited to talk about one of your favorite people. “She’s such an amazing person and I’m so lucky I got to start my career with her. I just love her and Ryan so much.”

“Had you guys acted together before Sweet Water?”

“Yeah, so Carolina and I had been scene partners during class assignments and we were often at the same auditions for things. Ryan and I didn’t act together professionally until… I wanna say our first project together was Self Made Men? That was right when he was starting to pick up steam in his career and it was my first movie right off of Sweet Water and I played this super minor character named Sunday. I was really only on the call sheet for a few days but we had so much fun that he kept inviting me back, if not to work, then to learn and that totally changed things for me,” you furrow your brows as you think. “I might have to text him after this and ask because I’m almost positive we did something together before Self Made Men. But way before that, in New York, our paths just kept crossing and crossing and then Carolina and I finally moved in together in this tiny little apartment in Hell’s Kitchen with two other girls. I actually took Joel by there on our first trip to New York together and he was so shocked at how shitty the building was. Sorry, can I swear? If not, I think I’ve already broken that rule.” You cover your mouth and look around for someone to make a cutting motion at their throat to get you to stop but everyone just laughs.

“You can say whatever you want.” Kate says and you let out a relieved sigh.

“Okay, good,” you say. “But yeah, I remember him asking all these questions like, ‘wait, how many people live there?’ And I was like, ‘well four of us but sometimes their boyfriends or whatever would stay over so sometimes up to eight people.’ He was such a dad about it, just panicking about fire safety and whatever else. It was so stupidly endearing.”

“And he’s here today, right?” She asks and you look out into the crowd until you find his smiling face and point him out to her.

“He’s over there in that corner, trying to act like he doesn’t know we’re talking about him.” He blushes at your words and shakes his head but you just smile.

“Something I didn’t know about your husband is that he’s actually a card-carrying member of SAG-AFTRA.”

“He is!” You say, excitedly. “For like the first ten years of our marriage, he would come to set and just randomly get placed as an extra or a random character. I think he even said two lines once as like a barista or something but we did an episode of Things We Don’t Talk About together where they actually cast him as police officer and that entire production was a must-join so, yeah, he got his little SAG-AFTRA card and became a union man.”

“Did you ever think you’d get to do TV with your husband?” She asks and you laugh.

“I never even thought I’d be on TV, let alone my husband.”

“I guess that’s true because you did a lot of Shakespeare before coming to film and TV, what drew you to that?”

“I honestly don’t know. I think I just needed a job around the time I actually started doing Shakespeare so it was more of a necessity than anything. I didn’t really care about it in school and it was always confusing but once I got into shows and learning more about it, I was totally hooked. I did Shakespeare in the Park several times and did some off off off Broadway Shakespeare work, too, and I just love it. And we’ve raised our kids on it.”

“Have you really?”

“Oh, yeah. Our son and daughter-in-law actually just had their first little girl and she’s named after a Shakespearean character.” You say, beaming from just talking about Juno.

“Do we get to know the name?” She asks and you shake your head.

“I’m afraid that’s not my secret to tell, but she is very, very cute.”

“Well, congratulations to both of you.”

“Thank you,” you say. The rest of the interview goes well and you even get to tease the new project you’re working on with Violet. It feels good to recap such a fun and still running career, a feat not everyone gets to celebrate. It also helps that Joel is waiting in the wings with a big hug and kiss the second you’re off stage.

#one for the money two for the show #oftm #oftm family #rockstar!joel miller x actress!reader #the last of us au #tlou au #joel miller au #joel miller fluff

26 notes · View notes

my-moony-and-padfoot · 10 months

Text

Not your fault

First part of this

TW: mentions of suicide, the aftermath of an attempt. *Read the first part before this*

Wordcount: 3 500

Wolfstar raises Harry AU, modern and non magical

What had meant to be a few days turned into a few weeks. After the few days that he was meant to be discharged home, he wasn't. Instead of being discharged, he was admitted to a psych ward, as they thought he wasn't stable enough to be discharged yet.

And Sirius agreed in a way, he knew he wasn't in a good place right now, and being home probably wouldn't be a good idea. But he wanted to be at home so desperately, even though somewhere in the back of his mind he knew it's not a good idea.

When he was alone again in the dull hospital room, he called Remus, who still thought he was going to be able to come home tomorrow. “Hi, love.” Remus answered, he sounded like he was smiling, and Sirius already felt bad for what he was about to tell him.

“Hi.” He whispered. “I-I'm not coming home tomorrow.” He said after a few moments of silence, playing with the bandage on his arm that was holding the phone, even though he probably wasn't supposed to do that.

“Oh.” Sirius heard some shuffling around, before it got quieter in the background, most likely Remus going to a different room than where he was when Sirius called. “Why? What happened?” He asked, he sounded calm and not annoyed or upset like Sirius had thought.

“They think I'm not stable enough to go home yet.” He said quietly, trying to hold back the tears, waiting for Remus to be mad at him, even though he shouldn't have a reason to. “I'm sorry.”

“No, don't be, love. It's not your fault, it takes time, yeah?” He said, and Sirius nodded, not realizing Remus wouldn't be able to see. “How are you feeling, baby?” He asked when Sirius didn't respond.

“I don't know.” He took a sharp breath in, and breathed out slowly. “I- I don't. I don't know, rem.”

“It's okay. No, no, don't cry. It's alright, I promise. I'm not mad, or upset, no one is.”

“W-what about Harry?” Sirius asked, trying to calm his breathing down, and wipe away the tears with his shaking hands. “He thought I'd -”

“I know, baby, I know. It'll be alright, I'll explain it to him, yeah? Don't worry about it.” Remus said, hoping Sirius wouldn't work himself to the point of having a panic attack because Remus didn't really want him to be alone for that and being on the phone wouldn't be enough. “Right now you gotta calm down though, at least a bit, don't have to worry about anything, okay?”

“O-okay.” It took some time for Sirius to calm down, but eventually, he did. “H-how is he?” Sirius asked, once he was more calmed down.

“He's okay? I don't really know, he doesn't talk a lot.” Remus said, but it wasn't really unusual for Harry to be quiet so Remus didn't worry too much about it. “He refuses to sleep alone, though.”

“He's probably scared.” Sirius whispered quietly. “Scared that you're gonna go away too.” He explained, knowing because Harry did that whenever one of them was somewhere else for a night, and the other was home. Usually, it was Remus because he had work trips sometimes, and Harry didn't really understand why Moony had to go away for a few nights for work.

“Oh, of course.” Remus said, realizing what was happening, he had forgotten that habit of Harry's in all this.

“Gotta go soon, sorry.” He said, after glancing at the clock on the wall. “I love you.”

“I love you too, baby.” He whispered. “Talk to you soon, yeah?”

“Um, yeah. Bye.”

“Bye.”

When he was in the new room he was given, it was just about as dull as the other one, just with less hospital equipment. He could already tell he wouldn't like it. But at least he got to keep the frog stuffed animal that Harry had given him when they had visited a couple of days ago.

It was nice, it had soft green fur, and it smelled like home. He held it close to his chest, pressing his nose into the soft fur of its head, unable to hold back the tears that started falling. He just wanted to go home.

– – –

Remus dropped his phone onto the table, running his hand through his hair. It was good that Sirius was getting treatment, but he just missed him, and it was weird without him at home, especially for harry, but for Remus too. It had only been about four days that it had been just the two of them, and it was weird as Sirius was at home most of the time and they were both used to that.

Remus took some time off from work, not wanting to ask his mother to take care of Harry every day when he had work. It would be just unfair, besides he didn't want to leave Harry alone, even though he wouldn't technically be alone. But he just didn't want to leave him right now.

He tried to keep their daily routines in place and keep things fairly normal at home, but it wasn't and even harry noticed that. He was having more nightmares, he had them every night, and refused to talk about them after. For the first two nights, he had just wondered to their bedroom holding his bunny and wake Remus up. And for the last two, he refused to go to sleep in his own bed. Remus did try to get him settled into his bedroom, and to his bed, but after almost an hour of crying he gave in.

He got up from the chair, going back to the living room, where he had been before Sirius had called him. He sat down on the sofa next to harry, pausing the movie they were watching. “Just for a moment, we can finish it later.” He said, as Harry looked at him with a pout. “I have something to tell you.”

“What?” Harry asked, climbing to sit on Remus lap, who wrapped his arms around the boy.

“Remember how padfoot was supposed to come home tomorrow?” He asked, not really wanting to say the next thing, but he had to. Harry nodded, already looking sad. “The doctor said that he can't come home just yet. That he needs to get a bit better until he can come home.”

Harry started crying, leaning against Remus, hiding his face into his chest. “Oh I know, it's really unfair isn't it?” He asked, starting to play with his hair, to try to comfort him and somehow make it better. Harry nodded, more cries and sobs leaving his mouth. “But it's going to be okay, he'll come home soon. You won't even notice the time go by.”

“M-moony.” He cried, Remus just sushed him, rubbing his side, until he calmed down more and looked up at Remus, rubbing at his eyes. Remus gently pulled them away, wiping away the tears that were still falling. “B-but why?”

“You know how when you're really sick and need to stay in bed and take medicine or go to the doctor to get better?” Harry nodded slowly. “Well, it's the same thing with padfoot right now, it's just different from a flu or cold, but I know that he'll get better and come home soon.”

Remus thought that maybe giving him am example like that would make the whole situation more understandable for him. Harry nodded again, thinking for a while before asking. “Why's padfoot sick?”

Remus bit the inside of his cheek, unsure how to answer to him. “We can't always know why people get sick like that.”

“ 's it-?” Harry paused, thinking again, before asking his next question, not looking at Remus anymore. “ 's it because of me?”

“No, baby. No, it's not because of you.” He said, feeling like he might cry. “Absolutely not because of you, haz. What's going on now, it's not your fault, or mine, or Sirius'. It's no one's fault, okay?”

“Okay.” Harry nodded, and Remus smiled slightly, kissing his forehead. “Miss padfoot.” He mumbled, as he leaned back against Remus' chest.

“I know, haz. I miss pads too.” He whispered into Harry's hair. They just stayed there for a while, until Harry shifted on his lap. “Wanna watch the rest of the movie?" Remus asked and Harry nodded, turning around so he could see the tv screen whilst staying on his lap.

– –

At first, visitors weren't allowed, for the first week, but he did get his phone back after the few first days, so now he could at least call Remus, and say goodnight to Harry. Even though it wasn't quite the same over the phone.

They both thought that it wasn't a good idea for harry to go see Sirius there, even if he'd be allowed to, but it just wouldn't be a good place for him to see Sirius in. So, when he was finally allowed visitors, it would only be Remus going, which meant that harry would have to go to Hope's for a few hours.

“Harry, we have to leave soon, have everything you need?” He asked, as he opened the door to Harry's bedroom, seeing that he had emptied his back bag to the floor. It had had a few toys and a change of clothes just in case, but now they were on the floor and Harry sitting on his bed with his bunny. “What's this now?” He asked, looking from the mess on the floor to Harry, who wasn't looking at him.

“Don't wanna go.” He said quietly, speaking more to the stuffed animal than to Remus, who kneeled on the floor, starting to pack his bag again.

“Why not, love? You love going to grandma's.” Harry just shook his head. “C'mon baby, it's only for a few hours, and I'll pick you right up, promise.”

Harry looked at Remus, as if trying to make sure he was being honest. “Pinky promise?”

“Yeah, pinky promise, haz.” He said, zipping the bag up before getting up and walking over to Harry, holding out his pinky and waiting until the boy hooked his smaller one with it. “Okay, let's go?” He nodded a little hesitantly, before taking Remus' hand that was offered to him.

Harry started crying once they got out of the car as he saw hope coming over to them on the driveway, he turned to Remus, holding his arms up, so he'd be picked up. “What's the matter, baby? Why don't you wanna go?”

Harry just shook his head, more tears spilling out. “Hey, it's okay, it's only Grandma, yeah? I'm sorry, but I really gotta run some errands, you'll have so much more fun with grandma than with me.” He thought it would be better not to tell Harry where he'd actually be going, so he wouldn't get upset over why he couldn't go. It was unfair, probably, but in the end it would be better.

“Only a few hours, haz, and we'll be back home.” He said, once Harry had calmed down enough. “You'll see moony soon, okay?”

“Okay.” Harry whispered, rubbing his eyes as he was set onto the ground. The tears didn't stop, when Remus left, but at least he wasn't so much against being with Hope when she picked him up into her arms and comforted him.

He didn't know, or at least wasn't sure, why Harry was so much against the whole thing. He should probably talk with Harry about it when they get home, but it seemed like he didn't want to tell the reason. And he definitely didn't want to force him to talk if he didn't want to because that couldn't be good either.

When he got to the hospital, a nurse showed him the way to the room Sirius was staying in before leaving him alone. He knocked on the door, smiling slightly as the door opened and Sirius threw his arms around his neck. “Hi baby.” He whispered, into Sirius' hair.

“Hi.” He whispered back, before pulling away from the hug just enough, so he could look up at Remus. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” He tucked a hair strand behind his ear before kissing Sirius' forehead. They didn't spend much time away from each other, so the last almost two weeks had certainly been weird.

He took Remus' hand into his before leading him over to the bed and sitting down, with his back against the wall. Remus sat down next to him, letting their intertwined hands fall between them. Sirius leaned his head on Remus' shoulder.

“How's Harry doing?”

“He's okay, I think. He still doesn't talk a lot, and today he cried when I dropped him off at mum's.” He said, and Sirius nodded.

“How are you doing, rem?” He asked then, playing with Remus' fingers, feeling nervous for some reason. Even though he knew there was no reason to, it was Remus after all.

“I'm okay, love.” He said. “You don't need to ask that from me.” He said because it really should be him asking Sirius if he was okay and how he was doing. It should be the other way around.

“I do.” Sirius whispered. “I-i need to know rem. I need to because if you're n-not, then I don't know- I-i can't do a-anything 'cause I'm h-here and not at-”

“Shh, it's alright, calm down, baby.” He soothed, shifting, so he could look at Sirius. “You don't have to do anything, okay? It's okay, Sirius, you don't have to worry about all that right now, or about me. Should be me worrying about you.”

Sirius shook his head, looking up at Remus with tears in his eyes. “All you have to worry about now is getting better, so you can come back home with me and haz, yeah?” This time he nodded, but still, a few tears fell down and Remus just wiped them away with his thumbs, kissing Sirius' forehead.

“I don't know when -” he trailed off, not wanting to say the rest or sure how to. He didn't know when he could go home, but he wanted to know so bad, and wanted it to be soon. He just didn't want to give out empty promises that he'd be home in a certain amount of time. Or that someone told him that he'd get to go home in two weeks, and then it wouldn't happen. He just didn't want to disappoint Remus or Harry again.

“That's okay, baby, you don't have to know.” He said, caressing his cheek as Sirius looked down.

“Don't wanna disappoint.”

“You won't, and you haven't, don't worry.” Remus said, and Sirius nodded, but looked at him like he didn't believe it. “Sirius, healing takes time, and it doesn't matter how long it takes, yeah? I'm not expecting you to just be fine in a few days, no one is. I really need you to believe me, love.”

“I do.” He whispered, and Remus smiled slightly. “I'm sorry for ruining this, though.” He said, vaguely gesturing to the air between them with his hand.

“Haven't ruined a thing.”

– – –

When Sirius finally came home, Harry was more than excited. He was really clingy of Sirius, and didn't really want to be in a different room than he was in, and he still wanted to sleep in their bedroom, even though they were both home now. He just didn't want to be away from either of them, and when they asked why, he refused to talk about it.

Then when the two of them had to leave the house, and Harry had to go to Hope's, he just started crying, and saying that he didn't want to go. But still, he didn't say why when he was asked, he just cried and when they asked later about it, he refused to talk about it.

Remus and Sirius didn't really talk a lot, well, they did, not just what had been going on for the past weeks. They kind of danced around the topic, both unsure how to talk about it, but knowing that they needed to. But it was just hard.

Remus was working from home most of the time, and when he actually needed to go to his workplace, he went there while Sirius was in therapy or in other appointments.

“How was it, love?” Remus asked, once Sirius got into the car, he always asked, even though Sirius rarely talked about it, but he did sometimes. Sirius just shrugged, glancing at Remus who smiled nodding, resting his hand on Sirius' thigh once he started driving and Sirius put his on top of Remus', lacing their fingers together from top.

Harry was really quiet when they picked him up from Hope's, like oddly quiet. Because usually, he was chatty and excited when they came to get him, and drove home, but he wasn't today.

“Harry, can we have a little chat?” Sirius asked once they got home, and they had all settled into the living room. Harry looked up from where he was sitting on the floor playing with some of his toys. Sirius patted the space next to him and Remus on the sofa, and Harry nodded, getting up and walking over to them.

“Can you tell us why you don't like going to grandma's?” Remus asked, but Harry didn't answer, but just looked down. “Did something happen there?”

Harry shook his head, rubbing his eyes, as if trying to get rid of tears. “Are you sure? You know you can tell us, don't have to be scared of that, love.” Sirius said, playing with his hair to try to get Harry to look up at him. But again Harry just shook his head. “Are you scared to talk about something?” He asked, and Harry nodded, slightly. “Can you tell Padfoot what you're scared about?”

“Don' want you to go away.” He said, it was really muffled, as his head was buried into his hands, but at least he said what had probably been bothering him for the past weeks.

“Harry, we're not going anywhere. You don't need to be scared of us going away.” Remus said, glancing at Sirius, who looked about as sad as Harry did. “Are you scared because what happened to pads?”

“Were gone f-forever.” Harry cried, and Sirius pulled him closer, wrapping his arm around him and gently eased Harry's hands away from his face, wiping the tears away.

“I'm really sorry that happened, pup, but I promise me or moony are not going anywhere, we'd never leave you, okay? Never ever, don't worry about that.” Harry nodded, leaning more against Sirius, the tears still spilling out.

“Nothing will happen if you're at grandma's, or if we're not there for a few hours, we'll always come get you, yeah?” Harry nodded again, letting Remus wipe away the tears.

“Promise?” Harry asked, glancing at both of them. “Not gonna go?”

“We promise, haz.”

Later that night, when Harry had already gone to bed, agreeing to at least to try to sleep in his own room, if Remus and Sirius would stay there until he fell asleep. He also made them promise that he could come to their bedroom if he woke up. They were cuddled up in bed, only the two of them, for the first time in what felt like forever.

“Moons?” Sirius asked, not bothering to look up from where his head rested on Remus' chest. Remus hummed, running his hand through Sirius' hair. “Were you scared?” He asked quietly, hoping Remus knew what he meant, not knowing how he should start the conversation that they needed to have, but had been avoiding.

“I was.” He whispered, swallowing down the lump in his throat that came from remembering the event, he tried to forget. “I thought I was gonna lose you, baby. And I can't lose you.”

“I'm sorry, rem.”

“Don't be.”

“I just didn't know what to do, I'm so sorry.”

“I understand, don't be sorry, love.” He said, and Sirius nodded slightly, drawing shapes into Remus' chest with his finger to get something to do with his hands, and to try to stop them from shaking.

“Why're you not mad at me?" He asked, Remus paused for a moment, thinking how he should answer. Because he wasn't mad or upset with Sirius, and he wasn't sure if he was supposed to be. He just didn't see a reason why he should be.

“I just aren't, I don't think there's a reason to.” He said. “Just feel like I didn't pay enough attention to notice that you weren't doing well. Like it was my fault.” He said, continuing to run his hand through Sirius' hair, blinking away tears. “I'm sorry I didn't.”

“It's not your fault, Remus.” He said, lifting his head to look at him. “It's not your fault.” Sirius repeated, looking Remus in the eyes, and Remus nodded after a while. A tear fell down, but Sirius gently wiped it away, reaching up to give him a kiss.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” Sirius whispered back, and Remus smiled slightly, brushing a strand of hair away from Sirius' forehead. “Can we talk more tomorrow?”

“Yeah.”

Both of them jumped slightly when the door of their bedroom opened with a loud creak, but it was only Harry. He walked over to Remus' side of the bed as it was closest, and Sirius moved so there was some room for Harry between him and Remus.

AN:

I hope the timeline and my writing makes sense in this one, sorry if it doesn't. Also again sorry for any possible inaccuracies, I tried, okay?

Btw the agent who stalks my search history is probably worried from all my research for these two fics. My search history is a bit concerning right now 😅

#sirius black #remus lupin #sirius orion black #remus john lupin #remus x sirius #sirius x remus #wolfstar #marauders #fluff #wolfstar angst #fluff and angst #wolfstar raising harry #wolfstar raises harry #tw sui implied #sirius black x remus lupin

61 notes · View notes

sirwow · 1 month

Text

Hello once again RD tumblr. I recently went on an extreme discord ramble about Cocole in my au and its so long i feel it be a waste not to put it here! usual me warning of yeah its reallly long under the cut. anyways have fuuun

(PS im not editing this from the discord messages cus im eepy so might be a bit messy!)

So to start before rhythm doctor even starts some background on CC Cole and Nicole. Cole first:

Cole was a single child that grew up a VERY privileged life style. Rich neighborhood and spoiled rotten at the expectation that he would be like his parents. (be a CEO or high ranking individual like his dad n have a stay at home wife like his mother) Cole however ended up with a music obsession ever since he was 12 and started playing the piano. At first his parents encouraged this, giving him lessons and everything but when they realized music was the only thing he did care about, they were more hesitant on supporting him n tried moving him on a different path. This does work well on a rebellious spoiled teen so Cole just ended up becoming more obsessed out of spite. Spending all of his allowance on his electric guitar, synth and microphone. Cole was still being a freeloader off of his parents money by 22, never having actually gotten a job and just barely finishing highschool. His parents kicked him out when he refused to get a job n this lead him eventually to Middlesea after many long train rides across the countryside. Got admitted to the hospital basically as soon as he got to Middlesea due to a lack of sleep and an extreme amount of caffeine drinking. Doesn’t mind too much because it gives him company and he wanted to stay in Middlesea anyways since it was told to him by a chance encounter with miner that it was the capital of music.

Now Nicole:

Much less privileged growing up in comparison to Cole. Moved to Middlesea when she was just 1 from Norway since her dad got a job offer. Unfortunately said offer fell through and now they were stuck in North America just trying to make do. Nicole grew up with all brothers- 1 older, 2 younger. Picked up the guitar after begging for a full year for her parents to get her one for her 14th birthday. (which they did) Nicole grew up with dreams of grandeur- being a famous enough player to help her family and be know more then the awkward lanky gameboy girl in class. Her dreams of that were half crushed though when she entered a high school talent show that she was planning on playing at but when she was actually on stage she completely froze up and had a panic attack. Got bullied pretty relentlessly for it and the nail in the coffin was seeing how poor her family was in comparison to others and how she was just putting more stress on it trying to be a musician. Gave up on music at 20, moved out into a small apartment, got her barista job, and started getting check ups by 22 due to her sudden smoking habit from stress. Met Cole when he stumbled into the Cafe the same morning he was admitted n they started up their daily routine of chatting with each other

SO! Everything is basically identical to what happens in game till after act 5. When Lucia proposes the idea of a talent show, Cole reeaaally wants to get Nicole to play with him and Samurai. Nicole is pushing him off due to her past trauma of the last talent show she tried to preform at. Using the excuses that she got rid of her guitar and she can’t even play anymore anyways. Meanwhile only a few weeks before this, Nicole had started teaching Logan how to play the guitar to confess his love to Hailey with music. Nicole had been spending the whole day dealing with Cole coming in every 30 minutes to try and convince her but Nicole repeatedly shut him down. Cole was making a final plea to her at the end of her shift n just as she was gonna tell him one last time she didn’t have a guitar anymore- Hailey and Logan suddenly barged in. Turns out Logan had confessed to Hailey not more then 10 minutes ago and when she found out who taught him how to play guitar, Hailey wanted to return the relationship favor to Nicole. Handing her back the guitar right infront of Cole n thanking her for teaching Logan before running off dragging a very apologetic Logan behind her. Cole and Nicole were silent as she held her guitar before Cole asked if she could now that she had her guitar. Nicole put it away and told him to get out so she can close shop. Cole tried staying but got pushed out and locked out by a very flustered Nicole

Nicole was. Kinda mixed in her feelings. Angry that even happened, guilty that she was called out for her lie and wondering if she should take Cole’s offer. She was still thinking it through for the next 2 days n her completely ignoring Cole asking about it was enough to make him give up n just start planning with Samurai. Samurai came into the cafe when Cole admitted defeat to him n very roughly questioned Nicole if she still enjoyed music or not. When she said she did and had actually been playing more before this because of Cole, Samurai told her she should show him that. Nicole didn’t really respond but that night while Cole and Samurai were song writing- Nicole showed up with her guitar after work, ready to join them. Cole jumped up to quickly hug her excited before catching her up on what they were doing. She never had her heart jump so suddenly

So the trio started practicing for the talent show, writing a song together and practicing together. As the day of the show started approaching, Nicole’s nerves started getting the better of her and smoked more as a result. Smoking more made her SVT worse so now during practice she was even more fidgety and nervous then before. Cole eventually took notice when she kept getting pissed at missing her cords n turned a practice night into a gaming night with the three of them to calm her nerves. Over games, Nicole admitted to Cole and Samurai why she was so damn nervous about this and how stupid her first attempt at a talent show went. Cole offered to shove her if she froze up n though she laughed and pushed him calling him a dick, Cole meant it in a caring sense. They would be by her side in this dumb idea so if she felt embarrassed she could blame them for it. Nicole still laughed at the idea but felt some calmness in the idea. Regardless- the day of the show was there and Nicole still had a shift to finish so they were going last. It was a quiet day in the Cafe n so her thoughts were racing while watching the clock occasionally. She began drifting off into nervousness again by the end of her shift and only snapped out of it when an exhausted Lucia broke into the cafe sweating and huffing. She was surprised to still see Nicole there as she pointed to the clock showing it was only about 5 minutes before she played. Nicole FREAKED out n asked Lucia if she could close for her in a panic n as soon as Lucia said yes, Nicole handed her the keys and apron thanking her, before dashing down to the parking lot the show was being held at. When Nicole got there, she froze before the backstage seeing how many people where there to watch but quickly ran again when she saw Cole and Samurai signaling her over. Cole reassured her one last time it be okay before they went up there n to just keep her eyes on him. No other time was left for anything else to be said but Nicole gave a nod

Cole Nicole and Samurai all went up to the stage but right before they were going to play, got cut off by Richard waltzing in trying to use this massive crowd as a publicity stunt. Some shenanigans later and Insomniac running at Richard with his sword to scare him off, the three got to play their hearts out. Nicole and Cole sing together. N as she kept her eyes on Cole as he suggested, she realized he was looking right back at her just as they did in practice when it was just the two of them. Playing like no one was watching. The trio finished and ended up winning 1st place in the show with much cheering. Everyone afterwards headed back to the cafe for an after party n Nicole got to properly close up n got Lucia comfortable with a blanket. Cole sat back with Nicole behind the bar counter as the little party chatted about. Suddenly through a light whisper, Cole thanked her. Nicole was confused but Cole just showed her his still shaking hand. He was just as if not more scared of going up there but her looking at him gave him the strength to push on. Nicole didn’t say much in response but ruffled his hair calling him a doofus.

Now then it’s only gonna get rough from here!

Cole and Nicole return to their usual routine and banter after the talent show but something seems very off with Cole one day. He came in for the usual morning chat but in the afternoon he was far more nervous n off and tried to ask for some caffeine. Nicole declined of course, asking if he wanted to get himself back into an addiction n he obviously agreed he didn’t but seemed to be unsure of his own answer. Nicole did her best to try and burry the thought thinking Cole was just having an off day but then the same thing repeated the next 3 days. Him getting more and more pushy about getting some caffeine and Nicole getting progressively more frustrated with him. Nicole was planning on confronting him completely on the 4th day but he didn’t even show up that day at the Cafe. Nicole wondered if he was just going to a different Cafe to get caffeine but was much more shocked with the actual answer. Cole’s parents walked into the cafe that evening n spoke to Nicole if she had seen Cole. They told her that they had found out he was admitted here only a few days ago from a recording of the talent show n were coming to her after seeing her with him in the show. Nicole found out she hadn’t seen him today because he was hiding from his parents and refusing to see them even after they paid off all of his medical bills for his discharge. Nicole was flabbergasted by this. 1. That he was refusing to see what seemed like wonderful parents if they were just willing to pay off that debt and 2. This is how she found out he was attempting to get caffeine to avoid his discharge. Nicole couldn’t help his parents anymore and they had to get home for work so the conversation fell off quickly. Nicole however was PISSED

Cole meanwhile all this had locked himself up in his hospital room, petting Loafy to destress from the situation. He refused to be dragged back home by his parents and lose all the genuine friends he had gotten there. Besides he was so close to realizing his music dreams n giving in now would be ridiculous. Those friends he had made though were all now trying to talk to him since all of them had met n talked to his parents before they left n believed he was just being crazy and rash again. He didn’t let any of them inside either.

Night came n Nicole got off work. As soon as everything was closed up, she made a beeline for Cole’s room. Cole didn’t wanna let her in at first but didn’t miss a beat to when he realized that it was Nicole n gladly let her inside before locking it again. Cole immediately acted like everything was normal and fine to avoid the inevitable conversation but that just sent Nicole off. She called him for what he did to his parents n how she would of done anything to have something like that just covered instantly. Cole’s demeanor changed again into defensive annoyance with her. Cole still hasn’t told anyone his past at this point and he sure wasn’t now. Just called his parents out for trying to control what he was doing with his life and didn’t care what they tried, he wasn’t going back to them. This hit Nicole right in the heart with rage- she had given up her dreams to help her struggling family who never could help her much but he was just willing to throw that all away out of spite of not wanting to work. She knew he didn’t have a job n was broke but this was insane behavior. Nicole exploded at Cole, yelling that he was one hell of a selfish freeloader if he was willing to hurt himself just to get what he wanted. Cole backed off out of surprise but bit back yelling that she had no idea what he went through. They continued yelling at eachother for a minute-loafy hiding under the couch and a few other patients passing in the hall listening in

Cole snapped suddenly when Nicole refused to hear him out, telling her that at least he wasn’t a pathetic miserable minimal wage worker who gave up on his dreams because of other people dragging him down. Nicole stood still staring agasp at what he said and processing it. Cole seeing her expression immediately tried to back track his words but Nicole just told him to fuck off while stifling tears n left for the hospital balcony to cry and smoke. Nicole stayed up there for almost a full hour comprehending everything that just went down untill she got a grip on herself n lost her anger and just wanted answers from Cole. He might be an idiot but she knows he had to have some reasons. He always did.

Nicole headed down from the balcony after another 20 minutes of thinking through her words and finishing her second cigarette but found the janitor cleaning Cole’s room instead of Cole. Nicole, confused, asked where Cole had gone if he was cleaning out his room and Janitor told her Cole had taken his discharge early immediately after their fight. The one thing Janitor could point to where Cole had gone was seeing him searching up train times as he was packing. Nicole looked at the clock. 20 minutes till 11 pm. Nicole wordlessly walked out of the room and looked down the hallway. She broke into a sprint.

Cole’s feet dragged across the ground to the major train station platform. Hood up and hat spun back forwards, he was going through his contacts and deleting all of the ones he had. He hesitated with Nicole’s contact but ultimately ended up deleting it when he started getting notifications from her. Just shut himself down and pulled out his ear buds being sick of music. Wondering if his parent were right for a moment before shoving down the thought and just focusing on the train signs to look up what town he’d end up at next. He looked down the open track and spotted the lights of a train only a few minutes off so gathered his things in preparation to leave. A loud thumping and trip against stone caught his attention from the tracks though and saw Nicole standing there at the end of the stairs.

Nicole was horribly winded but regained her strength as she stumbled over to Cole and pulling him into a hug before he could say a word. Cole stumbled over trying to apologize to Nicole while she held him but Nicole just told him to shut it before falling into a ramble. She confessed everything openly to Cole, how he had gotten her into music again, how she had honesty been smoking less because of him, how brighter her days were with him around, ect. She told him she wasn’t angry anymore but was instead begging for him to stay- not just for her but for himself too. She was scared what might happen to him alone out there- and openly admitted her love for him and everything about him even if it was a mess sometimes. The train to leave rushed by while Nicole still held onto him and it left him to make the next decision.

Cole struggled to muster his words through tears but clutched Nicole back, swearing to her he’d stay. Telling her that he loved her too in much more plain words as his tears choked him out. They kept holding onto each other crying till the train was gone and they separated from their griphold. Nicole took Cole back to her apartment and both collapsed. They were too tired to talk that night and Nicole had another shift that morning so they agreed to talk about this the next night before Cole crashed on the couch and Nicole crashed in her bed.

SO! Cole stays at the apartment for the day while Nicole goes to work for the morning. Nicole wasn’t expecting much that day but it turns out most everyone Cole was close to have been thrown into a panic since they can’t get in contact with them and didn’t say goodbye to anyone. Hailey and Samurai especially aren’t doing so well after Cole disappeared. Nicole finds all this out through a distressed Samurai getting a caffeine drink with a shot or two in it. Nicole tells him that Cole is alright and at her apartment so Samurai immediately goes to tell everyone else. Hailey is pissed as hell that Cole was willing to scare them that badly n shows up to the cafe to tell Nicole that. Samurai is just sad, worrying that Cole didn’t actually care about him that much. Nicole swore that she’d bring Cole back tomorrow to sort things through n left after her shift with more questions for Cole.

Once Nicole does get home, she finds Cole actually cleaned the entire apartment while she was gone n was just sitting at the dinning table waiting for her and doom scrolling socials. He stopped as soon as Nicole came in n once she got herself comfortable they basically immediately started having the talk they said they would. Nicole demanded some fuckin context for all his actions at this point and Cole relented. Told Nicole how he didn’t want to be near his parents since all they wanted from him was to drop his dreams of being a musician and instead get a big business job like his dad. Nicole could understand that but then asked why he removed all the contacts of his friends because they were all distraught because of it n Cole just kinda sat back processing that. Cole admitted quietly he didn’t think he’d be missed that much before going quiet again thinking. Nicole stared at him with sympathy but sighed that was a can of worms they needed to sort another time- but for now there was something more pressing.

Nicole told Cole pretty plainly that if he was gonna live with her, he had to start paying rent too and that meant getting a job. Cole was still adverse to the idea, mumbling that he thought music was a job but Nicole pretty bluntly asked how much he was making. Cole said 30$ a month. Nicole stared at him unimpressed. Cole conceded and agreed he needed a job but frankly had no idea where to start. Didn’t exactly have connections or a great resume to use n him getting along with someone is a 50/50 coin flip of them getting along or them hating him. Nicole agreed that it was rough n buried her head in her hands in thought trying to come up with something. Both sat silently thinking till Cole sprung back forward from the wooden chair almost falling over with him in it. Cole warned it might be insane but maybe he could start working at the cafe too? Nicole could use another hand, he was already used to the layout of everything and it be alot easier for him to get in. Nicole called him crazy but when taking a moment to think about it she agreed it was kinda the best bet they had. A few calls later- Nicole was able to convince her mostly absentee manager to interview Cole in a few days much to his excitement and extreme anxiety of getting an actual job.

Nicole ruffled his hair assuring he’d probably be fine there n to worry about it when it’s actually time to. Cole agreed and both were suddenly left wondering what to actually do for the rest of the night. They still never properly had really thought of themselves in a relationship yet but the thought was now pressing on them. Nicole just excused herself to make them dinner and just told Cole to turn something on the TV. She eventually joined him on the couch n one attempted cuddle later, things felt a lot more natural now that they were past the overwhelming fluster of knowing they were in a relationship. They ended up passing out in bed together cuddling

Now then- next day Nicole dragged Cole’s ass back to the hospital to apologize to everyone. Hailey smacked him with a nearby magazine before hugging him, telling him with a bit of a shakey voice to never do that again. Cole swore not to and hugged back. Samurai on the other hand was more nervous to talk to Cole then Cole was to him. He was scared Cole didn’t actually enjoy his company but Cole spent the next 30 minutes swearing that no, he did really care and promising to play drums and base with him again to reassure him. Also got hugged by Samurai but Samurai wasn’t really paying attention to his strength and nearly crushed the boy. The rest was pretty much the same, angry at Cole in the moment but happy to have him back. Things move relatively quickly and in the background after this point for them- Cole got the job and learning how to work hyjinxs insue but things in the story for them settle for a little while after this.

The two mostly play a supporting role for the next month or so. Nicole also dropped smoking when they started dating. Cole understanding the plights of Ada Ian Nicole and Janitor now that he works himself and it acts as a major ego check for his usual antics. Cleans up after himself, thanking and uplifting Ian n Ada when he gets the chance (especially to Ada after feeling guilty for literally throwing hands in 2-2 when she was just helping) n having a general more respectful attitude to everyone. Only playing with samurai on free days and never at night, n being less of a genuine shithead. He’s got a good heart just not the greatest lessons learned from being spoiled rotten by entitled parents.

Nicole during this whole break though ended up in contact with Cole’s mom behind his back. She reached out to try and check in on Cole more but slowly got more and more info out of Nicole about his life- including them being in a relationship. Nicole was still kinda hesitant of believing Cole’s words completely after how much he lied before and his mother really did seem to just want the best for him so she continued contact. Eventually his mother asked Nicole if she could bring Cole back home just for the holidays to talk to him. Nicole was incredibly hesitant trying to figure out what to do about it. She eventually decided through her own values that it would be a good idea for Cole to make amends with his family. Nicole agreed to it before telling Cole n well. Cole was angry to say the least. He told Nicole that his parents were nothing but bad news but she defended herself that she spoke to his mother for a month and she saw no red flags in the slightest. Cole was even more elated at that admission but Nicole begged him to please just give them one more chance. Cole’s new mellowing out lead him to agree with Nicole just to keep the peace in their relationship as much as he hated it and quietly hoped maybe she was right.

So! Cole and Nicole get their holiday break n head out on the long train ride to his hometown. Cole was brooding most the ride but Nicole kept holding onto his hand as reassurance. After the 6 hour ride there they arrived and Nicole was a bit shocked. It was fancier then anything she had ever even seen let alone stepped foot in. Not exactly a neighborhood for a minimum wage worker to belong. Regardless they were able to be taxied to the house after Cole gave his Id for passage into the gated neighborhood and arrived at the house. A grand moderately sized home kitted out with everything you could imagine, Cole’s mother, Holly, came outside first to greet them. Cole accepted her hug hesitantly n Holly went ahead and hugged Nicole too making her just as awkward feeling. Shortly after Holly was his dad, Cresso (are these both coffee puns? Yes). Cole just backed up without interacting outside of a strained hi but Nicole shook his hand when Cresso offered it. Both were welcomed inside and told to just go ahead and make themselves comfortable for the night since it was pretty late. Cresso didn’t say anything exact but lead Nicole to the guest room while telling Cole he could stay in his own room for the night. Nicole didn’t wanna piss off his parents so just relented to sleep in the guest room without Cole even when Cole tried to push it. Cresso seemed satisfied with Nicole shutting down Cole’s rebelling n though that left a pit in Nicole’s chest she just blamed it on train exhaustion n went ahead to clonk out without another word.

Now I’ll be frank im still rewriting the details here but the important stuff: -Nicole obviously finds out how privileged Cole was -Cole when he gets the chance to speak to Nicole alone tells her he hates it here- not the comfort of money, but the social sense. He’d rather live on the streets then be stuck here -dinner the next day. Ohboy dinner the next day. Over dinner there’s essentially a blow up when they find out Cole is still doing music and Nicole is too along with encouraging him. It starts light but eventually devolves into Cresso calling Nicole a lowlife service worker n that Cole could do better then this. Holly tried to damage control but it was too far now and Nicole n Cole packed their things to leave immediately.

The late night train ride was tense to say the least. Nicole tried to apologize to Cole after a long silence but he just told her he didn’t want to do this right now but he was angry. Cole just cuddled up to Nicole’s side and fell asleep for the rest of the ride. Guilt ate her up on the way back n handled Holly texting her after the whole thing. Basically telling her off, Holly understanding n agreeing to not speak again. Nicole stayed up the whole ride just watching the stars and snow n they still didn’t talk once they got back home at 4 am other then Cole choosing to sleep on the couch that night. Nicole wanted to give him the bed but chose not to stress him more with a pointless argument.

Things do not go swell once they’re back. Cole and Nicole aren’t talking n everyone can tell so eventually someone (Ada) asks Cole what’s up n he vents the whole situation out bluntly. Ada asks Nicole if this is seriously what happened n Nicole didn’t even try to defend herself anymore n said yes. Ada was shocked and appalled what Nicole did all because she didn’t believe Cole. Ada told Ian, Ian told Cinny- and eventually the whole story got spread around the whole hospital. No one was happy with Nicole and frankly all became hesitant to confide in Nicole after that leading to silent shifts and nothing to break up the monotony of it all. The added social stress brought Nicole to start smoking again. Cole stopped being as cold with Nicole just wanting to move past now but the damage had been done to her by herself. Nicole wasn’t okay with just being forgiven quietly like this or forgiven at all.

A week into this when Cole finally said it outloud that he forgave her and just wanted to move on, Nicole refused it. Cole tried to get through to her more forcefully with yelling but Nicole just ended up misinterpreting it as her fucking up again- the combination of meltdown and smoking sent her into a really bad SVT attack making her faint. Cole rushed her to MSH for care and stayed by her side till she had to be taken back for urgent care. Nicole woke up the next day sore and breathless n a note left by her bedside. Cole was taking over her shifts alone but wanted her to know it was okay and to please just rest for his sake. Nicole didn’t have much choice in the matter anyways being bed bound but took his word to heart. Cole visited every break he got from the rush n though he looked exhausted n a mess he still told her it was okay. Nicole while he was gone started writing a song for him as some sort of apology. However when she did play it for him a week later n got to the line that she didn’t deserve him, Cole shushed her up.

Cole was already a bit teary from her being so thoughtful to write a song for him but told Nicole he was the one who didn’t deserve her. They went back and forth with sad laughs that they didn’t deserve each other but Cole eventually stopped it n made Nicole a deal. If he stopped saying it then she had to stop saying it too. Nicole thought he was still joking but when he wasn’t she gave an exhausted sigh n smiled before agreeing. Cole thanked her n hugged her tightly. Nicole joked that she’s glad he didn’t hear the rest of the song cause she wants to rewrite it to be perfect for him. Cole didn’t quite care if it was perfect but as long as it was her it was alright. Nicole called him a goof for that one n he just giggled saying he was being honest. They ended up cuddling n passing out again even if it fucked up Coles sleep schedule

After this mess part 3, they get back to their normal groove again n do their usual routine n chilling in the bg. Unfortunately this peace after the winter holidays would move into a blooming disaster in the start spring. The two were off work but over at the hospital after doing their morning baseball workout with everyone else. Cole n Nicole were just hanging out with loafy n after throwing a bone for him outside n watching him struggling to find it in a bone, the lights suddenly shut off, old metal gates shut on the outside door n emergency lights were the only thing lighting up the halls. Nicole and Cole ran down to the main hall hearing something going on n joining a group of other patients they saw CT dropping Edega and turning to them. Lucky yelled at them all to run so they followed without another word. Once they were able to get a safe distance away they all listened in on Logan’s phone to Ian explaining the situation. Frankly Nicole n Cole didn’t understand half of it other then they were all in danger and to protect Hailey n Logan the most. The call cut off as the phone’s screen shut off from Connectifia before Ian could help them get out. Lucky took command of the situation n told Cole and Nicole to get Logan and Hailey as far away from CT as possible. They didn’t hesitate, nodded, and took the kids by the hand to get away from this horrible situation.

Nicole and Cole course couldn’t go as far as they wish they could but honestly they were trying to not freak out from the distance screaming n keep Hailey and Logan calm. While Cole was trying to calm Hailey from a meltdown, CT began stomping towards them n they all froze. Cole watched CT with baited breath before telling Nicole to hide them without turning around. Nicole barely got out a whispered “what?” Before Cole asked her if she trusted him. Nicole looked at him, still turned, and back up at the slowly approaching CT and said yes. Cole told her to go then and started running down the hallway to distract CT. Nicole hesitated to go and stop him but turned away n ran to take Hailey n Logan somewhere safe much to their chagrin. Cole grabbed a left behind baseball bat and though he was no hitter, just used it get get CT’s focus on him before dodging for his life. He couldn’t run forever though in a place like this and inevitably got trapped in a room and tripped over equipment before CT got a grip on his chest and sent him straight into a paralyzing SVT attack with its electrocution. Cole was left on the floor of that room once CT left to find the last 3.

Nicole knew that scream. But it was twisted and mutilated from the fun moments she had heard it before. Logan n Hailey were clutching to her hand still but knowing what was coming, Nicole took both of them and put them inside a empty cabinet to hide before running out herself. What more did she have to lose anyways? She followed the same steps as Cole with CT to get them away but her running into a room was stopped by all the fallen over equipment making her hesitant to go in. The moment of hesitation gave CT enough time to pin Nicole against the wall by her back and zapped her without a second to react.

Nicole sat delirious, the repeating blaring of the alarm slowly deafening in her mind and was slipping away till she moved in the slightest and all the pain hit her again. A voice cut through the monotony of it all. Cole had crawled out on his hands from the room he got trapped in and was using what little voice he had left to call out to Nicole. They couldn’t see each other much at all in the darkness and slipping conciseness but kept each other company with their presence. Talking hurt too much so they just sat listening to each other’s quivering breath till they passed out entirely.

If utter darkness was the one thing Cole had seen before the soft florescent light he woke up to might as well of been a flashbang. It was definitely still MSH but everything seemed tidyer then when just Ian and Ada handled things. Cole sat up slowly feeling his breath still burning but looking around realized Nicole was right by him with her eyes still closed and laying on her chest. It took a bit of willpower to do but enough bugging her sleep by saying her name managed to wake up Nicole as well. Neither could really do anything once they were awake but seeing each other still there was enough reassurance.

They recovered relatively well after the incident other then being self conscious about their new scars but uplifting each other about them. Talked the most to the 3 kids when they couldn’t sleep n just wanted to make sure everyone was okay and were the first ones to start walking around on their own again. Mostly stuck together when they were recovering after that whole ordeal. Generally avoiding talking about all the heavy implications and thoughts that traumatic event caused n seemingly getting through it the easiest. (when in reality they’re keeping all that fear in the back pocket for later when it’s gotten worse )

and well. Honestly that’s kinda where they end off for the main plot of CC before they start going on their own life story together.

If you managed to read this far, thank <3 i hope you enjoyed the straights simplifed

#rhythm doctor #sirwow ramble #rhythm doctor writing #cole brew #nicole ting #cocole #rd connections converged

16 notes · View notes

gayshark-writes · 11 months

Text

Lucifer, mammon and Satan when g/n mc fakes being sick to stay home

After a long week you really just wanted to stay home and do whatever you wanted to do, there was a new show you wanted to watch and 2 new video games you wanted to play but you weren’t allowed to miss another day for no real reason so you had to fake being sick, you did all the tricks like a hot rag on your head to make your skin warm and stick, putting a thermometer under a light to fake a high temperature, etc

Lucifer

First to notice your absence at breakfast so he sent mammon to go get you but when he heard you were sick after having no signs all week he decided to see himself

“Hello mc, how do you feel?” He said with half sympathy, 99.9% you were faking it. “It’s really hot in here and I feel all dizzy and my throat hurts so you know”

He’d put his ungloved hand on your forehead

“Hm? This is quite concerning, your extremely warm and this thermometer you took says 102… you’ll have to go to the hospital immediately”

Has no real intention on bringing you to the hospital he’s always 4 steps ahead he knows your faking he’s just trying to make you admit it

If you admit it then there won’t be much of a punishment

Buttt if you continue faking being sick he’d make you wish you were actually sick

“Well since your sick you need to sleep so no phone, tv or any devices at all, plus you need to stay in bed all day. I’ll come check up on you every 30mins to make sure you’re in bed and take your temperature”

Honestly you’ve lucked out as soon as luci walks thru the door

Mammon

When he went to get you and saw you laying down looking sick he instantly started freaking out

You’d have to tell him how you’re just trynna get out of school to get him to calm down

But honestly that was a mistake because he doesn’t do a good job making it seem like you’re sick

He’d go down stairs and say “well mc is sick so they can’t go to school or anything”

You’d end up having to go sick but if you didn’t then he’d stay home

Satan

Stopped Lucifer from going to check on mc first

Would figure out you’re not sick almost immediately

Would make you go to school

Unlesss you pulled the “your acting like Lucifer” card

Then he’d give you a angry look

“I’m nothing like Lucifer and you know it, but if you must go and lie to such extreme measures for me to allow you to stay home then I guess I’ll cover for you”

You get to stay home… as long as Lucifer doesn’t try to check on you

You’re gonna get a earful later from him for comparing him to Lucifer

#obey me hcs #shall we date obey me #obey me headcanons #obey me scenarios #g/n reader #obey me luficer #obey me brothers

60 notes · View notes

elusivewildflower · 2 years

Text

The Other Fitzroy | Part 3

Pairing: Court Gentry/Six x Fitzroy!Reader

Summary: You, Claire and your daughter have been held hostage by the CIA in Virginia for 2 weeks before Court finally shows up to rescue you again. Court gets to meet his daughter for the first time and your little family heads off to a safe house in the woods to lay low for a few days.

Warnings: Mentions of scars, gunfire, blood, but otherwise you may need tissues. It gets very heartwarming and sad at times.

Word Count: 5.8k

A/N: I am so sorry this took so long to get out! I’ve been a bit busy with work, and honestly I had a hard time starting this chapter as I knew it was gonna be feels-inducing. Even while writing I had to keep taking breaks because my heart couldn’t take it. I hope that this was worth the wait, and as always, I thank my beta @truesblue for helping me shape this out to what it is when you guys read it.

Part One | Part Two

Well, you certainly hadn’t expected to be wrapped up in another hostage situation by the CIA when Court came to rescue you in Croatia, but you couldn’t say that you were all that surprised. After stumbling out of the hedge maze, you spent a day in the hospital being treated for your gunshot wound and concussion. However, as soon as you were back on your own feet, you fell right back into the hands of the CIA. They forced you to confess where you had hidden your daughter, and then they brought you along for the plane ride to retrieve her. While you were relieved to see your daughter unharmed after everything you had been through, you wished it could’ve been under better circumstances. One where she wasn’t dragged headfirst into the danger you had desperately tried to keep her out of. A part of you deeply wished you could go back to the way your life used to be, though you knew that could never happen. Your heart hurt over the loss of your uncle, and it only ached further when you thought of having to break that news to your toddler. You weren’t even sure how you’d explain his disappearance to her, but maybe she’d believe that he was busy with work for just a while longer, at least until you could figure it out.

After reuniting with your daughter, the both of you joined Claire at an estate in Virginia. You had traded the historic splendor of the room in the castle for a much plainer one inside of the manor. The only respite of the four walls closing you in was being escorted out to the kitchen for every meal. You had to admit, the agents that held you weren’t as aggressive as the ones in Croatia, which could easily be explained because they weren’t mercenaries hired by Lloyd. Still, after spending almost two weeks trapped in a room, the three of you were growing restless. Lyla couldn’t understand why she wasn’t allowed to go outside and play, or even take trips to the park like you had used to, and Claire was just ready to go home. You didn’t have the heart to tell her that would never be an option–she had already been through enough. Really, the both of you had–but just like when your parents died, you had to be the one to hold it together, to be strong so that she didn’t have to be. Now, you also have to be strong for your daughter. You may have already realized that you were once again, completely and utterly trapped, waiting for a rescue mission that could very well never come, but you’d never crush their hopes like that.

A knock on the door pulled you from your thoughts, breaking your gaze from studying the same pair of trees out of the window, and had you turning towards the door as it opened. An agent’s head popped through the gap. “Lunchtime.” He spoke, pushing the door open further.

You lifted yourself from the blue chair you had been sitting on, moving to pick up your daughter, who had been playing with some toys on the carpet. “Come on, sweetie,” you murmured to her as you hoisted her into your arms, letting her rest upon your hip. Claire was the last to rise to her feet, having been preoccupied by shuffling through her records. The agent escorted the three of you down the long hallway until you reached the kitchen, where three plates were laid out on the dining table. Two grilled cheese sandwiches awaited you and Claire, while the third plate had chicken nuggets for Lyla. You were grateful that the agent who prepared your food at least understood what toddlers preferred to eat. The three of you ate your lunch mostly in silence, just like every other meal you’ve had in the last two weeks. However, today, you could tell Claire was exceptionally restless. She pushed her half-eaten sandwich back and forth across her plate, shifting in her seat. Her attention turned towards the agent that was still standing by the island in the kitchen.

“When do we get to go home?” She asked. Her question was only met with silence from the agent. Not even any of the other agents that stood within the room, guarding all entrances and exits, spoke up. “I asked you a question.” Claire announced, a bit louder this time.

“Claire…” You began in a warning tone.

“No!” Her head snapped towards you. “They always ignore my questions. I just want someone to answer me!” She aimed her ire back at the agent. “When are we going home?” Again, her question was only met by even more silence as the agent busied himself with cleaning the kitchen counter. Claire slumped in her seat, letting out a defeated sigh. “I just wanna go home…” She whispered, tears welling in her eyes.

You looked at her sadly, reaching out to give her shoulder a squeeze. “I know.” You spoke in a comforting tone, but it didn’t seem to help. She gently shrugged your hand off and stood up from her seat, signaling that she was done eating. You let out a soft sigh, moving to stand with her, but not before grabbing Lyla from her high chair. The agent led the three of you back to your room in silence, and the second that the door was shut behind you, the click of the lock could be heard. You were back to being trapped within the same four walls.

The chirping of birds drew your attention away from the door behind you, and it was clear that Claire had heard it too, as she began walking towards the french doors that were usually locked shut. However, now, one of the doors was pushed open, letting in a soft breeze. You followed right behind her, glancing outside as your heart raced in your chest. There’s no way one of the agents had opened that door, so that could only mean one thing. Court was alive–and he was here.

Claire was the first one to step away from the door, and when you followed her gaze, you knew why. Her beloved record of ‘Silver Bird’ had been moved from the floor and was resting against a lamp, something yellow peeking out from inside. When she pulled the piece of paper out, you read it from over her shoulder. ‘Play me loud.’ She turned towards you, her face lit up with hope. You were sure that your expression reflected the same.

“He’s come to save us,” she voiced, quickly moving to place the record onto the player.

You nodded, chuckling softly as tears sprang in your eyes. “Again.” You emphasized as she cranked the volume all of the way up. Not even a second later and the sounds of men shouting and suppressed gunfire could be heard over the music. It wasn’t as noticeable as it should’ve been, had the record not been playing, but you could still hear it. The two of you took a seat on the edge of the bed, Claire’s hands raising to cover her ears as tears rolled over her cheeks. Your hands moved to cover your daughter’s ears, caring more about her hearing than your own, as she buried her face into your chest. You rested your chin on top of her head, murmuring comforting words to try to keep her calm as you rocked back and forth gently.

Soon, the gunshots grew louder, closer, and a second later the door was pushed open, revealing Court’s face. You breathed a sigh of relief, one that you heard Claire echo as she rose to her feet. You removed your hands from your daughter’s ears and reached to turn down the music to a tolerable level.

“Am I allowed to chew gum in here?” Court asked, a little inside joke between him and Claire as she gave him crap for chewing gum in the Fitzroy house. In response, you and your sister chuckled before Claire launched herself towards him, wrapping her arms around him in an embrace. Court’s eyes settled on you as he returned the hug, trailing downwards, where Lyla had pulled away from your chest now that the music and gunfire had ceased. Their eyes met, and while he obviously knew that his daughter would be there, to see his blue eyes staring back at him must’ve been a surprise. His mouth dropped open in shock, the gum long forgotten. You smiled softly at his reaction and moved to stand, raising Lyla up onto your hip. As you close the gap between you, Claire steps back from Court’s embrace, letting you and Lyla have his attention.

You cleared your throat gently, trying to find your voice. “Lyla, baby, this is your daddy.” You introduced, gesturing towards Court as your voice wavered, thick with emotion. Lyla’s attention turns to Court, the toddler peering up at him.

“Daddy?” Lyla questions, reaching her arms out to him to be held. Court’s eyes dart from her to you, nervously. The sight of him being nervous over anything, let alone over holding his daughter, had butterflies swirling in your stomach. You give him an encouraging nod before passing his daughter off to him. He takes her into his arms, holding her gingerly.

“A-am I holding her correctly?” Court stutters out, looking to you for advice.

Fresh tears well in your eyes as you let out a hushed chuckle, “Yeah. You’re doing good.” Your praise seems to instill confidence in him, and his attention returns to Lyla, who has begun rubbing her hands all over his face, poking him experimentally and tugging on his beard.

As she seemed to be busy taking in his appearance, Lyla’s small voice once again repeated, “Daddy?”

Court lets out a chuckle of his own, followed by a slight sniffle, bouncing her gently in his arms. “Yeah, baby, I’m your daddy.” He confirms with a nod, and your heart swells in your chest. Lyla beams as she begins to play with the collar of his jacket and shirt.

You wipe away a few tears that had fallen down your cheeks, completely overwhelmed by the feeling of happiness you felt from Court finally being able to meet his daughter. The fact that he had tears brimming in his own eyes had you about ready to bawl, but you tried to hold your composure. You spared a glance over towards Claire, catching a large smile on her face for the first time in a long time. You threw your arm across her shoulders, bringing her in for a side hug that she happily returned. Court’s attention broke away from tearfully inspecting the child he had produced to you and Claire. His free arm beckoned the two of you closer, and for a good, long moment, you all embraced in a group hug. After all that you had been through in the last month, it felt good to feel happy again. When you pulled away just enough to peer up at Court, you saw something you had never seen before–a genuine smile on his face. He leaned down, the best he could with his three girls in his arms, and pressed a kiss to your forehead.

“Alright, we gotta get moving. Go pack up whatever you need, quickly.” Court instructed, breaking up the group hug. Claire was the first to move, turning to grab the bag that had been left halfway unpacked in a corner ever since she’d been brought to the estate. You wanted to take Lyla from Court, but he shook his head at you. “I’ve got her. You’ll be able to pack quicker,” he explained, shooing you off. You hesitated for a moment, but when your daughter looked perfectly content with her head resting on his shoulder, you gave him a smile and turned on your heel. Grabbing the bag you had dropped off with Lyla to your friend’s house several weeks ago, you began repacking everything that had been in it. Her toys, a few outfits, diapers, wipes, blankets, and other items of need were haphazardly shoved inside before you zipped it shut. Now, it was your turn to pack. Thankfully, you didn’t have nearly as many things with you as Claire and your daughter did, and you were able to finish packing at the same time as Claire. You slung both bags over your shoulders and moved to take Lyla back from Court as he led the way out of the estate and to the car parked out front.

As Court opened the door to the backseat of the passenger side, he spoke. “I hope this works,” he gestured towards the car seat a bit sheepishly. “I had to ask the sales lady for help,” he admitted.

You couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of Court asking a stranger for help picking out a car seat for his daughter. “It’s perfect,” you assured, taking the time to strap Lyla in appropriately. You took note of how Court watched your every move, as if he was trying to learn how to buckle her in if he ever needed to. When you finished, you leaned back up to your full height outside of the car. Court shut the back door and moved to open the front passenger side door for you. Before getting into your seat, you leaned up on the tips of your toes to press a kiss to his cheek–but Court turned his head just in time to capture your lips instead. You let out a gasp, caught off guard, and he simply responded with a wink. He shut the door behind you as you settled into your seat and jogged around to the driver’s side, hopping in and starting the engine. Within seconds he was flooring down on the gas, determined to get you all the hell out of there before anyone could find you again.

The road trip to the safe house that Court had chosen– one he swore only he and your uncle Fitz knew about– was a long one, but otherwise relatively uneventful. You had only stopped a handful of times along the way, mostly for gas, bathroom breaks, or to grab food. You knew that Court would have survived without the last two, but having a toddler and a twelve-year-old meant those stops were necessary. The safe house was a cabin tucked way out into the woods. It wasn’t very large, having only two bedrooms and one bathroom, a small kitchen and a living room with no TV–but it was cozy, and safe. It also came with the freedom to move around whenever you wanted to without an escort and to not be confined to one room anymore. You knew that you were far from being in the clear, and would always need to look over your shoulder for the threat of danger, but you were glad to have put some distance between you and the CIA for now.

While you occupied yourself with settling Claire and Lyla, Court headed off to check the perimeter of the property and to make sure no one had followed your trail. He made sure to leave you with a handgun before he left, just in case, that you had tucked into the back of your waistband. Claire claimed the first shower and you slipped into the kitchen to prepare something for everyone to eat. Lyla played with her toys in the living room, easily within sight. By the time Claire strolled back into the kitchen, a towel slung over her shoulders and donning fresh clothes, you’d finished cooking a few hot dogs and mac ‘n’ cheese for them. Not a five-star meal, but it would do. After Lyla declared herself full, you gave her a quick bath before dropping her off in the second bedroom to play with her toys. Your sister was already curled up with a book on the bed, so you cleared your throat to catch her attention. “Will you watch Lyla while I clean up?” You asked pleadingly, even though you already knew she wouldn’t say no. Claire nodded her head in response, and you quickly left the room.

Returning to the kitchen, you were surprised to see Court standing there. “Jesus, I didn’t even hear you come back in. Everything good?” You asked, moving to grab yourself a plate of food.

He nodded, “Yeah, we’re all good for now.” He responded, following behind you to grab himself a plate.

“Sorry it’s not the best meal, it’s not easy finding stuff that kids will eat,” you apologized, referring to Claire and Lyla as you moved to take a seat at the table.

Court shook his head, waving off your apology. “It’s perfect,” he assured, taking a seat across from you as he dug into his food.

The two of you ate in a comfortable silence. When you were finished with your food, you began cleaning up all of the used dishes. Court moved to join you, forcing you to let him dry the dishes that you washed. After all of the, now clean, dishes were put away, you turned towards him. “I’m gonna go take a shower. Do you wanna join me?”

Court shook his head. “I really shouldn’t. What if--”

You cut him off. “Court, you just spent an hour checking the perimeter and God knows what else. I think we’ll survive twenty minutes in the shower.” You then leaned in and gave a dramatic sniff, your nose scrunched up in disgust. “And you definitely need a shower.” Your words were teasing, but you weren’t being dishonest–he did stink.

He heaved a sigh, but an amused smile spread across his face. “Alright,” he conceded, ushering you in the direction of the bathroom. After the door was shut behind the two of you, Court shrugged off his jacket and yanked his shirt over his head. Your eyes raked over his torso, drinking in a sight you hadn’t seen in two years. He caught your gaze and raised a brow. “What?”

You shook your head, “Just more scars than I remember you having.” You commented as you pulled your own shirt off, tossing it to the floor. Your bra follows shortly after.

He huffed out a laugh, but there was no humor behind it. “Yeah, the last two years have been a bit rough.” He said as he reached into the shower and turned the knob, letting the water flow so it had time to warm up. He then unbuttoned and unzipped his pants, kicked off his shoes and socks before tugging his jeans and boxers down in one go.

“I’m sorry,” you stated, slipping off your own shoes and the rest of your clothes, kicking them to the corner to join your discarded shirt and bra.

His attention turned back to you, eyeing your naked form over for a moment before giving a shake of his head. “Nothing you did, sweetheart.”

You shrugged, giving his body a glance as well—you had certainly missed that view. “That doesn’t mean I’m not still sorry you had to go through that.”

Court seemed like he wasn’t too sure how to respond to that, but after a moment he managed to deflect. “What about you? You raised a baby the last two years. I’m sure that wasn’t easy.”

“It wasn’t,” you began, “but I had Donald to help me.” You smiled fondly as you remembered your uncle, even if doing so had your heart clenching in your chest.

Court nodded in response before speaking, “Fitz was a good man.” His words were spoken softly, almost as if he didn’t have the strength to say the man’s name aloud.

You nodded in agreement, and a moment of silence fell between you. You presumed he was thinking about your uncle just as you were, wishing that the outcome in Croatia could’ve gone differently.

Court stuck his hand into the shower, checking the temperature of the water before pushing the curtain back when he found it was warm enough. He gestured for you to step in first, which you complied with, and he followed right behind you. The feeling of the water hitting your back was already enough to relax you.

“How are you, by the way?” Court spoke up after a moment of silence, drawing your attention towards him.

“I’m fine,” you replied a bit too quickly.

Court eyed you over for a moment before responding, “You know that I can see through you, right?”

You let out a sigh. “Then why even ask?”

He shrugged, “Out of courtesy, I guess.” You huffed out a laugh, but gave no other response. Court raised a hand to gently cup your jaw, his calloused thumb brushing against your wet cheek. “I heard you managed to kill a few of Lloyd’s men before they grabbed you up.”

“Yeah,” you confirmed in a soft voice with a nod, your thoughts drifting back to what felt like ages ago to the day that you and Claire were kidnapped by Lloyd’s men. You remembered watching the blood seep out onto the wooden floors from the two men you had downed with a gun, and the third who’s neck you had slashed open. Tears began to well in your eyes and you knew exactly what he was trying to do. He was trying to get you to drop your façade, to finally process what you had been through.

“And then you lost your uncle,” he reminded gently, his thumb still stroking your cheek as his other hand moved to rest upon your waist. You squeezed your eyes shut as a few tears escaped, your bottom lip trembling as you tried to stay composed.

“You lost him too,” you reminded him as well, “and Margaret Cahill.” Your eyes fluttered back open as you looked up into his blue eyes.

He nodded, the hand that was on your hip raising to cup the other side of your face, both of his thumbs now brushing away the tears that leaked from your eyes. “I know, but this isn’t about me right now, this is about you. You don’t have to be strong around me, baby.”

Those words were the final straw for you, and he knew it. Before the first sob even broke free, he had you pulled tightly against his chest. The last time he held you like this was shortly after your parents had died, when you finally broke down in the middle of a sparring session–the weight of being strong for everyone in a difficult time became too much to bear. Much like it had right now. He was the only one who had ever seen you cry like this, sobbing so hard you could barely breathe. He rested his chin on top of your head, the hard muscles of his arms shielding you from the water while his hands comfortingly rubbed up and down your back. After several long minutes, your sobs had settled down into soft whimpers and sniffles. Court’s grip on you loosened as you moved to pull away. “Thank you,” you murmured softly as you looked up at him.

He leaned down to press a kiss to your forehead, “Any time.” You then reached for one of the loofahs you had thrown into the shower earlier, and grabbed the neutral-scented body wash you picked up from one of your stops along the way to the safe house. Squeezing a drop onto the loofah, you lathered it until it was covered in suds, and then you hovered it just above Court’s skin.

“Can I…?” You trailed off, imagining he’d get the hint without you having to say the words. He gave you a soft smile and nodded, giving you permission to wash his body for him. You pressed the loofah to his chest, gently scrubbing his torso before moving to his arms. You started with his left arm first, dragging the loofah down his scarred shoulder and bicep, even making him raise his arm so that you could scrub his armpit. You were moving at a languid pace, massaging circles into his skin as you cleaned him. He let out a soft hum of approval, clearly enjoying the attention you were giving to him–taking care of him in a way that he probably hadn’t experienced in a while–if ever. When you took his right wrist in your grasp, your thumb gingerly rubbed over the burn mark he had. Your mind flashed back to the time he had opened up to you during a training session, telling you the story behind it. Your eyes connected with his as you brought his wrist to your face, pressing a soft kiss over the raised skin. An unrecognizable look flashed in his eyes as he looked down at you—was that lovingly? You honestly weren’t sure, having never experienced that before, but whatever it was spread a warmth through your chest. You tore your eyes from his, moving to continue washing him until he was fully cleaned.

After he had rinsed off, he reached to take the loofah from you, adding a drop of more soap. “Your turn,” he murmured, pressing the loofah on your skin and cleaning you at the same languid pace. You let your eyes drift close as you enjoyed his gentle touch, letting him move your limbs in whatever way he needed in order to scrub you clean. He crouched down to wash your legs, but as he did, he pressed a kiss to the one scar that you had on your upper thigh. The one you had received from the graze of a bullet that night in your route to escape the castle in Croatia. When he finished scrubbing your legs, he rose back to his full height. He then moved from the stream of water so that you could wash off. Court rinsed the loofah and hung it back up, reaching for the bottle of shampoo next. “Can I wash your hair?”

You chuckled softly, “Only if I can wash yours.”

He nodded. “Deal,” he agreed, pouring a generous drop of shampoo into his hand. He ushered you to turn around, your back facing him, as he threaded his fingers in your hair. His fingertips massage your scalp, eliciting a moan from you at the feeling. His deep chuckle rumbled in his chest and you slapped his arm gently in response.

“Don’t laugh at me, it feels good.” You scolded, a smile growing on your face that he couldn’t see.

He continued his ministrations. “I’m sure that it does,” he replied, voice still alight with laughter. You shook your head with a scoff, but otherwise gave no response. You simply let him lather your hair with shampoo until he deemed it clean enough, and then you let him lead you backwards into the stream of warm water. Once your hair was rinsed of the suds, you stepped out of the spray and reached for the shampoo bottle. Court moved to sit on the edge of the tub so that you’d be able to reach his hair without any issues. As you massaged his scalp, his eyes fluttered shut and he let out a groan of his own. Your fingers froze in their movements, a smug smile pulling at your lips.

“See?!” You teased him.

He cracked one of his eyes open, looking up at you. “Alright, it does feel pretty good. Now, keep going.” He instructed, raising a hand to grasp your wrist, tugging it up and down so that your fingertips would begin moving again. You let out a laugh at that, but resumed pressing in circles on his scalp. Court’s shoulders sagged and he breathed out a sigh as your fingers shifted to massage behind his ears, and then down the base of his neck. He finally seemed to let himself relax, pushing all worries out of his mind for a bit. When you pulled your fingertips away, his eyes popped open, a look of disappointment within them.

You chuckled softly. “We’re gonna run out of hot water soon,” you explained, already feeling the temperature begin to dip in the drops of water that were cascading down your back. Court sighed and stood up, moving to stand under the shower head so that he could rinse his hair. Once he was finished, he cut off the water and reached his hand outside of the curtain to find towels. He handed you one first, and then grabbed one for himself. You each dried yourselves off and then wrapped the towel around your bodies. You hadn’t thought to bring in a change of clothes, so you’d have to walk to your shared bedroom to find a clean set. Court pushed the curtain back so that the two of you could step out, and then you led the way to the bedroom.

You put on another pair of leggings and slipped a sweatshirt over your head–not bothering with a bra this late in the day. Court even put on a pair of sweatpants that you had picked out from him when you forced him to stop by a clothing store on the way here, and a black t-shirt. Once the two of you were all dressed, you padded barefoot out into the hallway to check in on the girls. What you found brought a smile to your face as you leaned against the doorway. Claire and Lyla were fast asleep, underneath the covers. Court crept up behind you, his arm wrapping around your waist as he peered into the room from over your shoulder. He pressed a kiss to your neck, the only patch of skin available to him from where he stood.

“Wanna make some coffee?” He whispered into your ear, not wanting to risk waking the girls. You nodded in response, reaching for the doorknob to shut the door to the room as you moved to follow after him and into the kitchen. As you waited for the coffee to brew, Court wrapped his arms around you. The two of you stood in the middle of the kitchen in a comforting embrace, the only sounds in the cabin were of your breathing and the steady drip of coffee filling the pot. You begrudgingly pushed yourself out of his arms to grab two mugs and a container of creamer from the fridge. Remembering that Court liked his coffee black, because of course he did, you poured his plain before making your own. With the mugs filled to the brim, the two of you moved to the living room. You sat knee to knee on the couch as you looked over at him.

“So, what’s the plan?” You asked after taking the first sip, almost burning your tongue.

Court hummed softly. “Well, hopefully staying here for a few days until I get the last few pieces squared away. There’s another safe house I have here in the states until I can get us out of the country, if it’s needed.” He raised his mug to his lips, taking a long sip of the bitter, caffeinated, goodness.

You nodded and remained quiet for a few moments. The two of you sipping on your coffee in a companionable silence. You loved how effortlessly you fell back into the same ease, even after not seeing him for such a long time. Though, a question did invade your mind that brought forth a flood of sorrow. “Do you ever wish it was just you?” You asked softly, almost quiet enough that you weren’t sure if he’d hear you.

Court’s ears were trained better than that, of course he would hear you. His brows furrowed as he gazed at you. “What?” He asked, a bit confused.

You paused for a moment, licking your lips as you thought of how to explain your question. “I mean,” you began, “You used to only have to worry about your own survival. Now, you have the three of us to look out for. I mean, sure, I can kind of handle my own, but Claire and Lyla are just kids…” You trailed off, dropping your gaze to the floor.

You felt a hand grasp your chin gently, raising your head up so that you could meet Court’s gaze once more. “Baby, no.” He shook his head. “Claire’s said it before, we’re like family because of Fitz. Hell, you gave birth to my child, we are a family.” He spoke firmly, pausing for a moment as he carefully chose his next words. “You’ve given me everything I thought I could never have, and I don’t plan on giving any of that up without a fight.” He put his mug down on the coffee table and you did the same, each only missing a few sips worth. Fresh tears brimmed in your eyes from his words, and you began to feel like a wrung-out dish towel, about to cry for the millionth time that day. His grip on your chin slid to your jaw as he leaned in to close the distance between you. His lips brushed over yours. “I’m not ever leaving you, baby.” His words held so much conviction that you couldn’t help the few tears that trailed down your cheeks. Court was quick to brush them away just as he had done earlier.

When his lips finally pressed against yours with an unbridled passion, you felt your heart swell in your chest. Your hand tangled itself in his short, damp, hair as he deepened the kiss, his tongue sliding between your lips. You let out a soft moan at the taste of him, and Court responded by laying you back against the couch, his body hovering over yours. The feeling of his body heat and gentle press of his weight stoked a fire within you, but you were perfectly content to just enjoy the moment. It had been far too long since you’d been able to kiss him like this without any distractions, and you loved how he was devouring you in such a familiar way.

When the two of you finally broke the kiss for air, you rested your foreheads against each other. You had never felt happier than at that very moment, in your own little world with Court where no one could touch you. You weren’t sure how much longer that feeling would last, or for how long your little family would be safe from the threats of the outside world, but you were going to enjoy the moment for as long as you could. Court seemed to have the same idea as he slipped his hands beneath you, shifting until he was the one with his back pressed into the couch and you were resting on top of him. You nuzzled your face into his chest and he let out a short sigh of content, his hand moving to rub your back gently. You knew he wouldn’t plan on falling asleep, but your eyes were quick to flutter shut, drifting off into a comfortable sleep.

#court gentry #sierra six #court gentry x reader #court gentry fic #sierra six fic #sierra six x reader #ryan gosling #ryan gosling fic #the gray man fic #courtland gentry #courtland gentry x reader #myfics #the other fitzroy

370 notes · View notes

th3-0bjectivist · 1 year

Text

The Salvation Day Interviews (1 of 2) with musician Anthony Tadlock

youtube

Dear listener, as a special treat and for the edification of music lovers all over Tumblr this is part 1 of 2 of my Salvation Day Interviews with Anthony Tadlock, A.K.A. t-underneaththeradardancing on Tumblr. Mr Tadlock, I recently spent several hours listening to Salvation Day. Thanks for agreeing to answer some questions about your band’s music.

When I dive headlong into music that I’m not too familiar with there’s always this sense of discomfort, but when I started with Mercy from your EP, The Backdoor Sessions, I felt distinctly like I was sitting in a new bar and listening to an exceedingly talented local band perform live. I know we’ve discussed this one-on-one before, but for the peeps on Tumblr, what was the actual genesis of SD, and how did you and Ms Vita Rhie Quintanilla meet? What was the spark that brought you two together to record in the first place?

to set the stage - so to speak - i had been performing with and jamming and hanging with a young musician - very loose no muss fuss - 3 weeks before meeting vita i had a mild heart attack - mild but the hospital experience was literally a nightmare and nearly killed me - a couple weeks after getting out i was invited over to play/ jam/hang out - wuz expecting at most a couple other ppl to b there - btw to digress - t is very much an introvert - to digress further - t is a stage name but the only name ppl in the music aspect of my life know me by or call me - anywaves - i had just set up my guitar and amp when i could feel a presence coming down the stairs - a young woman - at 1st i guessed 25- ish which would make her the 2nd oldest in the room - she looked at a painting of crows and i said something to her about my love of corvids - i was improvising on guitar - some blues - i think a bass player was playing along and maybe another guitar - she started singing improvising lyrics and we started riffing off each other - her voice blew me away - then she started playing her original songs - omfg ! - anyway - i hoped that we would play together again

a couple weeks later she walked into Madrone Art Bar where i frequently played open mics -she was with my friend - both joined me on stage and we did what i call "deep space nine " which is what i called any unplanned unrehearsed collaboration onstage - i of course could not remember her name - she handed me a business card lol - she told me she had a weekly gig at a cafe i had performed at and would i like to join her - by this time i knew she was diagnosed w schizoaffective disorder - that she was 17 still in high school and a witch - we started performing together playing her gigs - open mics - on the street ...there is of course more to the story which may be covered as we go on

I went through every song on Salvation Day’s YouTube page, the instrumentals and the voice go very well together, and I must admit, there is great synergy on display. You two had me mesmerized a few times, particularly with tunes like Para Ti and Reincarnation. Tell me, do the instrumentals come first, or do the lyrics/vocals come first, or somehow both at the same time? What goes into the process before you record?

virtually all of salvation day songs are mostly vita - the lyrics in particular - some have come out of improvising at gigs - or as vita would say - we are just gonna pull something out of our ass now - some she has already "arranged " before i hear them others she asks me to figure out some chords and key - it should be noted that after graduating high school she moved to davis ca about 100 long miles away with no good way of getting there and back on public transit - required bus ride - a subway ride and finally a train and took 3 hours - neither of us drive though she recently learned - t cant see for shit so - and there was lots of drama in the summer preceding - however we rarely felt the need to rehearse - at early gigs i would ask whats the 1st chord and what key - sometimes the answer was - idk - jimi hendrix chords lol - sometimes they were jazz chords i didnt know - i still play a lot of chords im not quite sure the name of and double stops that suggest a chord - on a good night i play by ear and improvise mostly - when we decided we were gonna make an album - we formalized the arrangements and figured out keys etc ...

sometimes - like last week when we got together after not playing together in a couple months - tho exchanging some snippets thru email text etc - vita thought of some lyrics on the spot - i started playing some chords - we fucked around w it a bit - made a rough recording on fones and will see if something comes of it - Reincarnation was written just before we met - vita says the songs morphed and become different thru my influence - Para Ti she had come up with a couple months after we started playing together - we were at the friends house - and he had become totally indisposed - we were supposed to start the recording process that day - we waited around to see if he would improve and she started playing it - i came up w the lead guitar lines - btw to digress to q 1 - vita was often in and out of hallucinations and delusions at the time - she has no memory of the 1st time we met and hazy about the beginning period - one last example Mercy - written entirely by vita - tho my guitar was central - she sent me an audio file - it has chords i dont know - i just followed her voice and elaborated - tbh i still dont know what key it is in lol - like jack sparrow eluding capture we just make it up as we go

Do you have any advice for aspiring musicians out there based on your experiences with SD so far? Have you had any creative blocks or serious problems when generating new music? If so, how do you get through them, and what do you think the most important thing is for a musician to do when they feel discouraged or dejected by their own bad experiences with music making?

whew - thats a tough one - i have been playing guitar for almost 60 years - been in a number of bands and playing situations - have been discouraged countless times - most recent was the whole experience of recording a studio album with a producer - it was hugely stressful for myriad reasons and ego deflating and not in a good way - we coped w that by recording the Backdoor Sessions ep - the bulk of was recorded in a couple hours in vita's tiny dorm room using garageband - it was done without rehearsal - and we played 2 gigs in january that we were happy with also w no rehearsal - we also released vita's book The Schizophrenic Dialogues - all while covid was rearing its ugly head - no gigs to promote anything - no spoken word opportunities - vita was in terror of infecting me - between age COPD and heart i was a likely candidate to die - so we saw each other rarely

i had invested a huge amount of $ in the studio album - to cope vita started a collective based on Sacred Arts Productions - a jewelry biz and an art biz - i worked w our web designer / friend / collaborator maggie umber to get our web site up - and started recording daily snippets for instagram and spammed the fuck out of tumblr - vita and i met mostly outdoors - playing mostly acoustic where the chances of infecting me were minimized (she got covid twice during this period ) so i guess my advice is 1) forget the ego and bullshit that goes w doing - anything - but particularly the creative 2) forget about "success" and numbers - sales/listens/hearts...3) just keep on keepin on - that said it aint easy sometimes - i been playing as i said almost 60 years - theres still so much i dont know - i try to learn new things and ways almost daily - just showing up is sometimes a victory

Listen to Salvation Day on Youtube. Back at the end of the next week with part 2 of my Q&A with Mr Tadlock. If you liked this post, please spread the word about SD and consider reblogging this set of interviews. And if you haven’t done it yet, scroll to the top of this post and smash play!

#salvation day #para ti #path of sacred art #anthony tadlock #vita rhie quantanilla #interview #music #music on tumblr #audio #audio video #great voice #great instrumentals #california band #rock music #blues music #jazz standards #san francisco band #T is one of my fav musicians on tumblr #been waiting to pick his brain

56 notes · View notes

tremblingmuse · 1 year

Note

Heyyyyyy! Could you do prompt 24 with Nico falling out of love, not noticing it, and starting to develop feelings for Lahela because of all the time they're spending together??? I'm very much in the mood for a painful, heartbreaking fic. Thank youuuuuuu

You Like Her More

It was great when it started. Y/n had to stay in the hospital for a few weeks thanks to some complications with a minor surgery. She found her own ways to pass the time.

“Knock, knock.” She heard a patter on her door. She had been there alone all night.

“Hello?” She questioned with tired eyes.

There was a boy standing in the door, in a hospital gown.

“Just want to say hello to my new neighbor.” He leaned on the frame. His arms folded, a stupid grin crowned his face.

“Uh hi… neighbor.” Y/n was puzzled. A strange boy was in her room.

He saw her expression. “Sorry, it’s just no one’s been in to visit and I thought you could use the company. I’ll go.” He nodded to himself about to turn.

“No! Sorry. I just woke up a few minutes ago. Im a little out of it, I’m y/n.” She sat up straighter.

“I’m Nico.”

Even after she was discharged she visited almost every day.

“Guess what I brought!” She charged into the room. Nico was sitting on the bed, flipping through magazines he’s read a million times.

His gaze shot up to see a copy of a movie he’s been dying to watch.

“Yes! Coming in clutch, like always.” He complemented.

Before long it was more than just a simple friendship. Something more bloomed in that hospital.

“Y/n, I can’t.”

She let her hopes get the better of her and leaned in for a kiss.

“Did I.. read this wrong? Cause I was pretty sure you liked me too.” She shifted away.

They were sitting on a bench outside.

“I do, I just know I’m a lot. This is a lot.” He motioned his hands to the hospital.

They had been through more than a few scares with his cancer. He didn’t want to rope her into something that’s bound to hurt her.

“Nico, I don’t scare easy.” She assured, hoping he’d reconsider.

He paused, he was conflicted. He’d spend so much time alone and he was used to being left or forgotten. Screwed over. It was hard letting someone in.

“It’s not about that.”

She rolled her eyes. “Then tell me what I’m getting myself into. Cause it’s gonna take a lot more than that.” She criticized his ‘letting her down easy’ speech. “If you don’t want me you can say it.”

Nico looked at her with surprise. “Of course I want you. More than anything. How could I not?”

“Then stop worrying about the what ifs, for just a minute. Please?” She laid a hand on his. Hopeful. “Let yourself have this.”

The first few months were great. Nico was in and out of the hospital but they were together. If only that could have been enough.

He had been spending a lot of time with Lahela. A child prodigy, a doctor at only 16.

Y/n admitted, she was a little jealous of her from time to time, but she was Nico’s doctor, nothing was going to happen.

Until they started talking more.

Y/n convinced herself it was nothing, Nico was sick of course he’d be spending time with his doctor. Until he was talking about her all the time.

She walked into his room, it was covered in decorations.

“Woah, look at this place.” She gazed at the glittering streamers.

Nico and Lahela were standing a little too close for comfort. “I’m gonna go.” She uttered quickly before dashing out the door.

Y/n looked at Nico with confusion.

He looked guilty, he liked her.

He couldn’t control who he fell for, he didn’t want to choose, he didn’t want to end it.

So she had to.

“So… you and Dr. Kameāloha.” She crossed her arms, trying to appear neutral while her world was burning.

“What are you talking about?” Nico played dumb. He didn’t want to accept he wasn’t in love with his girlfriend anymore.

“Nico, I’m not gonna get in the way of you two, as long as you don’t string me along when you’d rather be with someone else.”

He was silent, he didn’t know what to say. Y/n was right.

“Say something.” She demanded.

“I like you! You’ve been with me through everything I can’t… it’s wrong.” He rationalized. Denial was a messy thing.

She closed her eyes, ready to admit what she’s know for weeks now.

“You like her more!” It came out louder than she intended.

The walls they had so carefully tore down were rebuilding right before their eyes.

“How long have you liked her?” She questioned.

Y/n couldn’t keep him from being happy, she promised herself she’d make sure he never regretted a thing. She knew he didn’t get many opportunities to be happy.

“Can we just talk about this?” He asked.

“I can’t hold you back, I won’t.”

They both wished this wasn’t for the best. That there was another option. That they could pretend to be happy.

“Just let yourself have this.” She mumbled, turning to leave.

“I love you.” Nico called.

She stopped in her tracks.

“We can’t do that anymore. Not when you should be saying it to someone else.”

#milo manheim #nico alexander #dr kameāloha #fanfic #fanfiction #x reader

47 notes · View notes

harringtown · 2 years

Note

“He cards a hand through his hair, and when his fingers get caught in the tangles, he wrenches for a moment before just giving up.”

Might I request a fluffy ‘brushing Eddie’s hair’ fic? Just sweet and taking care of each other. This line in your most recent (EXCELLENT) Eddie fic got me thinking about it

ty anon!!!! sorry for the wait!!!! this was just gonna be a lil thing but im incapable of little things so its 1k but I just have feelings about soft Eddie fics <3333

“You’re going to hurt yourself,” you say pointedly, learning a hip into the doorframe of Eddie’s room.

He heard you come in while he was in the shower—or more accurately, while he was trying to take a shower, which is a mess of trash bags and a homemade shower chair and a soaking bathroom—and though he refused your multiple offers to help, you hover like he’s a stumbling baby deer on the verge of falling flat on its face.

Which, in his defense, has only happened once since he got home from the hospital yesterday, and he blames it on gravity, not his condition.

He shifts halfway toward you on his bed, ignoring the twinge in his torso. He has more stitches than he can count lining his stomach.

“I’m fine,” he says, and raises the brush to his head again. And once again, raising his arm above his waistline makes him suppress a flinch as a flare of pain rolls down his side. “See? I’m aces, babe.”

“What you are is a bad liar,” you say, shaking your head, crossing the room and plucking the brush from his hand.

“Hey, hey—”

“Hush,” you say, kicking off your shoes and climbing onto the bed, sitting cross legged at Eddie’s back. Your knees graze his bare skin with each breath he lets out. “Brush, please.”

“I am not some baby doll—” Eddie protests.

“Brush, Munson, or you’re going to need another set of stitches.”

Eddie cranes his head to meet your eyes, and after a three second stare off, he huffs a sigh and passes the brush back.

He knows what he must look like, stiff and unbreathing, as if being close to you is somehow uncomfortable. And it is, but not in the way you’d probably assume. It’s uncomfortable because Eddie still has no goddamn clue what to do when it comes to things like this. Things that are real.

When it comes to you, skin against his, close enough he can feel your breath. Even now, he can’t see your face, but every inch of him hums with electricity. Whether or not it’s the good kind is a switch that toggles back and forth constantly.

This last week hasn’t made it easier. Being taken care of is not in Eddie’s repertoire—a word Robin taught him—and shaking Death’s hand didn’t change that. He’s apologized to you so many times, the word actually lost meaning for a few minutes.

“I don’t need your help,” Eddie says. “Or your pity.”

“If you think I pity you, you don’t know me at all,” you say. “But it’s not a bad thing to need help sometimes.” You lean into him, forehead against his back.

Eddie’s heart beats so loud, he wonders if you can hear it all the way through his spine.

“Says who?” he asks. “Sounds like a load of crap.”

You snort a laugh, and though it’s another thing he’d never admit out loud, he thinks that might be his favorite sound; your laughter against his skin.

“You’ll get sick of me,” he says, and he doesn’t realize he’s spoken until the pressure on his upper back disappears.

Anxiety unfurls in his chest, and he twists to face you—or, he tries, and ends up groaning and wincing, and then you’re shifting sideways, leaning so that you can catch his gaze and hold it hostage.

“Look at me, Eddie Munson.” Your brows furrow, and you lift a hand to his cheek. “I am not going anywhere. Do you hear me?”

Eddie takes a breath. “I’m trying real hard to believe that, sweetheart,” he says, instead of lying, or assuaging you, like his instinct screams.

“I know you are,” you say.

A tiny smile plays on your lips, and it's a little bit sad, but your eyes are a deep well full of an emotion Eddie is still too scared to put a name to. An emotion he feels rocketing around his limbs like a pinball machine when he’s with you and when he isn’t.

You dip your forehead against his temple, and Eddie leans into you, and for a second, an amazing second, he just exists.

Then he presses a kiss to the corner of your mouth and says, “Alright, let’s get this over with. But, for the record, I’d like the hair to stay in my head, so, be gentle.”

You roll your eyes. “Drama queen.”

“And don’t go getting any ideas,” he says, tapping your nose with a finger—you smile, just like he knew you would. “If you even start a braid, this is over.”

You scrunch your nose and say, “I think you would look adorable with french braids.”

Eddie narrows his eyes. With a grin, you shift back behind him, and lift the brush to his head.

When Eddie brushes his hair, which is not as often as he would like to admit, it’s more of a wrestling match between him and the tangled snarls than anything.

This, though, is different.

You gather the hair off his neck, drawing it all onto his back, your fingers grazing the tops of his shoulders. His eyelids fall shut of their own accord, and he tips his head back, just a little bit.

With each tangle you work free, Eddie relaxes a little bit more. An arm pressed back against your knee, here. A lean back into your shins, there.

“I hope you know how many girls would kill for this hair,” you murmur, and Eddie can hear the smile on your lips.

“They’ve got about ten thousand mutated bats in line ahead of them,” he says.

“I think you won that fight.”

Eddie scoffs. “Flatt.”

“You lived,” you say. “That’s a victory to me.”

Eddie is trying to see it the same way. To not see it like he cheated death, like he took someone else’s second chance away when he got his own.

But each day, it gets easier. Most things are like that, he’s learning. The hard, scary things.

At some point, you swap the brush for your hands, and instead of detangling, your fingers skate across his scalp. Eddie feels himself leaning more and more into your arms, and he knows he’s falling asleep, but instead of fighting it, he lets himself slip away. And you’re there to catch him, holding on as he falls into a dream, and long after.

taglist: @milkiane @robiin-buckley @copycatkillerfics @robinbuckleyssgf

#brooke writes fic #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x y/n #x reader #stranger things

260 notes · View notes

abbatoirablaze · 5 months

Text

Locked Up, Chapter 14

Word Count: 1.7k

Warnings: mentions of a riot.

“Hey doc…”

You frowned, seeing the tired expression of the man sitting on the stool by the metal detector.

“Wh-where’s Bernie?” you asked gently, curious about the disappearance of your favorite guard who sat at the entrance of the jail.

The man frowned, “hospital…critical condition after the riots.”

Your heart ached for the older gentleman who had normally sat down at the entrance to the prison. He’d been retired from the force for nearly fifteen years and had taken what he thought was a cake-walk of a job by sitting at the metal detector for a prison.

All too often you’d had conversations about how he was excited to get home to his wife, or have a day out with his grandchildren on his next day off.

“Oh…”

“They put him in a medical coma last week…too much swelling in the brain. Surgery relieved some pressure…” he offered sadly. But then he shook his head, “but they don’t think he’s going to come out of it. Daughter’s been talking about pulling the plug on the poor guy.”

You gasped, saddened by the news that a man that had dedicated nearly his whole life to law enforcement was going to have that type of ending, “oh my…”

“Yeah,” he sighed, “Agnes isn’t holding up too well…not with his daughter making that suggestion…”

“That’s horrible.”

“It is…but it’s also a hazard of the job. Just because he was out here, didn’t mean he wasn’t going to be in the line of fire if something like this ever happened,” He shrugged, clearly not too hung up on the idea of a riot in the prison or it’s unfortunate casualties, “you gonna go through, doc?”

“Oh-yeah…sorry…”

He nodded and you passed through the detector. Taking your name badge and purse from the tray that you’d originally put it into, you slid the bag over your shoulder and your badge on your jacket, “I-I guess I’ll see you later…ha-have a good day!”

“Yeah,” he muttered more to himself than anyone else, “have a good day doc!”

“Thank you…”

You walked in relative silence, your mind way too focused on what had happened nearly two weeks ago to focus on anything else.

How things had managed to turn sideways so quickly was not only jarring to you, but it made you consider your own position.

You had been a new-hire, and the events were traumatic enough that while you were an experienced psychologist, you hadn’t been well versed in the tragedy of a riot, so you had to undergo extensive psychological testing and then a few bouts of defensive training in a prison while they transferred in another set of shrinks to talk the inmates through everything.

But then your mind wandered to Bucky and Curtis.

They had done so much for you during the course of the riot. They had protected you. Made you feel safe…but they’d also set their boundaries, letting you know just where you fit into their lives.

And you hadn’t rejected it.

“Doc!”

You were surprised to see the familiar face, “Viv? Wh-what are you doing here? I thought-“

“Came in to pick up my last paycheck,” she admitted, cutting you off, “Y-you’re coming back?”

You nodded, “Yeah…I am.”

“Good for you…” she said after a second, “you know…you’re one of the few women coming back.”

Your brow quirked, “What?”

“Well, after the riot ended, a few women decided they were better off going to a minimum-security prison, or transferred to county…I-well…I’m pursuing other options…and I’m sure that you know of Lila by now…”

“It-it’s my first day back.”

“Guess Hansen wasn’t blowing smoke up our asses when he’d scream that he was important,” she smirked, “government wiped his and Jensen’s records and pulled them both out at the end of the riot. The three of them disappeared together. No one knows where they are. My guess is the psycho has his little play things holed up somewhere while he’s off planning the next global disaster.”

“H-How do you know that the government pulled Hansen and Jensen?” you asked softly, “I-I mean, you know Jake. He’s smart enough to wipe the records. Inmate Hansen could have formulated an escape with-“

“I saw the letters to the new warden.”

You frowned, remembering how Inmate Drysdale had killed the previous warden.

Ransom Drysdale.

“How is Ransom?”

She caught on to your tone and she chose to ignore it, but sent you an icy look regardless.

“I hear that he was vindicated,” Viv shrugged, obviously not wanting to admit that she had a relationship with the inmate while still inside the walls of the prison, “he’s been proven innocent once and for all…he’s not a murderer…”

“You mean, he didn’t kill his grandfather…”

“That’s what I said,” she said with a shrug as she looked at you, “unless…you know something?”

You shook your head, looking her directly in the eye, “I don’t know anything.”

“Hmmm..” she nodded thoughtfully. The two of you stood in silence for a few minutes before she gave up, “well…it-it was good seeing you…”

“Yeah…” You nodded softly, “you too, Viv…”

“Now as some of you know, there has been a turnover with the warden!” A few of the people coughed, showing how uncomfortable they felt with the governor discussing the warden’s demise, “a few weeks ago, during the riots, Warden Bodecker was murdered. Since all of the cameras were off, and there was no power inside of the facility, we do not know how this managed to happen or even why, but we can only assume that it was because of a vendetta that an inmate had against him.”

A few more awkward coughs.

Everyone knew that Warden Bodecker was a mean, controlling son of a bitch. Just like all of them had known that he was fucking Viv on the sly.

So, they all knew, at least in part, that one of the inmates had murdered him in cold blood, and it was because of Viv and they had the slightest inkling that it had to have been one of two men, one of which was already outside of the prison walls, and his family had been the one to help secure the position for the new warden in question.

“While our staff has been most amazing at running the prison in lieu of an actual warden, I am happy to tell you all right now that we no longer require those services as we have found our new warden!” the governor smiled, clapping at his own introduction, “he’s one owner of one of the largest tech conglomerates in the world. Billionaire philanthropist, Tony Stark!”

There were a few scattered claps throughout the breakroom, as a man in a pristine pin-stripe suit stood up and took off his sunglasses.

You watched him for a second, and it was like he was personally surveying each and every person.

And then his eyes landed on you.

You felt like your blood was turning to ice in your veins.

“First off let me just say that I am sorry for your loss!” he said firmly, leaving a few seconds to pause for good measure. He crossed his arms over his chest and began shaking his head, “you know, when I first saw this prison on the news, I knew that there was something going on…but I didn’t-I didn’t think the problems were as deep as they really were. I say this with all respect to your previous boss, but the riot and the blood spilled was because of him. There have been inmates in here that were wrongfully accused and mistreated, men turned to savages because of outdated policies, and atrocities committed under the watchful eye of Lee Bodecker!”

There were a few mumbles amongst the group as officers and administrators wondered just how much the tech mogul knew.

“Our prison system has not only been failing the inmates…but the people working in them,” he said with a shake of his head, “all of you were stretched so thin, that when push came to shove, and a riot happened, you lost valuable members of your team because of understaffing, limited training, and no real hazard pay or benefits to make up for just how much of a dangerous place it is to work in. But I wat to change that. I want to re-incentivize every single one of you and turn this place around for the better…so that all of us can remain safe and well paid for it. I know that this place may be a prison, but we’re here to rehabilitate these criminals. And I think we can only do that when each one of you are supported.”

The governor smiled behind him.

You felt your stomach turning.

“I know that some of you may be skeptical about me…but know that I am here to help,” Tony pointed out, “That doesn’t just start with my words. I want you to know that all of the testing and training that each of you have been undergoing is because I care about your emotional, mental, and physical well-being. That wasn’t just training to have under your belt because of the tragedy that happened. That was one of the new policies I put in place to make sure all of you are taken care of in every way possible.”

Someone raised their hand and Tony shook his head, “no…no…you don’t need to raise your hand. You. With the question. What is it that you need?”

“I’ve been a CO for nearly five years here…what makes you think you can change any of this?”

“I can see the hesitation in you, officer. I understand what you’re thinking and the skepticism. People don’t just do things for no reason,” he chuckled, shaking his head, “good question though. I think that the inmates had a bad reaction to something going on here. I think that changes need to happen in order to change the attitude of those involved.”

“But how?”

“Well, first…I’m installing cameras that work without power here. They have their own individual power sources, and the information gets stored on the cloud. I’m also adding in different types of activities and jobs for the workers, with higher paying premiums. But only those who score high enough and are well-behaved will have the opportunities. And lastly, I’m taking care of each of you. The training. The trauma counselors…all on my dime. I want to take care of each of you.”

“What’s in it for you?” another person asked softly as they put their hand down, “Wh-why are you doing this for us?

“Because I can.” He said firmly, giving him an iron-clad stoney look, “and because I’m Tony Stark. And I care!”

Chapter 15

Tag List: @lohnes16, @prokey16, @tenaciousperfectionunknown, @teambarnes72, @cjand10

#locked up #prison au #jail au #marvel #marvel au #the avengers #tony stark #iron man #lee bodecker #the devil all the time #bucky barnes #jake jensen #ransom drysdale #knives out #the losers #winter soldier

13 notes · View notes

dilemmaontwolegs · 2 years

Text

Run These Streets {4} || Street Racer!Bucky

Summary: You take it upon yourself to get Bucky out of his funk after receiving home detention for his racing. Warnings: 18+ only, nsfw, illegal racing, changing wound dressings WC: 2.5k

Bucky Masterlist || Part One || Part Two || Part Three || Part Four || Part Five

The local radio station was playing loudly in Bucky’s garage when you arrived. He didn’t even hear that you had pulled up until you turned the volume down and he smelt the food you had bought with you. “You need to rest babe.”

Bucky winced as he stood up from the empty engine bay he was inspecting. He looked like he was about to argue but wisely closed his mouth when he saw the bandage on his side was turning red. “Fine.”

“Scrub up and come inside, I got your favourite.” You ordered as you teased the mouth watering bag in front of his face while walking past.

“You are my favourite.” He called out as he watched you disappear into the house, your soft laugh drifting back.

The oil and grime was stubborn and by the time he had scrubbed his hands clean you had set the table and poured you both some homemade ice tea. You could see he was in pain as he gingerly lowered himself into the chair so you opened the cupboard that was littered with pill bottles and half empty first aid kits.

“How do you find anything here?” You mumbled as you looked at the labels and found most of them had expired years ago. “Honestly, I don’t even know how you survived on your own so long.”

“Luck mostly.” He chuckled before groaning. “I may have pushed it this time.”

“You think?” You shook your head as you carried a few rolls of gauze and painkillers. “Take these and lean back. Your bandage is soaked.”

You carefully took off the soiled bandage, trying not to hurt him anymore, and felt your stomach roll at the sight of the sutures that followed the line of his ribs. None of them looked torn but the wound was still bleeding so you wrapped it again with fresh gauze and checked he had swallowed the painkillers.

“You’re lucky you didn’t have to go back to the hospital.” You tutted. “Do you know what a pain in the ass it is having to get hold of your probation officer?”

“Not really,” he admitted with a timid smile, “that’s why you’re so great, because you take care of all that shit for me, and I love you for it.”

“Nice save.” You giggled as he sat up and kissed you before you took your seat. “What’s the damage?”

“I can save a few parts but she needs a new engine and most of the panels replacing but the chassis is straight so she’s not completely written off.” He muttered as he pushed his food around the plate. “It’s gonna cost a fortune that I don’t have.”

“I know how much that car meant to you.” You said softly as you placed your hand over his. “We’ll find a way to get her fixed.”

He wasn’t convinced as he chewed his lip. There weren’t many options left since he was on house arrest for illegal street racing that resulted in the crash. Even if he wanted a mainstream job he couldn’t leave his front yard and he doubted many people would hire him after the addition to his record.

“I’m going to go lay down for a bit.” He mumbled quietly after eating in silence.

You were about to offer to join him, even though it was far too early for you to be able to sleep all night, when your phones buzzed simultaneously.

Unknown Number: 14th and 3rd. Midnight.

Bucky’s phone was tossed away angrily and you sighed heavily as you got up to grab it, finding no new cracks on the screen. He had been in the hospital for the race the week before and you wondered if every Friday night would be this hard for him. The four month sentence suddenly seemed a whole lot harder, especially if he couldn’t have some connection to the racing scene.

Grabbing your laptop, you came up with an idea and worked quietly, tinkering with Bucky’s TV while he slept. When you were all set up you walked into his room you were surprised to find him wide awake, staring blankly at the glow in the dark stars on his ceiling.

“Babe, I have a surprise.” You whispered as you broke through his harsh self reflection he had been stuck in. “Two actually - though one you might not like.”

He frowned at that and sat up, his chest still shirtless despite the drop in temperature. “Yeah, doll? Why’s that?”

“Why don’t you come to the living room first.” You said as you offered your hand to help him stand, linking your fingers as you led him down the hallway. “I connected my laptop to the tv so that you can still watch the race tonight but, and this is the part you won’t like but hear me out, it's connected to our headcam.”

“So you’ll have to be there, racing, for me to watch.” He laughed humorlessly as he shook his head. “No way, doll, you’re not going out there without me.”

“It’s a win-win babe, you still get to watch what you love and we kinda need the prize money for those repairs.” You argued as you sat him on the couch and let him pull you to his side.

“Not if it means risking your life. The Camaro isn’t worth that.”

“You know I can drive, just as good as you.” You said, taking a deep breath. “I’m doing this Bucky, with or without you…but I could really do with you having my back.”

You held out your headset that was already connected to the laptop and waited as he stared at it. You were about to give up when you saw him look away but with a heavy sigh of his own, he took the headset and placed it on his lap.

“No unnecessary risks, you hear me?” Bucky warned. “If you get a hint of any dodgy shit from the other drivers, you pull out. And, I will cut this ankle bracelet and steal a car to come find you if this connection cuts out for more than a second.”

“Deal.” You grinned as you jumped up. “I need to steal your tires real quick and head off.”

“Take a breath.” Bucky caught you by the hand and kissed your knuckles. “Adrenaline makes for easy mistakes.”

“I know, I know. It’s just been years since I last had a proper race, I forgot how it feels.” You rambled as you tried to calm your mind. “Tell me I’m gonna win.”“I don’t have to.” Bucky chuckled, kissing the corner of your mouth with a smile. “Because you are gonna win.”

You were conscious of his injury so you carefully wrapped your arms around his waist and kissed the light beard that was growing out along his jawline. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” He whispered against your lips. “Drive safe.”

Your Hellcat wasn’t meant for racing in the sense like Bucky’s Camaro. It wasn’t fit with a roll cage and the interior hadn’t been gutted out to lighten its tare weight but Bucky made sure the front seats had been fitted with harnessed bucket seats a long time ago. But the soup and nuts of the matter was that your Hellcat was fast and with your skills it was easily a strong contender.

“Holy shit, it's been awhile since you brought her out.” Steve grinned when he saw you pull up at the 11th hour. “How’s our boy doing?”

You held up your helmet with the camera mounted on the top. “Ask him yourself. You can take Bucky away from the race but you can’t take the race away from Bucky.”

“I wanted to see the race, not his mug.” Bucky joked in your ear and from the indignation of Steve’s scoff could read his best friend's mind.

“He’s talking about me isn’t he?”

“Maybe.” You winked. “I actually have a favour to ask.”

You hit the mute button on the helmet's microphone so you could talk to Steve and heard Bucky call out after a moment's silence.

“Sorry, Buck, must have knocked it. I could still hear you.” You assured him as you imagined he began to pace the living room. “Time to get this show on the road.”

Steve walked around the other drivers before making his way back to you, a small nod giving you the go ahead to pull up to the spray painted starting line.

“Do you still get nervous? I feel like my stomach is going to try to climb out of my throat.” You swallowed as you reached the line and focused on the woman removing her bra to flag the race start.

“Every damn time.” Bucky chuckled, easing some of the worry knotting your insides. “Concentrate, doll, finishing in one piece is what matters.”

“Yeah, about that…”

You ran out of time as the woman waved her bra three times before letting it loose and you dropped the clutch and floored the gas. The front wheels lifted off the road as you launched forward and for a second all you saw was the reflection of lights glimmering off One World Trade Centre before you fell back down to earth. You gripped the wheel tighter as the suspension bounced and noticed there was a supercar to your left that was inching ahead of you, but the machine was made for drag races not taking corners which was exactly where you were heading.

“90 degree right turn coming up.” Bucky guided seriously. “You’re going into it pretty fast there.”

“Yup.” You confirmed much to his dismay as you pushed further, the last to start breaking heading into it. “I didn’t come here to lose, Barnes.”

You ripped the e-brake back as you turned, kicking the back out and drifting into the corner before anyone else. The others were quick on your heels but you had effectively put the supercar out of the running as it popped out of the corner in last place.

“It’s been months since we tuned your ride.” Bucky growled as you raced along the straight, jumping red lights as the scream of your engine limited. “Take it down a notch.”

“Can’t do that babe.” You shook your head, his view on the tv screen shaking with the movement. “I didn’t have enough cash for the buy in.”

“Fuck.” Bucky swore as he fisted his hair in his hands. “Right turn then hard left.”

You eased off the accelerator for the back to back turns and your heart skipped a beat as you almost over-corrected coming out of the turns.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Bucky asked as he watched the street fly past in a blurr, feeling like it was him in the driver's seat. “300 yards until you have a long left turn so don’t go in too tight.”

“You wouldn’t have agreed.” You admitted as you flicked your eyes to the GPS and saw the turn he was talking about, one that snaked under the highway. “We need to work on your terminology.”

“I’m not exactly used to being in this position, you’re much better at this job.”

Headlights flashed in your wing mirrors as the Toyota Supra tried to take you on the straight with his lighter car.

“Right back at you.” You murmured as you tried to keep your eyes on the road, on your competition and on the ECU diagnostics that had popped up with an alert.

“Turn!”

Your eyes flashed away from the screen in the centre of the dashboard to see you had reached the left turn. You braked too much in a spike of panic before turning and clenched your fist tighter on the gear stick as you chopped down and tried to chase the Supra that made it past. The next two corners were a dog fight as you edged to close the gap and came neck and neck on the last straight.

“I’m not losing to a fucking import.” You growled as you turned the nozzle for the NOS and watched the pressure engage.

“That bottle hasn't been swapped since the roady to Boston.”

You could practically taste Bucky’s fear, hear the anger at himself for not keeping your car in top shape but his was supposed to be the race car, not yours.

“You worry too much.” You said, stealing one of his favourite phrases. “It’s scary isn’t it, being on that end of the line.”

He grunted in agreement. “Does it get easier?”

“Nope, but I’ll always do it for you.”

You saw the Supra boost forward and chuckled because your V8 cylinders were about to annihilate his inline 6. You pressed the release for the NOS and felt the increase in horsepower almost immediately, the front wheels threatening to lift off the ground with the surge.

“You got this, doll.” Bucky all but shouted as he chewed his lip and froze in front of the wide screen tv. “You’ve got this.”

Your long hood inched past the Supra’s and you saw the driver smash his fist against the steering wheel before the finish line appeared not a moment too soon. Your triumphant laugh was echoed by Bucky’s cheers and you spun into a burn out at the end of the street where Steve waited with the other unofficial officiants of the street racing scene.

“I love you!” You laughed as you tore off the helmet and kissed the camera.

“I love you too, now get your sexy ass home so we can celebrate properly.”

Steve was quick to work his way through the three race cars parked behind you and took the pink slips and keys from the angry losers before any got ideas of making a run for it, which wasn’t unheard of. He was grinning from ear to ear as he brought the winnings over and you knew it would go a long way into paying to repair Bucky’s Camaro as well as some of his legal fees.

“Thanks, Steve. I actually have one last favour to ask.” You said as he engulfed you in a hug.

“Anything for you.”

You were still riding your high as you drove to Bucky’s and parked outside, needing a moment to gather your thoughts and calm down after the rush of endorphins left your hands trembling. The moment only lasted a second before your door was pulled open and Bucky grinned proudly at you.

“There’s my girl.”

“She’s got a surprise for you too.” You said as you unclipped the harness and stepped out to see three pairs of headlights coming down the street. Their engines purred across the quiet night and Bucky draped his arm over your shoulder as he watched them approach. “I didn’t have cash for the buy in.”

“You said.” He nodded. “So you used your car as collateral.”

“Kind of.” You smirked, seeing the Toyota, a Ferrari and a Camaro as few years older than Bucky’s park at the curb. “It was a race for pink slips.”

His jaw gaped wide as he stared at the cars, his friends climbing out of the drivers seats. “These are all yours?”

You laughed and shook your head. “No, baby, they're ours.”

Click here for part five.

#streetracer au #street racer! bucky #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x poc!reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes imagine

150 notes · View notes