Imagines For Everyone!

Hi there! I’m just your normal average writer. I write imagines for all sorts of fandoms! Requests are closed and will remain so for the foreseeable future !!!!! Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/storiesforallfandoms

[storiesforallfandoms]

Masterlist 3!

Here’s the third masterlist for all of my works! If you want to check out more of my work, here’s the links for masterlist one and masterlist two Imagines marked * are smutty imagines! Imagines marked ` are requests! Imagines marked ⭐ are personal favorites!

IMAGINES

STRANGER THINGS small ~ jim hopper` dance with me ~ eddie munson ⭐ starry night ~ steve harrington* (part five) ⭐ at the hip ~ steve harrington` ⭐ triple date ~ steve harrington (part six) ⭐ the freak ~ steve harrington (part seven) ⭐ oblivious ~ eddie munson ⭐ jason doesn’t know ~ eddie munson ⭐ this is music ~ eddie munson` ⭐ the unexpected date ~ eddie munson

SUPERNATURAL strange human feelings ~ castiel` cleaning ~ dean winchester`

HANNIBAL into fiction` sob story ~ hannibal lecter

THE BOYS obsession ~ billy butcher* ⭐ herogasm ~ soldier boy* ⭐ alone on christmas ~ billy butcher can’t get too close ~ billy butcher ⭐ change in a heartbeat ~ billy butcher ⭐ the bad room ~ homelander ⭐

THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY life father ~ diego hargreeves` rescue mission ~ klaus hargreeves’ ⭐

THE LAST OF US (HBO) friendly neighbors ~ joel miller ⭐ too sweet ~ joel miller

BARRY attraction ~ barry berkman` treat him better ~ barry berkman

AMERICAN HORROR STORY late night sins ~ xavier plympton (1984)*`

VICTORIOUS lost dog ~ tori vega` junker ~ beck oliver

HEMLOCK GROVE i don’t ever wanna see you with him ~ roman godfrey ⭐

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES roses are red ~ damon salvatore` ⭐

OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH captive ~ blackbeard/ed teach ⭐

PEAKY BLINDERS moved on ~ thomas shelby extreme jealousy ~ thomas shelby ⭐

FUTURE MAN winner ~ josh futturman* ⭐

GAME OF THRONES littlest lion ~ oberyn martell (part one) ⭐ freedom ~ oberyn martell (part two) ⭐

THE WITCHER destiny ~ geralt of rivia

DOCTOR WHO looks of a princess ~ eleventh doctor ⭐

BRIDGERTON by the lake ~ benedict bridgerton

HEMLOCK GROVE important buisness ~ roman godfrey* ⭐

TED LASSO past affairs ~ ted lasso after hours ~ ted lasso*⭐

9-1-1 imperfect ~ evan “buck” buckley ⭐

THE GENTLEMEN the assistant ~ raymond smith ⭐

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN spirit of nature ~ jack sparrow`

THE MAZE RUNNER i’ll keep you safe ~ newt`

MARVEL how things are now ~ marc spector and steven grant` ⭐ kneel ~ loki* the most wonderful time ~ bucky barnes fast ~ pietro maximoff ⭐ shared trauma ~ logan howlett making amends ~ bucky barnes nature trip ~ sergei “kraven” kravinoff heatwave ~ matt murdock* ⭐ normal ~ frank castle the one that got away ~ bob reynolds

1917 early morning ~ will schofield*`

THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT happy birthday ~ javi gutierrez ⭐

FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S i need someone older ~ william afton ⭐ the ice cream girl ~ mike schmidt

SALTBURN new toy ~ felix catton ⭐ partners ~ oliver quick ⭐

THE SANTA CLAUSE santa’s sister-in-law ~ bernard the elf

8 MILE one of the guys ~ jimmy smith jr ⭐

THE FALL GUY the space cowboy and the pa ~ tom ryder

A QUIET PLACE i’d find you in any life ~ eric ⭐

GLADIATOR II betrothed ~ emperor geta ⭐

DON’T WORRY DARLING a perfect world ~ jack chambers ⭐

CARRY-ON something about a man in uniform ~ ethan kopek*

THE THING secrets in the cold ~ rj “mac” macready ⭐

WONKA scrub scrub ~ willy wonka

BULLET TRAIN brown jacket and a thick accent ~ tangerine*

PETE DAVIDSON your gift` favoritism`

HARRY STYLES the perfect tree a star in the making` sleepy head`

MACHINE GUN KELLY baby mama` ⭐ my queen*` getting your attention*` all the mistakes` not what it looks like` can’t keep doing this*`

EMINEM may the best artist win*` too close for comfort` ⭐ when it’s wrong but it feels right` in the dressing room*` he’s acting different` we have to stop meeting like this` every inch*` let’s surprise the world` i’m sorry i let you down` public service announcement` reluctance`⭐

GOODGUYFITZ wake up call*`

CORPSE HUSBAND letting go` they forgot` ⭐

ASHTON IRWIN home life` cover me*`

CONAN GRAY pushing`

MATTHEW LILLARD accidental drunk confessions` an out there request (w/ skeet ulrich)*`

JOHNNY KNOXVILLE feeling good*`

ALEX TURNER more than a song*` ⭐

BO BURNHAM can’t handle this right now ⭐ look at me*`

KRISTEN STEWART special customer`

TARON EGERTON he already has my approval ⭐

ROBERT PATTINSON my favorite superhero

GERARD WAY good girl*`

GWILYM LEE history repeats itself`

RYAN GOSLING play date`

JOSEPH QUINN bad idea, right? ⭐ icdiwabh ⭐

RANBOO fluffy haired gamer boy`

JACOB ELORDI height advantage`

MOTLEY CRUE she is mine ~ mick mars`

CHRIS EVANS not used to normal` ⭐

SWAGGERSOULS our next step`

JSCHLATT too far ⭐ the hotel room* ⭐ a winter night at rockefeller

JOHNNY DEPP just for us`

TRAVIS BARKER the parent trap`

SKEET ULRICH an out there request (w/ matthew lillard)*`

DAMIEN HAAS our own after party

SHIPS

family reunion ~ hermione granger x draco malfoy` another man in a red suit ~ deadpool x spider-man ⭐

HEADCANONS

showing pedro pascal fan edits ⭐ sitting on jschlatt’s lap ⭐ surprising ted and tucker during chuckle sandwich (jschlatt) billy butcher’s secret pleasure ⭐

NSFW ALPHABET

rook (jp capellette)*` eddie munson* ⭐ billy butcher* ⭐ ted lasso* ⭐

[lum1natriiix]

happy iron lung day to all who celebrate

[storiesforallfandoms]

insatiable ~ johnny storm;mcu

word count: 3674

request?: no

description: when johnny storm falls in love, he is completely insatiable for his woman

pairing: johnny storm x female!reader

warnings: swearing, smut (p in v; both protected and unprotected, oral - f receiving, johnny using his powers for sexual purposes, mentions of breeding but not full on breeding kink type shit, praise), use of y/n

masterlist (one, two, three)

The first time Johnny laid his eyes on her was at an event in the Baxter Building. He usually hated those things. All the official business people, talking official business things with Reed and Sue, usually. If it wasn't business talk, it was non-stop compliments and fawning over them as a team. It was boring, and Johnny felt like these things dragged on far too long. He wished he could escape to his room and avoid all of it, but Reed always insisted on the team showing up and being there together. So, Johnny stayed and he endured.

But this time, it wasn't as hard to endure, because he had spotted her. She was across the room at the bar, wearing a deep blue satin dress that complimented her figure nicely. He had completely tuned out whatever was being said to him by the congressman in front of him, his whole attention on her as she raised her glass to her lipstick painted lips. It didn't take her long to feel his eyes on her, and soon enough she was holding his gaze. A small smirk spread across her lips as she took another sip of her drink. It was enough to spur Johnny on to go talk to her.

"Johnny Storm," she said as he approached her. "I must be very special to have you coming to speak to me."

"Very special," Johnny said. "And very much not hounding me for my attention so you can blow smoke up my ass."

"What, the big superhero doesn't like being fawn over?"

"Oh, I love to be fawned over. It happens every time I fly out of here, and I welcome it wholeheartedly. But what's happening here is corporate fawning, which is much less fun because it's always just a way to get something."

"And you assume I'm not trying to get something from you with my fawning?"

She batted her eyelashes at him as she took one last mouthful of her drink. A smirk slowly spread across Johnny's face.

Next thing either of them knew, Johnny had her bent over a bathroom sink, his pants pulled down to his knees and her dress hiked up around her hips. The attempts to stay quiet had been long abandoned as she cried out in pleasure with every sharp thrust of Johnny's hips. Johnny watched her face contort in pleasure through the mirror, that red lipstick now messy and smudged over her lips and mascara running down her cheeks.

Johnny was no stranger to hook ups. He had had his fair share of girlfriends, and he definitely wanted a steady relationship, but also he wasn't going to turn down the offer for casual sex either. And, at first, that's all either of them expected this to be. But as Johnny was disposing of the condom and they were both straightening their clothes, he found himself not wanting the moment to end. He watched as she used a wet paper towel to fix her makeup and realized even with her messed up makeup and flushed cheeks, that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Before he could stop himself, Johnny found himself asking, "Do you want to go out sometime?"

She met his eyes through the mirror. A playful smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "That's not usually how these things end."

Johnny chuckled. "Yeah, not for me, either. But I'm not sure I'd be able to stop thinking about you if we ended things here."

She turned to face him, flashing him a genuine smile that lit up her face. "I haven't even told you my name."

Johnny hadn't realized that. They were so caught up in their flirting and what followed that he forgot to ask her for her name. "Well, what is your name, then?"

"(Y/N)."

"Okay. (Y/N), can I take you out on a date?"

(Y/N) nodded. "I'd love to go on a date with you, Johnny Storm."

~~~~~~

From that day, Johnny was absolutely smitten. When he wasn't doing official Fantastic Four things, he was spending all his time with (Y/N). He'd take her out, have her over to the Baxter Building, spend time at her place. They spent more nights together than they spent apart. Ben liked to tease Johnny that they were in the honeymoon phase and it wouldn't last, but Johnny brushed it off. He couldn't imagine not feeling this way about (Y/N).

Sue was happy for her baby brother, and she loved (Y/N). The first time they had met was actually a total accident. Johnny had brought (Y/N) over to the Baxter Building, thinking it was empty. They were barley out of the elevator when Johnny was on (Y/N), kissing her deeply and passionately. He backed her into the main living space, guiding her to the couch as his hands slipped under her shirt.

"What if someone comes home?" she asked, although her hands were making work of his pants as she asked.

"We'll know once they enter the lobby," Johnny responded. "We'll have plenty of time to wrap up by the time they get up here."

(Y/N) giggled as Johnny lifted her into his arms. They started kissing again, about to start taking each other's clothes off, when Sue's voice said, "Hello Johnny."

Johnny not only pulled away from the kiss, but also dropped (Y/N) in shock. Luckily, they were stood next to the couch, so she landed on the soft cushion instead of on the hard floor. Both of them looked over to the kitchen to see Sue stood there, a baby bottle in her hand and a playful smirk on her face. (Y/N) wanted to be swallowed whole by the couch. She wondered if running out of the room would be more embarrassing than the situation Sue had just caught them in. Johnny's embarrassment was making his whole body so hot that he was afraid he might burst into flames at any moment.

"Sue!" he said. "I - uh - I thought you and Reed were supposed to be out."

"Franklin has a fever, so I stayed home with him," Sue explained. She stepped out of the kitchen to approach the two lovers. She gave her little brother a look before saying, "Are you going to introduce me to the woman who has stolen my baby brother's heart?"

Johnny muttered a quick introduction. (Y/N) stood from the couch to shake Sue's hand. Sue smiled at her and greeted her warmly. (Y/N) wasn't sure if Sue's genuine kindness made her less embarrassed for getting caught, or more embarrassed. Sue turned back to Johnny, who looked like a child who knew he was about to get scolded. Sue put her hand on Johnny's shoulder and said, "Bring her to family dinner so we can meet her properly. And don't have sex on the furniture where my son sits, or else I will extinguish you while you're mid air."

As she walked away, both Johnny and (Y/N) heard her chuckling to herself. They shared a look before the two of them burst into laughter. (Y/N) buried her head in her hands, groaning between her fits of laughter. Johnny pulled her into his arms and removed her hands so he could kiss her.

"Should we move this to the bedroom?" he asked.

(Y/N) gave him a shocked look. "You're still in the mood after your sister caught us?" Johnny simply shrugged in response. (Y/N) was shaking her head at him, but she was giggling. "You are insatiable."

The family dinner went very well, despite (Y/N)'s extreme nerves. It was already a big deal to be meeting Johnny's family, but that family being New York's most powerful superhero team made it even more nerve wracking. But she got along with everyone, and they all loved her. Even Franklin was trying to crawl into her lap by the end of the night. Before taking Franklin off to bed, Sue went up to Johnny to tell him, "She's incredible. I'm glad you found a good woman, Johnny."

After humoring Ben's teasing another hour, Johnny finally excused himself and (Y/N), and brought her to his room. (Y/N) started shedding off her nice clothes and washed the makeup from her face.

"I think that went really well," she said. "I like your family. They're really nice."

"They like you, too," Johnny said as he came up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing himself against her half naked body. His warmth radiated off of him, igniting her body with just his proximity. He started kissing her bare shoulder, leaving a trail along her shoulder and up her neck. "You know," he said between kisses. "I never did get dessert tonight."

"That's a shame," she said. As Johnny's lips reached her cheek, she turned her head so their lips met. "We should fix that."

Johnny had (Y/N) swept into his arms and thrown onto the bed the moment the words were out of her mouth. She let out a yelp in surprise followed by a series of giggles. Johnny made quick work of removing the only article of clothing she had left - her panties. Usually, Johnny liked to tease (Y/N). He loved to kiss every inch of her body except where she wanted it most, just to hear her whimper and see her squirm. But tonight, he had no intentions of taking his time. Something about watching (Y/N) getting along with his family made him feel two things: overwhelmingly in love and slightly turned on. Watching her with Franklin especially had Johnny dreaming of a future where they had their own children running around, which had him waiting the agonizingly long time till he could get her alone.

So now, instead of teasing, he immediately dove into her pussy. He started at a ruthless pace from the start, lapping at er clit as if he were actually a starving man. (Y/N) fisted the bedsheets with one hand and grabbed Johnny's hair with the other. He moaned as she pulled on his hair, mostly an accident as she was just gripping whatever she could get her hands on, but Johnny loved it. He knew it meant he was doing a good job, and it made his dick twitch in his pants.

(Y/N) gasped as Johnny moved his tongue down to her opening. She bit her lip to keep from making any noise as Johnny's tongue dove in and out of her. Her hips started to buck up, trying to meet the thrusts of his tongue. Johnny put an arm over her stomach, pining her down to the bed and leaving her to just squirm beneath him. He moved his other hand to press a thumb against her clit. He started to rub slow circles against the bundle of nerves, heating his thumb just enough for another gasp to slip past her lips. He smirked to himself as quiet moans and whines began tumbling from her mouth. Usually he would push her until she was crying out in pleasure and chanting his name like a prayer, but he had some self restraint considering his family were in the rooms around them, and while the Baxter Building walls muffled most noise, they weren't completely soundproof.

Before she knew it, (Y/N) was shuttering as her orgasm ripped through her. She clamped her mouth shut to keep from making any noises, but her whines were still audible enough to egg Johnny on. He kept lapping at her dripping pussy as she continued to convulse. He only stopped when she had to push him off due to overstimulation. Johnny propped himself up so he could gaze lovingly down at her. Her face was flushed and eyes heavy. Her limbs were spread out on the bed, unable to move as they felt like jelly. Johnny smiled at her, his lips glistening with her slick. She managed to reach for him, pulling him down for a kiss. He slipped his tongue past her lips, letting her taste herself on him.

When her hands reached for his pants, he stopped her. She pulled away from the kiss to look at him in confusion. "I want to return the favor."

He shook his head. "You don't have to tonight. I wanted to do that for you, and I got what I wanted from it."

His hard on was evident through his pants, but he insisted he didn't want (Y/N) to return the favor. He settled into bed next to her, pulling the covers over them and pulling her into him.

Another thing Johnny learned about himself was that when he was in love, he was insatiable.

When she wasn't around, Johnny found himself thinking about (Y/N), which would always turn into fantasizing about her. He found it increasingly difficult to focus on missions when he knew he had the most beautiful woman in the world waiting back at home for him. And when they were together, Johnny just could not get enough of her. He'd always have his hands on her, whether it was as innocent as holding her hand, or something naught enough to kickstart his ulterior motives. He loved to start and end every day by getting her off, and maybe get lucky at least once in between those times.

Obviously, he kept things as PG as possible in front of his family. He'd put his arm around her and kiss her cheek at most, while wishing for the moment he could whisk her away to do what he really wanted. Of course, Ben was always quick to playfully tease Johnny about his relationship. His favorite joke was to tell them to, "Get a room" for the smallest things. Like the day (Y/N) was baking with HERBIE, while Johnny and Ben were watching TV on the couch. Well, Ben was watching TV. Johnny was lovingly watching his girlfriend as she moved around the kitchen and interacted with the little robot.

"Get a room," Ben muttered as he raised his beer to this lips.

"I'm literally just looking at her," Johnny said.

"You're fucking her with your eyes," Ben corrected. "And I feel violated just watching it happen."

"Hey man, listen, I get it. You're jealous I have a hot girlfriend. I would be too. But you just have to get out there and find yourself a hot girlfriend, too."

Ben gave Johnny a look before muttering, "I hate in love Johnny. He's more annoying than playboy wannabe Johnny."

"Who's a playboy?" (Y/N) asked as she brought a plate of cookies fresh from the oven to the two men.

"No one," Johnny quickly responded. "I was just telling Ben how he needs to get himself a girlfriend cause he seems very lonely."

"Johnny, leave Ben alone," she said. "You know you'd be lost if he went and got a girlfriend and left you all by yourself."

Ben chuckled and reached for a cookie. "I like her. If you mess this up, we're keeping her over you, I hope you know that."

Johnny wanted to glare at Ben, but he was too busy smiling at (Y/N).

That night, they had opted to stay the night in (Y/N)'s apartment. She spent such little time here these days that she may as well just completely move into the Baxter Building, but neither of them were sure if it was too soon to take that step or not just yet. And besides, it was nice to have somewhere to go where they could be completely alone.

(Y/N) was sat up in her bed reading while Johnny was getting ready for bed. He peaked into her room while he was brushing his teeth. The sight of her in just a night dress, the hem hiked up just enough that her panties were nearly peaking out, was giving him thoughts that he knew he should put a stop to. Aside from the fact that it was late, they had already had sex the moment they had gotten to her apartment. But his dick was already swelling in his boxers, and there was no way to hide the outline of his bulge. In fact, when he walked into the room and (Y/N) looked up from her book, her eyes immediately went to his very obvious boner.

"Again?" she asked with a laugh. "Do you ever run out of stamina?"

"I think we've already established I don't," he responded. "Can you really blame me when I have a smoking hot girlfriend sitting here, looking all beautiful and having her thighs exposed? You're driving me crazy, baby."

(Y/N) shook her head, although she was smiling, and put her book aside. "You are insatiable, Johnny Storm."

"I hear that a lot," he said. "We don't have to if you're not feeling up for it."

"I know, but then you said all those nice things about me and now I'm all horny again." She gestured for him to join her in bed. "Come fuck me senseless one more time, baby."

Johnny didn't have to be told twice. He was on the bed quickly, immediately attaching his lips to (Y/N)'s. Through the messy kiss, they were able to shed (Y/N) of her night dress and panties, and Johnny of his boxers. Johnny gently laid her back on the bed, pressing their naked bodies together. He could already feel the slick forming between her legs and his dick was throbbing to be inside of her again.

"Can we try something?" he asked between kisses.

"Like what?"

"Like...like maybe doing it without protection this time."

(Y/N) pulled away to look at Johnny. He couldn't read her expression, which caused his heart to thud in panic. Maybe it was too soon to ask that question. They had always used protection when they had sex, even after (Y/N) told him she was on birth control and they both had gotten STI tests done once it was obvious this relationship was getting serious. It just made more sense to be extra careful since they were so early in their relationship, and with Johnny being a superhero and everything and the unknown of what that could possibly do to a child.

"We don't have to," he quickly added. "I know we haven't even been together a year yet, but I keep seeing you with Franklin and it's been putting these ideas in my head of us having our own kids and being a family. I'm not saying I want that to happen right away or anything, but...but would it be so bad if it did?"

(Y/N) took Johnny's face in her hands and pulled him down to kiss her again. She broke away just long enough to tell him, "Fuck a baby into me, Johnny Storm."

Johnny could've swore his heart broke free from his chest in that moment. It no longer belonged to him, it belonged to her. He kissed her so passionately it made his head spin.

The first feeling of her warm, soft walls gripping his cock had him ready to cum on the spot. He had to take his time easing himself into her, feeling every inch of her against him. She gasped at the sensation of his naked cock against her walls. Johnny rested his forehead against hers, his eyes shut as he tried to keep himself from finishing too fast. But (Y/N) just felt too good. It was taking everything in his power to not just fuck into her until he came, and then to stay there until he got hard again so he could do it over and over and over.

Johnny whispered praises in (Y/N)'s ear as he continued to slowly thrust into her. Her moans and whimpers sounded like music to his ears. She was gripping him so tightly that Johnny wasn't sure how he was ever going to pull out of her. She felt like she was made just for him and his cock.

"You're doing so well," he said as he placed a kiss on her forehead. "Taking me so well, baby."

"F-Fuck J-Johnny," she moaned. "God, I might be close already."

She gasped as she felt a warming sensation between her legs. Her confession made Johnny's entire body heat up involuntarily, and the feeling of his hard cock radiating heat caused a new sensation that completely pushed (Y/N) over the edge. She barley had time to warn Johnny before she was crying out his name, her walls gripping his cock as waves of pleasure washed over her. It was enough to send Johnny over the edge as well, thrusting into her one more time before coating her walls with his cum.

They lay tangled together for a while afterwards. They were both trying to catch their breaths, as well as trying to come to terms with the fact that eventually Johnny would have to pull out of her. Johnny kissed every inch of skin he could reach, going from one shoulder, over he collarbone, to the next shoulder, all over her neck, before reaching her face. (Y/N) giggled as Johnny kissed over her chin, her cheeks, her nose, her forehead, and finally placing one last sweet kiss on her lips. He felt himself starting to soften, and reluctantly he pulled out. (Y/N) whimpered at the sudden emptiness. She could feel Johnny's cum starting to drip out of her, and something about it almost turned her on again.

Johnny helped her up and to the bathroom so both of them could clean up. Once they were back in bed, (Y/N) had her head on his chest. Her eyelids were starting to droop, exhaustion taking over her body. Before she completely passed out, she mumbled a soft, "I love you."

Johnny smiled. "I love you, too."

[storiesforallfandoms]

Nobody asked, but I have so many thoughts about The Boys season 5 episode 5, and it genuinely may be top three episodes of the entire series for me, so I wanna share.

Spoilers under the cut!!

- this season turning into Homelander thinking he’s literal God was not what I predicted but also it makes so much sense of course he thinks that he’s proven time and time again he’s unstoppable

- I love that this episode shows us more of the characters we don’t follow nearly enough instead of focusing just on The Boys or on Homelander. As much as I hate The Deep, would’ve liked a little segment about him because I feel like we’re only getting bits and pieces of him this season

- but also…maybe I wanted that cause I was hoping the “eels where they shouldn’t be” line in the little teaser they posted to social media to be about Deep’s death cause I’ve been waiting for ages for him to get slimed

- Firecracker’s segment made me hate her so much more. Betraying the pastor who cared for her for a MAN who doesn’t give a SHIT

- following Noir II was so beautiful. Dare I say I love that man and I lowkey wish we got more of him this season and not just him pretending to be original Noir. The reveal last episode that he’s just method acting felt kinda lacklustre, but him speaking up to overstep Deep this episode was fantastic. Love to see Nathan Mitchell without the mask

- first time I’ve ever gagged at anything in this show in five seasons was Noir II pulling the eel out of the director man’s ass. 10/10 no notes

- seriously, give Antony Starr an Emmy for those Terror dreams. Genuinely the funniest thing they’ve ever gotten him to do on this show. I was in tears

- The Boys immediately stopping their fighting because they’re concerned for Terror !! Soft!Butcher with Terror !!! I could cry !!!!

- Sage having this plan to end the world so she can read in peace. She’s so real for that. Love Sister Sage, genuinely hope she’s one of the only people to make it out of the series alive

- the Sony Venom-verse jabs. Once again, 10/10 no notes. Eric Kripke you bastard (affectionate)

- some people are disappointed about the Jared, Misha, Jensen reunion not being crazier, but honestly I love what we got. Wish Misha had a bigger role in it for sure, but Mister Marathon being a washed up ex-Seven member begging to be brought back and going as far as pretending like he knows how to get the V1 just to try to get back in Homelander’s good graces was great. The scene of Mister Marathon and Soldier Boy fighting and he’s running through all those people? Hilarious. If there had been anything more depraved than that, people also would’ve been complaining. I’m just glad we got to see the three of them together on screen again

- also, the celebrity cameos were golden. I was so excited to see Seth Rogen making a cameo again after being missing in season 4

- I will say, was hoping for some sort of reference to “et tu brute?” before Mister Marathon was killed, but overall I’m glad there wasn’t any Supernatural references during their scenes. Bobby saying “balls” and “idjits” last season was enough for me

- knew Firecracker was going to die this episode, didn’t know it was gonna be like that. Absolutely brilliant. A Homelander ass kisser right to the very end, and it cost her her life

All in all, such a good episode. I loved it. Like I said, easily a top three of the entire series for me (Herogasm and Wisdom of the Ages are the other two if you even care 🤷🏼‍♀️). So desperately hoping this show sticks the landing with these last three episodes and it goes out on a satisfying and good note.

[notgaybuckybarnes]

THE BOYS 5.05 "One-Shots"

[storiesforallfandoms]

This is Antony Starr’s Emmy moment

[storiesforallfandoms]

she belongs to me ~ sir lord jimmy crystal;28 years later

word count: 5174

request?: no

description: in which they find a survivor all on her own, and their leader decides she will not be a finger, but rather she will be his

pairing: sir lord jimmy crystal x female!reader

warnings: swearing, jimmy cult typical violence, infected zombies, technically stockholm syndrome

masterlist (one, two, three)

You picked the old barn because it was so far away from the last group of people you had come across. No one else was there when you arrived, and there was no signs anyone would be back. It seemed like the perfect place to stay for a few nights and not have to worry about anyone else coming by.

It was just your luck when a group of blonde, tracksuit clad people came loudly traipsing through the woods. You had just enough time to hide yourself in one of the old horse stalls before they were kicking in the barn door. They were loud and rowdy. You were afraid their noise was going to bring infected with them.

"What a cozy little barn," came a man's voice. "Perfect place to set up camp for the night."

Your body tensed up at the idea of having to stay in this hiding spot all night. There was no way you'd get out of here while they were here. Even when they slept, you risked making too much noise and waking them up. But you also couldn't stay hidden all night. You'd need to get up eventually, either for food, or to use the bathroom, or to run from infected.

You were trying to come up with a plan when you heard shuffling outside of your stall. You froze, clutching your knapsack to your chest as if that would keep you hidden, holding your breath in fear that any little noise would alert whoever was outside.

It didn't work, though, because suddenly the stall door burst open and a head of messy blonde hair peaked in. A young woman in a deep blue tracksuit looked in at you. She gave you a skin crawling smile before reaching out to grab you.

"Sir Lord!" she announced as she dragged you from your hiding spot. "I found us a new friend."

A group of six other people with similar blonde hair and different color tracksuits were spread out on the barn floor. They all turned to face you, similar sneers on their faces as the woman holding you. One of them, a man wearing a deep purple tracksuit, stood to approach you. You wanted to shrink away from him, but the woman held you tight.

"What do we have here?" the man asked. "Hello. I'm sorry if we intruded on your place." He turned to the group, still watching you like a pack of hawks. "There are my Fingers; Jimmies Snake, Jones, Jimmy, Fox, Ink, and Shite. That's Jimmima." He gestured to the woman holding you. "And my name is Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal. What's your name?"

You stared at him, unresponsive. You hoped the look you were giving him came off as unintimidated and not the fear you were actually feeling.

"Not a talker, huh?" he asked.

"Maybe I can get some answers out of her," Jimmima said.

You felt your heart rate spike as she squeezed your arm.

"No, no, Jimmima," Jimmy said, putting up a hand to stop her. "I think we allow her to speak on her own time. For now, since we are intruding on her space, I think it's only fair we let her rest for the night."

"We won't make her fight, Sir Lord?" one of the other Jimmies asked.

Jimmy's eyes never strayed from you as he shook his head. "No. No, I don't think I will. In fact, I don't think I'll make her a Finger at all. I think she's going to belong to me, actually."

You finally gave into the fear, your body trembling and tears pricking your eyes. Jimmy's smile only widened.

~~~~~~

You learned the ways of Jimmy's group very quickly. You learned that they were violent and vicious, that the only way to deal with any and every living thing was death. You learned that everyone followed Jimmy's orders, no questions asked. Although, they were definitely questioning his decision on keeping you around, just not to his face.

You'd be lying if you said you weren't wondering the same thing. The day after the Jimmies had found you, after they forcefully dragged you from the barn, the "nicer" (if there was such a thing) of the Jimmies, Jimmy Ink, told you the usual routine for someone to be taken in by Sir Lord Jimmy: a fight to the death with another Jimmy. She said Sir Lord Jimmy only allowed "seven of the strongest people" to be part of his Fingers, and he had never taken in anyone extra before.

"There must be something he sees in you," Jimmy Ink had said.

You weren't sure what exactly it was he would've seen in you. You certainly were not "one of the strongest". In fact, you hated violence and you couldn't fight to save your life (literally). You carried around a knife given to you by your mum before you were separated from her by a hoard of infected, but you'd be lucky to even accidentally hurt someone else. The Jimmies came to learn this about you the first time the group of you were attacked by infected. While the Jimmies sprang into action, you were cowering in fear, just hoping that the movement of the Jimmies would keep them distracted from you.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Jimmy Shite demanded when they had finished slaughtering the infected. "What, did you think they'd finish us off and you'd be able to run free?"

"N-No - " you stuttered.

"You're dead fucking weight, is what you are," Jimmy Shite continued. You yelped as he brandished a pocket knife at you. You tried to pull away, but he was quick and grabbed your arm, yanking you towards him and pressing the knife to your throat. "I should just end this nonsense right now."

"Shite, calm the fuck down," Jimmy Ink said.

"Don't you start defending her, too, Ink," Jimmy Shite snapped. "We can't keep a fucking pussy in the group. We'll be a laughin' stock, no one will ever be afraid of us."

The tip of the knife pressed into your throat. You could feel it had already broken the skin, a thin line of blood running down your throat. Jimmy Shite's angry face was blurred by your own tears. You knew you could try to fight back with your own knife, but it would be a futile attempt. Jimmy Shite would likely have your throat slit before your hand could even close around the blade. There was nothing you could do but tremble in his grasp and wait for the killing blow.

Suddenly, Jimmy Shite howled in pain. He let go of your arm and the blade moved from your throat. When you were finally able to blink the tears from your eyes to see clearly, you saw that Jimmy Shite had a knife similar to his own stuck in his back. He was flailing around, trying to get it out, while Jimmy Fox chased after him, trying to help. Stood behind him with a scowl on his face was Sir Lord Jimmy.

He grabbed hold of Jimmy Shite, kicking his legs out from underneath him to force him onto the ground. Jimmy grabbed hold of the knife and twisted it until Jimmy Shite was screaming in pain. You winced at the sound.

"If I ever find out you so much as thought about harming her again," Jimmy hissed, "I will make you wish for charity. You hear me?"

He twisted the knife again. Jimmy Shite howled, screaming, "Yes, Sir Lord, I hear you!"

"Good." Jimmy pulled the knife from Jimmy Shite's back. To Jimmy Fox, he said, "Fix up that wound so it don't get infected."

As the two Jimmies went to tend to Shite's wound, you looked up to find Sir Lord Jimmy already looking at you. You couldn't read the look on his face before he turned away, commanding the rest of the Jimmies to follow him.

~~~~~~

That night, the other Jimmies were sound asleep, but you were wide awake. You always were since they took you that night in the barn. It was very rare that you were able to sleep, and when you could manage to drift off, it was always very restless.

Jimmy always demanded you slept next to him. At first, that was what kept you awake the most. You were afraid of what he might try to do to you while you slept. But after the way he defended you that day, it made you feel somewhat safe to be laying next to him.

You rolled onto your side, facing Jimmy. He was also sound asleep, also laying on his side facing you. His mouth was slightly parted, heavy breaths falling from them with every exhale. When he was asleep was the only time Jimmy seemed not scary. He seemed peaceful, and you could almost convince yourself he was a normal man in this state. Not a psycho cult leader who, for some reason, had decided to lay some sort of claim on you.

You huffed out a sigh and rolled onto your back. You slowly sat up, looking around to make sure you hadn't disturbed any of the other Jimmies. When you were sure none of them would stir, you rose to your feet and quietly walked into the woods surrounding area. You weren't going to run away. You knew better than to even try. Jimmy may now want to hurt you now, but all bets were off if he caught you trying to make a run for it. No, you just needed to go for a walk on your own. You needed just one moment where you could pretend it was just you again, not you and a watchful group of crazed killers.

You didn't make it too far before you had this overwhelming feeling of being watched. You stopped in your tracks, listening carefully. Behind you, you could hear the crunch of dirt and leaves as someone stepped on them. Your body ran cold. You weren't sure which was the worst option of who or what could be following you

"You're a brave lass, I'll give ya that."

You jumped and spun around. Sir Lord Jimmy was stood there, hands behind his back, that same unreadable expression on his face.

"After what happened with Jimmy Shite, you have a lot of courage leaving camp in the night like this."

"I'm not running," you told him.

"I know," he said. "You left all your things back at the camp. But I'm sure some of the other Jimmies would overlook that if it meant getting rid of ya."

You shivered at the thought. You hadn't considered that when you started to walk away. You assumed, or rather hoped, that they'd all be asleep when you got back and no one would notice you had left.

"I still haven't gotten a thank you, you know."

You raised an eyebrow at him. "Thank you? What am I supposed to be thanking you for?"

"Well, I did save your life earlier."

You scoffed at him. You weren't sure where this sudden bout of courage had come from, but for the first time since you were taken by the Jimmies, you weren't afraid of Jimmy. You were angry. "You saved my life? I wouldn't have even been in that situation if you hadn't insisted I become part of your psychotic group! You haven't saved me, you've put me in danger!"

Your voice echoed through the trees. Normally, you'd be worried about infected hearing you and come running, but your frustration and anger over your situation was clouding your common sense. Honestly, you'd almost rather be attacked by a hoard of infected at this rate.

Jimmy, on the other hand, just seemed amused by your outburst. It pissed you off further. "You barley know how to use that knife you have, and you think that me taking you in and defending you has put you in danger?"

"Yes! You're not defending me, you're putting me in a situation where I constantly need to watch my back because your followers think I'm holding you all back. You've put me in a more dangerous situation than I was in when I was on my own!"

"They'll never lay a single finger on you. They know you belong to me, and I won't take too kindly to anyone harming you."

"But why? What's so special about me?"

"You're good."

You stopped, surprised by the answer. You weren't sure what you expected his response to be - maybe that he just wanted you for the sake of having you, like some sort of abuse of the power he had - but it certainly wasn't that. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, from the moment we found you in that barn, and you were all scared and cowering away from us, I knew there was something about you. And then = " He pointed to his temple. " - He spoke to me. He told me that I needed to bring you with us because you were a good person; complete opposite of my Fingers. He said we needed that; I needed that."

"He" was the apparent voice of "Old Nick", who Jimmy claimed was his father. You didn't believe anything Jimmy said about Old Nick. You were sure it was all just a lie he told his followers to get them to follow his commands. You wanted to scoff in his face, as you always wanted to do whenever he talk about Old Nick, but this time you were interested in what "Old Nick" had said about you.

"Why does Old Nick - " You repressed an eye roll. " - want me if I'm good? I thought he wanted you to build a strong hand of strong, fearless warriors. Wouldn't a good person who can't fight ruin that?"

Jimmy shook his head. "I have plenty of fearless warriors. They'll do as I say, and they'll never question my authority. What I don't have is even one person who is good, who can remind me that it's okay to be good every now and then."

At some point, Jimmy had closed the distance between the two of you. He was now just an arm's length away. Your brain was screaming at you to put distance between you both again, but your body stayed put. He wasn't going to hurt you, you were sure of that. You didn't know where this certainty had suddenly come from, but you just knew he wouldn't.

"Although, you should definitely learn how to defend yourself," Jimmy added. "I almost feel bad for that knife you carry around. Poor thing never gets used."

To your own shock, you laughed. Jimmy smiled at the sound. It was a real, genuine smile. Not one of his scary ones. For the first time since the Jimmies found you, you were able to see Jimmy not as the feared leader you came to know him as, but as a real person. A person you could see yourself liking if you had met him under different circumstances.

"Maybe you can teach me," you found yourself saying.

Jimmy nodded in response. You yawned then, suddenly hit with exhaustion.

"Let's get ya back to bed." Jimmy outstretched a hand to you. You allowed him to lightly touch your arm to guide you back to the camp.

The other Jimmies were still sound asleep, luckily. You hoped none of them had woken up and noticed your absence. Jimmy settled back into his sleeping bag, laying on his side to face you. He watched as you lowered yourself to the ground, laying on your side so you could face him, too. His hand was resting on the ground between the two of you, almost like it was reaching out for you. You reached out in return, brushing your fingers against his. It was the lightest touch, unnoticeable in any other circumstance, but at this moment it was all you could focus on as your eyes grew heavy. Before you drifted off, you heard Jimmy whisper, "Goodnight."

~~~~~~

He kept good on his promises; he never let anyone hurt you, and he taught you how to defend yourself.

The lot of you had found an abandoned building to call home for a while. It was big, still in good enough shape that it was still standing, but not enough to tell what the building had been before the outbreak. Everyone had claimed their own space to set up their beds, and of course, you and Jimmy were sleeping in the same room. Not that you were arguing against it anymore. You told yourself it was just because you knew you were safe sleeping next to him and not because you were starting to enjoy being around him.

When you weren't foraging for supplies, Jimmy would take you to the woods to train you. He'd take whatever weapon was available to teach you how to use it. At first, you felt like a lost cause as nothing Jimmy was teaching you stuck. You worried you were just proving to him why keeping you around was a bad idea and he'd decide your uselessness outweighed your goodness. But eventually, you did get comfortable holding the weapons, which translated into being comfortable swinging them, which turned into the ability to use them properly. Within weeks, you were swinging machetes and throwing knives like a natural.

"I knew you'd get it eventually," Jimmy said to you after another successful lesson. "Still can't believe ya never learned how to fight before. You must've had someone looking after you before."

You noticed he had been doing this a lot lately; asking about your life pre-Jimmies, trying to find out who you travelled with. According to Jimmy Ink, this was very unusual as Sir Lord Jimmy wanted his Fingers to completely forget their past lives and accept this new life with him. That's why they were all named after him, their real names mostly forgotten. Jimmy had made it very clear from the beginning that your induction into the group was much different than the rest, but you didn't expect that to extend to talking about your past, too.

"Just my parents," you responded. "Sometimes other survivors we'd meet along the way, but mostly my parents."

Jimmy nodded. He didn't ask any further questions. It seemed that was all the answers he needed.

"I think we should go back, call it a day," he said instead. "I think you've had enough training for now."

You were holding a switchblade in your hand that you had been using for training. Jimmy started to reach for it at the same time you were trying to flick it closed. The tip of the blade caught Jimmy's hand, slicing a long gash along the palm of his hand. Jimmy cried out in pain and your heart rate spiked in fear. It was an accident, you hadn't meant to cut him. But would he believe that? Would the other Jimmies?

You could already see the looks on their faces when you arrived back to the shelter with a knife in your hand and a bleeding cut on Jimmy's palm. If he even let you live that long. If he did, you were sure one of the other Jimmies would make sure to finish you off.

You immediately started to stutter out an apology, assuring him it was an accident, that you didn't mean to hurt him.

"It's alright, darlin', I know it was an accident," he assured you. He didn't seem angry, but your heart was still pounding in fear.

You took his hand to look at the cut. It was bleeding a lot, his whole hand already crimson and sticky.

"Let's go get this cleaned and fixed up," you told him.

You went back to the shelter to get the medical kit, luckily without any of the Jimmies around to see you, and then led Jimmy to a nearby lake to clean his hand. You both sat by the water as you dipped a rag into the water, rung out the excess water, then started gently wiping the blood from Jimmy's hand. You did the cut last, cleaning the almost dried blood before pressing the cloth to his wound. You held it with one hand while you looked for bandages with the other. Jimmy watched you closely as you worked, his eyes following your eyes move. He did this quite often, too, so you were used to pretending like you didn't notice, and thus able to control the blush you always felt under his gaze.

As you bandaged his hand, Jimmy closed his eyes. "It's so quiet."

You paused to listen to your surroundings. The only sound was the calming rush of the lake water. "Yeah, it is pretty quiet."

"I mean up here." He used his other hand to point to his temple. "Old Nick doesn't speak to me when I'm with you."

You stopped yourself from making a face. Despite you growing somewhat close to Jimmy, you still did not believe in his "Old Nick" bullshit. Instead, you joked, "Does he not like me or something?"

"I think he knows I'm at peace when I'm with you, so he leaves me alone."

You looked up from the bandaging to look at him. His eyes were open again, already looking back at you.

"You feel at peace with me?"

He smiled, amused by your question. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed how different I am when you're around."

You raised an eyebrow at him, which made him chuckle. You were constantly around Jimmy, and you certainly wouldn't call the way he acted "peaceful". He was still Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal, the leader of a ruthless gang, who was even more vicious and ruthless than his followers. Sure, he treated you more gently than he treated anyone else, but you wouldn't consider him peaceful in any way.

"I know Jimmy Fox and Jimmy Shite say I'm making you soft," you mumbled, averting your attention back to the bandages.

Jimmy scoffed. "Yeah, I hear the shit the two of them say when they think I'm not around. Shite will see how soft I am once I drive another knife into him."

You finished bandaging Jimmy's hand and dared to look up at Jimmy again. He was looking at you with that intense stare once again. Once upon a time, that stare would have you shrinking away in fear. Now, it put a warmth in your body that you couldn't describe. A feeling you were sure you shouldn't be feeling about Jimmy, and yet you couldn't stop it, or yourself.

"I don't see an issue with keeping a pretty thing around who doesn't make me feel the dread of Old Nick's demons looming around us," Jimmy said.

Your face grew warm. You looked up at Jimmy to ask, "You think I'm pretty?"

For the first time since you first met him, Jimmy was speechless. You just sat in silence, gazing at each other. When Jimmy lifted his non-injured hand, you didn't flinch. You leaned into him as he gently cupped your face. His hands were rough and clad with cold metal rings, but his palms were warm. You were so close to him now. You weren't sure when that happened, but now you were inches apart.

"I think you're the most beautiful creature I've ever laid my eyes on," he said.

His words took your breath away. You were sure you'd close the gap between you, if you didn't hear the sound of footsteps, followed by the familiar sound of infected.

Jimmy snapped into action immediately. He was on his feet, weapon in hand, scanning the area. He grabbed for your hand, pulling you to your feet and took off running for the shelter, checking over his shoulder occasionally to make sure the infected wasn't closing in on you.

~~~~~~

Jimmy decided the group should move from the shelter for a while for safety. Once one infected had found the place, it wouldn't be long before more were warming the area. The Jimmies could handle themselves against any infected, but they still had to be smart, Jimmy said. They couldn't let themselves get too cocky and be caught off guard. They'd come back eventually, he said, as long as the place didn't become overrun with infected.

You were trailing behind the rest of the Jimmies. You could see Jimmy turning to check on you every now and then, as if making sure you hadn't run off. For once, you didn't ignore his attention. Every time he looked back, you met his gaze. Sometimes, you smiled at him, too. He kept his facial expression neutral, but you could see right through it, and see that he was happy to see you following along.

"You two seem to be getting along."

Jimmy Ink had slowed to walk beside you. She was the only one of the Jimmies you had built a rapport with. The others tolerated you for their own safety, but none of them viewed you as an equal. Jimmy Ink was different; ruthless but still kind.

"We've been getting along for a while," you said. "He's been teaching me to fight, to take care of myself."

"Yeah, but now you seem to be really getting along."

She playfully nudged you with her shoulder. You couldn't help but laugh with her, which drew Jimmy's attention again.

"I've never seen him so..." Jimmy Ink trailed off as she thought. "I don't know, so caring I guess. Yet somehow, extra ruthless. You somehow bring out the best and the worst in him, in a good way."

You simply shrugged your shoulders, unsure of what else to say. It was a similar comment to the one Jimmy had made earlier about you bringing him peace. You certainly hadn't changed him too much, but you could see the softer side of him more and more as it was pointed out to you.

And maybe, being with Jimmy had been changing you, too.

After a long day of travel, you all found a place to set up for the night. As usual, your bed was next to Jimmy's, but you had stopped minding that a long time ago. You felt more safe sleeping next to him now. You knew he'd keep you safe from anything, or anyone, who may hurt you. Still, you were a very light sleeper due to...well, the infected. So, every little noise still roused you out of your sleep, even though you knew Jimmy was the same way and that he'd take care of the problem before you were even fully awake.

On this night, you were awoken by the sounds of groaning. Your eyes snapped open, expecting to find infected had surrounded the camp and were about to tear you all apart. Instead, you looked around to see the other Jimmies were still asleep, each of them with their weapons very close in case of an attack. You heard the noise again, and when you looked down you found it was coming from Jimmy. He was laying on his back, his eyes tightly shut as if he was trying to block something out. His face was screwed up in fear, and the noises were groans of fear. He was having a nightmare.

Your decision to wake him came before you considered how he may react. You put a hand on his shoulder, lightly shaking him and whispered, "Jimmy."

His eyes snapped open and he immediately jumped into defensive mode. He grabbed your wrist, making you yelp in surprise and pain as his rings dug into your flesh. His eyes were wild and unfocused as he sat up, staring at you as if you were whatever was in his nightmare.

"Jimmy," you whimpered. "It's me. You were having a nightmare, but you're safe."

He blinked a few times before recognition finally filled his eyes. He let go of your wrist. "Oh, darlin', I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt ya."

"No, it's my fault. I didn't mean to scare you. You were having a nightmare, I just wanted to wake you."

You took hold of his hand and ran your thumb over his knuckles, hoping you were soothing him with the action.

"I haven't had a nightmare that vivid in a long time," he said, more to himself than to you. "I...I was dreaming about my dad...the last time I saw him, with his mob of demons following him out of the church."

He clenched his eyes closed again, shaking his head as if to shake away the nightmare - or the memory?

You reached up carefully to cup Jimmy's face, trying not to startle him again. When you touched him, Jimmy opened his eyes.

"You're safe," you assured him. "You're here, with me. You're not in any danger...more than usual, anyways."

There was a beat where Jimmy simply studied your face in silence. He moved before you could comprehend what he was doing, leaning in and pressing his lips against yours. It was far from a perfect kiss - all teeth and his rough lips, unplanned and possibly the first kiss either of you had ever had. But it still made your stomach fill with butterflies and made you lightheaded.

Jimmy pulled away just as quickly as he had leaned in. "Sorry, maybe I should've asked first."

You giggled. "Don't apologize. I've been hoping for that to happen since before we saw the infected today."

"Me too."

He went in for a second kiss, this time slower and more tender. His arms had wrapped around your waist, pulling you as close to him as he possibly could. For a moment, you forgot that the two of you weren't alone. You would've been more than happy to let Jimmy pull you onto his lap and take things as far as he wanted, until you heard the sound of one of the Jimmies shifting in their sleep. The two of you broke apart and looked over to make sure none of them had woken up.

When you were sure it was safe, Jimmy let out a sigh. "I suppose I can wait until we find somewhere more private before we start doing that more."

"Maybe for the best that they don't wake up and find us making out mere feet away."

"Oh, I'd be doing more than kissing you. If you'd let me, of course."

The answer would be an enthusiastic yes if his comment hadn't completely short circuited your brain. Jimmy seemed to know exactly the effect his words had on you as that familiar cocky grin returned to his face.

Jimmy eventually coaxed you back to laying down, this time with his arm around you and you cuddled into his chest. You listened to his heartbeat as his breathing slowly became heavy until finally you were sure he had fallen asleep. You smiled to yourself, allowing yourself to relax and fall into a comfortable and peaceful sleep.

[storiesforallfandoms]

bless me father ~ jud duplenticy;knives out

word count: 5455

request?: no

description: after being dragged to yet another church service, she meets the new priest, and starts having thinking of him in ways that are less than holy

pairing: jud duplenticy x female!reader

warnings: swearing, no use of y/n, mentions of violence (from jud's past), wicks and his awful flock, a lil bit of religious inaccuracies (i.e. a catholic priest getting into a romantic relationship)

masterlist (one, two, three)

My parents were convinced Wicks was a second coming or some shit. They went to every one of his services, and they would not listen to a word against him. For as long as I could remember, they were attending masses at Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, and they would drag me and my siblings with them every time. Even now, when all three of us were grown adults, my parents would still pester us until we gave into going. My older siblings became smart enough to get out of it; my sister moved out of town some time ago, and my brother was always conveniently working exactly when the services were.

So then, there was me. The youngest child, living too close to my parents, and working a work from home job where I could pick my own hours. I had no excuses when they showed up on my doorstep, demanding I go to church with them. Unfortunately, the truth of "I'm an adult, you can't force me to go anywhere" did not work on them. So, at least once a week, I found myself sat in a pew in Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, listening to Monsignor Wicks spout bullshit that was so far from actual Christianity.

I wasn't religious. Despite my parents trying to raise all three of us under their religion, it never stuck for me. But even with my lack of knowledge of Christianity, I knew that the shit Wicks preached was not real Christianity. It was self indulgent under the guise of preaching and guiding, and my parents fell for it like the suckers they were. My siblings and I had tried to convince them to wake up and walk away from the church, but they were devoted (more like stubborn).

So, there I was, stuck sitting with my parents in the second row pew, listening to Wicks' usual droning, wishing for it to end. When Wicks stepped down to "decompress" in his private room, I expected Martha to take her place to continue the service. I was shocked when a newcomer took her place instead. As he led the church through a hymn, I took the time to really study this new priest. He was much younger than Wicks and Martha, probably close to my age. I noticed he was handsome, but quickly pushed that thought out of my mind. It felt wrong to consider a priest attractive, especially one within Wicks' church.

But then he happened to turn his head, and I noticed a tattoo peaking out form his clerical collar. Something about this information made my heart rate pick up and my palms started to sweat.

I leaned over to my mother to whisper, "Who is that?"

I was met with her loudly shushing me, drawing more attention than my whispered question had. I slumped down in my seat, trying to melt away into the floor to escape. When I looked back to the front, the new priest was also looking at me. He gave me a small smile and I felt my body ignite with further embarrassment.

Finally, the sermon ended and I was out of my seat quickly. I rarely ever waited for my parents once the church services ended. They may demand they drive me there, mainly as yet another way to force me into going, but once it was all over they didn't care what I did. Usually I would slip out immediately while they talked to the other flock members and walk home. Chimney Rock was so small there honestly wasn't any need for cars.

But this time, as I was rushing out of the church to leave, I stopped short just outside of the church doors. Standing along the walkway, talking to Lee Ross, was the new priest. I stopped so suddenly that whoever was walking behind me slammed into me, causing me to stumble forward. Cy Drave glared at me as he passed. "Jesus, watch where you're going. If I broke this phone, it would cost more than you've ever seen in your life."

I rolled my eyes at him. Besides the irony of taking the Lord's name in vein in a church, Cy was just an all around jackass. He was a failed politician with an okay online following, so he thought it meant everyone else was beneath him. I wish I had made him break his phone so he'd finally stop filming everything.

When I looked back, Lee had walked away to join the Wicks ass kissing, and the new priest was looking at me again. My palms felt moist as he started to walk towards me. I tried to discreetly wipe them on my jeans so he wouldn't notice if he tried to shake my hand.

"Hi," he said, offering his hand to me. "My name is Father Jud."

I introduced myself, hoping my hands didn't feel clammy against his. I noticed that his hands felt rougher than I'd image a priest's would. I always assumed they'd be soft and warm. His were rough, almost calloused. "Working hands" is what my mom would call them.

"I'm trying to introduce myself to Wicks' flock," Father Jud explained. "To get to know everyone so they feel comfortable with me."

"Oh, I'm not a member of the flock." He gave me a confused look, so I explained, "My parents are. They've always been very...adamant about my siblings and I coming with them to church. My siblings are...busy now, so it's just me."

"You haven't felt drawn to the faith on your own?"

I couldn't stop the scoff that slipped out. Luckily, Father Jud seemed amused by my response. "No offence, Father, but even if I had a little bit of interest in any religion, it wouldn't be whatever awful excuse for Christianity that Wicks is preaching."

Father Jud hummed in response. The look on his face told me he agreed, which gave me some relief. Everyone around here seemed to fall in line with the belief that Wicks' Christianity was the true faith, whether they actually believed it or not. It was a breath of fresh air to be able to vocalize my distain for Wicks and not be chastised for it, let alone to see someone agreeing with me.

"Well, I hope to see you around of your own volition," Father Jud said, giving me a warm smile before moving past me into the church. He paused to turn back to me and added, "And, please, call me Jud."

I was only able to nod in response. When he turned away, my gaze returned to the tattoo on his neck. Who knew something so mundane as a tattoo could be so captivating. And that's when I knew I'd be back, with little fight for the first time.

~~~~~~

I tried not to be too obvious in my want to go to the next service. There was always the odd time where mom and dad wouldn't bother to pressure me into going to church with them. It was impossible to predict when that would be, and I was sure they did that on purpose to keep me guessing. Of course, the next two services were those times. I couldn't ask to go with them or else they'd be suspicious, and the last thing I wanted to do was tell my parents I wanted to go to church to see the attractive priest.

When they finally showed up at my door in their church clothes, I had a hard time playing up like I was annoyed by their presence. Luckily, they didn't suspect a thing, telling me their usual, "Quit your whining. We're going to get in touch with the Lord. It'd do you good," and so on. I was also grateful that it was a warm, spring day, so that they didn't question when I told them I wanted to change before the service. I had picked out a floral summer dress that was subtle enough that it looked like something a normal church goer would wear, or, in my case, something I'd wear to avoid my mom's complaints about wearing jeans to church. But it was also a dress that I had turned enough heads of men when I wore it to know it'd likely capture Jud's attention as well.

I spotted him the second we walked through the doors. He was greeting everyone as they entered - or, at least, he was trying to. It seemed Wicks' more devoted members had taken to shunning Jud. When he noticed me, however, a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. I smiled back at him as I followed my parents to their usual pew. I snuck a quick glance back at him before sliding in next to my father, and I could've swore I had caught his eyes looking me up and down.

The service felt longer than usual. It felt like Wicks' rantings were ten times longer, although I wasn't paying attention to any of them. My eyes were drawn to Jud the whole time. If he felt my gaze on him, he didn't let on. It wasn't until the service ended that we were able to speak. He found me outside of the church, doing my best to pretend like I wasn't waiting for him.

"You came back," he said. "I noticed your parents have been coming without you."

"Did you miss me, Father?" I teased. Blush crept out from under his collar. I pretended not to notice, but it made me feel somewhat giddy that it seemed my teasing was true. "Sometimes my parents don't insist on me joining them." I shrugged. "I stopped trying to figure them out a very long time ago."

Jud looked as though he was thinking for a moment, before he asked, "Will they be waiting for you?"

"No. I usually walk home after the services."

"Will you come for a walk with me then?"

I agreed so quickly that I found myself tripping over my words. Or rather, word, since all I had to say was yes. I didn't ask where we were going, which, looking back, I definitely should've, and maybe I should've also thought more critically about going off with a man I had only met once. But I was too focused on the fact that the attractive priest wanted to spend time alone with me.

We didn't go far. There was a few benches tucked away from the rest of the church grounds. We walked over to them and sat down. I expected Jud to sit on the bench across from me, but instead he sat next to me. The bench was small enough that our arms were brushing against each other. I tried not to focus on it too much, instead opting to gaze around at how beautiful the church grounds were. I had never really looked around before as I usually tried to escape the church the second the services ended, but it truly was a beautiful, older building with beautiful grounds, too.

"Do you have a good relationship with your parents?"

I looked at Jud in amusement. "Is that what you brought me out here for? To ask me about my family?"

He chuckled. "No, but it is something I was curious about. You seem...I don't know, indifferent maybe? When you talk about them."

I sighed as I considered my answer. "It's...difficult. My parents aren't bad people. They always took care of my siblings and I, and supported us. They were always very Christian, but not the way they are now since joining Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude. I wouldn't say they've completely changed, but they've become a lot more insufferable. Especially since my siblings and I see right through Wicks' shit, but my parents can't." I paused, realizing what I said, and quickly added, "Sorry for my language."

Jud smiled at me. It made my stomach feel warm and fuzzy. "It's alright. Don't tell anyone I'm saying this, but I agree with you. What Monsignor Wicks does here is not true Christianity."

"Is that why you're here? Are you trying to change the church?"

"No. I'm here because...I made a mistake. This is sort of my punishment, but mostly it's my redemption."

I wanted to ask more, but I knew it wasn't my place to pry. For now, I'd have to let my mind wander on what exactly a priest does to get sent to probably the worst church in a small, boring town.

"Well, I'm glad you're here," I told him. "Wicks had too many yes men here. We need more people who aren't afraid to push back against him."

A silence fell over us. We were still facing each other, and I noticed how close we were. It was hard not to focus on the feeling of his arm crushing against mine now. He was earing short sleeves today, so the bare skin of both our arms were touching, sending sparks through the rest of my body. I wanted to lean closer into him, press as much of myself against him as I could. I wanted to look at his neck tattoo as closely as possible, maybe even press my lips against it if he let me.

The thought made me gasp and pull away from him. A look of concern crossed his face. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I just...nothing."

I looked away so he wouldn't see me cringe at my own flimsy excuse.

"Okay," he said, drawing out the vowels of the word. "I suppose I should get back before Wicks or Martha come looking for me."

I hid my disappointment behind a teasing, "What, are you not allowed to be alone?"

"Most times they leave me be, especially around services," he responded. "But sometimes Wicks seeks me out for...confessions. I'd hope he wouldn't saw those vile things around you, but..."

I didn't need further elaboration. I could only imagine what kind of foul shit Wicks "confessed".

We stood from the bench and walked back to the front of the church. We were gone long enough that everyone had cleared out after the service, including my parents. I was glad I had wore comfortable shoes for my walk home.

Jud turned to face me. "I'm glad I was able to see you again."

I smiled at him. "I'm glad I got to see you again, too."

"Don't stay away so long next time."

"I'll try not to, but you know what they say: absence makes the heart grow fonder."

It'll certainly make mine grow fonder.

As we parted ways, I mentally chastised myself for my thoughts about Jud. I couldn't help but noticing that he was attractive. Anyone with eyes could see that. But noticing and fantasizing were two completely different things. And I very much could not be fantasizing about Jud. He was a man of the Lord, for Christ sake!

(Pun somewhat intended.)

Priests usually took a vow of abstinence or whatever, right? They weren't allowed to get married or have sex, or pursue any kind of romantic relationship. So, crushing on a priest was a recipe for heart break. Even if he thought I was also attractive, he could never do anything beyond notice. So that's all I could do, too. Notice Jud.

But that didn't have to mean I couldn't be friends with him.

~~~~~~

A few days later, I was out for my morning run when I found myself passing Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude. I glanced into the yard and noticed a figure dressed in all black doing some wood working. At first glance, I assumed it was Samson and was going to continue my run past. But then he stood up and I realized it was Jud.

I stopped so suddenly that I stumbled a bit. "Hey! Jud!"

He looked up from what he was doing and smiled when he saw me. "Hi!"

"Nice to see you outside of service," I said.

"Yeah, it's nice to see you, too. I really wasn't expecting to see you so soon."

I nodded towards the set up in front of him. "What are you working on?"

"Oh, there's just a few things in the church that need some fixing up. I used to do woodworking before I devoted myself full time, so I offered to fix them. Thought I'd make myself...useful."

Jud's face seemed to become sullen as he said that. In an attempt to cheer him up, I said, "Personally, I think you're plenty useful to this place. But woodworking definitely makes you extra useful."

I considered my attempt a success when Jud smiled. He motioned for me to join him. I was a little hesitant due to the fact that I was gross and sweaty from my run, but I knew I didn't want to pass up this opportunity to spend more time with him. So, I stepped in through the gate and joined him. I tried very hard not to stare at Jud's arms, exposed in his short sleeve shirt and flexing as he lifted something heavy, or at his neck tattoo, peaking out from his collar. I wondered if asking him to see the full tattoo would finally free me of my obsession with it, or make the obsession worse.

Watching Jud work reminded me of the roughness of his hands when we first met. This must've been why, which made sense. I never would've guessed a priest would be good at anything constructive like wood working. Maybe that was a bad stereotype, but to me, priests only stood at the alter and preached, or listened to confessionals behind a curtain. They didn't wood work and have rough, worker's hands.

"I'm sorry if this is a little personal," I said, "but how did you get into the priesthood?"

Jud paused his work. I could tell by the look on his face that he was deep in thought, like he was contemplating whether he should tell me the truth. I wasn't going to push him for an explanation if he didn't want to tell me, but his hesitance did make me more interested in his story.

Finally, he said, "I used to be a boxer when I was young."

Jud laughed at the shocked look on my face. "Yeah, I know. Complete 180 to what I am now. But I was young, dumb, and full of this aggression that was so fierce it even scared me sometimes. I needed a quick buck, and boxing paid well enough."

"And boxing made you become a priest?"

He looked away. He was fidgeting with the tools in his hands. I was sure he wasn't going to tell me, and I was willing to let it go, but then he said, "I killed a man in the ring."

I gasped at his confession. I certainly wasn't expecting that.

"I was angry, and the anger made me blind in the ring," he explained. "I didn't even realize what I had done until...after. And that's when I turned to Christianity, and to God. I did what I had to for His forgiveness, and now here I am."

"Wow," I breathed. That's all I really could say. I knew a lot of people turned to religion to help them get through tough times, but I didn't expect to learn that the new priest had turned to this life because he accidentally killed someone.

I could see the look of shame on his face. He was focusing hard on the work he as doing, although he wasn't actually doing anything. Just moving his hands around as if he was going to do some work. I could tell he was trying to seem occupied to keep from having to look at me. I realized he was anticipating the worst; that I was about to run off and never come back because he told me he killed someone.

I took a step towards Jud, testing the waters. When he looked up at me, it gave me the confidence to close the distance and put my hand on his arm.

"I think it takes a lot of courage to own up to the things you're ashamed of and to seek help," I told him. "And it seems your faith has helped you turn over a new leaf, which is great. I'm glad you had something to lean on."

He smiled, a relieved look on his face. "I haven't told anyone else that yet. Not here, anyways."

"That's not surprising. Everyone here are assholes."

He chuckled. I forgot I was touching Jud's arm until he reached up with his other hand to place it over mine. The touch made my heart rate spike. Suddenly, it felt harder to breathe.

"I'm really glad I met you," he told me. "I'm glad you keep coming around to talk to me."

"Even if I'm not convinced by all the religious stuff?" I joked, trying to lighten the mood because the seriousness was putting butterflies in my stomach.

"Well, you needed one flaw. Otherwise you'd be too perfect."

I could tell he meant the comment to also be a lighthearted tease, but it made the butterflies explode into a flutter of excitement. The logical part of my brain was trying to remind me why this was a bad idea, but the less logical part was louder, telling me I should just go for it. The worst that could happen is he turned me down, and really, how bad would that be? I didn't even like going to the church, so it's not like the rejection would ruin anything for me.

I started leaning towards Jud. I could've swore he was leaning in, too, until we were interrupted by someone calling for Jud. He pulled away from me completely and turned arounds the church. I looked over as well to find Wicks stood at the door, watching us with the same stone cold expression he always had on his face. I'd be more worried about Wicks' reaction to what he just saw if I wasn't annoyed by his overall presence.

"Come take my confession," Wicks said to Jud before walking away, not even acknowledging that I was there.

Jud let out a long sigh. I remembered our last conversation about Wicks' confessions, the similar despair on Jud's face at the mere mention of them. I mentally pitied Jud for having to deal with that.

"I should get back to my run anyways," I said.

Jud nodded. I wasn't sure if I was seeing actual disappointment on his face or if I was projecting my own.

"I'm glad you came by," he said. "And thank you."

I didn't ask what he was thanking me for. Instead, I told him, "You don't have to thank me. I'm always here to listen."

I squeezed his arm, mainly as an excuse to touch him one last time, before walking out of the gate and continuing my run.

~~~~~~

I couldn't stop thinking about the moment I had with Jud for days afterwards. I had been to two services since that day, and it was getting harder to pretend like I wasn't imagining kissing Jud every time I saw him in his green cope, standing off to the side while Wicks ranted on. Luckily, my parents had yet to notice, but I was sure they would eventually.

After days of thinking about and pining for Jud, I decided I had to tell him. Our conversations after services had become short and awkward because I was suddenly too awkward around him. I knew if I didn't tell him, then he'd just keep occupying my thoughts all the time, and I'd never be able to talk normally to him. At least if I told him and it went poorly, then it was out of the way and I could move on.

Hopefully.

I went to the church when I knew the weekday service was over. I was hoping to get Jud alone to talk to him, with zero threat of someone interrupting us, so I formed a plan that would make sure that would happen. The first step of that plan could only work if Jud was in the church.

Which, luckily, he was.

He seemed to be cleaning up when I walked in. Upon hearing the door open, Jud looked up. He looked shocked to see me.

"I thought you weren't feeling well," he said. Before I could ask, he added, "I-I mean, I overheard your p-parents say that. They told someone else, I just heard it."

"I told them I wasn't feeling well," I explained. "It's the only excuse they'll take to get me out of going to church."

He looked confused. "Oh...but you're here now?"

"Yeah. I, um...I wanted to talk to you. To...confess."

I looked at the confessional booth. Jud followed my gaze before looking back to me with an amused look. "Really?" I nodded. "Well, alright. Come, step into the booth."

I had never been in a confessional before, but I had seen plenty of these scenes in TV and movies, so I had some assumptions on what the booth would be like. And all of them were true: it was warm, dark, somewhat claustrophobic, and it smelled of fresh wood even though I was sure it was older than me. I heard Jud stepping into the booth next to me. His face was completely obscured by the window between us. If I hadn't seen Jud before this, I'd never know he was the one on the other side.

I wiped my sweaty palms on my pants. I had gotten this far in my plan, there was no turning back.

"Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It's been...well...actually, I've never confessed."

I heard Jud chuckle. "Should I be prepared to sit here a while?"

I let out a shaky laugh. "No. There's one specific sin I want to confess today."

Jud was silent, waiting for me to go on. I took a deep breath. Just say it. Get it done and over with.

"You know I don't actually believe in all of this," I started. "But I definitely think I've done something I need to confess to. I'm not asking for forgiveness, I just need to say it." The words got stuck in my throat, but I managed to force them out, "I've fallen for a priest."

My heart was hammering so hard that it was the only thing I could hear. I was waiting for Jud's response, but nothing came. Panic was starting to rise in me and I couldn't stop myself from the nervous rambles that escaped my mouth.

"I tried not to. I told myself it was just an infatuation and I'd get over it. But then every time I talked to him, I realized he is the kindest person I've ever met, and that he cares so much for everyone, even when they don't deserve it. He's the best person I've ever known. It feels impossible to not have fallen in love with him. And I can't keep this a secret anymore, so...I came to confess."

I clamped my mouth shut to cut off any more word vomit. I waited in the awful silence for Jud to say something. I looked over to make sure he was still there. I could see his outline, unmoving and unspeaking.

The silence became too much. I knew I had to get out of there, and probably never come back. I'd need to come up with a really good excuse to get out of coming to church from now on. Maybe I could suddenly move so far out of town that I'd never have to think of Jud ever again. I muttered a quick, "Amen", which felt like the right way to leave one of these, then flung open the curtain to make my escape.

I had just stepped out of the confessional when suddenly someone was grabbing my arm. I yelped as I was pulled back into the booth. I didn't have much time to process the fact that Jud and I were pressed up against each other in the tight space before his lips were on mine. My body reacted on impulse, my lips kissing him back as my hands grabbed at his robe. His kiss was gentle, yet passionate. He held me to him like he was afraid I was going to disappear, like this was a dream he might wake up from at any moment. I couldn't blame him, because I was feeling the exact same way.

The first words out of Jud's mouth immediately after he pulled away were, "I'm sorry."

I giggled. "Why are you apologizing?"

"I don't know. I haven't done...that in...a long time." I could see a tinge of pink creeping onto his cheeks at the confession. "I realized maybe I should've asked first."

"You could've, but there's something hot about just going for it," I confessed. "Obviously, I would've said yes anyways."

"I'll remember that."

He pulled me in for another kiss. I draped my arms around his neck, feeling more relaxed this time. Kissing him was better than I could've ever imagined. Where his hands were rough and calloused, his lips were soft and gentle. He wasn't holding me so tightly anymore, but he did still have a firm hold on my hips. I finally allowed myself to press my body against his, to take in as much of him as I physically could. I never wanted to stop kissing him, although I knew we should probably move from the confessional before someone found us.

Jud must've had the same thought, as once he broke away the second time, he said, "We should probably not be in here."

He moved to look out through the curtains to make sure the coast was clear before motioning for me to step out of the confessional with him. My whole body was tingling from kissing him. I wanted to do it again, even if there was more of a risk now of Martha or Wicks walking in on us if we were out in the open like this.

He took my hand in his, raising it to his lips to brush a kiss against my knuckles. "I'm quite rusty when it comes to romance. You'll have to forgive me if it takes some time to get used to it again."

"I don't mind," I said. "But...are you allowed to pursue a relationship? Will you be in trouble with the priesthood if we go any further with this?"

He ran his thumb along my knuckles. It was soothing. I couldn't stop thinking about the feeling of his hand on mine. I almost wanted to pinch myself to make sure this wasn't a dream.

"A lot of priests take the oath to never marry or have relations," he said. "But, it's not that serious of an oath as it once was. You're not completely shunned if you decide to pursue romance anymore. Some take it more seriously than others."

He glanced around the church in a way that told me Wicks was probably one of the "some" he was referring to.

"Do you think he'd toss you out of the church if he knew?" I asked, although we both knew the answer already.

Instead, Jud said, "I don't want to think about it. If I'm being honest, I want to take you somewhere private and keep kissing you. Maybe...maybe eventually doing more than kissing."

A fire ran through my body at his words. I kept my composure, though, as I said, "I won't make you do anything you don't want to do. We can take it slow."

His eyes dropped to the floor as he said, "I don't know if I can take it slow with you. I've been waiting so long to be able to tell you how I feel...I've been having some...impure thoughts of my own."

I shifted, trying to ignore the feeling that was growing between my legs. I made a mental reminder to ask about those "impure thoughts" in the future, when I was sure he was more comfortable with our situation.

"I don't have any other obligations for the rest of the day," he continued. "Will you come back to my room with me for a while? No one comes to bother me there. We could be completely alone."

I answered so quickly that Jud hadn't even finished his sentence. He chuckled at my eagerness and pulled me in for another kiss before leading me out of the church and to his room.

[sundustingdryads]

I have seen so many posts about disappointment in Green Day’s performance, but please, let’s read between the lines.

They sang “Holiday” which is an anti-war, anti-fascist protest song! It essentially accuses citizens of being complacent and letting awful things happen. Read the lyrics. Seriously.

“American Idiot,” (although being censored and lyrics being left out during the Super Bowl LX performance), is about a conformist, consuming society manipulated by fear-mongering and propaganda, rather than informed thought. “One Nation Controlled by the Media” —sounds familiar?! *cough cough* Trump’s Administration *cough cough*

They probably were forced to censor and cut things out, but their song picks were clearly very intentional and were meant to be the message.

[freyaskyejones]

TOGETHER WE ARE AMERICA

BAD BUNNY Super Bowl LX Halftime show ending speech | February 8, 2026.

[edenianprincess]

Reminder that, AI doesn’t randomly sprout random words, they are trained based on stolen works made by humans. Most AI companies do not care about asking or even crediting writers from whom they’re stealing.  Promoting an industry that steals from writers and put it under a tag where most fics are made from humans and was created to promote real writers is lowkey crazy. 

It’s not even just companies, there are people here who stole paragraphs from fanfics to put them in their character ai prompt.

And the generative AI industry is very destructive for the planet (summer is getting hotter each year for mafia boss rp to exist🏃‍♀️🔥) and by extension our lives, not saying that other apps are better for the planet, but at least you can support real writers and not billionaires only.

Or write fics yourself, so you don’t pollute each time you ask AI to redo a sentence. “But I’m bad at writing” literally every writers said that, just make it exist first you will make it good later, learn your style, what you like to write and you will eventually create at least one thing you will be proud of. It’s difficult for everyone but creating things you wish existed is worth it. And believe me that there are people here who would love to see what you write, diversity in fics community is a need. You can do it people ‼️

[storiesforallfandoms]

This blog is anti-AI !!! All writing you see on here is done by a real human being, me. Don’t be bringing that mess around here !!!

[storiesforallfandoms]

imperfect ~ evan "buck" buckley;9-1-1

word count: 3497

request?: no

description: in which he keeps trying to plan the perfect night, but something keeps getting in his way

pairing: evan buckley x female!reader

warnings: swearing, no use of y/n, mentions reader getting injured

masterlist (one, two, three)

Buck had planned everything for months. The reservation at the fancy restaurant, the dress you had been eyeing for ages but constantly made excuses why you couldn't buy it, and most importantly, the ring. He had taken the day off and told everyone his plan so they knew not to call him in for any reason. Everything was set to be perfect, and Buck was going to make sure it stayed perfect.

The dress was laid out on the bed when you got home from work. Buck couldn't help but beam when he saw your face light up with excitement upon seeing it. "What is this?!"

"You've been wanting it for so long," Buck said. "I thought it might be a nice surprise."

"It's an amazing surprise." You threw your arms around Buck and planted a kiss on his cheek. "I love it so much. Thank you, baby."

"Why don't you put it on for our date tonight?"

"I like the way you think, Buckley."

When Buck saw you in the dress, he had to remind himself of tonight's plan. If he didn't, he worried the two of you might not leave. He may be too tempted to take that dress off of you now instead of later when it would be in celebration of putting a ring on your finger.

Buck was getting ready to go when his phone started ringing. His sister's name and contact photo filled his screen. He was mid tying his tie when he glanced at the phone and decided he would call Maddie back later. He figured she was probably calling to wish him luck on the proposal, or grill him on if he really had everything ready for it, which he knew he very much did. But when the phone started to ring again immediately after it stopped, Buck had a bad feeling. He quickly answered, bracing for whatever Maddie was about to tell him.

"I need you guys to come watch Robert."

Buck groaned. "Maddie, you know I can't tonight."

"I know, Buck, and I'm so so sorry to ask because I know you've been planning this for months, but Jee has a crazy high fever and I have no one else to look after Robert while I take her to the hospital."

"Have you asked - "

"Everyone, Buck. You're literally my last choice and I didn't even want to ask you, but everyone else is working and I can't bring him to the station in case Chim has to go on a call. Please, Buck. I have no other choice."

Buck pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew Maddie wouldn't ask unless she had no other choice, and normally Buck would do anything for Jee and Robert, but tonight was special. He had been putting this night together for months. There was no way he could just postpone it. It wasn't that easy to get a reservation at the restaurant he was planning to take you to, and it wasn't easy to get a full 24 hours of guaranteed off time as a firefighter. Buck had no idea when he'd be able to put this night together again if it didn't happen.

Buck was about to tell Maddie that he couldn't look after Robert and tell her that he owed her big time in the future but he just couldn't do it tonight, when you walked into the room. You noticed Buck's state and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just Maddie," Buck said, motioning to his phone.

"Is she okay? Are the kids okay?"

Buck couldn't help but smile at your concern for his family. It was one of the many things that led him to his decision to propose. "She said Jee has a fever and she needs someone to look after Robert while she takes Jee to the hospital - "

"Oh, we can do that."

Buck's heart fell. He shouldn't have told you that. He should've known that you'd be more than happy to postpone a date night if someone was in need. He didn't know how to deter you from this decision without revealing to you why this date night was more important than your usual date nights. "B-But...our reservation...it's impossible to get another one."

"I know, but that place is so fancy and expensive." You shrugged. "I mean, it'd be nice to go there for the exclusivity of it, but I don't mind postponing for a less fancy place some other time. Especially so we can look after Robert so Jee can go to the hospital."

Buck had no other arguments. There was no way out of this. His perfect night to propose to his girlfriend had been snatched away.

On the phone, Buck heard Maddie softly say, "I'm so sorry, Evan."

He responded, "We'll be over as soon as possible."

You were looking at Buck with pity. You knew how much he had wanted to go to this place and how hard it would be to get another reservation, but you also knew you'd both feel bad the whole night if you turned down helping Maddie just to go out on a date. You could go out again, eventually to the fancy place, even if it was no time soon.

Buck was trying not to let his frustration show as the two of you changed out of your fancy date clothes. He knew you'd pick up that he was more frustrated than he'd normally be over a cancelled date and you'd start to ask questions. And he knew Maddie truly would not have called him for help if she wasn't in a bind, so he knew he shouldn't be frustrated with her. But that didn't mean he couldn't be frustrated at all. He knew realistically that he could plan another special night to propose, and he knew that's likely what he'd be doing the second he calmed down, but for now he couldn't shake the frustration at the night being ruined so suddenly.

Maddie thanked the two of you profusely before rushing out of the house with Jee. Buck's jaw was still tight as you went to check on Robert. He was in his playpen, blissfully ignorant to the world around him. When he heard you walking in, he turned around and a wide smile spread across his chubby cheeks. You couldn't help but coo at him and pick him up out of his playpen. Robert giggled as you spoke to him in your baby voice and poke his stomach. Buck's frustration finally melted away as he watched you and Robert. You were always great with Maddie and Chim's kids. Jee took to you the moment you met her, and sometimes she was more excited to see you than Buck. Of course, the same thing happened with Robert after he was born. They both loved you dearly, and you loved them, and it made Buck's heart so full.

Thinking about how well you got along with his niece and nephew made Buck think about a future where you two had your own rugrats running around. It reminded him of what tonight was supposed to be, and Buck suddenly had an idea. He could propose right here and now, without the ring, and give it to you when you got home. In Maddie and Chim's home instead of the fancy restaurant, in sweatpants and hoodies instead of the dress he bought for you and the suit he picked out for himself.

"Hey, Earth to Buck."

Buck shook himself out of his thoughts to find you and Robert looking at him. "Sorry. I was just thinking."

"I can tell," you teased. "What were you thinking?"

Buck shrugged. "Ah, nothing important."

You gave him a look, but you didn't ask any further.

Buck decided no, he couldn't propose here. He had a plan, and the plan may have been a little derailed, but he could get it back on track. He wanted the proposal to be absolutely perfect.

~~~~~~

A week later, Buck had a new plan. It wasn't as perfect as his initial plan, but it was still pretty good. He couldn't get another reservation at the restaurant as they were booked up for months, so he got a reservation at a not as fancy, but still pretty fancy place. It was his night off and he had already made sure Maddie would have someone to look after the kids in case of emergency.

You needed no convincing to wear the dress, although you did still tell Buck you didn't understand why he insisted on being so dressed up for this date.

"You usually wear jeans and a t-shirt, now you're basically wearing a suit," you teased him.

"Dress pants and a button up is not a suit," he said. "Maybe I just want to dress up nice and treat my beautiful girlfriend the way she deserves to be treated."

You leaned into Buck's embrace. "You really know how to sweet talk a woman, Buckley."

As he drove to the restaurant, Buck felt the nervousness grow within him. A million different plans were running through his mind on how he'd ask you: ask the waiter to bring a glass of champagne with the ring in it; get down on one knee right there at the table and cause a scene (that could potentially result in free dessert or free alcohol in celebration); he could ask before you even sat down, just to get the nerves out of the way. In the end, Buck came to the decision that a lowkey, intimate way was the best way to pop the question. He'd do it over dessert, which he knew was your favorite part of any meal. He'd give you the ring, and ask in a hushed voice if you'd marry him, so that it was a moment shared just between the two of you.

He opened the car door for you and linked your arm through his. The host seated you both as a table that was somewhat secluded, which Buck knew would make the moment more intimate. You both ordered a glass of wine each and decided to forgo appetizers in favor of dessert after the meal. You ordered your main courses, and luckily you were more than happy to fill the silence with small talk about work and what you had been doing that day. Buck was too afraid to say more than a few word responses to your stories and questions, in case he accidentally let the surprise slip before the main course even came.

When Buck's phone started to ring, he had no intentions of answering. But, he did pull it from his pocket just to see who was calling, and his heart sank upon seeing Bobby's name.

"You should get that," you told him, as if reading his mind while he mentally debated on ignoring the call.

"We're on a date," Buck reasoned.

"It might be important, Buck."

He signed. Damn you and your reasonableness and your big heart. Just this once he wished you were selfish enough to tell him to ignore the call and stay on the date with you.

He answered the phone, praying that Bobby was just asking him a question, or reminding him of something for his next shift. To his dismay, Bobby said, "Buck, I'm so sorry. I know you had your postponed plans to propose tonight, but we really need you. Ravi's injured himself and he's likely going to be out for a few weeks."

You noticed Buck's demeaner deflate and you knew exactly what Bobby had said. You waved down your server to ask, "Can we get that food to go, actually? And the bill?"

A familiar feeling of frustration grew within Buck. He had come so close this time. Within the hour he would've been engaged, if Ravi hadn't done whatever he did to injure himself, thus giving Bobby no choice but to call in Buck.

Although, they were still waiting on the food and the bill. He had just enough time to pull out the ring and ask you, maybe salvage this night from being completely ruined.

But, as he watched you quickly finish your wine as to not waste it before you had to leave, Buck realized this wasn't the time. He wasn't going to ask you to marry him in a rush as you waited for your food to be packaged to go, then run off to work instead of celebrating your engagement. He would just have to try again some other time.

Third time's the charm, right?

~~~~~~

After two and a half weeks of covering for Ravi, he finally returned to work and Buck was finally able to come up with a back up proposal plan for the original back up plan.

He decided he was going to abandon the fancy dinner idea all together. It clearly was not meant to happen that way. Instead, he was going in a completely different direction: he was taking you for a hike.

You both loved hikes and nature walks. So, Buck planned to take you on a hike to one of the most beautiful views in the Los Angeles area, and propose there. It helped his decision, too, that the hiking trail had little to no service, so he wouldn't be interrupted by any phone calls.

The trail was steeper than Buck anticipated, and a little rocky, but you were pushing through it like you always did. The sun was beaming down on you both, making the hike extra hot. You paused a few times to drink water and stand in any nearby shade. Buck wasn't about to rush you, either. Even he was finding the hike a little difficult, and he regularly worked in big, heavy firefighting gear in this type of weather.

"Maybe this trail was a bad idea," he said after finishing his water. Luckily, he had packed several bottles in his bag just in case.

"No! It's good," you insisted. "It's just...a little strenuous."

Buck nodded. I really hope this is all worth it once we reach the top.

You started off again. Buck was trailing ahead of you, so he noticed the trail was coming to an end first. He smiled to himself and was turning to tell you that you were almost there, when he was cut off by the sound of you shrieking.

Buck was quick to turn around and rush down the rocky terrain towards you. You had slipped and taken a small tumble. On his first look, it seemed you survived the tumble with no injuries, but upon looking closer, he could see your foot was turned in a way it shouldn't be.

"Fuck," you hissed. "It's sprained for sure."

"Can I look?" he asked. You nodded. Buck was careful as he pulled off your sneaker and rolled down your sock. He winced at the sight of your ankle, which was already starting to swell. "Yeah, sprained for sure. We should get you to a hospital."

"Not gonna call 911 for me?"

He chuckled at your attempt to joke through your obvious pain. "No signal up here anyways. I'm gonna have to carry you down."

"Oh no, how devastating."

Buck lifted you into his arms and carefully started making his way back to the car, trying very hard not to think about the fact that another attempt at proposing had been ruined.

~~~~~~

"I'm starting to think it's not meant to be," Buck was telling Eddie the next day. "That's three botched proposals. It has to be a sign, right?"

Eddie gave him a look. "You think the universe is trying to tell you not to spend the rest of your life with the woman you're madly in love with?"

Buck shrugged in response. He knew that sounded crazy, but it was hard to think otherwise when there was always something getting in his way and ruining his plan.

Eddie put a hand on Buck's shoulder and said, "Listen, this is not a sign that you shouldn't be together. It might be a sign that you're trying too hard to make the perfect proposal. Sometimes, the moment doesn't have to be romance novel perfect in the lead up. The moment itself, when you propose and she says yes, that will be the perfectness."

Eddie gave Buck's shoulder a squeeze before walking past him to the station kitchen. Bobby was cooking for the team, and unsurprisingly it smelled delicious. It was enough to take his mind off of his proposal problems for a brief moment as his mouth watered and his stomach started to rumble. An idea quickly formed in his head, and he let himself get his hopes of a proposal up once more.

~~~~~~

A few days later, you limped through the apartment door. Your ankle had gone back to normal size and the bruising had started to turn from blue and purple to a light yellow color. The doctors told you as long as you rested it and didn't put too much strain on it, that it wouldn't be long until it was mostly healed. And you were already walking on it, albeit still with a limp but with much less pain than before.

You were met with the delicious smell of home cooking and your stomach rumbled in response. You shed your coat and kicked off your shoes, and found your boyfriend in the kitchen wearing his very adorable apron.

"What's happening here?" you asked. "Doesn't smell like baking."

"Because it's not," Buck replied. "I'm cooking us dinner."

"What's on the menu?"

"Lasagna, recipe curtesy of one Captain Bobby Nash."

You gasped. "No way! I thought Bobby refused to give that recipe up!"

"He did."

"So how did you get it from him?"

"Used my irresistible charm."

You gave Buck a playful look, but it seemed he wasn't going to elaborate further. You weren't about to argue, though. You loved Bobby's lasagna, and you and Buck had been trying to get it from him for ages. Bobby continuously refused to give it to anyone. Whatever Buck had said to finally change his mind didn't make a difference, at least you had it now.

Buck set the table and insisted on helping you over, even though you told him you were more than capable of walking the few feet from the island to the table. He served you both a generous heaping of lasagna. You were having a hard time stopping yourself from gobbling down the steaming hot food before it was cool enough to not burn your mouth. When you were able to take a bite, you moaned in pleasure at the taste. Exactly the way Bobby makes it.

"Should I be jealous of the lasagna?"

You tried to glare at Buck, but you couldn't help but laugh. "It's just so good. I can't believe you got Bobby's recipe."

You both ate in mostly silence. You were too busy devouring the delicious food, while Buck was trying to figure out how he was going to pop the question. Eventually, he decided to just go for it before he lost his nerve.

"You know," he started, "there is a big reason Bobby finally gave me his lasagna recipe."

You looked at him, waiting for him to go on. Instead of elaborating further, you watch as his hand reaches for his pocket. Your eyes widen as he pulls a ring box from his pocket, opens it to reveal a beautiful diamond ring, and placed it in front of you.

"I told him I wanted to make you a special dinner because I wanted to ask you to marry me."

Your eyes were glued to the ring until your vision became blurry. You looked up at Buck's face to see him watching you closely, studying your face as if he wasn't sure if your tears were good or bad. Your body moved before your mind could catch up to it, lunging across the table to kiss Buck. He chuckled against your lips as he pulled you onto his lap so that you didn't knock over the food, or hurt yourself further.

"Is that a yes?" he asked between kisses.

"Yes," you breathed. "Absolutely yes, I'll marry you."

Buck beamed as he pulled you in for another kiss. He broke away only to give the ring. You held out your left hand and Buck slid the ring onto your finger. You marveled at its beauty, the diamond twinkling in the kitchen lights, before going back to kissing Buck.

It wasn't the proposal he had planned; it wasn't in a fancy restaurant or at the top of a hiking trail with a beautiful view. It happened in your shared dining room, where you both spent so much time, after a homecooked meal of a recipe from his boss, after Buck had worked an early shift and you had a sprained ankle.

And Eddie was right, it was the most perfect moment of Buck's life.

[storiesforallfandoms]

after hours ~ ted lasso;ted lasso

word count: 2590

request?: no

description: in which he's at work late again, so she goes to see if she can persuade him to give up for the night and come home

pairing: ted lasso x female!reader

warnings: swearing, no use of y/n, established relationship, smut (oral f! receiving, unprotected p in v, kinda voyeurism?, kinda public sex?)

masterlist (one, two, three)

When the sky started to get dark and you still hadn't heard from Ted, you knew exactly where he was.

You knew the club wouldn't be locked up yet since there were a few custodians working late, plus Ted, so you walked on in. It was eerily quiet when everyone was gone home, especially in the locker room. The lights were off and it was completely still, which felt wrong. You were used to the loud, rambunctiousness of the Greyhounds players filling this room.

A light came from the coaches office. As you expected, Ted was in there, stood at the whiteboard, scribbling something down. He was so focused he didn't even hear you open the door and step into the office. You were amused at how focused he was on what he was doing. After waiting a few moments, waiting to see if he was going to turn around and notice you there, you rapped your knuckles against the door frame, loudly knocking to catch his attention.

Ted jumped and turned to you. He smiled sheepishly at you. "Hey, baby. What are you doin' here?"

"I figured you were working late," you said. "So I came down to look for you."

He rubbed his eyes. You noticed there were dark bags starting to form under his eyes. It wasn't the first night he had been working late, and you knew that. "I'm sorry if I had you worried."

"I wasn't worried, per say. I was hoping I could convince you to come home."

Ted sighed and ran his hands through his hair, messing it up slightly. "I know I should come home. I am damn tired and my eyes are gettin' all crossed from lookin' at this whiteboard. But, we have an important game tomorrow and there's just somethin' we're missin' that I'm tryin' to figure out before we play."

You crossed the room and sat up on Ted's desk. "Do you think looking at it for so long might be making it harder to figure out the issue?"

He nodded. "That's exactly what I'm thinkin'."

Ted slumped down into his chair. He reached for you, and you knew exactly what he wanted. You slipped off the desk and onto his lap. Ted wrapped his arms around your waist and buried his head in the crook of your neck. You ran your hands through his hair in the way you knew soothed him. You knew Ted loved his job, and he loved his team. Even when he was still learning about English football and how it worked, he was trying his best to do good by his players and by Rebecca as the club owner. And you knew that love would make him work himself to death if it meant helping the team play the best they can and getting the win.

You were looking at the whiteboard, at Ted's various scribbles, and absentmindedly playing with his hair. You weren't really thinking about your actions until you shifted on his lap and he let out a grunt in response. It was a familiar sound - not one of annoyance or momentary harm, but of lust that he was trying to push down. Shortly after the noise, you felt something poking your butt through his track pants.

You smirked to yourself. An idea was forming in your head.

You lowered your head to Ted's neck. You started to place feather light kisses over his neck. He moved his head, allowing you more access to him. His breathing was turning to light pants as the bulge pressing against you grew.

"Maybe we can find some way to get you to de-stress," you purred in his ear.

He squirmed beneath you, which told you your plan was working. Suddenly, Ted grabbed hold of your hips and spun you on his lap so you were facing him. He draped your legs on either side of him, letting them hang through the loops of the arm rests. In this position, your core was pressing against his bulge. You gasped, but he pressed his lips to yours, swallowing the noise. He kissed you hungrily, like a man who had been starved for days. He cupped your face gently, a stark contrast to the way his lips were pressing against you, the way he was grinding himself against you. Ted had this way of losing himself to passion during intimate moments, but still managing to be his gentle, goofy self at the same time. It was one of many things you loved about Ted; that he was always so unapologetically Ted.

He slipped his tongue past your lips, one hand moving from your face to wrap around your lower back. He pulled you against him, pressing his erection harder against you. You whimpered against his mouth. Heat was igniting between your legs.

Ted stood from his chair, locking your legs around his waist. Ted kept his desk pretty organized anyways, but he still pushed whatever was there onto the floor so he could lay you down on it. He broke away from the kiss to look down at you. His hair was a mess from your fingers running through it, and his brown eyes were full of lust. He reached for your pants, but waited for your permission before he pulled them off. You had just barley nodded when he was roughly pulling them off you, exposing your lower half to the cool air conditioned room.

You realized them what you were doing, or rather where you were doing it. You sat up quickly, catching Ted's attention. "Ted, wait. We can't."

He suddenly looked concerned. "Are you alright? I didn't hurt you, did I?"

You shook your head, but couldn't help the giggle that bubbled up in your throat. Your dear, sweet Ted. On the verge of fucking you senseless and still so kind. "No, but Ted, we're in your office. We can't have sex here. What if someone catches us?"

"There's no one here," he assured you.

"The custodians - "

"Have already done their final checks in here and in the locker room." His hands found their way to your hips, fingers tracing circles into your bare skin. "If you wanna stop, I'll wait till we get home. But you got me so worked up, sweetheart. I need you as soon as possible. And besides, I'd be lyin' if I said the idea of taking you right here on my desk didn't excite the Hell out of me. All the time I spend in this office, I could have a really good memory to think about during those times."

The thought was turning you on, too. All the coaching meetings, Diamond Dog meetings, whatever other work he did in his office. He'd be there, remembering having you on his desk, writhing in pleasure beneath him, and no one else would ever be the wiser. It'd be your and Ted's little secret. The thought made the pool between your thighs grow.

You shifted, pressing your thighs together to create some friction. Seeing what reaction you had to his words gave Ted his answer. He kissed you again, his hands moving to gently open your thighs. His fingers hooked into the waistband of your panties. You lifted yourself so he could pull them off you. As he pulled them down your legs, leaving you completely bare to him, he lowered himself to his knees in front of you.

He kissed your inner thighs, trailing to the spot you needed him most. He didn't tease you, luckily, and dove into your pussy. His tongue lapped ruthlessly at your clit, his mustache leaving a familiar burn in its wake as it brushed over your sensitive skin. You were wrong earlier, this was actually a man starved. He ate you out like it was his job, like he wouldn't survive if he didn't. Ted took great pleasure in giving you great pleasure, and he was very good at it. Your knuckles were white as you gripped the edge of Ted's desk. He suctioned his lips around your clit and swirled his tongue around the bundle of nerves. You moaned so loudly you would've been worried about a custodian hearing you if you weren't so lost in Ted's tongue.

Your hips inadvertently moved, grinding against his face. Ted's grip on your hips loosened, allowing you to move freely. One hand found its way to Ted's hair, holding him in place as you started to grind against his tongue. Ted's hand found your free one and laced your fingers together. He looked up and watched you in awe as you basically rode his face. Your head was thrown back, mouth agape as moans and whimpers tumbled from your lips. The harsh florescent lights of the office made you look like an angel in his eyes. Although, you always looked like an angel in Ted's eyes, especially in these moments of bliss.

"F-Fuck," you moaned. "I'm so close."

Ted took this opportunity to take control again. He took hold of your hips to keep you still again and lapped at your pussy until you were sent over the edge. You called his name so loud you were sure you could hear it echoing off the walls of the club. Your body turned to jelly very fast. You almost slumped over, but Ted stood quickly enough to catch you. He kissed you again, the taste of you still on his lips.

You slipped your hand underneath the waistbands of his track pants. You cupped his hard cock, straining against his underwear, desperate to be freed. You stroked him through the fabric, reveling in the moans he was making against your lips.

"I need you, sweetheart," he breathed. "If I don't have you soon I might make a mess in my boxers."

You giggled and kissed his lips. You made quick work of pulling down his pants and boxers just enough for his cock to spring free. He took himself in his hand, pumping a few times before lining up with your entrance. He swiped the head through your slick a few times before he pushed himself into you. You clutched his shoulders as he bottomed out. His eyes fluttered shut as he took in the feeling of your warm, wet pussy wrapping around him.

His thrusts were slow at first. Pulling almost all the way out so he could push himself all the way back in again. You could feel every inch of him, dragging in and out, in and out. You both moaned together, your sounds of pleasuring drowning out the general sounds of the club.

Soon, his want took over his desire to make this last, and Ted started speeding up his thrusts. He whispered praises into your ear as he fucked you so vigorously that the desk was shaking. You were worried the desk may fall apart beneath you - it had happened once to your old bed after Ted had come back from a week away with the team - but your brain couldn't form the words to voice that concern. You were too focused on the feeling of his cock abusing your g-spot with every thrust in.

"I'm not goin' to last long, sweetheart," Ted said. "You think you can cum on my cock for me?"

You nodded, your walls pulsing at the question alone. Ted reached down between your bodies to get to your clit. He rubbed messy circles, his thrusts becoming just as sloppy as he was nearing his climax. The pressure started to build again, and before you knew it, you were cumming again. Ted's climax came shortly after yours. He pressed a bruising kiss to your lips as he filled you.

You leaned against each other for support. Your body was definitely jelly now, and you could tell Ted felt the same way. His eyes were closed, a sheepish smile on his face. You could tell he was close to giving into his fatigue. You cupped his face, and he opened his eyes again. "Let's get you home."

He pulled out of you and tucked himself back into his pants. He handed you your pants and panties so you could dress yourself too. Ted picked up his stuff from the floor and haphazardly threw it back onto his desk.

"I'll fix it tomorrow," he decided.

"What are you going to tell everyone if they ask?"

He shrugged. "I'll think of that when I'm less tired."

You giggled and kissed his cheek. Ted turned out the lights in the office and locked it up. He put his arm around you as you both left the club.

"At least now I know how to drag you away from late nights in the office," you teased.

Ted chuckled. "Darling, you can come have sex in my office with me anytime. As long as no one else is around, of course."

"Oh, duh. I don't need anyone watching me have sex."

~~~~~~

A few days later, Keeley and Rebecca had invited you out for a girl's lunch. It had been a while since you spent any time together just the three of you, so you were itching for some girl time.

The two of them were already at the restaurant when you arrived. Keeley was out of her seat first, wrapping you in a tight hug before instructing you to sit in the booth next to her. Rebecca squeezed your hand, promising a hug once Keeley freed you from the booth again. They had already ordered a bottle of wine for the table and had a glass waiting for you. By the time your food came, Rebecca was pouring the last remnants of the bottle into your glass.

"Oh!" she said. "I forgot to tell you what I saw on the security cameras the other day."

"God, I hope it wasn't another accidental glimpse at the showers," Keeley said, screwing up her face. "You really need to get that creepy camera taken down before it randomly reactivates again."

"Oh, luckily we got rid of that long ago," Rebecca said, waving away Keeley's concern. "You both know we rarely watch the cameras unless something suspicious comes up. Like, say, the camera catches movement after hours." You and Keeley nodded. "Well, I noticed a few days ago, before the game, there was detection of movement in the locker room area for a long period of time. Obviously, I looked into it, in case it was tampering from the rival team, but it was Ted."

Keeley's shoulders slumped. "Well, that's boring. Of course Ted was there, he works late so often."

Rebecca was watching you as you raised your glass to take another sip. "Oh, he was working alright. But he wasn't alone."

It took you a moment to put two and two together. When you did, you ended up spitting your wine back out into your glass. Keeley looked between you and Rebecca, still confused. Her face lit up as she finally put the pieces together, and then both Keeley and Rebecca started laughing as you sunk down in your seat. You wished you could completely disappear into your seat, or at least order a stronger drink for yourself.

Rebecca reached across the table to take your hand again. "Don't worry. I wiped the video from the security history. Next time, although I'm very much not encouraging a next time, make sure Ted covers the security cameras."

In response, you swallowed the contents of your wine glass and flagged down your server to order something stronger.

~~~~~~

toss a coin to your witcher!

ko-fi.com/storiesforallfandoms

[bobbynashsource]

9-1-1 4x08 | Breaking Point

[storiesforallfandoms]

reluctance ~ eminem

word count: 3745

request?: yes!

“Open requests yeiiii!!!!!!, so I wanted to request one more, I wanted to request about Eminem, I honestly love the idea of ​​age difference, so I came up with this, Eminem x femreader, she is a young pop singer and with eminem start working (she doesn't like Eminem very much) on a song for a movie and they spend a lot of time together either recording and promoting the song, some feelings start to come up between them, there's a lot of attraction and you could add some smut (if you feel comfortable.)

Sorry if it's long and specific.

Thanks and kisses :D😚”

description: in which she reluctantly agrees to work with her least favorite artist, and romantic feelings develop between them

pairing: eminem x female!reader

warnings: swearing, age gap (reader is late 20s/early 30s, em is his current age), y/n used, rpf

masterlist (one, two, three)

You looked at your manager for a long time. You didn’t speak, just stared. You were waiting for her to laugh and say she was joking. But it didn’t come. She was serious, and you were horrified.

“Absolutely not.”

“You can’t turn this down,” Diana said.

“I am.”

She sighed. “(Y/N), for one, we’ve already signed the contract, so you literally cannot say no. But more importantly, this is a big opportunity. It’s a major blockbuster and a song with one of the biggest artists of this generation. This is huge for your career! You can’t turn it down due to personal bias.”

You threw your head back and let out a dramatic groan, which may have been childish, but you figured a little childish was allowed right now.

You knew Diana was right, but you didn’t have to be happy about it. You had signed on to do a song for the soundtrack of an upcoming blockbuster that was already projected to make upwards of a billion dollars at the box office because you knew it would be huge for your career. What they failed to tell you, however, was that it wasn’t a solo song they wanted. They wanted you to do a collab with none other than Eminem, aka your least favorite artist.

You just had never been into Eminem’s music. You had all the usual complaints that other people had about his music - it was vulgar, the subject matter was often shocking - but also it just wasn’t your type of music. He was the last artist you wanted to do a song with, even if the collab and the soundtrack would be huge for your career. But you knew you had no choice since you had signed the contract, and Diana was definitely not going to try and break that contract.

So, you looked at Diana with a look that was so far from excited, and said, “Fine. I’ll do it. But I won’t be happy about it.”

Diana chuckled. “You will be when it hits number one.”

~~~~~~

You sat outside the studio where you were supposed to meet with Eminem. You were trying to will yourself out of the car and into the studio, but you were just dreading it. You were hoping it wouldn’t take very long to do the writing and recording process so that you didn’t have to spend too much time with him. You already had some ideas for your hook drafted so if they worked with whatever he was writing then you could probably be finished today.

As the meeting time ticked closer, you finally forced yourself out of your car. You went into the studio and found the room you were booked in. He as already there with another man who you recognized as his manager, Paul. Suddenly you were itching to call Diana for back up, but you stopped yourself. You could get through it on your own.

When you opened the door, both men turned to face you. Paul was the first to approach, saying, “There she is. Nice to meet you, (Y/N). My name is Paul.”

You shook his hand. Eminem was next, extending a hand and introducing himself, “Marshall.”

“Nice to meet you both,” you said. To Marshall, you added, “Have you written anything for this yet?”

Paul and Marshall shared a look. Paul chuckled and said, “She’s all business.”

“She’s right here,” you said. “And I am here to do a job, so yes I am all business.”

Paul put his hands up in surrender. “Hey, I’m sorry. I just thought the introductions would last a little longer before we got down to it. Listen, I’ll fuck off an leave you both to it.”

He clapped Marshall on the shoulder and gave you a nod before leaving the room.

“Ignore him, he’s an asshole,” Marshall said. “I was working on a few ideas for lyrics.”

“Oh.” You were surprised. You figured you were going to have to sit and listen to him try and figure out the song on the spot. Maybe this won’t be so painful after all. “Well, me too. I’ve been workshopping some hooks based on the treatments the production company sent me about the movie. I figured whatever works best with what you have can be in the final product.”

“Let me hear them.”

“Oh...uh...I mean, I don’t have any melodies figured out.”

“Show me, then.”

He sat down on the couch and motioned for you to sit next to him. You hesitated, but sat down next to him with a respectable distance between you. He kept his distance as you scrolled through your phone to find the hooks you had written. He wasn’t even leaning close to you to try and look at your phone. Respecting your boundaries was such a low bar, but you were almost impressed by it. It was unfortunately quite a rare occurrence these days. Even when you passed him your phone to show him what you had written, he took it and sat back against the couch, giving you your space.

“These are dope as hell,” Marshall said.

“Uh, thanks,” you responded as you took your phone back.

He chuckled. “It is a compliment. Each hook feels perfect for the movie, like the studio wrote it themselves. This is why I asked for you specifically. You are so fucking talented.”

“Whoa, wait,” you said. “You asked for me?”

“Yeah. Did they not tell you that?”

You shook your head. “They didn’t even tell me we were collaborating until after I signed the contract.”

“Oh. Fuck, it must’ve been a shock when they told you about the collab then.”

“Shock is an understatement.”

“Well, I asked for you specifically because I think you’re talented. My youngest played me a few of your songs and they’re incredible. Your voice is great, and your songwriting is amazing. I told the studio I needed to work with you specifically on this.”

You were stunned into silence. You hadn’t expected any of this at all. You didn’t think your type of music would reach someone like Eminem, or that he’d even like what he heard. He had made fun of every artist that made the same type of music you made in his songs. You just figured you were more likely to be a target than a collaboration.

Maybe this will go a lot smoother than I expected.

~~~~~~

It didn’t take long to put the song together. To your surprise, you were actually disappointed to be finished recording. In the short time you spent with him in the studio, you found yourself starting to like Marshall. He wasn’t at all what you were expecting from him. When he was away from the public and not having to be Eminem, he laughed and smiled a lot, and he was so kind. He was all work, too. Once you two got into the songwriting process, he was focused solely on making the song.

When Diana told you that the studio wanted a music video for the song, you tried not to look excited by the news. But she noticed the difference in your reaction this time versus when she broke the news about the collab.

“You look a lot less disappointed this time,” she noted.

“I wouldn’t say it was disappointment before,” you corrected her. “More like anger, maybe. Annoyance for sure.”

“Well, whatever it was, I don’t see any of it now. What happened, the big bad rapper won you over?”

You turned away form Diana. Stupidly, you thought that would hide your reaction to her question. However, it actually gave Diana her answer.

She gasped. “Oh my God, he did!”

“He’s not as bad as I thought,” you admitted. “So, yes, he did manage to change my mind. I was wrong. Happy?”

“Oh, you know those are my favorite words.”

You rolled your eyes. You were ready to move on from this conversation, but Diana decided to add one last thing: “Just be careful he doesn’t charm you into falling in love with him.”

You were glad she wasn’t looking at you then, so you had time to recover from her comment.

A week later, Diana had your treatment for the music video. Since the movie was a heist movie, you and Marshall were set to play a couple who committed several robberies before the video ended with you both getting caught by the police. You were going to film difference small scenes that would be the main parts of the video and would be spliced with scenes from the actual movie. It sounded like a fun idea if you were filming with anyone else, but with how things were going with Marshall, you were more than a little nervous about having to play his girlfriend.

The first day of filming was mainly action shots: the robberies, driving around in the mock getaway car, and a few scenes of you “performing” the chorus. The car scenes were the best. Even though the car was set up on a rig that someone else was driving, it was still being driven very fast. It was such a thrill to feel the wind blowing through your hair as you leaned out the window, especially when you got to use the fake gun.

The robbery scenes, on the other hand, were not fun. They were for the first handful of takes, but eventually the ski mask you were wearing started getting too hot and stuffy, especially under the set lights. Whenever the director called cut, you were able to take it off to breathe for short periods before having to put it back on.

Eventually, the director called for a break. You threw off the mask and rushed for the nearest door, desperately needing fresh air. The cool outside air hit you like a brick as you emerged into the night. You took a deep breath, the air filling your lungs. You were debating on just leaving, telling the director you needed to go early and getting out of there, when the door next to you opened. Marshall stepped out.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. Just needed some air.”

“I don’t blame you. The masks are a bit much.”

“Winter ski masks, inside a sound stage, under those hot ass lights.” You shook your head. “I’m making a complaint. This has to be unsafe work conditions.”

Marshall chuckled at your joke. You tried to ignore the warm feeling in your chest as a reaction to his laughter. It was a reoccurring feeling whenever Marshall smiled or laughed, but especially when you made him laugh. It was getting harder and harder to ignore those feelings, but you were trying. For one, the age gap between you two was quite big. Not as big as some couples in Hollywood, but enough that you were sure Marshall would never look at you as a potential romantic partner. And you were sure you’d never see or talk to Marshall once the music video was done shooting and the song was released. Maybe the odd performance together every once in a while. Either way, you had to nip these feelings in the bud now.

“I think Rich said one more scene and then he wants to call it a day.”

You let out a dramatic sigh. “I guess I can handle one more scene.”

When he laughed this time, Marshall also put a hand on your shoulder. A shock of electricity shot through your body, circulating back to that spot. You tried not to seem so obvious in your pulling away from him. Now you felt like you had to escape back inside after escaping outside.

“Let’s finish this, then,” you said, smiling a little as you turned back to the door.

The crew was resetting the scene when you and Marshall walked back in. The extras who were playing the customers and the worker of the convenience store you and Marshall were mock robbing were getting back into place. The director, Rich, noticed you and Marshall coming back and motioned for you to come over to him.

“I want to shoot one more thing then we’re good for today,” he said. “I want to shoot the end of one of these robbery scenes. We’re gonna film you two getting the money from the cashier, then as you go to leave I want to get a shot of you two taking off your masks to kiss.”

Your whole body ran cold. Your heart started beating so hard you were sure Marshall and Rich could hear it. Kissing Marshall was not going to help alleviate your feelings for him. You had kissed love interests in music videos before and it had always been easy just to act and then walk away, but this was much different.

You tried to get out of it with a jock, chuckling before asking, “Is it a good idea for two robbers to reveal themselves before leaving the scene?”

Rich shrugged. “It’s fiction, and we’re establishing your characters as notorious robbers, so maybe this is how we’ll explain how your identities get found out.”

He moved on, calling for everyone to get ready to shoot. There was no getting out of this. You just had to hope one take was enough for Rich and you could go home to deal with whatever followed on your own.

You and Marshall got into place, pulling on your masks and getting your fake guns. Rich set up the shot, explaining exactly what he wanted, then got in place behind the camera and called action.

The shot started with the cashier giving Marshall the money from the cash register. The camera followed him as he walked over to you. You fired the fake gun into the air to scare the faux hostages, and then you were both on the way to the door.

Now was the moment. You both paused at the door, the camera coming close to you both. You faced Marshall but your heart was beating so hard that your vision was blurred. Your body moved automatically as you ripped off the mask at the same time Marshall took off his. He reached for you, cupping the back of your neck and pulling you in. The second your lips touched, your entire body exploded. Your knees became weak and you had to put extra mind word into standing.

Too soon, Rich was calling cut and the kiss was over. Marshall pulled away from you, but he didn’t completely separate from you. His hand was still on the back of your neck, just inches away from tangling in your hair. You could feel his breath on your face. Your lips were tingling, itching to be on Marshall’s again.

He finally pulled away when Rich approached you both, praising the take. He said he wanted to do it once more just in case, then he’d call it a day. So, the scene reset. You moved automatically through the scene, your mind still reeling form the first kiss and the fact that it was going to happen again. When you threw off the mask and Marshall reached for you the second time, your lips met his halfway a little too eagerly.

Rich was calling cut all too soon again. This time, you pulled away from Marshall the second the cameras cut. Rich praised you again and told everyone they were clear to go home. You made a beeline to get your things so you could leave.

“Hey,” Marshall said, following you. “Where’s the fire?”

“I’m just excited to get home and get to bed,” you responded. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He seemed confused, but he said, “Yeah. See you tomorrow.”

You spent the night mentally fighting over everything that happened on set, and how you were supposed to deal with it all again tomorrow. As you predicted, the kiss only made your feelings for Marshall grow. You had no idea how you were going to get through the last day of shooting after the kiss. Rich had said as you were leaving that he wanted to film some more couple shots of you and Marshall the next day. It was like he was trying to torture you.

Your phone went off a few times; texts from Marshall. You ignored them. You came to the conclusion that it would be for the best if you and Marshall were just professional. Once the video and promo stuff for the song was over, the two of you would go your separate ways and that would be it. You could let your feelings die and move on.

That was the plan, anyways. Until you were in the makeup trailer, alone, waiting for the makeup artist to come, and Marshall walked in.

“Why are you ignoring me?”

You glanced up at him for a moment before going back to the game on your phone. “I’m not. I didn’t know you were here yet.”

“I mean my texts. I sent you like five texts last night and you didn’t respond to any of them.”

“I told you I was going home to go to bed. I just fell asleep.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Something is wrong. You’ve been acting weird since yesterday. If I did something to piss you off, I’m sorry, but you gotta tell me what it is so I can fix it.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for and nothing to fix. Everything is fine, Marshall.”

You hated lying to him, but you weren’t about to tell him the real reason you were trying to push him away.

“Was it the kiss?”

Your body jolted at the question, as if he had just startled you. You finally looked up at him. His eyes were watching you too closely to have missed your reaction.

“That is what this is about,” he said. “Did I do too much? Was I too pushy with the kiss or something? I need to know before we film more of these intimate scenes today.”

“There was nothing wrong with the kiss! What’s wrong is I started having feelings for you and the kiss made the feelings worse!”

At that moment, the door opened and the makeup artist finally walked in. You turned away from Marshall, plastering a smile on your face for the sake of the makeup artist. You hoped this interruption would break up the moment enough for Marshall to forget what you had said and let both of you move on. You should’ve known that wasn’t what was going to happen since luck had not been on your side the last two days. So, when you left the makeup trailer, Marshall was waiting for you.

You let out a sigh, trying your hardest to keep that the frustrated tears that were welling in your eyes. You just wanted to get this day over with. You wanted to get all of this over with; this conversation, this day, this video shoot. The quicker you could get home and let out all your feelings by yourself, the better.

But for now, you were facing Marshall, your confession evidently still hanging between the two of you. You knew you needed to do damage control before the rest of filming that day, so you said, “Look, I’m sorry about my outburst in there, and I’m sorry I was ignoring you last night. I don’t want things to be awkward between us, so can we just forget what I said and pretend like everything is fine until we finish filming? Then we can go our separate ways and pretend like none of this ever happened. Okay?”

He didn’t say anything. You hated the fact that he had mastered the art of keeping his face unreadable, because it was killing you to not know what he was feeling. You felt like you wanted to scream, to cry, to beg him just to say anything so you could know what he was feeling. If he didn’t want anything to do with you and your childish crush, you’d prefer if he actually said that instead of this silent treatment act he was doing.

Instead, he took you by surprise when he put his hand on the back of your neck and pulled you into a kiss. It was the same actions he did twice the day before when you were filming, but this time they felt so much more intimate. This wasn’t a kiss for the cameras, it was just for you and him. It sent just as much fire through your body as it had the day before. This time, he put an arm around your lower back too, as if knowing that kissing him made you so weak you could barley stand.

When you pulled away, the first thing you said was, “What the fuck?”

Marshall laughed. The warm feeling spread in your chest again, but this time you didn’t push it down.

“Not the reaction I expected,” he said.

“Sorry, but it’s just taking my brain a second to catch up to the fact that you actually just kissed me.”

“Do you want me to do it again to help you figure out what just happened?”

“I mean, it wouldn’t hurt.”

So he did. A quick peck, more so to prove that he had in fact actually just kissed you and you weren’t dreaming. He was still holding you so close, too. You never wanted him to let you go.

“I guess this means you don’t want to go our separate ways when we finish filming,” you noted.

Marshall shook his head. “Actually, I’d like to take you out for dinner once we finish here today. Would you be okay with that?”

You nodded, too at a loss for words. He smiled and pulled you in for another kiss. You felt like you had to pinch yourself to make sure you weren’t dreaming, but you’d wait until you were away from Marshall to do that.

You both were reluctant to untangle from each other, but you had to go do your jobs. Besides, the quicker the shoot finished, the quicker you could both go out on your date. You were practically running to the set as that thought occurred to you.

That day, Rich kept noting how intense and passionate every since the two of you were filming was. Every time he did, you and Marshall just shared knowing smiles.

~~~~~~

toss a coin to your witcher!

ko-fi.com/storiesforallfandoms

[storiesforallfandoms]

the one that got away ~ bob reynolds;marvel

word count: 3052

request?: no

description: in which yelena convinces him to get back in contact with the one that got away

pairing: bob reynolds x female!reader

warnings: swearing, mentions of abuse, use of y/n, kinda angsty?

masterlist (one, two, three)

"Hey, Bob?"

Bob looked up from his book. He was sat in his usual perch, facing the window to overlook New York. It was a quiet day in the tower, which was insanely rare. Everyone was off doing whatever - Bucky was, somehow, still in congress, so he often had political meetings; Ava came and went regularly so no one ever knew where she was; Alexei was regularly, and happily, paraded around in front of the cameras for Val; and John was off visiting his son. It was just Bob and Yelena. It was rare for the two of them to have alone time, but it was Bob's favorite times. He always felt so at peace with Yelena.

She was laid back on the couch, one arm across her eyes. Bob had thought she was asleep before she spoke. They had both been so quiet for so long, just the distant sounds of New York City below them.

"Who was that girl in your Void?" Yelena asked.

Bob was glad she couldn't see him, because it made it easier to lie. "I told you, I don't remember any of that."

Well, technically that wasn't a lie. Bob couldn't remember anything past his fight with the Thunderbolts as Sentry. Yelena had told him about her own Void, and how he had defeated his own, but he couldn't remember a single thing himself. But he did know who Yelena was talking about because there was only one girl who could've been in his Void.

Yelena shifted her arm so she could look at him. Bob quickly moved his attention back to his book, trying to be nonchalant. If he could convince her he genuinely did not remember, then she wouldn't push further. Then he wouldn't have to think about her.

"Do you have a sister?" Yelena asked.

"No."

"An abundance of girlfriends that would be hard to remember which specific one would be in your Void?"

Bob couldn't help but laugh at that. Yelena smiled in response.

"So, a friend then."

Bob quickly came back down to Earth. He shuffled awkwardly in his seat. The shift didn't go unnoticed by Yelena. She sat up. "So you do know."

"I don't really want to talk abut it, Yelena."

"You know that doesn't work on me."

Bob sighed. He did know. Yelena didn't push when Bob really didn't want to talk about something. Not at first, anyways. Eventually she'd bring it up again, usually a few days later. If he didn't want to talk still, she'd wait another few days. She said that talking would help him, and since he was still weary about therapy, she was the one he was going to talk to. Bob had to admit, it was helping a great deal.

There was no getting out of this. Bob knew it was easier to just get this over with now.

He got up and walked over to the couch. Yelena moved so he could sit next to her. He tried to keep eye contact, but it was hard. This wasn't an easy subject, and he wasn't sure he could keep it together if Yelena gave him even the slightest look of sympathy.

"She was my best friend as a kid," he explained. "She used to help me with...with my dad. I didn't want her to know, but one day she was over and my parents didn't know, and dad came home screaming at mom. I had to sneak her out because I didn't want him to turn on her since he was already in such a bad mood. I thought she was going to stop talking to me because of it, but instead...she became my safe haven."

"What happened to her?" Yelena asked.

Bob shrugged. "Nothing. I mean, as far as I know. She went to another state for college and we just grew apart. It happens."

Now he really couldn't face Yelena, out of worry she'd catch his lie again.

She had moved out of state, that much was true. But it was after Bob had convinced her to go. At first, she was going to turn down the offer. She had only applied as a joke, she said. There was no way she'd get in, she said.

She didn't want to leave Bob with his father, she said.

But Bob convinced her to go. She was accepted on a full scholarship, it would've been stupid to turn that down. He wanted her to go and achieve her dreams. They promised they would keep in touch. He told her he would save up to come visit her as often as possible. They made a promise, and he broke it a week after she moved.

"What was her name?" Yelena asked.

"(Y/N)." A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips just from saying her name.

Bob winced when Yelena hit his shoulder. "You should look for her! Reconnect!"

"What do you mean? Of course it is. Just look her up online and message her."

"Yelena, I can't just message her out of the blue after all these years. What if she doesn't even want to talk to me?"

"Then she won't respond."

Bob shook his head. "I can't."

Yelena put a hand on his arm. Bob finally looked up at her. As he predicted, she had a look of sympathy on her face. She tried to hide it, but Bob had come to recognize that look. It didn't hit him as hard as he had expected it to. He leaned into her touch, welcoming the friendly embrace. Yelena didn't ask anymore questions. They both just sat in silence. It was calming. Bob welcomed the calm.

~~~~~~

Even though Bob's face was never connected to Sentry publicly, he always felt on edge when he went out in public. He worried he would be recognized for what he did when The Void was in control. He kept his head down and his face hidden however he could - a hood, a baseball hat.

He knew going out to meet Yelena in a park was the opposite of keeping himself hidden, but she had insisted on it. Something about getting him out of the building and getting some fresh air. Bob thought she was overreacting. Yelena spent more time in the tower than he did, when she wasn't sent on missions with the New Avengers. But he didn't argue when she called and told him to meet her at the park.

"I want to go for a walk," she had said. "Get some fresh air, both of us. Meet me by the fountain."

So, here he was sat, waiting for Yelena. The phone call had been over 20 minutes ago. Bob expected her long ago. He was about to go back to the tower when someone said, "Bob? Is that you?"

He looked up slowly at the owner of the voice. It was familiar, and he was silently hoping he was wrong.

But when his eyes landed on her face, he knew he was right. She hadn't changed since the last time he had seen her, besides the fact that she wasn't crying this time.

"(Y/N)."

He stood as she approached him. She threw her arms around him, hugging him tight. He was brought back to every moment that (Y/N) hugged him after his dad lashed out; the warmth of her embrace and the kind words she'd whisper as she comforted him. He leaned into her, trying to hold back his own tears.

"What are you doing here?" he asked once they pulled away.

"Well, I got a call from none other than Yelena Belova." She paused to grab his arm in excitement. "An Avenger! An actual Avenger called me!"

Bob smiled at her, but inside he was cursing Yelena. He should've known better than to tell her about (Y/N). Yelena could find anyone, so of course she went out and found the one person he told her he wasn't ready to reconnect with.

"Anyways, she asked me to come down here. Said it was important," (Y/N) finished. "And, I guess this is what was important."

"Yeah, I guess so."

An awkward silence fell over them. Bob's mind started racing. This was exactly why he told Yelena he couldn't try to reconnect with (Y/N). There was too much awkwardness, too much left unsaid. Not that Yelena knew that, and he couldn't have told her without revealing what had actually happened between him and (Y/N), but still. He had told her he didn't want to reach out. Why did she have to reach out instead?

"Wanna sit?" (Y/N) asked.

Bob nodded. They both returned to the fountain where Bob had been sitting before. She sat so close to him that their arms were brushing against one another. Bob took a second to look at her again. She really had not changed in all these years. It was like when she moved there was a pause for both of them, and now everything was playing again.

"How have you been?" he asked. He figured it was safer for him to ask that first than for her. Maybe he could get out of answering it, too, if she did ask.

"I've been good," she replied. "Graduated. Top of my class, actually. Do you know those valedictorian speeches aren't just for high school? They had me give one at our graduation ceremony since my grades were so good."

"Oh," was all Bob could say.

Guilt was starting to seep through him. He wished he could've seen (Y/N)'s speech. He wished he could've gotten the news that she was top of her class in the moment. He wished he could've been there to cheer her on, like he was supposed to be. But instead, he was a coward.

"Yeah. A lot of work for a silly piece of paper that I'm still trying to get a job with." She shook her head. "Anyways, how about you? Mr. Hanging-Out-With-The-Avengers."

She nudged him with her shoulder. Bob chuckled. "It's not all that glamorous. I'm basically only there because Yelena is looking out for me."

(Y/N) tilted her head. "Like...the way I did?"

Bob thought for a moment. He hadn't realized that before, but that's exactly what Yelena was doing. "Yeah. Something like that."

"Oh."

(Y/N) was the one looking away now. He wasn't sure what that meant. Was she upset that he was close with Yelena? Well, of course she would be. Bob basically just told her that he had replaced her with a Russian spy that was related to an original Avenger and was now a New Avenger. But that wasn't it at all. He hadn't replaced anyone. He was hoping she had replaced him.

"I did something pretty bad because of my mental health," he admitted. "Yelena was there. I...I think she just feels...responsible for me, I guess."

(Y/N) still didn't say anything. It was starting to make Bob anxious.

"She's...she's a good friend." He tried not to put so much noticeable emphasis on the last word.

Suddenly, (Y/N) turned to look at Bob. "Why didn't you ever come visit me?"

And there it is.

Bob opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. (Y/N) looked at him, waiting, but the words died in his throat. When it was evident he wasn't responding, she pushed on, "I waited for so long. Even when you stopped responding to my texts, I figured it was just something going on at home. I wanted to come back so bad just to check in and make sure everything was okay, but I knew you'd tell me not to do that and that you would be fine so I didn't even though it killed me not to. But then you just didn't text, didn't call, didn't visit. It was like you fell off the face of the Earth. I Googled your name basically every day because I was afraid you were dead and I'd never know cause no one would reach out to me."

Bob bit the inside of his cheek to keep from telling her that technically, he had been dead after the experiment with Sentry. It just...hadn't really stuck.

"We made a promise, Bob," she said. "You made a promise."

"I know," he said.

"So why didn't you ever act on it?"

He looked down at his lap. In a low voice, he said, "Because you could do better."

She leaned closer to him. "What?"

"Because you could do better!" He said it so loud that passersby gave him an odd look. He awkwardly smiled and nodded at them, and they continued on, whispering about them as they went.

(Y/N) didn't speak at first. She was looking at him for a long time, almost like she was trying to figure out if he was serious or not. Bob looked back at her and shrugged, as if what he said was nothing.

"What do you mean I could do better?" she asked.

"Come on, (Y/N). You know exactly what I mean."

"Oddly enough, Bob, I don't. So why don't you spell it out for me?"

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I am a high school dropout with abusive and drug addicted parents, with no prospects and, honestly, no real ambitions. You were always leagues ahead of me in every way. I figured eventually you would realize you deserve better than to tie yourself to a loser like me, but you never did. And then you told me you didn't want to go to college on a full scholarship because of me, and I realized you were never going to figure it out on your own, so I had to do it for you."

"You know I hate when you talk about yourself like that."

"(Y/N), it's true! Tell me you wouldn't resent me if I had made you stay in Florida and not taken that acceptance into college just because I'm a fuck up. Tell me that you would've been happier being stuck taking care of me even as adults than you are now having graduated and been top of your class and now have a degree."

"I would've been happier with you in my life at all, Bob! Because you are not a loser, you are my best friend and I love you so much."

Bob paused. (Y/N)'s words hung between them. He didn't know how to respond. Just hearing her say that made his heart flutter. He had to remind himself that she meant she loved him like a friend. That was all...right?

It was hard to believe what she was saying. For so many years, Bob justified having pushed her away for her own sake. Even up until this moment, even hearing what she had said, he still believed it was for her own sake. She had thrived without him, and she could continue to thrive without having to worry about him; if she didn't have to worry about the other him.

(Y/N) looked away. She stood suddenly, unable to face Bob. "I'm gonna go."

"Wait - "

"I still love you," she cut him off, still not daring to meet his eyes. "That's the crazy part. Even when I knew I should hate you, that I should move on from you, I never did. I hoped that this exact moment would one day happen so that I could tell you how I feel. I just wish you saw yourself the way that I do so that we could both stop hurting."

Bob was to his feet before he could realize what was happening. He grabbed (Y/N)'s arms and pulled her to him. His lips was on hers before he could even register that he was going to kiss her. (Y/N) was frozen in shock at first, but then quickly melted into the kiss. She wrapped her arms around Bob's neck and held him as closely as he was holding her. It was like they were trying to meld into one person, or like they were afraid that the other was going to disappear if they loosened their grip.

They only broke apart when someone passing buy grunted and muttered, "Get a room."

(Y/N) was giggling when she pulled away. "I expect nothing less from New Yorkers."

"Me either," Bob agreed. "(Y/N), I am so sorry for everything."

She shook her head. "Don't be. I mean, yes, be sorry for ghosting me because that was shitty and it hurt a lot, but that's the only thing you need to be sorry for."

"Then I'm sorry specifically for that. I'll do anything to make up for it."

(Y/N) leaned in to kiss him again, gently but quickly. "You can start making it up to me by bringing me on a proper date."

Bob hummed in response, the corners of his lips turning up slightly. "I can do that. But, um...I actually don't know how much money I have right now."

(Y/N) looked at him in shock. "Do you not get paid for being an Avenger?"

"First off, I am not an Avenger. More like...their moral support in a way. And also, I don't think being an Avenger is a paying job anyways."

"But what about all that promo work and stuff that the team does? That has to be paid. Aren't you guys sponsored by, like, several companies?"

Bob shook his head. "All of that is Alexei's doing. The rest of the team vetoed the sponsorships because it felt wrong and weird, and he does all that commercial work because he loves the fame. I'm not sure if he even gets paid for it. I think he does it just for the attention."

(Y/N) chuckled and snaked her arm around Bob's waist. She led him away from where they had been standing, although he wasn't quite sure where she was taking him. He wasn't arguing, though. He would go wherever she wanted to take him.

"We'll figure it out," she said. "I just want to be with you. We have a lot of time to make up for."

"Yeah, we do."

~~~~~~

toss a coin to your witcher!

ko-fi.com/storiesforallfandoms

[storiesforallfandoms]

@omeletdreamer finally made me start watching 9-1-1 I hope y’all are ready for some fics

[storiesforallfandoms]

normal ~ frank castle;marvel

word count: 2348

request?: no

description: in which he hasn't experienced normal in a very long time, but she makes it easy to get used to it

pairing: frank castle x female!reader

warnings: swearing, mentions of frank's past, somehow made a fluffy punisher fic? didn't mean for it to be this fluffy

masterlist (one, two, three)

It had been a long, long time since Frank Castle knew the word "normal". So long, in fact, that he wasn't sure if his life ever had been "normal". He was sure it never would be again in any case. Everyone knew how he was, what he had done, that he didn't regret any of it. He tried to move on after he got out of jail, but he saw the looks people gave him. The nervous glances, the side eyes, the whispers that followed him. Frank Castle could never be "normal" again.

Until he met you, a pretty waitress at a quiet diner he visited to get away.

Even your coworkers had glanced at him in fear when he walked in. They were debating among themselves about whether or not they should serve him when you walked right up to his table, water jug in hand and a smile on your face. He watched your movements as you filled his glass, then his eyes trained up to your face as you took his order. He was mesmerized by your beauty, and by the fact that you genuinely didn't seem afraid of him. You were treating him as if he were any normal customer.

"Just a coffee," he told you after holding eye contact for some time, just to see if you'd falter.

"You sure?" you asked. He nodded. "Well, I'll leave the menu in case you change your mind."

After you brought him his coffee, one of your coworkers walked up to you and whispered, "Are you crazy?! Do you know who that is?!"

You shook your head.

"He's The Punisher!"

You glanced over at your lone customer. His face did look vaguely familiar, but you hadn't followed the Punisher case as closely as most people in Hell's Kitchen. It was impossible to completely abstain from hearing any information about the trial, but you never knew who the guy was. All you knew was that he had killed bad men, and what was so wrong about that?

You looked back at your coworker and shrugged. "He looks like a man drinking a coffee to me."

Unbeknown to the both of you, Frank heard your entire conversation. He found himself smiling as he took a sip of his coffee.

A few days later, he was back at the diner. He had walked past and saw you through the window. He hadn't been hoping to see you or anything. Total coincidence. But since you were working, he figured he may as well stop in for another coffee.

You looked over as the bell over the door rang. Your smile caught him by surprise yet again, and yet he was smiling back.

"Come for another coffee?" you asked. He nodded. "Well, your booth is open. I'll bring it over."

He sat facing the counter, giving himself a view of you. He watched you pour a mug of coffee, then turn to the nearby fridge and pull a plate of something out. As you got closer, he realized it was a slice of lemon meringue pie.

"Oh, I don't - "

"On me," you cut him off. "Just in case you think the food is bad or something. This should prove it isn't."

He was smiling again. It felt foreign, as did the odd feeling growing in his chest.

The third time he came to the diner, it was almost as if you were waiting for him. You were already pouring him a cup of coffee and had a slice of pie waiting for him. You both locked eyes and shared a smile before he went to his usual booth. You brought his things over and said, "I'm off at 4. Will you wait for me?"

Frank nodded. You smiled at him and went back to work.

For two hours, Frank sat in that booth. You refilled his coffee once, brought him some food that he ordered himself. Your coworkers had grown somewhat used to him by now, but they still gave him looks whenever they passed his booth. He ignored them, focusing only on you.

When you were finished your shift, he paid for his meal and followed you out of the diner. You faced him, pulling on your coat. "Walk me home?"

"Lead the way."

You walked a steady pace, staying side by side. People cleared the path for both of you when they saw you coming - or rather, when they saw Frank coming.

"It's like having my own personal bodyguard," you joked.

Frank's jaw clenched. He had been trying to pretend that part of his life didn't exist when you were around. It was easier inside the walls of the diner where the only people he had seen was your coworkers, but now you were much more public. It was impossible to avoid the stares now.

You noticed Frank's tenseness. You put a hand on his arm, drawing his attention back to you.

"For what it's worth," you said, "I don't think what you did was wrong. You killed bad men who did bad things. What's the difference between that and the bad people the Avengers have killed trying to protect the city?"

"I don't think the Avengers have admitted to liking killing people."

"Not publicly. We could assume all of them like killing unless they come out and say, 'Hey, I hate hurting people and it makes my stomach sick'. But the truth is, to be a hero you have to be at least a little okay with violence. The public just chooses what kind of violence they're okay with."

Frank chuckled, humorlessly. "I'm not a hero."

You shrugged. "I never said you were. I just said you're not a bad person."

Frank found himself disappointed when you finally got to your apartment. He didn't want his time with you to end. Everything just felt right when he was with you. It was a strange feeling, almost wrong for him. Frank Castle didn't feel fuzzy inside because of a woman. He didn't frequent diners just to see said woman, he didn't walk said woman home and wish for time to stop so he could spend more time with her.

Not since Maria.

You turned to him. He kept his face stony, trying not to give anything away.

"Do you have a cell phone?" you asked.

This time, he was humored. "Of course."

"Give me your number."

A week later, Frank was back to your place for your first date. After texting for a few days, you had asked Frank if he wanted to go on a date. Frank had agreed in a heartbeat. For his comfort, you suggested that he come over and you'd make dinner for the two of you. Private, intimate. Frank's heart was beating a little too fast.

What is wrong with me? This is not me.

But what if it could be?

You were dressed in jeans and a blouse when you answered the door. Casual, which Frank was grateful for. He wasn't sure how to dress for a first date at someone's house, so he picked the nicest clothes he had - also a pair of jeans and a plain black t-shirt. He hadn't been stressed about it, though. Frank Castle didn't worry about how he dressed for a date. He was a violent vigilante who had seen the horrors of war. A simple date was nothing. It certainly was not making him nervous.

You brought him to your dining room, where you already had your dinner and some wine set out. You both sat down and started eating. The silence lasted all of a few moments before you started asking Frank about himself. He was hesitant first, not used to opening up about himself, but you were happy to fill the silences he left. The more you opened up, the more Frank's walls fell, and he found himself telling you things about him. Things he hadn't spoken about in a long time. Things that normal people talk about on first dates.

When you finished eating, Frank insisted on helping you clean up. He cleared the dishes off the table and dried them while you washed. He glanced over at you, a small smile on your face as you washed. You were softly humming. Frank wasn't sure if you knew you were doing it, but it was so cute he didn't want to bring it up.

"You know," Frank said once you had finished the dishes. "Dating me isn't going to be easy for you."

You raised an eyebrow at him. "Is that a challenge?"

He chuckled. "No, not like that. I mean, you're trying to date a known violent vigilante that mowed down an entire gang, plus some. Everyone knows who I am, and what I did. They'll know who you're associating with, and they're not going to be too kind to you about it."

You shrugged. "I'm not too worried about it."

"But why?"

"Why?"

"You are the first person I've met who isn't afraid of me, and you don't seem too worried about being connected to me. Why?"

You looked like you were considering your answer for a while. Finally, you said, "I don't think what you did was wrong. Everyone thinks murder is the worst of the worst no matter what the reasoning is, but the truth is that the police in this town are awful. Most of them are paid off by various gangs so that they'll turn a blind eye to all the crime happening. There's a reason vigilantes like Daredevil exist, and why they take care of things. You just do the things that maybe Daredevil should do sometimes - you take care of the problem permanently. I don't think that's a bad thing; I don't think you're a bad person."

That was the first time Frank kissed you.

That was a year ago. Now, Frank got to wake up next to you every morning. He got to go out and work a normal job as a construction worker, and come home to you every night. He got to have dinner with you, watch whatever awful reality show you pulled him into hate watching, then fall asleep next to you.

He had a life he never would've dreamed about after Maria and the kids. But he was so happy. He couldn't remember ever being this happy.

Frank always woke up before you, so he always found himself just watching you for a while. You were always so peaceful, your face smushed into the pillow as you breathed heavily. He never did it for long because it felt weird, but he couldn't help himself. He was grateful to be here, to get to wake up next to you every morning. He was grateful that he got to leave his past behind him and build a new life with someone who saw him as more than just a monster, and loved him for all of his flaws.

One morning, you slowly blinked awake as Frank was looking at you. You smiled softly at him as you stretched out your sleep heavy limbs.

"Watching me sleep, you weirdo?" you asked, your voice still thick with fatigue.

Frank chuckled. "Maybe."

"That's weird."

"Hey, I'm sorry for thinking my girlfriend is beautiful even when she sleeps. Next time I wake up before you, I'll put a pillow over your face so I don't have to look at you."

You giggled and rolled towards him, snuggling your face in Frank's chest. He wrapped his arms around you, holding you close to him. He kissed the top of your head, taking in the familiar smell of your shampoo that was still lingering after your shower the night before.

"Penny for your thoughts?" you asked.

"I'm just really happy," he admitted.

You smiled to yourself. His confession made your heart warm. You knew how hard things had been for Frank, but you were by his side every step of the way. You supported him through his transition back into normal society when others tried so hard to shun him from it.

"I'm happy you're happy," you said. You moved so that you could kiss him on the cheek, but he quickly turned his head to capture your lips with his. You giggled into the kiss and let him pull you on top of him. "And I love you so much. I hope you know that."

"I do, but I don't mind hearing it again."

You leaned down to kiss Frank. "I love you, Frank Castle."

He smiled at you. "Fuck, how did I ever get so lucky?"

"You walked into my diner and ordered a single coffee," you reminded him.

"Worst fucking coffee of my life." You gasped and hit his arm. Frank laughed, putting his hands up to protect himself from your mock rage. "What? It's true! Honey, the coffee at the diner tastes like it was burnt days ago and you're still serving it. There's a reason I stopped ordering it once we got together."

"So you drank bad coffee just so you'd get to see me?"

"That pie slice you gave me the second time made up for the bad coffee."

You rolled your eyes, although it was still obviously playful. "Well, at least that was good. If you told me my favorite thing on the menu was bad, I may have had to reconsider this entire relationship."

You made the move to get up, but Frank quickly pulled you back down into bed. "Babe, I have to get ready for work!"

"You don't have to go to the diner for another two hours. That's plenty of time to stay in bed."

"I have to make breakfast before I go in."

"You work in a diner, get food there."

You sighed. There was no winning this battle. Just like there had been no winning the day before, or the day before that. So, you settled back down next to Frank, laying your head on his chest and listening to his heartbeat. He ran his hands through your hair.

It was peaceful. It was perfect.

~~~~~~

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