this is from a prompt I shame deleted in early 2021 and am now filling in mid 2022 because I write at a snails pass
#17 things you said that i wish you hadnt from this prompt list
Too honest
fandom: twc
pairing: Nate Sewell/F!detective (Riley Jordan)/Morgan
rating: M (really like older teen but I’d rather err on the side of caution)
words: 1.2k
read on ao3
The bar was not a place Nate could easily picture Riley. He had grown used to their long afternoons together in the library. To her face buried in a book, a pad at her side as she scribbled notes, ink covering her fingers and occasionally her face when she had to readjust her glasses. It’s a pleasant change, for all of the noise and bustle and whatever passes for music now days. She’s all smiles and laughter, catching up with old friends.
It’s a short walk back to the detective’s apartment. The streets of Wayhaven are peaceful, light gathering in the pools of rainwater, shimmering along the asphalt and painting the night in softness. Painting her in softness. It has been growing harder and harder for Nate to ignore the feelings Riley elicits within him: longing, regret and most of all guilt. Guilt that he should be feeling this way when she so clearly had feelings for someone else. Not just someone else, Morgan.
Morgan who he’d never seen like this before. Morgan who moved on so quickly, always seeking new pleasures, new distractions.
What sort of man wished a heartbreak on his friend? Wished that Morgan would fall back into her old patterns, and maybe just maybe there might be more than friendship in those long afternoons with Riley. He’d often wished for a companion, a partner, but never found someone he could envision that with, until now.
Fate was nothing if not cruel.
At least he has moments like this, walking in comfortable silence. She’s humming something he doesn’t recognize under her breathe. Steps a little unsteady from the wine she’d been drinking, or maybe just from dancing with the song in her head.
He opens his mouth preparing to ask about the artist, to horde more details of Riley and her life, but before he can her steps slow and then stop in front of the bakery.
Her eyers study her own reflection in the window. One hand reaches up to brush her cheek, contemplative, a small frown marring her features.
“Is something wrong?” He can’t sense anything, no dangers lurking in the shadows, something else must be going on.
Her voice is halting, quiet, “do you think I’m pretty Nate?”
“Riley, I think you are one of the most stunning creatures I have ever beheld.” He answers too quickly, without thinking, more honest than he intended.
She turns surprise evident on her face, “you’re full of it.” Brown eyes searching his face trying to gauge his sincerity.
“I assure you I am not.” Perhaps he should have gone for a more teasing tone. One that is light and friendly, but it’s hard to do so.
There’s a long list of things it is hard to do. Or hard not to do. Right now, Nate would like nothing more than to sweep Riley up in his arms, to kiss her breathless, to stare into her eyes, to make her understand how beautiful she is. How is he supposed to keep his tone light when it weighs so heavy on him?
“Oh,” she’s looking at him and he can hear the way her heart is accelerating, and hope sparks to life within him. “Nate, I--” she reaches out a hand placing it against his chest. Can she feel how his heart his hammering in his chest?
A long moment where she searches for words and Nate waits with baited breath. Wants to say something, to sweep her off her feet, but he can’t. She’s been drinking. He can smell the wine on her breathe, strong now with her this close. This moment, whatever it is, wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
He must do the right thing here. For Riley’s sake, for Morgan’s sake.
Her hand is small in his, delicate as he pulls it away, the cool night air rushing in to fill the void where her touch had once been. The urge is there, to place a kiss on the back of her hand, but he swallows it down and instead gives it a brief squeeze before releasing it.
“It’s late; we should get you home.”
Riley nods, eyes not meeting his and he mourns the loss, what he wouldn’t give to lose himself in their warm depths.
He only has a moments warning, the sound of familiar footfalls, before Morgan steps out of the shadows, “am I interrupting something?”
A small shriek erupts out of Riley, her hand flying to cover her mouth, “Morgan! You scared me half to death!”
He should have sensed her sooner. Too distracted by Riley, and what if she had been another supernatural? One intent on hurting Riley? He needs to be better, to be more careful, to not lose himself in far-fetched dreams and longings.
He didn’t expect her here, she still has a few hours of patrol left. Had she heard their voices and come to say hello? She never would have bothered with any of her old flings. Just more evidence that this is something more between them, something he shouldn’t get between.
“Sorry, sweetheart,” Morgan drawls as she wraps an arm around Riley’s waist, “that’s not how I intended to make you scream.”
“Morgan!” Nate splutters, words failing him as his face heats. Wishes he could say it was just indignation and embarrassment at Morgan’s words, but he knows its more. “That’s highly inappropriate.”
“I am highly inappropriate,” she responds with a dry chuckle, “but Nate is right, we should get you home.” She doesn’t wait for a response, just starts walking, her arm still around Riley’s waist.
Nate watches them walk away unease sitting heavy in his stomach. How much had she overheard? They will have to talk after this, clear the air.
“Aren’t you joining us?” Morgan calls over her shoulder, her grin wicked, and he knows she overheard it all.
A small squeak escapes Riley, her eyes darting back between the two of them. Her heart rate skyrocketing, her skin heating, a hundred other small changes his vampire sense allow him a peek into. One he wishes he could ignore.
Has Riley thought about it? The three of them together? Images too easy to recall rise in his mind, walking in on them in the library. Lace against Riley’s skin, Morgan’s lips travel along her collarbone. . .
A raised eyebrow from Morgan as she waits for his response. He knows it’s no good trying to hide it from her. They’ve known each other too long, and their senses are too strong too attuned to each other after almost a century.
The smile grows larger across Morgan’s face and he needs to redirect this somehow.
“You’re more than capable of getting her home, no need for me to tag along,” he tries to keep his voice neutral, to push those thoughts away, to slow the rapid beat of his pulse. He doesn’t wait for their response, turns on his heel and retreats, but he can still feel the weight of Morgan’s gaze long after he is out of sight.
tag list: @agentnatesewell @rosarx @lord-king-saint
I was tagged by the incredible @amlovelies to post the last line I wrote on a wip and I actually have something to post! 😂 This is from our Nate/Detective/Morgan poly au (check out this prompt fill for a look at what that's all about!). 👀😍❤️
Nate gasps and I don't have enough sense left in me not to whine as he takes a half-step back, uncertainty flickering across his face. He doesn't make it far enough to even untangle his long limbs from mine though before Morgan growls against my neck--making me shudder and raising goosebumps on my skin--and her hand darts towards him, fingers looping into his belt and tugging him back towards us a little.
Tagging @lilyoffandoms , @delllonggone , and @elmshore !
30 minute ficlet for a theoretical N/M/Detective poly route, if you'd like? Your ideas on N & M's dynamic are just so good and your writing is SO GOOD, I had to.
You're not what I'm used to / You keep me guessing with things that you do / I hope that they're true / 'Cause I'm never gonna heal my past / If I run every time it starts / So I need to know, if I'm in this alone ~ Say It First by Sam Smith
Thirty minute ficlets
okay so I have so many many thought about this (most of which you’ve already heard and improved🥰) I’m holding to the half hour limit for this particular piece, but there will probably be more coming for this because I am now very very invested in this. This would take place after the infamous bakery scene, and is pretty rough as I’m just starting to play with these dynamics.
Nate is surprised to look up and see Morgan lingering in the doorway of the library. It’s not a place he often finds her, more likely to be down in the training rooms, or hiding in the dark cave she calls a room. Morgan only comes to the library when required or when she needs something.
“Was there something you needed?” He asks with a smile.
She doesn’t answer instead taking a long drag from her cigarette. She looks smaller than usual. Her shoulders hunched and her arms crossed over her body, it reminds him of the times her senses have threatened to overwhelm when they are out on a mission. It shouldn’t be happening here in the warehouse.
Nate is concerned. It something he’s been feeling more and more often when it comes to Morgan especially in regards to her dalliance with Riley. Concern and something else, an ugly little twinge in his gut when he sees them together, he refuses to put the word to the feeling.
“I think I fucked up.” Morgan says her words strained.
“What makes you say that?” Nate asks as he rises from the seat to cross over to where Morgan paces.
“Riley, she--“ Morgan huffs in frustration “-we were at the bakery and she left crying.”
Nate swallows the instinct to race off to the station, to check on Riley. It is not his place. It shouldn’t be his place, especially because he’s never seen Morgan act this way before. Riley would hardly be the first of her lovers to end up in tears, but she has never cared before.
There’s that twinge again.
“Did something happen?” Nate tries to keep his voice steady.
“That smiley human got nosey,” Morgan says with a sneer, “all I did was clarify that Riley and I are just fooling around.”
“Is that all it is?”
“I don’t god damn know anymore!” Morgan yells the frustration evident in her voice. “It’s just fun. It’s supposed to be just fun, but when I close my eyes, I see her face, and when I saw her cry—” her voice tails off.
Nate swallows. He should be happy. He should be elated that Morgan has finally found someone that makes her feel. Does it matter than when he closes his eyes, he sees Riley’s face as well? Does it matter that there was a time when he had hoped that he would be the one Morgan saw that way? It had been decades since he’d put those thoughts away, and yet here seeing Morgan this way brought them back to the surface.
