Can I Get A Fic Of Adam From Mighty Morphing Power Rangers (Black Ranger) Nervously Introducing His Boyfriend

promise | jj maybank

gif creds to it’s respective owner ! <3

SUMMARY: after confessing your feelings to your best friend in a swirl of emotions, resulting in probably the worst outcome you can imagine, you soon come to realize he was in just as much pain as you.

PAIRINGS: jj maybank x fem!pogue!reader , pope heyward x fem!pogue!reader (platonic)

WORD COUNT: 10.6k (she do be a long one, but it’s worth it)

WARNINGS: angst, fluff, depictions of smut

A/N: hello! this is the first imagine that i ever posted on tumblr. hope whoever reads this likes it, it's one of my favourites so i wanted to start off strong. grab a drink/snack and enjoy :) <3

☼ ☼ ☼

You sit frozen even under the blazing sun. You’ve buried your feet beneath the sand, gripping the couple seashells you caught while surfing in your hand until lines press into your skin. You try to focus on your burning soles or the sting from the shells, but his voice is too prominent in your ears to drown out.

“Y/N? Can you please listen, this is important.” JJ playfully nudges your arm and lingers his hand on your shoulder.

You quickly pull back from his touch and wrap your arms around yourself protectively, trying to pay no mind to the slightly confused expression that contorts his features. You’ve done enough overanalyzing with him to know that he doesn’t mean anything by these seemingly affectionate gestures. He never does.

“What, JJ. I’m not in the mood right now.” You sharply say, keeping your gaze on your black-painted toes sticking out from the sand. And it’s true. You really did not want to hear about all the ways JJ could ask Kiara out properly.

He huffs and rests his hands on his knees, still remaining seated on the towel next to you. “I just want your advice. What’s up with you today? You were fine this morning, and now you’re acting all irritated with me.”

Yeah, maybe because I couldn’t pretend to be okay anymore after seeing that stupid smile on your stupid face when Kiara kissed your stupid forehead at 7 in the morning. Or during school, seeing you pass notes in class and winking when phones clearly exist, like you just have to rub it in. Or after school at John B’s house watching you trying to braid her hair while the rest of us were doing homework. Or before we left for the beach as she rubs sunscreen all over your back, when that’s usually my job.

But of course, you didn’t say any of that.

“Whatever. Like you care.” You scoff and look up at the ocean, watching your friends laugh and push each other off their surfboards.

“I do care, Y/N. You’re my best friend, your opinion means the most to me.” He pauses for a moment and runs his hand through his golden hair. “Did I do something?”

Your heart clenches in your chest, and for a second you want to drop the angry act and hug him, comfort him and reassure him that he could do no wrong. That he was everything and more. But you had to block out your pain, and anger was just the emotion strong enough for the job.

You keep your stone cold glare, and manage to turn it towards him. He’s already looking at you, but not in the way he looks at Kiara before she notices. Not in the way where he looks at her and sees his purpose for existence. Not in the way you look at him.

Instead, he’s looking at you with a lost expression, brows furrowed in confusion, eyes asking for answers. As your glare locks into his soft pale blue eyes, he closes his mouth and looks away. At least he knows not to push you any further.

After an excruciating 10 minutes of sitting in awkward silence with nothing but the waves and seagulls, you hear Kiara’s melodic voice travel over the water and sand to reach your ears. “Ayo, JJ! Y/N! What are you guys doing? Get in the water before it gets too dark!”

Even the sound of her voice makes your ears hot with jealousy and your chest ache with pain. The worst part wasn’t even that she was the girl JJ held in his heart, it was the fact that she was also your best friend, and an absolute angel. She did nothing wrong, and you had no reason to feel so negatively towards someone as kind hearted as her. But the fact that she unknowingly took JJ from you was enough.

She’s waving her arms frantically to get you two’s attention, as if you don’t already see her. It makes you wanna flip her off, but JJ beats you to any action by laughing and standing up, the towel he was sitting on -- your towel -- still hooked in his arms. He throws the damp pink and green fabric around his neck before cupping his hands over his mouth to yell, “You got it, Kie! There’s a sick wave rolling in!”

You roll your eyes, and he notices, but still presses his lips together in a sad smile. “You coming or what, my angry girl?”

Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry. You repeat this in your head over and over again before you dare to speak. ‘My angry girl’, he had said. Like you were his, like he was yours. Like you were his girl. But you weren’t, so why did he think it was okay to keep up with his little spur of the moment nicknames, when they so obviously had no ounce of affection behind them?

You stand up and grab your surfboard. JJ’s face lights up as he shoots you a bright smile, happy at the fact that you’re over whatever it was that was bothering you and are ready to finally have a good time.

But he was wrong. That’s not why you stood up and grabbed your things.

“Have fun.” You say coldly, clenching your teeth to prevent you from saying anything else, for you know that if you did you’d erupt into tears. You tighten your hold on your board, yank your towel from his shoulders, and turn on your heel to walk off the beach.

You can’t take the Twinkie back to your house, since that was John B’s car and the gang’s ride, and JJ knew that too. As you walk by the van, ready to take your walk home alone under the setting sun with just your bikini, towel, and board, you can’t help but hope that JJ will come after you, or call out your name. Just something to show that he doesn’t want you to leave, that he wants to find out what’s wrong, that he wants you safe with him.

But when you turn your head slightly over your shoulder to see if your thoughts have manifested into reality, you’re met with his sculpted back running towards the ocean, diving into the thrashing waves and tackling a laughing Kiara.

The salt dripping from your hair melts with the salt on your cheeks.

~ ~ ~

That night on the beach was only one out of many, many other occurrences in which you had to protect your bleeding soul from any more pain by ultimately being a bitch to the boy you’re in love with.

You didn’t always resort to hostility. There was a time where you would fake a smile and push aside any feelings for the sake of your relationship with JJ. But after a while, it all got too much. You remember the first time you felt any hint of insecurity.

It was about a year ago, a couple weeks after Kiara officially joined the gang by announcing she’s done with the kook academy and would now be spending all her time with you guys. You were so excited at first, for you guys hung out with her once in a while when she wasn’t trapped with the kooks, and now she would finally always be there. Of course, JJ hit on her when they first met, but you didn’t think much of it. He flirted with everyone.

But those feelings quickly got diminished when you and JJ were waxing your surfboards alone in John B’s shed. It was going well like it always did, and you were blushing like you always did when it was just you two. But then he said it, the first hint that he actually liked Kiara.

“It’s amazing that Kie is always here now, isn’t it?” He said, muscles flexing as he thoroughly waxed his white board.

You diverted your gaze away from his arms to see him smiling aimlessly, though you doubted it was directed at the task at hand.

“Oh, uh. Yeah. She’s great,” You replied honestly.

JJ looked up at you, the same smile on his face. “It’s so much better with her here.”

It’s so much better with her here.

Those words have never left your mind since he said them a whole sun’s revolution ago, and it still bothers you all the same. How could he say that, after only 2 weeks of her being there? How could he say that, when you were the one who’s been his best friend since you were kids, before John B or Pope? How could he say that, when he should be feeling that way about you?

Overtime, it got worse.

When you showed up at his house, backpack in hand filled with you two’s favourite snacks and his favourite alcohol, ready to go for your normal weekend hike. “Oh shit, sorry Y/N. I told Kie I’d go surfing with her today. Next week though, yeah?” And he kissed your cheek, like he always did since he was 10. But, the hikes stopped.

At the bonfires when you reached for the red solo cup in his hand, and he pulled it away, laughing. “Oh-- This is for Kiara. Vodka cran. Can you believe that? So ridiculous.” But he smiled admirably the whole time. Usually he got you a drink, so you were used to just reaching for it. He still did get you drinks now, but only after Kiara got hers.

At Midsummers, when you were so excited to show him your red dress that you picked specifically because he said he liked it when walking past a store window. But of course Kiara walked in a second after you in her beautiful silky purple dress. “Wow, look at you.” JJ had said, and you prayed that he meant you, but when you looked up he was practically ogling at the glowing goddess next to you. Kiara laughed and told him to shut up, to which he grinned back and linked his arm with hers. “Shall we, you kook?” He jokingly said. As they were walking out of the hallway and into the party, leaving you behind, Kiara was the one who asked if you were coming. JJ didn’t say a word to you the whole night about your dress.

And the rest of the year was all a blur from there, just the obvious favouritism and admiration of her whenever the pogues hung out. You didn’t even want to think about what went on when it was just JJ and Kiara. And now that John B had Sarah, you felt even more forgotten than ever. Little did you know that there was one certain nerdy boy left in your friend group who was more similar to you than you thought.

~ ~ ~

It was now about a month after the beach, and the second last week of school before the summer. You were all sitting in second period, the class before lunch, working on review before the exams that would take place next week.

Not only were you stressed from school, since you haven’t really given it much thought recently, but today you were just extra irritable. You were tired, insecure, upset, and trying to memorize these goddamn history facts.

You were biting your nails and bouncing your leg at a very fast pace when you felt a wad of paper hit your head. You freeze and clench your jaw. You know exactly where that came from. You slowly turn around and see JJ awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.

“Sorry, Y/N. Can you pass that to Kie? She’s too far from me,” He whispers, slightly leaning forward.

You’ve had enough.

You pick up the note and don’t even bother to read what’s on it. Instead, you get up to your feet and throw it right back at him, hard. He’s a bit startled as it hits his chest, and he looks up at you, bewildered.

“Give it to her yourself,” You spit, clenching your fists. “And fuck off.”

People in the class are looking at you, including your friends, but you couldn’t care less. John B mouths ‘what the fuck?’ at you, Kiara is staring at you wide-eyed, and JJ just… JJ just looks sad. You make eye contact with Pope, but he isn’t looking at you like some freak, like everyone else. He’s looking at you with kind eyes. He sends you a sad, knowing smile that sofly curves his lips. You almost tear up looking at him, and you aren’t even sure why. Why was he looking at you like that?

Your thoughts are interrupted when your teacher calls your name. “Y/N, excuse me! Wh--”

You cut him off by raising your hand. “Yea, sir, I know. I’m leaving.” You leave the classroom without another word, leaving your friends and peers looking after you, confused.

~ ~ ~

Later that night as you lie lazily on your couch, scrolling aimlessly through your phone, you get a text from John B.

JB: Hey psycho

You roll your eyes and swipe the message away. A couple minutes later, you get more.

JB: That was a joke

I’m kidding

You’re not actually a psycho

Well… sometimes

To stop him from spamming you anymore, you groan and reluctantly text him back.

Y/N: holy shit what do u want

JB: Ah there she is

Come to the Chateau

Y/N: no

JB: Okay well first of all rude

Second of all I already sent JJ to get you

You shoot up in bed, breathing heavy. Are you fucking kidding me? Boys are so goddamn stupid sometimes.

Y/N: john b, NO.

seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you?

JB: Woah, why you getting mad at me for?

Y/N: were you not in class today?

JB: Yeah, we all were. Pretty sure the whole school knows about your outburst towards... You know. Your best friend? Who’s coming right now? And will be there in 2 minutes?

You couldn’t even text him back, with how mad you were. Why couldn’t they understand you wanted to be alone? You were clearly upset, and they wouldn’t respect your space. Maybe if you got upstairs before JJ showed up, you could avoid this whole thing--

“Y/N, it’s JJ.”

You sigh and look towards your glass door. JJ is there, hands in pockets and red backwards hat keeping the hair away from his face. He’s looking at you with an unreadable expression. Well, there goes your plan to just hide away from the world.

You don’t move, and remain seated on the couch, crossing your arms and looking down at your feet.

“Can you please come outside?” He says through the screen. His voice is so fragile, as if trying to be careful not to overstep and get you more upset. It makes you want to cry.

“Universe, be with me.” You mumble to yourself as you weakly get up from your spot and make your way to the door. He steps back a bit to give you some space as you step outside. The cool night breeze quickly nips at your bare stomach and arms, as you’re only in a black crop top and jean shorts. You wrap your arms around yourself and force yourself to look up at him.

He purses his lips together before pulling his grey sweatshirt over his head, leaving him only in a white tank top. He holds it out to you.

Your heart swells at him noticing your slight chill, and for a moment you were about to take it from him. Your fingertips barely graze the soft fabric as the scent of his cologne, sea water, and cocoa butter already reaches your nose. But then you remember two nights ago, when you were all hanging out in your backyard by the fire. Kiara was still cold, so JJ gave her his sweater. It was a different one, but still. You won’t be the second choice.

You shake your head and retract your hand to hug yourself tighter, looking out at the road. Anywhere but his eyes.

You hear him sigh, “Just take the sweater, Y/N. I know you’re upset with me, but it’s cold. I can see you shivering.”

“What would Kiara think if she saw me in your sweater?” You surprise yourself.

“What?” He asks, confused. “I… I don’t know. I don’t think it would matter.”

“Yeah,” You scoff, “Of course you don’t.” He’s so oblivious to everything. It must be nice to live in a world of ignorance, not knowing who you’re hurting or what you’re doing wrong.

A few moments of silence go by between you two, so you decide to just start walking to the Chateau. You quickly walk down the steps and onto the side road. JJ catches up with you shortly after, and you two walk side by side.

About halfway there, he breaks the silence once again. “Y/N, please.”

“Please what, JJ?” You mutter, trying to sound uninterested.

“Please tell me what I did.” You notice him looking at you through your peripheral vision but force yourself to keep looking straight ahead. “It’s killing me.”

You bite down on your tongue. It’s hard to believe that he’s so affected by you distancing yourself from him. “Why?” You ask, though it wasn’t really a question. “You have Kiara, you don’t need me.”

He lets out a dry, fed up laugh, “Y/N, I don’t understand! Why do you keep bringing up Kiara when I’m trying to talk about you?”

“It’s so much better with her here, isn’t it?” You quote, voice slightly shaking at the end as you finally look at him.

At first his eyes are blank, searching for meaning behind your words. But after a bit, you see the gears lock in place.

“I--” He starts, “You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Do I know that, JJ? Because it sure seems like it. You’re completely obsessed with her. It’s like I don’t exist.” You feel the familiar sting of tears cloud up your vision. “So you should be grateful I’m no longer getting in your way.”

“Grateful? Y/N, did you not hear me? It kills me. Every time you look at me like you don’t want me there, it kills. Every time you push my hand away, it kills. Every time you walk right past me without so much as a glance in my direction, it kills.”

You quickly wipe your eyes. You will not break in front of him. Stay strong, Y/N. Rage over pain. “Yeah, well. Now you know how I’ve felt this whole year.”

“What do you mean?” He asks, raising his voice. “I’ve never treated you the way you’re treating me.”

You halt in your tracks, looking at him with wide eyes. You feel like you’re going to throw up. “Are you fucking kidding me?” You yell. He’s visibly surprised at your outburst. “You haven’t been treating me like shit? Really? You’re gonna say that with your whole chest?”

He starts to shout back at you, “No, I haven’t! Okay, maybe I should have paid more attention to you… Or-- or, or not cancelled so many plans. But I never treated you like I didn’t want you around, I always want you around!”

“Well, you did JJ! You fucking did! You don’t have to roll your eyes at me or push me away to tell me I’m not important to you anymore. Just giving all your energy to someone else says enough. Recently I’ve only been seeing you when the whole gang would hang out, because the rest of the time you’re fucking Kiara!” You scream, voice cracking as you finally let the angry tears escape your eyes.

You turn and start to quicken your pace, but he doesn’t let you go far. You feel his hand grab your arm and pull you back towards him.

“Y/N, seriously! For fucks sake! What the actual fuck are you talking about!?” He shouts, tightening his grip. “I’m not fucking Kiara!”

Your skin burns from the pressure of his fingers digging into your skin, “I bet you wish you were, though.” You grit out, yanking your arm away from him. You feel the pulsing of flesh from where his nails just were.

“Why should it even matter if I was, anyway? It’s not like me and you are together.” He clenches his jaw.

For a moment, you’re at a loss for words. How can you say anything else without giving it away even more that you were hopelessly in love with him? He was right, you weren’t together. If only he knew that was the reason for your pain all along. There was absolutely no way he didn’t at least have an idea that you loved him, after all the fighting and obvious jealousy.

You had nothing to lose.

“Yeah, we aren’t together.” You swallow and brace yourself for the worst possible outcome. “But we could be. Should be.” No going back now. The words left your raw throat and were now spoken out into the universe.

For the first time since you’ve met him, JJ was speechless.

You couldn’t take it anymore, just him staring at you in complete shock. What was he thinking? Did he absolutely hate you for ruining the dynamic between you two? Did he want to turn around and never see you again? Could he… Could he possibly, even a tiny sliver of him, feel the same way?

You decided to put the ball in his court. “Come on, JJ. Don’t act like you didn’t know. Even if it was just a little part of you.”

He remained quiet for a few more seconds before finally opening his mouth. “Y/N…”

“You knew.” You spit out, glaring at him. “I know you did.”

“I… I thought the reason you were mad at me was just because I was neglecting you. I honestly didn’t think it was because you--” He stopped himself, as if trying to find the right words. “Because you liked me.”

You sigh and look down at your hands, twisting your rings around your fingers. “I don’t just like you, JJ.” You truly had no idea why you were being so bold, before you would have sworn on your grave that you would never let him find out. But there’s only so much hurt a person can take before they crumble.

You look up at his apprehensive face. He looks almost… scared. Scared of you saying it and making it real. But you can't protect anyone's feelings anymore, you’ve been doing that too long. You take a deep breath, and look at his doubtful ocean eyes.

“I love you.”

He sucks in a breath, and to your surprise, you see red rimming the whites of his eyes. “Why, Y/N?” He cracks, “Why did you have to say that?”

“Because it’s true,” You weakly confess, tasting tears on your tongue.

“No, no, no. Fuck,” He gasps out and takes off his hat to run his hands through his hair.

“I’m in love with you, JJ.”

“Jesus Christ, Y/N.” He closes his eyes and shakes his head.

“You can’t make me take it back. It’s how I feel.”

“But why-- Fuck, Y/N. Why are you telling me this now?” He asks, a pained tone in his voice.

You frown at him, wondering what he’s getting at, “What do you mean?”

“I mean-- you couldn’t have told me this before?! Like, not even a few months ago?!”

“I don’t… I don’t understand how that would have changed anything.”

“It--” He turns around so that he’s no longer facing you and throws his head into his hands. Then, very quietly that you think you might’ve imagined it, he says, “It would have.”

The slight rustle of trees in the background seem deafening in your ear as you stand watching his back.

Then your whole world falls on you, crushing you deep into the earth’s core and sucking all the life from you.

“But it doesn’t anymore.” JJ says as he turns back to you, eyes red and watery.

“I don’t understand,” You whisper softly, so gentle that you see JJ’s face mould into a painful expression at the sound of it.

He takes a step forward and slowly wipes the tears from under your eyes where they have spilt many times before. Then, he presses his forehead against yours, keeping his hands on your face. “I’m so fucking sorry, Y/N. I’m so sorry.” He murmurs. “I’m sorry that I didn’t realize sooner. I’m sorry that you didn’t tell me when you first felt it.”

You choke on a sob, “I first felt it as soon as I met you, as kids, when you accidentally stepped on my sandcastle.”

“No,” He shakes his head against yours, “No. That’s not when you first felt it. You couldn’t have loved me all that time.”

“Yes, it was.” You retract a bit so that his hands are still on your face, but you’re looking at each other. “I have loved you before I even knew what it was.”

He looks as if he’s restraining himself from saying something. The veins in his neck protrude through his smooth skin.

“What did you mean,” You continue, “when you said it would have changed things if I told you sooner?”

He lets go of you, and you feel like collapsing.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. That’s the problem, Y/N. I…” He looks down, away from your eyes. “I have feelings for Kiara now.”

“N-Now?” Your throat trembles. “What do you mean, ‘now’? You didn’t before?”

He ignores your question. “She kissed me. I was going to ask her to be my girlfriend tonight. It’s… it’s what I was asking you at the beach before you stormed off.”

He doesn’t say anything else as you slowly walk to the Chateau. You don’t say anything either, because you can’t. There’s nothing else for you to say. Your face is frozen in a pained expression, the tears in your eyes stuck in place, neither going away nor spilling. You keep your eyes on the ground beneath your worn out running shoes, hands still rubbing slow circles on your arms.

As you reach the house, before making your way to the backyard where the pogue’s voices were heard, JJ turns toward you. “Y/N--”

“Don’t, JJ.” You quip. “Just don’t say anything else, and neither will I. I promise. I’ll leave it alone.”

He clenches his teeth, and nods once. Then he takes your hand and places his grey sweatshirt into it. “Just take the sweater, Y/N. Please.”

You swallow, feeling the walls of your throat scratch painfully together from trying not to cry. And you nod.

~ ~ ~

It’s half past 11. John B is inside with Sarah, failing miserably at making cookies. JJ and Kiara have snuck off to who-knows-where. You didn’t know where they ran off to, you only knew it was somewhere in the forest behind the house since before they left your sight hand-in-hand, JJ met your eyes with an unreadable look. So now it was just you swaying pathetically in the hammock, staring at the remnants of the dying fire. In a way, you were grateful this awkward night was finally at an end. It was harder than you thought to pretend that the conversation with JJ didn’t happen, and to avoid the looks you two would send each other. You thought for sure that your friends must have noticed, but if they did, they didn’t show it.

As you were wondering what JJ and Kiara were doing, and how John B and Sarah’s cooking was going, you realized you had no idea where Pope was. That was, until you felt someone climb into the hammock beside you.

“Hey.” It was Pope.

You open your tired eyes and manage to smile at him, “Hey, Pope.”

He smiles back and gets more cozy beside you in the hammock. You two just sit listening to the crackling of the fire and the faint sound of Sarah’s laughter from inside the house. The peace is quickly interrupted when you hear the fire alarm go off in the distance.

You and Pope burst out into laughter as you hear John B’s frantic screams and Sarah’s panicked orders.

“They’re a mess,” You giggle.

“Yeah, they are.” Pope agrees. “They’re perfect for each other.”

“So, uh,” You clear your throat, “What happened after I left school today?”

“Well, the class was kinda quiet for a second, but then teach just yelled at us to keep doing our work so… It was forgotten about pretty quickly.”

You nod, thankful that it wasn’t made a big deal. “Thank you for not looking at me like I lost my mind. I know I’ve not been myself recently… or like, the past few months… but still. Everyone just kind of looked at me like I had two heads when I blew up at JJ.”

Pope nudges your arm with his shoulder, “I understand you, that’s why.”

You look at him, “Huh?”

He purses his lips as he contemplates continuing, but he does. “JJ.”

That’s all he says. That’s all he needs to say for you to understand what he means.

You let out a defeated scoff as you play with the sleeves of JJ’s sweatshirt that you were wearing, “Well, apparently everyone knew but him.” You shake your head, trying to rid yourself of the painful thoughts. “How do you understand how I feel, anyway?”

He shifts his gaze towards the forest, a sad look fogging his dark eyes.

And it hits you. All those times you were focused on JJ with Kiara, you forgot to pay attention to Pope, and where he was during all of this.

- -

“Oh shit, sorry Y/N. I told Kie I’d go surfing with her today. Next week though, yeah?” JJ had said. Later that day, you went to get coffee with Pope, who told you that he asked Kiara to study with him, to which she said she had plans.

“Oh-- This is for Kiara. Vodka cran. Can you believe that? So ridiculous.” JJ had said. 10 minutes later, Pope offered Kiara a drink, to which she said she already had one and gestured to the cup in her hand.

“Wow, look at you.” JJ had said. “Shall we, you kook?” Pope had told you he liked your dress, but he was looking at Kiara dancing with JJ. You had told him you liked his suit, but you were looking at JJ dancing with Kiara.

- -

“Kiara,” You say, coming out of your flashbacks. Pope simply nods, looking embarrassed. You let out a sarcastic laugh, “Why does everyone like Kiara?”

He snorts and rebuttals, “Why does everyone like JJ?”

You both chuckle, though it leaves a melancholic tone in the air. You lean your head against his shoulder, to which he returns the gesture and rests his head on top of yours. You try to only focus on your best friend next to you, trying to find comfort in the fact that someone else shares your pain.

As the hammock stills and your breathing levels, you fall asleep holding on to your best friend who you’ve really underestimated all this time.

~ ~ ~

“Ow, what the fuck!?”

You jolt up from the hammock at the sound of Pope’s screech, as he frantically looks around to see who threw an empty beer can at his head. You rub your eyes to adjust to the burning morning sun blaring through the tree leaves, and your blurry vision finally locks onto a tall, lean figure.

As your gaze finally clears, you notice it’s JJ standing over you two. He has another beer can in his hand, and he’s looking at Pope with a clenched jaw.

“Morning,” JJ says dryly and throws another can at Pope. “You two sleep well?”

“Would you stop-- Ow, what the hell man?” Pope flinches and swipes the empty cans onto the grass.

You groan and massage your head at all the commotion. You might’ve drank more than you thought last night in an attempt to numb your feelings. Pope notices, and relaxes his posture a bit as he puts a hand on your back and rubs comfortingly. “Shit, sorry Y/N. You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good. Thanks Pope,” You kindly smile at him and put your face in his neck to block out the brightness. “Ugh, I’m so fucking tired.”

“Why don’t I take you home then.” JJ quickly says and steps towards you guys. He grabs your chin and pulls you to face him and off of Pope.

“JJ, stop!” You hiss as a sharp pain shoots from your head down to your stomach. You feel like you’ll throw up if you move too much.

“Yeah, man. Just let her relax,” Pope agrees and soothingly pats your hair. “You’re hurting her.”

As you get settled against Pope again, you mumble, “Yeah, he does that a lot.”

Pope awkwardly presses his lips into a line at your comment and looks at JJ for a split second -- who swallows and looks down -- before lying down against you again.

“Seriously, Y/N.” JJ sighs and gently presses his fingers against your arm. “You’ll feel better if you sleep in your own bed.”

“What’s the problem, JJ? She’s fallen asleep here many times before, most of the time with you.” Pope mumbles and puts his hat over his head to cover his eyes from the sun.

“What time is it, anyways?” You ask as you weakly reach for your phone in your short pockets. The dim screen reads 6:47 am. You groan, “Are you fucked, JJ? It’s not even 7 am and you’re waking us up? It’s fucking Saturday.” When he doesn’t say anything, you continue, “Besides, where’s Kiara?” You feel Pope stiffen beside you.

You hear JJ shuffle his feet as he stands. “Uh… She’s--”

“I’m disappointed, guys.” Kiara’s voice is heard coming into earshot. “Empty beer cans in the grass? Have I taught you nothing?”

You don’t even bother to say anything back, and instead turn your whole body completely over so that you are fully facing Pope. As if thinking the same thing, Pope turns as well and throws his arm around you both, providing ultimate protection from the brightness -- and the two people who broke each of your hearts.

You sense Kiara picking up the cans, and she says, “Oh wow, look at them.” She laughs, “What happened last night guys…?” She asks suspiciously, yet a playful tone is tinged on her lips.

You decide to play along with her suspicions, “Wouldn’t you like to know.” You say against Pope’s shirt. He chuckles and whispers ‘nice’ in your ear so low that you know no one else heard it.

“What did he say?” JJ asks, sounding irritated. When Kiara says she didn’t hear, he asks again, “Pope, what did you say? Y/N?”

“He said he wants you to go away,” You lie. Pope snorts.

“We’re trying to sleep,” He adds.

“Okay, J. I need you to drive me home,” Kiara says.

“J? Is it that hard for you to say an extra letter?” You sarcastically quip, earning yet another laugh from Pope.

“Uh… Okay…” Kiara says in a confused tone. “Don’t know what that was.”

“Y/N,” JJ begins.

“Seriously J, let’s go, my parents are gonna kill me.” Kiara continues.

“Yea, J. You’ve got somewhere to be,” Pope says.

“Shut up, Pope,” JJ snaps. “Y/N, meet me at the country club after my shift at 5 tonight, yeah?”

You throw your free arm around Pope. “Can’t. Me and Pope have plans.”

“Okay, bye guys.” Kiara says, and no more is heard from either of them.

After a few moments of just listening to the morning ocean waves and chirping birds, Pope slightly lifts his head. “Are they gone?”

“I think so,” You inquire and sit up as well. As you both sit up from your position on the hammock and notice it was indeed just you two, you breathe out and rub your temples. “Jesus. Do you have any idea what the actual fuck that was?”

Pope sighs and gets up, stretching. “No idea. JJ was acting weird as hell. Why did he… throw freaking beer cans at me to wake me up? And only me, not you?”

“Fuck if I know,” You let out a puff of air through your cheeks, “Why were they up before 7 in the morning anyways?”

“Yeah I know, and the fact that he wanted you to leave so badly.” He pauses. “Could that… maybe mean something, do you think?”

You quickly shake your head, “Pope, don’t even try to give me false hope. The little gestures he does never mean anything. Like, he still kisses me on the cheek for fucks sake.”

“Still? From when you were, like, 10 years old?” Pope asks, and you nod, throwing your arms up in defeat. He continues, “Well, if he really asked Kiara to be his girlfriend last night, it’d be weird if he still did that, right?”

“I guess so…” You chew your lip. “Whatever, I don’t wanna talk about it. So, what are our plans?”

“Oh right,” Pope laughs. “I forgot for a second that we were ‘busy’ tonight. How about the new book store that just opened?”

“Sounds perfect,” You grin, and intertwine your arm with his as you walk back to the Chateau to get some breakfast. You would have no idea what to do if you didn’t have Pope with you, standing by your side throughout it all.

~ ~ ~

The next month goes by more or less the same way. John B and Sarah completely in love and oblivious to it all, JJ and Kiara kind-of together (you weren’t exactly sure what was going on there), and you and Pope spending most of the time that the gang wasn’t hanging out with each other, since you were the only ones who understood one another. It provided a good distraction from the pain. For instance, every time you saw Kiara grab onto JJ’s hand and you felt that emptiness in your chest, you looked at Pope, who understandably smiled at you. The same pain was evident in his eyes, and you were reminded that you were going to watch a crime documentary with him later on. That’s how you both held on. Distractions and friendship.

There were so many nights that ended with you crying in Pope’s arms, the movie playing quietly in the background. Or Pope falling asleep in your lap after hours of venting to you about his feelings toward Kiara. Or silent coffee runs where you would just sit in each other's pain. But it was at least a bit better than before. At least you both had someone to help with the aches, to hold your hand or hug you when you needed to be loved.

You didn’t believe that the pain would ever go away, that you would ever heal. Not as long as JJ wasn’t yours. But at least you had something to hold on to.

One night, in the middle of June, you and Pope were sitting on the beach. You guys were in a special spot that he didn’t know about. Around the rocks, on the right side by the hill, there was a patch of sand that led to an opening on the beach. A perfect spot for anything... surfing, swimming, or even chilling on the sand. It was completely hidden from the rest of the world, like it’s own enclosure. You guys decided to hang out after you overheard Kiara talking about bringing JJ by The Wreck to ‘officially’ meet her parents.

“Why didn’t we ever come here before? It’s so nice.” Pope says, leaning back on his arms.

You look out into the ocean, admiring the moon’s reflection on the still water. You shrugged, “It was me and JJ’s spot. We found it when we were 12 years old, never showed anyone.”

You close your eyes to prevent tears from forming as you remember all your favourite memories that took place here.

- -

12 years old. You accidentally fell off a rock while climbing. You closed your eyes, expecting to crack your skull, but luckily landed on a soft surface. “Y/N! Oh my god oh my god oh my god…” You hear young JJ’s frantic voice call after you from the other side. You rub your lower back and groan, “Here, JJ! Behind the twisty rocks! I’m okay!” Soon, JJ’s 12 year old head popped up from behind the rocks, a worried expression on his face, and you smiled at him. “Woah,” he had said, “You found the most perfect place ever. I can hide my dad’s weed here!” You rolled your eyes, “JJ!” He climbed over and joined you in the patch. “What? For when we’re older, stupid.”

13 years old. First time he told you about his dad. You tried to hug him, but he brushed you off and said he was fine. When he noticed you got a little sad at his action, he kissed your cheek -- like he always did -- and said, “Thanks, Y/N. I got you for life, remember that. I won’t ever let anyone do to you what my dad does to me.”

14 years old. He was finishing his second joint of the day, and decided to try and go surfing. You could see his bruised knuckles gripping his board from when he punched Topper Thornton in the face because he called you trash. “JJ, no. You’re not going surfing while high. You can’t even walk in a straight line. We only started smoking this year, we’re not used to it yet.” But he only ruffled your hair and ran towards the water, almost tripping on his feet. You weren’t that good at surfing yet, let alone at night and under influence, so you decided to watch from the shore. After a while, you noticed you couldn’t see him anymore, and this spot was a completely different section from the rest of the beach, hidden behind rocks and hills. No one could see or help if he didn’t come back. You started to cry and call out for him, screaming bloody murder into the night. After a few minutes, you ran into the water to get help, completely getting all your clothes wet, your badly done eyeliner smudging down your eyes. Suddenly, you felt someone grab your arm. You screamed, and were met with a hysterically laughing JJ. “Holy shit! Did you see that!? That was fucking awesome!” You let out a choked sob and hugged him tightly, the angry night waves kicking harshly against your legs. “Woah, Y/N, why are you crying? I’m fine, I just fell off the board.” But he hugged you back. “I’m right here. It’s okay.”

15 years old. You had recently been feeling all sorts of new… emotions and sensations. Ones that you didn’t understand yet. Like what that weird feeling in your stomach was when JJ would put his hand on your thigh. Or why you had to squeeze your legs together when he whispered in your ear. Or why, right now, you sat up straight in the sand and held your breath as he laid his head in your lap. You tried not to look at his shirtless body that was lying down literally on top of you. It was now sculpting into something different than it had been all the other years you’d known him, and you’d definitely noticed. You wondered if he noticed your body blossoming as well, how your chest was filling into its shape, and your curves got more accentuated. You wondered if he felt the same way when you touched him. As all these thoughts churned in your mind, you started to run your fingers through his hair and continue reading your book to stop your mind from thinking, but after less than a minute, his eyes shot open as he lifted his head off your thighs and hunched over. “Uh--” He had started, standing up quickly and walking towards the water, keeping his back turned on you and arms in front of him, “I’m gonna go for a quick swim.” You sat there for 10 minutes wondering what happened until he came back. “I’m just gonna… sit here for now.” He sat about an arms length away from you, giving you a weird smile and sitting in an awkward position.

16 years old. You two jumped off the rocks and ran into the patch, holding hands and laughing. He helped you off the last of the rocks by grabbing your waist and catching you from your mini-fall. You heard the kooks calling after you from the other side, but you lost them. No one could find this spot unless they knew where to go. “I can’t believe we just did that,” You laughed, resting your hands on your knees and trying to catch your breath. “Those fucking kooks deserved it, it’s not like they use it anyways, it‘s just sitting there collecting dust in their storage container. It’s a tragedy. I’m so proud of you.” He cheered as you handed him the keys you stole from Sarah Cameron’s beach bag. You heard Rafe’s voice in the distance yelling that he was going to kill you both, and you just laughed harder. “I’m finally gonna know what it’s like to drive that beauty of a boat.” He said and pulled you towards him, spinning you in a circle. “To going full kook, baby girl!” He shouted in bliss, laughing. “To going full kook!”

17 years old. A couple months after Kiara had fully joined the friend group. You two were sitting on your surfboards in the water, talking about anything and everything as the sun began to set. As you watched the orange and pink skies turn the water into a deeper navy, you noticed him staring at you. “We haven’t been here much lately,” He said, “It used to be our go-to spot”. You looked at him, how the golden hour poured beautifully onto his skin, illuminating the blue of his eyes. “It’s not going anywhere.” You said in return. He dipped his hand into the water and splashed you. “I’m serious, Y/N. I miss this.” He jumped off his board and swam over to you. He placed his hands on your board at either side of your hips and pulled himself up between your legs, smiling at you. “Don’t forget about this spot, ever. And don’t show anyone else. This is only ours.” You bit the inside of your cheek, feeling very nervous as his nose brushed yours. “I won’t.” You said. He pressed his nose against yours, “Promise?” You chuckled and pushed him back into the water. When he emerged from the dark water, laughing, you smiled softly at him and held out your pinky. He interlocked his own, and you said, “Promise.”

- -

Now you are both 18 years old, and you haven’t been here once. Instead, you were here with Pope. Guilt immediately consumed you as soon as you remembered that last memory. You had promised him that you would show no one else this spot, and here you are. With someone that isn’t him.

“It’s fine. He probably took Kiara here a million times already,” Pope says, as if he could read your mind. “Besides, I’m glad we’re here. I had to leave the Chateau as soon as I saw them looking like they were about to makeout.”

You close your eyes and slightly shake your head, as if to brush the image out of your mind. Then suddenly, you say, “We should kiss.”

Pope looks at you with wide eyes, “What?”

You laugh, “Relax. It’s just for fun. Everyone else is going around and kissing each other, so why can’t we?”

He smiles at you and wipes some sand off his legs. “True, I guess there’s no problem with that. Except for the fact that we’ll still be in pain.” He laughs, sadly.

“Yeah well, beggars can’t be choosers.” You grin and turn towards him as he does the same. You robotically place both hands on the side of his face, and he mimics your action on your waist. You both struggle to keep in your laughter as you lean in. “Okay, how ‘bout this?” You say, “I pretend you’re JJ, and you pretend I’m Kiara.”

Pope lets out a laugh and says, “Deal.”

And then you were pressing your lips against his. You didn’t move or anything, just simply lingering on each other’s mouths. You tried to envision JJ, but you couldn’t. No matter how hard you tried to distract yourself, all you could think about was the fact that you were here kissing someone who wasn’t him, in the spot that was supposed to be only for you two. You felt some salt on your lips between you and Pope, and you honestly weren’t sure who it belonged to.

You are about to pull away and talk about how stupid this was, when a certain voice chills your blood to ice.

“Y/N? What the fuck?”

You whip around and get to your feet quickly, heart practically pounding out of your ribcage. “JJ,” You breathe, quickly wiping your eyes with the back of your hand. Within seconds, Pope is up by your side as well.

“Are you--” The clouds fold over in the sky and open up a space for the moon to shine through, landing on his perfect face. “Are you fucking serious?”

His voice was trembling and his fists were clenched tightly by his sides.

“JJ, what are you doing here?” You ask, moving your hair away from your wet face.

“What do you mean ‘what am I doing here?’ What the fuck is he doing here?!” He yells, throwing out an arm to gesture to Pope.

“He--” You start.

“This is our spot! That we’ve had since we were 12 fucking years old! Or have you been too busy with Pope to remember?” You could have sworn he was crying. If he was, he was very good at hiding it. “And not only do you bring someone else here, but you kiss him too?”

You straighten your back as if you are about to break. “Why should it matter? If I bring someone or kiss them, why does it fucking matter anymore, JJ?!”

He makes his way over to you, looking so angry. He is standing right in front of you, so close you could feel his hot breath on your face.

You don’t let him get another word in yet, “Don’t act like you haven’t brought your girlfriend here before!”

“I don’t have a fucking girlfriend!” He yells in your face. “Even if I did, I would never bring her here, or anyone else!”

Both you and Pope stiffen, and you subtly look at each other. He looks just as confused as you.

“But… But you and Kiara--”

“We’re not together! And you would know that if you actually still came here!”

“What do you mean?!” You shout back, head pounding. “You don’t make any sense!”

He angrily runs his hands over his face, and you could practically see the frustration oozing out of him. “I’ve been coming here every day, Y/N! Every fucking day since our fight last month. And you haven’t showed once.”

“You asshole! That’s not fair!” You push his chest, but he only stumbles back slightly. “How was I supposed to know that?! You were always with Kiara!”

He scoffs, dryly. “Bullshit. If you weren’t too busy always running off with Pope, you’d see how desperate I was to speak to you.”

“And if you weren’t that much of a pussy and actually told me that you wanted to talk--”

“And if you just told me how you felt about me before all this shit happened then--”

“Oh, fuck you!” You scream, pushing him once again, this time much harder so that he actually has to stop himself from falling. Pope tries to grab your hand to calm you down, but you pull away from him. “Fuck you! Do you know how fucking scared I was that you didn’t feel the same way? Every girl that looks in your direction, you make it known that you’re attracted to her. And then when Kiara came around, it was only about her for so long!”

“That’s not true!” JJ’s voice strains as he breathes heavily. “It was always about you!”

You let out a barked laugh, “Oh, please. In what fucking world was it ever about me?”

“In every world! In my world!” He yells, but his angry expression softens.

“Well,” You pause, collecting yourself. “Not in mine.”

You had nothing else to say. You wish you could jump in the ocean and never come back. To stay in the nothingness forever. But you can’t. So all you did was tear your gaze away from the blond boy and your shocked best friend, and climb onto the rocks and back to the other side, leaving them both alone in the spot that used to only harbour precious, secret memories.

~ ~ ~

You don’t know how long it’s been that you’ve locked yourself in your house, not talking to anyone. A couple days? Maybe a week? You didn’t really care. The last thing you wanted was to face everyone, especially JJ. You’ve shut your phone off a long time ago, so you had no idea what was even going on with the outside world.

You just woke up from a nap. You usually fall asleep after crying. Your eyes still felt raw, but you squinted through the blurriness to read the time on the kitchen stove. 2:33 am. God, you really needed to stop falling asleep on the couch. You get up and make your way to your fridge to pour yourself a glass of water in hopes of finding some relief for your burning throat.

You take a few sips, the cool liquid soothing your inflamed walls as you swallow. You have a slight pulsing lingering in your temples, and you lean back against your counter as you try and focus on your breathing. A few still moments go by, and you’re grateful for some peace.

There’s knocking at your door.

You jump, slamming the cup down on the counter and reaching towards one of the drawers for a knife. You grab the first one you can find -- a butter knife -- and slowly walk to your living room. As you peek your head around the corner, you warily ask loudly, “Hello?”

“Y/N.”

“Oh, Jesus Christ.” You let out a breath of air and place a hand on your chest as you drop the knife on the coffee table. “JJ. What do you want?”

Your eyes adjust to the darkness as you walk closer. You see his silhouette, but not his face.

“Can you please open the door?” He weakly asks.

You feel anger bubbling up inside you once again, and as you swing open the door in rage you say, “Why don’t you show up on Kiara’s doorstep at 3 in fucking morn--!?” Your words are quickly cut off as soon as the door fully opens and you look at him.

There he is. Though he is taller and much stronger than you, he appears so small and fragile as he stands with his hands shoved into his sweatpant pockets. And his face… he is looking down at the ground, but you can see him covered in blood and bruises.

“I don’t want Kiara,” he says softly, wincing at the pain.

“Oh, JJ.” You whimper and quickly pull him inside your house, leading him all the way to your bathroom. You motion for him to sit on the counter next to the sink as you pull out your first aid kit from behind your mirror.

You stand between his legs as you get to work. You’ve done this so many times before, you can’t even keep count. The first time you cleaned him up after his dad hurt him was when you were both 13 years old. He always hated it, he hated relying on others or seeming like a burden. But you hated seeing him in pain even more. He could never be a burden to you. Since then, it was basically a given that he would come to you whenever he needed help.

He hasn’t come to you with this during the past year, which would frequently get you worried. But since you thought we was with Kiara, you just assumed she was the one who was helping him.

After a while, you just had to finish cleansing his cuts and bandage what was needed. “You okay?” You whisper to him, gently feeling around his chest and stomach for any painful points.

He slightly shakes his head. “I don’t want Kiara,” He repeats himself from earlier, just above a whisper. You don’t say anything, too unsure of what direction to approach this from. But you don’t have to, because after a few seconds of just staring at each other, JJ bursts out into a broken sob as he grabs your waist, pulling you into him and burying his face into your neck.

You immediately hug him back, wrapping one arm around his shoulders and burying the other in his hair.

You allow him to softly cry into your shirt for as long as he needs, just holding him and soothingly rubbing his back. Eventually he pulls away and leans his forehead against your collar bone. “I can’t do this anymore, Y/N. I can’t keep doing this.”

“Doing what?” You ask, running your fingers over his arms.

“What we’ve been doing. Ignoring each other, snapping at each other, acting so distant and cold. I can’t anymore.” He sniffs and fully lifts up from you. Looking at his hurt face makes you want to cry, but you won’t. You’ll stay strong for him. “I miss you. I miss you so fucking much. This past year has been hell for me, let alone this last month. Do you understand, Y/N? Do you understand that all I think about is you?”

You nod, and allow him to keep talking.

“And when I saw you kissing Pope in -- in our spot. The one we promised each other would be only ours--”

“JJ,” You swallow, “I am so fucking sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking, I truly don’t. I guess I just let my anger and pain take over me, and I assumed the worst of you. I don’t know how to ever tell you how fucking sorry I am. But I can tell you this -- nothing is going on between me and Pope. Like, at all. All this time that we’ve been spending together was just to distract ourselves from watching the people we want be in love with someone else.”

He takes both of your hands into his before bringing them to his lips, kissing your knuckles softly as he closes his eyes. “I’m not in love with anyone else.”

You slowly breathe in as his raw eyes lock into yours. “JJ… Don’t say it if you don’t mean it.”

“No, Y/N. I do fucking mean it. I’ve never been so sure about anything in my entire life. I didn’t even need this last month to prove it.”

“But I don’t understand,” You shake your head as a couple tears escape from your waterline. “What about everything with Kiara… You said it was too late and that you had feelings for her.”

JJ stands up from the counter and steps into you, gripping your hips as his damp forehead presses up against yours. “I was lying. I was fucking lying, to myself, to her, and to you. I ended things with her a while ago, but she kept wanting to try. You heard what I was saying, about why you didn’t tell me before and shit… It’s because I love you too, Y/N. I’ve loved you for so fucking long, but never said anything because I never would have guessed that you felt the same. So I distracted myself with other girls and-- and Kiara. And when you confessed to me, I wanted to so badly hold you in my arms and never let go, to tell you that this was all I wanted. But I have been trying for so long to get over you, and I thought I might have even done it. I was scared to throw it away and give myself to you, in case you were wrong about how you felt. Because I-- I thought for sure that you would never love me back, so I tried to convince myself that I could maybe love someone else. Not ever like how I love you, but… maybe enough so that I could forget you.”

He reaches one hand up to wipe your teary under eyes before resting his thumb gently over your bottom lip. “How stupid of me,” He mumbles against your mouth, “to think that I could I ever forget you?” His thumb drags slightly across your lip. “My sweet girl…”

You grab the back of his neck and push your mouth roughly against his. For a second you taste blood and forget about his busted lip, but he doesn’t seem to mind as he kisses you back with just as much passion. You kiss him with all the hunger you’ve kept inside you for years, and he reciprocates the exact same energy.

You kiss him until you’re sure you’ve developed your own busted lip, and you pull apart, breathless. He smiles into your mouth and presses one more wet kiss against your bruised mouth before pulling away himself.

“Okay,” You weakly say, feeling tingly all over. “New promise.”

“Anything,” JJ says, leaning forward to press soft kisses along your jawline.

“We are never -- And I mean never --- doing that stupid shit again. From now on, we’re honest with each other about everything. 100% of the time.” You say, trying not to sigh at the feeling of his teeth on your flesh.

He pulls his head back up and kisses you again, “I promise. And something else too -- I promise to love you completely and fully. I promise to never make you feel that insecure again.”

“I promise, too.” You whisper, “I love you.”

He shakes his head as if he can’t believe what he is hearing, a stupid grin playing at his mouth. “I love you so fucking much.” He wraps his arms around you, pulling you into his chest. “Even if you think a butter knife is a suitable weapon for an intruder.”

You laugh into his neck, “Shut up.”

“Kiss me.” He says into your ear.

And you do, until you can’t anymore. Until you can’t take the building tension and you’re coming undone beneath him as he presses you into your bed, making you feel all the things you’ve only dreamed of since you’ve known him. Until he’s falling asleep on your naked chest, your arms holding him close. Until you know you can finally say he’s yours, and you are his.

petals of a flower

emily prentiss x fem!reader

5 times the team suspects emily has a girlfriend and the 1 time it gets confirmed

cw: fem!reader, she/her pronouns, reader is referred to as girlfriend, homophobia, case details involving homosexual couples, slight injuries

wc: 3.4k

༺♡༻

emily prentiss is a mystery when she first joins the team.

garcia digs up the standard: parents, place of birth, etc. but the team doesn’t really know her.

they learn a lot about her as she settles into her position over the months. her high school emo phase had been a highlight. 

but there was one part of emily’s life the team still didn’t know about. 

her sexuality.

it’s not that emily’s ashamed, not in the slightest. she’s just nervous about the response. the bau team is her family and she doesn’t want to lose that. 

any girls night or dinner with the team where partners get brought up, emily does everything in her power to change the topic. she’s simply not ready. she’s not ready to tell them about you. 

you’re emily’s favorite person. the best girlfriend she could ask for. 

she just isn’t ready for her two worlds to collide.

1. flowers

a bouquet of flowers sits on emily’s desk when the agent arrives for work. they’re white lilies, wrapped delicately in brown paper and secured with a thin piece of string. a card is tucked in the top.

“uh oh,” derek muses from his own space. “someone has a secret admirer!”

not secret to her. they’re the ones who don’t know about the sender.

emily stands in front of the bouquet, hiding the card under a folder on her desk. if anyone saw the note, they would demand for her to read it outloud. 

“you know white lilies in particular are a popular funeral flower,” spencer jumps in with a fact.

“come on, pretty boy. it’s a romantic gesture. no need to drag down the mood.”

“actually morgan they’re used in weddings too. mainly christian ones but still they’re-”

“reid!”

the sound of derek and spencer’s arguing is drowned out as emily brought the flowers up to her nose. 

soft and sweet. 

she didn’t even need to read the card to know who they were from. 

you had first pointed out white lilies when on your first date with emily. 

it was when you were walking downtown after dinner. vendors had set up outside in the shopping district including one of the floral shops.

emily had stopped you in front of the bins of flowers. “which ones are your favorite?”

you didn’t have to think for very long. “white lilies,” you answered honestly. “they represent rebirth and purity.”

she hummed a noise of content beside you.

you reached into your bag to pull out your wallet, quickly grabbing the right amount of cash and handing it to the florist who sat outside. 

“to new beginnings,” you beamed, offering the pre-wrapped flowers to emily. her cheeks turned a rosy pink, a stark contrast to the white petals. 

she kissed you for the first time that night. 

ever since then, white lilies have become your mutual flower. 

“any idea who they’re from?”

that’s j.j. who asks after walking over to her with a stack of papers. 

“no idea.”

emily hides her smile in the petals. 

2. minimal loss

there’s a small group waiting in the quantico parking lot.

it’s late. the lights only illuminate a small section of the space. 

you’ve never picked up emily from work after cases. you hadn’t even been near quantico before today. but, this case was different.

emily let you know in advance she was going undercover. it wasn’t supposed to be for long, just enough time for her and her coworker reid to investigate an underground cult in colorado. 

it was hard to avoid the details of the case when every news station in the country was reporting on it.

you were cleaning around your apartment and had the news on as background, mostly to just hear the weather report. it had switched to live footage from colorado. your stomach dropped when you remembered that’s where emily was. 

“this is a special report from la plata county, colorado.

we're reminded of jim mckay's words from munich– our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized.

let's hope it's not the latter as we wait to hear the fate of the women, children, and f.b.i.agents inside the building.”

an explosion.

you covered your mouth, stomach churning at the site. emily was inside. oh my god, emily.

you sent a long string of texts; hoping, begging, praying that she was alive. 

when your fun buzzes hours later, you race to see what the message is. it’s from emily. she was okay, a little shaken up but okay. 

tears well in your eyes. you knew her job was dangerous but this was the closest you had ever gotten to losing her. you offered to pick her up when she landed and she agreed without hesitation. 

there were a few other cars in the lot when you arrived.

they had parked relatively close to each other. you stayed a ways away. you didn’t know these people and without talking to emily, you didn’t want to introduce yourself. 

they looked familiar but you didn’t quite recognize them. there was a blonde woman and a young boy, another blonde woman with bright accessories, and then a man. who on emily’s team had a kid?

you sat on top of the hood of your car, picking at the skin around your nails as you waited. 

it didn’t take long, nor was it difficult to spot the team when they arrived; two black suv’s pulled in one after the other. 

you slid down the hood to stand up straight. you need to see her, make sure she was okay.

the team offloaded at once, each member getting out of the vehicle and distributing their luggage. 

all eyes went to emily as she stumbled out of the car and hastily grabbed her bags. she had gotten hurt on this case, it was no secret everyone wanted to check up on her. she didn’t say anything before she headed in the direction of the car that was parked slightly away from the rest.

they couldn’t exactly make out the features of the person standing beside it but the way emily walked told them they were someone important. 

you surged towards her when she was close enough, taking her face in your hands.

“oh em,” you breathed out, voice wavering with tears.

“i’m okay,” she promised, thumb wiping away the tears that fell.

emily pulled you into her, hand cradling your head as you cried. she knew this was a lot more scary for you than it was for her. 

though the team had dispersed to greet their respected family members, no one failed to see the scene unfolding in the distance.

you hugged each other like you would never be able to again. 

they all knew that emotion like that wasn’t platonic. 

3. ring

a long weekend typically warrants news from some bau member.

whether it’s about a goal jack scored in soccer or a new house derek had renovated, people always seemed to have something going on.

emily sat at her desk and she scribbled away at files. one hand gripped the pen while the other sat on her knee. she twisted a band that sat on her left ring finger. it wasn’t an engagement ring but she liked wearing it on the one finger that connected to her heart. 

atop the small gold band sat a gemstone, the one to match the month of your birth.

you had gotten the ring when on a trip. a shop you visited had sold them and you picked out one as a gift. as cliche as it was, you thought of it as a promise ring. 

despite emily not being a huge jewelry person, she wore it every day. 

the bullpen was a comfortable quiet. other members of the team sat at either their desks or in their office and worked away. the silence made it easy to focus. 

a sharp gasp sounded behind her.

penelope had entered the bullpen, presumably to say hi under the false assumption she needed another cup of coffee. both of her hands had covered her mouth, effectively covering her shocked expression. “what is that!”

emily quirked her eyebrow at what the tech analyst was talking about. she was just at her same old desk doing the same old paperwork. she finally saw penelope’s line of vision and followed it down to her hand. 

oh. it did kinda look like an engagement ring. 

it wouldn’t be the most surprising thing in the world for someone to come back engaged after a long weekend, even if no one had been aware of their relationship. 

emily barely had any time to answer before derek was circling his desk to find the source of the commotion.

“what’s all the yelling for?”

“emily has a ring. she has a ring, derek!”

derek’s eyes too fell on her hand. “woah princess! you’re getting hitched and didn’t tell us?”

“who’s getting married?”

the entire team, minus hotch and rossi who remained behind closed doors, had circled emily. 

“you didn’t tell us you were dating someone!”

emily held her hands up to silence the group. “guys, guys. it’s not an engagement ring.”

a collective sigh echoed.

“it’s just a ring with my birthstone in it. my parents got it for me when i was younger and i found it when cleaning over the weekend.” emily doesn’t feel guilty for lying. it was a simple white lie, not something detrimental. 

the explanation seems to suffice the group who then begins to disperse. 

spencer is the only one who picks up that emily’s birthstone is an opal.

and an opal is not the gem on the ring.

4. home

nobody thinks much of it when emily neglects a saturday hang out in favor of having some personal work to get done.

derek, penelope, and j.j. all get together instead.

the girls drag derek around to a few shops they want to go to before penelope stops at a window with a gasp. “oh my god, look! that mug looks exactly like the one emily broke. we have to get it.”

there was no stopping the tech analyst who had a killer memory. it wasn’t false. emily had smashed her favorite mug earlier in the week accidentally and moped for days.

“we should surprise her! she said she had some personal stuff to do so she’s definitely home.”

derek shrugs. “i don’t know, baby girl. she probably doesn’t want to be bothered.”

j.j. digs around in her purse before pulling out a folder. “i did have to drop off her medical forms for her to sign.”

“you two have no boundaries.”

penelope is the one to knock on emily’s apartment door. she’s practically bursting with excitement. she loves her team and knowing how upset emily was over the mug, she can’t wait to give it. 

you’re sitting on emily’s couch when there’s a knock at the door.

the two of you haven’t officially moved in together yet, though more times than none you’re at hers. the lease on your own apartment isn’t up yet though once it is, you and her will finally be living together.

saturdays where emily is home are semi-rare. cases often stretch into weekends. she’s thankfully home today, though a few chores around the home dominated her to-do list. she worked upstairs while you relaxed on the couch. 

you were slightly confused as to who would be at the door. 

“can you get the door, baby?” emily called from upstairs. 

“got it!”

you trudged towards the entrance, sliding the peephole cover to the side to peer out. three people stood outside, two women and one man. they looked familiar. you had definitely seen them before. 

the picture emily kept of her team on the wall flashed in your memory. that and the time where you had picked her up at quantico. oh, they were members of her team. 

you finally opened the door. it was slightly amusing to see the three agents' faces twist in confusion when it was in fact not emily answering the door. 

“can i help you?” 

none of the three speak for a few moments. they’re clearly trying to rack their brain as you looked familiar to them too. 

“oh, um, yes!” the woman with colorful accessories stutters out. “is emily here?”

you open the door a little wider, motioning with your head for them to come in. once the door is closed, you leave them in the entranceway and head in a bit further.

“em!” you call up the stairs. “people are here for you!”

there’s a distance thud. “coming!”

you figure whatever they need to talk about is none of your business. when emily comes downstairs, you smile softly at her. “i’ll leave you all alone. i’ll be upstairs.”

you squeeze her shoulder when you walk by and within a minute, you’re out of sight.

“not to sound rude but why are you guys here? is the team okay?”

derek nods his head. “everything’s good, princess. though i have to ask, who was that?”

emily doesn’t have an excuse. referring to you as ‘just a friend’ feels wrong. plus, she hasn’t discussed if you’re ready for her team to know either. she then notices the package in penelope’s hand.

“what’s that?”

the original question gets blocked out by penelope’s squeal and presentation of the gift. 

derek and j.j. share a look. penelope’s not a profiler, she doesn’t pick up on some things, but emily’s deflection tells the agents all they need to know. 

they stay quiet, though both of their hearts soar.

no wonder emily has seemed so happy. 

5. case

emily’s not one to let her emotions impact a case.

she has a routine to prepare herself: kiss you goodbye, tell you she loves you, go to quantico, read the case, familiarize the victims, solve the case. all in that order.

this one throws her off. 

lgbtq couples murdered in their cars, all wearing formal clothing presumably from their date. 

emily’s mind immediately goes to you and her. though this case is states away, the unsub doesn’t have a much different mindset than a lot of people. 

she internalizes it as best she can, wanting to perform at her best to help solve this case before more people die. it works at first. emily’s able to go to the crime scene, distinguish evidence, and build a profile with ease. that is until two more bodies are discovered.

and one of them looks like you. 

j.j. pins the pictures on the board and emily’s stomach drops. she knows it’s not you. you’re miles away and you had just texted her a few minutes ago with a picture of the coffee you had gotten. but the internalized fear is very much present.

theories bounce around the room. why were these two targeted? sexuality aside, what about them was attractive to the unsub?

emily’s throat goes dry. she can’t do this anymore. 

“hotch, can i talk to you?”

the room goes quiet. hotch’s eyes flicker back and forth from rossi to j.j. before going back to emily. “of course.”

emily doesn’t stop at an empty conference room. there’s plenty in the precinct and yet they end up outside. emily sits on one of the steps and begins to toy with the ring on her finger.

hotch takes a seat beside her. 

“hotch i need to be pulled from this case.”

emily’s surprised she’s able to say the full sentence without breaking down. 

“okay,” he begins slowly. “can i ask why?”

internally, hotch knows. he picked up on emily’s behavioral change from the second the case got presented. 

“hotch, i-” the words seem to get lost on the tip of her tongue.

she shoves her palms into her eyes. she's flustered, embarrassed, scared.

she should be able to do her job. cases don’t usually get to her. it’s difficult to not feel helpless. 

a hand moves to rest on her shoulder.

“it’s okay you know.”

he doesn’t need to finish. what he’s implying is obvious.

the tears brimming in emily’s eyes spill over hot and fast. 

hotch moves closer to her, arm circling around her. all superiority dynamics have faded. it’s friend to friend, a moment of vulnerability. 

emily’s felt more accepted from his four words than she has in years.

+1 meeting

emily always goes into work before you.

between her commute with traffic and desire to get there a bit early, she’s up and running before you even get out of bed. 

naturally, you like to help her out as much as possible.

it comes in the form of packing lunch, organizing files, packing her bag (both personal and one for cases).

this morning was a complete blur. you had worked late the previous night and slept in before work. emily got ready around you, shaking you awake a few moments before she was set to leave.

when emily departed and you made your way downstairs, you noticed what she had forgotten. a brown folder stamped with the fbi logo sat next to an empty lunch bag. you frowned. file aside, you didn’t want her skipping lunch.

you took your phone out and sent her a text.

‘hi baby. you forgot a file and your lunch. can i stop by with them?’

she responds while you’re in the middle of getting dressed for the day. 

‘any chance you can bring them at noon-ish? we have meetings all morning but a break for lunch.’

you beam. seeing your girlfriend at her workplace is new. sure you’d seen pictures of the bullpen, mostly when emily showed you her desk whenever you gave her a new trinket to add, but you had never been there.

instead of packing a meal, you stopped downtown at one of emily’s favorite restaurants for take-out. a little surprise.

quantico is intimidating, even from the signage you see on the drive over. 

you park in the visitors lot and follow the instructions emily had given you on where to go. security was mandatory and a visitors pass was needed to access the floor. 

once exiting the elevator, you stood nervously. emily was at her desk, though so were her coworkers. you look out of place; reusable bag and folder in your hands and casual clothing adorning your body.

she finally looked up and out the glass door, smile enveloping her face as she raised her hand to motion for you to come in. the agents sitting at their desks naturally gravitate towards the commotion. all of them recognized you. 

the opal necklace the notice sitting around your neck suddenly makes sense. 

“any chance you can get them to stop staring?” you ask once emily stops in front of you.

“hi baby,” she muses, disregarding the question with amusement. “sorry to make you trek all the way out here.”

her hand finds its way to the small of your back, guiding you over to her desk. she lets you have the chair while she sits on the surface. you fight the urge to roll your chair forward and rest your head on her leg. “don’t worry about it. i brought you takeout from that thai place we like.”

emily beams. 

“you’re too good to me.”

“you deserve it.”

you stop taking the containers out of the bag and peer up at her. 

emily’s hand moves to rest on your cheek before she ducks down to kiss you gently. 

it’s revealing. you both know everyone in the room witnessed the act of public affection. “i love you.”

“i love you, too.”

when the team finally confronts emily, she has no problem boasting. 

“this is y/n,” emily introduces. she glances at you to which you tilt your head, lips upturned. the next two words come a moment later. “my girlfriend.”

like white lilies, this was a new beginning. one where she could be more than open about her lover. 

maybe the team's suspicion had been right, maybe some of it had been wrong. that didn’t matter now. all emily cared about could be open about your relationship. 

rebirth and purity. 

The way Theo interacts with Donovan in this scene is kinda...you know 👀

may i ask, you said you were gonna reread all your fav thiam fics so if you could id love a few recs? i feel like ive read all the classics already but im down to read or reread anything to just feel something after the cody not being in the movie confirmation. had a good kinda drunk cry earlier over everyones posts about how he must be feeling. so ill take legit any rec man (also i love your teenwolfincorrectquotes blog, shits so funny i love em so much and i very much appreciate the effort!!)

i cried a bit too so don't worry sdfghjkl and 💘💘💘 tysm!!!!! i really appreciate you saying that :) i actually have like a hundred fake texts, instagram posts and tweets (which seems to be most people's favorite kind of post) that i haven't posted yet, sooooo be ready for more content ;))

now get ready for a long ass fic rec

Riptide, by Captainmintyfresh (one-shot) (@captainmintyfresh or @thiamfresh)

Set during the war against the hunters. Liam needs an anchor to control his anger properly. Theo offers to be that anchor until everything's over, then Liam is free to find a real one (spoiler: he doesn't, turns out Theo is his real anchor).

Stones, by cherrysprite (one-shot) (@chcrrysprite)

Theo is learning how to be a normal 19 year old and collects rocks. It's so cute. He's so cute (Liam is so in love).

you make me mad, I'm fire again, by klli (multi-chapter) (@homosexualrodent)

They keep making out and Liam keeps saying "this won't happen again" (but it does) and they eventually fall in love.

Baby Elephant Syndrome, by TheOceanIsMyInkwell (one-shot) (@theoceanismyinkwell)

Inspired by this but developed into something much better!!!! Basically pining Thiam and Mason and Theo friendship.

a fire without a spark, by crownedcarl (one-shot) (@dickardgansey)

AU of 6.18/6.19. Exactly what the tags say: pining, miscommunication, light angst, self-esteem issues, getting together. It's not as angsty as it sounds, I promise.

Handle With Care, by Attempted Eloquence (multi-chapter, WIP) (@attempted--eloquence)

This one..... fuck. It's beautiful. This has to be one of my favorite thiam fics (even made a moodboard inspired by it). I won't reveal anything, just do yourself a favor and read this fic.

As I bleed, by Captainmintyfresh (two-shot)

Liam and Theo playing ''kiss where it hurts''. Platonic pecks that turn into romantic pecks.

(next time i see you you'll show me) a hundred different ways to say the same things, by cherrysprite (one-shot)

Thiam summer fic. Theo meets Liam's family and spends the summer with them in their small town. Mostly fluff!! Here's the summary: "“...You deserve good things,” Liam says eventually. Somehow he can already tell that Theo doesn’t believe him. Liam instantly makes that the goal of this summer - making Theo believe him".

no one's ever held me like this (am i allowed to look at you this way?), by frustrateddumbbar (one-shot) (@petitommo)

Human AU: Professional Cuddler Theo Raeken. Okay, hear me out. I know how it sounds but it's actually a really really good fic, I swear. All fluff (a bit of angst too), featuring a very confused Liam Dunbar.

Key to My Heart, by TheOceanIsMyInkwell (WIP)

BAND AU BAND AU BAND AU BAND AU. Only a chapter so far but I can't wait for more of this fic, I just love this concept.

I'm good right here, by dylsdunbar (one-shot) (@dylsdunbar)

I recently read this one and it made me so so so happy. It's so sweet!!!!! Some light angst but it's just fluff and Theo loving Liam so much it's ridiculous.

How to Ruin a Perfectly Adequate One Night Stand in Ten Easy Steps, by parttimehuman (one-shot) (@parttimehuman)

Human AU. Just smut and crack. Liam doesn't exactly enjoy his one night stand with Theo and now he's forced to spend the day after at Theo's place too.

darling i want you here in my arms (kiss the pain away, i know you can), by fallingforboys (one-shot) (@falling-for-boys)

This one is very dear to me because it was the first time someone wrote a fic inspired by something I posted here :))

Sweet talking, by Captainmintyfresh (multi-chapter)

5 times Theo gets jealous and chases people from Liam's house + 1 time Liam gets jealous and chases someone from his house. This one is full of fun and fluff and dumbassery!!

Double Take on Double Date Night, by TheOceanIsMyInkwell (one-shot)

Theo gets thrown out of the haunted house but when Liam gets on the phone to confront him, he finds out there's a real reason for Theo's freakout. Mostly hurt/comfort but also fluff and humor.

carve my name into your history, by honeyscape (one-shot) (@honeyscapes)

I'm sure everyone has already read Inglorious Roommates (which is amazing), but she has so many more great fics like this one! The plot is basically this.

moonlit winter clouds the color of the desperation of wolves, by klli (WIP)

The plot is so interesting and the idea is really original: "In a world tainted by division and conflict, Liam and Theo are integral to two very different factions. Upon meeting facelessly, they learn that being on opposing sides does not guarantee dissimilitude. Once a paper trail is established between the two, alluding to the novel association between members of hostile parties, the pair can not bring themselves to break off contact before their connection is found out". Only a chapter so far but I can't wait for more!!

Teen Wolves, by nothoughts_headempty (multi-chapter, WIP)

The puppy pack spin-off we deserve (and what I'm going to consider canon instead of the movie)!!!!! This is written in a script format, which makes it really easy to read.

you're my head, you're my heart [Or: The Shameless Thiam 'verse], by likelightninginabottle (series: 2 works) (@inabottlelikelightning)

Post canon, established relationship, domestic fluff, smut, humor, MARRIAGE PROPOSAL...... this has it all, please go read it.

Staying Alive, by TheOceanIsMyInkwell (series: 3 works)

These fics mean a lot to me, actually. Perfect balance between fluff and angst. Basically the best hurt/comfort I've ever read. Be careful tho, check the tags before reading in case something might trigger you.

What are they gonna do, fire me?, by songbvrd (multi-chapter, WIP) (@songbvrd)

I've never read an AU like this one and I'm in love with it, can't wait for it to be updated!!!!!! Summary: "Liam has amassed a significant tiktok following ranting about his place of work and the unfair salary. When CEO Theo Raeken finds out his employee is criticising his company, he tries to silence him. Instead, Liam challenges him to a very public dare: to live on Liam’s salary, with Liam’s rent and amenities, and do Liam’s job, for one whole month".

trying my best, nobody showed me which way to go (i didn’t know), by justt_ppeachy (multi-chapter, WIP) (@justt-ppeachy)

Theo learns that maybe he's a little fucked up and finds ways to accept it. Liam helps a lot. Also Brett and Theo are best friends.

SoulMate, by Skaboom (multi-chapter, WIP)

Another AU that I can't wait to read more of: "In an attempt to repair his sullied reputation, handsome, bad boy app developer Theo Raeken agrees to take on the lead of the reality dating show SoulMate. After Theo’s nastiness causes his handler to quit last minute, jaded cameraman Liam Dunbar finds himself saddled with making sure this jerk winds up finding love on national television. As 30 women vie for Theo’s attention (and a chance to promote themselves), Liam learns whether or not it is actually possible to find love on SoulMates".

Message Not Sent, by Vorsakh (multi-chapter, WIP)

Okay this is just porn lmao. Porn with feelings, tho. Theo is pining so hard and so is Liam. VERY explicit, comes with pictures. Thiam sexting fic that (according to the author) will have its final chapter soon.

and every day is like a battle (but every night with us is like a dream), by cherrysprite (multi-chapter, WIP)

THIS ONE!!! Fake dating actors AU. So far, it is mostly angst and humor (and fluff, but not too much), and I'm looking forward to them actually falling in love with each other.

wash away the blood and grime, by asexualclassicist (one-shot)

Liam and Theo taking care of each other after a fight against the hunters. They have a post-fight ritual to make sure they're okay, checking for injuries and kissing everywhere. Lots of skin on skin contact and intimacy (no smut!!).

Dumbassery, by Herlilacskies (one-shot)

Exactly what the title says: dumbassery. Theo got his GED, a job, and has moved out from Liam's house. He and Liam hang out almost as much as Liam and Mason, who Liam calls to "complain" about how hot and amazing is Theo. Only... it wasn't Mason's number he dialed.

Band-Aids, by cherrysprite (one-shot)

Human AU featuring nurse Theo, stupid Liam and a very tired of Liam's shit Mason. Expect a lot of dumbassery and flirting.

No because the power that celebrities have. They can deny a question like “what’s your favorite color” and just avoid it at all cost and we will just have to deal with the fact that we will never know what the answer is and why they won’t answer it

Tommy Oliver the man that you are

Thiam fic rec <3

I’ll probably keep coming back and adding new ones in the notes, but here’s the list I have made so far :)

(in no particular order)

1. Handle with care 190.1k words, completed

Summary: Theo’s back from hell and there’s a lot of shit to sort out. Liam helps with that, sometimes.

2. Stray Dogs  2 fic series, completed?

Summary: *basically Theo is like I would break so many laws for u if u just ask*

3. The things you notice 2 fic series, completed

Summary: It’s literally just Theo and Liam loving each other in their pov’s. so special to me, actually.

4. You are stuck with me (so I guess I’ll be sticking with you) 30k, completed

Summary: a look into how theo and liam’s relationship built up in the background of teen wolf 6b

5. when I watch the world burn, all I think about is you 6k, completed

Summary: Theo wakes up on the McCall couch and Liam is inside of his shirt. Asleep. On Theo.

6. liturgy for an atheist 2k, completed

Summary: “I don’t want to hurt people,” Liam says, eyes flashing bright and blood dripping from his clenched fists, every line of him pulled taut like it’s all he can manage to stand there destroying only himself. His rage smells like gunpowder and gasoline, ready to spark and burn the entire school down around them if someone doesn’t put it out.

So Theo says, “Okay, then hurt me instead.”

7. a catalogue of spectacular alive things 4k, completed

Summary: In which Theo makes breakfast, goes to a baby shower, shows up late for dinner, falls into bed with someone he loves, and drowns in contentment.

8. coordinates (we are two points in space)  4k, completed

Summary: Liam can’t control all the leaving but he can control his not-knowing where. 

9. smoke rises, and with it the truth of ourselves 4k, completed

Summary: In which Liam invites Theo out into the middle of the woods, gives him a stale s'more, rambles about death, and teaches him to scream.

10.  old ghosts gather in liminal spaces 6k, completed

Summary: Liam asks, “What are you doing here, anyway?” 

“Same thing you are,” Theo says. Avoiding, searching, not-thinking, maybe. 

His answer seems to appease Liam. Or maybe he’d just rather not elaborate on the circumstances that made him seek shelter in a bus stop with a boy that he only spends time with when danger is making a home for itself in the corners of their lives. 

(Theo thinks everyone might be a little out of place, trapped.)

11. and I’ll find my way back to you, party of two 2k, completed

Summary: On Theo Raeken’s nineteenth birthday, he is gifted three bullet wounds, two flat tires, and a grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwich made by the boy he might love. None of it is as bad as it sounds, really.

12. coming out of my cage and I’ve been doing just fine 5k, completed

Summary: The funniest thing is – most everyone seems to be under the impression that Theo’s driving Liam.

Like most things in Liam’s life, it doesn’t quite work out that way.

13. lovers alone wear sunlight 8k, completed

Summary: Liam comes home, in more ways than one.

14. when oblivion is calling out your name, you always take it further than I ever can 8k, completed

Summary: In which Liam is terribly high and completely smitten, Theo is allergic to emotions and totally whipped, Mason has the patience of a saint, and everybody wins, except for Stiles.

15. tell me no more secrets, I’ll tell you no more lies 1.4k, completed

Summary: "Look at me,“ he says, and Liam almost can’t. ”Liam.“

Liam looks. "You were attacked. It was self defense.”

“Okay,” Liam says, and feels the blood trickle from the corner of his mouth, the iron coating his throat catching in his lungs. “What if it wasn’t.”

Home is the first grave.

stiles and reader being such close friends that they constantly barge in on each other while they're taking a shower or literally peeing and scott is like "????? you both are so weird."

arg i love this but i do have to give creds to @ddejavvu for writing something extremely similar with james x r !! please go give them a read, they're a favorite little mini-series of mine :))

another late night shift at the hospital and you're hauling up the next basket of laundry from the washing machine that's in need of replacement, the dryer beside it shaking and rumbling against the back wall its shoved up against. the cracked plastic of the laundry basket burrows into the flesh of your hip as you trudge up the steps, eyes weary and worn from textbooks that hold foreign tongues of chemistry and history. "scott! laundry!" you bellow in your passing of his room, footsteps still heavy when you continue along the hallway in search of the bathroom.

thick rolls of steam tendril through the open crack, and you nudge open the door with a sock-clad toe, announcing your arrival with a fatigued "hey stiles."

the metal rings screech against their bar as the shower curtain gets yanked back, stiles' head peeking out from the right. brown curls mat against his forehead, mole-specked cheeks slick with water. "hey," he coughs with cratering dimples. "back from the library?"

you nod, grabbing your toothbrush from the holster balancing on the porcelain edge of the sink. "yeah, mr. harris is on my ass again," you huff, shoving the bristles into your mouth as stiles shuts the water off. "damn alkynes."

a single hand carries the weight of the towel over stiles' junk as he steps out of the tub, and you lean back against the sink, frowning around the toothbrush. "they're simple once you get 'em," he huffs, leaning over to use the end of the towel to dry out his growing hair. "no biggie. you bring your textbook back home?"

you nod, eyes drifting over to the open bathroom door as your brother lolls by, in search of his own toothbrush. "i interrupting something?" he scoffs, reaching around you and jostling you in the effort.

you catch your weight with another scowl, toothpaste bubbling up around the corners of your lips. "fuck you, scott." you gripe, and stiles reaches over to smear away the minty paste.

he suckles the thumb back into his own mouth, and you and scott both scowl, and you go so far as to jab at his bare shin with a swift kick. "you're gross." you spit the glob into the basin, wiping at your mouth with the back of your hand. "and i can see your dick. go get dressed so you can teach me alkynes."

I'm Not Risking My Life For You (Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x Seresin!Reader)

Summary: When you and Rooster learn you have to complete a mission together, neither of you are pleased.

Word count: 6.8k

Warnings: my terrible understanding of the military, injury, violence, swearing, older brother!Hangman, some fighting, cheesfluff

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I make my way down the halls, knocking on the door to the admiral's office.

I straighten my posture immediately when the door starts to swing open.

"Lieutenant Seresin." Admiral Cain nods his head. "Right on time, please take a seat." He opens the door the rest of the way, stepping aside so I can walk in.

I give him a polite nod and make my way inside. My gaze goes to the chairs in front of his desk, one of which is already occupied. Rooster turns his head, giving me an unamused look, before turning back to the front. I pause for the briefest of seconds upon seeing Rooster, but shake myself out of it and take the seat beside him.

Admiral Cain circles around to his side of the desk, taking a seat across from us.

“Alright.” Admiral Cain opens a drawer on the side of his desk, pulling out two files and sliding them across the desk to Rooster and I. “I have a mission for the two of you.

Both of us lean forward, taking the file off the desk and flipping it open.

“Just us?” I ask, glancing over at Rooster with a frown. I’ve gone on missions with him before, but always with a couple other pilots. We can usually put our differences aside for that long, but the two of us alone? It might make for some difficulty in completing our task.

“Yes, this is a highly classified assignment.” Admiral Cain motions to the files. “All the information is in here.”

“Why us?” Rooster asks.

“You two are excellent pilots. Why not you?” Admiral Cain leans back in his chair, folding his hands together.

Rooster side-eyes me.

I exhale, leaning forward. “It’s not exactly a secret that Bradshaw and I don’t get along.”

Admiral Cain frowns. “I would hope that you could put that aside in order to do your jobs.”

“Of course,” Rooster replies, immediately.

“Yes,” I agree.

“Good. Please review the details. You will have four weeks to prepare. Dismissed.”

Rooster and I both rise, leaving his office with our files.

“This is just great,” I mutter.

“You think I’m happy about this?” Rooster asks.

I sigh. “Let’s just agree to stay out of each other’s way.”

“Fine by me.” Rooster turns away from me, leaving down the hallway.

I turn in the opposite direction, going to look over the mission details.

Hours later, I’m finally flipping the file closed, ditching it on my kitchen table.

Surveillance has been done on a foreign terrorist group. They’ve been gathering an array of weapons and Rooster and I are supposed to go in and bomb their base.

Destroy as many weapons as possible according to the papers I just read through.

Intel says that they don’t have any aircraft, which puts us at a huge advantage, but unfortunately their radar will likely see us coming and we’ll have to dodge any ground missiles they try and send at us.

That’s why they’re only sending two of us, less of a chance to be picked up on radar and, although they don’t say it, less casualties.

I’m excited for this mission, it’s the first high profile assignment I’ve had in awhile. I just don’t know why they had to put me and Bradshaw together.

Him and I have always struggled to get along, always competing to be better than each other while we were at Top Gun. All I’d wanted was to come rank next to my brother, Jake, but Bradshaw got in my way. So, at Top Gun graduation, I had to hear my parents gush about how successful their perfect son was at the top of the class, while I stood by at the number three spot-Bradshaw slotted right between us.

Our rivalry had started as a fairly friendly, teasing, competition, but it escalated until it became what it is today- an immense hatred for each other.

The next day, I meet Bradshaw on the tarmac, ready to run some drills.

“We’re going to need to practice some missile drops,” Bradshaw says, as we walk towards our planes. “Your aim is shit.”

“Then we’ll have to clock some races, you’re too slow,” I snap back.

“Fine.” Bradshaw turns to his jet, climbing in without a second glance at me.

“Fine,” I mutter, with a curl of my lip, going off to my own jet.

The second we’re in the air, Bradshaw starts eliciting orders.

“I’m sorry, who put you in charge?” I ask.

I hear him sigh through my headset. “Could you just focus on the task and not disagree with me for once?”

“Could you not be so conceited for once?”

“This is never going to work,” Bradshaw’s jet zooms past me and he rounds in a circle, headed back towards base. “We should just request to be reassigned.”

I flip my jet around, too, headed after Bradshaw. I can’t get reassigned, this is one of the first missions of this much importance I’ve been given in awhile, I’m not going to lose it because of him.

“Wait,” I say. “Just… let’s do the target practice.”

Bradshaw’s plane slowly comes around. I turn mine, too, so we’re both headed back out to the training area.

He doesn't say anything else, both of us flying our planes out, neither of us say much as we start our drills.

I'm starting to think this mission might just work between us, until Bradshaw opens his dumb, pornstache-lined mouth. "You're flying too fast, if you want to increase your accuracy you have to slow down."

"You're flying too slow, if you don't speed up then we're going to get shot down."

"We're focusing on this right now, you increase your accuracy. Then we can work on speeding up."

I groan, but know that he's right, so I land a few more shots, this time at a slower speed, and I hit the target each time.

"Nice," Bradshaw says. Maybe he means it as a compliment, but to me it just sounds condescending.

"Okay, let's race," I say. "Whoever gets back to base first wins."

Both of us spin our jets around. I look over at Bradshaw through the canopy shield. "You ready?" I ask.

"Ready."

"Okay...go!"

Both of us speed up, I push as fast as I can, the force pressing me against my seat.

Bradshaw falls behind.

"You're going to have to go faster."

He speeds up a little, but still hasn't caught up to me. "Come on!" I shout.

"Any faster and I'll lose control."

"No, you won't. We have the same jet, Bradshaw. It's not the plane, it's the pilot." I push my jet even faster, feeling the whole thing vibrate around me and just to prove my point even further, I direct the plane into a barrel roll. The time it takes me to complete the maneuver, allows Bradshaw to catch up to me.

I can tell he's nervous, but he's going fast enough to keep up with me now.

"That's more like it!" I push faster, but this time Bradshaw matches my speed. We zoom over the base, almost neck and neck, before slowing down and circling back around to land.

It's not until after we've landed that I talk to him again. I've finished up with my own jet and am walking over to find him just getting out of his, looking a little shaken.

"You alright?" I ask with a chuckle.

Bradshaw gives me a glare and I laugh harder.

"I'm fine," he grumbles. "Let's meet back here tomorrow, we're going to need more practice."

"I'll say." I look down at his shaky legs.

He scowls. "8 a.m.," he says, walking away.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, Bradshaw and I practice, and practice, and practice.

The four weeks before our mission starts go by fast, but I feel confident that Bradshaw and I have it covered. We've gone over the details and the plan a thousand times with Admiral Cain and there's nothing left to do, but run it for real.

The night before we're scheduled to leave, we meet up at The Hard Deck with our friends.

"Can't believe Shadow and Rooster are actually going to work together," Phoenix says, looking at the two of us.

I shrug. "We've done it before."

Phoenix gives me a look and everyone else looks like they're having trouble buying it.

"Good luck tomorrow, y/n." Jake wraps his arms around me, normally we refrain from affection in front of everyone else, but tonight I decide to wrap my arms around him, squeezing him tight.

Despite my parents always forcing me to try and be more like him, I hold no hatred for Jake. I think even without the influence of my parents I would've idolized him anyway, there's a reason my callsign is "Shadow", everyone said I was always following him around.

"Watch out for her, man." Jake lets me go and clasps Bradshaw's hand, patting him on the back.

I roll my eyes. "I can look out for myself."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Jake smiles at me. "You guys should probably get out of here. Big day tomorrow."

I hug Jake one more time and steal a hug from each of the rest of our friends, going to get some rest before the big assignment.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Remember," Admiral Cain says, as we head off to our planes. "Destroy as many weapons as possible."

Bradshaw and I both nod. "Yes, sir," we say.

Minutes later we're in the air, headed towards the target.

"We got this," Bradshaw says over the comms.

"Obviously," I say, rolling my plane to the right and flipping it around.

"Would you quit fooling around," Bradshaw says. "Stupid jokes like that are going to put the mission at risk and if it comes down to it I'm not risking my life for you."

"I never asked you to."

"Just stick to the plan."

"Aye, aye."

"Status update?" Admiral Cain's voice cuts in.

"Approaching target, less than a mile out," Bradshaw reports back. He pulls his plane up next to mine, looking over at me. "They definitely know we're coming, now."

I nod, he's right their radar would've picked up on us. "In and out," I say.

He gives me an affirmative nod and we both speed up our jets.

The base is within our sights, when my radar starts beeping.

"What's that?" I ask.

"There's three more jets in the sky, approaching you fast." The report comes from the operations specialist back on the ship.

"I thought intel said this group didn't have any aircraft."

"We don't know if these are hostiles," Admiral Cain says. "Continue with the plan."

I look over at Bradshaw and even from this distance I can tell he's nervous, too.

I look into the distance, seeing the planes approaching. Then, one of them opens fires, bullets ricocheting over the shield.

"Shit!" I shout, veering to the side and diving lower to avoid them.

"Hostiles!" Bradshaw shouts. "Definitely hostiles." I see his plane to my left, spinning around to avoid being shot.

"Retreat," Admiral Cain says. "We'll return another time with reinforcements."

I look down, seeing the base full of weapons up ahead. I turn back to Bradshaw and find that he's also looking at me, neither of us have turned around, yet. We're so close, nearly over the base, if we turn back now and come back later then they'll have plenty of time to move the weapons.

I speed up, zooming forward, coming closer to the base. Bradshaw does the same, neither of us having to say anything to understand what the other is thinking.

"What are they doing?" I hear Cain say over the comms. "I said come back."

I grip my joystick tighter, trying to keep my hands from shaking.

The planes in front of us continue to send bullets our way. I swing left, towards Bradshaw and come over the base, dropping the first bomb on it. Bradshaw drops his right behind me, the explosions below us rocking through the air.

I don't have time to look and check how much damage we did, before the planes are on us and we're trapped in a dogfight.

I spin my plane right, climbing higher, to avoid the enemy jets.

"Do you have eyes on them?" I ask, trying to spin around to see where they are.

"There's two on you, one on me."

I climb higher and then let my engine stall, one of the planes flying past me. I line up my missile and slam the release button the second I hear tone.

The plane in front of me explodes, but, unfortunately, the one behind me is still hot on my tail.

Another array of bullets attacks my plane and a warning starts blaring that my left engine is out.

"One down," I inform Bradshaw. I look around and see him struggling to shake the jet on his tail. "Wanna trade?" I ask, zooming towards him and trying to lock in on the guy attacking him.

"What?" Bradshaw asks.

"You go after my guy, I'll go after yours." I push the trigger down, shooting at the jet on Bradshaw's tail.

Bradshaw's plane turns towards mine, trying to loop around and hit the guy behind me.

I try to line up the shot on the other guy, blasting off my other missile the second I hear tone.

The plane in front of me, zooms upwards, dodging the projectile.

"Fuck," I shout, immediately switching to bullets.

Bradshaw still hasn't gotten the guy behind me and I'm getting hit by bullets on two sides.

It's not long before I've used up all my weaponry and the guy in front of me hasn't gone down.

"I'm out of ammo," I announce.

"Dammit, Shadow. I told you your aim was shit." Bradshaw has managed to pull the other guy off my tail and I'm left with one plane in front of me.

Bullets continue to knock my plane and I doubt it will be long until my right engine is out, too. It will be a miracle if I can get this thing back home.

I look at the plane plowing towards me and I have an idea.

"Destroy as many weapons as possible," I mutter, gripping the control stick and speeding up.

"What?" Bradshaw asks over the speakers, but I ignore him.

Instead, I continue to push my plane straight towards the enemy jet, moving my other hand towards the eject button.

"Shadow, what are you doing?"

As the other plane nears me, it starts to pull right, trying to dodge me. I follow it with my plane, pushing the control stick forward as hard as I can and ejecting.

I fly out of the plane, my parachute pulling me through the air as the explosion from the collision, warms my face.

The blast sends shrapnel flying everywhere.

Pain shoots through my side, as I drift down through the air. I wince, looking down and finding a large piece of metal piercing my side.

"Shit," I mumble.

I look around, searching for Bradshaw's plane and find him still stuck in a dogfight with the other jet. I fall below the tree-line and his plane disappears from view.

I land on the ground with minimal impact, but I still let out a grunt, when it jostles the wound in my side.

I pull myself up, leaning against a nearby tree trunk, as I start rolling up my parachute.

I look to the sky, searching for any signs of Rooster. I see his jet overhead and relax a little, especially when I watch him knock down the last enemy plane.

I continue rolling up my parachute, moving slowly from the pain in my side, but my attention jerks back to the sky when I hear the sound of a missile.

My gaze rips back to the sky, seeing a cloud of smoke chase down Bradshaw’s plane. He manages to dodge it, but circles back around as another missile is sent off.

“What are you doing?” I shout, as Rooster tries to dodge the second one, but fails. The projectile takes out his tail and he starts falling fast. I don’t see where he lands, I don’t even know if he would’ve survived a crash like that.

However, I’m out here alone, and if there’s a chance he’s alive I’m not going to leave him. I finish packing up my parachute and shove it into my pack, pulling it on and standing up.

I cry out when the metal in my side shifts, but push forward, ignoring the blood dripping from my side.

I briefly wonder if I should stop to pull out the shrapnel and wrap up my waist, but I don’t want to waste anytime. Not to mention it'll be difficult for me to reach.

Luckily, it didn’t look like Rooster’s plane was far.

“Rooster,” I call out, hoping he responds soon, praying he isn’t dead. “Rooster!”

I lean against a tree, to catch my breath, panting through the pain in my side.

I’m close to considering sitting down for a minute when I see smoke up ahead.

I break into a limping jog, approaching the wreckage in front of me. Rooster’s jet lies in a smoking heap on the ground, but there’s no sign of him anywhere.

“Rooster,” I shout, looking around the plane. It steams and creaks from burning metal. I’m terrified of what I’ll find in the cockpit, but when I finally work up the courage, it’s empty.

I breathe a sigh of relief, but I still don’t see him anywhere.

“Rooster,” I call, looking around.

No response, certainly isn’t a good sign and the wound in my side is really draining my energy.

Tears prick at the corner of my eyes, but I push them back. Hangman would never cry in a situation like this, but all I can think is that I’m alone, my wingman might be dead and I could be next.

“Rooster,” I shout one last time, the words coming out choked. I walk over to the other side of the plane wreckage and collapse against a tree.

I let some tears stream down my face, closing my eyes and leaning my head back. I’m so tired.

“Shadow?” It’s so distant I think I must have imagined it.

“Shadow!” I hear again.

“Rooster!” I push myself back to my feet, groaning as I do so.

I head in the direction of the shouts, stumbling along to search for him.

“Over here.” I catch sight of him through the trees and start waving.

He starts running to meet me and I do my best to speed up towards him.

"What the hell were you thinking?" I ask, as I get closer.

"Me?" Rooster asks.

"You should've headed back the second you knocked down the other plane," I shout, but my words are drowned out by his argument.

"You're the one who fucking crashed right into another plane. I was circling back to try and find you. Are you okay?" He reaches out for me, clutching my arms in his hands and looking me up and down.

“Yeah, are you?” I lie, not wanting to seem dramatic, especially if he ends up having an injury, too.

Rooster pauses his scan, eyes snapping to mine, narrowing slightly.

“Where?” he asks, a level of concern that I’ve never seen from him before flooding his gaze.

“What?” I ask.

Rooster sighs. “I know you’re hurt, Shadow.”

I exhale, moving stiffly to take my pack off and show him the shrapnel in my side.

“It’s not that bad,” I say, even though I haven’t checked on it in awhile, I can barely see it, and it hurts like a bitch.

“Here, sit down.” Rooster guides me to the ground and starts opening his pack.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“We’re not going to get very fair with that sticking out of your side. You’re going to need stitches.”

Rooster clicks open his first aid kit.

I tug at my vest, undoing the buttons.

Rooster places his hands on my shoulder, helping me slide it off.

I unzip my jumper next and Rooster has to help me with that, too.

He gets to my t-shirt underneath and cuts off the fabric around the wound.

“Alright, are you ready?” Rooster asks.

“Yup.” I grip my hands into the pants of my suit, so tightly that my knuckles turn white.

Rooster’s hand wraps around the metal and I can’t stop the whimper that slips past my lips. I lift one of my hands and press it tightly against my mouth.

“You sure?” Rooster asks.

“Mmmm, hmmm.” I hum an agreement and Rooster yanks the metal out.

I scream into my hand, hot tears slipping out of the corner of my eyes.

“Good?” Rooster asks.

I hum again, not able to form words.

Rooster starts cleaning the wound and I manage to keep my whimpers to a minimum the whole time. I turn my head away to hide my tears.

"It's okay to cry," Rooster says.

I let out a wry chuckle. "Yeah, right," I reply. "I'm sure you'd love that."

"I'm serious." Rooster reaches into the kit, pulling out a needle and sterilizing it. "I won't make fun of you."

"Jake would never cry," I mumble, trying to steel myself against the pain.

"God, you really have to be just like him."

"You'd understand if you met my parents," I reply.

"At least your parents are alive."

A sense of guilt sweeps over me, immediately. "I'm sorry."

Rooster flashes a sad smile. "It's fine. I got all the love I could ever hope for from my parents while they were alive." Rooster starts on the stitches in my side and I grit my teeth. "I get it, you know, why you were always trying your hardest to best me while we were at Top Gun. I saw the way your parents were all over Hangman at graduation."

If he saw that, then that means he might have also seen me walking off to the bathroom, brushing tears from my face. I don't want to ask him, though, in case he didn't, but he glances up at me from where he's working on my stitches and one look in his eyes and I know that he did.

"Your parents are assholes." Rooster goes back to working on my stitches and a silence falls over us.

Finally, Rooster finishes up my stitches, wrapping a bandage around my stomach and helping me pull my jumper back on.

"There, it's not perfect, but it should hold long enough for us to get back home."

"Right, how are we going to do that?" I ask, looking around at the unfamiliar trees on each side of us. We can't exactly send off a distress flare in enemy territory.

"The helicopter should come by to pick us up, soon." Rooster digs through his pack.

"They're not going to send a rescue helicopter into active enemy territory. We may have taken out most of their weapons, but they still have missiles."

Rooster pulls out his radio, turning it on and calling back to base. "This is Rooster and Shadow, checking in to base, over," he says.

Static buzzes on the other side and a broken voice comes through on the other side. "...ba... ort... er"

"Shit, no service." Rooster stands up, walking around to try and get better signal. "Shadow's injured, we're requesting an emergency airlift, over."

The voice comes through again, broken and incomprehensible.

"We have to find better service." Rooster comes back over, closing up his pack and swinging it onto his back.

I start to push myself up, grabbing my own pack off the ground, but pausing when Rooster puts a hand on my shoulder.

"You should stay here." He looks down at my side.

"Like hell," I snap, pushing myself the rest of the way up.

"You're injured and my poor patch-up job did little to help that. You need to stay here and rest.”

“Rooster, you are not leaving me here.” I pull my backpack on.

His gaze is still focused on my side, uncertain.

“Please, Bradley,” I beg. “Do not leave me here alone.”

Rooster’s jaw hardens and he finally makes eye contact. “Okay, come on.” He grabs my arm, pulling it over his shoulder to help me walk and without another word we start to make our way through the woods in the direction of the base.

Rooster tests the radio every few minutes and while it’s getting slightly better, it’s not enough to make out a full sentence.

The two of us are still limping along when the sound of shouts and heavy footsteps cuts through the silence of the forest.

Rooster and I both pause, turning as one unit in the direction of the sound, since I’m still relying heavily on him for support.

The sound gets closer, accompanied by the breaking of branches.

I pull my arm off Rooster's shoulder, freeing both our hands and pull out my flare gun.

Rooster does the same, both of us moving away from the sound.

"You don't think it's the evac team, do you?" I whisper, knowing there's no way they'd come on foot.

Rooster just swallows heavily.

The first man comes from our right, armed with a pistol. Lucky for us, we heard him coming and are prepared. I immediately, fire the flare gun at his chest, it knocks him off his feet and Rooster jumps on him, punching him across the face and stealing his gun.

"We need to go, now.” Rooster looks around, searching for another attacker, as he runs back over to me.

We both take off through the woods, Rooster passing the radio to me.

I continue to try and call back to base, while Rooster wields the gun, eyeing for attackers.

A gunshot sounds to our right and Rooster's arm slams into my back, forcing us both into a crouch. Pain shoots up my side from my injury, but I do my best to ignore it.

We continue to run past trees, dodging the bullets.

Another man reveals himself from behind the trees, his gun aimed right at me.

Rooster steps between us, blocking me from the man's shot and shooting him down before either of us get hit.

I test the radio again and this time an almost clear message comes back.

"...base requesting coordinates..."

I check our coordinates and report them back, but the response is choppy.

"I can't tell if they heard me," I tell Rooster, as we drop down behind a tree for cover.

"Try going up ahead and sending it again." Rooster peeks around the tree, scanning the area.

"What about you?" I ask.

"Just go," he says. "Don't worry, I got your six." He rises up, turning his back to me and holding up the gun.

I continue to run and Rooster follows behind at a slower pace, walking backwards, ready to shoot.

I repeat the coordinates and eventually I get a clear response from base, “Stand by for evacuation, over.”

I pause my running, smiling down at the radio.

“Rooster, we got a response!” I turn to him with a wide grin on my face.

He glances back at me, a smile growing on his face as well. At the same time, I see a woman break through the woods, her gun raised in his direction.

I open my mouth to shout a word of warning, but all I can do is scream when the loud echo of the gun going off shakes the air.

Rooster’s body jerks as the bullet rips into his shoulder.

I sprint towards him while the woman cocks the gun for another shot. I snatch the gun from Rooster’s hand, firing twice at the woman and sending her to the ground.

“Are you okay?” I ask, snatching at Rooster’s chest to help hold him up.

“Yeah,” he grunts, reaching for the wound.

I grab his hand, wrapping it in mine. “Don’t touch it,” I tell him. "C'mon, we need to find a place to hide out until the chopper gets here."

The two of us slip into a particularly thick area of brush, hunkering down behind a couple of boulders.

"Let me see." It's not until I go to help him take his jumpsuit off that the red stain on my own jumpsuit has grown. I guess Rooster's stitches didn't hold. I do my best to ignore it, as I help Rooster wrap his own wound. I bind it tightly, hoping that our evac will be here soon with doctors who can do a better job than me.

Rooster's eyes are on me the whole time I help him, tracking my every movement. He must be trying to find something to focus on to block out the pain. It's what I'm doing right now, patching up Rooster to ignore the pain from my own injury.

Once I'm done, I lean back against the rocks beside him.

"Hopefully you did a better job on me than I did on you," Rooster pants.

I chuckle a little, leaning my head back against the rocks.

"We should radio back with our updated coordinates." Rooster takes the radio from my hands, calling to base.

I let my eyes fall closed, fighting to get breaths in, each one disrupting the pain in my side.

I vaguely hear Rooster say something about fifteen minutes, but I can't be sure.

"Shadow?"

My arm jerks and I wince, squeezing my eyes shut.

"Y/n? Wake up."

A hand tilts my head up and I manage to force my eyes open, my gaze finding Rooster's face.

"You good? We need to stay awake."

I shake my head a few times, nodding to reassure him. "You worried about me, Bradshaw?" I ask, teasingly.

"More worried about what your brother will do to me if I make it back and you don't."

"Nah," I say. "I think you care about me." I smile up at him, nudging him slightly against his good shoulder.

Rooster laughs. "Oh, okay. You were the one who was crying out my name when you thought I was dead."

I laugh, too, realizing that I don't have an argument for that.

When our giggles finally die down, I lean my head on Rooster's shoulder, finding the muscle of his bicep more comfortable than the stone.

Rooster breathes deeply and I almost pull away, but freeze when he speaks.

"You know that was the first time you didn't just call me 'Bradshaw'."

I hum. "Today was the first day you called me 'y/n'," I reply, referring to moments ago when he shook me awake.

Rooster rests his head on top of mine, the two of us sitting in a peaceful silence while we wait.

The strangeness of it all washes over me. I remember how less than a year ago, we had been ready to tear each other apart.

"You need to calm down." I brush past Rooster, ready to hit the locker rooms.

Rooster snatches my bicep, shoving me back in front of him. "You could have gotten someone killed."

I straighten up, staring him right in the eye. "If it weren't for me Coyote could have died."

"You nearly hit him with that bogus shot."

"But I didn't, I saved his life by taking out that enemy plane."

"It was reckless and stupid."

I step closer, adding in a lower voice. "You're just mad that you failed to do your job. You're Coyote's wingman and you should've been there."

I barely get a chance to finish, before Rooster is pushing me back into the wall, his forearm pressed against my throat pinning me down.

Rage is flaring behind his eyes, but all I do is smile back at him.

"Stay in your fucking place, Seresin," Rooster seethes.

"Do your job, Bradshaw," I spit back. I shove my hands against his chest, pushing him off of me.

That moment solidified Rooster and I's hatred towards each other, but now we're cuddling up to each other like some lovesick teens.

We hear the helicopter before we see it and I grab my flare gun, sending off a flare so they can find us quicker.

Within the next few minutes, they're within sight.

Rooster and I climb to our feet. However, I stumble immediately, my head spinning and my vision darkening.

Rooster catches me by my forearms and I feel guilty when I hear him grunt from the bullet wound in his shoulder.

"I'm good," I say, gripping my side and straightening myself.

"Shit," Rooster says, looking down at my hands.

I pull them away to see what he's looking at and find them covered in blood.

"You weren't kidding about that shit patch up job," I joke, looking up at the ladder being dropped down from the helicopter that's nearly reached us.

I look back at Rooster and find him staring at me. "I'm sorry," he says.

"It's no big deal, the doctors will fix it."

"Not just for that, everything. Criticizing your flying, trying to take control, requesting a new partner for this mission."

"What?" I ask. "You requested a new partner?"

"Yeah, but I'm apologizing for it." Rooster flashes a smile.

The ladder comes down between us and both of us grab on, clipping ourselves to it by our vest. The ladder starts to lift us into the air.

"I'm sorry, too. For everything," I say.

We both smile at each other.

“I can’t believe you requested a new partner for this mission.”

Rooster laughs. “We hated each other, but you know what? I’m really glad they didn’t grant my request.”

“Me, too.”

———————————————————————

I wake up in a hospital bed, the last thing I remember is the doctors on the helicopter, taking care of me and Rooster.

Jake rises from his spot in his chair as soon as he notices I’m awake.

“Hey,” he says. “How are you feeling?”

“Alright,” I say, wincing as I sit up.

Jake immediately protests, telling me to sit back down, but I ignore him.

“Is Rooster okay?” I ask.

Jake's brow furrows a little. “He’s fine. The doctors put him in the next room over.”

I nod, settling back against the pillows.

“What happened to you two out there?”

“Long story.”

Jake nods. “You can tell me later.”

“How bad is it?” I ask, lifting up my sheets to see underneath, a large bandage is wrapped around my middle.

“Some internal bleeding and a wicked scar. You’ll be grounded for at least 8 weeks.”

I throw my head back with a groan. “8 weeks?”

Hangman smiles. “Yeah, but don’t worry. You’ll have your new friend Rooster to keep you company.”

I scowl at him. "We're hardly friends."

Jake shakes his head. "That's not what I heard. The medics said it was impossible for them to do their jobs because you two kept freaking out asking if the other was okay. In fact, Rooster woke up an hour ago and has been asking to see you ever since."

"He has?" I ask.

Jake nods. “Mavs over there with him right now… what are you doing?”

I’ve pushed off my blankets and am trying to get out of bed, when Jake is gently grabbing my shoulders to stop me.

“I want to see him.”

“No, get back in bed. I’ll go get him.” Jake guides me back into bed, holding his hands up towards me for a moment and continuously glancing over his shoulder as he leaves like he’s making sure I don’t go anywhere. 

I roll my eyes and he leaves. I drink the glass sitting on the nightside table while I wait and a few minutes later, Jake returns. Rooster is following close behind him, shirtless with his arm bandaged and resting in a sling. 

An involuntary smile spreads across my face, as soon as I see him. 

“Hey,” I say. 

“Hi.” Rooster smiles back at me and sits down on the edge of my bed. 

I glance up at Jake, finding his presence in the room uncomfortable. His eyes are flicking between us at a rapid pace.

"I'll be right back," he says, turning and exiting the room.

Rooster and I look back at each other and chuckle.

"You're okay?" I ask, it sounds like a mix between a question and an optimistic fact.

Rooster nods. "You?"

"All good." I push myself up in the bed, determined to sit up next to Rooster. Rooster has a worried look on his face, but doesn't say anything, just resting his arm behind my back to help hold me up.

I’m a little out of breath form the effort and Rooster rubs my back in reassuring circles, while I catch hold of it again.

"Thanks," I murmur, looking up at him.

His brown eyes meet mine and I feel myself sinking into them. I reach my one hand up, brushing my fingers against his cheek.

Rooster's lips part slightly and all of a sudden I can't stop staring at them. They look so soft. I lean forward and Rooster does the same, I close my eyes as our lips brush. I inhale, reopening my eyes to look at him.

I realize what we're about to do and from the look in Rooster's eyes he does, too.

His hand comes up to brush the hair out of my face, his hand moving to cup the back of my neck.

Rooster pulls my face closer, our lips colliding together in a heated kiss.

I reach up with my own hands, one of them sliding around his waist and the other slips itself into the hair on the nape of his neck.

"What the fuck?"

Rooster and I pull away so quickly that it sends a spark of pain up my side.

I look to the doorway and see Jake standing there, Phoenix, Bob, and Coyote write behind him.

"I swear to god if you hadn't just gotten shot I would beat the shit out of you right now." Jake comes storming towards Rooster and I put a hand out to stop him. "Is that what this is? You seduced my sister the second you got a moment alone with her?"

I scoff. "Jake, he did not seduce me."

"I didn't?" Rooster asks.

I turn to him, smacking him in his good arm to knock the cocky grin off his face.

"Jake, please. I'm an adult, I can handle my own relationships."

Jake sighs, but nods.

"I brought the others in. They wanted to see how you were doing."

I turn to the others smiling.

Phoenix comes forward to give me a hug. “Your brothers full of shit,” she says. “He ran down to us in the waiting room saying that you and Rooster were gonna get together and we had to come see.”

I turn to Jake with a glare. “Then why were you so mad?"

Jake throws his hands up in defence. "l thought I was just going to walk in on you guys making heart eyes at each other, not full on making out.”

A phone buzzes and Jake pulls his out of his pocket, his expression falling.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “It’s just a text from mom and dad, they said they hope you feel better soon.”

I feel tears prick the back of my eyes but am able to hold them back. “They’re not coming?”

Jake shakes his head.

I nod and Rooster’s palm rests on my thigh while Phoenix’s grabs my hand in hers.

I hear a collection of apologies from everyone, but shrug.

“It’s fine, at least you guys are here.”

“That’s right,” Bob says. “And we’re not going anywhere.”

A nurse pokes his head in from the hallway. “Visiting hours end in forty-five minutes.”

“We’re not going anywhere for another forty five minutes,” Bob corrects.

We all let out a laugh.

“C’mon,” Coyote says. “Let’s go raid the vending machines for the good candy. Any special requests?” He points at me and Rooster in particular.

Rooster shrugs. “Anything with chocolate.”

I nod. “I’m good with anything.”

Coyote grabs Bob on his way out. “I’m going to need some cash,” he says to him.

Phoenix chuckles. “Come on, Hangman.” She stands up and grabs my brother by the arm.

“Hold on, you better keep your hands to yourself while I’m gone.” Jake points at us, but Phoenix is already shoving him out the door.

I mouth a "Thank you" to her and she smiles, before shutting it behind her.

“Sorry about Jake,” I say to Rooster.

“No worries.” His hand goes to cup my cheek. “Where were we?” he asks.

I grin, leaning in to kiss him again.

“So is this like a thing, now?” I ask.

“Only if you want it to be.”

“I do.”

“Good. I do, too.”

Rooster and I kiss again, taking our time with it this time. We only pull away when the door clicks open, but apparently it’s not fast enough, because I hear Jake’s voice yell out an exasperated, “Oh, c’mon!”