Febuwhump2022 - Tumblr Posts

Again and Again

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Febuwhump Prompt - head wound

Prompt - ‘No matter what I'll be there to patch you up time and time again.'

A loud thud had you blinking awake in confusion. You lay still for a moment, not moving and silent as you listened, waiting for another sign of movement. When none came you groaned softly and scrunched your eyes together, blindly reaching your hand out for your phone and squinting against the bright light before letting out another groan at the early morning hour.

As you threw your phone onto the bed you reached a hand out to the other side, frowning as it was still as empty as it was when you had fallen asleep - Matt wasn’t home then.

Another thud had you sitting up, looking from the empty side of the bed and then back towards the door leading out into the living room. Since finding out about Daredevil you were used to Matt sneaking in at odd hours but he was usually silent, hardly ever waking you as he changed out of his suit and climbed into bed with you.

This was the first time you’d woken up to quiet bangs echoing through the apartment.

Reluctantly, you let the silk sheets fall from your body, wincing as your bare feet touched the cold floor. You blinked harshly against the neon lights that flooded the living room before your eyes fell on Matt who sat sprawled out on the foot of the stairs.

“Hey,” You called softly, making your way over to him and crouching down so you were face to face. “What happened?”

Matt didn’t reply. You watched as his head titled before letting it fall back against the bannister with a soft thud causing you to frown.

You reached forward, hands running gently along the mask before you made quick but careful work of pulling it off, wincing as a trail of blood became visible to you.

“Shit Matt.” You said quietly, more to yourself than him, unsure of what to do.

He was obviously concussed, the way he was swaying slightly and the way his eyes kept falling closed told you as much. The blood, you paused as you looked at it, there was a lot of it, too much. You hadn’t seen Matt hurt before, nothing more than some bruises here or there, the occasional stitches that were already taken care of by the time you saw him.

You watched as Matt shifted, trying to pull something out of his pocket but you quickly stopped him, not wanting him to make any other injuries worse.

“Claire.” He slurred out, sounding drunk.

“Claire.” You repeated in relief, fishing the burner phone out of his pocket yourself.

You listened as the phone continued to ring, praying that she would answer and almost sobbed in relief as you had the unfamiliar woman’s voice.

“Please don’t tell me you’re dying when I’m out of town.” Now you could have sobbed in disbelief, she wasn’t in Hell’s Kitchen and Matt was bleeding, badly.

“Matt?” Claire said into the phone when she received no reply, her stomach filling with dread as the seconds passed by.

“He’s bleeding.” You managed to say after taking a deep breath.

“Who is thi-” Claire began but cut herself off, “Y/N?” She asked instead.

“Yes,” You said quietly, not taking your eyes off Matt. “He’s bleeding and I don’t know what to do.” You told her again.

“Okay, where’s he bleeding?” Claire asked, her voice firm but gentle. How often had she heard Matt talk about you like you were something the world had never seen before? She knew he tried to keep you out of Daredevil business as much as he could, patching himself up at her place rather than doing it where you could see. She knew you must be panicking right now and she was not looking forward to trying to talk you through how to patch the man up.

“His head, I don’t know if he’s bleeding anywhere else.” You couldn’t see any damage to the suit and you just prayed that this was the worst of it.

Matt let his eyes fall close and as his breathing slowed down you felt yourself slip further into a panic.

“Hey, hey,” You said, shaking him, “Don’t you dare go to sleep.”

Matt managed a weak nod and you listened as Claire spoke again.

“Ok, you’re doing a great job not letting him sleep. Now listen, I need you to grab his med kit and tell me what he has, okay?”

Claire listened as you rummaged around before pulling out the first aid kit and making your way back over to him, giving him a panicked shake as you saw his eyes closed.

“M’okay baby.” He slurred out, giving you a reassuring smile that did little to calm your fears.

You listed all the things in the kit off to Claire who nodded and began to walk you through it.

“Ok, I need you to put some gloves on and get some cool water in a bowl,” You didn’t want to leave Matt alone for even a second but you knew you had to listen to Claire so put her on speaker before going to do as she said, one eye on Matt the whole time.

“I have it.” You told her softly, brushing your gloved fingers along Matt’s knuckles as you did.

Matt managed a weak smile in your direction.

“Okay, good. Now you have to clean the cut and as much of the blood as you can.” She told you, causing you to frown but you listened to the woman at the other end of the phone and brought a clean, wet cloth up to the cut.

Matt winced, you mirroring the movement as he did.

“I’m sorry,” You whispered as you tried to clean the cut as gently as possible. It took a few minutes until you managed to clean most of the blood, though some still pooled around the wound.

“It’s clean.” You said in the direction of the phone that rested on the ground next to the first aid kit.

“You’re doing great, Y/N.” Claire told you, “Is it still bleeding?” She really hoped it wasn’t because then she’d have to talk you through how to stitch him up with a needle and she really didn’t think you could handle that.

“Yeah, a little bit.” A little bit, Claire could work with that…hopefully.

“I need you to apply pressure to it, alright? Just for a few minutes to see if we can stop the bleeding.”

Your eyes widened in sympathy as Matt let out a hiss of pain, using your free hand to take one of his in yours and giving him a gentle squeeze.

“You’re okay,” You told him, hoping you were right but you knew Matt trusted Claire and so all you had to do was trust him. “I’ve got you.”

You continued to whisper comforting words, not sure if they were for Matt or yourself at that point as you pressed the cloth against the wound.

“Is it still bleeding?” Claire asked after five minutes had passed, letting out a sigh of relief as you told her it wasn’t. “Good, that’s really good.”

Claire directed you to the butterfly stitches and you made quick work of finding and unpackaging them, feeling uneasy as you looked from them to Matt.

“Pay attention now, ok? You need to push the two sides of the wound together, close as you can.” You did as she told you, apologising as Matt let out a pained breath, “Good, now you have to put the stitches on…”

You listened carefully as Claire walked you through it, watching as Matt winced in pain causing you to frown but you carried on like Claire said.

“That’s it, you’re done,” Claire said, causing you to deflate in relief. “You did good, Y/N.”

“Thank you,” You said, pausing to take a shaky breath, “Thank you for helping him.”

“It’s what I do,” Claire smiled, “He should be good to go to bed now, just keep a close eye on him and call me if you need anything.”

“Thank you again, Claire.” You said, glad that Matt had her in his life.

“You’re welcome.” She said before hanging up and leaving you to deal with a concussed Matt.

It took more than a few tries to get him upright before you practically dragged him into the bedroom. Getting the suit off him was a struggle but eventually you managed to pull it off, smiling in relief as you saw nothing but a few bruises on his torso.

“Let’s get you to bed.” You said as you guided him onto his side and pulled the sheets around him before heading back to your side.

Any tiredness you had felt when you had first woken up was gone as fear and adrenaline ran through your veins, determined to stay up all night to make sure Matt’s breathing stayed steady.

You watched as Matt turned his head toward you, his eyes fighting to stay open, as he reached for your hand before bringing it up to his lips.

“Thank you,” He whispered against your knuckles, causing you to smile.

“Go to sleep Matt.” You said, voice as quiet as his.

“You shouldn’t have had to do that.” He told you, clearly struggling to speak clearly but somehow managing to.

You let yourself smile at him, smile at the fact that he was the one bleeding out not even ten minutes again, the one who was clearly involved in something terrible before, the one who was risking his life to make his city safer and the one who was more concerned for your wellbeing than his own.

Matt Murdock really was an idiot, but he was your idiot.

“I’d do it again and again.” You told him honestly, not even surprised by how much you meant those words. Sure when you first started dating Matt you hardly expected all this to come with it but even now you wouldn’t give him or Daredevil up for the world.

“Too good for me.” Matt mumbled as he shifted, pulling you closer to him so your head rested on his chest.

“Sleep.” You commanded with a soft laugh.

“Love you.” Matt murmured against your hair before pressing a lingering kiss there.

As you listened to his breathing even out you couldn’t help the soft laugh that left your lips, feeling safe in the comfort of his arms, glad that he was safe.

“I love you too.” You whispered into the darkness, ready to spend the night making sure he was okay.

You didn’t remember falling asleep but you woke up in the morning to fingers gently brushing up and down your arm, the room lit up softly as the morning sun shone through the window.

A smile spread across your face as you stretched, shifting so you were looking up at Matt who smiled down at you.

“Good morning.” Matt said quietly, looking better than he had last night.

“How’re you feeling?” You asked, voice thick with sleep causing Matt’s smile to widen as he pressed a kiss to your forehead.

“Better, thanks to you.” He said honestly, “You shouldn’t have had to do that.” Matt told you again, feeling guilty for letting you see him like that, for forcing you to be the one to patch him up.

“Oh yeah, you’re totally right,” You told him with an eye roll, “I should've just left you to bleed out on the staircase.”

“Come on,” Matt chuckled, “I’m being serious.”

“So am I,” You told him, leaning up to kiss his jaw, “I meant what I said last night, Matt, I’d patch you up a thousand times, though I won’t be mad if you’d rather go to Claire.”

“I don’t know you’re a pretty cute nurse.” Matt murmured, leaning down and softly connecting his lips to yours.

Matt shifted so that he was hovering over you, keeping the kiss soft and slow. He felt you smile into the kiss and felt himself fall further in love with you, something he didn't think was possible.

“I love you so much,” He whispered against your lips, pulling back enough to do so, smiling as you giggled.

“I love you too,” you told him, leaning up to capture his lips against yours again, content to spend the day in bed with Matt and if he pouted and whined dramatically to gain some sympathy from you then neither of you were complaining.

________

Matt Murdock Taglist (Link in bio to add yourself!) - @janesofia7, @cinderellacauseshebroke, @black-rose-29, @runawaywithmyghost, @ppgrayson, @alexxavicry, @battinsonn, @lokismidnight, @benhardyslut, @baconlover001, @jasontoddthezombie, @qfton, @buckysnumberonegirl @lazysheepperfection, @parkershoco, @call-me-a-fool, @father-violet, @lizamango, @urbestgrrl, @lazysheepperfection, @lucyysthings, @leniiiboiii, @morganaah, @sylvies4ever

Only You

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Febuwhump Prompt - failed rescue attempt

Prompt - ‘I hate to make everything about me but what am I supposed to do without you?’

You were still half asleep as you stumbled onto the jet, flopping down into the seat next to Hotch, letting your head rest upon his shoulder. Hotch looked down at you, face softening as he watched you close your eyes. By the time the rest of the team had trailed onto the jet you were fast asleep against Hotch.

The plane ride was only a short one so by the time you were in the air Hotch was gently shaking you awake, you groaning as you turned your face further into his shoulder before pulling away and rubbing at your eyes.

“Morning princess.” Derek grinned, way too energetically for four in the morning. You glared at him as Hotch nudged you and pressed the tablet into your hands, information already loaded up for you just as Garcia’s voice filled the jet.

“Police just responded to the scene of another body, same markings on the victim.” She told you all, causing you to look down at your notes to see the markings she spoke of.

You raised an eyebrow as you saw each woman had three crosses carved into their skin, one large one on their chests and then small ones on each inner arm. As well as that there was a diagonally cut along their face starting from the temple right down to their jaws.

“The crosses seem to be done post mortem, they’re too clean and haven’t scabbed over whereas the cut to the faces seem to be done whilst the victims are alive if the jaggedness and blood pattern is anything to go by.” Spencer informed everyone as you continued to skim through the information.

So far three bodies had been found, four now including the latest victim, all found spread out in public places. You looked up just in time to see Rossi and Hotch glance at you before sharing a look with each other but when you raised a questioning eyebrow at Hotch he just shook his head.

“Tell them to leave the body as it is, Garcia, we’ll be there soon.” With that Garcia disconnected the video call leaving you all to look through the notes and talk about potential unsubs.

“Y/N I want you with me at the latest crime scene. JJ, Dave head down to the station and see what they have, Reid go with them and see if you can narrow down the geographical profile. Morgan, Prentiss go to the lab and see if they have anything for us yet.” Hotch instructed as the jet landed and you all headed your separate ways.

As you and Hotch walked the crime scene, trying to figure out how somebody could plant and position a body without being caught even considering the early hour, you felt uneasy. Your head whipped around as you surveyed the scene but other than the press and officers nobody was there.

“You ok?” Hotch asked as he watched you look around.

“Huh?” You questioned, turning back to him with a shake of your head, “Yeah, I’m fine.” You told him, forcing a smile on your face as he nodded and turned back to the body.

You glanced around once more before doing the same.

It wasn’t long before you were all at the station, nothing coming up from your walk at the crime scene, Morgan and Prentiss hadn’t found out much from the ME. The only person who had had some luck was Spencer who was gesturing to different places on the map and rambling on about the most likely places the unsub could be.

You felt bad for zoning it out but geographical profiles had never been your forte. Instead you turned your attention to Hotch who was listening to Spencer whilst rubbing his temple, trying to push away an oncoming headache.

You stood up and headed out of the room, Hotch turning to you as you did but you weren’t gone long, heading out to the kitchen area to pour yourself and Hotch a drink. Hotch shot you an appreciative smile as he brought the cup to his lips.

“So all we know is that the unsub is somewhere in that area and is consistent in victimology and that only gets us so far, short of looking the same these girls are as different as you could get.” Derek said as he threw his folder onto the table.

“He’s right, they never went to school together, never shopped at the same stores, hell I doubt these girls had anything connecting them.” Emily said.

“There’s something we’re missing, get Garcia to keep looking into them.” Hotch ordered as he stood up to take a call.

“Reid, are you able to pinpoint anything about where he’s finding these girls?” Rossi asked, leaning back in his chair and fiddling with a pen.

It was only hours later that you were informed of another body. You, Spencer, Derek and Hotch headed to the scene to see if you could find anything useful. It was more than obvious that the unsub was devolving, two bodies in one day. The crosses on the latest victim were clearly done when she was alive, all of them jagged and messy.

As Spencer and Hotch examined the body and Morgan interviewed the woman who had found the body you looked around and noticed an alleyway not too far from the body, it seemed like the only place that an unsub would have half a chance at not being caught from.

You glanced back to the others and saw they were still busy so shrugged and headed over, with the way this case was going it was probably just another deadend. But yet when you headed into the alleyway you got the same feeling you did at the last crime scene, you felt uneasy as the hairs on your neck stood up, a shiver running down your spine as you looked around but nothing was there.

As you turned to leave you came face to face with a man much taller than you and before you had the chance to scream or pull your gun he immediately smothered your face with a rag. You tried not to breathe in but were forced to and it wasn’t long before you slumped against the man who wore a sleazy grin.

“What do you mean she's gone?” Hotch snapped as Derek informed him you were nowhere to be found.

“I don’t know man, she’s not here.” He watched as Hotch stepped away, pulling his phone out and listening for a ringtone to sound from somewhere around him but it never came. The car was still here and there weren’t many places you could go.

“Get Garcia to track her location,” Hotch said to Derek, “Now.”

The tone of Hotch’s voice had Derek obeying the order instantly, no flirting with Garcia as he snapped at her to do what he asked.

“It’s off.” Garcia told him with fear running through her veins.

“What?” Hotch snapped into the phone that was now on speaker.

“It’s not on, I can’t track it.” Garcia repeated, her thoughts spiralling.

Hotch bit back a series of curses as his team and the officers looked to him for guidance and he hated that he didn’t have an answer.

They somehow ended up at the station, each of them trying to create a profile that would lead them to you. Hotch paced up and down an empty interview room, hair messed up as he continued to run his fingers through it cursing himself for letting you come along to the crime scene in the first place.

“You need to calm down.” Rossi told him as he entered the room.

“Calm down?” Hotch questioned with a look of disbelief, “Calm down?! It’s my fault she got taken and you want me to calm down?”

“It’s not your fault.” Rossi told him, voice even despite the worry he felt for you. Somebody had to keep a level head and it clearly wasn’t going to be Hotch.

“Not my fault? Dave, she matched the unsub’s victimology, I knew that and I still let her come to both crime scenes, I never shou-” Here Hotch cut himself off as he remembered something.

“What is it?” Rossi asked, following Hotch out of the room as he stormed over to the one the team had been given.

“Get Garcia on the phone.” He demanded and his order was fulfilled in seconds, Garcia’s worried voice filling the room.

“What can I do?” She asked.

“I need you to pull up video footage from the McAdams crime scene,” He told her, mind racing.

“On it, what am I looking for?” The sound of typing filled the room as Hotch thought back to the look on your face.

“The unsub was at the crime scene. Y/N knew it, she knew he was there.” Hotch told them.

“She knew the unsub was there?” JJ asked.

“She didn’t know who it was but she knew something wasn’t right. The look on her face-” Hotch trailed off as Rossi led him to an empty seat.

Nothing any of them said would stop the man blaming himself, not until he had Y/N back.

The team sat in silence as Garcia flipped through footage after footage desperately looking for anything that would help lead the team to you, trying not to think about what the man was doing to you right now.

It took near on forty minutes of scrolling through video feeds before Garcia found something. It wasn’t the clearest footage but the guy definitely gave her the creeps.

“Sir, I think I found him.” Garcia said, causing Hotch to sit straighter in seat as he stared at the phone waiting for her to continue. “If you’ll direct your attention to your tablets,” she said as she sent the blurry images to all of them. “I’m working on making it clearer and getting a face ID as we speak.”

“Fast as you can, Garcia.” Hotch ordered.

“Yes sir, I’ll let you know when I’ve got something.” Because she would get something, no way was she letting anything bad happen to you.

Hotch was a mess as he paced around the small room, setting everybody's nerves even further on edge, if it were possible. They hadn’t seen Hotch this worried for as long as they could remember. The only thing running through everyone’s mind was that they had to find you.

Everybody’s attention turned to Hotch as his phone pinged.

“Aaron?” Rossi asked, standing up as he watched his friend pale drastically. “Hey, whoa, take a seat.” He said, watching as the man’s legs turned to jelly and pushed him into a chair.

As he took the phone from Hotch he saw exactly what had caused the reaction, there you were, strapped to a chair with a cross carved onto your chest, blood pouring from the wound as tears fell down your cheeks.

“We have to find her.” Hotch said quietly, his own eyes filled with tears as the image of you burnt into his mind.

“We will.” Rossi told him before turning to the team, “Call Garcia, tell her to track the phone.”

With some luck Garcia managed to get a location on you before the phone was switched off again. The unsub was hiding away in an abandoned warehouse thirty minutes away from them.

Hotch drove like a mad man, with the way the unsub was going he wasn’t sure if you had thirty minutes. He pushed that thought out of his head as he blinked back tears and tightened his grip on the wheel.

He couldn’t think like that. He couldn’t because then he’d have to think about everything he would regret, the number one thing on that list would be not telling you how he felt about you. How you were one of the few good things in his life and how he never wanted to be without you. He’d regret not taking the risk, not crashing his lips into yours.

He thought back to all the dinners the two of you had together or the times you spent the night at his place, nothing ever happening but sometimes cases got too much for you and you needed somebody safe. You had told him he was your safe place and he still hadn’t bit the bullet and kissed you. He should have told you then and there he was in love with you, how every time he pictured his future you were always there with him, at his side.

He swore to himself he’d tell you now.

He’d tell you now.

They arrived at the warehouse, blue and red lights lighting the place up as everybody stepped out of their cars, guns drawn as they split up and entered. Hotch had done plenty of rescue missions before but this one was different, this one was you.

They weren’t prepared for the size of the place, more rooms than they could count and you could be in any one of them. Hotch felt himself going crazy as they opened door after door only to find nothing.

“Hotch,” Derek’s voice sounded in his ear, “You need to get here quick,” He was told the room number and that was it.

Hotch practically sprinted across the warehouse, fear flooding through him as Derek refused to tell him whether you were ok or not. He pushed through the door, Spencer and JJ right behind him, before freezing, the other two barely stopping themselves from crashing into him.

Because there you were on the floor, medics surrounded you as they performed CPR in a desperate attempt to get any sign of life from you.

Hotch staggered backwards, knees giving out as he fell to the floor. Derek made his way over but what could he do? They all watched on as the medics continued working on you, the blood loss was way too much though.

One medic shook their head causing Hotch to let out a sob as two other medics brushed past the group and it wasn’t long before you were being carried out to the ambulance.

“I’m going with her.” Hotch said as he tried to climb into the ambulance but was pushed away by one of the medics.

“I’m sorry sir but you can’t.” She said with a sympathetic look.

“I’m going with her.” He repeated harshly, Derek placing a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down but he shook it off.

“Agent, I’m going to be honest with you she might not even survive the ride to the hospital, the only people in that ambulance are going to be her and the people who might be able to save her life, you wanna stand here and continue this conversation or can I go and save your girlfriends life?” She asked bluntly, she felt sorry for the man but there wasn’t time for this argument. “Meet us at the hospital.” Were the last words said before the ambulance doors closed and the sirens sounded.

“She has to be ok.” Hotch said to himself.

“It’s Y/N, she’s gonna be fine.” Derek told him but all that blood had him doubting his own words.

It wasn’t long before they arrived at the hospital, forced into a private waiting room and offered no information. Hotch couldn’t sit still and instead opted to pace the length of the waiting room praying to anybody that would listen that you would be ok, you had to be because he didn’t know what he was supposed to do if you weren’t.

Four hours later a nurse finally came out to see the group of anxious agents. Hotch immediately turned towards him begging for some good news but the look on his face had Hotch’s blood turning cold.

“I’m sorry,” he started and Hotch just about felt his world end, “She’s still in surgery. Her heart stopped three times but we managed to get a heartbeat. It’s still weak and unsteady but it’s there. I can’t make any promises to you but for the moment she’s stable and we’re doing all we can to help her pull through.”

Hotch didn’t know how to react and felt himself collapse into a plastic chair, the nurse giving him a sympathetic look before leaving.

“She’s doing well, Aaron.” Rossi said, taking a seat next to him.

“She died, three times. They don’t know if she’s going to make it.” Hotch said, his voice breaking as tears fell down his face because saying it outloud made it real. “I can’t lose her Dave.”

“She’s a strong kid, she’ll pull through.” Was all Rossi said before the waiting room fell silent again.

“Hey baby girl.” Derek said as he stood up to hug Garcia, both of them needing it right now,

“How is she?” She asked anxiously, sniffing slightly.

“No news yet.” Spencer said quietly from his seat.

“How’s he?” She asked just as quietly gesturing over to Hotch who sat alone in the corner of the room.

“He’s not doing so well.” Emily said, smiling sadly at her boss.

Everybody knew how Hotch felt about you, it wasn’t the best kept secret. Hell, even you knew how he felt and they all knew you felt the same. The only reason you hadn’t acted on it was because you didn’t know if he would be willing to start a relationship with you as his subordinate. As far as the rest of the team was concerned the two of you had been dating for years, you had dinners together, you slept at his place more than your own at this point and on rare days off you still spent your time with each other.

Everybody knew both of you were crazy for each other and watching Hotch not know if he was going to have the chance to tell you how he felt himself was breaking their hearts.

Fourteen hours later a tired doctor stepped through the doors of the waiting room. Everybody turned their attention to him as they waited anxiously to hear anything about you.

“She’s stable,” He told them, smiling softly at the collective sigh of relief that spread throughout the room. “You were told she flatlined three times, correct? Unfortunately she crashed once more but we were able to get a heartbeat. I can’t make promises but as of right now she’s looking good. Obviously we’re going to keep her for at least a week, though that could be longer if things go downhill but I’ll make sure you’re all kept up to date.”

“Thank you so much, doc.” Derek said and everybody else echoed the sentiment.

“Can we see her?” Hotch asked and the doctor gave him a sympathetic look, the man looked like he’d been through hell.

“One of you can,” He agreed, really nobody should but the man looked like he needed to see her and hear a heart machine confirm she was alive, “For five minutes.”

The rest of the team nodded at Hotch who mouthed a thank you to them before he followed the doctor out of the room and over to you.

When the doctor pushed the door open Hotch froze as he saw all the different tubes and wires attached to you, helping you stay alive. His eyes filled with tears as he made his way into the room and sat down in the chair next to you, carefully taking your hand in his and bringing his mouth down to press a kiss to your knuckles.

“You’re going to be ok, Y/N/N,” He told you, eyes on the heart monitor that showed a weak but beating heart rate. “You have to be ok because I have so much to tell you but the most important thing you have to know is that I love you,” He told you, tears falling down his cheeks, “I love you so much, baby. You’ve got to get better so I can tell you that.”

He looked up when he heard a knock at the door, the doctor giving him a sympathetic look. Hotch nodded at him before standing and taking one last look at you, gently leaning over and placing a barely there kiss on your forehead.

“I love you.” And with that he made his way back to the waiting room.

It was four days before there was any movement from you and then they wished they never heard anything. Alarms sounded and the team watched as a flock of doctors and nurses made their way into your room but despite the open door they couldn’t see what was happening.

“Chest compression now, she’s going into cardiac arrest!”

Those words sent a sliver of ice down everybody’s spine, Hotch staring wide eyed at the door, not daring to take his eyes off it like that would somehow help you.

“Defibrillator!” Another doctor called and then he was counting before they shocked you, “Nothing, again!” “Clear!” “Again!”

The words merged into each other as Hotch leaned against the wall for support, his own heart beating out of his chest as he heard them continue to shout how there was nothing.

“We have a pulse!” One doctor finally called and Hotch sobbed, Rossi barely catching him as his knees gave out and pulled him into a tight hug.

“She’s being transferred into the ICU,” the doctor informed them after several hours had passed, “we’ve put her into an induced coma to allow the body to heal but she should be awake in the next two days.”

Those two days seemed to drag, there was no news about you but at this point no news was good news. Everybody else left and came back to the hospital but Hotch had yet to leave once, refusing to leave you alone here even if you weren’t aware of where you were or his presence.

He barely slept and was on edge the whole time you were in the coma, dreading every time a nurse or doctor came close to the waiting room.

“Agent Hotchner,” the doctor greeted as he stepped in, it was still early and the others were back at the hotel.

“Doctor Smith, how is she?” He asked, dread filling his stomach but then the doctor smiled and he felt a weight fall of his shoulders at the words -

“She’s awake.”

Hotch just about kept himself upright as he was led to your room, letting out a sob as he saw you awake through the window.

“Before you go in there’s some things I have to tell you,” the doctor said, Hotch nodding as he did, “she’s going to be extremely weak and tired for a while, her body has been through a lot of trauma in a short space of time. Give her time. I can’t promise you she’s out of the woods yet but we’re doing everything we can. The only advice I can give you is spend as much time with her as you can.”

And with those comforting words the doctor patted Hotch’s shoulder and walked away.

Hotch took a deep breath before he stepped forward and entered your room, smiling at you as your eyes flickered over to him. He made his way around to the chair next to your bed, taking your hand gently in his, careful of the needle.

“It’s so good to see you awake.” He said, leaning down to kiss your hand.

He watched as you gave him a weak smile and a barely there squeeze of the hand. It was the best thing he’d seen in his life, he thought as he choked back a sob.

“I’m so proud of you,” He told you, “You’re doing so well.”

You felt your lip quiver as you took in his words, your body was aching despite all the drugs in your system. Everything hurt but Hotch was here, Hotch made everything better.

You slowly managed to squeeze his hand again, watching as he smiled down at your joined hands.

“You’re going to be out of here before you know it, yeah?” He asked, watching as you blinked tiredly at him. “We can go to that new restaurant that just opened and then maybe see if there are any good movies on?”

You tried to smile but you’re pretty sure all that happened was a brief purse of your lips but you watched Hotch’s face light up anyway.

Hotch continued to talk about all the things the two of you could do once you got better and you couldn’t think of a better way to fall asleep.

It was a while before you were finally discharged from the hospital, the rest of the team had been forced back to Quantico but Hotch took every bit of holiday time he had and used it to stay with you. Thankfully since your cardiac arrest you had been doing better though you still felt drained more often than not and had a few problems with dizzy spells but the doctors had explained how that was normal after both the cardiac arrest and blood loss.

You and Hotch had to stay in a hotel for three extra weeks as you weren’t cleared to fly until then. In the meantime Hotch and you shared a room, it was easier that way for him to check on you and honestly you didn’t want to be alone right now and Hotch was the only person you wanted to be with.

The two of you lay on the bed, his arms wrapped around you, holding you close as you rested your head on his chest. It was only early, around five pm, and despite the nap before you could still barely keep your eyes open.

“I’m so glad you’re ok.” Hotch murmured suddenly into the silence causing you to look up at him. “There were so many times I thought that was it, that you were gone and I just- I couldn’t-” He cut himself off, blinking back tears as he tightened his hold on you slightly.

“I’m ok.” You reminded him softly.

“You’re ok,” He repeated, “I can’t lose you, Y/N and this isn’t exactly how I wanted to tell you but I think we’ve waited long enough,” He told you with a chuckle, causing you to smile up at him softly. “I love you, Y/N, so much. I can’t picture my life with anybody else and honestly, I don’t want to, I just want you.”

Your smile widened as you listened to his words.

“I love you too, Aaron. I don’t want to picture my life with anybody else either.” You told him softly, shifting slightly so you were looking up at him and Aaron took that as all the permission needed to lean down and softly brush your lips together.

It was a kiss long overdue but neither of you rushed it, both content to show how you felt for each other in soft, slow movements, Hotch’s hands cupping your face as you smiled into the kiss.

When Hotch pulled away he didn’t go far, leaning his forehead against yours.

“I love you so much, sweetheart.”

“I love you too.” You smiled before leaning up to capture his lips again.

As far as rescue missions go, it wasn’t the greatest but the ending was pretty great.

___________

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Just Hold On

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Febuwhump Prompt - blood loss

Prompt - ‘A world without you seemed impossible.’

You found yourself pacing the length of the room, getting lost in the repetitive motion of back and forth, back and forth. The dread of what was to come invaded your mind, you were unable to think about anything else. It felt like every time you closed your eyes all you could see was a pale, lifeless body lying there covered in blood.

You felt yourself shuddering as the image assaulted your mind once more.

You couldn’t say how much time had passed before a hand on your shoulder startled you. Your head snapped around to see Rick standing there, a kind smile on his face that did nothing to hide his own worry.

“He’s gonna be okay.” He told you but you could see how he doubted his own words.

Shaking your head, your bit your lip not wanting to direct your anger and fear at the wrong person. You’d seen Daryl hurt plenty of times, you’d been with him since the beginning, you’d seen him bleeding from deep wounds or simply covered in bruises but this…this was different.

This time you didn’t know if he’d survive.

Inside the clinic Denise worked hard to sew him back together, desperately doing what she could without an entire hospital supply room to support her. You and Rick had long been kicked out of the room, distracting her as you watched every move she made.

“You don’t know that.” Was all you managed to say, eyes flickering over to the closed door.

Daryl and a small group had headed out that morning on what should have been an easy supply run and returned hours later laying a bloody Daryl on the floor as they called for help. At that point you couldn’t see the injuries that were hidden by clothing but there was no hiding the blood that had stained most of his shirt.

You had watched as the gates opened, stood frozen once you saw him before running over to the growing group as fast as you could, cupping Daryl’s cheeks in your hands, desperately pleading with him to wake up. Rick was the one who pulled you away so they could get him up to the clinic.

Watching as he was stripped had you turning pale and your stomach twisting as you saw the wounds. There were deep slashes scattered across his torso, bruises forming in the shape of boots. You choked on a sob as Rick cupped the back of the head, hiding your face in his chest as you continued to cry.

It wasn’t long until the two of you were told to wait outside and neither of you were planning on leaving any time soon.

The hours dragged by, you’d gone from restless and pacing to collapsing into the chair beside Rick, the man smiling sympathetically at you as he wrapped an arm around you, pulling you into his chest.

The two of you sat in silence, neither having any comforting words for the other as you waited for any news on the man you both loved. Despite everything you’d been through since the apocalypse started you could honestly say this was one of the worst moments, completely helpless and not knowing whether the man who had been by your side since the beginning, the man who was the only reason you had survived this long, the man who had grumbled and muttered when you followed him from the walker infested warehouse but had somehow along the way ended up falling for you, would survive or not.

A world without Daryl Dixon seemed impossible.

The door to the clinic opening pulled you out of your thoughts as your head snapped up to see an exhausted looking Denise standing there, her mouth opening and closing a few times but no words came out.

You felt your blood run cold, mind jumping to one conclusion at her lack of words. Your eyes pooled with tears but thankfully Rick spoke up before you could spiral much further.

“Denise,” He prompted softly, not sure if he wanted to hear the next words out of her mouth either.

“He’s stable,” She started with causing you to let out a sob of relief, your hand covering your mouth. “But I can’t make any promises, Rick. He could be fine or it could be touch and go.”

You blocked out the rest of her words, the only ones you needed to hear were that he was stable, he was alive. That’s all that mattered. Daryl wouldn’t die, he couldn’t…he’d be fine.

He had to be fine.

“You can see him now.” You heard Denise say, Rick and you both standing before making your way into the room.

You paused in the doorway, more tears falling from your eyes as you looked at him. He looked completely lifeless, skin almost grey as he lay there, shirtless and bandaged up. Needles poked into him as they gave him what he needed to stay alive.

You forced a shaky smile up at Rick as he lay a comforting hand on your shoulder before you walked further into the room and took a seat on the edge of the plastic chair next to the bed.

You’d never seen him like this and you were terrified, hesitating as you lifted your hand, scared that one touch would be all it took before the heart monitor beeped to nothing. You closed your eyes and gently took his hand in yours, waiting for something to happen and breathing out a sigh of relief as nothing did.

“Daryl,” You whispered, leaning down and resting your lips against his hand before pressing a lingering kiss to them. “Please wake up, you have to wake up.” You pleaded with the unconscious man, aware your words would have very little effect but needing to say something.

You looked up as you heard another chair scrap on the other side of the room and watched as Rick sat opposite you, mirroring you as he took Daryl’s hand in his.

“You heard the lady,” Rick smiled, “You gotta wake up, brother.”

You and Rick sat together in near silence for the night, neither one of you wanting to leave the other or Daryl alone. It was a long night and lonely night when Daryl failed to move but you were glad to have a friend.

Days continued to pass without a hint of movement from Daryl. The whole time you refused to move from his side, Rick had to after the first night, too many duties to attend to but if it were up to him he’d have been in that room with the two of you. Though he did stop by often enough to make sure that you were taking care of yourself.

Which you weren’t.

You weren’t holding up and as each day passed you felt yourself losing hope. Food wasn’t even a thought in your mind and if it wasn’t for Rick stopping by several times a day with food then you knew you wouldn’t have eaten anything, even with Rick’s help you only had a few bites at most a day.

Thankfully some of the colour had started to return to Daryl’s face even if he had yet to wake up, Denise said that was a good thing, his body was working on healing itself. It showed Daryl was fighting.

He was also taking to the blood transfusion that she had had to administer. She spoke about red blood cell transfusion, gave you the rundown of the procedure but you tuned her out, could hardly stand to listen to her talk about how much blood Daryl had lost, about how he might still take a turn for the worst.

You spent most of the day just watching him, watching the weak rise and fall of his chest, watching his heart beat on the monitor, watching his eyes to see if there was even a flicker of movement. If you hadn’t had Daryl memorised before you did know, you knew the man like the back of your hand, hell better than that.

There hadn’t been a day that passed in which you hadn’t cried. Everyday that hope faded more and more until it felt like you were drowning. You refused to let go of Daryl's hand, praying that you’d feel it twitch one of these days, praying he’d curl his fingers around yours. Daryl’s hand in yours felt like an anchor, the one thing that kept you holding on.

“How’s he doing today?” Rick asked as he walked into the clinic, smiling sadly as you didn’t even look up at him.

You only had eyes for Daryl.

“Same as yesterday and the day before.” You said bitterly, wanting him to get better so you could leave and get your hands on the Saviours.

Rick watched your emotions play out on your face, understanding what you were feeling all too well. He wanted to rip the face of every saviour, wanted Negan’s head on a stick but he knew they had to be smart, knew that if they struck now they’d lose. Negan would be expecting them.

Rick was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard you let out a surprised gasp, he looked to you, a question on his lips when he paused, watching as your eyes lit up for the first time in nearly a week.

“Hey,” You said, huffing a laugh of absolute disbelief, “You’re ok, you’re ok,” You repeat like a mantra.

The feeling of Daryl’s fingers tightening around your own was just about the best feeling in the world. The complete feeling of relief that ran throughout your body made you feel lighter than you had in days, like a weight had been suddenly and breathtakingly removed from your back.

Rick watched in amazement as his best friend scrunched his eyes closed hard before he tried to pry them out, Y/N watching his every move like a hawk. It took a few attempts before Daryl managed to open his eyes, blinking against the harsh lights before his eyes settled on you.

At this point your eyes were filled, yet again, with tears but this time they were tears of disbelief, tears of happiness, tears of fear as you realised how close you’d come to losing the most important person in your life.

“Y/N,” He managed to grumble out before he started coughing, causing you to move, quickly grabbing your cup of water and guiding it up to his lips, helping him get the water down carefully.

Once he was finished you put the cup back and moved yourself onto the bed, being careful of his torso as you did so. He looked up at you, immediately noticing the dark circles under your eyes and the worry that was written across your face plain as day.

“Ya need t’sleep, baby.” He croaked out causing you to let out a watery laugh, the man nearly died and here he was still more worried about you than he was himself.

“Needed to make sure you were ok.” You told him, letting your hand gently reach up and cup his cheek, smiling shakily as he leaned into the touch.

“M’okay.” He assured you, turning his face into your palm and placing a soft, barely there kiss upon it.

“You nearly died.” You told him with a choked sob, desperately trying to swallow down tears.

Daryl’s gaze shifted from you over to Rick, who stood forgotten by the door feeling like an intruder. Rick shot him a shaky smile which was returned weakly before Daryl turned his attention back to you.

“S’gonna be ok, gonna get the bastards.” He told you, watching as laughed and nodded along with his words. “But you gotta sleep, darlin’.”

Those words had you falling in love with the man all over again, this idiotic, absolutely selfless man who put you before him every single day, even when he was practically on his death bed only days ago.

You couldn’t help but smile at him, a smile that was only reserved for him, eyes soft and lips upturned with a tilt of your head. It was the smile Daryl loved most, one only he could draw from you.

Carefully you leaned down, your lips brushing against his so softly. It was exactly what you needed, the feelings of his lips moving against yours, proof he was alive. You could finally breathe properly.

Eventually you pulled back, resting your forehead on his, causing him to smile up at you. He managed to lift his hand up, barely hiding a wince from you, and rested it on your cheek, letting his fingertips run along your cheekbone.

“I love you,” you whispered, swallowing hard around the lump in your throat, he was ok.

“I love you too, darlin’.” He told you, just as softly, the two of you in your own little world, so absorbed in each other you didn’t notice Rick slipping out of the room with a smile of his own, glad that his two best friends had found each other whilst the world around you went to hell.

__________

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Finding Our Way Back

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Febuwhump Prompt - nightmares

Prompt - ‘It's like our souls are made of the same thing, always making sure we find each other when we need each other the most.’

Bucky felt like he was suffocating, clawing at his neck in a desperate attempt to loosen the lump in his throat that was stopping him from breathing as he shot up, sitting up on bed and looking around wildly. Nothing was out of place as he took note of everything in the room, his mind slowly registering that there were no real threats.

Bucky didn’t know how long he sat there for, didn’t know when the lump in his throat gave way and left him panting for breath, didn’t know when the sweat dried and the adrenaline left his body leaving him exhausted and drained.

He did know there was no chance of him going back to sleep, not for the next few nights, not until his body shut down. The serum running through his veins would allow him three or four days without sleep, longer if forced but he’d start feeling the effects. He didn’t care though, everytime he closed his eyes he saw the bodies, the agents, that damned chair. He heard the whispered words that triggered him to act, to kill.

Bucky let out a shaky breath before looking around the room once more.

It had taken him a long time to fully adjust to having somewhere that was his but it never felt like home, nowhere did these days. Steve was gone, you were…god, what had it come to when Bucky didn’t even know what you were doing anymore.

He let the memories of when he first met you fill his head, wanting to drown out all the bad ones. He remembered you watching him, it had made him uneasy as you stared at him but never said a word. The two of you locked in a staring contest as Steve and Sam stood to the side, deciding on what to do with him.

He remembered waking up in Wakanda, remembered how you had chosen to stay behind, when he raised a questioning eyebrow at you, you had just shrugged but there was something under the surface, sadness, regret, something…

Bucky watched you watch him, he remembered the days you sat with him, sat on the floor with him when the bed or the sofa was much too soft. He remembered how you had taken his hand in yours, no words needing to be exchanged as you squeezed it gently, once, then twice.

Over time it had developed into a code of sorts between the two of you, two squeezes meant everything was fine, everything was going to be ok. One squeeze meant one of you needed out of a situation as discreetly but quickly as possible, admittedly Bucky had used that signal more than you had but you never failed to help him out, making it seem so casual.

He remembered as you sat with him that night, that night, when the trigger words were read to him, remembered not feeling anything, no emptiness, no shift, just himself, just James Barnes. He remembered being told he was free, remembered the tears falling down his face, the choked sobs of absolute relief as he turned to face you, practically falling into your arms as you held him, whispering words of praises and reassurances, both of you pulling away with matching smiles.

And Bucky, Bucky couldn’t help himself.

He leaned closer to you, slowly so you had time to pull away but you never did, instead you met him halfway and slotted your lips together. Months of pent up pining over each other was channelled into one kiss, going from soft and gentle to hungry and passionate.

The two of you ended up back in the room Bucky had been given but things never went further than the two of you kissing, holding the other close as you lay together in bed.

His thoughts turned to that day in Wakanda, how he had watched you turn back to face him, the last thing he saw before being blipped was the fear, god you had looked so scared, on your face.

And then he saw you turn to dust too but he was gone before you were.

Then you were brought back, Steve leading an army against Thanos. Everything was moving into action before Bucky had a chance to even look at you and he couldn’t find you out on the battlefield, he tried to find you but there were enemies coming from every direction and Bucky had to focus because if he didn’t then he’d spiral.

It felt like he had just gotten the all clear, that he was free to not be a killer and now here he was, thrust into another battle with no choice but to fight.

When the battle ended, Tony’s sacrifice ensuring their victory, he still couldn’t find you. His blood ran cold as he looked at the fallen on the ground, selfishly and desperately hoping you weren’t one of them.

“Hey,” He heard, whipping around to face Sam who looked as tired as Bucky felt, “She’s alive, she’s with Strange.” Sam told him, gesturing from where he had just come from.

Bucky shot him a grateful look before he ran over to where Doctor Strange was, you and him talking together quietly as he ran his hands over your lower leg, a golden glow surrounding the area as the skin knitted itself back together.

Bucky watched, choking on a sob causing you to look up at him, relief clear on your face as you pushed yourself up off the ground and ran into his arms, Bucky wrapping them tightly around as you buried your face in his chest.

“I’m so glad you’re ok,” You told him, words muffled against his shirt. Bucky pressed his face into your hair, rambling on about how glad he was you were safe, the two of you more than content to stay in each other's hold.

It was Steve leaving that caused the rift between the two of you. Bucky was finally allowed to be himself, no more HYDRA, no more trigger words, nothing, and then Steve had pulled him aside, reciting rehearsed lines about how he had to go back, how there wasn’t a place for him in this day and age.

Bucky barely held back his words of anger, of frustration because the one thing he could always depend on was Steve Rogers and now he was leaving him, to go back to the past, back to a life that didn’t exist anymore. Bucky thought they had both been through too much to even consider a life back there but apparently this was what Steve needed and who was Bucky to argue with that.

In the days that passed Bucky kept to himself, you tried desperately to be there for him, offer him a shoulder to cry on, somebody to talk to, somebody to sit silently with but Bucky wanted none of that. He wanted none of your comfort, none of your kind words.

One day the lack of sleep and the mix of feelings had become too much and he took his frustration out on you. He didn’t even want to recall the words he had said to you that day but he hadn’t seen you since, hadn’t heard from you.

Sometimes he picked up the phone, letting his thumb hover over your name but he never pressed it.

And he lived with the regret of that everyday. Once he managed to come to terms with the fact that Steve had left, once he had come to terms with his feelings, that’s when the regret settled in, when he realised just what a jerk he had been.

The next few days passed in a blur of therapist appointments and sitting alone in his apartment before something came along to break his routine - John Walker. Him and Sam could only do so much and as they sat in Sharon’s place in Madripoor it was Sam who suggested they involve you.

“No,” Bucky said, cutting him off immediately.

“Ah yes, the Y/L/N girl,” Zemo said, “I remember her well, she could be very useful.”

“She won’t come, Sam.” He told the other man, ignoring Zemo completely.

“Just call her.” Sam said, causing Bucky to laugh in disbelief.

“You want me to make the call?”

“Oh come on, Barnes, she loved you, hell I’m willing to bet she’s still in love with you. You said some shit you didn’t mean and I know Y/N, man, she’s probably not even pissed about what you said, she probably understands exactly where those words came from. My guess, she’s been waiting for a call, a call where you tell her you’re sorry.” Sam said to him, picking up his phone and holding it out to Bucky who sat on the sofa, the words like a slap to the face because Bucky knew you and Sam was probably right, ok so maybe say was absolutely right but he wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of admitting that.

He had never apologised, too scared to face you.

A few seconds passed but Bucky snatched the phone from Sam and stood up, heading out of the room for some privacy.

It took longer than Bucky would care to admit but eventually he pressed the call button, hesitating before bringing the phone up to his ear, each ring sending a wave of anxiety through him.

“Hello?” Hearing your voice had him relaxing in a way he hadn’t been able to for months. “Hello?” You said again, causing him to clear his throat.

“Hi Y/N,” He said softly.

“Bucky?” You asked in shock after a moment of silence, not expecting it would ever be him on the other end of the phone again.

“Yeah it’s me.” He said, not sure where to go from here, apologising over the phone didn’t feel right but he didn’t know if he could get you here without it.

“Is everything ok?” You asked when it became obvious he wasn’t going to say anything else.

“Y/N,” He began but then changed his mind, he wouldn’t apologise over the phone, “We need you.”

“We?” You asked with a roll of your eyes, of course this wasn’t the call you had wanted all those months ago.

“You heard about John Walker?” He asked, sensing the shift in your emotions and knowing he had screwed up some more.

“Yeah, he’s going round playing Captain America, what about him?” You asked, listening as Bucky explained what was happening.

“Will you help?” He finally asked.

“I’ll help.” You said after a long pause.

“Great, I’ll have Sam send you the details,” He said, practically feeling the eye roll from down the phone, “Thank you, Y/N.” He murmured softly before hanging up and staring down at the phone in his hands, kicking himself as he did.

When he reentered the room, he threw the phone at Sam before collapsing into the sofa.

“That good, huh?” He asked.

“She’ll help, just text her the details.”

As you knocked on the door of the address Sam had sent you, you felt your anxiety double and quickly wiped your palms against your coat cursing yourself for getting involved.

“Ah Y/N, so good to see you again.”

Your head snapped up at the accent, eyes widened as you looked up to see a man who should have been in a prison cell.

“They did not tell you I was helping.” He realised as he opened the door, gesturing for you to enter.

“Last time I saw you you were trying to kill Bucky.” You said as you made your way past him, looking around the house as you stepped further in.

“And now I’m not.” He said with a friendly grin, “Relax, he’s not here.”

You turned around to face him, raising an eyebrow at his words but did as Zemo said when he nodded.

“They left you alone here?” You asked as you followed him over to the kitchen area, nodding as he grabbed a mug and gestured it towards you.

“I have nowhere to run to, Y/N. My family is long gone and my mission has been completed, what more is there to do?” He asked and you had no answer to that, so instead you took the drink from him and sat together in silence.

“Y/N!” Sam’s voice had you turning around in your seat, watching as the man smiled as he made his way over to you, you meeting him halfway and letting him wrap you in a warm hug. “It’s so good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too.” You told him, pulling back to smile up at him. When you fully pulled away from him your eyes were immediately drawn towards Bucky and you couldn’t help but smile softly despite everything.

He looked good.

“Hey Y/N/N,” He said, softly.

“Hi,” You replied just as quietly and the pair of you missed the eye roll from Sam who cleared his throat when neither of you said anything else.

Working with Bucky again was…nice. Being around him was nice and you found yourself relaxing more and more around him, feeling like things could go back to normal. For the rest of the day, spent planning your next move, neither of you mentioned that night though it hung over your heads.

That night, however, you were woken up when you heard a bang sound from the room next to yours. Cautiously you climbed out of bed, years of training kicking in as you silently walked towards Bucky’s door, pausing outside to listen for any threats but you heard nothing.

And then you heard a strangled gasp.

You opened the door, not much but enough so that you could slip in unnoticed, eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness of the room as you looked around for any threats but instead you saw Bucky tangled up in the bedsheets, sweat pouring off of him as the items on the nightstand lay sprawled on the floor.

Your eyes turned sympathetic as you watched him struggle and despite not being on the best of terms with him right now you knew you couldn’t leave him there, trapped inside his nightmare.

You made your way over to the bed, calling his name but he showed no signs of hearing you. You knew touching him was probably, definitely, a bad idea but you didn’t know how else to wake him up.

You shifted so you were closer to him, ready to catch the fist that you knew would undoubtedly swing for you subconsciously, thankful for your own super strength in that moment.

“Bucky,” You called softly as you gently shook him awake.

The moment your hand touched him he shot awake, vibranium arm swinging blindly in your direction, you just barely catching it like it weighed nothing, your other hand pinning his other shoulder down gently.

“Hey, it’s just me, it’s Y/N,” You told him, continuing to talk softly as he came out of his nightmare, blinking harshly against the sudden flood of tears that filled his eyes as he focused on the sound of your voice.

“That’s it, you’re ok, I got you,” You murmured, shifting your hand from his shoulder to run through his hair, watching as he became aware of his surroundings and slowly let go of his vibranium arm.

Bucky let himself lay still for a moment, enjoying the feel of your fingers threading through his hair as he struggled for breath but pretty quickly he needed to sit up, panting as he was able to breathe again.

He turned to face you, the tears finally leaking over onto his cheeks and you smiled sadly at him as you shifted so you were laying on the bed before tugging him close to you, resting his head against your chest as you rubbed his arm soothingly with one hand, the other going back to his hair.

You continued to whisper soft words of nothing, watching how he slowly caught his breath and turned further into you, wrapping his arm around your waist as he leaned up to nuzzle his face against your neck.

His face was wet from the tears but thankfully he had managed to stop crying, content to just lay with you and shut out the rest of the world.

“You wanna talk about it?” You finally asked after half an hour or so of laying together.

“No,” He mumbled into your neck, causing you to smile, before he let out a breath that sent a shiver down your spine, “Yes.”

“Take your time.” You told him, placing a gentle kiss to his hair.

“S’always the same, always strapped to that chair, the words. I see everyone I ever hurt, everyone I killed, dead because of me.” Bucky whispered not pulling away from you, not daring to look up at you.

“Because of HYDRA, Bucky, not because of you.” You told him, voice quiet but stern.

“I was the one who killed them, Y/N/N.” He told you, voice breaking as he did.

“Bucky, you never, never, would have killed if it wasn’t for those bastards. You can’t blame yourself. You’re free, Buck, no more words, no more HYDRA, it’s all gone.” You told him, feeling him relax against you as he took in your words.

The two of you stayed silent for a long while after that, Bucky slowly worked through the memories that had filled his head, now that the nightmare had passed, thoughts of you began to take over. You were savouring every moment with Bucky in your arms, not sure when or if you’d ever have him back again.

“I’m sorry,” Bucky said after a while, voice near silent but from his position you heard him clearly.

“What?” You asked, assuming he was apologising over the nightmare.

“What I said to you, you never deserved that and then I let all that time pass without calling you, I should’ve called you, baby. First thing I should have done was follow you out of that damn door and apologise but I was so far in my own head…” He told you, trailing off as he lost the words he thought about over and over again for months.

“All I wanted was an apology, Buck.” You told him, keeping your own voice quiet so as not to break the delicate atmosphere.

“And I should’ve given it to you months ago.” He said, finally shifting back so he could look up at you. “I was an idiot to let you walk away and I’ve regretted it every single day.”

You smiled down at him, easily seeing how much he meant those words.

“I really am sorry, baby.” He murmured, looking up at you with wide, apologetic eyes and you couldn’t help but chuckle softly as you ran your knuckles across his cheek.

“I forgive you.” You whispered watching as he relaxed into your touch, smiling up at you as he let out a huff of disbelief.

“You’re incredible, baby.” He told you, shifting so he was laying on his side, vibranium arm coming up to brush some hair from your face before he cupped your cheek in his palm, giving you plenty off time to move away as he leaned down to kiss you but just like your first kiss you leaned up and met his lips half way, the kiss was soft and slow, months apart from each other and all the missed time was put into the kiss, feelings of longing and relief that you had found your way back to each other.

Eventually Bucky pulled away, watching as you smiled up at him, eyes still closed and he knew it that moment you were it for him, he knew it in those months you’d been apart but he never let himself think it, not when he thought he had no chance of ever getting you back.

“I love you, baby.” He told you, the words falling out of his mouth without meaning to. You watched as his own eyes widened in shock at his words but you couldn’t help but smile wider up at him.

“I love you too.” You whispered before leaning up to kiss him again, your hand finding his and squeezing it twice.

And despite the fact you still had to deal with the wannabe Captain America, still had to clean up the messes that kept being made, you had a feeling that everything would be just fine, everything would go back to normal now that you and Bucky had found your way back to each other.

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

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He Was A Hero

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Febuwhump Prompt - I dreamt you were alive

Prompt - ‘He's a hero and one day it's going to kill him because his heart is too big, and he carries it in his hands, and no one can hold up the sky forever.’

No day was ever easy, not one day passed when you didn’t mourn those you’d lost, those who had been snapped away. Today was a bad day, today the weight of Peter being gone was weighing down painfully on you, it made it harder to breathe and all you wanted to do was stay in bed and hide away.

You dad stood in the doorway, arms crossed as he bit his lip. Tony knew just how you were feeling, that day on Titan replayed in his head every single day, watching as Peter turned to dust in his arms…no words could describe that feeling. Then he’d gotten home, barely, and the knot in his chest loosened, only slightly, as he saw you alive. He bundled you up in his arms and listened to you sob about how you thought he had died.

Then he had to tell you about Peter.

He watched as your eyes widened in disbelief as you let out a huff of laughter, shaking your head as you did. You told him Peter wasn’t dead, told him he wasn’t funny but Tony just looked at you sadly and you froze, tears running down your cheeks as you continued to shake your head, refusing to believe it but the sobs left your lips and you all but collapsed into his arms. The silence was the worst for him though, watching as you became a shell of yourself.

Eventually everybody settled into the new world but that didn’t mean the pain lessened, it just became a part of them.

“Hey baby,” Tony said from his spot against the door frame, he watched as you sniffed and shifted towards him, smiling shakily at him. “Come on, let’s go for a walk, just us.” He said, watching you nod before he gave you a minute to get up.

You watched as your dad left and despite the heavy weight that rested on your heart you couldn’t help but be relieved that he was alive, your dad was safe.

It wasn’t long before you were shrugging a coat on to ward against the autumn chill and heading downstairs, watching as your dad stood up and shot you a warm smile. It helped more than he knew, seeing him here, seeing him alive and happy even if Peter wasn’t here to see it.

“C’mon,” He said, leading you out of the cabin before he wrapped his arm around you and pulled you close.

The walk was nice, your cheeks flushed from the cold but it was exactly what you needed. No words were spoken between you and your dad, not at first but eventually he began talking and you were content to just listen.

“You know when I first found out about you I was terrified,” He told you with a laugh and you couldn’t help but smile over at him, “I was so scared and then I held you, this little girl, the whole world, my whole world in the palm of my hands. I knew I couldn’t let you down then, god you were barely an hour old and had me wrapped around your little finger.” He laughed, looking over at you and hardly believing you were that same little girl.

He squeezed you gently in his arms, pressing you further against him so he could press a kiss against your head.

“It’s hard without him, I know it is kid, but you’ve gotta be brave. You’ve got to know he loved you so much, he thought the world of you, as he should’ve.” Tony chuckled coming to a halt when he saw tears falling down your cheeks and he cupped your face letting his thumbs gently brush them away. “He’d be so proud to see you now, Y/N/N.”

You couldn’t stop the tears falling down your face at your dad's words, stepping closer to him so you could bury your head in his chest as he wrapped his arms around you. You clung to him, feeling like if you let go of him everything would slip away. It was like he was your only grip on reality and that thought had you tightening your grip on him.

“I’m so proud of you, baby.” He whispered against your hair causing you to take a sharp, deep breath in as you choked on more tears. “You’re so strong, Y/N/N, so brave.”

Tony continued his words of praise until you were gasping for breath, the world around you feeling like it was going to fall from out below your feet at any second.

“I love you so much, baby.” Tony told you, pulling away and cupping your cheeks in his hands again, looking you right in the eyes.

“I love you too,” You managed to choke out, feeling like you were going to drown in your tears.

You let out another choked sob as you felt the world actually shift, felt it shake around you and your eyes locked onto your dad’s, your hands clinging to him as you looked at him, fear in your eyes.

“It’s ok, baby, you’re gonna be ok.” He told you before you were plunged into darkness and only seconds later your eyes flew up as you sat up violently, gasping as you tried to catch your breath.

“Hey, hey, you’re ok,” You heard a voice say softly, a hand running comfortingly up and down your back but you couldn’t make out who it was, your head felt dizzy as you sat there trying to find your breath. “You’re ok, I’ve got you, just breathe, that’s it, deep breath in, that’s it, that’s it.”

Finally it felt like you could finally breathe again, the dizziness finally going as the world around you steadied.

“You’re ok,” the voice said again, causing you to stiffen before your head shot around to see Peter sitting up on the bed, eyes still heavy with sleep as he focused his attention on you.

“Peter?” You gasped, feeling your eyes widen as you struggled to grasp a hold of reality.

You watched Peter’s face turn sympathetic, a sad smile spreading across his lips as he continued to rub your back.

“Yeah, it’s me, it’s Peter.” He told you, keeping his voice soft and low as he spoke.

He watched as you went through a range of emotions before your face crumbled and you started to sob. He gently shifted the two of you so he was resting against the top of the bed and you were laying against his chest, tears soaking his shirt.

Peter continued to talk softly, not saying anything in particular just keeping up a steady stream of words that you could cling to to help ground you back to reality and away from whatever you were dreaming about, Peter having a pretty good guess that it was about the blip.

It felt like hours before you stopped crying, sniffing against Peter’s shirt before you pulled away from him and sat with your legs crossed on the bed, hand darting forward to hold Peter’s.

He smiled at you as best he could with the worry running through him, giving it a squeeze.

“You ok?” He asked quietly.

“I’m sorry,” You told him shakily, sniffing as you blinked back more tears.

“Don’t apologise, you’re fine.” Peter assured you as he brought your hand up to his lips, pressing a lingering kiss to it.

“It was so real, you were gone but,” Here you paused to blink harshly, “my dad was back, Pete, I had my dad back.”

The pain in your chest came back ten times worse as you recalled the dream, recalled the words your dad had said to you.

“I’m so sorry,” Peter said to you as he squeezed your hand again.

You just shook your head, not daring to open your mouth again, knowing that if you did you’d just start crying again. You looked at Peter, a shaky smile making its way onto your face, thanking god he was alive.

It seemed like you couldn’t win, when Peter had died you still had your dad but now you had Peter back and your dad was dead.

Eventually you managed to fully get your breathing under control, managed to blink away all the tears. You felt exhausted now that you had finally calmed down, felt dizzy as the dream felt so real, real enough that it messed with your whole reality.

“Go back to sleep,” you told Peter, watching as he frowned at you. “I’m just gonna head outside for some air.” Peter’s face shifted into understanding as he nodded at you, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to your cheek.

“If you need me,” he began but you cut him off with a nod.

“Thank you.” You whispered and quietly made your way out of your bedroom. Once you stepped foot downstairs you paused, your dream leaking back into reality as you remembered seeing your dad standing, waiting for you.

You blinked hard before you grabbed a coat and left the cabin, shivering against the cold air but found it helped. You walked the same trail you had in your dream, feeling empty as you continued to look to the side, expecting to see your dad there smiling over at you.

Your heart ached as you ended up at the lake.

You sat down on the dock, letting your legs dangle over the edge as you looked out into the water. How many times had you sat here with your dad after the blip, just the two of you sitting together in silence and now you sat alone, nothing but his memories keeping you company.

“I dreamt you were alive,” you said quietly, eyes locked onto the water, “it felt so real, you know? Peter was gone and you were alive and I was so crushed, I didn’t think I could ever feel worse than I did when Pete died,” you told the water with a sad chuckle, “and then you just had to be the hero and prove that I could feel ten times worse.”

The silence around you sounded so painfully loud.

“I hate that you did that.” You said through gritted teeth, “I hate that I wasn’t even surprised you did it, hate that you left me here. I got Peter back and I am always going to be grateful for that, everyday of my life, but I need you too.” You sobbed.

“I need you, the world, it doesn’t seem right without you here. I just really miss you, dad. I really hate that Steve used the last of the serum because if I could I’d go back in time and change that day…I’d do anything to change that day.”

It felt nice to talk, even if nobody was listening. It felt like you could lean your head down and it would land on your dad’s shoulder even though you knew it never would again. It had been so long since you’d spoken to him but doing it felt, it felt as right as it could when he couldn't be here with you.

You didn’t know how long you sat outside for but you knew it was long enough for the sky to change from inky blue to golden yellows and soft pinks as the sun rose.

“Here you go,” A voice said, startling you out of your thoughts.

You looked up as Peter sat next to you, holding two mugs in his hands and offering one of them to you. You shot him a grateful smile as you took the hot drink from him and took a small sip.

“How you feeling?” Peter asked softly after a few minutes of silence.

You didn’t have an answer for him, not a good one anyway because there really were no words that could sum up just how bad losing your dad felt.

“I really miss him.” You told him instead because that was the truest thing you could say.

“I miss him too,” Peter told you, “I’m really sorry.”

“He was always going to die saving the world, I always knew that. He was a hero,” You told Peter with a wet laugh, a smile spreading across your face, “He was a hero.”

“Yeah he was.” Peter said quietly, looking out at the water as you lowered your head onto his shoulder. Peter smiled down at you, pressing a soft kiss to your hair as he wrapped an arm around your waist.

“I’m glad you’re alive.” You told him, voice so soft he barely caught it but the words had him huffing out a laugh.

“Me too, Y/N/N, and I have Mr Stark to thank for that.” Peter had sworn long ago to do anything and everything he could to make Tony proud but since coming back he did everything he could to keep that promise, including keeping you safe.

The two of you sat outside for a long time, heavy hearts as memories played in your heads but you weren’t alone and you knew you couldn’t lose Peter, not again, because not having your dad around was, words couldn’t describe how devastating that was, but losing them both, you didn’t think you’d survive it.

“I love you,” You told him, breaking the silence that had settled between the two of you.

“I love you too, Y/N/N,” Peter whispered back, his hand taking your chin and guiding you up to his lips where he pressed a soft kiss upon yours, “so much.”

No, you knew you wouldn’t survive losing Peter again and you vowed to do everything you could so that you never had to live in a world where you didn’t have Peter Parker in your life.

___________

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Stitches & Shivers

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Febuwhump Prompt - Hypothermia

Prompt - ‘But we only ever need you, Matt.’

Notes - I'm sorry this is late but I'm so sick so this isn't one of my best

Matt didn’t remember much from after he dove out of the window, leaving behind a burning Nobu, Fisk and his men. He remembered his body hitting the water and remembered the cold, it was so cold. He remembered hearing his own heart beating so loudly in his ears, remembered thinking it was going to beat right out of his chest. He remembered the pain that spread through his whole body as water mixed with the cuts.

What he didn’t remember was just how long he stayed in the water for, feeling lifeless, he didn’t remember dragging his bleeding body out of the water and he didn’t remember how he managed to get home.

He didn’t remember Foggy leaning over him, pulling his mask off, he didn’t remember you watching from behind, he didn’t remember your gasp in shock and horror, didn’t remember Foggy’s confused call of his name or fighting him against calling anyone but Claire.

What he did remember was waking up the next morning, shivers racking his body, sending shots of pain through his stitches. He remembered feeling what must have been every single blanket in his apartment wrapped tightly around him doing little to protect from the coldness that ran through his veins.

You, however, remembered every bit of that night.

You remembered going to Matt’s apartment with Foggy after spending most of the night in Josie’s. You remembered Foggy calling for Matt through the door, telling how they couldn’t lose hope now.

Then you remembered the bang that sounded from inside, remembered the look you shared with Foggy as you both ran up the stairs, using the roof access to enter Matt’s apartment. You remembered Foggy picking something up as you both assumed an intruder had broken in.

You remembered the figure, dressed in black, standing for a second before he toppled over, falling onto the floor. You remembered looking at him, something familiar you couldn’t quite put your finger on and then you watched Foggy pull the mask off to reveal Matt.

You let out a choked gasp, taking a step back and hitting the wall behind you as you looked down at Matt, more than half dead and still bleeding out.

“Matt?” Foggy asked, voice soft in confusion as he looked up at you questioningly. You shook your head, eyes not leaving Matt.

“You need to call an ambulance,” You said shakily, “Now.”

Suddenly Matt shot up, catching Foggy’s wrist in his hand when the man pulled his phone out again. Both you and Foggy froze, watching the pain spread across Matt’s face.

“No hospital,” He managed to grit out, his free hand somehow pulled the burner phone from his pocket, “Claire.” Was all he said before he promptly passed out and caused you and Foggy to shoot each other looks of confusion.

You and Foggy waited for Claire in silence, not knowing what to say. What could you say when you’d just found out your boyfriend and best friend was The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen? You watched as Matt’s body shivered against his wet clothes and wondered just what the hell had happened tonight.

Eventually there was a knock at the door and Foggy was the one to stand. You continued to sit on the chair, not letting your eyes leave Matt, focusing in on the way his breathing seemed slow, too slow, the rise and fall of his chest was barely there.

Foggy seemed to ask a million questions when Claire stepped into the apartment, helping her get Matt onto the couch as she knelt next to him, starting in on the stitches like she’d been doing it forever.

All of Foggy’s angry demands for answers were ignored, Claire stayed silent other than to tell you that it wasn’t her place to say anything.

“Matt can tell you when he wakes up.” She had said, causing you to finally look away from Matt and to her.

“Will he wake up?” You asked, voice small, barely there.

Claire’s face softened as she looked at you before she focused back on Matt.

“He always seems to pull through.” She told you.

She worked for another forty or so minutes before she leaned back and looked at him questioning, watching how the shivers hadn’t subdued. At first she’d chalked it up to shock, those wounds weren’t regular knife wounds afterall but now she noticed how pale he was, which again could’ve just been a factor from the blood loss, but there was also the fact his lips had a blue tinge to them.

“Shit,” she said, causing you and Foggy to look to her, fear flooding your system.

“What?” Foggy asked urgently, “What is it? Is he ok?”

You watched as she scanned the room before settling on Matt’s wet pile of clothes and cursed again.

“Did neither of you think to tell me he was soaking when he showed up?” She snapped.

“Sorry I was a bit more concerned with the blood loss.” Foggy replied sarcastically causing her to roll her eyes.

“I need every blanket he has, now.” She told him before turning back to finish the stitches.

You were on the edge of your seat as you looked at Matt in fear. The urgency in Claire’s tone and the movement of her hands had you desperately begging anybody who would listen to just let him be ok.

“What’s wrong with him?” You asked as Foggy returned.

“Hypothermia,” She said, biting her lip as she stitched one of the smaller cuts.

“Hypothermia?” You asked, looking up at Foggy and seeing he looked just as worried as you.

“He probably would have been fine if it was just the water, he’d have a hell of a cold but he would’ve been fine but you mix the coldness of the water with the freezing air and you're practically asking for the hypothermia to set in. It’s what's causing him to shiver so bad, well that and the blood loss.” She explained but you just huffed in disbelief as you settled further back onto the chair.

Claire worked in silence from there, none of you knowing what to say after that.

Once she was done she sat back and tugged her gloves off, looking Matt up and down before she grabbed the bundle of blankets Foggy had found and started placing them on top of him, making sure he was wrapped up tightly before turning to the two of you.

“I have to go,” She told you, raising her hand as the two of you went to protest, “I have a shift at the hospital, I can’t stay here all night. He should be fine but if anything changes, call me immediately.”

“He should be fine?” Foggy asked, raising an eyebrow at the nurse.

“He’s shivering, right, that’s good, it means his heat regulation systems are still active. We can’t put him in the shower because of the stitches so you need to make sure he stays warm, keep him covered, when he wakes up give him hot drinks, soup, energy drinks. Something tells me one of you is gonna have to run to the store whilst he’s out.”

And with that Claire finished packing up her bag and left you and Foggy alone with an unconscious Matt.

Hours passed but eventually Foggy stood up, telling you he was going to grab some supplies for Matt. You nodded, not really listening to him as you continued to look at Matt, with the bundle of blankets you couldn’t see the rise and fall of his chest but you still refused to look away.

Foggy patted your shoulder sympathetically before heading out.

At some point you ended up sitting on the floor next to the sofa, your hand finding its way under the blankets and taking Matt’s in yours, brushing your thumb against his skin periodically. You relaxed a bit as you could hear the soft breaths telling you he was still alive.

“How can you be him?” You asked softly, eyes running across Matt’s face before resting on his closed eyes. “I always said you could see more than most people could but shit Matt.” You trailed off, remembering all the things you had seen and heard about The Devil.

“Wake up Matt, please just, just wake up.” You whispered, letting your head rest against the sofa as you tried to hold back tears.

Foggy quietly entered the apartment on the off chance you had managed to fall asleep but smiled sadly as he watched you sit on the floor whispering quiet words he couldn’t make out.

“I got some stuff,” Foggy said, still keeping his voice quiet as he sat on the chair and began putting drinks and tins on the table. “Soup, some hot chocolate because chocolate is meant to-”

“Why didn’t he tell us?” You asked, cutting Foggy off.

Foggy looked at you, frowned at your red eyes before sighing and slipping off the chair to sit next you.

“I don’t know, Y/N/N,” He told you honestly because that was one of the thousands of questions that kept running through his head - why? Why hadn’t Matt trusted him, why hadn’t Matt trusted you? The three of you had been friends since college and now Foggy was questioning everything. “I really don’t know.”

Hours passed in silence, Foggy closed his eyes next to you but neither of you could fall asleep despite how tired you were. The fear that something would happen to Matt whilst you slept had you forcing your eyes open every time they blinked shut for longer periods of time.

The neon lights were replaced with a golden glow as the sun rose. Foggy groaned as he stood up and headed to the kitchen. You heard the fridge open and then the sound of a bottle lid being popped off before the sound of water splashing against Foggy’s face filled the silence.

You tensed when you felt Matt’s hand tighten on yours before he shifted and tried to sit up.

“Wouldn’t do that if I was you.” Foggy told him before you could say anything and you watched as Matt looked around the apartment, trying to pinpoint where the voice had come from whilst a violent shiver ran through his body. “Then again, maybe I would. The hell do I know about Matt Murdock?”

“Foggy,” You started softly but Foggy cut you off with a glare.

“Don’t Y/N,” He said, voice frighteningly calm, “don’t you dare defend him right now.”

“Y/N,” Matt asked, tightening his hold on your hand once more, you returned the squeeze before pulling your hand out of his and stood up, sitting on the arm of the chair.

“You stitched me up?” Matt asked, looking in Foggy’s direction.

“Nope, that was your nurse friend.” In all the years you’d known Foggy you had never seen him like this, it was eerie and you found yourself looking away from him.

Foggy and Matt spoke about Claire before you shook your head and asked quietly, eyes tearing up at the question,

“Are you really blind?” You hated to ask it but the things The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen could do, there was no way it could be Matt but you had the proof laid out before you.

“Y/N,” He said softly, turning wide eyes onto you.

“Answer her, Matt.” Foggy demanded calmly.

And Matt did, he told you all about his senses, a world on fire, how he got his heightened senses. He told you everything and you and Foggy could do little more than sit there and listen to his every word.

“So you can see?” Foggy asked after a moment of silence passed.

“Foggy,” He sighed, “you’re not listening to me.”

“No I am, world on fire, I got it.” Foggy snapped and you frowned between them. “I thought we were friends, Matt. You lied to me since the day we met, you lied to Y/N, hell you’re dating her and you didn’t even tell her.”

“What did you expect me to say, Foggy? Hi, I'm Matt. I got some chemicals splashed in my eyes when I was a kid that gave me heightened senses.” Matt said sarcastically causing you and Foggy to roll your eyes.

“You don’t lead with it, Matt,” You finally spoke up, voice soft as you did, “But at some point you should’ve known you could trust us.”

“I didn’t even tell my dad, Y/N/N.” He told you, eyes begging you to believe him.

“But you told the nurse.” You said, raising an eyebrow at him, sure he could sense it.

“I didn’t tell her, she found me in a dumpster, all right? Half dead. She didn’t tell you anything about all this?” Matt asked as he shifted, freezing despite the blankets but doing his best not to focus on that right now.

“She didn’t say anything, refused to tell us.” You told him.

“She seemed nice,” Foggy added with a smile and shake of his head.

“Did you blow up all those buildings?” You asked after taking a shaky breath.

Matt huffed out a pained breath as he looked at you with watery eyes.

“Do you really even need to ask that?” He said, hurt bleeding into his voice.

“Yeah, Matt, I think we do.” Foggy said coldly and Matt started talking about Fisk and Nobu and ninjas. Foggy blew up at him again but was interrupted by the ringing of Matt’s phone.

Karen, Karen, Karen.

It took some pleading from Matt and a nod from you before Foggy caved and lied to her.

“You tell us everything, Murdock and don’t leave a damn thing out.”

Matt spoke for what felt like hours telling you about Russians, the Chinese, how Fisk was working with all these people to build his empire. He told you about a man called Stick, a war that was coming, he told you how he was trained. As you listened you just shook your head. You didn’t care about Fisk or his plans.

You cared about Matt.

Matt who was running around the city, no protection, no amour, nothing but his fists going up against gangs and ninjas.

You looked at him as you spoke and hated feeling like you were looking at a stranger.

“...you haven’t showered since yesterday morning but you rinsed your face in my sink. Y/N’s wearing the perfume I got her for her birthday last year and she was crying before, there’s smudges of mascara under her eyes. I know the more I say the faster both of your hearts beat.”

You looked over at him with wide, scared eyes as you took in his words.

“Oh my god, that means,” You said, trailing off but Foggy seemed to pick up your train of thought.

“Everytime we lied to you, you knew and what you just played along?”

“Basically.” He said, causing you to let out a huff of disbelief as you stood up.

“If you weren’t half dead, I’d kick your ass, Murdock.” Foggy told him and you couldn't help but agree with the sentiment but at the same time all you wanted to do was make sure he was ok.

You hated the fact he lied to you but you couldn’t imagine the burden on his shoulder from carrying that secret.

Foggy looked at you, he could tell you were going to forgive Matt a hell of a lot quicker than he deserved but he couldn’t blame you. Since you started dating you and Matt had been closer than anyone he knew. He could see how it was taking everything in you to stay away from Matt right now, wanting to be angry at him but seeing the shakes and remembering the blood…well even Foggy had to admit it was hard to be angry.

When Matt told them about the little girl and her father you felt your eyes tear up and shut them, not letting any tears fall but you made your way over to Matt and took a seat back on the floor. You watched as Matt relaxed as you took his shaking hand in yours and rested your head on the blankets, careful not to catch his stitches.

“Did you ever stop to think about what would happen if you went to jail? Or worse?” Foggy asked, causing you to take a steadying breath because you couldn’t think about that, not after seeing Matt laying there last night looking like a corpse. “You really think people would think I didn’t know? That Y/N didn’t know?”

“This city needs me in that mask, Foggy.” Matt told him, tears welling up in his eyes just like they did in Foggy’s.

“Maybe it does,” He told him whilst shaking his head, “But I don’t, Y/N doesn’t, we only ever needed you, Matt.”

The silence passed for a moment or two at his words because what could Matt say when he knew Foggy was right.

“I wouldn’t have kept this from you, Matt, not from you.” Foggy said quietly and coldly.

“You don’t know that.”

“Yeah, I do.”

And with that Foggy headed out of the door with a resounding slam leaving you and Matt alone in silence.

“Y/N,” Matt said but you shook your head and pulled away from him.

“You need something warm,” You told him, standing up and busying yourself with making some soup.

Matt closed his eyes and listened to you, fear, regret, shame, all those emotions and more filled his stomach and for a second he feared he’d throw up but managed to swallow it  down.

You helped Matt sit up when he asked and took over feeding him when his hands shook too badly.

“It’s not that I didn’t trust you,” Matt said once he was done and the two of you sat side by side, Matt shaking like leaf, “I just, Y/N, you mean everything to me and if you knew- I couldn’t bring you into this side of my life, couldn’t risk you.”

“I get it, Matt, I do but I’m allowed to be pissed at you.” You told him but your tone was soft and gentle as you shifted the blanket around him.

“You are.” Matt agreed, hissing as his body shivered violently, sending a wave of pain down his body. Now that there was no arguing, no telling his version of events, nothing to focus on except the pain that was his whole body.

“Can you help me to the bedroom?” Matt asked and you raised a worried eyebrow at him.

“Claire said-”

“Please Y/N, I promise once I’m there I'll stay.”

Despite the warning from Claire you helped Matt up from the sofa and slowly made your way over to the bed, settling Matt on it before heading back to the living room to grab one of the energy drinks and the pile of blankets.

It wasn’t long before you had Matt tucked up and held a bottle up to his lips.

“Thank you for staying.” Matt told you quietly, fiddling with one of the blankets.

“As if I’d leave,” You smiled, “I might be scared for you, might be hurt you didn’t tell me but like hell I’d leave you.”

“I really am sorry.” He told you, eyes wide and watery.

“I know.” You replied, blinking harshly against your own tears.

“I know I don't deserve to even ask but will you lay with me?” He was right, he didn’t deserve to ask but you found yourself carefully crawling into bed next to him, wincing at the coldness of his body before you ran your hand up and down his arm, making sure to avoid cuts and stitches.

Matt practically melted as he felt your body heat, moving closer to you and wincing as the cuts on his back shifted against the silk sheets.

“Careful,” You murmured as you lifted your hand and brushed some of Matt’s hair from his forehead, smiling despite yourself as he leaned into the touch.

You and Matt sat together in silence, Matt’s head resting against your chest as you wrapped your arms around him, trying to provide as much warmth as you could. He had long since closed his eyes and you started to think he’d fallen asleep until he spoke.

“Are we going to be ok?” He asked, voice quiet and small.

You didn’t respond for a good few minutes, the silence hanging heavily in the room as Matt waited for your answer.

“I don’t know,” You eventually told him honestly, “I don’t know, Matt.”

But for today you’d stay with him because you couldn’t bring yourself to leave the bed, to leave him.

_____________

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I Gotchu

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Febuwhump Prompt - Used as an experiment

Prompt - ‘I'd fight the whole world for you, so rest now, you're safe with me.’

Frank had been sitting on the same rooftop for three days now, watching as people came and went from the building across the street. He knew the routines, he knew the shift changes, he knew which routes were patrolled and yet he still didn’t know what for, he didn’t know why this gang had shifted from killing every night to hiding away in an abandoned warehouse.

Sometimes he heard screams echoing from inside, heard them from his position all the way across the street and grimaced as he thought of what was happening inside. Tomorrow night he was going to move in, rid the world of the newest gang to pop up in Hell’s Kitchen and get in and out before he had Red on his arse, spouting the word of God and redemption to him.

A small chuckle made its way out of Frank’s throat before he heard the screaming start up. It was always the same scream, scared and in pain but try as he might Frank couldn’t get even a hint of what was happening.

He listened to those screams for hours before he sat down with a grunt and started assembling his weapons. Frank was a strong man but even he couldn’t listen to those screams anymore and what was the difference between going in today and going in tomorrow.

He waited until well into the night before he finally stood up again and made his way down to the building in between the shift changes, knowing that he could sneak in through the side doors and start taking the gang members down quick and easy from there.

It was laughably easy to walk into the warehouse, even more laughable how quickly he killed seven men, silently making his way through the building. He could still hear the screams and made his way towards them, checking all the rooms as he went.

The warehouse was big but it didn’t take him long to arrive at a metal door, rolling his eyes as he saw he couldn’t enter without a damn badge. He looked around at the dead bodies he’d left behind him before squatting down and rummaging through the pockets, nodding as he found the card and let himself through the doors.

“Shit,” he muttered as he looked around, this section of the building was nothing like the rundown shit hole he’d just come through, no this bit was clean and sterile, it smelt strongly like a hospital causing Frank to turn his nose up and walk further into the room.

There was only one door in the room, another metal one but he couldn’t see anywhere to scan in so tried his luck with pushing the door open, raising his gun as it opened for him quietly.

“Stop!” The voice screamed again causing Frank to stop in his tracks next to the door that shut with a quiet click that couldn’t be heard over the begging.

“Stop, stop! Please!” The voice screamed, vocal cords sounding hoarse and the screams were mixed with sobs and cut off when the need to breathe became too much, the sound of panting filling the room.

Frank watched, unnoticed in the shadows, as a girl writhed against the restraints that tied her wrists to the big, metal chair, restraints also tied your ankles and torso to ensure she couldn’t escape.

Frank thought it seemed a bit overkill, you looked tiny against the size of the chair, face sunken from lack of food, skin grey as you threw your head back in pain. Frank continued to watch, trying to see where the pain was coming from as the men in the room stood away from you, all staring at chart boards and the information that was showing on the computer screens.

That’s when Frank saw the white pads stuck to your temples and knew enough to know they were shocking you.

He watched as you bucked up in the seat, an ear deafening scream leaving your mouth as Frank watched in confusion as every object in the room began to float higher and higher before smashing down to the ground.

The other men in the room looked at their ruined computers before looking at you with disturbing grins and wild eyes.

Frank watched as one of the men stepped forward until he was next to you, leaning down slightly so he was face to face as he ran a finger along your cheek down to your chin and pulled your head up.

You looked up at him panting and Frank could see the defeat in your eyes, tears made their way silently down your face.

Frank lifted the gun up, aiming it at the man who stood close to you and took the shot without hesitation causing everybody’s attention to snap to him, everybody but yours. You just closed your eyes as you felt defeat run through you.

It was a quick fight, if you could even call Frank turning his gun on the other men in the room and taking them out before they could even draw their own weapons a fight. Then he moved the gun so it rested on his back and made his way over to you, crouching down so he was below you.

“Hey,” He said, voice quiet and gentle but he made sure not to touch you, “You’re gonna be just fine, m’gonna get you outta here.”

You let your eyes open, looking down at the man who shot you a comforting smile, letting your eyebrows knit together in confusion.

“You’re not-” You began but cut yourself off as you started coughing, turning your head into your shoulder before taking a deep breath, voice hoarse after days of screaming and no water, “You’re not with them?”

“Not with them,” Frank confirmed, still smiling as he stood up, “I’ve gotta take these off you, alright?”

“Please,” You gasped, tilting your head towards him, “Please, please get them off.”

“Alright, I gotchu, you’re ok.” He murmured as he pulled the shock pads off as gently as he could, trying not to let the smile fall as he watched you wince and grimace. “Sorry,” He said as he had to tug harder to pull one from your temple.

It didn’t take too long for him to get you unhooked but when he helped you up from the chair he had to grab you before you hit the floor, legs weak and jelly like after days of not moving.

“I gotchu,” Frank told you again, wrapping your arm around his neck, his arm resting around your waist as he began to lead you out of the room.

It was slow work getting you out of the building, he had no trouble taking your weight himself, watching as your eyes closed and your head drifted onto his shoulder.

“Hey, you awake?” He asked once he finally got you both outside.

“M’awake,” you slurred, relishing in the feel of the cold air and the wind against your skin.

“Attagirl,” He praised and a small, tired smile made its way onto your face, “You got somewhere I can take you?” He asked as he crossed the street and made his way over to the van.

“They killed everyone,” You told him, blinking against the sudden flood of tears. “Killed them all.” You cried, lips pursing as you tried to hold back a sob but failed.

Frank looked at you sympathetically before turning you so your head rested on his chest, your hand coming up to grip the vest as you cried, remembering as the gang busted into the tiny apartment, killing everybody in sight, everybody who was there because they had nowhere else to go.

You had used your gifts, ripping the guns from their hands but you were too late.

“I was too late,” You mumbled against the vest and Frank shushed you, his palm resting against your hair as he held you close.

“C’mon,” He said once the tears had slowed down, leaving you sniffing and pulling away. Frank let his hand move from the back of your head over to your cheeks, using his thumbs to gently brush away the tears. “We’ll go back to my place, yeah, get some food in you.”

You didn’t hesitate to climb into the van as he opened the door for you, you probably should have but what more did you have to lose? Besides, the man had just saved you and there was something about him that seemed trustworthy.

The car drive was silent as you closed your eyes and let your head rest against the cold window, at some point falling into a light slumber. Frank glanced over at you and smiled before he turned into the first food place he saw and parked the van up.

“Hey, I’ll be right back, alright?” Frank said quietly, watching how your eyes snapped open as you turned to him but before you could speak he was already talking, voice low and calm, “I’ll be right back, just gonna grab us some food. You’ll be fine, I ain’t letting anything happen to you.”

You looked at him for a moment, seeing nothing on his face to indicate he was lying and nodded uncertainty.

“Attagirl,” Frank murmured before climbing out of the van.

Your knitted eyebrows relaxed as you smiled at the retreating figure before you settled back against the window and let your eyes close once more.

When you woke again you could smell fast food and felt the van come to a gentle stop but kept your eyes closed and only seconds later you heard the man’s seat belt unbuckle and the rustle of the food bag.

Frank got out of the van and made his way around to your side, watching as you blinked tiredly and sat up. He opened the door and reached over you to unbuckle your belt before he carefully helped you from the car, wrapping his arm around your shoulder and taking most of your weight as he led you up to his apartment.

“Shush,” Frank muttered to the dog who immediately started barking and dancing around his legs as the two of you entered the apartment. “C’mon.” He mumbled to you as he led you over to the sofa and gently lowered you onto down, watching you reach forward and pet Max as he went over to shut the door.

It wasn’t long before the two of you were settled in and eating, you were never more thankful for food than in that moment, days without anything to eat or drink had you feeling so weak, add that with the experiments and you were in desperate need of rest.

“So,” Frank said, pausing to take a sip of his drink, “what’s your name anyway?”

“Y/N,” You told him softly, holding out a french fry to the dog and missing the fond eye roll Frank gave.

“How’d you end up with them?” He asked, leaning back in his seat and giving you his full attention.

You shifted in your own seat before clearing your throat and looking over to Frank.

“Do you know who they were?” You asked him instead, watching as he raised an eyebrow at you and then shook his head. “The men in the room I was in, they were scientists. I was a part of their study years ago when I was a kid, I was sick and one of the doctors told my parents about a new drug that could save my life but it wasn’t approved yet so it all had to be administered privately. My parents signed me out of the hospital that day and then I don’t remember much just that I never saw my parents again. Whatever they did to me gave me these, these,” Here you trailed off, looking away from Frank and down at the dog who had settled in between your knees.

You smiled as you leaned forward and began petting the dog, finding it was easier to tell your story that way.

“These abilities.” You finally settled on. “I was there for a long time and then one day the pain was too much, you know? I didn’t even mean to do it, didn’t know how I did it but one minute they were pinning me down and injecting me with something and the next,” You paused again to let out a shuddering breath, blinking against the tears, “The next they were all pinned to the wall, each of them with needles barely an inch away from their faces.”

Frank listened to your story, trying to keep his face neutral so that he didn’t scare you when inside he was furious. How the hell could people do that to a kid? A scared little kid who was ripped away from her parents and turned into something she didn’t want to be. His heart ached for you and as he saw a tear make its way down your cheek he stood up and took a seat on the sofa next to you, gently cupping the back of your head and guiding you over to him.

“You’re ok, you’re safe now,” He murmured as he held you close.

You willingly went and buried your face in his chest, hand coming up to fist the shirt he wore as you desperately tried to hold back the tears but a few more managed to trickle down your cheek.

It took a few moments before you were able to take a deep, steadying breath, the sound of Frank’s heartbeat in your ear helped calm you down and eventually you began talking again, thankful that Frank was being so patient with you.

“I ran after that, ran as far as I could and did my best to survive on my own but it’s hard, you know? I was ten when they took me, I had no education, no family, I had nothing. I was staying at shelters and getting food where I could but then I met this man, his name was Paul, and he told me that he and a couple of others had an apartment they shared, they invited me in. I probably shouldn’t have followed him but it was freezing and it turned out fine so,” You shrugged, feeling Frank chuckle beneath you.

“I was staying with them, I was with them for a year and I let myself think I was safe but then a few days ago when everyone was asleep these people broke the door down and just started shooting everybody and I, I just froze,” Frank watched you close your eyes again, no doubt reliving the moment.

He let his hand move from your head to around your shoulders giving you a grounding, gentle squeeze, smiling sympathetically as you took a deep breath.

“They killed everyone and I couldn’t do anything. They knocked me out and the next thing I know I’m being strapped to a chair and shocked because I refused to help them.”

“What did they need help with?” Frank asked gently.

“They didn’t tell me,” You said, wracking your brain for any information that could help, “Something about a devil and making things hard for the gang they had working for them.”

Frank let out a soft chuckle because of course fucking Red wasn’t going to let a new gang wreak havoc on his city.

“Yeah that sounds like him,” Frank said, “Why’d a bunch of scientists need a gang?”

“They were taking the kids,” You told him with a grimace, “Injecting them with whatever they injected me with except not exactly because everyone gets different abilities.”

“They’re using gangs to take kids?” He snarled, “Was that all of them with you or is there more?”

“S’all of them.” You told him tiredly, feeling your eyes pull shut and you struggled when you tried to open them so decided just to let them stay closed.

“Good.” Frank said darkly, he assumed there would be more gang members involved but Red seemed to be causing enough trouble there but Frank would still keep an eye on it.

By the time he pulled himself away from his thoughts you had fallen asleep, his shirt loosely held in your fist and Frank couldn’t stop his face from softening into a smile, letting himself stay there for another minute or two before he gently pulled himself away from you, shushing Max as he stood up and went in search of a blanket for you.

Your eyes opened heavily as you felt yourself being pushed down so you were laying on your side.

“Shh, you’re good, go back to sleep, I gotchu,” Frank murmured as he placed a thick blanket around you and tucked a pillow under your head.

You nodded sleepily at him, smiling as you felt the man brush some hair from your face and let yourself do as he said, trusting that you were safe with him.

“I gotchu,” He repeated and for the first time in as long as you could remember you slept through the night without a single nightmare under the watchful eye of Frank Castle and his dog.

_______________

Frank Castle Taglist (Link in bio, add yourself!) - @call-me-a-fool@urbestgrrl, @sylvies4ever

That's My Job

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Febuwhump Prompt - No anaesthesia

Prompt - ‘Protecting you is the only thing I care about, it's my job to make sure you're ok.’

The rain hammered down, soaking you and your clothes leaving you shivering as you slumped against a tree. You knew it had been stupid to go off on your own, even stupider not to tell anybody where you were going, but you just wanted some time to yourself.

It hadn’t been easy to sneak out, what with the threat of the Whispers hanging about but you managed it and now you were paying the price. You were a skilled enough fighter especially compared to how you were in the beginning but you had been with this group months into the outbreak and, after he warmed up to you and accepted you weren’t going to leave his side despite his best efforts to pull away from you, Daryl had trained you himself.

He rolled his eyes one day as he watched you struggle with a walker before he put an arrow in its skull and grumbled about how you had to protect yourself better. You had smiled up at him and begged him to teach you how to use his bow and the look he gave you still made you smile despite the blood soaking your pants.

He’d started easy, hand to hand fighting then taught you how to use a knife, taught you how to track and then he finally taught you how to use the bow and arrow. Even though you joked and flirted your way through his lessons you had paid attention and eventually you were able to handle your own against walkers and humans alike.

Each time you used the skills Daryl taught you, you watched him smile over at you and nod proudly before turning back to whatever he was fighting.

So it wasn’t like you couldn’t deal with the walkers, you’d proved over and over that you were more than capable. What you weren’t capable of doing what watching out for obstacles as you pulled back from the walker and ended up falling down a steep hill, a sharp branch had dug its way through your pants and pierced your thigh from top to bottom leaving you slumped at the bottom of a muddy hill, crawling until you were slumped behind a tree, bleeding out quickly.

The rain was that horrible kind of rain, freezing cold coming down hard and fast, stinging the slice on your thigh as it did and you had to bite your lip to keep from crying out, tilting your head back as you arched your back against the tree in pain.

You really hoped Daryl realised you were missing sooner rather than later.

You didn’t know how long you sat there for, burning pain in your thigh, but eventually you felt your eyes beginning to drift closed. Your head nodded up and down as you pried them open, knowing that if you fell asleep now then you were as good as dead, either from the blood loss or from a walker bite.

But it was a struggle, the light headedness from the blood loss had you scrunching your eyes shut to fight against the spinning and you felt like you were going to throw up at any minute.

You felt your eyes blink shut heavily and couldn’t find the strength to open them again.

Daryl hadn’t noticed you were missing, too busy up making sure they were prepared for when the whispers’ inevitably made their move. It wasn’t until Judith came to find him, calling his name to get his attention that he knew something was wrong.

He made his way over to Judith, kneeling down so he was eye level with her.

“Everything ok?” He asked, looking her up and down but other than her flushed cheeks and panting breath she seemed fine.

“I can’t find Y/N.” She told Daryl, worry clear in her voice.

“What d’ya mean you can’t find Y/N?” He asked, scanning the area like that’d make you magically appear from around the corner.

“I looked everywhere and asked the others but nobody’s seen her.”

Daryl silently cursed as he stood up preparing to go out looking for you. He knew you liked to roam the perimeter sometimes but you’d be warned against as of late, no way did he want you out there alone, not with the Whisper’s getting cockier.

“I’m coming too!” Judith yelled as she ran after him causing him to stop in his tracks to look down at her.

“No, you ain’t, you’re gonna stay here and keep an eye on things.” He told her before he took off again, rolling his eyes in annoyance as freezing cold rain started pouring down heavily.

Daryl jumped onto his bike turning to Judith who watched him with wide eyes.

“Go on, you got your job, I got mine.”

He waited until she nodded before starting the bike and heading out, picking a direction and hoping it was the right one.

Daryl felt like he had searched every damn bit of the woods as he shut the bike off once more and started looking around, you still nowhere to be seen. He was soaked wet through and as more time passed the worry began to grow until it was consuming him.

He stepped over a fallen tree trunk, dealt with a walker and almost fell on his butt down a steep hill before coming to the conclusion that you weren’t here. He let out a frustrated string of curses, glancing around once more before he left and paused when he saw a walker laying dead in the distance.

He knew it was a long shot, knew anybody could have killed it and he should probably just head back to his bike and look somewhere else but with a sigh he headed over to it, frowning as he looked around and saw nothing more than the walker.

Then he heard a snarl coming from down the steep hill he’d almost fallen down before. He turned towards the sound and looked down before moving into action because there, faintly in the mud, not yet washed away by the rain, were marks created by somebody falling down the hill.

“Y/N!” He yelled, looking around and not seeing you.

His eyes darted in every direction before he spotted the walker, it was trapped under a tree but trying to grab something. Quickly, Daryl made his way over to it and almost collapsed in relief as he saw you sat against a tree but any relief he felt was washed away when he saw your closed eyes and bleeding thigh.

“Shit,” he cursed as he made his way over to you, sitting down on the wet and muddy floor and rooting through his pockets for anything he could use to stitch you up.

There was already so much blood, your entire upper right pants leg was practically stained red and the lower part had a fair bit of blood stuck to it too. He had no clue just how long you’d been out here bleeding, cursing himself for not realising you were missing sooner, but he knew he couldn’t move you, didn’t know how long you’d been unconscious for.

No, he had to stitch you up out here and then get you back. He just hoped like hell you’d stay asleep because giving you stitches without anaesthetic was something he’d only had to do twice and it was a nightmare he never wanted to experience again.

It took him a few goes to pull your jeans off, the blood and rain causing it to stick to the wound and he winced for you as he had to pull it off roughly causing more blood to leak from the wound.

Thankfully he had the supplies to help, knowing that even with his best attempts to stitch you up he needed to get you back home and to the clinic as soon as possible. He took a breath before placing the needle at one end of the cut and pushed it through the skin but didn’t get much further than that as your eyes shot open and you let out a whine of pain, hand reaching out to grab his wrist.

“Hey, hey, s’just me.” Daryl said, voice low and rough as he took your hand off his wrist, not wanting you to nudge the needle and hurt yourself even more.

“Daryl?” You slurred out, scrunching your eyes shut before looking at him through half lidded eyes.

“Yeah, baby, it’s me. I gotta stitch you up, Y/N/N.” He told you, moving your hand to the side and cursing everything that you’d woken up before he’d even started.

“No, it’s fine,” you told him, trying to push him away but too weak to lift your arms, “don’t need stitches.”

Daryl looked at your bloody thigh and thought differently and with an eye roll he shifted, spreading his legs out on either side of you and pinned your hands down underneath them causing you to whine again.

“Sh, quicker we do this quicker we get out of the damn rain and back home, yeah?” He said, turning his attention back to your thigh and pushing the needle through before tugging on the thread and glancing up at you as you let out a cry of pain, tears pooling up in your eyes.

“Please, Daryl, stop.” You begged miserably but Daryl continued, pushing the needle through again knowing you needed this despite how badly your crying made him want to stop.

“Doing good, Y/N/N,” he told you quietly, trying to block out your pained gasps and high pitched whines as he continued to stitch you back up. “S’that’s it, good girl.” He kept up the steady stream of praise, getting half way through before you sat further up.

He looked up at you, ready to gently push you back down until he saw your face and quickly moved his leg, gently tilting your head to the side just in time for you to throw up, crying miserably as you did.

“Alright, you’re alright,” Daryl assured as he rubbed your back gently waiting until you had finished vomiting to gently move you so you were slumped against the tree, completely soaked and shivering.

“Gonna get you stitched and then we’ll go home, alright?” Daryl asked, not expecting an answer.

He watched as you blinked at him tiredly and then turned back to the cut that was half stitched. He picked the needle back up and tried to go as fast as he could whilst making sure the stitches were good enough until you got back.

“Just a few more then we’ll go.” He murmured, eyes focused on the wound as he got lost in the repetitive motion.

The rain was washing away the blood now that your jeans were off and the wound was nearly stitched but even without all the blood surrounding it it still looked nasty and had Daryl wincing in sympathy. It ran diagonally from the top of your thigh and stopped just before your knee, the cut was jagged and some parts were deeper than others but he was pretty sure his stitches were decent enough to last at least until you got home.

It felt like hours to you but eventually Daryl was pulling away and looking at his work before he wiped his hands on his pants. He looked down at your jeans that were pulled down below your knees before he moved to take them off fully, leaving them on the ground and standing up before leaning down to pull you up as gently as he could.

You let out a pained groan as Daryl scooped you up in his arms, carrying you bridal style so as to not hurt the cut on your thigh even more, he already knew that the ride home would be hell on your leg, the speed of the bike on the uneven floor would make for a long, bumpy ride back.

It wasn’t long before he was placing you on the bike before climbing on himself, having to wrap your arms around him and warning you to stay awake and hold on.

He was right, it was hell on your thigh and you spent the entire ride back in more pain than you thought possible, your face firmly buried in Daryl’s back as you sobbed and cursed, feeling every bump and dent in the ground.

You felt yourself swaying with dizziness, the world around you seemed to spin as you tightened your grip on Daryl, fighting to keep your eyes open but felt them fall shut and you just barely managed to mumble Daryl’s name before you passed out.

“Shit,” Daryl cursed for the fiftieth time that day as he slowed down, holding your arms around him and doing his best to make sure you stayed upright on the bike as he continued to make his way home.

Thankfully you weren’t that far away, another ten minutes and you were pulling up, the gates opening for you as you did. Daryl made quick work of parking the bike before he picked you up again and making his way up to the clinic, hoping like hell Denise was already there.

Thankfully she was along with a worried Judith who sat on the bed, hopping off immediately once she saw you and Daryl.

“Is she gonna be ok?” She asked as soon as Daryl walked in.

“Course she will be,” Daryl told her before turning to Denise. “I stitched her up but I don’t know how long she was out for.”

“Let’s have a look then,” She said and pulled a glove on turning to you and poking and prodding at your thigh. “You did a nice job with the stitches, other than keeping her sugar levels up and getting some vitamins in her and letting her rest there’s not much else we can do. Keep her here tonight, we’ll keep an eye on her. Keep the stitches clean and she should be fine. Though she’ll probably have a bad cold as well if she was out in that storm.” She said, looking out of the window and seeing the rain pouring down, before looking back to Daryl who had taken a seat on the chair next to the bed.

“You did good, Daryl.” She said, patting his shoulder before heading into the other room to check her other patient.

“She’s gonna be ok?” Judith asked again in a small voice causing Daryl’s eyes to soften.

“Told you, she’s gonna be just fine.” He assured her with a smile as he took your hand in his. “Just gotta take real good care of her.”

“We can do that.” Judith nodded, walking over to Daryl and sitting on his knee, Daryl wrapping his free arm around her.

“Yeah we can,” Daryl agreed because at the end of the day that was his job, taking care of you was his main purpose and the fact that you managed to get hurt weighed heavily on him. “You should get home.” Daryl said as he noticed Judith lean against his chest and close her eyes.

“Know I’m here,” Judith mumbled him with a shrug, “I wanted to make sure Y/N was ok, I knew you’d find her, you always protect her.”

Daryl couldn’t help but smile at that because, yeah, he did and besides the few incidents like this one he had to say he thought he’d done a pretty good job about it.

“Go t’sleep, kid.” Daryl said and Judith was quick to follow his instruction.

Daryl sat in the chair, his eyes resting on you, watching your chest rise and fall letting him know you were ok. Eventually he felt his eyes get heavy and leaned his head back on the chair, letting them fall closed.

He didn’t know how long he had drifted off for but he woke up to you squeezing his hand and quickly opened his eyes to look at you. Before he could speak you shushed him gently, gesturing to Judith who was still asleep against his chest, before smiling softly at the two of them.

“How you feelin’?” Daryl asked quietly, voice barely above a whisper but you heard him fine, the only other noise to be heard was the howling wind and sound of rain coming from outside.

“Sore but better than I was.” You told him, shifting slightly and wincing at the pain that shot through your leg.

“Stay still,” Daryl told you with a fond eye roll, “the hell happened, Y/N/N?”

“I just wanted to clear my head for a bit, you know? The walker came from nowhere and I dealt with it but it caught me as it went down and I ended up slipping down that hill and slicing my leg on a branch or something.” You told him, wincing as you remembered the pain. “Thanks for stitching me up.”

“Make my job real damn hard, you know?” He told you with a smile causing you to laugh softly.

“Your job?” You asked.

“Keepin’ you safe, can’t do that when you’re sneaking off and falling down hills.” You looked at him for a moment, your face softening as you squeezed his hand again.

“Thank you,” You told him, swallowing past the sudden lump in your throat, “for protecting me. All these years and I never once thanked you for it. Hell, we both know without you I’d have been a walker's chew toy years ago.” You told him, chuckling quietly.

“You don’t gotta thank me, darlin’, s’my job.” He told you again and he was close enough that he could bring your hand to his lips and press a kiss to them without shifting you or Judith. “Even if you are a pain in the ass.”

“You know you love me.” You grinned at him, the grin melting into a smile at his words.

“I do, so damn much,” He told you honestly, “So no more sneaking off without telling me.” He warned.

“No promises.” You smirked, feeling happier than you should considering you were laying in a hospital bed with however many stitches holding your thigh together but when Daryl was around you just couldn’t help it.

__________

Daryl Dixon Taglist (Click the link in my bio to add yourself!) - @lovinnholland, @canadailluminate , @janesofia7, @cinderellacauseshebroke, @black-rose-29, @classyunknownlover, @cole22ann, @levisbloodcut, @alexxavicry, @mystic-writings, @lizamango, @urbestgrrl, @morganaah, @kaitieskidmore1

I'll Always Find You

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Febuwhump Prompt - Kidnapped

Prompt - ‘Some things you don't have to promise. You just do.’

The city lights blurred together as you sat in the car, unsure exactly how you ended up there, unsure how you had let Karen talk you into heading upstate with her and Ben. She hadn’t told you much, told Ben even less from the sounds of it, but you knew it involved Fisk and that was enough for you.

Ever since that man had come onto the scene it felt like everything around you had started falling apart. Matt had become distant, everytime Fisk’s name was brought up he’d turn away from the conversation and shut himself off. You knew something was wrong with him, hell it didn’t take a genius to piece that together what with all the bruises and cuts and the sneaking around.

Maybe that’s why it hadn’t taken much convincing on Karen’s half to get you to tag along to some care facility.

Meeting Fisk’s mom wasn’t what you had expected from the visit though, neither was finding out that Fisk had murdered his own father but you knew the information was useless, whilst Karen excitedly chattered on about how this was the edge you needed to bring Fisk down you sat in the back of the car knowing full well the information from an old woman with dementia was unusable.

That didn’t mean you were going to give up but you knew that getting anything on Fisk wouldn’t be legal and as much as you loved Matt and Foggy you didn’t believe in their plan to take fisk down using the law. It was shockingly easy to find the right people hanging around in shady areas, even easier to get them talking, though the firm of Nelson and Murdock would definitely be seeing an influx of criminals seeking their promised legal representation.

You already knew a fair bit about Fisk from what Ben had collected with the help of the Man in the Mask and even though the people you had spoken to tonight hadn’t given much new information, they had fit a few of the missing pieces together for you.

Night had fallen, the streets of Hell’s Kitchen felt eerily silent as you made your way through them. On the walk back to your apartment you frowned but resisted the urge to turn around when it felt like somebody was following you.

You took a deep breath in an attempt to control your breathing before making a detour and decided to head to Matt’s apartment instead, it was closer than yours and you knew he wouldn’t mind you showing up, especially if he knew you didn’t feel safe.

As you walked you pulled your phone out of your pocket as casually as you could and typed a text to Matt, if you were being followed you didn’t want them to know you were onto them.

I think somebody is following me - five minutes from your apartment.

You hadn’t passed a single person and nothing seemed out of place but yet you couldn’t push the feeling of being watched away and practically melted in relief as you ran across the street over to Matt’s building.

Just as you grabbed the door handle you let out a hiss of pain as you felt yourself being pressed against the door, somebody grabbing your arm and bending it painfully behind your back before placing a gun on the small of your back.

“Let’s take a drive,” A voice said in your ear before you were dragged back and a piece of white cloth was being held to your mouth and try as you might all you could do was breathe it in.

You didn’t know how much time had passed from you being drugged to waking up though you had yet to open your eyes, trying your best to figure out your surroundings without alerting anybody who was in the room that you were awake. It was impossible though, the room was silent, no groans of pipes, no echos for you to try and figure out what size room you were in.

Finally you opened your eyes, blinking harshly against the sudden dizziness.

“You’re awake,” A steady voice said from opposite you causing you to pry your eyes open to see the man who had come to Nelson and Murdock however long ago, the man you now knew to be Fisk’s right hand man.

You swallowed against the lump in your throat, trying to show you weren’t scared but not doing a great job hiding it, desperately hoping Matt had gotten your text and realised something had happened.

“You’ve been very,” Wesley said, trailing off with a wave of his hand, “troublesome regarding my employers- excuse me Mr Fisk’s cause.”

You couldn’t help but smirk at that, long nights researching into Fisk, getting files that weren’t exactly legal and noticing money trails, hell if Karen hadn’t found those files on his mom first it was only a matter of time before you found them yourself.

“Can’t say I’m disappointed to learn that.” You told him smugly, moving your hands against the restraints tying you to the chair.

“No, I didn’t suppose you would be.” Wesley told you, “You realise there isn’t a version of events where you leave this room, don’t you?”

You chuckled to hide your fear because though he didn’t look like much there was a calm in Wesley’s eyes that set you on edge. Fisk trusted this man for a reason and you really didn’t want to find out just how far Wesley would go to protect Fisk.

Come on, Matt, you begged silently, not exactly sure what Matt could do to help but knowing he was your only way out of this situation.

“I like my chances.” You told him boredly, desperately shoving your fear and anxiety away.

Wesley chuckled at you, he had to admit you were pretty convincing but he could see the terror you were trying so hard to hide. He watched as your eyes widened, barely noticeable but he was watching closely, as he pulled a gun and placed it on the table, watching you look from it to him.

“Let’s have a chat, shall we?”

Matt had finally finished convincing Melvin to make him a suit, promising protection he hoped he could keep before he finally made his way home, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. It didn’t take long before he was entering his apartment from the rooftop entrance and pulling the mask off.

He grabbed his phone from the bedside table where he had left it to charge before heading out in the mask and clicked through it, sitting on the bed and having a text message read aloud to him.

Y/N, 11:42PM, I think somebody is following me - five minutes from your apartment.

Matt felt his heart stutter as he practically smashed his hand on the talking clock on the table, his heart practically stopping when the clock told him it was currently 12:30 AM.

“No, no,” Matt said, standing up with a shake of his head as he wracked his brain for where you could be and hated that he was coming up empty.

Since the Fisk business the two of you had drifted apart and Matt took full responsibility for that. He knew Foggy was right, knew you deserved to know about the Mask but he couldn’t bring himself to tell you and now you were gone.

“Foggy,” he said into the phone, desperately hoping his friend had any information.

“Matt, wha’time is it?” Foggy asked groggily, squinting his eyes closed as he tried to wake himself up.

“Where has Y/N been the last few nights?” He asked.

“Y/N, I don’t know man, um-” Foggy began but Matt cut him off.

“Think Foggy!” He snapped, feeling bad but also more worried about you than anything.

“Matt, calm down, tell me what’s going on.” Foggy said calmly, sitting up as he did.

“Y/N’s gone, Foggy, and I don’t know where.” Matt told him, breathing unsteadily as he paced the room.

“Shit,” Foggy cursed, suddenly feeling more awake, “Um, ok, well I know her and Karen went somewhere the other day but Karen didn’t tell me where and I thought it was odd because you know they don’t get on but I figured maybe they were-” Foggy told him, rambling slightly.

“Foggy,” Matt cut him off, “She was with Karen?”

“Yeah, crap you think they did something to piss Fisk off?” Foggy asked in fear, knowing how determined the two of you were to get something on Fisk.

“Yeah I do,” Matt said, fear and rage running through him, “You should go to Karen, make sure she’s safe.”

“What will you do?” Foggy asked, already moving off the bed and throwing some shoes on.

“I’m going to get Y/N back.” Matt said in a cold, determined tone.

“So who were the people you took on your little adventure?” Wesley asked calmly.

You swallowed again, there was little doubt in your mind that Wesley knew exactly who had visited Fisk’s mom but you weren’t about to give him the satisfaction of confirming it.

“It was just me,” You told him, easily lying with a shrug, enjoying the way his face darkened for a second before falling back to its neutral position.

“Yes, well, Mrs Vistain remembers you which is rather surprising considering her illness.” Wesley said with a sympathetic nod, “she also remembers the pretty blond lady and a man.”

“I was the only one who had the pleasure of meeting her,” You said, fighting back a smile, “You know how it is, memories get muddled around and she thinks she remembers more people than there were.”

Wesley chuckled as he brought his hand to the gun, toying with it as he looked at you. You took a steadying breath as you began to twist your wrists against the restraints, trying to find a way to slip out of them.

Then all you had to do was grab the gun even though the thought sent a shiver down your spine.

“She was quite sure, actually,” Wesley said, “I’d take a guess that you were there with a Ms Karen Page and Mr Ben Urich, am I correct?”

You smiled at him, suppressing a wince as your wrist cut against the restraints.

“I assure you, I don’t go anywhere with Karen Page and as for Mr Urich was it? Well I’m afraid I’m not acquainted with him but I do know of his work, I was especially fond of his piece on Union Allied.” You told him, watching as he shifted in his seat, hating that he wasn’t getting what he wanted out of you.

“Well as a precaution I’ve already had them dealt with.” You felt your blood run cold at that, not sure if it was just a bluff or whether Karen and Ben really were dead.

“What do you want with me, Mr Wesley?” You asked, shifting in your seat and feeling blood trickle from your wrists.

“What do I want?” He asked back, raising an eyebrow at you.

“You said yourself that I don’t leave this room alive and yet here I am, still alive. I’d be dead if you didn’t want something, so tell me what do you want?”

You didn’t know how long you’d been here now but you knew you didn’t have much time left before Wesley realised that you weren’t giving him whatever he needed. You needed to buy yourself time, time for Matt to do something from the outside and time for you to free yourself from the restraints and find a way out of here.

“I did say you won’t leave this room alive but perhaps that wasn’t true. You’re determined, skilled and you could be a worthy ally.” Wesley told you and this time you couldn’t control your facial expressions as you raised your eyebrows at him with a scoff before realisation set on your face.

“Fisk doesn’t know,” You said with a laugh, “you haven’t told him I went to see his mom.” It wasn’t a question and you watched as Wesley's eyes narrowed as you laughed again in disbelief.

“He doesn’t know you’re here.” You realised and you fought not to let your eyes flicker over to where Wesley had left the gun on the table again.

You rotated your wrists, feeling the blood that was rushing out of the cuts, almost got it.

“He does not,” Wesley forced out through a fake smile. “And he doesn’t have to know you were involved, should you agree.”

“You want me to work for that man? The man who wants to see Hell’s Kitchen, the real Hell’s Kitchen, burn to the ground? I think I’ll take a pass on that offer.” You said, trying to keep the pain off your face as you pulled at your wrist, feeling whatever was holding them to the chair cut deeply into your hand, just below your thumbs.

“Mr Fisk loves this city,” Wesley told you, “Me, I don’t care for it much though, the crush of the unwashed garbage stacked on the sidewalk, the air that seems to adhere to your skin, the layer of filth you can never completely wash away but Mr Fisk he loves this city and I would do anything to help him accomplish his goals. The only thing that comes close to his love of this city is perhaps the love he has for his mother. So I will give you one final chance, pick a side.”

As Wesley was talking, distracting himself, you bit your lip and with a harsh tug managed to free your hands. They bled and ached but you knew you had one chance and you couldn’t mess this up.

As his speech came to an end you quickly reached out and grabbed the gun, aiming it at him, pushing yourself out of the chair and standing up, looking around the room without taking your eyes off of the man opposite you who looked shocked before he relaxed his face.

“You really believe I’d bring a loaded gun in here?” He asked you with a raised eyebrow.

You jutted your chin out as you clicked the safety off, fingers on the trigger.

“Yeah, I really do.” You said, tone hard as you swallowed around the lump in your throat trying not to show him how scared you are.

“I promise you, Y/N, there are no bullets in that weapon so you might as well just drop it,” Wesley told you, trying to look bored.

“Not happening,” you told him with a huff of laughter, taking a step away from the table and watching as he went to stand. “One move and I pull the trigger.”

Matt lost count of how many people he’d punched and threatened that night, becoming more and more desperate as the minutes ticked by. Eventually he found somebody, who knew somebody who heard about a place Fisk had.

Matt practically flew over to the location, bounding across roofs and leaping over gates and a few blocks away he heard a voice causing him to pause and tilt his head as he listened to the words.

“I did say you won’t leave this room alive but perhaps that wasn’t true. You’re determined, skilled and you could be a worthy ally.” No doubt that was Wesley, Fisk’s right hand man.

Matt felt the fury coursing through his veins as he went to move again but was frozen in place as he heard you.

“Fisk doesn’t know,” He heard you say in disbelief before you laughed, “you haven’t told him I went to see his mom.”

You’d gone to see Fisk’s mom? Matt finally started moving again, quicker than ever as he thought about all the ways he was going to kill you himself once he finally got you back.

As he ran across rooftops he continued listening to your conversation, fear spreading through him, scared Wesley would kill you at any moment, terrified he’d be too late.

Just as he made his way down the fire escape he heard the sound of the safety clicking off a gun and felt his blood run cold. He quickly but quietly made his way over to a window, climbing through it and making his way over to the only door in the room, thankful that there were only two heartbeats.

“One move and I pull the trigger.”

Wesley clearly wasn’t afraid as he stood up and took a step towards you.

Matt was quicker though and had Wesley on the floor just before you pulled the trigger, once, twice, three times. He didn’t look over to you as he made quick work of punching Wesley several more times than needed in order to knock him out and only then did he stand and turn to you.

You were still standing there with the gun raised, both hands clutching it. You felt like all the blood had drained from your face as tears filled your eyes and you let out a panting breath as you stared ahead, not even noticing the Man in the Mask until he was in front of you and placing his hands over yours.

“Hey,” He said, soft and low, “You didn’t kill him.”

Matt felt his heart ache as he listened to you gasp for breath, your heart beating so fast Matt was worried it’d be right out of your chest. He heard you choke on a sob as the tears fell down your face uncontrollably and he could smell the blood from your wrists.

“Look at him, Y/N/N, you didn’t kill him.”

You did as the Mask said, looking over at him and choking out a relieved sob as you let the man take the gun out of your hands slowly and placed it on the table before he turned back to you and pulled you into his chest, thoughts of secret identities out of the window as he felt you against him, sobbing into his chest.

“You’re good, I’ve got you Y/N, you did good.” He continued to murmur praise until you had your breathing under control and pushed away from him to rub your eyes and you sniffed.

“You ok?” He asked softly.

But you didn’t answer. Instead you looked up at him with furrowed brows and calculating eyes, tilting your head slightly because even without the Man in the Mask using your name, how many times had you been held against that chest, how many nights had you spent curled up against that chest?

Your mouth opened with a silent gasp as you looked up at him in disbelief before you lifted your hands, grimacing at the blood caking your wrists and fingers before you rested them on the edge of the mask.

Matt tensed, his own hands coming up to rest on your arms, not wanting to touch your wrists. He cursed himself for not being more careful, cursed himself for completely disregarding his identity but you were safe and that had been the most important thought in his head.

He felt you shift under him and he let you pull the mask off of his face, listened to you huff of disbelief as you stared up at him without saying anything. Moments passing in silence before Matt spoke.

“I’m sorry, Y/N,” He began but you cut him off by wrapping your arms around him, tighter than you had before and began sobbing into his chest again.

Matt froze, unsure of what was happening because out of all the outcomes he had pictured over you finding out he was the Man in the Mask this reaction was never one of them.

“I knew you’d find me.” You whispered against his chest and Matt’s heart fluttered at the words that were spoken with such sincerity.

“I always will.” He promised as he let his hand come up to rest on the back of your head, holding you close until you had calmed down again. “We have to get out of here.” He told you as he gestured towards Wesley.

“Thank you for getting here in time.” You told him quietly and Matt had no words for that, so he just kissed your hair before he pulled away and grabbed the gun that was covered in your prints.

It wasn’t long before you and Matt got back to his apartment. There were barely any words spoken between the two of you as you made your way back but Matt’s hand rested in yours, his thumb gently brushing against the skin that wasn’t cut.

“Take a seat,” He told you, gesturing to the sofa as he grabbed the first aid kit.

He cleaned the cuts as gently as he could, whispering apologies as you winced against his touch and didn’t speak until he was wrapping your wrists.

“What were you thinking?” He asked softly, causing you to hum questionly at him. “Going after his mother.” He clarified and heard your heart speed up as you stared at him.

“How do you know I went after his mom?” You asked him, pulling back slightly.

“I heard you and Wesley talking,” He told you quietly, finally realising this is when the other shoe dropped and you gave him the reaction he was expecting.

“You heard that and you waited until I had the gun to come in?” Your voice was shaky as you stared questioningly down at him.

“No,” Matt said, clearing his throat as he sat back on his knees, “I heard you from two blocks away.”

“Two blocks?” You asked, watching as he nodded. “Impossible.”

Matt felt his lips twitch into a smile at your statement but quickly dropped it as he began to explain himself.

“It’s true, I heard him tell you that you could be an ally, work for Fisk and I heard you tell him exactly what he could do with that offer.” Despite everything Matt couldn’t help the pride he felt for you, how well you’d held your own against Wesley.

“How could you have possibly heard that from two blocks away?” You asked him, thoughts running wild.

“You know how I told you about the accident,” He said, gesturing vaguely up to his eyes and he waited for you to nod before he carried on, “It did more than just blind me, Y/N. It gave me these…abilities. Suddenly it was like, I don’t know, I was blind but I was seeing the world differently, I could hear everything, I could smell everything.”

“What does that mean, you can hear everything? You heard a conversation two blocks away, what else can you hear?” Confusion and fear were the two main emotions you were feeling right now and they only got worse as Matt carried on talking.

“I can hear more than two blocks away, I would have heard you sooner but I was more focused on getting there than listening. I can,” Matt began but cut himself off as he remembered Foggy’s reaction to him being able to hear a heartbeat.

“Matt,” You prompted gently, hesitating before taking his hand in yours.

“I can hear a heartbeat from across the room,” He confessed quietly, hearing your own get quicker and quicker. “Helps determine threats in the room or when I need information I know if they’re being honest.”

“You know when people are lying?” You asked, voice small as you thought back to all the times you hadn’t been honest with Matt, “You knew every time I was lying to you and you never said anything?”

“Yeah.” He told you honestly, his own eyes welling up with tears.

“Matt,” You breathed out but nothing else came out.

“I’m sorry, Y/N.” He managed around the sudden lump in his throat.

“I’ve heard about what the Man in the Mask does, Matt. Are you-” You started but had to pause to push down more tears, “Are you really blind?” You finally managed to ask.

“I’m blind,” He told you, not going down the world on fire route he had with Foggy because that didn’t end well, “but my other senses, they allow me to see more than any seeing person could ever hope to.”

You let out a shaky breath as you nodded, taking in his words. Yes, you were shocked and you were so, so scared for him but ultimately you were really glad it was him in that mask tonight because you don’t think you would have managed without him.

“Does anyone else know?” You asked him quietly.

“Foggy, he-uh he found out recently,” He told you with a nod, “and um-Claire knows, she’s a nurse and she found out when I landed in her dumpster, half dead. She’s been patching me up ever since.”

You nodded too, glad, relieved, that Matt had somebody looking out for him. You were shocked Foggy had only recently found out but then again you knew Matt and you knew the guilt he carried around and that made it easy to figure out why he hadn’t told either of you.

“I’m really glad it’s you in that mask.” You told him quietly and he heard your heartbeat settle into that steady rhythm that never failed to ground him.

He couldn’t help but smile up at you, huffing out a small laugh as he did.

“You’re taking this better than I thought you would.” He said, shifting so he was sitting next to you on the sofa instead of on the floor.

“I nearly killed a man tonight, finding out your Daredevil is second on my list of things that I should probably freak out over.” You told him, leaning into him and relaxing as his hand cupped your cheek.

“You did good.” He told you again, leaning down and giving you plenty of time to move away before he brushed his lips against yours.

You happily kissed him back, soft and slow, feeling the stress melt from you as you did.

“You did good,” He repeated as the two of you pulled away, him resting his forehead against yours causing you to smile.

“I knew you’d find me.” You told him and he smiled as he listened to the comforting drum of your heartbeat.

“Always,” He promised, “C’mon, you need to sleep.”

It wasn’t long before the two of you were wrapped up in silk sheets, your head tucked under Matt’s as he held you close, not planning on letting you out of his sight any time soon.

_____________

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Febuwhump Masterlist

Day One - Head Wound - Matt Murdock x Reader

Day Two - Failed Rescue Attempt - Aaron Hotchner x Reader

Day Three - Blood Loss - Daryl Dixon x Reader

Day Four - Nightmares - Bucky Barnes x Reader

Day Five - I Dreamt You Were Alive - Tom!Peter Parker x Reader

Day Six - Hypothermia - Matt Murdock x Reader

Day Seven - Used as an Experiment - Frank Castle x Reader

Day Eight - No Anaesthesia - Daryl Dixon x Reader

Day Nine - Kidnapped - Matt Murdock x Reader

Day Ten - "How Long Has It Been?" - Daryl Dixon x Reader

Day Eleven - Black Eye - Frank Castle x Reader

Day Twelve - Spiked Drink - Andrew!Peter Parker x Reader

Day Thirteen - Won't Regain Consciousness - Daryl Dixon x Reader

Day Fourteen - Can't Go Home - Tom!Peter Parker x Reader

Day Fifteen - Hidden Scars - Daryl Dixon x Reader

Day Sixteen - "Does That Hurt?" - Daryl Dixon x Reader

Day Seventeen - Blindfolded - Daryl Dixon x Reader

Day Eighteen - Forced to Watch - Spencer Reid x Reader

Day Nineteen - Friendly Fire - Daryl Dixon x Reader

Day Twenty - Caged - Remus Lupin x Reader

Day Twenty One - "Help Them" - Frank Castle x Reader

Day Twenty Two- Restrained - Daryl Dixon x Reader

Day Twenty Three - "Don't Leave." - Andrew!Peter Parker x Reader

Day Twenty Four - Too Weak to Move - Frank Castle x Reader

Day Twenty Five - Muffled Screams - Bucky Barnes x Reader

Day Twenty Six - "Please Don't Do This." - Harry Potter x Reader

Day Twenty Seven - Shower Breakdown - Matt Murdock x Reader

Day Twenty Eight - Presumed Dead - Daryl Dixon x Reader

Don't Stop Believin'

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Febuwhump Prompt - "How Long Has It Been?"

Prompt - ‘Don't you stop believin', once you do there ain't any damn hope for the rest of us.’

The night seemed to pass in silence and by morning it was no better, though what could anybody say? People had died, good people had died. Your gaze shifted over to Andrea who had yet to move from Amy’s body before you turned to look at Daryl, wincing as he brought a pickaxe down on another walker’s skull.

You heard the group talking, worried for the woman, and watched as the new guy, Rick, walked over to her, speaking gently only to have a gun pointed to his head.

“Hell,” You heard Daryl say as they continued discussing what to do, “I’ll take the shot from here.”

You rolled your eyes as you stood up, the statement was met with angry outbursts as expected.

“C’mon,” you said to him, grabbing his upper arm and pushing him away from the small group that was gathered only for him to shake you off with a glare as he marched over to Glenn, picking the axe up again only for a teary-eyed Glenn to start shouting at him about where the dead went.

You went to follow him but were stopped as a hand grabbed your arm. You felt your eyebrows pull together as you looked from it and up to Shane who shook his head at you. You glared at him before looking back to Daryl and pulling your arm out of Shane’s hold with a grunt, turning away from both men.

It wasn’t long before the arguing started up again, you glancing over when you heard Daryl shout.

“Y’all left my brother for dead, you had this comin’.” He told them.

“Hey,” You started but were cut off by Jacqui’s yell, all of you looking at her, eyes widening when she told you Jim had been bit. T-dog stepped forward, grabbing the man in his arms as Daryl lifted his shirt and upon seeing the bite he took moved over to you, gently pushing you back as he placed himself between you and Jim.

“I say we put him out of his damn misery right now,” Daryl said as the group argued over what to do next.

“You’d want that, would you?” Shane asked with a scoff.

“Yeah, and I’d thank you for it.” Daryl shot back, taking a step closer to Shane.

“I hate to say it, but Daryl’s right-” Dale began but Daryl cut him off.

“Thank you, someone with some damn sense.” He said before he launched himself at Jim, pickaxe swung and ready to kill but he was stopped when a gun was aimed to his head causing you to take a step forward.

“We don’t kill the living.” Rick said, causing you and Daryl to let out a joint scoff.

“He says with a gun to a man's head.” You said, watching as Rick turned to glare at you.

“Get him out of here.” He said to you, and you rolled your eyes at the man before you grabbed Daryl’s arm and pulled him away.

“You need t’calm down,” You told him as you pulled him away from everyone, watching as he looked at you in disbelief, “I know you’re pissed as hell for Merle, you have every right to be but now isn’t the time.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Daryl said with an eye roll as he swung the pickaxe down on another walker.

Eventually the group decided to head into the city and towards the CDC on nothing but a theory. The next morning you were all packed up, shoving your bag in the bed of the truck next to Daryl’s bike, the two of you leaning against it as the rest of the group said their goodbyes to the family who decided Birmingham was a better option, you couldn’t say you blamed them either. This CDC business didn’t seem like a sure thing, hell even Shane hadn’t been sold on it, but Daryl was going and that was good enough for you.

Shane gave the group a nod before he told them they should get moving. You climbed into the car with Daryl, glad it was just the two of you as you’d had enough of the constant arguing between the group.

You glanced over at Daryl as he drove, staring straight ahead and chewing on his thumb. You knew he was worried about Merle and hated that you had no words to say to him for the first time since he’d saved you.

Daryl had been out hunting alone one day and came across you, alone and tired and about to be bitten by a group of walkers. You only had a knife and couldn’t deal with them all, so with an eye roll Daryl lifted his crossbow and took them out easily leaving you panting and looking up at him with wide eyes.

From that moment on you’d become Daryl’s own shadow, a permanent fixture in his life, worming your way in without his permission. And it was without his permission because that man had put up every wall, snarled and snapped at you, tried to put as much distance as he could between the two of you, but you were nothing if not persistent and somehow Daryl found himself accepting that you were there to stay, accepting and finding that he didn’t mind.

Merle had found it hilarious, this girl who in the other world wouldn’t have given somebody like Daryl Dixon another glance was hanging around him like he was fucking Brad Pitt or whoever it was these days.

You couldn’t help but smile as you remembered Merle’s words, remember the slight pinkness that spread across Daryl’s cheeks as he shoved his brother's hands off of him with a grumbled ‘shut up’.

“What you smilin’ at?” He asked as he glanced over at you.

“The day we met.” You told him, watching as he looked away from the road and at you with a scoff.

“The day you nearly died, ya mean?”

“I had it under control.” Was the rehearsed response he expected, you’d been saying it since that day even though the pair of you knew it wasn’t true, without Daryl you would never have lasted this long.

“Sure ya did,” He chuckled, turning back to the road.

You turned in your seat, bringing your legs up to cross them together as you faced Daryl. He glanced at you questioningly but you stayed silent for a few moments.

“I’m really sorry about Merle.” You told him quietly, looking away from him and down to your hands, fiddling with your fingers.

“Don’t be,” Daryl said, tone hardening before he shook his head, “He’s a tough sonofabitch, he’ll be alright wherever he is.”

“We’ll find him,” You promised him, laughing softly at the doubtful look he shot at you.

It took a little over four hours before you arrived at the CDC, climbing out of the truck and scrunching your nose up at the smell of the dead. You walked over to the pavement, sticking with Daryl with your knife raised.

As you walked closer to the building the smell became worse, everyone coughing and you gagged, smiling gratefully as you took the red bandana from Daryl and held it to your nose, choosing to breathe in Daryl’s scent over this any day.

You watched, feeling any bit of hope you had leave you, as Rick banged desperately against the shutters, begging to be let into no avail.

“We gotta go, now.” Daryl said, turning around and grabbing your arm as he pulled you back in the direction of the vehicles.

“He’s right,” Lori said, “Rick, we can’t be in the city at dark.”

“The camera moved.” He said before he went back to banging at the shutters, Shane grabbing him around the neck and pulling him away, but you all froze as the shutters lifted and the door opened.

You let out a huff of disbelief, looking up at Daryl who raised an eyebrow down at you.

It wasn’t long before you were all sitting around a table, actual food and alcohol spread out before you. Daryl sat next to you, happily sharing a bottle between the two of you as everybody laughed and talked.

After getting some food, Jenner showed you all down to where you could sleep and shower causing you to all laugh in relief. Everybody went their separate ways, Daryl followed you and the two of you paused outside of one of the rooms.

You both turned to face each other, words on the tip of your tongues but nothing coming out.

“Together?” You managed to ask because something about sharing a room was different to sleeping close together outside.

“Together.” Daryl murmured and opened the door, holding it open for you to enter.

You laughed loudly as you flopped down onto the sofa, letting your eyes fall closed as you savoured the soft feeling underneath you, missing the way Daryl’s lips turned upwards as he watched you from the door before he shook his head.

“You want to shower first?” You asked as you sat up, gesturing towards the bathroom.

“S’all yours.” He told you softly.

That night you tried to offer the sofa to Daryl but he was adamant about sleeping on the floor, blanket bundled around him as he lay in your eye line.

“You think there’s a cure here?” You mumbled tiredly, the hot shower and alcohol running through your system were doing their best to make you sleepy.

Daryl scoffed into the darkness; arm flung over his eyes as he thought about your question.

“Nah, I don’t.” He told you, just as quietly as you had spoken.

“Me neither.” You admitted causing him to open an eye and squint over at you, out of the two of you, you were the hopeful one, the one with wonder and belief in a better future.

“Don’t you stop believin’,” He mumbled, and you barely caught the words but managed to make them out, a smile spreading across your face, “You stop believin’, ain’t no damn hope for the rest of us.”

“How long has it been?” You asked him quietly, “since you gave up on a cure?”

“Hell if I remember, Y/N/N, I knew the world had gone to shit long before damn walkers started roaming ‘round.” He told you honestly, practically feeling the frown he couldn’t see through the dark and for some reason he wanted to say something else, something to make you happy. “Then I met this dumbass who nearly got herself killed in the woods, damn walkers tryna take chunks outta her. The same dumbass got me believin’ that there must be somethin’ good left in this damn world.”

“I had it under control.” You told him after a few moments had passed, voice soft and a smile clear in it.

“Nah, you didn’t,” Daryl told you with a chuckle, “don’t matter though, I’ll deal with them all, gotta make sure you stay alive.”

“I’m terrified,” you confessed quietly, “of walkers, of there never being a cure, of what’s to come but there’s this part of me that’s glad for the damn end of the world because I wouldn’t have met you otherwise.” You told him with a laugh, letting your hand dangle off the edge of the sofa, stretching in Daryl’s direction.

You fell asleep that night with a smile and a warm feeling in your stomach that had nothing to do with the alcohol in your system and everything to do with the hand in yours.

Good things never lasted though and that warm, happy feeling was replaced with sickness and dread as you stared at the screen showing how the disease infected the brain, watched how the brain stems became active again though the human part remained dead. You felt your eyes tear up as you struggled for breath, looking over to Daryl who looked as unnerved as you felt.

“You’re not listening to him,” Andrea said, back against the worktable, “There’s nothing anywhere, no scientists, no cure…nothing.”

Her words sent ice through your veins, turning your blood cold as anxiety turned you sick and you struggled to hold back tears as you stared at the screen, watching as the walker was put down.

“Man, I’m gonna get shit faced again.” Daryl said into the silence causing you to let out a startled and slightly manic laugh.

“Count me in.” You said and followed him out of the room.

The two of you sat together on the sofa, the room sombre as you passed a bottle back and forth between you.

You didn’t know how long you sat there before an alarm sounded and the lights went off for a moment before the emergency power set in. You turned to Daryl with wide, scared eyes and he hated it. He hated that you always turned to him because he didn’t have an answer, all he knew was he had to get you out of there.

“We’re gettin’ out of here now.” Rick shared the sentiment it seemed and you all made your way down to the computer room, seeing Jenner sat there.

“What’s happenin’, doc?” Daryl yelled just before the door shut, sealing you all in the room.

Your eyes widened in panic as you looked from the door to Jenner and then to Daryl.

“You sonofabitch!” He snarled, lunging for the doctor. Rick barely caught the man before he got there and shoved him over to you, you catching him by the arm and digging your nails into his skin in fear.

“Jenner, open the door.” Rick demanded.

You listened with dread as Jenner explained exactly what the CDC was, just how many secrets it held, how many dangerous things that were contained within the walls.

“V.I, what’s H.I.T.S?” Rick asked and you let out a shuddering breath as she explained it, closing your eyes as tears escaped them.

“High-Impulse Thermobaric fuel-air explosives consists of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen between 5,000° and 6,000° and is used when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired.” The voice explained.

You choked on a sob as you turned into Daryl’s chest, the man tensing for a moment before he wrapped his arms around you.

“It sets the air on fire, no pain, no grief, just…nothing.” Jenner said and you felt Daryl tighten his grip on you.

“Open the damn door.” He said, his voice scarily calm.

“It’s better this way.” Jenner told you and you felt Daryl let go of you and picked the pickaxe up before making his way over to the door and began trying to break it open.

“It won’t work,” Jenner told him, voice devoid of emotions, “that door is designed to withstand a rocket launcher.”

You watched as Daryl flew down over to Jenner, pickaxe raised to swing down on him.

“Yeah, well your damn head ain’t.” He snarled but was, once again, held back and dragged away from the man.

“This is our extinction event.” The scientist said and your nose flared as you tried to keep the tears at bay but his words turned your blood cold.

You jumped, stepping closer to Daryl as Shane started shooting computers, sparks flying from them as Rick wrestled the gun off of him.

“You done?” He asked and Shane looked up at him in defeat.

“Guess we all are.” He said coldly.

Jenner started talking about test subject 19, his wife and you almost, almost, smiled as Daryl rolled his eyes before he picked up the pickaxe again and made his way over to the indestructible door and began hitting it.

You followed him over, taking a seat on the railings as you watched him.

“Daryl,” You called softly, and he paused for a second to look over at you,

“Could help, ya know.” He mumbled as he turned back to the door.

“Took us dying for you to let me use the pickaxe?” You asked, finding it wasn’t as hard as it should be to smile.

Daryl went to reply but before he could the door opened and relief flooded your system. Daryl grabbed your hand tightly, pulling you off the railing and out of the door, not sparing a glance back.

“Yeah, it did,” Daryl said, causing you to look at him questioningly before he tossed a pickaxe over at you. “Get ‘em open.” He gestured towards the windows.

You barely caught the axe but did as he said, running over to the windows and trying to smash them.

“Who throws a pickaxe at somebody?” You asked with a grunt, fear taking over as they didn’t crack under the pressure.

Pretty quickly the others joined you and Daryl trying to get out of the building, smashing anything they could find at the windows, firing bullets at it and finally Carol pulled a grenade out of her bag causing everybody's eyes to widen.

Daryl grabbed you and practically threw you onto the floor seconds before Rick set the grenade off, you all watching in relief as the windows shattered and quickly ran over to the truck, climbing in and looking over at Daryl.

“Holy shit.” Was all you could manage causing him to chuckle breathlessly as the two of you watched Dale and Andrea stumble out of the building.

“Get down,” Daryl yelled, and you did as he said just as the building exploded, watching in horror as the fire engulfed it and realising how close you were to being in that.

Daryl panted next to you, eyes darting over to you to assure himself that you were here, you were fine, you were alive.

He’d gotten you out, he’d gotten you out and you were safe.

__________

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Not Getting Rid of Me

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Febuwhump Prompt - Black Eye

Prompt - ‘It's been a rough few days and nothing sounds better than falling asleep in your arms.’

The air around you was hot, too hot, to the point where you could feel the sweat dripping off you. The heat, it was never a good thing when mixed with exhaustion and today was no exception as you listened as the group argued amongst themselves, glancing back at you every so often as you sat with your hands cuffed to the chair.

“I’m tellin’ ya she knows ‘im.” One of the men insisted, pointing over at you like that would help make his point.

“Man, I’m tired of hearing your damn voice. We’ve been at this for two days, she ain’t saying shit and Castle ain’t comin’ for her.” Another said as he pushed against the first man's chest.

“You wanna do that again?” The first man said, stepping forward only to be shoved back by the man you assumed was in charge.

“Shut the hell up, the pair of ya,” He snapped before he walked over to you and squatted down. From here you could see the beads of sweat on his own forehead. “Now girly, we don’t wanna be hurting ya but the thing is Frank Castle hurt a lot of my men so now I gotta deal with that, you understand, right sweetheart?”

You licked your looks, raising an eyebrow at the man before you tilted your head back only to bring it smashing down against his seconds later, eyes scrunching in pain as you pulled away before you pried them open to see the man on the floor holding his bleeding nose.

“Oh, you’re gonna regret that doll.” He warned you, spitting out a mouthful of blood as his friends helped him stand.

“Call me doll again and you’ll be the one regretting it.” You snarled, tugging against your restraints as you cursed the day you ever met Frank Castle whilst also begging for him to hurry up and find you.

“I like you, such a feisty thing ain’t ya? Too bad I gotta kill ya, slowly, painfully, coulda been nice, keepin’ ya around.” He said, brushing a strand of hair from your face causing you to lean back as far as you could with a glare. “Hell, I’ll make ya a deal, just tell me about the big, bag Punisher and I let you go.”

“I already told you,” You repeated for the twenty fifth time in the past two days, “I don’t know Frank Castle.”

“Ya expecting me to believe that, are ya? No, no, no, ya see I know ya lying to me, girly, my man said he saw Castle sneaking in and outta ya apartment, so no more bullshit now, alright? Just tell us where he is.” The man said and you didn’t even bother to respond, just shifted in your seat as you stared up at him, defiantly jutting your chin out causing him to grin.

“Ya really are a tough little thing, ain’t ya?” He told you before he swung his fist back and let it connect to your face, a pained cry leaving your lips as his brass knuckles connected with your cheek, cutting into the skin as blood leaked from the wounds.

“That was just a warning.” He told you before his fist hit your cheek once more as you desperately tried to blink back tears, face scrunched up in pain as you felt more blood pool around the cuts and slide down your cheeks.

Frank smashed the low life’s race against the brick wall before dragging him back using the strong grip he had on the guy's hair.

“I’m only gonna ask you this once more,” Frank murmured into his ear, “Who’s looking for me?”

The guy denied all knowledge once again and Frank grinned.

“Alright,” he said, pulling the guy's head back and getting ready to smash it against the wall again.

“Wait, wait, wait, maybe I know somethin’.” He said, causing Frank to pause just before his face connected with the wall. “Yeah, yeah, The Punisher right, s’what they’re callin’ you, yeah maybe some guys were talking bout you.”

“What guys?” Frank asked, losing his patience, two days of punching, shooting and killing people in this heat wave and he was still no closer to finding you.

He knew, he knew he should’ve been more careful, knew he should never have got involved with you because something like this was always going to happen.

“I don’t know,,” he said and Frank pulled his head back and the guy began sputtering again, “whoa hold up man, hold up, they were British right, they were British, s’all I know, s’all I know, s’all I know.”

Frank threw the guy on the ground and turned away, walking away with his guns drawn knowing exactly who had taken you.

It didn’t take him long to pull up to a bar, flinging the doors open and standing in the doorway with his gun raised. The room fell silent as the bartender raised a hand non threateningly, the other reaching beneath the bar.

“We don’t want any trouble.” He said, British accent filling the silence.

“You’re gonna tell me where she is and you’re gonna tell me now.” Frank said quietly, calmly, shooting a bullet into the man’s shoulder as he drew his own gun.

“I said,” he said, pressing the gun against the guy’s chest, “you’re gonna tell me where she is.”

“Hey, I don’t know who you’re talking about!” He protested.

“The guys following me took my girl, I don’t appreciate that much, so you’re gonna tell me where they’re hiding her or I’m gonna kill you, slowly, maybe I start by cutting off your fingers one at a time-“

“Alright, alright, their secrets aren’t worth my life,” the bartender gave in easily, raising his hands, “there’s a warehouse, not too far from here, that’s where they’re holdin’ her, I swear.”

Frank got the directions before he headed out of the bar, slamming the door of his van shut as he hit the gas, breaking every speeding law but that was the best of his long list of crimes.

You watched as the man lifted a pair of pliers off the work table before he crouched down in front of you.

“Now dear, this is only gonna hurt a hell of a lot.” He told you with a grin before he placed the pliers under one of your fingernails and began to pull, causing you to let out a scream.

Frank climbed out of the car, freezing as he heard your scream echo from somewhere inside the building. It took him a second to shake himself into action, grabbing his guns and making quick, but quiet, work of sneaking into the warehouse, hating that he had to follow the sound of your screams.

You withered against the restraints as your fingernails were pulled off, slowly and painfully, throwing you head back in agony. As the man moved onto the next fingernail you bucked up against the seat, trying to move any part of your body but you couldn’t, ankles and wrists tied to the chair and you let out another scream, sobbing loudly as you pleaded with him to stop, begging him.

“You want it to stop?” He laughed, shoving his face under yours. “All you have to do is tell me where the big, bad punisher is.”

You sobbed, panting for breath at the short break you were given before you shook your head, mouthing the word ‘no’ repeatedly but no sound came out.

“No, no,” he laughed, looking down at you in disbelief before over to the others in the room. “You believe this girl? Tough bitch.”

You started screaming again as he took one of your nailless finger tips in his hand, squeezing down painfully before the sound of gunshots filled the room.

You looked up, forcing your eyes open before slumping in your seat in utter relief as you watched Frank shoot down the men in the room before he marched over and grabbed the man hurting you, throwing him up against the wall and aiming the gun right between his eyes.

“You think you can touch my girl?” He snarled, pressing the gun painfully against the guy's head causing him to try and shake it off but Frank was giving him no room to move. “Hey, you think just cause you got beef with me that means you can touch my girl!”

“Hey, relax, she’s fine.” The guy said, making things worse for himself.

“Oh she’s fine is she?” Frank asked sarcastically, “Yeah cause the way I see it is my girls strapped to a chair, missing two fingernails and sporting some nasty cuts and a black eye, so you wanna tell me she’s fine again?”

The guy realised he had no way out, his men were dead on the floor and he’d pissed Frank Castle off big time. So he whimpered pathetically as he began begging for his life but Frank just smirked at him.

“You know, you’re real lucky my girl needs me right now otherwise I’d make you suffer, I’d hurt you the way you hurt her and then some but she needs me so I guess a good ol’ fashion bullet is just gonna have to do the trick.”

“No, no, no, please, please.” The guy’s cries were silenced as the sound of a single gunshot echoed around the room before Frank turned to you, crouching in front of you and cupping your injury free cheek.

“Hey, you’re alright baby, I’m here.” Frank kept up his steady, soft stream of reassuring words as he freed you of your restraints before helping you stand, wrapping your arm around him as he took your weight and practically carried you out of the room.

The drive home was silent as you clung to Frank’s hand, his thumb brushing over your skin comfortingly and it wasn’t long before you were at his apartment and being led to his bedroom and settled gently in the bed, sat up with the covers around you.

Frank was gentle as he cleaned your fingers, pressing kisses around the skin when you winced and whimpered then he turned his attention to your face. He was careful as he cleaned the cuts, thankful that they were only shallow and only needed a quick clean.

He let his thumb brush just below your bruised eyes, wincing as you winced.

“I’m so, so sorry, baby.” He murmured, eyes wide as he took in your injuries. “I never should have let this happen, told you you were better off without me and let you talk me around.”

“Hey, you’re not getting rid of me, Frank.” You laughed shakily and he let out a huff of laughter because here you were in pain and injured because of him and instead of feeling sorry for yourself which you had every right to do you were taking his hand in his and looking up at him with a comforting smile.

“Should let me go,” He said quietly, shifting so he lay next to you with his head resting on your hair and his arms around you, “should tell me to walk out of that damn door and never come back.”

“Or I could tell you that I’ve had a really hard few days and all I want to do is fall asleep with you next to me.” You said, pulling back to tilt your head up at him.

He couldn’t help the soft smile that pulled on his lips before he leaned down to press a kiss to your forehead, letting his lips linger there for a few moments before he pulled away and helped you lay down, taking you back into his arms and holding you close, mindful of your injuries.

“Never gonna let you out of my sight again.” He mumbled into your hair, smiling at the soft chuckle you let out as you cuddled closer to him.

“Sounds good to me.” You told him sleepily, feeling your eyelids blinking closed and not having the energy to open them again.

“Go t’sleep, baby, I’m right here.” And you did as the man said because despite everything you knew there was no safer place than at Frank Castle’s side.

_______________

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Trust Your Senses

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Febuwhump Prompt - Spiked Drink

Prompt - ‘All you have to do is believe in your senses, just do that.’

You were in desperate need of a break. It felt like you had been staring at the same four walls of the library for weeks now, you’d hardly seen your friends, seen even less of your boyfriend and were relieved that finals were finally over.

The first weekend after finals were done found you in your dorm, adding the finishing touches to yourself before you grabbed your keys and phone and made your way out of the room with your friends ready to celebrate one of their birthdays.

Peter had been invited but had declined, saying he still had his own studies. You’d felt put out by that, not having seen him properly for two or so weeks but knew school came first.

The club was loud and packed as your group walked in, making your way to the bar and ordering a few drinks so none of you had to queue up again before making quick work of them all. It wasn’t long before you were on the dance floor with them, rolling your eyes and smacking off a guy who wrapped his arms around your waist.

You glanced back and watched him glare at you, even with the alcohol in your system something about him set your senses on edge but you shrugged it off as your friend held another drink out for you.

You couldn’t say for sure just how long you stayed on the dance floor, more drinks being pushed into your hand without you even checking who was handing them to you, but eventually you felt light headed.

You figured it was a mix of the flashing lights, alcohol and loud music so headed to the bar and slurred out a request for some water. By the time you’d drained the cup you turned around, back to the dance floor, and tried to find your friends but couldn’t see any of them with the lights and fog.

You swayed dangerously, grabbing hold of the bar as you felt sick build up in your stomach, burning your throat and with a glance at the line for the bathroom you steadied yourself before stumbling out of the front door, sighing in relief at the fresh air.

The bouncer at the door caught you as you wobbled again, held you up as you giggled and took your shoes off blaming your lack of balance on them before walking further away from the club, glad to have a moment to yourself.

You let your eyes fall closed and leaned your head back against a brick wall, begging the world to stop spinning and missing the guy who walked over to you and pulled you forward, far enough so that he could wrap his arm around your shoulder, tugging you into his chest.

You frowned as you pried your eyes open, though it was difficult as they felt so heavy but you managed and saw a man you’d only seen once before, it was the man from back in the club, the one who had tried to dance with you but got shrugged off instead.

You tried pushing against his chest but couldn’t lift your arms as they suddenly felt like weights against your side and you could only groan as the man pulled you along.

“Hey, she ok?” You heard somebody ask and saw the bouncer who had held you up.

“Think she’s had too much to drink,” The guy told him, an easy, charming smile making its way onto his face as he pulled you closer to him, “She’s my girlfriend, I’ll see that she gets home safe.”

You looked at the bouncer through half lidded eyes, in your head you were screaming at him, begging and pleading with him to get you away from the stranger. In your head you were pushing away from the man and running far away.

All the bouncer saw was a concerned boyfriend who was taking his girlfriend home after one too many. So with a smile he bid them goodnight and went back to his post.

“Come along, darlin’.” He said into your ear causing you to whine, begging for somebody to help you.

The man led you away, far enough so that the music from the nightclub couldn’t be heard before he roughly shoved you into an empty alleyway, pinning you up against the wall like it was the easiest thing in the world.

In your head you were screaming at him, clawing at his face but in reality your head lulled back to hit the wall as your vocal cords became useless and your hands lay limp at your side.

Somewhere in the distance a man sat on a rooftop, legs thrown over the edge as he chewed on a hotdog, ears honing in on anybody needing trouble but it seemed like it was a quiet night tonight.

He sat up straighter and tilted his head as he listened, trying to determine whether something was wrong or if it was just a drunk couple taking advantage of a dark alleyway. He heard no other sound but something was telling him that whatever was happening wasn’t right, his spidey senses were screaming at him to at least check it out.

He stood up and flung himself off the roof top, chewing the last of his hot dog as he swung the few blocks over, landing with an inaudible thud before creeping closer to the alley, not wanting to get caught if it was just a couple.

It was dark out but he’d recognise you anywhere, he watched as a guy kissed your neck, letting his hands trail the length of your body and you stood there, motionless. Peter paused for a moment, his blood running cold before he jumped into action.

“She looks a little drunk for that, don’t you think man?” Peter asked, watching as the man startled and moved away from you an inch causing you to sway forward dangerously but the man caught you, turning on the boyfriend act and honestly if Peter didn’t know you, if he wasn’t your boyfriend then he might have actually believed this guy.

“Hey we’re not hurting anyone, she just gets a little frisky when she’s had a drink.” The guy grinned.

“Right, right, my bad,” He said, holding his hands up and watching as the man nodded at him, “one more thing though,” Peter said, taking a step closer to the man before drawing his fist back and letting it connect with the guys face, using enough strength to send him flying to the opposite wall and hitting it with a painful crack before the slumped down on the floor, Peter webbing him up quickly.

Peter caught you just before you could fall, wrapping his arms around your waist and letting his forehead rest on top of your head. Peter smiled sadly as you whined against him, obviously trying to push him away but not doing more than swaying gently.

“You’re ok, baby,” Peter murmured, “I got you, let’s get you home.”

Your dorm was thankfully only a few blocks away and Peter pulled your keys out, unlocking the door as he guided you into the room before leading you over to the bed and setting you down as gently as he could, watching as you looked up at him with unseeing eyes.

“You’re alright, yeah, I got you Y/N/N,” Peter let all thoughts of secret identities go out of the window as he took his mask off and lay next to you, pulling you into his arms and bringing you in close.

“Go to sleep, Y/N, nobody can hurt you, I promise.” Peter continued whispering against your hair, whispered praise, whispered soft reassurances and nonsense words and kept talking well after you’d fallen asleep.

It took great effort to pull himself out of your bed but he managed it, pulling the suit off and changing into a pair of his sweatpants he pulled out of your closet, convinced more than half of his closet was in your own.

He made sure the door was locked and pulled the trash can close to the bed in case you needed it, he also grabbed a box of pills and filled a glass of water up, placing it on the nightstand before he crawled back into bed with you, tucking you against his chest and holding you close, falling asleep without meaning to.

Peter woke up the next morning when he heard a groan followed by the sound of you throwing up. He sat up with a grimace, seeing you leant over the bed and making use of the trash can he had left there.

You almost smiled as you felt a hand rub comfortingly up and down your back as Peter rested his forehead on your shoulder, placing a soft kiss to the skin. You didn’t know how long you spent being sick but eventually you sat up, Peter wiping your face on the blanket before he reached over to grab the glass of water, holding it to your lips.

You drank it gratefully and drank some more with the pills he had given you, hoping they would settle both the queasiness in your stomach and the pounding in your head.

“Can I get you anything else?” Peter murmured softly as you curled up against his chest with a shake of your head.

“Thank you,” You croaked out and relaxed as he kissed your head. “What happened? What are you doing here?”

Peter stilled for a second before he went back to rubbing your back. You didn’t remember last night, you didn’t remember being spiked…you didn’t remember he was Spider-Man.

“You called me, remember?” Peter lied, feeling bad but it was better than the truth. “Said some guy had been creeping you out at the club, you must have gotten separated from the girls and he spiked your drink.”

Peter hugged you close as you squeezed your eyes shut but some tears escaped, falling onto his chest.

“You’re ok, I got to you in time, you’re safe, I got you.” Peter told you softly, kissing your head again as he murmured more assurances as you nodded into his chest, taking a deep breath after a few minutes before relaxing in his hold.

“Thank you.” You murmured tiredly, letting your hand trace his chest, eyes feeling heavy again as you let them shut.

“You never have to thank me,” Peter told you, just as quiet as your words have been but they held so much honesty that you couldn’t help but smile, “Never.”

Peter watched as you fell asleep again, running his fingers up and down your spine as he swore to himself he would never let you go through this again, glad he’d trusted his senses and got to you before anything terrible happened.

____________

AG Peter Parker Taglist - @haroldpotterson, @imjustassaneasyou, @dindjarinsspouse, @rottenstyx, @asherhunterx, @powerpuffluuvv, @filmsbyblair, @mrs-scottmccall, @roseslovedreams, @janesofia7, @cinderellacauseshebroke, @black-rose-29, @wierdstark, @runawaywithmyghost, @chaoticevilbakugo, @ppgrayson, @onyourgoddamnleft, @divanca2006, @90sbella, @siriuslyfearless, @mystic-writings, @levisbloodcut, @mrs-brekker15, @alexxavicry, @sweetdreamsjg, @alwaysclassyeagle, @peterpgrace, @vx-vexedvixen, @ordinarylokix, @carmellasworld, @ellabellabus07, @battinsonn, @labellapeaky, @lokismidnight, @maeve-7, @caediae, @benhardyslut, @apolysius, @jasontoddthezombie, @instabull, @qfton, @honkroselyn, @inflatabledinosaurs19, @lazysheepperfection, @theodorenottswhore, @parkershoco, @gal-obsessed-with-marvel, @father-violet, @ur-mom21, @rosesinmars, @mystic-writings, @mmaiamore, @izzyyy-1, @littleredjason, @mmaiamore, @lizamango, @beaconings, @leftmooninfluencer, @urbestgrrl, @randomwriter1021, @lazysheepperfection, @lucyysthings , @morganaah, @sylvies4ever, @taylordidsomthingbad, @kaitieskidmore1, @lucyysthings , @hydeonysus, @freeshavocadoooo, @writeroutoftime, @loki-laufeysons-wife

Going Nowhere

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Febuwhump Prompt - Won't Regain Consciousness

Prompt - ‘I thought I'd lost you.’

Despite the early morning, the sun was beating down causing sweat to bead on your forehead. You wiped at it with your arm as you headed down to where the rest of the groups were gathered, a map spread out in front of them as they pulled another day of searching for Sophia.

“I’m gonna borrow a horse,” You heard Daryl say to Rick, pointing at something on the map, “head up to this ridge there, gives me as good a view as any to spot her.”

Rick hummed as he glanced at the map, nodding as his fingers traced it.

“Looks good to me.” He said.

“Maybe you’ll see your chupacabra up there too.” You heard T-Dog laugh as you came to a stop next to Daryl and nudged him gently.

“You saw a chupacabra?” You asked over Rick who repeated the word, smiling as Daryl grunted.

“You’ve never heard the story? Course not,” Dale answered his own question with a shake of his head, “The first night in camp, we’re all together, Daryl tells us the whole thing reminds him of the time he went squirrel hunting and saw a chupacabra.”

“Cool,” You grinned as Jimmy laughed, Daryl turning to the kid with a glare.

“Somethin’ funny to you?” He snapped and Jimmy just smiled.

“You believe in bloodsucking dogs?”

“You believe in dead people walkin’ around?” You snorted and Rick rolled his eyes, though there was a fond smile on his face as he turned back to the map.

“Y/N, you can head down-” He began pointing somewhere to the left off the map but you cut him off with a shake of your head.

“I’m going with Daryl.” You told him, leaving no room for argument, though Daryl glared at you half heartedly.

“Like hell you are.” He said, causing you to grin at him, watching as he shook his head at you.

“Come on, you want me out there on my own?” You asked, watching as the glare fell from his face and he grumbled under his breath about how he should have left you to the walkers so he could have a goddamn minute to himself but still he nodded and gestured for you to follow him to the stables.

Daryl gave you a hand as you struggled to climb onto the horse but eventually you were both on, your arms wrapping tightly around Daryl’s waist, burying your face in his back as the horse took off in a run.

It didn’t take too long before you were nearly at the area Daryl wanted to scope out, him stopping a few times along the way to shoot some squirrels, taking great delight in the way you grimaced each time he did.

“Do you have to do that?” You asked him as the horse slowed down.

“Do ya want to eat?” He shot back, smirking over his shoulder as you looked at the dead squirrels with a frown.

The horse kept walking as you and Daryl looked around from atop of it, Daryl searching for any hint of tracks whereas you weren’t quite as skilled as him and looked for more obvious clues but looked back to Daryl as he brought the horse to a halt.

“Stay here a second,” Daryl told you as he climbed off the horse and made his way down to the lake, looking around at something you couldn’t see before he bent down, you raising an eyebrow as you strained to try and see what he had found.

“S’her doll.” He told you as he made his way back onto the horse, holding the doll in his hands like it was the most precious thing in the world and right now it probably was. “Let’s keep looking.”

The horse trotted on for a while longer as the two of you kept your eyes peeled before you were letting out a yell of shock as the horse reared up on it’s back legs and threw both you and Daryl off it.

You felt your head connect with a tree painfully hard, your eyes falling shut on their own accord and though you struggled to, you couldn’t bring yourself to open them, letting out a pained groan as you passed out.

Eventually you blinked awake, not sure how much time had passed but you glanced around, cursing yourself for passing out right where a walker could have gotten to you but then you tensed as you looked around, noticing both Daryl and the horse were missing.

“Daryl,” You called softly out, not wanting to be too loud in fear of attracting walkers, especially when Daryl wasn’t around to save you at the last second.

You felt fear flood through your system as you forced yourself up, leaning against the tree in an attempt to stop the world from spinning before you shakily took a step forward, wishing like hell you’d let Daryl teach you how to track because you were clueless right now as you stood in the woods without a single idea where to go.

You checked the entire area and saw no sign of the man and with a shaky hand you took your knife from your boot and started going in the direction you were heading, hoping Daryl had had the same idea and he just hadn’t been able to get back to you.

He was going to be fine, you forced yourself to think, trying desperately to shove the fear away and remember everything the missing man had taught you should you ever get separated.

You remembered laughing when he had told you that, remembered telling him you’d never get separated because you’d stick to him like glue, you remembered the eye roll you got for the comment but there was a softness to it. After months of working to break down Daryl’s walls, getting him to believe somebody could care about him, somebody could trust him, the two of you had actually become rather close and if anybody was looking for one of you they just had to find the other.

You felt sick as you thought of a life without Daryl and pushed the thought out of your head, blinking away the tears knowing that the man would smack you upside the head if he could see you now.

Daryl, himself, was struggling with his own feelings, cursing himself as he fell down the cliff he’d managed to get half way up, crying as the arrow in his side shifted painfully. Listening to Merle as he badgered on and on at him.

“I liked it better when you was missin’.” Daryl muttered as he pulled himself up another rock, grabbing hold of a branch to steady himself, looking down at how far he’d climbed again before glancing back up at Merle who waited at the top.

“Look at you, baby brother,” Merle laughed, “Bleedin’ from your side and ya still thinkin’ about that girly you left back there.”

“You’d best shut the hell up.” Daryl snarled, groaning as he climbed again.

“You gotta crush on the pretty lady, Darlylina?” He continued laughing and Daryl felt a surge of anger run through him, never liking when Merle spoke about you, cursing himself as he thought about you alone in the woods because of that damn horse. “She don’t care about you, hell nobody does. Ain’t nobody give a shit about you, baby brother, nobody but me.”

“Like to see you say that t’her face.” Daryl chuckled breathlessly, imagining your reaction to those words.

“Don’t think I’ll get the chance, I’m afraid,” Merle said, leaning further down as he lowered his voice, “Girls weak, she’s probably dead already.”

Those were the words Daryl needed to hear as he pulled himself up, blindly reaching for Merle as he struggled to get his body safely onto the flat bit of land, pictures of your lifeless body flashing through his mind, skin torn off as walkers fed on you.

You jumped as you heard a rustle to your side, snapping around in that direction with your knife raised only to let out a huff of relief as you saw the borrowed horse waiting in the bushes.

“S’alright, I’m not gonna hurt you,” You murmured gently, raising your hands non threateningly and pausing as the horse took a step back, “It’s ok, we’re good, take your time,” You told it, reaching one hand forward and waiting until the horse placed its head into it.

“Good job,” You praised as you brushed your fingers along her head. “No chance you know where Daryl is, huh? No? Suppose we better go save him for once then.” You smiled as you grabbed the reins and led the horse in a random direction, not quite ready to get back on it just yet.

You heard a noise in the distance, it sounded like somebody was talking faintly and you hoped like hell it was Daryl and not some random strangers ready to ambush you. You were only just about able to kill the walkers, you didn’t know what you’d do if you came across hostile people.

As you got closer you heard groaning and panting and slowed your steps, careful not to step on any twigs that would give you away as you scanned the area, not seeing where the noise was coming from until two arms appeared over the edge of a cliff and you watched Daryl struggled to pull himself up.

You quickly let go off the horse and made your way over to him, hoping he still had some strength in him because no way were you going to be able to carry him up on your own.

“Daryl,” you gasped, falling onto your knees and grabbing his arms, he let you grab onto him and used you to pull himself up, falling onto the ground with a groan and holding the arrow wound.

Your eyes immediately fell to the wound and you looked at him with wide eyes.

“What happened?” You asked, helping him sit up.

“Damn horse threw me off a cliff, s’what happened.” He groaned, taking a second to catch his breath before he turned to you, looking you up and down as he inspected you for cuts or bites. “What ‘bout you, you’re ok?”

“Oh I’m fine, me and nature are at one with each other now and just in case we’re counting, I totally saved your arse.” You grinned at him, hoping to relieve some of the tension in his shoulders.

And it worked, you watched as he relaxed upon seeing you were really ok before he let out a scoff.

“Saved my arse,” He grumbled before gesturing for you to help him up, “I pulled myself up that damn cliff but you missed it, too busy becomin’ one with nature.”

“Hey, you’re always telling me I need to!” You laughed as you pulled him up.

“No more complain’ about sleepin’ outside then, or eating squirrels?” He asked, thankful to see the damn horse as there was no way he could have walked back to the farm.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” You said, smiling at him as he helped you onto the horse before he climbed on himself with a wince, “more like less complaining when we have to walk through them.”

“I’ll take it.” He murmured, his lips tilting up into a smile as you wrapped your arms around him, weary of the wound but also not trusting the horse.

“So what’s with the ear necklace?” You asked as Daryl jumped off the horse and handed you the reins, you didn’t want to take the horse back to the stables alone but Daryl insisted.

“I dealt with walkers while you were napping.” He smirked at you causing you to roll your eyes as you knew he wouldn’t let you forget passing out for a while.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t forget I saved your arse.” You called as he made his way up to the farm and you continued through the woods to get to the stables.

As you were putting the horse back into her pen you heard a gunshot ring out and felt your blood run cold as you quickly locked the startled horse in and ran out as fast as you could over to where your group had set up camp, seeing most of the men already in the distance.

Your heart stopped as you saw where they were, knowing Daryl would come back in that way.

“Lori,” You yelled, causing her to turn around, “what happened?”

“I don’t know, Andrea shot at a walker but I don’t-” She began but you cut her off with a curse and took off running with tears in your eyes.

“Y/N!” She called but you didn’t stop to look back, just kept running until you were with Rick, Shane and T-dog and coming to a sudden halt as you saw Daryl on the floor, a sob leaving you as you fell to your knees and shook him.

“Wake up, c’mon Daryl, please,” Rick pulled you away from him, gently pushing you into Glenn’s arms where you turned and sobbed into his chest as Shane and Rick picked his limp body up.

“She just skimmed his head,” Rick told you, causing you to let out another sob, “He’ll be fine, he’s just passed out.”

“Hey guys,” You all turned to look at T-Dog who held the doll Daryl had found. “Isn’t this Sophia’s?”

Everybody looked at you and you nodded.

“Can you please just get him some help?” You managed to ask and you all made your way up to the house, Hershel already waiting for you at the door.

You tried to go into the bedroom with Daryl but Hershel stopped you with a hand on your shoulder and a sympathetic smile.

“I need space to work, I’ll call you when I’m finished.” He promised and nodded to Rick who gently wrapped his arm around your shoulder and led you downstairs to where most of the group were.

“Is he gonna be ok?” Maggie asked, looking at your pale face and the tears falling down your cheeks.

“He should be fine.” Rick answered and led you over to the sofa, watching sadly as you let yourself be sat down next to Glenn without a word, looking more lost than he’d ever seen you before.

“Did you find anything about Sophia?” Carol asked after a few moments of silence and you looked up at her in disbelief as your lower lip quivered.

“Seriously, he’s just been shot.” You managed but shook your head. “He found a doll.” Was all you said before standing up and heading out onto the porch alone, tears still falling down your face, missing the way Carol went to follow you but was stopped by Rick’s hand.

You didn't know just how long you stood outside for before Rick came to join you, sitting down next to you on the floor with your backs to the wall. Hershel had told him that whilst Daryl was stable he was still out cold and asked him what he wanted to do about you.

Rick had told him to leave it to him, though he hadn’t known you for long, it had taken only five minutes of observing you and Daryl to see how close you were, watching as the man always positioned you behind him, putting himself between you and any threat, watched as you followed him around, your smiley, cheerful attitude a stark comparison to his eye rollls and grumbled words.

It was obvious that in the world before you and Daryl would never have crossed paths but he was glad you’d found each other.

“Is he ok?” You asked quietly when Rick hadn’t said anything for a few moments.

“Hershel said he’s stable.” Rick said, voice as soft as yours as you watched the sky turn pink as the sunset.

“Can I see him?” In all the time you’d known Daryl he had never been hurt before, sure he’d had a couple of cuts and bruises but nothing more than that.

Now he was laying in the house somewhere because he had been shot in the head.

“Y/N,” Rick sighed, causing you to smile in an attempt to hold back more tears.

“You said he was stable.” You forced out.

“He is,” Rick assured, “but he’s not waking up.”

“What?” You whimpered, finally turning to face Rick who smiled sadly at your watery eyes.

“Hershel said that his body is exhausted, whatever happened out there took a lot of his energy and the gunshot didn’t help.”

You scrunched your eyes shut as Rick pulled you against his chest, his hand coming up to cup the back off your head and he held you close and let you sob against him.

You don’t know how long you cried but eventually you pulled away from him and wiped at your cheeks.

“Y/N-“ Rick began but you cut him off with a shake of your head before you stood up and headed silently into the house.

You stood in the doorway to the bedroom Daryl had been placed in, barely choking down a sob as you looked at Daryl who lay pale and still in the bed, a bandage covering the gunshot wound and a blanket covering his body.

It was a long few moments before you let yourself enter the room, carefully taking a seat on the bed, making sure you were on his uninjured side.

It was strange seeing Daryl like this and you blinked hard against the tears, as you took his hand gently in yours, brushing your thumb against the skin. Your mouth opened and closed a few times, trying to find some words but having none.

You weren’t aware of time passing, weren’t aware of anything outside of the room. You vaguely recalled somebody coming into the room, softly touching your shoulder as they left a plate on the nightstand for you but you didn’t acknowledge it, just focused on the rise and fall of Daryl’s chest, waiting for a sign that he was ok.

You felt exhaustion pull heavily at your eyes and you found it harder and harder to stay awake but knew you couldn’t leave Daryl, you just couldn’t do it. You carefully moved so you were laying down on the side of the bed, keeping space between you as you did.

“Wake up.” You pleaded softly, voice barely above a whisper.

Four days had passed by much the same way with you laying next to Daryl, watching closely as you waited for any sign of life but none came. People came in and out of the room, trying to get you to eat something and stay hydrated but you didn’t pay them any attention and didn’t notice yourself get weaker as each day passed, your focus purely on Daryl.

Maggie leaned against the door frame, smiling sadly in at you as she watched you hold Daryl’s hand, murmuring soft words she couldn’t hear.

“How’s he doin’?” She asked softly as she entered the room, making her way over to the chair at the side of the bed.

“Same as before,” You told her and she winced at how dry your voice sounded.

“You gotta drink something, Y/N.” She told you, holding a glass of water in your direction but you made no move for it, eyes locked on yours and Daryl’s entwined fingers. She suppressed a sigh and tried a new tactic, “How long have y’all been together?”

She watched as your eyebrows knitted together as confusion spread across your face causing her to tilt her head questioningly as you finally looked away from the unconscious man.

“What?” You asked, “We’re not together.”

Maggie felt her eyes widen in shock as she looked down at you with a raised eyebrow.

“Of course you are.” Maggie said like it was the most obvious fact in the world and you let out a huff of laughter as you shook your head.

“Daryl doesn’t like me like that, hell it took me long enough to get him to like me like this.” You smiled, trying to clear your throat but wincing in pain. Maggie held the water out to you again and you took it with a shaky hand, not letting go of Daryl’s with the other.

“Y/N, I’ve never, never, seen two people look at each other the way you and Daryl do. That man’d do anything for you without a single thought to himself and I’ve seen you follow him blindly, trusting his every move.” She told you with a smile, watching as you frowned and looked down at your joined hands again. “You love him, right?”

Moments passed as you thought over Maggie’s question, not that you needed to think about it, you already knew the answer. Of course you loved Daryl, you’d never met anybody like him before. Nobody, not even before the world ended, made you feel anything close to how Daryl Dixon made you feel and you had never felt this scared over the thought of losing somebody before, everytime you thought about all the ways things could go wrong, Daryl dying had never seemed like a possibility before.

You nodded slowly, looking back up to Maggie with wide eyes causing her to smile softly at you.

“Yeah, I do.” You confessed aloud for the first time.

“You should tell him,” She said, watching as you shook your head, “He feels the same about you, trust me.”

And with that she stood up, pausing in the doorway to see you’d already turned back to Daryl.

“Hey Y/N,” She said, watching you glance back at her with a soft hum, “Make sure you eat.”

“How are they?” Andrea asked as Maggie made her way down stairs.

“They’re going t’be just fine.” She told her with a smile on her face.

Two more days passed before Daryl awoke with a groan, scrunching his eyes closed before prying them open. Sunlight flooded into the room with a soft, golden glow as his eyes flickered down to you fast asleep on his chest, hand fisting his shirt as you did.

He smiled down at you before his eyes blinked shut again and he fell back to sleep, exhausted despite being out cold for nearly a week.

The next time Daryl opened his eyes, the room was brighter and you were still asleep. He savoured the feeling of you pressed against his chest as he lifted his arm and brought his hand up to your hair, running his fingers through it and smiling as you cuddled closer into him, mumbling something he couldn’t make out before humming happily into his chest.

He saw the exact moment you realised he was awake, feeling as you tensed against him before you shot up of his chest and looked down at him with wide, watery eyes before a shaky smile spread across your face as you flung yourself back down into his chest, hugging him tightly whilst being mindful of his injuries.

Daryl froze for a second before he let his arms wrap around you, his face buried in your hair as he held you close, listening as you sniffed back tears.

“I’m so glad you’re awake.” You mumbled into his chest.

“Sorry, I scared ya.” He whispered, tightening his hold on you and the two of you were more than content to lay in each other’s arms until you were pulling back far enough to look up at him.

“You okay? You need me to get Hershel?” You asked, your eyes flickering over to the gunshot wound on his head.

“M’alright,” He told you honestly because sure the wound ached but he didn’t want you leaving his arms any time soon.

You nodded and leaned back into his chest, listening to the comforting beat of his heart and relaxing for the first time in days.

It wasn’t long after that when Hershel checked in and gave Daryl the all clear, his wounds were healing nicely and he was told to keep hydrated and take it easy, advice you knew you’d have to force the man to listen to.

Hershel had offered to let Daryl stay in the bedroom as long as he needed but Daryl just shrugged him off, thanking him before he led you down to where the camp was set up, greeting everyone and assuring them he was fine before he headed towards his tent, you following closely behind.

“Ya okay?” Daryl asked softly as the two of you lay in the tent, Daryl’s arm around your shoulder as he held you close.

You let the question hang in the air for a few moments, Maggie’s words heavy in your mind. You wanted to tell Daryl how you felt but you didn’t want to ruin what you had with him now, the bond you two had was rare, it was something few people had and you’d be damned if you were going to screw it up.

But at the same time the only thoughts you’d had the last few days had been about Daryl’s dead body and it hurt you more than you thought anything ever could. You didn’t want to live with regrets, didn’t want to waste the time you had with him.

As you opened your mouth to say something you were cut off as the flap off the tent was pulled back and Andrea walked in with a guilty expression.

“I feel like shit.” She said, pausing in the entryway.

“Yeah,” Daryl huffed, “You and me both.”

Andrea watched as Daryl smiled and you glared, such a strong contrast to how the two of you usually were, usually Daryl was the one who glared and grumbled and you were the one always smiling and friendly.

“I really am sorry,” She told him, “If there’s anything I can do-”

“Nah, you were protectin’ the group,” Daryl told her, squeezing your shoulder as he did, causing you to look away from Andrea and bury your head in his chest. Andrea smiled and turned to leave, stopping when Daryl called her name, “Shoot me again, best pray I’m dead.”

“You gonna tell me what’s goin’ on in that head of yours, huh?” He asked once she was gone and you shook your head, losing any bravery you had only minutes before. “C’mon, Y/N/N, ya can tell me anythin’, you know that.”

He was right you did know that but you didn’t know how to come out and say it - end of the world and you still felt like a kid with their first crush.

Daryl waited in silence, knowing you’d cave eventually and had to fight back a smile as you finally started talking after five minutes of silence passed.

“I thought I’d lost you,” You told him quietly and he stayed silent, knowing that if he interrupted you now you wouldn’t start again, “I thought I lost you and all I could think was he doesn’t know how I feel, he’s going to die not knowing I loved him more than anybody. Watching you in that bed, seeing you like that…I’ve never been more scared in my whole life, not when the dead started walking, not when I was surrounded in the woods alone, nothing has ever scared me more.”

“You love me?” Daryl asked softly, eyes widening as he pushed you away far enough so he could look down at you, hating the fear in your eyes as you nodded at him.

“Yeah, I do.” You forced out softly, feeling like your throat was going to close up any minute as you couldn’t read Daryl’s face.

Daryl let the words sink in, working through the shock that somebody as perfect as you could love a nobody like him. Thinking back to all those times you looked at him like he hung the damn stars in the sky. He’d known how he felt about you for months but was never brave enough to say it, even at the end of civilization you two were still from completely different worlds and he knew you could never feel the same way.

Yet here you were confessing your feelings to him and he felt his heart beat speed up as a smile finally spread across his face, his hand coming up to cup your cheek, thumb brushing your cheekbone before he leaned down, slowly and pressed his lips to yours.

It was the best thing you’d ever felt, that soft brush of his lips against your own as both of you nervously kissed each other, slowly gaining more confidence but the kiss stayed soft and slow until you were pulling away, foreheads pressing together as you looked at Daryl with the softest, most adoring expression he’d ever seen and didn’t feel even a little bit worthy of.

“I love you too,” He whispered the confession before leaning close to peck your lips. “Ain’t ever gotta worry ‘bout losing me, I ain’t going nowhere.” He promised as he pulled you into his arms, feeling you smile into his chest.

There wasn’t any chance in hell Daryl was ever going to leave you, he’d kill a thousand walkers, kill any person who even looked at you funny, to make sure the two of you lived a long, happy life together.

__________

Daryl Dixon Taglist (Click the link in my bio to add yourself!) - @lovinnholland, @canadailluminate , @janesofia7, @cinderellacauseshebroke, @black-rose-29, @classyunknownlover, @cole22ann, @levisbloodcut, @alexxavicry, @mystic-writings, @lizamango, @urbestgrrl, @morganaah, @kaitieskidmore1, @loki-laufeysons-wife, @am-wd-ma

No Way Home

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Febuwhump Prompt - Can't Go Home

Prompt - ‘Just you and me.’

You sat frozen in your apartment, eyes trained on the television screen in front of you that broadcasted Peter’s secret to the world, branding him a murderer, all because of Mysterio. You had no idea just how long you sat there, eyes wide and you had every intention of calling Peter but you couldn’t move. It was the sound of your apartment door being kicked open that startled you out of your frozen state, face shooting over to the side as a group of men came in and hauled you up by your upper arms, fear spreading through you as you were placed in a police car and taken to the station.

You arrived and were led to a reception with MJ, Ned and May before being pulled along through the station, eyes widening as you saw Peter sat at a table, two men questioning him.

It was like time wasn’t real as you were pushed into your own seat and left alone, scared and panicking.

Two men walked into the room and you sat up straighter in your seat, watching as they shared a smile, one of them sat opposite you whilst the other paced behind him.

“Hi there,” The man sat down said to you, softening his expression, “Sorry about the wait.” He waited for you to respond but silence filled the room. “I know you must be so scared right now, finding out your boyfriend is Spider-Man.” Again, no response, no twitching, no shifting…nothing.

You were scared but you weren’t about to give them any information that would help build a case against Peter or yourself.

“Let’s cut the quiet act, huh,” The guy standing up said, leaning over you in an intimidating manner…good cop, bad cop then. “We know you knew Peter was Spider-Man and you’re a smart kid, set up for your choice of school, how do you think this is going to look for you?”

“You want me to talk?” You finally said, watching them share another smile as the guy in the seat leaned forward and picked up his pen whilst the other man backed off, turning his smile to you. “I want a lawyer.”

You watched as both their smiles fell and twin glares were shot at you but you just smiled back at them.

“You think any lawyer worth a damn is going to take this case?” The man stood up chuckled, “I hate to break it to you but you’re on your own.”

“If this goes to trial it’ll be the biggest case since the Castle trials, bet those cops didn’t think any lawyer would take that case either.” You smirked and sat back in your seat, knowing they had nothing on you. “Maybe I’ll give those guys a call, huh?”

You watched as they shared a look before the door opened and they were pulled out leaving you alone again causing you to slump in your seat, though the overall fear had gone there was still worry flooding your system as you thought about Peter.

“Looks like you won’t be needing that number after all,” The man said as he stood by the door gesturing for you to walk out, “You’re free to go.”

You huffed out a laugh as you walked past him and headed to where the others were sitting in the reception area, the only person missing was Peter.

“Is he ok?” You asked as you joined them, watching as they all looked up at you.

“We haven’t seen him, Happy called a pair of lawyers that went in not too long ago.” MJ told you as May sniffed.

“Shit,” You cursed as you sat down heavily in the seat, staring straight ahead.

You let May hug Peter first when he was led out before smiling as he turned to you. No words were exchanged as he looked at you with wide, watery eyes, walking over and wrapping his arms around you tightly pulling you against him. You sniffed as you hugged him back, not knowing what to say.

“At least they used a good picture.” Happy said with a grimace as you, him, Peter and May sat in their apartment, you sitting next to Peter.

“I have some good news, Peter,” The lawyer, Matt Murdock said and you wished the DODC guy was here so you could rub it in his face that the lawyer who took Frank Castle’s case was here taking Peter’s, just like you’d threatened. “I don’t believe any of the charges against you are going to stick.”

A collective sigh of relief went around the room and you all smiled and relaxed for the first time since the news hit.

“Oh my god,” Peter said, smiling over at you before turning back to Matt, “Really? Thank you so much, Mr Murdock, really, that’s amazing.”

“You’re welcome.” Matt said with a smile of his own. You listened as he explained that Happy wasn’t quite so lucky what with the missing Stark tech.

“I need a lawyer because I’m, I’m under investigation?” Happy stuttered out causing you to smile sympathetically over at him, “You said there’s no charges - I can say under advisement of council I refuse to answer the question,” He trailed off inaudibly as he spiralled into a panic.

“Calm down,” May told him before she pointed to Matt, “Let’s see what he has to say.”

“You’re gonna need a really good lawyer.” Matt told him honestly.

Before anybody could say anything else you startled as a brick was thrown through the window, watching with wide eyes as the blind lawyer caught it without hesitation before furrowing your brows as you looked from the brick to him, seeing Peter do the same.

“How did you do that?” You asked him as Peter took the brick out of his hand, looking at it like it could give him the answer to your question.

“I’m a really good lawyer.” Matt smiled and gave no further explanation.

“We’re gonna need a safer place to live.” May said and it wasn’t long before the Parker’s had packed up and were ready to head to Happy’s apartment.

“You should come,” Peter said, “I don’t like the thought of you on your own.”

“I’ll be fine.” You promised him, leaning up to press a soft kiss against his lips, smiling into it as his hand came up to cup your cheek. “Stay safe.”

“You too,” He said before climbing into the car with May and Happy, you raising a hand as they drove away before turning in the direction of your house.

The following days passed in a blur of rejection letters, cameras being shoved in your face, people at school all wanting as many details as they could get and anger, sadness and worry. Peter and you talked on the phone at nights but it was strained, the weight of the world crushing his shoulders.

You smiled at Ned and MJ who were waiting outside of the Sanctum before you entered, your eyes immediately locking on Peter who stepped forward and wrapped you in his arms, kissing the top of your head.

“I can’t believe I’m in the Sanctum Sanctorum.” You heard Ned say happily.

“Neither can I.” Strange muttered to himself, causing you to chuckle into Peter’s chest before you pulled away from him.

“I’m sorry for dragging you all into this,” Peter apologised looking from Ned and MJ and then to you, eyes wide and apologetic.

“Happy to help.” You assured him, smiling softly at him with a nod as the other two agreed with you.

“You don’t have to apologise.” MJ told him.

“Yeah man, no worries,” Ned said, “Hey, how did the bad guys even get here?”

“He screwed up a spell trying to get you into college.” Strange said before Peter had a chance to answer, causing your eyebrows furrowed together.

“What?” You all asked.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s not important,” Peter brushed it off before smiling, “Let’s just focus on the good news-”

“No, let's focus on the bad news because as of now you have detained exactly zero multiverse trespassers.” Strange commanded you all to get to work and you smiled as MJ stepped forward and put the man in his place before Peter led you down to the undercroft.

You watched as MJ and Ned began looking around the room as you walked further into it, listening to Peter apologise again as you looked at a man with robotic arms trapped behind a glass wall.

He saw you looking and smiled over at you, watching as you tilted your head and took another step closer until you were in front of the cell.

“And just who are you, dear?” He asked as Peter spoke in the distance.

“Guys, about this whole spell thing-” He began but MJ cut him off.

“It’s ok, you were just trying to fix things, maybe just run it past us next time.” She chuckled, causing him to laugh nervously before he nodded and looked past her and over to you.

MJ followed his gaze and pointed over in your direction, “The undercroft?”

“We’re here to help Peter.” You told the man, looking at the metal arms in interest.

“Hey man, I’m sorry,” Peter called, causing you to flinch away from the man as you looked back at Peter, “what was your name again?”

“Doctor Otto Octavius.” He said, causing you to look back at him with a raised eyebrow.

“I think he meant your real name.” You smiled at him, suppressing a chuckle as the others behind you laughed.

“Yeah man, seriously, your real name.” Peter confirmed, smiling over at you.

Otto just rolled his eyes and you made your way back up to join MJ, Ned and Peter, looking over at Ned who called you all over about a disturbance relating to a monster flying through the air.

“That has to be the guy right?” Peter said looking up at you causing you to shrug and nod at the same time before looking over at Otto.

“That’s impossible.” He said softly, more to himself than to the room.

“What’d you mean impossible?” You asked him, taking a step over to him again.

“You know him, don’t you?” Peter asked from your side.

“Norman Osborn, brilliant scientist, but he was greedy, misguided.” The man said.

“I gotta go then, where am I going?” Peter asked turning back to Ned after Otto’s outburst but you continued looking at the man trapped behind the glass.

“It can’t be him.” He told you, causing you to frown, tilting your head.

“Why can’t it be Norman?” You asked.

“Because Norman Osborn died years ago, so either we saw someone else or you’re flying out into the darkness to find a ghost.” He said coldly, your heart stuttering as you swallowed against the sudden lump in your throat, turning to Peter with scared eyes.

“You can’t go,” you told him as he prepared to leave.

“Y/N, I am the only person who can stop these guys,” He said turning to you and placing his hands on your upper arms, watching as you shook your head at him, “Y/N, baby, I gotta do this, I can’t have people get hurt because of me.”

You took a deep breath before nodding and turning away.

“Hey,” He said softly, stepping closer to you and leaning down to press a soft kiss against your lips, “I’ll be fine.” He promised though you knew he had no control over that, didn’t know who he was dealing with or how dangerous they were but still you nodded and forced a smile on your face as he turned to leave.

Once he was gone you took a deep breath and let the smile fall off your face as you turned back to Otto.

“How dangerous is he? Norman Osbourn.” You asked him and watched as he contemplated your question.

“He will stop at nothing to get what he wants, like I said,” He told you, watching as you walked up to the glass. “He was brilliant, brilliant but dangerously greedy. I hope your Spider-Man can stop him.” He said, looking down at you as you tried your best to blink back tears as you heard Ned and MJ talking to Peter over the phone.

“Me too.” You said, dread pooling in your stomach.

You listened anxiously, watching the scene play out on the laptop, watching as a man used the electricity like it was a part of him, easily drawing power from it as Peter’s webs failed to do anything. You watched the man send electricity down to Peter, tears in your eyes as you hand covered your mouth, listening to Ned and MJ shout advice at Peter.

The last thing you saw before the camera cut out was a blast of electricity hitting Peter.

“Oh no, no, what happened? Peter, Peter?” MJ said as you shook your head and moved away from the laptop and over to the ledge to look at the glass cells.

“Who is that?” You snapped at Otto but one look at his confused face had more anxiety running through you as you choked back a sob.

“I don’t know,” He told you quietly, “I’ve never heard of anything like that.”

You watched as a man appeared in one of the glass cells, watched as Otto waved over to him.

“Who are you?” You asked him but before he could answer something appeared in the other cell. He looked like a person but where flesh was meant to be was only sand.

“What is this?” He asked and you looked over to MJ and Ned who shrugged.

“Connors?” The first guy said looking over at the lizard thing.

“You know him?” You asked, looking between the two just as Otto asked, “You know this creature?”

“No, no he’s not a creature, he’s a man.” You shot a doubtful look at the lizard as Ned spoke behind you.

“Whoa, they're from the same universe.”

“Doctor Curt Connors, he was a scientist at Oscorp when I worked there. A brilliant scientist until he turned himself into a lizard. Then he tried to turn the whole city into lizards, it was crazy.”

“Yeah, we’re hearing a lot about brilliant but crazy scientists today.” You scoffed, giving the lizard a side glance.

The two went back and forth as you looked between them and shook your head turning back to the only two people in the room from your universe.

“Have you got a hold of Peter yet?” You asked and Ned shook his head.

“Still working on it.” He told you, clicking away at the keyboard.

“Where are we?” The sandman asked.

“A wizard’s dungeon.” MJ told them, causing you to shoot her a look. “There’s no real way to sugar coat it.”

“I want more of that new energy.” The man said and you watched as the lights in the room dimmed.

“Peter!” MJ exclaimed, causing your head to shoot around as you made your way back over to Ned.

“Are you ok?” You asked before he had the chance to say anything.

“I’m fine,” He told you, “have those guys come through yet?”

“Yeah, yeah, they’re all here.” You told him, feeling your shoulders drop from hearing his voice.

“Good, listen, I’m just gonna stay here for a bit, clean up some of this mess.” He told you all and after a few more words the line went dead as you looked back over to the other worldly beings.

“Um guys,” Your head snapped around as Peter’s voice sounded through the room, another man with him, “This is Mr Osborn-”

“Doctor,” The man cut him off with a point of his finger.

“Sorry Doctor Osborn. These are my friends Ned, MJ and Y/N.” Peter introduced you all.

“It’s nice to meet you, Doctor Osborn.” You said softly, noticing the slightly dazed expression on his face.

“Mary Jane?” He said, looking straight at MJ causing you to raise an eyebrow between them before looking at Peter who shrugged.

“It’s Michelle Jones, actually.” She told him in confusion.

The man stepped closer into the room looking around as Ned asked if you thought there were other hims out there causing you to let out a laugh.

You watched Norman walk down and pause by Otto’s cell, looking into it questioningly.

“Octavius?” He asked and you all looked as Otto turned around.

“Osborn?”

You watched as Otto told Norman about his death, watched Norman shake his head in disbelief as Peter interjected, questioning Otto’s words.

“They both died.” The sand guy said, causing you all to look at him, “fighting Spider-Man.” He finished and you watched as Peter’s eyes widened. You watched as all of them realised their last memories were of fighting Spider-Man before waking up here.

Before anyone could say anything else Strange magicked himself into the room and sent a confused and scared Norman Osborn into his own cell before he explained the box he held that would send the others back to their universes.

“Strange, we can't send them back.” Peter said, causing you to look at him in confusion, you felt back for them, you really did, but you knew they couldn’t stay here. “They're gonna die.”

“It’s their fate.” Strange told him coldly. “Their sacrifice means infinitely more than their lives.”

Your eyes widened at the cruel statement as you looked back at the cells, seeing the fear written across their faces.

“I’m sorry, kid.” Strange said, no hint of sympathy in his words.

“Strange-” You began but he cut you off.

“It’s their fate,” He repeated, “they were never supposed to be here. They are destined to die at the hands of Spider-Man.”

You watched as Peter held back tears, took his hand in yours and squeezed it, him squeezing back as he looked at Strange, pleading with him not to do this. Strange began his spell, Norman begging Peter who tightened his hand around yours before he webbed the box away from Strange, you and MJ practically pushing him out the door as you stood between him and Strange.

Not long passed before Peter stumbled into the room through a golden portal, pulling the mask off as you steadied him with your arms on his biceps before Peter pulled you into a hug, grinning from ear to ear.

“I just had a fight with Doctor Strange and totally won!” He exclaimed, pulling back to smile down at you. “Look, I stole his ring thing!” He said as Ned snatched it away from him and put it on, holding his hand up to you causing you to laugh.

“You could have just left us to die, why didn’t you?” Otto asked, stepping forward.

“That’s not who Peter Parker is.” You told them man, watching as Peter’s grin faded into a soft smile.

Peter explained how he could try and help them, try to change their fate.

“I can help you.” Norman told him, cutting him off, “You know, I’m something of a scientist myself. Octavius can tell you what I can do.”

“I have it all under control.” Peter told them before he stepped over to you, MJ and Ned asking what the hell they were going to do with the box.

“We need to find somewhere safe for it right? MJ asked, causing you all to nod before Peter pushed the magic box into your hands.

“What are you doing?” You asked, not taking it off him.

“”If something happens, I’ll text you and you send them all back.” Peter told you, nodding as he looked into your eyes and seeing nothing but fear.

“Peter, I, I can’t.” You told him shakily and he reached one hand up to cup your cheek.

“Yes, you can, you got this.” He smiled before pulling you in for a quick kiss. “You got this.”

You nodded and took the box off him, holding it carefully and looking down at it like you had just been passed a bomb.

Peter pulled you into one more kiss, you whispering for him to be careful before you left the Sanctum with MJ and Ned.

You watched in Ned’s living room, listened with tears falling down your face at the news of Aunt May’s death, wiping your eyes hating that you had no idea where Peter was right now. You pushed yourself out of the chair angrily but didn’t go far, pacing the length of the room.

“Should we press it?” MJ asked, “I know he told us to wait but-”

“Press it.” You told her, voice harsh and cold.

“But Peter hasn’t texted, I just, I just wish we could see him.” Your head snapped to the side at the spark that appeared at his words.

“Ned,” You said, not taking your eyes off the empty space.

“Yeah?” He said.

“Do that again.” MJ told him, taking the words right out of your mouth.

“Yeah,” Ned repeated, “I just wish we could see him.”

You gasped as the portal began to form, Ned repeating the words a few more times before it fully appeared before you, Spider-Man standing off in the distance. You took a step forward as Spider-Man took a step towards the portal, tilting your head as you watched him get closer, looking at his suit with furrowed eyebrows.

“Is that him?” MJ asked.

“Yeah, yeah. It has to be.” He told her and they both began calling for the man with smiles on their faces.

“That’s not Peter.” You said softly, shaking your head, causing Ned and MJ to turn to you just before Spider-Man walked through the portal.

“Hi, Hi,” Spider-Man said as Ned’s grandmother screamed, “No, no, no, it’s ok. I’m a nice guy.” It wasn’t Peter’s suit, it wasn't Peter’s voice and you took a step back as the man pulled his mask off revealing a stranger.

“Who are you?” You asked him with watery eyes and a cold tone.

The stranger raised his hands non threateningly as he took a step towards you but stopped as you stepped away.

“I’m Peter Parker,” He told you slowly and calmly, “I am Spider-Man in my world, but then yesterday I was, I was just here.”

You shook your head as you turned away, the heel of your hands digging into your eyes as you tried to force the tears away, missing Peter’s look of concern.

Peter began to talk and MJ and Ned spoke to him as you could do nothing, all you wanted was your Peter.

You turned around in time to see MJ throw a piece of bread at the man, watched him stick to the ceiling, watched as he crawled around. You couldn’t argue that he was a Peter Parker but he wasn’t yours.

“We good?” Peter asked and MJ nodded. “Are you ok?” He asked you softly and you shook your head, nose scrunching as you tried to push back more tears.

“Do it again.” You said and Peter raised an eyebrow at you.

“I think I just proved who I was.” He smiled softly at you but you shook your head, not taking your eyes of Peter.

“Ned, do it again.” You pleaded, “find my Peter.”

Peter’s eyes widened at your words as he looked at your watery eyes.

“I’m sorry.” He told you as Ned agreed and lifted his hands up, repeating the words from earlier.

You turned around to watch another portal open, a sob leaving your lips as a random guy walked through it in confusion. Peter looked from the guy and back over to you, placing a hand on your shoulder comfortingly.

“Hello,” the man said, “I hope it’s okay, I just came through this…oh it just closed.”

“You’re Peter?” MJ asked.

“Yeah Peter Parker.” He said and you shook your head again, watching as the two Peter’s webbed each other before smiling.

“This might sound weird,” The regularly dressed Peter said, “but I’ve been trying to find your friend ever since I got here, I just have the sense that he, um, that he needs my help.”

“Our help.” The other one said.

“He does.” You told them shakily causing everyone to look at you, “He really does.”

“We don’t know where he is though.” Ned told them, looking between the two Peter’s.

“Right now, we’re all he has left.” MJ said and you turned away, going to leave the room before the Peter in the suit stopped you with a gentle hand on your shoulders, crouching down slightly so he was eye to eye with you.

“We’re gonna help him, I promise.” Peter told you softly, so softly the others in the room had to strain to hear the words. You looked at him for a moment before you sniffed and nodded, wiping the tears that had fallen.

“Is there some place that he might go that has meaning to him?” Regularly dressed Peter asked softly as the Peter next to you stood up straight, staying by your side and offering a comforting presence. “Like a place he would just go to-”

“Get away from everything?” The suited Peter finished.

“For me it was the top of the Chrysler Building.” Regular Peter said with a fond smile.

“Empire State,” suited Peter said with a grin, “better view. What about your Peter, does he have a place?” He asked you softly, looking down at you with a smile as you nodded up at him, thinking back to the rooftop you’d spent countless hours atop of. When the world got too much for either of you and you just needed to take a break, the fresh air around you as you lay in each other’s arms, sometimes talking softly to each other, sometimes no words were needed as you sat in silence and looked up at the stars.

“Yeah,” You said softly, voice barely above a whisper, “Yeah, we have a place.” You said, missing how the Peter’s both smiled at ‘we’ rather than just Peter having a place.

It didn’t take long to make your way up to the roof, the two Peter’s hanging back and giving you three a moment alone with your Peter. You smiled shakily as you saw him sat alone, not moving as your footsteps sounded in the silence.

You made your way over to him, kneeling down and smiling shakily as he turned and buried his face into your chest, tears immediately falling from his eyes as you held him close, placing soft kisses to his hair. No words could be said as he cried, nothing could make it better.

MJ and Ned knelt down too, all three of you hugging Peter hoping to provide a little bit of comfort to the broken man.

“I’m so sorry,” You whispered, voice barely audible as you pulled away. “Pete, there’s some people, some people who want to see you.”

“What?” He asked but you just shook your head, taking his hand in yours and helping him stand up, wrapping your arm around his waist to steady him before he pushed away from your hold at seeing the two other Spider-Men perched on the roof.

Peter breathed heavily as they jumped down stopping them as he exclaimed, holding a hand up to them, both of the Peter’s raising their hands non threateningly.

“Sorry about May,” Regular Peter said.

“Yeah, sorry,” Suited Peter told him, going on to say how he understood but Peter took a step back, shaking his head as he spoke.

“Please don’t,” He said tearfully, “Don’t stand there and say you know what I’m going through.”

“Okay,” Suited Peter said softly, nodding his head.

“She’s dead and it’s all my fault.” Peter said, causing your eyes to widen as you gently took a step forward but didn’t say anything, trusting the other Peter’s to deal with this situation as gently as they could despite every fibre of your being telling you to take Peter and disappear until Strange came back, let him deal with it. “She died for nothing, so I’m gonna do what I should have done in the first place.” He said, making a move for the box.

“Peter-” Regularly dressed Peter said but your Peter cut him off.

“You’re all going home,” He said tiredly, “You don’t belong here. Those other guys are all from your world, so you deal with it, if you kill them, that’s on you, not me. I don’t care anymore. I’m done.”

You hated hearing Peter sound so defeated, you thought you’d seen him at his worst, all those years back when you were kids attending Ben’s funeral, not too long ago after he’d attended Tony’s funeral…you thought that was his rock bottom but losing May, you didn’t know if Peter could survive another loss.

MJ held the box away from Peter as regularly dressed Peter told your Peter about losing his uncle and suited Peter spoke about losing his girlfriend, they spoke about how they couldn’t save them. Suited Peter spoke of the guilt, of how he could never forgive himself and your Peter reached back to take your hand in his, assuring himself that one of the few people he had left in the world was still here.

“But I carried on, tried to keep going, tried to keep being the Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man, because she would’ve wanted that but at some point I stopped throwing my punches, I got bitter, I got rageful.” Your heart ached at suited Peter’s words, squeezing Peter’s hand tightly as you listened to his story. “And I just, I don’t want you to end up…like me.” He forced out tearfully.

“I wanna kill him,” Your Peter confessed, “I wanna tear him apart. I can still hear her voice in my head, even after she was hurt, she said that we did the right thing. Said that with great power-”

“Comes great responsibility.” Regularly dressed Peter finished and suited Peter nodded.

“What?” Peter said, “How do you know that?”

“Uncle Ben said it-” suited Peter said.

“The day he died.” You heard Peter take a shaky breath, “Maybe she didn’t die for nothing.”

You all made your way down to the science lab as they handed tasks out, suited Peter taking the serum for Connor’s, regularly dressed Peter offering to deal with Osborn. You watched Peter freeze, heard the other Peter they had to save them all and watched Peter nod.

“That’s what we do.” He said and you smiled.

Peter looked up and saw you watching the scene play out with a soft smile, raising a questioning eyebrow over at you but you just shook your head.

“How can I help?”

You and Peter got to work, you measuring different chemicals and running diagnostics, working easily together, gaining some sense of normality.

“How you doing?” You asked him softly as you waited for the diagnosis to be completed.

“I’m-” He began but then shook his head, “I’m tired, Y/N/N, I’m really tired.”

“We’ll cure them and once they're gone we’ll take a break, yeah? Just you and me, remember that weekend away we’ve been dreaming about, we’ll go.” You smiled at him watching as he shakily nodded back and leaned close to you, resting his forehead against yours.

“That sounds perfect.” He whispered, content to just stay this close to you forever and swore he wouldn’t lose you too, he’d lost too many people, he didn’t even know if he’d survive losing May, focusing on the cures rather than her death but losing you as well…he knew he wouldn’t recover from that.

“I’m so sorry I dragged you into this mess,” He apologised, “You deserve so much better, I ruined everything for you.”

“Hey, you ruined nothing, knowing you has been the best part of my life. We’re gonna be ok, it’s you and me, right?” You asked softly, taking his hands in yours.

“You and me.” He whispered and the two of you were so absorbed in one another you missed the sad smile suited Peter shot you both as memories of Gwen flashed through his head.

Peter and you got back to work, you moving around to hear the other two Peter’s talking softly about relationships. Suited Peter clearly still in pain over the girl he lost, Gwen you remind yourself.

“Me and MJ,” You heard regularly dressed Peter say and your head snapped around as you looked over at him. “My MJ.” He chuckled.

“Peter!” Ned called, causing you to look over at him, thoughts of Peter and MJ being pushed out of your head.

Peter pressed his lips against yours, the kiss passionate and conveying everything words couldn’t say before you pulled away from each other.

“Be safe.” You whispered.

“You too.” He gave you one last kiss before he headed through the portal.

“Heads up, Y/N/N!” Peter said, throwing the magic box to you and MJ told Ned to close the portal but try as he might he couldn’t do it.

“Ned, close the portal.” You snapped, anxious as you saw the scene playing out before you, watching the three Spider-Man holding up worse than you’d thought.

“I’m trying!” He snapped back, his own nerves high as he watched sand rise as Spider-Men were flung around widely.

“Ned,” you started but watched as the three Peter’s swung in sync with each other, seemingly back on track and smiled.

“Um Ned,” MJ began, trailing off as she looked at the lizard running towards you.

“Now would be a really good time to close it.” You finished for her, eyes widening in fear as the lizard got closer. “Run!” You yelled and all three of you took off, Peter swinging in as you ran through the portal clutching the box close to your chest and immediately lost Ned and MJ as you kept running, knowing if any of the others saw you then you were done for, the box making you target number one, taking priority over any of the Peter’s.

You kept running as the lizard followed close behind you only to be stopped by one of the magic portals. You sighed in relief but kept running, knowing you needed to hide as best you could. You looked across the statue and saw Doctor Strange appear and hoped Peter could convince him he was doing well.

You could hear Peter explaining the other Peter’s to Doctor Strange as you came to a stop next to them, Strange magicking the box from you just as the Green Goblin’s voice rang through the sky.

“Can the Spider-Man come out to play?”

You watched all three Peter’s eyes widen, noticing something you didn’t before something exploded, sending you flying from the top of the Statue of Liberty, fear flooding your system as you screamed, Peter’s head snapped around to see you fall.

He leapt into action, the only thought in his head was that he couldn’t lose you, not you. You watched as Peter appeared above you, relief flooding your system as you realised he was going to save you before he was blasted to the side by the Goblin’s glider.

You managed to pant a breath of absolute terror as your eyes fell closed, more scared than you’d ever been in your life.

Peter three saw it happen, it felt like slow motion as he shook his head, yelling out a ‘no’ as he dove off the statue.

No way was he going to let his brother go through the same pain he went through, no way was he not going to catch you.

He leapt and pulled you into his arms, feeling you wrap yours around his neck, holding onto him with a death grip but it was alright because he was holding you just as tightly, the two of you stood there with tears in your eyes and panting for breath as you looked at him with wide eyes.

“Are you ok?” He asked you shakily, swallowing the lump in his throat.

“Yeah, I’m ok,” You nodded just as shakily, “Are you ok?” You asked, looking at his watery eyes and quivering lip.

Peter couldn’t talk, just scrunched his face as he tried to hold back tears because he’d caught you and your Peter would never, never have to go through what he had. Losing Gwen had…you were safe and Peter would never have to experience that feeling because it really was a different type of pain, a different type of loss, your whole world taken from you because you had been too late.

Peter held you tighter before he placed you down softly, smiling as you placed a hand on his bicep and gave it a squeeze.

“You saved me, thank you.” A tear made its way down your face and Peter gently wiped it away before he turned to look up.

He nodded a few times, trying to get some words out before he finally cleared his throat.

“You’re ok,” He whispered, more to himself than you but you nodded anyway, “I should get back.” He said and gestured upwards.

You nodded at him, tightening your grip on his arm to hold him in place for a second as you leaned up to kiss his cheek.

“Thank you.” You whispered softly and Peter barely suppressed a sob as he nodded down at you.

“You're welcome.” He whispered back before he took off swinging.

You watched as the sky turned purple, looking closer it looked like cracks in the sky before orange magic shot towards them. You desperately looked around for your Peter but couldn’t see anything until you saw the Goblin’s glider land in the fallen shield.

“Ned!” You heard MJ shout and made your way around to them, watching them hug before Ned spotted you.

“Y/N!” He called in relief the three of you hugging each other before you pulled away.

“Stay here.” You told them before taking off running, ignoring their shouts as you started to make your way down to where he was.

“Y/N!” You heard Peter call desperately.

“She’s fine!” MJ shouted down to him, causing him to let out a relieved breath because losing you, it just wasn’t an option.

You ran as fast as you could, panting for breath as you finally made it down to ground level, seeing the shield half in the water and watching in fear as Peter and the Goblin fought each other, Peter not pulling any punches but you couldn’t find a way to get onto the shield.

“Hey,” The Peter who saved you said, landing next to you softly as you both watched Peter pick up the glider and lift it over his head, bringing it down on top of the Goblin but was stopped by the other Spider-Man. “Need a lift?” He asked, both of you watching as the glider was put down and Peter wrapped his arms around you again, swinging you both onto the shield softly.

Both of you stood still as the other Peter was stabbed by the Goblin, mouths falling opened as he fell to the floor, listening to the Goblin blame Peter for May’s death and you felt your blood boil but the Peter who saved you whispered your name, you turning in time to watch him throw to cure over to your Peter who didn’t hesitate to stab it into the Goblin’s neck.

“He’s gonna need you,” Peter whispered softly to you and you nodded, continuing to watch the scene unfold before you made your way over with Peter.

“Peter!” You called softly and he turned around, relief flooding his face as you ran into his arms, knocking him over with the force but he knelt and held you up, cupping the back of your head as you sobbed, Peter smiling over because he’d saved you, he’d made that moment possible.

“Whoa, is that happening or am I dying?” You and your Peter looked to the stabbed Peter, following his gaze to the cracks in the sky with people starting to come through and you held Peter tighter in fear.

“I gotta go,” Peter said, causing you to look at him but before you could protest he smashed a hard and messy kiss against your lips, pulling away and leaving you panting. “I gotta go.”

“I got them.” Peter three said and your Peter nodded at him thankfully before taking off, you turning to the stabbed Peter as the Peter who saved you placed a comforting hand on your shoulder.

“Is he gonna be ok?” You asked and Peter nodded.

“Yeah, we have healing abilities, he’ll be fine.” You smiled down at him and took his other hand in yours.

“What if everyone forgot who I was?” Peter asked Strange tearfully. “They’re coming here because of me right, because I’m Peter Parker? Well this time cast the spell and make everyone forget who I am.”

“No,” Strange said.

“It’d work right?” Peter asked and Strange nodded even though he hated to admit it.

“You have to understand, everyone, everyone who knows and loves you would we, we’d have no memory of you. It’d be as though you never existed.” Strange told him tearfully.

“I know,” Peter said, “Do it.”

“Better go and say you’re goodbyes, you don’t have long.” Strange said, blinking against the tears.

“Thank you, sir.” He said, missing Strange’s eye roll.

“Call me Stephen.” He told the kid with a chuckle.

“Thank you, Stephen.” He said, causing the man to smile.

You watched as a swirl of magic shot through the sky and Peter landed by Ned and MJ, you watched them all cry and they hugged Peter before he turned to you.

“What’s happening?” You asked Peter as you helped him stand the stabbed Peter up.

“I don’t know,” He said, not having a good feeling about whatever it was.

You all watched as your Peter landed on the shield with a soft thud looking at you with watery eyes before he turned to the other two Peter’s.

“I think it’s time for you two to go home. I, um, thank you, I just wanted to tell you that, I really don't know how to how to-” He stammered watching as the other Peter’s smile widely at him.

“Peter,” The one who saved you said softly, the smile turning into a gentle grin as he looked at his brother.

“We know.” Stabbed Peter said. “It’s what we do.”

“Yeah,” Your Peter said, “it’s what we do.”

“I gotta talk to Y/N.” He told them and they both nodded at him before he launched forward and hugged the two of them tightly. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

“It was nice to meet you,” Peter said looking at you and you looked at him with a soft smile.

“If you’re ever in the universe again, don’t be a stranger.” Your smile widened as he laughed.

“Same goes.” He smiled, watching as your Peter led you off the shield and turned to you, the smile falling off his face.

“Peter?” You asked softly, cupping his cheek but he just pulled you tightly into his arms. “Peter, what’s going on?

“Strange is doing the spell.” He told you and you nodded.

“Yeah, the spell to send everybody home.” You said, glancing over to the other Peter’s who watched you in concern.

“Yeah but he’s- you’re going to forget who I am.” He told you, causing you to laugh, eyes welling with tears as you shook your head.

“What are you talking about?” You asked him, both of his hands taking yours as you stepped back.

“It’s the only way,” Peter said, “But it’s ok, it’s ok because I’ll find you and I’ll make you remember me, yeah?” He said with a shaky smile and you let out a sob as you stared at him, as if memorising every part of his face would stop you forgetting him.

“I don’t want to forget you.” You sobbed and he pulled you against him, holding you tighter than he ever had before. “What if it doesn’t work?”

“It’ll be okay.”  He mumbled into your hair, feeling you shake your head.

“It’s meant to be you and me.” You told him, pulling back to look up at him, puffy eyes and tears falling down your cheeks uncontrollably as your lips quivered.

“You and me.” He said, nodding down at you, “I promise I’ll make you remember.” He said before he pulled you in for a kiss, it was messy, uncoordinated and you tried to convey everything, everything there wasn’t enough time to say, convey what there weren’t words for.

“I lov-” Peter began as he pulled away but you shook your head, covering his mouth with your hand.

“Don’t, don’t say that, not yet.” You choked out around more sobs, “Don’t tell me that, tell me when you find me.”

Peter looked at you, tears falling down his own face as he nodded, pulling you back into his arms and savouring the feeling.

“Ok, ok,” He said, still nodding, “But I do, Y/N, I really do.”

“Me too.” You said, smiling up at him, “It’s you and me.”

“I’ll make you remember.” He promised before giving you one last kiss, desperate to memorise every detail about you.

The sky crackled as you two looked at each other once more, nodding at each other.

“You and me.” He said before Strange’s spell began to work. He took one last, long look at you before he did the hardest thing he’s ever had to do, walk away from you.

Strange nodded down at him and you smiled over at him before he was gone and you fell to your knees, sobbing heartbrokenly, a pain in your chest you knew you’d never recover from.

Your eyes fell closed as you leaned your head on the ground only for them to open a few moments later as you looked around, glancing up at the Statue of Liberty in confusion, seeing MJ and Ned leaning over and looking down at you just as confused.

You lifted a hand to your cheeks, feeling the tears running down your checks without knowing why. Ned and MJ made their way down to you, their own cheeks wet with tears as you all looked at each other, no words being exchanged as you looked for a way back.

Still as you walked you couldn’t help but press a hand to your lips, the whisper of a memory you couldn’t quite reach and an empty feeling in your chest that hurt your heart.

Weeks passed and you found yourself at work, grinning down at your MIT acceptance letter as MJ sat with Ned at a table, taking a break leaving you at the counter but it was a cold, slow day so the three of you were chatting away and laughing with one another when the door opened.

Peter paused in the doorway, the sound of your laugh after so many weeks had him aching whilst also causing him to relax, the sound like the best music in his ears.

When you turned around to face him his heart just about stopped as he saw a wide, happy smile on your face.

“Hi,” The smile turned sweet as you stood straighter, “What can I get for you?”

“Hi,” He said softly, “My name is Peter Parker and I-” Here he stopped thinking of how much easier your life would be without him in it and he glanced down, noticing the acceptance letter on the counter. “I would like a coffee please.”

“Sure thing, Peter Parker.” You grinned at him before turning to make his drink.

“MIT?” He asked, trying to sound as casual as possible even though he wanted to cry as you smiled over your shoulder at him.

“Huh,oh yeah, I got it this morning, I’m so excited.” You told him and that’s what solidified it for him, he couldn’t tell you who he was, he couldn’t drag you into this world again, all it would take is one more Mysterio, one more villain to unmask him and you’d be slaughtered for it.

He couldn’t do it.

“What about you?” He looked up at your question, clearing his throat to dislodge the lump that had settled in it.

“Me?” He asked, causing you to giggle.

“You look my age, where are you going to school?” He smiled at the sound of your laugh before he stammered out a lie.

“Oh school?” He chuckled, causing you to smile, “I, um, I’m taking a year off.”

“Cool, that’s exciting.” You told him, “Here’s your coffee, Peter Parker.” You grinned at him and he smiled back.

“Have a great time at MIT.” He told you softly, smiling as he took his drink and headed out of the door.

“Thank you.” You told him watching him leave.

Your eyebrows furrowed together as you glanced through the window at him, a feeling in your chest you couldn’t quite explain as you looked over Ned and MJ who were looking at you with matching grins.

“Do we know that guy?” You asked them, watching in confusion as they shook their heads.

“No but he was cute.” MJ grinned, causing you to roll your eyes and look back out the window but he was gone.

“Hey, you ok?” MJ asked softly as she walked over to you and you frowned as you blinked back tears that came from nowhere.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” You told her, fingers coming up to play with the necklace that rested against your chest as you wracked your thoughts for any memory of the man who had just left but came up empty.

Still you couldn’t explain the empty feeling in your chest as you stared down at the acceptance letter, bringing the necklace up to your lips.

___________

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Febuwhump Prompt - Hidden Scars

Prompt - ‘You're quite possibly the bravest person I've ever known.’

You panted for breath, struggling to scramble up the hill only for Daryl’s hands to grab your upper arms and drag you up, you crawling alongside him before he pulled you up and took your wrist in his hand, pulling you behind him as he dealt with yet another walker.

The herd made its way closer to you both, a walker neither of you had seen grabbed your ankle from its position on the floor. You let out a scared yell as you tried to pull your leg out of its hold, Daryl pulling on you too only for the both of you to go flying backwards onto the floor. Daryl let out a curse as pain shot through his back but he didn’t have time to dwell on it as the walker on the floor crawled towards you, ready to take a bite before Daryl bashed its skull in, turning to look at the countless walkers surrounding you.

“We gotta go,” He told you, helping you up and taking your hand in his, leading you through the crowd as you both used your weapons to kill any walkers that got too close.

“Daryl,” You struggled, a shooting pain in your side as you ran, but the man just kept pulling you along roughly, knowing that if you paused, for even a second, it could make all the difference between life and death, and there was no way you were dying on Daryl’s watch.

“C’mon, there’s a building up ahead.” He told you, raising his voice slightly over the sound of walkers grumbling.

As you entered the gas station more walkers appeared and you and Daryl struggled to get the door closed, both covered in blood as he crushed one of their heads with the heavy door, the two of you leaning your backs against it as you panted for breath.

“Ya alright?” Daryl asked you and you nodded, eyes closed as you leaned your head back.

“I’m good,” You told him before your eyes shot open at the sound of more groans as three walkers appeared in front of you. Exhaustion ran through both of your bodies but you moved quickly together as you took them all down.

“Shit Daryl,” You cursed softly as you turned to the man, his back to you as you saw blood staining the back of his shirt.

The man turned around, looking you up and down to make sure you were ok and upon seeing nothing out of the ordinary raised a questioning eyebrow up at you.

“You’re bleeding,” you told him, moving around to survey the store and finding some needle and thread. You weren’t the best at patching people up but you were the only person here and with the amount of blood on his shirt you didn’t know if he would make it back home and no way could you carry his limp body. “Sit down.”

You gestured to the floor but he shook his head, your eyes becoming even more concerned as you took in his pale, slightly sweaty face as his eyes darted around, looking at anything but you.

“Daryl,” You said softly, reaching over to gently take his arm but he flinched away from you like your touch burnt him.

“Don’t need patchin’ up,” He told you, voice rough as he swallowed a few times.

“You do,” You told him honestly, keeping your voice soft and calm, like you were talking to a scared animal, “There’s a lot of blood, you must have caught yourself when I fell.” You realised, biting your lip guilty.

“Ain’t your fault,” Daryl assured you, “Damn walkers came outta nowhere.”

He was right. It should have been a simple run, you and Daryl leaving the bike hidden in the woods as you walked on foot to scavenge for food and supplies. You’d managed to get a few things but not nearly close to what you needed but your trip was cut short as you opened a door to an abandoned department store and a flood of walkers fell out, no amount of arrows or knives to the skull would’ve helped.

As you fled into the woods, more walkers seemed to appear, surrounding the pair of you as you struggled on the uneven land and now Daryl was hurt and you were fighting to stay calm.

“Will you please let me patch you up?” You asked, turning wide eyes on him.

Daryl looked at you for a long moment, shaking his head as he backed against the wall.

“Please Daryl,” You begged, “I need you to be ok.”

It took a while before Daryl responded, letting out a shaky sigh as he lowered himself onto the floor and shifted so his back wasn’t pressing against the wall. You smiled down at him softly but he avoided eye contact so you sat behind him, pressing a comforting hand to his bicep, giving it a gentle squeeze before you lifted his shirt off.

Your eyes widened as you looked down at the man's back, there were countless deep, jagged scars littered across his back. Your hand came up to your mouth as you tried to react as soundlessly as you could.

Daryl let his eyes fall closed, hating the tears that welled up in his eyes. He sniffed and shifted before he stilled under your fingers.

You reached forward, going to touch one of the scars before changing course and brushing below the bleeding wound, wincing at his winced.

You began cleaning the cut as carefully as you could, murmuring apologies but saying nothing else, eyes flickering over to the scars that covered Daryl’s back.

“You okay?” You asked him softly, voice barely above a whisper as you were half way through the stitches.

Daryl sniffed soundlessly, glad you couldn’t see his face, glad you couldn’t see the few tears that had slipped down his cheeks. A few moments passed before he nodded, forcing out a hum as he did.

More silence passed as you tied the thread before pulling away to sit back on your knees, looking at the fresh stitches before moving to the old but still painful looking scars and you didn’t even want to know how he’s gotten them but still you couldn’t help but talk.

“They look old,” you prompted softly, reaching out to touch the longest one that spread from just below his right shoulder down past his tattoo down to the middle of his spine. You traced the length of it, feeling him still under your touch. “I’m sorry.” You whispered, pulling away again.

A long stretch of silence passed before Daryl spoke.

“S’my dad.” He muttered, voice so low and rough you barely heard the words but you managed, feeling sick to the stomach at them before you touched one of the thicker, nastier ones at the bottoms of his back, the skin felt raised and rough under your fingertips but this time Daryl didn’t flinch away, just scrunched his eyes shut tighter.

“Beat on Merle more than he did me, after Merle left…” He forced out, trailing off and he didn’t need to finish the sentence, his back did the speaking for him.

Your fingers made their way across his back with a gentle, barely there touch. At some point Daryl found himself relaxing under your touch, head bowed as memories assaulted his mind.

“I’m so sorry,” You whispered, moving your fingers downwards before you wrapped both your arms around his waist, holding him in a tight but careful grip, mindful of the new stitches, before you rested your head against his left shoulder blade.

Daryl opened his eyes, looking down at your hands resting against his stomach as you held him. He felt your eyelashes flutter against his back, felt you press a gentle kiss to one of the scars and he finally let the tears fall, knowing he didn’t need to be embarrassed in front of you, didn’t need to be strong all the time.

He let the tears fall down his cheeks freely, a few sobs making their way out of his throat as you squeezed him tighter and he placed his arms around yours, resting his head on his shoulder as you shifted further up so your hair tickled his cheek.

You didn’t know how long the two of you sat there for, you whispering words against Daryl’s back as he allowed himself to cry, gripping on to your arms like they were the only things holding him together.

__________

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Febuwhump Prompt - "Does that hurt?"

Prompt - ‘I never doubted you, not you, never you.’

Sweat pooled on your forehead, slowly making its way down your face as you stood, panting, using all your strength to press against the door, desperately trying to keep it closed despite the horde of walkers pushing against it.

A desperate cry left your lips as you felt the door push open enough so that a few hands manage to slip through the crack and your eyes darted around the cabin you had found yourself in and a huff of relief left you as you saw a walker free exit, thankfully they hadn’t made there way around to it yet. The only problem was that you knew the moment you took your back off the door a swarm of walkers were going to flood into the room, you as their only target.

It was times like this you really wished you’d listened to Daryl.

Still you knew you couldn’t stay there and had to take a chance before the walkers started to block both exits, leaving you trapped in the cabin with nothing but your knife. You let your head fall back against the moving door, scrunching your eyes shut as you took a deep breath, knife gripped tightly in your hands before you pushed off the door.

You were halfway across the room when the first wave of walkers pushed their way in, most of them tripping over each other and falling to the floor but some were quick, moving forward to make grabs at you. You stabbed your knife into the skull of one who got too close for comfort before you pulled it out and struggled a few times to open the exit door.

It took a few attempts but eventually you were out of the door and running down the steps, walkers following you out as you looked around seeing nothing but trees and cursed yourself for never letting Daryl teach you the basics of tracking so you could find your way back to somewhere familiar.

Still, despite no clear destination in mind you took off running as more and more walkers made their way out of the cabin and over towards you.

You didn’t stop until you were forced to by the burning in your sides, panting as you slumped against a tree in an attempt to slow your racing heart. Looking up you grimaced as you saw the sun was beginning to set, the air turning cooler, a relief for your sweat stained skin, but you knew it wouldn’t be long until night, the walkers even more active as darkness fell.

You knew you had to find Daryl, you knew he would be looking for you, no way would that man ever leave you behind.

You heard a groan from behind you and quickly took off running again, feeling like you were getting nowhere as the scenery stayed the same and it wasn’t long before you were stopping again, though this time not on your own accord.

You barely even registered what had happened, only feeling the sharp pain against your forehead and a stinging in your hands as suddenly you were looking down at the forest floor. Your head shot up as you felt a tight grip on your ankle and the sound of snarling and teeth gnashing together but had to paused when a wave of dizziness spread through your head.

You pushed through it and turned to look at the walker who was hidden in the bushes, lower body missing as it tried to take a chunk out of your lower leg. You thrashed against its hold, a cry leaving your lips as you tried to pull your ankle away from it, eventually pushing yourself up and piercing its skull with your knife.

With a tired huff you let yourself fall back down, wincing as twigs and stones poked into your back but all the energy you had was drained from your body as you looked up at the darkening sky. You winced again and lifted your hand to your forehead only to frown at the blood that stained your fingers before your gaze shifted to the cuts littered across the palm of your hands from where you’d tried to stop the fall.

Your eyes fell shut as you once again cursed yourself for not listening to Daryl earlier that morning.

You had been sitting on one of the car bonnets, listening as Daryl and Rick spoke about supplies that were running low. Daryl had offered to go on a run, a building a few miles out that they hadn’t checked yet could give them what they needed.

You’d perked up from your position as you grabbed the chance to leave the prison but Daryl was shaking his head at you before you even opened your mouth, leaving you pouting over at him.

“Y’not coming, we don’t know anythin’ about this place.” He had told you but you’d just shaken your head right back at him, giving him your best pleading expression and watched as his stern expression crumbled. “It’s dangerous, Y/N/N.” He’d warned you but you didn’t back down, anything to have a few hours away from the prison and who better to spend them hours with than Daryl. “Fine,” He finally relented and you grinned over at him as no words were needed to persuade the man, “but you stay with me the whole time, no wanderin’ off.”

You’d agreed to his rules, not planning on going anywhere without him anyway. Though you had been a member of the group from pretty much the beginning you rarely went on supply runs because whilst you could deal with walkers it wasn’t your forte.

Losing Daryl hadn’t been your fault, not when the building you were in had caved in on itself and you searched everywhere for the man without success. You figured he’d be looking for you and when he couldn’t find you he’d make his way back to the bike you’d left a few miles back, the place he’d told you to go if things went south.

Too bad you weren’t half as good as he was at navigating yourself through the woods, you swore you knew exactly which way you’d come in from but somehow you’d ended up in the middle of a herd, finding the cabin before one of them bit you.

You knew you had to pull yourself up, knew you had to find Daryl and if not him then at least find somewhere safe to hole up whilst you waited for the man to use those tracking skills of his to find you.

With a groan you finally stood up, steadying yourself against a tree as you blinked away the pain in your head before picking a direction and sticking to it, knowing you were well and truly lost with only less than an hour of light left to find something.

Your knife was gripped in your fist as you walked for another half an hour, two walkers dead somewhere behind you as you kept moving, knowing that if you stopped the exhaustion would take over and you’d be done for.

You heard a rustle somewhere to your left, twigs snapped under shoes as they made their way closer to you and you could have cried at the thought of fighting another walker, tiredness flooding your system but you still gripped your knife tighter, not prepared to go down without somewhat of a fight.

Just as you stepped forward with your arm raised to bring the knife down into the skull of another walker you felt your wrist get grabbed in a soft grip before it was pulled down and the knife was taken out of your hand.

“Ya alright, s’just me,” your eyes widened as you let out a huff of laughter as relief ran through you at Daryl’s soft voice, letting your head lean forward to rest against his chest with a slight wince.

Daryl frowned down at you, somehow more concerned now that he had found you than he had been whilst searching the woods. He let go of your wrist and wrapped his arm around your waist, the other coming up to rest against the back of your neck as he held you close, letting you hold onto him tightly as you assured yourself that he was there.

He pulled away soon after though, not going far just far enough so that he could see your face. One hand stayed around your waist as the other came up to gently hold your chin as he tilted your head to the side so he could get a better look at the cut on your head, grimacing when you winced as his thumb moved to brush gently below it.

“Y’alright,” He told you again, forcing his grimace into a smile. “We’ll get ya patched up back at the prison, yeah?” He said, watching as your eyes squinted against the tiredness you felt before you nodded.

“C’mon, let’s get ya home.” He said keeping his voice soft as he tucked your knife away before taking one of your hands in his, ready to lead you back to the bike before a wince from you stopped him. “What’s wrong?” He asked, eyes darting across your body, trying to identify what had caused the wince.

“I’m fine, I just hurt my hands when I fell.” You told him, watching as he gently took a hold of your wrists and turned them so your palms were upwards. He winced down at the various cuts and let his thumb brush against your wrist.

“Let’s get ya home.” He repeated, moving so that his arm was around your shoulder and you didn’t stop yourself from leaning into him. Daryl looked down at you and couldn’t stop the soft smile that spread across his lips as he watched you turn your head into his chest, trusting him to guide you back to the bike.

And he did without failure, his grip secure on you and it wasn’t long before he took a helmet he had found months ago for you from the bike and lifted it as carefully as he could over your head.

“Does that hurt?” He asked, sure that he had positioned it so it wasn’t brushing against your cut but wanting to make sure you weren’t in pain.

“No,” You said, smiling tiredly up at him.

Daryl smiled back at you before he was helping you onto the bike and climbing on himself. The roar of the engine was the only sound to be heard for the next few miles, sometimes Daryl’s voice, slightly raised to be heard above the bike, cut through making sure you were still awake, assuring you that you were almost home.

It took just over an hour and a half before the gates to the prison were being opened for the two of you, the sky had long since gone dark and Daryl had felt your grip loosening repeatedly as your eyes drifted closed.

The sound of the bike’s engine being shut off had you blinking your eyes open, you hadn’t fallen asleep but your eyes had eventually become too tired to keep open. You felt Daryl move from in front of you before he pulled you from the bike and gently pulled the helmet off your head and looked at the cut.

It didn’t look too bad, not bad enough to require stitches but he’d still feel better getting Hershel to clean it before he finally took you to bed.

He grabbed the bag of supplies and wrapped his arm around you again, guiding you through the prison and into cell block C with the intention of sitting you down in front of Hershel but before he could Rick looked up and was over to the pair of you in a few strides.

You smiled as he copied Daryl’s actions from earlier, taking your chin in his fingers before he tilted your head up to examine the cut on your forehead before wincing.

“What happened?” He asked in concern.

“I’m fine.” You told him, smile still in place as you swiped his hand away.

“You two have been gone for hours?” Rick questioned, following the two of you over to the table where Hershel sat, supplies already being brought over to him as you were placed onto the chair next to him, Daryl taking a seat next to you.

“Ran into a herd of walkers and got separated, took me a while t’find her.” Daryl explained, rubbing a hand up and down your back as you winced from Hershel’s touch.

“You’re both ok?” Rick asked looking from you to Daryl, checking him for injuries.

“We’re fine, she just needs patchin’ up and some sleep.” Daryl assured, looking away from you to glance up at Rick, showing that his words were true, short of the cut on your head and a few scratches on your hands you were both fine.

“You make sure you get some rest too.” Rick said, patting Daryl’s shoulder before he did the same to you.

“Don’t worry,” You said, exhaustion clear in your voice, “I’ll make sure he sleeps.”

Daryl and Rick smiled over at you before Rick turned to head back to Carl and it wasn’t long before Hershel had given you the all clear, nothing serious, just a bump and some dizziness for the next few days.

You took Daryl’s hand gently in yours, mindful of the cuts that stung if you brushed them, and led him up the stairs and into your cell. It was the first cell on the landing and you’d picked it purely because on the first night at the prison Daryl had refused to sleep in a cell, refused to be caged up, so you took the cell as close to him as you could get.

It hadn’t taken you long to convince him into your cell, a tight squeeze on the single bed but the two of you made it work, mostly with you laying your body on him, on nights were he needed to be held he’d often find himself laying between your legs, head on your chest and your fingers in his hair.

Tonight, however, it was you who needed him and you lay with your back against the wall, Daryl’s arm wrapped tightly around you as he drew you closer, laying you so half of your body rested atop of his.

Your eyes felt heavy with exhaustion, felt even heavier than they had before now that you were in a bed, in Daryl’s arms. You felt him lean down until his lips touched your head, he felt you smile into his chest and enough of a silence stretched that you thought he’d gone to sleep when his voice broke it.

“You knew I’d find ya, right?” The words were barely there, whispered so softly that they were nearly lost in the silence, if you hadn’t been laying on top of him there was a chance you would have missed those words.

But you didn’t, you heard them as loudly and as clearly as if he’d shouted them. A smile stretched across your face without you meaning for it to as you registered his question and sure you’d been scared, alone in those woods, scared that you couldn’t handle your own against the walkers or whatever else lurked in the trees but never for a second had it crossed your mind that Daryl wouldn’t come looking for you.

“I never doubted it.” You told him honestly, your words just as soft as his and you heard the smile in his voice at his next words.

“Good, cause I’ll always look for ya.” He promised and you knew his words were truthful, knew that Daryl would hold himself to that promise for the rest of his life.

And that gave you hope, hope that even if the world didn’t get better, even if things stayed like this, it gave you hope that you could continue living and not just living but it gave you hope for a future.

A future with you and Daryl, the two of you getting to live your lives together no matter how and no matter what. You knew that whatever was to come that you’d be fine because you had something nobody else had.

You had Daryl Dixon.

“I’ll try not to lose you again.” You told him and felt the chuckle rumble through his chest as he kissed your head again.

“Never have to worry about that.” He assured you and you couldn’t help but smile wider, “Go t’sleep, Y/N/N.” He whispered and you nodded against him, shuffling in his arms so you were looking up at him and leaned up to press your lips together in a soft kiss, not lasting for more than a few seconds but somehow managing to leave you both breathless.

__________

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Stuck With Me

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Febuwhump Prompt - Blindfolded

Prompt - ‘No one inspires that kind of loyalty quite like he does.’

You thrashed against the strong arms that held you, unable to see your captor as the blindfold that had been tightly, too tightly, secured around your eyes remained in place. You had no idea how much time had actually passed from you being captured to being dragged outside, held firmly in place as people around you cheered, shouting insults as a deep chuckle sounded close to your ear, taking great delight in the chaos.

Your blood had run cold once you were dragged out, the heat from nearby flames doing nothing to warm you up as you heard the snarls and groans of walkers, dreading what was to come.

You knew that Daryl had to be nearby, you’d both been grabbed together and no amount of struggling from either or you, nor Daryl’s shouts and threats, had persuaded your captors to keep you together. Instead you were led far away from each other, his face being the last thing you saw before your vision was taken by the damn blindfold.

“What can I say?” A voice called out, settling the crowd. It was the man holding you who spoke, you could feel the rumble of his chest and felt his breath from how closely he was holding you.

Despite yourself you froze too, desperately trying to gather as much information as you could, trying to form any sort of plan that would get you and Daryl out of there. You listened as the man gave a bullshit speech about how your group were the bad ones…the terrorists. It was probably a good thing the blindfold was in place considering just how often you rolled your eyes, knowing it would probably get you a beating from them or a bullet in the head.

“I am afraid,” He continued and hell, if you were one of his people, one of the people so blinded by the safety of this town, you probably would have believed him too. ”That’s right, I’m afraid of these terrorists who want what we possess, who want to destroy us!”

Angry yells broke out and the Governor let them, a small smirk pulling on his face as he looked from the crowd and then over at his hostages.

“And what is worse is that one of those terrorists is somebody I trusted, somebody you trusted. Merle Dixon.”

You felt your breath catch as your head moved around on its own accord, not caring that the blindfold obstructed your view of everything as you tried to look for him.

“He led these people here to us tonight, he let them in to hurt you, to hurt your families.” The Governor paused, letting his words hang heavy before he continued. “We have some of the terrorist here with us tonight. Merle’s own brother and this one here is the brother’s girlfriend.”

There was another pause as somebody ripped your blindfold off and your eyes scrunched shut despite the fact that there was no sun to blind you, only flames to light the makeshift arena up as people around you expressed their anger, yelling threats as the Governor spoke over them.

“What should we do with them, huh?”

Those were the words that finally had you turning your head, locking eyes with Daryl who looked over at you guiltily but you shook your head at him, if you were going to die tonight you were not going to let Daryl blame himself for it.

He had yelled at you to leave him, to run, as he provided cover for everybody to make it over the fence, but you refused, not willing to leave until Daryl left too. In the mess of flash grenades though you and Daryl had both been taken but still you didn’t regret the decision to not leave without him.

You knew you’d make the same decision again and knew that nothing Daryl did would change your mind. You also knew you had to get out of here alive, all three of you, so that Daryl could kill you himself once you were safe.

Threats for the three of you to be killed were called out unanimously and you felt the man tighten his grip on you, watched as Daryl and Merle glared over at him and heard the words meant for Merle.

“You wanted your brother, now you got him.”

The sound of another voice had your head darting to the side, eyes wide as you looked at a ghost from the past, a woman thought to be dead.

“Let them go, Philip.” Andrea demanded but one of Philip’s men grabbed her, securing her in his arms like you were in his. “They’re my friends!”

“The people have spoken. You said you stand with us, prove it. Brother against brother!” The Governor announced, causing the audience to cheer and chuckle as your head moved back to look at Daryl, too many emotions playing across his face as he looked from you to Merle. “Fight to the death.”

“Don’t do this,” you said, voice cold and devoid of emotion despite the fact your eyes were watery as you watched Daryl shake his head. “Put me in there.” You pleaded.

“Oh don’t you worry, little lady, your time will come.” He whispered into your ear, voice low and deep, meant to be heard by only you.

“Don’t do this.” You repeated, eyes locked on Daryl as Merle began to give a speech about his loyalty to this town.

“You know, Merle told me about you and his brother,” The Governor told you, keeping his voice quiet, watching the scene play out  before him, “told me how his brother had a girl who trusted him with her life, who had managed to claim her loyalty, told me you never questioned him, never doubted him, just trusted his moves, his every decision. Loyalty like that is rare.”

You frowned as you listened to him, not disputing any of his words because yes, you did trust Daryl Dixon in a way you had never trusted anyone before, you trusted Daryl to protect you, but it was more than him saving your life more than once. It was about the bond you’d created with him, you trusted him deeply, knew that he made decisions for a reason and even if you couldn’t always see why he made them eventually you could.

Though you hated to agree with the bastard you knew he was right, the loyalty you had for Daryl was rare.

“I could do with some of that loyalty.” He told you, turning his head so his lips brushed against your ear, and you barely suppressed a shudder, taking a moment to take a deep breath, not speaking until you were certain your voice was strong and even.

“Daryl Dixon has my loyalty until the day I die.” You said, glad as your voice did as you had hoped, you were ready to leave it at that, but you continued talking, knowing that losing Merle had hurt him, hurt his reputation. “The reason a man like you doesn’t have that loyalty is because you don’t deserve it, deep down people can see what type of man you are and trust me when I say, Daryl Dixon is a hundred times the man you’ll ever be.”

Those were the words that struck a nerve it seemed. Just as Merle punched Daryl, sending him to the floor, the Governor pushed you away from him, not giving you a chance to move before his own fist connected with your face.

You let out a cry as you fell to the floor, your head turning away from the Governor’s continued assault just in time to watch Merle beating on Daryl as walkers were brought out.

The Governor continued punching at you before standing to his full height and letting his boot connect with your ribs causing you to choke on your breath as you hunched in on yourself, crying in pain as you were dragged up. The Governor held you in a choke hold and your eyes went wide as your hands flew up to his arm, desperately trying to claw him off you.

“Watch,” He growled in your ear, “Watch as the man you trust so damn much is killed, then see where your loyalties lie.”

“That’s your problem,” You choked out, struggling for breath but refusing to let this man win, “You think you can scare people into being loyal to you, you can’t.”

The man's grip on your neck tightened and you felt the panic running through you as you couldn’t get any air to your lungs and yet somehow you still managed to smile as Daryl and Merle stood back-to-back with one another, taking hits at the walkers that had been brought out.

“See,” You managed to choke out, lightheaded and desperately trying to keep your eyes open. “Another person loyal to Daryl Dixon.”

You knew you needed to shut up, knew that at least one of the Dixon brothers had a plan and your only job was to stay alive long enough for them to execute it. To your left you heard Andrea begging and pleading with the man for him to stop but you just chuckled as best you could as you watched the brothers move together.

The gunshots startled you as screams could be heard around the crowd as people fell down before smoke filled the air quickly and you felt the Governor shift before you saw the gun he pulled out and in the chaos of smoke and the crowd you lost track of Daryl as the Governor began to walk, dragging you along with him as he finally took his arm from your neck and grabbed your forearm instead.

You tried to pull away from him, desperately scratching and thrashing but you couldn’t get away from him, not until gunshots littered the space in front of your feet, stopping either of you from moving and the Governor threw you down to the floor and aimed his gun towards where the shots were coming from.

You wasted no time, quickly moving to stand and running in a random direction.

“Y/N!” You heard a shout and your head shot around as Daryl came up behind you, not stopping as he ran, grabbing your hand in his and pulling you along and you could do little else but let him, feeling nothing but relief flood you as he squeezed your hand in his.

The sound of gunshots could be heard echoing from inside the fence as you all ran out, Rick and Merle bickering over bringing the elder Dixon brother. It was too dangerous to be stood outside the gates, Daryl knew it too and urged everybody to follow as Merle led them into the woods.

Your neck was in agony as you made it back to Glenn and Michonne and as the fight over Merle’s presence broke out you took a step back to rub at the already forming bruises on your neck.

You listened as Glenn and Michonne argued with Rick, demanding to know why he’d been brought back, smiled as Daryl turned to Merle in an attempt to shut him up, watched as everybody’s face changed as Merle mentioned Andrea.

“Andrea’s in Woodbury?” Glenn asked in shock.

“Right next to the Governor.” Daryl told him and you nodded, remembering her words.

“Real close to him, she called him Philip.” You told them with a grimace, your voice coming out scratchy and barely above a whisper as pain shot through your throat.

Daryl immediately turned his attention to you as Rick questioned Michonne, the two of you shutting him out as Daryl stepped closer, letting his hands come up and his fingers brush softly against the bruises.

“Should have left when I told ya to.” He said, letting his head lean forward, coming to rest on your forehead.

You smiled and lifted your own arms and let them rest around his shoulders, fingers coming up to play with his hair.

“Would you have left me there?” You asked him softly, watching him wince at how painful the words sounded.

“Don’t be stupid.” He glared at you, and you couldn’t help but smile, you were supposed to leave him behind, but God forbid you even suggest he would ever leave you.

“We don’t leave each other,” You smiled watching as he looked into your eyes, searching for something, and clearly found it as he nodded against your head. “You’re stuck with me, Dixon.”

Daryl let himself chuckle, you were safe now and that bastard couldn’t hurt you.

“Stuck with me too, Y/L/N.” He murmured, giving himself one more moment of peace with his forehead against yours and your fingers in his hair before he pulled away and listened to what was being said, not leaving your side and you let your hand brush against his.

“Shut up!” Daryl shouted at Merle as he began to yell at the group but was quickly cut off by Rick knocking him out.

You all made your way out of the woods, Rick glaring at Michonne to stay at the car whilst the rest of your group walked away, trying to come up with a solution to the Merle problem, Daryl trying desperately to convince Rick to let him come to the prison.

“It won’t work.” Rick told him but Daryl shook his head as he argued that Merle knew the man who was without a doubt coming for you all.

“We don’t know who she is,” Daryl said as you all looked to Michonne and he was right you didn’t know her, you didn’t know if she would turn out to be a friend or another enemy to add to the list, “Merle’s blood.”

Glenn immediately disagreed and you couldn’t blame him, something more had happened when they’d been taken, something more than Glenn being beaten by Merle.

“My blood, my family is standing right here and waiting for us back at the prison.” Glenn told him firmly.

“You’re part of that family.” Rick told him seriously, looking Daryl in the eyes and you could see him pleading with him, begging Daryl to go with them.

To choose them over Merle Dixon.

“Fine,” Daryl said as you turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow at the thought of him giving up on Merle so quickly, “We’ll fend for ourselves.” He told the group and you let your eyebrow drop because of course Daryl wouldn’t give him up.

“No him, no me.” He told them simple and you gave an inaudible sigh as you looked from Daryl to the rest of the group and over to Merle who was awake and leaning against a tree.

Great, you thought to yourself, back to sleeping in the woods.

You had never gotten used to being without a bed, sleeping on the floor, even in a tent you had never been fond of it. You’d grown used to the prison, the mattress may have been another form of punishment for the prisoners but after months of sleeping in a tent it felt like a cloud and now you didn’t know how long it would be until you slept on a bed again.

You glared at Merle as the group tried to persuade Daryl to stay.

As Daryl walked away from the group you let out a louder sigh and followed him.

“Wow, hey, where are you going?” Maggie asked as she grabbed your arm and out of the corner of your eye you saw Daryl pause as they all turned to you.

“Apparently I’m going to live in the woods.” You grimaced before gently pulling away from her and jogging over to Daryl who raised an eyebrow at you as he pulled a bag from the car.

“You don’t have to leave.” He told you quietly, but you just rolled your eyes at him.

“Yeah I do, we don’t leave each other, remember?” You smiled, watching as his expression shifted and he looked at you in disbelief.

“You don’t gotta do this.” He told you again and you just grabbed the bag off him, making your way into the woods before turning around so you were walking backwards.

“You’re stuck with me, Dixon.” You told him with a grin before turning away and heading over to Merle who grinned at you.

“You willing to give up a warm bed and food for Daryl?” Merle asked you, seeing how Daryl had frozen as he kept staring at your retreating figure.

“For Daryl.” You confirmed easily, meaning it with every fibre of your being.

“You must really love him then, huh? I still remember you moanin’ like a damn bitch over sleepin’ on the floor, eating squirrels…” Merle said trailing off with a chuckle.

“I do.” You confessed to Merle, voice soft as you glanced over your shoulder and saw Daryl making his way over to the two of you.

“Then he’s damn lucky.” Merle murmured quietly as Daryl neared, the words only meant for you.

“You really don’t have to do this.” Daryl told you for a third time and you smiled up at him, expression soft as you took his hand in yours and gave it a squeeze.

“Let’s go.” You said, nodding to Merle who nodded back before leading the way.

Daryl was wrong because you did have to do this. The Governor had been right in his assessment of you, his take on your blind faith in Daryl. He had been right that loyalty was rare in this world, but nobody had your loyalty quite like Daryl Dixon had and you knew that for as long as you should live nothing could break that and you would follow him blindly for the rest of your life.

__________

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Febuwhump Prompt - Friendly Fire

Prompt - ‘And when the walls come crashing down you'll realise home was never the walls around you, home was the people within those walls. Home was him."

You weren’t fully aware of just how you had gotten to where you were, sat next to a small fire, snake in your hand and Daryl sat as close to you as he could get, your sides pressed together as he continued to shoot you worried glances every few moments. You remembered the prison, remembered watching as The Governor used Michonne’s weapon to kill Hershel, watched as he had destroyed your home and for what?

You remembered losing track of everybody in the chaos and remembered not even seeing Daryl but feeling him grab your hand as he ran past you in a blur, not giving you a chance to realise what was happening but once you saw it was Daryl you had just let yourself be pulled along, trusting that he’d get you somewhere safe.

And of course he had, pulling you along for so long that your sides ached and the sounds from the prison faded into the distance, your home just gone like it was nothing, your family had lost each other and for what?

You didn’t say anything as you stared into the flames, thoughts running faster than you could keep up with. Your eyes scrunched tightly together in an attempt to slow them down but it didn’t work and with a soft groan you let your head fall to the side, resting against Daryl’s shoulder and found it helped.

Of course it helped because even though dead people were roaming the earth, even though you’d lost more people than you could count, even though you’d lost a place you thought you could call home, you’d lost your friends, friends who had become family, even despite all that you know it could get worse. If Daryl hadn’t found you, if he hadn’t pulled you along with him out of that prison, you would have felt like the world had ended again but ten times worse than now.

Daryl was your rock. He had been the one to find you wandering around alone in the city that had been taken over by the dead, a city that had been bombed by its own government. You’d been starving when he found you, dehydrated, covered in a mix of walker blood and your own. You smiled as you remembered him thrusting a crossbow in your face, barking out questions about whether you’d been bitten or not, whether you had a group. Eventually, he lowered the weapon causing you to breathe a sigh of relief and began walking away, gesturing for you to follow him with a nod.

In the first few months Daryl definitely regretted that decision, not used to somebody clinging to him like you had. You remembered his attitude towards you to begin with, remembered Shane’s gentle suggestions that you should join them instead of sitting off Daryl, should back away from the Dixon brothers but you ignored the warnings and it took a lot of time and patience before Daryl finally warmed up to you.

Once he had though you two had become inseparable, occasionally Daryl did still snap at you, sometimes needing time alone and not knowing how to tell you, he’d never had somebody like you in his life, somebody so good, so optimistic, who wanted to be around him. You always just smiled at the outburst though, a soft smile and a squeeze of the hand was all you gave him before you wandered off, giving him the time he needed until he came to find you, taking a seat with you and giving you a smile of his own.

“You doing ok?” He asked you, voice low to match the atmosphere around you. You stayed silent for a few moments, not quite sure how to answer the question before you took a steadying breath before asking a question of your own.

“You think we’ll find any of them?” Your voice just as soft as his.

Daryl’s silence was enough of an answer and you sniffed as you blinked away the sudden wetness in your eyes, taking another deep breath.

“I’m glad we’re together.” You told him and he couldn’t help but smile at that because he was thinking the same thing, he didn’t know what he would have done if he hadn’t found you.

Instead of saying anything though Daryl just hummed but you smiled into his shoulder, well versed in all things Daryl Dixon to know that it meant he was glad you were both together too.

“Where do we go now?” You asked him and he stayed silent for a long while before speaking.

“We go wherever we want.”

The next day the two of you set off again, Daryl suggesting you try to find shelter or failing that at least gather some supplies. By some miracle the two of you came across an old but elegant looking house, standing tall and seemingly safe.

“Stay behind me.” Daryl told you, pushing you behind him before he raised the crossbow and pushed the door open, banging against it as he did and waited for any sign of walkers. Daryl turned to you and you raised an eyebrow at him, he waited a few seconds longer before walking in, gesturing for you to follow closely behind.

It took a while to search the whole house both due to the size of it and because you kept getting distracted by all the trinkets and luxuries that the obviously rich owner possessed. Daryl had rolled his eyes as he watched you hold a necklace up, watching as the sunlight made the diamonds shine brightly but there was a softness to him as he fought back a smile.

“Wow.” You grinned when Daryl opened the cupboards, junk food lined up like they were prepared for the end of the world long before anyone else knew it was happening. “I’ve missed chips.”

“Help ya self.” He said as he searched through the cupboards putting some food out on the table and you smiled at his back before doing as he said, grabbing a variety of different snacks and placing yourself at the table and digging in.

It was weird how normal this felt, weird how easy it was to forget about the outside world as you and Daryl sat together, having long since made your way into the living room, the two of you on the sofa with Daryl’s arm resting against the length of it, so close to you that he could feel your hair against his forearm.

The two of you were sharing a bottle of something expensive between you, you laughing as Daryl spoke, missing how his eyes lit up at the sight of you so happy and carefree, trusting him completely.

Here, locked away in this house, only you and Daryl existed, no walkers, no Governor’s, no beheadings or fights…just you and Daryl. It felt like before the world had gone to hell. You could imagine it was like before except you knew that this would never be a possibility, knew that before this you and Daryl would never have crossed paths.

The thought seemed almost impossible now, it was hard to recall a time when Daryl Dixon wasn’t by your side and you couldn’t help but selfishly be a bit glad that the world had ended if it meant knowing Daryl.

You shifted closer to him as you wondered just how you’d gone so long without knowing him, how you’d lived your life everyday oblivious to the fact that Daryl even existed and hated that you knew if you’d met back then you probably wouldn’t have let yourself get to know him, knew Daryl wouldn’t let himself get to know you.

It was a strange feeling, being glad about the apocalypse.

“You ok?” He asked you, noticing your expression turn from happy to wistful.

“I’m really glad I met you, Daryl Dixon.” You told him, looking up and not realising just how close you’d gotten to him.

Daryl looked down at you, hesitating before lifting his hand to your head, letting his fingers brush a strand of hair from your face before they trailed down your temple to rest against your cheek. He could feel his heart threatening to beat out of his chest as he felt you smile under his hand.

“Glad I met you too.” He confessed, tone gruffer than he intended but it made you smile more, you didn’t know too much about Daryl’s romantic past but you knew there wasn’t much to talk about. It was good that he was nervous, it made you feel better knowing that it wasn’t just you.

“Daryl,” You whispered, so many thoughts in your head that you weren’t quite sure how to articulate them.

You didn’t have to though, you never had to really, because just as you were well versed in all things Daryl Dixon, he was just as good when it came to you, knowing what you wanted to say even if you didn’t.

“Me too,” He said just as quietly as you had been and you let your hand rest on his jaw, thumb brushing against his cheek before you moved closer, slowly giving him time to pull away if he wanted to.

He didn’t though, instead he met you halfway, letting your lips brush against each other’s softly and slowly, the movements slightly awkward but neither of you noticed or cared, too absorbed in each other, in how right it felt to finally kiss each other after months of back and forth flirting, months of testing the water before backing off, neither of you willing to risk the bond you had with one another.

Now it seemed foolish to wait so long, especially when you could lose each other any day, the events from the prison showed you that and maybe that’s why now was the time for it.

The kiss was interrupted when you heard a clatter from outside. Daryl pulled away with a soft groan, letting his forehead rest against yours as you both listened but the sound continued.

“Maybe it’s just somebody who lives here?” You whispered, watching as Daryl squinted and sighed, leaning forward to place a quick, slightly unsure, kiss against your lips before standing and picking his crossbow up, turning towards you with a stern look.

“Don’t move, stay here.” He warned and you nodded, pulling your knife from your boot, nervously playing with it as you listened to the sound of Daryl’s footsteps, praying that it was just nothing but knowing that you couldn’t be that lucky.

“Y/N, get outta here!” Daryl shouted, causing your stomach to drop.

You immediately shot up and ran towards the front door, watching as Daryl struggled to hold it shut as walkers piled up, pushing against it and trying to force their way in. Daryl watched you take a step towards him and immediately shook his head.

“Go!” He yelled at you but you shook your head back.

“I’m not leaving you here!” You protested.

“M’right behind ya, just get outta the house, meet me out by the road, yeah?” He said, nodding at you and watched as you nodded back before shooting him a desperate, pleading look.

“Stay safe.” You said and he smiled.

“Right behind ya.” He told you again, softer this time and felt relief flood through him as he watched you run.

You ran through the house, quickly making your way out of the back door that was thankfully free from walkers and continued to run, making your way over to the road as Daryl had told you too.

You made the mistake of glancing over your shoulder, looking to see if Daryl was coming when suddenly you felt the world tip before you cried out in pain as your head connected with the pavement, already feeling blood trickle down from the cut.

You blinked hard before you shot up upon hearing the snarls of a walker, having to pause for a second as the pain in your head blinded you, the feel of a hand on your leg causing you to scramble back as best you could but the walker was not giving up its hold on you.

You glanced around, looking for your knife and groaned when you saw it had ended up flung ahead of you, too far for you to reach. The walker continued to make its way closer to you and you tried to fight it off but you couldn’t, trying to keep moving back as best you could with its grip on you.

Just before you could call Daryl you were flinching as walker blood and brains splattered all over you as a bat was brought down on its head before you let out a huff of relief. The relief was cut short as you saw a man in a black mask gesture for two other men behind you to grab you.

“Daryl!” You yelled desperately as the men easily pulled you up.

Daryl had finally managed to fight his way out of the house and moved even faster as he heard your panicked cries calling for him. He ran out of the back door, not even hesitating with pulling the trigger on the crossbow, immediately taking one of the men down before he turned his attention to the other two.

They were both blocked by you but Daryl knew he could make one of the shots and keep you safe, he watched as one of them kept you in front of him, the two of you facing Daryl as he led you backwards towards the car, you silently pleading with Daryl not to let them take you.

The man not holding you tried to move quickly over to the driver's seat but he wasn’t quick enough for Daryl who released the arrow the moment he moved away from you. Then there was the one holding you, he was now looking towards his friend but quickly snapped his gaze back to Daryl.

Daryl glared as he tried to get a clear shot but he couldn’t, not without hurting you and he couldn’t do it. He waited, anxiety flooding through him as he saw tears make their way down your face before he finally, finally, had the shot.

He released the trigger again, watching as the arrow flew towards the man holding you and watched as he turned, positioning you so you took the arrow to your thigh, a cry of pain leaving you as the man chuckled and opened the car door, pulling a gun out as Daryl went to step forward, instantly stopping him in his tracks.

Daryl felt the urge to cry himself but took a deep breath, not focusing on the fact that you had a damn arrow sticking out of you that he had put there, trying not to focus on your cries or the fear displayed clearly across your face.

Instead he focused on the man holding you, watched every move he made, watched as he got too cocky and turned away from Daryl. Daryl took the opportunity to move two steps to the left, barely noticeable but giving him full advantage.

He didn’t wait for the man to turn around, didn’t hesitate as he pulled the trigger a final time and watched with satisfaction as the man hit the floor before he even knew what was happening.

Daryl watched as you wobbled, the man no longer holding you up had you seconds away from joining him on the floor but before you knew it Daryl’s own familiar, comfortable, arms were wrapping around you and you buried your head in his chest, sobbing against it as he held you tight.

“You’re alright, I got you, not gonna let anyone take you.” Daryl continued to whisper reassurances into your hair until you calmed down.

Once your tears had subsided Daryl pulled back and cupped your cheek in his hand, his fingers brushing away some of the blood from the cut. You watched him frown before shaking his head.

“Damn lucky we packed the medical supplies.” He muttered as he moved around you to help you sit down on the backseat, apologising as you winced against the arrow in your thigh.

“I’m so sorry,” He said quietly, guilty.

“Don’t be, please,” You said, sniffing back more tears, “Please don’t be sorry, you saved me.”

“I shot you!” He exclaimed, angry at himself for taking the shot, for letting you go off alone, for letting you get hurt on his watch.

“Hey,” You called softly, getting his attention. You lifted your hand and brushed some hair away from his face, smiling as he leaned into your touch. “You saved me.”

You watched him look up into your eyes, searching for any hint of a lie, of resentment, of fear, of hatred, all things he would deserve but he saw nothing but trust and something else, something soft that he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

“Ok.” He said simply, nodding before rooting through the bag, pulling alcohol, cloths, a needle and thread out, shooting you an apologetic look. “This is gonna hurt like a bitch.”

That was, quite possibly, the understatement of the century because as soon as Daryl pulled the arrow out of your thigh…there were no words to describe the pain, the burning sensation that seemed to spread through your entire body and you had to bite down so hard on your lip to stop from screaming that you ended up splitting it.

Daryl worked quickly but all his touches were gentle, trying to provide comfort where he could. The entire time he worked he spoke soft words of encouragement, watching as they seemed to help, giving you something to focus on.

“Ya doin’ great, nearly there, attagirl.” He continued to murmur and you kept taking deep breaths trying desperately to only listen to his words.

“All done.” He told you and you let out a loud sigh, a mix of relief, tiredness, pain and gratitude all rolled into one. Daryl kneeled up so he was face to face with you and let his hand brush your hair off your sweat stained forehead. “You did good.” He told you with a smile and you couldn’t help but let out a huff of laughter as you leaned down and captured his lips in yours, feeling him kiss back.

The kiss stayed soft and slow, you were exhausted and Daryl’s nerves were too high but you both needed this, needed a minute to see that you were both ok, you were both alive and together.

“You saved me.” You whispered against his lips as the two of you pulled away and Daryl looked up at you with wide, wet eyes. You let your fingers go up to his hair, running them through and pulling gently at the knots. “Thank you.”

“Don’t ever have to thank me for that, we look out for each other, yeah?” Daryl asked and you nodded, smiling down at him brightly despite the tiredness pulling at your eyes and the pain in your thigh. “Get some sleep,” He told you, gesturing for you to lay across the back seat, “I’ll get us somewhere safe.”

“I’m good,” You told him both of you knowing it was a lie and Daryl smiled at you, rolling his eyes fondly as he gestured to the back seat again.

“Get some sleep, I’m gonna be right here.” He promised and you nodded, leaning down to kiss him once more before you finally listened to him and made yourself as comfortable as possible across the back seats of the car, smiling as you felt a familiar leather vest being placed over your chest.

Somehow, despite everything, you still felt safer than ever as you held the leather vest close, pulling it up and breathing in the scent that reminded you of home before you let your eyes fall shut, the sound of the engine starting as you began to fall asleep.

“I’m right here,” You heard Daryl promise again, softly as if he was speaking more to himself than you but you still let yourself smile, cuddling further into the vest before finally drifting off, trusting Daryl entirely.

__________

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Wolf and All

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Febuwhump Prompt - Caged

Prompt - ‘The secrets we hide will always come out in the end, we just have to hope that love is enough."

For months you had watched silently, listening to the excuses, the lies. You smiled and nodded, showing no signs of distrust, no signs that you knew every word was a lie. You still stayed close to him, let him hold you in his arms, cuddled him in front of the fireplace as you laughed along with him, with his friends and listened to them all lie.

Remus Lupin was lying and you were determined to figure out what he was hiding.

Your first thought had gone to another girl. Remus was suspicious, sneaking away multiple times a day looking stressed, agitated, before coming back relaxed and calmer. You thought he was seeing somebody else but that theory was pushed away quickly because even though he was lying to you, you knew deep down that wasn’t the type of person that Remus Lupin was.

It turns out other theories were harder to come by, when one’s boyfriend was being sneaky it usually was because of another person but now you had to try and piece together another reason for the lies.

You remembered the excuses he’d used, most of them generic like he was tired or he had homework. You note how some days he really did seem more tired than usual, a tiredness that couldn’t quite be fixed with sleep, a tiredness that you could feel in every movement. You watched as he winced, how when you cuddled into him sometimes he tried to hide grimaces and hisses of pain.

Try as you might, you couldn’t come up with any plausible theories that could lead to the lying and the sneaking around, the fresh scars and quiet suffering. You ran through more scenarios than you could count trying to find something that seemed likely but couldn’t figure anything out.

Today you’d had enough.

From the moment you’d entered the common room Remus had been short tempered, snapping at you over nothing and stalking out of the common room. You hardly heard from him for the rest of the day, just continued to watch him carefully, watched how his shoulders stayed tense, watched as he glared and snapped at anybody who dared speak to him, watched him be the complete opposite of his usual self.

Something was wrong and you were done watching silently from the background. You and Remus had been together for two years, friends for even longer, and yet he didn’t trust you with whatever secret he was hiding. You shook your head as you stirred your potion, eyes focused on Remus as you decided enough was enough.

That night at dinner you sat a few seats away on the opposite side of him, making yourself look busy as you played with the food on your plate, waiting for Remus’ next move. He stayed where he was though, picking at the food on his plate and glaring around the Great Hall.

His eyes locked on yours and the glare didn’t soften instead he glared at you before he turned away, leaving you feeling angry yourself, knowing you hadn’t done anything to warrant the cold, silent treatment. You knew it wasn’t just you he was being uncharacteristically angry towards but you didn’t care, it wasn’t continuing.

You watched as Remus stood up with the three other boys all making their way out of the Great Hall and gave it a few seconds before you stood too, following behind them but keeping your distance, wanting to see where they were going. Pretty quickly you realised that they were just heading back to the common room and rolled your eyes, knowing that it was when Remus went off alone you needed to be alert.

So you sat in a corner of the common room, watching the boys take the spaces in front of the fireplace, the other three laughing and joking as Remus scowled down at a book.

It was hours later and the common room was mostly empty. You glanced over the top of your book and saw the boys shooting you worried and slightly impatient glances as the sun began to set outside the windows. You didn’t say anything though, trying to make it seem like you were too absorbed in your book to notice any moves they made but none of them moved.

James and Sirius looked away from you and over at each other, seemingly having a silent conversation before Sirius made his way over to you, sitting on the arm of your chair and pulling the book from your hand.

“Good book?” He asked and you looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. “It’s getting late,” he said as casually as he could, giving you no time to answer as he gestured towards the stairs, “you should head to bed.”

“And since when are you so concerned with my sleeping hours?” You asked him, trying to sound bored and uninterested.

“Forgive me for wanting to make sure you get your beauty sleep.” He chuckled and you noted the way it seemed slightly forced as he looked out of the window before turning to you again and standing from the chair, holding a hand out for you with a grin.

You rolled your eyes at him but let yourself be pulled up from the chair, waving over at James and Peter on the sofas and resisted the urge to roll your eyes as Remus continued to glare down at the book. You let Sirius lead you towards the stairs, bidding you goodnight and not turning away until you’d rounded the corner.

“You should head out.” Sirius said, causing your eyebrows to knit together questioningly, keeping your back to the wall as you listened to them, “See you in the morning.”

You didn’t hear Remus reply but you did hear the portrait door open and close.

“You think she knows?” You heard James ask quietly as the boys made their way over to the stairs, turning towards the boy’s dormitory.

“She knows something’s wrong; we just have to help him make sure his secret stays a secret.” Sirius said and you frowned as their door shut, cutting off anything else.

You hurried back down the stairs and out of the portrait door, only a few seconds had passed since Remus left the common room and you smiled as you saw him round the corner, following after him but being sure to keep your distance.

It wasn’t long before Remus stopped at the front doors of the castle, Madam Pomfrey stood waiting for and gave him a soft, reassuring smile as she held the door open for him, gently patting his shoulder as he walked out.

You felt your confusion grow as you managed to squeeze your way through the closing door, easily avoiding being seen by the darkening sky as you continued to follow them. You watched in slight amazement as the Whomping Willow came to a sudden halt and watched as Remus and Madam Pomfrey disappeared through a secret entrance.

You had two options right now, continue following them and risk the tree becoming active again or turn around and go back to the common room. With a deep breath you darted across the grass, waiting for the moment branches started swinging again but somehow you managed to make your way through the secret entrance before you heard movement from outside.

A huff of relief left you and you followed the light you could see in the distance from Madam Pomfrey’s wand, completely and utterly confused as to why Remus had been brought to what looked like an old house, dust surrounding the different surfaces and planks of wood hung dangerously from the walls, looking like it would fall apart with only a soft breeze.

Despite your confusion you followed the two of them into one of the rooms, panicking as they both stopped and quickly hid yourself behind some boxes in the room, listening as Madam Pomfrey spoke.

“Now dear, I’ll be back first thing in the morning,” she told him and you felt your eyebrows knit together, the morning?

A few more words were traded between them before Madam Pomfrey left the room, the wards magically sealing as she left, locking you and Remus in the room together.

You peeked through the boxes and saw Remus begin to strip out of his uniform before he sat heavily on the bed, seemingly waiting for something.

What in Merlin’s name is going on? You thought to yourself but were pulled out of your head when Remus let out a cry of pain. You peeked through the boxes again and saw him hunched over, watching as his limbs seemed to stretch, bones poking out of his skin as he continued crying out.

The cries seemed to turn into growls and howls as you watched his back arch unnaturally before he pushed himself off the bed, landing on the dusty floor and as quickly as he had started it was over and you were left staring in horror at the creature on the floor.

I just caged myself in a room with a werewolf, you thought to yourself as fear ran through your body, you holding your breath, desperate not to make a single noise to attract the wolf’s attention to you.

Thankfully the wolf stayed hunched on the floor, the transition taking a lot of energy out of him but then he lifted his head sharply, looking around the room as he let out a few loud sniffs and you closed your eyes, hand resting on your mouth in an attempt to smother any noises.

You heard him walk around, paws echoing around the silent room as the sounds got closer and closer to you. You felt your breathing speed up, still desperately trying to silence yourself as tears slipped down cheeks and cursing yourself for not letting Remus keep his secrets.

You kept your eyes close but felt your heart stop as you felt breath against your face, fear coursed through your body as you prepared yourself for what was about to happen, preparing yourself for the absolute worse.

A violent flinch spread throughout your entire body when you felt the wolf nuzzle his snout against your cheek before a tongue came out to lick at it, wiping the tears away only for them to be replaced a second later.

When the wolf let out a whine you forced your eyes open, a terrified gasp leaving you as you saw the wolf right in front of you but he just whined again, butting his head against yours with more force.

“R-remus?” You managed to stutter out, voice barely above a whisper and you could feel your heart in your throat but the wolf just lowered his face, nuzzling into your neck but paused as you tensed up, waiting for his teeth to sink into the skin.

The wolf whined again before pulling back and lay down in a pile of long limbs, almost seeming grumpy. You stared down at him for a moment before you lifted your hand, watching how the wolf was instantly on alert, lifting his head up eagerly as he watched you lowered it, leaning up himself so that your hand rested on his snout.

“Remus?” You asked again, this time your voice was more steady, slightly louder as you looked down at him. You ran your hand across his snout, rubbing the soft skin and watched as the wolf lay his head back down, this time resting on your thigh.

You stared down at him, feeling too many emotions run through you as you watched the wolf close its eyes, watched as it dozed off against you. You didn’t know too much about werewolves, didn’t know much more than a bite from them was life ruining, but you did know that they weren’t supposed to behave like supernatural overgrown puppies.

Suddenly though everything seemed to make sense, the fresh and healed scars, the winces, the angry outbursts…everything just made sense.

Your boyfriend was a werewolf.

As the night went on you found yourself relaxing, the wolf apparently deciding the best way to spend the full moon trapped inside was to sleep against you. He had long since moved from his position on your thigh and nudged at you until you moved, taking his robe in your teeth to pull you across the room. You had watched as he nosed at the  dusty pillows until they fell on the floor and pushed you down so you were laying against them, from there he had curled up around you and fell back to sleep.

Despite the wolf’s uncharacteristic response to you, you didn’t plan on falling asleep in the same room as him but eventually you ended up doing just that, fingers slowly coming to a stop as they ran through the hair on his back and eyes falling shut.

The next thing you knew Remus was shaking you awake, pale faced and looking seconds away from throwing up. You didn’t even have a second to comprehend what was happening as he was launched into a scared rant.

“What in the world were you thinking?” He began, already moving away from you and pacing the length of the room, despite that though you couldn’t help but smile as he looked more refreshed than he had in days. “Do you have any idea of what could have happened last night? Any idea of how much danger you had been in? I could have killed you, Y/N, I could have bit you!”

You tried to speak but Remus wasn’t looking at you, he continued to walk up and down, shaking his head as he let his thoughts run wild.

“Was this a joke to you? Did you want me to hurt you? I couldn’t have lived with myself if I woke up this morning to find you dead on the floor because of me, to find you with a bite mark because of me.”

As Remus continued to stress over the what if’s you stood up and made your way over to him, stopping him in his tracks and wrapping your arms around his shoulder, letting your fingers play with the hair on the back of his head.

“You’re ok,” You murmured, pulling his head down and resting your foreheads together, “you’re ok, I’m ok. Nobody was bitten, nobody is dead. I know now it was dangerous but believe me I didn’t know.”

“What were you thinking?” He asked you, wide, guilty eyes filled with tears.

“I was worried about you,” You told him simply, “You were so angry at everybody, angry at me. You haven’t been sleeping, you’re in pain and the scars…I knew something was wrong and you weren’t going to tell me so I followed you.”

“I could have hurt you.” He murmured, lifting a hand to cup your cheek, brushing his thumb against your skin.

“But you didn’t.” You assured him and you watched him shut his eyes, a single tear making its way down his cheek.

“I’m so sorry,” He said, so quietly that despite how close you were you almost missed it, “I’ll leave you alone, I promise.”

“What are you talking about?” You asked him, eyebrows pulling together in confusion.

“Don’t make this harder, Y/N/N, we both know that you don’t want to be with a werewolf. I always knew this day would come, I had just hoped we had more time.” Remus whispered, eyes still closed and missing the way your face turned from confused to offended.

“You think I’d leave you over this?” You asked, the tone of your voice had him opening his eyes and seeing the look of disbelief on your face. “Remus, I love you, wolf and all.”

Remus stared at you in shock, looking down at you for a long moment before his face shifted into a look of his own disbelief.

“Wolf and all?” He asked you after opening and closing his mouth but having no words come out.

“Wolf and all.” You confirmed, smiling up at him.

Remus let out a wet laugh as more tears ran down his face and he crashed his lips against yours in an uncoordinated kiss, his finger sliding up and gripping your hair as you tightened your own grip around his neck, kissing back just as messily.

The two of you pulled away when you heard the sound of footsteps walking up to the door. You stared at Remus with wide eyes and he gestured for you to hide but then stopped you with a hand on yours, pulling you in for a softer gentler kiss, completely unbelieving that he had gotten so lucky as to have you in his life.

“I love you too.” He whispered, loving the way your eyes lit up at the words despite hearing them a thousand times before you turned to hide, fully intending to continue what he had started later.

_________

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