1-imaginary-girl

[1-imaginary-girl]

This show means so much to me, if it matters to you too please sign this petition to save it

Y'ALL

WE HAVE GOTTEN FEEDBACK FROM HBO MAX AND HAVE THEIR ATTENTION TO SAVE SHADOW AND BONE AND GIVE US OUR SIX OF CROWS SPIN OFF

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO SAVE SHADOW AND BONE AND OUR CROWS TO GET OUR SPIN OFFS AND MORE, THE SCRIPTS ARE COMPLETED ALREADY BEFORE NETFLIX CANCELLED THEM

SIGN THE PETITION TO HELP SAVE SHADOW AND BONE AND OUR BELOVED CROWS

Save Shadow And Bone

[1-imaginary-girl]

A Mischievous Love Story - Part 8

Loki x Reader, Thor x Reader (platonic)

Summary: The reader and Loki were madly in love until you found out that he died. Deciding to follow Thor on his adventures, you soon find out the truth about what happened to your boyfriend. This series is a re-telling of Thor: Ragnarök with the reader inserted into the story. Reader uses she/her pronouns.

Warnings: Descriptive violence.

Word Count: 5.2k

Prologue Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

I've finally returned to this series and yes it was because of season 2 of Loki and yes I'm still completely wrecked over it. There isn't much interaction between Loki and the reader this part, apologies for that, but after this it will be mainly just them as I stray from the plot of the movie to focus on their romance!

She’s my wife. The words echo in your mind over and over again as you stare at Loki. You heard him say those words, you know you did, and yet there’s no way that could have happened. There’s no way that he just called you his wife. Right?

Your mouth is hanging open and you want to close it or say something but you're in shock. Loki shoots a glance your way and grimaces. There’s no way.

“Your wife?” the Grandmaster asks, equally as confused as you. For some reason, you also hear disappointment in his voice. But you don’t have time to dissect that. The Grandmaster looks at you and then down at your hand. The jig is up, you think. “I never noticed that.”

Wait what? You look down at your left hand and again appear utterly shocked. There, on your ring finger, sits a wedding ring. It’s absolutely gorgeous. A gold band with emerald leaves wrapping around it. For a moment, it all feels real. The ring is perfect and you're married to the man you love. But reality settles in all too quickly.

The ring has been conjured up by Loki’s magic. You look at his hand and see a matching band. You remember that you're not married to the man you love. You're pretending to be married to a man who broke your heart. And the pieces plummet into your stomach, sinking like stone.

You want to glare at Loki but the Grandmaster is still looking your way. If you don’t play along, he’ll probably punish Loki for trying to lie to him. So you send a smile his way and nod. You can’t get yourself to speak.

“Please, let her go. She can stay here with me. I promise she’ll fit right in,” Loki says, using his most persuasive tone of voice. The Grandmaster seems to consider it.

“Alright,” he says. You toss aside your anger for now and rejoice in the fact that you don’t have to fight anyone. Although you will not be thanking Loki for getting you out. Not like this. “If your wife prevails in her fight, she will be free to accompany you in your place among the higher-ups.”

“Wait what?” Loki says and you slump a little in defeat. But you don’t let it keep you down. All you have to do is win one fight and you're free to enjoy a luxurious vacation until you can find a way to escape this planet.

“It’s a deal,” you say, looking at the Grandmaster. He smiles as if you've just sealed your fate. But you're used to people underestimating you and you've come to enjoy it. It only makes it that much more satisfying when you win.

“Wait, can’t we just—” Loki tries to say something but the Grandmaster’s mind is set. He extends a hand towards one of your restrained hands. You shake it to the best of your abilities despite your hand being tied down.

“I look forward to seeing how this plays out,” he says with a giddy smile on his face. 

“As do I,” you say.

“Y/N—”

“See you on the battlefield,” the Grandmaster says before he hits a button on some remote and your chair is moving. You're caught off guard but determined not to show any fear. Instead, you'll focus on anger. 

"Y/N!" Loki calls after you again but the wheels have already been set in motion. There’s no going back. 

†††

Your surroundings pass by you in a blur, and you find it hard to focus on anything you pass. You allow the chair to take you where it’s programmed to go without resistance. Next thing you know, you're being hauled into a circular, white room and you land roughly on the ground, snapping you from your thoughts. You turn just in time to see the big cell door being slammed shut. You contemplate taking your anger out on the door, but you feel so drained of energy that you just let your head fall back with a sigh.

“Are you alright?” You hear a voice say, causing you to jump as you hadn’t taken note of anyone else in here. You push yourself onto your elbows and turn your head. “Over here! Big pile of rocks waving at you.”

As the voice said, you see an alien made of rocks casually sitting against the cell wall with his hand raised to wave. You've seen aliens like him, but not this species specifically. Beside him is another alien with purple skin that reminds you of an insect, with four black beady eyes and mandibles for a mouth. The creature is also in a full suit of armour with two blades where its arms should be.

“Yeah, I’m actually a thing, I’m a being,” the rock alien says. “Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Korg. I’m kind of like the leader in here. I’m made of rocks, as you can see, but don’t let that intimidate you. You don’t need to be afraid unless you’re made of scissors.” The alien, Korg, giggles to himself as he and the other alien stand up. “Just a little rock-paper-scissors joke for you. This is my very good friend over here, Miek. He’s an insect and has knives for hands.”

Miek moves his arm/blades around in what looks like a karate move, but you think it’s meant to be a gesture for hello. That was a hell of an introduction, you think to yourself. As this isn’t the strangest interaction you've had today, you slowly stand up to properly greet them.

“Hi,” you say with a little wave, which feels awkward but they seem to respond well to it. “My name is Y/N.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Y/N,” Korg says and Miek does another karate-like gesture. Your brain is pounding from your previous conversation but you figure you should be polite. Especially if you are going to be stuck in here for who knows how long with them.

“So,” you say, wondering what to ask. “What are you guys in for?”

“Well I tried to start a revolution but didn’t print enough pamphlets, so hardly anyone turned up,” Korg says. “Except for my mum and her boyfriend, who I hate. As punishment, I was forced to be in here and become a gladiator. Bit of a promotional disaster.” Then he leans in and starts to whisper. “Actually, I’m trying to organize another revolution right now. It’s a bit underdeveloped at the moment, but don’t let that deter you. Do you reckon you’d be interested in something like that?”

“No, actually I’m a bit busy at the moment.” You look past Korg and down the hall of this weird prison. If you can find an exit, maybe you can escape before the fight. From there, you can try to commandeer a ship and go back to Asgard. Simple. A quick breath, and you take off running down the circle. You're only running for a few seconds before Korg reappears in front of you.

You widen your eyes and look back before facing the alien again. “Did you—”

“Ah, yeah, no, this whole thing is a circle. But not a real circle, more like a freaky circle,” he says, and you just scrunch your face, trying to wrap your head around the whole thing. When’s the last time you've had a proper rest? You know, without being knocked out. Feels like a lifetime ago. “It doesn’t make much sense, but nothing around here makes sense. That’s the only thing that makes sense.”

You slump down against the wall as Korg talks. “So, I’m really stuck in here?” 

“I’m afraid so. But it isn’t all bad. Miek and I have made up a few games to pass the time. For example, there’s this one called—”

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t think I’m up for any games at the moment.” You sigh and let your head hit the wall. “It’s been a long day.”

Korg gives you a sympathetic look before nodding. “I get that. Feel free to have a rest, Miek and I will look over you if you’d like,” he says. Despite everything that’s happened, you smile at them.

“Thank you.” Korg gives a nod while Miek does another expression you can’t quite figure out. With that, you settle against the wall. It’s not the most comfortable, but you've slept in worse. You sigh and sleep quickly takes over.

You're not sure how long you've slept for, but you're abruptly woken up by the sounds of shouting.

“Stay away from her, you freaky ghost!” you hear Korg yell. Groggily, you pull your eyes open to see Miek in a fighting stance and Korg throwing fallen bits of himself at—

“I just need to talk to her, I’m not going to hurt her!” Loki says. He’s standing a few feet away from you. You're confused as you watch Korg’s rocks pass through him before you fully wake up and understand it’s an illusion. Part of you is hurt, another isn’t so surprised anymore. Another one of his tricks.

“Like I’m going to trust the word of a freakin’ ghost!” Korg yells back. You realize that they really did watch over you as you slept, which makes you smile. As much as you love seeing Korg try to hit Loki with rocks, the two of you need to talk.

“It’s okay guys,” you speak up, clearing your throat. They all turn to look at you and Loki looks relieved. “I know him.”

Korg looks him over and Miek doesn’t stand down until Korg gives the go ahead. “You’re safe for now ghost,” Korg says threateningly. Korg looks at you once again and when you nod your head to say that you're okay, him and Miek walk a little way down the circle to give you two privacy.

“Making new friends already?” Loki jokes, trying to lighten the mood. You don’t respond. Instead, you look down at the ring still on your finger. Loki sighs. “I understand you’re upset—” You glare at him and he sighs again. “Look I’m sorry, but it was the only thing I could think of to protect you!” 

You bristle at that. “So tell him that I’m your friend or a cousin, not your freaking wife!” you say. You don’t have the energy to yell at him right now.

“You don’t understand, the Grandmaster…he’s very particular about who he allows up there. It wouldn’t have been enough,” he says calmly. You shake your head.

“Then maybe you should have just let me compete normally,” you say, your anger growing the longer he’s here. “I could have made a deal to get out of here not prolong my stay.”

“Annabel, you haven’t seen the competitions,” he insists, stepping closer. “I have. They’re brutal, and I haven’t even seen his beloved Champion.”

“I told you, I can handle myself,” you spit out. 

“Maybe, but I can’t just stand by and watch you get hurt.” Those words cracked something in you. You snap your eyes up to meet his and from the fury in them, he knows he said the wrong thing.

“You didn’t want me to get hurt? You don’t think this hurts?!” You stand up and shove the ring in his face. “You don’t think having to pretend to be your wife after you broke my heart is going to hurt me?” He looks down in shame, pain on his face. Good. “I’d rather face his Champion right now then have to endure that kind of pain.”

“Y/N, I’m sorry—”

“You keep apologizing but nothing changes with you! You keep making selfish moves and tricking people—”

“Hey, that was not selfish.” He defends himself but you don’t want to hear it.

“You tricked me, Loki. Again,” you say with tears in your eyes. His sudden defensiveness is crushed. “You tricked me into pretending to be your wife. Do you know how messed up that is?”

“Love—”

“Do not call me that!” you yell, getting into his face. You try to poke him in his chest but your finger passes right through him. You laugh humorlessly as a tear slips down your cheek. “God, you’re using a trick right now!” He looks hurt. “You couldn’t even come to see me yourself, you had to hide behind an illusion.”

“This place isn’t easy to get into,” he argues quietly, but you shake your head.

“I can’t fight with you again right now.” You turn away, moving back to the wall. This move seems to hurt him more. You slide down back to where you were. “Just go back to whatever party I’m sure the Grandmaster is hosting.”

“Y/N, please, let’s talk about this—” he begs, coming closer but you don’t move a muscle.

“I don’t have anything else to say to you,” you say, defeated. His eyebrows draw close together and if you didn’t know better, you’d say his eyes are welling. 

“Please,” he whispers, and if he were really here, maybe you would have sought comfort from him. Maybe you would’ve kept talking. But he’s not.

“Go,” you say, keeping your eyes trained to the floor.

After a moment of hesitation, where it seemed like he wanted to reach out, but he couldn’t, he drew back. He takes a step backward. “Just…” He seems at a loss for words. “Please be careful.” When you don’t respond, his image shimmers and disappears. You put your head between youry legs and let a few more tears fall.

†††

You soon find yourself escorted into some sort of training rooms. Species of all kinds can be seen preparing for a fight. For the first time, you really start second-guessing your decision to fight. But you won’t give up, not yet.

The training area is next to the stadium and you can hear the distance sounds of cheering which makes you cringe. How could people actually watch this and enjoy it? You're running your fingers along the weapons, trying to decide which would suit you best, when you glance over at the divide in the area. On the other side of a wall of lasers is a bar of sorts. It looks rough, not the kind of bar you would want to find yourself in. But then your eyes widen.

Drinking at the counter, is the woman who got you thrown into this hellscape. Your blood boils as you try to find Korg. When you do, you point towards her and say, “Korg, that’s the woman who put me in here! Who the hell is she?”

“Ah, that’s scrapper 142,” he says, recognizing her. Interesting that she doesn’t seem to have a real name. “She’s a toughie, put the best of the best in here. Those Asgardians, man.”

Your burning gaze at the scrapper snaps back to Korg. “Wait, she’s Asgardian?” you ask. 

“Yup,” he says. This changes everything. If you can talk to her, you can tell her what’s happening at Asgard and she can help you escape. And you won’t need to be anybody’s fake wife.

You hurriedly make your way over to the laser wall. “Hey! Hey, you!” you yell at her, not the most polite way to start the conversation but she did toss me to the wolves, possibly literally. She cocks her head and notices you. She smirks.

“If it isn’t the interesting human,” she says while taking a sip from her burning beer. You flinch. “I’m excited to see what you’ve got.”

“I need to talk to you,” you say, ignoring her statement. You won’t let her rattle you up again, not when you need her help. She looks at yo, waiting. “You’re Asgardian, right?”

She doesn’t reply but rather scoffs and goes in for another swig. As she does, you see an interesting tattoo on her left arm. You squint at it, and although you don’t remember what it means, you recognize it as an Asgardian symbol. Perfect, proof. “Okay, well, I’ve just come from there,” you say, and she looks at you in confusion. “I’m best friends with the prince, Thor Odinson? God of thunder?” You don’t mention Loki for obvious reasons.

“Good for you. Tell his Majesty I say hi if you ever see him again,” she says, walking away. Your eyes widen.

“No wait! That’s not the point,” you say, following her as she walks. She sighs and waits for you to continue. “Asgard is in danger. I need your help to escape this place and return to help or else the whole realm is doomed.”

“Pass,” she says, not looking at you. Your eyes blow open.

“Wait what?”

“Y/N the human, you’re up!” you hear someone yell from across the room. You sigh. Of course that’s the name they’ve given you. 

“Good luck!” she says, as two guards come to take you. You're desperate, trying to convince her and stall your fight.

“A lot of people are going to die, and you’re just okay with that? Your own people?” you say enraged. “Then you’re a traitor to the crown and a coward.”

This catches her attention and it seems you've hit a sore spot. “First of all, my people are with Sakaar now,” she seethes. “And second, I’ve given enough to the crown. It’s no longer my problem.”

Two guards grasp you by your arms as you contemplate her words. Yo struggle against them out of frustration, but you don’t forget the chip in your neck. “Good luck,” the ex-Asgardian says as you're dragged away from her.

You're taken into a room and sat in another chair with handcuffs. “You guys sure do love locking people up,” you say to no one in particular. The workers don’t even give you a second glance. You're taken through a series of experiments in which they change your look completely. Considering you've been stuck in your regular earthly clothes for quite a while now, you welcome the change.

First, they do your hair. A really old man comes in with an intricate device that you feared would ruin your hair completely. But all he did was tie it into an intricate braid and made a crown on your head.

Next, they painted your face, and you didn’t feel like much of a fighter as they applied blush and lipstick. You couldn’t help but wonder who that is for. They paint three lines of purple down the middle of your face and you try to ask what it means but no one gives you an answer.

To finish off your debut look, they fit you into proper fighter attire. A chest plate the same colour as the lines on your place is fitted with blue, metal shoulder pads. The pants are black with blue knees pads to match the shoulders. The boots are black and so is your utility belt. The finishing touch, however, is the purple cape that they pin to your left shoulder and your waist. 

They hand you a helmet that you're to put on after your entrance. You roll your eyes at the dramatics, although you do admire the helmet. It’s gold and with a wing on each side flowing upwards. There are also two pieces that move down to protect the sides of your face.

You are given the weapons you have chosen: a strong but simple sword and a powerful and small shield. You're hoping you can rely on your powers, but if all else fails, you have two daggers strapped to your sides so you can go down swinging. But as you walk towards the arena, you can feel the water around you: the pipes in the building, the drinks from the crowd…you can even use human or alien liquid if you have to.

You're told to stand in front of the gate until it opens and then you're left alone. You can hear the crowds much clearer from where you are now and they sound bloodthirsty. You grit your teeth as you listen to the Grandmaster go on and on about the battles, celebrating the deaths of contestants before you which makes your stomach turn. But it also fuels your energy: you will not be one of those names. All you have to do is win one fight and you're free from this madness…and thrust into another sort of madness.

You’ve fought plenty of aliens before with Thor but never in an arena in front of a crowd. A part of you is excited by this opportunity, a chance to feel what it was like to be a gladiator back on Earth. You hold onto that as you hear the Grandmaster announce you.

“Tonight, we are pleased to have a new contestant,” he says and the crowd goes wild. You bounce on the balls of your feet and focus on your breathing. “I can guarantee you’ve never seen anything like her. You’re in for quite a treat.” You swallow as the gates slowly start to rise but you set your features to stone. You’ve got this. “We’ll see what you think. Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen I give you…” You walk onto the sands of the arena. “Y/N the Human!”

As you enter the arena, a wave of boos greets you. You assume they don’t like newcomers here, especially not of the human variety. And although the sound floods your senses and threatens your confidence, you set your eyes across the plain to the other gate. The crowd doesn’t matter. You need to see who you're facing.

The Grandmaster is projected on a hologram overlooking the entire stadium. That makes sense for a man with his ego. But as you scan the crowds, your eyes catch on one box in particular. It stands out from the crowd and you can’t see in it but you do see the colour yellow painting the inside. Without a doubt, you know it’s the Grandmaster’s box. And without a doubt, you know Loki’s in there. It’s like you can feel him. You wonder what he’s thinking as you stand transformed in a giant arena. You wonder if he doubts your skills, despite his words. A new type of anger sparks at that thought and you set your gaze straight ahead. This is a chance for you to show him how you've grown without him.

“Isn’t she something?” the Grandmaster laughs as the crowd continues to boo you. You let the taunts roll past you, harbouring your energy. “Alright, now it’s time to welcome back a previous competitor.” A rumble rolls through the crowd as the boos quiet down. “She’s a warrior who has made quite the name for herself.” Red puffs of smoke burst over the audience and you place the helmet over your head and secure it. “What she lacks in looks she makes up for in brute strength.”

Across the arena, the other door begin to open. “You love her, I love her…” the Grandmaster builds the tension and you tighten the grip on your sword. “Ladies and gentlemen, get ready for…Hindaa the Ruiner!” 

The doors open to reveal a tall alien woman, donned in red armour. The crowd goes wild, and you try not to let it sway you as you try to size up your opponent. It’s hard to see from where you are, but she looks to have gray skin with a dark-haired ponytail. She waves her arms for the crowd, holding a mace in one hand and a club in the other. So much for your gladiator’s battle.

You wait for her to approach you, grabbing hold of the water beneath the arena with your powers. Your eyes are laser-focused on Hindaa. The woman finishes showing off to the crowd and immediately starts racing towards you. That’s when you truly see how big and muscular she is, standing at least six and a half feet tall. 

You don’t move. You drown out the noises from the stands and wait until she hits the center of the arena. When she does, you tighten your hold on the water and summon it forth, bursting through the floors of the arena at a speed that catches Hindaa in its waves and throws her into the air. You watch as she’s tossed back to the other side and lands heavily, a cloud of dust spreading around her.

The crowd is silent as you let the water wash onto the arena floor, wetting the sands. Then all at once, an eruption of applause and cheers emerge from the crowd. But your focus isn’t to entertain them. You move across the arena as Hindaa picks herself up off the ground, staggering to her feet and dripping wet. The closer you get to her, the angrier you can see she is. You smile and then see her launching towards you.

She runs and jumps to tackle you, but you take hold of the water again and quickly freeze it, entrapping Hindaa in an iceberg. She struggles and growls as her head remains unfrozen. You walk until you stand a few feet away from her.

“Hindaa was it?” you ask. She growls again. Up close, you can see that her skin is, in fact, gray. But more than that, there are red dotted stripes covering her body. Your eyes widen as you recognize what species she is. “You’re a Kylosian.” She stops her movements to glare at you. “How did you end up here?”

“That’s none of your business,” she hisses, continuing her struggle.

“Ah, so you can speak English. Good,” you say. “Because I wanted to have a quick chat.” The audience has settled down and you can hear whispers of confusion. You internally smile at how the Grandmaster must be reacting. “I don’t want to hurt you, I’m sure you’re a lovely person.” She snarls again. You keep smiling. “Anyway, I just need to win this battle and then I’ll be out of your hair.”

She’s staring you down, and you foolishly think that she’s considering your offer. “You don’t want to hurt me?” she asks and you nod in agreement. Yes, this plan might work after all. “That’s a shame.” You catch the cracking sound too late. “Because I want to hurt you.”

Before you can react, Hindaa’s right hand bursts through the ice and with it, her mace. The weapon swings and catches you in the side, sending you flying several feet away. You swallow a scream before you hit the ground. You groan. Begrudgingly, you look down at your side to see three large scratches ripping through your uniform. You take a deep breath and then fire yourself up, ignoring the pain.

"Have it your way then," you say as you pick yourself off the ground. Just as you're on your feet, Hindaa is crashing down on you with her club but this time you react quicker. You bring up your shield and the club smashes down onto it. You wince at your arm, but then you swing your sword up and catch her in the hand, causing her to drop her club. You quickly summon the water from the ice and trap the club in a bubble, casting it far, far away from the arena. Hindaa looks down and glares back up at you. “That wasn’t very nice.”

“I wasn’t trying to be nice,” she growls and you look at her in confusion as your sarcasm misses her completely. Her mace quickly comes swinging at you and you defend yourself with the shield again, but the force of her swing causes you to stumble back. Caught off guard, the mace comes back around, this time aiming at your legs. It swipes across your skin and you hiss as your knees buckle and you're on the ground again. 

Hindaa continues her attack, kicking her leg up and catching you in the chin, throwing your head to the ground. You groan as your head swirls in pain. You can feel your nose pulsing in pain and feel blood begin to drip down. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Your spirit is wavering, and that’s when you feel something on your hand. You look down to see Loki’s ring pulsing. It’s never done that before. You risk a glance over at the Grandmaster’s box, but you still can’t see him. But he’s still here with you. Conflicting emotions rise within you, but it gives you the strength you need to get back up. 

When you're on your feet, Hindaa swings at you but the mace is too slow this time, as you tuck and roll over to her side. You catch her side with your sword and she cries out. Her mace comes back but your shield is there, and with your other hand you swipe at her legs. She cries out again. Before her mace can take another swing, you jump and slice your sword along her hand, causing her to drop the mace. You did the same trick as you did with the club. 

With no weapons, she charges at you. You use your shield but she still tackles you. She crushes your body under hers and rips the shield away from you, wrenching your arm to the side causing you to cry out. With fury, you slice your sword across her back, and when she bends in pain, you slip out from under her. 

You're both dripping blood and your bodies are swaying, but you're determined. You toss your sword away, your power brimming to the surface. Before she can stand again, you take a few steps back before running and jumping towards her. As you're midair, you summon the water to freeze over your fist. You fall and crash your frozen fist down onto her head. You land on your feet, just barely. You're panting, but when you look back, Hindaa is unconscious. You take a few moments to catch your breath, and as you do that, the sounds of the crowd rush back in and you hear a loud, thundering cheer. 

Holding onto your side, every inch of you either sore or bleeding, you look to the stands to see the crowd cheering for you. You're not sure if the adrenaline caused it or if you were delirious, but in that moment, you smiled. You raise one of your hands in triumph and the cheers get louder somehow. You laugh, not sure what it is exactly that you're laughing at.

Suddenly, the Grandmaster’s hologram reappears. “What a show! What a show!” he says, laughing and clapping his hands together. The efforts of the battle begin to weigh on you and you just need to keep standing. “Everyone give it up for our new champion, Y/N the Human!”

You noticed your name didn’t change. “I told you she’d be something to see!”

You look back at the door you came from to see it lifting and you start to walk that way, not much caring for what the Grandmaster has to say. You notice a few workers bring a hovering stretcher for Hindaa. One of them must have noticed your limping, because they come to your side and help take some of the weight off of your leg. You're not sure if you thanked them. All you were looking forward to was a nice, long nap.

You momentarily forgot whose bed it is you'll be sleeping on.

* * * * *

Tag List: @riribaex​ @80strashbag​ @justanothermagicalsara​ @speedy-object-dream​ @blueberry-soda57​ @comehomecomehometous @chaoticsomeone

[1-imaginary-girl]

Pls can you do Wolf Bite Pt. 3 pls

I will absolutely be doing a part 3! I’m so glad people are loving this story. It’s taking a bit longer to finish since I didn’t originally intend for the story to go longer than the first part, but I hope to get it done by the end of the month (if school goes easy on me) and if not, then the beginning of next month!

[1-imaginary-girl]

Happy Birthday

Leonard Snart x Reader

Summary: It's Leonard's birthday, and you have a special gift for him. Reader is gender-neutral. (This takes place in The Flash universe, before Legends).

Warnings: Pure fluff!

Word Count: 1552

A/N: I keep adding new men to my master list but I can't help it! Wentworth Miller is just a beautiful individual and I've been obsessed with him as Captain Cold from the start.

It wasn’t the sun shining through his windows that woke him up. It wasn’t even the hustle and bustle of Central City. No, instead, Leonard woke up to the feeling of kisses peppering his face.

He immediately smiles before even opening his eyes. “G’morning,” he says in a husky voice. He hears you giggle. He opens his eyes to the most beautiful sight he’s ever seen. You’re next to him on the bed, leaned over so that your faces are close together. You have the brightest smile on your face, that lights him up from the sight of it. He doesn’t know what he did to deserve you, an angel in human form, but he’ll be damned if he gives you up.

His attention falls back to you as you speak. “Happy birthday!” you say excitedly, trying not to be too loud as he had just woken up. He looks confused before remembering. He had completely forgotten. But it seems as if you hadn’t.

“Thank you, sweetheart.” You lean down and plant a kiss on his lips, thoroughly waking Leonard up. He brings his hand up to hold your head but then you pull away giggling. He’s left looking jokingly dejected which gets him another quick kiss on his pouty lips. “You seem very excited.”

“Well duh! It’s your birthday. Birthdays are fun,” you say cheerfully. 

“As long as you don’t throw me a surprise party, I’ll have fun.” You look offended.

“I think I know my boyfriend a little better than that,” you say which makes him smile. He takes you in, positively vibrating with joy and narrows his eyes.

“What is it?” he asks suspiciously. This only makes you smile wider.

“I got you something,” you say and before he can even comment, you’re off the bed. He instantly misses your warmth.

“You didn’t have to get me anything,” he says, missing you but simultaneously drinking you in as he sits up. Your hair is a little tussled from the night before and he notices that you’re wearing his shirt which looks much better on you.

“Oh hush, of course I did!” you call from the closet. You quickly find what you’re looking for and turn with it behind your back. You’re biting down your grin, trying to contain your excitement now, but it’s all over your face. He thinks it’s the cutest thing he’s ever seen.

You make your way back over to the bed and place the gift in his lap. “I have a card for later,” you say. “But I need you to open this first.”

Leonard looks down at the delicately wrapped gift. The wrapping paper is dark blue with white polka dots. As soon as he touches it, he hears you take a sharp intake. When he looks back over at you, your excited energy has turned nervous. You’re rapidly looking from him to the gift. He reaches over to squeeze your hand, trying to help your nerves. It works, as you take a deep breath.

He returns to the gift and begins to unwrap it. Underneath the paper, is a plain white box. He glances over at you again and your eyes are trained on the box. Slowly, he opens it.

There, sitting on a sheet of parchment paper, is a hat. Not just any hat. It’s a dark blue winter hat, and it looks as if it’s been hand-knitted. He’s staring in disbelief, wondering why he’s tearing up at something as simple as a hat.

“Did you make this?” he whispers in awe, slowly reaching in and taking the hat into his hands. It feels comfortable and soft.

You clear your throat. “Y-yeah I did,” you say and Leonard looks at you with stars in his eyes because he can’t believe that his kind-hearted partner took the time to make something for him. You won’t meet his eyes, but if you did, you would see the love he has for you plastered on his face. “I, uh, I tried to match the colour to your coat.” You quickly add, “N-not that you would wear it on the job or anything, but it matches if you wear them together. Or it should.”

He noted that, the choice of colour syncing with his signature coat. “Y/N…” he says, for once at a loss for words. Unfortunately, you take his silence to mean something else.

“I-if you don’t like it, I can get you something else! It’s not that great considering it was my first time knitting, you know I wanted to try something new, but if you don’t like it I would totally under—”

Before your nervous ramblings got worse, Leonard leaned over and pulled you into a fierce kiss. You hesitate, confused for a moment, before leaning into it. You pull away, looking at Leonard for the first time and seeing an absolutely giddy smile, which confuses you even more but puts a smile on your face.

“I love it,” he says, looking into your eyes. You can tell he isn’t lying.

“Really?” you ask with tentative hopefulness. He pulls back to look at it some more.

“Yes!” he says and relief crashes down on you. He sees you smiling again. “In fact…” Leonard takes his new hat and puts it on, instantly warming his head. Your eyes widen.

“You don’t have to wear it—”

“Of course I do, it’s my new favourite hat,” he says with a smile. The thought of wearing something you made special for him warms his heart. He can tell that you’re still not entirely convinced. You set your lips into a straight line before leaning over to take the hat off. But Leonard’s quicker and he leans back, causing you to fall onto his chest. 

You giggle as he says, “Are you trying to steal my hat? On my birthday of all days?” This causes you to giggle harder which makes him chuckle. You look up at him with nothing but love in your eyes and his heart still manages to skip a beat after all this time.

“I’m glad you like it,” you say, finally accepting his words to be true.

“How could I not? It’s from you,” he says softly. You bury your face in his chest as you blush which makes him laugh again. Then you lean up and plant kisses all over his face as you did before. 

You pause as your faces are inches away from one another. “Happy birthday Leonard,” you say again. He smiles and before he can respond, you lean in and press your lips to his. It’s soft and slow and full of love. When it starts to become more passionate, you pull back biting your lip.

He tries to reconnect your lips but you turn away. “We have to save some for later,” you say with a wink. He groans but gives up as you settle on his chest. As he looks at you, he realizes that you’re the best gift he could ever receive. He wonders if that’s too corny to say out loud. Either way, he sighs in content. He could stay like this, the two of you in bed together, for the rest of the day—

You suddenly sit up, taking your warmth away from him. “Time to make your birthday breakfast!” you say excitedly. You start to move off the bed but he wraps his arms around your middle.

“Can’t we just stay like this in bed all day?” he asks, leaning his head against your back and planting a kiss there. But you wriggle your way out of his grip.

“As nice as that sounds, no can do. I have a whole day planned for you.” As much as he protests to getting out of bed, he really appreciates what you’ve done for him. “So up and at ‘em!”

You skip out of the bedroom towards the kitchen and he groans again, hearing your giggle echo from down the hall. But then he smiles and climbs out of bed, slowly following you. He almost forgets he’s wearing the hat but doesn’t want to take it off. He has a feeling this might be his best birthday yet. 

Bonus scene:

The next day at work, one of the rogues is talking with Mick when Leonard walks in. His appearance causes both of them to stop, and not just because he’s in charge.

Along with his infamous blue jacket, Leonard Snart is wearing a new, knitted blue hat. At first, they don’t know what to say. They just stare as he walks by. But then the rogue decides to speak up.

“Hey boss, what the hell are you wearing?” the man asks. Leonard pauses in his tracks and slowly turns to face him with a glare set on his face.

“A hat,” he says, obviously. Then his hand moves to his cold gun and powers it on. “Care to comment on it?”

The man’s eyes widen. “N-no, it looks great,” the man says with a nervous smile. Leonard says nothing more, slowly removing his hand from the gun before walking away. Once he’s out of hearing distance, the man turns to Mick. “You think Y/N made it for him?”

“Oh absolutely,” Mick responds.

From that day on, the hat became a part of Captain Cold’s look.

[1-imaginary-girl]

Wolf Bite Pt. 2

Klaus Mikaelson x Reader

Summary: Two weeks have passed since Klaus healed you and the two of you have gotten a lot closer. But when your friends find out about this, they have more than a few choice words for you. Reader uses she/her pronouns.

Warnings: angst followed by comfort

Word Count: 4755

Part 1

A/N: I've been excited to write this one, I love some good angst but with a happy ending. I might have made the gang a little meaner than I think they are but at the same time, I can see them doing this lol. Also I might want to do another part which shows the more romantic side of their relationship, since this one's kind of lacking, and also where the gang gets what they deserve so let me know if that's something you'd be interested in! I love reading your comments. Okay enjoy!

It’s been a few weeks since you got bit by a hybrid. Since big bad Klaus Mikaelson saved you and told you he genuinely liked you. You’re still reeling from the incident and processing how you feel and what to do next. Your friends have been less than helpful.

That night, when your friends returned to find you no longer on your deathbed, they rejoiced for about 5 seconds. Joy quickly gave way to confusion and suspicion as they wondered how you were suddenly okay. Although a part of you wanted to keep Klaus’s visit to yourself, to keep that little moment untouched, you knew you had to tell them. Their reactions were not what you were expecting.

The group immediately scolded you for letting Klaus into your house. They were convinced that it was part of a larger scheme to have access to your home, with only Elena and Bonnie trying to argue that maybe he did it because he liked you. You felt reassured until they were eventually convinced otherwise. 

Of course, when you tried to explain how you felt and that he wanted nothing in return, no one believed you. That was the first time you felt real anger towards your friends. Not only did they leave you to die without even trying to ask Klaus to save you, but they were blaming you for saving yourself. Your anger was not met with sympathy as the group began to guilt-trip you, reminding you of all the horrible things Klaus has done and shaming you for defending him. After a while, you gave in to their words and let the anger go like you usually do. Well, not all of it.

The only person who truly made you happy these days, was the man in question. The only one who seemed to care if you survived. But more than that, he cared if you lived.

The morning after his visit, you awoke to discover that Klaus had left you his phone number along with a message that read: So I can do a better job of reminding you ;). You immediately remembered what he meant and it made you smile.

Since then, you and Klaus had been texting every day. He continued to check up on you and send good morning texts and you began to open up to him, sometimes being the person to text first. You feel like you have nothing to hide with Klaus and that you can be yourself without worry. You’ve learned a lot about the hybrid through the texts. For example, he can be really funny and will make horrible puns to make you laugh. You feel comfortable joking around with him.

Also, as promised, he has continued to shower you with compliments which make your day. You also start to believe his words and gain a little more confidence in yourself. 

Overall, you feel like you have become a lot happier since texting him, as well as hanging out more with Rebekah. The female original had also taken a liking to you at the start and your friends aren’t as opposed to you being friendly with her, although they don’t know how often the two of you hang out.

She was absolutely furious to hear about the hybrid bite incident and she blamed your friends more than her brother (although not completely absolving him of blame) for bringing you into their danger. She insisted that the two of you hang out more so she could look out for you which warmed your heart.

With your time being taken up by the Mikaelson’s, you find yourself drifting away a little from your friends. You don’t tell them about your friendships with the Mikaelson’s for obvious reasons and because you know they’d never believe you. They’re still cautious around you, suspicious that having Klaus’s blood in you might have changed your allegiance somehow like his sired hybrids. Personally, you think that’s ridiculous and doesn't make sense. You barely even talk about them when you’re with Klaus or Rebekah. But you also don’t want to add to their superstitions.

Still, you feel a little guilty for not seeing them as often, so when you hear from Bonnie that the group is meeting at Elena’s house to discuss some new problem, you decide to tag along.

Now you find yourself in the same position as always, standing in a corner listening to the group discuss plans while they ignore your presence. Not that you’d have anything to say. The discussion is over what to do with Alaric and his other half, but frankly you start to tune them out. You just wanted to hang out as normal friends, not as supernatural creatures facing another threat.

Your phone buzzes in your pocket. You pull it out to see a text from Klaus: Hello beautiful, want to meet up for a bite to eat? 

Then he sends another text: Of the human variety, of course ;)

You smile and shake your head. You text back: I’m hanging with my friends, remember? The distraction is welcome as you wonder how long this meeting would take. You wonder if you should ask the girls to hang out after it wraps up. You haven’t had a girl’s day in a while. Although the thought of asking makes your palms sweaty and your stomach flip.

He texts: Aw, but wouldn’t you rather hang out with me? I promise I’ll be more fun.

You bite your lip to constrain your grin. You text: That’s not the point.

He immediately replies: Ah, so you don’t disagree?

You can’t help the small chuckle you let out. Unfortunately, the noise draws the group’s attention to their neglected member.

“Something you’d like to share with the class?” you hear Damon say. At first you don’t think they’re talking to you, but when the silence drags on, you lift up your eyes to find them all staring at you. Your cheeks quickly heat up.

“N-no, sorry,” you say, trying to remember what they were talking about to pretend as if you were paying attention.

You catch Caroline narrowing her eyes. “Who were you texting?” she asks and you stare at her shocked. You don’t know how she knew, or maybe she guessed, but your panic rises nonetheless.

"No one, nobody, uh—a classmate," you scramble to come up with a lie but you’ve been put on the spot.

“I don’t buy it,” the blonde says. You become too caught up in trying to figure out a way out of this awkward situation that you don’t notice the flurry of movement until it’s too late. Caroline speeds over and swipes your phone from your hand before you can react.

When her eyes meet the screen, they widen and your stomach drops. You speed over to her and grab the phone back before she can read your private messages, but the name of the contact had already been revealed.

“You were texting Klaus?!” Caroline yells, her confused and angry look quickening your anxiety. Unfortunately, this only causes a chain reaction within the group.

“What?”

“What the hell Y/N?”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

A bunch of angry voices shoot your way and you’re too overwhelmed to respond properly. Still, you make an effort by saying, “I can explain—” But they just talk over you.

“Why are you texting him?” Elena asks which quiets the group as they wait for an explanation. Your throat dries up but you try to clear it.

“W-well, he left his phone number the night after he healed me—” 

“Of course he did!” Damon exclaims, throwing his hands in the air. You begin to feel frustrated that they won’t let you talk.

“He’s just been checking up on me,” you say. It's not entirely the full truth but you’re trying to diffuse the situation.

“Y/N, Klaus is extremely dangerous. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into,” Stefan says in a softer tone that only makes you feel talked down to.

“He has done nothing but terrorize us since his murderous family moved to town!” Caroline yells, not at all softening her voice.

You clench your fists. “I know he’s done bad things, believe me I do, but he’s started to open up to me. I think he’s more complex than you guys think,” you say, finally speaking your piece. When you’re met with incredulous looks, you try to reason with them. “It’s not like everyone here is perfect or hasn’t done evil things.”

“Oh my god, you actually believe him,” Damon says, in disbelief and with a condescending smile. “You actually believe that he’s in love with you.”

Tears prick at your eyes at the implication and you look at the ground. “Damon,” Bonnie hisses. But it does nothing.

“No, I’m sorry, but you’re an idiot if you believe that. Klaus doesn’t have a heart to give,” he continues. He shakes his head with a laugh. “I mean, I bet he’s just been manipulating you to tell him our secrets.”

Your anger grows but that last sentence seemed to strike a chord in the group and the energy in the room suddenly becomes tense. “Wait, Y/N, please don’t tell me you’re in love with him,” Elena says in a concerned tone.

“Have you been spying on us for him?” Caroline asks. And just like that, the group’s paranoia brought on by the wolf bite resurfaces in full force as they all give you suspicious looks. You don’t believe this.

“God, no, you guys aren’t listening! We are just friends, and we only text each other,” you say, practically pleading with them to hear you out. But your anger remains boiling below the surface. “And we don’t even talk about you guys! Do you honestly think I would betray you that quickly?” You try to meet each of your friend’s eyes to get them to see rationally.

“Y/N, I think you’re making a huge mistake,” Elena says, completely avoiding what you’ve just said. You stare, shocked.

“We’re just trying to look out for you; he’s only going to hurt you in the end,” Bonnie pipes in.

“Yeah, so why don’t you go ahead and end this before you do something you regret,” Damon says. All of their words circle around in your head and suddenly you lose control of your fury. You can’t help it. You snap.

“Oh my god, just shut up!” you yell. “You guys have no idea what you’re talking about. Do you have any idea how miserable I have been for the last few months? All of you have slowly started to ignore me and cut me out of this group and I felt so alone. Now, I’ve finally found someone who has noticed me and who makes me happy, even if that person is Klaus, and you have the gall to stand there and tell me that he’s the one who’s going to hurt me? That you’re ‘looking out for me’?”

You breathe heavily, staring at your friends as they digest your words. But of course, Damon is the only one to open his mouth.

“You’re so naïve,” he scoffs. You glare at him.

“Am I Damon? Tell me, of the two of you, which one saved my life while the other stood back and was willing to let me die.” You look at all of your friends with burning tears in your eyes. “You were all just going to let me die.” A few of them have the decency to look ashamed. You shake your head and say the thing you’ve been holding back for weeks. “The Mikaelsons have been better friends to me in the past few weeks than you guys have been in years.”

A heavy silence coats the room. You feel a weight lifted off your chest. You had been quietly holding on to that anger, that resentment, for too long now. Maybe that’s what’s been keeping you from your friends. Maybe now that the truth has been laid out, you can start to rebuild. Your hope is quickly shot down.

“Well then, why don’t you go join their family? Because you are no longer welcome in this group,” Damon says. The sombre words make your anger fizzle out. Your jaw drops in shock and you find yourself struggling to breathe.

“That’s not true—” Bonnie says, glaring at the Salvatore.

“No he’s right,” Elena says. One of your closest and oldest friends, someone you’ve known since childhood, now looks at you only with disdain. “It’s them or us. And it’s clear which side you’ve chosen.”

You shake your head silently as a tear rolls down your cheek. The reality of the situation is quickly crashing down on you.

“You should probably go now,” Caroline says. You take that moment to meet each of your “friends” in the face. You silently plead with them to say something, to stand up for you, to fight for you. But it’s clear that that’s not going to happen. You’re either met with a glare or they won’t meet your gaze at all. You hold yourself together and, somehow, find the courage to walk away from them.

When your hand reaches for the doorknob, you hear Damon say, “Don’t be surprised if they don’t want you either.” You freeze. You take a deep breath and leave the house.

No one comes after you.

†††

Your feet carry you past your house. You don’t want to be in an empty home right now. But you also have no idea where to go. A hole is burning its way through your chest as the devastation from your friends wreaks havoc on your mind. The thought occurs that you could go to the Mikaelsons but you immediately shut that down. You hate it, but your friends words continue to hold sway over you. You start to convince yourself that they wouldn’t want you either.

You walk until you reach the edge of the woods and keep walking. Tears continue to trickle down your chin but you haven’t let your feelings out. Hidden from the town, you spot a fallen log and decide that’s as good a place as any to cry.

You slump down and take one deep breath before releasing the sobs that have been building in your chest. The world goes dark as you bury your head in your hands. What have you done? You single-handedly isolated yourself from the group. And you now feel utterly lost as you realize how dependent you have become on the group to define who you are. What use do you have now that you’re alone?

Dark thoughts continue to swirl over you as the tears rain from your face. You can’t go on like this. Maybe you should just go back and apologize to everyone. Just as you consider that option, your ears perk up at a distant sound. You bite down on your lip to silence your sobs as you listen for what you heard.

A twig snaps near you and your breath catches. You whip your head to the right, preparing yourself for the worst, when your eyes catch those of Klaus Mikaelson. A part of you feels better at the sight. Another part can't get what your friends said out of your head.

“Y/N?” he says, his face questioning. You try to quickly wipe away the tear tracks from your face, but it’s no use. When he takes a better look at you, his expression drops and he speeds over to you. “What happened?”

He’s on his knees before you. His eyes roam quickly over you, trying to spot any injury that might be causing you pain. You try your best to avoid the problem. “It’s nothing,” you say quietly, trying to keep the hurt from your voice. His concerned gaze indicates it did not work.

“It is not nothing,” he says, definitively. He waits for you to tell him, but you can see the wheels turning in his head as he tries to figure it out for himself. When you don’t speak, he does. “I don’t understand, I thought you were supposed to be with your fri—” His eyes widen when you accidentally choke on a sob, filling in the blanks for him. You watch through blurry eyes as a dark cloud descends onto his soft features. When he meets your gaze, his eyes are glowering. He lowers his voice. “Did one of them do something? Tell me who did this to you.”

Even in your broken state, you know his anger isn’t directed towards you. You don’t fear his reaction and instead try to explain. You shake your head as you say, “I was with them and…we got into a fight.” You bite down on your lip as a sob threatens to take over your speech.

This only further ignites the fire in Klaus. “Where are they? I’ll tear out their throats,” he growls, looking past you as if trying to look for them from here. 

You lower your head, avoiding his reaction when you whisper, “It was my fault.” From the corner of your eye, you watch Klaus focus his attention back onto you. His anger melts into concern.

“What?” he asks, his voice returning to a softer tone. You lift your head and meet his worried gaze.

“It was my fault.” Your voice trembles and a tear rolls down your face. Klaus’s face becomes contemplative as he slowly wipes the tear from your cheek. Then he moves to sit beside you on the log.

“Tell me what happened, love.” He patiently waits for you to gather your thoughts. You take a few deep breaths to steady yourself and Klaus places a hand on your back in support. You send him a small, grateful smile before it drops.

You shift uncomfortably as you try to think of a way to begin. “Well…it kind of started because I was texting you,” you say awkwardly. His eyes widen and you see guilt cloud his features. You reach out and drape your hand over his to silently reassure him that he has nothing to feel guilty about. He brightens and you find the strength to continue.

“Um… they found out that I’d been talking to you and…they got angry with me,” you say slowly dredging up the conversation in your head. Your eyes begin to well with tears again and Klaus squeezes your hand. “They…they told me how you were a bad person and that I shouldn’t be seeing you.” You don’t see Klaus’s jaw clench as he looks away from you. “But I told them that that’s not how I see you.” His eyes return to you and he can’t help himself from interrupting.

“It’s not?” His words catch you off guard, specifically the shock and insecurity in them. You look at him and furrow your eyebrows.

“Of course not,” you say and he parts his lips in surprise. You think you see his eyes start to tear up but that could’ve just been you. 

Then he clears his throat and says, “Sorry, continue.”

“They…they told me that I was an idiot for thinking like that.” Klaus’s feature harden once more. “They said that you’ve been manipulating me and that…that you would never actually like me.” 

“Y/N…” He says your name with concern, but you won’t look at him. You don’t want the truth, not yet.

“They kept saying how they were just looking out for me, how you were using me to spy on them, and that you would only hurt me. Nothing I was saying was getting through to them.” Your fists clench as you remember the anger from before. Klaus notices and his worry only grows. “I just…I snapped. I finally told them how I’ve felt neglected by them for months. How they’ve ignored me time and time again and that I was finally happy for the first time in a long time. That’s because of you and your family.”

If you were paying attention, you would’ve seen Klaus’s face glow and his heartbeat speed up. He looks at you so intensely that his gaze could burn a hole through you. He looks at you like you are a beautiful light created just for him. Of course, his anger still burns strong at hearing your so-called friends treatment of you, but he never thought that he would be your light. But of course, you didn’t see any of this.

Your body deflates as your anger is overpowered by sadness. “Then they told me I should just go ahead and join your family because they weren’t my friends anymore.” Your breathing stutters as more tears slip past your eyes. You faintly feel the squeeze of Klaus’s hand. “I watched as all of my friends turned on me and kicked me out.” With the pain reigniting, you can’t hold back your sobs anymore. “And now,” you choke out. “I’m alone.”

As soon as you finish talking, Klaus is quick to envelope you in his arms. You grip his shirt tightly and bury your face into his neck. He holds you just as tight, with one hand around your middle and the other delicately holding the back of your head. 

“It’s okay, you’re alright,” he whispers, continuing to hold you tight as you let out all of your emotions. He continues to whisper reassurances until sobs stop wracking through you. He waits until your breathing has returned to normal before gently pulling away. Your grip slips away as you sniffle, trying to recompose yourself. But he only pulls away enough to place his hands on your shoulders. 

You reach up to get rid of the wetness on your face, but his hands beat you there. As his hands gently brush away your tears, you focus your attention on the man in front of you. The two of you are only inches away and your breath hitches with the realization. You’re suddenly embarrassed that he’s seeing you like this, and you’re sure your face looks like a complete wreck. But he only continues to look at you with concern and empathy.

His hands return to your shoulders as he offers you a small smile. “Okay?” he asks and you nod your head, sniffling one last time. He nods, his smile remaining as his hands fall into his lap. You notice, though, that he makes no move to distance himself from you. His smile slips from his face as a somber look replaces it. You’re afraid of what he’ll say with his face looking so worried.

“I’m so sorry that happened to you, love,” he says. Then his eyebrows furrow. “But, why do you say that it’s your fault?”

You are not expecting that question. Your eyebrows rise in surprise. “Oh,” you say, trying to answer without dredging up anymore intense emotions. “Well, I started the whole thing.” That answer does not satisfy the hybrid as he continues to look at you. You start to become nervous. “I mean, I knew how they felt about you. And I ignored them.”

“Do you regret getting to know me, then?” he asks trying to keep up his indifference, but a wall is built nonetheless in preparation of your answer. You only widen your eyes.

“What? No, of course not.” Klaus releases a small sigh of relief. You’re starting to understand what he’s hinting at, but you’re not prepared to listen and you scramble to come up with something to defend your friends. “But…maybe I should have told them instead of keeping it secret. Or, I shouldn’t have brought you up or—”

Two hands are placed on either side of your face as your bleary eyes meet his. He waits a moment before speaking. “You didn’t do anything wrong.” You squeeze your eyes, trying to block out the truth. But his hands don’t move from your face. “Your so-called friends are the ones who are in the wrong.” You take a deep breath and meet his gaze. His lips quirk upwards. “You deserve so much better than them. You don’t deserve to be treated that way.” You open your mouth on instinct, but any words of defense die on your tongue.

“I just…they’re all I’ve ever known. I didn’t want to lose that,” you say instead, the reality of the situation settling slowly in your mind. Your panic and grief at losing them is melting into acceptance and, if you’re honest, a bit of relief.

“I know, love,” Klaus says with a sad smile as he lets go of your face to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear. “And I wish they had been kinder to you. But they haven’t been acting like friends. You shouldn’t have to defend yourself to them or fight to make yourself seen and heard.”

You nod along, looking at your hands. “I suppose,” you say, which makes him smile at your progress. 

“And you’re wrong, you know.” His words causing you to look up in confusion. “You are not alone. Not if you don’t want to be.”

“I don’t understand.” 

“You’re always welcome with my family and I, no matter what your friends say.” Your eyes light up.

“Really?” 

“Of course, love,” he chuckles, relieved to see hope return to your face. “We happen to like you very much and would love to see more of you. If you’d like that, of course.” 

“I’d love that!” you say, a bit too enthusiastically. You blush and clear your throat. “I mean…I think I’d like that.” Klaus laughs which brightens your smile. You take a deep breath and you suddenly feel much lighter. “Wow. I don’t remember the last time I’ve felt this good.” Your smile dips. “I guess my friends really were holding me back, huh?”

Klaus offers a sympathetic smile. Then he takes your hand and squeezes it. “Well that’s all in the past now, right?” 

You nod. “Right.” You look at him and giggle as something hits you. “I promise, I’m not always in this much distress.”

He chuckles along, but gives you a genuine look. “You’re allowed to have off days. I certainly do.” You laugh. You take in the beauty of the man sitting before you, the man who is supposed to be villainous and evil instead helping you feel light and happy.

“Well thanks for coming to my rescue for the second time.” The both of you smile, and you suddenly look at him seriously. “Seriously, thank you Klaus.” 

He blinks back his surprise as he takes in your serious features. He recovers with a smile. “Anytime love.”

A silence falls over the two of you, and as much as you’d like to spend forever in this moment, today’s events have both emotionally and physically drained you. You take a look around and notice the darkness of the woods. 

“It’s pretty late, huh,” you say, awkwardly trying to transition the conversation. Luckily, Klaus catches on quickly.

“I could walk you home if you’d like.” You almost reply with a yes, but then you hesitate. The thought of returning to an empty home, all alone with your thoughts again, doesn’t sound too appealing. “What’s wrong?”

You’re surprised that he noticed your hesitation. But you tell him the truth. “I just…I don’t want to be alone right now,” you say, avoiding eye contact as you can’t help but think of your statement as pathetic. Klaus’s face softens and he thinks for a moment.

“You could come home with me, if you’d like.” His gentle voice soothes your worries. At first, your cheeks heat up at the implication. And then your anxiety causes you to spiral.

You turn to him with wide eyes. “I didn’t mean to imply that I should come over—I mean I’d love to, I mean I just wouldn’t want you thinking that I was seeking your attention or anything—”

He shuts you up by placing both hands on your shoulders again. You guess he noticed it helped the last time. You stop talking and look at him to see a calm expression. “I would be honoured to have you in my home,” he says with a smile. You release a breath of relief as a smile creeps onto your lips as well. “Besides,” he drops his hands. “I’m sure my sister will be happy to have another girl around.”

You laugh at his statement, your anxieties slipping away for the moment, just as he had hoped. Klaus stands up from the log and offers you his hand. “How about it, love?”

You look from his smile to his hand and then back again. You bite your lip to try to contain your excitement. “Okay,” you say, and you take his hand.

* * * * *

Those who asked for a second part:

@marauders-luv @hyperactivewhore @elijahslittleprincess @bellarkeselection @vickymendes30 @susannahmikaelson

[1-imaginary-girl]

Can you do a part 2 to wolf bite - maybe where the group starts asking questions on how her bite has magically healed and also where her and Klaus get closer too? I love your writing and there is no rush I was just wondering <3

Hi! Sorry for the late reply; returning to school has been a bit hectic.

I was already considering a part 2 and this idea kind of follows the plot I had in mind for it so I have to write it! Thank you so much for your submission, it has returned my inspiration and I will definitely incorporate the wolf bite questions into the story as I hadn't really considered diving into that.

Please feel free to suggest any more ideas for stories with Klaus or other characters on my masterlist.

[1-imaginary-girl]

I’ll Take Care of You Pt. 2

Eggsy Unwin x Reader

Summary: You and Eggsy have continued seeing each other after the incident. The only problem is, Eggsy only sees you when he's injured. Will he find the courage to tell you how he really feels? Reader uses she/her pronouns.

Warnings: Talk about minor injuries, but overall fluff again.

Word Count: 3824

Part 1

A/N: The second part is finally here! I rewatched "Robin Hood" recently and it got me back into the Taron Egerton headspace. God I love that man. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Eggsy is walking out of a Kingsman meeting and he can feel the fatigue settling into his bones. Without having a mission to focus on, spy work can be rather boring. Especially during meetings like those. He's trudging down the hall when suddenly, he feels a buzz from his phone. He takes it out and instantly a smile appears on his face.

He received a text message from you saying: Did your meeting kill you with boredom? :P

He laughs to himself before responding: It was fucking dreadful, but thankfully I will live to see another day.

Ever since that fateful night where Eggsy got hit by your car, the two of you have stayed in touch. He thinks he’s actually found a friend in you. It feels nice to have someone to talk to about being a spy, other than his fellow Kingsman agents. Maybe Eggsy shouldn’t be telling you the information he does, but he can’t help it. There’s something about you that makes him want to tell you everything and he knows he can trust you. And you already knew he was a spy, so he figured what’s a few more secrets to spill?

Eggsy loves having you in his life. The only thing he doesn’t love is that the two of you don’t really hang out other than when he gets hurt. Yes, Eggsy has continued to visit you, his favourite nurse, whenever he gets injured in the field. Once, he even paid you a visit after fighting practice with Roxy resulted in a nasty black eye. You didn’t appear mad at him for wasting your time, since all you could really do is offer him an ice pack. You just tended to him as you often did and the two of you talked the night away.

It isn’t even a conscious decision anymore to go to you. He just always finds himself making the journey to your place with a new injury. The first time it happened after the car accident, it was because he had gotten injured near your place and thought it would be easier than returning to base or even going home. But after a few visits, he found himself just wanting to be with you, injured or not.

After this realization, he began to feel bad about selfishly wanting you to be the one who fixes him. After all, you already spend all day tending to patients. So he told you:

“Are you sure you don’t mind fixing me up all the time? I’m starting to feel bad for inconveniencing you.” 

But instead of agreeing, you smiled at him and said, “Eggsy Unwin, you could never be an inconvenience. Don’t tell anyone, but out of all of my patients, you’re my favourite.”

His heart sped up at that, so he cracked a joke. “I’m sure that’s what you tell all your patients.”

“Only the handsome ones,” you replied with a wink that caused a shade of pink to bloom on his cheeks, but luckily you had returned to your work and didn’t seem to notice.

It was after that encounter that Eggsy had realized he was developing feelings for you that evolved past friendship. He had tried to chalk his feelings up to being platonic, but who was he kidding? He was falling for you, and falling hard. He thought about confessing to you, wondering if you felt the same, but it was too risky. Eggsy didn’t want to ruin one of the best friendships he had over feelings that are most likely one-sided.

“Is that Y/N?” A voice sounds from beside him, causing Eggsy to jump and almost drop his phone. So much for his spy training. “Tell her I say hi.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, tucking his phone away and out of Roxy’s nosy stare. She scoffs and rolls her eyes, now walking beside him.

“Cut the shit, Unwin, I saw you smiling down at your phone with that goofy lovestruck smile that is reserved only for Y/N,” she says. Eggsy had never planned on sharing Y/N with Roxy, not wanting to risk you getting into trouble, but unfortunately for him, Roxy and Merlin are no good busybodies. The next day at work after the car accident, Roxy immediately bombarded him with questions about you. Apparently, when Eggsy informed Merlin that he was going to a random civilian’s house, the news was too interesting not to tell Roxy.

He also never planned on giving Roxy your name but having a friend that’s a spy is not convenient when keeping secrets. She had spied on him when Eggsy was texting you, the two of you having exchanged information that fateful day, and saw your contact name before he could stop her.

“I was not smiling, and I do not have a goofy lovestruck smile only for Y/N,” Eggsy tells her, but as soon as he says that, he wonders if he does. If his feelings are really that obvious.

“God, for a spy you really are obvious.” Sometimes he wonders why he’s even friends with Roxy.

“And for the last time, Rox, I am not in love with her,” he insists. 

“Is that why you won’t let me meet her? You’re afraid I’ll tell her? Because I can assure you, unlike yourself, I am quite excellent at keeping secrets.”

“For the record, I won’t let the two of you meet because I’m afraid you’ll scare her off,” he says, but he’s also afraid that Roxy might steal you away. Maybe you’d prefer a female spy friend over him. He doesn’t think you’re the type of person to do that, but his insecurities continue to hold him back, just in case.

Roxy lets out an exaggerated sigh. “Come on, Unwin, just admit that you love her! I already know, and you won’t convince me otherwise.” Eggsy realizes how true that is when he looks over to see his friend’s dead serious expression. Fuck it.

“It’s not love, quite yet,” he admits, and Roxy giddily celebrates. Eggsy looks up and down the hall to make sure no one sees her. “What was that about being too obvious?”

But Roxy doesn’t hear him. “I knew it. I can’t believe I got you to confess, I thought I’d have to bug you at least a few more times about it,” she says with a smile on her face. He rolls his eyes.

“Well, now you know. Satisfied?”

She stays quiet for a moment before asking, “Why don’t you tell her again?”

“It’s not that simple,” he says, shaking his head. He doesn’t know how to explain himself without making him seem like a miserable sod. “She’s my friend. A good friend, and I don’t…” He sighs and stops walking. Roxy stops beside him. “I don’t want to screw this up.”

“Eggsy Unwin,” Roxy says, and when he looks her she has a serious arms-crossed look that makes Eggsy want to keep walking. “You’re not going to screw this up.”

“But what if she doesn’t feel the same?” he confesses and then realizes they should have chosen a more private location to be having this conversation. Luckily, there appear to be no other agents around.

“By the looks of your messages, I can almost guarantee she feels the same. On top of that, I’m your best friend and even I would get annoyed at having to fix you up after every fight,” she says.

“Sorry, exactly when did you see such messages?”

“Never mind that,” she says, brushing the topic aside. “The point is, I think she feels the same way. And even if she doesn’t, based on the limited knowledge of her, she sounds like the type of person to handle that well. You don’t have to worry about your friendship.”

What she said makes sense, yet Eggsy can’t shake the queasy feeling in his stomach at the thought of having to confess to you.

“It’s up to you what you do,” Roxy continues. “But would you at least consider it?”

He stares at her unyielding gaze, and relents. “I suppose.”

“Thank god. I don’t know how much more pining I can take,” she says and resumes walking.

“I do not pine!” he says, picking up his pace to catch up with her.

†††

A week later, Eggsy finds himself sitting in one of the Kingsman jets heading back to base after a long, but successful, mission. He’s lounging in one of the chairs, feeling proud that the mission had gone off without a hitch. 

His mission had been to retrieve some confidential information that had gone missing, but the retrieval ended up being fairly easy. The people who had stolen the information got lulled into a sense of calm and had lowered their security. Thanks to that, Eggsy had been able to be in and out of the compound, only having to take out a few people along the way. 

Eggsy feels the pride and relief he normally would but now he’s also filled with excitement. Typically, at the end of his more recent missions, Eggsy will have acquired a few wounds that need tending to and would drop by your place (if you were available, which most of the time you were.) Only, as Eggsy relaxes into the jet’s seat, his excitement suddenly dwindles. He lifts up his arms and examines his body to check, but this time Eggsy finds himself in perfect condition. No injury to be found. He slumps back into the chair.

This should be a good thing, as Eggsy isn’t always as careful as he should be, but he finds he’s disappointed. After all, now he didn’t have a reason to see you. He bites his lip and gazes out the window. He was really excited to see you and now there is a hole of dissatisfaction left behind.

He continues thinking about you, about what you’re doing right now, and before he knows what he’s doing, he’s dialling your number. He only wants to hear the sound of your voice, even if he got your voicemail he would be satisfied.

On the third ring, you pick up. “How’s my favourite spy doing?” you ask as a greeting. He’s almost embarrassed at the butterflies that flutter in his stomach at your voice, and you calling him that.

“I don’t know, how is Bond?” He hears you giggle, brightening his already wide smile.

“Oh hush, no need to be jealous over a fictional character. And you were right, he is a bit posh for my taste.”

It’s his turn to laugh. “Well, your real favourite spy is feeling pretty fucking good right about now.”

“I take it the mission went well?” He had been texting you throughout the mission when he got bored. Merlin used to give him shit for it, but now he’s begrudgingly resigned to it, knowing that Eggsy had no intentions of stopping. As long as it’s only you.

“It went great! Everything went according to plan.”

“Sounds a bit boring.” He laughs, as he silently agrees with you. “Speaking as your nurse, however, I suppose this is good news.”

“What a lovely nurse I have. How did I get so lucky?”

Another laugh. “Right place, right time, right car I suppose.” He laughs. It took a while before you were able to laugh about hitting him with your car, as you still felt extremely guilty. But after reassuring you that he was over it, and constantly teasing you about it, you found the humour in it. “Seriously, I’m happy for you Eggs. You must feel great.”

“I do,” he says, despite the disappointment that lingered due to not seeing you. “Want me to tell you about it?”

“Duh!”

“Could you please try to leave out the classified bits?” Another voice sounds from the jet. Eggsy looks up to see Merlin passing by. He gives Eggsy a tired, worried expression. Eggsy smiles up at him.

“You can count on me, Merlin,” he says with a cheeky smile and a wink. Merlin simply rubs the bridge of his nose where his glasses sit.

“Is that Merlin? Tell him I say hi!”

“Y/N says hi,” Eggsy relays to him. Merlin’s face softens.

“Hello dear,” he says. Despite the nagging and scolding, Eggsy thinks Merlin likes you. The two of you have never met, but Eggsy suspects the older man believes you’re a good influence on him. Truthfully, it’s because you make Eggsy happy.

“He says hi back.”

“When are you going to introduce me to your spy family? Or is that against the rules?”

“I think it’s a little late to be considering the rules.” You laugh.

“Fair enough. Then what is it? Do you just want to keep me all to yourself?” Eggsy’s breath catches as you jokingly hit the nail on the head. He knows it’s selfish, but he can’t help the feeling of wanting to be yours. To remain your favourite spy.

“You caught me,” he says with a laugh to avoid the truthfulness from leaking through his tone.

“You can’t keep anything from me, my dear boy.” Again, his heart hammers in his chest. “Now enough chit chat, tell me about your mission.”

†††

Later that night, Eggsy is sitting on his couch, your phone call from earlier echoing in his mind. Even after hearing your voice, it didn’t quite satisfy his need to see you. He considers slightly nicking his hand with a knife when he catches himself. What is he doing? There’s nothing stopping him from going to see you right now except his own nerves. But if the two of you really are friends, then there’s nothing wrong with it, right?

“Fuck it,” he mutters to himself. Summoning up courage he doesn’t have, he stands up from his couch. What’s the worst that can happen? A deep breath, and he’s making his way to the door when suddenly he hears a knock. He pauses, wondering who it could be. It’s the middle of the night.

Eggsy cautiously walks to his front door and opens it, only to stop in shock. There, on his doorstep, is you. You’re here, at his place. Once that registers, concern overwhelms him as he takes in your state. 

You’re leaning against his doorframe with a hand pressed against your left side. You also brand a gash on your chin and a split lip. Despite all of this, a smile graces your lips. “Well isn’t this ironic?” you say as way of greeting. Eggsy’s still having a hard time believing he didn’t fall asleep and dreamt this. But your voice shocks him out of his frozen state.

“Y/N, what the bloody hell happened to you?” he asks, opening his door. Shock is slowly giving way to worry as he watches you slowly make your way into his place, taking in the view.

“It’s actually a funny story,” you say. You make your way to his couch but pause to examine his living room. “Nice place you have here.”

Eggsy’s mind is going a mile a minute. He didn’t know what to do, but then he remembers that you’re injured. “I-I’ll go see if I have anything to patch you up with.” Before you can argue, Eggsy starts scrambling around his place trying to find what he thinks he would need. He ends up bringing a wet cloth, a bag of frozen peas, a package of bandaids, and some disinfectant cream that you had given him.

He returns to find you sitting on his couch, a pained expression on your face as you take deep breaths. As soon as you see him however, your face hides any trace of pain. He furrows his eyebrows but doesn’t say anything. He dumps the stuff on his coffee table.

“Whoa,” you say, taking in his collection. He becomes self-conscious since you’re an expert in medicine.

“I-It’s not much, I know, but it’ll do for now,” he says reassuringly. He takes a seat on the couch beside you. He knows about the injuries on your face but not your stomach. He eyes your side and you know what he’s thinking. “Could you lift up your shirt?”

“How forward of you,” you say with a smirk and he’s acutely aware that your roles have truly changed. He gives you a stern look, and you drop the smirk. You pull your shirt up to reveal your side and Eggsy sucks in a sharp breath.

“Jesus Y/N,” he mutters, examining the massive bruise. 

“I’m lucky it’s just a bruise,” you say, a wince on your face. Eggsy looks at you and forces your gaze to meet his own.

“What happened?” he says sternly. He knows you’ve been dodging around the subject since you got here. You blush, realizing that he’s caught onto your game. To distract you, Eggsy begins fixing you up. He gently places the frozen peas on the bruise and you gasp in pain, causing his heart to squeeze.

“I don’t know how you spy types do it,” you comment. He thinks about asking how you medical professionals do it, as seeing you in pain breaks his heart. But Eggsy won’t let you dance around the subject any longer. You let out a sigh as you hold onto the bag while Eggsy examines your other injuries. “So, it’s actually rather embarrassing, but…I was actually on my way to see you.”

His eyes widen. You wanted to see him too? He tries to catch your eye but your gaze is directed at anywhere but him. A deep red is encroaching on your cheeks. You clear your throat. “So anyway, I got in my car and drove over. I…I was a bit rushed so when I got out of my car I wasn’t paying much attention. That’s when this biker rounds the corner and rides right into me.” Eggsy finishes dabbing the wet cloth on your chin and begins to apply the disinfectant, causing a hiss to escape your lips.

“Sorry,” he says. He finally meets your eyes and it feels like he got the wind kicked out of him.   

“It’s fine,” you whisper, not breaking away from the stare. A moment passes before you look away and continue your story. “Anyway, he knocked me over and my left side hit the curb while my chin hit the pavement.” Eggsy winces for you. 

“Did the wanker at least apologize?” His voice is clipped, withholding his anger for your sake. Tending to you is all that’s keeping him from tracking down this man and inflicting the same pain he forced upon you.

"It wasn’t his fault, Eggs, I wasn’t looking." He nods but still isn’t satisfied. Accident or no, this man hurt you which stirred unpleasant emotions in his head. “He ended up falling over as well, but he had a helmet so ultimately both he and the bike were fine. We both apologized to each other, me for not looking and him for not steering away or stopping quick enough. He was actually really nice about it.”

To distract from the illogical flare of jealousy that rose within him, Eggsy decides to joke around. “Is this a habit of yours? Getting into accidents with nice men? You know, there are other ways of gaining a man’s attention.” His comments make you break out into a smile that instantly winces due to the split lip.

“First of all, shut up,” you say, causing him to laugh. “And second of all, I’ll have you know that I had a clean record before I met you. Perhaps you’ve begun to corrupt me.”

“Perhaps I have.” The two of you smirk and the flirtatious energy soon leaves a sharp tension in the room. Eggsy applies a large enough bandage onto your chin and now begins to dab on the cut on your lip. You’re close enough for your breaths to tangle. But before Eggsy makes a complete ass of himself, he has to know. “Why were you coming to see me?”

This question wipes the smirk from your face and reheats your cheeks. “O-oh, that,” you say, trying to find the words, it seems. “Well, the thing is…okay, after your mission, I know it sounds ridiculous, but I was expecting to get a call from you saying you needed to be patched up. I-I had gotten used to it, so I was expecting to see you. But then the mission went fine.”

Eggsy can’t believe what he’s hearing. His heart begins picking up speed as he eagerly waits for you to continue.

“And I know I should have been happy to hear that—I was, I mean I hate seeing you hurt and I’m always the one telling you to be more careful.” You begin to ramble on and in your ramblings, Eggsy’s confidence grows. “I selfishly wanted an excuse to see you, but then I decided fuck it, and made my way over here. I-I just wanted to see you.”

You will no longer look at him. Your flirtatious confidence is gone as you let the unspoken words hang in the air. Looking at you, processing what you said, Eggsy realizes that there’s a chance. There’s a chance that you feel the same way, a strong one. And if there’s a chance, Eggsy’s going to take it.

“Y/N,” he whispers. His continued silence forces you to look at him and he hears you gasp softly at his proximity. He’s looking at you, flicking his gaze down to your lips and back up to your eyes. His eyes hold a question and you glance quickly at his lips before nodding.

Eggsy gently takes your face into his hands and crashes his lips down onto yours. You hiss and he breaks apart, feeling guilty for forgetting your cut, but you grab his collar and force his lips back on yours.

Eggsy sinks into the kiss, letting the passion take over and melt his body. He can’t think of anything else other than your lips, moving together, sweeter than his imagination could have predicted. When the two of you break apart, gasping for air, he breaks into a smile. You giggle, making him want to kiss you all over again to swallow the sound and live off it.

After a moment, you say, “If I’d known this is what it would take for you to finally make a move, I would have got hit by a bike ages ago.” You both laugh before Eggsy can’t hold himself back any longer and captures your lips again. You hungrily accept.

You kiss until you pull back, wincing in pain. “Totally worth it,” you whispers. He sighs as the cut on your lip reopens. 

“What am I going to do with you?” he says, shaking his head as he reapplies the cloth. 

“Nurse me back to health?” you say with a smile. He smiles back.

“Don’t you worry love, I’ll take care of you.”

[1-imaginary-girl]

Wolf Bite

Klaus Mikaelson x Reader

Summary: During a fight between your friends and Klaus and his hybrids, you get bit. A certain someone appears later to help heal your wounds and complicate your feelings. Reader uses she/her pronouns.

Warnings: Violence, fluff

Word Count: 4850

Part 2

A/N: I have been obsessing over Klaus lately and thought I would share this passion with you guys. I haven’t seen TVD or TO in a while so I apologize if I get anything wrong about the lore. It doesn’t follow any canon plot, just inspired by Klaus healing Caroline’s bite.

You’re leaning against a wall in the Salvatore brothers’ house as the rest of your friends talk about their newest plan to threaten Klaus and his family. The idea seems foolish to you, but you know better than to voice your opinion. Ever since the Mikaelson clan moved to town, being a vampire has gotten a lot more complicated. You’re suddenly not so immortal when there’s a whole group of people out to get you and your friends.

You’ve also started to notice a shift in the group as Elena now has feelings for both Salvatores. You’re well aware that your presence has slowly started to go unnoticed and yet here you are again. You watch as the group argues about how to lure Klaus and co. to the woods where you’ll meet him.

“What if we send someone to his house to deliver the message?” Elena suggests. But Stefan shakes his head.

“No, it’s too risky,” he says.

“Not if we send someone with a white oak stake for protection,” Caroline says.

“That would ruin the plan,” Bonnie says. There’s a silence as the group thinks of a new idea. Until Damon speaks.

“What if we get Y/N to call him?” Damon says, looking at you for the first time today. Your eyes widen as the rest of the group now looks at you. As if they weren’t just ignoring you.

“What? N-no way,” you say, not prepared to be put on the spot.

“Come on, he’s clearly shown an interest in you. Now’s the time to use that,” he argues. It’s true. Ever since you first met, Klaus seems to have taken a liking to you. But you think the group’s making it a bigger deal than it is. You think he just does it as a way to annoy the group. Though why he chose you instead of someone like Caroline or Bonnie, you’ll never know. 

“I don’t want to do that,” you say, not wanting to explain exactly why. You’re not even quite sure yourself. “Besides, it probably won’t work. I mean, I don’t even have his phone number.”

“Oh right,” Damon says, furrowing his eyebrows as you throw a retch in his plan.

“You could deliver the message in person,” Caroline suggests. Your jaw almost drops.

“Wait, so it’s too risky if someone else goes to the house, but not me?”

“Come on, he won’t hurt you,” Damon says. You’re beginning to think being a wallflower was the better option.

“We all have to help, Y/N,” Elena says. You choke on your words as you look around, seeing no one objecting to this plan.

“Wait, you guys my message spell!” Bonnie exclaims. Everyone turns to her and you are relieved to be out of the spotlight as you lean back against the wall. “I need paper, something to write with, and something of Klaus’s.”

Though you are currently mad at all of them, you decide you’re mad at Bonnie the least so you open your bag. You’re able to scrounge up the materials, even something of Klaus’s (you didn’t ask). With the necessary ingredients, Bonnie performs her spell and the written note lights on fire before quickly disintegrating. She opens her eyes.

“That should do it,” she says.

“We should go,” Elena says and everyone agrees.

†††

The group is waiting in the woods for Klaus to appear, as is expressed in the letter. Another argument broke out on the way here as to who will get the white oak stake as you only brought one to threaten Klaus with. The group didn’t want to risk any of the other stakes. In the end, Damon won the argument as he reminded Stefan his responsibility was to look out for Elena, which she did not like. The rest of you are armed with regular stakes just in case anything happens.

“When is he going to get here?” Caroline says, though no one answers as no one knows. “I mean, how can he even find us? We’re in the middle of the woods!”

“He can probably track us by seeking out Elena’s blood,” Damon says which angers Elena. Sometimes you feel bad for her being the only human amongst the group (other than Matt), and other times you envy her for it.

When the group is about ready to give up, you hear something coming. The other vampires can hear it too and you ready yourselves. Soon enough, Klaus stands before you with a smile on his face. “Well, well, isn’t this a nice surprise? I hadn’t realized we were pen pals,” the Original says. His eyes rake over the group and he perks up when he spots you. “Hello love.”

The others glance at you and, panicked to be on the spot again, you say, “Uh, hi,” with a small and awkward wave.

This causes Klaus’ smile to grow wider and seemingly more genuine, and you try to suppress the urge to blush. Although you don’t think your friends were pleased by that interaction.

“I assume you know why you’re here,” Stefan says, bringing Klaus’ attention back to the group.

“Ah yes, the cryptic message,” Klaus says. “So, what is it that I must see? Truly, I’m dying to know.” You see Damon smirk.

“I wouldn’t act so cocky,” he says.

“Oh, and why’s that?” Klaus says with an entertained look on his face. His face changes, however, when Damon reveals the white oak stake. His cocky attitude shifts quickly to fear and anger. “Where did you get that?” he growls.

“Well it turns out when your sister burned down that bridge, she didn’t realize that other things were made from your precious oak tree,” Damon taunts. He’s exaggerating, of course, as there was only one other thing made from the tree. But Klaus still looks fearful.

“So what? You really think you can kill me with one stake?”

“We don’t intend to kill you. At least not now anyway,” Caroline says.

“We called you here as a threat. To tell you to leave Mystic Falls or else,” Stefan says with a calm smile on his face.

“Oh, and this isn’t the only stake. We wouldn’t risk bringing all of them with us just for you to break them,” Elena says.

“You’re bluffing,” Klaus sneers.

“Care to find out?” Damon asks. You can practically feel the steam of anger rolling off Klaus.

“How dare you threaten me,” Klaus says, his blue-green eyes turning a deadly shade of yellow.

“What are you going to do about it?” Damon says with a taunting smirk. Klaus’ face shifts and he smirks back.

“Why I’m so glad you asked,” he says. He then lets out a whistle and some of his hybrids emerge from the woods. You widen your gaze as you hold out your weapon, trying to assess the situation. The hybrids move in closer, and you can see the others preparing themselves. “Now, let’s try this again. Hand over the stake, and no one gets hurt.”

You thought the answer would be obvious. Sure, Klaus might be bluffing but you can’t kill that many hybrids. And what’s one lost stake anyway? However, you seemed to be the only one thinking that.

“No thanks,” Damon says. You look at him incredulously.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” Klaus says. As soon as Klaus advances, his hybrids pounce and the group is thrown into an attack. Your weapons will only slow the hybrids down, but your best hope is to get the upper hand and snap their necks to incapacitate them.

Damon and Klaus immediately face off. The rest of you prepare to face the small army of hybrids while Stefan protects Elena. One of the hybrids locks onto you and hisses before attacking you. You instantly try to hold the hybrid off and stab her, but you can feel her overpowering you in strength.

Still, you rely on your moves in combat to avoid any major injuries or worse, her bite. You manage to get the upper hand and stab her through the stomach, and while she’s slowed down, you move to behind her back and snap her neck, knocking her out for a good while.

You’re trying to catch your breath when you sense another hybrid coming at you too late. He pounces on you and you slam into the ground with him on top of you. You’re caught off guard and without your stake. When you try to move to fight back, the hybrid digs his teeth into your shoulder. A short scream rips through you, powered both by panic and pain.

Meanwhile, Klaus is fighting Damon when he hears the scream. He looks your way as he feared it was you, and the scene causes his eyes to widen. With a newfound urgency, Klaus faces Damon and quickly finds a way to snap his neck.

As you’re panicking from the bite, you feel the hybrid being pulled off of you and you see Klaus with a furious expression. The hybrid is very confused by his sire’s anger. You think you hear Klaus growl, “Not her,” before snapping their neck.

You’re shocked at what just happened all at once and remain on the ground, sitting up with wide eyes looking at Klaus. He looks away from the hybrid to meet your gaze and his eyes instantly soften. He looks concerned, though you’re not sure why. He makes a move to walk toward you but before you can say anything, Caroline rushes over to you.

She quickly puts herself between Klaus and you. “Stay away from her,” she hisses at him. Klaus’ expression shifts back to anger, and before you can explain to Caroline what’s going on, Klaus’s gaze flick from her to you and then he sprints away. Not just away from you, but he leaves the forest. The hybrids that haven’t been incapacitated follow.

You look after him, longing to talk to him and figure out why he saved you, when Caroline’s face comes into view. “Are you okay?” she asks while helping to pull you off the ground. You nod and you guess that’s enough for her because she walks towards the rest of the group.

You’re a bit stunned as Klaus seemed to show more compassion than your friend, but you merely shake off the exchange. From the woods, the group heads back to the Salvatore’s place. You trail behind them, your mind racing as you’re overly aware of the fact that a werewolf bit you. Not just a werewolf, but a hybrid. You haven’t told your friends about it because you don’t want to be a bother to them as that’s all you feel like you are these days.

On the way back, your mind wanders to the one person that seems to be on everyone’s minds these days. Klaus. You don’t know why he saved you, even from his own hybrid, but you want to thank him. You know you should hate him like the others do but for some reason every time that man looks at you, your stomach erupts into butterflies.

You feel awful for how you feel, you know all the harm he’s caused to your friends and not to mention the world, but you can’t help it. It doesn’t help that he pretends to be soft on you either. You haven’t told anyone about your feelings, whatever they are, for fear of persecution but you can’t stop thinking about him.

You arrive at the Salvatore’s and the group huddles in the living room for a quick debriefing of what just went down. All the while images of Klaus and your bite flash through your mind. You look at your shoulder and you can’t see the full damage as it’s covered by your shirt but you know it’s not good.

“How are you holding up, Damon?” Caroline asks teasingly. He glares at her and rolls his neck.

“Doing just great thanks,” he says.

“What the hell even happened?” Elena asks. “I mean, why did they just leave?”

“All I know is, one minute I’m holding my own against Klaus--” Damon says and to this you hold back rolling your eyes. Klaus must’ve been going easy on him, toying with him. “--and then he gets this raged look on his face and boom, lights out.”

“He went to Y/N,” Caroline says causing all of their eyes to stare at you again. You bite back your annoyance at her for bringing that on you.

“What happened?” Stefan asks while the rest of the group waits. The image of Klaus looking at you causes your face to heat up and you struggle to come up with a lie. You don’t want to tell them the truth when you yourself haven’t even gotten to the bottom of it.

“I-I don’t know,” you say. They still stare at you. “Maybe he was mad at me for harming his hybrids.”

“There were two knocked-out hybrids beside her,” Caroline adds. The group looks at you with a mix of shock and amazement.

“You knocked out two of them?” Damon asks with surprise and slight amusement. You don’t want to outwardly lie so you just kind of nod.

“And then he just left,” you say.

“It still doesn’t make sense. I mean, why target you specifically?” Bonnie asks.

“Maybe he’s miffed his lover betrayed him,” Damon says and your face turns beat red.

“W-What?! I am not his—” you burst out in surprise until someone cuts you off. No one even looks your way.

“Or maybe he’s planning something,” Elena suggests. The rest of them start diving into conspiracies but your mind is elsewhere. You suddenly feel drawn to look at your bite. The more you look at it, the more it’s like you can feel the venom pumping through your veins. Your heartbeat is suddenly too loud and you feel like you can’t breathe.

You don’t know if it has something to do with the venom or just your overall panic, but all of a sudden, the world goes black.

†††

Your eyes slowly open and your vision is blurry at first. Figures stand over you and after blinking a few times, you recognize your friends.

“She’s awake,” Elena says, as if everyone isn’t seeing it for themselves. You realize you’re lying on the Salvatore’s couch. You wonder how long you blacked out for.

“What the hell Y/N?!” Caroline instantly yells at you. You flinch at her volume but she doesn’t seem to notice. “Why didn’t you tell us you got bit?”

At the reminder, you look back at the bite only to see that its gotten worse. You wince at the sight of it and face the group. You guess they discovered it when you passed out.

“I don’t know, I-I thought I could handle it,” you say, not wanting to admit the real reason. Most of them roll their eyes at you.

“Of course you couldn’t handle it!” Damon says. “You should have told us.”

I didn’t know you cared. You bite your tongue to keep the words from spilling out of your mouth. “I’m sorry,” you say, losing interest in the conversation as you are now painfully aware of the venom from the bite.

“What are we going to do?” Bonnie asks. They begin to cut you out of the conversation even though they’re talking about you and you decide you can’t deal with this right now. You stand up from the couch, feeling a bit of a head rush before steadying yourself. This seems to draw their attention.

“Hey wait, where are you going?” Stefan asks, as they all look at you with bewildered expressions.

“I’m going home,” you say and start to walk away. Unfortunately, they follow.

“You can’t just go home!” Caroline exclaims, reacting as if you just said you were going to the moon.

“Watch me,” you say, your frustration getting the better of you. You try to make your way towards the door but a few steps in you stumble and Stefan speeds over to steady you.

“Okay, we’ll take you home, alright?” he says and in that moment, you’re grateful for him. He turns to the rest of the group. “We can regroup at her place and brainstorm ideas there while keeping an eye on her.” The rest of the group seems to agree with the idea. In separate cars, the group drives over to your house.

Soon you’re pulling into your driveway. They’ve all been invited in before so entering isn’t a problem. With Stefan’s help, you climb the stairs and soon find yourself in your cozy bed. You wish you could just sleep away this problem but a sudden sharp pain from the wound reminds you that isn’t possible.

“So what now?” Elena asks as the group piles into your bedroom. It feels weird and you’re slightly uncomfortable with it but you keep quiet and just get under your inviting covers.

“Maybe we can ask Klaus for help?” Bonnie suggests. At this, Damon instantly scoffs.

“Yeah that sounds like him,” Damon says.

“Maybe he’ll do it for Y/N,” Caroline says. “He does have a soft spot for her.”

“I don’t know if that’s enough for him,” Stefan interjects. “We all know what he’s after.”

“No,” Damon says. “We finally have a real weapon against those Original assholes and I’m not just going to throw it all away for—”

“Damon,” Elena hisses and nudges him in the chest before nodding over to you. Once more, all eyes are on you and you don’t know what to do. Damon looks away, maybe feeling guilty for basically saying you’re not worth it.

“Why don’t we continue this conversation downstairs?” Caroline suggests. You once again wonder why they’re talking about this situation without you but you’re too tired and hurt to care.

“We’ll be downstairs if you need anything,” Bonnie says and then the group filters out closing the door behind them.

Throughout the day a few of them check in on you every once and a while, barely giving you updates on if they’re going to find a cure. As your pain grows and the sky darkens, you start to think that maybe this is it. Maybe this is how you die. You never imagined it happening like this and your chest caves in at the thought of a final death but it’s looking more and more likely.

You’re not sure what time it is, but later in the night you hear a faint knock which sounds like it’s coming from your front door. You ignore it, not having the strength to answer it. You figure one of your friends will answer it. If they’re even home.

The knock sounds again, louder and more persistent, and you start to suspect that your friends have left. You take a deep breath as fear coils around your throat, constricting your breath. Your friends aren’t here and you’re going to die all alone before you even got to live. The knocking stops and you settle back into the silence.

Then a sound comes from your window. It sounds like…knocking? From your bed, you can’t see the outside since it’s too dark out. You wish your friends were here. Slowly, you climb out of bed and try to rally your strength in case you have to fight something or someone. As you walk over your confusion only grows.

There, perched on a branch from the tree outside your window, is Klaus Mikaelson. He gives you a wave and you hesitantly wave back. You approach the window cautiously before opening it.

“Um, can I help you?” you ask, trying to understand what you’re seeing. Hallucinations are a side effect of wolf venom, right?

“Well hello to you too, love,” he says with a cheeky smile on his face. His eyes roam over your body and his smile falters. You suddenly become aware that this is the closest you’ve ever been to the Original. You try not to let your cheeks flush.

“What are you doing here?” His smile drops entirely, noticing your serious demeanour.

“I’m here to help. Now if you could just let me in—”

“Help with what?” His face becomes grim as his eyes trail over to your shoulder. It’s now out in the open as you’ve changed into pajamas. You then remember that he must’ve seen the bite when it happened.

“Your wound, love.”

“Why…why would you want to help me with that?” you ask. Then a thought occurs. “Wait, have my friends spoken to you?”

His eyebrows furrow as he shakes his head. “No, I haven’t heard from them,” he says and though you can’t say you didn’t expect it, your heart drops at hearing it. “Wait, do they know about this?”

“Um yeah.”

He looks angry as he asks, “And where are they now?”

You look at the floor and try to keep your embarrassment inside. “I don’t know, I thought they would’ve contacted you.”

“Apparently not.” His face is still twisted in anger although you’re not quite sure why. Then he looks at you and seems to remember why he’s here. “So, can you let me in?”

The thought of having Klaus Mikaelson in your room makes your heart beat faster. And though you want to give in, to continue living your immortal life, you hesitate. “Why should I trust you?”

“What?”

“How do I know if I let you in now, it won’t come back to bite me in the ass?” you ask, your arms crossed.

Klaus doesn’t seem to understand your concern. “Love, you realize that’s a hybrid bite. I don’t think you have the time for this.”

“So you admit that you would use it later?”

His face scrunches up. “That’s not—no I wouldn’t do that—just please let me in,” he says, giving you a sincere look that threatens to break down your walls. Just as you’re about to question him more, a wave of pain washes over your body. You let out a groan as you slightly stumble back. “Y/N?” The pain grows more intense and you let out a whimper before you collapse onto your knees. “Y/N!” It’s as if your body is at war with itself and you can feel every impact of it.

“You have to let me in, just say the words and I can help you. Please!” You hear Klaus say from the window. But it’s hard to find words when the pain is so intense. You want it to stop. “Y/N!” You hear him bang his fist against the walls of your house.

You slowly lift your head up to see his worried face, desperately waiting for you to let him in. You no longer care if this will come back to haunt you. You take a few deep breaths before you say, “Come in.”

As soon as the words take effect, Klaus rushes into the house and scoops you into his arms. You clutch at his chest, not thinking of anything but the pain. He carries you over to the bed and gently places you down before quickly running over to the window to close it. The pain seems to be dwindling down but you know it’ll be back. Your whole body is so weak, you used the last of your strength to walk over and talk to Klaus.

Speaking of, he’s quickly back at your bedside, eyes furiously scanning you for signs of physical distress. Then his eyes lock on yours and you feel your breath hitch. “You have to drink my blood,” he says quietly to you.

You know that that’s the cure and that it will save you, but you’re still hesitant. This is Klaus you’re talking about. The big bad hybrid who’s been attacking your friends and causing chaos for weeks now. And yet for some reason, a part of you wants to trust him. A part of you wants to give in to the idea that he could be good. But how can you trust him when you can’t even trust your own instincts?

He must sense your hesitation, because he leans down to look into your eyes. When you look at him, you’re stuck by how truly beautiful he is. His eyes are a beautiful blue, but more than that, they hold a look of sincerity in them. “I know you don’t trust me, I wouldn’t either,” he says. “But this is what’s going to save you. So please, take a chance. What have you got to lose?”

He does have a point.

“I don’t want to die,” you admit in a small voice. Your breath stutters as you let the fear bubbling inside of you rise to the surface. Klaus’s look is sympathetic.

“I don’t want that either,” he whispers. Your eyes meet and you feel caught in them. “Let me help you.”

Maybe it’s because this is a different, more sincere side of Klaus that you’ve never seen before. Maybe it’s because your friends are gone and you’re feeling vulnerable. Maybe it’s because your instincts seem to have aligned. Either way, you nod your head.

He offers you a small smile. He then sits on the bed and gently shifts you so that you’re leaning against his chest. You’re too weak to move yourself. Klaus rolls up his sleeve and bites down on his wrist before bringing it close to your lips. You’re tempted but look at him to make sure it’s okay first. He nods and you sink your teeth into his wrist.

At first, you feel weird about the situation. But then you lean into it and begin to enjoy it. Klaus whispers encouragingly in your ear as his blood enters your body. You can feel your strength begin to return and the fog in your brain clear. You almost don’t want to stop, and the way Klaus is petting your hair doesn’t help. But eventually, you know you’ve had enough, so you pull away.

“Wasn’t so bad, eh?” Klaus says and you look up to see him smiling down at you. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I think so.”

“Then I guess my work here is done.” He moves you so you’re lying back on your bed, but when he moves to leave, you grab his arm. He looks back, confused.

“Why did you do that?” When his confusion doesn’t clear, you clarify. “Why did you help me?”

He looks down at the floor and his lip twitches into a smile. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, love, but I quite fancy you. Wouldn’t want you dying on me before I’ve had a chance to win you over.”

His words shock you enough to let go of his arm. The strangest part is that he looks sincere about it. “But…you actually like me? Like, that wasn’t all an act?” you ask. Both of you seem to be confused by the other.

“Why would I do that?” You start to feel embarrassed.

“To—to get on the group’s nerves? To throw us off?”

“Is it so hard to believe that I might just like you?” To be honest, the thought hadn’t occurred to you. Trickery made more sense.

“Yes,” you say and then wish you didn’t. “I—I mean, why me? Why not Caroline or Bonnie?”

“Besides the fact that you’re the most gorgeous creature I’ve ever laid eyes on?” he asks and you’re suddenly glad it’s dark because your cheeks are on fire right now. “Because you’re different.” That doesn’t make you feel so great. He must have picked up on that because he catches your eye and says, “Because you’re better.” The idea makes you flustered, that anyone would think you’re better than them, let alone a powerful hybrid like Klaus.

“I still don’t understand.”

“Hmm.” He seems to think on what to say before smirking. “Then I guess I’ll have to do a better job at showing you.” When he winks at you, you think your face might be on fire from how hot it is. Once again, he turns to leave.

“Thank you,” you call out which makes him stop in his tracks. He turns around to face you and seems confused by your words. But you mean them. He didn’t have to save you, you gave him nothing in return, and yet he did.

He smiles and you think it’s much better than the fake ones he gives to the group. “Of course love,” he says. “Couldn’t have my favourite vampire dying on me.” You give him a smile back, genuinely happy to hear someone say that to you.

Then your eyelids begin to feel heavy and you have to blink rapidly to stay awake. Klaus sees this and says, “Goodnight, my love,” before opening your bedroom window.

“Goodnight,” you say back as you watch the window close. You lay back down on your bed, thankful to no longer be dying. You guess you have your new saviour to thank for that. As you close your eyes, you can’t help but see Klaus in a different light. Not as a villain, but as a complicated man. You don’t think your friends are going to like your change of heart, so for now you’ll keep it to yourself. You’ll be content in knowing that maybe the big bad hybrid isn’t so bad after all.

[1-imaginary-girl]

One Last Time (Alternate Ending)

Bruce Wayne x Reader

Summary: (SPOILERS FOR THE PREVIOUS ONE-SHOT) You thought that you were done for, that you had taken your last breath. So suffice to say you’re quite shocked when you wake up and find yourself in a stranger’s bed. Reader is gender-neutral.

Warnings: Angst because it’s Bruce, but mostly fluff

Word Count: 5550

A/N: I didn’t plan on writing an ending to this one-shot, let alone a happy one, but there were a few of you who wanted to have a happy ending and I just couldn’t deny you. And I also had a lot of fun writing this so it was a win win! 

Also my deepest apologies for this taking like a year. I can’t even begin to tell you how that happened.

The first thing you notice is the ringing in your ears. It drowns out your thoughts and, it turns out, the pain, as that is the second thing you notice. A grunt leaves your lips as you slowly regain consciousness. There is a stiff ache that jolts through your body when you move, but otherwise the pain is pretty subdued.

And then your thoughts return.

At first, you have trouble remembering what happened to you. Your eyelids feel heavy and you’re too tired to open them. But the fog in your brain begins to clear and suddenly everything comes rushing back to bring your mind back to life.

You were shot.

The tiredness is shoved aside and your eyes blow wide open. What happened? Where am I? you think. The first thing you assume is that you must be dead. You vaguely remember the feeling of dying, the eternal darkness consuming you, but you push those memories to the back of your mind. For now, they’re too painful and terrifying and you still have no idea where you are.

You’re in a bedroom. A huge, beautiful-looking bedroom, so it definitely wasn’t your own. You’re lying in the softest bed imaginable which leads you to conclude that yep—you are definitely dead. This must be heaven.

You take in more of your surroundings. The bedroom seems untouched. Clean but not lived in. There are no personal items, just the essentials to define it as a bedroom. But then you become aware of a sound. You turn to your right and suddenly your heaven theory crumples into dust.

Next to the bed is a heart monitor with the steady beeping of your heart emanating from the machine. You see an IV drip and look down to your right arm to see the IV. So that would mean…

You gasp. You’re alive. Tears quickly flood your vision and you can hear the beeping from the monitor increase in speed. You can’t believe this, you were sure you were a goner. The bullet wound had been so bad and you were alone—

Batman.

The man comes back to you in a flash, your thoughts speeding up along with the machine. Was it him? Did he manage to save you? If so, where the hell are you? And where is he? You have a million questions and emotions running through you when suddenly—

The door to the room creaks open. Your eyes widen in shock as you whip your head up to meet the visitor. Or were they an intruder? The person reveals themselves to be…Bruce Wayne?!

You’re not sure what you were expecting, but it certainly was not Gotham’s most elusive billionaire. Bruce Wayne is peaking into your room, standing awkwardly at the door, with a look of surprise on his face. Your breathing hasn’t calmed down.

“You’re awake,” he says, and you hear a note of relief in his voice that you don’t understand.

“I-I’m sorry I don’t—wha—” you try to speak but your voice is rough and you end up coughing into your arm. Bruce jumps at this and hurries over to the bedside table where a cup of water with a straw is waiting.

“Here,” he says and lifts the cup towards you. You look between him and the water. You’re not sure what choice you have so you take a sip and hope to God that it’s just normal water. You release the straw when you’re done and Bruce sets it back on the table.

“Thank you,” you say, although you still don’t know how to feel. He looks to the side and nods. Well, you guess it’s up to you to start this awkward conversation. “What the hell is going on?!”

He quickly looks at you in surprise, before returning to his awkward expression. “I’m guessing you have a lot of questions,” he says, not really knowing how to start either.

“Just a little bit.” You stare at him incredulously, and he shifts uncomfortably.

“I can explain—”

But your emotions come bubbling over you and you open your mouth, spewing your stream of consciousness to the man. “How am I alive? No, more importantly, where am I? No, even more important, why the hell is Bruce Wayne standing beside me? I-I’m hooked up to a machine but I’m not in a hospital so—did you kidnap me? I don’t understand I—”

This is a lot to process, and you start to feel extremely overwhelmed, the heart monitor becoming louder as if to emphasize that. Your eyes tear up again because you’re frustrated and confused and scared and—

“Hey, hey, calm down,” Bruce Wayne says, sitting down on a chair next to the bed that you didn’t process was there before. He locks eyes with you. And there’s something about them…He looks at your hand and seems to debate something, the wheels spinning in his head before he tentatively reaches out and wraps his hand around yours. Despite not knowing him, the feeling grounds you. “Just breathe.”

You’re not sure what it is, but there’s something about his voice that soothes you. So you squeeze his hand and begin to steady your breathing. Once you calm down, you look into his eyes, and he must see the tears forming because his face softens. “Please tell me what’s going on,” you plead.

He seems to steel himself, a wall sliding over his face as he gives a curt nod. “What’s the last thing you remember?” he asks.

“The last thing I remember is…” Y/N. Goodbye. No wait Y/N— Your breathing hitches. “I was lying in a stairwell, bleeding out, and I was on the phone with…my friend,” you say, shifting your gaze toward Bruce Wayne. You aren’t sure how much he knows and you don’t want to drag the Batman into whatever this mess is. “Then I dropped my phone and…nothing.”

Bruce simply nods, as if he already knew this. But his face is tight, his jaw clenched. “Your friend…he found you. He brought you to me. He thought—” Bruce’s eyes squeeze tight for a second before he shakes his head. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Wait,” you say, eyes widening as you begin to regard Bruce in a new light. “You know the Batman?”

Something tugs at his lips, almost like he knows something you don’t and wants to smile. “We…know each other, yes” he says. It doesn’t escape you that he doesn’t allude to what kind of relationship he and Batman have. Maybe Bruce Wayne sponsors Batman? It would explain a lot. Although, you have a few theories of your own.

Your eyebrows furrow. “But why bring me here and not a hospital? I’m assuming we’re in Wayne Manor,” you say, and it’s like Bruce suddenly remembers he forgot to tell you.

“Right, sorry.” He clears his throat. “Yes, you’re in Wayne Manor. This is one of the spare bedrooms.” You’re suddenly reminded of how rich this man is, as you thought this room was the master bedroom. Turns out it’s only one of the spare bedrooms. “And…the Manor was closer than the hospital. I—The Batman was worried you were running out of time.” His voice suddenly tightens. He clears it. “Besides he didn’t want to rely on the hospital doctors. He trusted that I could save you.”

He isn’t looking at you anymore and seems to be lost in his own mind. “Why? Is Bruce Wayne secretly a doctor?” you tease, trying to clear the tense air.

His gaze becomes shifty. “Let’s just say, my butler and I have some…experience dealing with this kind of stuff. The Batman knew about it.” Butler. The very word makes you painfully aware of your social status which makes you feel uncomfortable.

Then an idea springs to mind. “Do you guys…patch Batman up? After fights and such?” Bruce Wayne looks at you with a hint of surprise, and you already have your answer.

“I…Possibly,” he says, not wanting to give you a direct answer. The room fills with the sound of your heartbeat. You aren’t sure what to say. It’s a lot to wrap your head around and everything feels too heavy for you.

“I guess that means you didn’t kidnap me. If I’m to believe your story.” You watch as Bruce’s eyes blow wide and he begins to panic.

“Kidnap you? No, of course not. I would never—I swear I’m telling the truth—”

“Whoa relax! I’m only joking,” you say teasingly. He freezes before frowning. “I believe you.” You look into his eyes and watch as he relaxes. His eyes are absolutely beautiful. No picture of him ever really captured that. “Although you have to admit, it is a bit sketchy.”

You watch as Bruce takes a moment to think about it and nods. “Yes I-I see that now,” he says and he shifts awkwardly in the chair.

“It doesn’t matter. In the end, I really should be thanking you,” you say and Bruce’s face darkens. “For saving my life.”

Bruce shakes his head. “No, you really shouldn’t.”

You don’t understand. And so you say, “Well, you and the Batman of course.” That seems to have been the wrong thing to say, however, for Bruce flinches at your words. It’s like you slapped him.

“Not him either.” His voice is lower, there’s something dark in his words that you can’t comprehend. Before you can linger too long in the suffering silence, a rumbling noise emanates from your stomach. Your cheeks heat up. You were too caught up to realize how hungry you are.

Bruce reacts quickly to the sound. “Sorry, you must be starving. I’ll have my butler bring you something.” He stands to leave and both of you realize that you’ve still been holding hands. You pull apart, an even more awkward air lingering between you two. You didn’t even notice. The feeling just felt so…right. So natural. You’re wondering if you hit your head as well because you barely know this man and yet you feel this way. You suddenly wonder what it would feel like to hold Batman’s hand. Underneath the suit.

Neither of you say anything to address what just happened. Bruce’s cheeks pinken and he shifts on his feet. He clears his throat and nods before heading towards the door. Then another question arises.

“Wait,” you call out and Bruce comes to a halt. “How long was I out?”

His back is to you. You see his fists clench. The view looks so familiar to you, but you have no idea why. “A week,” he says before leaving the room.

Your jaw drops open. A whole week? “No wonder I was starving,” you mumble to yourself.

†††

Bruce Wayne’s butler stops by shortly afterwards with food for you. You learn his name is Alfred and he is incredibly kind. You warm to him immediately. The atmosphere feels much different than when conversing with Bruce.

“I must apologize for the scare you must have had, waking to an unfamiliar environment,” Alfred says with a sympathetic gaze.

“It’s alright, I understand,” you tell him, getting over your fear from earlier. Your gut is telling you to trust these people so come hell or high water, you suppose you’ll trust them. “Wasn’t much you could do considering I don’t know you guys. And it’s not like Batman can sit by my bedside all day.” The last sentence sends a jolt of pain to your heart. An illogical one. Batman’s busy, he doesn’t have time to just sit around. But it hurt that he wasn’t the first one you saw considering he saved you. You thought the two of you were close…well close enough to care, you suppose.

Alfred smirks to himself. “You’d be surprised,” he says which confuses you. The rest of the day you don’t see Bruce again and you drift in and out of sleep. You ask Alfred during one of his food runs if you could disconnect yourself from the heart monitor and the IV drip. The sound was driving you crazy and you hated the feeling of the needle under your skin. He seemed reluctant and made you promise to ring him if anything was wrong before leaving you with a handheld bell. As if this day could get any weirder.

The next day, while Alfred is cleaning up your lunch (you told him you were perfectly capable of cleaning after yourself, but he sent you a stern look that made you feel like a child while insisting that you stay put) a knock sounds from the door. Bruce Wayne steps in for the first time today.

“I’ll be nearby if you need me,” Alfred says and smiles at you. You can’t help smiling back. You feel much better today, your initial emotions settling down now that you know you aren’t in immediate danger. The pain also feels easier, the rest from the day before helped return your typical positive demeanour.

Once the door closes, it’s just you and Bruce. The tension from the day before returns to the room. You notice he’s holding clothes. Wait, not just any clothes.

“My suit!” you cry out in surprise. Bruce walks over and places it next to you on the bed.

“It was pretty torn up and damaged but Alfred managed to fix it up for you,” he explains. A dark cloud passes over his face. “There was a lot of blood to clean.”

You touch the fabric and smile. “I’ll have to thank him,” you say, deeply touched.

“I wanted to give it back, to reassure you that you have not been kidnapped,” Bruce says with a hint of a smile. You’re joking with Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne just teased you. You have a feeling that this doesn’t happen often.

“Consider me reassured,” you say with a smile. Then it dips into a frown. Bruce notices immediately.

“What’s wrong?” he asks with concern.

“I…It’s stupid,” you say, your face flooding with embarrassment. Bruce’s face doesn’t shift. “I just…Please don’t laugh, but I…I don’t know. I was hoping that when I woke up, I would see the Batman.” You cringe at your own words. You sneak a glance at Bruce, and his eyebrows are furrowed. You widen your eyes. “Not that seeing you wasn’t nice! I mean, meeting you. You seem great.”

“Why would I laugh at that?” he asks, tilting his head. You’re left with your mouth open. He looks genuinely confused. And now you’re embarrassed that you’re going to have to spell it out for him.

“It sounds silly, I guess. I’m not that close with him, and he has a whole city to watch over. I’m sure he has better things to do than sit at my bedside,” you say, looking at the covers as you admit your insecurities. And to a stranger no less. When Bruce doesn’t say anything, you glance over only to see his fists clenched again. He’s looking away with an unknown look in his eyes.

“You’re wrong,” he says and you look at him in surprise. “He checked in on you every day. He waited to hear any news. He was…really worried about you.”

“Oh?” you say with wide eyes. He was worried? About you? Sure, the two of you acted as partners but you didn’t know…you just didn’t know.

Then Bruce meets your eyes, searching for something. “Are you that surprised to learn he cares about you?” There’s something vulnerable in Bruce’s expression. Your breath leaves you. Your heart pounds against your chest.

“I-I don’t know. I guess, I never considered it.” You’re left speechless. You’re not sure how to respond to learning that the masked vigilante cares for you. Then you look at Bruce and he almost looks hurt. Conflicted. And something that has been swirling around in your thoughts ever since you woke up, finally clicks into place. You clear your throat. “Is there any way to contact him? I…I don’t have my phone.” You realize that must’ve been left in the staircase. Just the thought of that place sends your mind reeling.

Bruce is doing everything he can not to look at you. You get the feeling he’s a bit awkward. He nods to himself, a habit of his that you’ve picked up on. “I can…I can go try to reach him for you,” he says. Just like that, he begins to leave the room. You watch and that familiar feeling about Bruce bubbles up again, rising louder until you can’t ignore it. You consider him, you really look at him, and it all makes sense. You smile at his back.

“You’re him, aren’t you?” Bruce freezes as he reaches for the doorknob. You’ve caught him off guard. His head turns slightly towards you and you see his eyes blinking furiously before returning to a straight composure.

“Who?” Oh, so we’re going to play that game.

“You’re the Batman.” He glances at you, and you maintain your calm composure. Everything about him just falls into place. You were only about 70% sure when you said the words out loud, but there is no denying it. His jawline. His eyes. His stature. His voice. You can see the suit without him having to put it on. Bruce Wayne is Batman.

His hold on the doorknob tightens. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says in a monotone voice. You roll your eyes.

“Alright, you can try to convince me all you want. But I know, Bruce. I know you’re him.” It looks like you broke him. You can see him fighting with himself. His face is scrunched together. You take this time to admire how truly beautiful he is. You knew you loved Batman no matter what he looked like, but Bruce is simply breathtaking.

Bruce looks over at you, at your calm composure, at the determination blaring in your eyes, and the fight in him seems to die. He simply gives a nod, but it’s all you need.

“Yes!” You pump your fist and then wince at the pain. Bruce sends a concerned look. “I knew it! Well okay, you were in my top three but I think that’s pretty close.”

“Top three?” He sounds confused and possibly angry. You put on your most apologetic face.

“Okay I know how much you value your privacy, but a person gets curious you know?” you say with a forced laugh. “So I started thinking about it and I ended up with a list of potential candidates. In the end, I had Bruce Wayne as my second guess.”

“Who was the first?”

You shrug. “A guy named Harvey Dent.” Bruce smirks but before you can ask about it, his face changes.

“How did you know?”

You feel flustered having to explain your research. “Well all your gadgets and equipment look expensive so someone rich was a likely prospect, and an elusive billionaire—”

“I meant today. What made you realize it was me?” His eyes are scanning your face for any clues, maybe an indication of where he went wrong. But you just smile.

“You forget that I know you. Maybe not as Bruce Wayne, but as the Batman. I know you.” His look softens. His face appears vulnerable. You know how he feels, whether he knows it or not.

“I suppose we have a bit to talk about then.” Steeling himself, you watch as Bruce Wayne becomes the Batman, with or without the armour. It makes your heart flutter as it fills in the missing gaps in your memories. Finally, you know what he looked like under the mask, after all this time.

“I suppose we do.” Bruce walks back over to the chair beside your bed. Then you see a bit of Bruce Wayne slip through his mask as the air becomes awkward. You try to reel in your thoughts, but the problem is you have so many questions and things you want to tell him that they all get lodged in your throat. It seems Bruce is struggling to be the one to start the conversation. Wonderful.

Finally, you manage to open your mouth and let the first thought roll past your lips. “You saved my life—”

Unfortunately, at the same time, Bruce had built up the courage to say something but his thoughts are a little different as he asks, “What were you thinking?”

You blink at him, taken aback by his words. He looks angry, and unfortunately, your words only add fuel to the fire. His glare shifts away from you and his grip on the chair tightens. “Stop saying that,” he says, spitting the words out. He’s angry, but you think the anger has shifted away from you.

Your eyebrows furrow. It was true. You thought you were a goner, that you’d finally tempted death enough times and paid the price, but somehow he managed to find you and bring you back to life. You always viewed him as a hero, but after this it’s as if a halo floated over his dark head of hair. But why is he so mad about it?

“Why? It’s the truth—”

“No,” he says, firmly.

“Bruce—”

“I said no!” he says, meeting your gaze with ferocity. You blink in surprise as Bruce squeezes his eyes shut. You wait patiently for an explanation, knowing that he is trying to build up the courage to say so. Finally, he sighs and looks down at his hands. “It…It was my fault. My fault you got hurt. My fault that I almost…that you almost…” He scowls, unable to finish the sentence.

“What?” He’s not looking at you. “No it’s—”

“It is. If I’d just answered the goddamn phone the first time.” He shakes his head and your heart breaks. You can see the weight of the guilt on his shoulders. “I should have answered. I should have gone with you, protected you. I should have been there.”

“Bruce,” you say, tears burning your eyes. He must have been beating himself up the entire time you’d been out. “You couldn’t have known.”

“It doesn’t matter.” His words are unwavering. It’ll be hard to convince him to hear otherwise, but you will do your damnedest to change his mind, to ease this needless burden. “It was you, I should have answered.”

“Hey.” He still doesn’t look at you. You want to reach him and then decide to reach out your hand instead to cover his tightly-fisted one. Some of his tension eases, but his expression doesn’t shift. “Bruce, look at me.” You squeeze his hand.

His eyes lift to meet yours and your heart gives a tug when you see a veil of tears blocking his beautiful blue eyes. You have to force a strong expression no matter how much you want to fall apart at the view before you. “It was not your fault.” He scoffs but you chase his eyes, not wanting to lose his stare. “It wasn’t. And anyway, I’m fine now. You did save me.”

He nods but the words don’t quite seem to reach him. You’re not sure what else you can do, and so you change your approach. “If anything, it was my fault.” Turns out, that was the wrong thing to say. His hands move to shake yours off and you instantly miss the touch. The fire you thought you had doused only blazes brighter in his eyes.

“I know,” he grits out, leaning back in his chair as if to distance himself from you. Your hand is left dangling. “That’s why I’m also mad at you.”

That is not what you expected to hear. “Excuse me?” you ask and at this point, you had dug yourself a grave. His eyes are back on you but now so is his anger.

“What were you thinking?” he asks and you don’t know what to say. This seems to frustrate him and he stands up abruptly to begin pacing. “How could you be so irresponsible, reckless, impulsive, idiotic—”

You shrink at his words. “I get it, Bruce.”

“I don’t think you do, Y/N.” You see the tears building still in his eyes as he looks at you. Behind the anger, he’s hurt. And that’s your fault too. So you sit back to take the blame and the anger he kept buried inside. “Why didn’t you wait for backup? Why did you run in to face an entire gang? Did you not think about what would happen?”

“It was a calculated risk—”

“It was a suicide mission—”

“—that I took because I knew we wouldn’t have another chance like this!” you fight back. He doesn’t like your answer but he needs to hear it. “They were all there, Bruce. It was the perfect moment to catch them off guard—”

“And what about you?” he asks, and you blink stupidly at him, not knowing what the question meant. “Did you think about what would happen to you? How likely it was that you would get hurt?”

“I am perfectly capable—”

“I am not questioning your abilities, Y/N, don’t change the subject. But you’re not invincible.” He looks at you and you squirm under his gaze. You have nothing left to say because he’s right. And then something seems to dawns on him. “You didn’t think about yourself at all, did you?”

Again you avoid his gaze and a sadness passes over his face. “I wasn’t thinking—”

“Right, and because of that, I almost lost you!” he says, and your heart pummels in your chest. You look up at him to see the vulnerability leaking into his expression. “Do you understand that?”

The room fills with Bruce’s heavy breathing. His eyes widen as he seems to realize what he just admitted. He clenches his jaw as he looks away. “I’m sorry,” you say because what else is there to say? In truth, you hadn’t thought about yourself because you didn’t think it mattered. You were sure that no one would get hurt if something were to happen to you, because no one had cared for you in a long, long time. You didn’t imagine that Batman could…that Bruce could…

“Couldn’t you have at least waited for me?” he asks softly.

“To barge in…?”

“To save you.” Oh. That’s right. You called him and didn’t think you had a chance to live. You had accepted your death. But Batman hadn’t. “I was so close.” His voice dips into a whisper. “Did you not believe I could save you?”

You weren’t sure how to answer that. “It wasn’t about you I—I thought…I thought that I had finally run out of luck,” you say looking down at your own hands. You had been risking your life for so long, not caring so much about what could happen, so you just thought death had finally caught on.

The room is silent as Bruce slowly walks back toward you. “And so you call me to say goodbye? Just like that?” he says and he’s so close. He doesn’t sit down but instead looms over you, disarming you with his presence. Your breath hitches. “What about me?”

“I’m sorry,” is all you can say. He nods and sits back down in the chair. It feels like the dust was beginning to settle after your…frustrations had been aired out. “But I’m okay now. So, everything’s fine right?” Your voice wavers and you hate it. But you’re distracted by how close he is and how intimate this seems and all of the emotions that are racing through you.

He nods. Neither of you knows what to do or say but he isn’t leaving. You want him to stay but feel like there’s something holding you back. Something that had to do with—

“And don’t worry, I’ll disregard anything you said on the phone,” he says. You frown and a memory fragment returns that your subconscious had chosen to bury. ‘I love you.’ Holy shit. You confessed your love for Batman—Bruce. You never thought you would have to live through the consequences! “I’m sure you don’t even remember what I’m talking about, you must have been delirious from the blood loss.”

And he doesn’t believe it. You had finally laid out your feelings for him despite knowing he felt nothing back and he doesn’t even believe you. This could be great. A fresh start to take back those three life-altering words and choose to forget. But a part of you, the part that’s recovering from the fact that you almost died and were reminded of your limited time on Earth, wants to start off the rest of your life with the truth.

“I remember,” you say quietly. Bruce’s body tenses. He won’t look at you and you can’t tell if it’s because he’s embarrassed for you or…something else. All you know is that you want to look into his eyes when you say it. You summon your courage, managing to voice your words in a whisper. “And it wasn’t the blood loss.”

Finally, his eyes are on yours. Your breath gets caught in your throat, watching his eyes dart back and forth between yours. He’s confused and you still can’t read how he’s feeling, but somehow a wave of peace washes over you. You smile.

“I love you.” The words hover between the two of you as you watch his breath hitch. His lips part and you await eagerly to hear what he has to say. But no words come out. And now that the truth has been revealed, you can’t seem to shut your mouth. “And I know, I know that that sounds crazy considering I only just learned your secret identity. But I know how I feel.” Your eyes well with emotion. “And it’s okay that you don’t feel the same, I just wanted you to know so that we can move on and—”

“But I do.” Your throat closes as you look at Bruce. Through the burn in your eyes, you can see his eyebrows drawn together and he’s looking at you so openly, so sincerely, that a tear finally breaks free to roll down your cheek. It might be your misty eyes, but you think he can see him tearing up as well.

Your mind is racing and you struggle to form a reply. Bruce swallows deeply before glancing away. “God I—” He stiffens and you don’t think he’s ever looked so emotional. “When you told me about what had happened, I…it’s been a long time since I’ve felt that kind of fear.” He gets a far-off look and you know he’s thinking about his parents. “I had been so afraid to let anyone in. So afraid to lose anyone else that I cared about. But then you came along.” His eyes are back on you. “You forced yourself into my life. And I felt happiness for the first time in a long time. Then I thought I had lost you too.”

Your cheeks are stained with tears and your heart clenches when you see a tear escape Bruce’s eyes. “I love you, Y/N,” he says and you lose your breath at the words. He looks down at your hand before taking it in his. His touch grounds you as it did before and the gravity of his words overwhelm you. “I can’t bear to lose you.”

“You won’t,” you say fiercely, tightening your grip on his hand. Bruce looks at you with doubt but you feel determined. “I didn’t…I didn’t think that I had anyone in my life who cared about me. I was so used to being alone.” It’s his turn to tighten his grip. “But now I know that I do. And I’m still here, Bruce.”

He lets out a breath, as if those words are what finally reassured him that you were still here. Your heart is swimming with joy, your mouth breaking into a smile. “Bruce?” His eyes flick from your hands to your eyes. “Kiss me.”

He looks shocked before grinning and then he’s leaning towards you. You meet in the middle, your lips melding together and you close your eyes in bliss. His hand that isn’t holding yours comes up to hold the back of your head. The kiss is desperate, both of you eager to pour the long-unspoken love into it. His lips are softer than you’d thought. You feel yourself getting lightheaded but you want to stay in this moment forever. Bruce is the one to break the kiss to let the two of you breathe.

To your surprise and utter delight, Bruce Wayne has a smile on his lips and he looks so beautiful you think you might have died after all and went to heaven. The look causes a giggle to escape you and his smile only brightens.

“I love you,” you say again, looking into his softened eyes.

“I love you,” Bruce says before you reconnect your lips. You’re not sure what you did to deserve this. Being loved by Bruce Wayne, the Batman, two of Gotham’s most infamous men in one. Sure, there was still a lot the two of you needed to figure out, a lot of questions needing answers, but all of that could wait.

You can’t help but think, if all it took was a little bit of death to get to where you are now, you would’ve gotten yourself shot a lot sooner.

* * * * *

Taglist for everyone who wanted a happy ending: @blue-aconite​ @delfina0deli @monkeyking-and-liuer-mate​ @pandoramyst​

[1-imaginary-girl]

Annoying 2

Five Hargreeves x Reader

Summary: Five and Y/N are now partners. They’ve been assigned their first official mission as a team. But when the plan derails, the two find themselves facing a choice that might change the course of their new partnership. Reader is gender-neutral.

Warnings: Violence

Word Count: 5113

Part 1

A/N: This was originally going to be an independent one-shot, but there were so many requests for more “Annoying” content I decided to switch things up. If anyone has any suggestions or requests for what to do to continue this series, I would greatly appreciate it.

Reader’s POV

“Have you completely memorized your character sheet?” Five shouts from another room. You’re currently putting the finishing touches on your disguise in the washroom of your shared hotel room. And thankfully, the Handler assigned the two of you separate beds. Your face heats up thinking of a different situation.

“Yes, Five, believe it or not, this isn’t my first time undercover,” you shout back. You smile, knowing he's probably rolling his eyes at you.

This is yours and Five's first official mission together as partners. Just the sentence makes you want to squeal. But you have to keep yourself professional tonight. You want to show Five just how good an agent, and a partner, you could be.

There was a bit of prep and training before tonight as neither you nor Five has had a partner before and the Handler doesn’t respond well to mistakes. It was simple tests to ensure that the two of you were suitable to be partners, such as practicing combat as a duo, reviewing boring company documents, and there was even a training video called “How to be the Ideal Partner” which Five immediately tried to walk out of before the Handler reminded him it was required.

All of this extra work worried you that Five would change his mind about being your partner, especially since you weren’t even sure what finally convinced him to do it in the first place. But to your surprise and delight, Five stuck through it with bearable complaining.

You touch up your face and adjust a few stray hairs before feeling satisfied. You stand back and take a look at yourself. The look is a bit bold but you remind yourself that you are no longer Y/N L/N but rather Sam Palinski. A bit of an average name, but the point was not to stick out.

You’re not sure if the Handler did this on purpose, but the outfit chosen for “Sam” cuts quite the figure. It hugs your body a bit tighter than what you would normally wear, but you remind yourself to be confident. In fact, you look pretty hot. The outfit isn’t perfect for hand-to-hand combat, but the objective was to avoid as much conflict as possible. Thankfully, you are wearing shoes that double in comfort as well as looks.

The details of your character sheet rattle off in your mind. You shouldn’t need to know too much, just enough to hold a conversation, but you were prepared nonetheless.

“I would prefer to get there on time,” Five shouts. This time it’s you who’s rolling your eyes.

“Calm down, I’m coming,” you say. After one final look at yourself and a whisper of encouragement, you exit the washroom. “Besides, it’s always better to be fashionably late, don’t you think?”

You look up and are struck by the image of Five Hargreeves in a tuxedo. While he’s normally seen in a suit and tie, the look of him in a proper suit with his hair combed back sets your heart aflutter more than usual. He locks eyes with you and you think you see his eyes widen. You try to portray an act of confidence as he surveys your look.

“Well, what do you think?” you say while outstretching your arms. Your smile brings his eyes back up to your face.

“You look…adequate,” he says before clearing his throat and turning away. You don’t know what you expected, but something in you deflates. You think you hear him mutter, “Not very inconspicuous” but you brush it off.

“Just what every person wants to hear.” Suddenly you feel awkward with Five’s back to you so you inch closer to gauge a reaction out of him. “So, are you ready to make our debut, Mr. Palinski?”

Five scowls to himself while taking a step away. “I don’t see why the Handler had to make our identities married to one another.” You’re used to Five’s grumpiness. You never let it affect you because you know that’s just the way he is. But sometimes you think there might be another side to him. And a part of you keeps hoping that he’ll show you that side more. But you already got him to agree to be your partner. You got what you wanted from him, right?

“Because a married couple is more discreet than two eligible singles, especially when I look like this.” You give a twirl and wink at the boy. His face is flushed, probably from frustration. He’s cute when he’s frustrated.

“We should get going.” You roll your eyes at his abruptness.

“Fine. After you, husband.” You receive one more scowl for the road.

After a short drive where Five continued to shut down your attempts to sing along to the radio, you pull up to the target’s location. The target is hosting a soiree at their ginormous mansion which is how Five and you will be able to slip in amongst the attendants.

Even though you knew what the mansion looked like since the two of you surveyed the area prior to tonight, the size still blows you away. You wonder what it would take for you to live in a mansion like this.

Driving past the front gate, you arrive in front of the doors. There is a valet stationed to help you out of the car. You thank them and take in the scene before you. Five rounds the car after handing the keys over to the valet and stands beside you.

He starts to walk in when you see a security guard with no doubt a guest list. You quickly loop your arm through Five’s and hold tight when he tries to pull away.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he hisses at you. You roll your eyes.

“We’re supposed to be married and that involves acting like it,” you hiss back. “Haven’t you ever done undercover work?”

He tosses a glare your way. “Yes but normally I’m on my own,” he whispers. And then under his breath says, “Which I’m starting to miss right about now.”

You ignore his negativity and simply pull him along with you. The two of you give your names to the security guard, and after presenting I.D., you are let in. One reason you love working in the field is the various places you get to travel. Rich targets are your favourite because they always have the most extravagant homes.

You look around in awe as you take in the place. Immediately there’s a golden chandelier above you in the entryway. Just a little further you can see into the ballroom and your excitement doubles. “Come on,” you say to Five without giving him a glance and dragging him over to the room.

“Slow down, you’re going to tear my arm off.” His complaint goes in one ear and out the other as you stumble into the room. People dressed in their most expensive clothing populate the room. There are tables and such off to the sides where some are conversing, but it’s the middle of the room that catches your eye. There, people are dancing the waltz, and you compare the sight to a dazzling teacup ride as they move round and round in circles, the girls twirling their dresses in various colours while the men take the lead.

“We should spread out, try to blend in with the crowd before making a move to recover the flash drive,” Five says while scanning the area. Your mission was to recover a stolen flash drive that the target swiped from the Commission. The target is an ex-employee and a bitter one at that. The flash drive contains confidential information about the Commission, specifically compromising details about their agents. That includes Five and yourself.

You know the mission is an important one, but you can’t help but feel drawn to the dance floor. You want to get swept away into your secret identity and for one night blend in with this society of high-class, beautiful-looking people.

“We should dance,” you blurt out.

“We absolutely should not.” He looks at you incredulously. But you don’t care.

“Come on Five—”

“Y/N, we’re supposed to be blending in not standing out.”

“But isn���t the best hiding spot in plain sight?” You look at him with your best attempt at a puppy dog face. Despite his lack of human emotion, he does look away from you.

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” It becomes clear to you that he won’t budge and you would either have to drag him kicking and screaming onto the dance floor or let it go. Or a third, more devious option.

“Fine. We should split up, talk to different people.”

“Don’t blow our cover by talking too much,” he warns you with a serious look on his face.

“Who, me?” You give him one last cheeky smile before heading towards the right side of the room.

You scour the crowd of well-dressed people looking for someone to execute your plan with. There are plenty of eligible bachelors, but your eyes land on one in particular. You can’t believe your luck, but there, standing on his own, is the host. He’s also the one who stole the flash drive. You straighten your back and quickly saunter over to him before anyone else can scoop him up.

“What’s a handsome man like yourself doing all alone?” you ask as you saddle up next to him. The man turns to you and smiles.

“Apparently, I was waiting for you.” Despite yourself, you blush. It isn’t often you get this kind of attention.

“Sam Palinski, pleasure to meet you,” you say.

“Michael Lynell, and I can assure you, the pleasure is all mine.” You feign shock at the name.

“You’re the host?”

“That’s correct.”

“Well, you certainly know how to throw an event,” you say, gazing out at the sea of people and the intricate, beautiful décor.

“Thank you, I do hope you’re enjoying your time so far.”

“Absolutely.”  

A pause. “Are you unaccompanied tonight?” he asks. Smooth move.

“Actually, I’m here with my husband,” you say. You try and fail to spot Five amongst the crowd. Michael only then seems to notice your (fake) wedding ring. His face shows mild disappointment.

“Ah, I see.” He seems a bit defeated before perking up and regaining his charming attitude. “Do you think your husband would mind if I asked his lovely spouse for a dance?” he asks. You’re surprised you didn’t have to ask him, but are excited nonetheless.

“Not at all.” Michael holds out his hand and you take it, following him onto the floor as a new song begins. Michael takes the lead and you’re perfectly content to follow.

“You’re quite the dancer, Mr. Lynell,” you say, feeling giddy to be dancing for the first time in a while.

“Only because I have such a good partner,” he says with a wink. You bite your lip to keep from smiling too much. The man is rather cute, and perhaps if he wasn’t your current enemy, you could see yourself actually pursuing him.

Just as you allow yourself to get swept up into the dance, your eyes flicker down from Michael���s gaze to the crowd. Suddenly, your eyes lock onto Five’s as he stares at you from across the room, and there’s a look there that you don’t recognize. You look away, trying to ignore him for the time being. There’s no use in entertaining that idea. You shake off any ill-conceived hopes and continue with your fantasy.

Before the song is over, however, Five appears next to you which gives you a start. His eyes are on Michael as he taps the man on the shoulder. Michael turns to him, just as startled.

“Mind if I cut in to dance with my spouse?” Five asks him with anger laced in his tone. It must be your silly imagination, but you could have sworn he emphasized the last two words.

Michael recovers from his surprise and returns to his charming host persona. “Of course,” he says. He then turns to you. “It was a pleasure, Palinski.”

You nod with a smile as he weaves through the crowd and disappears from your sight. You’re drawn back as Five repositions you to dance with him. You are bewildered by his actions. “What are you doing?” you ask as he prepares himself.

“Dancing,” he says, as if it was a stupid question. Then the two of you begin to dance as if nothing happened. You stare at him, trying to figure him out, but he’s determined to stare at the top of your head instead.

“I thought you said you wouldn’t dance,” you say with narrowed eyes. But his expressionless face doesn’t waver.

“I said we shouldn’t dance, but since you’ve chosen to ignore my advice, you leave me no choice but to keep up appearances or risk blowing our cover,” he says, all calculating and professional. “After all, married couples typically dance together, do they not?”

Again, you thought you heard an emphasis on the word “together”. So, you pull on that thread. “I was doing just fine dancing with our host.” Then you see it. Five flinches at your words. Your confusion only grows.

“And just what were you doing interacting with our enemy?” He finally meets your gaze as if looking for something.

“Blending in.”

“By making lasting impressions? We’re supposed to be keeping a low profile,” he snipes.

“Relax, I doubt it was a lasting impression.” Five looks as if he wants to argue but decides against it.

“It was a risk nonetheless.” You almost argue back but stop yourself. You don’t want to argue. You’re right where you want to be: dancing at a fancy event, and with Five himself no less. You decide to just let yourself enjoy it.

A few moments of silence pass over the two of you before you speak up again, this time with a teasing tone. “I didn’t expect Five Hargreeves to be such a good dancer.” He meets your eyes again and your breath catches. Thankfully he doesn’t seem to notice.

“My father trained us in ballroom dancing. Said it would help with our coordination, or something about dancing being an important skill,” he says, and as he talks there’s a far-off look in his eyes. “He was old-fashioned like that.”

You try not to get excited about all that you’ve learned about Five so far. He said us, which suggests he has siblings and the words “trained” and “coordination” seem to suggest more teachings than a regular father would give.

“He sounds like an interesting fellow,” you comment. Five snorts derivatively.

“That’s one way to describe him.” You don’t want to push him for more information since you’ve already gotten more in the last few seconds than you have the last few months. But you also don’t want the conversation to end or for him to regret telling you so you offer something up in return.

“I used to take dance lessons when I was a kid, my own idea,” you say, smiling fondly. “Of course, it turns out I was terrible at dancing, and I quit after a year.” Five laughs, and your chest swells with pride as you smile back.

“You don’t seem so terrible right now,” he offers, a rare compliment from the man.

“I suppose a few lessons must have stuck,” you say. “That, or I have an excellent partner.”

“Must be the latter,” Five says, causing both of you to laugh. When your eyes meet again, and the two of you are caught smiling, something seems to change in the air. You two continue to dance, but Five doesn’t look away this time, instead giving you an earnest look. You don’t look away either. You hold your breath, afraid that one false move might ruin this moment. But everything good must come to an end eventually.

The music stops, and it’s as if Five snapped out of a trance, for he quickly looks away and clears his throat. You can’t help but feel a bit disappointed. “I think now’s the time to begin the search,” he says, all traces of amusement gone.

You recover yourself and nod. “Yes, right.” Five then takes off towards the staircase and you’re close on his heels. You nervously glance around before making a bold move. You catch his hand and grab his arm with your other hand, snuggling into his side with a giddy smile plastered on your face.

Five appears taken aback by your actions. “W-what the hell are you doing?” he asks, his face reddening.

“Keeping up appearances, remember?” you say still with a smile. “It’s a bit less suspicious for a couple to sneak off somewhere together than two individuals.”

“Right,” he says, but still seems very uncomfortable, only managing a tight smile as a cover.

†††

Once you’re out of sight, you immediately let Five go. You feel a tad embarrassed by your actions, but you were only trying to keep yourselves from getting caught. Five leads the way to the office located in the building, remembering the blueprints you studied together.

The door is locked when you find it, but Five simply teleports inside and unlocks it for you. You had planned for this; when the two of you were scoping out the place, Five made sure to check out the office from the windows to know what the room looked like.

“Stand guard while I search,” he tells you before walking away. You scrunch your face.

“Why am I standing watch, exactly?”

Without looking up from his search, Five says, “Because you said I could take lead on our missions.” You try to remember your multiple pitches to Five when asking to be his partner. Damn, you did say that.

“I take it back,” you say while maintaining watch of the hallway.

“Too late.” You huff but accept your fate. Your gaze flickers across the hallway, keeping your eyes and ears open for any witnesses. You can faintly hear the music from the first floor and can’t help but wish you were back there, dancing again. Dancing with Five. You shake your head and try not to let your mind wander any further.

After a while of painful silence, Five breezes past you. “I’ve got it,” he says, holding the flash drive in his hand. You smile.

“Finally.” You snatch the flash drive from his hands.

“Hey!” he frowns trying to grab it but you duck out of reach. You giggle and begin to head towards the stairs when suddenly two large men in tuxedos enter the hallway. You turn your head to see two more making their way towards you and Five, and you have a feeling that there are more to come.

You quickly stuff the flash drive into one of your pockets.

“The party’s downstairs kids,” one of the men in front of you says. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Five tense up and see the calculating gaze enter his eyes.

“Silly us, must’ve had too much champagne!” you say, stalling for the inevitable as you prepare yourself. “Well, we’ll just return to the party—”

“I don’t think so,” the other says, revealing a gun.

“That’s alright. I hear the real party’s upstairs anyway.” With those words, you see Five blink from your side to standing behind the two men. You love seeing the shock on people’s faces the first time it happens.

You turn to deal with the other two. “Can’t we just talk this out?” you ask. One of them takes aim and you roll your eyes. “Guess not.”

The bullet fires but you’ve already moved out of the way. You might not have Five’s teleportation, but you’re quick on your feet. You pull out the gun that was strapped to your leg and shoot the weapon out of the man’s hand. He shouts just as his partner fires at you. But you’re running, and the bullet hits the wall.

You manage to get behind the man you haven’t shot and jump on his back. While he struggles to get you off, you shoot his partner in the neck. The man you’re on top of reveals a hidden knife and slashes at you, opening a gash on your right forearm. You hiss and drop off of him. But you shoot his chest three times before he can turn around.

Near the stairs, you see Five standing over the body of two men but more are coming. As you make your way over, you fire at them, careful not to hit Five while he’s blinking around. The two of you manage to take out eight more guards, but somehow they keep coming.  Then you see one man in particular make his way onto the scene.

“I have to say, Palinski,” Michael Lynell says as he catches your gaze. “I’m rather surprised.”

“What, you didn’t think I was just another pretty face, did you?” you ask, as Five tackles the guards around him. It seems you have Michael’s undivided attention. He smiles at you.

“Of course not. I just didn’t expect the Commission to risk such an obviously valuable asset,” he says, looking you up and down. It doesn’t give you the same butterflies as before but rather sends a chill up your spine.

“Allow me to show you how valuable I really am.” You shoot a few bullets at the man but he’s running before they can reach him. You quickly run out of bullets and toss your gun aside, changing to hand-to-hand combat. Your fist collides with his jaw which sends him stumbling back. You smile as he scowls. But soon he’s diving for you and you barely manage to move out of the way.

Your fight continues with a few blows landing on each other when suddenly he clamps his hand down on your bleeding arm, catching you off guard. You struggle but can feel him gaining the upper hand. In a moment of panic, you spot Five not too far away. While fighting against Michael, you manage to catch Five’s eye.

“Run!” you yell. Before he can process what you mean, the flash drive is out of your pocket and you’re tossing it into the air. Five’s eyes widen before quickly blinking over to catch it. As he catches it, Michael tightens his hold on your arm and you bite back a whimper. He pulls you to his chest and puts you in a chokehold. But he doesn’t cut off your breathing. You look to your right to see a gun pointed at your head.

“Drop your weapon!” Michael shouts at Five. Five looks over and you see his eyes widen. Michael’s the last enemy standing, you and Five managed to take on every other one. You try to struggle in his grasp but he only presses the gun further into your head. Five tosses his gun to the side. You assume he also ran out of bullets anyway.

“Now, hand over the flash drive, or I’ll shoot your pretty partner here,” he says in a menacing voice. He’s cocky and you can sense the victorious smile spreading across his lips. But he's not the only one victorious.

You laugh in his hold. “Nice try, but Five here doesn’t care if you shoot me,” you say. You try not to show your hurt and hide the pain in your chest but you know you’re right. This isn’t how you imagined you’d die, but at least you’ll make a hot corpse.

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that, pretty,” Michael whispers in your ear, his eyes locked on Five.

Instead of running like you told him to, Five hesitates. To your confusion, he seems to be looking between you and Michael with that calculating gaze. His jaw is set and you can see his frustration from the tightening of his fists.

“Five, what are you doing?” you ask. “Go!” He should have been long gone. He has the flash drive, your mission was a success. Besides, you were only a new partner. As much as you’ve tried, you haven’t managed to get on his good side. He wouldn’t throw away the mission for this.

But then, you watch as Five pulls the flash drive from his pocket. You begin to struggle again, despite the pain of the gun pressing into your skull. Five doesn’t look at you.

“If I hand this over,” Five says. “You let them go.” His voice is seething as he stares Michael down, like he wants to rip him apart. Your mind can barely process what’s happening. You wish he would look at you so that you could try to make some sense of what’s going on in his head, but he refuses to look your way.

“That’s the deal,” Michael says from behind you. In a quieter voice, Michael says to you, “I told you you were valuable.” The sentence sends you to panic more and you shake your head, a bruise beginning to form where the gun is pressing into you.

In a matter of seconds, you watch as Five tosses the flash drive into the air towards Michael. The man shoves you to the ground hard as he tries to catch it. The second he has the object in his grasp, he takes off running.

You groan from your place on the floor. Suddenly you see a flash of blue and Five is leaning over you. His eyes are swimming with concern as he sweeps over your body. Then he locks eyes with you and you feel your breath stop.

“Are you okay?” he asks seriously. His stare is intense and you freeze for a minute. Then you snap back to reality.

“Uh yeah, I’m fine,” you say and Five’s shoulders seem to relax. Then you remember your mission. “Five, he’s getting away!”

“Oh no he’s not,” Five growls as his gaze fills with anger once more. You see Five go from crouching beside you to blinking next to Michael just as he made it to the stairs. You begin to sit up as you watch Five knock the man out, probably killing him. He leans over Michael’s body and you think he says something before he pries the flash drive from his hands.

In a flash, Five is back standing over you. He wordlessly holds out his hand toward you. You grab it and he helps you up. “Thank you,” you say in awe, once again trying to lock eyes with him. But the moment seems to have passed.

“Don’t mention it,” he says, and you have a feeling he isn’t just talking about helping you up.

†††

The car ride back is uneventful, filled with awkward silence. You keep glancing over at Five but his eyes remain focused on the road.

The two of you walk into the motel room, exhausted from the fight. Five prepares to send the flash drive back to the Commission as you watch, unsure of what to do or say. So you say the obvious.

“So, are we not going to talk about it?” you ask. You’re met with silence and you roll your eyes. You reach over to your travel bag and hiss, pulling back your arm.

“You got stabbed, you idiot,” Five says, glancing over his shoulder. Oh, right. You kind of forgot about your injury in your haze of confusion. You hold your arm, wincing at the amount of blood.

“I’ll be fine,” you say, brushing it off. “Just have to patch myself up.”

You search for the motel’s first aid kit. After finding it you plop yourself down in a chair and place the kit on the room’s desk. Then you hesitate, wondering how to proceed single-handedly. Especially using your bad hand. That doesn’t stop you as you open the kit and start to clean the wound. It’s a bit of a struggle and takes you way longer than it should have. You’re also exhausted which doesn’t help.

You hear a sigh and turn to see Five approaching you. “Useless,” he utters as he starts to take over.

“Five, I don’t need your help. I’m fine—”

“Shut up and let me concentrate.” The way he becomes so focused on the task, eyebrows scrunching as he delicately holds your arm, is enough to shut you up more than his words.

“Yes sir,” you whisper, and he rolls his eyes. Silence fills the room as Five wordlessly patches up your wound. You hiss at the rubbing alcohol and he glances up at you, his features softer than normal, before gently continuing the task. You take the time to regard him fondly, watching his small mannerisms and movements.

You get so caught up that the words seem to fall out of your mouth. “Why didn’t you run?” you whisper, trying to keep the moment quiet. He hesitates. “The mission was complete, you had the flash drive. I told you to run.” The question has been eating away at you. Five takes a moment to think before continuing his task.

“They were going to kill you,” he says, as if it was an obvious answer. But nothing about this man seems obvious to you.

“I thought you hated me.”

“I do,” he says and the words seem to hurt despite the fact that you already knew that. “But that doesn’t mean I want you dead.”

Your breath catches as you stare at Five. It’s not much, and for anyone else that sentence would have meant nothing. But you knew that it was Five revealing his feelings for you. Five hates everyone, that's only natural. But this is the first real indication that you mean something to him.

You smile. “For the record, I don’t want you dead either.” Five stops what he’s doing and for the first time since the mansion, he meets your gaze. The two of you hold eye contact for a moment and you swear you see his mouth twitch upwards. Then reality crashes down on both of you and you awkwardly look away while blushing.

Five clears his throat. “This doesn’t change anything,” he says, finishing up the bandaging of your arm.

“Of course not,” you respond, and he seems to hold onto your arm for a moment or two longer than he should have. Then he’s walking away. As you watch him head for the washroom, you both know that that was a lie.

* * * * *

Those who asked for a part 2:

@winchestertitties​ @tua-five​ @violett-s @if-alina​ @shampoocovers99​

[1-imaginary-girl]

Hello! This is my first time requesting so i don't know how to do this, but can you do a Five Hargreeves HC where he has feelings for reader but don't know if she feels the same so he asked Diego or Luther for advice. Sorry if it's a bit confusing. But here's the prompt (i saw this at Pinterest)

"she doesn't love me, she's not that stupid". " What are you talking about?! Ofc she loves you! Everyone could see it!"

Uncertain Feelings with Five Hargreeves (Headcanon)

Warnings: None.

A/N: Thank you so much for submitting a request! Sorry it took longer than usual to get back to you. I've never done a headcanon before but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!

Also, keep an eye out for a new Five one shot on the way ;)

You would have been friends with the Hargreeves children since you were five

You moved in across the street and introduced yourself

The kids immediately loved you, from your positive attitude to the fun you brought them

You made them feel like normal children

Despite Reginald’s strict protests, the children would refuse to stop seeing you

After he saw the positive affect your presence started to have on them, the old man finally relented

You were the only outsider allowed inside the Hargreeves home

It seemed all of the Umbrella kids loved you, but none more than Five

He knew there was something different about you from the moment he saw you

His little heart would beat out of his chest and his cheeks would turn a shade darker

Unlike his siblings, you didn’t mind his off-putting personality. In fact, it would have made him more interesting to you

He became a little possessive over you, not wanting to share your time with his siblings

It wasn’t hard for them to notice the change in him, but they all thought it was funny and instantly took to teasing him about it

Luckily, you liked him just as much and the two of you became the best of friends

Cut to present day and the two of you still enjoyed one another’s company

You often hung out in Five’s room. He would be working on some boring equation which he tried to explain to you but it went in one ear out the other, while you would read on his bed

One day, an alarm goes off on your phone and you curse

“Shit, I have to go,” you say

Five pauses his work and turns to watch you pack up

“Why?” he asks

“Ugh, my mom set me up for some job interview with her company. Apparently, she's had enough with my unemployment period.”

You would stand to leave and, as always, Five would walk you to the door

“Let me know how it goes,” he says as you both reach the bottom of the stairs

“Oh I’ll be calling to complain the second it’s over,” you say

You would open the door and say “Bye Five” with a smile

“Bye,” he replies as the door closes

All this time and his heart still speeds up when you smile

“Is this still going on?”

Five would hear a voice coming from the living room and scowls when he sees Luther sitting at the bar

“What are you talking about?” the boy hisses

“Oh come on Five, we all know about your feelings for Y/N. Why can’t you just admit it?”

Apparently the man was feeling rather brave to talk to him like this

Five would go to snap back when he pauses

His damned brother is right. It’s been years and he’s never even said the words out loud

He doesn’t know why, but at that moment Five’s decided he’s had enough and relents

He teleports to the stool next to Luther, giving the big guy a scare

“Jesus Five—”

“You’re right”

“…come again?”

“I…fuck it, yes, I’m in love with her. Happy?”

Five would steal whatever alcohol Luther is nursing and down it before releasing a hiss

“There you go! Good for you” Luther would say, annoyingly without sarcasm, as he pats his brother on the back

“This is pointless. I’ve said it, now what am I supposed to do?”

“You tell her”

Five hesitates. “I can’t”

“Why not?”

He hesitates again before looking down into the now empty glass. “Because she doesn’t feel the same way”

Five’s jaw would tighten as the words he fears spill from his lips

“You’re joking, right?”

Five scowls. “Why would I be joking?”

“Five, Y/N loves you too”

Five would only shake his head at his brother’s naïve optimism. “She doesn’t love me, Luther. She’s not that stupid”

“What are you talking about?! Of course she loves you! Everyone could see it!”

But Five wouldn’t hear any of it. “Stop trying to cheer me up.”

Luther would be determined to change his mind. “Five, trust me, Y/N—”

“What about me?” 

The two of them were so distracted by their conversation that they failed to hear you re-entering the house. When both sets of eyes turn to face you, you panic

“Sorry, I forgot my phone upstairs,” you would quickly say with an apologetic look

Luther would try to cover. “Oh, uh, we were just talking about—”

But Five has a different idea

He isn’t sure if it was the “pep talk” with Luther or the realization of how long he has been harbouring his feelings, but he teleports in front of you

Unlike Luther, you don’t flinch

“Y/N I have to tell you something” Five would say

You would blink, caught off guard, but nod, preparing yourself to listen

Five would figure he should just rip it off like a bandaid. And when he looks into your eyes, it unlocks something in him and his feelings pour out

“I love you,” he would say. “I’ve loved you my whole life, and I know you probably don’t feel the same, but I had to—”

You would lunge at him and pull his face until your lips collide

Five would freeze at the sudden contact but quickly melt into you, wrapping his arms around to pull you in lighter

Your arms would curl around his neck

Luther’s cheering would cause both of your faces to light up red but neither of you wanted to pull away

Eventually, you would lean back and whisper, “Took you long enough.”

Five’s eyes widen. “You knew?”

And you would shrug, and say, “I had hoped.”

Then with a beaming smile, the smile that started it all, you say, “And I love you too dummy.”

He would smile back, his heart threatening to burst with the sudden abundance of happiness, and shake his head

“Come here” he would say before bringing you into another kiss, eliciting a squeal of delight from your lips

At this point, Luther would feel uncomfortable lingering around and would leave to immediately inform the other siblings of the big news

[1-imaginary-girl]

Something I Love More

Adrian Chase x Reader

Summary: Amanda Waller has one very strict rule: no dating among team members. So when she finds out that you and Vigilante have been dating, she gives you an option. But it’s going to require a sacrifice. Reader is gender-neutral.

Warnings: A bit angsty, fluff at the end

Word Count: 5658

A/N: School has become even more overwhelming and stressful than usual as it’s starting to wrap up for the semester. So instead of working on that, I’ve gone back to the work that brings me joy. Featuring one of my fav boys <3

“Do you know why I’ve called you in to see me this morning, Agent Y/L/N?” Amanda Waller says. She’s sat behind a glass desk, sitting in a black leather chair. Her posture is unflinching, as is her guarded expression. You’re sat across from her in a rather uncomfortable chair. You wonder if it was made like that on purpose, like how an interrogation room can be made to make the suspect feel uneasy.

Still, you aim to mirror her serious and emotionless expression, not wanting to give away anything. Least of all your confusion.

As you were getting ready to leave your place for work, you got an anonymous call. The caller said they were calling on behalf of Ms. Waller and that you were to meet her at her office in ten minutes. Ever since you and the rest of the 11th Street Kids set up a home base in Evergreen, Waller commandeered a temporary office of her own for supervision purposes. The team really only saw her when it was serious.

Which explains your bundle of nerves as you sit in an uncomfortable chair, pressing down on your leg to stop it from bouncing. “I’m afraid I don’t know, ma’am,” you say while maintaining eye contact. You’ve been working with Waller for long enough to know how to navigate a conversation without making any “mistakes.”

Waller sighs. “I was hoping you’d tell me the truth when it came down to it,” she says, her eyes flicking down at her desk and then back at you. “I’m afraid I overestimated your loyalty.”

This causes you to furrow your eyebrows and your heart rate to pick up. “I don’t understand—”

“It’s come to my attention that you and Mr. Chase are in a romantic relationship.” A silence falls over the two of you as her commanding eyes piece into your fearful ones. This was not what you expected.

It’s true. When you first arrived in this town, you felt drawn to the cute yet odd busboy at Fennel Fields. Then came Vigilante who you also felt a connection with. When you learned that the two were actually the same man, you knew you were in trouble. After the terrifying battle with the butterflies at the farm, you knew you were falling in love. So when the team decided to plant roots here, you confessed your feelings. His reaction still warms your heart as he literally jumped for joy.

The two of you have been dating for a few months now and even live in the same apartment (a little fast, you’ll admit, but it seemed like a better idea than trying to find your own place only to spend most of your time together anyway). He has been the best boyfriend you could ask for. You’ve never felt this way about anyone else.

And yet, despite your happiness, there was a lingering threat. A threat that started when Adrian officially became a part of the team. Your team had demanded that Waller accept him because he helped save the world. After a series of government evaluations such as character evals, psychological evals, physical evals, and even intelligence evals (some of which you’re not sure how Adrian passed), he became officially a part of the team. You suspect that Waller likes that he’s morally grey, efficient, and loyal.

Anyway, the threat was Waller’s strict rule on not having romantic entanglements with your fellow teammates. Waller feels that it will distract you from your real mission, her mission, and fears it will threaten your loyalties to her. She’s right.

“Ma’am, I-I can explain—”

“Don’t insult us both by lying. I already know it’s true.” That statement causes you to pause in your panic. Did one of your teammates leak this information? How else can she be so sure? Is she spying on you? She must have seen the gears turning in your head because she says, “I have my ways.”

Though that didn’t help, you also doubted that any of your teammates would rat you two out. “So,” she says. “Are you and Mr. Chase engaged in a romantic relationship?”

There was only one way to answer. “Yes. The two of us are dating,” you say, straightening your back, even more, to try to amplify your confidence.

“Despite the fact that it is strictly forbidden to date your teammate?” Your confidence wavers, but you try not to let it show.

“Yes.”

“May I ask why?” You hesitate, not expecting that kind of question. You know no answer will satisfy her. You may as well tell the truth.

“Because I love him.” You know it sounds silly. You are supposed to be a professional agent, a trained killer, a loyal soldier, and yet here you are admitting to being in love. Love is weakness in Waller’s eyes, and that’s what you had thought too. That was before you knew what it felt like.

A look of disappointment seems to wash over her face, and though you dislike her vehemently, some desperate part of you is saddened by this. “I see.” She seems to take her time and allow the silence to speak for her. “Very well. As you have directly disobeyed the rules, you must now be prepared to face the consequences.”

You can feel your chest tighten as a new wave of anxiety washes over you. This is it. You have no idea what the consequences are, but you’re determined to maintain your brave face. “What’s going to happen?” you ask, not betraying any emotion as she had trained you.

“That’s up to you.” You furrow your eyebrows and tilt your head in confusion. “I’m going to give you three options to choose from.”

“Wait, shouldn’t Adrian be here for this?” you ask. You assume it will affect the both of you.

“I am leaving the decision up to you. I trust you to make the right call.” You don’t like the sound of that. Your fingers itch to grab your phone and text Adrian. You wish he were here with you.

“Option one,” Waller begins. “Is simply that the two of you terminate the relationship.”

Never going to happen, you think but don’t dare say out loud. 

“Option two is I reassign you to a different team,” she says. “Team Alpha over in Alaska would benefit from having someone of your skillset.” Your eyes widen, but still, you bite your tongue. You don’t want to leave all of your friends, and this option still pulls you and Adrian apart, only with distance.

“And option three?” you ask hesitantly.

“Option three is that I fire Mr. Chase from your team and he will no longer be able to contact the other team members, besides yourself. If he tries to do so, we will have him arrested. There are a plethora of charges I could choose from.”

Your heart sinks, weighing heavy in your stomach. None of these options are even comprehensible.

“Is…is there no other option?” you ask. Waller looks shocked as she glares at you.

“I believe I am already being quite generous by giving you the opportunity to decide for yourself. Do not push me, Agent Y/L/N, or I will entrust the decision to myself,” she says. You nod and look down at her desk.

“You’re right, I’m sorry, ma’am.” But you don’t know what else to say to her. Your mind is scrambling, trying to picture some future in which any of these options work out, but you keep coming up empty. Luckily, Waller seems to sense this.

“I will give you a moment to think about it before coming to a decision,” she says. Without another word, she stands from her desk and exits her office to do God knows what. Meanwhile, you’re still frozen in your chair. You think over your options once more.

The first is not even a question. You will not be breaking up with the best boyfriend you’ve ever had, the first man you’ve truly loved. You can no longer imagine yourself without Adrian by your side.

The second could be possible but it’s no better. You could try for long distance, but it would be painful. Plus, you would have to leave your other friends on the 11th Street Kids. The six of you have really bonded and have become a true team ever since you saved the world. You couldn’t leave them behind.

And the third breaks your heart completely. Adrian has finally found a group of friends, real friends, whom he can work with. You know that he’s always secretly wanted to work with others while doing the whole vigilante thing. But if he gets fired, he won’t even be able to partner with Chris. He would be alone again. No, you couldn’t do that to him.

You can’t make a decision, and you’re dreading the moment Waller comes back in. You feel trapped, like you’re suffocating, and right when you hear the click-clack of heels walking toward you, an idea comes to you.

“Have you come to a decision?” Waller asks as she re-enters her office.

“Yes, I have,” you say. Waller looks you over, unsure about your new confidence and, possible joy.

“So what will it be?”

“I’ve decided to quit.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m quitting,” you say.

“Over a man? I thought I had taught you better than this,” Waller sighs.

“For love, actually. And I guess you were wrong.” Waller gives you another disappointed look, and you try to ignore it.

“Very well then,” Waller says. “I will have the paperwork written up and sent for you to sign. You were a good agent. Your skills will be missed.” That’s as sentimental as you’ve ever heard the woman. “Farewell. And good luck.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” You sense that the conversation is over so you give her a court nod, her expression remaining unflinching as you exit the room.

Once you’re in the hallway, you take a breath. You still haven’t really processed what just happened. You can’t come to regret your decision as it was the best choice, and yet a part of you is still sad. It only gets worse when you realize you had a meeting with the team to get to. It’s okay, you think, you’ll still get to see them. It’s not like you’re leaving for good. That’s what you tell yourself as you begin your drive over to the video store that has become your base of operations.

It’s only once you’ve parked your car and looked at the front doors of the store, where all of your friends are, that reality finally catches up to you. The severity of your decision washes over you like a tidal wave and your body tenses up.

You quit. You actually quit your job. The job you’ve been training for practically your whole life, the one you’ve devoted your life to. You’ve been known to make rash decisions from time to time but this takes the cake.

Your breathing starts to pick up as panic tries to take over. Focus, you tell yourself. There’s time to freak out about all of this later. Right now, you just have to get through this conversation.

But you know the minute you tell everyone about this, the situation will become real. Like, no going back real. It’ll be fine. After you take a few deep breaths and shove your emotions deep inside of you, you exit your car. Even so, panicked questions begin to berate you as you make your way to the door.

Why did I do this? Why did I have to quit? Why am I throwing away my life’s work? Why—

You enter the building and immediately lock eyes with your boyfriend. Oh, that’s why. Adrian offers you a big smile and you can feel the questions fade away. You instead focus on him.

“Hey babe!” he says as he makes his way over to you. “How’d it go? OH, I got you some coffee. I didn’t know how long you’d be so I got you an iced coffee because the coffee was going to end up cold either way, right? So anyway, that’s in the breakroom fridge, no pressure if you don’t want to drink it, I just thought you might want it after your long morning—”

You grab his face and pull him into a kiss. Him. Your beautiful, considerate, and loving boyfriend. That’s what all this was for, and right now, you only feel joy at the thought of him going out of his way to make your morning a little bit better.

You break from the kiss and Adrian has the cutest flustered look on his face, accompanied by a smile. “I love you,” you tell him. More than you know.

“All that for coffee?” he asks, bringing a smile to your face. Before you can say anything else, a voice cuts you off.

“Can we get back to the meeting, please?” Harcourt says. You almost jump in surprise. You glance over Adrian’s shoulder and only then notice the rest of the team sitting in the middle of the room with a presentation behind them.

Oh, right, you think as heat starts to spread to your cheeks. “Sorry,” you say. Adrian doesn’t blink an eye as he turns around.

“I’m not,” he says. Wanting to move past this, you grab Adrian’s hand and drag him over to the rest of the group. You take a seat and he follows suit, looking very pleased.

“As I was saying—” Harcourt says but then is immediately cut off.

“How’d your meeting with Waller go?” Peacemaker asks you. Harcourt looks pissed but then changes her expression to curious as she looks at you. And just like that, all eyes are on you. Why does this seem more torturous than actual torture?

“Surprisingly well,” you say, lying through your teeth.

“What did she want to talk to you about?” Adebayo asks.

You clear your throat. “Actually, it was me who wanted to talk to her.” Again, lies. You hate lying, especially to Adrian, but there was no way you were going to tell him the real reason behind the visit. He would only do something stupid like get himself fired, or possibly arrested.

“Wait what? What did you want to talk to her about?” Adrian asks. Deep breaths, you tell yourself. Your eyes flitter to each person until you land on the floor. Quit stalling. It’s just like ripping off a bandaid.

You lift your head up and say, “I quit.” Dead silence seems to choke the room and you hold your breath, waiting for a reaction. Well, you got it.

“What?”

“What are you talking about?”

“This is a joke, right?”

“What the fuck?”

Their faces all display emotions of hurt and confusion. You don’t dare look at the man beside you. “I know this may come as a bit of a shock—” you try to explain.

“A bit?!” Adebayo exclaims.

“Getting zapped by an outlet is a bit of a shock, you just threw lightning at us!” Economos shouts.

“Where is this coming from?” Adrian asks from beside you in a softer tone. You risk a glance at him, and his hurt expression breaks your heart. He would have been a lot sadder if you had to move to Alaska.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while, the idea of changing things up, and I finally made up my mind this morning,” you say, using a calm expression and trying not to show any emotions.

“This just doesn’t make sense, you love your job. You said it was your dream job,” Harcourt says, eyeing you more suspiciously than the others. You make a note not to look her directly in the eyes.

“I do love it, but it’s all I’ve ever done. I want to try something new,” you say, trying to convince yourself as well as the others. Another eruption of questions begins, the confrontation triggering your fight or flight. Normally, you’d always go with fight. But that doesn’t seem to be getting you anywhere.

“I’m sorry I had to tell you this way. I didn’t expect everything to happen so quickly,” you say over the noise. “We’ll still see each other and hang out like normal, nothing has to change.” This doesn’t deter your friends as they keep asking you questions you don’t know the answer to. “On that note, however, I don’t think Waller would be too pleased to hear I sat in on a confidential meeting.”

You stand up and quickly make your way to the doors, heading straight for your car. You don’t look back as you peel out of there, and though you feel guilty, you also feel relieved to be alone to process your feelings.

Normal jobs would give you two more weeks after quitting; however that’s not how Amanda Waller works. If you quit, you’re out. Just like that. No time to slowly transition. God you hate that woman.

It doesn’t take you long to get to your apartment and then you quickly hurry to get inside, just wanting to curl up on the couch for comfort. Your shoes are carelessly tossed to the side as you fall into the cozy embrace of your couch.

You had time to pull yourself together before Adrian got home from work. At least, that’s what you thought. Just as you were about to finally let out your emotions, you hear the door being unlocked. Goddamnit. Of course, he would follow you. Of course, he would want answers. Of course, you wouldn’t be allowed to have a breakdown in private.

You sit up and calm yourself down just as Adrian comes barrelling in. “Um, what the fuck was that?” he asks. You begrudgingly put on your emotional armour and turn to face him.

“What do you mean?” you ask, and then regret it as Adrian begins to flip out.

“What do I mean?! I mean why the fuck did you just quit? And why is this the first time I’m hearing about it?” This is unfair, you think. Adrian is supposed to be the one person in this world who you can share everything with. Who you can confide in and seek comfort in. Now, you have to lie to him like everyone else. This is for his own good.

“I know you’re upset—”

“Upset?!”

“But can you please stop yelling at me?” He looks like he’s about to argue with you when he closes his eyes and forcefully takes a breath. When he looks at you again, you wish he would yell because there’s that sad fucking look of his that has the power to shatter your heart in seconds.

“Will you please tell me what the fuck is going on?” he asks you calmly, though you can tell he’s still hurt and confused.

“I’m serious about quitting, Adrian,” you tell him.

“But why didn’t you tell me before?” he says as he comes to sit beside you on the couch. “I thought we told each other everything.” Ouch.

“I didn’t know if I would go through with it,” you say. “And telling you…only would have made it more real.” You look at him and try to comfort him a little. “I really didn’t want to leave, I love working with you and everyone else. This is just something I have to do, for me.”

You take his hand and squeeze it, desperately hoping he wouldn’t be so upset with you anymore. “I…I guess that makes sense,” Adrian grumbles. “I still wish you would have talked to me first.”

“I know, I’m sorry.” You sit like that, waiting for him to speak.

“Is there any way I can change your mind?” he asks softly. “I liked having you as a partner, both on and off the field.” This man is pulling on your heartstrings.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but I’m not changing my mind.” He nods sadly. There’s a moment of silence. “Will the others be mad you left?”

He shrugs. “Probably,” he says. “I guess I should be leaving.”

“Yeah.” For a few moments, he doesn’t leave. You can tell he’s having trouble processing this whole thing. Then he takes a deep breath and stands up, your hand falling back onto your lap.

He starts to leave when you call out to him. “Wait!” you say and he turns around. “No goodbye kiss?” That elicits a small smile from him. He walks back over and gives you a quick kiss.

“I’m going to miss doing that at work,” he says and you playfully shove him. The two of you are smiling and your heart feels a little lighter.

“Get out of here already,” you say jokingly.

“I am quite tempting—”

“Go!” you giggle. He heads for the door. “I’ll see you later okay?”

“Okay, love you, bye!”

“Love you bye!” And with that he’s gone. A smile is left lingering on your face but soon your thoughts catch up to you and you finally break down.

†††

A week has passed since you officially quit the team. Once you let yourself feel upset about it all, you decide to make the most of it. Sure, your job had been your life’s work but maybe there were other interests of yours that you hadn’t discovered.

You’ve looked through help wanted ads in the local newspaper but nothing appealed to you. Nothing online either. But that’s okay, you reassure yourself. This is good, some time just for you, away from work. Except that you’ve been bored out of your mind.

This past week, you have cleaned the apartment from top to bottom, fixed some minor house repairs, learned how to cook at least one meal and baked a shit ton of cookies. Not that Adrian minded that last part.

Adrian. He has been so supportive throughout all of this. Pointing out jobs he thinks you might like, encouraging hobbies, even trying to get you into DND. Which makes the lying all the more difficult. You want to tell him, but you know that would only complicate matters. No, unfortunately you will have to learn to live with this lie.

Meanwhile, the topic had yet to settle back at the video store. “It just doesn’t make any sense!” Harcourt says as she and Adebayo walk into the store from their lunch break.

“What doesn’t make sense?” Economos asks.

“Harcourt misses Y/N,” Adebayo replies with a little smile and Harcourt gives her an angry look. Adrian perks up instantly at the sound of your name.

“You think you miss them?! What about me?” he asks with a slight pout. He missed having his beautiful, sexy, funny, perfect partner by his side. Especially on the field, when normally he would know you’d be there to watch his back.

“Vig, you see them literally every other second of the day,” Chris says with slight annoyance.

“But I miss seeing them every second of the day. It’s not the same.” Though he respects your decision, that doesn’t mean he can’t be a little upset about it.

“Okay, do I miss having the only competent team member other than myself? Yes,” Harcourt says which earns a crowd of offended protests. “But it’s not just that. Something about the whole situation just seems…I don’t know, off.”

The rest of the group kind of agrees. But Adrian feels he has to defend you. “Look guys, I know we all miss them because they’re literally the most perfect being to exist,” he says without even thinking, which causes a few groans. “But it’s their decision so we have to support it.” Adebayo nods her head in agreement, but the rest are unconvinced.

“But doesn’t it seem a little suspicious to you?” Harcourt asks him. Despite the fact that Adrian has had some doubts lurking in the back of his mind, he acts ignorant.

“What do you mean?” he asks.

“I mean, they don’t mention anything to you about quitting before and then suddenly after a meeting with Waller, it’s all about experimenting bullshit.”

“Wait, you think Waller has something to do with this?” Chris asks.

“I mean, it wouldn’t surprise me,” Adebayo adds in.

“It’s possible,” John says. But this doesn’t sit right with Adrian.

“Stop! It has nothing to do with Waller. Because that would mean that Y/N lied to us, to me. Why would they do that?” Adrian asks, half talking to himself because what they’re saying is starting to make sense. But he doesn’t want them to be right. “I mean, what could Waller say to make them quit her dream job?”

Adrian thinks the conversation is over as a quiet falls over the room. But suddenly, he sees Harcourt’s face light up with realization. And she must have been thinking the same thing, because Adebayo looks at her with the same face. It has Adrian’s stomach turning.

“What? What was that?” Adrian asks them.

“Nothing,” they both say.

“You guys totally just figured it out,” Chris says. It seems the boys are struggling to come to the same conclusion.

“No we didn’t,” Adebayo tries to say casually but she’s not the greatest liar.

“Tell me,” Adrian says, desperately looking between the two of them who refuse to look at him. Finally, Harcourt sighs.

“Look, I think you should talk to Y/N about it,” she says. He looks to Adebayo to see her nodding. The two of them won’t say anything else. Adrian’s mind is in a frenzy and he needs answers.

“Fine,” he says before walking out the door.

“I didn’t mean right now—forget it,” Harcourt sighs, giving up on calling after him.

†††

You’re on the couch watching reruns on TV because why not, and eating some cookies you made. “Damn, maybe I could be a baker,” you say with your mouth full. Just as a new show starts to play, you hear the door open and see Adrian.

“Oh, hey babe,” you say, a bit relieved to have a distraction. “What are you doing back so early?”

“I need to talk to you,” he says and it’s only then that you take in his serious demeanour. The look worries you and the thought of your secret bubbles to your mind’s surface. No, there’s no way he knows.

“Okay.” He walks over to the couch and you see he’s thinking hard about something. And he isn’t looking at you. “Is everything okay?”

“You wouldn’t lie to me, right?” he asks. Your stomach drops and suddenly the cookies you ate feel like lead.

“Where is this coming from?” Your palms begin to sweat so you place them in your lap. Adrian then looks right at you and it feels like a spotlight is shining directly on you.

“The team doesn’t believe the reason you gave for quitting. And I want to believe you, so tell me you wouldn’t lie.”

He’s looking at you with his big, honest eyes and for the first time, you falter under interrogation. You’re not sure how far you’re willing to dig yourself into this hole. What if you end up ruining the relationship with this? Then it was all for nothing. It’s too much.

“You know the answer to that,” you say, trying to find some way out of this.

“Why won’t you just say it?” he asks, and you hear a bit of hurt in his voice. He’s looking at you, and you want to cry because it’s like you’re stabbing him in the heart and your heartbeat is in your ears and it’s all too much.

“Because it’s a stupid question!” You get up from the couch and walk towards the kitchen, looking for an escape to breathe.

“You did lie.” You are no longer looking at him but you know he’s walked over to you. You cannot believe that all this pain was from Amanda fucking Waller of all people. Will she cause the end of your relationship after all. “But…why?”

“Adrian,” you say, your voice cracking with emotion. You clear it and look at him. “It’s personal.”

“Why won’t you answer me?” he asks, his tone shifting from hurt to anger.

“Because it’s none of your business!” You’re trying, you’re trying so hard to keep this plan together. To keep the two of you together.

“What does that mean?”

“It’s complicated.”

“What’s complicated?” Your throat has seemingly closed up. You think if you open your mouth, everything will fall out. But keeping it inside is killing you, both of you. “Y/N, why would you leave your dream job? You love that job—”

“Well maybe I realized I love something more!” The words fall out of your mouth before you can process them. You’re looking at him and your eyes are wide because you don’t know what just happened. Adrian looks slightly taken aback by a legit response, but his curiosity is still infused with frustration.

“What could you possibly love more?”

“YOU, YOU IDIOT!” you yell out because you can’t take it anymore. The room is silent and you’re both slightly out of breath from your yelling match. Neither of you know what to do. You close your eyes and sigh, realizing the game is up. “Shit.”

“What?” he asks in a small voice.

“I chose you,” you say just as quiet, giving him an honest look with your emotions on full display.

“Chose me—what does that mean?” He walks closer to you as the wall seems to crumble from between you. You know there’s no going back.

“Waller found out that we were dating.” When his confusion doesn’t dwindle, you explain further. “She has a very strict no dating between teammates.”

“Oh,” he says and you realize he wasn’t aware of that. “So, that was what your meeting was about?”

“Yeah, she sort of sprung it on me.” Adrian’s right in front of you and you’re nervous to tell him the truth but you’re sick of having secrets between the two of you.

“So, how does this lead to you quitting?” he asks, and the conversation feels soft. You sigh.

“Waller gave me 3 choices as to how to move on,” you say as he eagerly waits for your explanation. “The first was that we break up—”

“Absolutely not,” he says with wide, panicked eyes. You reach out and take his hand, squeezing it. The action seems to calm him down.

“I know,” you say softly. “The second was that I move to Alaska—”

“What? No no, she can’t—”

“Adrian,” you cut off his ramblings. He’s gripping your hand tight, so you bring it up and kiss the back of his. His breathing slows back down. “I didn’t choose that. I’m not leaving you.”

He nods, trying to reassure himself of that thought. “And the third?” he asks with a nervous gaze.

You look away. “The third, is that she fires you from the team.”

“Okay—”

“And she would have you arrested if you tried to contact any of the others.”

“Oh.” He deflates and you know you made the right call.

“But it’s okay, none of those things are going to happen.” You give him a reassuring smile and try to meet his gaze. His eyebrows scrunch together.

“Wait, you quitting wasn’t even an option.” Your smile falters as he looks back at you with sad eyes. “You chose to quit?”

“I told you, I chose you.” He doesn’t seem satisfied with that answer. You reach up and take his face in your hands. “It’s okay. It was my choice. Besides, it was the best option.”

“What if I quit?” he says, moving away.

“No, Adrian you love your job.”

“So do you!” he shoots back. Fair point.

“Besides, I’m pretty sure the rules on arresting you would still apply. Me being unemployed is better than you behind bars.”

That isn’t enough for him. “There has to be another way,” he looks at you as you take his hands in yours. “I’m not letting you quit your job for me.”

“Would you rather I move to Alaska?” you ask, half-joking.

“Fuck no, you know that’s not what I meant.”

“Adrian, there’s no other way,” you say. “I’ve come to terms with it.” There’s a pause in the conversation before you see Adrian’s eyes light up.

“What if we pretend to break up?” he asks, excitedly. You simply stare at him.

“What?”

“Think about it,” he explains. “We tell Waller we broke up, and then we can still work together. It’s perfect.”

“It’s stupid,” you say, confused. “It’ll never work.”

“It’s worth a try.”

“What if we get caught?”

He pauses. “Then we’ll figure it out.” You sigh and he catches your eye. “Please?” His blue eyes are begging you.

“Fine.” He pumps his fist in celebration which makes you smile. “But we have to be careful.”

“We will, we will, this’ll be great!” He grabs your face and kisses your forehead, all while wearing a goofy smile. It makes you happier than you’ve been all week.

“Hey,” you say, and drawing his attention to you. “I love you.”

His eyes soften and so does his smile. “I know.” Your jaw drops and his face looks surprised as you lightly hit him. He runs away giggling and you chase after him.

“How dare you Han Solo me right now!” You catch up to him only for him to catch you in his arms and lift you up. He plants kisses all over your face.

“I love you, I love you, I love you,” he says in between pecks and your playful anger slips away. You slide back down to the ground. Your guilt comes back.

“I’m sorry I lied to you. I hated doing it, I just...thought it was the right thing to do,” you say gnawing on your lip.

“It’s alright, I understand,” he says, pulling your lip away from your teeth. “I probably would’ve done the same. But no more lies, promise?” He offers out his pinky finger.

“I promise,” you say as you wrap your pinky around his. He smiles and you can’t help but pull him down for a kiss. He quickly reciprocates, pulling you close. Your tongues meet, swirling in and out of each other’s mouths. You let your worries melt away as you relax into the kiss. After a few moments, you pull away, biting his lip before releasing it with a smirk. He chases your lips but smiles.

“It’s going to be alright,” he says, reading your thoughts. “We’re going to figure this out together.”

You’re not sure if it was Adrian’s hopeful optimism or the happiness flooding your brain, but you believe him.

[1-imaginary-girl]

Annoying

Five Hargreeves x Reader

Summary: It’s no secret Five finds you annoying. In fact, he frequently tells you this. Maybe he even goes too far. But when someone else insults you, Five realizes that only he’s allowed to do that. Reader is gender neutral.

Warnings: Hurtful comments said to the reader

Word Count: 3500

A/N: I’m alive! So long story short, I lost the motivation to write for a while which caused my spontaneous hiatus. I honestly wasn’t sure if I would post anything again. But then, I rediscovered comfort in writing, especially when it’s about my best boys. 

My posting from now on may be a bit sporadic as I’m back in school but I do intend to keep posting.

Anyway, here’s my favourite grumpy boy as a treat!

Five Hargreeves had gotten used to working at the Commission. He still hated every second of it: the job, the people, the killings. But he had adapted, just like he had in the apocalypse, and had fallen into a familiar routine that made the situation easier to swallow. He had finally accepted his job and made peace with it. That is, until you came along.

You also work at the Commission as a field agent and until recently, Five didn’t even know of your existence. Then one day, you came into his office and tried to chat with him. He was bewildered of course and told you to get the hell out of his face. But his rude words didn’t deter you. Instead, you asked him if he wanted to be your partner in the field. Again, Five was shocked and told you absolutely not. Unfortunately, you don’t seem to take no as an answer.

Every day since then, you kept popping into his life. Every day you would make nice with him, do him favours, and were overall friendly with him. Every day, he offered you nothing but a cold shoulder. Every day you asked him to be your partner and every day he told you no.

It was extremely aggravating to say the least. He tried to report you to the Handler but she told him you were doing nothing wrong. She even made some suggestive comments that made Five regret ever going to her for help. So he was on his own.

Except none of his usual moves worked. You never shied away from his negative presence. If he blinked away, you would somehow find him again. There seemed to be no way to remove you from his life.

He’s sitting in his office working when he hears a sound he has come to dread. “Knock knock,” you say as you open his door, not waiting for a response. He once asked you, “What if I was doing something private?” but that only made him flush at the accidental implication and you laughed.

“Not now,” he mumbles, not taking his eyes off his work.

“Yes now,” you say, entering the room and taking a seat on the other side of his desk. He doesn’t know why he hasn’t just removed the chair since the only person who ever used it was you. “I brought you coffee!”

This causes him to glance up, only a little, and what a mistake that turns out to be. There you sit, a beaming smile spread across your face. Your eyes tend to light up when you smile, bringing attention to how stunning they are. Thoughts like these make him feel queasy, at least that’s what he’s deeming it to be. His face also tends to heat up and his breathing acts funny. He’s considered a few times that he was sick, but every test indicated otherwise.

This is another thing that bothers him so much about you. You bring unknown feelings that Five has never experienced before, and he hates feelings, let alone unfamiliar ones.

“The answer is still, and always will be, no,” he says blankly, his eyes focused on his computer but he isn’t paying attention to what’s on the screen.

“But I haven’t even said my pitch yet!” you complain. Without looking, he knows you’re looking at him with big puppy dog eyes. He would never admit, even to himself, that they affect him. “I think today’s speech is much better—”

“Doesn’t matter, still a no.”

You ignore him and clear your throat. “As your partner—”

“Stop.”

“I would bring you freshly made coffee every morning, just the way you like it,” you continue. He decides to stop talking to you altogether. With concentration, he’s able to read the words on the screen and continue typing. “You can still take lead on the missions, though you’ll find I’m fairly skilled on the field. This will also reduce the danger of getting hurt, and if one of us does get hurt, the other can patch them up.”

It is a pain to tend to my own wounds, Five thinks before mentally berating himself. He’s supposed to be ignoring you. And besides, he’s been taking care of himself for years, he’s used to the difficulties by now.

“Another bonus, is that with me as your partner, the Handler won’t be on you as much,” you say, and despite himself, he listens. “She’ll know that someone else has their eyes on you, and with my reputation, she’ll trust me with it.”

Now that actually sounds desirable. The Handler is always checking in on him and keeping a watchful eye on his actions. She knows he’s a good agent, he’s proved that by now, but she still worries that he might betray them. This makes him a loose canon in her eyes. Plus, with her attention elsewhere he’ll be able to make more progress on his secret project to return to his family—

Stop it, he tells himself. This is exactly what you want. You actually have him considering the possibility of becoming partners. The more your voice fills his ears and the more he thinks about what it would mean to have you as a partner, the more his face starts to burn.

He can feel himself losing control over his emotions and he panics. Clearly, ignoring you is not the solution.

“That’s enough!” he yells, causing you to pause mid-sentence. He looks over at you to see your wide eyes staring at him. For the first time, he sees a crack in your positive shield. He continues. “God, just stop already. I am so sick and tired of you groveling at my feet, it is so annoying. Why won’t you get this through your head? I am never partnering with anyone, especially not with you! So for the last time, leave me alone!”

A deadly silence fills the room. Five is panting from his outburst and when his anger recedes, he finds he’s shocked at himself. He’s never had an outburst like that, never yelled like that before. Sure he gets angry and frustrated all of the time, but he hardly ever yells and his words are never that venomous. He just got so riled up with his emotions…

You also seem shocked. You try to cover it up, but he can still tell. You seem unsure of what to say and your usual peppiness seems to have vanished as well. Five isn’t sure how to feel. He also isn’t sure of what to do.

You then clear your throat. “Well then,” you say, trying to piece yourself together. “You seem busy so I should go.” You grin but its wobbly and it doesn’t meet your eyes. And despite himself, he feels sorry. You wordlessly stand up and exit his office.

The silence remains and Five is left frozen. After a moment, he shakes his head and tries to feel unbothered by what just happened.

†††

A few hours have passed since his conversation with you, and Five is out of coffee. He blinks to the Commission’s break room but then he sees you there. You’re standing at the counter with your back to him and in a moment of panic, he blinks to behind a wall just around the corner from the break room.  

He curses silently. He can’t believe that he’s hiding from you after earlier. Maybe he just doesn’t want to deal with your emotions. Or maybe he’s hiding from his own.

He’s about to just toughen up and deal with it when he hears someone else entering the room. “Y/N, how nice to see you,” he hears someone say. He looks to see a woman approaching you. Five thinks he’s seen her around but doesn’t recognize her. He’s tried not to make friends here or fill his mind with useless information. This means he only knows a few people including you and the Handler.

“Cassandra,” he hears you say in a bitter tone. He frowns. He’s never heard you speak like that.

“How have you been?” Cassandra asks and Five doesn’t know why, but she sounds ingenuine despite her cheery tone. He also suspects her smile to be too friendly.

“Fine.” You don’t even look over at her as you continue whatever you were doing at the counter. It isn’t like you to be short with people, and Five wonders if it’s because of what he said.

“I heard you got in trouble with the Handler this morning,” Cassandra says. Oh shit, Five thinks. He isn’t sure if that happened before or after he yelled at you but either way, he doesn’t envy your morning.

“Yup,” is your only response. Cassandra doesn’t seem satisfied by your response. She walks over and leans against the counter next to you.

“That must have been awful. I hope she doesn’t fire you soon,” she says with false concern. You still don’t glance her way. You simply nod your head absentmindedly as your focus remains locked on the kettle in front of you, waiting for the water to boil. Cassandra just keeps talking. “Are you still bugging Agent Five about being his partner?”

Five’s ears begin to burn as the conversation steers towards him. Now more than ever, he thinks he should leave this private conversation, but his feet remain glued to the floor. What does he care? he tries to tell himself, but it doesn’t work.

He watches as you grip the counter tightly. Unfortunately, Cassandra also seems to notice and she takes that as an answer. “Aw you poor thing,” she says, putting her hand on your shoulder only for you to shrug it off.

“Look Cassandra,” you say, your voice filled with agitation. “I’ve had a really bad day, if you could just—”

“I can only imagine,” the woman says, and Five is starting to really dislike her. “It must be hard, getting rejected day after day. I’m surprised you haven’t given up.”

“Fuck it.” You push yourself off the counter. You turn around and Five ducks back around the corner. “I’ll come back later.”

There’s a moment of silence before, “Do you know why he keeps rejecting you?” Five risks a glance to see that you’ve turned back around.

“What?” you say, surprised by the question.

“It’s the same reason why all of the others rejected you,” she says, which takes Five by surprise. He didn’t know there were others. An illogical flare of jealousy rises in him before he stomps it out.

“You’re annoying,” she says, her tone one of false sympathy. “No one wants to be around you. You come on way too strong and, sweetie, you reek of desperation.”

“S-stop,” you say, in shock but also seemingly hit by a bullet of emotions. Even Five is surprised.

“You’re just a nuisance,” Cassandra says. “A pest that no one can get rid of. That’s why you’ve never found a partner and that’s why you never will. I mean, who could like you let alone stand you?”

“Cassandra…” you say and Five can hear the quiver in your voice. He doesn’t know why, but the sound makes his chest tighten.

“Face it, Y/N,” she says, now standing right in front of you. “You were always meant to be alone.” Finally, Five can’t take it anymore. He walks out from around the corner and glares at Cassandra. He finds himself loathing her. Only he is allowed to call you annoying.

Cassandra glances past you and looks surprised to see him there. Just like that, she has on her friendly looking face again. “Oh hey there Fi—” she starts to say to him.

“Get out,” he spits at her. Her eyes widen at his venomous tone but decides to listen, scurrying away. It’s nice to see his fearful reputation precedes him. There’s a silence that settles in the room once she’s left. You seem to be frozen in place, not even turning to face him. He isn’t sure what to do himself, whether to somehow approach you or to ignore you entirely.

Luckily, his decision is made for him as you wordlessly walk back up to the counter towards the kettle. Five clears his throat, trying to rid himself of this awkward feeling, and walks up beside you.

He doesn’t address you, after all he normally isn’t the one to start the conversation. Which is why it’s so odd when you don’t. The two of you move about silently, completing your individual tasks. He finds he can’t even look at you, for the downtrodden look on your face still inflicts pain upon him. Finally, after an agonizing amount of time, you speak.

“Five,” you say, also clearing your throat. “I, uh, I have some good news for you.”

He sees that you’re trying to plaster on your usual happy appearance but it’s broken and he can see right through it.

He expects you to say something along the lines of “I forgive you for earlier” or “I made you some coffee.” He expects you to forgive him and act as normal. He did not, however, expect your actual words.

“I will no longer be bothering you with my presence.” Normally, these words would send him jumping for joy. After all, this is what he’s been wanting. But after the conversation he overheard, something gave him pause.

“Oh?” he says, at a loss for words as he is caught off guard.

“Yeah,” you say with a forced smile. “I’ve realized that I haven’t been respecting your feelings, as you have made it more than clear that you don’t want me as a partner and that you never will.”

He hears your voice crack towards the end and he can’t help but compare your words to Cassandra’s. “Yes I uh…I appreciate that,” he says, hesitant with his words. He isn’t sure what to make of all of this.        

“Right,” you say, straightening yourself. You pick up your mug and turn to fully face him. He tries to ignore the shine of incoming tears in your eyes. “See you around. And uh, sorry for bothering you.”

Before he can say anything else, you turn and exit the room, leaving Five in a state of uncertainty.

†††

When Five walks into work the next morning, he’s not on edge like he usually is. He normally expects you to greet him on his way to his office, but there’s no sight of you. After Five recovered from his shock, he decided he should be happy about the situation. Sure, he didn’t want you to get hurt, but he got what he wanted.

He settles into his office and gets to work. He reaches to take a sip of his coffee when he realizes there’s nothing there. Oh, right. You normally got his morning coffees for him. Not a big deal, he thinks. If anything, this shows what a nuisance you had been for changing his routine.

Throughout the next couple of days, he starts to realize what an impact you had made on him. For one, the coffee doesn’t taste as good, which is odd. Then he noticed his plant started to die. Five didn’t even know he had a plant. He got rid of it and suddenly felt that his office was colder. He knows it’s illogical, but he didn’t realize how it brightened the room.

And most of all, he found his normal routine to be rather dull. Normally, you would interrupt his work and give a small relief to the boring workload. His room is quieter than ever and the days start to blend together.

But this is what he wanted wasn’t it? To finally be on his own? It’s not like he missed your ramblings, or the sound of your laugh, or your happy disposition, or the way you brightened his day. No. He’s better off alone…

He doesn’t even believe himself. He scowls. How could he let this happen? How could he let someone in and affect him so much to a point where he missed them? He thinks about ignoring his feelings and soldiering on, as is his way, but the thought of going on like this for God knows how long makes him reconsider.

Goddamn you.

†††

He had never seen your office before. He didn’t even know you had an office up until now. He thought, a bit conceitedly perhaps, that he was the only field agent with an office. Maybe you weren’t exaggerating when you said you were good.

Your door is left open, possibly to be more inviting and welcoming. It’s perfectly you. Five looks in to see your head down, writing something at your desk, and takes a moment to consider you. God, he had missed you. He feels a little excited just seeing you there. Is he that lonely and desperate?

He knocks on your door and stands in the doorway. You lift your head and your eyes widen in surprise to see him. He tries not to look uncomfortable under your gaze.

“Oh! Hey Five,” you say, cautiously. You’re not as bubbly around him anymore, almost afraid to scare him off. He doesn’t like it. “What can I do for—”

Before you can finish, Five drops a file onto your desk. You look at him in surprise. There’s a silence. “What’s this?” you ask.

“Read it,” he snaps at you, his nerves getting the better of him. You open the file and he sees surprise overtake your whole face.

“This…this is a request to have me as your partner,” you say quietly, not knowing how to react.

“This has nothing to do with your pestering, by the way,” Five says. “I thought about it and came to my own conclusion that a partner would be beneficial. I thought since you were already willing, it was the simpler choice.”

As he speaks, he watches your disbelief change into joy and a bright smile returns to your face. It’s almost infectious.

“This is incredible,” you say. And then something changes and your smile drops into a frown, which makes him upset. Not that he was doing this for you, but he thought you’d be happy. “But I thought…I thought I annoyed you. What changed?”

He feels guilt tug at him. It seems his outburst stuck with you. “I…might have overreacted the other day. You do annoy me, but I didn’t mean it like that.” You nod at this and he senses it isn’t enough to convince you. Fuck it. He’s already in this deep. “I suppose, as a gesture of good faith as your new partner, and only for this occasion…I owe you an apology.”

Your eyes shoot up at him and he falters. Then he clears his throat and prays no one else is around to hear this. “I am…sorry, for any hurt my outburst may have caused you.” He could count on one hand the number of times he has genuinely apologized to someone. But apparently it works, as your frown is gone.

“Oh, um, thank you,” you say, unsure how to respond to his sudden change in character. There’s an awkward pause before you smile. You hold out your hand and say, “Partners?”

It’s such a sweet gesture of forgiveness that Five finds his mouth twitching upwards. “Partners,” he says, shaking your hand. He ignores the sparks he feels when his hand touches yours. But he has been sentimental for far too long.

He ends the handshake and clears his throat once more. “To be clear, this is not an official contract, you still have to sign the paper,” he says but the smile cannot be erased from your face.

“Yes, of course! I will handle that right away,” you say. “This is so exciting! You will not regret this.”

“I better not,” he says. “This doesn’t change anything between us, we’re not friends.”

“Yet,” you say with a cheeky smile. He is much more relieved to see you acting as your normal self again.

“Y/N I’m serious—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. This is going to be so fun,” you giggle, seemingly ignoring what he just said. “Thank you.”

You’re looking up at him, a soft smile on your lips and a twinkle in your eye. He falters again as he feels heat rising in his cheeks. He looks away.

“No need to thank me, just make sure that request is signed and submitted.”

“Aye, aye, cap’n,” you salute him and he takes this as his cue to leave. He turns and you call out, “See you around!”

He doesn’t respond, or rather he can’t. He’s already starting to regret this and not because of the reason you think. Seeing you all happy and excitement caused his heart to swell with a feeling he isn’t familiar with. He doesn’t like this unknown territory and change. But he has to admit…

It felt kind of nice.

[1-imaginary-girl]

My Mission - Part 1

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: The winter soldier has a new mission. He’s been assigned to kill you, a vigilante who’s been causing trouble for HYDRA. It seems like any other job. But when he learns more about you, suddenly his mission becomes unclear. Reader uses she/her pronouns.

Warnings: None, canon-level violence.

Word Count: 3595

I couldn't contain my ideas for this fic into one so surprise, it’s going to be a mini-series. It will have four or five parts to it. I’m very excited to write a new series, especially since it’s my first time writing about Bucky <3

Also, since this part was written in Bucky’s POV only he doesn’t know his name is Bucky, there’s a lot of usage of the words he and him. I didn’t want to keep referring to him as “the winter soldier”. So, apologies for the repetition.

The winter solider is walking on the edge of a rooftop using the darkness of night as his cloak. His sights are set on his target below. He follows them, moving along different rooftops to do so.

His target is a woman. Your name is Y/N L/N. His superiors informed him that you had been causing trouble for HYDRA: targeting different bases of operation, eliminating soldiers, and destroying vital information. His mission was simple: eliminate you.

He had been gathering intel on you for the past few days as instructed and is now looking for the right opportunity to make his move. You are currently making your way home after work. He finds it odd and irresponsible that you have chosen to walk home at this late hour but it will make his job easier.

With the sun fallen below the horizon, the streets have gone quiet which causes every step of your heels to echo. He ponders taking you out right here in the empty streets. But then you stop. He worries you might have spotted him and points his pistol in your direction, preparing a shot if necessary. But you look down an alley to your left and decide to continue walking that way. Too easy, he thinks.

He considers the possibility that you might be leading him into a trap, but he isn’t worried. He makes his way onto the building’s rooftop beside the alley. He pauses when he hears a commotion coming from your direction. He pulls off the large gun strapped to his back and uses its scope to get a closer look. The sight is not what he expected.

He sees a group of men cornering a young woman who is cowering in fear, crouching to protect herself. And there, standing behind them, is you. You speak and your voice carries up to him.

“3 on 1? Now that’s a little unfair, don’t you think?” He’s caught off-guard by the confidence in your voice. The men turn to you and snicker.

“I didn’t know you were interested in joining,” he hears one of the men say. Your stance doesn’t waver.

“I’m not. In fact, I believe no woman is. That’s why you had to trap this one, isn’t that right?” There’s a silence for a minute.

“Listen lady—”

“Actually I think it’s time for you to listen,” you say. “You’re going to let this woman go and then you three will run far away from here. Got it?”

This causes the men to laugh. “And what makes you think we’d do that?” another man says.

“Because otherwise I’m going to kick your ass.” More laughter emanates from the men. Then the man in the middle takes a step towards you.

“You couldn’t—” The man yelps in pain as you punch him square in the face. You shake off your hand and blow on your knuckles as the man stumbles back into his friends.

“You were saying?” The men all charge at you but you’re ready for them and easily dodge their attacks, landing some of your own instead. Watching this scene makes the winter soldier feel…weird. For some reason, it feels like there are these buried emotions that are trying to claw their way back into his mind, but he doesn’t understand any of it. His head starts to pound but he keeps watching.

At a certain point, the men have you on the ground. But then you stand up, using the wall as support. It’s clear you’ve taken a couple of hits.

“If I were you, I would give up while you’re still breathing,” one of the men says.

But you say, “Psh, me? Nah, I could do this all day.”

Something about that phrase sets off alarms in his head. He gasps at the pain as his mind begins to fight itself. Something is wrong with him. This has never happened before. He’s never felt like this before. He’s never felt this strongly before. He grits his teeth.

The scene below continues without his watchful eyes as he’s struggling to focus on anything but that goddamn phrase. There’s a shrill ringing in his ears that deafens the world. He feels utterly helpless as all he can do is breathe through the pain and blink the black spots out of his vision.

Finally, the pain seems to settle but his mind has not returned to normal. Something about the scene below and what you said had awoken something in him only he doesn’t know what. He feels afraid for the first time in a long time. When he can see clearly again, he quickly looks through the scope to see what he had missed.

What he sees is you crouching down before the previously cornered woman. The men are nowhere to be seen but there is plenty of blood scattered across the pavement. It seems they ran far away, just as you said they would.

He can see you and the woman talking to each other but it’s too quiet for him to make out what you’re saying. He sees you help the woman stand up and the woman seems to be thanking you. She says something to you and this time he hears it.

“You’re my hero,” she says. You smile and shake your head.

“Thank you, but I’m no hero. I just know how to fight.” The two of you say your goodbyes and you stand there for a minute, taking in the scene.

He knows that this is his chance. He’s in position, you’re alone and unprepared. All he has to do is pull the trigger. His finger rests on the trigger but when he goes to pull it, his hand starts to shake. This doesn’t make sense, none of this makes sense.

He watches in shock and horror at himself as you walk out of the shot and back out onto the street. Instead of following you, he falls back and stares at his hands. Why…why couldn’t he complete this mission? He always completes his missions.

But for some reason when he looked at you, something inside of him would not let him take the shot. He’s starting to fear his own mind and he knows he should return to base and get a doctor to fix him. But he’s never returned empty-handed before and he has no idea what will happen.

No. This…this was a strange occurrence, but it will never happen again. He will continue his mission and he will eliminate you.

He decides to start from scratch. He returns to watching you from a distance, gaining insight into your routine, your character, and your threat level. But what he sees seems to contradict what he had been told.

She is ruthless, they said. Yet he watches as you tenderly water and take care of the plants in your apartment. Watering them, turning them towards the sun, trimming the leaves.

She is a killer. But he’s seen the way you interact with people at your work. The smile that lights up your face. The kind look in your eyes. The smile you manage to bring to other people.

She is a threat to our mission to save humanity. Only, he’s seen nothing but the opposite. You seem to be a normal, kind, and considerate citizen. He shakes his head and has to remind himself that you’re a professional which means this is probably all some elaborate act. But then why would your act never falter, even when completely alone? Is it possible you’re aware of someone watching you? No, that’s not possible. He’s a winter soldier, no one can see him coming as he lives in the shadows.

Still, there must be some logical explanation towards these observations of his. Hopefully they can either explain or vanquish the strange emotions that overcome him when he looks at you. You remind him of someone, and yet he’s never seen anyone like you. He wishes to see you up close, to hear your voice clearly, to stare into your alluring eyes—

He freezes. These thoughts are getting out of hand. He knows something is wrong, he knows he should return to base and have the doctor examine him…but a part of him is not finished with this mission. A part of him is fascinated and tempted by you. Even if he will have to kill you in the end.

He keeps reminding himself of that, that his mission is to kill you, and yet every time his stomach bunches into knots and he has this overwhelming urge to stop. He’s never felt this way on any mission before and his mind is consumed with the question of what makes you different?

He starts to familiarize himself with your routines. He pays attention to small details like how you look when you roll out of bed in the morning – messy but cute. He knows the route you take to work and the café you stop at to get your morning drink. He remembers how you dance in your apartment when you think you’re alone.

None of this information is pertinent to the case and yet he can’t help but pay attention to everything about you. Soon, even the thought of you causes his stomach to churn, but in a good way? I’m sick, I’m getting worse, I need to retreat.

Eventually he does return to base, but not in the way he expects.

One night, he watches as you get into your car. Naturally, he follows you on his motorcycle. Only he doesn’t recognize the route you’re taking. You drive out of the city and he starts to worry. Worry about what, he doesn’t know. Maybe about the fact that there’s something about his target he hasn’t gathered enough intel on.

You drive until there are only small remnants of civilization making up the surroundings. The winter soldier has been following from a far distance, far enough away that you wouldn’t notice him. A thought claws at his mind that this would be another opportunity to kill you. In the middle of nowhere. He’s done it to targets before. And yet…

He decides he wants to know where you’re going first. Maybe it’s important information that could help HYDRA. That’s what he tells himself anyway.  

Finally you stop your car on the side of the road. He stops too, still a distance away. He looks around and sees only forest. He wonders if maybe you’ve lost your mind. Or maybe you’ve figured him out and have come out here to kill him.

He makes his way through the woods, closer to your car. When he can see you better, he notices that you’re armed which surprises him. You have two guns holstered at your sides and a knife poking out of your boot. You’re dressed in an all-black outfit. Then, you start to walk into the woods and he’s quick to follow.

There’s nothing to see for a while and then…a door. It seems to be an entrance into a bunker. But more importantly, there is a black van parked outside of it and men lingering around it. His chest tightens as he recognizes their sigils. These are HYDRA soldiers. A sudden panic begins to rise in his chest but he ignores it.

You’re crouched down in the woods now and have yet to be spotted. He keeps looking between you and the soldiers and feels torn. He should approach the soldiers, after all they’re on the same side. He should take you from behind and drag you in front of them. Or maybe he should take you back to the road and kill you there. He wouldn’t want HYDRA to think he failed or misunderstood his mission. He doesn’t do any of these things. Instead, he stays in his spot in a tree and watches.

He sees you unholster one of your guns and reaches for his own. Your eyes are trained on the five soldiers surrounding the van. He knows you plan on killing them. He should stop you. He knows he should.

A shot rings out as you fire from your gun. This causes a commotion as the soldiers turn towards the sound, ignoring their now fallen teammate. But you’ve already moved positions. You shoot again, successfully taking out another soldier.

“Fan out!” he hears one of them yell. The silent wood is now bombarded with the sound of gunshots as the soldiers attempt to hit their target, though they haven’t spotted you. You shoot again, this time revealing your location. The two remaining soldiers turn to take you down but you’re too quick. Now with both guns out, you fire at them and they drop to the ground. Five bodies litter the forest floor and you stand above it all, some blood splattered onto your clothing.

He’s frozen in what he thinks is shock. He just watched you murder five of his fellow soldiers and he didn’t move a muscle to stop you. He’s shaken, thrown off his game, and for the first time…he has no idea what to do.

You begin to walk away, but then the bunker door swings open, revealing a dozen more HYDRA soldiers. You quickly hide behind the van. Even from where he is, he can see that you’re panicked. You hadn’t expected this many.

Occasionally, you peek around the side to take a shot but the soldiers are surrounding you. They’re crowding in on you. You’re overrun. They’re going to kill you.

Before he knows what he’s doing, he shoots the solider nearest to you. The rest startle and look around, flashlights searching the trees. He waits for one of them to come closer and then he drops from his branch, crushing them. There’s a stream of bullets firing at him but it doesn’t affect him. He’s been in battle before. At least this he knows what to do.

He’s quick to fire off shots but he also takes the soldiers head on. He knocks a gun out of a soldier’s hand and then punches his face hard. Then he uses the soldier’s body to take the blunt of the bullets. He moves on to the next, faces blurring as he focuses on going through the motions. He’s been dormant for too many days and his urge to kill had been building, and now he takes it all out on them.

He hears the soldiers curse, he hears their confusion at seeing the winter soldier target them for a change, but he doesn’t falter. When the last body hits the ground, his mind begins to clear and he takes in the scene. He knows he’s covered in blood, and while he should be used to it, something about it turns his stomach. And then the reality of his actions settle in and he think he might hurl.

He’s just turned on HYDRA. He’s killed his fellow soldiers. A part of him is conflicted and screaming at him while the other is just worried of the consequences. Why did he do that? Why would he turn on them? Why—

He sees you emerge from behind the van, your gun pointed right at him. Your eyes blow open as you take in the sight around you. You’re breathing hard and there’s a slight shake to your hands. But when you meet his eyes, yours are hard and serious.

“I suppose I should say thank you,” you say skeptically. Hearing you so close causes a hitch in his breath. He can’t help but think it sounds beautiful, enchanting. Maybe you do have superpowers. “But I want to know who you are first.”

His throat is closed and when he tries to find the words, his mind empties. “I—” He stops, trying to figure out what the hell he’s supposed to say. Luckily, he doesn’t have to say as a look of recognition crosses your face.

“Holy shit, you’re the winter solider!” you say, a look of shock and fear overcoming your confident features. Still, your figure doesn’t falter and your gun doesn’t lower. “You work for HYDRA.”

Do I? He can’t help but think. Instead he says the only word on his mind: “Yes.”

You startle at hearing his voice. Maybe you weren’t expecting him to talk. “Then why…why did you just kill your fellow soldiers?”

He looks at the ground now tainted with blood. He stares at the HYDRA sigils on their chests. “I…I don’t know,” he says, his face scrunching up as his head begins to pound. It’s like there are two different minds battling in his head and he isn’t sure which one is his.

“I’m going to need a better answer than that if you want me to not kill you,” you say.

But he just shakes his head. “I don’t know I…they were going to kill you.” He isn’t sure if he should’ve said that out loud, but it does cause you to lower your gun a bit.

“Wait what?” You’re staring at him as if he has two heads, ironically. “Oh shit, you’re bleeding.”

He looks confused before looking down. Sure enough, there seems to be a bullet lodged in his chest. He isn’t worried; he’ll heal like he always does. But you seem to care about it.

“It’s fine, I’ll just…” He turns to look at the bunker door and then stops himself. A dark look crosses over his face and you must see it too.

“You weren’t supposed to kill them, were you?” you ask. “And now you can’t go back.”

“Yes,” he says. He isn’t sure why he’s telling you the truth, but he can’t seem to help it. “I wasn’t supposed to kill them I…I was supposed to kill you.”

Your gun is raised again. “Dude, you’re giving me serious whiplash,” you say. “So that’s why you didn’t want them to kill me? Because you wanted to do it yourself?”

“No I just…” He can’t explain what’s going on because he has no idea what’s going on. So he focuses on what he does know. “HYDRA will send backup, they’ll have been informed of the situation. We have to leave now.”

“We?! No, there’s no we. You want to kill me,” you say.

“No I don’t,” he says through gritted teeth. He really doesn’t.

“This is probably some elaborate way of gaining my trust so you can get close to me and kill me.”

“If I wanted you dead, I’d kill you right now.”

“Then maybe you want some information first, I don’t know, but I sure as hell am not trusting you.” Smart, he can’t help but think.

“Look, I don’t know why I can’t kill you. There’s something wrong, my head…” he growls as the words once again escape him. “It doesn’t matter. We have to leave. Together or separate, it doesn’t matter.”

He’s gripping his chest to try to staunch any blood. He isn’t sure the logistics of how he’s affected by bullet wounds, but he thinks it’s best not to lose too much blood. His face is also scrunched up as the fighting in his head escalates.

You’re silent for a moment and he wonders if you’ll shoot him. You growl, in frustration it sounds like. “Goddamnit, I’m going to get myself killed,” you say to yourself but he hears you. “This is how I die.”

He isn’t sure what you mean but when he hears you start to approach him, he flashes open his eyes. You hold up your hands in surrender, your gun still in your hand. “Can you walk? Do you need help?”

He squints at you, unsure of your motive. “I’m fine.”

You nod your head and then tuck away your gun. “Okay. Then you can follow me to my car.”

You start to walk away and he feels like he’s hallucinating. “What?” he says. You turn when you notice he hasn’t started following you.

“You said we have to leave, right? Well, that’s what we’re doing.”

“I have a motorcycle, I can leave on my own.”

“Right, except you’re injured so it’s probably best if you just get in the car.”

He tries to figure you out by analyzing your face. Your face seems relaxed but there’s a hint of nervousness in your stance and panic in your eyes. He feels like the world’s gone mad, or he’s lost his mind, because nothing is making sense.

“I thought you didn’t trust me.”

“I don’t.”

“Then why are you helping me?” You sigh and look away from him.

“I don’t know, okay? There’s something about you that isn’t adding up and I want to figure out what it is,” you say. “Plus you did save my life. Even if it was just to kill me yourself.”

“I told you, that’s not—”

“It doesn’t matter now, okay?” you say trying to trap his gaze, as if wanting him to believe you. “You’re coming with me, end of discussion. The rest…we’ll deal with after you’re healed, I guess. That is if you haven’t killed me first.”

There’s both humour and fear in your last sentence. And yet, you turn your back to him and begin to walk into the woods where your car is located.

He doesn’t know what’s happening with him. It feels like he doesn’t know anything. The only thing that he seems to be able to hold onto is you. A total stranger. The person he was sent to kill. His target. His mission.

So he does the only thing he can. He follows you.

[1-imaginary-girl]

I’m a Monster Pt. 2

Dean Winchester x Reader

Summary: You’re haunted by your demon possession and the reoccurring nightmares that have followed. You plan on dealing with it on your own until somebody spills your secret. Reader uses she/her pronouns.

Warnings: Nightmares and comfort

Word Count: 2393

A/N: Wow okay so it’s been a lot longer since I’ve posted than I thought. Apologies for that. I started a new job for the summer and it’s been a lot more strenuous than I thought. It’s made me falter in my motivation since I’m usually too tired, but I’m trying to fix that!

While I work on some new fics, here’s part 2 of I’m a Monster!

Y/N/N = Your nickname

Dean enters the bunker’s library with a question on his mind. One that’s been bothering him for a while but he was afraid to voice his concerns. He didn’t want to believe something was wrong. Now, though, he’s worried. He sees Sam on his laptop sitting at the table and approaches him.

“Have you noticed anything different about Y/N recently?” he asks his brother. Sam looks up from his laptop, confused.

“Different how?” he asks.

“I don’t know, she just seems…” Distant. Tired. Sad. “Off.”

“Not really, no.”

“Real helpful, thanks.” Dean sits down across from his brother. His eyes drill a hole in the table as if it will give him the answers he need.

“I’m sure she’s okay,” Sam tries to reassure him.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Dean sighs. But he isn’t so sure. The two of you haven’t really been spending that much time together which he feels guilty about. He’s just been so caught up in work and he’s sure you are too.

But he misses you. It seems like the two of you never talk or just hang out together anymore. When you go to sleep, you say you’re too tired to cuddle and when he wakes up, you’re already gone. Throughout the day, he feels like you avoid him although he isn’t sure why, or even how long this has been going on.

He’s about to go talk to you when a certain demon appears.

“Hello boys! I’ve missed you,” Crowley says as he descends from the staircase. Dean knows he can’t pop in due to the sigils guarding the bunker, which begs the question...

“How the hell did you get in?” Dean asks.

“With my key.” The boys look at each other, confused. “Surely you didn’t think I wouldn’t make my own?” Dean rolls his eyes, already tired of his presence.

“What do you want?” Sam asks the demon.

“Just wanted to hang out with my favourite hunters,” Crowley says.

“Bored of hell already?” Dean asks, not really interested but trying to figure out the reason for the demon king’s visit.

“It does get rather exhausting. So, what have you boys been up to?” He takes a seat at the head of the table because of course he does.

“Working, like we are trying to do right now,” Sam answers.

“Boring! You guys used to be so fun, hunting this and snarky remark that. What happened to us?”

“We realized you’re an annoyance that we can just tune out rather than a threat,” Dean replies.

Crowley pouts. “Well I’m so glad I came all the way here just to be insulted.”

“What else did you expect?” Sam asks, confused.

“Well surely there must be one fun person around here.” He looks around before seeming to remember something. “Where’s Y/N?”

“Why do you care?” Dean asks, more annoyed than mad.

“I just wanted to check in on how she was doing. My demon, Cora, really did a number on her. Don’t worry, she was punished accordingly. Only I can torment you lot.”

This catches Dean’s attention. “Who the hell is Cora?”

“Did she not introduce herself? Yet another thing we need to work on. She led the group of demons you all encountered a while back. In the barn?” Dean remembers. He can’t seem to get that night out of his head.

Not that any of you really talked about it. The day after it happened, he had yelled at you for being reckless and ruining their plan. He wasn’t really mad at you; he was just scared. Of course, this caused a fight between you but you worked it out. Is that why you were avoiding him? He didn’t think so because it had been so long ago. But maybe…

“Thank you for the pleasant reminder,” Sam says sarcastically as Dean is too wrapped up in his thoughts to respond.

“Hey, I’m on your side! Those guys were out of line and giving hell a bad reputation, though I do applaud their enthusiasm.” The brothers ignore him but Crowley keeps talking. “Anyway, is she still having those nightmares?”

This grabs Dean’s attention. “What?”

†††

You decide to spend more time in the gun range than usual this morning. Last night’s nightmare really stuck with you and you couldn’t face the boys until you  calmed down. You found that shooting a gun can really help by imagining the demon bitch’s face as the target.

Once you had settled down, you go to the kitchen and grab a bite to eat before heading to the library. While walking down the hall, you hear a voice that isn’t one of the boys. Crowley. What does he want?

You pause, however, when you hear your name. You don’t mean to eavesdrop, but you also want to hear what they’re saying about you. You hear Crowley bring up the barn and want to slap his mouth shut at bringing that incident up, the one you have been avoiding. So Cora is the name of the demon that’s been haunting you.

You’re about to turn around and walk away, not wanting to talk about this, when you hear Crowley ask, “Anyway, is she still having those nightmares?” You freeze. Your heart starts to pound fast against your rib cage.

“What?” you hear Dean ask.

You quickly rush into the room before Crowley can say anything more. Though, by the look on Dean’s face, you can tell he’s already said enough.

“Ah there she is!” All eyes turn to you and you try hard to hide your panic but you’re losing your grip on it.

“Have you been having nightmares?” Dean asks you. The one question you prayed you never had to answer. You’ll kill Crowley for this. Dean looks at you confused, hurt, and concerned and you don’t know what to do. So you lie.

“What? No, of course not,” you say, rather unconvincingly.

“Oh come on, it’s obvious you’re exhausted from little to no sleep. Plus, I can hear your screams from hell—”

“Shut up Crowley!” You march over to him with a heavy glare and he looks shocked at your anger. You’re a little shocked too but your emotions are running loose and you can’t seem to gain control back over them.

“Y/N?” Dean asks, obviously wanting an explanation. You look over to Sam and see that even he has put away his laptop and is looking at you with concern. Great.

“Next time you want to talk about my personal business, DON’T!” you yell at Crowley.

“Sorry, chipmunk, I thought they knew. I mean it is kind of obvious—”

“Oh my god will you not stop?!” You give him a crazy look and he shrugs, clearly not concerned with the damage he has just caused. Meanwhile, you’re panicking. You’re panicking and the panic is bubbling up inside of you threatening to burst. You want the ground to consume you whole. You can’t remember how to breathe. 

“Y/N.” You turn and see that Dean is now stood up, with an array of emotions displayed on his face. You feel trapped. You don’t know what to say or how to fix this. You’ve been keeping this inside for so long that you’re afraid to let it out. You can’t let it out.

“I can’t deal with this,” you mumble and hurry away to yours and Dean’s bedroom. Of course he follows you, yelling out your name and telling you to stop. But you can’t.

You reach the bedroom and realize stupidly that you are now literally trapped. You hear Dean come in but you don’t turn to face him.

“How long has this been happening?” he asks.

“How long do you think?” You turn to face him and can feel tears stinging your eyes.

“For that long? Why the hell haven’t you told me? How have I not noticed?”

“Don’t feel bad, I hid it from you pretty well,” you mumble, eyes on the ground.

“Clearly not, because even Crowley noticed!” Dean yells and runs a hand down his face. “Jesus Y/N/N, you do look exhausted.” You meet his eyes and it seems to only now have hit him how tired you look as he stares long and hard at you.

“Gee thanks.” He doesn’t laugh or even blink. So much for trying to defuse the tension.

“Why did you hide this from me?” The raw emotion on his face overwhelms you. You bite your lip, not wanting to answer.

You shrug and say, “I don’t know.”

“Don’t give me that, I’m serious.” He walks closer to you and tilts your head up to face him. “Why?”

You sigh. “I guess…you, Sam, and Cas have been so busy lately and I didn’t want to give you another thing to worry about.” Dean’s expression is heartbreaking.

“Are you serious?” You shrug and don’t look at him. “Y/N…I don’t care what I have going on in my life, you talk to me, okay? I mean, hell, you’ve been dealing with this by yourself for a month now?”

“I have it handled,” you whisper. He points your chin up again when you try to look down.

“I’m sure you do, sweetheart. But I want to be there for you. That’s what being in a relationship is, isn’t it?”

“I guess you’re right.” A tear finally slips down your face but Dean catches it with his thumb.

“Come here.” You give in to temptation and sag against Dean. He wraps you in a tight hug and you just let the tears flow.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” you sob through the tears but he just shushes you and tells you everything is going to be okay.

“I’ve got you, okay?” Dean says. And for a moment, that’s enough.

You pull away. Dean takes your hand and leads you to sit on the bed. “What are the nightmares about?”

That’s when it comes crashing down on you. Another wave of emotions flood your brain. You flinch and look away from him.

“Whoa, hey, it’s okay, you don’t have to tell me,” he says, rubbing a hand up and down your back but you don’t deserve it. You shake your head and his eyebrows furrow in confusion.

“There’s another reason I didn’t tell you about my nightmares,” you say in a low voice.

“You can tell me anything.” He gently grabs your hand and gives it a squeeze. You close your eyes and brace yourself.

“It’s always about that night. We’re back in the barn, and that demon is possessing me. But her thoughts are merging with my own.” You take a deep breath and explain your nightmares to him and by the end you’re sobbing again. You didn’t realize how many emotions have been pent up inside of you until now. “I—I don’t know why but whatever the demon thinks, so do I. And in my dreams, I want you to die. But I don’t, Dean, I swear I would never do anything to hurt you or Sam or Cas or—or—” You start to hyperventilate and it’s then that Dean interrupts.

“Hey, hey, take a few deep breaths for me okay? Everything’s okay.” He talks you through it, and you manage to take a few deep breaths and calm down. “That’s it.”

“I don’t know what’s going on with me. You have to believe that I would never think those things or feel that way.”

“Of course I believe you, why wouldn’t I?”

You hesitate. “Because I don’t think I believe me. I feel like I’m losing control and I don’t know how to get it back.” He pulls you in for another hug and you bury your head in his neck, attempting to hide from the world. “She’s in my head, Dean. She won’t leave.”

He just continues to rub your back. “It’s going to be okay, Y/N/N. We’re going to get through this.”

“What if it’s too late?” He pulls back, leaving his hands on your shoulders. He gives you a confused look. You meet his gaze and whisper, “Do you think I’m a monster?”

Dean’s eyes blow wide open. “What? Y/N, of course not.” You bite your lip to keep from sobbing again. “Y/N you are not a monster.”

“But—”

“No. Listen to me. That demon in your head is getting to you. And because you’ve had to deal with this alone, you are starting to believe her. But I’m here now, okay? And I won’t stop until I’ve sent that demon back to hell where she belongs. Because you, Y/N L/N, are anything but a monster.”

“Really?” you sniffle. He tucks a piece of hair behind your ear and gives you a soft smile.

“Really.”

“Thank you, Dean.”

“Anytime, princess.” He kisses you on the forehead. “Now, do you promise not to hide these nightmares from me anymore?”

“Yeah I promise.” You give him a small smile.

“There’s my girl.”

†††

That night you have another nightmare. And as always, it ends the same. The boys all dead and you becoming a monster. But tonight, you’ve let your guard down. So when you wake up, you release a scream and Dean is right there to comfort you.

You frantically look around the room to make sure you’re not in that barn anymore. “Y/N, hey it’s okay, you’re safe now.”

You turn to look at Dean and examine every part of his body, running your hands over his chest to make sure he isn’t hurt. He gently takes your wrists in his hands and you look up at him.

“I’m okay, see? No injuries, it was just a dream.”

Still shaking and panicking, you wrap your arms around his neck, crying into him. He shushes you and rubs your back. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m sorry,” you apologize over and over again.

“It wasn’t you. I’m okay. We’re safe.” He holds you until your breathing evens out and then holds your face in his hands. “Do you still hear her?”

You pause and realize the demon’s voice is nowhere to be heard. You shake your head and Dean smiles. “Good. Do you want to go back to sleep?”

You nod and he wraps you in his arms and lays back down on the bed. He whispers sweet nothings into your ear before you drift off into your first good dream in weeks.

* * * * *

Tag List: @readerqueenff​

[1-imaginary-girl]

A Mischievous Love Story - Part 7

Loki x Reader, Thor x Reader (platonic)

Summary: The reader and Loki were madly in love until you found out that he died. Deciding to follow Thor on his adventures, you soon find out the truth about what happened to your boyfriend. This series is a re-telling of Thor: Ragnarök with the reader inserted into the story. Reader uses she/her pronouns.

Warnings: Injuries, swearing.

Word Count: 4282

Prologue Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 8

Happy pride month everyone! I want to celebrate this month to show my support as much as I can. Unfortunately, I don’t write wlw or mlm specifically but maybe I’ll try to make the fics gender neutral? Idk let me know if you guys have any other ideas, I’m always open to trying something new!

The first thing that registers as consciousness returns to you, is the overwhelming smell of garbage. The next thing that registers is the fact that your hearing is muffled. Almost as if your ears are underwater. Then you feel the water. 

Your eyes shoot open which breaks your floating formation on top of the water. Luckily the water isn’t too deep, and even if it was you would be fine.

Where am I? you wonder as you look around the unfamiliar environment. Then your recent memories come flooding back. Being on earth with Loki and Thor. The death of Odin. The appearance of Hela, goddess of Death and fated destroyer of Asgard. Flying helplessly from the Bi-Frost. You gasp and look around, realizing suddenly that you’re on an unknown planet.

Then you remember something else. You remember feeling like dying. You look at the sky and realize that if space didn’t kill you, this fall certainly would. You wonder if you somehow subconsciously manipulated the water to soften your fall or if your powers protect you from dying in water. You don’t fully understand how you’re alive, but you’re not complaining. However, you are complaining about your current condition.

Your body and clothes are soaking wet. Normally, you can manipulate the water in order to remain dry but since you weren’t in full control, you find yourself covered in water. You only dwell on that for a minute before your attention returns to your predicament and your breathing picks up.

You try not to panic and instead take in your surroundings. You’re standing in what seems to be a big lake. On every patch of land you can see, sits a towering pile of garbage. Garbage which is continually pouring from the sky. The sky is the most daunting aspect of this planet thus far. Clouds cover most of the skies and you see endless wormholes from which the garbage falls. But beyond that, in the far sky, there is one enormous wormhole that is emanating a red light. You fail to spot any sign of life.

Tears prickle at your eyes as the severity of the situation hits you. You’re on an unknown planet, presumably in the middle of nowhere, and there are no signs of either Loki or Thor. You have no idea what your next move is or what the hell you’re supposed to do.

As you’re caught up in your thoughts, you fail to see the water around you becoming darker. When you do notice, you look up and see a giant boulder plunging straight towards you. You quickly dive out of the way, using your powers to move you far away from the rock. Thankfully you move just in time before the boulder crashes down into the water, causing a big splash.

You pant from the near-death experience and realize that panicking is only going to get you killed. You stand up once again and try to think of your next move. You see nearby land and decide to try your luck there, hopefully seeing some life form on the way.

Moving quickly through the water, you step onto the land and try not to gag at the smell of the garbage up close. It’s just garbage, you have bigger issues, you try to tell yourself. To fix one, you take a deep breath and focus on the water coating your skin, hair and clothes. You then take control of that water and send it running back to the lake it came from. When you open your eyes, you’re relieved to see that you’re dry again. You’ve only tried that trick a few times but you’re glad to see that you’re still able to do it.

You climb a small hill on the land and scan your horizons and nearly stumble back. In the distance, you spot a city skyline with colourful buildings piled on top of one another. This is good, you think. This planet isn’t as barren as you feared. You also spot vehicles flying in the sky, indicating towards advanced technology.

“Okay Y/N,” you tell yourself. “If you walk towards the city, you’re bound to find help there. I only hope they speak English.” On your galactic journey with Thor, you found that most species are able to understand you even without using your words so hopefully this planet isn’t so different.

The only problem is that the city seems so far away that it would be a while before you got there. But you don’t see any other choice. So, you begin your arduous journey across the heaps of garbage.

Half an hour into the trip and you already feel exhausted. It seems your body did take a bit of damage flying across the galaxy and plummeting onto a planet. Your limbs feel like lead and you can feel your old burns start to flare up with pain. It’s also been a while since you ate or drank anything but you haven’t resorted to sorting through the garbage yet.

You try to keep your mind from wandering off because then all you can think about is how Thor and Loki are doing and what Hela’s done to Asgard. Maybe it’s already been destroyed. Stop it.

Your thoughts are thankfully interrupted by the sound of a bottle smashing close by. Since garbage is falling all around you, you wouldn’t think this would matter but it still caught your attention. That’s when you see the first life form on this planet.

Dressed in dark blue armour with matching gloves and a cape, stumbles a fierce-looking woman. Her dark hair is tied back and white paint covers her light brown face. You’d be intimidated if her eyes didn’t look unfocused and she didn’t sway where she stood. Behind her sits a small ship with a sleek design and two huge engines on either side. Its front is opened to extend a gangplank to the ground.

“Stop right there,” she says in a commanding voice, however her stance remains unbalanced.

Maybe the first words out of your mouth should’ve been ‘Who are you?’ or ‘Can you help me?’ Instead, you say, “Are you drunk?”

Her head tilts in confusion and she looks you over. “So what if I am?” she replies. You guess you can’t argue with that. She takes a step closer to you, still examining you. “You don’t look like much.”

The familiar insult confuses you. “Were you expecting something different?” you ask. This interaction has you on edge and you don’t like the way she’s looking at you. You try to walk away when she holds up her hand.

“What species are you?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Species,” she asks again, her expression becoming bored. She licks her lips as if she’s craving another drink.

“Human. Or Midgardian, take your pick.” The woman rolls her eyes. Here we go.

“Oh, that’s disappointing,” she says, her posture relaxing even more than you thought. You take a step back to walk away when she regards you again. “Although, you are easy on the eyes. And I’m sure the Grandmaster would appreciate a new pet.”

You don’t like the sound of that at all.  You immediately unsheathe your sword from your side. “I’m afraid I won’t be anyone’s pet thank you,” you say, gritting your teeth. However the woman simply laughs.  

“You’re going to need more than a sword to defeat me human.”

You grin. “I’m so glad you said that.” After days of being underestimated, you’re craving a good fight. A chance to use your powers. And this woman just handed it to you on a silver platter. You reach out and feel the water all around you before channeling your rage into summoning a tidal wave.

The woman looks at you in awe rather than fear. She smiles. “Well this changes things.” You force the wave to crash down upon her but at the same time she grabs something from her side and throws it at you. Something bites into your neck and your powers waver with fear and uncertainty. Then the woman takes out a device and presses a button.

Suddenly the thing on your neck sends shockwaves of pain crashing over you and you gasp, letting go of the water in your control. The wave stops before it consumes the woman and drops onto the ground, luckily sparing you from getting wet.

You collapse onto the ground as tears cloud your eyes, your body spasming as the electricity runs through you. You try to reach up to rip the thing off your neck but you feel yourself shutting down as darkness enclouds your vision. You see the woman standing over you and then dragging you by your feet towards her ship. And then the world goes dark.

†††

You have a faint memory of opening your eyes and being hundreds of feet in the air. You remember the feel of a ship beneath you, assumingly belonging to the woman. You remember hearing the voice of the woman and something about an audience with the boss but your ears were too busy ringing with pain. You were too tired to remain conscious so your eyes fell closed and you slipped back into dreamworld.

You wake up and don’t feel as weak as before. Your body still aches and stings like a bitch and the pain remains but you’re strong enough to keep your eyes open which is a start. You realize you’ve once again found yourself in a new environment and you start to panic. You try to leave and that’s when you realize you’ve been strapped down to a chair. Machinery of all kind line the walls as your chair moves down the hall.

Just as you’re looking for a way out, trying to feel for any water around you, a voice sounds from overhead speakers. “Fear not, for you are found,” the voice says. “You are home, and there is no going back. No one leaves this place.” You figure it’s some sort of pre-recorded message, like those used at amusement parks.

“This is not happening,” you say to no one. You struggle uselessly against your restraints, panicking more about what the voice said.

“But what is this place?” the voice says. Suddenly the hallway before you transforms into a galaxy of stars. “The answer is Sakaar.” Then more details like planets appear among the stars. You forget your panic to admire it for a moment. No matter how long you’ve been travelling across the cosmos, the sight always leaves you breathless.

“Surrounded by cosmic gateways, Sakaar lives on the edge of the known and unknown.” Streams of colours appear by your side reminding you of the Bi-Frost. “It is the collection point for all lost and unloved things. Like you.” You glare into the space before you. “But here on Sakaar, you are significant. You are valuable. Here, you are loved.”

Your chair heads straight towards a planet which you’re assuming is Sakaar before passing right through it. “Fuck off,” you yell. How do they know how you feel? Who are they to tell you you’re unloved?

“And no one loves you more than the grandmaster,” the voice says. A shadowy figure appears in the screens to your left. “He is the original. The first lost, and the first found. The creator of Sakaar and the father of the Contest of Champions.” A city appears behind the figure and then you’re shown images of fights between people of different species. It looks savage to you.

“Where once you were nothing, now you are something. You are the property of the Grandmaster.”

“Property?” you say, just as the music playing changes from peppy to creepy and distorted. Weird images replace the fighting but your chair begins to move faster (or the images are moving faster, you can’t tell) and all you can distinguish are shapes among the flashing lights.

“Congratulations! You will meet the Grandmaster in five seconds.” Your eyes widen and you quickly try to escape or at least arm yourself. But your sword is gone and it’s too hard to concentrate on the water with the flashing lights. “Prepare yourself. Prepare yourself.”

The images speed up and it genuinely scares you. Your breathing quickens and you feel like crying. “You are now meeting the Grandmaster!”

You yelp and close your eyes, unprepared for whatever you’re about to face. When nothing happens and the room seems quiet, you crack open your eyes only to find that you’re in a completely different space.

Weird looking guards surround you. They look like robot power rangers. And they’re all carrying a staff. But before you is the real sight. A man is seated in a chair and you’re going to go ahead and say that he’s the headmaster. His hair is spiked and gray. He has blue eyeliner under his eyes along with a blue line that traces from the bottom of his mouth to his chin. His outfit is very flashy, wearing golden robes. All in all, he’s certainly interesting.

“Such an interesting find you’ve brought me, 142,” the Grandmaster says, glancing slightly to his left and you tense as you recognize the woman who kidnapped you. She seems quite pleased with herself and you want to punch her smug face. On the other side of the Grandmaster, is a woman with a yellow and dark gray outfit. She has white paint in unique designs on her face. I guess that’s a trend around here.

“And you say she’s human?” he asks 142, you guess that’s her name. But your anger of being tossed around all day (quite literally) overrides your fear and you speak up.

“Why don’t you come over here and find out?” you say, struggling in your restraints. The Grandmaster smiles and claps his hands.

“Oh I like her,” he says. Then he pauses. “You are a her, right?”

“Yes?” You’re caught off guard by his question.

“Wonderful,” he says. “We don’t get a lot of humans around here. How did you survive the trip?”

“I’ve been wondering that myself,” you mutter.

“It must have been fate, then,” he says and you’re tempted to argue but he keeps going. “First, my beloved Champion and now this strange visitor. You never disappoint, 142.” Then he turns to the other woman. “Topaz, isn’t she the best? Remember when she brought me my champion?”

“If I don’t, I’m sure you’ll remind me,” Topaz says. Her neutral expression never changes but her dislike of 142 is clear in her eyes. The Grandmaster frowns.

“Can you not be so negative? We have a guest.” Then the man looks back at you. “Speaking of, what exactly did you have in mind for her, 142? She has a pretty face, just needs to get cleaned up. And I am looking for a new body. How fragile are you?”

You don’t like any of the implications here, so you just focus on your rage. “As I told your worker before, I’m nobody’s pet.”

“There’s that fun spark,” the Grandmaster says.

“Actually, Grandmaster,” 142 says. “I was thinking she could be a new contender.” The Grandmaster looks at her funny.

“I don’t think she’d last very long. And where’s the fun in that?”

“This one’s a special human,” 142 says with a smirk on her face. The Grandmaster turns back to you.

“Topaz, can you bring me closer? I need a closer look,” he says. Topaz then pushes his chair across the room, closer to you. You don’t hear any scraping sounds which seems like the chair is hovering somehow. The Grandmaster scrutinizes your face, just as 142 did and once again you find yourself uncomfortable. “How, uh, exactly is she so special?”

“Go on, show him,” 142 says to you. You don’t move a muscle. She rolls her eyes. “Fine, we’ll do it the hard way.”

She pulls out one of her daggers and your eyes widen. Then she throws it at you. Out of instinct, you grab onto whatever water source is nearby and use it to protect you. Water shoots from across the room, surrounding the dagger before encasing it in ice. The dagger falls to the ground but your ice doesn’t break. You look back at 142 with wild eyes. Again, she just smirks.

“Wow, that was quite a show,” the Grandmaster says. “Neat little water trick.”

“It’s not a trick,” you say, your cheeks flushing. “And I can do a lot more than that.” You manipulate the ice around the dagger to form a sharp blade. Just as you’re about to throw it, you feel the same waves of pain emanating from your neck from earlier. You cry out and the ice falls to the floor. This time it shatters. You try to breathe through the pain and remain conscious this time. Apparently, there’s a setting on this thing because you recover.

“And she’s a fighter too,” the Grandmaster says. He looks you over again before smiling. “Pay her.”

“For what, kidnapping me?” you say, outraged at this whole exchange.

“I don’t like that word. I prefer, giving you a new home.” Just as you’re about to say that that’s the same thing, 142 cuts in.

“5 million,” she says.

“In your dreams,” Topaz says.

“I think it’s only fair. Seeing as she is one of a kind,” 142 says. “And who knows, maybe she can be your next champion.” The Grandmaster nods along, seemingly agreeing with her.

“Now that would be interesting,” he says. “Topaz, pay her.”

Topaz looks like she wants to argue but she bites her tongue. Then she taps a button on some screen on her arm. 142 starts to walk away. You stare at her in shock.

“So that’s it, you’re just going to leave me here?” you yell at her.

“What did you expect?” she says before leaving. It’s a fair question, and yet you still can’t understand her selling you off. It seems cruel. What kind of planet am I on?!

You’re even more uncomfortable now that she’s gone and you’re left with a crazy man with a god complex and an angry woman. You’d rather take the drunk kidnapper. “So,” the Grandmaster says, standing from his chair and getting closer to you. “Who are you?”

“What?”

“Your name, how you learned your water tricks,” he says. You’re confused as to why he wants to know, but you don’t see a point in lying.

“My name is Y/N and I didn’t learn anything, really,” you say. “I was born doing it. It’s a power called hydrokinesis. It means I can control and manipulate water, even ice.” Then you lean closer. “And if you want a real trick, just wait until I burst the water pipes in your whole building.”

“You are going to make for a fun battle,” he laughs and you scowl at him. “Since you’ve introduced yourself, it seems only fair I do the same. Follow me.”

He hits a button on a controller making your chair move on some track. Soon you find yourself in a new room that feels like a small party. To your left, there looks like a band with unfamiliar looking instruments. And in the center of it all, behind a piano-like instrument, is the Grandmaster.

“My name is Grandmaster,” he says. “I preside over a little harlequinade called the Contest of Champions. People come from far and wide to unwillingly participate in it. And you, my human friend, might just be part of the new cast. If you live long enough. What do you say?”

You look at the man as if he grew four heads. First off, it sickens you that those fighters are here against their will. Second, what does he expect you to say? Oh boy, fighting for my life surrounded by a crowd of people, that sounds like fun sign me up! “You are not my friend,” you say, glaring at him. “And I couldn’t care less about your games. What I care about, is escaping this hell hole. There’s this realm that needs my help—”

The music increases as the Grandmaster turns the sound up on his instrument, drowning you out. It seems he is no longer interested in what you have to say. You curse and struggle against your restraints. If you can get someone’s attention, maybe they could help you—

“Y/N?” you hear someone call your name and your body goes still. With baited breath, you slowly turn your head to the right and your breath hitches when you see who it is.

Standing among a group of people in fancy outfits, is Loki. He’s looking at you in complete surprise but you see the beginning of a smile forming on his face. You’re so relieved to see someone familiar, and that it’s Loki and he’s alive that you smile back. He’s in a new outfit. A blue suit with a cape that’s yellow on the inside.           

“Loki,” his name leaves your lips in a breath as you feel tears pricking at your eyes. You thought you were going to have to go through all of this alone. You thought you’d never see anyone you knew again. And for now, you let the pain and anger slip away and let yourself feel happy at his presence.

He quickly crosses the room to get to you, leaving mid-conversation by the looks of the people who were beside him. He rushes up to you and you can tell he wants to hold you but he looks at your chair and his smile falters. Then, he gently lifts up a hand and holds your cheek. You sink into it. You’ve secretly missed it, craved it even.

“It’s really you,” he says and his eyes look almost glassy with tears. “I thought…Y/N I thought you were dead.”

“Same here,” you admit. He pulls his hand away and you instantly miss its warmth.

“How…How are you alive? How did you survive?” he asks you with furrowed eyebrows.

“I have no idea.” But then he smiles again and it’s infectious.

“It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you’re here.” He then looks back down at your restraints. “Why are you in a chair?”

“What? What do you mean?”

“Why are you in there?”

“The better question is why aren’t you in a chair?” The euphoric feeling fades away as you allow yourself to properly think about the situation. Why is he free to party and you get zapped for moving?

“I didn’t get a chair.” Typical. Loki finds himself free to do as he wishes while you’re trapped. You’re guessing he’s not competing in the contest either.

“What are you wearing?” you ask. “No scratch that, why are you free to walk around?”

“I’ve made friends with the Grandmaster,” he says and that doesn’t surprise you.

“Well he’s the reason I’m in this chair,” you say. “I’m guessing you don’t have an electric chip in your neck either?”

“What?” He then looks at your neck and his eyes widen. “No I certainly do not, what the hell is that?”

“It electrocutes me. The Grandmaster has the button. Fun times.”

“What? Are you okay?” Loki says, frantically looking over you. A grimace appears on his face and you’re guessing you look about as rough as you feel. “Shit, Y/N. Is this from the fall?”

“Some of it.”

“The last of my wounds healed a week ago.” Wait, what?

“A week ago?” you ask. “Loki, how long have you been here?”

He pauses to think about it. “Almost two weeks, I think?” This isn’t making sense.

“That’s impossible, I only fell here today from the Bi-Frost.” You both look at each other confused.

“What are we talking about?” A voice says from the left and the both of you startle at the sight of the Grandmaster. He smiles at his effect. “Time works real different around these parts.” That’s confusing. You wonder how long it’s actually been then. Your thoughts wander to Asgard and Thor. “In any case, Loki you know this...this human?”

You wait for Loki’s response, to see if he’d lie in order to maintain his relationship with the Grandmaster. He must have been thinking the same as he sends a quick glance your way. “Yes, I do.”

“Is she a fighter?” the Grandmaster asks and again you wonder about Loki’s response. But he hesitates with this question, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“Why is that important?”

“She’s my newest contestant. At first, I was a little hesitant with the whole human thing, you know how fragile they are, but then I saw her water tricks—”

“They’re not tricks,” you insist. You look to Loki for his response only to see his face pale a little. His eyes are blown open with fear. You don’t understand what happened.

“She can’t be your new contestant,” he says quickly, his voice a little shaky but you can tell he’s trying to keep up his composure. Why is he saying this? Does he think you can’t fight?

“Why not? Is she not good?” the Grandmaster asks.

“No—I mean, yes she is but—” It’s been a while since you’ve seen Loki this tongue-tied. It worries you.

“Then what’s the problem?” All eyes are on Loki as you wait to hear his response.

“She can’t compete because…because…” You watch as the cogs in Loki’s mind work overtime. Normally, he has a response to everything. You wish you could pull him aside and talk to him. Then he looks at you like he thought of something. “Because she’s my wife.”

* * * * *

Tag List: @riribaex​ @80strashbag​ @justanothermagicalsara​ @speedy-object-dream​ @blueberry-soda57​ @comehomecomehometous

[1-imaginary-girl]

One Last Time

Bruce Wayne x Reader

Summary: Reader is a vigilante-type hero who works with Batman. When a solo mission goes wrong, you call Batman possibly for the last time. Reader is gender neutral.

Warnings: Angst, possible character death, violence, descriptive injuries. 

Word Count: 3693

A/N: I love a good angsty fic! It’s a bit of an open-ended ending but I liked it better than a conclusion so apologies lol.

The metal door slams into the wall, sending an echo bouncing around the space as you stumble into the stairwell. Your breathing is ragged. You press your hand against your chest and wince at the pain. When you pull your hand back, you see red coating your skin. You can feel more blood bleeding through your suit. But you try not to focus on that.

As you grip the railing and slowly descend the stairs, you can’t help but think back to how your evening started.

You had been bored so you decided to leaf through some files for the case you and your partner had been working on. The two of you were working on taking down a major mafia gang that recently emerged in Gotham. Anyway, while looking through the files you saw a strange address.

It was an address for a pharmaceutical company which made you wonder how it was related to the gang. Upon further research, you discovered the company didn’t exist until a few months ago – similar timing to when the gang started to gain traction. You decided to visit the address in the file just in case you saw anything.

You dressed in your vigilante uniform which consisted of a skin-tight dark purple suit, a matching mask for your eyes, a utility belt with double holsters for your guns and black boots. You didn’t want to be caught off-guard in your civilian clothing. A dagger also sat tucked away in your right boot in case you ran out of bullets.

The address led you to a building on the outskirts of the city. Parking your motorcycle in an alleyway, you climbed the building opposite the one you were staking out. For the first hour you didn’t see anything and when you were about to pack it up, two black vans pulled up in front of the building.

Grabbing your binoculars, you watched as a group of men piled out of the vans. Your jaw had dropped when you realized that some of them were the leaders of the organization. By some incredible coincidence, you had stumbled upon a covert meeting arranged by the gang. You immediately pulled out your phone to call your partner, but they didn’t pick up. You tried a few more times before giving up.

You saw the men entering the building and decided that this could be your one shot at stopping these guys once and for all. Cursing, you watched as the men entered an elevator and got off on the top floor before you descended from your spot. Your first mistake of the night.

The elevator was guarded by two men which you easily took down with your guns. On the ride up, you counted your ammunition and prepared yourself. When the doors began to slide open, you hid in the corner of the elevator and waited for the guardsmen to come to you before striking.

Bullets flew around the room and one managed to graze your arm, but overall, the fight was over before the others had a chance. You locked eyes on a closed conference room and noticed movement in the room. Taking a quick breath, you broke down the doors and faced off with the leaders of the mafia.

They had time to prepare for you but they didn’t accommodate your speed as you dashed around the room, narrowly missing bullets aimed at you. You were doing well, either shooting your targets or taking them on in hand to hand combat and no one had managed to land a hit on you. You tossed aside your guns when you ran out of ammo and eventually found yourself facing off with the last man.

You unveiled your dagger and sliced his neck, his blood spewing on your suit, but you got distracted. You thought you had taken them all out and only realized your mistake when the gunshot rang out. You were quick to react but not quick enough as a bullet lodged itself in your chest. A gasp slipped past your mouth at the pain. You turned to see one of the men on the floor with a gun pointed at you and you tossed your dagger at him, officially taking him out. But the damage was done.

Your wound wouldn’t excuse any sloppy work, and so you tied the men up before leaving. You never wanted to kill your victims unless you had to and you figured they’re worth more alive than dead anyway. You decided you would call the police once you left the scene, knowing that the criminals weren’t going anywhere. The blood loss was beginning to take root as your head felt dizzy. In your weakened state, you foolishly thought that taking the stairs would be faster than the elevator. Boy were you wrong.

And that’s how you find yourself trying to walk down six flights of stairs while severely injured. You manage to reach the fourth floor but when you walk down the stairs to continue, you almost fall. Instead, you stop on the landing in between staircases, deciding to catch a break.

Panting, you lean against the white brick wall and slide down until you’re sitting. You try not to let fear or panic take hold of you. Instead, you take out your phone, though the touch screen is difficult to use with your bloodied fingers, and dial the one person who wanted to hear from.

You pray that your partner picks up the phone. You know they’re on patrol, but still you hold out hope that the ringing will stop. And then it does and your breath catches.

“Hello?” His voice is as deep as always. You suspect that it’s exaggerated to protect his identity, though you’ve never gotten him to admit it. Hearing his voice instantly calms your rising panic. In the background, you can hear the loud noise of an engine which you suspect is coming from the Batmobile. You had adopted that name for the vehicle, despite Batman’s protests. Though you think he secretly likes it.

“Hey Batboy,” you reply, managing a smile through your pain, even though he can’t see you. You imagine him behind the wheel, his gloved hands holding it tight. You imagine his bright eyes focused on the road before him, his serious demeanor on display.

“I’m sorry I missed your calls earlier, I hope it wasn’t important,” he says and it takes you a moment to remember what he’s talking about. When you do, you almost laugh. Not too important, just led to me bleeding out on some dirty floor. Though you don’t hold him responsible. You don’t have the energy for grudges. And after all, it was your choice to act.

“It’s okay, I handled it,” you say.

“I’m on patrol, what do you need?” Straight to the point as always. Though his directness can come across as rude, you never let it get to you. You know he means well and that he just isn’t a naturally positive person. Luckily, you are.

“Can’t I say hello to my partner?” You don’t want to talk to him about your situation because you’ve already come to terms with it. You wouldn’t make it. Even if you told him now, he’d still be too late. You remain calm even though your heart is begging you not to give up. You don’t want to die. But your fate is already sealed. Before you go, you just want to hear from your partner.

“I don’t have time for this. Call me back if it’s important,” he says and you almost cry out in a state of panic.

“Wait!” you say, letting too much desperation slip past your lips. You try to recompose yourself. “Please, it is important.” You wait with bated breath as you hear him sigh.

“What is it?” A sigh of relief escapes your lips, though you tense up again as your wound sends a wave of pain throughout your body. You bite your lip to keep from crying out as you put more pressure on the gunshot wound.

“I have new information on the mafia gang.” You try to focus on your conversation but your mind feels fuzzy and you find yourself staring at the brick wall in front of you. That plain, cold looking wall will be the last thing you see before you die. The thought causes your eyes to blur with oncoming tears. You had forgotten about the call before Batman spoke up.

“Y/N? Are you still there?” he asks, a slight concern in his voice. You smile and ignore your tears as one slips down your cheeks.

“Yeah sorry,” you clear your throat and enter your professional state. “I was going through some of our files when I found an address for a pharmaceutical company that I linked to the gang. The building is located on the outskirts of town, so I decided to stake it out.”

“What did you find?”

“Nothing at first, it looked like a normal building. But then two vans pulled up containing the leaders of the gang. I think it was a covert meeting spot.”

“Wait, what did you do?” His voice sounds suspicious and worried as if he’s figuring out exactly what you did.

“About that…” you nervously chuckle, waiting for his accompanying anger.

“You didn’t.” His voice is hard and you imagine a fire in his eyes. Eyes that you find yourself staring into all too often and yet it’s never enough.

“It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, I had to!” you argue, wincing again as you move and are reminded of your pain.

“You should have called me first!” Again, you want to laugh at his cluelessness. Some detective.

“I did,” you say. You’re met with silence as he takes in the news.

“Shit,” he mutters. “Your phone calls.” You can picture his shoulders slumping with guilt. “You still should have waited for me.”

“I didn’t want to risk losing them,” you admit. There’s another moment of silence as he prepares to ask his next question.

“What happened?” You then explain to him how you fought your way through the gang, leaving out the part where you wound up with a bullet lodged in your chest.

“Wow, I’m impressed.” You feel a little silly for the pride that suddenly swells in you at the sound of that, along with your blush. “So the gang’s taken care of.”

“Yeah, they’re now officially the GCPD’s problem.”

“Thanks for letting me know,” he says. He’s always so professional, so uptight. You often try to loosen him up and have even managed to make him laugh a few times, which remains some of your proudest moments, but it never lasts. You wonder if you were around him more, in a not-so-professional manner, if you could add more positivity in his life. Too late for that now. “If that’s everything, I should get back to work.”

Your breathing picks up at the idea of him leaving you. You try desperately to think of a way to keep him on the line. Unfortunately, only one idea comes to mind.

“Please wait!” you cry out, sounding even more desperate than the last time. It’s getting too tiring to contain your emotions. You prepare yourself to tell him and then – “I lied to you.”

“What?”

You take a deep breath and smile sadly. “I…they got me,” you say. “They got me good, Batman.” In moments like these, you wish you knew his real identity. You wish you knew his real name. Calling him ‘Batman’ feels impersonal. But I guess you weren’t meant to know him personally, and you respect his right to privacy despite him knowing your identity. 

Another moment of silence passes as Batman struggles to say something. “Are you okay? Where are you?” His voice sounds more concerned. You imagine his mouth turned down slightly. You wonder if his eyebrows are creased under his mask.

“No, I’m not okay,” you say, ignoring his second question. This isn’t how you wanted this conversation to go, but at least he’s still on the line. At least you’re not alone.

“Okay hold on, just tell me where you are and I can help you.” He sounds so determined you almost don’t want to tell him the truth.

“You can’t help me,” your voice cracks, but a smile still remains on your face. Somehow, you feel sad while maintaining a positive attitude. You figure these last moments should be enjoyable. At least you want them to be. Kind of a hard thing to ask for, but you don’t care.

“Yes I can, just—”

“It’s too late, Batman.” Your cheeks become wet as tears slip down them. They slide all the way down your neck where you’re finding it harder and harder to breathe.

“Y/N, tell me where you are.” It’s not his angered voice that convinces you, but the fact that you know he won’t let it go. Even if it’s pointless. Even if there’s not a chance in the world.

“I’m still in the building.” You give him the address and tell him where you’re located in the stairwell. You hear the screeching of tires and imagine Batman turning his car around. It pains you to know that despite all of his efforts, he can’t save you. And you’re not sure he’ll be able to come to terms with it.

“I’m on my way, just hold on for me, okay?” His voice is louder, trying to speak over the roaring engine. You hope there aren’t many drivers out tonight because you can’t imagine seeing that black car zooming down the street. Another wave of pain explodes from your wound and you let out a cry, too weak to try to hold it in. “Y/N?”

“It’s fine,” you say, trying to soothe the worry you hear. But your lie isn’t fooling either one of you.

You hear a growl sound from the phone. “Goddammit Y/N, why didn’t you tell me sooner? I could have gotten to you quicker.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered,” you say,

“Stop talking like that, you’re going to be fine.” His insistence makes you wish he was right. You can barely keep your eyes open, trying to focus on a crack in the opposite wall to ground yourself. But it’s hard.

“It’s okay, Batman. I wasn’t even going to tell you at all because I knew this would happen. I’ve accepted it.” Even as the words leave your lips, there’s still a small part of you screaming to keep fighting. The pain is slowly drowning it out.

“You can’t just give up, I told you I’m on my way,” he says. “And why did you call me then? To tell me about the gang?”

“I…I didn’t want to be alone,” you admit and you feel a small weight lift off of your shoulders at telling the truth. You decide to keep going. “And I wanted…I wanted to hear your voice, one last time.”

Batman doesn’t say anything for a moment and you’re almost afraid you’ve scared him off, when his voice crackles to life, “Y/N—”

“I only wish I could have seen you too.”

“You will,” he insists. “You will when I come to help you. I’m almost there, just another minute—”

“Batman I need to tell you something.” The urge grips you hard to tell him everything you’ve always wanted to say. You can feel blood leak into your lungs and you know it’s only a matter of time before you can’t speak at all.

“No, you can wait to tell me in person.”

“I can’t.” You can feel blood start to bubble up into your throat. The pain is fading away, which only means that your brain is starting to shut down. “Batman—”

“Y/N don’t do this—”

“I love you.” The words echo in your mind and you smile knowing that you’ve said it. At least he’ll know. Even if you can’t be with him, even if he doesn’t love you back, at least he’ll know.

“Y/N.” Batman seems to be at a loss for words. You can’t tell if that means he wants to reject your feelings or if he’s just surprised, but it doesn’t matter. You start to cough up blood and your arm feels heavy as if you were holding up a brick instead of a phone. You stare at the blank wall and try to imagine that Batman is in front of you. You want that to be your last sight.

“Goodbye,” you manage to get out just before your thoughts dissolve into air and your eyes finally close.

“No wait Y/N—” Batman’s yelling falls on deaf eyes as your arm drops to the floor, your phone still in your hand but your grip has gone slack. Batman’s voice echoes in your mind as you finally allow the darkness to consume you.

†††

“Y/N? Y/N!” Bruce yells but gets no response. “Fuck!” He presses down even harder on the accelerator, so much so that it might be touching the floor. That doesn’t matter. There’s only one thing that matters.

Bruce refuses to hang up the call in case he hears something, anything on the other end. As Bruce zips down the streets of Gotham, he can’t help but feel angry. Angry at you for giving up and for not believing he could save you. Angry at himself for not answering your calls earlier and for letting you get hurt. Angry at the world for trying to take away one more fucking person that Bruce loves.

The moment you said those three words, Bruce almost stopped breathing. It wasn’t fair, he thought. He finally finds out that the person he loves loves him back and you’re on your deathbed. Maybe if he had let go of his fears and told you earlier, the two of you would have been happy together.

Stop, he scolds himself. There’s still hope for that. They’re not dead.

Bruce hopes that he’s right. He’s about to find out as he pulls in front of the building you’re in. So close, Bruce had been so close. He told you he was coming. Why didn’t you wait for him?

He doesn’t even turn off the engine of the Batmobile (your nickname for his car) as he opens his door and dashes towards the building. Time seems to speed up and slow down all at once as Bruce runs towards the entrance to the stairwell and keeps on running.

He runs as fast as he can until he reaches the platform you said you were at and he has to take a step back at the sight before him. Slumped against the opposite wall is you with blood covering your face and suit.

Time stops as he takes everything in. Your closed eyes. The blood leaking from your mouth. Your right hand lying against the pool of blood on your chest. But the sight that breaks his heart the most is your phone that you’re still holding in your left hand, still on a call with him.

Bruce feels like the wind has been kicked out of him, finding it hard to breathe. But he snaps out of his despairing trance and quickly rushes over to you. He holds one hand against your cheek. “Y/N?” he asks but you don’t respond. His heart rages against his rib cage as he rips his glove off of his other hand and reaches out towards your neck to check your pulse.

For one horrible moment, he doesn’t feel anything. He’s about to break down, letting out all of the emotions that have been rising inside of him since you told him about your condition. But then, he feels it. A faint flutter of a pulse against his fingers. He feels like he can breathe again. He can actually do something. He can save you.

Bruce briefly examines the wound only to see blood still leaking from what he assumes is a gunshot. He wants to apply pressure to it but he curses when he doesn’t find anything to wrap it in. He’s going to have to move fast.

Carefully, he scoops you up into his arms and his jaw clenches when he sees your head roll lifeless onto his chest. You’re the one who’s usually so full of life. He found it rather annoying at first, but he soon realized that you were actually brightening his life. It’s not fair.

He moves towards the stairs and hears your phone hit the ground behind him but he doesn’t have time. Bruce races down the stairs while holding you tight against him, forbidding any more harm to come to you. He exits the building and manages to set you down in the passenger seat.

As soon as he’s behind the wheel, he takes off towards Wayne Manor. He would take you to the hospital, but the Manor is closer and he can’t have anything more go wrong. He doesn’t trust that the doctors can save you, but he knows that he can. He has to.

Normally when he has you in the car, it’s almost never quiet. You’re either singing (even when he turns off the radio) or just talking about anything at all. He has never hated the quiet so much. He glances at his screen and sees that the call still hasn’t ended. Your words begin to flood his mind.

Hey Batboy. 

I lied to you. 

They got me. 

It’s too late. 

I wanted to hear your voice one last time. 

I love you. 

Goodbye.

Bruce’s vision begins to blur but he blinks back any emotion knowing there’s time to hurt later but right now he needs to focus on saving you.

A thought occurs to him to call the GCPD about the gang. Normally he wouldn’t care, but he doesn’t want your suffering to be in vain. But to do that he’ll have to hang up on you and he doesn’t like that implication. Glancing at you, he makes a promise.

“You’re going to hear my voice and see me again,” he promises. “And it won’t be for the last time.” Then he hangs up the phone.