#[ Got back from the gym and I’ve just watched YouTube on my couch ]

[bloodsoakedurge]

‪❝I see everyone is trying to stab each other with knives tonight. I’m curious… how many of you would dare try such a thing on me?❞‬

[misora-msby]

scarred love.

rating : mature

word count : 4.3k

themes : angst, slight fluff, implied and mentions of sex

notes : based on vistlip’s CLASSIC OPERA // this is my first work on this blog, i hope you enjoy!

“I don’t think he loves me anymore.”

“No way… That’s not the case, I’m sure!”

“That’s what I want to think but…”

Suna could barely believe as he stood outside the bedroom door, hand barely making contact with the handle. Was that really what you thought? 

“I wonder if it’s normal for couples to fall out of love at this stage.”

“Mm… there’s certainly been couples I’ve known like that. They were in love for years but after they got married they decided it wasn’t the life for them and divorced.”

Suna heard your gasp follow the tinny voice from the phone. He had heard of similar stories before but never thought it would happen to him and you. 

Ever since you had gotten together, he was always subtle in his love. He was never the type to outright say “I love you” in public or to boldly proclaim his love for you on social media. Suna preferred linking pinkies while walking or to post photos of your study dates with simple captions like “another ‘10 minute break’” or “we are going to collapse”. 

Despite this, when you were in the privacy of your apartment, he almost never left your side. It was either his head on your lap, his legs laying over yours on the couch, or you sitting on his lap in some way albeit still being relatively quiet. 

So to think you were getting upset with the little attention he was showing recently had him confused. Wasn’t he always like this?

“But Y/N, I doubt Suna-san’s fallen out of love. Isn’t it just that his new job with EJP Raijin is keeping him busy?” 

“Y-Yeah but… he hasn’t said anything about it. He comes back late and leaves early and it just… It just sucks so much! I don’t know what to do!” you sob and Suna can hear the sound of you blowing your nose and coughing through your tears. 

Taking a step back from the bedroom door, the middle blocker moved to the couch and sat for a moment, head in his hands. He knew love couldn’t be perfect. A perfect relationship without fights or problems was just waiting to crumble from the slightest crack in it. But he wanted to at least prevent you from thinking this way. 

He wanted you to know he did love you. 

Later that night, he crawled into the bed, freshly showered and in his pyjamas - an old thin t-shirt and a pair of boxers. You laid beside him in your own pyjamas - one of his big t-shirts and a pair of shorts. 

“Y/N,” he turned onto his side and called your name, causing you to almost jump while attempting to fall asleep with your swirling thoughts.

“Yes, Rin?” 

“You have a free day tomorrow too, don’t you?”

“Well… yes. Why?”

The bed shifted under his movement to hold himself over you. 

“W-Wait a second! Rin! I’m not prepared or anything- mmf!” 

He pressed his lips to yours, his fox-like eyes shut delicately as he kissed you passionately. Before you knew it, his hands moved to your sides and began to lift the edge of the shirt up, but were quickly pushed down. 

“Rintarou,” you lightly pushed on his chest, “I uh… I’m not wearing any nice underwear… A-And I haven’t shaved. Can I go change and do that?” 

Honestly you were very surprised that he suddenly wanted to do this. Suna was always one to do things out of the blue; your relationship was built on impromptu dates and spontaneous gifts he claimed ‘reminded him of you’, but this really had came out of nowhere. 

You hadn’t been intimate in weeks and you wanted to at least look good for it, but Suna just shook his head. 

“You’re fine like this. I love you however you look.” He leaned back down and began to place kisses along your jaw and neck. 

His kisses were softer than usual, you noted. And his hands weren’t rushing to tear your clothes off like he usually did.

“Rin- ah! Rintarou, why are you doing this all of a sudden?”

“We’re both free tomorrow. Can’t I spend my free day with my girlfriend the way I want to?” he asked, looking up at you through his thin lashes. 

“Still! That gives me more time to go get ready.”

“No,” he shook his head and continued to kiss and bite along your neck and collarbones, leaving his marks of love on your skin, “I want to spend every second that I can with you now that I have the time.”

“Wait a second.”

Suna finally pulled his lips away from your skin, now littered with little marks, “What’s wrong?”

“Since when were you so romantic? It just… Don’t get me wrong, I’m super happy it’s just a little funny…” 

His eyes widened at the sight of tears welling up in your eyes.

“Y/N, are you okay?” he asked, cupping your face in his large rough hands gently. 

“I’m more than okay! No… I don’t know why I’m crying…” you sob softly, rubbing at your eyes. 

Suna chuckled lightly. “Is it because you’re filled with overwhelming love for me?”

“Rintarou!” you whined and hit his chest lightly. “You’re absolutely insufferable!”

“You say that but you were the one who asked me out on our graduation.” 

“...you little shit. I really do love you.” 

“Mm, I thought so. I love you too.” He continued to kiss and strip you.

Unlike your usual nights together which were spent fucking roughly, leaving bodies sore and lightly scarred, tonight was slow and loving albeit passionate as ever. Soft kisses and laughs were exchanged in the dark as Suna made love to you, thrusting slowly while mumbling words of love into your body. 

The next morning, you were woken up by the feeling of a kiss on your forehead. Your eyelids fluttered open and you squinted in the morning light to see Suna sitting on his side of the bed, clad only in boxers. There was also the scent of eggs and toast, and when you looked down, you saw it sitting on a plate between you two.

“I’m no Osamu here. But I think my cooking is still edible,” your boyfriend sighed before flopping down onto the bed beside you and closing his eyes. 

“You actually woke up to cook for me?” you asked, sitting up to look at the sunny-side-ups with broken yolks and the toast that was just a little too toasted for your liking. 

“Surprised myself too,” he yawned before squinting his eyes open, “More like… I wanted to surprise you. And wake you up with a kiss.”

“You’re so cheesy today, aren’t you!”

“I know, I think it’s weird too.”

On that day, you knew he still loved you. And you loved him more than ever before.

But that happiness couldn’t last forever. In the city of Tokyo where sadness and troubles rained down, something was bound to happen. Even the most heavily cemented cracks could once again break under a heavy enough pressure. 

Even if it took a couple of months.

“Rintarou! Welcome home!”

“Mm.”

Your brow furrowed slightly as you noticed his short answer. After shutting your laptop where you were answering some work related emails while waiting for your boyfriend, you made your way over to Suna who was hanging his winter coat by the door.

“Rin, are you alright?”

“Just tired.”

You sighed softly, “You shouldn’t overwork yourself. You need breaks sometimes too, you know?” And reached up to begin massaging his shoulders as you usually did. But he only pushed your hands away quickly, saying, “Not tonight,” before walking further into the apartment.

You bit your lower lip to prevent it from trembling any further while your hands stayed still as if frozen mid air. You were hesitating to tell him what you wanted to say earlier.

“Rintarou… Tomorrow you don’t have scheduled practice, right? I…” you took a deep breath as he turned to face you, eyes dark and heavy-looking. 

“Yeah.”

“I was wondering… Well, I don’t have work tomorrow either so I reserved a place at a nice restaurant for dinner! I think we both need a bit of a break, work’s been so busy and you’re also training so intensely and-”

“No.”

“H- Huh?” you laughed nervously, “What do you mean by ‘no’?”

“It means what it means, I don’t want to go.”

“Rintarou, you can’t just- I can’t- I promise it’s a really nice place! A-And I wanted to spend some time with you…” there was a lump welling up in your throat as you tried not to suddenly pour out your recent feelings towards him. 

The recent frustrations of not being able to spend much time with your boyfriend anymore, the annoyance at the way he would always spend his free time doing self training, the anger towards his schedule which rarely ever allowed you to meet, the sadness of the fact that your shared apartment no longer had the sound of laughter when you two played games or watched silly YouTube videos together...

All that frustration felt like it was just being held up behind that lump in your throat, and to think he would simply dismiss it without a second thought.

“You should’ve asked before you started making plans. I’m going to the gym tomorrow again. We have a match against the Red Falcons in two weeks so I need to become at least a bit stronger,” Suna explained monotonously, as if you should have known that already.

“I- I know but… I thought… it’d be a nice surprise…”

The man sighed and turned to walk towards the bathroom, ready to just shower and go to sleep. He simply could not be bothered to argue with you, thinking this problem would solve itself like it always did. But you had had enough of this issue.

Suna hadn’t even realised it was coming until he felt a small bell keychain hit the back of his head. It fell to the hardwood floor with a loud clang which lasted for far too long, causing him to inhale sharply and turn around, anger and annoyance replacing the bored expression on his face for once. 

“What the hell is-” he was about to raise his voice until he saw the way your features trembled and your eyes had already become red and puffy. His own features softened and his body unstiffened. “Y/N…”

“You know, the least you could do is try to be nice to me!” you yelled, furiously wiping away the tears forming. “You could at least say “Mm, I’m really not free but we can do it some other time.” or some shit like that! But no! I- I’m busy too, you know! I’m trying to get promoted so I don’t have to rely on yer dumb ass all the time, but I still want to make time for you because I love you so much! But I don’t think ya get that!” 

Something in the back of your mind was telling you not to say these things, that maybe you could just talk this out calmly. Maybe you didn’t have to explode, but something else told you this was the only way to get a point across.

“I’m your girlfriend, but I feel more like a roommate or burden at this point! Ya know, even ‘Tsumu’s able to make time for his girlfriend! And- And Bokuto’s always doing his promotions and ads but still makes time for his boyfriend! Ojiro-senpai too! Miyu-chan tells me he’s the one planning the dates! But ya can’t even be bothered to pretend you’re happy I tried ta plan somethin’ for us!” 

Suna knew you really were angry when your dialect started coming out but he just didn’t know what to say. He could only stand there in silence with his head hanging like a child being scolded.

“Rintarou… I love you so much you know… I just wonder these days- no, I just wonder if you ever loved me back the same way.”

Oh, he knew. Ever since that night when he heard you crying on the phone, he knew he wasn’t doing enough. 

“I… I’m sorry.” Suna looked up when he suddenly heard those words from you amidst the sobs and chokes. 

“I already left your pyjamas on the bathroom counter… Please don’t… Just please don’t talk to me tonight.” you hurried to the tiny kitchen to wash your face as he silently made his way to the bathroom, thoughts swirling around in his head. 

Suna stared at your figure silently for a second before bending down to pick up the bell - a cheap gift he had given you for your third month together right after you two first started university. It was old, the string slightly frayed and loose, and the golden paint had chipped in places to reveal the stainless steel underneath it. There was even a dent on the bottom from when you accidentally dropped one of your heavier textbooks onto it. It was old, and Suna had told you countless times it was fine to throw away, but you always kept it. 

The man took it and carefully placed it back on the key rack before heading into the bathroom. He took his time in there, gathering his thoughts as he knew he wouldn’t be sharing a bed with you tonight.

It was understandable really, he hadn’t been a great boyfriend. Suna knew a relationship took work from both sides and he shouldn’t have been as blunt as he was earlier that night. 

One couldn’t count the number of times he had muttered profanities aimed towards himself while sitting in the bathtub thinking about his mistakes. He didn’t know if you would even want to see him tomorrow morning. Maybe it was for the best he just went to the gym…

The next morning, Suna woke up early. Even in winter, the sun rose far too early in Japan for his taste. Sitting up and grumbling, he rubbed his eyes and stumbled to the bathroom to begin his morning routine.

Looking at himself in the mirror as he brushed his teeth, he could only sigh at the sight of the dark circles under his eyes. 

Though you made him sleep on the stiff couch last night, you gave him the shared duvet and his pillow while you took the slightly thinner blanket from the closet. 

Despite the added comfort, Suna could barely fall asleep. He kept twisting and turning, thinking about you. Your pained face, your strained voice, your kindness even when angry at him. 

“I fucked up so bad,” he muttered once he washed his face and stared at his pathetically tired self in the mirror, water dripping from the ends of his hair. Would you want to break up with him after that? He’d understand if you wanted to, though he knew he would never be able to forgive himself for losing you because of some stupid mistake he could have prevented. 

Suna sighed for what felt like the thousandth time in the past 12 hours and dabbed his face dry with a towel. He knew that now would be the hardest bit - entering your bedroom to get his change of clothes.

Opening the door as slowly as possible in order to prevent the loud whiny creaking that he wished he had fixed months ago, Suna walked slowly towards the open closet. As quickly as possible, he grabbed a set of clothes and turned to face the door. Though it wasn’t without looking at your sleeping form on the large bed. 

Your face was puffy, dehydrated from sobbing last night, only emphasised by the wads of used tissues on the nightstand and floor. He noticed your breathing was a bit heavier than usual and your body was curled up as you hugged the thin blanket as close to yourself as you could.

The sight pained him intensely. 

With silent footsteps, Suna set his clothes on his side (the empty side) of the bed and tiptoed out to grab the duvet before returning and carefully laying it over your body. He tucked it right up to your chin as you always liked it and sat on the floor, eyes scanning every little feature on your face. From the smallest moles he loved to kiss to each individual eyelash.

“You’re not hearing this, I guess,” he muttered, looking down at the floor for a moment before looking back up at you, “I thought about it for a really long time. I really should’ve been better to you.”

The silence in the room was deafening. 

Suna gulped and bit the inside of his cheek as he thought about his next words, wondering if you could hear him in your sleep. 

“I always left you alone but you would always be nice to me. When you could, you’d make me bentos and clean the house while I did the laundry. Hm… putting stuff into a machine isn’t anywhere equal to cooking and cleaning surfaces, but I guess that’s another point to make.” 

Suna smiled to himself just a bit at the memory of you running into the bedroom to make him try your new pastries or dinner creations. He always thought you were so adorable in your old and stained apron that sometimes he would just stand in the kitchen to chat with you or watch you cook.

Then he was reminded of the dinner you had planned for the two of you and he suddenly frowned remembering how horrible he acted towards you the night before.

“You never expected me to be perfect since day one. I think I’m the furthest thing from a handsome prince on a white horse. But you’ve always been wonderful to me. And I was thinking…” You were asleep, right? Was it worth it to say such cheesy things?

“I kept wondering if you would leave and I thought I don’t want to lose you. I’m nowhere close to a prince but I thought I want to always be the one who wakes you up with a kiss. Or, I want you to wake me up with a kiss. Either is fine really. But… yeah. I’m sorry. Really, really sorry. ” He was certain you weren’t hearing these things yet there was a dark blush on his cheeks.

Until he saw you shift in the bed. 

Suna swears his heart stopped momentarily as he leaned closer, checking to see if you had woken up. 

Your eyelids slowly opened and you squinted tiredly at Suna, just barely able to see him with how blurry your vision had become. “Rin…?”

The man hurried to his feet, hoping his morning wouldn’t feel any heavier than it already did. 

“I’m gonna give you some space. I’ll be back after my jog.” 

Suna turned to exit the bedroom but was stopped by the sound of stumbling, followed by your warmth around his waist and resting on his back.

“Please… don’t go.”

He stared silently at the floor in front of him. 

“I don’t think you want to-”

“Stay here! …please?” 

Your soft voice broke but mended his heart at the same time. The scratchiness and fear in your voice contrasted with the words that he wanted to hear so badly.

“Did you…”

“Yeah, I heard everything.”

“You’re not mad?”

“Of course I’m still a little mad. But right now I’m just really happy you would say those things when you normally wouldn’t tell me how you feel. So… please, don’t go. Stay with me.”

The few moments of silence seemed to pass in eons as Suna took in a shaky breath before turning to hug you tightly, burying his face into your neck so you couldn’t see his tears of relief.

“Of course I will. I won’t go anywhere, babe.”

Four years have passed since that night. Suna yawns and scrunches up his face slightly at the way the sunlight enters your shared bedroom. Squinting his eyes, he looks around the room and wonders if maybe he should’ve put on a shirt like you did last night to deal with the first bites of winter. Then again, you did take his shirt.

He then looks to you, sleeping quietly by his side. You looked a little like a mess; hair messy, dwarfed in his big shirt, cheek smushed against the pillow, but he thought you looked adorable. 

It’s cold, but he feels warm by your side. 

And when he looks down at your left hand resting under his even in your sleep, the sight of the silver ring with its diamonds adorning your finger makes his heart even warmer.

[vytels]

A Glimpse Into Our Life

Todobakukirideku

The screen came to life, filling with soft colors and accents. A man sat in the middle of the screen, a soft smile adorning his face as he made a little wave. “Okay, hi! Uhm, oh I didn’t think this through!”

The man laughed a little and rubbed the back of neck, looking to the side. Behind him, an old poster of All Might watched.

“Well uhm, I’m Deku!” The man said, finally looking towards the camera. “And it’s my day off, so I thought that I would make a YouTube video!”

The scene jumped ahead, quickly changing to a different angle as Midoriya Izuku held the camera. He was walking now, figures and posters of All Might in the background. “Ka- Ground Zero is asleep right now, so I’ve got to make sure that I don’t bother him too much! He’s a pretty heavy sleeper though.”

A little note appeared at the bottom of the screen. You can say my name, dumbass.

“Because it’s my day off, I’m suppose to stay home and relax.” Midoriya stepped out of the room he was in and closed the door behind him with a soft click. “My agency knows that my quirk can be hard on my body, and I’m prone to overworking myself, so they force me to take rest days so that I don’t hurt myself on the job!”

Midoriya laughed a little. “I still sometimes manage to, don’t know how though!”

The video jumped again, this time with the green haired man standing in front of a big door. He smiled at the camera before swinging it around, showing off a little bit of the entrance to his home. His hands were shaking.

“So this is the entrance…” Midoriya pointed the camera towards the ground, where there were marks on the floor. “We have a bad habit of throwing the door open, so there is a badly patched hole in the wall… and some scorch marks on the floor.”

A clip of Bakugou kicking open the door while carrying large bags of food was added in�� voices laughed in the background as someone complained, “stop abusing the door!”

Then the screen snapped back to Midoriya quietly opening another door and pointing the camera inside. “So uh, you just saw this room like a few minutes ago… but this is the All Might room!”

The room, where Midoriya had started filming, came to life as the light turned on. Dozens of All Might’s smiled in all directions, posing or giving thumbs up. There was well over a hundred items in there, all different from the last.

“Ground Zero and I like to collect All Might stuff… most of this is ours, but Shoto and Red Riot have their own shelf!” Midoriya turned the camera to the shelf, which held a few notable items— but seriously, the two only shared one shelf in a room filled to the brim with All Might merchandise. “We’ve all been collecting for years!”

There was the sound of a door opening, and then Midoriya swung the camera out of the room. The screen snapped to the next clip, where the green haired man stood in the living room.

The large couch was covered in pillows and blankets, taking up almost all of the space. The side table had a fish lamp on it— if Midoriya has turned it on, viewers would have seen that light was orange— like the fish. And the walls were covered in more posters, but of countless other heroes, and pictures.

“This is our living room!” Midoriya did a little spin, showing off how nice the room— it was cozy, it was nerdy, it was used. The space was home, and it clearly made him happy.

When he stopped spinning, you could see the kitchen behind him— and Bakugou grumpily cooking something. He kept looking over, almost glaring. His hair was a mess, but that was usual for him— but he did somehow look more tired than usual.

“Hey, put the camera down and eat!” Bakugou yelled at him from the kitchen. Midoriya laughed and nodded, the camera screen going black for a second…

Then it lit up again as Midoriya appeared in a small gym. “This is our gym! I’m not allowed to use it today, and I need to leave soon, because of Ground Zero finds me in here… he’ll kick my ass.”

The camera was pointed around, still shaking a bit before the screen jumped forward and suddenly Midoriya’s head filled the space. “Like I said, I’m suppose to be resting today… and Ground Zero usually takes the same off days as me because he likes making me not do stuff.”

“You aren’t suppose to be doing stuff, Deku.”

A small whine left Midoriya’s mouth and shifted the camera, revealing he was back in the living room. He looked away from the camera, towards his boyfriend with a point. “He’s basically my glorified baby sitter for the day.”

The camera quickly cut away again and Midoriya was back in the All Might room, with a large smile on his face. “I convinced Ground Zero to let me go on a walk! So I’m going to go, so that’s the video for today!”

He waved at the camera. “You guys might get to see more in the future! Bye!”

The camera cut to black, then the little note at the end appeared. A Glimpse Into Our Lives.

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

A Miraculous TikTok Account

Part 11

First

Previous

Next

Rena was running out of time.

(To make TikToks. She wasn’t dying for anything except content.)

She’d figured that she would do Q&A type things, it was close enough to the content she’d used to make but far enough away that no one would suspect anything about her identity. It was perfect!

But the other heroes were… let’s say ‘less than eager’ to divulge much information to her. Especially not when they were being filmed.

Ladybug had pulled her aside one day to explain why.

“Rena…” She reached out and gently rested a hand on her shoulder.

Rena knew what that meant, she’d gotten it enough back when she was just a civilian. For just a second, she was thrown back to the first time one of her family members had died, to the way she had promised that she wouldn’t come back until she had her sister safely in her arms...

But she knew that it couldn’t be like that. Ladybug didn’t know who she was just like Rena didn’t know her identity. It was nothing that serious.

“We can’t give much information to the public. Hawkmoth could be watching.”

A fair point. It hurt, though.

She crossed her arms over her chest. “So we don’t show him our weaknesses, it’s not that hard.”

“We have to assume any information could be used against us.”

Rena frowned. “By that logic we can’t upload any content…?”

“We can’t upload any content of substance, no. Messing around in a store is fine. Videos of animals are fine. Anything beyond that is… potentially problematic.”

The idea of style over substance was foreign to the hero. Her whole brand used to be substance over style, done with a phone camera but close enough to fights for people to actually get a glimpse of the heroes in action. What was she supposed to do?

“What’s your niche, then?” Said Rena, hoping to get an idea.

“I was going to do some videos on mental and physical wellness.”

Yeah, no. That was a very ‘Ladybug’ thing to do, Rena probably couldn’t encroach on that in any way. But… what else was there?

Ladybug opened her mouth like she was about to say something, and then she shook her head and disappeared to her room.

Rena watched her leave in silence, and then fell back on the couch. She rested her hands over her eyes, something that was very uncomfortable due to the weird fabric of the mask on her face, and tried to think.

Ladybug had been fair. They already had enough of a gap between the information Hawkmoth had versus the amount they did, they shouldn’t make that worse… but then what was the point of them doing social media accounts?

And, she mused, why hadn’t Ladybug just told Master Fu her concerns?

Something wasn’t adding up, but she didn’t exactly know what.

The reporter in her was itching to find out. She didn’t want to invade Ladybug’s privacy, especially not when the other already seemed wary enough around her, but it was hard to just let go…

So, what could she do?

~

She grumbled as she went to Carapace’s room, not even bothering to knock as she walked in. It wouldn’t matter if she did, her miraculous made it so that most people’s eyes and ears slid right over her unless she actively worked to get them to notice her.

He was in his hero costume, though that wasn’t surprising considering he’d gotten back from patrols only a few minutes ago.

Carapace jumped a little in surprise when she came to a stop by his desk and looked up from where he was booting up his computer.

“Salut?” He said slowly.

“Salut! I need help.”

He raised his eyebrows a little and then shrugged. With a tiny wave of his hand, a second chair made of a bunch of different plates appeared behind her.

She took a seat and crossed her legs. “Everyone talks to you, right?”

“I guess…?”

“So do you know what everyone’s doing for their TikTok accounts?”

“I’m going to get footage of us acting friendly, Chat is filming animals he sees on patrols, Ladybug is ‘promoting mental and physical wellness’, and Chloe…” He sucked in a breath. “I don’t know what Chloe’s doing, but she started laughing maniacally when I asked so I’m not eager to find out.”

Rena pouted a little bit. Great, so everyone’s taken all the good and easy ideas. What else was there?

“I don’t know what to do with my account. Ladybug says I can’t do interviews and stuff because Hawkmoth could use stuff against us.”

Carapace briefly looked confused, and then understanding crossed his face. “Well, I can tell you that no one here would disagree with that.”

“I know, I know, it makes sense,” she sulked, resting her head on her hand. “But then what do I do?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Being the ‘smart one’ is kind of your thing.”

She frowned at that, but brushed past it. “I don’t really care about my image, it’s not that important to me --.”

“It should be.”

Her gaze shot up to see his expression was uncharacteristically serious.

He seemed to realize this, too, because he cleared his throat and brought a smile to his face again.

“I know you’re new, so let me give you some advice: keep your life as a hero and a civilian as far apart as you possibly can. Since we’re everyone’s therapists and all, it’s kind of depressing when you start thinking about everything the civvies tell you when you’re off the job.”

Carapace reached out slowly, giving her time to draw back, and rested a hand on top of her head.

“So, lean into your image. Lean into it so hard you become a parody of yourself. It’s better for everyone that way. Trust me.”

She reached up and pulled his hand off, frowning deeply. “If you think that then why did you agree to live with us? Why are you taking videos of us all being friends?”

“Well, I live with everyone because it was a good solution for some concerns I had about college… not that we really had a choice. Master Fu wasn’t going to give it up.” He leaned back in his chair and stretched. “And I’m taking videos of everyone because it’ll help when we need to do our whole therapy thing. People talk more when they feel close to you.”

Rena stared at him in shock. That was… surprisingly cold and calculated for the supposed ‘nice’ hero. Then again, by his own admission, he didn’t even see himself as that nice of a person.

Were all the other heroes like that? Lying about their personalities for the sake of the public or their mental health? And, if they were, were they keeping up the act while there too or did they consider living in the house their new ‘civilian’ life?

She pushed herself to her feet abruptly, startling Carapace a second time. She crossed her arms.

“I’ve got an idea for what to do. Thanks.”

“Huh? But I didn’t --?”

She was already gone.

~

Despite the temptation to disobey that she was pretty sure wasn’t entirely her fault, Rena had gone to Ladybug a few days later with a proposal:

“I still want to be an informant to the people.” She saw Ladybug begin to protest, so she rushed to finish the rest of her sentence: “Obviously, I won’t be giving them anything of substance, but it could help to make them feel closer to us as heroes.”

Ladybug couldn’t turn down the reasoning. It was what Carapace had listed as his own.

And, to her delight, Ladybug seemed to agree because she clicked her tongue and nodded.

“Fine. What’re you planning to do?”

“Simple stuff. A house tour -- making sure to blur and hide anything that could give Hawkmoth our location -- and then after that keep them updated on the news.”

There was a silence as she considered this. Then her head tipped to the side. “What do you mean by ‘news’?”

“Nothing major. Have you ever seen a drama channel on YouTube? Stuff like that.”

“... fine, but you should run your videos by everyone involved before uploading.”

Rena nodded her understanding.

~

She started with the house tour. If she was going to do this, she needed to gain their trust. A few normal videos, and then she’d start trying to slip the public information about the heroes’ true personalities.

Rena didn’t want to expose them to Hawkmoth, and especially didn’t want to expose their families, so she really was going to try to respect most of their privacy. For this reason, she did tell them all when she was going to do the house tour so they could hide anything that could be used to figure out their identities.

She started with the shared rooms like the kitchen and living room, but she brushed past all of that quickly since she knew that wasn’t what they’d be interested in.

Her room was first. It was the same size as every other bedroom in the house, but it felt tiny and cramped. There was a dresser, a desk, a bed, three different bookshelves, an end table… well, let’s just say that she’d brought more stuff than necessary. The room wasn’t exactly neat, it seemed that it would buckle under the weight of Rena’s knickknacks if she wasn’t careful, but it wasn’t necessarily dirty either; everything had its place.

She decided to put the more boring rooms in the middle for the good old watchtime. Ladybug’s room was fine but her personality was a bit dull when it came to this kind of thing, and Carapace’s personality was fine but his room was boring, so...

She was off to Ladybug’s room. She climbed up to the attic and finally figured out exactly what Ladybug had been working on since they’d moved in. Apparently she was trying to make an indoor jungle gym using the support beams on the ceiling. It actually looked like a pretty good workout, though maybe a little unsafe. Beyond that, the room was rather full. Random pieces of furniture (mostly chairs) were strewn about, loaded with a precarious amount of fabrics.

She found Ladybug hunched over a sketchbook on her bed, swaddled in blankets despite the fact that the attic was actually pretty warm.

She looked up at her and blinked. “Oh. Now? Okay.” She escaped her blanket prison with minimal struggling and then gave a short tour of her room.

Rena pointed to a divider on the other side of the room. “What’s behind there?”

Ladybug looked over and a blush spread across her face. “I don’t have a closet, so that’s where I put the secret identity stuff for now. Don’t go back there.”

For some reason, Rena thought she was being lied to. However, she couldn’t just go back there when Ladybug had just said that it would reveal her identity, so she just nodded and said: “Gotcha. Thanks for the tour.”

She moved on to Carapace’s room next. She pushed the door to his room open and sent a smile and a wave. All his textbooks were safely stashed out of sight and he’d cleaned up the normal mess of old snacks for the video, which somehow made his room feel even emptier than usual.

“Here we have a wild Carapace in his natural habitat. Though, why this is what he chose as his natural habitat is beyond me.”

He laughed good-naturedly. “I don’t need much.”

“I can see that.”

He smiled. “Ridiculous! Utterly Ridiculous!” He said, doing his best impression of Chloe.

Rena cleared her throat, and then did a perfect impression of her voice.

Carapace’s eyes widened. “Chloe?”

She tried not to laugh, and instead nodded and continued her impression: “Yes. I’m secretly Chloe. Rena asked me to take her place for this because she was tired.”

He didn’t seem sure whether or not to take this as a joke, and she gleefully left the room.

She moved on to Chloe’s room. It was… somehow both bright and dark in there and this threw Rena off more than she’d like to admit. While most people would take Rena for the hoarder (and they’d probably be right to), Chloe also seemed to have some hoarding problems; the walls were taken up with different luxury items from jewelry to handbags; the floor was littered with different plants at seemingly random intervals.

Chloe looked up from where she was tending to some plants with the help of a few bees (wait, was there an actual BEEHIVE in there?).

“I like your… bees…?”

Chloe snickered. “Thanks. They don’t like you, though, so I’d suggest you leave.”

Rena was a little offended that the bees didn’t like her, but she didn’t need to be told twice.

She headed to Chat’s room next.

When she opened the door she had thought that he wasn’t there. The lights were off outside of a TV which, upon closer inspection, she realized someone was playing a video game. Huh. She turned on the light.

Once she was actually able to see, she was taken aback by how dirty it was. Clothes littered the ground; the bed looked like it hadn’t been made since they moved in; there was a grand piano but it was currently being used as a trash can for old snack bags.

“Did you forget that I was doing a house tour today?”

“Nope,” said Chat from somewhere in the filth.

“Oh… okay…”

The video cut.

~~~

Taglist

@nathleigh @mialuvscats @sassakitty @th1s-1s-my-aesthet1c @blueslushgueen @woe-is-me0

[ashintheairlikesnow]

Found Out

CW: Not much! Just some brief references to death and to pet whump

“Remind me why I’m watching fucking youtube videos of fucking gymnasts today?” Will asks, laid out on the couch with his legs over Mari’s lap as she fiddled with her phone. Brooke and Laken have half the carpet in the student lounge for their dorm covered in papers, markers, and pens, working on some kind of poster for a party Brooke is throwing. 

“Because,” Becka - she’s in a bunch of Will’s classes and is doing printmaking for her major, which makes her officially cooler than Will himself - says, sitting legs-crossed on the floor looking up at the lounge TV, then down at the laptop open in front of her. “Akio Nakamura literally grew up like two hours from here, he trains right near here!”

“I have no idea who that is,” Mari says without looking up, huffing a hint of soundless laughter. Will sits himself up a little on his elbows and turns to look as Becka finally gets the cast to work. Youtube pops up on the TV screen, the video frozen right at the start, with AKIO NAKAMURA, 20XX Musical Floor Routine  just underneath.

Paused and ready to begin is a screenshot from the video, of a short, heavily muscled teenage boy grinning over his shoulder at someone off screen. 

“He’s the favorite for the U.S. team for the Olympics this year! I always follow gymnastics and figure skating, basically that’s all I care about, but Akio is the best. He is definitely getting the gold this year.” 

“Oh, definitely,” Brooke says, with an exaggerated nod. “Definitely the gold, uh-huh.”

“Yes,” Mari cuts in. “I care very deeply about this and also agree that he will get the gold. Um. Whoever he is.”

“Fuck off, guys.” Becka flips them off over her shoulder without looking back and clicks, a narrator - presumably Nakamura himself - explaining the floor routine he’s about to do, that when he’s not competing he’s always liked to build himself a music-based routine, and this recording has been around for a long time and he’s just getting around to loading it up.

“For a long time I never touched these old recordings - you know, it just, you’ll see why later - but I think it’s probably time. And I really liked what we did.”

“We?” Mari asks.

“Sssshhhhh.”

The same teenager from the screenshot steps out onto a large mat in a gymnast’s leotard, taking position. His team is lounging in the background, talking to each other, to the coach, practicing their own moves. They’re a mix of blondes, brunettes, redheads, and people with black hair, a bunch of kids of varying ages, heights, weights, and looks. 

Will squints at a redhead in the corner of the screen, watching Nakamura take position from just in the corner, bouncing on his toes, rolling his shoulders, in a constant nonstop motion. Something about the redhead looks vaguely familiar, but the video is a little blurry from casting larger onto the TV and hasn’t settled into crispness yet. 

“Wait, I thought dudes didn’t get to use music,” Ben says from the table over in the corner, where he’s been steadfastly ignoring everyone else while reading a book and claiming it counts as hanging out if I’m physically here, okay, trust me, I’m an introvert. He looks up, now, with some vague hint of interest. 

Becka sighs and hits pause again. “They don’t,” She explains, patiently. “Male gymnast floor routines are all about strength, and rhythm isn’t really important. But Akio likes to use music and he does these videos where he does the same kind of floor routines the girls do? I think just for fun. But he has a whole youtube channel and there’s a bunch on here, and he’s been putting up old ones from way, way back. I guess some friend of his who died is in them, so he just got around to looking at them again.”

“Lovely. And you’re inflicting this on us because…”

“Mari, seriously, it’s so cool to watch. Just fucking deal with it, or keep scrolling.”

Mari grins, nudging Becka with her foot. “Kidding, Becks. I’m watching, I promise. Hey, where’s Chris?”

Laken shrugs without looking up from their current work very carefully gluing an intricate paper cutout down to the posterboard. “Dunno. Had something to do with his brother, I think.”

“I swear, I’m a twin and I don’t like my brother as much as he likes his,” Brooke says, rolling her eyes, and Laken snorts, eyes slightly crossed as they very carefully pull a small line of glue in a perfect spiral with the paper.

“Guys, for the love of fuck, just shut up and let me watch this.” Becka waves her hand backwards, and Laken and Brooke share a look and an eyeroll, but the room goes quiet. Becka hits play again, and the music kicks on, something bright and upbeat nobody in the room recognizes immediately. 

Akio rolls his neck, gets a grin on his face, and takes off across the mat, tensing at the last half-second before he seems to jump and fold forwards at once, backflipping once, twice, before he spins in the air and lands with his feet in perfect position, arms up - then he winks at the camera and rocks his hips, and Mari, Will, and Brooke all let out a sound somewhere between a gasp and laughter.

“Good God, that boy just had fun with his pelvis,” Mari says, mock-scandalized.

“Watch, just, just watch-” Becka waves her hand again and the group watches Nakamura dance across the mat, matching the rhythm of the song exactly, dropping into a split and then back up again like gravity is something he can simply turn off whenever he wants. He folds himself over backwards and walks on his hands before he’s back up on his feet, with a quick spin and another hip-rock, backing his way into the marked-off spot in the corner. There’s another running set of flips and jumps and Will is watching, and it’s crazy as hell, sure, but his eyes keep getting drawn to that boy in the corner.

Wearing the same leotard, the boy is dancing along with Nakamura, matching all his in-between-moves perfectly, a bright, shining smile on his face, clapping every time Nakamura nails a flip or a jump, edging his slow way up to just at the other corner on that side.

“Hey,” Ben says, but his voice is too quiet, and the drums are louder suddenly, like someone just turned the speakers up. Will hears him, though, and looks over to see Ben making the exact face as what Will is feeling.

Except…

Ben swallows so hard Will can see his Adam’s apple move.

“All right, so in this one, one of the kids I used to train with, Tristan Higgs, and I had kind of planned out a bit at the end - okay, watch Tristan right… about… now.”

Nakamura lands a jump, moves into a dance, and the redhead runs up onto the mat, takes his own position with his arms up, and shoots Nakamura a brilliant smile before he takes off himself. He’s short, and heavily muscled, but that smile is unmistakable.

While the redhead runs, Nakamura dances to the side, watching him with a grin.

“What the fuck?” Ben says from the corner, slamming his book shut and standing up, walking closer to watch the screen. “Do you guys-... do you see that?”

“They can’t do this in competition,” Becka says, misunderstanding the sudden silence to be awe, confusion at the routine itself. “It’s too dangerous. But nothing happens, they just have fun.”

The redhead does three backflips and then spins, hits his landing perfectly - the team throws up a deafening cheer - and he launches into the dance right as Nakamura is back in position for his next run. 

They move around each other fluidly, for a while dancing nearly together. The group watches them move back to back, the redhead’s hair flashing coppery in the gym’s lights as he briefly drops it back onto Nakamura’s shoulder before spinning away, the team cheering them on and singing along with the song.

Ben’s eyes meet Laken’s. “Do you-... do you see-”

Laken looks away, shifting around, staring back down at the poster they’re working on alone now. “Yeah,” They say, voice slightly husky. “I see it.”

“But-”

“Let it go, Ben.”

“Laken, that’s Chris.”

“Holy shitballs,” Will says, “You’re right. It is Chris. Becka, fucking-... fucking pause next time they get his face on screen.”

“No worries, they’re almost done.” Becka blinks, puzzled, and the group watches Nakamura and the other boy do simultaneous flips across opposite sides of the mat, finish with a spin, and salute each other, before collapsing into laughter. “Does Chris do gymnastics?”

“No,” Laken says, before Ben can answer. He glances over at them and they shake their head, minutely, barely a motion.

The redhead starts to jump up and down, his hands flapping in the air, spinning in circles, as Nakamura laughs and runs over to him, saying something. The two high-five and hug before the redhead starts bouncing up and down again, clearly proud of himself, proud of Nakamura, just fucking thrilled.

“Laken-”

“I said let it go,” Laken snaps, and Ben’s mouth snaps shut.

Mari says, hesitantly, “Chris never said he did gymnastics.”

“Chris’s name isn’t Tristan fucking Higgs, either,” Will points out.

On the video, Nakamura’s voice is back. “We used to do that all the time. I’ve got about three more I’ll probably post. For the longest time I couldn’t even look at them, but… I don’t know. He was so fun. Rest in peace, man. We still miss you.”

“That can’t be him,” Will says, pulling his legs off of Mari’s lap and leaning over. Becka pauses with the screen stuck on the jumping, happy teenager, his hands blurred mid-motion. “That can’t be. Chris isn’t named Tristan.”

“He’s also not fucking dead,” Mari says, breathless. “But-”

“But it looks just like him, he even does the, the thing with his…” Will hesitantly flaps his hands by example. “When he’s happy. Just like that.”

“His hair’s red at the roots, too,” Brooke says, a little thoughtfully, nervously. “Um. Chris is adopted, right? Maybe…”

“Nobody changes a fucking teenager’s first name,” Will says, shaking his head. “I’ve met his brother, he wouldn’t do that. He’s like a giant teddy bear person. If Chris wanted the fucking Ritz that guy’d try and buy it for im. But, like, what do we know about Chris?”

“Not much,” Ben says, staring at the screen, stomach flipping. Ben knows more than anyone but Laken, thanks to Dylan being a fucking piece of shit about the pet thing. And he knows, he thinks, what he’s looking at now. “But-”

“I’m done with this,” Laken says abruptly, pushing themself to their feet. “You guys keep playing fucking detectives all you want, but that’s not Chris. I’m out.”

The group stares after them as they leave, and there’s a long, long moment of silence that draws awkwardly out, everyone trying to see if someone else will be the first person to speak next. 

“Um, I’m-... I’m gonna go talk to them,” Ben says, grabbing his book on the way out, catching Laken just outside the elevators. “Hey, wait-”

“No,” Laken says, hands in their pockets, jammed in there like they’re trying not to choke someone. “Go back in there, Ben.”

“That is Chris,” Ben says, soft and insistent. “That’s him before they-... before he was-”

Laken doesn’t answer him. Their jaw sets, and the black eyeliner seems to make them look flintier, hardened. “We don’t know that.”

“Yeah, Laken, we absolutely do. You telling me that smile isn’t one hundred percent your boyfriend’s smile? You going to tell me there’s some other identical fucking redhead who stims like that when he’s happy who was at a gym literally across town, whose friends from then think he’s fucking dead, and it’s not your fucking boyfriend, who was oh just coincidentally a pet for some rich asshole-”

“Don’t say it,” Laken snaps. “Don’t you fucking dare say it.”

“We should show him the video, Laken.”

“No.”

“What if it-... what if it helps-”

“What if it doesn’t?” The elevator dings and the doors open. Laken pushes away from Ben and steps inside, turning to stare at him, their expression baleful and oddly vulnerable, both at once. “What if it just makes shit worse for him? He’s-... he already has these nightmares… Don’t you think Chris has had a hard enough fucking time without us throwing that shit in his face, Ben? His past doesn’t belong to us.”

“Show his brother, then,” Ben says, and Laken looks away from him as the doors start to roll closed. “Show his brother, okay? Please? Promise you will, it might help Chris to see-”

Laken doesn’t look back up. The doors cut them off from view and Ben watches the floor count tick down as it moves, before he turns and goes back to his room, flopping bonelessly on the bed.

“God damn it.” 

That was definitely Christopher fucking Stanton in that video.

Wasn’t it?

Ben pulls his phone up, lying on his back, and types into the search bar, Tristan Higgs gymnast. Some old scores and meets come up, but no pictures. Nothing he can use. Then he deletes that search and types instead, Tristan Higgs death.

What pops up first is an old news article from fucking years ago about some kind of double-homicide after a break-in. Ben reads it, staring at the words, but something like dread slowly closes its claws over his heart.

The sole survivor of the attack was the couple’s fifteen-year-old son, Tristan, who has been placed in the care of relatives while law enforcement follows a series of tips…

Ben finds a Facebook page for the gym that was in the Nakamura video. Now that he’s started, he can’t stop. They have an Instagram, and he scrolls and scrolls and scrolls and scrolls. He must sit there for a goddamn hour looking at fucking gymnastics bullshit he doesn’t care about. But then he finds it-

Throwback Thursday: the whole crew has pizza at Vanni’s Pizzeria after a great meet back in 20XX!

There he is, right there towards the front with Nakamura’s arm around his shoulders, shorter and significantly more muscular, with a bit of red hair flopping over one eye.

Christopher fucking Stanton, smiling at something just to the left of the camera, just like Chris always does.

He screenshots the photo and sends it to Laken. They send back, pretty sure I told you to go fuck yourself Benji.

Ben waits. Thirty-five seconds after that, Laken sends another text.

Okay. I’ll show Jake.

Ben tells himself to close the apps. That he has reading to do, and other things to care about. Then he spends the next five hours learning everything he can about Tristan Higgs, anyway.

---

Tagging: @burtlederp , @finder-of-rings , @endless-whump , @whumpfigure , @slaintetowhump , @astrobly @newandfiguringitout , @doveotions , @pretty-face-breaker , @boxboysandotherwhump , @oops-its-whump @moose-teeth , @cubeswhump , @cupcakes-and-pain @whump-tr0pes @whumpiary @orchidscript

[golbrocklovely]

remember me // colby brock

A/N: this is not a request, but this is something i have been thinking about for a long time, probs since i started writing. i only finally wrote this out bc i’ve seen a lot of edit on insta that are like ‘what if your fave didn’t exist?’ and i figured this was sign for me to finally write it. if you guys want me to make a sequel to this, lmk. hope you enjoy.

prompt: everyone has forgotten colby, except her. but why?

trigger warning: angst, kinda sad, ppl forgetting colby

word count: 3567

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day started out like any other day for Colby. Nothing felt out of place as he woke up and laid in bed for a couple minutes. He knew today was going to be one of the less crazier days for him and Sam. No meetings of any kind, and no filming either. He had gotten everything done earlier this week and he was excited to have a bit of a day off. The only thing he had planned for today was to go workout with Sam early. He glanced at his phone. 9:34 A.M. Perfect time for him and Sam to go down to the apartment's gym and get some work done.

Colby stretched as he stood up, stumbling over to his closet and changing into what he usually worked out in, a muscle shirt and basketball shorts. He trudged into his bathroom and brushed his teeth quickly, opting to take a shower after he got home from the gym. He slipped his sneakers on as he walked into his kitchen and got a water bottle from his fridge. Taking a big gulp, he grabbed his keys and headed straight down the hallway to Sam's apartment.

He knocked three times, calling out to Sam as he waited for the blonde-haired boy to open the door. Finally, Sam did, rubbing his eyes and staring at Colby confused.

"Hey dude, did you oversleep?" Colby smirked, "That would be a first."

Sam narrowed his eyes at Colby, his voice still tired. "Um, I'm sorry?"

“Don't you remember? We planned to work out this morning. We talked about it last night.” Colby replied, twirling his keys in his fingers.

“What are you talking about?” Sam scrunched up his face.

“Last night after we filmed your video, we said we should go workout this morning…” Colby chuckled lightly, “Are you okay, brother?”

“I'm sorry, but... do you have the wrong apartment?” Sam asked nicely.

Colby exhaled. “What?”

“You must be looking for someone else, dude. I have no idea who you are.” Sam mumbled to himself, “Or how you know my name…”

“Okay, ha-ha. Very funny. Come on, Sam. Let's go.” Colby stated, taking a step back to leave.

Sam insisted, his voice getting louder. “No seriously, I have no idea who you are.”

“Babe, who is that?” A voice called from inside the apartment.

Colby looked over Sam, seeing Kat walk around the corner in her pjs. Colby glanced above Kat and noticed something off but ignored it.

“Hey Kat, did Sam hit his head last night?” Colby joked.

Sam turned to Kat. “Do you know him?”

Kat took a step back, glancing at Colby quickly. “No, I have no idea who he is. Do you?”

“No, I don't.” Sam shook his head.

“What are you guys on about? Of course, you know me.” Colby hissed.

“Seriously, I have no idea who you are or how you know me. But you gotta leave.” Sam ordered.

“What?” Colby raised an eyebrow, his voice softening, “Is this some type of prank?”

“Leave now, or I'm gonna call security on you.” Sam grunted.

Colby started. “Dude what are you talking-”

Sam slammed the door in Colby's face, locking it loudly. Colby scoffed, staring at the door for a second.

If this is a prank, I'm so gonna get him back for this.

Colby rolled his eyes and went down to the gym. He couldn't wrap his head around what just happened. Why was Sam pranking him if they already filmed last night? Was he trying to film for next week now too? Was this for someone else's video?

I mean, this has to be a prank... right?

Colby shook his head, ignoring the strange thought. Of course, this was a prank. It was probably for Jake's video. Maybe even Kat's. Or Kevin's. Someone was doing it to him. He couldn't remember the last time he had pranked somebody. But whoever he did, they were probably trying to get him back now for it. And they were doing a pretty good job.

Colby jumped onto the treadmill, keeping the pace slow at first as he searched through Spotify to find his playlist. Where was his playlist? As cheesy as it was to listen to the playlist he made for fans, it was filled with his favorite songs, so he would actually listen to it a lot. But now... he couldn't find it.

Where the fuck is it?

He searched, even going to his profile, but it wasn't there. Gone, like it never existed.

Maybe Spotify is acting up. Let me just go to Youtube.

Colby clicked on the app, searching up a song he wanted to hear. Then he paused for a moment, deleting the text he had written and typing in 'sam and colby'.

No results found.

“What?” Colby murmured, twisting up his face.

He then typed in 'colby brock'.

No results found.

Colby's heart sped up in his chest, his breathing quickening. Did his channel get deleted? Why were there no results for his channel, or 'Sam and Colby' for that matter? He finally typed in 'sam golbach', and Sam's channel appeared.

Colby clicked on it, glancing around at the different layout. This wasn't the layout Sam had had before. The only time they change it is when they are starting a new chapter, and they always do it together. Maybe he changed it last minute?

He clicked on Sam's videos. Scrolling through the list of them, he noticed something weird.

Sam always included Colby in the thumbnail. But now... he was nowhere. Now someone different was in the thumbnail, like Jake, Kevin, or even Corey. But... Colby was nowhere.

What the fuck was going on?

Colby clicked on a video he knew he was in, 'This Is How He LOST The Game’. He watched through the first ad, waiting impatiently. Finally, when the video loaded, his eyes widened at what he saw.

He wasn't in the video.

Sam had started the video off like normal, showing all the guys sitting on the couch as he explained the name of the game. But Colby, who knew for a fact he was in this video, was no longer there. His spot empty.

It was one thing to pretend not to know him, it was one thing to remove him from the thumbnails. But to remove him from videos all together...

“It's impossible.” He uttered under his breath.

Colby rushed off the treadmill, no longer in the mood to workout. He ran up to his apartment, feeling his heart bang against his ribcage.

Maybe this is all a weird ass dream? Or an extremely elaborate prank?

Colby went into his closet, deciding he wanted to change out of his clothes into something more comfortable. He gazed over at the corner of his closet, where he kept all of his merch, along with the XPLR ones too.

It was empty.

“What the fuck?” Colby grabbed at the empty hangers, spinning around his closet. He threw open drawers to try and find his merch, but he couldn't find it.

Colby swiped open his phone, sliding to his pictures. He knew him and Sam had a recent photoshoot in the new XPLR merch, so as long as those photos were there, he knew everything's okay.

As he opened his photo album, a certain dread trickled through his body.

Colby never deleted anything off his phone. He wanted to keep as many photos as possible. Plus it was always good to have extra photos in case he didn't have anything to post on his Instagram. But now, every photo he had was different than it once was. He had many photos of him and Sam from their years of friendship. But now every photo that had him and Sam in it... was gone. It was no longer Sam and Colby. It was just... Colby.

I'm not doing this right now. This can't be real.

Colby shook his head, his nerves getting the better of him as he laid back down on his bed. He took some deep breaths, trying to relax. This must just be the most realistic dream he's ever had, and he just needs to go back to sleep and wake up to everything normal again.

Normal... Sam's neon sign was gone.

Colby groaned to himself, closing his eyes and getting comfortable in bed. No, this is not the time to think. I just need to sleep.

As Colby felt himself relax into sleep, his dreams that followed were confusing and dark. Nothing made sense, but all he knew was that he was in a panic.

Colby jolted awake suddenly. He could tell by the way the sun was peeking through his windows that it was later. He opened his phone. 1:34 P.M.

He sighed deeply. Colby was used to waking up on his days off this late. Everything already felt better.

Did I dream all of that? Or was that prank real?

As he slid out of bed to the bathroom, he decided to check twitter. If that was all real, maybe Sam had mentioned the prank to the fans.

Colby opened twitter and nothing seemed out of the usual. He looked at Sam's account, and noticed it was not following him anymore.

He's being extremely thorough, isn't he?

As he went to switch over to the Sam and Colby account, he noticed the icon wasn't there. His fingers twitched as he typed 'sam and colby' into the search bar. Everything but that account showed up. 'Sam and Colby' twitter didn't exist.

A nauseous feeling rolled through Colby's body. Colby went to his profile, looking through the people he followed, not even noticing the significant lack of followers he had. He knew he followed a couple fans, maybe they knew what was up. As he scrolled through, he noticed the usernames were different.

He knew a bunch of fans off-hand. A lot of fan accounts always stuck out to him; and it was easy to remember the username, especially if it was named after him.

But nobody's username was.

He saw a lot of 'Golbach', but no 'Brock' or even 'Golbrock', which he always thought was cute. Not a single username was related to him anymore.

Alright, that's enough.

He angrily clicked on his contacts, needing to call Sam and tell him to call off this prank. It was no longer funny and honestly, he didn't even want to be a part of it anymore. Most pranks he was fine with, but this one was going too far for him.

Colby gasped as he stared at his contacts, dropping his phone like it electrocuted him.

All his friends were missing from his contacts. The only people in his phone were his family, and that was it.

Colby began to hyperventilate, unable to stop the panic that surged through his body. He bore at himself in the mirror, staring at his stress-ridden face. He gripped the counter of his sink, trying to calm himself down.

If he couldn't turn to Sam, who could he turn to?

He picked his phone back up, leaning against his counter as he called his mom. He just needed to know that someone remembered him.

“Hello?” His mother’s voice sang through the phone.

Colby breathed, slightly relaxing against the counter. “Hey Mom, how are you?”

“Hi Cole-baby. I'm doing okay. How are you?” She asked sweetly.

Colby pouted. “Um, I'm feeling a bit... off, to say the least.”

“Oh no, what's wrong?” She responded.

“I know this is gonna sound like a weird question, but do you remember my friend Sam?” Colby questioned, tapping his hand against the counter.

She hummed, guessing. “Sam? Sam... Johnson?”

“What? No. I never knew a Sam Johnson.” Colby rolled his eyes, frustrated, “I mean Sam Golbach. Sam Golbach. Do you remember him?”

“No... should I?” She admitted.

His heart dropped at her words. “Yeah, you should. He's my best friend. We were friends all through high school. We started a literal career together, he's basically your third son at this point.”

“Woah, honey. What are you talking about?” She puzzled.

“You don't remember Sam? He's the whole reason I moved out here, Mom.” He urged, needing his mother to remember.

She paused, then spoke. “Colby, you moved out to LA alone. Last month.”

“What?” He choked.

“You worked all through high school and college and saved up money and just recently moved out there.” She informed.

His eyes widened. “Mom, I've lived in LA for almost five years now.”

Also... college?

“Maybe it feels like five years, but honey, you only moved out a month ago at max.” His mom’s voice softened, lowering slightly. “Are you okay?”

“No momma, apparently not.” He sighed, “Who was I friends with in high school if I wasn’t friends with Sam?”

“Honey, you didn’t have any… or none that you ever brought home.” She mentioned.

Colby queried. “And college?”

“You didn’t really talk about anyone. You were very focused on your schoolwork.” She explained.

That literally doesn’t sound like me at all. I couldn’t even pass math without Sam.

Colby glanced down at his tattoos for a second, pursing his lips. “Another quick question, I was allowed to live in our house with dyed hair, tattoos, and pierced ears?”

She gasped. “Wait what? You got a tattoo?!”

“Mom, I have like five.” Colby deadpanned.

“When did you find the time to get them?!” She hushed, “Cole, you know how I feel about tattoos.”

Colby grew tired. “So, you've never heard of a Sam Golbach before?”

“No, absolutely not. But don't try to change the subject on me, Cole Robert.” She scolded.

He huffed. “I'll talk to you later, momma.”

She sputtered. “What? Don't you-”

Colby clicked ‘End Call’, lowering his head to the counter, taking in a deep breath and holding it.

“What the fuck is happening right now?” He demanded out loud.

Colby jumped up, going to his closet and slipping on some clothes quickly. The only thing he knew for certain is that something wasn't right, and he needed to get out of his apartment and go somewhere else. Anywhere else.

He grabbed his keys and rushed down to the parking lot, getting into his car quickly and driving off.

He drove for a while, finally pulling into another parking lot and turning off his car. He needed to get something to eat, and then maybe he could figure things out. He glanced around and noticed the parking lot he was in was for a diner named Meyer's. He locked his car as he left, swinging the diner's door open hastily. The diner wasn't packed, but it wasn't empty either. A nice lull of conversations droned on as he sat down at the furthest booth, cracking his knuckles nervously.

He picked up the menu that was already at the table, staring at the front of it. He didn't even realize a waitress had walked up next to him.

"...Are you okay?" The soft voice said, breaking him out of his thoughts.

Colby stared up at the waitress, noticing her eyes first. They were captivating and beautiful, much like herself. Her hair shined brightly in the sun that basked through the window. Her smile was wonderful to see after a day of unpleasant looks.

He stuttered. “What? Uh-I. Yeah, no, I'm fine.”

She giggled. “Okay. Can I get you something to drink?”

“Um, a water. No, a soda. Please.” Colby muttered.

“Alright. Coming right up.” She nodded.

Colby stared at the menu again, gazing over the pictures of sandwiches and wraps. He wasn't really hungry, but he felt like he should just eat something, even if it was just to pass the time.

The waitress came back over with his soda, placing it lightly down in front of him. “Are you ready to order?”

“No, not yet.” Colby answered, not looking up from the menu.

“Okay, I'll be right back.” She started to walk away, then stopped and turned back. “Are you okay? I know I already asked you that but... you look really upset.”

Colby’s shoulders slumped as he gazed up at her. “I-I... don't even know how to explain it.”

“Why? Is it complicated?” She guessed.

“You could say that,” Colby glared down at the menu. “It just doesn't make any sense. It sounds fake, to be honest.”

“Well, you can tell me. I won't judge.” She smiled.

I might as well tell somebody...

“Everyone's... forgotten about me?” Even Colby was confused at his words.

“What do you mean? Like they're ignoring you?” She questioned, her hand resting on her hip.

“No. Like they literally forgot I exist. Or, I somehow don't exist in their lives anymore, when yesterday I did.” He confessed.

She shrugged. “Well, maybe they're trying to ignore you instead of talking things out.”

“No, I don't think you understand. I don't exist to them. They don't know me. Like, at all,” Colby corrected. “My best friend, my brother, the fucking dude I got arrested with, doesn't know who I am.”

“Wait, you've been arrested?” She raised an eyebrow.

“It was just breaking and entering. And having fake IDs,” He commented. “But that's not the point, the point is no one remembers me, but I remember them.”

The waitress stood there silently, awkwardly.

“I don't know what to say.” She whispered.

He gulped. “I don't know either. But if you have a solution, I'd gladly hear it.”

“Maybe it's a prank?” She speculated.

“I thought about that too. But if it is, this is extremely elaborate. And borderline impossible.” Colby disclosed.

She argued nonchalantly. “People do crazy things for social media.”

“Yeah, but even my friends wouldn't take it this far for just a dumb video.” He complained.

“Are your friends famous?” She inquired.

“I wouldn't say that. My best friend is Sam Golbach.” Colby revealed.

“Sam Golbach? Why have I heard that name before?” She asked quietly.

“He's got a lot of followers. He’s a Youtuber.” He pointed out.

“Wait, you're Sam's best friend?” Her eyes widened.

“Yeah?” He cocked his head to the side.

She gasped. “Oh! You're Colby Brock!”

“I'm what?” He stammered.

“You're Colby, right?” She doubted for a second, “Or did I get that wrong?”

Colby jumped up out of his seat. “Oh my God, you know who I am! Wait, how do you know?”

“My one friend is a huge fan of you and Sam. She showed me you guys like a month ago.” She paused for a second, smirking. “She's actually really into you... Maybe I should call her.”

“Please do. I need to know if she knows who I am.” Colby pleaded, sitting back down.

The waitress followed him, sitting across from Colby. “Of course she does, she literally has you set as her wallpaper.”

She pulled out her phone, glancing around to make sure no one was watching her. She clicked on a contact, putting the phone on the table and clicking ‘Speaker’.

“Hello?” A voice broke in through the phone.

She grinned, staring up at Colby. “Hey Sara, you need to come down to the diner real quick.”

“What why?” Sara questioned.

“Colby Brock is here.” She announced.

Sara remarked. “...Who?”

“Colby Brock, the guy you're in love with.” She repeated.

“I have no idea who you're talking about. I've never heard that name before.” Sara denied.

“He's Sam Golbach's friend.” The waitress described.

Sara exclaimed. “Oh my God, is Sam there?! Because I’ll-”

She interjected. “No, he’s not.”

“Oh... then I don't want to come.” Sara recalled, “I've never heard Sam talk about a guy named Colby before.”

Colby swallowed the lump in his throat, his eyes falling off of the waitress’.

She fretted. “Okay then. I'll talk to you later.”

“Alright, bye.” Sara ended, hanging up the phone.

After a moment of silence, the waitress stated, “I'm sorry about that.”

“What's there to be sorry about?” Colby quavered.

The waitress scoffed suddenly. “Is this some kinda joke?”

“What?” He queried.

“Are you pulling a prank on me? Was Sara in on it? Because I’ll kill her if she met you and didn’t tell me.” She jeered jokingly.

Colby shook his head, deadpanning. “I haven’t met Sara, and I’m not pranking you.”

“How can I know if you’re lying or not?” She questioned, squinting her eyes.

“Google my name. Search me on any social media,” Colby suggested. “I don’t exist.”

“Okay…” She agreed.

The waitress quickly typed in his name into Google, coming up with no images that looked like him. None of his social media links came up either.

She gazed up at him slowly. “This is really weird.”

“You’re telling me.” Colby uttered, “No one remembers me.”

She blurted. “But I do.”

“Yeah… why is that?” He inquired.

“I-I don’t know.” She sputtered, confused. Then she jolted up from her seat instantly. “I-um, gotta go help out my other tables. Do you need me to give you some time to look over the menu?”

“Yes…” He continued, “But one other thing.”

“Sure.” She leaned in, her hands resting on the tabletop.

“Can you help me? Please?” Colby begged, lightly grabbing her hand.

She silently gasped, whispering, “How?”

“I don’t know. But I think you’re the only one that can.” Colby divulged.

The waitress stuttered, but no words fell from her lips.

He exhaled, staring into her eyes. “So, will you?”

| >>

[goldenhemmings]

The Unforgettable Inning - A Stealing Second Extra | Baseball!Shawn

This is easily the quickest I’ve ever cranked out one of these extras; got the request today, knocked it out today. Don’t know what came over me. I’d recommend watching this before you read, it’ll help you understand the context of why the game referenced in the piece was so important. It was an elimination playoff game, it was being stolen from Toronto by horrible calls, and the fans were so on edge to the point where they were throwing things onto the field in protest. Then, Bautista. His home run released all the tension in every fan in the stadium. It was absolutely electrifying, and resulted in the most iconic bat flip of all time. One of the best moments in Blue Jays history. Anyways, here’s 1.9k words of Y/N trying to make Shawn feel better about baseball season being postponed. Enjoy!!

Baseball season should be a month in by now. 

You and Shawn both knew it, and the two of you were slowly starting to go crazy. It wasn’t that you didn’t understand why the season had to be postponed, because you did. There were more important things right now than sports. But baseball was your entire life, and to say you and Shawn were going stir-crazy stuck inside the apartment with nothing to do all day was a massive understatement. 

While you were upset yourself, you felt worse for Shawn. You, at least, still had a bit of work to do on a daily basis for your position with the team, but without a season, Shawn and the other players had nothing. He was trying to act like he was coping well, but you knew him too closely to believe him when he said he was doing fine. 

He’d thrown himself into training, trying to maintain his baseball-season form so he’d be ready as soon as the league said it was able to resume play. The gym in your apartment complex wasn’t anything like the one he had access to at the stadium, but it was better than nothing, and he was taking advantage of what he had available.

With the extra time you now had on your hands, you wanted to do something for Shawn that would take his mind away from the stress of feeling trapped, which you knew he did. You had a plan in place, but you were waiting for him to leave to put it into action.

As you sat cross-legged on the couch, your computer in your lap, you watched Shawn come out of your bedroom dressed to workout and clutching a water bottle.

You looked up from your laptop, trying to remain nonchalant. “Have a good workout,” you said, and he leaned over to quickly kiss your forehead. 

“Thanks, honey. I’ll be back in time for dinner.”

As soon as you heard the front door swing shut behind him, you closed your laptop and tossed it to the side. You knew his workout wouldn’t be more than an hour, so you had to move quickly. 

The first thing you did was call in a pizza, one half with everything but the kitchen sink on it for Shawn, because you knew he’d want the calories after a workout, and the other side plain cheese for you. 

You then moved into your room and dragged the comforter off of your bed, doubling back to grab as many pillows and extra blankets as you could hold in your arms. You tossed it all down on the couch before pushing the coffee table sideways and out of the way to the side of the room. 

You laid the blankets and comforter out on the floor in front of the couch until it made a comfortable enough cushion, arranging the pillows into a pile to rest against the bottom of the couch until you were satisfied with the way it looked.

When the pizza came you set the box on the coffee table, stacking two plates on top of it in preparation, then leaned over to plug in the fairy lights you’d finally convinced Shawn to let you put up in that corner of the apartment and dimmed the rest of the lights.

Once everything was set up to your satisfaction, you grabbed the remote to the TV and tapped it against your chin as you tried to decide what to watch, but you quickly got an idea that was better than any movie could’ve been. You switched over to YouTube, knowing exactly what to type in.

2015 ALDS Game 5 - Rangers vs. Blue Jays. You just about cried with happiness when you found the full game on YouTube. It was perfect. 

It wasn’t long after you had everything ready that you heard Shawn’s key jiggling the lock on the door. Your head snapped up from where it was bowed over your computer in the same position you’d been in when he left, and as soon as he came through the door you could make out a furrow in his brow through the now-dimmed lighting of the apartment. 

“What’s all this?” he asked, a smile grabbing at his lips even though he was clearly confused. He set his keys down on the table in the foyer, making his way over to you.

“Well,” you started, unable to keep yourself from grinning back at him, “I know you’ve been going crazy without baseball, and I have been, too, so I thought we could hang out and watch an old game or something.”

“Which one?”

“Hm,” you sighed, trying to think of a clue that wouldn’t give it away too easily. “It’s a good one, but I’m gonna make you guess it.”

He laughed. “Try me.”

“One of the most iconic Blue Jays games in this decade.”

“So it’s not from either of the World Series’ then,” he mused, “because that was the 90s.” You nodded, prompting him to continue. 

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “Can I get one more hint?”

You made a show of rolling your eyes. “Fine,” you sighed out playfully. “I really expected more from you, though.”

“Shut up,” he laughed. 

“Okay. The unforgettable inning.”

“2015?” he guessed immediately, and you smiled. 

“Warmer.”

“ALDS game 5. Too easy.”

“Good job,” you teased. “I found the whole game online. I thought it’d be fun for us to watch it. I got pizza, too.”

He stared back at you with a small smile, and his silence elicited a nervous laugh from you. “What? Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“This is just really thoughtful of you,” he said, leaning in to kiss you.

But you pressed a finger to his chest to keep him at a distance, to which he frowned. “What?”

“Shower first,” you teased. “You look like you just crawled out of a swamp.”

“You’re really lucky that you just did all this nice stuff for me, because otherwise I’d chase you around until you were covered in sweat like this, too, just for that comment.”

“Well that would be pointless anyways, because girls don’t sweat.”

“I hate you,” he laughed, but he allowed you to shove him off in the direction of the bathroom. 

“Make it quick,” you called after him. “I’m bored already!”

After about 15 minutes he came back out, his hair damp and a pair of black athletic shorts hanging low on his hips. 

“Do you want to get me a glass of wine before you sit down?” you asked, batting your eyes at him.

“No,” he said, but he went into the kitchen to get it anyway. 

“I love you,” you called out jokingly, and you could visualize the way his eyes were rolling.

“I love me, too,” he said back. You just laughed. Such a shithead.

He came back over and handed you your wine glass, stepping over you to grab the box of pizza, the plates disregarded. 

“Plates!” you whined, but Shawn didn’t care.

“Just don’t make a mess,” he answered matter-of-factly. “I don’t want to do dishes.”

“You mean you don’t want to sit on your ass while I do dishes?” you jabbed, but he wasn’t bothered because he knew it was an exaggeration. 

“Yeah, exactly,” he answered sarcastically. “Get a piece so we can start the game.”

As soon as the 6th inning had ended, you felt a chill go down your back in anticipation of the excitement that was about to come.

“What?” Shawn asked, his chest shaking with a slight laugh. You were halfway lying on him, so he’d surely felt you shake. 

You giggled. “I got the shivers. The 7th inning gives me goosebumps.”

“It hasn’t even started yet,” he teased, jabbing a finger into your side to make you jump.

“But I know what happens!” you laughed. You grabbed his forearm so he couldn’t poke at you anymore, which ended in a power struggle to see who could grab hold of whose wrists longer.

“If you make me miss a single pitch of this inning I will make you sleep on the couch tonight,” you threatened, but it didn’t sound very menacing when you were forcing the sentence out through giggles.

He sighed. “Fine.”

You sat up and scooted out of his reach as soon as he took his hands off of you, and you could instantly feel his eyes burning a hole in the side of your head. “What the hell was that?”

“I don’t trust you!” you laughed. “I wanna actually watch this.”

“Truce,” he replied, holding his arms up in surrender. “I promise. Just come back.”

“So needy,” you teased, but you crawled back over to lie down on him again anyways.

When Bautista came up to bat after Toronto had tied it 3-3, you sat up and leaned slightly forward; you could not lie down and relax when you knew what was going to happen, especially considering the fact that you were already pretty fired up from the inning’s happenings thus far. 

“Here it comes,” Shawn said.

“No, it’s the pitch after this one,” you replied, negating him without tearing your focus away from the screen.

“I thought it was on the 0-1 pitch?”

“Nope. It’s the 1-1. Just watch.”

“But I--” Shawn started, but was cut off when the second pitch of the at-bat came in as a ball. 

“Told you,” you bragged triumphantly. “It’s this pitch.”

Shawn sat up with you, both of you waiting intently. As soon as Bautista sent the ball flying into left field and flipped his bat, you yelled like it was your first time seeing the hit. The cameras were shaking from how loud it was in the Rogers Centre, all the tension the fans had been feeling released with one crack of the bat. Your cheering turned into a jittery, excited laughter you couldn’t control as Bautista rounded third, and Shawn quickly joined in.

“‘You can only play with fire for so long, and it’s gonna burn ya,’” you giggled, quoting the announcer. You’d seen the play so many times you had the commentary memorized by now. “I fucking love baseball.”

“Maybe I should flip my bat like that the next time I hit a home run.”

“You couldn’t pull it off,” you retorted. 

Shawn sighed. “Yeah, I know. Bautista is way cooler than me.”

You laughed, crawling back on top of him. “Plus it was the playoffs, which makes it even better. Easily the most iconic bat flip of all time.”

“Easily,” he echoed, beginning to calm down from the hype of the hit. “I miss it so much.”

You sighed, grabbing his hand and squeezing it lightly. “I know. But this is the best we can do right now.”

“Thank you for doing this, honey,” he said softly. “You’re the best.”

“I know,” you sassed. He swatted at you playfully. “There are plenty of classic games on the MLB YouTube channel so we can watch more whenever you want. You know I’m down for that.”

“I know you are,” he replied. “Because my girlfriend loves baseball more than the average baseball player.”

You laughed. “That’s not true, but I’ll take it.”

“Mmm, I think it’s pretty true.”

“Whatever you say, rookie,” you breathed out, burying your head in the crook of his neck. He instinctively wrapped an arm around your shoulder. “Now let me finish watching this game.”

Thank you for reading!! Feedback makes me very happy.

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[nitannichionne]

Leading Lady, Chapter 9: Meeting of the Minds (A Henry Cavill Cast Fic)

Chapter 9: Meeting of the Minds (Shane POV)

I woke up in my room a bit disoriented at first. I could smell citrus. I laid in sheets no rental should have in a bed that I could veg in all day. Then it all came back to me. I met Kit. I am at her house. Kit had plugged in the small burner on a timer so I could wake up with a refreshing scent. She was a big believer in them. I knew that from texts, but now I knew from experience, and I was thrilled.

Kianna? Kiki? Kendra? History. After hearing her real name was a blend of her grandmothers' names Kitty and Tara, I was done with Kiki, I was done with Kendra for sure because that was her pseudonym, and I knew her now. Never again.

I had basically spent the night with Kitara, or as I was going to call her, Kit. We discussed her books at length, and she was amazed at how much I caught in symbolism and analogies, imagery. She didn't realize it till last night, but I was a genuine fan-no, admirer. We talked about movies and TV I'd done in Britain, and I was surprised at how much she caught on BBC. She talked about her favorites which I'd done, and she described what scenes made her feel something, how she envisioned me playing some of these characters I'd done covers for. We actual came up with concepts and backstories, which I found she truly enjoyed. As the night wore on, we were getting closer, filling in blanks, but I could tell there were some things she didn't discuss. Her scars were one. There was still some sort of pain there. Even that little mongrel Zeus eased up as we surfed channels and watched a movie or two. We fell asleep on the couch and were awakened by something we didn’t pick on YouTube. That was when we said good night, going to our rooms. I laid there, staring at the ceiling, wondering if she was awake and thinking of me because I was definitely thinking of her.

I swung my legs over the side, and patted the bed. It was better than a hotel, that's for sure. The sheets were soft, the comforter light but warm, and the smell of citrus gently woke me before my phone and watch went off. I wandered down the hall to her room and knocked on the door. "Kit?"

"Uh, yeah, come in!"

I walked in and inhaled a completely different scent, and heard Zeus growling. Kitara snapped her fingers and he stopped. She woke up to eucalyptus and mint but there was something else. That scent was fading, and in its place was something very exotic. Even her room looked that in a way.

      My room was modern masculine compared to hers. She was sitting up, dressed in a lilac satin gown that was sadly covered by a kimono that looked authentic. She had a bed desk across her legs and her glasses were on the tip of her nose, evidence she was really onto something. She told me in a text that sometimes she is so into a scene that she may not push her glasses up even if they slide down her nose. My eyes fell to her chest, which was rising and falling a bit quickly. Had I startled her? Or was she just looking at me barefoot and bare chested in nothing but sleep shorts? "Good morning."

"Good morning," she smiled. She moved the bed desk and began to scoot to the edge of the bed. "You must be hungry--"

"I really need to hit that home gym first, if you don't mind."

"Oh--" Her eyes traveled from my face to my toes and snapped back up. "Alright."

"Wanna come with?"

"No, not today," she said with a smile. "Today is dancercise rehearsals."

"Dancercise?" I repeated. "Oh, I'm going to that."

Her eyes widened in alarm, much to my amusement. It was as if she'd said something I wasn't supposed to know. "You probably have other things to do--"

"Oh, I think I can make time," I said with a nod, barely concealing my laughter. "I've never seen that before, it might be fun to watch."

"Uh, okay..." She blinked.

I was starting to realize that she blinked when she was figuring things out, or trying to. She might be doing alot of that later, and it concerned me. Girl was a bit high strung. Hmm... "Well, I'll keep it short today. We've got a meeting, you know."

She nodded in agreement, her mouth forming into a grim line. She clearly wasn't looking forward to it.

"Hey." I watched her look up at me, no longer lost in her own thoughts. "We are going in there together. We'll be alright."

She gave a smile of thanks, and I reassured her with a nod, leaving her alone. I went down to work out, and stopped when I heard food cooking and the smell of last night's leftover steaks. Steak and eggs. Heavy stuff, but I was on vacation as far as I was concerned. There was no job to get ready for yet, so a little indulgence didn't hurt. I got half an hour in and ate breakfast with her. That was when she confided that she usually had coffee in bed and then went about her day. In fact, she warned against any talk or interaction before that. I laughed at her, but she was being sincere. I wasn't surprised at that. She had said enough online about coffee being her friend.

Aw, sorry, guys, another build up chapter. Gotta do it sometimes, but I PROMISE, things will smolder like his eyes from here on...forgiven? God, I hope so!

@mistress-of-ward​ @summersong69​ @griscka75​ @kebabgirl67​

[rideonwings]

The Enevitable Cliche Quarantine Story

Chapter 2

Pairing: Hiccup/Astrid

Summary: Stranger-Neighbors lean on each other during the quarantine

A/N: See, I told you all, I never start posting WIPs because I feel too guilty when I don't update them. Now here I am, weeks later, feeling like I've left you all hanging. This one is short and sweet, but hopefully worth it? Hoping everyone is staying safe and healthy out there.

AO3 Link 

Astrid: “Okay, guys, only 30 more seconds, keep those hips up! 30 seconds is nothing, then you’re done for the day!”

Astrid felt silly, talking to her phone camera like it was a crowd of people, but this was currently her source of income, so she was willing to be as enthusiastic as she possibly could.

“Okay, time! Great work everyone, go ahead and come down to your stomach, then shoulders back, stretch out those abs in a cobra.”

As she finished up the stretch routine, Stormfly took the opportune moment to come to rest under her chest. Astrid laughed, turning her head to rest her head against the cat’s soft fur.

“Thank you to everyone who participated today, thank you for taking the time for yourself, be safe, wash your hands, and stay sane! See you tomorrow!”

She reached over to stop the video, Stormfly protesting beneath her as she shifted on top of her. She then collected her yoga mat and weights and stacked them back in the corner of her apartment, wiping her brow as she went.

Settling on the couch, Astrid started reviewing the video. The lighting in her apartment wasn’t great, making the video shadowy and not particularly detailed. She’d have to figure out a better location for the future, because unfortunately, she needed as many people as possible to watch her videos, lest the gym decided she wasn’t worth keeping on the payroll. Still, she made some quick edits and posted it to the gym’s YouTube channel and Facebook page with a peppy message she wasn’t really feeling.

She was already sick of her apartment. When Astrid had decided to live here, she hadn’t been particularly picky, seeing as she normally spent a significant portion of her day outside its walls. Now, every flaw and inconvenience was right in front of her constantly, and she was over it. She had heard Hiccup leave the apartment this morning, presumably to walk Toothless, and was instantly jealous that she couldn’t join them. She vowed to go for a run later, to break up the monotony.

Grabbing herself a mug of tea and one of her books for her thesis, she found her way back out onto the balcony. Hiccup wasn’t out in his area, which she was surprisingly disappointed about: she’d enjoyed their chat yesterday. Still, she didn’t spend too much time on it, instead copying her position from yesterday with her legs pulled into her sweatshirt and delving into her book. She made notes along the margins and nocked pages as she read, finding key quotes she could later incorporate in her writing.

It was cloudier today than the day before, and the breeze was making her slightly uncomfortable. She was about to give up and head inside when the sliding door to her right opened and a messy head of hair poked out. He turned to look at her and smiled, the tiny gap in his teeth clearly visible even from this distance. Toothless slipped out between his legs and darted towards the railing to say hello to her.

“Hey!” He said exuberantly. “I was just checking to see if it was warm enough to bring my stuff out here to work. Are you cold?”

Astrid curled her legs in closer to herself, putting her mug on the ground. “Yeah, it’s not as nice as yesterday. I was thinking about going in.”

Just then, a particularly harsh gust of wind whipped through, making her shiver. She rose from the chair and began to collect her things as Hiccup winced, closing the door a bit to prevent air from getting into his apartment. “Yeah, probably a good call for now. I might come out later for a drink, if you'd want to join me?” He sounded oddly hopeful, which tugged at Astrid’s heart.

She hugged her book closer to her chest and nodded, smiling a little. Hiccup’s smile widened and he waved slightly before ducking back inside, whistling for Toothless. Astrid ducked her head and suppressed a chuckle as she made her way back inside, settling on the couch with her book.

Hiccup As he got up for the umpteenth time to stretch, Hiccup cursed his furniture choices for the hundredth time in two days. The chair he had at his desk was not exactly conducive to good posture, and his back was aching from being hunched over his monitors. As lucky as he was to have this kind of office setup in his apartment, he’d never really had to use it long term and had picked a fairly cheap office chair from a local big box store. It hadn’t seemed like a big deal at the time, but he was regretting that choice now. He felt like he had to get up every twenty minutes and shake out some kink in his back or hips.

Every time he stood up, Toothless jumped up too, following him around the apartment, obviously hoping they were going for another walk.

“Sorry, buddy, not yet,” he murmured, running his hand over the dog’s silky ears. “Give me another hour and we’ll go out.” He stretched his arms over his head, releasing the knots in his shoulders and neck. The motion twinged something lower in his back, making him sigh in frustration. Finally, he flopped onto the floor, laying flat on his back and straightening out as much as he could to align his spine.

He stared at the ceiling for a few moments before Toothless’ head appeared in his vision, obviously perplexed at why his owner was copying his signature nap position. The dog sniffed around his hairline, checking for signs of distress, before he began to lap at Hiccup’s cheeks with his tongue, making Hiccup squawk in distress and curl into the fetal position.

Toothless barked excitedly, thinking they were playing a game, and pawed at Hiccup’s back to get him to re-engage.

“Toothless, no!” Hiccup cried, swatting his arms blindly to shoo the dog away.

After a few minutes, Toothless fell into his play position, forelegs flat on the ground and rear in the air, tail whipping almost dangerously as his human rolled over to glare at him. Hiccup’s face was sticky and smelly, but he couldn’t hold a grudge against his buddy for long. He reached out with both arms and tackled the dog, pulling him against his chest and rolling around as Toothless yipped in excitement. Their tussle didn’t last long before they were both flat on the rug, both of their mouths open wide in humor.

Suddenly, Toothless’ ears perked and he jumped up and darted to the sliding door to the balcony. He’d started doing that whenever Astrid opened the door, looking to greet his new friend. The habit made Hiccup smile for more reasons than one.

Honestly, since the quarantine had started (had it only been a few days?), he’d come to realize how much of his social life had depended on his job. He had very few friends outside of work, and though he felt somewhat isolated in his apartment, he couldn’t think of anyone he really wanted to talk to. He chatted with Fishlegs while he was working, and exchanged a few messages with a few other friends, but he always struggled to come up with new topics.

But he really liked talking to Astrid. Their conversations hadn’t exactly been in-depth or long, but she seemed quick and funny and he needed that kind of conversation in his life right now.

He walked over to the balcony window, trying to get a glimpse of the blonde. From what he could see, she was wearing heavy leggings and a zip-up hoodie, and her cheeks were flushed as she leaned over the balcony railing. He slid the door open and poked his head out.

“Hey,” he greeted lamely. As she turned to look at him, he saw the glistening of sweat on her brow and noticed the shirt under her quarter zip was dark along the neckline. “Go for a run?” He asked.

Astrid nodded, still slightly out of breath. “It felt so good to be outside,” she said, popping one of her legs onto the railing to stretch. “I wanted to keep going forever.”

Hiccup’s eyes widened a little as he took in her long, toned legs in her running shorts, but forced himself to meet her gaze again and relax his expression. “I know the feeling. Those walks with Toothless are never long enough.”

“Still working?” She asked, gesturing to his open sliding door as she switched legs. He nodded, shrugging a little.

“Toothless keeps bugging me to go outside” he said, suddenly remembering that he was just nearly licked to death by the lab and he probably looked like it too. He absently ran his hands through his hair, finding it still wet.

“Oh, I could’ve taken him! I didn’t even think to ask!” Astrid said, bringing her leg down and settling into a crouch by the railing closest to Hiccup’s balcony. Toothless shoved his head through the bars as far as he could reach, forcing his eyes closed comically.

“That’s nice of you,” Hiccup replied, smiling down at the dog. “I’m going to go in an hour though, so he’s fine. Maybe some other time if I get caught up in conference call hell.”

Astrid nodded, picking up a water bottle from her chair and taking a drink. “I’m going to take a shower. Can I bug you later for dinner ideas?” She asked, smiling cheekily.

“Sure thing,” Hiccup said, feeling his cheeks flush slightly. Interacting with Astrid made him feel a little bit like a schoolboy with a crush. She was definitely more attractive than any girl he’d ever been with, and seemed friendly and sane enough. He could definitely see himself being friends with her, and then… who knew?

As she turned to re-enter her apartment, she smiled over her shoulder at him.

Hiccup smiled weakly back, turning to go back inside himself. He paused with his hand on the handle, half looking back in her direction, smiling to himself a little more confidently, even as his stomach flipped.

Who knew?

[its-pronounced-quoassoint]

Power Rangers AU-Chapter 9

Pairings: romantic Logicality, Prinxiety, Demus, Remile

This Chapter features: Roman centric, brief coming out story, again another ‘filler episode’, sorry

This Chapter Warnings: swearing, talks of passive aggressive homophobia and transphobia from another character, talks of therapy and seeing a therapist, mentioned first kiss, food and eating, sympathetic dark sides

Credit for this AU goes to @when-day-met-the-knight (specifically this post).

If you would like to be added to the taglist for this fic please let me know in reply!

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Chapter 9-Faith

Roman would always remember his first homecoming. Logan had been his closest friend since the fifth grade, but in the few months leading up to Homecoming he had been pulling away. Roman didn't know why at the time but he was determined to get their friendship back to how it used to be by asking him to homecoming. Roman remembered it all so vividly. Logan wearing a long-sleeve pale blue dress and ankle boots. Roman wearing his favorite dress shirt and pants. The two arrived at the dance, went into the full gym, and listened to one song. Then Logan ran.

Roman was so shocked he couldn't move. He just watched Logan go. Roman looked around, worried that people could see him all alone. Then he ran after Logan, scolding himself for even thinking about other people's thoughts before Logan. He was terrified. Why had Logan been so distant? What had Roman done wrong? He thought this dance would help, but now it seemed to have backfired so bad he might lose his best friend.

When Logan returned to Roman's worried side, he was with Patton Valentine, a sweet boy who Roman had subscribed to on YouTube months back. The most surprising sight however, was that Logan and Patton, who were roughly the same size, had switched clothes. When Roman asked about the outfit swap Logan simply smiled and asked Roman to join him outside, saying a quiet goodbye to Patton. That was the night Logan had come out to Roman as trans. Then it became the night Roman came out to Logan as gay. Then the night Logan also came out as gay. Then the night they both talked about crushes without it being as awkward as before. Finally, the night they both shared a bag of microwave popcorn with Remus while they sat in the twins' treehouse and watched Star Wars Clone Wars on a portable DVD player.

Roman also knew that he would never forget his second Homecoming. Logan had decided not to go, and Roman figured he wouldn't push it. Roman actually had a boyfriend named Breyden at the time so he went with him. Roman had a good time and at first it didn't seem like that night would be all too magical. Until Breyden kissed Roman. Roman's first kiss. At a school dance, with a cute guy, and during the song 'Die Young' by Ke$ha. Roman's and Breyden's relationship lasted only a few months after that, but it wasn't a bad breakup. Roman still considered Breyden a friend and life went on.

Junior year Homecoming was the first school dance Roman didn't attend. Homecoming was mainly for the Freshmen and Sophomores, besides Roman was busy preparing for his first lead role in a musical.

Now, as a senior, Roman was spending his Homecoming night sneaking Logan into his car and driving with him and Remus to Thomas's for impromptu therapy. The three arrived at Thomas's fairly quickly, but not without Logan complaining that Roman didn't have to pick him up.

Patton was already there when they entered. He sat on the couch looking down the hallway toward's Emile and Thomas's rooms. Thomas was in the kitchen making something that was sizzling, and humming along to Wicked.

"Hey, Pat." Roman greeted him.

"Heya kiddos!" Patton smiled cheerily back.

"Whatcha makin' back there Thomathy?" Remus asked, plopping himself down practically on top of Patton and pulling out his phone.

"Quesadillas." He replied.

"Oh that sounds good." Roman said.

"Smells good too!" Remus shouted distractedly. "So is Dee here yet?"

"No, sorry." Patton shrugged.

"Hmm." Remus only looked at his phone more intently.

"What are you two?" Logan asked, taking his place next to Patton as well, though farther away that Remus was.

"What?" Remus asked, an eyebrow raised.

"You and Dee. I'm confused by the manner of your relationship." Logan began.

"We're friends. I think. Most of the time. Maybe." Remus said with a sideways glance.

"I assume you know that answer made no sense whatsoever." Logan leaned forward to look at the other boy.

Remus huffed and put his phone down. "Look, I've told him how I feel about him and he just ignored it. He wants to stay, whatever we are, and that's fine with me."

"That's bull crap Remus and you know it." Roman stated.

"Well, it's not my call Roman." Remus retorted. "I'm not gonna force him. Besides, even if he wanted to date me-"

"I'm still not convinced you two aren't dating now." Logan leaned back.

"-I wouldn't go out with him. He's still friends with Kayley and I personally want to rip out each fake eye lash and injection on her stupid face." Remus growled.

"Wow." Logan pursed his lips.

"Oh I can't stop picturing it." Roman groaned.

"How sure are you that he doesn't want to go out with you?" Patton asked.

"Pretty sure. Like I said, he ignored me earlier. And more to the point he's friends with Kayley!! She disgusts me." Remus went back to his phone. "She always goes on about how much of an ally she is! She said the A in LGBTQIA was for ally. Like bitch, no!"

"Language." Thomas and Patton said at the same time.

"I think I'm allowed to call her a bitch." Remus sneered.

"I don't like her too much either Remus, but you still shouldn't call people that." Patton said.

"Why don't you like her?" Roman asked.

"Like Remus said she talks constantly about how much of an ally she is, but when Juleka came out as a lesbian, Kayley started saying just awful things and called her slurs." Patton stated. "She kept talking about how Juleka had a crush on her and how gross it was that she's gay."

"When I began my process of coming out she pretended to support me, but when it came to actually helping me with bullying or actual transitioning, she didn't do anything." Logan added.

"What? Why didn't you say anything?" Roman asked astonished.

"Well, it didn't matter, you enjoyed sitting at her lunch table, besides it really didn't bother me as much as it may seem." Logan dismissed.

"Well shit." Roman's voice cracked. "I can't believe I let her just get away with this."

"It's not your fault Roman, it's not your responsibility to police her for her actions." Logan stated.

"But I still could have noticed. Why do I even sit with her?" Roman ran a hand through his hair and knawed on his bottom lip. He knew what Logan was saying was true, but it still didn't sit well. He was supposed to be there for protect his friends when they needed and he had let this girl get away with hurting them for too long.

"Kayley only wants to sit next to you for clout you know." Remus interjeted.

"Well I'm not sitting with her any more." Roman scoffed.

"You can sit with me." Patton suggested. "Naomi thinks you're all very entertaining."

"What are you guys talking about?" Dee's voice asked from the door, shutting down the conversation immediately.

"Nothing." The four replied, looking in different directions.

"Okay then." Dee shrugged, not sounding totally convinced. He went over the the couch and sat down next Remus.

It was quiet, though not uncomfortably so. Roman perked up when he heard a door open and close down the hallway and Emile stepped into view.

"How's this?" Emile asked, walking down the hallway. He entered the livingroom and gave a small twirl.

"I like this one a lot more." Patton told him.

"Like what a lot more?" Logan asked.

"The outfit." Patton explained. "Emile's got a date to homecoming tonight!"

"Who ya going with?" Remus asked.

"My girlfriend, Sara." Emile responded.

Everyone seemed to be looking at Emile in some form of confusion on Roman spoke up.

"Oh my god for a second there I forgot straight people exist!" He laughed. The seniors all began laughing with him.

"Ha, ha." Emile crossed his arms. "And just so you know, I'm not straight. I just don't feel like labelling myself right now."

"You shouldn't be pressured to anyway." Logan stated.

"Thank you Logan." Emile nodded. "Now! Outfit thoughts?"

"I already said I liked it. Very cute." Patton remarked.

"I have no issues with the clothing." Logan said plainly.

Roman examined what he was wearing. A shell-white dress shirt, small pink bow-tie, and black pants. Simple, comfortable, adorable; Emile.

"Very dashing." Roman told him.

"Alright by my standards." Remus shrugged.

"You have no standards." Dee pointed out. "Very nice Emile."

"Great!" Emile sighed. "Alright, have fun with therapy tonight, I'm leaving."

A series of farewells were said to Emile as he left, and the Rangers went back to silence. Thomas finished making quesadillas and began handing them out. They munched while awaiting Renette's arrival. It didn't take too long, but Roman had watched Remus practically inhale his quesadilla and he didn't need anything more. When Renette knocked and opened the door she gestured for each of them to enter a car. Roman saw she was on the phone and looked particularaly exhausted.

Roman hurried his friends out the door and into cars before they could protest his choices in seating. Patton and Logan next to each other in the first one. Remus and Dee in the next. Finally, Roman and Thomas in the last one. Roman figured his matchmaking for the night was over and hopped in happily.

Renette got into the passenger seat of the last car and looked back to smile at Roman and Thomas.

"No! Listen to me, you listen to your mother." Renette continued, signaling for the driver to start the car.

The other cars started their engines and they pulled away.

"You know what I mean when I say listen to your mother. You're not going out tonight. I don't care that it's friday. If your mom said no and your dad said no then what makes you think I'm gonna say yes?!" Renette continued. "Oh don't you 'Ma' me Remington! You've been sick for a whole week, and you know that those kids do-"

She listened to what the other person was saying.

"Well I didn't know Emile was going to be there you should have led with that! Emile going is your most valid argument so far!" Renette pasued again. "No this doesn't mean you can go! One good argument from you doesn't change my mind. Besides, your mom and dad both said no, even if I wanted you to go I'm outnumbered! Nope, I'm sorry hun but I'm not risking it! You're sick and this is Florida, people don't exactly vaccinate down here. End of discussion."

Roman looked out the window trying to make it seem like he wasn't eaves dropping.

"Yes yes, love you goodnight." Renette hung up and sighed into her chair. "Roman, if you ever want kids meet my son, he'll change that real quick."

Thomas, the driver, and Renette laughed.

"Then again, you've met Emile so you probably think kids are just little angels." Renette added.

"Oh he's certainly not a little angel." Thomas rolled his eyes. "Emile may seem like it, but I've seen him sucker punch people a few times."

"Only cause you trained him to!" Renette laughed.

It fell into a lull of discussion between the adults after that. Roman pulled out his phone and began texting Logan. Until Patton took over to text using Logan's phone. When the cars stopped it was at a building a ways outside of town. The sun was going down earlier and earlier as winter drew closer, and currently the sky was just fading into a deep blue.

Roman, Thomas, and Renette stepped out of the car. The other Rangers followed quickly and together they all went inside. It was well lit and smelled of lemon scented cleaner. Renette led them past a few doors until reaching a counter with a woman sat in front of it.

"Hey Janica, how are ya?" Renette asked.

"I'm doing good Renette. They should all be ready for you boys." Janica replied, she handed Renette a piece of paper. "I need your signature here." She pointed to a line at the top. Renette signed and Janica took the paper back, then gave Renette another paper. "These are their assigned rooms."

"Thanks Janica." Renette smiled, taking the paper and moving to enter the door right of Janica's desk.

"Oh, best of wishes to you and your family Renette. There's a little something that a few people in the department put together for you. We heard about Remy and wanted ot help." Janica smiled.

"Thanks!" Renette smiled warmly, opening the door and walking in. "Okay boys, Roman you're room one. Logan room two, Dee room three, Remus room four, Patton room five, and Thomas you know where to go."

"Thanks Renette." Thomas nodded.

Roman looked to his right and saw a stretch of doors, marked one to fifteen. He walked all the way down with the others, each friend leaving him to head into their respective doors. Roman finally reached the door with a bronze 1 nailed to the front and inhaled. He put his hand on the doornob and twisted. He felt his stomach tighten but he didn't entirely know why.

"Roman?" A sweet voice inside asked.

"Yes." Roman nodded. He looked over to see a larger woman sitting casually in a chair. The room smelled like carmel scented candles.

"Come on in." She told him. "It's okay, whatever you're comfortable with. Want some tea, coffee, water?"

"Um, no, I'm good." Roman replied, taking a seat on the grey leather couch across from her.

"Okay. My name is Doctor Faith Hop, you can call me Faith." She smiled. "Are you ready to begin?"

---

It was Tuesday the next week when Renette showed up again.

"Hopefully you all set up a schedule to meet with your therapists weekly?" She asked.

The Rangers all nodded.

"Wonderful." Renette smiled. "Now, a couple things I need to get out of the way. One, I set up a meeting with a couple friends of mine, some higher-ups in foreign governments. It's very important that you meet and discuss with them next week. Two, I need to hear any and all strategies from this moment on. Especially now. That fiasco during the last attack cannot happen again. We need results. I'd hope you all have come up with some idea as to how you can get any closer to defeating Virgilius. I want to hear everything."

"Okay, uh, Renette, what do you mean we're meeting with your friends?" Roman asked. "I don't really have a lot of time to drive somewhere like Washington D.C."

"Yeah and my moms are getting really sick of my excuses as to why I can't be home for take-out night." Dee said. "I miss eating chineese food with them."

"Don't worry about that, my friends are coming here. I cleared this with Thomas weeks in advance."

"And you're only telling us now?" Logan quirked an eyebrow.

"I could only tell you now. Anyway, you all share science class together I believe, and your teacher and our current official working at the school has agreed to give the whole grade a large group project, with which you will claim you are all working on Saturday, so you can arrive here." Renette said quickly.

Roman looked at her incredulously. "Mrs. Ryans?"

"Yes, she works for me." Renette smiled.

"She works for you?" Patton's eyes went wide.

"I believe I just said that." Renette stared.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Dee put his hands up. "So you're telling me, that Mrs. Ryans works for the government and has been spying on us-"

"I certainly never said she was spying on you but yes since you've become Rangers she has been keeping a closer eye on you."

". . . Right." Dee deadpanned. "So she's making our entire grade do a group project just so we have an excuse to leave the house on Saturday?"

"That is correct." Renette nodded.

"If we're here on Saturday when are we going to work on said project?" Logan asked.

"Well that's not my problem." Renette dismissed.

"Hold up, hold up!" Roman started.

"No, no, no, no, no." Dee started waving his hand.

"Wait a minute, what?!" Patton exclaimed.

"I'm gonna fail science." Remus sank into his blow up pink chair.

"Oh you boys will figure it out." Renette tried to wave off their concerns. "What you need to focus on is the meeting with representatives from the UN who expect a level of professionalism from the only people on Earth that have acess to weapons that can defeat the Dragon Witch."

"Oh god." Roman sighed.

"I shouldn't go." Remus shook his head.

"You're all going. Whether you like it or not." Renette stated. "Now, I am hoping, praying, you boys have some kind of lead or strategy that can be used against Virgilius."

It went quiet.

"What happened to those letters you found on the map?" Thomas asked.

"Oh, yeah, that turned out to be a dead end." Roman grimaced.

"What letters?" Renette asked.

"Um, yesterday, we were looking at this map of the county." Patton got up and pointed. "Logan put pins into the places where Virgilius previously attacked. Even attacks from a year ago. Anway, we were just looking at em' and I thought these kinda make the shape of an 'H'."

"We figured he was trying to say 'help' or send a message." Dee sighed.

"And?" Renette asked impatiently.

"When we traced them all out it said 'Ha suckers!'." Roman said in an annoyed tone.

"Exclimation mark included." Logan reminded.

Remus started laughing. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I mean I'm not really that sorry, but come on that's good. Like he got us."

Roman looked at his brother and just shook his head slowly.

"Clever child." Renette pondered. "Distracting you, throwing you off his scent."

"We're pretty sure he's like in his twenties." Roman said. "He's tall so."

"Yeah taller than me." Remus said, almost impressed.

"Okay, good to know." Renette nodded. "But, other than your failed attempt, do you have anything more for me?"

Roman looked around. Logan, the one who usually concocts their plans, had nothing. However, when Roman looked to the others, he saw them exchanging glances. Thomas, Remus, Dee, and Patton lookedas if they were all in silent debate with each other. Finally Thomas gave a firm nod and the four looked to Renette.

"We may have something." Patton told her.

Taglist:

@tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors @maddarc @pheonix-inside-reblogs @thisismysanderssidesblog @almost-all-my-ships-are-gay @mostpeopleannoyme @the-smol-est @i-sexually-identify-as-a-mistake @nadja-chamack16@too-bi-too-function @rainbowbowtie @mistypelt1234 @tricksterangel25 @authorized-trash @echocw @stripestar128128 @coffee-mugz @slitherynchicken

[freudensteins-monster]

I Need a Hero! 

Following on from Ooh! Barracuda!

Despite what Darcy had promised, their third date had ended with them still fully clothed, kissing goodbye on the street outside the restaurant they were supposed to be dining at, all because some asshat let mutated wannabe velociraptors escape from a lab in Nova Scotia.

And though they both claimed to want a do-over, culminating in the stereotypical post-third date activities, that first interrupted date was the start of a holding pattern.

They made reservations at another nice restaurant and Bucky walked Darcy to her room at the tower. They made out against the door – the inside of the door, as the hallway had hears, and high resolution cameras – but then Bucky cut it short claiming he had an early training session at the upstate facility in the morning.

Okay, thought Darcy. Except she learnt later on that he had volunteered for it the morning of their date.

The following weekend JARVIS found them an old school dance hall and the pair got dressed up in their 1940’s finest and went out dancing. Bucky walked her to her door again, and again cut their goodbye kiss short claiming tiredness because of the training upstate, and the travel, and the dancing.

Fine. Except Steve had mentioned two days later that Bucky had been putting extra sessions in at the tower gym – including the night of their dance hall date.

Darcy invited him around for a home cooked meal and suggested they watch something from Bucky’s “must see movies of the last 100 years” list. She instigated a little Netflix and Chill action, only for Bucky to put the brakes on claiming he wanted to see how the movie ended.

Really? It’s not like they couldn’t have paused the damn thing, Darcy would grumble to Jane later.

For their next date she pulled out the big guns: a slinky, sleeveless, little black dress that showed even more skin than the blue-grey number that had prompted Bucky to ask her out. When she opened the door Bucky’s knees almost buckled at the sight of her (or the girls) and Darcy thought she was on to a winner. She was flirty and affectionate on the way down to the lobby, and Bucky seemed to be reciprocating, but of course, their luck being what it was, the second he opened the car door for her his phone rang with an emergency Assemble.

Fair enough. He couldn’t fake an Assemble, but he didn’t have to look so damn relieved about it.

The mission took three days and when Bucky returned Darcy was caught in the middle of Jane’s latest breakthrough, so it ended up being a full week after their last failed date before they could reschedule. This also gave Darcy plenty of time to plan a course of action to address the elephant in the room, which basically boiled down to “talk about it like mature adults in an adult relationship”.

“This suuuucks,” Darcy groaned to her empty apartment as she waited for Bucky to knock on her door.  Thankfully she didn’t have to wait too long; a minute later and she would have chickened out.

“Hey doll,” he greeted her with a smile and a kiss on the cheek. “I missed you like crazy this week.”

“Yeah, well, it’s been a crazy week,” she joked lamely, as Bucky made himself comfortable on her couch.

“Did you have anything in particular in mind tonight? I was thinking we could try that Caribbean ramen place Tony was going on about and maybe start one of those Star Wars trilogies everyone seems to love. Sam wants to watch them at the next team movie night, but you know he and Clint will just talk over them and it’ll just ruin my first viewing.”

“Speaking of firsts,” Darcy interjected, grasping at any excuse to get the crappy portion of their evening over with. “Do you not want to have sex with me?” Bucky balked and couldn’t bring himself to look her in the eyes. Darcy cursed herself for having the subtlety of Thor’s hammer, but sat as close to him as she dared and powered on. “Considering how you were looking at me the day you asked me out, I’m going to go out on a limb and say you find me attractive, but you keep pulling away from me when things get hot and heavy, and I know you’ve been making up excuses so you can cut out early. So… what is it? Why are you embarrassed to tell me no? Is it a religious thing – do you not want to have sex before marriage? A medical thing? Do you not want to have sex at all, or just not right now? Whatever it is, I just need you talk to me about it and tell me where you’re head’s at so I can adjust my expectations accordingly, okay? Because right now I feel like an asshole for trying to move us in a direction that you’re clearly not comfortable with.”

It took Bucky a minute to reply, his mouth opening and closing as he tried and failed to find the right words, but eventually he turned those beautiful stormy eyes of his in her direction and took one of her hands in his.

“First off, of course I find you attractive. When it comes to brains and beauty I think you leave Hedy Lamarr in the dust,” he assured her with a smirk. “And don’t go twistin’ yourself up thinkin’ I only want you when you’re wearing one of those maneater ensembles of yours. Done up and dressed down, soft and sexy; I like the whole package, sweetheart.” Darcy couldn’t help but blush. “And I do want to have sex with you…”

“But…”

Bucky sighed and squeezed her hand just a little bit tighter. “But… Nobody but doctors have seen me without my shirt on since I came back to myself, and I can’t stop worrying about what you’ll think.”

“About?”

“All this,” he replied with vague gesture.

“Your arm?”

“You gotta remember that I got the knock off version of the serum; I ain’t like Steve,” he added, anxiously rubbing his shoulder. “I might heal fast but my scars don’t fade like his do. At least, the ones Hydra gave me didn’t. It’s not pretty, and I just don’t want to see you pretending like they don’t upset you.”

“Of course they upset me, Bucky. But only because I wanna tase every Hydra goon in the balls for what they did to you. Seeing your scars isn’t going to make me want you less. Solid muscle and solid metal, cocky and self-conscious; I like the whole package, Sergeant Barnes,” she teased.

“Oh, yeah?” he smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Ugh, dude. Don’t make me fall on my sword.”

“Huh?”

“JARVIS, can you play my favourite fanvid?” she asked the ceiling with a sigh.

 “Of course, Miss Lewis.”

“What are we watching?”

“Just… watch,” Darcy cringed as she shushed him. “And try not to hate me or, like, run screaming from the room in search of a restraining order.”

 🎶 Where have all the good men gone, and where are all the gods 🎶

Bucky knew this song. He heard it every now and then when he was passing by Jane’s lab on the way to or from Tony’s, but it would always cut out when he got close. He’d asked Darcy about it once and she claimed it was her ringtone. Now that he thought back on it she had definitely been lying but he’d been too distracted by her bashful smile to notice it. He turned his attention to the television fixed to Darcy’s living room wall and as the song continued dozens of hastily edited together video clips were thrown up on the screen. Video clips of him. There were paparazzo footage of him and some of the team leaving a bar in DC after they’d gone out for drinks on Sam’s birthday, some video of him lifting weights in the gym for that Avengers Tower behind-the-scenes thing that Pepper had organized, though it was slightly pixelated as the editor tried to zoom in on his arms. There was even news footage from his missions with the Avengers, and a few of his missions against them.

“Is that… is that the Winter Soldier in Germany?”

“Um… yes?” Darcy winced.

“People like that – you like that?” he asked incredulously.

“I know it’s awful of me, and you have every right to hate me for making light of something that is obviously so awful, but seriously dude, you were built like a friggin tank! I don’t know what you were eating when you were hiding out in Romania, but damn!”

After a few more minutes of crippling awkwardness Darcy finally asked JARVIS to cut the feed.

“So…

“So… I hear this song playing in your lab all the time. Just how often have you watched this thing?”

“I plead the fifth,” Darcy blushed.

“JARVIS, how many times has Darcy watched this video?”

“Don’t answer that!”

 “This is Miss Lewis’s 57th viewing of this particular Youtube video.”

Bucky looked rather pleased with himself. “Fifty-seven…”

“Okay, listen, I may have left it playing on loop one afternoon while I cleaned my apartment. I have not sat here and watched it fifty-seven times.”

“I can remember at least four separate instances where I’ve walked past your lab and interrupted this song.”

“So? That’s just four times.”

 “Miss Lewis also asks me to loop her into gym’s security footage whenever you and one of your teammates are sparring.”

“JARVIS? What the hell?” Darcy screeched as Bucky doubled over with laughter.

 “I apologise, Miss Lewis. I just thought Sergeant Barnes would appreciate having all the evidence at his disposal.”

“Go away, JARVIS.” Darcy sighed and tried not to combust from blushing as Bucky chuckled at her embarrassment. “Okay, fine. As you can see from Exhibits A through to like friggin J: I find you stupidly attractive. So, you don’t have to worry about me being upset about your scars from an aesthetic point of view, because if it’s not painfully obviously, I want to see you naked. Real bad.”

Then it was Bucky’s turn to blush. “Can I kiss you, doll?”

“Please,” she begged with relieved smile. “Anything to stop me from embarrassing myself further.”

They started tentatively at first, but soon things started moving in a horizontal direction, with hands toying at the hems of shirts and brushing over zippers, and Bucky pulled back. Darcy did her damndest not to let her disappointment show and waited patiently for Bucky to tell her how he was feeling.

“Do you think we could, uh, relocate?” he asked, surprising her as he tilted his head towards her bedroom door. “I don’t know if I’ll want to… I mean, we can try…” he stammered.

“Whatever you’re okay with. Whatever you want,” Darcy promised.

Bucky swooped in for another kiss before lifting Darcy up off the couch in one smooth movement, smiling like an idiot as she giggled in his arms.

“JARVIS, play us out.”

🎶 Racing on the thunder and rising with the heat / It's gonna take a superman to sweep me off my feet / I need a hero! 🎶  

[sparkie96]

24, age difference

“24: I’ve never met someone who makes me feel like this.”

For the first time in a long time, Leon felt butterflies in his stomach. The college student picked up another box and carried it into the ranch style home. He had recently moved out of his dorm, and Ark had moved out as well due to a situation that nearly got Leon and Ark killed. 

And Leon felt like it had been his fault, despite everyone telling him otherwise. Sure, he didn’t lead Curtis Miller on or even show interest, but had he turned him in for stalking earlier, Curtis wouldn’t have broken into their dorm, hurt Ark and then nearly raped Leon. 

Good thing Chris hadn’t been too far from the campus and good thing Leon had been in the middle of a call with him when Curtis broke in. Chris had come from a hang-out with his own companions and taught Curtis a lesson, with his fists, before the cops showed up. The Scientist had been arrested and Leon and Ark had been checked out, Chris holding Leon protectively, reassuring him that Curtis would be going away for a while. 

Sadly, the courts disagreed, saying that Curtis needed help and something like this could “ruin a man’s future and reputation”, having done good work outside of just teaching a College Forensics and Sciences Class. He had been put on house-arrest, but Leon didn’t feel safe and he feared for himself and Ark. 

So, Ark had been moved into Piers and Finn’s apartment way off-campus, but still close enough to attend classes, and Leon moved in with Chris, not wanting to move back in with his mother and worrying her even more. She was strong, but he didn’t want to add to whatever was going on in her own life. Leon hugged Ark and promised to hang-out and game like nothing ever happened, even scheduling to set-up for their YouTube videos. Ark holding him to that. 

Which is how Leon ended up here, after a long truck ride to Chris’s house. He didn’t live as close to the campus as Piers and Finn, but it was still reasonably close. The house was in a quiet neighborhood, the residents needing to use a keycard to get into the community. There was a pool and playground, as well as a sort of Sports Club or something that held the gym, yoga classes and even a daycare center. 

All in all, Leon didn’t picture Chris living in such a normal area. The man explained that it made him feel a bit better and admittedly safer. Normal even, due to how his not-so normal job made him feel. 

Leon was also pleasantly surprised to learn that Chris had two dogs. A very big German Shepherd named Brutus, who stood on guard and watched Leon’s every move. Chris also had a shorter and chubbier English Bulldog named Flash. He was a bit more laid back and lazy, but a happy dog that seemingly loved Leon already, following Leon in and out of the house as he unpacked his things in the main bedroom. 

“Brutus is actually my friend DC’s dog,” Chris explained once Leon got settled in, “But DC and his family are visiting family in Denver and asked me to watch him for the week." 

Leon smiled, having changed into sweats and a sweatshirt, before sitting on the couch. An "oof!” left the younger as Flash dashed at the couch, nearly tackling the college student and sitting in Leon’s lap. Leon giggled as Flash showered him in kisses. 

“I think Flash likes you.” Chris chuckled.

“I like him too.” Leon laughed, petting the dog’s head before looking at Brutus, who simply watched from afar, “Brutus on the other hand…I don’t think he likes me." 

Chris waved toward Brutus, petting the dog’s head fondly, the German Shepherd making a sound of acknowledgement, "He’s not sure what to make of you. He used to be a combat and search and rescue canine for the BSAA, though he was mostly used with human targets. He’ll figure out that you’re not here to hurt anyone and he’ll warm up to you." 

Leon smiled as he continued to pet Flash, accepting Chris’s hands as the man gently shooed Flash away and helped Leon off of the couch, "Why don’t I give you a proper tour?" 

Leon beamed as he got up, following Chris around as the man showed him where everything was. He had seen and known about a lot of this stuff due to how often he stayed over, but it was the first time seeing Chris’s office, garage, basement / family room. He even got to see the pool and the small hide-out shed. Just in case Claire or someone volunteered his home for the next Christmas Party or something. 

"I also kind of, sort of, have a fortified "panic room”.“ Chris admitted sheepishly, "That’s in the basement behind the freezer. That’s also where one of my gun safes is." 

Leon gave a curious look, "Panic Room? And one of your gun stages? How many do you have?" 

Chris gave a nervous chuckle and scratched the back of his neck, ”…uh…maybe I shouldn’t tell you. You would think I was weird, especially if you found out where they were.“ 

"Well, given what you do, I think it would be pretty rational.” Leon pointed out, “C'mon, you can tell me." 

Chris gave a contemplating look before giving a defeated sigh, ”…I have a gun safe in the basement, two in the living room, one in each of my bedside tables, one in the office and one in the shed. I also always have a weapon in reach…even in the bathroom.“ 

Leon blinked, taking a moment to process the information before giving a small shrug, "Well…gotta always be prepared." 

Chris raised a brow and a small smile, "Really?" 

Leon gave a nod, "Yup. So, no one would mess with you if they broke into your home.” He reassured the elder.

That made Chris’s smile even bigger, and Leon couldn’t get enough of it or the man who wore it. Leon couldn’t deny that he kind of looked up to Chris in a way…admired him even. This man was the one he never wanted to lose and he would be damned if he let anyone hurt him. 

…was it weird to inadvertently threaten harm to anyone who dared hurt a man he was only dating? It wasn’t weird, right? 

After another brief tour of the house, Chris and Leon had decided that it was time to start making dinner. Leon felt like they were in sync as he and Chris both agreed on grilling up some burgers and hot dogs for dinner. Luckily, Chris had some ground beef in the freezer and a pack of hot dogs in the drawer in the fridge. He also picked up some rolls ahead of time, thinking of making burgers and dogs earlier this week. 

He and Leon had a grand old time in the kitchen making the burgers and cutting up some vegetables. Chris playfully scolded Leon, telling the younger to stop eating all the pickles or else he wouldn’t have any leftover for dinner. 

“Any preferences on how you like your burgers?” Chris asked, firing up the grill. 

Leon sat at the patio table, enjoying the sun and the nice weather that they had been having recently. He tapped his chin thoughtfully, “Hm…I usually get mine done medium rare.” He admitted, “So, I guess medium rare.” 

Chris chuckled, “A man after my own heart.” 

Leon beamed up at him, watching as Chris threw the patties and the hot dogs on the grill. Flash and Brutus sat at Chris’s feet, Brutus taking on a guard position while Flash stared up at the man, waiting for him to drop some food. 

Leon chuckled, “I think you got yourself an audience.” 

The elder laughed as well, “Yeah, Flash is my grilling buddy because he usually gets something out of it.” Chris looked down at the bulldog, “But Stacy at the vet says I can’t give you anymore table food because you’re supposed to be on a diet, buddy.” 

Flash made a noise that was a mix of a groan and a whine of disapproval, a chubby paw gently scratching at Chris’s pant-leg. Chris gave him a look, and then a smile, cutting one of the hot dogs in half. He blew on one of the halves before handing it to the dog, Flash happily and excitedly gobbling it up. Chris patted him on his head, telling the dog not to tell Stacy. Chris looked to Brutus handing him the other half. Brutus turned his nose at it at first, taking another sniff before gently taking it from Chris’s fingers. He ate his more slowly, only eating a part of it before leaving the other piece untouched. Flash sneakily waddled over and ate the rest of it. 

Chris looked to Leon over his shoulder, “You saw nothing.” he chuckled. 

Leon canted his head with a mock look of confusion, “Saw what?” 

“Exactly.” 

The burgers and hot dogs were done in no time, Chris and Leon having dinner outside. Once the table was set and the grill was turned off, Chris sat across from Leon. They served each other food, talking about what they liked and didn’t like on their burgers and hot dogs, Leon poking fun at the fact that Chris liked relish and mustard on his hot dogs but not ketchup. Chris on the other hand couldn’t understand why Leon didn’t like relish at all. 

“You like pickles, right?” Chris asked. 

Leon gave a nod, digging into his hot dog first, chewing and swallowing before speaking, “Yup.” 

“Well, it’s pretty much the same thing…just mashed.” Chris explained.

“No it’s not.” Leon disagreed, wrinkling his nose, “It’s more like a sweetened cucumber mash with a weird taste and an even weirder aftertaste.” 

Chris gave a playful look of disbelief, “You’re crazy.” 

They gave each other serious looks before breaking out into a fit of laughter, the laughter dying down into chuckles before they both sighed, staring at each other lovingly while they ate. Leon turned away first, a rosy blush on his cheeks and a shy smile on his lips. He felt his heart flutter in his chest and felt like there were butterflies fluttering around in his stomach. 

Unbeknownst to Leon, Chris felt the same, a happy smile on his own lips and a fluttering feeling in his chest and stomach. He couldn’t believe that any of this was real, that this beautiful man loved him and actually felt comfortable enough to move in with him. He trusted him enough to let Chris handle the asshole harassing him. Chris would never let anything happen to Leon. He would protect him. He loved him. 

They looked up at each other once more, “I-oh…” They said at the same time, but stopped to let the other speak. 

“You first.” Chris insisted. 

Leon smiled, “I wanted to thank you…for everything. For always being there and helping me…and with Curtis. I don’t know what I would do without you.” 

Chris smiled as well, a light blush on his cheeks at the younger’s admission, “I don’t know what I would do without you either…I’ve never met someone who made me feel this way…” 

The college student reached over and set his hand on top of Chris’s, turning it over to hold it in his own, making Chris flush an even deeper shade of red, “I love you.” Leon admitted. 

Chris looked up at him with surprised eyes. Though, he didn’t know why he was surprised, he had always sort of known. He just hadn’t expected Leon to say it first. 

He gently squeezed Leon’s hand in return, bringing it to his lips and kissing the back of it softly, “I love you too, Leon.” 

Leon sat up a bit straighter in his chair, a smile that was both one of relief and happiness on his lips. He leaned forward slightly, pulling Chris’s hand to his own lips and doing the same. It was their own little ritual in a way. Their own way of letting the other that they loved them without always saying it out loud. They didn’t need to say it out loud for it to be true. They just knew. 

After giving each other one more reassuring squeeze, they went back to eating their dinners, talking about plans for the upcoming weekend. 

——————

Ao3, Ko-Fi

[timelock97]

Game Changer

Chapter Three: True Introductions

Word Count: 4133

Warnings: Fluff, language, slight argument angst

_________________________________________

My eyes flutter open as Buster pounces back into the bed and laps at my face; I let out a small giggle as I swat him away to cage him against my chest and press kisses into his head.

"Sorry, love." My eyes flicker back to Leon, who is shutting the door behind him as he re-enters the room. "He woke me up to take him outside, but he got away from me before I could calm and wipe him down."

I wave my hand dismissively, it wasn't unusual for Leon to spend the night but he definitely wasn't used to my newest family member. "You're fine, he does that." I whisper as Leon crawls back into bed and attempts to pull me into his side, even with the dog wedged between us.

"We should sleep longer-" Lee is cut off by Buster lapping at his face, Lee gagging in annoyance while I giggle.

"I don't think that's gonna happen." I whisper back, tugging the pup against my chest to rub his sides. Buster lets out a little yip, wiggling out of my grasp, and bounding off the bed, bouncing from side to side as a sign of its time to get up and start the day. "C'mon, Leon, let's get up."

He groans and pulls my pillow over his head in an attempt to drown out the world, "But it's only seven."

"Yes," I giggle, grabbing his foot and giving it a quick squeeze which causes him to squeak and yank his foot away. "And this is the time I usually get up with him so I have no choice." I stand straight and stretch my back before walking toward the door, "Keep sleeping if you want though-"

"No," he sighs, throwing both my pillow and the sheet off of him and grabbing his long-sleeve shirt that had been discarded to the floor the night before, "I'm coming." He mutters before following me out of the room, yanking the shirt over his head as he does. The bathroom was already occupied by who I could only assume was my dad who has always been an early riser. Leon walks into the kitchen and immediately starts looking in the fridge while I get Buster's food ready. Leon sighs in annoyance. "What do you want to eat, love?"

"I don't know, what sounds good to you?"

"That's why I asked you." He chuckles as he shuts the door and leans against the counter. He watches me as I mix the food together before I place it on the dog mat.

When I turn to look at him, he has a small smile etched into his features. "Whatcha thinking about?"

He shrugs softly, "Just thinking about the possibility of doing this every morning, sometime in the near future." He muses, hair matted from last nights sleep. His facial hair is getting more stubbled and his eyes still slightly puffy with sleep.

"Yeah, I'd like to see that too." I whisper as I move to wrap my arms around him, Lee sighs into my hair. The two of us stand like that for a few minutes before his stomach growls, causing him to groan and me to giggle. "Okay, pancakes." I state making him groan for another reason.

"I love pancakes-"

"That's because you actually know how to make them," I tease, making him place a hand over his heart in mock offence.

"Rude-"

"I only speak the facts!" I sing, turning toward the pantry and pulling the instant mix from its place beside the flour.

"And yet you make instant; the horror." He mutters, arms looping around my waist as I make the mixture. When I don't respond he sighs and leans his head against mine, listening to me humming while I figure out the correct amount of water to powder. Once done, we shuffle to the stove, because somebody refuses to let go, and I begin making the pancakes, one at a time. Leon groans again, "This is going to take forever."

"Well, I guess you will just have to deal." I hum, smiling as he groans again and buries his face into the croak of my neck in fake annoyance. We stand there for a minute, the only sound is the pancake mix sizzles in the pan, until I hear Lee take in a breath. "What are you do-" I stop, squealing as Leon blows a raspberry into my neck. I immediately laugh, legs giving out as he pinches and tickles my sides, dragging me away from the stove as the spatula hits the ground with a loud crack. "Leon!"

He laughs into my neck before blowing again, nipping in between as his hands move around my sides again. I fight for a few minutes until I am able to turn sideways and manage to get to his side, pinching the skin. He lets out his own surprised laugh as he tries to defend himself, but to no anvil. I manage to maneuver enough so he is underneath me and I'm straddling his waist, tickling everything I can reach while attempting to restrict his hands. "You little shit-"

"You started it!" I laugh back, tickling around his neck as he attempts to get away. I feel him move his leg up so it's bent, "Don't you dare-"

He flips us over and pins my hands above my head and blows one last raspberry into my neck before tickling me again. My screams echoing around the house.

We both hear someone clear their throat and look up to see my family looking at us. My dad shakes his head, chuckling softly. "Do you two know what time it is?"

Him and I look at each other, before I notice the smell in the air and gasp, "The pancake!" Before Lee is scrambling up to grab the pan and douse it in water. After the bit of smoke cleared out, I look at my family who are desperately trying not to laugh. "Well, I think it's too early for this bullshit-"

"(Y/N)!" My mother laughs, half-heartedly covering my little brother's ears.

The morning continues without any other problems, mom ends up taking over the pancake making. Once everyone has eaten, Lee offers to help my dad clean his office while I finish up some homework; especially since Aiden had to "work on a project" at his friend's house. My dad happily takes the offer, having the two of them leave while my mom takes my brother over to said friend's house.

I take the time to finish up my homework, and by the time Leon comes back, I have completed what was needed to be done. This makes Lee smile as he follows me to the bathroom so I can make myself look at least a little presentable and brush my hair.

"Perfect," he rubs his hands together while I run a brush through my hair, I pull the brush down to pull the strands that are stuck and roll my eyes when I find several purple ones. "I say we go on a date then."

"And what would you suggest, boyfriend of mine?" I tease, setting the brush on the sink and looking at him through the mirror.

He shrugs, leaning against the little length of wall next to the shower. "An indoor date."

I roll my eyes at that, "And what is an indoor date?"

He spins me around before grabbing my cell phone off the counter, he unlocks it with ease before showing our favorite take-out place already on speed dial. "That we order take-away and go play video games in your basement-"

"Eww, the basement is not clean enough for a date." I pout, making him pout back.

"You could always have it in the living room." My mother suggests as she passes the room, she has the laundry basket resting on her hip. "Your father and I are going to see Barb and Dan tonight for dinner and won't be home til later, and Aiden won't be dropped off until ten. You two will have the house to yourselves."

Leon smiles at me, "So what do you say, (Y/N)?"

I smile back at him before popping onto my tippy-toes and kissing his cheek. "Sounds perfect."

The two of us settle in the living room after getting food, I throw on youtube while we eat as background noise, nuzzling into his side as we chow down. After we played Mario Kart for awhile before switching over to another game.

Leon is playing on his profile on Mario Odyssey, complaining that he couldn't remember where he had left off and just wanting to get to the next level. I paugh as I grab my case and put away Mario Kart. My eyes fall on the Pokemon game that has been left untouched for the past few weeks.

"How far did you make it?" Leon asks, pulling me from my thoughts. Before I can answer we hear the tell-tale sign of Mario dying causing Leon to groan. "I literally looked away from the screen for two seconds."

"You could have paused it-"

"I was distracted by my beautiful girlfriend," he smiles, bumping his shoulder into mine. "C'mon, how far did you get?"

"Uh, the fourth gym." I look back at it. Now or never I guess. "Would you wanna play?"

Leon smiles brightly, "Yeah! I've never played the games before so this'll be a trip." He laughs as I reach for the remotes and end the game so I can stand and set it up. Once set up I rejoin him on the couch, Leon tugs me into his side as he settles in and takes the controller. I explain the instructions quickly before telling him to go ahead and start.

As the game opens, he smiles at the music already playing. As the intro rolls, his eyebrows knit together in confusion. He lets out a nervous laugh. "Huh, weird coincidence that its Galar region." He pauses, eyes skimming over the chairman's name, "And the chairman's name is also Rose." When Rose introduces the champion, Leon stays quiet, and he continues to do so as Raihan challenges the champion and Charizard dynamaxes. He lets out a breath after the Shield logo flashes across the screen and it gets into the main story. He doesn't click anywhere further as it moves along to the next scene, only when it pauses on Hop entering the house does Leon let out a shaky breath, his whole body stiff beside me. "(Y/N)?"

"Yes, Leon?"

He moves away from me slowly, moving so his elbows settle on his knees. He runs a hand over his face then through his hair. I watch as he turns his head toward me, his eyes turning red from unshed tears of what I can only assume are from frustration. "That's my brother." He whispers, eyes falling back to the screen where it's paused. "And, and that was my boss, and the champion was me." He runs a hand over his face again before pushing himself up and tugs at the roots of his hair. He slowly turns to look at me, betrayal in his eyes, "Are you messing with me?"

"Are you with me?" I ask, voice suddenly shaking. "Because I have been wondering the same thing for two weeks."

He brings his fist to his mouth, biting on his knuckles before shaking his head vigorously, "You have known about this for two weeks and haven't thought to talk to me about it!" He's angry, but I can tell its more out of fear and confusion more than the fact I didn't tell him.

"Lee," I whisper standing slowly, which causes him to take a step back and walk away from me. "Lee," my voice is a little stronger now, hoping he will stop as he walks into the kitchen. "Leon, stop for one God damn second and talk to me!"

"I don't even know what to say (Y/N)!" He yells, spinning on his heel to face me. "I just played, what, five minutes of a game that I saw the Chairman, my brother, my best friend, and myself all appear in. What do you think is going through my head right now?"

"So you didn't know-"

"Arceus, (Y/N), do you think I would be this upset if I knew?" His eyes are much wider now, lips trembling. He shakes his head, "Why didn't you tell me-"

"You think I didn't feel the same way playing? That I didn't stop and panic when I had my character run through the town that I have envisioned since you told me about it?" I take a step forward and this time he doesn't move away. "I was scared senseless, I thought maybe you were pulling my leg-"

"I may be a big star in Galar but that doesn't mean I have an in everywhere." He says it more of a joke, and it lightens the mood for a bit, but I still shift from side to side. He moves to place a hand on my cheek, gently rubbing the skin there with his thumb.

"Leon?" I whisper, making him nod at me to keep going. "Can you be honest with me, one hundred percent honest? I know that is a game, but is anything else, is everything else true? You've mentioned Wooloo, Rookidee, Nicket, and so many others. Hell, I've seen them in the game! So are Pokemon real where you come from, is what the game has alluded to true, is that your reality?"

Leon sighs, his forehead touching mine. I let him take his time, especially since I didn't warn him ahead of time. He opens his mouth softly, "Yeah, uh that's my life. I am the champion of Galar, have been for ten years as of this summer." He sighs gently, his hand that isn't holding my face falls to my other arm, sliding down to intertwine our fingers. "I was afraid of saying anything before you came with me because I didn't know if you would believe me, and if you didn't believe me and everything fell apart-" He shakes his head.

"Hey," I bring his attention to me, here and now. "Leon I am not going to leave you, I know why you didn't tell me, I have nothing to be upset about. I'm sorry I didn't tell you when I found out. I was scared of what I was going to find out but," I give his hands firmly. "There is nothing we have to worry about now, okay?"

I feel him nod before he leans down and kisses me. "Yeah, nothing to worry about."

A bit of excitement suddenly runs through my veins. "So you do have Pokemon?"

Leon's laugh bellows throughout the room and tugs me into a hug. "Of course you would want to know that." He teases, moving so that he lifts me up and spins me around in a circle.

"You know I have been a fan for forever you cannot blame me for being excited!" I laugh, pulling myself closer to him until he sets my feet flat on the ground. "Okay but," I pull away to look at him. His eyes are filled with amusement. "So how weird is it to come here and see animals-"

"We still have animals, love." He sways us side to side before leading me back to the living room. "Just most of them come with people when they move to Galar."

"So if I moved to Galar, I could bring Buster?" I practically sing, bouncing on my heels making him laugh.

"Yes, you can bring Buster." Lee laughs and I fully bounce in front of him. He wraps his arms around me and holds me to him. "Alright, my love. Now how much more of this game is like my home?"

I lead him back into the living room and grab the controller off the couch, handing it over. "You gonna find out?"

Leon bites his lip as he grabs the controller from my hand and settles back on the couch with me pressed into his side. He plays the game for about an hour before he asks to switch over to my game to see what he can't see yet. He smiles at my team that I have at the moment. "Look at your Cinderance, he looks happy."

"Yeah, he's a good boy. I also love Daisy. She's my Toxtricity." I point her out to Leon since I am camping, his arm wrapping about my shoulder. "And don't call me out, but I have way too many Pokemon and I go by what can actually defeat the gyms."

Leon laughs, especially when he saw the team I had for Allister's gym before I moved my team around. "I can see why, especially since you haven't played in awhile-"

"But Daisy and Scorch are always on my team." I defend, making a face at him.

He chuckles, "Have to have your constants, right baby?"

I nod smiling at him, "but I lost to Allister so I'm leveling up the team before continuing."

"That's fair, he's a tough kid." Leon praises, making me smile.

"Did your team change a lot as you grew as a trainer?"

He nods, "Oh yeah, but my team is pretty consistent now. The other Pokemon I caught as a kid I ended up either releasing or I released them into a program."

"Program?"

He nods, "It's to give other kids in the region who can't go out and catch Pokemon on their own. Some are medically required."

"I love that!" I squeal, leaning into his side and wrapping my arms around his middle.

He chuckles as he pulls me flush against him before kissing the top of my head. "You know, now that you know about everything, I can video chat with my mum and brother and you can also meet my team..."

I roll my eyes, "Do they even understand video chat, Lee?" I tease as he checks his phone for the time, it was a little later.

"Kind of?" He scratches the back of his head as he shoots a text to his mom, checking to see if we could video them. "They can hear the voices at least. But the question for you that I have is about winter break."

"What about it?" I smile, leaning my head against his chest.

He hums as his mom tells him that they are both home, they just have to set up the camera. "I was able to get your passport approved."

I sit up a little, and look at him in disbelief, "You were? So does that mean you are asking...?"

"That you should come to Galar for part of your break? Yes, yes I am. If you are comfortable."

I smile in excitement, but then reality sets in, "How much are the flights-"

"Covered, both to and from." He states, holding my face. "I really want you to come. My family and my friends are excited to finally meet you." He smiles, letting out a small laugh, "Rahian has been bugging me since I met you four years ago to meet you."

"I have to figure out how Christmas is going to go." I tell him, making him nod back.

"Understandable," he sighs, he checks his phone before smiling. "But what do you think? About, you know coming to-"

I lean forward his hands falling to my neck as I kiss his lips. He sighs and smiles into the kiss. When I pull away, Leon attempts to try and reinitiate the kiss but he stops when I breathe out a soft, "I'd love to."

"Really?" He smiles widely as I lean forward and peck his lips again before nodding again. "I'm so excited," he whispers. His phone buzzing pulls us apart, Leon looking down at his phone, "Oh, uh would you wanna go grab your computer? My family can Skype now."

I nod and stand, calling over my shoulder, "Grab the t.v. tray so we have something to set it on, okay?" I walk away to grab my school computer, opening up my Skype app as I walked back to the living room. Lee takes it immediately and logs me out and logs himself back in. After only thirty seconds the username hopscotch_11 popped onto the screen. "Please tell me that is Hop." I laugh as Lee answers a quick 'yup', smiling a little more widely.

The screen lights up and shows a boy and a woman. The woman I recognize from all the photos that Leon had shown me, her long purple hair is thrown up into a bun. The boy looks identical to Leon, except his hair is a lot shorter, and spiked up. They both smile widely as Hop bounces in his seat, "Lee!" he calls into the speaker, laughing as I lean forward to turn down the volume a bit.

"Hop," the woman scolds, making him smile sheepishly.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm just really excited." He shifts in his seat, places his hand off the side to push something else off screen, "No, you can't be on screen-"

"She knows, Hop," Leon laughs, making Hop that much more excited.

"Phew! Good cause Wooloo wants to be on screen too." Immediately, the fluffy bundle appears in the corner of the screen, bleating. I awe at the creature, placing my hands over my mouth. "This is my Wooloo, (Y/N)! Lee caught him for me!"

"Well, he is adorable!" I call, giggling.

Leon wraps an arm around my shoulders, "(Y/N), this is my little brother, Hop. He not only is my biggest fan, but my biggest supporter no matter what I do; except coming out here-"

"You still went," Hop huffs, obviously annoyed that Lee would even bring up the subject. "And you two still met so you can't blame me!"

Leon rolls his eyes before motioning to his mother, "And this is my mother, Michelle. She raised the two of us with the help of my grandparents."

"Who have recently moved down the road actually, but they are still around." She smiles and nods to us, "It's so nice to meet you finally, (Y/N). We have been so excited to finally see your smiling face."

"It's nice to meet you both too." I smile, "Lee talks about you both so much, it already felt like I knew you both, but now I have real faces to put with what I know-"

"Okay, but I do have a question." Hop cuts in, making his mother give him a disapproving look while Lee and I laugh. "How did you figure it out? Like the Pokemon thing?"

I look at Lee, who shrugs softly, "Well, I got a new game and the region the game is set in was Galar, so I got suspicious. I made Lee play it and well, he had to explain everything-"

"Which is another reason we are calling because it's easier to talk now that we don't have to hide anything." Lee cuts in, smiling at me.

"Wait, so does that mean she wants to meet the rest of your team?" Hop questions excitedly, making his mom glare at him.

"Hop-"

"I'm just asking!"

Lee laughs, making the two of them relax a bit, "Eventually, but I also wanted her to meet you guys cause I am hoping she will come up for break."

Michelle giggles, "Take all the time you need, dear. We know you are in school and working hard. We will be excited to see you whenever you make it out here."

"Thank you," I smile, moving a little as Buster jumps into my lap.

Hop shifts in his seat, looking back at us and his mom before whispering, "I could just take the computer outside..."

"Hop-" his mother warns.

"Go ahead, Hopscotch," Leon laughs. "(Y/N) is excited to see them too."

Hop bounces up and grabs his coat, "Mum, can you carry the computer for a sec so I can set up a spot and grab Lee's pokeballs?"

She chuckles as Hop runs off screen, "Your brother, Lee. He loves those Pokemon."

"I know," Lee chuckles. He turns and looks at me as I can hear Hop and his Mom in the background.

"I want to come to Galar," I whisper, making him look at me with a soft smile. "Show me your town, where you grew up. All the sights and favorite things that make you you."

Lee kisses me softly before Hop cuts us off. "Are you two done? We have lots of introductions to do!"

Lee smiles at me before nodding to his brother, "Who we starting with, Hop?"

_________________________________________

A/N: Hello hello! Hope you all are having a great day! Here is chapter 3, see you all on Monday. Lemme know if you wanna be tagged!

Masterlist

[peridottea91]

Escapist Tags

While everyone is cooped up, let’s share some of our favorite distractions. Bonus points for answers that involve things that are free and/or commonly found at home.-- I was tagged by the lovely @risingphoenix761, but since the original post got really long I decided to make a new one haha

🎬- Movie/TV/YouTube:  So I’m actually really scheduled with this haha, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I watch new episode of Try Channel on YouTube, and every Tuesday and Friday new episodes of How to Drink. As for movies/TV/Netflix it really just depends on my mood

🧶- Craft/Hobby: So I really love story-writing and used to be huge into art (fun fact- I was accepted into MICA). However, lately I tend to do lots of fan fiction writing and am slowly drifting back into my graphic novels, which involve a huge degree of world-building, which I LOVE! I also play a lot of video games (ie- Stardew Valley, DAI, and soon Animal Crossing:New Horizons)

📖- Story: I’ve been mostly reading fan fiction lately, preferring fluff and smangst. I dp have a long reading list that I should probably get around to while I’m stuck at home...

🍲- Recipe/Snack: Nothing in particular although I have been trying to be healthier. Definitely lots of wine XD

🏋️‍♀️- Exercise: So, I literally JUST bought and assembled a foldable exercise bike from Amazon and I already love it! It was on sale for $149 and omg is it worth it. doesn’t take up too much space and I get to enjoy not being in a gym!!

🎲- Game: Stardew Valley is definitely a bingeable game IMO. I have wasted so many hours on it and designing my farm to be just the way I want it.  However, I also really love DAI (Dragon Age: Inquisition) and, if I could afford a gaming computer, would be spending all my time right now putzing around with mods... Including giving Solas some damn hair

🎧- Music: There’s a couple lofi hip-hop playlists I’ve been binging while working as well as the entire Queens of the Stone Age collection on Spotify.  I also have a separate playlist for my fan fiction inspiration that I need to split up into 2 or 3 individual lists. But by far, my favorite songs are Saltwater by Geowulf, Maybe I’m Afraid by Lovelytheband (yes that is how their name is), and Not Today by Twenty-One Pilots

🎨- Art: I’m starting to dabble in graphic design and digital art in preparation for working on my graphic novel soon, but I’ve also been starting to do fan fiction/fan art banners

🏖- De-stressor: lofi hip-hop has been a godsend, not gonna lie. But also just letting myself relax on the couch and (believe it or not) binging Anthony Bourdain has helped. Meditation and yoga are big, big helpers for me as well

Tagged: @dean-winchesters-bacon @princessmisery666 @impala-dreamer @wingedcatninja @negans-lucille-tblr @idreamofplaid @fangirlxwritesx67 and anyone else that wants to play who I missed! (sorry if you’ve been tagged multiple times already)

You know the drill: answer and tag.

[draconida]

Shance Fic Recs

Well, while I was in my AO3 profile, I realized how many bookmarks I have! So I've decided to make fic recommendation lists.   [This list will have other parts, and I include fics with Kuro and Sven]

1- Black to Blue by PuppetMaster55

Lance, the undisputed (no longer, since he finally got the team to stop questioning his position like a month ago) leader of Voltron finds himself in the absolute strangest scenario: being the Blue Paladin.

Lance, still finding his place on team Voltron, wakes up to the weirdest world: one where he's the Black Paladin.

OR, I take a universe where Lance was always the Black Paladin and have him swap bodies with canon Lance, throwing both sets of teams for a trip.

[This fic is the beginning of a series in process, super recommended]

2- Black & Blue by starboyshiro (this author writes a lot of love to Shiro)

“Something wrong, babe? Did you have a bad day or something?” Shiro asks, plopping down on the couch next to Lance.

“Nothing happened, I'm just looking at all of these cute cats thinking about how much I want one, but can't have one.” Lance frowns, resting his head on Shiro's shoulder as he continues to scroll through Instagram.

Shiro can't stand to see his boyfriend upset. That's been a proven fact since Day One of their relationship. It's only natural that when Lance mentions his disappointment at never owning a cat, Shiro goes above and beyond to cheer him up…

3- I Fold by starboyshiro [Explicit]

“Do you even know who I am?”

“Am I supposed to?”

“Most people around here do.”

An intense poker game turns into a rather steamy night. Can this scrawny grad student handle the force of the famous journalist Takashi Shirogane?

4- Is That A Bowl Of Popcorn In Your Lap Or Are You Just Happy To See Me? by munchiesafterdark [Explicit]

“How many bags should I do?” Shiro called, waving the four unopened packs in his hand at Lance questioningly.

“I think two should be fine,” Lance shrugged. “We can always pop more if… we…” He trailed off, train of thought vacating the station as Shiro turned his back to him to put the remaining packs of popcorn into the cabinets. His hips swayed to an unheard rhythm, defined muscles flexing as he reached up and slid the popcorn into place on the top shelf. Lance’s eyes trailed down to the V of his back, the sweats hanging low enough for him to spot the curve of his round ass. Yet another anomaly of those pants was the manner in which they accentuated his bottom while still remaining baggy around his legs.

The obnoxious ding of the microwave nearly startled Lance out of his skin. His shift on the couch must have been audible, Shiro raised a brow at him over his shoulder, a cocky smirk crossing his lips as he leaned over to retrieve the finished bag of popcorn.

Fuck, he was toying with him! Well, two could play that game!

5- Nasty Smoothie by strawberrylovely

Lance works in a smoothie shop. Twice a week, a certain customer comes in and orders a nasty smoothie. Lance is head over heels.

6- A Hit and A Miss (tletoe) by strawberrylovely

Basically, Lance goes to a party with Hunk and blows his friend a kiss. However, he wasn’t expecting the cute stranger standing in front of Hunk to think the kiss was for him.

7- you should let me (love you) by godsensei

There’s something in the bathtub. Suddenly, Lance is pissed at his past self for watching so many horror movies with creepy shower scenes. He’s certainly too young and beautiful to die like this, right?

Right, totally.

He hesitates, but creeps forward, peeking slowly behind the curtain.

Hm. There’s a hot guy in there.

8- just call me daddy by proletaricat [Explicit and omegaverse]

It's the typical a/b/o story - someone's off their suppressants, surprise heats, bam sex! Except this time Lance escapes capture with the help of Hunk and Shiro has to apologize for his behavior later, interrupting Lance in the middle of his Altean telenovela. Then they bang. It's... it's basically just a PWP with daddy kink and knotting.

9- Sometimes Playing Around with the Occult Can Turn Out Well (Like... REALLY well) by gorgawesome [Explicit]

Lance had the best costume prepared for this Halloween Party. He was totally gonna slay and finally get laid for the first time in MONTHS!

Except it's Halloween Night and he's stuck looking after the family bookstore, because local robberies or something. Honestly? He was too busy pouting to be listening.

Can an awful, boring night turn for the better? Yes. Yes, it can.

10- I found religion between your thighs by KillTheDirector [in process]

He had been topside for over four decades, enjoying the freedom he never had down in the pit. Routines were established then broken then reestablished, but Shiro abided by them because that’s what kept him alive.

Then he met a witch that was more suited to being an incubus than him.

11- One Symbol Off by Silas_Writes [Explicit]

anonymous whispered: Incubus/succubus shiro and witch lance use summoning circles and potions inappropriately

12- To Seduce the Seducer by singtolife [Explicit]

At a college party, Shiro meets Lance, and they hit it off immediately. Only to find out after they have sex that this amazingly sexy guy was a little too good to be true.

13- Blue Skies in Stockholm by Shanced [Explicit, non-con and Kuro]

Lance gets captured by Shiro (who was fused with Kuro by Haggar) and the rest is self indulgent kinky sex. Lance gets raped and wrecked by Shiro and develops Stockholm syndrome, or the likes of it, Shiro can apparently unfuse with Kuro and they have a really good time.

14- Treadmill by kitausu

At 2 minutes of torture in, Lance heard the buzz/click noise of someone’s electronic key activating and opening the door to the gym. And of course, because this was Lance’s life, Hunk had pushed him onto a treadmill with a mirror right in front, affording him an absolutely stunning view of the man walking through the door.

Had Lance loved till now? He was pretty sure that he had never even felt an emotion before seeing the beautiful male specimen reflected beside his face in the mirror.

or, Lance waxes poetic about Shiro's everything, and Hunk set it all up in the first place.

15- Black & Blue & Red All Over by thesynapticsnap

When Lance shows up to the gym with a limp and covered in bruises, Shiro assumes the worst (spoiler: It’s nothing bad! Nor anything kinky, surprisingly).

16- Car Door Blues by ShiekahKami

Shiro never would have expected that accidentally knocking that cute guy out could change his life for the better.

17- Give It a Shance by YonaDawn [in process]

The domestic life of Shance. At least until they become Twitter and Youtube famous. Then it's a wild domestic life.

18- Bowling for Balls? by EllaAniMine

They were just supposed to be bowling... It was harmless fun, or it was supposed to be.

Lance thought he was being funny, but a message that was supposed to be a joke was sent, and now Lance isn't laughing.

19- llévame si quieres by kalakauuas

Shiro takes his dogs to the park and meets the world’s cutest uncle and his niece.

"Lance and his little niece, petting Shiro’s dog, looking soft and serene; it’s like nothing could ever be truly wrong in the world if this is able to happen. What Shiro wouldn’t give to have this sight in front of him over and over again. He scratches Sirius behind the ears, and gets a reassuring lick in return as an act of solidarity. You’ve got this. Man’s best friend, for real."

20- (Mg,Fe2+)2(Mg,Fe2+)5Si8O22(OH)2 by starboyshiro

Lance and Shiro decided to expand their little family and adopt a dog. What they name him is rather questionable.

21- You're Worth More by AbandonedLibrary

Lance wanted to prove his pod his worth after that jackass rolo came in with black pearls in hand.

As the pearl expert in the group he needed to keep his name sake.

Though... Lance learned there are things worth more than pretty pearls.

22- Curiosity Caught a Cat by c0cunt

Shiro has been distancing himself from his friends and family for a long time. All he really has now is Matt's cat, Zekrom. At least, until a man crashes into his balcony to pet his cat.

23- Head Over Heels by saecchii [Kemonomimi and Explicit]

Shiro gains a new roommate, who he is absolutely smitten with.

24- Stray Cats by kitausu

Lance is really enamored with the cute guy who keeps coming into his pet store and buying WAY too much cat food.

or, Shiro moves into a new apartment and sees how many strays there are in the parking lot and just HAS to feed them.

25- Kiss the Bees by kitausu

Lance is smitten with the beekeeper next door.

26- BlueVoice by kitausu [Explicit]

Lance runs a relatively popular voice RP blog and one day hears his own voice coming out of the headphones of the really hot guy next to him at the gym.

27- Change of Plans by kitausu

When Shiro is left at the alter, he decides to go on his honeymoon alone. Enter Lance, the man Shiro had hired to take him and his would-be bride on a month long tour of Europe.

28- To The Grooms by AChapterCanBeABook

There is no better way to celebrate the best day of your life than reminiscing with the people who you love the most and who have been with you through nearly every step in your life. Let's not forget a little bit of embarrassment which goes along with best men speeches, especially if your best man is your brother and the other best man is his accomplice in this whole thing. nevertheless, it doesn't fail in livening up a wedding as well as making in just that much more sentimental.

29- Tell the Truth by thesynapticsnap

Lance is bitten by a 'love bug', turning him into a blushing, stammering mess around his crush- Shiro. Shiro helps him deal with the negative side effects, learning more about Lance's crush and considering his own feelings as they talk.

30- Guess Again by thesynapticsnap

Keith confronts Lance about something he witnessed during a team mind-melding exercise…too bad he’s got the wrong culprit.

31- Smooth by thesynapticsnap

Lance’s first meeting with Shiro doesn’t go as planned – it turns out so much better than he expected.

32- Blind Date by kitausu

“What’s the crisis? I thought you had a blind date? Didn’t go well?”

Lance wailed, collapsing into the couch with a dramatic sigh.

“Yesss, Hunk. He’s too handsome. He’s just so hot. You would not believe what he did to me. I still can’t believe it.”

or, Lance goes on a blind date and can't handle how hot Shiro is.

33- SandMan by Might_suck_but_thats_ok

Shiro goes on a blind date with Lance.

34- Lucky by zombiegardener

Shiro accidentally tells Keith that he's dating one of his frenemies from high school over a Saturday morning phone call, because how is this his life?

35- Boundaries by zombiegardener

It's really hard to keep a relationship secret when you're making out in the middle of a hallway.

36- beauty queen on the silver screen (living life like i'm in a dream) by heavenlyrare

What do you give to someone who already holds the world in their palms?

OR

The sweaters Shiro’s mom knits him every Christmas actually serves a greater purpose for once.

37- Text Me by strawberrylovely

Shiro, trying to get away from two girls who won't stop flirting with him, sits down next to a stranger who he pretends is his boyfriend. The stranger, who has pretty blue eyes, goes along with it.

38- Undateable by strawberrylovely

Lance just wishes someone would date him. Shiro offers to do just that.

39- Black Friday by strawberrylovely

Lance is gonna get that stand mixer. Unless of course a handsome stranger gets to it first.

40- Midnight Tradition by strawberrylovely

Lance goes to a New Years party and meets a guy named Shiro. They may be strangers, but they kiss at midnight anyway. After the party, Lance doesn’t think he’ll ever see Shiro again. That is until the next New Years party when the two meet again and a tradition starts.

Parts 1 / 2 / 3

[theydontknowaboutusimagines]

Behind The Marriage - Harry Styles Mini Series (Part 25)

Part 24

Harry was already gone to a meeting by the time you had woken up. Your belly was growing a bit more rapidly now, or at least it seemed to be. It was getting harder to hide it, so you sort of stoped trying. It’s not like you were going out of your way to flaunt it or show it off, but you weren’t exactly trying to not hide it. 

When you got out of bed, you reached your arms up, stretching before walking into the bathroom. You were so glad to be over the morning sickness and constantly feeling a little nauseous at all times. You started feeling a little more like yourself, which meant you wanted to go out and do more on a daily basis. 

After washing your face and brushing your teeth, you walked over to the closet, changing into a pair of leggings and a comfortable top before putting on your sneakers. You brushed through your hair before throwing it up into a large bun and headed downstairs. You grabbed a banana and filled up a water bottle. 

It was a beautiful day, so you had decided to go for a light morning walk around the neighborhood. You missed being active and going to the gym, so this was helping a little bit. Although, now that you were feeling a little bit better, you hoped you’d be able to get back into a routine. 

You put your phone in your pocket, putting your sunglasses on, and headed outside. 

**

By the time you finished your walk and made it back to the house, Harry had pulled into the driveway carrying a huge bag of breakfast. 

“Hey, baby,” he smiled kissed your head. “And babies,” he smiled putting his hand to your belly. 

“Hey, how was the meeting?” You asked. 

“Great,” he said. “James is doing another Late Late Show in London in a few weeks. He wants me to be apart of a skit.” 

“Oh, that’s sounds fun,” you said. “Would it be an interview also?” 

He shook his head pulling the contents of the bag out onto the counter, “No, just the skit. There’s nothing really going on with me right now to where I’d need an interview,” he laughed. 

“Well, technically,” you joked rubbing your belly. 

“Touché,” he laughed pointing at you. 

“Speaking of that,” he added. “Feeling good today?” 

“I am,” you smiled. “And I’ll feel even better once I eat this food.” 

Harry laughed as you both sat down for breakfast. 

“So, when is the taping?” You asked with a bit of food in your mouth. 

“Uh, what was that?” He laughed. 

“Sorry,” you giggled. “When is the taping for the skit? Do you know what it is?” 

“All he said was it’s a competition,” he said. 

“Let me guess that’s when he had you?” you joked. 

“Pretty much,” he laughed. 

Once you were finished with breakfast, you both cleaned up a bit before you went upstairs to take a shower. You had gotten inside once the water was warm, standing under the shower head. You closed your eyes letting the water get your face, when you felt arms wrapping around your belly. 

“I really hope you’re my husband and not some random person who broke in, hit my husband over the head and is joining me in the shower,” you said. 

“You really have to stop watching those True Crime Shows on Netflix,” Harry shook his head. 

“Hey! They’re intriguing,” you defended. 

“Anyway, since we’ve established that I am, in fact, your husband, let me help you with your shower,” he smiled. 

Harry reached over for the shampoo and poured some into the palm of his hand. You closed your eyes as you felt his hands in your hair. When he was done, you stood back under the shower, rinsing out the shampoo. Next, he grabbed the body wash and you could see a smirk on his face. 

You rolled your eyes, “You’re acting like a teenage boy,” you giggled. 

“Why do you say that?” He asked innocently. “I’ve done nothing.” 

“Your face,” you laughed. “There’s this not so innocent smirk on your face.” 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said. 

“So, then you wouldn’t mind if I took over from here?” you asked taking the bottle of his hand. 

“Hey! I’m trying to help here,” he whined pulling the bottle out of your reach. “Ugh, fine maybe I am a little happy about this, but is it so wrong to want to touch my beautiful wife’s naked body?” 

“No,” you smirked. “Carry on.” 

**

It was the day of the Late Late Show taping and you were able to attend. You still weren’t sure what the skit was going to be about, but knowing James and Harry, you couldn’t miss it. You just hoped you didn’t go into early labor from laughing so hard. 

“What are you doing?” Harry asked watching you pack an extra iPhone charger. 

“Oh, nothing... just want to be prepared,” you said innocently. 

“For?” He asked. 

“In case there are some moments I want to be able to relive over and over and over again,” you said simply. 

“You love watching me do stupid shit, don’t you?” He asked. 

“Yep,” you smirked. “I’m pretty sure I fell in love with you after watching a compilation video of you falling on youtube.” 

“I’m not sure if I should take that as a compliment or be offended,” he said following you to the car. 

“Well, you got me, so must be a compliment,” you smirked. 

He laughed opening the door for you, kissing your forehead. 

When you got to the secret location for the filming, you followed Harry inside, holding his hand. 

You smiled wrapping your hand around his arm, “So, are you going to tell me what the skit is finally?” 

“And ruin the surprise?” He smirked. “You’ll just have to wait and see, love.” 

You rolled your eyes, “I’ll make sure to have my phone ready.” 

“My biggest fan,” he joked.

“Always,” you smiled kissing his cheek. 

“So, I had this weird dream/nightmare last night,” he said, once you two were in his dressing room. 

“About?” You asked sitting down on the couch. 

“That our babies, hating my music,” he groaned. “Like I played them some of my music and they just stared at me like I was the biggest loser ever.” 

You put your hand over your mouth, trying to keep from laughing. “I’m sorry- what?” 

“Don’t laugh! It was traumatizing!” he exclaimed. 

“You know most people’s nightmares that traumatize them or like a Zombie chasing them or going to work naked, not... that,” you giggled. 

He groaned, sitting back in the chair, “Well, what if they don’t like it! What if they think dear ole dad is uncool.” 

“Okay, but don’t most children think that of their dads?” You laughed. “Besides I’m pretty sure you have plenty of Dad jokes saved up to prove their point.” 

“You’re not helping, Y/N!” He whined. 

“Harry, they’re babies! Babies that aren’t even born yet, so you still got a few years before you have to really worry about that,” you said. 

“I know, I know,” he said. 

You got up, walking over to him, “Our babies are going to love you and think you’re the best Daddy ever, so don’t worry, okay?” you smiled. 

He smiled putting his hands on your belly, “I love you.” 

“Is that for me or the babies?” you giggled. 

“Both,” he smiled. “I love all three of you.” 

“Wow,” you whispered. “We’re going to be a family of four...” 

“Yeah, we are,” he smiled. “And I can’t wait.” 

You smiled wrapping your arms around his neck and pressing your lips against his.