#”uh hey so I might have created a Cookie can you help me hide her?”

[quibbs126]

Random thing that just popped in my head, but White Lily Cookie was at one point experimenting with making Cookies, no?

And in Ovenbreak, Matcha Cookie is stated to have been made by someone, but they forgot a crucial ingredient that made her weird, right?

So what if in Kingdom, Matcha Cookie was White Lily’s creation, but one that she made incorrectly, hence why she’s the way she is? And for whatever reason since, White Lily has abandoned her?

[theobsessedcookiefan]

I promised lol

:ﾟ･*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:

❀•°•═════ஓ๑♡๑ஓ═════•°•❀

Part three. Investigation of a cookie.

"But that's not right!" One of the little ones was genuinely horrified by the story. "Yes! Aren't witches supposed to protect us?" Another asked in a trembling voice.

"Yes yes, that's what I'm getting at, now hush and pay attention." The old cookie said, continuing the story.

❀•°•═════ஓ๑♡๑ஓ═════•°•❀

"O-Oh." Y/N muttered, taking a few steps back as she thought about what her teacher had told her. "Well.. I.. I have to study! Yeah, that, lots of homework and practice to achieve the love potion.... Good night." And with that the younger witch hurried out, heading up the stairs to her room.

Once inside she locked the door and left Blueberry Milk on the table, waiting for some sort of word from him while she made sure no one was spying on them. "Uh.. Are you okay?" He asked her with some concern, after all hearing that one of your creators didn't appreciate you and would eliminate you without a thought was.. Uh.. Discouraging to say the least, but he wouldn't let that happen so easily, he was going to protect his friends and himself from that fate, no matter the cost. "Ah! Yeah, I'm fine, I was just surprised that's all." Blueberry Milk said with a wave of his hand, downplaying the matter; he knew very well how to hide his true feelings for the sake of himself and others. "Are you sure?.. That's not very nice to hear.." Said the apprentice witch as she ducked her head, thinking about what they should do next. "Hey I think you should go, you're not safe here you know-" She continued to which the blue cookie quickly denied. "No! I need to find a way for our SoulJams not to merge with our body, if we find a way for that not to happen you can show it to your teacher and then they won't have to... You know-" He made a motion of squeezing something with his hand. Y/N doubted that, she wasn't exactly the best at magic, she was barely creating potions after all! But her friend was asking for her help, it would be cruel not to give it.

"This is a crazy plan." Y/N said as she walked down to the warehouse with a Blueberry Milk Cookie sitting on her shoulder. "Hey! I proposed that you come in during the day, not in the middle of the night!" The cookie replied, pointing to the moonlight coming in through a window. "Oh because clearly they would let me come in with you by my side right? I'd walk in greeting everyone and when they asked for you I'd say you were a hallucination of theirs, besides, I'm not allowed to be here, I'm barely a level two apprentice and this place is for level ten's!" She opened the door very carefully not to make any sound and entered, looking for the ingredients that his friend was telling him. "No, not that one, look for the one that says magically burnt. I think that one might work. Yes, that one, the one on top."

Once they had gathered everything they needed, they put it in the bag that the witch was carrying while she let out a sigh of relief, it had been easy! Now all that was left was to get out of the warehouse. "And how do you know what we needed?" She asked as she went up the stairs, being careful not to throw anything out of the bag and not to knock Blueberry Milk who was still on her shoulder. "Well, I previously told you: I am the virtue of knowledge! I know a thing or two about magic!" He sounded rather proud of himself so the apprentice just chuckled under her breath. "In that case you should teach me, don't you think?" Him? Teaching someone else?... He hadn't thought about it before, maybe he'd make a good teacher! Who knows, he might even like it.

Upon reaching the top floor Y/N noticed several students who while trying to sneak out of the tower had seen her going up. "Y/N, weren't you supposed to be one of the responsible students?" One of them asked mockingly, luckily it was dark so she was able to put Blueberry Milk in the bag with everything else, not without a small noise of surprise on his part of course. "Hey!" "A-Ah.. Yeah, well once a year doesn't hurt, besides this is for exams.... Yeah.. Exams." She muttered as she walked upstairs more quickly, hiding everything the bag had. Once in her room she padlocked the door shut again and for good measure put a chair blocking the door.

"Phew- that was close. Magic team does it again!" Y/N said as she placed the bag carefully on the table and opened it. "Are you okay in there? I think I hid you too quickly-" She apologized for that as the cookie came out with shaky steps. "Yes.. I forget that I weigh absolutely nothing to you- wait- magic team?" He said and sat down on a book, trying to recover a little from the dizziness caused by the sudden movement. "Yeah! We do magic and we're working together, magic team! And I'm really sorry- but I couldn't let them see you you know? Who knows what they would have done, they're pretty cruel when they want to be and I honestly wouldn't want anything to happen to you."

Hearing one of the beings you might consider divine to your species say that he cared about the welfare of someone so insignificant (from the cookie's point of view) was a bit odd and it made him avert his gaze with some embarrassment, shifting his feet a bit. "Well it's nice to know that at least someone of you do care.." The blue cookie shook his head and as best he could helped Y/N take the stuff out of the bag, once everything was out he remained thoughtful, how would he get it to his studio? Carrying it would be too much, they were giant bottles, too heavy to carry in one trip, ask the witch for help? Out of the question, the chaos it could cause at home would be disastrous, besides someone could follow her and give away the position to the teacher, he could stay to create what was needed right there but it would be too risky for him to disappear for so long, the only option would be to return home and instruct the apprentice by means of letters that a candy bird could carry. "Uhm.. Listen, I know I've asked a lot of you and you've risked too much for me but, could you perform the experiment?" That question to Blueberry Milk sounded like he was asking her to gouge her eye out or something. "Ah! Me?! Look, I really want to help you but- I couldn't, I can barely get the love potion to go to stage two, I don't think I can create the solution to the corruption of something as powerful as the Soul Jams-..." That was something he could understand, after all he himself doubted his own abilities sometimes and it would certainly be difficult. But here the difference would be that in this case he would be supporting him. "I'll show you how! I'll send you letters explaining everything in detail, you won't do it on your own! Besides you'll be able to do it, you have a great talent inside you, I can feel how the magic flows naturally in you, you just have to stop doubting so much. Magic is a type of art, you need to find your own style!" Those words came out with such sincerity and confidence that Y/N was inspired by that same feeling, could she do it? Of course she could! "All right! I'll do what you teach me, besides I wouldn't want anything to happen to you or your friends!"

❀•°•═════ஓ๑♡๑ஓ═════•°•❀

[diegos-butt]

A trip to the grocery store

Summary: The fridge is empty, so a trip to the supermarket is inevitable. The only problem? Walter isn't in the mood to behave. 👀

Walter Marshall x Melody Williams (Curvy/Plus size OFC)

I didn't mention her name (he calls her doll y'all) so you could see this as a reader insert I guess!

Warnings: Walter being a cheeky bastard. Walter being a little touchy. Cute ass behaviour 🍑 (pun intented, you'll understand later)

Wordcount: 3k

A/N: Wooohooooo!!!! In celebration of reaching 🎉100 followers🎉, I’m posting this fic as a thank you! Thank you all!! 🥺

This is written for my babies from Electricity, but you can read it without having read that. I make a few references to the first chapter, but they’re explained so you’ll get in anyway. 😘

•••

“No, let’s just stay home!” Walter whined. “We can just order take out tonight!” He looked at me from the couch with puppy eyes.

“Walter, take a look at the fridge. That thing is empty, and you eat for like three people,” I said with my hand on my hip, in my other hand I waved with the car keys. It had been a busy week, and we both didn’t had time to run errands. “We need to go to the grocery store, and you know it.”

“I don’t eat that much,” he grumbled.

“Yes, you do. And again, you know it,” I shot back. “Now get that thick ass of the couch.”

Faster than the speed of light he stood up. Standing behind me he grabbed my hips. “Look who’s saying that,” he growled. I laughed and swayed my butt against my boyfriend.

“Not now Walter, first groceries,” I turned around and winked at him. Quickly I walked away and grabbed my phone from the dining table and shoved it in the pocket of my jeans. He sighed loudly behind me, but he gave in. I walked to the hallway and grabbed his shoes, which I threw at him.

“No need to be so violent doll, might get you in trouble,” he warned. He tied his shoelaces and grabbed his wallet from the dining table.

“Might be looking for some trouble detective.” I waited by the door, and after one final warning glance at Walter, he walked towards me. He stepped close, pressed his forehead against mine before he kissed me deeply. His hands wandered over my butt. With a gasp I broke the kiss, and pressed my hands against his chest, creating a little space between us.

“I really can’t convince you to just stay home uh?” he asked and tried to pull me closer again.

I shook my head and grabbed his hand while I opened the door and pulled him outside with me. “Damn right.”

“A woman on a mission, those are the dangerous ones,” he mumbled underneath his breath.

“What was that?” I looked at him while narrowing my eyes.

“Nothing doll,” he grinned. We walked towards the car. It was a soft, spring day, no need for a jacket or coat. Walter was wearing one of his characteristic grey sweaters, and I was wearing a blue deep vee blouse with high rise jeans.

I was about to open the driver’s side when Walter snatched the car keys out of my hands.

“Hey!” I exclaimed.

“I’m driving,” he simply stated. He placed his hand on the small of my back and escorted me to the passenger’s side. He opened the door and gestured me to get in. I huffed but did what he wanted. After he closed my door, and took his seat behind the driver’s wheel, I could see the smug grin on his face.

Soon after we had left the house, Walter parked the car in the parking lot of the grocery store. I opened the door and heard him groan next to me. Quickly, I stepped out and shut the door. He looked at me, his eyes begging me to let him stay in the car. While shaking my head, I walked around the car and opened his door.

“The quicker we do this, we quicker we are home again,” I told him.

“Do we even have a list? Do we even know what we need?” he said as he climbed out of the car. We walked towards the entrance and I grabbed a cart. Well, he walked a few steps behind me.

“Uh, no? We know what we need right?” I turned around and didn’t miss his eyes leaving my butt. He gave me a cheeky grin and came to stand beside me.

“Well, this is going to be fun.” He put an arm around my shoulder and ushered me inside. “Not having a list means I can put everything I want in the cart.” The grin on his face grew even wider.

“Good luck with throwing me in the cart. I’m all you want right?” I couldn’t hide the smile that formed on my face. “Now, come on. We’re just going to walk through all the aisles, alright?”

He sighed beside me, but I ignored it and made my way to the first aisle. While putting a few items we needed in the cart, we discussed what else we needed. I thought he finally came around, and he would stop whining. I was wrong. Oh boy, what was I wrong.

While I pushed the cart through the next aisle, he suddenly left my side and walked further into the aisle. I furrowed my eyebrows, but continued shopping. A few seconds later he came back with his hands behind him.

“Oh no, what did you get?” I asked and tried to give him a stern look.

“Nothing baby, absolutely nothing,” he responded. The look on his face told me something else. I turned around to grab something, and when I turned back, I noticed something that wasn’t in the cart before.

“Walt, what is this?” I said as I picked up the box he had obviously threw in when I couldn’t see it. “You’re going to make a cake? Since when do you bake? You cook, you don’t bake.” I cocked an eyebrow.

“I feel like eating cake. So why not make one!”

“Alright, fine, but no more unnecessary things okay?” I sighed in defeat. “What else do you need to make this?”

“See, that’s the best part. You only have to add water.” He came to stand behind me and put his hands on my hips. Slowly his hands started to wander lower.

“This cake is going to be disgusting, you know that right?” He pressed his body against mine and hummed. I was having a hard time to not give in to his body heat, and just stay there like that for a couple minutes. But I came back to my senses. I turned around and slapped him on his chest.

“Focus baby, we are not even halfway through the store. If you would just cooperate with me here, we could be home way quicker,” I said and pushed the cart away from him. He sighed behind me. Nevertheless, he followed me to the next aisle.

I stood in front of all kinds of soup, debating with myself which one I wanted, when I felt a large hand squeeze my ass.

“Walter!” I sissed.

“What’s wrong baby, it’s just us in this aisle,” he chuckled. I looked around and we were indeed the only two people in the aisle.

“How wonderful.” I rolled my eyes. “But get that hand off my ass sir. We are in public.”

However, he did not remove his hand. Instead, he came to stand in front of me, blocking my view from the cans of soup. His other hand grabbed my ass as well and he smirked at me. Slowly he leant forward and placed a chaste kiss on my left cheek. Then, he placed a kiss on my right cheek. His beard scraping my face.

“What is going on baby?” I chuckled and grabbed his face between my hands. He looked at me with his big blue puppy eyes and gave me a sweet kiss on my soft lips.

“I just want to go home and show you how much I like this big butt of yours.” He squeezed my ass another time and gave me a kiss.

“Well, if you would let me go, we could continue shopping. The quicker we finish shopping, the quicker you can show me that,” I said. I grabbed his hands and pulled them off my butt. “I have told you that before!”

He shook his head and groaned. Laughing, I started to walk away. Quickly, he followed me and slapped my bum before jogging off. Before he was out of the aisle, he looked over his shoulder and shot me a cheeky grin.

I continued colleting the necessary items, without Walter by my side. Where is he and what is he doing? The answer to that became clear when he came into my sight again, with his arms full of groceries. Smiling, he walked towards me and dumped all of it in the cart.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“Since you wanted to hurry up, I went ahead and collected some items myself. You know, to speed this up,” he answered. I looked at the items he picked.

“You think we need a block of cheese that big?” I wondered while I looked at a giant block of cheese.

“I like cheese, you like cheese. We definitely need it,” he stated. “I also grabbed the things we need for dinner tonight and tomorrow, so I’m helping big time you right now.”

“You better be cooking as well,” I mumbled. “Alright, but do we need that much candy?” I held up at least 5 different packs. He simply shrugged his shoulders and freed them from my hands and put them back in the cart. He kissed my cheek and mumbled ‘yes we do’.

“Oh boy. Well, we do need the chocolate,” I said and pointed to the chocolate bars he picked. I wanted to move along when I felt his hand on my bum again.

“Why aren’t you wearing that cute skirt you bought the other day?” he asked and placed his head on my shoulder. I was thanking the gods that there weren’t many people doing groceries at that moment. It was just us, some employees and a few other customers.

“I thought you liked my butt in these jeans,” I pouted.

“Oh, I do, trust me, I do,” he said, and checked out my behind very obviously. “But the skirt has easy access.” The last part he whispered in my ear with a low, deep voice. A shiver went down my spine and I giggled.

“Walter, seriously, behave. I will have to leave your ass behind otherwise.”

“That would be a shame, considering how much you like my ass,” he smirked.

“You know what. You need to go do something. Why don’t you find those cookies Faye likes, we’re out of them,” I suggested. I had to give him something do to, otherwise he would just linger around me, making shopping a little harder. He groaned, but took his hand of my bum and walked away.

My eyes followed him; he did have an amazing ass. I shook my head and focussed on doing groceries again. I was almost done, just one more aisle. I made my way through the last one when Walter appeared again, with three boxes of cookies in his hands.

“Before you tell me we don’t need all of these, we do,” he began. He placed the boxes in the cart and held his hands up in the air.

“Please tell me why,” I sighed.

“First of all, these are Faye her favourite cookies.” He pointed at one of the boxes. “And these are mine.” He pointed at another box. “And these doll, are yours.” He pointed at the last box with a large smile on his face. He was right, those were indeed my favourite cookies.

“I don’t think we need three boxes, but I don’t feel like arguing with you now so it’s fine,” I said and placed my hand on his bicep. I felt the muscle flex a little, and I cocked an eyebrow at him. “Show off.”

“What? You like it that I’m strong right?” He was now obviously flexing his muscles. I laughed and removed my hand. He placed one of his hands on the small of my back instead, and it slowly travelled down.

“Oh, look. We are in the cereal aisle!” I exclaimed, suddenly realizing we stood at the place we first met. I remembered that moment. I was zoned out, when he suddenly reached around me to grab a box of cereal while I was doing the same. We bumped into each other, and when I looked into those blue eyes, I knew I was in trouble.

He smiled at me and placed a kiss on my lips. He tried to deepen the kiss when we heard a cough behind us. An older woman walked past us with a scolding look. We chuckled, and watched her leave the aisle, which was now empty.

I turned to look at the boxes of cereal and realized the one I wanted was placed at the top of the high shelf. There was only one box left, which was placed all the way to the back. I tried to reach it, even stood on my toes, but I couldn’t. I was surprised, normally I could reach anything.

Suddenly, Walter came to stand behind me and wrapped an arm around my waist. With his other arm, he grabbed the box of cereal and threw it in the cart. While he did that, he pressed his body flush against mine. Why and how is he so warm.

He didn’t step back, no, he brushed my hair to the side, creating access to my neck. Gently, he placed kisses up my neck and behind my ear. I had to contain myself to not moan out loud. His hand travelled down to my butt, again, and squeezed it.

“Not right now baby, come on.” Quickly, I turned around and pushed him away a little. He gave me the puppy eyes. “No, don’t make me feel bad! We are almost done! When we get home, you can give me all the kisses you want.” I pressed my lips to his.

“Fine, fine. What else do we need?” Walter ran his hands through his curls and sighed in defeat.

“Uhm, let me think,” I said and pushed the cart out of the aisle. “Oh, we need toilet paper!”

“We’re already out of that?” he wondered.

“Walter, you don’t only eat for three, you also-” I couldn’t finish my sentence because he interrupted me.

“Yeah, yeah. There is something called a little too much information doll.”

“Why don’t you go get that and meet me in the fruit section. Go be useful.” I said and gave him a sweet smile.

“Anything for you doll. And as I recall, I was pretty useful between those thick thighs of yours last night,” he snickered. I gasped and tried to come up with a witty comeback. Before I could he walked away, slapping my ass in the process.

“Hey!” I yelled as he laughingly walked away.

I made my way towards the fruit section and picked up a few apples. I placed them in a little plastic bag, so I wouldn’t drop them. I had learned from my mistakes in the past. Smiling I thought back at the day I met Walter. While we bumped into each other in the cereal aisle, I was carrying a few apples that I dropped.

“Try not to drop those doll,” Walter said as he showed up beside me again. He placed the toilet paper in the cart and wrapped an arm around my waist.

“Dropping them in the first place made you fall for me.” I winked at him and laughed. “Maybe that’s my way of seducing men.”

“Men? Only one man you need to seduce honey and you’re already doing a pretty good job with that,” he whispered in my ear, and placed a sweet kiss behind it.

“Uh, that’s good to know. That means you’re attracted to me even though I live in your sweaters and baggy sweatpants,” I said and leaned back against him. He nuzzled his face in my neck. His beard tickled me, making me chuckle.

“How could I not be attracted to you? Look at you doll,” he growled. His hand wandered lower and squeezed my butt.

“Oh my God, can’t you just wait until we’re home?” I pleaded. “We only need some more fruit, and then we can go home.”

He laughed, slapped my ass, and walked over to grab two melons. “I know two other melons I prefer,” he smirked and wiggled his eyebrows.

I covered my eyes with my hand. “Mine are not nearly that big.” I tried not to smile but failed horribly. He placed the melons in the cart, winked at me, and pushed the cart towards the cash registers.

While we paid for the groceries, Walter couldn’t stop touching me, he kept smacking my bum. Finally, we reached the car and loaded the groceries in the trunk.

“I’m going to take a nap when we’re home. You are being very exhausting today,” I said as Walter closed the trunk.

“In that case, I’m going to take that nap with you. You are being very exhausting yourself as well. Dragging me all the way here to do groceries while we could have ordered take out. You’re evil,” he teased. He fished the car keys out of the pocket of his jeans and stepped closer to me to press a kiss to my cheek. I saw my opportunity and grabbed the keys from his hand. Quickly, I opened the door on the driver’s side, and crawled behind the wheel.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” he yelled. Before I could close the door, he stood next to me. One hand on top of the roof, and one hand on top of the door. He looked at me with a cocked eyebrow. “I’m driving.”

“No, you are not driving. In fact, I’m driving. We both know I’m the better driver between us,” I teased and smiled at him.

“Yeah right,” he muttered, but he closed the car door and walked around it to take place on the passengers’ seat.

“I know you like it when I drive, so don’t pretend you don’t like this baby,” I said as I drove off. I looked to my right, and saw he was fighting the smile that formed on his face.

“If we are really going to take a nap, can I use your butt as my pillow?” he asked with a mischievous grin. He placed his hand on my thigh, and I interlaced my fingers with his.

“Fine, but I’ll get to be the little spoon tonight.”

•••

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[c-is-writing]

i do adore

pairing: wanda maximoff x gn!reader

genre: f l u f f

word count: 1775

warnings: yet again, i did not proofread this lmao. i am just typing whatever comes to my mind. otherwise, it’s just really fluffy so pls enjoy!!

a/n: good morning, i am writing this at 1am. i should be working on my college apps but this fic was just living in my mind rent-free and would not leave until i wrote it. also, this fic is inspired by and has lyrics from a song called “i do adore” by mindy gledhill. it’s a really cute song :’DD

Everything you do, it sends me

Higher than the moon with every

Twinkle in your eye

You strike a match that lights my heart on fire

 Ever since you had joined the Avengers, a certain brunette always caught your eye. You’d find yourself paying more attention to her than anyone else. At this moment, you lean against the kitchen counter, completely entranced by the way she spoke animatedly to Natasha. The way her hair cascaded down her shoulders. The way she waved her hands around, using her actions to emphasize what she’s saying. How the kitchen lights gleamed in her eyes, illuminating them. 

God, she’s so cute. And smart. And genuine. And caring. I- “Hello? Y/N? You there?” You are quickly brought out of your thoughts as a grimy hand waved in front of your face, blocking your view of Wanda. Your face scrunches up in disgust as you grip Tony’s grease-covered hand to stop it from moving, only to release it immediately after. Smiling, Wanda watches you glance at your now-dirty hands and start searching for a towel, careful not to get anything else dirty. You mumble, “Yeah, yeah. Sorry, just..distracted.”  

Natasha notices that the young girl’s attention is elsewhere and decides to put a pause on the conversation. As she bids her goodbyes, Wanda takes it as her cue to head over to where you were, crouched next to the cabinets, searching for soap. “Need help?” The melody of her words steals your attention as you turn your head, meeting her blue eyes. Suddenly, your heart begins to pound and you can hear the heartbeats in your ears. At a loss for words, you shake your head and quickly rush out of the kitchen, not caring about your dirty hands. Wanda just stands in the kitchen alone, wondering about what just happened.

 When you're near, I hide my blushing face

And trip on my shoelaces

Grace just isn't my forté

But it brings me to my knees when you say

Hello, how are you, my darling, today?

I fall into a pile on the floor

 It’s been only a day since the kitchen incident and that’s when you realized that you, Y/N L/N, have a crush on the one and only Wanda Maximoff. Groaning and draping your arm over your eyes, you ask seemingly no one “Oh, God. What if she doesn’t like me back?” You’re lying in bed, staring at the ceiling as you begin to think about her. You like, maybe even love, everything about her. Flashes of her laughs and smiles run through your head, like cars on a freeway until a knock on your door disturbs you. It creaks open and you have yet to remove your arm that’s covering your eyes. 

You feel the bed dip as you hear the voice you’ve grown to love, “Hey, how are you, darling? It seemed like you weren’t feeling well yesterday.” Feeling the blood rush to your cheeks, you bury your face into the pillow as you slowly melt into it. In a muffled voice, “I’m fine, Wans. I think I’m just tired.” She knows that there’s something you’re not telling her but she refrains from looking into your thoughts. “Okay, well, I just wanted to let you know that breakfast is ready.” and with that she gets up and leaves the room, closing the door behind her.  

Sighing, you sit up and start getting ready for the day. Your mind can’t stop thinking about the way she called you darling, causing you to fumble with everything you come into contact with. In your flustered state, you nearly drop your phone, accidentally put on mismatching socks, and trip over yourself as you open the door. Quickly composing yourself, you take a breath and start heading towards breakfast. Oh boy, what a start to my morning.

 We're as different as can be

I've noticed you're remarkably relaxed

And I'm overly uptight

We balance out each other nicely

 “Y/N?! When’s the last time you took a break?”

“Uhhh, I’m not sure...but I just have so much paperwork to complete, I can’t really afford to take a break.”

“Nope. You’re taking one right now. Your health and sanity is more important than some paperwork.”

“But, Wans, I-”

“No buts. I’m going to a café and I’m dragging you with me”

Admitting defeat, you place the pen in your hand down and mark out where you stopped. Your joints crack as you rise up from the chair that you’ve been sitting in for almost 8 hours. Wanda gives you a smile and holds her hand out, signaling for you to take it. Gently taking a hold of her hand, she pulls you along with her, not noticing how clammy they are. 

A few minutes after you leave the compound, you readjust your grip on her hand to interlace each others’ fingers. As you walk at a steady rhythm, you feel more relaxed, all of the stress from the paperwork leaving your body. Wanda takes note of how your shoulders aren’t as tense and you seem to be enjoying yourself. She carefully looks over your figure; how the sun reflects in your eyes, bringing out their color, how the wind gently ruffles your hair, how you sigh contently when you lean your head against her shoulder. 

“Thanks for bringing me out here.” She squeezes your hand, “Of course, Y/N. I care about you. Plus, it looked like you really needed a break from that hellish paperwork.” Laughing at her comment, you don’t notice how Wanda looks at you as if you were a masterpiece in an art gallery; her eyes, full of adoration.

 Puppy love is hard to ignore

When every little thing you do, I do adore

 Arriving at the café shortly after, Wanda holds the door open for you as you step in, the smell of coffee beans and gingerbread floating through the air. She giggles as your eyes light up when they spot the gingerbread cookies on display. You turn your head to face her, offering a shy smile that sends butterflies into her stomach. Walking up to the counter, you realize that you aren’t holding hands anymore so you slowly link your pinky with hers, hoping that she’ll get the message. As she orders your guys’ drinks and a gingerbread cookie for you, she feels your finger hook on to hers. While the barista finalizes the order, Wanda releases your pinky finger, only to reattach her hand to yours, interlocking fingers once more. 

After paying, you opt to sit at a table next to a large window with plants placed along the windowsill. Wanda looks at the outside world, lost in her thoughts as she unconsciously brushes her thumb against your knuckles in a soothing motion. You take this time to commit this moment to memory -- Wanda watching the cars pass by as the golden sunset behind her creates a glowing aura surrounding her body. Spending a few more seconds basking in this quiet moment with her, you realize that you want more than what you have with her. You want to wake up next to her. You want to be the shoulder that she cries on. You want to be the person whose arms hold her up and protect her when she is too tired to do so. You want to be hers. 

Hearing her name being called, Wanda pries her eyes away from the cars and sees you staring at her with eyes full of adoration and love. She gives your hand a light squeeze and promises to be back as she heads to the counter to pick up the drinks and cookie. As she returns with the drinks in hand, you graciously take yours and, with a child-like excitement, ask “Is that for me?” when you notice the gingerbread cookie in her hand. Giggling at your reaction, she tells you yes and slides it over to you. 

 Finding words, I mutter

Tongue-tied, twisted

Foot in mouth, I start to stutter

Ha, ha, Heaven help me

The two of you fall into an effortless conversation that never stops until the café reaches its closing hours. You notice the time and can’t believe that you’ve been talking for nearly three hours with Wanda. As you apologize to the employees for staying so late, Wanda has a fond smile and reaches out for your hand. Grabbing her hand, you step outside and begin your walk back to the compound. For a majority of the walk, it’s quiet with the gentle tapping of your shoes on the sidewalk and occasional car passing by. You keep thinking about Wanda and how much you want to be with her. Wanda glances over, only to see you spaced out, thoughts swirling in your mind. 

“What’s on your mind, Y/N?” 

“Aren’t you able to read other people’s minds?” you quip. 

She chuckles and says, “Yes, but I would never read your mind without consent.” You pause, debating on whether or not you should tell her. Noticing your sudden silence, Wanda tilts her head in confusion and stops walking, pulling you back to her. The stop in movement brings you out of your thoughts. You quickly glance down and reach for her hand that’s not being held. Holding both of her hands, you look up to see her eyes, filled with concern. 

“Look, Wans. I-” You sigh and look down at your shoes, unsure of what you want to say. A few moments of silence pass by as you take a deep breath and confess, “Wanda, I really like you. Hell, I might even love you. I love the way your nose scrunches up when you laugh, the way you take care of me and check in on me, the way you control your powers and wield them with such grace. Everything you do, I do adore. And, I just- I...I was wondering if youwouldliketobemygirlfriend?” 

Wanda blinks at you with a dumbfounded expression, “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that last bit.” You hesitate, “Well, I- uh, um...Wanda, would you like to be my girlfriend?” After hearing those words, she flashes you a smile brighter than the sun and pulls you in a hug. “Yes, I would love to be yours, Y/N.” You release the breath you didn’t notice you were holding and stay in her embrace, soaking in the warmth radiating from her body. She pulls away slightly and moves to kiss you, pausing and searching your eyes for permission. With a slight nod, you move closer and meet her lips halfway. I really do adore her.

tag list (marvel) - @imnotasuperhero​

(if you would like to be added to my tag list, please let me know!!! :DD)

[itskateak]

Mint Ice Cream & Bubblegum Kisses - Chapter Three

(Bucky Barnes x Single Dad!Reader)

Series Summary: Y/N L/N works as an intel specialist at the Avenger’s Compound. He scans chatter on the international - and intergalactic - level for any information that might be helpful to the Avengers and other agents. But he’s also a single father to a beautiful eight-year-old girl: Angelica L/N. It’s tough raising a little girl on his own and working a full-time job, but he’s managing. A promotion has him launched up in rank at the Compound, leading him to work directly with the Avengers team. The only problem is it’s a 24/7 job. Life around the compound gets a little strange when his daughter is added to the mix of enhanced humans and ex-assassins.

Chapter Summary: Angelica seems to be settling in nicely and Y/N is still getting used to having his kid around in his workplace. Especially when she's known to be a little mischievous.

Word Count: 2.6

Warnings: Fluff, pranks, like four swear words, discussion of PTSD but it's very brief. Like very brief.

A/N: this is in light of me recently being able to play Black Widow for work. as I said in the last chapter, things will be moving a lot quicker

Masterlist

Taglist is open! PM me, send an ask, or @ me on a chapter to let me know you’d like to be tagged! Strikethrough means I couldn’t tag you, but I will send you a message to let you know :)

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Angelica snuck down the hall toward the common room, trying to keep her steps light or as close to silent as she could get them. She resisted the urge to look up at the ceiling, knowing Peter was just above her. This was a new system they were trying out where Angelica went first as a decoy and Peter would follow for the proper scare.

They had a shared love of harmless pranks and therefore had started a small prank war on the other inhabitants of the compound. At first, it had only been against each other, but they figured out that they could do way more if they teamed up. 

Y/N had warned them not to do anything too bad, knowing how some of the people in the compound were affected by sudden surprises. He'd sat Angelica down and explained what Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was and how what she might perceive as a harmless trick might trigger something or cause a breakdown. 

She had understood and in her very solemn way promised to run her more "fear factor" ideas by him first just to be safe. When he did shut down her ideas, she never argued and dropped the plan. Confuse not abuse was their motto.

Y/N, meanwhile,  was working in his office, watching text scroll across his screen. There was a lot less than when he worked general intel, but that didn't mean he could focus any less. Any small detail could make or break whether the information was crucial or not. Everything that came across his screen was very important, but some things had to be taken note of.

He had mastered reading and writing at the same time, his shorthand notes making no sense to anyone but him. He'd learned that the week before when he passed the intel off to Tony and he just stared blankly at the paper. Now, he translated his notes so others could understand. Sometimes, he couldn't tell what he was meaning to say.

A transmission from The Benatar came through and he pulled his seat closer. It was just a simple message about their whereabouts and where they were headed. Gamora had signed it off, saying that it was nice to meet him and that whenever they stopped by next, they had to properly meet. He wrote down their message before typing a message in response.

Received. Glad to know you all are safe and having fun up there. Stop by anytime you want. My daughter would be overjoyed to meet all of you. 

 - Y/N 

Y/N leaned back in his chair, taking up a pen to make notes as information on underground movements possibly related to Hydra agents flooded in. More bases had been popping up recently, despite Steve's attempts to drag them all down in the past. Instead of being against the Winter Soldier, though, he was with them. Which gave them the upper hand since he knew their inner workings.

A knock on his office door made him glance up. Bruce stood in the doorframe, his knuckles still against the wood of the door. He gave a shy smile. "Am I interrupting?"

"Not at all. Come on in, Bruce." Y/N set his pen down and rolled his chair to the end of his desk. "What can I do you for?"

"I just came by to see how you were settling in. We haven't talked much since you were offered the promotion." Bruce sat tentatively on the couch, looking very unsure of himself. 

"Things have been going well. It's nice of you to stop by, though." Y/N swiveled back and forth casually. "I like having my own office."

"It's great, huh? I have a whole lab to myself most of the time. Tony invades my space once in a blue moon but he has his own lab somewhere else." Bruce relaxed a little, laughing gently. 

"Angelica breaks the peace at least twice a day, but she's my kid so it's not as annoying. Except when I really have to focus. Then I kick her out for a bit." He said with a lopsided grin.

"She wanders into my lab every so often to say hello or ask for help with her science homework. She's lovely." Bruce smiled. "Very bright."

"Yeah, she is...I can't keep up with her at this point. She's going to surpass my skills soon." He chuckled, shaking his head. "Good thing she's got you guys to check her science. I barely passed it in high school."

"Really? I wouldn't have expected that from you." Bruce said.

"I was okay up through my sophomore year but once I hit physics, I lost all understanding. Algebra was never my strong suit, either." Y/N rolled his eyes. Bruce was going to respond when shouting down the hall caught their attention. 

Peter sprinted by the office, yelling over his shoulder: "Every man for himself!"

Angelica was a few seconds behind him and she slid into her father's office. "Hide me! Quick!" She slipped around his desk and curled up underneath it.

"Kiddo, what are you doing?" Y/N asked, giving her an amused look.

"Shhhh!" She shushed him and pressed herself into the corner, covering her mouth to hide her giggles. 

"Peter Benjamin Parker! Angelica Ellaine L/N! Get your butts back here!" Natasha seemed to be the source of the yelling as she stormed down the hall. She paused at the door to the office, leaning casually in the doorframe. "Hey, boys. You seen a tall spider or a little monster recently?"

Angelica shook her head vigorously in her father's peripheral vision. He pretended not to see her, making sure not to look anywhere close to her location. "Snitches don't get cookies." She whispered as quietly as possible.

"What'd she do now?" Y/N asked. He had to uphold the Code. Snitches don't get cookies, and he'd never betray his daughter.

"She tried to jumpscare me and then Peter swung down from the ceiling and scared the hell out of me." Nat folded her arms over her chest. "So, I'm trying to grab both of them to dump them in the pool."

Y/N laughed and shook his head. "I haven't seen her, except for a few seconds ago. She ran by on Pete's heels."

"Bruce, have you seen them?" Nat turned her gaze to the scientist, who suddenly grew visibly nervous. 

"Uh," He glanced at Y/N. "They ran by just a minute ago."

"Uh-huh...Well, I guess I'll just keep looking." Nat pushed off the doorway and started to leave before poking her head back in. "You're still a terrible liar, Bruce." She winked and disappeared.

"Is it safe?" Angelica whispered.

"Yep. Come on out." Y/N rolled back a little bit to give her space to move out. "Good luck out there, kiddo. Watch your back."

"Thank you, Mr. Banner! You deserve a cookie." Angelica smiled at Bruce, the full personification of the smiley-face emoticon. She snuck to the doorway and glanced down the hall before turning the same way Peter had run.

"How long do you think it'll be?" Y/N asked, returning his chair to its proper place.

"Until what?" 

His question was answered by a scream from down the hall that devolved into squealing laughter. There was some indiscernible shouting from three different people.

"Until Nat caught her at the corner." Y/N watched as Nat went running by, laughing, with Angelica thrown over her shoulder.

"Peter! Help! She got me!" Angelica yelled through giggles, hand extended out behind Nat's back.

"Angelica! No!" Peter followed, reaching for her. "Nat, give her back!"

Y/N shook his head fondly as the chaos grew quieter the farther they got. "We're settling in well, as you can see. She's making friends and creating chaos. I'd be worried if she wasn't."

"Did she always play pranks on you?" Bruce asked, smiling uncontrollably.

"On more than one occasion, I found shaving cream in my shoes." Y/N wrinkled his nose up at the memories. He had hated that feeling of shaving cream squeezing between his toes in his socks.

"Gross. She and Peter were bound to get along well, then." Bruce glanced at the clock and got to his feet. "I should let you get back to work. If Angelica has a science or math question, you can totally send her to me."

"Thanks, Bruce. You're a genius." Y/N rolled back over to his work station, shaking his mouse to wake his computer up. 

"I wouldn't say that," Bruce said as he walked backward out of the room, pausing in the doorway.

"Don't sell yourself short, Bruce! You're totally a genius." Y/N pointed with his pen, smiling as he spoke.

Bruce ducked his head sheepishly and nodded before he left the office.

Y/N returned to his screen, pulling his notes back into reach, and scanned the text again. Another couple of hours before lunch.

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"Your kid." Tony suddenly popped in, holding his phone out to show Y/N what was on it. "Your kid keeps changing my phone background."

Y/N looked up and glanced at the screen before bursting into laughter. It was a photo of a sloth dressed as an astronaut. In the past year, she'd managed to change her father's phone background and laptop wallpaper to that stupid sloth photo without his knowledge at least sixteen times. 

"Why?" Tony asked, defeated. "Why is she doing this?"

"She read about someone online who did the same thing to their parents and she took inspiration. I'm happy to see she's moved on to other targets." Y/N shook his head in amusement. "Shouldn't your phone be super secure or something?"

"It is! I don't understand how she keeps doing it. I've changed my password eight times and even had Friday monitor any attempts to hack in." Tony sank down onto the couch, tossing his phone beside him. 

"Well, she definitely can't hack things. She's smart, but not that smart. Usually, a password change will keep her from trying again." Y/N swiveled to the side, head cocked.

"This is the second time today," Tony grumbled, brows furrowed. "I don't get it."

"Well, you're the genius here." Y/N snorted, glancing at his screen again. "If my kid's not the one hacking your phone, who is?"

"Oh, my god," Tony said, standing quickly. He rushed to leave but paused in the door. "You're the genius, Y/N."

Y/N arched a brow in mild intrigue. "Uh-huh. You're welcome?"

Tony flashed a smile before turning. "Peter Benjamin Parker, how many times have I told you not to hack into my stuff!" He shouted as he walked down the hall.

"Kid, you're sowing chaos." Y/N glanced at his daughter curled up under his desk. 

"Huh?" Angelica looked up from her book, confused. "What's going on?"

"Peter hacked Tony's phone and changed his phone background to that astronaut sloth." He responded, returning to his work.

"Oh, Pete didn't do that." She said, turning her page. "Mr. Banner did after seeing us do it. Somethin' about getting back at him for leaving crumbs all over his lab."

Distant yelling floated down the hall to the office. High-pitched 'Mr. Stark, it wasn't me!'s were the only things that could be properly made out. Angelica made eye-contact with her father.

"Should I?" She asked.

"Nah." Y/N said and they both started to snicker. "He's a big boy. He can take care of himself."

Angelica giggled and returned her attention to her book. 

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Y/N pulled himself out of the pool, shaking his head to fling water off his face. He hadn't gotten to use the facilities yet since they moved in. The pool was really nice - way better than any of the public pools he'd been to. He used to swim once a week but work got in the way. Now that it was Sunday, he could enjoy the free access for as long as he wanted.

He grabbed a towel, dried his hair and face, and walked to the locker room. His shirt was folded up on a bench with his shoes sitting beside it. He dried the rest of his body off and pulled his shirt on. He slipped his feet into his shoes and froze.

"Dammit, Angelica!" Y/N shouted as shaving cream seeped between his toes and spilled over the top of his feet. He grimaced and kicked his shoes off, quickly wiping the shaving cream off. He picked up his shoes and went storming off to find his daughter.

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"Hey, Y/N. Sorry to intrude after hours." Sam knocked on the doorframe to his bedroom. 

"Hey, Sam. No worries." Y/N looked up from his book and set it aside. "What's up?"

"Bucky and Steve are coming back really early tomorrow morning. Like, three in the morning early." He wrinkled his nose up. "They might have sensitive intel from their raid so Tony's asked you to be in office by the time they get back."

"I won't yell at you since you're just the messenger, but really?!" Y/N groaned, running a hand over his face. If he wasn't a morning person before, he surely wouldn't be a happy camper at such an early hour. "Guess my plans to stay up reading have been shot."

"Sorry, man. It's what the boss wants. But really, blame Barnes because he wanted to get back as soon as possible." Sam crossed his arms and shrugged. "Always his fault if somethin' goes wrong. Man brings bad luck wherever he goes."

"I think that's a little harsh and biased. I haven't even met the guy, yet." Y/N leaned over to set his book on the nightstand. He snagged his phone and started to set an alarm or two for the morning. 

"I'm sure you've heard all the rumors. Some of them are true - about him being grouchy and an anti-social person - but a good majority of the rumors is just scuttlebutt. Er, gossip. He's got a good heart, but man he can be annoying as hell," Sam smiled fondly, though he tried not to look it. 

"Sounds about right," Y/N chuckled, sliding his charging phone underneath his pillow. 

"He's really slow to trust and open up, so if he's a little closed off and rough around the edges, it's not you. It's all him, so don't worry." Sam explained. "Might want to ease him into meeting the little rascal, though. He's skittish on his bad days and after missions."

"I took the liberty of reading over all of the team's files so I get why. Thanks for letting me know. I should get some sleep so I'm not as grumpy in the morning when I greet them." Y/N yawned on accident, covering his mouth with his hand. 

"No problem. I'll let you get some rest." Sam reached forward and closed the door as he left.

Y/N turned out the light and sank down in bed, drawing the covers up. He had at least four extra blankets just for the weight. He liked having the excess weight since it made him feel secure and grounded. 

"Hey, Friday?"

"Yes, Mr. L/N?"

"If I don't wake up from my alarms, please wake me." 

"Of course." 

Y/N fell asleep shortly afterward, not fully aware of how tired he had been. Moving and getting used to the new environment had really taken it out of him and his body was begging to catch up. A shame he'd only get five hours before being dragged from bed. That was going to be one of the very few downsides of this new job.

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Taglist- @supernaturalwintersoldier​ @shadowolf993​ @myybebe

[buckybarnesbingo]

BBB Discord Party Round Robin

What started out as simple summary, one prompt and one sentence per person, ended up being so intriguing that we went all-out and created a fic!  Each person was given about half an hour to write up to 300 words, and the option to cross off one of their bingo squares, and this is the glorious result!

Prompts

cookies 

dragon

window cleaning

potato salad

cat stalker

sharing a bed

beach

Participants

@rebelmeg​

@fightingforcreativity​

@ladydarkphoenix-blog​

@psychiccatpanda​

@dreaminglypeach​

@ibelieveinturtles​

LiquidLightz

@menatiera​

Summary: To say that Bucky had been surprised when a FREAKING DRAGON showed up at the summer BBQ at his beach house would be an understatement. How should the ex assassin have anticipated a dragon, who seemed to have followed his cat to the BBQ? It didn't seem to be dangerous as of yet seeing as the two were happily sharing potato salad.

When Tony showed up late, he nudged Bucky, "Hey Buckaroo - I brought - WHOA! I didn't know you had a... cat."

Sure, it’s the cat that surprises you, Bucky thought, but Tony was still talking a mile a minute around the cookie in his mouth, “So, anyway, I brought that- fuck, is he your window cleaner, he’s gorgeous!”

"Window cleaning is just one of the many services I offer," the dragon said swinging it's head around to stare unblinking at Tony.

Bucky jolts back and stares at the dragon as he recognises the sound of that voice, then quickly pulls his phone out to text Steve... "where exactly are you right now?"

Steve doesn't answer his phone, obviously, but a telltale notification sound pings from somewhere inside the dragon's belly, audible through the slightly open mouth of the creature, and Bucky has to rub the base of his nose, muttering, "of fucking course you do this reveal to me after we've been sharing a bed for weeks."

And you can find the rest of the fic under the cut!

@rebelmeg

Tony, another cookie in his hand, held up a finger. “Um, excuse me, I hate to be nitpicky about weird details when Steve has apparently turned into a dragon, BUT…” he pointed at the dragon.  “Did I hear a cell phone in there? How did you manage to SWALLOW A CELL PHONE?”

Steve turned his large, scaly head in Tony’s direction, and it was amazing, he actually managed to have an extremely Steve expression on that reptilian face. “Classified.”

Tony snorted and dipped a plastic spoon into the potato salad. “You’re a lying liar who lies. And you’re going to need some very intense tech support for that phone by the time it gets… out.  And oh, ew, all of the options for how it gets out are just disgusting.”

Bucky, who had been standing there fighting the temptation to call Steve (he wanted to see what happened when the swallowed cell phone started vibrating and ringing), dragged himself back to the conversation. “Steve, I think you might wanna tell us exactly what’s going on.” He glanced at the cat that was now sitting next to Steve and very daintily licking its paws. “Maybe start with the cat?”

LiquidLightz

The dragon remained stubbornly quiet, a strange fiery blush spreading across its face.

Bucky waited him out for a full minute before he threateningly pulled out his phone and began to dial... 

"Ok, OK!"  Steve caved in as the first riffs of ‘Holding Out for a Hero’ echoed around inside of him and Bucky’s eyes widened, then narrowed dangerously as he mercifully ended the call while Tony coughed up cookie crumbs from all his cackling…  great, thanks Nat!  One more thing he would be having to explain later in excruciating detail.

Raising his huge snout skyward with a big defeated sigh, Steve let out a little spurt of fire before starting on some ridiculous explanation about how he had wanted to look good for the BBQ, so Nat suggested he go to a day spa she knows, but he had nobody to leave the cat with and so he took him along since they offered pet day care services... 

He trailed off as the laughter of everyone around him burst out in a crescendo and he leveled his steely gaze back down on them, now irritated beyond embarrassment. 

Bucky was the first one to compose himself, once Tony started making hot stone massage dragon jokes and he quickly recalled what was most pertinent here. 

"Steve, can you please get to the part where you're a dragon and if this is something you've been keeping from me or a temporary mishap?"  Bucky was not exactly sure what he'd prefer, since, well, dragons are pretty magnificent and he wouldn't mind having his own. His mind began to wander into the possible perks of a dragon boyfriend and whether Steve could fly now.

@psychiccatpanda

Dragons can scowl - that was a thing Bucky knew now.  

Steve harrumphed and glared, trying to work through his embarrassment.  “So I never actually made it to the day spa. I went to bed last night and the cat I adopted when you got Alpine - d”

“Inky?”  Bucky asked.

“No, I called him Beetle,” Steve said with a puff of steam.

“Still say Beetle’s a dumb name for a cat,” Bucky mumbled.

Tony nodded in agreement and helped himself to another cookie. “I’m gonna start the grill, okay?”

“Yeah, that’s fine Tony,” Bucky said and then tried to turn the conversation back to the dragon boyfriend issue. “So you slept with the cat and now you’re a dragon? Or were you a dragon before?”

“No. I’m not a dragon… well, I wasn’t,” Steve sighed. “So Beetle slept with me, sneezed… and turned into a guy named Loki. I freaked out, he got mad, and turned me into a dragon.”

From the grill, Tony said, “So where’s this guy now, Steeb?”

“I wish I knew,” Dragon Steve said miserably.

“Meow?” Alpine interjected himself and twined between the dragon’s toes and Bucky’s legs to situate himself at Tony’s feet. He looked up with wide blue eyes.

@menatiera

Steve turned his gaze to the cat. “I know, I know,” he said. “Food will be ready for you soon.”

Bucky’s eyebrow arched up. “If you tell me that you can talk to animals…”

The fiery blush somehow deepened on Steve’s dragon face. “Uh, not all animals. But cats… I think they speak a dialect of dragon, somehow, because I kinda understand them now.”

Instead of answering, Bucky decided it was a good time to stuff his mouth with two cookies at once, lest he let out a scream of excitement.

Alpine jumped on the table, and started to rub his face to Steve’s scales. He kept this up, right until Steve started to breathe heavily, and with one final tickling of his full body, Alpine threw himself off the table and ran under the cover of it.

Steve sneezed.

Several times.

With violent force.

The table turned out to be an inadequate hiding place, as it was blown away by the wind of the squeeze, along with most of the BBQ supplies, including the plates, utensils and napkins.

Tony was saved thanks to Bucky’s quick reflexes, who dragged him out of the way of a flying pitcher that was full of hot water to become Bruce’s tea later.

Steve was sniffling and scratching his snout. “Sorry,” he said nasally, then he stared at the ground. “Uh. I think the phone’s out.”

Bucky didn’t want to know. But he kind of did. “How did it get to your lung? Or is a dragon belly connected to sneezing somehow?”

Alpine slowly walked back into the scene, stepping into the dragon snot with delicate disdain, and poked the phone with his nose. He meowed a few times.

“He wants us to look at it,” Steve translated. “He says something about messages. Or notes? I’m not entirely sure. I’m not fluent in cat yet.”

@dreaminglypeach

My boyfriend the dragon isn’t fluent in cat yet, Bucky thought. How is this my life?

“Well, go on, then,” Tony encouraged, wafting his hand at the phone as Alpine curled into Steve’s side again, seeking warmth despite the fact that it’d been far too goddamn sunny all day.

“I would,” Steve said, raising one clawed… paw? Hand? Strangely enough, Bucky had no idea what the anatomy of a dragon is. “But there’s this whole no opposable thumbs issue at the moment.”

Tony looked at Bucky. Bucky looked back at Tony. Neither of them moved to pick up the phone.

“He’s your boyfriend.”

“And?”

Tony scoffed. “And that means you get to be the one playing with the phone he ate, duh.”

“I hate you,” Bucky said. “I hate both of you. And whoever this Loki jackass is, I really fucking hate him.”

Steve made a bizarre snarly noise, maybe a draconine laugh, maybe a growl, then nudged the phone in Bucky’s direction with his nose. “You know the passcode,” he said, baring a whole load of pointy teeth at him.

Dutifully, Bucky picked the disgusting thing up, wiped the slime coating it on his jeans (well, those were being burnt now), and tapped out his own date of birth to unlock it.

“Ha!” Tony said when it unlocked, peering at the screen over Bucky’s shoulder. “Stark Tech. Can’t beat it. I’d like to see an iPhone keep working after spending time inside a dragon.”

“Do we know a Valkyrie?” Bucky asked, ignoring Tony’s bragging to look at the long string of messages Steve apparently received over the last three hours. “Because she sure seems to know you, and boy is she unhappy.”

“Never heard of her,” Steve answered. “What’s she say?”

“Rogers,” Tony read, “be careful, Thor’s brother is

@ladydarkphoenix-blog 

on the loose and looking to cause trouble. Not sure what exactly but he is looking for mischief. Well that can't be good."

"Obviously not seeing as I'm now a dragon," Steve snorted in annoyance, a small puff of smoke escaping his nose.

"So how do we fix this," Bucky inquired as he sent back a text explaining the situation as it was before setting the phone down to not have to deal with the slimy mess for a moment. As the three discussed options and people they thought might be able to help, Alpine let out an angry yowl as he seemingly started floating away from where he'd been napping.

Steve let out a low rumbling growl, "don't touch him Loki or I'll eat you myself…"

Loki appeared, holding a fighting Alpine by the scruff to protect himself from claws and teeth. "Now is that any way to speak to an honored guest?"

@fightingforcreativity

“An honored guest my ass,” mumbled Bucky, pointedly ignoring the snickering coming from Tony.

“My my, so rude the company you keep, Anthony.” Loki drawled, still holding Alpine and only slightly being turned towards the three heroes. “I was just hoping my gift was well received.”

Tony sputtered at that. The assassin turned towards the other brunet, a questioning eyebrow risen. Tony, though, ignored him and started to ramble at Loki, “Serious? I hate that name. Stop calling me that, Reindeer Games! Why are you here? And what’s going on with Steve as a dragon? I mean sure, dragons are pretty cool and he’s quite a beauty like this but c’mon, Lokes, usually your mischief is directed against Thor not Steve.”

Sure, Bucky could say something about Tony obviously eyeing his dragon boyfriend up- and what a mess that was- but he was more interested in what the heck really was going on. Maybe after they figured out Loki's motive, Bucky could think about why Steve preened under Tony’s compliments.

Also, Bucky wasn’t sure what was going on at all between Loki and Tony, but by the look of it Steve had an idea. How Bucky could interpret his boyfriend’s limited facial expressions at the moment, was another mystery to be shoved in the ‘to never investigate’ box.

Before Loki could answer, the dragon rounded on him. “I told you to let him go!”

Steve’s hiss was threatening and Bucky didn’t blame Loki for gently putting Alpine back done and backing up a bit after that. “Fine. The good captain was collateral damage in my attempt at wooing.”

Everyone froze at that. 

‘Wooing? What the…?!’, Bucky thought disbelievingly. 

The first person to recover was Steve though, and cautiously the formerly blond asked, “Wooing who?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Anthony of course!”

@ibelieveinturtles

There was stunned silence as everyone gaped at Loki, then Steve started huffing, little bursts of flame spouting from his nostrils.

"Are-are you laughing at me?" Loki demanded haughtily. 

Steve shook his head. "The look on Tony’s face!" he chortled. "It's like he doesn't know whether to be flattered, insulted, or just plain horrified."

They all looked at Tony, who made an immediate attempt to control his face.

"Flattered," he said hastily, "definitely flattered but, er, I'm not sure how Pepper's gonna react."

Loki drew himself up. "It was her suggestion," he said. 

"Pepper suggested you turn me into a dragon as a courting… gift?"

Loki nodded. "She assured me you have the ego to pull it off."

Steve began to huff again and this time, both Loki and Tony glared at him.

"What?" Steve asked.

"She's not wrong," Bucky interjected in an effort to save his boyfriend from all the attention. "Also, she may have mentioned to me last week that dragons are her favourite mythical animal," he finished.

"Indeed," Loki said, smirking. "She told me she always wanted to ride a dragon."

Bucky's laughter joined Steve's draconic huffing and Tony’s expression changed.

"Really?" he asked.

"Of course," Loki replied. "It is a most exhilarating activity."

Bucky stopped laughing as an idea slammed into his mind. He turned a speculative gaze in Steve's direction. Steve must have felt the weight of Bucky's gaze as the giant head turned to look at him.

"Something on your mind? Steve asked in a surprisingly quiet voice.

Bucky nodded. "That riding a dragon thing," he said.

Steve's eyes glittered. "You wanna try it out?"

"Yes."

They looked at Tony and Loki who were now standing much closer together and seemed to be deep in some sort of negotiations. 

"Climb on," Steve said. "Before Loki remembers to change me back."

Bucky scrambled up Steve's outstretched leg and settled himself in front of Steve's wings.

"Ready?" Steve rumbled, and without waiting for an answer, launched himself into the air.

Bucky whooped as they climbed. This had undoubtedly been the best BBQ ever.

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

Title: BBB Round Robin Fic Collaborators: Rebelmeg, Fightingforcreativity, Ladydarkphoenix, Psychiccatpanda, Dreaminglypeach, Ibelieveinturtles, Liquidlightz, Menatiera Squares filled:

Rebelmeg: Y2 - tech support

LiquidLightz (LLightz): B3 - spa day

Menatiera: U4 - hot water

Dreaminglypeach: B1 - sharing body heat

Ladydarkphoenix: U5 - "Don't touch him!"

Fightingforcreativity: B4 - Collateral Damage

Ibelieveinturtles: K2 - Whiplash

Ship: Stucky, hinted Stony or Stuckony, Pepperony, pre-FrostIron /FrostPepperony Rating: Gen Major Tags: round robin fic, dragon Steve, animal transformation, Loki shenanigans, cats, multiple ships, hijinks and shenanigans Summary: To say that Bucky had been surprised when a FREAKING DRAGON showed up at the summer BBQ at his beach house would be an understatement. How should the ex assassin have anticipated a dragon, who seemed to have followed his cat to the BBQ? It didn't seem to be dangerous as of yet seeing as the two were happily sharing potato salad.

When Tony showed up late, he nudged Bucky, "Hey Buckaroo - I brought - WHOA! I didn't know you had a... cat."

Sure, it’s the cat that surprises you, Bucky thought, but Tony was still talking a mile a minute around the cookie in his mouth, “So, anyway, I brought that- fuck, is he your window cleaner, he’s gorgeous!”

"Window cleaning is just one of the many services I offer," the dragon said swinging it's head around to stare unblinking at Tony.

Bucky jolts back and stares at the dragon as he recognises the sound of that voice, then quickly pulls his phone out to text Steve... "where exactly are you right now?"

Steve doesn't answer his phone, obviously, but a telltale notification sound pings from somewhere inside the dragon's belly, audible through the slightly open mouth of the creature, and Bucky has to rub the base of his nose, muttering, "of fucking course you do this reveal to me after we've been sharing a bed for weeks." Word Count: 2300

[jungle321jungle]

Diverging Paths: One (Villain Deku)

Izuku had held out hope. He had held out on hope for so much of his life. Hope that he could be a hero, that he could help heroes, that he could do something- anything. But as time passes and hope dwindles and fades, it becomes harder and harder to hold onto anything... So why even try? 

Katsuki had said so many things- done so many things. But after seeing him that day, after realizing what was really going on, he couldn’t help but wonder... When is it too late to make things right?

Taglist:

Heys I included my general taglist but given this is not sanders sides not sure if you guys are interested or not. So just let me know if you still wanna be tagged in this, I wont default people after just in case. Thanks!

@hells-missing-a-goat @angels-and-dreams @ollyollyoxinfree @gattonero17 @chumo-cookie @dreaming-always @anxiety-ismy-name @mrbubbajones

Ao3 - Masterlist

~~~~~

One: All Men Are Not Created Equal

“Midoriya-kun!”

Izuku looked up from where he had been shuffling down the hallway to see a few members of class 1-A waving to him. He gave an awkward wave as he tried to move past them, but they were persistent.

“Friend Midoriya-kun!” Iida-san called loudly, inserting himself into Izuku’s space. With him (as always) was Uraraka-san and Asui-san. 

“H-hi,” he stammered out in response. 

“How’s the management department going? I have always been interested in the other classes.”

“It’s good. Class J is the same as always. How’s A been?”

“Good! But soon we must embark on the journey of studying more”

“Don't remind me,” Uraraka-san groaned in response. 

Asui-san opened her mouth to respond but a familiar blast in his face caused Deku to take a step back. He gave a hard swallow as he forced a smile and a wave, “H-hi Kacchan.”

“Fuck off Deku!” Kacchan yelled in response as he gave a sneer. “What do you think you’re doing here?”

“Oh you know each other?” Uraraka-san asked intrigued while behind her Iida was attempting to apologize profusely for his classmate’s lack of manners. 

“Kacchan and I grew up together,” Izuku answered as he glanced at the other boy. 

“Wait, he has friends?” Another student asking from behind Bakugo. They hadn’t been introduced, but after watching the sports festival Izuku knew who it was from the research he had done during the Sports Festival. Kirishima Eijiro, Quirk: Harderning, he had made it to the second round in the sports festival before losing to Bakugo. Izuku opened his mouth a question about the other first year’s quirk on the tip of his tongue but Bakugo’s palm had appeared in his face, freezing any words before they could come.

“I would never be friends with a Deku!”

“You make it sound like you have options for friends,” Kaminari Denki tossed in as he approached tossing an arm around Kirishima-kun’s shoulders in a friendly way. The smile melted off his face quickly as Bakugo rounded on him, but Izuku didn’t mind. As the classmates chattered, it allowed him to fade to the background where he belonged.

It allowed him to slip away.

“You damn nerd!”

Izuku was barely able to throw his arms up before the blast hit his arms and he found himself falling to the ground. 

“Where do you get off talking to my class, huh?” Bakugo shouted. “I’m gonna be the number one hero! I can't have people thinking I’m friends with a quirkless dumbass!”

“Sorry,” Izuku mumbled in reply. “I won't do it again.”

“You’re a quirkless shithead!” He continued reaching for Izuku’s backpack and throwing it to the side, its contents spilling across the sidewalk. “When are you gonna realize that? You’re in the fucking management class! You’re never going to be anything! So stop trying!”

Izuku wasn’t sure why the words stung. 

They were words he had been told since he was a child. Since the day his quirk hadn’t developed. Words said by everyone in his life, from friends, to bullies, to teachers, to All Might himself. 

The hero had told him to try another path. To go for management, to support heroes in their work behind the scenes. So he had tried, he had applied to UA, taken the exam, gotten in. He had tried to make friends, to do well in his classes, he had tried to be happy in a life which wasn’t suited for him, he had tried. He had tried. He had tried. 

But Kacchan was right, if he wasn’t going to be anything... then why try at all?

Perhaps that’s why this time Bakugo’s words had hurt so much, because this time they weren’t only his, but Izuku’s too.

~~~~

“Izuku?” his mom’s voice had come worriedly. “What are you doing?”

He glanced up from where he was taking down the last of the posters, trying not to damage the wall as he did, “Redecorating.”

His mother entered the room slowly looking around at the full garbage bags in the center, “Why are you throwing it out of all of your All Might stuff?”

Because he was tired of living in a shrine. Living in the shadow of yet another person who didn’t believe in him. “I’ve gotten older,” He told her with a forced smile as he shoved the final poster in the garbage bag and tied it shut. “I don't need it anymore.”

His mother seemed to be at a loss for words, but tears brimmed at her eyes. Izuku gave her another smile as he moved to give her a hug, “Don’t cry mom.” But she did anyway, and he held her there consoling her as she apologized for not being able to give him a quirk, for not being able to control things she by nature she couldn’t control. But as she cried, Izuku couldn’t help but feel he had made the right decision. But there was one final step.

The stacks of notebooks nearly fell from his hands as he walked out the UA gates and headed towards his home. When he arrived he would toss them with the rest of the things he needed to throw out, and get rid of it all in one go. 

No turning back. 

“You have more of them, Izuku-kun?”

Izuku blinked in surprise as he looked around the almost empty street to find a girl standing behind him. She was about his age, dressed in the uniform of another school, with blonde hair and a large smile on her face. 

“I’m sorry?” He asked awkwardly. 

“More books!” She said cheerily, taking something frown behind her back and holding it out for him to see, “Tada!”

Izuku paused and blinked seeing his own handwriting on the notebook’s cover. 

“You dropped it yesterday!”

“He didn’t drop it, that kid threw his backpack.” This voice came from the alley beside her and when he looked Izuku could see a man perhaps in his twenties. He was tall with long dark hair and purpled skin in patches across his body in an unsettling way. 

“We liked reading your notebook!” She said ignoring him. “So did our friends!”

“Oh, um thank you,” Izuku replied awkwardly as he took the notebook from her. He tried to move away but she spoke again. 

“Can we read another one?” 

“I-I was actually going to throw them away.”

“Then just give ‘em to us,” Her companion shrugged. “Problem solved.”

“Uh, okay I-”

“Wait! I’m sure Kuriogiri-san and Shigaraki-san would want to ask about them!” She interjected. “Come with us to meet them!”

“He doesn’t know us, nutjob,” The young man said with an eye roll. “Why would he come with us?”

“Well I’m Toga Himiko, and that's Dabi! Nice to meet you Izuku-kun!”

Izuku hadn’t expected to end up standing awkwardly in a bar surrounded by people he didn’t know but yet here he was. Toga-san seemed nice enough, but the rest honestly creeped him out a tad with how much they were staring at him and-and Shigaraki had severed hands on him?

“This is in depth,” Kurogiri-san complimented looking through one of the notebooks. “Does your quirk involve your memory? Or analysis?”

“I’m-” He faltered. “I’m quirkless actually...”

“Remarkable. These are quite thorough, you could compete with someone who has such a quirk.”

“Do you have any more of these?” Dabi-san asked him. 

Izuku gave a slight nod as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “At home.”

“Bring them tomorrow!” Toga-san encouraged. 

Izuku had mumbled a reply about considering it and he left as quickly as he could. 

So he wasn’t entirely sure why he went back. 

But that mix of confusion and uncertainty would become part of his regular visits. At first it had been to give extra notebooks. To go over his thoughts. And then it had been to do that again. And again. And again. 

But he knew that was just the excuse he had been telling himself. 

He was going for them. 

That first day something had intrigued him, and then on the second he had seen how polar their personalities seemed to be, but as he continued returning he could see how they each fit together in that whole puzzle that was them. He could see how each was acknowledged and accepted for their differences- not ridiculed. Yes there was teasing, there was name calling, but unlike what he was used to it didn’t have any malintent. 

And he could start to see where he fit too. On that same stool at the corner of the bar, a glass of water in front of him and a notebook in front of him. 

It was a place where he was wanted. A place where they treated him kindly- as a friend- as one of them. And Izuku didn’t realize how much he had latched onto them- until they had finally told him what he already figured out for himself. It had been easy to, far easier than one should expect.

Because sitting there, sitting in that spot he could essentially hear bits and pieces clicking into place. Mainly about Kurogiri-san, the man’s description matched what Iida-san had gone on and on about when Izuku had asked him about the U.S.J. incident. 

These people were criminals- villains.  

Logic told him to run, to never look back, to tell all the heroes at school that he knew exactly where they were hiding. He knew what the teachers and other heroes everywhere had been trying to figure out for so long. Now all he had to do... was tell.

It would be easy to do. He had options. He could tell the police, or he could tell any one of the teachers at school tomorrow. He had options...

So he wasn’t sure why he didn’t tell anyone, but at first he didn’t go back either. He had stayed away for a few days, trying to determine what he should do with the information and ultimately he had decided to sit in his seat at the bar, drink his water, talk to his friends, and write down his analysis. 

“You’re taking this better than I expected,” Kurogiri-san acknowledged. 

“What did you expect?” Izuku asked him in return.

“I thought you’d have some reaction to us being the ones who attacked your school.”

Izuku sipped at his water with a shrug. “I’ve known for a while,” he admitted. “I figured it out myself a while ago.”

“It didn’t bother you?”

“It did... but-but you guys are my friends, right?”

Toga-san had leaned forward with a smile, “Course!” v

Friendship came with the others growing comfortable with him, and as the walls came down between them they began to be open with their planning. It was strange, he would go to school all day and learn about how to manage and support pro heroes, and afterwards he’d come here to the bar and he’d hang out and pretend he couldn’t hear as they plotted their next moves. Sometimes he’d simply pretend not to listen at all, but he could always hear. And yet when the words were spoken to him he thought he had misheard. 

“W-what?”

“I asked,” Shigaraki-san started slowly. “Do you want a quirk?”

~~~~

“All men are not created equal” - Midoriya Izuku

One - Two

[iron--spider]

the first birthday after

Tony wakes up on his fifty-third birthday and it’s raining outside. Things are hard, since it all ended. Losing an arm was an unexpected side effect of wielding the stones, and the nanotech replacement arm is hit and miss in its early stages. He can hardly walk without collapsing, and he’s left this bed a total of five times in the week they’ve been here. And he’s all burned to hell, streaked with the kind of pain that knocks him out from time to time, the kind of pain that would eat right through him if Carol hadn’t jetted back real quick with whatever the hell alien medicine they’ve been giving him.

 He feels older than fifty-three. He feels a hundred and twenty seven. He feels ancient, a stone monster, a zombie lying in a bed that’s too white, in some SHIELD facility he doesn’t know.

 But at least he’s alive.

 And most importantly, and despite everything else, Peter’s alive too.

The kid still seems like a ghost, except now other people are talking to him too, so he must actually be there. He must finally be a real, living being, and not the hallucinations Tony sees out of the corner of his eye in his living room. In his backyard. And more than anything, in the garage, when he’s working. Like they used to do together, in the lab, when Peter’s laughter would carry and the bots would flock to him, like they could tell how important he was.

 He’s alive. And that makes it all worth it.

 The rain falls harder and Tony turns, his neck creaking and cracking, and he sees Peter asleep over by the window. He’s holding a small, flat box, and he’s slowly slipping to the right side of the easy chair he’s in.

 Tony thinks about letting him sleep, but he finds himself speaking anyway. “Pete,” he says, his voice rough and raspy.

 Peter immediately startles awake. “Happy Birthday,” he says, almost like he’d fallen asleep practicing it, planning to say it as soon as he woke up. He blinks at Tony, shivering a little bit, and then he smiles. “Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday.”

 Tony snorts, smiling back. “Thanks, bud,” he says.

 Peter scoots his chair closer, and Tony listens to it drag across the tile before Peter abandons the idea altogether and sits on the edge of the bed instead. He holds the box like he’s trying to hide it, and he smooths his fingers over the corners. “How are you doing?” he asks. “How...how are you feeling?”

 Like garbage. Like death. Like I’m goddamn useless. Like I’m wasting away. “Better than yesterday,” he says, because it’s not a lie. “What time is it?”

 Peter looks at the clock above Tony’s head. “A little after ten,” he says. “I fell asleep waiting for you to wake up.”

 Tony used to wake up at six in the morning. Now, half the time, he can barely stay awake for more than three hours at a time. In the first couple of days he couldn’t stay awake at all.

 “Doctor Cho said things were getting better,” Peter says, and Tony sees him glance over at Tony’s right arm, the new one, but there isn’t any judgment or fear in his eyes. Peter always regards things simply, for what they are. It’s one of the things Tony likes best about him. “She was here earlier, for a while. And Miss Danvers, uh, she sent a message, said something about bringing an elixir—”

 “Good,” Tony says. “Though that alien ointment or whatever the hell—smelled like burning rubber—”

 “It wasn’t that bad.”

 Tony huffs. “Well, hopefully the elixir tastes better than the medicine smelled.”

 “I’ll contact her,” Peter says. “Put in a request. Green apple flavor. Or key lime pie.”

 Tony smiles, a flurry of memories presenting themselves in his mind, from what feels like another life. Him and Peter in that pie shop, trying to find something for May’s company party. They tried so many ‘samples’ that day that Tony didn’t ever think he’d eat again.

 “Good thinking,” he says. “Make recovery tolerable.”

 Peter laughs a little bit, and Tony meets his eyes. He still can’t believe he’s here. He can’t believe it. It feels unreal.

 Peter sighs, chewing on his lower lip. “I know this isn’t….I mean, this isn’t a good birthday. Spending a birthday in bed is—I mean, it could be okay, but this is—I mean—” He sighs again.

 “Well, the service here is terrible,” Tony says. “Pillows are like rocks. No one replaces my shampoo bottles. No microwave in my room, no fridge, these are...these are essentials. I leave towels on the ground, they’re still there the next day—terrible hotel, two out of ten. I won’t be leaving a good tip.”

 Peter snorts, fighting a smile. “I’m trying to be serious.”

 “Don’t. It’s overrated.”

 Peter shakes his head, blowing out a breath. He’s still holding the box tight. “I, uh—went out yesterday, finally, with Happy, trying to...find you a gift. But everything was just...so weird, so different, and it feels like just yesterday to me that it...wasn’t like that—”

 “You didn’t have to do that, kid,” Tony says. “For real.” He knows what a mess it is out there. He knows they need to get to helping, as soon as he’s back on his feet. Feet that are hopefully steady and won’t keep buckling underneath him. He pushes himself up a little bit, pressing his hands into the mattress. Peter reaches out and grabs Tony’s elbow, helping him and readjusting his pillow behind his head. Tony nods, and he flexes his fingers on the nanotech arm. Strange. But he’s getting used to it.

 “You okay?” Peter asks.

 “Peachy keen,” Tony says, but he knows he’s already sweating from the smallest of movements. At least he’s sitting up a little straighter. “I hope you didn’t torture yourself too much, looking around. Not for me, not for fifty-three. Fifty-five, we can do something huge. I’ll throw a big bash.”

 “Every birthday’s important,” Peter says. “Especially this one, for you, because—because—”

 “I’m still here,” Tony says. “I know. I know. You’re right.”

 “I didn’t find anything because...because everything out there sucks right now and maybe I got kind of weirdly emotional and Happy had to deal with that, whatever, but, uh—when I got back, I had an idea, and—Morgan helped me out.”

 Tony’s mouth quirks up and he tips his chin towards the box. My two kids he thinks, and his face goes red.

 “Here,” Peter says. “It’s not much. I’ll do better next year.”

 Tony takes it with his good hand, and concentrates with all his might to untie the small red bow with his right one. He manages it, drops it in his lap, and tentatively pulls the top off the box.

 His breath catches in his throat.

 It’s a black and white photo of Morgan and Peter. Their heads are together, and Peter is holding the camera out in front of them. Morgan is laughing like she does sometimes, so hard that her eyes are clamped closed with the joy of it. Peter is grinning too, his eyes cutting over at her. It’s in a wooden frame with gold glitter and, horrifyingly enough, Tony’s eyes are filling with tears. This is something he always imagined, and now it’s here, in front of him. It’s happening, it’s real, this is proof. This image. Them. The two of them.

 “Happy has this nice film camera just lying around, for some reason, so Morgan and I had a little photoshoot yesterday. We took like—thirty pictures, I’ve got a bunch of fruit stickers on my face in most of them, she’s wearing a tiger mask we made—I created a dark room in one of the broom closets, developed them all, and finally picked this one. We made the frame together.”

 Tony stares at it, for what feels like forever and ever. He tries to memorize it.

 “I know it’s not a lot—”

 “No, it’s a lot,” Tony croaks. “It’s the most—it’s—it’s the best. The best gift I’ve ever gotten. By far. No contest.” He turns it over with his good hand, and sees the message ‘WE LOVE YOU!’ in alternating letters that clearly belong to Peter and then Morgan, making up the sentence together.

 “Morgan and Pepper are actually making cupcakes downstairs right now, red velvet, duh, and I’m only invited to help when it comes to the decorating because of what happened with the cookies on Thursday.”

 Tony blows out a breath, nodding. He can hardly focus. He wants all the pictures they took together. He wants to paper the walls with them. “Hey, bud, c’mere. Absolutely necessary birthday hug.”

 Peter smiles, leaning in and tucking himself against Tony’s left side. Tony hugs him as tight as he can, closing his eyes. Not a hallucination. Real, solid. Alive.

 “I don’t care how fucked up I am,” Tony says. “How insane everything is—this is the best birthday because you’re back. Because I have you back.” He claps Peter on the shoulder and Peter pulls back—thankfully, he’s a little teary now too. Always easier when both parties are crying. “All of this was worth it because my family is safe. You’re here, you’re safe. You’re my family.”

 Peter nods, sniffling. “I’m gonna be here the whole time,” he says. “Until you’re better. And after. And always. Until you want me to go away.”

 “Which is never,” Tony says. “Except right now. Go tend to red velvet cupcakes, Pepper can’t bake and Morgan eats too much raw batter, and I’m gonna need a couple minutes for a good old manly cry.”

 Peter laughs, and quickly hugs him again. Tony holds him with both hands this time, the nano hand curving around his shoulder and, thankfully, not malfunctioning. It’s learning to adapt.

 “I’ll keep you updated through Friday, she’s in every room now,” Peter says, pulling back. “Expect lots of singing when we come up. Hopefully not too much fire.”

 “Yeah, candles for me is a dangerous blaze,” Tony says. “Or getting there.”

 “Not yet,” Peter says, getting up and heading to the door.

 Tony watches him go, and can’t stop himself from smiling. Yeah, he feels like shit. Yeah, he lost an arm. He can hardly walk, he has trouble breathing, his hero days might be behind him. But he looks at the photo in his lap—sharp and beautiful, Peter might have a future in photography—and he knows it was all worth it. Every bit of it.

 He’s gonna get better. He’s gonna see fifty-four, fifty-five and past that. And Peter will be there to see them too.

here it is on ao3 if you want to kudos or comment :)

[cilldaracailin]

A Kind Of Magic

Thanks for all the lovely Tumblr love. Here is the next part :)

20

“The word ‘happy’ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.”

“Each one?” Asked Taron as he held up the circle cookie cutter.

“Not the pink or red one, but the rest yes please. I am going to take the pink cake and start icing.”

Claire had left the two, two hours after she had arrived, keeping her promise to Robyn and was extremely nice to Taron, Robyn quizzing him when she came out of the bathroom to make sure her friend hadn’t overstepped her boundaries.

“She was nice, made me tea.” Assured Taron as they sat on the couch having a chat before Claire had to leave.

Robyn and Taron went back to their cake, Taron excited to finally get to add the surprise to the middle of the cake. He helped her to make the vanilla buttercream and as Taron cut the hole into the middle of each sponge, Robyn spread the icing on each layer. Half way through, they switched places, Taron now icing each sponge layer as Robyn handed them to him.

“Ok now the surprise?” He asked when all layers of sponge had been added except the top red one.

“Yes, now the surprise.”

“Yes!”

“Don’t go too mad though. The surprise needs to be able to fall out.” Robyn got him a breakfast bowl. “Add a bit of everything you want into this bowl and when it’s full, that’s all we can put inside.”

“What do you want inside?” He asked as he started to tear the seal from the unicorn confetti.

“Whatever you want I am good with Taron.”

Giddy Taron was back and he added a bit of every kind of sweet they had bought in the shop into the bowl, sneaking one or two into his mouth as he went.

“Are you humming Pure Imagination?” Asked Robyn.

“Uh-huh.” He replied as he chewed and hummed. “Thought it was a perfect choice.”

Robyn reached over and took a white chocolate button from the bowl.

“Ok now just pour into the cake?” He asked as he lifted the bowl up.

“Yep.” Taron carefully tipped the treats into the middle of the cake. “And put the red layer on.” Doing as Robyn said, Taron looked to her. “And now we continue to buttercream.”

“I got it.” Taron picked up the palette knife and started to add the buttercream on top and around the cake.

Robyn got up from the stool and walked to her baking drawer and pulled out a two buttercream combs. “Keep going. You can do the whole cake.” She left the buttercream tools on the island and picked up her phone. “Just one more to add to the wall.” She said as he looked at her. “You know I have been documenting this whole process Taron.”

“You need them all to send it to me.”

“I need to get your phone number first.”

Taron looked up. “You do not have my phone number yet.”

“No, I do not.”

Taron started to call out his number to Robyn and she typed it into her phone. “You can stick me under ‘Rocketman’.” He said smiling. “And send me the pictures.”

Once Taron had covered the whole cake, Robyn handed him one of the buttercream combs. “Use it to spread the icing evenly the whole way around.” As he made the cake smooth, Robyn grabbed an icing bag and started to fill it with some buttercream. “Ok and now use the other one to make the design.” She handed him the second comb. “You will be ready for celebrity bake off when you’re done.” Laughed Robyn as she watched Taron concentrate very hard on what he was doing.

“I think I will have to Instagram this.” He said as he moved the comb up to create the second wave of pattern but he looked up to Robyn. “Shit Robyn, I didn’t think.”

“Why wouldn’t you Instagram this?”

“I am supposed to be incognito.”

“Well give Lyndsey a ring and ask her. I would imagine people might be wondering if you are actually alive and what a way to come back to the world, with a rainbow surprise cake. I don’t think she would mind too much if a picture of a cake appeared. Your caption could be “Eating cake and resting up. Just what the doctor ordered.”

“Yeah maybe.”

Robyn came to stand beside him. “Your life can’t stand still Taron. It’s a picture of cake.”

“You’d be surprised how a picture of cake can turn nasty.”

Robyn leaned her head on his left shoulder. “Ok let’s finish this cake and I feel like pizza. Want to order in?”

“On one condition.”

“And that is?”

“We can put pineapple on the pizza.”

“Of course!” Taron smiled a little. “Right finish the top of the cake and then we can add the rest of the decorations.”

After showing Taron how to do the first pipped swirl, Robyn let him do the rest and she cut up the fizzy rainbow laces to go on top of each one. The carefully placed the rainbow stripes in a rainbow shape on each pipped swirl.

“And we are done.”

“This looks too good to eat.” Said Taron as he stood back and admired the cake. “But now I see what you mean about eating a seven-layer cake ourselves.”

“We can give some around to the neighbours tomorrow if you want.”

“Yeah I think so. This is too big even for me to eat however I can’t wait to see inside.”

“Well why wait?” Robyn grabbed him a knife. “Let’s cut it now.”

“Really?”

“There is nothing stopping us from cutting it.” She handed him the knife. “You want a little Instagram video to go with it?”

“No but you can video me cutting it so I can show my sisters. They are going to be very jealous.”

“Well now you know how to bake it, you can bake one with them.”

“That’s some expectation there Robyn. Ok. Let’s cut this open.” Taron handed Robyn his phone and she opened the camera and moved the selection to video and gave him nod when she started. Taron had to put a little extra pressure onto the knife to cut through all the layers but he got a slice cut and placing the knife under the slice, slid it out. “Whoa!” He exclaimed as the sweets inside tumbled out. “Oh yes that is amazing!” Robyn stopped the video and grabbed him a plate for the slice of cake.

“Taron!” She said when he pulled some of the cake from the plater off with his fingers to eat. “I was going to get you a fork.”

“Ugh this is so good.” He delved in again, taking some green and blue cake from the slice this time. “Come on Robyn. Have some cake.”

Following Taron’s lead, she broke a piece of the cake off and tasted it. “Yep that is some good cake.”

“I like cake.” He said simply as he ate some more, Robyn laughing. “I like rainbow surprise cake. I like that you made me cake.”

“You helped Taron. You made cake too and can we start using longer sentences please?”

Taron grinned. “I like cake.” He said again reaching for some the sweets inside the cake.

“I think it might be time to step away from the cake Taron.”

“No, my cake.” Taron picked the plate up. “Cake makes me happy. You make me happy Robyn.”

“Taron.” Robyn rolled her eyes.

“No seriously. Every day it has just gotten easier and today has been brilliant. I know I have said it a million times and said it again but coming to see you has been the best medicine for me. Robyn?” As he spoke Robyn had moved away from him over to the breakfast bar. “Hey what’s up?”

“I am totally going to ruin your brilliant day.”

“I don’t think you could do anything to ruin this day.”

“Taron, we need to talk about you going home. I don’t think we can avoid the subject any more.”

“Or maybe you can.”

“I am sorry to ruin your happy mood but it is something we need to talk about. You know I love having you here for many reasons but you have a family back home who are desperate to see you and…”

“… And a pile of responsibilities waiting for me.” Taron put down the plate and leaned his left hip against the island. “I have been avoiding it. Really don’t want to think about it. Really don’t want to have to do it.”

“And using longer sentences please Taron.”

He sighed and moved to stand beside her at the breakfast bar. “Taking what happened to us out of the picture, forgetting what you did for me and why I came here, this past week…” He stopped. “Ok maybe not the whole week but since Wednesday, being here with you has been a breath of fresh air for me. It is not often I get to just sit and sit and know I can sit without being interrupted or disturbed or reminded I need to be on set. I have slept so soundly, cooked and eaten, been to choir and had the most fun laughing until my sides hurt. Then throw in the other part of it, the one we have worked very hard to come to terms with what happened together and all I feel is undeniable love and support from you and you don’t even have to be talking to me for me to know you are there.” He took a small breath. “When I go home, it is going to be the total opposite as soon as I step off the plane.”

“Remember we spoke about your support system Taron?”

“Yeah I know my family and friends will be there and Lyndsey has sorted every fine detail for the press but here I can almost hide. At home, when I go back to work it’ll be different.”

“You don’t know that Taron.”

“I know it won’t be like it is here.”

“As much as I love having you here, you can’t hide with me forever.”

“No?”

“No.”

“Been a pain in the arse for you?”

“Nope. You have been wonderful and what support I have been for you; you have been just as important for me. I quite enjoy sleeping through the night, love hearing you sing in the shower and very much enjoy your squishy hugs. If you hadn’t of turned up on my doorstep, I can only image the state I would be in now. You have helped me so much Taron, showed me how important it is to talk, to share and communicate, to laugh and have fun. I would love for you to stay but you need to think about going home Taron. It is going to be hard at first, there is no denying that. I would imagine the story is going to blow up for a while but then it will die down Taron.”

“When I do press for Kingsman though…”

“Sure, it will come up but don’t you find it much easier to talk about now? And I am always going to be here Taron. Whenever you need to talk and I was serious when I told you that you could come and visit me whenever you wanted. Just because we won’t see each other every day, doesn’t mean what we had and have will change. We said we were in this together and we always will be.”

Taron sighed. “I hate your sensibleness.”

“Me too.”

“Can I have another week?” Robyn turned to him. “Can I have another week with you. It will give me some more heal up and properly prepare for what is to come.”

“Well I wasn’t going to kick you out tomorrow Taron. I mean we have this damn rainbow cake to eat. Of course, you can have another week but only if you ring Lyndsey and ask her can you post the picture of the cake.”

“Ugh why?”

“Because it will ease you back into the world a little, rather than stepping off the cliff at the press conference.”

“Yeah ok.” Taron ran his hands through his hair.

“I am sorry to ruin your day.”

“You haven’t.”

“And let’s try that with a bit less sadness.”

“You haven’t!” He said again with a cheerier tone to his voice.

“Actors.” Robyn returned. “Taron?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I have a squishy hug please?”

He looked to Robyn and saw a lone tear fall down her right cheek as she stood beside him with her eyes closed. He drew her in close and hugged her tight. “We still have a week.” He said into her hair and he heard her mumble something back but didn’t quite catch it. He had been avoiding the subject of going home but knew Robyn was right when she said he needed to face whatever was coming and as he had learnt over the last week, time helps to heal everything but as much as Taron didn’t want to leave Robyn, when he saw a little tear on her cheek, he realised that she was going to find him leaving just as hard. Robyn spoke into his shoulder again. “Chicken, I can’t hear what you are saying when you talk into my shoulder.”

“I said, can we sing something together and don’t call me chicken.”

“Of course we can and you are always going to be my chicken. What do you want to sing?”

“How about something on the piano.”

“I thought you only played the classical pieces.”

“Might have one or two songs I can play that we can sing.”

“I am up for anything.” Taron gave her back a little rub before letting her go. “Please don’t be sad.”

“I am not sad.” She said. “I just like having you around.”

“I like being around and don’t be sad. If you keep looking so sad, then I am going to be sad and it’s just going to be a miserable week and I want our week to be filled with more laughter and jokes and baking and you have your visit to me to look forward too.”

She smiled. “Yes, I do. I have a feeling your mam is going to pull out your baby pictures.”

Taron chuckled. “Yes, she probably will. It’s not the end of us seeing us each other when I go, right?”

“As I said to your mam, Wales is not that far away.”

“What about when I am back filming.”

“Let’s not get to ahead of ourselves ok? Week one together might have been great, week two might suck. We might not want to see each other after week two.”

“Somehow I doubt it very much. Now you promised me a song and last time that worked a treat in cheering us both up and this doesn’t count as our sing off, right?” He asked as he took her hand and led her to the piano.

“No, it definitely doesn’t.” She agreed as she lifted the lid of the piano and sat on the stool, Taron sitting beside her.

“So, what have you got up your sleeve?”

“How about a little Johnny Gorilla.”

Taron looked at Robyn very confused until she started playing and he instantly recognised the chords to John Legends All Of Me and she nodded to him to start and he sang through the first verse and pre chorus and when he started singing the chorus, Robyn joined in perfect harmony and as the second verse started, she kept singing with him keeping the harmony going but Taron stopped suddenly, before they got through the second line of the verse.

“Hey what’s up?” She asked him.                    

“Do you mind if record this.”

“Record this?”

“Us singing. It’s the first time and it is beautiful and I want to have a recording of it because at the moment our emotions are a little raw. I promise it will be for my entertainment only for when I feel sad, like the way you have your pictures. I will send it to you too so you can have it as well.”

“Yeah ok, sure why not.”

Taron stood up and walked into the kitchen to get his phone. He carefully placed it on top of the piano, making sure the video would have the two of them in it as they sang.

“Ready?” He asked.

“Surprisingly yes.” She replied.

Taron pressed the red button and sat back down on the stool beside her. “Wave.” He said giving her a little nudge and she did, finding it hard not to grin as Taron was waving like a mad man. “Me and Robyn…”

“Robyn and I.” She corrected.

“Robyn and I, impromptu sing song take one.”

“Take one? Oh Taron, you of little faith. One take.”

Robyn started playing the opening chords of the song, nodding to Taron to take the first verse as before, looking to him as he put his whole heart into the song, Robyn joining in once again with the chorus, a smile on Taron’s face as she pitched the notes perfectly against his. They continued on through the second verse the, both closing their eyes as they sang the first two lines the words meaning so much to them. Robyn let Taron take the pre-chorus alone, listening as his beautiful soft voice melted easily into the melody, picking back up with him in the chorus. The song grew in volume as they reach the bridge, before coming back down for the last chorus, Robyn keeping melody with Taron before she broke off into harmony again. Robyn let Taron sing the last part of the chorus by himself, just to hear the stunning tone of his voice before joining him for the last two lines.

He smiled her way when they finished. “I stand corrected. One take.” He reached up and stopped the video. “That was just what I needed. What else do you know?”

“Nothing as complete as that one.”

“One song Robyn huh?”

She laughed. “Pretty much. Your voice is beautiful Taron. There is still stunning rich sound quality to it and a softness when you need to. I could listen to it all day.”

“Now you are making me blush.”

“I like singing with you.”

“Yes, with you, not too sure I want to sing against you.”

“No backing out.”

“A tour of a film set instead?”

“Nope.”

“I can introduce you to Colin Firth.”

“Nope.”

“Hugh? Hey you can have a sing off with Hugh instead.” Robyn smiled. “Ahh yes, you like that idea.”

“Nope.”

“Robyn…” Groaned Taron.

“Sorry rocketman. Not happening. We shook on it.”

“Can I play my I was sitting in pain and quite delirious at the time and cannot remember this conversation happening at all card?”

“Pity there was a witness.”

“Witness?”

“Yes, my new best fake boyfriend, Richard.”

“Ahh shit Richard.”

“I am willing to wait until you are back to full strength Taron but you are not backing out of this. Now, I think it’s time to order some food, unless you are full of cake.”

“Let’s order some food and book a flight.”

Robyn had started to get up but sat back down. “A flight?”

“May as well and sure while I am at it, I will ring Lyndsey and ask her about the Instagram post.”

Taron very much appreciated the sideways hug Robyn gave him. “I can help with all three, if you want.”

“I want.”

“And we are back to short sentences again.”

Before he could change his mind, Taron booked a flight to Birmingham with help from Robyn and from there he could take a train back home. He booked it a week away, for early Saturday morning. “It’s not that I don’t want to spend another full day with you, it is just that I don’t want to drag our ‘see you later’ out all day.” He also contacted Lyndsey who was happy to let him post a picture of the cake, agreeing with Robyn that it wouldn’t do any harm to show he was still around. Last but not least, they ordered pizza and a heap of other food from Robyn’s favourite pizza take out in the next town.

While they waited for their food to arrive, Taron took a picture of the cake, making sure it only the cake and surprise inside in the photo and using the caption that Robyn had suggested, he posted it.

“Now we wait.” He said as he sat back on couch beside Robyn but it only took about five second after Taron had settled himself for his notifications to start coming in.

“Here let me.” She took his phone and opened his Instagram, looking as the comments started racing in. She found a smile on her face as she read them. “Your fans are lovely Taron and don’t make that noise at me. Everyone is happy to see you posting and wishing you nothing but well wishes.”

“Until they are not.”

“Don’t make me slap you Taron because I know where you are not injured.” Robyn watched as the comments continued to appear under his photo. “‘Definitely what you need Taron. Wishing you a speedy recovery’. ‘That cake, yum!’. ‘So glad to see you posting again! Get well soon!’. ‘Hope you are ok Taron. Sending you lots of love.’ Yeah a tonne of nasty messages.”

“Just wait Robyn.” He took his phone back and closed the app. “Give it time.”

An hour later their take out arrived and while Taron routed for plates, Robyn lifted the pizza box straight into the sitting room and placed it on the coffee table.

“We ate ice cream from the tub. We are going to eat pizza from the box. Saves washing up.”

Another hour followed and Taron lay sprawled on his back on the couch, his head in the corner beside Robyn legs, rubbing his stomach, groaning. “Ugh too much food.” He complained.

She looked down to him. “No, not too much food. Too much cake. I told you not to eat cake afterwards.”

“Don’t mention cake!” Moaned Taron.

“Aww poor little baby.” Robyn smiled, stretching a little so she could help him rub his stomach.

“Why did you let me eat more cake?” He asked.

“You are a grown man Taron. You make these decisions for yourself and I did tell you not too.”

Taron curled up on the couch, while Robyn moved her hand from his stomach to his head and gently scratched his scalp, Taron moving a little to get closer to her hand. “What do you want to watch?”

“Hmm me sleep. You watch.”

“Taron please tell me that you will use longer sentences for the rest of the week.”

“Ok.”

Robyn continued to play with his hair, as Taron dozed in and out of sleep while she watched some TV. Taking a deep breath which finished in a sigh, Robyn was relieved Taron had accepted her challenging conversation earlier and agreed that it was time to think about going home, even taking it on himself to book his flight. It filled her with dread to think about next Saturday but trying to push the negatives to the side, she instead focused on what she knew was going to be a very good week with Taron. Now that the conversation of what happened in the 7/11 was an easy one for them to discuss, both trying to find positives in what they now called ‘their adventure’, their time together was constantly filled with laughter, stories and a pure interest in getting to know each other.

Taron moved under her hand and moved again. “Ugh I need a wee.” He said opening his eyes, Robyn chuckling.

“Then go and wee.” She answered him.

“Way too much effort.”

“You know I think I might bring you to work next week Taron. You will fit in quite well. Giddiness, no listening ears, not wanting to go to the bathroom and making messes.”

“Well I already have a best friend in creche. Her name is Beth and we like to eat fruit and yogurt together but I really do need a wee.” Taron eased himself up from the couch slowly. “Think we might have a done a bit too much today.” He said as he got to his feet, his hand on his ribs.

“Feeling a bit achy?”

“Yeah.”

“We had a late night and an earlyish start and definitely have done more activity today than any other and the flour fight probably has not helped either.”

“Probably but it was fun.” He said as he walked past her and made his way to the bathroom, leaving Robyn on the couch.

While he as gone, Robyn opened up her own Instagram on her phone and clicked into Taron’s page and into the picture he had posted, scrolling through the hundreds of comments, her own curiosity getting the better of her. All the comments, the ones she could understand in English, were positive, talking about the cake and wishing Taron a very speedy recovery, only a few questioning who had helped him and making a smart comment about being his nurse.

“Thought we weren’t supposed to look at any media posts Robyn.”

His voice made her jump and she dropped the phone into her lap as he spoke to her from behind the couch. “Jesus don’t do that!”

“No looking, that’s what Lyndsey said.” Taron reached over her and took her phone from her lap. “No looking at the comments.”

Robyn turned and knelt on the couch. “That counts for you too.” She said taking the phone back but Taron grabbed her hands.

“Looking together?” He asked raising an eyebrow her way. “Jesus your hands are freezing.” Taron had pulled a long-sleeved shirt on over his shirt while they had waited for their food to arrive but Robyn had only dressed in a blue t-shirt. He walked to the island and picked up his grey hoodie that he had saw Claire with but pretended he hadn’t and brought it with him back to the couch. “Here. You’re cold.” He handed her his jumper.

“I can grab a jumper from my closet.”

“Your closet is all the way over there in the bedroom. This hoodie is right here. Take it and put it on.” Robyn took the hoodie from his hands and he sat back in the corner. “Put it on.” He repeated.

She shuffled forward and fixing it so it was the right way around, opened the bottom of the material and pulling her arms through first, she slipped her head in and pulled Taron’s jumper down over her. It was soft and oversized on her and as she fixed the hood, she could understand why Claire spent so much time smelling his clothes. There was the faintest scent of aftershave on his hoodie and it was heaven. Finally getting the hoodie to sit right, she sat back on the couch. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Taron snuggled back into the corner, sitting up. “So, we’re looking at the comments now?”

“Just a sneaky look.”

“And?”

“All good. You even had some offers to be your nurse.”

“Think I will pass.”

Robyn moved a little closer to him. “Good choice. I’ve picked a movie for us.”

“And I have the fleece ready.” Taron held up the teddy bear throw he had also claimed as his own along with her couch. He opened his left arm for her and she moved a little closer, taking up their all too familiar positions. Taron puffed the throw out and covered their legs as the rested on the poof and pulled it up a little, stopping at his waist. “Love this fleece” He said. “Might have to stuff it in my bag to bring home.”

“Don’t even think about it. I will buy you one. Penny’s best. Sorry Primark to you. Primark’s best.”

“I don’t want my own one. I want this one. This is used and loved and it will fit in my duffle.”

“Ok then I get to keep all your clothes because they will not fit in your duffle with his fleece.”

“I can agree to that. Most of them are already in your closet.”

“You’re a tosspot.” Replied Robyn looking his way. “Watch the movie.”

“Okie dokie.” Answered Taron with a laugh. “What’s a tosspot?”

“You are. Now be quiet and watch Channing and Jamie blow up the white house.”

“I know those guys.”

“Taron! You are incorrigible!”

“You secretly love it.” Taron gave her a squeeze.

“You are bloody lucky I do.”

[blurry-fics]

Chapter Eleven

Realize That It’s Gone | Series Masterlist

Warnings: None

Word Count: 2410

Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy the chapter! :) (picture credit)

“Ok, I think I heard his car,” you said, frantically rushing to the living room to get a look out the window. “I’ll talk to you afterwards.”

“Good, because I want all the details!” Marenna said. “Remember to take deep breaths and be yourself. He isn’t worth your time if you can’t be yourself.”

“Right, ok. He’s walking up to the door. Thanks for talking with me, Ren!”

“Anytime, Y/N. Good luck!”

“Thanks, bye!”

You managed to hang up the call and slip your phone into your pocket just as Josh knocked on the door. After a quick glance in the mirror and a small adjustment of your shirt, you opened the door with a smile. Josh was standing on the other side, holding a bouquet of bright yellow flowers.

“Hi,” you grinned, too distracted by his appearance at first to notice the flowers. He was wearing a pair of dark skinny jeans with a patterned button down. You had to admit, it looked really nice paired with his blue hair.

“Hey,” he returned your smile. “These are for you.”

“They’re gorgeous, thank you. Here, you should come inside while I put these in a vase.”

You tried to hide the smile on your face as you led Josh towards the kitchen. Georgie had also come running down the stairs to investigate what was happening. He was currently standing in the middle of the hall, watching the two of you with wide eyes.

“Who is this?” Josh asked, already making his way towards him.

“That’s Georgie. I would be careful, he can be a bit chaotic at times.”

“He doesn’t seem too bad.”

You watched with wide eyes as Josh bent down next to Georgie and gently began to stroke at his head. It took Josh turning to you and raising his eyebrows for you to remember what you had set out to do in the first place.

“Where did you get these?” you asked as you filled a vase with water. “They look so fresh.”

“My mom is friends with our neighbor, who just so happens to be a florist. I, um, may have struck up a deal with her to get some fresh flowers for you.”

“Such a gentleman.”

There was a smile on your face as you dropped the flowers into a vase and set them in the middle of the counter. Your parents would no doubt have plenty of questions for you when you got home, but that problem was far from the forefront of your mind.

“Ready to go?”

Josh finally stood back up to his full height, leaving a very disappointed Georgie sitting in the middle of the hall. He stuck his hands deep in his pockets and turned to you.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Great, let’s get out of here.”

Josh held out a hand to you, which you happily linked your own with. Together, you walked out to his car. He even made a show of opening your door for you.

“Thanks,” you said, holding back nervous laughter as you sat down in the passenger side of the car.

“Of course.”

You nervously tapped your fingers against your knees as you waited for Josh to join you in the car. There were a few random things sitting around the dash area, but otherwise it seemed like Josh had made an effort to clean his car before picking you up.

“You know, Josh,” you started once he finally closed his door, “I really appreciate all the effort you’re making, but since this is my first date, the bar is really low as far as expectations go.”

Josh grinned as he turned the key in the ignition, “Then I feel like it’s only fair to make sure you have a solid standard for other guys to measure up to in the future, that is, if I don’t impress you enough to score a second date.”

Yet again, you found yourself holding in nervous laughter. You had no idea what to expect for the rest of the date, but your mind was running wild with all the possibilities. It was taking everything in you to not ask Josh a million questions about what he had planned.

“What music do you want to listen to?”

“Oh, um, Tyler and I usually listen to Death Cab for Cutie when we’re together.”

You winced a little at your mention of Tyler. It probably wasn’t your best idea, considering you were on a first date with his best friend.

“I think I have some Death Cab for Cutie in here,” he said, completely disregarding your mention of Tyler.

Josh leaned over the console and opened the glovebox, brushing up against your arm as he did so. Inside was a number of CDs, all wrapped together in a rubber band. He pulled them out and handed them to you so that you could start to look through them while he drove.

“You still play CDs?” you asked as you began to flip through them.

“Yeah, I have a ton of them from when I was growing up and I figured there was no point in getting rid of them. Now I just keep them all in here to listen to when I’m driving.”

“Oh, this is a great album,” you smiled, pulling out one that you particularly liked.

“Go ahead and pop it in there.”

With some help from Josh, you managed to get the CD playing. Quiet music filled the car, creating a nice background to your conversation. You leaned back in your chair and took a deep breath, trying to forget about all your worries and just enjoy the sunshine and Josh’s company.

After all, it was just one date.

*      *      *

After a quick stop to pick up a milkshake from a place that Josh swore was the best in Columbus, the two of you found yourselves slowly walking along the Scioto River. Josh was in the middle of telling you a story from his childhood that was making you laugh so hard that your sides hurt.

“Yeah, so that’s a glimpse into who I was as a child,” he grinned. “Want some?”

You accepted the milkshake from his outstretched hand and took a long sip from your straw. It had taken you and Josh quite some time to decide on a flavor, but you eventually realized you had a shared love for cookies and cream and settled on that.

“Thanks. Um, ok, new question: where’s home for you?”

Josh let out a long breath of air and brought one hand out of his pocket to run through his hair. His mouth just barely started to curl up into a smile.

“That’s a tough question. Can I have a minute?”

“Take as long as you need.”

You took a moment to admire a nearby tree while you waited for Josh’s answer. Your mind began to wander, thinking of how you would answer the question when he inevitably echoed it back to you. Memories of long car rides with Carter, summers spent in the den with Tyler, and snow-covered city sidewalks all popped up.

“Ok, I think I have an answer.”

Josh’s voice pulled you back into reality. You almost jumped a little when you turned back to face him, not expecting the blue hair and stubble on his cheeks. Your eyebrows furrowed - had you really forgotten who you were on a date with?

“Let’s hear it.”

“I think home, for me, is where the people that I care about are. Right now, that’s Columbus, but who knows where that might be in the future?”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” you smiled. Had he taken notice of your confusion just a moment ago?

“Are you saying there’s people in Columbus that you care about?” he grinned, leaning into you a little.

You bumped him with your elbow. “Only because you said it first.”

“Hey, do you want to sit for a little while?”

“Yeah, that would be nice.”

Josh led you over to a nearby bench and sat down first, making sure to rest his arm along the back where it would no doubt be in contact with you. You took a seat next to him, leaving hardly any space between your thighs. Not that it really mattered; shortly after you sat down, Josh closed the space completely.

“I’m having a really nice time, Josh, thanks for taking me on this date.”

“You are? I was worried that it would be too boring since we’re just walking around, but I’m having a really nice time too.”

“How could I be bored when I’m walking along the river, drinking a milkshake, and learning more about you?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “Maybe I’m boring.”

“You? Boring? You must be kidding, Josh.”

“Not kidding.” He turned to you with a small smile. “Just nervous.”

In a moment of bravery, you reached out and put a hand just above his knee. His smile grew a little from the gesture.

“If anyone has a reason to be nervous, it’s me.”

“I beg to differ. I’m the one on a date with a gorgeous girl.”

“And I’m on a date with a gorgeous guy, what’s your point?” you grinned.

Josh tried to come up with an answer, but he was stumbling over his words. You were shocked that a few compliments was enough to make someone as confident as Josh blush and trip up.

“Thought so,” you said, taking a triumphant sip of milkshake.

“Hey, do you mind if I do something really cheesy?”

“How cheesy are we talking?”

Josh’s eyes narrowed for a moment as he thought. “Um, romantic comedy cheesy.”

“I think I can handle that.”

“Ok, do you mind, uh, taking a sip of milkshake?”

You smiled, already getting an idea of where this was going. Josh was giggling before you even brought the straw to your lips.

“Ok, this is where it gets really cliche,” he said.

You ignored the way your heart was pounding as Josh leaned in and started to drink from the other straw. He looked up and met your eyes, only making you more nervous. His eyes were such a wonderful chocolate color, not too unlike the eyes of somebody else that you knew…

The eye contact suddenly became overwhelming and you pulled away, all the while giggling nervously. Josh nearly got milkshake all over his pants from you pulling away so suddenly, but he managed to stop it from spilling down his chin.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, Josh,” you said, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder.

“No, no, you’re fine. I wasn’t so sure that I would be able to keep doing that without laughing myself.”

You instantly relaxed, glad that you hadn’t accidentally ruined the date. Josh was just as nervous as you.

“Do you want to keep walking? There’s more to see down that way.”

“Yeah, that sounds great.”

Josh took the milkshake from your hands and tossed it in a nearby trash can - it was nearly empty, anyway - before rejoining you on the sidewalk. He held a hand out to you again, which you eagerly took into your own. There was something about holding Josh’s hand, even with all its callouses, that gave you a good feeling in your chest.

You and Josh walked along the river for another hour or so until the sun started to sink low in the sky. He said that he didn’t want to give your parents the wrong impression by keeping you out too late, no matter how many times you assured them that they wouldn’t care and were probably out with their own friends, anyway.

The ride home was peaceful; the sky was painted in varying shades of pink and orange, you and Josh continued to have conversations about your lives, and there was a warm breeze blowing through the open windows of the car. If it weren’t for Josh’s voice answering your own, you would have thought it was just another sunset drive with Tyler.

Tyler.

That was far from the first time he had popped into your head today. It seemed that not even a date with someone else was enough to keep him from your thoughts for long. You were beginning to think that the feelings you had for him hadn’t faded quite as much as you thought they had.

“This street, right?” Josh asked, ending your train of thought.

“Yeah, this is the one.”

Josh slowly pulled up against the curb in front of your house. As expected, the only light on was the one on the porch, meaning you would be walking into an empty house.

“I know I said this earlier, but I had a really nice time today, Josh. Thank you for taking me on this date.”

“So, what you’re saying is that there’s a chance I could get that second date?”

“Definitely a chance,” you grinned.

“Sweet,” he said, doing a little fist pump. “I had a really nice time today, too. Thank for you coming with me.”

“I’ll see you soon?”

You started to get out of the car, but Josh rested a hand on your arm before you got too far.

“Wait, Y/N.”

“Yeah?”

"Can I kiss you?"

A chill ran down your spine. "Kiss me?"

"Just on the cheek," Josh said, his mouth curling up into a shy smile. "Wouldn't want to take things too fast."

You weren't sure whether you were more relieved or disappointed. "Um, sure. Yeah," you smiled.

Josh leaned over the console and pressed a gentle kiss to your cheek. You bit down on your lip to stop from smiling like a total idiot, although the excitement was definitely still evident on your face.

“Bye, Y/N.”

“Bye, Josh.”

You finally got out of the car and closed the door, resisting the urge to touch the spot on your cheek where he had just kissed. He waved to you through the window before pulling away and disappearing around the corner at the end of the street. It took you a moment to actually start walking inside, your head was still reeling from the fact that you had just been on an actual date.

You had just closed the front door when your phone buzzed in your pocket. There were a few notifications that you had missed, but it was the most recent one that caught your eye: a text notification.

From Tyler.

*     *     *     *     *

Taglist

@faceofcontvsions​ @ohprettyweeper​ @tylersheavydirtysoul​ @topownsmyheart​ @schrodingersjustine​ @heythereitm3​ @leam-2001​ @breadbinishigh​ @wearebxnditos​ @iguessimsatan @harishaanne​ @5secondsofmoxley​ @patdsinner33​ @littlerachelbee​ @iamnotawasteofspace​ @nostalgic1975​ @fruityfreddie​

[drowning-in-dennor]

Answers

The gang's all here to answer your burning questions! Whether it’s the Oxenstiernas or the Wangs, or your favourite couples, they’re ready to face whatever inquiries you might have! [Written to celebrate two hundred and fifty followers.]

Question One: Literally anything about Bogden please uwu

Bogden: ...this isn’t really a question.

[Aleksander claps Bogden on the shoulder.]

Aleksander: Oh, whatever, just be glad we’re getting attention!

Bogden: Well, okay, but this is pretty weird. I mean, do they want to hear about my personal life, or my relationships, or -

[Aleksander muffles Bogden’s mouth with his hand.]

Aleksander: HIS MIDDLE NAME IS BORIS AND HIS BIRTHDAY IS THE THIRD OF MARCH ALSO HE REALLY LIKES YOGHURT AND HE REALLY LIKES ROSES AND ROSE-FLAVOURED STUFF OH AND HE HAS A PET BUNNY, IS THAT ENOUGH INFO?

Question Two: So what does the butter boy love doing the most with Henrik?

Stellan: I assume I’m ‘the butter boy’.

Henrik, sarcastically: Oh, no, I’m sure it’s Harald, or anyone but the one who stress-baked six hundred butter cookies after a final one day and mailed them to every person in the city!

[Stellan kicks Henrik under the table.]

Stellan: Well, to answer your question, I just love it when we cuddle while watching the sunset. We’re usually sitting outside, in this rocking swing we have in our front yard, watching the sky get painted all these pretty colours. It’s the most amazing feeling in the world to be able to see something so lovely with the person you care for the most.

[Henrik turns red.]

Henrik: Y-Yeah, those are really happy times. Holy fuck, I love you so much.

Question Three: What does Berwald like doing with Henrik?

Berwald: Fighting.

Henrik: Sometimes we just crack open a beer and talk about our husbands because we’re both awesomely lucky men. Then Stell has to pick me up the next morning while I’m hungover.

Berwald: Or we design some furniture together.

Henrik: We used to assemble IKEA stuff together until that time I screwed the legs of a chair on wrong and accidentally created a monster.

Question Four: Harald, how do you feel about Henrik and Stellan’s relationship?

Harald: When they got together all those years ago, I was too young to remember much, but when I got older and they got sappier, it was pretty annoying. Like, I’d be having breakfast, and they’d be across the table cuddling or something.

Stellan: Were we that bad?

[Harald crosses his arms.]

Harald: Yes, you were that bad. When you started high school it got even more annoying, because you two would be fucking like rabbits while poor me was right next door.

Henrik: Oh, yeah! We were pretty loud, huh?

Harald: Now, though, they have their own house, so I don’t really care. I get a cool brother-in-law, and Stell has a husband. Works out for both of us.

Question Five, from @kyrakira: What wouwd Stewwan wike mowwe? a pwug ow a couch owo?

[Stellan falls off his chair.]

[Henrik slams his fist on the table and bursts into laughter.]

Stellan, climbing back onto his chair: First of all, I hate how I understand what you’re saying. Second of all, I’d say the plug.

Henrik: HOLY -

Stellan: Fucking a piece of furniture is not as pleasant as it sounds, kids. Don’t try it at home.

Question Six: To Agata: sweet mother, I cannot focus; slender Aphrodite has overcome me with longing for a girl, how not die?

Agata: Nothing you can do about it. You will look at your pretty girl, and you will have an internal heart attack.

[Tille giggles.]

Agata: You know how I met Tille? I was riding my bike, I saw her. She was pretty. I hit her with my bike.

Tille: You cried, you big kitty cat.

Agata: Yes, I cried. I was overwhelmed by your beauty.

Tille: Aww.

Agata: So, you see a pretty girl, you’re helpless to her charms. Too bad. I can’t help.

Question Seven: How close and warm are y'all nordicks? óuò

Henrik: ...I assume that means us?

[Harald cringes.]

Harald: What the hell is that cursed emoji?

Berwald: You mean emoticon.

Harald: Whatever.

Tino: To answer your question, we go over to each others’ houses for dinner every Friday! Sometimes we do it with Leon’s family, too.

Henrik: It’s really awesome! But when Stellan gets a little too competitive with Vicente, things can get, er, messy.

[Stellan throws up his hands.]

Stellan: The egg tart situation was one time, Henrik! ONE TIME!

Question Eight: To any of you, when was the last time you cried in front of a lot of people? 

Antonio: Gilbert made a face at me in the middle of a presentation, and I laughed so hard I cried.

Ludwig: Pochi...

[Ludwig buries his face in his hands.]

Ludwig: Pochi just tottered up to me and jumped in my lap. It was adorable.

Kiku: Then I cried because Pochi betrayed me for him.

Feliciano: Then I cried because Tama scratched me. I still have the scar.

Question Nine: Harald, out of everyone in your family, who's death would you find most disturbing and why?

[Harald’s eyes widen.]

Harald: Why would you ask something like that? What on earth is wrong with you? Any of their deaths would be disturbing, by the way. I don’t think I could ever bear to see any of them die before me.

[He sniffles and reaches in his pocket for a tissue.]

[Henrik jumps, scowling darkly.]

Henrik: Okay, who made Harald cry?

Harald: Wait —

[Stellan joins Henrik and raises a fist.]

Stellan: They’ll have hell to pay for this.

Harald: ...I love you guys.

Question Ten: Henrik and Stellan, how are your relationships with your parents?

Henrik: Oh, we get along just fine! They were a little shocked when I brought Stellan home for the first time, but not any more. 

Stellan: Between Henrik and Leon, mine have, well, resigned themselves to the fact that they most likely will not have biological grandchildren.

Henrik: We’re not sure if we’re gonna adopt just yet, but if we do, I’m sure our folks would be thrilled!

Question Eleven: To Al, Matt, Arthur, Francis, Ivan and Yao, what are your favorite memories about school?

Yao: Well, it has to be every prize-presentation ceremony at the end of each year. I went on stage every time!

Alfred: Yo, stop flexing, we know you’re a genius already.

[Arthur smiles, clearly lost in his memories.]

Arthur: My time at the school’s literature club was truly unforgettable. I was the president, if you must know, and I finally got an excuse to hide in the library all the time and read.

[Francis laughs.]

Francis: Ah, surely I thought your dearest memory would be of that one time you thought you were carrying around a copy of Pride and Prejudice, but was in reality holding a very saucy volume of Victorian er —

Arthur: HEY, ALFRED! You never told us about your favourite memory!

[Alfred jumps, accidentally smacking Yao on the shoulder. Yao gives him a withering glare.]

Alfred: Oh, yeah. It’s got to be when the soccer team won the last game of the semester, in my senior year! Dang, just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.

Matthew: And speaking of competitions, when I got first place in the school’s public speaking competition in grade seven, I completely lost it.

Alfred: You screamed, then hugged me so tightly I saw spots afterwards.

Matthew: I’ll never forget how it felt to win something for the first time.

Francis: My time with Yao in our school’s cooking club was magnificent. Yao, my friend, do you remember the mooncake project?

[Yao perks up.]

Yao: Yes, when we experimented to see how to make mooncakes less oily? That was fun. I still use that recipe to make mooncakes now. 

Matthew: Hey Ivan, you haven’t talked yet. What’s your favourite memory?

Ivan: My favourite memory? Let me think, now...

[Ivan taps his chin.]

Ivan: Meeting you all at the very start of the year, that was amazing.

Alfred: Oh, you big teddy bear!

Arthur: We love you too.

[The six of them collapse in a group hug. The sound of chairs falling fills the room.]

Question Twelve: Out of everyone, who was a dropout and who finished college?

Alfred: I, uh, never went to college. Just decided to go “fuck the system” and started a food cart that I still wheel around the States. If you wanna see me, look for Stars and Stripes!

Matthew: Like Francis, I survived culinary school, but unlike Francis, I only got a degree in the pastry arts.

[Francis rubs his temples.]

Francis: None of you have ever experienced pain until you’ve been through egg day. Nine hundred eggs, all gone to waste because the Chef thought they were bad!

Arthur: I got my degree in English literature at Oxford, and to this day I’m still surprised that I managed to get in.

Yao: I have a degree in medicine, but it’s pretty useless since I run my diner now. By the way, check out Wang’s if you have the time!

[Ivan rubs the back of his head sheepishly.]

Ivan: I got arrested in the middle of college. Now, I just help my sister run her store!

Feliciano: Kiku and I both went to art school! I went to culinary school with Francis after that, though.

Kiku: My student loans haunt me to this day.

Ludwig: It surprises a lot of people, but I dropped out of college while Gilbert’s the one with the degree. 

Henrik: I went to a super-obscure course, namely the textile arts. Most people don’t even know it’s a degree!

Stellan: I got a degree in creative writing at John Hopkins in the US.

Berwald: Went to trade school.

Tino: I don’t really remember much about college. I just remember a lot of coffee, screaming and complaining.

Question Thirteen: What do you love most about yourself, Henrik, Berwald and Stellan? uwu

Stellan: The next person to use “uwu” will have their spleens removed.

Berwald: Very threatening.

Henrik: Well, what I wuv mowost abowouwut mwysewelf is howow I’m able to awways pwiss owoff my bowoyfewnd!

Berwald: What.

[Stellan gets up.]

Stellan: I love you, but say “uwu” again and you’re sleeping on the couch.

Henrik: Why, uwu?

Stellan: OH, THAT’S IT —

[Henrik flees from Stellan.]

Berwald: I love that I married a sane person.

Question Fourteen: Why do you like your best friend, Tino? 3:

Tino: Oh you mean Ed? Well, we’ve been friends since forever, first of all, and we’ve stuck together no matter what! He’s helped me with homework and bullies and all that stuff since we were kids, and I’ve done the same. Best of all, he encouraged me to ask Berwald out, and thanks to him I now have an awesome husband!

[Nearby, Eduard is sobbing.]

Eduard: I love you too!

Question Fifteen: If a=b, multiply by a to get a²=ab, subtract b² to get a²-b²=ab-b², factor them (a+b)(a-b)=b(a-b), cancel a-b, and since a=b the equation is now 2b=b or 2=1; why does math exist? @the Wangs

Leon: ...what?

Vicente: I think I lost half my brain cells just by reading that.

Ling: This is bringing back trauma from school, and that question doesn’t even make sense.

Yao: I’m too old for this crap.

Leon: But to answer your question, math exists because once upon a time some asshole decided to invent numbers and make our lives difficult.

Ling: Seconded.

Vicente: Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’re off to make dinner.

Question Sixteen: Stellan, what's the most difficult decision you've had to make to see your dreams come true?

Stellan: Ohhh, that’s a hard one. I’ve had to make a lot of sacrifices to become the person I am today. But if I had to pick, it’d be picking John Hopkins over Oslo Uni, and leaving Harald and Henrik behind. It was worth it, though, since now I’m happy and successful and I can’t have asked for more.

Harald: Aww, I love you too, you bastard.

Question Seventeen: Which family does Peter belong to?

Arthur: He lives with the Oxenstiernas, which is fine with both of us.

Tino: Artie couldn’t handle Peter after his parents passed, so it started out with Ber just babysitting him. But after the two of us got married, Arthur decided to put Peter up for adoption so he could become our son!

Niklas: It was a great decision.

Berwald: What?

Niklas: I mean, it was a terrible decision because now I’m stuck with an awesome — er, annoying — brother for the rest of my life.

Question Eighteen: What do you think is the best thing about your personality, Berwald?

Berwald: Uh...

[He stares off into the distance.]

Berwald: Uhhh...

Tino: Well, I love how everyone’s so intimidated by you, but you’re so snuggly and sweet in reality! 

[Berwald appears to stop breathing.]

Berwald: Thanks.

Question Nineteen: To Alfred, Gilbert and Henrik: what’s the dumbest yet smartest thing you’ve ever done?

Alfred: Dang, that’s a hard one. I’d say the time we threw a dictionary out of the car window, just because.

Gilbert: No, the time we put a block of frozen maple syrup into Matt’s showerhead. But then we got yelled at, so maybe not.

Henrik: How about when we tried to brûlée salt and set off the fire alarm?

[The three of them consider.]

Gilbert: Yoo, what about the frying pan thing?

Henrik: Oh, riiiiight, the frying pan thing!

Alfred: So basically, we put a frying pan on the heart for too long and it melted. Then it turned out that the frying pan was made with unsafe material! That’s kinda smart, I guess.

Question Twenty: Which one of you (anyone ig) has a choking fetish?

[The entire room erupts into chaos.]

Harald: OH MY GOODNESS!

Leon: Who the hell asked this!?

Alfred: You know what? Y’all need Jesus.

[Someone hits the camera and it switches off.]

...

A/N: Yes I know I’m very unfunny but I hope this was at least the tiniest bit fun to read

[cheeseeatingtrashmonster]

Be My Lois Lane (Marichat May) Chapter 5: Baking

I swear I’m still writing this. Chapter 6 is almost done, so hopefully that will be up soon!

Ao3

-

Marinette Dupain-Cheng woke up with a plan.

And a cat trying to sleep over her mouth and nose.

But she had a plan.

"I have a plan," she told Nadja the moment she found her in the break room that morning.

"That's good. Go do it."

"You don't want to hear what the plan is?"

"Trust your instincts. Go follow that lead."

Marinette thanked her and returned to her desk, the buzz of determination and a lead settling into her bones.

Or maybe she'd made the coffee too strong that morning.

Marinette dove down the rabbit hole, searching every social media site she could think to search. She had forty names on her list, eleven with date, time, and location written next to them when Alya interrupted her.

"You ready?"

Marinette blinked up at her. It took a minute for her to surface from the deep research. "Ready for what?"

"...Lunch? We were gonna go to your place and dote on Shadow and come up with a plan about your little identity problem?"

"Lunch? But it's only-"

Alya held out her phone, the clock displaying in harsh black and white. "It's only lunchtime?"

"Oh." Marinette looked down at her work scattered across her desktop. "Can you give me five minutes? I just need to wrap a bit of this up."

Alya laughed. "Sure." She grabbed a chair from an empty desk and settled next to Marinette to read on her phone until she was done. "I didn't expect to have to do this yet."

"Do what?” Marinette asked, typing quick goodbyes to all her open conversations.

“Have to drag you away from work to eat after you lose track of time.”

Marinette bit her lip and let what Alya said roll around her mind while she finished closing out conversations and locking her computer.

“I guess… a project is a project? And I’ll always get lost in a project?” Marinette said. She locked her computer and stood.

Alya linked arms with her. "Mmm, I dunno. I think that maybe, just maybe... you're starting to like being in my department."

"But fashion!" Marinette whined.

"You get more than enough fashion spending every spare second creating for your online boutique."

"I have to have fresh stuff!"

Marinette and Alya had the same debate about the boutique every few days. Alya insisted Marinette didn't need to hide her identity up to the last second, that she didn't have to fear big names like Gabriel now that she had a line of her own. Marinette felt it would be safer to wait until she had a physical store from which to sell. They both had good points, but Alya was pretty sure Marinette's were backed by a little too much fear and self-doubt.

"What are you doing?" Alya asked when Marinette started pulling things out of her pantry, ignoring the lunch she had placed on the table a moment before.

"I need to bake."

"You need to eat. Why would you need to bake?"

"For the people."

Alya stood and took a mixing bowl out of Marinette's hands, holding her wrists (gently) so she couldn't dive back into baking preparations. "What people, M?"

"The people with stories."

"Marinette?"

Her eyes were on the container of sugar, squinting at how much she had left. "Mmm?"

"Wanna come back to earth for a minute and tell me what's going on?"

A second later, Marinette's eyes lost their hyper-focused look and she stopped straining to get out of Alya's hold and reach for the container of eggs. "I'm going to interview as many people who have seen, talked to, fought, or been saved by Chat Noir as possible."

Alya followed the logical trail from there. "And you want to bake something for these people?"

Marinette nodded.

Alya sighed. "Let's get one batch started so it can bake while we eat, then we'll do a few more before we go back."

-

"I should save some cookies for Marc and Nath, right?" Marinette asked as they cleaned up while the last batch was in the oven. "I'll be having as many interviews at the park across the street from them as I can, and they like to refuse to let me pay for refills."

"Absolutely. And maybe if you have any left over, you have a best friend going on another plane ride soon?"

"Where are you going?"

"There's rumors of a new superhero in Sydney. We're collecting a little more info before shipping me off, but this one sounds promising."

"As soon as you know your departure time, I'll have a few things ready to go with you." Marinette leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Gotta make sure you're well-fed when you're away from me."

"You're the sweetest. That's probably why your baking is so good."

"Or, you know, growing up in a bakery."

-

Marinette took her basket of cookies to Marc and Nath's cafe, The Talon. They agreed to let her leave the majority of the cookies behind the counter, taking a neatly packaged few out to each interview. She sat down, prepared her phone's voice recording app, and opened her new birthday present notebook.

"Are you the reporter who wanted to know about Chat Noir?"

Marinette smiled and stood, extending her hand to the woman. She looked to be in her mid-thirties and had brought two young children with her. "Yes, I'm Marinette. You must be Anna."

While her children played in the park, Anna told Marinette the story of how Chat Noir had saved her. It was a very similar story to her own. Grabbed by a supervillain, held hostage on a rooftop, and Chat Noir tried to talk the villain down.

"Chat Noir was still just a rumor at the time," she said. "I couldn't really see him, so I thought it was just some guy trying to help. Then the guy who took me held up his laser-blasting thing and I ducked. Chat Noir yelled some strange word. I heard some kind of... magical sound."

"Do you remember what the word was?" Marinette asked. She added to her notebook, Chat Noir might have magic beyond his baton.

"No, sorry. I might recognize it if I heard it again, though."

Marinette nodded. "What happened after that? What did you see next?"

"When I looked up, the gun was gone, the villain was face down on the roof, and Chat Noir was using zip ties to secure him to a pipe." She looked over at where her children were playing. "He saved me, and my children still have a mother because he was there."

Marinette smiled. "I'm so glad."

"He stayed with me until I was calm. He went and found my purse when I said I had dropped it. He walked with me to the police- well, he walked with me until we could see the building, then waited nearby until I was inside. He showed up on my walk home from work the next night. He didn't come over or say anything, but he made sure I saw he was nearby. He showed up most nights for a week or two. I felt safe again because he went out of his way."

Marinette looked down at her list of questions. That was quite a different picture than the flirty cat from the phone call last night or the goof who offered a supervillain a scarf in exchange for his hostage.

"Do you have anything else you'd like to say about him?" she asked, surfacing from her own thoughts.

"I don't know why he's here, or what his ultimate goal is, but I'm so glad he's here. Whatever this city will face in the future, we'll be okay because we have him on our side."

-

The rest of the interviews took a couple of weeks. Nath started complaining that he was going to get fat if Marinette kept giving them cookies. Marinette replied that she was going to vibrate out of her skin if he kept stopping to visit her with refills of her favorite coffee order between interviews.

"That was the last one!" she said, flopping dramatically against the counter in front of Nath.

He nudged her out of the way and started cleaning the counter, shooting her an annoyed glance. "You really think that was the last person in the city to have encountered Chat Noir?"

"No, not by a long shot," she said. She stepped behind the counter to grab one of the leftover packages of cookies for herself. "But forty-seven people is more than enough. I've put out a couple articles of the more dramatic stories of being saved already, ones with a couple witnesses to corroborate. Now I'll write something about the patterns in the stories, what's known about him, how he acts, stuff like that."

"Uh-huh. And after that?"

She slumped and opened the package of cookies. "After that, maybe he'll like my writing so much he'll let me interview him?"

Nath patted her on the shoulder and stole a cookie. "Good luck with that."

-

Marinette was walking home at sunset (with one hand on the can of pepper spray in her pocket), a little too full of cookies to be seriously considering a real dinner, when she saw something move in the shadows ahead of her.

She stared at the darkness for a minute but nothing could be seen. "There's no one there," she muttered to herself.

She had just started walking again when the shadows slid again and formed into a person.

"Okay, back off, you-"

"Hey! Hey! You can put that away. I was just going to offer an escort home. You look a little nervous."

The fact that Chat Noir was standing in front of her finally registered. She blushed and shoved the pepper spray back into her pocket. "Sorry about that."

Chat shrugged and held out his arm. "I'm glad you're doing something to feel safer. So, how about that escort?"

She linked her arm through his. "Sounds nice."

Marinette watched Chat Noir out of the corner of her eye as they walked. "You do this a lot, huh? Walk home anyone who looks nervous or like they're in danger?"

He smiled. "I'd heard you were asking around about me."

"I'll figure you out, Kitty."

It was Chat's turn to blush, just enough that she could see the pink under his mask in the dying light.

“I have to ask that you not refer to me as ‘Kitty’ in your articles.”

“Will you give me a quote in exchange for that?” she asked. She hoped the teasing smirk she shot him let him know she would respect his wishes whether he did or not.

“Sure. Here’s a quote. ‘If the world were flat, I would knock all the bad guys off the edge.’”

She stopped walking, a look of confusion taking over.

“You… what? Why? What does that even mean?”

“I… you know… like- like cats? They knock stuff off of tables? And I’m trying to help the city, so bad guys…”

He trailed off, a blush rising on his cheeks again.

“That was awful.” Marinette laughed. “I’ll skip the quote, but I’ll leave out any nicknames, too.”

They had reached the front of her apartment building and stood just outside the light shining through the glass front doors.

“And I’m still thinking of a new nickname for you, Princess.”

She laughed again. “I’m sure you’ll come up with something.”

He took her hand from his arm and kissed it with a bow. “Stay safe, Marinette.”

He started backing away, pulling out his baton and looking at the surrounding buildings for a good place to climb.

“Oh, wait!” Marinette said. Chat stopped. “I wanted to show you.” She pulled the notebook he had given her out of her bag. “I hope you don’t mind, but I decorated it a little.”

She held out the notebook. It was covered in ladybug stickers.

Chat reached out one claw to trace the biggest ladybug in the center.

He didn’t say anything, but the smile he wore was brilliant.

So brilliant that she didn’t see the confusion in his eyes.

[zoslittlefish2]

Killers and Deep Closets

Ch 5 Lost Waves

Wattpad

Hey Yall! This is my first fic, and it's based on the World created within my favorite Sanders Sides ask blogs, @ask-creativitwins , @ask-the-left-brains , @ask-the-sanders-dads , and @ask-remy-and-picani. Fish is Deciet and Remus's child (kindof-). If you want, you could skip the first part with Fish, anf go straight to the rescue party.

WARNINGS: Semi Graphic description of torture, Partial drowning, and death mention

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A couple of days later, the routine had continued. Fish had almost gotten used to it and didn't pass out right away when Magnolia was finished with them. Today started the same, and magnolia dragged them out of the room. This time, though, they went in a different direction, leaving Fish to wonder what the dragon witch was planning.

They entered a room that was similar to the other room. Magnolia attached the chains to the wall this time and left the room without a word. Fish felt her blood run cold as they heard what sounded like running water. Their fear was confirmed when they felt the water at their feet, rising quickly. They tried to keep their breathing calm when they realized what was happening.

The water rose quickly, and the room was filled in a matter of minutes. Fish couldn't see anything, and the water stilled around them. It wasn't long before their chest started to ache, and every movement felt like lifting heavy boxes. They could feel themselves slipping out of consciousness and fought it, knowing if they passed out, that would be the end.

They could feel the water start moving again as they started sinking. When they felt the top of their head leave the water, they almost passed out then and there. They couldn't stay sitting, let alone standing, as the water finally disappeared. The last thing they saw was a pair of feet before everything went black.

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Logan looked around as they walked through the forest, taking note that Roman seemed sluggish in his movements, and was leaning on Virgil. Remus and Deceit were in a similar state. Logan had made his way to the front despite not going into the imagination often. Remy made his way to the front, falling in line with Logan.

"Hey." He said, causing Logan to turn his head to him

"Hello. Did you need something?"

"I wanted to see how you were holding up." Remy sighed, the concern evident on his face.

"I am... Adequate, I suppose. And how about you?" Logan asked, his gaze returning forward, carefully stepping over a root.

"I'm alright, I guess. I am a little worried about Princey, though. Remus and Dee, too, they all look exhausted." These observations surprised Logan. Apparently, this surprise was showed, because Remy laughed.

"What? Just cause I'm dumb doesn't mean I can't tell when someone didn't or had trouble sleeping. If I couldn't, I wouldn't be able to do my job. I mean, I know I'm stupid, but not that stupid." Remy said, placing a hand on Logan's shoulder. "I can also tell that you're not as 'adequate' as you want me to believe. I know we don't always get along, but you can talk to me."

Logan sighed, "I guess I am concerned, it been a few days of wondering the Imagination, and we haven't seen a sign of Fish, anywhere.  I've also noticed how the others are reacting to their disappearance, which is concerning. I'm fond of them as well, and i hope we can find them soon. I guess..." logan trails off, and remy tilts his head.

"You guess?..."

logan shakes his head. " I guess I didn't realize how much Fish wiggled their way into this odd family. I find myself wanting to find them quickly, not because of how long it's already been, but i fear what is happening with them, and the longer it takes, the less likely we are to find them unharmed..." 'or dead...'  he almost said, but shook the thought from his head. They would find Fish, and Fish was going to be fine. A movement in front of him caused him to leave his train of thought as he stopped, looking ahead and seeing what remy was pointing two.

In the distance was a small town, and a large, dark castle overlooking it. The others caught up, looking at the castle. Remus and roman seemed to tense up.

"How much do you wanna bet that's her castle?" Virgil said, and roman sneered into the distance.

"It is... " Remus growled. Deceit held his arm. Logan looked around before speaking.

"well, we have two options. We can either go to the town and stay there tonight, or we can camp out here. Either way, the sun is setting, so we won't be able to search the town until tomorrow." this made Remus and roman sag, both looking at each other. Without letting go of Virgil, Roman reached a hand out, and Remus took it. Logan couldn't hide his disappointment with waiting one more day. finally, they had found something that might lead to Fish, and he wanted to jump straight into the search. But deep down, he knew everyone needed to rest first.

"Why don't we stay here? Since that is  the DW's castle, we don't want to run the risk of running into someone that would recognize those two," he gestures to Remus and Roman, " and none of us have the energy to deal with that right now." Logan nods, and looks to the others, waiting for their opinion. Reluctantly, they all nod slowly.

"That settles it then; lets set up camp then. "

~~~~~~

The sun had just finished setting when they had camp set up. remy had forced Roman and Remus to sleep, and Virgil had fallen asleep not long after. Remy fell asleep as well, leaving Deceit and logan still awake. Dee was sitting by the still-lit fire when logan came back with some more twigs and leaves.  He sat next to the snake-like side, setting his things down.

"You should sleep." Deceit looked over to see Logan looking at him with a level of concern he hadn't seen much before this search started, but had been shown to him more and more these past few days.

"I can. I just..." Dee sighed, looking into the fire, " What if we cant find them? What if... what if we're too late? I can stand the thought of losing them. What if-" he's startled out of his thoughts with a hand on his shoulder. He turns to see that Logan moved closer, a determined look in his eye.

"Deceit... We will find them. We are already much closer than we were a few hours ago. We are going to find them, and everything will be alright." Logan says this with such certainty that Dee almost believes him. He sighs and removes his hat.

"I am not going to try to sleep... Goodnight, Logan." he quickly falls asleep, and Logan sits by the fire, keeping watch until Remy wakes up and forces him to sleep as well.

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Patton was standing in the twin's room, staring at the Imagination door for the millionth time.

Emile walked in and sighed. This isn't the first time he's found Patton here, waiting.

"Pat... Come on. I've got cupcakes in the oven and cookie dough in the fridge. Why don't you come and help me and the others get ready to decorate?" he asks. Patton looks at him, before nodding and leaving the room. Emile sighed again. Patton hadn't really talked much since the others left to find Fish, and it's taking much longer than they had expected it to. He knew that Patton was worried, Em was too,  but he had to stay strong for Patton and the Mods. As he walked out, he ran into the girl with dark hair, who seemed like she wanted to say something.

"Hey there, Semp!What's up?" Emile asked cheerfully, startling her.

"Oh- uh- sorry... I was just... are- are the others okay?" She asks shyly, and em sighs.

"Yeah...It's just taking them longer than we thought it would. They're going to be fine." Emile said, "now come on, its almost time to decorate those cupcakes."

Semp didnt seem convinced but followed him to the kitchen. Both of them were shocked when they walked in, before bursting into laughter

It hadn't taken Pat long to make the icing, and had separated it for the Mods to have their own, and was going to make more for emile and himself. Jax and nerd wanted to try to help, and Patton let them. They were almost immediately covered in powdered sugar. Astra then thought it would be fun to put the icing on Nerds' face, which led to full out war. Now the entire kitchen was covered in powdered sugar and icing.

The part that surprised Emile the most was the genuine laughter coming from Patton. He hadn't heard that in a while and it made emile think...

Maybe everything is going to be okay...

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Im pretty sure this is my longest chapter. Well, Ill see yall next time. Love Y'all!

[thewritewolf]

Marinette March Day 1 - Kindness

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Well, I’m a bit late, but still doing better than I usually do with these things! For today’s prompt, I’ve decided to showcase just how helpful Marinette tends to be - even at the cost of her own plans. Since this one shot is around 2.5k words, I’ve put most of it under a read more.

@marinettemarch

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3

Marinette’s phone alarm went off, officially starting her day with Adrien. Well, at least the morning she would be spending with Adrien. A couple hours, probably. She paused with a frown while brushing her hair in front of her mirror. Come to think of it, she didn’t really know how these photoshoots tended to go. From what she could tell from her well-researched Adrien schedule they could last anywhere from half an hour to half the day. Either way, she intended to make the most of this invitation.

An invitation which she had gotten by having her room, plastered with his gorgeous face, broadcasted on television. And yet still his first concern was for her safety and wellbeing. She sighed dreamily - such a gentleman. If today went well, then marriage and three kids and a hamster wouldn’t be such a distant dream for much longer!

Needless to say, she had taken every precaution against being late. The alarm that had woken her up was the first of five - at least her own excitement had helped her sleep lightly. Everything she might need was packed and ready to go, which included a sketchbook just in case he really believed that she was interested in his pictures for the fashion. She patted herself down to make sure she had everything - purse, sketchbook, backpack, drawing utensils, phone, cookies, and the most important thing of all…

“Tikki! Ready to go?”

“Whenever you are, Marinette.” The red kwami flew into place in her purse and Marinette made her way out the backdoor of the bakery. As early as it was, there wasn’t nearly as many people on the streets as there usually was, but that was sure to change soon. Clouds broke up the summer sunlight into mottled patches of bright and dark. “Where is the photoshoot, again?”

Marinette made sure to glance around before talking into her purse. There had been enough instances of people looking at her like crazy. “Not too far, but not that close either. Thanks to the clouds, they’ll be doing an indoor photoshoot, but the place they chose is just barely in walking distance.”

“That great! What about- wait. Is that Nino?”

Sure enough, Nino was standing in front of a flower shop looking about as out of place as he could be. He was biting at his nails at he looked around in uncertainty at the wide array of blossoms and bouquets. The poor boy was overwhelmed, occasionally reaching for a few flowers only to pull back at the last minute. Someone needed to help him. Tikki held her phone up. There was still plenty of time to meet up with Adrien - she had left early after all.

“Hey, Nino!” She tapped him on his shoulder, suppressing a giggle by biting down on her lips as he jolted at her sudden appearance. “You seem lost. Anything I can do to help?”

“Oh! Hey, dude. I’m just, uh,” He rubbed the back of his neck and his cheeks darkened. He glanced around before pulling Marinette into a huddle and whispering, “Listen, I was gonna surprise Alya with some flowers, right? Sounded cool and romantic and stuff, right? But who knew there were this many different types! I have no idea which ones she’d want!” He looked at her with pleading eyes. “You gotta help me, dude.”

She blinked, trying to make sense of the rapid fire information he just unleashed on her. Slowly, a grin dawned on her face. “Aw! That’s so cute! Of course I’ll help. C’mon.” She walked among the flowers slowly, searching very carefully while Nino stayed close behind and wringed his hands nervously. She helped his nervous tick by passing the flowers she found to him. “This one is her favorite, so we’ll have the most of them. Here are some that represent love and joy. And here are some to help balance out the colors and make it smell all the sweeter.”

His eyes lit up as he looked at the finished bouquet in his hand, around a dozen in all. “I can’t thank you enough, dude! You are a total life saver!” She followed him to the cashier. “Is there anything I can do to help you out?”

“Take a photo of Alya’s face when you give it to her, it’d be nice to see how much she appreciated it. Other than that, don’t worry about it, I was glad to help.”

After a brief hug, they parted ways and Marinette was back on track. She’d lost about fifteen minutes, but it was well worth the cost - Alya was going to love it. As she continued walking through Paris, doubt began nagging at the back of her mind. If she stayed on her planned route, she’d only get there just barely on time. Taking the shortcut through the park would save her a few minutes and she’d much rather be early and get that much more time with Adrien. With that precious extra moments, she was sure they would hit it off and then he’d propose and they’d live happily ever after and-

She was stirred from her pleasant daydream by someone crying. The tall trees and hedges did even better work than the clouds in blotting out the sunlight, creating an empty and shadowed section of the park that she had thought was free of people. For a brief moment, she considered turning away. Maybe it had just been the wind, or maybe she had misheard. But then the crying returned, stronger than before and there could be no doubt in her mind. With only a slight pang of regret, she looked for the tearful stranger.

Nestled away on a bench within the hedges, she found a familiar bob of red hair and Marinette once again hesitated. Sabrina may not have been as bad as Chloe, but there were plenty of times where she had caused someone else to run off in tears. This could have been justice, in a sense. Even so, Marinette couldn’t bring herself to leave, instead sitting next to the other girl.

Her head jerked toward Marinette, but the wild hope in her eyes vanished once she saw that it was her. “Oh… hey, Marinette.”

“Something wrong?” It wasn’t hard to tell what had happened - it was a common enough occurence for Sabrina and Chloe to fight, and it wasn’t like Sabrina was close with anyone else. Maybe because of her friendship with Chloe. Still, it wasn’t nice to presume without asking.

She wiped away her tears and tried to stifle her sniffles. “Nothing out of the ordinary.” She flashed a watery smile that went away quickly.

The silence stretched out. What could she say to help her? Past attempts to get her to not put up with Chloe anymore had ended in failure and trying now wouldn’t help much anyway. Which really just left her one choice…

“Did you see the latest episode of Fill My Shoes?”

...Distraction.

Sabrina latched onto the topic and they spent a good long while talking - drifting from the reality show with Jagged Stone to fashion to games, all the while dancing around the topic of why Sabrina had been hiding by herself in a shadowy patch of park. After half an hour, they got up to leave. The redheaded girl gave her a hug and a whispered thanks before quickly parting ways with Marinette.

She stood still and waved as Sabrina left, only hurriedly digging around for her phone after she had left her field of view. Now she was late - very definitely late. Her shoulders slumped in defeat.

“Don’t give up just yet, Marinette!” Tikki chirped from her purse. “Maybe they started late, or maybe it’s a long photoshoot! There is still hope!”

Smiling down at her kwami, she nodded. “You’re right. Even if it is a shorter photoshoot, there should still be an hour left, right? Plenty of time to get Adrien to fall for me!”

“That’s the spirit. Now let’s go.”

With a bit of forced cheerfulness in her step, she resumed her journey to her dream day with Adrien. Yes, this wasn’t ideal, but she could still make it and have at least a nice time with him. Hopefully. Besides, the first half hour was all prep work probably. Did she really want to watch them apply make-up to Adrien? Yes. Yes she did. Well, he wouldn't be able to chat with her while they did so, thus it probably wasn’t a big loss. Everything was fine!

Until she heard the commotion and wailing come from inside the church she was passing by. She crouched into a combat stance, completely prepared for the panicked screams to start up, but it seemed that Hawkmoth had better things to do today. The door to the church was open and Marinette was curious, so she stepped inside.

It was pandemonium. Great care and been taken with elegant decorations. The church was practically packed with men in suits and women in dresses, all murmuring worriedly among each other. Every now and again another round of sobs could be heard coming from the back. Right at the entrance stood an older man in a suit, glancing nervously towards a backdoor.

Marinette tugged at his suit sleeve. “Excuse me, sir? Is something wrong?”

“My daughter’s wedding gown got torn when someone stepped on the bridal train and ripped the hem. They are trying to figure something out, but the store we got it from is closed and it would be expensive to get another tailor in without the warranty paying for it.”

“Well… I do design work in my spare time. Maybe I could try to fix it?” The man looked down at her dubiously. It sparked a competitive fire in her and she puffed out her chest pridefully. “I won a design contest by Gabriel Agreste, the fashion moghul.”

He seemed to weigh the options before shrugging. “Well, it’s worth a shot. Come with me.” They navigated the field of haggard loiters, the fraying best men, and the panicked bridesmaids. The door swung open and Marinette’s eyes widened. The dress was beautiful, to be sure, but what the man had described as a tear was even worse than he let on.

The harried bride turned at the sound of the opened door and Marinette saw the familiar flash of dashed hope when she saw it was just her and the older man that had entered. “Any luck, dad?”

“No word from the store, but!” He added quickly as he put a hand on Marinette’s shoulder. “This young lady thinks she might be able to help.”

She sighed and shook her head. “If you’d brought in a high schooler an hour ago, I would’ve declined. But now I’m desperate.” She walked over to Marinette. “What’s your name, sweetie?”

“Uh… Marinette. Marinette Dupain-Cheng”

“And do you think you can do it?”

Squaring her jaws, she reached into her purse and retrieved her pocket sewing kit. This was a challenge, just like any other. “I know I can, miss…?”

“Emilie.”

“Sit tight then, Miss Emilie and I’ll get this fixed in no time at all.” At least, so she hoped. Fixing it wouldn’t be the problem so much as how long it would take it pull it off. On the bright side, she had lots of practice with working under pressure.

In truth, Marinette didn’t know how long it had taken her to pull it off. After she had taken the silky material in her hands, the outside world faded away and it was just her and the task in front of her. That was the part she had always enjoyed about creating - everything becomes much simpler when the world shrinks down to pouring herself into her work. Emilie seemed curious at first of her industriousness and impressed when it actually looked like she would be able to pull it off. Once she had reached the final stretch, Emilie gave her a round of excited applause, all stress melted away.

“And to finish off, I’ll close this last little seem with some baby blue thread.” Marinette smiled up at her. ���Something blue, right?”

Emilie hugged her as close as the dress would allow, and kissed her cheeks. “It looks fresh from the tailor! I can’t thank you enough, Marinette. Is there anything I can do to help you?”

“No, no I just need to get going. I’m running behind for a date.”

“Oh? I’m so sorry for holding you up! My father can drop you off, it’ll be a little while before we can get started again anyway.” She held up a hand to cut off Marinette’s protest. “Please, it is the least we can do, my little hero.”

Marinette, growing slightly desperate, accepted and found herself in front of the building where the photo shoot would be taking place. And she was only… two hours late, she realized with a wince. She didn’t even have the opportunity to build up any hope before it was broken, since she saw camera equipment being moved out from the space and into waiting vans. She shambled into the building, completely drained and slightly depressed. Maybe she could still at least see Adrien. Then she could pretend like this had all been worth it, pretend that she hadn’t shot herself in the foot with this. Or maybe she should just slink out the way she came and pretend she had been sick today. At least then she’d have a believable excuse.

“Marinette!” At the sound of her name, she turned around, only realizing mid-turn that it was Adrien’s voice. He was frowning, worried. “Hey, I was wondering where you were. I saw Nino’s post about you, so I was sure you were going to be here on time.”

“Post…?” She pulled out her phone, and noticed the notifications - she’d been tagged by Nino. It was a candid photo of Alya smiling, eyes misty as she held a familiar bouquet in her hands. Marinette found herself smiling as well. Nino had remembered to take the picture for her. “Y-yeah, I got side tracked…”

“So I heard from Chloe. Apparently she and Sabrina had a fight, but Sabrina came back and they talked it out. You came up at some point in the walls of text she sent, so I guess that was what held you up?”

“Well, uh, sort of. See there was this wedding-”

A car horn blared from outside and they both looked back to see Adrien’s bodyguard standing outside his car, staring at the both of them. Adrien glanced back at her, then at the car before saying, “Could you stick around for just a minute?”

“S-sure…” He walked away and Marinette collapsed onto a chair in the lobby. She’d only managed to get a couple minutes with him, and she’d basically implied she’d had more important things to do than hang out with him. There was no doubt in her mind that he wouldn’t be inviting her to any more photoshoots and she couldn’t blame him.

Her bitter reflections were cut off when she saw Adrien’s car drive away, and she felt the tears coming on. Before she could really work herself up into a good cry, Adrien appeared, smiling.

“Hey! I just convinced the Gorilla to give us a couple hours to ourselves. Do you want to hang out? After the day you’ve had, I’m sure you could use something to eat. You can tell me all about it over lunch.”

Feeling like her soul had left her body, Marinette could only nod as Adrien took her by the arm and started walking her to their lunch date.

[cutegirlmayra]

Recalling when Sonic called off his race with Tails just to get eggs for Amy, I can't help but think that maybe their relationship developed into something of slowly going romantic where they'd act couple-y without even realizing such as when Sonic fetched eggs for Amy like the "good boyfriend" would or a hypothetical scenario: Sonic wants to taste something Amy is eating, so Amy hands it to him and Sonic just bites it down casually. How's that for a headcanon? Or is it too far-fetched? XD

Please remember that Prompts are on Shutdown! Do not send me any! Sorry! I still have a lot to do!

Prompt:

“W-woah!” Amy was attempting to shimmy across the thin, tree-plank that led to where her and her friends were adventuring to retrieve a valuable artifact disturbed by Knuckles’s antics. While trying to move across, she saw a bug and lost her usually perfect balance.

“Amy! Take my hand!” Sonic, just ahead of her, stopped and reached back. She immediately, while moving left and right on one leg, grabbed it and sighed, seeing him lift it up to the rope above their heads.

“Thanks, Sonic. B-but now-!” the rescue caused a shift in the rope as well, shaking as Amy placed both hands on the rope.

“Grrr…” Sonic judged the situation quickly, biting his teeth down as he looked around him. “Okay.” He nodded, then lowered Amy’s hand that he was holding so they were down in the middle of them. “Just use one hand to cross, I’ve got you.”

“Alright.” Amy nodded seriously, and the two continued to scoot across the branch.

Sticks narrowed her eyes behind her, “Hmmmrrmmm…” she seemed to be sizing up their activity…

-Later~-

Sonic was in the market place, looking over things before seeing something shiny and pink. “Hey! It’s a bracelet!” he looked it over before a goofy smile skimmed his cheeks. “I bet Amy would like this.” He placed it in his chart, and on the other side of the market place, Amy was eyeing a blue watch that made racing car noises. “Haha!” she giggled into her hand, “Oh, Sonic would love this!” she placed it in her basket and walked on.

Sticks, popping her head out of the ‘expired/no good’ waste bin dumpster growled once more, narrowing her eyes at the two…

-Another time~-

“Oh! These cookies just don’t look right.” Amy frowned, wearing the pink bracelet as Sonic was fiddling with the blue watch, making it create car engine noises.

“Hehehe…” he giddily fixated on it’s endless fun, but Amy’s sigh suddenly drew him away and he looked at her cookie tray she had placed out of the oven. “What’s wrong with it? It smells great!” Sonic sat more upright, lowering his knee that was up a moment ago and turning more directly to Amy.

His eyes stayed glued to hers as she spoke, “Oh, it’s just that… well, the picture made them look so good… I hope they’re okay… I was going to give them to those poor, sweater-less orphan penguins but…” she put her hands to her hips, “I can’t give them these!”

“What about these?” he picked one up, “Ow! Hot, hot, hot!” he shook his hand, burning his glove a little bit on some melted chocolate on the side of the cookie.

“Oh no! Here…” Amy reached over, about to bite on the gloved-finger to get the chocolate off.

“Hey! This chocolate’s mine!” Sonic immediately withdrew the hand and sucked on it himself. “I went through all the hard work of getting it!”

“Oh, but it would have burnt your finger!” Amy protested, but he just shook his other pointer finger at her, as though telling it ‘nuh-uh, this one’s all mine!’.

Then, his eyes widened. “Emmm~ These are good!” he went in for another, taking a bite. “Amy! You can’t give these to the children!”

“H-huh? Why not! I thought you said they were good!?” Amy quickly took the tray away, holding it back from him and examining them. She placed it by the window as he continued-

“Because they’ve got to be all mine!”

He laughed, thinking himself funny but Amy just rolled her eyes, “You really like them? I mean, I guess I could add some ‘flare’ to them, that way, their presentation is a little more decent…”

“I say let the kids have them the way they are!” he relaxed back, smiling brightly to her in comforting optimism. He placed his hands behind his head, closing his eyes, “They’ll be shoving them in their mouths before ever having the time to look at them!”

His cheeriness brightened up her insecurity, “Ohhh… You!” she jumped over the table to hug him, disorientating him a moment as his arms flailed out from her sudden affection.

“H-hey! I was only stating my opinion here! Ames!”

“Hehehe~ And I encourage you to state it as much as you want!”

“Well, that’s a first.”

Amy laughed. The two were distracted so much, they didn’t see Sticks’s camouflage into a plant’s top-level foliage as she growled and reached in, grabbing a cookie and ducking back down into position.

-Tails’s place, again, at a later date-

“I don’t get it, Tails. It’s like a conspiracy… but it isn’t.” Sticks gripped the table, looking angry for some reason.

“Is this about aliens and the government again?” Tails didn’t even bother looking up from his inventions, but Sticks just snarled on the side of her mouth.

“Grraawwwhhhh… It’s not about the government, Tails!” she flung her arms up, “This is of a whole new caliber of lies and deceit. It’s been right under our noses… no… this has to do with a company… a friendly sort of company of friends… friends who can’t even noticing how deceptive they’re being towards each other and their other friends!” she gripped her head, showing her own confusion as Tails’s ears finally perked up.

“Sounds like corruption in the market, if you ask me.” He thought she meant a literal company…

“Ugh.” She shook her head, seeing he wasn’t getting it. “Whatever, I’ll keep eyeing the two before I make any further assumptions. But I’m tellin’ ya!” she rose a finger up. “Something fishy is going on with Sonic and Amy! They’re all giggly lately, talking about each other from across the way, trying out cookies recipes and the like!” She threw out some words that made Tails finally lean up, away from his gear.

“Wait… you mean… they’re not fighting or anything, right?” Tails seemed concerned on her second comment.

“What? No! I said giggly! Weren’t you listening to me!?”

“D-don’t get offended! You said they were talking about each other behind their backs… I got worried.” He put his hands up, covered in black gear-gunk to try and calm her down.

“Oh. I said across the way! Not behind their backs!” she defended, “Just come see for yourself.” She started to waddle to the door, looking more ticked off than ever before…

Tails finally followed her, giving her to her ‘spying’ ways and saw the two walking down the street.

“They just look like they’re talking.” Tails seemed a bit skeptical, hiding with Sticks in a bush. “Doesn’t this invade their private friend-life?”

“Ohhhh, it’s far from being started yet, Tails.” She passed him the binoculars. “Destruction of trust between friends in 5….4….3…2….” she pointed as suddenly a puddle came out in Amy’s way.

“Oh no!” she flinched her foot up, but Sonic bowed graciously and suddenly dived backwards, turning at the last moment with Amy’s gasp to push himself up and create a bridge over the puddle.

It was so extra, it made Amy giggle girlishly, covering her face a bit from her blush and walk over him.

It was a terrible idea though because even though Sonic was showing off his strength and chivalry, it also caused discomfort walking over his quills that poked or scratched up against Amy’s ankles.

“Ow, oh, ee!” she passed and then smiled down to him as he got up and looked over at being separated from her by the other side of the puddle.

He could have easily spin-dashed over it, but to be dramatic, he pretended to reach for her, throw more rocks in the water to create a bridge, and then hopelessly despair as Amy continued to laugh at his jokes.

Tails’s mouth hung down as Sticks’s anger peaked, tapping her finger on her folded arms. “They’re so adorable… it’s like they lied to our faces and then each others!” she was about to jump out of the bush. “YOU TWO ARE LIARS-!” she was thrown back into it by Tails.

“No, Sticks!” He held her down as she tried to struggle back up from his grasp.

“Let me at those lying, good for nothing-!”

“Calm down, Sticks! They probably don’t even know what they look like!”

“How can they not know how it looks like!? If they’re together, they should at least have the decency to tell their most trusted friend ever—that is to say me. But instead, they lie to our faces and continued to call each other ‘a good friend’. If THAT’S a good friend, I want to know what they think a dating dance looks like!” Sticks gestured furiously over to them, showing she didn’t buy that crap for jack!

Tails sighed, shrugging with his shoulders slightly. “Honestly… I’m glad they’re getting along so well. It wasn’t always like this… They probably just don’t want to ‘rock the boat’, so to speak.” He nervously twiddled his fingers a moment, blushing. “I-I kinda get that, you know? When the friendship’s going so well… you don’t really want to disrupt it by asking something kinda embarrassing like that.” He smiled over to Zooey, working daintily at her stall.

“I-I-It might ruin the great, wonderful… charming interactions you already have with each other…” he melted as the red on his face grew brighter. “Y-you know what I mean?” he looked around, seeing Sticks had disappeared suddenly. “S-Sticks?”

“Move, loser. I have some so-called ‘friends’ to bust.” She tried to move around a dude holding flowers out in front of her.

“B-b-but-!” the poor boy was ignored completely as she side-swiped around him and dashed to Sonic and Amy, his arm held out to her as she took it and they walked towards a movie theatre, just chatting excitedly to each other.

Sticks shook her fist, “GET BACK HERE-! YOU TWO ARE MESSIN’ WITH MY SANITY AND THIS MUST END!”

“No! Sticks!” Tails took off after her, “Oh, pardon me!” he maneuvered around the boy, before seeing how disappointed the stranger looked and realized…

Sonic and Amy weren’t the only ones who didn’t notice blossoming romances that were right in front of their noses…

The stranger nervously ran behind a wall, “Phew, that was close! If Sticks knew who I was then…” The boy took off his covering, revealing his intern-self. “Then I’d have to introduce her to my mother. And after all the times she’s come to Meh Burger and asked for extra fries… I don’t know, man. My mom might think it’s serious!” He clutched his head in fright.

Ever since that plane ride, her asking to ‘get closer’, he’s never looked at her the same way as all the other customers…

But that’s a misconstrued story for another day.

[chimpukampu]

Adrinette April Day 20 - Scarf

@adrinetteapril

AO3 | Fanfiction | Wattpad

Week 1: Just Friends - Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7  

Week 2: Falling in Love - Day 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

Week 3: Reveal - Day 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20

Sorry for the delay. I'm sick rn 🤒

"Hey Princess, do you still have some sewing commissions this weekend?" Adrien asked after their class ended.

"No, I don't have one yet, Kitty. Why?"

"I would like you to fix something for me," the blond said as he scratched his neck incessantly. "I...somehow damaged an important item that was given to me as a gift."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Did you bring it with you?"

"Oui," he answered then rummaged something in his bag. "I'm not sure if it was Plagg's fault or what but the threads are starting to get loose."

Marinette felt like someone punched an air out of her gut when he presented her a blue scarf.

The exact scarf that she gave to him on his birthday.

"It's my most favorite scarf since it's blue and so comfy during winter," he told her. "Did you know that my father gave this to me on my birthday?"

"Y - Yeah! I - I heard you when you told Nino about it!" she sputtered as she averted her gaze from his green, observant eyes. "Y - You were so happy about it!"

"I see."

There was something odd on his tone but she brushed it off casually. She pried the blue scarf from his hands to check the seams.

"You might have snagged it by accident. Probably a zipper or some sharp item when you put it in the laundry."

"Is it repairable?"

"Of course," she told her with a wry smile. "O - Once I found the exact shade and quality of the yarn used here, I - I can finish this in just a day."

"Oh, thank you, my Lady. You're awesome as always."

.

.

.

"I'm horrible, Tikki," Marinette bemoaned as she slammed her head repeatedly on her study desk. She has been doing that for almost an hour after she finished dinner.

"You should have told him the truth, Marinette," the red kwami replied while cradling her second cookie. "I don't think Adrien will be mad at you for keeping it as a secret."

"But I don't want to crush his happiness for the sake of truth!"

"How about your happiness?"

Marinette was not able to provide an answer. Instead, she pulled out the blue yarn she had used to create the scarf and began to mend the loose strings on the article in silence.

"His happiness is my happiness, Tikki." she finally said as her hands busied itself knitting. "I don't mind being just his friend forever. I know it hurts, but seeing his genuine smile is worth the pain. You don't need to worry about me..."

She held back a scream when familiar green eyes were staring at her on the glass window. He waved his gloved hand excitedly then pointed her skylight door, gesturing her that it was locked.

"Cha - Adrien?! What are you doing here?!" the girl hissed as she slammed the door open. "You startled me, you stupid cat!"

"Forgive me, my Princess, but I came bearing some gifts," he released his transformation then handed her a bag of potato chips and popcorn. "Since it's Friday night with no homework or upcoming tests next week, not to mention that you don't have commissions to be done this weekend, I was wondering if we can have some anime marathon tonight?"

She darted him a beady glare "If this is another Shippuuden or Ouran High School shit again, I swear I'm going to kick your ass out of my balcony."

The blond gasped incredulously with a hand clutching his chest "How rude, my Lady! Naruto is an all-time favorite hero and Tamaki is a legendary gentleman!" before she could sass back, he passed her a DVD case. "What I have here is a fashion-themed anime. Have you heard about Paradise Kiss?"

She scrunched her nose cutely, which told him that she didn't know it yet curious to know the story.

"Alright, I will let you in because you have some food." she sighed exasperatedly. "Make sure you clean your paws first before you jump on my duvet."

"Absolutely!"

Adrien was barefooted, wearing a loose drawstring pajama pants and a white cotton shirt. Ever since their reveal, he would often drop by at night wearing his most comfortable clothes like sleepwear or onesie jammies. Sometimes he would spend the entire evening there and sleep on her chaise lounge then wake up and leave before Nathalie noticed his absence.

It was a common routine for them, and Marinette didn't want to change it for a bit.

"What's this, Princess?" Adrien picked the blue yarn that was attached to his scarf. "How come you have the yarn already?"

"Ah, uh...I didn't know I have that yarn lying around." she lied, grabbing the yarn and the article away from his privy hands.

"With the same shade and quality?"

"Ye-Yeah! Ca - Can't you believe it?" she winced at her squeaky voice. "N - Now let me tidy up my things so that we can watch that Paradise Kiss - "

"You don't need to lie to me, Marinette."

The raven-haired girl paused then forced herself to look at his emerald hues with guilt " Wh - What?"

"I already know the truth about the scarf, my Lady," the blond reached out for her as they sat on the chaise lounge. "I might be a dunce, but I pay attention to details. Remember what you said during the bowler hat competition? You said that you always sign your creations."

She gulped audibly when he flipped the edge of the scarf and traced the subtle linings by his finger, "I might have missed it if I wear this on rare occasions."

"I'm sorry, Kitty," Marinette groaned, covering her face with her hands. "I didn't mean to hide the truth from you. It's just that...I don't want to spoil your happiness."

"But I feel like a fool for being happy with something that is not real."

"I know but..." she dropped her hands on her lap and chewed her bottom lip "We weren't that close that time, Adrien. Besides, you already announced it to everyone that your father gave you this scarf. What do you think you will do if I told you the truth back then?"

"I will thank you for the wonderful gift that you have given to me."

She shook her head "You might, but you will never treat this scarf the same way as you always did before you know the truth."

There were a few beats of silence before he uttered "I'm such a terrible person."

"Huh?"

"I'm terrible, Marinette. I'm a horrible and very inconsiderate friend." he raked his blond locks out of frustration. "Never once had I ever treasured your gifts - like the Santa hat for example; I gave it to Santa without any second thoughts. The lucky charm that I'm so proud of? I almost lost it on the subway. And now the scarf that I claimed to love..."

One of her hands wrapped around his clenched fists while the other caressed his cheek "Hey, look at me Chaton. Look at me, please."

Marinette couldn't help but chuckled when Adrien turned his head with puckered lips. "You did nothing wrong, Kitty. You made a good call when you gave your hat to Santa Claus, and it wasn't your fault that the lucky charm fell on your pocket - and you never lost it since I found it on Gorizilla. About the scarf...well, that's inevitable."

"You mean I'm careless."

"This is the first scarf that I've ever made," she said as she took the material from his lap. "So it's not as sturdy as my recent knitted creations. I'm glad that you allowed me to fix this because I can correct those knitting mistakes that I've made and at the same time, I can make this bigger enough to accommodate your new measurement. If you want, I can add some trinkets like pawprints or ladybugs."

"What can I do to repay your kindness?" he asked with sincerity.

"These material gifts are nothing compared to the countless times that you saved me." she smiled. "I want nothing in this world but your happiness, Adrien."

He pulled her closer "I'm happy as long as you're happy, Marinette."

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Bonus:

"Hey, Princess, can you also add 'I'm fur-eezing!' line on my scarf?"

"No."