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leiawritesstories · 4 years ago

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Improbability

Rowaelin Month, Day 26: You’re seeing my roommate and accidentally walked into my shower. Featuring Sam and Rowan as roommates. :)))

Word count: 1542

Warnings: language, little bit of math gobbledygook that I stole from my stats class.

Enjoy!

~~~~

“Mate, you alright with my girlfriend coming over today?” Sam called out to his roommate. “We’re probably going out, but I asked her over here first.”

Rowan pulled out one of his earbuds and stuck his head out his bedroom door. “Yeah, that’s totally fine, just for God’s sake warn me if you’re going to do the dirty on our couch, bud.”

“THAT WAS ONE TIME!” Sam yelled, “and I was 100 percent sure you had football!”

“It’s called soccer, Cortland!” Rowan laughed, never missing the chance to poke at his British roommate.

“Whatever, mate. You’re good with Ae hanging out here for a bit, yeah?”

“Sure am. She’s a fun person.” Rowan put his earbud back in and returned to doing his homework, or rather, swearing at his statistics textbook. Some fifteen minutes later, he heard the door of his and Sam’s dorm open.

“Anybody home?” enquired a throaty female voice. “Someone told me he was at home, but obviously he’s too busy to go out today. Guess I’ll just go drink with the girls, then.”

“And leave me lonely?” Sam asked.

Aelin Galathynius, who’d been dating Sam for almost two years now, smiled. “Never.”

He returned the grin and pulled her into the living room, where their conversation faded into a blur of noise too dim for Rowan to interpret. Not that he minded…much. Aelin was hilarious, though, and he loved hearing her make cracks at Sam’s British habits, her friends, her day, and pretty much anything else she thought deserved a snarky comment.

Slamming his stats book closed, Rowan huffed a sigh and decided that he could use a quick shower to relax a little before heading out to training. He grabbed his towel and a bar of soap and went into the tiny dorm shower, which was low enough that he, at 6’3,” had to crouch to fit under the shower head. Grumbling to himself about the stupidity of whatever idiot architect designed dormitory showers, he stood under the stream of hot water and tried to make sense of all he still had to do. Which was too much. After somewhere around five minutes, he stuck his head out of the shower, realizing the dorm had gone awfully quiet.

Maybe Sam and Aelin were out, then, he thought.

Rowan turned off the shower and reached for his towel, giving himself a quick dry-off before stepping out. He was just wrapping the towel around his waist when the door swept open.

“Oh, shit, sorry, I didn’t realize you were in here!” gasped Aelin.

Rowan gaped at her, forgetting that the only thing between her and a prime view of what he may or may not have been doing in the shower was a dark green bath towel.

A too-thin green bath towel.

Aelin’s turquoise eyes traveled down his frame, decidedly not missing a single detail. A pink flush spread over her cheekbones, and she hastily backed out of the bathroom and shut the door with a firm click.

Rowan swallowed whatever he’d thought he might have said and told his raging male hormones to calm the hell down. Quickly, before anyone else could walk in on him, he pulled on his practice jersey and sweats and went back to his room, where he grabbed his soccer bag and hauled ass for the gym.

He spent the entire 90-minute workout trying and miserably failing to get the image of Aelin Galathynius in her unfairly attractive blouse and miniskirt blushing at his nearly-nude self out of his mind. When he got back to his dorm, having showered in the locker room, this time without anyone interrupting, Sam and Aelin were gone. Sam had left a note on his bedroom door, stating that he’d probably be back around three. Checking his watch, Rowan groaned. It was almost two, and he’d broken down and signed up for stats tutoring at four.

He just hoped that whoever the tutor was, they’d be able to help him get his mathematical shit together and pass the course.

Two hours later, Rowan walked into the library and took a seat in the study room marked with a sign that read “STATS 320 TUTORING 4 PM.” Nobody else was there, but to be fair, he was a little early. He plopped his textbook, notebook, and calculator onto the table and waited.

And nearly fell off his chair when Aelin Galathynius walked into the room.

“What the hell?”

“What the hell, what?” she asked, obviously amused at his reaction.

“I--I didn’t expect to see you here, that’s what the hell. You here for tutoring too?”

“Yes and no.” Rowan blinked in confusion. Aelin’s little smirk grew bigger. “I am the tutor, Rowan. You’re here for my assistance…and expertise.” She winked.

He felt himself flush at the image that conjured. “Yeah, expertise, in stats, right?” He knew full well he was stammering like a fourteen-year-old on his first date, but that about summed up how his roommate’s girlfriend made him feel right now.

“Correct.” Just like that, Aelin was all business. She set her backpack down, closed the door, and sat across from Rowan. “So. How can I help?”

He sighed. “I’m stuck. I need this class, it’s the last math I have to take for my major, I’m usually decent at math, and I’m fucking stuck on a concept my professor said was fucking simple.”

Aelin listened to his mini rant without comment. She pulled out her own stats notebook and calculator from her backpack and slipped on a pair of glasses. Rowan cocked his head.

“I didn’t know you wore glasses.”

“Reading glasses, Whitethorn. I’m supposed to wear them whenever I’m reading, on my laptop, or studying, but do I? Hell no.” She grinned. “Don’t tell my optometrist.”

“Given that I don’t know them, no problem.” He returned her grin.

She flexed her fingers and turned her attention to Rowan’s math. “Right, big bad soccer boy. Where are you stuck?”

He flipped his book to the section on conditional probability distributions. “Here. I took notes, and it seemed logical enough, but I completely tanked the quiz we just had, and I don’t know where I went wrong.”

Aelin scanned the quiz. “You’re reading the graphs wrong.”

“What?”

“Conditional probability is the probability of an event occurring given that a certain condition is satisfied.” She opened her notebook to a blank page and drew a horizontal line. “Any time you see a condition, that condition goes in the denominator.” She pointed to one of the problems he’d answered wrong on the quiz. “What’s this question asking you to determine?”

“Probability that a student chosen at random is an engineer given that the selected student is female.”

“Right. So, you take the condition, the ‘given,’ and put that number in the denominator. Remember you’re only looking at the row labeled ‘female,’ because that’s the condition. Once the condition’s written in, you find the other part of the question, in this case the number of female engineers. Put that number in the numerator, divide by the denominator, and there you have the probability. Does that make sense?”

“Condition in the denominator…” Rowan mumbled, writing it in his notes. He looked up at Aelin and smacked his hand flat on the table. “Aelin, I’m a fucking idiot. I spent so much time trying to look at the totals that I didn’t remember to keep the condition, I--goddammit, I’m stupid.”

“You’re not stupid, Rowan, lots of people struggle with conditional probability at first.”

“I’ll bet you didn’t.”

“Oh, I did. A lot.”

“Really? But you just explained this shit to me better than my professor.”

“I…I happen to like stats. Might be part of my major description, but I just find working with the numbers extremely satisfying.”

“What’s your major?” he asked, intrigued.

“Don’t judge me.”

“Nope. Promise.”

“I’m in finance.”

His eyebrows shot up. “I’m impressed.”

She blushed. “Thanks. It’s a lot of stats and spreadsheets and yelling at each other about the stock market, but I really love it.”

“You’re making me look bad; I’m just your standard pre-PT student athlete”

“Standard pre-PT student athlete,” she mocked, “don’t sell yourself short, Whitethorn. Pre-PT is nothing shabby.”

“Yeah, but not remembering a stupidly easy math concept sure as hell is.”

She snickered. “Fair enough. Is there anything else I can help you with, or is that all for this session?”

He flipped through his notes. “That’s all I had for today, but I’ll probably be back at some point whining about another tricky concept.”

Aelin grinned, closing her notebook. “Wait until you get into chi-squared models. I’ll be here then, waiting for all the stats students to come crying to me while I plug seventeen equations into my spreadsheet and hope it actually calculates the quarterly interest this time.”

Rowan shook his head. “You lost me at ‘chi-squared,’ Aelin.”

“Oh, trust me, it’s fun.”

“As much fun as you and Sam have?”

Her voice dropped to a sultry purr. “Your couch would know.”

Before he could sputter out a response, she’d shouldered her backpack and was walking out the door. Rowan watched Aelin Galathynius leave, wondering how fast he could make up an excuse to talk to his roommate’s brilliant girlfriend again.

#my writing #rowaelin month #day 26 #college au

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evebestt · 4 years ago

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Hiya! Since I really adored what you did with my last request I was wondering if I could send through another prompt for a Farah dowling x female reader where Farah and Queen Luna have this sort of unspoken but very clear competition for readers heart and when Farah sees what she thinks to be queen Luna inching towards the finish line she gets envious/cold but really Farah had readers heart all along❤️

Thank you so much by the way. I really appreciate what you do. Sending peace and love and happiness your way xx.

Hi there! Sorry this took a bit, I rewrote it a couple of times. But I love the prompt! I hope you enjoy 🖤

Send me an ask or a message to request a fic. Search my blog for "prompts" to see lists of prompt ideas.

A/N: honestly unless explicitly stated, just assume that in all my fics, the season one ending that we don't talk about didn't happen. Farah's not even napping, she's still alive and awake and being her wonderful self.

To Find Your Truth

Since the Alfean battle with the Burned Ones, Solaria had indeed dispatched a troop of soldiers to be permanently stationed at the school. Between that and the continual growth of Alfea, it soon became clear that a new position would be needed to coordinate the Alfean and Royal schedules. You had been hired in that position, working as a liaison between Farah and Luna, meaning that you worked very closely with the both of them. You’d been a little overwhelmed by your work at first, working not just with the Headmistress of a powerful school and the Queen of the entire realm, but with two of the most powerful fairies – if not the two most powerful fairies in the realm – but Farah and Luna had both made you feel comfortable in your work.

The women were very different. Farah was quiet and calm, her power cool and still under her pristine surface – but undeniably there. Luna, however, was like a fire, sharp and calculating, her power exuding from her and filling every room she entered, even if it was superficially masked in sweet pastels and warm light. You liked them both, despite the differences, and whatever rumors you heard about them.

And they liked you too. Farah often offered you sweet smiles that she didn’t give to everyone, and your meetings with her would sometimes drift into personal conversation, especially if you had them over lunch together. Luna too made her affection for you known, soft touches on your arm that lingered just a moment longer than a friendly touch would, or heartfelt remarks on how she’d never be able to function without you, all of which never failed to make you blush.

You weren’t quite sure when it became a competition between the two of them. It might have happened the day when Luna astral projected into your office, interrupting a lunch meeting with Farah that had gone long with conversation. You’d both been laughing with Luna’s form had appeared, Farah’s eyes bright with affection as she gazed at you fondly, and although you’d both become entirely professional when Luna appeared, you knew she’d seen the way you looked at each other just as clearly as you’d seen the possessive gleam in her eye.

Though your meeting with Luna after that had gone smoothly, as well as all of your other meetings, you could sense that tension in both of the women, like they both had something to prove.

Or more likely, you realized, like they were both trying to win your heart.

Luna became even more bold with her gentle touches, even going so far as to lay a hand on your cheek one night, smiling softly before she retreated and wished you goodnight, offering you a room in the castle if you didn’t want to make the trip back to Alfea. Even Farah, as composed as she was, was more forward in her advances, eyes flicking to your lips when she paid you compliments, or when you rolled your neck to try and ease a headache, she would merely reach out and touch two fingers to your temple, the pain melting away in seconds.

You could admit that you liked the advances of both of them women, feeling as though you could preen under their attentions. Not only did you have Farah — a legendary fairy in her own right — showing you affection, but the Queen of Solaria as well, making you feel like the star of a period piece, your two handsome, wealthy suitors courting you in their attempts to win your hand. You were content with the flirting and the fantasies of both women, not thinking much about where relationships with either of them would go in fear of complicating things. But one afternoon in your office at Alfea, you realized you’d have to decide just where your heart lay.

Instead of her normal astral projecting, Luna had come to your office in person, needing to update her calendar for you and reconcile her schedule with Farah’s and find time for their combined meetings.

“My quarterly inspection of the troop’s preparations here at Alfea needs to happen in the next couple of weeks — hopefully those can drop to biannual next year — Farah will need to be present for that. It will take an afternoon, when can I make that happen?”

You flipped through the large planner on your desk, Farah’s meetings written in blue, Luna’s in red. “Both you and Ms. Dowling have a free afternoon in two weeks on a Friday — though you have an event that night, ma’am, that you’ll have to—”

“Please,” Luna interrupted with a smile, “how many times have I told you to call me Luna?”

You smiled back. “Too many to count… Luna.” It still felt odd to use the Queen’s given name, but her self satisfied smile as she sat back in her chair did make the odd feeling worth it.

“Good,” she praised. “Now, that’s the Benefactor’s Gala, correct? I’ll only need to make a short appearance and give a speech towards the end, so I’ll have plenty of time to dress. Though—” she came around your desk to study the planner herself, standing so close that you could smell her sweet perfume, “that lunch meeting may run long.” She dropped to her elbows on your desk, hips, clad in a dusky rose pencil skirt, cocked in a tantalizing fashion near your head, and you had to fix your eyes pointedly on your planner. “What about this Wednesday here?”

You went back and forth for a while, pencilling in various events. You couldn’t help but let out a sigh as you wrote the last one, feeling your back ache with the strain of both the work and of feigning nonchalance with Luna’s body so near to yours.

Luna seemed to feel the same, straightening to roll her shoulders, but then surprised you by perching on the arm of your chair, somehow looking effortlessly graceful as she crossed her legs, leaving her balanced on the toe of one of her stilettos. “A queen’s work is never done, hm?”

You laughed softly, not letting your eyes linger on the smooth expanse of her legs. “You wouldn’t be a very good Queen if it was.”

Luna laughed too, rich and smooth, and she looked down at you for a long moment before reaching out and tracing the line of your jaw with one finger. “Lucky I have you, then. To help keep me a good Queen.”

You felt yourself blush, jaw tingling where Luna had touched you. You felt your eyes drift to her lips unconsciously, tracing the smooth, sharp lines. Those lips curved into a smirk, and you blushed further, eyes snapping up to meet Luna’s again, who’s glinted with mirth. She traced the line of your jaw again, slower this time, her hand coming to cup your cheek as her eyes flicked over your features, staring as though she was memorizing you.

Lighting zipped in your stomach when you thought you saw Luna lean towards you, just an inch, but your breath caught, eyes flicking to her lips again as she stroked your cheekbone with her thumb.

A clearing of a throat came from the doorway making you spring back, back hitting the arm of your chair. You blushed even further, your cheeks on fire as you tried to get as far away from Luna as possible, who for her part kept her composure, still perched comfortably on the arm of your chair as she stared at Farah in challenge.

“Farah,” you said, trying to pretend Luna wasn’t there, which was difficult considering where she sat. “I’m sorry, I-I didn’t realize we had a meeting today.”

“We didn’t,” Farah said smoothly, still staring cooly at Luna. Her gaze shifted to you then, still cold, and you felt your stomach drop. “I thought I’d stop by to see if you were still here. But if you’re otherwise occupied…” she trailed off, looking at Luna again, and your blush which had started to recede came back in full force, feeling like a student she was disciplining.

“No worries, Farah,” Luna said brightly, looking smug as she stood from her perch. “I should be going anyway.” She turned to you then, giving you a radiant smile. “Thank you for all of your help, dear. You are truly a blessing.” She gave you a wink and then headed for the door, passing closer to Farah than was strictly necessary, and you thought Farah’s hackles would have raised if she had any.

A horribly awkward silence fell over the two of you, and you picked at the edge of your desk, unable to meet Farah’s eyes. She cleared her throat again and you then met her eyes, fighting what felt like the permanent blush in your cheeks.

“I’m sorry for interrupting,” Farah said softly.

“No, no, it wasn’t interrupting,” you insisted, still feeling like you’d done something wrong, but why? There wasn’t anything owed between you, but still you felt like you’d been caught. “Is there, ah, something I can help you with?”

Farah opened her mouth like she was going to speak, but then closed it, smiling at you. It was a warmer smile than before, but it still didn’t reach her eyes, and you felt your stomach drop again. “No, it was nothing. Have a good night.”

And she turned and left, leaving you alone and still blushing.

Why did you feel so horrible? It was a little embarrassing to be caught nearly kissing the Queen in your office with the door open, but the waves of shame and regret rolling through you seemed unwarranted. You and Luna were both adults, as was Farah, and each was entitled to their fun.

Deep down you knew why, and the longer you thought about it, the more sure you were. Flirting with Luna was fun, sure, but with Farah it was something more. With Farah, it was a beginning, the promise of something more, a calling from somewhere in your soul that told you there was something there, something that could be beautiful if you both just took a chance.

You were in love with Farah Dowling. You’d been a fool to not see it for so long, but now that you did it was undeniable, and you couldn’t bear not to tell her, for her to think a moment longer that you didn’t feel for her the way she must feel for you.

It was late now, and after finding her office empty you headed towards Farah’s cottage, not wanting to wait until the morning to find her. As you waited at her door, you thought about what you’d say, rehearsed several confessions, but when the door opened and Farah stood there, hair loosely braided and face bare of makeup, all words left your head.

“Can I come in?” you asked after a long moment, and Farah nodded, stepping aside.

You were both silent again, Farah obviously waiting for you to start as she moved around you into the living room.

“I, uh, wanted to apologize for… earlier,” you started hesitantly, unsure how receptive Farah would be.

“There’s nothing to apologize for. You and Luna are… close. You shouldn’t have to hide that.”

Her words were kind, but Farah held something back, something in her eyes that belied more hurt than she let on. Sorrow pulled at your chest, and you had to clench your fists to keep from going to her to comfort.

“No, that wouldn’t be something to hide, but I meant that… I just wanted to clarify— and what I wanted to apologize for—“ Hell with it, nothing sounded right but the truth. “I’m in love with you,” you blurted, and Farah’s head popped up, staring at you in surprise.

“I love you,” you continued, “and I need you to know that, because what I’m really trying to apologize for is that it took me nearly kissing Luna to realize it myself. I think my heart has always belonged to you, Farah, and I’m sorry that I played this game for so long when I could have been with you.”

You stopped, taking a deep breath and studying Farah. She looked at you cautiously but otherwise unreadable, and for a moment you thought you’d misread her attraction to you, utterly destroying whatever friendly relationship you had.

And then she smiled. Slowly, but it was a real one, and it lit up her eyes so that you couldn’t help but smile yourself.

“I—“ Farah started, and then trailed off, still smiling. And then, deciding better of words, she closed the gap between you in three steps, took you into her arms, and kissed you.

Luna’s touch had been thrilling, exciting, but Farah’s touch, oh, Farah’s touch felt like coming home. You leaned into her, gripping her waist to keep yourself upright as you melted into the kiss, feeling her warm and soft underneath you. Your head swam with dizzying happiness, feeling like a puzzle whose last piece had just clicked into place — full and complete and radiantly beautiful. You could nearly feel Farah pulsing with the same happiness as she kissed you, making a small noise against your mouth, to which you sighed and opened your mouth to her, tasting her sweet and tender on your tongue.

You stayed close when the kiss ended, Farah running her hands lightly up and down your back, sending pleasant shivers down your spine. “I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

You smiled, feeling as though you might overflow with happiness, and bumped your nose with hers. “Me too. Even if it took me a while to realize how deeply I felt, I always knew I wanted to kiss you.”

Farah smiled again and then gripped your hips, pulling you closer to her. “I thought, when I saw you and Luna, that I’d waited too long to make the depth of my feelings known. I’m sorry for how brisk I was earlier.”

You shook your head, leaning your forehead against Farah’s. “Thank you. Though I can’t blame you. I don’t know how I would have reacted, in your position, though I know I wouldn’t have liked it.”

“It was certainly a shock,” Farah said, and then huffed out a laugh, pulling your hips closer to her. “I’d been coming to ask you to dinner tonight. Not just as colleagues, but as… friends. Maybe something more. Then seeing you together, I… jealous is too weak a word to describe what I felt.” She shook her head then like she tried to banish the thought, and squeezed your hips gently. “I’m glad you’re here.”

She said it simply enough, but the weight behind her words had you wrapping your arms around her neck. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be, and no one else I’d rather be with. I mean that.”

Farah let out a soft, contented sigh, and gently cupped your cheeks before kissing you again, filling you with light and love, speaking just as clearly with her kiss as though she’d spoken it in your mind.

I love you, too.

#farah dowling x reader #farah x reader #farah dowling #eve best #ftws #fate the winx saga

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blackwoolncrown · 3 years ago

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6 Reasons Meta is in Trouble (yanked from NYT bc fuck a paywall)

(Italics mine throughout. Full article con’t under the cut but I just want to comment that this is....lol bc basically Meta is buckling due to increased user privacy ability and the fact that ppl can spread their content for free via reels and tiktok. Hilarious how much their entire platform was built on the idea that a) their userbase would always grow (as in, somehow more and more ppl would constantly sign on...fucking how lol) and mining its users for invasive data skimming for ad revenue. Interestingly it says the problem with Reels is that ppl skip Reel ads, making them less lucrative/functional as paid ads but tbh IMO they generate GENUINE interest quite well. No one wants to see a fucking ad. They will see content they like and choose to follow the OP if they want to. But that’s free and Zuck can’t bank on it. The moment we have even a smidgen of a say in what it tracks (bc let’s not act like that ‘opt out’ is total), they start tanking. You love to see it. Clap your hands if you want Meta to perish!)

Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, suffered its biggest single-day annihilation on Thursday, as its stock fell 26% and its market value fell more than $250 billion.

Its crash followed a dismal earnings report on Wednesday, when chief executive Mark Zuckerberg explained how the company was navigating a delicate transition from social media to the so-called virtual world of the metaverse. On Thursday, a company spokesperson reiterated statements from its earnings announcement and declined to comment further.

Here are six reasons why Meta is in a tough spot.

User growth has reached a ceiling.

The salad days of wild Facebook user growth are over.

Even though the company on Wednesday saw modest gains in new users across its so-called family of apps — which includes Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp — its Facebook social networking app lost around half a million users over the past month. fourth quarter compared to the previous quarter.

It’s the first such decline for the company in its 18-year history, during which time it had been virtually defined by its ability to attract more new users. The drop signaled that the main app may have peaked. Meta’s quarterly user growth rate was also the slowest in at least three years.

Meta executives pointed to other growth opportunities, such as activating the money tap at WhatsApp, the messaging service that has yet to generate substantial revenue. But these efforts are nascent. Investors are likely to consider next whether Meta’s other apps, such as Instagram, might start to peak in user growth.

Apple’s changes limit Meta.

Last spring, Apple introduced an “App Tracking Transparency” update to its mobile operating system, essentially giving iPhone owners the choice to let apps like Facebook monitor their online activities. These privacy measures have now harmed Meta’s business and will likely continue to do so.

Now that Facebook and other apps have to explicitly ask people for permission to track their behavior, many users have opted out. This means less user data for Facebook, which makes ad targeting – one of the company’s main ways to make money – more difficult.

What’s doubly painful is that iPhone users are a far more lucrative market for Facebook advertisers than, say, Android app users. People who use iPhones to access the Internet typically spend more money on products and apps offered to them from mobile ads.

Meta said Wednesday that Apple’s changes will cost it $10 billion in revenue over the next year. The company railed against Apple’s changes and said they were bad for small businesses that rely on social media advertising to reach customers. But Apple is unlikely to roll back its privacy changes, and Meta shareholders know it.

Google steals online ad share.(lol ‘steals’ like they own it)

Meta’s problems have been the good fortune of its competitors.

On Wednesday, David Wehner, chief financial officer of Meta, noted that as Apple’s changes have given advertisers less visibility into user behaviors, many have started shifting their advertising budgets to other platforms. Namely Google.

On Google’s earnings call this week, the company saw record sales, particularly in its e-commerce search advertising. This is the exact same category that tripped up Meta over the last three months of 2021.

Unlike Meta, Google does not rely heavily on Apple for user data. Wehner said it was likely that Google had “significantly more third-party data for measurement and optimization purposes” than Meta’s advertising platform.

Wehner also pointed to Google’s agreement with Apple to be the default search engine for Apple’s Safari browser. This means Google’s search ads tend to appear in more places, collecting more data that can be useful to advertisers. This is a huge problem for Meta in the long run, especially if more advertisers switch to Google search ads.

TikTok and Reels present a conundrum.

For more than a year, Mr. Zuckerberg has pointed out what a formidable enemy TikTok is. The China-backed app has grown to over a billion users thanks to its highly shareable and weirdly addictive short video posts. And it’s in fierce competition with Meta’s Instagram for eyeballs and attention.

Meta has cloned TikTok with a video product feature called Instagram Reels. Zuckerberg said Wednesday that Reels, which features prominently in users’ Instagram feeds, is currently the main driver of engagement in the app.

The problem is that while Reels attracts users, it doesn’t make money as effectively as other Instagram features like stories and the main feed. That’s because it’s slower to make money from video ads because people tend to skip them. This means that the more Instagram pushes people to use Reels, the less money it can make for those users.

Mr Zuckerberg compared the situation to a similar time several years ago when Instagram introduced its Stories feature, which was a Snapchat clone. This product also didn’t make that much money for the company when it first debuted, although ad dollars eventually followed. Yet, there is no guarantee that Instagram Reels can repeat this magic.

Spending on the metaverse is crazy. (I really hope he blows/blew an irreparable amount of wasted dough on this awful pipedream that everyone hates, and it dies)

Mr. Zuckerberg believes so much that the next generation of the internet is the metaverse — a still-fuzzy, theoretical concept that involves people moving through different virtual and augmented reality worlds — that he’s willing to spend big on it.

So big that spending was over $10 billion last year. Mr. Zuckerberg expects to spend even more in the future.

However, there is no evidence that the bet will pay off. Unlike Facebook’s move to mobile devices in 2012, VR usage is still the domain of niche hobbyists and has yet to really break into the mainstream. Popular augmented reality headsets are also months or even years away. (It is really hard and even nauseating for many ppl to spend too long in VR so honestly I hope this never takes off and there’s a good chance it can’t, bc real human beings need to use it and it gives them headaches)

Essentially, Mr. Zuckerberg is asking employees, users, and investors to trust him and his vision for the metaverse. It’s a big ask for something that will cost the company billions in years to come and may never come to fruition.

The specter of antitrust hovers.

The threat of regulators in Washington coming for Mr. Zuckerberg’s company is a headache that just won’t go away.

Meta faces multiple investigations, including from a newly aggressive Federal Trade Commission and several state attorneys general, into whether it acted anticompetitively. Lawmakers have also coalesced around congressional efforts to pass antitrust bills.

Mr. Zuckerberg argued that Meta is not a social media monopoly. He furiously pointed to what he calls “unprecedented levels of competition”, including from TikTok, Apple, Google and other future adversaries. (Boo hoo ;_;)

But the threat of antitrust action has made it harder for Meta to navigate new social media trends. In the past, Facebook bought Instagram and WhatsApp with little control as these services gained billions of users. Now, even some of Meta’s seemingly less controversial acquisitions in virtual reality and GIFs have been challenged by regulators around the world.

With deals being less likely, it’s up to Meta to innovate to overcome any challenges.

In the past, Mr. Zuckerberg could have benefited from doubt about his ability to do so. But on Thursday at least, faith was rare on Wall Street.

The post 6 Reasons Meta Is in Trouble appeared first on the New York Times.

#articles #meta

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littleboy-logan · 4 years ago

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Secrets Secrets are No Fun (1)

me: im gonna post this tomorrow

me three days later: oops

anyway, have this fanfic ive held onto for fifty years :3 its agere obviously so if you spotted this in the main tags and it makes you uncomfy then block the agere tag and the agere sides/agere sanders sides tags!

Summary: Logan lives an exceptionally ordinary life. He goes to work every morning, he pays his bills, he's a productive member of society. Just like anyone else, however, he has his secrets. He has his hobbies. If anyone found out what happens behind closed doors, they wouldn't look at him the same way again.

Characters: Logan, Remus, Roman (mentioned), Virgil (mentioned)

Pairing(s): future intrulogical & future platonic anxceit (this will be the only warning just cos, but once these ships actually come into play ill put them in the intro again)

Warnings: implied alcohol use (brief), implied toxic parents (brief), and i think thats it but lemme know if i missed anything!

Word count: 1,136

Logan had been lost in the woods for several days and he was growing tired. He had run away from his parents after they started drinking their secret juice that he wasn't allowed to have. Now he was starving and cold and afraid, but at least his parents couldn't yell at him.

His stomach growled especially loudly and he collapsed to the forest floor. He was sure he would die out here. He had run so far. He had no idea how deep these woods got.

Everything around him became blurry, but just before he fell unconscious, he saw someone in a black uniform approach him and call out to someone else.

***

"Sanders, do you have that paperwork done yet?" Logan's boss asked as he approached his cubicle.

"Have it right here, sir," Logan replied as he finished up the last bit of it. He handed it to his boss.

"Good work. Remember, I need that quarterly report by Monday morning."

"Of course, sir. I'm just about done with it."

"Knew I could count on you," his boss said with a grin as he headed back to his office.

Logan silently sighed as he opened up his report on his computer and began typing. His job was tedious, yes, but he could handle tedious. It's not like he had much of a choice anyway if he wanted to make a living.

The day ended soon enough, and Logan packed up his belongings and headed to the bus stop. When it arrived, he climbed aboard and had a seat near the front.

He could feel his brain going fuzzy but forced the feeling away.

The bus reached his side of town and he got off and walked toward his house. Finally, he was home, and he walked through the front door and hung his coat on the rack.

He went up to his room and set his briefcase on his desk. He had a seat in his desk chair and opened up his laptop where his draft for his report stared him in the face.

He was almost done. He could do this.

He began typing, finding that the more he wrote, the more fuzzy his brain got. He fought it off, not having time to indulge himself just yet. He had to keep working.

It wasn't long before he struggled to even read what he was writing.

He sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair. He rubbed his eyes and looked at the screen once again. The words were all jumbled and impossible to read. He couldn't possibly work like this.

He glanced in the direction of the box beneath his bed.

No, maybe he could still work. He just needed to snap out of it. He stared at his keyboard and found each individual letter and sounded them out as he typed. After a few minutes he looked at what he'd typed. It was incoherent garbage.

He threw his head back and groaned loudly. He really had no choice. He did know it was rather unhealthy to put it off for too long anyway.

He looked towards the box beneath his bed again.

He closed his laptop and went to his bed. He knelt beside it and pulled his box out from under it. Inside there was a sippy cup, colouring book, crayons, and a onesie. Not a lot, but enough for now.

He heard his roommate come home and his heart leapt into his throat. He shoved the box back under the bed and got to his feet. He wouldn't be caught dead with his age regressor gear, especially by Remus.

It sounded like he wasn't coming in, thankfully. He had a tendency to barge in without warning, which Logan had scolded him for in the past. He was lucky Remus hadn't found out about his age regression.

Logan's stomach growled, which not only brought back unfortunate memories, but made him that much closer to a fully regressed headspace. If he was being completely honest, he would rather fight back the memories than his regression.

He went to the kitchen, making sure he was still grown up. Remus was eating some ramen with cheese, a common dish for him. Logan wanted something simpler, something that would help him regress. Though, of course, he would have to remain vigilant around Remus.

"Heya, Lo!" Remus greeted, slurping up some noodles. "How's the wife?"

"I'm not married," Logan pointed out confusedly. "And I'm also gay."

"You're married to your job."

"Well... who's to say my job isn't nonbinary?"

Remus nodded. "Touché."

Logan went to find something to eat, but there wasn't much. He settled on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Crusts cut off, of course.

He got the peanut butter down from the cabinet, his Crofters out of the fridge, and the bread from the bread box. The more he made his sandwich, the smaller he felt. He didn't know if it was the smell of the food or the fact that he was making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but he knew he had to be careful.

He finished cutting off the crusts, struggling to do so, and sat at the table across from Remus. He tried not to kick his feet, but the temptation to move was strong.

"Did you cut off the crusts?" Remus asked, a slightly incredulous tone to his voice.

Logan froze. "Yeah," he murmured, trying to sound older than he felt.

"The crusts are the best part, though."

Logan frowned and shook his head. "No, the jelly is."

"Says the Crofters junkie," Remus teased.

Logan continued eating, hoping he wasn't too obvious. Perhaps he was taking too big of a risk being around Remus this close to being regressed. Thankfully, he was almost done with his sandwich and then he could leave.

"Oh, hey, Roman invited us and Virgil over to his house this weekend. Which- y'know, tomorrow. You gonna be able to go?"

Logan forced back a smile at the thought of being around Remus's brother. Whenever he was regressed he craved the company of the more fanciful twin, with his flowery language and Disney references and singing.

"Uh, yeah, I can do that. What'll we be doing?"

"Probably dinner and a Disney marathon. Typical Roman."

Logan swallowed the last bite of his sandwich and excused himself, glad he could finally go to his room. He locked the door and got his box back out from under his bed.

He went to the neighbouring bathroom and filled his sippy cup with water and then got changed into his unicorn onesie. He then began colouring in one of his colouring books. He laid in the floor on his stomach with his feet kicking in the air.

Life was more carefree like this. If only anyone could understand.

#virgils fics #agere #agere fic #agere sanders sides #agere sides #agere logan #cg remus #?#at least later on #sanders sides #logan sanders #remus sanders

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joseph-marc-blumenthal · 3 years ago

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6 tips to protect your finances from Warren Buffett

COVID-19 and the resulting recession have affected everyone, including 90-year-old investing legend Warren Buffett.

His huge conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The pandemic “has negatively impacted almost all of our operations, although the impact has varied significantly,” the company said in its most recent quarterly earnings report in early November 2020. But even with the troubles, Berkshire reported an 82% jump in net profit for the July to September 2020 quarter. So billionaire Buffett seems to be handling the crisis well.

You can too if you follow his example. Here are the takeaways from Buffett's six wise deeds to help protect your money while the virus continues to rage.

1. Use low-interest rates

Buffett has become one of the richest people on the planet by taking advantage of the opportunities that have opened up. During the pandemic, he pointed to fantastic opportunities for borrowers thanks to the Federal Reserve's response to the COVID crisis. The Fed "did the right thing" by cutting its key interest rate to near zero in response to the virus, Buffett said. Other rates fell like dominoes across the economy.

“This is a very good time to borrow money, which means that now is not the best time for loans, but it’s good for the country that now is a good time to borrow money,” he said during the last meeting of Berkshire shareholders. Hathaway in May 2020.

How You Can Be Like Buffett: If you're a home buyer or homeowner with a solid credit rating, pick one of today's ultra-low mortgage rates while you can.

2. Be vigilant

It's not for nothing that a native of Nebraska, Buffett is called the Oracle of Omaha. Last March, the multibillionaire told an interviewer, "I always felt like there would be a pandemic someday."

In 2019, he warned his Berkshire shareholders in a letter that the world was facing a "mega disaster," a kind of "complete surprise" that would overshadow the devastation from Hurricanes Katrina and Michael.

Buffett wrote that the monster disaster would result in huge losses for his company, but Berkshire will be ready to go the next day, he said.

How you can be like Buffett: You, too, can be prepared for anything - by buying life insurance to provide financial protection for your loved ones. Sales of policies for family breadwinners have surged due to deaths from COVID. You can easily go online and find several life insurance offers tailored to your family's needs.

3. Don't store balances on your credit card.

As layoffs soared during the pandemic, some Americans were forced to accumulate more credit card debt. Turning to credit cards due to financial hardship is one thing, but Buffett says some people use plastic as a "money-box for raiding."

During a virtual meeting of shareholders, he spoke about a friend who got into an unexpected situation and asked for advice on what to do about it. She had a credit card debt - at 18% per annum.

“If I owed money at 18%, the first thing I would do with the money I have is pay it back,” Buffett told her. "You can't live your whole life borrowing money at these rates."

How can you be like Buffett: When credit card debt gets unbearable, the first step to getting rid of it is turning it into a debt consolidation loan. You will simplify your bills and cut interest expenses to pay off debt faster. Instead of 18%, you can pay only 5.95% per annum in the USA.

4. Do your homework with stocks.

The coronavirus crisis is devastating entire industries, including retail, dining and entertainment. Buffett decided that the damage to one particular industry would be greater than he could bear as an investor.

“The aviation business - and I could be wrong and I hope I am wrong - has changed a lot,” he told his shareholders.

So he explained why Berkshire sold all of its airline shares.

Buffett says people were discouraged from flying, so "the world has changed for airlines."

How can you be like Buffett: Investors who did their homework were rewarded during the pandemic as the stock market climbed to new all-time highs. Several stock investment portfolios will help you make the right choice. One solution will allow you to invest extra money in a portfolio that automatically adjusts to the ups and downs of the market.

5. Stick to a long-term plan.

Warren Buffett is confident that the US economy will recover from the COVID-related recession.

“Basically, nothing can stop America,” he said during an online meeting. “In fact, we have not encountered anything that closely resembles this problem, but we faced more serious problems. American miracle, American magic has always prevailed, and it will repeat itself again. "

But Buffett also said that no one knows what will happen, so investors should brace for a potentially long recovery. He says they will get "good results" if they hold the stock in the long run.

How You Can Be Like Buffett: Financial planning services are more affordable and convenient than you think, and can help you focus on your investments. Today you can discuss the path to your long-term goals with a financial planner at a financial consultation.

6. Ask for help if you need it.

Buffett says the coronavirus has plunged the US into an "economic war," and many small businesses have fallen victim. He called on Congress to provide additional assistance.

“We have stopped a lot of people in this particular provoked recession and others are thriving, and I think the country owes these really millions of small entrepreneurs,” Buffett told CNBC in December.

The COVID-19 rescue package, approved in late December, included $284 billion in new small business loans with "paycheck protection." Now President Joe Biden wants to provide $15 billion in grants to more than 1 million hard-hit businesses.

How you can be like Buffett: If you are a business owner or breadwinner with financial difficulties, look for sources of relief - and take advantage of what is around.

This means, for example, that if you have federal student loan arrears in the United States, do not make payments until October, when the government moratorium is scheduled to end. Private loans can be refinanced at today's sharply lower interest rates.

#VivianBlumenthal #BluLife #JosephMarcBlumenthal

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tradgicworks · 4 years ago

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Heartfelt:P-1 A World of Sorrow

When a student of a private school disappears during stormy night, three strangers come together to look for her and end up discovering the dark secrets of the world around them. WORD COUNT - 3134

The light of the setting sun peered into the old diner. Black clouds dotted the sky. Sophie took a long sip from her milkshake and stared wistfully at the horizon. Her golden bangle bracelet slid down her arm as she did.

“What’s wrong?” Gwyneth asked as she noticed her gaze.

Gwyneth brushed her bangs aside. Her dark brown colored eyes were filled with concern. She had voluminous long black hair that covered her shoulders like a fluffy mane. She wore a uniform which consisted of a long skirt, a simple tucked in blouse, and a blazer- all in different shades of purple.

“Nothing’s wrong, I’m just thinking about some stuff,” Sophie said with a meek smile.

"What kinda stuff?" Gwyneth asked.

"Midterms, winter vacation, piano practice. The usual," Sophie replied.

“Wow, not even trying to hide the fact that you weren’t paying attention to my story, huh?" Gwyneth gave an exaggerated sigh.

"I'm sorry," Sophie awkwardly smiled.

“It's okay, I forgive you. Anyways, remember that girl that went missing a couple months ago, she was a freshman, um, vice president of the chess club or something. Well some of the older students have been talking about how this isn’t the first time that it has happened,” Gwyneth ate one of her few remaining fries. “Near the end of last year’s spring semester a different freshman suddenly moved away. This normally wouldn't have been seen as strange except for the fact that it was right in the middle of finals. Supposedly, one of her friends decided to call her parents to ask about what happened only to be told that the phone number had been out of service for weeks.”

“Spooky,” Sophie commented simply.

“Mhm. So, the older girls started talking and it turned out that a lot of students went missing over the years. They say that it's been about fifteen students in total that have suddenly disappeared. For every single one of them there was a convenient excuse for why, but all of it just seems too coincidental,” Gwyneth leaned in for dramatic effect. “Me thinks there’s a conspiracy afoot.”

“Really? I suppose it is strange, but it could just be that the seniors get overactive imaginations with how much free time they have during finals,” Sophie sighed.

“Aw come on, humor me at least," Gwyneth leaned back. “Don’t you think it’s weird that the academy has a dedicated security team that answers directly to Capital City’s police department? We even have a creepy name for them- Wardens- that’s not normal!”

“Well, given the kind of students that attend it’s not that strange,” Sophie said.

“You really are playing devil's advocate today, huh?” Gwyneth gave a friendly smile.

“Sorry,” Sophie lowered her gaze.

Gwyneth’s smile turned to a face of concern.

“Hey, are you sure you’re okay-'' Gwyneth started before she was interrupted by the chimes of their phones.

“Curfew,” Sophie swiped at her smartphone. “It’s time to head back.”

“Right...” Gwyneth gazed at her for a few seconds as she packed up her things and got ready to leave before following suit.

The two left a tip for the waiter and headed out into the cold air of the coming winter. The sleepy sky matched the energy of the few students that remained outside, all of them in a quiet hurry to get back to the main campus of Dorothy Elaine Atham's Private Academy for Young Women, or “the academy” as the students plainly referred to it. It was originally constructed in the early 1940s, yet it managed to remain one of the most prestigious high schools in Capital City. This was mostly due to the academy having the support of the Capital City Police Department. They would employ off-duty officers to act as the academy’s security team, or ‘Wardens’ as they were officially referred to. As a result the academy set itself apart as one of the safest private high schools in the entirety of the United States. Strict curfews, no relationships, mandatory dorms, quarterly inspections by the Wardens, uniforms and an arduous curriculum were some of the measures taken to keep the students safe. Wealthy families from all over the country enrolled their children with peace of mind that they would be safe, allowing the school to afford top of the line facilities, staff, and to further its reputation even more. It was said that the academy was so stern with its policies that even the lightest violation could lead to expulsion. Of course that was just a rumor.

Sophie and Gwyneth eventually found themselves back at the main entrance of the academy. Tall walls made of brick and black fencing led to two large half open gates. A flower bed filled with wilting violet roses that matched the student’s outfits sat underneath them. A tall Warden stood at the side of the entrance. Her bright green eyes filled with overwhelming sternness locked with Sophie’s. Sophie averted her gaze and made her way in alongside Gwyneth.

“W-Well, see you tomorrow,” Sophie said to Gwyneth as she took out a pair of wireless earbuds.

“Wait,” Gwyneth gently grabbed her arm before she left. “How about we walk back to your dorm together? I got some more spooky stories I want to tell you about.”

“You won��t make it back to your dorm in time if we do that, you’re on the other side of campus.” Sophie replied.

“I could just stay at your place, y’know like a sleepover,” Gwyneth doubled down as she let go of her arm.

“We both know you can’t do that,” Sophie let out a long breath and held Gwyneth’s shoulders. “I’m fine, really. I know you’re worried about me but I just haven't been getting a lot of sleep. That’s all.”

“Are you sure?” Gwyneth asked.

“I’m sure,” Sophie looked her in the eyes. “I promise that I’m okay.

“Breakfast?” Gwyneth asked dejectedly.

“Of course, breakfast sounds great,” Sophie gave a convincing enough smile. “Now let’s hurry, before the dorm doors lock.” She said as she let go of her.

“Yeah, goodnight,” Gwyneth smiled slightly.

“Goodnight,” Sophie replied before putting in her earbuds and selecting a classical music playlist.

The sun was halfway nestled into the horizon by the time they split. Night was rapidly approaching. The pitch black clouds moved as a mound, thunder rumbled in the distance. The academy resembled a small college more than a high school. Four buildings took up the majority of the campus, each housing their respective grade. A well decorated plaza rested in the middle of the four buildings, where the freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors could interact with each other during lunch or after classes. The dorms sat a few hundred feet from their respective buildings. Wilting but mostly green grass took the majority of the empty space in the campus. Trees and flower beds stood beside the lamp posts that lit up the sprawling walkways. The campus barely had enough room for everything that was built on it, but it was efficient nonetheless.

Sophie’s brows furrowed as the freshmen dorm came into view. It was tucked away in the farthest corner of the campus. While the other dorms enjoyed a nice view of the academy, the freshmen dorms were greeted with the old auditorium. It was by far the oldest building on campus and in a desperate need for renovation. Unfortunately, the construction was inexplicably postponed until the end of the semester- leaving the freshmen with the sight of an ugly, half finished, and decaying building.

Sophie glanced at the front doors. A girl leaned against the doors as she chewed gum. Sophie overlapped the ends of her blazer together and averted her eyes. The girl stopped chewing as Sophie walked to the entrance. Sophie quickly took out her ID card and pressed it against the door’s scanner. The girl swatted her ID to the ground as it finished scanning.

“Whoops,” The girl, Eva, leered in a pretentious tone as she put her arm around her shoulder. “Didn’t see you there princess.”

Eva blew a bubble with her gum and popped it with a sharp snap. Her dyed ash blonde hair was tied into a messy bun. Her hazel colored eyes were flecked with dull orange blemishes. She wore a thick black hoodie and a short skirt which barely fell within the academy’s dress code. A faint but irritatingly smug smirk stretched across her face.

“What do you want, Eva?” Sophie said meekly.

“Nothing much, nothing much at all. I just wanted to talk to my dear friend for uh,” Eva glanced at her wrist watch. “Five minutes.”

“We’re not friends,” Sophie kept her gaze glued to the floor.

“It hurts me to hear you say that,” Eva squeezed her shoulder until she winced from the pain. “Listen, I need a little favor. As you know, winter break is in a week and I’m running low on funds, so I was wondering if you can help me. It’ll run you about five thousand dollars, but of course that’s nothing compared to all the allowance money your mommy and daddy are giving you, right?”

“No,” Sophie muttered.

“Excuse me?,” Eva tilted her head until she met her gaze. “You need to speak up, I can’t hear you through your teeth.”

“I’m not giving you anything,” Sophie pushed her off of herself. “Leave me alone or I’ll report you to the Wardens!”

“Oh, really now?” Eva chuckled dryly. “I think you and I both know you can’t follow up on such a threat, not without putting that friend of yours in a whole lot of trouble…Well you do have a point, I can’t take what’s not in my hands after all…” She glanced at her watch and gave a sadistic smirk.

“But neither can you,” Eva said before sweeping Sophie’s legs and causing her to trip backwards.

Sophie yelped in pain as she just managed to catch herself. By the time she got up Eva was already inside of the dorm with her ID in hand. She rushed to the doors only to find that they were already locked. The sound of a grandfather clock chimed through the PA system signaling the start of the curfew.

“It’s a good thing you managed to scan the door before you dropped your ID, huh? That way it's on record that you got in here before curfew. Your perfect attendance is not in danger, though it was a real shame you lost your ID. Don’t worry though I’ll turn it in to the lost and found in the morning. Have a nice night, princess! I hear it's going to be a dark and stormy one,” Eva laughed while waving Sophie’s ID in the air.

“Wait!” Sophie pleaded as she desperately tried to open the door, but no matter how much she pushed against them, the doors refused to budge.

She froze as she felt a cold drop of rain fall down her neck. She looked up at the rumbling dark sky. It began to pour. Sophie clung to what little shelter could find at the side of the building. She took out her phone and tried to call Gwyneth, only to find that her screen had shattered completely from when she tripped. She looked around for a Warden but found none. She yanked out her earbuds and angrily threw them into her bag in frustration. Pathetically faint music leaked out of them. She leaned against the wall and sunk until she was sitting with her knees to her chest.

Despite its claims to security, the reality is that the school can’t keep everyone safe. With the majority of students coming from wealthy backgrounds, treating one too harshly could lead to the parents withdrawing their donations. Without those funds, the school would cease to function- something the academy avoided at all costs. As such, there was an unwritten rule that the wealthier the family, the more lenient the punishment. Though many students did not take advantage of this reality, after all attending the academy was a privilege. All except for Eva. Nobody really knows why, but the school would turn a blind eye to her many misdeeds. Some speculated that it was due to her role as one of the academy’s star athletes, others thought that she was secretly related to the headmaster. Regardless of the rumors, the reality was that she was cruel, spiteful, and above all, manipulative. She made a habit of harassing students that had unfortunately drawn her attention. Whether it be through blackmail, harassment, or slander, she would abuse her victim until they were forced to do whatever she wanted. No matter how much students tried to retaliate she always seemed to have the upper hand and the academy would turn the other way. As a result she had gained an infamous reputation amongst the freshmen and sophomores as someone to be avoided at all costs. Unfortunately for Sophie, Eva seemed to be obsessed with making her time at the academy as miserable as possible. Eva’s persistence was so overwhelming that Sophie ended up being isolated from the rest of her class out of fear of Eva alone. The only person brave enough to still talk to her was her closest friend Gwyneth. She did her best to make sure that Sophie was rarely alone and felt safe. However, even that backfired. Eva had somehow managed to take a photo of Gwyneth that would lead to her expulsion if revealed to the public. Ever since then, Eva has hung that threat over Sophie’s head and she couldn’t let anything happen to her best friend. As such, Sophie felt so alone. She felt as if she was left to fend for herself against the clutches of a monster.

Sophie pressed her face against her knees, frustration weighing at her heart, and began to cry. Harsh winds began to pick up and slam waves of rain against her. Sophie took a shaky deep breath and slowly rose to her feet. She looked at her surroundings to try to find better shelter. Her gaze eventually lingered on the auditorium. She choked down a cough before grabbing her bag and heading towards the unfinished building.

. . .

The outside of the auditorium was a mix of moldy wood and peeling paint. Its towering size gave it the imposing essence of a Victorian mansion. Overgrown vines and unkept leaves dressed the entirety it’s walls. Sophie steeled herself as she approached the entrance. She stopped under a small awning that hung over the front doors where no rain seemed to fall. Lightning followed by thunder struck as she gripped her rain soaked skirt and wrung out the excess water. She shivered from the cold as she dried herself the best she could. When she finished, she leaned against the door.

“The dorms open up at 6 am, I’ll be able to get my ID back then,” She thought to herself as she stared at the hole riddled awning. “Maybe father will buy me a new phone, it was pretty old anyways.”

She grabbed her wrist and felt for her bracelet, her only reminder of warmth. A wave of sadness surged through her.

“Mom, Dad, I want to go back home,” She whispered to herself.

Chills spread out through her entire body as the door she braced herself against suddenly flung open with a sharp clang. She regained her balance and turned around. The door’s handle laid on the floor completely broken. The darkness of the auditorium greeted her with a gust of musty, but warm, air. She took a step back only to have the freezing rain fall on the back of her neck. Sophie looked at the entrance with an uneasy face. After a few moments she hesitantly walked in.

The building was much larger than it appeared. A few work-lights left turned on lit the auditorium with sheets of inconsistent light. Door frames to rooms that were used for the construction’s storage lined the walkways. The long hallways on either side of Sophie curved out of view. In front of her sat two large doors. She pushed the heavy doors open and stepped inside. She found herself in the academy’s theater. Rows of weathered red fabric seats stepped down into the center stage. The stage’s walnut flooring was scuffed from years of use and subsequent neglect. Two large maroon curtains blocked the view to the backstage. A small podium sat at the front of it, its paint flaking off to the bare wood. She climbed onto the stage, its visage faintly lit by the work-lights that peered through the half opened doors.

Sophie stared at the seats in a silent awe. She imagined what the theater would look like if it were full of people and wondered why the academy refused to finish renovations. As she pondered, her gaze lowered to the podium. Her eyes narrowed. Faint scratches lined the bottom of it. She wiped a layer of dust off with her hand and revealed a string of faintly recognizable letters.

“Save me?” Sophie slowly read out loud.

“Heard.” A breathy and raspy voice that stretched out every syllable echoed through the theater. “You.”

The doors slammed shut, snuffing out the work-lights and leaving her in complete darkness.

“W-Who’s there?” Sophie stammered.

A bittersweet melody of hums snaked through the dark and into Sophie’s ears in reply.

“Show y-yourself,” Fear gripped at her heart, she clutched her school bag ready to swing it whatever was lurking in the darkness.

“Heard,” The voice repeated, this time more strained. “You.”

“T-This isn’t f-funny, please stop!” She said with a slight whimper.

“Save. You. You. Want. Me. To. Save...” The voice called from behind her causing her to jump in fear.

She swung her schoolbag wildly but it collided against nothing.

“Go. Somewhere. Safe. You. Want. To. Go. Somewhere. Safe. Somewhere. Home...” The voice grew louder.

“Stay away…” She said silently.

Her breaths grew frantic. An overwhelming dread welled in her gut. Panic coursed through her entire body.

“I. Can. Help.” The voice whispered.

A raspy strand of flesh wrapped around her feet before she could react. Her horrified scream was cut short as another strand that gagged her mouth shut. More and more threads wrapped around her body until she was stuck in an airtight cage. She shrieked in muffled terror as she was yanked behind the curtains. Lightning flashed illuminating the theater in a pang of white before decaying back into darkness. Silence followed. The night continued as normal as a stormy night could. Though a few freshmen swore that they heard strange noises coming from the old auditorium that night. Screams of struggles, pleads for help, and a blood curdling shriek to name a few. Of course nobody took it too seriously. It was just a rumor after all.

#oc #ow #writing #mystery #thriller #horror #anime inspired #female protagonist #heartfelt #cw bullying #First time using tumblr and writing online please be patient C:

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the-mad-starker · 5 years ago

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Starker Smut: Spilled Lemonade

This was a fic I was writing for an event last summer (prompt was lemonade) but hadn’t finished in time so it was gathering dust 😅 Finally got it done so it’s my first offering in my 3k celebration. 😊

Summary: Peter’s a good omega. He takes care of his daddy and daddy takes care of him. They have such a good relationship but he’s glad that he gets to choose his own mate and not his father. Or so Peter thinks until one of his friends, another omega, comes sniffing around his alpha.

Notes/Warnings: intersex omega, unspecified age but probably high schoolish?, incest, normalized sex in public, jealousy, hole spanking, creampie, one sided Harley/Tony

WC: 6734

Ao3 Link

💗💗💗

It was 3 AM when Peter carefully snuck out of his daddy's bed.

The older alpha's arm was like dead weight across his belly but with a little wiggling, Peter was able to squeeze himself out. His entire body was aching, mainly his thighs and wrist, but overall, it was a lot better than usual.

Plus, with his daddy asleep, he was able to sneak himself some cookies as a reward for being a good omega. He had a whole bowl of them and a tall glass of milk as he went to soak in the jacuzzi.

He knew he should've showered off the mess before getting into the jacuzzi… There was alpha come and omega slick wetting his thighs, but he allowed himself to be bad just this once.

His daddy, Tony Stark, was going through one of his quarterly ruts. Peter, being his only son and an omega, was helping him through it.

At least, it was summer vacation so he didn't have to miss out on school. He was one of the top students and while missing a few classes wouldn't have cost him anything, the homework would've been annoying to catch up on.

His daddy's ruts took up a lot of his time and he needed to be present whenever his father fell into a mood. Ruts were normally two to three days of intense sexual frenzy with an alpha fucking an omega and breeding them up… But between father and son, Tony never took him in that manner.

No, all Peter did was… help.

He was happy to help and while the beginning was rough because of his inexperience, Peter was much better at it now. He knew just how to relieve his poor daddy, whether it was sucking on the alpha's cock or jacking him off with his hands…

Or there were times where Tony just needed a soft, pliant body to rub his cock against… Peter didn't mind stretching out on his tummy, legs spread while his daddy rutted his thick alpha cock against his ass or maybe between his round, soft cheeks… Sometimes, between his thighs.

It felt nice, after all.

What they did really depended on his alpha's mood, but they never went beyond that. Peter was still a virgin and his daddy was a perfect alpha gentleman, never pushing for more even when he was in a rut. He touched Peter's ass and his pussy plenty of times to return the favor but he'd never actually put his cock inside of Peter's holes, aside from his mouth.

He loved his daddy and his daddy loved him. Things were simple and they both got something out of it.

He had just taken a bite of his third cookie when his father walked in.

He hadn't bothered to put anything on. Clothing, even those of the finest quality, tended to irritate an alpha's oversensitive skin while they were in a rut.

It took two lazy, confident strides for Tony to reach the jacuzzi and one small sigh before he joined Peter in the warm water.

The smaller omega should've expected it but he still squeaked when his daddy picked him up and settled him on his lap.

"Dad…" Peter complained when Tony nipped the cookie from his very fingers.

The alpha's cock was settled against his ass, previously soft but rapidly swelling once the feel and scent of an omega reached his nose.

Peter bit his lip but like a dutiful omega, he shifted in place so that it could poke between his thighs instead of rub against his ass. He shuddered when the thick length slipped against his pussy.

"Do you think it'll be done in time for my pool party?" Peter asked while he started to stroke it with one hand.

Tony grunted in reply, leaning back against the jacuzzi wall as he let his son work him over. For his father, verbal replies were a bit harder to give during rut.

"Yeah," Tony grunted softly, "Tonight."

Peter smiled and let go of his daddy's cock. Before the alpha could protest, he got on his knees and started to rub it against himself. His actions were met with another grunt and a large hand settling on his hip to help keep him steady.

It didn't take his daddy long to release and Peter himself moaned when he felt the alpha's knot fill beneath his hands.

"Thanks, sweetheart," Tony murmured when he pulled Peter close, kissing his forehead.

"You're welcome, daddy," Peter chirped back.

He nuzzled against the alpha and relished the close bond they had.

It was as Tony said.

His rut ended that night so Peter was looking forward to the next few days of recovery. He contacted all his friends to confirm that they'd be attending his pool party and made sure that those who needed picking up would have a driver sent to them.

It wasn't a big party but it had all his closest friends and some of the members of his school decathlon team. No one could refuse a party that was being held at the Stark residence.

Good food, good music, good company.

Peter had only been concerned that his daddy's rut would make it difficult for him to set up. But now that it was done and over with, all plans were moving full speed for the weekend.

Then… Then a thing happened, a thing that Peter wasn't particularly happy about.

He was over at Ned's house, MJ listening to music in the background. It was right after his dad's rut had finished so he still smelled strongly of his father. Not that that was a problem.

He was his daddy's only omega so how else was his father supposed to get through his rut?

It wasn't a big deal but as soon as the third of their friend group arrived, it was called out in an entirely strange way.

Harley Keener had transferred to their school a year ago. He was a loud and obnoxious omega who didn't let any alphas, school or otherwise, scent him despite not having an alpha father around.

Peter had known about Harley's crush on his daddy since the very beginning but he never paid it much mind. Plenty of omegas had crushes on his father but none of them were so brazen and bold about it in front of Peter.

"Is your dad gonna mate you?" Harley bluntly asked, making Peter sputter into the coke he was drinking.

MJ threw a pillow at him but Harley remained undeterred as he stared at Peter with intense blue eyes.

"What– Why would you even ask that?" Peter demanded once he recovered. "Who asks that kind of question?"

Peter's reaction seemed to satisfy Harley for some reason. He went back to idly writing down something in his notebook.

"You smell like him," Harley pointed out like it wasn't obvious. "Usually that means your alpha wants to keep you for himself."

"Or," Peter emphasized, "my dad just had a rut and needed me to help him. It's not a crime to help my alpha when he needs me."

Harley frowned a bit. "He could always ask another omega…"

Peter rolled his eyes and answered, "Dad's too busy to go chasing around omegas. He didn't even ask me the first time. I found him working through it while he was in the lab."

"I always thought he'd mate you, too," Ned pipped up.

"That's… stupid," Peter pulled a face at his best friend. "I just– I love my dad but not… Not like that. And he hasn't mentioned mating either so… So, I'll probably find an alpha of my own someday..."

He glanced down at his fingers and noticed how they were scrunching up his shirt.

"My dad's awesome and he wants me to be happy," Peter said adamantly. "There's nothing wrong with… with that. With um… Alphas and their omega kids… It's just compatibility… But my dad's never pushed for us to mate."

Harley nodded, satisfied and for a moment, Peter thought the conversation would settle down and go back to something normal. Then the other omega got this glint in his eye that Peter knew spelled trouble.

"Maybe I can offer myself," Harley said casually with a smirk. "I can even become your stepmom if Tony really likes me."

This time, it was Peter's turn to launch something at Harley, another pillow that was deflected but it got his point across.

"Stay away from my dad, you perv," Peter growled, little omega fangs bared.

Harley only grinned in reply.

It was a joke so it was okay. Harley didn't make much sense to Peter most of the time but he was a decent friend. He just liked teasing people a lot by saying ridiculous things he never really meant. He often did pranks or just… things that he thought were funny so Peter just chalked it up to one of his quirks.

Peter didn't let Harley's casual use of his father's first name get to him. Tony instead of Mr. Stark. That was annoying, but Peter ignored it.

Their hang out day continued normally with a movie and popcorn. Peter didn't think of Harley's jokes for another minute and with the pool party coming up, it quickly faded to the background.

He didn't think about how his daddy didn't look at other omegas. He didn't think about how he'd never thought of looking at alpha boys his age.

His daddy was the only alpha in his life and when he compared his father to other alphas, they all just seemed lacking. Like pale imitations of what a good alpha should be. They were scrawny and filled with hot air, boasting about omegas they'd had and talking about things they knew absolutely nothing about.

The bragging was annoying. Peter was certain their cocks and knots were tiny, pathetic things compared to his daddy.

An alpha bragging about never touching an omega's cocklet? Or never pleasing an omega with their mouth? He didn't even have a bonded alpha and Peter knew he couldn't, wouldn't, mate with an alpha that didn't do any of that. His daddy's hands on him… and his daddy's mouth… Peter refused to settle for less.

Such thoughts made the young omega frown and wonder if he was doomed to never find an alpha that was even a quarter as amazing as his own father.

They were distracting thoughts that he pushed aside. He wasn't planning on leaving the nest anytime soon so what did it matter? He still had the pool party to think about and he spent the next couple of days focused on that and that alone.

The pool party was a success.

Peter got to show off his new bathing suit. It was a two-piece for male omegas, but he didn't care much about wearing the top. They were tiny little things, little triangles of fabric just barely big enough to cover his pink nipples. They'd probably call more attention to his chest compared to if he went without it.

Besides, his main reason for getting it was the bikini bottom in red and gold. It resembled a tiny, tiny skirt with just enough length that it covered the soft little bulge his cocklet made at the front. It was perfect.

There was food being barbecued and grilled by hired staff nearby. Fresh lemonade was being served in tall decorated cups at the beverage table. There were garlands of colorful flowers hanging on the tables and the small, shaded area near the pool.

The music was turned up, summer in its every beat. Someone had hooked up their phone to the surrounding speakers and judging by the songs, he figured it was MJ.

There were a couple of adults that tagged along with their kids, taking advantage of the stark hospitality. He saw a couple of them engage in unnecessary small talk with his dad, thanking him for the invitation and just being friendly in general.

They left the kids to do their thing though. Floaties and pool noodles of all sizes and shapes were to the side and readily available.

It was a huge pool. Most of the adults were enjoying the jacuzzi situated next to the pool. Tony, himself, was lounging on one of the pool chairs and only wearing swimming trunks. His tanned legs were stretched out, flip flops hanging off his feet as he basked in the sun.

And of course, he wore his signature shades so Peter couldn't be sure if he was resting his eyes or watching the party around them.

Either way, Peter popped on over with a cold beer in hand and kissed his daddy's cheek before he ran off to join his friends.

Peter was a good omega, after all.

They played a couple of rounds of water chicken. Peter won some as well as lost a couple. It was all fun and games.

They were just about to start a game of Marco Polo when Peter noticed their team was missing someone. Rolling his eyes, Peter pulled himself out of the pool to search for Harley. The other omega had excused himself to use the bathroom some time ago and had never rejoined them.

Peter was about to walk into the house when he caught sight of his target.

Harley was talking to his dad.

With a slight frown, Peter watched what was going on. The older omega was sitting on the edge of Tony's pool chair, a pink lemonade in his hand.

Peter could only see the side of his face but the way Harley leaned over his father was causing some emotion to burn inside him. Pool water dripped on Tony's bare chest and Peter's eyes narrowed before he quickly made his way over.

Harley was offering the pink lemonade to Peter's dad and whatever irrational feelings had been brewing, erupted at the gesture.

Unceremoniously, Peter knocked the lemonade out of Harley's hands.

The entire thing flew out of the other omega's grasp and for a moment, Peter was grateful that they hadn't used glass cups. Harley hadn't even noticed him but he whirled to face Peter.

"What the fuck, Peter?" Harley demanded, face turning a blotchy red at the interruption.

"We're playing a game," Peter bit out. "Marco Polo. Let's go."

Shifting Harley's attention away from his daddy made the uneasiness subside just enough that Peter could act.

He grabbed the other omega by the arm and attempted to drag him towards the pool, but Harley refused to budge.

"I don't want to play," Harley huffed but before Peter could respond, Tony interrupted.

"You're both making a scene," Tony told them, sitting up. He had nudged his shades down a bit, looking at the quarreling omegas with an unreadable expression. "Go on, Harley, enjoy the pool. Think Peter wants to talk to me about something."

Peter gave a bright smile as Harley pouted but reluctantly got up. The omega turned that bright smile towards his father but the look in Tony's eyes–

"Peter." Peter had never heard his father use that tone before. Low, almost close to something like a growl.

A shiver raced up his spine, goosebumps breaking out along his arms.

"Wanna tell me what that was about?" his daddy asked.

It was only then that Peter realized that the lemonade had spilled on his dad. Sticky, silvery trails over his chest and his previously dry swim trunks were damp with the spill.

Peter huffed and wandered closer, claiming the spot Harley previously had.

"I didn't mean to spill it on you," Peter mumbled, tone almost apologetic but not quite there. "But Harley's just being annoying. He keeps saying all these weird things and I know I shouldn't have but–"

He made a sound of frustration, bit his lip, and then sighed.

"I'm sorry, daddy," Peter ended up saying.

He knew he was wrong to have done that. Harley was a guest, after all, and his daddy had taught him to be polite.

Tony was quiet for a moment but when Peter peeked at him, he had taken his sunglasses off. There was a curious expression on his face before his daddy smiled indulgently.

"Harley had some interesting things to say," Tony said casually. "Something about how he had his first heat recently and he's not adjusting to toys very well."

Peter frowned. Harley had probably mentioned something like that the last time they hung out. Peter had even sympathized because he had plenty of toys but he just couldn't seem to scratch that itch without help. His daddy, though, was more than capable of taking care of him when he whined about it. But Tony was his daddy so he had all the right to know about Peter's heats.

"That's… That's not something an omega should be talking about to any random alpha," he complained.

The idea of Harley talking about such an intimate topic with his dad… Nope, Peter didn't like it. Not at all.

Seriously, what was Harley's problem?

"No, it's not," his alpha agreed, "Unless the omega wants to start a heat contract–"

"No!" Peter immediately rejected the idea.

His daddy was his alpha and he didn't want one of his classmates trying to take his daddy away.

"Pete–" That tone was a warning. Peter's voice had gotten a bit high in volume and the simple word had attracted the attention of some nearby guests.

"What about my heat contract?" Peter demanded.

Tony quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Sweetheart, if I recall," his daddy said, patiently, "you like your toys just fine."

Peter flushed at the reminder.

During his last heat, his daddy had worked him open for hours before finally letting him have his practice knotting dildo. The omega had literally wailed at the penetration, small hips pushed back while he begged for more.

It had felt utterly perfect… The stretch of the toy and his daddy's alpha scent clouding his mind.

"Maybe… Maybe it's different now," Peter muttered.

And maybe, it was.

He couldn't look his daddy in the eyes. His face was flushed. How could he explain that he didn't like the idea of another omega taking his place without sounding like a brat?

He'd never allow himself to think about taking his daddy's knot. Their cycles and how they handled them were normal routines that maybe… maybe Peter just hadn't considered that they would change.

That as he got older, he would want more.

"Different, how?"

"Maybe…" Peter shuffled closer. "Maybe I want daddy as my heat alpha."

More silence. Peter was tense as he waited for his daddy's reaction. When he couldn't take it anymore, he glanced at Tony from beneath his lashes.

His daddy looked… pleased?

"You know I'd do anything for my baby boy," Tony said. "We can talk about it after the party, baby. Your heat isn't for another two weeks, anyway."

It wasn't a rejection!

Peter beamed at his daddy and threw his arms around him in a hug, regardless of the drying sticky mess the spilled lemonade made.

"Thank you, daddy!" Peter hummed then pulled away. He gave his alpha a sheepish grin. "I should go get some napkins or a paper towel… I made alpha all messy…"

He made to get up only to have his daddy's keep him in place. Puzzled, he turned back to his alpha, squirming a bit at the way Tony's hands settled on his waist.

"You were still pretty rude to your friend, baby," Tony reminded him. "Think we need to do something about that."

Peter bit his lip. He didn't think saying Harley deserved it would win him any points with his father.

The alpha gave a low chuckle and then tapped his lips with a single finger.

"And judging by that cute little pout you got, you don't feel very apologetic either," his daddy sighed.

His pout only deepened as Tony pointed out the obvious but Peter knew he was in the wrong so he gave a reluctant nod.

"I'm sorry, daddy," Peter admitted.

"You're not yet," Tony observed, "But hmm. I think–"

Peter squeaked as Tony easily manhandled him onto his lap like a little pup, face down and backside vulnerable. The omega found himself laid across his father's lap, legs kicking out in surprise.

"Daddy–" Peter complained but then fell silent when the alpha's warm palm settled on his ass.

"Don't wanna play, sweetheart?" His daddy asked.

A slow rub of his palm over the omega's clothed bottom had Peter reconsidering. If he turned his head… A glance around the pool party showed that most of the guests were still doing their own thing. But if Peter did this now… It was inevitable that they'd draw everyone's attention.

Peter felt a rush of mixed emotions. Excitement. Embarrassment. He knew if he really didn't want to, his father would save this for another time. But… His cheeks burned when he caught sight of Harley watching them.

He wanted to flash his fangs at the other omega but instead, he wiggled in place. He could already feel his daddy growing hard beneath him. These kinds of things always excited his alpha daddy… always excited him too, now that Peter thought about it.

Like father, like son…

"I'm– I'm sorry," Peter murmured, going limp in Tony's lap.

A soft rumble answered him and he gasped when his father tugged his bikini bottom down, just low enough to expose his cheeks.

"I believe you, baby," Tony told him, rubbing and squeezing in preparation. "I'll believe you more after you apologize when I'm done with you."

The first swat on his ass had the boy jolting in surprise. It wasn't even all that hard, just the initial impact had startled him.

In the beginning, Peter kept his whimpers at bay. As Tony continued to spank his ass, it brought more and more of their guests' attention to their private little area. They were never so nosy as to outright stare, but Peter knew they were watching.

It… It excited him. His quiet whimpers came out as soft little moans the harder his daddy spanked him.

"It isn't punishment if you like it, kiddo," Tony said above him.

"Sor– 'm sorry…!" Peter squeaked but it was futile. His cocklet was hard now, too.

His alpha chuckled, and the deep rumble only coaxed more heat into the boy's belly.

Tony paused his spanking and Peter squirmed, the only response he could give that didn't outright beg his daddy for more.

"Such a pretty pink," his daddy admired above him. His large hand rubbed the area of impact, mixing soothing heat and the dull ache into warm pleasure. "It's like you were made for me, baby."

His breath hitched when he felt his father spread his cheeks apart, exposing his pink little hole. His pussy was already wet. There was no doubt in the omega's mind that there'd be a little stain over Tony's swimming trunks.

Whether it was from Peter's slick or the abundant amount of precum his dad's cock was producing, it didn't matter. They were making a mess together.

What Peter didn't expect was for the next impact to be directly over his hole. He gasped, too surprised to let out a proper sound. Tears actually prickled in the corner of his eyes as shock and heat rocketed through his smaller frame.

"Daddy–"

"Too much?" His alpha purred.

Peter shook his head wildly, curls bouncing and tears flung off his cheeks. Nothing was ever too much if it was his daddy.

Another smack right over his hole and the omega cried out, thighs tensing, pussy flooding and dripping with even more slick. His father's cock felt rock hard beneath him now and his knuckles were white as he gripped the edge of the pool chair.

Every impact of his daddy's hand had the boy crying out, voice muffled in an attempt to avoid attention. He was almost certain everyone was watching now but he was too caught up to look.

He squirmed and wiggled, cried out and moaned as the spanking continued. His muscles tensed and jumped beneath his daddy's palm. His daddy varied the spanks and kept him guessing as to where the next hit would land.

It was exciting and with every exhilarating touch, Peter's mind floated closer to that soft, perfect hazy world where it was only him and his daddy. It helped that Tony had started to murmur words of encouragement. He called Peter a good omega for taking his punishment so well.

Good omega... Good boy… Peter was caught in a mix of sensations until the pain bled into pleasure and it was white-hot and so good...

When it finally stopped, Peter's cheeks were wet with tears but the omega felt better than ever. His alpha pulled his bikini back over his pink ass but his bottom still felt hot and sore.

His daddy helped him sit up and he practically melted in Tony's embrace. Warm, loving hands cleared the tears from his eyes and his alpha's gentle purring had Peter sighing in contentment.

He did it. He had taken his spanking like a good omega.

They weren't done, yet.

The delicious ache had him squirming and his daddy's cock pressed against his wet pussy like a promise. He whined, rubbing against it as he pressed tight against the alpha.

"Daddy– 'm sorry," Peter told him, brown eyes pleading and needing to hear his daddy say those words.

"I know, baby, I know," Tony reassured him. "My baby's a good omega, the sweetest, most perfect omega…"

His touch felt soothing as he gently rubbed Peter's sore bottom. His words, too, soothed the omega's hazy mind as they settled in deep and comforted him.

"You want daddy to bring you inside, sweetheart?" Tony asked. "I'm sure your friends won't mind."

His friends… Peter nuzzled close but glanced at where he had left them in the pool. Once he turned his eyes towards them, it was like the rest of the party came back into focus.

Guests talking. Laughter ringing. The scent of barbecue and hot dogs. The warmth of the sun on his face and back.

"M okay." He melted against his daddy, resting there. His daddy's hard cock against him was a warm, soothing weight. He knew his daddy was more than fine just holding him.

He felt the soft purr rumble beneath his cheek as Tony acknowledged his words. The skin was warm and… sticky.

The lemonade. His fingers ran over the dry sticky part and he looked at his daddy, a lazy smile on his face.

"Alpha…" he breathed. "Wanna clean you up, alpha…"

Whenever they got intimate together, whether it was Peter's heat or Tony's rut, cleaning up always meant feeding Peter every drop of cum his father spilled so it wouldn't go to waste. Peter loved the saline taste of his load and he also loved nursing on Tony's cock when he was insatiable with heat. He often made a mess during his heats, slick dripping all over Tony's fingers while he got Peter off.

Peter always… always cleaned up after them.

And what he offered now was no different.

"You sure, baby?" Tony nudged him, "I know you're shy, especially with your friends here "

"Not shy," Peter refuted stubbornly. Some of the haze had cleared, the omega's fiery personality shining through.

He had just chased away one omega and declared his daddy as his alpha… His sore bottom reminded him of what being rude would incur, but he wasn't being rude now. He was just… Just staking his claim.

"Daddy's my alpha," Peter said resolutely. As he tossed a look at Harley, one sharp fang peeking out.

Tony chuckled and gripped Peter's face to turn those defiant eyes back towards him.

"You wanna show them, baby?" Tony asked.

And even though Peter actually did feel a bit shy, he nodded firmly before leaning forward and brushing his lips against his alpha's in a sweet but chaste kiss.

No one knew his daddy better than him and Peter planned to really rub that in.

As soon as the first kiss ended, he initiated another. He invaded his daddy's space, slender chest pressed against the alpha's larger form. He shuddered when he felt his daddy tweak his nipples, quick flashes of brilliant pain that had his mouth gasping open. It was his daddy way of teasing and warning him to behave, a two in one.

Peter was pliant and willing when his daddy took over. His tongue slipped between Peter's lips and the boy went with it, offering his warm mouth for his daddy to do with as he pleased. Soft, sloppy kisses followed.

He actually whined when Tony pulled away, dragging his heavy eyelids up to stare at his father.

"There's my sweet omega," Tony rumbled, dark and as smooth as sin. "Go on then, baby, clean daddy up. You made such a mess because you got jealous, didn't you?"

Peter didn't like the reminder that he was jealous. Didn't like it because it was true.

So, he didn't say a word, he only settled himself between his alpha's knees with pouty lips and pink cheeks. Tony's cock tented the front of his swimming trunks, an intimidating bulge that had Peter's mouth-watering. He was right about earlier, too. His slick had seeped through and formed a dark spot over the fabric. It only served to draw the eye in that direction.

Some part of him didn't want the others, Harley specifically, to see his daddy's cock, but another part preened that this was his.

He ran his hands from Tony's collarbone, over the bit of chest hair, black and greying, and all the way down to his belly. He gripped his daddy's cock with both hands over the cloth.

"Daddy… I'll take care of you," Peter promised, clever fingers running over the length, outlining the sheer girth of it with his small hands.

"I know you will, kid," Tony murmured before leaning back, legs shifting apart to give his son more room.

Peter settled onto his belly, legs kicking in the air as he uncovered his prize.

His daddy's cock was everything an omega would want. It was everything another alpha would be envious over. His daddy… There was a term for what kind of alpha his daddy was. It was an old term that no one really used anymore, but Peter had heard it once upon a time.

A prime. A stud. The best of the best. His daddy was in peak condition and with his girthy cock and fat knot, Peter was the envy of his class. It'd make sense for Tony to have a harem of omegas to service him but he only had Peter.

And that was how Peter wanted it to stay.

The omega's mouth watered as he drew closer. He hefted his daddy's balls in one hand, gently playing with them just how Tony liked. They felt heavy and full in his hand, the skin soft. He knew it'd feel tight once his father got close and he was looking forward to milking them dry. He'd give his daddy some comfort then.

He knew he was doing it right when he heard his daddy give a low groan of appreciation.

Pink lips closed over the swollen tip and when he looked up, warmth flooded his cheeks. His daddy was watching him, dark brown eyes taking in everything.

His breathing picked up with the realization that everyone was watching them.

But all that mattered was his daddy.

His daddy had already been rock hard so he didn't get a chance to work him up to it. It didn't happen often, but there had been a few times Peter was able to suck on him while he was just starting to get hard. It was always an experience.

From being able to fit his daddy's soft cock in his mouth and then feeling it thicken and grow with each thrust… His lips would drag against the length of his daddy's cock and when he became fully erect, the stretch was almost unbearable. But Peter knew exactly what his daddy liked and how to do it just right…

He maintained a good suction on his alpha's cock, taking the length in with only a little bit of struggle. He knew what got his father going but there was still plenty of practice to be had, especially when Tony's size was just on the good side of too much.

Peter tasted the tart sweetness of the lemonade he'd spilled and the omega made it a challenge to lick every drop from his father's skin. It didn't take long until every sugary hint was gone and then there was only the clean taste of his daddy's cock and the bitter, salty taste of his precum.

When he pulled back, his hands worked on the exposed inches, never leaving a single inch of bare skin unattended. He felt the still soft bulge of his father's knot as his alpha got closer and closer to the edge.

He had yet to be able to successfully take his father's knot in his mouth but he wasn't going to try that today.

Before it could inflate, Peter let his daddy's cock pop out of his mouth.

"Daddy– I want…" he couldn't even say it.

His cheeks were flushed as he scrambled back up onto his alpha's lap. He rubbed his poor, neglected pussy against Tony's erection, biting his lip so he wouldn't whimper from the sheer need wracking through his body.

"What do you want, sweetheart?" Tony asked, voice tight with restraint.

His daddy's voice was ragged with hunger. Peter nuzzled close even as he reached back, angling his alpha daddy's cock right where he wanted it.

"Daddy knows," Peter groaned just as he nudged the tip against his pussy. "Daddy wants it, too…"

His stupid bikini was in the way though and he desperately tried to slip it to the side so his daddy can push in.

The alpha's cockhead strained against his bikini, pulling it tight. Peter's squirming allowed the tip to nudge right over his opening and he moaned, hips twitching as he tried to get his father's cock inside. The fabric stretched, even allowed Tony's tip to nudge inside a bit before it couldn't go any further.

"You wanna do that here, sweetheart?" Tony teased. "Give up your first time with a real alpha right here?"

His hands felt so warm and safe on his hips, thumbs brushing against his soft belly in the center. "Right here in front of all your friends?"

Peter moaned and clutched his daddy closer. He fumbled with the stupid bikini, dragging the edge to the side. He was so eager to show his cute bikini off and now he was cursing it for being in the way.

Finally, the part that was keeping his daddy's cock from slipping inside him was tugged to the side.

"Yess…!" Peter hissed as he sank down on his father's cock.

It was nothing like his toys. Warm, hard living flesh pushed inside his needy pussy and Peter's back arched as his knees weakened.

He felt his daddy's warm breath on his neck and he shuddered violently. Daddy just happened to breathe right over his mating gland… The one spot that his father hadn't set his teeth into.

Doing so would claim Peter as his. His omega to fuck and breed, to take as his mate.

Peter's fingers ran through his father's hair, clutching the alpha as he started to eager bounce on his cock. At this point, he barely felt how hot and sore his ass felt from the spanking. All he felt was the pleasure of being filled and that pleasure doubled, tripled, because it was his daddy pushing into him.

"Look at you go, sweetheart…" Tony groaned, leaving a bruise right on his mating gland. "So eager to take your father's cock…"

Tony's arms wrapped around his small waist. The boy whimpered when Tony actually used some strength to hold him down, keep his hips in place as he started to fuck into him.

"Shh– shh, let daddy help, Pete," Tony growled in his ear. "None of your toys are as big as daddy. Gotta open you up… gotta fuck you loose so you can take the knot…"

"K-knot…?" Peter echoed. His face pressed against his daddy's sweat damp neck and his pink tongue dipped out, licking the salt from his sun warmed skin.

"Mhmm…" the alpha enforced with a harsh thrust. "Gonna knot you right here… Think that'd be a good punishment to add, hmm? Being so rude to another omega… Spilling lemonade all over your alpha… Yeah, sweetheart, I think letting daddy knot your sweet pussy is just the thing you need…"

Peter went limp in his arms. He let his daddy drill into his wet pussy, that thick alpha cock spreading him apart and filling him up so good. It was brutal and perfect, his alpha daddy using him just like Peter craved.

Every moan and every cry his daddy pulled from his lips were well earned. Peter was being fucked like a rag doll, body being manhandled easily and pulled up and down with no resistance. His dad wasn't even like this during his ruts though that might change now.

Everything would change with this new element in their relationship.

Peter couldn't find himself to care or worry about it. How could he when his entire body was being flooded by pleasure, his pussy squelching as his father's cock fucked in and out… In and out…

"O-Ohh… God…!" Peter squealed when his daddy's cock finally bottomed out. He felt so full! Felt like his daddy's cock was right there nudging against his womb…

"Daddy– dadddy…" Peter cried out, grinding on his father's cock and body shuddering with how good it felt.

"Yeah, that's it, baby," Tony purred into his ear. "Almost there… almost there, sweetheart. Just squeeze down on daddy's cock, just like that–"

Peter's body knew what to do and was already doing it even before Tony said the words. His insides massaged the alpha's length, squeezing and clutching in such a rhythmic motion.

Milking his daddy's cock so that the knot would pop.

"O-Oh!" Peter gasped when he felt it. The knot was growing...

"Good boy…" his daddy purred. "Such a good son… Taking care of daddy's knot…"

Then Peter's inexperience overruled his instincts as an omega. The sudden pressure inside him, the knot swelling and catching, had the boy shuddering and trying to escape this weird, exciting feeling.

His father's hands held him securely, making sure that the knot wouldn't be tugged as it was growing.

Peter whined and fell limp in Tony's arms.

"It's okay, sweetheart," Tony reassured him, "Just take the knot, baby… I know you can do it… Daddy's gonna fill you up..."

The soft little whimpers fell away. Warmth surged into his body and Peter clutched onto his daddy. His daddy was… Filling him up… Coming inside him…

After that, Peter could barely keep his eyes open. The surge of warmth filling him up kept going… It'd continue for as long as the knot was firm and plugging him up.

His eyes barely fluttered open when Tony stood, supporting his weight and pulling Peter's legs so they wrapped around his waist. He saw flashes of his friend's faces as they entered the house but the only one that remained with him was Harley's. The omega had rolled his eyes in exasperation but Peter had only returned a bone-deep satisfied smile.

Tony settled them in his bed and their combined scents only had Peter purring in contentment. And when his alpha started grinding into him, Peter only sighed, back arching and lips gasping open in pleasure.

Outside, he can still hear the music blaring and the sound of splashing from the pool. He couldn't smell the barbecue or the sweet tart scent of lemonade being served.

The knot softened and he felt the rush of come spill out of his abused pussy only to be fucked back in, his daddy's cock not softening and eager to spill another load.

He had an alpha to please and Peter knew everything he needed to in order to please his daddy.

#starker #madstarker writes #nff #alpha tony #omega peter #intersex omegas #moody mads #omegaverse

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ahiddenpath · 4 years ago

Text

Hidden’s Life/Writing Stuff

Hey, I haven’t been around much, but here’s what’s up.

Writing news: struggling to have Ladybug House done by Odaiba Day, it’s not where I want it to be.

Everything else beneath the cut.

Trigger warning: discussion of funerals/family nonsense.

I’ve been all over the place.

My father’s mother died. I had a little “what do I do” panic. I’m no contact with my father- it’s too much to summarize, so I’ll just say it’s needed for my safety/mental health/wellbeing. I saw his mother once or twice a year until I was roughly late middle school aged? Early high school? Her husband, my paternal grandfather, either ignored or terrorized me during these visits. Since then, I saw her once at my beloved maternal grandmother’s funeral. She treated it like a social event and forced small talk with me while I was crying at the casket. I can’t really bring myself to be upset about that, since she was exhibiting signs of dementia, but it’s... Not a good memory. Basically, I didn’t have a relationship with my paternal grandmother.

Still, I went back and forth on whether or not I should go to the viewing/burial. I know that my father lies to his family about my mother and me. His speaking volume is set to “shout,” so growing up, I heard his phone conversations lying to people about me, calling me a bitch (etc), sharing my medical info, etc. His sister once ambushed my mother when they ran into each other at a grocery store and screamed at her about the fictional horrible things my father said my mother did to him. I realized that everyone in the room at the viewing would see me as some kind of enemy, and would likely pounce on me for whatever reason they could conceive- or invent. There’s apparently been drama among my father and his siblings, but thankfully, that is not my circus.

Obviously, I decided not to go. I’m annoyed at myself for how strong the pull of, “go to the funeral, she is your grandmother, even though she didn’t really try to be,” is. This caused a lot of anxiety, and I guess it will continue to for a bit.

My father has been calling lately (over the last 1.5 years, I guess?), around holidays especially, leaving messages. My husband listened to them for me. Most of them were him trying to receive contact around holidays. I read that a lot of estranged family members have tried to reconnect during the pandemic- I assume the threat of invisible death by covid spurred people to reach out? I never responded.

More recently, he was trying to set up a meeting between me and his mother, but only through him- and he was insulting me in the messages. Nooooot exactly how you sweettalk your way out of no contact, lol! I blocked him.

I don’t regret missing the chance to see my grandmother, mostly because I know I had none. It would have been my father’s dog and pony show, with me as a captive prop. A friend kept asking me, “Who or what would you go to the funeral for?” The only response I could muster was, “A vague sense of obligation.” She and my husband responded that my first obligation is to take care of myself.

I have good people, man.

There’s always small, dumb stuff going on. We have a mouse and had to get an exterminator (we live by a nature reserve, everyone told us that we would end up with pests and would need quarterly exterminators- they were correct), the soap holder fell off the shower wall, exposing the backer board (it was attached with grout instead of actual adhesive and sealant), work is work, etc. The ol’ anxiety disorder has been having fun with me lately.

I’m out here trying my best. But my best is just not... feeling or looking like much recently. That’s okay, though. Wheel of Fortune, you know? There is always an ebb and flow to life. I’m hoping that soon, the wheel will turn, and things will be lighter.

#hidden's life

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blisslilywrites · 5 years ago

Note

Hi! Can I ask fluff about Kirisaki Daichi? Their girl doesn't sleep for several nights because of a school project. Please.

A/N: Hii, sorry this took so long 😅it was actually a little difficult to write too cuz we aren’t really familiar with the kirisaki daiichi boys BUT we tried so we hope you like it UwU

HANAMIYA MAKOTO

You stretched in your seat, letting a yawn escape you. 24 hours until the due date. You groaned as you looked at your laptop. This research project was a disaster and you knew it. But you’ve spent the last few nights working on it, so you couldn’t exactly give up now.

Your boyfriend had offered you some help when you first told him about the project.

“I just so happen to be an expert at [subject name]”

You refused though. You wanted to finish this project and prove to him you were good enough to do it on your own.

“Just let me help you y/n.”

“No, it’s fine,” you protested with a yawn. “I’m almost done anyway.”

“Yeah almost done being alive.”

You stifled a yawn and blinked at your computer screen before yawning yet again.

Hanamiya sighed. It was honestly cute to see you try so hard. It stopped being cute when you looked like you were going to collapse from exhaustion.

Deciding he wasn’t just gonna sit back anymore, he took a blanket from the bed and walked over to you.

“Mako-chan? What--” before you could finish, he wrapped the blanket around your body.

You protested but could slowly feel your body lean into the warmth and comfort of the blanket. Your eyes snapped shut and you drifted off as Hanamiya picked you up off the chair you were in and carried you to the bed. He gently set you down and gave you a soft smile, one he'd never admit to giving.

“Don't overwork yourself again, OK?” he mumbled, patting your hair.

HARA KAZUYA

As every second passed by, you felt somnolence slowly conquering you. You felt lifeless as you forced your eyes wide awake but your body tells otherwise. Beside you in your work station was Kazuya who had just finished the boss battle of a super mario video game, seeing your boyfriend in a carefree state made you feel envious, more stressed and insulted for an unknown reason. You wanted to cry, but your eyes were too tired to even comprehend your surroundings.

"Okay, 10 down. 15 more." You let out an exhausted sigh.

"Y/N," You heard Kazuya calling you, but you couldn't just get your attention off your work. You had been working for 8 hours straight, and Hara had called you many times but you just couldn't risk your time for a "meaningless" conversation.

You heard a sound of applause, knowing that your boyfriend had already defeated another boss level. With him who was finished with his game, went to your side.

"Y/N, you're already too tired. You should rest." He advised, yet you ignored.

"Heyyy, let's sleep first. It's bad for your health." You maintained your silence.

"Y/N, please." And for the last time you just wished he would shut up. You slammed your palm against the lumbers of your work station, turned to him with wobbly eyes and well, cracked.

"It's easy for you to say! Well, I wish I could also defeat the final level of this project. You were just playing there being carefree while me?! I just want to pass, that's all. So please Kazuya.. just.. just.." Your face shimmered with tears rolling down your cheeks. Your voice desired one thing: to get your project over with. You wiped your tears away with shaky hands whilst your tears kept on flowing.

Hara didn't reply. In fact, he turned and walked away then you heard the sound of a door being shut.

You ate your tears and enervation and continued to do your work.

Hara didn't do anything wrong. In fact, he never did.

Five minutes had passed and you barely progressed. But also within five minutes, Hara came back. He took a seat then placed it next to you with your work station. He brought your favorite food, his own laptop and a pillow neck.

"Y/N.. so I'm sorry for earlier.. I know you are stressed and all but your assignment would lose its point if you die. So please, tell me anything you need to do and I'll help."

FURUHASHI KOJIRO

You were sitting in bed next to your boyfriend. A pencil in hand, a notebook on your lap, and a pile of papers scattered around you. It wasn’t exactly your fault your teacher decided to make your week hell by giving you a nearly impossible assignment to complete by Friday. You were extremely annoyed and upset and angry and mad and tired and sleepy.

You shook your head in an attempt to drive the sleepiness away.

“Y/n. Why can’t you forget about your homework and go to sleep?”

“Koji, it’s not just some homework. It’s a quarterly project that’s not supposed to be this hard,” you groaned.

He gave you a small look. You knew what he was trying to say though. And you’re just gonna work yourself to the brink of death over some project?

“Look I need to pass this class ok? So just let me work on this for a few more hours.”

You weren’t sure if you could last a few more hours though. Your eyelids have been heavy all day, and you’ve been yawning non-stop.

Guess there’s no choice but to muscle through, you thought to yourself.

At that moment, you felt his arms wrap around your waist, softly pulling you towards him.

“Y/n”

“I told you just let me work on this for a bit more,” you protested, trying to sound angry.

“We both know you’re not gonna last, so do yourself a favor and get some rest for now. You can continue it in the morning.”

He pulled you closer.

You tried to find an excuse to stay up but your brain was beyond exhausted.

“Ok,” you replied softly.

With that, he wrapped his arms fully around you and hugged you tight to his chest. You fell asleep within minutes. Once he made sure you were asleep, he quietly cleaned up and organized all your work before climbing back into bed with you.

SETO KENTARO

Seto Kentaro always liked your intelligence and the stubbornness that came with it. However, he wasn't liking it very much now when he came over to your house in the morning to find you buried in a pile of papers and notebooks. You had bags under your eyes and a huge thermos of coffee beside you. In all honesty, he could only sit and stare at you in disbelief.

‘No, you did not just spend the entire night working on that stupid project,’ he thought to himself.

“Y/N?”

“Huh? Ken-chan?” you said in a soft voice. You could barely keep your eyes open. “What time is it?”

He let out a deep sigh.

“It's time for you to go to sleep babe.”

“But...I’m not yet done,” you protested weakly.

“Then I’ll finish it for you.”

“But--”

He lifted you up from the chair and carried a protesting-you over to the bed.

“But what? You already wrote out everything in your notebook right? I just have to type it up for you that’s all.”

He plopped you down and you looked at him with tired eyes.

“I won’t even change that terrible grammar of yours,” he added with a wink.

“Excuse me?”

“Look here, you’re extremely tired and I know how much your studies mean to you. So here I am telling you to shut up and go sleep while I help you finish it. Don’t look at me like that, I’m actually a really nice and helpful guy.”

You snickered. “Yeah right. Go tell that to the guys you play basketball against.”

“Are you gonna accept my help or not?” he said with a serious face.

You sighed in defeat, fatigue and exhaustion slowly taking over your body.

“Thank you Ken-chan,” you muttered, pulling the blanket over your body.

He let out a small smile.

“Goodnight y/n”

YAMAZAKI HIROSHI

You slapped yourself awake for the millionth time. It was well past midnight but you still had a lot to do. That essay wasn’t going to write itself and you weren’t resting until it was finished.

But I guess it's fine if I just close my eyes for one second…

SLAP. Nope I gotta finish this. Just a few paragraphs left.

You stared at your notes thoughtlessly and took another sip of coffee before starting to type. The bedroom door creaked open and you heard the soft footsteps of your boyfriend walking in.

“Still not done?”

You shook your head and continued typing.

What felt like an eternity had passed and you had finished about three-quarters of the paper.

“Y/n,” Yamazaki said in a soft voice.

You hadn’t really been paying much attention to your surroundings and was a little startled by him. You turned around to look at him and saw him holding out a metal flask towards you.

“Some more coffee.”

When he saw the confusion on your face, he added, “This one’s pretty strong. It should keep you up until morning.”

You took it from him with a small smile and quickly went back to work.

After a few more hours, you finally finished it, submitted it, and crawled into bed to get whatever little sleep you could before school started.

When you woke up you realized two things. First, your boyfriend had already left. Second, you were extremely late for school.

You quickly got ready and rushed to school.

In between one of your classes, you ran into Yamazaki in the hallway.

“Hiro-chan, thanks for that coffee last night, but you know, you didn’t have to stay up.”

“Don’t worry about it. I took that class last year so you could say I’ve been through it too...” You could tell he was trying his best to play it off cool. But instead of saying anything, you just gave him a big smile and a quick peck on the cheek before running off to your next class.

MATSUMOTO ITSUKI

The sun had already set when you and Matsumoto left the library. It had been one long afternoon of tedious researching, but now you were confident that you could finish the assignment by tomorrow.

“Y/N, it's getting a little late. Wanna grab something to eat before we go home?”

“Hmm sure,” you replied absentmindedly, too focused on the notes on your phone.

Once you two were finished eating and arrived home, you immediately went back to work putting your 100% into finishing this assignment.

About a few hours later, you realized you had left your bag with a lot of important information in the library. You started panicking slightly. There was still so much to do. You couldn't afford to waste time by going all the way back to the library.

Some things can't be helped I guess…

You quickly grabbed a coat and rushed to the front door. Before you reached it though, you felt a strong hand grab your arm.

“Woah y/n, where are you going?”

“The library. I left my bag there and I really need it…”

“Oh, well it's not safe for you to go alone. I'll go with you.”

“OK…” you said hesitantly.

“What? Is there something wrong?” he asked with concerned eyes.

“No, it's just that I still have a lot left to finish and I'm not sure if I can make it through tonight that's all,” you answered softly.

Truth is this assignment has drained you both physically and mentally. At this point, you weren't sure how much longer you would last.

Matsumoto suddenly engulfed you in a tight hug.

“Y/N, if you're feeling too stressed you can just go to sleep. I'll go talk to your teacher tomorrow. Maybe ask if you could submit it later instead.”

You smiled at his words. He really was too sweet. Knowing how much he cared kind of re-lit that drive to finish this project.

“It's fine Tsuki-chan. You don't have to do that for me. I'll finish it.”

He looked at you skeptically. “Then I'll go get your bag and you stay here and continue whatever part of the project you can. Is that OK?”

Your tired eyes met his and you gave him a small smile and a nod.

“Thank you, Tsuki-chan.”

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ruddcatha · 5 years ago

Text

Guardian Chapter 12

Thank you again to @heavenin–hell for your inspiration, I hope this story does your work justice.

posted on Ao3: Here

Posted on FFN: Here

Guardian has been Nominated for the Feudal Connection 2020 3rd Quarterly Inuyasha Fandom Awards! Thank you to all the supporters of this story!! Voting will begin on July 29 and run through August 12, 2020.

Nominated for: Best AU/AR

If you would like to be added to the tags please let me know!

@willowandfog @smmahamazing @clearwillow @sticky-llama-perfection @alannada @shinidamachu @cstormsinukagblog @superpixie42 @nartista @neutronstarchild @i-dream-of-soup @hnnwnchstr @fawn-eyed-girl @ all-my-cuffs-have-buttons @liz8080

Kagome quickly realized that the first months of training had been nothing but child’s play. The last few weeks were, quite frankly, kicking her ass, and kicking it hard.

Kagome was no longer learning pure defensive moves; she was being taught throws and holds and attacks… which usually meant she was the one getting tossed. She just… could not get it. She had never been very coordinated, and that was becoming a huge hinderance. Often, she would practice a move and trip over her own two feet. At least target practice had been going better, she was getting more consistent with a pistol, maybe she didn’t have perfect aim but at least the bullets were usually closer together than when she started.

But it was the training with Miroku that was really draining her. He was trying to train her to use spiritual energy that three months ago she hadn’t even known she had. And patience was not something she was entirely known for. Sesshomaru led the training sessions, demonstrating physical attacks to be practiced and drilled under Inuyasha. He had turned into an extremely strict task master, drilling yokai and humans alike

And then there was Inuyasha. Their first date had been special, magical. For the past three weeks he would do little things to make her feel special. He walked her to and from her from classes, often bringing her a Mocha Latte on her longer class days, hold her a little longer than was needed during training, or steal a kiss when he thought no one was looking. If she had to study for class, he would bring dinner over and sit with her in her room as she studied. She smiled, one evening she had turned to ask him a question and found him curled up on her bed, dead to the world asleep. The moment she had touched his shoulder to wake him up his arm had reached out to pull her close to him, his nose buried in her hair as he fell back into sleep. It was the first and so far, only night she had spent in his arms.

He was slowly driving her insane. He made her feel like she was the most precious object in the world to him yet backed away when things got too heated. He was content to hold her in his arms, to kiss her, but would go no further. A part of her appreciated the respect that it showed, the reverence, but at the same time…

Her boyfriend was fucking hot. And watching him on the training mat, demonstrating a hold, a throw, how to hold a sword… she wasn’t the only one who appreciated his form as she had seen more than a few admiring glances from some of the women… and a few of the men, who were with them for training. She had found out that this was one of seven training areas across Japan, and each facility could train up to 100 at a time.

Inuyasha and Sesshomaru had taken over leading the trainings as if they had been born for it, and in a way, she guessed they had been. They had certainly changed the focus of the trainings from what she had overheard others say, but it only made sense. Inuyasha, Toga and Sesshomaru were the ones most familiar with Ryukotsusei and his tactics, Koga had only gone against him a few times in the past.

Kagome was quickly learning the downside of having your boyfriend as one of your trainers. She couldn’t keep up with him. One moment his eyes were so heated on her that she felt her bones would melt, and the next he would snap out an order or a correction for the umpteenth time, and she would hear the obvious frustration in his voice. When a training session ended, and they were walking back to her apartment building he held her to him as if he wanted to protect her forever. In training though, when it didn’t go well, she couldn’t help but feel he was disappointed in her.

He never said anything, but she heard it in his tone, see the flash in his eyes that he would quickly ide.

That had been happening a lot in all her training sessions. She watched Kikyo excel in creating barriers and manifesting her spiritual powers into her hands, while Kagome could maybe, just maybe, get her skin to glow. Kikyo kept telling her she should not feel bad, Kikyo had been training ever since her spiritual powers had manifested and had been practicing for thirteen years, while Kagome’s had only appeared three months ago. Kagome heard the logic of that, but emotionally could not help feeling that she was disappointing her cousin and Miroku, who spent hours every week walking her through meditation and channeling just to watch her crumble.

Inuyasha watched Kagome going through the drills for the day’s session, they were working on how to roll the body out of a toss to reduce physical injuries. He had paired Kagome with Jaken, he knew they would both need to train with more advanced partners, but they needed to wait until they had mastered the moves. He winced and had to force himself to stay still and not run to Kagome every time she landed wrong, even though every muscle in his body was fighting to scoop her up and run from the room.

Kagome moved to toss Jaken, but her hand placement was wrong, instead of grabbing his arm and using her shoulder to force his momentum forward, she placed both hands on his chest, stopping his movement. Before she could try and correct it Jaken had used her own inertia against her and she went flying, landing flat on her back with a loud “oof.”

“ENOUGH.” He roared. He couldn’t watch any more. He didn’t want to indirectly be the cause of her pain and bruising, but he knew it was necessary.

He had been speaking with Sesshomaru and Toga, they had no clue when the actual fighting would begin, and that concerned him. But the thought that Kagome wouldn’t be ready, that she could be vulnerable? That fucking terrified him. He wasn’t sure when she had become so important to him, he had gone from wanting to spend time around her and get to know her to wanting to hold her in his arms and protect her from any possible danger, but he knew that he couldn’t.

The thought of her being hurt was bad enough, but the thought of her fucking dying? Of not being able to see her, smell her, hold her in his arms ever again? Kami, he had woken up in a cold sweat several nights at the thought. He closed his eyes, holding back a groan. He had seen the flash of hurt in her eyes when he had snapped before, but he could not coddle her, as much as he wanted to.

Toga stood at the edge of the training room next to Totosai and just watched his youngest son with a look of concern. Something was troubling him, and Toga had started to see signs of instability in his son’s yokai. That needed to be addressed sooner rather than later. He knew what was causing it, he had been the same when he met Izayoi.

Kagome was a puzzle to him. He had caught flashes of power from her, and if she had been able to break their seals she had to be very powerful, but it was untrained, and she did not know how to call it out. The brief flashes he had felt seemed… familiar… to him, he had felt that power for almost a thousand years, and if it was what he thought… no, he wouldn’t consider that without more than just an inkling of an idea.

Sesshomaru walked away from the floor to join Toga and Totosai.

“What do you think?” Toga asked.

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at his father. “I think if we had more yokai to train, it would be much better.”

Toga saw Inuyasha finally move towards Kagome, reaching out a hand to help her up from the floor. Inuyasha tugged a little longer than he knew he needed to, just enough to throw Kagome off balance towards him, and his arms quickly closed around her, holding her tightly to him. Kagome stiffened for a moment before wrapping her hands around his waist with a sigh, nuzzling her cheek against his chest.

Toga watched the exchange, a haunted expression in his eyes.

“Kagome.” Inuyasha’s voice had deepened as he held her, sending shivers down her spine. “I … I have something I need to show you something tonight.”

“Tonight?” He nodded slightly.

“It... it has to be tonight Kagome, just… just come meet me here just before sundown.”

Kagome was surprised, he seemed almost nervous. When she nodded, she watched his face visibly relax. She reached up to touch his cheek, a soft smile forming when he nuzzled her hand before placing a kiss into her palm.

She felt the tension that had formed around her heart ease a little.

“How about I cook dinner for us?” She asked. “You’ve been bringing dinner to me, how about I make you one of my favorite dishes?” He had left his glamor ring off that morning, and she giggled as his ears perked straight up and started twitching with excitement. Her hand left his cheek to slide up and stroke the soft fur of his ear. He twitched it away from her hand as he pulled her closer.

“Not here woman.” He growled against her hair.

And just like that, all was right in her world. At least for a moment.

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

Later that day Kagome stepped out of the elevator to Inuyasha’s level to find him pacing anxiously. As soon as he saw her, he darted forward to take the bags she carried from her and grabbed her hand.

“Inu?” His behavior was confusing her.

“Keh.” Was the only response as he pulled her away from the elevator and towards the kitchen area, he seemed anxious to get away from an open area and towards the living quarters. She could feel the tension growing around him as they moved, even in trainings she had never seen him quite so agitated.

“Inuyasha stop.” She pulled back on her hand, forcing him to turn and look at her. “What is going on?”

He sighed. “I wan… gah… well, you are about to see anyway but I wanted to… keh.”

He let go of her hand and pulled away, standing in front of her. He looked at the clock on the wall then looked her square in the eye.

“I don’t understand Inuyasha, what is…oh… oh my…” As she watched Inuyasha’s hair began to darken, first to gray then deepening into black. His eyes began to swirl, a blend of gold and deep purple and his puppy ears seemed to shrink as human ears appeared. His eyes never left hers as he stood before her completely human, a look of worry in his now purple eyes.

Kagome stepped closer to him, her hand reaching out to trace the lobe of one ear. Inuyasha stilled, as if waiting for … something. She ran her hand through his raven locks before standing on her toes to press a soft kiss to the underside of his chin. With a release of his breath he grabbed her against him with arm not carrying a bag, holding her to him in a crushing grip. She pulled back slightly and pushed back his banges.

“Want to tell me about this while I make dinner?” He let out a choked laugh before releasing his hold on her waist to capture her hand in his and lead her to the kitchen. He watched as she rinsed vegetables and set them on the counter. He watched as she chopped ginger and garlic before adding them to a pot on the stove. As she stirred the mixture, she gave him a pointed look, smiling as he dodged her gaze.

“Sooooo. Is this what you wanted to show me?” She teased.

“Keh.” His soft grunt was answer enough. He watched her pour a mixture of chicken broth, mirin, and soy sauce into the pot before she lowered the temperature.

“How about you chop these for me and tell me about it?” She handed him a bunch of scallions, showing him how she wanted him to chop them before handing him the knife and pushing the cutting board towards him. As he chopped, she took out another pan and began to cook pieces of chicken.

“Well, I’m a half yokai, half human. So, one night a month, on the night of the new moon like tonight, I lose all my yokai and turn into a human.”

“Why is that?” She asked as she flipped the chicken over. Even with his dulled senses the combination of the cooking broth and chicken smelled amazing. He walked up behind her at the stove and wrapped his arms around her waist as he rested his chin on her shoulder and watched her movements.

“You would have to ask dad on that, I’m not quite sure. I am pretty sure it was a shock to him and mom the first time it happened, I don’t really like my human night now, I can’t even imagine how bad it must have been when I was a baby.”

He reluctantly loosened his hold when Kagome pushed back with a shoulder before taking the skillet of the chicken off the stove to it to the oven that she had pre-heated before adding a container of dried mushrooms and added it to the broth.

When she stopped adding spices to the broth, he gently pulled her into his embrace again, holding her against his chest, her head tucked under his chin. He told her stories of his human nights growing up, playing hide and seek with his mother and the other children when there were no features to distinguish him. One hand absentmindedly caressed her back as he told her about the first time he had disobeyed his parents and snuck out of the village on the night of a new moon, his terror when he realized he couldn’t fight back against a yokai that had stalked him. His hold on her tightened as he told her how Toga and Sesshomaru had found him backed against a rock formation, a snake yokai about to strike and how his father had physically shielded him with his body as Sesshomaru had removed the head of the snake mid strike.

Inuyasha was pulled out of his thoughts by Kagome’s thumb stroking his cheek.

“You are ok Yash.” She whispered. “You are safe.”

He looked down at her, his eyes intense.

“But you aren’t.” His voice trembled as he said it.

Inuyasha abruptly loosened his embrace and stepped away from her, his hands running though his hair before he turned and stalked away and towards the fridge. Kagome watched as he pulled out a bottle of water and drank half of it, never turning back around. A sizzling sound behind her pulled her attention to the stove, and she quickly added blocks of dried noodles to the broth and pulled the chicken out of the oven to cool.

“Yash.” She said softly, waiting for him to turn to her before she continued. “Do you want to help me get the food together?”

Inuyasha let out a shuddering breath before he nodded and moved to join her. Soon they were seated next to each other at the counter with steaming bowls of homemade ramen. The scent of the dish was amazing, even to his human senses, and he could only imagine how much better it would be on any other night. He tentatively took the first bite but knew that no matter what it would be amazing because Kagome had made it for him.

The first bite made his mouth sing.

“This is quite possibly the best thing I have ever tasted in my life!” Kagome’s cheeks flushed with pleasure at his words and she nudged him with her leg softly.

Inuyasha felt like he was in food heaven. The flavor of the chicken had seeped into the noodles with a salty broth that made him want to lick the bowl clean. Kagome giggled at his obvious enjoyment of the dish. She brought him a second helping and watched with a smile as he devoured that as well.

When he realized his bowl was empty a second time he looked to the stove and realized that there was no more available, he released a slight whimper. Kagome leaned over to nuzzle his shoulder and slid the rest of her bowl to him.

“Here, have the rest of mine.”

Inuyasha reached out to place his hand over hers, but she continued to offer him the bowl. Her eyes turned puzzled as he grabbed a piece of chicken out of the bowl and held it out to her.

“Keh, did you think I hadn’t noticed that you didn’t eat much today Kagome?” He gave her a soft smile as she opened her mouth and accepted the food. He seemed to get as much enjoyment out of feeding her the ramen as he had eating it, and who was she to tell him no. She knew he was right; she hadn’t been eating much lately, but she hadn’t realized he had noticed.

Inuyasha helped her clean the kitchen and place the dishes in the dishwasher after they had finished. Well, helped wasn’t exactly accurate as he was more distracting than helpful Kagome found. He seemed to find every reason to touch her hand, to kiss her head, to nuzzle her cheek. She didn’t mind, not in the slightest, but it made it harder to focus on cleaning when all she wanted to do was kiss him. It was strange, he looked so different, but his actions were purely her Inuyasha. It was one more layer to the hanyou she was quickly beginning to…

She shook her head; it was way too early to think that. ‘Wasn’t it?’

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

Kagome looked at the limited selection of movies in the living room, noting that clearly Miroku had been lacking in providing decent entertainment options. They were usually at her and Sango’s apartment, so she hadn’t realized just how few options they had. She finally settled on Robin Hood Men in Tights, one of her favorite comedy films. When she went to sit on the couch Inuyasha promptly snuck his arms around her and cuddled her close.

“Inuyasha?” Kagome asked softly halfway through the movie. “Why did you want to meet here instead of at my apartment tonight?”

He leaned his cheek against her head and thought for a minute before answering.

“I’m vulnerable on these nights. After the snake yokai I never left our house on my human night. So now it’s… I guess you would call it a safety measure. I don’t heal on these nights until the sun comes back up, so I stay home and don’t let myself sleep until the sun comes back up.”

He leaned down to place a soft kiss on her lips.

“Other than dad and Sesshomaru, you are the only other to know about this.”

Her eyes went wide at the confession before filling with tears.

“Then… wh… why tell me?”

A single finger titled her face upwards towards his.

“You know why.” He said softly before he touched his lips to hers. He drew back and amethyst eyes met chocolate.

“Y..Yash.” she whispered as she raised her hand to his hair. She gently took a lock and pulled him back down towards her. His lips brushed hers softly once, twice. As he moved to place a third soft kiss, she captured his lower lip with her teeth and tugged it playfully. She giggled as she saw him raise an eyebrow in exacerbation as she waited for the smirk she knew was coming. She crinkled her nose at him before burrowing her face against his neck. His arms pulled her close as he lay back on the couch, Kagome tucked onto his chest above him.

“I... Wou…” She began, unsure how to ask. “Would you want me to keep you company tonight?”

He kissed her forehead as she looked up at him.

“I was hoping you would.”

Inuyasha held her close for the remainder of the night, as he told her stories of his childhood, pranks he had played on Sesshomaru, and how he felt when his mother passed. One of his hands stroked her hair as she snuggled against him, a loving smile teasing his lips as he watched her struggle to keep her eyes open. A quick glance at the clock told him there were still a few hours until dawn, she had surprised him, he had been positive she would have fallen asleep before then given how hard she had been training that day.

Kagome felt the comforting feeling of his hand on her hair luring her into sleep, she tried to fight it, but it was a losing battle. His arms felt like home, the sound of his voice, slightly softer than she was used to hearing, soothed her.

“It’s ok to sleep baby.” He whispered to her.

“Nnnn… I wanta stay up with you.” She murmured back. She could feel his chuckle before she heard it, and she shifted her head so she could hear his heartbeat.

“I get to hold you Kagome, that’s enough.”

She felt him place a series of kisses on her forehead as she drifted off. In the moment before she slid into slumber, she thought she heard a softly spoken vow.

“I promise I will protect you with my life.”

The smile on her lips faded as the world around her slipped away.

#inuyasha fanfiction #inuyasha #kagome #inukag #inukag fanfic #Guardian AU #inspired by Heavinin--hell #Ruddcatha #fcq32020 #fc nominations #feudalconnection

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inyournightmares97 · 5 years ago

Text

Ultimatum (Part 1)

Park Jinyoung is a master negotiator. He’s used to preying on people’s weaknesses and manipulating them to get his way. So he can’t understand you; a lawyer who sees the world in black and white, as either good or bad. Conflict is inevitable.

But if the two of you can just set aside your differences, perhaps you can perform miracles together

Word Count: 3.5k+

Warnings: Angst, office!au, enemies to lovers!au. Some language.

Part 1: In Which You Win

Part 2: In Which He Wins

Part 3: In Which the Common Enemy Appears

Part 4: In Which You Work Together

Part 5: In Which Nobody Wins (coming soon)

Part 6: In Which Everybody Wins (coming soon)

Midas, they called him in Sales. Because everything he touched turned to gold, and there wasn’t a single lead that Park Jinyoung couldn’t eventually convert into a paying client. He was relentless. His clever tongue worked with his cunning mind to spin even the most unfavorable situation into an attractive opportunity.

Jinyoung was a master negotiator.

He could convince anyone to do what he wanted them to.

Except you.

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

“He’s coming, he’s coming,” Yugyeom hissed urgently. “Wow, he looks maad.”

You didn’t look up from your laptop. There was no need. You could hear the ominous sound of Park Jinyoung’s expensive leather shoes walking towards the Legal Department’s corner of the office. The company had recently adopted an open floor concept, meaning there were no more cubicles or individual offices to hide behind. Just flat tables, couches and colorful beanbags.

The CEO thought the lack of walls and barriers encouraged collaboration and creativity. Really, it just made it easier for people to come and complain to you while you were busy.

A shadow fell over your table.

“Why did you reject the term sheet I submitted?”

You took a deep breath and looked up. Park Jinyoung was undeniably handsome. He had big, innocent brown eyes and kissable plump lips. His shoulders were broad and the buttons of his formal white shirt were slightly strained across his chest. Dark hair fell carelessly into his eyes.

He might have been attractive, if he hadn't been glaring at you like you had murdered his first-born son.

“I didn’t reject your term sheet,” you told him calmly before you turned back to your laptop. There was a meeting in half an hour and you didn’t have much time to prepare. Park Jinyoung always picked the worst time to throw a tantrum. “I made some edits and sent it back to you for approval. You can take your time to approve it and then we’ll draft the agreement accordingly.”

Park Jinyoung’s hand landed on your desk and he leaned forward. The scent of his cologne overwhelmed you.

“Well, I don’t approve. You’ve changed half the terms! It’s an entirely different contract from what I originally negotiated, the client is never going to sign it!” he insisted. His lips were pressed together and you could see his eyebrows furrowing.

“We only changed what was problematic, Mr. Park.”

“You changed most of it,” he corrected.

“Then it would appear that most of it was problematic. This is why we recommend that you have someone from Legal in the room with you when you negotiate with clients. That way, you won’t make promises that the company can’t legally afford to follow through with.”

Jinyoung scoffed. "Oh, I see. So now I'm a bad negotiator?"

God. Did you have to go through this every time Park Jinyoung negotiated a new deal? It was exasperating. He never did what you asked but somehow expected Legal to sign off on his outrageous terms. Just because he could sweet talk the client into paying incredibly large amounts for shitty products didn't mean that his exploitative agreements would hold up in a court of law.

"You're an excellent negotiator, Mr. Park, but we have to do our jobs. There's a reason the legal department is required to approve your term sheets before drafting the final agreement. We have to make sure the company isn't going to be facing any legal risks. In your case, the risks are enormous."

"You have no idea what you're doing."

You bristled. "Don't I?"

Jinyoung's grip tightened on your desk. "This is the biggest client and the largest deal of the year. Do you know how many other companies were bidding for this client? At least fifteen. It's a ten million dollar deal. I got them to accept our terms. Me."

"I know. The numbers were on the term sheet."

Jinyoung spoke through clenched teeth. "Then why can't you just approve it? Come on. Your job is a mere formality, just sign the bloody term sheet and hand it to one of the interns to draft the agreement!"

"I'll do that once you consent to the changes we made."

"The client won't consent to those changes."

"That's unfortunate," you replied calmly as you stood up and closed your laptop. Jinyoung glowered as he watched you slide it into your bag. "If you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to attend. If you want to discuss this further, you can email me and we'll set up a meeting."

"I will be emailing you," Jinyoung promised firmly. He straightened up and shot you a glare before he walked away. You couldn't help but smile as you watched him leave. Not just because you were relieved to be finally rid of him (for now), but also because he had a rather attractive backside.

It was almost worth the whole headache to be able to watch Park Jinyoung walk away.

"Are you done staring at his butt?" Yugyeom asked you cheekily. "You have a meeting to get to, remember?"

You rolled your eyes.

"Do you have all my files?

"Yup."

"Great. I'm off. And uh, do me a favour and block up my calander for the rest of the week with whatever stupid reasons you can think of. I don't want to be available to meet with Park Jinyoung until next Monday. Let him learn how much of a mere formality we are."

Yugyeom grinned. "Understandable."

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

"She's ruining the entire deal!" Jinyoung fumed.

Jackson Wang grunted. He'd had too much to drink the previous night. The entire Sales team had gone out to a bar to celebrate meeting their quarterly targets. Jackson now possessed a painful hangover.

"Uh… what?" he asked groggily.

"That witch from Legal!"

"Did she reject your term sheet?" Jackson asked knowingly.

"Worse! She sent it back to me with all the terms altered! Half the conditions are removed and it's an entirely different contract now! If everything has to be according to what Legal wants then why the fuck do I even bother negotiating with the client? How about Legal just hands me the standard contract and I can pass it on to the client and go- here, this is all my Legal team will allow, take it or leave it?"

Jackson hummed. "That would make our jobs easier."

"I spent months negotiating this deal," Jinyoung complained as he paced up and down the corridor. He ran his fingers through his dark hair in frustration. "It took fourteen meetings with the client reps to convince them to give it to us. And what does that witch do? Types on her laptop with her dainty little nails for five whole minutes and destroys my skillfully negotiated term sheet!"

"Hey, how about some coffee-"

"I don't need coffee! I need my term sheet approved by Legal!"

Jackson raised an eyebrow. "O-kay. But you know, what I usually do is that I take Yugyeom or someone else from Legal with me while I'm negotiating the term sheet with the client so I don't have to-"

“You know what her problem is? She’s deluded herself into thinking that the Legal team is somehow important. It’s not. It doesn’t matter what fancy school she came from or what fancy law firms she worked at before this. Sales is what keeps this company running and she should just be grateful for her nice, comfy 9 to 5 job where she has to do nothing except sign off on agreements that other people spent time and effort negotiating!” Jinyoung ranted.

Jackson yawned. “Are you sure you don’t want coffee? Because I was about to send the intern to go get us some coffee. Hey! Hana! Come over here!”

Hana, who had been sitting a few trendy armchairs away and pretending to look busy, jerked her head up and hurried over. She was a cute young college student- perhaps too shy and hesitant to last long interning with a Sales team full of loud and confident men, but her resilience was admirable.

“Yes, Jackson?” she asked hopefully.

“You look exhausted. Why don’t you take a break and get yourself some coffee? Here, take the company card,” Jackson said generously, pulling out his wallet and offering her the company card. “Get yourself a piece of cake too.”

Hana blinked at the card and then looked at Jackson again. “Uh… thanks. Do you want anything?”

Jackson’s smile widened. “Well since you asked, I wouldn’t mind an Americano. Jinyoung will have a latte, with extra cream since he’s had a rough morning.”

“Okay.”

Jinyoung watched out of the corner of his eye as Hana’s shoulders slumped. It had only been a couple of weeks since the younger girl had started her internship with their department, but she’d done little more than file documents and get Jackson coffee. She was often ignored among the hectic schedules and loud voices of the Sales team.

“Hana!” Jinyoung called out.

“Yes?” she asked hopefully.

“I’m going to have a meeting with Legal about my term sheet soon. Go through the original term sheet and also the edited version Legal sent us once you’re back, I want you to attend the meeting and keep yourself updated with the situation. Maybe you’ll learn a thing or two about red tapism.”

Hana’s eyes brightened. This was the first interesting thing she’d been asked to do all week. “Okay!”

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

Yugyeom shuffled over and cleared his throat.

“Um. You… you have a meeting with Jinyoung at 7pm today,” he told you reluctantly.

Your eyes turned towards him sharply. “What? Yugyeom, I told you not to give him any space to squeeze in until Monday!”

“He sent the intern,” Yugyeom mumbled with a pout.

“The intern?”

“Hana, the intern from Sales. He sent her to ask me to set up a meeting.”

Unbelievable. You resisted the urge to pick up the nearest book and whack Yugyeom’s pouting face with it. How could he be so easily manipulated? Of course Jinyoung would send the pretty young intern from Sales to squeeze a meeting out of Yugyeom while you weren’t around. You groaned and slumped back into your chair.

“Great. Well, since you decided to arrange a meeting that I explicitly told you not to, you can stay back late with me to prepare and attend it,” you replied. You were a kind, but unforgiving boss. “Print out the term sheet and make a note of all the changes we made. I want detailed reasoning behind every edit. Park Jinyoung won’t extract so much as an unnecessary comma out of me.”

“But that’ll take forever!” Yugyeom whined. “We made so many changes!”

You frowned. “That’s why I told you to hold him off until Monday.”

“Sorry,” he muttered.

Yugyeom shuffled away to prepare for the meeting while you leaned back in your chair and sighed. It had been a long day. The company was undergoing a major restructuring, which meant that there were a lot of legal compliances to handle in addition to your ordinary work. You had been hoping to go home early today and take a nice, long shower.

Damn you, Park Jinyoung.

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

“She’s as stubborn as a mule,” Jinyoung explained to Hana as they walked towards the meeting room. The young intern struggled to keep up with Jinyoung’s long strides while paying attention to what he was saying at the same time. “It’s like talking to a brick wall. She doesn’t listen. She just reads out the rules and insists we follow them to a T. People like her lack compassion. They lack empathy.”

Hana blinked, surprised. But you had seemed nice whenever she saw you. You’d even approached her personally on her first day and helped her understand the employee code of conduct and the procedure to follow in case she faced any harassment or discrimination at work.

“O-Oh.”

Jinyoung kept talking. “You need to learn how to negotiate with people like her. They’re the hardest because they enter the room, determined to get their way no matter what.”

“Don’t you do that as well?” she asked.

What? No. I’m different. I get my way through compromise and collaboration. I suggest creative ideas that work for everyone. That’s how you negotiate a deal. She’s not like that. She doesn’t give a damn what the other person wants or does because she sees everything in black and white. Right and wrong. She issues ultimatums. A good negotiator never issues ultimatums. Repeat after me.”

“A good negotiator never issues ultimatums,” Hana said obediently.

“Good. You’re learning already. Now. What’s our bottom line?” Jinyoung demanded.

“Bottom line?”

“You never enter a negotiation without a bottom line. The bottom line is the worst result that you are willing to accept. If you can’t get the other party to agree to your bottom line, then you walk away from the negotiation immediately. It’s a safety net you set for yourself from clever people who might convince you to giving up more than you should.”

Hana bit her lip. “Bottom line. Right. Um, I guess maybe getting Legal to agree not to change the sub-licensing terms?”

“That’s a good start.”

“But how are you going to manage this? I read the email Legal sent and if she’s really as stubborn as you say then she’s not going to agree to budge on a single one of the terms. Their reasoning is sound.”

Jinyoung smirked. “Reasoning? We don’t need reasoning. There’s only one way to handle people as stubborn as her.”

“How’s that?”

“Persistence. You wear them out.”

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

The sound of Jinyoung’s annoying voice drifted into your ears, but all your exhausted mind could do was vividly visualize his head exploding. How satisfying would that be? To see his pretty face go poof and his blood and brains and innards coat the walls of the meeting room?

It gave you a dark, morbid pleasure.

“Why are you smiling?” Yugyeom whispered from beside you.

"I'm not," you muttered before turning to focus on Jinyoung's monologue again. The poor intern he had brought to the meeting looked miserable, her head was drooping onto the table. But Jinyoung was still going full steam. You forced yourself to wipe the image of his scattered and bloody brains out of your mind and focused on his words.

"-sub-licensing term was the only competitive advantage I had over the other players so I can't go back and tell them that it's off the table now. How would I look? It would damage the image of the company and question our professionalism!" Jinyoung insisted.

You sighed and repeated the same thing you'd been repeating for the past two hours. You were starting to sound like a broken record.

"Offering sub-licensing rights is against company policy."

Jinyoung gave you a dirty look. "So? Is company policy the word of God? It’s not even law. Can't it be changed for a deal as enormous as this one?"

"That's not in my hands."

Jinyoung leaned forward and placed his hands on the table. His dark eyes were suddenly pleading. "Come on. You know that if you refuse to approve this then I'll have to escalate it to Senior Management for approval and that could take weeks. The client wants to sign the agreement next Wednesday. All I need is for you to sign this one document and all our problems go away."

You were too tired to maintain your composure and your patience snapped. "Our problems? Let's be clear, Jinyoung. This is entirely your problem. You offered the client a term that nobody in their right mind would offer."

"I needed to-"

"No, you didn't. You did it because it was the only way you could win the negotiation. I thought the skill of a good negotiator lay getting the client to agree to our terms? Even I could have secured that contract by offering them a sub-licensing term because nobody else does that. It’s something only an imbecile would do and you agreed to do it."

Jinyoung's eyes darkened. "Oh, we're getting personal now?"

"You called our job a mere formality," you reminded him, while Yugyeom nodded furiously to support you. "There are a range of reasons why the company does not offer sub-licensing rights to our clients under non-exclusive licensing agreements, and I shouldn't have to explain them to you because it's all laid out in our business policy. You would know that better than I do, being a direct part of our business and not a mere formality like me."

Jinyoung rolled his eyes. "Really? You're going to get snarky? This is a professional environment."

"Yes and it's 10 pm," you replied, slamming your file shut. You were done. "Mr. Park, this meeting has been going on for three hours and we've made no progress. Yugyeom and I are going to get some dinner and go home. You have my edits in hard copy and on email. Once you sign off on them, we'll have the agreement drafted for you and your client to sign."

Jinyoung glowered. "But we haven't-"

"It's the edited term sheet or nothing, Jinyoung. Take it or leave it. This is what I believe negotiators refer to as an ultimatum," you replied firmly.

Jinyoung's lips pressed together and he folded his arms across his chest. The expression in his dark eyes was dangerous.

"Never issue an ultimatum unless you're prepared to face the consequences."

"What consequences? You getting chewed out by the client?" you chuckled as you stuffed your file into your bag and stood up. "I won't be losing a wink of sleep over that. Good luck explaining it to them."

"I can't believe-"

"Hana? Would you like to join us for dinner? We're going to get some pizza," you offered her kindly. The sleepy intern perked up, but her face fell instantly when she noticed the warning glare Jinyoung shot her.

"Uhh, maybe another time, ma'am…"

"Suit yourself. Good night, Mr. Park."

Jinyoung ignored you, and you gestured for Yugyeom to follow you out of the office room. He hurried after you into the corridor nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Mr. Park doesn't look happy. I don't think he's going to let this one go. What could his next move be?" Yugyeom wondered.

You sighed.

"I don't know. But he has all weekend to plan it so let's not get too comfortable."

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

Jinyoung's blood boiled whenever he thought of you.

He had never met a woman like you before. You behaved like a strict school-teacher, lording over everyone with the almighty company policy in your hand as if it was some divine teaching and refusing to let anyone toe the line around it. It was just a stupid policy. Jinyoung had never let a document get in his way. Jinyoung had never let a woman get in his way.

Jinyoung had never let anything get in his way.

“So, um… what do we do now?” Hana asked doubtfully. She had seen Park Jinyoung in action before and had watched him negotiate like a wizard. She knew he was an excellent salesperson. But you had played the role of a brick wall during the meeting by refusing to consider any of the options put forward to you. “We didn’t get our bottom line. She refused to accept the sub-licensing terms. What’s the next step?”

Jinyoung bit his lip as he leaned back in his chair. “Do you know what a BATNA is, Hana?”

Hana blinked. “BATNA?”

“It’s an acronym. Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement. If the negotiation fails, what’s our next best choice? Go on. Give it a shot.”

“Uh….” Hana hurried to reach for a copy of the company policies and quickly flipped towards the section which talked about the mechanism for escalating disputes. “I guess according to company policy, we should escalate the issue to senior management-”

Jinyoung let out an irritated huff and closed his eyes. “Hana.”

“Yes, sir?”

“Don’t ever open that company policy book in my presence. In fact, burn it so I never have to see it again. The stupid thing reminds me of that witch,” he snapped. Jinyoung opened his eyes and stared at Hana firmly. “You’re not in the Legal Department. You don’t need the rulebook. You’re with Sales now. Here in Sales, you need to do anything necessary under the sun to secure the deal. So try again, without opening the rulebook this time. What is the best alternative we have to a negotiation?”

Hana shook her head. “I-I don’t know.”

Jinyoung sighed. “Blackmail, Hana. Our next best alternative is blackmail.”

“Uh…”

“I know what you’re thinking. What could that witch have possibly done wrong in her life, could she even have a single black mark on her spotless record?”

“Does she?”

“Of course not. She’s like a teacher’s pet. She derives her iron-clad confidence from the fact that she always follows the rules. You won’t find anything on her no matter how deep you dig. But you know who isn’t that strong and who has done something worth blackmailing?”

Hana blinked. “Who?”

Jinyoung smirked.

“Kim. Yugyeom.”

#got7 #got7 scenarios #got7 scenario #got7 jinyoung #jinyoung scenarios #jinyoung scenario #jinyoung angst #jinyoung fluff #got7 angst #got7 fluff #got7 fanfic #got7 fanfiction #park jinyoung #got7 series #jinyoung series

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kassies-take · 5 years ago

Text

Thorul Over Luthor (Part 4)

A/n: Meeting Superfriends should’ve been under better circumstances.

Warning: Quarterly Assassination Attempt, Casualties

Lena Luthor x StepSister!Reader, Supercorp, Sanvers

Word Count: 1620

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4

Lena didn’t feel the need to put you back in school, you were pretty smart to know what was going around in the labs. Lena was impressed and offered you a job but you declined just wanting to stay with Lena.

In a sense you became her assistant. The two of you finished the daily station check-ins, something Lena developed to get to know her employees. It was an hour before lunch, with no paper work or urgent meetings and Lena wanted to practice her magic.

Lena was already in her office while you and Eve were scheduling her schedule to make it less stressful. You took the initiative to help Lena with her paper work, hence the extra hour for Lena to practice magic.

“Hey (Y/n/n), can you go to my personal lab and get the Acrata book?”

You smiled and signed towards Eve, ‘You’ve got the rest of the schedule?’

“I’ve been doing this before you were here, remember?” Eve laughed.

‘Right.’

You had grabbed Lena’s Acrata book and was heading back upstairs when a violent shake shook the building. Alarms were going off as employees rushed towards exits. You didn’t have time to check on Lena as someone told you the meaning of the alarms and led you towards the exit.

Apparently after several assassination attempts Lena had installed a system, in which would allow everyone in the building to evacuate. You stood outside the main entrance, you peeked over scared employees to get any sign of Lena. When you didn’t see Lena, you made a choice to run back into the building.

Security had seen you try to run back in and stopped you. You slightly panicked. You couldn’t lose Lena after everyone you loved has left you. She was your sister and she was your savior, you don’t even think you would’ve survived without Lena.

You looked back and forth between the security guards before you ran in unnoticed. You climbed the stairs towards Lena’s office.

There were more goons on her floor than you thought, you could easily intercept their body and get to Lena, but that left your body vulnerable. You took a deep breath ready to run through the floor when you heard a gun click beside you.

You closed your eyes and slowly turned towards the hitman and opened your eyes to intercept him. You held your own lifeless body in a choke hold and dragged yourself towards the office to get through the floor.

Lena had a shield to protect herself as other hitmen were shooting at Lena, with her golden eyes.

“Stop wasting your ammo on the Luthor. I have the leverage, her sister is more valuable to us if we want her to agree to our plans.” You said and hoped for the best.

The three men stopped firing as Lena dropped the shield. “Don’t you dare hurt her!” Lena’s eyes glowed as the windows shattered from Lena’s radiating anger.

Still in the man’s body you shot the three men in the head before you returned into your body, twisted the man’s arm, the one around your neck, took his gun and shot him in the head as well. You turned to Lena with a smile, when you felt a projectile enter your body.

Lena’s scream was inaudible as she caught your body before you fell, murder in her eyes at the agent bearing the D.E.O badge. Lena’s eye glowed before she stretch out her arm as he hit a wall. Alex rushed to the front lines as Supergirl sped in.

The agent who shot you wasn’t unconscious and Lena stalked towards him as her jaw clenched. She grabbed his collar before she punched him in the face. Kara pulled Lena away as she continued to scream at the agent yelling he had shot the wrong person.

Alex went over to you to place pressure on the wound, when she noticed you move you hands.

“Hey,” she kneeled beside you. “You’re okay now, we’re going to help you. Just stay awake for me, you can do that right.”

You nodded.

“Supergirl, she’s still alive. Get her to the D.E.O now!”

Kara hesitated. She gave Lena a reassuring smile and a light squeeze on her arm before scooping you into her arms and flew to the D.E.O.

“Are they all down?” Alex asked her team.

She received a mix of yes and confirmative.

“Round them up and bring them to the D.E.O. Lena your friend will be okay.”

“She’s my sister Director Danvers. Can you bring me there?” Alex nodded and guided Lena into a D.E.O van.

The van had closed its doors for Lena as Alex prepared to get in the passenger seat.

“Agent Jensen!” She called. “What has prompt you to shoot? Was there any indication that made you shoot?”

Jensen stay quiet.

“Was there any indication that made you shoot?” Alex asked again.

“No ma’am.”

“So you shot a civilian,” Alex huffed. “I will decide your punishment later.”

Lena refused to answer any questions, from the D.E.O and as Kara’s bestfriend, until she knew you were okay. She continued to pace just outside of the MedBay, with her eyes flickering gold. The CEO could hear the slight mutters of D.E.O agents who gossiped about her and her sister, hearing things like I bet she kidnapped the girl, she probably shot the girl herself, she’s probably like her brother. None of those things mattered anymore as all she worried about was you.

“Director Danvers, she is awake now.” Dr. Hamilton called as Lena immediately rushed in.

“Lena! Lena, I know you are worried but you have to let me finish with protocol.” Alex placed her hand on the woman’s shoulders before she stood over you. “Do you know your name?”

You nodded.

“Can you tell me?”

You raised your hands and signed your name.

“Do you know what year it is?”

You slowly showed the numbers on your hand.

‘I am Director Alex Danvers, you were shot. Do you remember anything?’ Alex signed as your eyes lit up.

‘I am Lena’s sister. I was grabbing something for her in her lab when the alarms went off. I was already outside, when I didn’t know where Lena was I ran back into her office. Where am I?’

‘You are in the D.E.O. Department of Extra-normal Operations. You are safe here. What happened after you ran in?’

You looked past Alex to partially intercept Lena to communicate with her. ‘She is asking what happened, should I tell her about my interception?’ Lena thought for a moment before she nodded.

‘Her floor was filled with men and I was about to run in when I heard a gun click behind me. I have the power to intercept people and I intercepted some goon to hold me hostage so I could get to Lena. They stopped firing when I said I have leverage, then I shot the men, went back to my own body and shot the other guy, then I got shot.’

‘I’ll let you rest alright.’

You smiled as Alex turned towards Lena to allow her to see you. “She’s brave I’ll give you that.”

“She was reckless and almost got herself killed,” Lena argued while she walked towards you.

‘Are you okay?’ You signed as Lena scoffed.

“You’re the one who got shot and you’re asking if I’m okay? Definitely not a Luthor.”

You stayed in the D.E.O for a couple of nights, Lena by your side of course. You were well enough to show Alex and Supergirl your powers and Alex wanted to recruit you as your interception powers would be useful. Lena however denied.

You have gotten to know Alex and Kara a lot more as you spent your time at the D.E.O and you even got your official game night invitation the week you were discharged.

Alex scolded Kara when she hugged you to hard as your face became pale. Kara had released you only to grab you wrist and introduce you to Superfriends.

‘What do you see in her?’ You asked Lena as she choked on the wine she drank.

Winn was excited to finally meet you, as he got kicked out during your intercept demonstration. He had a lot of questions, none you could really answer, even if you still had your voice. You ran into James a couple of times when the D.E.O needed Guardian’s help. He helped you get away from Winn so you could actually breathe. Nia and you instantly became friends, despite the language barrier at first. You both looked up to strong, powerful woman, and you both had similar struggles of individuality.

You took an immediate liking to Maggie. Something about her dimples made her easier to communicate with, it maybe had something to do with the fact the she was trained to read into a situation and act cautiously and care. You were amazed by the fact that J’onn was a Martian. The perks about having a mind reading space dad was that he could communicate without you lifting a finger. He was the first one, besides Lena, to figure out your communication skills. On accident of course, you got excited during a game night and J’onn stared at you with a confused but proud smile.

National City started to look up for you. Not only was your relationship with Lena stronger, you made new long lasting friends. There were minor instances when your back would give up due to the gunshot wound, and when that would happen Superfriends would turn into Superfam.

#lena luthor x reader #lena luthor #lena luthor x sister! reader #lena luthor imagines #lena luthor imagine #supergirl x reader #supergirl imagine #supergirl imagines #supercorp #sanvers

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thebiasrekkers · 5 years ago

Note

Jungkook- #62 😉

Genre: roommate!au

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: innuendo

A/N: For @yourmoonchild1023 Here is the answer to your request! I hope you enjoy it! - Admin T

#62 Jungkook “If you can’t sleep…we could have sex?“

——

It was the same nightmares all over again. You were out in the open, exposed, and alone. The fear of vulnerability loomed like a tidal wave over your existence. You could never move away as it rushed and crashed upon you. So for the last few nights, you’d wake up, slapping your hands over your mouth to mute your screams.

Sweating, panting, with your heart kicking a beat against your ribcage. You fought to keep quiet because the last thing you wanted? Was your roommate, and BFF, to hear you losing your shit on a nightly basis.

Jungkook had been your roommate for about five years now. You guys had the perfect arrangement. You didn’t bring ‘conquests’ home, both of you loved video games, and eating. He often paid rent in quarterly lumps. Actually, it was to the point where sometimes - you didn’t need to? You managed to handle the utility bills leaving you with healthy savings.

That financial stability made you pleasant - and you decided to learn more than the basics about your roomie. He had an excellent job, but his hobbies involved music. You’d hear him singing in the shower in the early morning hours. What is he doing in your apartment with a voice like that?! Some days he’d sing something light-hearted, almost goofy, and you couldn’t help but giggle.

But, over the years, as he’s matured? His songs have as well. You noticed the change in his vocal tone. How he utilized his lower register. Matter of fact? The first time you heard him singing in that lower register? You had to make sure it was him.

And that was the first of many mishaps.

You thought someone had snuck into your apartment - so you walked in Jungkook.

…in mid-song.

Naked.

There was a moment where you got more than an eyeful of each other. Because you thought the tank-top and boy-short matching set, plus a baseball bat, would be enough to protect you.

"O-oh, god! I’m so sorry!” You shrieked as his face turned three shades of red as you closed the door.

That was as close to naked as he’s ever seen you since becoming your roommate. It was too much for him to handle as he shifted his shower to cold. He shuddered, fighting the blood, trying to stir the partial erection he already had. It took you two weeks before you could look at each other in the eye. It took you both another three weeks to dump your visual spank banks. Every time Jungkook showered and sang, you ruined another pair of panties. You’d given up on them by second post bust in. That’s because that voice had infiltrated your dreams, and that crushing anxiety that lingered in your brain was held at bay. That night you woke up in a quiet, cold sweat. The thought of his hands running against your skin, your fingers playing along the ripples of his abs had you leaving wet spots on your sheets. Strangely enough, his voice helped you to sleep.

So much so, that you’ve made a habit of going to sleep when he gets in from work. The one night he doesn’t come home on time, you fall asleep on the couch. The same creeping nightmare catches you off-guard. You wake up screaming while Jungkook holds your trembling form against his.

Jungkook rarely was late, but some last-minute issues kept him at the office late. He could have kicked himself for not messaging you. When he got home in the early morning hours to see you asleep on the couch? He did everything to not disturb you. He was well aware of your night terrors. He could, at least, tell that the intensity had died down over the years.

He remembered the very first time he heard you screaming in the middle of the night. He knocked furiously at your bedroom door before barging in. You looked so small covered in sweat, your eyes wide and unseeing. He waved a hand in front of your face, scared to touch your body as it began to regulate. He watched you shake your head, blink rapidly, and become mortified over the state he found you in. He insisted on helping you get cleaned up. He changed your bedding while you showered. He made you a calming tea, and you chatted until you couldn’t keep your eyes open. He watched you fall into a gentle slumber, hanging around enough to make sure you didn’t stir.

It happened a few more times, him coming to your rescue, regardless of your embarrassment. And he’d sit at your bedside, each time, making sure you fell asleep. Then you were less disturbed by his assistance, but it didn’t stop you from trying to calm your noises.

And now? The sound of his heartbeat against your ears is a soothing melody that helps you wake up completely. You felt the point of his chin atop your head as you realized you were curled into the shadow of his body.

“W-what happened?” You murmured quietly. There was a quiet, deep, inhale that made his chest puff against your ear. “I came home late. You fell asleep on the couch.” That said, more than needed explaining. You frown softly, taking advantage of this sudden closeness.

“You didn’t have to do this.” Your voice sounded smaller than you wanted it to.

Your gaze meets his, and that disappointed tilt to his mouth. “Why wouldn’t I?” A brow ticked upward as he questioned you.

“I feel like I’m a burden. I mean, we’re only roomm-..” You didn’t finish your sentence.

His lips grazed yours, stopping all brain function momentarily. Your eyes were wide as you gasped, giving him an opening. The tip of his tongue traced your lips as your hands crumpled the fabric of his shirt.

You pushed - he pulled. His tongue prodded deeper, causing you to moan. Your mind spun on the implications of this kiss - and then he broke it.

You could swear your heart was beating in time as he nuzzled his face against yours.

He made a satisfied sound low in his throat. “I’ve been wanting to do that for a while now.” The sound of his laugh sliding over your skin, giving you goosebumps.

“Why didn’t you?” You spoke in an airy whisper. “I’d probably have the best sleep of my life.” You pouted playfully.

He chuckled, that dark gaze lowering to your own. “You know? If you can’t sleep - We can always have sex?”

He bit into his bottom lip, and your gut twisted.

#bangtanarmynet #mknlinenet #ficwithluv #btsbookclub #btswriterscollective #biasrekkers requests #100 follower special #BTS jungkook #jungkook fanfic

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artemisegeria · 5 years ago

Text

The Picture of the Mind Revives Again (Chapter 4/?)

Title: The Picture of the Mind Revives Again (4/?)

Rating: T

Word count: 1832

Warnings: None

Summary: Sequel to “A Formula, A Phrase Remains.” Title is from “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” by William Wordsworth.

Vision has gone missing after Shuri, Bruce, and Helen revived him. Now they must tell Wanda what they did without her knowledge.

Chapter Summary: Wanda spends some more time with the assembled Avengers and allies and receives an intriguing new offer.

A/N: After I posted the last chapter, I was reviewing what I already have written for this story going forward. It made me excited to get to those parts, so here’s another chapter. I hope you enjoy.

“Pay attention, Maximoff.”

“Be careful what you wish for, Wilson.”

Wanda reset her stance while she squared off against Sam. True hand to hand combat, no weapons of any kind. The other Avengers formed a ring around them, hurling cheers and playful insults. She and Sam were the last two standing in this round of sparring during the quarterly full meeting. They did have an advantage because they trained more frequently than some of the others, but Wanda still crowed at getting to the finals.

But that sense of victory was a danger. She had accidentally let herself think that she wished Vision could be here to see this. Such thoughts always sent her down a dangerous path of distraction. They had barely been in contact for the last few weeks. The only messages she had sent him were Shuri’s technical blueprints for the solar jewel and the other enhancements that they had given him and a note that he now had access to his bank account again. There were countless other things she wanted to tell him, but she was trying to honor his request for space.

Sam’s second reminder was less gentle. A sharp blow landed against her side. Wanda felt her eyes flash scarlet briefly. She reset her stance, hands raised in a defensive position as they circled each other.

When she saw an opening, she aimed a kick at Sam’s own side. He dodged out of the way, but left himself unbalanced. He opened his arms to try to remain upright. Wanda pressed her advantage, aiming a blow at his now unprotected stomach. Sam avoided that one as well, but it was enough to tip him over.

He returned to his feet before Wanda could pounce. But she knew she almost had him. He threw a desperate bunch that she blocked easily. They went a few more rounds before Wanda saw a chance to use one of her favorite moves. She used Sam’s greater mass against him as she swept a kick against the back of his legs, causing him to topple over. Wanda held him down for the count. He finally tapped out, and everyone cheered or groaned, depending on whether they had won or lost the bets going around.

“You’ve definitely been practicing in secret, Red.” It was the truth, but she wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of admitting that. She merely shrugged and gave him a hand up.

All the combatants hit the showers before reconvening for dinner. Tonight they broke up into many small tables. She was sitting with Bucky, Valkyrie, and Mantis. They had all found a certain kinship during the year and a half since the final battle against Thanos. But tonight they set aside their shared histories to laugh and joke. There was still pain behind their smiles, but it was to take a break from all their grief with people who understood.

As usual the evening ended with music and dancing, instigated by Quill, Carol, and Thor. Wanda found herself enjoying the night more than she expected, the great weight of Vision’s death lifted from her shoulder. She hoped that, wherever he was, he was having as much fun as she was.

***

Wanda practiced her meditation in one of the training rooms, levitating in cross-legged position, surrounded by candles to set the mood. She was so lost in her breathing that she did not realize anyone else had come in until she opened her eyes, face to face with Stephen.

“Hello, Wanda, sorry to intrude, but business has called me away. Before I left, there was something that I intended to discuss with you. May we talk?”

“Sure, Stephen.” She drew herself to a standing position and put out the candles, using her powers to flip the light switch. Stephen watched her intensely; it made her want to fidget. He summoned some chairs. Wanda had to admit, if only to herself, that she was envious of the effortless way he conjured things. “What did you want to talk about?”

“I had wondered if you’ve given anymore thought to my offer to teach you the mystic arts. I thought that perhaps with your recent good news, you might be willing to consider it.”

“I don’t know. Avenging is a full-time job.”

“I realize that, but the two are not mutually exclusive. You could be a powerful ally against cosmic and mystical threats. I believe we could work well together.”

Wanda bit her lip. “I’ll think about it.”

“Very well. I will be out of reach for a few days, but you can leave a message with the Sanctum if you decide to accept.”

“Fine. Good luck.” With a final decisive nod, Stephen activated a sling ring and was gone.

Wanda remained alone in the room, thinking about what she would do next.

***

Wanda stood at the front of the training room counting out reps as Peter, Shuri, Cassie, and Amadeus did push-ups. All of the adult Avengers insisted that the teens keep up their conditioning regimen. Wanda was impressed by their tenacity. Her counting faltered a bit when her eye fell on Shuri. Things were still a bit awkward between them since Wanda learned of her deception. She was grateful for all the work she did to bring Vision back, but she should have been honest.

Wanda shook her head to bring herself back to the present. Moving on to the next exercise, she ordered them to partner up. As the sweat poured off of them, she grinned to herself, taking a sip from her water bottle. There were advantages to being in charge.

At the end of the workout, Wanda congratulated them on a job well done and gave them the rest of the day off. She was surprised when Shuri approached. “Wanda, can we talk later?”

“Of course, Shuri. I’ll be in the library. You can join me when you’re ready.”

Sometime later, Wanda sat with a book open in her lap, but not really seeing the page. Shuri knocked and entered. Wanda patted the chair beside her. “What did you want to talk about, Shuri?”

“I wondered if you had heard from Vision.”

“No, I sent him your plans for the stone, but he has not contacted me since.”

“I hope he knows he can contact me as well if he has any problems.”

“I passed your message along to him as well. I just have to believe that no news is good news.”

Shuri nodded. She made as if to rise, and Wanda prepared to say goodbye, but then the girl faced her more directly. “And I wished to apologize again. I was wrong to keep our efforts from you for so long.”

Wanda willed herself not to cry. It had occurred to her many times that maybe she could have revived Vision sooner if she had helped Shuri, Bruce, and Helen, that maybe he would have stayed if she had been there when he woke up. “Thank you, Shuri.”

“I told myself that I was sparing your feelings in case we failed, but I think the true reason is that I feared having the extra pressure. I am sorry.”

Wanda was so used to Shuri being in control and confident in her intellect that she didn’t know what to do with her obvious guilt. So she leaned over and embraced her. “I fully accept your apology, Shuri. I’m sure Vision is fine. He knows how to get in touch with us if he needs anything. He’ll come back when he’s ready.”

When they separated, Wanda was glad to see Shuri calmer and smiling again. She guessed that she had made the right move. “Thank you for letting me get that off my chest.”

“Of course.”

“See you later tonight. Peter, Ned, and I are building the new Death Star set if you want to join.”

“Thank you, but I think I’ll pass.”

Shuri left with a cheery wave that Wanda returned. No sooner did Shuri leave than Cassie walked in. “I thought I would find you here.” Wanda merely smiled and gestured to the spot that Shuri had just vacated.

“Have you changed your mind about arguing for me to join?”

“No, and I won’t. You’re seventeen now. In less than a year you’ll be eighteen and technically an adult. I bet Sam and Carol will reconsider your case then.”

“Alright. Do you have any new missions to tell me about in compensation?” Wanda ignored the lure.

“Things have been quiet lately.” It worried her sometimes. She did not know why the Avengers had not been called to avert any crises for a few months. Cassie pouted in disappointment. Wanda smiled. “But if you promise not to tell, I’ll let you in on the prank Carol and I are planning on the boys…”

***

Hope, Jane, Darcy, Valkyrie, Pepper, Okoye, Ayo, and Wanda were all taking advantage of an unusually warm fall day by eating outside. It meant they were subject to more curious stares and eager paparazzi, but they decided the trade-off was worth it. Wanda let their talk wash over her. She had never had any girlfriends growing up. It was only her and Pietro. And she was still getting to know these women.

Pepper told a story about a negotiation that was going south until Morgan, who clearly took after both her parents, came in and charmed Pepper’s competitors into accepting her deal. Wanda could see that Mother and Daughter were going to be a formidable duo.

After some food and conversation had relaxed everyone more, Wanda talked with Darcy and Jane about their work in the lab. She didn’t understand a quarter of what Jane said, but her passion for her research was infectious. During one burst of explanation, Darcy shook her head and quietly commiserated with Wanda about supporting Jane despite having no comprehension of what she was saying.

Okoye and Valkyrie compared the problems of their respective governments.

Finally, talk turned more generally to the still-recovering world at large. They discussed the renewed United Nations’ initiatives to restore peace, order, and wellbeing to countries around the world.

***

At the beginning of October, on a blustery morning, Wanda showed up at the New York Sanctum. Her routine with the Avengers was getting stale, and she was ready to take on a new challenge. Stephen answered before she could even ring the bell. “Hello, Wanda. Come in.”

“Did you predict I would come today?”

“Nothing so arcane. We have numerous wards placed around the building to warn us of approaching visitors.” He moved aside and ushered her in. Wanda’s eye was instantly drawn to the artifacts scattered around. “What can I do for you?”

“I want to take you up on your offer.”

“I’m glad.”

“Can we start now?”

“I don’t see why not. My schedule is clear today. Come with me.” Wanda followed him deeper into the Sanctum, ready to start out on this new adventure.

#fanfiction #scarlet vision #wanda maximoff

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