#I almost fully missed a work meeting because I sprinted to get this from the mailman
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cfcreative · 1 year ago
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Absolutly losing my mind because this finally arrived today! It’s quite possibly my favorite art of Karlach (by @ribbonentrails!!) signed by Sam Béart.
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It’s gonna go in a place of HONOR on my art wall; I just have to re-negotiate where my signed Dimension 20: Fantasy High Live art is placed.
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immajustvibehere · 2 years ago
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A Helping Hand
Pairing: Arthur Morgan x female Reader (Arthur POV)
oneshot: fluff & bit of angst (Arthur being sick)
summary: Arthur wants some time alone in nature after a stressful couple of days. When he meets a woman asking for help, he cannot resist and being exhausted, rests at her camp.
masterlist :)
2100 words, 10 minutes reading time
The last place he expected to run into someone was here, in nature, miles away from any town or house or farm. It was a warm summer day, but the wind from the mountains made it necessary to wear a jacket. It had been a crazy couple of days. They had returned from Guarma - and God was he glad to walk on American ground again - they were almost shot dead by Pinkerton's and he had been at the Doctor who diagnosed him with Tuberculosis. He felt it. He felt the disease nagging at him. Not that he hadn't known before that something must have been wrong with the coughing, but getting told what it was and that there was no way of shaking it off...
The camp had just moved to Beaver's Hollow and while they settled in, Arthur had decided to take some time off. Only two or three days that he could spend alone, thinking how to proceed with life. Needless to say, he wasn't in a good mood. Coming to terms with dying and evaluating one's life, trying to decide if he had been a good enough person to go in peace...it wasn't a nice thing to think about. With a grim face he rode on slowly, his eyes wandering from trees to the sky to a rabbit crossing his way, sprinting awfully close to his stallion's forefeet.
His thoughts were occasionally interrupted by a fit of coughs which he couldn't hold back, though he tried. Arthur was just recovering from such a fit, fighting to get some fresh air into his lungs when he heard a voice in the distance. "Hello! Sir! Please!" Between the rocks and trees Arthur tried to find the source of those pleadings. They sounded like they came from a young woman - and indeed, waving her hand in the distance was someone. She was too far away for him to see what she wanted, but he directed his horse towards her, dismounting when it became too troublesome to maneuver it between the trees.
"Yer alright, Miss?", he asked when he had come closer. His voice came out raspy and dry, still not fully recovered from the coughing. Finally, he got a good look at the lady. She was beautiful. Her boots covered in dirt and her hair a bit tousled, probably from riding (her horse was hitched to a tree not far away) or running through thicket, but she had a lovely face. Her cheeks were flushed as if she had just done some physical work. There was a little camp fire next to her and a dead rabbit sprawled out in front of it.
She smiled kindly, clearing her throat: "Yes and no, sir. I'm really embarrassed to ask but...would you show me how to skin a rabbit? I hunted one alright but...never skinned one." She pointed to the rabbit on the ground. Arthur couldn't hold back looking around suspiciously, searching for other people who'd jump out from behind the trees and rob him. When he had found nothing out of the ordinary, he looked at the woman again, who was expressing her confusion.
"Ya out here alone, Miss?", he asked skeptically.
"Yes", she shrugged as if it was nothing.
Arthur chuckled: "And ya think it's a good idea stopping random men to help ya skin some rabbit?"
"Better than starving...", she smiled innocently, and Arthur chuckled at her naiveté.
"Yer asking to be murdered or something?", Arthur joked, he came closer and picked up the rabbit.
"Why, do I have to fear you murdering me?", she raised an eyebrow, doubt in her expression. It pained him, but he knew she doubted his ability to do something like that. Not because he looked like a good man or something, oh no, this couldn't be it, but he knew that he looked weak and helpless. He was out of breath, tired, and looked sick...no doubt that's what she was getting at.
"Oh no, I don't kill on Tuesdays", Arthur decided to make a feeble attempt at a joke. To his surprise she smiled and chuckled, mumbling a "I'm in luck then". Arthur inspected the rabbit, it had been killed with a clean shot through its skull. "You killed this thing?", Arthur asked, starting to skin it. "Yes, sir", he looked away from the rabbit to see the woman grin proudly. Arthur laughed and commented: "Good shot. Ya gonna need to put some more logs in that fire, or ya want that thing cooked for five hours?"
She hurried off a few feet, collecting branches and bark, throwing it on the small heap that was burning with a small flame. "You want me to cut him up?", Arthur asked, gladly finding that his voice grew softer again and had lost his raspy sound from the beginning.
"That'd be very kind of you, Mr. ...", she stopped, a few twigs in her hand. Her eyes looked him up and down, as if she was trying to figure out what name fit him best. "Arthur Morgan", he revealed. "Well, thank you Arthur!", her voice was so sweet and kind, he found himself sighing happily. It has been a while since he heard his name in such an unbothered, innocent manner. The last few days his name had always been followed by a demand, a complaint or a comment about him not looking well. And here was this stranger, seemingly caring for nothing and just asking random passersby to help them cook her rabbit.
"So, what does a lady do out in them woods all by herself, if ya don't mind me askin'?", Arthur said after the rabbit meat had been cut into decent pieces and laid out on a little grid, that he actually had supplied. She would have spat the meat on a branch. He really wondered what someone so clueless about surviving in nature would do so far from any town. "Oh, that's a long story", she chuckled and reached into her bag to get a bottle of whiskey out. "I'd like to hear it, if you're willing to tell me." He hoped she'd say yes. If she asked him to leave, he'd leave, but her character was so intriguing. He enjoyed her company, her unbothered manner and free spirit. She seemed very happy and he had to wonder about what.
Arthur extended his hand to receive the bottle and take a swig, but he hadn't held it for a few seconds, when he felt another cough fighting its way up from his lungs. He tried clearing his throat, stammering a croaky "excuse me" before he jumped up and walked a few steps away, turning his back to the lady. It was an intense coughing attack, Arthur desperately searched for the support of a tree to keep him upright. His coughs stopped for a few seconds. He heard the voice of the woman closer behind him that he had left her at the fire. For the first time, her voice carried worry: "Are you okay?"
Quickly he waved his hand, trying to communicate that she should keep a distance, when he fell into another fit of coughing. His knees buckled and he felt weak, he was afraid of losing consciousness any second, but he was aware that he couldn't fight it. Very soon, all was black.
The cool evening breeze was the first sensation Arthur felt when he regained consciousness. His head was still buzzing and he felt sluggish. He noticed that he wasn't lying on the same place he should have collapsed. He was closer to the fire, his own bundle of a tent had served him as a pillow and a blanket was wrapped tightly around him. It was only that when he sat up and the blanked slipped that he noticed a few of his buttons on the top were unbuttoned and his bandana more loosely knotted around his neck that he remembered having it fit himself. It was good. The breeze on his chest cooled him down and made breathing easier.
A few feet away, the fire illuminated the woman who was humming something he vaguely recognized while carving something into a piece of wood. He was confused because she wore a gun belt with two holsters. Did she wear them before? His movements must have caught her attention because she looked up, a slight smile recognizable by the orange light that illuminated her face. "You're back", her voice was as light-hearted as before, though there was something grave accompanying it.
Arthur took his time to come to his senses, he wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation yet. The woman stood up, coming closer to the fire over which a pot was now hanging. The pot hadn't been there before. Arthur's eyes followed the woman. Her head passed a tree on which a poster was hanging. A knife pierced it, holding it in place on the trunk. The only thing he recognized from the distance was the "Wanted" and a sketch which looked like a woman. His eyes were still glued on the poster, when the woman suddenly kneeled in front of him, a bowl filled with stew that smelled deliciously in her hand.
There she was, smiling all innocently. "You managed to pass out before I got to tell you who I was...yeah, y/f/n y/l/n. I'm hiding out here...on the run, if you will." Of course, he immediately recognized the name. He had seen it before. This was before the Guarma incident, at the Police Station in Saint Denis. There was some twenty dollar bounty on her head, but since there were no leads he had decided to not bother.
"Thief, was it?", he asked, trying to guess why she was wanted. She nodded: "Something like that..."
"So why...", he looked around, "haven't ya robbed me? Gave ya plenty of opportunity." He chuckled exhausted and took the steaming bowl. "Why would I rob you? You helped me with dinner..."
"You really can't skin a rabbit on yer own?", this was unbelievable.
"I told you I was embarrassed to ask!", she sat down close to him, the smile still not leaving her face, "You're not gonna turn me in, are you Mr. Morgan?"
"Yer smiling like you know I wouldn't bother for yer twenty dollar bounty", he carefully tried the stew. Oh God it was ten times more delicious than Mr. Pearson's brew. The hot liquid hurt his dry throat at first, but it made him even hungrier for the rest.
"It's actually twenty-five dollars, and well, I'm just assuming that a man with 5000 dollars to his name doesn't really care about ... that small of a sum", as if all her innocence was washed away, it was replaced by something cheeky.
Arthur almost choked on the stew: "Ya knew there's this much money for me and ya didn't just kill me and took me to a sheriff!?"
Her face suddenly went grave. "You don't believe that sometimes people can just choose to...be kind? Do the right thing? You are looking like you're having quite a tough time at the moment. I'm not going to add breaking out of jail to the list of things you have to worry about."
"Well that's very kind of ya", Arthur commented. Maybe this was exactly what he had hoped for when he left for his little trip. He had expected to be alone with his thoughts, but he ran into you. You needed help which he could provide, and though he was weak and exhausted, he had somehow found this save little space at this campfire next to you. And now she was talking about kindness and what not...
"How have ya even survived this long if ya can't even skin some rabbit?", he asked.
"Robbed a couple of fellas", she grinned. Her grin was so simple and youthful, completely contrary to what she had just admitted. Arthur raised an eyebrow and shot her the 'I knew it' expression. She laughed. God it was a sweet laugh. The first moment Arthur had heard it he didn't want it to end. "Now don't give me that look! What was I supposed to do?! Go fishing or something?" "Yeah, why not?", Arthur laughed.
"'Cause I ain't got a fishing rod or bait or the patience", she explained.
"Ah, you just have to find the right spots", Arthur finished his bowl, "So why did ya let me make a fool out of myself? Give you the grid for the meat and let me season it...you can cook fine. Could have told me that you're running around with half the kitchen supplies in the world."
"Well, I found it was very cute of you", she smiled and shrugged.
Then she stood up and stretched, Arthur took the chance to admire her body and the way it could twist and squirm. "I'm gonna call it a day", she went to a little mat that she probably had rolled out earlier, "You're free to stay here, if ya like. It's no good wandering around at night."
"Yer really naive, girl. Yer gonna let a stranger stay watch how ya sleep?"
"I'm not naive. If I was, I'd be dead.. But I trust you'll do the right thing. I'm sure you'd like to return the favor of...not beheading you while you were out?" She gave him a last smile before she laid down and turned her back towards Arthur. He wondered if he should stay. Not just the night, but forever. Run away with her, find a place where neither of them is wanted. Leave his old life behind. Surely, she'd be up for it. Arthur would have a lot to think about tonight.
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cynettic · 3 years ago
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hi, i hope i'm not bothering you, but i can order a Scaramouche × Kitsune reader, the two met before the vision hunt (and before he was a fatui if you want) the reader was always in the same place, sometimes having a conversation , the good old routine, but with the hunting of visions the reader disappeared not wanting to give up his own vision, and years later a reunion, SFW or NSFW is by your will, thank you, I really admire your work
Summary - Scaramouche met you as a child, growing up with the constant assurance that you would be right there, sitting at your spot where he could meet you with every visit. He isn't happy when you suddenly disappear.
Pairing - Kitsune!Reader x Yan!Scaramouche
Warning - Slight Yandere warnings?
Penpal - Ahhh- hope this is what you were looking for. I couldn't find a spot to put much nsfw unless I considered writing more for the series ( I could, just put a request in if thats what you’re looking for ). But I hope you liked it!! You're not bothering me at all and I'm glad you like my work!
A/N - Alright- so considering that with the 2.1 update with Scaramouche coming in, I just wanna state beforehand that I wrote this prior so I dont know if we learn about his backstory or anything!!
Link for Part 2
Stay With Me
Scaramouche was used to the routine he’d found himself going along with every visit to Inazuma. As a child he’d pass through the wild fields that stretched just beside his hometown, adventurous and curious with all the tenacity of a child.
And of course you, a kitsune that sat perched on the ground awaiting the Kitsune Saiguu, was bound to notice him. Unlike the other earth kitsune statues, you hadnt turned to stone during your wait. Instead, staying in the same place did you interact with travellers and the locals, which included Scaramouche.
“Fox person!” The little boy chanted, pulling at the hems of your clothing. Bright blue eyes bore into your own, and you slowly shifted your head to pay attention to the boy who was on the verge of bouncing on you.
Humming in reply to his excitement, the little boy paused, both of his small hands still tightly clasping the fabric of your clothes. Soft matted hair brushed past his face in a messy manner, calling out the boy for his boundless running and rebellious urge to keep his hair messy despite his parents wishes.
“Play with me!”
Staring at the boy only a moment longer, you simply chuckled at his antics. “I’m afraid I cannot move from the spot in which I dwell~ Perhaps I’ll be able to entertain you if you bring cards?”
But the young boy had made up his mind at the statement to which you couldn't move. A pitiful frown enfluged his face as he cast you the nastiest glare a five year old could muster. “Boring!” He shouted into the distance of the fields, dramatically turning on his heels and bouncing up into a sprint away. You watched his small figure fade away into the background, absentmindedly sighing and returning to your mindless thoughts.
As a child, Scaramouche would pass by you fairly often. Frequent when he asked you to play with him, and storming away with the same expression when you denied him. Nothing out of the ordinary, you’d lived for an exceptional amount of time, and even though grumpy children were not your specialty, you’d grown accustomed to their behaviour.
Growing up, Scaramouche got no better. You soon noticed his violent tendencies before they became an issue, the way the children shied away from him when playing Temari. Hiding in front of a tough exterior, he scared them away and laughed, approaching you later with tearful sob.
“Will you play with me?” He asked again, trying to hide the fact that he still wept when the other children pushed him away.
But your answer stayed the same, helping him wipe his tears and coaxing him into your arms. Not the first time you’d made contact with a human, but the first time you held them in such an affectionate manner.
It was clear Scaramouche was beginning to see you as some sort of pillar of reassurance when he began running away from home to simply ask to be held. You always welcomed him with open arms, urging him to head back to his household and sort things out. There was no harm in simply providing love and comfort for a child who received none was there?
“Now now, hurry back home little one. Your parents must be growing awfully worried if you’re out by this time at night.”
“My parents dont care about me!”
Darkness slowly pooled into the fields, an obscure shade covering the two of you from the tree you were under. Biting back form your normal emotionless statements, you pondered for something to soothe and convince the boy. Misunderstandings and hardships were normal from what youd seen with children, and you could only offer your hand on his shoulder, a promise. “Go back, I promise to stay here if anything further happens. But you shold give them another chance dont you think?”
And so he’d sprint back to his hometown, and you wouldnt hear from him again till he ran up right up to you a few days later. Begging you to play a game with him. The normal you supposed, and with a grin that seemed to stretch wider with every day, you told him the same thing you told him every single time.
“You cant move?!” Scaramouche nearly yelled one time, tiny fists curling at his side. “Thats… thats stupid!”
“It is isnt it?” You only smiled in response.
Unsatisfied with your response, he clawed your arm, pulling you with all his might. Strong, you realized with surprise that he was much stronger than most children his age. Easy enough to tug away from, but strong enough to take you off guard.
Snapping your hand back to your side, you narrowed your eyes. You weren't angry… no, you hadnt felt strong feelings like that after the disappearance of the Kitsune Saiguu. “Do not attempt to move me,” was your curt response, said in the most stern voice you’d used with the boy.
He’d looked at you only a few seconds longer before bursting into tears, turning away and running. You didn't feel regretful for defending yourself, only turning once more with a tired sigh to stare at the distance.
But just as you stayed ageless, Scaramouche grew older. Still, crossing each others pass was inevitable when you sat in the plains, just alongside the path that lead to his hometown.
With a permanent scowl that seemed to stain his face, he still seemed to have mature a tad bit. Maybe hadnt improved in the social department, because he now scared children and adults and alike, but more mature…
“Hm? Whats this?”
Once again, sitting criss cross under the large tree that provided the perfect shade on sunny days, you stared at the boy expectantly. His hands hesitated at your question, but he resumed shuffling. “Cards,” he simply said in response.
A small featherlike feeling flitted across your chest, making you feel lighter and… almost ticklish. A small smile crossed your face, and you recognized the emotion to be one of adoration. For him to have remembered words you’d spoken years ago, it gave you a warmth you’d sorely missed. A warmth akin to watching him and the other children grow up.
“Ew, dont smile like that, its creepy.”
Swatting at his head, he frowned further when you laughed. “You’re more mature,” you pointed out, lazily leaning back. “You need to work on your people skills though, as someone who hasnt moved in years, thats pitiful that I know more than you.”
“Shut it!”
But as he grew up, you hardly got to see much of him. He’d reached your height and then fully disappeared, leaving no goodbye. And much as you hated to admit it, you hardly noticed, not when days passed in a flurry. You were used to being by yourself, entertaining the kids and greeting the people that passed by.
Sometimes, there’d be the reminder of the warmth he’d given you. But it was quickly overshadowed by your duty to remain seated in wait for the Kitsune Saiguu. A dedication kept in its earnest, but beginning to dwindle.
Inazuma was beginning to change.
“The vision decree…” you repeated, staring at the traveller who’d mentioned it to you. “Care to elaborate?”
The new archon threatenening to take away visions from every inhabitant of Inazuma. It was preposterous, so much that you didnt move. Your vision meant the world to you, but so did the Kitsune Saiguu. You werent sure just how you weighed the two till you saw civilians passing by you, ones you recognized, ones that didnt recognize themselves.
It was snowing, cold snowflakes melting into your skin while your hair soaked in the water. Unflinching, you hummed to a little tune, awaiting someone to pass you so that you could attempt to strike a conversation of somesort. The unnatural weather distanced all who entered the field though, and you simply waited. For the Kitsune Saiguu, for someone, or for some form of entertainment, you didnt know. You Slowly closing your eyes, you decided not to care.
“Im gone for five years and you’re still sitting here like a dumbass.”
Eyes snapping open, you find yourself face to face with a complete stranger. Dark purple hair with dark blue eyes, piercing and dangerous in a way you dont recognize at all. Fancy clothing that you cant identify or put a name on.
The boy took a step towards you, crouching down to stare at you directly. His eyes scanned over your figure briefly, and he brushed the snow out of your hair and ears with one flick of his hand. In the next, he was offering a coat to you. “Take it, you’re probably getting cold.”
You leaned forward, ignoring the coat he offered you. Gently, you raised your hand to brush the hair from his eyes, centred on the way his pupils widened. Offering a small moment of surprise and one glimpse into the small childlike blue eyed wonder he was. “Kiddo,” you breathed, pulling your hand back and scanning him once again. “You’ve grown.”
“And you havent.”
Snickering at his comment, you took the coat. You didnt need it, but he looked like he didnt either. He was already wearing clothing that kept him warm, and with careful observation and an untouched coat, you settled on the fact that he’d brought it here. Brought the coat here for you.
“Still havent improved with those social skills of yours have you?”
He scoffed, letting himself fall back till he was sitting fully. “I dont want to hear it from someone who refuses to move an inch for years. Lazy ass.”
You open your mouth to retort, but instead laugh at his comment, shaking your head. “Gained some humour on your journeys have you? Bad words too it seems. Anyways...” He had sat down, which meant that he meant fully well to sit, chat, and catch up. That familiar warmth filled your chest, a contrast between the cold snow. “Welcome back.”
It wasnt often that Scaramouche visited Inazuma, but when he did, he was sure to visit you. The two of you would sit down for hours, talking about the most trivial topics. He never mentioned what he did in his time away, and you never asked.
But things began to go downhill when news of the vision decree finally took action.
“Its no joke anymore! The Raiden Shogun has taken custody of almost a hundred visions!”
In that moment you made your decision, weighing your vision over the Kitsune Saiguu. Awfully selfish you knew, but you’d spent decades sitting there in wait.
And for the first time you sat up from your position on the ground, clumsily stumbling upright but gaining balance. It takes a few steps until you’re back to normal, and you begin your journey in order to escape the Raiden Shogun’s vision hunt decree.
_-_-_-_
You didnt expect to see him again.
Long grass tickled at the skin of your legs, making you adjust your footing to no avail. Sun slowly descending past the mountains to mark the start of an evening and the soon approaching night. A normal day of exploring the mountains and islands of Inazuma, observing the constant changing situation, and running away from the vision decree like a favourite past-time.
With the exception of a firm grip on your wrist.
Dark purple like hair, same hate brimmed eyes and lavish clothing. You recognized Scaramouche the moment he had appeared, looking just as surprised as you were. That being before he snatched your wrist and snarled, “You.”
You wouldve considered it pure luck to find him, an unexpected reunion with someone you actually remembered. But no, his tone had some predatorial edge to it that had you cringing. Hard. “Yes, its me.” You answered back with a frown, trying to loosen his hold. “Nice to see you too, is something the matter?”
He only seemed confused at your words, pulling you closer.
“Something the matter?” He asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Well, to start, you’re not sitting at your damn spot.”
Taken aback for a moment, you wondered if that sole fact was what drove the boy to such lengths. Surely he couldn't be so troubled over the fact that you moved… “The vision hunt decree, I'm sure I mentioned that I was sticking around in wait for the Kitsune Saiguu. I decided to wander around and avoid the conflict until I could settle back.”
“You could’ve waited for me,” he stated almost instantly. “I could have protected you.”
You felt your brows furrow quizzically. “Wait for you? Why in the world would I-”
“Why wouldn't I?” He pushed you closer till he could fully grab both wrists, taking a step closer as if his words would resonate clearer in your head. “You took care of me as a child, it would only be fair for me to repay the favour.” But he only seemed to be looking for excuses. “And besides, you can't just up and leave… I didn't know.”
Before you could interject with the obvious answer that he didn't need to know, you stopped. You’d lived decades, nearly centuries if you’d kept count, and you had learned to read people's expressions even when you’d stayed away from them for so long. He didn't know. It hit you in the most unpleasant way that he wasn't aware that it was none of his concern. To him, you were just another thing he needed to keep track of, something he had control over. His face basically screamed, ‘I depended on you to stay in that place.’
Deep breath in and out. You’d lived long, longer than him, you could deal with a child throwing a tantrum.
“Don't worry,” you gestured to the vision ta your side. “I'm strong enough to protect myself, I appreciate your concern, but I’ll be back when the vision decree ends.”
Unconvinced, he pulled you closer, just until your faces were mere inches away from each other. “No,” he said in a stern voice. “I’d rather you by my side, where I can protect you. I hate to question what you’re capable of, but you’ve been sitting down for as long as I’ve known you for.”
“I’ve lived decades more than you,” a simple reply, hopefully enough to get by him. You snatched your hands back with ease, ears flinching slightly when a cold breeze swept past you. But you stayed firm, not wanting to look vulnerable against the imposing air he had around him.
Still unconvinced. “You’re coming with me.”
“No I’m not.”
You’d known him as a kid, watched him grow up along with all the other small ones in his hometown. And maybe you admit you cared a smudge bit about the warmth he gave you when settling down to play cards, but he was different. He had changed in the worst way and you weren't about to deal with it.
“So you’re not coming with me voluntarily?” He asked softly, taking a small step to which you responded by stepping back. He had his hands up, as if telling you he wouldn't hurt you. But the way he said voluntarily sent shivers up your spine.
“No.” Hand on your vision, you held your own hand up threateningly.
He took his time when tilting his head, taking a deep breath in, and then appearing in front of you in just a short stride. Too quick to react, you hesitated before you could attack him. You didn't want to hurt him, he was still a child in your eyes, and you paid the consequences for that. He slid his hand just along your neck, and a jolt of electricity seemed to thrum inside you just as you collapsed in his arms.
Scaramouche was quick to catch you, hoisting you up into his arms dearly. “I do hope you’ll come to understand,” he said softly, cradling your unconscious form in his arms. Making sure not to crush your tail when carrying your legs, he looked past the mountains, sigh resting on his lips.
Because Scaramouche liked to have control of the things he held dear. Like keeping all your valuables neat and tidy in a closet, he was happy knowing you were safe and stable in that spot you always sat on.
And he couldn't have you moving could he?
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shurisneakers · 4 years ago
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if you're taking ideas for harmless drabbles, i'd love to see one of bucky on one of those dates he mentioned and reader's shenanigans. if you aren't, feel free to ignore this!
a/n: are we really going to let a word limit define what a drabble is? is the vibe and spirit not enough? i say this bc this is 5.7k words long im so sorry. also hey thank you to everyone who piped in with their knowledge of violent geese and how apartment security works in new york!! also thanks to my bby @spiderrpcrker for reading this and telling me to publish this bc i wasnt going to fkjghfkj
warning: swearing, bad luck, dates, frustrated bucky, anxiety, mentions of gore but like only a sentence
here’s my ko-fi if you’d like to support my writing <333
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Catch up with the rest of the series here: Harmless Masterlist
Bucky returns only two weeks later. His mission lasted longer than expected and all he wants is to lie down and sleep for forty eight hours straight.
“FRIDAY?” he mumbles, kicking off his shoes. His jacket had already been discarded by his bedroom door when he walked in.
“Yes, Sergeant Barnes?”
“How are ya?” He doesn’t miss a beat in asking, even though he’s exhausted.
“As good as ever. Did you have a successful mission?”
“If by successful you mean one sprained limb instead of two, then yeah.” He wasn’t really cribbing. His ankle was already starting to heal anyway and it was worth the roundhouse kick to a Nazi's face. “Do I have anything scheduled for this weekend?”
“You have a meeting on your calendar scheduled for this Saturday.”
“Could you send a text to Y/N and ask if we can push it to the next day?” His muscles feel sore and God, he could definitely use a hot shower but all of that becomes secondary the minute he feels the sheets under him.
“Would you like me to reschedule the other one as well?”
“What’s that?” He opens one eye in confusion. “There’s another one?”
“It’s on Sunday. You’ve labelled it ‘date’.”
Ah, fuck.
“Would you like me to change it?” FRIDAY never sounds like she’s judging him, which is nice. It also reminds him about how she, as an AI, can’t judge him, which is a rude wake-up call to how he doesn’t have friends.
“No,” his voice is muffled against the pillow, “no, let it be. Where is it again?”
“You’ve only specified diner, Sergeant Barnes.”
Public space, daytime, plenty of escape routes. Good on his less delirious self for selecting a diner.
“Thanks, FRIDAY.” Now that he’s a little more relaxed, he can feel himself slip in and out of consciousness.
“One last thing," her automated voice commands his attention again. "Y/N replied. She says sure and to take care.”
“Yay.” Not even a second later he’s out like a light.
____
“Did you bring me any souvenirs?” Is the first thing he hears as he marches into your lair.
“What could I possibly get you?”
“A postcard, a t-shirt.” You don’t look up from your tinkering.
“Decapitated finger, used bullets,” he continues, “cement blocks.”
“Ew.” You snap the lid shut on the thing you’re working on, spinning around on your chair. "That's not nearly romantic enough."
“That’s all you’re going to get from a Russian underground bunker.” He does a mini jog up the stairs of the platform to where you are.
“Does the finger have a ring at lea- oh hello?” You raise an eyebrow at the sight of him. “You look different.”
He peers down. The outfit was still all black. As always.
“Not your clothes, dummy,” you interrupt, making him look back at you. “Your face. What’d you do?”
He unconsciously raises a hand to his cheek.
“Did you wash your face? Is that it?” you squint at him. “Has it been a few months since the last time?”
“Wow, you’re so funny,” he drawls sarcastically.  “Top tier comedian right there.”
“No wait, it’s the beard.” You snap your fingers in realisation, completely ignoring his comment. “You trimmed it.”
“So what if I did?” He leans on your table.
“You going somewhere?” you ask, elastic snapping against your hands as you remove your gloves.
“It’s none of your busi-”
“Hold on a second.” A sly smile begins to make its way onto your face. “Are you going on a date, Bucky Barnes?”
His comeback dies down in his throat. That didn’t take you very long for you to figure out.
“I’m right, aren’t I?” You look smug, to say the least.
“Shut up.” A ray of light glistening distracts him. He traces it to the thing you were working on earlier.
“Where are you guys going?” You cross your arm across your chest, a small smirk on your face.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” It’s a silver box, engraved intricately with swirls that, when he observes carefully, looks like a skull. Wow, terrifying.
“I’m literally asking you.”
“What are those?” He shifts the conversation towards a more productive angle instead.
“Evil in a box and some other stuff.” You shrug offhandedly. “Is it a lunch date or just coffee?”
“Like Pandora’s Box?”
“A discount version, sure,” you confirmed impatiently. “Stop changing the topic, listen to me.”
He tilts his head, waiting for you to continue.
“Do you need a chaperone?” The sincerity in your voice for such a bullshit question has him scoffing.
“Good God- no, I do not need a chaperone. I’m 106 years old, I can go out unsupervised.” He reaches over and plucks the box off your table.
“Sir, you’re a geriatric."
“What are those?” He points to a few ray odd ray guns.
“Minor stuff you don’t have to worry about right now.”
He shakes the box in his hand. “What’s gonna happen if I open this?”
“Very bad things,” you whispered ominously before your volume returns to normal. “How’d you meet this person? Online?”
“She’s Natasha’s friend.” He turns the box over, seeing a small latch at the side. “What bad things?”
“Bad luck and misery. Don’t play with it, it’s dangerous.” You pull the box away from him. “Aw, is it a blind date?”
“Why do you care so much?” he shoots back, tugging the box back towards him.
“Just lookin’ out for you, Bucko,” you huff, adjusting your grip on your device. “Need to keep my favourite senior citizen safe.”
“I have a vibranium arm.” Whose force he could use to grab the box once and for all, but wasn’t. “I think I’ll be fine.”
“What if she has one too, huh? Then what?”
“She doesn’t.” As far as he knows, he’s the only one alive with a metal appendage made out of the strongest metal in the world. That could very well change by tomorrow but he's keeping the title for now.
“But what if she does? I swear to- stop trying to take the box!” You pull a little more forcefully, but he doesn’t relent.
“I want this to get over before this evening.”
“What time’s your date?”
“Why do you care?” He’s sure anyone who saw the dumb tug-of-war you both were playing would just automatically assume he was an absolute manchild, not an Avenger.
“Because.” You don’t explain further. “Tell me what time your date is, you weirdo.”
“Five o’clock, now let go.”
“Fine,” you say, suddenly loosening your grip. Clearly, it doesn't make much of a difference since he isn't struggling to keep his balance from the sudden loss of force.
“Fine.” He clears his throat, straightening up. 
You don’t say anything. He doesn’t either.
A putrid smell creeps into his nose, one all too similar to spoiled milk and decaying seaweed. He has to physically stop himself from gagging.
“Have a good day.” You smile and lean far back. Too far. It looks like you're almost going to fall out of the chair.
Through the tears that are threatening to line his eyelids, he looks down at the box whose latch you somehow managed to lift, leaving the box open.
“What the fuck is this?” He coughs, swatting at the air in front of him to clear it.
“I told you; bad luck in a box.”
“You can’t scientifically create bad luck, that’s bullshit.” He tosses the box back onto your table. You watch it slide past you, not making any effort to stop it. “What is it really?”
“I’m not lying.” You pull open a drawer, brandishing a small table fan that you set down beside you. “If you open it, you’re going to have terrible luck for the day.”
He glowers at you when you turn the fan on, forcing the fumes back towards him.
“Besides, that’s all I was doing today.” You kick your feet up. “So you can leave now.”
He doesn’t care if you’re lying about not having anything else to do today. You could burn down the world if you wanted to but he needs to take a stupid shower. Again.
“You’re the fuckin’ worst.” He tries airing out his shirt, hoping that the smell would dissipate as soon as possible.
“Have fun on your date, sarge!” you encourage him as he stalks out of the lair. “Remember to wrap it befo-”
He turns it into a sprint before you can finish.
____
Six hours later and he’s absolutely convinced he fucked up.
He isn’t used to having his weekends free.
He realises that this is the first time in months that he’s actually stepped out of the Tower for something that wasn’t directly mission-related. He should probably get some air. Touch some grass. See the sun.
His shirt thankfully manages to rid itself of the odour from the dumb box so he didn’t have to go take a shower. With nothing much planned and a few hours to spare, he heads to the coffee shop instead.
It’s a small place, bustling and alive with a crowd of people. They have a little bookshelf that usually is full of books donated by patrons, free for anyone to read.
The barista smiles at him. The coffee costs more than his high school education. He awkwardly smiles back.
He’s not a regular, but they’ve seen him enough times to know that he usually asks for black coffee in a to-go cup, later adding a sugar or two according to his own taste. They're nice to him, occasionally throwing in a cookie or something on the house. He can't tell if it's because of the Avenger status or the sizeable tip he leaves.
He picks up a random book from the shelf, fully intending not to read it but to just sit there and think. The book acted as a shield for his resting bitch face, resting murder face and his resting rage face. More often than not, a good combination of the three.
He sets the coffee down at the corner table he manages to nab in a quick second, along with the two sachets of sugar.
“Is this seat taken?” Someone asks from beside him. He earnestly shakes his head in a ‘no’, gesturing for them to take it.
They give him a quick thanks and drag the chair away from his table.
He does a quick overlook of the book he picked up.
The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot.
Well, now he’s too anxious to put it back. YA fiction it is.
He reaches for the sugar while glossing over the summary. He reaches a little further when it doesn’t come to his hand immediately, blindly running his fingers across the table.
Bucky peeks over the book, eyebrows knitting together when he notices that they’re missing.
He was sure he picked it up.
He looks underneath the table. It wasn’t there, neither under his seat. Strange, but okay. He picks up the book and the cup, walking back to the station to grab two sugars.
This time he makes sure to tuck it into his pocket, double-checking before going back to his table.
Which was now occupied. He wanted to groan.
His mind automatically reverts back to the box from that morning.
“Come on,” he scoffs quietly to himself. It was a coincidence. “Get yourself together.”
“A seat at the counter just cleared up,” the barista from earlier offers when she sees him standing in the middle of the store.
See? Good luck.
He shoots her a grateful look, venturing over to the barstool to take his place. It’s not the most comfortable, but then again, he wasn’t planning to stay there for very long.
He empties the sugar into the coffee, stirring slowly before opening a random page in the book.
He takes a long sip, ignoring how hot the drink was.
He chokes immediately. Because either he was losing his mind or his order had somehow got switched from ‘no sugar’ to ‘diabetes in a cup’.
He takes another small sip and his face immediately twists in disgust. Definitely too sweet. The sweetener he added only made it worse.
He catches the eye of the barista. She looks on in concern.
“Is everything okay?”
Fuck.
He’s not one to make a scene. He just wants to live as imperceptibly as he could.
“Yep.” The sweetness sticks to the back of his throat. “All good.”
He just closes his eyes and downs the rest of it without thinking twice, trying to hide the grimace in his face. He gives her a weak thumbs up. She doesn't look convinced.
He leaves the shop soon after, hands shoved in his pocket. Maybe he could go sit by the lake at Central Park, watch the clouds. It reminded Bucky of the lake in front of his hut in Wakanda and the hours he'd sit in front of it, feet dipped into the water as his goats fed. He misses it.
He makes a sharp turn at a corner, still thinking about his options when his ankle abruptly twists under him.
He stumbles rather ungracefully, almost hitting the ground, but manages to save himself through the newly built up immunity he has towards falling thanks to all his encounters with you.
His gaze lands on his hardcore combat boots. Their laces had come undone.
Now he just knew that was horseshit. He always double knots them; they had never loosened in the past before.
The box.
He shoves the thought out of his head, crouching down to tie them again. He tugs on them to make sure they’re secure before standing up again.
Central Park is a few blocks away but he’s glad he didn’t bring his bike. The weather was rather nice and the wind in his hair felt good.
He wanders around the park for a while, looking for the lake. He pauses at a board with a map of the park on it, assessing how far it was.
Once he's ascertained which path to go towards, he turns on his heel to go.
He fucking trips again.
“Are you serious?” he says furiously under his breath. “Cut it out.”
He’s half-convinced that he should tie it around his ankle like a sexy lace-up set of heels. He ties a triple knot this time, glares at it until he’s sure it’s fine and checks to see if anyone saw him humiliate himself.
Only a person on a nearby bench who looked like they were passed out drunk, given that their hoodie and sunglasses clad self was slumped over.
No witnesses. No 'You won't BELIEVE what the Winter Soldier did! Critics say it's his biggest blunder yet!' articles the next day on social media.
He manages to make it to the lake in one piece and no more falls, partly because he keeps his eyes fixed on his shoes to ensure no fuckery occurs.
There are a few people rowing and plenty of others lining the bank at scattered locations. There’s a mom and her kid at the place he ends up. She sends him a small smile in greeting and he returns the favour.
There’s a secluded bench that he takes a place on, letting out a small sigh. If he ignores the traffic and the skateboarders and the people in general, it’s actually kind of peaceful.
There are geese and their little goslings swimming around the water close to the shore. Maybe he should have brought some birdseed. Or kale.
The kid beside him is busy fashioning something out of leaves, only occasionally erupting into giggles when it doesn't pan out. His mom watches him fondly, pointing at twigs he could use. Everything seems kind of picture-perfect and his body automatically relaxes, easing further into the seat and closing his eyes for a second.
Until there's a large splash and loud distressed honking. He whips his head around to find the same kid staring straight ahead at the goose with a wide grin. His mother curses quietly, picking herself up off the ground and grabbing his hand, half chastising him for throwing something at an animal and half urging him to walk faster.
The goose turns to Bucky. With no one else to blame for the sudden attack, it logically launches itself at him. His smile drops.
He gets up in a rush. The dumb bird nearly comes for his head, but he deflects with his metal arm.
“I didn’t even do anything.” He swats at it swiftly, trying not to cause any real damage. The goose, understandably, does not speak English.
He flinches when one of them bites at his knee. He can punt it to the sun but he doesn’t want to.
“Stop that.” He sticks his hand out to shove the stupid thing away, retreating back to the road. “Jesus, why are you so aggressive?”
Among the barrage of feathers showering on him, he prays his damn shoelace doesn’t unravel as he shields his head with one arm, the other fending himself while he moves hurriedly away.
The goose honks angrily at him. He scowls at it, not exactly pleased with the reminder that these fucking overgrown ducks were constantly bloodthirsty.
It doesn’t leave him alone till he’s significantly away from where he was sitting. He wants to call it profanity but that’d probably piss it off more.
The box and its effects were definitely starting to feel real.
Fuck it, no more day out for him. The best plan he can think of is to just go to the diner he’s supposed to meet his date at.
The waiter greets him with a courteous nod, which Bucky can only imagine was the best he could muster when a dishevelled 200-pound man walks in covered in goose feathers and irritation.
He won't admit that he’s too scared to eat lunch at this point because he can’t rule out food poisoning. He spends the next two hours on his phone playing Fruit Ninja and plucking feathers that accented his all-black outfit.
Several glasses of water later and a second before he’s about to beat his high score, someone taps on his shoulder, breaking him out of his concentration.
Motherfu-
He clenches his eye shut, inhaling deeply before turning around.
“James?”
“Hey, yeah, that’s me.” Bucky almost falls over the table with how fast he stands up, clearly underestimating his size. “Leah?”
“Hi.” She smiles and he finds himself smiling nervously along with her.
“Hi.” He steps out to pull out her chair for her and she laughs. "Nice to meet you."
“How long have you been waiting here?” she asks while setting down her bag.
“Around ten minutes.” He clears his throat to hopefully hide the fact that he was lying through his teeth.
“Just give me a second, I need to tell my friend I reached,” Leah pulls out her phone and he nods.
“Another glass of water for you?” The waiter seems less enthusiastic about Bucky’s 8th refill.
“Yes,” he answers, hoping he doesn’t call him out on it, “please.”
“You must be really dehydrated."
Bucky turns to look at him slowly. “I like the taste.”
He can’t really blame the guy. Bucky’s been there for hours without ordering anything solid, just leaching off their free water and complimentary bread basket.
“So, James.” She tosses her phone back into her bag, leaning forward on her palms easily. “Tell me about yourself.”
He had rehearsed this a million times. He could do this.
“I, uh,-”
“Menu?” Okay, so someone clearly had a vendetta against him.
“Thank you.” She takes it with a smile.
His morning debacle with the coffee flashes through his mind. Suddenly the idea of a diner didn’t seem so smart.
However, she’s already placed her order and George is standing beside him expectantly, daring him to ask for another glass of water, so he places his usual order and hopes that your stupid bad luck thing wore off.
He quickly learns that his date is laid back, and it isn’t hard to fall into a rhythm with her even though she’s the one asking most of the questions.
“How’d you meet Nat?” Is his attempt at one.
“She used to come in for lunch every week at the place I work.” Leah leans back in her chair. “She can really handle her alcohol.”
He’d be worried about Nat day drinking if he didn’t know about her complete inability to get drunk. She might as well have been downing glasses of lemonade.
“Yeah, she’s-” Intimidating, scary, cool “-really something.”
“She mentioned that you like movies.”  He definitely spends a lot of time watching them. “You got any recommendations?”
It’s easier to figure out how different things are or how much he missed out over the years through them. He’s glad he sat out the early 2000s, judging by their fashion sense and hairstyles.
He's watched several movies over the past few months, a few of them critically acclaimed and others who were just there for the cult following.
But now everything goes blank and the only thing that he can remember are the biopics made about Steve that were somehow hilarious for gifting him the mental image of Freddie Prinze Jr. dressed in the stars and stripes, and highly distressing for the number of historical inaccuracies. Contrary to popular belief, Stevie did not, in fact, consider running for president after he took up the shield, nor did he start his own bar chain.
He can’t name Oh Captain, My Captain starring Channing Tatum as his favourite movie on his first date and hope to make a good first impression.
“Despicable Me was kinda fun.” He wants to kill himself. “I mean, it’s the last one I saw.”
Her face twists in mild disgust, but he can tell it isn't ill-intentioned. “It's a good movie, but God, that just gave me some intense flashbacks to my aunt’s Facebook page. Don’t think I can look at a minion ever again.”
He sniggers with her. He doesn’t know what the context is.
He’s a little awkward, and he can definitely tell he isn’t the most open book but she laughs at some of his attempts at jokes. There’s a distinct discomfort he has lingering at the back of his mind prodding at him, telling him over and over again that he isn’t ready for something like this. A warning bell, asking him to leave as soon as possible because he was in a dangerous situation.
He remembers what his therapist told him about breathing and remembering that the resources he had available were greater than his anxiety and he tries to get out of his head. It takes a few minutes of acting like he's fine but he manages to do it.
Other than the one time he scalds his tongue on the coffee but played it off with a pained smile, shoving down thoughts of your stupid invention, things actually went okay.
It was nice, even though they decided by the end that it was better if they both gelled together better as friends. It lifts the strange fear he feels and he can hear Dr. Mendoza say she's proud of him for taking this step before spending three hours psychoanalysing why they decided to stay platonic.
Bucky promises to visit her sushi shop with Nat soon and she says a bottle of sake awaits him for a drinking game. He doesn’t have the heart to tell her that Nat and he share the same tolerance for alcohol.
He makes sure to leave George a tip. A big one. It’s the first time he sees the guy smile the entire evening.
He’s waving goodbye to Leah outside and he thinks that maybe it was a good end to the day and that things actually turned out fine.
Until he turns around to leave, only to have someone walk straight into him with an iced tea.
The cold comes as a bit of a shock, making him jump slightly. He stares at his shirt, using his fingertips to pull it away from his body.
The person melts into a series of apologies immediately, offering to dry clean his shirt but Bucky just forces a shake of his head and says it’s okay even though he can feel the sugar making the shirt stick to his chest. Goose feathers and iced tea. Was there anything else that would like to attach itself to him?
His fists clench and his teeth grit and he has to physically control himself from sprinting to your lair because God knows what else is in store for him and he didn't want to add in any way.
The door to the lair is locked. Fuckin’ brilliant.
When no one answers after minutes worth of waiting, he fishes for his phone and realises that maybe two hours of Fruit Ninja was not the best idea, especially on a phone known for having shitty battery life.
There’s roughly 2 percent left. By the time he opens his app to give you a call, his phone screen goes black.
He groans. He’s desperate at this point and under any other normal circumstances, he would have never, ever considered doing this.
But ten minutes later he’s outside your apartment building. You’re aware that he has your address; no doubt that it was in the SHIELD file he had gotten, and he knows that you know but it was still weird.
The buzzer has your last name listed next to it. He’s sure that he’ll break it if he keeps pressing it at this rate but he really needs you to let him in.
“Who the fu-” your voice comes through the intercom.
“I’m sorry for showing up like this, my phone died and I couldn’t reach you,” He breathes out as soon as he hears you. “But I need you to fix this.”
When he doesn’t hear a reply, he wonders if the thing actually worked. He’s about to start pressing it again-
“Bucky?” You sound a little surprised to hear him. “You’re at my house. Why are you at my house?”
“I need you to fix whatever this is.”
“What are you- fine, I’m buzzing you in,” your voice, initially confused soon trails off into something more dismissive.
There’s a soft click from the door, allowing him to push it open. The elevator is already on the same floor as him so he just uses that.
The elevator goes up a floor or two. His feet tap restlessly against the carpeted floor.
The lights turn off and everything comes to a standstill. His foot stops tapping.
He should have known. He should have fucking known.
Thirty seconds pass. He’s still in pitch darkness with the elevator showing no signs of moving.
In fact, he’s resigned to his fate. He sits down on the ground, only one step away from completely laying down and hoping someone finds his body here someday.
It’s six minutes of plain silence. He might as well get comfortable if he’s going to get stuck here for the rest of his life. Did he change his will? Does he even have a will?
There’s finally a whir. He thinks that maybe he’s going to plummet to his doom as the perfect end to this day, but then the light switches on and it starts moving upward.
It stops at the floor with a ding. He doesn’t get off the ground, only eyes the door wearily. With his luck, it wouldn’t open.
But it does and within a second he’s on his feet, scrambling to get out before it changes its mind.
He remembers your door number, basically charging down the hall to get to it.
The door is white and the paint is starting to chip off it. The handle itself is dented in a few places and he wonders if it was your fault or someone else's.
His knocks are rapid, agitated even. He doesn’t stop until he hears your loud shouts telling him to cut it out.
“What the hell were you doing, trying to break down my door?” It swings open, revealing you in your pajamas. “Haven’t you done that already? And where were you, I’ve been waiting for like, ten minutes.”
He honestly feels bad for showing up uninvited and highly flustered. He can’t imagine it’s a pretty sight either. "This bad luck shit- fix it. My whole day’s been fucked up.”
“What are you-” Your eyebrows knit together in confusion, taking in his appearance.
It takes you a second to realise what he’s talking about but when you do, your face settles.
“How was your date?” You lean against the door frame, arms crossed over your chest.
“Really,” He glowered at you, “that’s what you care about?”
“Yes.” You nod. “Did you have fun?”
He hesitates. “I guess?”
“Was she nice?”
“Yeah.” Where was this going.
“Good, I’m happy for you.” The smile on your face is genuine. “Look at you go, Casanova.”
“We agreed to be just friends, but that’s not the point here. Y/N,” he whines. “I have a mission next week, I can’t afford to fuck up. My whole day was off and I don’t want it to carry over.”
“Your whole day?” you questioned, standing up instead of leaning against the wall. “Buck-”
“Just fix it.”
“Okay.” You lift your hand up, extending it towards his face.
He waits for you to do something.
You flick him on the forehead.
“There,” you declare, going back to your previous position. “you’re cured.”
What.
He says exactly what he’s thinking.
You laugh. “Dude. I was fucking with you.”
Huh?
“Well, actually maybe just like, three things and then I got bored.”
He’s confused.
“You know,” you begin when he doesn’t reply, “taking the sugar packets, switching your coffee order when you were looking under the table, took your place when you left, the shoelaces.”
“The shoelaces?”
“Yeah.” You nod. “That’s the other ray gun you saw this morning. Unties your shoelaces. I stopped after that because I thought you figured it out.”
His face scrunches in puzzlement.
“I mean, you looked right at me and told me to cut it out.”
He racks his brain about what you could possibly be talking about before it hits him. The hungover person on the goddamn bench in the park.
“You were the one in the hoodie and sunglasses.”
“I just followed the Avengers’ code of disguise.” You shrug. “Turns out it kinda works. Also teleportation. So helpful.”
He forgot about the teleportation. That's why you could do all of it so fast without him noticing you were even there.
“What about the fucking geese?”
You pause for a second. “The geese?”
“And the elevator.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” The confusion on your face is apparent. “What geese and elevator? I have no idea what you’re saying right now.”
“Everything’s been a mess today,” he grumbles. “I don’t know what’s real or not.”
“I swear I had nothing to do with it other than what I mentioned.” There’s indignation on your features that quickly gives way to delight. “Holy shit, did I just accidentally invent portable bad luck?”
“Okay-” his palm finds its way to his forehead in exasperation, “-then what the hell was the smell?”
“What smell- oh, the one from the box?”
He nods briskly.
“Secretions Magnifique.” You snorted. “It’s a perfume. The worst rated one I could find.”
“Perfume?”
“With notes of milk, seaweed and sandalwood.”
“It wasn’t an inator?”
“No, it wasn- did you get vibe checked by a goose at the park?” You stifle a laugh when you notice a stray feather on his thigh.
“What does that even mean?” he asks in despair.
“I can see why it attacked you. You got bad juju.” You raise an eyebrow. “Maybe if you stop staring so much-”
“So I just have shit luck.” Is that a fucking relief or even worse?
“Well,” you begin but decide not to continue.
Even with all the irritability masking it, you could see that he genuinely was just not having a good time.
“Wait here a second.”
You leave him at the door. He shifts his balance and sighs, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. He still had to walk back to the Tower. Maybe he could grab a slice of pizza along the way since he skipped lunch.
“Okay, here.” You return with a large glass of water. He only looks at it. “It’s just water, I promise. You look like you ran a marathon."
He takes it from you sceptically, pushing away the urge to sniff at it. It’s gone within a few gulps.
You wait until he’s finished to point at his arm. He draws his eyebrows together, but you only curl your index finger and beckon for him to give you his hand.
He reluctantly extends it towards you.
“Don’t laugh,” you warn him, taking his metal arm. “This usually helps me.”
You tie a small bracelet around his wrist. It has a few beads, which he realises represent the colours of the solar system.
“Keep that for good luck.” You pat it gently after securing it. “I think you just had a bad day; those don’t last very long. Do you want to charge your phone before you leave?”
“Uh-” The bracelet’s pretty, the colours shine against the dark vibranium. “-no, I’m good. I’ll just leave.”
“Okay. Anything else I can help you with or will you be fine?”
He narrows his eyes. “You’re being suspiciously nice.”
“I’m not evil all the time.” You huff. “My hours are in the morning.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
“Okay,” he says again. “I’m gonna go then.”
“See you next week.” You give him a little wave. “I’d say break a leg on your mission but knowing your situation...”
He scoffs. “Thanks.”
You make a move to close the door when starts walking down the hallway towards the exit.
He adjusts the beads slightly so he can see them better. The Earth one has glitter in it. He thinks it’s cute.
“Bucky.”
He turns around.
There’s a hint of a smile on your face.
“Take the stairs.”
He doesn’t have to be told twice.
Next part
970 notes · View notes
taechaos · 4 years ago
Text
A Parting Gift
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Continuation of Blackmail from Textbook Love
pairing: bully!Jungkook x nerdy!fem!Reader
genre: drabble, smut, college au
synopsis: "He told me he would leak your video if you don’t give him a handjob."
warnings: deception/manipulation, dubcon, handjob, spit, slight angst
word count: 2.4k
tag: @mwitsmejk
a/n: jungkook is a bit cruel in this 😖 a flop.
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Every time you think about Jimin seeing you in your most vulnerable state, you want to cry, gag, vomit, but all you can do is look down and walk away from his direction in a hurry. Jungkook told you to avoid him, and it’s the easiest option for you right now, but you wish you could tell him it was an accident. If he doesn’t see you, he’ll forget it quicker and save you the embarrassment.
It’s been three days since the incident, and it’s Monday as you clutch your binder to your chest while walking to your afternoon lecture. The coast is clear when you scurry down the halls, the lightning dim due to the gloomy weather outside. It’s going to rain soon, but you got off easy by arriving early. The campus is not crowded yet, just as you expected before coming. Chances of seeing Jimin are supposed to be lowered in this instance, but the boy really can’t take a hint.
You hear him holler your name from a distance in the corridor, and you quicken your steps anxiously. You’re internally begging for him to leave you alone, to forget you exist, just to not approach you. The chants don’t matter when he gently holds your shoulder a few seconds later. You screw your eyes shut the moment you’re turned around, hoping he would just go away and spare the shame.
“Hey,” he exhales, out of breath from his short sprint to you. “Why were you ignoring me just now?”
“I didn’t hear you,” you lie and open your eyes. Jimin frowns.
“That’s not true,” he mumbles, “I was pretty loud and you don’t even have earphones in.”
You don’t say anything and grimace at the floor instead, avoiding his gaze for as long as you can. You’re not a good liar, and Jimin realizes that all too quickly. He continues quietly, “Is this about the… video?”
“It was an accident!” you blurt out with flushed cheeks, “J-Jungkook was going to send it to himself, but…”
She’s so dense, Jimin thinks in astonishment. “He told you that?” He knows it was on purpose; Jungkook was sending him a message beyond the media: that he stands no chance; that you belong to him. He was telling him to back off, but Jimin is more strong-willed than that.
“Yes… please forget about that video.” You avert your gaze to him pleadingly.
“I’m not judging you, if that’s what you’re worried about,” he tries to comfort, “but are you sure it wasn’t intentional?”
Both of you miss Jungkook exiting the lecture hall when you respond. His brows furrow the moment he notices the interaction, but his vision is blocked by other students leaving. He shoves a few as he watches you from afar, your back facing him and Jimin’s expression angering him with its doubtful look. Why the fuck is he still talking to her? He fumes in his spot until you turn back on your path to attend your lecture. You glance at him mid-way and all of your worries vanish the moment you lock eyes. You are taken aback by his glare as he waves you off and stalks up to Jimin who is just idly standing by without moving.
He only breaks out of his trance when Jungkook grabs him by his collar. “I’m guessing you didn’t hear what she said,” he refers to the video with a subtle snarl.
“Heard it loud and clear,” Jimin retaliates obnoxiously. The halls are emptying itself out, and he grows a bit more nervous when he realizes that he’s alone.
“Are you fucking dense? Why are you still following her around like a fucking creep?” He’s greeted with silence, and another possibility dawns on him. A cheshire grin crosses his features as he scoffs, “Oh, you liked it, didn’t you?”
Jimin blinks, dumbfounded, but doesn’t respond. He’s harshly shoved and the back of his head bangs against the wall, echoing in the otherwise silent area. An oomf escapes his mouth at the force, but Jungkook isn’t apologetic.
“You jacked off to it, Jimin?” he closes in on the suffering man who only stares at him. “Answer me.”
“N-No, I wouldn’t-” He’s cut off by the stinging pain on his scalp. 
Jungkook yanks his hair back without mercy, and sings, “Stuttering, avoiding eye contact, taking too long to respond… all signs of lying, no?”
“You’re hurting me,” Jimin holds onto his wrist with both hands as he groans. Jungkook only tugs on it harder.
“I’ll let go if you answer me honestly.” 
Jimin knows that Jungkook is waiting for one specific answer; it is obvious by the sick glint in his eyes. Alas, he tries again, “I-I didn’t do that!”
A deep sigh leaves his mouth with an eye roll, and he brings his free hand to wrap his fingers around Jimin’s neck. He doesn’t put any pressure on him yet, and Jimin is helpless because of the weight pressing against his legs to prevent him from kicking. “Pity,” he mutters, “I never took you for a pervert and a liar.”
The air leaves Jimin’s lungs all too soon when Jungkook tightens his grip on his throat, crushing his windpipes without so much as an expression on his face. Jimin claws at his arm as he wheezes, and Jungkook doesn’t react in the slightest; he looks psychopathic. “Yes,” he finally croaks, “I did.”
He coughs the moment Jungkook removes his hands from him. He bends on his knees as he catches his breath, and the deadly man waits patiently. “You did what?”
“I-I… I jacked off to it,” he swallows audibly.
“Jacked off to what? Your sex life doesn’t interest me.”
“I jacked off to the video of you fingering… her.” Jimin is once again reminded of how cruel Jungkook is, and all he wants is for you to realize that before it’s too late. But he isn’t any better when he is admitting the truth of his wrongful actions.
“Christ…” he trails and shakes his head. He’s feigning disgust, but it works in making Jimin feel worse. “I bet you’d pay to watch it live.”
“Jungkook, please,” he begs hoarsely, his throat dry and scratchy from the suffocation, “stop this. You don’t even love her.”
“Jimin,” he says monotonously, “count yourself lucky that I don’t have any scissors on me, because I’d cut your tongue off right about now. Your voice gives me a headache,” he sighs, “meet me in the lounge at 4.”
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You’re worried and twitching on the edge of your seat during your lecture. Conversing with Jimin was awkward, and him telling you Jungkook had lied to you was infuriating, but it shifted to anxiety when Jungkook appeared upset with you. Why do you always do things wrong?
Dwelling on your feelings is not an option when you have to focus on your professor, and you’re overwhelmed with so many things at once. Your exams; Jungkook’s assignments; Jimin’s persistence are all taking a toll on you. You don’t hesitate to escape reality when your phone vibrates in your pocket. It’s a message from Jungkook and your heart fills with relief as you open it under the desk. It reads:
come straight to the lounge after your lecture.
He’s been interacting with you outside of academical topics, and it feels like you’ve hit a milestone. It’s progress at its finest! He’s waiting for you. Time passes too slow for you, and you eagerly take notes to distract yourself; it works, and you’re out of the hall in a rush.
Students are packing up their belongings just as you stride into the lounge. Jungkook is sitting at the far back, and you almost miss his figure. He’s scrolling through his phone when you reach him and your shallow breaths make him look up. 
“Hi,” you breathe and place your sling bag on the coffee table. The room is spacious and the couches are wide and comfortable. You sit down next to him, your leg touching his spread one.
“Hey baby,” he greets with a smile. You internally scream at the rare pet name, unaware that he’s intentionally riling you up. “How was your lecture?”
“It was good! I missed you so much,” you lean into him, “I didn’t upset you earlier, did I?”
“Of course not, princess. I missed you too,” he palms your cheek before pecking the tip of your nose. “Oh, and Jimin will be joining us today.”
You don’t get to relish in Jungkook’s affection long before your eyes widen. “What? Why?”
“I spoke to him earlier today, and well…” he sighs guiltily, “He told me he would leak your video if you don’t give him a handjob. And I agreed on my terms.”
Your lips part as hatred consumes you. Jungkook knows you would do it, and he knows you’ll hold a grudge. And Jimin… well, he’ll definitely have this experience to keep him satisfied for a while.
Said man stands before the both of you timidly. You’re still in shock when you avert your gaze to him. Jungkook is unexpectedly friendly as he stands up and says, “Jimin! Take a seat.” Jimin sits in his former seat wordlessly as Jungkook plops on the loveseat across. “I don’t think we should drag this out longer than it needs to be.” He juts his chin at you, “Start.”
Jimin is perplexed when you hide your face from him as you unbuckle his belt. “Wh-What are you doing?” he asks, but doesn’t stop you.
Before you can respond, Jungkook says, “She knows.” You and Jimin have two different interpretations of his words, and he is baffled by your reaction to it. You’re going to pleasure him because of what he did? Or is this all an attempt at cutting his dick off?
Your upper body covers your actions from any outsiders, but Jimin is worried he won’t be able to stay quiet when your hand massages his crotch over his briefs. It’s a wet dream come true, really, as he involuntarily inches closer to you. Jungkook leans his cheek on his palm as he watches you in boredom. “Take it out,” he instructs you. You don’t glance at Jimin as you push down his underwear and wrap your hand around his erection. He’s not fully erect because he’s still confused, but the more you stroke him, the harder it grows. “You like it?”
Jimin is conflicted between responding and ignoring, but his noises are the only answer Jungkook needs. He is suppressing moans with gasps, shuddering in his seat because your hand feels so soft and you look so pretty and shy. When you pick up your head to gaze at him questioningly, he replies, “Y-Yes.” 
He is entranced by your doe eyes but Jungkook breaks the building tension by mocking, “You look like you want to kiss her. Calm yourself.”
There’s a brief pause before you ask, “Would it make you… cum faster?”
Jungkook leans his elbows on his knees in interest, a smirk plastered on his face at the power dynamic: both of you are playing along to his strings, two puppets under his control. It makes him curious to see how far you’re willing to go before he’s completely rid of Jimin. The only reason he’s allowing this to happen is because of how pathetic Jimin looks now, and how he’ll be utterly crushed when you never speak to him again. It’s a bittersweet parting memory.
“Um…” he hesitates, but thinks if you decided to give him a handjob, a kiss wouldn’t make you uncomfortable. “Yes?”
You inch your face closer to his, and the both of you look like middle schoolers with how slow your lips eventually meet. It’s a sloppy and amateur kiss with Jimin whining into your mouth, his tongue swiping across your lips recklessly. He’s lost in the pleasure, and it’s clear to you that he’s never done anything like this before. Your thumb grazes the tip of his stiff length, and he begins to twitch under you. You use your other hand to pump his girth, your lips awkwardly pressing against his plump ones.
“Spit in his mouth.”
You abruptly pull away to gawk at Jungkook, but he only raises a brow intimidatingly, as if daring you to defy him. “Open,” you demand Jimin. His eyes are hazy, and he has no idea what he’s doing. He’s drunk on your touch as he parts his glistening lips and slightly sticks out his tongue. You spit on it and he flicks his tongue out to collect all of it, swallowing with a deep rumble resounding from his chest. He’s enjoying this far too much.
You don’t notice him cum with a thrust in the air when you kiss him, but as it begins to coat your fingers, you look down to see his oozing leak. It’s not spurting, and you’re grateful for it when you scoot away from him. He’s panting with his head thrown back on the couch headrest. 
Jungkook breaks his silence by cooing to you, “Are you okay, baby?” You nod with a pout, head turned away from Jimin. You’re waiting for Jungkook’s cue to leave so you can speak your mind. “You can go now.”
Without skipping a beat, you seethe, “Fuck you, Jimin. Don’t talk to me ever again or else I will report you to the dean. I hate you, and I hope to never see you again.” You make your grand departure right after, and the man sputters incoherently in confusion.
“What did I do…?”
“Now, Jimin, you heard the girl,” he grins and clasps his hands, “she may take pity on you, but I won’t. One word from you to her, and you’re fucked.”
“If you’re so jealous, why would you let her do that to me?”
He merely shrugs. “Who is she waiting for after giving you a handjob?” he stands up and towers over the seated man who is fumbling with his belt. “I was being nice to you before she completely cut contact with you. You’re welcome by the way.”
As he exits the lounge, he scoffs to himself, “Jealous. What a joke.”
He has no reason to be jealous, because when he's outside, you're shuffling on your feet with your hands held behind your back with a bright smile as you turn to look at him.
"There's my girl," he affirms with a lopsided grin.
It shouldn't feel so reassuring when you reply, "Always yours." And as long as you are, you should be content with only having him in your life.
Because he's never going to catch you talking to another boy again, even if it's his former best friend.
428 notes · View notes
luimagines · 4 years ago
Text
He reacts to seeing you Sick/Wounded Part 2
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Masterlist
Part 1 Part 3
Scenario under the cut! Blood ahead so be warned.
Twilight
Twilight looked around the group for what had to be the umpteenth time, searching for you.
You had left awhile ago and had yet to return.
If it was Wild or Hyrule he wouldn’t have put much thought into it. The two of them were notorious for wandering off if something shiny caught their eye and they could be gone for hours.
Not you though.
If anything, you were the one to insist on keeping the group together and to avoid “splitting the party”. as you’d say. You even had a song to go with it, a catchy little tune from your world and he caught himself humming under his breath more than once when he realize someone was gone.
But you were gone long enough now that you even missed a meal.
Twilight started bouncing his knee in anticipation, the worse scenarios coming to mind at what could be happening to you.
“I’m going to find them.” He said, standing up and walking away from the group.
He waits until he’s far enough away to take out the necklace he’s been carrying around since the start of this adventure.
Twilight activates the charm and feels the magic wash over him, his vision and senses sharpening as the worlds color fade and his perspective changes.
There’s always a little discomfort as the beginning of each transformation so he takes a second to compose himself.
Twilight then starts sniffing the air and catches your scent, following where it leads. The path is pretty straight forward and he can almost reconstruct how long it took for you to reach the destination. Twilight travels a little farther than he was expecting, it’s way farther than hearing range, even with his advanced ears.
It’s a little concerning because even if you were to scream for help, there’s no way any of them would have known.
He’s trying to be optimistic. Twilight has seen you fight. He has seen you treat your own wounds. He was personally seen your resourcefulness in tricky situations. There’s little, he thinks, that can actually keep you down.
But then his worst nightmare comes to his nose and he takes off in a sprint. 
It’s blood.
It’s yours.
And there’s a lot of it.
He follows it as far as he can until he hears a pained whimper.
Twilight then follows the sound and comes to a stop, shocked at the sight before him.
You’re sitting up against a tree, the top half of you looks fine if only a little ragged and there’s tear streaks down both your cheeks. Twilight follows the line of your body and sees that there’s no injuries on your arms or torso even if your hands are covered in blood.
But at sight of your leg, he knows what’s happened.
There has to be people nearby, that’s the only explanation.
It’s metal trap with sharp jagged teeth that penetrate the skin and muscle in order to keep the prey from escaping, and they’re incredibly hard to break out of if you don’t have the right equipment. They’re also known for breaking bones if they hit in the right places.
It’s also clamed just above your ankle, blood weeps through still and has travels through the fabric of your pants un to your knee, pronouncing the injury even more.
“Wolfie...” You whimper and try to smile at seeing him. “Yay, you found me. I knew you’d come get me at some point. I tried calling but I think I’m too far away.”
Twilight’s heart bleeds for you and how scared you must have been before he showed up. And he wishes he would have gone looking for you sooner.
You sniffle and whip your face and nose with your sleeve, avoiding the mess on your hands. “I can’t get out. I tried but it’s stuck.” 
Twilight pads closer and sticks his nose by your hands but you pull them back. “I know it looks bad but my hands aren’t hurt...It’s all from my leg. I don’t want to get blood on your pretty fur.”
Twilight doesn’t take time to process the compliment and instead is focused on the choice he has in front of him.
Transform and reveal his secret to you, enabling him to help you here and now or go back and get help, leaving you to the mercy of whatever finds you in your vulnerable state.
It’s a pretty easy choice actually.
Twilight calls off the magic and lets the transformation wash over him. As per usual, the change is disorienting and it’s always hurt more to turn back human than it did to change into a wolf, so he takes a moment to breath before he looks at your ankle.
“Tw-Twilight? You’re Wolfie?” You splutter and try to wrap your head around what you just saw.  “It’s been you this whole time?!”
But he’s ignoring you.
He takes a good look at where the trap is and begins to prod ever so slightly.
“H-HEY!” You cry and try to reach for him. “Don’t! It hurts!”
He doesn’t have the key to unlock it and he doesn’t have the right tools at his disposal to try and pick the lock.
“Twilight please say something.”
“I’m going to get you out. Just hold on a little longer.” He glares at the metal for a moment before placing both his hands around it.
If there’s one thing he’s always been confident in, it’s his strength.
With both hands secured on the device he forces all of his weight to pry it open. He ignores how you continue to make sounds of pain, how his finger tips immediately become moist with your blood and how difficult moving this stupid thing to get you free actually turns out to be. 
After a battle of wills between man and the artificial, it moves and he tilts his hands to keep the momentum going until he’s moved enough of it for you to pull your leg out.
“Go. Get out.” He says with the strain in his voice.
You push away with your hands and your good leg to the best of your ability and slowly (well slower than Twilight would have preferred) to move your leg out of the trap and far enough away where he can simply let it clamp on itself again without fear of losing any fingers or hurting you again.
You gulp and try to move your pant leg to see the damage but it’s clear that doing that hurts you as well.
Twilight it quick to cut off the fabric with his trusted pocket knife and he peels it away.
Bones have definitely been broken.
And there’s certainly a lot of blood to deal with.
He twists the fabric slightly and wraps it above and around your injury to try and stop the flow of blood. Twilight can feel the glare he’s giving to your wound and refuses to look you in face so you can see it.
“Twilight?” You call to him. Your voice is small, weak, tired and afraid.
He can’t leave you to your own thoughts like he wants to so he takes a breath to calm himself and looks at you with as much gentleness and care as he can currently muster.
“You’re going to be just fine, ok?” He says with a small smile. “You’re actually pretty far from the others so it’ll be a bit of a trip but then we’ll get Hyrule to look at you, clean you up... find you some new clothes... You’ll be back to where you were in no time.”
Twilight’s not sure who he’s trying to convinced. It looks deep.
He hopes your foot won’t need to be cut off and that infection hasn’t already set in.
He moves towards you and stops on your good side, wrapping his arm around your shoulders. In one swift movement he hooks his other arm under your knees and picks you up bridal style and begin to walk away from the mess.
You sniffle again and wipe your bloodied hands on your shirt. “Thank you Twilight.” You say. “I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”
“Well you’re going to have to tell one of us what happened.” He responds. “The other are going to ask what on earth happened to you.”
“I meant about you being Wolfie.” You smile. “I’m fully prepared to explain my stupid decisions.”
The easy way you make that claim nearly makes him skip a step and send you both to the ground but Twilight is quick to readjust himself so that it never happens.
He had actually forgotten about that.
“I’d appreciate that.” He nervously chuckles.
“Don’t worry. I’ll cover you when you’re gone. I was starting to suspect something was related because your stories never matched up but I had no proof and no idea where to start. You’re... really not the best at it.” You say and pat his head. “So you save me, I save you. Sound fair?”
“That works for me.”
Time
Time had let Warrior lead the group because he seemed to be the most familiar with the terrain, even if he claims that this isn’t his Hyrule.
With someone capable taking the point, he hung back and let the other walk before him.
He had noticed that you were... weren’t yourself. Like you were hiding something.
You weren’t really interacting with anyone, and you kept your head down, something he hasn’t really known you to do. On another note, you were actually at the back of the group where he was currently stationed.
You always liked to be in the upper middle, talking and entertaining the younger ones and keeping up the group’s moral.
So the fact that you quiet and trying to go unnoticed, arms crossed and head down, worried him.
“Rupee for your thoughts?” He asked you as you walked.
You glanced up at him but you didn’t meet his eyes.
Something was wrong.
“I’m not really thinking about much of anything.” You admitted and shrugged. “I’m just a bit under the weather. I’ll be fine in a bit.”
“You don’t feel good?” Time frowns and stops the both of you with a hand on your shoulder. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“And slow down literally everyone.” You raise an eyebrow at him and he takes a quick second to catalogue your pink cheeks and red rimmed eyes.
Something is wrong.
“It’s just a headache.” You insist. “We’re already behind by how knows how long and it’ll go away on its own. I appreciate the concern but I don’t want to be a hinderance more than anything think I am.”
“For one thing, no one thinks you’re a hinderance.” Time says, taking off his gauntlet and he presses the back of his hand against your forehead, then your cheeks and the back of your neck. “If any one of those boys has told you that, you tell me and I’ll set them straight.”
He doesn’t miss the way you lean and hum in relief from his touch.
Truthfully, you’re actually burning up more than your skin seems to show and his concern sky rockets beyond the moon and back of this proverbial saying.
“I appreciate the thought but it’s not that important.” You say and he catches the way you frown in displeasure when he pulls away.
“Who told you that?” He asks in lieu of bringing your illness to light.
“No one.”
Time frowns some more and says your name in his stern commander voice that he knows you hate.
“No one.” You insist. “No one here anyway.”
From your previous adventure perhaps? Time puts the information away in the back of his mind and vows to vanquish the thoughts from your head when he can, but your health takes precedence right now.
“I think it’s about time to take a break anyway.” Time puts his gauntlet back on and begins to walk forward, leading you with a hand on the small of your back. “Maybe the Champion would be willing to make something for lunch.”
“Think he can cook something up for my headache?” You sigh and massage your temples in a way that seems reminiscent.
“That and more, if you ask him.” He replies easily and lets out a loud whistle that has become their cue to set up for the midday break.
It takes a while for your duo to make it to the others but at least you weren’t so far gone that no one would have heard Time’s signal.
You instantly take a step down and sit on the ground, cradling your head in a way that looks more like you’re crying than merely resting.
Time feels his heart clench at the sight and makes his way over to Wild. He tells them what he found out and asks if he can make something special for you. Something to keep you going.
Because as much as he wants to, this is not the place to stop for the night and with your pride on the line, he doesn’t want the others to crowd and bring more attention than you’d be comfortable with to your predicament.
“There’s a town about three hours from here.” Warrior’s speaks up, having eavesdropped on the conversation Time was trying to have on the down low. “We can hit it before night fall and let them rest in an actual bed for the night.”
Time nods and agree with the notion.
The others seem to catch on that you’re not feeling well and Time discourages them from getting closer than they should, less they get sick as well.
The break is quiet and uneventful for a change and Time is quick to get the group up and moving again when it’s over, choosing to keep you company on the way to the town and trying to make it as painless and comfortable for you as he can.
A part of him thinks that he should just swallow his pride and yours and carry you to the town as you deteriorate on the walk, but it’s not like you’d let him.
He’d just have to satisfy his concern when he eventually takes watch over your bed side, just to make sure you wake up feeling better.
Wind
Wind was sure that you’re hiding something.
You’ve been shifty eyed and nervous, jittery and uncollected.
So unlike the you that he’s come to know, rely on and appreciate.
It scares him a little, to see you so unlike yourself.
Wind makes a calculated guess on why you’re so weird after walking by your side for most of the journey. 
You’re hurt and trying to not let anyone else know.
He can tell by how you’re trying to curl in yourself and fold over but have to keep righting your position. You’re having to walk with one foot on your toes because if you tried any more normally, you’d be limping. You’re a bit slower than your usual walking pace but you’ve been arcing your stride a little to the side so that it matches in length what you wouldn’t be able to make up for in number of steps.
He’s almost impressed by how well you’ve been hiding it.
But it’s drowned out by the irritation of your stubbornness. You could have just told someone, anyone, and they’d help you in seconds. You wouldn’t have to be in pain or having to stop every other second to hide a wince or a grunt or-
Wind is this close to just stopping everything to scream in your face.
He takes a small glance over to you as you walk, and sighs. He knows you won’t listen to him if he tries to say something. And you’d probably be irritated at him instead for trying to make a fuss about it.
Wind doesn’t know what to do, or how to help you, without being pushed away.
You trip.
Wind is too shocked by the outcome to even try to stop you from falling face first into the ground. 
Ok, not face first. You manage to twist yourself just in time to avoid a face on collision, but you land on your side in the process.
Your bad side.
You yell in pain which alerts the whole group ahead and behind you. But you don’t seem to care about that anymore. You finally give into the urge and curl in on yourself, rolling over so that the ground is against your good side and nothing is irritating whatever hit you’ve been hiding.
Wind has to nearly smack himself out of it before he makes it to your side. He can hear the other catching up, their footsteps thundering mutely on the dirt but he’s more focused on you and where your hand seems to be cradling your side.
He’s quick to peel your hand off and lift your shirt.
You’re too shocked and stunned from the pain to stop him. Enough so that you’re brain doesn’t even register it, so you don’t fight back.
He gasps at the the sight and his stomach turns ever so slightly.
It’s a massive bruise, from up to your ribs that are highlighted in a toxic green, down to your hip and it’s not even black and blue. It’s so bad there’s more red on the surface than purple and it makes it look like you’re covered in blood even if the skin hasn’t been breached.
He knows what caused this. 
Two days ago the group had found themselves in the middle of a fight with not one, but three infected monsters and one of them had a nasty looking club. You were fighting with him and on one of them and had taken a hit directly to your side. It was strong enough that it sent you spinning through the air and right into a tree. He didn’t think much of it since you simply bounced back like nothing happened and proceeded to stab the thing through the skull, but if he tries hard enough, he think you hit the same side on the tree as well.
But you didn’t drink a potion, he doesn’t think he even saw you being healed by Hyrule. Which means that you just had this on you for so long and you just- weren’t going to tell anyone?!
Wind can feel his heart clench in tandem with his first, your shirt nearly ripping since it was trapped in between his fingers. “HYRULE!”
“What happened?” Warrior makes it to his side first and stops mid-step when he catches sight of it. “I’ll... go get the Traveler.”
There’s a few seconds in between before you shake off the pain and rip your clothes out of his grip, forcing yourself to get to your feet again.
Everyone is too shocked by what they’ve seen verses how you’ve acting that they almost let you but Wind has been next to you, watching you, and he still is. He catches that your arms are shaking as you put your weight on it, and when you try and compensate for your bad side, you nearly throw yourself over again from your bad balance.
Wind pushes you back down and keeps his hands on your shoulders so keep you from trying that again.
Hyrule takes his cue and slides on his knees until he reaches your side, his healing spell fluttering around his fingers and into the nasty bruise.
“Guys, I’m fine.”
“Cut the bullcrap.” Wind says, knowing that Twilight and Time are behind him with Sky not too far behind. He hopes they let that one slide at least. “It’s looks like you were stabbed fifty seven times and poisoned to top of it all.”
You look up at him then and sigh, the fight leaving instantaneously. “Whatever.”
“It’s not whatever!” He argues but you cut him off.
“It’s just a bruise. It’ll heal in a few days and nothing is broken. But because it’s you holding me down, I’ll let you heal me.” You try for a half smile but Wind thinks it falls flat. “I’m not even going to try and fight a pirate in my state. Take your victory for now.”
“You didn’t have to let it get so bad.” Hyrule scolds you and you don’t even have the decency of at least looking apologetic.
“It was the fall that really made it hurt.” You clench your jaw when your shirt gets lifted higher for Hyrule to heal the bruise on your ribs. “It was just awkward before that.”
“No it wasn’t” Wind frowns even harder. “You were walking funny. It hurt like hell back there too and for a while as well. Why didn’t you get treatment with the others? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Wind.” You say with as much patience you can muster. Your face begins to relax as the pain fades and the bruise changes to a more normal shade of purple with black spots. “We have no potions left. And Hyrule can only do so much healing in one go.”
“Speaking of...” Legend steps in and yanks Hyrule back by the shoulder, stopping the healing process.
Hyrule takes a minute to reorient himself and he steps away from a minute to catch his breath.
Wind takes another look at your injury and winces. While it looks significantly better than it did seconds prior, it’s not completely healed and would likely have to take more magic to heal on its own. They could just leave it there for the days it’ll take for it to heal naturally but Wind doesn’t like the idea of leaving you hurt for more than necessary.
“How were none of your bones broken?” Twilight asks in a quiet shocked voice.
“Oh no, there were many fractures, believe me.” Hyrule shakes his head. “Mostly minor but it’s crazy how they were able to still be standing, let alone walking. Didn’t any of that hurt?”
Wind takes a sharp breath and has to look away from you. 
You were really good at hiding it then.
He misses the pained look on your face as he turns away and can’t see the hand you reach out to him. “Wind?”
“No.” He gulps and stand up. “This isn’t ok. You can’t do this. Say something next time, or I’ll never speak to you again.”
The second he says it, he feel childish for coming up with that threat in particular and while he wishes that there’ll never be a next time, he knows better.
Occupational hazard and all that jazz.
Your face morphs into one of sadness and you take your hand back. “Ok. Ok. I’ll be better next time.”
He supposes the threat worked after all.
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words-etched-in-her-skin · 3 years ago
Note
Alright… challenge time :p (Not seriously You can slay anything)
Rigger Sadist Cassandra having fun with her rope bunny pet in a dungeon/ Play room setting.
Can be smutty, humorous or fluffy.
Combined with: Smut with Cassandra and a masochist maiden? A maiden who risks their life to get punished by a certain ravenous daughter?*Slight daddy kink added for a follower on Ao3*
***
Sorry it took me so long to get some you guys some content for our beloved Cass 🥺 But I hope you all like it 😏 I know I had a lot of fun writing it 🤤
***
Chilled brick against slightly bruised skin. A dull ache to your knees as you shifted from one leg to the other. You could only wonder how long she had had you there. The dense darkness of the castle dungeons - the infinite night - allowing no such time to make its way known. The faint sound of water dripping onto aged mortar as a fierce rain blew around the castle walls. Even in the blackened air between you, Cassandra’s eyes still beamed through like a beacon - a warning - a promise of everything that was coming to you. 
“I swear, morsel.. You get prettier with each passing minute that you spend on those knees of yours.”
The immaculate smirk that curled across her lips would have immediately made you drip, if you weren’t already doing so. The black rope that she had meticulously wrapped around your soft flesh firm against you as she began to circle like the prey that you were. You had known all too well that out of all of the sisters, Cassandra was the most sadistic - a trait that had scared most of the servants in the castle - but for some reason, it only seemed to excite you more. 
“A-ah.. thank you, miss.”
A desperate needy tone coated your words in the most delicious of ways. How badly you longed for her to touch you - for her to claim you. You had seen the marks she had left on others, spreading a deep heat every time your eyes had laid upon them - and when the stunning brunette told you to meet her in the dungeons after your daily work was finished, it was all you could do not to sprint your way down those steps as fast as you could. 
“I can smell how badly you want this, morsel.” 
She chuckled before you could even respond, kneeling down to look you in the eyes. A most sadistic smile painted across her perfect lips, and you couldn’t help but whimper as she grabbed you firmly by your chin and forced you to your feet. Pulling roughly on your restraints before slowly leading you back against the castle wall. The sound of metal against brick cutting through the air as she tied the ropes that bound you to the chain that adorned it - sufficiently pinning your hands to the cooled brick above you. An exquisite pain radiating throughout your body as she pulled on the restraints even harder, forcing you to cry out for her.
“Heh.. moaning for me already?” 
“Mmph… yes, miss.. ah-!” 
She chuckled again before allowing her tongue to trace over the small bite she had just gifted you, using the length of her frame to lean you further back against the wall.
“I’ve seen the way you look at my handy work, morsel. How that desperate blush spreads across those cheeks as your eyes fall from one mark to another.” 
“Y-yes, miss.” 
“One would think that you liked the prospect of me claiming you. That you long to feel my teeth deep within that soft flesh of yours.”  
You whimpered again as she wrapped her long fingers into your hair, tugging on it firmly - exposing the length of your neck to her. Every cell in your body set a blaze as the indulgent pain spread swiftly over you. You swallowed hard before answering. 
“O-one would think that, miss… because I do…” 
“Oh, I know.”
A single glance of a warning before her teeth were on you again. A deeper bite to crook of your neck, just short of breaking the skin. A sharp inhale dancing across your slightly parted lips as she bit you again, this time just a little lower. Oh, how you pulled against your restraints - longing to wrap your fingers in her hair - to pull her closer to you. Her cooled breath against your skin as she chuckled again - the sweet heat as her teeth sank in a little deeper, earning brilliant drops of crimson to seep across your flushed skin. The slightest of growls reverberating deep within her throat as she licked over them - tasting you. 
“If you’d like a safeword, now would be the time to choose it. There’s no guarantee I’ll be able to control myself otherwise.” 
“Ah-! No… no… just fucking devour me. Please.”
At the utter and desperate tone to your pleads - the absolute primality that radiated throughout the small space of the dungeons as a deep and unyielding growl forced itself from Cassandra’s body. The sheer force of her slamming you back against the wall as her teeth sank deeply into your flushed skin - harder - rougher. Sharp nails finding the soft flesh of your thighs as you felt the warmth of her tongue skate over the deep teeth marks that began to deliciously decorate your body. Moaning slightly as you felt her drink from you. 
“M-more… please.”
She growled again, eyes sharp as she pulled herself from your eager body. 
“It would do you well to be careful what you wish for when I am in such a state, morsel.”
You said it again without a second thought. “More”��
You could feel the cool air of the dungeons begin to spin around you as her teeth found you again. Each mark more delicious than the last as she utterly claimed you. A deep heat spilling over you as she pulled on your restraints yet again, tightening the rope that had bound your body even more. The multitude of sensations almost overwhelming - all encompassing - the only break from the relentless heat that threatened to overtake you being the cool air dancing off of the trickles of crimson that began to drip their way down your overly flushed skin. 
“Mmh.. I can smell how wet you are.” 
She purred the words into your skin before biting it harder than she had all night, forcing an immediate yelp from your lips.
“Mmph.. Cassandra… please.”
As soon as her name left your lips, you knew you had fucked up. The strength of her hand coming swiftly around your neck, firmly squeezing it. 
“Careful, there. Wouldn’t want to ruin the good time we’re having with such slip ups.” 
The embers in her eyes almost black, on the verge of absolute darkness as she looked you over. The thick metallic scent of your blood on her lips as she squeezed a little harder - causing sparks behind your eyes before swiftly letting go. 
“Ah.. y-yes, miss.. sorry…” 
"There are very few things I tolerate being called down here, maiden.”
The sharp undertones to her voice - the change in petname - swiftly reminding you of exactly who you were dealing with - filling your body with a deep, unyielding heat. You had heard a few of those things screamed out into the castle walls on some of your loneliest nights - with nothing more than the warmth of your hands to keep you company, you couldn’t help but imagine what Cassandra could possibly be doing to induce such delicious sounds. Sometimes they were screamed in pleasure.. others in pain. But there was always one that made you wetter than the rest when you heard it. 
“Daddy.” You half whimpered - breathy, and desperate - eyes half lidded as they locked onto hers. 
The sound that forced itself past Cassandra’s lips was guttural - primal - a growl so thunderous that it rivaled the storm that waged around the castle walls. So deep that you felt it in your knees - in your core - in your inner and utter being. The length of her body firmly against you as she forced you back against the wall once again. Eyes of absolute darkness as she breathed over you - taking in your scent. A single sweep of her tongue before her teeth were relentlessly back on you. Hot, and uncompromising - causing a fevershing heat to spill rapidly across your body. The sharpness of her teeth swiftly finding any unmarked flesh that you had left to offer. 
You gasped as her fingers traced over your thighs, nails digging in. The warmth of her mouth exploring over the rest of you as she fully, and wholly claimed you as her own. Sending the castle walls around you spinning as her fingers ghosted over your core. Forcing a desperately needy whimper to escape from your lips. You knew you were dripping for her - and you knew she could smell your sweet musk every time she made you squirm. 
“Such a tasty morsel you turned out to be.” She murmured the unexpected praise against your flushed skin, earning a swift blush to spill across your body. “How badly you must want me to touch you.”
“You... you are touching me, miss.”
You closed your eyes in preparation for the consequences that would normally follow such a quip, only to feel Cassandra’s breath cool against you as she chuckled - forcing  you to open your eyes. Golden spheres rising slowly through darkness when her eyes found yours. An utterly devious smirk to her lips as her fingers came firm around your chin. 
“Heh… very tasty, indeed.”
You swallowed hard, not daring to say another word as her eyes watched you carefully. A]look to her face that made you wonder if she were trying to decide whether she wanted to eat you or… kiss you. You were, obviously, hoping for the latter.
Her sweet scent rolling over you as she leaned in a little closer - tightening the grip on your chin while her tongue swept deliciously over the width of her mouth, cleaning the last bit of crimson from her soft skin.
“Well, morsel… looks like you’ve chosen the ‘no release’ option with your meal.” 
She chuckled at her own joke - a glimpse of a smirk across her lips before the sharp exquisite sting of her teeth found you again. A deep moan as she slid the length of two fingers deep into you - fast and merciless inside you. And oh, how she kept true to her word. Edging you relentlessly long into the midnight hours - until your exquisitely desperate juices had sufficiently soaked the chilled mortar below you. 
Xx
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batfamtv · 4 years ago
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me after writing smut: is this who i am? is this who i represent? lmao i've never written smut until trese, i guess the thirst was too much, let me know how y'all like it! thank you so much for all your support, ily <3
(ノ´ з `)ノ
kambal x reader; established relationship
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gif by @rasputinaillyanna (see their original gifsets here!)
sfw
the three idiots
seriously, alexandra feels like she keeps aging 20+ years whenever you three are together and goofing around
this is one of the reasons why you’re not allowed on the field with them, they’d get absolutely nothing done
that, and the twins simply wont put you in danger under any circumstances
alexandra also treats you like a sister (in law) and wants you safe, but can only do so much to keep you out of their lives since you still find ways to help them out
absolutely rowdy when you’re with basilio, you and him practically have a lot of inside jokes and a secret language
people would give you both weird looks when you’re out in public, just because you’re both so damn loud
with crispin you’re more mature (but not a lot), he does these grand gestures like taking you out on expensive dates, takes instagram/pinterest style pics of you
basilio also takes pics of you, but those are some of the most unflattering ones that he sends to your groupchat as memes
the ppl who arent familiar with your relationship with the twins are almost often confused when they see you with just the one twin: they’d think “huh i saw this couple a week ago, but i could have sworn the boyfriend had much shorter hair, it couldn’t have grown that long in a week, right?”
when you do go out with the twins, they flank you and you almost get squished in between them, so sometimes you have to push them both to the sides so that you would have space to move around
the three of you like to just chill at the mall sometimes, go window shopping and then eat samgyup/mang inasal later on
other times when you manage to drag alexandra with you, people would assume that you guys are on a double date, and alexandra has the ugliest/most disgusted look on her face as she corrects them “these are my brothers” “im gay”
in your groupchat (just you and the twins) crispin is the sweet, doting one who would text you “have you eaten?” “want us to pick something up for you on the way home?” while basilio sends you memes and selfies of the twins
they send you videos and pics of pets they meet “today we met brownie and blackie”
with regards to living arrangements, the twins have separate rooms (basilio’s is the messy one, smells weird)
when you moved in, alexandra offered you your own room, and most of the time that’s where the boys stay anyway
the bed is much larger than theirs because it needs to accommodate all three of you
you three try to cook meals for ate alexandra, but it almost always turns out disastrous - mostly when basilio insists on helping
so you always make him run errands (“can you go pick up some more garlic and magic sarap”) while you and crispin man the stoves
you braid basilio’s hair while crispin tunes his guitar!!
and you spend a couple of hours listening to crispin play the guitar, basilio’s head now resting on your lap
crispin’s movie taste are like *film* and *poetic cinema* while basilio might enjoy movies that are so bad they’re good, but you three are all suckers for superhero ensemble movies and horror movies
the boys become really annoying when watching filipino horror movies because they like to point out mistakes in the film “aswangs dont do that” “why would you go there all alone are you stupid???”
“please boys i just wanna watch the movie”
a huge cuddle pile
both boys run hot, so during cold nights (that never happen, bc you live in the philippines) you’re all warm and toasty between them
both light sleepers! they were pretty heavy sleepers when they were kids/teenagers, but the occupational hazard of their jobs require them to be ready at a moment’s notice
they still, however, snore quite loudly
crispin doesn’t ever tend to move positions when sleeping, he wakes up in the same position he fell asleep in
basilio rotates around the bed like hands of a clock
most often falls off the bed, but clumsily climbs back up and cuddles you
really really simpy when it comes to you, though most of the time it’s just you three sharing one brain cell (it’s with you, mostly), they can be quite romantic and cheesy if they want to
crispin probably has his brother as just “Basilio” on his phone, and “Y/N ❤️" for you
basilio has “my love ❤️😍😘💘 ” for you and crispin’s number isn’t even registered lol
nsfw under the cut
nsfw
threesome? threesome
boys barely do anything separately and usually just have a Single Thought in both their heads, so if one is horny, the other one is 69% (lol) horny as well
you realize that crispin doesn’t like to be teased at work, but basilio enjoys it so much
you find this out when you’re alone and horny, so you send a pic of you touching yourself to the boys in your groupchat
crispin sees it first, but doesn’t say anything?? he honest to god just left you on read
meanwhile basilio also sees your pic not too long after and you quickly get a “what the fuck” as a reply from him
like 10 mins later he sends you a pic of him in what looks like a washroom and his cock is straining in his pants
he texts you “had to find a washroom so fucking fast so that ate alex and the police captain doesn’t see me so fucking hard in my pants” and “wanna eat you pussy babe”
crispin does text you when the three are on their way home, not mentioning the picture you sent “we’re on our way home”
and at first you thought he is mad at you bc he didn’t bring the nude up?? does he not want you anymore :(
but the moment they arrive crispin all but sprints to your shared bedroom and sees you there, in your underwear
holds your cheeks in one hand, “what the fuck was that baby, hmm? what did you send us?”
you try to ask if he’s mad bc you sent him a nude, ask him if there’s anything wrong, but he just lets your face go as he takes his suit off, basilio finds his way to your room, locks it, and gives you a kiss
basilio whispers “missed you baby” against your mouth before moving away to undress
crispin, now fully naked in front of you, makes you suck his cock, which is hard and twitching, its tip leaking with precum, he makes you place both his hands on your head, “do you know how surprised i was when i saw a text from you and it’s a picture of you touching your cunt? hmm?” he sighs as he sees you looking up at him, eyes watering as you struggle to take all of his cock down your throat “i had to stop myself from getting hard in front of everyone, baby, basilio couldn’t even do that”
basilio huffs but the boys reposition you so you’re in bed and on your back, crispin kneeling to your side, his cock still throbbing in your mouth, basilio positions himself between your thighs, moaning when he sees how wet you are
basilio removes your panties before rushing to sniff your cunt, groaning in delight--you’re sure his eyes roll to the back of his head before he dives into your cunt
you moan into crispin’s cock and he grunts, shoving more of his cock into your mouth, now moving faster, “i really wanna cum down your throat baby, would you let me?”
you nod and he pushes his cock all the way into your mouth, your nose practically touching his groin and pubes
you gag, for a moment panicked as you try to breathe in, while crispin just eyes you, his cock growing ever harder when he looks at your face wet with tears and drool, he grabs your hair, softly at first, to make sure you’re okay, and when you nod crispin groans as he sets up his pace, groaning as he feels his orgasm building
basilio, meanwhile, is licking and sucking your clit with three fingers knuckles deep in your cunt, and when he starts to feel you spasming, a telltale sign that your orgasm is approaching, he pulls his mouth and fingers out and quickly replacing them with his fat cock
immediately, you and basilio both groan, your eyes roll to the back of your head as you feel yourself so full of cock
basilio curses under his breath before taking your legs and resting them against his shoulders “fuck, y/n, im sorry i’m not gonna last long” “your pussy got me so fucking hard you tasted so good baby, you know how much i love your little pussy, right?”
crispin groans at this before he pulls his cock out of your mouth, leaning down to kiss you, he then moves down your neck and your tits, making sure he marks your chest
basilio whimpers and thrusts three more times before releasing a long groan, his cum exploding deep in your pussy “fuck baby you feel so good” he manages to pull out and you see his cock wet with his cum and your juices before settling beside you, panting harshly
you barely had the type to recuperate before crispin flips you on your stomach, making sure your face is resting on the pillows before he thrusts into you with a grunt
“fuck, still a tight little pussy after basilio rammed your cunt, huh?”
your eyes rolling, you couldnt do much other than hold onto the sheets and basilio’s hand, moaning loudly when you feel crispin’s fingers on your clit
“can you take one more, y/n? can your pussy take one more load?”
speechless, you nod, trying to grind your ass against crispin’s hips, but his hands on your hips hold you firm
he grunts approvingly, “good baby, take it deep in your pussy okay? and cum on my cock, baby, i wanna feel it”
you cum on his cock, almost violently, and twins groan at the sound of your moaning, and the sight of you spasming and shaking on crispin’s cock
a couple of deep thrusts later, crispin also cums deep into your pussy, his cum now mixed with basilio’s
crispin moves to get a washcloth to clean the three of you up, before all three of you collapse in bed, huddled together, basilio with his arms wrapped from behind--already falling asleep, you rest your head against crispin’s arm
“so, no more nudes when you’re at work?”
crispin laughs softly before pressing a kiss on your forehead, “unless your cunt is ready to take two cocks at once, no nudes when we’re at work”
395 notes · View notes
mieohmy · 4 years ago
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𝖧𝖾𝖺𝗋𝗍𝗌 𝖺𝗍 𝖲𝗍𝖺𝗄𝖾 | 𝗅𝖾𝖾 𝗃𝖾𝗇𝗈, 𝗇𝖺 𝗃𝖺𝖾𝗆𝗂𝗇
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PAIRING: jeno x fem reader, jaemin x fem reader
GENRE: angst, fluff, humor, agent!jeno, agent!jaemin, agent!reader, spy! au, love triangle, slow burn, pining
WC: 13.1k
NOTES: depictions of violence, weapons, murder, death, blood, injuries, hospitals, mentions of alcohol consumption
SUMMARY: you save jeno’s life and suddenly you’re more to him than he’s ever thought possible. or in more simple terms, you somehow find yourself in the midst of a war called feelings.
notice!- there will be a part two/bonus of this fic soon so keep a lookout :)
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“Yes sir.” The three of you speak in unison. 
You, jeno, and jaemin are excused from your boss’s office, minds already revving up for your newly assigned mission. 
“So.....” jaemin starts. 
“So?” You glance at him, jeno to your left doing the same. 
“What do you guys want to eat after we’re done?”
Jeno snorts. 
“Already thinking about dinner before the mission’s even started?” You tease jaemin as you walk side by side down the stairs.
Just seeing you three together catches everyone else’s attention. And when you and the boys go to your respective lockers, grabbing your gear and getting ready, they begin to whisper too, already knowing what it means.  
The notorious three going all out again. 
It didn’t phase any of you at this point. Simply because you guys were that group. The trio with the reputation of being “unstoppable” as the rookies called it. Meaning? Your assigned missions rarely failing, the deeds done cleanly and always on time- the boss never had to worry and fret over your team. But you three were humble enough to simply call it ‘practiced skill and talent’ -with a spoonful of teamwork, of course. 
Actually, that was an understatement. Teamwork was important, if not the most important thing while performing missions together. Knowing your partners’ style, skills, actions, were key in any task- basically being able to understand and read each other’s minds without a single word, even in the middle of a battle. Especially in the middle of a battle.
“Are you ready?” Jeno asks, and you nod, looking over to jaemin attempting to put on his earpiece. You stifle a laugh, shuffling over to him and reaching to adjust it.   “What would all the newbies think if the mighty jaemin couldn’t even put on his earpiece correctly?” You mutter, fingers soft and nimble while focusing intently. 
He grins. “I’d say you always do it for me because you’re the boss.” 
You smile. “Dang right I am.” 
Turning back to jeno, you notice him waiting boredly for you two. “We’re good Jen! Or do you need me to fix yours too?”
He shakes his head, a smile forming. “Nah, I can take care of myself pretty well.” 
“Are you sure? What about that one coffee-“
Jeno presses a finger to your lips, effectively muffling your next words. 
“Let’s not mention that anymore.” 
A few beats of silence pass. 
Then Jaemin abruptly claps his hands. “Ah! The one girl-“ 
And jeno basically flies through the air over to him, covering his face and whispering worthless threats. The three of you burst into laughter, the atmosphere quite light and easy compared to what you were about to embark on. 
You head to the exit and towards the waiting car. 
Once everyone gets inside, there’s a noticeable shift in the energy -no more fun banter and joking. It was time to focus. 
The assigned driver types in the address to where you three are supposed to infiltrate a random gang’s base and take some trivial files for your own group’s use. The difficulty wasn’t too bad, especially for you three. Definitely not the worst you’ve ever been through as a team-  you cringe thinking back to when you, jeno, and jaemin started your first “big” mission. Needless to say, you all came back a little worse for wear. The mission still was considered a success- just saying.  
The ride is pretty quiet, an occasional remark here and there. There wasn’t an important need to plan and discuss beforehand- you quickly learned that the three of you worked best just going along with the flow. 
The pitch-black night sky and yellow-tinted streetlights greet you as you exit the car, gratefully accepting jeno’s extended hand when you step down. 
Jeno looks around, examining the supposed hideout. The sight of an empty parking garage greets him- dim but still lit up somewhat brightly. It may not seem all too scary, but he knows better. It’s just a facade for the dark and twisted acts going on underneath. 
“What is this place? Some 2013 music video shoot for a boy group?” Jaemin jokes. 
You crack a smile whilst searching around for the entrance. Speaking from experience, you already guessed it would be in an ambiguous location with some stupid twist to get in. 
After a couple of seconds, the three of you glance at each other, a look going around that no one else would understand. 
“Elevator to your right?” 
Jaemin nonchalantly nods, eves never flicking away. “Yep.” 
You bite the inside of your cheek. “Jen, Jaem, I think you guys can stand guard while I quickly get the files.”
The two boys both immediately begin to object, voices rising. Your eyes widen, taking a quick glance around before shushing them. “You never know who’s lurking!”
Jeno rolls his eyes. “I don’t care. We’re not letting you go in alone.” 
You sigh, checking the time. “Okay, fine. Then jaem can come with me. I think you’re the quietest and stealthiest out of all three of us.” 
Jaemin nods, and you turn to jeno. “Comm us if you see anything, okay?”
Jeno gives a small thumbs up. 
“Come on,” you instinctively grab jaemin’s hand. “Let’s be fast so we don’t leave jeno waiting out here for too long.”
Jeno watches as the two of you disappear behind the closing doors. 
It’s boring. 
The most action Jeno's gotten was a bird flying in and pecking at some random stuff on the ground before leaving. 
Jeno begins to wish he went with you guys, but his role is still important. Except for the times when there was no one around and no need to keep a lookout. Jeno stifles a yawn, the somehow peaceful air getting to his head, but it’s cut short when he hears oncoming voices. And they’re definitely not yours or jaemin’s. 
He curses internally, ducking and moving out of view from whoever was there. He squints, and there’s no denying the gang symbol painted on their backs. 
Jeno counts- two, three... 
Okay, that’s not bad. He could definitely take them on. Then jeno remembers he only brought a small knife, not expecting any surprise encounters, and his confidence lowers a bit.
He presses the button on his earpiece, speaking lowly as to not alert the dark figures. “Guys. Unexpected arrival. About three or so.”
A couple of seconds later, your voice filters through. “Shoot. It’s okay, we’ve got the file and are almost out. Are they headed towards the entrance?”
He peeks around the corner and bites his lip after looking. “Yes.”
Jeno hears a sigh from the other side. 
“About three more minutes. We got caught up in some security codes. Do you think you can take them on or do you want to wait for us?”
“No,” he immediately responds. “We can’t risk losing the file.” 
“Okay.” There’s a pause, and jeno waits. 
“Just...” you speak up, “be careful.” 
Jeno gulps. “I will.”
It’s not anything jeno hasn’t done before, but it’s still a risky move nonetheless. 
He takes a look again, and they’re typing in a code to the door where you and jaemin entered not so long ago. 
It’s now or never. 
“Hey!” 
Jeno’s voice comes out light and airy, a casual and relaxed tone to it as he strolls out. 
The masked figures tense, attention immediately on jeno. 
Rude, jeno thinks. 
He doesn’t even get another word out before the guys are all over him. He takes one out with ease, and barely avoids another one armed with a knife. 
Jeno moves with practiced ease, swiftly dodging attacks and hitting back with double the strength. 
It’s only after the second guy is down with a blow to the face that jeno whips out his own knife, going after the last guy. 
Jeno slices and the figure slumps to the ground. He huffs, examining the fallen bodies around him as he hides his knife away. Two minutes tops, he thinks. 
Then the sound of the door opening alerts him, and he turns to see you and jaemin looking tense and alert, relaxing when you catch sight of jeno and the bodies lying around him. 
That means one thing. Obviously. 
You send a thumbs up with an easy smile, one jeno returns back, believing the mission was done and sealed. He starts messing with his annoying earpiece- huh, maybe you were right, and he didn’t put it in correctly... 
Jeno misses the horror that immediately replaces your satisfied look when you take a better glance at him, or more accurately, what’s behind him. 
“Lee Jeno!” You suddenly scream, shrill voice echoing through the supposedly empty lot.
Jeno whips around toward you. His eyes immediately make eye contact with yours, and there’s this look of pure terror and desperation.  
Chills run down his spine and fear prickles at his neck. What could get you to react like that? 
Jeno’s never seen you this scared. Not in a very, very long time. He’s too dumbfounded at your abrupt outburst to pay any attention to his surroundings. 
You’re sprinting towards him as fast as you can, lips mouthing words that either he can’t hear or you’re not sounding out. 
It all happens so fast- too fast in a blur that he can’t comprehend anything- 
you crash into jeno, arms thrown around him as if you were giving him a hug, but then you suddenly spin him around in the opposite direction, and you push him away- just a slight nudge so he only stumbles back a bit. 
He hears it before he can fully see it. 
The sickening sound of a blade meeting flesh- jeno knows it all too well- and he does catch the figure quickly sliding his knife out from you in shock.
Two seconds -it’s basically second nature for jeno to unsheathe his knife and throw it straight at the guy in two seconds.
Perfectly through his head. 
His body feels numb, he doesn’t even give a second glance to the perpetrator before his eyes land on you again. 
Red is blooming from your side through your shirt, and all you do is stand there, one hand slowly coming up to press the area, face cringing in pain as you look back up at jeno.  
He can’t move- the only sound he hears is the heaving of his chest, gasping for air. But his lips work on their own accord, words coming out slowly and breathlessly. 
“y/n....why?”
When you speak, your voice flows out, strangely soft and melodic, and your eyes lock onto him with a hidden and intense emotion. 
“Because you’re my friend.” 
You add a small “-idiot,” with a cough. 
And then it’s as if someone presses play again. 
You immediately slump to the ground, and jeno hears jaemin yell, running to you and scooping you up in his arms. 
But jeno doesn’t budge an inch, he can only stare at the way your eyes fall shut, limp body unmoving in jaemin’s lap. 
Jaemin’s shaking, he can tell, hands trying to press your wound and stop the pouring blood, but he can’t tell if jaemin’s screaming at him to get help or if it’s the sound and smell of blood infiltrating him, rushing through his ears. 
Then something snaps, and jeno clumsily fiddles with his earpiece, somehow spitting out the words to get help. 
It’s like everything revolves around jeno as he just watches. 
and exists.  
Backup rushes in and gets you to safety as jeno stands there in shock. He has no clue or recollection as to how he even got back to headquarters. Or what’s going to happen to you. 
The only thing jeno can do is replay the moment you jumped in front of him and sacrificed yourself.  
And the way you looked at him so tenderly, speaking so soothingly, 
-the way there was not a single ounce of regret in your deep eyes after willingly taking that knife for jeno. 
You’re going to be fine, rest assured. After being rushed to the infirmary, they got a solid report on you a couple of hours later. You were currently sleeping, even after losing a solid amount of blood, the doctors were able to get you in a stable condition. The only problem was that you would be put on bed rest for two weeks- just to be safe.
Jaemin was the one who filled him in on all the details, even though jeno can see jaemin’s just as affected as he is. 
It was the first time your team ever had to call backup. 
It was the first time they ever saw you so lifeless and small- when after missions you were always so lively and cheerful and just there. 
And this was the first time you weren’t. 
Jeno feels so weak. 
He can barely even function. The others force him to go home and recharge, get a good night’s sleep to process everything. 
Jeno feels so weak when jaemin has to be the one to stay back and report everything while he returns to the safety of his apartment. 
Jeno feels so weak knowing it was his fault. 
He keeps replaying that moment. The moment the man snuck up behind him, your terrified scream of his name, the glint of that red-stained knife, the last look you gave him. 
He swore all the guys were down- how did one get back up? 
It was his fault. Jeno’s carelessness- in all five years of this job and three working with you and jaemin as a team- he’s never done this before. 
He’s never been the reason behind your pain before. 
He received daily updates on you from jaemin. 
You woke up. 
You were recovering well.
You said you missed jeno and asked why he wasn’t there. 
Okay, so maybe it’s been three days, and jeno still hasn’t worked up the courage to visit you.  
It’s not that he didn’t want to see you- oh no, if anything, he definitely wanted to be there. Jeno wanted to see your bright face so badly and feel comforted and relieved that you were okay. But every time he takes a glance in the direction of the infirmary where you were currently staying, he feels all the emotions rush to his head at once.
Anger, pain, sadness, guilt. Mainly guilt. 
And the fact that he can’t help but see your stricken face and last moments whenever he takes a single step in your direction.
But jeno misses you. He didn’t realize it before, but he really misses you. Jaemin doesn’t even pressure him to go visit you at least once or ask why the reasoning behind why he hasn’t gone. 
So jeno slowly builds up the confidence to finally visit you. He shows up three days, 72 hours, 4320 minutes later at the room you were currently stationed in, carrying a stuffed plushie of your favorite cartoon character in one hand and a bag of snacks in the other. 
He grunts, adjusting his stuff so he can knock on the door lightly to alert you of his presence. Jeno hears your voice- a soft “come in!” and he gulps. 
Inhaling and exhaling, he gently pushes the door open. You’re sitting up in the hospital bed patiently, eyes open wide with curiosity as to who could be visiting you now. 
And for some reason, the first thought that comes to his head is that you still looked so pretty. 
Even with your messy bed hair and dark circles under your eyes- not the forget the fact that you literally got stabbed a few days ago- jeno can’t take his gaze off you. 
If anything, your eyes get even wider once you catch sight of him. 
“Jeno?”
He shows a tentative smile. “Y/n?”
Your mouth opens, but then you stop and sit back onto the raised bed with a small humph!, wincing when you fall back a little too hard. 
Jeno immediately rushes to your side, examining you and asking if you’re okay.
“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Still, you refuse to look him in the eye, arms crossed and chin tilted high. 
And for good reason. 
He sighs, placing the goods he brought on the desk to your side and sitting down in a nearby chair. He repeats your name. But you don’t budge. 
“Please look at me,” jeno pleads. Your head turns to him for a split second before looking away again. 
“Alright, fine. I’m really sorry.” 
You don’t say anything, but he catches your stoic expression faltering. 
“And second, thank you. Thank you for saving my life, y/n.”
Your hands drop to your side, and jeno frowns when he sees your picked fingers- he picked up on the habit you did when you were stressed. 
Finally, you clear your throat and speak. “You’re welcome. But I don’t accept your apology. It’s been days, and you don’t even visit me once? I was thinking you hated me for-“
He immediately cuts you off. “I would never hate you.”
A puff of air escapes your lips. “Okay, but it still doesn’t explain your behavior.” 
“I know, I know,” jeno says, staring down at his lap. “I was just so shocked from it all.” 
He bites his lip, voice hoarse. 
“But mostly, I felt so guilty. Like I was the bad guy.”
You open your mouth, but no words come out. 
“Because I was the reason you got hurt. It was my stupid actions and not paying attention that caused you to get hurt.” 
Jeno ducks his head, hands tightly clasped together and eyes squeezed shut. “I’m so sorry, y/n. You could’ve died, and it would’ve been all because of me.“
“Don’t apologize anymore,” you respond sharply. 
“It was my decision to take the knife for you, and I would do that over and over again, no questions asked.” Your voice softens, and your hand comes to rest on his, making his eyes snap open and breath hitch.
“Besides, I knew I would be perfectly fine. A knife never stopped me, you know that.”
Jeno glances up and he’s met with your normal happy-go-lucky face and sparkling eyes. 
He can’t help but smile back, paying no mind to the quickening pace of his heart. 
After that day, jeno tries his best to come in daily to see you. Since your team’s missions were put on hold until you fully recovered, he practically had nothing to do anyway. 
Sometimes he would bring snacks or games to entertain you since you complained about how boring it was to stay inside all day. You did protest in the beginning, telling him not to waste his time with you when he could be doing much more important work- but not once did jeno ever think being with you was a waste of time. 
And sometimes jaemin would be hanging out with you already, in the middle of telling you a joke that you can’t help but already start giggling at when jeno knocks on the door before coming in with his goodies of the day. 
He would pause for a second after seeing you two, a strange uncomfortable feeling rising in his chest, and then you would notice jeno‘s presence and force him to join you and jaemin, the fleeting feeling then forgotten until the next time. 
But the moments when jeno comes in and it’s just you there by yourself, he can’t ignore the rush of adrenaline he gets. 
It doesn’t fail to occur every time he spots your lovely face, already greeting him with a sparkle in your eyes. 
Since when did he start feeling this certain way? Jeno’s worked with you for years, performed countless missions by your side, and somehow, he only realizes it now. After that one fated day, it’s like everything’s changed.  And even if it may not seem like it for you, it certainly has for him. 
Jeno wonders why he’s never noticed it before. He wonders when the warmth just from being in your presence truly started.  
And from then on, you secure a certain and stable spot in jeno’s heart. 
At first, he swore it was just because of how selfless you were, bravely running in front of him and saving his life, jeno thought he was just eternally grateful and held a copious amount of admiration for you. But as time goes on and you’re back on your feet, raring to start up tasks again, he can’t deny that it’s not just admiration. 
He knows that his heart beats faster and his palms get sweaty whenever you spot him and your face lights up. It’s obvious, right? 
Jeno likes you. But the real question was- did you like him back? 
It’s about a week since you were released from the infirmary, slowly training and building back up to get in top fit shape and start on missions again like you so desperately wanted to do. 
You send jeno a small smile when he joins you at a table, carrying a stack of old papers to file through. It never fails to make jeno blush- and if you notice, you don’t say anything. 
There’s a relaxing silence, you munching on a snack as jeno focuses on organizing, the office is weirdly quiet today.
But the silence doesn’t last for long, you jump in your seat when jeno lets out a small hiss of pain, and you glance over to see him holding his finger, eyebrows furrowed. 
“Hm? What did you do?”
He looks up at you sheepishly, “paper cut.”
You click your tongue while shaking your head, getting up to walk to your desk a couple of strides away and returning with a band-aid in hand. 
Jeno grins when he sees the cute teddy bear pattern on it, he expects no less from you. “Why do you always have bandaids around?” He questions, amused. 
“Because I know you guys, and you guys always do dumb stuff like this.”
His mouth drops open, about to object, but abruptly closes it when you gently take his hand, unwrapping the bandaid deftly and wrapping it around the small inflicted wound. 
He gulps, watching you work with such concentration on a minor thing like a small paper cut. Your nimble fingers make him feel ticklish, and he resists the urge to squirm from a simple act like this. 
Once you finish, you sit back with a satisfied look. 
He mutters thanks, and you shake your head with a pout. “Jeno, you need to take care of yourself better.” 
And then a hand lands on your head, and you jump, quickly looking around. 
Jaemin laughs, easily slipping into the seat next to you. “What’s up?”
You roll your eyes. “Jeno was being careless and- oh! that reminds me, you too jaemin!”
His pleased expression suddenly turns bewildered. “What?”
“You’re never getting enough sleep! -and I can tell cause you were drinking your nasty coffee earlier and the bags under your eyes are-“
You ramble on, continuing to nag at jaemin as he only watches you with an endeared smile.
Today is a bad day. Simply one of those days where you just wake up with that feeling and know that today’s just not it. 
But that happens to everyone. It’s common and nothing you haven’t experienced before. 
You hope going to work and seeing your friends will cheer you up a little. Spoiler- it doesn’t. Jeno and jaemin are assigned to an easy mission on the field today, and you’re not allowed to go with them. The doctors tell you that you still have to wait at least four more days until you can get back to doing missions with them- no exceptions. 
The one thing you so desperately wish to do gets crushed in a matter of seconds. 
So yes, today was a bad day. 
No amount of protesting will get you out of it, so you’re left to walk out of your boss’s office extremely frustrated and upset. 
Jeno and jaemin try to comfort you, sending sympathized looks, but it’s to no avail. You assure them you’ll be fine and force them to get ready instead of worrying about you, left at your desk to pout and mope. 
Why can’t you go? 
You’re feeling great and better than ever. The mission is so simple. There’s absolutely no reason you can’t go along with them. 
Jeno notices you sulking alone, and even though he has to leave with jaemin, he quickly runs out to get some stuff before heading out. 
When you get back to your station after going to the bathroom- to just stare at the mirror for no reason in particular, (yes, it was one of those life questioning moments) you find some of your favorite snacks stacked in the middle with a small note on top. 
‘cheer up! i know you’ll get through this :) -j ’ 
You frown, looking around, and your frown deepens when you realize jeno and jaemin left already to go on their fun adventure without you. 
You question your desk mates if they saw whoever did this, and they shake their heads. The handwriting was super scrawly and messy- you had no clue whose it was. Obviously, the signed j was a clue, and your mind immediately thinks of either jaemin or jeno. But you guys are so close- why would they leave it at your desk and not just give it to you personally? 
You let out another sigh for the 100th time today, angrily ripping open the snack and stuffing a handful in your mouth. It was delicious, of course, and you’re thankful to whoever got this for you, but now there’s another thing you have to do to add to your burdens already. Find out who did this -albeit with good intentions- and pay them back. 
And in order not to feel like a complete failure, you stay at the office late, buried in paperwork until everyone else has left and you’re alone. Or so you thought. 
You were so focused you completely forgot about jeno and jaemin. Did they come back alright? You figured they probably left you be to not bother you and break your concentration. 
Groaning, you get up and stretch, looking around at the dark room and empty desks. You’re about to gather your stuff and leave when you spot a bright pink sticky note on your office wall. 
You squint, not remembering anyone leaving that there before, and curiously take it from the wall. 
‘man, i wish i could get some ice’
You raise an eyebrow. Is this a prank? Was someone trying to troll you or was it just a mistake?
You want to ignore it and just leave, but curiosity overtakes you. Rereading the note, you contemplate. Ice? The only ice available at the office was from the fridge. 
No, you reassure yourself, you’re just being dumb. It’s probably nothing.  But still, you find yourself hesitantly making your way to the kitchen area. It never hurt to check, right? 
And surprisingly, there’s the same pink sticky note pasted on the fridge door. Eyebrows raised, you quickly take it, not expecting there to actually be another one. 
‘i need to find my gear... where could it be?’
You already know the answer. Or at least, you think you do. Everyone stores their gear and equipment at their lockers, no brainer. 
You smile triumphantly when you spot the familiar bright pink hanging off a random locker door. Eagerly, you snatch it off and read the contents.
‘ah. i ran out of paper.’
You snort. Whoever wrote these was getting lazy. 
To be honest, you had no clue why this was so entertaining to you -it could literally be a prank and lead to nothing for all you know. Nevertheless, it’s an excitement you haven’t had in a while- like your own mission to find out the source of these mysterious notes. 
Quickly skipping over to the copy room, you take another note off the printer. 
‘it’s cold outside. i want to look out from above.’ 
You frown. Look out from above? Your eyes travel over the room, looking for any sign of something up high- before it eventually catches on the sign signaling the stairs leading up. 
You smack yourself in stupidity. Of course. your building had a rooftop- one you really never had a reason to go to. At least, not until now. 
You push past the doors to go up, quickly climbing up two steps at a time to reach the top. Once you see the exit outside, you hesitate. 
What if there was nothing? What if you’re luring yourself into a trap?
You shake your head, reassuring yourself it was fine. Even if someone was trying to murder you, you can take care of yourself.  
Gently pushing the door open, you peek outside. 
The night sky promptly greets you, stars shining brightly above. There are a few lights placed around to brighten the place up, but your attention is focused on the tiny set up in the middle of the rooftop. 
It’s not too extravagant, really- just a simple table with two chairs overlooking the city, but small and cute decorations adorn the place. 
You cautiously walk over, and you notice a stuffed bunny sitting in one of the chairs. Curious, you move closer to examine it. 
It looks like a harmless stuffed bunny, and after a few seconds pass with nothing dangerous happening, you slowly sit down in the other chair across from the toy. 
You’re not sure what you’re waiting for, or why this whole setup is here, but you take the chance to glance out and admire the scenery, shivering at the wind blowing past. 
It’s cold and windy, but the view is beautiful. The city below you, bright lights, and life just going on as you sit back and watch it all. It’s so peaceful, and for once your mind is clear and blank. You sit down in the other empty chair and stare for some time, not paying attention to your surroundings. 
And then a finger pokes your side, and you whip around, body tense and alert until you catch sight of who it is and falter. 
“Jaemin?”
“What are you doing here?”
He smiles. “Took you long enough to get here.”
You gasp. “Did you do all this?” You pause, processing everything before looking back up at him in horror. “How long did you wait for me?”
He rolls his eyes. “A long time.” You wince, mouth opening to apologize, but he cuts you off with a chuckle. “I’m joking. After we came back from the mission, it was already kinda late. And then it took some time to set this up, so don’t worry.”
He’s smiling down at you, and it’s contagious. You can’t help but feel the corners of your lips raise as well. Jaemin removes the bunny and sits down in the chair next to you, wordlessly handing it to you. 
You examine it, finding it to be quite adorable and soft. You giggle, looking back at him and thinking of his bunny agenda. “Is this supposed to represent you?”
He shoots you a mysterious look back, eyes twinkling. “What do you think?”
You pretend to think, tapping a finger on your chin, “well.... bunnies are cute but-“
“So you think I’m cute?” He waggles his eyebrows.
Your face heats up in embarrassment and you threateningly raise a fist at him, watching as he giggles, enjoying your flustered state a little too much. 
“You didn’t let me finish!”
Jaemin’s smile widens, eyes crinkling. “Okay, you can finish now.”
You scoff, turning away from him. “I don’t feel like it anymore,” you grumble. 
He laughs again, hand coming to pet the top of your head. “I’m sorry. I just wanted to rile you up so I could see you not looking sad or glum today.” 
You look down at your hands, clearing your throat in an attempt to ignore the weird thumping in your chest. “Oh, well... did you really stay back and do all this?” 
He shrugs, looking past at the sight below. 
“I know it was a rough day for you.”
You swallow, staring at the bunny in your arms. “But you didn’t have to.” 
“Plus waiting for me,” you lamely add. 
“I wanted to. It’s normal to be sad right now, you know. You have every right to feel upset, so there’s no need to pretend everything’s fine with me. Okay?”
“Yeah,” you clear your throat. “I’m fine now. it was immature of me to be complaining and sulking over people just looking out for me and my health. I feel bad for-“ your voice gets caught in your throat and you bite your lip. 
For some reason, you’re embarrassed. Embarrassed because you’re emotional and don’t want to cry right now, so you avert your gaze to the city, sucking in a breath and staring ahead.
Jaemin waits for a little before speaking up. 
“You don’t have to talk. We can just sit here. I figured you didn’t want to be lonely. That’s all.”
You feel shy, messing with the fuzzy bunny to distract yourself. Your voice comes out small but you’re still extremely touched. “Thank you nana. You made my day a lot better.” 
“Anything for you, y/n.”
You clutch your hand to your chest, over your heart. The night is chilly, but his words keep you warm inside. Strangely, his presence is enough.
You spend some time just sitting there together in silence, admiring the city lights, night sky, everything, and anything. But the day’s events eventually cause you to get sleepy, and jaemin does too. 
A giggle escapes you when jaemin yawns right after you do, and he has the audacity to look offended. “Why are you laughing? Yawns are contagious- which means you did this to me.” 
You shake your head in amusement, grabbing his hand to tug him up. “Let’s go home and get some rest. We did a lot of work today.”
He groans, getting up and looking around. “How long did we stay out here?”
“I don’t know. But don’t we have to clean all this up?”
“Nah, I can do it tomorrow. It’s late.” 
You shoot him a look and he raises his eyebrows. “What?”
“If you’re gonna clean it tomorrow, you better tell me so I can come up and help you.” You glare at him and he playfully salutes. 
“Yes sir!”
You’re about to leave the bunny behind and set it neatly on the chair, but jaemin swiftly shoots a hand out, preventing you. 
You glance at him, bewildered. 
He looks away sheepishly. “Keep it. I got it for you.”
You blink, before letting out a laugh and clutching it tightly to your chest. Cute. 
“Okay. I promise.” 
How did you get here?
Well, more importantly, why did jeno drunkenly call you? 
You show up disheveled- obviously, since he ruined your movie night and his friends basically forced you to come to pick his wasted butt up. 
You heave a sigh in defeat, glancing around the tables before finally finding jeno and his buddies. 
You try to hide your concern by keeping your arms crossed as you make your way over. The sight of jeno hugging the table while surrounded by his friends laughing at him greets you. “Oh my god- how much did you drink?”
Jeno immediately sits up, eyes gleaming. “You came!”
His friends crowd around him, looking at you with hungry eyes like a predator would at its prey. “So you’re the y/n?”
You roll your eyes. “Yes, I came. And yes, I’m y/n.”  Upon further examination, you frown, noticing jaemin isn’t here. Excluding jeno, it’s all strangers and unfamiliar faces looking back at you. “How did you guys know my name?”
One of them snorts. “Of course we know who jeno’s girlfriend is.”
You scrunch your face up. “What? I’m not his girlfriend.” You look over at jeno for support, but he’s slumped over, cheek flat on the table and mumbling some random things you don’t care to hear.
“Ugh- whatever. Jeno?” You call out, gently shaking his shoulder.  “Let's get you home.” 
He groans, and with the help of one friend, you get one of his arms across your shoulder, supporting some of his weight. 
“Thanks y/n!”
“Sorry, your boyfriend has surprisingly a lower tolerance than we thought.” 
“He’s not my boyfriend!” You grunt -jeno was much heavier than you expected- but it falls on deaf ears as you walk out of the crowded place. Well, all except for jeno’s.
He frowns, looking at you like a hurt puppy, but his tone and voice come out serious. “Is the thought of dating me that bad? Do you think I wouldn’t be a good boyfriend?”
Your mouth drops open as you let go of your hold on jeno and stare at him, wide-eyed. 
What?
You exhale in frustration, ignoring his words and quickly blaming it on him being drunk. But he doesn’t budge, staring at you earnestly, and you yank his arm helplessly. “Come on, jeno. We need to get home.” 
And with another desperate tug from you, his body unfreezes and staggers closer to you, causing your bodies to be almost pressed together. 
Jeno doesn’t seem fazed, while you flinch at the sudden proximity. His stare is strong, eyes searching yours fervently.  
“Have you never thought about dating me before?”
A surge of heat rushes through your body and you avoid his intense gaze, stuttering hotly, “W-what are you even talking about?! Ya-just-let’s go.”
You grab his hand and stumble out of the place, into the dark night. 
You huff, dragging him over to your car. “Where’s jaemin? Did he not come?”
“I dunno. He said he was busyyy.” 
You wonder where jaemin possibly could be, but jeno loses his footing while walking and your thoughts are pushed back to focus on helping him. Somehow, he gets into the passenger seat, and you carefully buckle the seatbelt over him. 
Once you get in and onto the road, all without a single word spoken, you glance over to jeno curiously. He stares out the window, looking up at the passing cloudy sky, no moon in sight.
“You know,” you start, “you should drink more responsibly. We have work tomorrow.” 
He looks back at you, an unreadable expression on his face. “But when I feel bad, I drink. I drink so I don’t have to think about it.”
You frown. “What’s making you feel bad?”
Jeno shifts in his seat, voice small. “Things. Feelings. They’re confusing. How do you find the answer? How can you tell if what you want is right?” 
How can you tell if the person you want wants you back? is what he wishes to say, but he swallows it, keeping it inside for another day. 
The ride is silent for some time, leaving his spoken thoughts to simmer until you exhale. 
“I don’t know, jeno. I honestly have no clue either. 
Once you arrive at his place, you assist him out of the car, barely making it through his door.  
He crashes into bed, whining, and you gently tuck him in. 
After jeno seems settled, you get up to leave him to rest, but a hand on your wrist prevents you. 
You slowly look back. His eyes are still closed, body sprawled out on the bed, but his grip on your arm stays.
“Stay,” he breathes. Whether he’s awake or asleep talking unconsciously, you’re not sure. But you hesitate, staring down at him. 
You think jeno falls asleep, breathing slowly evening out and hand loosening its hold on yours before falling to the side. You smile softly, adjusting his blankets and fixing his bangs delicately.
“Cheer up, jeno. I hope you find an answer to whatever’s bothering you.”
And with that, you turn and make your way home without a single look back. 
And sometime after you’re gone, one of jeno’s eyes just barely peek open to see an empty room, no sign of you. 
Jeno sighs, already falling back under. 
How can he tell you that you’re the only answer he needs? 
Just two more days until you can get back to missions.
You remind yourself of that, repeating it constantly from the moment you wake up. It’s no surprise you didn’t get good sleep last night- for one, the whole drunk jeno situation. and two, the stuff his friends said.... and what jeno himself said as well. 
All the boyfriend talk made you uncomfortable. It’s not like you didn’t want to find the right person for you, at the right time, but it still made you awkward thinking of your friend in a different light you’ve never thought of him in before. 
You can’t sleep when his face keeps appearing, words echoing in your brain. 
“Have you never thought about dating me before?” 
You smack yourself. No. Stop. Enough of that. 
In the morning, you busy yourself with paperwork, only stopping when jaemin sneaks up from behind to scare you. It doesn’t work. 
You grin, turning around to catch him mid-act. “How many times are you going to try this?”
He pouts, arms dropping to his side. “As many as it takes for me to properly scare you.”
Letting out a huff, you open your mouth to retort back but your sight lands on a very familiar figure entering the office. 
When you spot jeno, your mind instantly flashes back to yesterday. His eyes meet yours and you quickly avert your gaze, trying to reimmerse yourself in conversation with jaemin. 
Jeno frowns, wondering what the sudden act was for. But at the same time, he was definitely hungover and although you kindly left medicine and water by his bed yesterday night, he was still feeling like crap. 
He walks over to you two, and you abruptly tense. 
“Hey, y/n, jaemin.”
“Hi.” You cringe, your voice sounding not as casual and natural as you hoped. 
Jaemin gets called over to assist a co-worker, and jeno takes the opportunity. 
“Thanks about last night. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what my friends were thinking.”
You gulp. “It’s fine. You’re welcome.”
And then you proceed to spin around and pretend to focus on work, your back to him. (As if you had any work left when you stayed back and did it all a few days ago.)
Jeno shrugs, assuming you must be busy or something along the lines of that so he leaves you be. But for the rest of the day, you avoid as much interaction with him as possible. Whenever jeno tries to talk to you, you give short and curt answers back, not trusting what would spill out of your mouth if you spoke anymore. 
Around lunchtime, Jeno sits at his desk, spinning in circles and wondering what possibly happened with you. Could it be something he did last night? 
He exhales, getting up to grab some water from the kitchen. And lo and behold, you’re already there, filling up your own bottle. 
He waits for a second, gauging your reaction, and there’s no way he can mistake the sight of your body stiffening and the way you avoid his gaze. 
“Y/n?”
Your grip on the bottle tightens. “Uh-yeah?”
“Is there something wrong? Did I do something last night?”
The sound of the water filtering stops, and you fumble, trying to find the right words. 
“Do you not remember?”
He stops, rubbing his temple in irritation. “Not really? I just know you had to come and pick me up. Again, I’m really sorry...”
“Ah.” You feel a slight sense of comfort. So he really doesn’t remember anything he said... “Well, it’s nothing, your friends just said some weird things, and I-“ 
He quickly interrupts you, ears turning pink. “Listen, ignore anything I or my friends said last night. A lot of nonsense comes out of our mouths when we’re drunk, so I fully apologize on their behalf. I can talk to them and-”
You internally heave a huge sigh of relief when he says that, heart somewhat at ease now.
“No-no, it’s alright...,” you fiercely shake your head. 
“Oh, okay.” Jeno’s hand comes up to scratch the back of his neck self-consciously. 
You finally allow yourself to relax, noticing his messy hair and biting your lip to hold back a laugh. “Jeno- did you do your hair this morning?”
You reach to fix the stray hairs, patting some flyaways down, when his hand shoots up, grabbing your wrist and stopping you effectively. 
You freeze, smile slowly falling while staring at jeno in shock and confusion, his hand still keeping yours on top of his head in place. Jeno looks back at you, an unreadable expression on his face. 
One beat. 
Two beats. 
You swallow. 
“Jen?” You ask tentatively. 
He snaps out of it, blushing and removing his grip from your wrist, causing your arm to fall back down at your side. 
“Oh-yeah. Sorry. I’ll get going now. Good luck with your work today.” He dashes off, leaving you to stand there alone. 
You shiver, brushing over the spot where he held your wrist. What was that all about?
After lunch, you decide to stop by jaemin’s desk, wanting to ask if he’s attending the party tomorrow night. 
You eagerly roll your chair over, wheels squeaking against the carpeted floor. 
“Hey jaem-“
Your chair comes to a slow. 
You find Jaemin at his desk, using his arms as a pillow as he sleeps peacefully, head turned to the side and slow breaths huffing in and out. 
You quietly laugh to yourself. Scooting closer, you allow yourself to watch him for a second, glad that he was getting some rest instead of constantly working, helping other people out at work, or helping others by volunteering. 
You unconsciously lean closer, fingers lightly brushing his hair from his face and watching his body peacefully rise and fall. 
Jaemin was always the person everyone went to for assistance. Everyone adored jaemin. You wonder why he’s never dated anyone in the time you’ve known him- he and jeno were always popular and well-liked. 
You fall into a daze watching him, just from how peaceful he looks, losing track of the time. 
And then his eyes shoot open, and you jump back slightly, startled. 
He doesn’t move from his position, just simply staring back at you, and for a second you can do nothing but stare back. 
And then he breaks into a sleepy but still amused grin, apples of his cheeks protruding clearly. 
“How long have you been awake?” You ask slowly, cautiously. 
“How long have you been staring at me?” He counters back. 
You let out an embarrassing sound, scooting back. 
“Doesn’t matter. It was just shocking to see you getting some rest for once.”
He raises an eyebrow but you ignore it, attempting to get back on topic. “Anyways, are you going to the party tomorrow?”
“What party?” Jaemin asks bluntly. 
You should’ve guessed that he didn’t know. “Our division’s hosting a party tomorrow at 7. To celebrate the 8th anniversary or something like that. It’s supposed to be fun though. Are you going?”
He purses his lips, running through his mental schedule and future plans. “I suppose I can.” 
You fake a gasp. “The na jaemin actually has time to go to a party?”
He jokingly pushes your chair away from him in revenge, but it’s so sudden that you jerk and lose your balance in the seat, about to tip the chair and fall over. 
Thank goodness for his overly trained reflexes that allow him to lunge forward and catch the sides of your chair, safely stabilizing it while he’s positioned over you. 
You quickly glance up at him, heart racing and adrenaline pumped. It doesn’t get better when you notice his arms caging you in. 
Jaemin’s concerned expression meets your shocked one, and when he asks if you’re okay, you simply can’t function, opting to just gaze up at him with wide eyes. 
“-y/n???”
You come back to your senses, rapidly nodding and ignoring the rest of his worried questions. Returning to your desk, you bang your head against the hard surface, mind jumbled. You just need a break from men. 
It feels like forever until it’s finally time to go home. Your body feels sluggish and brain fried as you make your way out the door. Locating your car, you somehow spot the two people you really don’t want to see after what happened earlier -with the both of them. 
You recoil, quickly avoiding jeno and jaemin like a frightened mouse and speedwalking over to your car. Once you get in, you let out a sigh of relief, finally getting a chance alone to think about today’s developments. 
Is it just you, or are jeno and jaemin acting so strange recently- especially after you got stabbed? 
Before, you would’ve said that your teammates were the people you could trust with anything and everything. But lately, they’re the two people that have been driving you crazy. 
You rub your eyes in defeat. Everything’s confusing- it feels like everything’s changed. 
But one question remains.  
How exactly? 
Ryujin drags you along next to her, ignoring your complaints about the outfit she chose for you. 
She worked in a different division from you, meaning you didn’t get to see her often, though you were still able to keep in contact. It felt like meeting up with an old friend occasionally, there were never any awkwardness or boring moments. 
And somehow, she managed to sneak her way into your division’s party. (popular people things, you grumbled.)
“It feels like we’re going to a college party again.”
You shake your head. “Don’t remind me of those.”
You fiddle with your clothes for the nth time, ryujin having picked an outfit you would’ve never worn on your own accord. 
“I’m regretting letting you choose what to wear for me.”
She only laughs. “Yeah-well, too late now! Besides, you look really good, so who cares?”
“Me!”
Ryujin ignores you, glancing around at the apartment doors and looking for the right number. 
“Ah, here it is. Number 55.”
You knock on the door, and it slowly opens to reveal one of your coworker's apartment. 
There’s a fair amount of people already there, chatting away or dancing to the subtle music. 
Good, at least it wasn’t like those cringy college parties with ear-deafening music and the stench of pure alcohol filling the place. 
Your eyes travel across the room, taking it all in. 
“Are you looking for him?” Ryujin teases, nudging your side. Your eyes flick back to her, a confused look in them. “What do you mean?”
She rolls her eyes, “Who else would I be talking about? Obviously-
She gets cut off by lia, running over to the two do you with a squeal. 
“Y/n, you look so pretty!!”
You shake your head, embarrassed. 
“I’m surprised you didn’t come with jeno and jaemin,” she remarks. 
Your mouth opens. That’s right, you totally forgot about them. Searching around, you finally spot both of them playing beer pong with a couple more of your coworkers.
Smiling, you excuse yourself to greet them. 
“Getting the party started without me?” You tease, walking over to the table. 
Everyone turns at the sound of your voice. Jaemin, mid-shot about to throw the ball, stops when he sees you. 
Jeno swallows, eyes taking in your appearance. 
You frown at the lack of response. “Guys?”
Immediately, everything resumes. They all greet you, and jeno hands you a cup. 
“It’s light, don’t worry.” You nod in thanks, taking a sip. 
He suddenly feels hot, hands picking at his shirt. “You look really good.” 
You roll your eyes. “Sure, it’s probably just because you’ve only ever seen me in my work clothes or pajamas.”
Jeno shakes his head shyly. “I mean it.”
The air suddenly feels weird, so you shuffle a bit, clearing your throat.
“Oh. Thanks, I guess?”
The party resumes with you hanging out with the boys and occasionally talking to other friends. But it’s been a while since you’ve gone out like this, and eventually, you start to feel a bit overwhelmed. 
Jeno and jaemin quickly take notice of your quiet behavior and short replies. 
Jaemin nudges your side softly. “Are you okay?” 
You feel yourself faintly nod, trying your best to take a deep breath. “Yeah, it’s just a little stuffy in here.”
At your words, jeno and jaemin both start, immediately offering you water at the same time. 
You hesitate, staring down at both of their outstretched hands. 
“Uh,” you awkwardly laugh, getting up. “It’s alright. I’m just gonna go to the restroom....”
You don’t. You walk over to the kitchen, quickly obtaining and downing a glass of water with a satisfied exhale at the end. And then, instead of returning to the rest of the group, you take a detour to the balcony, quietly stepping out into the cold night and shutting the door behind you.  
Jeno gets increasingly worried. It’s been like 15 minutes and you still haven’t returned. He asks jaemin, and he only shrugs, saying something about how you probably needed some space.
But it’s not a good enough answer for him, so jeno goes to check the bathroom, and as expected, you’re not there. 
And in fact, you’re not anywhere inside as far as his he can tell. Anxious, he begins to go around, asking a few people if they’ve seen you. Most of them shake their heads, stating unhelpful information referring to your location. 
But eventually, while waking his way past the kitchen, he hears your voice. It comes from outside, past the door that leads to the balcony. 
Jeno stops, listening for a second. He can pick up on another person’s voice along with yours- he believes it’s your friend - the one whose name started with an R?
Your voices are faint, and he quietly leans in closer to the door, holding his breath and praying you don’t notice his presence. 
“-you like him, huh?”
He hears your soft voice. “Again? What are you talking about, Ryu?”
Right, he thinks. Your friend's name was ryujin. 
“Don’t act oblivious. You two have been teammates for so long now- I can tell.”
Then jeno hears noises that he assumes are you getting flustered and he has to hold back a laugh.
But then the sounds of shuffling suddenly start, and jeno barely hides away past the corner -thank his spy training. 
Jeno presumes that ryujin gets up and heads back inside, closing the door and leaving you alone again. 
He counts 15 seconds before walking over to the door and gently opening it. He’s greeted by the sight of you, staring up at the sky, and his breath is stolen away once again. 
But you turn at the noise, relaxing when you spot jeno. 
“Oh. Hey. What’s up?”
He hums, sitting in the chair next to you. “I didn’t know where you went.” 
“But you found me,” you remark dryly. 
“....where’s jaemin?”
Jeno shrugs, having forgotten about jaemin in his quest to find you. 
Maybe the tranquil silence between you two and the breathtaking sight in front of him is what causes him to reflect on everything. 
“Y/n,” he speaks up after a while. 
You nod, waiting for him to continue. 
“I know I’ve said this a bunch of times, but thank you for saving me.”
“Didn’t I already tell you to let that go?” You joke. 
“Yeah, but I want to keep saying it because I truly mean it. I’ll always be grateful because of what you did. I still feel terrible for not paying attention-“
You place a hand over his, and he falters. 
You don’t look at him though, gaze still locked in front of you. “I already accepted your apology, jeno...”
“But am I still allowed to feel horrible about that time I practically forced you to come and pick a drunk me up?”
You giggle, removing your hand from his, and jeno unconsciously frowns at the loss of contact. 
“If it makes you feel any better, then sure. But....” you start. 
He nods, gesturing for you to keep going. 
“What was bothering you that night? You said you drank so much because you felt bad.”
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” you quickly add. 
Jeno exhales a long breath through his nose. He debates internally, switching back and forth between the options. 
Is there any way for him to say that he likes you? That jeno likes you- a lot?
And that he doesn’t know if you like him back? 
Sometimes, he thinks the smiles you send him are special, different from the ones you give to others. Or whenever he thinks about the time you took care of him, helped him, sacrificed your life for him, he believes it could be something more. 
But at the same time, jeno doubts himself. He can’t help but wonder if you really do feel the same way or if it’s just you being you. You’re always smiling at everyone, helping others out whenever you got the chance- being the selfless, admirable person you are. 
He stayed up countless nights, replaying and overanalyzing all the interactions you had with him throughout the day, wondering, hoping, wishing. 
“I like someone,” jeno finally speaks. 
But before you can react, he continues. “And I don’t know if they like me back.”
He looks down at the ground, his voice quiet. ���Because I’m just me, you know? There's honestly nothing special about me. I can’t even work up the courage to confess- what would they even like about me?”
“She probably doesn’t even like me back,” he finishes. 
You wait, letting his words fully sink in. 
And then you let out a short, dry laugh, and he quickly glances up at you, bewildered at your low tone- a sudden change in the air surrounding you. 
“Is this really what was bothering you that night?”
“-are you really doubting yourself, lee jeno? Did you forget how great of a person you are? How hardworking and strong you are? How kind and thoughtful you are? You’re a good guy, and anyone would be a fool not to see that.”
Your eyes hold a certain intensity to them, never once breaking eye contact with his. 
Maybe you said something else, maybe you weren’t done talking, but jeno isn’t sure. 
He suddenly felt a rush of hope when you were speaking -at the look on your face when you talked about him so seriously and with so much conviction. 
So much to the point where he can’t stop himself. 
It’s like his body has a mind of its own, forcing Jeno to lean in towards you, face coming much closer to yours. 
You trail off, noticing his sudden bold move. He doesn’t say anything, eyes flicking down to your lips. 
Your breath hitches.
You don’t know how to react to the sudden intimacy, so you simply stop, body locking up and heart thundering in your chest. 
Jeno brings you closer as your eyes widen, not a single part of you moving as you internally panic. 
“Hey, who’s out here-“
Jeno falters, eyes flying open. 
You take the chance to scoot back, breathless, and quickly get up to meet the eyes of the person who burst outside and essentially ruined the moment. 
Thank god it wasn’t any of your friends- just the apartment’s owner who simply wanted to know who was outside. 
After quickly explaining, it’s a golden opportunity for you to get the heck out of there, internally thanking them for coming out at that moment. 
Quickly apologizing, you make your escape, fumbling past the door and back into the party, looking for your belongings and searching for the exit.
You don’t bothering telling anyone about your departure, instead coming face to face with a confused ryujin, to which you explain that you’re tired (not a lie) and need to go back home and make sure you didn’t get robbed (also not entirely a lie, you really had no clue if you locked your doors or not). 
And with that, you clumsily put your shoes on and push past her, ignoring the startled protests and questions. 
Your mind is buzzing, the alcohol not helping one bit. 
As you continue on the path back to the comforting solidarity of your home, you can’t help but think back to what occurred earlier. 
What just happened? 
You don’t even want to imagine it, but it seemed like jeno was trying to... 
kiss you. 
maybe? right?
You run a hand over your face, having an internal crisis. 
Hah, no way. 
Was he just that drunk? Like that one time you had to pick him up? 
Should you just disregard what happened this time as well?
Are you making a big deal out of nothing? Was it just an accident and you misunderstood his intentions?
Everything feels so overwhelming and confusing, once you get home, you immediately collapse into bed and force yourself to fall asleep and not have to think about it anymore. 
And it’s very much a good thing that you did because your boss sends you and the boys on a mission the next evening. 
And yeah, maybe you were still feeling like crap and hungover, but it was your first mission after getting stabbed. Even when you’ve been on countless missions- ones much harder than the one you were about to embark on- you still felt the nervousness and anxiety to perform well and succeed in your stomach. 
And luckily, or maybe not so luckily, you didn’t have any time to discuss what occurred last night between you and jeno. 
He stays quiet the whole ride, and you’re not sure whether to be grateful or concerned. 
Jaemin worriedly asks you about where you went last night, and you shrug, saying something about how you were tired and wanted to go home early. 
The atmosphere in the car is weird, and you want to blame it on the fact that it’s been a while since you’ve been out as a team, but you all know it’s more than that. 
Shutting your eyes shut, you decide to put it all away for now. 
This was your job, and you couldn’t let personal matters get involved. 
“You guys ready?” jaemin asks, and the three of you share a look before you nod. 
“Yes. Let’s go.”
The driver pulls up, and it’s strangely giving you a sense of deja vu when you get out of the car and into the dark and windy night, as well as an ominous feeling, like something horrible was going to happen- but you brushed it off and blamed it on your nerves. 
You recall the words of your boss- just look around the area for anything suspicious and report back. Fortunately, you’re outside at an abandoned plaza, a large lake in the middle of it, making the location seem much bigger than it was. 
Your instincts immediately come back as you glance around, taking in your surroundings. 
The area was suspected to be taken over by an unidentified group working against your organization, so you decided to split up and cover more ground to search for anything fishy. 
“Jaemin, I think you can search the general outside area, around the lake and stuff.”
He nods at your words, adjusting his earpiece. 
“I’ll go near the bridge,” jeno murmurs and you exhale, still taking in your surroundings.
“Alright, let’s go.”
And before you can make any moves, you feel both of your hands being grabbed, your body getting tugged in opposite directions. 
You let out a small yelp in surprise, glancing around to find jeno having taken one of your hands to pull you one way while jaemin did the same with your other hand, pulling you the opposite way in his direction. 
There’s an awkward moment as they realize what they both just did.
And still, a few seconds pass while you glance back and forth between the two and neither jaemin nor jeno have yet to let go of you. 
Nervously laughing, you shake off both of their hands, muttering, “I’ll just go to that building over there... y-you know, by myself....”
As quick as possible, you make your escape (once again) briskly walking away from your teammates while still keeping an eye out. 
There’s nothing suspicious around, but you still have an unsettled feeling in your stomach that won’t go away, no matter how much you reassure yourself. 
Walking out of the building, you catch sight of jeno. You still, awkwardly standing in the doorway and debating whether to go over to him or hide- even when there was absolutely no reason to be hiding from him. 
Either way, you don’t get to decide as he spots you and frantically heads your way, looking panicked, which immediately sets you off. 
Breathless, he runs towards you, and you tense, examining his current condition. 
“What? What is it jeno?”
He takes a quick glance around before pulling you back inside the building urgently as you stammer indignantly. 
“There are guys,” he gasps. “Spotted them coming this way.” 
You curse, trying to hide from the open spots through the building’s windows. 
“That’s not it,” jeno adds, voice lowering to a whisper. “It’s the same gang from before.” 
Your eyes widen as you press a hand to your mouth to keep yourself quiet.
“How many?”
Jeno blinks. “At least seven.”
“What are we going to do?” Your heart rate quickens as you remember your other teammate. 
“Shoot, what about jaem? He’s still out there- does he know?”
Jeno lets out a frustrated sigh. “No- I spotted you first and quickly tried to get us to hide. I totally forgot.”
Exhaling, you press your earpiece, speaking softly, 
“Jaem. Jaemin? Can you hear us?”
The two of you wait patiently, but there’s no response. 
You repeat his name, and so does jeno. 
There’s nothing. 
Your anxiety increases and jeno softly squeezes your arm to comfort you.
“I’m sure jaemin’s fine, he can take care of himself.”
You frown, head snapping up to him. “How do you know that? Jaemin might not have any clue and those guys could easily spot him wandering around. He could get ambushed and since there’s more than-“
You get interrupted by the sound of approaching voices, apprehension striking you through the heart. 
It takes everything in you not to make a sound as jeno pulls you closer to him, lessening the space between you and also the chance of anyone spotting your figure just barely peeking out. 
You close your eyes, the sound of your soft breaths filling the air as you just focus on the feeling of his hand on your back, the noises from the people passing by getting fainter and fainter. 
Once you confirm the coast is clear, you immediately back away, ignoring how jeno clears his throat and running a hand through your hair in stress. 
You could always attack, you had no doubt in your abilities, but there was no telling how many more guys there were and if it would blow your cover or not. 
“Are you sure there were seven?”
He frowns. “As far as I could tell...”
You squeeze your eyes shut, muttering, “I know we could take them on, but- there’s no telling if they have backup or if they’re planning to do something here at this time or not.” 
Jeno nods solemnly, cautiously moving towards a window and peeking out as you continue to try and contact jaemin. 
“It’s hard to tell,” he whispers, “but I think they’re leaving.”
Your eyes fly open, silently making your way to the window to glance out. You squint, the darkness obscuring your vision of the shadowy figures outside. 
But jeno seems to be right, they seem to be packing up and leaving- although you’re not quite sure what they came here to do in the first place. 
It feels like forever- waiting for them to slowly leave the area, plus a few extra minutes to confirm. 
You pick at your hands anxiously, waiting. Where was jaemin? Did he get hurt? Why was he not responding? 
Jeno finally gives the okay, and you leap to your feet, not caring anymore and bursting your way out of the building. 
Gasping for air, you frantically search the whole area, running all around the place and calling for jaemin as jeno struggles to keep up with you- pleading for you to slow down a little. 
You pay no heed to his words, the wind blowing your hair past and head whipping from side to side as you call out, voice hoarse, “Jaemin?”
You hear a faint shuffle, and your eyes zero in the spot near the fountain, where some benches are. 
Your legs work on their own accord, bringing you closer as you call for jaemin once again. 
You hear a muffled response, and adrenaline rushes through you. 
Jaemin squeezes out from between one of the benches and a large positioned rock, looking albeit a little shaken but otherwise seeming unharmed and normal. 
And for some reason, you can’t control yourself, running over to him and placing your hands on his face, sides, everywhere. 
“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
He swallows. “I’m alright. I spotted those guys luckily before they spotted me, and somehow found this spot to hide. It was good that they stopped pretty close to where I was hiding- I was able to hear some of their conversations.”
You bristle. “It was good? How could it be good when you almost got spotted?
You hear jeno come up from behind, catching his breath from chasing after you. “Thank goodness you’re safe- why didn’t you answer us through the earpiece?”
Jaemin shrugs. “I couldn’t make any noise or else they would find me.”
You scoff, crossing your arms. “Yeah, well you could’ve done at least something. We had no idea what could’ve happened to you- if you got hurt or needed help!” 
They both look surprised at your outburst. Jaemin raises an eyebrow. “ Chill y/n, I’m alright. You don’t have to be so worried-“
“How can I not be so worried when I almost lost you?” Your chest heaves and your fists are clamped tightly in balls to contain your frustration at his reaction to this situation. 
How could he be so calm about this? 
Jeno watches from the side, speechless. 
Jaemin takes a step closer to you, confused and still a little shocked, and you take one back while staring furiously back at him. 
“Lost me?” Y/n, you wouldn’t have lost me, because you know I can take fend for myself. These kinds of things happen all the time on our missions, I don’t get why you’re so worked up over this-“
“Because I have feelings for you, idiot!” 
Oh. 
There it was. 
You inhale sharply, turning around and furiously stalking away. To where- you’re not sure, but you do know that you just need to get away from this place. 
Jeno and jaemin stand there, unsure of what to do or say. 
But jeno wasn’t unsure of what to say. He simply had nothing to say at all. 
He wants to go after you, starting in your direction, but jaemin’s oddly quiet and low voice stops him. 
“Don’t. Leave her alone for a while.”
And the tone in his voice tells jeno that jaemin wants to be left alone for a while too as he eventually stalks off. 
Jeno stands there, alone, wondering if this was how it was really meant to be. 
You walk for a long time. 
A long time back to your place. Somehow, you do it. 
There’s a lot of things that fuel your stamina. 
Anger, frustration, confusion. 
For one, you had absolutely no idea why you just randomly shouted out in a fit of anger that you liked jaemin. 
Because you weren’t even sure if you did or not. 
And of course, the whole jeno situation as well. 
You’ve never thought of jeno differently before- in a romantic way before. 
And when he almost kissed you?
They both make your head hurt, spin in circles until you can’t think straight anymore. 
Since when did things change?
Since when did all these feelings get involved and complicate your entire relationship with each other?
You feel tired, your legs taking you back to the one place you want to go back to, the place where you can be alone. 
Once you miraculously make your way to your familiar home, the sight seeming so much more welcoming than it ever did, you collapse into bed, feeling the most exhausted you’ve ever felt. 
It’s the only thing you can do now- simply because you don’t want to do anything else. 
And the next morning, you avoid everyone’s calls, concerned messages wondering about where you are and why you haven’t gone to work this morning. 
Instead, you decide to do what you do best. Ignore everyone and shut yourself out from the world.
You do contact your boss and tell him that you’re taking a short break for personal reasons- even when you just returned back to your job. 
 And answer when ryujin texts you, blowing up your phone the second she found out you were “taking a break”. 
Ryu (7:36am): what’s going on 
Ryu (7:36am): why are you suddenly not going to work
Ryu (7:37am): y/n
Ryu (7:37am): answer me 
Ryu (7:37am): answer me 
Ryu (7:38am): answer 
you (8:02am): I can’t believe im saying this
you (8:02am): But 
Ryu (8:03am): omg you’re alive 
you (8:04am): Boy problems 
Ryu (8:04am): what
you (8:04am): Yeah 
you (8:05am): That’s it 
Ryu (8:05am): wait huh with who tho
you (8:06am): ...
Ryu (8:07am): oh 
Ryu (8:07am): oh no 
You turn your phone off for the rest of the day, feeling conflicted. 
Was it childish of you to just cancel work to avoid two guys? 
Was it childish to run away from your feelings? 
You get an answer that night- in the form of a knock at your door. 
You lazily get up, casually swinging the door open with no regard for who was behind it. 
Once you get a glimpse of who it is, you stop in your tracks, heart stopping as you stare at him. 
“-What are you doing here?”
He stares at you with desperate eyes. Those eyes. When you were stabbed. When you were upset from being stuck on bed rest and not able to do anything. When you were alone and he was there to comfort you. 
With the same eyes you’ve probably looked at him with a million times before- you’ve just never realized until recently. 
And then his lips on are yours, and you automatically entangle your hands into his hair. 
The door shuts behind him with a frantic slam, effectively sealing the plans for your night. 
Spending days away from everyone and everything allowed you to really reflect on everything that happened in the past month.
Getting stabbed, taking a break from work, finding out what was really hidden deep inside you- what was what you needed and wanted. 
You were grateful to have the best teammates, ones that were selfless and always took care of you. 
Especially now, after you got hurt and suspended from work, you were still grateful and appreciative of both jeno and jaemin. 
Even when certain things and situations confused you, brought new feelings and secrets arise, you would never change a thing. 
And when you sneak a glance to the guy still sleeping peacefully by your side, arms wrapped around tightly around you like he’s afraid you would escape or leave, you take the chance to look at him- truly look at him and all his features in a way you’ve always done before, but could never figure it out. 
You always admired that jaemin was always the one taking care of everyone else- always selfless and thinking of others. 
Always understanding and knowing what to do. 
He’s always there. 
And it took a lot more for you to realize that’s what you wanted, and that maybe the two of you are more alike than you thought. 
Maybe you do like jaemin. Maybe you’ve liked jaemin for a long time and just never realized it.
And maybe you just want to love on him back a little. 
(but just remove all the previous maybes.)
Jeno’s surprised to see you return to work that day- although late, but still here nonetheless. 
You look much better and lively- he wonders what could’ve happened. (even when deep down, he already knows what must’ve happened.)
It’s hard to ignore the private whispers and looks that you and jaemin share, like you have a secret or inside joke that only jeno doesn’t know about, but obviously, it‘s just further proof that there’s something going on between you two. 
And it’s hard to hide his true emotions in front of you and pretend that everything’s okay. 
Pretend that you and jaemin together weren’t killing him on the inside and the fact that you’ve only ever thought of jeno as a friend wasn’t true. 
Jeno so desperately wished that he realized he always liked you for a long time before, maybe even since the beginning. 
Maybe things would have been different. Maybe if he knew earlier and told you sooner, you wouldn’t have discovered and revealed your feelings for jaemin.
Jeno also wishes that he knew that you never returned his own feelings at that time. Right when you jumped in front of him and said those five words the day you almost lost your life. 
And yet, the smile on your face and sparkle in your eyes directed towards jeno is the same- maybe even a bit brighter now as he was all too familiar with the looks and laughs you sent his way before. 
He wishes he knew it didn’t mean anything, and he didn’t fall for that smile.
Like the one, you’re sending to him now. 
“Hey jeno, we’re gonna go grab some food. Wanna come?” 
He grimaces and shakes his head, muttering some excuse about how he needs to watch his caloric intake. 
It wasn’t that -he would gladly take food any day. But his appetite was gone. And to be honest, it had been for a while. 
As he watches you walk off with jaemin, hands lovingly intertwined, that’s when he realizes it. 
Yes, you might’ve saved jeno’s life, and you might’ve even been the love of his life -if he truly thought about it- but he was never yours. 
And he never would be. 
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a/n: the fact that i had to use a random decider to choose the ending bc nomin things :) anyways if you made it to the end then ty for reading
taglist: @skrtbabe ​
reminder- any kind of feedback is always appreciated :)
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let-me-luve-you · 4 years ago
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Cancer Battle
Tom Holland x Sister (with the whole Holland clan)
Summary: The reader is diagnosed with cancer, but decides to keep it from her brothers. 
Warnings: angst, cancer treatment, cancer diagnosis, brothers being rude, somewhat of a fluff ending
A/N: I did research on this. I hope I did the correct research. So I apologize if I’m wrong.
MASTERLIST
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This has been the toughest two months of your life. Right when you were due to go over to America with your brothers to visit Tom, you noticed swelling in your neck. So did your mum. She set you up a doctors appointment, and two days later, you found out you had Hodgkin Lymphoma.
After talking with your doctor, you found you were in the early stages. It was still treatable and your chances of beating the cancer were very high. That helped you relax a little, but you were still in shock at hearing the words, “you have cancer.”
You wanted to start treatment right away so you told your brothers to go without you. They weren’t happy with you since you wouldn’t give them the real reason as to why you were staying behind. Every Wednesday morning for the next month, you would go with your mum or dad to the doctors office to do your antibody therapy treatment. You really didn’t want to do chemo or radiation unless it got worse, so you decided this was the next best option.
After four weeks of treatment, all of your brothers came home. Tom was disappointed you didn’t come see him, but he knew you probably had a good reason. He decided to come over to your parents house to hangout with you today. Except today wasn’t a good day. You were sick due to the side effects of the treatment. To those who didn’t know about your treatment, they would just think you had the flu. So when you walked back into your room from the bathroom, you groaned when you saw Tom sitting on the end of your bed.
“Good to see you too, Y/N.” Tom said with an eye roll.
“Hi Tom. Sorry. You might want to leave, I’m sick.” You said trying to keep your distance but you were wanting to lie down so bad.
“Mum told me. Can I get you anything?” He asked sweetly.
“I’m okay for now. Dad went to the store this morning.” You replied and motioned with your finger for him to move. He understood and moved toward your door as you went to lie down. You sighed, content when your body hit the mattress.
“I’m going to go downstairs. Text me if you need anything.” You smiled at him. “Get better soon.”
The next few days, you started feeling better. This is how it was every week. Stuck in bed on Thursday and Friday. Moving around more on Saturday and fully back to your normal self on Sunday. Then you would repeat the process again.
This Wednesday though, you weren’t feeling good. It felt like you couldn’t catch your breath. You had a fever and you could tell you had lost at least twenty pounds since your diagnosis. You got up earlier than normal to talk to your mum. When you walked into the living room, you found all four brothers.
“Hey Y/N. You okay?” Sam asked.
Ignoring his question, you looked around the room. “Where’s mum and dad?”
“Dad has a meeting at ten and mum ran to the store really quick. Said she would be back soon.” Paddy said not looking up from his phone. You nodded and turned to go back to your room to lay down until you had to go to your appointment.
“It’s a good thing you're up though. I have a press tour coming up and we are going to Bali. The three of them are going and I wanted to see if you wanted to come. You didn’t get to go last time so I thought you would enjoy it.” Tom said.
“I would but uh..” You looked around trying to think of an excuse as to why you can’t go. “I’m still getting over this sickness. Wouldn’t be good for me to go.”
“Well good thing it isn’t until next month then.” Harry said with a laugh before he turned serious. “Why are you always bailing on us? You missed the last Bali trip. You skipped last minute to go to America. Now you’re trying to get out of going to Bali again. What’s up with that?”
“I just have a lot going on. It’s not that I don’t want to, I just can’t.” You said.
“Harry has a point though Y/N. It’s like you don’t like us or something. You never go out with us when we are in town either and you won’t let us post photos of you.” Paddy said.
You stood shocked. You didn’t know how to respond, but it didn’t matter since it didn’t seem that your brothers were done.
“Can you tell us if we did something to you so we can fix it?” Tom said trying to be the nice brother like always.
“Come on mate. We didn’t do anything and she knows it. She just hates us.” Harry said with a snarl.
“Must be embarrassed by us. I don’t know why. People love us.” Paddy said. Sam agreed with Paddy and Harry. Tom just didn’t know what to do so he just stayed quiet. He wasn’t trying to make you feel bad, but he did feel rejected by you lately.
“I love you guys and I would never be embarrassed of you. I just have a lot going on.” You said. You were getting worked up and it was making it harder to breathe. You turned and started to leave the room. “Tell mum to come to my room when she gets home.” You started to walk up the stairs and ignored the hateful comments your brothers were whispering about you.
An hour later. Your mum came into the room and saw you laying there asleep. She went to push your hair out of your face and felt how hot you were. She immediately started to panic and tried to wake you up. Thankfully you opened your eyes halfway and saw your mum.
“Mum, somethings not right. I don’t feel good.” You whispered.
“Get up honey. We are going to the doctor.” Nikki said in a rush. She went to help you stand when you fell on the ground. Nikki was worried because you couldn’t hold yourself up. “DOM!” She yelled. “DOM HURRY UP! COME HERE!”
Tom thought he heard his mum call for him and he heard the worry in her voice so he sprinted to where he heard her trying to talk to Y/N. He was shocked when he saw you on the floor.
“Tom I need your help. We have to get her to the hospital now. Help me get her to the car.” Nikki said. Tom stayed staring at your almost lifeless body “TOM!” Nikki snapped to get his attention. Tom immediately went into protective brother mode and ran to you and easily picked you up bridal style and carried you down to Nikki’s car. He laid you in the backseat and then he joined you by putting your head into his lap. Nikki ran to the driver's seat and rushed to the hospital.
“Mum, what’s wrong with her?” He asked.
“I’m not sure.” Nikki answered honestly. If it hadn't been for the swollen glands, Nikki would have thought you were healthy as a horse. Now with the treatments, it always pained her to see her only daughter struggling with the illness. Once they got to the emergency room, Nikki started telling the ER doctor everything. Tom paled when he heard the word cancer. He looked up at his mum to see if what she said was true. When the doctors took you in the back to run test, Nikki finally turned to her oldest and saw him shaking.
“Cancer?” He whispered. If Nikki hadn’t been standing so close, she wouldn’t have heard him. She gently wrapped an arm around Tom and guided him to sit in a chair. Tom stayed latched to his mum as he cried for his little sister. “Wha- how- when? When did she find out?” Tom asked many minutes later once he stopped crying.
“Before the America trip.” Nikki said. “She’s been doing treatments once a week since. The treatments make her sick. That’s why you found her like she was last Thursday.”
“I had no idea.” Tom said more to himself. “That’s why she didn’t want to go to Bali.”
“Yeah. She wants to stay home until the cancer’s gone. She has a high survival rate, Tom. She didn’t want any of you to worry. That’s why she didn’t tell you.”
As Tom went to say something a doctor interrupted. “Mrs. Holland, Y/N is in a room now. You can go sit with her while we wait for the results. Since Dr. Hammon is the one treating her, she will be here to overlook her during her stay.” Nikki nodded and grabbed Tom’s hand. They followed the doctor to Y/n's room where she looked so tiny on her bed. She had an IV in and was sleeping soundly.
“We gave her some medicine to bring her fever down. She should wake up soon.”
“Thank you doctor.” Nikki said as he walked away. She turned to Tom, “I’m going to go call your father. Sit with her please.”
“Of course.” Tom said before grabbing your hand and sitting in the chair next to your bed. Tom grabbed his phone with his other hand. He quickly added Harry, Sam, and Paddy to a group text.
T: Hospital. Room 135. Waiting on the results for Y/N. We need to talk.
H: WTF?! Is she okay? Is that where you went. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.
T: Yeah. Had to help mum. Just hurry. She should have everyone here for her.
S: Called into work and got the day off. Will be there soon.
P: Harry and I are on our way too. Be there shortly.
By the time all the brothers arrived, Dom was walking into the room as well. Nikki had already spoken with Dr. Hammon and got the news of why Y/N reacted that way. Nikki decided now was the time to tell everyone the severity of it.
“Okay guys. Y/N wanted to keep this a secret, but I no longer can. She has Hodgkin Lymphoma. Her and I noticed swelling in her neck before she was going to the states so I took her to the doctor. She was diagnosed a couple days later. That’s why she didn’t go with you boys on the trip. She’s been undergoing treatment every week to help kill the cancer.” Nikki said looking at all of her sons. “I just talked with the doctor. The bad news is she doesn’t think the antibody therapy is working. She thinks it would be best to try chemotherapy next so the cancer doesn’t spread. The good news is, the cancer hasn’t spread.”
Dom visibly relaxed at hearing that news. He was thankful you were as okay as you could be. “Did she say why she reacted this way. Why did she almost pass out?” Dom asked.
“She said her body was working in overdrive to kill the cancer cells.  Her fever got too high. Now that her fever is down, she’ll be back to her old self.”
“Old self?” Tom scoffed. “Mum she’s been sick more times than she’s been feeling okay. There’s no old self in that.”
“This is her new normal for a bit. Until she defeats the cancer, this is her old self.” Nikki responded.
You groaned and tried to open your eyes. Nikki and Dom rushed to one side as Tom rushed to your other. Tom ran his hand over your head. You turned and slowly opened your eyes and met Tom’s brown ones.
“What happened? Where am I?” You asked, confused.
“Your fever got too high. Me and mum rushed you here. You’re okay now.” Tom said. You turned to see your mum next to you with your dad.
“They know sweety.” She said. You closed your eyes for a second and turned to look at Tom again.
“I’m sorry for keeping this from you.” You said.
“Don’t be. I’m just glad you’re okay now. And I’ll be here every step of the way to help you fight.” He kissed your forehead. The rest of your brothers came up to you.
“I’m sorry Y/N/N for saying you hated us.” Harry said.
“I’m sorry too.” Sam said.
“I’m sorry as well.” Paddy said.
“It’s okay you guys. I’m sorry for not telling you. Just didn’t want you to worry. You guys have a lot going on in your life. Didn’t need to add this to the list of things you were stressing over.”
“We will always worry about you, healthy or not. You’re my baby sister. I never want you to think you have to go through something like this alone.” Tom said.
“I’ll sit with you at treatments.” Harry said.
“I’ll hangout with you when you don’t feel well at home.” Paddy said.
“I’ll make all of your favorites and I’ll make you soup.” Sam said.
You smiled at your brothers and thanked them. You were glad you had such an amazing support group to back you in this fight.
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weirdthinkingdragon · 4 years ago
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Welcome To The Family (6/???)
1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / here
Yandere EraserMic household x reader
Fun fact- Tadao was a sudden decision I made up on the spot after chapter 3 and wasn’t expecting to really make him a character other than a mentioned person with a mold/fungus quirk. I did though, and already love him as an OC more than I should. Oops. 
It might be a long while before the next chapter. I think I may have drained myself a bit from focusing on this story so much. 
Warnings- swearing, slight coercion I think? Not really sure but better safe than sorry. 
I promise the darker stuff is coming soon. 
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I wake up to someone calling me. Hitoshi? Why is he calling me at… 9 in the morning? Come on dude, I want to sleep more for dinner tonight. My fault for hanging out with Tadao a bit later last night than usual. He’s started walking with me to our apartment for the past few days. I wonder why we haven’t hung out until now. Meanwhile, Ryo and I seemed to drift apart. They refuse to even look at me now when I saw them last night. 
Ugh, might as well answer it. “Hey, Hitoshi. You need something?” I tiredly slur from just waking up. 
“Sorry for waking you…” Apologized the familiar voice of Eri. Wait, Eri? Why does she have Hitoshi’s phone? The wonder why she has his phone wakes me up a bit more. 
“Oh, hey, Eri. Is something wrong?” A slight panic enters me in the possibility something bad could have happened to one of the guys. “Wait, is everyone okay?” 
“We’re good. Just wanted to talk a bit with you before tonight.” Pipes up the familiar voice of Hitoshi in the background. 
Relief floods me. “That’s good. What about?” 
“Our dads!” Eri cheerfully informs. 
My eyes narrow in confusion. “What about them?” 
“What do you think of them?” Hitoshi asks. Huh? Why does this need to be talked about now? Maybe because more likely than not the two adults are asleep, and won’t hear the conversation? 
I’m too tired to be filtered right now, so whatever comes to mind is whatever is going to be said. “They’re… An interesting two, to say the least. Hizashi seems like someone I can rely on to cheer me up pretty easily if I’m ever down, and after that day Shouta was sick, I realize Shouta’s secretly a lot more caring than he lets on. Still wouldn’t want to pi- anger him.” Ugh, it’s too early. I nearly just swore with Eri there! Well, saying “piss him off” wouldn’t have been that bad, but she needs to keep that innocence at least for a while yet. 
Hitoshi laughs, probably catching on with what I almost said. “Seen it first-hand with his class. Can’t say I recommend it either.”
“What about looks?” Eri suddenly asks, catching me off-guard. What do their looks have to do with anything? They’re also a married couple, so whatever I think is invalid anyways. 
“Well, had this weird thought of wondering what Hizashi would look like with his hair fully down when we went to the festival, but that’s really not something that I need to tell him. It’s something I probably shouldn’t be wondering in the first place.”
“What’s the problem in wondering that? It’s just hair.” 
“Says the one who always looks like he stuck his head out a car window and hair decided to stay that way.” 
“Can’t argue with that.” 
I go back onto the topic. “Otherwise, I’m not really sure what to talk about with them. It’s their choices of what they wear. Though it IS pretty funny imagining Hizashi forcing Shouta to wear something he normally wouldn’t.”
“It’s happened more than once before.” 
I tiredly let out a laugh. “I believe it.”  
“Daddy made him wear a dress!” 
An almost inhuman sound comes out of me at the thought of Shouta deeply frowning with a strapless hot pink dress forced onto him, and the only reason he does it is Hizashi would probably keep pestering him otherwise. 
“Maybe sometime we could get him to do it again with you here. It’s quite a thing to see.” 
“Oh, really? How did he not kill you for laughing?”
“He almost did,” he replies jokingly. 
“If he tries to attack me when I’m there, you’re taking the blow.” I joke back. 
He goes silent for a moment. “He wouldn’t dare. If he did, he’d have an angry little girl scolding him.”
“Toooshiiii!”
“What? You know I’m right.” 
“Hmph.” 
“Anyway, want to tell them what you’ll wear?”
“No! It’s a surprise!”
“Right back at you two,” I inform the slightly bickering duo.
----------------------------
We both hung up after a bit more of talking about tonight. I could swear there was someone talking in the background for a second, but I brushed it off as the T.V. Eri was probably watching something earlier and forgot to lower the volume. 
After playing on my computer for a while since it’s close to my bed, I decided to just get up and get ready. There are not many fancy things I have, so it’s quite limited on what to wear. Hopefully, they don’t mind if it’s a bit more casual than fancy. There’s plenty of time to shop for something, but I’m honestly too lazy to go anywhere. Just something of my favorite color and slightly more fancy than my daily clothes should work. 
I have to dig much deeper into my closet to find said clothing from not wearing it too often. 
One of my favorite color is grabbed. Nope, that’s not it. 
I move a few more. Wait, there it is! I move a few more pieces of clothing and grab it, pulling it out. Hopefully, it still fits. Welp, time to try. I take off my pajamas. 
.
.
.
.
Like a glove. Perfect! 
Just to make sure there are no new forgotten holes or something, I look at myself in my body mirror. Huh, I actually look pretty good in this! I might have to wear it more often. Something feels like it’s missing though. Maybe a ring or something would help? 
I look over to the select few rings I have, including the forgotten one Ryo gave me. My heart slightly twinges at remembering they gave it as a best friends type of ring years ago. A ring with real blue topaz fitting my middle finger. 
Might as well wear it. I slip it on and decide to leave my room, though they won’t be here for a while yet. Maybe Tadao will be around. 
My body instinctively starts looking around for the familiar- oh, not again. Does he LIKE sleeping on the floor in the hall or something? I walk up to his sleeping form. I gently nudge him to move with my foot. 
He groans, and curls his head deeper onto his arm, also bringing his legs up so he’s a ball. “Come on dude, I know your quirk is related to mold and all, but you’re not supposed to BECOME it.” 
“I am one with the floor… I shall be the floor…” He mumbles, probably sleep talking.  
I nudge him harder, making him open his eyes to look up at me. “Heyyy Y/N. What time is it?” He sluggishly asks. 
I check my phone. “Already half-past noon.” 
That got his attention. Both of his eyes snapped open as he shot to sit up. He grabs his rather cracked phone and looks at it. There are a few messages on the screen without him unlocking it. They’re impossible to read as he seems frantic after looking at them. “Already!? Man, I gotta get ready! I’ll be late for work!” 
I don’t even get the chance to ask him anything since he gets to his feet and sprints off past my door, probably to his. 
Glancing at Ryo’s door, the thought of checking on them arises. No, they’re deciding on acting out like this. Crawling to them could only continue this childish way again at some point. Ugh, what to do now though? It will be boring to just sit around for the next few hours. The park could be good for a few hours. 
The villains around though? Nah. Welp, more computer time.
Familiar brown hair in the corner of my eye catches my attention before returning to my door. It’s the woman that glared at me with Hizashi at the studio. What’s she doing around here? Never saw her around before, and she doesn’t exactly strike me as the type to like parties. Funny if she’s attracted to Hizashi like he told me. 
She keeps her glare on me as she… Knocks on Ryo’s door? Oh hell no. There’s no way Ryo is hanging out with someone like that. I’m proven wrong though as Ryo opens the door and pulls them in without looking at me. 
I- What? What’s going on lately?
Also, okay, what the ever-loving fuck Ryo!? 
Calm down, give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the woman hasn’t told Ryo anything about my work, and maybe it can just be a sudden meeting they did at one point, and it’s an opposites attract type of friendship. After all, I haven’t really been around. They were bound to try to find someone else to hang out with I suppose. Should this be a concern to bring up with Hizashi and Shouta though? 
I stand there still staring at Ryo’s door and blink confusedly. They couldn’t have found anyone better to hang out with? Even a villain would have been better than her in my opinion. Sure, more trouble from me being around two- basically three- heroes could arise, but I’d be willing to keep that kind of secret for them. But this? This gives me a bad feeling.
What if she’s the reason Ryo is acting so odd? 
Next Sunday will be the day to get some answers from them. If they will talk to me, that is. 
------------------------------------------------------------
Time seems to slip by while being on my computer. My phone notifies me of a text message. I look at it to see it’s from Hizashi. 
“Hitoshi’s coming in to get ya! We’re waiting!” My eyes widen noticing it’s already past six at night. 
I try to text him ASAP to not let Hitoshi come in. They won’t be happy with my living place. “That will be fine, call him off. I’ll be out shortly.” 
“Too late! Sorry!” 
I sigh. He doesn’t even know which one mine is! I put my computer away and quickly left. Looking left and right, there’s familiar purple hair far down on the right. Obviously, it’s Hitoshi. He is staring with great disgust at the peeling walls and ripped-up flooring.  Oh boy, it’s probably a disaster with what is about to happen in the vehicle now. 
The hallway is rather dimly lit now, making it slightly hard to see, but it’s easy to tell he’s wearing a suit matching his eye color. I’m feeling pretty underdressed now. 
“Hey, Hitoshi. You could have waited outside. Uh… You probably should have no offense.” 
He glares at a piece of wall that falls off onto the floor. “How do you live in this?” 
I shrug. “Eh, you get used to it,” I noticed his frustrated expression. He’s about to ask me why I don’t move or something since I clearly could with my pay. “And before you say anything, I rather like it here. It’s where a lot of my closest friends are.”   
His eyes narrow at me. “You could still visit instead of living here.” 
Someone jumps upstairs, making the place shake, and a piece of the ceiling on this level chips off and falls next to the wall piece on the floor. 
“That’s new,” I comment. It’s true, the ceiling has never fallen before. Makes me wonder when this whole building is going to collapse. Bit worried for my friends here now.
Hitoshi looks at me like I just told him the world is going to end tomorrow. 
I start walking to the exit, having Hitoshi follow behind me too closely for my taste. Makes sense if he’s doing it for my protection, but he obviously doesn’t know these people as I do. He almost could be felt against my back. “You mind standing back a bit? You’re rather close.”
He does, but just barely. 
It doesn't take long for us to get to the vehicle. Just like before, I get in the center and hug Eri. The slight light in the car makes it hard to see her dress, but I'm pretty sure it's a bright silverish blue. The light wasn't on long enough to notice the two up front. 
They do seem to notice Hitoshi in a slightly on edge type of way. For the moment the light was on. 
"What's wrong, little hypno-man?" 
"Their apartment is not fitting to live in."
"What?" Hizashi's tone almost drastically changes. I'm glad I can't see them right now. I focus on the scenery past Hitoshi to try ignoring the growing unease of him whistleblowing to them. 
"It's falling apart. A part of the wall fell to the floor. The inside is much worse than the outside." 
"Why are you still living there? You can easily move with the money we give you." Shouta pipes up. 
"Because I like living there. It's a walking distance from your place, and all my friends are there."
"You could visit them some other time if you moved. We'd pay a bus for you if needed." 
"Exactly! Or I could drive ya to our place! It wouldn't be a problem, and it would give me a little somethin' to do while the grump wakes up in the morning!" 
I don't feel comfortable at the thought of having to rely on them like that. They're already so busy themselves, it really wouldn't be fair to them despite what they say. 
“Uh… no. Thanks for the offer, but my place is good for now.”
The air is rather tense, telling me that they want to push more on the subject, but decide not to for now. 
I decided to bring up what happened earlier.  “Remember that bad woman from before?”
“You mean Chiyo?” Shouta spits her name with such hate, someone would think he’d murder her if he could. Hizashi must have told him about our meeting in his studio. Wait, Isn’t that a first name?
As if reading my mind, Hizashi answers for Shouta. “She doesn’t deserve the respect of last name. What about her?” 
“I discovered today she might be hanging out with one of my closest friends that doesn’t seem to be too happy with me lately. Isn’t it a bit of a concern she might tell them that I babysit for you guys?” 
“That’s confidential information. Like it was said to you before you started, you can’t tell anyone our identities. They can get into serious trouble if they do, and they signed a contract accepting they wouldn’t.” Shouta replies. 
“That’s good to know.” I say, sounding relieved. They could be told how Ryo thinks they’re bad parents for me babysitting so often, but that’s something that probably doesn’t need to be brought up. Especially if she can’t tell Ryo about it. 
Hizashi pulls up and parks in front of the restaurant we must be dining in. wait- fuck, I’ve heard of this place. It’s one of the most expensive restaurants around here! We exit and enter the restaurant. The first thing I noticed was how well-dressed the two men were. Shouta was wearing a navy blue suit, white undershirt, and a light brown tie. Oddly, he’s also wearing glasses. When did he need glasses? 
Hizashi was wearing a cream-colored suit with a dark grey undershirt and a tie matching his eye color. Looking at the four of them and the others around, I am… severely underdressed. Doesn’t feel much better with everyone that stares at me from their tables for a moment. 
Wait- Hizashi’s. Hair. Is. Fully. Down. I whip my head towards Hitoshi and glare in betrayal. 
He notices with a smirk, and puts his hands in front of himself in mock-defense. “Don’t look at me. He was there then, just didn’t speak.” 
My eyes narrow. “So it really WASN’T the T.V.” Seriously though!? That’s so embarrassing! He must have heard everything! 
Him and Hizashi chuckle at me, making me feel worse.
A woman comes up from the counter. “Please tell me the name of your reservation.” 
“The Aizawa’s.” Um… I’m not exactly a part of this family? Well, it does make sense though I guess just to do a last name. Hizashi smirks at Shouta while he glares in return. 
“Right this way please.” She starts to lead the five of us to a table farther in the back. The enormous chandeliers overhead from the really tall ceiling are slightly intimidating if I’m to be honest. Each crystal is taller than Hizashi from the top of his hair in his hero costume to his feet. 
The white and gold walls of the place give a surprisingly calming type of effect. It’s rather cool in here as well. Probably to help combat the ones who wear layers of clothes to be more fancy or something.  
“You couldn’t have chosen anything else?” Shouta hisses quietly enough for the woman not to hear, but I’m close enough that I can. I’m right between them from behind while Hitoshi and Eri are behind me. I can swear Hitoshi keeps trying to nudge me forward closer to them. 
“Aw, don’t worry ‘bout it babe! Besides, you and I both know you’re known much less than me! This way they won’t know us!” He leans even closer to Shouta. “And don’t deny it, you know you like the thought of me bein’ called an Aizawa~” 
I can see red start to cover the side of Shouta’s face even though he tries his best to hide and prevent it. Ha! Now he’s the one to be embarrassed! 
I let out a chuckle, making Hizashi turn and give me a toothy grin. 
We get to a table with booth seats. The color of them is surprisingly similar to Eri’s dress. 
I go to sit with Hitoshi and Eri, but like before, Hizashi grabs my wrist and has me sit between him and Shouta. Why do you keep doing this to me dude!? Shouta is on my right by the wall with Hizashi on my left by the opening. 
Eri is sitting by the wall with Hitoshi by the opening in front of us. I didn’t notice before, but her dress has some candy apple red jewels the shape of diamonds, adorning the dress even more than it already was. Must be new since it’s never been seen by me before.  
… I don’t like the closeness of the two men beside me again. Saying it is uncomfortable is an understatement. A difference than before is the heat of their thighs radiating through their pants onto mine. 
The woman hands us menus. “Someone will be here to take your orders shortly.” 
I try to brush them off while looking at the menu. 
“Hey Y/N, are ya datin’ anyone?” 
“Maybe.” They don’t need to know I’m not. 
“That’s a yes or no question.” Shouta states with slight annoyance. He must have forgotten I told him I’m not the day he was sick.  
“They better not be a villain. We’d hate to have to do something to you and them. Better be honest, you’re not looking the best right now.” Hitoshi accuses. 
What the heck Hitoshi!? You’re just going to turn on me like this!? Why I ought to come over there and smack the back of your head myself! 
My saving grace as the waiter comes- Tadao!? This is where he works!? He comes up to our table with a notepad in front of him. "Hello, I’m Ito, and I’ll be your waiter for tonight. What can I get you started with?” 
“Tadao, you work here?” 
His head snaps up from the notepad, and looks at me. “Oh hey, Y/N!” His face becomes a smirk. “What happened to calling me glowstick?” 
“Well, you’re not really glowing right now in this light, are you?”
“Ha, you got me there.” 
The three men look between us with some look I don’t really understand. 
“Ya know each other?” 
“You could say we’re close.” Tadao informs. They grow rather deep frowns at the news.
He clears his throat and brings his notepad up. “What drinks could I start you guys with?” We each tell him our drinks and he writes them down. “All right, drinks coming right up!” He leaves to go get them. 
“He’s one of the reasons I don’t move out of my apartment. Especially now. We’ve become really close recently.” 
“You should stay away from him. He seems like bad news.” Hitoshi informs. 
??? huh? “Why, do you know he has a villain record or something?” 
“He could be using you. Stay away from him or we might have to make sure he doesn’t do anything.” 
Okay, THAT pisses me off. “First of all, you guys can’t tell me who I can and can’t hang out with outside of babysitting hours. Second of all, I’d really appreciate it if you guys could be less judging of him, because he has never done anything even slightly villainous whenever we met.” My slightly edged tone makes them back off the topic. I wanted to add third of all being he walks with me at night to our apartment place, but that seems like a bad idea if their reaction is this so far. 
It grows awkwardly silent between us all for a moment. Maybe I should have kept the others to myself too, but damn it, they need to have more respect for my decisions they were never a part of, and have no need to be a part of. 
Tadao comes with our drinks. He places them down, and Hizashi immediately takes a big drink of his.
“Here you guys go, and one drink for one special person.” He jokingly winks at me. 
I roll my eyes in response. “Sometimes I truly wonder if I hate you.” I tease.
He rolls his eyes in return. “Admit it, you know you love me.”
Hizashi chokes on his drink. I don’t help him from still being a bit upset. He should be fine anyways after a bit. 
He does, and is able to manage keeping his quirk down as well. 
“Do I?” I question teasingly. 
The three men glare at him. Sheesh, what’s their problem? 
He seems rather uncomfortable by it and leaves in a rush immediately after taking our orders. After I almost had a heart attack from the beyond insane prices, of course. Even the cheapest thing is over half the money I’m given a day for babysitting. 
I’m getting pretty upset with these guys right now. Starting to wonder if they got hit with some odd quirk again or something. 
That calms me down a bit since it would kind of make sense that’s why they’re acting odd. How long will it last though? Better not be long. I don’t know if I can handle them like this without losing my mind. 
“Hey, Y/N. We have something for you,” Hitoshi pipes up, and nods towards Hizashi. 
“Right!” He reaches into one of his pockets and pulls out a… necklace? It has my favorite type of jewel in it, encased behind and around the edges with what looks like real gold. A different shine is on it, like something is covering the gold to prevent it from easily being destroyed by weather or wear. The shape is in a rather large teardrop. It looks custom-made as well. Never seen anything even close to what this looks like before. 
“It’s a gift!” Eri cheerfully chimes in.
“That she helped us pick for you.” Shouta informs. 
Please don’t tell me it’s authentic. It looks real though. I can’t even begin to imagine the price of what it must have cost to create it if it is real. “I’m sorry, but I can’t accept this! It feels too much like I’m just using you guys if I do!” 
The three of them frown. Even Eri seems a bit disappointed. 
Eri asking me my favorite jewel kind of makes sense now, but why would they want to give this to me? 
“C’mon, let’s put it on ya!” He hands it over to Hitoshi and stands up, pulling me to stand up with him. Hitoshi stands as well. 
“Did you guys not hear me? I- I can’t accept it!” 
Hizashi shakes his head. “Don’t be so worried, dear little lovesong! We want you to have it! Ya can’t just say no, we spent too much for it to go to waste now!” 
Hitoshi goes behind me with the necklace and is able to put it on while I’m still rather reluctant to accept such a gift.
Eri’s eyes almost seem to sparkle when the clasp gets shut on it. “You look amazing!”  
I freeze in my tracks to notice everyone is staring at us yet again. This time with slightly different reactions. A couple of them seem to be with envy, making me want to shrivel up and hide in a hole, and others seem to be appreciative I have something more expensive than my clothes now or something.  
At least Shouta seems to give me mercy by pulling me back down in the booth and glaring at them all in such a way that they all stop staring. I’m feeling a bit like a ragdoll at this point. 
Hitoshi joins him, making sure they truly stop. The glare combined of those two could probably curdle the blood of All Might himself. 
The restaurant seems to grow quiet between all of us. 
I decide to escape by using the bathroom. Hizashi didn’t have time to sit back down before it was necessary. “Stay here, it won’t take me long.” They still seem reluctant to let me go alone. 
Getting to the bathrooms, I didn’t have to go, just wanted to get out of the stares and whispers for a little bit. Despite the men’s glares, of course there was still going to be gossip of someone in here who looks so out of place. 
“Hey, Y/N, be careful around them, alright? They’re pretty strange.” Pipes up the familiar voice of Tadao behind me. 
I play dumb. He probably shouldn’t know I know they must have been hit with some kind of quirk. “How do you know? They could just be being cautious since their children are with.”
“I admit, I did watch you a bit at the festival. More so the men you were with when they came. Something about them isn’t... “ He seems to be struggling with figuring out how to explain it. “It’s wrong. I just can’t quite put my finger on what it is. Again, just be careful, alright?” 
I just nod and enter the bathroom. 
A bit after cooling off, I go back to the dinner table, them all still waiting and chatting about school. Well, Shouta being nearly silent as usual. Hizashi quickly stands up to let me sit between them again. Ugh, I really don’t want to. 
Yet I do, just to be kind. The least I can do is sit through this since they went through the effort of such a gift, even though to me it seems highly unnecessary. 
Tadao comes with our food not much later with a secret frown on his face. He’s smiling, but I’ve learned him well enough by now it’s worry he has instead of a cheerful personality. It slightly drops to reveal his true emotions when he notices the guys glaring at him yet again. He doesn’t say a word, just drops all of the food off and leaves. 
This feels like a really ruined dinner, even though this food is incredibly good. The atmosphere has definitely become shit. I seem to be the only one to notice. Hizashi looks over towards me and gives me another grin, not giving much comfort. What’s worse is every time I stop for a moment and rest my hand on my lap, Shouta seems to try to grab it. It led me to just keeping the utensil for my dinner in my hand. 
I’ll have to apologize to Tadao for their behavior tomorrow. Easier said than done since I still can’t exactly tell him who they are. Cursed contract. 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
taglist-
@dabi-s-whore, @angelicblackwolf, @fuegy-fuegy   
Double fun fact- Did you know slapping someone’s back if they’re choking is actually worse than letting them try to get it out themselves, especially if it’s food? The food can actually get lodged deeper in their throat at the impact. Huh, First Aid is quite interesting.
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yourmcu · 4 years ago
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Natalie
Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Stark!reader (platonic), Tony Stark x daughter!reader
Summary:
You met Natasha for the first time while she was undercover as Natalie. You’re not overly fond of how your first meeting went.
Word count: 1,390
Warnings: none (that means fluff)
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gif not mine! credits to the owner^^
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“How was the field trip, Miss Stark?”
"Good actually, just feeling a bit under the weather,” you sniffle while the front door slides close behind you. “It was probably the heavy air conditioning on the bus.”
You drop your duffel bag beside the couch while Jarvis reassures you that somebody will get you a hot meal to make you feel better. You had gotten back in the early hours of the morning so Pepper and even Tony would still be asleep, and you're already sure Happy is going to be upset when he finds out you took the bus home instead of calling him.
You go to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water and sit down by the kitchen island. It’s almost six, anyone would wake up soon. So you just sit there trying to deal with your headache.
Natasha is always up early ever since she got the position as an assistant for Stark’s company. As much as possible she keeps the snooping around to a minimal, or makes sure to finish the tasks Pepper gave her first before looking out for Tony to see what he was up to.
She had seen a framed photo of you and Tony in the living room. She immediately wondered who you were, seeing as the public doesn’t fully know Tony Stark had a child, and if Fury knew about you. She casually brought it up when both her and Pepper were working though: “Tony’s daughter. Y/N doesn’t like to be in the spotlight that much.”
When Jarvis notifies her that “Miss Stark has arrived and could use some soup.”, she puts her paperwork aside and strides out of the room. Natasha doesn’t trust this whole daughter thing. Tony Stark is a busy - and a reckless man, he doesn’t have time for one, at least, that’s what she thinks. Maybe she’s a child prodigy he hired or something, or possibly an agent.
You raise your head a bit when you hear the clopping of heals, feeling very much relieved that Pepper’s awake - except it isn’t Pepper.
Her movements are swift as she enters the room. She clutches her clipboard at her side as she got a good look at you. Huh. I thought she’d be much younger.
“Uh, hello,” you say awkwardly, eyes flicking from her, to your side, and at the door. Oh god, dad’s having one night stands again. You thought for sure he'll end up with Pepper. This woman looks like a reporter, except she managed to dress herself unlike-
“Do you have a soup preference?”
“What?” You blink. You don’t like it when your father sleeps with women who wander around the house in the morning. When they see you they want to take photos, sometimes an interview when you were still in your pajamas. But this one is asking you what kind of soup you like. Maybe she’s hungover? “The... uh, the exit’s down the hall on the left, I can ring a driver if you need a ride, if you want,”
You really wish Tony or Pepper would walk in now.
“What gave you the impression that I want to leave?”
Something about the way she said that made an alarm go off inside you. You want nothing more than to run. “Okay, I’m-” you get up, taking your water bottle with you. You try to avoid her gaze because it follows you until you're at the door. “I’m just gonna... just gonna go.” And you sprint away.
You head to Tony’s lab and enter your code when you see him working on an old red car. “Dad,” you breathe out and his eyes light up when he sees you.
“Hey bud, when did you get home?” His breath reeks of alcohol and it isn’t surprising that he's getting no sleep again.
“The reporter you mingled with is still here and she doesn’t want to leave.”
“Reporter?”
“Yes, reporter, or I don’t know... whatever her occupation is,” you raise your voice a bit. “You know I can’t do anything about when you - when you take someone home-”
Tony stops his fidgeting. “That’s none of your business.”
“Okay fine, sorry, but-”
“Look, I’m sure you’ve had a rough trip back,” he gets up and wipes his hands. “But there’s not a single reporter, or whatever you’re talking about, here. Let’s go, I’m sure Natalie has breakfast ready.”
Natalie?
You open your mouth to object but Tony already has an arm around you and leads you out of his workplace. You’re only gone for a few weeks, curse them for not bothering to shoot you a text or something, just so that you're informed with everything that’s been going on-
“Mr. Stark?” That same, gentle but almost kind of robotic voice speaks. Well, that’s how you’d describe the red-headed stranger. You scoot closer to Tony when she came to view. “Miss Potts has specifically ordered me to tell you not to disturb her today. She’s very busy. Can I get both of you anything?”
You feel your lips part slowly, gaping at the two adults.
“I’m gonna go shower, you can assist Y/N here to whatever she needs,” Tony replies absentmindedly and walks away.
The man forgot you had no idea who the woman is and what she's doing here. “Who... who are you?” You turn to face her after you watchs your dad walk away and is now out of view.
“Natalie Rushman,” she replies matter-of-factly.
“But who - wait, why... what?”
Natasha could tell you really are Tony’s daughter and now found your confusion amusing. She decides to fill you in on everything that happened while you were away.
“Pepper’s CEO?! Hang on, I have to go see her-” But she gently places a hand on your shoulder.
“She doesn’t want to be disturbed today.”
“...right.”
After that interaction the both of you became close. You warmed up to her, and despite Natasha still being undercover she became softer around you, thinking you wouldn’t be able to put the pieces together and figure out what she was really doing here.
You’d ask her for advice, help for homework sometimes, talk about random shit, it was great.
Every time you both had the chance to talk you’d ask her random questions, they’d always leave you speculating.
“Dad said you modeled in Tokyo,” you point out one day while she’s filing paperwork and you had nothing better to do. “Why didn’t you pursue it? You know, modeling?”
She could’ve pursued being a boxer or something too, Happy also told you about the time she flipped him over in the boxing ring. You couldn’t imagine why she’d choose being an assistant over the other cool ones.
Natasha just glances at you for a moment and shrugs, returning to the task at hand. “It wasn’t my thing.”
But what made you upset? The day she left. You just built this bond with her, a friendship, and you didn’t see any reason why she had to leave. No one had any complaints with her, so why?
You ask Tony after him and Rhodey were honored in Washington. “Did you fire Ms. Rushman?”
“Sorry?” Tony removes his sunglasses hastily.
“I was just wondering why Natalie doesn’t work for you anymore.”
“Natasha.” He corrects.
Your eyebrows furrow as you look at him, “wh-”
“I didn’t fire her, kid,” he sighs. “But something tells me we’re gonna see her again soon.”
And you did, two years later.
-----
bonus:
“C’mon, Nat, stop,” you drag out after you leapt onto her and tried to cover her mouth. “It’s not funny!”
“And then - and then Y/N gave me this look when I walked in - oh god, she looked so creeped out, then-”
The room fills with laughter from the other avengers but the loudest ones were coming from Sam and Clint. She told them the story a few times and it still never gets old.
 “I still can’t believe you thought she was one of Tony’s flings,” Sam wipes a tear from his eye. “God, that’s gold!”
When she finishes, Natasha pulls you closer and tilts her head when she sees the pout on your face. “Aww, are you mad at me?”
“No.”
“I know you are,” oh no. She put on the voice she uses whenever she’s about to do something you didn’t like. Without warning, her hands go to your sides, tickling you mercilessly.
“NAT!”
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starshine583 · 4 years ago
Text
New Girl on the Block (16)
(Hey, guys! Here’s the next update of “New Girl on the Block”! I hope you all enjoy it, and as always, feel free to check out the mini series connected to this called Journal Entries. <3)
Ch. 1 / Ch. 15 / Ch. 17 (Ao3)
Chapter 16: Hear Me Out
Adrien rocked back and forth on his heels, quietly scrolling through his phone as he waited in front of the Dupain-Cheng bakery. After two weeks of strict scheduling and a light grounding sentence due to missing classes, he’d finally gotten a reprieve, and he didn’t hesitate to use that rare free time to seek out Marinette. Her bakery was usually opened in the early hours, so he figured that he would get to waltz right in and talk with her. However, that didn’t seem to be the case, because when he arrived, he wasn’t met with the vanilla scents and warm smiles that he’d come to love. Instead, a small piece of paper stopped him at the front door. 
Temporarily closed. Will re-open at an undetermined time today.
It was a frustrating set-back, since he’d spent all this time trying to get there, but Adrien simply shrugged and leaned against one of the larger windows to wait. They were probably out running errands, which shouldn’t take long. Maybe half an hour to an hour tops? Either way, he wasn’t going to leave now. If he could sit in the same positions for hours on end for a photoshoot, he could stand on the street for a prolonged amount of time for a friend. Besides, the weather was surprisingly warm that morning, and he rather enjoyed the breath of fresh air that came with it.
..Of course, that mentality was much easier to keep up at the beginning. After waiting for a little over an hour, though, Adrien already felt his patience starting to slip. The subtle chill in the air that he hadn’t noticed before was seeping into his clothes, and his fingers were slowly growing numb as he distracted himself with apps on his phone. His thoughts were tipping on the irritated side, like how the Dupain-Chengs should have been home already. Errands don’t take this long. Where were they? Won’t they lose customers if they leave the bakery unattended like this?
Despite the growing annoyance, Adrien forced himself to stay put and relax. He’d come over unannounced, after all. He couldn’t blame them for making him wait if they didn’t know he was there. And, again, this was Marinette. She was his wonderful friend and completely worth waiting for. If it meant getting her to come back to school and hang out with him again, he could let himself freeze on the sidewalk. Even if it took hours or days or weeks for him to see her. Nothing on earth was going to-
Adrien’s stomach rumbled, reminding him that he hadn’t had breakfast yet, and on that note, neither had Gorilla. He’d been in such a hurry to leave that he hadn’t thought about food. (Well, that’s not entirely true. He’d sort of hoped that he could eat breakfast with Marinette once they talked things out.)
So much for that idea. He thought, leaning his head against the window. Maybe he should go ahead and get breakfast real quick. That way Gorilla could eat too, and it would get him out of the cold for a minute. What if the Dupain-Chengs came back while he was gone, though? He didn’t want to miss them..
Actually, why should he have to leave it all? He could just send Gorilla to get the food and bring it back here! Genius!
Adrien straightened with a smile and slipped his phone back into his pocket, but before he could take a step forward, something caught his eye.
A black car rolled up to the curb, parking right in front of the bakery. It almost looked like it was waiting for something, but no one got out of the car and no one came to get in, which was.. Strange. Why would a car park at the random spot in Paris? Were they lost? Or simply waiting for something? What would they be waiting for?
Just as Adrien was about to blow off the unusual sight, the front door of the bakery burst open, and someone came barreling outside shouting “Coming! I’m coming!”. 
Adrien jumped- understandably so. Wasn’t the bakery supposed to be empty? -and whirled around to see the very person he’d been waiting for sprinting towards the car. His arms moved before his mind could fully comprehend the situation, but as he grabbed her arm, more than a few questions were spinning in his head. For example, why was she at the bakery? Had she been there the whole time? Who was waiting for her inside the car?
“Marinette! I’ve been waiting for you.” He said, flashing a smile despite his confusion. They were talking now. That was all that mattered. 
Marinette stiffened, her gaze snapping to his. The look of pure terror that crossed her features didn’t sit well with Adrien, but he tried to push that discomfort aside. She was probably just surprised that someone had grabbed. They were friends, after all. She wouldn’t be horrified seeing her friend!
“Y-You.. How long have you been waiting here?” She stuttered out, panic clear in her tone.
“Ah..” Adrien let his hand drop from her arm and rubbed the back of his neck. Should he tell her that he's been waiting for almost two hours? That’s not weird, right?
“That’s not important.” He decided to reply. “Do you have a minute? I haven’t seen you in forever!”
Marinette threw a glance over her shoulder at the car. “Y-you know, I really don’t actually. I have to go meet someone, and-”
So she was meeting someone? That meant this car was sent to get her. Was she meeting one of the Rosemary students? It was probably that blond-haired guy again..
“It’ll only take two seconds!” He  promised, moving to block her door. He couldn’t let her run away again when he was so close.
“Adrien, please, I really need to go-”
“Come on! I just need-”
“They’re all waiting as we speak-”
“I just need to apologize!”
Marinette froze, her fighting spirit seeming to stall at the remark, and Adrien paused too. He wanted his words to sink in before he continued. Hopefully, that would get her to listen to him.
She met his eyes again, definitely hesitant but not indignant. He took that as a good sign, a step in the right direction. 
“You.. wanted to apologize?”
Adrien gave an eager nod. “Yes! I’ve been trying to for the past month, but our schedules never lined up, and any time I would finally get out, you weren’t at home, and.. Well.. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you to take the high ground like that or ignore the fact that Lila was hurting you. That’s not what friends do. I should have been there for you when you needed me. I’m so sorry that I was blind to everything.”
Marinette stared at him, dumbfounded, and he held his breath. She was going to forgive him, right? She’s not the type to leave someone hanging, though he probably couldn’t blame her if she did.. 
She cast her gaze to the ground. “I.. I appreciate the apology, but I really do need to get going. They’ll start to worry if I’m late.”
Adrien faltered. That.. wasn’t exactly the reaction he’d been hoping for. It wasn’t bad or anything, just.. When he pictured this moment, it always came with a hug or an “Of course I’ll forgive you!”, but Marinette, however, only seemed to be interested in meeting her friend. (Friends if you consider how often she said “they”.)
“Can we get together later then?” He asked, throwing those thoughts aside. Reality was never like fantasy anyway. “There’s still so much I want to talk with you about.”
Again, Marinette hesitated. “..Can I think about it?”
Adrien offered a smile, though he was admittedly disappointed. Had their friendship truly stooped so low that she had to think about spending time with him?
Nevertheless, he would take what he could get. Therefore, he gave a nod with the smile and said, “That’s all I ask.”
The tension in Marinette’s shoulders loosened, but only slightly, and she thanked him as she slipped into the black car that was still waiting. Adrien waved her off, and although he didn’t get to talk with her nearly as much as he’d wanted to, he still found himself more optimistic than anything. She said that she would think about getting together again, and if Marinette was the person he knew she was, he would be getting a text soon about a time and place. They would talk, and he would convince her to come back to Dupont, and everything would be fine.
All he had to do now was wait.
~~~~~~
Normally, folding slips of paper and stapling them together to create a heart would be a simple task for someone as crafty as Marinette. Today, though, her thoughts were elsewhere, and that seemed to seep into her productivity rate. She’d been working on the same stream of hearts for a good hour or so and still hadn’t finished it, despite only taking twenty minutes maximum for each stream when she made them last time. 
Her slow pace was aggravating to say the least, but not nearly as aggravating as the thoughts that kept invading her mind in the first place. All she could think about was Adrien Agreste and the way he showed up on her doorstep that morning, spewing apologies and begging for more time to hang out with her. After two weeks of silence from the blonde, she had hoped that he was giving up on talking with her. Apparently, that wasn’t the case.
Don’t get her wrong, she was happy that he apologized. Or, at least, she knew she was supposed to be happy. This was something that she’d been waiting for for the past five months, after all. It’s just that.. Why now? Why now did he decide to come apologize to her? Why not come before she left the school? Why not come before she officially moved on from her old life and started over? 
Then again, it never would be before, would it? People don’t appreciate you until you’re gone. That’s just how it was, and it’s what made her leaving Dupont hard in the first place. All of her childhood friends had been there, and she knew- or possibly hoped at the time -that some of them would try to stop her. Granted, only one has tried so far, but one was enough to send Marinette into a flurry of anxious thoughts.
In all honesty, she wanted to tell Adrien no, to say that she wouldn’t be joining him for another hangout. He was simply too much of a risk. What if he told the others about their meet-up? What if they followed him and found her again to do who knows what? What if Lila found her again to do who knows what? Then, there were her new, lovely friends right in front of her. What if they got caught up in drama that Adrien might bring along? She didn’t want them being a part of that. In fact, she didn’t want them talking to Adrien or her other old classmates at all. (Thank goodness no one had come with Allegra’s driver to pick her up earlier, else she would have had a lot of things to explain that she didn’t want to.) Transferring schools was meant to keep Marinette away from her past, not create a new environment to infect it with. 
As reluctant as she was to meet up with Adrien, though, she also felt guilty for thinking that way. He’d come and apologized to her for the things he’d done and appeared to be extremely sincere while doing so. It didn’t sit right with her to reject him without giving him a chance to make up for his mistakes. Maybe she should have a little lunch with him? 
Ugh, but the very idea made her sick to her stomach-
“-inette~? Marinette!”
Marinette jumped, her gaze snapping upwards to see Allegra, Claude, and Allan all looking at her. 
“O-Oh!” A blush swept across her cheeks, and she pushed her decorations into her lap. How long had they been calling her name? “I’m sorry, did you need something?”
“No, not really.” Allegra smiled. “You’ve just been really spaced out today. What’s on your mind?”
Marinette smiled back, though a twinge of panic laced through her mind. Was her discomfort that obvious? She was hoping no one would notice..
“I bet she’s just thinking about who she’ll take to the party.” Claude thankfully joked before she could respond. “Who’s it gonna be, Mari? Someone from our school? Or is it that Luka guy you mentioned last week?”
Marinette’s eyes widened. “Oh, I- no. I hadn’t thought about who to bring.. Were we supposed to bring dates?”
Gosh, she hoped not. Luka was a wonderful person- as were the other boys at Rosemary.. probably -but she honestly didn’t feel like trying to find a date for the Valentine’s party or anything else, especially when her old crush had just come out of the woodworks to find her. Marinette didn’t harbor anymore feelings for him by any means, but that didn’t stop his presence from sucker punching her in the stomach with the memories of her heart ache. She’d prefer not to go through that again, at least not anytime soon.
“Not if you don’t want to.” Allegra assured. “We normally all go as a group anyway.”
“But most people probably will.” Claude said, before putting a hand to his chest with a smirk. “I’d offer to take you, but Allegra and I are already going together.”
“As friends.” Allegra hastily added.
Marinette chuckled. “I’ll try not to be too disappointed.”
The group shared a laugh towards her sarcasm, and Claude dramatically ran a hand through his hair.
“I know, I know, it’s such a heartache not being able to go with me.” He sighed. “Don’t worry, though. I’m sure there are plenty of guys who will be falling all over you at the party. Right, Fe?”
Felix, who’d been quietly working on his assigned decorations, glanced up at the group with a raised eyebrow. Marinette held back a laugh- that was such a Felix reaction -but Claude raised his eyebrows at the blond, as if pressing him for a response. Was that supposed to be a serious question?
“Well?”
“Well what?”
“Don’t you think the boys will be falling all over her?”
Felix’s gaze shifted to Marinette, and she felt a bit of heat rush to her cheeks. He was actually thinking of an answer, wasn’t he?
“F-Felix, you don’t have to answer that-” She started to say, even though a part of her strangely wanted to know his answer.
Felix, however, spoke before she could finish.
“Yes, I’m sure they would,” He said, casually looking back down at his work, “especially if she wears that dress she mentioned the other day. Those boys will drop to their knees for anything remotely pretty.”
Marinette blinked, her heart effectively lodging itself in her throat. Did he just..?
“Did you just call her pretty?” Claude asked with a bewildered grin, taking the words right out of her mouth.
Felix’s gaze flicked towards the brunette, a look of mild irritation crossing his features from being bothered again. “Is she not?”
A blush exploded across Marinette’s features then, and she bit her lip to avoid squeaking. She never assumed that the group saw her as ugly, but to hear Felix outright call her pretty was.. Well, it was rather flattering if she were being honest, especially since Felix was quite a dashing person himself. And being the blunt, straight-forward type that he is, she knew he wasn’t lying or sugar-coating anything to spare her feelings.
“No, no, she is.” Allegra smiled, a strange glint coming to her eyes. “We just didn’t expect you to say it out loud.”
A slight scowl tugged at Felix’s lips. “You asked. I answered. Would you prefer I just ignore you?”
Claude snorted. “No, but since you think she’s so pretty, why don’t you take her to the Valentine’s party?”
Felix shot him a flat look. “We’re already going together as a group.”
“I know. I meant why don’t you take her as a date to the party?”
Had Marinette not been sitting down, she probably would have tripped over herself at the suggestion. Her and Felix? Going on a date? Surely not. Aside from not being interested in dating herself, Marinette was certain that Felix wasn’t interested in her. Not in the romantic sense, anyway. He needed a calm and collected partner, someone that would help his life be as quiet and peaceful as he liked, someone that wasn’t her.
Felix furrowed his eyebrows, further proving her point about not being interested. “Wha-”
“Not like a date date.” Claude said, rolling his eyes as though they were the ones jumping to crazy conclusions. “A date as friends, like Allegra and I are doing.”
Marinette frowned. A date as friends? “So, like, a fake date?”
Claude smiled at her. “Yeah! It’s a lot of fun.”
Marinette hummed as she stapled another heart together. A fake date with Felix didn’t sound nearly as strange, but how would that even go? Would they go through all of the motions of a real date or would they just arrive together and say they were each other’s plus one? Would he be bringing her flowers and picking her up for the party? Would he even do that on a real date? 
“But what’s the point?” Felix asked, thankfully dragging her back to the conversation. How he would date someone probably wasn’t something she should dwell on anyway.  
“Well,” Claude shrugged, “I guess there isn’t much of one, but you get to have a dance partner and do all that stuff without any pressure. It’s really like an honorary hangout?”
“I don’t see why that would be necessary. We can do that during a normal get together, and a fake date would only give people the wrong idea.”
“Alright, fine, it was just a suggestio-”
“Ow!” Marinette unintentionally hissed, yanking her hand away from her decoration and sticking her finger in her mouth. Dang paper cuts. You’d think she would learn how to avoid them by now.
The group straightened at her outburst.
“Are you okay?”
“What happened?”
“What’d you do?”
“Ah.” Marinette pulled her finger out of her mouth, watching the blood reform. How did she manage to cut it so deeply? “I’m fine. I just got a paper cut.”
“Oh,” Claude grimaced, “paper cuts. Those are the worst.”
“Do you need a band aid?” Felix inquired. “Or disinfectant?”
“That looks pretty bad.” Allan said, scrunching up his nose in a wince.
Marinette nodded. “Yeah.. disinfectant would probably be nice.”
Felix set his decorations aside and stood to go fetch her the supplies, and Allegra began pushing her decorations aside as well.
“Do you remember where the first aid kit is?” She asked, about to stand herself.
“Yes, I remember.” Felix answered, waving for her to stay seated. “Marinette, come with me.”
Marinette moved to follow him as she was told, and he led her to a bathroom that was across from the family room. There, he had her sit on the toilet while he opened the mirror cabinet hanging over the sink.
“How bad is it?” He asked, pulling the first aid kit out and setting it on the counter.
“I mean, I’ve done worse, but.. it’s definitely not pleasant.”
Felix sighed as he popped the kit open. “Yes, you always seem to be getting hurt somehow, don’t you? Let me see the cut.”
Marinette held out her hand, and Felix gently took it to examine her finger. Then, he shook his head and reached for the disinfectant. 
“How did you even manage this?” He asked, his voice a bit lighter than she expected. Was he laughing at her?
“If I knew, I wouldn’t have done it.” She replied.
Felix hummed and dabbed the disinfectant on her cut, briefly apologizing when she winced.
“You know, I don’t understand how you can create an entire line of clothes without a problem yet struggle with making a single stream of hearts.” He commented, letting a small smile ghost across his lips.
“Hey!” Marinette gasped. He was laughing at her! “I’ll have you know those hearts look great.” 
“You’re right.” He said, shooting her a smirk now. “Forgive me for assuming. You’ve probably pricked yourself with a needle a million times while perfecting your designs too. Who says pain can’t be a part of the process?”
Marinette pressed her lips into a thin line, if only to avoid smiling, and narrowed her eyes at him. Since when did he become so smug?
“Alright, smart guy, are you telling me you’ve never gotten a paper cut from all those books you read?”
“Maybe when I was five.”
A playful scoff escaped her lips, and Marinette rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’m going to remember this the next time you get a paper cut.”
“If I get a paper cut.”
“When.”
Felix smiled, like he knew he was right, like she knew he was right, because even though he might have gotten a paper cut or two before when he wasn’t paying attention, they both knew he wouldn’t be getting one now, not when he wanted to prove a point. 
Still, Marinette allowed a smile to spread across her lips when Felix turned to grab the bandages. Although she disliked being proven wrong, she loved that he was teasing her about it. He’d shown himself to be witty and humorous before, but ever since the sleepover, he seemed to have started joking around with her more often. It was usually quiet, during times when the group was distracted and he could murmur in her direction or times when they were alone like right now, but she found it exciting nonetheless. Marinette had assumed that talking together like they had done that night at the sleepover would be a one time thing, since everyone opens up a little at night, so seeing him continue to speak with her in such a relaxed manner made her want to squeal with joy. 
Needless to say, she liked the new shift in their friendship. She liked it a lot.
“So, what’s been occupying your mind today? If you don’t mind me asking.” Felix said, bringing her from her thoughts.
“Hm?”
He let go of her hand to unwrap the bandage that he’d grabbed. “Allegra mentioned you weren’t all that present, and I noticed it as well. Have you started on another clothing design?”
“Oh..” Marinette glanced away to hide her disappointed. She’d almost forgotten about Adrien for a minute there. She wished she could forget about him again. “Not quite.”
Felix’s gaze flicked across her features, no doubt seeing everything she was trying to conceal. He was able to read her expressions like another one of his books from day one. Sometimes she felt like he knew her better than she knew herself, but that could also be due to the fact that she had a bad habit of wearing her heart on her sleeve. 
“Did something happen?” He asked, just like she knew he would. Felix never hesitated to lend a patient ear or a helping hand towards her troubles, which only made it harder for her to hold her tongue about talking with Adrien. 
“Sort of, but..” Marinette chewed on her bottom lip. “I’d kind of prefer not to talk about it.. If that’s okay?”
“Of course.” Felix’s reply was immediate and soft, and it filled her with a wonderful sense of relief. She should have known he wouldn’t get offended by her request for privacy. “Just know that I’m here if you ever want to talk. Allegra, Claude, and Allan will be happy to help as well.”
Marinette felt another smile tug at her lips. “Thank you.”
“Hey, are you guys done yet?” Claude called from the other room, cutting into their conversation. “These decorations aren’t going to make themselves!”
Felix’s eyes flicked upwards in a brief eyeroll, and he stood up to put the first aid kit away. “Yes, yes, we’re coming now.”
Marinette chuckled and stood up too. She hadn’t realized that he’d finished wrapping up her finger already. 
“Thanks for getting me a bandaid.” 
Felix closed the cabinet door with a nod. “I should probably get you a pair of rubber gloves too. We have a lot of heart streamers to make, and I don’t believe Allegra has enough bandaids for you.”
Marinette huffed and gave him a playful slap on the shoulder. “I take back that thanks. You get no appreciation from me.”
Felix chuckled. “How ungrateful. I’m only trying to be hospitable.”
“I’m sure.”
Her troubles with Adrien were far from resolved, but she found the decorations much easier to complete after that.
-
A sigh flitted from Marinette’s lips as she plopped onto her chaise later that evening. She’d spent the entire day stapling those hearts together, and now her hands ached because of it. The sting of her paper cut lingered on her finger as well, but she soothed the pain with the memory of getting to rub the fact that she only got one paper cut throughout the day in Felix’s face. He’d given her a look of feigned admiration, which probably should have irked her more than it did, and told her, “Congratulations on your achievement.” (That definitely irked her, though a smile betrayed her lips in the moment.)
“Are you okay, Marinette?” Tikki, her wonderful kwami, asked as she floated above her head.
Marinette smiled. “Fine, Tikki. Just tired.”
And she’ll have to do it all again tomorrow. Well, she won’t have to remake the decorations, but she’ll have to string them up at the Mandarin Oriental. They need to have everything ready by Thursday.
Tikki nodded understandingly. “You guys worked on those decorations for a long time, but they turned out beautifully.”
“Thanks. I can’t wait to see what they look like when we hang them up. What about you? Did you have fun at Allegra’s?”
Tikki flew a bit higher into the air out of habit, her grin brightening as she replied, “Absolutely! Her house reminds me of the castles I used to visit, so wide and open!”
Marinette chuckled. Since the mansion is a big place with a small number of people, Tikki can fly around the premises as much as she wants without worrying about getting caught. It gives her time to get out of the purse for once, and although Marinette was concerned about the idea at first, she was glad to see it working out. Tikki deserved a break from constantly being cooped up in small places. 
“Have you explored the entire mansion yet?”
“Almost! I have about two or three rooms I still need to look through, but I keep getting stuck in the music room. The instruments are so much fun to play!”
Marinette giggled. “Just make sure no one hears you.”
“Of course.” Tikki replied dutifully. Then her tone softened as she asked, “So.. what are you going to do about Adrien?”
Marinette groaned at the reminder and twisted on the chaise to bury her face in one of her throw pillows. Now that was the question of day, wasn’t it? What was she going to do about Adrien? She still hadn’t texted him, though she knew she was going to. It was in her nature. He’d apologized and begged for forgiveness, and the sweet side of her would never let that action go unrewarded. 
“What do you think I should do, Tikki?” She asked anyway, holding a vain hope that the kwami’s advice would dissuade her decision.
Tikki gave a thoughtful hum. “I don’t think I can answer that for you, Marinette. Everyone deserves a second chance, but you also deserve to be happy. If you think Adrien’s going to ruin that happiness, then you have every right to not meet up with him.”
A heavy sigh tumbled from Marinette’s lips. That was the very thing she struggled with. Everyone deserves a second chance, and she didn’t know what Adrien was going to do. She doubted he was planning on ruining her life, but no one ever does. (Er- most people never do.) So what course of action should she take? Should she tell him no because of the extremely likely chance that he’ll drag drama into her life once again? Or should she give him a well-deserved second chance for the sake of keeping at least one of her old friends and sedating her screaming conscience?
“Maybe..” Marinette paused to chew on her bottom lip. “Maybe I can invite him to lunch? Just one? To see how it goes?”
That would give her a middle ground for the time being, a way to test the waters and satisfy her urge to bring out the best in others. She could meet up with Adrien like he asked, then use the small amount of time to let him talk and let her assess the situation.
“That sounds like a great start.” Tikki said encouragingly.
A frown tugged at Marinette’s lips despite it, and she turned to look at her phone.
I’ve made the decision. Now all I have to do is text him..
A beat of silence passed in the room. Then, Marinette pushed herself off of the chaise and walked over to her mannequin, where her dress for the party was placed. She plucked a needle from her cushion and reached for a piece of string to tie through it.
“Marinette?” Tikki called, curious and concerned.
“I’m fine.” She assured, more to herself than Tikki. “I just want to finish the final touches on this dress.”
Marinette would text him. She would.
Just.. tomorrow.
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stars-falling · 3 years ago
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latibule (n) (elriel)
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summary: elain and azriel hide themselves away from the world, seeking a moment of peace from the rivalry between their schools.
prompt: there were a lot of fights and a lot of fraternisation going on with the local public school and the private boarding school au
word count: 2.1k
note: here is the second july upload! this was another piece i did for the writing month challenge. i loved this one because i got to return to my favourite tropes, secret relationships and forbidden romance!
hope you enjoy,
lily <3
read here on ao3 // masterlist // july upload schedule
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latibule (n) a hiding place, a place of safety and comfort
The forest was dark. Silver moonlight shone down through the smallest gaps in the canopy and shadows filled in the rest. Armed only with her phone’s flashlight, Elain felt afraid. Usually she wasn’t scared of the dark but when it pressed in, suffocating her on all sides, she could feel her heart race and breath shorten. It wasn’t far to the clearing now but time seemed to slow with every step she took. Every snap of a branch or rustle of leaves sent Elain panicking, her pace ever-increasing until she was almost at a full sprint. The path only seemed to get longer as she ran but she pushed harder until she stumbled into the small clearing.
It was slightly brighter here, moonlight streaming in through the wider gaps in the canopy above. It was bright enough that she was able to see after she turned her phone’s flashlight off. Despite the light and space around her, nothing could stop the anxiety from pressing in. The sensation of someone watching her sent a wave of chills down her spine and when she spun around she was greeted only by that oppressive darkness that had followed her as she made her way there. She shivered slightly, wishing she had brought a proper coat. Elain was clothed solely in her thin pyjamas and wishing that she had paid more attention. In her excitement, she had dashed out the door and forgot to grab the hoodie that she had left out for herself. She had barely remembered her keycard.
The silence was thick around her, only punctuated by the occasional hoot of an owl or the call of a nocturnal animal. It was almost peaceful and Elain let herself relax ever so slightly. That was until a branch snapped behind her and she twisted so quickly she almost fell. She stared into the darkness, there was no one there; only a strong sense of dread lingering in the cool night air. She let loose a breath before a voice sounded from behind her.
“Elain.”
She let out a shriek and tripped over a root as she tried to get away. A hand around her waist caught her fall and spun her around before pulling her into a hard chest. She looked up with fearful eyes to see amused hazel ones gazing back. The person cracked a slight smile at her reaction to their arrival. Elain let out a sigh of relief and wrapped her arms around them, burying her face in their chest.
“Azriel.” She breathed.
The small smile on his face widened into a full grin and she felt herself doing the same. That was until she remembered how her heart had leapt into her throat when he scared her. She pouted at him and smacked his chest. “Don’t scare me like that!”
He let out a full-bodied laugh that dispelled any ill will she felt towards him and soon she found herself joining in.
“I’m sorry,” he told her as his laughter subsided. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Although I may do it again now that I know how funny you look when you get scared.”
She scowled and pushed out of his grip, immediately regretting it as the cold flooded back in and embedded itself deep inside of her.
“Don’t you dare! I won’t meet you here again if you do.”
Now it was his turn to frown. He held out his arms but she refused to step back into his embrace.
“I’m sorry,” he repeated. “I won’t do it again.”
Still, she refused to return to him. A mischievous expression grew on his face and she only had a second to register it before he launched himself at, arms at the ready to scoop her into a hug. She shrieked again, although this time it was less out of fear and more out of amusement. She burst into a sprint just as his arms closed around the space she had just vacated. She ran in circles around him, leaping and twirling over the uneven ground with the grace of a ballerina. He ran after her, both of their laughter echoing off the trees and filling the clearing with unfiltered joy. However, Elain could only run around the small area for so long. Whilst the moonlight provided enough light to see, the floor was still dim, meaning she couldn’t see the root that jutted out in front of her. She felt her foot catch and she stumbled into a tree, arms out in front of her to stop her from fully crashing into it. She righted herself and turned in time to see Azriel behind her, his arms coming to rest on either side of her head, caging her in. They both breathed heavily, winded from the unexpected exercise, but smiling. They stared at each other, the adrenaline wearing off and love taking its place instead. Azriel leaned in, face hovering close to hers waiting for permission. She nodded and closed the space between them. Time seemed to pause as her lips met his. He leaned forward, deepening the kiss and pushing her further back against the tree. Heat rushed through her as she felt his tongue brush against her bottom lip and she opened up beneath him. Elain gasped as he swept in and she brought her hands up to tangle in his hair. It was soft beneath her fingers. She tugged slightly and he let out a light moan as he detached himself from her lips and began to kiss along her jaw and down onto her neck. One hand removed itself from the tree, so she was no longer caged by his arms, and instead found a place on her hip, fingers moving to slide beneath the thin fabric and brush against her bare skin. She let out a huff as she felt his lips move against her neck before tugging at his hair again.
“Stop, you’ll leave marks.”
“I’m being careful,” he murmured against her neck before returning to lightly nip at the one particular spot that made her knees weak.
She laughed, “You said that last time and I had to wear turtlenecks for a week after.”
He detached himself from his work to stare at her, his dark hair flopping over his eyes.
“I got carried away.”
She hummed as she placed a gentle kiss on his lips before wrapping her arms around his middle and pulling him close to her. They stood, wrapped in each other's embrace under the moonlight for what felt like hours. A deep sense of peace enveloped her, all previous feelings of fear and cold drifting off into the clear night sky. Finally, they moved away from the tree Azriel had pressed Elain against. They chose to sit side by side in the centre of the clearing where a small patch of grass separated them from the cold hard ground. She leaned her head against his shoulder as he bought an arm to encircle her waist.
“I’ve missed you.”
She sat up, turning to take him in properly for the first time that night. He sat in pyjamas, like her, but he had his favourite hoodie on to protect him from the night's chill. The moonlight caught his hazel eyes and sent them sparkling, highlighting the veins of green that resided in them. He was beautiful, and he was hers.
“I’ve missed you too.” She told him before placing her head back onto his shoulder.
As they sat in silence, in the middle of the night in a clearing in a forest, the truth about their situation settled in. A burden that only they seemed to carry. Humans are pack creatures, they are loyal to their groups, and this felt like an ultimate betrayal. Elain and Azriel went to different schools, Elain attending the private boarding school that the forest belonged to and Azriel attending the local public school in the town. To those who were outside of the situation, it sounded like they were being dramatic but to them? It meant everything. A deep animosity ran between the two schools. Those who attended the public school believed that the private schoolers were ‘greedy, egotistical pricks with sticks up their asses’ whereas those attending the private school deemed the others unruly and beneath them. No one knew where the intense rivalry had stemmed from. Maybe it was the private school buying up the forest that surrounded them, banning the town’s residents from entering what was once a precious location to them. Or maybe it was the time that some boys from the public school had broken into the private school’s grounds and released so many rats that they struggled with an infestation for years afterwards. Either way, pack mentality had taken over and now every time the two schools interacted it ended with insults being hurled, items being vandalised and even full-blown fights. And the worst of them all were the two sets of siblings who ruled their respective schools. Azriel and Elain’s siblings.
The Archeron sisters and the Knight brothers had always disliked each other after a bucket of slime intended for someone else had landed on Nesta, Elain’s older sister. The situation had only escalated from there but Elain and Azriel had never partaken personally in it. They only tagged along with their siblings whenever they wanted to pick a fight, which was how they ended up meeting. Elain’s sisters had crashed a party thrown by Azriel’s younger brother, Rhysand, bringing a whole host of their preppy private school friends. The evening had ended badly. There had been two hospitalisations with broken noses after fights had broken out and the police were called. Elain had snuck away long before anything had really happened and that had been when she had bumped into Azriel. They hadn’t realised their respective relations at first and had exchanged numbers after spending the whole evening together, away from the crowd and drama of the party. Even when they discovered the resentment that ran deep between their siblings, they found themselves not caring. They were too wrapped up in each other's company to worry about a rivalry they had never cared about in the first place. And when Elain had finally kissed Azriel, any remaining doubts had flown away on swift wings as they realised how deeply their feelings went for each other. Despite their disinterest in the conflict, they knew they had to keep their relationship under wraps. It would destroy their family, their reputations and everything they had built. Which was how they ended up here, only seeing each other briefly every so often and hiding away from the world.
“I wish things were different,” She whispered, shuffling closer as an icy breeze snapped around her exposed ankles and sent a chill up her body.
“Me too.” He replied. “I wish we could see each other whenever we wanted, that I could take you on dates in town without worrying what people would think, that I could tell people how much I love you.”
Elain felt her heart stutter and her eyes widen. She leaned away from Azriel, moving to sit in front of him so she could look him in the eyes. Whilst it had been heavily insinuated before, neither of them had ever taken that leap. An expression of worry washed over his face.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I do- I do love you, but please don’t feel pressured to say it back.”
Azriel’s nervous rambling and blushing cheeks only served to make her fall harder. She shut him up with a gentle kiss on the lips, raising her hand to cup his cheek.
“I love you too.”
She pulled back in time to see the brightest smile she had ever seen. He let out a sigh of relief and bundled her into his lap so he could hold her more comfortably. Despite his warmth, the cold still crept into Elain and she found herself shivering slightly. Azriel frowned at this before pushing her away slightly so he could pull off his hoodie and hand it to her. She examined the bundle of material that now sat in her lap.
“Won’t you be cold?”
“I’ll be fine,” he promised her. “Besides, you look cute in my clothes.”
She giggled lightly at this as she pulled it over her head. It was warm and far too big for her, but it only added to the charm. She snuggled back into his arms and looked up at the stars above. The situation they were in was complicated: a road riddled with potholes and glass, a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. But that could wait. For now, they had the forest, the stars and each other. And that was enough.
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yuulina-vre · 3 years ago
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The Walk
Fauna’s save heaven
Summary: Y/N wants to go for a walk, igrnoring the heavy rain outside.
Pairing: Steve x Bucky x Reader
Wordcount: 5.134 words
Warnings: none
Masterlist
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Y/N sits on the couch in the living room, browsing through some magazines. She hums at some décor tips, thinking about adding some plants to her room and maybe some curtains to the common room, a new carpet would be nice too. The old one has some stains of indeterminable liquids that Y/N knows are the results of the many parties Tony had thrown. Despite this, it looks nice in these magazines. She turns the page only to cringe at the newest recommended diet for the perfect summer body, with pictures of women as thin as a stick. “Are people actually still falling for this shit?” She asks out loud, not concerned to talk to herself. Though, Natasha and Wanda look up from her own magazines to look at what she’s reading, then scoffing themselves and turning back to their own stuff that’s not really a better medium than hers. “What shit?” A deep voice startles her, not having heard someone approach her. She nearly jumps from the couch, the magazine falling into her lap as she clutches her chest over her racing heart and tries to keep the screech, that’s almost making its way out of her mouth, at bay. The urge to change and flee, or attack, rises in her gut but she pushes it down, knowing that nothing will ever happen to her here. The tall, muscular brunette that steps up behind her, apple in one hand and chewing on it, chuckles. “Jesus! Don’t scare a girl like that.” She scolds, taking a deep and calming breath. “Bucky is fine, but thanks.” He grins mischievously at her, even winks a little while wiping some of the apple juice from his mouth with the back of his hand. Y/N only scoffs, turns back, and picks up her magazine to show him. “I meant this diet shit in these magazines. That a woman has to be thin and fit to be able to wear bikinis at the beach. Only for men to attract. Who`s gonna fall for that? It’s not what’s important. Besides, most of these diets aren’t even helping or are backfiring as soon as you don’t follow it as strictly anymore.” Bucky looks over the page she who’s him, his eyes linger on the woman, then switch over to the recommended diet. “More woman than you think fall for it.” He chuckles again, takes another bite from his fruit before he rounds the couch to flop down beside her, eyeing her disgusted face. “Don’t worry doll, back in the day it was the same. My Ma always scolded Becca for falling for the magazines.” Y/N starts pouting at him and shoves the offending material of paper as far away from her as she can. “I don’t even know why people buy this? Is there no better thing than to read what some wannabe reporter thinks about celebrity relationships? They’re just people who want to live their lives in peace.”
“And because they’re celebrities everyone wants to know what’s going on.” Bucky reaches over and takes one of Y/N’s hands in his, squeezing lightly to reassure her. “You know you’re being followed as soon as you leave home. People want to know what you’re up to, too. It’s just natural.” He shrugs and presses a kiss to her temple but Y/N pout further. “Yeah, but I’m trained to slip by people unnoticed or lose them quickly. I know how to escape and only show what I want other people to see.” She crosses her arms for good measure. All she’s getting is Bucky’s chuckle and his chewing as he takes another big bite while he pulls her closer to his side. For a while, she just listens to Bucky eating and the girls silently turning page after page, sometimes scoffing and sometimes laughing at things they discover. It doesn’t take long for Y/N to get bored. If she had timed it, it probably took only about ten minutes or so. “Buckyyyy?” She whines, turning to him, puppy dog eyes already forming on her face, pout deepening a little. “Mhh?” He doesn’t look at her. She’s not sure if it because he knows what look she sends him or because he actually finds the page on the magazine, that she had pushed away, actually interests him. “Can we go for a walk?” The brunette nearly chokes on his apple, coughing wildly until Y/N quickly sits up to clap on his back hard, worry on her face. “N-now?” He chokes out, looking at her in disbelieve, face beet red from coughing. “I mean- yeah?” She shrugs a little, hand still on his back, rubbing absentmindedly. “Y/N! It’s raining cats and dogs!” Bucky motions to one of the windows with his hand still clutching the remains of his apple. She follows his hand with a sigh. It’s darker outside, the clouds hanging heavy on the sky, hiding the sun, emptying themselves at a rapid speed. The water runs down the glass and the splattering of raindrops against the window and ground sounds like small machine guns. “I know. But… Pretty please? You know I like running in the rain. And it’s not even cold outside!” She turns a little, pouting again and making big, pleading eyes at him that she knows he can’t resist. “Noo… Y/N. Don’t look at me like that. I don’t like you smelling like a wet dog. Can’t you ask Stevie? Or Sam?” Bucky actually whines himself but Y/N continues to look at him. “They are not here. Please Bucky. Pleaaaase!” Her pout and big eyes get bigger, she now turns fully to face him, hands reaching out to place on the forearm of his metal arm, shaking it lightly with desperation. “Y/N…” He whines again, looking to the window to avoid Y/N’s eyes, but she actually whines as a little puppy would. She knows she got him now. “B-but... only for half an hour or so.” He lets his head hang in defeat but Y/N’s already throwing her arms around him, pressing a kiss to his cheek ignoring the stickiness from him trying to eat an apple like a five-year-old. “Yes! Thank you!” She jumps up, happily clapping her hands in excitement before dashing out of the room, missing Bucky’s soft smile and Natasha’s eyes rolling in annoyance. They all tell him he is too soft when she asks for something but Bucky always tries to ignore it, claiming it's not true. He knows it’s true.
Y/N now dashes down the hall to the elevator, getting in and tapping her feet restlessly until the doors open a floor down again. Sam’s wandering down the hall, smiling as he sees her, “Hey /YN.”
“Can’t, Sam! Going for a walk!” She’s passed him with a grin before she’s finished shouting, rounding the corner, and sprinting for her door. She nearly pushes it out of its hinges as she shoves it open with some exciting force. She slitters to a halt at her bed, falls to her knees and gets the box with her supplies out from under it. The box isn’t a small one. It’s filled with collars and leashes, toys and treats, even some products like shampoo and conditioner or clothes, brushes, and accessories. Things she needs for her many animal changes. She digs around for a few seconds until she finds her favorite collar and leash. It’s a light brown one which is twisted at four different spots to look like it’s braided there. The buckle is silver just like the ring for the matching leash. Attached to the collar is a small round dog tag with her name and Bucky’s number on it. As Tony purchased the collar, they decided Bucky’s number would be best, since he’s the one to take her out as a dog the most, followed by Steve, though he doesn’t like for people to know his number. ‘They will spread it and I won’t have a calm minute to spend with my best guy and girl’.
Y/N makes quick work of getting out of her clothes putting them neatly on her bed. She won’t need them after changing but that doesn’t mean that she can’t put them on tomorrow. She probably won’t change back today, aiming for falling asleep on Bucky’s and Steve’s bed after dinner, cuddling up close to them.
She ties the collar around her neck, knowing pretty well how tight it needs to be so it won’t slip off. She has done it plenty of times by now that she thinks she could do it with closed eyes. She walks naked to the door, peeking outside to make sure no one’s actually in front of it or even in the hall before opening it just a tiny bit more to make getting out easier. She hates trying to open doors with her paws. It's frustrating at best. Then she closes her eyes and concentrates. While changing, she has to concentrate on the animal she wants to be, on how it looks, how the fur has to be, and how big she wants to be. Sometimes even on how the bones have to shift, especially if it’s a bigger or a really small animal like horses or hedgehogs. She feels herself shrink, her bones adjusting and her skin sporting soft brown and curly fur. The moment she opens her eyes again she knows she looks just like a beautiful soft brown Australian Labradoodle. She shakes herself happily to get the small ache out of her body before bouncing up and down, happily running through her room and then out of the door and down the hall once more. She barks at the doors of the elevator, dancing in front of it until FRIDAY finally opens them for her. Sometimes FRIDAY takes her time and Y/N swears that Tony programmed her to tease others. She’s impatient to finally move at a dizzying speed through the streets. When the doors finally open, she dashes inside, making sure the leash is all set in the cabin and not hanging out. She doesn’t want to choke and strangle herself. Then she nudges the button for one floor upstairs with her nose to meet with Bucky again. 
Bolting through the doors of the living room once more, with a happy dance and lots of barking, she runs around, sniffing and jumping everyone. Nat, Wanda, and Bucky aren’t the only ones in the room anymore. Steve and Sam have joined them and somewhere off, probably in the attached kitchen, she can smell Tony. “Hey, girl. You really going for a walk in that rain?” Sam stands up only to crouch down again, clapping for Y/N’s attention. She runs up to him immediately, leaving Steve behind, and dances around him only jumping a little to lick his face. Steve always scolds her for jumping but she’s satisfied that he’s not saying anything right now, besides Sam’s laughing and all. She barks once as an answer just as Bucky starts grumbling again. Sam only laughs, scratching Y/N on all the right places and cooing at her, which will earn him some teasing when she changes back later. She likes teasing him for his soft spots. “How did you get Buck to go with you?” Steve raises an eyebrow, an amused smirk on his face as he watches Sam playing with her, nudging Bucky with his shoulder, too. “Puppy eyes.” Nat supplies amused scrolling through her phone. Bucky grumbles some more but soon has his lap full of a grown dog. Y/N has enough of getting patted, she wants to go outside and run in the rain! Torture Bucky too! Playfully, but carefully, she starts biting at his shirt and arm, trying to get the lazy mass of muscles to move his pretty butt off the couch and outside with her. As encouragement she whines a little, earning several rolled eyes and a laugh from Steve. Though he laughs more to tease Bucky. “Fine, fine. Stop pulling. Just gonna get my jacket.” Bucky sighs, runs his hand over his face through his hair. He throws a last teasing look to Steve but the blonde actually stretches out his tongue like a child and grins. Bucky pouts and flips him off while he stands up, and shuffles out of the room grumpily. Y/N can hear him curse himself but she’s not really paying attention, instead lying down next to Steve’s thigh. He cards his fingers over her back, still scrolling through his StarkPad. “You have to make it up to him later, Y/N.” Steve chuckles and pulls playfully on her ear, earning a growl back. “You know how much he hates the rain.” She huffs, knowing that Bucky really doesn’t like it. He hates being soaked the feeling of wet hair plaster to his skin and, most importantly, the wet metal arm that he has to clean up later on. She licks Steve’s wrist before settling again. She feels the calmness overweight the excitement again. She relaxes under Steve’s touch and starts licking his leg in pleasure, even if it’s making Steve squirm a little. “Y/N, come here.” She looks up from her spot, seeing Wanda pat the space on the floor beside her, the magazine still in hand. She smiles at her and Y/N thinks she sees something shining in her eyes, so she huffs out a breath, licking a last time over Steve’s thigh and wrist. Just as she had lied down! She gets up nonetheless. She loves Wanda. She’s always so careful, knows which spots are magical while patting and she’s never disgusted with what Y/N chooses to turn into. She jumps from the couch and walks to the young woman. Her tail waggles a little as she settles next to her, licking over her face to make her laugh. She settles with a goofy grin on her snout, head on her paws, and huffing in content. The woman runs her hand gently through her fur, paying special attention to the spot behind her right ear, which she knows is Y/N’s favorite spot. Her tail thumbs a rapid rhythm on the ground. She can hear Natasha and Sam chuckle, just as Tony leaves the kitchen and comes into the living room, smoothie in hand. He eyes Y/N for a second, then settles next to Steve who’s tapping away on his StarkPad.
From time to time Tony complains about all the hairs she’s leaving or her scratching the furniture and walls while climbing, sometimes leaving other… things… behind but today seems as if he’s alright with her being a dog. He even steals more glances at her than usual. Y/N suspects that he would like for her to come over so he can pat her. Too bad she’s actually comfortable on the ground right now. But she makes a mental note to come to him later.
Wanda loves animals. She always tries to find some room for Y/N to get the love she needs and takes care of the animals she’s turned into when Steve and Bucky aren’t around or are busy. It does help her to keep herself calm and Y/N knows Wanda would be lying if she wouldn’t pay close attention to each individual. When do you actually have the chance to see a tiger or chipmunk up close and can touch them?
Sam mostly likes to coddle her or take her running. He’s found a lot of times with her playing on the ground and stuffing her up with treats. When they both are gone then it’s clear that Sam took her for a post-mission run. It helps him and her to get pent-up energy loose, clear the head after bad missions. On rare occasions, he even takes her to the VA. She’s always excited.
When Tony doesn’t complain about her fur then he likes to ramble to her in his lab, just like Bruce. It doesn’t matter if she’s shifted or not, they’re just happy to talk, Tony more than Bruce, though. Bruce likes to stroke her fur when she’s a cat to calm himself down. More than once has Y/N shifted in the jet after a mission to help him calm down when she noticed that his music doesn’t work. Sometimes she keeps him company when he has to stay behind in the jet. Then they’re often found fooling around with some mind games. Y/N then has to keep her animal instinct in charge so Bruce can see how intelligent the animal itself probably is. Y/N likes it because it means she’s learning more about the animals she turns into. Tony builds her playgrounds in his lab, like small labyrinths or tube mazes.
Nat actually is a lot different. She usually doesn’t let anybody see her vulnerable side, besides Clint and sometimes Bruce. But Y/N once has shifted and sneaked around until she found her in one of the empty offices on the other side of the compound. Nat had sat curled up and shivering, breathing heavily because of a panic attack. A weasel, Y/N was small enough to come up to her. She had climbed in her lap and done everything she could to comfort the redhead. In the evening, while they all ate dinner, she hadn’t brought it up, just send Nat a knowing smile and nod. Natasha later caught her alone in the hall and had thanked her. Sometimes Y/N now experiences some mental breakdowns, fierce anger, and a lot of other things Nat normally wouldn’t have shown anybody and tries to help as best as she can. The most surprising for Y/N was that Nat likes to cuddle, though. Like Bucky she seems to be touch starved and, on some occasions, she can’t hide it pretty well.
Clint is… well Clint. He’s like an overgrown excited child, no matter which animal Y/N chooses to be he’s the one trying to play with her. More than once she had bitten him while he overdid it but Clint never held a grudge. 
Under Wanda’s soothing touch Y/N nearly falls into a comfortable doze but the smell of Bucky’s returning scent lets her lift her head.
Bucky is one of her two favorite persons. She helps him just as much as he helps her. She knows he sleeps better when she and Steve are close to him, preferably in one bed, too. When Steve’s not there and Y/N is changed he can sleep almost just as good. Her animal form brings him an unknown comfort that her human form can’t while missing Steve. She suspects that, when Steve’s away and she’s not changed, that she reminds Bucky too much that Steve’s missing. So, changing it is then, it’s easier to pretend that Steve and she are away together and safe. Bucky never told her that it’s actually like that but Y/N guesses that it is. After the bad nightmares, he calms faster with a fluffy animal beside him, too. He doesn’t feel pressured to talk then. Also, Bucky is just as affectionate with her like an animal as a human. He presses kisses here and there, rubs all the right spots he knows, and just... is there. It helps that she’s in love with him and he with her. That’s why he can’t deny her anything.
Steve’s similar to Bucky and Wanda. He finds just as much peace in her changes, trying to draw her every chance he gets. That's when she stays still long enough, though. She is a really fidgety person and only stays in one spot long enough if she’s either comfortable, gets good scratches, is sleepy, or gets a lot of treats. Most of his art pieces about her animal forms are of her sleeping peacefully somewhere around the compound or on someone’s lap. But she loves those drawings. She made him copy some of them to hang up in her own room, which she only uses when she’s mad or feels overwhelmed and needs space for herself. Which actually happens a lot less in the last few months than it used to. Steve offered plenty of times to give her the originals but she always says that he should keep them for some sort of art portfolio. She stays with the copies. Steve actually enjoys the most of her changes, just as Bucky, in private. He sees more of them and Y/N isn’t opposed to change in front of both super-soldiers, with them being her boyfriends and all. Steve always tells her, that he likes to see her change. He finds it fascinating. Also, he can’t deny her anything but other than Bucky he never denies it.
Now her tongue lolls out, tail happily thumping against the floor as Bucky strolls in, scowl still on his face but clad in running gear and rain jacket. “Someone volunteering to accompany us?” He looks around but no one meets his eyes. A clear message. Y/N doesn’t take it, though. She stands up, nosing Wanda apologetically for leaving her but the woman only giggles and shoves her wet nose away. Then she walks up to Steve and sits down in front of him, right in his sight, head slightly angled with a whine and pleading look. She sees his eyes flicker to her and he pales a little, squirming. He can’t resist her, and she knows how to get him to confirm to go with them. “I… ehm…No?” Ohhh, his resolve is crumbling already. She doesn’t take his no. She whines again shuffles closer and places her head on his lap. The crease between his eyes deepens and his eyes flicker helplessly up, probably hoping someone’s saving him, but no one jumps in. Tony even smirks knowingly. “Okay, okay. Fine.” He groans, pushes his tablet in Tony’s hands, and stands up. He ruffles her fur before he walks past Bucky with a slight, but not real, glare. “I hate you.” His voice is muffled but Bucky laughs and Y/N starts jumping around again. She feels this itch to move growing, not being able to wait for a second longer. Bucky seems to catch it and whistles for her. “Ready beautiful?” She barks as confirmation, running up to him. Bucky grabs Y/N’s leash the moment she’s close enough and holds her back as she all but drags him to the elevator. He has his dear trouble to hold her still long enough for a grumpy Steve in rain clothes to join them in the entry hall before she starts dragging harder to get them outside, down the paths, and to the street by the forest. “Y/N! Stop dragging so much. You won’t get any air this way.” Y/N barks a little strangled but stops pulling. He’s right, breathing had turned out to be a bit of a struggle but she’s just so excited. The rain on her fur feels incredible. The air is warm and the rain is cooling, it smells fresh and the pitter-patter is a soothing sound in the background. She jumps happily through puddles, preferably the ones close to Bucky and Steve to try to get them as wet as possible. They both only scold her but she sees that they’re secretly smiling. And she caught Steve jumping in a big puddle that bucky just tried to not walk in, spraying him with muddy water. Bucky curses. “Dear God, Steve! Are you for real?!” The blonde only laughs. Steve looks relaxed and has Bucky’s hand in a loose grip, fingers interlaced. They walk for a little bit, chatting about everything and nothing while until the rain lets up a bit, though it’s still bad enough. At one point Steve takes the leash from Bucky with a distracting kiss and starts jogging slowly, leaving the brunette stunned, but for only a few seconds. He catches up pretty fast, even slapping Steve’s butt with a laugh. They continue jogging and Y/N happily follows. She likes running. The path guides them a little through the forest where the rain’s less heavy, due to the trees and leaves shielding them. Y/N takes some time to jump through puddles after Steve unleashes her and, to Bucky’s horror, rolls around in one particular muddy one. He’s in charge of cleaning her up this week and Steve gladly reminds him of that. Her light brown fur’s now a darker shade and she probably needs two baths to get everything out. Though, Y/N knows that that will lead to Bucky joining her in the tub, which then leads to soapy cuddles and doggy kisses while they relax. “Come on, doll. Please stop rolling in that. It’s cold and I’d like to go home now.” Y/N looks up from her happy puddle to see Bucky shivering. Both men are soaked through but Steve seems not to mind that much. She looks over to him and he only shrugs but nods. “We’re out for a while now.” She doesn’t feel the cold but Bucky’s wet from head to toe, his hair escaped his bun and hangs in his face, glued to his skin. Which he doesn’t like. She barks once and gets up, shaking herself and getting muddy water everywhere. She really doesn’t want him to get sick or freeze to death, so she lets him set his pace back after attaching the leash again. It’s not like she needs it but Bucky once said that he likes to have her on the leash. It brings a calm that he never really knew of. They nearly arrive at the entrance as Y/N suddenly stops. The pitter-patter is louder here. She looks around and finds a corner where the water flows from the roof in big fat streams. Excitement overcomes her, she barks, jumps happily from paw to paw, and looks at Steve, who’s still holding her leash, tugging a little. “What?” She tugs again, taking a step closer to the little waterfall. She sees the moment Steve realizes what she sees. An amused smile graces his lips. “Alright. You clean up a little while playing, yeah?” She barks loudly, performing a little dance after she gets the leash off, and then sprints over to the stream.
She runs under it a few times, watching the mud coming off of her and flowing on the ground to get spread by the rain. She even lies down for a second and turns in the puddle under the stream to get more mud out of her fur on every part that she can reach that way before standing back up. She jumps around a few times barking happily, then she tries to bite it. Snapping after it, as if it’s some sort of toy that gets pulled away at the last moment. She lifts her paws a few times to punch after the drops, getting water everywhere. The rain really is her favorite thing. The excitement doubles the longer she’s playing. Pawing at the water, biting, jumping back and biting again, then dancing around it only to repeat it. The feeling that she has is the one that she associates with being a little puppy. She feels happy and fidgety, the urge to hunt and play is overpowering everything else. She looks up to see Bucky and Steve grinning at her. Steve hugs Bucky close to warm him up a little, pressing soft kisses to his shoulder now and then while the brunette points his phone to her playground, probably filming her to show the others later on. She barks again and continues playing until a loud thunder blasts overhead, startling her. Y/N whimpers, having been scared to death, and rushes back to her men, pushing close between their legs to hide. Steve almost falls back with her force running into him but he catches himself quickly. “Holy, that was loud.”
“Hey, little one. Got scared, huh?” Bucky chuckles, passes his phone to Steve, and crouches down beside her, patting her head lovingly and tries to calm her. He presses a few kisses to her dirty head. “It’s alright, just the mean sound of a very angry nature phenomenon. It won’t be able to do something.” He knows she doesn’t like any sort of loud sounds, thunder being one of them. Past experiences in her childhood have led her to get startled easily when any sort of storm hits. Panic attacks have occurred more than usual in these times, and still do. Though, Bucky is always there to comfort and help her. In some way, she’s similar to his panic. Steve always supplies them with hot chocolate, food, and treats. She whimpers again as some lightning hits the darkened sky and presses herself into his side. “Alright, lovely. Let’s get you both inside.” Steve eyes the sky warily before he looks at her and Bucky, motioning for them to follow. “How about a warm, calming bath and maybe a movie? Steve can make the bed to a cozy hideout, hm?” Bucky looks her directly in the eyes while scratching carefully under her chin. Y/N licks over her nose, then over his wrist in agreement. It sounds like a plan and exactly like something she had thought of before going outside. The man smiles and opens the door to get her inside. “Alright, up we go. By the way. Tony says if you damage any furniture your banned from the compound for the next week.” He laughs loudly at her unimpressed face. They all know that Tony wouldn’t get it over himself to throw her out, not even for a minute. He would miss rambling to somebody too much.
Just as thought Y/N gets her bubbly cuddles with bucky in the tub before he gets her out again and passes Steve the towels to dry her off while he cleans the bathroom. Twenty minutes later Y/N lies snuggled up to Steve under the heavy blanket, her head resting on his chest while he watches the movie. She tries to doze, blend out the storm outside while the shower is running with Bucky in it. “You alright, beautiful?”
She whimpers a little and shuffles forward a little so her head lies nearly next to his. “Sleepy?” She huffs in his ear. Steve laughs but starts scratching her tummy affectionately. She closes her eyes, enjoying the touch and warmth. “Okay, then we take a nap.” One lick against his cheeks seems to be all the confirmation he needs. The TV sound gets lower and the blanket is drawn up a bit more. Steve’s arms come around her, hands burying in her fur, stroking lazily over her head now. “Sleep tight, beautiful.” She feels his hands on her until she slowly drifts off, thunder nearly forgotten. Only the dip of the mattress and Steve’s and Bucky’s silent voices get to her until she fully succumbs to her dreams.
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90gemini · 4 years ago
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Falling Up 🌇 Steve Rogers x Reader AU
Summary: A meet cute on a morning train between pediatric intern Steve and reader.
Word count: 2.9k
Warnings: big crowds, just too much fluff ngl
A/N: hope this makes you smile, i really love this AU, might be a part 1 of a whole series:)
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Every single morning, as if on cue, approximately two minutes before my train leaves the station near my apartment, I come to the realization that if I do not get into full sprint mode right that second, I will miss my train and then be late to my first class and then have to walk in embarrassed while everyone is already inside and then proceed to feel embarrassed over it the entire day. So, considering the fact that I never seem to make myself leave the house just a few minutes early, for the past three years that I have been going to college, almost every morning I run into the train the last moment before the doors close completely out of breath, and have to subtly work on composing myself much longer than I am comfortable to admit.
Yet today, without even realizing, I got out of my apartment solid seven minutes earlier than usual. My roommate and I were so engaged in our conversation about the events of last nights party so we walked out together still invested in the drama which left me pleasantly surprised with the time I was left to spend before my train leaves after we went our separate ways. The extra time opened a whole lot of opportunities for me, almost made me believe I should wake up earlier every morning and not leave for class at the last possible moment. So, with the 420 extra seconds I got today, I managed to actually dig my earphones out my bag, plug them in and wait for the train with the sounds of my morning playlist filling my mind.
Inside the train, when I wasn’t preoccupied by catching my breath but also, even more importantly, focusing on not making it too obvious I was out of my breath, I became very much aware of my surroundings, noticing everything and everyone around me.
There was a girl sitting down right across from where I was standing, she looked about my age and she held a little baby in her arms, slowly rocking it and I noticed the way she was looking totally spent but the moment her baby made this cute laughing sound, a smile spread on her face completely overshadowing the exhaustion in her eyes. Next to the door was an older woman not so subtly judging everyone who was sitting down and has not offered her to sit and right next to the door was a man sitting down and sleeping like a log. I had the urge to wake him up and ask him when he has to get down or if he has already missed his stop, but in all honesty, it was too early in the morning for me to be considerate like that. While continuing to carelessly look around, my eyes landed on something that opened drawers in my memory I did not even know existed.
It was a book cover. A simple white background featuring a boy with frizzy hair who was flying over a drawn-on city with the words ‘Falling Up’ in the middle. So many moments of my dad reading poems from that book to me before bed when I was a kid came up and instantly forced a smile on my face.
In my head, I started reciting the words to my favorite poem from that book, remembering my dad teaching me how to read with those poems when my eyes fell on the arm holding the book and the man attached to it.
And God, was I thankful for the boosted-up heating in the train this morning because that made him take off his leather jacket and throw it over his arm, leaving only a thin, too tight white shirt to cover his upper body and it worked amazing for me that the shirt wasn’t doing its job well.
I heard the sound of the door opening and saw way too many people try to make their way into the train making it way more crowded which pushed the mystery man to move closer to me. Not as close as I wanted though.
My mind was focused solely on him that at one point I wasn’t even aware what station we were at and have I maybe missed mine, but I found myself not caring at all. The point my eyes landed on his face I was basically addicted. His hair was a gorgeous mess, a bit outgrown but looking so good. And, oh my God, his eyes. I was so upset I am only seeing them under the fluorescent light of the subway because I am positive that it would be an out of body experience seeing them under the sunlight.
At that moment I was sure he was the most beautiful man I have ever laid my eyes on and was already cursing myself because I knew I was too nervous to talk to him and will regret that forever.
His lips would occasionally move into a small, barely noticeable grin while he was reading and every once in a while, his tongue would go over his lips leaving them all full and glistening which led to a whole new set of unholy thoughts entering my brain. And his fingers, the way he flipped over the pages was just so-
‘’May I help you somehow?’’ I was snapped out of my trance by his voice and met his eyes that were looking into mine with the coldest, most unimpressed expression as if he was in front of the most annoying person to ever grace the Earth.
‘’Shit, sorry,’’ I apologized quietly and pulled out one earphone to hear him better because no matter how rude it looks he is going to be right now, his voice was just heavenly. ‘’I zoned out when I saw that book.’’ I pointed to the book in his hand and his eyes followed the direction my finger was showing as if he was surprised I wasn’t staring at him but at the book. I was most definitely staring at him though, but I don’t plan on revealing that. ‘’My dad used to read it to me when I was a kid so just seeing the cover brought back too many memories. Sorry.’’ I said in a soft voice and gave him a forced smile hoping he was not going to talk to me again because I really don’t want to be yelled at by the most attractive man alive at 7.23am on a Tuesday in the subway.
‘’You know this book?’’ his voice broke the short-lived silence between us, making my head snap up to look at him again and I was met with a much softer face adorning an adorable smile. ‘’You must think I’m so weird for reading poetry for children.’’ He let out a small laugh which was, without exaggeration, the greatest sound I have ever heard in my life.
‘’No, I think it’s cute.’’ A sly smirk found its way on my face as I felt my usual confidence come back now that I knew he wasn’t planning on yelling at me.
‘’So, you think I’m cute?’’ The smirk on his lips, on the other hand, was not as subtle as mine was as he turned more towards me, quickly closing the book and focusing his eyes on my face.
‘’I didn’t say one thing about you being cute, I was talking about the book.’’ I lied to keep my cool even though cute truly wasn’t the first word that came to my mind when looking at him. It would be something more in the neighborhood of I-would-drop-on-my-knees-for-you-right-this-momentor whatever.
‘’Okay, so you don’t think I am cute?’’ he leaned closer and licked his lips instantly sending shivers down my spine. This man is too much for me to handle right now.‘’Because I think you are really cute.’’ He whispered loudly enough only for me to hear and moved away a bit to fully appreciate my flustered expression because he obviously was aware of the exact effect he had on me.
‘’Well, I guess you aren’t that bad yourself.’’ The fact that I was not literally falling apart in front of this god cosplaying as a man is still not something I can understand. ‘’And thank you.’’ Saying that my voice got super quiet, and I could see him grin proudly at my reaction.
‘’You are welcome,’’ he didn’t finish that sentence and looked at me asking for my name.
‘’Y/n.’’
‘’Y/n.’’ he repeated and stepped closer to me with an excuse of letting someone else pass and giving them space. ‘’That is a real pretty name.’’ I smiled to say thank you and looked at my feet for a second to get myself together.
I didn’t even run to catch this train yet I’m still out of breath.
‘’I am Steve by the way.’’ He stretched out his free hand in my direction but not for one second broke the eye contact between us. ‘’It’s so nice to meet you, Y/n.’’ God, just to hear him say my name was killing me.
‘’Nice to meet you too, Steve.’’ I connected my hand with his much larger one and was painfully aware of the fact he must have heard the soft sound I made the second my skin first touched his.
‘’So,’’ he continued while slowly pulling his hand from mine. ‘’do you like poetry in general, ‘’he lifted the arm with the book and nodded towards it. ‘’or is it just this one book you like?’’ he asked with so much interest in his voice making me absolutely thrilled he was keeping the conversation going.
‘’I love poetry.’’ I kept my answer short because forming decent sentences was a though job while looking at this man and seeing the way he was looking at me.
‘’What kind?’’ he adjusted in his spot somehow that he was even closer to me, leaving basically no space between us, yet to everyone else it seemed normal because the morning rush in the New York City subway never was famous for the spaciousness.
‘’About love.’’ I said softly and witnessed his expression changing from the cocky, overconfident one he had on, to a completely soft one.
‘’Same here.’’ He replied and as if he can do it on cue, looked even more deeply into my eyes. ‘’I like reading about how people feel things I have never felt, it lets me to feel the emotion without risking being hurt.’’ He confessed to me and I couldn’t believe a guy that has such a hard exterior is ready to share that much emotion after talking to a stranger in a train for only a few minutes. But I was thanking all the gods he was.
‘’That’s much deeper than my reason for loving it.’’ A small smile appeared on his face as he looked at me to continue. ‘’I just like reading about love and watching movies about love and basically everything about love. Makes me feel all warm around the heart.’’ He let out a small laugh reminding me why it’s my new favorite sound. ‘’That must sound so cheesy.’’
‘’I don’t think it’s cheesy. I think like it is really nice to love love.’’ he said matter-of-factly. ‘’It’s cute.’’
‘’So you are calling me cute?’’ I looked at him with a raised eyebrow as he let out a huff once again leaning all into my personal space.
‘’I am. I have once before too.’’ He whispered near my ear and I know he knew just what he was doing to me.
‘’What poets do you like the most?’’ he moved away leaving me upset over not feeling his breath on my neck anymore.
‘’I don’t read a lot in English.’’ I fumbled with the edge of my jacket and lowered my eyes to focus on my boots because his face was way too distracting. ‘’My dad is not from here and I got the gene for loving poetry from him so most of the things I read are in his mother tongue because it’s really the only way to keep myself from forgetting it.‘’ Making a mental note to call my dad tonight because it’s been too long, I suddenly became extremely aware that I am sharing so many personal information about me with a random man I met on the subway. ‘’So yeah, most of the poets I read, never got international fame so you unfortunately didn’t have a chance to hear of them.’’ I felt a dash of electricity go through my body when he put his hand under my chin tilting it up so we can once again face each other.
‘’Don’t hide that gorgeous face doll.’’ Dear Lord, I can’t believe I might actually die on a train because of a hot, poetry reading guy. ‘’I’d love to read some of that poetry you like if it is translated.’’
‘’I don’t know if any of it is translated but you can check, I can write down some of the names for you.’’ I said quickly really happy that he wants to read something I will recommend, still recovering from that ‘gorgeous’ comment.
‘’I don’t have anything you can write it on, we can just-‘’
‘’Oh, I have a piece of paper to write it on to, it’s no problem.’’ I interrupted him while flashing him another smile and started digging through my bag for pen and a paper only to have his hand stop mine making me look at him with confusion written all over my face.
‘’I was thinking something more in the lines of you writing your number in my phone,’’ he took his phone out his pocket and directed it at me. ‘’then I can text you and we can meet up so you can tell me more about those poets and maybe translate some for me on the spot if you want to.’’ The smile was evident on his face when I took the phone out his hand and started writing my number into it.
‘’I would really like that, Steve.’’ I gave him his phone back with a smile a bit too big for the cool persona I was trying to present myself as.
‘’Well, I am really looking forward to it, Y/n.’’ he returned the big smile and focused his eyes on my face once again.
‘’Can I ask you something?’’ I looked at him curiously.
‘’Anything, doll.’’
That nickname is going to kill me.
‘’How come you are reading poetry for children?’’ he left out a chuckle and gazed over the book in his hand.
‘’There are two reasons, actually.’’ He shifted from one leg to another and started talking kind of nervously. ‘’Firstly, this book is something I always come back to for some reason. My grandma bought it for me when I was just a kid and I reread it for too many times, so I always go back to it because it’s safe. Something like playing Friends in the background because there is nothing else to watch but it always makes you feel good, you know?’’ I nodded and he continued. ‘’Second is that currently I am interning at the pediatric wing at the hospital downtown and kids love me reading these poems to them so I always find a few I think they would like the most when I am getting to work in the morning.’’
‘’That is really amazing, Steve.’’ I put my hand on his forearm and looked at him with so much affection in my eyes. ‘’Those kids must feel really special having you read to them, it’s really heartwarming you do that even though you don’t have to.’’
‘’They are going through too much shit, if I can make it any better for them, I will.’’ How pathetic is it that talking about kids with this guy I met literally minutes ago, makes me think about having his kids?
‘’That is really too sweet.’’ I had plans on saying so much more to him, but I heard the automatic voice announce how my station is next. ‘’Shit I have to go; this is my stop.’’
‘’Oh.’’ He said and I swear I could hear some disappointment in his voice. ‘’I guess I will see you again?’’ he asked as if he is not sure if that is going to happen.
‘’You most definitely will see me again.’’ I looked at him fondly again and I don’t even know what force gave me the confidence to do so, but before making my way to the door I got on my tip toes and kissed his cheek.
‘’Bye, Steve. See you soon.’’ I said while walking away from him but still keeping my eyes on his as I saw him put his hand on the place I kissed him with a small smile on his face.
‘’See you soon, Y/n.’’ Was the last thing I heard before exiting the train, completely sure that I won’t be able to focus today in class.
But I don’t mind.
really hope you enjoyed this, any comment on it would truly mean a lot!<3
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