#I like to think that maybe she’s not as quick to catch onto slang and common euphemisms

[cuteniarose]

PART 5 of my incorrect quotes shenanigans featuring six of our newest OCs, which I am happy I kept forgetting to post because that means I now get to use them to hopefully brighten up @katkastrofa’s day a little ^–^

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch24: Like The Old Man Said…Together Part 1- I Wouldn’t Call It A Comfort

Summary: The Avengers track Ultron and it’s a race against time before the AI can put his plan into action.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Warnings: Bad language, Smut (NSFW) violence and crazy assed robots. Oh and “Something dramatic, I hope!”

A/N: This chapter now contains additional content which is why It has been split into two parts.

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

A/N: Another massive big up for @angrybirdcr​ for her edits xx

Chapter 23 Part 2

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

“I’ve put the boys to work.” Laura gestured out of the window as Katie chewed on her grilled cheese. She’d had a good four hours sleep and was feeling much better after a scalding hot shower. She glanced across the lawn area to where Steve and Tony were positioned at the side of the house, both holding an axe, stood by a stack of large logs and two piles of smaller logs.

“You got Tony doing manual labour?” Katie grinned at her. “Well played.”

Laura chuckled and then began to chat to about her plans for dinner. “Clint suggested comfort food. fried chicken and Mac and Cheese to be specific”

“You’ll win Steve over instantly.” Katie leaned against the counter. “I’m happy to help, lot of people to feed, not to mention Stevie eats enough for three.”  

“You wanna take her up on that.” Clint walked into the kitchen and opened a drawer near the door.“She’s a damned good cook is Nova. Obviously, not as good as you, babe.” He added as a quick afterthought. “Smooth Barton…” Katie laughed as Laura threw a tea towel at his head. Easily catching it ant tossing it back, he pulled a tape measure from the drawer and left through the backdoor, still laughing, the kids trailing behind him.

Katie stared at the back door as it shut, the normality of the scene suddenly hitting her. He had a wife, two children, and still managed to hold down the ridiculous lifestyle the Avengers and SHIELD demanded.

“How do you do it?” She blurted out. The woman placed the last plate on the sink to drain and straightened up. “I mean this, it’s so ordinary.” she turned, once more looking out of the window. She watched Steve swing his axe, his light blue Under Armour skin top clinging to every part of his torso.

“It’s possible…” Laura mused, standing behind her as she followed the younger woman’s gaze. You know, to have a domestic life…well, a variation on one, away from the mess.”

“Problem is the pair of us are tangled in the mess.” Katie muttered, not taking her eyes off Steve.

“Well then, you should understand each other more.” Laura pointed out, before she changed the subject. “Here, they could probably use a drink. You wanna take ‘em that jug of ice tea for me?”

“Sure.”

A minute or so later Katie crossed the lawn with a tray sporting a full jug and two glasses towards where both men where stood by the decreasing mound of large logs and the two increasing mounds of smaller ones.  Steve’s pile of cut logs was significantly bigger than Tony’s, which was hardly surprising.

And the pair of them were bickering which was also not surprising.

“Is that a problem?” Steve asked, picking the two halves he had just cut up and throwing them onto his pile, bristling slightly at the fact Tony was digging into why he wasn’t as affected by the Maximoff’s visions as everyone else. Truth be told he had been affected, big time, but since he and Katie had talked it through he felt better. But he wasn’t about to tell anyone that, frankly it was no ones’ business what any of them had seen bar their own.

“I don’t trust a guy without a dark side. Call me old fashioned.” Tony shrugged

“Well let’s just say you haven’t seen it yet.” Steve glowered at him, his temper starting to rise. He couldn’t help but feel pissed at Tony, because if it wasn’t for him they wouldn’t even be in this mess.

“You know this is what he’s trying to do right?” A soft voice spoke and Steve turned to see Katie setting a tray of drinks down behind them. They both turned to look at her “Ultron is trying to tear us apart.”

“Well I guess he’d know.” Steve jerked his head in Tony’s direction “Whether he tells us is a bit of a question”

“Banner and I were doing research-”

“That would affect the team” Steve picked up another log. His voice was gaining momentum, and Katie let out a groan, she knew he was getting angry.

“That would end the team” Tony said simply, “Isn’t that the mission? Isn’t that the “why” we fight, so we can end the fight, so we get to go home?”

Without so much as a huff of noise, Steve ripped the log he was holding apart with his bare hands in a fit of temper that aroused Katie far more than it should have done. Tony raised his eyebrows slightly and Steve’s chest heaved as he regained his composure. He turned to look at Tony and spoke, his voice calm and measured.

“Every time someone tries to win a war before it starts, innocent people die. Every time.” He spoke softly but sternly, trying to make his point. Loki, Hydra, SHIELD with Insight.. now this.

“I’m sorry. Mr. Stark,” Laura headed across the lawn towards them all. “Uh, Clint said you wouldn’t mind, but, our tractor, it doesn’t seem to want to start at all. I thought maybe you might…

“Yeah, I’ll give her a kick.” Tony smiled at Laura then as he turned to leave he looked back at Steve delivering his next line with the air of a petulant child “Don’t take from my pile.”

“You know if he wasn’t your bother…” Steve reached for a glass of tea, draining it in one and leaving his sentence hanging. Katie took a deep breath and stood up.

“Cut him a bit of slack yeah?” Her eyes flashed. “The Maximoff girl. She got to him too.”

Steve looked down at her and frowned, that was news to him. “But I thought…”

“It was the day we found the sceptre.” Katie said. “She got to him in Strucker’s lab only he didn’t know what it was at the time. And you wanna know what he saw?” her voice wasn’t angry but she levelled Steve with a look that left him with no uncertain terms she was defending her brother “He saw us all dead because he hadn’t tried hard enough.” Steve inwardly groaned as she finished. “That’s what Ultron is about, that’s why he started it again.”

“Sorry, I didn’t know.” Steve shook his head, gently

“Well now you do.” Katie shrugged and decided to change the subject, “Oh, and by the way, what you did with that log back then-” she mimed pulling something apart. “-kinda turned me on a hell of a lot more than it should.”

He grinned and stepped towards her, closing the short distance they were apart “Well, if we go back inside I can…”

“Nice try, you have wood.” Katie pointed the logs

“Yes and I’d kinda like to do something about it!”

“Steve!” Katie spluttered out through her laugh, as she hit him in the chest, mentally making a note toe have words with Sam for teaching him innuendoes and street slang

He stepped back, laughing and rubbing at the spot where her hand had connected with him. He cocked his head playfully to the right, and was about to say something else about the fact he was feeling pretty horny on account of it being a few days since they’d last enjoyed one another seeing as his plans for her and that tight blue dress had been interrupted post the party, but Katie’s attention was taken by something else.

“Lucky!” She grinned crouching down to pet the dog who was jumping all over her, giving out little barks. “Man you got big!” Steve looked down at his girl and the sandy coloured dog, frowning as he noticed it only had one eye.

“Is this the pizza eating puppy you talked about?” he asked, bending down to pet the dog. “Sure is.” Katie grinned standing up as the dog ran off back to Barton after he whistled. “Not so much of a puppy now though.”

She smiled and made her way back over to the house. Steve looked at the pile of logs, then her, then back and picked up his axe again.

Inside, Katie started to help Laura with the dinner, the pair of them working together easily. Steve and Clint joined them in the kitchen not long after, both men sitting at the table with a beer as Lila scrambled up onto Steve’s knee, Steve waving away Clint’s instruction for her to leave him alone, he didn’t mind one bit. Katie had noticed the small girl sat there, talking to Steve and she’d smiled and turned back to her cooking. She was just rinsing off the salad when she looked up out of the window, seeing something that she really wasn’t expecting.

“I don’t believe it.” She whispered as she watched Tony and the tall, bald headed man with the trench coat and the eye patch walking up the path towards them. She turned to Clint and Steve “We got company, boys.” Both men stood up as the door opened, Lila jumping of Steve’s knee. The soldier’s hands went to his hips, his mouth forming a thin line as his eyes fell onto the man in front of him.

“At ease Soldier…” Fury said, a smile creeping across his face as Tony walked into the room behind him muttering about traitors, Maria Hill and ‘Goth Pirates’

****

“Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time.” Fury said glass of water in his hand as he leaned against the kitchen counter. “My contacts all say he’s building something. The amount of Vibranium he made off with, I don’t think it’s just one thing.”

“What about Ultron himself?” Steve asked, he was stood in the doorway to the kitchen, leaning against the door frame, arms folded.

“Ah. He’s easy to track, he’s everywhere. Guy’s multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. Still doesn’t help us get an angle on any of his plans though.”

Tony shoved the last piece of the chicken he had been eating in his mouth and walked to the sink to pick up a towel to wipe his hands. “He still going after launch codes? “

“Yes, he is, but he’s not making any headway.”

Katie frowned from her seat at the table, opposite Natasha. “Well that doesn’t make sense. Tony cracked the Pentagon’s firewall in high school for a dare”.

Tony smiled fondly at the memory. That had earned him an ass whooping and a half from his dad.

“Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that”. Fury continued

“NEXUS?” Steve questioned.

“It’s the world internet hub in Oslo” Banner explained, he was stood behind Natasha leaning against the sideboard. “Every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on earth.”

At that point Lila ran into the room, a piece of paper in her hand.

“So what’d they say?” Clint asked, turning 3 darts over in his hand from his stance a few feet away from Fury.

Lila handed the piece of paper to Natasha, who looked at her, then the paper, grinning and gave the little girl a one armed hug. She placed the paper down on the table and Katie noticed that it was a watercolour paint picture of a butterfly.

“He’s fixated on the missiles.” Fury drained his glass of water. “But the codes are constantly being changed.

“By whom?” Tony questioned. At that point Clint threw the darts straight past Tony, about an inch or so away from his ear straight into the bullseye of the dart board. Tony spun round to glare at him, Clint shrugged apologetically, grinning at the same time. Hawkeye by name, Hawkeye by nature.

“Parties unknown.” Fury said, a puzzled tone to his voice

“Do we have an ally?” Katie asked.

“Ultron’s got an enemy, that’s not the same thing.” Fury looked at her “Still, I’d pay folding money to know who it is”

“I might need to visit Oslo, find our unknown.” Tony pondered, to no one in particular.

“Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you’d have more than that.” Natasha sighed, leaning back in her chair.

“I do.” Nick looked round the room. “I have you.”

Everyone shared a look round the room at one another. None of them were feeling particularly useful if truth be told.

“Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else.” Fury continued “Yet here we all are, back on Earth, with nothing but our wit, and our will to save the world. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard.”

“Steve doesn’t like that kind of talk.” Natasha looked at him.

“You know what, Romanoff? “ Steve’s tone was dead pan. She smiled mischievously.

“So what does he want? “ Fury continued.

“To become better. Better than us.” Katie looked around.

“Right, he keeps building bodies.” Steve agreed

“Person bodies. The human form is inefficient, biologically speaking, we’re outmoded.” Tony mused “But he keeps coming back to it” 

“Yeah, when you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed” Katie sighed, looking over at Tony then to Bruce, who was looking at Lila’s drawing over Nat’s shoulder, his arms folded, a thoughtful look on his face.

“They don’t need to be protected, they need to evolve.” The Doctor said, not looking up. “Ultron’s going to evolve.”

“How?” Fury asked.

“Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?” Bruce glanced around the room.

There was a pause, and then all at once there was a flurry of activity. Tony whipped his phone out and began to dial, Nat and Katie both stood up, Clint hurried out of the kitchen and Fury was also talking to someone as Steve and Bruce began discussing the intricacies of what Ultron was likely to want Helen for, which centred around the regeneration cradle, a larger version of the technology that had healed Clint after he had been shot when retrieving the sceptre.  

“If Ultron is really building a body…” Steve trailed off as they all prepared to leave,  his voice dropping

“He’ll be more powerful than any of us. Maybe all of us.” Katie sighed.

“An android designed by a robot” Tony finished.

“You know I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me.” Steve raised his eyebrows. Katie and Tony both smiled gently.

“I’ll drop Banner off at the tower. Do you mind if I borrow Ms. Hill?” Fury said, pulling on his trench coat.

“She’s all yours, apparently.” Tony shrugged “What are you gonna do? “

“I don’t know. Something dramatic, I hope.”

Katie found herself slightly concerned that the threat of Fury doing something dramatic didn’t worry her half as much as facing Ultron.

*****

Clint expertly piloted the Quinn Jet low enough for Steve to drop onto the roof of the U-GU-Gin Genetic Research Lab roof.

“Two minutes. Stay close.” Steve instructed as the jet roe again to hover above the building away from any eyes.

A few moments passed and then the crew on the jet heard Steve shout “Dr Cho…are you hurt?”  There was a bit of a conversation which they didn’t hear, but then Helen’s voice came over the comms loud and clear, if a little strained.

“The gem, its power is uncontainable. You can’t just blow it up. You have to get the Cradle to Stark.”

There was another pause before Steve’s voice spoke clearly ”Did you guys copy that?

“We did.” Clint said.

“I got a private jet taking off, across town, no manifest.” Katie read the details on the computer screen in front of her. “That could be him.”

“There!” Clint said loudly, pointing out of the front window of the jet. Both Natasha and Katie moved so they could follow his gaze. “It’s the truck from the lab. Right above you, Cap. On the loop by the bridge.”

The jet scanned the truck, confirming their suspicions with the imaging that they all saw on the monitor.

“It’s them.” Clint continued. “I got three with the Cradle, one in the cab. I could take out the driver”

“No.” Katie instructed. “If what Helen is saying is right, that truck crashes, the gem could level the city.”

“We need to draw out Ultron” Steve spoke on the coms. They all waited for a further update and, thirty seconds or so later, there was a loud bang and he followed up his commentary. ”Well, he’s definitely unhappy! I’m gonna try and keep him that way.”

Katie looked down to see Steve was clinging onto the back of the truck and her heart skipped a beat. Making a decision she strode to wing space of the jet and pressed her palm to the pad besides the large locker that contained her suit.

“You’re not a match for him Cap…” Clint said

“Thanks Barton!” Steve replied, sarcastically.

“We need to get down there, give him some back up…”  Katie called, turning round to look at Nat as she stepped backwards, allowing her suit to form around her.

“Ok.” Clint said, nodding “I’ll give you the cover up top.”

Nat took off her headset and joined Katie in the equipment store, pushing a small coms piece into her ear. She headed to the back of the ship, straddling the motorbike that was propped up at the side.

“He’s lost his shield. I’m gonna drop you as close to it as I can.” Clint advised as he flipped a few controls.

“Roger.” Katie continued with the final checks to her suit, without JARVIS she was flying this thing herself, just as she had been at Klaus’ base so she needed to make sure everything was right. Clint steered them down towards the road.

“We got a window. Four, three…give ‘em hell.” Clint said, pushing the button for the ramp. Natasha sped the bike off and dropped down with a squeal of tyres before taking the jet higher.

“Us girls are always picking up after you boys.” She said gently and Katie headed to the back of the ramp, her scans watching as Natasha picked up Steve’s shield, following Clint’s commentary.

“They’re heading under the overpass, I’ve got no shot”

“Which way? “ Nat asked.

“Hard right… Now.” Clint instructed. Natasha did as she was told. As Clint hovered over the top of them Katie shot out from the back of the jet and swooped down just as Natasha threw the shield up to Steve. Steve caught it and instantly flung it, sent the AI flying backwards. Ultron wasn’t down for long, jumping up and resuming the fight as Katie landed behind the Robot as he sent a blast of power at Steve, who instantly held his shield up as he was catapulted backwards onto the bonnet of the car behind. She fired a repulsor at the AI, causing him to turn his attention to her as he wheeled round and shot back. She flew out of the way as the shot hit the car behind, the screeches of brakes and grinding of metal hit her ears as cars collided on the road.

“You Starks are like insects.” Ultron hissed out. “Annoying and irritating.”

“Yeah well, some insects pact a bit of a sting.” Katie shot out a static pulse from the shoulder of her suit. It immobilised Ultron for a good few seconds, which was long enough for Steve to climb back onto the top of the truck, hitting him once more with his shield. As Ultron fell forward towards Katie she jumped up, kicking out with her boot, pushing him down into the metal of the truck before landing.  Ultron regained control of his functions and the three of them began to fight, Steve and Katie dodging the rays of power as they flew at them, Ultron easily deflecting the beams the Supernova suit sent his way.

“Clint can you draw out the guards?”  Nat’s voice came over the comms.

“Let’s find out.”  Clint replied simply.

Katie fired another static pulse towards Ultron, but he easily deflected it and shot once more at her as she spiralled away.

“You think I’d let you get me with that again?” he growled.

“No but, made you look.”  She grinned, and at that point Clint shot the jet downwards and it fired off a few shots at Ultron, deliberately missing the delicate package the truck contained. It worked and as Katie watched 4 Ultron Sentries fly out and follow the jet upwards. Ultron turned and flew at Steve who spun, slamming him into a concrete pillar by the side of the road. Katie swooped in, firing again but Ultron was ready and caught her with a beam causing her to spin blindly through the air.  With no JAVIS to help, it took her a while to regain control but eventually she righted herself just in time to see Ultron spear at Steve, the two of them crashing into a nearby moving train. She shot forward, putting all her power into her thrusters, speeding up to catch it.

"Heading back towards you, whatever you’re gonna’ do. Do it now.” Clint informed over the coms as Katie dropped down so I was level with the train, looking into the windows.

“I’m going in, guys can you keep him occupied?” Natasha questioned as Katie finally caught up with the right carriage to see Ultron sending Steve flying again, landing hard against a metal door.

“What do you think we’ve been doing!”  Steve grit out, shaking his head, as once again he stood up, and resumed his fight with the AI as Katie shot a beam through the window, catching the robot unawares and causing him to fly out of the side of the train.

As she flew in through the window, the AI came crashing through one a bit further up and the two of them shot at one another, the beams hitting in mid-air and deflecting off one another, blowing a hole in the roof of the train.

“The package is airborne.” Clint informed us, “I have a clean shot.”

“Negative I am still in the truck.” Natasha said.

“What the hell are you doing?” Katie yelled, as Ultron sent a bench of seats towards her, which she blasted out of the way.

“Just be ready, I’m sending the package to you, Clint!”

“How do you want me to take it?” Clint asked sarcastically as Katie looked up through the hole in the roof to see the truck way above them.

“Uh, you might wish you hadn’t asked that.”

At that point Katie was floored as Steve landed heavily on top of her, having been blasted off his feet by Ultron.

“Ow…” he muttered, rolling over and off the top of her. Katie groaned as her head bounced off the inside of her metal helmet and hadn’t even had chance to right herself when suddenly she was lifted off her feet as Ultron’s hand crushed at the neck of her suit.

“Like I said, insect.”  He growled, his grip tightening as she raised both her palms to fire, blasting them both backwards, in opposite directions as Katie crashed into the carriage behind. She sat up and shifted the debris and shot forward, as Ultron came again but he was sent backwards as a blur knocked him off balance- the male Maximoff twin. Ultron took a menacing step forwards and the metal guards shifted red and bent in front of us in a protective manor. The female, Wanda, stood behind Ultron, hands outstretched and glowing red. Ultron turned towards her.

"Please, don’t do this.” Ultron pleaded with her.

“What choice do we have?” Wanda countered.

Ultron turned back around and fired in Steve’s direction. Katie was quicker though, pulling him out of the way as the front of the train blew out. The AI then blasted out the side door and escaped.

“We lost him!” Katie said into her coms, face plate sliding back as Steve made his way to the front of the train, reaching over the driver. “Clint, Nat He’s headed back towards you.”

“Nat we gotta go!”  Clint said.

Steve turned back to Katie, shaking his head, he could find no pulse. The driver was dead and the train was out of control heading straight for the end of the line.

“Nat… NAT? Cap you guys see Nat?” Clint questioned worriedly.

"If you have the package, get it to Stark! Go!” Steve commanded, looking up instinctively as Katie reached his side.

“Do you have eyes on Nat?" Clint questioned once again.

"Go!” Steve ordered once again and it seemed Clint obeyed because there was silence on the other side of the coms. Katie looked at him, both of them worried about our friend but equally knowing they had to tackle the problem in hand. The train crashed through the stoppers at the end of the line and carried on, heading straight through the narrow streets.

“There are civilians in our path.” Steve turned to Pietro, once more resuming command. He nodded and sped off in a blur.

“Can you stop this thing?” Katie asked Wanda. She looked unsure but nodded and blasted red tendrils down into the underlining of the train.

It began to slow, but nowhere near enough for them to avoid the building they were heading straight at. Katie slid her face plate back and Steve held his shield out in front of them, protecting them from the impact, and they felt the train starting to slow down, before it eventually came to a steady stop a moment or so later in a street lined with small trading stalls and shops.

As the passengers scrambled to get off the train Steve and Katie remained where they were for a second, Katie’s face plate once more retracting.

“You’re bleeding.” Steve said gently, wiping at her brow.

“Least I’m still here.” She shook her head. “What about Nat?”

“We’ll find her.” He took a deep breath, looking her in the eyes. “I promise.”

He slung his shield onto his back and the pair of them exited the train. Katie spotted Wanda stood next to her brother who was resting against a wall breathing heavily, hunched over with his hands on his knees. As they approached he looked up at Wanda, waving her away

“I’m fine, I just need a minute.” He assured her.

“I’m very tempted not to give you one.” Steve snapped, giving the twins a hard look. The two Maximoffs shared an uneasy glance

“The cradle? Did you get it?” Wanda asked.

“Stark will take care of it.” Steve told her, his tone still clipped.

“No he won’t.” Wanda said incredulously.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Katie glared at the girl

“He will do anything to make things right.” Wanda implored.

Steve turned and gave Katie a questioning look before he spoke into the coms.

“Stark come in. Stark? Anyone on coms?” The only response Steve got was silence. He looked at Katie who tried as well, getting nothing but static. She then tried to route through her phone, but there was nothing there either.

“Ultron can’t tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it.” Wanda pressed “Where do you think he got that from?”

Katie took a moment to look around, squinting against the sunlight. People were gathering, chattering in Korean and pointing at the train stretched down the middle of the road.

“I saw into his head.” Wanda implored. “I saw what he has planned. It’s not what he said, not what he told us he wanted.”

“Oh and what did he say he wanted?” Katie asked, turning back to her, her arms folding across her chest.

“He said he wanted peace” the boy, Pietro spoke.

“Oh, well…” Katie snapped, looking round nodding and clapping her gauntlet clad hands together sarcastically “Good job”

“Look…” Steve stepped forward a little before his girl lost her temper, his hands grasping the buckle on his utility belt. “This isn’t about sides, or what’s happened before. It’s about how we shut Ultron down.”

“So, what happens now?” Pietro asked.

“That depends on you.” Steve answered, putting his shield on his back, keeping his stance non-confrontational. “You’ve worked with Ultron; you know how he thinks. We could use the help stopping him.”

Wanda snarled, lips curling back over her teeth. “We won’t work with Stark.”

“Well, you kinda have two options.” Steve retorted immediately, before Katie had chance to. The authority emanating from him was immense, his eyes steady. “You work with us, or work with Ultron. Your choice.”

Katie looked up at Steve as the twins both exchanged glances. Eventually she got fed up and sighed.

“I’m going back to check on Dr Cho.” she looked at Steve “And then I’m going home to figure out how we find Nat…”

“Katie… wait…” He started towards her as she turned, making to walk off up the narrow street

“I’m done waiting Steve.” She snapped, turning to look at him. “And seeing as you don’t seem to want to give things a second’s thought, why should I?” “What’s that supposed to mean?” He frowned, running to catch up with her.

“You work with us?” She imitated his voice. “How do you know that she isn’t in our minds, right now, and this isn’t some elaborate scam to get us right where Ultron wants?”

A breeze whipped her hair slightly, and Pietro stood at Steve’s side, Wanda in his arms.

“You move too slow.” the young man taunted looking at them. “We’ll meet you at Cho’s office.”

Katie let out a loud groan of annoyance and walked and out onto the main road, looking around. Steve took a deep breath, she was angry, he knew that. His girl held a grudge, far better than he ever could and he had a feeling that Wanda Maximoff wasn’t going to get round her with a simple apology. But they didn’t have time for that, they needed to get home, find Nat and figure out Ultron’s next steps. And the Maximoffs would be helpful.

Sirens were now flooding his ears and the Emergency services were all over the place, freeing people from the cars, crashed buses, you name it.

“Could use a ride.” Steve turned to her, raising an eyebrow. She glared at him for a moment, before sliding her face plate back down. Without saying a word she gripped his harness at the top above where it held his shield and propelled them both into the air.

Dr Cho was going to be ok. Thankfully. The Scientist kindly offered them the use of her QuinJet, which technically belonged to Tony anyway, but they were grateful nonetheless. As Katie thanked the man who had led them to it, Steve turned to the Maximoff twins.

“Go on.”

Katie felt her mouth drop open as Wanda hesitated and looked to her brother who simply nodded and the two of them boarded.  Katie watched them incredulously before she rounded on Steve and he winced, awaiting the barrage which hit him full pelt.

“I can’t believe you seriously want to take them back to base.” She hissed at him.

“I told you before, they can help.” He replied calmly.

“You’re out of your mind!” Katie shook her head, the petulant child in her well and truly rearing its head “You know what actually, if they’re going, then I’m staying here.”

“For God’s sake Katie…” Steve groaned exasperatedly, running his hand through his hair, his helmet hanging in his left hand “You’re being unreasonable…”  

“I’m being unreasonable?” She rounded on him, her cheeks flushing with anger. “You’re the one who wants to take them right into the middle of our base, give them access to all our technology, when we don’t know if they’re still working for Ultron or not!”

“Katie, just get on the fucking jet now.” Steve’s voice was low, but he was angry.  He didn’t have time for this shit, he was tired, worried, and just wanted to get them all together so they could find Nat and end this and she was behaving like a total brat.

Katie looked at him, his eyes were flashing and he had a look on his face she couldn’t ever recall him using on her before. It was enough to shock her into compliance, but only after she shot him the dirtiest glare she could, before she stormed onto the jet.

Two hours later and Katie still hadn’t spoken a word to Steve or anyone else for that matter, she was fuming. Pietro and Wanda had been mostly silent up until that point, exchanging the odd bit of chatter between themselves in Sokovian, but neither approaching either of the other two until Pietro came to the cockpit.

“Miss Stark, I’m sorry, but please, do you have a spare jacket? My sister is cold.”

Katie glared at him, then looked to the back of the jet where Wanda was sat on one of the chairs, her knees pulled up to her chin. Damned it, despite everything Katie felt a small pang of pity for her.

“Sure, just give me a second.” She answered, a little gruffly but less angrily as she stood up out of her seat.

Steve had to smile, despite everything she wasn’t callous, and she knew what it was like to be cold and frightened. Katie glanced down and caught the look he was giving her and she glared at him.

“I will slap that smirk right off your face.” She threatened. Immediately he held his hands up, palms facing her in an “I’m sorry” motion and she walked over to the back of the jet and started looking in a few of the cupboards. Eventually she found a black fleece jacket, emblazoned with U-Gen logo, along with a blanket. In one of the other cupboards she found bottles of water supplies along with some snack bars and bags of chips.

“Here.” She walked over to Wanda and handed her the jacket and fleece.

“Thank you.” The teenager pulled the fleece around her.

“You hungry or need a drink?” Katie offered.

They looked at one another.

“I’m not going to poison you.” She rolled her eyes.

Wanda nodded and Katie handed her a bottle of water and Pietro took a granola bar from her and a bag of chips. Katie glanced at the twins and then suddenly had to ask the question that was on the tip of her tongue.

“Why do you hate us so much, the Avengers?” She blurted out. Steve turned his head slightly so he could listen in.

“I don’t hate the avengers. I hate you and your brother. Well I did. I don’t know maybe I still do.”

“But why?” Katie said, puzzled “You don’t know us?”

“Our home was bombed.” Wanda said, looking at her hands “It hit 2 floors below and blew a hole in our floor. Our parents fell but Pietro grabbed me and we rolled under the bed.” “The second one hits.” Pietro continued gently “But it doesn’t explode. It just sits there, three feet from our faces. And on the side of the shell is painted two words…” “Stark Industries” Katie swallowed, suddenly understanding. “You know we shut the arms side of the business down once we both realised the damage it was doing. I know that doesn’t absolve us of any guilt but…my brother is a good man, maybe he doesn’t always get it right but he tries.”

“But that is my point.” Wanda pressed “Ultron…he wants world peace, but he thinks the way to do that is to kill people, innocent people.”

“That’s not what Tony wants” Katie pressed

“But he created Ultron.” Pietro joined the conversation

“Yes, because of you!” Katie implored.

“Sorry, because of us?” “You made him see something, in Strucker’s lab. A vision, a vision that showed all of the Avengers dead, the world ending and Tony was left alone because he didn’t try hard enough to stop it.” At that point Wanda and Pietro exchanged glances as she continued “You made him believe he needed to do something, something more and Ultron was the result. He was supposed to be the thing that Tony thinks we need, something to bring peace…”

“You know, maybe we aren’t that different to Stark after all.” Pietro broke the moment or so silence that had descended. “I mean, we volunteered for HYDRA.”

“They said that they would make us super-human, like your Captain America over there.” Wanda sipped her water and Steve’s eyes flickered over the back of the jet for a moment before he turned back to the front. “Then we could fight…”

“They didn’t say what it would cost.” Pietro spat. “The experiments. The constant pain.”

“Guess we all made bad decisions for what we thought were the right reasons.” Katie shrugged “What matters now is how we fix this mess.”

With that she left them to it, taking her drink and one for Steve to the front of the jet.

“Thanks.” he said gently

“I assume you heard all that.”

“Super sensitive hearing, Doll, what can I say?” He smiled. She rolled her eyes. “You still pissed at me?” She raised her eyebrow at him, and with a teasing note chastised him. “Language.”

Steve smiled, reached over for her hand and drew it up to his face, pressing a soft kiss to her knuckles before he let go and took a drink of water, before he glanced back out of the front window of the jet.

An hour or so later they managed to get through to Clint on the coms.

“Any news on Nat?” Katie asked him.

“I’m trying the old fashioned way. That should avoid Ultron. I’ll find her”

“I don’t doubt it Hawkeye.” She smiled.

“What about Stark and the cradle?” Steve asked.

“In the lab with Banner, why you ask?”

Katie glanced at Steve, his jaw set tightly but that was the sum total of the reaction from him. He didn’t want to voice what was on his mind and risk pissing her off even more. Instead he chose his words carefully.

“Just… well, the twins told us what’s in that Cradle and Ultron’s plans for it. I’m worried Tony could start something he doesn’t understand.”  “Twins? The Maximoffs?” Clint asked and then he let out a groan “You’re bringing them here aren’t you?”

“You gotta trust me on this one, Clint.” Steve sighed “They’ve seen Ultron’s end game. They want to help us fight him.” “Yeah well I’ll make my own mind up on that one, I’ll see you when you get back.” “Great…” Katie sighed “Now he’s pissed as well.”

**** “I’m gonna say this once!” Steve’s voice was loud

“How about "nonce”?” Tony shot back.

“Shut it down!” Steve pointed at the cradle.

“Nope, not gonna happen.”  Tony shook his head.

There had been a bit of a fight in the lab, shields being flung, repulsors fired, and then Thor had turned up, supercharged the cradle, and it had gotten even stranger when a red man, an android had emerged.

“I’m sorry,” he said sincerely, in JARVIS’ voice “That was, odd. Thank you.” He added nodding respectfully to Thor, before his unnervingly human-looking eyes trailed over Thor thoughtfully. Then he rolled his shoulders and a cape of his own appeared and flowed down his back.

“Thor, you helped create this?” Steve asked

“I’ve had a vision, the world, where it starts, all hope and life and at its centre, is that.” Thor responded pointing to the gold stone in the middle of the man’s forehead.

“What the gem?” Banner asked in confusion. Thor nodded.

“It’s the mindstone,” He explained. “One of the six infinity stones, the greatest power in the universe and it is unparalleled in its destructive capabilities.”

“Then why would you bring it to life?” Katie asked, taking a deep breath, folding her arms.

“Because Stark is right.” Thor said.

“Oh, it’s definitely the end of times.” Bruce sarcastically to Tony’s shocked but proud expression.

“The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron.” Thor continued and the red man politely cut in.

“Not alone.”

“Why does your vision sound like JARVIS?” Katie questioned still cautious of this new being.

“We reconfigured Jarvis’ matrix, to create something new.” Tony walked up towards his masterpiece and examined him.

“I think I’ve had my fill of new.” Steve replied sarcastically.

“You think I am a child of Ultron.” The red man stated rather than asked.

“You’re not?” Steve replied suspiciously still glaring.

“I am not Ultron.” He answered simply. “I am not JARVIS. I am…” He looked down at his hands as if they would hold the answer.

“I looked in your head,” Wanda stated stepping towards him. “I saw annihilation.”

“Look again.” Vision responded in the same simple tone.

“Ha, her seal of approval means jack to me.” Clint snorted, Katie found herself inclined to agree.

“Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the mindstone.” Thor said, looking round “And that is nothing compared to what it could unleash, but with it on our side-”

“Is it?” Steve cut Thor off then turned aiming his next question at him towards the red man, needing to hear confirmation “Are you, on our side?”

“I don’t think it’s that simple.” Vision answered truthfully.

“Well it better get real simple real soon.” Clint said seriously.

“I am on the side of life,” Vision continued, “Ultron isn’t, he will end it all.”

“What’s he waiting for?” Tony asked.

“You.” He stated easily, looking around at us all.

“Where?” Katie pressed.

“Sokovia.” Clint supplied helpfully. “Yeah, he’s got Nat there too.”

Katie looked at Clint who raised his eyebrow slightly and he shrugged. He’d found her, just like he said.

“If we’re wrong about you,” Bruce said approaching the man. “If you’re the monster Ultron created you to be…”

“What will you do?” The red man asked and Bruce stayed silent.

“I don’t want to kill Ultron, he is unique, and he’s in pain,” Vision paced slowly around the room, “but that pain will roll over the earth, so he must be destroyed. Every form he’s built, every trace and presence of him. We have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the other.”

He turned back to look at everyone in the room individually, then he did something completely unexpected as he picked up Thor’s hammer from the table. Steve felt his eyebrows raise in shock whereas Katie was looking at Thor, her mouth open, the god was wearing a look of utter confusion.

“There may be no way to make you trust me, but we need to go.” Vision finished holding out the hammer for Thor to take. Thor took his weapon back and the man walked away.

There was a moment of silence before Thor coughed.

“Right, well done.” he said awkwardly patting Tony on the shoulder and followed the red man out of the room.

“Three minutes, get what you need.” Steve announced.

**** Chapter 24 Part 2

[slapshot-to-the-heart]

Four Times Nathan Proposed and One Time He Meant it

Hi! This is my humble contribution to @nolypats and @hockeyboysiguess campaign for Nathan MacKinnon for Hockey Boy of the Month. Please see their blogs for more info, also just because they’re amazing writers. This is my first time trying a 4+1, I thought it would be nice to put something out before the next chapter of Flatbush & Atlantic. It was genuinely so much fun writing this, so please let me know what you think!

Wine pairing: Rotari rosé. @hockeyboysiguess and I have started to pair all of our writings with their own wine, bearing in mind that neither of us knows anything about wine. It’s all about the VIBES. 

4 times Nathan proposed and 1 time he meant it

The first time (February)

Jordan knocked on the door, a glass dish balanced precariously on her hip. She and Nathan tried to have a standing date night every week, something that wasn’t grabbing lunch when they were both free or meeting for coffee before she had to head to work and he went to practice. That was, unless there was a game. Or a roadie. Or a team event. So needless to say, the two had been a little strapped for “couple time” recently, and they were both feeling it. She had an article due the next day, a co-write about the use of illegal dark money in a recently-elected congressman’s campaign. Nathan had a long practice that morning and wasn’t feeling too up to anything that would require him to move too far from his couch. 

He opened the door, giving her a quick kiss. “I pulled up a few movies I thought you might be into, but didn’t want to pick anything until you got here.”

“You’re so considerate, I think I’m going to swoon,” Jordan said.

Nathan shrugged. “I’ll catch you if you fall.” Deep down, he really was a romantic, though the boys would chirp him endlessly if they knew. 

Jordan padded into the kitchen, setting the dish onto the counter and opening up the cabinet right above the toaster oven, grabbing two plates. Even apart from date night, it wasn’t uncommon for them to eat in; partly due to the fact that there were few things in this world Nathan loved more than being able to fly under the radar, something that was a little bit difficult to do when you wore the A for the Colorado Avalanche, but partly because in his own way, it was letting Jordan into his life. “What movies were you looking at?”

“Depends what you’re feeling,” Nathan replied. “We’ve got...Star Wars, Captain Marvel, and 10 Things I Hate About You.”

Her ears perked up. “The one with Heath Ledger?”

“That’s the one. Sound good to you?” 

Jordan had always had a penchant for movies of the late-90s and early 2000s, especially if they were romcoms, and especially if said romcoms starred Julia Stiles. As a little girl, there was definitely more than once where she had herself entirely convinced that her life would turn out exactly like The Prince and Me. Minus, of course, the fact that the beginning of Paige and Edvard’s entire relationship was built on lies. Mainly, she was just really into crowns and big poofy dresses as a little girl. “Sounds good to me!” She said brightly. “You want a brownie?”

Nate craned his neck to look at her in the kitchen, looking expectantly at him with one hand holding a spatula. “You made brownies?”

Jordan giggled. “I did. I take it that’s a yes?”

“That’s a definitely, please, my God give me one right this second or I might combust.” She slid the plate onto the side table a minute later, grabbing two napkins. “Are these normal brownies?” Nathan asked, picking one up and inspecting it with a semi-confused look on his face. 

“They’re triple-layer, it’s an old recipe for slutty brownies from when I was in college. Bottom’s cookie dough, then Oreos, then fudge brownie on top of that.”

Nate raised an eyebrow. “Slutty brownies?”

Jordan swatted at his shoulder. “I know it’s a weird name, just give them a chance. I know you’ve been feeling a little down with the losing streak, and thought you could use a pick-me-up. They were my go-to for breakups, always seemed to help the girls feel better, so I thought it might work for you too.”

He wouldn’t admit it, but Nathan’s heart skipped a beat with Jordan’s words. “Guess I’ll have to see,” he said, taking a bite out the corner. His face melted. “This is...literally the best thing I’ve ever tasted. Seriously, it’s so good. So good. Oh my God, marry me.”

Jordan flushed, turning to take a sip of water so he wouldn’t see. “I’m glad you like them.”

The second time (May)

It was 11:38 on a Friday night, and Jordan and Nathan were at a bar. To be precise, Jordan, Nathan, and pretty much the whole team were at a bar, plus what seemed like the entire population of Denver. Springtime meant playoff season for the NHL, and winning a series meant going out. Jordan normally had to pass whenever the team decided to hit up a bar or club after a win; as much as she would have liked to go, she was a journalist who kept a 9-5 job, which meant that she had to at least get some modicum of sleep if she was going to be able to function in the newsroom without an injection of caffeine straight into her veins. But it was the weekend, and she’d be damned if she was going to miss out on this. 

For the most part, the fans weren’t making a fuss; there was the occasional picture taken or pat on the back for winning the conference semifinals for the first time in twenty years, but nothing out of hand. Sipping her Dark & Stormy, she looked fondly over at Nate, who was having what looked to be a very animated conversation with Burky. Already two and a half drinks in, Nathan was starting to act a little tipsy; while he was normally more reserved about public displays of affection, he kissed Jordan more than one as the night went on. Not like she was complaining. Picking up a refill from the bar, she scooted back into the booth next to Nate. He planted a messy kiss on her cheek. “Where’d you go, Jo?”

Jordan rolled her eyes. “Unlike some of us, I can’t just snap my fingers and have alcohol appear at will. I had to actually go to the bar for another drink,” she teased. 

Nathan threw his head back laughing. “‘S’pose you’ve got a point there, babe.” He slung one arm over her shoulders. Jordan unconsciously leaned into his touch. “What’d you think of the game?” She wasn’t able to make it to every game, but was lucky that she could get down to the Pepsi Center more often than not. The Avalanche had beaten the Flames in 6, after dropping the first two games in Calgary and being pegged as another likely sweep, they had come back to win the next four and the series. 

“Just trying to stroke your own ego, eh, MacKinnon?”

“Picking up some Canadian slang, eh, Murphy?”

She tilted her head. “Maybe, maybe not. But the game was amazing. You know that. You did amazing, Nate.” In the 3-1 win, Nathan had scored two points, an assist and an absolute beauty of a power-play goal that just barely squeaked into the top left corner above Rittich’s shoulder. 

“Sure, maybe I do know,” Nathan admitted, “but it’s one thing hearing it from fans and the media and even my teammates. It’s another hearing it from you.” Jordan loved Nathan, but he wasn’t always the best at expressing his feelings out loud. She was the first one to say “I love you, to introduce him to her parents, to take just about any step forward in their relationship. It was something he was getting better at, slowly but surely, and it meant the world to Jordan that he was trying so hard. Maybe it was the liquor, or the atmosphere, or the excitement of the night, but it meant just as much to her to hear it as it probably did for him to say it. 

Half an hour and several drinks later, the last few people left were trickling out. Most had carpooled to the bar, leaving their cars back at the arena to get the next day. Jordan would have ordered Nate an Uber and then just hitched a ride with someone else back towards her apartment west of downtown, but Nate was pretty far gone. And he was a cute drunk, all things considered, but she was on her way to sobering up and felt an obligation to at least get him in bed safe. Their car pulled up, Nathan clumsily ducking in ahead of her as she shut the door behind him, buckling first his seat belt then her own. They walked through his front door fifteen minutes later, Jordan dropping him off in his bedroom to get undressed before grabbing a glass of water and a bottle of Advil. Nathan was in his boxers when she walked in, struggling to pull a t-shirt over his head. Jordan laughed, walking to his side of the bed before gently tugging it, handing him the water and two Advil. “If you take it now, it’ll help with the hangover later.” Kissing his forehead gently, she turned to leave.

“Where are you going, Jo?”

She stopped at the door. “Home?”

“I want you to stay.” 

She sighed gently, smiling at him. “Okay, I’ll spend the night.” 

“No,” Nathan interrupted, grabbing her wrist lightly as she turned to grab one of his old World Cup shirts to sleep in. “Forever. I want you to stay forever.”

The third time (August)

It was the middle of August, and Jordan and Nathan were in Canada. He had invited her earlier in the summer to visit for a few weeks, and as soon as she got the time off approved, she booked her flight. Getting to Springhill wasn’t the easiest — she flew to Toronto, had a layover, flew to Halifax, then got picked up by Nate for the two hour drive to his hometown. He had flown out in June, about a month after the Avs lost to the Kings in the conference finals, so the couple hadn’t seen each other in nearly two months. Jordan wasn’t about to complain about a few more hours. His parents had been so generous letting her stay for two weeks, and hadn’t batted an eye when Nathan had moved her into his old room. “Just don’t wake us up,” his mom had said, causing Nathan’s cheeks to turn scarlet. 

Jordan had met them a few times before; they had flown out for the All-Star game the previous January and had gotten together during the team Moms’ and Dads’ trips. And if she was around when Nathan was FaceTiming them, she always popped in for a few minutes to say hi. But she still hadn’t quite expected the ceaseless hospitality she had been offered over the past week. Maybe Canadians really were just that nice. 

Halfway through Jordan’s trip, they decided to throw a barbeque. And by they, that meant it was Nate’s idea and he roped them all into helping. Jordan had already been introduced to a few of his old friends, they had gone out for drinks to the one bar in town on her second night, but she was excited to meet everyone else. His dad Graham was keeping an eye on the grill, Nathan had filled the cooler with drinks, and Jordan was helping his mom carry out the fruit bowl and salad to the backyard. Nathan ran up to his room to change right as people started trickling in, and came back to a yard full of family and friends. He craned his neck, trying to figure out where Jordan had wandered off too, before his sister pointed to where she sat with a few of his cousins. 

Nathan opened his mouth, about to ask her something, when Jordan quietly brought a finger up to her lips. “She’s sleeping,” she whispered, gesturing to her arms, where a tiny baby was nestled, eyes firmly shut. 

He remembered that his cousin Rachel had had a baby not too long ago, but didn’t realize she’d be old enough to travel yet. “Is this Natalie?” he asked quietly, sitting in the chair next to Jordan. Rachel nodded. For a few moments, Nathan was lost in the scene, lost in how damn perfect Jordan looked with a baby in her arms. They had spoken about those sorts of things — future things — enough to know that marriage and kids were something they both wanted, but this was the first time it had hit him, like really hit him, that that could be them down the line. Over by the fire pit, his mom watched, a soft smile on her face.

Nathan stood in the kitchen with his mom a few hours later, drying off dishes from the party. Handing a plate to him, Kathy shot a curious glance at her son, as if a thought had just popped into her mind that hadn’t been there before. Nate looked back at her, confused. “What is it, mom?

Kathy nodded out the window, where Jordan was laughing at a joke his dad had just made, balancing the last round of dirty plates to bring in on her arm. “When are you going to put a ring on it, Nathan?

Nathan wasn’t particularly prone to blushing, but he had been doing a lot of it lately. “I—uh—” His mom rested a hand on his shoulder with a knowing smile. “Okay, I’ll admit that I’ve been thinking about it.”

Kathy was beaming. “I knew it. When?”

“When am I going to propose?” She nodded. He shrugged. “I don’t know when it’s going to happen, Mom, but it’s going to. I’m going to marry that girl.”

The fourth time (November)

Jordan grimaced, breathing in sharply as she braced her elbows on her desk. Elisa, her friend who worked in the cubicle beside her, looked over, a concerned expression on her face. “You good, hun?” 

Jordan nodded mechanically, opening a drawer and pulling out a bottle of ibuprofen, swallowing three with a gulp of water. “Yeah, I should be fine. I should be starting my period in the next day or two, so I’m pretty sure it’s just cramps.”

“Are they usually this bad though?” Elisa had always been a worrier.

She shook her head. “No, not since I went on birth control a few years ago, but who knows. The ibuprofen will help, and it’s probably normal anyways. I’m sure it’ll go away.”

It didn’t go away. Two hours later, when Elisa was finishing up the last paragraph of her analysis of the Broncos’ new coaching hire, Jordan suddenly shot up from her desk, running at breakneck speed towards the women’s bathroom with a queasy look on her face. Elisa followed, bursting through the door to the unmistakable sharpness of vomit. She knelt down next to Jordan, pulling her hair back with the spare scrunchie she kept on her wrist. “Jordan? Are you okay?”

Jordan shook her head. “I feel awful, El.”

Eliss touched the back of her hand to Jordan’s forehead. “You’re warm. Have the cramps gotten better.”

“Worse,” Jordan admitted, wiping at the beads of sweat that had started to accumulate on her forehead. 

Elisa pulled out her phone from her back pocket. “I’m calling an ambulance. I don’t think this is cramps, Jo.” 

Jordan didn’t have the strength to argue, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to anyways. The ambulance arrived ten minutes later, carting Jordan off to Denver Health Medical Center. “Any chance you could be pregnant?” one EMT asked. 

“I could be, but I shouldn’t. I’m on birth control and my boyfriend always uses protection,” Jordan said weakly. The EMT made a scribble on her paper. She barely registered pulling into the hospital, nurses pulling her into the ER, or a doctor wheeling in an ultrasound machine. She was conscious enough to recite her name, date of birth, and insurance number before being taken into the operating room, and then a mask was placed over her nose and her world went dark.

The first thing Jordan did when she woke up was check the clock in her room. It was 3; from what little she remembered, she had been taken to the hospital sometime a little after noon. “Oh, thank God,” she heard from her left side. She recognized that voice. It was Nathan’s voice. He grabbed her hand — the one that didn’t have an IV drip in it — and kissed it quickly, smoothing back the pieces of her hair that had come out of the hair tie. “Elisa called during practice, and she told me what happened, but she didn’t even know what happened, and then I left and drove over here, but then—”

Jordan laughed softly, feeling a dull pain in her lower abdomen. “It’s fine, Nate, I’m fine. What happened, anyways? I don’t remember anything after I went into surgery, I have no idea what it was even for.”

“You had appendicitis, your appendix was about two seconds away from bursting.”

Jordan let out a low whistle. “Glad that didn’t happen. Hey,” she added as an afterthought, “I thought visiting hours here didn’t start until 4?” Jordan had visited a college friend of hers who had had a baby a few weeks prior, and could have sworn that she wasn’t let in until later. 

Nate smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, they do. I couldn’t even figure out what room you were in at first. They wouldn’t tell me anything, so I told them I was your fiancé.”

“Oh, did you now?”

Nathan rubbed his thumb over her finger. Her ring finger. “I mean, it’s pretty much true. All I’ve got left to do now is ask you.”

“And get the ring,” Jordan added. 

“Nope.”

+1 (January) 

Family skates had quickly grown to be one of Jordan’s favorite parts of the season. She had loved the first one, but had felt just a tiny bit out of place; her and Nathan had only been dating for a little over six months, and it seemed like almost everyone else had known each other for years. But she’d forged some amazing friendships with other WAGs over the past year, trading babysitting duties for pies and meeting to watch the game while the boys were on a road trip, sharing new Spotify playlists and learning how to support each other along the way. The team had become her second family, even though her parents only lived an hour and a half away. 

Jordan had been a competitive figure skater throughout high school and into college, so she was no stranger to the ice. She obviously couldn’t get out nearly as often as she had before, but her skates still fit and she could still land a triple salchow after warming up. She and Nate had been skating around for an hour or so, taking a break after some “friendly competition” where Josty had made the mistake of challenging Jordan to a race around the rink. She beat him by two seconds. 

Jordan unscrewed the top of her water bottle, taking a few grateful sips before putting it back in her bag. “Babe!” Nate called from a few rows away, where some of the younger kids were gathered next to what looked like pastels. “Want to face paint?” 

She smiled, raising her eyes playfully as she popped on her blade guards and walked over towards the bench. “You sure about that one, MacKinnon? I’m not much of an artist.”

He nodded enthusiastically. “It’s okay, I bet you’ll be great!” He was so sweet for believing in her. 

“Alright,” Jordan said, straddling the bench and picking up the box. “What would his highness like for the design? Bear in mind you’re working with a beginner here.”

“Butterfly!” He chirped excitedly. “There’s been a whole bird and insect theme going on here,” he pointed at the kids’ cheeks, covered in bees, ladybugs, and one demonic-looking...crow? Was it a crow? Did they even get crows at this time of year? “and I wouldn’t want to break the trend.”

“We couldn’t have that,” Jordan agreed. Ten minutes later Nathan had a very blue, barely-acceptable-looking butterfly on his right cheek, but he was beaming like the sun as soon as he pulled up his camera to look at it. “I love it, Jo. Thank you,” Nate said, giving her a quick kiss. 

Activities wrapped up not too long after, and Jordan and Nathan walked out of the rink hand-in-hand towards his car. They had moved in together two months earlier, and Jordan had been more than happy to move out of her tiny studio into Nate’s giant apartment, where you could see the Rockies from the rooftop on clear days. Plus, his building allowed dogs. As Nathan drove home, one hand on the steering wheel and the other tangled with hers by the center console, Jordan looked over at him, with the little blue butterfly on his cheek, and she suddenly felt so unbelievably happy. So unbelievably full. It went without saying that she loved Nate. She loved him like she had never loved anyone before, and never would again. 

At the same time, Nate’s heart was beating faster than it ever had in his life. He wasn’t scared, he wasn’t surprised, but he had just realized something. He already knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Jordan. Nathan had realized that months ago. And he hadn’t been lying at the hospital, he had already bought the ring. But Nathan wanted everything to be perfect when he proposed; it couldn’t be rainy outside, because what if she wanted pictures? It couldn’t be too soon after her older brother’s wedding, because then she might think that was the reason why. It couldn’t be in the summer, because then he’d go back to Nova Scotia for the summer and his mom might scalp him for leaving his fiancée in another country. But, Nathan realized as they pulled into the underground lot, there never was going to be a perfect time. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wanted to be Jordan’s husband. There shouldn’t be anything stopping him. There wasn’t anything stopping him. 

“I’m going to run to the bathroom,” Nate said as Jordan slipped off her shoes. She nodded. Nathan went up the stairs, but past the bathroom. He walked into their bedroom, into his closet, to the shoebox that had his old atom league medals. He grabbed the velvet box, opening it and taking one last look before taking a deep breath and putting it in his pocket. 

“You want to watch SVU reruns?” Jordan asked as he ambled back into the living room. 

His mouth opened and closed like a fish. “Uh—can I say something?”

Jordan looked over. “Yeah, go ahead? We can totally watch something else if you’re not feeling Law & Order, I think I saw Chopped on the Food Network, or Jurassic Park is halfway through…” She trailed off. 

Nathan shoved his hands in his pockets, turning the ring box over and over. He bit his lip. “You know how much you mean to me, right?” Jordan nodded slowly. “When I met you, I wasn’t looking for anything. I had just had my heart broken by someone who I thought would be my forever, but then you came into my life and suddenly...suddenly, it all made sense. I thought I knew love, I thought I knew what it was to be in love, but I didn’t, really. Not until you. You bring me down to earth, Jordan, when I’m too far in my head. I know you’re on my team even when we’re losing, even when it seems like nothing in my life is going right I know you’ll always be there to pick me up when I fall. And I don’t ever want to take that for granted. You challenge me in the best way, you always push me to be a better partner, a better teammate, and a better man. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for you.” Jordan was tearing up, starting to figure out where his whole speech was going and hoping beyond hope that she was right.

“I know I’m not always physically here, but I promise to always be there for you, Jordan. I’ll hold you when you’re crying, I’ll buy your favorite chips when we’re out, I’ll pay the utility bills because I know you’re terrible with remembering dates. It was eight months in when I realized you were the one.” Nathan bent down on one knee. One of Jordan’s hands was over her mouth, the remote having long since been abandoned on the couch. “I can’t wait to see where we go, Jordan. I can’t wait to get a nice house with a big backyard, go down to the animal shelter saying we’re only going to adopt one dog but come back with three. I can’t wait for the day you tell me you’re pregnant, and we get to hold our child for the first time and I get to see you be a mother. I can’t wait for us to start our lives together. I can’t wait for you to be Jordan MacKinnon.” He opened up the ring box. “Will you marry me?”

Jordan fell on her knees, hands on both sides of Nathan’s face. “Yes.”

[phoenixyfriend]

For Karin's backstory, do you usually go for anime one? I prefer datebook backstory, even though it's not detailed. Because manga showed one panel of Karin being experimented on with her arms showing bite marks. So I always believed that healing bites ability is result of Oro experiments. It makes more sense to me. Also, I am uncomfortable of anime backstory. And grass village confuses me. Didn't they still exist after the fourth war? I guess in fic, we could just say it no longer exists.

I love this question.

Okay, so the short version is that I usually do a mix of the two. I’m going to do a quick rundown on the differences between the two backstories for anyone who isn’t familiar. This means we’ll be touching on some very questionable subjects, because the anime went to some very concerning lengths. It’s going to be under a cut, because... yeah. Long.

The only solid canon, as in from the manga, that we have for pre-Orochimaru Karin is the Chuunin Exams flashback, wherein she is in a Kusa (Grass) headband, and is saved from a bear by Sasuke, which kicks off her crush on him.

The first backstory we received from Karin was in the databooks; this backstory came out prior to the Exams flashback in the manga. It stated that Karin was living in an unspecified village, sensed an army coming to destroy it, and tried to warn the rest of the town. Nobody believed her, so she ran to hide (I think in some nearby foothills/forest?), and everyone else was killed. Orochimaru then came by, tried to recruit her, and then let Sasuke convince her. Sasuke didn’t really have to do much beyond saying he was Oro’s student in order to get Karin to come along.

Now, given that Kusagakure still exists post-timeskip, at least in the Blood Prison movie, the village that was destroyed wasn’t Kusa. Either Karin was in a different village, or Karin’s backstory doesn’t include the village destruction element. I tend to go with ‘a different village,’ but I’ll get to that later.

The anime gives us a different backstory, one that takes Karin’s Kusa headband from the Exams as fact.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE: Karin’s backstory is not presented as a backstory, but rather an alternate timeline from her Eternal Tsukuyomi dream. I don’t know what the animators were thinking, deciding to use this hell as her dream of a ‘perfect world,’ but at this point the dream is treated as her default anime background so like??? Sure. Sure. We’ll use it, but we’ll also judge Studio Pierrot for it, because there’s “I don’t like this character” and then there’s “I’m going to have this character’s dream of a perfect world include over a decade of violating her health and bodily autonomy on a level of systemic abuse that is truly horrific, edging on fucking csa” because fuck you I guess? I’m still mad. I’d have been okay with the backstory as backstory because it fits her personality, but why the hell was it presented as her Eternal Tsukuyomi dream???

Listen LISTEN Eternal Tsukuyomi is supposed to be a perfect world for each individual You DREAM WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPIEST and they gave her a decade of physical and medical abuse, bordering on extended csa, only to die at sixteen because they'd 'used her up.’ like???

When I say SP had a grudge against Karin...

Anyway. Anime backstory:

Karin’s mother (unnamed) came to Kusagakure following the destruction of Uzushiogakure, and was granted refugee status in exchange for working at the hospital, having a similar ‘bite me and you’ll heal’ power as Karin does in canon. We don’t know who Karin’s father was; he may have been a Kusa citizen, or an Uzushio man who died prior to Karin’s mother’s arrival in Kusa.

Karin’s mother dies at some point during Karin’s childhood, having been used as a chakra healing battery to the point of dying of chakra exhaustion. At this point in the anime, Kusa orders that Karin must take over her mother’s duties as a healer, because such a technique is too useful to just leave alone. The bites start out on her forearms, eventually going all over her body, including areas that, despite the intent not being sexual in nature, do qualify as child sexual abuse.

She is bitten on the chest and thighs, by people she barely knows, with minimal consent on her part. She is a minor. This is csa and I hate that people forget this, or choose to exclude it to more easily vilify her.*

(Manga canon also has her with bites on her chest, at sixteen, most of which we can assume are not Sasuke since he seems to not know that biting her chest is provides better healing when she tells him to do it. Again: underage, coercion, chest bites, violation of bodily autonomy. It’s long-term csa in every canon. It may not be explicitly stated, but this is the most explicitly shown example canon has of this particular kind of trauma.)

Now, again, this is her Eternal Tsukuyomi (for some fucking reason), and not her technical backstory, and in that context she just... never gets out. She keeps getting used and abused, the bites eventually even covering her face, and then she dies before hitting twenty.

...so how do we reconcile this?

Elements we have:

Kusagakure headband during the Chuunin Exams (manga canon)

Saved by Sasuke, causing her crush; implies she was very poorly treated by the people around her prior to their meeting (manga canon)

No visible bite marks on her arms during the Chuunin Exams, but with the caveat that the marks are also not visible during Boruto, so it’s possible that Kishi, and in turn SP, just didn’t feel like drawing the scars. (manga canon)

Karin’s healing abilities were present at some point prior to Sasuke recruiting her to hunt down Itachi, but it’s unclear if it is a Kekkei Genkai or something nurtured by Otogakure. (manga canon)

Kabuto’s abilities during the Fourth War include Karin’s ‘rejuvenation’ and ‘life force,’ which implies that it may be a Kekkei Genkai but leaves it frustratingly ambiguous.

Experienced a village destruction, followed by Orochimaru taking her on, due to a Cassandra Truth incident, using Sasuke to convince her to join Oto (databook)

Her mother came to Kusa at some point post-Uzushio destruction; iirc Uzushio fell when Kushina was a teenager, so Karin’s mother either spent a decade or so wandering around prior to deciding Kusa was better than nothing (possibly when she got pregnant), or lived in Kusa for a period of time prior to becoming pregnant. (anime)

Karin was forced, via coercion, to use her healing abilities while in Kusagakure following her mother’s death (anime)

Kusa still exists post-timeskip (anime)

Here’s what I usually go with:

I do think Karin was a Kusa genin. The databook and anime both state that she joined Orochimaru after Sasuke, so she’d have no reason to wear the headband during the Exams other than actually being a genin of Kusagakure.

I err towards the biting being a Kekkei Genkai, which means that it fits with the anime’s suggestion of Kusagakure having used her as a chakra healing battery prior to her arrival in Oto. THIS IS OPTIONAL in other people’s readings, because it’s not manga canon and it’s obviously an incredibly hard subject to work with.

So, Kusa kid, dead mom, chakra healing battery, genin at the Chuunin Exams, then... Otogakure. In order to work in the databook’s element of the destroyed village, we either have to wipe Kusa off the map, or it’s another village.

I’ve generally gone with stating that Karin was on a long-term mission as a healer in a larger civilian village, or possibly the country’s capitol (though that’s less likely). Kusa was obviously willing to send her away temporarily, as with the Exams, so if the price was right, they’d probably send her out on out-of-village missions as well. Would she have a team? Maybe.

Given her poor treatment in this scenario, and the implied distrust/abuse of refugees in the anime, it’s possible that any teammates she had either didn’t trust her as a person, or didn’t think her skills were as good as she claimed. Possibly they assumed that they’d be able to fight off a smaller attacking force, and that Karin was exaggerating or mistaken when insisting that they evacuate. In any case, whoever was with her, if anyone was, also died in this attack.

The army was very likely sent by Orochimaru, and it’s plausible that Karin was actually the main target. I imagine that a spy would have gotten word to Oro about a redhead with extreme healing abilities, and Orochimaru going “Gotta catch ‘em all, Ooh! An Uzumaki!” and deciding that the healing abilities played well enough into the immortality plan to be worth sending an army (and then going in person, with Sasuke) for.

Given how canon played out, she was worth it.

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

* Okay the reason I harp on the CSA thing in particular: there was a significant period of time where two headcanons were prevalent: that Sasuke was sexually abused by Orochimaru in his time as Oro’s student, and that Karin was a wannabe rapist.

The Sasuke thing was based on a manga cover and one of the anime openings, but had no actual textual basis beyond Orochimaru being a queercoded villain, which is a whole different problem. The Karin thing was based on a fan’s mistranslation of a single panel, along with later arguments failing to take slang into account and often had by people who don’t actually speak Japanese.

Ultimately, I’m furious that a large portion of the fandom painted a canon CSA victim as a wannabe rapist while pushing that same backstory element onto a different character which they often put as her hypothetical victim, oftentimes just to get her out of the way for shipping purposes. This is a long-standing grudge.

[weasleypogues]

the new carrera (j.m.)

request: could you do one where y/n is kie’s adopted sister&hangs around the pogues? She takes a liking to jj. One day, they’re swimming at John b’s, she watches jj get out of the water. Kie says that she isn’t being discreet. He catches her gaze. Later, she goes down to the dock to help clean up. He says that he saw her watching him earlier&he asks why. She says that she likes him&he says that he likes her too. They share their first kiss&become a couple. Then it leads to something more.

i hope u enjoy this!! i actually had a lot of fun giving kie a sister but i really hope i got the timeline and everything correct! if not than we’ll just use our imagination aha

i also got very carried away so im sorry for the length of it lol

masterlist.

mike and anna carrera welcomed you into their family with open arms. after neglection from your birth parents and being taken in by the state, foster care was the only option. half way through freshman year and into sophomore year was when your foster parents mike and anna took care of you. their daughter kiara was away at something they called “kook academy”? it took you a while to figure out the slang in the outer banks but soon realized that it was almost like a boarding school for rich kids. even though she was there, you still headed to the local public high school to continue your education but you didn’t really care. all you knew was that you kept your head down and tried to blend in as much as possible. 

a part of you longed for kiara’s company to help guide the way through the social standards in the outer banks and get a first hand experience from someone your own age, but alas, you were alone. 

it didn’t take long for the state to come to the terms that mike and anna were your safest bet to a happier and fulfilling life out of foster care. this lead to your final adoption into the carrera family and you were ecstatic to say the least.

the day kiara came home was the day that the papers were signed and the only thing racking your brain was the approval of you into her family, being as she was an only child. as you walked downstairs from your bedroom to see mike and anna holding a cake with candles, you spotted kiara next to them with a wide smile and you were filled with happiness. this is all you ever wanted. 

you and kiara clicked immediately. after late night talks getting to know each other intricately, it seemed meant to be.

“why do i feel like we were meant to sisters? like obviously we aren’t blood but there has to be a reason that this happened.” kiara exclaimed one night at 3:46 am as you both laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling. your heart bursted inside of your chest and tears welled in your eyes. 

“it’s gotta be fate, kie.” you answered shortly, because if you spent any more of your breath speaking longer you were sure that a small happy sob would erupt from your mouth. you felt kie’s hand next to yours and simultaneously linked your pinky’s together as a light breeze came through her open window. the stars and moon lightly illuminated the room and this felt like an actual movie. 

you didn’t realize you would get this lucky.

the next morning kiara explained to you that she really really wanted to introduce you to the rest of the pogues. summers with them was always the best time of her life and she wanted to include you in those memories. you agreed without hesitation.

“so pack a bag and they’ll pick us up at the dock in 30!” kiara said, placing her dishes in the dishwasher and taking the last sip from her water.

“wait, do they know i’m coming?” you asked, scared that maybe you were barging in on their plans or maybe they didn’t want you coming in the first place.

“yes, (y/n)! don’t worry! you’re gonna love them.” she replied with a smile and with that, you both went to pack bags and coolers for the day on the marsh. 

you rubbed your nervously sweaty hands on the side of your shorts as you waited by the front door for kie. she walked down in a tie-dye shirt and shorts, picking up her backpack and cooler that she left packed at the bottom of the stairs.

“do you think i should be fine with wearing this?” you asked kiara nervously, comparing your outfit to hers.

“yes, (y/n/n)! don’t stress, we’re practically wearing the same thing!” she responded with a chuckle before opening up the front door. you glanced down at your white graphic tee and jean shorts with birkenstocks and let out a breath you had been holding in. you weren’t sure why you were stressing so much. was it because you were about to be faced with three random guys? or maybe they would recognize you from school and associate their thought of you with the weird quiet girl? or maybe they’re the type of people that doesn’t like a person until said person gives them a reason to like them? you blinked hard, trying to clear your thoughts of any anxious feelings and just had to prepare yourself for a good day on a boat. 

“hey boys!” kiara called out as you two walked down the wooden ramp to the boat that wasn’t stopping for you and kiara to board. if i slip and fall trying to get onto the moving boat i might just ask mike and anna to unadopt me and runaway to avoid embarrassment. 

“you got my kind of juice boxes kie?” the blonde one asked. you associated this as jj as kiara gave you a quick rundown last night of everyone’s names and personalities. she laughed and rolled her eyes at his question.

“as a matter of fact, yes i do.” kiara said as she took the blondes hand to help her onto the boat. process of elimination you knew that pope wasn’t the white guy driving the boat and you gave him a small smile and thank you as he held out a hand for you to board. 

“boys, this is my new sister, (y/n)! (y/n), these are my boys.” kiara introduced you guys, with a proud tone. before they could say anything you put your hands up to stop them.

“kie tried quizzing me last night so let me try to get this before you guys say anything. so john b, pope, and jj?” you inquired, pointing to them in the correct order as you announced their name.

“impressive.” pope said with a smile and with his eyebrows raised.

“taught her well, i see.” john b followed up, his eyes staying on the marsh.

“sooo, (y/n). what shit did kiara warn you about us?” jj asked playfully as he caught a beer bottle kiara threw towards his direction.

“uhh, you sure you guys wanna know?” you asked in a tone that would definitely put them on edge because you were messing with them. all of their faces were a mixture of being intrigued, shocked, and slightly offended at the thought that kiara only told you bad things.

“i’m joking, all the good stuff. don’t worry.” you responded, leaning back as you took a sip from your water bottle.

“so (y/n), think you can get used to our pogue life quickly?” john b asked, glancing over to you quickly and than back to the marcsh in front of him. 

“fingers crossed.” you said as you lifted your eyebrows and chuckled. your eyes followed jj’s body as he made his way to the front of the boat. groans all escaped the groups mouth besides yours as they realized what he was doing.

pope made his way to move to the back to use john b as a shield. kiara watched from her seat, almost accepting her fate.

“here we go again....” john b somewhat yelled out as the engine became louder. your eyebrows furrowed together as you watched jj lift his beer in front of his face at an angle without it touching his lips. the beer spewed out of the bottle, as he tried to aim in his mouth. this however, didn’t end well because you felt beer spill all over you and into your eyes, a slight yell coming from your mouth. 

you and kiara exchanged a glace as your eeyes were wide but you couldn’t help the smile forming on your face. both of you simultaneously looked back to john b who mouthed ‘hold on’ and you didn’t hesitate to grab onto the nearest thing that would stop you from being launched anywhere further.

john b brought the boat to a sudden halt and jj went flying into the air, a loud spalsh following, soaking you more than the beer did. the four of you laughed as you, kie and pope ran to the front of the boat to watch him emerge from the water.

“fuck you john b.” jj seemed to mutter out as he groaned. kiara made her way to john b to help him anchor the boat as pope put out his hand for jj to take. as he took his sweet time swimming back to the boat, you quickly took off your shirt and shorts, revealing your bathing suit and jumped right into the semi-cold water. the water was almost a shock to you and you quickly swam up to catch your breath. when jj hopped back on the boat was when john b and pope jumped in with excited faces right after you. 

“kie, come on! the water feels great.” you called out to your new sister. as kiara took off her shirt and shorts, ready to jump in after you, you watched jj walk right in front of her, stopping her in her path. he was saying something to her that you couldn’t make out because of john b and pope speaking right next to you and splashing, but also because you were too focused on him.

you admired the way little droplets of water rolled down his toned back or dropped from the tips of his blonde hair. you watched the way he reached into the cooler and pulled out two cans of beer and handed one to kie, and how the bracelets covering his wrists would slide slightly up and down depending on how his hand was moving. he quickly turned back around but you still didn’t feel the need to pull your eyes away from his body, subtly checking him out. 

the only thing that snapped you out of it was when jj hollered out to you three in the water. “i said that kie can only go in the water under the circumstance that she shotguns this beer with me beforehand.” and with that he caught your eyes and gave you a smirk and a wink. your face would feel hot if it wasn’t for the cold water you had submerged yourself in. you smiled and kept yourself afloat to watch them shotgun. it only took 6 seconds for them to finish the beers and the threw the cans on the floor of the boat, jumping in immediately.

the rest of the day was filled with swimming and messing around. they made you feel welcomed immediately. you didn’t feel the need to censor anything you say around them to fit in, really because they didn’t censor themselves in the first place in front of a stranger. kiara had the best friends ever and you were excited for what this would bring in the future. the next couple of hours seemed to fly by and it wasn’t long until you all sat silently, taking in the sunset as john b drove the boat back to his house. your skin felt warm although the breeze cooled you down. all the guys seemed almost eager to get off the boat to settle on steady land in john b’s house and you stayed back to walk with kiara.

“i don’t care if you are into jj or not. but if you want this to be a little secret, i would suggest not being so obvious next time.” kiara teased you as you took her hand to hop off the boat onto the dock.

“fuck, really? thats kinda embarrassing...” you replied, feeling your face get warm as you tugged at your hair at the root in deep thought. 

“just be careful with him. he’s kinda into hookup culture.” kiara responded, and you felt your heart sink slightly. you were never the one to be into just hooking up and that’s it. and if you were, you didn’t want that to happen with jj. you liked the idea of jj and thought he was fun, loyal, and spontaneous to and with his friends. you joked here and there as you and kie made your way into john b’s house, placing down your bags to relax yourselves on the couch.

although, you quickly patted down your shorts pockets and looked through your backpack. “fuck, i think i left my phone on the boat. cool if i go back to look for it?” you asked, your question really being targeted towards john b as it was his boat. john b nodded and quickly swallowed his water before waving his hand for you to go.

“here, i’ll help you go look for it.” jj said as he stood up, leaving his spot next to pope on the couch. you gave him a small smile before you both made your way out of the house and down the front stairs. your heart raced as the walk down to the boat was silent. should i say something? does he hate the silence? if he hated to the silence he could say something if we wanted to. maybe i should say something....

jj hopped onto the boat with ease and held out a hand to help you on and steady yourself which you gladly took. “what does it look like?”

“it has a clear case and it’s a white phone.” you responded, searching the back of the boat while he searched the front.

“you know....i saw you looking at me earlier after i hopped back on the boat.” jj stated, walking towards you as he waved your phone in his hands. you, maybe too quickly, shot up and looked at him before grabbing it out of his hands.

“ohh, uh, aha. you did?” you responded, feeling awkward. kie was right, you weren’t really being discreet. “it’s just that-”

“i kinda liked it.” jj spoke confidently, giving you a small smirk. you let out a deep breath and couldn’t fight back the smile you were holding back. “i think you’re really cute, y’know.”

“i gotta say the same to you, maybank.” you said, feeling this new found confidence come out of nowhere. jj didn’t hesitate leaning in and placing his lips on yours. you felt your heart flutter but kissed right back immediately. you left your left hand make it’s way to the nape of his neck while your right one rested on his chest. he held your waist and slightly pulled you closer to him, making you smile slightly into the kiss.

it felt instant but also an eternity when you two pulled away. “is this what you pogues do often? because i could get used to it.” you joked and smiled, as he rolled his eyes playfully and laughed in response.

you really could get used to him doing that.

so i didn’t wanna make them end up together bc it was so soon but im happy with that ending lol, i hope u liked it <3

[night-rook]

Safe in My Arms | Draco Malfoy x Reader |

Word Count: 3,995

Reader Type: Female, Half-Blood, Slytherin

Story Type: Harry Potter , 6th year

Beware: Bullying

Key terms:

(Y/N) = Your name (Y/L/N) = Your Last Name (H/C) = Hair Color (S/C) = Skin color (E/C) = Eye Color

                                       ━━━━━━ 💚━━━━━━ Reading her potions book, (Y/N) sat next to Hermione, however she wasn’t paying attention to the conversation the trio was saying. As they discussed what Harry overheard on the train, the slytherin placed a bookmark on where she left off. “Well, I’m sure (Y/N) knows more. He probably bragged about it with all of Slytherin!” Ron said as the trio looked at the female in question. The (S/C) student looked at the trio with a raised brow. She was confused as to what she had to do with the Slytherin Prince. Turning towards Hermione, she wordlessly asked what was happening because she had just tuned back to reality after reading about her book. The smart gryffindor shook her head before the gang got up to head back out of the dining hall. Unknownst to her, (Y\N) never noticed the pair of cloudy gray eyes directed towards her from across the dining hall. The slytherin waved the Trio off for the night before leaving for the dungeons. She hummed quietly while entering the house common room, reciting the ingredients of Calming Draught. Not bothering to stay in the Common Room, she headed straight to her dorm but was stopped by her tormentor. (Y/N) mentally cursing for not being quick enough and looked up at Pansy. “To what do I owe the pleasure this wonderful night, Parkinson? Do you wish I would drown in a pool of my tainted blood?” The (S/C) student sarcastically prompted while tilting her head to the side, her (E/C) burning with annoyance. The brunette smirked at the female and took a step forward to close the distance between them, “Oh that would be lovely to see, (Y/L/N). Seeing as you associate with those disgusting Gryffindors. Especially with that mudblood. So, being witness to your drowning would make my day.”  

Raising a brow at the human pug, (Y/N) clenched her fists for the pug’s usage of that cursed slang word before forcing her head forward to crash against Pansy’s head. Her head bump made the pug curse out in pain and step back to stop the nose bleed. Glaring her, the (Y/H) female walked off and went to her dorm. 

She tossed her bag onto her bed before leaning against the cold wooden bedpost.  Her head pounding from resorting to crash that thick headed Parkinson, maybe she shouldn’t have done that. 

“But the satisfaction of it was rewarding after six long years,” she smiled before looking over to the photo frame on her bed stand. “You would have approved, right, Dad?” 

(Y/N) picked up the frame and sat down on the bed. Her eyes taking in the blissful image of her family. The memory of that photo meant the world to her before arriving at Hogwarts. She traced her finger over the smiling blond who stood next to her younger self as snow fell around them. Closing her eyes, she fell back and laid on the soft mattress. Remembering the day the photo was taken.                                        ━━━━━━ 💚━━━━━━

“C’mon! Mama made us hot choco!” a smiling (H/C) tugged the arm of the blond boy. They had spent the day playing in the snow, nearly shivering after making snow angels. The boy chuckled at his enthusiastic friend before leading them inside the warm manor. The pair rushed to the kitchen to see a woman pouring the streaming liquid into a few mugs. Hearing their footsteps, the woman smiled at them and handed them the mugs to warm their shivering little bodies. She took two more mugs with her and led the children to the living area, leaving a tray of hot chocolate to the house elves as they took a break from their duties. Handing her husband a mug, the woman sat down on her own seat while the children sat on the rug in front of the fire. Little (Y/N) chugged down the sweet drink as the boy calmly drank his. The family enjoyed the calming atmosphere with the cracking of the fire as background noise. “Do you think we will go to the same house, (Y/N)? It will be fun to have you with me in Slytherin.” the boy said while taking a sip of his hot chocolate. The young girl tilted her head as she thought about them being in Hogwarts together. She liked to be with him and to attend classes with him. Looking over to her parents, she noticed their eyes on her as if waiting for her to answer. She turned back to the boy and rested her head on his shoulder. “We’ll always be together, Dracy.” She whispered only to him, hiding her blush from the boy.                                        ━━━━━━ 💚━━━━━━ That was six years ago and a year before Hogwarts. Truth be told, they did get sorted into Slytherin together but they had drifted apart a few weeks after the sorting. (Y/N) had friended the Golden Trio, much to Draco’s disapproval. The pair got into a deadly screaming match before the boy called her a “blood traitor” due to her blood status. His words silenced her that night before she left and went to Hermione, allowing her to spend the night at Gryffindor. The years after that night had cut a wedge between the former best friends. They never uttered a word towards each other. (Y/N) rarely stayed in Slytherin Dungeon due to the blond always hanging around there with his friends. That was the beginning of her name “Slytherin Traitor” as she was always tormented by Pansy’s gang about her kindness with other students or simply hanging with the Trio. (Y/N) sighed and changed into her pajamas for the night. Falling sleeping rather quickly and dreaming of the blond boy who she once called her friend.                                         ━━━━━━ 💚━━━━━━ Winter had come quickly to Hogwarts. Students went to Hogsmeade to do some shopping and escape the school to enjoy the snowy day. (Y/N) and the trio were at the Three Broomsticks, having just ordered three butterbeers to warm them up. Ron frowned as he watched his sister on a date with a gryffindor boy. Hermione tried to justify Ginny’s action but became embarrassed as the couple started to snog at the counter booth. The slytherin chuckled then excused herself to the restroom, accidentally bumping into Slughorn. She apologetically smiled at the red head as the already drunken professor spilled his drink on her. She washed up and looked at her reflection. Dark bags under her eyes were well present due to the overwork of studying. This trip to Hogsmeade was needed to distract her from everything. Word was going out about her head bump with Pansy. Her action made her weeks long and dreadful from the bullying that had increased to a more violent stand point. Occasionally returning to her dorm with bruises and cuts on her body, (Y/N) was exhausted from it. She didn’t tell her friends due to Ron’s and Harry’s quick reaction to pick a fight. Exiting the restroom, the (H/C) student caught sight of a female and Draco. She didn’t stick around long after catching sight of the blond, turning away and heading back to the gang. Her heart cracking at the ghostly sight that happened at the restroom. Putting up a smile,  She took her seat next to Hermione and laughed as the female had a cream mustache. (Y/N) helped her by wiping the cream away with her jumper sleeve after Ron pointed it out.                                        ━━━━━━ 💚━━━━━━ The group walked towards the school, (Y/N) digging her hands into her coat pocket in order to keep warm. She buried her face into her house scarf to fight off the chilling air. As she was about to speak, a scream caught everyone’s attention. Looking up, the group watched as a poor girl floated to the sky before being slammed down onto the cold snow. Hagrid told them to not touch the object that the student apparently grabbed as he picked her up. (Y/N) pulled out her wand and carefully placed the necklaced back into its case and wrapped it back up. The walk back to school carried a tension amongst them. The Slytherin felt her heart tighten at the thought earlier, mentally wishing she didn’t witness anything. As Mcgonagall and Snape question the Golden Trio, (Y/N) stayed quiet as her mind raced with thoughts of Draco causing this. She wished to defend him after Harry’s statement and Snape’s countering his bold claim. But, she had nothing to say. Only listening to the fast beating of her heart as thoughts of him race in her. Being dismissed, the slytherin parted ways with the trio and went on a search for the blond. She looked everywhere and came empty handed. She leaned back into a wall and slid down to the floor of the empty corridor. A few tears escaping her eyes due to suppressing her thoughts of her former friend harming an innocent student. Letting out quiet sobs, the girl closed her eyes and covered her mouth with her hand.   “Draco... what have you done..” She weakly spoke. Her words floated into the empty hall as she let her tears fall.                                        ━━━━━━ 💚━━━━━━ The blond boy clenched his fists after failing to repair the cabinet once again. Running a hand through his hair, he let out a shaken breath. His thoughts clouded with anxiety as he started to fear the results of his mission. He looked down at the ink on his left arm and closed his eyes. Focusing on the memory of a (H/C) housemate, he let out a quiet whimper. He sat on the cold stone floor as he remembered their childhood together. How he missed the innocence of being with her and living in a fantasy with her. He regretted raising his voice at her that Halloween night. He dread the times Pansy taunted her and laid hands on her. Always watching from afar, the blond was angered that anyone dared to harm his childhood love. Having witnessed her cry countless times and desperately wanting to hold her. Yet he had to keep up the mask of being the Slytherin Prince.

Rubbing his face, he got up and left the Room of Requirement with Crabbe and Goyle. They went back to the dungeon and went to their dorm.  As the two large boys went ahead of him, the pale blond took notice of a certain slytherin who peacefully read a book on the couch. He stared at the female and felt his heart yearn for her, wanting nothing more than to have her read to him like when they were children. He nearly took a step towards her but stopped himself due to recalling his cold words. Listening to the echo that ripped them apart. “Your blood isn’t even close to pure and yet here you are in Slytherin. If you want to be close to that mudblood, then you’re nothing but a filthy traitor, (Y/L/N)!” his gray eyes grew cold as the (E/C) eyed girl defended Hermione’s brilliance despite being a muggleborn. “To think we were ever friends. Father was right about the (Y/L/N)s. Nothing but disgusting bottom feeders.” He couldn’t show his face, not when he caused the distance between them. Without making a sound, Draco went to his dorm and laid on his bed. Drifting down the once happy memories he had with (Y/N). 

                                       ━━━━━━ 💚━━━━━━

The group sat together during lunch as Ron tried to figure out what happened between him and Lavender. Harry looked at (Y/N) as they shared an amusing smile before looking at Hermione, sharing a laugh at her blushful face. Her brown eyes darted around as she began to explain his relationship situation. 

“Uh Well.. She came to visit you in the hospital and you talked..” Hermione tried to explain the ginger’s question as she faced him but avoided eye contact, “I don’t believe it was a particularly  long conversation..” 

The gang looked towards Lavender who sat behind them. She seemed to be glaring at Ron, but that was sort of hard to tell. Ron was rather relieved from finally having air to breath as was (Y/N) do to the girl constantly bothering them during study sessions. (Y/N) excused herself and headed to the library so to get some peace before classes. 

The (H/C) Slytherin walked out the dining hall as the blond slytherin walked in. As Harry was questioning Katie, she grew silent at the sight of the blond boy. Draco stared at them in fear before turning around and walked out as quickly as he could through the crowd. Harry followed after him. 

(Y/N) wasn’t far when she saw the rivals rush pass her. Without thinking, she chased after them as she feared the worst case. She followed straight to the boy’s restroom but came to a halt. Her mind screamed at her to enter the restroom as she listened to the sound of their duel. As she was about to enter, a set of rushing steps echoed through the hall. She looked up and caught sight of Professor Snape heading her way. She opened the door for him and gasped at the sight of the blond boy bleeding on the watery floor. 

                                       ━━━━━━ 💚━━━━━━

She looked at the wooden floor as the eevie green illuminated around the common room. Leaning forward, (Y/N) rubbed her face to help calm her nerves as she continued to wait. Her (E/C) were glazed with worry while she stared at the platter spread on the table in front of her, mumbling spells to contain the food’s warmth.

Rather than spend her time studying or hanging with her friends, the young student spent the day in the kitchens. She dug deep into her memories to pull out the recipes as she raided the kitchen cabinets and dashed around the place. Her entire being held the aroma of a bakery. 

This scent didn’t go unnoticed by her housemates. Everyone was curious as to why the Slytherin Traitor had a feast display and why she had yet to touch anything. Pansy glared daggers towards her back while Crabbe and Goyle stood behind the puggy slytherin and staring hungrily at the honey coated croissants. Their eyes wander around the menu that the female had, drooling at the mere thought of Sticky Toffee Pudding touching their tongues as they glubbed down on freshly made hot chocolate.

Pansy, on the other hand, crossed her arms over her chest while glaring at the quiet female. That ugly wench was there when Draco had his duel. That filthy excuse of a Slytherin helped Snape take her prince to the hospital wing. Pansy was beyond angry as (Y/N) simply sat on the leather couch with the fireplace silently cracked around the Common Room. Clenching her fists, the female walked towards the mumbling student. She reached forward and grabbed a hold of her (H/L) (H/C) hair. Forcing her head back, Pansy dragged the Slytherin Traitor off the couch and onto the floor.

(Y/N) threw her hand up and wrapped them around her tormenter’s wrist, breaking her concentration as she tried to get away from Pansy. Her body was pulled off the couch and harshly hit the wooden floor. She stared up at the short haired female and dug her nails into her bony wrists. (Y/N) needed to maintain the freshness of the food! Her main focus from all the madness in her head after the horrid sight that evening. But, Pansy didn’t understand the importance of it all.

“Let go of me! Let go!” (Y/N) screamed, desperation clearly visible on her face as she tried to free herself. “Parkinson!”

“Cry all you want, you filthy rat.” Pansy smirked as she pulled out her wand and let go of the female. “Petrificus Totalus!” 

(Y/N)’s entire body went stiff as she landed on the cold floor. Her eyes staring up at Pansy before darting around in worry. She tried to move her arms but they didn’t respond. Her eyes reddened as tears burned their way out. Slowly a single tear rolled down her (S/C) cheek while listening to Pansy laugh and others joining in soon after. Bearing their laughter, (Y/N) laid still on the floor with no means of breaking. Tears spilled more freely while listening to everyone laugh and Pansy mock her.

“You thought that stunt you pulled from the start of term was your ticket? No. You were horribly wrong. Your traitorous friends were the reason Draco is in the hospital wing! You had the audacity to stand there with Snape as he carried his body.” Pansy stood above her as she aimed her wand at her head. Enjoying the sight of her tears painting her face while laying helpless beneath. “You are nothing more than a bottom feeding excuse of wizarding blood. You don’t deserve to have magic in you. Perhaps… I should do you a favor.”

Her (E/C) snapped open. Fear quickly replaced the humiliation as Pansy grinned down at her. Crabbe and Goyle looked at one another while the crowd around sickly grinned and watched for the scene to unfold. 

“Cru-”

“Expelliarmus!” 

A voice cut through the crowd. Pansy’s wand flew out her hand as the interrupter pushed his way through the bodies that surrounded them. Upon reaching them, his gray eyes stormed in rage at the sight of (Y/N)’s body on the floor with Pansy standing above her head. The pug felt the tension radiate from his tall frame, but decided to put up an innocent act.

“Oh Draco! What a surprise! (Y/L/N) assaulted me and I had to-”

Draco wasn’t a fool. He had heard her entire rant towards his former friend. No one had noticed the entrance open as they were busy witnessing the cruel torture. He stepped forward and tightened his grip on his wand. His eyes clouded with pure anger at the female that continued to lie through her teeth. 

Pansy took a step back as Draco closed in on her. Fearing for coldness that seeped through the storm. She backed away but slipped on her own feet, causing her to fall back. He nearly drew closer to the frightened Pansy but stopped. A hand weakly reached and tugged at the black fabric of his suit. He looked down at the person who stopped him. His empty exterior softened at the weak plea (Y/N) silently gave him. He stared down at her for a moment before turning back to Pansy and everyone present.

“Leave. If so much as a breath is heard, I will personally send you to death.” Everyone quickly left after hearing his words. Seeing that Malfoy was beyond reasoning. 

                                       ━━━━━━ 💚━━━━━━

Once the common room was empty, Draco had helped (Y/N) up and sat her on the couch. He took notice of the food that covered the table. Smiling to himself at the pastries, he wondered how long she had taken to do them. He sat a little away from her and let the silence hang above them. 

“They should still be warm… They are all your favorites! I- oh dear.. I hope they still are.. I mean you didn’t look as though you have been resting or eating and I wanted to..” (Y/N) covered her face as she tried to explain herself and the food in front of them, causing Draco to quietly chuckle.

He looked at her and the array of food. Taking a biscuit, he took a bite and smiled at the soft texture. She was right. They were still warm, nearly as fresh as if they had just got out of the oven. Draco picked up a plate and held it out to her, a silent means of asking her to join. 

The pair sat quietly and ate. Both waiting for a break in the silence. Draco rehearses what he has been debating for years, while (Y/N) tries to keep her words in check. 

"I'm still surprised you aren't a Hufflepuff..." He chuckled softly, glancing over to her while setting his plate down. "You've always been the opposite but somehow it happened.."

To Draco, (Y/N) was too sweet for the cunning house of serpents. She worried over everything and tried to make things safe for everyone. He knew this. He knew she was an innocent princess. She helped the first years during their first week by baking them sweets and showing them the way around Hogwarts. He saw the times she would sit and listen to a Ravenclaw student complain about their issues. He has even overheard her yell at other slytherins for bullying a gryffindor muggleborn due to something muggle related. 

He covered his face with his hands but she noticed the stray tear. Reaching for his hands, (Y/N) smiled down at their hands. Tracing a finger over his pale knuckles, she tried her best to ease him.

“I never fit in with the crowd, Draco,” she whispered softly and rubbed his pale knuckles, “But, I tried to because you were there.” 

His eyes burned with tears as he stared at her soft expression. His emotions become visible to her after years of suppressing them from everyone. His hands held onto hers and rested his head on her shoulder, not wanting for her to see his tears. (Y/N) scooted closer to him as he hid his face from her, knowing that he was letting his guard down. She held him close to her and rested her head against his. 

“I-I’m so sorry, (Y/N).. I’m so bloody sorry for hurting you. I’m so sorry for letting Parkinson hurt you…” he coughed out as his voice became hoarse.  Trying desperately to no breakdown when he felt her arms wrap around his trembling body. “He.. He's going to kill me.. I don’t have a choice..  He’ll kill me if  I don’t fix them..”

(Y/N) listened to the broken boy. Not once interrupting him as he fumbled over his words from his scattered sentences. She knew what he meant and felt the immense weight that he was going through. He had to do an impossible task in order to protect his family, but the weight that came from it has been suffocating him. She knew he was drowning from the fear and anxiety of failing. 

Silence grew around the pair as she held him. The room became cold around them as the fireplace grew dim. However, Draco didn’t feel the bitter air. He only felt warmth around his body. Draco only buried himself deeper into her body, wanting nothing more to hide from the cruel world. He felt adrift in the dark sea that he placed himself. He was scared. He was frightened by the path he was walking, but he couldn’t turn back. He couldn’t escape the dreadful mark on his arm.  

The pair had managed to lay on the couch as Draco had curled into (Y/N)’s arms. Her heart gently beating and calming the boy from his emotional storm. Her hand rubbed the mid of his back while he listened to her heart. Neither breaking the silence around them. The sound of soft breathing caught (Y/N)’s attention as she stared up at the ceiling. Her eyes broke away from the ceiling and looked down at the sleeping boy that laid in her arms. Smiling to herself, she reached up and pushed back the silk locks of blond. She leaned ever so slightly and placed a light kiss on his forehead. (Y/N) couldn’t help but be reminded of the happy boy he once was as his slumbering form looked at peace. 

“I swore.. We will always be together,” (Y/N) whispered.  

                                       ━━━━━━ 💚━━━━━━

[chick-from-nz]

Paper, Scissors, Rank (Ch: 1)

CHARACTER/PAIRING: Modern!Carrillo x Army!OC (eventually) 

WARNINGS: maybe some swearing, military slang, spelling and grammatical errors. Could be very OOC/AU for some. 

AUTHORS NOTE:  this is kind of just an establishing chapter to get the idea out there, Carrillo is barely in this chapter. Characters are younger than they should be for their ranks. Also so far there is no first names, that’ll come later

WORD COUNT: 1.6K

CHAPTER: 1 OF ?

TAG LIST: @girlpornparadise @1zashreena1 @xxidontwikeitxx @nicke0115

The sun was beginning to disappear behind the curve of the earth,  painting the sky with a unique mixture of orange and dark violet. The distant sound of rumbling thunder is like persistent background music for the evening , powerful and uncanny.  The impending storm instills a sense of relief within the thirty or so soon to be officers standing stock still in a neat formation.

The cadets have been standing at attention for what seems like an eternity, the warmth of the day slowly fading away into the brisk cold that is night. This day was the first of many long days to look forward to in the treacherous week ahead, a week full of drills, missions and courses set to make or break the cadets and be the decider on whether or not they will become the soldiers they so desperately wish to be.  

The cadets had been informed of an up and coming role in a new task force that would be the highlight of one lucky future second lieutenant's career. A foreign Colonel was set to choose the most fitting recruit for his force to fight an enemy unknown to these youngsters. Only a cadet who scored within the top three of the company would be eligible for this role or at least that's what the platoon imagined.

The tension within the platoon was high, higher still with this opportunity hanging over their heads. Each cadet was now fighting tooth and nail to be at the top of the pack. Among this group was a young female recruit with everything against her. It seemed like all the instructors had a vendetta against her because of her last name, yet she was sitting top of the pack. The female cadets gossiped about her and the male cadets paid her no notice, she was hoping whoever this Colonel was that he at least would see her worth for what it was and not because of the last name attached to it.

When the thunder cracked and the rain came pouring down only then did the morale of the group start to drop, holding a pack above your head for what felt like 3 hours, and probably was, was being to take its toll on certain cadets. Almost half the platoon had forfeited points by dropping their packs, another five cadets were beginning to sway from the weight and would no doubt drop their packs within the hour. The test of strength and endurance was a tough one at that. Do you drop your pack and lose some points but not be exhausted for whatever discipline was thrown at you next, or did you power through and hope that this was the last task of the night.  

As another hour or so passes there are all but 3 recruits standing out of the rain. Cadets Greyson, Calliope and Micheals were the remaining cadets out in the downpour with their packs hoisted above their heads. It was a power struggle now, Greyson and Micheals were but half a point apart for top cadet while Cadet Calliope was only a point behind them, these three were now not only competing for top cadet but for a chance to make it onto the Colonels “kill squad” as it had been nicknamed by the Cadets.

Calliope was the first to drop his pack, followed closely by Michaels. Cadet Greyson, like usual, was the last cadet standing, feeling incredibly proud of herself as she spun around to face her fellow cadets only to be greeted with distasteful looks and the occasional snarl on her opponents faces. At this point she thought she should be used to it, but each time it stung more and more. Was no one going to acknowledge the fact that she had proven herself yet again?

Greyson was given no time to dwell on her thoughts as the cadets were called to make formation and report to the Lieutenant in charge. Lieutenant O’Connor. The man was the only superior who Greyson felt appreciated by, he always took time to pull her aside and give her tips to improve on if she needed them, or congratulate her on her win. Since she dominated the event yet again Greyson was tasked with determining the route best fit to take to get back to their tents. With the help of Cadets Calliope and Michaels, whom she had chosen as her second and third in command respectively. The platoon made their way back to the campsite without a fuss.

Major Benn was perched on the hood of his jeep when the platoon reached camp. Ever one to be formal Cadet Greyson brought her squad to attention and popped off a salute to the aforementioned man. The major was quick to return the salute, a small smile gracing his lips.

“Cadet Greyson, congratulations on another win, dismiss your squad and everyone gather round the Jeep”

“Yes Sir!”

Greyson did as she was told, silently thanking the Major for the kind words, and gathered the squad around the jeep. She was hoping that they were going to be jagged in for the night, but just their luck the Major would have them up running parade drills for the next three hours.

“As you well know one of you will be chosen and given the opportunity of a lifetime, working alongside one of Colombia's most renowned Officers in the intelligence field. In two days he’ll be here to oversee the evolutions for the day and set challenges for you to complete. He will select who he thinks is right for his team, scores will not play a part in his decision. I suggest you all take this on board and do you best to impress. This opportunity will not come around again so I expect top performance from each and every one of you. You are dismissed”

At the order each cadet gave a salute and went off to their own tents, thankful for the opportunity for rest and each thinking of how they could impress the Officer and gain a place on his team.

As the night drew to a close and everyone was drifting off to sleep Cadet Greyson decided to wander away from the cadets campsite and unintentionally towards the instructors camp. It was only when the darkness gave way to the burning lights surrounding their camp did she slow her pace and hide in the shadows. She knew if she was caught here she’d be doing in a world of hell, but for some reason she just couldn't turn around and walk back to her tent.

She could hear voices coming from the camp, she could pinpoint all but one of them, and it sounded like they were deep in a very serious discussion. Greyson gathered  her courage and began to creep closer to the voices, remembering her training she kept low to the ground and used the shadows to her advantage. She came to an abrupt halt when she heard her name being passed around between the men. Why would they be talking about me? Please don’t be ruining my name she thought to herself. She took a few steps more and placed herself behind one of the tents. The fourth voice was louder now, accented and strong. The kind of voice that makes you want to run towards it and away from it at the same time. Greyson wondered if it was possible to be attracted to a voice, and promptly decided it was, that voice, whoever it belonged to, was the most attractive voice she’d ever heard.

Deciding she’d pushed her luck too far, the cadet soundlessly turned and made her way back to the path at the edge of the camp, but instead of continuing towards her camp like any sane cadet would she turned to see if she could catch a glimpse of whoever the authoritative voice belonged to. What she managed to see nearly made her fall over breathless. He was gorgeous, even from a distance. A strong chiseled jaw that gave way to wide shoulders and what seemed to be the strongest most defined arms she’d ever seen.  God if his arms look like that i can only imagine what he must look like under that uniform Greyson thought. He was standing in a stance that screamed power and experience, shoulders back, head tilted back in a way that made it look like he was looking down his nose at someone, except, he was staring right in her direction.

“Fuck!” Greyson whispered to herself, if he had spotted her she might have just compromised her points she earnt today and might have just dropped herself into the biggest punishment she’d ever receive. As to not draw attention to herself she slowly crept backwards further into the shadows, double checked that the coast was clear and bolted in the direction of the cadets camp. She reached the camp in record time, the fear of being caught fueling her the whole way back to the camp.

Greyson wasted no time kicking off her boots and climbing into her sleeping bag, if she’d been caught the platoon would get a rude awakening in a matter of minutes, if not she had maybe three hours to get as much sleep as she could. As the minutes ticked by and the night stayed silent it seemed as though she would get to sleep tonight, she could only hope that tomorrow would bring slightly better outcomes than the day before. As she drifted off she smiled to herself, the image of those wide shoulders and strong arms had her imagining some not so professional situations where she could use them to her advantage.

[jynxes]

Leather n’ Red - Reggie Peters

Summary: Much like the deceased boys of Sunset Curve, Duchess died right before the gig that could’ve been her band’s big break. Thing is, she left the dark room a little earlier than they did, made a couple friends and learned a few tricks. What will happen when she and the boys can be seen when singing with Julie, the only alive person that can see them all?

Paring: Reggie Peters x Duchess Himura (OC)

Word count: 3.2k

Warnings: One f-bomb dropped, 2020 slang and the boys being confused

Thank you to @beansisarat7 for beta reading this chapter for me!

A/N: Here’s the second chapter! A quick little disclaimer, I’ve never actually been clubbing, so I’m sorry if this isn’t really right. That being said, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, especially since I did it instead of doing homework, anyway, I hope you enjoy!

♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪

Chapter 2 // No cap, but go off I guess

After hanging out in the garage for a bit, Luke poofs us somewhere. The guys grunt a little, not used to poofing everywhere.

Reggie looks down at himself for a second, letting out a "Huh?"

We all look out below us onto a familiar street, watching people passing on the sidewalk in silence.

Luke breaks it, "Hey, I know being dead isn't our first choice, but I mean, it sure is easy getting around."

"It's like, super easy to get everywhere," I agree.

"Easy for you, maybe," Reggie says, "I lost my shirt on that one," he gestures to his bare torso. I let my eyes linger a little longer than they should've.

Then his shirt poofs back and I let out an almost inaudible, "aww." Based on the look Alex gave me it wasn't as quiet as I meant for it to be.

"Ooh never mind! There it is," Reggie says, happy his shirt is back and Luke chuckles.

Alex and I notice the sound of neon buzzing and look up to see a sign for the Orpheum.

"Okay, so, why'd you bring us here?" Alex asks, "Just another painful reminder of where we never got to play?"

"Yeah, thanks Luke, not cool," I back him up, Luke and Reggie look up to the sign before Luke brings his eyes back to Alex and I.

"I mean, dudes, the game isn't over yet," Luke says before poofing us down onto the pavement below and begins walking, "I'm telling you, we've been given a second chance. Let's find some music. Let's see how many clubs we can hit before sunrise."

"We're going clubbing! A'right!" I exclaim, getting excited and giving Luke a high five.

We keep walking for a second when we realize Alex isn't with us, we turn around, walking backwards, "Hey Alex, you coming?" Luke asks.

"Let's go!" Reggie yells to him.

"We're partying tonight!" I yell before poofing away the red and black striped sweater below my AC/DC graphic tee.

"So, where are we hitting first?" Alex asks, running to catch up to us.

"I, uh, I actually have no idea," Luke reveals.

"Okay, don't worry, I know a few places," I say confidently before remembering that they think I arrived at the same time as them, "If they're still here that is."

"Okay, tell us, where we heading first?" Reggie grins excitedly.

"We're gonna see if we can get into The Doe," I tell them, "It's about three blocks over," and with that I poof us to The Doe.

The boys look at the sign for the club, and then to the line to get in. If we were alive then we'd have to wait like an hour to get in, but since we're ghosts we can sneak in in two seconds.

"Come on!" I say, grabbing their arms and dragging them in.

There's some music playing, but it's not any 90s songs, nothing they'd find familiar. It takes me a second but I'm pretty sure it's that band named 5 Seconds of Summer or something, Billy's been trying to get me up to date with music and I've been doing fine so far.

"She looks so perfect standing there

In my American Apparel underwear,"

Yup, it's 5SOS, Billy would be proud.

"Wow," Reggie says, looking around at all the lights and people on the dancefloor.

"Yeah," I smile, "What d'you think? Is music different now?"

"Well, this is one song, but it's pretty good, no Sunset Curve though," he grins.

"Yeah, I agree. But it's pop rock, so it won't be as full on as Sunset Curve."

"Wanna dance?" he asks me, extending a hand for me to take.

'Fuck it,' I think, "Sure," I take his hand and we begin to dance. It's not really a song you can dance with a partner to, unless you're grinding I guess, but we make it work, dancing next to each other and he spins me every now and then which is fun.

When the song finishes we go to check out what Alex and Luke are doing. When we find them they're looking at the DJ's playlist, and they are skimming through the names trying to figure out which are rock bands and which they think would be best to listen to.

"Luke," I say, taking his arm, "Just let the DJ play her playlist. If you wanna hear the new music then just listen to it."

"But, Duchess, I wanna hear the competition. I wanna find out what rock bands are like now!" he protests.

"Please Luke?" I say, tugging on his arm again, "I'll dance with you?" I offer.

"Ugh, fine, only because I can't say no to a pretty girl that wants to dance."

"Sure you can't Patterson," I smirk, pulling him onto the dance floor as a slower song begins. It takes me a second until I recognize it as a song by the Vamps, Somebody to You.

"Look at me now, I'm falling

I can't even talk, still stuttering,"

We hold hands and dance, lip-synching to a song we don't even know, laughing when we clearly mess up. He spins me around a couple times, and I dip him at the end of one of the choruses making us burst into giggles. I'm really starting to like hanging out with the boys, they're great fun to be around.

The song ends and we hug, "So," I begin, "What did you think of that song?"

"Well, it's not rock, and it's definitely not Sunset Curve," I roll my eyes at these observations, "But it was good, I had fun dancing to it."

"See? Just because it's not rock doesn't mean it's trash," I laugh, and he rolls his eyes.

I turn to Reggie and Alex before taking a step towards Alex, "Well, since I've danced with these two morons, I guess I owe you a dance?"

I put my hand out for him to take and after looking to Reggie and Luke, who both nod at him, he looks back to me and takes my hand.

The song we dance to is Girls Like You by Maroon 5. It's a nice song, slower and a pop rock song that's more pop than rock. We both have a lot of fun doing turns and exaggeratedly pointing to each other for every,

"When I come through

I need a girl like you, yeah yeah,"

Alex is definitely a dancer, and a good one at that. We both have fun dancing more hip-hop when we get to Cardi's verse and we're laughing the entire time.

When the song ends we join the other two and they just look at us both wide eyed.

"What?" we ask.

"You two really like to dance," Reggie says.

"Yeah, guess Alex isn't the only dancer in the group now," Luke comments. Oh, if only you knew.

"So, next club?" I ask.

"Sure, where to next?" Reggie asks me.

I think for a bit before deciding, "How about we go to Okay?"

"Okay?" the boys chorus.

"Yeah, Okay, it's a club, you down?"

The boys exchange a look before shrugging, "Sure," Luke says, "Take us to Okay."

♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪

I take the guys to Okay and we dance for a bit, Okay plays a few older songs from like the 2000s and the 90s, so we actually know the words to these songs. We're goofing about and dancing when Reggie and I bump into someone, we exchange a look before looking back at the person we bumped into.

The person has short green hair, a long sleeved black and white top and a black skirt with black suspenders seemingly holding it up, they look great.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," they say before realizing what just happened. "Ghosts?"

"Yeah, we're ghosts, I'm Duchess," I tell them.

"And I'm Reggie," Reggie says, putting out his hand to shake theirs.

"Well, I'm Kai," Kai says, shaking Reggie's hand," And in case you were wondering I use they/them pronouns."

"They— th- what?" Reggie stammers, confused.

"Oh, uh, Kai, Reggie died in the 90s and only just left the dark room, he's still catching up," I explain to them.

"Oh, that's okay, I can explain if you want," Kai offers, and Reggie nods his head.

"When we refer to people we use pronouns, right?" Reggie nods again, "Well, instead of using he/him or she/her, I use they. Like what you would do if you didn't know if someone was a he or a she. Think of it like you found a wallet, you'd say 'oh, someone left their wallet here, I'll leave it so that they can find it,' do you follow?"

"Yeah, I do. Thanks for teaching me," Reggie smiles, still slightly embarrassed, "I use he/him pronouns, is that right?"

"Yeah, it is," I smile, "And I use she/her."

"Well, now that we're properly introduced, do you wanna come meet my friends?" Kai asks.

"Sure, can we go get our friends, Alex and Luke?" I ask.

"Sure, go ahead," Kai says, "We'll be over in the booth over there," they point to a booth in the corner of the club.

They walk to their both and Reggie and I scramble to find Alex and Luke. When we do we tell them we found other ghosts and Reggie explains to them Kai's pronouns, he seemed really proud to be educating them and it was honestly adorable.

We go over to the booth Kai pointed out to us and meet their friends, Mel, who died in 2017, is cis and uses she/her and Eli, who died in 2019, is trans and uses he/him. They're really cool people who told us a lot about newer music, and what it's like being a ghost. They also told us that they like to prank alive people even though they don't really know how to do much as ghosts.

"Just because you can't touch 'em doesn't mean you can't mess with 'em," Eli says with an evil grin.

"What do you mean?" Luke asks.

"Well, for instance, they can't feel your skin, but they can feel fabric and texture," Mel explains, "They can feel the wetness of water on your hand but not your hand. Ya get me?"

"Yeah, I get you."

"I know this is off topic but tbh I don't care, Luke, your fit is so 90s but like it's also fire," Eli compliments.

"Uhhhh," the guys sit with their mouths open, not knowing what to say, because they are not up to date with 2020 slang.

"Eli, dude, they're literally from the 90s," I laugh, "They highkey have no clue what you're saying."

"Oohhh, tea," Mel gasps.

"Yeah, they make knowing basic slang seem like a flex," I giggle.

"Cap, that's gotta be cap," Eli shakes his head.

"No cap, but go off I guess," I shrug.

"Damn, no need to be salty."

"I'm not salty, they're just himbos."

"They're himbos?" Mel asks, "You sure?"

"Well, yeah, but like they also create a himbo when combined. Luke is beefy, you see those arms? And Reggie is dumb of ass," I say before turning to Reggie, "said with love. And Alex is pure of heart. Ergo, they create himbo."

"Can't argue with that logic, but I'm shook, how do you understand what we're saying, and they don't?"

"Well, first off I died in 2005, second off, I've been here a little bit longer than they have, that's why I have the 200 IQ plays that they don't."

"Still don't know what you're saying," Reggie says.

"Stop messing with them," Kai scolds, "I'm sorry about them, I died in 2014 and spent a little while in the dark room, it took me a while to figure out what they were saying."

"It's fine," Alex says, "We just, uh, just have a lot to catch up on I guess."

"You do, but it's getting late and if we don't yeet ourselves back home then Angel is gonna kill us, again," Eli says.

"Bet!" Mel agrees.

"We gotta get going, is what they mean, but we'll see you around?" Kai asks.

"Of course," I say, "See ya."

"Bye guys," they all say.

"Bye," the guys reply before Kai, Eli, and Mel poof away.

"Shall we hit the next club?" I ask the guys and they nod. And so I take them to what will be our final club of the night, a place called Midnight.

I poof us there and the guys drag me to a table before all turning to me.

"What?" I question, confused.

"How the hell do you know all that stuff?" Luke interrogates me.

"Yeah, I thought you showed up same time as us," Alex adds on.

"And what's a himbo?" Reggie asks, the guys look at him, "What? It's a valid question!"

"Okay, well, I didn't appear into the afterlife with you," I elucidate, "I just became visible to Julie with you guys. I've been here for like a month and a half already."

"A month and a half? And you didn't think to tell us?!" Alex all but yells at me.

"Sorry! I was confused when I was brought to you and Julie and then I realized who you were, and then I found out Julie could see me! Sorry if I didn't spill my life story to you," I sass.

"Yeah, no that makes sense," Reggie agrees.

"Yeah, I mean it's not every day you meet your music idols," Luke says arrogantly.

"And it's definitely not every day you realize they're huge dorks either," I say, pushing Luke's shoulder gently and he laughs.

"Reggie did raise a good question earlier though," Luke says.

"Oh? And what is that?" I ask.

"What is a himbo?"

"Ah, no. You're not ready to learn that yet."

"What do you mean?" Alex questions.

"You're just not ready. Trust me on that. Now come on, do we wanna stay here or will I show you some new things in LA?"

"Let's stay here a bit," Luke suggests, and the boys agree.

"Okay, let's dance then," I say grabbing them to the dance floor. It's definitely different clubbing as a ghost, there's no eating or drinking and no mingling unless you meet other ghosts.

After a bit of dancing the music quiets down, it's still playing but if you sang into the mic onstage then you could drown it out. I look to Reggie and he smiles at me, I nod to the mic and he taps Luke's shoulder and points to the mic, we smile and go onstage.

I look at the DJ's playlist and find a song that would absolutely be fun to sing with the boys. It's a song by Green Day and so although it came out in 2004, they'll still know the band. Before I put it on, I explain to them that although yes, the song does have a slur in it, it was meant as a reclamation and beyond that we can just not sing it, we agreed on the latter. I hit play on the karaoke option and make sure the boys can see the lyrics.

And so we begin as any normal person would start a song, screaming at the top of our lungs,

"DON'T WANNA BE AN AMERICAN IDIOT

DON'T WANT A NATION UNDER THE NEW MANIA,"

Singing with the boys was so much fun, honestly, I want to sing with them again for sure! People are confused when we finish because no one was up on the stage and we don't exactly sound like Green Day, but they enjoyed it, nonetheless.

♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪

After staying in the club for a while the boys decided that they did want me to take them around the city. I show them all the new venues and places where bands play gigs, I show them what places shut down and what's there in their place.

The guys immediately stopped the tour when I revealed that I learned a couple ghosting tricks from my ghost friend. They really wanted to see what I could do, I can't really do much, but I showed them regardless. I lifted a couple things and set off a couple car alarms but I couldn't do much other than that. The guys found it really cool though, I gotta introduce them to Billy at some point.

The sun starts to rise and we decide that we need to start getting back to the Molina house, the boys want to wander for a bit longer, but I decide to go back to go check on Carlos, he's gotta be a little confused, especially after seeing Julie see me last night.

I poof to the door outside his room and knock quietly before hearing Carlos saying, "Come in."

"Hey Carlito," I smile after walking through the door.

"Hey Dee," he smiles, sitting on his bed, "What's up?"

"I just thought you'd want to know what's going on. Ya know, because of last night."

"Oh, yeah, could Julie see you?"

"Yeah, she, uh, she can."

"She can see you? How?!"

"Well, it's a long story, and I'm not 100% sure how she can see me either, but she can," I then whisper to myself, "I really don't understand why she can see the others and you can't though."

"What?" he asks.

"Oh, nothing. So, what's new, what are you gonna do today?" I deflect.

"Since we're moving, I have to pack my room, which means cleaning under my bed, and we both know that I don't wanna clean under my bed," the boy says, shaking his head.

"Hey!" I say, offended, "You found my demo under your bed!"

"Yeah, and who knows, I might find more demos and summon more demon ghosts!"

"I'm not a demon!" I protest, "I'm a ghost! A normal ghost, just tryna get through the afterlife."

"That's fair, well, I gotta get ready for school, but I'll see you after?"

"Yeah, of course Calo," I assure him, "I'll see you later."

"Bye DeeDee."

And with that I poof to the guys, they were still wandering around LA and when I show up we all decide to go back to the studio.

We all poof into the back of the studio and we hear Julie singing and playing the piano. This is surprising to the boys because she told them that she doesn't play, and it's surprising for me because I know that she hasn't played since her mom died, so it's a little crazy for all of us.

"Wake up your dream and make it true Look out, look inside of you When you feel lost Relight that spark, time to come out of the dark Wake up, mm-mm, wake up"

We all look at each other in awe of Julie. This girl has an incredible voice and she plays the piano amazingly, honestly I'm glad she's playing again, depriving the world of her talent is almost criminal!

When she's done, Julie lifts the last sheet of music off the piano reading the note that her mom left at the bottom of it before hugging it and crying softly.

♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪

[lonelypond]

AU Yeah August: Café Quarantine, Part III

NicoMaki, Love Live, 3.2K, 3/4

Summary: The quarantine continues. Nico and Maki get closer, but...

Café Quarantine, Part III

Maki’s phone went off. Nico.

N: There’s muffins in the oven ( ˘▽˘)っ♨ WAKE UP before the timer goes off.

M: NO.

N: Your pad will burn down. Your parents might notice.

Pad? Oh, the slang kick. Nico was in a good mood. Maki grinned.

M: They’d have to be home.

N: You’re in a mood.

M: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

N: Go get the muffins.

M: Maybe.

N: No fever, no coughing “:♡.•♬✧⁽⁽ଘ( ˊᵕˋ )ଓ⁾⁾*+:•*∴

Maki glanced at the time. 9:30 a.m. And Nico had already baked? Maki groaned.

N: Up and at ‘em, barn burner.

M: Musicians are night people. Why aren’t you?

N: Nico is magic. And you’re too much, sugar band.

M: Please forget you ever found that jazz slang link.

N: (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

M: if I get up and deal with whatever you put in my oven, will you never refer to me as a hepkitten or barnburner again?

N: Your oven ✧(σ๑˃̶̀ꇴ˂̶́)σ and sure, square.

M: <(｀^´)>

N: 5 minutes.

M: Fine.

Maki pulled on a t-shirt and found her slippers. Muffins? Might be worth waking up for.

###

A duet, Nico jumping in to the livestream from the library. “I Get No Kick.”

Maki at the piano, her voice a sad and sober invitation,

My story is much too sad to be told But practically everything Leaves me totally cold The only exception I know is the case When I'm out on a quiet spree Fighting vainly the old ennui And I suddenly turn and see Your fabulous face

Then Nico for chorus.

I get no kick from Champagne Mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all So tell me why should it be true That I get a kick out of you

Some get a kick from cocaine I'm sure that if I took even one sniff That would bore me terrif- Ically too Yet I get a kick out of you

And Maki alone: I get a kick every time I see you standing there before me

And Nico alone: I get a kick though it's clear to see That you obviously do not adore me

Maki after an instrumental riff: I get no kick kick in a plane, oh yeah Flying too high with some girl in the sky Is my idea of nothing to do, And both for the big finish: you know what, babe I get a kick, you give me a thrill, I get a kick out of you

Maki’s phone double pinged. Hanayo. And Rin.

H; Oh my god, Maki that was like a scene from a movie. You and Nico were both so poised, so pretty, so wistful...almost like you were looking out the windows at each other from so far away.

R: TELL NICO YOU LIKE HER. Don’t just sing things.

H: But keep singing. I have so many ideas. You have such great chemistry. (●♡∀♡))ヾ☆*。

R: Kayo-chin’s typing so fast there’s sparks.

And Rin sent a video of Hanayo at her laptop, hunched over, glasses sliding down her nose, fingers moving at a faster tempo than Maki had ever played.

Then a Nico text.

N: So what’d the PR department think?

M: ((●♡∀♡))ヾ☆*。

N: Just like Nico’s plan.

M :◑.◑

N: Nico’s hungry. Did you order pizza?

M: Isn’t that your fifth meal today?

N: Nico burned off fever calories.

M: Yeah. And you don’t have any to spare.

N: Nico is muscle -(๑☆‿ ☆#)ᕗ

M: Tiny muscle.

N: Tiny muscle that can out arm wrestle you.

M: Try me.

N: Oh, Nico will.

M: I’ll order something. Do you actually want pizza?

N: No. But they get it here fast. And NICO NEEDS FOOD.

Maki had an image of Kaiju sized Nico raging through Chicago in search of snacks. It was God Tier humor. Maki played a quick series of notes, chords chasing and crashing into each other, giggling as they sped up to a sudden silence.

N: That sounded silly.

M: Are you outside the door?

N: Yes. Order my pizza.

M: Fine. And it was only as silly as you.

N: ԅ(◉෴◉ԅ)

###

Maki was now having dreams in Korean. The portal to Seoul had moved to the media room as she sped watched through Tomorrow’s Cantabile. Campus envy for start. Such a beautiful location to play. Crazy professor dude was a bit overdramatic but the music...Maki would stop watching when she couldn’t take any more not playing. And the dorms, with the piano right there....Maki would just stay put…

“Ooh, the violinist subplot is so cute.”

“No spoilers” Maki ordered, not looking behind her, where Nico was presumably lounging in the doorway.

“How come you didn’t go to a music school?”

“They call them conservatories. And because I was going to be a doctor.”

“Was.”

Maki paused the stream from her laptop to the TV screen and turned. Nico was leaning, eyes sparkling enough that Maki could imagine the “Nico won this round” smile under her extra sparkly pink mask.

“Northwestern has an excellent music program.”

“You said was.” Nico smirked.

Maki started the program up again.

###

Maki was getting frustrated. Between her parents and their “what’s your premed major choice?” hints and Nico’s dissection of her verb tenses, there was too much attention on her. And Nico was feeling better, less coughing, so they were nearly running into each other in the hall more often. After Nico’s invasion of Maki’s Tomorrow’s Cantabile viewing experience, Maki fled outside, grabbing her soccer ball and working on a few tricks. Rin hadn’t stopped by in a couple of days and Maki was starting to feel too isolated. Just dribble the ball, do some squat thrusts, roll over in the grass for a few yards, then lay on her back, staring at the sky and tossing the ball up and catching it. No sounds but birds and ball.

Maki knew she couldn’t just punt. But the more college classes took her away from music, the less she wanted to spend time in a classroom. And then Nico, with a surprise dream involving jazz, one of Maki’s favorite things. And Maki’s random Café Quarantine idea became the very real pleasure of music with Nico. Maki wanted more of that. Music with Nico, time with Nico, every night with Nico, seeing exactly how much attention Nico would pay to what Maki chose, both clothes and music, what Nico would suggest, where they would agree...Maki hummed a little, she and Hanayo had been tossing themes back and forth. Learning more about DeeDee Bridgewater after Nico’s name drop had “Lady Be Good” looping in Maki’s head and she really wanted to perform it for Nico. Hanayo had suggested “Dames” be the theme, throwing “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend” into the mix and Maki added “Satin Doll.” She hadn’t talked about this with Nico yet, but tonight’s show was getting closer and Maki was surprised Nico wasn’t out here, haranguing her to practice.

Why wasn’t Nico out here? Maki jumped up, ball tucked under her arm, and quick walked through downstairs, before heading up to the bedrooms.

She paused outside Nico’s door, no coughing, then knocked. “Nico?”

No reply. Maki opened the door a crack. There was a pile of blankets in the center of the bed, with Nico presumably underneath it. Maki glanced at her phone. Two hours ‘til showtime. No Nico tonight.

Maki closed the door quietly, and went into her room. Shower off the grass, then pick an outfit. But first, Maki dropped back onto her bed, hugging a pillow, and willing more energy to Nico.

###

Nightmare. No breath. Buried under cases of coffee, Maki gone for the weekend, the hospital coffeeshop closed, and no one going to be back for days. Or was that Maki coughing, somewhere, fading, when Nico couldn’t move, couldn’t reach her.

Nico sat up, throwing blankets off her, breaths too fast, too shallow, panic...where was she. Dark. Maki’s house, sweat, fever? Where was Maki? Grabbing a mask, an action now so automatic that even on this half awake edge of rooms too big, too empty, too dark panic, Nico knew she needed to reach out for the one on the nightstand. Loop over the ears, trip over the blanket bunched up next to the bed, hit the ground with her knee, curse, stumble toward the door and nearly into Maki, who was heading for Nico’s room, wearing what must be her pajamas, a gray and light blue flannel shirt, partly unbuttoned and what looked like gray boy shorts with a blue stripe down the hip. Nico forced her eyes away from Maki’s very long legs while the surprised redhead skipped back and squeaked.

“Nico? Are you all right?”

Nico leaned against the wall, inhaling through her nose, “Nico’s fine.”

“I heard you…”

“Nightmare.” Nico frowned, “Were you coughing?”

Maki shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest, suddenly seemingly aware of how much skin she was showing, compared to Nico’s pajama pants and frilly camisole combo.

Breathing almost back to even, Nico stood, “Sorry Nico woke you up.”

Maki shook her head, biting her lip, “Wasn’t really sleeping. Would really rather have been talking to you, but I didn’t want to…”

“Thanks for letting me sleep. Had a lot of energy this morning, but it just suddenly disappeared after lunch.”

“Recovery is slow. You have to give yourself a break.” Maki hadn’t thought to grab a mask so Nico could see her soft, concerned expression.

Nico decided she had enough energy for flirting “Nico’s doctors usually wear more.”

Nico watched Maki flush with embarrassment and backed toward her room, “ummmm…”

Nico reached out a hand for Maki’s arm, her touch gentle, “It’s okay, Nico won’t tease you.”

Maki pulled away, fingers now splayed and covering the top of her thighs, where the shirt ended. She wouldn’t look at Nico.

Right Nico, Nico scolded herself, flowers, dinner, candy...or at least a blu-ray and popcorn night first. “I’ll start tea. Maybe we can watch something funny. Nico needs a break from bad dreams.”

###

While Maki decided what to wear, Nico let the tea steep and watched tonight’s Cafe Quarantine. Floor length violet gown with embroidered chrysanthemums, and a textured crepe, artfully falling off the shoulder neckline. Nico whistled. Maki’s closet was deep and delicious. Had she actually worn them places? And which places? And with who? Nico found a sudden discomfort nudging at her, the thought of Maki in a hotel ballroom, someone’s arms around the fitted waist of her gown...Nico refocused on actual Maki at the piano, fingers sprightly as “The Girl From Ipanema” danced, Maki swaying breezes and skirts with her left hand, drifting clouds into sunshine with her right. Nico giggled, Maki was doing her own secret theme with the instrumentals, songs about “Brazil.” They’d be out of songs before Nico could suggest a Flying Down to Rio week.

“Hey.” Maki said breathily from the doorway of the kitchen.

“Nico was about to watch your second song.”

“I’ll go pick a movie.”

And Maki was gone, with a flash of pajama pant clad leg. Except that on Nico’s phone, Maki’s voice was swinging into a bluesy opening of “Lady Be Good” that turned laughing and flirty. Nico smiled, she could tell Maki was forcing herself not to wink as she sang

“I am so awfully misunderstood So lady, be good to me Oh, please have some pity I'm all-alone in this big city I tell you I'm just a lonesome babe in the wood So lady be good to me”

And then with a wink, and a brashness that surprised Nico, Maki started scatting, a huge grin between nonsense syllables, her voice dropping lower and lower, and then suddenly a sprint back to staccato, and then another wink and the final verse, daring someone to save her.

“Oh, please have some pity I'm all alone in this big city I tell you I'm just a lonesome babe in the wood So lady be good to me Oh lady be good to me”

Nico took her mug of tea and a cookie to the media room, still thinking about Maki’s performance. As stellar as Maki was on the piano, she was also starting to show real flair as a vocalist. Nico found herself imagining the duets they could do when her 10 days of isolation were up.

But Nico stuck to practical as a conversation opener. “I left water in the kettle if you want tea.”

“Thanks.” Maki got up, she’d already opened the windows and left Nico the seat closest to them, “I’ll probably just stick with milk and cookies.”

“Oh good, bring the rest of the cookies.:” Nico settled into her seat, “Hey Maki, where’d you get the idea to scat? Ella?”

“The Muppets.” And Maki was out the door. And Nico was once again intrigued by how little she could guess about Nishikino Maki’s thoughts.

###

Another Café Quarantine performed and posted. Nico was buzzing. Even in separate rooms, her duets with Maki were fire. And now Eli was on a video chat.

“You beans have so much chemistry. Nozomi can’t wait until you bring Maki over for dinner.” Eli laughed as she curved a silver bangle bracelet, “How’d you two start dating? All the ‘you were roommates” tropes. Or was it at work? Ooh, a coffeeshop AU! When’d you kiss? Where’d you kiss? Behind the counter at work, while you expertly sprayed whipped cream on a mocha? Taking a break from inventory and sharing a chocolate chip cookie? In the kitchen, wiping chocolate off her cheek.”

“Enough with your fantasies. And Nico is contagious, we are not dating. I thought Nozomi was the nosy wife.”

Eli leaned back and stretched, blonde hair in a tight ponytail. “I’m bored. Nozomi’s gotta keep working but I’m stuck at home. I need vicarious romance.”

“No. You need to put together a dance routine for a night of Café Quarantine.” Nico had decided to drag Eli back into performing. In the two years, Nico had spent at college, she’d had enough dance classes with Eli to be impressed at the ballerina’s abilities. Then Maki could play a more classical piece.

Eli leaned forward, chin in the hand propped on her knee, and sighed. “I’m out of shape.”

“For you.”

Eli shrugged in low key agreement, “I’ll think about it. Are you really not dating?”

“No.” Nico sunk back into pillows.

“Not even a not yet?”

“Maki’s a hard read.”

Eli shook her head, tapping her forehead. “You’re nuts. Do you listen to her singing?”

“That’s just music.” Nico had been telling herself this almost nightly.

“Nico.” Eli’s tone was serious, “no one sings like that if it’s just music.”

Nico sat up, her tone matching Eli’s. “Maki might, she’s a genius.”

“Plus,” Eli was very good at ignoring Nico when necessary, “she invited you to quarantine at her house and didn’t kick you out when you got sick.”

“Her dad wanted to, I think.”

Eli leaned forward, her face contorting comically, “Well, duh, Nico, another point for DATE THE HEIRESS.” Eli’s eyes brightened, “You’re in a Korean drama. Does her mother hate you? Is there an ex? Spill.”

“Don’t call her ‘the heiress.” Nico didn’t want any more attention paid to that aspect of things than she already had to. How was she supposed to compete? Would it be like dating the poolboy or the maid in Maki’s parents’ eyes.

“Maki.” Eli said simply.

“Maki.” Nico liked holding the syllables in her mouth.

“Why aren’t you dating Maki yet?”

Nico flumped back into her pillows, “Nico wants to be well.”

“Say, hey, let’s date. Then it’s settled. There’ll be time for kissing later.” Eli went back to bending silver.

“Things have to be the right temperature. Or they break.”

“Don’t throw jeweler references at me, Nico.”

“But it’s true...how about cooking references? If you take a cake out too early or too late, even by a minute, it’s not as good. And the more complicated the cake, the more a miss messes it up.” Nico groaned, almost throwing a pillow at her phone, “Plus, Nico’s exhausted. And hungry all the time.”

“Still coughing.”

“Yeah.”

“Be careful. We miss you.” Eli’s sincerity was always soothing.

“I miss you.”

“I get the exhausted thing. It’s hard to think about romance when you can’t keep your eyes open. Nozomi’s working double shifts to cover our bills.” Eli held up the bracelet to show it off.

“That’s pretty. When Nico gets cleared, I’ll cook you a special dinner.”

“Thanks.” Eli chuckled, “As long as you bring your girlfriend Maki over.”

Nico chucked a pillow at her phone.

###

R: Did you tell Nico you like her yet.

M: Pick another topic.

R: Where are we going on a double date?

M: Rin.

R: What’s wrong?

M: I’m just thinking about a lot of things.

R: Don’t think. Just do. You overthink (҂⌣̀_⌣́)

Rin was right, Maki did overthink, but right now, she legitimately had at least three major issues she was juggling, including the fact that finding herself sitting and staring into space, remembering Nico’s voice and mimicking her gestures was interfering with Maki’s ability to plan anything.

M: I’m just ready for a change,

R: ( ¬_¬)

M ˚▱˚

R: Is this about your parents?

M: It’s about me. I’m going to be 21.

R: Your trust fund?

M: Not really exactly that. I just feel like I should make an I’m an adult statement.

R: Date Nico.

M: Before that.

R: Oh.

M: Yeah, oh.

R: (σ≧∀≦)σ

M: Thanks.

R: Donuts and coffee in the backyard tomorrow?

M: Not before noon.

R: (≧ω≦)ゞ

###

M; How are you feeling?

N: Tired. What are you doing?

Maki looked at her exchange with Rin.

M: Nothing.

N: Nico too.

M: Good night.

N: Great show tonight.

M (~_^)ｂ

N: See you tomorrow.

M: Donuts for breakfast.

N: Not healthy.

M: Dr. Nico needs to change her opinion, one of them will have blueberries. And toasted coconut is wonder food while coffee leads to longevity. All science-y stuff I read somewhere.

N: Σ(T□T) Dr. Nico?

M: I got the rockin pneumonia and the boogie woogie flu.

N: Will donuts fix you?

M: Yes.

N: Nico will find a recipe.

M: ♥

M: Nico…

N: ?

Maki considered typing something like, what if I quit the coffeeshop? When are you leaving? Can we have a kiss theme week?

M: Get some sleep.

N: c⌒っ╹v╹ )っ

Maki dropped her phone on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Where to start so many conversations?

A/N: And this monster of an @auyeahaugust fic continues. Take care!

[tuanyiems]

Like a Virgin [m]

Im Jaebum x Fem Reader Genre: Smut Words: 3k [Masterlist] Plot: When Im Jaebum catches you in a lie when you attempt to preserve your reputation during a game of Truth or Dare, you know you’re in big trouble. Warnings (?): dom!Jaebum,  mutual masturbation, unprotected sex, creampie (pretty safe stuff y’all I’m new to this lol) a/n: wow, so this is my first smut huh? I feel like I’m graduating or something and it ain’t even a Mark fic lol either way I think this is the beginning of my road to hell lmao also I realize I have a throat kink now and I don’t know what to do with this knowledge

You felt yourself going red in the face as your friends leaned into the circle around you and this time it was more than the fireplace behind you that was making the cabin feel extra hot tonight.

“So is it Truth or Dare?” Bambam urged, an evil smirk rising to his lips.

You glanced at your best friend Lina who had just been forced into giving Mark a lap dance and Yugyeom who was dared to strip naked and run outside through the snow (although the latter was a bit too proud about shedding his pants). You let out a sigh, eyes glancing furtively at Jaebum before turning back to Bambam.

“Truth please,” you committed.

“Aw, you’re no fun!” Yugyeom whined.

You chuckled at the younger boy’s pouting but when you saw the excited glint in Bambam’s eyes, you swallowed nervously.

“Okay, truth it is,” Bambam smiled, pointing his finger at you eagerly. “Have you ever masturbated to the thought of any of us here?”

Jaebum smiled, watching as your eyes widened with horror and your ears blushed pink with embarrassment. There was a quick moment of silence in which you were momentarily stunned before Lina broke out into a laugh.

“As this girl’s roommate, I can guarantee you she hasn’t. Shit, I don’t even think Y/N masturbates!” Lina teased, eyes squeezing shut as she doubled over in laughter. Honestly, you didn’t think it was that hilarious, but you were grateful for any distraction from your sex life nonetheless.

“Oh, come on, you have to at least masturbate, right? It’s human nature!” Bambam insisted, looking between you and Lina with arched eye brows.

“Maybe for gross boys like you Bambam,” Lina joked, nudging him with her elbow. “But Y/N’s like the Virgin, herself. She’s an angel!”

You tilted your head, resisting your best friend’s favorite nickname for you. Sure, maybe you weren’t as sexually outgoing or experienced as Lina but you weren’t an angel and you certainly weren’t a virgin. But the others seemed to be convinced by Lina’s loud exclamations as they began to nod along.

“Actually, I can see it,” Mark agreed, staring at you with squinted eyes as if your sexual experience was written across your face.

Jaebum chuckled, watching as your shoulders squeezed and you seemed to shrink from everyone’s teasing. “You need some water, Y/N? You’re getting kinda red right now.”

When you looked at him with surprise in your eyes, he felt his own stomach flip. He had been wanting to get to know you all semester but hadn’t found the guts to talk to you until this trip. He was beginning to realize you were cuter up close than when you sat across the room from him in your lecture halls.

“Yeah, I believe it,” Yugyeom added. “I remember in 9thgrade Y/N asked me what jizz was.”

You gasped at the sudden exposure, your lips bunching into a pout. “I was 14!”

“Exactly, you were 14 and didn’t know what the word jizz meant!”

“Knowing slang doesn’t always equate to knowing sex though,” Mark defended, more so to get a kick out of Yugyeom than to help you, but seeing as everyone was out to get you now you figured you would take what you could.

“Maybe, but I remember the first month I started rooming with Y/N,” Lina laughed.

Jaebum leaned into his hand, trying to cover his growing smile as he watched you glare at your friend. “Lina, don’t,” you warned. Even you being mad was cute.

“This girl!” Lina exclaimed, trying to hold back a laugh. “She legit pulled out my dildo and asked me if it was shoulder massager!”

“I-It didn’t look—It was a different shape!” You stammered.

Jaebum bit at his lip as you balled your hands into fists, straightening your back with a big red pout on your lips. If only you realized how little this was doing for your own argument. If anything, it made Jaebum even more convinced that you were in fact, an angel. Or at least more innocent than you were arguing to be.

“So you’ve really never maturbated, huh?” Bambam asked, looking confused but intrigued all at once.

You bit at your lip, looking at Bambam before you glanced away bashfully, eyes landing on Jaebum instead. For a second, he thought he saw your eyes widen from meeting his but the thought disappeared when you continued to look at him. He felt a stirring in his own stomach when he glanced at your plush lips and saw your teeth sink down harder.

“I-” You looked away to the floor and let out a breath before answering weakly, “No.”

“Oh, you poor soul, you must be so stressed,” Yugyeom teased, patting your head to ease the tension around the room. You rolled your eyes, swatting his hand away before glancing back at Jaebum.

“Anyways, it’s your turn now Jaebum,” You smiled brightly once again now that your turn was over.

Yugyeom clapped his hands with excitement, not even waiting for him to answer before he was already asking him a question. “What’s your secret kink?”

Jaebum smirked, “Mutual masturbation.”

Everyone in the room erupted with laughter. All except you and Jaebum. Instead you were left to stare at Jaebum as he looked at you quietly, an eyebrow raised before he leaned back on his arms, glancing from his thighs back to you. When he saw that you were still doe-eyed and pink in the cheeks he let out a chuckle, letting his head fall back and giving you the perfect view of his throat.

You gulped, averting your eyes quickly as you felt a rush of heat pool to your core.

The game went on and Bambam and Yugyeom did a plethora of embarrassing things but all this went right past you as you felt Jaebum’s eyes on you the entire time and all you could think about were other ways he could be all on you. The thoughts made you squirm in your seat on the hardwood floor.

So when Lina let out a yawn and called it a night, you silently thanked the heavens for releasing you of your torture.

It was past midnight when you finally sink into the bed. You let out a deep sigh as you closed your eyes and let your fingers travel south across your body. You were glad now that Lina had booked a spacious cabin with enough rooms for all of you to have your own.

You didn’t know Im Jaebum would be joining on the cabin trip with everyone. Ever since you laid eyes on him in your lecture hall, you had been dreaming of his pretty fingers running along your skin, your mouth on his delicious throat. The first time you spoke to him and he said your name, you almost melted into the floor on the spot.

And when you saw him step out of the guys’ car in his black bomber and matching beanie, you almost bent to your knees right then and there. It was only the second night of your trip and already you were too pent up with desire to even fall asleep despite the hectic day of skiing and long night of putting up with your friends’ shenanigans.

You savored the coldness of your fingers as you trailed lightly across your abdomen, teasing shivers off your body as you made your way down. You closed your eyes, imagining Jaebum’s hands pulling down your shorts and his fingers softly dipping down, past the band of your panties.

“Mmm,” you hummed lightly, finally relieving yourself as you pressed against your clit. You stretched your fingers out, teasing at your wet entrance before spreading your own arousal in circles against your clit. “Fuck, right there.”

Jaebum stopped in the middle of heading to his own bedroom at the sound of muttering outside your door. You were whispering but he had been sure everyone else already went to bed. He inched forward, careful to not make a sound as he leaned into the open gap of your door.

It was dark in the room except for a single streetlamp outside your window illuminating your exposed figure on the bed, eyes shut tight, t shirt sliding up your torso, and palm hidden underneath your delicate panties.

Jaebum watched as your arm began to move faster and your breaths became more shallow. He could feel his own breath constricting as his focus on you intensified.

“Oh, Jaebum,” you moaned, toes curling.

Jaebum felt his pants tighten at the sound of his name on your lips. He couldn’t help feeling a rush of pride as your arched into your own hand, continuously moaning his name under your breath.

“You called me?”

Your eyes flew open in surprise as you darted your hand out of your panties. You laid in shock, eyes looking back into his as you flushed with embarrassment.

“Well?” he went on, reaching the end of the bed. He lifted his leg, letting one knee sink into the mattress before he continued. “Are you just gonna stare at me all night, sweetheart? Or are you gonna continue?”

You swallowed, a new release of arousal pooling into your already soaked panties.

“C-continue,” you whispered meekly.

Jaebum smirked, reaching for your shorts and pulled them off your ankles. “That’s a good girl.”

He climbed fully onto the bed, eyes on you as he slipped two fingers past the band of your panties and pulled the soiled cloth off of you. He smiled before pulling your legs apart and sat between, taking in the beautiful sight of your exposed body under the faint light. You took in a breath as you felt the cool air hit you.

“Let me see how pretty you are,” he ordered, hands rubbing at your knees. “Take off your shirt sweetheart.”

“Jaebum,” you hesitated. “You too?”

You didn’t mean for it to come out as a question but from the look of his face you were glad that it did. You watched his eyes trail from your glistening entrance to your exposed belly button and he bit at his lips.

“Only for good girls,” he finally responded, hands trailing up your thighs. “Are you gonna be a good girl for me, Y/N?”

You let out a whimper as he pressed his thumbs into your inner thigh. You quickly tossed the flimsy t shirt over your head and off the bed, exposing your perky breasts to Jaebum’s hungry eyes.

“Fuck, you’re gorgeous,” he whispered before taking off his own shirt. You inhaled, taking in the sight of his abs and the faint trail leading to the bulge in his pants. “Now touch yourself.”

You let out a moan as your eyes remained on his and your fingers returned to your entrance.

“No, no,” he groaned, hand clutching your wrist and pulling your fingers away. “Did I say you could put your finger inside yet?”

“No,” you whispered, legs squirming as you ached to be touched. You licked at your lips, your free hand coming to squeeze at your own breasts. “Please, Jaebum. Please let me finger myself.”

“Fuck,” he whispered under his breath as he watched you knead at your nipple frantically. You looked so fucking delicious and desperate. “You’re so needy, Y/N.”

He dipped his head down, sucking at your sticky fingers and making you moan at the sight. “God you taste delicious. I could taste you all night, but since you’ve been waiting, why don’t you show me how you look when you’re cumming from your own fingers, okay?”

You nodded eagerly as he released his grip on you and you sunk two fingers into your entrance with a whimper. Jaebum moaned at the sight, pushing down his own sweatpants and boxers, and finally released his cock from its tight confinement.

“Oh fuck,” you cursed, watching as Jaebum squeezed his own cock in his hands, a small drop of precum leaking to the thick, red tip. You dipped your finger in faster, other hand sliding to your clit as you tried to match your pace to his strokes. You moaned in pleasure, never wanting more in your life than to have his cock in your hands, feeling those thick veins pulsing against your own palms.

“You like what you see sweetheart?” he smirked, slowing down his pace and giving himself one rough stroke up so that even more precum leaked to his tip. You moaned, licking at your lips and wanting nothing more than to press him against your tongue.

“Please Jaebum,” you whimpered, fingers slipping out of yourself as you reached forward for his arm. “I want you inside me already.”

He grinned, inching forward as if he had just been waiting for you to say that. “Aww, are your fingers not doing it for you?”

You pouted, closing your eyes in another whimper. “No, I need more. I need you.”

He chuckled, watching you arch in desperation. “Yeah, you want to feel my cock inside you? You want to cum around my dick, don’t you? Been dreaming about it all night, haven’t you sweetheart?”

He rubbed the tip of his dick against your clit and you groaned at the sweet friction, lifting your pelvis to align your entrance.

“Jaebum,” you whined.

“It’s too bad,” he teased, slapping his dick roughly against your pussy. “I only reward good, honest girls. You weren’t very honest today, were you?”

You whimpered, biting at your lip in agony as you shook your head.

He smirked, watching you squirm underneath him. “Be honest with me then. Since when did you start masturbating?”

“Jaebum, please!” you urged, trying to press your entrance harder against him. At the same time, your whole face blushed red at the question and it only urged Jaebum to tease you more.

He leaned away, squeezing your thigh harshly. “Y/N,” he warned.

“16!” You finally answered, hands flying to your face in embarrassment. “After a friend told me she got eaten out for the first time I went back home and fingered myself while imagining it was her boyfriend’s tongue.”

Jaebum bit at his lip, running his thumb across your clit. You sighed into his sweet touch. “That’s a good girl. Now tell me when did you start thinking of me?”

You groaned, feeling him press his tip to your entrance again as he swirled his thumb deliciously against your nub. “A-As soon as I saw you.”

You flushed, hiding your eyes behind the crook of your arm as you confessed. “After the first lecture, I waited until Lina fell asleep and I made myself cum while thinking about you.”

Jaebum groaned. “You naughty girl, you’re getting more wet just talking about it.”

You looked up at him again with a whimper. “Please, Jaebum, please I want you inside me.”

“Fuck,” was his only answer before he pressed his cock into your entrance, sliding slowly into your heat until you were filled to the brim.

“Oh god,” you sighed when he stilled inside you. You looked up to see Jaebum’s eyes squeezed tight, his muscles tense above you. After so much teasing, you realized he was just as much desperate for you as you were for him. You could feel him shiver against you.

“You’re so fucking tight,” he groaned, his body leaning down on yours as he nuzzled his face into your neck, lips sucking softly at your sensitive skin.

“Mm,” you whimpered, arching into him. “Jaebum.”

You felt him breathe loudly into your neck before he started moving, sliding his cock out until it was just the tip before slamming roughly back into you.

“Oh, Jaebum!” You moaned, hands coming to the back of his head, clutching at his hair as he continuously slammed his hips over and over into you.

You arched your hips, meeting his thrusts desperately as you felt the pleasure building in your core.

“Please don’t stop, Jaebum,” you begged, feeling yourself begin to squeeze around him.

He answered with a sloppy kiss to your lips, groaning into your mouth as he quickened his pace.

“Fuck,” he moaned, feeling you squeeze around him. “You feel so fucking good, Y/N.”

“Mm,” you muffled against him, pressing your lips to his throat. You sucked at his skin, relishing in the way his moans vibrated against your lips. Just the feeling of his deep groans vibrating from his throat was enough to make you lose it.

You moaned into your kisses as his thrusts became sloppier and more urgent.

“Oh god, Jae—” you clutched tighter around his neck, the pleasure tightening in your core. “Please don’t stop.”

Jaebum answered with faster thrusts, hitting your g-spot each time and sending electric shocks of pleasure throughout your body.

“Mm, Jaebum!” you moaned before the pleasure building in your core finally snapped, sending a shock of white heat throughout your body.

“F-fuck,” Jaebum stuttered, feeling you clench around his cock. He thrusted into you roughly a few more strokes, teasing out your high until he was spilling hot spurts of white inside you.

You sighed into the crook of his neck as you felt the final waves of his orgasm twitching inside you.

“Wow,” you breathed out.

You felt Jaebum chuckle against you before he pulled out, flipping over to your side.

“That was…wow,” you whispered, a dreamy smile on your face.

Jaebum grinned, turning on his side to look at you. He smirked, “I think that’s the most honest you’ve been all night.”

You chuckled, rolling your eyes. You pressed a gentle kiss to his throat before resting your head over his chest. You let out a satisfied hum, feeling the steady rhythm of his heart against your ear.

“Can I be more honest then and tell you I want another round tonight?”

Jaebum smiled, running his fingers through your hair softly. “Oh no worries, sweetheart. The whole house is going to find out you’re not a virgin by the time I’m finished with you.”

[nautiscarader]

Can I get Day 2 of Kinkmas with Fives/Miko, Miko gets interested in some toys after talking to Zahra about spicing up her and Fives sex lives, Fives overhears and buys a dildo for Miko so they can do a dp without a second person. - vickyships

Sure thing, buddy. Hiko... or Fiko.. Fucko... or whatever this ship’s name is needs more content. 

btw this is 3k words wtf did I write this????

(Ao3)

Also, if you enjoyed my work, here’s Ko-fi link if you’d be so kind ❤️ .

=========

The blood in Hector's veins simultaneously froze and was set on fire when he heard one phrase he never thought he would hear from the mouth of his girlfriend. He knew he shouldn't have been eavesdropping on her and Zahra's conversation, but he just wanted to know if there was something she'd like for Holidays this year. He did not expect to hear that.

The two letters, so simple and innocent, combined together made his ears ring as he understood the consequences of them.

- ...I so want to try DP with Hector...

He could hear the excitation in her voice, combined with Zahra's supportive giggling that sent shivers down his spine and forced him to move out of the spot, so that he wouldn't be caught. This was not how their trip to the mall was supposed to look like, he thought, wandering through the isles, while girls went their way. Or maybe Miko has arranged the situation so he could hear them?

But as he kept on walking aimlessly, the image of his naked girlfriend using some fancy sex toy mobilised him, and he ventured forward, even though he wasn't even sure if the their city had a sex shop, though if it did, it would be in this hellhole of consumerism.

And if the video games has taught him anything, is that one should always explore every nook and cranny of the area to find the loot. He had to use all of his skills and powers, as if he could cast a revealing spell, or one to help him find a way. His eyes scanned the multicoloured signs and names, searching for a name that would seem innocent and innocuous to the uninitiated, but would be obvious to the correct clientèle.

And then, he noticed it.

"The French Library"  

Perfect name. So simple, yet effective at hiding in plain sight. Hector smiled, and with just a bit of nervousness, walked into the shop's front-end, masquerading like a book shop indeed.  

- Uh, hi.

He asked the shopkeeper, trying to act naturally. Finding the place was one thing, but a second barrier of entry was the vernacular, the slang, the lingo. A correct passcode would lead him to another section of the shop, where he might find the precious, forbidden item he was looking for.

- Good afternoon, how may I help you? - a women just slightly older than him greeted him - Er, I am looking for... - he leaned against the counter - *Special* items... - Oh, would you like to pick-up the on-line order? - Er, no. - Hector corrected, straightening his pose - I mean *special*, special items.

She blinked.

- Those that tie to the er, nature of French love... - he noticed a curious look on her face, and frantically thought of any other euphemisms - Er, the, the ones that, are, of, eh, certain...

Sweat appeared on his forehead

- I mean... - he suddenly brightened - Baguettes! I would like to browse your baguette section!

The woman sighed.

- Sir, the sex-shop is that way.

She pointed him to the exit, and as Hector followed, he noticed a colourful, pink neon reading "Adult store" just on the other side of the isle.

- Oh, heh, uh, thanks! So-sorry for the, uh, well, everything.

He turned on the spot and rushed out of the shop, feeling the shopkeeper's eyes on his back. The woman sighed. She wasn't paid enough to deal with that.

===================

A few minutes later, as Hector walked into the mall's lobby, he was surprised by Miko jumping into his arms. He didn't have to ask to know where Zahra took her to; the smell of new perfume testers gave her away. But Miko's eyes grew wide when she spotted the small bag he was holding, and he needed to dodge her quick moves and skilled hands to take the gift bag out of her reach, as she frantically tried to get it.

- Gimmegimmegimmegimmegimme! - Come on, baby, you can open it at home. - he laughed, as Miko jumped up and down, growling at the Hector and the bag he was holding way above his head - But I got you exactly what you wanted...

Her angry expression suddenly soften, and she gasped, before closing her arms around his neck... Though she still tried to snatch the present from his hand, like and angry cat.

- Did-Did you really get it? - Well, it's time of giving, isn't it? - he looked into her glimmering eyes, cupped her cheek and kissed her, rendering her utterly defenceless, as she melted in his arms. - Well, I got something for you too. - she quickly recovered and pecked his cheek.

The two waved Zahra goodbye and eagerly walked towards the exit, putting on their gloves and scarves. Though the air was cold, there was little snow this year, making it an easy ride for Hector's used car. Less than ten minutes later Miko eagerly jumped from the car and ran up the stairs to their apartment.

A small one, overlooking a very noisy road, but still, one they could call theirs. As long as they pay rent on time, that is. Miko turned on the small Christmas tree, cut from two old motherboards, to which they soldered a set of LEDs to make it look more festive.

But Miko's eyes were even brighter than that, jumping in place as if she was an animation from a select screen of a fighting game. Hector rolled his eyes and handed her the curved package.

- Okay, you can open it early. But I guess we move to the, uh, bedroom.

By that he meant "to take a few steps deeper into their flat", to the bed right next to their impressive gaming station, one of the few things they have managed to snatch from Hinobi. Miko grabbed the gift and jumped onto the bed, dragging Hector with him.

- Okay, but how did you know what to get me? - Well, uh, I kinda, sorta, overheard what do you want it, so I thought... - OHMIGOSH THANK YOU! - she squealed - I mean, it was also on my publicly available wishlist, scanned by every single ad bot on the Internet, but hey, oldschool.

Miko threw her hands around his neck and kissed him, just before she started ripping the paper of the curved-shaped package to shreds. But as its contents became more and more apparent, the jubilant excitation in her eyes vanished, and when Miko lifted the doubled-sided dildo up, her face was filled with confusion and consternation.

- Hector? - she looked at her boyfriend, equally flabbergasted by her reaction - Er, what's that? - We-Well, you know... - he started explaining - And I *know* what that is - she clarified - But..., er, where- how- why?

She waved the dildo back and forth, as if seeing if it could transfmogrify into the present she expected.

- Well, you-you said you want to try DP, so, I thought...

Miko blinked. For a moment, their eyes connected, giving him a glimmer of hope that he did nothing wrong.

And then she exploded.

- DUAL PULSATION! - she erupted - THAT'S THE NAME OF THE NEW CONTROLLER! - Oh. - hector eyes widened - That-that makes more sense.

Miko sighed.

- Well, you are a man. Minus ten to Subtlety, I suppose... - Hey, I'm not that oblivious. - he protested - I thought that maybe, you know, I wasn't...

He shied away for a moment, catching her attention.

- You what? - I wasn't doing that well, and...

Next moment he was pushed to the bedsheets, as Miko peppered his face with kisses.

- Oh, you dummy. You tall, gorgeous, handsome dummy. - she smiled - I'd never think that.

She kissed his jawline and, as she continued her kisses, her hands started slowly undoing his shirt and jeans, and she let out a pleasant murmur when she felt his fingers on her skin.

- Mhm, it's a good thing we're already on the bed, we can try it out... - Well, yeah, what else-

Miko lifted her head up and shot him once more with a freezing stare.

- Cos I wanted to test the controller I thought my my boyfriend bought me! - she pointed to the TV screen on the wall. - Right, right, sorry... - That's minus twenty to Subtlety. Geez, that thing has been advertised everywhere! Six axis of motion control! Haptic triggers! Built-in microphone to insult mothers of your online opponents! And it can split into two, hence "I wanted to try it with you"! - she raised an eyebrow.

She waddled towards him, losing some of the clothes he has managed to unbuttoned.

- I still love you.

Miko cupped his face and sat in his laps, letting him take over. His arms closed behind her back and she gently flipped her to her back, fighting with her legs and hips that soon surrendered and automatically locked with his. One by one, articles of clothing landed on the small space next to their bed, until Hector gasped at the sight of her breasts, before diving between them.

The pleasant moan that escaped Miko's mouth, combined with her body's automatic impulse to arch gave him the familiar satisfaction, but not as big as the feeling of her fingers digging into his trousers.

- Come'ere...

Following her order, Hector rose above her, letting her undo his pants and free his cock in one, quick swoop. Soon, the same fingers that mercilessly tested the durability of every arcade machine known to man, delicately closed around his cock, shortly before her lips did the same, engulfing his head with a gentle kiss.

Two clumsy moves of his legs later his pants and trousers joined the pile on the ground, leaving him completely naked. Miko took the dildo and brought it next to her boyfriend's cock, eyeing both of them carefully.

- Modelled after yours? - she looked up, seeing a faint smile on his face, fighting with the overwhelming bliss of her caresses. - Come... come on, Miko... I'm not that big... - You're big enough for me.

She kissed him once more and reached to their night-stand for a pack of condoms.

- Now, we gotta put an extra armor on it... - Miko cooed, sliding a condom on one end of the dildo - And on your little warrior too...

When her fingers touched Hector's cock, she heard a soft whimpering, and when she looked up, she found her boyfriend giving her a begging frown, to which she only responded with an sigh.

- High Five, you have already given me one present, you don't want to give me another surprise one, do you?

She stressed out her words, drawing his sight to her underbelly, where she was dragging her finger. She could feel shivers on his skin, as her allusion this time reached him completely.

- Besides I'd have to wait nine months to actually get it, and we both know that pre-ordering SUUUUUCKS, and, well, we're not ready for it.

She took a quick glance at their small bedroom, from which they could pretty much see almost every other corner of their flat. A small pang of melancholy hit her, from which hector brought her back with another kiss.

- Don't worry, Miko, I'll gladly wait until we upgrade our rig.

He smiled and slid on the condom himself, right before he leaned between her legs to do one last thing.

- Come on, open that lootbox.

She giggled when she felt his fingers dance across her slit, as he taunted her, delaying her the pleasure. With his other hand on her thick thighs, he felt her impatience, as she tried to prevent her legs from thrashing against their bed, while hector kissed her through the fabric of her panties.

- High Fiiiive! - she roared, initially in annoyance, though her voice broke when his mouth touched her wet panties. - I don't know, maybe it will have better value when left in original packaging?

But Miko had enough. She grabbed the edges of her panties and straight ripped them apart, leaving Hector no choice but to dive into her wet, overflowing sex, to take the first lick of her arousing juices. His tongue lapped the eagerly, while his girlfriend narrated his progress with short moans and short jolts of her muscles.

Though Hector would love to feel the full force of her orgasm splashing against his face - which was only fair after he finished on hers so many times - he wanted to try the present, and so, while his lips caressed her folds, he brought the tip of the dildo to her butthole, first sending just a wave of warm air to eliminate the cold, alien feel.

Still Miko shivered when he pressed the tip of the rubber against her ass, and their eyes met, giving Hector a clear sign to follow. He pushed the fake cock further along, listening to the moan that escaped through Miko's throat. Knowing how delicate her other hole was, he was gently moving if\t back and forth, while his tongue licked her slit, though with each push, he slid it just a fraction of inch further, hearing the approval in her rising tone.

But at some point, Miko loudly announced it is time for what her present was supposed to be.

With her legs high in the air, resting on Five's shoulders, she grabbed the dildo, allowing herself to push it as far as she found it comfortable, while Hector lined up his cock with the entrance that overflowed with her juices and his saliva.

Another wordless nod, and the two began. As soon as Hector slipped himself inside her, Miko's legs tensed and curved, upon the presence of two cocks in her body. Hector was glad that they were doing it in the middle of the day; only so many times they could blame her moans on fans cooling overheating graphic cards...

- You okay, babe?

After the initial shock, Miko could only babble with parts of words, but she nodded, encouraging him to continue his gentle pushes. And with that, their bodies began rocking against each other, each push of Hector's also delicately impaled her on the fake dildo, and though the position would be otherwise slightly uncomfortable, Miko was on cloud nine, panting with her tongue stuck out, as the presence of twice as many lovers in her truly turned her brain to mush.

But she was conscious enough to demand more. Hector could feel her moving her ankles that would otherwise be kicking his butt to speed up, and he gladly fulfilled her wish, diving deeper into her, and letting her slide further onto his rubbery double.

With each thrust, Hector was pushing her limit further and further, until he embraced his dominant position and simply leaned over her, allowing his hip to simultaneously slam his cock inside her, and let the dildo fill her ass up. With last ounces of her strength, Miko, held onto to the rubbery cock, feeling as if she truly was sandwiched between two lover, missing the illusory Hector's breath and kisses on her neck, which he always left when he was taking her from behind.

And so when he leaned over her and placed a single kiss on her collarbone, Miko lost it, thrashing her body as double wave of orgasms rushed through her loins, much to hector surprise. He watched as his girlfriend melts in front of him, until she could move no more and let her arms and legs become limp, while her chest was rising up and down, in erratic, fashion.

- I take it that you enjoyed it?

She responded with a vaguely recognisable words, but she sobered up at once, when she realised that Hector hasn't joined her in post-orgasmic bliss.

- Oh, w-wait. You didn't... - Yeah, but don't worry...

Miko got onto her knees, which was easier said than done, with her legs wobbling. She discarded the used condom, grabbed a piece of paper to clean herself up after exploding orgasms, and faced the cock that supplied one half of her pleasure. But then, she put one more condom on the two-ended dildo, and slipped the rubber from Hector's cock to use it on the other end of her present.

- I want you in all holes.

And with that, Miko licked her lips, closed her eyes and took Hector into her mouth, while her hands aimed the two ends of the dildo to her two entrances,

They both knew that they won't last long. Hector was on his edge anyway, and Miko's sex and asshole were still quivering from recent orgasms, so any stimulation would drive her crazy. And indeed, as she bounced up and down onto the curvy piece of rubber, she would have been already howling with pleasure, if not for Hector's cock in her mouth.

Hector's watched as Miko's eyes widened and bulged under not one, two, but three stimuli. At the same time, she felt her holes contract around her new lover again, while a wave of Hector's cum flooded her mouth, giving her just a split of a second to take one last breath. His body shivered with hers, and ultimately, the over-stimulation forced her to bail out, letting last of Hector's climax cover her breasts, as she rolled to her back, once more thrashing from the amount of pleasure.

But this time, she had Hector's mouth and his kisses to soothe the fire that consumed her, and his pecks delivered in strategic places allowed her body and mind to return to Earth, especially when he gently cleaned her body with paper towels, peppering each inch of her skin with more kisses.

Soon, Miko was purring in satisfaction as her boyfriend made up for the gift mix-up with more of his tenderness, and she eagerly leaned up her butt against his member, to feel the familiar stiffness she felt when she cuddled with him before falling asleep.

- Mhm, I think I like that present of yours. - she turned her head to meet his tired eyes. - Glad I could fill your tastes.

He cupped her face and their lips met in a long, soothing kiss.

- And don't worry, I will get you the real controller. - Hector apologised - I shouldn't have been thinking just about.... you know, sex and all. - That's okay. - Miko moaned, nestling herself against his body - That controller has five different vibration modes, so I was going to bring it to the bedroom anyway.

Hector blinked.

- Wait, what. - Oh, yeah. It would have been a steal, since it would be a controller AND a vibrator. Best deal ever.

Hector gulped, as realisation dawned on him.

- A-And did you discuss it with Zahra...? - Ssh.

Miko put a finger over his mouth.

- Don't spoil what I got for you... And her.

============

A/N:  "Dual Play" is based on name of "Dual Shock", a default PS controller, its shape is based on the "boomerang"/"banana"-like prototype of PS3 controller, and its duality is a nod to Joycons.

[alchemist-shizun]

Love Simon AU - Christmas Special

Read on Ao3!

Merry Christmas to my lovely @softanxiouspatton!! This is my little gift for you, sadly I can't do much else, so I hope you can enjoy this thoroughly, love you 💜

Wtnv taglist: @softanxiouspatton @suffering-is-my-comfort-zone @pushussmollworld @mylifeisadeceit

Word Count: 1,829

Characters: Cecil, Carlos (and a little cameo 👀)

Pairing(s): Cecilos

Warning(s): This is just pure fluff for once

Summary: Simple snowy evening around town for two teens that only wanted hot chocolate and instead got each other flustered every five minutes. Oh, also they're waiting for Christmas to come, sure.

A/N: Please be aware that this is a spinoff from an AU I still have to write. The AU is going to be set in the Love, Simon universe and here Cecil is blind and Carlos is nonbinary (he goes by both masculine and neutral pronouns so if you see me abruptly changing them in the narration it's normal). Other than that this is very very simple and I just wanted to try to do something with this universe since I can't work on the bigger project yet, the events all take place after the ending. (Don't worry no spoilers)

✾

❝And the hair on my neck was rising

A feeling new and surprising

But it wasn't the sound that made my heart pound

No, it was because I found her hand is in mine❞

« Come on! »

« Are you sure this is a good idea? »

« Just trust me, Cecil. »

Carlos was leading his boyfriend by the hand, both of them covered from head to toe in the warmest clothes they owned. Puffs of air left their breaths as they spoke.

« Alright. » Cecil tightened the grip as Carlos notified him of any step or obstacle he had to be mindful of.

They got to the ice rink, placed momentarily in the middle of the town's plaza and paid to get a pair of skates each. After making sure they were tight enough, Carlos climbed onto the rink, ready to help the other up.

« There's a step. »

Cecil heaved a foot, but not high enough to place it on the ice. « Aw. »

« Are the skates too heavy? » Carlos teased.

« Maybe. » there was the hint of a grin on the other's lips.

« Hold on. »

As if it were the most usual thing to do, he gripped at the edge of the rink with one hand to steady himself, while he wrapped an arm around Cecil's waist to lift him up.

« Guess you're very strong. » was everything a particularly flustered boy could comment after being dragged dangerously close by his partner.

Carlos simply giggled.

There were many attempts from the scientist to make the other build confidence and not keep a hand on the rink.

« It's only ice, Cecil. » he repeated over and over. « It's solidified water. »

« I know that. Still unreliable. »

« It's like the ground, but the only difference is that it's ... slippery? »

« That was very scientific of you. »

« It was my latest discovery. » Carlos played along with a faked seriousness. « Will you now let me hold both of your hands? »

« Five more minutes, mom. »

When hopelessness washed over him, Carlos noticed something around them, something that had to do with water but not the ground. With the sky, on the other hand, it did. And it was raining down on them. He gasped as realization struck him.

He removed the other's glove from the hand he had been holding, ignoring the confused sentences. Then, he held Cecil's arm outward, as if he were trying to make him catch what was falling from above.

« Is ... Is it snowing? » a small smile ghosted over his lips.

« Can you feel the snowflakes? »

« Yeah. » the smile grew wider and he instinctively cupped his hands, forgetting about his fear of falling face-first on the ice.

Carlos found the scene endearing, his boyfriend looked determined to gather as much snow as he could, though it melted as soon as it reached his palms, little white spots turned into transparent drops in milliseconds.

« You're adorable. » he gave voice to his thoughts, taking this time both Cecil's hands and tugging forward while he skated backwards.

Cecil almost didn't even realize they were moving around the rink together. And they didn't fall once! Despite maybe one pretty dangerous moment.

They were walking around town again, hands never leaving each other, while looking for the nearest café to get some warm drink.

« Was it so bad? »

« It was terrible. » Cecil commented, then he leaned on the other. « I loved it. »

Carlos placed a kiss on top of his head before walking toward the coffee shop.

Once inside, they got to their seats and waited for their orders to arrive. The snow hadn't gotten any stronger, but was still not determined to stop.

The two were conversing as they had never done anything else in their lives, reaching the topic of the town's Christmas market around the centre.

« Oh, before I forget. » Carlos dug into their bag, taking out a pair of tickets and placing them on the table.

Cecil reached and felt two identical pieces of paper. « What are those for? »

His fingertips trailed over the surface of a ticket. He found braille.

« A science museum? »

« They're a gift. » Cecil looked confused. « It's very advanced and they have reproductions of exposed objects you can touch if you can't see. There are also art museums that are starting to do that, we can go there too if you'd like and if you don't then it's fine, I can- »

« Carlos. » a hand was placed on theirs. « You know I'd gladly listen to you go off about science for the rest of eternity. » his voice grew impossibly softer. « I'd go anywhere with you. »

Carlos didn't even have the chance to respond as another voice flew over them.

« That's about the gayest thing I've ever heard. »

Maureen herself was standing next to their table, a wide grin spread across her face, while Cecil hid behind his hands.

« And you're the one I've ever seen. Wouldn't you agree, Michelle? » loving, darling, sweet and genius Carlos to save the day.

That was an effective way of flustering both of them, whose faces were subtly heating up. Maureen tugged at the girl she was holding hands with, motioning for them to move away.

« Tell your dog I said hi! » Cecil called after her, amused, he did not need any kind of sight to know she didn't even turn to him.

« Whatever. » he heard afterwards, as the steps' sound grew quieter and more distant.

The only other interruption was the waiter placing the cups of hot chocolate in front of the two. After that, silence as they waited for the drink to cool down.

« Actually, » Cecil took a small USB out of his jacket's pocket. « I made something for you, too. » he held his hand out, flash drive right in front of the other's face.

Carlos lit up, despite having no clue of the contents of the USB. « You didn't have to. » they murmured fondly. The thought alone of the gift made him already giddy, maybe the halo of mystery it held was contributing too.

« It's nothing grand, really. » Cecil was looking down, his voice hesitating for a moment. « Remember I have that microphone on my room's desk? » the other nodded. « I used it to tell a story. I pretended I was talking to the citizens of an imaginary town, tried to narrate their lives. So I decided to put you into it too and make ... an original gift, I suppose? »

His partner was smiling so wide they weren't able to respond: Cecil was already about to continue, say that maybe it was kind of weird he had done that.

« This is the best thing I've ever heard! » Carlos encouraged instead. « I'm happy you put me in the story, really. Thank you, Cecil, I'm sure I'll love it. » they promised, reaching for his hand for the billionth time that day, as if Cecil weren't able to practically feel their loving gaze on him.

« I've always wanted to be a radio host cause my voice is one of the only things I'm mostly sure of. » he explained, his eyes falling back to the surface of the table, as a tired flower would bow its head under the weight of the rain.

He felt his hand being held tighter, a suggestion for him to continue.

« So, uncertain of what surrounded me, I made up universes in my mind where the weirdest events made sense. » it was like he was keeping something in his thoughts, something he had wanted to let out for the longest time but hadn't been able to. Deprived of the right time and chance.

« But, » he began, looking oddly right into Carlos's eyes. « But now, thanks to you, I think I can be sure of the outside world too. »

Saying that they melted on the spot was an understatement. Saying that their brain had malfunctioned and short-circuited was part of the truth.

If they could just lean in ... if they could just lean in and place a hundred, a thousand and then another hundred kisses over the boy's face.

« I can't say anything else except I'm honored to be in your life. » so what Carlos did, instead of all that, was pull one of Cecil's hands and place a quick but gentle kiss on top of it. « And you have no idea how grateful I am for you. »

After a couple more of "stop, you will make me cry, I have a reputation", they made it out and back into the centre of town, Christmas lights hanging from all possible locations and houses around them. The quantity would have been enough to shut all the town's electricity at once.

They simply walked around, admired places and wished to buy all the candy they could find without having the possibility to do it.

Reminiscing was mostly what they did, though. Even without telling each other, a place, a sound, a simple memory connected to a song. But when the ferris wheel came into Carlos's sight, words had to be definitely brought up.

They just stood there, without unlinking their arms.

« Hey, look, » they said, pointing upwards at the big lit-up construction moving slowly under the night sky.

« Yeah sure, I can see your point. » Cecil retorted in that tone that sounded obviously sarcastic but also not quite.

Damned slang and the English language.

« Gosh, sorry, I was distracted- »

« By the blinding lights? »

« Cecil, please- » they couldn't contain their laughter any longer.

« Oh, you're amused now, I see. »

« No, you don't. »

Even louder laughter spread out in the semi-quiet road they were walking on.

« I just saw the ferris wheel. »

« Oh. »

« The same blue and white lights. I can barely distinguish people from the cabins from down here. » they focused on the structure, while their senses ignored Cecil shifting and placing himself in front of them.

His hands traveled up to their shoulders until they reached their cheeks. Carlos didn't really mind as they kept talking, it happened that Cecil did that out of the blue, sometimes there was no reason at all.

Despite that, this time, there was.

Cecil surged up slowly, placing a soft kiss on their lips while Carlos's words faded away. He then hugged them as tight as his strength permitted.

« I love you. » he whispered, burying his face in their chest.

« That's one of the only two things  I know. » Carlos was quick to return the embrace, bathing in the essence of the moment. « I love you too. »

[solange-lol]

not so typical love song - ch. 2/13

Chapter Title: Never Fall In Love

Words: 4,751

Art by @lizzybizzyo! <3

[ one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight (coming soon)]

read on ao3

---

Nico woke the next morning to his dog, Mrs. O’Leary, licking his face. (How she had gotten into his room, Nico didn’t know, but he blamed Hazel.) The Mastiff was nearly crushing him, being just about the same size as he was. He gave her a quick kiss and a pat on the head before pushing her off of him, rolling over with a groan. Curse the education system for making them get up at ungodly hours.

He heard a notification go off on his phone, and immediately the events of the previous night flooded back into his brain. Nico reached for his phone, hoping for a reply from Blue from the night before. Maybe if he was an early sleeper than he was an early riser. Unfortunately for him, there was no such luck. The notification was just a text from Piper reminding him to print his essay for English. The inbox for his email remained empty, besides the previous emails from the night before. 

He clicked on one from Blue, rereading it. Then reading the following email from himself. Nico couldn’t help but smile; the excited tone was evident in his writing. Generally, he wasn’t the biggest fan of change, but this was one he could vouch for. These conversations were something he needed.

Now he was just hoping that Blue would respond again. 

The pondering came to an end when Nico realized that if he didn’t start getting ready for school soon, he was going to be late. Quickly jumping out of bed, he threw on the first things he saw in his dresser (perks of an all black wardrobe), which turned out to be an old black and white checkered t-shirt along with black jeans and converse. He then shoved his laptop in his bag, grabbed his phone, and raced down the stairs.

“Nico, hey!” Hazel called from the kitchen. “I made pancakes!”

Hazel’s cooking was amazing, not that Nico would ever admit it. That wasn’t to say that nobody else could cook in their family. Nico’s father had some recipes that he kept from Maria, Nico’s mom, for authentic Italian food. He then passed those down to Nico whose skills were admittedly still limited, but he was improving. Persephone, Nico’s stepmother, was more of a baker. 

But Hazel? She could do it all. She knew how to make the soul food her own mother used to cook before she died. Along with that, she was obsessed with Food Network and would try out cuisine from any culture. (She once made a lasagna better than Nico’s own family recipe. This opinion was never voiced out loud, but it was clear when everyone had thirds.) 

Unfortunately, if Nico didn’t get in the car in the next two minutes, there was no way his routine would play out as usual.

He leaned over the counter, grabbing a forkful bigger than he probably could fit in his mouth. He shoved it in anyway, though, nodding at the taste and shooting Hazel a thumbs up. Since he couldn’t talk through this giant mouthful of pancake, he settled for miming a steering wheel with his hands and then pointing in the direction of the school as if to ask do you need a ride?

Luckily, Hazel got his little charade and shook her head no. “I’m getting a ride from Frank.”

Nico just raised an eyebrow at her. After a couple of swallows, he managed to say: “I better meet this Frank before you two get serious.”

“He’s in your grade, you probably already know him. Plus, we’ve talked, like, twice. We’re just friends.”

“For the time being,” Nico pointed out. 

That earned him a rare eye roll from his sister. “I swear, the moment you mention a girl, you are never going to hear the end of it from me.” 

He gave her a harmless glare, but inside, Nico could feel his stomach twist. Right. Almost forgot the entire world thought he was straight after spending the night talking (flirting?) to a random person about how gay he was. 

He couldn’t waste anymore time worrying about that, though. Waving to Hazel and calling a goodbye to his dad and stepmom, Nico stepped outside and towards his car.

Before he could step inside it, something caught his eye. Or rather, someone. 

Apparently his neighbors had called someone to come mow their lawn, and the guy who was blowing off all the grass onto the road was hot. He had light hair that was peeking out from under his hat, and dark eyes from was Nico could see. The best part, though, was this tight shorts this guy was wearing. He’s pretty sure he’s seen this guy working before, but maybe it was all the conversation last night that just put everything into a new light.

Nico fiddled with the keys in his hand. He was going to be late if he put this off any longer, but who knows? This could be the start of something.

“Hey!” he called out to him. Either the guy didn’t hear him or he just didn’t care, though, because he completely ignored Nico.

“Hey!” Nico tried again, and this time the guy turned around, a puzzled look already crossing his face. 

Not knowing what to say next, Nico panicked. “I like your boots!”

The guy squinted in confusion, holding his hand up to his ear and turning off his leaf blower. It was clear he didn’t hear Nico.

“I said I- I like your boots!” 

If he wasn’t confused before, the guy was definitely confused now. He just nodded before getting back to work,

Nico sighed, opening his door. What was he thinking anyway? He slumped into the seat, resting his head on the steering wheel, which accidentally caused the horn to beep, and him to jump. Great, now the guy must think he was honking at him. 

Nico sighed again. It was going to be a very long day.

---

Picking up his friends was a routine that was established the moment Nico got his license. He no doubt had the nicest car out of his friends and actually kept it clean. Plus, it was just easiest for them all.

Jason was first, followed by Reyna. They lived across the street from each other; they grew up together and had been friends all their lives. While they drove to their next stop (and Nico’s personal favorite), Jason would usually try to analyze his dream and how it was going to affect his day, usually losing both Reyna and Nico halfway through his retelling. 

They then stopped for a morning coffee at their local coffee shop. Nico preferred his hot with a shit ton of sugar, Reyna liked tea, and both Jason and Piper preferred iced lattes.

 “Oh, can you get Piper’s with almond milk?” Jason said, tapping Nico on the shoulder from his spot in the back seat.

“How do you know so much about Piper’s coffee order?” 

“It’s not hard to remember that someone prefers almond milk to regular.” 

Nico just rolled his eyes before adding Piper’s request. Jason’s crush on Piper was so obvious, but he still refused to act on it. Something about not knowing her for long enough, since she had only moved to their town that summer. 

From there, they went to pick up Piper, who lived on the farther side of town, and then headed for school.

It was a miracle they were still on time considering Nico’s morning tangent. He was so distracted by trying to make the bell that he sort of forgot about Blue.

That was, until third period English when he went to search up a quick fact and noticed a new email notification. There was only one person who knew that email address.

He tried to ignore it, tried to pay attention to the lesson, but his phone felt like it was burning through his pants pocket. 

Blue had responded again.

He quickly snapped back to reality and raised his hand.

“Nico?” the teacher asked, and he quickly realized that she had just asked a question judging by the other hands lowering. “What do you think?”

“Can I go to the bathroom?” 

The teacher sighed, nodding her head in the direction of the door, and Nico rushed out. It felt like he was racing down the hall towards the bathroom, the weight of his phone still heavy in his pocket. 

It felt like time was slowing down as he locked himself in the last stall of this thankfully-empty bathroom, staring at the loading screen of the app. Finally, the email popped up. 

Nico took a deep breath and tapped it.

From: blue0919@gmail.com

To: bettertoburn@gmail.com

Date: Oct 3 at 10:20 AM

Subject: Re: Punchability

I’m so glad I qualify for an exception of punchability. But I’m confused, because I heard there was actually a second punctuality exception for cute guys who don’t know slang (I believe the phrase you are looking for is ‘catch these mittens’) and poor judgement. Re: Nutella, despite being warned. 

And how did you know about my interpretive dance skills? Though I don’t really think of it as an extracurricular activity. It’s more of a calling. 

I know exactly what you mean about it being easier to be open with someone who doesn’t know you. We exchanged, what? Like 5 emails? Already, you know things about me that I’ve never told anyone else. I guess it makes you think about what it really means to know someone

I’m okay with being each other’s Ultimate Therapists, even if we both suck at it.

-Blue

He let out a shaky breath he didn’t realize he was holding before laughing quietly to himself. Of course Blue would respond, and he did it in typical Blue-humor fashion. It was clear last night that emailing Nico was as therapeutic as it was for Nico emailing him. 

Thousands of heat-filled butterflies entered his stomach as he read it over. Was Blue flirting with him? He hardly remembered the conversations last night, but it was clear now that this had gone a little farther than plain old friendly teasing.

He quickly typed a response, already anticipating Blue’s next reply.

From: bettertoburn@gmail.com

To: blue0919@gmail.com

Date: Oct 3 at 10:50 AM

Subject: Catch These Mittens

What about me makes you think I have poor judgement? 5 jars of Nutella sounds like a fantastic idea, if you ask me. If anything, I’m not the one with poor judgement; that’s all on YOU, Blue. You’re the one who ate the Nutella, if I remember correctly. 

I relate to everything you’re saying, though. I already feel like I can tell you things I haven’t told any of my close friends. I do think a big part of it is the anonymity. It’s not just that, though. It’s weird but I feel like you get me in some way. Which is probably why I responded to your post in the first place. Or maybe it’s just something that comes from nobody knowing you’re gay.

It’s like, I’m not lonely. I have great friends, a better-than-average family. But I still feel lonely more often than not. At least I’ve felt a little less lonely in the past day, thanks to you.

-Angel

It was weird, he’s more honest with Blue than he is with himself. Like some sort of alternate-persona situation. All of the jokes and the extra personality he kept inside himself out of fear was just let loose when he talked to Blue.

Nico tapped send without thinking and almost immediately regretted it. What if Blue was in his English class and saw him rush out? If he had email notifications on, it would be obvious that Nico was on the other side. 

Nonetheless, Nico felt his heartbeat speed up with slight excitement and nerves. If Blue found out it was him sending him emails, there was a chance that his undecided maybe-love story could speed up a bit, or at least cure his curiosity about who this other gay kid was. On the other hand, it could also scare Blue away, and Nico really needed him right now. 

Nico switched off his phone and pocketed it. He was out too long already, and he needed to get back to class. He could worry about Blue there.

---

Lunch came, and Nico found himself observing the room more carefully. All the juniors had the same lunch period, which meant any guy in that room could be Blue. He was praying it wasn’t like one of those dramatic teen show situations where the homophobic asshole turned out to be the gay one. 

Turning to his own lunch table, he realized that any of his own friends could be Blue. They were all theatre kids, which meant it was more than likely at least half of them were queer anyway.

Percy Jackson was sitting directly from his left. He was their stage manager as he loved to lead the team and also couldn’t carry a tune to save his life. The looks made up for it though, with the gorgeous sea green eyes and unkempt black hair. He was a lot taller than Nico (though most people were) and while previously assumed straight, he also doubled as a soccer player along with some of the other guys at their table, including Jason. The way he treated, teased, and tackled Jason, there was no way he wasn’t at least bisexual.

On his other side was Jason, and while Nico admitted he was attractive, his heart eyes for Piper were clear.

Next to Jason were Travis and Connor Stoll, some of the other soccer players. Travis was also part of backstage, but Nico ruled him out as he was dating Katie Gardner. And while Connor was in the show and hypothesized as gay due to some apparent flirting between him and Mitchell that Piper overheard, Nico doubted it was him.

Across from him was Will Solace, who he was only recently introduced to. He wasn’t a part of their theatre program, but he was friends with Lou Ellen and Cecil, both of which were in theatre and who had invited him to the table. Nico hadn’t had many conversations with him, but he had an adorable head of golden curls and blue eyes that reminded Nico of an eclipse. He had thousands of freckles splattered across tan skin. So, a contestant along with the other hundred of guys in his grade.

“Nico?” Will asked, waving in front of his face. Nico snapped out of his thoughts. 

“Yeah?”

Will gave him a huge grin, clearly about to ask for something. “Can I have a fry?” he asked, pointing to Nico’s tray.

“Oh, yeah, sure.” He was still halfway in daydream mode, and the words didn’t really register in his brain. 

Jason looked curiously. “Is this the day Nico di Angelo finally finds his soul and is kind to another person?” he teased, still managing to find his fatherly humor within him even when surprised. “Guess not,” he continued when Nico flipped him off, and everyone laughed. 

They went back to their conversation after that. (Jason was proposing that they all shaved their legs for the next soccer game which would supposedly make them run faster, an idea that was immediately turned down by all the other members.) There’s laughing and teasing; it’s the good-natured humor of his lunch table that begged for him to come out right at that moment. He knew his friends would accept him; he knew he was in a safe environment. And yet, did he know that? 

He thought back to what Blue said, about wanting to come out but also being insanely relieved that nobody knew yet. He’s safer when nobody knows. So, he didn’t say a word.

The memory of Blue reminded him that he sent an email earlier in the day, and there’s a chance that Blue may have sent one back during lunch.

Nico pulled out his phone, quickly trying to refresh his email app. Unfortunately, with the amount of kids on their phones in that room, the internet was essentially nonexistent. The screen just kept on loading.

“Why is there no service in this school?” he mumbled to no one in particular as he jumped up from the table. Curious and confused looks from the other members at the table were exchanged, but nobody rushed to follow. 

Nico didn’t bother rushing at this point without the promise of an email waiting for him. However, risking pulling out his phone in the hallway turned out to be a mistake, as he bumped right into the vice principal’s wheelchair.

“Nico,” Mr. Brunner addressed him. He was actually pretty nice most of the time, always going out of his way to see what was up with his students. It was almost like he doubled as a guidance counselor. (Mr. Brunner was better at emotional support than their actual guidance counselor, that was for sure.) He was still sort of stuck in the past, though, and while he never gave out detentions for phone use, he did confiscate them.

“Hey, Mr. Brunner. How are you?” Nico winced slightly at his feeble attempts to get out of punishment. 

Mr. Brunner didn’t even answer his question. Instead, he just held out his hand. “You know the rules, Mr. di Angelo.” 

Nico sighed. If the administrator weren’t so nice and if he was out, he would call this homophobia. Instead, he just bit the bullet and placed his phone in Mr. Brunner’s awaiting palm. “When do I get it back?”

“End of the day, after play rehearsal.” That was another thing, he had somehow memorized everyone’s extracurriculars. “You can come retrieve it in my office.”

Nico nodded. “Got it.” Going the day without knowing if Blue hadn’t responded wasn’t going to be easy, but he didn’t really have a choice. 

---

As it turns out, Nico had some sort of heavy reliance on Blue in the past day. Even if they hadn’t known each other for long, and their conversations were short, they still meant a lot. They were a safe space, and the knowledge that he was now derived of that safe space, even for a few hours, made him uncomfortable.

Even in the theater, which was usually Nico’s comfort zone. They spent countless hours a week here. Just about everybody in the cast were friends, all having shared laughs or tears depending on how the rehearsal was going and what kind of mood their director, Mr. D, was in. Even Octavian, who was a slimy, stuck up kid whose body boiled with drama even outside of the auditorium, seemed human during a long rehearsal.

Without his phone, he also had no way to check the time, which meant he was relying on (i.e., bothering the crap out of) all of his friends.

The show itself was going as well as a public high school musical with limited theatre program funding could go. 

“That was—” Mr. D started, rubbing his forehead from his spot in the audience. He tapped his pen on his clipboard, still not finishing his sentence. “Peter, help me out here?” 

“That was a start?” Percy (Mr. D had a habit of getting his name wrong, even after three years in the program. Probably out of disrespect; they had a weird unspoken feud) supplied. The phrasing was nice, but the message was clear. The show was a complete trainwreck, and they only had until after the holidays to put it together. It was already October.

Mr. D pointed his pen at him. “Yes, that was a start.” He got up from his chair and advanced towards the stage, which meant he was about to change the entire set up. 

“Piper,” he hissed between as Mr. D gave new directions to Jason. “What time is it?”

Piper just glared at him from her spot on the half-finished staircase. “Ten minutes since you last asked me!” 

“And di Angelo! I need your jazz hands to be more dramatic! You just look like you’re trembling! This is a cabaret, not a breakdown in the bathroom!” He heard a snicker behind him, and turned to wear Percy and Cecil were mocking his shaky jazz hands offstage. If it weren’t for Mr. D standing near, he would have cursed them out.

Instead, Nico just sighed. Usually this was one of his favorite parts of the day, but they were barely halfway through rehearsal, and he already wanted out. 

By the time the rehearsal was over, Nico had already packed up all his things and was bolting out of the auditorium. 

He skidded to a stop from his near-sprint right outside of Mr. Brunner’s office, taking a moment to collect his breath and play it off as he strolled into the room. (The last thing he needed to do was look attached to his phone, otherwise Mr. Brunner might decide to keep it a little longer.)

“Nico! How was the unplugged afternoon?” Mr. Brunner smiled from his desk. 

“Great,” Nico said, forcing a smile and giving a thumbs up. Whatever he had to do to make this conversation go faster. 

Mr. Brunner reached into a drawer in his desk to grab Nico’s phone before wheeling around to where he was standing. “You should try it more often, maybe you’ll finally relax a bit.” Nico just laughed and nodded, not really sure how to respond to that. So, Mr. Brunner continued. “I know I’m hard on you, but I’m just looking out for you.” He regarded Nico now with slight concern in his eyes. “You’ve seemed kinda stressed recently, anything you want to talk about?”

Nico just forced another smile. “Nope! I’m good. Just, uh, a lot of homework to do, which means I should probably head home.”

Mr. Brunner nodded, handing Nico’s phone back to him. “Go, do your thing. Just remember, my door is always open.”

The words didn’t register, though, because Nico could see now that he got a notification from Blue. “Right, thanks!” he called, already rushing out of the room and outside.

Nico waited until he was in his car to open up the email. 

From: blue0919@gmail.com

To: bettertoburn@gmail.com

Date: Oct 3 at 2:46 PM

Subject: Re: Catch These Mittens

I’ve felt less lonely in the past day too. It’s nice to finally have somebody who just gets it. It’s funny, my mom even commented that I’ve been in a good mood lately. I told her it was because Taylor Swift had a new song, but I’m not sure she believed me. I think she knows I’m hiding something.

Anyway, I have a question for you: how did you know you were gay? And I know you said you haven’t come out to anyone yet, but do you think anyone suspects?

-Blue

A car honked behind him, snapping him out of his daydream as he quickly backed out of the parking lot. Nico nearly sped home from there, eager to respond. He barely acknowledged his stepmom or Hazel before grabbing a granola bar and racing up the steps to his room, Mrs. O’Leary right by his heels. 

Nico flopped back on his bed, pulling out his laptop from his backpack and typing out a response.

 From: bettertoburn@gmail.com

To: blue0919@gmail.com

Date: Oct 3 at 5:14 PM

Subject: Re: Catch These Mittens

I keep thinking about this whole coming out thing. I have a pretty open group of friends and a good family, I don’t think they would really be that torn apart over it. Still, though, I’m scared.

You know Mitchell, right? He’s been out for years now and as far as I know nobody has given him too much crap for it. Probably because everybody basically knew (which I feel is a really crappy thing to say, but it’s not like he was that subtle.)

I don’t know where I’m going with this. I guess I just feel like with me it’s hard to tell. I think my dad suspects something because I never talk about girls, but my friends like to joke that I don’t like talking about anyone, even if it’s strictly platonic. But besides that, nobody really talks about it. I mean, ‘who do you think is gay’ isn’t really a hot topic at my lunch table. Or a topic at all. (Though part of me wishes it was, or just wishes I was out, because I’ve had so many good joke opportunities.)

Anyway, as for how I knew I was gay, it was a bunch of little things. My older sister tried to get me into Harry Potter with her (instead I just got obsessed with a card game called Mythomagic.) But everytime she would turn on one of the movies, I would always watch with her. Afterwards I kept having this recurring dream of Daniel Radcliff. I also got really into Panic! at the Disco, and it took me a while to realize it wasn’t really about the music. (Brendan Urie is a god, don’t deny it.) And, of course, the pitiful crushes on half of my friend group.

I’ve never had a girlfriend, and I’m honestly not even sure if a girl has ever even liked me. I just never bothered paying attention to that sort of thing the moment I realized I didn’t have to. 

What about you, how did you know?

-Angel

P.S: because I know you’re wondering, I’m a Gryffindor. (Or at least I am according to my sister.) Hope that doesn’t affect this friendship, because I really like emailing you. 

He hit send, then immediately fell backwards with a groan. Since when did he become so mushy? If anyone ever saw these emails, he would probably implode. Even the idea of someone reading them made his stomach twist, although that’s probably more about the being-gay-and-in-the-closet thing more than it was about the being-mushy thing. 

He stayed in that spot for a few moments, hoping that he’d hear the notification sound of a reply from his laptop, but ten minutes passed with no such luck. So, he sat up, closed the tab, and started to work on his calculus homework instead while he waited. After a while he forgot about Blue. 

It’s only when he stepped out of the shower later that night and his phone lit up with a missed notification that he realize he got a response.

From: blue0919@gmail.com

To: bettertoburn@gmail.com

Date: Oct 3 at 6:29 PM

Subject: Re: Catch These Mittens

I know what you mean about the nobody-really-thinking you're gay thing. I mean, I don’t think it’s usually at the top of someone’s mind unless they like you, but you seem to not have much experience with that. Which isn’t a bad thing. Plus, I like you.

And actually, I had my own share of a Brendan Urie crush (who didn’t.) That was actually one of the first things I noticed about your email which, I could be completely wrong here, I believe that’s a P!ATD reference. I hope you don’t expect me to know any other of those alternative-edgy type bands. I’m more of a musical theatre person, which means I have about the same music taste as my Aunt Artemis.

Another one was Game of Thrones. I’m not a huge follower of the show, but every time I watched clips or walked in while my mom was watching it, I was always crushing hard on John Snow.

I’ve never officially had a girlfriend. I had a girl ask me to a seventh grade dance before, but I just really wanted to Cupid Shuffle on my own so I turned her down. She’s actually still one of my close friends to this day, funnily enough, and still showed up at the dance and kicked my butt at Cotton Eyed Joe. So, that turned out to be a better experience.

-Blue

P.S: I think you should actually take the quiz, because you seem more like a Hufflepuff to me. Or maybe I’m just self-projecting my own house onto you (I’m as Hufflepuff as you can get.) But no, even though you claim to be in the fraternity of Hogwarts Houses, I still like emailing you too. 

Nico smiled, and unfamiliar heat pooling in his stomach as he reread that last line over and over again.

[klanstability]

Updated Fic Recs!

It’s been literally a thousand years since I last updated my fic rec page (as always), but I’ve finally gotten my shit together. These go all the way back to mid-August, and I was really bad at keeping track of what I read and I don’t use bookmarks on AO3 like an idiot, so I’m definitely missing a few good ones, but I’ll get to that some other day.

"Fractal Glances Beyond a Shattered Plane" by 2towels

Teen | 30k

“Our containment study of that magic isn’t giving us a lot of information but what we can tell is that it was nasty, and it targets. You remembering stuff that didn’t seem important enough to erase—like Clarabelle Cow, or how to milk Kaltenecker, or simple stuff—is normal because it never reached the husk stage Coran keeps talking about.” Distantly, Lance echoes, “Husk stage.” -- All he has is a cow, a ship, and a rockin' tattoo, but boy howdy if he's going to let that keep him from getting his memories in order.

"meteoric" by zukos

Teen | 7k

It doesn't matter how good-looking the son of Aphrodite thinks he is. Keith isn't going to sleep with Lance. Ever.

"best friends?" by Lynn1998

Explicit | 9k

Lance and Keith have been friends for a long time, but what happens when hormones start to get in the mix?

"Hang the DJ" by Ehlihr (Elihaha)

Teen | 13k

“Lance can't get along with someone who likes the Smiths, he tells himself, after Allura rejects him and his Michael-Jackson-esque proposal for a date because she "prefers the Smiths".

Then, Keith (the boy who Lance does nothing but compete with in gym class) gives him a mixtape of his 'favourite Smiths' songs', to which Lance promises he won't listen to any of them. Proceeded by Lance listening to the tape on repeat for an entire weekend.

[Inspired by 80s music, high school life, and riddled with their awful slang.]

"life after death" by taylortot

Teen | 40k

Fear clambers into his mouth and tastes bitter on his tongue. “Who are you?” It takes him a moment to register the sound of his own voice. She stares at him. Blinks. “Lance, please, this isn’t time for one of your jokes--” He furrows his eyebrows and struggles to sit up, to stop leaning into the cradle of her arms. “I’m not--I’m not...joking.” * After sacrificing himself to save Allura, Lance wakes up in a strange new world where the only thing he knows is a deep connection to a boy he doesn't remember.

"The Futures Full of Clones" by jilliancares

Explicit | 20k

Keith accidentally winds up in his future self’s body, who he then has to pretend to actually be because apparently the future is full of clones who will say or do anything to trick Team Voltron. In the future, anyone acting out of the ordinary is a suspect, and Keith can't afford to get his future-self killed by being incompetent. This is only made harder by the fact that he has to pretend to know what it’s like to be a boyfriend, because in the future, he and Lance are dating.

"To Catch A Thief" by orphan_account

Teen | 5k

“You’re him,” said Keith, hardly able to believe it himself. “The Collector.” He laughed, grin wide. “That’s what you guys call me? Classic.” Eyeing Keith up and down, the man leaned against the gallery wall, next to Van Gogh’s Blossoming Almond Tree, with a coy grin. “That’s too formal, though, so call me Lance.”

"baby, you're a haunted house" by seabear 

Teen | 6k

The thing is? Lance doesn’t even really like Halloween.

"dynamic" by kagshina

Teen | 17k

“So, uh,” Keith starts, and Lance notices the way he shifts, like he’s not quite sure how to say what he wants to say. “How are we gonna...do this?” Before answering the question, Lance makes a quick list in his head of things he should never do: 1. Ask the boy he has a huge crush on to be his fake boyfriend for the sake of proving a point (even if Lance thinks he’s going to say no, because apparently he might actually say yes!)

"I just wanna make love to you" by DairyFarmer

Explicit | 26k

Both Paladin and Blade stood in silence for almost a full minute, staring at each other with indiscernible expressions (or at least Lance thinks the latter is, can’t really tell with the identity protecting mask adorning their face.) Before he can stop himself, he opens his mouth with a smirk curling at his lips. “You come here often?” Lance asks, tilting his head coyly. XxX In which Lance hooks up with a masked Marmora member, unaware he might know the person a little better than he thinks.

"Jealousy Thy Name is Lance" by RandyDowager

Teen | 8k

“I heard that you like someone,” he admitted. Wow, it hurt to say it out loud.

"when the lights go out" by dimpleforyourthoughts

Teen | 18k

Date and a Fifth: a type of party in which everyone must come with a date and a 750 ML bottle of hard alcohol (fifth). However, you must stay zip tied to your date until the two of you finish the entire bottle together. // (In which Lance needs a date, Keith needs cash, and maybe they fall in love along the way.)

"Feel me, I'm running through your veins" by Queerklancing

Explicit | 2k

“Hunk?” Lance pulls a face at the hoarse sound of his voice. “What’s this smell?” “Uh, yeah,” Hunk says and rubs the back of his neck. “Keith … asked me to give this to you.” He takes a few more steps towards Lance’s bed and hands him a dark cloth. Lance can feel how his body reacts the moment he realizes what he’s holding in his hands. It’s Keith’s shirt.

"three minutes to closing" by Yuisaki

General | 1.5k

“So you don’t know his name,” Pidge says slowly. “And he says meme-y things. And he always comes in three minutes before closing, and—” “Always leaves on the dot,” Keith adds. “And uh, he never orders the same thing twice in a row.” Pidge’s face is blank. “A customer who leaves at nine on the dot and never orders the same thing twice in a row,” she repeats. She opens her mouth, closes it, and taps at the screen of her tablet, hopping off the counter. “I’ll just tell everyone I didn’t get the answer out of you.” “Pidge,” Keith protests. “I mean it.” “And I think you have a cryptid customer,” Pidge says. (or: eccentricities in a small coffee shop where a cuban boy with cute dimples only exists three minutes to closing.)

"sweep him off his feet" by hcneylesbian

Teen | 25k

“I win.” Lance’s rapid breath hit his face, and that’s when Keith realized how close he was. He was close enough to see small freckles dotting across Lance’s cheeks, and to see his eyes taking him in. After a moment, he was just surprised Lance hadn’t pushed him away. “What were you down here for in the first place?” Lance’s face was red—Keith presumed he was flushed from the workout. “Hunk made lunch, I thought you might be hungry. Plus, I hadn’t really seen you all day.” And Keith was pissed that something in that sentence made his face fall of all cockiness, replaced with surprise. “Oh,” he said simply. Lance’s breath was finally evening out, but he still hadn’t shoved Keith off his waist. -- In which Keith and Lance keep having bonding moments until it's almost too late.

"i don't wanna let you love somebody else but me" by ericawrites, killproof

Teen | 16k

A stellar collision is the coming together of two stars caused by gravity, gravitational radiation, or other mechanisms not well understood. Any stars in the universe can collide. Keith and Lance do.

"Cereal Sweepstakes and Other Bad Ideas ft. Lance McClain" by ruralfishingcat

Teen | 50k

After winning a free session from a cereal contest, Lance decides to visit Voltron Skydiving. Unfortunately, there's only one employee working at the time and he has a stupid mullet. And to make matters worse, Lance seemingly can't escape interactions with him.

"flesh and blood (you deserved to be loved)" by rosedvst

Teen | 12k

Lance is melting under the intensity of Keith’s words, the sincerity of his voice, the softness of his heart. Falling for him all over again, but in different ways--not just for his smiles and his hands and his iridescent eyes, but for his heart and his voice and the way he makes Lance feel--tender and warm and deeply, deeply in love. Keith is like the ocean, Lance thinks, in that he is incredibly deep and beautiful and dangerous and dark. And when you get too close, he pulls you in like the sinking tides. Whether or not you embrace him is up to you. ☆ﾟ. * ･ ｡ﾟ Or, Lance dreams of Earth's oceans to put out the fire raging within him. Falling in love with Keith happens somewhere along the way.

"put the stars in our eyes" by keithkin

Teen | 7k

Keith turns his body and brings his legs onto his bed, sitting criss cross with his shoulders hunched up near his ears. He wants to say something, and he can tell that Lance is waiting patiently for him to find the words, but he isn’t sure that it’s possible to form something eloquent. So, he says, “are you disappointed?” He doesn’t look at Lance when he speaks. He doesn’t know that he’d like what he would find on the other’s face. “Well, I’d rather not be glowing right now.” Lance responds. or: after years of Keith not having a soulmate, something changes.

"Nightmares" by Trashness

Teen | 15k

Lance's nightmares are getting out of control. It's effecting his and the team's performance, but he's at a loss for how to fix this. Apparently sleeping next to a warm body helps.

"fit the crown to my head" by aknightley

Teen | 76k

“What’s the fun in a masquerade if you don’t flirt outrageously with the prettiest person in the room?” the young man says flippantly, and then winks at Keith. Keith huffs a laugh, amused. “You keep saying things like that, but you haven’t seen my face,” he says, gesturing to his mask. “I could have warts under here. I could have spots, or scars.” “You’d be lovely even with all of those,” the young man says, and he suddenly sounds serious. It takes Keith by surprise, makes his heart twist along with his stomach. “Your eyes,” he continues, tilting his head. “I’ve never seen eyes like yours before.”

"Everybody's Got a Hungry Heart" by 2towels

Teen | 3k

“I’m Lance! Nice to meet you! Can I ask you something? Just fielding here, no funny business!” No, Keith wants to say as he glances at Pidge’s circle again and sees her throw her head back and scream something victorious at the ceiling. He doesn’t even think they’re playing flip-cup anymore. “Shoot.” He says instead, peering mysteriously into his drink as he moves his hand from over the lip of it. It’s just water, but clearly something has afflicted him if he’s going to indulge the guy. Maybe Pidge’s enthusiasm is infectious from across the way. Lance’s lips quirk very wide before he seems to be able to calm his expression. “Well, I am a sharpshooter!” He blurts, blinking when Keith blinks in turn at him. His shoulders bunch, then, and he barrels on, “Nevermind. Anyway, uh, would you ever date a zombie? Quick survey.”

[thelanguageoflovers]

Tyrus Prompt: The Outsiders AU where one of them is a Greaser and one is a Soc. -*•*

How about 5 times TJ was clumsy and the 1 time Cyrus was?Also I’m setting this in present day because I hecking hate writing 60s slang and classism is ew

I.(November 3rd, 2018)TJ pulled on his leather jacket, stepping out of his house and into the frigid, dry winter air, immediately turning pink with chill. He shook it off, trudging through the snow towards school, his breath coming out in cold trails, spreading through the air as he walked. His shoes quickly became heavy with cold water, seeping through his socks.After an hour of walking, he finally found himself in front of the school, sighing as he pulled off his shoes and dumped the water onto the pavement. TJ made his way into the school, weaving through people with his eyes trained on the ground. Of course, that only resulted in the greaser sliding on his wet shoes and running straight into Cyrus Goodman.Of course, TJ thought to himself. Leave it to me to run into the most popular Soc in school.“Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” he apologized quickly, desperately avoiding eye contact with the younger.“Hey, it’s okay,” Cyrus replied gently, reaching for TJ’s arm and waving off Buffy and Andi, who quickly rushed to his side. “No harm done, I promise.”“I’m really sorry, my shoes were wet and they have like zero traction,” TJ explained, gesturing vaguely to his feet.“It wasn’t your fault, really. These floors are terrible with wet shoes, and I should have been paying more attention,” Cyrus assured, finishing just as the bell rang.“I-I’ve got to get to class, sorry again,” TJ stammered, rushing away. Just before he disappeared around a corner, he heard Cyrus call after him.“It really wasn’t your fault, Grease!” The last word was teasing but gentle, and TJ bit back a smile, turning around to walk backwards.“You just keep telling yourself that, Soc!”

II.(December 21st, 2018)TJ held a book in his hands the whole way home from the library, his eyes never leaving the pages. Of course, TJ’s feet tangled together and he tripped onto the sidewalk. Unfortunately, he ended up taking down Cyrus Goodman, who’d apparently just crossed the street onto the sidewalk he was on to meet Buffy and Andi, with him.“Oof,”  Cyrus huffed with a chuckle, standing up and brushing himself off before holding a hand out to TJ. TJ accepted it gratefully, smiling at the younger apologetically, as he frantically made sure his book was okay.“I’m so sorry, I was reading and I just…” TJ explained, gesturing dismissively.“No big deal,” Cyrus said coolly, looking sternly at Andi, who’d just lurched forward to hurt TJ. “I’ve gotta have someone knock me over every now and then, I guess. Buffy, I swear, step away from the greaser.”“Fine, fine,” Buffy grumbled, backing away with her hands in the air.“Sorry about them, they’re just protective,” Cyrus explained, looking pointedly over TJ’s shoulder at his best friends.“It’s fine, if you knocked me over, my twin sister Amber might actually pull a switchblade on your ass,” he joked, laughing gently.“Comforting,” Cyrus teased.“She’s over-protective, that’s all,” TJ explained, glancing over Cyrus’s shoulder to find none other than Jonah Beck, varsity jacket and all, walking down the street towards them. “Damn it. I-I’ve gotta go, sorry again!” TJ stammered, rushed.“Wait, TJ-” Cyrus tried to stop him, but TJ was already rushing back the way he’d come, stepping around Buffy and Andi with a polite smile. He shoved his hands in his pockets, the book under an arm. Cyrus watched over Buffy’s shoulder as TJ slid slightly in the ice, before turning back to meet his best friends’ eyes.“Cyrus,” Buffy started slowly. “Anything you want to tell us?”“I mean, I-” Cyrus’s sentence was interrupted by Jonah approaching their group, his generally sunny demeanor considerably dampened.“Hey, Cy-Guy, who was that greaser? He looked like trouble.”“See?” Buffy exclaimed. “Even Jonah sees it!”“Guys, seriously. It’s fine! He’s just a little clumsy!” Cyrus defended.“Only around you!” Andi protested. Cyrus felt a blush rise on his cheeks and he looked down at his shoes.“I mean, yeah…” he agreed, unable to hold back a grin. “But it’s only ever been because of his shoes or his book!”“Mhm.” Buffy remained unconvinced. “I’m sure.”“Really! I mean, it’d be kind of nice if it weren’t because of his shoes or a book…” he trailed off, looking over Jonah’s shoulder where he’d last seen TJ, his expression 80% unreadable and 20% longing.“Called it!” Buffy exclaimed, holding a hand out expectantly. Andi and Jonah both grumbled slightly, but handed over ten dollar bills.“You bet on me?” Cyrus asked loudly, crossing his arms.“You’ve been clearly in love with him since he ran into you in the hallway!” Buffy defended, putting the money in her bag with a smirk.“No I haven’t!” Cyrus protested. “I can’t be in love with him, what would people say?”“Well, probably about three snide remarks and two flat out insults before one of us figured it out and killed them,” Jonah teased with a shrug.“I’m not in love with a greaser!” Cyrus insisted. Andi, Buffy, and Jonah shared a look, before Andi and Buffy wrapped arms around Cyrus’s shoulders, Andi on his left and Buffy on his right. They hugged him closer as Jonah stepped aside, saying a quick goodbye before turning in the general direction of his house. “Whatever you say, Cy.”

III.(January 20th, 2019)TJ was so intently focused on the music he was listening to that he didn’t realize there was a tree root sticking out of the courtyard until it was too late, and he was falling through the freezing air- and directly into Cyrus Goodman’s arms.“God, we’ve gotta stop meeting like this, Grease,” Cyrus said, employing TJ’s affectionate nickname once again, having lost his balance upon catching TJ. “We really, really do, Soc,” TJ agreed, helping Cyrus up. “I could not be more sorry, Cyrus. I’m so clumsy.”“So I’ve noticed,” Cyrus chuckled, pulling off his jacket to brush off the snow that remained on it. “So, does your habit of falling all over the place only kick in around me?” Cyrus asked, wandering aimlessly with TJ across the courtyard.“More or less,” TJ shrugged. “Only when your presence coincides with that of a book, some wet shoes- or a really good playlist.” He ticked off the previous occurrences of his unfortunate clumsiness on his fingers, waving his phone in the air as evidence.“Ah.” Cyrus nodded in understanding, stopping TJ’s hand in mid-air to look at the screen of his phone. “Great songs- I think.”“You don’t know these songs?” TJ asked incredulously, turning at a corner of the courtyard, checking to make sure Cyrus had seen the right playlist.“Maybe like three of them?”“There are 318 on here!” TJ exclaimed, laughing.“Okay maybe 18 of them,” Cyrus corrected himself.“How can you possibly not know 300 of the songs on this list?” TJ asked, exasperated.“I don’t know! We come from very different worlds, Grease,” he said sadly. TJ nodded, looking away.“Yeah, we really do.” And with that, he walked away, ducking under tree limbs, hands in his pockets.“God damn it, I’m in love with a greaser.”

IV.(February 28th, 2019)“I can’t be in love with a greaser!” Cyrus exclaimed dramatically, though in a hushed voice. “What am I supposed to do?” Buffy and Andi chuckled gently, none of them noticing TJ Kippen himself sitting in the booth behind them, trying desperately not to overhear their conversation for fear of eavesdropping.Of course, leave it to TJ Kippen to fail at not doing something. His ears managed to betray him and he caught most of the socs’ conversation.“…I just don’t understand why this is such a bad thing,” Andi said, confused.“Because, what would people say…might be interrogations…TJ’s house with torches and pitchforks…” Wait. That was him. They were talking about TJ. Why were they talking about TJ? He shrunk further into his seat, praying not to be seen.“…Well we could confiscate the torches…No, Cyrus, there aren’t any pitchfork emporiums in town… I mean he’s not my first choice for you but…I don’t hate him…I strongly dislike him?…Who Andi and I like has nothing to do with who you’re allowed to date…What could possibly be so bad about falling in love with TJ Kippen?”“Whoa,” TJ breathed to himself, near silently. He tried in vain to take a steadying sip of coffee, but ended up spilling it all over himself. “Shit! Serves me right for trying to drink coffee, ever.” He jumped up, effectively stealing the attention of the three in the booth behind him as he frantically wiped up the coffee all over the table. “TJ?” Cyrus, Buffy, and Andi asked at the same time, Buffy and Andi turning around to gawk over the back of the booth.“That’s me?” TJ said sheepishly.“How much of that did you hear, exactly?” Cyrus asked slowly, blushing furiously.“Oh, just bits and pieces.” TJ waved a hand dismissively.“So pretty much everything?” Cyrus asked.“Pretty much, yeah. I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to.”“So…” Cyrus said nervously.“I, uh, I hear you’re confiscating torches on my behalf?”“Well, only if you actually go on a date with me,” Cyrus clarified, realizing far too late what he’d said. “Oh my gosh, I didn’t mean to say that, you don’t have to-”“Cyrus, take a deep breath, please. I’ll do you one better. Be my boyfriend?”“Really?” Cyrus asked in disbelief.“Yes, really. I’d love that.”“So would I.”

V.(February 28th, 2019)“We never decided what we’re doing for our first date,” Cyrus pointed out, walking out of the diner behind TJ, Buffy and Andi long gone, having said goodbye ten minutes ago.“I know,” TJ responded, slowing down so Cyrus could walk beside him, taking his boyfriend’s hand and intertwining their fingers. “God, today has been a whirlwind, hasn’t it?”“It really has,” Cyrus agreed, nodding. “I can’t believe you’re my boyfriend now.”“Neither can I, I mean…” he trailed off, noting Cyrus’ expression. “Hey, you okay?”“Yeah, I’m just… Nervous.”“About what?” TJ asked gently, turning to face Cyrus.“I don’t know, all of this,” he gestured vaguely. “Don’t get me wrong, I love that we’re together now!” he added in a rush. “But I’m nervous about telling people.”“I get it, Cy. You’re allowed to be nervous, I am too. This is scary.”“It is, isn’t it?” Cyrus asked, sighing.“Yeah, but we don’t have to think about that right now.” TJ said, shrugging as they turned onto Cyrus’s street.“We don’t?” Cyrus asked.“Nah, how about we talk about… What we’re doing on out first date?” TJ offered.“Much better. How about we-” Cyrus was cut off by TJ slipping on ice, tumbling into him and taking them both down.“Ah!” TJ shrieked, attempting, and failing spectacularly, to catch Cyrus.“…So. Cross ice skating off the list?” Cyrus asked after a moment of silence.“Ha, ha,” TJ replied drily. “…Yes please.”

+ I.(May 28th, 2019)TJ knocked gently on his boyfriend’s door, flowers in hand. After a moment, Cyrus’s mother opened the door, smiling cordially and saying a quick ‘it’s lovely to see you again’. She stepped aside after hugging TJ, allowing him into the house.“Cyrus will be down in just a minute,” she assured him with a smile.“Oh, okay. Did you repaint your living room? It looks great!”“Yes, we did! It was light purple before, now it’s light yellow.”“I like this better, it’s brighter,” TJ said with a polite smile.“Awe, thank you sweetie-”“Mom, are you talking his ear off about paint again?” Mrs. Goodman was interrupted by her son, coming down the stairs and reprimanding his mother.“Hey! He brought it up this time!” she defended, her hands in the air.“Good,” Cyrus said, satisfied.“Hey, Cy. You look great,” TJ greeted, handing Cyrus the flowers. “Happy three months!” Cyrus grinned, leaning forward to kiss his boyfriend, before stepping back to look him up and down.“Wow, you, uh, you look amazing, Teej,” he stammered, blushing. He attempted to rest against the wall behind him, but missed severely, tumbling to the ground with an indignant shriek.“Are you okay?” TJ asked worriedly, leaning forward to help his boyfriend off the carpet.“My ego’s a little bruised, but I’m alright,” Cyrus said sheepishly, accepting TJ’s hand gratefully.TJ nodded, reaching into his pocket.“Hang on,” he said, then pulled out a Band-Aid, presenting it to Cyrus triumphantly.“What? But I just told you I’m okay!”“No, it’s for your ego,” TJ explained.“You’re terrible, Grease,” Cyrus chuckled, accepting the Band-Aid. “I’m offended!”“Hush, you.” Cyrus kissed him warmly.“I see your ego’s okay, then?” TJ teased.“If I say yes, do I get to kiss you again?” Cyrus asked coyly.“I think that could be arranged,” TJ flirted, kissing him as demonstration.“I think my ego’s just fine.”

[the-paris-of-people]

That Cute Couple You See at a Coffee Shop

SURPRISE! (Or not?) I’m your @tgpsecretsanta @alys07! I hope you enjoy this Cheleanor Cinderella Story/College AU I wrote for you! You can read it on AO3 or down in the cut below! 

P.S. special thanks to @chidi-anagonye for editing! <3 

Summary: What happens when Chidi and Eleanor begin messaging each other online, with no idea of who the other really is? 

Words: 5555

I got my latte with almond milk this morning, pinged Chidi’s penpal. A special shoutout to you, bud.

A grin slipped onto Chidi’s lips. He was in the middle of class, his seminar about Middle Eastern civilization, but still he typed back,

I’m jealous. But! at least you’re able to enjoy it without any of my agony and guilt.

Did you just make a joke? She wrote back. Look at you! I’m impressed. Character development.

You taught me well.

“Chidi!” Tahani hissed, catching Chidi in the middle of his lovestruck look at his computer. “Chidi!” She cried again, tapping his desk with her manicured index finger.

“Huh? What?”

“Look, I know you are quite infatuated with this mystery girl, but can you please pay attention for one moment so we can meet with our group project partners?”

“Right! Sorry!” Chidi cleared his throat. As he whipped out his notes from his backpack, Tahani squinted at Chidi’s iMessage. Blushing furiously, Chidi clicked the ‘X’ at the corner of the window. The last thing Tahani needed to see were his ramblings from last night, after he told his mystery friend that he wished they were a couple he had seen at the coffeehouse, studying together, staring into each other’s eyes. He then panicked because he realized how desperate he sounded. To cover for his semi-flirty messages, he typed out a long explanation, spanning paragraphs, but it didn’t work. He was bad at lying, and the worst part was, he wasn’t even drunk. He was just that awkward.

“Ugh,” Tahani sighed, flopping down in the seat next to him dramatically. “Chidi, you obviously like this girl. It’s been three months. Are you ever going to tell her how you feel?”

“First of all,” Chidi shut his laptop. “You should not be reading my messages! Also, no. It wouldn’t be right to disclose my feelings if she doesn’t have all of the information she can possibly can have about me. And! I don’t know if she has a boyfriend, or girlfriend, or if she’s romantically interested in any gender at all! It would be ethically unsound for me to dump that burden on her. And since finals are approaching, and it might distract her, too!”

“I mean that’s technically true, but still-“

“Alright!”  interrupted Eleanor, the de facto leader of their project team, barreling in from the doorway. “Let’s get to work!”

Perfect timing, Chidi thought, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Did you just get to class?” he inquired, eyeing the coffee cup still in hand and scarf around her neck. It didn’t surprise him, Eleanor always came late, but still, it floored Chidi how she strolled in with unabashed confidence. Chidi shriveled away when he arrived even one minute late, how could Eleanor muster the guts to come forty five minutes after class began?

“Long line at Michael’s,” Eleanor explained, setting her cup down and pulling her messy notes onto the desk. As Chidi learned from their midterm presentation, Eleanor wasn’t the best student, but she was the best at organizing their projects of the four of them. Unlike Chidi, she didn’t waver on which details to include and unlike Tahani, she wasn’t concerned with how to woo the teacher for self-validation. And unlike Jason, she actually had… a brain, so she could contribute sometimes.

(To be honest, Chidi didn’t know how Jason got into college at all. Not that he minded having him there, he always offered free snacks at their group meetings, but he wasn’t... the sharpest tool in the shed)

“By the way, I saw Jason nuzzling with Janet by the windows,” Eleanor mentioned. “ So I guess they’re not coming either.”

“Wait, Jason and Janet together?” Tahani asked, flabbergasted. Tahani wasn’t the only one surprised. Jason was a great guy but Janet wasn’t exactly... his type. She was pretty, funny, president of the student body and the Scholars Club. On top of that, she knew everything. He wasn’t exaggerating. She literally knew everything. Sometimes his friend Simone joked she was secretly a robot.  “Since when have they been… dating?”

“I wouldn’t say they’ve been ‘dating’ if you know what I mean,” Eleanor snorted. She flipped through her stack of loose leaf paper and pulled out her project notes, clicking into her planning mode, “Alright, so we have five more days to put together our final presentation, and from what I remember from what we talked about on Tuesday, no one has any weekend finals, so I vote we get together Saturday and Sunday and just bang this shiz out, ya feel me?” Proud of her quick thinking, Eleanor laid back in her seat and propped her feet up on Jason’s vacant chair.

“Oh!” Tahani clucked. “I’m sorry Eleanor! But no can do!”

“I’m sorry?” Eleanor sat back up.

“What Tahani is trying to say is, the Scholars Club has a ball on Saturday of winter finals week,” Chidi filled her in, “And since Tahani and I are on the board, we’re busy planning until Saturday, and then on Sunday, we have to clean up and debrief, so it probably won’t be until Monday that we can work on the presentation.”

“Seriously?” Eleanor threw her head back and groaned.  “Why didn’t you mention this earlier?”

“Well, we’ve been caught up with other finals, Scholars Club events, I’m part of the Plato society…”

“Oh my god, I get it, you ner-” Eleanor paused mid-sentence.

Chidi cocked his head at her. Was she about to say nerds? Huh. He felt like he had heard that phrase from somewhere, but he couldn’t place where…

“-naturally very busy overachievers,” Eleanor covered. She froze for a second before flapping her lips exasperatedly, folding up her notes and shoving them back into her backpack. “I guess we’ll just do it on Monday around my philosophy final, then.”

“I’m sorry, Eleanor,” Tahani patted her hand. “But I promise I’ll come by your dorm tonight to give you that face cream. It will make all your blemishes disappear!”

“Tahani, I never said-”

“Oh, I’m so excited to see your triple, Eleanor!” Tahani interrupted, clapping her hands together. “I bet it’s just so… quaint.”

She shot her one last grin before gathering all her books and striding away, her floral dress billowing behind her. Eleanor’s mouth dropped open at she watched Tahani exit, still wondering what just happened.

“Don’t worry,” Chidi told her. “She gave me face cream last week, too. You don’t need it.”

Eleanor’s eyes sparkled before she coughed and stood up, slinging her backpack over her shoulder. For some reason, Chidi found himself liking the way her eyes glimmered under the fluorescent lights, how the ends of her mouth softened, how her cheeks tinted pink. She looked pretty.

Calm down, Chidi, he scolded himself as he shook his head. One crush at a time.

***

I ate a quesadilla for lunch today, Chidi texted mystery girl later that day, at the library with Uzo. And now I have a giant stomach ache.

I’m sorry, philosophy cutie, she instantly replied. I wish you didn’t feel so sick all the time :(

The campus health center is open until 7. She added. Maybe you can make an appointment? She sent him a link to the online appointment maker.

I have to study for my psych final tomorrow, Chidi messaged. But thank you for checking for me. That was really nice of you.

Guess you’re not the only one with character development.  :)

Chidi chuckled to himself. He began crafting a witty response, clicking on the urban dictionary link he bookmarked to match her constant use of casual slang. He felt Uzo peering over his shoulder and turned around.

“Shrimp freak again?” Uzo lifted an eyebrow.

Chidi nodded.

Uzo, his childhood best friend, his roommate, his pseudo-brother, was one of the only people who knew the full story. Of how Chidi wrote under a pen name for the university’s online philosophy zine. Of how one day, “StoneColdSteveAustinfreak” had commented on his post, mocking his rigidity and suggesting he “lighten up.” Chidi responded politely, requesting that she directly contact him for her difference in perspective, and two days later, he received a message from shrimpfreak1014 over his newspaper gmail chat. At the time, he was refining his midterm paper for deontology, checking every now and again for messages. Somehow, he remained embroiled in an argument with her until three A.M.

She irritated Chidi to to end. She was argumentative, and she made fun of his nerdy habits, and her sense of humor was cruder than he liked. But at the same time, Chidi didn’t want to stop talking to her. She was sharp and witty and unlike anyone he’d ever met. She was selfish, but she was trying to be better. She was rude, but she apologized when she went too far. She coined herself as a moral particularist, yet she sometimes cited Kant in her arguments, emphasizing when she did just to tease him.

And soon, as their chats grew more and more frequent, they became closer. She messaged him during her work breaks, and he talked to her while he worked on his homework late at night, bags sagging under his eyes as he alternated between his essay about Plato to their discussion of Tim Scanlon. They were friends, advisors, maybe even confidantes, their conversations ranging from philosophy to their favorite coffeehouse on campus to their lives outside of university. She told him how she emancipated from her parents at fourteen, how she worked three jobs to pay off her student loans, how she decided to become a better person after a near-death experience getting her stomach pumped. He confided that his grandmother passed away last year and he missed her, he missed the snacks she used to send and the stews she used to serve. Since then, he told her, he had been more anxious than usual, the simplest of decisions causing his palms to sweat and his leg to bounce .

Listen, dude, how about this? She wrote. Since you’ve been my dorky mentor and you’ve helped me a better person and all the junk, why don’t I help you make decisions? I’m good at that stuff, anyway.

You would do that? He asked.

Yeah, man, I owe it to you! She insisted. The next time you freak out over a big decision just come to me.

And so he came to her each time he freaked out, faced with a choice between white or black, right or left, frozen mocha or coffee.

Just get the frozen mocha, she would reply, as if choosing was so easy. You don’t even like the taste of fair trade coffee at the cafe, so why not get something you enjoy?

You’re right, said Chidi, shocked at her ability to choose without qualms. And so they went on, Chidi as her philosophy mentor and shrimpfreak as his decision maker, and Chidi found himself aching for her messages. During the day, his mind began drifting to her: how perfectly she complemented Chidi, how since they started talking, he softened her and she strengthened him. He wonder about her in ways he shouldn’t, about how her eyes were probably bright and fearless, about if her mouth would curl after a quip, about how her skin would feel against his, cuddling in Chidi’s bed-

No, no, no. It was wrong. How could he have a crush on her when-

“Chidi?” Uzo waved a hand in front of his face, snapping him back to reality. “Chidi? Dude, are you freaking out about your crush on shrimp freak again?”

“A little,” Chidi squeaked. “Okay, well a lot,” He admitted. “I can’t handle this anymore, Uzo! I mean I’ve kept this from her for way too long, and I’m the one who’s always maintained a moral code of honesty! And if I do tell her how I feel, it could potentially destroy our relationship and all the progress she’s made! And who am I to destroy progress, Uzo? I don’t have that kind of authority!”

“Listen, you’ve got to calm down, man,” Uzo advised, while Chidi gasped for air. “Look, it seems like this is eating you alive inside…”

“Pretty much everything does!”

“Right, but it seems like you like her a lot, so… why don’t you put yourself out there? ” He punched Chidi lightly on the shoulder. “Ask her to the Scholars Club ball.”

“The Scholars Club ball?”

“The Scholars Club ball.” Uzo nodded. “Just so you have a shot at meeting in person. I mean, it’s been four months and you don’t even know her real name. You can just go as friends, too. No pressure. But this way, you don’t have to worry about her not knowing who you really are, and if you want, you can come clean and tell her about your feelings.”

“Huh. That’s not a bad idea, actually.” Chidi pondered, tilting his head. If they went to the Scholar’s Ball together, they could have a lot of fun. Shrimpfreak could meet Uzo and Tahani and Simone, and they could talk and laugh all through the night. And maybe, just maybe, (just a thought!) they could slow-dance together, too. He even knew how to sell it to her. There were tons of caterers and free cocktail shrimp. He’s sure she would like that.

But there were drawbacks, too, and Chidi had to consider those, too. Maybe he could make a pros and cons list. Or maybe he would use that Magic 8 Ball in the student union to make a decision for him.

“I’ll think about it,” he told Uzo.

“You’re going to stay up all night agonizing about whether to ask her, aren’t you?” Uzo anticipated.

“Yeah, pretty much!”

“I know you too well, buddy,” Uzo laughed.

***

“Eleanor!” Tahani sang outside her door. “I have your face cream!”

“Oh, no,” Eleanor muttered. “Here we go.”

She closed her laptop and ripped down her Stone Cold Steve Austin poster. Eleanor wasn’t sure if Chidi told her about their messages, but wasn’t taking any chances. She scanned her room for any other defining items that might give her away. Luckily, she wasn’t much of a decorator, unlike Becky, who littered her desk with pictures of cats, Spiderman figurines, and frog drawings by her cousin, Jeremy. Yeah, sure, the frog sketches were cute, but the Spiderman figurines? Come on, Becky!

“Hello, Eleanor!” Tahani greeted as Eleanor opened the door, waltzing right into her room without permission.

“Sure, come on in, Tahani. I definitely invited you.” Eleanor grumbled and flopped onto her bed.

“Here’s a bag with some face cream, and some other Korean skincare products I’d thought you might like to try!” Tahani perched herself on the edge of Eleanor’s bed. As she examined the rest of Eleanor’s dorm room, her face scrunched. “Why, this space is awfully… cramped…”

“Because it’s a dorm room,” Eleanor drawled sarcastically. “It’s small? It’s something normal college students usually live in?”

“I mean it’s nothing compared to the spacious single I have in the Scholar’s Club house, and it’s not as quaint as I thought, but I have to admit, it’s quite cute. Aside from the Spiderman figurines on that desk, which are creeping me out…”

“Right? Thank you!” Eleanor threw her hands up in the air emphatically. “I keep telling Becky to turn them to the side so we don’t have to see them!”

“Though I suppose they would creep out the people walking and looking at the dorm windows,” Tahani giggled.

“Haha! You’re right!” Eleanor snickered. “There’s no winning, is there?”

“Not unless you accidentally throw them in the garbage can!” Tahani joked.

“That’s the best idea you’ve ever had, babe!” Eleanor rolled over from laughing so hard. Tahani, who was keeling over with her laughter along with her, suddenly stopped, focusing on the left corner of Eleanor’s room.

Eleanor’s eyes widened. Oh no. She had completely forgotten that she left her work backpack on her desk. It was free of badges and patches and tacky Becky-like decorations… besides the small shrimp keychain on the zipper.

Shit.

“Say Eleanor,” Tahani spun back towards Eleanor. “Shrimp doesn’t happen to be your favorite food, does it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Tahani,” Eleanor challenged, shooting Tahani her sharpest eyes. Tahani’s normally light demeanor darkened to match Eleanor’s venomous stare.

“Anyway,” Eleanor swung her legs around her bed and stood up. The faster she could shove Tahani out of the room, the better. “I think it’s time for you to go, Tahani,” She pushed Tahani back towards the door with her feeble muscles. Jeez, she was surprisingly strong. “Buh-bye! See you Monday!”

“Hang on just a second,” Tahani resisted Eleanor’s shove.“You don’t happen to have a poster of Stone Cold Steve Austin, do you?”

“Again,” Eleanor choked. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Tahani. See you later, okay buh-bye!”

“Oh, really?” Tahani smugly leaned against the doorframe, pointing to the back of the room. “Then why is that Stone Cold Steve Austin poster on the ground?”

Eleanor flicked her eyes back to the back of the room. Her Stone Cold Steve Austin poster was lying face-up. Fuck. She tore the poster down but she forgot to turn it over or hide it under the bed. Damn it, Eleanor!

“Okay, fine, you caught me!” Eleanor caved. She sighed and walked back to her bed. “I’m shrimpfreak1014.”

“Well, since I am very well-connected,” bragged Tahani, shutting the door and joining her on the bed. “I happen to know the identity of the lucky man you’ve been talking with-”

“Please,” Eleanor rolled her eyes. “ I know it’s Chidi. I sit behind him in class and he’s not super discrete about messaging on his laptop.”

“Oh,” Tahani shook herself out of her initial shock before agreeing, “That is true. But if you know who he is, and you both are very close, why don’t you tell him who you are?”  

Because it’s Chidi, she wanted to say. He’s intelligent and patient and kind and he genuinely cares about people. He cares about me. But I don’t even know if he cares about me me. Eleanor me.

And I couldn’t stand losing him if he didn’t.

“Because I don’t even know if he likes me,” she said instead. She avoided Tahani’s gaze as her eyes welled with tears, tucking the strands of hair behind her ears. God, she probably looked like an idiot, getting all soft talking about how much she liked him. “We always bicker while working on projects, and he always gives me a funny look whenever I say something ignorant, and I just… I don’t want him to change his mind if he knows who I really am…”

“Eleanor,” comforted Tahani, rubbing her back in circles. “I’ve known Chidi for a long time, and he doesn’t dislike anyone. Including you. And also…” Tahani hesitated  “You never know how someone will react if you tell them how you feel, so it never hurts to try. Like the time I told Daniel Radcliffe that…”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Eleanor cut her off. “I always get it. But…. Thanks, Tahani. I guess. Maybe. I’ll think about it.” She smiled up at her in between sniffles.

“No problem, friend,” Tahani gave her one last pat on the back before heading back to the door, this time, without Eleanor forcing her out. “Well, I better get going. I have to run a bunch of errands for the ball. But Eleanor,” Tahani lingered in the doorway, rocking back and forth on her feet. “If you ever want to get lunch or something…I’d be happy to put something in my calendar.”

“That would be great, Tahani,” accepted Eleanor, grinning. Sure, Tahani was a snob, and she name-dropped too much. She wore heels even though she didn’t need them, and she was too concerned with her popularity…but she also had a good heart. And she was kind of fun to be around. It was only fair that Eleanor gave her a chance.

“But only if we go to get burgers,” she added. “I’m not much of a fancy girl, and you could use some loosening up.”

“Well, I look forward to the grease.” Tahani bobbed her head, then double-checked, “Is grease something to look forward to?”

“You’ll see, babe,” Eleanor winked at her. “You’ll see.”

***

Chidi paced up and down the shiny, hardwood floor of the Scholars Club house kitchen. He had been at it for an hour and a half. Femi already came down to check if he was okay, and he had already scarfed down three bananas from the ornate ceramic fruit bowl Tahani had made for the kitchen. Okay, he was going to go over the possible outcomes one last time, then he was going to decide on what to do…

Hey, bud, his phone vibrated in his hand, disrupting his train of thought. Haven’t heard from you in awhile. Feeling alright?

Chidi trembled as he reread the message. He couldn’t keep up this charade any longer, otherwise he would just end up freezing her out. Yeah, that’s what normally ended up happening with his friends and ex-girlfriends he couldn’t break secrets to, but he didn’t want this to happen with her. He didn’t want to lose her; he wanted this, finally, to be the one that stuck.

You know what? His mind whipped into shape and settled, He was going to do it. If shrimpfreak had taught him anything, it was how to be more decisive. He yearned so badly to meet her, he yearned for nothing else, but he was letting the tossing and turning of his mind prevent him from going for what he desired.

Hey! He texted. Thanks for checking up on me. I was just thinking how to ask you something. So I’m part of the Scholars Club on campus and we’re having a ball on Saturday night. Do you want to go with me? Just as friends, of course. There’ll be free shrimp!

He held his breath while he waited for her response. Nothing.

He removed another banana from the fruit bowl. Maybe the overload of potassium could somehow carry him through the day.

***

It was only in his final class of the day, creating a study guide for philosophy of neuroscience alongside Simone, when he heard back from shrimpfreak1014:

Sorry man, I have work from 9-5 tomorrow and then I have to finish my group project. :(  

Oh, Chidi responded, swallowing his disappointment. I understand. Good luck with finals! If you end up having time, feel free to come by.  

Yeah, honestly, dude, I’m not really sure if I will. I don’t know if I’m ready to meet yet.

Chidi blinked, pushing down the sickening feeling slithering up his throat.

That’s okay, He reassured, although he was stewing in his own regret. We can just meet when we’re ready. There’s no rush, right?

No response.

Chidi heaved as he ran his fingers through his hair.

“You okay, Chidi?” Simone asked, tapping him on the shoulder.

“Yeah,” He somehow managed to lie through his heaving. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”

This was why he couldn’t make decisions.

***

On the day of the ball, Chidi rose with dread.

He was surprised he could get up at all- his muscles fatigued from restless turning, his eyes strained from rereading old messages all night. Uzo calmed him down for a little bit in the morning, promising that shrimp freak just needed some time to process the idea of meeting him in person. Chidi told him he was probably right, but still, he checked his phone a couple more times to see if she had messaged back.

The rest of the day kept him distracted enough; he and the rest of the board met in the living room to begin ball preparations: wrapping carnations around the banisters, confirming arrival times of the caterers, transporting surprise gift bags to the gazebo. He felt normal, for the most part- until he overheard Simone and Vicky talking about their dates.

Chidi’s stomach boiled with agony. He didn’t know why he cared so much- he had been fine with not having a date, with not meeting his secret friend in the near future. Now he couldn’t get it out of his head, and he hated himself for it. Why did he have to go and ruin everything?

As the sun lowered over the Scholars Club house hill, the guests rolled into the living room. Chidi feigned a smile as he tore them in half, trying not to let his misery get the best of them. They had planned this ball for months and at least it was going well: the decorations colorful yet classy, the guests adorned in flowing gowns and fitted suits.

After he finished up registration, Chidi floated throughout the house to different groups, greeting them and asking if they were having a good time. It wasn’t a distraction, he tried to convince himself. It was part of his job as a board member. He wasn’t trying to keep his mind off shrimpfreak at all. He wasn’t even thinking about her.

“Chidi!” beckoned Simone from the kitchen.

Chidi let out a sad smile and moved towards Tahani, Uzo, and Simone. As he approached them, Tahani handed him a plate of shrimp. Chidi thanked her gratefully and popped it in his mouth, humming delightfully at its taste.

“Mmmm.” He turned to Tahani. “You did a great job with all of this. The shrimp is so much better than last year, and people seem to be having a great time.”

“It’s much better than the one Kamilah threw two years ago, isn’t it?”

“Oh, much better,” Chidi reassured, and he meant it. Kamilah’s taste was a little too loud and garish for him, but Tahani struck the tasteful balance between sophisticated and fun.

“Be honest,” Uzo slugged an arm around his shoulder. “How are you holding up, man?”

“Could be better,” He shrugged. “But, I’m not doing horrible. I think… I’m going to go outside for a little bit. Get some fresh air.”

“Oh,” Uzo dropped his arm from his shoulders. “Do you need anything else?”

“I’m okay.”

“Would you like some more shrimp, Chidi?” Tahani extended out another plate.

“I’m good,” Chidi tried to think of an excuse so he didn’t sound lame “I’ll come back in later… maybe… to get some more.”

Skeptically, Simone crossed her arms. “You’re going to go outside and read until you calm down for a bit, aren’t you?”

“I-I-I-I-I, um-” Chidi stuttered, but their gleeful chortles freed him explanation.

“Go ahead, mate,” Simone shooed him off. “Just come back after the dance ends to clean up. We’re going out to iHop after.”

Chidi confirmed their plans one last time before he left for the gazebo. On the way out, he grabbed his copy of Symposium, the one he had purposely left on the living room table in case he wanted to escape. Deftly, he balanced the book with his plate of shrimp as he pushed open the door. He paused on the steps to appreciate how beautiful the night was, the thickness of the black winter sky, the shimmering stars that lay overhead. The gazebo stood brightly against the dark with its fresh white paint, quickly drawing Chidi in with its solitaire.

Ever since he was a freshman, Chidi sought solace in the gazebo. He frequently snuck away when he needed to be by himself, especially after his grandmother passed away. It boasted a sprawling view of the campus and open panels that breathed in fresh air. Yes, the paint was chipping, and the roof crumbled when it rained, but Chidi loved it nonetheless. Last spring, Tahani held a fundraiser for its restoration, and by fall, it had returned to its former glory. The days of Chidi’s secret, safe place slipped away as he found kids, not even from the Scholar’s Club, using it as a gathering spot to down shots. He was surprised no one was out here right now. He hoped it stayed that way.

Chidi closed his eyes, listening to the plucking of the guitar seep out of the house. He was in his favorite place. The music inside was slowing, the shadows were swaying loosely, and he felt, just for once, that he could handle things.

He opened his book and begin to read.

“Hey nerd,” A brash voice echoed from the doorway mid-paragraph. He snapped his head up to see a familiar frame leaning against the entrance. Wait… was that? No… it couldn’t be…

“Are you reading Plato during the ball?” teased Eleanor. She sauntered over and joined him on the bench.

Chidi opened his mouth to ask her more questions, but instead, he broke into a grin. It was Eleanor. Of course it was Eleanor. No one else was as funny and hard-working and brave as she was. He should have known. He had crushes on both shrimpfreak and Eleanor for the same reasons; how could he not have figured it out before?

“Just needed to get away for a little bit.” He shut back his book and slid it to the side. Eleanor was dressed more casually than normal. Her hair was messy, she sported oversized, food-stained sweats, and still, Chidi couldn’t take his eyes off of her. “Did you kn-”

“Yeah, yeah, I knew,” Eleanor scoffed. “You leave your messages open way too much, Chidi.”

“Right,” Chidi couldn’t help but laugh. She was right. Tahani was always telling him that, too.

Eleanor bit her lip and gave him a shy smile.

He scooted closer to her.

“Um, I created a rough outline of the project!” She cried. She began fiddling with her fingers. “It’s almost done, we just have to add more details in the slides.”

“You worked on the project?” Chidi felt himself warm towards her. He knew how much she hated schoolwork. “Without us there?”

“Yeah,” Eleanor shifted in her seat. “I mean, you and Tahani and Jason are all my friends. I just figured it would make things easier for all of us, since I had the time.”

“That was really nice of you, Eleanor,” His voice fell quietly at the end of his sentence. Eleanor glanced down at her shoes, failing to hide her blush. Chidi wanted to hold her so badly, but he kept talking,

“So, you emancipated from your parents when you were fourteen?”

“Yup. That’s why I work three jobs. I’m surprised you never noticed. I’ve been on shift when you ordered your frozen mochas at the coffeehouse.”

“And you like shrimp?”

“More than I love life itself. And I’m ready to wolf down this unlimited free shrimp! If I’m still allowed to, that is.”

Chidi ducked his head down and chuckled to himself. He couldn’t wait to talk with her the rest of the night.  

“I can’t believe you came,” he said happily. “I’m really happy you did.”

“You are?” Eleanor’s eyes shone.

“Of course I am,” He lifted her hand and stroked her palm with his thumb. Eleanor wove her fingers in his and squeezed his hands, leaning her forehead against his.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. He could feel her shaking against him. “I said no because I freaked out, not because I didn’t want to see you.”

“I understand,” Chidi empathized. “I freak out all the time.”

“That couldn’t be more true,” Eleanor agreed endearingly.

They moved in closer to each other.

“Eleanor?” Chidi licked his lips nervously. He didn’t know why he was about to ask what he was about to ask, but he really wanted to. “Can I- can I kiss you?”

Eleanor beamed up at him.

“Go ahead, bud.”

Chidi sprang his lips onto Eleanor’s, moving his mouth passionately against hers. Eleanor drew back at first, startled, but then she sank into the kiss, her mouth curving against Chidi’s in a smile. Chidi removed his hand from hers and wrapped them around her back, sliding one down to her waist and the other up her back. As Eleanor laid her hands on his stomach and let them travel up to his shoulders, Chidi reveled in having her fingers against his chest. This, he realized, thoughts unlocking as they kissed and kissed, is what he always dreamed of. It was always Eleanor he heard when reading her messages. It was always Eleanor he imagined kissing. It was always Eleanor he longed to be near, and now he finally was: her tiny little body pressed against his, her mouth moving with trademark feistiness he admired and loved.

They kissed until their lips grew weary, reluctantly pulling apart as they clung to each other still. Eleanor gazed up at him, her eyes full, and it struck Chidi that he’d never seen her so happy. Guess they both made each other that way.

Chidi kissed her forehead as she snuggled herself his chest. He felt ready to make million decisions right then, with Eleanor in his arms in his favorite place, the brisk air gusting all around them.  

“Hey, shrimpfreak.” He bumbled as the music spilled back into the gazebo, “Do you- do you maybe want to dance? Um, with me?”

Eleanor laughed, tugging Chidi up onto his feet.

“Come on, Kantafficado.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Show me how it’s done.”