#I looked throw some stuff to find a key for a guy in my lab and found him three big ol books

[spookebich]

GILF- god I love flies

[shurisbathwater]

Hiii I have a request☺️

Shuri x reader

Reader gets pregnant and is confused and terrified bc she’s only been with shuri

So one day she visits shuri in the lab and starts asking more detailed questions about the strap

Then she’s also worried bc he and shuri aren’t actually in a relationship so she starts avoiding her until she can figure out what to do

Shuri doesn’t like that she’s being ignored so she just shows up in the readers house and like is sitting on the couch or something waiting for when the reader gets home one night.

Plz forgive my formatting I wrote this at work. Thank youu😚

𝐖𝐀𝐈𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔 ; Shuri udaku

✿•˖*

A/n :: Thank you sm for the request love <;3! Srry this took ages 😭😭 I had alot of stuff going on personally.

𝐈𝐍 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐂���� :: you find out your pregnant with Shuri's baby. Freaked out and confused, you avoid and deny everything. Hard truth -You and Shuri are not even in a relationship. So what will happen now?

𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 :: Angsty, fluff. That should be it.

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓 :: 1,834

✿•˖*

higher -- tems

best part -- daniel caesar Ft. H.E.R

𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐍𝐈𝐁𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐋𝐈𝐏 and bounced your knee up and down as you sat on the toilet of your bathroom. "Fuck.Fuck.Fuck. Oh my gosh."

You put your head in your hands as you just needed a moment to.. you'd say.. think. How could you let this happen? You grab the pregnancy test sitting on the sink and you grab it, looking at the result.

"Positive.." you breathed out as you shook your head. "No no no." You put your head in your hands once again. You throw the test and it hits off of the door, onto the floor. You rip open another test and repeat the same process.

You watch the test as you wait for the result, keeping your beady little eyes on it.

Soon, two lines come up on the test.

"No!nope nope nope." You dig through the trash to look at the box. "This has to be some kind of prank." You muttered, in denial about everything.

It could be the test, right? there's no way..well it is from a cheap drugstore. You read the test, and nothing seems useful to you so you throw it back in.

You're going to have to accept it.

You're pregnant.

With shuri udaku's baby.

Without thinking, you leave the bathroom and grab your coat. You then get your keys from the counter and go down to the stairs, to get to the parking garage.

As you get there, you sit in your car and nibble your lip. You cant be pregnant. You guys aren't even together. You can't be together. That was the agreement. This was just for fun..but It got serious so fast. You drive off, palms sweaty and shaky.

✿•˖*

𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐄 standing outside of shuris lab now. You grab the doorhandle but hesitate, but before you can do anything griot informs her that someone is here.

"Come in!"

You take a deep breath and open the door, standing helplessly as she works on a new project.

"Oh, y/n. Didnt expect to see you here." She says as she glances up at you, then continuing to work.

You chuckle shakily as you muster up some words to say to her. "I'm..I wanted to ask you something, you know about the strap." You get quieter on the last word.

She drops her piece of equipment and stares at you. She raises her brow and stares at you strangely. "Can it maybe get me pregnant, for instance?" You ask.

"No..why are you asking?" She tilts her head. "Y'know, I just wanna protect myself. Is anything faulty about it or...?" You slightly lie, and before she can open her mouth you cut her off.

"Actually, don't answer that. Its fine." You say as you turn around to the door. "Y/n--" but before she could say anything you were gone.

you felt a wave of embarrasment and shame come over you. You felt as if you screwed this up. You walk to your car and try to open the door, but your hands were shaky. you take breaths to calm yourself.

"I'll figure it out." you mumble to yourself as you finally open the car door. Okay, a plan. what will you do?

No idea.

you groaned and put your head against the steering wheel. You were completely clueless..how were you going to take care of a mini you when you can hardly take care of yourself some days?

You figured the best idea was to stop seeing shuri untill you figured out and processed all of this.

you rub your belly and bite your lip.

"Everythings gonna be alright.." you reassured yourself as you started the car, your shaky and clammy hands gripping the steering wheel.

You drove off from the lab, playing some chill r & b to soothe you.

Once you got to your house. you slumped on the couch and sat there in distress. you felt the tears prickling in your eyes, and your throat closing up. There was one question lingering in your mind. what were you going to do?

Your phone buzzed, bringing you out of your trance. you wiped your eyes and sniffled.

shuri

wyd tomorrow?

you

busy

shuri

day after that?😏

you

busy all week

you threw your phone across the couch as you slumped there, being sorry for yourself. How could you let this happen. Messing with the princess of wakanda wasn't the best idea.. but somehow you couldn't let go. You craved her touch, and when she wasnt there you could still taste her on your lips.

The best idea was to avoid. avoid avoid avoid. Untill nessecary. Which would probably be..forever? she couldn't know about this baby. Not now , not ever.

✿•˖*

weeks later

𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐅𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐋𝐄𝐃 with your fingers anxiously as you sat out in the waiting room, outside of the obstetricians office. You sat alone with your thoughts as the clocked on the wall ticked. Shuri had been trying to contact you for ages now, and your only choice was to decline and avoid.

You now were here for your first ultrasound, which was well overdue. suddenly, a secretary comes out.

"Y/n L/n?" she says as she looked around the room.

you got up from your seat and took a deep breath, your hands shaking. "Okay.." you muttered as you made your way to the office.

You had no idea what the gender was, and the pregnancy was slowly started to show on you. mood changes, morning sickness, and cravings. The belly was starting to show too, in which you had to hide with baggy clothes. Layering clothes was basically your best friend.

You walked into the office as the doctor smiled at you warmly. "Hi.." you said in a low tone. "hi y/n." She said as she put on her gloves. "Do you mind just sitting over there?" she says to you as she prepares everything for your ultrasound. you take a seat. she then adjusts the chair to make you lean back.

She starts the procedure by pulling up your shirt and putting gel directly on your stomach. she rubs the cold gel on your preganant belly. "Nervous?" she said to you, trying to make conversation. "Kinda." you chuckled. "Thats okay.. it's normal. You're not the only one." she grinned at you.

"Okay..." she says as she gets the sensor and puts it onto your stomach, moving it round. Suddenly something comes on the screen. your..baby.."Oh..oh my gosh." you say as a tear rolls down your face, hands over your mouth. you laughed softly. You start to sob quietly out of joy.

This was a moment you were going to cherish forever.

"It's just me and you." you said in between sobs, smiling.

"Would you like to know the gender?"

"No..no..I want it to be a surprise." you sniffled as you wiped your tears.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐑 𝐃𝐎𝐎𝐑 opened as you get to your apartment floor. You felt joy running through your body, but also waves of sadness.

You walk over to your apartment and put the keys in the door, the keys jangling. you walk in to see the lights on and someone sitting on the couch. It can't be..you drop your keys and walk backwards. "When were you going to tell me...sthandwa." she turns and gets up to look at you. "oh.." you mutter as you close the door behind you. "h..how did you get in here, Shuri?" you said shakily. "when were you going to tell.Me."

she picks up the trash can from your bathroom , and takes out the two pregnancy tests. "I..."

"This is why you were avoiding me?"

"I didn't know how to tell you." you sniffled as you felt the waterworks coming.

"..I thought it was for the best."

Shuri looks at you, attempting to stay strong. you saw her slowly breaking down, tears rolling down her face. "When did you find out? how far along are you?" she rushes to you, grasping onto your elbows, rubbing her hands along your arms.

"A couple weeks." you sniffled and smiled up at her. you take the photo of the ultrasound out of your bag and show it to her. she gasps softly as she takes it out of your hand to look at it.

she cries some more, tear drops rolling on the picture. "entle.." her mother language slipping off of her tongue. she puts it on the counter and gets on her knees, admiring yourbaby belly. she kisses it softly and looks up at you. she closes her eyes as another tear comes down, and you cover your mouth to stop you from full on sobbing.

the most beautiful moment you had ever experienced.

"Have you told anyone yet?"

"no.. i don't plan on it anytime soon."

"I'll wait for you. whenever your ready, I will wait for you."

✿•˖*

𝐘𝐎𝐔 looked at yourself in the mirror and adjusted your hair for what felt like the fifth time in the past five minutes. "Relax babe, you look amazing." Riri reassured you as she walked towards the mirror, looking at you in the relfection. "You should go out there. Everyones waiting for you." she grinned. you give her a tight lipped smile back as she put her hand in yours. "you got this. it's your day." you nodded as she walked out of the bathroom, glancing at you and shutting it behind her.

"Okay." you mutter as you walk out of your hiding spot.

you walk over to the front of your babies gender reveal in awe. You couldn't believe it was happening. You felt calm and stress-free as you know there people who love you and care for you, meaning you didn't feel alone anymore.You felt a little anxious though. you rubbed your belly again and you looked down at your outfit, and admired yourself. You felt as confident as ever. you smiled to yourself as Shuri came up beside you, kissing your forhead. "I told you not to wear those death traps." you rolled your eyes as you knew what she was referring to.

"Heels aren't going to hurt the child, Shuri." you chuckled. "Plus, i look good, don't I?" you spun around to show the full fit. "Amazing." she smiled wide.

Shuri grabbed a pin, and you grabbed a balloon which had the words "Boy or girl?" inprinted on it. Family and friends gathered and smiled hopefully at the both of you.

"3..2..1..!" They all chanted along with you

Shuri pops the balloon, and suddenly everyone cheered in unision. Blue glitter spread in the air, meaning it's a boy!

You and shuri screamed excitedly, jumping up in the air. she picks you up and spins you around.

"Oh my gosh..Marry me."

your lips part slowly as you try to process the information you just heard.

"Marry me, sthandwa."

You nod as you were shocked you couldn't even say anything.

it was now you, your wife and your son.

A/n : sorry this took so long yall...chile what a mess. Anyways hope you enjoyed.

[ninjastormhawkkat]

so this ain't what I wrote originally but since I stupidly deleted my fic (my writing app is broken :((() this was my attempt to rewrite what i could remember.

This au came from the idea of what if dr. Two brains got amnesiac/slowly looses his mind kinda like Simon did when he became ice king. So yea dude is a semi unreliable narrator

---

Dr. Two Brains wasn't unfamiliar with dealing with fans or admirers. Given he was one of the top villains in fair city, he had quite the fanclub. He thought after dealing with Glen he had seen it all. But that was until he met her.

She said her name was Carrie. He had found her snooping around his secret lair. She had knocked him out in a panic, apologizing when he had came back to his senses. The mosueman was reasonably miffed yet for some reason he couldn't find himself to stay mad at her for too long. Despite kicking her out, he found her hanging around his lair few days later.

He wasn't sure why she would constantly 'kidnap' him (air quotes because he was bribed to follow her for some cheese numerous times. Who could say no to free cheese though??) but he wasn't complaining. He actually quite liked her company. Her lab was pretty nice too. Though overflowing with notes and photos that he didn't recognize. She'd fiddle with his old helmet, Two Brains didn't know why she was messing with that old junk. She was weird. In a good way.

"hey why do you have that dumb helmet? It's broken anyways." Dr. Two Brains says. "How did you get it?"

"It was left in your old office." Berrie…or was it Mary? Said calmly. "I have this…Because this is the key to saving you, Steven. I just know it is!" That was the other thing… She kept calling him Steven. Which wasn't his name. Yet he felt a twinge or something whenever she said it. She seemed obsessed with this Steven guy. Bringing up how they used to work together until one day they didn't anymore. Asking him if he remembered any of the photos she would show him.

"Look at this…do you remember this day?" She asked holding up photos that seemed to be of her and a man with brown hair. Dr. Two Brains snorted at the man's terrible fashion taste. "ha what a nerd!" He said. "Who is this guy next to you?"

"It's you Steven? It's you!" The ginger insisted.

She would get frustrated whenever he would say that. Tugging at her hair or throwing stuff off the table. The villain was honestly worried about her mental health sometimes. Which was partly why he found himself checking up on her…even if he didn't understand her fully he couldn't deny she was interesting to say in the least. Like most things about her, he was still figuring it out.

She seemed so desperate for him to remember. Remember what though? His mind was sharp as ever! Just like his nose. He was quite good at smelling out cheese. Speaking of which, her hair was orange like cheddar. Specifically like the one he was munching on currently. She had given him some cheese while she tried to once more run tests. She seemed to be really invested in his health and brain(s). He saw some of the notes she wrote about his mouse brain. Frowning at the words parasitic. Not because it wasn't true, squeaky WAS annoying like one. But because…

Huh….

….

"I'm sorry Steven….I failed again!" The disappointment in her voice is clear as she appears distraught from something. Whoever Steven was, he really left her in a broken state. Dr. Two brains had half of a mind (or two) to find the guy and chew him out. She hugged him tightly. Now Two Brains didn't just accept hugs from anyone. Really the only person he hugged was his daughter, Becky but that was it. Yet he found himself hugging the strange lady back. "Hey don't cry. It will be alright, care bear" Two Brains says. He isn't quite sure but the nickname comes naturally to him. Carrie's eyes look up in surprise. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

@erraticeris (tagging eris too)

aww I love this. It's so good. Poor Carrie and lol Two Brains is about to fight himself.

[i-simp-stobotnik]

It’s almost Halloween so OFCOURSE we need Nightmare Before Christmas AU Stobotnik. Jack and Sally would have been the classic choice but there’s literally a mad doctor character in the movie with a banging wifey so Dr. Finkelstein and the missus it is. Also, this way Metal can the child i.e. Sally. I made him a bit more organic to fit the ragdoll thing better.

+ A Badnik Baby ‘cause no way in any universe is Robotnik not making robots, and treating them as his kids, full stop.

Rambling thoughts: When you think about the original Dr. Finkelstein and Sally’s relationship it’s really fucked. He wanted to make a wife but instead ended up with a daughter that he was high-key abusive towards. The isolation and the excuse of “you are not ready yet” (which I think is BS but even if it were true shouldn’t Finkelstein then accompany Sally to the city events so that it would be safe for her to experience things and idk grow tolerance or whatever but that’s IF Finkelstein was a good dad) and since he is so displeased with Sally, he doesn’t even provide her with proper clothing. Yes, it adds to the ragdoll vibe, but not cool for a caregiver.

So! My thoughts for this AU on why Metal only wears that ragged shirt/dress even though Robotnik and Stone are good parents who dote on their son and not neglective. Since it’s actually frickin canon that Stone is a dress-up loving guy, I’d say that NBC!Stone hates that raggy shirt with a passion. The story behind it is that when Dr Robotnik was creating Metal and there was the whole “it’s alive!!!” lightning bolt moment, Robotnik would not have thought about providing clothing for his newest child. So since Stone happened to be somewhere else, he’d just grab whatever pieces of cloth he finds and quickly stitch them up to something wearable just so that Metal wouldn’t need to be naked in the chilly lab. But, like some children are with their first plushie, Metal LOVES the first piece of clothing he got, especially since it was made by the daddy who isn’t into clothing stuff, so he never wants to take it off. It drives Stone mad, since he ofcourse makes Metal all kinds of stuff and wants him to look snazzy in every season&occasion and have the whole family in matching outfits etc. But Metal is like “Nope! I want the rag!!”. Stone can barely get him out of it when he needs to gently hand-wash the threadbare thing and he’s just like pleeease, can I throw it away? 😭 But ofc he won’t ‘cause Metal really loves it. Stone just hopes that one day Metal will grow out of it.

[asupernaturalgirl]

I’ll Always Be Here to Help You

Sam Wilson x Fem!Reader

Request:  If you don’t mind, I wanna request maybe something like sam and the reader previously being lovers in the past but they separate and she becomes a lab rat for hydra or something like that, and he saves her and what not. Very cliche yet cute in my opinion. 🙂🙂❤️   @jeonsblackgf-writes

A/N: Hey, All! I have to admit, this one made me a bit nervous. This is my first Marvel One shot and I wanted it to be so good so I hope you all like it. Also, this is written in 3rd person, which is new for me in one shots so I hope you don’t mind.  

Warnings: torture, breakups, hydra stuff

H/C: Hair Color, S/C: Skin Color

There’s a moment when you’re watching something about to happen, something terrible, where you so badly want to turn your head, to avert your gaze, but something is still fixing it onto whatever is happening. Car crashes, accidents, injuries. You would never purposefully enjoy watching something so terrible, but your brain doesn’t make the connection between something about to happen and needing to shield yourself from it. 

That was exactly how Sam Wilson felt as he watched the screen in front of him. He wanted so badly to turn, to leave the room. Steve had even approached him to try to get him to leave, but some sick part of his brain wasn’t allowing him to even step a foot away. He watched as the sick criminals injected something into her skin. Her skin. It was so grey, so much paler than her normal (S/C) tone. Bruises and bloody injuries lined nearly every part of her body. 

Her (H/C) hair, which he had loved so much, was matted and dirty. It was so unlike you, so rare for you to be so weak, so hurt, that he almost didn’t recognize you at first. It was her screams of pain, her desperate pleading that brought him back to reality and allowed it to actually sink into his brain. Hydra was using her as a lab rat. They had no plans to actually turn her into anything, they were just testing all of their materials on her. 

He hadn’t seen her in so long. If he had known she was in danger, if he had known that this would have happened, he would have done anything to make sure she was safe. 

“I’m sorry, Y/N,” Sam sat down at the park bench, holding her hands tightly as he tried to explain the very thing he was dreading explaining to her. It was worse than he imagined. “I can’t force you to wait for me when I’m off god knows where, fighting in the Air Force.”

She turned her head. Sam Wilson, the man who meant everything to her, the man who she’d been with since she was in 10th grade, was breaking up with her to go into the military. He didn’t want her to have to forsake her health and life so that he could live his own. “Sam, I don’t care about where you’re going. I’ll go with you. There’s nothing keeping me here anymore.” 

He shook his head. People walking by looked over as the two of them spoke. Tears poured out of her eyes. She was still trying to keep from sobbing out loud, although she wasn’t sure how much longer that would actually last. 

“You need to live your own life,” He was strong with his statement. As a rescuer, his job would be dangerous and take up a considerable amount of time. “Even if you came with me, I wouldn’t be around much. I can’t drag you to some unknown location and then force you to stay there without any friends and family. This is for the best.”

Y/N didn’t want to even look at him. She turned your head slightly and crossed her arms. She felt like a child who wasn’t getting what they wanted. Sam meant everything to her and it hurt her that he was leaving without even giving her an option in the matter. 

“I love ya, sweetheart,” He ran his hand along her back, trying to comfort her. He hated when she cried and it hurt him even more that he was the one causing those tears. “I’ll come back and visit you when I get the chance.”

That had been the last time he spoke to Y/N. The last time he spoke to her before she was captured, he left her on a bench. The guilt began to spread in his chest at the thought. She must have been so terrified, so lost when Hydra captured her, and he wasn’t there to help. “We need to get her.”

Steve nodded his head. “Where do you know her from?”

Sam watched as she withered in the chair they had her strapped in, screaming for help. His chest constricted at the idea of Y/N in so much pain, the idea of someone hurting you like that. She had absolutely no business being there. “Her and I dated when we were in high school and a little bit before I joined the military. I broke up with her.” 

Steve’s face dropped. He had no idea that she had been so close to Sam. He knew that his friend must have been devastated. Moving forward, Cap placed his hand on Sam’s shoulder. “We’re gonna get her, Sam. I promise you.”

…

Sam was flying over the base, trying to find some weak point to enter through. It was easy to find the location. Because they had received the video via hacking, all they needed to do was look at the location codes. Rumors had been circulating about a Hydra base closeby, so once they had a general spot to look in, they found it rather quickly. 

“Sam, the third window to the left in the back looks unguarded,” Clint said through the earpiece. “Goes into a small closet. We did a quick X-Ray check and it seems there’s no one guarding that either.” 

“I’m goin’ in,” He said quickly, rerouting his position towards the back of the large base. He was surprised no one had found them yet. They were able to get into the base rather easily, which sent shivers up his spine. It was never this easy. 

Apparently, it was right to be worried. As soon as he broke through the window and closed his wings to begin walking through, three men immediately charged him. He dodged them quickly, throwing one into the wall as he kicked another in the face, knocking him out. The last charged forward with a knife held in hand, but he quickly grabbed the man’s arm, bending it backwards. The sound of a bone snapping echoed through the small closet and he screamed out slightly in pain. Sam quickly pushed him into a cabinet while his defenses were down and slipped out before he tried anything else. 

He walked carefully through the hallways, not wanting to draw any more attention to himself than he already did. He hoped that the three men were the only defenses they put up against him, but he seriously doubted that. 

The one thing that kept him going was thinking about Y/N. She deserved none of this and he would make sure she was safe before anything else. He pressed on the small bud in his ear. “I’m in. You see anything else?” 

“There’s a couple of guys fighting down here,” It was Natasha this time. “Steve and Clint are trying to hold them off while you’re down there. Try to get to her quickly.” 

“Well, it’d be a whole lot easier if I could see a damn thing down here,” He turned the corner, but could only see about 3 foot in front of him. The combination of dark walls and a lack of windows made it quite dark. “You’d think an organization that has been around for this long would have enough money to turn on some lights every once in a while.” 

“Ha Ha, Wilson,” Natasha said sarcastically. “Just find Y/N and get the hell out of there.” 

He went into overdrive mode. Occasionally, someone would pass by, almost completely oblivious to the fact that they had an enemy raiding the base at the moment. They were unprepared and by the time they realized they had to fight, Sam already had them on the ground. 

One room in particular stuck out to him. There was a breaker box right outside the door for electricity. This meant they likely needed quick access to the controls here. He was wary, unsure of what he may find inside. He prayed that if she was there, no one else would be. He needed to get her and leave as quickly as possible. 

He opened the door quickly, ready for a large fight. There she was. Y/N. She was sweating, but shivering at the same time. Her eyes were huge as she turned towards the door, caught off guard by the loud sound. He would never forget the expression of relief that crossed her face as soon as she saw him. 

There was a man frantically trying to undo her restraints, likely trying to evacuate her before Sam could get to her. He quickly rushed forward, tackling the man to the ground. He grabbed the man’s head, hitting it against the concrete floor until he was seemingly unconscious. Sam pried the key from the man’s hand and rushed to unlock them. 

“Sam, what are you...what are you doing here?” Y/N questioned. She was shocked. She had prayed that someone would help her, that someone would save her from the absolute misery she was experiencing. The person she expected was definitely not her ex boyfriend. 

“Found a video of you being used as a lab rat,” He started, moving to her legs now that her arms were free. “There was no way I was going to let you stay here. Can you walk?”

“I-I don’t think so,” She looked down at her hands. “I’ve been here for a few weeks so my legs are so weak.”

It hurt Sam almost physically that they hadn’t even let you out of the chair. As soon as you were completely unshackled, he leaned down and lifted you into his arms, quickly carrying you throughout the facility. 

This time, there was seemingly no one left to fight. He went through the same way that he came in, making sure he didn’t take a bad turn. Taking the wrong turn here could be the difference between life and death. Steve was waiting in the same closet he’d broken into, his eyes surprised as soon as he saw Sam come through the door with the girl in his arms. 

Steve helped Sam out and sprinted with them as they made their way back to the jet. He could feel his arms beginning to grow heavy but he knew he couldn’t let you go. You wouldn’t be able to walk by yourself. Your muscles were likely atrophied at this point. 

As soon as the team got the go ahead, they were taking off. A doctor had rushed forward to help Y/N, taking care of the most dramatic injuries first. He cleaned off a few deep wounds. “These likely needed stitches when they happened but they’re too old now. Stitching them would just cause the infection to be trapped inside.”

Sam watched as they worked, making sure that she wasn’t afraid. He felt the need to use comic relief, as he normally did, but refrained. It would likely be in bad taste at the current moment. After a few hours of poking and prodding, there was a few minutes where Y/N could just soak everything in. She had been rescued, saved from the most terrible people by Sam, her old love. 

Sam sat quietly on a chair next to the small gurney. He looked down at his hands but kept a close eye on you to make sure you didn’t need anything. “Thank you, Sam.”

He looked up, surprised by her words. Why would she ever think she needed to be thankful for him for this? He got her out of a situation that he wouldn’t have wished on anyone. “You could have just called me if you wanted my attention. You didn’t have to do all this.”

A grin crossed Y/N’s face. He was the same old Sam. Even though he was a superhero and looked quite different physically than he had before, he still had the same personality. “Yeah, I might have to think about that differently next time.”

Sam slowly walked towards you and grabbed your frail hands in his large ones, giving you a comforting squeeze. His eyes were sincere as he looked down at you. “I meant what I said when I saw you last, Y/N. I love you. Even though we haven’t seen each other in years, I’ll always be here to help you.” 

[valdomarx]

La Campanella

McShep + Rodney plays the piano Rodney never could resist a challenge, especially when it’s set by Sheppard.

Atlantis is a place of many wonders, but Rodney's favorite is this:

In a distant part of the northern pier is a short, squat tower which he and Sheppard investigate on a routine patrol.

And in that tower is a large, unassuming room like a lecture hall.

And in the center of the room is an object seven foot long and three feet high, elegant, delicate, and familiar.

“Is that…” Rodney practically runs over to touch it, as reckless as that urge can be in Atlantis, but he knows this isn’t a weapon or a piece of broken technology or some dangerous machine. It’s a thing of beauty.

It’s an instrument remarkably like a piano: white and black reversed, keys slightly different lengths, but the same 12-step configuration making up an octave. Keys which strike strings stretched over a wide frame with soft hammers, and this can’t be a coincidence.

“How... ” he starts, and then he answers his own question. “The Ancients must have invented this instrument and brought the concept with them to Earth. But that would overturn so much musical history they’ll have to rewrite the textbooks, can you even imagine the implications -”

John does not look as fascinated by the profound repercussions of this discovery on the history of western classical music as Rodney is.

He waves questions of history aside and sits on the low stool in front of the keyboard, blowing away the years of accumulated dust. His hands instinctively settle into arches, his wrists loose, and he plays a few simple scales. The notes sound out clear and true, but -

He frowns.

“Something wrong?” Sheppard is leaning over the instrument, studying him and it with interest.

“This is tuned half a tone lower than an Earth piano. Feels a bit weird, that’s all.”

“How do you know that?”

Rodney affects his smuggest smile. “Perfect pitch, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Sheppard says, rolling his eyes.

Rodney looks around the room furtively, keen for reasons he can’t articulate that no one else should observe them, and he starts to play.

-

It becomes a habit, a place to unwind, somewhere they visit on off hours and in quiet moments.

Today Sheppard is flicking through a golf magazine while Rodney warms up with some Bach. The music is pleasing and orderly, and the sparse, bright notes explode in fractal-like patterns, unfurling and changing and becoming more complex the closer you look.

John tilts his head to one side and says, “You know there’s a whole bunch of classical music on the Atlantis server?”

Rodney grins. He did know that, in fact. Never get between a team of scientists and their file sharing. “I may have heard.”

“I listened to some of the Chopin you like. Then some other piano stuff as well.”

“Yeah?” Rodney picks at a fingernail. Something about the idea of John listening to music just because Rodney likes it makes his heart beat a little faster. “Find anything you liked?”

“A bunch actually. Have you heard of a piece called La Campanella? By a guy named Liszt?"

"Have I…" Has he heard of the single hardest piece in the entire solo piano repertoire? The fact he could never get those double stops right haunts him to this day. "Yeah, it rings a bell."

"I like that one," John says decisively. "It's nice."

Nice??? Sheppard thinks the most epic and demanding piece of all time is nice? Of course he does.

"You should learn to play it," John says casually, like he's suggesting they watch an action movie instead of a scifi.

"I should -" he splutters. "Do you have any idea how difficult that is? It's practically impossible."

John smirks and says, "I thought practically impossible was your specialty?"

Rodney is still spluttering when John throws him a wink and walks out.

-

And then, because despite being the finest mind in two galaxies, on some level he truly is an idiot, he stretches out his fingers and starts to practice.

-

It's not like he had copious free time to start with. But he makes space whenever he can to come to the piano room, chipping away at this ludicrous piece, bit by bit, phrase by phrase, over and over and over.

People think that learning to play is artistry, and maybe it is that too, but mostly it's a grind. You keep doing it again and again until you get it right. It's as much about stubbornness as about skill.

And stubbornness is something Rodney McKay has in abundance.

-

Liszt really was a sadistic old bastard, Rodney thinks sourly as he works on the right hand jumps until his fingers turn to lead.

-

Sometimes Sheppard comes and sits with him while he practices, and on those days he plays easier pieces, things which are familiar and casual. Not that John seems to pay much attention, but Rodney has the urge to impress him all the same.

He’s always having that urge around John.

-

He spends an entire week working on his goddamn trill.

It shouldn’t matter and it’s not like anyone will really listen to it. But it seems to represent something important — a sequence of paired adjacent notes, next to each other but never quite touching, bouncing off each other time and time again, a dance of two — though he doesn’t want to examine that too closely.

-

He doesn’t tell anyone else about the piano. He tells himself that’s because it’s convenient that he doesn’t have to share and can use it whenever he wants.

But really, he likes that it’s his and Sheppard’s; their own tiny secret in this vast and sprawling city.

-

He hears the piece in his sleep, and on missions, and when he’s working in his lab. It becomes a background hum of his brain, always there, a sort of yearning for the possible, the platonic ideal, the way that things could be.

He tries not to examine that too closely either, though the weight of the realization is becoming harder to ignore.

-

Eventually the piece is as ready as it's going to be. He scribbles a quick note during a meeting, folds it into a paper airplane, and throws it at Sheppard's head. He hits him right in the temple, and he manages to avoid cheering when Elizabeth glares at him.

I have something to play for you, the note reads. Meet you at 7? You know where. - R

He jots it down without really thinking, and only once he's thrown does it occur to him how soppy it sounds.

John doesn't seem too perturbed though. He smiles down at the note and meets Rodney's eye with a little eyebrow wiggle which Rodney takes to mean, Gonna impress me?

-

By the time John arrives, Rodney is all warmed up and more nervous than he's ever been about a performance. His heart is racing, and when John gives him a fond look and says, "Hey," it trips even faster.

Once he settles in to play though, there's a certain kind of mental clarity that settles over him. His hands know how to do this, he just has to sit back and let them.

His wrists are still tense as he sounds out the first few bars and then, all at once, he relaxes into it and lets the music carry him. Hours of repetition have made every chord, every melody, every insane and unreasonable jump into something almost effortless. He even forgets John is there: there’s only him, and the piano, and the music.

The music builds and builds, each section becoming more and more ornamented, more complex, more physically demanding, all at a relentless pace that sends most players reeling. But he's got this, he can do this, it turns out all he needed was a bit of motivation.

The penultimate section is his favorite: The technical parts are done and here he can throw himself into the wild, over the top glory of the final melody. And perhaps he shows off a little bit, catching John's eye and grinning at him, but that's all part of the fun.

The piece ends with a crashing, massive finale that makes him feel like a virtuoso, and then in a last few epic chords it's done, as tight and perfect a five minutes as you could wish for.

The final chord reverberates on and on through the stillness of the room, glowing out beyond the city and into the night.

"Wow." John's eyes are wide. "That was great."

Rodney preens, because that ineloquent little comment somehow means more to him than an auditorium full of ecstatic applause. Having John look at him like that makes the months of practice worth it.

"You liked it?" He's fishing for compliments, but he figures he's earned it.

"I did," John says, staring at Rodney's hands like they hold the secrets to the universe.

He looks up and blushes at having been caught staring. Then he deflects and shrugs one shoulder. “Honestly, though, it’s not my favorite piano piece.”

Rodney narrows his eyes. He has the distinct impression he’s been played. “What was your favorite then?”

"I prefer Songs Without Words."

"Mendelssohn?" he explodes. "You wanted Mendelssohn? Jesus Christ, I learned to play that when I was eight!"

John grins. "I appreciate simplicity in music."

"Then why on earth did you make me learn Liszt?!"

John has this joyous, manic light in his eyes, like he's having the time of his life here, messing around with Rodney, of all the things he could be doing. "I like watching you do impossible things."

He sucks in a breath. "I hate you."

"No you don't." John leans in, smug and delighted, and oh, Rodney is so in love with this ridiculous, infuriating man that he could burst. "You learned La Campanella for me."

"It wasn't that hard," he says quickly, because he has a reputation to maintain here. But John laughs and gives him this soft, teasing look, one eyebrow quirked at a ridiculous angle beneath the chaotic mess of his hair, and Rodney is defenseless.

"Whatever you say, McKay," John says, and Rodney has the feeling he sees straight through him. "Now play it again."

[what-the--curtains]

In a Week

Part 2/4 - The Importance of Being Idle

(Frankie Morales x f!reader)

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

Summary: Things get easier between you and Frankie as the storm outside rages on.

Authors notes: Hello! Sorry this took so long (I forgot I had a lab report due this week so I was busy panic writing 6000 words the patient few days!) anyways this is soft makes my heart happy 🥺 thank u for all the support in the story💕💕

Tw: Swearing, dead sibling mentioned (I think that’s all)

Work count: 4.9k

Tagged: @agingerindenial @icanbeyourjedi

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

Day 2

You don’t know when,or how it happened, but sometime during the night you had found your way over to the heat being emitted from human furnace Frankie Morales. Your limbs were wrapped lazily around him, with your leg over his and your arm resting idly on his chest. You blink into the light emitting a dissatisfied grumble realizing you had woken up. You hear a sigh from above and with one eye still closed, you tilt your head up to see Frankie currently hyper focused on winning whatever game he was playing on his phone.

"You could have woken me up you know.” You say, detaching from him and rolling over onto your back rubbing your eyes. “How long have you been awake?" you ask, yawning.

"Few hours, you’re quite the sleeper, slept through all 4 alarms that went off." He responds, still fixated on his phone.

"Shit, sorry about that. My mother used to say I could sleep for England" you state, earning a soft chuckle from the man beside you. Even after years of working on hospital hours, waking up was always a struggle for you, no matter the time of day. After a few moments of contemplating whether you really had to move, you rip off the covers and scoot out of bed. Tearing open the curtains you let out a dissatisfied groan when you see a snowscape where the parking lot once was. You turn around arms crossed, eyes glazed over inadvertently boring into him. You hear him say something but it doesn't register.

“What?” you ask, shaking yourself from the trance and moving towards your over packed bag to retrieve clean clothes.

“Nothing.” he says, eyes back on his phone. You raise your eyebrows and head into the bathroom to get changed, emerging in sweats and a vintage band shirt that you’d tied at the waist.

"The clash? Nice." Frankie says, as he passes by you into the bathroom, closing the door.

"Ya London Calling" you respond sitting down on the bed and pulling on some socks, not fully listening to what he had said. "I’m going to ask the front desk if we can renew the room, doesn't look like we're going anywhere anytime soon. I can see if there's another one available if you don’t wanna share" You say, when you hear the doors lock click open, knowing he may still be mad at you for not pulling over sooner.

"I mean I don't mind sharing, unless you’d be more comfortable..." he starts, mouth hanging open downturned slightly, as he rinses his hands.

“I’m fine sharing, nice to have some company plus it's cheaper this way.” you say, grabbing the room key off the nightstand.

"Let me know how much it is, I'll pay half" he says, stretching out his back, cursing the mattress for being too soft.

"I feel like you should be paying more since you get the good half of the bed.” you offer, pointing your finger at him.

“I think they call that extortion,” he says, grinning “Oh, see if they have any food while you're down there I’m starving” he calls as you exit into the hallway and make your way downstairs.

“Hey, I was looking to re-book the room from last night” you say to the receptionist who you recognized from last night. Suppose she got stuck here as well, you wonder if she’d gotten any sleep.

“For how many more nights?” she asks.

“How long do you think this storm is going to last?” You ask.

“At least a few more days, but then the roads will have to be cleared, so maybe a week? We can book you in for two more nights then go from there though, no one else will be coming in”

“That’d be great,” you say, taking out your credit card. “What about food, is there any way we can get some stuff to make sandwiches or something?” you ask

“Well the culinary staff was trapped here by the storm, another reason why so many rooms were booked, so they’ll be able to have food sent up.” You nod, the hotel was upscale and you hated to think how expensive the food was going to be, but what choice did you have?

“It's past breakfast, but we may have some spare sandwiches leftover, let me just go check.” she offers, returning a few minutes later with a couple of boxes.

“Thank you so much!” you say taking the boxed up food from her.

“Anything else I can help you with?”

“Oh yes” you say, “booze, can I buy that here?”

“That, we have plenty of!” she smiles.

~~~~~

You re-enter the room with the boxed up breakfasts, a case of beer and two bottles of wine

“Here food” you say, sliding the boxes off the beer and onto the counter next to the fridge.“We missed breakfast, so it’s probably cold, and I booked the room for another two nights, but we can go from there” you say, reiterating the receptionist's words as you place the drinks in the fridge.

“Planning on sharing that or?” he laughs watching you strategically maneuver the booze into the fridge

“Hey, I get a week off work, I'm going to be drinking. Do I wish it was on a beach in sunny south Carolina? Yes, but this will have to do, and I hate drinking alone so congratulations you’ve just been conscripted” You say, as he empties out one of the breakfasts onto a plate placing it in the microwave for a few minutes.

“Here. Do you want this? You say peeling the sliced ham off your sandwich” waving it infront of his face.

“Not a fan of ham?” he asks, taking it and adding it into his own.

“Not a fan of meat in general, I’m a vegetarian”

“Course you are.” he laughs.

“Bold words coming from a guy wearing a baseball hat inside, in the middle of winter” you say, throwing a balled up napkin at his head.

“So what exactly do you do? Santi never said.” he asks, leaving you to question what Santiago had said about you.

“I’m a doctor, well almost a doctor one more year of residency, hopefully” you say, crossing your fingers.

“Shit, aren’t you kinda young to be a doctor?” he asks, looking you up and down with raised eyebrows.

“Older than I look, but thank you. How about you?”

“I was a pilot, me and Pope served together for a while, but I’m mainly just teaching now. How’d you two meet by the way? I’ve never seen you round base before, I’m sure I’d remember you hanging around” he says.

“He basically lived at my house growing up, well until he went into the military when I was in middle school. ”

“I thought you said you weren’t young” he laughs “So you didn't serve?”

“No, my brother did though, he was a few years older than Santi but they were inseparable.” you state, preparing yourself for the imminent conversation.

“Who?” Frankie asks, slightly offended that Pope had a secret best friend he never introduced to him.

“His name was Parker '' you say, hoping the past tense clues Frankie in.

“Ya I’ve met Parker! Good guy what branch is he in these days?” he says, not picking up on your word selection or how your mouth hangs slightly ajar or how your eyes have gone vacant.

“Was in” is all you say, you avert your gaze staring down at the floor “he passed five years ago in active duty”

“Shit, I’m sorry I…” he stumbles over his words trying to form a coherent sentence.

“Not your fault how were you supposed to know, besides I'm sure you’ve lost your fair share of people.” you say offering him a not very convincing, but reassuring smile. You let the awkwardness hang in the air, not wanting to speak first.

“What... kind of doctor are you?” he says, hoping to cut the tension he’d caused.

“Medical, diagnostics.” you say, exhaling as the easiness you felt around Franki came back.

“So like House?” He asks.

“Ya cane and all.” you laugh, his lopsided grin having returned to his face, as he leans in to grab your plate.

“Hey, I uh.. I need to make a phone call.” He says, washing the dishes in the sink.

“I'll make myself scarce, give you some privacy. Is it fine if I'm in the shower or did you want me to fully vacate the premise? I can go down to the gym for a bit.” you offer.

“Showers perfect.” He says, mentally questioning his word choice there. He waits to hear the water run before pulling out his phone and dialing his mother who was currently watching his daughter for what was only supposed to be a few days.

You let the water wash over you turning on some music to drown out the conversation Frankie was having, not wanting to pry on his personal life. You did find yourself wondering who he was calling just simple curiosity, nothing else. You had decided you liked Frankie despite the rocky start, the more time you spent with him the more you felt like you'd known him for years. You could see why he and Santiago got along so well they were two sides of the same coin, his calm nicely balancing out Santiago's rashness. Or should you call him Pope? What kind of nickname was that, and Santiago was anything but a saint. You made a mental note to ask Frankie for the origin stories later he may be more forthcoming about it than Santiago. Lathering your hair you close your eyes, allowing Frankie’s image to come to the forefront of your mind. He had an old beauty, a kind of beauty that was suited to a ruler of a long forgotten empire. You begin to feel the water run cold, had you really been in the shower that long? You turn off the tap and dry yourself off redonning your sweats and tying the Clash shirt into a crop. As you exit the bedroom you’re met at the door by Frankie who hands you a cup of coffee.

“Thanks” you say smiling up at him.

“Take it as an apology for being an ass yesterday, I was tired and shouldn’t have thrown a tantrum about it, you don’t control the weather”

“Well I guess I should apologize as well for not listening to you, especially considering you’re the one with training in navigating radars.”

The rest of the day is spent in relative silence breaking into conversation every once in a while about nothing in particular. You sit on the couch reading while he sits in the chair across from you book in hand as the news plays faintly in the background. The storm had been dubbed “snowmageddon” by the anchors, not particularly innovative but it got the point across, 20cm had fallen and another 30 was being predicted you groaned internally thinking about how long it was gonna take you to clear off your car. At least you'd have military help. Dinner comes and goes and he doesn't ask you many questions, unsurprising considering how the last conversion had turned out. Instead you tell him about the weirdest cases you’d ever seen come through the hospital and he tells you about the incidents that got him and Santi sent to the hospital.

“Alright I'm going to turn in” he says, as you look up from the rabbit hole you'd currently found yourself stuck in.

“Shit ya good call” you say closing your phone and rubbing your eyes. Once again he beats you to the bed, giving him a prime position to watch in amusement as you dig through your bag.

“Lost something? Seriously, how deep is that bag? What are you looking for?” he inquires.

“Normal pyjamas” you mutter, all concentration currently being used to find something appropriate to sleep in.

“What pray tell are normal pyjamas?” he asks, a confused look plastered across his face.

“Let's just say a certain king of sleepwear was packed for someone who was suppose to be at the wedding”

“Who?” he asks.

“Ah ha!” you cry victoriously, pulling out your day-to-day sleepwear. You exit the bathroom in the silk sleep set you’d gotten a few years back. Frankie’s eyes widen slightly when he sees you emerge, the pyjamas leaving little to the imagination. If those were your normal pyjamas he didn't want to think about what the other ones were. The last thing he wanted to do was make you uncomfortable by coming off as a creep. Which he was already feeling like by ogling you as you bent over the sink spitting out your toothpaste. His eyes dart down to look at his hands as you walk around the bed to bed, only looking up once the covers are pulled up over you. He turns off the lamp and settles into the mattress, placing his hands on his chest and closing his eyes.

“Please for the love of god, stop moving” he mumbles after 15 minutes of patiently waiting for you to stop wriggling. Your eyes open as you shift again, completely aware of how annoying you must be to him.

“I know I'm sorry, I‘m just..” you move one more time, balling your fists up and slamming them into the mattress in frustration.

“Not comfy” he finishes for you, eyes opening staring up at the ceiling.

“Ya especially since someone took my side of the bed” you bemoan.

“Look, you’ve already slept wrapped around me once, so you can... do it again. If it’s the easiest way for you to sleep.” he says hoping the offer comes off as sincere, and not weird. You chew your lower lip for a second before accepting the fact that it was the only way you’d be able to sleep. He lifts his arms above his head allowing you to position yourself comfortably on top of him, before lowering them down. One hand on his stomach and the other wrapped around your shoulder.

“Don’t even think about trying...” you start, eyes batting sleepily up at him.

“I know you don’t know me well, but i'm not like that. It's not good or fun unless everyones fully and consensually on board.” With that you ease into him, trusting his words. Breathing deeply you drift off to sleep to the smell of clean laundry that you’d come to associate with Frankie.

Day 3

“Hey I'm going to the gym if you need to make a call or whatever” you say, pulling on your sneakers, feeling refreshed from the good sleeps you’d had the past two nights.

“Thanks,” he says, watching you leave before calling to check in on his daughter.

“Hey mom how is she? Good good ya, put her on would ya? Hey darling how are you! Yes I'm going to be home soon. Were just stuck in a big snow storm, did you see it? I wish you were here then we could build a snowman together! Yes just like Elsa and Anna. Yes we can watch them when I get home and absolutely I will try and save you a snowball. Alright, okay, I love you.” He says, a few minutes was more than he’d expected from the kid, toddlers aren’t known for their keen telecommunication skills after all.

“Hey mom, thanks again for watching her. This storm came outta nowhere. We're going to miss the wedding, I know they’re gonna be pissed. That’s not a swear Mom! No, I'm not alone. One of Santis friends she's a doctor. Yes, I mean I don’t know! Why does it matter? Look, I'm hanging up now. I am. No I won't be doing that I love you, I'll call later.” he hangs up shaking his head. Despite what everyone around him thought, the last thing on his mind was dating, his kid was his number one, scratch that, his only priority especially since her mother disappeared in the night. Leaving nothing but a note about having other reasons to live. Whatever the hell that meant. He hears the key unlock the door and watches as you re-enter, not stopping to make conversation, bee-lining straight for the shower. Knowing he’d have a good half hour to kill he dials his phone again.

“Hey Pope” he says, taking the opportunity to call his friend and deliver the bad news.

“Hey ‘Fish where the hell are you guys?” he shouts from the other end, evidently in a crowded room.

“Trapped by the storm, we're not gonna make it.”

“Shit Gen’s gonna lose it, and Stella if it wasn’t for her four sisters Y/N would be in the wedding party they were roommates for years.” He stresses.

“Damn, ya man i'm really sorry, she's in the shower, but I can pass the phone to her when she's out?” Frankie offers.

“No man, don't bother her. I'll text her in a bit. Hey you guys sharing a room?” he questions, the agenda behind it obvious.

“Wasn’t much of a choice, rooms were all booked up.”

“You're sleeping on the floor I hope” A protective tone taking over.

“You know my back’s bad Pope.” he explains calmly, hoping to de-escalate the situation.

“Catfish you better keep those hands to yourself, she's not one of your nightly conquests”

“Man I haven’t been like that since my kid came along” He chuckles, knowing full well that those days were long behind him.

“I'm a serious ‘Fish, she's too good for you, and she's in no place to be fucked over by another guy alright?”

“Look I know she'd never go for me Pope and I'm flattered you think she would. Glad i'm still handsome in your eyes.I’ll call you later” he laughs, ending the conversation on a lighter note.

“Hey” you say, pulling your Boston University sweater over your head, drying out your hair with a towel.

“Pope says hi” Frankie says, hanging up the phone

“What's the nickname mean?” you question, ready to get to the bottom of it.

“That's top secret information” he taunts, shaking the phone at you.

“Oh I'm sure I could figure out a way to get it out of you.” you smirk, raising your eyebrows

“Hey! I have military training!” he exclaims, offended at the insinuation.

“Militarys got nothing on me.” you retort, slapping him on the shoulder as you pass by.

“Well, if the plan is to ply me with alcohol, it may just work” he confesses.

“Perfect” you say, heading to the fridge opening up the wine bottle “let the games begin” you say tossing him a beer bottle watching as he uses a lighter to open it before bringing it to his lips.

“So tell me what does Pope mean?” you ask after a few hours of meaningless conversations and playing a drinking game that went along with the forensic files repeats you were watching. “Is it a dick thing” you whisper yell, causing Frankie to burst out laughing.

“Why? You wanna know what it looks like?” He asks forehead creased the trace of laughter still etched on his face.

“Ew No! but I am asking if it looks like a Pope?” you say trying to hide your amusement with a stern look.

“Which Pope?” Frankie asks in an equally serious tone, curious as to where you were going with this.

“Francis?” you ask.

“Nope” He answers after pausing for a moment.

“Fred?” You ask, now entrapped in a bizarre game of guess who, but in reference to what holy figure most resembled your friends penis.

“Was there a Pope named Fred?” He asks unsuccessfully, stifling a laugh.

“Probably? There were like three Popes at once at one point in time.”

“No his dick doesn't look like the Pope, now can we please stop talking about my best friend's penis!” he exclaims.

“Fine, but this isn’t over.” you say chewing your lip trying to think of other possible explanations when a phone ringing interrupts you thought.

“Shit, Sorry I have to take this,'' he says, pulling out his phone and walking to the next room, forgetting to close the door, leaving you to inadvertently eavesdrop on his conversation.

“Good night sweety I love you to the moon and back I'll be home soon.”

Your eyes go wide as you feel your stomach sink, of course he was married, he was too nice, too easy, something had to have been off. A ick comes over you at the thought of being unknowingly draped over a married man, and you suddenly begin questioning Frankies motives.

“Sorry about that. It's my daughter she uh, I didn’t say goodnight to her last night and she missed it” he says with a slight chuckle, pride evident on his face.

“How old is she?” you ask smiling at how he lit up at being asked about his kid.

“Three” he says, grabbing another beer and grunting slightly as he sits back on the floor next to you.

“Good age” You offer, shaking off the feeling of betrayal and disappointment that had come over you for a brief moment.

“Ya she's perfect” he beams.

“I bet, I mean I don’t know what your wife looks like, but if she's got your eyes watch out world.” You offer turning to face him only to see that his smile had faded, replaced instead by a somber hurt.

“Her mothers not in the picture” He says, clearing his throat and taking a long drink.

“Shit Frankie I'm sorry” you say quickly, feeling like a prize idiot for making assumptions about his character.

“Hey I brought up your dead brother, only seems fair you bring up my ex who abandoned us.” He says with a shrug. “Don’t, don’t look at me like that” He says, shaking his head and knitting his brows together tired of being looked at like he was broken. It was horrible when it happened. It was fucking shitty that she had left her daughter without a care, but now? Hell, he wouldn’t trade it for anything. Watching his daughter grow up was worth it.

“Fuck” you say, scrunching up your face “I hate when people do that to me.”

“You need another drink?” he offers, hoping to ease the sudden awkwardness into the room, one he was accustomed to after telling his dates about his kid, not that this was a date.

“Ya I need it to wash the taste of foot out of my mouth” you laugh, feeling worse than when your brother was inadvertently brought up.

“Seriously don't worry about it. Speaking of a palette cleanser you wanna watch a movie or something?” he says pouring the rest of the wine into your glass, before grabbing another drink out the fridge for himself.

“Ya but it's gotta be horror, the only thing i'm in the mood for.”

“Didn’t think bringing up my ex was that scary.” he laughs, handing you the glass.

“No, but talking about Santiago's penis was.” You deadpan, causing Frankie to snort out his drink. “What? Do all the girls say that about it? A real nightmare?” you continue, giggling as he coughs through a laugh. “Was it the inspiration for the creature from the black lagoon?” for some reason the stupid bit your doing causes Frankie to double over subsequently encouraging your own laughing fit. After the ache in your side subsides Frankie sits down on the couch next to you. Using his sleeve to wipe any spillage from his beard.

“Any preference?” you ask, leaning your head back against the couch. He shakes his head. “Alright, the Conjuring it is! I gotta pee first though, need anything before we start?” you ask, walking towards the washroom.

“Just you.” he calls out, as the door closes behind you. Fuck, why the hell did he say that. He shakes his head at how desperate it sounded. Jesus christ, he was embarrassing.

You were just tipsy enough that the bathroom's bright lights made you feel wobbly. You cross your arms as you pee, thinking about the words you’d just heard, about how he needed you. Well maybe that was a reach, but it was okay to pretend just for a night? In all honesty, even though this wasn't a date, it was definitely the best time you'd had with a guy… ever, something about him was just so easy. You flush the toilet and open the door washing your hands, hotels were so weird, why wasn't the sink in with the toilet? You felt like you needed to wipe the handle down after every use.

You flop back onto the couch next to him, closer than you’d been when you left, but leaving enough space between you. After a few jump scares that catch even the pilot off guard the two of you found yourself snuggled into each other. You knew the movie was getting to him, because the arm wrapped around your shoulder pulled you closer into his side whenever the ominous music began to play. He wouldn't say the movie was getting to him per say, it was just in his nature to protect others. Even if it was just a stpid movie he wanted to make sure you felt safe. After the movie ends you quickly separate from each other and clear up the glasses, leaving them to ‘soak’ overnight. Frankie gets to the bathroom first, again. Thirsty, you wander back out to the kitchen grabbing a glass and filling it with water jumping when you think you see a shadow move out the corner of your eye. It was strange, how you loved horror so much while watching it but the second it turned off, any sounds, or hat rack or shadow scared the living daylights out of you. At least this time there would be another person with you. After getting ready for bed you switch off the lights and make your way to the bed.

“What are you doing?” Frankie asks, watching you lift up the bedskirt peering under the bed. “Are you seriously checking under the bed right now?” He laughs, unable to get over how you, a medical professional was afraid of ghosts.

“Better safe than sorry!” you exclaim eyes wide as your head pops up.

“You can't believe in this shit can you?”

“Hey man you get sleep paralysis then tell me that shit isn’t plausible” you respond pointing a finger at him, before pushing yourself off your knees and up onto the bed.

You crawl under the covers and sit up parting your hair to braid it before going to bed.

“Can I ask you a weird favour” he asks, you panic slightly, fuck he was too good to be true, no way a guy was that sweet without an alterior motive.

“Yes, but proceed with extreme caution” you say.

“Can you teach me how to braid hair? I want to be able to do my daughter's hair but I’m pretty terrible at it. Her teacher once asked if she'd gotten caught in a bush on the way in.” Your heart jumps slightly, at the sincere revelation. How, how could one guy be this sweet, and thoughtful and not creepy?

“Of course I can show you.” you say and you proceed to give him a step by step tutorial, followed by a demonstration prior to actually letting him have at your hair so he can try and replicate the motions. Once he got the motion down you’d mistakenly tried to show him how to french-braid it down from the top.

“Be honest doc, how bad is it.” He says.

“Well, maybe we shouldn't have tried a french braid quite yet.” you say laughing feeling the matted mess currently on your head. You turn upon hearing him groan, watching as he leans back into the pillow bringing his hands up to hide his face.

“For someone who's a pilot i'm shocked you can't do this.” you say, hand reaching up to salvage your hair.

“Are you judging me?” he says, sitting back up when he sees you struggling to untangle the mess he’d made.

“Maybe a little.” Your breath hitches when you feel his hand grazed against yours. You drop it to the side upon contact allowing his fingers to work gently at removing the knots.

“Are pilots supposed to be good at braiding?” he asks.

“I just assumed if you could weave in and out of the sky you'd be good with your hands.” you laugh as he frees the last of your hair from the prison he'd made. He watches as you effortlessly put your hair back up into tidy braids.

“You make it look so easy,” he says.

“Well practice makes perfect, but look on the brightside, now you have a sure fire pick up line that'll work on all the MILFs youll be dating!” you exclaim turning back to smile at him.

“Malo '' he mutters, pushing your shoulder slightly as you giggle, dramatically falling back onto the bed and pulling the covers up over you. It doesn't take a moment before you're back around him, breathing silently, and fast asleep. He wasn’t far behind you, he never used to sleep well in hotels, or at all really, not after the mission, but something about this place made it easy. He's sure it's nothing to do with the idle hand on his chest or the rhythmic beating of the heart belonging to the person draped over him.

[fannishcodex]

So I really thought Jamack and Boom Boom and co. were gonna be like: “JFC getting caged up and prodded and the needles and Emilia were awful”

And Hugo/Scarlemagne would overhear and was gonna be like, flat and bitter: “Oh wow, never heard that before.”

And Jamack and Boom Boom and the captured co. would just suddenly go “oh” and fully realize key parts of Hugo/Scarlemagne’s backstory and have a way better understanding of where the hell he was coming from, and feel more sympathy for him and bond with him and get him to talk more about what he went through and help him process it better, and be willing to help him. And Jamack and co. are like super horrified that Hugo/Scarlemagne endured what they went through way longer and endured it since he was born, as a child, that was his childhood; and they would be like, “ohwow no wonder you got so messed up.” It was bad enough for them, and they’re all adults (maybe K-Pop narwhal is a teen?); they can’t fathom enduring it as a child, and from since you were born. They’re super horrified Hugo went through what they just experienced but no one ever came for him, no one ever saved him like they got saved. It would particularly eat at Jamack because he kept the others’ spirits up by telling them that Kipo would come for them, and she did--but no one came for Hugo. And they would be even more horrified that Hugo went through what they suffered through all alone, he had zero other fellow mute lab subjects to even lean on for some support. Jamack and Boom Boom and co. would know it would’ve been worse if they didn’t have each other and had been experimented on in isolation.

And while Hugo/Scarl would be initially kinda overwhelmed by Boom Boom’s new fear of needles because it’s Hitting Very Close to Home, he becomes very sympathetic to them because it Hits Very Close to Home and he’s terrified of needles too, he gets it, so he tries to help Boom Boom, and Boom Boom tries to help him, and they both help each other.

Imagine one side of mutes being like uncomfortable with Hugo/Scarlemagne and wanting his apology and wanting him to make up for what he did, and another side of mutes with Jamack and Boom Boom and co. being like “he had every reason to freak out” and being more positively supportive of Hugo/Scarlemagne and trying to directly help him with his trauma over being Emilia/DNA Burrow’s lab experiment, and they’re like the first ones to ever do that for him.

Imagine a callback to Hugo/Scarlemagne’s public apology with Jamack like cornering Zane. (Thanks to @lemonadesoda for some inspiration on this.)

Jamack: Hey, if you’re sticking around, go the f*ck to the great hall place thing and apologize to Hugo for helping Emilia experiment on him.

Zane: ...Um, I was only following orders--

Jamack: GO APOLOGIZE.

More under the cut:

And later just like:

Jamack: Wait, Zane, shut up, before you say anything else-- *passes Hugo/Scarlemagne a plate of pancakes and fruit*

Hugo/Scarlemagne: Jamack, I’m actively having a stupid panic attack over being in the same room as Zane, I have zero appetite, you do realize I only ever saw him when Emilia was around or for some other horrible thing like sticking needles into me or when they were harvesting my pheromones, he’s not even as worse as Emilia and I’m still stupidly freaking out--

Jamack: It’s not for eating, it’s for throwing. The others threw junk at you before, you should get to do the same with Zane too.

Hugo/Scarlemagne: *is overcome with emotion and just drops the plate and hugs Jamack*

Jamack: *is keenly reminded of Kipo and it really hits him that Hugo and Kipo are siblings, and he awkwardly hugs back because he’s doing better but still unused to stuff like this and didn’t expect Hugo/Scarl to break down like this* O-okay how about Boom Boom and the others throw food at Zane for you, would that be okay--?

Hugo/Scarlemagne: That’sfinethankyousomuch.

Jamack: You bet. You guys ready?

Zane: What the f-- *gets covered in pancakes and such after Boom Boom and co. start enthusiastically and angrily throwing food at him*

Jamack: Okay Zane, go ahead. Apologize to Hugo now.

Omfg imagine Jamack and co. trying that with Lio and Song.

Jamack: Hey Song, happy for you and Kipo--well, mostly Kipo--but have you talked to your son since you got all un-megafied? You know, after he tried helping you communicate with the others andthat’sbecauseyouturnedyourselfintoamegabutthat’sawholeotherdiscussion.

Song: ...Not yet, it’s been a lot right now, things have been happening so fast--

Jamack: Haha okay so I’ve learned by now that’s not a phrase you should ever use with Hugo again, so don’t. C’mon, you need to apologize to him.

Kipo: Um, Jamack--

Jamack: It’s fine, burrow girl. You had Hugo apologize to the others, but he needs some apologies too.

Kipo: But Mom--

Jamack: And your dad.

Kipo: Well, Dad apologized already...kinda....

Jamack: Well Hugo’s apologized, and he’s kept apologizing, and he keeps actively doing something to make up for what he did, it’s been a process for him. Your dad could stand to do a little more too as an ongoing process.

Kipo: But why Mom--

Jamack: Look, Kipo, your parents meant well...I guess...but they still experimented on Hugo before. Like even after Hugo’s apologies and him trying to be better, the others still get to be somewhat bothered by what he did before. It’s kinda the same thing--Hugo can still be upset with your parents experimenting on him even if they’ve changed orsothey’vesaid.

Kipo: When you put it that way....

Jamack: And if I’m understanding this right--sorry burrow girl, but your family history’s just screwed up on multiple levels--your parents could’ve tried immediately escaping with Hugo right after the formula mutated him, right? Like Emilia didn’t suspect a thing. They had just realized they couldn’t continue with the “regress mutes” project. But they stayed to try to find another way for humans to live on the surface--as opposed to just going up there and actually trying and talking to us like you did--and that led to them just mutating you too, right? And they kept Hugo confined and told him to be quiet and that must’ve screwed with his mind, even if they meant well. But again, maybe that could’ve been avoided if they had left with him as soon as they decided they were done with trying to revert mutes.... Anyway after everything, they never got him out of the shitty situation that they were complicit in, for all their promises and “epiphanies.” They never made up for what they did to Hugo.

Kipo: ...I’ll get Dad.

Jamack: Thanks Kipo, that’d be great, I’ve been meaning to get ahold of him too--hey, Lio, you still haven’t visited Hugo at all, have you?

Lio: ...No....

Jamack: And we had a few slow months of just searching for Emilia and IdunnowhywehadtwomegamutesdoityouthinkthatwouldmakeiteasyforEmiliatoseethemcomingandgivehertimetorunbutthat’sagainanotherdiscussion so you could’ve--you know--ha ha, I wouldn’t say things were happening too fast that time, and you were the one to save him after all. Like, that must’ve been so confusing for him; you finally saved him, but then you just don’t see him for months afterward and kinda just leave him in a cage again--

Ahhh Later Later

Jamack: Hey so Hugo’s recovering but he’s well enough to take some visitors now, so Greta, come here, we’re gonna throw some pancakes and junk at you in front of Hugo--might cheer him up a little--and then you’re gonna apologize to him for helping Emilia with--

Greta: I like pancakes!

Jamack: Boom Boom, give the pancakes to Troy and Benson, we’re just gonna use apples this time.

And later later later

Jamack: Kipo, please tell me you didn’t get Emilia too.

Kipo: Fun-Gus took her...pretty sure she’s not gonna last long...either Fun-Gus is gonna suffocate her by accident or something or she’s gonna...off herself somehow, I don’t think she’d want to handle Fun-Gus for long...

Jamack: Ohthankgods Boom Boom and the gang were just gonna throw nectar bombs at her and be done with it if it came to that.

Just Jamack and Boom Boom and Hugo/Scarlemagne and the others should’ve bonded and become the “Humans Experimented on Us and It Sucked” support group, and most of them should’ve come together to help the guy most harmed by Emilia and also become the “Hugo/Scarlemagne Defense Squad.”

And of course Hugo/Scarl should’ve been saved in every way.

[reelwriter19]

A Better Man

Pairings: Erik Stevens X Black Reader

Warnings: Fluff, Angst, Implied smut, cursing

Word Count: 3241

“Sssshhh...Erik you have to stop yelling.” You pleaded with your husband as you struggled to get his oversized drunken frame through the front door.

Slurring every word, “Y/N, I DON’T CARE! These colonizers know who’s buildin’ this is!”

You shook your head and couldn’t help but smirk as Erik kicked his boots off and planted himself on the floor in the hallway like a toddler. It was LATE and you were exhausted, but you gave him a pass on this f**k boi behavior because his 35th birthday was in a few days and even though he’d never admit it, that number was messing with his head. So when the owner of the lounge called you personally to come pick him up at 1:45AM, you threw on a sweater, grabbed your keys and ran out the door.

Erik looked up from his stooper just in time to catch you undoing your bra in annoyance. “YES!!! My girls need to be free!”

“Wow…..goodnight Mr. Stevens.” Shaking your head as you walked away, he seemed to find his sea legs long enough to scurry after you, wrapping his arms around your middle and slowly creeping his hands up to ‘the girls’.

“Come on ma, let me hit. You know I sleep better after.”

His touch in this moment was making you weak, but as you turned your head to permit him a kiss, you were hit with a heavy dose of reality. Erik hadn’t drunk this heavily in a while, and the evidence of it was seeping through his pores and breath in the worst way. You turned to face him, now keeping him at arm's length.

“UGH...nigga let you hit?! I love you, but the last time we tried to have sex when you were this drunk, you fell asleep in me, during said process. Uh huh...nope, not tonight. The girls will be all yours tomorrow.”

The next morning you awoke to find Erik still fully clothed, knocked and snoring on the chaise lounge in your walk-in closet. He still smelled, but you were grateful for the fact that he wasn’t too drunk to remember how you felt about outside clothes on the bed. You kissed him on his forehead, got dressed and started making calls. You were throwing him a birthday party that night at the house. You had to confirm food drop offs with the caterers, pick up some balloons and grab one final gift to surprise him with the next day. His training made him really hard to surprise, but you knew he wouldn’t be expecting this.

You heard the shower turn off as you walked back into the house from your excursion. “Erik!” You hollered putting bags and what seemed like 100 balloons in a corner, making your way upstairs to the bedroom.  “Kia and Shuri will be here in a few hours to help me set up. I’m gonna need you out of here soo…”

Your words trailed off as your ebony Adonis emerged from the bathroom, towel low on his hips, scars glistening on his chest. He knew his power over you and now you were the one intoxicated. He raised an eyebrow as he slinked over to you ever so slowly, you, still frozen, allowing him access to begin undressing you without much of a fight.

“You were sayin’ somethin’?”

“Baby...I have so much to get done for the party.”

“I remember you saying that these right here were all...mine...today.” He started to pepper kisses across your chest and conveniently dropped his towel to the floor. Every task on your list quickly faded into the background. He was the soon to be birthday boy afterall. Who were you to deny him this gift?

-------

The house was filled with laughter and music. You sat on Erik’s lap with his arm wrapped snug around your waist as he and some of his boys laughed about stories from their days at MIT. You knew the majority of the people there, Erik always kept a tight circle. But there was one guy, Malik, from his days in foster care that he recently reconnected with that hadn’t made your acquaintance. He was mostly quiet throughout the night, sometimes too quiet, but you chalked that up to how he was raised. Knowing what your husband went through, bouncing from house to house, no one really caring if he lived or died, you always had a soft spot for the people he bonded with during those years, and Malik was one of them.

T’Challa walked over to the rowdy bunch in his usual stoic way, hiding something behind his back. Nakia stood next to him, beaming from ear to ear.

“Pardon me Y/N, gentlemen, but N’Jadaka, I have something that might interest you.” He revealed a black velvet cigar box with the word “Daka” embroidered on the top in gold. It was rare to shock this man, it was even more rare for T’Challa to pull a reaction from Erik that wasn’t sarcastic or flippant.

“Yooooo, T! You wild out man!”

Turning to you as Erik stood up, “Is that a good thing?”

Before you could reply, Shuri belted out a laugh from across the room and said, “Oh brotha! That’s a VERY good thing!”

Erik hugged T’Challa, which was enough to bring a tear to your eye, as the men clamoured for access to a cigar as they walked out on the balcony to light one and commemorate the occasion.

You and Nakia locked arms and laughed at the group as they ran outside as if hiding a porno tape from their mothers.

Turning to her, “Should I ask where you got those?”

“Let’s just say, they once belonged to a very bad man with many items that needed to be confiscated for...archiving. And now they have been gifted to a better man to celebrate his life and the passage of time.”

“Riiight. Well thank you, for everything. I really appreciate you guys. He’s been so down lately. I couldn’t have done this without your help. I’m gonna go get the cake ready while they’re out there.”

Walking towards the kitchen, you noticed Shuri trying to hide behind a few other guests that were deep in conversation in the dining room. Pausing, you didn’t even have to walk her way to know what she was up to.

“Shuri! Put that drink down right now!”

“Awww, Y/N come on! I thought we were cool. I just want a taste of this good American stuff.”

“Girl, your mother will kill me! Put it down and go find the candles for the cake.”

She stomped over to you and you grabbed her in a tight hug.

“You’re no fun, Y/N.”

“I love you too.”

You walked into the kitchen dancing and singing to yourself. “Tell Me” by Groove Theory was now playing through the speakers Erik insisted you guys have installed when you first brought the place. A few of the guests trickled out of the room as Erik’s friend Malik followed you in.

“Tell me if you want me to, give you all my time. I wanna make it GOOD FOR YOUUU!!!!”

You grabbed some plates and napkins from the cabinet and turned mid groove to find Malik standing a little too close. He was taller than your husband but his facial features were no comparison. Let’s be real, not many faces could compare.

“Oh my bad. I didn’t mean to scare you...I was just lookin’ for a garbage. Y’all recycle?”

“Yep, uuh, right there by the door.”

“Cool cool.” Walking over to discard his beer bottle, he turned back around and extended a hand to you. “Malik.”

Switching the plates to your left hand, you extended yours to shake his. “I know. Erik told me about you. He said you guys were like brothers growing up.”

“Yeah, that’s my dawg.” Licking his lips and taking you in a little too intensely, he continued his thought. “We always liked to share things when we were comin’ up.”

You snatched your hand back as Shuri walked in with the candles in hand, dancing to herself.

“Y/N, you have to make me a playlist of these songs for the lab!”

“I will, I promise.”

You walked towards her, grateful to your God and Bast that Shuri’s timing was so impeccable. As you handed her the other items and took the cake from the counter, Malik touched your butt and quickly left the kitchen.

Did he just grab my ASS?!

No, no, he didn’t, he couldn’t!

That nigga just grabbed by ASS!!

You stormed out of the kitchen ready to raise hell, but as soon as you did, a smiling Erik black man jogged towards you and greeted you with a kiss on the cheek.

“You good babe?”

Hands on his chest, gazing in to his bright eyes full of happiness and peace for the first time in a while, there was no way you could ruin this night.

“Yeah, yeah sweetie I’m ok. I was just looking for the candles that’s all. You ready for your cake?”

Nestling his face in your neck as he replied, leaving a wet kiss. “As long as I can have the rest of my dessert later.”

You giggled as his facial hair grazed your skin and planted a passionate kiss on his lips. You hoped that Malik was somewhere watching, being reminded of who the hell your man was and the imminent danger his life was in if he EVER decided to touch you again.

-------

“Aight aight, enough of this terrible singing...blow out the candles man!” One of Erik’s college friends yelled, causing everyone to erupt in laughter. Erik obliged and everyone cheered. He found his way right back to you, engulfing you in his embrace from behind.

“I wanna thank y’all for coming tonight, for real. To have everyone I care about in the same room celebrating me, it’s just, yeah…...I especially wanna thank my princess, my QUEEN who pulled this off without breaking a sweat. I love you, Y/N.”

Turning to face your man, you couldn’t stop cheesing, caressing his dimpled cheeks as he pecked your lips repeatedly.

“Damn, I guess this is what happens when a nigga gets old. Got me all emotional and shit! Shuri, turn that music back up!”

-------

The house had finally cleared of most guests, finally allowing you to put your fuzzy slippers on. You were saying your final goodbyes to T’Challa, Nakia, Shuri.

“Are you sure you don’t need Shuri to help you stay and clean up?” T joked as they walked towards the door.

“Haha! No it’s ok, really. There’s not much more to do. Thank you again. You really made his night.”

“It was our pleasure, Y/N.”

“Make sure you stop by before you head back to Wakanda.”

You closed the door and the newfound silence of your apartment caused you to immediately flash back to that moment in the kitchen with Malik. You had to make sure it got dealt with, but not tonight.

You walked out on the balcony to take in the night air. The life of a hostess was not easy and fatigue was hitting you like a ton of bricks. Out of nowhere, a massive hand smacked you on the butt, scaring the crap out of you. You turned to see it was Erik and not the filth who had violated your space earlier.

“Why you so jumpy girl?”

Attempting to gather yourself quickly and avoid his gaze, you brushed past him and went back into the living room. But as always, he was hot on your heels.

“I’m not E, damn! You just...I thought you were upstairs.”

“You only call me E when you’re annoyed at something or pissed at me, so what’s up?”

“Nothing ERIK, nothing. You’re just always on your sleath shit moving around this house and I wasn’t ready. I’m just tired, baby, that’s all.” Walking towards the steps, you prayed that was enough to hold him off for a bit.

“I’m gonna go change clothes. I left the cake on the counter if you want another slice. Cuz I know you want another slice.”

Whew! Home free, at least for now. You knew your nightly routine would at least give you some time away from him to think. Of course you’d tell him, eventually, but you knew Erik’s past too well to pretend that you weren’t fearful of what he’d do. You’d never be able to erase the sound of the guy's jaw breaking because he put his hands on you at the club when you first started dating. Or the time he threatened your old boss's life and family for overworking his ‘princess’ when you started having panic attacks because of your job. You weren’t at all scared of him, but you were scared of how this news would set him back.

You emerged from the bathroom, fresh faced and wearing Erik’s shirt, to find him perched on the corner of your enormous bed, cake in hand and staring at you. You playfully walked towards him planting yourself in between his legs.

“Can I have a piece?”

“Not until you tell me what’s wrong.”

“I’ll just go get my own.”

“I ate it all before I came upstairs.”

“You better be lying.”

He wasn’t budging and you could tell his patience was starting to wane.

“Fine! Since you refuse to drop this.” You hesitated, backing away from him, bracing yourself for impact, but quickly decided to go another route. You walked to the closet and grabbed a small gift wrapped box from where you kept your extra tampons. He joked with you once that he’d be willing to buy them for you, but after that, you were on your own.

“I made us reservations for tomorrow night. I was going to give this to you then, but you’re so impatient.”

You handed over the box with a huge smile on your face, the giddiness now starting to set in.

Erik looked down at the box and back towards you, rubbing your thigh slowly.

“Well, open, open!”

He chuckled, finding your sudden excitement amusing. “Oh I’m the impatient one?”

He finally opened the box and pulled out a black dog tag necklace with the word ‘Baba’ inscribed on one side and a fingerprint on the other. Erik stared at the necklace in awe. When he finally looked up, he had tears in his eyes, which always made you full on cry.

“Happy Birthday! I’m pregnant. This is your father's fingerprint. I had Nakia do some digging to…”

Before you could get another word out, Erik’s lips were attached to yours. He lifted you off your feet bridal style and placed you on the bed as if moving too fast would break you. Erik made love to you as if it were the first time. Covering every inch of your body with attention to make sure you knew how appreciative he was of the best gift he could have ever asked for.

-------

You laid on your husband's chest, tracing his scars while his fingers made lazy circles along your stomach.

“How long have you known?”

“A few weeks.”

“Damn, I must’ve really been out of it.”

You smiled because him admitting it meant he was finally back.

“E…” You sat up, gathering the sheet around yourself to face him.

“What’s up?”

“Is it hot in here? Wow, i’m sweating.” You jumped up suddenly wrapped in the sheet to go open the window. Now pacing…Erik sat up fully and gave you a minute to process whatever the hell you refused to spit out from earlier.

“Y/N, talk to me.”

“Ok, Erik, listen. Before I tell you anything, I want you to remember that you’re about to be a father. And before I needed you but now it’s your family that needs you. You hear the difference there? We’re a family. And I have a doctors appointment tomorrow afternoon so now that you know I want you to come so you can meet the doctor and get used to…”

In his usual sleath-like manor, Erik had hoped out of bed to stop you from pacing. Once you finally turned around, you were face to chest with him. He lightly grabbed your chin and raised an inquisitive brow. You took a deep breath and finally blurted it out! By the time you finished recounting the story, Erik’s jaw was locked and his body frozen. At this point, you were sitting on the edge of the bed because, exhaustion.

“....I didn’t say anything earlier because you were so happy. Baby I hadn’t heard your laugh in such a long time. I also know how close the two of you used to be. I’m so sorry.”

Hearing that brought your husband back out of his daze. He knelt in front of you making sure your eyes were locked with his.

“Y/N, listen to me. You have nothing to be sorry for, do you hear me? You’re my whole world..” Touching your stomach, “Tonight you’ve managed to make that world even better. That nigga violated my trust and made you feel less than in your own body, in our house...f**k no.”

Erik was eerily calm. The man you knew would’ve been dressed at the part of the story with the handshake and in front of Malik’s house with you on speaker by the time you said, “...touched by ass.”

Instead, with a kiss to your forehead, he made the choice to lay back down. “It’s all good baby, let’s get some sleep.”

-------

The next day you awoke to an empty bed. You got dressed quickly and headed downstairs to find Erik in the kitchen making breakfast.

“Good morning beautiful.”

This was always one of your favorite sights. You stood behind him, wrapping him in a hug while he plated the cheese eggs and breathed him in.

“It’s your birthday Erik. I should be cooking for you.”

“Please...besides your doctor called and had to push your appointment up by an hour so eat up quick! I don’t wanna be late.”

You watched him run upstairs, still wondering who the hell this new guy was and what he did with Erik “the colonizers can kiss mine” Stevens.

He came back down, keys in hand, dog tag on next to his father's ring, sneakers and glasses on. Damn you loved when he wore those glasses. That’s probably how you got pregnant in the first place.

“You ready?”

“Yeah…” You put your plate in the dishwasher and grabbed your bag, walking towards the hallway with him.

“Baby? About our conversation last night. You’re not gonna do anything crazy are you?”

“Oh, you mean Malk?”

“Yes, Erik, that’s what I'm talking about”

“It’s already handled.”

“Erik...what did you do?! Didn’t we discuss this? FAMILY. BABY. Us NEEDING you to not get locked up or worse.”

“Relax, Y/N. I didn’t do anything personally.”

You breathed a small sigh of relief, but he wasn’t quite done. “...let’s just say no one will see him anywhere, EVER...AGAIN.”

“E! You can’t just go offing people at every whim, even if you do hire someone else to take care of it for you. That’s not what I meant.”

“Baby steps, ma. Baby steps.”

[3mmafr0st]

Remember Me Pt 4

Previous <------

Bucky Barnes x Reader Word Count: 2.7k

Warnings: SMUT, angst, swearing, incarceration? and my shitty writing

A/N: Please comment or reblog, any feedback is amazing! 

The room was small, with an interrogation table in front of me, everything the same shade of muted grey I woke up here earlier, and had been waiting for someone, anyone to come in and give me some information. Tugging at the cuffs that pinned me down to the table, I struggled to break free. 

“Sorry, you’re not gonna be able to get out of those. They’re made for enhanced people.” My eyes immediately darted to find the sound, settling on a man walking through the door.

“It’s you, from the lab. Who are you, how do you know my name? Where’s Bucky?” The questions began spilling out of my mouth, desperate for some sort of answers as to what the hell is going on. The man pulled out the chair that sat across from me, a file of papers in his hands.

“My name is Bruce, and let’s start with how much you remember,” He said. The name felt familiar, and although I was fighting him off before, I knew that I could trust him for some reason. His face was kind, and his voice was low and calming.

“It’s bits and pieces, nothing before Hydra, although I wish I did know, how do you know me?” 

“Your name is Y/N Banner, a young scientific prodigy in quantum physics. According to records, you were the only one who was able to crack the secret of the Pym particle. You disappeared when you were nineteen years old after a college party, and no one had seen you since until now.” Banner, that was my last name, Banner. It had a nice ring to it, it felt powerful, strong. 

“How long has it been since then?” He takes a deep breath, contemplating whether he should tell me or not.

“It’s been thirty-seven years.” It felt like a punch to the gut, they stole that much time from me. They stole thirty seven years from my life. Rage began coarsing through my veins, I needed to expel this, now. I smashed my hands into the table, before letting out an annoyed “fuck” from the pain. My hands left a small dent in the metal table.

“I’m sorry about the table, it's just, when you find out 37 years have been stolen from you, its hard to control your anger.”

“I know the feeling, believe me.” His hand fell over mine, and his eyes met mine, and although it was cloudy, something bubbled to the surface.

“Hey Stats, do you think I could get a hand with this?” Bruce’s voice called through the house. I rounded out of my own room to the room next door, where Bruce sat on his bed, books spread across the sheets and papers in every direction. His eyes looked up to me, pleading for help.

“Okay kid, what’s going on?” 

“It’s this parabola problem, I’ve tried it like a billion times!” I laughed a little at his remark

“Bud, you and I both know that a billion is a bit of an overstatement. Let me see what we can do.” I saw the mistake immediately, a small computing error that he had been doing every single time. I circled the small mistake that had been throwing the whole problem off. He groaned loudly, letting out an annoyed “Really?” 

“It’s gonna be okay, it was just a little computing error is all, there’s nothing to worry about.” 

The two of us just sat, talking about school and stuff, how we were excited for the new school year. Bruce’s face fell, halfway through my sentence about the dorms.

“Bruce, what’s wrong?” He held his tongue for a moment, eyes beginning to get glassy.

“Why do you have to go away this year? Why can’t you just stay here, like regular?” I sighed. I knew he would react like this. I was finally 18, which meant legally, I could move out. Although I had completed most of my time in college at home already, I was going for my second doctorate and I wanted to finally have the chance to have the normal college experience, or at least as close to it as I could get. I needed to be an adult for once, be seen as an adult and not the child prodigy that I had always been seen as. 

“Buddy, you know I want to be with you, hell, I’d bring you with me if I could, but they don’t allow 8 year olds in college dorms. I need to be an adult now, and I can’t do that staying home.” His eyes began to water, and I opened my arms out to him.  “Come here, buddy.” 

Bruce cried like that for a half an hour, as I held the small boy in his sadness, until he began to drift off to sleep.

“You’re the boy?” I said, looking at him. He definitely looked like the boy from my memory, but much older, with more lines on his face and a small scraggly bit of stubble, as if he had forgotten to shave, with a floppy curly mess on top, just like the boy had. 

“What boy?” He asked tentatively, his eyes telling the story of hesitation and hurt, like he was holding back hope in fear of his heart breaking another time. 

“There was a boy. I helped him with his math homework. He cried and I held him, his name was Bruce.” 

“You remember?”

“Im starting.”

“You ok?” Steve asked me, nudging my arm. His eyes looked down at me in concern but I reassured him. 

“I’m okay, Steve, I’ll be okay.”

“Tony couldn’t get us rooms next to each other, you’re on the fifth floor, I’m on the second.” 

“Sounds good.” 

Steve and I had grown to become pretty great friends since I got back. Steve and Bruce were the only ones that I felt safe enough around to talk to at the compound even from the beginning. I spent most of my time in the past few months either spending time with Bruce, and recovering my memories, or working with Steve to find Bucky. Spending my days going through mounds of papers and mission reports, to lunch dates working in the lab to help me regain that one and a half PhDs of information had been a daily occurrence and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Well, I would have it one other way. The only thing that would have made it better would be if Bucky was here with me. That’s why we were here, to find him and bring him home. We found a lead that told us he had been in Nevada for a while, specifically Vegas. We had booked a room at the hotel that he had been seen at.

As the elevator doors opened, Steve held the door open for me. “Get a good night’s sleep, we’ll get to work in the morning.”

“See ya in the morning, Steve.”  I told him, as the doors began to close, leaving me in the hallway of the fifth floor. It was nice of him to go with me all the way up the elevator. I walked the long and winding halls until I found the right number, room 2603. Swiping the small key card against the scanner, the door clicked open and I walked inside. The room was clean, and out of complete habit, I began scanning the room for bugs, checking around the room to make sure nothing was listening in. Once I sweeped the place, the bed began to call to me, and I abandoned my clothing, before getting myself into bed, only a comfy shirt and panties left clinging to my body. With all the work that we had been doing to find Bucky, it was nice to have a chance to at least try and get some rest. 

Bucky’s POV 

I had hoped that she would come. There wasn’t much that I remembered, not yet at least, but she was coming back to me. I didn’t know how I knew here, but she was important, I could feel it. I knew the other guy was there two, Steve, the one I knew a long time ago, but for some reason, I knew I needed to see her. The two of them were important to me, I just knew it. There was an abandoned building to the side of the hotel that they were staying at, and I could see into the window of her room. The lights were dark, as she slept comfortably in her bed. I knew I shouldn’t, but I had to get closer, to see her. The clear, glassless window that I sat at was a clear shot from the balcony of her room. 

Backing up from the edge, I took in a deep breath, calming my heart rate as I began running towards the opening. Pushing off the cement framing, I launched myself into the air, pushing myself forward even more until I felt my feet hit the cement of the balcony. 

I could see her in there, sleeping. Somewhere inside of my head I knew this whole thing was wrong, but I couldn’t seem to stay away from her. It was creepy, wrong, but she looked so peaceful and innocent. It was a familiar feeling, not being in control, but this was different. 

My head screamed out about how wrong this was, how disgusting I was being, while the rest of me was breaking the lock off of the door, walking into the room. The sound of the lock breaking and the door opening must have been too much sound, her body shot up in her bed, looking straight at me.

Reader POV

This has to be a dream, it couldn’t be anything else, a lucid dream that my brain had created to cope with the nightmares. There he stood, in the same room as me, dirty jacket and a baseball cap. His hair had gotten longer, like he hadnt been able to get it cut.

“Bucky?” My voice wavered with nerves and emotion, so scared that the man would disappear if I acknowledged that he’s here.

“You know me.” His voice was low and gruff, like he hadn’t had to use it in a while. I could feel my heart break. Although it was a statement and not a question. I could tell that he wasn’t all there, he didn’t remember me. Was this what Bruce felt like? Was this what it was like for him to see me, to know me, but the memory unreciprocated? A tear began to fall down my face, unable to control it.

“Yes, Buck, I know you.”

“Who are -“ he struggled to speak. “Who are you to me?” The knife that was already gutting me twisted into my stomach even more.

“Do you want to come closer?” I tried to keep calm as I spoke, not wanting to scare the man off. He was reluctant to come near me. “I promise, I’m not going to hurt you.”

“In all fairness, that's not what I’m worried about, doll.” There was a flash of him, of my Bucky pushing through the fog to find me. I must have taken too long. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I said that, I-“

“Come here, please.” Hesitantly, he walked closer, but not close enough. Pulling the covers off of myself, I rose from the bed, walking to meet him in the middle.

“Who are you?” He was close, his breath fanning my face as I looked up at him.

“Can I show you?” He nodded, almost desperately, and I closed the gap between us, pushing myself into him and meeting my lips with his. At first he was shocked, not moving his lips against my own, but after a moment, it was as if pure instinct took over, as his mouth roughly kissed mine, pushing me back into the bed.

My back hit the covers, and I gasped out in surprise, giving Bucky the chance to deepen the kiss. Our tongues battled for dominance for a short while, but he won out in the end. I wrapped my fingers in his hair, tugging slightly. The man groaned out into my mouth, sending the feeling straight to my core. 

Fuck, it had been too long. His hands were on me, holding my waist down on the bed. I gasped out, feeling as his metal hand had found its way under my shirt, playing with the flesh, twisting and pinching at my nipple; My hips bucked up, rolling over his clothed dick, and he let out a louder moan.  I tested, rolling my hips over a few more times, before Bucky got impatient.

Bucky’s hand immediately trailed downward, slipping his hand past my panties. Two fingers pressed at my clit, and I cried out, hypersensitive after being away from him for so long. He was oddly silent, no clever quips or comments that I had been used to. I still couldn’t tell how much he really remembered. 

His fingers began to make rough and harsh circles on my clit, making my back curl up into his chest.

“Fuck, Bucky, please!” I cried out, absolutely wrecked just by his touch after so long away from him. Quickly, fingers moved downwards, circling my entrance before easing them into me. Eyes rolled into the back of my head as he found that spongy spot inside of me, curling his fingers over it. I could feel the tightened knot in my stomach threatening to snap.

“Buck-“ I cried out as he suddenly sped up, pushing his fingers in and out of me as fast as he could. Screaming out, the knot snapped, my vision going white as the tsunami like wave passed through my body. Bucky slowed down his fingers, working me through my orgasm until the feeling had passed.

The sound of his belt unbuckling was music to my ears, knowing what was coming. The anticipation was absolutely killing me, as I heard fabric shift, feeling the rough fabric of his jeans slide away, along with his boxers. My head threw back as he began to tease, running the tip of his dick up and down me, never getting quite near where I needed him most.

“Bucky please, fuck me,” I breathed out, barely able to catch my own breath. He began to line himself up with me, and then suddenly without warning, slammed his hips into me. “Holy fuck, Bucky!”

His fingers dug into my hips harshly, I hoped that it would leave bruises after. His hips pistoned into me fast and harsh, the man knew what he wanted and he was going to get it, and goddamn it felt fucking good. His lips claimed mine, swallowing the sounds coming from my throat. It was like he was everywhere, I could only feel him. 

It was all too overwhelming, and with little warning, my second orgasm hit me like a freight train. I cried out for him, as his hips began to falter from his pace, getting closer and closer to his release. His dick twitched inside of me, and I felt as he spilled inside me, filling me up.

The sun began to creep through the window, waking me up. Confused, I got up from the hotel bed, I could have sworn that I had left the blinds shut when I fell asleep last night. I was pleasantly surprised with my own head last night. Normally, when my head hit the pillow, all I would see were the faces of the people I killed, reliving the awful memories that I have to deal with, but last night was different. I got to see Bucky. It was so real, his hands on my skin, his fingers and dick inside me. 

I examined the door, looking for a moment, and noticing the lock that had been crushed, pulled out, and sat on the balcony. I couldnt understand what happened, until I looked at my own body. Lifting up my shirt slightly, I could see the purple indentations of his fingertips, Bucky’s fingertips.

It hadn’t been a dream after all.

[comic-book-jawns]

Bloodstream

“Okay, which arm?”

Jamie, already pale, turned to her, and she turned to the phlebotomist, Kate, who appeared be in her late 20’s.

“Umm, why don’t you pick.”

Kate nodded, and she turned back to Jamie, who was now a bit wide-eyed. Dani smiled softly as she began rolling up Jamie’s right sleeve.

“She’s just gonna check your veins.” She switched to Jamie’s left sleeve. “The bigger ones will be easier to, umm... ”

Jamie exhaled, nodding.

“Right.” Jamie ventured a peak at now bare inner elbows, then turned back to Dani, giving her a small smile. “Thanks.”

Dani, standing to her left, squeezed her shoulder.

“Can you make fists for me?”

Jamie turned to Kate.

“What? Oh.”

Jamie complied, and Kate smiled.

“Thank you.”

Jamie tensed even more as Kate began tapping her inner elbows. Dani squeezed Jamie’s shoulder again, and rubbed Jamie’s back with her other hand. Kate stepped back.

“Okay, right it is.”

Jamie exhaled, unclenching her hands.

“Glad the hard part’s over.”

Dani laughed, and even Kate chuckled as she walked over to the counter to prep.

Dani had warned her that Jamie was nervous, having never had a blood test before. Jamie herself hadn’t told Dani until Dani was driving them to the clinic — well, she’d started to tell her and then realized by the smile on Dani’s face that Dani had figured as much.

When Jamie had already started panicking after Kate told Dani she could wait in the waiting room, Dani had felt compelled to clue her in — that’s also when she’d gotten her name. And based on Jamie’s comment, it seemed she’d seen through Dani’s not so subtle suggestion that she go on to the back room without on them — she just had a quick question for the phlebotomist.

Kate turned back now, elastic and antiseptic in hand as she walked over.

“All right, I’m gonna need you to make a fist for me again.” She stopped as she came along Jamie’s right side, opposite Dani. “Just your right hand.”

Jamie cleared her throat, unclenching her left, which Dani then took and squeezed. Dani could see Kate smile slightly, as she tied the elastic around Jamie’s right arm just above her elbow. She ripped open the antiseptic packet, took out the wipe and dabbed Jamie’s inner elbow. Jamie immediately flinched and squeezed Dani’s hand hard.

“Shit. Sorry.”

Jamie was staring straight ahead, but the comment had been directed at both of her and Kate, Dani knew. She rubbed Jamie’s back as she saw her cheeks turning pink.

“It’s okay, Jay.”

But Dani could see her own concerns mirrored on Kate’s face.

“Can she sit on my lap?”

“Dani!”

Jamie turned to her, and Dani could her cheeks reddening in her periphery. Her eyes were still on Kate, who looked rather taken aback herself.

“I - I just need her to sit still, so, umm... if you think that’ll help.”

“It will.”

Dani looked down to find Jamie blushing furiously and admittedly did feel a bit guilty. She genuinely didn’t want to embarrass her, but given the circumstances, she knew she didn’t really have a choice.

If Jamie flinched again, Kate might miss, which would undoubtedly trigger a full-blown panic attack. Jamie would never agree to go through with the test, and the trust in medical professionals that Dani had been helping her cultivate would be shattered. And even if she managed not to flinch, she’d had to fast for the test, so fainting was also a possibility — one that would very likely lead to the same outcome.

This would help keep Jamie calm throughout, and she knew Jamie knew that. She gave her a pointed look, and Jamie indeed relented with a huff after a few moments. She smiled.

“Thank you.”

Jamie glared at her as she got out of the chair, but by the way her mouth twitched, Dani could tell she was fighting a smile even as her cheeks burned. Once Dani was settled in the chair, Jamie gingerly sat back down — perched, really.

“Jamie.”

Jamie huffed again, but then Dani felt her obediently slide back against her and relax slightly. Taking Jamie’s left hand in hers, she wrapped Jamie’s left arm around Jamie’s own waist, keeping her arm on top, rubbing her thumb across Jamie’s knuckles. She then wrapped her right hand around Jamie’s upper right arm, stroking it gently.

She felt Jamie relax even more and even heard her sigh softly. And then Kate went back to the counter where the needle was laying, and Jamie tensed up all over again.

“Close your eyes, Jay.”

She said it just above a whisper. She knew Jamie wasn’t really squeamish — it was just the novelty of it all that was getting to her — but not looking couldn’t hurt. And with her eyes closed, Jamie would probably be able to focus more on her.

Dani turned to Kate as she turned back around.

“Did she?”

Kate opened her mouth to respond.

“Yes!”

An exasperated Jamie beat her to it. Dani giggled; and as she’d hoped, she felt Jamie chuckle a moment later and relax again. Kate was smiling as she came up on Jamie’s right side again with the needle, a gauze pad and three vials. She placed the vials and gauze on a cart beside her.

“You work with plants, Jamie?” Dani heard Jamie gasp slightly, then saw Kate mouth “fist” to her. “You have a dirt under your fingernails.”

“Oh.” As Jamie laughed awkwardly, Dani slowly slid her hand down Jamie’s right arm. “Uh, yeah, ’m a gardener.”

Dani gently curled Jamie’s right hand into a fist.

“Jamie owns the flower shop in town,” Dani elaborated, smiling proudly.

“We both do,” Jamie quickly added.

“Oh, The Leafling?” Kate pressed her left hand down on Jamie’s arm just below the elastic. “I’ve always wanted to check it out.”

Before Jamie could respond, Kate stuck the needle in. Dani felt Jamie stiffen, heard her breath hitch, but Jamie didn’t move. Dani squeezed Jamie’s left hand as Kate connected the first vial to the needle. 

Kate had offered to use a butterfly needle. It looked less menacing and, since the vials would connect to a tiny tube rather than the needle itself, Jamie might feel the vial switches less. But once Kate confirmed that it would take a bit longer, since the blood would be traveling through the tube first before filing up the vials, Dani politely declined. Pain wasn’t an issue for Jamie; expediency would be the key. 

As the first vial started filling up, she untied the elastic around Jamie’s arm and threw it on the cart.

“Okay, you can relax your hand.” She heard Jamie exhale, then felt her unfurl her right hand in hers, though she still felt fairly tense and was breathing a bit shakily. “You’re doing really good, Jamie. Just a little longer.”

Jamie laughed awkwardly.

“Ya normally work with kids?”

Dani squeezed Jamie’s left hand again as Kate, chuckling, swapped the now-full vial with another. Jamie’s breath hitched again, not as hard, though. And she still didn’t move.

“Sometimes. But honestly, plenty of adults get nervous, too.”

“Bad as me?”

Kate thought for a moment.

“Had a guy throw up last week, actually.”

Dani squeezed Jamie’s hand as Kate swapped vials again. But Jamie, chuckling, barely reacted to the switch.

“You guys take bets on that kinda stuff?” Dani burst out laughing, as did Kate. “That what you and Dani were doin’?” They laughed even harder. “Apologies if ya had money me.”

A moment later, Kate disconnected the now-full final vial, put it on the cart then grabbed the gauze pad, removed the needle and pressed the pad down in its place.

“Okay, all done.”

Dani heard Jamie exhale and felt her practically slump against her. Dani smiled widely.

“Good job, Jay.”

She squeezed Jamie’s left hand again, which was quite clammy at this point, and heard her chuckle, then saw her look down at her arm — then at the vials. Dani saw Kate start to panic, presumably realizing maybe she should’ve waited longer to give the all clear.

“Oh, no, she’s fine with blood.”

Sure enough, Jamie was looking at them with a child-like curiosity. Kate was giving Dani a rather quizzical look, though. Biting back a laugh, Dani went to explain, but Jamie cut in.

“What d’ya so with ’em?”

Jamie hadn’t take her eyes off the vials. Kate turned to her, then smiled after a moment, a mix of amusement and admiration.

“Umm, well, I don’t do anything, other than ship them off to a lab. They’ll do the actual testing, whatever your doctor ordered.”

Since Jamie’s first visit with their GP, Dr. Ryan, in which they’d brought up her probable hypoglycemia, Dr. Ryan had ordered a blood panel to get a better picture.

“Gotcha.” Jamie looked up Kate, clearing her throat. “Uh, thanks for, uh, puttin’ up with me.”

“My pleasure. Seems I should be thanking Dani.”

She saw Kate look up at her with a seemingly knowing smile and felt Jamie sit up and try to turn around.

“Christ. Dani - ”

Dani turned to find her looking slightly distressed and blushing. She giggled.

“You’re welcome.” She turned back to Kate. “Both of you.”

Still smiling, Kate looked down.

“Jamie, I need you to do one more thing for me.”

Jamie, now sitting rather horizontally across Dani’s lap, turned to Kate.

“If you could hold down the gauze, I’m gonna get tape.”

Jamie nodded and took over as Kate went back to the counter. A few moments, she lifted off as Kate taped over the pad, a small red stain now at its center.

“Okay, now you’re officially good to go. There may be a temporary bruise and some soreness, just so you know.”

Jamie nodded and got up, then Dani felt herself blush slightly as Jamie turned back, offering her right hand.

It was completely unnecessary — it wasn’t a hard chair to get out of, and Jamie herself looked rather pale. So Dani pressed down on the left chair arm to help herself up but still took Jamie’s clammy hand with her right because she wanted to and because she figured it might make Jamie feel a little less self-conscious about the whole ordeal — though it was that kind of thing Jamie did ordinarily, not for bullshit chivalry reasons but just because she wanted to.

But as she stood, Jamie, despite pulling almost none of her weight, gasped and clamped her other hand down over her bandage. Dani froze, felt her heart stop, but just as she went to call out her name, she saw a familiar glint in Jamie’s eye.

Dani laughed despite herself, stood all the way up and lightly whacked Jamie’s upper arm with the back of free hand as Jamie broke.

“I’ll drive home without you!”

Dani had laughed as she said it, but then she stopped as she processed what she’d said. Jamie did, too. They’d already shown far more PDA than they normally did — out of necessity maybe, but they had. And now Dani had basically confirmed their status. That being said, the test was over, so really what did it matter if Kate had a problem with it?

“I meant what I said, by the way.”

Still holding hands, they both turned to Kate. Dani saw her own apprehension still mirrored on Jamie’s face. But Kate was smiling.

“About your shop. I’ve been meaning to go.”

Grinning and sighing in relief internally, Dani turned back to see Jamie blush slightly and smile shyly.

“Oh.” Dani squeezed her hand as Jamie predictably lifted her other hand to scratch the back of her neck. “Yeah. We’ll, uh... be there.”

Dani bit back a laugh. They’d been open for nearly a year now, but Jamie was still working on her salesmanship skills. She turned to Kate.

“You’re welcome anytime. And you can use the ‘friends’ discount.”

Kate waved dismissively, but Dani saw Jamie nod vigorously out of the corner of her eye.

“Yeah! Least I can do... Seriously.”

Kate chuckled in resignation.

“Thank you. I’ll stop in soon, then.”

For a moment they all just stood there awkwardly, smiling, and then Dani turned back to Jamie.

“We need to get you something to eat.”

Jamie turned back to her, smirking.

“Hungry, are we?”

Dani had fasted in solidarity, despite Jamie’s protests. So, yes, she was rather hungry since it was now past their usual breakfast time. She tried to glare at Jamie but laughed. Jamie went to say something else, still smirking, but then swayed on the spot. Dani’s face instantly fell, and she placed her free hand on Jamie’s back to steady her.

“I’m good, Poppins.” Jamie managed a sheepish small to reassure her. “But, yeah, we should go.”

Needing no further prompting, Dani took off, guiding her toward the hallway that would take them back to the waiting room.

“Thanks again,” she called over her shoulder to Kate.

“Thanks,” Jamie added.

Dani heard a bright “see ya” in reply as they turned the corner. They walked in silence down the hallway, but Jamie spoke again when they reached the waiting room.

“She was nice.”

Dani smiled, a tad melancholically. Gratitude was evident in Jamie’s voice, but something else was too: surprise; wonder, even. And, sure, Kate had gone above and beyond. But it had more to do with Jamie herself. She’d reacted like this before. A part of her still didn’t expect people to be nice to her — still didn’t think she deserved to be treated that way.

Granted, Jamie had made strides in that regard since they’d met — major strides, Dani knew — but she hadn’t quite crossed the finish line yet. Maybe she never would. It was a thought that kept Dani up at night sometimes as she held her. But Dani was doing all she could, and she knew Jamie was too.

Dani squeezed Jamie’s hand as she helped Jamie push open the door with her other hand, and they stepped outside.

“She was... Where you do you want to eat?”

Jamie stopped and turned to her, brow furrowed. And then she smiled, a bit mischievously, like a child about to make an indulgent request.

“Milkshakes?”

Unable and quite unwilling to let such adorableness go unrewarded, Dani leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, eliciting a giggle from Jamie, then led her toward the car, grinning.

“Diner it is.”

[thewidowsghost]

Fox - Chapter 25

Previously on Fox:

"Well, make sure to come and visit," Pepper says and Natasha and (Y/n) get in the car.

"I will," (Y/n) promises.

(Y/n) pulls the car out of the driveway and drives back to the airport. (Y/n) goes and grabs a trolley and she and Natasha put (Y/n)'s stuff onto it and wheel it out to the Quinjet.

3rd Person POV

By the time that Nat and (Y/n) land in New York City, it's about 4:30.

"So, I say we get an apartment near the restaurant, and then tomorrow, we go look at apartment," (Y/n) says. "What do you say?"

"Sounds good," Natasha says. "What should we bring?"

"Just a pair of clothes for tomorrow, and a pair of pajamas, tooth brush, toothpaste," (Y/n) says, hanging Natasha a cloth bag.

(Y/n) grabs a black dress, some boots, a pair of clothes for tomorrow, and a pair of pajamas. She also grabs her plain black-and-white guitar, her toothbrush, toothpaste and her hairbrush. (Y/n) places everything but the guitar in a bag - duh, a guitar ain't gonna fit in a bag, unless it's a cloth guitar case.

"What's with the guitar?" Natasha asks as the two walk through the airport, the guitar on (Y/n)'s back.

"It's a surprise," (Y/n) says, smiling at the redhead.

The two walk to the hotel, which wasn't far from the airport, and the restaurant.

"So, I've got something to take care of. Our dinner reservation is at six, in that restaurant over there," (Y/n) points to the restaurant. "You want to get the hotel room, and I'll meet you there?" (Y/n) asks, and Natasha stares at her for a moment, then nods. "Cool, I'll see you in a little bit," (Y/n) smiles, then staying and watching as Natasha walks in the hotel.

(Y/n) walks down the street to the restaurant and someone, probably a manager walks over to her.

"You must be (Y/n)," the woman says and (Y/n) nods, shaking her hand. "My name is Samantha, but you can call me Sam," she says and (Y/n) smiles.

"I know my reservation was kind of last minute, but do you think you could make room?" (Y/n) asks.

"Of course, we actually have a spot in at 6:15," Sam says and (Y/n) smiles.

"That's great," (Y/n) says. "My friend should be here at six."

"We have the rest of the guys here if you'd like to go practice with them before she gets here," Sam says, leading (Y/n) to a room near the kitchen.

"Thanks Sam," (Y/n) says as the woman leaves the room.

The six practice for a while until about 5:45 and (Y/n) goes to change into the dress and boots.

Walking back into the practice room, (Y/n) takes her white guitar strap and attaches it to the guitar.

Around six, Sam walks in the room motioning for (Y/n) to follow. (Y/n) sets her guitar on its side on the floor and steps out of the room to talk with Sam.

"I believe your friend is here now," she says. "Red hair, emerald green eyes?" Sam asks.

"Yep, that's her," (Y/n) says.

"She's at the table near the stage," Sam says. "She's also wondering where you are," Sam smiles.

"She's about to find out," (Y/n) says. "Thank you Sam."

"No problem, you'd better get behind stage. It's almost time."

"Right," (Y/n) says, darting back in the room, grabbing her guitar, then following Sam backstage where some backstage workers get (Y/n) an ear microphone, and attach a microphone to her guitar.

At her cue, (Y/n) walks out on stage, sending Natasha a warm smile, which the redhead returns.

Glancing at the other players behind her, (Y/n) begins to play.

"Hey homecoming queen Why do you lie When somebody's mean? Where do you hide? Do people assume You're always alright? Been so good at smiling Most of your life"

Natasha gazes up at (Y/n) as she sings, the (H/C) haired women meeting her emerald gaze. Then Natasha realizes that (Y/n) is wearing a dress. Natasha didn't even know (Y/n) owned dresses, but the redhead admits that (Y/n) looks amazing.

"Look damn good in the dress Zipping up the mess Dancing with your best foot forward Does it get hard To have to play the part? Nobody's feeling sorry for ya

But what if I told you the world wouldn't end If you started showing what's under your skin What if you let 'em all in on the lie? Even the homecoming queen cries

Hey homecoming queen How's things at home? Still walking on eggshells When that curtain's closed Did your daddy teach you How to act tough? Or more like your momma? Sweep it under the rug

Look damn good in the dress Zipping up the mess Dancing with your best foot forward Did you want the crown Or does it weigh you down Nobody's feeling sorry for ya

What if I told you the world wouldn't end If you started showing what's under your skin? What if you let 'em all in on the lie? Even the homecoming queen cries Yeah, what if I told you the sky wouldn't fall? If you lost your composure, said to hell with it all Not everything pretty sparkles and shines And even the homecoming queen cries Oh yeah Even the homecoming queen cries

Hey homecoming queen Why do you lie? When somebody's mean Where do you hide?"

(Y/n) finishes singing and all six players stop playing and the restaurant erupts into applause. (Y/n) smiles one more time at Natasha before walking off stage. Natasha's gazes down at her wine glass, a small smile on her face.

(Y/n) hurries to pack up her guitar, leaving it, and her bag, in the practice room. (Y/n) would grab her things when she left, but she grabs her phone and wallet and hurries over to the table she had reserved. When Natasha catches sight of (Y/n), she jumps up and jogs over, wrapping the (E/C) eyed woman in a hug.

(Y/n), a little startled, stands still for a moment, before hugging the redhead back. The two pull a way after a moment, and (Y/n) takes Natasha's hand and the two walk over to the table.

"You look nice," Natasha says as (Y/n) pushes in her chair.

"Right back at you Nat," (Y/n) smiles, sitting down. The redhead was wearing a red dress that almost matched her hair.

"Did you do all this for me?" Natasha asks and (Y/n) gives her a questioning look. "The restaurant, the song?"

"Of course, you're my girlfriend," (Y/n) answers, taking Natasha's hand from across the table.

"You're too much," Natasha says softly and (Y/n) smiles.

A waiter comes over and takes the two's orders before (Y/n) speaks again.

"So, the apartment," (Y/n) begins. "I think we might need something bigger than I saw online. If we had a bigger area, I could throw my lab in a room, make a training room, things like that."

"I think we should still look at the one we saw online, but if we don't like it, we could go check out some others," Natasha says.

"I agree there," (Y/n) says and then their food arrives.

The two eat, then finish, paying the bill then standing up.

"I've got to grab my stuff before we leave," (Y/n) says.

(Y/n) leads the way back to the practice room where she gets down on one knee and unhooks her guitar strap and puts the guitar in the case and grabs her bag.

"Right, let's go," (Y/n) says cheerfully, and Natasha smiles softly at her enthusiasm. The two walk out of the restaurant and down the street to the hotel. Natasha pulls out the room key and the two walk into the hotel room.

"This is nice," (Y/n) says, setting her guitar on the floor. Then she goes to the bathroom and changes into a pair of pajamas. 

(Y/n) walks out of the bathroom and flops on the bed.

"You have a fox obsession," Natasha teases, grabbing her own pajamas and moving to the bathroom.

(Y/n) pulls back the comforter and snuggles into the sheets, yawning and looking up at the ceiling. Natasha leaves the bathroom and settles under the comforter with (Y/n). The (E/C) eyed women turns over to face Natasha.

"Thanks for tonight," Natasha says. "I had a lot of fun."

"I'm glad," (Y/n) smiles warmly at her girlfriend. "Good night Nat," (Y/n) says.

"Night, (Y/n)," Natasha says and (Y/n) waves her hand, the lights turning off.

The two sleep soundly for a while when (Y/n) is waken by Natasha thrashing around beside her.

"Nat," (Y/n) gently nudges her girlfriend's shoulder, but it doesn't do anything. (Y/n) moves closer to Natasha, wrapping an arm around her, gently running her fingers through the redhead's hair.

After a minute or two, Natasha relaxes, falling back into a comfortable sleep. (Y/n) rests her head back on her pillow, continuing to run her hand through Natasha's soft hair. After about half an hour, (Y/n) falls asleep, her right arm instinctively resting beside Natasha's left hand.

Natasha wakes about an hour after her nightmare, studying (Y/n) for a while. She seems so gentle while she sleeps, Natasha thinks. The green-eyed former assassin takes (Y/n)'s hand shyly and (Y/n) sleepily entwined her fingers with Natasha's, sighing contentedly.

Natasha smiles softly, lying her head gently on (Y/n)'s shoulder. (Y/n) shifts her head slightly, then rests her right cheek against the top of her girlfriend's head. Natasha turns a little, cuddling into (Y/n)'s side.

"You're so cute when you're tired," (Y/n) murmurs and Natasha laughs softly.

"Don't tell anyone, I have to keep my bad girl image," Natasha says, looking up and meeting (Y/n)'s gentle (E/C) eyes with her own green ones, amusement evident in (Y/n)'s gaze. (Y/n) gently wraps her arms around Natasha, the redhead snuggling closer, (Y/n) resting her chin on Natasha's head.

(Y/n) watches Natasha's eyes close, and (Y/n) says softly, "Good night, Nat."

Natasha murmurs something indistinguishable and (Y/n) stifles a laugh.

Word Count: 1716 words

I freaking love this chapter!!!! ❤

See y'all soon!

Love,

         Kaitlynn ❤😍

Imma tag peoples now: @confusinggemini612, @gay-disaster826, @thelastavenger-3000, @osugahunnyicedtea, @night-howl199, @minicastle, @happilyeverafterfantasybooks, @billiebanner, @me-and-sweatpants, @scottjudah, @scarlet-raccoon, @whore-for-charlynch, @nyx-aria, @night-howl199, @brittanyrenne2004, @juegamiri29, @minicastle, @peggycarter-steverogers, @gay-disaster826, @guitargodme, @avengers-avenging, @natashadeservedbetter2​

[hatsukeii]

𝐋𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐫

𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐨- 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟏.𝟐𝐤+

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠

“Oh my fucking god, you did WHAT?”

“Calm down, I just helped him with something after school, it’s not like I blew him off in a locker room or something, chill.”

“No! This is HUGE! You helped THE Tsukishima Kei! You know? Super rich, privileged, snobby family Tsukishima? The one whose parents pulled him out of volleyball practice once for some college tour Tsukishima Kei?”

“Wait. He’s a Tsukishima?”

At that sentence, Mai’s mouth hung open as she stared at you in disbelief. You poked at your tray of food, occasionally eyeing said boy from across the cafeteria. He was sat there, picking at what looked like a strawberry cake. Next to him, was a freckled boy. The duality in the energy between the two was almost ironic. To think that a cold, indifferent loner like Tsukishima would willingly tolerate a bubbly, enthusiastic and easily flustered boy like freckles over there, it was kind of funny to look at.

“Mai? Earth to Mai?”

“(Y/n), baby, I’m sorry but you’ve gotta be either on the bottom of the school hierarchy scale, which I’m sure you aren’t, or have been living under a rock your entire life. Do you know how many of us girls would kill to be of any use to him? He’s hot, rich, and smart, he’s Mr. Fucking Perfect!”

You took another peek towards Tsukishima. It’s only been about half a minute and he’s already got a crowd of girls surrounding his table. He continued to devour the cake, not paying any mind to the harem situation he was in. One of the girls slapped his back, causing him to jerk forward and drop the piece of cake in his fork. You stifled a tiny snicker, feeling slightly bad for him, but at the same time extremely amused by the situation.

“I know he’s all popular and stuff but it’s no big deal, he doesn’t even know who I am. I helped him out once and that’s it, he probably doesn’t even remember.”

Rapidly firing awkward hand gestures, along with excessive noises, Mai grabbed your sleeve, shooting straight up and dragging you to the girls’ restroom. Slamming the door shut, she put her two hands to her temples, rubbing circles into the two sides of her head. Her eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her eye sockets. Abruptly, she spun around to face you, almost hitting her forehead against yours. You flinched, holding out your hands protectively to shield your face as you stared at your friend in concern. She took a hold of your shoulders, looking you dead straight in the eye with unwavering determination.

“What did you help him with yesterday (Y/n)?”

“I don’t really think I’m in the position to tell you-”

“Okay but did you touch him?”

“What?”

“(Y/n), did you make contact with him or not?”

Mai’s grip on your shoulders was deathly tight. It was clear that you weren’t going anywhere until you told her what had happened the day before. Sighing to yourself, you scratched your head, surrendering to her.

“I mean I grabbed his arm and pat his back, that’s about it.”

Her hands flew straight off your shoulders and were slapped over her mouth. From looking at her cheeks, you could make out a huge smile from under her hands. A high pitched chuckle, followed by more muffled, but high pitched laughs came out of her mouth as you perked your brow in confusion.

“Oh, oh (Y/n), baby boo I’m so proud of you!”

“Wha- what the fuck are you talking about?”

“You got to touch him? Do you understand how incredibly fortunate you are?”

Cringing at her words, you slowly shook your head.

“No? I don’t?”

“Just go home later and think about it yourself, okay? God, what a lucky bitch... you’re lucky I’m your friend and the only one that knows! If any of his fangirls found out, you’d be dead by sunrise.”

Pushing you out of the restroom, she sat down at her lunch table as if the talk you guys just had never happened. However she would occasionally give you a look, before eyeing Tsukishima, who at this point was just going through his phone, then back at you again. Starting to get annoyed and quite frankly embarrassed, you slammed your hands onto the table, before grabbing your almost untouched tray of food, and throwing it out. The cafeteria stared as you stomped to your seat, grabbed your bag, and stormed out. However, apart from being embarrassed and irritated, those weren’t the main reasons why you left the cafeteria. You were guilty. You felt bad for lying. God if Mai were to ever find out you left out such a juicy detail she would absolutely kill you.

Because you still couldn’t get the thought of him out of your head.

Last night, you laid in bed trying to sleep, but so many questions were made after that encounter. Who was he? Why did that seem like the first time you had ever seen him?

It was now midnight, and you were in the exact same state as last night. Giving it a bit of thought, you realised that he was probably always here. His presence was so nonexistent to you that you never even noticed him. You would see an extra tall classmate under the tree at times, scribbling in a notebook or whatever. A tuft of blond hair amongst a sea of students during an assembly. A pair of glasses on the lab table, followed by a boy scrambling back for it. Those were the questions you had yesterday. Today, it was a whole new subtopic that opened up to you. Tsukishima Kei. That was his name.

“Tsukishima huh...”

You knew who the Tsukishimas were. Mai was right. The family was privileged and known nationwide for their extremely successful members. One of their most famous was Akiteru Tsukishima. He seemed like a modest person on TV most the time. Think about it, he has mentioned something about a brother. Maybe he was talking about Kei? Something didn’t add up for you. How was it that everyone else in his family was so famous, yet you had never heard of him before? Whipping out your phone, you searched for Mai’s contact, before sending her a text.

You- Mai

You- MAI

You- MAI REPLY RIGHT NOW ISTG

Mai🤮💕- wtf do you want you crazy ass bitch it’s midnight

You- Oi wtf go back to sleep bitchass

Mai🤮💕- wha

Mai🤮💕- wtf do you want from me woman

You- Anyways don’t take this the wrong way okay but have you ever seen Tsukishima with his family or on TV or the news or sth?

Mai🤮💕- so you’re simping

You- no<3

Mai🤮💕- To answer your question no, I haven’t. I’ve bumped into his mom and other brother at an art gallery before though, I think the woman said she didn’t know a Kei when I asked. Wack ass hoe forgetting about her own relative

You- cool thanks now go to bed bye

Setting your phone back onto the floor, you placed your hands behind your head.

“What’s up with him...?”

Panic attack at school then turns out he’s a member of some mega successful family, yet he stays unknown?

Something wasn’t adding up, and it was bugging you to no end.

Tags:

@sunshines-and-tatertots @izzyphantomgamer @tiger1719 @tiredgr3mlin @trashcanweeb @itmekisuu @fandomwriter73 @random-fandomlover @samanthaa-leanne @sneezefiction @bokutokoutarou @skyeackermans @writeiolite @ewfilthymundane @mariechan123 @saturnmoon @macaronnv @talks-a-lot-of-stuff @artsamber @kaylacinderella @agentvicinity @sakusasgarbage @tchalameme @onigirinimiya

Why are my works so short lately I hate this but I’m so tired I’m so sorry it’s really shit

[hiddennerdworld]

A New Beginning

Avengers x Reader

Warnings: A lil bit of violence, swearing, and a lot of dialogue (I’m sorry)

Note: hey this is my first writing. I hope you like it :) sorry it’s long and has a lot of talking

You’ve been working at Stark Industries for a couple months now, and it’s been a blast. At first you couldn’t believe you were going to be a lab assistant for THE Tony Stark, your hero. But now you not only consider Tony to be your boss but also kind of like a friend. Over time your job shifted from just being a lab assistant to being an assistant for the Avengers in general. It started with meeting them while testing out new equipment and then being invited to one of Tony’s wild parties where you got to know the team better. Ever since then you’ve been spending more time outside the lab and doing more tasks around the Tower: grabbing coffee for whoever doesn’t like making their own, creating schedules, keeping score during sparring matches, even helping Peter make his web fluid.

On a what seemed to be ordinary night you decided to take some work home. You had to transfer some mission paperwork into the online database. Nothing too difficult, but the office was already mainly empty, besides those who lived there, and you were exhausted. So back to your tiny New York apartment you went.

You put your key in the door and shoved it open, almost falling into the apartment. Flinging your shoes off, you let out a huge sigh. But when you go to walk towards the light switch in the kitchen, you heard footsteps behind you.

“Turn around and give me your bag. I wouldn’t want to have to hurt you.” You heard a deep ominous voice grovel behind you. Then suddenly you feel something on the back of your head.

“Is that a fucking gun?!” You thought. Now shaking, you extended your hand holding the bad out. The man quickly snatched it and started rummaging. After a few seconds the man grabs the files out the bag, throws your bag back on the ground, pushes you over, and runs out of your apartment.

“Shit... shit! Shit! Shit!” After your heart stopped pacing and your breathing relaxed, you thought about how important those files were and started to freak out again.

Before long though your landlord knocked and opened the door a little more to find you lying on the floor. “Oh my God! Y/N are you okay? I saw someone run out of here, and they didn’t seem friendly.”

“Yea I’m alright I guess. Thank you.” You gave her a small smile as she helped you off the ground.

“What happened? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Oh, um well I found the guy in here when I got home and he robbed me.” Saying it out loud didn’t even seem real.

“I’m so sorry. You’re not hurt are you? What did he take?”

“No I’m alright. He just pushed me when he left so I couldn’t chase him, no injuries. And luckily he just took some stuff from work.”

“From work? That’s a little weird. Why would he want that?”

“Well I work at Stark Industries and I’m guessing it was an enemy of his trying to get some inside info.”

Your landlord stepped back shocked, “Wait, you work for Tony Stark?!”

“The one and only,” you let out a giggle. “Yea I was surprised when I first found out too.”

“While I’m really happy for you, I don’t know if having someone like you living here is such a good idea.”

You gasped, not expecting another bombshell tonight.

“I’m so sorry, but if this is going to be a regular thing, the threat of armed men coming here trying to hurt you, then I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I can’t risk the other tennents’ safety.”

You nodded, understanding her concern. This part of the city already wasn’t the most safe place to live, but adding the possible danger of random people after Stark trying to get to you would cause a lot of worry, especially after the whole Loki incident. And you wouldn’t be able to live with yourself if one of your neighbors got hurt, or worse, because of you.

“Again I’m really sorry. I’ll give you some time to think about it.” Your landlord said patting you on the shoulder and leaving.

You didn’t even do your nightly routine. Just plopped into bed hoping that you might get a wink of sleep. Not didn’t seem likely though with the huge weight in your mind.

. . . . . . . . .

The next morning you slumped into the compound. Despite trying for what seemed like an eternity, you got maybe a half hour of sleep. You had already called in that morning saying you needed the day off, but you still needed to talk to Stark.

You got into the elevator preparing yourself to face him. *Ding* The elevator stopped and you were met with two familiar faces, Nat and Steve. Both greeted you with big smiles on their faces.

“Hey, Y/N! I thought you weren’t coming in today.” Steve said looking happy to see you.

“Yea, I thought I just needed a day off, but now I’m looking for Tony,” you answered quietly, voice still raspy, “You see him anywhere?”

“Last remember him talking about working in the lab today. Hey are you alright? You seem.. off” Nat said with a concerned look on her face as she put her hand on your shoulder.

You nodded unconvincingly and stepped off the elevator when it got to your floor. You waved goodbye and gave a tiny forced smile.

“Hey it’s Y/N!” Tony stood up from his station to greet you. “Well aren’t you just a ray of sunshine today? What happened to taking a break?”

You stared down at your feet, so nervous about what you needed to say. “About that, the break might be longer than expected.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I think I’m going to have to quit, Mr Stark. I-“

“Again, it’s Tony and sorry you’re not allowed to do that.”

“But if I don’t I’m going to be kicked out of my apartment!” You started to get louder as you were getting emotional. “Last night there was a man in my apartment and he took the files. And then my landlord found out and said it’s too dangerous for me to live there while working for you. I love working here but that’s the only place affordable for me and- and.”

Tony stopped you by grabbing your shoulders. “Okay slow your roll. Take a deep breath now.” He did an exaggerated breath while you did so. “Good, now did you see who it was?”

You shook your head. “I-I never got a look of his face. It was so dark and he was basically behind me the whole time with a gun to my head”

“Wait what?!” You heard someone call out. Turning to look at the sound you find Steve hiding in the doorway. However, it wasn’t just Steve. One by one, almost the whole team walked out.

“Nice going. Aren’t you supposed to be a super spy?” Sam said hitting him on the shoulder.

“Have you guys been there the whole time?” You ask rubbing the tears from your eyes.

“More or less.” Nat replied “Sorry, hun. Steve and I saw how weird you were being and decided to follow you off the elevator. Then everyone else decided to join in.” She said eyeing the group.

“So are you alright?” Steve stepped up and asked, looking genuinely concerned.

“Yeah I’m not hurt. I let him get the files though. I-I’m so sorry.” The tears start flowing again.

“Hey don’t worry about the stupid files.” Tony grabbed your attention again, “I just feel bad you were in that position in the first place. We’ll figure this out.”

“But, Tony I-“

“I got an idea!” He said lifting his arms up in excitement, interrupting you again. “You can live here! Boom problem solved!”

You looked up in surprise. “Wait what?! You would really let me do that. But I’m just an assistant, you don’t need to worry about me.”

“Bullshit!” Sam yelled. Everyone nodded in agreeance.

“He’s right, Y/N, to be honest I’m not sure how it happened, but seeing you work here these past 6 months, I can tell everyone has grown to need you,” Vision calmly said, “Your reliability and cheerfulness have affected us all and now we don’t want that to go away.”

“Yea, you’re like our little mascot.” Sam said making you giggle a little.

“See, kiddo. You’re an essential part of this team. You’re not gonna ditch us now are you?” Tony asked with puppy eyes. You could feel everyone else’s gazes on you also as you stated at the floor.

You sniffled and a smile started to grow on your face. “Well I guess I don’t have a choice do I?” You giggled and looked up. “I would love to stay here with you guys.”

You heard everyone cheer. All of a sudden Nat pulled you into a hug. Soon everyone else joined in too. You couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you guys.” They gave you a tight squeeze. You were ready to start life here with your new family... maybe after a nap though.

[multiharlot]

home (TLTL2) / s. reid

summary: spencer is more than determined to win back the heart of his last lover. even if it means being a little unethical. 

warnings: i dunno? i don’t think so? okay, who’re we kidding. violence. cursing. also mentions of blood.

part 1

masterlist

spencer’s pov

“i mean, what does she even see in a guy like that?” i scoff, gulping down my last bit of coffee. 

“i mean, he does look like he belongs in a calendar.” jj says, staring dreamily at the buff sheriff. 

“you’re married.” i deadpan, and she laughs softly. 

“yes, spencer. i know. thank you for reminding me.” she smiles sarcastically. 

i watch closely as he throws his head back in laughter as something the deputy said. 

“there’s something off about him. he’s too...calm.” i glare, and jj lets out another sigh. 

“spence, the only thing off about him is that he’s sleeping with the woman you’re still in love with. and i love you, i do, but if you do anything to mess this up for her, i will personally be...very angry at you.”

“what a threat.” i scoff, and she hits my shoulder lightly. 

“i’m serious. she’s finally happy and back on her feet. don’t mess that up for her because you can’t handle the idea of somebody else finally doing what you couldn’t.” jj scolds, picking up her now empty cup of coffee and walking off. 

i’ll figure you out, daniel.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

y/n’s pov

“bye park! have fun with the overnights.” i smile, patting the doctors shoulder softly. 

“oh you know i will.” he glares playfully, making me laugh. 

“have a good night.”

“you too, y/n.” he smiles, waving goodbye as i walk out of the ER doors. 

while humming a small tune, i fumble through my purse, searching for my keys. my eyebrows furrow as i realize they’re missing from my bag. 

“did i-”

“looking for these?”

my head snaps up and i see daniel, leaning against my car door with my keys in between his fingers. i hold my hand to my chest as a gasp escapes my lips. 

“jeez. you scared me.” i laugh, walking forward and wrapping my arms around his torso. 

“sorry.” he smiles, leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to my lips. 

“what’re you doing here?” i ask, pulling away from him. 

“i’m taking you home, come on.”

“in your car?” i ask, questionably glancing at the patrol car parked behind mine. 

“yeah.” he nods. 

“baby i can’t just leave my car here.” 

“except you can. just...come on.” he urgers, grabbing my bicep tightly. 

“ummm...ow. daniel, let go. i’ll just follow you and meet you at your house.”

“there’s no time for that. i have a special night plannes and i just...need you to trust me.” he pushes, and i pull my arm from his hold. 

“daniel. no. i’ll drive home first. plus, i want to change i-”

suddenly, he lifts me off the ground, his hand over my mouth. my things fall across the floor and i attempt to wiggle myself out of his hold, screaming as loudly as i could. but the sounds were muffled by his large hand. my head hits the top of the door and i’m immediately knocked cold. the last thing that registered through my mind was the sound of the seatbelt clicking and his engine revving. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

spencer’s pov

“she’s gone” daniel breathes out and he runs into the station in a panic. 

“who’s gone?” hotch questions, walking towards daniel who was currently in hysterics. 

“y/n...she’s gone. i went to the hospital to bring her her spare keys and her stuff was all over the ground and her car is still there. oh god...” daniel groans, gripping tightly at his hair. 

“hey, we’re gonna find her. don’t worry.” his deputy says, immediately coming to his side. 

“we need all units out on patrol to keep an eye out for y/n. she’s been taken from the er parking lot.” the deputy says into his radio, the feedback pouring in almost immediately. 

“you’re never going to find her.” daniel breathes out, throwing his hands down to his sides in frustration. 

my eyebrows furrow and i look over at jj, who seemed to notice the same thing i did. 

“we’ll find her, man. she was our friend once too.” morgan says, patting his back. 

“let’s head to the emergency room and check the security-”

“they don’t work. they stopped working about 5 months ago.” daniel sighs, running his hands over his face. 

“we’re going to find her, daniel. if it’s the last thing we do.” i say, staring him right in the eye. 

his right eye twitches for a moment, but he takes a deep breath, nodding his head. 

“i left everything the way it was when i found it. you guys go look...i need to go home for a minute. i...i just need a minute.” he mumbles, walking out of the station. 

hotch turns to jj, blake, and i and before he even lets out a word and i speak out. 

“he’s hiding something. he targeted us specifically when he said we were never going to find her. and on top of that, who wants to go home and rest when they’re girlfriend has just been kidnapped?” i say, everyone pauses for a moment, but by my surprise, hotch nods in agreement. 

“you, jj, and morgan follow where he’s going. have garcia track his patrol unit. blake, rossi and i will head to the hospital.” hotch nods, and we all nod our heads ready to take off before hotch grabs my arm. 

“spencer if you need to step away from this case then i understand-”

“hotch...i’m fine. i just want to save her. give me that chance.”

the three of us parked across the street from daniel’s home. as he walked in, morgan’s phone rings out. 

“whatcha got for me babygirl?”

“so, turns out, those hospital cameras don’t actually work, but they didn’t stop working 5 months ago like the sheriff originally explained. their transmission feed was cut off about an hour before y/n was scheduled to get off of work. so i logged into the daniel’s patrol unit’s gps systems, and guess where he was right as the camera’s were shut off?”

“the hospital.” i finish, morgan and jj looking between us and back towards daniel’s house. 

“alright, thanks mama.” derek sighs. 

“you guys bring her back, alright? and you tell her she still owes me a coffee.” garcia says, her frown audible in her tone. 

“over my dead body.” i mutter, as garcia hangs up the phone. 

as we’re watching the house, i squint my eyes towards his car, pointing my finger out. 

“guys is that...is that a dent above the passenger door?” i squint. 

morgan and jj leans forward, nodding their heads. 

“i- i think it’s a dent.” i say, unbuckling my seatbelt. 

“spence don’t-”

“it’s fine. just...go to the door and tell him that you want to ask him some questions about y/n and keep him occupied.” i say. 

they sigh, getting out of the car and walking with me to the door. i squat down behind his car and don’t get up until i hear the front door shut. i stand, walking over the passenger door where i look over the door. and lo and behold, there was a dent with fresh blood still on it. my breath catches in my throat as i send out a text to hotch and morgan.

there’s blood on his passenger door. it’s him. 

i wait a moment before i hear crashing from inside the house. daniel runs out the front door and morgan tackles him onto the lawn. 

“are you guys fucking serious!? my own girlfriend!? this is because of that fucking popsicle stick isn’t it? he couldn’t possibly stand the sight of her with somebody else, so he’s trying to pin this on me!” he shouts, trying to wriggle his way out of morgan’s hold. 

“we found blood on your car, dude.” morgan scoffs, ushering him into the car. 

hotch pulls up beside us, handing me a small plastic baggie with a cotton swab inside of it. i swipe the blood with the swab and stick it into the bag, handing it back to hotch. 

“...what if it’s hers?” i ask after a small moment of silence. 

“if it’s hers, then we do our jobs, and we find her.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

the interrogation was going nowhere, and the entire station was less than cooperative with us after we had brought in their own sheriff, that was, until the test results came back from the lab. 

“the blood was hers.” hotch confirms, making daniel’s deputy stare up at us with wide eyes. 

“w-what? no. that’s...he’s being framed.” he says, shaking his head. 

“deputy rivera, i understand the personal conflict with this case, but all the evidence is pointing to him. he’s been the one to find all the past victims bodies. he specifically requested for us to come and assist with this case, despite acting as though he had no idea we were the team coming in. and more than anything, he fits the profile.” hotch explains, and rivera lets a short breath fall from his lips.

“but...his own girlfriend?”

“we think that was used to taunt me. y/n and i...y/n and this whole team have a history. so we believe that he took her in order to taunt us as though he was smarter than us. one step ahead.” i say, and rivera’s eyebrows shoot up. 

“oh my god...you’re the genius ex-boyfriend. aren’t you?”

i pause for moment, before nodding my head. rivera’s eyebrows furrow before he scoffs. 

“oh my god...it’s him. it’s you.”

“me?”

“yes. well no. i- daniel hates you. and i mean...hates you. y/n used to talk about you a lot. well, she referenced you. i don’t think she did it on purpose or maliciously, but it used to make daniel so angry. and once she told him what had happened between you two-”

“when did he tell her?” blake asks, and rivera shrugs. 

“i dunno, probably about...a month or two ago.”

we all exchange looks, probably all thinking the same thing. 

“that was the trigger. he needed to channel his anger into something, so he started killing people who resembled you or maeve in some manner. wether that was intellect or looks. and now, he feels the need to prove himself. prove that he’s better than you...” rossi explains, turning back to the board.

“wait so...you think he did all of this for her?” rivera asks, still trying to get a grip on his new reality. 

“yes. and if we’re ever going to find y/n, we need your help.”

rivera nods his head, and i pace back and forth. 

“did daniel every have anywhere where he could go, other than his home? was there some place he frequented? it’s a small town, there can’t be many places to go.” i say, laying the map flat against the table. 

“not that i know of. he usually spent all of his time at home, at y/n’s place, or at the rec center.”

“rec center? what was he doing there?” i ask, marking down the locations he had just named off. 

“outreach programs” he answers quickly, and i nod my head. 

morgan quickly pulls out his phone, undoubtedly dialing garcia’s number. 

“give me somethin to do that ain’t you, sugar.”

“i need you to check through the list of kids who participate in the outreach programs at the rec center and see if their parents own any plots of land or empty buildings.” morgan says, and i hear the clicking from her keyboard through the phone. 

“okay...well, it looks like...oh.”

“oh what?” hotch asks, leaning into the phone. 

“it looks like daniel had made a...generous donation to a family about three months ago-”

“yeah. to the jackson’s. they owned a canning facility down by the wharf. they’re one of the founding families of the town, so when the recession hit, we all helped gather the funds to keep them afloat for the next few months. daniel was the one to give it to them. but after their son died, they decided to skip town and start fresh somewhere else.” rivera explains. 

“garcia we need the address for that warehouse.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

y/n’s pov

it was cold and it smelled wet. this cold metal chair was extremely uncomfortable and the rope was burning against my wrists. i groaned as i began to come to my sense, my vision flooding in little by little. i struggled against the restraints, but i couldn’t seem to pull myself out. my head still throbbing and the tears began to cascade down my face. 

“daniel?” i croak out, but nothing came in return. 

i shouted out for someone. anyone. bu no one came. a sob escaped my lips as i continued to try and pull myself out of the rope’s hold. so many thoughts ran through my head, but only one was prevalent at the front of my mind. i wanted spencer. 

“spencer...please find me.” i whimpered, as i struggled, the twine breaking into my skin. 

blood began to stain the rope as i pulled harder and harder. my wrists began to bleed heavier and that’s when i heard the sirens. 

“y/n!?”

“spencer!” i shouted as i pulled harder at the rope around my wrists. 

the door is kicked open and spencer runs in, morgan standing by the door, guns drawn. spencer fall to his knees in front of me. 

“spencer.” i sobbed as he pulled his knife out, cutting away at the thick rope. 

“you’re okay, baby. you’re okay. i got you.” he whispers. 

he cuts through the last restraint around my ankles and i throw my arms around his neck. he lets out a sigh of relief as he wraps his arms around my waist. 

“i love you. i love you so much, i never should have left. i’m so sorry.” i cried into his shoulder. 

he rubs my back softly as he calms his rapid breathing. 

“no, i’m sorry. i was too caught up in maeve and myself to focus on you. i’m so in love with you. if i had just gotten over it like i was supposed to, this would’ve never happened.” he sighs, pulling away and wiping the tears from my face. 

we stood there, looking at each other for just a moment before he places his lips on mine. the familiar bunch of butterflies erupting in my stomach as he held on tightly to my face. we pulled away, and he chuckles awkwardly. i lean my head, smiling over at dererk.

“hey derek.” i smile.

“hey mama. come on, let’s get you checked out.” derek smiles softly. 

i nod, and spencer wraps his arm around my waist, walking me out. i sat on the gurney as the paramedics disinfected and wrapped my wrists cautiously. eventually, we make our way back to the station, where i stood awkwardly as i gave the team my statement. 

“so...what happens now?” i ask, looking between the group of fairly tall individuals. 

“well, i believe you own garcia a coffee date. so we’re going to have to bring you back home with us.” spencer smiles softly, looking down at me with hopeful eyes as he intertwines my hand in his.

“home...yeah. home.”

(pls tell me if you want to be added to my taglist! i have no clue if you want to be here if you don’t say anything!)

@dreatine @slytherinintj13 @mileven-reddie @eleventhdoctorsangel

[noblest-roman-of-all]

dig your own grave

day twelve! this is kind of a loose continuation of my other fic ‘mundane’, with some added prinxiety spice!

pairings: virgil/roman, brotherly logan/virgil/janus

tw: none that i know of

One would expect that, with the level of dramatics his brothers always displayed, Logan would be used to it by a certain point. One would also expect that, after the last time one of his brothers had used their spare key to come into Logan’s house without asking and proceed to throw his life into disarray, he would change his locks. Unfortunately, one would be wrong on both accounts, as proven by the fact that Logan’s youngest brother disturbed his peaceful evening by storming into his apartment and then his bedroom, threw himself down on Logan’s bed, and then screamed for… Logan checked his watch. Twenty seconds. Logan didn’t know whether he should be concerned or impressed. When Virgil’s screaming died down to muttering, Logan cleared his throat.

“Is there something you would like to talk about, or did you run out of pillows to yell into?” Logan asked. Virgil flipped over and laid, star-fished out, staring blankly at the ceiling. 

“Please remind me to never, ever listen to Janus again. He let me dig my own grave, and for that I will never forgive him,” Virgil muttered. Logan let out an honest laugh at that. 

“I don’t know about ever again, but I will admit he can give some… questionable advice,” Logan said. Virgil lifted his head up and quirked an unimpressed eyebrow at him. He’d learned that this apparently meant something along the lines of ‘I am well aware of that by now’. 

“That doesn’t answer my question, however. Do you want to talk about it?” Logan asked. Virgil had very particular boundaries, and was rarely willing to divulge information without some serious prompting and several reassurances that it was fine for him to talk. It seemed this evening, however, was one of the rare exceptions. 

“It’s- there’s a- there’s a lot to it,” Virgil stuttered out. “There’s a boy.” Oh, now this was interesting. Logan wasn’t overly involved in his brothers’ love lives, but whenever they did come to him, it was always at a tipping point of something serious. Logan leaned forward slightly, and silently prayed his face was appropriately sympathetic and not overtly curious. It didn’t seem to matter, as Virgil continued his rant looking directly at the stars painted across the ceiling. 

“He’s in my Intro to Psychology class, and he’s so…” Virgil trailed off, seemingly at a loss for words. Logan nodded in a way he hoped was encouraging, his mind filling in all sorts of ridiculous synonyms for ‘attractive’ Virgil might be searching for. A moment passed and Virgil still hadn’t spoken up, so Logan cleared his throat again. 

“So what?” Dammit, he couldn’t keep the slightly teasing edge out of his voice. Virgil didn’t seem to pick up on it though, pulling at his hair in aggravation. 

“So… fucking annoying!” 

Well. That’s not where he saw this going at all. 

“He’s so full of himself!” Virgil continued his tirade. “He thinks he’s so cool because he’s in the theater program, and he’s in this club and that program and blah blah blah.” He threw his hands up in exasperation. “He sings, Logan! Constantly! Any time I see him on campus, he’s singing show tunes and Disney songs and- ugh!” His hands fell back to his side. Logan couldn’t hold in his chuckle after a moment. Virgil shot him a glare. 

“What’s so funny?” he grumbled. Logan collected himself, though he couldn’t hide his smile even if he tried. 

“Virgil, do you realize that you’re being somewhat… hypocritical?” Virgil actually gasped at the accusation. 

“I don’t know what the hell you mean,” he said. Logan laughed again. 

“You complained about him singing on campus, specifically Disney songs, but how often have I caught you walking around singing songs from ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’?” Virgil spluttered out a defense, but Logan wasn’t done yet. “Besides, just because someone is more willing to share information about their life and activities than you are doesn’t mean they are full of themselves.” Virgil glared again, and then slumped back down. 

“That’s what Janus said,” he groaned. Logan suddenly remembered what Virgil first said when he burst in. 

“What else did Janus say?” Logan asked. Apparently it wasn’t the question Virgil wanted, as he groaned again and hid behind his hoodie sleeves. 

“He said that the guy wanted to be friends, and the next time I saw him I should talk about some common interests or some bullshit. So when he came up to me in class I tried to come up with something, but I panicked and started blabbing about the class and psychology stuff and he didn’t say anything for a while and when I finally managed to shut up he just kinda smiled and left, so now he totally thinks I’m crazy and Janus was wrong and also I’m an idiot,” Virgil finished with a huff, the last sentence coming out all on the same breath. Logan was pretty sure Virgil wasn’t near a panic attack, but he certainly seemed to be spiralling, so he walked slowly towards the bed and sat down. 

“Virgil, listen to me, okay?” Virgil gave a small nod. “You’re not an idiot, and you don’t know that he thinks you’re ‘crazy’,” Logan said, with finger quotes emphasizing the word ‘crazy’. Virgil huffed a laugh at the gesture. 

“Janus could have been right. I’m not going to guarantee that he was, but it’s possible. A person sharing their interests with you is usually an indication they want you to know about their life, and they often want to know about your life in turn. It’s an easy way to start a conversation for some people,” Logan said. He heard Virgil mutter under his breath, “yeah, some people”, and couldn’t not laugh. 

“Even if it is true that he wasn’t trying to befriend you, or that he was and you somehow scared him off, why should it hold such importance in your mind? You said earlier you found him annoying more than anything else,” Logan said. Virgil stared at him for a long moment, then back up at the ceiling. 

“I don’t know. He’s just… he’s just kinda become a part of the routine of life, you know? And even as aggravating as he can be, it’s still nice to see him, and sometimes he actually does make funny jokes, and he’s the only one in class I can really snipe at, and he snipes right back at me, and even though him singing all the time gets really tiring he has a pretty nice voice, and-” Virgil shot up suddenly. 

“Oh no. Oh shit shit fucking shit I like him,” Virgil cursed. “I fucking like him and I’ve been such a dick to him and god dammit I really did dig my own fucking grave on this, how the fuck am I going to get him to even look at me now.” Virgil spent the rest of the evening at Logan’s apartment, eventually going home after tearing through some Thai food they had delivered. Logan expected he would hear more about it either from Virgil within a month, or Janus within a week. 

The next day, Logan stopped by the bookshop that was along his route from his new apprenticeship at the nearest tech lab to his apartment. No one was inside except the clerk who was there most often, a very loud, flamboyant man named Roman whom Logan had somehow become friends with through his many times coming to this store. Roman walked with him through the store as they traded stories about what was going on in their lives, how Logan’s new job was going (perfectly fine, thank you Roman), how the auditions went for the play at the local college Roman was attending (it went wonderfully, of course), and as they headed back to the register, Logan asked about the boy Roman had been mentioning off and on the past few weeks. 

“I’m afraid to inform you that it may be approaching a disastrous ending,” Roman sighed, scanning the books without even looking. “He finally spoke to me, but it was all about school. I may just have to accept that he isn’t interested.” The forlorn look was a bit ridiculous, but the dejection in Roman’s voice threw him off balance. 

“I wouldn’t give up too soon, Roman. It’s possible he simply isn’t great at picking up on social cues. My brother is much like that-” Logan fully intended on finishing his statement, but the realization hit him like a bus. 

Of course two of the most dramatic, absurd people in his life would find each other and immediately become infatuated. Logan had half a mind to tell Roman right then, but… a voice all too similar to Janus’s told him that it would be so much more interesting if he simply sat back and observed. 

Maybe he was digging his own grave here as well, but he could probably dig his way out of it if need be.