#I remember being taken into this little store as a super young kid that had you know like Stuff and collectibles | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

queen-of-writing-bad-things · 11 months ago

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Henry Danger Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 1

Episode 17: Caved In

~Junk-N-Stuff~

Schwoz and Gooch were making a beeline for the entrance of Junk-N-Stuff. The sooner they could get out, the fewer questions they would have to answer. However, they couldn't escape the eager confusion of Henry and (y/n).

"Wha--wait! Gooch, Schwoz, don't leave!" Henry called out, as he and (y/n) were carrying boxes from the back of the store.

"We need to cheer Ray up! Oh yeah, just run away!" The young woman yelled at them, but they ignored her and shot straight past Charlotte, who was reporting for work.

"Oh, come on, guys, you won't even look at us?" Henry shouted at the two fleeing men. He and his female boss angrily put down the boxes of junk as Charlotte came over to them.

"What are Gooch and Schwoz running from?" She asked, (y/n) putting her hands on her hips and sighing.

"Ray. He's in a really crap mood." She told the girl, scrubbing her face with her palm.

"'Cause, it's his super anniversary," Henery explained, Ray's crabby attitude had been rubbing off on him all morning.

"Super..." The dark-haired girl trailed off, needing a few more details to complete her mental picture.

"The anniversary of when he was eight years old, when he got densitised and became indestructible." The boy carried on, helping the woman sort out the various stuff that needed putting on the shelves.

Ooh, fun. We should celebrate." Charlotte smiled, thinking that a party for her boss would be fun. However, (y/n) paled at the idea, remembering how her own attempts at funning up Ray's super anniversary had fallen flat.

"No!" She shot down the notion.

"I mean 'no'." The girl quickly changed her answer, seeing how the woman freaked out at the word 'celebrating'.

"But, why not?" Charlotte was too curious to just leave it there.

"Ray hates his super anniversary," Henry said for (y/n), whose face was lacking her usual smile.

"Why?" The girl asked again.

"Because when Ray's dad realised he was indestructible, he took him out of school and started training him to, y'know, kick-ass and fight crime." (y/n) told her, Charlotte looking through her junk box and picking up an orange mask.

"Yeah." The girl said, indicating that she was still listening despite her newfound interest in the bizarre artefact.

"And now he feels like he missed out on all the fun of being a normal kid." Henry finished, a mannequin's head in his hand, which he went to put on sale.

"Aw, that's so sad." Charlotte sympathised with Ray, knowing that being taken from his childhood must have deeply affected the man.

"Yeah, he's never been camping, or been on a rollercoaster. He can't even ride a bike." (y/n) told them sadly, thinking about how misty-eyed Ray got when she spoke about all the awesome things she got up to as a kid and teen.

"Hmm. My uncle Rosco never learned how to ride a bike." The younger girl mentioned her infamous uncle.

"How come?" Her blond friend asked.

"Because when he was a kid, he already weighed 400 pounds. The bikes just couldn't take it." Charlotte told them, her head shaking as (y/n)'s and Henry's faces thought about all the squashed bikes the man must have destroyed.

"Poor bikes," Henry noted. (y/n) returned to her shelf-stacking, the gentle dingle of the door's bell drawing her attention as someone came in. It was a little girl, around the age of Henry's sister, so she left the boy to deal with her.

"Hey. Need some help?" The teen boy smiled at the girl, putting his excellent customer skills to use.

"I was just wondering if I could try out that piano over there." The small girl asked politely, so Henry and Charlotte looked at (y/n) for permission. She was the nearest source of authority in the shop when Gooch or Ray wasn't around.

"Sure, knock yourself out, sweetie." She said over her shoulder, so the girl skipped over to the instrument and began to play. Her musical talent was clear and a soft melody filled the shop.

"Oh, will you help me organise these bamboo--" Charlotte tried to ask Henry, but Ray came storming out of the back, shouting about the piano playing.

"Hey, hey, hey. What's all the racket out here?" He stomped into the room, his face twisted into a frown. (y/n) gulped; his bad moods tended to send her nervous nature into overdrive.

"Uh, oh it's just a customer checking out the piano," Henry explained calmly, but on that day, the superhero was anything but calm.

"Hey. Hey, you!" Ray yelled at the little girl, making his best friend flinch slightly and slowly turn around from the shelf. She watched as the child stopped her lovely tune and spun around sharply.

"Haven't you learned how to play that crummy song yet?" He snapped, making the girl's face crumple in sadness. She ran out of the store in tears, making the other three in the shop look at Ray in shock and anger.

"Raymond!" (y/n) scolded him, but she could see how he had instantly regretted his words.

"Must you torture the children?" Charlotte asked him frostily. The kids hadn't seen the remorse cross his features.

"Ah, just forget everything." The man shrugged off their comments, feeling too upset to take any criticism.

"Stupid super anniversary. This nob is still loose!" He trudged towards the elevator and put his hand on an ornament on a side table, but to his surprise, it wasn't nailed down and he picked it up as he walked past. He slammed it back down, and marched back down to the Man Cave, muttering furiously as he left.

"Well, I see why Gooch and Schwoz got out of here," Charlotte stated, her eyes wide at Ray's outburst.

"I know, right? (y/n), how come you stay?" Henry questioned, even though he already had an idea why she stayed.

"He's upset. And if I go, he'll be all alone." She said in a small voice. She had contemplated giving him some space in the second year she had worked for him. One morning, she left to go to a friend's apartment in downtown Swellview, but on her return, she found him in a depressed state. Ray had clung to her like never before, realising that he craved her presence like a soothing balm for his wounds.

"You mean, you're the only one he likes to have around?" Charlotte smirked at her, causing the older woman to blush. However, before she could say something back, the door's bell rang again, and this time, the customer was an elderly gentleman.

"Excuse me kids, ma'am, I left eight thousand dollars in a rolled-up newspaper. Have you seen it!?" The old man asked them urgently. (y/n) looked at him with a stunned expression.

'Who the hell leaves eight thousand dollars lying around?' She wondered.

"No."

"Sorry." Henry and Charlotte said to him, knowing that they'd have definitely remembered picking up eight thousand bucks somewhere in the store.

"Oh no!" The man cried and bumbled back out of the shock. The kids and (y/n) looked at each other with puzzled faces. There was never a normal day at Junk-N-Stuff.

"Can you believe that?" Charlotte exclaimed.

"No," Henry replied, making the older woman next to him nod in agreement.

"I know right, who would be that stupid to leave eight grand in a newspaper?" She giggled, but Henry's face implied that they weren't on the same page.

"No, I mean, who still reads newspapers?" The boy asked rhetorically. (y/n) raised an eyebrow at him, since he had made her feel really old.

"All right, whippersnapper, back to work." She prodded him with a weird old flute, which made the teens laugh at each other and carry on working.

~The Man Cave~

Henry and Charlotte had come up with a wonderful idea and using their excellent persuasion skills, they had finally gotten (y/n) on board. They figured that since Ray had missed out on all the fun parts of being a kid, they would cram them all into one exhilarating weekend. Of course, (y/n) had financed it, but the teens had come up with most of it by themselves. The older woman couldn't help but grow teary-eyed at how much effort they had put into setting up the Man Cave, and all they had to do now was get Ray in there.

(y/n) had cunningly sent him out of their hideout to give the kids the opportunity to get everything ready, and even though he threw tantrum at the idea of leaving his cosy headquarters, the old puppy-dog eyes still held their charm. The three of them were now helping their boss into the elevator, a blindfold tied securely around his head.

"What is all this?" Ray asked in an annoyed tone, but (y/n) squeezed his hand and he cheered up slightly.

"Stop being so grumpy." She told him, and she braced herself for the dropdown. Henry and Charlotte screamed until they hit the bottom but quickly got back on their feet so they could help (y/n) guide Ray into the Man Cave.

"Can I take the blindfold off now?" He asked, clutching his best friends hand since he couldn't see anything.

"No," Charlotte told him firmly from his right side. The last thing she wanted was for the surprise to be ruined.

"But I can't see anything," Ray whined, Henry guiding his shoulders into the right place.

"That's the whole point of a blindfold, doofus." (y/n) bantered, letting go of him so the two teens go put them where they wanted. His hand immediately missed her own warm fingers, so it waved around madly, looking to find where she had gone.

"Be careful." The woman warned Henry and Charlotte, thinking about how Ray was putting all his trust into them to shepherd him.

"Don't worry." The young girl reassured her, knowing how protective she got over him.

"We're not going to fall," Henry added too, but they hadn't noticed that in their rush to get ready, they had left a skateboard lying around on the floor.

"Can't I just--Aah!" Ray screamed as he stepped onto the board, and ended up slipping backwards. He landed on the hard, cold floor with a thump and a groan, making his best friend rush over to him in worry.

"Oh my god, Ray." She helped him up, as Henry and Charlotte were angrily whispering at each other in regards to who was to blame.

"So this is the surprise? You guys blindfold me and try to kill me?" The man snapped, gradually getting up with the help from the pretty girl beside him. His cross tone made her stomach twist in guilt and reminded her of how a teacher sounds when they're furious with a student.

"Sorry, our bad." The kids apologised, also wearing shamed faces as (y/n) steadied the man.

"I should've helped them, it was my fault." She spoke quietly and patted his arm gently. He sensed her uncertainty and sadness and knew that he had been the one to bring it out, so he took her hand in his again, a silent reminder that he never meant to make her upset.

"All right, Ray," Henry called out to him, signalling to (y/n) that it was her cue to show what they'd put together.

"Whip off that blindfold, (y/n)!" The woman did as she was told, and yanked the red bandanna from his eyes.

"Happy Super Anniversary!!" The three shouted together, watching with happiness as Ray took in everything they had arranged. Only, his face wasn't as happy as they had imagined it would be. They looked at him expectantly but still found no reaction. (y/n)'s nerves were starting to whiz around in her stomach, making her question whether they had done the right thing.

"I don't get it," Ray stated in a dull tone and (y/n) was really glad he was still holding her hand since she was sure it would still be shaking like the other one.

"You are going to have the ultimate kid's weekend of fun." Charlotte filled in the gaps for him, but the superhero still wasn't understanding what they were saying. No one had ever done something for his densitisation day, so this was all pretty new to him.

"What? What are you guys talking about?" The man asked.

"Since you missed out on being a real kid..." Henry started.

"This weekend we're going to do all the fun kid stuff you missed out on." Charlotte finished, her explanation causing Ray to look back and forth between the kids and (y/n) with growing excitement in his eyes.

"What? Really?" He asked incredulously.

"Yeah!" Charlotte smiled at his enthusiasm.

"We've got camping equipment, tickets to Six Poles Over Swellview, this cool new bike." (y/n) pointed out the stuff around the room, and Ray wandered over to the red bicycle in a puzzled, but touched mood.

"Whoa. Hold up. I don't know how to ride a bike." He said to his friends in a sad voice, thinking that he must be the only person in the world who never got to ride a bike as a kid.

"We know. (y/n) told us." Henry said to him, making her swallow as he studied her nervous behaviour.

"So, we're gonna teach you." Charlotte continued and Ray felt like crying at how much they cared about him.

"Honest?" He grinned, his smile instantly dissolving his friend's worries like usual. His smile was her antidote, and it settled all those anxious butterflies that lived in her tummy.

"Yeah." Henry laughed at his sudden mood changed, glad that the normal Ray was coming back to them.

"Hey, you even got us matching t-shirts!" The smiley man pointed at several colourful shirts hung up on a rack, each one printed with the phrase, 'Ray's weekend of fum!'

Henry showed him a red shirt, and (y/n)'s eyes widened slightly at the typo.

"Fum?" She gave the teens a pointed look, remembering that it was their job to get them.

"Sorry, the t-shirt store messed up," Charlotte said sheepishly, but Ray was too grateful to let a small detail ruin what they'd done for him.

"Oh, okay. But why are there six t-shirts?" He asked, wondering who the extra two people were. There was himself, (y/n), Henry, Charlotte...it couldn't be Gooch or Schwoz since they had scarpered the minute he became moody.

"Tell Ray who's coming." Henry passed the responsibility of giving him the bad news to Charlotte, who also didn't want to tell him, so (y/n) jumped in for them.

"It's the bucket kid and Henry's little sister, Piper." She looked up at him and cringed a little as his face screwed up in annoyance.

"Aw, no, why?" He asked, the idea of having a day out with the strange kid and bratty child didn't appeal to him.

"Well, Piper sprained her ankle," Henry explained, but it didn't sink in with Ray since he had no ideas about how theme parks work since he had never been to one.

"So?" He looked to his helper for answers, and like usual, she had them.

"She's on crutches, which means when we get to Six Poles, we can jump the queues because we have a crippled person with us." She smirked at him, and he put an arm around her shoulders as they revelled in her deviance.

"Ah, and why are we bringing your bucket-loving friend with the sweaty hands?" This time, he asked Henry, who rolled his eyes at how charming he was being about Jasper.

"Because that's Jasper's camping stuff," Charlotte answered first, glancing at how the two adults had instinctively drifted towards each other until they were practically joined at the hip.

"And when you get to know him, he's a lot of fum." His jokes made Ray chuckle, which in turn, brightened (y/n)'s mood too.

"Come on, put on your t-shirt and let the fum begin!" She smiled up at him, and he brought her even closer to his chest, whilst also putting a hand on Henry's shoulder.

"You know, you guys are really sweet to do this for me." He said softly. He felt like he had found his own little family amongst them, and it made his heart soar.

"Well, I just paid for the stuff, those two were the masterminds behind it." (y/n) told him, smiling at the kids, who blushed under her proud smile. Ray got the feeling that she was being too modest, so he kissed the top of her head to let her know she was appreciated just as much as Henry and Charlotte.

"Is it really time to put on my special t-shirt?" He squealed impatiently at the kids, as the woman next to him tried to hide her reaction.

"Sure, get in there." They nodded at him, and he ran to grab a t-shirt and go change. A buzzer sounded throughout the Man Cave as he ran off, making the kids look around in confusion.

"Someone's ringing the bell upstairs," Charlotte commented, recognising the noise.

"I'll check it." (y/n) nodded at her, jogging over to the supercomputer to see who had just walked into Junk-N-Stuff. Pressing the button, the outside camera showed the front door to the store. Jasper was stood looking at the camera happily, as a touchy Piper balanced on her crutches next to him.

"Oh, it's your bucket friend and Piper, I'll let them." She mumbled to Henry, who had walked over with her. She pressed the door release button on the control panel, unlocking the store for the kids.

Seeing them both enter Junk-N-Stuff, (y/n), Henry and Charlotte turned around to see Ray struggling to fit his red 'weekend of fum!' shirt over his large torso. He tugged the material further down his chest, but it was simply too small and wouldn't stretch. (y/n) gulped at the sight of his chiselled Adonis belt and took a moment to appreciate how all his working out gave him a great body. 'Stop it, filthy girl.' She scolded herself, slapping herself mentally at how she was openly thinking about him like that.

"This one might be Piper's." He said slowly, realising that he'd picked up a child's t-shirt.

"Doofus, this one's yours." (y/n) shook off her aneurysm and threw the man a yellow t-shirt, that she had ordered in a large. That should definitely fit his beefy arms and muscled chest.

"Thanks, helper." He smiled at her sweetly, trying to get on her good side.

"Stop crawling and go change." She rolled her eyes as he gave her a salute and marched off to a back room.

~Meanwhile, up in Junk-N-Stuff~

Jasper and Piper entered the store and looked around for their fellow teens, or at least the adults who owned the place. However, there was no sign of anyone.

"Move, I'm injured." Piper shoved him out of her way so she could hobble past.

"Pushy," Jasper said back, before taking a look around the wacky junk on sale.

"Hey, Henry, where are ya?" He called out, but he got no answer.

"Hurry up!" The little girl yelled too, her sore ankle putting her in an even tetchier mood.

"You know, one day I would love to have my own store." The curly-haired boy said from behind the counter, but Piper wasn't one for listening to Jasper's pondering.

"Yawn." She rolled her eyes, thinking that the sooner Henry and his friends came, the better. Jasper looked around the cash register and noticed a series of controls on the side of the counter.

"Hey, there's a bunch of switches back here. This one says 'Dinosaur flames'." He said to Piper, his curiosity getting the better of him. He flicked the switch and marvelled at how the fire came out of the dinosaur's mouth and smoke came out of its nostrils.

"Yeah, I did that!" He smiled in excitement, even though he knew he shouldn't be messing with stuff like that.

"Yeah, you're a big boy now." Piper mocked him, stumbling over to him a bit on her crutches.

"Ooh, this one says 'release drum set'. I wonder what that does." Jasper pressed the next button, and this time, a drum kit fell from the ceiling and almost squashed Henry's sister. She quickly dashed out of the way, and narrowly escaped serious injury.

"You almost dropped an entire drum set on my head!" The little girl screamed at the paling boy, who gulped at her anger.

"Not an entire drum set. I didn't see any cymbals." The teen boy pointed out, but then as soon as he said that, a pair of symbols came crashing down too.

"Weird. This one says 'emergency lockdown'. Hmm." Now, Jasper wasn't the smartest kid in the world, so the term 'emergency' didn't carry much water with him. Piper, however, had a gut feeling that the switch was bad news and quickly stopped him before he could cause another problem.

"Don't flip that lever." She warned him, knowing that something bad would happen if he did.

"Hey, I'm the big boy here," Jasper smirked at her, thinking that he knew best. As soon as he switched the lever, a red, flashing alarm sounded throughout the store, and the door and windows were sealed.

~Down in the Man Cave~

The same alarm from upstairs rang in the hideout too, shocking everyone inside it, especially Ray and (y/n).

"What's going on?" Henry asked as he and Charlotte covered their ears from the deafening buzzing of the siren.

"I don't know, but I hope it's not what I think it is!" Ray replied as he and (y/n) ran over to the computer to figure out what was happening. She tapped a few buttons, opening some of the lockdown controls.

~Back upstairs~

"What did you do?!" Piper yelled at Jasper over the alarm, panicking at the situation she found herself in thanks to the idiotic boy.

"I flipped the lever!" He cried, knowing that he had majorly screwed up.

"Well, I told you not to flip the lever!" The little girl argued.

"I should've listened!" The boy agreed, as he too started to panic.

~Back in the Man Cave~

"Which one is it?" Ray asked his helper, as he tried to turn the red lights and noise off.

"Ahh, there." (y/n) tapped a button and finally gave their ears a break. The teens sighed at the quietness.

"What happened?" Henry asked, having never experienced that before.

"Go see if the elevator works," Ray instructed him, a sinking feeling settling in his abdomen, as (y/n) tried to override the lockdown.

"Come on, you damn thing." She muttered to herself, as Henry and Charlotte ran to the elevator. The girl reached for the button, but when it came into contact with it, she was met with a nasty electric jolt.

"Ow! The button shocked me!" She yelped, standing back from the button and blowing her fingers.

"Ha, no way." Henry didn't believe her, so he tried the button himself, only to receive the same sting on his fingertips.

"Ow! The button shocked me!" He whined the same words as Charlotte, so they looked back at Ray for answers.

"Henry, try the big sprocket. Charlotte, go see if the secret door opens." He told them, so they ran to do as he said. However, they all met in the middle, so there was a brief struggle as Ray sprinted to check if the tubes were working.

Charlotte thumped her hand against the door's buttons, but it wouldn't open, making (y/n) glance at it in worry. Similarly, Henry spammed his remote control at the sprocket to see if he could get it to open, but he had no luck.

"Ah, it won't go up!" He groaned as Charlotte struggled too.

"Why won't this door open?" She tried pushing it with her back, but it was locked tight. Ray repeatedly tried his remote on the tubes, but like everything else, they were on lockdown.

"What? The tube's not working either?" Henry asked, starting to feel worried that they couldn't get out. The woman at the computer kicked the machine she was using and flopped down into the chair with a frustrated groan.

"Nothing's gonna open. We're on emergency lockdown." She grumbled whilst Ray walked away from the tubes.

"What does that mean?" Charlotte questioned, although she had an inkling that it was something very, very bad.

"It's part of our security system," Ray explained, as (y/n) stood up from the computer area and walked over to where they were stood in the middle of the Man Cave.

"If some criminal finds out that Captain Man works down here and tries to force his way in, Gooch can flip a switch upstairs and lock the whole place down." He continued, as the young woman chewed over his words.

"But the only people upstairs right now are Henry's sister and..." (y/n) started, but then the penny dropped for Henry and Charlotte. There was only one kid dumb enough to pull a switch that said 'emergency lockdown'.

"Jasper!" They groaned together, knowing that he couldn't resist touching things that were dangerous or off-limits.

"Oh my god." (y/n) dropped her head against Ray's arm, as she cursed into the yellow fabric of his shirt. Ray rubbed his face with his hand, as Henry pulled out his phone.

"Who are you calling?" Charlotte asked him, as he swiped through his contacts.

"Jasper, to let him know to flip--" Henry tried to say, but an irritated Ray interrupted him.

"Nope." He said in a short, curt voice.

"What?" Henry asked, not understanding why he was so angry.

"Emergency lockdown mode blocks out all transmitters and receivers, including cell phones." He grumbled with a sigh.

"Which means we are totally screwed." (y/n) complained, as she and Ray walked to the headquarters' controls to see if they could get the doors to open. Henry and Charlotte wandered around too, although there wasn't much they could do to help. The blow boy could only imagine what Piper was going through with no signal.

"Can't you cancel the lockdown?" Henry asked them from his place on the stairs, watching as Ray jammed some buttons.

"Argh, no. (y/n/n), any luck?" He called out to the young woman, who was kicking the computer again.

"No, looks like we're stuck here for 48 hours." She said in a tired voice. She felt like she could cry, knowing that everything they had planned was going down the drain.

"That's two days," Charlotte said in disbelief.

"Wow, I didn't know you were good at math, Charlotte." The woman said sarcastically, even though she didn't mean to bring out her bitterness onto the girl. She stood up and went to one of the camping chairs to sulk.

"Well, I don't get why we can't just--" Henry tried to say, but Ray was too upset at the thought of losing his weekend to answer silly questions.

"Listen. The lockdown is on a timer. Once you flip that switch, this whole place is like a bank vault. Sealed tight." He said, going to the sad girl on camping chairs.

"Nobody gets in, nobody gets out. And no one can change that." She muttered as Ray flopped down into the blue chair next to her.

"Except for Schwoz, and he's with Gooch in Palm Springs." The large man said bitterly, recalling how his all of friends bailed on him. Well, all of them apart from one sweet girl who always wanted the best for him.

"So, upstairs, Junk-N-Stuff is on lockdown too?" Henry asked as he started to worry about the two kids up there.

"Yep." (y/n) lifted one of her legs over the arm of her chair and slumped back in an irked tantrum. She folded her arms and let a scowl settle on her face as she thought about everything that was going wrong for them.

"Which means Jasper and Piper and trapped up there together." Charlotte realised, knowing that the two did not get on, even on the best of days.

"Oh my god." Henry's face went pale at the thought of them having to spend two whole days together. Ray shot up from his camping chair and dragged (y/n) from hers to the computer so they could see the cameras were still working. The teens ran over, as the young woman managed to get the link open.

They watched as the little girl chased Jasper around the store with one of her crutches, furious at the mess he had put them in.

"This is your fault!" They heard her shout, as the teen boy ran for his life.

"I didn't know!" He yelled back, but his words didn't calm Piper down, in fact, they seemed to anger her more.

"You've ruined everything!" She seethed, as the people downstairs watched in horror.

"Yeah, the bucket kid's gonna die." (y/n) said, as Ray looked back at the teens behind them, wondering why they had to bring them into his store.

"There must be something we can do." Charlotte insisted, theorising that Schwoz and Gooch must have installed a fail-safe or something.

"(y/n), you have all the technical knowledge about this place." Ray placed a hand on her shoulder, making her think about what possible use she could be.

"You mean, I know how to clean this place and do your laundry." She sulked, still not happy about what had happened.

"Come on, you know loads about the machines in here, I bet you can do something." Henry encouraged her, which made a smile twinge on her lips. It was nice to know they had faith in her even when she didn't.

"Come on, clever girl," Ray murmured into her ear and maybe it was the need to impress him or the amount of blood rushing to her face, but an idea popped into her head.

"I guess I could try to jump-start a tube." She said in an unsure voice, but her suggestion was good enough for Ray, who pulled her to her feet.

"Great, then what's we'll do." He smiled at her, knowing that she was their only shot at getting out of there early.

"I don't even know if it'll work." She didn't want to get his hopes up, but she'd give it a go for him. She'd do anything for him.

"What do you need?" Charlotte asked, ready to help too.

"Um, jump cables, wire, a shit ton of batteries, and my toolkit." She said, listing all the things she knew were in the Man Cave's main room that she could use. The woman bit her lip as she went to examine the tube's controls, her heart jumping at how complicated they were, but she put on her brave face and got to work.

"And just one more battery to connect." (y/n) clipped a cable to one of the power packs they had found. It had been a long process, and she'd received numerous electric zaps from the batteries, but she had finally gotten to a stage where she thought it might work.

"Okay, the panel's all set," Henry reported to her, as Ray helped her assembled the last circuit. He didn't want her poor fingers to get fried anymore, and she was worth the pain he worked through to connect everything together.

"Good. Now hopefully these batteries will produce enough power to one tube working so we can get out of here." Ray explained the theory as Henry set the tube up. (y/n) crossed her fingers and toes in preparation for the test.

"Who's going up the tube?" The teen boy asked.

"It has to be Charlotte." The woman answered him, as she and Ray secured a large power cable.

"Why?" Henry questioned, the equations not making sense in his head.

"Because we have next to no power and she's the lightest." (y/n) could've gone into all the sciencey math and physics of the problem, but she didn't have the time.

"Yeah. Chubby." Charlotte joked as she jokingly patted Henry's stomach. The boy lifted his shirt to look at it, thinking that he wasn't chubby in the slightest.

"Okay, Charlotte, get up there." Ray pointed to one of the tube spots as he and his best friend dashed to the controls.

"You don't have to tell me twice." The girl hurried to her position and got ready to take off.

"You better come back for us," Henry told her.

"And bring a pizza," Ray added, feeling pretty hungry after all their work.

"A big pizza." (y/n) agreed with him, but she was still worried it wouldn't work.

"Let's just get me outta here first." Charlotte scolded them.

"Stand by," Ray said, as (y/n) fired up the power and a tube came down very slowly. She gulped at the dim lights that flickered in the Man Cave and she knew that they didn't have much time left.

"Good, now go for it!" She instructed Charlotte, who followed her direction and was gently sucked up by less than half the normal suction.

"Increase suckage!" Henry told the adults as they watched her feet dangle in the tube.

"Increasing suckage!" Ray turned the power up to full, and for a moment, they thought they had done it. Charlotte went up the tube and they all started clapping and laughing from their success.

"It worked, you clever girl!" Ray swept (y/n) into a tight embrace, as she basked in his praise. They let go of each other and Ray and Henry did their handshake.

"Boom!" They said, but at the same, the circuit began to overload and spark, scaring them half to death. (y/n) jumped in front of Henry, not wanting him to get hurt, so Ray stood in front of her too as they all kept screaming. Charlotte fell out of the tube and landed in a heap on the floor.

"You didn't get the big pizza?" Henry joked sadly, as (y/n) looked down in shame at her failure. Not such a clever girl after all.

"No, I didn't get the big pizza!" The girl snapped back, her legs aching from the fall. She walked over to the computer and opened the camera to see what Jasper and Piper were up to.

Meanwhile, (y/n) went to sit quietly on the steps near the sprocket, so she could be alone for a while. She sniffed at how she'd let everyone down, especially Ray. The woman glanced over at her best friend and saw him slouched over the tube's makeshift control panel. His face was so glum, it made her chest feel like it had been ripped open. This was meant to be his weekend where he could relive the childhood he never got, but now she was useless to him, and it made her feel even worse.

"We all better get out of here before those two kill each other," Charlotte said, having just watched Piper and Jasper argue about the lack of phone signal and food upstairs.

"They won't kill each other. She'll kill him." Henry corrected her, knowing that his sister was vicious when it came to having no access to the internet. Ray sighed and flicked the dead power lever, as he thought about how crummy this day always was.

"I knew I never should've got excited about my dumb super anniversary." He grumbled, his dejected expression making (y/n) feel even worse as she watched him from the stairs

"Hey. I'm really sorry Jasper got us trapped down here." Charlotte apologised, even though it wasn't her fault.

"And ruined the weekend of fun we had planned for you," Henry added in, as Ray stood up and walked over to them.

"It's not you guys' fault. My super anniversary is cursed." He complained, hating the day even more.

"Hey. Maybe the weekend's not ruined." Henry piped up, an idea formulating in his mind. (y/n) studied him, seeing how his eyes were bright from whatever he had just thought about.

"What do you mean?" She asked in a quiet voice, reminding everyone of her presence. She knew how to lay low when she wanted to be left alone.

"All the stuff we planned for your super anniversary can still happen right here in the Man Cave." The sidekick exclaimed, but no one was following.

"No, it can't." Ray protested.

"Hate to break it to you, Hen, but we ain't got no rollercoasters down here. Trust me, I've checked." (y/n) added, her normal optimism struggling to get over her disappointment.

"What are you saying?" Charlotte asked. Even she was confused about what Henry was getting at.

"Words! We got all this cool stuff we brought and there's other junk around here we can use." Henry started to explain, looking around at the bike and the tents with a determined excitement. They were going to have a good time, even if it killed him.

"Kid--" Ray tried to calm him down, not wanting to get all giddy over his 'cursed' anniversary.

"We can still go camping, just indoors. There's even enough room down here to teach Ray how to ride a bike." Henry grinned at them all, and Charlotte got on board with what he was saying.

"His enthusiasm's infectious." She pointed out to Ray.

"What do you say, Ray?" The boy smiled at his boss, who looked at his helper who was too bust fiddling with her sleeve to notice his gaze.

"I say...let's have some fum!" He said, grabbing the t-shirts and waving them in front of the kids. They squealed in excitement, but the woman on the stairs watched on without saying a word. Charlotte noticed her depressed demeanour and pulled Ray to the side as Henry went to change his clothes.

"Talk to (y/n) while we're gone." She hissed into his ear and he knew that she was disappointed in herself.

"Right, yeah. You go get changed, I'll get her smiling again." He nodded at her words, and she left to go to a back room.

Ray made his way over to the stairs and stood at the bottom of them, analysing all of (y/n)'s nervous habits. The way she played with her sleeve or her hair, how she bit her lip or blinked too fast. He picked them up through the years and even though she didn't know it, he could read her like an open book.

"Hey." He greeted her, but she didn't meet his gaze.

"Hi." Her voice was quiet but steady, so he knew she wasn't crying. 'Okay, a good sign.' He thought to himself, but he still needed to choose his words carefully.

"We're gonna have some fum, me and the kids." He told her, despite the fact she had heard everything they had just been saying.

"I know." Her fingers stilled on the fabric of her sweater.

"Don't you wanna have some fum with us?" He asked tentatively, walking up the steps slowly until he could sit next to her.

"I don't feel like fum." She muttered, glancing at his knee which was grazing hers.

"Why not?" Of course, he knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it from her lips.

"Because I failed, I couldn't get one small child up a stupid tube." (y/n) dug her fingernails into her palm and gritted her teeth.

"I shouldn't even work down here, I'm bringing nothing to the table." Her words set a small sliver of fear into Ray's heart, as the idea of her leaving gnawed away at his mind. It was one of his worst fears, losing her from his superhero life taking a toll on her, or her finding something better for herself out in the world. Sometimes, Ray felt slightly selfish, knowing that kept her cooped up in his base to do the chores that he struggled to keep on top of, but he really did need her.

"You stop me from going insane from living with Schwoz, you keep this place running and clean, you stop me from being a pig-headed doofus." He recited just a handful of some of the roles she fulfilled, and his use of her nickname for him made her chuckle.

"You are a doofus." She gently pushed his head away with a smile, starting to feel like her normal self.

"There's my happy girl. You ready to have some fum?" He asked her, getting up and offering his hand to her. She looked up and grinned, accepting the help up and they walked back down to wear her shirt was.

"Go get dressed and then the fum will begin!" She hurried off to get dressed, leaving Ray to thank whichever God sent his angel to be by his side.

"Put your helmet on." (y/n) smiled and handed Ray his bike helmet. They had decided to start. by teaching him how to ride a bike. The man fastened the clip under his chin and put his leg over the seat, feeling a little wobbly.

"Don't let go, don't let go." He stressed to Henry and (y/n), who were holding him stable before he set off. They chuckled at his nervousness; it really was like teaching a child for the first time.

"You're fine," Henry told him.

"We're not gonna let you fall." (y/n) reassured him too, even though she thought that falling off your bike was a fundamental part of learning.

"You're also indestructible." Charlotte pointed out, not understanding why the man was so nervous. It's not like he could scrape his knee or bump his head.

"Well, I don't want to fall." Ray retorted as his knuckles whitened on the handlebars.

"Just look ahead, keep your back straight, your butt rigid, and pump your legs until you get to Charlotte," Henry said, his plan seemed to calm his boss down slightly.

"And don't worry." (y/n) smiled, calming him even more.

"Okay." Ray nodded and began to turn the pedals and gently start moving. He was wobbly, but he started moving and before he knew it, he was halfway there.

"I'm doing it! I'm riding!" He laughed with pure joy, making it over to Charlotte. He was so proud of himself, and his happiness spread to others too.

"Should we tell him about the stabilisers?" Henry whispered in (y/n)'s ear, as they clapped for Ray.

"Nah, just let him enjoy the moment for now." She replied, not wanting to rain on her best friend's parade.

~10 minutes later~

Having been practising with the extra wheels for a few minutes now, (y/n) decided that it was now time for Ray to ride on his own.

"Okay, Ray. No training wheels." Henry said to the man as he unscrewed the wheels.

"Ready?" Charlotte asked him.

"Locked and loaded, baby." The large man replied, ready to get moving again.

"Remember, the faster you go, the more balance you'll have." The woman next to him said, placing her hand on his back so she, Charlotte and Henry could give him some momentum.

"Do it," Ray told them, so they gave him a shove and he started to move. He was wobbling again, but he had managed to stay upright.

"You're doing it, Ray!" The kids encouraged him, loving the way his face lit up.

"I'm doing it! I'm riding on two wheels!" He squealed, but he was so excited about riding properly, he didn't watch where he was going and ended up crashing into the computer. Henry, Charlotte and (y/n) cringed as they watched the bike and rider switch places so Ray was laying on the floor groaning and the bike was on top of him.

"I'm okay." He told them as soon as the pain passed, but somehow, his bike chain caught on fire.

"How the hell have you managed that?" (y/n) asked, grabbing a fire extinguisher for the flames. Ray moved out of the way as she squirted the gas and smothered the fire. Seeing that the bike was heavy, her best friend helped her move it from the control panel, but as they did, they accidentally opened the camera link to Junk-N-Stuff.

They all watched as Piper cried about her phone signal and Jasper came up with a plan to get them out of there. He theorised that if he played the drums as loud as he could and Piper screamed 'help' to anyone on the street, then they would eventually be rescued.

"Help!"

"We need somebody!"

"Help!"

"Anybody!"

"Help!" They both cried out, as Ray and (y/n) cringed at the racket.

"That is the worst cover of 'Help' I've ever heard." The man joked and even though the kids didn't get it, the young woman next to him giggled.

"I know right, they're slaughtering The Beatles." She chuckled with him, but Henry and Charlotte were keen to move on to the next activity.

"Ray, come on, we're ready." The boy called to him, so the two adults ducked under the makeshift rollercoaster and went over to them.

"Welcome to...Six Poles Over Swellview!" The kids said together, showing off the mini slide they had created with the junk they found lying around.

"You ready to ride the flume?" Henry smirked at him, as Ray couldn't contain his eagerness.

"Yeah. What's a flume?" The man wanted to know since he had never been on a ride ever.

"Just get in the log," Charlotte told him, knowing that he'd get it once he'd had a go.

"That's a cooler," Ray observed.

"Just pretend it's a log." (y/n) looked at him with demanding eyes, and he complied with what they had said.

"I'll get in the log." He climbed up the stairs and squished himself into the tight cooler. He watched as (y/n) ran to the microphone and Henry and Charlotte got the water and camera ready.

"Now what?" He smiled, eagerly anticipating what they had planned.

"Please keep your hands and feet inside the log at all times. Mantenga los manos y los pies adentro del tronco en todo momento, por favor." The woman announced like a member of staff at a theme park. She even went as far as to dust off her Spanish skills for extra authenticity.

"¡Gracias!" Ray shouted to her, thinking it was hot when she spoke in other languages.

"Now, pull the pin," Henry instructed him, as he stood behind the camera. Ray did just that, and the cooler began to slowly move down the slide, making Ray cry out in exhilaration. It wasn't the fastest ride in the world, but him, it didn't matter and as he came to the end, Charlotte threw some water at him and Henry took his photo.

"Yes! That was a lot of fum." Ray exclaimed happily, putting his beefy arms in the air. His eyes crinkled with happiness as (y/n) helped him from the 'log'.

"What's next?" He asked, his childlike personality really coming out to sparkle.

"We're gonna go camping." (y/n) told him, making him squeeze her into a hug as Henry sneakily took a picture of them. 'Yep, that's a keeper.' The boy thought to himself, as the image captured showed two idiots in love.

Charlotte and Henry were setting up the tents and sleeping bags, as (y/n) lit the fire. She had been apprehensive to build one in the Man Cave, but Ray pleaded with her, so how could she say no? She wasn't going to be the one to put a dampener on things. The large man placed four chairs around the fire, as the woman finally got it going.

"Aha, yes! Me cavewoman, me create fire!" (y/n) joked, making Ray laugh. They settled into their chairs, which neither of them noticed to be closer to each other than any of the rest. The teens brought over some marshmallows and sticks and they all huddled in to enjoy their camping moment.

"I didn't know camping involved marshmallows and fire," Ray exclaimed, as his best friend showed him how to rotate the squishy treat until it was perfectly gooey.

"This is fantastic." He smiled brightly, (y/n) observing how young he looked at that moment. All his worries had left him and seeing him so carefree made her heart soar.

"Yeah. Um, (y/n), are you sure it's cool to have this fire in here?" Henry asked the woman as she took a swig from her beer.

"Oh yeah, but only because I'm an adult and I'm supervising this activity." She said, teasing the man next to her, who looked offended when she didn't mention him as an adult.

"So, you're saying that no kid should ever try this without adult supervision?" Henry asked again.

"Exactly." She replied, knowing that kids shouldn't play with fire.

"So, are you having a good time?" Charlotte questioned, noticing how close the two adults were.

"Because, you know, this isn't exactly the weekend we planned," Henry said.

"We didn't get to do everything perfectly." (y/n) added too, but Ray grabbed her free hand squeezed it.

"Are you three kidding me? This is amazing. You guys taught me how to ride and crash a bike. You showed me what riding a flume is like. We're camping." He told them how thankful he was, enjoying how warm his friend's fingers were from the fire.

"Yeah. And I bet we helped you forget that you never had a normal childhood." Henry said, but his words made (y/n) facepalm.

"He did until you said that." The woman said, turning her marshmallow over the flames. The lights above their heads flickered, making them feel nervous again.

"Uh-oh," Henry said.

"What's with the lights?" Charlotte asked, wondering what could possibly go wrong next.

"The generators must be giving out," Ray replied, letting (y/n) shuffle towards him slightly. A dark Man Cave always freaked her out.

"I think there's a flashlight in the cabinet over there." She said to Henry, hoping that they wouldn't have to sit in darkness.

"I'll check." The boy got up and opened the cupboard. Ray and (y/n) both stuffed their melted marshmallows into their mouths. Henry looked around the dusty cabinet and found a clock on a wire.

"Hey, what's this?" He showed the adults, who looked at it in confusion.

"What you got there?" Ray dropped his stick to the floor.

"Uh, a clock with wires coming out of it." Henry described, as (y/n) walked over to check it out.

"Lemme see that." She took the clock from Henry's hands and studied it.

"There's something written on the back." Charlotte pointed out, so Ray peeped over her shoulder.

"That's Schwoz's handwriting." He instantly recognised the genius' scrawl. (y/n) gulped at how she could feel his body heat jump through his t-shirt onto her back.

"Lockdown timer. Do not touch." The woman deciphered Schwoz's poor calligraphy. Honestly, sometimes he wrote like a drunken crab.

"Timer? You said the lockdown was 48 hours." Henry frowned at the thing in her hands.

"And you said nothing could change that," Charlotte added to his confusion.

"Yeah, but if this clock is the timer for the lockdown..." Ray trailed off, as he and (y/n) shared a brainwave.

"Try turning the hands forward!" Charlotte directed the older woman, who did as she said. She spun the hands around the clock, fast forward the timer by forty-eight hours. A buzzing sounded as the doors unlocked and everything switched back on. They all cried in celebration at the prospect of freedom.

"The elevator works," Henry said, as Ray and (y/n) tried the sprocket.

"So does our sprocket," Ray replied, happy to have access to his bedroom again.

"Bye! Up the tube!" Charlotte waved goodbye to them and got out of there as quickly as she could.

"Oh my god, Junk-N-Stuff!" (y/n) exclaimed, running over the computer to check the camera.

"I've never, ever been this hungry," Jasper whined onscreen, as he and Piper had slumped against the counter.

"Why are they still up there? Can't they leave since the lockdown is over?" Henry asked, worried at how incoherent his best friend and sister were.

"Yeah, but I think they're delirious with hunger," Ray told him, as Piper got desperate.

"Okay, how about this? If you let me eat your thumb, I'll let you eat my thumb." She proposed to the curly-haired boy and the thought of something to eat was too tempting for him to resist.

"Deal." He groaned and they swapped hands.

"Holy shit." (y/n) breathed, worried that the kids were actually gonna start eating each other.

"They're gonna eat each others' thumbs," Henry said to Ray.

"We better get up there." The superhero said, as he and Henry took out their gum tubes and pooped a gumball.

"Let's blow and go." Henry quipped, and they both transformed into Captain Man and Kid Danger.

Entering from the front of the store, the two superheroes burst into Junk-N-Stuff, preventing Piper from biting through Jasper's food.

"Stop eating that thumb!" Ray shouted at her, and they stood up in a daze.

"It's Captain Man." Jasper looked at the large man, who was beginning to look fuzzy.

"And Kid Danger." Piper smiled in confusion.

"Yes, we are," Henry replied, but in Jasper's and Piper's minds, they had transformed into a burger and a hot dog.

"Why...Why are they looking at us like that?" Henry asked Ray, as the boy and girl began to salivate.

"Uh, I don't know." His boss replied, not liking how the kids were smacking their lips together.

"Why are they coming towards us?" Henry asked, panicking at how Jasper was staring at him.

"I don't know, but they look hungry!" Ray said and the two of them backed up to the door.

"Wait! Stop!" A melodic voice came from the back, drawing the attention of the four people on the shop floor. (y/n) came running in, an assortment of food from the auto-snacker nestled in her arms.

"I have pizza!" She said, waving the greasy food under Jasper and Piper's noses. The kids turned away from Captain Man and Kid Danger and began to stalk towards her instead.

"Food..." Jasper mumbled, his pupils dilating at the smell of pepperoni and mozzarella.

"Yeah, leave the nice superheroes alone, and catch!" The woman threw each kid a slice of pizza and they devoured it within seconds. They looked at her for more, sauce smeared over their lips.

"Knock yourselves out." She put the rest of the pizza on the counter, as well as a load of fries, chocolate, doughnuts, waffles and everything else the snack machine had thrown out in record time. Jasper and Piper jumped on the food pile like zoo animals at feeding time, making the woman stand back.

"How'd you know we were about to be eaten?" Henry asked her quietly, as they stood back and watched his sister inhale three doughnuts in one minute.

"You do know there are cameras in here, right? I saw everything." (y/n) smirked, remembering how Swellview's bravest crime fighters were crying like little girls.

"Let me guess, you recorded us being scared?" Ray sighed at her, seeing the mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Of course, it's not every day Captain Man wets his pants due to some children." She laughed to herself and walked back to the elevator so she could watch the clip again. Ray looked at her back until she was gone, making Henry nudge him with his elbow.

"Dude, you're so obvious." The sidekick teased him, making Ray look at him with annoyance.

"I am not!" Ray snapped back, trying to pretend that he wasn't melting from her smile.

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Are too!

"Am not!" This went on for a while, as (y/n) watched from the Man Cave, wondering what they were arguing about. She had an uncanny knack for missing things in plain sight.

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novelmonger · 1 year ago

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Memory's Dogma - Really interesting visual novel set in a future where dead people's memories are stored and can be viewed after their death. The main character and his friend decide to steal the memories of their friend who just died, and end up stuck in the middle of a huge, dangerous conspiracy. It was a really solid beginning, albeit not without some flaws, and I could tell how they were probably drawing inspiration from some other visual novels. Unfortunately, from what I understand, it's unfinished and will remain so :(

Inside - I have such mixed feelings about this game. For like 90% of this game, it's a very sobering, engaging game that I took to be commentary on fascist, oppressive governments, as you lead a kid on an attempt to escape some sort of prison camp or factory complex. But then the ending hits, and...well, I won't spoil it, but I remember just sitting there in stunned silence as the credits rolled, asking myself, "What even is this game?!" Upon further reflection and research, I think I get what they were going for, but I'm not sure if I like it or not.

Ever 17 - Despite the weird, Engrishy subtitle, this is one of the best visual novels I've ever played. (It was also the first!) It's fully voiced, has excellent music, and the art is quintessential early-2000s anime. There were two moments of gross and unnecessary innuendo, but of the kind that could probably go over a younger player's head; other than that, the whole thing is very clean, which is so uncommon when it comes to visual novels :/ The story is about a group of young people who go to an underwater theme park called Lemuria, but they get stuck there when an accident causes flooding. While they wait for someone to rescue them and try to figure out what they can do, they discover more about each other and uncover the deeper, darker truth behind Lemuria. There's five storylines/endings, so it can take quite a while to complete, but it's so worth it. Ever 17 has one of the best twists I've ever seen, one that would probably never work in any other medium. I just think that's super cool.

Five Nights at Freddy's 4 - My favorite FNaF game! It's a surprise to be in a kid's bedroom instead of a security guard's office, but all of the horror elements are that much more effective, if you ask me. I've never been a security guard trying to survive the night while haunted animatronics slowly make their way towards me, but I have been a kid scared of the dark, convinced that monsters are coming to get me. Everything is that much more personal and realistic. Even better, the gameplay relies more on sound cues than any of the others, and to me, sound is more likely to scare me than anything else. And that sound of heavy breathing when you peek out the door and you just know there's something out there... *shudder*

Jamestown - I don't normally go for shoot-'em-ups, but this one was surprisingly fun. Mostly because it supports four-player co-op, so I could play it with all of my siblings. Having four players with different strengths really helped us get through all the levels; I honestly can't imagine trying to play it by yourself.

Fe - This was such an interesting game. You play as this little fox thing in a land filled with fantastical creatures. You're trying to restore the land, which is being taken over by aliens who are ruining the land and capturing the animals to put in cages. So you go around freeing trapped creatures and learning their calls so you can talk to them and enlist their help. This game was very soothing but challenging, and would be an excellent one to cite in an argument against someone who claims all video games teach is violence and destruction.

Horace - I played this on a whim, and it was much longer and harder than I thought it was going to be, but I had a lot of fun with it. It's a retro-style pixel platformer, where you play as a robot named Horace who is learning what it means to be human. You start out just doing ordinary householdy things, then there's a jump forward in time and you end up trying to help save the world. The game is chock-full of nerdy satire and pop culture references, which adds an extra level of fun.

Arbitrarily-Chosen Video Game Tournament, Round 1.8

Welcome to the Arbitrarily-Chosen Video Game Tournament, where we will find out which of the games I've played is the best game of all time!

Why? Don't ask. Just vote and reblog!

#arbitrarily chosen video game tournament #just realized all of these games are indie and/or obscure oops

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flightfoot · 4 years ago

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Perspective From Another Timeline

Thanks to my betas @steelblaidd and Izzybusy!

I ADORE @buggachat new Bakery Enemies AU. This idea just kept on swirling through my head, I had to write it! This is set between parts 13 and 14, so after Adrien meets Alya and Nino but before Marinette starts sympathizing with him. AO3

---------

“You okay?”

Alya shook her head, trying to clear it. “I’ll be fine. I’ve weathered worse than that - we both have.”

Nino grinned at her. “True that.”

Alya smiled at him fondly, remembering Heroes Day. It was a bittersweet memory, with her having been turned against Nino and them both being akumatized.

But they had fought to protect each other as best they could. She’d seen Prime Queen’s footage, how Carapace had struggled to get her to fight against Dark Cupid’s magic, how he’d only given into despair after she’d given into akumatization.

“What did that blast do to us?” Nino wondered. “Everyone else the akuma blasted just disappeared. Why’re we still here?”

Alya’s brow furrowed. “I dunno… hold on, let me check to see whether any new info on the akuma’s been uploaded.”

Pulling out her phone, she tapped on the Akuma News Alert app.

An error message popped up, telling her that she had no internet connection.

Puzzled, Alya checked her phone’s other settings.

No wifi - no wifi even recognized, much less connectable - no cell service, no connection to the outside world at all.

She glanced over at Nino. “Hey, you got any signal?”

Taking out his own phone, he quickly checked his connection. He shook his head. “Not a single bar.”

Frowning, Alya looked around. “Maybe all the cell towers were taken out?”

Everything looked intact though, no sign of any destruction at all.

Something else caught Alya’s eye. “Hey Nino, what time should it be?”

Nino blinked. “Well I mean lunch just started so it should be a little past noon-”

He glanced around, noticing the long shadows and the pinkish-orange of the evening sky.

“-which it clearly is not anymore,” he concluded.

Great. “Guess Ladybug and Chat Noir must’ve taken a while to defeat the akuma,” she said, putting her phone away. “Hopefully my parents aren’t too worried. They like me to text them just after an akuma attack, but right now…?” she gestured to her pocket.

“My folks aren’t as worried,” Nino said. “But they still expect me back home before the sun goes down. They’ll be getting nervous soon.”

Alya let out a small sigh. “So much for playing Super Penguino together.”

“Hmmm…” Nino’s eyes gleamed. “You know… it’s not night just yet. And I’m sure my parents would understand if I was a few minutes late because I grabbed a bite to eat.”

Grabbed a bite to eat? What was Nino hinting at…?

Alya looked around at their location more closely.

Wait… that blast seemed to have carried them to that one park, the one near-

Alya grinned. “I think my parents will forgive me for not calling in if I bring them fresh-baked treats from the best bakery in Paris.”

---

*ring ring*

The scent of freshly baked bread wafted through the store.

Instantly Alya felt her shoulders loosen up, releasing tension she didn’t even know she’d had. There was just something so warm and comforting about the bakery.

Of course, a lot of that was due to the people running it. Good luck finding more friendly, caring people than Marinette’s parents. Sabine often checked up on anyone who seemed to be struggling or upset (and ready to protect them if they were - Alya had seen the video of the time a TV crew decided to invade Marinette’s privacy), and Tom was basically a giant teddy bear in human form.

But neither of them were manning the counter today.

Instead a young woman stared back at them.

A very familiar-looking young woman.

“Marinette?” Alya asked cautiously.

The woman stared at her for a minute. “Alya?” she finally asked. “What happened to you?” She paled. “Did a new supervillain attack? Is that why you and Nino are younger?”

Huh. Weirdly scared reaction from Marinette. They’d all gotten used to supervillains by now. She’d expect an older Marinette to take them in stride even more than the current Marinette.

Hm… an older Marinette, a different time of day, and Marinette not seeming to know about the latest akuma attack?

“Marinette… what year is it?”

Marinette blinked for a moment. Her eyes widened.

Seemed Marinette understood what she was getting at.

She told Alya the date.

Her hunch was right. “We’re in the future,” Alya breathed.

A wicked grin slowly spread over her face.

Five years was a long time. A lot of things could have happened. A lot of information could’ve come to light.

Like Hawkmoth’s identity.

Or more information on the Miraculous.

But most importantly right now-

She leaned in close to Marinette, making sure to keep her voice down, just in case someone else was around in the back. “So did you ever get together with a certain blond-haired, green-eyed model?”

“Uh… what?” Marinette asked, looking puzzled.

Alya snapped her fingers. “Adrien. Did you and Adrien finally get together? Ooooh, if you did you’ve GOTTA tell me how the confession went! Or, no, wait, don’t tell me, I want to get the deets at the time. Just let me know how long I’ve got to wait, girl!”

Marinette just stared at her, slack-jawed. “Adrien… like ADRIEN AGRESTE?!” she said, her volume rising with every word.

Alya’s eyebrows flew up. “Um… yes…?”

She’d thought that Marinette would be glowing about finally getting together with her crush, or dejected about still not being able to spit out what she wanted to say to him, downcast over him rejecting her, or maybe even infuriated because he mistreated her and they subsequently broke up.

(The last one was VERY unlikely though. After the Felix debacle, she’d learned to have a bit more faith in Adrien’s good nature.)

Shock at the concept of dating him? Not something she’d anticipated.

Footsteps echoed from behind Marinette.

So one of Marinette’s parents must’ve been in the back-

Adrien popped his head around the corner.

Seemed both he AND Marinette had aged well.

Not that Adrien looked all that different. Taller, definitely, maybe with slightly messier hair and… were those earrings? They looked good on him.

“Hey dude!” Nino waved at his best friend. “What’s up?”

“Uh…” Adrien said, scratching the back of his neck.

“WOW those outfits really take the years off, huh?” Marinette said loudly, shoving them out the door. “Make you look smaller than usual. Well we better go talk about plans later okaybye-”

She promptly slammed the door behind them, physically pushing them away from the bakery.

After Marinette had dragged them a good distance away, Alya finally got over her shock, turning around and glaring at her. “What was that about?!” she asked Marinette indignantly, hands on her hips. “You know me, I wasn’t going to spill anything to him. That’s why I was talking so quietly! Why’d you have to do that?!”

Nino frowned, seeming more concerned than annoyed. “Adrien looked really hurt by that. Not cool.”

“There’s nothing to spill!” Marinette protested, gesticulating wildly. “I only met him for the first time two days ago!”

*record scratch*

Two-

Two DAYS ago?!

Ok, hold up.

“Adrien joined our collège class the day after I did! He sits in front of you in class! What’re you TALKING about?!”

“Uh… no…?” Marinette tilted her head to the side, befuddled. “I think I would remember that, even if it was a few years back.”

Alya let out a bark of laughter. “Yeah, no kidding. He would be uh, difficult for you to forget. Heck, even if your memory was erased, you’ve got so much stuff revolving around him, I couldn’t see that lasting long.”

Marinette blushed. “Why do you think I have a crush on him?! He’s HAWKMOTH’S SON!”

“WHAT?!” Alya and Nino yelled in unison.

“Ladybug and Chat Noir defeated Hawkmoth a couple years ago,” Marinette explained, pulling out her phone.

A moment later she held it up, showing a blog post from the Ladyblog.

Oooh, that’s a nice graphical design. I’ll have to look into updating my site, Alya thought.

Turning her attention to the picture, she squinted. “Hey, can you enlarge the photo?” She asked.

Marinette complied, enlarging it and turning her phone sideways, letting it fill the entire screen.

Gabriel Agreste being led away in handcuffs by the police, with Ladybug and Chat Noir in the background. Ladybug looked satisfied, with maybe a twinge of melancholy, but Chat Noir…

He stared vacantly ahead, seemingly not focused on anyone or anything, a smile on his face - but the most forced one she’d ever seen.

“What’s wrong with Chat Noir?”

Marinette frowned, looking troubled. “I don’t know. He seemed really, really upset when Hawkmoth was defeated. It was a tough battle, bad enough that neither of them have returned since, but that doesn’t explain why-”

She trailed off, lost in thought.

A moment later she looked up, meeting Alya’s eyes.

Immediately she waved her hands around, trying to ward off… something. “I- I mean, that’s what I read on the Ladyblog and what I could piece together from video footage, it’s not like I was there, NOPE. I was huddled in my room the entire time. Not like I have any insight into what Chat Noir was acting like during the battle, not beyond what any other civilian would know! That would be ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!” she let out a few forced guffaws.

Alya’s eyebrows flew up.

O...Kay…?

Maybe Marinette had been following Ladybug and Chat Noir during the final battle and hadn’t wanted anyone to know? She’d wondered whether Marinette might have a thing for Chat Noir, but her crush on Adrien dwarfed any feelings she might have had for him. Plus it’s not like Marinette would actually know Chat Noir, unlike Adrien.

Thinking about Adrien…

“He must’ve been devastated,” she murmured. Marinette looked at her questioningly. “Adrien, I mean,” Alya clarified. “Having your father turn out to be a terrorist? I can’t even imagine.”

Marinette buried her face in her hands. “Not you TOO,” she said, her voice muffled.

Nino slowly started edging his way behind Marinette.

“What’s your problem with Adrien?” Alya asked. “Did he do something?”

Marinette glanced away. “Not… exactly… I just… I’m afraid that it might all be an act. That he might’ve been helping Hawkmoth secretly, and… and even if he wasn’t before, that he might just be biding his time, waiting until he figures out who Ladybug and Chat Noir and then BAM!” she slammed her fist down on her other hand. “He takes them out, steals all the Miraculous, frees his father and rules Paris FOREVER!”

Alya reached out towards Marinette tentatively. She collapsed into Alya’s arms.

Hugging her tightly, she sang a soft nonsense song, rubbing small circles in Marinette’s back.

She’d done this a few other times since she’d met Marinette, though she’d never thought she’d do it underneath these circumstances.

Whatever these circumstances actually were.

Did everyone have amnesia or…?

“Do you have any big memory gaps?” Alya asked once Marinette’s breathing had calmed down. “Especially from five years ago?”

Marinette shook her head.

She’d shelve that theory for now then. More likely it was…

“An alternate timeline, huh?” Alya said.

Marinette looked up at her questioningly.

“That’s what I think this is,” Alya explained. “I WAS thinking that maybe there’d been some sort of mass amnesia, but if you don’t have any memory gaps - and trust me girl, with how involved you were with Adrien, there WOULD be memory gaps - that seems unlikely. I’m betting this is some sort of alternate universe, one where Adrien never got to go to school.”

“I still don’t get why you think there’s something between me and Adrien!” Marinette said. “I mean sure, he’s pretty, but did I really fall for him just for that?”

Alya shook her head. “Actually, you hated him at first. Chloe’d been bragging about how he was her friend, and with that on top of you catching him trying to remove the gum Chloe’d planted on your seat and mistaking it for him PLANTING the gum… well… both of us just assumed he was a spoiled rich bully, just like Chloe. Luckily that turned out not to be the case.”

“How’d that misunderstanding get cleared up?” Marinette asked. “And how did your Marinette jump from that to crushing on him?”

Alya grinned. Marinette had ranted about this moment to her SO. MANY. TIMES.

“School let out later that day. It was raining and Marinette had forgotten her umbrella, so she hung back a moment, long enough for Adrien to approach her. At first she looked away from him, not wanting to acknowledge his greeting. But then he told you - told her I mean - that he hadn’t done it, promised that he’d just been trying to take it off with such sincerity that she had no choice but to believe it. He opened up to her, even though she’d been shunning him just moments ago. And finally he gave her his umbrella, just because he could. Because it was the kind thing to do. She’s been a goner ever since.”

The Marinette in her arms looked away. “I can see why she might have developed a crush on him. But I still dunno whether I trust him.”

“I don’t know whether I have anything that could convince you on that,” Alya admitted, “especially since this is probably a different timeline, and for all I know he could be evil here. Just make sure that you’re judging him on his own merits, okay? Not who he’s associated with. Not his fault he has so many crappy people in his life.”

“I’ll… take it under consideration,” Marinette said reluctantly.

Marinette looked from side to side. “Where’d Nino go?”

“Oh, he snuck back into the bakery several minutes ago.”

“WHAT?!”

---

Nino opened the door to the bakery, letting out a small sigh of relief. He really wanted to check in on his best friend, and judging by Marinette’s behavior, she wasn’t exactly keen on him or Alya chatting with Adrien.

Thinking back on what he’d just heard, he frowned.

He wished he could say that he’d never have suspected that Gabriel was Hawkmoth.

That he didn’t think Adrien’s old man could ever be capable of such evil.

But he knew better.

The guy threatened to withdraw Adrien from school and isolate him from everyone else at the drop of a hat, paid little attention to his son when he was at home, and was a very negative influence on his life in general. He might have been grieving, but… so was Adrien. He needed the only parent he had left.

And instead Gabriel had chosen to respond by becoming a supervillain and terrorizing Paris, endangering his own son in the process.

He really wished he’d gotten to hit Hawkmoth with his turtle shield more. At least he got to relish the smack he got in.

“You’re back!”

Nino looked towards the voice.

Adrien walked closer to him, a tentative grin on his face. “I didn’t think you’d return so soon!”

“I had to come back to talk to my best friend,” Nino said.

“Best friend?” Adrien asked, blank-faced.

Oh, right. According to Marinette, Adrien hadn’t joined their class. She hadn’t even met Adrien until recently.

Had some sort of memory-wiping akuma attacked? Wouldn’t have been the first time.

“Do you know who I am?” Nino asked, pointing at himself.

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh… well I know you’re friends with the Ladyblogger and Marinette, and… sorry, that’s it.”

He looked really apologetic, like a dog who’d ripped up a bunch of toilet paper and acted guilty about it once caught.

Hm. If it had been a memory-erasing akuma, maybe he could jog Adrien’s memory…?

And even if it wasn’t, he wanted to let Adrien know that someplace, somewhere, people cared about him. If Marinette’s reaction to him was any indication, he’d need that reassurance. Being looked at with suspicion, having people run from you just because of who your dad was, thinking that you might’ve been involved in his crimes… he couldn’t imagine.

“You joined our class the day after Hawkmoth first attacked,” Nino told him, pulling out his phone.

Adrien shook his head, looking confused. “Uh… no? I wanted to, I REALLY wanted to go to school, but Father-”

He cut himself off, looking away.

“Marinette said the same thing,” Nino told him. “That you hadn’t enrolled in our class, that she’d only met you recently. I don't know what that’s about, whether everyone’s memories were wiped, or an akuma messed with the past, or what.”

Come on, come on, where was it- ah!

He clicked on a photo, one taken a few months ago, holding his phone up so his friend could get a better look.

Adrien squinted for a moment. His eyes widened. “That’s-!”

Nino nodded. “Our class photo. The official one, anyway.” He chuckled. “I liked our unofficial ones better.” Swiping to the side, he showed the new ones the class had taken at the park.

Adrien’s jaw dropped more with every new photo. He let out an involuntary bark of laughter at the one of himself, Nino, Kim, and Juleka posing. “I- I always wanted to mess around like that at photoshoots,” Adrien said. His voice trembled slightly. “But I wouldn’t be able to get away with it. And that’s mostly fun when you can share it with friends, at least share the picture, and I- I couldn’t. Chloe wouldn’t have appreciated it, and L-”

He cut himself off, shaking his head.

“Luka?” Nino asked.

He didn’t know why Adrien would know Luka and not anybody else, but he seemed the most likely option.

“Uh…” Adrien scratched the back of his neck, looking away.

Hm, he’d have to see if he had- ah!

“You played in Kitty Section too, with Luka, Rose, Ivan, and Juleka.” Nino explained, clicking on the video.

Adrien’s hands shook as Nino handed him the phone, watching the mini-concert.

“I- I was allowed to- I got to-” Adrien’s voice quavered.

“Not at first.” Nino grimaced, remembering how bummed Adrien had sounded when he called him. “Your old man said that Agrestes were soloists, and that we were all bad influences.”

“HE was the bad influence,” Adrien said. A current of anger, of venom ran through his voice that Nino had never heard before.

“Well I already knew that, even before finding out he was Hawkmoth,” Nino said, making a face. “Dude needed to chill out.”

Adrien snorted. “If he had any ‘chill’ he wouldn’t have decided that becoming a supervillain was the best way to heal my mother.”

Oh.

So THAT was why Gabriel had done it.

He’d just thought it was standard ‘I’m an asshole and want to rule the world while being a jackass to everyone in my life’ behavior.

(He still wasn’t going to rule out that being a factor.)

Nino put a hand on Adrien’s shoulder sympathetically. “At least he’s gone now and you’re free, right?”

“Right,” Adrien said. He didn’t meet Nino’s eyes.

“Not you TOO,” Marinette had said, burying her face in her hands.

As if she found it exasperating that Alya sympathized with Adrien. As if she had expected differently.

Those worries she’d voiced as Nino had been tiptoeing away, about Adrien helping Hawkmoth, about him lying in wait, biding his time… Marinette probably wasn’t the only one to have that concern. And with Adrien’s face being as well-known as it was...

“You AREN’T free, are you?” Nino asked, eyes wide.

Adrien sighed. “I was as surprised as everyone else when I found out who Hawkmoth was. That someone who’s caused that much harm, that much trauma to this city, lived in my own house.” He clenched his fists, digging into his jean’s fabric. “I could barely believe it… no… I didn’t WANT to believe it.”

He took a deep breath, steadying himself. “I- I only remember snippets from right after his arrest. The police chief talking to me. Riding back to the station. It’s all a blur. Everything felt like I was processing it underwater. It was all so blurry and muffled. Even- even then, though, I could feel everyone’s accusing stares.” “I understand why, don’t get me wrong,” he cut in hurriedly. “Who wouldn’t be suspicious of the son of the terrorist who’s been making everyone’s life miserable for the past four years?” Adrien almost panted with exertion, his eyes wild. “And- and it was happening in my own house! Underneath my nose! I should have KNOWN! I could’ve stopped this!”

Reaching out, Nino pulled his friend into a hug.

Adrien stiffened for a moment, before melting into his embrace.

“It’s his fault, not yours,” Nino murmured. “Remember that, dude. He was the adult. He was your parent. Your ONLY remaining parent. I’ve met the guy. And I’ve heard you talk about what he’s like. If you had investigated more?” Nino shuddered, thinking about the disproportionate punishments the bastard had enacted. “And knowing he was HAWKMOTH on top of that? I’m kinda glad you didn’t. Yeah, maybe you could’ve ended things sooner. Or maybe he would’ve hurt you more before you had the chance. I’m just glad you survived.”

“I-” Adrien’s throat sounded tight. “I’m- I’m glad I survived too.”

They stood there for a moment, Nino feeling Adrien’s breath go in-and-out, his heartbeat racing, until it gradually started to slow.

*ring ring*

Adrien and Nino broke up their hug just as Marinette burst through the door, Alya on her heels. She skidded to a halt in front of Adrien - but not quite in time, sending her careening towards the floor.

She never made contact.

“Woah!” Adrien shouted, catching her in his arms.

Nino detected a hint of pink to Marinette’s cheeks before she abruptly sprang to her feet.

“So, uh,” Marinette said awkwardly. “I’m guessing Nino talked to you about some stuff. I mean, of course he talked to you about stuff, because that’s what talking is about. What- what I mean is, what were you two talking about?”

“I wanted to show him how much we care about him,” Nino told her. “Especially since with this… amnesia?”

“I think it’s an alternate timeline,” Alya said.

“Especially since in this timeline,” Nino continued, “it really doesn’t seem like he had anyone.”

“I had a couple other friends,” Adrien told him quietly, giving a melancholic smile. “But I lost contact with them right after Hawkmoth’s defeat.”

Noticing Nino’s frown, he hastily added, “they didn’t abandon me or anything! They were online friends. One moved somewhere without internet reception, and the other... we never knew each other’s names. But we talked all the time. We chatted, laughed, defeated villains together…”

“In the video games we played, of course!” he added after a moment. He chuckled fondly. “We played as a team. Together, we were unstoppable, no matter what our opponent threw at us.”

Adrien swallowed. “But in the aftermath of Hawkmoth’s defeat, with all the turmoil, with everything that happened… I lost my means of contacting her. I- I don’t know whether I’ll ever get to see her again.”

“We’d promised to meet up after Hawkmoth’s defeat,” Adrien said. His voice cracked. “That- that once it was safer in Paris, we’d finally tell our names.”

His eyes dropped to the ground. “Instead, we lost each other. Maybe for good.”

“I know what that’s like,” Marinette said. She sounded strangely distant. “I had a friend like that too. I cared about him. A lot. Maybe… maybe even as more than a friend.” She said the last part haltingly, as if she’d only just admitted it to herself. “He- he wanted to know who I was. For me to know who he was. But- but I couldn’t do that. Not in Hawkmoth’s Paris. I already cared for him so much it ached. If I was closer to him than that- if I’d accepted his rose- I’m- I’m afraid Hawkmoth might’ve used the strength of those feelings against me. That I could’ve gotten akumatized, or he might’ve, and if we knew who each other was, knew WHERE the other one was… I just… I couldn’t accept that we might be sent to hurt each other.”

“We talked while the final battle was raging,” she continued. “He seemed really upset, more angry than I’ve ever seen him before, but… also kind of sad. I wanted to know what was wrong, but there wasn’t really time to press him. And after that battle he just… disappeared. I knew there was going to be some sort of disruption, but- but I’d thought we’d have more time to talk beforehand, that we’d be able to exchange new contact information. We were cut off before we had the chance.”

“I- I think of him every day,” she said quietly. “Wondering how he’s doing. He was always so positive, no matter what life threw at us. I hope that wherever he is, whatever he’s doing, he hasn’t lost that positivity, that optimism, the ability to see the best in the world and in others.”

“I’m sure he’d be happy to know you cared for him so much,” Adrien said, giving her a warm smile.

Marinette blinked, giving herself a small shake. She turned to Alya. “I dunno whether you’ll remember any of this after the Ladybug in your time restores anything, but on the off-chance you do, is there anything you need to know?”

“Oh!” Alya pulled up some footage. “You told me who Hawkmoth was, but what about Mayura?”

“Mayura?”

“Who?”

Alya snapped her fingers. “You know, the Peacock Miraculous wielder, the one summoning the sentimonsters! Did she not exist in this universe?”

She pulled up part of the fight against Mayura, the sentimonster Ladybug, and Hawkmoth.

The video ended, she took another glance at Marinette and Adrien.

Marinette seemed to be in shock, staring straight ahead.

Adrien frowned, thinking. “I’d wondered for a long time how Father managed to hide his supervillain activities from Nathalie, considering she was around him most of the time. I thought maybe she was just really good at never asking questions.”

He grimaced. “Looking at that? I’m betting she didn’t ask questions because she already knew the answers.”

“You think Mayura’s Nathalie?” Alya questioned.

He nodded. “Unless something’s different in your universe. My father doesn’t have a lot of associates, and the way he acted around Mayura there, how he was willing to pass up a chance to fight Ladybug for her Miraculous in exchange for catching her… the only people I can think of who he’d do that for are my mother and Nathalie, and mom…” he trailed off.

“I- I didn’t even think about that,” Marinette said guiltily. “I remember reading something about Gabriel having a secretary, but I didn’t think about her much beyond that.”

“Maybe you could ask this universe’s Alya to post something on the Ladyblog, telling Ladybug and Chat Noir she has a lead on who Mayura is?” Alya said. “I mean, I know they haven’t shown up in ages, but maybe that’s just because they haven’t had reason to.”

Marinette winced. “I… really don’t think that’s it… plus Ladybug and Chat Noir never said that someone was helping Hawkmoth. Mayura never appeared, at least in public. I don’t know what we can do about this right now, especially without proof. Maybe if Ladybug and Chat Noir appeared, but…”

She sounded doubtful. Alya was beginning to think that the final battle was even worse than Marinette had alluded to.

She hesitated a moment, before turning to Adrien. “I- I think I owe you an apology. I thought you might’ve been helping Hawkmoth, but… well… I was just judging you by who your dad was. You’ve been nothing but sweet and kind.”

Adrien smiled at her, though it was slightly strained. “It’s fine. I’m used to it. A lot of people in this city have suffered at Hawkmoth’s hands. I don’t blame them for being scared, or angry at any reminders of him.”

“That doesn’t make it RIGHT,” Marinette said heatedly.

Nino nodded. “Dude just because something’s done to you it doesn’t mean it’s justified, or that it shouldn’t be made better. Like with your old man forbidding parties. I didn’t let that stop me from bribing your bodyguard into letting me and the other guys throw a party at your place for you!”

He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “It kinda escalated though. I think half the guys at Paris were partying in your room by the end!”

Alya gave Nino a sideways look. “And ONLY the guys because they ditched us girls while we were planting trees with a lame excuse. Seriously if you’d said you wanted to throw a party for Adrien while his dad was away, you could’ve just told us!”

Nino winced. “Yeah, my bad. At least we got to have fun there for a while before the akuma attack.”

“Akuma attack?” Adrien asked, eyes wide. “But I thought you said Father was gone!”

“He was- OOOOOOOH.”

“Yeeaaaah I don’t think he was actually gone,” Alya said. “You threw a ‘secret’ party in Hawkmoth’s house, WHILE he was still at home.”

Adrien gaped at Nino. “How’re you not DEAD?!”

Nino chuckled. “Lucky I guess?”

*twinkle twinkle*

A familiar red mass flew towards Alya and Nino.

Adrien’s eyes widened.

“Behind the portrait!” he blurted out, just as the two of them were enveloped by the ladybugs, spiriting them off to whence they came.

It was silent for a moment.

“Do you think they heard?” Adrien asked Marinette.

“I hope so,” she said, looking off in the direction the ladybugs flew.

She turned to him. “I was planning on setting up some hang out time with Alya and Nino later this week. If you’re not busy… would you like to join?”

His smile told her everything she needed to know.

#bakery enemies au #ml fanfic #miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe #marinette dupain cheng #buggachat

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sixeyesgojo · 4 years ago

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Dad!Gojo with a teenage daughter

Summary: In which you've grown up a little too much for his liking. Using a female reader.

Characters: Gojo with a teenage daughter

Word count: -

Content warning: mentions of menstruation, blood, reader is injured but nothing descriptive, Gojo Satoru

A/N: requested on AO3.

Oh dear. Gojo knew that raising kids did not fall into the "easy" category, like exorcising special grade curses was to him. At first, it was extremely exhausting, brain-draining even, but as the time went by, he managed to do better, to just manage. Young children were a handful and he knew it from experience - not only was he a teacher of youngsters but he had also been younger once upon a time. Gojo remembered being put on a pedestal in his childhood years since he was the honored one and came from a renowned household. However, nothing ever prepared him for this.

Raising a teenage daughter was a challenge he had to take up on a daily basis. Puberty, the hormones, the fights, the worries about her going out late at night, the helplessness he felt. It wasn't rare for him to consult Shoko in "times of extreme crisis" (as he called them), asking for help and advice.

After hitting puberty, you became more and more distant to him bit by bit and as if that wasn't already enough for the two of you, your mood could change in an instant. Of course, you still loved him the same - he was your dad after all - but it is a known fact that teenagers may feel like their parents wouldn't be able to relate.

One day you had started bleeding from down below and frantically called out to your dad to explain your situation. He understood what was happening with your body and he knew this day would eventually come... but experiencing the situation itself and not really being prepared still sent him into panic mode. Yes, he went out to buy some pads, some tampons, whatever you needed at that moment but gosh, you should have seen him at the store: "What size should these be? Is this the right one? There are pads for NIGHTS ONLY?" It was a good thing he was super charming and just charmed his way out, so it was less embarrassing.

He hurried home to give you the necessary items. One thing he didn't expect in that moment was the tears that were streaming from your face, which was contorted in pain, as you opened the bathroom door to accept the items he had bought. Of course he knew cramps were a side effect of menstruation but he was just so perplexed to be able to think straight in that moment. Gojo patiently waited in front of the bathroom door until you came out, repeatedly asking if you needed anything else in the meantime. When you came out, dried tears on your face and just overall being a mess, he gave you a comforting hug and then scooped you up in his big arms and carried you to your bed. "For today, just rest, sweetheart. Your amazing dad will take care of the rest," he had said in a gentle tone. Later on, he even texted Shoko and Mei Mei to ask how to help as a dad, googled all about periods and how to ease the pain.

The very next day, you were wondering where he went when you didn't see him at home - turns out, he headed out early to buy an extra blanket and a hot water bottle just for you, some more pads and/or tampons (in different sizes since he wasn't certain about your flow yet and he was certain that you didn't know yet either), pain relievers and some snacks and sweets. Sweets could never be a wrong choice, could they? At least they always did the trick for him and he remembered that being the case for you too. He read that a lot of women eat chocolate as a sort of comfort food, so of course he also stocked up on chocolate. The look of gratefulness on your face when he finally came home and presented all the things he had gotten for you? He thought he should have taken a picture of your happy face in that moment but little, did he know he was going to be tackled into a hug by his daughter.

"Thank you so so so so so much, you are the best dad," you exclaimed and gave him a big smooch on the cheek. Gojo grinned and replied cheekily, "I mean, I know I am the best dad but it doesn't hurt to hear it once in a while from my little girl!" With him supporting you during times like menstruation, close to nothing could go wrong, even if your mood changed within the blink of an eye. He would spoil you with affection.

As human beings, there was no way for the both of you to avoid fights and misunderstandings, so naturally father and daughter ought to disagree sometimes. One time was particularly bad that you even ran away from home. Every ounce of stress was just piling up at that time. On top of that, you were on your period and the mood swings killed you. Ultimately, you couldn't handle it any longer and ran out of the house. Well, let's just say even the strongest jujutsu sorcerer could break out in panic. This state worsened when he got a call from Ijichi - an unregistered curse had manifested and was randomly attacking civilians. His gut gave him a pretty shitty feeling and the white-haired sorcerer just knew something was wrong. He had to hurry. When he arrived at the scene, he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw you lying weakly at the ground in front of a strong curse. This was enough to trigger his anger and he defeated the evil curse quickly. Hurrying to your side, he cradled your battered form in his arms and checked whether you had any life-threatening injuries - thank heavens, you didn't.

"This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't run away," you sobbed, the argument long forgotten, "I'm so sorry, Dad." "No, shh. Baby, I am sorry for letting it escalate like that. But what matters the most to me right now is your safety, so let's get away from here and we can talk it out when you feel better, yeah?"

Ever since that time, everything has gotten a little easier, especially since your dad helped you create a system you could rely on in order to manage stress and your mood swings.

When you hit age 16, oh boy, that was an age he feared. For multiple reasons:

He knew how he had been at 16. Gojo was definitely one of the more popular boys within the female community, despite attending a school with no more than twenty students overall. He had been invited to a lot of parties and who was he to not enjoy himself when he could? Going out almost every night and coming home early in the morning was a given. If he hadn't gone to Jujutsu Tech, his grades would have sucked. In theory, you could also end up like that or even less moderate - he prayed that was not the case. He was lucky enough that you went out moderately and not as often as he used to. The thing is, he was not exactly concerned about your safety. If anyone knew that you could handle grade 2 curses just well at this age, it was him... since he taught you how to defend yourself.

It was the boys he was worried about. Not everybody had good intentions. For sure, he would handle anyone in a heartbeat that tried to touch you with malice. Furthermore, he was overly worried about you getting to know some guy for a fling or even worse: you falling in love and only to get your heart broken. He wouldn't know how to act if the latter ever happened. Rest assured (or not), every guy you ever bring home will be thoroughly scanned by his Six Eyes and his soul. Gojo was sceptical (but wouldn't show it) until proven otherwise.

Once he had gotten comfortable with your guy friends though? Bring them over any day. Sometimes you question whether he didn't just adopt them all in his mind. Still, Gojo getting along with all your friends was something you were very grateful for.

Gojo knew that raising kids was not an easy task, like exorcising special grade curses was to him, but he still wouldn't trade his precious daughter for the world or anything else.

#gojo x reader #gojo satoru x reader #gojo satoru headcanons #jujutsu kaisen #gojo as dad #dad!gojo #papa!gojo #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk x reader #jujutsu headcanons

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i8jisoo · 4 years ago

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𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐘 𝐊𝐈𝐃𝐒 ⇉ skz with pregnant!reader

seungmin x reader | part seven of dad!skz

↬ genre; fluff & angst

↬ warnings; obviously pregnancy, talk of sex/condoms, talk of morning sickness, cursing, child-birth

↬ notes; i feel like my mental health is getting worse and it has been really hard to be positive but i finished this awhile ago, never posted it! just thought to post it today since i just reached 500 followers,, tysm everyone for the support on my posts and following me for content,, i’m waiting for enhypen debut rnnn, it’s really one of the only things keeping me happy n ready. my bias is jungwon :) he’s so adorable n cute i can’t wait + i hope to start writing for enhypen soon when i feel better,, ty guys <3

the night was a one night stand

seungmin had no plans to see you after, you already gone by the morning so it made no different what he wanted afterwards

so with his number in your phone, you decided that texting him would be the best

you texted him your address, asking him to meet with you after u addressed who you were

the best maybe after twelve, seeing as how from nine to eleven you would be occupied with the toilet bowl, the morning sickness really weighing on you

hes there, ready to talk, looking great

ur just there in a t-shirt and sweatpants with slightly messy hair

you seat him on ur couch, pacing in the kitchen before actually beginning to talk

“it broke, or maybe you forgot. i don’t know but you, you got me pregnant.”

i honestly see seungmin being really innocent in this and he’s just made a bad decision which resulted in a baby

“wh-what? no, i used.. i..”

it dawns on him that he can’t remember slipping on a condom before

he’s turned white as a sheet, probably feeling more ill than you

he does the math, figuring you’re around two months, you’re not that far along obviously

“we don’t have to do this, you hardly know me.”

hes shaking his head quickly, “nono, i wanna.. i may never get this chance again. i might not ever meet someone again, so, if it’s with you? i’m fine with that.”

seungmin was there for the next appointment, fully supportive and stepping up

hes scared but so excited

he also moves out of the dorms, raising flags, but he keeps assuring everyone that he was just getting a change of scenery

he claims he got a dog but uh, there isn’t one

he actually moves in with u, an apartment that wasn’t too far away from the dorms and he will time to time spend the night if they need him to

ur actually really understanding of his career and u admire his adjustment

late night with him where u two go to a twenty-four hour convenience store and buy every junk food possible

u also acquired strange cravings such a pineapple and cream cheese or kimchi and chocolate sauce

that night however u rly had a craving for cheese and cheese only

it doesn’t last however, from three to five you are in the bathroom hunched over

he?? isnt?? actually?? the worst partner to get pregnant from a one stand with?????????????????????????????????????????

he’s pretty much a sweetheart

bless everyones heart though when they find out about you

“this is my friend, we are.. having a uh, baby!”

haha surprise...

u swore that jisung’s breath was lost when he said that

chan is fucken freaking out about this

“we’re gonna be uncles!”

everybody screaming and cheering which was a good sign

ur days are average and u guys just act like friends

friends having a baby lmfao

it’s a fine line between dating and not dating

seungmin reaaalllyy likes you but he has this bit of guilt in him for getting you pregnant

ur the one who uprooted your life and ur gonna have a kid for the rest of ur life with him and he’s still living his and doing what he loves

seungmin heart eyes motherfucker when u come to a concert, just there to see him n see what he does for a living

u guys get this cute ass picture of everyone lmfao i just imagine the boys and seungmin standing around and posing with ur small bump

he doesn’t get to go to every single appointment, so his first appointment he went to was when you were around six and a half months

he’s super excited and just super nervous

so many expecting moms its crazy

when your name is called and you two go back, he’s jumping out of his seat and going back with you

the doctor applies the gel on your stomach, the rounded bump sticking out prominently

his hand clasps around yours, fingers laced with yours and he gives you a warm smile

the screen flickers on and theres your baby

it’s the cutest thing he’s ever seen

he can clearly see the legs and arms, theres the head!!! he can make out the toes and fingers

then u guys get to hear the heartbeat together

it’s so strong and he just,, wow.. this is real 😣

ur bearing his child, your guys’ baby,, he can hardly believe it

then the doctor asks if u two want to know the gender

“yeah.” 🥺🥺🥺

ofc u could’ve known before but u didn’t know if seungmin wanted to find out or wait n u just would feel guilty if u went ahead

he was rly trying to be as involved as possible, he had a busy schedule and u two weren’t even dating and this whole thing was happening secretly

they turn the monitor for you two to look at, pointing around

“there they are, we have a baby boy.”

seungmin is so taken aback, this all is so .. unreal for him

he’s ready to get the disc with ur ultrasound footage n the heartbeat but also the ultrasound photos 🥺 he’s so in love with your baby boy

u two are just sitting in the office after, ur wiping off ur belly n he’s just like

“i’m in love with you. you and our son — i know, we agreed to co-parenting and no feelings but,” his voice is so strained n he’s just so fragile n so utterly raw, “i couldn’t help it.”

ur fact at first is just frozen and slightly shocked

then ur like 😮🥺😣

“no, cause i was thinking the same exact thing.”

that seals the deal for u two pretty much, ur both emotional wrecks in the exam room

theres the boyfriend and girlfriend dynamic now — seungmin and you sleeping cuddled together

it wasn’t like you two didn’t cuddle before,, but it would usually end up with seungmin silently creeping out of bed or you softly removing his arm or you leaving him gently

u rely on him more, the final trimester hard on you and ur so exhausted and hurting

u two getting the nursery ready together which actually consists of u sitting down rather than actually doing anything

though u will have to teach this boy how to put away bibs and fold baby clothes

u two are young and u both have a lot of explaining to do to your own families, but they are supportive

they r more than happy to teach u two about children and giving tips on these things

blue nursery with lil teddy bears around and its just the cutest, props to room designer seungmin 🤓

baby boy is so stubborn, you’re past your due date and you both want him out

you two try a shit ton of things

name it all: pineapple, spicy foods, raspberry tea, daily walks around the block, literally everything

everything except for the obvious that had been recommended by your obgyn

sex.

both of you two hadn’t really explored in the topic of sex or anything of the sort, it was slightly awkward

you’re five days overdue now, which now you couldn’t even care

“please..! they said it works, even our ob said so!”

he is so cautious about this, but begrudgingly decides to proceed with this idea

he’s so sweet 🥺 but maybe a little too sweet because next thing you know is that two short hours later ur water breaks and u are in labor!!!!

both of you are vv nervous

his hyungs are right there to calm him down, asking you if ur okay and if u need anything

they rly adore their lil minnies baby mama & their lil nephew

seungmin is big daddy deffo

he’s so attached to u 🥺 it hurts to see u in so much pain and he can’t do much to take it away, but he will kiss ur forehead and wipe ur tears away

he personally finds u so angelic as u are quite literally coated in sweat and nearly breaking his hand

it’s finally over, you and seungmin both turning to the tiny baby that just came into the world, both of u crying while laughing at the beet red baby

theres your little baby boy in your arms, squirming at the new coldness and trying to move around in the blanket

all of the boys come in, excited to meet the baby

in amazement you made this adorable, small baby after one night

this experience was everything and more to you both, so glad you weren’t as careful one night and now had the greatest gift given to you: your small son who slept soundly in your arms

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gale-gentlepenguin · 3 years ago

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Gale's Story Idea: 'Those of another world must die' or 'Isekai no mono ha shi ke re ba naranai'

(I probably butchered the Japanese. But the point is to give it a light novel title feel)

(Since a few people have been asking what my light novel idea was. I decided to explain it and go a bit more in-depth)

Premise: Rumors have been circulating about a Killer known only as 'Hero Eater' is targeting heroes in the Human Kingdom of Itsumo. But not everything is as it seems, Itsumo has many dark secrets and the kingdom may need a change...

The world of Itsumo.

Now the setting would be similar to most fantasy Isekai worlds. Money consists of Gold, silver, Bronze coins. Platinum coins are for the super rich.

Magic exists, Magical items exist. Levels exist.

There are dragons, goblins, the typical fantasy fair/ D&D/MMORPG feel but with a lot more twists

Summoned Heroes

When it comes to Summoned heroes things get different.

1. 'Heroes from another world' are treated above the standard people. As being summoned from another world gives them stupidly over powered abilities compared to the average citizen of Itsumo. The Elites show them favoritism.

2. Aside from obviously enhanced strength, speed, durability, and magic. They level up faster, have overall higher stats, and Summoned heroes also get some sort of Overpowered ability.

3. These over powered abilities or OPAs are ranked from S to E. Depending on that OPA, determines your lot as a 'Summoned Hero'

4. E's are the lowest. The skill is just slightly useful. Summoned heroes are still MUCH stronger than the average soldier. So these heroes are often brainwashed Coerced and put as soldiers on the front lines, or bodyguards of the elite. (Basically they are just glorified meat shields.)

4.5 There is nothing ranked lower than E. Those summoned ALWAYS have a OPA.

5. C and D Ranks are considered worlds more useful. These heroes depending on their abilities are thrown into a field where their skills can be utilized. These heroes are usually thrown a boon by the king and get funding. These heroes are the ones responsible for the innovations in technology (such as guns, refrigeration, etc). (Though in truth they have done a lot of f***ed experimentation)

6. A and B Rank are considered 'Heroes of the Kingdom'. Those heroes are the ones that you see going around and fighting demon hordes with ease. The ones you see with the harems (usually of whatever their fetish is). They basically have license to do WHATEVER they want, so long as the King doesn't intervene.

7. S Ranks. These summons are incredibly rare, but their skills are 100% broken. To put it in perspective. 1 S Rank hero could easily beat 10 A ranks without breaking a sweat. This is where the OPA's become near god like. Fortunately for some reason, only 7 S ranks can exist in the world at a time. Only when 1 dies can a new S rank otherworlder can appear. Currently the King has some of them watching over different parts of his kingdom. But all of them are considered Legendary.

8. (Little known fact that summoned heroes are often loners, losers, incels, neets, and other lesser freaks of society. Who else would willingly go to another world if their life is actually good?)

9. Some heroes do start out doing good... but power corrupts

_____________________________________________________________

Religion:

The Religion of Itsumo in stated by King Tyran. Insists that there is a kind and loving goddess (Named Oveun Ativ) that blesses Itsumo with the heroes that appear. Basically making those from another world as 'Her blessed children'.

So often regular citizens range from worshiping them or at the very least respecting them. (Though this is simply a front, the average citizen HATES these arrogant s***s. Considering the awful stuff they put them through.)

The Church also has a monopoly on Hero summoning. The ritual that they use is as follows.

1. A young girl will be chosen once a year from every village. (basically not where the nobles live.) It was considered a great honor. (and if the town didnt comply the church would inform the king and that town would be burnt down and all of the young maidens there would be brain washed and taken anyway) A maiden will be trained in magic for several years until her 18th birthday. During this time she must not have relations with men, must not touch the blood of an animal, must read the sacred scriptures and serve the church without question. (Indoctrination)

2. According to the church, the Summoning ritual will then have the young Maiden perform the summoning magic in which if performed successfully, will summon the hero and she will take the form of a portal of light which summons him. After which she will ascend and become an angel that serves the goddess. (This is not true. Its a virgin sacrifice. Those girls are killed in a ritual. Its f***ed up what the s***)

3. If a maiden summons a B or A rank hero she is regarded as an example for others to follow. For she clearly followed the doctrine of the church. She was likely Heavily rewarded by the goddess.

4. If a Maiden summoned C or D rank, they are not discussed often except by friends and family.

5. Maidens that summon E ranked Heroes are considered disgraces. Maidens that clearly did not follow the teachings of the doctrine. Their names are stricken from the records.

6. Maidens that summoned an S Rank hero. Are written into the logs as Blessed by the goddess. They are treated like Saints and some worshiped like deities. Some doctrine claim that they serve at the hands of the goddess after achieving this.

_____________________________________________________________

Economics

Summoned Heroes basically caused Economic collapse for adventurers.

Summoned heroes often hunt monsters and get rare drops, and often those with rare skills can get much more value than typical adventure guilds.

Merchants initially loved Heroes getting them rare drops but when many other worlders started selling so many Rare drops like they were common... it made rare items worth much less and drove value of such items and materials down dramatically. Newer merchants will rarely buy goods from adventurers because of this.

Blacksmiths and artificers initially also had it great. They now get access to powerful materials for cheap. Since their work is labor intensive the value of the item is much less impacted on the product. Though Other worlders with Craft skills have popped up and open businesses that have been driving other types of stores out of business since they can easily craft higher grade weapons for cheaper and faster thanks to OPAs.

The only real way to make money was in the service industry. With rare items and monsters easily hunted and sold for cheap, Restaurants, inns and Taverns have less of a thin margin. And with Otherworlders constantly moving about, the inns had constant customers. Many of these customers would throw money around and expect to be waited on hand and foot. Inns that had pretty women were often the most popular.

Brothels were very popular among Summoned heroes. Though the places that experienced the most traffic were the ones that had more ... unique characteristics. (Animal ears, pointed ears, Wings, horns.) Beast-kin were often very requested.

Societal Impacts

Women would often try to sleep with Summoned heroes. Children made with those of another world often had a chance of producing offspring with an OPA. Which meant that the kid could have a much better life.

The 'Trope' of offering the daughter for saving them was more of a way to ensure their Family had a better life. But in reality this just meant Summoned heroes often obtained harems. This resulted in declining birthrates as many summoned heroes didnt actually often marry humans. Most would simply keep the harem. Or if they did marry they would often sleep around.

Heroes that dismissed companions often left them as single mothers. Some would be lucky to remarry, but many were left single due to social stigma. The claim is that men felt insecure marrying women that have been with heroes, because how could they compare. (In reality it was more like they felt the woman had little self respect to be willing to partake in a relationship with a hero with a harem.) And the off chance the hero did comeback to the woman to find her married, the new husband was likely slaughtered. (This selfish mentality of treating women as things to be owned was disturbingly common in the summoned heroes mind)

____________________________________________________________

The Main Characters.

Oralee: A maiden that was raised in the church as long as she could remember. Her family had a lot of faith in the church and were honored that she was picked. She followed the doctrine to very high levels. Never ate meat, Never even made contact with another of the opposite sex. She dreamed of summoning an S Rank hero and bringing great honor to the goddess (As a recent S Rank passed away and hasnt been replaced yet). Though the night she along with her fellow maidens were supposed to summon heroes. The 'Hero Eater' arrived and started killing everyone.

Hunter "Hero eater": A high level individual. A skilled fighter with a plethora of weapons in his arsenal. Skilled in strange magic that seems unorthidox yet effective. He wears a skull mask with a black cloak. He wields two daggers. One Named Malice, and the other named Mercy. His goal is to kill every other worlder he comes across. What is his motive? Does he want revenge? Power? Fame? Why did he spare Oralee. What does he look like under that mask?

#gale's story ideas #do not steal #og story #og ideas #OC #Those of another world must die #tw: blood #tw: violence #tw: corruption #tw: brainwashing #tw: mature themes #reblogs feedback and questions are appreciated #isekai

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a-pretty-nerd · 4 years ago

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Self Indulgent Shigaraki Nonsense Part 5

Tomura Shigaraki x pregnant!reader

A/N: Oh wow part 5 and I'm still not done with this.

Warnings: Emotions? Cursing?

You tossed and turned in your sleep, groaning and moaning in frustration. Your joint ached, and fatigue plagued your body. You tried everything you could to get to sleep but nothing was working and on top of your aching body, the nearly fully developed fetus in you thought now was the perfect time for exercise.

Tomura laid beside you, having fallen asleep hours ago. But your movement and sounds of anguish gently woke him up. Groggy and a little frustrated he looked over his shoulder to see your upset form shift back and forth.

"Is it the baby?" He asked in a low, hoarse voice. You huffed.

"Everything hurts and they keep moving around and I'm exhausted but I can't fall asleep!" You cried. You felt silly crying like this to Tomura, you felt like a little kid throwing a tantrum. Weren't you supposed to be the mild mannered, mature and wise mother?

Tomura turned over to face you, his gloved hand reaching out and planting firmly on your enlarged belly. He gently ran circles around it, trying to sooth the mysterious being inside. He had grown used to this routine, grown used to the idea of you being pregnant. But the idea of being father and actually having a baby was still out of his reach. For now, he was content to have you tucked away and all to himself where he knew you would be safe.

"My fucking BONES hurt." You complained as you rubbed circles into your eyes. He chuckled at your declaration for a moment before wrenching himself from the bed and shuffling into the kitchen where you could hear him rustling about. You laid there and closed your eyes, trying to emulate the soothing sensation of rubbing circles across your belly. They clearly liked it better when Tomura did it. You didn't even know how they knew the difference.

"Here." Tomura entered the room with a hot cup of tea in hand. He sat it down on your bedside table as you struggled to sit up properly. You laid against the head board and slowly took the mug. "Careful. It's still hot." He noted, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Thank you."

"Mhm." He watched you blow and sip on the tea, running his gloved hand up and down your calf.

"This is new." You scoffed.

"What?"

"You taking care of me." You smiled.

"What are you talking about? I've taken care of you before. Remember Jaku?"

"Ugh, I don't want to." You cringed. A particularly rough battle had left you broken and beaten black and blue. If it wasn't for Tomura, you would have been dead. But that was before you knew he loved you. Before you knew you loved him. "You're right you have taken care of me. But not like this before." Your smiled made him blush.

"This is a different situation." He explained. You chuckled.

"I know." You finished your tea and he took it from you to put the mug in the kitchen sink. But before he left the room you called to him. "Hey...Tomura?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"Sure."

"No. Really. Thank you. For everything." He watched you for a moment, engraving that sweet smile of yours into his brain forever. Before nodding and walking back to the kitchen. You adjusted yourself, laying back down and watching him come back in and lay in bed. You watched him, your hand reaching up to gently scratch down his bare back. A comforting gesture he loves but will never out right ask for. It put him to sleep quick, and soon you followed him.

When you woke up the next morning, you found yourself alone in bed. You struggled to get up to use the bathroom and wash your face before waddling into the kitchen. A note had been placed over wads of cash on the kitchen counter. The note read:

I'm sorry there was an emergency and I had to leave early this morning. I left money on the counter for breakfast. Take it easy. I'll see you soon. I love you.

- Tomura

Money for breakfast? You looked down at the wads of 20 dollar bills and giggled. Tomura still had very little grasp when it came to money. He just never had to really worry about it. It's not that he wasn't good at budgeting or math, but, this was enough to pay the mortgage and groceries for the rest of the month. Some breakfast you'd be having. You took the cash and put it away where the rest of it went. You were to pay for everything in cash. The mortgage, the car payments, groceries, furniture, absolutely everything. As if that didn't make you look suspicious enough. But Tomura insisted on it because it wouldn't leave a paper trail to your name.

Your new name would have no debt no credit, nothing. It had to be perfect and unremarkable.

You fed, washed, and clothed yourself which took all morning now but finally you made up your mind to take a short walk to the local grocery store and do some shopping. Normal house wife shit, right?

So you waddled your fat ass out the door to take a leisurely stroll all the way to the super market. You looked up and watched grey clouds gently float above, bringing a cool breeze and the faint smell of rain in the air. You made it to the store before it started to sprinkle. The bright and fresh atmosphere of the store made you uneasy. Public spaces still made you feel out of place. Suspicious. Like you still had to hide.

You paused in the middle of an aisle, sudden movement stopping you dead in your tracks. The baby had been moving less, and the false contractions had started. Your midwife had taught you that this was normal, you still weren't due for a while longer, there was no need to worry. But they were a big pain in the ass.

You held your belly and took a deep breath. It soon passed and you went back to searching for your grocery list.

"First one?" A voice asked. You turned and found a young woman standing there pushing a stroller. She gave a friendly smile.

"Oh, yes."

"How exciting. I had a lot of false contractions with my first too. How far along are you?"

"I guess about, eight months. Give or take a week or two."

"You sure look it. I'm kim by the way, nice to meet you." She held out a hand and you shook it. Her bright smile and relaxed attitude bring comfort and warmth. You looked down to the stroller, an infant cradled towards Kim, and an absent-minded toddler glaring at the floor sat in the front. He angrily pouted at the ground, before his gaze slowly came up to you.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Y/-...." fuck! What was your new name again? You almost blew your cover. "Ota." You remembered. Thank God.

"Your the new family down the road aren't you?" Kim nodded in recognition.

"Yeah, yeah. How long have you lived here?" You tried to make conversation.

"Oh I've lived here all my life."

"Wow."

"Yeah my husband and I met in high school here and been together ever since. He travels for work now though, so,"

"My husband travels too." You told her. Shit. Was that the right thing to say? Could you really call Shigaraki your, husband? What would he think about that? He'd probably be irritated you even bothered to socialize at all.

"Oh really? What does he do?" You paused.

"Uh, he works closely with heroes." You croaked.

"Oh like management er' whatever?" She was so nonchalant.

"Yeah, yeah. Real boring stuff." You agreed. 'Er' whatever' what a great way to put it.

"Yeah mine's a lawyer for cities suffering from 'big hero blow-outs' they call em'. He works with cities about destruction of public property and what not. I don't really know the details or anything but hey, maybe our guys have crossed paths a couple times! What did you say his name was?" Shit. Shit. Shit.

"Uh, Ota. Ota Kurai." You lied.

"Kurai...huh..." Kim thought for a moment, taking in a deep breath and sighing. "Well, that doesn't ring any bells. How long have you been together." Was this something you were supposed to lie about?

"Five years now, I think." You pondered.

"You think?" She chuckled at you.

"Yeah, it's hard to remember sometimes. All of a sudden we went from friends to more. Its difficult to explain." She smiled.

"Yeah, I understand. Well, I better be off. The boys need a nap before lunch. It was lovely meeting you, Ota."

"Likewise!" You smiled back.

"See you around."

"See ya." And with you that you went on shopping, a successful venture. You were lucky you were able to purchase an umbrella in the store, it was really coming down now. You waddled along the sidewalk, making your way back to the stretch of suburbs you occupied. As you walked the final stretch to your home, the wind began to pick up. Violently wrenching the umbrella out of your hand and throwing it behind you. You turned, panicked and now vulnerable to the heavy rain. It came down fast and hard, the droplets almost painful on your skin.

You turned around to find your umbrella flying through the air, tumbling over to a distant figure. A young man, no, a teenager. The kid snapped to attention, jogging for the object from under his own umbrella and quickly making his way back to you. You tensed up, the weight of your groceries, the rain, your condition. Clearly you were in distress. You cursed yourself. You were once a feared villain. You fought the greatest heroes Japan had to offer and lived to tell the tale. You were an activist, pioneer, warrior, leader. You had the scars to prove it. And now look at you. A helpless, pregnant house wife.

"Here miss!" The boy called. You sniffed and reached for it as he handed it to you.

"Thanks!" You barked, trying to shuffled off without anymore talk.

"Let me help you with that!" He insisted, taking your groceries from you and shielding you from anymore rain. You were soaked by now. You couldn't argue, he insisted and you had to admit that the help was nice. He walked you home, standing and waiting at your house's gate as you took back your bags from him.

"Thank you for your help." You tried to be polite.

"Sure thing miss. No trouble. Are you sure you got it?"

"Yes. Thank you." You insisted, turning back to disappear into your home. Only to find the front door open. You let out a startled gasp. A familiar figure stood in the doorway, dark eyes glaring at the boy behind you. Your eyes shuffled back and forth between him and the boy. Shigaraki wore a painfully mediocre disguise. A face mask, and a black wig. From far away he easily blended into a crowd. He was always good at hiding himself in a strange way. He was an oddly good actor.

"Sara. You should be more careful." He barked your fake name in a fake tone. Like he was a concerned husband.

"Sorry Kurai, I didn't think the storm would get this bad." You chuckled in a panic. He approached you, averting his gaze from the boy. Hiding his face and taking the bags from you. You turned back to the boy who's eye shifted from Shigaraki then back to you. "Thank you for your help. Here." You shuffled around in your purse before handing him a few hundred yen.

"Oh no Mrs, really it's fine."

"No. I insist." You huffed with a smile.

"Thank you. My names Sato by the way, I live just down the road."

"Nice meeting you Sato." You smiled and closed the gate before waddling back inside. You closed the door behind you, panting as you recovered from your adventure.

You watched Tomura remove his disguise in a frustrated huff before putting the groceries away. You leaned against the wall after shuffling into the kitchen, leaving water to fall from you and pool on the wood floor. Soon he turned to look back at you.

"I thought there was an emergency."

"False alarm." He muttered.

"Are you mad at me?" You asked. He paused and gave a frustrated huff.

"...I told you not to get friendly with people. That puts you in danger." You scoffed. "You're soaking wet, you better shower off before you catch a cold."

"I didn't have a choice, okay? It's not like I sought out his help! He was just there, he insisted he help! And yknow what, I can't say I didn't need it. Because I'm incapable of doing anything apparently!" You shouted. Oh shit. He angered you. You could see it in his eyes. He hates it when you get angry, it makes him uneasy. "And I'm a walking beacon of chit chat too! Everyone wants to talk to the new pregnant lady. Last week, I had fend off like four old ladies from touching my belly. And the week before that, the clerk at the bookstore kept trying to sell me these weirdly religious parenting books. And- And today even! Today some other mom stopped me to talk about my false contractions at the store and I almost forgot our names and I- I-" You're crying now. He hates seeing you crying more than he hates seeing you angry. He slowly approached you, watching as you sniffled and sobbed and wipped away your tears.

"Come on, let's get you comfortable." He guided you to the bathroom to help bathe you in a warm bath to calm your nerves and ease your aching body. You shuffled out into the living room, the warmth of your pajamas easing your tense feelings.

"She wasn't that bad." You mumbled.

"Hm?"

"The other mom at the grocery store today. She was actually nice. She has two boys. She was really chill."

"Mh."

"I told her you worked in management with heroes and you travel a lot." You chuckled to yourself. "Her husband works as a lawyer for cities regarding damage from heroes. She said you might have crossed paths." Tomura pause and flashed a goofy smile.

"You never know. Maybe we have." He joked. You laughed for a moment before finishing your bath and getting changed.

"How come you came back?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well usually you stay away. But you've been here so long I figured you'd have left by now so you don't take any chances getting caught. Why'd you come back?" Tomura starred at your stomach and placed his gloved hand over it before looking up at you.

"I'm just finishing a few preparations. But I've made plans so that I'll be able to stay longer than I usually do." He didn't answer your question.

"Plans? Like what?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Don't tell me you put Dabi in charge." He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Toga? No!... Spinner!?"

"Y/N. Please." He begged.

"Sorry. But you never leave someone else in charge."

"Well now I have a reason. I'm...I'm taking a few months."

"What? But what about your work?"

"I'm not quiting. I'm still the true ruler. It's just a small...vacation. I can go back at any time if an emergency occurs. But for now, I'm staying here."

"You really miss me, don't you?" He pulled his hand away and rolled his eyes one more time before strolling away.

"Of course I miss you." He said it like it was a well known fact. "I miss you every second. I miss working with you. It's so frustrating without you. You understand, you got it. You always knew what needed to be done, what I was trying to do. Now it's like herding cats to get the simplest of tasks done sometimes. I mean you- you were always one step ahead. Half the time I didn't even need to ask you to do something you were already there. You were so smart and cunning and strong."

"And now I'm just a housewife..." He slowly turned to look at you. "I'm just the knocked up mistress you gotta hide."

"No. You know that's not what I meant."

"It's how you make me feel."

"Y/N..."

"I miss it too, y'know. Working with you, with everyone. I miss doing something that actually matters. I miss the planning, and the training, and the fighting. I miss it all. And now look at me. I couldn't even fucking walk home from the grocery store without needing to be rescued. It sucks, it really sucks. I know I chose this life. I know I chose...." Your hand hovered over you belly. "But I just...I just..." You're crying again.

Tomura places a hand on your back and hold you close and the other to stroke your hair in an attempt to calm you again. You clung to him, rocking the two of you back and forth.

"I know. I know." He whispered.

"I just wanted...wanted to be happy. Like how- normal people are happy." You cried.

"I know."

"And I am- I am happy I just... I miss working so much. And I miss seeing everyone and seeing you and fighting heroes and just...I even miss negotiations!" You sobbed. Tomura couldn't help but flash a smile.

"I know. I'm sorry." Your crying started to subside for a moment. Giving him the opportunity to plant a kiss on your cheek.

"Tomura?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"I love you." He nodded and placed his hand on your belly once more.

"So you'll be here for it?"

"Yes I'll be here." You smiled.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me. It's the bare minimum."

#tomura shigaraki #tomura shigaraki x reader #mha #bnha #shigaraki x reader #tomura x reader #tomura shiragaki #shigaraki x pregnant reader

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luxekook · 5 years ago

Text

RESPECT ✩ namgi

✩ as part of @btswritingcafe‘s mots: 7 collab ✩

✩ pairing: king namjoon x witch reader x king yoongi

✩ genre: soulmate au, fantasy au, angst, smut, fluff, a sprinkle of crack

✩ summary: in a land where the only openly acceptable magic is intrinsic soulmate bonds, what is a lowly witch to do when she is called upon by not just one king but two?

✩ word count: 7.1k

✩ warnings: 18+, cursing, magic, societal oppression, mention of snakes, reader has hella trust issues, begging, general cheesy fluff, smut [dom!reader, dom!namjoon, switch!yoongi, threesome (duh), throne sex (yuh), yoongi gets taken to paris and then the reader gets double teamed (aka double penetration)]

✩ beta’d by: the MAGNIFICENT phia @meowxyoong

✩ banner by: the ILLUSTRIOUS danica @dee-ehn

Magic danced at your fingertips as you summoned ingredients from the shelves behind you. You had been brewing this potion for hours - a tedious and tumultuous process that always accompanied the crafting of wolfsbane. It was a badly kept secret that you supplied the temporary suppressant along with a variety of other magical remedies, spells, and an occasional curse or two.

There were - of course - limits on what you would provide. You did not take too kindly to townspeople that asked for dark spells or soulmate switches. Your fellow magical and supernatural folk in the kingdom of Meridian were ostracized enough as it was by the majority of the wealthier classes. To add on to your bad reputation would be a foolish endeavor.

Magic - it seemed - was a poor man’s trade. Why would the rich deign to ask for help from lowly witches and warlocks when they had access to the best doctors, the furthest overseas markets, and the fattest bank accounts? The occasional upper class individual would stray from the norm and enter your shop, but that was a rarity. And thank god it was.

The rich and the royals often feared what they did not understand – whether it be foreign powers, lower class revolts, or magical beings. For centuries, supernaturals like yourself clung to the outer rim of the kingdom out of necessity. Some who were able to pass as human lived closer to the castle at the center of the kingdom; but, you had long since lost your cover, choosing to openly use your powers for good and for a source of income.

While the two current rulers had lifted the outright ban on supernaturals and magical beings a few years ago, centuries of prejudice and trepidation could not be quickly unlearned.

It always struck you as ironic how easily the magic of soulmates was accepted, but a simple spell of healing, for example, was not. Perhaps the acceptance of soulmate magic was out of the longevity of its presence or the necessity of its inevitability - perhaps a combination of the two. You were taught from a young age that soulmate bonds felt like a welcomed tether to another person - a connection celebrated and cherished. And, in most cases, that rang true.

However, you knew too much to hope for a soulmate of your own, having heard too many stories from your fellow magic wielders. You knew all too much about the severance of soulmate bonds and the pain that accompanied the process – the pain that never left.

Obviously, you were downright terrified of finding your soulmate and the almost certain rejection that would follow over the mere fact you were a witch. You would stick to your spells and your potions, thank you very much.

Giving the wolfsbane one final stir, you reached for the empty bottle next to your cauldron, only to be interrupted by a thumping knock on the thick wood of your front door. Sighing, you set down the bottle and doused the flames beneath your finished brew with a flick of your hand.

Turning to the door, you cast a quick reveal-spell at the dividing barrier between you and the newcomers. The magic dripped down the door, erasing it from your sight.

Kim Taehyung waited expectantly on the other side, body practically vibrating with anticipation. You rolled your eyes. That boy always carried way too much energy with him. He pounded again on your door. You smirked, it always seemed funny when visitors would continue to knock on what was - for you - an invisible barrier.

You waved the spell away with another wave of your palm. Pulling open the door, you failed to get a word in before you were swept into a giant hug. “(Y/n)!” Taehyung bellowed in your ear while he swung you around.

“Tae,” You wheezed, “Can’t. Breathe.”

The werewolf let you stand on your feet once more. “How is my favorite witch?” He asked, looking at you expectantly.

You sighed, chuckling slightly, “Tae, I’m the only witch you know besides Sinestra, and she scares you.”

Taehyung gasped, “She does not scare me! She’s just mean. She threatened to turn me into a cactus last time I went to her shop!” A pout formed on his face.

“Well,” You cannot resist teasing the boy, “She did say that you were being a prick.”

Taehyung shot you a playful glare and mumbled something about damned witches sticking together.

Deciding to let him off the hook, you headed back over to where the wolfsbane was left waiting to be bottled. “It just finished,” You told Taehyung as he trailed after you. “But, Taehyung, you really should just tell him.”

The reason that Taehyung repressed his wolf each month was none other than his soulmate - a human named Jimin. Tae was terrified of Jimin’s reaction to discovering his supernatural side. You thought his fear was justified, but you also figured that Jimin would be accepting of Tae just from how the werewolf described him.

Besides, it seemed inevitable that Jimin would catch on at some point. And Taehyung seemed to know that, too.

Tae’s shoulders sagged, “I know, (y/n). I’ll think about it.”

With that, you nodded and dropped the subject, pouring the portion of the potion Taehyung needed into a bottle. Capping it tightly, you handed it to him, “Here. Remember to take it with food this time, okay?”

He smiled widely, clutching the bottle close to his chest. “Thank you! I will, (y/n).” Pulling you into one more hug, Taehyung waltzed out the door with a wave.

You smiled wistfully at his departure. So full of life, that one was. You just knew that his soulmate would accept him. You also recognized that you were not like Taehyung. You weren’t as vibrant, as gentle, or as beautiful. Would your soulmate be able to look past all your magic and stay for you? You didn't think so.

Shaking yourself from your negative thoughts, you carefully bottle up the rest of the wolfsbane for your stores. Even though you had long since stopped charging Taehyung, there were other werewolves nearby that you sold the potion to for quite a pretty penny.

You had barely begun to shelve the bottles when another knock sounded at your door. Cracking a wry smile, you yanked the door open, “Tae, what did you forget to tell me this ti—”

The knock had not been from Taehyung. Instead, two palace guards stood there, shoulder to shoulder.

Oh, this was not good. Having any lingering association with the palace would hurt your business. It was always best to deal with potentially hazardous situations quickly. Pulling open the door wider, you stood with hands on your hips, facing the two intruders. They both gaped at you, and you arched an eyebrow at them. “Can I help you, boys?”

You took their continued silence as an opportunity to flick your eyes up and down each of the men before you.

The one on the right looked like he had just passed the guards’ test with his widened doe eyes and his flushed pink cheeks. The one on the left looked slightly older but no less youthful as he seemed to bounce on his toes with energy.

Seconds ticked by until - finally - the second guard exclaimed, “You’re (y/n)? The witch?”

“Last time I checked, yes,” You addressed the guard who had spoken. You dubbed him ‘Happy’. “Were you expecting me to look differently?”

“I heard that you were super old! Like over one hundred years old!” Doe-eyes unhelpfully answered before widening his eyes in panic, “Not that there’s anything wrong with being old! I mean, I love old people! But, not, like, romantically! I mean—”

Happy seemed to notice your mood darkening with each word his partner spewed out. Shoving the younger guard aside, Happy puffed out his chest and announced with pride, “We are members of the Royal Guard sent to escort you to the palace, Miss Witch.”

Doe-eyes nodded swiftly next to him, cowering slightly as you continued to glare at him.

“First of all, please never ever call me ‘Miss Witch’. My name is (y/n),” You uttered, completely unamused, “Second of all, what happens if I refuse your escort?”

The guards slid each other a look.

“Ah, I see,” You murmured, mood darkening even still, “Was there an implied ‘by any means necessary’ tacked on to the end of that sentence that I didn’t hear?”

“She’s a mind reader!” Doe-eyes gasped, leaping behind Happy and peering slightly around his shoulder at you.

You rolled your eyes at the sight of his quivering form, “Calm down, kid. I’m not into non-consensual mind reading.” Shooting the baffled duo a wink, you turned to open your door further. “Please, come in,” You insisted. It was obvious there was no avoiding your summons, but that did not mean your business would suffer.

“But our orders...” Happy failed to follow through with his attempted protest as he practically jumped past you into your little cottage. What an intense curiosity that one had, you mused. Meanwhile, the younger guard seemed more trepidatious, practically tiptoeing across the threshold and into your humble abode.

You shook your head at the way the two palace guards were quickly captivated by your gathered crystals, your worn spellbooks, and your wall of potion ingredients. Swiftly, you shelved the rest of the wolfsbane potion like you had tried to do before being interrupted.

Your clients would have to pick it up themselves. Scrawling a quick note to your fellow witch Sinestra about the recent events just in case, you vanish it to her with a snap of your fingers.

“Whoa,” Two awed voices sounded from behind you.

“It went ‘poof’!” Doe-eyes yelled, tugging on the sleeve of his fellow guard, “Did you see?”

“Do you want to go ‘poof’, too?” You smiled evilly, wiggling your fingers in his direction.

“Ah, hyung! She’s threatening me!”

“Get it together, bro,” Happy rolled his eyes. Turning to address you, he asked expectantly, “Ready to go now, (y/n)?”

“As I’ll ever be,” You muttered, grabbing your cloak from the rack by the door. Ushering the two men out before you, you quickly cast your protective charms on your home. Now, no one besides your most trusted clients should be able to enter.

Satisfied, you trailed behind the guards as they walked over to where their horses were tied to one of the many nearby trees surrounding your cottage. At least they didn't seem to be malicious in their intent. Their backs were to you, either a sign of trust or blatant stupidity. Only time would tell, you guessed.

"You'll ride with me," Happy smiled at you as he held his palm out for you to take. You shrugged, ignoring his hand to mount the horse on your own. "Alright then," The guard muttered as he seated himself behind you, "Let's go."

The journey towards the heart of the kingdom was not one you made often. It was only out of necessity that you sometimes ventured to the more expensive markets for key ingredients. The looming castle always stirred up inexplicable and foreign feelings of longing and fascination. You feared that actually entering it this time would be almost too overwhelming.

As the three of you made your way through the town you lived in, you received some tentative smiles and concerned looks from those in which you interacted with regularly. Visitors from the palace were rarities in these parts of the kingdom. You didn't blame people for being concerned by the guards’ appearance and by your departure with them.

The day wore on as you made your way through village after village, stopping only for a quick lunch. All too soon the palace appeared on the horizon. The looks you received from the townspeople were no longer cordial or concerned. They were full of suspicion and condescension.

You shrugged it off as best you could. You had bigger things to worry about - starting with whatever was waiting for you on the other side of the looming palace gates.

The large engraved metal doors swung open with your approach as Happy and Doe-eyes nodded to the guards posted there. Your breath caught in your throat. The castle was magnificent. The stone structure seemed to shine with a silvery sheen. Large stained glass windows gleamed from the many stories and towers adorning the palace. Vines wound their way up the walls despite the best efforts of the gardeners to stem their growth.

You stifled a laugh as one such gardener attempted to do so, but the vine refused to budge. Maybe there was some magic here after all.

Two other palace guards walked over to where the three of you had come to a stop inside the palace gates. Doe-eyes dismounted first and then offered a hand in your direction. This time, you decided to take the olive branch and accepted his assistance.

“Okay, ready?” Happy nodded at you and pointed towards the castle doors. “Let’s go. We don’t want to keep the kings waiting.”

“Oh, no,” You gasped, slapping a hand to your heart, “That would be a travesty.”

Doe-eye’s mouth quirked at the corners like he had stifled a laugh, while Happy spluttered something about respect. The short walk to the front entrance was much too short for your liking. You felt like you were walking to your doom - and maybe you were. The two guards had given you no clues as to the purpose of your summoning. That was such bullshit.

The heavy gold encrusted front doors creaked open as you approached. The foyer of the palace beckoned to you with that familiar pull. You sighed as you took in the expensive decor. From the shiny marble floors to the heavy purple drapery, you could see yourself living here all too easily. Why did you feel so called to this place? Well, you had always thought of yourself as a queen.

Laughing to yourself, you let yourself be ushered down an adjacent corridor to the right of the foyer. You barely noticed where you were headed since your attention lingered on the gorgeous paintings that lined the walls. You probably should have been more alert because you suddenly found yourself at the cusp of the throne room.

The second you entered the room your attention was captured by the two men lounging on elevated thrones at the focal point of the room. These must be the kings, you mused. You had never seen them in person before, but their reputations preceded them. Your magic surged as you neared the kings. Was there a threat nearby? You shift a glance throughout the wide hall.

Courtesans were scattered amidst large marble columns adorned with intertwining gold and silver accents. The majority of those gathered gaped at you in distaste, while a small handful simply spared a few curious glances. You couldn't spot a single person you knew in the bunch - not that you had expected to - nor could you find a source of outright danger.

Still, your magic thrummed louder within you as you continued on your way towards the kings.

Your heart sank. This was not a reaction based on imminent danger. No, you knew what this was; someone here was your soulmate. And, when your eyes finally landed on the two men who summoned you, you had to choke down the hysterical laugh that bubbled up inside you.

King Yoongi reclined lazily on his ornate silver and black onyx throne, his body lax but his eyes sharp. His laser-focused attention on you made your stomach flip. You held his gaze as best you could, taking in the delicate dark silk of his diamond encrusted tunic and the tousled auburn hair on which his silver crown resided. He was beautiful.

And he was your soulmate.

Could he feel the tether between you? Had he known about it somehow before you did? Was this why were you here?

Your eyes slid over to the right, unable to take the heat of King Yoongi’s gaze; King Namjoon’s curious eyes met yours. Unlike his partner, King Namjoon leaned forwards on his gold and emerald throne, avidly taking you in like you were a subject of study. And perhaps you were… You studied him right back. This king was no less intimidating in his scrutiny than the other. His elbows rested on his knees, his hands steepled in front of his face as he stared you down. The intelligence you saw within the depths of his brown eyes clued you in that this was a king that no one could fool.

And, since fate was clearly a bitch, he was your soulmate, too.

You came to a stop before the kings amidst the sea of murmuring courtiers. “Bow,” Doe-eyes whispered to you, urgently prodding you in the side with his hand. You only stood straighter. You bowed to no one, and you certainly would not bow to your soulmates - no matter their status.

“Leave us.” At King Namjoon’s command, the room emptied. Your two escorts remained behind you. “Hoseok, Jungkook, that includes you,” King Namjoon lifted his chin as he swished a hand in dismissal of the two guards.

“But, sire—”

King Yoongi spoke for the first time, effectively cutting Happy off, “Don’t worry, Hoseok. What can one little witch do to us?”

Oh, you could think of a lot of things. Your thoughts must have been written all over your face because King Namjoon glanced at you and immediately let out a deep chuckle.

Glaring at the two men before you, you decided that one way or another they would learn to respect you. The guards you now knew to be Hoseok and Jungkook exited the room, leaving you alone with the two kings - your two soulmates.

Now, it seemed that you were somehow in a staring contest with both of them at once. Fine, if they didn't want to talk, you would.

“So, nice weather we’re having, huh,” Your tone could not be any drier.

“Indeed,” King Namjoon quirked a half smile, and you realized you might be in over your head as his dimple made its first appearance.

You hated the whole power imbalance thing going on right now - the two of them sitting silently on an elevated platform lording over where you stood. Gathering all your dignity and lack thereof, you placed your hands on your ample hips and raised your eyebrows, “Well? Did you summon me just to stare?”

“No,” King Yoongi drawled, cupping his chin in his hand, “But you are quite delightful to look at, soulmate… That is, if this is your true form.”

You let the backhanded compliment simmer as King Namjoon chastised his partner, shooting him a warning look.

“Ah, yes,” You finally say, swiping at a nonexistent tear, “You’ve caught me. My true form is actually so old that it’s partially decomposed. Ah, silly me. I thought I would spare you from the grotesque monstrosity.”

King Namjoon burst into uproarious laughter. “Yoongi-ah,” He wheezed, “You’ve really met your match this time.”

Opposite him, King Yoongi scowled, “It was a fair question! The last witch that we summoned could shift into an owl.”

“You’ve met Helvetica?” You blinked, thinking of the only witch you knew with that ability, “She’s legendary.” Then, it registered. “Wait, what do you mean she was ‘the last witch you summoned’... Why have you been summoning witches left and right?”

“Isn’t it obvious now?” King Namjoon smiled, “We’ve been looking for you.”

“You see, (y/n),” King Yoongi purred your name, inciting a shiver down your spine, “Namjoon and I are also soulmates.” He gracefully shifted to his feet before walking down the few steps to where you still stood.

Circling you like a shark in water, King Yoongi continued, “But we had been feeling lonely despite our connection. We couldn't figure out why.”

“That’s right,” King Namjoon chimed in from his throne, “We tried everything to fill that void.”

“And we mean everything,” King Yoongi whispered in your ear, twirling a strand of your hair around his finger.

“We were quite desperate,” King Namjoon laughed lightly. He, too, rose to his feet and made his way to stand before you.

Your heart felt like it might beat out of your chest from the sheer sensation of being caught in between these two beautiful men. King Yoongi continued to play with your hair from his position behind you. King Namjoon’s heavy gaze pinned you in place with its wicked intent.

“Desperate enough to contact King Seokjin of Andolia and request that his top Seer be sent to us to do a reading.” King Yoongi’s words caused you to jolt back slightly in shock. Andolia was known to be a more liberal kingdom than yours. It was a kingdom of magic, of carnal pleasure, of beauty.

Plus, King Seokjin was practically famous for his good looks and for his love of otherworldly entertainment.

“You outsourced from Andolia? Couldn't you just have asked one of the Seers here in Meridian?” It seemed absurd to you that these two kings reached out to another land so unlike their own for assistance - especially when you knew of at least four Seers in your own land.

King Yoongi and King Namjoon exchanged a look. “The Seers in our kingdom weren't exactly forthcoming, (y/n).” The taller king in front of you withered under your responding glare.

Could they really blame the Seers for not coming forward to help the very kingdom that had rejected them for so long? You certainly didn't think so.

King Yoongi continued, “Well, King Seokjin sent us his personal Seer Moonbyul… And imagine our surprise when she took one look at us and laughed.”

“‘No wonder you’re lonely! You’re missing one,’” King Namjoon quoted the Seer’s past words with air quotes. You had to bite down a smile over the cuteness of his action. “And not just anyone… a witch no less!”

His tone was light, jovial. You couldn't tell his feelings on your magical status no matter how hard you searched his twinkling brown eyes. Turning slightly, you assessed the other king who looked no less unreadable.

Still staring at King Yoongi, you questioned, “Okay, so you knew your other soulmate was a witch, and you just decided to summon every witch in Meridian to check them out? Do you have any idea how much that would scare us?”

The shorter king had the decency to look a bit embarrassed, rubbing the back of his neck in discomfort. “I guess we were too excited by the prospect of finding you.”

You fought down the hopeful feeling inside you. There was no way these two actually wanted to keep your bond to them, right? Not in this economy…

“I’m just going to be straight up with you.” You pulled away from their hold and paced away to climb up a couple steps so you were finally the same height. “I think you searched for me because you want to sever our bond.”

The two kings moved to interrupt you, but you just held a palm in the air, “No, let me finish. Look, I’ve already come to terms with the fact that my soulmate wouldn't want to be tied to a witch. And why should I even want to be with someone who doesn’t respect me or my craft?”

You lowered your palm, effectively lifting the unspoken silencing charm you had cast on them.

The first thing that King Yoongi said once he recovered his voice was: “Damn, that was sexy.”

And the second? “I would rather sever my left arm than sever our bond.”

“Well,” You blinked as King Namjoon nodded emphatically besides his partner, “That’s a bit dramatic.”

“Please don’t write us off that easily, (y/n),” The taller king begged, “Don’t you feel it? The tether between the three of us? Can’t you see we were made for each other?”

Oh, you felt it. You felt the pull so deeply that you feared you might lose yourself within them.

But if the spark you felt for them was akin to a flame, you weren’t sure if you were the darkness longing to be brightened or the moth destined to be burned.

Would it be worth it to give up your current life to be with them? Could you leave Taehyung and your little cottage? Could you survive in a court that held no love for your kind?

Your prolonged hesitance clearly worried the two kings before you.

“What can we do to show you how much we want you here with us?” King Yoongi implored, his hand drifting out to clasp with King Namjoon’s.

Staring down at the unified front the kings presented, you realized that your soulmates could offer you so much if you let them. By accepting the bond, you could gain the ability to help others more broadly than just offering simple spells of assistance. You could feel safe and secure. And, you could even allow yourself to love and be loved.

“Hm,” You mused, “I think I need to take a seat.” You lounged on the very throne in which Yoongi had lazed just a half an hour prior.

“Just when I thought you couldn't get any more beautiful,” King Namjoon murmured as he stared up at you as you reclined on the silver and black throne.

King Yoongi hummed in agreement, “We’ll need to make hers resplendent just to even come close to her radiance.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere,” You lied, secretly basking in the warmth of their praises, “Would I really get my own throne? You’re not planning on shoving me in a far away tower?”

“We were fearful of this,” King Namjoon walked up to the foot of the throne with King Yoongi in tow. Pausing briefly, they both fell to their knees before you. King Namjoon continued, “We feared you would think the worst of us. And for good reason.”

King Yoongi’s gaze pleaded with yours as he explained his partner's words, “We grew up to be scared of magic. We were sheltered from it and were told falsehoods about its ‘malicious nature’. It wasn’t until a few years ago that we first travelled to Andolia and met King Seokjin that we realized how wrong we were.”

“We were ignorant,” King Namjoon said lowly, “We removed the outright ban on magic and supernaturals immediately, but unlearning such prejudiced ways has proven to be difficult for our kingdom.”

You took everything in. You did not doubt that they were being genuine; however, one thought still lingered in the back of your mind.

“If I stay here with you...” Both kings eagerly stared up at you and you rolled your eyes, “And I mean if I do, will you see me as an equal? Will you respect me as such?”

The kings exchanged a confused glance before replying that they already did. You weren’t convinced. You decided to lay everything on the table.

“Okay, but do you really respect me? Or do you just want to fuck me?”

“Do those have to be mutually exclusive?” King Yoongi asked, his hands clenched at his sides as if he was holding himself back from touching you.

Your lips quirked, “I suppose not.”

“Thank the gods for that,” He growled, “I’ve been hard since you sat on my throne.” Both kings moved forward with clear sensual intent, but you sent a wave of magic forward - effectively halting their movements.

Their eyes blazed with desire for you that you were certain was mirrored in your own. You take in the magnificence of the sight before you. Your two powerful soulmates on their knees before you, desperate to touch you, to taste you. Your eyes traveled over the expanse of Namjoon’s shoulders to settle on his black velvet and gold choker. Then, you shift your gaze to Yoongi and his long ring adorned fingers, the smooth skin of his chest that peeked from the v-neck of his tunic.

They really were quite a pair. What in the universe had you done to be fated to such beauty? You guessed you probably shouldn’t question it.

Waving away the magical barrier between you, you began, “Earlier you asked what you could do to show that you want me here with you.”

“That’s right,” Yoongi rasped, his heated gaze locked with yours as he lightly trailed a finger up your calf. Beside him, Namjoon inclined his head in agreement before taking your hand in his.

Trying to ignore the rising tension, you forged onwards. It was important that you made these points before this went any further. “Well, I have some requirements.”

Namjoon cracked a smile, “I would be disappointed if you didn’t, my soul.”

Your cheeks warmed at the endearment but didn’t let it distract you. “I want to draft an ordinance that explicitly declares equity for those with magical and supernatural abilities.”

“Done.” Your soulmates agreed in unison.

You paused. That had been almost too easy… “And also an amendment stating that discrimination against said subjects will not be tolerated by any means.”

“Agreed.”

You were on a roll now. “I like practicing magic. It’s a part of me. I don’t want to have to hide it.”

Namjoon pressed a kiss to your palm, “We don’t want you to hide it.”

“Your magic is beautiful, (y/n),” Yoongi’s hand slid further up your leg, “You should never feel like you have to hide an intrinsic part of yourself - especially around us.”

Your body burned under their touch, but you still held back. Were they just going to agree to any old thing you threw at them? “I also want ten thousand Burmese pythons.”

That took them a second to process. “We can easily get you around six hundred, maybe seven?” Namjoon squinted as he seemed to calculate the math in his head, “I’ll have to talk to our allies about trading for the remaining amount.”

Spluttering out a laugh, you shook your head, “I was just kidding about the snakes, my gods. Although… now that i think about it, maybe one would be cool?”

Yoongi pressed a kiss to the inside of your thigh. When had he pushed your skirt up that high? “Anything for you, my queen.”

It was official. You were ruined.

Your soulmates had effectively stymied your doubts and quelled your fears, leaving you with only the intense desire to be with them.

And so you caved. “That just leaves one last stipulation... You say you want me, need me. Well then show me how badly you want me to be with you.”

The words barely left your mouth before they were on you. Yoongi pushed your legs further apart so that he could get closer to you. His hands slid around your waist, tugging your body flush against him, and he fused his mouth with yours.

You smiled into his kiss as you felt Namjoon sidle up to you and begin to place fevered kisses across your collarbone. A witch could get used to this, you thought as Yoongi’s tongue tentatively swiped across your lower lip. What a good boy he was to not take more than you offered.

Your hands tangled into Yoongi’s silky strands before they came to a halt at his crown. Carefully, you slid the crown off his head and onto yours. Pulling away from Yoongi’s mouth slightly, you murmured, “Well? How’s it look?”

“You look like our queen,” Namjoon whispered hoarsely as Yoongi just looked at you like he might devour you whole.

At Namjoon’s words, you turned to face him, hooked a finger around the choker adorning his neck, and tugged his mouth onto yours. His hand immediately flew up to cradle your cheek as he kissed you as if you might slip away from him if he stopped. You almost laughed at how obvious it was to you now that Namjoon was the more dominant of the two.

He had just mastered the art of patience amongst the other things you only hoped you could have the pleasure of discovering. His teeth playfully nipped at your bottom lip, and you returned the affection in kind.

Meanwhile, Yoongi refused to let you forget about him as he settled into his position of kneeling between your legs. His lips kissed and sucked at your neck while his fingers danced up your thighs, taunting you with their light touch.

You decided you had been teased enough. Tugging away from Namjoon and shifting Yoongi back from you slightly, you paused briefly to focus your magic and then snapped your fingers. Your dress and undergarments disappeared from your body and reappeared a few steps away folded neatly.

“Fuck, I love magic,” Yoongi breathed as he takes in your naked body for the first time.

Without hesitation, you hitch one leg over one of the ornate arms of the chair. “Well?” You arched a brow, looking over your two speechless soulmates, “Are you just going to stare? Or are you going to get naked?”

The speed at which they shed their clothes almost gave your magic a run for its money.

You marveled at the two men before you, their bodies chiseled, their cocks hard.

“How do you want us?” Yoongi asked, practically thrumming with anticipation.

You arched an eyebrow at Namjoon, “Is he always this eager?”

The taller man grinned, “Occasionally, but this level is rare form for him.”

Yoongi scowled, “Please, Joon, like you aren’t dying to sink your cock into our soulmate’s pretty little pussy.”

“Oh,” You sighed, “Someone has quite a mouth on them… Why don’t we put that to good use while Joon teaches you some discipline.”

Not even thrown off at the notion of being punished, Yoongi gladly sunk to his knees before you once more. Namjoon hesitated, and you quickly realized the problem. Summoning your magic, you materialized some water-based lubricant for him.

“Yeah,” Namjoon laughed, “Magic is a fucking beautiful thing.” Taking the lube from you, he leaned down to prep Yoongi. “Ready?” His deep voice sent shivers down your spine. Yoongi nodded.

“Gods yes,” You barely finished your thought before Yoongi buried his face between your legs, his mouth immediately kissing and exploring your pussy. The first stroke of his tongue tore a moan from you as your back arched into the cool metal behind you.

“(Y/n),” Namjoon growled, “Look at me, my soul. Watch me fuck our soulmate while he tastes you. I want you to feel each of my thrusts in every jolt of his tongue.”

Despite not being one to typically take orders, the heat of Namjoon’s words pulled your attention immediately and the sight before you made it stay. You watched enraptured as Namjoon slowly sank his cock into Yoongi’s ass.

Yoongi groaned and the vibrations sent another rush of arousal through you as he continued to greedily tease your clit with his tongue. Your hands dug into his auburn waves, pushing his face harder against your pussy.

Namjoon slid out of Yoongi and then drove back in. The visual of his hard cock pumping feverishly in and out of Yoongi’s pert ass was indescribable when every stroke caused Yoongi’s tongue to thrust inside you and his nose to nudge against your clit.

“How does she taste, Yoongi? Is she as sweet as she looks?”

You scowled at Namjoon for causing Yoongi to pause his worship in order to answer. “She tastes like the fucking sun, Namjoon.”

“Now, that doesn’t even make sense— Fuck,” You moaned as Yoongi’s mouth sucked hard on your clit, effectively shutting you up. Your pulse thundered in your ears as you felt the arousal build and build inside of you. Your legs shook as Yoongi sucked and hummed on your clit as Joon continued to pound into him.

Your eyes focused on the sharp movements of Namjoon’s hip and the flexing of his muscles as he alternated in thrusting and rolling his hips. Gods, you wanted those hips to drive that cock deep inside of you.

“Does this please you, my soul?” Namjoon growled, “Do you like watching me wreck Yoongi while he gives you pleasure?”

“Y-yes,” Your breath hitched as Yoongi teasingly nipped at your swollen bud. “But I want you to wreck me and then I want to wreck you both.”

Namjoon’s thrusts stuttered to a halt as your words connected. Yoongi tore his mouth from your folds. Placing your foot on his forehead, you gently pushed Yoongi back so you could stand, “I want both of you inside me.”

Panting, Yoongi gasped, “Please, please wreck us, my queen.” His lips shone with your essence and you swiped a finger along their seam. Bringing your finger up to Namjoon’s plush lips, you tilted your head with a sly smile, “Well? You wanted a taste, didn’t you?”

Without a pause, he took your finger into his mouth, his tongue curling around the digit, tasting you. His dark eyes remained on yours as he released your finger with a pop. “So fucking divine,” Namjoon groaned, his hands darting out to grab your hips, his hard cock pressing into your stomach.

Yoongi once again mirrored Joon’s actions from behind you. You could feel his hardness against your ass, and you couldn't help but to grind slowly into him. “(Y/n),” Yoongi moaned into your neck as his cock practically throbbed with need for relief.

Tugging Namjoon closer to you, you whispered, “My love, go sit on your throne.”

Your soulmate appeared confused but nonetheless did what you said. Pausing only briefly to admire the way Namjoon looked on his throne, you extracted yourself from Yoongi and sauntered over to stand over Joon.

“You know,” You murmured, grabbing his cock firmly, eliciting a gorgeous moan from the man, “I think I want to sit on your throne, too.” Your hand stroked him teasingly as his head leaned against the back of his throne.

“As you wish, my soul,” He rasped out, his thighs tensing.

With that, you knelt over him. Immediately, Namjoon’s hands rested on your ass and squeezed. “What a greedy boy,” You murmured, placing a soft kiss on his lips, “That’s for Yoongi, my love. Or is my pussy not enough for you?”

As you spoke, you slowly sunk down his thick cock inch by inch. And at the mention of his name, Yoongi practically shoved Namjoon’s hands off your ass and replaced them with his. Echoing your own words, he teased the younger king, “Yeah, Joonie, don’t be greedy.”

Namjoon shot the two of you a half-hearted glare, but before he could say a word, you clenched your walls around him. “F-fuck,” He moaned, his eyes squeezed tight, “You feel so good around my cock, so wet.”

You slid up and down his length, reveling in the building heat consuming you. From behind you, Yoongi slowly teased your other opening. The coolness of his finger assured you that he had done this before. His finger slid into my ass with ease, the lube no doubt helping with that. You both moaned.

“You like that, my queen?” Yoongi growled, beginning to push his finger in and out.

“Oh my gods, yes,” You felt wild from the sensation of being so full of your soulmates, but you couldn't help but want more. “Want your cock inside me, too, Yoongi.”

“Well, I can’t argue with that,” He responded, pulling his finger out of you. After a moment, you felt the gentle nudge of his cock head against your ass. You stilled your motions, bottoming out on Joon’s dick as you waited with anticipation of being stuffed full with both of them.

Slowly, inch by inch, Yoongi pushed into you. “Fuck,” He bit out, “Joon, I can feel you.”

You felt so satisfied as Yoongi’s hips pressed into you, his cock buried deep inside you.

Namjoon’s cock twitched inside you as he no doubt could feel Yoongi right back. “Please, my soul, I need to fuck you. Let us fuck you,” He begged, gazing down at you with pupils blown out wide.

“No,” You shook your head emphatically, “I’m going to fuck you.”

With that, you started riding Namjoon’s cock. Moving up and down his thick shaft, you guided Yoongi’s hands to your hips as he thrust in and out of you in time to your movements. Every time you sank down on Namjoon’s shaft, Yoongi thrust into your ass. It was exquisite.

You felt your orgasm coiling within you, burning brightly. You squeezed down, trying to prolong the sensation, rolling your hips.

“Godsdamn,” Yoongi moaned, “Your ass is so tight, my queen. I’m not going to last much longer.”

You shook your ass slightly just to tease him. Yoongi responded by biting your neck and muttering, “You’re such a witch.”

“You fucking know it,” You gasped out as Namjoon suddenly rolled your clit between his fingers. Pleasure shot through you as you writhed on top of them. Your walls clenched down as you hurtled towards bliss, your world going white.

You could feel both of them coming inside you, painting your walls. The heat of their releases only added to the intensity of your orgasm as you flew over the edge, milking them with every pulse of your pussy.

Slowly, you came down from your high, breathing hard. Collapsing against Joon’s chest, you nuzzled his neck.

You felt his chuckle before you heard it, “I think we tired her out, Yoongi.”

“Yes, I think so, Joon,” Yoongi replied, slowly pulling out of you, “Let’s get you cleaned up. We have a private hot spring just outside.”

Not one to be outdone, you straightened, hopping off Joon. Placing your hands on your hips, you leveled each of them with a devilish smile, “Hey, maybe I was pretending to be satisfied for your benefits, you old men.”

“Old!?” Yoongi bellowed, so easily riled up.

“Hmm,” Namjoon’s arms encircled you, hugging you to him. Bringing his mouth to your ear, he whispered, “You’re going to be a handful, aren’t you, my soul?”

“Undoubtedly,” You whispered back as Yoongi still fumes over being called old. Yeah, a witch could really get used to this.

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thelastviolin · 4 years ago

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I was having a rough day, so I did a thing and finished my first fanfiction story. Super short, but if you are interested, it’s on AO3 and below the cut.

Safer than Shaking Hands- Hotch/Reid (brief)

1.8k words

Safer than Shaking Hands

“The number of pathogens passed during a handshake is staggering. It's actually safer to kiss.”- Dr. Spencer Reid

The tradition began after the team returned from a case in Oklahoma, during which Spencer had informed more than one cop about his no-hand-shaking policy. The general reaction was surprise, quickly followed by the cop shuffling away in case Spencer suggested an alternative greeting. The team had quietly held back laughter after this happened for the third time, but Spencer didn’t seem to notice the discomfort he was causing.

They were gathered in the bullpen before going to their respective homes for a well-deserved weekend off. Emily grabbed her purse and was walking with JJ towards the elevators when she stopped next to Spencer. He was hunched over his desk rifling through his messenger bag when she pressed a kiss to his cheek. When he looked up in surprise, she smirked.

“It’s safer than a handshake. Have a good weekend.”

She walked off, leaving Spencer to look at JJ in surprise. JJ laughed at the expression on Spencer’s face before placing a kiss on the top of his head.

“Bye, Spence. Give me a call if you want to come to the zoo with us on Sunday, ok?” she called over her shoulder as she raced to catch up with Emily.

Spencer was sitting at his desk on Monday when the rest of the team wandered in. As JJ passed him on the way to her office, she pressed a kiss to his hair and shared a grin with Emily. Spencer ducked his head and swatted her away, blushing. Derek raised an eyebrow.

“Something I should know about?”

Spencer rolled his eyes. “I think JJ and Emily are trying to make a point about my handshake aversion. They are taking my tip about kissing being safer a little too literally.”

Derek laughed. “My man! I might have to try that line myself.” He winked at Spencer, who shook his head and returned to the files in front of him.

The morning passed quickly as Spencer worked through the backlog of cold cases. He was startled to hear loud laughter coming into the bullpen and looked up to see Emily, JJ and Penelope returning from lunch. He looked down at his desk and frowned, trying to remember if he had anything in the fridge to grab for a quick snack since he hadn’t brought his lunch.

He was startled to see a brown bag dropped onto his desk. He looked up and saw Penelope smiling at him. “You need to eat to keep that brain of yours working, junior G-man. Don’t worry- no pickles or tomatoes.”

Spencer opened his mouth to thank her when she quickly kissed her two fingers and pressed them to his lips. “No need to thank me. But I reserve the right to collect a real kiss at a later date.” She winked and walked off to her office leaving Spencer speechless. He sighed, glad that all of the girls had now had their fun and made their point, before digging into the sandwich the girls had brought him.

Fortunately, he had made time to eat, as they were summoned to the conference room just two hours later. A bomber was targeting random grocery stores in Celina, Texas and his pace was accelerating. Hotch had to stay behind to care for a sick Jack, so Morgan took the lead and the team was off to Texas before dinnertime.

The local sheriff’s department was grateful for the BAU’s arrival as another bomb had just detonated, claiming the bomber’s first victim. The team gathered in a conference room set aside for them and began dividing up the work. Morgan would take JJ to interview the witnesses and Rossi and Emily were going to the latest crime scene to see if there was any new evidence that could help build their profile. Spencer would stay behind to continue working on the geographic profile.

Spencer was already hunched over the table scribbling furiously on the map when the group filed out. Morgan stopped and placed his hand on Spencer’s shoulder. “Hey, you ok staying here alone? These guys seem friendly, but if you aren’t comfortable…”

Spencer cut him off. “Derek, I can take care of myself. Go. I’ll be fine.” He returned his attention to the map in front of him.

Morgan huffed out a laugh before leaning over and placing a kiss to the top of his head and ruffling his hair. “Alright, alright. I’m out. Give me a call if you get anything, ok?”

Spencer glared at Morgan’s retreating form as he attempted to fix his hair. He was grateful that none of the local LEOs were around to witness that particular interaction and misconstrue their relationship- he had no desire to explain his team’s odd behavior. He was quickly coming to accept the idea that handshakes may not be such a bad idea if this was his team’s alternative.

The others had not made much progress when Spencer called to inform them that the geographic profile seemed to pinpoint the local high school as a potential area of interest. Unfortunately, the whole town seemed to know that the FBI was investigating the bombings and a growing sense of hysteria was causing potential witnesses to give conflicting accounts of the man they had seen loitering outside the bombing locations just prior to the explosions. Since it was generally agreed that it was a young man, no older than his late 20’s, Morgan and JJ were going to the high school to interview teachers about potential suspects while Rossi and Emily met with a bomb expert the Texas Rangers had sent to assist the investigation. Morgan was about to tell Reid to meet him at the high school when he heard a loud explosion. He swirled around, grabbing JJ and preparing to take cover when he realized that the explosion had come from the other end of the phone. He saw the terror in JJ’s eyes as she realized what they had just heard, but quickly pulled himself together to call Rossi and Emily. Soon, the team was en route to the police station, terrified at what they might find.

When they arrived at the police station, they found a young man holding a cell phone, shouting at everyone to back up or he would set off another bomb. The building was almost completely collapsed at this point and injured officers could be seen crawling out from beneath the rubble. Morgan and Emily helped to establish a perimeter around the scene as Rossi approached the young man, attempting to negotiate. JJ had immediately taken off towards a group of officers that had made it out of the building to find out what they knew about Spencer.

Rossi was beginning to worry that their unsub was considering suicide by cop when he suddenly dropped the cell phone detonator and fell to his knees. Rossi kicked the phone away and watched as a local officer placed handcuffs on the teenager. As he was lowering his gun, he heard a shout.

“Spence! Spencer!”

Spencer staggered towards his team, sore and covered in dust but relatively unharmed. He collapsed into their waiting arms, allowing JJ and Morgan to direct him towards an ambulance for evaluation. He had just taken a seat to wait for an available medic when Rossi ran up to him.

“Kid, you scared the crap out of us! I don’t know what I would do without this bella facia!”

Suddenly, Spencer was pulled to his feet as Rossi grabbed his face and placed a kiss on each cheek. The others tried to contain their laughter, but finally began giggling in earnest as Spencer sputtered a bashful apology. He narrowed his eyes when he caught sight of Emily.

“For the record, I am blaming this on you. I’ve been kissed more in the last week than my entire life!”

That caused another round of laughter from the team before the adrenaline began to wear off and they realized how close they had come to losing their young genius. After the medics declared that Spencer didn’t need to go to the hospital for an evaluation, the team soberly made their way back to the hotel to prepare to head home. Normally they would stay and help the locals wrap up the case, but with so many witnesses to the final showdown and the fact that they had never actually completed a profile, they felt the locals could handle the details- they were desperate to get home.

Hotch and Penelope were standing by the doors of the bullpen as the team arrived at the unit. Penelope rushed forward to gather everyone in a group hug before pushing everyone aside so she could see for herself that Spencer was unharmed. Spencer was trying to escape her mothering when he met Hotch’s eyes. His boss gave him a soft smile and began to walk towards the group.

“Garcia, let him breathe.”

Chastised, she stepped back. “Yes, sir. I’m just so happy to see all of my babies home safely.”

Hotch smiled softly. “So am I. I apologize for not being with you guys. Jessica is home with Jack now, but I wanted to see everyone.”

Derek stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You were right where you needed to be. Now go back home, you belong with Jack right now.”

Hotch took a deep breath. “Actually, I’m right where I belong.” He took several steps forward before gathering Spencer in his arms and kissing him gently. Everyone froze as Spencer relaxed into his embrace and kissed him back.

When they parted, Spencer rested his forehead against Hotch and sighed. “This is not how we discussed telling the team about our relationship, Aaron.”

Hotch looked around to gauge the reactions of the team and was pleased to see that while they were surprised, no one appeared to be angry. “Spencer and I have been together for a little over a year. We are very happy but if you have any concerns, you may bring them to me privately at a later time. Right now, we need to get home to our sick son.”

Spencer smiled and shook his head as he allowed Hotch to guide him to the elevators. Before they got onto the elevator, Emily shouted after them with a smirk. “Sir, does this mean we should revert to handshakes when greeting Reid?”

Hotch laughed. “That’s up to Spencer- but I hear kissing is safer.”

As the elevator doors closed, the team was given one last glance of the BAU’s newly outed couple sharing a passionate kiss. The team smiled and as they got on the next elevator to go home themselves, Derek said, “I have REALLY got to start using that line!”

#criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction #aaron hotchner x spencer reid #heid #hotchreid #team as family #first time writer #quick fic #why write article analysis when you can write about your favorite boys #now i have to do my homework #aaron hotchner #spencer reid #derek morgan #penelope garcia #emily prentiss #david rossi #jennifer jareau

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yandere-for-you · 4 years ago

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I do not approve of this kind of thing in real life and if you think I do just because I write about it then that’s YOUR problem. For the rest. Enjoy and tell me what you think!

Also this is based on my other fanfiction Miraculous Life

Also everyone is aged up by 2 years in this.

Adrien would be very, very hard pressed to admit that he may be more like his Father then he or most people thought, trouble with emotions, a little unhinged, and somewhat possessive, as they say. But while Gabriel just doesn't bother with trying to show much emotion, Adrien learned, from a young age, how tried to show or to at least fake his, mainly from his mother. Who told him, though she understood him, most people wouldn't, she was good at that, understanding his father and him. Then she disappeared and everything just...he didn't really know how to explain it, but he felt grief, something he never really experience before now.

It took half of a year before he was finally done with being caged up in his house, so he started planning. It took some time but he did it, getting things sighed for school by sneaking them into his father's paper work and sneaking out to buy a few things for the new year. It was so easy to sneak out of the house, the three adults wouldn't suspect him of doing it. He was to good at acting like the quiet and 'never goes against his father' son. He was so close to getting to the school and then he met...

Her

Someone had slammed into him, knocking him over onto his front. Groaning, he sat up on his knees and turned to see who it was, only to freeze and his heart might have skipped a beat or two when he saw a gorgeous girl around his age, with dark midnight blue hair, but he couldn't see her eyes yet. She had fallen on her butt and was holding what looked like a cookie box from some bakery.

Getting up, he held out his hand to her, "Oh god, I'm so sorry!", when she opened her eyes, his breath hitched as he saw the most beautiful green/hazel eyes with flex of gold he ever saw.

Talking with her hand made him feel something he hadn't felt in a long time, he couldn't really place it. It felt like he was connected to her in some way and he didn't ever want to let her go. After talking to her and berating himself for not getting her name, he found her hair clip, which he kept, promising to himself he would see her again and never let her go.

He got caught by his father's assistant, got into a yelling match with his father, and stormed up to his room. Stoneheart happened and he met Plagg, became Chat Noir, and became partners with Ladybug, who already seem familiar. Being Chat Noir helped him sneak out the next day for school then he got to meet her again and got the learn her name!

Her name was (Name) Dupain-Cheng and she became his, what he considers, closest friend. Yeah, Nino and Alya were cool, great people in fact, he like hanging out with them but (Name) was well (Name). She was sweet, nice, easy to fluster sometimes, funny, super down to earth, and wasn't afraid to stick up to Chloé or anyone. He also felt like she understood him, something he hadn't felt like a lot of people had in a long time, he didn't have to fake things around her.

Adrien always wondered if Father felt the same way about Mom, maybe. In a long ago memory, he vaguely remembers his father always clinging to her after she was at home, and especially if she had just come home, even if it was just to the store. Something she had refused to let anyone else do, his mom enjoyed shopping herself, always taking Adrien with her. He become a...well..shut in after his mom disappeared and he even shut himself away from his own son.

Being Chat Noir and partners with Ladybug was great, he was happy after so long of being locked away but then something happened that made him feel something that he thought he'd never had..

protectiveness

Ladybug took a hit from CopyCat meant for him and he sort of lost it, his partner had been okay but she had deep cuts from the villain's claws then he got a another shock when the next day (Name) had been injured in the same area that the heroine had been. When she hadn't said what injured her, it just made him become more over protective, he barely let her do anything, like carry her own books or bag, doing it for her which made her huff but she relented when he used The Eyes on her.

At night was when he really let his more animal side out, Plagg had explain to him the more he used his ring the more he would take on traits of a cat. Such as being territorial and possessive over things, which he had to control not jumping poor (Name) when ever he was around her but on nights where he was just him paroling, he wouldn't show mercy to anyone. Yeah, sure Ladybug could be the same way, throwing a punch and being violent but she would never permanently scar anyone like he does.

Like now, where he had taken care of a few bad people, they laid around the alleyway with probably broken bones and scars..one might have lost an eye. His claws dripped with their blood as he left them there and made his way, not home but to (Name)'s house. The hero carefully slipped through the hatch of her roof, he swore he saw something red flash away and hid somewhere but that could have been his eyes playing tricks on him because of the fairy lights that hung around her bed, the only light in the room. Chat kneeled at the foot of her bed, watching her as the lights reflected off her face, which was surrounded by her messy bed head, as she was sprawled out and lightly snoring away, with light drool dripping down her chin and even all that he thought she was prefect.

The tomcat was thanking everything that she was a heavy sleeper, and that the blood on his face and claws had dried, as he crawled over her. Chat leaned over and slowly pressed a kiss to her forehead then pressed one to the corner of her lips, but not wanted to push further than that. Quickly, he left back through the hatch and back to his house.

The day she said yes to being his girlfriend was one of the best day of his life but it didn't stop him from checking up on her at night. Ladybug got hurt, again, which made him lose it but he was able to get the bracelet were the akuma was. Only to be smacked with the realization that she was (Name) was Ladybug, when she came running back to the Zoo with the same injury from minutes before. He had to hold all of it back not to just grab her and hide her away from the world, she wouldn't like it and would fight him and he really didn't want that. So, he had his Princess promise that she'd be more careful, which she did, but it still didn't stop him from worrying.

Let it be clear, that when Adrien first met Lila Rossi, he didn't like her, he didn't hate her...at first. She was just annoying and her lies were garbage, the model grew up around better liars that were younger then her, and also, she couldn't stay out of his fucking space. Adrien was saved by his lovely princess, who was nearly choking on her drink, which gave him the opening to get away from the leech trying to attach itself to him and he quickly made sure she was okay then stuck to her side the whole time. He didn't miss the way Lila glared at (Name) with malice, which definitely switch him not liking her to hating her, very quickly. Then Volpina happened and that was....something but they didn't see that snake afterwards...what a shame..really.

How he found out his Father was Hawkmoth wasn't an accident, really. he knew something felt wrong after he was akumatized. So, after talking with him and leaving his office, he used his phone to connect to the cameras inside the man's office, and saw and heard everything, watching at he pressed buttons on the painting of his mother, causing a hole to open up in the floor under his father and lower him down. Then and there, Adrien decided he needed to know what this was about too, a feeling like he needed to know, so, he waited until the middle of the night and snuck down the stairs then had Plagg cut the cameras again as he snuck into the designer's officer.

He made his way over to the painting and quickly pressed the buttons he remembered, holding very still as the hole opened up beneath him, lowering him down then up, too somewhere full of white butterflies. Holding back a gasp, he realized very quickly that these weren't normal butterflies...

They were akumas.

Why would his father have akumas? Unless...his father was Hawkmoth?

Taking a deep breath, he left quickly back to his room so he could think somewhere, without getting caught. Adrien sat on his bed, with Plagg sitting on his shoulder, "Those were akumas, weren't they, Plagg?"

"Sorry to say, kid but yeah they are.

He leaned over, lacing his fingers together, thinking, "That would mean my father...."

The kwami pressed himself closer to his holder, "Yeah, looks like our hunch was right. So, are you gonna tell Ladybug?", that got the hero thinking, and it wasn't good thinking, he thought about him telling (Name), them confronting his fa-Hawkmoth, and his princess getting hurt, so hurt, she might not bounce back from it.

No,no,no,no, he won't let that happen.

"Kid? You okay there? You look like you're about to have a panic attack.", he snapped out of his spiraling thoughts to look at his kwami.

Adrien took another deep breath, trying to calm himself, "Yeah, Plagg, I'm fine but no, I'm not gonna tell her anything..yet. I'm gonna take care of it myself."

Plagg stared at him, then sighed, "Alright kid, but ask me if you need anything."

Who knew Plagg had a deep knowledge of colorless, odorless, and tasteless poisons that would make it seem his father had a heart attack. Of course, he had ask his kwami how he knew so much and he simply replied with, “My last holder was a scientist of some kind, so I picked up a few things.", he shrugged, like it was no big deal, Adrien didn't ask anything more.

It was so easy to sneak it into his father's morning coffee, it was slow attaching and since his father had been having a stressful week, it would simply look like a heart attack. After that was said and done, Adrien now stood on the stairs watching as the paramedics from the ambulance, that Nathalie had called, take Gabriel away on a stretcher with her going with him. His bodyguard placed a hand on his shoulder and he looked at him, making sure to seem as worried as possible, he patted his hand then removed as he walked up to his room, he'll get the Butterfly Miraculous later, after calling up his friends and his princess.

Later, his friends had left, after making sure the model was okay, but he had quietly begged (Name) to stay the night and after going back to get an over night bag and talking with her parents, who had been inform of what had happened, who were a little uncertain about it but gave in because they were worried about Adrien staying by himself. As he lays there, in their pjs, sitting on his couch as they watched a movie, with his head laying on her shoulder, he thought maybe he was more like his father then originally thought because if someone tried to take away the one he loves, he'll deal with them but unlike his father, he'll deal with them personally.

#yandere #ML #miraculous fanfic #miraculous ladybug #yandere chat noir #chat noir #reader insert #adrien agreste #Yandere Adrien

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starkeristheendgame · 4 years ago

Note

Hi! Are you still taking prompts? If yes, can you do a Starker one, where Tony is oblivious, and Peter doesn't know what to do, and ask for help to a close friend of Tony and they try to make him jealous by pretending to date and Tony is like of course he is with him he's everything i'm not and having a total breakdown and peter realize that they hurt tony instead and ask for forgivenes and end up together, pleasee? Thank you! If you aren't please just ignore this!

Against my better judgement, my prompts are never closed! Thank you so much for this super sweet/angsty prompt, Nonnie! I realised after finishing this that I never directly included Peter asking for forgiveness, but I hope this feeds you just the same! ❤

TW: Angst | Hurt/Comfort | Self-worth issues | Jealousy | Alcohol mention

SFW

Harley Keener is two years Peter’s senior and nicer than Peter could have ever imagined. When Tony had first started to talk about the ‘the first one he pseudo-adopted’ and how Harley had grown into more of a ‘mini me’ than he could’ve imagined, Peter had felt an uncomfortable twist in his gut.

What if Harley was better than him?

What if Tony liked Harley more?

What if, with Harley around, Tony didn’t want Peter around anymore?

He needn’t have worried, though. Harley wasn’t as ‘outwardly’ nerdy as he was, but he was more than happy to gush over the latest Star Wars LEGO offerings, and Tony snarked them both in equal measure. It was surprisingly like having another Ned around, and it took less than a week for Peter to feel stupid for having worried about his place besides the two of them.

Tony even joked that Harley was the ‘prototype’ and Peter was the ‘updated model’, to which Harley had just rolled his eyes, knocked Tony’s spanner off the table like a cat and gone straight back to talking to Peter about ComicCon.

They became fast friends, and Peter supposed that was somewhat why he tended to forget there was a second person in the lab with them here and there, starkly (heh) reminded of it when Harley flopped down next to him on the penthouse couch one evening and said; “so how long have you been in love with Tony?”

He could have cried. The Avengers he was around almost every other day for the past two years brushed off his doting as a hero complex and ‘mentor crush’ and it had taken Harley Keener less than three weeks to call him out on its true nature.

Naturally and mortifyingly it ended up with Peter sniffling against Harley’s shoulder, wailing about how Tony was out of his league, how every single possible thing that could was against them, and how worst of all; Tony wasn’t interested.

“He’s interested,” Harley had shrugged, gingerly plucking a tissue from the box and holding it out to him. He’d been somewhat cryptic about the basis of his statement, but had enthusiastically proposed a manner of ways in which it could be proven. And Peter…

Peter agreed to one.

He didn’t know why. He wasn’t exactly a glutton for punishment and he certainly didn’t get his kicks out of being humiliatingly, crushingly rejected, but...But Harley had said so make jealous. Tony always wants everything, and when he thinks he can’t have something he just tries harder to get it and Peter had inexplicably said yes.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, Peter didn’t quite know which) the only real, viable option was...Harley himself. None of the other Avengers would work; since they were all taken, straight and/or highly unlikely to be receptive to fake-dating a teen half (or more) their age.

Neither Ned or MJ had access to the Tower or could really be around any SHIELD, Stark or Avengers activity, and that left quite literally no-one else but Harley.

“I mean, in a way, its perfect. I’m the grandmaster of the plan anyway, and you don’t have to wordy about hurting my feelings or me falling for you. We can collaborate flawlessly to get you some Grand-Daddy dick,” Harley hummed around the stick candy in his mouth, and Peter wasn’t quite sure what part of that sentence offended him the most.

“Does literally nobody want me?” he pouted, bottom lip pushed out dramatically as he kicked Harley’s leg out of the way and picked up the PS5 controller.

“Hey, chin up, munchkin. You’re prettier than half the girls I know. I’m just not wired that way.”

“You’re straight?”

“I’m not anything. It’s like asexuality and aromantic, but both,” Harley pulled a face, clearly trying to remember the term, then shrugged. “Ah, I can never remember it. Anyway, point is, I’m not interested in anyone. You’re a little cherub, for sure, but you’re cute like a cat, not suck-my-dick cute.”

And, well. Cute like a cat? He considered that a high compliment.

Thus, Operation Get That Grand-Daddy Dick (Peter did not name it) was underway. They both agreed to keep it natural and subtle, since Tony walking in on them half-naked or all over each other was just likely to spook him off. They’d edge into it; hint that they were spending more time together, act a little cosier, maybe get caught holding hands after a week or two.

In truth, it wasn’t all that different to how they had been before, except that Harley made his smiles even softer, a little more secretive and let his gaze linger when he was sure Tony would notice. They sat and stood closer together than before, and here and there Harley would press a lingering hand to his back or arm.

They made sure when one or both left they secreted away just out of sight and took a little too long, standing close together by the elevator and making sure to hug ‘longingly’ (whatever that meant in context) should Tony happen to peek.

And yet for all his smarts, Tony didn’t seem to particularly notice anything amiss until the first time that he spotted them ‘romantically hugging’. Harley was actually a very good hugger, and they stood in front of the elevator together, with Peter facing it and Harley facing the lab. Harley had his chin over Peter’s shoulder and his hands low and tight on his waist, holding him close.

“Spotted,” Harley whispered quietly, and moments later Tony spoke up.

“Well that looks cosy.”

Tony’s voice was carefully level, no betrayal of emotion as Peter shyly disentangled himself from Harley, taking a step away as though caught doing something he shouldn’t. He didn’t have to fake the heat in his cheeks when he glanced up at where Tony stood, arms folded, and he fumbled with the strap of his backpack, glancing across at Harley before he gave Tony a meek smile.

“Um, I’ll-- I’ll see you Friday, Mr. Stark!” he chirped, shuffling around Harley and into the elevator. Tony was still staring at him as the doors began to close, and Harley turned, casting him a wink and a finger-waggling wave. Peter waved back sheepishly and the moment the doors were shut, he whipped out his phone.

[To: Thing 1] Did he look mad? It looked like he looked mad. Omg. U gotta tell me anything he says :// [19:31]

Harley did in fact text him back two hours later, though there wasn’t much to report. Tony had made a few flippant remarks that could either be parental interest or slight jealousy, and had dropped the subject after a short while in order to focus on his latest project.

Peter slumped. There was snails who had a faster moving love life than he did. With a groan, he stuffed the last of his anxiety snacks in his mouth and flopped back against his pillow to discuss the next step with Harley.

Social media was their next plan of attack. Tony followed Peter on Instagram and Twitter, and had his Snapchat even if the older man rarely used the platform, so they were going to up the pressure by hanging out outside of the lab (which they did anyway) and posting it to social media.

It was too soon to cancel plans with Tony to hang out with Harley (and frankly, Peter didn’t want to anyway) so they simply both made themselves unavailable on certain other days, or hung out together without mentioning it to Tony beforehand.

They got ice cream at the park, went to the art museum downtown, visited several different cultural/ethnic based stores and went to the arcade to kick ass at air hockey over the course of a few weeks, all while keeping up the poorly secretive touching and closeness at the lab.

And he’d still have more luck getting blood from a stone.

Tony seemed...Either completely oblivious, or just completely unphased. Whilst Peter caught him watching them here and there with an unreadable expression, Tony never directly asked them or overtly commented on what was happening. There was the odd, “enjoy the park yesterday, kid?” or “saw your post the other day, you should try this place next,” but never anything along the lines of what Peter hoped for.

Even Harley was starting to doubt his original statement that Tony was definitely interested.

Especially when Tony was the one who started cancelling plans, telling them both to ‘go enjoy themselves’ and ‘live the lives of young people’. He didn’t do it all the time, but here and there they’d both receive a text telling them not to come today. The lingering looks got longer and more weighted, but even so, Tony made no move in either aspect.

“I think I’m just gonna have to give it up,” Peter admitted to Harley one night over the phone, hanging upside down in his bedroom with the phone dangling on a web besides him.

“Maybe he’s just not ready for anything right now?” Harley suggested on the other end, between the frantic sounds of tapping buttons.

“Maybe-- Oh, hang on. I’ve got an inbound from JARVIS. It might be Avengers stuff,” Peter hummed, quickly twisting to tap on the screen to accept the incoming call from JARVIS.

“Hey, J. What’s up?” He greeted the AI, blinking at the call screen.

“Apologies for the disturbance, Mr. Parker, but protocol deems that when Mr. Stark is in distress I establish contact with someone on his emergency list in order to inform them.” The AI’s voice was as smooth and unhurried as ever, but Peter frowned at the screen.

“Distress?”

“Yes, Mr. Parker. Sir’s heart-rate is elevated and he is displaying significant symptoms of sadness, including light drinking, darkened lighting and angered viewing of your social media.”

“Angered viewing of my social media?” Peter echoed, fear ratcheting up as he dropped from the ceiling and moved to tug on a pair of shoes. Fuck, had he let something sip? Was there something in the background of his photos? Had someone figured out who he was? He was hopping towards the door on one foot when JARVIS spoke again, and he had to hop back to pull his phone down from the web.

“Why is he sad over that? Did I do something wrong?”

JARVIS was silent for a short while, as though the AI was debating on how best to respond.

“I... Believe Sir may be feeling lonely. Or unworthy of company. There have been a multitude of such instances over the past several years,” JARVIS replied after a pause, as Peter locked the web shooters around his wrist and tugged the Spiderman mask over his head to avoid any cameras, crawling out of his window and leaping out into the brisk air.

It didn’t take long to swing to the Tower, especially not when panic and concern had him pushing it, testing his muscles and leaving him slightly out of breath by the time he slipped onto the top landing console.

JARVIS directed him through to the penthouse and up the set of 12 steps that lead to the ‘upper level’ of it, to an open doorway that revealed Tony Stark sprawled out on his bed, staring blankly at his phone with a neglected, half-open bottle of whiskey loose in one arm, like a newborn babe.

“Mr. Stark?” he asked softly, and Tony’s gaze flit up to him, clearing immediately. His mentor cursed and jerked upright, almost sloshing the whole bottle over his bedding.

“Shit! Kid! Wh’r you doin’ here?” Tony’s voice was just hinting on slurred, the same easiness and lack of concentration that came when you’d had a shot too many. Or five. Peter’s heart cinched as he stared at Tony gingerly putting the bottle on the bedside table, at the redness of his eyes and the messiness of his hair where he’d been running a hand through it, over and over.

“JARVIS called me. He said you were sad,” Peter managed after a moment, hands wringing the mask between his fingers nervously. He’d never seen Tony like this, this...uncomposed. He looked haggard, tired and sad, and it made Peter feel empty and adrift, unsure of how to approach this new version of the man he loved.

“Fucking snitch,” the older man grumbled half-heartedly, and rubbed his hands over his eyes. “Shit. Don’t-- Ignore me, kid. Adults my age are entitled to a night like this once in a while. Go back home, I’m fine. Fuck, you didn’t leave Harley for this, did you?”

“Harley?” Peter parroted, brows furrowing as Tony waved a hand.

“Go on, kid. Get. Make the most of being young and pretty with someone young and pretty.” Tony reached for the bottle again and Peter found himself striding across the room, placing himself in the way of Tony’s outstretched hand and the whiskey. Tony’s fingertips brushed his stomach and recoiled like he’d been burnt by the contact.

“Mr. Stark, do you think I don’t want to hang out with you anymore?” he asked after a moment, voice fragile. God, he’d hoped to maybe make Tony a little jealous, but nothing like this. He hadn’t wanted to hurt him. And he clearly had. There was nothing but rawness in Tony’s eyes when the older man looked up at him.

“I’m not taking it personally,” his mentor attempted to joke, but it came out bitter and too flat to land lightly. Peter’s heart cinched in his chest and he shuffled to sit on the edge of the large bed, teeth on his lower lip as Tony turned away from his gaze.

“Mr. Stark, I’ve never...I’ve never not wanted to hang out with you. Even if I have other friends, too,” he pointed out tentatively, and Tony scoffed lightly.

“You’re too good for a world like this, shortstack. For someone like me. You should be trailing after someone like Captain Uptight,” Tony muttered lowly, and Peter scowled.

“You’re not less better than he is. Both of you are good people. Both of you make mistakes. Both of you save the world.”

Tony’s brows pinched, and he breathed out something that just barely sounded like then why aren’t I good enough?

Making an executive decision, Peter toed off his sneakers and crawled further up onto the bed, picking up Tony’s arm and settling down against his side, curling up under his arm and wrapping his own around Tony’s waist.

He could feel Tony’s heart thumping wildly in his chest, could feel his breath hitch and the hesitant way that Tony let his arm settle over Peter, fingers curling in his hoodie.

“You are,” he offered simply, squeezing gently. “This is my fault. I was acting like a dumb kid, and I thought... I should’ve known that it was just gonna end badly.”

“Is being my mini-me really that bad?” Tony choked out, and Peter pushed himself upright, alarmed.

“What? No! Mr. Stark, being around you is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I don’t ever ever regret being around you! I just... I have to…” He trailed off for a moment, frustrated, then prayed to Harley for forgiveness and sucked in a deep breath.

“I’m not actually dating Harley. At all. He doesn’t like people that way. Any people. We’re not boyfriends and I don’t want to stop spending time with you to spend time with him. I like spending time with you and you’re still my hero. Tony Stark or Iron Man,” he stated firmly.

Tony looked at him for a moment, then looked away.

“You should be with Harley, kid. Or someone like him. Not someone like me. Not someone with my history. I’m a shit person, kid. All this Iron Man stuff hasn’t even wiped half my scoreboard clean. Someone like Harley... He’s the better parts of me. Like you. He’s worth your love”.

Tony seemed almost startled at saying that word, twitching a little before he attempted to turn away from Peter again, gaze finding the far end of the room like he wished he was anywhere but here.

Peter fidgeted, then sucked in a deep breath. “Please don’t hate me after this,” he fumbled out quickly, then rolled half on top of the older man, hands fisting in the front of his shirt as he leaned forwards.

The kiss was awkward and clumsy and couldn’t have lasted for than two seconds before Tony pulled away, eyes wide and voice rough.

“Kid, what-- You can’t--”

“If you say you’re not interested, I’ll respect that,” Peter interrupted. “Or if you say I’m too young or whatever. But if you say anything along the lines you of not being enough, or not being worthy, or-- or-- Or whatever it is you feel you aren’t... You’re wrong. The reason me and Harley were acting like that is because I was trying to make you jealous.”

“What-”

“And I know its dumb! I don’t it was childish and I never thought it would hurt you like this. But I’ve lo-- I’ve really liked you. For years. And I know you’re a lot older and we might never be able to be...To be...Normal. I guess. But I want whatever I can get with you, because you’re worth it,” Peter barrelled on, desperate to at least be heard before Tony kicked him out. Except when he trailed off Tony was just... Staring at him.

“It’s just... Hero worship. You still think I’m some magical superhero and you--”

“No offence, Mr. Stark, but you don’t know what I think. Not when it comes to you, clearly,” Peter cut in, cheeks heating at being so brash. Prior to this he wouldn’t have ever dreamed about being so direct and forceful against Tony.

Well. Not in any PG-rated sense, anyway.

“Just... We don’t have to talk about it now, okay?” eh offered, sliding off Tony just a little so he was back up against his side, wriggling around until he could grab the faux fur throw on the bottom of the bed, pulling it up over both of them. Tony remained quiet at his side, just watching as he got them both settled.

“Just... I’m gonna stay, alright? Right here. With you. Because this is where I want to be, and its where I’m gonna stay until... Until you tell me to leave.” His lower lip threatened to wobble with mounting emotion as he lay his head on Tony’s chest, feeling the thick ridges of his scars beneath his shirt.

A moment later, Tony’s hand settled lightly over his head, fingers sliding tentatively into his hair.

“And if I never tell you to leave? If I’m selfish and never want to let you go?” the other man whispered.

“Then I guess that makes us both selfish, because that would make me happy,” Peter mumbled into his chest, wrapping his arm tighter around Tony’s waist. The room went silent for a while, save for their breathing and Tony’s heart thumping beneath his ear.

“Okay,” Tony rasped after a moment, and Peter smiled.

“Okay, Hazel Grace.”

“...What?”

“Nevermind. You’re too old for that reference.”

“You’re a little shit.”

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fantasticstoryteller · 3 years ago

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New Amsterdam Chapter 108

Peter whirled to face the speaker. The girl, Angel, stood on the side of the building, wind rustling through the feathers on her wings as she looked at him with curiosity. “How?” he asked, first question to run through his head.

She shrugged. “I have super hearing,” she explained, “and I’m always—attuned? Is that the right word?—to the sound of your voice. And Wade’s voice,” she added.

“Ah.” Peter fidgeted. He both wanted to ask for her help and scream at her to go home. She was way too young for this hero business—but then, he had been too. “Did you figure out what laid eggs in the sewers?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Nah. They’re just going to hatch. I don’t think they’re a threat—well, not to anything other than sewer rats.”

Peter shuddered. He knew way too much about the city’s sewer rats. “Have you seen Wade?” he asked.

“Not today,” Angel answered breezily. She tilted her head to the side, watching him through narrowed eyes. “Why?”

Peter explained what his aunt had done. “And now I need to find him,” he said.

Angel nodded. “This is going to sound strange,” she said cautiously, “but why do you need to find him so badly? He thinks you went out for eggs, right?”

“Right,” said Peter thoughtfully.

“Right.” Angel’s wings flipped lazily for a moment as she considered. She looked back at Peter. “What’s the nearest store that sells both eggs and poblano peppers?” she asked.

Peter blinked. “What?” he asked.

“Wade’s favorite food is Mexican,” Angel explained. Peter nodded; he knew that. “Poblano peppers are one of the most commonly used ingredients in Mexican food. I don’t think he even sees stores that don’t sell them.”

That made a lot of sense, actually. He didn’t want to think too hard about why Angel knew that, but it made sense. “Timon’s,” he said firmly before swinging away. He heard the thundering of wings behind him as she shot through the air following him.

Timon was a second-generation immigrant whose family had, quite literally, built the store from scratch—using debris from buildings around the area because aliens invading New Amsterdam was not a new phenomenon. The store was small. The store was sturdily built. And Timon had contacts that got him the freshest everything and everybody loved his store.

Timon also knew Peter. Back when he was a kid, every time he went into the store the man would give him a cookie filled with pineapple. When Peter became Spiderman, he’d stopped several huge pieces of debris from falling on the cherished store. He liked to think the man would understand what Peter was about to ask him, but he wasn’t sure.

Peter ducked into the small store and the bell above the door rang to announce his presence. “Coming!” Timon’s heavily accented voice called. (The man could speak with the same accent any New Amsterdamer could, but chose to cultivate the accent.)

“Hey, Timon!” Peter said nervously, not sure of the reaction he was going to get.

Timon’s dark face lit up. “Spiderman!” he said, all traces of his foreign accent gone. “Welcome! How can I help you?”

Wow. That was—a surprisingly positive reaction. Encouraged Peter said, “I’m looking for a friend of mine. Huge, red, swords on his back?”

“Deadpool!” Timon said, just as excitedly. “Oh, he saved my baby girl last week!”

“Is she all right?” asked Peter, worried.

“Eh, nothing that won’t heal,” Timon said dismissively. “Much better than it could have been. He stopped by earlier—is your friend sick?” Not noticing the shock on Peter’s face (thank goodness for the mask) he continued, “He collapsed and someone had to help him on his way.”

Before Peter could say anything, Angel spoke up. “Do you have cameras?” she asked. “Could we see? If we know who helped him, we’ll know where to look.”

“Of course, of course,” Timon said. “Come with me!” he led them to the office in the back of the little store that the security equipment hooked up.

As Timon was pulling up the video Peter realized that Angel had never said that Wade wasn’t being helped. She’d never said that he was the kind of person who simply didn’t collapse. She’d left Timon with the impression that that they were looking for him because he was ill.

Angel, Peter was coming to realize, was scary.

Peter put his thoughts aside as he watched Wade bend down by a hunched figure on the sidewalk. Watched as something happened to Wade and he began to collapse. Watched as suspiciously familiar multi-jointed metal arms sprang from the figure’s back to wrap up Wade and carry him like a small child.

No. It couldn't be.

But it was. He’d recognize those arms anywhere; he’d helped Dr. Octavius with the algorithms to make them work. And they’d been used to kidnap his boyfriend.

“Thanks, Timon,” Angel said. “We know where to go now.”

“Ah, no problem,” Timon said. “We gotta stick together, eh? I hope your buddy feels better soon.”

“He will,” Angel promised as she gently guided a stunned Peter out of the store.

Dr. Octavius had kidnapped Wade. That meant that Oscorp wanted him for—something. Peter wasn’t aware of any projects the company was working on that would require kidnapping Deadpool. Then again, Peter wasn’t privy to all aspects of the company; there were several bits that were under the direct supervision of Norman. Which meant—kidnapping Wade was a Norman level decision.

He was going to have to hack into the company’s system and find out why. He didn’t want to; he was terrified of what would happen if Norman figured out he did it; but he had to know why and where Wade was taken. He pulled out his phone and made a quick call.

“How can I help you, Mr. Parker?”

As usual, the AI’s voice made Peter grin. “Hey, you remember how you said that you were still looking for a way into the Oscorp mainframe? There’s about to be a breach.”

A moment of silence on the other end of the call. “Mr. Parker, I do not want you to commit a crime for this,” JARVIS told him firmly.

“They took Wade,” Peter said flatly.

Another moment of silence.

“Sir has several new, untraceable rockets in his arsenal. Would you like me to bomb them to the ground?”

Angel’s face turned bright red and she collapsed to the ground, shaking. Peter had the odd idea she was trying not to interrupt his call. “I, uh, don’t actually think there’s a need for that,” Peter hedged.

“Not to worry, Mr. Parker,” JARVIS drawled cheerfully. “I will endeavor to ensure there are no warm bodies in the building first.” Click.

Angel burst out laughing, tears streaming down her face. “I love him!” she squeaked.

Peter gave a weak smile. “Are you busy?” he asked. “Can you help?”

“Hmm. Well, the street children are holed up in their safe place deciding their future and the army gathering under the streets won’t be ready to try and take over New Amsterdam for at least two more days—so, yeah. I can help.”

Peter stared at her for a moment. “Shouldn’t you be trying to do something about that army?” he asked, curiously.

“You would think, but no. Trust me,” Angel said completely serious, “the best way to minimize loss of life here is to let the army commit itself and then chop off the head. Metaphorically speaking, of course.”

“Of course,” Peter echoed weakly. He’d have to assume she knew what she was talking about; he needed to rescue Wade. “Let’s go,” he said.

#Spider-Man #Deadpool #Spideypool

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30somethingontumbler · 4 years ago

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So I have developed a slight obsession with the Bucky/Sarah Wilson pairing and decided the only way to get it out of my system is to write a short angst filled fic so here it is. The idea was basically what if Hydra tried to get the winter soldier back by kidnapping someone important to him so I guess enjoy?

James Buchanan Barnes had gotten use to the constant sound of two young boys during his stays with the Wilson’s in Louisiana. The constant sound of play from his sisters while growing up had been something he didn’t even remember missing until he had woken up to AJ and Cass playing with the Shield, that first morning. They also reminded him of long summer days spent running the streets of Brooklyn with Steve the noise had become a comfort to him. That is why when he walked in the back door he knew something was wrong. He had spent most of the morning at the docks helping Sam and Carlos get the boat ready to go for it’s fist day back of shrimping season starting tomorrow. He had promised to be home by 3 to help Cass with his history presentation on the howling commandos, but when he walked in the house was silent, the boys got out of school at 2:30 and they where normally home by 2:45. Sarah had a lot of chaos in her life but the one thing she always managed was making sure they boys had the most consistent schedule known to man, the thought of her possibly running late was almost unimaginable, so where were they?

Right as he was thinking this the front door burst open, Sarah charging through and running directly to him, as she crashed into his chest he noticed her disheveled state her braids normally tied back neatly had come loose and her flannel over shirt was falling off her right shoulder, he had never seen her so distraught, her calm strength had been the thing that attracted him to her the most when he had finally gotten the courage to ask her out about a month after the flag smashers had been dealt with and he and Sam had some time to themselves, that had been almost a year ago and the only time he had seen her control even slip a bit was when Cass had gotten lost at the zoo, and that is when it hit him the silence and Sarah’s distress could only mean one thing, something had happened to the boys his boys.

“Sarah, baby what’s going on where are the boys,” he asked trying to keep his own distress out of his voice and be strong for both of them at the moment. Sarah pulled back and took a couple of steadying breaths.

“I got them from school and we went to pick up a poster board for Casses project, a car had been behind us for a while when we pulled into the dollar store but I didn’t think much of it until we parked and got out to go in and a group of men they took my babies James they took them and told me if I wanted to see them again the the soldier would return to his rightful place, Bucky they just drove off I don’t know what they meant” she said having grown more distressed as she spoke.

Bucky knew exactly what what’s happening, hydra was not gone, they wanted their asset back and they had taken his children to get him. He opened his phone and shot a text to Sam telling him to come home immediately and to bring Carlos, while he waited for Sam he tried to reassure the woman he loved that he would not let anything happen to her baby’s and that he would get them back.

It only took Sam 10 minutes to get to the house knowing when Bucky said emergency he meant it. He walked in to see Bucky on the couch his sister holding on to him for fear life and sobbing. Before he could even ask the super soldier spoke

“Hydra kidnapped the boys, they want the soldier back, I need to leave immediately”

Bucky looked from Sam to Carlos, and picking up on what was needed Carlos went to Sarah and tried to take her so that Bucky could get ready and go after hydra but she pulled tighter to him. Bucky turned to his best girl.

“Sarah baby I need you to go with Carlos I promise I will get our boys back.” He soothed

Sarah nodded her head weakly and pressed and quick kiss to the side of his mouth before letting go and allowing Carlos to take her to her room. As soon and Sarah was out of the room Bucky was out the door and in the garage, he pulled the hey off the top shelf and began to unlock the cabinet that held his tactical gear and weaponry.

“Air lift will be her in 20min what’s the plan buck,” said Sam behind him.

“The plan is I turn myself over to Hydra in exchange for the boys, they are most likely at an old base a mile outside of DC, it was off the records and abandoned but it is the closest one that would have been exposed when Nat leaked everything.”

“No, man you are not going to just give yourself over to Hydra again, I know you love the boys like your own and they are my nephews I want them back just as much as you do but we can find another way that doesn’t involve you going ack to Hydra” said Sam

“We don’t have time Sam, I know Hydra if I don’t turn myself over to them and do it fast then they will start hurting them, and I will not be the reason that they are tortured, the quicker I turn myself over the quicker they are safe, I will figure out how to get out once AJ and Cass are safe” Bucky replied with a scary calm “Sam I need you to trust me I can’t Do this without you, someone has to be there to bring them home after the exchange and it need to be you”

“What about Sarah, I know she needs you.” Sam spoke quietly hoping his friend might see reason.

“The boys are the priority right now, anyway She will get over me, and look at where being with me has gotten her. Her children kidnapped as a barging chip, they will be better off with me, if we are lucky hydra just wants to kill me so that I’m one less hero to fight them and everyone will be free of the poison of knowing James Buchanan Barnes.”

“Buck” Sam began but before he could say more the Quinn jet was landing and Clint was stepping down the ramp.

“I’m here to help how ever I can” said Clint as he met them in the yard.

“Thank you Barton,” said Bucky “ what we need is someone here to make sure Sarah is ok in case hydra decides taking the boys is not enough leverage and come for here too.”

“I can do that,” replied Clint, “Laura and the kids are flying in commercial to provide emotional support they should be here by tonight”

“Thank you Clint” said Bucky “ hopefully they boys will be back with their mother by the end of tomorrow” and with that Bucky was boarding the jet Sam right behind him carrying a shield and his suit in its case.

Chapter 2

By nightfall they were sitting outside of the hydra base waiting for negotiations, Bucky could not stay still he kept pacing back and forth waiting for hydra to make themselves known. Finally the doors opened and out walked 10 men with AJ and Cass being restrained by two very intimidating armed men.

A man stepped it from the formation the leader assumed Bucky and approached stopping about 10feet from Bucky

“Solidat how nice of you to join us” said the leader “You probably don’t remember me but you would remember my father Dr. Arnim Zola, I am Dr. Arnim Zola the second. But I am assuming you are not here to chat we will have plenty of time for that later, right now I am assuming you would like to negotiate, so here are my terms, the Wilson boys for your life and please do not assume you can trick us if you make a single wrong move I have snipers who will end the life’s of the Wilson children before you blink,” as the Dr. Zola the second spoke red lasers appeared on the boys at least a dozen from every direction, Bucky was not getting out of this it was his freedom or his children and he knew there was no choice to even make.

“Well since you have such good back up will you at least let me say goodbye to the boys before I have to give up my freedom” he said hoping he could take just a moment to let them know how much they meant o him before he would be forced back into slavery to Hydra never to see them again.

“I suppose we can give you that last request Sargent Barnes,” said Zola “release the children.”

As soon as they where no longer being man handled by the hydra agents the boys where running to Bucky as they neared him he fell to his knees embracing the little men who he had come to see as his boys, his children, they both grabbed on to him as tight as they could holding on for dear life.

“Bucky you can’t go with them, you can’t leave us” cried Cass into his shoulder

“We don’t want to loose another dad” cried AJ into his other shoulder

His boys cry’s almost broke him and for a moment he tightened his grip on them before pulling back to look in at them one last time.

“If I had a choice I would never leave you boys, and I don’t want you thinking this is your fault sometime bad people do things that we can’t change and it is not your fault,” he said hoping to give his boys one last lesson before he had to leave them forever. “Thank you for letting me be your dad, even if it was only for a little while, you boys and your mom have been the best thing that has ever come into my life,” he paused trying to compose himself, “now I need you to on do me a favor ok, I need you to tell your mom, tell her that she made me a new man and that I would not trade a second for anything and that I love her. Can you do that for me.”

The boys nodded their heads and wrapped their arms around him one more time. Bucky held them for a moment before he stood back up placing a kiss in each of their heads with a final whispered I love you before letting them go and having them run back to Sam who had stayed in civilian clothes by the request of hydra not wanting captain America to have his shield or wings to give them an advantage over the hydra agents. As soon as they were safely in Sam’s grasp Bucky turned to the hydra agents, disabled his arm and placed it behind him on the ground and slowly began to make his way toward the agents waiting to capture him.

Suddenly as of out of no ware all of the guns red dots that had been aimed at the boys and himself turned onto Zola, and out the agents all turned on each other as tendrils of red magic swirled around them and Wanda descended behind them while Zola sunk through a portal made on the ground.

“Hello Sargent Barnes it seems like you could use a bit of assistance” came the voice of Stephen Strange from his left

“Next time hydra tries to grow its heads back true giving me a call before offering yourself up on a silver platter, Barnes” came the voice of Nick Furry from his right at shield agents flooded the area taking the hydra personal into custody, a simple task thanks to Wandas mind control.

Before Bucky could say anything to either man AJ and Cass were running towards him and without hesitation he scooped both boys into his arms lifting them as if they weighed nothing. They held on to Bucky as if he would disappear if they released him Bucky made eye contact over their heads with Sam who turned to address their backup.

“Doctor, director thank you for the assist” said Sam. “You guys really showed fast, and Wanda did you learn how to voodoo so many guys at once”

All of the hydra men having been taken care of Wanda had made her way over to the group.

“The suburbs” she replayed.

Bucky looked at them all over the boys heads

“You have no idea what this means to me, thank you all of you” said Bucky “I know their is probably more we need to discuss but I need to get the boys home to their mother”

“No worries Bucky,” said Wanda “ I think we understand the need for a mother to know her children are alright” there was a sadness in Wandas eyes with that last comment and Bucky made a note to talk with the young woman once he go his family home and settled.

Chapter 3

The boys refused to leave Buckys arms for the entire ride back home on the jet and he was just fine with that, he sat with one boy on each knee there little arms thrown loosely around his neck heads resting on his shoulders, he periodically would kiss each of their heads saying a quick prayer of thanks that not only did he still have his freedom but he got to be in these boys lives even for just a little longer. When the jet landed the boys tightened their grip on his shoulders and he lifted them with the ease that the serum flowing in his veins allowed. As soon as his feet left the ramp Sarah had them all pulled into her embrace kissing each boys head before pullycas into her arms and Laying her hand on AJs back, Bucky guided them into the house and up to the boys room both boys being completely worn out and barley awake after the adrenaline had worn off on the ride back to Louisiana, Sarah placed Cass in his bed while Bucky put AJ in his placing another kiss on his head before switching places with Sarah and repeating the process with Cass, as he began to pull away from him Cass reached out his hand grabbing Buckys metal are and pulling him back.

“You will be here when we wake up right Dad?” His little voice said full of fatigue.

Buckys voice caught in his throat at being called dad for the first time and from across the room AJ added

“You won’t leave us will you dad?”

Bucky cleared his throat and looked between the boys

“Nothing in this works could make me ever leave my boys, I will be here in the morning, and as many mornings as you will have me for the rest of my days, you two are my world, I love you, now sleep boys I will see you in the morning”

Sarah and he stepped into the hall wordlessly and quietly made their way down the stairs as soon as they hit the bottom Sarah was pulling him toward her and placing a searing kiss on his mouth, pulling him flush to him he returned her kiss with just as much passion and emotion, he had almost lost everything today. And I’m that moment when he thought everything was gone he decided that if he got back to her he would ask her a question the most important question of his life. And when they finally ran out of air and had to break the kiss as soon as he has enough air he spoke

“Marry me, Sarah, marry me.”

“Bucky” she said, “you don’t have to, today was heavy don’t make a decision you might not be ready for because of a stress filled day”

“I’m not” he relayed “I want to spend the rest of my life with you, have for a while, I want to be officially the father of those two boys up there, I want to raise them together and grow old with you, and I want to marry you! I want the world to know that James Buchanan Barnes is Going to do everything in his power to protect this family and I want to call you my wife”

“If you are sure” Sarah said “ the of corse it is a yes, 100 times yes, I could not ask for a better man and I want you to help me raise our boys, you were willing to give up you freedom and your life for our children and I have every faith that you will keep us safe and love us forever so it’s a definite yes.”

Bucky could not hold his joy in he lifted Sarah into his arms and spun her around twice dropping he back to her feet he kissed her again with all the love in his heart. The next morning James Buchanan Barnes woke to the sounds of his children playing outside his window with their uncle giving he and Sarah a few more hours to sleep but Bucky simply laid in bed enjoying the feel of his fiancé in his arms and the sound of his children’s laughter coming in through the window.

Mans that’s it if you liked it please leave a comment or just drop a like thank you!

#james buchanan barnes #Sarah #sarah wilson #falcon and winter solider series #buckysarah #bucky needs a hug

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secret-engima · 4 years ago

Note

Yknow how the Cloud-Prom thing is a thing? Yeah well I was thinking of it in reverse. Prompto reborn as Cloud.

FINALLY FOUND THIS ASK.

It’s been buried so long I thought I’d never find it again.

BUCKLE UP NEW AU RAMBLE TIME AND IT’S A LOONNNNGG ONE.

Also before we begin *yeets canon FF7 timeline because it MAKES NO SENSE*.

There.

...

-Prompto wakes up when he’s 4 and he falls into a stream tainted with a LOT of mako while fleeing from bullies.

-Well technically he wakes up two weeks after that little mishap because mako poisoning plus sudden memory reboot is an Ouch and took a while for his tiny body to acclimate too. His mom (he has an actual non-adoptive mom now, that’s weird) is so relieved he’s okay and Prompto feels ... really bad that now he doesn’t entirely feel like her kid.

-He IS her kid and he knows it, but he remembers a time when he wasn’t, when he was an escaped science project and a Prince’s friend and a Crownsguard who saw the world end and then pick itself back up afterward. It’s impossible to go back to being ... well ... who he was before he Remembered.

-His mother accepts his new personality changes and “quirks” and Prompto loves her all over again for it.

-Cloud Strife is now a strange mix of too old and mature for his age and a bubbly, cheerful sunshine child. The residents look down on him because he “has no father”, but Prompto has suffered worse than their petty scorn and refuses to let it bother him.

-The local bullies learn to leave him alone pretty fast too, because Cloud may be small, but he has all of Prompto’s memories to back up his techniques, and bullies dislike pain. His mother just scoffs at the angry parents who complain about twisted wrists and black eyes and says maybe if they controlled their own children, hers wouldn’t have to resort to violence to defend themselves. It makes them no friends in Nibelheim, but there are a few neighbors who don’t buy into the town’s cliquish nature and they keep trouble away from the Strife home.

-Cloud is 7 when his mother finally stops letting him just handle her unloaded rifle with constant supervision and actually teaches him to shoot it. It feels young to Prompto, but Prompto had grown up in the sheltered city of Insomnia. This is Nibelheim, and Nibelheim’s wildlife don’t care how young he is or that they aren’t “supposed” to enter the town when they are young and dumb and hungry. Nibelheim also doesn’t have much in the way of a grocery store, and if the table needs food, someone is going to have to go shoot it.

-This at least, is familiar. Even in a world where he is no longer Prompto, and he’s pretty sure the world has been taken over by an evil Niflheim empire knockoff pretending to be a power company, he’d long gotten used to having to defend a settlement from things with teeth and go hunting to provide food.

-But back to the Evil Empire Pretending to Be A Power Company that he’s pretty sure has taken over most of the world- yeah. That was a nasty shock to figure out when he was 6. It’s nothing overt ... sorta. Just- you know- the way the elders grumble over how they were always small, but they were never ABANDONED until the reactor came and everyone started to work there rather than learn the old trades. The ivory carving and fur-tanning, the jewelry made of bones and fangs and shed dragon scales and the parkas made from wolf fur and rabbit hide that were second to none in quality. It hadn’t been the most thriving trade perhaps, but it had been something. Now all there was was the reactor, and that ... sat wrong with Prompto. There was also the rampant propaganda that was always pro Shinra, the news that this power company had just started a war (???) using their super soldiers (??????) and honestly why no one saw anything wrong with that was a mystery to him.

-Cloud is honestly glad that he’s living in such a backwater town. The farther away he is from That Nonsense the better. At least until he’s old enough to be able to properly fight and wield dual pistols like he used to.

-His mother buys him his own pistol when he’s 10. He’s responsible enough for it, and Nibelheim doesn’t really care about things like age laws that city folk do. Every child here knows how to safely use a firearm of some kind out of sheer necessity, even if most of them are not allowed to have their own until they’re closer to 12 or 13. He still primarily uses the family hunting rifle, since hunting for supper with a pistol is stupid, but he carries the pistol everywhere he goes in case something decides to try to make a meal out of him. It’s a battered old revolver, but Prompto spent ten years keeping equipment functional with minimal supplies, and soon his little Quicksilver is as fast and reliable as any “new” model.

-His mother doesn’t ask how he already knew how to disassemble and clean the pistol. She never asks when he knows things he has no right to, and he’s glad for that.

-Cloud is 11 when the abandoned Shinra Mansion stops being abandoned and those instincts that kept Prompto alive through the Long Night start screaming. It could be something innocuous, but those military trucks pulling around to the back of the mansion don't look like they’re only carrying supplies, and he’s not the only townsperson who thought they heard pained sobbing and smelled burnt flesh from inside some of those vehicles. Cloud thinks about keeping his nose out of it, he’s physically only a child after all, but the rest of him knows that if something goes wrong with ... whatever this is, then his entire town could be at risk of “disappearing” if Shinra is as bad as he thinks they are.

-The townsfolk aren’t supposed to go in there, too many monsters and it being private Shinra property after all, but the kids like their dares and their scary stories, and all of them know the secret ways to get inside and out again that bigger monsters can’t fit through and adults don’t notice. Cloud creeps around cautiously, pistol loaded just in case, and he can’t get INSIDE the actual building without being spotted, but he sees enough.

-This mansion isn’t a mansion. It’s a LAB. Those trucks were carrying lab equipment and supplies.

-And human victims.

-Cloud rushes home and throws up in the back yard and all he can think about is how two weeks ago the news mentioned a “radar malfunction” or something that led to an entire town being bombed out of existence and oh wouldn’t that explain the smell of burned skin?

-Cloud tries to stay out of it, but he CAN’T. He can’t in good conscience, so he keeps sneaking around, avoiding the guards and wondering what, exactly, to DO.

-He finds the ... disposal area and Regrets™, but every time he sees someone being thrown down there, he creeps over to check for a pulse. Just in case. Just in case.

-He’s thinking of stopping for his own sanity, because all of this is bringing up every trauma and nightmare he tried to forget from Prompto’s life, when he-

-Finds a little girl. Bloody and injured, with something imbedded in one frail hand that looks like shards of materia, and he expects her to be dead like all the others except she’s not and Prompto breathlessly carries her away on his back to hide in one of the tiny mountain caves he’s turned into a hideout over the years. He keeps a lot of stuff in there that his mother would never allow if she knew, things like a restore materia he won off a drifter in poker (and oh the man’s face at being outmatched by a 6 year old), and a surgical kit he ... found out in the wilds (it wasn’t like the man would need it anymore, the wolves had seen to that).

-He uses the restore materia five times before he’s sure the girl is as stable as she’s going to get on such short notice, then he stuffs a rag in her mouth and ties down her arm, because he may not know a lot about this world, but he knows shards of materia in her hand CAN’T be good for her health, long term or short. Materia absorbs magic from people on skin contact, so even in shards, there’s a high chance it will absorb her magic until there’s none left and then start going after her life force.

-Two hours later, he uses one last restore to seal shut the hand he just extracted the last bits of materia out of, throws the materia shards into the nearby mako spring that has been providing his light out of sheer spite to whoever imbedded the things in the first place, then passes out because he’s an 11 year old who just used six restore spells and performed field surgery on someone’s hand using his own tools and the bottle of alcohol he smuggled up here a long time ago as disinfectant.

-He wakes up a long time later, and by the time he gets back down the mountain to find his mom, the town is looking for him. He tells no one what really happened, but he needs SOME cover story because he’s kinda covered in blood from that whole- rescued a child out of a death pit and then did surgery on her hand thing. He makes up a story of a hunt gone wrong and hiding in a small cave until the wolf pack left and is grateful no one asks to see if his pistol is out of ammo or not. They just buy his story and move on to talking about hunting down this supposed wolf pack.

-When his mother takes him home, he tells her the truth. It’s the first time she’s doubted him since he was 4 years old. Shinra has already left again as suddenly as they’d come so it’s safe to take the bigger of the hidden entrances into the mansion grounds. He shows her how to get in, and while the death pit is a pile of smoking ash now, the signs (the bones) are still there and she is horrified. She is more horrified when he lets her into his secret cave and shows her the little girl, huddled up in his secret hideout’s fur blankets, still unconscious and deathly pale but at least not actively dying anymore.

-She agrees that this must remain a secret, for when Shinra eventually came back.

-They keep her hidden up there for three months with only a handful of other people in the know (all folk who Claudia has trusted with her life before and who she knows won’t go blab to the mayor). They feed her and care for her and discover she’s lost all her memories. They know about Kalm, it’s not hard to guess that her parents are likely dead and burned by now.

-Claudia names her Storm and says she will take care of Storm now, and Cloud hugs the stunned girl close and whispers that he’s always wanted a little sister.

-Six months after Kalm’s burning and Shinra Mansion’s return to empty haunted building status, Claudia lets the rumors spread that her cousin has died and left a child to be sent to Nibelheim to live with her. Since Claudia has always been closed mouthed about her family, this rumor is believed wholesale, and when one of those other folk in the know sneaks Storm down to the next town over a few hours before Claudia arrives in her battered old truck to “pick her up”, their alibi is as complete as it’s gonna get.

-They estimate that Storm is 9 years to Cloud’s 11, and she takes to being his cousin/sibling with a desperate sort of fervor. Cloud throws himself into being an older brother with equal devotion, even as he trains harder with his guns and survival skills and passes them on to Storm too.

-Cloud is 14 and maybe going a little stir crazy in his small town life (he’s grateful to be away from most of Shinra’s nonsense, but it does get REALLY BORING out here, especially with everyone his age leaving to go work for the Evil Empire In Disguise) when Storm tentatively asks what happened to her in the mansion. Cloud doesn’t know. But he’s got two pistols now and he’s not afraid of the local monsters, so he kisses her forehead and treks off to the mansion to find out.

-He fights his way into the mansion and finds all the creepy science papers and learns ... a lot.

-Apparently Evil Empire was playing god with things they knew little about, surprise surprise.

-Cloud tucks away Storm’s file (Felicia was her old name, interesting), and keeps digging. It takes a couple days of repeated visits (in between which he updates Storm and his increasingly alarmed mother of what he’s learned), but eventually he finds the files on Shinra’s golden boy Sephiroth and learns he’s had his DNA combined with a dead “ancient” (and if that’s really an ancient cetra and not some kind of horrible alien Prompto will eat his own shoes because there’s a picture of Jenova in the file and yeah, NOTHING HUMAN IS THAT SHADE OF BLUE kthanks). He digs even more through the mad ramblings, used to it after having to decipher ancient texts and Besithia’s mad rants with Ignis during the Long Night, and finds...

-Oh.

-That could be useful.

-Prompto treks down to the basement, then further down to a room filled with coffins. He wanders around until he finds the right one, flips it open, waits until the guy with Intense Vampire Vibes starts to wake up and ask who has disturbed his slumber, then interrupts with a cheerful, “I’m Cloud Strife. I’m going to steal everything in here I think is useful and then burn the rest to the ground. Do you wanna leave now or leave later when your cape is all crispy?”

-The man stares at him, “...What?”

-Cloud grins a little too wide and knows he looks very insane and ghoulish with the monster blood on his clothes, the dust and cobwebs in his hair, and the fire materia he’s juggling in his hands as he perches fearlessly on the edge of the coffin and simplifies, “Mansion go fwoof soon. You staying or leaving?”

-The man doesn’t seem to believe him, or even believe that he isn’t some kind of bad dream, so he just nudges Cloud off the coffin edge and shuts the top again. Cloud shrugs mentally, too frazzled and angry to care right now about Vampiric Drama Queens.

-He removes the relevant files that he’s found as well as any materia and weapons (and the diary of this one lady named Lucrecia who is apparently Sephiroth’s REAL mom and Mister Vampire’s former lover), then “borrows” a gas can from his mom’s shed and ensures that the dry, rotten floorboards of the mansion are thoroughly soaked in the stuff before wandering outside the back way, getting to a safe-ish distance and throwing a fireball through the broken window.

-The mansion does indeed make a loud and eager “fwoof” sound as it goes up in flames. Cloud watches the inferno with possibly too much maniacal laughter (hey he’s STRESSED okay? He’s getting the impression that HE’S the one the lifestream has decided to make it’s errand boy to save the world and he DOESN’T LIKE IT so just let him VENT), then laughs harder when a wall breaks open and out storms a slightly crispy and very unimpressed Vampire Drama Queen. Did Cloud maybe take too much glee in ensuring the gas had gotten into the basement too to make sure ALL of the mansion went up? Probably. Did he regret it?

-No. Not in the slightest.

-One very unimpressed Vampire stare down that became genuine alarm when Cloud’s laughing fit turned into childish bawling later (stupid child stress hormones turning everything to tears when he least expected it, then again he’d always been a crybaby as Prompto in his own eyes) and Cloud leads Vampire Man home because he isn’t sure what else to do. He also makes Vampire Man (Vincent Valentine, the man sighs after the seventh time being called a Vampire) carry the diary and the most relevant papers down to his house. The other ones he hides in his cave for now, just in case.

-His mom breaks out the strong stuff halfway through Cloud’s story and shares sympathetic looks with Vincent over Cloud’s pyromania. Then he explains what he’s found and thinks about “Jenova” and while Vincent is skeptical, his mom has seen too much of Cloud’s weirdness not to believe him at this point. Cloud mentions that there are hints that at least some of the thing is up in the reactor. Storm cuddles up to her brother and solemnly asks if he’s going to go set the blue alien on fire too.

-Cloud says yes, Claudia sighs, and Vincent looks like he has a headache.

-Two weeks of preparations (and waiting out Shinra’s investigation of the fire, which they SOMEHOW deem an accident), a long hike, and some angry swearing from Claudia as she shorts out the security cameras (since when could his mom do that) later, and they have indeed found part of the blue alien woman. Their plan is interrupted when Vincent unexpectedly transforms into some kind of mini- dragon- monster- THING and aggressively fills the entire glass tank Jenova is in with blood red fire, but after THAT little episode is done, the Thing in Vincent’s skin eyes Cloud, starts laughing, calls him “the Chosen’s Little Argentum”, and cedes control back to one very dizzy Vincent.

-They all decide to call it a week after that.

...

Gonna wrap this up soon because ow my hands but some other thoughts on this is-

-Cloud and Storm start traveling to get answers and also to stay under Shinra’s radar, Vincent goes with because for some reason Chaos finds Cloud amusing and is willing to be quiet around the boy and also because this child CLEARLY needs a keeper and his pseudo-sister is his old partner’s DAUGHTER who was experimented on by Hojo and saved by Cloud so he can’t just leave now can he? Also the Lucrecia diary enlightens him to some things, like how Sephiroth is still alive and kicking (and currently sane!).

-Also Claudia comes with because she is a Good Mom and not about to let her 13 year old, her 11 year old, and a quasi-immortal Turk galavant around the countryside without adult supervision.

-Claudia and Vincent bicker like an old married couple and honestly Cloud is content to ship them so long as Vincent treats his mom right, and the ex-Turk would be amused by the Shovel Talk he gets early on if not for the sneaking suspicion (read: Chaos’s cackling) that this tiny blond menace guising as sunshine could actually pull it off, science immortality or no.

-Storm takes to swords like a duck to water and Cloud teaches her what he remembers, which is around the time Vincent asks about why Cloud Is The Way He Is and Claudia tells him that her son is a reincarnation. Honestly Cloud is just as flabbergasted as Vincent because since when did his mom know that?

-”Since you started talking in ancient forgotten languages during your hyper moments when you were four,” is the placid answer.

-They eventually wander into Midgar because What Is Self-Preservation and find Aerith. Aerith gloms onto Cloud and smiles a teary smile and calls him “Prompto” and that’s when he learns that Aerith is LUNA.

-They meet Zack outside of Midgar where Zack is playing Hunter rather than joining Soldier. Cloud and Zack stare at each other for like- twenty seconds before hugging for dear life and crying all over each other because it’s NOCTIS and THEY MISSED EACH OTHER SO MUCH.

-Zack still has armiger magic and gives it to everyone involved save Vincent, who looks like he might actually have an aneurysm if anymore Weirdness gets attached to his soul. He already has two (now three and one absentee sort of fourth) crazy children to look after, please keep the ancient magic away from his already battered soul.

-Not sure who/if Iggy and Gladio are reborn as, I’ll think about it.

-Fixit shenanigans ensue. The Turks get converted to the cause because 1. Veld’s old partner is back and 2. his supposedly dead daughter shyly turns up decidedly NOT dead and with proof that Hojo experimented on her (he nearly flips a table and the scars on her hand from Prompto’s field surgery hurt Veld’s SOUL).

-Claudia is Team Mom of the Turks now, she’s not sure how.

-Zack and Cloud put their heads together and decide the PERFECT way to infiltrate and ruin Shinra’s hold on Sephiroth is to-

-Have one of them become his secretary/assistant. Cloud loses the coin toss, so now Sephiroth has a personal ray of sunshine and good morals following him everywhere like a stray kitten. It’s working WAY more than it has any right to.

-Someone (read: the newly converted to the cause Turks and a gleeful Vincent) start slipping Reeve data on what the mako reactors are really doing to the planet. Also Hojo ends up dead. So does Rupert.

-Also also Claudia is Rupert’s sister, so Rufus gets an aunt figure to imprint proper morals into his skull through love, sarcasm, and good food.

-There I’m out of thoughts on this AU for now.

#SE asks #oliverslewty asks #Secret Engima Rambles #Sunshine and Clouds verse #long post #oh no another au #*smacks with a newspaper*#STAY QUIET PLUNNY

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