#I would like you to know that I typoed it as Wong room

[rockcattomato]

YOU WALKED INTO THE WRONG ROOM MOTHERFUCKER

(It’s me. I was behind the door. Holding a knife. And also Glenn Close is standing there with me)

[strangesthirdeye]

I Can't Handle Change (Doctor Strange x Fem! Reader)

Summary: every disease has its own cure

Warning: It's Stephen, he's a sweetheart, Critically ill, reader is sick, near death experience? Medical care, fluff, angst, Stephen being a good boyfriend, severe heart arrhythmia

As usual, I'm sorry if there are any wrong sentences or typos or grammatical mistakes, please forgive me and again English is not my first language, so I try to improve my language and writing in this way.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Me and some Masters in the Kamar Taj have decided that the London Sanctum will be the next target to break into, I want you two to go and catch the culprits before they smuggle out our sacred relics. We don't want those relics to fall into the hands of wrong, don't we?" Wong explained firmly that you two are busy arranging all the relics that were successfully confiscated in the relics room at the NY Sanctum.

"Why us? We're busy right now" Stephen said without taking his eyes off the chest containing the relics.

"because you both are one of the most free sorceress we have. The others are busy with their missions, only you two have free time" Wong said simply.

Stephen sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose while you looked at Wong skeptically.

"of course we'll help you but who wants to pack these relics?" You ask Wong.

"don't worry, I've assigned some students to help put all these relics in the temporary relics room so that relics here is in safe hands, while the others Sanctums are targeted" Wong said walked closer towards the exit before he paused. "You two better go now.. We don't know when the culprits will show up" and then Wong walked away.

Stephen exhaled heavily and adjusted his belt, checking whether the sling ring was on his belt or not while you put the relic in your hand back into the chest and walked over to Stephen.

"Don't worry, at least we will spend time together" you lighten up the mood.

Stephen smiled faintly. "I would love to spend time with you but not this" Stephen put his hands around you and crashed his lips on your lips.

You hummed and parted away. "Maybe.. we can spend some time after this mission is over. what do you say, Doctor Strange? Fancy a good night movies with cuddles?"

"Absolutely" Stephen muttered and looked at you hungrily. "well, better go now.. I'm not a patient person"

You smirked and then without hesitation pulled Stephen's hand and walked towards the door connected to the London Sanctum. The Sanctum is quiet without a source of sound in it. Only the sound of automobile engines outside the Sanctum. You and Stephen paused in the middle of the room, trying to listen for any sounds like things being moved or thumping around the Sanctum cautiously.

The two of you walk slowly towards the stairs where all the relics are. Stephen unconsciously reached out your hand and held it tightly in a protective way. Maybe worry if something unexpected happens suddenly. As the two of you started climbing the stairs, you both heard the sound of a voice talking but it was faint.

The noise of 3 people was heard upstairs and this made you both cautiously go up the stairs and prepared to catch the culprits. Stephen went first and you followed behind him. There are 3 figures wearing all black outfits with their faces wearing black masks hiding their identity but you can both tell their gender based on their body shape. 2 men 1 woman according to their built bodies in two men and breasts in women.

You looked at Stephen with a knowing look. The three of them seemed to be solemnly putting the relics into the sacks in their hands, unaware of the presence of the two of you.

They said to each other with overjoyed voices. You can't make up what they say because of the masks they wear, but you can tell that they are likely to be excited about the quality and price of the relics if they are sold to the black market. It seems like they decided to show up earlier than you both expected. Stephen then walked in front of you.

"I'm sure the sacred relics are not for sale, in fact they are not to be stolen," Stephen said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

The three figures stopped what they were doing and looked at the source of the voice behind them. They freeze when they realize they are caught.

"You broke into one of the sacred Sanctums in this universe and decided to smuggle out some of our relics. Well, you don't know what you're all dealing with now" you said threateningly.

The three figures didn't say anything but then all of a sudden they ran towards you both with their weapons in their hands. Seemed like they quietly reached for their weapons while you both threatened them.

You automatically conjured bands of cyttorak and whipped it on one of the figures hand causing the weapon in his hand to fall to the floor. The man looked panic but still attacked you with all the energy he had while you whipped the band to dodge all the punches he gave you before you tied his legs and pulled the band until he stumbled to the floor hard.

He groaned in pain. You smirked but then you started to feel a bit of pain in your chest which you ignored the pain and continued to attack the man by tying his whole body with a band of cyttorak then slipped your two fingers into the sling ring and summoned a portal below him to the Kamar Taj.

He fell into the portal with a scream. One has been held, two not yet. You ran towards Stephen who was dodging the attack of the two culprits. The pain in your chest started to increase. Stephen punched one of the culprits who is man hard in the face which makes the man stepped back when he was hit in the face while the woman rushes towards Stephen and swings the weapon in her hand towards Stephen but then crashed to the side when you hit her body hard which makes both of you stumbled to the floor hard.

You both groaned then you got up quickly and straddled the woman with struggle as the woman seems to fight with you which you managed to straddle her and punched her face several times before summoned bands of cyttorak again and tied both of her hands. You stood up and summoned a portal behind her like you did to the man. The woman screaming as she falls into the portal.

You smirked with victory but then your face grimaced in pain as you felt the pain in your chest increase. You hold your chest in excruciating pain. You kneel on the floor with a cry of pain and fall to the side on the floor. You close your eyes as you feel the agony of pain in your chest. Tears fell down your cheeks as the pain increased. Your breath starts to gasp for enough oxygen but fails.

Stephen who had just caught the last culprit started looking for you but couldn't find you. He started to worry but then he started to hear the sound of crying not far from him. He recognized the voice and ran towards the source of the voice quickly. He saw you lying on your side while clutching your chest with eyes closed and a pained face.

You exhaled in pain and groaned. Stephen slides to your side and grabs your shoulders with concern on his face. "love, what's wrong?! Did the woman do something to you?!" Stephen said loudly. You just cried out in pain and reached for Stephen's free hand and squeezed it hard. Stephen ignored the pain in his hand and with panic he slipped to his fingers on the sling ring and opened a portal to Metro General Hospital. You started to lose your consciousness. The corners of your eyes start to darken while dark spots dance in your eyes. You let out a gasp. The pain in the chest is getting worse and makes it difficult for you to breathe.

Stephen picked you up bridal style and rushed into the hospital with panic on his face.

"Hold on, Love! Don't you dare pass out in my arms!" Stephen said firmly.

But you are already unconscious. Your head lolled to the side as you limped in his arms.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

A burst of white light greeting in your eyes as you started to wake up. You closed your sore eyes and grunted in pain as you felt a faint pain in your chest. You started to move your body but then someone held your cold right hand with their warm hand.

You jerked a bit but calm yourself down as your eyes adjusted and you finally recognized the person in front of you. Stephen. You sighed in relief after seeing Stephen sitting in front of you with a look of concern on his face.

"Hey" you greeted him with a hoarse voice.

"hey" Stephen greeted back, unconsciously rubbed his thumb on the back of your hand.

"I'm sorry" you said upset.

"Why do you want to apologize? For not telling me that you have severe heart arrhythmia?" Stephen replied, pulling the chair he was sitting on closer to you carefully with the wire attached to your body.

You nodded ashamed. "yeah.. I'm sorry for not telling you about this"

Stephen shook his head. "no don't be. I understand that you don't want to bring this up to me, but at least you can tell me that you suffer from this"

"I want to tell you but.. I'm worried that I will be forced not to do any mission if you know about this. Knowing you, I don't think I can agree not to join any mission.. I don't want you to worry about me" you said weakly.

Stephen kissed the back of your hand. "But at least you don't have to get like this for me to know that you suffer. I'm worried about you, you know. You almost died if I didn't take you to the hospital. I-.. I can lose you" Stephen looked down at his lap.

You soften your look. "hey, look at me" Stephen raised his head and looked at you. "I'm okay now, thanks to you. But please don't tell Wong or anyone about this. I want to finish this mission no matter what. If they find out they will force me not to join this mission."

Stephen shook his head. "You are a stubborn woman. Alright, but on two conditions." Stephen looked at you softly.

You nodded urging him to continue. Stephen sighed.

"One, let me do all the running things so that you don't have to weaken your heart and end up like this again and two, no more hiding secrets. Understand?" Stephen stared at your determined eyes.

You nodded in understanding. "yes.. anything for you. I promise"

Stephen nodded and leaning towards your lips and pecked your lips sealing the promises with passionate, careful with the oxygen tube in your nose. He smiled gently and stroked your cheek. "l love you" he said gently.

You stroked his hand tenderly and smiled softly. "I love you too"

[quartzwriting]

The Agent and Her Sorcerer

Pairing: Doctor Strange X Fem!Reader

Description: You, an agent who works with The Avengers, comes back to the compound to find that Doctor Strange has brought you coffee.

Warnings: mentions of drinking and doing the dirty

Word Count: 2.4K

A/N: Originally posted on Quotev | Things have been busy, so has mental heath things, so idk when new things will come out. I love this piece tho so I hope this makes up for it. 

Masterlist | Fic Reading Recs | Ao3 | Quotev | Coffee

Gif by @cumberbatchlives

Technically a sequel to The Sorcerer and The Agent

When you stepped off the jet and onto the landing, you let out a long breath of relief. That field mission was finally over. It was an early call that got you out of bed before the sun came up. Too early for your body to function, but with the encouragement of coffee and Captain Rogers forcing you out of bed, you conquered the task. You checked your phone for the time, it was now around noon. You were ready to sit down, maybe even take a nap. You desperately needed a break.

But you knew you would not be able to rest.

Tony was already on your ass. He came out of nowhere, scaring the life back into you, and shoved a tablet in your hands. "Before you file your report, you got another one."

You groaned, falling into step beside him to make your way into the building. "Already?"

Tony pushed a few things on your tablet and an image came up. It was one of the objects you had recovered from this morning's mission. On the side was a stream of jumbled letters and numbers.

"Decoding, seriously?"

Tony shrugged, with a grin on his face that you wanted to punch off. "Hey, you're best for the job."

"Can't FRIDAY just run through it?"

"Where's the fun in that?"

You glared at him.

"Come on, you got this."

You rolled your eyes, "Fine. Only because it might give us a new lead."

"Atta girl! Don't stress yourself out."

You were already stressed.

"Oh and by the way, someone in the lounge is here to see you."

After a brief moment of surprise, you knew who it was. Tony saw the smile appear on your face, then winked at you. You rolled your eyes at him.

You tucked the tablet under your arm and made your way to the lounge. Maybe you were getting a little break before continuing for the day after all. A small amount of energy that came from your happiness pushed you forwards.

When you got there, sure enough, there he was.

"Hey, I thought you might want coffee."

You chuckled. Of course you wanted coffee.

Stephen Strange had a coffee tray in his hands that had two cups in it. He was standing around looking a little awkward, a little out of place at the compound. He looked relived to see you, as if anyone else in the doorway would made him embarrassed. His serious demeanor was no where in sight, a hint of warmth in his cheeks.

He wasn't wearing his sorcerer robes, but casual clothes. A jacket, dark jeans, sneakers, a t-shirt, simple things that you got to see him in more often now. You liked it. Very much.

Without any hesitation, you made your way over to him. Giving him a big smile the entire way. You put your tablet down so you could take the cup he was holding out for you. "Thank you." Your gloved hands brushed against his bare shaking ones. The contact was enough to widen your smile.

"Don't mention it."

"Hi! How are you? What's new?" You asked him, leaning one hand on a table and sipping your coffee with the other.

Stephen let out a breath, "Well this morning I helped to try and close a dimensional rip in space time. If we hadn't managed to close it then it would have swallowed an entire country."

"Sounds exciting, Doctor." You hid a smirk behind a look of playfully exaggerated interest.

"Oh it was." He was trying to hide a smirk too, "How about you, Agent (L/N)?" His cheek twitched, trying desperately to not let that smirk slide through.

"Well I just came back from a mission in London where an very well hidden Hydra base was found. There were a few of their agents there, kicked some ass, and managed to recover some of their tech and files. You know, normal things."

"This is a very casual conversation despite its content." He commented.

You both broke after that, smirks turning into fits of chuckles. You reached up and kissed him on the cheek.

The two of you were developing into a 'thing' recently. Whenever he would come to the compound, you would have your eye on him. And you could feel his eye on you as well. It had been going back and forth for a while, finding excuses to talk to each other and purposely being in the same room as one another. Casual attraction.

You noticed the little details in him. Taking every opportunity to make a snarky comment during meetings. Dedication and a 'cool calm' overtaking him whenever disusing anything serious. His gaze of sparkling blue, sharp features, and welcoming smile. The very presence of him either made your heart stop or quicken, sometimes both simultaneously.

Whenever you were both having a conversation, whether for work or just friendly chatter, you found yourself entranced by him. His voice, his gorgeous face, his personality. Not casual attraction anymore, you were sightly obsessed.

But there was always this look in his eyes, that he recognized your attraction to him. And a look that told you he had similar emotions. You just knew it. You paid attention to him. You noticed him paying attention to you with interest, catching him staring on occasion.

Things had went from zero to one hundred at a party that Tony threw last week. You had a little too much to drink. Stephen did too. You found yourselves alone. Things escalated from there. You woke up the next morning in his bed in the New York sanctum, cuddled in his arms. You both went out for breakfast that morning. He took you out for dinner a day after.

Ever since then, he shows up at the compound when he can, or calls you to ask how you are doing. Work for both of you has gotten pretty busy lately so finding time to go out together was hard. But you promised each other another date as soon as you both were free.

This was a long time coming, you both knew that. All it took was one little push. But you did not expect that push to be a little alcohol. It happened anyways, so you decided to take it without complaints.

Stephen looked around, making sure no one else was in the room to intrude. After confirming, he leaned down and stole a kiss from you. You giggled and let him, leaning up into him. He pulled away to let you have another sip of your coffee.

He wasn't drinking from his own cup. You felt his eyes on you. It did not take long to figure out why. You were still in your uniform, one that is similar to Natasha's. Black bodysuit, weapons belt. Skin tight. A blush crept up on your face, some memories coming back from that night. He has seen you wearing this before, but now his gaze had a different weight to it.

"Liking the view, Strange?" You asked with a raised eyebrow and mischief glittering in your eyes.

He shrugged, "Now that I know what it all looks like, I like the view even more." Casual. Calm. Cocky.

You playfully smacked him on the shoulder, bringing his hint of a smile into light. Tucking the tablet under your arm, coffee in one hand and Stephen's own hand in another, you pulled him over to one of the couches. The two of you sat down. "I have a little tech and paperwork to do right now. You're welcome to stay while I do it, if you're free."

He relaxed beside you, an arm slinging over the back of the couch. "I've got time. Wong is watching the Sanctum, I have the afternoon off."

"Maybe if I finish early we can go out?" You asked with a perky smile.

He gestured to your open tablet. "Better get to work then." You laughed, quickly kissed him, and did get to work. You explained to him your tasks, the decoding you needed to do and then fill out your mission report file. He seemed interested, looking over your shoulder the whole time as you explained your process. He watched you complete the decoding, send the results to the cloud, and start typing away at your morning's mission report.

Stephen's presence behind you the entire time was comforting, taking away some of the stress of your busy work. His warmth and the smell of coffee in the air made you content. You felt him start to fiddle with the tails of your hair, you jokingly swatting him away before he went right back to it.

During the breakfast date, and the dinner date, you saw more little things about him you liked. There was curiosity and interest in his eyes. Behind that serious shell was gentleness and kindness, a full heart who thinks for others. It was like after that night, you got to see the real Stephen Strange, not the Sorcerer Supreme. He was a gentle lover, even drunk, making sure you were comfortable the entire time. Eating out together, he was a gentleman. Seeing him around the compound, he seemed to be smiling more.

You never knew the great Doctor Stephen Strange was a total softy. It made you like him even more.

While writing, you found yourself putting extra care into reviewing the mission and its details. This may have been caused by knowing Stephen was watching your every move and you wanted to make a good impression of your work ethic. You made sure to skim through for any mistakes or typos in your writing as well. After some time, discarded cups on the coffee table and Stephen now subtly nuzzling your neck, you submitted your report.

"Do you have to do that after every mission?" The man who was practically wrapping his entire body around yours on the couch asked.

"Yeah. That was one of the longer ones. Most things were more straightforward this time around, but I did a lot in London today." You heaved a sigh, momentary wiggled out of Stephen's arms to plunk your tablet down on the coffee table, and relaxed back into the couch.

"Have anything else to do?" He asked.

"Not currently." You turned to him, now giving him your full attention. He seemed to like it.

"Well then, maybe you and me can go grab lunch?"

"I'd like that."

You watched his eyes dip down, briefly glancing at your lips before looking back up at your eyes. You caught him. This told you what he was thinking about, and soon you were thinking about it yourself. And then you were doing it. One of his hands rested on your cheek, the other found your waist as he kissed you. Your hands tangled around his neck and up into his hair gently.

It was like you lost track of time. You just focused on Stephen, a hand of his running over the fabric of your tight uniform.

"I'm glad Tony threw that party."

You and Stephen urgently parted at the interruption. Standing in the doorway, Steve and Natasha had smug grins. They were still in their uniforms from the mission, Steve's shield strapped across his back. You groaned.

When you told only one person that you went home with Stephen that night, it had spread through the compound like wildfire. Your coworkers all knew, and they were relieved. Finally, they had said. You must have not noticed how obvious you and Stephen's electric stares and intrigued chatter were.

You were a little embarrassed at being caught making out, but the embarrassment practically radiated off Stephen. He immediately straightened upright and cleared his throat. Apparently he did not show his vulnerable side to anyone but you, him instantly clicking back into a neutral expression when facing someone else.

Nat got right to the point, ignoring the irritated look on your face, "We got a new lead. There was a new location marked in one of their files found in London. Venice. We leave in thirty."

A frown glazed your features. You were really looking forward to spending some time with Stephen again. You looked at Stephen, who shared a mutual disappointed look in his eyes. But you knew that he would go let you work. It was annoying.

It wouldn't hurt to ask. Would it?

You stood up from the couch, grabbing your tablet to pull up your report again. You strided towards your bosses, a lick of confidence in your posture.

"Um actually I was kinda hoping if I could get the rest of the day off." You sang.

Steve let out a breath in a smug laugh, while Nat was hiding one of her own.

With a smile, you handed Nat your tablet, the mission report on the screen. Clean, detailed, care put into it, reflecting your hard work you had accomplished all morning. You saw her eyes look it over, the captain leaning in to do the same.

"You did work hard this morning." Steve pointed out.

"And you did eventually save our asses in the end." Nat added.

As you said to Stephen earlier, you did kick ass during the mission.

You gave them a look of hope. It was obvious what you wanted, they both knew it. For some reason you felt like they were lengthening the moment to tease you. To leave you in anticipation.

After what felt like minutes instead of seconds, the two turned to each other and exchanged expressions. Steve nodded. Natasha handed back your tablet.

"Go play with your sorcerer and his magic hands." Natasha whispered to you with a wink. A deep blush crept up onto your neck, and you saw her smirk. Scrunching your face up in a mock sneer, you snatched your tablet back.

"Have fun, you two." Steve said as a goodbye, and him and Natasha left the lounge to get ready for part two of today's investigation.

You turned back to Stephen. He had an impressed look on his face. Now standing, he threw away your empty coffee cups in a nearby bin."You didn't have to do that, you know."

"Too bad. Already did." You shrugged, sauntering back over to stand in front of him.

Stephen gave you a smile, and opened a slingring portal right in front of you both. "Then lets go."

You put down your tablet and went to empty your weapons belt. "I'm still in uniform, Stephen." You laughed, "I should go change first."

The sorcerer snapped his fingers, and your skintight Avengers uniform turned into a pair of leggings and a blouse. An outfit Stephen had complimented you on last week. You were surprised he remembered it.

You rolled your eyes at him, and before you could say anything, he grabbed your hand and pulled you through the portal.

[markftmingi]

sit down! - part one

sit down! masterlist

summary: the king of south korea hires you personally to become the prince’s personal bodyguard after he receives death threats but still continues to life his life dangerously.

pairing: prince!badboy!jaehyun x bodyguard!badass!reader

warning(s): mentions of smoking/drug use, gang activity, and some other crime stuff, swearing, jaehyun’s an asshole tbh.

a/n: this was almost a yugyeom story on wattpad over a year ago (excuse any typos pls) but i’ve been in my jaehyun feels recently. i also really want to make this a social media au🥴. also this is my basic “y/n” kind of story but like “y/n”’s gang code name is siren, cause like you lead men to their deaths, get it? 

you took a deep breath before knocking on your boss's office door. his right hand woman, joy, opened the door with a smile.

"miss siren, he's been expecting you," she bowed politely.

you bowed back, "you can call me by my real name you know... i've known you for most of my life."

joy blushed slightly but before she could say another word, your boss interrupted.

"she was instructed to call you miss siren and she will do as such,” he ordered as you sat in the chair across from him.

"whatever you say, yuta," you said mockingly, "what's my job now?"

"you were hired by someone to keep his son out of trouble. his son has a pretty bad record: fighting, smoking, drug use, gang activity, sleeping around frequently, and the list goes on. your job is to make sure that he never does anything like this again... he has a major reputation to manage. he'll be disowned if he doesn't."

"okay... and how am i going to do that?" you questioned.

"you'll be living with him, watching his every move. he lives in seoul palace in south korea." he said sliding the case files over to you.

you raised an eyebrow, "seoul palace? who is he? the prince?"

yuta let out a small laugh, "yes, actually."

you held back the urge to scoff. what kind of prince doesn't respect his father –the king– enough to listen to what he says? especially if it's for his own good. if he keeps up the recklessness, he'll be dead by 25.

"a prince... needs me... to babysit him so that he doesn't get into anymore trouble?" you said slowly to make sure that yuta wasn't losing his mind.

he gave you a hard look, "a prince with a really rich king father that's willing to pay us 500,000,000 yen to babysit him so that he doesn't get into anymore trouble. the prince has been receiving death threats too and he just continues the recklessness.”

500,000,000 yen? that’s nearly 5 million dollars... you could do a lot with that kind of money. you could retire with that kind of money.

"okay, deal."

"great because i already had joy pack your bags and call the jet to south korea. your flight departs in less than an hour." yuta smiled brightly as your face dropped.

although he wasn’t family, yuta was all you had left. he was more of a relative than your boss. it was his father’s company before he took over. his father raised you to obey every single word that came out of his mouth and keep your guard up at all times. sometimes yuta could overstep his boundaries but hey, at least you were getting paid and weren’t an orphan anymore.

you sighed before standing up, taking the files with you. joy followed you out of the office and into her car.

"miss siren, the jet takes off in..," she glanced at her phone, "roughly 40 minutes."

you nodded, "you packed everything i needed?"

"i got most of your clothes, toothbrush and other necessities, your laptops and chargers, and your favorite weapons. the usual things i pack." joy explained as she drives.

you nodded once more before opening your client's file.

name: jung jaehyun (sometimes goes by yoonoh)

nationality: korean

birthday: february 14, 1997

zodiac sign: aquarius

height: 180 cm (5’11")

weight: 63kg (138 lbs)

blood type: A

hobbies: piano, basketball

languages: korean, english, and some japanese

as you continued to read his file, you couldn't help but to want to laugh. the way yuta talked about jaehyun made him sound like public enemy number one. he seemed like a normal man... until you got to his police reports:

seven charges of aggravated assault, four charges of drug possession, two DUIs, and three charges of theft. all of which was pardoned because he was the prince. you didn’t get why the prince himself would do anything of these things. jaehyun could have anything he wanted at anytime but he was acting out.

"he's handsome." joy smirked slightly as she pulled up to the airport.

you looked back up at his picture. she wasn't lying. jaehyun was gorgeous. definitely has the looks of a prince. she laughed once she caught you staring at the picture.

"true, but not happening."

"i'm just saying, y/n - i mean siren. he's handsome, you're beautiful. i saw his friends' profiles too. they all looked like pieces of heaven. something is bound to happen." she said teasingly.

you rolled your eyes as you got out the car, "no romance, no relations. besides he's a prince. he probably acts like he has a stick up his ass."

“you act like you have a stick up your ass too sometimes. maybe he can take it out for you,” joy laughed as you slammed the car door shut and walked away. the jet ride from osaka international airport to seoul, south korea was only about two hours, so you took the time to rest up for what awaits you.

_______________________________________________________

when you got off the jet in seoul, you weren’t expecting four men to pick you up from the airport. nor were you expecting to be riding in a limo. you usually didn't talk much when you were working but this awkward silence was killing you and you think the other men knew it too.

"so how long have you been working under mr. nakamoto?" the man on your right questioned, trying to break the ice.

"majority my life basically."

he turned to you with wide eyes, "how?"

"well, it's the family business. i’m not blood family but they adopted me in. from the time you're able to walk, you're trained to fight. you don't actually work serious jobs until you go through all the training."

"when did you get your first serious job?"

"i had just turned eleven,” you stated.

the man didn't say anything after that and you were relieved. you let out a breath you didn't know you were holding as you all drove to a gate. as if expecting you, the gate slowly opened. you’d been to korea on other jobs before but you never saw this palace before. the building was tall and stretched for yards. it was surrounded by various ponds and small gardens. guards with guns were in a line at the front door. you adjusted your backpack straps as you walked through the main door. the palace was rather modern looking from the old architecture on the outside. it looked like it could house hundreds of people. when the door shut behind you, two women and two men rushed to greet you.

"welcome back, mr. kim!" they all chorused as they bowed slightly.

"staff. this is siren, don’t ask for her real name. she's head of security over jaehyun along with johnny and taeyong. she'll be living here for awhile. treat her with respect." the man you spoke to in the car explained. guess he was addressed as mr. kim.

"yes, mr. kim. welcome, miss siren." they chorused and bowed once again.

do they practice being in synchronization like that?

"uh, thanks." you mumbled, adjusting your bag straps again.

you heard a door open, followed by seven men jogging down the stairs. all seven pairs of eyes locked on you.

"oh don't tell me she's the one who's going to be keeping jaehyun out of trouble," one of them said as a smile grew on his face.

five out of the seven started laughing. something you didn’t take lightly. you didn’t like being laughed at or taken as a joke.

"i'm trained in eight styles of fighting, i have a perfect aim with the gun on my hip, and a few other skills that you'll quickly find out if you laugh at me again." you said calmly.

that shut all of them up. mr. kim gasped, sending an elbow into your side. you didn't flinch at all.

"this is siren and yes, she'll be assisting johnny and taeyong in keeping jaehyun out of trouble which includes limiting the visits of the four of you. siren, this is jung jaehyun, the prince of this kingdom. these are his friends – dong sicheng, prince of china. huang xuxi, prince of hong kong. wong kunhang, prince of macau. chittaphon leechaiyapornkul, one of the princes of thailand. they may be princes but only sicheng acts like it." mr. kim said, giving them a fake smile.

one of the seven came up to you, "i'm sorry for kunhang's comment earlier, i'm johnny– the head of security, and that’s taeyong, other head of security. you can call him ty though." johnny introduced himself and taeyong, holding out his hand.

you shook his hand shortly. joy was right about his friends... they all looked amazing, especially the one locking hands with you. mr. kim looked between you and johnny with a shocked expression and you didn’t know why.

i made a mental note of each of their appearances so i could remember their names quickly. one of the most important things about being on a job was to take note of everyone around your client.

"i'm jaehyun, the one you'll be keeping out of trouble,” jaehyun said copying mr. kim's words.

they both glared at each other. the tension in the room was almost sickening.

"we're gonna go." taeyong announced before ushering the remaining boys to another part of the house.

"bye, siren!" sicheng smiled brightly.

i waved goodbye as they walked away.

"well, you got your wish, doyoung. i got a babysitter now and you ran my friends off again. you happy?"

"very happy."

"good, so get the fuck out." jaehyun said angrily.

you didn't know that much about the royal family but you were shocked. princes were supposed to be respectful or at least act like it. yet you could hear how much hatred jaehyun had in his voice.

mr. kim, doyoung as jaehyun called him, scoffed but looked at you, "siren, be careful. he's a tricky one," he stated before leaving.

you turned to look at jaehyun who was already staring at you.

"johnny really respects you."

you shrugged, "a lot of people do. what's your point?"

"he likes you for some reason and i don't know why and its bothering me."

"you're a big boy. you'll get over it."

jaehyun smirked, "yeah, i'm a big boy alright."

you rolled your eyes and walked past him. had to walk yourself into that pun, didn't you? you felt his eyes on your ass as he followed you up the long spiraled stairs.

"tenth door on the right is your room. next room over is my bedroom in case you get lonely."

ignoring him once again, you walked into your new room. it was huge: a king-sized bed with black silk sheets, dresser, nightstand with a flatscreen TV positioned on the wall. you took out your laptops and phones to charge them.

"why do you have two laptops and two phones?" jaehyun asked, reaching to pick one of the laptops up.

however, you grabbed him by the wrist before he even got the chance.

"don't touch anything that doesn't belong to you... that's rule number one. don't ask me anything business related or too personal. my job isn't to befriend you. my job is to keep you out of trouble, got it?" you asked angrily, “good, don’t make me tell you again.”

"you're so fucking sexy when you're angry." jaehyun whispered, staring at the grip you had on his wrist.

you rolled your eyes and let go of him, “it’s my job to keep you alive and out of trouble. why are you already making it hard for me?"

"didn’t they tell you how bad i was, baby?"

[suhglow]

Gimme | Hendery Wong

Pairing // Hendery Wong + Reader

Genre // Smut

Word Count // 1.2K

Song Rec // Sex With Me by Rihanna

Warnings // sexual content (mutual masturbation, a lil edging(?), use of a toy, unprotected sex *wrap it up bitch*), probably typos. let me know if I missed anything!

Summary // A sudden power outage leads you and roommate!Hendery to dangerous territory. (or Hendery is a curious boy)

  You should’ve never let him go through your drawers by himself. But, you forgot until Hendery awkwardly returns to the living room and sits on the opposite side of the couch without a word. "Did you find it?" Your roommate went searching your room for a lighter when the power went out. The sky was already dark from the storm and you had the job of gathering as many candles as possible. He shakes his head, "No…but I definitely found something," he mumbles to himself. The alarms went off in your head. Shit, shit, shit. "Oh my god," you shout, "You didn't touch it did you?" Not long ago you order yourself a little something-something to reward yourself. That reward just so happened to be a rather girthy 7" long toy. 

"NO," he begins to trip over his words, "I just didn't know you had it." You nervously look at him even though he's yet to look you in the eye. You didn't know something minor as a dildo could make him so squirmy. "Do you…use it a lot?" Hendery shyly asks. You feel a sinister smile grow on your face. Why was he so curious, does he think you're fucking yourself all the time, so much that you could just go to him instead? "It's new, I can barely get it to fit. I didn't realize when ordering it, it would be so thick," you laugh as you watch Hendery's eyes got big, he starts choking on air. "But, that doesn't stop me from getting off with it." Hendery takes a deep breath, rubbing his palms up and down his thighs before spitting out, "Can I see?" You jump a little in shock of the forward request, but it was amusing seeing him like this. You crawl over to him, "Aww, Hendery, you little perv. You wanna watch me touch myself," you tease, poking his side. "I didn't mean to say that, just forget what I said." "No, why shouldn't you watch me, it'll be good. Then you can have a realistic visual for when you jack off," you smile sweetly. Hendery finally looks at you, eyes wide. "You should really wait for when I'm not home and the apartment's empty, that's what I do." You run a finger through his hair, tucking it to the side, "There should be a lighter in the kitchen, meet me back here,” you simply state before getting up. Returning to the living room, Hendery is already lighting the candles. The now dimly lit, orange room feels much more intimate. Circling around you take a seat on one end of the couch holding the toy and small bottle of lube close to you. Lighting the last candle Hendery sits down. He's visibly nervous and can't stop chewing on his bottom lip. Leaning back against the sofa arm, you slide your shorts and underwear off. Hendery sitting against the opposite side focuses on your movements. His breath hitches the second you spread your legs. His eyes rest on your naked pussy and he can't look away. Smiling to yourself you begin running your fingers along your folds, smearing your wetness around. You look up and he's poorly trying to hide his boner. "You can touch yourself too, Hen," you chuckle, "Don't leave me hanging." His head shoots up, he was a wreck, not sure what to do with himself. Hesitantly he slides his sweats down just a bit for his hard cock to spring up. Slipping a finger in, you moan, "You're so hard, and that fast?" Hendery nervously laughs and brings his attention back to your finger that was pushed deep in you. While he watches he never touches his dick, he just sits there entranced by you. You can see his dick twitch a couple times, screaming for action, but he holds back. You add another, pumping them in and out. "Fuck, I'm so wet." Hendery moans at that. Fucking moans at the sound of you unraveling right in front of him. His tip is red, waiting to cum and for the life of you, you can't understand why he just won't let himself. It's not like you were holding him back. "Come closer." He nods and scoots toward you. Taking your fingers out, they're covered in your essence, "Can I?" you ask. He nods giving you permission to touch him. Taking your wet digits, you spread yourself across his tip, rubbing it softly. Hendery can't help but whine loudly at the sensitivity he's experiencing. He pushes his hair back, as his hips jut forward asking for more. You pull back and plunge your fingers back into you, snickering to yourself. "Fuck, ___!" "Just jack off already," you toss the bottle of lube to him. Exhaling in defeat, he pumps a bit on his hand and slowly starts to stroke himself, letting out groans. For a moment his eyes are closed until he remembers the show in front of him. Once you feel you're prepped enough you take the bright purple dildo, running the tip up and down your pussy, making sure it's well lubricated. Ensuring Hendery was watching, you slowly push it into you, just a little. Squeezing your eyes, you wince at the unfamiliar size. You would usually rut the thing against your clit until you came. Often, you'd try to actually penetrate yourself, but didn't get far. But now you had an audience and that motivated you to carefully push your boundaries. You start to shallowly thrust it in and out of you. Hendery's strokes pick up the pace, eyes glued to your cunt being fucked. You watch his hand violently moving, his cock wasn't as big as your toy, but you know it would feel good. "Hendery," you moan, "do you wanna fuck me?"  His eyes plead as he nods his head. He's so caught up in the moment he can't even form words. And when you remove the toy for him to sink himself into you, he feels like he can no longer form simple thoughts. He just thrusts himself into your tight hole, going faster and faster, unable to stop. You hold him by the back of his neck, bracing each quick, precise snap of his hips. "Are you gonna cum in me?" You loved the teasing, you loved seeing him so worked up, surprised by each thing that would come out of your dirty mouth. God, how he wanted to kiss your dirty mouth. At last, he speaks actual words, "Gonna fuck you so full," he grunts. You lazily smile at his words; he's finally letting go. "Is that right? Wanna fill my pussy with your cum?" No words have to be said when he starts to fuck you even harder and faster, coming undone. He doesn't stop as his cum seeps out of you, he keeps thrusting it back into you until you're practically screaming in pleasure. You rub your clit, making the sensational feeling last as he starts to slow down. You two stay there still, only your chests moving up and down, as you both try to catch your breath. Hendery has yet to pull out, letting his cock sit in you blocking his semen from spilling out. You look up and in that dark room with the orange glow hitting his skin, Hendery looks so sexy. So kissable. Inching up, you pull on his neck to meet you halfway. He's gentle with it, making you be the first to part your lips. Gliding your tongue along his lips he follows your lead, pressing his tongue against yours. Pulling back, he rests his forehead on yours. "Shit, we're gonna have to clean the couch," he thinks out loud. You let out a giggle before pecking his lips again.

A/N // As always, feedback is greatly appreciated. Y’know give it a like or reblog if you want. Hit my asks inbox and tell what you think or request a drabble perhaps!

[fanfictrashdump]

Universe in a Jar, 5 - Phase 4 fic

Recap: Some days ago, I reblogged this post about the magical trio. And then my brain went off on a monumental tangent and, I wrote Universe in a Jar.

Characters: Stephen Strange, Loki, Wanda Maximoff, Wong, OC

Rating: T?

Warnings: Language! Mentions of sexual encounters, sarcasm, terrible storytelling, and typos prob.

Summary: Baby-sitting beings arguably more powerful than him goes awry for Doctor Strange. He knows one person who can possibly keep them isolated and out of trouble. Well, he knew someone who could… he hasn’t seen them in decades and for stupid reasons.

Previous Chapter

XX

"You have to stop getting frustrated, pet. You know that is what's keeping you from achieving anything," Loki suggested gently, holding onto Persephone's shoulder and giving it a squeeze. The way the words rolled off his tongue gave indication of just how many times he had repeated them. His voice was still gentle, the way it always was when speaking to Persephone, a gentle urging rather than the acid tone he was known for, but the thinning of his patience was beginning to bleed through.

Persephone groaned, falling back onto the living room rug with a dramatic flail. "I know! I just–I can't visualize it!"

"We're just molding the glass. Taking your magic and giving it different shape," Wanda added, helpfully. Luckily, Seph couldn't see the grimace set on the witch's face. "Take the house, for example. How did you shape your portal to fit into your apartment so that you could stuff the farmhouse in it?"

"I didn't. I summon, it happens. Like a fluid, it just fills the shape of whatever it's in. I can't actually control it."

"You can," Loki interrupted her rant, "because I can. I already showed you that I can warp the walls. So, you can, too."

With a huff, she threw her forearm over her eyes, as if this shielded her from the rest of reality. "I don't understand how it works. I haven't needed to understand how it works. The books aren't helping and this is stupid!"

"Hey..."

Seph involuntarily flinched at Stephen's voice coming from beside her. When she peeked over her arm, she found him crouched down to her right, a calm look set on his face–very different from the borderline pitying and frustrated looks she was getting from the rest of the room.

"Here." He held out a bar of her favorite chocolate for her to take, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"Where'd you get this?"

Stephen then smirked. "Portal'ed into Old Man James' shop. Can't believe he's still alive, by the way. He has to be a hundred and ten, by now." He shook the bar. "Go on. You know you need it. Studying isn't your thing."

Seph sat up quickly, fidgeting in her place as she fought with the wrapper. "I didn't tell you–I thought you were busy–I didn't intentionally not tell–"

"Hey, you're fine." He waved away her concern. "We both know I don't have the patience to teach."

"That's not true. What you lack is the desire."

He laughed. "That too." He paused just long enough to reach over and tear the wrapper in the corner. "I have some things to take care of at the Sanctum. Do you think you can manage with these two?" He offered a nod in response to hers and he rose to his feet. "Chocolate and a five minute break when she gets overwhelmed. Works miracles," he muttered to Loki as he brushed past and patted him on the back.

"Thanks, Stephen," Seph called after him as he walked through the portal he had just made by the door.

He waved it off for the second time that day, seeming so much more level-headed than she ever remembered him being, and disappeared into the Sanctum halls.

Loki and Wanda stared at each other before the witch plopped onto the sofa nearest Persephone. "Why aren't you asking Stephen to help? He seems to know how you function pretty well."

"Learning from him is a nightmare. He actually has all the patience in the world, but I get easily frustrated, and then he gets frustrated… It goes south very fast from there." She shrugged.

Wanda groaned. "You know, you two not having sex is putting a real damper on our progress."

"Wanda!"

Loki snorted somewhere beside her and Seph stuffed a chunk of chocolate into her mouth.

"She's not wrong, pet."

"Well, you're both going to have to deal with it, OK? This is not up for debate."

Persephone's brow furrowed as she concentrated once again on the veil between the worlds. So far, not even a glimmer was present in her efforts and it was getting more frustrating by the moment. Tutting quietly under his breath, Loki slipped onto the floor beside her. His hand trailed gracefully down her shoulder until he grasped her hand in his. Locking their fingers together, he gently pried her digits open with his own.

"Focus. Can you see where your magic touches reality?" With a shudder brought on by his velvety voice in her ear, she shook her head in the negative. "Can you feel it, then?" She gave a nod. "Stretch your hand to where you feel it begin." He followed her movements until their entwined fingers were nearly touching the wall. No one could deny the smile on Loki's face at the imperceptible twitch of her fingers as the static of magic prickled at the tips. "Your magic is something flowy. Like silk or satin." He hummed under his breath for a beat as he paused to think. "Maybe lighter. Like gauze or gossamer. It's curtain between realities, keeping Nebraska inside of New York. A house within an apartment. An infinite within another infinite. How much or how little one world seeps into the other depends on how much you open the curtain. You control the curtain and you need only to grasp the fabric," he closed his hand around hers, "and pull it open."

His hand moved both of theirs back and a sliver of boring beige wall peeked through the intricate wallpaper that filled the house. Persephone gasped, doubly so when Loki let his own hand drop and the gap between worlds still existed. Committing the sensation to memory, she opened her hand and reality sealed itself back again.

"Once more, love. Peel away the garments and let reality figure itself out," he murmured and another shiver ran down her spine. This time she didn't hesitate, and though her attempt was a little shaky, soon a swathe of beige was barely visible. "There's a clever girl." His fingers danced over the curve of her waist, prompting Seph to stare questioningly over her shoulder. Their eyes locked, eternities passing in quiet contemplation of each other.

"Monster, monster, monster!" Wanda called in a panic, magic swirling in her hands ready for attack.

Seph dropped the divider with a shriek at the sight of the twisted maw of what she assumed was a hell beast. The creature hissed and growled as it slipped through just shy of this reality stitching itself together. Without missing a beat, Loki flicked his hands forward and the monster dissolved into green sparks and stardust that flickered and sparkled on the hardwood floor.

"It's just a void hound. No need to panic," Loki announced matter-of-factly.

"A what, now?" Wanda asked, twisting her hands with sneer to rid the floor of whatever remained of the creature.

"Void hound. Your people call it the monster under the bed or the grim. It's just a shadow that slipped through the cracks in reality."

"You knew this could happen?" Seph had shuffled all the way back against an armchair and away from the walls.

"It's a possibility, but I was here. Besides, I just wanted to show you what was possible. You can open the walls between realities, but what you want to do is mold from the inside. Hounds can't slip in if you don't give them a place to slip into, after all."

"So," Wanda began, "if I hadn't been here and stopped you from eating each other's faces off, what would have happened?"

"Consumed by ever-looming darkness and despair in the void, most likely."

The short silence that followed nearly drained the color from their surroundings.

"Nope. No more magic. Don't need it. Bye." Seph rescued her chocolate bar from the corner it had been flung and was moving quite swiftly out of the living room.

Loki rolled his eyes, a little glad he was well out of her sight. "I was kidding, love! Nothing's going to harm you."

"Nope. I don't–" A loud screech interrupted her. In her distraction, she had not seen Stephen arrive and was not expecting the warm hand on her shoulder.

"Jesus, Peep! It's just me!" He glanced at Loki and Wanda with a disappointed look. "You get rid of it?"

"Yeah, Loki turned it into dust," Wanda retorted simply.

"Good." Stephen turned to look at Seph's tight-knit brow and wide eyes. "Why are you running away?"

Seph answered the question for one of her own that she deemed far more pressing. "There's monsters!?"

Stephen frowned. "Sorcerer, witch, alien sorcerer," he started, pointing at himself, Wanda, and Loki, in turn. "At what point did monsters become too implausible?"

"I don't want monsters!"

"Which is why I told them not to have you opening the veil, but clearly that bit of information didn't stick."

"You told–you knew I was doing this?"

Stephen couldn't help but smile at the little notch forming between her brows, even as his right thumb smoothed it away. He nodded as if there was nothing to it. "I asked them to. I knew you wouldn't ask for help to try out what you've read and I didn't want you to try on your own."

Persephone sighed, her head hanging forward between her shoulders as she tried to work out the situation in her head. She gave up shortly after starting. "Why?"

Stephen shrugged. "I want to fix my mistakes. This is what I can give you, right now. Skills, support, making sure you don't go out without proper tools in a very confusing world. It's not much, but–"

"Shut up, Steve!" There was an edge of exasperation in her tone, though her volume remained soft. "You really gotta learn when to skip self-deprecation station." She wrapped her arms loosely around his waist with a little groan that he replied with a quiet sigh and a gentle, almost hesitant kiss on her forehead.

"My Jiminy Cricket has been busy. I'm out of practice."

"I am not a cartoon cricket, Strange. Or your conscience, for that matter. You wouldn't be in this shitshow if I were," she mumbled from somewhere within the t-shirt he wore.

That pulled a heartfelt chuckle out of the Sorcerer. "You say that, but I call Loki a conceited twat–"

"Be nice!"

"–and that happens."

"To be fair," the Asgardian Prince cut in, "he's not entirely wrong. Though he mistakes conceit with confidence."

"Oh, no, I am confident you're a–" Persephone's hand slammed onto Stephen's mouth, though he continued mumbling behind the makeshift muzzle. He would later swear up and down that it was the principle of the thing that made him finish. Stephen peeled her hand off, shit-eating grin beaming at her. "Do you want some help with portals?"

"Help from the Sorcerer Supreme? Lucky girl." Wanda's tone earned her a half-hearted glare from the woman still clinging to said Sorcerer. "What? It's cute! Stephen pretending he's not still in love with you, you and Loki pretending you definitely don't want into each other's pants, all us pretending we're not delaying an inevitable, tragic end by hiding out–"

"You are way out of line, Wanda."

The witch stomped a warpath, eyes glowing red and tendrils of scarlet weeping from her person. Seph jumped back, sharing a short look with Loki, a mutual understanding to de-escalate the situation if it got too out of hand.

"And you have no idea what you're doing, Strange! We're wasting time. My family–"

"Is a manufactured fallacy! Do you know how many holes you created in the multiverse just because you wanted to play house with Vision? Wong's up to his neck in timelines to be corrected, which I can't help with because I don't want you rooting around my brain to figure out where they are!"

"Stephen…" The hand wrapped around his bicep both made him start and settled down his anger long enough to notice he had been poised to deliver a blow of equal magnitude as Wanda was planning. He snapped his fists closed, orange runes disappearing. "Peep, step back."

Ignoring the command, Seph stared at Wanda with a quirked brow. "Drop it."

"Persephone–" The witch's lip quivered.

"I know. I understand, Wanda. But you two have the potential to destroy each other. Let's not do this. Please." Everyone let out a collective breath when Wanda chose to cross her arms and avert her gaze. "Thank you." She squeezed the bicep in her hand again. "You know, the tractor has been stalling a lot. I'm pretty sure it's the injector." Stephen opened his mouth to protest. "Please. For me?"

The group watched Stephen nod curtly and turn on his heel, marching out the kitchen door towards the barn.

Loki cleared his throat, awkwardly. "I'll put the kettle on, shall I?"

"Thanks, Lo." Letting her shoulders sink, she stepped quietly towards the witch and opened her arms. "Come here." There was no hesitancy at how Wanda launched herself into Seph's embrace, promptly breaking into a sob. "I know, honey. I know."

Wanda's response was a half-choked and raspy, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. We'll all be fine." Seph led them to the sofa, gently carding her fingers through auburn tresses in an effort to soothe her friend.

"He just doesn't understand."

Persephone chuckled. "Oh, honey. That is not true. He probably understands better than anyone." She titled her head to catch Wanda's gaze. "He's been losing people his whole life. He's still convinced he's responsible for some of them."

Wanda pulled away, sinking into the back cushion with a scowl. "Then why won't he let me search for my family?"

"Every Universe is slightly different. It's an amalgamation of every alternate path to every decision. There are hundreds of millions of Universes and the one where your family is still alive, may also be the Universe where Thanos won, or Vision joined Ultron or you died. It wouldn't be your family." She shrugged. "In his own, twisted way, he's trying to protect you."

"I don't want his–"

"Protection. I know. But… can you trust that he's doing it for good reason? If you work with him instead of in spite of him, I think you'd get a lot farther."

She got a scoff in return. "I hate him."

Seph giggled. "Join the club. He has one of those faces… and attitudes… and egos."

She smiled up at Loki who had brought out a pot of tea and was precariously balancing two mugs atop it. Craning her neck, she glanced out of one of the back windows to see Stephen scuffing his way up the hill to the barn. Smirking, she slapped her thighs with a resolute nod and got herself out of the sofa.

"I need to go check on him. He'll probably come back and apologize, later. Thanks for your help, today. It was actually good to understand how the portals work." Just as she rounded the corner to exit the house, she paused, stepping backwards until she was back in the living room. "Just for the record, if you ever feel the need to comment on my or anyone's love life to get a barb in because you're frustrated, again, I will lock you in a box and you better hope to God that Stephen and Loki can get you out. Understood?" She held Wanda's gaze until the witch nodded, cheeks reddening. "Perfect. Thanks for the backup, Loki."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, smirking behind his mug and giving her a two-fingered salute before she disappeared out the kitchen.

[renjuns-dork]

spy! au with assassin! yukhei

part 2/??? part 1

summery: you’ve been a spy for about 5 years now, and it was probably one of the most exciting jobs of your life. but this one guy keeps getting in your way. his name, wong yukhei. his profession, assassin.

warnings: gore-ish, cussing, a nod towards nsfw

——

after you ran as far as you could away from yukhei, you decided to go home. you looked down at your feet, they were bloody and gross from running on the ground for far too many miles. you were in the city now, the one where your “house” was. you saw a small store across the street. you thought it would be a good idea to buy shoes from there. so you did, and now you had pink flip flops on while wearing a black latex body suit. a look, you thought. you still needed to call taeyong and the rest of your team to tell them know what happened. you didn’t actually own a phone, so you had to find a phone booth.

when you did, you dialed up jaehyun, taeyong’s assistant of sorts, you reported everything to him. after a few rings, jaehyun eventually picked up, “hello, this jaehyun, who is this?”

“it’s y/n, you big dummy!” you replied.

you heard jaehyun’s voice lighten up a bit when he said, “oh, i should’ve recognized you voice. what’s going on?”

“well i might’ve accidentally got gabriel g. harrison III killed...” you said guiltily.

“you what??!!” jaehyun sounded not only angry, but a little shocked.

“look, someone hired yukhei to kill me, and because he sucks at his job, gabriel got killed, not me,” you explained.

“so, someone wants the y/f/n dead, huh? do you know who?”

“no, but that besides the point. the point is i fucked up and i need you to tell taeyong,” you fidgeted with the cord on the phone out of nervousness.

“yeah yeah, okay. well, good luck with yukhei. i’ll inform you when taeyong tells me what the plan is.”

“okay, thanks!” you said, happy to have someone like jaehyun on your side.

“yeah, no problem. hey, be careful, okay?”

“of course jaehyun, i always am.”

you then went home and now you were sleeping in your bed, which was more like a cot, that was in your “house”. your “house” was underground, making it hard to get to so enemies couldn’t get into it, but it also meant bad lighting, concrete floors and walls, and almost no electricity. the only thing electric in your house was a mini fridge that had a constant buzz. you used lanterns to light up your house, but you didn’t need many because of how small your house was. it had 2 rooms, the kitchen/dining room/bedroom, and the bathroom.

you were never fully asleep, for you were in constant fear that someone was out to get you. tonight, you were right. as you lied in your bed, you heard soft footsteps on your concrete floor. half asleep, you didn’t have time to think, so you just got up and whipped around with your hand out, ready to stop whoever was there. it was dark, so you couldn’t see much. you felt you hand grasp around something fleshy. a neck, you thought. since you whipped around with such force, you knocked whoever it was to floor, your hand still around their neck, and you following them to the ground. you heard a thud as you and whoever was in front of you fell onto the hard, concrete floors. that’s gonna leave a bruise, you thought. but what does it matter? you already had bruises all over your body. you were now straddling whoever was beneath you, keeping them in place, your hand still wrapped around their neck.

“you know i never thought,” said the person beneath you, his voice was familiar and you had a slight suspicion of who it was, “that y/f/n would be straddling me while choking me. but i’m having quite a good time.”

you huffed, god he was such an asshole. you tightened your grip around his neck, “well i’m having the worst god damn time of life. now tell me why i shouldn’t fucking strangle you to death right now,” you ordered.

“awww princess, you couldn’t kill me even if you wanted to, you don’t have it in you,” he mocked, which just pissed you off even more

you tightened your grip even more around his neck, “oh yukhei,” you cooed, “don’t threaten me.”

yukhei couldn’t respond, for your grip around his neck had gotten too tight. all he did was cough and tap your arm twice, as if saying he taps out. you felt a pit in your stomach. you didn’t want to admit it, but it was true, killing yukhei was not something that you wanted to do, or even thought about doing. in your field, you didn’t have many friends, besides taeyong’s boys, and even though yukhei would make you so mad you wanted to punch him, he was a familiar face, and that was something you cherished.

you took your hand off yukhei’s neck and moved yourself off him. you crouched next to your cot and reached under it, grabbing your trusty pistol, just in case yukhei tried anything.

you heard yukhei cough a few times before he said, “i never thought you’d have a choking kink,” even though you couldn’t see him, you could tell he was smirking. this comment made you slightly regret not strangling him to death a few moments ago.

“god yukhei, shut up!” you were honestly so annoyed.

“i understand why didn’t murder me, you didn’t want the overall attractiveness of the world to go down, i get it,” mocked yukhei. instead of replying, you just cocked your gun, which made yukhei respond with, “geez, y/n, take a joke.”

“how can i take a joke when you’re literally here to kill me?” you questioned, becoming more and more annoyed.

“who ever said i was here to kill you?” questioned yukhei, a joking tone tinted his words. how could he joke around in such a serious situation? yukhei was always joking, he didn’t seem to have a serious side, which slightly frustrated you because it made having serious conversations with him nearly impossible.

“yukhei, you’re literally an assassin.”

“ok, yeah, but, i didn’t necessarily come here to kill you, well i mean i did... but i had a feeling you were gonna catch me, so i came here with other news too.”

“and what’s that?”

“so, you know today, when i tried to kill you but instead i shot gabriel g. harrison III and you killed him by shooting him again? well all the people working for him came to the crime scene and i told him i killed him myself, and that you ran away to save yourself.”

“and why would you say that?”

“because if i didn’t they would be after you, and i need to be the one to kill you in order to make money.”

you scoffed, “why am i not surprised?”

“oh come on, i’m full of surprises,” said yukhei, “such as this one,” you heard shuffling and felt a hand on your shoulder. it was big and wrapped around your entire shoulder.

“what are you doing?” you question, slightly afraid yukhei was going to do something stupid... or kill you.

“don’t worry about it, princess,” he said, his hand tracing down your arm until it reached your hand, which was still holding a pistol, “a gun? really? how are we supposed to have a normal conversation when you have a gun in your hand?” he asked, taking them gun from your hand and throwing it under the cot.

“this isn’t a normal conversation, we’re taking about how you’re getting paid to kill me,” you said.

“it’s normal for the careers we have,” he said, “now, let me hold your hands while we talk, so i can know exactly where you are. you know, it’s hard to see when the only light is coming from the fridge,” he said scooping your hands into his bigger ones. although you couldn’t see, you could tell you were looking into his eyes.

“okay, i suppose. but i’m not holding your hands,” you responded, pulling your hands out of yukhei’s loose grip. you hated it when yukhei got his way, so you used this little bit of power you had to rebel against what he wanted.

“but then you won’t know if i’m about to stab you, or something. and i won’t know if you’re reaching for you gun,” complained yukhei. whiny, you thought.

“yukhei, you’re more likely to kill me than i am to kill. have you forgotten who’s the assassin here?” you said, while you talking, yukhei found your legs and place one of his hands on each of your knees. since you were sitting with your legs crossed, it wasn’t an uncomfortable situation.

“well, let’s just sit like this, so you know i won’t try and kill you. i know you won’t kill me, because you’ve had multiple chances in the past, but i’m just too beautiful for you to kill. and i know you secretly like me,” you could hear the cockiness in yukhei’s voice.

you rolled your eyes, “you can’t see me, but i’m rolling my eyes. but, who even hired you to kill me anyway?” you asked.

to be continued...

——

a/n: ok so this part was super long and i just needed a place to end it, so i ended on a cliffhanger, kind of? idk how this whole writing thing works tbh😂 also thank you all for the love on the first part, it makes me cri💕 (also, sorry if there are any typos)

[fanfictrashdump]

Universe in a Jar, 7 - Phase 4 fic

Recap: Some days ago, I reblogged this post about the magical trio. And then my brain went off on a monumental tangent and, I wrote Universe in a Jar.

Characters: Stephen Strange, Loki, Wanda Maximoff, Wong, OC

Rating: T?

Warnings: Language! Mentions of sexual encounters, sarcasm, terrible storytelling, and typos prob.

Summary: Baby-sitting beings arguably more powerful than him goes awry for Doctor Strange. He knows one person who can possibly keep them isolated and out of trouble. Well, he knew someone who could… he hasn’t seen them in decades and for stupid reasons.

Previous Chapter

WARNINGS: Language, terrible circumstances, and a–

XX

Physically cleaning up the farmhouse after the fight had taken no more than a half-hearted wave of Loki's hands. Mentally cleaning up whatever had annoyed Wanda into snapping and subsequently opening the door without checking who was outside was another matter, altogether. Persephone quietly warned a steely-eyed Stephen to take a break before having a chat with the witch. Wanda could honestly destroy him in a heartbeat and if he burst into her room, guns blazing, like he was poised to do, there would be another tragedy happening.

Stephen had left Seph with Loki, in the living room. The millenia plus-old god had snuck in under her and was idly scratching at her scalp while minimally disturbing her glorious abundance of curls. He couldn't help but smirk at the extremely careful circles Loki was making on her head, evidence that he had once tried to card his fingers through her tresses and she, most likely, nearly eviscerated him. A song-song Be Nice from Loki was the last he had heard before a tense, overdrawn, and long-time coming conversation with Wanda. Now, several hours later, the only thing that remained of the pair was the book that Loki had been paging through while he doted on Persephone.

He moved himself outside through the kitchen door, walking around the side of the house towards the tell-tale creak of the banquet seat swing on the wraparound porch.

"Over here."

Seph's voice called out just as the door slammed shut in his wake, his foot just shy of stomping onto the first step to climb the porch. He smiled to himself, dandelion fluff blowing across his face on the light afternoon breeze while his brain pulled him back to days where they would sit on this very porch, talking for hours until one of them was ultimately called home. Most of all, he felt the old disappointment of reluctantly dragging himself away and the tingly expectation of what may happen tomorrow.

He found her rocking gently to-and-fro on the swing, alone.

"Where's Loki?"

Seph tilted her head curiously. "Greenhouse. Need to do damage control?"

"No. I just had questions for him," he retorted, sinking into the seat she patted in invitation. "Are you alright? Light-headed? Sluggish?"

"Nah. I think Loki did something to help the exhaustion along." They swung in silence for a long while before Seph found her voice again. "Who were those people, Stephen?"

"Time Variance Authority," he said, simply, before adding. "Time police."

The little notch of worry between her brows deepened. "I thought you were the time police."

"I protect reality–"

"But you manipulate time for it. You literally wear an all-powerful stone called the Time Stone."

Stephen started his response several times over before groaning. "OK, you're not wrong."

"How'd Loki get stuck with them? They don't seem his style."

"That's a long story that maybe you should get straight from the source, Peep. It wasn't an easy trip for him and… well, we're seeing the aftershocks."

Unsatisfied with that answer, she pushed further, ever the inquisitive mind. "Is he OK? Why were they fighting him if they had worked with him?"

He sighed, leaning his head back against the backrest, eyes closing as the soft movement lulled him into a sense of calm. "These weren't the exact people he worked with. Multiple Universes are now stacked onto each other in parallel, even if they weren't supposed to exist. They sometimes bleed into each other."

"Multiverse convergence."

Stephen straightened, turning his head to look at Seph curiously, just now noticing the daisies pinned behind her ear. "Yeah." He raised an eyebrow. "You've actually been reading what Wong gave you."

"Some of us actually did the homework. Not just popped into ghost mode to do it," she teased, nudging him in the ribs with her elbow. She was rewarded with a generous roll of his eyes.

"I've told you, it's called–"

She interrupted him again, holding her hand up to quiet him. "Don't care, bud. Ghost mode."

He resorted to laughing quietly and leaning into her side, letting out a soft sigh when her fingers sunk into the hair at the back of his head and twisted the strands between her fingers. "I could teach you."

Persephone giggled, turning her head to press a kiss to his forehead. "That would require me listening to you, and I don't think that is a realistic expectation," she teased, voice soft. "But I'll give it a little thought."

"Thank you." He stopped to peck her cheek on his way to straightening up. "Check on Wanda for me?"

Seph nodded. "Going to see Loki?"

Stephen gave her a nod of his own before hopping off the swing with a groan. He held it steady long enough for Seph to climb down after him. After a squeeze of her hand in his, he retraced his steps back off the porch and dove into the endless rows of corn as a shortcut to the greenhouse. Any person who did not grow up in this kind of life would immediately get claustrophobic swimming in the emerald stalks, waiting for a glimpse of light to signal an exit. As a kid, he had gotten lost in the cornfields as often as he breathed, but as he grew, he developed a sixth sense, and it became harder to lose his way. Not unless he was intending on it.

Adjusting to the sudden sunlight after the trek through the dappled green glow made him pause, but it was the punch to the gut that really threw him for a loop. Instinct kicked in, immediately. He drew the sling ring out of his pocket, jumping into position to defend himself. His eyes, still swimming in the bright light, barely caught a glimpse of the world before it went black.

When he came to, the smell of damp and the ringing in his ears made him want to double over and throw up. Of course, it was hard to do that while also tied to a chair, but he hadn't paid any  mind to that part. He never did like going down to his parents' basement.

Wait.

His parents' basement.

"Stephen! Stephen!"

Through the fog in his head, the Sorcerer could barely make out Loki's voice hissing at him through the darkness. With a strangled groan and a painfully drawn breath, he shifted his head to look beside him. Loki was similarly tied down, a collar with a red light wrapped around his neck that looked just shy of choking him. The god of mischief gave a sigh of relief to see the other's eyes opened and seemingly focused on him.

"Thank the Norns. Stephen, are you alright?"

"I think so. Someone attacked me in the corn field–"

Loki was quick to cut in. "Yes, it was a TVA agent. I guess they fell back during the attack, but Strange, listen to me. I managed to slip your ring into your back pocket while she was struggling with you. You need to get it on and get us out of here. She collared me, but you can still do magic." His face turned serious, and something in his eyes that seemed to Stephen very close to regret–or pity–overtook him. There was a sadness permeating Loki now, and his voice was quiet and soft when he spoke next. "Stephen, the agent that attacked you–you cannot let your emotions get the best of you, alright?" His eyes darted back towards the stairs, though Stephen's head was protesting any movement and did not follow. "Regardless of what you think, she–"

Stephen gasped as the room tilted. One second he was staring at Loki, the next his eyes were fixed on a shiny black boot that had canted his chair back onto two legs. He followed the regulation TVA uniform up, up, up towards whoever had assaulted him, only for his breath to catch in his throat and his jaw slacken.

"Donna…?"

The face of his precious younger sister, his shadow growing up, the person he had most adored and who had been dead for most of his life, stared down her nose at him. In one hand, a bully stick remained poised to strike. Even though it was inactivated it could still pack a wallop, if the pain in his ribs was any indication. Her mouth was twisted into a scowl and her other hand held a fistful of his shirt, which she used to shake him when he became lost in thought. Though her shoulder was marked as Hunter D-17, there was no doubt in Stephen's mind, from the freckle on her left temple to the multicolored eyes that matched his own, that this was his sister.

"You." Her voice snarled much the same as when she caught him reading her diary. "You're going to tell me who the fuck you are and why my face is all over this house. Understood?"

[fanfictrashdump]

Universe in a Jar, 3 - Phase 4 fic

Recap: Some days ago, I reblogged this post about the magical trio. And then my brain went off on a monumental tangent and, I wrote Universe in a Jar.

Characters: Stephen Strange, Loki, Wanda Maximoff, Wong, OC

Rating: T?

Warnings: Language! Nightmares, sass, terrible storytelling, and typos prob.

Summary: Baby-sitting beings arguably more powerful than him goes awry for Doctor Strange. He knows one person who can possibly keep them isolated and out of trouble. Well, he knew someone who could… he hasn’t seen them in decades and for stupid reasons.

Previous Chapter

~*~

While tensions had eased in the household, Stephen maintained a respectable distance from Seph, if only to ensure his continued breathing. During the day, he took to reading in familiar spots, comfortably nestled amongst memories or doing chores that felt comforting in their nostalgia. During the night he tossed and turned in a bed he had once known as well as his own, hoping against all hope that his brain could shut up and allow him to rest, if only for a few hours.

The Hale house had six bedrooms, bigger than his own home with four, despite only ever having two occupants. Wanda and Loki had chosen two rooms at the end of the hallway that overlooked part of the farmland surrounding the houses. Persephone had taken over the grand bedroom on the other side of the hallway. Stephen had debated taking one of the guest rooms on the lower floor, but one step into each of them had his skin crawling in an uncomfortable manner. He wasn't meant for those rooms.

You're family, Stephen. Stop ringing the doorbell, Demeter Hale had once announced, exasperated, one chilly winter morning. And she was right. Stephen practically lived there. Hale manor was quieter than his own home and had a plethora of books on odd topics he had never even heard of–it was a wonderland.

Family, as it were, slept on the top floor. The room Wanda currently occupied was where he would typically drop his clothes in when he stayed over. Though, if he were honest, there was seldom a time he slept over that he made it back into the room for the night. It was a bad habit that spread to high school and beyond, ignoring the propriety of what their parents would explain was not OK for friends to do. But Stephen and Persephone had never been interested in each other that way. Well, at least that they would admit. So, he always stayed in her room.

Tonight was no exception.

Wanda turned in first, as usual, taking solace in the quiet and solitude to mourn her family in silence… or figure out how to get them back. Stephen wasn't exactly sure which one she was on, at the moment. Later, he watched an all-too-flirty Loki amble to his quarters, not before getting a long, drawn-out hug from Persephone (likely more, when he wasn't watching… which he wasn't). Then, she would offer him a shy wave before hiding in the grand bedroom.

After a while, he stopped contemplating the closed door and turned into the bedroom across the hall. It looked… exactly the same way it had when he last stepped foot in it–posters, pictures, school banners, strings of lights littering the canopy. Across the desk chair, an old hoodie, that he could clearly tell used to be his, was discarded. He had raised it to his nose when he first entered the bedroom. It still smelled of him, but there was the faint scent of her perfume permeating the fabric. If he were a sentimental man…

He fell into 'his' side of the bed with a groan. As a way to ease his mind, he had spent some time in the garden, picking tomatoes and berries and tilling a bit of stubborn dirt at the far west corner. His back now burned in protest, but it was a welcome distraction from the monotony. Wong had told him in no uncertain terms that Wanda and Loki needed to settle before they dealt with issues with the Multiverse. It would be a moot point to correct some magic when their owner was simply going to re-do the whole mess the second they could. In all fairness, this was mostly an issue with Wanda. Loki, despite being a stubborn mule and refusing to explain his reasoning, had not done too much damage. It would likely be a while before he slept in his own bed again.

Stephen blinked into the darkness, turning on his side and attempting to sleep in that position. Ten minutes, then thirty, an hour later–no sleep. Amid the cricket chirps and frog songs, a small noise broke the trance-like state of his insomnia. It was ridiculous how quickly he recognized it, and even more pathetic how naturally it brought him to a sit. He glanced at his door, deciding if he was really going to cross the hallway this time. He chickened out the first three times he had heard it, but there was something desperate about the sound tonight. It was bound to be a bad one.

"You've died a thousand times in the hands of the Dormammu. You can go check on Seph, you loser," he berated himself, pushing the bedsheets off and wrenching the door open.

He tiptoed across the hall and gently opened the door. Whatever it was he was expecting to see, it certainly was not this. Persephone was tangled in her sheets, her pajamas of plaid shorts and another old sweatshirt of his rumpled across her body. With every pained, nightmarish pant, a universe exploded around her, encompassing her in iridescent light before fading away. It was like she was locking herself in the same box she had trapped him, killing herself every other breath. Reflected in the glass was every ghost and ghoul that haunted her dreams, sadistic grins flashing down at her weary body.

So this was why she was so exhausted.

Carefully, he clambered to her side, grateful to find that he could easily reach past her barriers. His fingers gripped her shoulder and shook her gently. "Come on. Wake up, Seph." She whimpered again and the glass changed in color. Reflected on its surface was his own face, years younger, nary a single grey on his head. He looked terrifying, even to his own eyes; cold, detached. Stephen shook her more firmly; the barriers flickered.

"Stephen–" Her voice trembled and her whole body quivered. "Please."

His other hand pried hers from the bedsheets and twined them together. "Peep, I'm here." He found himself hunching, speaking the words in a decisive tone in her ear. "It's just a dream, Persephone."

Another shudder ran through her before her hand tightened around his. It took a moment longer before she was able to blink awake, though her eyes were wild and disoriented in the darkness.

His other hand pressed into her back in an effort to soothe her when she shot up with a gasp. "I have you, Peep. You're OK." A second, two, twenty–and she broke into a heart wrenching sob.

Stephen wasn't any good with tears, a fact he gently reminded her of, mid-sob.

Her eyes, still spilling tears, bore into his in disbelief.

"You're absolutely right. I'll shut up now," he hastened to add, awkwardly patting her shoulder.

Seph wiped roughly at her eyes. "Just go, Stephen. I'll see you in the morning." She wrapped herself tight, knees braced against her chest and her line of sight lost elsewhere.

"Peep, don't be like that."

Her brows pulled together and her mouth set into a grim line. "Don't call me that, Steve."

A ghost of a smirk tilted his lips at the annoyance radiating off her. "Why not?"

"I'm not a child."

"I know you're not. You're a grown-up doctor. Well, a psychiatrist, at least." He smiled and nudged her side with his elbow to get a rise out of her.

She didn't take the bait. The ball she had molded herself into tightened.

"I don't practice, anymore."

Stephen's head snapped towards her, instantly. "What?"

"I quit."

He sputtered. "What? Why? And, when? I got your information from the hospital–"

With a groan, she clenched her eyes tightly closed, trying to block out the world as if she wasn't just trapped in a murder box of her own (unconscious) design. "Jesus Christ, you talk a lot. The Blip. I quit after the Blip."

"But, the kids you treat–"

"On a personal capacity," she cut in, hoping the conversation stopped there. Of course, she had known Stephen for far too long to expect that.

"You love your job, Seph. I've seen you pass up box tickets to the damn Philharmonic for a counseling session."

A half shrug left her. "I was alone and I wanted to feel it. So I made this whole mess." Seph gestured at their surroundings with a vague wag of her finger.

"I don't understand."

"I know you don't. Work has always been enough for you. It wasn't the same for me."

He sighed. "Maybe then, but now–"

"It's still the same. You're doing farm chores you never even did when you lived here because you need things to do. You try to shake Loki down every other hour for information on whatever the hell he was doing that prompted you to grab him. Wanda's sick of you. You can't just ever settle down!" There was a sharp edge to her voice that was not lost on him.

Stephen blinked, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, how did this become about me?"

Seph growled under her breath, releasing her limbs and narrowly stopping herself from smacking the living daylights out of him. "Because it is about you and your fucking inability to relate to anyone about anything! Not everything is logical! Wanda lost her family! Loki got bounced around fucking realities! And you're annoyed that you can't get back to the Sanctum until you figure the Wonder Twins out."

"I have other responsibilities–"

"Which Wong is taking care of."

"Wong might think… wait, how do you know Wong?" His head tilted like a distracted dog.

"You might have not reached out to me, but others did. He wanted to know who you were; you had just started training. I told him you were an asshole and that I never wanted to see or hear from you ever again. We exchanged numbers."

He sat in silence for a long while before glancing back up at her. "Why didn't you come to Kamar-Taj?"

"I wasn't invited."

"And the Sanctum?"

"I. Wasn't. Invited."

He chewed at the inside of his cheek, ignoring the weight of her gaze on him. "Come back to the Sanctum with me."

"Nope. I'm fine where I am."

"You're on a farm in rural Nebraska in a town where you are the extent of the diversity."

Persephone sighed, reaching up to brush the overgrown stubble on Stephen's cheeks. "But it's home."

"You're alone, though."

"And you're lonely in a city of five million people."

He pretended to ignore the sting of the comment, opting for some sweet-talking, instead. "You'd like it, though. So many books."

"That is a new bar of low. Don't bribe me, Steve." She scoffed unconvincingly, he caught the slip.

"Like, a loooot of books. In all different languages. Would probably keep you occupied several years."

He knew her too well. She hated it.

"I'll think about it." He smiled a little too brightly. "Just think. No promises." More silence came to keep them company.

He hesitated before wincing. "Does this happen every night? The suffocating and exploding?" She nodded. "You should definitely come. We can figure something out, Wong, you, and me." Another nod. He straightened the fabric of her headwrap and tucked a runaway curl underneath with an easy smile. It was an excuse for contact, he knew, but he couldn't bring himself to care and she didn't seem to mind. He retrieved his hand with a sigh. "You're tired. You should get some sleep." He braced on his arms to shuffle out. A hand wrapped around his wrist and held him there.

"Don't go. Please."

Stephen smiled and nodded after a moment. He gestured with his head. "Scoot over, Peep."

"Steve."

"Quiet. You'll get us caught," he whispered, and they both giggled like it was the millionth time those words were said. It probably was. They curled up under the covers and drifted off.

~*~

Stephen was now beyond curious about Persephone's magic.

As the early morning broke over the horizon, he found himself up and about the house, doing little chores that felt like muscle memory. When the coffee was brewed, he took a mug and sat on the stairs to sip, watching as last night's roommate woke and barely acknowledged him as she drifted down the steps, pausing only to ruffle his already messy hair. She stopped at the entry hallway, jumping slightly backward at the floating cloak hovering in place. The words had stuck in her throat, and Stephen watched between the banister poles with a smile on his face.

"Ste–shitshitshit." She inched backward as the garment glided over and stopped in front of her. The cloak lifted a bottom corner to gently glide over her left hand, rubbing itself against her skin before settling around her shoulders in a warm embrace. It urged her forward and to a side table that held some keys and a vase of flowers. Beside the vase, a double-fingered ring sat innocuously. The cloak gestured in its direction and then back at her.

The Sorcerer leaned forward to see what she'd do. With shaking fingers, she picked up the ring and turned it in her hands. The cloak, impatient as ever, grabbed the ring and slipped it over her fingers. All at once, the barriers containing the house inside of the apartment glimmered and symbols etched themselves in brilliant orange light across them. Stephen could barely understand half of them, but the ones he could seemed like they were building blueprints and math that would make the inexplicably large fit into the inexplicably small. It was like staring at the source code on a computer and breaking down the software into its components. He broke out of his reverie by the fourth Stephen being called. He jumped down the remainder of the steps and turned the corner.

Persephone was staring, half fascinated, half horrified at the markings, and was drawing the cloak tight around her shoulders–the cloak was loving it. He stopped beside her and she reached out for his wrist, clasping it as tightly as she did the night before. "Ho–how does it know my magic?"

"You can read this?"

"Yeah, it's in plain… you can't?" Stephen shook his head. "How's it doing this?"

"Not 'it'. You. This is you. The ring's just a conduit. The cloak's just a nuisance." There was a whisper of a huff from the fabric and Seph pulled it tighter, smoothing her hands down the red contours. A rustle like a shiver followed. "Don't get comfortable. This isn't permanent."

"I wasn't assuming…"

"I was telling them." He glared at the cloak. "She's not your new pet. Settle down." His eyes lifted to hers. "They get familiar. Sorry."

"It's OK. They're sweet. After you get over the fact that it's a garment with a mind of its own."

"Are we under attack?" Wanda startled the both of them. They turned to see the witch still in her pajamas, hair mussed up and hands glowing. "Why are we warding?"

"Not warding. Seph put on my sling ring and this happened. It's her magic."

"Oh. She has Chaos magic wards in her repertoire." Wanda pointed at several spots and they lit up red with her magic before fading back to orange.

"I don't know what that means," Seph spoke up meekly, barely breaking through the intense debate the other two were now having, trying to identify the remainder of runes.

Stephen traced a rune with his finger. "Anything dangerous?"

"No. Just protection runes. Over and over and over. Every type under the Chaotic sun. Loki might know about the others, though."

"I still don't know what that means."

"It means you are all sorts of impressive, Peep. I'll pop in on Wong and grab a few books." He offered his open palm for the ring, which she happily gave. However, when the ring came off, the symbols didn't fade. Instead, they crackled like embers and seared themselves into the invisible veil surrounding the space. Stephen frowned. "Maybe I'll take you with me." He turned to Wanda. "Can you and Prince Emo behave while we're gone or do I have to drag you along, too?"

Persephone elbowed him in the ribs. "Stephen–"

"Right. Relating." He drew a breath and his shoulders slumped. He tried again. "Could you and Loki stay put while Seph and I go to the Sanctum? I need to show Wong. It's important."

Wanda and Seph exchanged a lengthy conversation in facial expressions alone before the witch smiled. "We'll be fine. I was just going to sit and read on the porch. Loki won't be awake for a couple of hours."

"OK. Good. Thanks." He stood silently ruminating in his head before abruptly snapping out of it and shaking the cobwebs from his mind. "You ready to go?"

"I'm in my pj's, Steve." He blinked blankly at her and she rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Sure. Can I put on shoes, at least?"

He was already opening a portal by the time she finished asking her question. "No need." With little hesitation, he reached for her hand and stepped through the portal with her in tow.

Persephone barely managed to contain the gasp of wonder at the surroundings. Books, artifacts, paintings–it looked like a museum and it was all functional and there for the students. Stephen had been in a hurry a second before, but just watching her undistilled awe made him pause. His thumb brushed the back of the hand he had twined with his; a familiar gesture that barely pulled her attention. Her free hand reached for a tome lodged between jars of off-looking coins. It rippled in a kaleidoscope of colors upon contact.

"Miss Hale?"

Seph glanced over her shoulder to smile at Wong. His brows were pulled together as if he was trying to work out a particularly hard problem in his head. The problem, most likely, was, how are you not murdering him right now? You seemed pretty adamant about it when I last talked to you.

"Master Wong. How are you?"

Wong smiled kindly. "I'm doing well, Persephone." He seemed to sense the withering heat of Stephen's gaze and reluctantly turned to face the Sorcerer Supreme. "I didn't tell you because I doubted you wanted to hear how she hated your guts. In excruciating detail. And after what you did to her, you forfeited the right to know a thing about her. So save me the glaring."

Stephen pointed at himself. "Sorcerer Supreme."

"And an asshole. They're not mutually exclusive." He glanced at Seph. "You didn't even let her get out of her pajamas."

"She has the cloak!"

"Were you raised by wolves or what?"

"Doesn't matter right now. I have to show you something," Stephen declared in exasperation, tugging the sling ring off and handing it off to Seph.

She held the metal tentatively between her fingers before the weight of expecting stares forced her to slip it on. The magic rippled slower than it had in her house as if it were more hesitant to show itself, but soon there wasn't an inch of wall, bookshelf, or display case that wasn't burning bright orange and twinkling in the dimly lit Sanctum.

"How did you teach her that?" Wong had his eyebrows gathered up high, taking in every marking around him with awe.

"I didn't. I thought it only showed her magic but… it's everyones. It's like she can open them up, like a book. Peep, can you read these, too?" Her eyes danced over several objects before lighting on a sword mounted on the wall.

She pointed at it with a grin. "That one was supposed to be a joke but the spell actually worked." Seph tilted her head as she continued searching. "Actually, a lot of them were jokes that actually work. What are you supposed to do with enchanted dice?"

Wong opened his mouth to comment, but Stephen held a finger up to buy himself some extra time. He opened his palm and Seph dropped the sling ring in it. The symbols still didn't fade.

Wong looked, surprisingly, unimpressed.

"Can I talk now?" Seph giggled under her breath and Stephen gestured him along. "She's a psychiatrist. Why are you surprised she can access the root of magics? She probably became one because she could read things so well, naturally."

"Without training?"

For a second Wong looked like he was deciding whether or not Stephen was stupid. "Hence, why I said naturally."

"And the portals?"

"If you understand how the fabric of the Universe works, you can weave it to your will. We do that all the time. You're just astounded that she can do it naturally because it took you forever to understand. Is this really why you dragged her out of her home in pj's?"

"The symbols don't fade without the sling ring."

At this point, Wong was convinced Strange was stupid. "She's never needed the ring. The ring is a conduit, she can do magic on her own. If you distract her a–BOO!"

Persephone shrieked, jumping back as Wong jumped towards her. Sure enough, the symbols fizzled into the ether, though two, in a rainbow of colors, glimmered on the floor before her and an ominous ripple of red fabric fluttered around her.

"I see the Cloak of Levitation has found a new friend. They're even protecting her."

"They like most people more than me."

Seph rolled her eyes. "Why does that not surprise me?" She absently stroked over the fabric covering her arms.

Stephen ignored the jab. "What books would you recommend she start with to learn how to control her abilities?"

Wong was quiet for a long while. "There's a few about the magics of quantum mechanics, but if she's been able to do this her whole life, I doubt she needs them. Why would she need training? Barring an incident–" The two friends glanced shortly at each other out of the corner of the other's eye. "You two had an incident. What did he do?"

Rustling her curls, she scuffed her toe on the concrete floor, eyes downcast. "He was being dumb. I tried to kill him. Well, I blacked out and the power took over. Loki had to break him out of a killing jar."

"Quantum magics, then… and maybe some yoga." He gestured at her with his head. "Come on. I'll show you the library."

Her eyes widened with almost innocent excitement. "This isn't the library?"

With a doe-eyed stare, she followed Wong; Stephen close behind, pretending not to grin. The second Wong opened the doors, Persephone let out a long, disbelieving gasp. She trembled as she walked and the cloak had taken to wrapping itself tightly around her to keep her calm.

Wong smirked. It wasn't often that he received anyone who was this honestly happy to see a room full of books and not think about the bothers of having homework. He began to pull tomes from the shelves, stacking and weighing his options between similar texts. When his pile was nine books deep, he settled them on a table. "This should get you started. When you're done, you can come back and I'll lend you some more. On any topic you like."

"I never got to choose which books I read," Strange defended.

"Because you were annoying and she's not." Seph snickered in her spot, fingers toying with the spines of the stack. "Truly, come back when you're ready, and you're not actively trying to kill the Sorcerer Supreme."

"Tell him not to annoy me and I won't," she defended, though she smiled. "Thank you, Wong." She eagerly hefted the pile and gestured at Stephen. "Hurry up. I have things to read."

"Why don't you just make a portal?"

"Because it's rude to make them in other people's homes without permission," she started pointedly, "and I'm carrying books. Now, please." She smiled brightly at Wong and nodded. Stephen rolled his eyes petulantly. "See you soon, Master Wong." She stepped in the direction where Stephen had made a portal opening straight into her kitchen.

"See you soon, Persephone."

[fanfictrashdump]

Universe in a Jar, 4 - Phase 4 fic

Recap: Some days ago, I reblogged this post about the magical trio. And then my brain went off on a monumental tangent and, I wrote Universe in a Jar.

Characters: Stephen Strange, Loki, Wanda Maximoff, Wong, OC

Rating: T?

Warnings: Language! Mentions of sexual encounters, sarcasm, terrible storytelling, and typos prob.

Summary: Baby-sitting beings arguably more powerful than him goes awry for Doctor Strange. He knows one person who can possibly keep them isolated and out of trouble. Well, he knew someone who could… he hasn’t seen them in decades and for stupid reasons.

Previous Chapter

XX

Persephone stepped lively out of the portal and gave Wong one last haphazard wave before dropping her book hoard onto the kitchen table. Wanda didn't even look over her shoulder from the pot of oatmeal she was stirring at the sound, despite the fact Stephen started slightly at the booming thud. Seph threw herself into one of the wooden chairs, cross-legged, only to find that she was hovering slightly above the seat as the cloak fluttered around her. After a gentle stroke of the fabric, she grabbed the leather-bound tome at the top of the pile and opened it to the first page.

Wanda gave a yawn and started ladling oatmeal into bowls. "What did Wong say?"

"Not much. Just that Stephen was an unobservant idiot," Seph quipped back, turning the page, devouring the words on the page as if they were to be taken away from her at any second.

"So, nothing new, then?" The two exchanged a smile, but Seph remained silent.

Stephen made an offended noise like a strangled scoff. "I am still standing here." He threw himself into another chair with an undignified pout, only to have Seph blindly pat his hand. "That is in Sumerian. How are you even reading it?"

That comment was enough for her to raise her eyes up at the surly Sorcerer with a question in her eyes. "What?" She stared at the page for a long time before humming acknowledgment. "Hm. I guess you're right." She shrugged and continued her reading, leaving Stephen to make an exasperated noise.

"How can you read it?"

She scrunched her nose. "I don't know. I just can."

Wanda flicked her hands and all the books floated up above their heads. "Food first, reading after." Seph stared at the surface of the oatmeal with a certain hesitation. "I asked Stephen how to make it."

The hesitation on her face turned sheepish at the clarification. "Oh. Thanks, Wanda."

"You're welcome. I need to keep myself occupied and I feel bad for imposing on you like this," she replied, sitting down with her own bowl at Seph's other side after sliding one toward Stephen.

"You're not imposing. I should probably get out a little more, as it is." She smiled, stirring her breakfast absently. Hazel eyes cut briefly sideways, watching Stephen shovel a spoonful of hot cereal into his mouth. He did a double-take when he caught her gaze briefly and smiled before giving her the smallest of nods, unbeknownst to the other occupant. A spoonful of her own promptly went into her mouth, leaving her to determine whether she was going to be able to finish this bowl. While it was a little on the sweet side, it wasn't eliciting the same headache-y response other attempts at food had done. "Is Loki still asleep?"

"Pretending to be," Wanda responded. "I don't think he actually sleeps this much, but he likes keeping to himself in the mornings. Why?"

"He asked to see the flowering greenhouse. I was going to take him for the early blooms."

"That's sweet. He's certainly a contradiction, isn't he?" Wanda looked like she had more to say, but opted to look between Stephen and Persephone with an inquisitive eye.

Stephen scoffed. "Not the word I'd use."

"That's because you're salty. That is not his fault, Steve."

"I'm not salty–" Both women leveled a disbelieving stare at him. "–I just wonder what he has to do for you two to see he's trouble."

Seph put down her spoon and leaned against the table. "So, you're upset we think he's a good person even if he hasn't lived a perfect life while simultaneously being annoyed at you for making mistakes, even when you've lived your life in what you perceive to be utter perfection?"

Stephen shifted in his seat, his shoulders tightening in on themselves with discomfort. He avoided her gaze as he pushed oatmeal around his bowl, silent.

"Shit, you're good," Wanda muttered, smiling into her coffee.

Pushing another spoonful into her mouth, she reached out to him, again. This time her hand lingered on his and she continued her breakfast eating with her non-dominant hand. After a few extra minutes of silence, steps thudded down the old, creaky staircase and Loki swept into the kitchen like a hungry storm. He walked around the table, stopping to press a kiss on Persephone's crown, on his way to the stove.

Stephen made to slip his hand away at the gesture, only to find that 1. Seph tightened her hand around his, and 2. he actually couldn't will his hand to move, despite his desire. A cursory look around to room showed him that Loki was still dealing at the stove and Seph had managed to fish her book down and propped it to float at eye level while she ate. Wanda was the only one smiling to herself, looking up only when Stephen's glare was too heavy to ignore. He mouthed an irate stop it only to have her shrug like nothing was the matter.

Loki took his seat on his other side, glancing around the table with an impish grin. "Oh, are we holding hands, today?" He grasped Stephen's other hand, paying no mind to the spoon in it, and tucked into his own breakfast. "I can't say we've ever held hands, darling. A shame, considering we've held pretty much everything else of each other's, haven't we, Sorcerer?"

The man in question stiffened, eyes falling closed with a heavy sigh. Wanda and Seph looked up from their tasks, and at each other, before turning back at them with curiosity. "I have to–your carrots are overdue…" he muttered quietly, pushing his chair back and finding he could move at will, once more. He fled the kitchen as quickly as he could.

Seph departed from her text to glare across the table. "Loki–"

He waved her serious tone away. "It's only sex. There is no reason to be so touchy. Truly."

"He doesn't like being reminded of mistakes."

Loki laughed, hand over heart in mock offense. "Ouch, kitten. Low blow."

She rolled her eyes. "Just… there's enough tension in this house, as it is. Don't antagonize him, please."

"I make no promises," he retorted with a wolfish grin before taking a spoonful of porridge. "What have I missed? What's all this?" He gestured the floating books and the cloak wrapped around her.

"I could show you if I had Stephen's slin–" Loki twisted his hand and produced the ring out of thin air. "Is that why you were holding his hand?" Loki shrugged, but smiled, nonetheless, tossing the ring in the air. Seph caught it easily and slipped it around her fingers. The walls lit up in bright sigils for Loki to peruse.

"Quantum magics. How pedestrian."

"Ass." She smiled to herself and pulled the ring off, pinning it in the waistband of her pajamas.

"Oh." He sounded more amused this time around. "Now this. This I can get behind." He watched curiously as the sigils sizzled and settled into the fabric of reality. "Asgardian, Vanir, Jotunn, Celtic, Elemental, Chaos, Eldritch–how worried are you about your safety, pet?" He pondered over a bite of breakfast. "Or is it a linguistic error?"

Wanda frowned. "Linguistics?"

"Security for safety." He tilted his head and fluttered his fingers, symbols rearranging themselves in the ether. "You longed so hard for a place to feel at home, secure, that you essentially made yourself a fortress. Fascinating."

"I'm glad my emotional trauma makes for an interesting study."

"Says the woman who just psychoanalyzed the most annoying man on Earth into silence," Wanda teased, standing with her empty bowl and mug and placing them into the dishwasher.

"I can't help it. I've been doing it all my life. If figuring out Stephen Strange to save him from himself paid dividends, I'd be a fucking millionaire by now."

"Nice to know the conversation is still on me," Stephen quipped as he dropped a basket of carrots on the table, dirt caked on his arms and smudged on his face. "And maybe if you'd gone into a better specialty, you'd be a millionaire."

"Aww, but who would oversee your mandated psych hold when you finally crack under the weight of your own expectations?" She flashed him a saccharine smile that made the corners of her eyes crinkle.

Despite Stephen's best efforts to remain stone-faced, he smirked. "Well, you got me there, Peep." He glanced at Loki. "My ring."

The Asgardian smirked. "I do not have it, Strange."

Persephone whistled, holding his sling ring aloft while she turned a page with her other hand. Stephen reached to retrieve his ring. Seph did not release it immediately. Instead, she slid a scrap of paper to hold her place and looked up at him. "You want some help? Gathering my crops or do you have some weird, period movie-style brooding to do in the fields?" He nodded. "OK. You stay here, buddy." With gentle hands, she coaxed a reluctant cloak off of her shoulders, only able to shrug it off with the promise that she'd be back later.

Pulling on her boots at the door, she followed Stephen onto the sun-dappled green fenced-in with chicken wire. They kneeled in neighboring rows and worked silently for a while, stopping every so often to straighten their backs and stretch. It was a companionable silence that fell between them, only the sound of earthmoving and vegetables being tossed into large baskets cutting through their thoughts.

"You know, Loki had already mentioned it to me."

Stephen frowned, loosening the dirt around a particularly stubborn carrot. "Mentioned what?"

"That you two had a fling."

He snorted. "Fling is a strong word for what we did, Peep."

"Quickie hate sex, then. I was being delicate." She smirked. "Unlike you and Mischief."

"Is there a point to this conversation? Other than reminding me of my poor judgment."

"You don't have to feel awkward about who you sleep with, Stephen."

"I don't feel awkward that I slept with him. I feel awkward that it was a topic of discussion at breakfast. And why were you talking about that with him, anyway?"

"He was curious if we had ever hooked up. Something or other about collecting a full set."

He breathed in, stretching his neck side to side to disguise the little bubble of irritation that rose within him. "Oh, so you slept with him?"

It was her turn to laugh. "Fuck no. My life is as complicated as I want it right now. Sex with a demigod sounds like everything I don't need. Why? Was he any good? Is this a Yelp review?"

"I am not talking to you about this."

"Oh, come on! We've told each other worse!"

"Exactly! I still can't the image of Zach Curtis sobbing while they wheeled him off to the hospital. It's been twenty-six years!"

Seph hummed, lost in thought. "Yeah, that was a pretty bad day."

"Aggressive technique. Poor kid was in agony for a month."

"He kept saying 'harder'! I got annoyed," she defended vehemently, throwing a clod of dirt in his direction. "I bet Loki would like that."

"He would not," he riposted, automatically, only catching himself after the fact when she gasped. "Fuck. Not another word. Besides, you punched Zach in the balls so hard you gave him torsion. No one wants that."

"Is he secretly very gentle and sappy? Needs to be nurtured? Come on, give me something!" He remained quiet, stacking his accumulated carrots in the basket before digging his hands back to the earth. "You're no fun."

After a long while, he mumbled. "If you want to know, jump him yourself."

She shrugged. "Maybe I will."

"Fine. Go right ahead." Despite the message, his tone sounded unconvinced.

Persephone piled the last of her carrots into her basket, stood, and dusted off her knees. She hefted the basket and balanced it on her cocked hip. "Why are you even doing this by hand? Don't you have some impressive universe-bending powers?"

"It's soothing. And quiet," he shot her a look, "most of the time."'

"What do you need to be soothed about?"

He didn't turn his eyes away from the clod of dirt he was breaking apart. "I spent five years inside the Soul Stone. Aware that time had passed but with no way to understand why. Worried out of my mind for the people with me and the people outside. Worried my plan would fall through and we'd be stuck there forever. Half the Universe, stuck there forever because I could not make our one chance come through. I have a few things."

With a sigh, she put the basket down beside his and sat cross-legged between the rows. "I'm sorry. I was being a brat."

"It's not your fault, Seph. You didn't bring Thanos." He shot her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Managing my feelings isn't your job, anymore."

"It never was my job, Stephen. I did it because I cared. I still do."

He looked over, deadpan. "You tried to kill me."

"Yes! I was upset and heartbroken and I still couldn't get over the fact that I cared for you. And despite the fact that I tried to kill you, you still checked up on me because I had a nightmare." She sighed. "Let's face it. We're stuck with each other. No matter how far we try to run, we always come back to each other."

With a heavy sigh, Stephen sat back onto the dirt, folding his legs up so he could rest his arms on his knees. When he looked up, Persephone recognized a familiar sort of ache in his eyes. It was the same pain whenever they were going in for a test he didn't feel prepared for, or his first ER rotation where barely had a chance to think before reacting.

"I-I don't know what I'm doing, Seph. I'm supposed to be in charge of protecting reality and I haven't got a goddamn clue wha–" He sighed, hanging his head.

One of her hands grasped at his, and his head snapped back up. The vision of his shaking digits in hers had him pulling back. Her own, faster hands closed around his before he could slip away.

"Don't do that, Stephen." She smiled. "You can probably still suture faster than I can."

Something like a smile tugged at the very corner of his mouth. "Probably. You were always a slowpoke."

She rolled her eyes, though an affectionate squeeze went through his hand. "We're going to figure it out, Stephen. I promise."

"You'll help me?"

"Of course. Lord knows you have no authority over those two. At least they listen to me."

"Thanks, Peep." Sincerity rang clear in his words.

"You're welcome, hon." He smiled, then, at the long-forgotten term of endearment. "Come on, before Loki eats me out of house and home. Maybe I can get a vegetable in him," she added easily, gesturing the carrots.