#Professor!SamWilson

[braveclementine]

Chapter 10

Warnings: None.

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Elizabeth Silvertongue and Clementine Greenleaf. I also own Clementines' brother Donavan. The following OCs are owned by other Wattpad writers as this is a collaboration project. Their OCs are on the face claim page. I do not condone any copying of this.

"Okay where are we?" I asked, feeling very nervous. I was in Professor Wilsons' car with a blindfold over my eyes. I didn't feel uncomfortable though, mostly just curious. 

Professor Wilson chuckled. "If I told you, then it would ruin the experiment." I could feel the car roll to a stop and then he climbed out of the car. I fumbled for the door handle, but the door opened before I got the chance, a hand grabbing mine. 

"Easy." Professor Wilson said. I let him lead me by hand, feeling that we were walking up a grassy slope. "Alright, stairs." 

We went like that until I knew we were in a building, yet he still did not remove my blindfold. I was led up more stairs and then we were walking for what felt like forever, before I heard a door open and I went inside the room. 

"Alright." Professor Wilson said, taking my blindfold off and I took in the room. 

It was very cabin-esque with brick and wood walls, blending into each other. A circular chandelier with large candles hung above the large bed. Built into the corner of the brick pillar was a small fireplace. The windows were large, though Professor Wilson quickly drew the blinds over them, before sitting on the leather couch, gesturing for me to sit in the armchair. 

"I just wanted to ask you a few questions." 

I wanted to sigh dramatically, but Bucky's voice rang in my head, 'It only works if you're open to it.' 

"Okay." I murmured. 

"How have you been feeling since the incident?" Professor Wilson asked. 

"Fine." I answered automatically. 

"Really? No nightmares, no panic attacks, no feelings of depression, anxiety, guilt, no insomnia, nothing at all?" Professor Wilson asked in a voice that sound extremely skeptical. 

I felt weird. The room felt familiar to me. I knew I had never stepped foot in it, but it felt nostalgic. Like it was a part of a place I had been to, but hadn't been in. It was hard to explain. I felt comfortable here, but also weird because I shouldn't have felt that way, since it was a new place. 

I hesitated and then admitted, "Nightmares, yes. But no panic attacks. Sometimes guilt and I can get anxious when I know people are talking about me. But um, for the most part I've really been doing fine." 

"I've heard from my colleagues that you have an aversion to therapy. Is it therapy itself or therapists?" Professor Wilson asked. 

"I just don't believe in therapy." I explained. "From what I've seen, therapists usually only end up telling you what you want to hear, even if it's the wrong advice. They're also very pushy when it comes to putting their clients on expensive medications." 

"So therapists." Professor Wilson smiled gently. 

I shrugged. 

"Is this something that stems from your youth?" Professor Wilson enquired. 

I wrinkled my nose. "Something else I don't like about therapists is when they prod into the past. I don't need my family analyzed to see if they were good parents or not." 

Professor Wilson just smiled again, "That's not what I'm doing. But a lot of what we grow up to be is because of our past." 

I hesitated. "When I was in High School, a boy I went to school with died on the lacrosse field. I didn't know him, never met him, but I remember watching it on the TV. The news reporter had said they were going to provide therapy for all of the kids and my dad scoffed. He went on to list all the kids he knew who got hit by cars and drowned or died in other ways. And he explained how none of them ever needed therapy and that todays' kids were soft." 

"And so you believe that by going to therapy, not only are you weak, but you're also letting your father down?" Professor Wilson asked. 

"Well, I'm not weak." I said stubbornly. "But the second part, not really. My dad actually suggested that I talk to you but I don't need therapy." 

"It feels like you're trying to prove something." 

"I'm not." I scoffed a laugh. "I can just brush things off better than other people. I'm not one of these weak snowflakes that can even handle being called the wrong pronoun on accident. I don't need you to tell me that it's okay to feel guilt over killing someone, even if I did the right thing. I don't need you to tell me that having nightmares is normal. I know it's normal so now I just deal with it. I made a decision and I live with the consequences. That's all." 

Professor Wilson was quiet for a moment. I felt like his dark brown eyes were analyzing me and I looked away. 

"It's a logical way of thinking." He finally said slowly. "Are you religious Elizabeth?" 

"Yes." I nodded, lifting the cross that I wore around my neck on habit. "Methodist Christian." 

He nodded. "Does that play a part into why you feel the way you do?" 

I hesitated, unsure of his meaning. "You mean. . . why I don't. . ." 

"Why you don't believe in therapy? Because you only believe in God?" 

I frowned. "I've never thought about it like that. Maybe." 

Professor Wilson nodded. "Did Professor Barnes ever tell you that he does therapy?" 

"He said he did." I said slowly, not sure if this was really something I was supposed to talk to Professor Wilson about. "When he came back from war. He said he talked to you." 

"He did, a little. But mostly, he talked to a Government psychologist who specialized in that mental disorder and could help him better than I could. I'm not really a therapist, Elizabeth. I'm more of a counselor. But out of curiosity, would you consider, by your terms, Professor Barnes to be weak for going to therapy?" 

"No, but it's different." I explained. 

"How so?" 

"Because he did more than just kill a single person. He had to kill many people I'm sure. I'm sure that he saw terrible things and he went through terrible things. I mean, he's missing an arm for goodness sake! It wasn't just a little event that maybe lasted 5 minutes. He was probably there for years. So, it's different." 

"Is it?" Professor Wilson asked softly, but it was clearly a rhetorical question, because he continued, "I want you to stay here for the night. I'll be back to pick you up in the morning. I want you to focus solely on what happened that day, and I want you to really come to terms with how you feel." 

"I know how I feel." 

"No, you've been pushing it away and not dealing with it." Professor Wilson said. "You've pushed it down because of your beliefs, you haven't even had time to really face it. That's where the nightmares come from, because your sub-conscious releases those thoughts while you're asleep. They will haunt you for a long time Elizabeth, believe me, I know. I was also in the wars. So was Professor Rogers and Professor Rhodey and Dean Fury and Professor Barnes. And there are others who have nightmares from things they went through that don't have to do with war. I mean, you've heard stories of what Professor Stark went through when he was kidnapped. We work together, but it's more than that, we're a family. So we see what these things do to each other." 

I stayed quiet, letting him explain. 

"Everyone looks at them, looks at us, and they see strong men because of how we're built, because of how we're portrayed in class and in public." He continued, standing up. "But that's not who we are at night. And you might portray yourself as fine and strong during the day while everyone's looking at you." He reached the door, opening it but turned to look back at me, "But at night, we both know that's a different story, when we wake up screaming into our pillows." 

He closed the door behind him, leaving me sitting in the leather armchair to think. 

: ̗̀➛

"You're positive?" Steve asked the woman behind the desk. "A female student reported a male student staying in one of the dorms. Goes by the name 'John Garrett'?" 

"Sorry Professor, I just haven't see anyone." She shook her head, looking apologetic. Bucky opened his mouth to say something, but Steve stepped on his foot gently and simply said, "Well thank you." 

"Sure." She nodded and sat back down behind the desk. It wasn't until after the two of them walked away, that she reached for her mystery novel again. 

"Well of course she doesn't see anything if she's reading." Bucky growled. Steve knew that he was already very possessive over Elizabeth. 

Steve sighed as they stood outside of the girls' dorm, pulling out his phone. "I'll ask Tony to look at the cameras. You alright Buck? You've been a bit jittery." 

"I'm worried about her." Bucky mumbled. "I want to know what the grandson of a HYDRA agent wants with her. It's not like he's actually looking to make friends." 

"Careful." Steve warned him. "We shouldn't be talking about this on the public streets." 

Bucky bit his bottom lip as the two of them got back into the car. Steve hesitated for a moment, sliding his hand over to hold Bucks'. "It's going to be okay. We'll protect her." 

"I know." Bucky whispered, squeezing his hand. "I know." 

ꨄ︎

I tossed and turned, mentally hating Professor Wilson as my thoughts were consumed with the event of the shooting. I hadn't been able to see the mans' face because of the black ski mask he'd been wearing, but his eyes had been a dark brown. Maybe it was just my imagination, but there were flecks of amber in them. 

I felt like I could feel the metal of the gun in my hand as I drifted off to sleep, wrapping around the handle. I knew I wasn't really, I knew it wasn't there, but it felt real. 

My dreams were consumed with the shooting, except the man was no longer faceless, but at first wearing the face of the man who had tried to hurt me at the grocery store. Sneering and spiteful, before it turned into the face of John Garrett, his eyes wide with horror as he fell, eyes turning glassy as he died. 

I jerked awake as there was a scream in my dream, panting. I was sweating, despite the room being only mildly warm. 

"Fuck!" I huffed, throwing myself out of bed and started to walk towards the adjoining door to the bathroom to get a glass of water when a scream ripped through the air. It was muffled, far away from me, but I could hear it. 

It wasn't a scream like someone was terrified. It was deeper, definitely manly. It sounded like the man was in pain and I froze where I was standing. 

Where in the world had Professor Wilson brought me? 

I hesitated, torn between staying in my room, locking the door, maybe even looking for a way to escape out the window. . . or going to find the man in pain. 

I made up my mind quickly, opening the door slowly, looking up and down the hallway. I quickly hurried in the direction that the screams were coming from, before I stopped outside the door. 

I could hear a man inside, muttering something, indistinguishable except for a few words like, "Wake. . . dream. . . alright. . ." 

Eventually, the screams subsided and I could hear a second man panting inside. 

Then I froze, recognizing the voices. 

". . . hand was wrapped around her throat." that was definitely Professor Barnes voice, shaken though and hoarse. He had been the one screaming. 

My heart went out to him for a second, feeling his pain, sympathizing, before another thought struck me. 

They had no idea I was here. 

I was in their house. 

What had Professor Wilson done? 

I hesitated as I heard Professor Rogers start murmuring words of comfort into his ear. 

Professor Wilson had said that he would be back for me in the morning. So, surely the Professors knew that I was staying over. And Professor Rogers clearly had the situation under control, so I wasn't needed here. I had never been needed here. Professor Wilson was just proving his point. 

I turned, deciding to head back to my bedroom that was designated for the night. I was only half-way to my room, when someone grabbed me, slamming me against the wall. I let out a scream, terrified, until I came face to face with Professor Rogers. 

His eyes turned from angry to surprised in a matter of seconds as he took me in. One of his hands was holding both wrists in it, the other against my neck. I could barely breathe, his hand huge and tight around my throat. 

"Elizabeth?" He asked in shock. Professor Barnes appeared next to him, his expression lost in the shadows of the hallway. "What are you- how- why-" He released my throat and hands and I took a deep breath. 

"You- you didn't know I was here?" I asked in a small voice, suddenly terrified. If that was true, I could be arrested, thrown in jail. Would they press charges? 

"No, why the hell would we? It's our house?" Professor Barnes asked harshly. I flinched a little as he spat the words at me. My heart was pounding painfully in my chest and I could practically hear the blood rushing in my ears. I felt like I was going to throw up and faint. 

"P-Professor Wilson brought me here." I whispered. "I mean, he blindfolded me. . ." Okay that didn't sound good at all. "He just said that I needed to think and um, something about nightmares and screaming and that he would be back for me in the morning." 

Steve sighed, walking away a few paces while Bucky scoffed. "Fucking bird brain." He said and then stormed into the bedroom, slamming the door so loudly I jumped. Tears pricked at my eyes and though it was dark, I looked down anyways so Steve couldn't see. 

"I- I didn't know. I didn't know I was in your house." I whispered. 

"I know. Come on, where did he put you?" Steve asked. 

I shook my head. "I can walk back to the dorm. I'm so sorry Professor." 

"Nonsense." Steve said firmly, gently touching my arm. "Show me." 

I knew I wasn't winning the argument so I headed back to the cabin like room. I didn't bother getting back on the bed, now feeling like an intruder. I sat on the leather sofa instead, curling my feet up under me, resting my head on the arm. 

Steve sighed as he sat in the arm chair. "So Sam was doing this for therapy reasons?" 

"I guess so." I mumbled. 

"He meant well, but he's going to have to hide from Buck." Steve rubbed a hand over his face again, looking exhausted. 

"St- Professor if I had known that I was in your house, I would've let you know." I reassured him, still feeling sick. 

"I know Elizabeth." Steve said softly, yawning silently. "Go back to bed, I'll see you in the morning." 

I nodded as he stood up, slowly leaving the bedroom, closing the door behind him. 

I just shifted further down on the couch, burying my face in my arms, crying myself to sleep. 

ꨄ︎

For some reason, I woke up in a bed. I expected my face to feel stiff from the salt water, but I felt fine. I sat up, rubbing my eyes, and saw that there was a note on the bedside table. 

Come downstairs for breakfast when you're ready. 

I didn't want to stay any longer than I already had, so I opted for skipping the shower. I was going to get out of the house and take an Uber and then debate on dropping either my classes or just dropping out of college period. I felt so embarrassed for some reason, and there was a constant pit in my stomach like I had done something terrible. 

I was quiet as I headed down the stairs, made easier by the fact that Bucky was shouting at someone in the kitchen. 

". . . COULD'VE BEEN IN SOLDIER MODE AND KILLED HER! YOU HAD NO RIGHT, LETTING HER INTO THIS HOUSE WITHOUT LETTING US KNOW!" 

"Buck-" 

"You wouldn't have let her see what she needed to see." Professor Wilson was the one he was arguing with. "You and I both know that." 

"Yeah? Would her admitting she needs therapy really be worth the cost of her almost losing her life?" Bucky snapped. 

I crept closer to the front door, wondering if they'd hear it. 

"Steve was there, he would never have let you hurt her." Professor Wilson argued. 

"Princess, we know you're out there. Come here." Steve suddenly called just as my hand landed on the door knob. Bucky and Professor Wilson cut off their arguing in the kitchen. 

I closed my eyes and trudged into the kitchen, now regretting that I hadn't freshened up in the bathroom. 

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Steve asked. 

I couldn't even look at Bucky or Professor Wilson, completely humiliated. I wasn't sure if I was angry with Professor Wilson, but anytime I even thought about looking at Bucky's face, my stomach dropped unpleasantly. I really didn't want to know how angry he was with me. 

"Fine." I mumbled meekly. "I'm just going to catch an Uber-" 

"Eat." Steve directed, pointing to the island. My face turned red, not just because he was ordering me around, but because I could feel two sets of eyes on me as they stayed silent, watching my every move. 

I felt like I was cowering in my seat, shoulders hunched a little as Steve put a plate of scrambled eggs and three slices of bacon in front of me. 

"Are you two also going to eat, or do you want to continue the screaming match?" Steve asked, his voice having a note of warning in it. 

Bucky huffed, moving and sitting down next to me, while Professor Wilson said, "I have to get back up to the school. Elizabeth, we'll talk later." 

"Yeah." I answered automatically as he moved out of the kitchen. My stomach rolled unpleasantly again. 

"Asshole." Bucky snarled as Professor Wilson left the house completely. 

"Professor Barnes, I'm so sorry-" I started immediately. 

"Don't you apologize doll." He grumbled. "It's not your fault, that stupid bird-" 

"Buck." Steve chastised. "He was just trying to help." Then Steve looked at me, "Listen, if you ever really did need a place to stay, then you are more than welcome here, as long as we are notified before hand." 

"Thank you." I said, though I noted Bucky tensing a little and also knew that I would never take them up on their offer. "I will make sure to ask Professor Barnes if it's alright." 

Steve smiled and Bucky relaxed, leaning over and pinching my side. I yelped. "Just call me Bucky, doll." He drawled, mischievous light in his eyes and I blushed darkly. 

"Alright you two, eat your breakfast and then we can get to school." Steve rolled his eyes as he was already done with his breakfast, despite serving himself last. 

Buck grinned and winked at me, before we both finished breakfast and headed off to school together. 

[heavenboy09]

Happy Belated Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊 To You

The New Captain America 🇺🇸 Of The MCU

He was born on September 23, 1978, in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Martha (née Gordon) and Willie Mackie Sr., a carpenter who owned a roofing business, Mackie Roofing. His brother, Calvin Mackie, is a former associate professor of engineering at Tulane University who now works at the Louisiana Recovery Authority.

He is an American actor. He made his film debut starring in the semi-biographical drama film 8 Mile (2002). He was later nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor for his performance in the LGBT drama Brother to Brother (2004), and in the same year, appeared in psychological thriller The Manchurian Candidate, the Spike Lee TV film Sucker Free City, and the sports film Million Dollar Baby. He starred in Half Nelson (2006); in 2008, Mackie both appeared in the action thriller Eagle Eye and was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Hurt Locker. He portrayed Tupac Shakur in Notorious (2009) and later starred in Night Catches Us (2010), and The Adjustment Bureau and Real Steel (both 2011).

He achieved global recognition for portraying Sam Wilson / Falcon / Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), and most recently starring in the Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021); he is set to lead his own film titled Captain America: Brave New World (2024). During this period, He also starred in the period crime film Detroit (2017), The Hate U Give (2018), the horror film Synchronic (2019), and The Banker (2020).

Happy Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊 To You The New Captain America 🇺🇸 Of The MCU From New Orleans

You Know Him, You Love Him

& Well He Was Once A Falcon 🦅& Now He's Black Captain America 🇺🇸 Right Now So you know you can't live without him

The 1 & Only

MR. ANTHONY MACKIE AKA SAM WILSON AKA CAPTAIN AMERICA 🇺🇸 OF THE MCU

HAPPY BELATED 45TH BIRTHDAY 🎂 TO YOU MR. MACKIE & HERE'S TO MANY MORE YEARS TO COME. #AnthonyMackie #SamWilson #TheFalcon #CaptainAmerica

[twittytelly]

What I Read in 2021 - August

Masterlist

PLEASE REMEMBER TO READ THE INDIVIDUAL WARNINGS FOR EACH FIC!

What I reblogged:

Sunday Morning by @time-for-a-lullaby

I’m with you til the end of the line by @theycallmebecca

Dreams Do Come True by @saiyanprincessswanie

Drabble: On Your Left by @theycallmebecca

Fix by @mypoisonedvine​

Drunk (ish) @fluffymisha97​

Friends to Lovers. @lahyene​

Beg For Me by @princessphilly​

Everyone Knew It by @worksby-d​

Seven Minutes in Heaven by @river-soul​

Cockwarming with Andy ask by @stargazingfangirl18​

The Camping Video by @ littlefiercequeen

"I don't care what happens to me, as long as your safe." by @what-is-your-plan-today

Cosy Autumnal Andy ask by @sweater-daddiesdumbdork

Comfort by @honeychicana

Only A Little by @worksby-d

This Guy by @stargazingfangirl18

Patience Kitten by @sweater-daddiesdumbdork

Treat by @hlkwrites

Play Button by @theycallmebecca

Silly Little Games by @xxindiglow

Little Spoon by @samwilsons-pillowpecs

Andy Ask by @stargazingfangirl18

Senator Steve Ask by @worksby-d

Talked All Night by @violetlilysunshine

Beer Gut by @violetlilysunshine​

Jealousy by @ilovefandoms102​

“Ugly” Reader ask by @gotnofucks

Greatest Fear ask with Ransom and Steve by @sweater-daddiesdumbdork

Burning by @katikat

Professor Andy AU ask by @worksby-d

That Blue-eyed Boy by @bluemusickid

Stress Reliever Andy ask by @angrythingstarlight

How Do You Want Me? by @sagechanoafterdark

Good Boy by @hlkwrites

Jensen’s Captain Kink ask by @river-soul

Breakfast With Andy ask by @sweater-daddiesdumbdork

No Text Backs by @jamielea81

Shy by @worksby-d

Needy!Ransom ask by @stargazingfangirl18

“try to stay quiet for me. Can you do that?” ask by @worksby-d

Two Weeks Notice. by @navybrat817

Ongoing Series: 

Feeding The Flames by @sweater-daddiesdumbdork

Seeing Blind by @pagesoflauren

Money’s Worth by @pagesoflauren

Higher Love by @k-evans-writes and @ourfinest-hour​

Rawhide by @wiypt-writes

Rock ‘n’ Roll People In A Disco World by @wiypt-writes

[annathesillyfriend]

Anna's April Fic Recs ✨

Hello everyone, wellcome to my April fic recommendations (part 1) masterpost! This is a new thing I want to try to do and create a list like that twice a month. It really pains me that the amazing authors out there don't get the recognition they dereserve so I'm gonna do what I can to spread my love for them. I also hope more people will get to experience the joy of reading all these wonderful works!

To all the writers - I love you and I appreciate you so much! To all the readers - please, share the fics you read and love. The reblog really makes the change! It's the least we could do to show our gratitude.

Without further ado, here are the fic I read this month and adored

MARVEL

Bucky Barnes

Take a chance on me by @jurassicbarnes

one-shot, single mum!au, fwb to lovers

Bucky's game nights by @eurynome827

series, slow burn, they're playing games with their hearts

Baby fever by @youlightmeupfinn

one-shot, who wouldn't want that man as their baby daddy?

All yours by @babyboibucky

one-shot, 18+, tfatws!Bucky

A single thread by @jobean12-blog

one-shot, coffeeshop with Buck

New adventures by @celestialbarnes

one-shot, best friends to lovers

Beautiful girl by @borkingbarnes

one-shot, a morning with Buck

Erase every trace by @angrythingstarlight

one-shot, 18+, tfatws!Bucky

What you need by @buckycuddlebuddy

one-shot, 18+, best friend and roommate!Bucky, a cam is involved 👀

Cookies, kisses and such by @sweetbucky

one-shot, friends to lovers

The Match by @/babyboibucky

series, ceo!bucky

Policework by @jurassicbarnes

one-shot, police detectives!au

Eyes on you by @kleohoneyao3

one-shot, 18+

Take me as I am, whoever I am by @/jurassicbarnes

one-shot, 18+

Greedy by @/babyboibucky

one-shot, 18+, hot hot hot!

Destructive by @buckybarnesdiaries

one-shot, Bucky's scared of his feelings

Sunday kinda' love by @msmarvelwrites

one-shot, 18+, some things are more important than breakfast

Separation, connection (part 2) by @firefly-in-darkness

two-shot, 18+, the angst is strong in this one

Angel on her knees by @/babyboibucky

one-shot, 18+, Bucky gets some love hehe

Feelings are fatal by @sunmoonandbucky

series, steve leaves to be with Peggy, reader deals with the loss

It's messy inside, let me take your coat by @/divine-mistake

one-shot, 18+, plus size!reader

Beautiful people by @nacho-bucky

series, plus size!reader, the most real, beautiful, human story

Sam Wilson

Dancing with Sam Wilson would include... by @certifiedskywalker

head cannon, the title says it all

Positions by @luciilferss

one-shot, 18+, Sam's a gem Monday through Sunday

Identity by @samwilsons-pillowpecs

series, Sam loses memory and they say he wanted to kill Bucky

Amartment 3C by @/bohemianpages

series, Sam comes back from the snap to find his flat occupied

Honest by @xbuchananbarnes

one-shot, tfatws!sam

The first time you realise you are in love by @barnesnroses

part of a mini series, the fluff 😫

Walk me home by @whisperlullaby

one-shot, Sam comes to the rescue

Memory loss by @/captain-kelli

series, Sam and reader are on a hunt for winter solider

SamBucky

Cratures of habit by @callitdreamland

miniseries, sambucky x reader

How sweet it is by @indyluckycharlie

series, sambucky modern!au

The therapist by @holylulusworld

mini series, y/n helps them with their problems

Steve Rogers

Glitter by @sarahwroteathing

one-shot, elementary teacher!Steve x single mom!reader

Error by @buckysknifecollection

one-shot, de-serumed!steve

Words whispered in the dark by @anika-ann

part of the Attached series or stand alone, modern-college-professor AU, 18+

Corrupting a good boy by @donutloverxo

series, ceo!steve x desi!reader

Cash rules everything around me by @/slyyywriting

series, stripper!steve

Where the love light gleams by @/sunmoonandbucky

series, social media!au

Sharon Carter

Permanent by @/samwilsons-pillowpecs

one-shot, tattoo artist!sharon

Loki Laufeyson

Steam by @the--sad--hatter

series, slowburn, enemies to frenemies to idiots in love

Peter Parker

Love sick and a little bit drunk by @spideyspeaches

one-shot, collage!peter

Invisible string by @peterbenjiparker

series, soulmate!au

Don't hold back by @hollandcrush

one-shot, 18+, college!peter

Dancing with our hand tied by @/justeclipseblogs

series, stark!reader, enemies to lovers

My medication by @/kelieah

one-shot, broken teens in love

HOLLAND & CO.

Tom Holland

Lockscreen by @cherrycheridarling

one-shot, famous!reader

Monday mornings by @blissfulparker

one-shot, professor!tom x professor!reader

Written in the stars by @ptersmj

one-shot, fuff!!!

Hooked on your feelings by @heyhihellowhatsup0

series, fwb!tom

Ski date by @tetralea

one-shot, 18+, idiots in love, friends to lovers

Take sugar? by @/hollandcrush

one-shot, carpenter!tom x ex-best friend!reader, 18+

I swear to God I never fall in love by @hazofmyheart

one-shot, fratboy!tom, 18+, spoiler alert: he does

Break up with your girlfriend by @rosyparkers

one-shot, 18+, frat football player!tom, cheerleader!y/n, fwb au

Perennial by @peeterparkr

series, sequel to Perdify, the biggest oof moment yet

All for her by @screamholland

series, single dad!tom

Royal convinience by @/poetrcy

series, royal!au

Kiss me slowly by @/storybookholland

one-shot, soft frat!tom

Harry Holland

Always by @/multiholland

series, best freind!harry

Sam Holland

'tis the damn season by @/unsaidholland

one-shot, ex boyfriend!sam

Our night by @/storybookholland

one-shot, jealous!sam

Harrison Osterfield

No way by @soft-haz

one-shot, friends to lovers

Second self by @/soft-haz

one-shot, 18+, reader gives Haz a hand wink wink

Harrison mastelist by @allegra-writes

lots of great Haz things!

Bet on it by @storybookholland

series, fwb

THE IRREGULARS

Whole masterlist by @uglypastels

these all wonderful!! you should also check out the amazing art works at the bottom of this masterlist

LEO

The Fountain of Ichor by @thegirlintheswivelchair

series, leo x lady-in-waiting!reader

OTHERS

Anthony Bridgerton

Sham, pride and illicit affairs by @/peeterparkr

series, quite possibly the most poetic fic ever written

Coming home again by @/misstonybridgerton

series, old friends reunite

Spencer Reid

An Interesting Electronic by @/homoose

one-shot, 18+

Frank Adler

I ruined our sweet tune by @/rodrikstark

one-shot, kinda professor!frank

Ransom Drysdale

The Five Times You Told Ransom Drysdale You Loved Him (And The One Time He Said It Back) by @just-one-ordinary-fangirl

one-shot, childhood friends to life gets in the way to lovers

Sacrilage by @the-iceni-bitch

one-shot, 18+, you'll have to shower in holy water after this

Okay, I might have gone a little overboard but hey, there's no such thing as too much good fanfiction!

Enjoy! 🥰

[braveclementine]

Chapter 2

Warnings: None.

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Elizabeth Silvertongue and Clementine Greenleaf. I also own Clementines' brother Donavan. The following OCs are owned by other Wattpad writers as this is a collaboration project. Their OCs are on the face claim page. I do not condone any copying of this.

"Do you think these are organic?" Clementine asked, holding up one of the schools hard boiled eggs to the light, as though detecting something wrong with it. 

"I doubt it." I said, the faintest of smiles on my face. 

"We need to go shopping." Clementine huffed, putting the egg back down in the container, sliding it back into the refrigerator. We had come downstairs for breakfast, both of us dressed and ready for the day. 

"Let's do it after school." I responded while she continued to search the cafeteria for something to eat. I sighed as I grabbed some scrambled eggs and sausage links. "Clem, you should just eat something. You'll get light headed if you go all day without eating something, especially since you threw your dinner out last night." 

Clementine huffed about it, but got the boiled eggs and a water. 

We talked about the classes we had that day, before we parted our separate ways and I finally separated from her for the first time since stepping foot on the campus. 

The campus was huge and I immediately regretted not arriving a few days earlier in order to figure out where my classes were. My first class was British Literature with Mr. Wilson, and I barely made it before the bell rang, crossing the threshold, having the door be closed behind me. I quickly took a seat near the front, pulling out a notebook and blue pen. 

Mr. Wilson was a five foot ten, black man, probably around thirty-eight or so. He had a clean beard and a great smile. I immediately fell in love with his energy as he spoke to the class and called attendance. 

"Elizabeth Silvertongue?" Mr. Wilson asked, looking around the classroom.

"Present." I responded quickly, cheeks turning a little pink. He continued with roll call and I took the time to glance around the classroom. 

It was not at all what I had expected of a college classroom, for the posters looked more like what I would've expected to see in a high school. Inspirational posters, posters with book quotes, posters with authors and quotes, that sort of thing. In the back of the room was another poster that showed the alphabet in cursive. 

I noticed many of the students were on phones, some having air pods or earbuds in, giving Professor Wilson perhaps thirty percent of their attention. I turned back around, deciding to pay them no mind. 

He started the lesson off after a gentle reminder to pay attention, which many of the students did not listen to. I diligently took my notes up until the time the bell rang, writing down that I would need a copy of Animal Farm for the first month of class. 

I was both disappointed and also excited. Disappointed because I had already read and reviewed Animal Farm for ninth grade, but also excited because I loved the book and couldn't wait to share my ideas with the class. Despite my degree being in accounting, I had always wanted to be a writer. 

"Have a wonderful day Elizabeth." Professor Wilson said as I packed my things up, being one of the last people to leave the classroom. 

"You too Professor Wilson." I said politely. 

"Call me Sam." Professor Wilson said, waving a hand. "No need to be so formal." 

"Oh. Of course." I said, taken back, heading out the door. No need to be so formal? It wasn't formal, it was just polite. . . wasn't it? 

My next class wasn't for another two hours, so I headed off, locating the school library which had a starbucks, panara, and some sort of chinese restaurant inside of it. I found the literary section with no problem- some things are constant no matter what I suppose- and found several copies of Animal Farm. I wished I had thought to bring my own copy, but I had thought we would be doing harder, newer books. 

I checked the copy out for the rest of the month and then headed downstairs to see a long line at starbucks. 

I would never understand the deal about them. Coffee wasn't the best thing in the world, in fact it was rather disgusting. And even if it was good, I wasn't sure why anyone would buy it for that much money, when they could buy a large pot at the grocery store and make it themselves for cheaper. 

I did get an orange chicken and fried rice bowl at the Chinese restaurant, eating that quickly, before deciding to use my last remaining hour to see where the rest of my classes were. 

It was a good thing too, as it took my fifteen minutes to find one classroom alone. 

To finish off my day was biology with Dr. Banner and Psychology with Professor Barnes. The classes would be the same Wednesday. Tuesday and Thursday was The Survey of East Asian History with Professor Rogers. Small group communications with Professor Potts and The study of Cultural Anthropology with Professor Udaku was on Friday. 

I found all of the classrooms except for the Psychology one easily. It took me forever to find the psychology classroom, before finding it tucked away in the corner of a building none of my other classes took place in. The door was shut and it was quiet in the hall. 

I checked the name on the plate along with the room number, seeing that it was indeed Professor Barnes. 

"Great." I muttered to myself, tracing the path from my biology class to this class in my head. I made a note on my piece of paper before the door to the classroom opened and I came face to face with the most beautiful man I had ever seen outside of animes. 

His face was pale and smooth, his eyes baby blue. His hair was short and blond, his jaw chiseled and his nose perfect. He was tall, probably somewhere around the six foot range. He was dressed nicely in a baby blue button up shirt. An old spice smell with a mix of autumn leaves. 

"Can I help you with something?" He asked, his voice sending shivers up my spine. His voice was hard to describe, neither light nor dark or heavy or breezy. It sounded. . . old fashioned. A specific cadence to it that I couldn't put a finger on. 

"N-no." I stuttered out, glancing at the sign again. "I'm sorry." 

"Don't apologize." He shook his head, offering me a smile. "I just thought I heard someone out here." 

"Oh, well I had an hour of free time and I figured I would find out where all of my classes were." I explained in a rush. "um, so yeah." 

"Would you like to talk to the Professor?" The man inquired, looking over his shoulder. 

He wasn't the Professor? That was a pity, something I felt deep in my gut. 

"Oh, no, that's not necessary." I said breathily, already heading back down the hallway, retreating a little. "But thank you, uh-" 

"Steve Rogers ma'am." The man said. 

"Mr. Rogers." I smiled a little and then turned, heading down the hallway, heart fluttering in my chest. 

Damn he was fine. 

ꨄ︎

Biology passed in a daze, something that I wished hadn't happened as Dr. Banner went in depth even on the first day on anatomy. I was glad that I had taken advanced anatomy in high school, otherwise I would've been completely lost. 

I headed straight to Psychology after that, despite the thirty minute time period within classes, mostly in hopes of seeing Mr. Steve Rogers again. 

I sat outside of the classroom, curled up in one of the armchairs that sat in the hallway. I was so deep in thought in my book, I didn't look up until I realized someone was standing in front of me. 

I yelped as Clementine picked the book up out of my hands. "Clem!" 

"Animal Farm? Let me guess, you have Mr. Wilson too?" Clementine said in a disapproving voice. 

"Yeah." I sighed, reaching up, taking the book back from her. "At least this month will be easy. It'll help lighten the load for my biology class. Anyways, how are your classes going?" 

"You'll never believe this." Clem said, perking right up. "I have Tony Stark for mechanical engineering." 

"No way." I said, stunned. "He's a teacher?" 

"Apparently." Clementine said, excitement lacing her voice. "This is going to be great! Anyways, how do you like the Professors so far?" 

"Well Professor Wilson seems nice enough, though not super strict." I replied, closing the book, placing it back into my bag. "Dr. Banner was interesting and very clear. Wish he'd gone just a little slower, but I'll just have to study a little harder." I paused and then said, "And then there was a really handsome teacher that I don't have but. . ." 

"Oh, do tell?" Clem said, a teasing smirk on her lips. "Whose caught Elizabeth Silvertongues' attention this week?" 

I pushed her shoulder playfully before saying, "Mr. Steve Rogers. Hes' beautiful." 

"Blond? Blue eyes? Pale skin?" Clementine smirked. 

"You have him?" I asked, feeling jealous. 

Clementine rolled her eyes. "Professor Rogers. He teaches my American History II class." 

"Lucky." I muttered, sighing. "Maybe I'll switch my courses." 

"Ha." Clementine laughed. 

I grinned as the door to the Psychology door was opened and I was suddenly thrown for a loop once more. The man standing in front of us was tall, possibly even taller than Professor Rogers. He had dark blue eyes and a dark persona. His shoulders were back and straight, broad. His hair was a dark brown, which was cut short. He was wearing a gray striped suit, though he also had black gloves on his hands. Perhaps a skin condition? 

"Hmm, new record." Clementine teased, making me jolt as students started to walk into the classroom, chatting with each other. "I think you just put two people on your hot list in one day." 

"Shut up." I muttered, standing. Clementine smirked, nudging my shoulder. 

The Professor however, stopped the two of us as we neared the door. "Don't sit next to each other. I would prefer no trouble in my classroom." 

Smiles slid off both of our faces and we headed past him silently. In the classroom, girls were huddled in groups, giggling and laughing, a group of guys were roaring in the back as they looked at something on one of their phones. And in the corner, a girl and boy were making out without a care in the world. 

"Yeah. . ." Clem scoffed. "We're the ones who're gonna cause trouble. Un-be-lievable." She stormed off to sit on the left side of the room next to the wall while I sat in the front row on the right side of the room. 

Professor Barnes closed the door behind him with a final sort of 'snap'. He stood at the front of the classroom, hands in his pockets, just staring until the class slowly started to quiet down. His eyes seemed to meet each of ours and I glanced down at the textbook in front of me as he reached me. 

"Now that you've all shut up, we'll get started." He said, his voice dark and cold. 

The classroom was completely different from all of the others I had been in today. No one made a sound, the only thing to be heard was his voice and the sounds of pens and pencils scratching on paper as we wrote. 

Occasionally, he would ask a question, before immediately directing it at me. I would turn red every single time and lightly say that I didn't know the answer, embarrassment eating me up from the inside out every time. 

As the clock hit the time when class ended, Professor Barnes wrote the homework down on the board. I spent the last few minutes writing it down in my planner, barely noticing other kids leaving. 

"See you in the hallway." Clementine muttered as she passed me, clearly wanting to get out. I capped my pen, starting to put everything away. 

"Miss Silvertongue." A far more pleasant voice said, and I glanced up to see the blond haired man there once more. 

"Hi." I said, nervously, now seeing that Professor Barnes was glaring at the two of us from over his papers. 

"Did you enjoy the class?" His lips lifted into a secret smile, as though he knew exactly what had gone on in the classroom. 

"It was very different from my other classes." I answered honestly and watched his blue eyes twinkle. 

"You want something Steve?" Professor Barnes grouched at the front of the classroom. 

Steve turned, crossing his arms over his chest. His smile was addicting, I could feel my own lips turning into a smile, just watching him. I swung my bag onto my shoulder so I could leave. "the team wants to get drinks tonight." 

"If Sam is there I'm not going." Professor Barnes said, cleaning off the board in front of him. 

I headed down the steps towards the door. 

"Aw, c'mon Buck." Steve's voice continued as I exited the classroom, before trailing off as Clementines' voice took over. 

"God what an asshole!" Clementine huffed, music blaring from her earbuds. 

"How scandalous, you have earbuds in your ears. Whatever shall you do if you get radiation poisoning?" I teased. 

"They're not Bluetooth wireless Elizabeth. They still have a wire." Clementine said, not noticing the sarcasm in my voice through her red hazy anger. I just smirked as the two of us walked back to the dorm. 

ꨄ︎

"Well there we are." I said,  putting the last of the food into the cupboard. We had done our best with getting organic, healthy foods, but without having a stove or oven, it was still going to be very hard to eat what we wanted. "You feeling better?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine." Clementine sighed, closing the refrigerator door, wrapping all of the plastic bags up into a ball, throwing it into the trash. She reached up, pulling her hair out of the ponytail she'd put it into, letting it down. "I'm gonna take a shower and go to bed. I'll see you in the morning." 

"See you." I said, watching her head off to the bathroom, before settling down on the couch, deciding to get a start on the Psychology homework. After two and a half hours, I stumbled to the bathroom, took my own shower, brushed my teeth, and then collapsed into bed, exhausted. 

[braveclementine]

Chapter 13

Warnings: None.

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Elizabeth Silvertongue and Clementine Greenleaf. I also own Clementines' brother Donavan. The following OCs are owned by other Wattpad writers as this is a collaboration project. Their OCs are on the face claim page. I do not condone any copying of this.

"Oh, good morning Professor Barnes." I said in surprise, slipping into the passenger seat of his car. I felt a little awkward, one having expected Professor Rogers to be picking me up, and secondly because I had rejected Professor Barnes the night before. 

"Morning Elizabeth." He grumbled, taking off before I had even gotten my seat belt on. His eyes darted constantly as we passed students and faculty and complete strangers. 

"Did you get any sleep last night?" I frowned, staring at his face now. He didn't look like he'd shaved and there were dark circles under his eyes. 

"No, I was on guard duty." Professor Barnes yawned. 

I dropped my mouth, "Guard duty? On what? On us?" 

"Yep." He said. 

"What- why?" I asked, flabbergasted. 

"Wanted to make sure those scumbags really stayed away from you." He answered, rather bluntly in my opinion. Then again, he was answering all of my questions very honestly, which was surprising. 

"No offense, but you're a teacher." I mumbled, sinking down in my seat, wanting to sleep. "You should get a police officer or something if you really want that." 

"You forget I'm also ex-military." 

"Retired." 

"Doesn't mean I shouldn't keep you safe." 

"Means you should, it's not your job." 

"How long are they staying?" 

"I don't know. Maybe two weeks?" 

"Great, you're moving in with Stevie and me." Bucky said as though there wasn't any conflict with this at all. 

"Pardon?" I asked, turning to look at him. He was speeding down the street, not taking care to notice the thirty-five miles per hour signs up as we went past them at fifty. "And slow down before you get pulled over by the police!" 

"I thought you wanted the police to do their job?" Bucky jested, but not in a mean way, the corner of his mouth turning up into a smile. 

"Whatever." I grumbled, already feeling lighter, despite the newest tragedy in my life. 

We rode in silence until we were pulling up to the house. I saw the curtains twinge as Steve had clearly been looking out them, looking for us. 

"Hey, um, sorry about last night." I muttered, cheeks flushing. 

"Huh? About what?" Bucky asked, turning his dark blue eyes on me. 

"Er- rejecting you." I mumbled. 

He gave a short laugh, "Doll, I pushed my boundaries. You don't have anything to be sorry for. I should be the one apologizing. 'Cept I'm not sorry." 

I laughed at that, opening the door. 

"Besides," Bucky added, getting out of the car too. "Stevie and I have the same belief. Or had, until we got married. We completely understand. We're just not used to other people believing the same." 

I smiled, "Plus, you're already married so if the two of you agree on someone, I understand that as well." 

He smirked. "Steve and I have never actually agreed upon a dame before." 

"I feel lucky." I teased back as Steve opened the front door. He too looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep last night and I stopped, putting my hands on my hips. "What did you do last night? Guard the back of the dorm?" 

Steve looked like a deer in headlights until Bucky clapped him on the shoulder. "Nah, punk over here was researching those two dickheads." 

Steve scowled, "Language jerk." 

I sighed, shaking my head, "You know I had to grow up around Donavan my whole life. And Brock looks scary, but one good kick in the you-know-where spot puts him out of commission for a week. You don't really have to worry about them, that show last night was just to try and intimidate us." 

"How's Miss Greenleaf?" Steve asked, closing the door behind us while he and Bucky shared a glance I didn't understand. It was like they thought Donavan and Brock were more dangerous than they really were. 

"She's fine." I sighed, rubbing the back of my head, going to move towards my office, but Steve wrapped an arm around my waist. I gave a startled yelp as he carried me to the living room, where a breakfast had been laid out, the next Jurassic Park movie on the TV. 

"Date morning." Steve whispered in my ear, before setting me down on the couch. 

I blushed. "Um but-" 

"I know." Steve murmured, stroking my cheek with his thumb. "Let us court you Elizabeth. No sex, just days like this." 

I was silent for a while, before I glanced up at Bucky. He smiled in a reassuring way and I felt something inside of me glow. 

I wasn't sure how it would work. In the back of my head, I figured it was a waste of time. After all, they were married and it wasn't like I could marry two people. I almost always looked at a relationship for long term and I couldn't see this one actually going anywhere. 

Yet. . . 

I thought of Clementine and Professor Wilson. That relationship wouldn't be going anywhere either. After all, while it wasn't illegal for a student and Professor to be dating, it was certainly frowned upon and Clementine's life already had enough controversies as it was. 

So. . . 

"Okay." I whispered. 

"Yes." Bucky hissed, before capturing the back of my head with his prosthetic hand, his lips latching onto mine. 

It was euphoric, the way that his lips felt against mine. As cheesy as it was to claim that it felt like we were made for each other. . . that's exactly how it felt. His tongue met mine as both of us parted our lips. 

Steve simply let us do our thing, resting his chin on my shoulder, occasionally tilting his head so he could kiss my neck, but otherwise was silent and unmoving. 

Bucky finally pulled away, my lungs crying out in declaration as air moved through me again. Bucky chuckled softly. "You have to breathe through your nose doll." 

I giggled and flushed darkly, before turning to look at Steve. Steve smiled gently, leaning in, caressing my lips with his. It was a much gentler kiss, safer, but sweet and fitting all the same. He nipped at my bottom lip suddenly, pulling back, before letting it go. 

I felt like a mess, knowing I was slicked between the legs, my hair puffing out, and my lips felt swollen. 

"C'mon, let's watch." Steve hummed, letting the fifth movie play. We were much quicker to snuggle up with each other. I was sandwiched between the two Professors, snacking on the finger-sized sausage links while they ate at least three platefuls of eggs, pancakes, bacon, and fruit. 

As the movie came to an end, they did nothing but skip onto the sixth and final movie, which was one of my favorites since it brought back every amazing character. By the time that movie was over too, both of the Professors were snoring softly, their arms wrapped so tightly around me that I could not actually get up from where I was. 

I contented myself to laying between the two of them, feeling safer than I had felt in a while. Everything that had gone on with Donavan and Brock, the near miss at the grocery store, and the boy I had shot. . . this felt amazing. This felt calm. This. . . This felt like it was where I was supposed to be. 

I slowly drifted off to sleep, hoping that this could last just a little bit longer. 

ꨄ︎

"So, if I can ask." Bucky said as we sat, replaying the sixth movie since they'd slept through a good portion of it, eating Panda Express while we did so. "How did you and Rumlow date?" 

"Buck!" Steve scolded him. 

"No, it's fine." I said, popping another piece of orange chicken into my mouth. "It's kind've stupid. It was a few years ago, I was sixteen-" 

"Isn't Rumlow in his thirties?" Bucky asked, surprised. 

"What? No." I laughed. "At the time, he was like nineteen I think? He's not that much older than us. Anyways, there was this dance and Clementine had a date and I didn't. Donavan introduced me to him. I didn't like Donavan, but Brock was hot and he was nice enough." 

The glare Steve and Bucky sent each other when I called Brock 'hot' and I had to hide my smile. 

"Anyways, we dated for a little while but I started backing off the more that he pressed to. . . well you know." I took Bucky's hand into mine as he clenched it tightly. "Anyways, at the same time, Clementine was dating this superb guy. We had planned to meet each others' guys and well. . . turns out Brock was with both of us." 

"Dick." Bucky grumbled. 

"Language." Steve said in an exasperated voice. 

I smiled. "Anyways, Clem and I both dumped him at the same time and I don't think he's quite gotten over it. Donavan and him wanted double dates with similar girls." 

"Then why didn't Rumlow date Clementine and Donavan date you?" Steve asked. 

I bit my lip, digging my fork into the chicken and then muttered. "Er, because Donavan um. . . doesn't want me." 

It took them a second but then Steve was on his feet, anger written all over his face. 

"Punk." Bucky said in a warning voice, his arm having tightened around me. 

"She can stay here too." Steve said immediately. "We have plenty of rooms. There's no way-" 

"I'll ask." I said softly. "But Clem is sort've determined to ride this out on her own. . . with me by her side but she doesn't want outsiders in her business. The last time we tried to get people involved. . . she was the jealous sister who was badmouthing her angel of a brother. My parents believed her and they called off my arranged marriage with Donavan." 

"Arranged marriage?" Steve asked, "That's still a thing?" 

I laughed, "Sort've. Obviously, rare, but our families had it arranged when I was five. But they called it off. And I think Clementines' parents were sort've believing because they didn't have a problem with it and they've done their best to keep Donavan and Clementine separate since then. But since there's no evidence and Donavan is an angel boy. . . you know it's something they don't want to believe." 

I finished off my Chinese food, completely relaxing into Bucky. He mindlessly stroked my hair, putting his own food down. 

"Elizabeth," Steve said softly, sitting down and taking my hand. "Please stay here until they're gone. Please?" 

I could tell it meant a lot to him, the earnest in his eyes. He seemed almost fearful and all I wanted to do was appease his worries. 

"Okay." I whispered, leaning up to kiss his cheek. "Okay." 

"Thank you." He breathed out. 

"I'll have to go and get some things though." I said slowly. "I know it's Saturday but I think they're going to be here for a while so I need my school books and clothes. Things like that. And I need to talk to Clementine, which I want to do in person." 

"You can take the car." Steve said, a playful smirk crawling onto his face. 

Bucky shot up immediately. "Hello no! No one else is driving that car." 

I pouted, "Are you saying I'll crash it." 

"Yes." He said with zero hesitation. "Jeez punk, you really want to give me a heart attack like that?" 

I giggled at that, kissing his cheek too. "So whose driving me?" 

"I will." Steve started to say, but Bucky was the one scooping me up under his arm like I was a child. 

"Nope, I'm taking her." Bucky said while I laughed. 

"See you when you get home." Steve laughed after us, cleaning up the empty cardboard boxes. I should really look into where they sourced their chicken and vegetables and seeing if I was putting poison into my veins. But I also wasn't going to pass up a chance to eat with my hot Professors. 

Stepping outside and into the car, it felt like a completely different world. Like the inside of their house was a fantasy land and we had just stepped into the real world. Driving back onto campus I thought of what everyone would say if they knew where I had been and what I had been doing. The names I would be called and the looks I would receive. 

He pulled up to the dorm and turned the car off, "Want me to go inside with you?" 

"Nah, I got it. Although I'll call you if I have a hard time convincing Clem to come stay with us." I said with a grin, getting out of the car before pausing, "If I take longer than ten minutes, come get me." 

"Got it doll." He replied. 

I headed up into the dorm and stepped inside. All of the lights were off and it was silent. It was obvious that Clementine was not here and I made my way to my dorm. 

I started to pack a small bag, while also gathering my school things, when I noticed a note laying on my bed. It was written in purple ink, so I knew that it was from Clementine. 

𝓛𝓲𝔃𝔃𝔂,𝓦𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝔂 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓢𝓪𝓶 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓪 𝔀𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓮. 𝓗𝓸𝓹𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓭𝓸𝓷'𝓽 𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓭. 𝓢𝓮𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓲𝓷 𝓼𝓬𝓱𝓸𝓸𝓵 𝓜𝓸𝓷𝓭𝓪𝔂.-𝓒𝓵𝓮𝓶

Good, she would be safe then. I was glad. I picked the note up so that I could toss it somewhere else. Suddenly, the door behind me opened and I spun around to face Donavan and Brock. 

"Where's Clementine?" Donavan asked dangerously. 

"What the hell are you two doing here? How did you get into the dorm?" I asked angrily, feeling completely vulnerable. I really, really wished I had my gun, because these were two scumbags I wouldn't have nightmares about killing. 

"Who is Sam?" Donavan growled. They had already read the message then. That wasn't good. 

"I don't know." I replied. "Some guy she's been seeing, but she only told me about him last night!" 

I wondered if I would survive jumping out the window. Probably not. 

"Where are you going sweetcheeks?" Brock asked, looking at my packed things. "Are you staying somewhere else tonight? Why?" 

I gritted my teeth. "Extra credit. I'm going camping. Bug off." 

"Sure, sure." Brock said, edging around me. Despite trying to keep both of them in my line of sight, there was one on either side of me and I was not a fan of it. "That's why your school stuff is packed too." 

"Why are you running?" Donavan asked softly. "I get it, Clementine lied to you about some stuff and you don't like me. But have I really ever done anything to you to make you scared of me?" 

"Maybe I don't like child predators." I snapped. 

"That's harsh, I'm barely older than you." Donavan sighed. 

I slung my backpack onto my shoulders, grabbing my other bags. "I'm going to be late, move." 

I hated the idea of them staying in the apartment after I left. I could only imagine them putting cameras up in the bathroom and our bedrooms. But I also didn't want to stay there any longer. I didn't want them knowing that I was staying with Bucky. 

Brock grabbed my arm and I turned, wrenching it out of his grip. "Back off Brock. You know, if you're so curious why I'm scared even if you've never done anything to scare me, it's things like this. Even if you hadn't gone after Clementine, you both act like creeps. Now let. Me. Leave." I glared at Donavan and after a second, he stepped to the side. 

I bustled past the two of them, wrenching the dorm door open and slammed it behind me. I hurried out of the dorm itself and then paused when I saw John in the hallway. He was opening up the door in front of him and looked over when he saw me. "Oh. Hey!" 

"Hey." I gave him a stressed smile, and then heard the door open up behind me, telling me that Brock and Donavan had just come out of my apartment. 

John glared at them over my shoulder and asked spitefully. "What are you doing here?" 

I backed up just a little bit, edging around John and saw Brock glaring at him as well, while Donavan looked confused. 

"What are you doing here?" Brock sneered. "Thought you were disowned. How did you afford this? Identifying as a girl?" 

John blushed darkly and I felt a pang of sympathy although I continued to make my way towards the elevators, hoping all three of them continued to go at each others' throats. 

"Better than what you're doing." John hissed, pulling his key out of the dorm he was going to go into. 

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Donavan asked as the elevator doors opened. I waited until they were closing to step inside, letting them close in front of me. I let out a relieved sigh, my head thumping against the metal wall. 

The doors slid open and a tense Bucky was standing there, his shoulders relaxing when he saw me. 

"Are you alright?" He asked, hoisting one of my bags over his shoulder, opening the door for me. 

"Fine. It got weird though." I mumbled, forgetting that he didn't even know they had been up there. 

"What?" He asked sharply as he opened the trunk. 

"Well, Brock and Donavan were waiting in my dorm. Clementine's staying at uh, Professor Wilsons' by the way." I added, putting my suitcase in the back. "Anyways, I got them to let me leave but then we ran into John and I still have no idea why he's there, but apparently Brock and John know each other from somewhere." 

"In the car." Bucky said in a tense tone, opening the passenger door which I slid into. His tense demeanor was making my heart race, like we were about to run from the law or something. He slid into the drivers' seat and said, "continue." He peeled away from the sidewalk, speeding down the street. 

"Uh, so he said something about how John had been disowned and shouldn't be at the college cause he couldn't afford it or something like that. And John said it was better than what Brock was doing, but he didn't really expand on what Brock was doing exactly. It was just weird." I sighed, looking out the window. 

I gave a start, feeling fingers wrapping around mine and saw Bucky was holding my hand. I laced my fingers through his slowly. 

"We'll figure it out." Bucky murmured. 

I looked at him for a long time as he drove. Finally, I said. "Bucky, they're just stupid college kids. You're acting like they've got some. . . higher purpose I guess. You don't have to over analyze it, I promise." 

He just squeezed my hand tighter and said nothing more. 

He helped with getting my things inside and then once they were settled into my bedroom, he led me down to where his and Steve's bedroom was, knocking on the door. 

"Y-eah?" Steve called out, sounding distracted. Bucky pushed the door open and my breath caught in my throat. 

He looked so fine, laying on his side on the bed. He was wearing glasses, which I hadn't seen him wear up till that point. His blond hair looked darker from the dim lights and he smiled when he saw the two of us, setting the book aside. "Hey." 

"Hi." Bucky mumbled, leaning in to kiss him. 

"Any problems?" He asked. 

"No." I murmured, leaning awkwardly in the doorway. They looked perfect together and I couldn't help admiring the view. 

"Come here doll." Bucky murmured softly, holding his hand out. 

I took it, letting him pull me onto the bed, nestling down between the two of them. Steve tossed his studies onto the floor, rolling over to sandwich me in between the two men. I sighed, burying my face into his shirt. 

"Is Clementine okay?" 

"She's with Sam apparently." Bucky answered for me, mumbling into my hair. 

"Good, he'll keep her safe." Steve yawned. 

I really didn't mean to fall asleep between the two of them, but with their warmth and Steve's hand comfortably running down my hair and back, repeating that motion over and over again, I drifted off into a blissful sleep. 

[braveclementine]

Chapter 11

Warnings: 18+ readers only, teasing, slight stimulation, pet names

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Elizabeth Silvertongue and Clementine Greenleaf. I also own Clementines' brother Donavan. The following OCs are owned by other Wattpad writers as this is a collaboration project. Their OCs are on the face claim page. I do not condone any copying of this.

For many weeks leading up to October, I would join Bucky and Steve for lunch after working on Sundays, while we slowly went through the Jurassic park movies. They loved hearing my tidbits as we went through Jurassic Park 2 and 3. When we reached Jurassic World however, Steve and Bucky had straightened up in shock. 

"Is that Peter?" Steve asked. 

"Maybe. . ." Bucky said slowly as though in doubt. 

"Peter Quil?" I asked confused. "He's done a handful of movies, why?" 

"He's a teacher we work with, that's all." Steve answered quickly. "Although he's more of a substitute so he's not here most of the time." 

 "Hmm so billionaires and movie stars work at this school. Interesting." I replied lightly, settling in as we watched Owen Grady train the raptors. 

"Stars? As in plural?" Bucky asked. 

"Oh yeah." I said. "Uh Dean Fury was in a couple of star wars movies, he was in the very first Jurassic park movie, he's been in quite a few movies. It's just a little bit of a surprise that people with so much money and could retire become teachers." Then I grinned, "Or maybe. . . maybe it's a cover. The school is a cover." 

Steve looked like a deer in headlights but Bucky chuckled, pulling me closer in a teasing way. "Oh yeah? What sort of cover doll?" 

Every single time he called me this nickname I needed to try and get space because I became so aroused. My cheeks burned too, so I knew he had to know he was making me flustered. 

"Hmmm," I said thoughtfully. "The mafia?" 

Steve chuckled softly and Bucky grinned, "The mafia hmm? You like bad boys like that?" 

I was suddenly very confused and flustered, deciding it was better just to ignore him and watch the movies. 

I wasn't sure why I had become so comfortable with my teachers, or when it had become so. It felt like it had been instantaneous before I remembered I spent a few weeks thinking Professor Barnes hated me. But that felt like a lifetime ago, not two months. 

Bucky chuckled, "She does like bad boys." 

"Shut up." I mumbled, biting my bottom lip, focusing solely on the boys arriving to the amusement park. "You'll miss the movie." 

But I could feel his smug silence throughout the rest of the movie and when he drove me back to the campus. 

I had also started hanging out in a very strange group which consisted of Helen, Ivy, Venus, and Destiny. Most of them had tragic pasts and Venus didn't talk much but whatever had happened to her had rendered her half-human, half-robot/cyborg and always looked like she was hiding something. The other three hadn't really shared their pasts, but from the way they constantly seemed to look around warily, there was definitely trauma. 

I had also taken up therapy, which I attended every Friday after classes. I wasn't really sure if the classes were working, but it also felt just a little bit good opening up about some of the things I was feeling. 

I had been wrong to an extent. Professor Wilson- or Sam as he was getting me to call him while we were in session- did not tell me things I wanted to hear. His advice was sometimes unappealing, but when followed through, I found it helpful. 

And then there was John. After hanging out with him once or twice, despite my bad feelings, I found that he wasn't really bad company. He could even be funny, sometimes making me laugh. 

But with all of this, I was barely seeing Clementine. We were both working, studying, and trying to balance social lives. . . but we weren't including each other in our social lives. I had tried to hang out with her friends and she had tried to hang out with mine. But her friends were all science nerds who seemed to go out of their way to make me feel stupid. And my friends were just not the right fit her. 

I missed her though and I wondered if now that we were adults, we would grow apart completely. 

Halloween started to roll around the corner, and the campus was hosting an outdoor movie night. I'm not sure if they just wanted us to freeze to death since the high was going to be sixty-three, but regardless, it was something the entire campus was talking about. 

"Hey." Clementine said as she came into the dorm. I had just finished making a delicious salad with all the meats and stuff, putting it out on the table. I had leftover chicken that Bucky and I had cooked together one of my Saturdays over and had been able to bring home. 

"Hey." I said, setting two plates down on the table. "How was class?" 

"Good. I was thinking, we should go to the movie thing together. Dress up, ya know?" Clem asked, dropping her bag on the couch, sitting down as we started to eat. 

"Any costume ideas?" I asked slowly, knowing that we usually paired outfits, but I wasn't sure if she was going to dress up with her new friend group. 

"I was thinking Hololive characters?" Clementine said hesitantly. "What do you think?" 

"Sounds adorable." I said slowly, trying to picture a costume in my mind. Gawr Gura would be pretty cute, but I wasn't sure I could pull her off. "Just us or are we including our friends too?" 

"Up to you, but I'd like to do just us if you like that." Clementine said. 

"Yeah." I smiled, popping a piece of sliced pepperoni into my mouth. 

"Great!" Clementine said enthusiastically. "Can't wait to see which character you pick." 

Yes, that was the question, wasn't it? 

ꨄ︎

I finished braiding my newly dyed hair together, letting the dark strands layer in with the light gray, almost silver strands. Then I stood up, slowly and carefully getting into my outfit. It was a red plaid skirt with a gray sort've corset. It also came with a matching gray. . . almost collar sort've thing with gold edging and red string to tie it together. Clementine had helped me stitch together a slide on jacket with large, frilly sleeves that hid my hands and I had fashioned a hat to match everything. I even popped light red contacts in my eyes to finish the whole thing off. 

I wore black stockings that ended above my knees, fitted with black lace, and then wore small school girl shoes. Finally, I stood in the mirror looking like Sakamata Chloe from Hololive. 

I smiled and then exited the room to see that Clementine was waiting in the dorm for me. She had debated between Amelia Watson and Sakura Miko, before finally settling in as Houshou Marine. 

She hadn't dyed her hair like I had, instead wearing a pink and white wig, with amber contacts in her eyes. She wore a neat little black dress that finished in a tight white collar around her neck. She wore black gloves that traveled mid-way up her arm. I wasn't quite sure what she was wearing around her legs, but she was also wearing school girl shoes.

I grinned, watching her twirl a butterfly knife in her hands. "You look great." 

Clementine looked up, eyes lighting up as she saw me, "Oh you look amazing! The hair came out great!" 

"Thanks." I said, grinning. "Ready to go?" 

"Yes." She said, grabbing the bag of candy to stuff into her purse. I giggled, grabbing the pumpkin candy corns that for me and solely me. 

We headed out of the dorm and I immediately felt giddy, seeing everyone else dressed up for Halloween. I had been a little worried that Clem and I might stand out as being too sexy, despite both of us covering up well enough. But my worries were unwarranted. Compared to half of the other girls here, Clem and I were practically the epitome of modesty. 

"Let's sit near the back." Clementine suggested as we reached Central Park, the place that the College had set the outdoor movies at. "We can sit near the speakers, and we won't have to crane our necks to see the screen." 

"Excellent." I said and we did just that, spreading the blanket out on the ground, making ourselves comfortable. We had even packed a small picnic and Clementine decided to set that up at the moment, pulling out the thermos of hot chocolate. 

I pulled out the marshmallows and we made our cups and settled in as the first movie started, which was Nightmare Before Christmas. Then there was The Shining, then Hocus Pocus, which I absolutely loved. 

"Hey girls." I heard a voice behind me as Coraline started to play. I looked up to see Professors Rogers, Barnes, and Wilson there. 

"Hello Professors." We said together. I couldn't help but rake my eyes over them. 

Professor Rogers was dressed as a cowboy, his brown leather vest sleeveless, showing off his rippling muscles. His blue jeans were skin tight, nearly painted on his legs, which showed off his firm thighs and fine ass. 

Professor Barnes was dressed as a police officer, his blue cap perched jauntily on his head. The outfit did his thighs wonders, the muscles bulging against the fabric. His fingers played with the handcuffs that were sitting on his belt and as I met his eyes, he raised an eyebrow, lifting them, which just made me redder. 

Professor Wilson didn't look half bad either, dressed as Dr. Facilier from the Princess and the Frog. 

"You girls look great." Professor Rogers added and I suddenly realized that he'd been looking Clem and I over just as much as I had been looking him over. His cheeks were fairly pink and he quickly sat down next to me. Bucky sat behind the two of us, Professor Wilson taking the other side of Clem. 

"Thanks." I mumbled. 

"Good enough to eat." Bucky whispered so softly in my ear that I wasn't even sure I'd heard him say anything at all. 

"You ever seen this movie before?" Steve asked, motioning to the movie screen. I had forgotten that we were even watching movies. 

"A handful of times. Coraline is pretty good." I said. "Want some?" I asked, offering my bag of pumpkin candy corn.

He looked it blankly. "What is it?" 

I gasped, "You haven't had candy corn before?" 

"Good, don't, it's disgusting." Clementine called over to him, "It's literally just pure sugar and gelatin." 

I huffed. "They're delicious. I don't know what you're problem is." 

"Disgusting." Clementine muttered. 

"You're the one who eats nuts in her candy." I muttered darkly, watching her bite into a snickers. I pretended to hold back vomit and Clementine punched me in the arm. 

I placed a pumpkin in Steve's hand and Bucky reached over to pluck one out, both of them popping it into their mouths at the same time. Both of them made puzzled faces as they slowly chewed them over before Steve quickly swallowed his, reaching for his water. Bucky on the other hand, plucked a second one away from me to eat it again. 

Just like with the Jurassic Park movies, I found myself getting far to comfortable, leaning against Steve's arm as the movie progressed. I could also feel Bucky moving in behind the two of us, his fingers grazing against my hip lightly. 

I completely forgot that it wasn't just the three of us until Clementine coughed next to me. I jumped a little, my body jerking away from both of my Professors. I glanced over discretely to see if she had noticed, and received a shock. 

Her head was rested against Professor Wilsons' shoulder, their fingers laced behind their backs on the blanket. I flushed, quickly looking away, placing my own hands in my lap. 

I was feeling rather conflicted as Coraline ended and the last movie of the night came on: Pet Semetary. I had read the book and was quite confident that the movie wouldn't be as scary. . . I was wrong. They built the tension just perfectly in the movie and I had to hide my face into Steve's shoulder a fair number of times. And when the old man walked down the stairs slowly, I pressed back into Bucky and then flinched as the girl stabbed him in the ankle with the scissors, a muffled scream against my lips. 

Bucky had just chuckled, pulling me into his arms, holding me tightly. I looked around, but no one was near us to care. Sam and Clem were seemingly in their own little world as Sam kissed her shoulder. 

It grew colder as the night went on and I shivered, pressing into my brunette professor to gain some warmth. The movie slowly came to an end with a great finale, which I found terrifying, squealing behind clenched teeth that were starting to chatter. 

"Should get inside." Steve said, as the wind picked up again. I jerked as the empty candy bag flew away, chasing after it out of instinct, not wanting to litter. 

I nearly tripped over my own two feet, before managing to catch it, coming to a stop. Panting, I turned around and realized that I was in the forest bit of Central Park. I walked over to one of the trash cans, putting the bag in, before hearing a group of voices. 

Out of instinct, I darted away, hiding behind a tree. It was indeed Clementines' friends, and I was glad that I had hidden, so no one could find me. 

Just as I had thought that, a hand was placed over my mouth and I jumped, before relaxing at seeing it was just Professor Barnes. 

"You know doll, running off like that, you could get hurt." Bucky whispered darkly in my ear. My breathing had slowed down now, shallow, anticipating what was going to happen next. 

"Just didn't want to litter." I squeaked out. 

"There's so many bad people out at night." He continued, his hands on my hips now, his knee moving slowly between my leg. I had never been touched by a man like this and my heart was pounding. Heat seemed to be gathering between my legs in an unfamiliar way. I hoped he couldn't feel it the way I could. 

"G- good thing you're here then." I managed to say. 

"Oh doll, I am one of those bad boys." I felt metal around my wrists as he closed the handcuffs around them, lifting the chain so that I was on my tiptoes, resting it on a branch above my head, pushing it back far enough so that I couldn't free myself. "But, something tells me," He pushed his knee into my core harder, "You like bad boys." 

Our lips were inches apart, his blue eyes reflected in the moonlight. I felt dazed, my throat dry from the sweets and nothing to drink, eyelids tired, but adrenaline was coursing through my veins now. 

"Buck?" Steve's voice broke through the air, breaking the spell and shame swelled inside of me. How could I have possibly even harbored this fantasy, how could I have even thought of humoring this, when Steve was Bucky's husband? How could Bucky do such a thing to Steve, when they said that they loved each other so much? "Bucky?" 

"Right here Steve." Bucky purred, calling out. "I hope you're alone." 

I couldn't understand why Bucky wasn't trying to get out of this compromising situation. 

I heard Steve chuckle and say, "What are you up to punk?" I could hear his footsteps, crunching on the stiff grass as he came around the tree, stopping as he saw the two of us. Bucky ran his fingers across my chin, gripping my jaw so that I was forced to look at Steve. I could see his eyes, which darkened, a grin spreading across his face. 

And I understood. 

They were both in on it. 

I was suddenly drenched and Bucky chuckled, slowly moving his knee in circles, stimulating something so that small waves of pleasure seemed to shoot through my body from my core, down to my toes, and up to my head. 

"You look good princess." Steve purred, before coming to stand at the side of the tree, so he was behind me, and so he could whisper right into my ear. "Wanted to punch every guy that looked at you. You're to sexy in this outfit for your own good. This skirt makes your adorable little ass look so round and perfect." 

I couldn't breathe. Steve didn't even like people using 'hell' or 'shit' in class. How could he be talking like this? 

"You need to say something doll." Bucky whispered. 

My brain finally caught up with what was happening. Before I could even stop myself, or deliver it in a different fashion, the words just slipped out of my mouth: 

"I don't believe in sex outside of marriage." 

My heart dropped out of my chest as they both took a step back. I closed my eyes, sighing, "Sorry. I-I-" 

"Hey." Steve murmured softly, cupping my cheek. "That's alright Elizabeth. You don't have to worry, okay? We understand. Hell, that's a belief I've had for the longest time except-" 

"You're already married." I grinned, glad that he was alright with it. 

"No worries doll." Bucky kissed my cheek anyways. "Let me get you down." 

"Sorry." I mumbled again. 

"No. It's good you told us before we took it to a place you'd regret. That would be worse." Steve reassured me. 

Suddenly, I thought I heard a familiar voice and I frowned. Steve went to speak again, but I held up my hands, since they were still cuffed together. They both fell silent and I listened hard. 

". . . doing here?" Clementines' voice was angry. 

"Happy Halloween sister." 

"Get them off Buck, now!" I ordered, voice sharp and cold. The adrenaline was back, but this time it felt like I had a bucket of cold ice thrown over me. Bucky didn't hesitate, unlocking the handcuffs with a trick motion and I didn't look back as I sprinted in the direction of the voices. 

"CLEMENTINE!" I shouted as I came to a fork in the path. 

"Elizabeth?" Clementine's voice came from my left and I sprinted in that direction, skidding to a stop when I saw Donavan there. 

"Well hello there Lizzy." Donavan grinned, dimples showing in both cheeks as he smiled. "Did you miss me?" 

Bonus: 

(Admittedly though, the Steve in my story is before he got the beard and still has the much lighter blond hair. But this was pretty hot so. . .) 

[braveclementine]

Chapter 7

Warnings: None.

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Elizabeth Silvertongue and Clementine Greenleaf. I also own Clementines' brother Donavan. The following OCs are owned by other Wattpad writers as this is a collaboration project. Their OCs are on the face claim page. I do not condone any copying of this.

I woke up, sliding out of bed and headed out of my bedroom to see Clementine standing with her back to the wall, looking bored. She looked over as I came out of the door and said, "We only got to wait for another ten seconds." 

I just stared at her, exhausted. I'd had a hard time trying to fall back to sleep after vomiting the pizza up, along with a mixture of nightmares. 

Then, I heard the microwave start beeping. 

"Alright, what have you done with the old Clementine?" I asked, my voice dry as a dessert, "First fast food, now using the microwave?" 

"Well, I figured after the pizza, we needed something healthy." Clementine sighed, finally moving away to go and open up the microwave. I could smell something delicious now as she put a bowl down on the counter. 

"Is that. . . oatmeal?" I asked. 

"Yes, go take a shower while I make your bowl." Clementine commanded. 

I did as she asked, taking a hot shower and letting it soothe me. I couldn't help but feel nervous for school today. Classes had been delayed, but my history class was still taking place. 

I got dressed in my jeans and a sweater since it was starting to get chilly out, wearing my hair down long today since I felt like I was going to need to hide behind it. 

Clementine had fixed my oatmeal exactly as I loved it, with milk and topped with cinnamon. There was also at least three spoonful's of brown sugar on the bottom. 

We ate in silence until Clementine pushed her bowl away and asked, "How are you feeling?" 

I looked over at her, slowly lowering my spoon back into my almost eaten oatmeal. I felt like there was a ball of the substance, congealing in my stomach, turning into lead. "I don't know. I feel fine, I think." 

Clementine drummed her fingers against the table, looking away. 

"What?" I asked. 

"I hope you're prepared for the backlash." Clementine sighed. "That's all. I just want you to know that no matter what, I'll be by your side the entire time." 

I blinked. Backlash. Right, I had forgotten about that. Not everyone was going to be pleased with my actions. 

"Thanks Clem." I said, giving her half a smile. "But you're also going to be late for your nursing class if you stay any longer." 

"Right!" Clementine said, jumping up and hurrying to grab her things. "Just. . . text me if you need me." 

"I will." I replied, watching her leave through the dorm door. 

I finished the rest of the breakfast off, before washing both sets of dishes, before collapsing on the couch. I still had hours before I had to go to history, and I stared at the ceiling, wondering what I was going to do with the rest of my time. Psychology had been interrupted so there was no homework for that class. I had already finished English. 

I reached for my biology homework before pausing, moving my hand to pick up my phone instead. I listened to phone dial for three buzzes before it was picked up. 

"What's up Pumpkin?" My dads' voice sounded on the other side of the phone. 

I breathed out, closing my eyes, smiling just a little. "Hey dad. I was just calling cause. . . I just needed to hear your voice." 

"School getting you down?" He asked. I could hear the background sounds of him driving as he delivered mail on the other side of the phone. 

"Uh, sort've." I sighed. "We had a uh, school shooter yesterday." 

"Are you alright?" He asked, suddenly more alert. 

"I'm fine. I just. . . I'm the one who shot him dad. I killed him." My voice wobbled and I closed my eyes again, moving the phone away from my ear so that he didn't hear me start to cry. 

"Tell me exactly what happened." My father requested. 

Slowly, I told him everything. How the gun man had burst into the classroom, how faded the sound of gunfire had sounded, how Clementine had hid behind a generator and a bullet had missed her by inches as it pinged off the metal. I told him how I had reacted instantaneously, but how I couldn't seem to lower the gun afterwards, like I had frozen. 

My father had always been a great listener, and he listened now without interruption. When I was done, I took a deep breath, wiping underneath my eyes and sniffled. 

"I'm very proud of you sweetheart." My dad said, his voice more serious than before. "You did exactly what your grandfather would've done. He'd be proud of you too." 

"I know." I whispered softly. "And I know that the boy I killed. . . he was a bad guy and I know that he was going to kill us. And I know that I protected myself and my friend and my classmates but. . . taking his life. . . it hurts anyways." 

My father was silent and said, "Sometimes I wish your grandfather was still alive. He would know exactly what to say to you, make you laugh." 

"You can too." I offered with a slight smile. 

"Not like him. But, Elizabeth, I know how you and your mother feel about therapy. Hell, you know how I feel about therapy. But maybe you should take that English Professor up on his offer. I don't want you carrying this burden. And if he's worked with veterans who come back from war, he's going to know how to help you better than I can." 

"Okay." I murmured. 

"Remember you can call me and your mom whenever you need and visit too." 

"Thanks dad." I smiled. "I have to get to class soon, do you mind telling mom before she hears it on the news or something?" 

"Of course. Love you honey." 

"Love you too Dad." 

"Bye." 

"Bye." 

I sighed as I hung up the phone, gathering up my things for East Asian History. 

The class was only half full, the Professor not even in. I took my seat, pulling out my textbook and waited patiently. I knew that if a teacher didn't show up to a class for 15 minutes, we were legally allowed to leave. But I didn't want to leave. I wanted a class to distract me from my troubles. 

Okay, fine, I wanted Professor Rogers to distract me. Man he was fine as heck. 

Professor Rogers came hurrying in after five minutes. "I'm sorry class, things have been hectic as I'm sure you're aware. Since we're missing a large majority of the class, I'm giving you an optional day. You can stay or leave. Homework will be a simple essay on the differences between China, Korea, and Japan solely based on Chapter 4 in your textbook." 

Every single person in the class rose, leaving the room quickly, murmuring to each other. I could've sworn I caught my name in some of their whispers. But I wondered if that was just paranoia. 

"Miss Silvertongue?" Professor Rogers asked gently. 

I glanced up. "Yes, Professor Rogers?" 

He was silent for a moment and then jerked his head. "Come into my office for a moment." 

I stood up, trudging into his office. He was leaning against the desk he worked at and gestured to the chair that sat in front of his desk. I took the hint, sitting down in it. 

"You alright?" He asked softly. "I didn't expect to see you in class today." 

"Oh." Was all I said. 

"If you need some time off-" 

"Thank you, but no thanks." I said in a rush. "Typically if I miss a day of school I fall behind for the rest of the year. Mostly in math, but I can't afford it, especially in college." 

"You don't have to do the essay." Professor Rogers said. 

"But Professor-" 

"Everyone is going to use ChatGPT anyways." Professor Rogers shrugged. "And it's a nonsense filler assignment anyways. You can use your time doing more productive things." 

"Students use ChatGPT?" I asked, interested. 

Professor Rogers laughed, "You'd be surprised how many emails I get read like this." He cleared his throat and then said in a funny, sort've English sounding voice, "'Good day, I hope this email finds you in good health'." 

I couldn't help but giggle at that, already feeling lighter. He was doing exactly as I hoped he would: distract me. 

"That's stupid." I finally said, grinning.

"Isn't it?" He sighed. "Still, makes grading essays a whole lot easier. Just mark them with 20% and send them on their way." 

"20%! And they still do it?" I asked, astounded. 

Professor Rogers shrugged, "It's easier, isn't it? And that seems to be what people care about these days: ease. Even at the expense of knowledge." 

I didn't have an answer, simply looking away from him. 

"Anyways," Professor Rogers said quickly. "Have you talked to Sam- er Professor Wilson?" 

"No?" I asked in a questioning tone. "Why?" 

"He's a-" 

"Therapist, right." I interrupted with a mutter. "Look, Professor, I'm not one of those weak, snowflake kids that you deal with on a daily basis because they can't handle the most minor inconveniences. I don't need therapy, and I would appreciate if everyone stopped suggesting it." 

Professor Rogers simply lifted his eyebrows in a surprised gesture and then shrugged, "It's your decision." 

I sighed, trying to relax, feeling how tense my shoulders were. "I'm sorry. I just-" 

He moved forwards, pulling me into a hug. Though I was surprised, I melted into it immediately, feeling like something had gone right today. His scent wasn't distinguished smells, but rather feelings. He smelled like flannel, he smelled like cuddling up with a loved one on a chilly fall night. He smelled like weekend nights in a cabin tucked up in a lonely place in the woods. Like fresh bergamot and heirloom mahogany, and soft musk. 

His arms were strong, muscular, definitely defined. His heart was beating at an even pace, calm, and I took deep breaths to its' beat. I hadn't even realized that I had needed this hug until now. 

"Thank you." I murmured, the warm weight of his chin digging into the top of my head wasn't even uncomfortable. Everything about this felt just right. 

"You needed it." He murmured softly. 

"How'd you know?" I asked, slowly pulling away as I heard footsteps stop outside the door. 

"I just did." He grinned and then looked over me at Professor Barnes. "Hey Buck." 

"Am I interrupting?" He asked. I expected his smirk to slide over his face, but instead there was that same soft look like I was a lost puppy. It irked me. 

"Not at all." Professor Rogers said, squeezing my shoulder and moving behind his desk. "What do you need?" 

"Um, see you tomorrow Professors." I murmured, wanting to get out of there quickly. 

They both nodded, but dove into their conversation as I headed from the room. Then I stopped, double backed, and closed the door quietly, smirking to myself. 

I hope they fucked. 

[braveclementine]

Chapter 6

Warnings: School shooting, trigger warnings of death and violence.

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Elizabeth Silvertongue and Clementine Greenleaf. I also own Clementines' brother Donavan. The following OCs are owned by other Wattpad writers as this is a collaboration project. Their OCs are on the face claim page. I do not condone any copying of this.

"Miss Silvertongue, what are personality traits?" Professor Barnes shot out as he started the fifth week of Psychology. 

"They are traits that reflect people's pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behavior." I replied quickly. I had expected him to call on me despite not having started the unit yet and had pre-read the chapter before class just so I didn't look stupid. 

Professor Barnes eyes glinted with something like surprise, before he pretty much scowled at me. 

I still couldn't gather if he liked me or not. He always put me on the spot in school, embarrassed me every chance he could, but when I was working with Professor Rogers he was teasing, almost flirty. 

Maybe he was bipolar. 

"Technically that's a word for word definition, but correct either way." Professor Barnes replied, before moving on, walking over to the chalkboard. "Trait psychology rests on the idea that people differ from one another in terms of where they stand on a set of basic trait dimensions which can be classified into a system called the Five-Factor Model." 

He wrote the letters O-C-E-A-N out in a downwards motion and then listed them off. 

"Openness Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeableness and Neuroticism." 

"Now then, Openness is the tendency to appreciate new art, ideas, values, feelings, and behaviors. Someone on the high end enjoys seeing people with new types of haircuts and body piercings, curious, imaginative, untraditional. They may be fantasy prone, open to feelings, diverse behaviors, new and different ideas, and values and beliefs. Someone on the low end however prefer not to be exposed to alternative moral systems. They have narrow interests, they're inartistic, not analytical, and very down-to-earth. How many of you think this is your personality trait?" 

Most of the classroom raised their hands, but neither Clem nor I did. 

"Conscientiousness is the tendency to be careful, on-time for appointments, follow rules, and are hardworking. A person who is on the high end of this trait are never late for a date, they're organized, neat, preserving, punctual, and self-disciplined. They're competent, orderly, dutiful, achievement oriented, and deliberate. Those who are not conscientious prefer spur of the moment to planning, they're unreliable, hedonistic, carless, and lax. Anyone here think they're conscientious?" 

I raised my hand and Clem put hers up hesitantly along with a majority of the class besides a few boys in the back who snickered. 

"The extraversion have a tendency to be talkative, sociable, and enjoy others. they tend to have a dominant lifestyle. They enjoy being the life of the party, active, optimistic, fun-loving, affectionate, gregarious, warm, assertive, excitement-seeking, and positive emotionally. Those who aren't are sober, aloof, unenthusiastic, and might prefer a quiet evening reading than going to a party." 

I frowned. I liked being sociable and enjoyed others. But I also would prefer a quiet evening reading to a party. On the other hand, I also wouldn't consider myself unenthusiastic either. 

"Agreeableness is the tendency to agree and go along with others rather than to assert one's own opinions and choices. They agree with others about political opinions, they're good-natured, forgiving, helpful, but can also be gullible. They're trusting, straightforward, altruistic, compliant, modest, tender-minded. . . submissive." He looked directly at me as he said this and I couldn't help but blush, swallowing hard. "Those who aren't, quickly and confidently assert themselves, they can be irritable, manipulative, uncooperative, rude. . .dominant." I refused to look up at him. 

"Lastly, neuroticism which is the tendency to frequently experience negative emotions such as anger, worry, and sadness, as well as being interpersonally sensitive. They constantly worry about little things, they're insecure, hypochondriacal, and feel inadequate. They're anxious, angry, depressed, self-conscious, impulsive, and vulnerable. Those on the opposite end find they don't get irritated by small annoyances, they're calm, unemotional, hardy, secure, and self-satisfied." 

He paused for a moment and then continued, "Now, obviously being one of these traits does not make up your entire personality, nor does that mean being that personality means you're all of those things. It's very hard to fit a person in one box." He looked around and then started to write on the chalkboard again. "Open your laptops and go to this website." 

I had to go through a bunch of links because the website had moved and then saw that it was a personality test. 

"There are one hundred and twenty questions. When you're done, write your results down on this piece of paper and hand it back in." Professor Barnes said. 

I flew through the test. It was very easy since I was very sure of myself and once I was done, I started to scribble down my results. 

EXTRAVERSION           11 Friendliness                  44 Gregariousness            1 Assertiveness                1 Activity Level                 25 Excitement-Seeking   82 Cheerfulness                 30

AGREEABLENESS      41 Trust                                 6 Morality                           27 Altruism                          71 Cooperation                  41 Modesty                           87 Sympathy                        38

CONSCIENTIOUSNESS    30 Self-Efficacy                           55 Orderliness                             42 Dutifulness                             38 Achievement-Striving        10 Self-Discipline                        4 Cautiousness                         71

NEUROTICISM                   74 Anxiety                                   66 Anger                                       51 Depression                            30 Self-Consciousness           94 Immoderation                      77 Vulnerability                         82

OPENNESS                             5 Imagination                            50 Artistic Interests                    73 Emotionality                           60 Adventurousness                  1 Intellect                                      4 Liberalism                                 1

I stood up, bringing the piece of paper over to Professor Barnes, handing it to him. He smirked as he took it, immediately looking over my results. I huffed as I headed back to my seat, seeing him chuckle at something. 

I felt weird about my test results. I wasn't surprised that my trust was at a 6 out of 99, that was a given since I trusted my parents and Clementine and that was it. But being dosed so high at Neuroticism? I knew I was self-conscious, but I only had anxiety during school and no other time. 

Well, now I was having anxiety over my test results. I felt like I had failed someone, having Neuroticism be my highest one. My openness score didn't exactly surprise me, though I had thought it would be higher-

The door slammed open, making people jump and I immediately hit the floor when I saw it was a man with a black mask, holding a gun. The class started to scream and my eyes darted over to where Clem was hiding behind the metal box next to her desk as gunfire started to sound throughout the classroom. 

I reacted immediately, my hand shooting into my bag, and I stood up, firing off two rounds from my Desert eagle. The first one hit the man in the chest and he went down, the second bullet hitting him in the neck as he fell. 

The screams took a moment to subside, but my hand didn't lower from where I had been pointing it, my eyes still staring at the spot the man had been standing. 

Then a large hand was prying the gun from my hand and I snapped out of it, seeing that Professor Barnes had gently taken the weapon from my hand, surveying me with a look that I had never seen before. 

I could hear that whispers were starting up, but I couldn't seem to be able to hear them, staring at the body on the ground now. Blood hadn't pooled from him, like I thought it would. At least, not as much as happened in the movie. There were dots of red liquid, but for the most part, the floor was clean. 

He wasn't breathing. 

I had shot him. 

I had killed him. 

The room started to spin. 

"Breathe." Professor Barnes ordered in my ear. Unlike the rest of the classroom, his voice was clear, sharp, loud. I could feel Clementine's eyes on me, though she didn't approach, letting the Professor help me. "Breathe and walk." 

Professor Barnes guided me past the dead person, calling back something to the rest of the class. We passed two people in the hallway though I couldn't recall them at all. Professor Barnes led me to a room that looked like it was used for meetings. People were rushing around and Professor Barnes said something to one of them. 

"Sit." Professor Barnes ordered, but didn't wait for me to comply, nearly shoving me into an armchair. 

There was no blood on the ground. 

Just a dead body. 

"Talk to me." Professor Barnes said. 

I didn't reply. 

*CRACK*

It was like an electric shock flooded through me as he backhanded me. In hindsight, the slap hadn't even been that hard. Had I been ready for it, I would've probably have called it weak and rolled my eyes, slapping him back playfully. But I was not ready for it and I had been in shock. My fist shot out and he caught it before it slammed into his face. 

"Can you hear me?" Professor Barnes asked. 

"Yes." I snapped. "And I could hear you before." 

"You're in shock, this is normal." Professor Barnes sighed. 

I closed my eyes, feeling the start up of tears build up. But I wasn't going to cry in front of Professor Barnes. 

"Hey." A softer, warmer voice said and I opened my eyes to see Professor Wilson there, along with Dean Fury standing behind him with a much sterner look on his face. Professor Wilson put his hand on Professor Barnes' shoulder and murmured, "Let me take it from here." 

Professor Barnes nodded and left the room, probably to go back to his classroom. 

"Are you alright Elizabeth?" Professor Wilson asked softly, sitting in the chair in front of me. 

"Um, I- I think so. I'm not sure." I mumbled, staring at my knees. "I don't think I've processed it yet." 

Dean Fury opened his mouth but Professor Wilson raised his hand. "Elizabeth, why did you have a gun on you? Are you aware that this is a gun-free campus?" 

I bit the inside of my cheek, my shock and guilt replaced immediately by anxiety. I felt as though I was going to throw up. I was going to be expelled. . . and it hadn't even been two months yet. Not even six weeks. 

"I- I did Professor." I whispered, squeezing my eyes shut and clenching my fists. "But I wanted it on me for protection. I. . . I've never had to be anywhere without it. The idea of a gun-free zone makes me anxious because those are the zones that get attacked more since criminals know that no one will be able to defend themself. I. . . I didn't want to break the school rule, I just wanted to feel safe." 

"I understand." Professor Wilson said. "And there won't be any repercussions for this." 

"Why?" I asked softly, but bluntly. 

"Because you saved the lives of your peers." Dean Fury replied before Professor Wilson could. "From what Professor Barnes told us, you reacted quickly and immediately. So, thank you." 

I hesitated and then asked, "Will I. . . will I be able to have my gun back?" 

"I'm afraid not." Dean Fury answered. 

I felt my heart sank and I lowered my head so they couldn't see my tears. I had had that gun since I was eight. My grandfather had given it to me and he had died only a year later. 

"I understand." I managed to choke out. 

Dean Fury nodded and headed out the door, leaving me alone with Professor Wilson. He smiled kindly at me. "I might be an English teacher, but I'm also a therapist. I used to work with veterans who returned from war. If you ever need anyone to talk to about this, you can come right to me. I'll always be there for you." 

I nodded, but knew I would never accept it. I didn't believe in therapy. 

"Ah, one last thing." Sam said as the door opened again and I watched as Captain America walked in, his shield on his back and his  mask over his face. 

"Is this the shooter?" the Captain asked in surprise, eyeing me up. 

"No, she apprehended the shooter." Professor Wilson said, standing up, offering the seat to the Captain, who took it. 

"Can I ask you a few questions?" He asked. His eyes were a beautiful shade of blue, though I adverted my eyes away from him quickly. 

"Sure." I murmured. Like I had a choice.

"Why did you have a gun in the first place?" 

I repeated what I'd told Dean Fury. 

"And this was your first instinct? To shoot?" 

I flushed, but answered defensively. "My best friend was in that room. I did what I had to do to save her." 

He nodded. "Admirable." 

I hadn't expected that remark. Captain America was known for only killing when necessary. Perhaps he thought this was a necessary time. 

"Why didn't you think to let Professor Barnes handle it?" He asked, "He is ex-military." 

I blanked out. I hadn't even thought of that. "I-I don't know. I didn't think about it." 

"Have you ever killed before?" 

Professor Wilson made a disgruntled sound in the back of his throat. 

"No sir." I whispered. "That was my first time. Human, anyways. I've gone deer and duck hunting with my grandfather when I was young." 

Captain America nodded. "Well, thank you for protecting your class." 

I just nodded and then asked, "Do you know what's going to happen to my gun?" 

"I'm sorry, I don't." He replied as he stood. 

I just nodded, my heart sinking once more. "Can I leave?" 

"Of course. Professor Barnes will escort you to your dorm." Captain America replied, his tone leaving no room for argument, despite the fact that I thought I'd be fine, heading to my dorm by myself. "Please stay on campus until you receive an email. We're in lockdown mode right now, which is why Professor Barnes will be escorting you." 

I nodded, standing. Professor Barnes came in, holding my backpack. "Come on." 

I went with him silently, taking my belongings and following after him. We walked down the empty corridors. Occasionally, I'd get a glimpse of another avenger. Hawkeye and Black Widow talking together, and there was Antman collecting something off the ground. But other than that, no one. 

We were silent until we reached my dorm and Professor Barnes stopped me from going in. His soft expression pissed me off more than his smirk. "Stop looking at me like that!" I snapped. "I'm not made of glass." 

"I know." He replied, though his expression didn't change. "You're strong. But even the strongest bend until they break." 

I bit back my retort. He was just trying to be nice. 

He sighed. "Listen Elizabeth. I. . . It's hard, taking a life, no matter how justified. In war, in self-defense. I know it is. We all. . . cope in different ways and sometimes it's not healthy. If you feel like you're struggling you really should talk to Professor Wilson. I don't even like the asshole but. . . he helped me through my ptsd so. . . it could be worth it." 

He was so awkward as he talked now, so uncertain unlike as in class. I softened a little, realizing he was really opening up to me. 

I sighed. "Thank you. I'll think about it." 

He nodded once and then added quickly. "We're not friends, by the way." 

I couldn't help but smile. "Of course not. I refuse to be friends with assholes. Good night Professor." I said sweetly, stepping into the dorm. I looked over my shoulder to see he was smirking, before heading up to the dorm. 

The minute I was out of his sight though, a depression seemed to envelope me as I shouldered open the door. 

I immediately smelled something foreign and I just stared as Clementine sat on the sofa, a piece of half-eaten Papa Johns' in her lap. Her eyes were rimmed red and she looked up as I closed the door. 

"Elizabeth!" She flung herself off the couch and I dropped my bag, letting her pull me into her arms. I burst into tears as she hugged me tightly. "Oh my gosh, are you okay? What happened? Are you in trouble? Are you alright? What'd they say?" 

It took me a while until I could actually form words before I went with her and sat down on the couch. "No, no not in t-trouble." I hiccupped. "Actually, I was t-thanked several t-times, by the professors and also by Captain America." 

"Captain America?" Clementine asked in a hushed voice. "The Avengers came to look into the shooting?" 

"I don't know why t-they were t-there." I said, wiping my eyes with the palms of my hands. Clementine immediately handed me a napkin from the pizza joint. I pointed to the pizza. "What's t-this?" 

"Well, as I figured we almost died today, I thought 'fuck it'." Clementine sighed, picking up her pizza slice again and then looked at me, "What happened to your gun?" 

"I don't know." I said, my eyes filling up with tears again. "I just know I'm not getting it back." 

I thought she would make some rant about how the gun was my private property and that I had every right to have it back. Instead, she took another piece of pizza and handed it to me, snuggling up with me. "It's okay Elizabeth. It'll be alright." 

I nodded and we sat in silence for the rest of the night, watching Bones and eating pizza. 

ꨄ︎

I launched myself out of bed, throwing the door open and staggered into the bathroom. My knees hit the tile as I threw up the pizza from last night. I heard footsteps rushing towards me and then Clementine leaned over the trash can, throwing up too. 

When were both done, laying on the floor of the bathroom I muttered, "Never again." 

She replied weakly. "Agreed." 

[braveclementine]

Chapter 4

Warnings: None.

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Elizabeth Silvertongue and Clementine Greenleaf. I also own Clementines' brother Donavan. The following OCs are owned by other Wattpad writers as this is a collaboration project. Their OCs are on the face claim page. I do not condone any copying of this.

I jerked as the alarm went off, throwing myself out of the bed, staggering over to slam the snooze button and then flick the switch so it wouldn't continue to go off. I turned, looking back at my bed which had never looked more warm and inviting than it did now. 

I groaned, turning away from it, stumbling out of the dorm towards the bathroom, climbing into the shower. Being as tired as I was, I didn't see the temperature and let out a high pitched screech as cold water shot down on my body. I flinched away from it, ducking out from underneath the spray, turning the knob so that it became much warmer. 

"Unless you're dying, shut up." Clementine called through the door, sounding as exhausted as I did. It was the second week of college and we were both finding our work loads catching up to us, especially with our jobs. The grocery store was keeping me late, working till almost midnight before my shift was over. I was glad I only had one class Tuesday and Thursdays so I could get homework done before work. 

The cold shower had done its job though. I was wide awake as I stepped out of the bathroom, heading back to my bedroom to get dressed for school. 

I pulled on a pair of black shorts, grabbing the olive green v-neck shirt to toss on with it. I made sure my cross was hanging at the right length and then, after hesitating a little, put on a simple plastic black choker. 

I grabbed my makeup, applying it quickly and then brushing my long hair out. I'd probably leave it in curlers tonight. 

I went into the kitchen like area where I found Clementine making fruit salad out of the fruit we'd picked at the orchards over the weekend. I nearly moaned as I put the crisp apple in my mouth, the juice trickling along my taste buds as I bit into it. 

"So good." I muttered, grabbing the bowl and eating it with my fingers. "Okay I gotta go or I'm gonna be late for English." 

"See ya." Clementine called as I put the bowl in the sink and hurried, yanking my bag up and hurrying out of the dorm. 

I fast walked down the sidewalk, checking my watch. I had about fifteen minutes to get across the campus and I made it within nine minutes. I slipped through the doors with a sigh of relief, before smacking face first into someone. 

My face burned as Professor Barnes stared down at me, one arm around my waist as I had started falling backwards. 

"I am so so-" I immediately started before- as always- he interrupted. 

"I'm starting to think you like walking into me Miss Silvertongue." Professor Barnes said. He didn't growl, but his voice was dark and he sounded close to being angry. 

"N-No Si-" 

He put a single finger under my chin, lifting it up and said in something that was much more like a purr, "If you kept this chin up, you'd see where you were going. Try it. It  might prevent you from walking into a wall." And he removed his finger, walking past me and out the door. 

I felt a mixture of emotions rise up in me and I stomped my heel against the ground in frustration. I could still feel his finger, like a burning touch underneath my chin. "The nerve!" I hissed, storming down the hallway, trying to be mad instead of aroused. 

I slid into my chair in Brit Lit and pulled out Animal Farm. I had already finished it and was now sitting in class, working on homework, pretending to take notes while Professor Wilson taught. 

It wasn't that I didn't like Professor Wilson. In fact, besides Professor Rogers, he was probably the nicest one out there. Professor Potts was nice enough, but still strict. Professor Udaku was very reserved- but he was also royalty so I suppose he was brought up that way.

But Professor Wilson and Rogers were very laid back and easy. Nothing at all like Professor Barnes. 

Yet, Professor Wilson did not seem to see the class as being worthy of a challenge. Clementine had nearly popped a brain vessel when she'd come back from 'Explorative Reading Class'. I smiled behind my hand, remembering. 

"You'll never believe what Professor Wilson assigned us!" She had shrieked, eyes bugging out of her head while she waved what looked like a Harry Potter book around. 

"Uh, Harry Potter?" I had asked. 

"No! Oh my God read this!" Clementine threw the book at me and I barely caught it before it hit me in the face. 

I opened it up and read the first few lines, "Chapter one. The Boy Who Wasn't Unalived. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, liked flexing that they were very basic, thank u." I paused and started to giggle. "Tbh they were the last people you'd think would be sus, because they were all fax no printer." I giggled harder. 

"The grammar." Clementine was nearly in tears. "They wrote 'tbh' not 'to be honest'." 

I couldn't help myself, I kept reading out loud. "Mr. Dursley was adulting at a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a dummy thicc (w/ three Cs)-" And here I lost my composure, cackling. "Clementine, this looks amazing to read!" 

"I think Professor Wilson thinks we're stupid." Clementine muttered, flopping on the sofa next to me. 

I rolled my eyes. "-man with hardly any neck, although he had an absolute unit of a mustache. Mrs. Dursley was a total Karen with zero chill and had hella neck, which came in very useful when she was stalking her neighbours and not minding her own. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley who they thought was the main character." 

I glanced over and saw Clementine had the slightest of smiles on her face. "The Dursleys were mostly thriving, but they also had lowkey tea which didn't pass the vibe check and their greatest fear was to get called out and cancelled. They were girlbossing too close to the sun and didn't think they could." 

"Okay, Okay." Clementine muttered. "It's decently funny. I'm still insulted by his thoughts of my low intelligence though." 

I didn't tell Clementine I would much rather read her book- which was completely new, then do Animal Farm all over again. 

I sighed to myself as Professor Wilson started class with the question, "So, after reading Chapter 6 of Animal Farm, what do you guys think of the pigs?" 

And it was ninth grade all over again. 

ꨄ︎

"And so as we can see in Figure 3.10, the outermost boundary of the nucleus is the nuclear envelope. Notice that the nuclear envelope consists of two phospholipid bilayers, which we can also call membranes and there are how many, class?" 

"Two!" Someone shouted from the side of the room. 

"Correct, the outer membrane and the inner membrane, in contrast to the plasm membrane, which consists of only one phospholipid bilayer. The nuclear envelope is a double-membrane structure that constitutes the outermost portion of the nucleus as we see in Figure 3.10. Both the inner and outer membranes of the nuclear envelope are phospholipid bilayers." 

I stifled a yawn with my hand, continuing to make notes on my diagram of the nucleus in front of me. Labelling the different parts which were the Endoplasmic reticulum, nucleolus, chromatin, nucleoplasm, nuclear pore, and nuclear envelope. 

"The nuclear envelope is punctuated with pores that control the passage of ions, molecules, and RNA between the nucleoplasm and the cytoplasm. Now, with Chromatin, you have to understand chromosomes first which-" The bell rang- "We will discuss in the next class. For homework, continue reading Chapter 3 on Cell Structure and Function and be ready for a quiz on the diagrams you were labelling today." Professor Banner said as students quickly shoved their things into their bags, taking off. 

I followed the flow of the crowd to Psychology, feeling my cheeks grow red before I had even reached the classroom. I stopped, turning on my heel since I had twenty minutes to kill, going and sitting on a bench near the vending machines. I looked up and saw the oreos just teasing me through the glass. I bit my bottom lip, standing up and approaching the machine. 

"If you're going to get those and then you die when you've been poisoned from a genetically modified ingredient, I'll do my best not to say 'I told you so'." Clementine's voice teased. I jumped, seeing her out of the corner of my eye where she was leaning against the wall. 

"Jeez Clem. And no, I was just looking." I muttered, sitting back down on the bench. 

"I'm not your mom." Clementine said, sitting down next to me. 

"Nope, much worse." I muttered, doodling randomly on my biology homework. Clementine faked insult. Then she got up, walking over to the machine, putting money in. I raised an eyebrow and watched as she brought out a bag of fritos. 

"Here, we'll share. That way if I'm poisoned, we both are." Clementine said, opening the bag as she sat down next to me. 

"Gee, thanks." I giggled, reaching in and taking some of the corn chips. 

"Of course. What are friends for?" Clementine snickered. 

Psychology came quickly and we entered the classroom silently. I took my seat, glancing up quickly at the desk to see Professor Barnes staring at me. I immediately looked away, getting easily flustered and I crossed my legs tightly, squeezing them so hard I felt them crack. Man I hadn't done that in a long time. 

Professor Barnes snapped the door closed as the bell rang and the class immediately went silent. He reminded me of Severus Snape and how his classes were always silent without speaking a word. Well, in the books anyways. I would've liked to have seen more of his sexy self in the movies. I'd have to read a smutty fanfiction after I finished all my homework.  [Any suggestions?]

"We're going over Chapter 2 this week, which is Research Designs." Professor Barnes said with no preamble, putting a small stack of papers in front of Destiny, who sat in the front on the left hand side. She took one off the top, starting to pass them down. "This is the glossary for this chapters terms." 

I took the list, passing the stack behind me, before quickly surveying the words. 

-Confounds -Correlation -Dependent Variable -Experimenter Expectations -Independent Variable

I looked up from the list as Professor Barnes continued to speak. "I'm sure all of you learned in science the scientific method when doing experiments. If not, pay attention to your science teachers. I'm not wasting my time teaching you something you should've learned in sixth grade." 

And this was why I liked Professor Barnes teaching. His no nonsense attitude. Now if I could just get him to hate me a little less. . . 

"You should, by the time we're done with this chapter be able to understand the difference between correlational and experimental designs, how to interpret correlations, understand what a longitudinal study is, and the strengths and weaknesses of the different research designs we'll be learning about. Though my hopes aren't high." 

I bit my tongue so I didn't smile. 

"Miss Silvertongue," My heart stopped, the urge to smile gone, cheeks immediately turning red, "What do you think the difference between correlational and experimental designs are?" 

I had no answer, so I just shook my head. I didn't even know what correlational designs were yet! How could I answer what the difference between them was? 

"Simply put," Professor Barnes continued, not bothering to check with anyone else while Clementine glare daggers at him from her side of the room, "An experimental involves the manipulation of variables and correlational does not." 

He then went on to talk about people like Uri Geller and Elizabeth Dunn and their effects on Psychological research. As the lesson came to a close and the class was dismissed, Professor Barnes stopped in front of my table. 

"Yes Professor?" I asked quickly, barely looking him in the eye. 

"Did you accept Professor Rogers request?" Professor Barnes asked without preamble. I wasn't sure why he was asking me, since I knew he had overheard the conversation. 

"Yes, which you know." I said before I could stop myself, but he didn't seem upset. On the contrary, it seemed almost as if he smiled for a second. 

"A word of advice, take advantage of this." Professor Barnes said. "Dress professionally. Like a secretary specifically. And don't misunderstand him either. You won't get favoritism in his class just because you're working for him." 

"I don't plan on laxing in my studies sir." I replied, cursing myself mentally. I hated that with him I slipped into calling him 'sir' when I should be saying 'Professor'. 

"Good." Professor Barnes said with a note of finality, turning away. I hesitated and then left the classroom, finding Clementine waiting in the hallway. 

"What did he want?" She asked, disgruntled. 

"Just to give me advice about my job with Professor Rogers." I said with a shrug. "I'm glad I got the tip on dress code, I didn't even think about it." 

Now that I had been told however, I started to feel a panic. 

What exactly did a secretary wear?