#Ten Week Eclipse AU

[eddwardharrison]

Thunder Bringer - Ten Week Eclipse, a TSAMS AU

[SLOW/GENTLE FLASH???]

FW????

This is MONTHS old but I never put it all together so…please ignore the jumpscares at the end 😋🥰

Eclipse is met with a risky compromise with Killcode, whether he should agree to the compromise or not is the roughest part. If he agrees to return to Killcode after his repetitive neglect towards Eclipse, he proves Moon right— that he’s unfixable, heartless, and made of nothing but hate. If he rejects this one opportunity…he’s a dead man, along with the celestial family. Normally, he may not have cared about this. But now, it’s unclear what Eclipse wants anymore.

…he took the deal, guys. :(

[the-24-7-lawlu-library]

Poll Vote March Mutual Pining Slowburn

Hi readers! I hope your weekend is going well <3

Blinded by Sakuya_Serenity_Kira (E)

Strawhats and Heart Pirates are traveling together after the events on DressRosa, Zou and maybe even Wano. Kizaru pays them a visit and as a result Luffy is blinded.  Now he is not allowed in the sun for days. And where would be safer for the freedom-loving captain than in the cabin of a grim, silent surgeon...?

Storge by Sketched_Ink (M)

“Ok!” Luffy grinned brightly, “You help protect Ace, and I beat up a flamingo? Easy” “Not a flamingo, Donquixote Doflamingo, my adoptive father”, Law tried to stop the venom seeping into his voice. Luffy nodded solemnly, “Ok, I beat up your father, the flamingo, and you protect Ace?”. Law supposed this was the closest he was going to get to total understanding. “Yes”, he ground out.   Or, the self-indulgent Bridgerton-style AU nobody asked for.

The Greatest Adventure by Kaatosade (E) [incomplete]

It was even more absurd to hear Luffy talking about marriage.

I was a God once! by KhepiAri (M)

I was a god once; no one believes it when I tell them now. I had tall shrines, devout followers and piles of offerings. My first shrine was made in the hollow of a tree. It was a little boy who had built it; he had killed a wild boar with a stone, that blood covered stone was my first form. He, along with his mates, he concluded the stone was a miracle. A notorious boar had rampaged around his village for months, destroying their crops and killing three elderly. The boy at the stupid age of 12 had taken matters in his own hand and ventured into the forest after his brothers and grandfather had returned injured. He had no skills and zero sense of self-preservation. With bow and arrows slung on his back, two long knives tied on thin his waist and a spear in his hand; he marched out of home at break of dawn. While his mother and father were busy nursing the injured and grandmother brewed the medicinal soup, he sneaked out. A pining god recites how he fell in love with a mortal. From bickering god and a devotee they become friends, but can god and human be together? Law is a young god and Luffy his devotee. SWITCH COUPLE: LawLu/LuLaw Lawlu Week 2022 day-6

And Like This, We Eclipse the Universe by riverofnara (G)

He knows his name. He knows the lullaby of the ocean and the press of warm sand against his toes. He knows the straw hat on his head is sacred, a treasure of unspeakable value. And he knows that he’s missed Law, a cavernous ache in his chest that would normally swallow one whole, but not here because Law’s presence alone is enough, a gentle balm to dull the pain in increments. - The universe grants two hearts longing for the other a chance to reunite. And even when they don't recognize each other, they don't let the moment go to waste.

Mon Trésor by bimarian (G)

Luffy wonders if Law will get mad once he finally admits it; will Law walk away from him once he lets all these wishes and prayers out in the open? Maybe. And that’s one doubt too many. Ten things that he wants to confess to his ally now that he is already the Pirate King.

Lost and Found by too_addicted_to_fiction (E)

“I’m not here to play hide-and-seek with you, Mugiwara,” Law spat out, hot and tired and annoyed. “I’m here to take you back. I promised your friends." In which Luffy runs away, and Law is sent after him.

When You Hug Me It Feels Like Home. by KhepiAri (G)

Unlike how his family had feared that Luffy would go wild at the first taste of freedom, Luffy was drowned in the first taste of college existential crisis, being good at something practically didn’t mean he was good at in theory. The first three weeks of Luffy’s freedom were spent studying things he had no understanding of. When assignments came another week later, the young student couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed and began crying in the middle of the library. Fellow students didn’t make things awkward for him by staring; it was common to find crying first years at every nook and corner of the university. It was entirely different from high school, if you fell no one was going to pick you up, you had to pick yourself up, clean your wounds and keep walking. “Are you okay?” A firm hand gently tapped a wallowing Luffy’s shoulder. “No…” Luffy tried to control his sobs. College AU. Fresher Luffy/PhD student Law. No Smut. One kiss. Law finds Luffy crying in the library, so he offers to buy Luffy a drink and help him out for a while, but he soon finds himself flirting with Luffy, who is a bit slow when it comes to matter of hearts. LawluWeek 2022 Day-8

Why won't you kiss me already? by Katia_Anyway (M)

Luffy is in love with Torao. And he knows Torao loves him back. So why won't Torao kiss him already!?

If You Need Me, I will by BasicallyACat (G)

Luffy can't find the words to describe all the things he feels, couldn't say them even if he found them. He knows people don't understand him usually and doesn't really mind. His nakama understand and that is all that matters. When he meets Law, suddenly there are far too many things to say even when he can't and Luffy prays Law can understand anyways.

The Curious Case of Monkey D. Luffy by lampalot7 (T)

Monkey D. Luffy was cute. This much was known—this was an undeniable, immutable fact. It was also largely suspected to be a ruse of some sort. The squishy-cheeked, beaming face on the wanted posters was largely considered by the more discerning members of Law’s profession to be incapable of the infamous, impossible deeds that Straw Hat Luffy has committed. Or: Luffy is cute, Law has incorrect assumptions, and then a crisis.

If you think we missed a work that you think deserves to be added, don't hesitate to reply with the link or send a message <3

-Mod Raiya

[piedpiperslists]

Jungkook One Shots (LXIV)

* s - contains smut

Craving by @midnightagust s wc~3k / established relationship Summary: You decide to test Jungkook's limits during a night out and end up paying for it in bed.

Touchin' by @whatifyoulivelikethat s wc~2.6k / FWB Summary: Jeon Jungkook has got ten minutes and a hard dick. So he says. You learn you can't trust everything he says though.

Irresistible by @whatifyoulivelikethat s wc~8.3k / strangers to lovers Summary: Jeon Jungkook provokes you into fucking him. Just not before you finger-fuck his mouth in the middle of a kitchen that belongs to neither of you as a summer party rages outside.

(Seven) Days a Week by @whatifyoulivelikethat s wc~12.2k / strangers to lovers Summary: It only takes seven days (a week) for Jeon Jungkook to get you in his bed to fuck you right. And showing up in weird places. And kissing in the rain. He's crazy. Okay, it's kinda complicated.

Legend by @hamsterclaw s wc~10.6k / selkie!Jungkook, strangers to lovers Summary: The man you help one day insists that he owes you everything.

Something Borrowed by @alphabetboyluvr s wc~2.8k / angst, forbidden love, infidelity, mafia au

Dance With the Devil by @alphabetboyluvr s wc~2.5k / childhood friends au, royalty au

Once the Thrill Expires by @alphabetboyluvr s wc~5.8k / angst, FWB, college au, housemates au Summary: Your housemate turned FWB takes another girl home after a night out.

This Isn’t Love, Darling by @junqkook s wc~5.3k / angst, escort au, mafia au Summary: He tasted of an empty night and an eclipsing moon, with blood on his hands and fire in his eyes when he put his mouth on yours.

Learning Curve by @jeonwinks s wc~8.4k / established relationship, PWP Summary: Jungkook is due for a reminder of who is in charge; as are you.

[starheirxero]

Hi! How tall is TWE!Eclipse? Asking for totally no reasons at all :3

HELLO ANON I am pretty sure you have sent this to the wrong individual since I have no Eclipses from a "TWE" au! However, eddwardharrison has the Ten Week Eclipse AU that I think you're looking for!!! So go forth, anon, get the height info o7

[pandorafallz]

Watcher AU | The Chocolate Incident

Blink Lily Leese eyed the large cargo box with a slight frown before she checked over the inventory manifold from the checklist to the box with some doubt. Blink was still getting used to this whole new system. Ten years, she spent helping with new avatars; both human and Na’vi variants but a quarantine of the labs forced her away, at least in her avatar while her human body was quarantined.

So she was temporarily reassigned to inventory management until the Watchers could get through to sweeping the labs and the affected habitats before they could end the containment.

This box was not on the list for the Nai’vi food supplies from either of their food chain districts or from more local sources. Clearly a mix up, she’d need to locate its proper designation….

“Blink, what’s this?” A voice bellow her echoed.

Blink looked down from her data pad to see Eclipse Eytukan eyeing the box with some curiosity. Two weeks into his human Avatar, the Na’vi had his struggles understanding what came with a male human body but he was no longer clinging to edges of furniture anymore. Humans adjusted far easily; it was known it’d take the Na’vi a month to get to terms with the new body and lack of their more prominent features.

“A supply box of chocolate,” Blink answered, “Not for our section, I think it was supposed to go to the Worldtree’s underground than this section.”

“Cho…collate?” Eclipse echoed, “What is that?”

“It’s...a sweet human food, made from the coca bean that’s roasted, ground and mixed with other ingredients to create a bite-soft bar.” She described airily. “There are many…different forms of chocolate but this stuff looks to be... milk chocolate, white chocolate and ruby chocolate bars.” No dark chocolate, Blink noted but maybe that was where it was supposed to be with another order. This looked very… put-tether like it was part of rush order.

Eclipse leant forwards, sniffing around it, “It does smell sweet.”

“It’s mostly got sugar in, humans tend to favour with sugar foods so I’m not surprised you’re greatly more appealed to it.” her avatar could pick up the same, delicious smells but… she had work to do.

“Ooh, chocolate!”

“Oh dear…” Blink groaned softly as Flit Nash McCosker scurried over with a happy look over his moustached face.

“Does my nose device me? Is this true!” Flit looked ever so hopeful.

“This isn’t ours,” Blink groaned, but Flit was already opening it.

“It is now. If they wanted this, then they should have checked the barcode before dropping it off. It’s here now. It’s been years since I’ve tasted chocolate!”

“There’s a chocolate supply in the Human sector on the 67ths floor, 17ths and in all the underground habitats.”

Flit paused, “Where?!” He looked positively offended. “I’ve been here 6 months and no one thought to tell me!”

“Well, I do not know human food that well so we cannot know what you want or like, Flit,” Eclipse spoke. “I am unfamiliar with chocolate.”

“God, no wonder you’re so bitter.” Flit shook his head though tossed the lid off the top, “I think it’s time for a proper introduction of this wonderful human delight.”

“Flit…” Blink warned, “I’m not getting into trouble for this.”

“Yes, yes,” Flit waved her off. “So what if one crate got mixed up. I think it’s time we properly have some fun around here.” He pulled out one of the smaller boxed, flipping it open and pulled out the 200g bar of milk chocolate then held it out to Eclipse. “For you.”

Eclipse look a little baffled, “All of it?” but pure curiosity got the better of the former Olo'eyktan as he took it.

“Why not? There’s plenty to go around.”

Other people, not just the humans but some Na’vi avatars perked up when they noticed and hurried to collect. A few Na’vi themselves did approach but Blink decided to leave as the packets opened; she had work to do than baby sit this disregard of supply regulation.

-

Blink sighed with relief as she saw Watcher Grace in her Na’vi form finally make her appearance, rising to her feet immediately to greet her.

“Watcher, please tell me something good? Is the quarantine over?” She felt like begging for it but the tense look in her desaturated blue face said no comfort.

“What the fuck happened to keeping supplies in the right place and reporting a misplaced one, Blink?” Watcher Grace spoke tensely, her tail curling with discontent.

Blink’s ears flattered back in surprise. “I was going to, Flit McCosker got involved. He has a higher clearance level than me so he opened it up and shared it out. I wasn’t in a position to stop him so I left him to it to finish up my reports.” She almost blindly reached for her tablet, holding it out to the displeased Watcher who took it.

Blink wasn’t stupid with her paper work, and she had already sent off the report of the misplaced box, serial code and had traced where it was supposed to end up. This was all done, neatly packed and otherwise sent an hour ago.

“This report if the only thing standing in the way of a disciplinary for you, Blink.”

Blink’s eyes widened in alarm. “What? Why? Did something happen?”

“You didn’t hear?”

“I—No. I’ve been here for the last hour.” Blink could feel the rise of panic in her gut. “Oh, god, Chocolate’s not poisonous to Na’vi biology, is it?” it was the only thing she could think of that would cause a reaction this big to upset the Watchers…

“No exactly.” Water Grace pondered for a moment then nodded towards the door, “Let’s go down to the Na’vi habitats upstairs.”

 -

Walking up the steps, the metal stairs transitioning to root-steps as they breached the Na’vi and avatar sector and that’s where blink stared to see some of the mess.

A few Na’vi lay about, some sitting in makeshift hammocks, giddy with a bucket close by with a healer or a doctor close by. A child was barely walking a straight line, a concerned father tugging a clearly intoxicated mother with him as he tried to keep his child in line with him.

Onwards and upwards, a mixed canteen of human and Na’vi alike was…a total mess. Chocolate and puddles of chocolate were about as well.

“What happened?” Blink asked quietly, her tail wrapping around her own leg with concern at such a dramatic vibe this space had. More to the fact she could see a Grace variant, Overseer if she wasn’t mistaken, passed out and hugging a portable human coffee machine to her chest despite the fact it was far too small for her blue arms and snoring into the counter side.

“Chocolate is not…poisonous but rather it has another effect of Na’vi…and avatar brains.” Watcher Grace spoke, coming to check on Oversee with a prod from her foot. “Turns out, Cocoa is not broken down properly in the Na’vi gut when consumed and the chemical composition changes in response to their stomach acid as a result so to compensate to break it down. Side effect is….it starts to reproduce the effects of alcohol in the system despite not carrying alcohol itself. We’re…still investigating it now but the effects seemed to show Na’vi becoming drunk.”

Blink’s eye followed the little family as they were sat down by a healer though the girl was giggly.

“Drunk? They’re all freaking drunk off Chocolate?!” Blink wanted to laugh at such a ridiculous event, but she knew it was far too serious for at at this time.

“Indeed. If it had been simply contained to the simple supply door then we’d be having a veru different situation.” Watcher Grace ran her hand through her dark locks. “Turns out…chocolate can travel very fast.”

Blink winced but she could see why… chocolate bars were small in Na’vi hands, passed along, split and shared… “How far…”

“Well… from the supply decks, it reached through the civilian habitats of human, Na’vi and Avatars, mostly. A few scouts working in the vehicle hangers down below and a few Ikran riders. A few took a few joy rides in road and flight vehicles, and three fights took place where some people suffered a broken nose and bruises. A fire broke out as well because an unattended child found a flint and steel on a passed out Avatar of Jake and thought it was a sparky toy. He’s fine, but that’s just been put out and now…we have soo….fucking much to clean up. From expelled mess from both ends, spilt box contents and a mess of future, people and vehicles…”

Blink winced with full out sympathy for… well everything. “It took…an hour for all that shit to go down?”

Watcher Grace sucked her teeth for a moment, rubbing her eyes deeply then nodded. “Yep. Suffice to say… we’re not handing chocolate to Na’vi like this again. Despite the mess; they loved it. We’ve got a lot to work and to revise parameters of chocolate possession in the habitats and what’s acceptable for them to consume before it’s a danger. I want you to help me run that test with the Na’vi avatars in the next few days once this mess is cleaned up.”

Blink nodded, “Yes, ma’am” 

“Do not make that mistake again, Blink. That box of chocolate was fucking huge. All of it was gone by the time we found it!” the seething side of Watcher resurfaced but Blink knew it was deserved.

“Of course.” Blink looked down, “I’ll see to it”

“Good, now, which Flit McCosker handed it out?”

“Nash.”

Watcher Grace nodded firmly. “Thank you. Now, go help clean up while I hunt down this asshole for a lecture…and a discipline.”

hehe bc someone wanted to know more about the chocolate incident XD here you are :)

[haleweek]

Hale Appreciation Week is TEN DAYS away!

Join us for a week of celebrating our favorite born werewolves, the Hale Family! June 21-27, 2021.

Confused about the themes? Maybe need a little inspiration? You can read more about the prompts for Hale Week below. If you still have any questions, feel free to drop us a message. Our ask box is always open. You can also join our Discord server to talk about the Hales any time.

Please visit our pinned post for more information about participating in this event.

The themes for the week are the following:

DAY ONE June 21: Werewolf Traditions

We hear a lot about werewolves on Teen Wolf, but very little about pack life or Hale family history. For this prompt, we want you to change that. Are there family traditions in the Hale pack when a member comes of age? Is this a Wolves are Known AU where wolves have traditions separate from humans? Do they celebrate holidays like Yule or Beltane? Ever want to write a Lupercalia fic? Or maybe a Mating Run? Go forth and write. Think outside the box. DAY TWO June 22: Family, Found Family, and Brotps

For this day, we want you to focus on non-romantic relationships on Teen Wolf. Derek bonding more with his betas, the dynamics between Laura and her siblings, Cora and Boyd being besties, Derek finding family again after the fire. The options are limitless. Queerplatonic relationships are also acceptable for this prompt! DAY THREE June 23: Rarepairs and Poly Ships

“Rarepairs” in this instance are any ships outside of Sterek and Steter. We want to give the other pairings their due. Feel free to pick a threesome or moresome. Write that Poly Pack fic you wish to see in the world. Go nuts (or don’t, who are we to tell you how to write?) Please remember to properly tag all kinks, warnings, and/or possible triggers. DAY FOUR June 24: Full Moon

This can be anything from specific pack traditions done every full moon, a ritual performed by all werewolves everywhere, or one single full moon where something momentous happens. Maybe its Peter’s POV the night of the lunar eclipse. Maybe the remaining Hales are simply basking in the feeling of having a pack again. Whatever you choose, the only requirement is that the full moon, somehow, be involved. DAY FIVE June 25: Hale Headcanons

We all have headcanons when it comes to our favorite characters. Whether that idea is backed up by canon or just something that popped into your head while reading fanfiction, today is the day to share those headcanons with the fandom. What happened to Malia the whole time she was a coyote? What’s so special about the Camaro?  This can be one specific headcanon, or a fanwork surrounding several. DAY SIX June 26: “I’ve waited three years, I could wait another hour.”

This prompt is a little different. We wanted a prompt outside of the norm, to see what people come up with. Maybe Laura is a ghost who was finally able to contact Derek three years after her death. Maybe it’s the story of how soulmates Talia and Papa Hale, who met once but didn’t see each other again for three years. Maybe Peter finally found that gourmet burger place he’s spent three years dreaming about, but it doesn’t open for another hour. Be as serious or as silly as you want. DAY SEVEN June 27: Free Day - Dealer’s Choice

What it says on the tin. Make any fanwork you want. As long as it features the Hale family, go forth and create.

[thenaivestatice]

@asoryuu-week I'm sorry, and I know I'm late, but I wanted to wait for the Tumblr log off to be done, and I was extremely busy with uni, but here's my entry for asoryuu week, Day 1: Pining/Reunion! It's an AU I've been working on, Asoryuu Tanatabata/Sun and Moon deity AU!

Basically, it's Asoryuu as the Tanabata legend, (aka the legend of Orihime and Hikoboshi) with the difference being that, instead of being the stars Vega and Altair, Ryuunosuke is some sort of god if the Sun, and Kazuma one of the Moon, and instead of only seeing each other once a year for an entire day, it's while there are eclipses, in other words, twice a year, but ONLY for ten minutes each time. Tanabata, but even angstier, in other words.

I decided in using the "Reunion" prompt. Here's them in a Eclipse, about to HUG tf out og each other. Also, I'm deeply, truly sorry if it's kind of cringe, I made it using traditional art, aaaand my phone camera sucks balls. Next year, I hope I can make better contributions to the week, instead of my angsty chibis...

Oh, and here's the original, if any of you are curious:

Haha, you are asking me why did I use like, 3 colors for this? Psshh, it's totally an stylistic choice, and definitely not because I made them in the middle of work and uni with the stuff i had at hand, nope, no sir, it was totally on purpose–

Mistakes. They have been made.

[irondadfics]

I’m looking for fanfics where Peter is Tony’s biological child and he goes missing/gets kidnapped as a young child. He is raised by someone else and doesn’t know he’s Tony’s son. I’ve already read Lost Boy and Things I Almost Remember on archive of our own and I wanted to find stories with a similar plot.

WHEW! It’s kind of a long list, but we did our best finding several fics that feature both BioDad!Tony and Peter being kidnapped at a very young age. ENJOY!!

PETER IS TONY’S SON BUT THEY WERE SEPARATED WHEN PETER WAS A CHILD REC LIST

Lost Boy by winterda

Isaac Stark disappeared from a crowded park a few months shy of his third birthday. There were never any signs of him, and no arrest were ever made in connection to the case. It was as if the toddler had simply vanished off the face of the earth. Twelve years later, Peter Parker has a really bad day, which only get worse when his prints are put through the system.

Things I Almost Remember by IcedAquarius @icedaquarius31​

Peter's past is not as it appears. It all starts one day with a genetics project and slowly spirals into something Peter never could have imagined.

hydra's not a home by tempestaurora @tempestaurora​

At 6 years old, the son of Tony and Pepper Stark, Peter, is kidnapped, never to be seen again. Or, so they thought. Ten years later, while raiding a HYDRA base, the Avengers come across a new, enhanced individual, working for the enemy: in black spandex, with a tendency to stick to walls and shoot webs from his wrists, the Black Spider is a pain in the ass in more ways than one.

If They Knew All About You by MsHermia

Tony Stark had lost his son when he was only 2 years old, stolen away in broad daylight with nobody the wiser of what exactly happened. Years later, Tony has just made it through the disaster with Ultron. He is trying to keep himself and the team together but relationships are strained and tempers are running high. Then a random turn of events leads to his path crossing with that of a particular vigilante. They are strangers to each other, or so they think.

Peter Parker is on top of the world. After a few shitty years, losing his parents and then losing his Uncle, things are finally looking up. Sure he lives in a crappy little apartment with his Aunt but he might have just found his mission in life.

------

This is an AU story obvious by some of the tags. I'm starting out a few weeks after Age of Ultron took place. Civil War will be a thing. Other than that I'm not too concerned about sticking to every canon detail and storyline.

Finding Their Way Home by ElliahRose

Peter Benjamin-Edward Stark went missing on a Tuesday. For months the entirety of the New York police department, as well as anyone else the Starks could convince to join, searched for the tot. He was only three when he was taken and for four months, two weeks, and four days, Tony Stark and Pepper Stark (nee Potts) worried and fretted over their beloved child.

Peter Benjamin-Edward Stark was murdered on a Friday. A ransom call gone wrong spelt the end of the child’s life. The world grieved as the kidnappers gleefully told the devastated parents they’d find his body in the morning.

They never did.

Twelve years passed and the family was still grieving, and Tony Stark worked tirelessly to find his only child’s killer and gain justice for his son.

Meanwhile Peter Parker was having literally the worst day ever. He just wanted to help make the world a better place, but instead he got stabbed. That's just his luck, isn't it?

missing, presumed dead by hailingstars @hailing-stars

They hadn’t had a funeral for Peter.

There hadn’t been a casket or a service inside a church.

There had been, before Tony decided in his heart that Peter was gone, candlelight vigils and pleas on the media for whoever had taken him to bring him home. Neither of those did any good. Neither of those brought Peter home.

OR

Tony Stark's son gets kidnapped when he's two. Twelve years later he comes back.

I told you to be better (and you became the best) by HaruK

Tony was blessed with a healthy baby boy, and for once in his life, was actually happy. Until everything derailed and he had to send his son away to keep him safe, because those related to the Stark family, one of the worlds biggest and most targeted families in the black market, always end up hurt. With a new name and identity that Tony himself doesn't know, the young baby was wiped off the map, his existence erased, never to be heard of again. . Years later, Anti-hero Iron Man meets a local superhero vigilante and Tony becomes surprisingly close with young Peter Parker.

The Curly-Haired Boy In The Paper by Svn_f1ower @svn-f1ower​

When Tony sees the blurry, grey scale photograph of someone he thought he had lost years ago, he follows the trail to a newspaper company, to a hospital, to an adoption agency, to the police station and finally to May Parker's house.

hold him tight & don’t let go by jessicagoddamnjones @farremoved

Peter Stark went missing when he was four years old.

Eleven years later, he’s found.

Only now he’s Peter Parker by day, Spider-Man by night, and he doesn’t like the idea that his entire life is a lie.

Rise from the Ashes; Just to See You Again by Mintstream @iwritedumbshit​

Tony Stark didn't expect Mary Fitzpatrick, or the news she delivered. He didn't expect that he would become a father, or that he would actually enjoy it. He didn't expect Penny to love him just as fiercely as he did her.

He didn't expect to lose her so soon.

In the wake of the loss of his daughter he tried--tried to do right by her. He became Iron Man, he was an Avenger, he protected his world because he couldn't protect his daughter, but through it all, he hoped to be reunited with his daughter.

He didn't expect to be alive when he was.

AKA the biological daughter kidnapping AU no one asked for. Hope you read, and hope you enjoy.

Updates on Saturdays.

Coming Home by inkinmyheartandonthepage

AU – Peter Stark was kidnapped when he was just three years old. Tony and Pepper never stopped looking for their boy. Years later, Peter finds his way back home.

A Change In What We Knew by Imissyoutoo @imissyoutoo

Tony scoured the floor behind Steve as though his one-year-old son had somehow crawled to him, before finally, he looked up. The realisation dawned on him like an eclipse; the decaying darkness hiding the sun. Hiding his son. Because his boy wasn't there.

”Where is he? Steve? Where's my son Rogers?!” At only a year old, Tony Stark’s son is taken, leaving him shattered. Little does he know, his journey to find what is lost only begins twelve years later. In the most unlikely of places, and all because of two words.

”Hey kid.”

I Found You by honestchick

Tony had a son; he raised him for two years until someone kidnapped him. Tony was devastated and heartbroken. And who would have thought in Starks Expo, he’d be able to see his son once again?

move back home forever by chasingflower @evahmohns

The results say he’s not actually Peter Parker.

They say he’s Peter Stark. You know, the one who’s been missing for 10 years.

Yeah. He knows.

Soon You'll Get Better by lostinmorewaysthan1

Peter Stark was kidnapped. That was all anyone knew. He vanished into thin air, no traces left behind, when he was eight years old.

Six years later, on one of the final raids on the HYDRA bases, they find an enhanced assassin, with super strength and the ability to climb walls. No one imagined that it would be Peter. Least of all Tony.

With no memory and brainwashed by HYDRA, Peter Stark goes home and tries to recover.

Let This Road Be Mine by CommunicationFlail

Ten years ago, five year old Peter Stark disappeared. When the trail went cold, the case was closed. Now new evidence has been brought to light and Tony will stop at nothing to get his son back. No matter how many fakes he has to meet. His son is out there, and he will find him.

Return to me, the one I love so endlessly by SuperHeroTiger @superherotiger

James Edwin Stark was born on the 10th of August 2001, and for the first time in his life, Tony Stark cried tears of joy.

All the fears, all the dread that had once consumed his soul washed away with a single look at the baby’s gentle features, so familiar and yet so distinctly unique at the same time. Tony made many promises that day. Promises to love his son, to protect him, to always be there for him.

On the 10th of August 2002, James Edwin Stark was stolen in the middle of the night, and his father’s world came crashing down. Shattered and alone, Tony whispered the same promise he’d made to his son the day that he was born.

‘…My love for you is endless…’

Fourteen years later, hidden away from the world in a forest of pine, Peter Beck would dream of a day he might get to see the towering city of New York. And when a wounded stranger stumbles onto their property a week out from his birthday claiming to be a famous billionaire from New York, his dream might just come true.

Once Lost Now Found by FreckledAvenger11

Peter Parker was just trying to get used to life without his uncle. He wasn't expecting to find a familiar face in an article about Tony Stark's missing son. Follow Peter on his journey to discover just who he is. Is he Peter Parker? Is he Spider-Man? Or is he someone else entirely? Just who is he and what secrets died along with his parents in that plane crash?

So He Walks The World Alone by Miola014

This is a story 'bout a broken boy With his headphones in just to block out the noise Of everyone around him telling him the way to go So he walks the world alone Wondering if it gets better Or if he's always gonna feel empty forever So he gets lost tryna find another way back home As he walks the world alone

Or

The Kidnapped Peter Stark AU that I promised y'all!

[afoolforatook]

Farley's Fair Game Week 2021 Masterpost

Day 1 - Moon/Sun - Eclipse, Chapter 1 - Solar Softness 2.7k words

Rated - T

Tags: Vague mentions of sexual content, intimacy blocks

Clover's love is solar, fierce and unafraid and raw.

Qrow's love is lunar, soft and powerful and remarkable in its fullness.

But their light bends towards each other, until they are not on opposite horizons, but meet in between, both a part of the other.

Day 2 - Modern/Supernatural - The Old Kingdom (Abhorsen) Au (art)

Clover, a member of the Royal Guard, was sealed within the figurehead of a ship while facing the Necromancer, Kerrigor, for two hundred years, until Qrow, the newly appointed Abhorsen, freed him.

Day 3 - Charms/Dreams - Our Relative Colors, Chapter 5 - Red 3.6k words (12.2k total)

Soulmates Au, FGW2020

Rated - T

Please read full tags and chapter notes.

Tags: Alcoholism/withdrawal, blood, death mention (Summer), sensory overload.

Fic Summary

Looking your soulmate in the eye is the first time you see color.

Qrow found the key to his Sight when he was young. And then lost her. He never imagined he'd find it again.

But those teal eyes were the first thing to cut through his world of grey in so long. And while he knew that color, it was different than the teal Summer had given him. Who knew relative color applied to soulmates?

No Grimm could ever be as dangerous as that overwhelming color.

Chapter Summary

The lack of sleep; the physical and emotional stress leftover from stealing an Atlas airship and all that that entailed; the simple fact that he was roughly twice the age of (almost) everyone else involved in said heist, and felt it; and the pounding headache, twisting stomach, and unsteady hands —that were all the lovely effects of being one day into what was sure to be a hellish withdrawal— were enough to leave him with barely the energy to stand.

And then the universe had decided to drop him —literally— at the feet of his soulmate, and drown him in color, and all the mess of loss and love and anger and fear that Sight was connected to for him.

It was all about ten steps beyond too much, and all he wanted now was to close his eyes and have just a few hours of quiet darkness in his mind when he didn’t have to feel so much.

Day 4 - Reunion/Separation - Pushing Daisies Au (art)

Qrow has a secret. With one touch he can bring the dead back to life.

But there’s a catch. First touch; life. Second touch; dead again, forever.

Oh, and there’s another catch, actually; the dead can only come back for a minute, one second longer and someone else must take their place. A life for a life.

It’s for both of these reasons that Qrow rarely uses his gift.

And then, there’s Clover.

Day 5 - Hands/Breaking Rules - In His Touch 1.4k words

Rated - T

Tags: Vague mentions of sexual content

Qrow’s touch was swift and sporadic but never cold; his grip practiced and balanced; his fingers deft and strong and intuitive.

Clover’s touch was steady and focused, while never losing a sense of wonder; his hold was careful but unwavering; his fingers moved methodically and with caring intent.

They were built from different lives, marred with separate wounds, worn down by parallel doubts.

But they fit together as if formed with the same purpose; pulses pressed against each other keeping pace as if fed by the same heart.

Day 6 - Cold/Recovery* - Score - 2:1, Branwen 4.8k words

Hockey Au

Rated - T

Tags: Sports injury, blood, (feared) eye trauma

Clover's got the old gash through his eyebrow.

Qrow's got the line hooking over his jaw.

They're even when it comes to facial scars.

Or, they were.

*So far, more 'Cold' than 'Recovery', but more recovery likely coming soon.

Day 7 - Sky/Sea/Free - Eclipse, Chapter 2 - Letting the Clover Grow 2.7k words

Rated - T

Tags: Vague mentions of sexual content

Qrow stopped, glaring as he caught the amused grin Clover was barely even trying to hide. “Damn it, Ebi! Just come sleep in your own fucking bed, it’s fine!”

Teal beamed up at him, glasses slipping lower on his nose in what Qrow wasn’t sure was Clover’s luck at being able to continuously throw him for a loop, or his own for not being able to ignore it.

He huffed and rolled his eyes, turning away quickly, a hand raised dismissively, though he knew the gesture fell flat.

“Or don’t, I don’t care! Knowing you, you could sleep on a rock for weeks without your back getting sore.”

[wildshadowtamer]

inspired by @aboutiroh, @azu1as and a few other tumblr blogs’ thread about Child!Zuko being Firelord at 7 years old.

In this AU, everything’s set 8 years in the past and the comet arrives early.

Feel free to ask questions about this in reblogs/asks.

More in-depth explanation below. (warning: long)

It starts with Sokka, who has stolen a kayak and gone fishing with his sister. Sokka is 7 while Katara is 6, meaning their father hasn't left yet and their mother is still alive. Katara tries to practice her water-bending while Sokka hunts with his spear, things go almost-canon until Katara canonly yells at Sokka, instead she gets scared and loses control of her bending, resulting in the iceberg breaking

Once they find Aang, a still twelve-year-old boy, they bring him home along with Appa and explains what happened to their parents. Kya is worried and Hakoda gives them a talking to due to the kayak-stealing.

Zuko, having already gotten his scar at 8 years old bc Ozai's just Like That, has been banished along with Ursa and Azula, who is not old enough to hate her brother yet, so she tried to stand up to Ozai and got banished as well Of course, Iroh and Lu Ten are there, however the burning of Iroh's 8 year old nephew's face made both of them realize jut how cruel and coldhearted the Firelord is and just how messed up the fire nation in general is.

So, their on a boat. Lu Ten, Iroh, Ursa, Zuko and Azula. A big family of banished 'traitors' They get down to the south pole so Iroh can study water-bending and thus create the lightning redirection technique. However, Zuko and Azula find Aang, Sokka and Katara, hear about their quest to the northern water tribe, and decides to join. The adults on-board decide to let them, as Iroh has already figured out Zuko's destiny to help stop the war, no matter what age. Ursa stays with Kya and the water tribe while Iroh and Lu Ten head to Ba Sing Se.

General Zhao is the one hunting for the avatar, and since he's Like That, he doesn't care if the Avatar and his friends are literally 4-12 years old.

They get captured by Kyoshi Warriors, but their like 7 year olds, and since Sokka hasn't quite gotten the sexism in his head yet, he doesn't get mad about *girls* beating him up, he's just mad he got ambushed so easily. He gets a childhood crush on the 7-year-old Suki, but is bad at the whole 'socializing' thing so he tries to bully her and gets his butt royally whooped.

At some point along the way, the Gaang picks up Toph, a 4 year old girl who was playing with badger-moles and *still* more badass then all of them combined.

Azula and Zuko get Sibling Bonding after seeing how Sokka and Katara bond, and actually become really good friends.

Eventually, they get to Ba Sing Se and settle down for a few weeks, planning their next moves and all, until they realize the Dai Li are up to something. Soon, Zuko and Katara get captured, Iroh hears of it and comes to the Gaang for help w(ith Lu Ten, of course) Zuko explains to Katara how he got the scar, burned after speaking up to his father after Ozai threatened a servant, and the two bond over their loving mothers and siblings.

However, instead of Azula chasing them down, it's Mai and Ty Lee, angry about being abandoned by Azula when she got banished. (Mai is 7, Ty Lee is 6) Zuko refuses to betray his friends and family, and neither does Azula. However, when their having the big fight in the crystal caves, a lightning bolt reflects off a crystal and hits Avatar State Aang in the back, killing him.

Iroh, after seeing how dangerous it is for Zuko and the Gaang, decides to go back to the Fire Nation with Mai and Ty Lee, leaving Lu Ten to look after this gaggle of toddlers.

After a week or so, Aang wakes up on a fire navy ship, with the Gaang and parents on-board. The crew is: Zuko, Azula, Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Suki, Hakoda, Bato, Kyo, Lu Ten and Ursa. However, Aang runs off into the storm and canon generally goes on from there.

The Fire Family becomes a thing, Sokka somehow convinces the principle he is in fact an adult and definitely not himself and Zuko in adults clothing. (Sapphire Fire is Katara and Suki in a dress) However, things go wrong at the Eclipse and the adults get captured, Ursa, Zuko and Azula get to speak their mind to Ozai as Iroh and Lu Ten forces him to stay against the wall. The Gaang, along with young Teo, The Duke and Haru, travel to the Western Air Temple. Mai and Ty Lee, after having a very stern talking to by Iroh, ask to join the Gaang, to which they accept after an apology from both of them to Azula, Aang and Zuko specifically.

From there, Aang mostly masters all four elements, they go watch that god awful Boy In The Iceberg show, Aang talks to his past lives and Ozai eventually gets defeated by a bunch of children and toddlers.

Who does Zuko and Azula fight at the end, you may ask? Zhao. Everyone was so busy worrying about the comet and Ozai, nobody had even realized Zhao didn't die at the NWT, simply thrown into the ocean and got rescued by a ship. And, turns out, learnt to generate and shoot lightning somewhere along the way. and everyone knows Zhao isn't above harming a bunch of children.

in the end, Zuko ends up jumping in the way of the lightning bolt, but survives and Zhao gets thrown in jail to rot some more.

And yes, Zuko does become Firelord. in fact, Lu Ten becomes his advisor while the Kyoshi Warriors are his personal guards. Iroh doesn't take the throne, but becomes the most popular tea shop in the Fire Nation after making the Jasmine Dragon a multi-nation Tea Shop chain. (Some trusted Earth Kingdom friends of Iroh and Lu Ten become the managers of the original Jasmine Dragon shop)

[foreverthesickestkidz]

i’ll put a summary here at some point but yeah it’s a serial killer!mark tuan au okay

One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten

warnings: cursing, mentions toxic relationship, i think that’s it but this is a serial killer au so read w caution anyway

authors note: this is a short & shitty chapter but it gets better i swear lol

masterlist | guidelines | lullaby m.list

Jaebum’s office at the Eclipse Police Station was pretty clean. The sort of clean that those who just walk in and look around some don’t pick up on the reality that almost everything in it was covered in a thin layer of dust, the small carpet in the middle of the tiled floor was pulling apart at the seams, and the clock on the wall was twenty-two minutes fast. But, Jinyoung grew to pinpoint every miniscule detail of the Police Chief’s office while he sat there for hours at a time. Jinyoung’s back honestly started to hurt around the end of the first hour, and his patience with the Chief was little to none when they started this meeting, and by the end he knew he’d be ready to pounce.

“Detective, I hope you’re paying attention. There was another death last night,” Jinyoung snapped his attention away from the fraying rug and back to Jaebum.

“Yes sir, but with all due respect, sir,” Jinyoung pushed himself up in the chair, “I already know what you’re going to tell me.”

Jaebum raised an eyebrow, “And what could that be?”

“That it doesn’t show a link to any of the murders, and if I go ask the coroner what the autopsy results were, he’ll say the victim died from the fire,” Jinyoung was growing more frustrated by the second. “Which is absolute bullshit, I saw the body! It had major injuries that a damn house fire couldn’t have caused!”

Jaebum’s jaw clenched, “You have no idea what you saw, Detective. That body was burnt to hell, nobody could tell anything. We still don’t even know who he is!”

Jinyoung shook his head and stood, “Alright, sir. It was the house fire. Have a blessed night.” He knew arguing was no use, he’d seen four other cases mirroring this one. All cases tended to wear on Jinyoung’s heart, but these past four were worse. The first time he noticed the body’s clear fatal wounds didn’t align with the Chief and the Coroner’s story, he figured Jaebum was right, he really was just seeing things. The next two times he opted to keep his mouth shut about it, figuring if he was the only one seeing anything wrong than maybe there wasn’t anything wrong. But, this last case pushed him to the limit.

Jinyoung drove home in silence. His head filled with millions of thoughts at once, as he watched the road ahead of him.

Something isn’t right

What do I do?

Who could I go to?

Would anyone believe me?

Why are they doing this?

Unanswered questions ate away at the young detective’s mind and morals. Once home, Jinyoung decided he needed a drink, and popped the cap off the last bottle of Soju in his refrigerator

****

Professor Lee opened the door to his office, politely greeting you and allowing you to enter.

“Y/n! Hello! It’s good to meet you.” Professor and attorney Lee’s smile was present, but ever distant.

You smiled and greeted him as you took your seat at the table. There were several other men present and you gave a small nod to them each.

Professor Lee sat at the head of the table, laced fingers placed on the dark wood ahead of him.

“We will begin our meeting with with some introductions, and what your jobs will be as interns,”

After the meeting finally ended, you sat in your car for a moment checking your messages.

Double B:

-hey lets chill later i miss u

Jackson Wang:

-we need to talk

-meet me somewhere soon

(123)456-7890

-Hey y/n it’s Mark

The last message you read made you smile. You decided to just call Mark while you drive home since you were excited to talk, but didn’t want to text and drive.

He surprisingly picked up after two rings.

“Y/n? Hey, what’s up?”

Your grin widened at the sound of his voice.

“Hey, I just got done with my internship. I thought I’d call while I drive home.” You shifted the car into reverse and pulled out of the parking lot. “Why were you there, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Without missing a beat, Mark answered.

“I went to see a friend of mine that works there, actually.”

“Oh okay. I met a few people during my meeting, maybe I know your friend!”

“Ah, so that’s what you were doing there. I take it you’re a law student?” Mark twirled his pen through his fingers as he spoke, a nervous habit he picked up from Jaebum.

“Yeah! I’m almost done, though. It’s my last year,”

Mark caught himself smiling at your excitement. He’d never found joy in anyone else’s happiness before that very moment.

“So you’re just the whole package then, huh?” You could hear his grin.

Giggling, you questioned him. “What do you mean?”

Mark’s heart bloomed at the sound of your giggle, and he found himself wanting to hear it again and again.

“I mean you’re intelligent, that’s a given,” he chuckled, “but also, your beauty is astonishing. You’re magnificent.”

You turned the corner, nearing your apartment complex.

“...really? You really think that?” You were sure your face was neon red.

“Of course, babydoll. I would never lie to someone so innocent.”

His voice sent a shiver down your spine.

“How come you think I’m innocent?” You giggled again.

Mark smirked and took his bottom lip between his teeth. He deeply wished you were there with him at that moment.

“I can always tell who’s innocent and who’s guilty,”

****

Jackson’s Corvette sat glittering in the moonlight in front of your apartment. He pulled the key out as he exited the luxurious car.

Night had fallen upon the shoulders of Eclipse once again, and with it came the horrors of murder.

Weeks had passed since you moved back into town, and August heat had turned into September’s red leaves. The murders continued on, and with Bambam’s absence until November, he made you swear you’d let either Jackson or Yugyeom stay with you at night.

They traded off shifts every other day, and honestly you were relieved it was Jackson’s turn.

You were slightly startled by the sound of the turning lock, but quickly calmed at the sight of Jackson Wang in all his glory.

“You scared me half to death, Jackson. I told you to knock first!” You rolled your eyes and looked back down at the textbook in your lap. You’d been on the couch for hours studying the same few chapters.

“Sorry, princess. I always forget.” He winked at you as he dropped his keys into the small glass bowl by the door. The irony set in when you remembered that Yugyeom got it for you.

You huffed and roughly rubbed your eyes.

“This is ridiculous. I don’t need a babysitter,” Jackson sat down next to you, and you turned and sat criss cross facing him, “and stop calling me that. We’re not friends anymore, Jackson.”

He studied your eyes for a moment before speaking.

“I’m not babysitting you, I’m upholding my word. I told Bambam I’d do this so here I am,” he ran a hand through his hair, “and I know you hate me for how I handled everything between you and Yugyeom, but I didn’t know what else to do. He’s my best friend, y/n.” Jackson turned to look at the wall, lost in thought.

“I don’t like this, y/n. I wish everything could go back to how it was a year ago.”

You furrowed your eyebrows and shook your head in disbelief.

“You wish what?! Jackson, how could you say that? A year ago everything may have been perfect for you, but I was miserable.” You closed your textbook and walked out onto the balcony. The sea of lights illuminated your frustrated facial expression.

Jackson followed quickly behind, leaning against the railing beside you.

“You seemed happier then,” he almost whispered. “I noticed it, though. I noticed the change. When I first met you, you were unstoppable. You held the world at your fingertips, eyes wide and sparkling at every new adventure.” He paused and shook his head lightly. “Yugyeom was an asshole. You made him feel things he’d never known, but he didn’t know how to handle it. So, naturally he revered back to what he knew, to what he saw his parents do.”

You felt a tear threaten to fall.

“The most important thing right now to me, is that you come back to being yourself. If that takes hating me and Yugyeom, fine. But if your new boyfriend takes any progress away from you healing, I swear to God, y/n. I will end his shit. I made a mistake in defending Yugyeom, and I won’t make it again.”

***

Mark noticed the Corvette the moment he pulled his Hummer into the parking lot. After being together for weeks now, he learned of Bambam’s rule. He wasn’t happy with it, but he tried to understand from his perspective anyway. Jackson being in your apartment was annoying, but he was just an inconvenience at most. Yugyeom on the other hand, caused Mark’s temper to reach concerning levels. He was relieved it was just Jackson there today.

He knocked on your door before sliding the key into the lock. You decided giving him a key couldn’t be any worse than Yugyeom and Jackson having one, and Mark was your boyfriend now after all.

He found you on the balcony alone, sitting in the ground peering through the bars at the silent town.

“Y/n, I know it’s kinda late for dinner, but I brought you something to eat.”

You turned around and Mark’s heart ached at the sight of tears staining your cheeks.

He kneeled down, silver chains smacking together from the sudden movement. He placed his calloused hands on your cheeks, thumbing away the tears.

“Babydoll, what happened?” His voice was so gentle it shocked even him. He never knew he was capable of being so soft until you walked into his life. “Where’s Jackson?”

You sniffled and smiled softly to your boyfriend. “I think he went to sleep already… nothing really happened, I just, I just,” your lip started trembling again and Mark sat down with his back against the bars, pulling you into his arms.

“Shhh, it’s okay babydoll. I got you, nothing gonna hurt you,” he whispered into your hair.

You took a deep breath and relaxed into his arms.

“I’m scared, Mark. So many people are dying. What if I’m next?”

The comment made Mark cuddle you tighter.

“Nobody’s going to hurt you, let’s go eat and watch Disney movies, okay?” His smile made you feel better, and you found yourself grinning back at him.

“You know me so well already,” you giggled as he picked you up and brought you inside.

[septiembrre]

RULES: list five television shows that always make you feel better, then tag ten other blogs to do the same.

Tagged by @pynkhues​ <3 

1. Schitt’s Creek

This show makes me cackle AND makes me cry. I love Alexis and David so much. I love the representation of loving partnerships and personal/character growth. Wonderful. 

2. On My Block

OMB is heartbreaking in a lot of ways. The show talks about the heavy issues/trauma of what it’s like to come of age in a working-class Black/Latinx/mixed-race community. But, even though parts of the narrative are heavy -- it’s the most accurate representation of my childhood on screen and it makes my heart so happy. Also, the ensemble cast humor and stand out characters -- Jasmine, Ruby, Jamal, Oscar -- bring me back to it. 

3. Brooklyn 99

I’m embarrassed to like a cop show so much -- especially a cop show with Andy Samberg. My inner late 2000′s self cringed for so long at the premise of watching this so it took me a long time to actually start. But, this show is ensemble cast perfection. 

4. Glow

More ensemble cast perfection that sets my heart alight~ I just watched this in August, but I immediately rewatched it. I’m obsessed! It makes my heart so full. 

I resisted Glow for a long time (years) as a reaction to knowing I was supposed to like it~ as it was definitely marketed as a show for feminists. Sometimes I get this vibe like media that prioritizes women’s narratives is released and the world is like HERE! This is what you asked for -- women speaking to each other! You better enjoy it. 

But, I resisted because:

1. Wrestling (I have so many unfortunate memories of being held captive on the living room couch for “father, daughter bonding time” as my father watched what felt like endless WWE. This has given me an everlasting love for the Dwayne Johnson, but a lasting distaste for wrestling) 

2. The leads are white women. Y’all, I’m so tired of this schtick of WOC getting sidelining roles, but I’m supposed to be happy because the white women leads are ~compelling, nuanced, brilliant! 

I ended up watching it because my partner edited an interview between the writers of the show, who were pretty rad, and was thus inspired. She kept suggesting we watch it after work and I resisted on the daily for a solid week. But, then we watched it. Anyways, the relationship between the leads IS magnificent, having 10+ women on screen IS phenomenal, and the wrestling IS bad ass. 11 out of 10!

5. Jane the Virgin

*sigh* I almost didn’t include this because Gina is so annoying -- it has started to eclipse the fact that I LOVE JANE TV!! Oh my god -- bi-icon PETRA?? ROGELIO DE LA VEGA?? XIO?? My gorgeous himbo, RAFAEL???   

I love them so much. I day dream about the Jane universe constantly, both the actual show and in an AU sense (haha, Good Girls basically is a soap, but I would love to adopt it more fully to embrace telenovela drama -- haha, with Rio as the protagonist?? I also have lots of fun picturing a Miami Beth hahaha). 

Seeing so many Latinos represented on screen, in the format of a telenovela, ending in a loving and supportive place, makes me cry and heals my heart. 

Tagging @deceptivenewt​

[himbowelsh]

Thank you for answering my earlier questions! I know you've written for Grant and Talbert before (I cannot remember their ship name for the life of me) would you be willing to write any modern head cannons for them? Or any general relationship head cannons for them? Those two don't get enough love together! 🙂

gralbert.  talbant.  grantbert?  tabant?  fluck?   there are no good options here.

Modern Headcanons (this turned into a coffeeshop au i’m sorry):

Grant’s really just vibing through life, to be honest. Out of all his friends, he’s the one who’s got his shit most together, and that’s something to be proud of. So what if he’s still not sure exactly where he wants to be in ten years, or how he’s going to get there? It’s enough to just...  exist in the moment.

That moment, currently, puts him in charge of managing a small coffee shop which has become the social hub for his entire social circle. Not only is he making great cash, he gets to stay connected with old friends and meet new people every day. Plus...  he’s never short on coffee? Literally nothing to complain about.

It’s not that he doesn’t feel...  well, connected is the wrong word, because he definitely is. There are just times when he feels...  lonely. Chuck’s got a lot of friends, but he’s also the sort of guy who could stand in the middle of a crowded room and suddenly feel like he’s the only one there  ---  like no one’s really looking at him at all.

He craves attention, affection, warmth.

That’s when Dog Boy happens.

In Chuck’s defense, Dog Boy is a complete accident. The coffee shop is just supposed to be a canine free zone...  so he’s completely baffled to see a guy walk in with at least five dogs, all on leashes, and order an iced coffee to go.

The guy definitely seems like he’s in a hurry  ---  like he really, really needs a coffee  ---  but Chuck can only stare.  “Are those all supposed to be service dogs?” he asks.

“Um,” Dog Boy says.

Chuck points to the sign on the wall, which very clearly reads the coffee shop’s animal policy. Dog Boy lets out a weird noise somewhere between a laugh and a sob. “Okay, I’m sorry, I know, but can I please please just get an iced coffee?”

It looks like he has his hands full. More than full. This coffee is going to end up spattered on a sidewalk somewhere, and Dog Boy will probably cry. He looks like he might cry right now, just for the hell of it.

Chuck gets him an iced coffee.

That should be the end of it, but a few days later, Dog Boy comes back. He doesn’t have any dogs in tow this go ‘round, but looks five times as relaxed  ---  which is really, really a good look on him  ---  and promptly deposits a twenty dollar bill in Chuck’s tip jar.   “For you,”  he declares, and winks.

Chuck just stares at him.  “We, uhh  ---  we have to split the tips between everyone on shift, and there are, like, four other people here...”

“Christ,” says Dog Boy, and plucks the bill out of the tip jar  ---  can he do that?  is that allowed? ---   and tucks it in the pocket of Chuck’s apron.     “For you. You saved my life the other day, with the coffee. Can’t tell you what sort of day I was having, but...”

He smiles, and it’s the ridiculous sort of smile that shouldn’t be allowed to exist on anyone who’s not in Hollywood   ---   casually blinding, bright enough to leave Chuck feeling warm all over.

If he had to pick the moment he knew he was in trouble...  right there. There is it.

Floyd Talbert becomes a regular in the coffee shop after that. Turns out, he knows a startling amount of Chuck’s friends.  It’s not long before Tab’s popping in nearly every day to joke around with Bill and Babe, cause trouble with Liebgott, or even confer quietly with Mr. Winters in the corner. Seeing Tab becomes one of the highlights of Chuck’s day; they never really talk, but he’s got his coffee order memorized, and everytime that bold smile flashes his way, he feels a little dizzy.

Is this...  what it’s like to have a crush?  Strange.  Unnerving.  Chuck hasn’t had a crush since middle school.   Why now...  and why, of people, on Talbert?

One look at him and that becomes a stupid question. Who wouldn’t have a crush on Talbert?

Chuck comforts himself with that knowledge   ----   no doubt, Tab’s got girls lining up around the block. What interest would he have in a barista who always adds a little extra sugar to his coffee, just because that’s how he likes it?

Tab is the sort of guy who draws people to him like moths to a porch light; he’s dynamic and popular wherever he goes. Chuck has a tight group of friends who he sticks to like glue, and would do anything for; he’s always been more content to wait in the background, observing and working silently. He doesn’t enjoy the limelight. Tab attracts it.

There’s no way they’d work together, because Tab would never notice him.

Until the day Smokey Gordon comes up to the counter with a big grin on his face, and drops something in the tip jar.  “Just for you,”  he declares, and winks.

It’s a folded up piece of paper...  and there’s a phone number written on it. Chuck blinks for a moment, confused, before putting two and two together. Smokey gave him the number as soon as Tab left the shop.

He texts it that night.   “smokey gave me this number...  this is chuck, the barista from the coffee shop”   Waiting restlessly on his balcony with a cigarette in hand, bouncing his leg like it’s running a marathon...  Chuck has nothing to do but hold his breath.

Suddenly, the phone buzzes. It startles his cat into falling off the table. Chuck nearly jumps out of his skin.

“why am i not surprised?  typical smokey”    comes the response, followed by a startlingly accurate bitmoji.   (He uses those instead of emojis?  That’s kinda narcissistic but also really cute?)

After a moment of Chuck holding his breath, searching for how to reply  (he’s a very slow texter, and it drives his friends insane)  another message comes through from Tab.

“good thing he did tho, because i’d have spent a few more weeks working up the courage”

Chuck has a heart attack on the spot.

“honestly,”   he replies,   “i’d have skipped the number and gone straight to asking you to dinner”

“wow, a gentleman!!!”      His enthusiasm is adorable.       “sounds great to me.   are you free friday?   i know a great place for burgers”

It’s across the street from a 24-hour vet clinic.

That’s why Tab wanted to go there.

They make it through half an hour of the date with Tab obviously getting restless, and Chuck is terrified he’s boring him...  until Tab abruptly sets his glass down on the counter and turns to Chuck, fresh brightness in his eyes. “Can we actually go somewhere else? I’ve got some friends you might like to meet.”

Tab works at the local vet clinic, and he’s the one tasked with walking all the dogs each afternoon. Usually they go in shifts, but on that particular day, Tab was in a rush and decided to take them all at once.

“They ran me all over town,” he declares, a funny note of pride in his voice. “I was that close to passing out...  but then I saw the shop, and I saw you, and...”

He trails off, gnawing at his lower lip  ---   his hands are occupied roughhousing with a golden retriever, while a persistent beagle noses at his elbow. Chuck blinks at Tab over the head of an enthusiastic Yorkie, and feels something warm bloom in his chest.

“Next time, I decide the date location,” he declares. Tab grins, bright and blinding as a solar eclipse. To his own amazement, Chuck feels like he’s come home.

General Relationship Headcanons:

Chuck’s mellower than Floyd in a lot of ways. He’s less emotional, better at thinking things through; when their friends are causing havoc, Tab will eagerly be swept along in the chaos, while Chuck will follow to make sure no one causes too much trouble. They both know how to have fun, though, and have equally adventurous streaks that match well together. Hiking, rock climbing, bike riding...  these are all dates they’d enjoy.

Floyd appreciates Chuck’s honesty. Sometimes he can be too blunt (”What do you think of these jeans?” “Eh, you’ve worn better.”), but he never beats around the bush, and there’s never any question whether Floyd can trust his judgement. Chuck says what he thinks, and means what he says.

Floyd is gentler in a lot of ways, and this is something Chuck isn’t used to. He’s never...  been taken care of before. He’s never been doted on. Floyd loves doting on him, and this takes a lot of getting used to.

Chuck is the first one to say “I love you”, and it shocks them both. Sure, they’d been thinking it for a while, but...  Chuck never thought he’d find the courage to voice it, but it slips out almost unconsciously. Floyd pauses in the middle of making dinner...  then chuckles softly, almost to himself, and glances back over his shoulder.  “Love you too,”  he replies, like it’s the easiest thing in the world.  To both their surprises...  it is.

Floyd’s morals run deep, and he’s got a sensitive side that’s easily stoked. Tug on his heartstrings, and he’s open to anything...  which scares Chuck, who doesn’t trust as easily. Floyd’s more than capable of taking care of himself, but a part of Chuck feels like he needs to protect him from getting hurt. That’s impossible. The first time something hits Floyd hard, and he’s left pacing into the early hours of the morning, chewing his lip raw and agonizing over what he could have done differently, Chuck stays up with him. He doesn’t try to stop him, doesn’t try to calm him down...  but when Tab finally collapses in a chair, exhausted, Chuck’s the one who coaxes him up and to bed.

After that, it’s his turn to take care of Floyd.  This is a role he falls into with much more ease...  and Floyd, as it turns out, enjoys being pampered as much as he does giving the love.

[echo-bleu]

Lay Your Throne

Malex Musketeers AU. I’m reposting this little series here (from AO3) ahead of the @alterarnm fic I’m hoping to finish by Thursday (but I probably won’t). This was originally written for the Whumptober prompt “Secret Injury”. Part 1.

“You fought well, Captain,” the King says to a kneeling Alex. “But my son is an excellent swordsman, and you are obviously injured. Do you accept your defeat?”

“I do,” Alex says, raising his head. He's still reeling from the blow Michael dealt to his head, which knocked him out long enough for the rules of dueling to be satisfied, and Michael didn't try to start the duel again, instead looking at him on the floor with something akin to concern on his face. Alex doesn't know what to do with that.

“Very well. Then I declare Michael, count of Dimaras, the winner of this duel. Michael, will that satisfy your call for justice?”

“It will for now, my King,” Michael says, kneeling beside Alex. “The rest of my claims will be settled another day.”

“Well fought, my son,” the King says, rising to put a hand on Michael's shoulder. In that moment, Alex's defeat is well worth the look of pride on Michael's face. Until Alex meets his father's eyes, and notices his smirk. He is basking in Alex's humiliation. Alex grits his teeth.

“Captain, will you be able to return to your duties?” the King asks.

Liz takes a step forward at that, opening her mouth, but Alex waves her back. “I will, sire. I'm fine.”

He bows again and gets back to his feet, taking care not to show any weakness. He almost fails when the world turns on its head as soon as he's upright, but he blinks the dizziness away and reforms rank with his Musketeers. Liz and Maria immediately come to flank him.

“Alex! The King would have given you leave to go if you'd ask!” Liz exclaims. “You're in no shape to stand guard.”

“I can't,” Alex says. He lets Maria set his arm back into the sling, though, and a sigh of relief escapes him when it eases some of the pain away.

“But why?” Liz asks.

Alex doesn't dare look back to where his father is still sitting, but Maria nods toward him discreetly. “Because of him?” she asks.

Alex doesn't answer, too busy trying to swallow back the nausea.

“You don't have anything to prove to him, Alex,” Liz murmurs.

“I know,” Alex whispers back.

He does know. He's more respected and loved than his father by the whole kingdom, royal family included, even though Jesse Manes still outranks him. He has the King's ear, but everyone's confidence in the Prime Minister is waning, after years of unnecessary wars that ruined half the kingdom. And yet, it's not enough for Alex.

Is it for Michael? Alex searches for him in the crowd. He's standing by the Princess now, across the dais from Jesse Manes, their similar red uniforms standing out amid the Royals' greens. What is his endgame? Why did he challenge Alex today?

If he's still the man Alex remembers, a duel without bloodshed would never satisfy his wish for revenge. Michael has never believed in the justice of the law, or in the gentlemen's codes of honor. So either he's not out for revenge against Alex, or he has a larger plan.

Being close to him again today, touching him, was incredible and terrifying. Alex still can't believe Michael is really alive. It's been ten years since he watched him hang. It shouldn't be possible.

And yet here he is. It's his hand that stabbed Alex a week ago, his elbow that got him in the head today. His eyes on him, right now. Alex meets them, and the surge of emotions makes him stumble−unless that's the dizziness again.

Michael nods at him, the ghost of a smile on his lips, and Alex wants to cry.

Alex doesn't know how he manages to fight the mounting nausea for another two hours, as the Royal Family amuses themselves in the gardens. He's sure it must show on his face, because the King dismisses him the moment they're back inside the palace, and asks Liz and Maria to escort the Prince and Princess instead.

He finds himself, without really knowing how, leaning against a wall in a random corridor in the east wing, struggling against dizziness. He must have a concussion. He looks up as someone approaches, trying to stand up straighter.

“Hey,” Michael says, striding down the corridor in his red leathers. Alex would be dreaming about this, if he wasn't five second away from throwing up.

Michael is all swagger and smirk until he takes a closer look at Alex. “You alright?”

Alex opens his mouth to say he's fine, but what was bound to happen happens, and he retches instead, unable to stop himself. He barely misses Michael's boots.

“Alex!”

“'s nothing,” Alex mutters, but he can't hold himself up. The world is turning around him, and he falls to his knees. Michael catches him and gently lowers him to the floor. “Concussion.”

“Why did you hide it? You stood there for hours!”

“'m fine.”

“Clearly,” Michael rolls his eyes. “Don't move.”

Alex nearly moans as Michael's hands leave him, suddenly feeling cold. But Michael comes back instants later with two male servants.

“Take him to my chambers,” he orders. “Be gentle.”

His strength gone, Alex can only let the two men carry him through the empty corridors. He wonders what Michael's intentions are. Does he want to kill him, get his revenge fully? No, he had plenty of chances to kill him already. But then what? And why is he being so nice?

The servants put him down on a large bed, in a richly decorated room. Alex squirms, fully aware of how filthy he is after he met the dirt floor of the dueling ground more than once, but Michael doesn't let him stand up.

“Stay here,” he murmurs, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Don't worry about the sheets, they can be washed.”

Why is he so gentle? Alex wants to scream. He doesn't deserve this. Is Michael doing this so that his revenge will be even more cruel? Is he trying to lead Alex on into some twisted head game?

Michael brings a goblet of water to his lips. “Drink. You'll feel better.”

Alex obeys, for lack of a better idea. He's spent. He almost wants to give in, let Michael care for him, even if it makes what will inevitably come harder.

“Why are you doing this?” he asks.

“Because you're hurt,” Michael says, like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

“Let me go back to the garrison. I'll be fine.”

“You're in no shape to ride, Alex.”

Alex tastes the sound of his name on Michael's lips again, for the first time in ten years, and it's as bitter as it is sweet. The last time he heard it before today, Michael had a rope around his neck.

Michael brushes a strand of hair away from Alex's face, far too intimately, and Alex catches his hand. It's his left, the one he kept behind his back during the time of the duel, as per fencing tradition.

It's mangled. Half of it is covered in scars and the fingers have bends in places they shouldn't.

Alex closes his eyes and shudders. The moment his father hit Michael with a hammer, after catching them in the gardener's shed and seeing the brand on Michael's shoulder, has long been eclipsed by the memory of the noose around Michael's neck, but it's still there.

“Alex,” Michael calls.

“Are you trying to punish me?” Alex asks, meeting his eyes again. He doesn't melt into the golden brow irises this time, too shaken by the memories.

“What? No!”

“Then−

“I was angry at you for the longest time, Alex,” Michael sighs. “I resented you for not doing more to protect me, for not finding a way to free me. I'm still angry, sometimes. But I understand now, the hold he has on everything. If you had helped me, you would have condemned yourself.”

“I would have done it for you without a thought,” Alex says. “But he knew. He took away any leverage I could have used. I tried, I pleaded with him, with my brothers, I even tried to bribe the hangman, but he found out. I wasn't strong enough.”

Michael's eyes widen. “But you were, Alex. I always wondered, who it was that helped me escape. You saved me.”

“What?” Alex asks, confused.

“You rode away.”

“I couldn't watch. I just...I thought I owed you that, but I couldn't.”

“It's a good thing,” Michael says. “Alex, the hangman you bribed, he saved me. He pulled me down before I could choke and helped me escape.”

Alex chokes on his breath and bites on his finger, hard. He wants to weep, to curse, to scream, but he doesn't.

“You saved me, Alex. I didn't know. I thought you'd abandoned me.”

Michael pulls him into a hug then, careful of his injuries. Alex buries his face in Michael's shoulder and gives him to the tears.

“Ten years,” he sniffles after a while. “I could never forgive myself.” He traces the scar around Michael's neck, just barely visible above his high collar.

“You enrolled,” Michael states.

“Yeah. After you...after I thought you died, I had no reason left to fight my father's wishes. I started in the Army, and made my way to the Musketeers.”

“Did you choose them just to spite your father?”

Alex laughs between his tears. “A bit. I couldn't let him win everything.”

“What happened to you, Alex?” Michael asks, growing serious again.

“Um?”

“Your leg.”

“Ah, you noticed that,” Alex sighs. He knows his gait remains irregular, even with a wooden leg from the best crafter in the kingdom. It shows even more during a fight, where he has to compensate for his lack of mobility. But still, he wishes Michael could have been spared from seeing it, at least for a little longer.

He pushes Michael away enough to pull up his pant leg. Michael's breath hitches.

“Fuck, Alex. I didn't−”

“I'm okay,” Alex says. “It was rough for a while, but I'm okay now.”

Michael nods slowly, only half-believing him.

“Where were you?” Alex asks. “For all these years?”

“I traveled a lot,” Michael says, which Alex knows is code for 'I didn't dare stay in the same place for two night in a row in case I got caught.' “Other cities, other countries. I went looking for where I come from, and it led me back here.”

“So you're the King's son, huh?” Alex asks.

“Apparently,” Michael shrugs. “My mom was a woman of the court, but she died in childbirth, so I was given away. But there are records. They weren't easy to find.”

“At least now my father can't touch you. And you have a title and lands, I'm guessing. You won't be poor ever again.”

Michael talked to Alex only once, about growing up in an orphanage, starving and without shoes. That's what led him to stealing food, to being convicted and branded.

That's the excuse his father used to call off the wedding and have Michael hanged, when he found out. He had full powers, on his own lands, to call for an execution. Here in the city, he doesn't anymore.

“It doesn't erase what happened,” Michael says darkly.

Alex hangs his head. “Of course. I'm sorry.”

“No, I didn't mean it like that,” Michael reassures him immediately. “Alex, look at me.”

“I'm−”

“Alex!” Alex looks up. “I don't blame you, not anymore. He did all this. And he's going to pay for it.”

“He's untouchable,” Alex says.

“No he's not,” Michael shakes his head, but he doesn't elaborate. “I'm sorry I stabbed you the other day,” he says instead.

“I probably deserved it,” Alex shrugs with his good shoulder.

“No, never. But I needed to establish myself with the Red Guards, and also to make sure that you would lose today.”

“I'm flattered that you think I need to be injured for you to beat me, but why did you need me to lose? Why challenge me at all?”

“Because I have a plan,” Michael says, giving himself a mysterious air.

“A plan to what?” Alex raises his eyebrows. “Overthrow the King?”

Michael smiles. “No. A plan to bring your father down, once and for all. I needed you to lose against me today so you can win against him, when the time comes.”

[winterromanov]

we will grow taller together - bucky x reader

PART ONE - THE GENTLE HUM OF EXISTENTIAL DREAD

parts: zero

Pairing: bucky barnes x reader

Extract: “No. No, what I’m saying is, he needs—they both need—someone. He needs someone to help look after Clover while they both get their lives back on track.” Steve pauses, looking you straight in the eyes. “Someone like you.”

Genre: romance, nanny x single father!AU

Taglist: @blindedbyyourgrace17 @verygraphicink @igotkatiepowers @welcome-to-my-studylife (taglist still open, reply/message to be tagged)

PART ONE

“Next please!”

The queue shuffles along until your face-to-face with yet another tired-looking college student, purple eye-bags visible underneath a pair of circular rimmed glasses. It’s fall dead week and if most of your customers are anything to go by, it certainly lives up to its name. Every single one of the tables spread out on the main floor of Vormir Coffee has been crammed with sleep-deprived teenagers and textbooks, meaning you and your colleagues have been swept off your feet with orders for caffeine products refills. You expect the rush to continue over the next few days as revision turns into actual mid-terms—as is tradition, you’ll be offering free chocolate muffins throughout the week by the door, because nothing heals the pain of a shitty Econ paper like chocolate muffins do.

Yet…as you look in the near-dead, distant eyes of your latest customer, you feel a pang of jealousy deep within your chest. While you’re pouring coffee into refillable mugs and forcing your best service smile (which is a difficult feat nine hours in to a ten hour shift) they’re reading and learning and absorbing.

You miss learning. God, you miss learning, even the terrible impossible chaos of one exam after another and deadlines piling up around you like sandbags. But being, y’know, poor, means there’s not much you can do about your grad school dreams, even if you do spend your free hours searching the internet for outlandish scholarships and funding schemes.

So. For now, it’s coffee. Potentially forever if you want to continue to eat and have electricity, which is just about all you can afford right now. And the occasional lipstick if you’re feeling particularly extravagant.

“What can I get you?” you ask the student, whose scruffy brown hair doesn’t look like it’s been washed in a few days. Oh well. Desperate times require desperate measures. At least you’re not his roommate. He grunts for an inevitable espresso and fishes round his wallet for some spare dollars while you get to work. Moments later you offer him the finished product and he drops the exact change into your hand, skulking away to a table without another word. Well, you’ll forgive a lack of manners during one of the most surreal weeks in the academic year.

“Hey, (Y/N).”

On the announcement of your name your glance flicks back to the remainders of the gradually quietening queue, and your face subconsciously breaks out into a grin when you finally see a customer that doesn’t look like a vacant zombie.

Steve Rogers grins back at you. He’s wearing a beanie over his blonde hair and a warm winter jacket—the temperature was freezing when you practically slid from the subway to work this morning and as the day slowly eclipses into evening, the temperature is falling back down with it. His cheeks are flushed from coming into the warm.

“Hey Steve!” you greet him cheerfully, because seeing an old friend is the perfect way to end a tiring shift. “How are you? How’s Natasha?”

Steve dips his head bashfully, like he always does when he’s asked about himself or his girlfriend. “We’re both great, thanks. What about you? It’s been a while.”

You gesture around you as an answer. Taking all the shifts you possibly can means you probably spend more time in Vormir than your own apartment. From what you can recall Steve has been back in the States for a few weeks after his most recent tour of Afghanistan; him or Natasha keep dropping you invites here and there, but you’ve been working or too dog-tired to accept them. It kind of makes you sad, as you watch your social circle shrink, but being an adult is the worst and staying alive is reasonably important to you.

“That bad, huh?” Steve asks sympathetically. You nod back, dramatically rolling your eyes.

“That bad. Always that bad, Rogers. I’m a slave to consumerism, but don’t let my boss know that.”

Steve laughs, leaning onto the counter. “I actually… (Y/N), when do you finish up here? Do you want get a drink? I’ve just got something I wanted to run by you.”

You narrow your eyes with curiosity. The clock that ticks mercilessly above the door reads six forty-two, so you’ve got less than twenty minutes left of your shift, and the look on Steve’s face is too intriguing to turn down just so you can rush home, open a bottle of cheap white wine and watch Stranger Things on Netflix. Even if you are up to the season three finale.

“I clock off at seven,” you reveal, but you nudge your head in the direction of the remaining customers who are starting to get annoyed at the hold-up. “Grab a seat. I actually have to do my job for a while longer and I’d rather not get fired because you’re distracting me.”

Steve holds his hands up in mock surrender and slowly backs away from the counter, allowing your next customer to slide into his position. You watch as he drops into a two-seater by the window, scrolling through his iPhone, a muted grin tugging at his lips.

-

Steve’s favourite bar is a short walk across town, the kind that is warm and dark and a little bit retro. You’ve been to Endgame before with him and Natasha, and you’d all split quarters so you could play ABBA songs on the Jukebox by the entrance. Right now it’s playing Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac, so it seems today’s patrons have taste.

You grab one of the more private booths through the back while he gets the drinks. You’ve not seen your phone since your lunch break so you take the spare seconds to scroll through your social media—less than an hour ago Natasha’s posted a photo to Instagram, both her and Steve making stupid faces in the living room of the apartment they share. It’s captioned who do I have to kill to make sure you’re not deployed again?

Your heart melts a little. Steve and Nat. Nat and Steve. Two people who have been together for longer than you’ve known them, and they just work so fucking well, two halves of the same coin and all that. Your thumb hovers over the like button for a moment before clicking it, because you’ve never had someone in your life like that. You’ve not found the other half of your coin.

Most days you’re too exhausted to really think about it. But sometimes…something will click in the back of your brain and it dawns on you like an avalanche that this might be your life forever. You’ll be serving coffee forever. You’ll be on your own forever.

Fortunately Steve slides into the seat opposite before you can go into a full-on existential crisis, but you sure as hell know that’s what will inevitably cross your mind when you’re stuck staring at the cracked ceiling of your apartment in bed tonight.

Steve’s smile is concerned as he pushes a desperado in your direction. “You look troubled.”

“When am I not?” you say with a shrug, taking a sip of your drink. The alcohol burns in your empty stomach. You haven’t eaten since lunch—maybe liquor isn’t the best idea, after all. “Anyway. As much as I love seeing you, Rogers, this isn’t just a friendly drop-by is it?”

Steve is drinking some generic American beer. He wipes his lip before speaking. “Yeah. Like I said. There was something I thought I’d run by you.”

“Ominous.” You wiggle your eyebrows. “Are you going to spend the next half an hour or so pushing a pyramid scheme you swear isn’t a pyramid scheme? Because I really didn’t think that was your style.”

“No. Not a pyramid scheme.” He shakes his head in mild disbelief, probably wondering why he’s still friends with you. “It’s more…do you remember my friend? James?” When you look back blankly, he elaborates. “Bucky. Guy I used to go to school with. Dark hair. Lost his arm in Afghan about a decade ago…”

“Oh! Oh. Bucky Barnes. James Barnes.” You feel kind of bad that the arm was what made it click, but you do remember a quiet, well-mannered guy standing in the background of a few of Steve and/or Nat’s social events over the last few years. You’ve never been formally introduced but Steve talks about him every so often, just casual mentions in conversation, nothing detailed. They’d grown up together, trained together, but their career paths parted after Bucky’s car nicked an IED on the outskirts of Kabul. Truly horrifying. “Yeah. Sure. I remember him. What about him?”

Steve grimaces. “Well, it’s a bit…complex, to explain, so I’ll just go straight into it. About seven years ago he met a girl, she got pregnant, they had a daughter.”

“Oh! I never knew he had any kids.”

“Yeah. Clover. She’s six now. Way too smart for her age, really mischievous—doing crazy things like sending vegetables in the post to the grandparents she doesn’t like and reading fucking Frankenstein. Big Mary Shelley fan, to Buck’s sheer delight. Awesome kid.”

You smirk, not sure what any of this has to do with you, but little Clover sounds exactly how you were at her age. “She does sound pretty awesome.”

“But Connie, her mom…she passed away just over a year ago in a really awful car wreck.” Steve’s face falls into a look of heartbreak, empathetic as always. “Her and Bucky haven’t been together for years but they shared custody of Clove, Connie having her a lot of the time.”

You feel something shift in your chest, like shards of glass are pressing in between your ribs. Real loss stories have always been pretty hard for you to digest, regardless of who they belong to. You think about death a lot in, like, an abstract and unreachable kind of way. You think it gives you size, an awareness of your place in the world, the universe. But that’s your own death. You’re kind of comfortable with that one day you will cease to exist. It’s just the people that you care about you fear for. And everybody cares about somebody.

“God, that’s awful, Steve,” you murmur, eyes softening. “Is he looking after her on his own now?”

Steve nods, biting his lip. “Yeah. And he’s not doing too great, (Y/N). It’s not my place to go into details about what goes on in his head, but nobody gets over the trauma he went through and goes back to before. And the loss of Connie and suddenly becoming Clover’s only parent, and her trauma, as well as trying to hold down a full-time job…like Jesus, I’m surprised he can even get up in the morning. Sometimes he doesn’t.”

You ache for Steve’s oldest friend as is only natural, but you’re still at a loss as to where this involves you. You rest your chin in your hands, looking at Steve intently. “It sounds like he’s going through a tough time. I’m really sorry. But is this…any of my business? Because you can always confide in me about things that are on your mind, but this sounds really personal.”

“No. No, what I’m saying is, he needs—they both need—someone. He needs someone to help look after Clover while they both get their lives back on track.” Steve pauses, looking you straight in the eyes. “Someone like you.”

The laugh that erupts from your chest is involuntary, but Steve’s expression is still completely serious. Is he really suggesting what you think he’s suggesting? “What? You’re asking me to be a nanny?”

“I suppose you could call it that.” When you stare at him with disbelief, he rolls his shoulders. “(Y/N). Why is this such an eccentric idea? You hate your job. Buck has a spare room at his place which, no offense, is way nicer than your apartment. You’re great with kids, you’re funny, you’re smart…and you’ve already said you think Clover sounds like an awesome kid. You two would get on great.”

“That’s all irrelevant considering a, I’m not a nanny and have no experience looking after a child in that close and intense an environment. And b, Steve, this is an eccentric idea. Other than the scraps you’ve given me I know absolutely nothing about James, and what the hell does he know about me?” When Steve’s face looks a little guilty, you roll your eyes. “Oh my god. Steve. James hasn’t even said he wants a nanny has he? He doesn’t even know you’re asking me this.”

“This would be so good for him,” Steve half-pleads, puppy dog eyes engaged, “He’s fussy about strangers and Clover, but he knows you through me. He’ll trust my judgement.”

“Steve. You can’t just go making decisions like that! This is insane.”

(Steve has a habit of thinking he knows what’s best, for himself or other people, and rampaging down that path in the pursuit of a happy ending. Sometimes people don’t need his version of a happy ending.)

Steve eventually relents, relaxing back in his seat. He’s forgotten you’re not usually one for blindly going along with one of his Heroic Schemes, preferring a more idealistic approach. “Okay. Yeah. I’ll discuss it with him first. But I think you should come along when I do that.”

“Steve.”

“It doesn’t have to mean anything, but I think you should meet them both properly. You could be a good friend to him either way. It wouldn’t hurt, (Y/N). Maybe it would be good for you too.”

God, you’re way too done for this shit, your legs aching from a day of being constantly on your feet and dead inside from getting up at six this morning. Steve is not the kind of guy to give up on something he’s clearly passionate about in his quest for the greater good, and this point it is just easier to agree to his requests. Even though his idea is way too bizarre for anyone normal to actually accept.

Being a live-in nanny for a guy you barely know and his daughter, both of whom have just lost someone extremely significant in their lives? And him being totally unaware that his best friend is proposing a job he has no authority to give? Yeah, fuck that.

Steve is right about one thing, though. You do really, really hate your horrible job.

When you reluctantly nod, and Steve grins, you jab a finger in his direction. “Like you said. It means nothing. This is weird as hell, but you’re super annoying when you don’t get your own way, and I’m totally allowing you to receive all the backlash when it backfires.”

“I think I can deal with that.” He gestures at your empty bottle. “Want another drink?”

The alcohol has made your body a little lighter, but your stomach growls loudly in argument. Instead, you clamp your hands on the table. “No, but you can buy me a pizza. It’s the least you can do for me, weirdo.”

Steve raises an eyebrow, used to your directness. “Pizza it is, then.”

Okay, so maybe Steve Rogers is the most annoying person in the world, and maybe his aggressive selflessness in the hope of doing right for his friends will eventually be his downfall, but he’s usually a pretty nice guy. You sometimes forget that you’re lucky to have him.

[cinnaminsvga]

intermission • iv | eclipse

→ summary: When the love letter you wrote and submitted as an assignment is leaked to the entirety of your university, it becomes a race against time to dispel rumours and convince the seven suspected muses of the poem that they aren’t the subject before anyone realises that you are the author. Easy, right? Well… maybe not as easy as you think.

→ pairing: bts x reader (feat. sera) → genre: college!au, crack, fluff, angst → warnings: sfw other than some ugly jealousy c/o a snake → words: 4.9K → a/n: sera didn’t always use to be a shitty person. well, that’s a lie. she was always a shitty person. she just used to be able to hide it well.

— • masterlist | prev | intermission iv | next • —

–– the first day of freshman year ––

The line for the free freshman orientation merchandise is longer than Sera had anticipated, even though she had arrived almost an entire hour early. Though most people would have dismissed the lengthy queue, Sera is Asian as Asian could get, her genes forbidding her from skipping over free shit when free shit can be received. She is sure her ancestors would never forgive her if she allowed this opportunity to slip through her fingers. And so, Sera waits with the rest of the cattle as the line shortens slowly, the heat of the early sun reminiscent of the summer months that should have already passed.

After sweating her body’s weight worth of sweat, she finally finds herself near the front of the line, foot tapping impatiently as the rowdy bunch of newly hatched boylings before her fought amongst themselves for the canvas knapsacks over the pink water bottles. Fragile masculinity at its finest, Sera thinks, as she watches with something akin to pity as the runt of the litter ends up with the “girlier” merchandise in the end.

At this point, all the better free items have mostly run out, though Sera wouldn’t mind getting the university emblem encrusted notepad and pen set. It is only a matter of moral principle when she gets the water bottle after seeing the boy from before shooting her with a desperate look, probably hoping to trade items with her if she had gotten something else. Sadistic pleasure courses through her veins when she sees the light fade from his eyes, the inevitability of his pink water bottle fate permanently sealed.

Puny boy. Drink your nasty energy drinks from your pink tinted bottle for all she cares. She’ll be doing the same, at least.

Free from that slow torture, Sera now has to subject herself to more agonizing torment by waiting for the rest of her orientation group members to arrive, most of whom should have gotten to the intended meeting location by now. She observes as her harried orientation leader tries unsuccessfully to get your small group to interact with one another, his fake cheery smile looking more strained as the apathetic faces of sleep-deprived freshmen fail to respond to his forced banter.

Her orientation leader, whose name she cannot recall for the life of her but will call “Mike” from now on, coughs awkwardly into his spotted handkerchief before dabbing his sweating forehead. Sera grimaces when she notices that a small glob of snot remains stuck to his skin where he had touched, though no one seems obliged to alert him of this fact. He glances at his watch, jumping from one foot to the other, as he does another headcount for the third time in the last ten minutes.

“7… 8… 9…” His finger hovers when it reaches the last person, his brow turned downwards in worry. The glob of snot dangles ever precariously from its perch. “Umm… Does anyone know where the last person is? We’re supposed to be ten, and the first part of our agenda is starting soon.”

Sera wonders why on earth he’s asking that as if they were supposed to be friends with one another. The university had forced everyone to make a group chat with their orientation groupmates a week ago, which was honestly a lost cause considering that everyone was randomly sorted into groups. Sera’s group chat only has two messages so far, with both being from the orientation leader himself. Out of ten people, only two of them have seen the messages, with Sera being one of them.

If that’s an indicator of how today is going to be, then Sera should have poured some shots into her kombucha like a sane person would have.

“Maybe you should try calling her?” One of the girls in her group says, her gaze never leaving her phone as she types rapidly, her dexterity astonishing despite her inch-long acrylic nails. Mike, on the other hand, stares forlornly at the black screen of his phone.

“No can do. My phone died a few minutes ago when I was in the middle of calling my mom. I guess I was too excited when I was telling her about today’s orientation day.” He laughs half-heartedly at that, and Sera might’ve felt a little bad for the guy if his phone didn’t have a keychain of an anime girl with big ol’ dobonhokeros. The only thing missing from his outfit is a big backdrop of his mom’s basement behind him to complete his look.

Mike looks around the group expectantly, obviously trying to catch the eye of one of you. Everyone’s heads bow down immediately, sensing that some effort and participation are about to be required from one of them. Nothing gets tired teens to disappear into the ground quicker than being asked to volunteer for anything that needed 0.01% of their brainpower. Unluckily for Sera, she is a bit too slow in her response, immediately locking gazes with Mike as a grin stretches on his face.

“Sera! You must know Y/N, right? I saw that you and Y/N had opened the group chat the other day. Why don’t you try calling her?” He says brightly, no signs of his depression from earlier. Two boys in Supreme hoodies snicker loudly at Sera’s dismayed face, and she vows to “accidentally” stomp on their pristine white sneakers later with her muddied old trainers.

“Um. Alright,” she agrees through gritted teeth, pulling out her phone with a heavy hand. Sera wonders if you’ll even take the call, possibly wary of answering an unknown number. Her pondering only lasts a second when you answer the call on the first ring, your heavy breaths being the first sound that greets Sera’s ears.

“I’m lost! I can’t find the soccer field! I’m running as fast as I can,” is your jumbled reply, followed by a screech on your end and what sounds like a honking car in the distance. “Sorry!” you call out immediately afterwards, and Sera hazards a guess that you were only two inches away from being roadkill.

“Yeah, this is Sera, one of your orientation groupmates. Mik–I mean, our orientation leader is wondering where you are.”

“I’m–” There is a pause, and Sera thinks for a moment that you might have dropped the call by accident or something. Then, you reply shakily, sniffling slightly. “I… I don’t know??? Help???”

What is it with today? Sera is meeting more people than she would like, and all of them seem to be the human equivalent of a cry for help. Surely, this is a test from above? However, there is something endearingly pitiful about your quiet sobs that makes her want to help you a little bit. She is never one to offer her services so freely to any stranger, but then again… She could become friends with you if you weren’t such a crybaby all the time.

“Describe where you are. I’ll try to come get you,” she says, not missing the way you gasp at her generosity. A feeling of pride settles into her chest, not disliking the way you must be so grateful for her benevolence. She should do this more often.

“Will you really? Oh my god, thank you!” you say giddily. You are quick to describe your surroundings, and luckily, Sera knows exactly where you are. The good thing about being a perfectionist is that Sera loves to over-prepare, so she already did her own tour of the campus before orientation day. In hindsight, she wonders why she even bothered to attend when she could handle herself perfectly. Oh right, the free stuff.

“Okay, hold tight. Be there in a bit,” she says before hanging up the phone. Sera turns back to Mike, who looks awfully smug for being as inept as he is. He begins to gather the rest of the group together, addressing all of them loudly.

“Thanks to the lovely Sera, our last member will join us shortly. In the meantime, we’ll head to the auditorium for the first event of the day while Sera finds Y/N!”

Wait– “You’re leaving me?” Sera shouts, jaw agape. Isn’t he supposed to be in charge? Whatever happened to teamwork and all that shit he was spouting literally ten minutes ago? Yet, here he was. All Mike the Mighty Ass does is shrug his shoulders, patting her impetuously on the back.

“We’re not leaving you! The auditorium is just over there,” Mike points to the imposing domed stadium just across the field. “And we’ll be seated right at the front, so just look for us there!”

“That stadium has a 7000 person capacity. How the hell am I supposed to–”

Sera doesn’t get to finish her sentiment as Mike raises his gaudy orange flag high up into the sky, signaling the rest of the group to follow his lead. None of the little shits even bat an eye as they quickly leave Sera in the dust to look for you.

As Sera gawks at the rapidly emptying field, she surmises that no number of free water bottle could ever amount to the trauma that the past few hours have inflicted on her. You better kiss the ground that she walks on when she finds you, or else there will be consequences to pay.

Finding you is easier said than done. Sera is sure she knew where you were from your descriptions, though there is a possibility that she might have overestimated herself. Either that or your explanation had been vague at best.

“‘In front of the weird blue houses,' she said,” Sera mutters to herself, looking up at the only blue-painted buildings in sight. She supposes that “weird” is subjective, as the houses appear quaint as can be, though maybe you had found the little garden gnomes at the front to be a bit disconcerting. Regardless, there seems to be no other person in sight, unless the crotchety old man in the wheelchair might be you.

She is just about to call you again when a person with twigs in their hair comes running down the sidewalk, their backpack thumping harshly against their back with every step they take. They are waving their hands wildly in the air, a large grin on their face as they struggle to slow down their momentum before inevitably tumbling into Sera’s slight body.

She found you.

“Ooph!” Sera groans, barely holding onto her senses as she tries her best to keep both of you upright. “What the fuck? Where were you?”

“Sorry, sorry!” You apologize repeatedly, swatting away bits of leaves from your hair that consequently fall onto Sera’s sweater. “I got a bit distracted by this dude at a hair salon and I had to make a run for it–”

“Whatever,” Sera interrupts, tugging you by the elbow and back to where the orientation is being held. “Let’s just get out of here before we miss out on the stupid orientation.”

You stumble a bit as you follow after her quick strides, having to hobble a little to catch up. You tilt your head curiously at your surroundings, not recognizing any of the landmarks at all. “Uh. You sure we’re going the right way? All these buildings look weird…”

“Says the chick who couldn’t even find the soccer field.” Sera snorts, continuing to walk with determination. “If you’re going to ogle at every ‘weird’ building we pass, then it’ll take us years to get there. Hurry up!”

After taking a few wrong turns and reaching two deadends, it is only then Sera admits that she might have forgotten the way back. It’s not her fault; she’s only been on campus for a few hours before. To your credit, you don’t seem all that disheartened as she had expected, unlike how distressed you had sounded on the phone earlier. In fact, you are skipping happily along beside her, pausing every often to take a few pictures of the dormitories and lecture buildings like a tourist.

“It’s like this is the first time that you’ve ever seen a building,” Sera jokes, taking a seat on a bench as she watches you frolic around a water fountain. You strike a weird post at her, smiling radiantly with your teeth showing.

“It’s because I only just moved here! I was late because I was busy unpacking my stuff in my dorm room,” you explain, straightening up into a more dignified posture before going to sit beside her.

Sera looks at you curiously. “Oh? You’re living on res? Are you from out of town?”

You shake your head. “Nah. My mom and I live pretty far off though, and I’d prefer not to take a commute in the morning. It’s chill though; I’m sharing a room with this dude I used to go to high school with.”

“They have co-gendered dorm rooms here?” Sera’s interest is piqued, and you are quick to notice it. You laugh, shrugging your shoulders.

“Uh, kind of? We’re like childhood friends and his mom is really close with the residence dean, so she asked if we could room together, just for the first year. She doesn’t really trust him with strangers. He’s really shy, so he’s uncomfortable rooming with someone he doesn’t know.”

“So, you guys aren’t, like, dating or..?”

“Me? Dating Jungkook? Oh God, that’s funny!” You laugh, slapping your knee. The more you think about it, the more ridiculous the idea is. “He’s like a bro to me! I would never date him.”

Sera smiles, a seed of an idea being planted in her brain. She stores it for later, but for now, she asks “Oh? So you’d be fine with introducing him to me sometime? I’d love to meet new people.”

“Sure, dude. He’s really introverted, so I doubt you’ll get too much out of him,” you hum. You close your eyes, enjoying the way the breeze gently caresses your face as Sera observes you from the sidelines.

Interesting, she thinks. She’ll definitely hang around you more. You are not as annoying as she had originally thought, and maybe it would be nice to have a friend to hang out with in between classes. Unassuming, overly excitable, naive… You’re just an innocent puppy, who will follow anyone who pets it. Easy enough; Sera can afford to accommodate you.

Sera smirks, allowing herself to enjoy the breeze as well. University might not be so bad after all.

A few months pass, and being friends with you isn’t as tedious as Sera had feared. In fact, you are a pretty chill person, someone whom Sera never needs to pretend to save face around. To you, her little mean streaks are nothing but little “quirks,” and you often wave them off as silly parts of her personality. Most of the time, the things Sera says are just that: jokes. More often than not, however, Sera has just grown comfortable around you to let her filter run a little loose, letting her goofier and bitchier side come out more easily.

Call it naivety or stupidity, but Sera is thankful to have you around.

Nevertheless, there are still some small moments when that thankfulness falls a little short. Take, for example:

“That TA is totally a bitch! She gave me an 80 on that essay only because her ex-boyfriend hit me up on Instagram. It’s not my fault that her boobs sag all the way to her hips!” Sera exclaims a little too loudly, and you have to silence her through stilted giggles as the two of you pass by the aforementioned TA.

“Marina isn’t that petty,” you say, though your defense is a little too lackluster to be effective. In fact, you’ve been a bit spacey all afternoon, not really present in most of your conversations together. You exit the lecture hall, walking to the cafeteria to grab some lunch. Sera has to pull you out of the way of two speeding bicycles before she thinks to ask you what’s up.

“Huh?” You mumble back, still smiling dopily at nothing. You’ve always been the type to get lost in your head, which is hilarious to Sera, given that your current debilitating crush is on none other than the most air-headed boy on campus. She supposes there is a certain appeal for opposite personalities, though it is funny that out of all the men on campus, you had to choose the heart-on for none other than–

“I was asking you what’s up with you,” Sera repeats, tutting as the two of you arrive at the cafeteria with no further casualties. “Seriously, it’s like your head is in your ass. Don’t tell me you finally got dicked down in the janitor’s closet and you’re basking in the afterglow.”

Sera’s crude comment is what finally gets you to snap out of it. “Hell no, you sex fiend!” You hiss, cheeks reddening at the jab. “Are you ever going to let that go? I told you that fantasy in confidence!”

“My lips are as loose as my pussy, my dude. You should know by now.” Sera says plainly, directing the two of you to one of the sushi joints. You don’t even protest Sera’s choice like you ordinarily would, as you have previously gotten intense food poisoning from one of their sashimi platters a week back. You must really be overthinking something then.

“I know. I’m just saying shit right now,” you say, pulling up a chair and plopping down. You fiddle with the soy sauce bottle contemplatively. “I’m spacing out because I’ve been thinking about the essay we just got back.”

“Oh?” Sera says, eyebrows lifting at that. She pulls out the menu, taking charge for the two of you as you have never quite mastered the art of choosing what food to get. Also, you’re scared of flagging down waiters, for whatever reason. “Did you also get saggy tits as your TA? I’m still mad about that B+, by the way.”

“That’s the thing,” you pause, accidentally flipping open the soy sauce bottle’s cap and spraying yourself with drops of the dark liquid. Neither of you even flinch when it happens, so used to catastrophes happening when it comes to you. You’re like a walking disaster magnet, and Sera has no idea why karma hates you so much. It’s a miracle that you’re alive, sometimes.

So it does come as a huge surprise to her when you follow up by saying, “She gave me an A+.”

The menu drops out of Sera’s hand. “What?” she nearly screeches, scaring the waiter who had been idly standing by your table. You point an apologetic glance at him as he scurries as far away from the two of you as possible, but Sera is undeterred. The words that had come out of your mouth makes no sense whatsoever.

“But… Marina literally gives no one higher than an A! I’ve got sources from upper years saying that she’s a beast when she grades – there must have been a mistake!” Sera says, not bothering to be polite.

You shrug, looking just as confused. “I thought so too. I was going to talk to her after class a while ago, but thought better of it and decided to not look a gift horse in the mouth… Better to accept it than question it, right?”

Sera hums, not wanting to admit that it was irking her that you didn’t ask the TA about it. Her annoyance is unwarranted, however, because she would’ve done the same. Why argue over a blessing? Still, it pains her to know that you got a higher grade than she did, even though you are taking the writing course as an elective, while Sera is a writing major herself.

The two of you enjoy your meal as if nothing had happened, and that is the first time in a long while since Sera has needed to put a façade around you.

In the next coming sessions, Sera and you begin to realize that the A+ had not been a fluke as you consistently continue to ace the quizzes and assignments for your creative writing course. Your professor has been badgering you to consider switching courses for a week now, and you’ve politely declined each and every time.

“Music is just more my thing, you see,” you explain to him, bowing quickly as you exit out of the room to escape another ten minutes of his incessant pleading.

It’s really starting to grate Sera’s gears a little bit.

The thing is, Sera knows she is being petty. It’s not even a new occurrence for her, as she has been known to ditch people once they start being better at her in anything.

Gymnastics in 4th grade had been a bust when star athlete Jinyoung Choi discovered her flexibility during PE. Mathematics had gone down the drain once Abegail Sun had won the Mathlete Competition for the third time in a row. Writing should have been Sera’s only crowning achievement, as she had always grown up with people around her praising her ability to weave universes with her words.

She can’t share that spotlight, not when she’s been pushed into the shadows numerous times already. This time, she’s not going down without a fight.

The worst part about the whole situation isn’t even that you were like a baby waiting for their candy to be stolen. With Sera’s connections and sly tendencies, it wouldn’t be hard to crush you where you stood. She’s only done it once back in high school, stripped someone of their confidence so savagely that they were forced to move to another school. She is sure she could do it again, but for whatever reason, it feels like it would be too easy of a win.

The worst part is that you didn’t even want the limelight, the success. Creative writing is just a hobby for you, and you certainly don’t deserve the recognition at all. Effort should be awarded its due, and you have certainly never exerted more than a pinky finger’s worth in your entire writing career.

The final straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back, which pushed Sera past the point of reason, comes much later than anyone might have guessed. Sera’s patience is like plastic, sometimes durable and heat resistant, but oftentimes flimsy and tearable. It does not take a genius to figure out that all plastic must melt, one way or another.

Second-year comes, and Sera has all but allowed her simmering hatred to remain as just that: simmering. She is careful never to let it boil over, fearful of letting you see her break in the event that you would retaliate. Her problem is that she had allowed you to grow, forgetting to stomp on your confidence every so often so that you would be forced to depend on her. Now, you have amassed a sizeable following for your writing online, and Sera knows that you could use that power against her if you pleased. Cancel culture can be like the plague, and Sera knows the ins and outs of it better than anyone else.

Sera knows logically that you would never do that to her, as much as you would like to. Your morals restrain you from doing so, which saves Sera from some anxiety of backlash at least. Still, she has to remain careful anyway.

The two of you do not see each other as often as you once did during your first year. As sophomores, your majors require you to take more courses specialized towards your degree, meaning the general education courses that you shared were no longer required. The only time you ever saw Sera is during Creative Writing and the occasional lunch out in between classes.

Despite that, Sera just can’t get away from you, no matter how hard she tries. Your presence is everywhere: on the university newspaper, on the university forums, on club recruitment posters – hell, she thinks she sees some dude wearing a t-shirt with your face and Jungkook’s face printed on the front or something. Worst of all, she hears about you all the time, from her stupid professors who can’t stop waxing poetic about you. Case in point:

“Professor, may I speak to you?” Sera approaches Professor Puth at the front of his podium once class ends, whiffs of musky marijuana hovering around him like a cloud. You give Sera a confused look, about to ask what she wants to ask before she waves you off, urging you to go ahead.

“I’ll see you next Thursday. I got a tutorial right after this,” Sera lies smoothly, poised grin in place. Not really one to question her, you shrug your shoulders, waving both her and your professor goodbye.

“So,” Professor Puth says, peering at Sera. “Sera, right?”

Sera beams at him. “Yes, Professor. Glad you remember me.”

He hums thoughtfully, tongue jutting out as he appraises her with eyes sharper than any stoned person would have. “Yes, of course. What did you want to talk about?”

“You see, I got my assessment draft back this morning, and it says I got a C+ on it, but I’m sure I followed the rubric very carefully. Are you sure there wasn’t a mistake?” Sera says, not a hitch in her voice despite her outrage slowly starting boil over the edge. She’s never felt so humiliated in her life, having to beg like a dog for a regrade like some sort of pitiful loser.

“You might want to ask the TAs about regrading, in that case. I only graded a few of the works. Which one was yours about?”

“The poem about the withering tree, Professor.”

“Oh, yes. I remember that one. I was the one who graded it,” Professor Puth says, rubbing his chin. He tilts his head. “What did you want to ask about it?”

Sera stares at him, disbelief coloring every inch of her face. “Um, I just said… I wanted to ask – I followed the rubric and everything, so how come my grade was…” she trails off, embarrassed.

Professor Puth tuts, swiveling away to approach his desk. Sera follows, unsure for the first time in her life, as he starts rearranging his things to pack up. “Sera, I can e-mail the rubric to you again, if you want. I assure you, there is one essential part of the grading scheme that you forgot, and I’m afraid that is what cost your grade.”

Sera thinks. “Was it… the formatting?”

He barks out a laugh, slamming his papers down as if what she had just said was the funniest thing he’s heard since a Yo Mama joke. “No, of course not. It was the content! The emotion! You cannot just string highfalutin words together and expect the reader to feel moved.”

Sera flinches, offended. “I think those aspects of poetry are very subjective, Professor. Surely, you could ask for a second opinion–”

“I always ask for second opinions when grading assignments,” he says, wagging a finger. “We all agreed that your work was at least a C+, though I had originally graded it a C- at best.”

Once again, for the first time in her life, Sera is at a loss for words. Never has she been so casually humiliated before, especially after all the time she has put in to being nothing but a stellar student for all her professors. This must be some sort of bad dream.

“On the other hand,” he continues, pausing in his packing to stare at Sera. She does not feel like he is truly looking at her; rather, he looks to be lost in thought about something else entirely. “That friend of yours… Miss Y/N, right? I’ve always heard about her from my colleagues.”

The mention of your name causes the hairs on the back of her neck to bristle, and Sera goes defensive immediately. “What about her?” she cautions.

“Oh, just that she’s a wonderful writer. Very moving stories with lots of depth. I was a bit skeptical at first because Professor Whitney has always been a bit of a softie with freshmen… but she was right,” he nods to himself, a small smirk on his face. “That girl… I don’t doubt in the slightest that she could make someone fall in love with her just by writing them a piece.”

The comparison might have hurt less if he had used a different example, anyone else really. Some unknown sap that Sera could tear piece by piece without a shred of remorse, made easier by the fact that she did not have to know and care for them. You, on the other hand…

It has always been you. She rues the day she met you, when she had thought you were nothing but a meek little puppy to play with, not knowing that you had a hidden dagger behind your back. How foolish of her to let her guard down, and it makes her even angrier to think that you had no idea of the pain you have inadvertently caused her. No, she will make you understand her pain, her struggle. It is only right and just.

All she had to do was wait for an opportunity to strike and until then… It should be easy to keep up this charade. She has done it for more than a year, and she can do it for another ten. She has been doing it all her life, in fact.

When that day comes, she’ll be ready, and there’s nothing you can do but watch as she burns your whole world to the ground.