#Yeah I am judging him. He's been too extra lately.

[covetcore]

I swear they're even worse at the claw machine when they use their Evol.

[twisted-wonderland-but-gayer]

May I request Great Seven Yuu with no filter? Maybe the other students are just TESTING THEM that day and with a little prodding from their darling parents, they just say what’s on their mind for the day

Yuu + The Great Seven

Note: This is different from my other great 7 fics as I don't focus on what the 7 say as much here, this also aint the canon unit yuu for this. Anyways enjoy

Cws: Gn!Yuu, Rook is clowned on cause he's French, implications of Crewel/Crowley but in a divorcee way, some cringe ig, minor changes to canon, first years are ur homies, sebek has moments where he yells in all caps cause he's cringe, Lilia knows Maleficent, Trey isn't slandered as much as he should be, Starts off Crack, turns to angst, then fluff. 6k Words

****

Since arriving at NRC, you have been playing your role well, excellent even. You played the role of a magicless, weak, and gullible prefect that knew nothing of the world you were in. The mirror said that you “had too many souls to judge” and that you had no magic, which was technically true as the magic you had was borrowed from the seven sealed within you.

It was going to be perfect. You can finally lay low and research this world to give your dear seven parents and their familiars bodies again, then make your place in this new world… or so you thought. 

Right after the disaster that was the entrance ceremony, you ended up being roommates with the cat and crashed it. Fine, you could work with this. Then the very next day, the cat got into a fight with a pathetic bully which caused a statue to get burned, which then caused another person to get involved, which then caused a chandelier to break, and then you had to go off into a hidden mine to fight a monster late into the night, and you get the story.

It has been consistently difficult to pretend you had no magic, or to make the excuse that “someone else must have casted that spell”. When you eventually had to explain that you were a magician, there went the first half of your plan. Now Crowley and everyone seems to expect more from you, at least you were able to pretend it was weak, you guess. And as if it could get any worse, the seven seem to be encouraged to give these brats a taste of their own medicine and stop holding back. Oh how you would love to but putting up with everyone after, especially the number one pain in your ass, Ace, would be so fucking annoying.

The aforementioned pain in your ass poked you, interrupting the mental conversation you were having with the ensemble in your head, and you had to hold back the urge to use Hades’ flames to set him ablaze. You shut your eyes tightly and tense up before slowly turning to him. “What?” Your eyes narrow as Ace looks over at you with the most infuriating neutral expression that turns to a pout. 

“Were you even listening to me?” “Look, it’s nothing personal, it’s just how I am.” Ace’s lips pursed as he raised a brow. “Really?” Deuce nudged Ace. “Hey, be nice, you know they don't mean to space off like that, it's their condition.” Deuce was truly a blessing. “Seems to me like Yuu is just a space case,” Grim snickered and Sebek nodded his head. “I completely agree with Grim! Honestly, how could you and Silver be so complacent? Do you lack discipline?”

You mentally groaned with the seven at Sebeks scolding. “They don’t lack discipline,” Jack interrupted, “Yuu says they have a condition that delays their thoughts, they need extra time to process what you said.” “Thank you, Jack.” You smile, and feel Ortho glide right next to you and look up at you. “Having a condition like that must be hard… I can't imagine my processor lagging…” Ortho trails off and frowns, “Oh but I’ll try my best to look for a fix for you!” The child beams. Epel looks over at you.

“That is one hell of an issue huh? Some days you're just as quick as anyone else but then sometimes you take forever, it's a fickle thing.” Epel hums and Ace rolls his eyes at everyone defending you. “Tch, yeah what's that about? Sometimes I even hear you talking to yourself, weirdo.” Ace playfully nudges you and you narrow your eyes at him. 

Something within you snaps. Maybe it’s because of all the stress of hiding it. Maybe it's because you have to interact and pretend everything is fine to the students who have bullied, harassed, and tried to kill you resulting in god awful PTSD finally making you snap. Or maybe it's just because you want this damned asshole that has wormed his way into your heart to shut up.

“Because ‘thought processing disorder’ isn’t the best way to actually describe my condition, Ace, but it's sure as hell easier to explain than ‘I have several voices in my head judging me and telling me what to do all the time and no medication cannot stop it no matter what I do and all of your stupid comments and questions makes them erupt in a 10 minute yelling match making it impossible to hear my own thoughts!” 

You sneer at them all as they look over with a mix of surprise and pity, Ortho looks like a kicked puppy. You sigh, “I’m sorry, I just…” “Nah that's nothing to apologize for…” Ace sighs, and you know he wants to apologize but pride won't allow him. “Y’know what if you just say what the voices want to say?” Deuce suddenly asks out of the blue.

“O-of course, I don't know what they say so maybe it's not a good idea but…” “Actually, it may give Ace some patience for once.” Jack gives a small smirk. “We all know he needs to learn to think before he speaks.” “Hey!” Ace huffs. “Fine then, bring it! I can take whatever you throw at me.” And the ginger smirks as if he didn't just say some famous last words.

“You're serious?” You blink. “Do you even think you could handle it?” Sebek scoffs, “I can take anything a measly human dishes out, it is nothing compared to fae!” Epel shuts his eyes in annoyance. “Oh you three don’t even know what you’re getting into, yet you’re already signing up for trouble.” Ortho beams. “Actually, this might help me collect some data to help you, Yuu!” “You four don’t even know what you're getting yourselves into…” Epel corrects himself.

“Okay okay.” You sigh. “Tomorrow, I will allow whatever they say, happen… to an extent at least…” You mutter, making Hades and the Queen of Hearts in your head boo you. Last thing you need is an Arson charge….

****

You laid down on your bed later that day as the sun began to set. “Okay guys… there are only a few ground rules. No murder, and no major property damage, small fires are okay, okay?” Before any of the seven and their familiars could respond or complain, you heard Grim.

“Who’re you talking to? Oh wait, you speaking to the guys in your head?” Grim asked, jumping on the bed and cuddling up to you. “First the mouse in the mirror and now you have some voices in your head, what other secrets are you keeping from me, hmm?” 'A lot actually', you think as you stroke Grim’s fluffy head. “You’ll see tomorrow.” You smile and your excitement made it difficult to sleep that night.

****

You got up, did your daily routine that Mama Grimhilde has laid out for you, before exiting the house with Grim in your arms for breakfast. Of course you haven’t forgotten the deal you made today at all. ‘Pssst, hey small sib~’ Flotsam chuckles darkly in your head, ‘Can I bite someone today?’ You chuckle, “Only if they deserve it.” Grim peeked up at you. “Oh yeah, you’re talking out loud today.” Grim smirks, “I wonder how Explodey-Head’s gonna react to that!”

Slinking into the cafeteria, you get into line per usual, getting a tray of whatever was free that you liked, you had to pinch your pennies this week. Sitting down, you notice that your usual squad was there, including Ace and Deuce, who usually took their time to arrive, and Ortho who usually had to deal with his brother. “Good morning.” You say settling down. “Morning, Yuu!” Ortho beams, “I got here early so I can start the data collection! I'll try to record as much as possible!” 

‘Oh how precious.’ Ursula purrs in your head, and the seven’s consensus on Ortho, even if they didn’t appreciate anklebiters, is that he wasn’t half bad. “So, today you're going to embrace your issues, I SAY BRING IT ON!” Sebek yells, making everyone wince, and Epel shoots a tired glare. ‘Tell that boy to silence! I am trying to nap!’ Scar huffs.

You nervously sigh, “Well first off all, they said to shut up please, it's not even 7 in the morning.” Sebek looks offended for a moment, but a very familiar voice interrupts, sending shivers down your spine. “Oh Koebi-Chan~” A wry voice purrs, making Grim hop off of you to hide. Everyone in your head went ‘oh no this guy again.’

You honestly didn’t mind Floyd, hell, you dare to consider him a friend, but you really were not in the mood for his antics today. “Hey Floyd,” You sigh, “look dude, I’m not in the mood today, can you please leave me alone?” You ask, and your words just make Floyd beam. The seven seem annoyed, but then you feel their excitement; your first victim. 'Humiliate the boy…' Jafar whispers to you.

Floyd drapes himself over you as you eat, occasionally leaning over to try and steal a bite from whatever was on your fork. “Ehh? Little shrimpy’s feeling bold today!~ How fun! Whatcha gonna do about me?~” His arms wrap around you to squeeze around your rib cage, “Especially when I squeeze…” 

“Dude, leave them alone.” Deuce says before freezing at the glare he was shot. "…Please?” He adds. “Look Floyd,” Jack sighs, “we’re trying to get Yuu some help today with an illness, Ortho is trying to get data on them, you aren’t helping.” Jack interrupts, trying to keep your condition vague for your privacy. Seems like Jack forgot that Floyd ignores reason when he finds it funny.

“Ooo~, is the little shrimpy sick?” Floyd says backing off of you slightly and poking you in the ribs. “You know Azul may have a remedy for it, you should come on down.~” “He does not, and for the final time there is nothing he can offer me that would make me want to make a deal with him. Please go away.” You warn one last time and Floyd leans in, pushing his luck in hopes to see you squirm. Ortho glares and prepares to get up and send him away but you hold out your hand to tell him to stop.

“Whatcha gonna do lil shrimpy?~” Floyd smirks. ‘Is it time?’ Hades asks, ‘Please tell me its time.’ You smile and mentally reply, ‘it’s time.’ You keep your calm smile as you look at Floyd. “Probably something my father taught me.” “And what's that?” Floyd says, grabbing the back of your neck. 

“This.” Suddenly you erupted in the brightest blue flames the world has ever seen making half of the cafeteria turn to stare. Your friends at the table all jump back and Ortho flashes red as he scans you. As quickly as the flames came to be, they disappeared. Floyd pulled his hands away, waving it off to cool it down. He wasn’t burned, at least nothing major, but the sleeve of his uniform was singed and he stared at it in rapt fascination.

You expected him to get annoyed, or to maybe start a fight, or something, but Floyd was in a good mood, and he laughed. “I didn’t know little shrimpy could do that! I thought you could only summon an ember, eheheh!~ Seems little shrimpy has more secrets than we thoooought~” Floyd muses, and suddenly another familiar face comes in, one that looks exactly like Floyd.

“Floyd, I believe the prefect doesn’t want to play anymore. Come on now, we should go.” “Aww but I wanna keep playing!” “I know brother dearest, but it seems that the cruel and unwavering Prefect doesn't want to,” Jade faked a frown and sighed, “How awful, if only they could have an ounce of compassion for my poor, poor brother… However, ” Jade opened his eyes back up and smirked, staring directly at you with a twinkle in his eye. “I think it’s best to leave them alone for today, especially since whatever ailment they have seems to make them erupt in flames at any given moment…” 

The eel’s voice drips with faux concern and Floyd snickers, Azul is gonna have some wonderful intel to ponder over later. You decide to say exactly what all of your fathers thinking. “Go eat shit and die for all I care.” And Jade’s eyes widen ever so slightly before the gleam with amusement, having never seen this side of you. “Of course prefect! If this ah… ailment continues to cause you trouble, please do let us know. We at Octavinelle love to help the poor and unfortunate.”

You watched the two slink off before turning back to your meal as all of your first year friends gawked at you. “What the hell was that! You never said you could do that!” Ace sputtered. “Yeah! You nearly cooked me!” Grim whines, making the audience in your head relish in their surprise. Ursula and The Queen of Hearts seem particularly amused. 

“Magic like that requires a lot of skill.” Sebek ponders, “To cast a flame cloak and not burn yourself requires a lot of concentration, furthermore it requires a high amount of magic potential on par with fae. Didn’t you say you have none, Yuu? HAVE YOU BEEN LYING ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE? OR PERHAPS YOU WANTED TO HIDE IT TO SKIRT OUT ON EXAMS!” “Volume!” Deuce whines, and Grimhilde mentally thanks him.

“Oh… whoops…” “WHOOPS??” A few of the first years yell and Epel shoots you an ugly-baffled expression. “Whoops?? Whoops?? Is that all you have to say about that? You performed some of the most advanced defensive magic without a second thought and you just say whoops??” Epel’s accent threatens to slip out.

“Hey, Ortho, what's their magic reading, you look concerned.” Deuce asks as Ortho looks at the screens he’s projecting with a calculating expression. “I think there is an error in my system, I have scanned them 5 times and it says they have no traces of magic at all, but there is also no trace of any dampening magic used to hide or change that reading. Furthermore, the technique they used is no longer in use, records show it dates back more than the era of gods! That version of the spell they casted cannot be duplicated at all!” Ortho says in amazement before turning to you.

“Just… what are you?”

You blink as they all stare at you expectedly. “I'm a human.”

****

It was time for class, you said that you were gonna use the bathroom first, so the others should go without you for now, you’ll see them with Crewel. You didn’t think that anything eventful would come from it. You were wrong. This is NRC.

Coming out of the bathroom, a few Savanahclaw chuds cornered you. “Can I help you?” You asked exasperatedly to the NRC equivalents of Beavis and Butthead. “Tch, you know why we're here!” “…No, I don't.” You blink rubbing your eye, which just pissed off the duo even more.

“You made a fool out of our dorm during the spell drive competition!” “Oh god, is that what this about, dude that was nearly a year ago.” “Yeah and we came back to settle the score.” You just raised a brow and a small smile crept to your face.

‘Oh! Oh! Can I bite now? Please please please can I bite now! Come onnnn I’ve been such a good eel!’ Flotsam pleads and you hear the familiars speak. ‘Me want bite!!’ Ed whines. Raven caws, ‘Yeah me too!’ Iago agrees. ‘We wanna join too!’ The imps laugh. ‘I will… stay here…’ Diaval sighs.

You blink. “Sick em.” You say, making the two idiots make a face at you. Flotsam immediately lunges for the ass. “AIIIIEEE!” One yells and you hold back a snort as the others join, Iago and Raven both grabbing onto the members hair and pecking at them. Jetsam basically lassos around one, making him trip so the hyena trio can rough him up. The imps both transform into a blue and red cat respectively and continue to add to the looney tunes violence of it all.

The two run off and the familiars return to you, except for the eels that slither miserably in place on the smooth, frictionless floor. “Help us up.” Jetsam scoffs. “No I think I’ll stay like this a bit longer.” 'Angelfish…' Ursula warns. "... yes mom…"

…

..

.

On your way to class you run into Crowley who attempts to stop you and unload another issue for you to deal with. Instead you say what your familiars wanted to say. “You are gay.” You say, making the man just stare at you as you walk off. “And Crewel also has weirdly complicated feelings for you.” 

“FEELINGS YOU SAY?? WHICH ONES?? WHICH SORT OF FEELINGS YUU?? YUU!!!” You speed walk off regretting that decision, but you admit it will be funny to see those two get divorced. Crewel deserves better.

****

Animal Linguistics was always a bit of an annoying class, and this time, Trein has invited a few of the more advanced students to the class to help you freshmen. Ace let out a deep sigh when he saw Ruggie, knowing this guy will only do the bare minimum for his grade and charge any lesson extra.

“So when the cat goes ‘mrrrp?’ You're good, usually you should try to respond with a ‘mah Ah’” Ruggie explains to your group. “Do we always have to talk to cats and mice? I feel like we should also practice some other creatures too…” You sigh. 

Trein overhears you and responds. “Your birds don’t count, Yuu. They are able to speak.” You sigh. “Okay…” You sigh and Ruggie gives you that stupid shit-eating grin. “Aw, you not satisfied with my lesson?” “No.” You glare, which surprises Ruggie, unused to your assertiveness. “I can speak to animals already and I’ve been teaching these boneheads, we're fine here.” 

“Yeah but you say things that don't make sense…” Grim complains. “It doesn’t make sense because you guys are not used to the accents animals have. You know what, hold on, I‘ll get some real good ones to practice on.” “Huh what are you—?” Ruggie gawks when he sees three whole hyenas appear out of nowhere along with two eels around your waist. 

“They are not allowed to speak in their human voices. Knock 'em out, guys.” “Yuu! Where did you even…” Trein sighs. “Fine, fine, they can stay as long as they are well behaved…” The hyenas cackle and the eels snicker. Deuce nervously looks into the crossed eyes of Ed who winks in response.

Ace seals his lips to hold back a laugh until Banzai leans where he stares nervously. “Seduce me bro.” “AYO???”

****

Soon history class came, and once again a special guest was brought in, Lilia. The lesson went fine. Your sass wasn't needed. You kept quiet as you took a few notes here and there, and the end bell soon rang out. You stared at a particular note you took. 

‘The Thorn Fairy’s wings were leathery and bat-like, much like a dragon.’ 

You looked down at the note, and Maleficent herself seems to hum. ‘Seems like he is still following orders years later.’ She says and doesn’t elaborate. As students begin to pack up and leave, you wave down Lilia, who puts a hand on his hip and waits for you.

“Oho? What is it, prefect?” Lilia beams as you look at the note you took in your open notebook. “I have a question about what you said about the Thorn Fairy.” Lilia nods, “Well yes, what is it? It always warms my heart to see youngsters value history.”

You look at the note again. “You said that her wings were leathery and bat-like.” Lilia nods his head. “But aren't they feathered?” Lilia’s smile drops. “In fact she lost her wings too but got them back at some point, right? Did they become leathery during those years they were gone? Is that what you mean?”

Lilia looks at you, a bit of shock in his eyes, before he quietly speaks to you. “How do you know that?” “Know what?” “The Thorn Fairy only disclosed that information to two people, her raven, Diaval, and me…” You freeze for a moment and then Diaval appears on your shoulder to caw at him. 

Lilia stares at you, then at the raven, then back to you. “Diaval, is that you…? Why are you with… wait does that mean—" Lilia was cut off. “Yo, Yuu!” Deuce calls out from the doorway. “You coming?” You clear your throat and nod. “Yeah, I’m coming!” You look over at Lilia, “Thank you for your time.” He could only stare as you walked off and Diaval cawed an apology 

***

Towards the end of the day, you and your first year friends were all going to hang out at Heartslabyul to study together, which you know was code for ‘get distracted halfway and hang out’. You walked down the main path to the mirror chamber when you felt a familiar presence nearby. You were being watched.

“Come out Rook, I know you're there.” You look over at one of the apple trees, and narrow your eyes when you see Rook pop out from behind it all theatric. “Très bien, Trickster! You found me, that is a feat not many can achieve!” The weirdo beams. You nodded. “Yeah, you don't need to stalk me by the way. I am happy to get to know you through talking…”

“Non non, Trickster, you say that however I believe you don’t truly speak your mind!” The French man smiles. “I notice that you are not true to yourself! Always holding back your strength and what you mean to say, when I caught wind you were going to be yourself for a day, I could not help but try to study you!” Okay wow, he has you read.

“You can learn so much more about a person through their actions, but alas, you are so good at concealing those too, mon dieu, you are quite the mystery that I hope to uncover, and the most challenging one to date!” Rook says in awe. “I enjoy a good hunt, and this one has been most enthralling!” “I’ve always been able to sense when you're there, its why I tend to slink off not long after.”

“Merde! Is that so?” Rook smirks, and you sweat, you fucked up. “Aha, I knew you knew of me! Oh how fun! I have never had such good prey before!” You narrow your eyes slightly as he continues. “Would you dare to tell me how you are able to detect me so easily? Ah– but of course, if you don't that makes things much more magnifique!” 

“Um… I honestly actually don't know how I do, I just do?” Rook seems pleased, “How effortless! Tres bien! Beauté! I must hone my skills as a hunter more! Until next time, Yuu!” Rook begins to walk off before pausing and his smile drops for a moment.

“And even if it is not me, I do hope you can truly open up to somebody someday. Anyone would be lucky to have that level of trust with a Trickster such as yourself! Holding everything in does you no good! Au revior, little trickster, or perhaps I should call you le Chevalier Mystère?” Rook has that small sparkle in his eye.

“Switch it up now and then, keep it interesting.” You nod at Rook “À bientôt!” He says, and he seems to be muttering some weird French poem about strangers and beauty as you leave.

****

You were stopped yet again on your way to Heartslabyul as you passed the mystery shop. The door was open and you see Trey ponder how he’s going to carry the groceries he brought back to the dorm. “Hey Trey,” you walks in and wave, “you look conflicted, something up?”

“Ah prefect, I am actually,” Trey wears that smiley-wincing expression that Trey has when he’s in deep shit. “I'm sorry to bother you, but could you help me carry some of these bags back to my dorm? It may take a few trips but I promise a treat in return.” “You don’t need to Trey, I’ll help you even without one, you’ve been kind to me.”

Trey’s brows raise slightly and he adjusts his glasses, looking away awkwardly. “Ah, well, thank you, Prefect.” Trey rolls up his sleeves, revealing his forearms as he prepares to grab a bag. "Those bags of flour and sugar are quite heavy, so be careful— wuh?” Trey stared dumbstruck as you lifted 500 pounds worth of dry ingredient bags in one arm. “I- how are you— Is that not heavy?” 

“It is, but I’m used to it.” “At least let me help—“ “No, no  fine, lets go.” “O… kay…” Trey adjusts his glasses and you both walk off to Heartslabyul, making a lot of people turn their heads as you pass by. 

Entering the dorm, you notice Deuce and Grim gawk at you. “Give me a minute, I’m helping Trey!” You shout as you walk everything to the kitchen and set it down on the counter. “There.” Trey stares at the pile you put down, mentally going through all the times before you acted so weak. “Ahem, thank you prefect, Ace told me you would be over in the rose garden to ‘study’ right?” “They never study.” Trey gives that 'Trey sad smile' from earlier. “You got that right.”

****

Exiting the kitchen, you look into one of the mirrors hanging on the walls of the dorm, adjusting your appearance when yet another annoying voice interrupts you. “O-M-G! It's Yuu-Chan!” Cater shouts with his typical manufactured smile. “Heyyyy!” He waves and you feel your brain melting in your skull. “Hey Cater, what's up?”

“I have a questionnn!~” He smiles, pulling up something on his phone. “Are these you?” You sweat and look over to the images he pulled up. There was one of you in flames in the cafeteria, and another of you in the hallway wheezing at the pack of familiars all jumping the two chuds. “Yeah… yeah you caught me…”

“They’re trending locally right now and you know I just have to get in on that! Mind if we take a pic?” “Go ahead.” You sigh and Cater immediately snaps a selfie of him and your exhausted self. “Me and the bestie! #NRCProblemChild #NRCConspiracy #IsekaiProtag #ExtraTerrestrialPrefectConspiracy! Aaannnd post! Thank you, Yuu-Chan, I’m curious though what was that about?”

“Those two assholes were trying to beat me up and don’t worry about the other one.” “Don't worry?” Cater scoffs as you adjust yourself in the mirror again. “Helllooo the magicless prefect, turned slightly magical, turned to god-like mage suddenly does that within a year! That's gotta be something!” Cater beams and then looks over at you and sweats.

You were glaring at him, but the mirror in front of you had several eyes also glaring at him. “… Who’s that?” “Who’s what?” “That!” Cater points to the mirror and when you turn to look it disappears. “That's me, Cater, I know I look a bit different since first arriving, but I don't think I look half bad.” You gave an insincere smile.

“My friends are waiting for me Cate, seeya..."

****

You left the hangout early, not liking all the questions probing into your mind or your past at all, in fact you left pretty upset with some insinuations and accusations of your insincerity. “Are we even friends, Yuu?” Deuce frowned. “Have you been lying to us?” Jack glares. You sigh, and walk randomly, no destination in mind. 

“Why aren't you opening up to us?” Ace huffs. “I mean you trust us right?” Ace’s frown turned to offense when he saw you look away. “Dude come on! When have we given you a reason to not trust us?” You snap at him. “Our very first meeting was you insulting me and since then you have been roping me into trouble!” 

Ace looked guilty there. “Yuu…” Epel frowned and Ortho shot a glare at Ace. “Human, Ace may have had a rough meeting but what about us?” “What about you? What about you?” You dragged your hands across your face. 

“There's a lot about you guys actually! From Mr. Don’t-Be-Friendly-Cause-We’ll-Never-be-Friends over here to Mr.Internalized-Racism-Against-My-Kind here! And let’s not forget I-Cause-Half-Of-Your-Problems-And-Sometimes-Leave-You-WIthout-Food-For-A-Few-Days Grim! Yeah I have no clue! It's almost like I tried opening up to you all before but I was brushed off. It's almost like I have been telling you that I have been having these prophetic dreams since arriving and have been telling you about a man living in my mirror and calling out to me constantly! And everytime— every fucking time its nothing or no big deal!”

You wipe away tears. “I have been trying to talk, but nobody's listening. It’s like I’m made to understand and not be understood! I have been having to put everyone else before myself and solve everyone’s else’s problems without a thank you or someone to lean on since day one! I mean, all these blots have given me fucking scars. Physical fucking scars! All while I was being berated for being a weak little human too! And what? I still am expected to bend over backwards for the people that tried to kill me? Everything’s swept under the rug for everyone else but me, huh? No one ever checks on me, hell, I am not even acknowledged half the time when I’m in the same room as someone, so yeah I also wonder why I don't talk.”

You push yourself up and grab your things. “Wait!” “No, no! Leave me alone, for once will you leave me alone willingly!” “Yuu come on! We’ll listen.” You pause. “Yuu isn’t even my name.” You glare. “It isn't…?” Grim asks. “I have been called ‘You’ this entire time here because no one bothered asking my name and everyone assumed it was ‘Yuu’. I don't even get to introduce myself anyways when I do get asked. I am not my own person, and you never made me feel like my own person.”

You walked off. Looking back now you regret it. You’re embarrassed, you sounded so stupid. You wipe away a few tears and feel a presence appear, Cerberus. The three heads nudge and cuddle you as you sob and you can feel the sevens hands all trying to soothe you. ‘There, there’ one says. Let it out.’ Another responds. ‘Poor thing.’ 

“Come on, boy, it's been a while since you’ve been on a walk…” You mutter, and think back to what Rook said to you earlier. Opening up to someone was a Herculean task on its own, but someone understanding you was impossible. Even telling people the truth can get you or them in trouble…

You lead the way down to the Ignihyde dorm. No one in that dorm leaves their room anyways, it's safe for your good boy to walk around there. 

***

There was in fact a certain dorm leader there, who was just as shocked to see you and a giant dog. Idia punched in the number to a snack at the vending machine, turned around and gawked at the giant dog behind him. He then looked over at you.

“Yuu? Is that-? I mean is he—? Ortho said you—… Is that the real…?” Idia sputtered, not sure what  to ask first. “Shut it weeb, no ones gonna believe you.” Idia gawked even more. Since when were you so sassy? No seriously, you were also so overly kind to everyone it unsettled him.

“…Sorry…” you mumble. “You can pet him… he’s… soft…” Idia blinks and offers out a hand. One of the heads sniffs it before nuzzling into him. “Holy shit…” Idia whispers as he immediately starts fawning over the dog.

“Who’s some good boys, who’s some boys? Oh that's a great pupper! Oh yes you all are!” It’s strange to see Idia all smiley to himself, but it’s pleasant. “How did you—“ “I can't answer that.” You respond. “So dont ask…”

Idia goes quiet leaning back from the heads that licked him, his flaming locks dancing behind him. “Ortho said you haven’t been feeling well…” “I haven’t been, not for a while, I guess it finally all came out to the point where it’s noticeable…” “Ah, I feel that…” Idia trails off awkwardly.

“I know we're not friends, but I appreciate you.” Idia mumbles. “You make Ortho very happy, and I love seeing my little brother happy… He says you're like another sibling and insists we would get along. He really wants me to get to know you… and uh.. We don't have to, but… yeah… Thank you, I guess…’ Idia looks like he’s about to die, but he speaks again.

“Ortho says you make him feel human, and that you’ve been helping him learn more about how to find out who he is more than anyone else, more than me, even, probably cause you got out more… He told me you were upset, and he’s worried about you. So uh… please reach out to him?”

“Thank you, Idia…” You sigh. “Yeah I will, I will reach out to him, its not his fault, I just… I just need time to think… I don't even know who I am, or what comforts me…” “Um, I don't know what you like… but uh… actually, give me your number. I know a pretty cool site with a lot of free shows, I think there’s a few you’ll like.” He offers an attempt at a smile. “And also maybe you try a few video games? If you haven’t tried them already… who knows maybe we can play together…” You smile and open up your contacts. “Yeah, I would like that actually…” 

A new contact was added: ‘Gremlin.’

****

Walking off to your dorm, you dare not go in. You don't know if your friends are all waiting for you inside, or if Grims there. You sorta don't want to deal with that right now still. The corners of your eyes catch a familiar sight. Fireflies dance through the night, coming out of the grass and surrounding you.

“Hey, Tsunotaro… Heh, maybe I ought to call you ‘Firefly’ or king of the fireflies, maybe.” You wipe your eyes as you turn around and there he is, your Tsunotaro. You both don't know each other's names, but you don't need to. Tsunotaro and Child of Man work just fine.

“Greetings, Child of Man, it’s always good to see you but…” The fae frowns, “are you alright, Child of Man? You seem troubled…” “I… Yeah I am… I just… don’t know what to do…”

Your friend carefully reaches out to you before retracting his hand. “Do you want to talk about it?” “I think I need a distraction…” “I can do that,” Tsunotaro offers his hand. “Come with me.

You have never seen so many pretty colors before as Malleus casts a few spells, making the forest into the most beautiful light show you’ve ever seen. Mushrooms glow from where they sprout, leaves swirl with beautiful patterns, and the fireflies dance through the sky against the stars. You swear you can hear music from them.

“This is… This is beautiful…” “I am glad you enjoy it,” Malleus watches as you watch each step you take, the leaves below you glowing with each step. “Are you feeling better now?” “Yeah, I am… You know…” you pause nervously.

“Yes? What is it?” “It feels like… you're my only true friend…” The lightshow around you flickers for a moment. “Is that so…” Malleus stares wide eyed. “Yeah… Just… I can be kind to everyone… but I can't be friends with anyone. They all don't really get to know the real me, you know?” Malleus stares off.

“I do know that feeling well… You are my only friend…” You pause and look at him. The lights behind you turn to a more pinkish hue. “That's hard to believe, you are a wonderful person.” “Likewise, Child of Man. I would think someone as kind as you would have much more.”

You sniff, “I’ve been helping so many people, but it feels like…” You sigh. “I have seen the hard work you have put into everything. Not a lot of people can say they have gone through what you have gone through and won. You are much stronger than you give yourself credit for.”

Malleus takes your hand. “I am sorry that others do not acknowledge that. I hope those around you soon start to realize what a blessing you are.” You squeeze his hand. “Come on, why don’t we both enjoy this light show?” 

…

..

.

At the very last waltz, your legs feel like jelly, and you cannot tell if it's because of how happy you are or because you've been standing too long. You pull away gently. “Thank you Tsunotaro, for everything.” Malleus nods. “It was nothing. Thank you for being my friend.” He stares off to the sky for a moment. “Farewell, Child of Man, may the night be full of promise for you.” 

The fae starts to fade away and you reach out, using a spell of your own. “Wait…” You hold onto Malleus’ arm making him appear again. The fae looks at you with shock. “You overrode my magic…” Malleus whispers, and his shocked face turns to one of awe and his eyes hint towards excitement. “No one has ever been able to do that… Just what else are you hiding, Child of Man?” 

“I want to give you my name.” “Your name?” Malleus looks shocked once again. “My real name.” “Don't you know of the stories about giving your name to Fae?” “I know them, but I trust you. I know you would never hurt me.” Your expression and voice is so sure it nearly overwhelms the fae.

“You trust me that much? I could smite you with lightning in an instant.” “Then smite me.” Malleus paused and nothing happened. “See? I know you wouldn’t hurt me. You’ve had opportunities this entire time and you haven’t.” “You really want to tell me Child of Man? When I have not even given you my name?” Malleus' voice nearly shakes.

“You don't need to. But if you do, no matter what name comes out, I won't be afraid.” You take his hand, and for the first time since arriving, you introduce yourself, and you tell him your name, your real name.

“I see, what a wonderful name… I supposed I shall finally tell you mine as well.” The fae smiles, “Draconia. Malleus Draconia…” “Malleus? That's not too bad for yourself…” Malleus lets out a laugh at that. “I suppose not.” He smiles then looks off again. “Well then, friend… Thank you for everything tonight. I have not been this happy in a long time…” 

“Good night, Malleus. I hope to see you again soon.”

“Good night, Child of Man…” 

He fades out and you hear Maleficent speak to you. ‘He likes you.’ She says, and you hear a few voices teasing you. You chuckle and find the strength in you to go back into your dorm and confront tomorrow. Rook’s words from earlier echoes through your mind. You have found people you can truly open up to.

[justwhisperingfantasies]

Memories Part 2

Characters: Dean Winchester x Female Reader, Sam Winchester, Castiel. Mick Davies. Mention of other SPN characters.

Warnings: memory wipe, language, angst, cute dean, fluff, not exactly cannon, implied smut, gun being pulled.

A/N: This is a continuation of my first-ever fic post. Please go easy on me. Hope you enjoy

Summary: You've had your memory wiped and sent off to your death. Sam, Dean, and Cas save you just before it is too late. the guys struggle with being strangers to you after all the years you have shared. You are forced into a life-altering dilemma.

Word count: 4,105 words

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

Your stomach twisted. “Are you serious?” Why would I not want all my memories back? 

“Don't look at me like that. This life is hard. You could have a clean cut right now.” His face turned glum as he grabbed your hand and interlaced your fingers“ You've been through a lot of shit. No one would judge you if you did choose not to.” You heard his phone vibrating in his pocket. He took it out and answered. “Yeah. Alright. Give me a minute.” He tapped the phone and put it in his back pocket, not taking his eyes away from yours. 

You could see the extra wetness in his eyes, making another tear roll down your cheek. He wiped it away and pulled you into his arms, your arms automatically wrapped underneath his and around him. You laid your face against his chest. He kissed your forehead and said, “I’m sorry, sweetheart, just worry about getting cleaned up right now. Everything you need should still be in your bathroom. If not, your phone is on the nightstand on the right. Text me, and I'll make sure you get it. The food will probably be done right around the time you get out. Okay?” 

How can he do this with just a hug? It was so peaceful and safe in his arms. You never wanted to let go, but it had been a tough day and you needed a shower. (your fav food) didn't sound too bad, either. You nodded as you slowly pulled back your face. He took your face in his hands, wiping away more tears. “We will figure all this out later, okay?” he kissed your forehead again, and you felt a drop on your face. 

“Okay. I'm sorry” you manage to pull yourself together.

“Don't apologize. We will get it all figured out,” he said as he let his hands fall to his sides and you did the same.” Do you want me to stay here and wait?”

“No, it's ok. Thank you though. For everything.” you smiled 

“Anytime. Call or text if you need me.” he smiled back and then walked out the door closing it behind him.

You sit down on the bed as you try to collect your thoughts. How could you not get your memories back?! However, you did notice when Dean was describing everyone, it was in the past tense. It might be nice just to break away and have a normal life I guess. No monsters, no demons, no insane British people trying to wipe your mind. (y/n) have a nice hot shower get some food and think about this later. You told yourself. You got up and tried to shake it off. 

“Yes hot shower and some food,” you replied out loud to yourself. You walked into the bathroom and it was simple and nice. the same wood panel as the bedroom. White tile walls with black grout line. Decent size shower. The bathtub was probably bigger than most and a white porcelain sink with a black cabinet underneath. Big mirror above it with a black frame. You turned the shower knob all the way over to hot and waited for the water to warm.

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

As Dean shut your door he leaned back on it and sighed. What the hell am I going to do if she doesn't want her memories back?! How could l live without her?! Just then his cell phone started vibrating again. “Yeah, I'm coming.” 

He walked back down To the library. 

“Well, it's about time chum?” Mick Davies was sitting at the first table across from Sam and Cas.

“Oh, I'm sorry I made you wait while I had to comfort my girlfriend that has had her memory wiped twice, almost killed, and kinda freaking out right now. I feel so bad for you.” Dean said raising his voice some. 

“Dean, I know. okay? That's why I called you.” Davies said with guilt in his eyes. “Did you find it?”

“Yes we did,” Sam said as he wheeled Over an older machine. Davies plunged it in and it turned in. 

It started beeping and lights started flickering. 

“Ah, she still works.” He said as he opened a small door below the device. “And there's more than enough of the serum to work. Where's the lovely lass?”

Dean's eyes narrowed “She's upstairs taking a shower.” 

Just then the kitchen buzzer went off. “Shit gotta get that,” Sam said as he hurried to the kitchen. 

“What are we havin'?” Davies asks

“ I don't know what you're having, but We are having (your fav food).” Dean still had an attitude. 

“Dean, let's go see if Sam needs any help.” It was obvious Castiel just wanted to talk to Dean in private. They walked over to the kitchen doorway. Dean looked back, keeping an eye on Mick. 

“ Dean, I don't like them either, but he did just risk his ass to save her. Maybe we should be more welcoming.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “ I'll feed him, but I'm not painting his toenails.” he went over to help Sam.

Cas then rolled His eyes and walked back to the library.

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

That shower really hit the spot. You dried off and put your clothes on. You were brushing your hair when you started thinking about Dean. It's nuts how close you felt to him even though he was a stranger at the moment. Thinking over the tour you remember the our rooms thing you could have sworn he said our room. 

Your curiosity got the better of you and you opened the closet. There were women's clothes on the right and men's clothes on the left. You couldn't help yourself. You went to the nightstand on the left And opened the drawer. There was a lore book, a flashlight, a phone charger, a gun, a silver knife, and a box of condoms.  You went to the other nightstand and opened the drawer, you found a pair of glasses, a lore book, a silver knife, a gun, earbuds, hand sanitizer, with a phone sitting on top of the stand. You put on the glasses. Yep, this Was your side you thought as you put them back. You picked the phone up and swiped the screen. A picture of you and Dean showed on the screen. you two were standing By the car again in mid-laugh. It was super cute. You flinched when it started to vibrate. Dean's name came up with an adorable picture of him sleeping. You tapped the Green button. 

“Sup?” you said in a deep voice

“Really? Well, home dawg I was calling to see if you done because the food is ready.” Dean understood your banter so well. 

“Alright, I'm on my way.”

“Lov…’ the call ended.

“ God, I fuckng hate this!” Dean said as he shoved his phone back in his pocket.

“I know Dean.” Sam tried to comfort his brother as he carried the food over the table. “Just let her eat some food and then we can fix this..”

“Well if that's what she wants,” Dean said hoping you wouldn't want to forget him. He walked over to get the plates out.

“Wait what the hell are you talking about?” Sam Demanded

“ Think about it Sammy, she has been through so much pain. She could turn the other cheek and start living a normal life.” He set a plate for each of them on the table. 

“But dean?” 

“It's her choice and we will be happy for her either way!” 

“So you could just let her go?” Sam doubted as he put out everyone's silverware.

“If that's what she wants,” he argued. “Do you need anything else?

“No, that's all. Thanks.” Sam sighed “My money is on her choosing you.”

“GET BACK CASTIEL ITS ONE OF THEM!!” Sam and Dean heard you yell

They looked at each other and then ran for the library.

“(Y/N) PUT THE GUN DOWN!” you looked at Dean. “He is here to help. This is Mick, he's the one who called us and told us where you were. He can restore your memories with that thing.” he pointed at the machine. 

“Don't ya think someone should have mentioned to her I was coming?!” Mick shouted in fear.

“Where the hell did you get a gun?” Dean stormed over to you and held out his hand. You took a couple of steps back. Dean stayed where he was and bounced his hand a few times. 

You looked down at his hand. You still had the gun pointed at Mick. “Ha! not happening! Its mine. It was in my nightstand.” 

“I should have known,” Dean said as he shook his hand. “Come on. We aren't gonna let him hurt you.” he started to step closer.

You stepped back and pointed the gun at Dean. He stopped immediately “How do I know that?! How do I know this isn't a big trick?”

“Really (y/n)?” you could see the tears”s in his eyes. “You saw the pictures. You know I wouldn't let him hurt you.”

“Oh yeah? Then how did they take me the first time?” tears started streaming down your face. You felt so betrayed. You trusted these 3 men and they let one of them in here. You didn't know what to think. You were so confused and couldn't remember anything. Before you saw the British guy everything was fine. It's like he triggered something in you, something you couldn't control. You were angry, panicked, and overwhelmed.

Just then you felt Castiel behind you. He quickly put his fingers to your forehead and you passed out. Dean hurried to help Cas catch you, but he didn't need it. “I got her. I can go lay her in her bed?” Dean nodded as he took the gun out of your hand and put it in the back of his jeans. Castiel disappeared with you in his arms.

“Jesus fucking christ!” Mick said. “Seriously why didn't anyone explain the whole situation to her?!” 

Dean shook his head and hurried for the door.

He made it outside before the tears started falling. He leaned up against the Impala, then slowly slid down the side. What the fuck happened?! Was it just Mick being there? Was it a side effect of the mind-wiping? Did she really not believe he would everything in his power to make sure nobody hurt her? “Then how did they take me the first time?” her voice echoed in his head. It was his fault. If he was a little more cautious or a little less cocky maybe he wouldn't have gotten shot. Maybe she would be better off without him, living a normal life. She wouldn't have to run, wouldn't have to fight, she wouldn't have to hunt. He knew he should let you go. It felt like he couldn't breathe, couldn't move, his heart breaking in his chest as the tears fell. 

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

Sam blinked and thought about going after Dean. But decided against it. He’ll want to be alone. So he walked into the kitchen to put the food in the fridge for later. He turned around as he closed the fridge finding Mick standing in the doorway.

“So was she freaked before she saw me?” Mick hesitantly asked.

‘No. She was fine. Even joking.” Sam sighed and then explained everything that he witnessed today. “I don't know what happened after she and Dean went upstairs. I don't know anything about the pictures”

“I'm guessing it was me.”

“No. I mean you probably made it worse, but she said the gun was in her nightstand. So she felt threatened enough to carry it downstairs before she even knew you were here.” 

“I have heard of the mind-wiping having a side effect, but I never seen it in myself.

“Is it temporary?.”

“I don't know. All I heard was side effects. Nothing specific. I'll start checking the inventory list for anything about mind wiping.” Mick didn't know what else to do.

“Hey Mick, If she is experiencing side effects would it even be safe to give her memories back?”

“I'm not sure mate.” he hung his head and walked out.

“Son of a bitch!’ Sam said as he threw one of the pots he had used in the sink.

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

You awaken to Cas sitting in a chair beside your bed. You didn't say anything just stared at the ceiling of your room, playing back what just happened in your mind. You remembered everything that happened, everything you said, everything you did. But you could not remember what sent you into such a frenzy. You don't even remember being able to stop. The gun wasn't even loaded, but they didn't know that.

“(y/n)?” 

You shut your eyes and stayed silent.

“Come on (y/n). How are you feeling?” You rolled on your side putting your back toward him and you could feel the tears start. “Please don't ignore me.” he pleaded 

“Cas, I just can't right now okay?” you were so ashamed of what had just happened.

“Okay, But I'm gonna sit here until you can.”

“Why? I just acted like a fool and pulled a gun on innocent people. Why would you want to stay with me?” you started crying.

“Because I care about you. No matter what,” he said as he put his hand on your shoulder for comfort

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

He didn't know how long he had been sitting by the impala. Dean just sat there numb. His eyes were on fire, his head pounding. He needed to move, need to get this the fuck over with. He found the will to get up. It was so quiet in the bunk, peaceful chaos. 

“Dean?” Sam yelled from the library

“Yeah.” Dean's voice cracked. He cleared his throat as he walked into the library. “Whatcha doin'? Where is everyone?”

Sam looked up at his brother he could tell Dean had been crying, but he wouldn't dare say anything about it. “ (y/n) and Cas are still upstairs. Mick and I are reading up on mind wipe lore. He just went to the dungeon for something. He told me he had heard some things about it and you know how the men of letters were.” 

“They documented everything.”

“Exactly. So if we can find anything that can help, maybe there's a spell..’

“Sam.”

Sam continued his thought. “ Or if we can get rid of the side effects somehow.”

“Sam!”  Dean spoke a little louder. Sam stopped and looked at his brother.” I think I need to let her go.”

“Dean, but if we find something. Maybe getting her memories back will help..”

“Sam! Memories or no memories, I have to let her go. The British men of letters did this because of me. She almost got killed because of me. Look at all the shit she has been through because of me. Everything she has lost because of me. And it's just gonna keep happening. I have to do the right thing here. His eyes misted over again. God, they stung so bad, but it was nothing compared to the torment in his chest. he started to walk away.

“Dean, Come on…”

“ I don't wanna hear it Sammy!” he said with a raised voice and continued to walk away.

As he entered his old room he laid the gun on the table and then started to pace. The record player caught his eye. He walked over and put the needle on the record. He couldn't even remember what he had last listened to in here. Bad Medicine starts playing and the memories but his birthday from 2 years ago start rushing back.

(y/n) doing a sexy little strip tease, him holding her up against the wall, round 2 on the side table in the library that nobody ever used. He pushed the needle off making a screeching sound.  

He threw himself on his bed. “God I fucking hate this!”

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

You must have cried yourself to sleep. You lay there a few minutes just taking in the quiet. You decide it's time. You roll over and see Castiel sitting in the same chair reading a book. “You're still here?” surprise in your voice.

He closed his book. “I told you I would stay until you are ready to talk.”

“What if I'm not ready yet?”

“Then I'll wait.”  

“Whatcha reading?”

“A journal of a former member of the men of letters.”

“Oh yeah? Anything good?”

“Well, he was one of the members that was experimenting with mind wiping��

“Interesting. Why are you reading it?”

“Because Mick told Sam that he had heard there are side effects of the mind wiping. So Mick, Sam, and I are reading into it.”

“So you guys think my psycho moment was from a side effect?”

“Maybe. I do have another theory.”

“Do tell.”

“You have been through a lot in the last 4 days. And yeah you were nervous after I explained everything to you, but any normal human probably would have had a meltdown way before you did. I do have one question though. You seemed ok with me, Sam, and Dean. Why bring the gun downstairs?”

“I found it on my nightstand. I took it down to clean. The damn thing was filthy. Then saw the British guy and I freaked. I can't explain it. It's like fight or fly kicked in and I chose to fight. And I couldn't stop. I have been questioning why I trust the 3 of you as much as I do. No offense. I heard the Brit and freaked out.”

“No offense taken. It would make total sense for you not to trust us. The British guy is Mick. He is the one who called us and told us where you were. And he ran away from the British Men Of Letters to come help us.”

“Do you think he’ll forgive me?”

“Mick? Well yeah, it's more our fault for not telling you he was coming. You were scared.”

You giggled and shook your head. “No. Dean. I pointed a gun at him and pretty much told him it was his fault I got kidnapped. Which is not what I think at all.”

“You were scared and pissed off, you said things you didn't mean. If anyone knows about that, it's Dean. You guys will be fine. We need to get you some food, I can hear your stomach growling from over here.” you gave him a look of dread. “I promise it will be alright. They've been through far worse. Come on.”

You sighed heavily and got up.

You got to Sam's room before you couldn't take the silence anymore. “So did you find anything good in the journal?”

“Interesting good yes, side effect good not yet.”

“But you don't think it was a side effect?”

“Well no, but if there are side effects, we want to know what they are.”

“But when Mick fixes me we won't have to worry about it anymore.”

“Actually, there's something I want to talk to you about.” he paused at the top of the stairs. “ (y/n) You have been through a great deal of pain in your lifetime. The hunting life isn't great. If you wanted..”

You started walking down the stairs “You don't have to give the clean break, no judgment speak. Dean beat you to it.”

“Oh well, I just wanted you to know all your options.”

“Got it Cas.” he looked like a child that just got yelled at. “I'm sorry I'm just hungry.”

His face lifted. “I know I can hear it.”

As you walk into the library you find Sam and Mick. Sam looks up and smiles at you.

Mick looks a bit weary. “Well, Ello Love. Are you armed?”

You give a slight eye roll. “No. I'm sorry..”

Mick cut you off. “No need for apologies. Not the first time a pretty dame pulled a gun on me.” he smiled.  You smiled back and your stomach growled louder than before.

Sam laughed “Hungry?”

“Starving!”

“Come on,” he said getting up.

“Sam I can…” he gave you a stern look “Keep you company while you make the food.”  you gave him a happy smile.

“What a great idea” he beamed sarcastically

You rolled your eyes and followed him. 

“I saved it. So all we have to do is reheat it. “

“Easy Enough.” you looked around. Dean was nowhere to be found, but you didn't want to come off needy so you didn't ask. 

He chuckled “ He is upstairs in his room.”

“Who?” you tried to play it off. 

“(y/n) “Sam said as you put the food in the oven

“Is he still mad at me?”

He turned around a look of surprise on his face. “He was never mad at you. He's worried about you. He blames himself for all the shit you've been through.”

You raised one eyebrow “ How the hell would any of this be his fault?!”

“Mind wipe right. Dean is a protector. If anything happens to anyone on his watch it's his fault. He's been like that as long as I can remember. Plus he thinks being with him is putting you in harm's way.”

“I’ll be right back.”

Sam laughed “This is the last time I'm making this.”

“I said I'll be right back.” you heard him laugh again as you walked out. 

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

Cas waited until you and Sam were gone “Have you guys found anything?”

“Nothing yet, but we keep trying yea?”

“Yes! Are we sure she's experiencing side effects though?” 

“Honestly. I have my doubts. The way Sam explained it seemed like she trusted the 3 of you. He said she was even joking a bit, she only freaked out when she saw me. But if that's the case why did she have the gun before she knew I was here?”

They saw you marching your way through the library.

“Carry on Boys,” you said as you continued. Both looking at you in confusion. 

“Well, she looks mad. Should we be concerned?” Cas asked as they both starred after 

“No gun. She's fine.” Mick sniggered 

“Anyway. We did have a conversation about all that. She said she did trust us. She had been asking herself why all day. Said she didn't know she just did.” cas explained.” and she found the gun in her nightstand. Apparently, it was filthy. She brought it down to clean it.”

“Fucking hell. I doubt it was a side effect. She was probably frightened. Some British institute wipes your brain and sends you to your death, you wake up with strangers, and then one of the British cunts shows up here unannounced. I would probably pull a gun too.”

“I agree.”

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

Come on. You can do this. You knocked on Dean’s door. 

“Go away Sam!” he yelled.

You rolled your eyes and pushed the door open. “It's not Sam.”

“Hey (y/n) you feeling any better?” 

“Well, I was until your brother told me that you are blaming yourself for this?! For everything?!”

“Fuckin Sam. It is my fault. You said so yourself.”

“Don't you curse Sam! He was just being honest. I know what I said. It was the heat of the moment. I really don't blame you and I do trust you. ”

“If you trust me so much, why did you have the gun in the first place?”

“I took the damn thing down to clean. It’s not even fucking loaded. I was just scared and I didn't want to go back. I'm sorry I pointed it at you.”

He got up and rushed over to the gun. No bullets. “You pointed an unloaded gun at us?”

“Like I just said I was freaking scared, no one else knew it wasn't loaded.”

He started laughing. 

“Did you really think I would shoot you?”

“In these circumstances? Absolutely.”

Just then his phone started ringing. He put it on speaker. “The food is getting cold again.”

“We’ll be right there Sammy.” he hung up the phone

“I'm not done”

He cocked his eyebrow with a grin. “Well go on then.”

“I'm a hunter with or without you. Judging from the pictures on the dresser and my phone I would rather it be with. You can't blame yourself. Sometimes bad shit happens and there's nothing you can do about it.”  you declared

“You Done?”

“Yes!”

He grabbed you by the waist and pulled you to him. His lips just inches away from yours. 

“Good! Now Let's go get some food.” he smiled.

[watchmegetobsessed]

❄️HOT AND COLD❄️

A/N: week 2 of fanficmas yeah!! this was the first fic i wrote, some good ol' college!harry to get you all cozy hehe

WORD COUNT: 2.1k

SUMMARY: You decided to spend two more days at the dorm before heading home to have some peace and work on your assignments. However you didn't expect them to turn the heating off once everyone left. No worries, the hot guy living next door is ready to keep you warm.

MASTERLIST | SUPPORT ME!

This fic is part of ❄️ FANFICmas 2022 ❄️ Read more about fanficmas here!

You thought staying two extra days in the dorm before going home for the holidays would be a great idea. Have some quiet and peace for yourself, finish some assignments so you don’t stress about them during Christmas. Theoretically, it was a fantastic idea.

In reality? The worst one you’ve ever had.

You didn’t think they would turn down the heating the moment the dorm empties out. Well, it’s a logical thing to do, but it never occurred to you and you only realized it when the temperature started dropping significantly after the last wave of students left in the morning. You went out to run errands and you could feel the change when you arrived back. The hallways were chillier and your room started to feel like a cave. At first you just sucked it up, put on a hoodie, wrapped yourself in a blanket and got down to business. Your uncle always said you can decide whether you’re cold or not, so you kept thinking about hot things to keep your mind off of how freezing it was starting to get.

Hot tea.

Hot chocolate.

A tub of hot water.

Freshly baked, hot cookies.

The hot guy next door.

Wait, what? How did you end up thinking about Harry?

As you sit on your bed with your textbooks surrounding you, an all too familiar voice makes your ears perk up. You’d recognize it anywhere and it never fails to make your heart pitter-patter, but now you’re surprised to hear it since you thought you were the last one left in the building.

Well, you were wrong.

You hear Harry Styles striding down the hallway, singing Jingle Bells without a care. You get out of bed before you could think and throw your door open, catching him by surprise judging from the little jump he does as he turns around.

“Y/N? You’re still here?”

“I was just about to ask the same question from you,” you chuckle, stepping out into the hallway, but your smile soon turns into shock when you see him sporting shorts and just a shirt. “How have you not turned into ice wearing that?”

Chuckling he looks down at himself.

“I have a heater of my own. I could turn my room into a sauna,” he jokes and you can’t help a stupid laugh that slips out of your mouth.

You always lose your cool around him, he’s been your ultimate college crush since you moved in at the beginning of the semester and you usually end up making a fool of yourself in front of him. Whether it’s talking gibberish or dripping eggs when he walks into the kitchen, he has seen you at your worst in these two months you’ve been living next to each other.

“You’re not going home for winter break?” he asks, striking up a conversation and you pray you don’t embarrass yourself this time.

“Oh, I am, but only late tomorrow. Wanted some alone time before going home to the family, study and stuff, you know…”

“Clever,” he nods with a smile.

“What about you?”

“I’m leaving tomorrow too, I was supposed to go home today, but my flight got cancelled.”

“That sucks, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” he shrugs. “You’re sitting in your cold room all by yourself?”

“Well, not everyone has their own fireplace,” you snort out a laugh, but it sounded funnier in your head for sure.

“Come over to mine,” he offers and you have to fight yourself not to let your mouth hang open.

You’ve hung out before, ran into each other at parties and while your crush is deeply rooted at this point, you two aren’t exactly the closest friends, you haven’t been in his room before, haven’t even hugged him so entering into his private space is the most intimate you’d ever get with him.

“Um, I don’t want to bother—“

“Y/N, you’re not bothering, I’m just playing video games.”

“B-But still…”

“You’d rather freeze to death in your room than to be around me? I have to say I’m a little hurt.” With a hand over his heart he gives you a disappointed look, though you can tell he’s just teasing you.

“You really don’t mind?”

“I wouldn’t have invited you over if I did. Come on, bring all your stuff.”

And so you end up moving over to Harry’s room that feels like paradise. The temperature is perfect, you can get rid of your hoodie as you settle on top of his bed while he sits by his desk with his PC, some kind of action game paused on the screen.

His room is oddly tidy for a college boy. The bed was made even before you appeared, there are no dirty clothes on the floor, only in the hamper in the corner, his bookshelf is crowded, but it seems to have a system in it that probably only he knows.

“Is it warm enough?” he asks, settling at his computer.

“Yeah, thanks,” you nod, feeling a bit out of place, but the warmth feels nice.

“Cool,” he nods before turning back to his game and unpausing it.

For the first hour you just coexist in peace. It takes you some time to focus on studying with Harry being so close and also being in Harry’s room, but the feeling wears down and you can finally work efficiently while he keeps himself busy with his game. But then he stops playing and becomes more interested in whatever you are doing.

“You haven’t finished this sheet yet?” he asks, holding up the statistics task sheet you’ve been putting off for over a month now.

“No,” you sigh in defeat. “I’m not really good at statistics.”

“Want me to help? I’m in Dr. Thomson’s Thursday class, but we went over the same thing too.”

“It’s my homework, I don’t want to bore you with it.”

“It’s fine, I actually liked these tasks.”

So then the evening turns into tutoring, Harry sits on the bed beside you, explaining you how to solve the tasks and even shows a better method you understand way more than what you were taught. After that, he just sticks to studying with you, though it slowly turns into anything and everything but studying. He clearly loses interest in helping you, but he doesn’t seem to want to leave you alone and your focus breaks too. Of course you’d rather hang out with Harry than write a paper on Switzerland’s economy!

You’re having a blast. Both of you. It’s the first time hanging out one-on-one, but it’s going better than you imagined. You haven’t made a fool out of yourself, even cracked some jokes that made him laugh, though he is surely the funnier one. He is telling you all kinds of crazy stories from before college and also asks you about your high school years.

“Mm, this was great, though I did not get as much done as I planned to,” you chuckle, taking a look at your stack of textbooks.

“But we had a good time and that’s all that matters,” he grins at you, hugging his pillow.

“Alright. I’ll get out of your hair,” you move to pack your things and return to your room, but then he speaks up.

“What are you doing?”

“Going back to my room.”

“You didn’t think I would let you sleep in the cold, did you?”

“What, you want me to sleep here?” you raise your eyebrows at him.

“Sure. There’s plenty of space for us. You’re sleeping here tonight,” he simply states.

About twenty minutes later, you’re sitting on the edge of his bed in your pajamas, waiting for him to return from his shower.

You’re really about to sleep in the same bed as Harry Styles. Hopefully you won’t kick him in the groin or say something stupid in your dreams or drool on him or—“

“You look worried,” he comments as he walks in, dropping his used clothes into his hamper. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah, everything is fine. Totally awesome and perfect!”

God, you are so awkward!

“Okay,” he smiles to himself. “Take whatever side you want. It’s not a king sized bed, but it’s fine for two people for one night.”

You gulp at the thought of Harry spending the night here with another girl, jealousy bubbles in your chest.

“At least Niall and I survived the time he got locked out of his room,” he adds with a chuckle and you exhale in relief.

You end up taking the inner side of the bed and you lie on your side as he makes himself comfortable on the outer side. It’s really not too spacious, but at least it’s warm and smells like Harry.

“Thanks for… letting me crash here,” you whisper into the silence. Harry turns to you with a tiny, but charming smile.

“I’m glad it’s you I have to share my warmth with,” he cheekily says and heat rushes into your cheeks right away. “Good night, Y/N.”

“Good night, Harry.”

 

You knew you’d end up tangled together. It was inevitable in such a small space. But still, your heart starts racing when you wake up and find yourself cuddling Harry, who has his arms around you as well. He’s warm and soft, definitely meant to be cuddled in your humble opinion.

He stirs in his sleep and your heart jumps when his eyes flutter open. He doesn’t move away, in fact, he pulls you closer as he exhales lazily.

“Good morning,” he mumbles groggily.

“Mornin’,” you breathe out, feeling like a giddy little girl.

 “I hope you weren’t cold,” he chuckles softly and you feel his chest vibrating underneath your cheek.

“No. I felt nice and warm.”

“Alright,” he smiles. “When is your flight?”

“Five thirty. What about yours?”

“Six. Want to share an Uber to the airport?”

“Sure,” you nod.

You spend most of your time left together. You grab a late breakfast, then hang out in his room and not just because his room is the only place in the building that hasn’t turned into a freezer. It feels natural to be around each other.

Then you share a ride to the airport, grab coffee and then wait together until it’s time for you to go to your gate.

“Well, have a great time at home,” he smiles at you.

“You too. Thanks for… everything,” you chuckle softly. “I’ll see you after the break and...”

Don’t forget about me, you want to say, but you bite it back.

There’s something hanging between the two of you, something unsaid and you fear you’ll have to leave without changing that.

“Okay, I’ll… go,” you mumble, grabbing your suitcase, but before you could walk away, Harry pulls you back.

“When we come back, do you want to… Do you want to go out? With me?”

You can’t stop your mouth from hanging open this time, his question came as a total shock.

“Honestly, I’ve been crushing on you for a while, but every time we spoke you seemed so frightened and ran away, so I took it as a sign,” he admits with a nervous chuckle. “But I think last night was nice, I liked hanging out with you and there’s a chance you feel the same way, so I thought I would… shoot my shot.”

You open your mouth, but then close it as his words sink in. He thought you didn’t like him. Because you ran away from him. But that was because you were into him. What a mess.

“Yes,” is all that comes out of your mouth at last.

“Yes as in…?”

“Yes, I want to go out with you,” you elaborate chuckling. “And I only ran away because I really liked you and I was too nervous.”

You watch his face light up before he nods.

“Great! I mean, not that you were too nervous,” he grins. “So then… Date. When we come back.”

“Yeah,” you nod, mirroring his widening smile. “I have to… I have to go now.”

“Alright. See you… next year then,” he chuckles and leaning closer he kisses the corner of your mouth before you part ways.

After that, you’re basically glued to your phone, nonstop talking to Harry throughout winter break and you’ve never wanted to return to school so badly before. You text, call and send pictures to each other continuously and you can’t even remember the times when it wasn’t like this.

When you return to campus in January, your excitement is kicking high, though on the day of your arrival, Harry’s responses come way less often than they used to, but you’re not trying to see too much into it.

As you’re unpacking your suitcase there’s a knock on your door and when you open it, your heart skips not just one, but probably several beats when you see him standing in the hallway with a bouquet of flowers in his hands.

“Don’t you feel cold in here? I think you should come over to my room.”

Thank you for reading, please like and reblog if you enjoyed and buy me a coffee if you want to support me!

[best-titan-7274]

I just got home from the painfull teeth stuff anf my teeth still hurt so much, can I have some hurt/comfort with Jack and BT? ;o;

maybe Jack gets hurt on the mission, but like, not too serious, just painfull, and has to take care of himself untill the medics could get to them (or they to medics?), and BT kinda frets over him and gets lowkey anxious that he can't really help with that. maybe insert "why are humans so fragile" thinking from BT, and Jack getting amused and countring it with some facts about human resilience (like the fact titans need specifically made copmonents/parts to get fixed, and humans just need some food/drug stuff and rest, or something).

oh I love hurt/comfort, hope you're feeling better by now!

Sometimes, shit happened. That was a phrase that he'd learned long before he ever joined the Militia. But lately it had definitely applied to missions and Jack was starting to get kind of tired about it all.

"Pilot, are you sure that you do not require any emergency medical assistance?" BT asked, not for the first time.

"Yeah, don't worry about it, BT. It looks worse than it is."

Not entirely. His arm does hurt like hell, and it is kind of slashed open from his shoulder to his elbow. He should have kept a closer eye on his surroundings, but the scanner hadn't been working, so he'd been staring at that, and he figured BT was scanning the area himself instead of just watching him-

Anyway, they'd both made some mistakes. And now Jack was hurt. They'd finished their mission just fine, and nothing else had tried to eat him, so he figured everything was okay.

Except the part where BT was more of a mother hen than his actual mother.

Jack had patched himself up, kind of, more like he'd taped a bandage over the cut and then another to keep it from bleeding through. BT had judged him for his slipshod job anyway.

"Why are you so worried about me, anyway?" he couldn't help asking. "Is this more protect-the-Pilot protocol stuff?"

"Partially. I am also worried about you as my friend."

"Aw, BT. Don't worry about me, all right? I'm fine."

"I am still concerned about your injury."

"Humans heal themselves, you know that, right? It's not like a Titan that's gotta have a tech crew with special parts. I mean, sure, the medic is going to want to give me an antibiotic shot or something, probably. But I'll be all right."

"My records of the things that can injure human Pilots indicate that their skin and bones are very fragile compared to my chassis, even if it does require special parts."

"Yeah, we break easier, but we get fixed easier, too. It's gonna be all right. A few weeks at base and I'll be just fine. Trust me."

"Of course I do."

"And if you're really worried, you can help me convince Briggs that double chocolate ice cream is essential to my recovery."

There's a pause, and then, "My records do not indicate that this is correct."

Jack laughs despite himself, and stands up, shoving the packaging from the bandage in his pocket. He's not going to litter, he's not an animal. But he's also not above pestering his Titan into being extra nice to him while he's injured.

"You can keep an eye on my vitals while we keep walking, all right?"

"I believe that will be essential to your continued health."

Geez, not a lot of faith in him. But he has done a lot of reckless things in the past, so BT does have good reason to be slightly worried. Jack trusts his Titan to keep an eye on him no matter what problems they run into. Here, or anywhere.

[livinglouderx3]

Looking for a roommate

3 am to 5 am was usually a period when time passes more tediously, as most people are either already asleep or stuck at work on a nightshift, probably trying to overcome their physiological need to rest as they must take care of the different tasks they're given. Sadly, Naruto considered himself one the second kind, only with the lack of tasks as this late there was almost never any customer at the small diner he was working at - leaving him completely and utterly bored. He even swiped the counter, before surrendering to his phone - checking all kinds of social media and getting to see the same posts all over again, after all, almost everyone he knew was already asleep.

The blonde sighed, he was already regretting his decision to get this stupid job. But the bills had been stacking up ever since his roommate had moved, leaving him and Kurama behind in that large apartment. And since no one wanted to hire a cat, it had become Naruto's job to provide enough extra money, so they wouldn’t have to leave, at least until a new roommate was found. Which was a hard enough task already since said cat didn't like almost everyone, making it even harder for Naruto to find someone split the rent with.

Being so lost in thought Naruto almost didn't notice the bell, the sudden sound making him flinch. He let go of his phone, watching in horror as it slammed onto the ground with a loud crack.

"Shit-" he cursed, quickly crouching down to assess the damage. In moments like these Naruto was eternally grateful for his foresight and the decision to buy a good cell phone case, one that would be able to counter his clumsiness. Luckily, it didn’t break.

He stood up again, suddenly coming face to face with a dark-haired man, who was curiously looking at him from the other side of the counter. Naruto blinked. Not only did it seem so unlikely for anyone to come here at this late hour, but this dark haired must have been one of the most beautiful people Naruto had ever seen. His eyes were two black dots, all-consuming like dark holes pulling Naruto in almost immediately. Gorgeous ebony skin contrasted his black hair and eyes, making him seem somehow ethereal, completely out of this world.

"Can I have a coffee?"

Naruto blinked at him.

It took 1...2...3 seconds for him to register it, to realize that the man had just ordered something and he -the barista- had to attend to him.

"Of course!" Naruto suddenly chirped happily -too loud- ; the earlier accident seemingly forgotten as he tried to be as nice as possible to his only customer. The other man gave him a confused look, before moving a bit to the side and taking a seat barely two feet away from Naruto.

"Do you want any syrup in that coffee? We have coconut, vanilla, moch-"

"Just black coffee." The dark haired interrupted him. Naruto couldn't help but to raise an eyebrow. Who even drinks coffee at 3 am, moreover black coffee. The other man didn't seem to be on his way to work, his clothes were casual and judging by the way he seemed to get comfortable he didn't seem to plan on leaving anytime soon.

Naruto didn't mind, at least now he had something to do to keep himself awake. Maybe they could even have a nice conversation. Yeah, that would be a great idea.

The blonde started the only way he knew how to, "What's your name?"

Now it was the other man's time to raise an eyebrow at him.

"…to write it on your cup.", Naruto clarified.

"Why?", the other asked, taking a quick look around. "It's not as if you could mix up my coffee, I'm the only one here."

The blonde frowned, this was a regular thing, at least for the people buying a coffee to go. But before he could justify his action the other spoke up again.

"Sasuke."

His dark eyes were pulling Naruto in again, keeping him fixed on him.

Naruto nearly forgot breathing. He didn’t understand any of this, what was up with him all of a sudden.

He quicky spun around trying to distract himself by starting to make Sasuke's coffee, hoping the other wouldn’t notice the hint of a blush forming on his cheeks. Why did he even react like that, Sasuke just answered his question, telling him his name – nothing more. Clumsily he scribbled it onto the plastic cup. When he was done, Naruto bit his lip, watching the black liquid flow and quickly filling the small cup – leaving a puff of steam in its trail. Order done.

Now he just had to act normal. No big deal.

“Sasuke..do you maybe want any sugar?”, with the cup in hand Naruto turned around, eyes widening as he barely managed to catch a glimpse of the other, trying to erase the small trail of a tear with his sleeve. “Are you alright?”, Naruto wanted to mentally slap himself, of course he’s not alright – he wouldn’t have nearly started crying if everything was alright. Moreover, it wouldn’t happen in company of a stranger in the middle of the night at a random diner.

The dark-haired watched him for a moment, seemingly unsure of how to react at being caught like that. Eventually, Sasuke cleared his throat, averting his eyes as he finally gave an answer. “It’s nothing. I got some dust in my eye.” Ignoring Naruto, he opened his bag, scrabbling until he found money – holding it out. “Here you go. Thanks for the coffee.”

“You’re welcome.” He couldn’t stop frowning though. Somehow, Naruto just couldn’t let it go. It shouldn’t concern him, he knew that, yet something about seeing Sasuke like that had unsettled him, almost as if Sasuke’s pain just now had been his own. Even with the chance of overstepping boundaries and maybe even getting the diner a bad review due to unnecessarily curios baristas he just couldn’t stop himself from questioning the other once more. “You..could talk about it if you want.”

Sasuke just raised an eyebrow at him. “What?”

“You seemed quite troubled just now. So, if you’d like to have someone to talk to, I just wanted to offer it.”

“Don’t you have any work to do?”, Sasuke frowned.

“Well,” Naruto let out a small laugh, “as you noticed earlier, you’re the only one here so I can’t mix up any coffee orders while listening to you.” He shrugged, “So my offer stands. Don’t be so grumpy about it.”

Sasuke remained quiet, his initial surprise turning into a thoughtful expression – his dark eyes fixed on Naruto, seeming to study him, deciding if he would be trustworthy. Naruto couldn’t help but hope he would be. The blonde couldn’t quite understand why it even mattered that much. Of course, it had been boring before Sasuke had arrived – and maybe part of him didn’t want the other man to just leave, rather than keep staying and even talking to Naruto, keeping him company – keeping the loneliness away. But that wasn’t the true reason. Even though Naruto didn’t understand where this particular feeling came from, he felt it – the primal need to know what the problem was so that he could lift that weight of Sasuke’s shoulder. There was a connection between them. A connection he couldn’t quite explain.  

Somehow, Sasuke seemed to feel it too. The dark-haired let out a sigh, “It’s really not that much of a big deal.” He raised his arm to cup his chin in his hand, trying to seem as indifferent as possible while talking. “I had a fight with my brother. It seems that I finally crossed a line.” His dark eyes wandered, focusing on the coffee in front of him, careful to avoid Naruto’s at all costs. “He..he just kicked me out.” Before Naruto could answer anything though Sasuke quickly continued, “No, no. It’s all good. I just got a text message from him saying that he’s sorry.” Eyes back to his coffee. “He just told me that he didn’t mean it. I guess it took me by surprise´, that’s all.” Finally, he slowly raised his gaze again, “I… I guess I didn’t expect him to take it back after our fight. Not after what I said to him.”

Naruto blinked at him. It was strange.

The turmoil has settled. Sasuke was alright. Naruto let out a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding – feeling relief. What a strange night.

“So..”, Naruto gave him a small smile, “happy tears?”

Sasuke’s pout couldn’t be described as anything less than adorable. “I didn’t cry.”

“Sure not.” Naruto winked. Now that he knew everything was alright, it was kind of fun to tease the other a little, to lift the mood some more.

“I already regret talking to you.” Sasuke shook his head, yet there was no real bite to it, Naruto noticed, as the other couldn’t quite hold back a small smile of his own.

“Hey..I wanted to cheer you up.”

“Usuratonkachi.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“How did you just call me?”

“For someone asking random people to share their life stories you’re a pretty shitty listener if you can’t even catch a nickname.”

“Oi-“

For the first time since Naruto had started working there, he dreaded 6 AM, knowing exactly that other customers would start showing up around then – interrupting his talk with Sasuke. Their light teasing had quickly morphed, transforming into a real conversation – one where time had been easily forgotten.

The bell rang as the door opened once more, a businessman stepping inside – probably looking for a quick coffee and sandwich before work. Naruto let out a quiet sigh – he needed to get to work again.

“It has gotten quite late.”

“Or early.”, Naruto quipped.

“Or early.”, Sasuke rolled his eyes with a smile on his lips. “I think it’s time for me to go back home. Itachi is probably freaking out by now. Thinking that I hate him or something stupid like that, after ignoring him for so long now.”

“Probably.” The blonde let out a laugh. “You should have answered him. I’m sorry that I distracted you for so long.”

There was a moment, a small frame of time filled with nothing but silence, when their eyes met, barely able to part again.

“When is your next shift, Naruto?” Sasuke asked, slowly getting up from the chair, grabbing his jacket. The other man was already waiting, keeping his distance from the two of them.

“In two days.” Naruto answered, “Will you come back? Do you expect Itachi to kick you out again by then?” He couldn’t help being a tease, not with Sasuke.

“Usuratonkachi.”, Sasuke rolled his eyes, clearly amused by Naruto’s antics,  “I don’t need such a dramatic reason to get another coffee here.” He took a step back, “I’ll see you then.”

“Ok, I’ll wait for you then. Good night, Sasuke.” The blonde gave him a lopsided grin, “By the way, even if he does kick you out, I’m happy to inform you that I’m currently looking for a roommate.”

Sasuke let out an amused huff, “You wish.” He turned around then, making his way to the door. “See you then, Naruto.”

“Bye, Sasuke.”

SNS Month Day 1 - Modern AU

[fanfic-scribbles]

Dinner Date Chapter 28

Masterlist

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Overall Story Facts:

Fandom: MCU Captain America/Avengers

Story Summary: Steve Rogers has a girlfriend. A prickly, generally asocial girlfriend, but they make it work. They have more in common than some people might think.

Quick Facts: Romance – Steve Rogers/Reader – Female Reader

Story Warnings: Reader-insert that verges on OFC, written in 1st person past tense

Chapter 28: A Celebration of Life

Chapter Summary: Steve gets an early birthday present, and reflects on good things past and present.

Chapter Word Count: 4342

A/N: This frigging chapter. It took some work but I’m finally pretty happy with it, and I hope you all have fun with it too. Warning for the very end: there is a section marked ~extra~ that goes into third person, present tense from an outside perspective. It was a little experiment and if you don’t like it I don’t think you have to read it since it is slightly divorced from what this fic is actually about, but…it does hint at something that will come up again in the future. Not any time soon, judging by how much work this chapter took, but… :3 Anyways. Enjoy!

~

Watching Pepper on the phone was an…experience.

Steve was doing some Avengers stuff in the training room and he was late so I ended up waiting in one of the upper floors, because apparently leaving to chill at a coffee shop was ‘weird’ and ‘anti-social’ and the day Tony Stark got to brag about being a better-adjusted human being was the day I bit off my own tongue. So there I was, drink in hand, with Pepper for company, while Pepper was still technically working. Or something.

What could have been an unbearably awkward situation though became a masterclass in how a functional adult handled a difficult phone call. At least, I assumed it was difficult. I sort of hoped it was difficult because if this was what she had to deal with normally that was fucked. I tried not to stare, and she was far enough away, (in this giant room bigger than most city apartments), that words filtered in and out, and she danced the line between patient and patronizing in a way her voice kind of masked but her facial expressions betrayed. It was kind of hilarious, at points, but eventually her expression relaxed, her shoulders sank, and she said, “Thank you,” in a way only the truly tired could, and after a few more pleasantries she lowered the phone, let out a heavy sigh, and detoured back to grab something from the fridge before she came back to the sitting area.

“I am so sorry about that,” she said and fell back onto the chair next to me.

“Oh, no, don’t be–” I said and waved her off, only realizing that was my drink hand just before I could slosh liquid onto a couch that probably cost more than my rent, and quickly settled back down. “I’m sorry for crashing.” I could only bite my tongue so far though. “However, no offense, but Tony Stark doesn’t get to be right about anything, ever, if I have a say in it.”

“That’s the only right way to deal with him,” she agreed. She popped the tab on her can, whatever was inside fizzed, and she took a long drink. Even that looked refined when she did it. She breathed a sigh of relief. “In any case, I have most of his birthday sorted, so that’s one thing off my plate.”

I nodded. Tony Stark’s birthday would be a huge to-do– wait. “Wait.” Wait. “Didn’t…didn’t he just have a birthday?”

“I start planning well in advance,” Pepper said. She gave me a very tired look. “Do you have any idea how hard he is to shop for?”

“God I can only imagine,” I said, because even without the obscene amount of money…yeah. I had decided to err on the side of liking Tony Stark, (especially after he had that PR ‘snafu’ for going off on that asshole who had been snarkily homophobic about Steve), but he was, and probably always would be, A Lot. “That must be nice to have it all set up though. I just barely found something for Steve’s birthday.”

Pepper got a look on her face that felt familiar. Though whether that was a ‘Steve’ grimace or a ‘another fucking gift-giving holiday’ grimace I was a little unsure of. “Speaking of people hard to shop for…” She sighed and rubbed her head.

I could sympathize. Hardcore. “If you really want to get him something he’d be fine even with a nice message on a pretty card.”

She gave me a ‘seriously?’ look, so I said, “Seriously.” And I (seriously) thought about it. “Heartfelt can be hard though, so I get it. But he really isn’t fussy. Charity donation in his name? A ‘get out of PR jail free’ card the next time he pisses off Fox News?”

She seemed to consider it, but then shook her head. “What did you get him?”

I puffed up, because my gift was awesome. “Concert tickets for an act and opener he’s going to love, and I’ve planned out dinner at a place he hasn’t been to yet.” It was torture to have to wait on the second one, but it was going to be worth it. Pepper was right; Steve was awful to buy for and always insisted he didn’t need anything and I was about to score ‘best girlfriend ever’ points for at least a month. I could only hope the memory of this birthday would help ease the sting of the future gifts I was inevitably going to whiff it on.

“That sounds wonderful,” Pepper said. Calculating. I did not like that. “How good are the tickets?”

Yeah, I really didn’t like that. “They’re perfect.”

She smiled deviously. “I bet I can get you better ones.”

“Nuh uh, paws off,” I said and mimed smacking her hands away. “This is my gift. You go get your own.”

She faked a heavy sigh– the smile gave her right away. “Any suggestions?”

I shrugged. “Are there any art things going on?”

It was a sort of flippant suggestion– she seemed like a fancy, in-the-know lady, and fancy, in-the-know ladies would know about stuff like art shows. However, I realized we both understood it for the surprisingly good suggestion it was at the same time. A part of me was a little bummed I hadn’t thought to bank that for myself for another time. A bigger part of me though was pretty happy to look smart in front of Pepper Potts. Also being helpful to Steve’s friends was nice or whatever.

And by the near-glow of her eyes, she already had a good idea, which was going to be good for Steve, so I couldn’t be too upset about it. “That. Is genius.”

I shrugged and tried not to smile as hard as I wanted to. “I try.”

“Do you know what kind of art he likes best?” she asked, whipping out her phone and tapping at the screen with furious purpose.

“He varies a lot and I haven't delved into his absolute favorites yet,” I admitted. It seemed to change by the week sometimes. “He posts some stuff on social media and goes around there liking things. Though if I could say one thing, I would advise you to be careful of abstract. Some of it he really likes and some of it he really fucking hates and I have no idea where that line is.”

“It’s okay; this– I think he’ll like this. It’ll be a little early but…” she said and beamed at me as she held the phone up to her ear. ‘Thank you!’ she mouthed and walked off before starting a whole new conversation.

I shrugged and leaned back against the couch. Since it involved Steve, I’d probably find out why she seemed so excited soon enough.

~

A few days later counted for soon enough. “So,” Steve said, fake-casual as he slid onto the couch next to me. Why he bothered trying to attempt casual with that barely-suppressed grin on his face, I could not fathom.

“So,” I said and kissed him, because he really was too cute to resist sometimes.

“So,” he repeated, but slipped his arm behind me and cupped my hip in a way that told me we could continue that line of activities later. “Pepper got me two tickets to an art gallery I’ve been looking forward to,” he said, focusing again. “Opening night of a new exhibit. Would you come with me?”

“That sounds great,” I said. “Pepper doesn’t want to go with you?”

“She’ll be there, but she said she’s going to be networking,” Steve said. “This way we can come and go whenever we want. I’ve been to a couple of showings; most of the time the people there are too snooty to care about Captain America hanging around, but I’ve seen previews of the pieces that are going to be there and they look amazing…”

Steve continued to go on about some of the artists and that somehow led to lighting and negative space and tonality and I sort of lost the thread after a while but I couldn’t help it– interesting though it was, it was more interesting to watch him go off into his own little world, smiling so easily as he talked about art education videos he was watching and he was just so happy that I couldn’t help but stare at him and soak it all in.

When he took a moment to go to the bathroom, I snuck out my phone and opened up my text log with Pepper.

Me: A++++ gift giving he’s going to be excited all the way to it Pepper: Thank you for the excellent idea Pepper: I hope I’ll see you there? Me: Definitely

“Who are you texting?” Steve asked as he sat back down and pulled my legs into his lap.

“Pepper. I was just telling her she did a great job with your gift,” I said and put my phone down.

“Really?” He let out a sigh of relief. “I was afraid I was boring you already.”

“I like hearing you talk about it,” I said. “I like hearing you happy and excited.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. It’s almost like I care about you or some bullshit.”

“Well that can’t be right,” Steve said, but he was smiling too hard to be serious. “You have a reputation and all.”

“Damn right I do,” I said, and opened my arms. “Now get over here and ruin it.”

His grin was a little more wicked for what I had meant by that but, well.

I definitely didn’t mind his definition of ruin.

~

Art parties had pretty great food.

Well, this one did. The drinks were a little substandard but I kept an eye on the waiters with the finger platters at almost all times as I wandered around with Steve who, true to his prediction, did not get glommed on at all. I also watched for snootiness but everything felt really oddly chill and relaxed and…nice. It wasn’t as fancy as I had feared, but it definitely still cleaved to the nice side, and we had dressed up accordingly, but everyone really did seem to be there for the art, which was also pretty awesome.

And then there was Steve. He mostly stuck by me as we wandered from piece to piece, and whenever the artist was around and willing to talk with him, he always took the chance. So far he had a hundred percent success rate in surprising them by actually knowing his shit, and that was kind of vindictively fun to watch. I hadn’t paid attention to the theming and was at the point where I was too embarrassed to ask, but it seemed like a new art take on classic pieces and movements of the past. Leyendecker through a Warhol lens which had a companion piece of Warhol but make it like Leyendecker. Art deco graffiti. Alphonse Mucha if his seasons were made in the era of global warming.

So it was pretty fantastic. And we even got to hang out with Pepper for a little bit, the three of us stealing away to a corner with a small pile of pilfered snacks and drinks.

“You really do find the best hideouts,” Pepper told me appreciatively.

“I take my duties as resident miser very seriously,” I said, and tried not to beam too much at the compliment. Steve was grinning at me though, and when Pepper was distracted by saying hi to someone, I threw a napkin at his face.

“I saw that,” she said, but with a wicked smirk. She then stood up and straightened the end of her form-fitting dress. “Steve, have you seen the hallway gallery yet?”

Steve and I both peered where she was gesturing; a very wide hallway with good lighting that not many people were going down now. “Not yet,” he said as we both sat back.

She smiled cryptically. “I think you should. There’s a really great artist– well, several of course, but there’s one with a piece in particular that I…I think you might like.”

She escaped with a quick farewell, and I munched on the last of the snacks. “Mysterious,” I said once I was dusting my hands of the crumbs.

Steve stood and held his hand to me. “Let’s go find out, Watson.”

I scoffed, but took his hand. “I’m way more of a social disaster than you,” I said as we walked. “I should get to be Sherlock.”

“Solving mysteries seems like a lot of work though,” he said.

“True,” I admitted.

We meandered leisurely down the hallway, looking at each art piece and leaving the scarce few people behind as we went. I remembered briefly looking down this area at the start of the night and thinking, ‘Nope,’ with the ridiculous amount of people that had been down here before, but apparently they had all seen what there was to see, leaving us to enjoy it practically on our own.

“This is nice–” I suddenly bumped into Steve. “Oof!” I quickly backed up a few steps and he remained. Stock still. “Steve?” I asked, but he was staring up at the wall to my right, his expression stricken, and I turned to see what had him by the metaphorical throat. It was a mural, massive, and it took me a second for it to all come into view. When it did, when the image of a man with a very familiar visage fell into place, all I could manage was a soft, “Oh.”

“Bucky,” Steve said in an awed exhalation. I looked from him, to the painting, and back and forth again. He seemed to be taking it all in and I had nothing I could think to say, so I did much the same. It was a beautiful work of art; colors faded seamlessly together and words of varying sizes acted as modified stippling to create the whole image of one James Buchanan Barnes, larger than life like a comic book hero, but with a serious set to his face, wearing the iconic jacket, and fading out where it looked like he’d be holding a gun in his arms.

After several minutes of utter silence, I tentatively rubbed Steve’s arm. He flinched a little, but gave me a small, slightly twisted smile. “Sorry,” I said. “I just wanted to make sure you were still breathing.”

He huffed a laugh, but his eyes looked a little wet and he blinked furiously. “It’s…I’m sorry; it’s…”

I squeezed his arm. “Hey,” I said softly. “It’s okay. It’s always okay and it’s always going to be okay.”

He swallowed and sniffled, but through sheer stubbornness did not let go of one single manly tear. Crying in public did suck though, so I wasn’t about to give him a hard time about it. I rubbed his arm up and down as comfortingly as I could, trying to help, and he moved slightly to take the hand I wasn’t using. “Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it,” he admitted softly, and gave me a weak smile.

“I know,” I said softly. I would have kissed him if I could have gotten away with it, but someone was walking down the hall towards us, so all I could manage was a brief but tight squeeze of his hand before I let go entirely, and he visibly tried to brace himself for the oncoming interaction.

“Hello!” a breathless woman said as she approached. She looked young but carried herself confidently, dressed in a stylish combination of pants, half-skirt, and suit-top, with locs in a beautiful half up-do that framed her face and cascaded down past her shoulders. “I was told there was someone who–”

As soon as she saw Steve, a lot of that confidence just evaporated and she froze with kind of an ‘urk!’ look on her face. As the seconds ticked on and Steve didn’t (probably couldn’t) speak, I squared up and hoped I wasn’t going to make a mess of things. I cleared my throat. “Are you the artist?” I asked. She looked at me, still a little frozen, but she managed a jerky nod and pulled her shoulders down from her ears. “It’s beautiful,” I said as emphatically as I could.

She seemed a little reassured, but her eyes flicked back to Steve, who was looking at it again. He swallowed and managed to look at her, a small smile on his face. “Absolutely amazing,” he said.

She exhaled such a long breath that I had to bite my hand not to laugh, while Steve was startled into doing just that. “I’m so sorry,” she said and waved her hand, relaxing a lot more as she walked closer. “My brother told me someone was standing over here but he didn’t mention who, and when I saw you, I wasn’t sure if it was uh…offensive?”

“In your brother’s defense, no one’s come that close so he probably didn’t get a good look at me,” Steve said, still a little dreamy as he looked at the picture. After a second though he frowned and looked at the woman, more focused. “Why would it be– it’s not offensive; it’s incredible. And I mean technically too; the way you…”

He drew closer to her, talking about the art itself, and she snapped into being a professional, talking to him, explaining the piece that was part of a series on the Howling Commandos, and I stepped back to let them have at it. I couldn’t keep from looking at the art itself again. I tried to imagine how I would think, if it was of Steve, if Steve had– but…I didn’t really want to think of that, right now, in the middle of what was actually Pepper’s birthday gift to him, meant to mark his life.

Though, I thought and tilted my head to see it from another angle, what a life. To make such a mark on the world that this many years after he was gone, an artist, a complete stranger, would spend however many hours of her life putting forth the effort to try and make him as large as the legacy he left behind.

Steve was right. It was pretty amazing.

~

We stayed there until it was time for the gallery to close. Though Steve had made sure he had all of the artist’s socials, and her website where he could see the picture any time he wanted, he still seemed to be soaking in the presence of the piece itself. So I felt a little like a jerk that I was getting sleepy, and I leaned into him to try and relinquish some of the energy used in standing straight to focus on appearing as awake as I could. He leaned into me in return, and I looked up at him. His expression was…peaceful. A little happy, even, and he glanced over at me and smiled a little more.

“What are you thinking?” he asked softly.

I was more curious about what was going on in his head, but I wondered if even he knew. I still didn’t know how I would really feel if someone I loved so dearly was now being immortalized by strangers in giant murals, gone long enough to have become simply part of a story long past. Steve was here, and alive, and I was grateful for every moment of that, every turn of his life that led him here, that I didn’t want to think of the other way it could have easily been.

So I snuggled in and asked, maybe a little quietly, “Is it weird if I say your boyfriend was pretty cute?”

That probably could have gone badly, I thought in a way too belated realization, but Steve snorted and clamped his hand over his mouth as he tried to get a handle on it. Eventually he breathed deep, but the smile stayed strong. “He was very handsome,” he agreed and shot me a little smirk. “He would have corrected you with that.” Steve shook his head. “God, the two of you…I don’t know if I’d’ve survived that.”

I rested my head on his shoulder and squeezed his hand. “You probably would have been fine,” I said. “I would have been hard on him too. Sharing a boyfriend doesn’t get you any free passes. Just ask Peggy.”

He snorted, then looked abashed. “Fair enough.” He looked around. “Let me just snap a quick picture of this and then we’ll head out, all right?”

“Of course,” I said and took a few steps back to make sure I was out of the way. Steve took several shots, some from different angles, and then started to slip his phone back into his pocket when he suddenly stopped, and looked at me. “Hey,” he said. “Can I take a picture of you in front of it too?”

I leaned my head to one side and looked at it again. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” He smiled. “Past and present; I just…really like the idea.”

“Sap,” I said, but my heart melted faster than an ice cube in July and I went to stand in front of the picture. I didn’t know how to pose, but after a moment considered how well Steve had taken my joke about how attractive Bucky was and– what the hell. I turned my back to the subject, clasped my hands in front of my face, bent one leg behind me, and threw the most coquettish look over my shoulder I could muster.

Steve snorted so hard, and took so long to regain his composure, I started tilting from my poorly-thought-out balance before he finally snapped a photo he was happy with. “You’re terrible,” he said with an out-and-out grin as I rejoined him.

“You love it,” I said and stood as close as I dared, even with the event winding down.

Steve showed no concern for any of that, and wrapped his arms around me. “I really do,” he murmured and snuck a soft, but lingering kiss.

~

~extra~

The picture causes a sense of overwhelming echoes in the back of the mind. It makes him want to break something.

He doesn’t. Someone spent time and effort and this isn’t his and this isn’t him. Not really. Not anymore. He sighs and relaxes his shoulders, and checks the time absently. The security guard won’t make it over here for at least another twenty minutes, and he intends to be long gone by then.

He should be gone now, and yet he stays. James. Barnes. Bucky. They don’t feel quite right anymore, fitting better the unreal image in front of him, and yet still he keeps them, like a familiar old coat gone too tight at the shoulders but too sentimental in value to throw out. In any case he refuses to be the Asset or the Soldier, and he can’t think of another name he would choose otherwise, and so he…keeps them. Just in case they fit right again.

He can’t wait to be out of New York though. He thought it would help, maybe bring things into focus, but those old memories come with flashes of pain, like when they were forced out of him, and he has to grit his teeth against every flinch they bring. He only wanted to come and check on…Steve. Because Steve is, was, always has been, the one thing that matters, and as hard as it has been keeping him ignorant of the ‘Soldier’s’ identity, the one thing that makes it easy is imagining the look on Steve’s face if he realizes what Bucky became.

That fight. It still hurts to think of; makes him wince. It’s better now than it was at the time though. At the time he fought through what felt like double-vision, a face ghosting over the one in front of him, and then to complicate things, the Target, the Mission, was competent in ways he had never known before; every hit matched, blow for blow, the Asset’s implacable strength against the Captain’s unyielding resolve.

And then.

“I can do this all day.”

And he had cracked in two. Six little words had broken him entirely, backup had arrived, and the Asset-not-but-yes had…fled.

But not back to his masters.

The months thereafter were (are) a haze of repressed memories, repressed nightmares, repressed…everything. But without constant conditioning and punishment, he had managed to pull himself back into the shadow of a person. And now he…

He breathes slowly, and finds himself holding his forehead again. He shakes away the pain, stands tall, and looks back to the museum entrance where he had watched Steve leave. With his date. With his partner. And it…hadn’t made him violent, like he feared it might.

Steve is happy. Genuinely happy in a way that makes Bucky nearly relax with relief, and the hurt isn’t as bad as it could be. He’s taking care of and being taken care of in return, and the jealousy and anger Bucky was prepared to have to deal with is just an empty space. This is good. This is better for everyone.

He sighs and checks his watch. Time to go. He has a tip that the redhead has not managed to sniff out yet (Jesus Christ she’s like a bloodhound sometimes) and he’s left another trail for them to pick up on while he follows this because, no offense lady, but this one is a lot more personal and he is actually looking forward to tracking this particular ‘head’ down so he can kick it right in the teeth.

Steve has a life. A good life. And he has a chance to live it now. He’ll handle cleaning up the small fries, and come home at the end of the day. Bucky will continue to take care of the worst of it. As he has. As he should.

He turns, and leaves the image of James Buchanan Barnes in the past. Where he belongs.

~

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

[seven-oomen]

Hi, Ben!  I hope decorating continues to go well!  And I’m curious about your zoo game you’ve been mentioning.

Hey B! It’s progressing steadily. I’ve almost finished my hallway in terms of floor and wallpaper and am now doing the smaller bedroom. (Only thing left in the hallway is the baseboards/skirting boards? Idk in Dutch we call it a plint. I had to look up the translation.) The game I’m playing atm is called planet zoo. It’s pretty fun, you have complete freedom to build your own zoo and design habitats, signs, and buildings. I recently build a train station:

Including shops, decorations, and a bunch of other stuff. It’s pretty neat what you can do in the game.

So, I saw DP&W a second time (did I tell you that already?  My grasp of time is even worse than normal lately.)  Anyway, I feel like I managed to pick up on more stuff that I missed because I knew what to expect and was less overwhelmed by all the “EVERYTHING IS HAPPENING SO MUCH!!!"  Although I maintain my views on the Odyssey incident, there is definitely an absolute vibe of "pushing the line as close as Disney will possibly let us”.  Like I’d noticed it the first time, but holy shit, that second time was even more in your face.  (Also still stand by the potential for some flavor of Scott/Jean/Logan in his past based on how he talks about them, because why not add a little more trauma for him?  XD )

So did I! (Well not in cinema, that’s too much right now. But I found a link.) Idk if you did tell me tbh, but you told me now XD. And yeah, that oddesy scene is really skirting the line as much as they can. It’s so freaking obvious. But I do really like your interpretation as well. It makes sense for Logan not to be in to that considering everything he went through. (They do fuck nasty on the couch once everything settles in the end. That I wholeheartedly believe. Logan and Wade are so into each other.)

And yeah, Logan def had a relationship with his Jean and Scott. I’m even putting that into the fic I’m writing. Just for the delicious angst that’ll bring.

Also can you believe I’ve been on Ao3 for 10 YEARS?? holy crap.

And I’ve been a voting member for most of that time.

And like, so many (banger) love songs on that soundtrack.  So many.  XD  Ngl, one of my first thoughts during the rewatch of the finale was “I wonder how many fics are going to end up titled some variation of ‘I hear you call my name and it feels like home’?”, so that post had me choking down a cackle.  (Yes, I realize I’m one of those song lyric as title authors.  Yes, I have thought of several other lyrics from other songs from the soundtrack that would also be great titles for Poolverine fic.  No I will not apologize for that.  XD )  (Also I stand by my previous thoughts on the Personal Jesus playlist.)

Oh my god you don’t wanna know how many Madonna song fics there are now XD I count at least 3 new ones per day. Hahahahaha. (I laugh but my own fic is titled after a Starkid Song from their musical; The trail to Oregon.)

And I have been trying to come up with Jesus related songs for Wade to put into a playlist but I haven’t gotten much further than Jesus take the wheel and Jesus of Surburbia.

Here’s the fic playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/61ImiJ5GmpyzskXDDZKCz7?si=697e193191a246fe If you have any ideas, feel free to fire away!

Something I hope make an appearance of some variety in someone’s fic: Yukio convincing Laura (and Vanessa?) to participate in a back and forth contest with Wade and Peter (and Remy? [Shhh, let me pretend the TVA got him out]) to send each other videos/TikToks of themselves doing girl group and boy band music video dance routines.  Piotr and Dopinder are the (theoretically) impartial judges, while Blind Al is allowed the tie breaker vote when needed.  Shatterstar (can’t remember his civvie name offhand) joins whichever group he feels like at the time.  There’s no real stakes, but there’s an ongoing extra level that true bragging rights will belong to whoever gets either Negasonic or Logan to join in first.  (I at least think this would be very entertaining, but I admittedly may be a little slap happy at this point.)

What do you mean pretend? Of course he got out with Blade and Elektra. I will die on that hill.

But yeah that’s brilliant actually XD. I don’t think Laura herself would participate but she’s definitely the type to egg on others to be stupid. And then laugh at their stupidity. (And Peter, Wade, and Remy would have a fucking blast.) The three girls are watching them with popcorn buckets and Mary Puppins on their laps.

Also, Logan getting to experience some joy in his life.  A lot of the characters he seems to end up friends with (Kitty, Kurt, Wade, etc) seem to be the “unrelentingly cheerful and upbeat in the face of severe horror and trauma” types, which I feel is good for him.  He needs those kinds of people in his life, whether he would agree or not.  XD 

He does 😭 I like to think he’s secretly very grateful to be surrounded by them, even if he’s grumpy about it due to the over-stimulation. It’s very easy to fight for people that bring him that much comfort and joy.

And just because I feel like it’s been a while since I offered a purely NSFW suggestion/thought:  Wade makes WAY too many pegging jokes to not be a switch (and it hasn’t been THAT long since I saw the first film), so consider; Wade getting railed by Vanessa while Logan rides him like he stole him (bonus here is that he potentially can see both of them as this happens without turning his head, presuming his eyes haven’t rolled back into it.)  Alternatively; Wade getting his back blown out while buried inside Logan, who feels full and protected and weighed down in the pleasantest way possible, and Vanessa gets to enjoy how seeing how content and satisfied everyone seems afterward.

I very much like the way you think. I agree, I think Wade is more a switch, but Logan is a bottom. Pillow princess. I think that’s also the most kind to any partners tbh XD. Considering he has an adamantium skeleton... yeah no he’s lying on his back/belly. There’s also a lot of people that have this headcanon that Logan extends his claws when he cums, but I tend to partially agree with that. I don’t think he does it every time, I like to think that in 200 years he has some control over the snikt. But when he’s overstimulated beyond compare (or any other intense emotion), then yeah they come out without him meaning to. Because Idk about others but not every orgasm is higher than life all the time.

I had a lot of time to think about that one when I rped Logan a decade ago, hahhaha.

Oh, and it’s amusing to me to see all the art of Logan flinging Wade like a discus, because I remember there being a running joke among my friends many, MANY the year ago about Colossus or Beast picking up a (comic appropriately sized) Wolvie and hurling him at an enemy.  Not sure if this was actually something from a comic or show, but I remember they always called it a Fastball Special.

It is very much a thing in the comics, yeah XD. Fastball special incoming!

So, I’ve rambled more than I meant to, and it’s way later than I realized (like I said, my sense of time is rather vague at best lately  XD ), so I will wrap up for now (also I can’t remember at this point if there was anything else I meant to bring up…)  I hope you’re doing as well as can be expected, and that the good days are outweighing the bad!  I hope things with the apartment continue to go well, and that you get a chair of excellent quality from the municipality.  I hope your weather is pleasant, and you and Yara get a chance to enjoy it properly.  Sending lots of good thoughts and energy to get your goals, writing or otherwise, accomplished with relative ease.  Take care!  *HUGS TO YOU BOTH!!!*

Big hugs and cuddles from me and Yara, my friend <3

I’m holding on, I finally had a meeting with other people from the municipality. I get to keep my current chair, and help is on the way. Finally.

I hope work is going well and that people are treating you decently at the pet store.

Take care my friend!

[folliesandfolderols]

Writing prompts days 127-129

From this prompt list. If you’ve read this far, I’m not sure you need any explanation, but the short version is I hadn’t written any fiction since 2019, I set a goal to write at least 150 words/day in 2024, and this list was my way to restart. Also I abruptly decided on day 2 I would write an entire Tim/Damian story connecting all the prompts, because I am Good at Judging My Limits. /sarcasm Anyway, I finished the rough draft a while ago and am now unlocking the old entries as I edit.

Read from the beginning here, or on ao3 here.

Days 123-126 here

***

29. “Wanna hear you beg for it, yeah?” 

31. “P-please just”—a sob—“I just need you to fuck me.”

62. “Imagine how amazing you’d sound when I’m fucking you senseless.”

63. “I’ll fuck you so good, I promise.”

***

“Hand me a towel?” Damian obediently opened the door and grabbed a towel from the heating rack. 

Tim rubbed down and then wrapped the towel around his waist before stepping out to hug Damian. Damian returned the embrace without hesitation even though Tim’s hair dampened his shirt.

“Thank you for telling me,” Tim said, tilting his head back to smile up at him. He grabbed Damian’s hand and led him back to the bedroom to sit on the bed. Somehow having the toilet adjacent to this particular moment didn’t really suit the mood. 

“I’m sorry I’ve been weird,” he said once they were both settled. “I realized a couple weeks ago that I’m in love with you.” Damian jerked as if he’d been shoved away by the words, but Tim determinedly pressed on. “I wasn’t sure if it would be good or bad news, so I’ve been trying to figure out how to share it, or if I should. But. Yeah. I’m sorry if it’s bad.”

Damian stared at him, narrow-eyed and unmoving, for a moment that felt solidified in amber. At last, he swallowed and croaked out, “It’s not bad.”

Tim couldn’t keep his smile from widening at that response. “It’s okay if you don’t feel the same way. I just had to tell you.”

“No, I—" Damian ducked to press his face to the crook of Tim’s neck, one hand grasping Tim’s nearest wrist as he did so. “It’s very difficult to say in English,” he said, soft words heating the delicate skin beneath his lips.

Or at all, Tim heard. He kissed Damian’s head and stroked his hair with his free hand. “You don’t have to say anything you’re not comfortable with.”

Damian lifted his head to kiss Tim’s mouth with enough ardent desperation to answer to Tim’s satisfaction regardless. He grabbed Damian's shoulders and pulled him on top as they lay down on the bed.

"Are you too tired?" Tim checked after a second, lips swollen and breath already harsh. "I know it's late, and patrol was kind of rough—"

"If you stop kissing me I'll gut you," Damian replied, sliding one hand down to lift Tim's ass up so he could grind their hips together. "You feel incredible."

"Well, disembowelment does tend to be a turnoff," Tim said with a grin. "Guess I'd better keep going." He rolled them over and sat up to throw the towel toward the bathroom. "Here, take this off." He tugged at Damian's shirt.

Damian obediently stripped off all his clothes and lay back, eyes hooded as he cradled Tim's face in one hand and pulled him down to kiss him again. His other hand skimmed up Tim's side, then clutched his waist as if he had to ensure Tim's proximity.

Tim wriggled down to fasten his mouth around Damian's nipple. Damian groaned as he started to suck, and Tim had to take a second to say, "God. I love the noises you make so much." He licked the hardened peak. "So fucking sexy."

Imagine how amazing you'd sound when I was fucking you senseless, he thought, but it wasn't worth breaking the mood by being pushy.

Damian scooted toward the middle of the bed, pulling Tim with him. "The other night, we were—interrupted," he said, extra color climbing up his throat. "When Richard visited."

Tim exercised every bit of self-control he had to stay relaxed and casual on top of him. "You mean when I was eating you out? I was kind of pissed off at him for getting in the way. Would it be okay if I tried it again?"

Damian swallowed, nerves clear in the way his fingers tightened and loosened on Tim's waist, but he nodded nonetheless.

Damian almost never requested anything in bed. Tim had to kiss his mouth as a reward for doing so, then again for good measure, and a few more times just to be sure he knew how appreciative Tim felt. The tension stringing Damian's muscles tight drained out as Tim reassured him with hands buried in his hair, soft kisses with their tongues barely brushing.

When Tim felt him relax, he swung his leg over to sit at Damian's side. "Flip over for me, sweetheart." He patted Damian's flank in encouragement. Damian obediently lay on his stomach, folding his arms beneath his head, turned to watch Tim where he knelt on the bed.

Dizzied by the rush that came with Damian willingly offering his back to him, Tim ran his palm from one broad shoulder to the gorgeously defined muscles lower down. All that loveliness spread out for his consumption. His mouth watered in anticipation.

"Shall I take a nap while you complete your aesthetic appreciation?" Damian's eyes gleamed with affection that belied the bite of the words.

"Sure, yeah, don't blame you at all if you nod off," Tim said, maneuvering to sit between Damian's spread legs. "Don't mind me. I'm just going to entertain myself."

"Be my guest," because of course Damian could never ever let anyone have the last word, even if it meant he got to come sooner.

Tim grasped Damian's ass and spread his cheeks apart. The taut muscles flexed against his grip. He ducked to bite next to his left hand, ignoring Damian's flinch, but then that mark looked so pretty he had to do the other side, too. Symmetry was the key to beauty, after all.

A light sheen of sweat broke out across Damian's body. "Get on with it."

Tim elected to ignore the growling and follow the instructions. Mostly because that was what he really wanted to do too. He tested the waters with a couple of delicate licks across Damian's hole.

Damian shuddered once, hard. "Fuck," he whispered, and that tiny exhalation made Tim forget how to breathe.

Still, it was a sign he was on the right track, so he kept going, pressing his tongue deeper with each swipe across Damian's skin. After a few minutes, muted whimpers began to force themselves out of Damian's throat. Tim glanced up to make sure they were still good, and nearly passed out when he saw Damian clutching a pillow in both hands, knuckles whitened by the strength of his grip, burying his face so deep Tim was surprised any sound at all escaped.

"Hey." He patted Damian's thigh to get his attention. "Don't cover your mouth, Dami." Damian's hands didn't move. Time for more drastic measures, then. "Wanna hear you beg for it, yeah?"

Damian loosened his fingers while Tim watched, but instead of an irritated rejoinder, he only moaned, full-throated and helpless, as Tim fucked his tongue inside him again. Tim's cock throbbed in complaint.

He pumped lube into his hand while he kept his tongue busy. Carefully, making sure Damian didn't tense in the wrong way, he rubbed the pad of one finger around the spit-slicked entrance while he licked. Damian just kept moaning with every breath, so Tim went ahead and pushed his finger in. It slid home with no resistance.

He felt cautiously for Damian's prostate—this position didn't make it super easy. Damian jolted as soon as his fingertip brushed it and sobbed. The sound made Tim want to hug him, which in turn made him want to die of mortification. Shit. He really had it bad if he wanted to cuddle in the middle of fingering one of the hottest people he knew.

"Oh," Damian gasped out, voice wet, as Tim kept thrusting his finger, pressing against his prostate every few strokes, doing his best to keep his tongue moving all around it. Damian's legs began to tremble where they pressed to his sides.

Tim redoubled his efforts. The tremors wracking Damian's body grew in intensity until Tim was hanging on for dear life. Damian's hips pushed up, then down, as if he weren't sure whether he wanted to escape or lean into what Tim was doing to him. He whined, longing squeezed through his teeth.

A little concerned, Tim lifted his head to ask, "Dami? You okay?"

“P-please just”—a sob—“I just need you to fuck me.”

Tim's vision blacked out for a second. He pressed his mouth into Damian's ass and added a second finger while Damian writhed in short, aborted movements, obviously trying not to hurt him and simultaneously too overwhelmed to stop himself. The whole bed quaked, and then Damian went rigid and silent. Tim groaned in vicarious gratification while the muscles around his fingers pulsated with Damian's orgasm.

When Damian sucked air back into his lungs and collapsed into the mattress, Tim eased his hand free and kissed his way up Damian's spine.

"Dami, Dami, Dami," he whispered in between each kiss, incoherent with wanting him. He curled around Damian’s side like a comma. "I'll fuck you so good, I promise.”

day 130 here

[drawing-way-outside-the-lines]

➖ Mature content, 18+ ➖ check the trigger tags each time ➖      

Chapter 46 - Lost in thought again. Episode 1.

Congo: I was sitting in our garden, late afternoon, observing the view of the mountains, sea and town below us, while the sun were slowly sinking. I had been sitting here for quite a while. An hour or so, judging by my watch? The last 2 weeks, Autumn had slowly lowered it's crisp cold blanket over the town. Gently covering the mountain peeks with a light coat of snow. Looking most of all like a thin coat of white sugar, gently drizzled over peaked chocolate cakes. It was beautiful. Orange and red colors everywhere. The days were getting shorter, colder, and soon winter would be over us. I sighed towards the sinking sun, watching a cloud of hot breath emerge from my mouth

Evan: Hi his voice was soft and low

Congo: I turned my head and looked up at him with a soft smile

Evan: May I sit? He pointed at the ground next to me

Congo: Yeah, sure I smiled warmly and padded a hand on the ground Be my guest.

Evan: He smiled softly and sat down, grunting lighttly as he lit a cig So… how long have you been out here anyway?

Congo: Mm… about an hour I think? I turned my head to observe the view again, few birds fluttering over the horizon

Evan: He smiled softly You're gonna get a cold. The ground is nearly freezing.

Congo: I have higher body temperature, remember… but you on the other hand, you shouldn't sit here too long. I turned my head and smiled at him softly can I have a drag of that?

Evan: He chuckled softly You shouldn't be smoking, you know that.

Congo: I chuckled softly Well neither should you.

Evan: Fair enough he took a drag of the cig, then turned it a bit, holding it about 30 cm from his face, so I could get to take a drag

Congo: I leaned closer, locking my lips around the orange filter, and took a big drag. Keeping it in a few seconds, before I let it slowly seep out of my mouth Thank you… now… come here… I leaned closer to his face, slowly, smiling softly as I kissed his bottom lip gently, just a single, almost invisible kiss

Evan: He sighed out a bit of extra air

Congo: Just don't tell Andy… he will make a fuzz about it.

Andy: Don't tell Andy what?

Congo: I chuckled warmly and leaned back to sit up straight, observing Evan lightly blush as he looked away shyly, taking a big drag of his cig Nothing dear… I was just being silly…

Andy: So you're smoking again? He pointed his tongue at me and let himself bump down on the ground next to me So what are you guys doing out here?

Congo: Just talking… observing the sundown.

Andy: Ahh he planted a soft kiss on my shoulder, and wrapped an arm around mine, leaning his head on my shoulder as he turned to face the sun as well It's beautiful. I really love it up here. I'm glad you settled for this place.

Congo: Yeah, me too I smiled warmly and planted a kiss on his hair. We sat there a couple of minutes, quietly all three watching the sun. The day turn into evening. Suddenly I felt Evan's fingers softly poking mine, trying to decide if he dared touching me. My hand was planted on the ground next to me, and now he was trying to gain a bit of courage outside the hiding place under our blankets in the bed. Out in 'public' so to speak. I smiled softly, trying to not give too much away, but as I felt a soft blushing appear on my cheeks, I was happy that no one else was around. His fingers finally decided to rest on top of mine, just the tips, but it was enough. Enough for me to know whatever it was I was supposed to know. Whatever it was both of us never spoke out loud. It was a wonderful feeling. I felt very close to him, very intimate. How very wonderful that a gentle touch like that, can make you feel so close.

Daniel: Oi peeps! He sunk down next to Evan, munching a bag of chips he had in his hands Sup?!

Evan: Grunted dissatisfied and moved his hand from mine

Daniel: Am I interrupting a threesome? he grinned even wider if possible So I was thinking, if Evan could pull himself together and pick a date for the wedding, could I bring a date? I figured Sparkle will probably bring Danny, so that one is kinda failing for me, and there isn't really any other girl in this city I would like to bring… well as far as I know, so I was thinking, maybe I could give Allison a call, or Maya? Or maybe that brown girl you used to date Andy? What was her name? You know the one with that face, and the black hair.... What was her name? Angelica? Sharon? Susan?

Evan: Grunted and rubbed his forehead, quickly getting up from the ground

Congo: I looked at him apologizing, but he just shook his head and headed inside

Daniel: Was that my fault?

Andy: No, not at all Daniel he glared at him with a hoarse chuckle

Daniel: Oh, that's good he happily returned to munching his chips, not getting the sarcasm at all.

Andy: He sighed softly and kissed the side of my neck I'll go talk with him.

Congo: No, let me sweetheart I smiled at him warmly and planted a soft kiss on his lips you stay here and enjoy the rest of the sun with Daniel. There should still be 5-10 minutes left.

Andy: Okay, but I insist on making dinner then… Daniel can help me when we're done here he winked at me, and I quickly got the point. He was making sure Evan and I could be alone for a while, if we needed. I smiled warmly and nodded

Congo: Thank you, that would be nice. I planted yet another kiss on his lips, tender and loving, stroking his cheek softly I love you very very much.

Andy: I know… I'm awesome! He chuckled hoarse and nodded towards the house Go go!

Congo: I chuckled warmly and got up Just don't sit here too long, I don't want you two to catch a cold.

Andy: He rolled his eyes Congo! Stop worrying about all of us at the same time he chuckled hoarse and pointed his tongue at me GO!

Congo: I shook my head and chuckled softly, then slowly ran over the grass, silently slipping through the door in the tv room. I looked around a bit, it was pretty dark, but I could still make out the shape of the bed, and so far I could see there were no Evan on it. I grunted softly and sighed Alright… where did you go now?

Evan: I'm over here… his voice was low, and I couldn't quite make out the direction

Congo: Where?

Evan: Here…

Congo: I looked ahead of me as a door slowly opened, and a fragile yellow light painted the hallway in front of me, as it escaped from the room behind the door, the pool room

Evan: I was hoping you would follow me…. his voice was low and warm as he stepped in front of the yellow light. It was too fragile for me to really see him, but judging by the silhouette, he was naked. He turned around slowly, and walked towards the yellow light, and as he disappeared into the room, the yellow light got dimmed slowly, until the room got completely dark. And few seconds later I heard a splash

Congo: Was he in the water?? In the darkness?? I'm far too old for this! Or at least my nerves are! Swimming in darkness??? These young boys!!! I sighed heavily, and quickly fumbled my way through the hallway, making it into the pool room, sighing relieved when I saw the pool being slightly illuminated by the tiny spotlights under the water. It was not exactly optimal lighting for swimming, but it wasn't hopeless darkness either. At least he was not as reckless as Andy. I observed Evan with a small smile, he was floating around in the water, and as he saw me, he quickly turned around in the water and let himself glide through the surface, leaning his chest against the edge of the pool, faced towards me, And ran his fingers through his wet hair. Man he was a sight for sore eyes!

Evan: He smiled shyly and chuckled hoarse as he coughed a bit, most likely from the water

Congo: Did he want me to join him? Well he did say he hoped I followed him… right? I suddenly felt… nervous? I observed him a bit more, the sunkissed glow on his skin. The water pearls running on his smooth curved muscles. And all I could think to myself as I slowly started unbuttoning my shirt was 'man, I'm in trouble!' I had never in my wildest imagination thought I would fall in love with anyone new. After things with Marius fell apart, I honestly thought Andy would be my last. And I was completely satisfied with that. After all, he's my mate. And the person I loved the most. Ever. But spending time alone with Evan the past week, cuddling up with him. Our kisses turning to more. It was getting harder and harder trying to come up with rational explanations like 'we just miss Andy' Or 'he just needs comfort'. This had to be more than just comfort. Right? I slowly unbuttoned my pants as well, letting them drop to the floor. I dragged off my boots, socks, and looked at him a bit hesitant before I let my boxers drop as well. Suddenly I was thankful there were such low lighting in the room, so I wouldn't scare him away. Whatever this was, I knew all too well it was fragile, and I had to be very careful not to knock anything over and break it. He was a beautiful China store, with the most expensive and fragile plates in the world… and I was just… a big clumsy bull… trying to stand as still as possible, afraid to break something. I realized my metaphor made him sound fragile all over. Which he isn't, at all. It was after all just a metaphor for me knowing I was on rocky ground. Evan isn't gay. But for whatever reason, he apparently suddenly found himself drawn to me. And I to him. I just had to make sure not to step wrongly, or it might all just disappear in a second. I slowly walked towards him and let myself slowly sit down on the edge a few meters away from him, letting my lower legs slip into the water Are you sure you want me to join you? I felt my heart pound nervously as I asked

Evan: Yeah… his voice was calm and soft, almost sensual, and he let himself glide backwards in the water, slowly floating to the other side of the pool, leaning against the edge with his back. Man he was inviting! And if my eyes wasn't mistaken from this distance, he even had the start of a boner.

Congo: It was too good to pass up on. So I slowly let the rest of my body glide into the water, disappearing completely under the surface, as I quickly swam towards him, grabbing his hips lightly as I reached him, and pulled my upper body over the water.

Evan: He moaned softly and smiled satisfied as we were face to face, only few cm's apart Please, kiss me. His voice was a soft whisper, and I could feel his warm breath on my lips

Congo: I leaned in, kissing his lips gently, leaning an arm on the edge behind him so I didn't have to concentrate on floating, moaning soft as he wrapped his arms around my neck and started French kissing me deeply

Evan: He moaned softly and pressed his boner against me Congo… he moaned my name out and pulled his head back a bit, looking deep into my eyes, I could feel his heart pound just as much as mine, and suddenly I got scared. I got scared of what would happen if any of us spoke out about this new thing between us. Scared it might all stop being a wonderful dream. That reality would come and snatch it away from us. He dug his fingers into my hair and kissed my lips slowly, and then I noticed also he seemed to hesitate. And I can't say I wasn't relieved as he let go of me, and let himself glide through the water, swimming around a bit, chuckling innocently once in a while. It made me happy seeing him like this. Carefree and happy, knowing somehow I held some of the fault for his new happiness

Congo: I observed him for quite a while as I floated against the edge, he was so beautiful, I wanted to embrace him and laugh with him for hours. A feeling of pure bliss washed over me, and then it happened. Butterflies. Millions of butterflies in the pit of my stomach. Such an overwhelming feeling, pressing inside of me, bursting to get out. Such a pressure that my chest got tight, and I felt and urge to cough. But as I opened my mouth, no loud cough escaped my lips, only loud words Evan, I love you!

Evan: At first I didn't think he heard me, as he kept splashing around, but then, after a few seconds, he stopped moving, completely, and for a second there I got even more scared as I saw him sink under the water. But he quickly got up again, coughing lightly as he turned around, facing me. It was hard to make out his face as he was at least 8-10 meters away from me. But then he chuckled loudly, still half coughing, and he let himself glide through the water, fast, like a dolphin. Popping up just where I was, quickly wrapping his arms around me as he French kissed me passionately

Congo: I wrapped my arms around him as well, dragging him closer, floating a big backwards in the water with him, but as the door to the room suddenly got opened, I quickly let go of him, coughing lightly as I saw him disappear under the water, quickly swimming around me, hiding behind me.

Andy: Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you guys… its just… dinner is ready he smiled softly

Congo: It's okay sweetheart.. thank you I smiled warmly, and felt Evan slowly drag himself up my body to get above surface again as he probably heard Andy's voice

Evan: He coughed softly and I could see him blush lightly as he swam around me again, smiling shyly at Andy Thank you.

Andy: He smiled softly, but then suddenly frowned a bit, keeping his eyes on Evan Will you please come over here… both of you?! His voice was firm but still soft as he pointed on the edge in front of him, and quickly walked to it, kneeling down.

Congo: I looked at him a bit questioning, then grabbed Evan's hand as I noticed a somewhat sad expression on his face, quickly dragging him after me in the water as I swam towards Andy, leaning against the edge right in front of Andy.

Andy: He smiled warmly and reached his hands down to caress both our cheeks Now listen you morons! He slapped both of us gently and chuckled hoarse I know! I'm not fucking blind! And if neither of you are gonna say it out loud, I will! Congo, you're in love with Evan, Evan you're in love with Congo. There, was that so hard?! It's not only love…. you're also in love! And I'm fine with it, okay? So really no need to sneak around, feeling you might be doing something wrong, cause you're not. I kinda hoped this would happen you idiots! Hey, I'm Andy, nice to meet ya! He grabbed both our hands and shook them formally I'm a fucking dirty slut, who would probably fuck my own son if I had one. Knowing you two have something together drives me up the fucking wall. I'm running around with a constant boner! Well, mentally at least he chuckled hoarse and slapped us again Pull your shit together! He grinned cheekily and chuckled hoarse as he lit a cig with his by now wet hands, dragging it hard, blowing the smoke out in our faces Listen, as long as you both take care of each other, I'm fucking happy! I'm fucking all over this shit with happiness! And I'm fucking proud! We have the relationship everyone think is impossible. So much love to share, what's not to be happy about huh? I have more than plenty love to share with the two of you, and I know the same goes for both of you. I know you wont love me any less just because you now also have feelings for each other. So I'm not losing anything here, I'm only gaining, we all are. We're growing stronger as a couple. All 3 of us! I get that Evan is still very private, and I know the drill. We keep it away from other people, at least till it feels more comfortable to share. We keep it secret, we keep it safe. He grinned wide at his Lord of the rings reference, clearly a little too pleased with himself

Congo: I looked at Evan, he was looking down at the water, shyly, blushing Hey…

Evan: He looked up at me hesitating

Congo: I sure as hell am not gonna take this crap, are you? I grinned wide and nodded towards Andy

Evan: I observed his face as his expression turned cheeky, and in a split second we both grabbed one of Andy's arms, yanking him into the water, cig an all!

Andy: OH IT'S ON YOU GUYS!!! He laughed loudly and splashed water at both of us as he reached surface. We all laughed loudly and ended up splashing around at least 5 minutes before the door once again got opened.

Daniel: Hey dinner is getting co… his face turned cheeky as he noticed we were all naked by now Oh hell this shit is on!!

Congo: I observed him nervously as Daniel quickly almost ripped off his clothes Daniel… I don't thin

Evan: He grabbed my arm gently It's okay… not like I haven't seen him naked before he smiled softly at me and let go of my arm just… nevermind he chuckled softly let the kid join

Daniel: HOOOZAAA!!! He jumped into the water with a loud splash, quickly swimming towards us all So you guys having a party here without me huh? Cooking up a nice dick soup down here he grinned wide

Evan: Groaned softly and swam behind me, holding my waist line softly as he tried to hide

Congo: Dick soup? I chuckled deeply really?

Daniel: I count 3 really good ones here… and one who tries to hide he pointed his tongue towards Evan Don't worry… I'm not gonna touch you…. at least not till Congo does. Oh… oh wait… he already did! BOOYAAA!!! He splashed some water in our direction and swam off laughing

Andy: He tried to contain his laughter for a while, but slowly gave in, laughing along as he swam towards Daniel, the both of them quickly getting caught up in play fighting and splashing water at each other

Congo: I turned my head a bit to the side, so I could see Evan out of the corner of my eye What do you say we sneak upstairs and get a bit to eat while the two of them are caught up in fooling around?

Evan: He nodded softly Sounds like a plan.

[lovelyfanatical]

I Get a Sugar Rush Whenever I’m With You - Chapter 1.3

Happy Friday, fellow Drukkari stans! Thanks again for the support on this fic. Took a bit longer, but I am here with another installment! Bringing in a couple more characters this time, hopefully you enjoy the dynamics. We’re finally bringing Day 1 to a close. I honestly did not think I would spend this much time on the actual challenges, but they’re surprisingly fun to write about. If you missed the first two parts, you can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here. Now, without further ado, here’s Part 3 of my Drukkari GBBO au!

Druig was quite certain that technical challenges were a sadistic invention. He’d come in third place, but it was definitely pure luck that he’d made several Dorset apple cakes before, and it didn’t change the fact that it had been the single most stressful hour of his life. Having lunch with Makkari and Kingo had helped alleviate some of the nerves, but they had come right back once they were back at their stations. And even though he’d known what he needed to do, he’d still been on the verge of panic for most of the baking process. The judging and interviews afterward were a blur. Once they got back to the hotel, he was probably going straight to bed… or at least he would if he weren’t also incredibly hungry.

After another round of interviews, they’d piled back into the shuttle and were on their way to the hotel. This time, Makkari sat between Druig and Kingo. The two of them were so signing rapidly that Druig nearly missed it when Makkari asked him a question.

Do you want to eat dinner with us? Kingo says he can hear your stomach growling.

Yeah, thanks, he signed, feeling a smile tug at his lips.

-

Somewhere between the shuttle and the hotel, word had gotten out about dinner, and soon enough, they’d added two more to their impromptu party. After all, they could hardly turn Ajak away when she asked so nicely if she could join them, even if she did bring Kingo’s new (completely one-sided) nemesis, Karun, with her. It was too late to go out, but thankfully, the hotel’s kitchen was still open. They ordered room service and, at his insistence, had everything sent to Kingo’s room.

Druig thought all the contestants had the same type of room, but since Kingo’s was a corner room, it seemed a good bit bigger than his. Even with the extra space, however, the room hadn’t exactly been designed to accommodate more than two or three people, which led to the five of them sharing chairs and huddling around the meager table with their food. That said, Druig was crammed in next to Makkari, so he couldn’t complain. Ajak only knew a few signs and Karun didn’t know any, so Kingo sat across from Makkari so he could interpret.

“So, how was everyone’s first day?” Ajak asked once they’d settled in.

“Um, stressful!” Kingo threw out quickly. “I mean, I knew it’d be a lot of work, but that technical challenge is no joke.”

“Agreed,” Druig chimed in, at which point Makkari elbowed him in the ribs.

Says the guy who came in third, she signed, a hint of a smile on her face.

“Doesn’t mean it wasn’t stressful.”

“Congratulations, Mr. Druig,” Karun said warmly.

“Thanks, right back at you.” Karun had come in second. ”And just Druig is fine.”

“Ugh, I picked the wrong group to complain to,” Kingo lamented. Having not learned from his signature bake, he had again put way too much fruit in his cake and came in dead last.

At least you didn’t invite first place, then you’d look really stupid. The other early riser – Gilgamesh – had come in first.

“Oh, we should invite him next time!” Ajak interjected.

“If I’m even here for a next time,” Kingo said glumly.

“I wouldn’t worry so much,” Karun began gently. “I think that other handsome fellow might be in trouble as well.”

“Which one?”

“The one with the streak in his hair. What was his name… Ikaris!”

“Hm, you may be right,” Ajak replied, nodding her agreement.

That blue velvet cake was kind of a disaster.

Despite his numerous questions earlier in the day, it seemed nothing could’ve prepared Ikaris for the tragedy to come. Somehow, he’d gotten his sugar mixed up with salt. The resulting blue velvet cake had been nigh-inedible. On top of that, Ikaris had come second-to-last in the technical, leaving the showstopper as his only chance for redemption.

“I feel kind of bad for him. I wonder what happened…” Kingo trailed off before a glint appeared in his eye. “Maybe he was sabotaged!”

“And who would’ve done that? We all just met today,” Druig retorted.

“I don’t know, but how else do you mess up so badly?”

“Mixing up salt and sugar is a pretty easy mistake to make,” Ajak observed.

“Okay, yeah. Everyone mixes up salt and sugar at some point,” Kingo conceded. “It’s strange, though. He’s all the way in the back. That usually gives bakers an advantage.”

How so?

“Well, you remember how they told us not to cheat by watching each other? It’s easier not to look like you’re watching everyone else if you’re in the back and have to look forward at everyone anyway.”

“Thanks for the tip, Kingo. I can use it for the next technical,” Druig said with a grin. He’d been stationed in the second-to-last row.

“Ohmigod, I’m not telling you anything else!” Kingo exclaimed, as Ajak and Karun both tried to shush his sudden outburst. “You are uninvited from any future meals.”

You can’t uninvite him! He’s my guest, Makkari protested. While Kingo tried to argue, Makkari simply stared him into submission. After a solid thirty seconds, he let out a sigh.

“Fine. Druig, you are un-uninvited.”

“Appreciate it.”

As the others moved onto another topic, Druig gently bumped Makkari’s shoulder in a silent “Thanks.” She returned the gesture with a soft smile.

-

Who will be the first to leave the competition? My brain and schedule permitting, you’ll find out soon. Hope you enjoyed this! Likes, reblogs, and feedback would be much appreciated!

Part 4

[vtforpedro]

general update

I don’t have much to update beyond my disability case. I have my hearing with a judge and my attorney next tuesday and I am extremely nervous. I know they’re usually only an hour long and my attorney will prepare me for questions and what I should focus on, but it’s been over three years. it feels hard to condense a series of unfortunate events (derogatory, ongoing) into an hour to try to prove I’m disabled but !!! reading about it makes me sad. on law websites it’ll say ‘regardless of how disabled you are and the fact that you cannot work whatsoever, you may not be disabled by law’ and it’s so disheartening. I also know my neurologist is not on my side. ‘I’M NOT AN ADVOCATE FOR LONG TERM DISABILITY!’ as if anyone living on SSI can actually live on SSI. and he didn’t even ask my goals or anything? just heard ‘disability’ and assumed I wanted to live off the state. doctors are so out of touch it’s depressing. SSI barely covers half of rent just about anywhere, especially after inflation, but it is still life-saving. and it’s painful to know he wrote an opinion on my condition while being discriminatory blegh my psych is on my side and the proof of MH stuff is really strong imo. he told me earlier this month I deserve it not only for MH but for physical disability too and that felt nice to hear at least anyway I see my neurologist tomorrow via teleheath so I’ve been crying on and off for a week. this happens every time I see him. would love to get his opinion on it 🙃 I hope my attorney feels good about the case but I’ve only briefly spoken with him by email. they call one day ahead of time and apparently this is ‘normal’ but as someone who is claiming two anxiety disorders it S U C K S but yeah off to physical therapy, which I’ve had a harder time with lately b/c the pressure in my head goes insane and I have to keep taking breaks. it’s really hard to explain that my cerebellum feels like an extra heart and not only can I feel it, the sound of it in my skull is disturbing. my ears pop, my head feels like it’s gonna blow. it’s hard to explain that without sounding crazy but my physical therapists have been cool about it even if they’re kinda like ‘well ok!’ lmao I really hope the judge I’ll see hears me so few people (doctors) have and it doesn’t matter even when I prove I’m right over and over and over again that something is wrong with me cause I live in this body. they go ‘oh ok THAT was real but you’re definitely wrong about this’ and the cycle keeps going ‘ego so large it could kill me’ - person on twitter who is 1000% correct

[glow-worms-are-believers]

Here is part 7!

Just btw this is now on ao3 if that makes it easier (here's the link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46596217/chapters/117341809). I'll still be posting the chapters on Tumblr though:)

Just as Danny turned towards the sound, something came barreling right onto him, which made him drop his frozen yogurt. He would've fallen if it wasn't for the steadying presence of Damian at his back who caught him before he could go down.

"Are you alright?" The younger boy asked as he helped Danny back to his feet.

"Yeah, just surprised," he answered with a smile before looking down at what appeared to be a teenager in a black hoodie. She was on the ground, holding her head as if in pain and Danny took a step to help her up. At the movement, the girl jerked her head up and looked at him before her eyes darted to a fancy leather bag that Danny hadn't noticed, which had apparently slid right next to Damian's shoes.

Just then, they heard the same voice as before coming from the street behind the girl. "Help! My bag!"

The thief tensed, before she looked back to Danny. In a blur of movement she scrambled to her feet before running away.

Danny hesitated as he watched her run away. On one hand, she had just stolen something but on the other, the bag had been retrieved almost immediately. As he was contemplating the dilemma, a man ran up from the same street the thief had come from, huffing.

"Why did you let her get away?" he said, accusingly as he bent in two trying to catch his breathe.

Damian sneered as Danny merely sighed. He then crouched to get the bag, before walking towards the other man. After he brushed a little bit of dust off, he handed it to the man with a polite smile. "She dropped this, so we figured it wasn't necessary."

The man took the bag with a huff. "Whatever, I'm running late," he said still sounding high-strung before he turned around with a sniff. As he walked away, he threw a quick "thanks" over his shoulder.

"Once again a great ending to another date," Danny mumbled dejectedly as he watched the guy walk away.

As he turned towards Damian, he could see him hesitating before he spoke up. "We do not have to end it now."

"I thought you said you had something to do after?" Danny asked turning fully towards the other boy.

"I do," Damian answered haltingly. "I volunteer at a shelter every week."

Danny waited as the younger boy seemingly tried to find his words again.

"You could come with me, if you would like. They would welcome an extra volunteer, I am sure," Damian suggested with something that was almost nervousness on his face.

Judging from Damian's expression, this was something important to him, so without hesitation, Danny answered with a smile. "I would love to!"

Damian led Danny through the streets of Gotham as they let the conversation flow. Damian wasn't too sure why he'd invited Danny to come with him to the shelter. The minimum amount of time for their standard dates had already been reached not to mention they had passed Drake's muster. The thought of his brother had Damian scowling, which wasn't an unusual instance.

"When did you start volunteering?" Danny asked breaking the younger boy out of his thoughts.

"It has been a little bit over a year," Damian said. "Pennyworth made me sign a waiver that I couldn't adopt any of the animals before he let me go."

Danny snorted. "How likely was that to happen?"

"Very," the younger answered seriously. "I almost brought back the parakeets during my first week."

"Why didn't you?" the older boy asked, curious.

"Pennyworth would not have let me go back if I had," Damian admitted still feeling put out. "I believe this is his way to test my willpower."

As they continued walking, the streets got more and more run down, though Danny didn't seem to notice. They rounded a corner, only to witness a burly man dragging a struggling child into an alley. Simultaneously, both teenagers took off running towards the two.

By now, Damian felt quite attuned to Danny's movement, and it took barely a second for the man to be taken down and the child to be freed from his grip. As soon as they were free, they scurried away while leaving the two boys standing over the man's prone body.

"I'll call the police," said the older boy.

"Thank you," Damian said.

Danny huffed lightly as he took his phone out. "I guess the purse-snatcher didn't count."

"What do you mean?" the younger boy frowned.

"As our criminal act of the day," Danny explained. "We need at least one but I guess we have to actively be threatened for it to count."

Damian hummed distractedly as he felt the back of his neck prickle. He looked up at the rooftops and his frown deepened. Then, he extended a hand to halt Danny's movement to dial the number.

"I believe Gotham's vigilantes can take care of this one," Damian said.

"Are you sure?" Danny asked uncertainly.

"Yes," Damian stated before he grabbed Danny's hand to lead him back towards the shelter. "Let's go."

With a last look to the downed man, he followed Damian out of the alley.

Once they were a good distance away from there, a large figure dropped down from the rooftop. Its red-helmet-adorned-face tilted down to check that the man was still unconscious before it was raised again to look in the direction the two boys had left. Then, from the helmet came a mechanical voice.

“Dickie-bird, do I have some news for you.”

Now for the tags, sorry if I missed anyone! @u-a-wizard-jamie @akikkobara @michealawithana @littlefeather345 @all-eyes-no-dragon @the-legal-shipper @confusionchaos @spectralstardustandphantomnights @mothman-the-mothman87 @crystalice067 @heartsong18 @skulld3mort-1fan @emeraudesfateandfandoms @illusionwolfwriter24r8 @jaggedheart11 @naluforever3 @addie-lover-of-stories @edgyboi10000 @thegatorsgoose @chaos-n-kindness @56thingsinaname @draconicdumbass @icedbluesoul @lizisipancardo @inth3world @emergentpanda-blog @addie-lover-of-stories @8-29pm @mj-arts-n-stuff @roman4517 @basementloser @paperlicense687 @vythika96 @coruscateselene @meira-3919 @lizisipancardo @idontgetpaidenoughforthisshit @mistyaltair @coruscateselene @fisticuffsatapplebees @larkcoe1 @blep-23 @pigeon-toby @lazy-bouqet @nexux-point @someonebored0100 @plant5318008 @admiralwidow @chrysanthemum9484 @shadow-otaku20 @coruscateselene @gildedphoenix @larkcoe1 @phoenixdemonqueen @nottmuchtopost @overtherose @a-slytherinish-gryffindor @sleepy-writes-stuff @sometimesthingsfallapart @nappinginhell @crystallicedart @lyra689 @agirlandagraveyard @allukaintokoy @somecrappyclone @tinybrie @punz4daze

Damian does not know how he has got into such a mess.

That was a lie.

Like most messes in his life, it all started with his family and their constant “ribbing”.

‘They act as if gaining a date was not easy,’

Damian glared as he scouted out a suitable target in the mall.

Sitting alone by the arcade there was an attractive boy on his phone.

Acceptable.

Making his way next to his target, he sat down and tapped his shoulder.

The other boy flinched and subtly (though not to someone as trained as him) glanced Damian over, eyes seeming to catalog instinctively.

Good, not perfect but admissible all things considered.

“Uh hi.?”

“Your age.”

“Pardon?”

“What is your age?”

“16.?”

Damian nodded as he mulled over the information. About a year his senior, not ideal but still viable.

“ Date me.”

“Excuse me??”

“I will pay you for your inconvenience of course but I am in need of a date and you are the most suitable person I have seen so far.”

“Wait a minute-“

“Here is your first payment.”

Damian handed the boy the envelope he had prepared for today and had to hold back a smirk as he saw they other boy’s eyes widen.

“I-“

“I will pay you monthly with bonuses for any extremely taxing events that may occur if you agree.”

“I- I guess?”

“Good, now give me your number and I will contact you for our first date. My name is Damian Wayne.”

“Danny..”

~~~~~~

For all purposes the agreement has only worked in his favor.

His family was off his back, galas were less boring and they even shared common interests.

That being said,

“You did not need to give me a gift Daniel, it was not a requirement.”

Damian looked down at the katana shaped keychain he was handed, it was well made and surprisingly sharp.

“I know Dami, but it just reminded me of you!”

What a mess indeed…

[shorkbrian]

Man I am so freaking horny

-----

You don’t understand why you feel so flushed and warm the longer dinner goes on. Thighs almost trembling with how they’re twitching as you struggle not to rub them together to stimulate your dick. Mom and dad and Kiri are all here with you - you weren’t going to touch yourself in front of them no matter how hard you got.

But you also couldn’t get up and go take care of your problem in the bathroom, they’d see your little cock pressing against your basketball shorts, begging for attention. They might even see the way it throbs as it fills even more full with blood, hot to the touch and begging for attention.

You’ll have to wait for mom and dad to finish, for Kiri to finish. 

“We’ll clean up, won’t we bro?” A boisterous voice breaks into your thoughts of how it’ll feel when you can finally touch yourself later, and you flush deeply as you bring your attention back to the conversation.

“Um...” Is there a way for you to get out of cleaning? You don’t know how much longer you’ll be able to stand keeping your hands away from your lap. You’ve started sweating. Hopefully nobody will notice.

“Yeah, we’ll clean while you and dad go start that movie you’ve been talking about. We don’t mind.” Kirishima smiles when your unfocused gaze finds him across from you at the table.

Mom and dad take so long leaving, chatting about this and that and the other, dad taking so long to chew, the pair of them deciding to suddenly break out wine to take to the living room with them.

Kirishima’s already up and moving around the table, gathering plates and cups as he slowly begins to clear it off.

The second dad and mom disappear through the doorway, you make a break for it.

“I’ll be right back, gotta go use the bathro-” The napkin you have clutched against your front is tugged away, Kirishima suddenly so much closer than he was before. 

“Look at how hard you are, that’s so cute.”

“Wha-Kir-Hey!” A yelp escapes your throat as your stepbrother reaches into your shorts, followed by a low groan as his hand makes contact with your swollen cock. Fuck, your hips twitch forward as soon as you feel his fingers.

“Boys! No fighting!” 

Slitted red eyes are focused on your face, watching you close your eyes and pant as the redhead starts to slowly stroke you, up and down, thumbing over your tip, chuckling a little. “Yeah, no fighting. Just let that shit flow through your system. It’s workin’ real nice so far.”

Did he.... did he drug you?

Maybe that’s why your skin is so hot. Why you don’t mind your stepbrother’s hands working over your cock. Why your hips keep humping forward, why you’re falling against him until he practically has to hold you up as he chuckles darkly.

“C’mere.” You feel like whining when his hand retracts from your shorts, leaving you with a hard-on that almost hurt, but then he’s tugging you forward, pushing your shoulder so you’ll bend over the table.

You don’t want to bend over the table, you want him to keep touching you.

But everything’s so foggy, and you’re so weak compared to the beast that is Kirishima - it’s easy for him to manhandle you into place and pull your shorts down to your knees.

Hands cup your balls and you gasp, melting into the touch as the hand travels upward to pull your dick so it’s no longer trapped between your stomach and the table top. Now it’s pressing against the edge of the table, heavy and flushed between your legs and you’re struggling not to wiggle - you want to cum.

You want to cum so bad that it no longer feels like a want, it feels like a need.

“Kiri, kiri please.”  Everything’s burning hot, and you’re going to cry if he doesn’t touch you again, you need to cum so bad you’re humping the table like a stupid mutt, dirtying mom’s tablecloth.

“God, that’s so hot.” And then Kirishima wraps a hand around your dick, and starts jacking you off with intent.

He’s got a solid rhythm, hard and fast and you can’t stop the ragged little pants coming from your mouth, the raspy, tiny moans you can’t keep inside as you writhe. He’s going so fast, you’re gonna cum, oh, fuck, you’re gonna cumfeelssogoodkiri-!

Kirishima pulls your orgasm from you so fast that it leaves you lightheaded, arousal still pulsing through your stomach even as you shoot your load onto your basketball shorts, where your stepbrother is pointing your dick.

His other hand starts playing with your balls. 

“That was fast. ‘S okay though, this little guy-” Here he flicks at your exposed tip, and you sag against the table with a flinch, knees knocking together. “Won’t be going down anytime soon. We’ll have all night.”

The sound of an exaggerated explosion floats in from the living room, followed by gunfire. The reminder that mom and dad are barely a room away makes you bite your lip, eyes squeezing shut even as you start humping against your brothers hand again.

“What did you-what did you do to me?” And you sound so pathetic, like a child, but you can’t help the way you’re whining. His hand feels so good, not doing anything but rubbing idly at your cock, other hand fondling your balls.

Kirishima leans over you, licks at your ear. He’s hard, you can feel him against the side of your ass, erection prominent through his jeans. “I’ll fuck you in front of mom and dad, wouldn’t that be so hot? I’ll tuck you under a blanket and finger you open while we watch that movie with them, and then when you’re all stretched out? I’ll pull you onto my lap and start grinding into you real slow, slow enough so that they won’t notice.”

No, oh no - he’s wrapping his fingers around you fully again, starting to squeeze at your cock.

“I’ll show you how to cum without touching your dick. Won’t be able to give you a handie with our parents right there, y’know? But ‘s okay, I’ll find the right angle and rub against your prostate and crush it, milk you real good.”

Your hips stuttered forward and you whimpered, clawing at the table. You couldn’t control yourself, entirely subject to the whims of your overly-aroused body.

Kiri huffed out a laugh at your desperation.

“First though, you’re gonna blow me while I’m doing the dishes, alright? You can touch yourself as much as you want to while you do though, I don’t mind a little show. You like jerkin’ yourself off real fast? You came so fast the first time.”

One, two, three, four quick strokes of Kiri’s hand left you reeling, choking on air as pleasure dropped into your tummy like a rock. 

“Or you like it slower? Build yourself up to it for a while?”

Your brother slowed his pace, fully relishing the slick, wet sounds his hand was creating as he leisurely fisted your dick.

“Wait, ‘m gonna-gonna-” You tried to babble out a warning, but it was too late.

But Kirishima stroked you through it, rubbing the tip and giving it extra attention just to see you writhe that much more before his hands finally left your body.

You felt like you could barely breathe.

Kiri reached down, pulled up your shorts for you and snapped the waistband against your skin, completely oblivious (Or did he do this on purpose?) to the fact that your cum was pooled on the inside, wet and gross against your skin.

“I guess you like both, but hey, I don’t judge. You look so hot when you’re cumming though, all shaky and desperate and cute like that.” The praise made your ears heat up with shame.

“Grab the dishes off the table on your way into the kitchen, okay? Mom and dad won’t like it if we slack off.”

In a daze, you simply did as you were told, picking up the dishes before slowly following beside Kirishima.

He smiled down at you, shark teeth on display. 

Kirishima was a pervert.

[myherowritings]

PART 3. ACCIDENTAL SUGAR DADDY?

SUMMARY. Todoroki Shouto was a wealthy, young CEO who inherited his father’s enterprise. You were a barista at a local cafe who wouldn’t mind some extra cash. One day, Shouto came in during an early morning shift and tipped you such a large sum of money, you were certain it had to have been an accident. To your surprise and complete pleasure: It was not.

PAIRING. ceo!todoroki shouto x barista!reader

WORD COUNT. 2.4k

GENRE. ceo/barista au, fluff, eventual smut

WARNINGS. none in this chapter

A/N. happy new year y’all! :3 i hope you have a good 2021 and here is some flirty ceo!shouto for u to enjoy as we enter the new year hehe ;) thank you for reading and i hope you enjoy! xx sof

SERIES MASTERLIST

© myherowritings — all rights reserved. reposting, modifying, copying, or translating of any kind is not allowed. do not read my writing as asmr. do not plagiarize.

“I heard you dropped by this weekend,” you said as a greeting, a playful smile on your lips. “Looking for me?”

If the tips of his ears didn’t tinge pink, you would have guessed Shouto was completely unaffected by your words. 

“Mn.” He drew his attention away from your gaze and pointedly adjusted his cufflinks. “Good morning to you too.” 

You laughed, accepting you wouldn’t get anything out of your attempt at teasing. “Morning, Shouto. How was your weekend?” 

The cafe was quite busy this hour, but Miyazaki took over the other register to alleviate the stress (though, what she really said was so you and pretty boy—who happened to be rich rich—could talk). Whatever the reason, you were glad for a small break whenever you could get it.

“You could say it was busy,” he replied, sounding a bit tired. For the first time since you met him, you actually noticed how exhausted he looked. You wanted to put cucumbers on his eyes and lay his head down on your lap to coax him to sleep. Nonetheless, he smiled softly at you. “And yours? I hope you were able to have time to rest and relax.”

You nodded. “I just slept a lot and caught up on the shows I missed throughout the week.”

“The real way a weekend should be spent.” 

His voice was teasing but he didn’t sound mocking. Just...somewhat playful. There was something about his tone that made you want to hear it again.

“Something tells me you need a weekend away where you could just relax and do nothing,” you commented, tapping the back of your pen to your chin. “Do you not have any days off at work?” 

He considered this. “Depends what you mean by day off.” 

“If you have to ask that, that probably means you don’t have a day off, huh?” you said with a frown, holding your hand over your chest as you sighed dramatically. “You poor thing. Overworked and tired. Maybe I should steal you away one weekend and get you to just relax.” 

You were only half-serious.

“Maybe you should,” agreed Shouto, sounding full-serious.

“Maybe I will,” you blurted before you could stop yourself. Maybe you could if you actually had his number… Then, feeling shameful you said, “But, ah, anyway, what can I get for you today? We actually have cheese danishes again!”

His face brightened. “You do? I’ll take five dozen.”

With a laugh you took down his order. You really weren’t sure where all these pastries were going when he bought it, but judging from his expression, you figured it must be somewhere good. 

“And for your drink?”

“This time I’ll have a large green tea with almond milk, please.” 

You nodded but tilted your head to the side in question. “No coffee with extra shots of espresso today?” 

“I add too much sugar and creamer to my coffee,” he admitted sheepishly. “And with all the baked goods I’ve been eating I realized I may have had an excess amount of sweets lately.” 

With an understanding laugh you patted his hand that was resting on the counter woefully. “I can definitely relate to that. If too many sweets are bad for you they shouldn’t have made it taste so good.”

Shouto glanced down at where your hands touched, an expression you couldn’t quite discern on his face. Averting your gaze, you quickly pulled your hand back. Was that inappropriate of you? Did he find it too pushy?

“Oh— Sorry about that,” you said, rubbing your elbow with your opposite hand. “Got a bit ahead of myself there.”

“No, it’s fine.” He blinked once. “I didn’t mind.”

Unsure if he meant anything by that and unsure if you were reading too much into things, you simply brushed the topic off and moved on to getting his order in telling him the price. 

“Paying by card again, I’m assuming?” you asked before hitting the appropriate button on the screen.

“Correct.”

By now the sight of the sleek and pretty credit card was one you grew rather fond of as he scanned over the payment terminal and signed his name. Was it weird you wanted to examine his signature more closely? Shouto seemed like the type of person who would have a fancy signature that somehow looked like art. 

As per routine, you told him his order would be ready for pick up at his right and, before he left the register, he thanked you and gave you another $100. 

Did it feel any less strange than the first time he tipped you? Not really, no. But you still weren’t going to complain about a generous tip from a willing customer.

Before he left with his cheese danishes and cup of tea in hand, he stopped by next to you with a small smile. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Y/N.”

You grinned back. “Can’t wait, Shouto!” 

— ✩ —

This went on for a whole other week. By this point, he had given you over $1,000 in tip and you were starting to feel like you should give him something in return despite him assuring you he didn’t expect anything. 

When you told your friends about the nice guy you met while you were working and they asked for the details, the first thing they said in response to your situation was, “Sugar daddy?” 

Before they planted that thought into your head, you just took it as a rich businessman who hated the rich and believed in redistribution of wealth—you couldn’t complain about that. That made him even more appealing, if you must say. But once Kaminari and Ashido whispered those two words, you couldn’t help but see the comparisons. 

You had no issues with sugar daddies or sugar babies; as long as they were two consenting adults, what did it matter to you? It just wasn’t something you were looking for at the time and you didn’t want Shouto to get the wrong impression or involve yourself in something you weren’t ready to. 

As you commuted to work for your next morning shift, you told yourself today was the day you’d thank him one final time for the tips, but tell him you couldn’t accept anymore. You were sure he’d be understanding but you also hoped it wouldn’t deter him from coming to see you. That was the last thing you’d want. 

“Mrs. Miyazaki,” you said between customers. “When Shouto comes in, do you think I can step away from the register to talk to him for a little? I promise it’ll be brief!”

She waved her hand dismissively. “That’s not a problem. Are you finally going to ask him out or something?”

You scratched the back of your neck. “Or something, yeah.” 

Thankfully, by the time Shouto arrived today, it was later than he normally came, meaning rush hour was almost dying down. 

“Good morning! Someone’s a little late today,” you teased. “Overslept?” 

“I wish,” he sighed wistfully. “I had a meeting early this morning and it just ended. Didn’t have a chance to pick up some coffee or pastries beforehand.” 

You frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that. I hope whoever was hosting the meeting at least provided you guys drinks and snacks!” 

He paused. “He did, but… I just thought yours were better.” 

Smiling at the compliment, you preened. “Well, I can’t say I’m not surprised. And I’m glad you were able to drop by still. Would’ve missed you too much otherwise.”

Again, you were only half-serious.

“Hm. I would’ve missed you too.”

And again, he seemed full-serious. Not that you minded. 

After taking his order and watching him pay, you pulled him to the side, looking over at your boss so she knew what was going on. She gave you a brief nod as you turned your attention to Shouto. 

A lapse of silence went by and he spoke up, “Did you have something you wanted to say?” 

“Yeah, actually.” You wrung your fingers nervously, hoping you wouldn’t say anything to offend him since you knew his actions were coming from a kind place. “I just wanted to say… I’m not really looking for a sugar daddy right now.”

He blinked once. Then twice. “Pardon?” 

You stared at him, unsure what to say. 

“I— Sorry. I wasn’t… It’s not my intention to be a...sugar daddy either.” Shouto’s face flushed a bright pink that made your own cheeks warm up in response. 

“But the—the money? I just… I guess I thought…” You winced.

So he wasn’t trying to pick up a sugar baby… Well, this was awkward. But regardless, you think you’ve gotten close enough to him to the point where it would feel weird accepting money from him. 

“I’m sorry if I was unclear. It really is just a tip to show appreciation for your service here.” 

You shook your head. “No! Sorry, that makes sense! My friends just said… And then I…” you trailed off, feeling a million times more flustered than when you started. “Sorry about that. The sugar daddy mishap aside, I still wanted to say that I really appreciate the tips you gave, but I don’t think I can accept them anymore.” 

Slowly, he nodded, adjusting the collar of his dress shirt. “I understand. Did something happen?”

“No, nothing happened!” you were quick to assure. “I really am thankful, but… I think we’ve gotten too close for me to be comfortable accepting that much money, you know?”

Shouto tilted his head to the side, listening intently. 

“Like,” you tried to explain, fiddling with your apron, “over the past few weeks I just think we’ve gotten to know each other more and I think of you as a friend of sorts now.” You peered at him through your lashes, hoping your words were making sense. “I think as a relationship develops—for me, at least—adding money into the mix can cause weird power imbalances if not communicated properly. And I just don’t want that for us.” 

He thought through your words for a while before agreeing. “I get what you mean. I wouldn’t want to unintentionally make you feel like you owe me anything, so if you’re not comfortable with it, I can stop.” 

“Thanks, Shouto,” you said with a beam, glad he was so receptive. Really though, what else did you expect? From your interactions with him you took him to be kindhearted and open. Of course he wouldn’t be upset over this. “But just to be clear, this doesn’t mean you should stop coming! Right? I don’t want to stop being your friend or anything!” 

With a small laugh, he nodded. “Sure. I wouldn’t want to part with my favorite cafe. And I’d like to keep being friends as well.”

Those words warmed your heart. You really were nervous about this confrontation earlier; you didn’t want voicing your opinion to mean ending your friendship. (Although, if you sharing what you were comfortable with was enough to end a relationship, then you supposed it was bound to be a toxic and stifling one in the long run and it was good to know in the beginning to end it before it could grow.) Turns out, however, that you didn’t even need to worry about that. He was understanding and sweet and you were glad to have gotten this out of the way.

“Well, as new friends,” you said, gently nudging his side, “maybe we should get to know each other more? Exchange numbers… Hang out outside of this cafe…” You ran through some suggestions, almost bouncing on your feet in excitement. “I mean, I know you’re always so busy and might not have much free time to hang out. But— If you’re ever free one weekend…” 

“I’d enjoy that,” he cut in, saving you from blabbering your mouth off and accidentally embarrassing yourself. “Didn’t you say you’d steal me away from work to relax? I’m still holding you to that.” 

The beginnings of a smirk formed on his face as he looked at your flustered expression. Was he teasing you?

You huffed, pretending to be insulted by his playful mocking. “Guess I’ll really have to do it then.” 

“Guess so.”

“Maybe you should give me your number first so we could plan it.” 

“Okay.”

He handed you his phone and you handed him yours, both of your adding your numbers to the contact list. Smiling, you held the phone in front of the two of you to take a contact picture of yourself for Shouto’s phone. To your complete surprise, he laughed before promptly following suit and taking a selfie for his contact image. 

“Cute,” you said when he handed you back your phone. 

“You too.” 

Placing your device back in your pocket, you looked at him, hand on hip. “Since when did you become such a smooth-talker? Am I going to have to guard my heart now?” 

His only response was a shrug, but you could see hints of a smile playing on his face. The two of you seemed to be smiling a lot lately, you couldn’t help but notice. 

“I should probably let you go to work now—and I should go back to mine.” You gestured to the growing line at the front of the store. Your manager looked like she had things under control, but you didn’t want to take advantage of her kindness. “You should text me later though. If you want.”

“I’ll do that,” Shouto promised, picking up his drink and pastry boxes from the side counter. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Y/N. And… I’ll message you soon.” 

As you watched him leave the store, you were certain you had a silly look on your face as you stared in a trance. 

“I’ll turn my phone off silent just for you!” you said to his back, hoping he understood what a momentous occasion this was. Your phone was always on silent (unless you were playing a game, of course). But for Shouto, you could handle hearing the obnoxious ringtone and text tone. 

With an amused expression he nodded before waving goodbye.

Later on that day, at the end of your shift, you noticed a new message from a certain someone that made your stomach flutter.

Shouto: Hi there. It’s Shouto :)

You never knew those four simple words would be enough to keep the grin plastered on your face up until the moment your head hit your pillow to fall asleep. But, damn— Were you glad that happened to be the case. 

a/n: whY WAS SHOUTO AND Y/N EXCHANGING NUMBERS SO CUTE idk that scene got me all blushy and :DDD HFJDKSF like taking a selfie with shouto and getting his number? only goal in life BFHFGF,, also y/n said no more tips how we feeling? ;o 

what to expect in the next part:

an unwanted visitor ಥ_ಥ

shouto has a...proposition for y/n 

FLIRTING FLUFF SO MUCH CUTENESS U MIGHT CRY

y/n struggles with their fEeLiNGs~

[wrenreid]

Conflict of Interest

18+ content warning for this story. previous chapters are in masterlist:)

i’m so sorry i haven’t uploaded in forever!! also this chapter is basically just a filler:/

Chapter Sixteen: Worries and Flights

After successfully getting a heavy ass dummy over a wall, sprinting through an obstacle course, and muscle training, you lay down on the ground, breathing heavy. You were the third one to get the dummy over the wall, which is quite impressive if you do say so yourself. You pour your water bottle over your face, letting the cool liquid soothe your sweaty, red face.

Nina offers you a hand to help you up. Her brown skin is red now as well from the exercise. “Let’s go shower. I probably smell like sweaty shit.”

“Can shit sweat?” You ask as you take their hand and stand up.

“Even out of breath and tired, you must be sarcastic,” Nina rolls her eyes with a soft laugh.

“Wittiness is a character trait I hold to upmost value.”

“Ha ha.”

The two of you head up to the showers, washing the sweat and dirt from your hair and bodies.

Once you’re dressed in the blue FBI Academy and black slacks, you and Nina head to classes. It’s been a little hard for you to pay attention lately. The weight of keeping the secret of you and Spencer has been gnawing on your stomach since Nina almost caught you guys together. You’ve never kept such a big thing from the people you love before, but you keep reminding yourself that sex isn’t that big of a deal… but your thoughts are quickly shut down by the fact that having sex with your professor is indeed a big deal.

Worrying about graduating the Academy is also stressing you out. What happens if you don’t get into the Bureau and you’re left jobless? What happens if something occurs that keeps you from becoming an agent? It’s unlikely, you know, because of your grades and impressive actions with training, but it still is a worry of yours.

“Are you okay?” Nina whispers, leaning closer to you as Mr. Walton teaches.

“What? Yeah, yeah I’m good. Just tired from this morning.”

She nods and looks back to the front of the class.

Soon enough, it’s time to go to Dr. Reid’s classroom. You’ve extra careful about not stealing any glances across the room or staying too long after class since that day he had to hide in your closet. You can’t risk it.

You’re not even sure what Nina would do if she found out. Judge you? Tell someone? Probably not the latter, but people can slip up by accident.

All you know is, you’re ready for winter break to get here as quickly as possible. Two weeks can not pass by soon enough.

In two weeks you’ll be back with your dad and brothers for a little while, getting to step away from the chaos that is training, school, and the illicit affairs between you and Dr. Reid.

“Hey, are you alright?” Spencer asks, hand lightly touching your elbow after class.

“Yeah. I’m good,” you nod.

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not,” you chuckle a bit nervously. “I’m just tired.”

“I heard you did amazing this morning,” he flashes his sweet smile, and for a moment, all your anxieties are gone.

“I did pretty well, yeah,” you grin softly.

“It’s been a while since we’ve done anything together. Would you like to come over sometime this week?”

“I- um- if I can, sure.”

Spencer furrows his eyebrows a little at your statement. “Have I done something wrong?”

“No! No, of course not. I’m just stressed out.”

“Would you like to talk about it?”

You give him a slight shrug. “Finals are next week, I’m going back home for the break, and… and I’m just starting to worry that people will find out about what we’re doing.” You gesture a finger from yourself to him.

Spencer nods. “First of all, you’ll do great on the finals, just like you did the midterms. Secondly, I thought you said you were excited to go home?”

“I am. I am. Just sometimes things can get to be a bit much,” you say.

“I understand. And by the way, I’m still keeping my promise that I won’t tell anyone. No one is going to find out about ‘what we’re doing’.”

His words draw a nod from you. You let out a soft breath. “Sorry, you’re right. I’m just in my head about things.”

“Hey, no need to apologize. You can come to me with anything,” Spencer’s words are gentle, his soft brown eyes on you. His hand cups your cheek gently and he plants a kiss to your lips softly. The two of you barely do this, the gentle kissing. It’s intimate and not in a sexy way.

You smile softly and say, “I should get going.”

“I’ll see you soon,” he says, giving you a little awkward wave.

The two weeks move past you not too slow, but not as quickly as you would’ve liked them to. Spencer and you hang out twice before the last day of training and classes, having sex one of those times and the other you watched a movie and fell asleep on his shoulder from finals week exhaustion.

Nina is to be flying back home for the break as well. The two of you have dinner together the day before you leave to say bye and gossip a bit about your families.

Your bags are packed, and you’re ready to head to the airport. After arriving, then waiting two hours, your flight to California is finally announced to be boarded.

‘I’m on the plane now. Thank you for checking up on me,’ you reply to Spencer’s earlier message.

‘Text me when you land safely. Have fun at home.’

‘Will do and will try,’ you send to him before turning your phone on airplane mode and pressing play on your playlist. You watch the ground grow farther and farther away from you from the window as your music plays in your ear.

chapter seventeen

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