#all the longing for seven been building up for sooo long and now its a desire she wants to share...

[novasjaneway]

I just want to give them a big hug. They're both trying so hard to keep it together

😭😭😭

[watchmegetobsessed]

PARENT TRAP

A/N: single dad harry is finally here! it took me sooo long to finish this, but its finally done! so i hope you'll like it!

WORD COUNT: 16k

WARNING: sexual content, divorce

SUMMARY: Harry has been crushing on the mother of her daughter's classmate and now that she has divorced, a bake sale finally brings them together.

MASTERLIST | SUPPORT ME!

Harlow is excitedly humming along to the music that’s flowing from the radio, her legs dangling from the seat, her curly ponytail bouncing with every move of her head as she follows the beat perfectly. Her daddy keeps glancing back at her through the mirror, his smile stretching wider and wider every time she gets more into the song, turning the ride to school into her own private concert. 

The little girl’s love for music is no surprise, seeing that her dad is a musician. Harry introduced her to the magical world of music way before she was even born. When she was a baby, there were only two things that could calm her down and end any tantrum she threw: her daddy’s singing and Stevie Nicks’ singing. All tears dried up in an instant as soon as she heard her favorite songs. 

It's the first day of school, Harlow is starting second grade and Harry is letting her out of his hold with a heavy heart, though it’s definitely easier than last year. Summer was filled with adventures, giggles and endless hot days spent together. Thanks to Harry’s flexible work schedule he could prioritize his most precious treasure while school was out, his daughter. Harlow spent two weeks with her mother in Chicago, Harry used that time to work like a maniac and make time for all the summer fun for him and his little princess. 

Now everything is back to its usual way, Harlow will spend her weekdays in school and Harry will return to the studio like it’s a nine to five job. 

He rolls into the school’s parking lot that’s filled with cars, parents dropping off the kids before heading into the office, so most of them are dressed nicely, while Harry is more on the comfortable side in his light-washed jeans, simple t-shirt and knitted cardigan. He has no reason to show up in a suit to record all day in the studio, staring at the panels, directing whatever singer he is working with for the day. 

“Alright, end of show,” he chuckles, turning the radio off and getting out he rounds the car to help Harlow out of her seat.

She is wearing her favorite pink dress with her new sneakers and backpack and Harry’s chest swells with pride as he watches her jump out of the car and twirl around in excitement. They walk to the entrance hand in hand, Harlow asks Harry about what’s gonna be for dinner and he promises her to make her favorite if she’ll be a good girl in school.

Students from first to fourth grade usually gather in front of the building, the teachers wait for them in the morning and they go inside together. Harry spots Harlow’s teacher, circled by a few students already, so he knows it’s time to say goodbye.

Squatting down in front of her he fixes her ponytail and then he gathers her small hands in his big ones.

“I’ll see you in the afternoon, okay?”

“Can we get ice-cream on the way home?” she suggests with a cheeky smile, that never fails to warm Harry’s heart.

“Only if you–”

“If I’m a good girl today, I know!” she sighs dramatically. “I will be good, don’t worry.”

“Okay,” he smiles. “Come here, give me a hug.”

Harlow happily throws her arms around her daddy’s neck as he embraces her in a tight hug, breathing in her sweet scent, he presses a few kisses on top of her head before finally letting her go.

“Have a great day, I love you!” he calls out as Harlow is already walking over to her classmates.

“Love you too!” she sings back with a wave and then she is busy greeting her friends she didn’t see all summer. 

Harry stands there for a bit longer, watching his daughter in complete awe. He can’t believe the tiny baby he held in his arms on the day she was born is not such an independent, smart little girl. She’s only seven, but she’s taught him so many things, he’ll be forever grateful for her. 

“Dylan, wait!” a familiar, stressed voice hits his ears and looking to his right he is witnessing another morning scene, but it’s definitely different from the one he just got to experience with Harlow.

A boy, who is around twelve years old, dressed in all black with his hoodie covering his head is marching away, but he is stopped by the request from his mother behind him, who is busy with a smaller girl.

Harry knows the woman and the little girl too, because it’s Robin, Harlow’s classmate and her mother, Y/N. He remembers, because she caught his eyes straight away at the first parents’ meeting last year. Y/N is the kind of woman who is always so put together, looks stunning, like the CEO of a very important business, but there’s also an exceptional warmth that lingers around her, that makes Harry think that she is an excellent and loving mother to her kids. 

Harry could feel himself crush on her the moment she walked into Harlow’s classroom in her pants suit and took a seat near his. He kept looking her way and felt like a school boy all over again.

This morning however, Y/N looks different. She is still gorgeous, don’t get Harry wrong, but something is off about her. She’s in a simple black dress, her attire is spotless as always, but it appears like she’s lost some weight, there are circles under her eyes and he can tell she’s been going through a stressful period probably.

Dylan, the boy, stops with an eye-roll, but doesn’t face his mother who is currently struggling to get Robin to put on her backpack properly. 

“Honey, please! I can’t carry it up to the classroom for you!” Y/N begs and the girl whines before eventually taking the straps over her shoulders. Y/N lets out a relieved sigh, fixing her shirt before pressing a kiss to her cheek. “Have a good day, I’ll pick you up after school, okay?”

“Okay,” she nods before running off to join her friends. Y/N then steps over to Dylan. They are standing just a few feet away from Harry, so he can hear their conversation, and though he knows he shouldn’t be listening in on them, he just can’t help it. 

“How long are you gonna be grumpy?” she asks, walking around the boy to look at him. She reaches out to fix the zipper on his hoodie, but he yanks away from her touch. Harry sees the hurt on her face, but she is great at masking it.

“Can I go?” Dylan asks, not even looking at his mom.

“Can I get a hug?”

“Mom, no!” he whines. “My friends are over there!”

“And you think they don’t hug their mom?”

“Not in public!” he retorts. Y/N clenches her jaw and decides to just let it go.

“Alright. I’ll pick you and Robin up after school, okay? Have a good day.”

“Bye,” he mumbles and walks over to his group of friends without even looking at his mother.

Y/N stands there and Harry could feel her disappointment and sadness, even as an outsider. It seems like Dylan has just reached the gates of puberty, which came with an immense amount of hate towards his parents, or at least his mother. His heart breaks for her, because something is telling him she did nothing to deserve to be treated like this, but pre-teens are just impossible sometimes. 

For a moment he thinks about walking up to her and asking if she’s okay, but right when the thought is about to turn into action, she looks down at her watch and realizes how late it is.

“Oh shit,” she mumbles and turning around she runs back to her car, jumps in and drives away in a hurry. 

Harry glances at the kids one last time, they are heading inside and he spots Harlow with Robin. He smiles and then slowly walks back to his car.

Of course, Harlow gets ice-cream when Harry picks her up after school. They stop by the park too and then head home to make dinner. She tells him all about her day and while Harry cooks she is on FaceTime with Frankie, her mom. 

Co-parenting is now as easy as breathing air, they’ve been doing it for almost five years now. People tend to find it odd that Harlow lives with her dad and visits Frankie three times a year for longer periods, once in the summer, once in winter break and once in the spring usually. Between these occasions Frankie tends to visit too on weekends whenever she has the time. 

She is a doctor, her working hours are crazy and she knew it well when she and Harry decided to part ways. Harry has always been the flexible one and they both knew he would be more stable when it comes to raising Harlow. 

They might not be married anymore, but they still have love for each other and want to focus on what matters: Harlow.

“Daddy, here,” she runs into the kitchen with Harry’s phone in hand.

“Thank you, Love. Put it on the table, please. Food is almost ready.”

“Dad, did you and mom get a divorce?” she asks, taking her usual seat at the dining table, waiting for her dinner patiently. Harry stops for a moment, afraid where this might go, but he promised himself to always be honest with her.

“Yes. Years ago. Why?”

“Robin said her parents got a divorce too.”

His ears perk up, remembering the scene he witnessed this morning. He grabs two plates and pills them with pasta.

“Really? Is she sad about it?”

“Kind of. She’s just sad her dad moved out. She said her brother wanted to live with him, but their mom didn’t let him.”

“Hmm, I’m sure she has her reasons,” he says, placing the food on the table as he joins her. “So they are living with their mom now?”

“Yeah. Their dad visits every second weekend.”

“That sounds great.”

A divorce would very well explain the change he noticed about Y/N. The weightloss, the stress on her face, the circles under her eyes, it must have been challenging, managing a divorce and adjusting to becoming a single parent. Harry can’t help, but wonder what resulted in the end of her marriage. 

“Be nice to Robin, okay? She is going through a tough time,” he softly says.

“We’re friends,” Harlow smiles proudly.

“You are? That’s great,” he smiles back and leaning over he presses a kiss to the crown of her head. 

That night, when Harlow is sleeping Harry can’t help but let his curiosity take over. Sitting by his desk he pulls up the list of Harlow’s classmate’s names the teacher sent out last year and he looks up Robin’s name, her mom’s name and phone number next to it. Every parent got this list for emergencies, but Harry now uses it for something entirely different. 

He types Y/N’s name into the search bar and scrolls through the results. Not everything is relevant, but a few links down he finds an article from last year that mentions her name and when he opens it he is met with a photo of her, so he knows he is at the right place. Harry finds out that she is an architect and she worked on some quite prestigious projects in the past, she is obviously good at what she is doing. 

He falls down the rabbithole and looks up anything he can find about her. She has an introduction page on her company’s website, then he finds himself hopping over to social media and though it takes some time, he manages to find an Instagram page that, for his luck, is public. There are just a handful of photos from the past six years, but Harry thoroughly examines them all.

Y/N with a group of her friends, old pictures of Robin from when she was a toddler, but her face is never revealed, Dylan is seen in some too, there are some pictures of a lake and the same two dogs a few times and Harry wonders if they are hers or maybe a relative’s. A couple of selfies where she looks just as gorgeous as now and then there are the pictures with her husband.

Or ex husband, to be exact. 

There are only three pictures, one at what appeared to be a wedding, one at some kind of dinner and one with the kids. It’s the last one where he is pictured and it’s from over a year ago. No trace of the man since then, and she doesn’t have a lot of other photos either, she hasn’t updated her profile in what appears to be months. 

Harry is not quite the nosy type, but this time, he is dying to know more about Y/N and the lack of information is eating him away. He goes back and forth between the pictures where she can be seen and the longer he is staring at them the more he wants to know. 

He is not an expert in social media, so as he is stalking her profile he accidentally taps on the follow button and when he realizes, his stomach drops. 

“Fuck,” he breathes out and his first instinct is to unfollow her, but he knows that she probbaly has the notification sitting on her lockscreen, so there’s no use. At last, he just curses himself out and accepts it. 

To stop himself from making it worse, he goes offline and gets ready to go to bed so he doesn’t feel like absolute shit in the morning. His phone lies discarded on his nightstand in the meantime and he doesn’t notice the new notification until he is in bed and wants to set an alarm for the morning. He’s surprised to see a notification from Instagram about a new follower.

Y/N has followed him back.

Reuniting with Harlow in the afternoon is Harry’s favorite part of the day. Seeing his little girl running towards him and jumping into his arms is something he wishes to experience every day for the rest of his life, though he knows these occasions are numbered so he is drinking up every moment of it. 

Today is no different, Harlow starts sprinting towards Harry the moment she spots him, a toothy grin stretched across her rosy cheeks as she practically smashes against her daddy.

“Hi dad!” she giggles as he lifts her up from the ground easily, holding her in one arm, his free hand taking her backpack off her shoulders. He doesn’t notice, but some moms around them yearningly watch as he holds his daughter with ease, some are having gentle thoughts about their father-daughter bond, but some are definitely hiding dirty fantasies about the single dad who is a well-liked figure among the mothers. Most of the time Harry doesn’t even process the stares he gets, and when he does, he chooses to ignore them.

“Hey Princess, how was your day?” he asks, carrying her towards the car. 

“Good. How was your day?” she asks back.

“I missed you,” he sighs dramatically, earning a kiss on the cheek from the girl in his arm.

“Do you just sit around all day and miss me?” she sassily asks and Harry barks out a laugh as he puts her down so she can climb into the car.

“That’s exactly what I do while you’re at school,” he grins, strapping her in before taking his seat behind the wheel.

“Oh, I have news for you, dad,” Harlow announces, as they are slowly inching their way out of the full parking lot.

“Yeah? Tell me!”

“We’re having a bake sale soon and I signed you up!”

“Oh, wow!” he smiles. He doesn’t mind helping out and baking is actually a hobby of his.

“And this year parents are pairing up for it so I signed you up with Robin’s mom!” she adds and Harry almost steps on the break hearing this little detail. 

“Robin’s mom? Really?” he asks with wide eyes.

“Yeah,” she nods, oblivious to why her dad is so shocked about it. 

Harry thinks about how he followed her on Instagram the other day, the panic he felt and then seeing her follow him back even though they haven’t really talked, he faintly remembers them exchanging a few words at a parents’ meeting, but nothing more. Now they will have to bake together. 

It will either go painfully awkwardly, or something good might come out of it. He’ll have to wait and see.

He is in the studio when he gets a text from a number he doesn’t recognize. He sees the screen lighting up, but he is in the middle of a session so he discards it until they go on a short break. When he finally has the time to have a look at it, excitement rushes through his veins.

UNKNOWN: Hey! It’s Y/N, Robin’s mom from Harlow’s class. Apparently we were signed up together to bake for the bake sale. Maybe we could meet up for a coffee sometime to plan out what we’re gonna do!

Harry is quick to type a response back.

HARRY: Sure! I’m flexible, whenever it’s good for you, I’ll make it work!

He doesn’t expect a fast reply since he didn’t answer straight away and he imagines she’s busy at work, but his phone lights up just seconds later.

Y/N: Great! :) Tomorrow at one?

HARRY: Perfect. :)

They exchange a few more texts about the place and then the conversation ends, they both go back to their day. And Harry is looking forward to meeting her as if it was Christmas coming up.

It’s not a date.

He keeps reminding himself, but it feels like he is getting ready for a date. The first one in what feels like a century. It’s also his first crush, dating and pursuing women in general hasn’t been on his agenda since before he started dating Frankie, which was over a decade ago. Even after his marriage ended, he was so focused on Harlow and his work that he simply didn’t have time to meet women and go out on dates. 

But this is not a date.

He is just meeting a woman for coffee to talk about baking. 

He leaves the studio a little earlier than needed so he is not late. The café they chose is near Y/N’s workplace, since she only has an hour to spare before she needs to be in a meeting. Walking in he scans over the menu and orders a simple black coffee along with two muffins before taking a seat at a table.

Y/N arrives not even five minutes later. She strolls in wearing a blue pants suit, her purse in one hand, phone in the other as she looks around and eventually spots Harry.

“Hi! Have you been here for long?” she asks, checking the time, but she arrived perfectly on time.

“No, just a few minutes,” Harry smiles at her standing up from the table to greet her, though there’s a pause as neither of them knows how to. Handshake? Kiss on the cheek? Hug? 

At last they meet for a short, kind of half hug before she sets her purse down on the other chair.

“I’ll get a coffee and then we can talk.”

Harry watches her walk up to the counter, she asks for a latte and then types away on her phone while waiting. She looks a tiny bit more collected than the last time he saw her, but he can tell she’s had less stressful days before. When she returns to the table she places her phone facing down and turns all of her attention to Harry.

“Harry, I’ll be honest with you, I’m terrible at baking,” she admits first thing with a chuckle. 

“Well, then we might be a great duo, because I’m actually pretty good at it.”

“Oh, then you’re my hero,” she chuckles. “I’ll be honest, I wasn’t the happiest when Robin said she signed me up, life has been… a bit hectic lately, baking stands after the last thing on my list,” she huffs. “But I’m glad I don’t have to do it alone,” she adds with a small smile. 

“It’ll be fun! The girls can have a playdate in the meantime.”

“Ah, that would be amazing,” she sighs in relief. “When is the bake sale?” 

“Um, on the tenth, in two weeks, I think.”

“Alright, I guess we should make everything fresh, right?”

“That would be ideal,” he nods.

“Great. Would you mind it if we did it at my place? I don’t have anywhere to put my son and I really don’t want to leave him home alone,” she sighs.

“Sure, no problem.”

“I promise I have everything we need despite my poor baking skills,” she jokes. “But Dylan is…”

“Y/N, no need to explain. I���m happy to go over so you don’t have to worry about him.”

“Thank you.”

They discuss what they plan to bake and what ingredients they’ll need and how they will split the shopping part. Harry finds it that Y/N is easy to talk to and she tries her best to be flexible and work together with him the best way possible.

“Okay, so muffins, chocolate chip cookies and brownies it is. We’re playing it safe,” she chuckles, summarizing their plan. “Gosh, muffins used to be Dylan’s favorite, but I feel like he would scream at me if I gave them any,” she huffs and Harry notices the sadness that flashes through her face.

“Um, I’m not trying to be nosy and we practically just met, but Harlow mentioned that Robin told her you just got divorced? I’m sure it’s been a tough time and I’m sorry too, going through a divorce is challenging even if you part ways in peace.”

The smile fades from her lips as she looks down at her drink with a tiny nod.

“You’re divorced too?” she asks.

“Yeah.”

She stays silent and stares into her drink that’s half empty by now. Folding her arms over her chest she lets out a shaky breath.

“Does it get better?” she asks and there’s so much behind those simple words and Harry can feel the weight of them. Harry reaches over and places a warm hand on her arm, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“It does. I know it seems like you’re stuck now, or even going backwards, but you’ll get through it.”

Their eyes meet and hold each other’s gaze for a few heartbeats and in that moment they both leave that café and enter somewhere safe and hopeful. Then the barista calls out someone’s name for their order and the moment is gone. Harry clears his throat and busies himself with his empty cup before they venture to another, lighter topic. 

They sit around for a little longer, just like two friends talking over a nice coffee, but then it’s time for Y/N to go back to the office.

“Harry, it’s been so nice! I’m not really friends with any of the moms from Robin’s class, but I feel like we’ll be a good team,” she smirks as Harry opens the door for her and they step out of the café.

“I’m not really friends with anyone either,” he smiles softly.

“What? I thought moms are fighting for your attention,” she barks out a laugh, but Harry just furrows his eyebrows, tilting his head as he looks back at her. “Come on, you’re known as the hot dad around school grounds.”

His eyebrows raise at her blunt comment and she realizes he’s been truly oblivious to the stares and whispers behind his back from mothers that don’t get what they want from their husband. 

“Oh wow, sorry, this is awkward now,” she chuckles nervously, realizing it might have been weird to hear it.

“No worries, I was just… not aware that I’m even known,” he chuckles. 

“You haven’t noticed the stares? Mothers ogle you like crazy whenever you pick Harlow up.”

“I’m usually more focused on her,” he admits bashfully. “So I’m the hot dad. Good to know.”

It’s obvious that Y/N feels awkward that she was the one who delivered the news to him, but Harry finds it cute, the way she bites into her bottom lip.

“I really need to get back now. I’ll see you soon, I guess,” she switches quickly, checking the time. 

“Sure, have a great day, Y/N,” he smiles and he pulls her into a short hug before they part ways. 

Harry thinks about how it felt like when she was pressed up against his chest, even if it was just for one second.

“Okay, I might have gone a little overboard with the decoration,” Harry admits, as Y/N is inspecting the millions of sprinkles, candies and chocolate chips on the counter, laughing happily like a little kid.

“No, this is amazing!” she chuckles. “They will turn out amazing!”

Harry blushes and he’s glad she doesn’t find it weird how overboard he went with the shopping. He’s been looking forward to their work together, mostly because he couldn’t wait to see Y/N again, but he was also excited about the baking part. 

Harlow and Robin are in the living room, watching The Little Mermaid and playing, Dylan is hiding somewhere in his bedroom and the adults are taking over the kitchen. Y/N is in a more casual outfit, but she still took his breath away when she opened the door and welcomed them. In a pair of loose jeans and a simple, gray sweater, she still looks incredibly stylish and put-together. 

“Alright, you’re the boss today, I’m just assisting,” she smiles, one hand on her hip, the other one on the counter. Harry thinks about how badly he wants to grab her by her waist and pull her in for a kiss, so he gulps hard, forcing himself to focus on the baking. 

“Okay. Then let’s start with the cookies.”

They find their rhythm easily, Harry is moving around in her kitchen as if it’s not his first time here and Y/N does everything he asks her perfectly. They are, indeed, an amazing team. While they work they talk and laugh and have a blast, as if they’ve been good friends since forever.

When it’s time to decorate they ask the girls to help them and they happily cover everything in sprinkles, going all out with the supplies Harry bought. 

Once everything is done, they box them up so they can easily take them to the school tomorrow. It’s still not too late and the girls are having so much fun that the parents decide to let the playdate last a little longer, so they share some iced tea and have a chat sitting by the kitchen island. It’s all fun and joy until Dylan comes down to drink something. He marches into the kitchen, ees glued to the ground, ignoring everyone else as he walks over to the fridge.

“Dylan, say hi to Harry. You didn’t even come down to greet our guests,” Y/N tells him, earning the most annoyed groan Harry has ever heard. 

The boy stops and turns around standing like a stone, clearly irritated that someone even said a word to him. 

“Hi,” he grumbles before turning back to the fridge right away to grab himself a can of coke.

“Dylan, no coke after six, you know the rule,” Y/N warns him, to which he just tosses the can back and slams the fridge shut. 

Harry can feel the tension spiking and he’s quietly observing the scene in front of him.

“Drink some water, or there’s some tea left in the–”

“I don’t want tea or water, I want coke!” he whines. “Dad lets me drink coke whenever I want!”

“Well, then I’ll need to have a chat with your father,” Y/N comments under her breath. “Water, Dylan. Drink water,” she repeats, the boy rolls his eyes and grabs a bottle of water before storming out of the kitchen. “God, this is a disaster, I’m sorry,” she groans, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“No need to apologize. You both are going through a tough time.”

“But it feels way worse than what I was expecting. I knew it would be hard, but… And Will is absolutely no partner in the process, he is trying to play the victim, like I’m the monster for destroying our family when he is the one who fuck three women in the past two years.”

Harry’s eyes widen at the blunt information about her marriage and though he never met this Will guy, he knows he is a total idiot. He has to be if he cheated on a woman like Y/N with three different women.

“Wow, that sounds… awful,” Harry admits truthfully. “How did you… May I ask how you found out?”

“He accidentally paid for a romantic getaway with the wrong card and I saw everything he paid for, the hotel, the food and drinks and of course, the couple's massage. He was supposed to be at a conference that weekend. I did some digging after that and then confronted him. He tried to deny it, but it’s hard to play innocent when I have proof. He moved out the next day and I filed for a divorce a week later. This was in January, but it got official in the summer.”

“What took so long?”

“He’s been a real bitch about it,” she rolls her eyes. “He really tried to make it look like I threw him out heartlessly and he was convinced he deserves a second chance. Maybe I would have considered it if it was just a one time thing. But it was several women on several occasions. This was not just a slip up, he came home these past two years knowing damn well that he chose to do this. Of course I don’t want anything to do with him after that.”

“Understandable,” Harry nods in agreement.

“Well, he thinks otherwise and it’s been his hobby to make me miserable. We agreed not to tell the kids what he did, I don’t want them to turn against him, he’s still their father, but apparently, Will is not mature enough to do the same. He’s been trying to lure the kids closer to him and away from me, so he is the ultimate good cop. He lets them do anything and everything, pizza for breakfast, candies all the time, he takes them to every damn movie they wanna see, and then I’m the bad one who tries to regulate their fun.”

“I assume Dylan prefers to be with his dad.”

“Of course,” she rolls her eyes again, clearly frustrated over the situation, but there’s not much she can do about it. “I’m suddenly the enemy. Dylan only knows that we decided to get a divorce, but he doesn’t know why. All he experiences is his dad being the coolest guy ever and his mom being a bitter bitch,” she groans and looking down at her drink she obviously wishes it had alcohol in it. “Sometimes I just wanna tell him how big of an asshole his dad is, but I’m really trying to be the bigger person here,” she sighs.

“I’m sorry, Y/N,” is all Harry could say. 

“It’s not your fault,” she shrugs with a soft, but tired smile. “How about you?”

“Me?”

“You’re divorced as well, right? How did that go?”

“Oh, it was surprisingly peaceful. It was a mutual decision, we fell out of love. If I’m being honest, we rushed into that marriage way too fast.”

“So you’re on good terms?”

“Yeah. We try to make it work, focus on Harlow and what’s best for her.”

“That must be amazing, being partners even when you’re not married anymore,” she sighs dreamily. “I never thought I would say something like this, but I’m jealous of your divorce!” she chuckles, trying to lighten the mood.

“It’ll get easier. He can’t be an asshole forever, it’s too tiring,” he jokes.

“Oh, you don’t know Will. Being an asshole is in his genes,” she snorts with a laugh.

The bake sale is always a big success and this is Harry’s first time as a seller. Now that Y/N has pointed it out for him that other moms usually ogle him, he can actively feel the stares on him, so it could easily be an awkward event for him, but he is focusing on Y/N next to him behind their little stand. Their baked goods are selling great, especially the brownies, so they clear their stand in no time, just lingering around, socializing with the other parents though when no one is listening they agree that it’s not really their crowd. 

“Maybe we should open a bakery,” Harry jokes as they are packing up their stand at the end of the bake sale. 

“You should, but I’m not sure I should leave my career for baking,” she chuckles.

“What are you talking about? You were great at measuring the ingredients,” he smirks, bumping his hip against his. 

“Alright, okay, I’ll join you,” she smiles bashfully. 

Harry helps with the now empty boxes, loading them into Y/N’s car and they call out for the girls who are running around in front of the building, letting them know it’s time to leave. All he can think about is how this could be the last time he is seeing Y/N for a long time and that he wants to spend more time with her. If he had the guts he would ask her out, but he’s not even sure if she’s ready to date or even wants to date at this point.

“Um, maybe we could have playdates more often. The girls seem to be good friends,” Harry suggests, glancing over at Robin and Harlow, who are making their way towards the cars, still playing around happily.

“Sure! That sounds great, I’m sure they’ll be happy to spend more time together,” she nods smiling. 

“And you know, if you need help with anything, you can call me. I know how hard it is to do it all alone, I’m happy to help, even if it’s just maybe picking Robin up. I’m always the one getting Harlow, it’s no big deal if I take them both.”

“Really?” she asks and he can see the gratitude in her eyes.

“Of course.”

“That would be… amazing, thank you!” 

She surprises him with a warm, friendly hug and he can feel that they’ve just gotten closer to each other in every kind of way. It’s a tiny, fleeting moment, but it burns into Harry’s memories probably forever.

They don’t talk for a couple of days, carrying on with their separate lives. It’s about a week later when Y/N calls Harry in the middle of the day, luckily, he can pick it up right away.

“Hey, what’s up?” he asks, leaning against the wall in the studio’s hallway. 

“Hey, um…Can I ask you a favor?”

“Sure, of course!”

“Can you pick Robin up today? I have a little situation with Dylan and I’m not sure I’ll make it in time to pick her up.”

“No worries, but is everything alright?”

“Not really,” she sighs. “He got into a fight today and Will picked him up, because I couldn’t answer the phone when the school called me, so I need to get him now from his father.”

“Oh, I see. Don’t worry about Robin, the girls will be just fine while you focus on Dylan. Do you want me to drop her off at yours when you’re home?”

“No, I’ll just pick her up, don’t want you to drive her around, you’re already doing me a huge favor.”

“You sure? It’s no problem.”

“Positive,” she chuckles softly. “Thank you Harry.”

Harry wishes it wasn’t an emergency that connected them again, but he’s glad Y/N felt safe enough to reach out to him when she needed help. When he’s done with work he heads to the school as usual, but this time, two little chatty girls end up on the backseat of the car.

“Is Robin sleeping over tonight?” Harlow asks in excitement.

“No, Honey. Her mom will pick her up later.”

“Why couldn’t she pick me up?” Robin asks, but she doesn’t seem disappointed that her mother was absent.

“Something came up, but everything is alright, don’t worry. You guys can work on your homework together.”

The girls are being angels, Harry cuts some apples for them while they work on their homework by the kitchen island while he starts preparing for dinner. He has just set the table when he sees a car pulling up on their driveway and Harry watches Y/N walk up to their front door.

“Hi,” he greets her, opening the door for her before she could even ring the doorbell. 

“Hi, I hope it’s not too late,” she breathes out, stepping inside.

“No, don’t worry about it. The girls finished their homework, we were just about to have dinner, want to stay?”

“Would love to, but Dylan is in the car and I’m not sure I can get him out of there,” she sighs, shaking her head. “But thank you so much for everything, Harry. You saved me.”

“No problem, I told you, I’m happy to help.”

Robin says goodbye to Harlow and Y/N grabs her backpack as they head out to the car. She runs ahead while Y/N turns back to Harry one last time.

“Dylan is spending the weekend with Will. Maybe we could meet up with the girls? We like to go to the park on Saturday.”

“That sounds amazing,” Harry nods, excited to have the opportunity to see her again soon.

“Okay, then I’ll text you later. And again, thank you,” she repeats herself before pulling him into a quick hug. He doesn’t even have the time to put his arms around her before she’s already jogging towards the car.

He leans against the doorframe and Harlow runs up next to him, waving at them as the car backs out of the driveway, Dylan sitting in the back with the most hurt look Harry has ever seen while Robin is happily waving back at her friend. Y/N smiles at Harry through the window one last time before they roll down the street and disappear.

“Here,” Harry softly hands Y/N her coffee as he returns to the park from the café across the road. 

“Thank you, how much–”

“Don’t even try to pay me back,” he chuckles as he sits on the bench beside her, taking a sip from his simple, black coffee. The girls are taking over the playground, it’s a beautiful day and Harry is glad Harlow can spend so much time outside. 

“So, do you want to talk about what happened this week?” Harry carefully asks. He doesn’t want to be nosy, just trying to be the support Y/N might need, though he is also dying to know more about her, regarding anything in her life.

Y/N exhales slowly, her eyes following the girls around as she fidgets with the lid of her coffee cup.

“Dylan apparently got into a fight at school. No one really saw what happened, the teacher just caught him punching another boy. He was sent to the principal and then they tried to call me to pick him up, because they decided to send him home for the rest of the day. But I was in a meeting and couldn’t answer, so they called Will. He then went in, the principal told him what happened and that Dylan might have to see the school’s advisor a few times after the incident. Will then took him home and when I called him on my way from work he basically said that I’m a terrible mother, because I wasn’t available when my son needed me.”

Harry can feel his anger rising, but he bites his tongue and lets Y/N finish before he puts in his two cents. 

“It was just thirty minutes. Thirty minutes later I was already sprinting out of work, I don’t think that’s too late, of course I can’t drop everything instantly, I have a job and a boss, I can’t just come and go whenever I want to!”

“There’s nothing wrong with that, Y/N.”

“Right?” She sighs. “Anyway, I went to Will’s, fully prepared to have a talk with Dylan about his actions, I had a little speech ready and all that. Then I arrived and I ended up being lectured! This… fucker… had the nerve to lash out on me for not answering the phone when the school called me, he was praising himself for dropping everything instantly and picking Dylan up right away. It’s easy to do that when you’re your own boss in a business that barely makes any profit,” she scoffs. “We got into a fight, Dylan heard most of it and all he understood was that I apparently made a mistake so now he wants to spend every weekend with Will.”

“Can he do that? I mean, don’t you have an agreement?”

“I was stupid enough not to limit how much Will can see them, I thought I was doing the right thing, but it’s biting me in the ass.”

“So what are you gonna do now?”

“I have no idea,” she chuckles bitterly. “If I keep Dylan away from his dad he’ll just hate me more. But if I let him spend more time with him, the same thing will happen, because Will is working harder than the devil to turn him against me. It’s an impossible situation.”

“Has he always been this close with his dad or is it just the divorce that brought them together?”

“I always had a feeling Will prefered Dylan over Robin. Which is just fucked up, you don’t choose between your kids. But he never really knew how to deal with a girl, so he spent more time with Dylan. They both like playing video games, so they’ve been bonding over that lately. I guess Dylan feels closer to him because they have more in common and he always looked up to Will. I never thought this would turn out as a disadvantage.”

She looks down at her coffee, deep in her thoughts before taking a sip and finally turning to face Harry. 

“It’s such a mess, right? I’m a mess.”

“You’re not a mess, Y/N. You’re doing everything you can to get through it, so don’t blame yourself. Will should grow up and be your partner for the sake of the kids.”

“We haven’t been separated for a whole year, but I can’t even believe we were once married,” she groans, her head falling back for a moment. Then, as if she realized something, she looks at Harry. “I’m sorry for always dumping my drama on you, this must be annoying.”

“Y/N, I asked you,” he chuckles. “I’m happy to listen, to help, anything you need.”

“You’re such a nice man, Harry,” she sighs. “I’m sure you haven’t been having any problem with dating since your divorce.”

“There’s no problem, because I don’t really date,” he admits with an awkward chuckle.

“What?” her eyes widen. “You’re just joking, right?”

“No,” he shakes his head with a shrug. “It’s not really my priority. I spend most of my free time with Harlow, I just… never got around to get myself out there, I guess.”

“But do you want to?”

“Ideally, I don’t want to be alone forever. I’m not against dating, I’m just not looking actively.”

“Hmm… I get it. It’s just shocking that women are not throwing themselves at you everywhere you go,” she snorts out a laugh before taking another sip from her coffee. 

“Because I’m the hot dad?” he jokes.

“Well, duh!” she laughs. 

“You keep calling me hot, I might think that you’re into me, Y/N.”

She almost chokes at his comment, which just entertains him even more, he likes how nervous she got over his comment.

“I-I’m not trying to– I mean you’re… Oh God.”

“Relax,” he laughs, placing a hand on hers for a moment. “I was just messing with you.”

“God, I hate you,” she chuckles, bumping her shoulder against his.

“I hope you don’t, because I actually like you.”

There’s a switch in the conversation thanks to Harry’s little confession, but he just couldn’t keep it in any longer. She seems surprised, but pleasantly at his words, staring back at him with wide eyes.

“It’s hard not to like you,” he adds with a shy smile. “And if you think I’m the hot dad then I can admit that you’re a hot mom.”

“Oh my God, you’re gonna make me giggle like a little girl,” she laughs, covering her mouth. 

“I’m sorry, I just couldn’t bite my tongue any longer,” he chuckles, looking down at his hands in his lap. “Just thought I would share. I’m not expecting anything to change, I know you have enough on your plate now.”

“I like you too, Harry,” she admits and his heart is soaring. “I’m just not sure I’m ready to take this step with anyone at the moment.”

“I completely understand. I’m happy to be just friends,” he reassures her kindly. She smiles at him with gratitude in her eyes, this moment means a lot to both of them in many different ways.

They sit in silence for a couple of minutes, watching the girls play around the swings and then she’s the first one to speak up. 

“Did we just admit that we’re crushing on each other?” she asks with a grin.

“I guess so, yeah,” he nods, mirroring her expression. 

“This felt like middle school all over again.”

“You want me to pull your hair?” he teases her, making her laugh out loud.

“Ah, I’m okay without that, thank you. But it was… refreshing. I haven’t felt like this in a long time.”

“Glad I could be the one who brought the feeling back to you,” Harry smiles at her sweetly, bumping his shoulder against hers.

They fall into a rhythm. Constantly texting throughout the day, sharing pictures randomly, helping each other out whenever it’s needed, their bond strengthening along the way. It’s not just Y/N’s messy situation they talk about, but anything and everything. 

And Harry can feel himself falling.

He’s patient, though. He knows he needs to wait and let Y/N heal and figure things out before she could get back to dating and when that moment finally comes, Harry will be there waiting for her. 

She truly surprises him when she takes the first step out of the friend zone.

“So, what are you doing this weekend?” she asks when they are randomly talking on the phone one evening. Originally, Y/N called to ask for some help with homework, because Robin didn’t remember what exactly needed to be done, but it soon turned into some private chit-chatting.

“Not much, Harlow is having a sleepover at my mum’s, so I’ll be alone for most of the weekend.”

“That’s great, because my kids are gonna be away too, so I thought we could do something that doesn’t include a playground, homework or kids meal,” she chuckles and just the sound of it brings a smile to Harry’s face. Harry is about to answer when she adds at last: “It could be a date.”

“A date?” he breathes out.

“Yeah. If you want it to be. It’s fine if we just hang out as friends, I don’t–”

“It’s a date,” he reassures her and he can almost feel her relief over the phone. 

“Great.” Harry knows she’s smiling on the other end of the call, he can tell. 

“Alright, then I’ll plan everything out. Saturday?”

“Saturday sounds amazing.”

Harry wants this date to be as perfect as possible. It’s not just his first date with Y/N, but also her first date since her divorce. He wants her to feel secure, comfortable and cared for, so she doesn’t feel like she made a mistake.

Therefore, he pays extra attention to tailor this date to her liking. 

It’s nothing out of the ordinary, they go to a gallery, then grab dinner and take a walk, but his attention to the details is what makes it outstanding. He remembered Y/N saying how much she loves contemporary art, but she hasn’t had the time to go to any galleries these past years, so Harry takes her to a promising young artist’s exhibition which she absolutely adores, so the evening starts out perfectly. 

Then they have dinner at an Indian place Y/N once mentioned. She used to go there often with her parents so it’s a piece of nostalgia for her that brings back some precious memories. The food is amazing, they talk like old friends and the conversation flows naturally, there’s no awkwardness, no weird silences. It’s simply perfect. 

As the last stop of the date he takes her to a hidden little park and of course, he’s got reasons for that as well.

“How come I never knew there’s a park around here? We live so close!” she chuckles.

“Because it’s kind of… private,” he smiles as he stops at a massive gate that appears to be just a simple driveway, so Y/N is looking at him confused. 

“We’re not gonna get in trouble for this, right? I don’t want to run from the cops,” she chuckles as Harry opens up the gate just enough so they can go inside.

“Don’t worry, I got permission to go inside, I know the owner,” he grins, holding out a hand for her that she gladly takes and they walk in, the gate sliding closed behind them.

“What is this place?”

“I worked with a guy about a year ago, he is an amazing musician and producer. His wife is French and comes from the countryside where her family had this massive mansion with the most beautiful garden.”

As they walk further Y/N finally gets a glimpse of the breathtaking yard that’s hidden from the outside, flowers and greenery everywhere she looks, a dreamy fountain in the middle with a naked female figure serving as the most beautiful gem of the garden. 

“She would talk about how much she misses the garden when they moved here, so he surprised her with this. Her own little piece of her home. And see the fountain?” he asks, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. 

“Yeah, it’s beautiful.”

“It’s a replica of the one they had in France.”

“Oh my, this is the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard!” she gasps as they slowly walk around the garden. 

They wander around, feeling like they have entered a whole new world, the stars shining bright above them and the millions of flowers surrounding them, the gentle splashing of the water coming from the fountain that Y/N keeps staring at, because it’s simply the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen. 

Harry is proud of himself, Y/N hasn’t stopped smiling all evening, so he knows tonight turned out just as he planned. He felt rusty at the beginning, he can’t even remember the last time he was on a proper date, but this was a good start for the both of them.

It’s quite late by the time Harry takes her home, but neither of them truly wants the evening to end. 

“I had an amazing time, Harry. Thank you,” she smiles up at him as they reach her home.

“Does this mean we can do it again sometime?”

“Definitely,” she chuckles. 

Then comes the first awkward moment of the night. It’s not even that awful, it’s just that Harry’s not sure how far he can go. He’s been thinking about kissing her all evening, but he doesn’t want to cross any lines and push her too much. 

“Harry?” she breathes out as they stand just a foot apart.

“Yeah?”

“You can kiss me. I-I mean if you want, I don’t–”

He doesn’t need more, crossing the distance left between them he presses his lips against his, circling his arms around her waist as he pulls her into his embrace. It’s the perfect ending for a perfect date and Harry knows he’ll have a hard time from now on to behave around Y/N, knowing how she tastes, what her lips feel like against his and how her tiny moans sound. They devour each other, it feels like years worth of drought is washed away and they experience a kind of passion neither of them thought they would feel again. 

It’s hard to hold back and not take it as far as possible. Harry is aching to get, feel and taste more of her, but he knows he needs to slow down. Every fiber in his body is screaming not to stop, but his consciousness is awake enough to draw the line. He pulls back, though he goes in for a few more kisses before forcing himself to stop before he can’t control himself. 

Y/N buries her face into the crook of his neck as they stay like that, wrapped in each other’s arms, bathing in the comfort and warmth of this significant moment. Harry can’t stop himself from pressing a few soft kisses to her forehead, wishing he could do this every day, whenever he wants to. 

The moments stretch long, but eventually they let go of each other, not too willingly thought.

“I hope you don’t regret going on a date with the hot dad,” Harry cheekily smirks.

“Not at all,” she chuckles. “It was easily the best date I’ve ever been on.”

“Damn, it’ll be hard to outdo it next time,” he sighs, making her laugh.

“Sorry,” she grins, but there’s no remorse in her reaction.

“Alright, enjoy the rest of your kids-free weekend,” Harry smiles as he starts backing away, but then steps back to her once more, stealing one last kiss. “Okay, bye!” he sighs, forcing himself to walk away.

“Bye Harry!” she chuckles.

The upcoming week turns out quite hectic for the both of them. Y/N got a new project at work and as always, she has her hands full of her kids. Harry’s pretty busy too, he promised to help her mum paint her kitchen, so whenever he’s not at work or spending time with Harlow, he’s over at his mum’s home with a roll attached to his hands. 

They don’t get to see each other in person and though talking on the phone and constantly texting is great too, neither of them can stop thinking about how good their date was, spending time alone, in person. 

It’s a total coincidence they arrive at the school at the same time on Friday.

Harry spots Y/N first as she is walking towards the building from the parking lot, typing away on her phone in her usual work attire. As sappy as it sounds, his heart skips a beat at the sight of her, he’s been thinking about her a lot all week and now she is right there in front of her. 

Leaning against a pillar he watches her with a cheeky smile, waiting for her to notice him. She looks up from her phone and at first, her gaze rushes over him, but then her eyes bounce back on him and a wide smile stretches across her face.

“Lovely to see you here, Miss Y/L/N,” Harry smirks and pushing himself away from the pillar he steps closer to her and dares to press a tiny kiss to her cheek. She doesn’t seem to mind the affection at all.

“Mr. Styles,” she smiles bashfully. “How are you?”

“I’m good. A little tired. How about you?”

“Same,” she sighs, folding her arms over her chest.

“How is the situation with Dylan and Will?”

“Eh, it’s fine. Though it feels like the calm before the storm, I’m afraid.”

Harry nods with a hum just when the doors open and kids start to flow out of the building. 

“When will you be kids-free next?” Harry asks in a hurry, his eyes snapping to her just for a moment before searching for Harlow in the sea of students. 

“Um, maybe next weekend. But maybe we could have lunch sometime next week?” she suggests and he nods eagerly.

“Would love that.”

“Daddy!” He hears the most beautiful voice and moments later Harlow jumps into his arms.

“Hey princess, how was your day?” he chuckles, adjusting her in his hold.

“Great!”

“That’s good,” he hums, smiling. Glancing to the side Harry sees as Robin hugs Y/N and a few moments later Dylan marches out of the building, joining them. Y/N looks at him for one last moment, they exchange a quick smile and then part ways. 

Lunch together doesn’t happen. Days go by and they can’t get the schedule to match, there’s always something happening, life gets in the way, but it doesn’t change the way Harry feels about Y/N. And because of that, he would wait forever to spend even just another minute with her.

They manage to have two more dates in the next month and they are both just as amazing as the first one was, because they got to spend more time together.

They have slowly become inseparable.

Their fourth date is set to happen on a Friday when they are kids-free again. Or so they thought. 

They planned to watch a movie and then have a late dinner somewhere, so Harry arrived at her house a few minutes before six so they could catch the movie that starts at 6:45. He’s been looking forward to this evening all week, his heart jumping every time Y/N messaged him. He’s been like a lovesick puppy for a while now, even at work, he found himself taking songs into a more romantic direction than he usually does. 

Walking up to the door he rings the bell and waits, trying his best to keep himself from smiling like crazy. But when the door opens and he sees the stressed out look on Y/N’s face, his expression drops right away. 

“Oh shit, I totally forgot!” she breaks down seeing Harry, but her reaction is a little too extreme, he knows something happened that made her forget about their date. “Harry, I’m sorry, I don’t think tonight is gonna–”

“Hey, it’s alright, no need to apologize. Just tell me what happened, you seem so shaken up.”

Y/N holds the door for him as he walks in while she tries to collect her thoughts to tell him what happened.

“I uhh–I had the worst fucking day ever,” she breathes out shakily as they move to the living room to sit on the couch. “I have no idea how we ended up fighting with Dylan right before Will was about to arrive, but it was possibly our worst fight so far. Then Will joined in and of course, he completely ignored the fact that he is supposed to be a parent and not just a friend to Dylan.”

As she talks, Harry can’t stop thinking about how broken she seems and it’s killing him to see her like this. He needs everything in him not to just pull her into his arms and tell her he’ll solve everything for her.

“I swear I could see that vile smile hiding in his expression, like he was enjoying how Dylan was turning against me!” She growls in annoyance, sinking into the cushion. 

“So then what happened? Did you guys come to an agreement of some sort?”

Y/N scoffs, her head falling back.

“The agreement that we came to is that He took the kids and Dylan will stay with him for a while. I had to pack my son’s stuff knowing that Will won’t take good care of him. I know him, he can’t be on parent mode all the time, he’ll want to have his alone time and go out with his friends, but now he’ll have Dylan with him all the time!”

“Why did you let him take Dylan?” Harry asks with furrowed eyebrows, trying to understand the reasons behind her actions.

“Because I’m fucking tired of being the bad guy and… I figured that Dylan is smart enough to realize that living with his dad is not fun!” she laughs, but there’s no happiness behind it at all. “Will never did the everyday things. He doesn’t like to cook, he definitely won’t wake up earlier to pack Dylan lunch, I’m pretty sure he’ll probably forget to pick him up at least once, if not more times a week. It’s not gonna work and I’m hoping that Dylan will find it out himself. He’s a smart boy, if he wants to take this ride, I’m all in,” she sighs, her eyes fluttering closed for a moment before she looks at Harry. “I’m so sorry I forgot about our date. I promise I’ve been waiting for it, but today was just–”

“Y/N, I already told you there’s no need to apologize,” he cuts in, not even wanting to have her think about it. 

“I feel like I’m just dumping all my mess on you all the time.”

“I love that you feel comfortable enough around me to share this stuff,” Harry smiles softly. 

“I feel more than just comfortable,” she admits, looking at him with calmness in the middle of the madness. 

“Yeah?” he grins. “Why don’t we order some food, watch a movie here and call it a night? You must be exhausted.”

“That sounds… amazing,” she breathes out with a tired smile.

And that’s exactly what they do. They order pizza and cuddle on the couch while watching some Netflix movie. Every time they’re together they talk constantly, but this time, they just enjoy each other’s presence in silence and it’s exactly what they need. Halfway through the movie Harry notices that she’s fallen asleep, her head on his chest, snoozing away her stress. 

Harry takes just a few minutes to himself, enjoying her closeness and being able to hold her in his arms like never before and he thinks about how he wants to experience this every day. He wants Y/N to get some well-deserved rest, so he carefully carries her to her bedroom and puts her to bed, planning to let himself out and probably call her in the morning, but right before he is about to walk out of her bedroom, her voice pulls him back.

“Stay with me? Please?”

Her voice is barely more than just a whisper and as he looks back at her, she’s blinking at him lazily, already scooting over in bed to make space for him.

“You sure?” Harry asks, though every bit of him just wants to stay close to her. She nods into the pillow and smiles softly as Harry steps back to the bed, hesitantly looking down at his clothes.

“You can take off your jeans if you want,” she cheekily smirks, making Harry laugh as he unbuttons his pants.

“You just wanted to get me out of my pants, didn’t you?” he teases her, kicking the jeans off and then making himself comfortable in bed next to Y/N, who instantly moves closer, cuddling to his side.

“Since the moment I saw you,” she retorts, making him laugh again.

“Should have just asked me right away.”

He presses a kiss on top of her head, wrapping his arms around her tight as they fall asleep together for the first time. 

She sleeps better than she had in a long time. Usually she’s awake early in the morning no matter whether she has plans or not. But this time when she blinks her eyes open and checks the time on the alarmclock on her nightstand and it reads seven minutes past nine. She can’t even tell when the last time she slept after eight was. 

Sitting up in bed she’s disappointed to realize that the bed next to her is empty, but then she hears pans and pots clinking somewhere downstairs and she can’t help but smile at the thought of Harry in her kitchen. 

When she walks down she spots the man by the stove, he is making what seems like scrambled eggs, two mugs already sitting on the countertop with steaming, fresh coffee in them. Harry has put his jeans back on, though she wishes she could have seen him cook only in his underwear, but this is a nice view as well. 

“Good morning,” she smiles and walking closer she checks in on the breakfast he’s making. 

“Hi there, I hope I didn’t wake you up,” he chuckles and moving close she presses a sweet kiss to his lips to his surprise.

“No. I slept amazing, thank you for staying. I hope I didn’t make it feel weird.”

“Oh please. I was worried I might have crossed a line,” he chuckles softly as he moves the pan off the stove, turning to face Y/N fully, his hands finding her waist instantly.

“I’m afraid there are no lines when it comes to you, Harry.”

She says it with a cheeky smile, but they both can feel the seriousness behind her words and Harry is a tad bit surprised. He thought he would have to wait much longer for her to heal and move forward, but it seems like she’s ready to start this new chapter with Harry. 

“Yeah?” he hums, inching closer with his face until he can brush his nose against hers. 

“Mhm… I hope I won’t regret this,” she adds, a pang of fear flashing through her eyes. 

“You won’t. I promise.”

He holds her gaze for a few more heartbeats before pressing his lips to hers, devouring her as if he is trying to prove that his promise will be a lasting one. 

The eggs and coffee get forgotten quite fast as they get lost in each other. He presses her against the counter, his hands sneaking under her shirt, seeking direct contact with her skin. He can never get enough of her taste, the way her lips move with his and those pleased moans that slip out whenever he touches a soft spot. He’s completely obsessed with her and can’t even remember a time when he wasn’t thinking about her every waking moment. 

“You’re not hungry?” he asks against her lips.

“Only for you,” she chuckles as she pulls him back towards the stairs to return to the bedroom. 

They’ve been both craving intimacy for a while, but after their dates they just didn’t have the chance to take it past making out on the front porch. Now they have the house all to themselves and they are definitely using the precious time. 

Between hungry kisses thes peel each other out of their clothes as they navigate back into the bedroom. She falls onto the mattress in only her underwear and Harry takes a moment to admire the view while ridding himself of his pants. Her nerves take over as he studies her almost fully naked form, she reaches for the covers, but he’s quick to stop her.

“Sorry, i-it’s just been a long time since…” she stutters as Harry climbs over her, holding himself up on his arms.

“How long?” he simply asks.

“Um… At least over a year… maybe two…,” she admits shamefully while his expression remains blank and she fears he finds it ridiculous that she hasn’t been with a man in so long.

“Your ex is the biggest idiot in the world,” he replies before his lips devour hers, his body pressing down on her, skin against skin, they are closer than ever, but they are just about to get even closer.

They roll around on the mattress, giggles turning into moans as the last remaining pieces of clothing disappear. They can’t get enough of each other, Harry’s practically trying to map out her whole body, kissing and touching every inch he can reach, worshiping her like no one before did.

When he kisses his way down on her chest and stomach, she realizes where he’s taking it, her breathing picks up at the thought of feeling his lips between her legs, especially because she can’t even remember the last time she was on the receiving end of oral sex.

“Relax,” he softly says before peppering the inside of her thigh, one hand sliding up her torso to her sternum. He can feel under his touch how wildly her heart is beating against her ribcage. “I’ll just have a quick taste, is that okay?” he asks, his eyes snapping up to meet hers.

“Yes,” she answers breathlessly. 

“Good,” he smirks before moving closer to her cunt. 

He truly only wants a taste, he doesn’t want to overwhelm her, knowing it’s her first time in a long time, but he just can’t help himself. The way her back arches and lips part when his mouth meets her clit, it gets him addicted fast and he knows he’ll spend long hours between her thighs once she gets more comfortable. But for now, he’s just trying to control his hunger.

Licking, kissing and sucking, he makes sure to show her he has endless ways of pleasuring her with his mouth, leaving her wanting more when he moves back up.

“Next time I’m not stopping until you come on my tongue at least twice,” he warns with a pleased grin, to which she can only nod as she gasps for air. 

To his surprise, when his lips return to hers, she reaches down and wraps her hands around his cock he’s been ignoring all along just to focus on her pleasure. He can’t help but moan against her mouth when she starts gently pumping his length.

“And next time,” she speaks up, “I will suck your dick for as long as you want me to, but now… I really need you to fuck me.”

“Gladly,” he chuckles, but it quickly turns into a growl when she angles her hips so his head brushes against her soaked cunt. “Condom?”

“In the drawer,” she nods towards the nightstand and he reaches to the side, his movements slightly disoriented since she’s still playing with his cock with her hands. 

She only stops when he rolls the condom on, her hands then moving to his mare ass, squeezing it shamelessly as he positions himself between her legs.

“Just tell me how you like it, slow, fast, hard, soft, I can do anything for you, Y/N,” he says, pressing kisses to the corner of her mouth. 

“Start slow, then we can go faster.”

He nods and with a slow, careful motion he pushes into her, both of them moaning at the sensation. Harry almost loses his mind, feeling her warm, wet walls around him even through the condom. For a moment he fears he is about to come just by being inside her. Y/N is not the only one who hasn’t been sexually active lately, Harry’s needs mostly get satisfied by his hand under the shower on lonely nights, so this is a gamechanger for him as well.

“You’re good?” he asks out of breath.

“Never been better,” she smiles shortly, taking his face in her hands to pull him in for a kiss before Harry finally starts moving.

Just as she asked, he starts slow, gliding in and out of her until she gets familiar with the feeling and his size that’s quite bigger than what she’s been used to. Pulling her left leg up she hooks it around him, allowing him to go deeper with each thrust.

“Fuck, Y/N, you feel so good,” he growls against her neck before biting on her soft skin gently. She wraps her arms around his torso, clawing at his back to pull him as close as possible, she wants to feel his weight on her, his skin melting against hers as they become one. 

“Faster, please!” she breathes out and that’s all Harry needs to pick his pace up, pleasing her every wish. 

“Would love to fuck you from behind, but I need to see your pretty face when you come,” he breathes out a chuckle, pressing his lips on hers.

“Next time,” she grins back.

“We're saying that a lot.”

“Because we’ll have a lot of it,” she simply says before a moan slips through her lips. 

His heart skips a beat, thinking of a future where he can spend his time with Y/N more than just a couple of times a week. He’s known it for a while, but now, as he’s closer to her than ever, he knows she is it for him. 

Gradually fastening his movements he brings them both to the edge, she keeps calling out his name while he mumbles praises against her lips until she finally comes and he follows her moments later. His last few thrusts are rough and hard, but it tops it all perfectly. Harry rolls off of her, trying to catch his breath as she cuddles to his side, happily listening to the beating of his heart that’s slowing down after the excitement.

Legs tangled, she lifts her head, her fingers gently dancing over his tattooed chest, a lovesick smile stretching across her face.

“You’re alright?” he asks, squeezing her playfully.

“I haven’t felt this good in a long time,” she admits chuckling.

“Good,” he smiles. “Though I think breakfast is cold now.”

“We had way more important things to do,” she grins before placing a kiss to his chest.

A lot changes following that Friday. Some changes are hard, like accepting that Y/N can only see Dylan a handful of times and that he’s living with his father now. It’s hard on Y/N and Robin as well, not having him around like always, but there’s nothing to do.

Some changes, however, are very much amazing. Like the blossoming relationship between Y/N and Harry. Following their passionate morning things have taken a pleasant turn.

They are officially an item.

There are rules, of course, that help their journey, navigating life with a new partner with kids. It’s challenging, but they both know it will benefit everyone. Playdates have been regular and Harlow has been spending more time with her granny and Robin has been visiting Will and Dylan quite often as well. It’s also useful in the case of showing Will just how much work it is to take care of the kids almost full time, Y/N is convinced there will be a breaking point. In the meantime, she’s making the best out of her free time, spending it with her new lover.

The girls don’t know officially that their parents are dating. However, they are smart enough to notice that there’s something definitely going on. Harry always brings flowers to Y/N when they come over for a playdate, they’ve had dinner together a few times, Harry often picks them both up from school and then they meet at home and have dinner before Y/N and Robin head home. 

They’ve found a rhythm that seems to be working for both of them.

“...Happy birthday dear Harlow! Happy birthday to you!” all the guests sing as the girl sits by her flower themed cake, candles lit on top.

Harry is recording with his phone with the proudest smile on his face, Frankie standing right next to him. Harlow’s birthday is the occasion where they celebrate together, no matter what. She might be switching between them all year, but they both agreed that her day shouldn’t be split into two. So usually Frankie joins them for this one time every year so they can celebrate as a family. 

Today is not only special because of Harlow’s birthday, but also because Y/N and Frankie will meet for the first time. She dropped Robin off earlier, but she’ll return soon to have their official introduction, she just had to drop by her office to hand in some documents before joining the party. 

She’s been anxious about the meeting all week, even though Harry told her there’s nothing to worry about. Meeting an ex could easily be a terrible experience and Y/N wants Frankie to like her and justify the time she spends with Harlow as Harry’s partner. 

Harlow blows the candles out and smiles wide at everyone clapping for her. She’s invited her friends from school and from around the neighborhood and of course, there are a few parents attending as well.

After cake the kids get a headstart in all the activities Harry has planned for them, starting off with playing tag in the bouncy castle he has rented for the afternoon. Yeah, he might have gone a little overboard, but he just wanted the best for his little princess. 

“So, when is she arriving?” Frankie asks Harry while she helps him clean up the dining table. 

“Um, any minute.”

“I hope you’re not nervous about us meeting,” she chuckles. 

“No,” he smiles. “But she is.”

“I can understand that.”

They work in silence for a bit before Frankie stops and looks at Harry.

“Are you happy?” she asks. Harry puts the plates down from his hands and looks at the woman he once thought he would spend the rest of his life with.

“I am. Yeah.”

“And you think it’s a lasting happiness?”

“I do,” he nods. “There’s… There’s something I feel in my chest that I can’t really explain, but I just know I found my person.”

Frankie smiles, genuinely, because this is all she ever wished for Harry. 

“It’s good to hear that.”

Just as they are about to finish in the kitchen, the doorbell rings and Harry knows it’s Y/N. 

“Please be nice to her,” he exhales before jogging over to the door. Opening he sees Y/N standing there, a nervous, but bright expression on her face.

“Hey,” he smiles and leaning in, he steals a kiss before she steps inside.

“I’m sorry it took me so long. I was trying to be fast. How is the party? Is Frankie here?” she asks as Harry closes the door behind her.

“Yeah, come on, let’s meet her.” Harry takes her hand, but she pulls back.

“Wait, is it… How should I act? What do I tell her?” she asks in a frenzy. 

“Calm down, it’s going to be fine. Just be yourself, okay?”

“I’m about to meet your ex wife, don’t tell me–”

“Hello!” Frankie walks out with a warm smile and Y/N’s eyes go wide at first, but then she regains control over her face. “You must be Y/N, I’m Francesca, but call me Frankie.” She extends her hand towards Y/N which she takes.

“So nice to meet you, I’ve heard so much about you!”

“So have I,” Frankie chuckles. 

“I hope only the good things,” she chuckles awkwardly, throwing a look at Harry, who is just watching the scene unfolding with an amused smirk on his face.

“Why don’t we have a drink and I’ll tell you everything he told me about you,” Frankie smirks.

“Yeah, sure!” 

Harry lets them get to know each other, though he keeps an eye on them while tending to the birthday party as well. Just as he thought, Y/N had no reason to worry about meeting Frankie, five minutes into their chit-chat and they are already laughing like old friends. 

The party is a huge success, the kids have fun and Harlow will surely remember her eighth birthday. When all the guests have left and Harlow said goodbye to her mom who headed out to the airport, it’s just Harry, Y/N and the two girls. Harlow and Robin are watching a movie in the living room while Y/N helps Harry to clean up most of the mess.

“So, meeting Frankie wasn’t that bad after all, huh?” Harry teases her while they’re loading the dishwasher. 

“I never thought it would be bad, I was just nervous. She is obviously an important person in your and Harlow’s life, I wanted her to like me,” she clarifies.

“It’s impossible not to like you,” Harry smirks cheekily, making her laugh. 

“Maybe. For you,” she adds sheepishly. “Anyway, she was nice and welcoming, it wasn’t awkward at all.”

“Why would it have been awkward?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugs. “That’s what it’s like in the movies.”

“But it’s real life,” he chuckles. putting the last plate onto the rack and closing the washer. “I told you, we are on great terms. She has a partner too, actually, I think they will get engaged soon.”

“Oh, that’s great. Do you like the guy?”

“Yeah,” he nods, starting the washer and then he leans against the counter, folding his arms over his chest. “Mateo is a nice guy, he’s a doctor too. Neurosurgeon. So I guess they are perfect for each other. He’s great with Harlow too and that’s what matters to me. I’m sure Frankie thinks the same about you.”

“I hope so.”

“I know it, Y/N. So don’t worry,” he smiles and peeking over her shoulder he checks if the girls can see them. When he’s sure they’re not in sight, he leans down and steals a short, but meaningful kiss. “Can I ask you something? And please tell me if it’s too fast, I want to do this right.”

“Okay,” she nods.

“When do you think we should tell the kids about us?”

“Well,” she exhales with a tiny smile. “I think they are already suspecting something.”

“How do you know?”

“Robin asked the other day if you and Harlow will spend Christmas with us since, and I quote, we already spend as much time together as a couple.”

“Oh wow, they really are smarter than we think,” Harry chuckles. “I guess we could come clean soon, what do you think?”

“Definitely. I want to be honest with Robin. We can sit down with them sometime. But I want Dylan to be there too. I don’t want him to find out about it from Robin.”

“Of course, sure.”

Before he turns to finish up in the kitchen she grabs his hand and pulls back for another, tad bit longer kiss that he accepts gladly, even with the risk of getting caught.

“Thank you,” she whispers when they pull apart.

“For what?”

“For… being so amazing. And giving me faith that I can still find happiness.”

Next weekend the girls are invited for their first ever sleepover to a classmate’s home, so Harry and Y/N can have a night to themselves finally. It’s been a hectic week, so they agreed to just stay in, watch a movie and relax together. This time it’s Y/N’s turn to host their romantic evening, so they are spending Saturday evening cuddled up on her couch, ready to rewind.

They are halfway into their choice of movie when Y/N’s phone starts ringing. Normally, she would ignore it, but when she sees that Dylan is calling her, she snatches the phone from the table and answers the call.

“Hey hun, everything alright?” she asks, knowing well Dylan only has a phone for emergencies and he wouldn’t call if it wasn’t important. 

Harry can’t hear the boy on the other end, but he can tell whatever Dylan is saying it’s putting Y/N on alerted mom mode instantly.

“I’ll pick you up right now, don’t worry,” she says, already jumping up from the couch. “Just stay right there, I’m on my way, honey.”

“What happened?” Harry asks, rushing after Y/N as she hurriedly starts putting on shoes and a jumper, still staying in line with Dylan. She covers the mic of her phone as she answers quickly. 

“Will left him home alone, he went to the store to get himself food, but he locked himself out and Will is not answering his phone.”

She’s mad. Big time. It’s the type of anger that turns any mother into mama bear mode.

“I’m going with you, you can’t drive like this,” he says, not asks.

“Thank you,” she breathes out before turning her attention back to the phone. “I’ll be right there, Dylan, okay? Stay on the phone with me.”

She talks to him on the phone while Harry is driving according to her instructions and he’s trying his best to keep his cool and stay in his line. He knows this is a family matter, but he’s fighting the urge to punch Will if he ever sees him. 

“There, pull over,” Y/N points at a house and Harry spots Dylan sitting on the stairs at the front door, obviously shaken up.

Y/N practically jumps out of the car before it even stops, running towards the boy who does the same and lets his mom wrap him in her arms tight and safely, it’s exactly where he belongs. Harry gets out as well, approaching carefully, making sure he keeps distance and gives them space.

“Come on, I got the spare keys, let’s pack your stuff. You’re coming home.”

For probably the first time in a long time, he doesn’t argue, just nods and follows his mom to the door that she locks with her set of keys Will gave him for emergencies. This surely qualifies as one. Glancing back she nods at Harry to follow and he oblies, staying in the foyer as the two of them disappear further in the house. 

The place looks like a typical bachelor home, not too much furniture, no home décor, but a giant TV in the living room with several game consoles. It’s obviously not a place where kids should be around, there’s nothing homey, warm and cozy and Harry can only guess, but something is telling him Dylan’s room looks similar to the rest of the house. 

He can faintly hear them talking, maybe even Dylan crying as Y/N softly soothes him while they’re probably packing his things. Harry stays by the door, but when he sees a pair of headlights pulling up on the driveway, he stiffens.

“Y/N? I think someone’s home!” he calls out, watching a guy get out of the car. From what Harry can see through the window, he looks confused at first and then pissed when he reaches the front door and walks in, facing Harry in his house.

“Who the fuck are you?” he spits, his hands curling into fists. Before he could answer, Y/N rushes out of Dylan’s room.

“Are you out of your fucking mind? Where the hell were you?” she raises her voice in an instant, holding Will accountable for his actions.

“What are you doing here and who the hell is this clown?” Will ignores her questions, gesturing towards Harry.

“You left your son home alone for almost a whole day with no food!” 

“I left a few dollars on the dining table,” he shrugs, like it’s truly no big deal.

“Yeah! And he went to the store to get something when you’ve been away for fucking hours and locked himself out! You didn’t answer his calls! He called me crying, because he couldn’t reach you, do you think that’s how a father should act? Huh?”

“I had shit to do! I couldn’t bring him with me, what’s the big deal about it? He’s fine!” Will retorts pointing at a frightened looking Dylan down the hallway. 

“No, he is not fine! And don’t fucking believe I’m leaving him here with you. He told me all about the shit you’ve been doing. I’m gonna make legal actions to limit your time with him and Robin as well. You screwed it up, Will. Big time.”

The switch in him can be seen, where he turns into full defensive mode, ready to tear anything and anyone down to have his ways, no matter the consequences. 

“Oh yeah? You think you can just do whatever you want, Y/N?”

“No, it’s you who thinks that’s how it works!”

“You will not keep my kids away from me!” he starts shouting. “Do you hear me? You can’t do that!”

“Actually, I can and I will! I’m done with your shit and so are the kids, believe me.”

Despite the weight of the situation, Harry feels his chest swell with pride seeing Y/N stand her ground, not letting Will throw everything on her.

“Come on, Dylan, we’re leaving, bring your bag,” she calls out to the boy who runs into his room to grab his stuff, appearing a moment later.

“No, you are not walking out of here with him!” Will snaps, grabbing Y/N’s arm and that’s when Harry steps in.

Taking Will by the shoulder, Harry pulls him back, the action takes him by surprise and makes him let go of her, but it just pumps up his anger.

“Get your hands off me!” Will spits, puffing his chest to try to intimidate Harry, but there’s no use. 

“Right after you get your hands off of her,” he retorts, calm and collected, but his eyes are throwing flames.

“You have the nerve to come to my house and tell me what to do with my wife?!”

“I’m not your wife anymore, and this madness is ending here,” Y/N tells him harshly. She holds out a hand and Dylan runs up to her, taking her hand, clinging onto it desperately as he tries to avoid looking at his father. 

“Dylan, you really want to go with your mother? Think of all the fun we’ve had!” Now Will sounds more desperate as he follows Y/N and Dylan towards the door, but Harry gets between him and them before Will could get physical again.

He tries to stop them on their way out, following them to the car too, his emotions switching by the minute: anger, despair, sadness, disgust, he goes through everything, but nothing can stop Y/N now.

“You really think you can just take my kids away from me like that? Huh?” Will starts shouting when Dylan is in the car and they are just about to leave. Y/N turns back to end the discussion in a calm manner. 

“I know that the court will love to hear about all the shit you’ve done. Try fighting me and I will make sure you’ll never see your kids again.”

Will is stunned from the strength and power oozing from Y/N and it leaves him frozen in his spot as she gets in the car and drives away with Dylan and Harry.

Arriving back home Harry stays back and lets Y/N focus on Dylan. They have a talk in his room while Harry cleans up the mess they left before rushing out of the house. When an hour later Y/N comes down he can tell she’s tired and drained.

“Thank you for cleaning up,” she smiles as she walks over and he pulls her into his embrace right away. She melts into his arms gladly, dropping the tough act and letting him be her safe haven after everything that happened.

“How’s Dylan?”

“Confused and disappointed. I wish he never had to see Will like that. He used to be his hero, this was a turning point.”

“He’s a great kid, he’ll get over it and he has you.” He kisses the crown of her head before pulling back so give her an encouraging smile that she returns. “I’m gonna head out, let you get some rest.”

“Okay,” she nods and leaning closer, she kisses his lips gently. “Thank you for… everything.”

“I’m happy to be here for you. Anytime.”

“I know,” she smiles softly. “That’s why… that’s why I love you.”

Her words take him by surprise, but then his heart starts hammering in his chest as he stares back at her.

“I love you too,” he breathes out before their lips meet again.

It's a staring match and Harry and Y/N are definitely losing.

Sitting next to each other, the couple is now facing the three most important people in their life. Harlow, Robin and Dylan are sitting in silence, waiting for the announcement that brought them together this Saturday afternoon. 

Y/N bumps her elbow against Harry’s side, urging him to break the silence. He clears his throat and finally starts talking.

“So, we wanted to tell you guys something. We believe all three of you are mature enough to take the news and we hope you’ll be happy about it.”

Harlow and Robin exchange a knowing look, but they let him carry on. 

“You might have noticed that we’ve been spending a lot of time together. It’s because we’ve become great friends and… and slowly we became… You know, when adults get closer they can easily fall… Um…”

He is not doing good, rambling, all over the place, feeling more nervous than ever as the three kids stare back at him expectantly. At last, Y/N takes the lead.

“We’re together. As a couple,” she says, ending Harry’s misery to find the right words. 

They remain silent for a few moments that feel excruciating to Harry and then the girls start giggling.

“What’s so funny?” Harry questions them.

“We were just wondering how long it would take for you to admit it,” Harlow sassily replies.

“We’ve known it for a while,” Robin chimes in.

“You might have suspected it, but I don’t think you’ve known,” Y/N narrows her eyes at them.

“We saw you kissing the other week,” Dylan speaks up, surprising Y/N and Harry. They’ve been trying to be very careful, but it seems like they did not succeed.

“Um, well… So then now you know for sure,” Harry chuckles. “How do you feel about it?”

“Does this mean we’re sisters now?” Harlow asks, her face lighting up.

“Not really. Not yet, at least,” Y/N chuckles. 

“Oh, okay.”

“Are we gonna move in together?” Dylan asks and Y/N can tell he is not ready for that.

“No. We’re not planning to do that anytime soon, don’t worry. But we want to spend more time together, with you guys as well. So Harry might spend the night at ours sometimes or when you two are with dad, I might be sleeping over at his place,” she explains.

“Okay,” Dylan nods in relief.

The kids have a few more questions that they gladly answer and it seems like they are taking it well. When the talk is over, the kids take over the trampoline in the backyard, giving Harry and Y/N a moment of privacy.

“That went well,” he smirks proudly.

“Oh, you mean you did so great rambling in the beginning?” she teases him. “I agree.”

“Haha, very funny,” he rolls his eyes, but can’t hold his smirk back. 

“It went well, you’re right,” she says. “But I’m not surprised.”

“What do you mean?”

“Everything about you is perfect,” she smiles up at him, knowing well how much he loves getting praised. 

“Mm, guess we can thank the girls. That bake sale truly brought us together,” he chuckles.

“That was the ultimate parent trap and they didn’t even know it,” she laughs, wrapping her arms around his waist before kissing him. 

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

[my-writings-and-musings]

I have another lovely commission to share! This one is a sequel to the last, with the Brave Police spending more time on the Lost Light to answer questions, and it's just as precious in my opinion!

"Now, now, there's room for everyone. Single file please!"

Ultra Magnus thankfully had ample experience and skill getting his voice to fill the entire classroom, and so the crowd was able to take their seats in a mostly organized fashion at last, filling up the entire room from back to front in short order. Scarcely a single bot on the ship wasn't present for the day's presentation, and one glance at the tightly packed rows of tables made that obvious. No one wanted to miss the long awaited event.

At the head of the classroom, Ultra Magnus murmured about the ill manners being displayed to their guests before nodding at the bots in question. Sitting in their own row at the raised stage, the Brave Police looked like a full representation of all the reactions possible for the center of attention. Some were happy, others flustered, and a few quite casual about all the fuss. Deckerd, ever the responsible leader, held his small collection of notes tightly as he nodded in return to the much bigger bot. Rodimus took that as his cue to hop on stage.

With a single whistle, the captain reduced the fog of chatter to absolute silence, something he took with a proud smile before speaking. 

"Alright, everybot, you know the drill! The Brave Police have been kind enough to agree to this little Q and A panel, so let's show them the proper courtesy while they're up here." he announced happily, looking about the crowd and lingering his optics on a few potentially troublesome bots in particular. Making sure to use his Captain voice, he leveled a serious look at each as he issued his warning. "That means no talking unless you get called, and no hogging the mic when it's your turn."

"Discipline will be administered if anyone breaks these rules." Ultra Magnus said, finalizing the warning with an undeniably serious threat. Beyond a few nervous glances, the room remained frozen in total silence after the big bot went back to his dutiful watch. No one present would dare risk incurring the wrath of Ultra Magnus, not even for the questions that they wanted answered more than anything. 

"Sooo…" Rodimus interjected, taking back the stage briefly to try and bring some life back into the event. Gesturing to the main guests, he gave the best parting warm up he could before stepping off the stage. "Without further ado, I'm going to give the show over to them. All yours, Deckerd!"

Clearing his throat politely, the police cruiser stood up on his spot, briefly taking hold of the rim on his hat-like helm accent as he often did when nervous. Taking hold of his notes, he spoke up with the somewhat ineffectual tone of a practiced but uncom public speaker.

"To start, we would all like to offer our thanks! For everything you've done, and for allowing us this opportunity, you have our deepest gratitude." the well mannered bot said humbly, briefly glancing at Rodimus for a flash of pointed thanks before returning to his notes. The captain couldn't help but puff up a little, quite proud of his suggestion all over again, but he was otherwise still and silent as he watched. 

"Now, I understand you have many questions, and we are happy to answer them as a group or individuals." he explained, looking to his teammates for group confirmation. Each gave some form of assent, ranging from Duke's proper and stiff nod to Gunmax putting his pedes on the table with a vague gesture of agreement. Deckerd merely narrowed his optics for an instant before returning his smile to the crowd. "Through the system, I will begin the process of selection!"

A button on the desk, intended as a method of selecting students to answer questions, was activated. Every bot froze in anticipation that they might be selected first, with each hoping they might be the lucky winner. Magnus had mandated the algorithm select at random to prevent any cries of unfair choice for good reason…

So of course it was quite fitting that Whirl of all bots get the first question.

A group groan was cut off by another Magnus stare, yet the orderly mech was clearly beyond apprehensive at the possible chaos about to unfold. Uncaring of the tension his selection created for the crew, Whirl merely cleared his vents and stood up with obvious purpose, having planned his potential query well in advance of the moment. Looking to the bots on stage, his optic betrayed little emotion as he spoke. "So uh, were you guys actually built by humans? From scratch? Processor and all?"

There was an immediate cringe amongst the entire crew, as the question was immeasurably rude by Cybertronian standards, but the Brave Police didn't flinch. 

"Yes!" Deckerd replied happily, completely unaffected by the cultural faux pas he'd just had directed his way. "Each of us was constructed by the Japanese police force, starting with myself."

"Except for Duke, he was made by the Scotland Yard." McCrane specified, drawing attention to the brightly colored and reserved mech at the end. The attention actually seemed to fluster Duke, who flashed an expression of surprise to be singled out before dropping his gaze and quietly confirming the fact.

"That is correct."

There was a moment of mixed murmuring amongst the crowd, with Whirl looking satisfied to have gotten his answer along with getting the ball rolling, and he sat down to allow the next bot a turn. It took just as little time for the next selection to occur as the first. 

"How recently was that, exactly?" Swerve said, looking confused but happy to be the central figure of the moment. It was a much less disrespectful question by Cybertronian standards than the first, and the bots on stage appeared equally content to answer it.

"As of this date, it has been four years and five months since my activation." Deckerd replied casually, unintentionally sending a wave of disbelief through the entire room. This mature, well rounded bot was barely more than a protoform?! 

"We were constructed seven months later." McCrane said, speaking for the Build Team with a gesture that only deepened the shock in the room. Deckerd was young even by human standards, yet he was still the oldest one on the team? How young was the newest among them?

"Shadow Maru was next, by about a year, then six months later I joined up!" Drill Boy declared loudly, loving the surprise each answer drew from the crowd. Gunmax, equally a fan of stirring things up, smirked confidently as he leaned back in his chair. 

"I haven't even been kicking around for a year." he declared smugly, adding to the shock of the bots several times over. Sure, Cybertronians were ready to go in mere hours, but no one had been born in so long… to be confronted by a mechanical being so young was nearly unfathomable. Not to mention that the oldest among them was still so inexperienced! A fresh wave of hushed gossip washed over those assembled, only to fade out into silent anticipation as the next opportunity for a question presented itself.

"What kind of criminals are you fighting? Most of the time, anyway." a bot in back asked, making the Brave Police perk up as a group. Like anyone, the opportunity to retell their adventures was hardly one they'd ever pass up, and even the humble Deckerd was a little boastful as he set up their panel to reply.

"Our division is uniquely suited to handle threats too powerful for humans to safely combat. The criminals we face have a multitude of motives, and it is not uncommon for us to face creatures designed to cause maximum destruction. I will allow my team to recount some of these events in greater detail." he said, opening up the discussion with a smile and a nod. There was a shift in the classroom as if every being leaned forward at once in anticipation.

"The underground bug people were my first mission!" Drill Boy announced proudly, unintentionally creating far more questions than he could have ever hoped to answer in a single sentence. Gobsmacked expressions were shared all through the crew, even by Ultra Magnus and Rodimus at the front. While they'd figured their new friends got into some wild adventures, like themselves, there was clearly so much more to the group than they'd let on… 

"There was a giant moth one time." Dumpson recalled thoughtfully, only adding fuel to the fire with his calm expression of thoughtful recollection.

"Don't forget the giant panda." McCrane said helpfully, the tiniest hint of a smile hinting that he was perfectly well aware of the reactions they were getting. Rodimus had to admire the skillful stirring of the pot. Some bots were taking notes now, especially as the list continued to grow and the Brave Police grew no less unpredictable in their retellings. Brief tidbits about mind control, ghosts, aliens and cults were undoubtedly going to spawn some incredible conversations at Swerve's later on.

Drill Boy finished the segment with a beaming smile. "Without the Boss, I don't think we'd have been able to catch that brainwashing nun!"

While every single adventure would have probably called for a panel of questions in its own right, that statement alone made for an excellent segway into something every single Lost Light bot had been curious about, and the moment the next bot was selected they said what everyone was thinking. "Who's this "Boss" we keep hearing about? Are they a bot like you?"

"Our Boss Yuuta Tomonaga is a human boy, and the first being I ever met. He became my first and most trusted companion." Deckerd replied, smiling affectionately at the description. It had been clear from the onset he cared deeply for his mysterious "Boss", yet most had assumed them to be something like an Amica, or perhaps an older mentor bot. To hear they were a human, and one that sounded exceptionally young at that…? Deckerd recognized the confusion, and while obviously a little bashful to be so open, he was more than happy to talk about the achievements of his dearest friend. "I owe him my life, several times over."

"Many of us have gained human friendships." Power Joe said helpfully, taking some of the pressure off their leader and bringing the attention to himself. Not missing the opportunity to brag, he gestured proudly to himself. "I've befriended many of Yuuta's classmates, they see me as a superhero!"

"Yuuta's sisters are compatriots of mine." Shadow Maru said in a polite and subtle one up, setting the stage for the others to continue naming their friends. 

"Hmph, I'm the only one besides Deckerd to have called Yuuta by his first name." Drill Boy bragged.

"Colonel Seia has taught me much through our professional relationship." McCrane said calmly, returning the focus to one of individual bonds over boasting. Unfortunately, Dumpson chuckled and quickly took aim at the comment.

"Are you sure it's entirely professional?"

McCrane froze for a second, optics widening and face flushing, before he calmly folded his hands on the table and replied. "I could say the same of you and Ayako."

"I suppose Shunsuke and I get along okay." Gunmax said somewhat dismissively, cutting off Dumpson before he could stammer out something he'd regret. The fact that every bot seemed to have a complex and long standing relationship with humans was quite the surprise to many crewmembers, especially those who only knew the species from second hand accounts. The Brave Police weren't too different from Cybertronians, so if they could find friends amongst Earth's inhabitants, maybe it was possible for everyone? More than a few of those in the audience were considering visiting to see for themselves when the attention turned to the only member who hadn't given an answer. 

Lowering his helm to hide his optics from view, Duke appeared to be blushing as he spoke into his microphone, his volume barely more than a murmur as he did so.

"My Lady, Regina, is very important to me…"

While the statement undoubtedly had plenty to unpack, Deckerd mercifully chose to move on, selecting the next lucky audience member. Tailgate stood up in a flash, getting up on his chair and raising his arm so everyone could see him. Smiling with excitement, he was nevertheless quite polite in his tone when he asked his question. "You can transform, right? What are your altmodes?"

"I transform into a police cruiser." Deckerd said simply, earning some nods of approval from the audience. That was a fairly solid alternate mode, from their perspective, and fit quite well with his appearance and abilities. As the team each volunteered their own altmode, there was little fanfare.

"I'm a dump truck."

"My alternate mode is called a power shovel."

McCrane was the first to smile, though his good humor was shared when he gave his answer. "A crane, fittingly enough."

"I have two; a drill and a jet!" Drill Boy declared with a puffed out chest, and the mood went from calm to shocked all over again. Though he had no concept of a triple changer, the young bot knew that having a plurality of modes was special, and the audible gasps confirmed his guess. Rodimus cast Drift a look of surprise from the stage, speaking without words as they so often did. Not only did this guy have two altmodes, but a drill and a jet? Could you get any more wild? Drift replied with an equally stunned but good natured shrug.

"Like Deckerd, I transform into a police cruiser." Shadow Maru said simply, giving his younger friend a look that drew out a very unhappy pout. Sitting up with a smile, he continued and made very clear why his companion was so upset, and in doing so only made the room erupt once more. "I can also take the form of a tank, a jet, and a canine."

Gasps filled the classroom, and even Ultra Magnus was too shocked to silence them, his jaw dropping in total disbelief at what he'd just heard. Five modes?! Not only that, he was a beastformer to boot?! The ninjabot smiled somewhat smugly at the reactions, getting a few looks from his friends that ranged from jealous to bemused as whispered conversations rushed through the bots. Most had never even heard of such an ability, and yet here he was, a bot from earth with so much talent! Several made a note to ask him for tips as Duke took advantage of the chaos to get his simple reply out of the way.

"I am an ambulance."

The medics of the ship all shared a look at what only they seemed to hear, wondering if perhaps the shy bot knew a few things about human medicine he might share with them later. In the murmurs that followed, however, there came a considerable silence as everyone realized the most anticipated answer had not yet been given.

Gunmax leaned back further in his seat, making a face few could decipher when all the attention zeroed in on him. Pretending to cough, he spoke just loudly enough for his mic to pick up his answer. "Don't have one." 

Somebot made a comment about "Monoformers'' before Deckerd stepped in, reading the emotions of his friend as well as the room to skillfully redirect them. It saved Rodimus the trouble of jumping in to make an example of the bot who'd made the comment. 

"Gunmax typically has a motorbike, one that he can merge with to form a very powerful weapon." he explained, looking at the visor that allowed the mech in question to hide so many of his emotions. A flash of gratitude behind the veneer of apathy allowed him to continue with a smile. "When I combine with J-Decker, I can utilize that weapon for defeating extremely powerful foes."

"We can also combine!" Drill Boy added enthusiastically, pointing to the Build Team and perking up the entire crowd with references to "combining" of all things. Combiners were a precious rarity amongst their own kind, could the humans have truly mastered such technology in addition to multiforming?

"Yes, Dumpson, Power Joe and myself form the Build Tiger." McCrane replied helpfully, gesturing to the group of them and further compounding the confusion. How could they all transform into a single entity, their colors didn't even match! Not only that, but the name absolutely baffled those who had been to earth and those who hadn't. The crane bot only continued his talk and further confounded his audience. "With Drill Boy, our abilities are increased, and we form the Super Build Tiger."

Deckerd, wanting to discuss other things, was granted mercy when he selected Brainstorm via the system.

"What kind of energy do your weapons fire?" he asked, having observed the holsters and folded rifles some of them carried. Being intensely curious as to whether earth had progressed beyond the initial steps of plasma based projectiles, he waited eagerly for a reply.

"Most are based on shells, similar to what humans utilize but on a larger scale." Deckerd said, helpfully taking out his pistol to show what he meant. Metallic bullets fell from the chamber and into his cupped palm, unintentionally shocking the scientist and the more ballistic trained crewmembers. Primitive lead based projectiles, fired by simple chemical reactions?! How were these bots just as intelligent as themselves but defending their lives with the Cybertronian equivalent of stone age technology?!

"Yes, that's what my shotgun fires." McCrane added, patting the sizable weapon on his back as Brainstorm noted a million potential improvements he might offer before they left. 

Shadow Maru, somewhat for the sake of dry comedic effect, unsheathed a blade from his back and shrugged as he held it up. "Personally, I prefer swords." 

Laughter rippled through the audience, though Rodimus caught the clear sight of Drift looking far more like he wanted to applaud the other bot who seemed to gel so well with him. Unable to keep a grin off his face at the friendship forming before his optics, the captain considered setting up a communication line on earth so they could all stay in touch going forward. 

"Where do you all live?" a shy bot said when selected next, bringing to mind how their home planet didn't seem to be built for beings as large as themselves. 

"I stay with Yuuta each night, in the garage. His family has made it my personal home, and I keep them safe." Deckerd replied, describing the situation quite wistfully despite the uncertain expressions that flashed before him. The idea of staying within a single room, like a machine for storage… even bots who didn't mind resting in their altmode couldn't wrap their heads around the idea.

"The rest of us stay at the base, but we're free to go where we please when not on duty." McCrane added, wanting to dispel any ideas that they were at all confined. His words did indeed provide some reassurance, especially considering that a few had been considering "liberating" their new friends if necessary.

"When we travel for work, we live wherever we can." Dumpson said, recalling the many times they'd each had to go across the planet undercover. That notion was quite relatable to the group of travelers, especially those who had gone long periods of time without any home to speak of. Needing to find somewhere suitable while moving undercover had been their existence for years.

Gunmax perked up a little at the topic sitting forward a bit so he could be heard as he extolled the wonders of driving around on his bike. "The roads go on for miles, and some have pretty nice views."

When the next question was called, the Brave Police as a group found it was their turn to be surprised. 

"Do you like earth?"

In another turn of events that no one could have predicted, it was Duke who spoke up first, saying his piece simply but confidently before returning to his usual silence.

"It is the only planet we've ever known, and I would have it no other way."

"Earth has everything dear to us." Deckerd confirmed, a barely contained gleam of pride shining from his optics, both for their home and his friend. Everything about the planet was dear to him, from the life that flourished there to the people who had made him, and he wasn't at all ashamed to say as much. That was something each and every member of the Brave Police could agree on, and in order, they all expressed the same sentiment. 

"Earth has everything we could ever want." McCrane added plainly, looking like he wanted to say more but was held back by his own reservations. The simple smile on his face spoke volumes for him, thankfully. His past mentions of friendship and more with humans resonated deeply with certain bots in the audience. 

"We fight lots of bad guys, but that's to keep all the good humans safe, and they're more than worth it." Dumpson said, sharing a glance with Power Joe, who immediately agreed. The big bots many small friends made his answer and confirmation quite easy.

"Most of the people that live there like us, and we like them too. They have a lot to teach us." he said, recalling his love for martial arts as well as everything else he'd ever been passionate about. The need for patience, the importance of seeing the bright side of life, mentoring the younger beings around oneself… Speaking of the younger, Drill Boy jumped in to reply with his own experiences.

"They've invented all kinds of cool games and sports for us to play!" he said happily, tapping the soccer ball in his chest to emphasize his point. The sport was a genuine passion for him, and without humans he wouldn't have it to enjoy. Slightly more bittersweet thoughts of the many adventures he'd had, and the beings he'd met and lost, but wouldn't trade for anything made him smile far more softly. Tapping his digits together, he added a soft addendum to make his point. "Plus they make lots of other cool things."

"There's not much better than going for a drive on earth, or watching the sunset." Gunmax said in agreement, nodding and closing his optics as he played the memories in his mind. The crew talked plenty about their home of Cybertron, and while it sounded wonderful, he doubted anything could ever surpass his home. One of his first memories was going for a drive on a beautiful day, and he didn't believe any planet could ever offer anything more. Not that he'd be opposed to visiting somewhere else...

"It's our home, and it always will be." Deckerd concluded, unintentionally making the crowd a little emotional with his dedication. A far quieter whisper of conversations briefly passed through them all, this time centered almost entirely on the planet in question. Sure, these bots hadn't ever known another world, but they made their own sound quite wonderful. The many who'd never had a chance to see earth were suddenly feeling quite a bit of longing and curiosity of their own. When the quiet descended once again and Deckerd selected the next bot, the query was hardly a surprise.

"Can we come visit you all sometime?"

The entire team exchanged a look, and Deckerd glanced at Rodimus with the kind of knowing smiles leaders could share when they knew what was happening. While the logistics of such a thing would be a nightmare, there could be no denying the eager faces all around, and any potential benefits were far too great to ignore. Though it would be an impossible amount of work, they both nodded to one another in agreement.

"We would be honored to have you as guests, just as you have taken us into your home."

[hypnomicimagines]

☂️Rainy Day Blues☂️[Nurude Sasara]☂️

Oh, how tragedy loved to strike Sasara when he least expected it.

He had been walking to your house with an extra pep in his step, the fresh bouquet he’d picked up along the way only lifting his mood. He was stuck in daydreams even before he reached you, thinking about how lovely you’d look that night and how he couldn’t wait to do the little things like hold your hand as you were on the way to your date destination. He thought that nothing could possibly dampen his happiness, that him finally confessing after years of being in relationship purgatory had made him see the brighter side of any situation, but it seemed he still had blinders on in some aspects. His parade was about to be rained on.

Literally.

Sasara didn’t know where the icy rain had come from but it hit him like a sack of bricks, goosebumps rising on his skin as his leisurely walk turned into a marathon run as he made his way to your apartment complex. He hadn’t checked the weather forecast, who did that anymore? Clearly Sasara’s hubris had upset the weather Gods as he caught sight of himself in a window, no longer looking like your handsome suitor but a sad clown that had just walked through a door with a bucket of water precariously balanced on top of it. The bouquet is just as pathetic as he is, and hey, aren’t flowers supposed to like water? Why were they drooping like that? You’d probably laugh in his face when you saw them.

You did.

He had to get you back somehow for laughing at his plight despite the fact your laughter had quickly washed away every negative emotion he’d previously been feeling. He had to get you back somehow and decided to show you his best ‘wet dog’ impersonation, shaking his hair out in your doorway and giving you a little preview of what it was like outside. The rain had only started to come down harder, thunder and lightning being added to the mix, meaning it was unlikely the date would continue as planned. Not to mention his hair which he had spent an entire three minutes and seven seconds on was now a poofed out mess due to how he chose to dry out his hair, not that you seemed to mind. You laughed again at his saggy bouquet, telling him you loved it no matter how pathetic it looked (he hoped that was the last time he ever heard that).

“We can just spend the night in. Why do you look so excited that I said that? Did you think I’d tell you to walk home?”

“I’d never accuse you of something so cold-hearted!”

“Good, I’m glad to see the rain hasn’t washed away your remaining brain cell. Come in and change your clothes, too, as much as I love seeing you be a complete eyesore, I don’t want you to catch a cold.”

“Shouldn’t you stripping me of my clothes wait until after dinner? Not that I mind.”

“You know what… Maybe walking home in the rain is just what you need. Maybe you’ll get struck by lightning and have some sort of epiphany that’ll make you funny.”

“Now you really sound like Rosho,” Sasara sighed out, fighting the smile that wanted to break out on his face so he could keep up the ‘hurt’ façade he was putting on, “To think that the person I love most would say such things to me… I’ll go back outside to hide my tears!”

“Bye.”

You closed the door behind him as he stepped into your apartment, heading straight to your bedroom and thinking about how he had essentially done a speed run of the date. He hadn’t suspected he’d be here until a little bit later but he couldn’t say he was complaining as you joined him, digging through your drawers for some spare clothes that he had left behind the various other times he’d stayed over on a whim. He purposely left his clothes with you just so you’d always have something to remember him by, weaseling his way into your heart first and now your home, hoping that he might even get a whole draw just for his stuff one day. His apartment was certainly the winner with its scenic view but since you had yet to talk about the whole ‘moving in’ thing, he decided he’d get you used to the idea by leaving random things of his behind so you were used to it when it finally did happen.

“Here you go.” You set the clothes down on the counter, taking a second to admire how cute he looked with a wet mop of hair on his head, reaching over to run your fingers through it just for good measure, “I’d say take a shower but I don’t actually want you struck by lightning.”

“But you seem to like my hair so much… It could become a permanent fixture with the help of electricity.”

“I do like it,” You confirmed, smiling as you stroked his hair fondly, Sasara’s heart pounding loudly in his chest, “Almost as much as I like you. Get changed while I try to find some candles. I can’t imagine we’re going to have power too long so…”

You spoke the unfortunate lightning strike into existence that completely knocked out anything electrical in the apartment building and part of Sasara wonders if you had spoken the rain into existence, too. Had this been your plan all along? Had you wanted to just trap him in your room from the get-go, using him for your own needs and then discarding him afterward? Sasara considered suggesting that type of supervillain roleplay on a less romantic night but for now his head was still in the clouds, wanting to do simple things like hold your hand and cuddle against you, sucking the warmth out of you as he had no spare warmth to give at this point.

“Y-You’re cold!” Sasara had reached out to touch you when the lights had first gone out, wanting to assure you were still there and okay first, “Just be careful as you get changed! I’ll be right back!”

You’re only gone about ten minutes but it’s so painfully lonely in the bathroom without you, Sasara already thinking about the letter he’d write to you if you had gone off to war. He would be the lonely maiden waiting by the window, longing to see their love again, dramatically falling to the ground as he received the news that you had passed away. He was already thinking about how he’d meet your ghost in the afterlife to confirm he never fell in love again when you entered the bathroom, face highlighted by a small candle that he’s almost positive he had gifted you.

“Come on, come on! It’s a little better in the living room and the blankets are all out.” You moved the candle to one hand and reached down to grab his, fingers lacing together without words having to even be exchanged. “I don’t want you getting lost.”

“The only place I’ll get lost is in your eyes, beautiful.”

“Have I ever told you that you’re lucky you’re cute? Because you’re sooo lucky you’re cute!” He can tell from your tone that there’s a wide smile on your face, the one that made him feel like the most successful comedian in the world. Getting you to laugh was no easy task and you had never been one to show him even a dollop of mercy when it came to his material but it made it all the more worth it when he got to hear you laugh. Every time you laughed an angel grew its wings, that’s how the saying went, right? It doesn’t matter as his brain is entirely centered around you and only you, especially as the two of you seat yourselves on your ridiculously comfortable couch.

“I don’t know what we’ll eat… It’s gonna be cold and sad.”

“As long as we’re not cold and sad, it’s fine, right?”

“Fair enough.”

His arm wrapped around you as you threw your legs across his lap, the blanket quickly following suit as you curled up into his side. You wondered how many people would be surprised that Mr. Tragic Comedy was not only a total romantic but a stage five clinger, unlikely to give you a moment alone now that you had both finally settled in together. Sasara valued his privacy from time to time but when it came to you, it seemed his social battery could never run out; he wanted to be around you, to be with you, to be touching you and talking to you as much as he possibly could.

“What should we do?” Sasara quickly grew uncomfortable with the silence and you felt bad for your boyfriend, knowing his anxiety tended to spike in the silence. You wished you had something to act as white noise in the background but it seemed all you could do to distract him was talk, or listen to a slew of jokes that would have you standing in the rain rather than being in your own apartment if they were on par with the normal puns he liked to deliver.

“Tell me about your day before you got here. Did you talk to Rosho about your birthday plans?”

Sasara is grateful for the conversation starter as once he’s begun to talk, he’s adept at not shutting up again.  

It was going to be a long, rainy night, but at least you got to spend it together.

[youvebeenlivingfictional]

I’m Always Curious Part Twenty Seven

Previous Part | Next Part |  Masterlist Notes: I hope everyone’s having a good week 💕

Sooo..... How are we doing................ Also for this week, new character incoming, the person I was picturing when I wrote Eli Durling is Michael Ealy, in case y’all want someone to picture

Warnings: ….Angst again I know my bad again

Also cursing and mentions of canon-typical violence Summary: I took the hands that were offered to me in introduction and did my damnedest to keep contact. 

“Jett Reno, engineering.” Engineering, how was it I always wound up rooming with someone from engineering?

--

The problem was, with my separation from the Enterprise and the wounds of Somonia still fresh, I found myself desperate for connection where my life had been voided of it. 

Jett, Tilly-- I took the hands that were offered to me in introduction and did my damnedest to keep contact. 

-- “What brought you to Starfleet?” I could tell by the strained way Jett was asking that she didn’t do small talk for fun the way Tilly did. I’d been on the Hiawatha for a couple of days and we’d hardly talked when we’d been in our quarters together. Neither of us had pushed to fill the silence. But now, Jett was making the effort to… Chat. Maybe it was an attempt to stop my harried pacing in the cramped craft, but I could hardly keep still. My first official mission was set to begin in just a few minutes-- I was piloting a new federation attack fighter with an experimental cloaking device into Klingon airspace for the purposes of picking up subspace chatter. The Hiawatha would be in range as it ferried the first few war-wounded to Starbase 515. As soon as I collected what transmissions I could, I was to return to the ship, and then we’d jump to maximum warp -- barring any complications. “... My dad was an attaché to the Federation when I was growing up. I was brought to a lot of planets when he had custody. And when I was home there were a lot of different languages around me. I was just... curious.” Jett grunted. “What about you?” I asked. “I was always taking shit apart when I was a kid,” Jett leaned away from the control panel, “I had a teacher at school that steered me to circuit analysis. Kicked off from there.” She pulled off her gloves, turning back to me. “Good thing she jumped in when she did, I was electrocuting myself like, once a week. My mom was a doctor, said electrocuting yourself is frowned upon.” I smiled a little bit, “You know, I’ve heard that.” “Apparently everyone but me had.” “When you joined Starfleet...You ever think you’d be doing something like this?” “Helping a language nerd fly into enemy space? Can’t say it was in my top five. Did you think you’d be a pilot?” I shook my head, shoving my hands into my pockets, “No. I always liked flight sims, but steering was the furthest thing from my mind. I had this...Grand idea of going to new planets, building bridges between cultures… Not getting my ass bounced from ship to ship to ship and keeping my head down in the hopes I don’t wind up on Admiral Cornwell’s bad side…” I sighed, shrugging, “But we put our dreams away.” Jett’s brows were furrowed, and I could see the question she wanted to ask, but instead asked: “You got a plan after this?” “After the mission?” “After the war.” I was quiet for a moment, turning to survey the control panel. “... I think I’d rather focus on what I’m gonna do after the mission, not get too far ahead of myself.” Jett pursed her lips, nodding a little bit, looking around. “You oughta get off of this vessel if you don’t wanna join me for its maiden voyage,” I warned. Jett grunted, picking up her toolkit and heading for the ramp. “Try not to get blown up out there,” She said over her shoulder, “I did good work on this ship.” “I’ll do my damnedest,” I called back. 

-- 

It became routine for Jett and I to chat before missions - occasionally making plans for what we would do once I got back. My missions tended to vacillate between two types: either a transmission intercept, or a mission type that protocol labeled a 22-9-14. 22-9-14 operations consisted of approaching a Klingon craft, deploying a tracking and transmission device, and piloting the hell out of there before any Warbirds could catch wise. It didn’t always work of course --  which was why Eli and I started calling 22-9-14s ‘Tag and Runs’. Lieutenant Commander Eli Durling was a security officer stationed on the Hiawatha for the purpose of handling Communications-based missions. I’d known of him while I was at the Academy. He had been a couple of years ahead of me, and we had a few mutual friends, but as we'd been focused in different course tracks, I'd never had occasion to really interact with him until now. He’d graduated top of his class, and had been stationed on a ship in the Mempa sector until the war had broken out. 

Durling reminded me of Pike, a little. When he wasn’t focused on the mission at hand, he was fairly easygoing, lighthearted, and made it a point to follow orders - when those orders were the right course of action in a given situation. Eli wasn’t above changing course mid-mission when something took a bad turn, and he wasn’t afraid to go to bat for me with command for doing the same, either. He covered my back, and I covered his. 

--

“You should see the job Durling did to his phaser canons,” Jett half-yelled, half-grumbled from under the control panel. I eyed where her legs were in view, just beside my pilot’s seat. “Something tells me the job was done by a Klingon Warbird and not by Eli himself.” “Well if he hadn’t gotten spotted by a Warbird, they wouldn’t have chased him, fired at him, and fucked up his phaser canons.” “...You might have a point there.” “I’m wounded, lieutenant,” I heard from just behind me, and I turned to see Eli ducking his head to step onto the craft. “I really hope you mean emotionally," I teased. Eli’s lips twitched into a smile, and I returned it. It was moments like this that his attractiveness was...Really not lost on me. He was handsome, with golden, copper brown skin and gentle blue eyes. His smile, which was turned at me now, was typically kind -- a kind smile that could turn flirtatious or teasing at the drop of a hat. “I’m broken up inside,” Eli reassured me. “Mm, mhm,” I nodded, “What’s going on?” “I’ve got some news.” “Is it that you learned how to fix your phaser canons yourself?” Jett asked, sitting up from under the console. “Sadly, no.” “Sadly? That’s not sadly no, that’s morbidly depressingly no,” Jett grumbled as she took my hand to help her up, “You have any idea how long it’s gonna take me to fix those when you inevitably fuck them up again?” “Well, not long at all. The lieutenant and I are being transferred.” Jett and I let that sink in in silence as the three of us stood in silence. It felt like a punch - but Reno recovered faster than I did. “...Well, godspeed to whoever takes you over, Durling. You’re an engineer’s worst nightmare.” 

“I’ll miss you, too, Reno,” Eli chuckled before turning to me, “We’ll be shipping out once you get back, as long as everything is status quo.” “Got it.” “Be careful out there.” “Yessir.”

I watched Eli go before I lowered my eyes, making a careful study of my shoes. I’d been on the Hiawatha for two months now. It was only just starting to feel… Not like the Enterprise, but like a safe space again. “Well,” I said after a moment, “Least you’ll be getting your room back to yourself.” “Looks like it,” Jett agreed, “Don’t get all mushy on me, huh?” I shook my head, pushing back my upset and flattening my expression before meeting her eye: “I was about to ask the same of you.” Jett nodded. “Would’ve been nice if we could’ve seen this through together.” “Would’ve,” I agreed quietly. “But we put our dreams away,” Jett reached out, slapping me on the shoulder before picking up her toolkit, “Don’t get blown up at the last minute. It would be a hell of an anti-climax.” 

--

I scrolled through the contacts on my PADD stilling over Sidhu, Thira for a moment. The little status bubble beside her name read ‘Active’. Despite the fact that Eli and I were stationed together on the USS Pinnacle, and had been for months, I was antsy for news of the Enterprise. I’d reached out to Cornwell for an update on the crew, but I had yet to get an answer from her. I couldn’t blame her. She was entrenched in strategy, but I was desperate for news -- especially after the news of the Hiawatha’s loss had reached us nearly a week after Eli and I had been re-stationed. 

I scrolled further down on the contacts list, tapping on the contact name for Tilly, Sylvia. I eyed the ‘Active’ bubble beside her name before tapping on the small video icon. I lifted the PADD up to my face, grinning when Tilly came into view. “Hi!” She greeted, waving. “Hey there. How are you?” I asked, shifting back on my bed. “Oh…” I watched Tilly glance at her surroundings before she answered, “Lorca’s on the warpath.” “The literal warpath or the metaphorical one?” Tilly laughed before sighing, “Both.” I winched, “Sorry, Tills.” “It’s not all awful,” She shrugged, “I have a roommate again, actually. Michael Burnham.” My brows rose. I knew of Michael Burnham - her name was splashed across briefings in relation to the war and the Battle of the Binary Stars. But I’d known of her, first and foremost, through Spock. He’d never spoken of her in honeyed tones, mind, but I knew that he regarded her highly. What was all of this doing to Spock? I couldn’t imagine him having to reason himself through this with limited intel from the Federation at such a distance-- “Hello? Hel-- Hello? Did I cut out? Am I frozen? Are you frozen?” I was jolted from my reverie at Tilly’s waterfall of questions. “I’m sorry,” I smiled, “Got distracted-- How’s the roomie situation?” “Well she frowned about as much as you did when you got on board.” “I warmed up.” “So did she,” Tilly smiled, and I relaxed a little, folding my legs up under myself. “Glad to hear it.” I looked away from my PADD as the doors to my room opened. “Hey, Eli,” I greeted. I saw Tilly’s eyes widen, and I glanced down to see her smoothing her hair down hurriedly. “Eli, you remember Tilly,” I added as he crossed to my bed - I’d introduced them on a previous call. “Course I do,” He smiled, sitting down beside me and giving the screen a wave, “Nice to see you again, Sylvia.” I grinned as a flush as red as her hair well up on Tilly’s cheeks. “Hi,” She answered, matching Eli’s wave. Her gaze was directed away from the screen as an announcement that I couldn’t make out crackled on her end. “Ahh-- I have to go,” She said hurriedly, turning back to the screen, “I’m sorry!” “No, don’t worry about it,” I shook my head, “Be careful.” “You guys, too!” Tilly chirped before hanging up. I looked down at the screen as it winked off. I eyed the contact for Sidhu, Thira, one more time before swiping away from my contacts. Eli leaned back against the wall, shifting further back on my bed. “If you put your shoes on my bed, Durling--” “I know the rules, kid,” He chuckled. I rolled my eyes. He’d taken to calling me that weeks ago, and I couldn't get him to shake it. “What’s got you in here, anyway?” I asked, “New mission?” “Can’t sleep.” I frowned, glancing over at Eli before I turned back to my messages. I had a new message, but where the hell was it? It wasn’t from Cornwell, I’d already checked. “Something wrong?” I pressed. “Just one of those nights. Ever have one?” “Oh, all the--” I froze, damn near dropping my PADD at the sight of the unopened message. It was recent - minutes old. And it was from Una. “...You okay, kid?” Eli’s knee nudged mine, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the words ‘You’re on the Pinnacle?’.

“I-- I um… Yes. I have those nights all the time. Think I’m gonna have another one of those nights tonight.” Eli crowded closer, peering over my shoulder. “Bad news?” “I don’t know yet… Can you gimme a minute?” 

--

It had started with Paledore, apparently. He’d been looking for something I’d sent him a while ago, some verb conjugation that I'd worked on, and he’d noticed that my status was active. He’d figured that it had to be a fluke, and he’d gone about his business. But it had happened again and again, and he’d brought it up to Thaleh, who had brought it up to Spock. Spock had done some digging, located me in Starfleet's medical database at the Academy, and then in the ship’s records for the Pinnacle. He had brought that information to Una. Una, who was now staring at me through a video feed. Her face was carefully blank. I’d seen that look before -- I knew that she was making a concentrated effort to not give anything away. Una could be hard to read in the first place, but I may as well have been looking at a statue. My heart was thudding low in my chest, beating out a panicked, jittery tattoo that usually only accompanied the running of a 22-9-14 and a Klingon Warbird on my tail. “...So,” I started, “How’s the Pergamum?” “You’re alive.” I gave a small nod. “Yeah, they’re not trucking a corpse around on the Pinnacle for the sake of filling the new communications specialist minimum.” “You’ve been alive this entire time and you’re making jokes?” Una seethed. It chilled me through the screen and I lowered my eyes, swallowing thickly. “I know you’re upset--” “Upset?” She repeated with a scorning little laugh, “I have spent the last year watching the repercussions that your loss has had on this crew, on Pike-- and you’re making jokes.” Guilt spun through me and wobbled like a top. “Can I explain?” “I wish you would.” 

I took a deep breath, steadying my nerves before I told Una what had happened - all I could remember. Soivo, Somonia, Cornwell, my time on the Discovery and the Hiawatha. Una’s face remained unmoved throughout. My only indication that the screen hadn’t frozen was Una’s occasional shift in her seat. Once I’d finished my explanation, Una gave a small nod. “Well… That certainly lines up with the timeline that Spock put together.” I couldn’t help but smile a little at that, even as I ached at the mention. “Of course he put a timeline together,” I muttered, scrubbing my hand over my eyes. I sighed, quiet for a few moments. “How are you all?” I asked, “Will you tell me that?” “You don’t deserve that answer.” I clenched my jaw, hot tears prickling at my eyes as I felt my entire being want to fold in on itself. “Una, please understand--” The video feed cut, the message on the screen indicating that the call had been terminated from Una’s side. My fingers curled around the device, my chest racking with sobs as I curled forward. 

--

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I heard behind me, “What did that punching bag say to you?” I raised my hands to stop the bag from swinging back and hitting me before I turned back to see Eli. After Una’s abrupt end to our call, I had cried until I couldn’t anymore - until my sobs had been dry and my breathing had been hiccups. And then, when the hurt had still ebbed through me, when I saw that there were no transmissions waiting for translation or missions for me to run, I went to work the rest of my hurt out on a punching bag. “I’m not in the mood, Durling,” I cautioned quietly. My voice was hoarse from its rough use earlier, and my body and nerves were rung raw from the war, from losing Jett -- from my call with Una, and from the news that had hard followed - the Discovery had been destroyed. My last call with Tilly had been our last call. Eli took a couple of cautious steps closer to me, looking me over. “I can see that. Came to offer my assistance.” I arched a brow. “Assistance?” I repeated, “The bag over here offered the same thing and look where it’s wound up.” Eli smiled a little. “You’re gonna run yourself ragged like this,” he warned. I shook my head a bit, biting the inside of my cheek to staunch a fresh wave of tears. “I already have, Eli, I can’t--” I took in a deep, shuddering breath, “I can’t rest my head right now. That’s just a fact.” “Neither can I. Maybe we can help each other out with that.” “I’m not gonna ask you to help me.”  “Why not?” “You see the mood I’m in?” I nodded toward the bag, “At least one of us needs to be in a condition to fly.” “I think I can handle you.” I arched a brow. “Eli,” I warned softly. He took a step closer, warm blue eyes and kind smile pointed at me with all softness and sincerity. “Kid,” he murmured, “You don’t have to worry about being gentle with me.”  Tag list: @angels-pie ; @fantasticcopeaglepasta  ; @mylittlelonelyappreciationtoo ; @how-am-i-serpose-to-know ; @onlyhereforthefandomandgiggles ; @inmyowncorner  ; @tardis-23 ; @2manyfandoms-solittletime ; @paintballkid711 ; @katrynec​ ; @hypnobananaangelfish​

[tarithenurse]

Spark - 4

Fandom: Enn Enn no Shouboutai / Fire Force. Pairing: Shinmon Benimaru x fem!reader. Content: Humiliation, slight worry, admissions. A/N: Just waaaaiting for the next episode o.O Feel free to ASK or reblog for tag – in fact: always reblog <3 Thanks to those who have already <3

4. Smoulder

Regret. Not full blown, but like a buzzing gnat near your ear as you’re standing in the sand occupying the space between the buildings of Fire Force Company Seven’s station. A handful feet across the enclosed space is the man causing the uncomfortable sensation. I should never have let Konro talking me into staying...let alone give that jerk a chance. Yet here you are, facing off with Benimaru, and you’ll be damned if you back down now.

“Don’t bother about holding back,” he shrugs cockily.

It might be less humiliating if I run now. Running won’t get you far, though, as long as the captain is intent on finding out more about you.

He hasn’t uncrossed his arms by the time the first hit lands. The impact of your palm across his cheek announces a shocked silence which you take part in even if your body is continuing on its own by strangling the sting from skin on skin in a fist.

The second strike never connects. Instead Benimaru hijacks your body by grabbing you arm, spinning you around, and next moment you’re on one knee in the sand while he holds you down by pushing between your shoulder blades and twisting the arm behind you. Now the sting in your palm feels like an insignificant itch compared to the ache of your joints.

“I’ll admit...I didn’t expect that.” At least he can’t see your smirk at knowing you pissed him off. “But you’re wrong if you think I’ll accept this and let you go. I don’t care if you’re second or third...I do mind a stranger interf-” the rest is cut off by bells ringing and a distant boom.

“Infernal!” someone yells from the other side of the wall.

The hand is warm under your hands, bracing you from landing face first as Benimaru releases you. Jerk.

“Stay.”

Woof woof.

“I’ll stay with her, Beni,” Konro offer from the door where he has appeared, “I’m not use out there anyways.”

If you hadn’t been so annoyed at everything then you might have been able to decipher the silent looks between the men, but as it is, your brain is identifying the new options that are becoming available – all of them looking promising as long as the jerk is out of the picture.

Trying to appear calm, you make your way back inside and follow the sound of people rushing to get their equipment. A few times, you have to flatten yourself against the wall to allow them to rush out to the waiting vehicle, but once the siren fades there’s no one to stop you from grabbing a worn pair of boots from underneath a random locker. The size of boats, they will look a bit odd on you (even under the baggy pants) but it doesn’t matter because everyone will be preoccupied and not pay attention to a single person.

“You won’t be able to run with those on,” Konro points out.

“The best way to run is by walking.”

The man moves out of your way, merely trailing you towards the exit. “[Y/N]...about your skill...”

Biting back a groan and a lot of cussing, you manage to keep the nerves pent up inside. “What about it?”

“You don’t have any, do you?”

Shit. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

A big hand lands on your shoulder, not heavily as if to assert force or dominance and just lightly enough to feel the trembling of your body. “If Haijima were to find out they’ll take you in and try to activate it.”

“They don’t know about me and if someone were to tip them off...” All the pent up frustration and fear morphs into anger as you whirl around and try to stare him down.

“No one threatens my people.”

Another string of curses bounce through your skull at the sound of the flat voice coming from the entry behind you. Why’s he already back? Konro might be big and strong but he also seems gentle enough that you had counted on walking out of here. Benimaru, however? Not so much. Despite apparently being bored with everything in the world, every action so far has let you to believe he’s unwilling to let go once he’s gotten hold of something. Or someone.

How much did he hear? “Why I’d never want to cause any trouble sooo I better go.” Somehow you need to get past Benimaru who’s leaning against the doorpost. “Thank you for the hospitality, Konro,” you add over your shoulder.

“[Y/N] -”

“They will find you,” the captain warns, “rumours are already circulating about the girl who tamed the Infernal.”

“I didn’t.”

“They won’t care...and neither will the Holy Sol.” His arms are crossed, somehow making his athletic shape look more like a wall than the actual wall does. “I don’t like either of them.”

Wait what? “You’re Special Fire Force.”

“Yeah, well, we do things the old way here as you might have noticed. Where should I tell them you’ve gone if they come asking.”

He’s helping me? What world is this? “Tell them I went to the Nether...plenty of places to hide there.” It’s the first time you see him arch a brow but there’s no time to admire the effect you have on him. Instead, you step into the boots. “They won’t find me.”

“You better hope not.”

One last glare at the odd eyes and then he lets you pass.

...   Benimaru   ...

Watching the girl hurry down the street in the oversized outfit, everything tells him she’s got a big target painted onto her and not even the most street savvy person can outrun Haijima or the Temple.

“Are you -” his old friend begins.

“No.” What a drag. “She’s a pain in the ass but I hate them more.”

Already, she’s rounding the corner and getting swallowed into the ruckus of Asakusa – celebratory noises that ought to drown the satisfied sigh coming from behind him. There’s no reason to give any orders or promises before Benimaru slips out to trail the girl because the older man knows exactly how to run Company Seven. It was his once.

[thelastdragneel6417]

𝗗𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗧𝘂𝗯𝗲 𝗝𝗔𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 part 1

(Ok sooo here’s my first time trying to write something original and good god am I nervous soo I hope you all enjoy)

The sun has now just rose above beacon academy signaling the start of a new day, while many would view this day to train or study to improve themselves as huntsmen and huntresses. For the (SUPER AWESOME AMAZING AND SERIOUS) team called team RWBY their is only one word that they would call this day

...

...

𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚

*At Team RWBY’s dorm room*

Yang: *laying on her bed looking throw her scroll before tossing it next to her* uggg I’m booored.

Weiss: * gruntingas she stops working on next weeks homework* normally I would scold you on your bluntness I agree it is quite boring today.

Blake: * siting on her bed reading her por - u mm I mean Um her “high class literature” yeah I agree but what do you ya think we should do?

Yang: *in a thinking pose* ummm how about we got the club?

Blake: *shaking her head* seriously is that all you can think of?

Yang: *in a hurt tone* HEY!!!

Weiss: besides we can’t the bullhead terminals are shut down for repairs after YOU AND NORA ALMOST DESTROYED IT BECAUSE OF YOUR IDIOTIC FIGHT *glaring at Yang*

Yang: *waving her hand defensively* hey in my defense Nora started it server her right for saying that pancakes are better that wallfls and besides I won it in the end.

Blake: no you didn’t Nora clobbered you into the ground.

Yang: *angry* hey whose side are you on anyway!?!?

Blake: *rolling her eyes* anyway how about we head to the library?

Weiss: that’s an excellent idea Blake. I think some time in the library would do us all some good.

Yang: ugggg no not the library I though we decided to kill our boredom not to kill me!!!

Weiss: you can stand to improve your book smart you barbaric bimbo *glareing at Yang knowing fill well that she probably a single second in the library during the new semester*

Yang: hey I’ll have you know that physical strength and training are more valuable than reading a few book right sis?

*silence*

Yang: *confused* umm sis???

*yang and the girls all turn to look at Ruby’s bunk to see that she’s laying on her stomach kicking her feet in the air in a childish manner headphones on her head humming along to a song not paying attention to the argument going on*

Yang: Ruby? *no answer* hey Ruby?? *still no answer frustrated Yang walks over to Ruby lifts one side of her headphones and screams in her ear* RUBY!?!?!

Ruby: *leaps I. The air in shock before landing on her butt in shock* owww *rubbing her butt to suve the pain before glaring at Yang* why would you do that?

Yang: sorry sis but I could get your attention what were you doing anyway?

Weiss: yes I would like to know too? *internaly* probably reading on of her childish comic books uggg what a dolt?

Ruby: ohh I was just listening to JAGames *ploping herself off the ground before jumping back on top of her bunk*

Weiss: *confused having never heard of what that dolt they called a leader was talking about* JA who???

Ruby: *gasping in shock before using her semblance to bolt over to Weiss getting right up to her face* YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF JAGAMES!?!?

Blake: *anoyingly picking rose petals out of her hair and book* let’s assume we haven’t who are you talking about?

Ruby: *wipping her head around to Blake before screeching* HE’S ONLY THE GREATEST DUSTTUBE SINGER OF ALL TIME!!!!

Weiss: DustTube??? You mean that stupid website where people post those idiotic videos of themselves???

Blake: I wouldn’t say that DustTube it that bad you can make some serious money if you’re committed to it.

Yang: yeah but a DustTube singer is not a good thing to hear cause most of them are absolutely horrible *cringing as she remembers that Oum awful rap named “It’s Just Today Mate” by Ten Team*

Ruby *scoffs like she’s offended* ugh JAGames is nothing like them he’s a thousand times better than them his singing, his rhythm, and his music makes it look like all those other wanna bees are just babies playing with a baby piano.

Blake: huh seems like you know this guy a lot?

Ruby: of course I do I’m his number one fan after all I’ve listened to all of his music and bought all of his merch and all his albums JAGames’ music have gotten me through some tough times so I will always love him even though he has never shown his face.

Yang: huh soo that’s where all that stuff came from I’ve always wondered about that also *grinning* aren’t you already dating a certain noodle boy right now for shame Ruby how could you break jaunes heart by having an affair?

Weiss: I still don’t know what you see in that dolt *rolling her eyes back not truly understanding why ruby would want to date that idiot but nether the less grateful that he has stop relentlessly trying to ask her out*

Ruby: *beet red embarrassed* Yannng stop that it’s not like that all *blushing* even though I really like him and his music I will always love my sweet knight more.

Ruby: anyway I’ve got an idea since I’ve talked about JAGames this long *an ear to ear smile creeps up on her lips before shouting* WOULD YOU LIKE TO LISTEN TO SOME OF HIS MUSIC WITH ME!?!?

Weiss: *appoled* are you crazy!?!? No why would we ever want to listen to your stupid music!?!?

Yang: I’m in sounds like fun

Weiss: *shocked* WHAT WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO DO THAT?

Yang: it sounds fun anything to beat this boredom and besides I’ve been trying to find some new music for a while now.

Weiss: fine then be that way but know that Blake and I won’t be bothered to listen to your childish music.

Blake: actually I’ll join in too.

Weiss: *absolutly shocked* WHYYYYYYYYY!?!?!?!

Blake: same as Yang seems like fun also I’ve just finished reading my book so I e got nothing else better to do.

Yang: see even kitty cat wants to watch with us *blake glares at Yang for saying that* so whatcha say I’ve queen care to join us?

Ruby: *giving Weiss the worlds most dangerous weapon known to man the dreaded puppy dog eyes* plweeessszzzzzzzzzz?????

Weiss: *unable to resist the deadly powers of the puppy dog eyes* I— umm I ohhh alright I’ll listen to your stupid music what kind of music does he make anyway?

Ruby: *jumping up and down excited* yay thank you bestie ohh he mostly makes rock -metal songs some time a little bit of pop and always follows a certain theme.

Weiss: *annoyed by knowing that she’s going to be listening to that barbaric type of music* and that I is???

Ruby: *embarrassed* umm video games?

Weiss: WHAT THOSE STUPID IDIOTIC CHILDISH GAMES THAT ARE A WASTE OF TIME WHY DID I EVER AGREE TO THIS *exclaimed loudly but secretly at the same happy because deep down she is a HUGE gamer a secret that she will take to the grave* AND YOU *pointing to Blake* ARE OK WITH IT!?!?!

Blake: why not? I don’t have a problem with video games sometimes they can tell a story better that a book.

Yang: welp too late to turn back know soo sis what song are we listening to today?

Ruby: *excitedly grabs her scroll unplugs her headphones and sets her scroll near her freinds* how about his newest one it’s a remake of one of my favorites I’m sure y’all will love it!!!

https://youtu.be/wNI0VCRmQ0c

(Here’s the song if you want to sing along)

🎶following total atomic anihilation🎶

🎶the rebuilding our this great nation our ours my fall to you🎶

🎶that’s why we at vault-tech have prepared these educational materials🎶

🎶for you to better understand the seven defining attributes that make you🎶

🎶special🎶

🎶the future fotells a tale of when the world goes🎶

🎶BOOM🎶

🎶BOOM🎶 (when the world goes BOOM BOOM)🎶

🎶nobody prepared🎶

🎶don’t think anybody cared about the🎶

🎶SOLE TRUTH (nobody cared about the SOLE TRUTH)🎶

🎶oh the bombs🎶

🎶they rose🎶

🎶 now everybody knows the🎶

🎶DOOMS DAY DEVICE(DOOMS DAY DEVICE)🎶

🎶claustrophobia🎶

🎶autotrophic🎶

🎶catostrophic hell🎶

🎶will be soo🎶

🎶and be up in the sky🎶

🎶even when the world feels🎶

🎶lonely and cold inside🎶

🎶even when the heart feels🎶

🎶BLISTERED FORM THE SCENES🎶

🎶for they will fall🎶

🎶For they will rise🎶

🎶for they would tear apart the view 🎶

🎶from your very eyes🎶

🎶take your hindsight and Change the world🎶

🎶FOR A NEW BEGINNING🎶

🎶for its now your chance🎶

🎶to use your hands🎶

🎶descend through the cracked in the dirt🎶

🎶WHERE YOU STAND🎶

🎶take on the vast open🎶

🎶MASQUERADE🎶

🎶THIS IS ATOMIC RENEGADE🎶

🎶following total atomic anihilation🎶

🎶the rebuilding our this great nation our ours my fall to you🎶

🎶that’s why we at vault-tech have prepared these educational materials🎶

🎶for you to better understand the seven defining attributes that make you🎶

🎶resources are scarce prepare yourself for homicidal🎶

🎶RAMPAGE (HOMICIDAL RAMPAGE)🎶

🎶 claim you’re rightful place🎶

🎶mark the writing on your face turn a🎶

🎶NEW PAGE (WRITING ON YPUR FACE TURN A NEW AGE)🎶

🎶well the bomb🎶

🎶they took🎶

🎶your land and now you’re🎶

🎶LEFT ALL ALONE (LEFT ALL ALONE)🎶

🎶Thers masses of🎶

🎶rebellious🎶

🎶proposterous, demonical🎶

🎶CARNAGE READY FOR YOUR BONES🎶

🎶use your senses and you’ll🎶

🎶PROVE YOU’RE WHOLE AGAIN🎶

🎶you’re the hero of this🎶

🎶LAND DEMISED WITH PAIN🎶

🎶for they will fall🎶

🎶For they will rise🎶

🎶for they would tear apart the view 🎶

🎶from your very eyes🎶

🎶take your hindsight and Change the world🎶

🎶FOR A NEW BEGINNING🎶

🎶for its now your chance🎶

🎶to use your hands🎶

🎶descend through the cracked in the dirt🎶

🎶WHERE YOU STAND🎶

🎶take on the vast open🎶

🎶MASQUERADE🎶

🎶THIS IS ATOMIC RENEGADE🎶

🎶now let’s begin with some simple instructions on what makes you a

SPECIAL 🎶

🎶strength🎶

🎶build your ability’s to carry more🎶

🎶persecution🎶

🎶will keep your aim right where you want it to be🎶

🎶endurance🎶

🎶bronze will tackle foes but how long for?🎶

🎶charisma🎶

🎶socialize enemies are closer than you think🎶

🎶intelligence🎶

🎶outsmart your foes with gadgets capable of removing harm🎶

🎶agilety 🎶

🎶build your reflexes to defend from approaching scum🎶

🎶luck🎶

🎶Tatic and strength is one thing🎶

🎶but some times all it takes is good luck🎶

🎶now take your world and throw it upside down🎶

🎶one man pushes through🎶

🎶ONE🎶

🎶MUTANT🎶

🎶AT🎶

🎶A🎶

🎶TIME🎶

*insert guttiar solo*

🎶for you will rise🎶

🎶through hell and back🎶

🎶you fortell of time when you were under attack🎶

🎶put your hindsight and change the world🎶

🎶for they will fall🎶

🎶For they will rise🎶

🎶for they would tear apart the view 🎶

🎶from your very eyes🎶

🎶take your hindsight and Change the world🎶

🎶FOR A NEW BEGINNING🎶

🎶for its now your chance🎶

🎶descend through the cracked in the dirt🎶

🎶WHERE YOU STAND🎶

🎶take on the vast open🎶

🎶MASQUERADE🎶

🎶THIS IS ATOMIC RENEGADE🎶

🎶TAKE THE WORLD AND BEGIN🎶

🎶THE CHARGE OF THE DAMNED🎶

🎶BE SURE TO DEFENS🎶

🎶YOUR BRETHREN FRIEND🎶

🎶YOUR ARMY DECENDS🎶

🎶YOU SAVE ANEW RACE 🎶

🎶UNTILL THE END🎶

Ruby: *nervous* sooo what do you girls think???

Yang:That. Was. Awesome Sis that has got to be one of the best songs I’ve ever heard it was soo action packed.

Blake: I have to agree that was a very good song not my cup of tea but still very good nonetheless.

Ruby: YAY that two for three sooo bestie did you like it???

Weiss: *quiet as a mouse and as stiff as a board before throwing her hands up in the air and screaming*HATED IT THAT WAS THE WORST SONG IVE EVER HEARD

RUBY: *almost as pale as a ghost and on the verge of tear* W-w WHAT!?!?!?

(That’s all I can type was it good or shit (sorry if it was) this is the longest thing I’ve ever typed here I hope you all enjoy) (don’t worry jaune comes in next part with a secret)

[queenie2297]

Please, Daddy!

Sooo here’s another smut. This particular commission came to me from a twitter user who loves the good ol’ Overwatch cowboy, Jesse McCree (hell yeaah. Same.) this person also mentioned to me a major Daddy!kink AND WHAT BETTER WAY TO MASH THOSE TWO PEICES OF INFORMATION TOGETHER WITH SOME GOOD OL’ NASTY DADDY KINK SMUT. SO LET’S GET IT!

Warnings: angst, violence, unprotected sex, dirty talk, daddy!kink (is that a warning?).

Rating: NC-17

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

You were sixteen.

A child caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Talon kidnapped you and kept you in a cold, dark room.

You knew too much about Talon and they were worried you would reveal them to the authorities.

For a while, they would physically abuse you. You were the Talon punching bag for a little while. Your most frequent visitor was one who would speak Spanish and wore a black cloak and a scary mask while he would relentlessly beat upon your already battered body. His deep voice would ring in your ears as he landed punches to you face and to you stomach.

“Puta perra!”

You’d cry out until your voice was nothing but a mere whisper. By the end of the beatings, you were left spitting blood and weeping silently. At night it was difficult to sleep because every inch of your body screamed in pain. By some miracle, your pain and suffering only lasted a short while.

Overwatch rescued you when they raided the Talon Base in Havana. It was none other than Jesse McCree who had found you.

He burst through the door with his peacekeeper drawn only to find you, a malnourished teen, beaten and bloodied cowering in the corner. He was built with a lot of muscle, just like the man who beat you. The only difference was this man had the overpowering scent of cheap whiskey and cigar smoke and wore a brimmed hat. You looked at him fearfully with wide, doe-like eyes, causing him to lower his gun slowly. He knew exactly what had happened to this poor girl.

“Hey, I ain’t here to hurt ya. We’re here to get ya out.”

“Out?” you mouthed.

The closer he got to you, the easier he could see your bruised skin. His eyebrows furrowed in disgust.

“God kid what did they do to ya?”

Tears welled up in your eyes as you practically reached out for the stranger, desperate for someone’s help. He scooped you up and you clung to him like your life depended on it. For once, you felt safe at the hands of a stranger. Jesse cradled you like a newborn baby in his arms.

“Damnit! Angela! I got a kid here and she’s bad! Bruised all over!”

“I’m on my way, Jesse.”

Jesse looked down at your trembling figure.

“Alright, kid. We’ll getcha out of here.”

Gunfire rang out through the base, leaving your head swimming. Black spots appeared in your vision. You were slowly losing consciousness. He’s so warm. I want to fall asleep.

“C’mon, kid stay with me here.” he urged.

Before you passed out, Jesse’s comforting face left you, leaving you scared once more.

That same fear continued when you woke up, leaving you in a panicked state. A soft, comforting hand pressed lightly on your chest.

“Shhh. It’s okay. It’s going to be alright now.”

The voice belonged to an angelic-like woman with blonde hair and a kind face.

You looked around frantically for the man who saved you.

“I’m here too little darlin’. Don’t you worry.”

A sense of relief washed over you and you relaxed.

“You’re in good hands now, kid. Dr. Zeigler will take good care of ya.”

“Don’t talk anymore, sweetheart. Your vocal chords are pretty raw. Lots of fluids and no more talking for a while. You got a couple broken bones and some internal bleeding in the stomach, but I can fix that right up. It will be a little bit painful, but you will feel better instantly.”

Your eyes widen and you look at Jesse for reassurance.

“It only hurts a little darlin. I promise. Here,” he says as he offers you his hand, “take my hand. You can hold it.”

As you took his hand, Dr. Zeigler began the healing process. The pain was astronomical. You felt it all at once; the broken bones, the dull pain of healing bruises, the throbbing of damaged organs. Big, fat tears rolled down your face and you tried screaming, but the sound came out as a pathetic squeak.

“I know, sweetheart, I know. I’m so sorry. I’m almost done.”

All at once, the pain lifted and you sighed heavily.

“There. Feel better?”

You examined yourself. No more bruises, no more broken bones. It has been a while since you could fully open and close your hands or curl your toes.

You looked at both Dr. Zeigler and Jesse and smiled.

“Good. Let me go grab you some food, dear. You must be starving.”

You nodded furiously and then looked over at Jesse, who was looking at you intently. The two of you exchanged grins at one another just as the doctor returned with a tray full of food.

The tray contained all sorts of food, from meatloaf to hard boiled eggs. You, for one, did not care what was in front of you as long as you could eat it. You scarfed the meal down within five minutes as Jesse sat by your side.

“Yeah. I don’t blame ya, kid. You looked mighty hungry when I picked you up.”

Not too long after you ate, you fell asleep peacefully, catching up on the many sleepless nights that you have wasted during your time with Talon.

You slept for days, which made Jesse worry, even after the constant reassurance from Dr. Zeigler. He never left your side when you were in that hospital bed. He spent countless hours bouncing between emotions. He was angry that Talon had gone this far as to hide their location by beating and torturing a child, but at the same time, he was amazed at the strength of the young girl laying next to him. He was surprised that she had survived the torture. She would make a good agent one day. That’s the kinda strength everyone needs to possess. He thought. Then something plagued him.

“Where will she go after she gets out of the medic ward?” He asked Dr. Zeigler while you were still asleep.

“Well, Jesse, I hadn't thought that far ahead yet. I was-”

“I’ll take her. I want to protect her.” Jesse said flatly.

Dr. Zeigler paused and smiled.

“Jesse McCree, the big, bad cowboy wants to take in a child? Can it be that he has turned soft for this little lady?”

“I don’t know what it is Angela. When I first saw her in that room and she looked at me with her big eyes,I felt like I had seen them same looks before, I just don’t know where. I don’t even know her name and I wanted to help her and protect her from anymore harm.”

“Well, I’m confident that you will be a great protector Jesse.” Angela smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “When she wakes up she can go home with you.”

It was later on that night when you woke up, finally feeling refreshed.

“Hey, little darlin. Are you ready to go home?” Jesse smiled at you.

Your face fell.

“What is it darlin?”

You reached for a pen and paper on your bedside table and wrote, “I don’t have a home.”

“Where was your home?”

“Deadlock Gorge.”

Jesse’s eyes widened. “Hey, that’s where I’m from too! Do you happen to know about the Deadlock gang?”

You smirked and pulled up your hospital gown just enough for Jesse to get a glimpse at your skull and wings tattoo, bearing the symbol of a gang that connected the two of you on your hip bone.

“Well, uh, I would show ya my tattoo but its right where this thing is.”

He displayed his metal arm which you had never noticed before. You reached out and felt the cold metal of his left arm. The pained look on your face said it all.

“It’s okay darlin. This happened a long time ago.”

You went back to writing on your paper.

“What’s your name?”

“Names Jesse. Jesse McCree.”

“My name is (Y/N). Maybe you know my sister, Ashe.”

As McCree watched as you wrote down his former partner’s name, the memories all came back at once. He remembered Ashe being about twenty-seven years old when she took in a timid little four year old girl, abandoned on the streets of Deadlock Gorge. That little four year old had the same look in her eyes as Jesse saw in the girl sitting next to him when he rescued her. He remembered completely now. This definitely was little (Y/N). Jesse had left the gang not too long after, so that explains why (Y/N) didn’t remember him.

Jesse chuckled.

“Ah, I remember you now. You were a little pip squeak when I first met ya. Bout’ four years old when Ashe scooped you up off the streets.”

You were so excited that you had forgotten to write down what to say and spoke hoarsely.

“You were there?”

“Hey, don’t get too excited now. You still have to rest your voice.” Jesse warned.

You sighed and scribbled, No wonder I felt safe with you. It’s because I had met you before!

“(Y/N)?” You looked up at Jesse, who was smiling at you. “You wanna come live with me?”

Your eyes brightened at the offer, and you nodded furiously.

Jesse took you back to his little, dimly lit apartment that smelled of that same cigar smoke smell that you were already accustomed to. The red, shaggy carpet was softer under your feet than the cold, hard floor of the room you were kept in for weeks on end. You were constantly at Jesse’s side and he didn’t mind one bit. In fact, he found the process of nursing you back to health rather rewarding. He loved seeing the light come back to your eyes and meat beginning to build on your bones. At first, it was like raising a child, but then to his surprise it became something more. With each passing month as you were fed well by him, your body expressed all of the right curves in all of the right places and your voice regained its strength. By god, was that little voice sassy. Dirty thoughts plagued Jesse’s mind about you. Every time you would mouth off to him, he wanted to shove his cock down your throat to put it to good use. He hated that he was beginning to feel this way about you. You were sixteen for crying out loud! Eventually, you were training at the Overwatch base to become the newest agent. Watching you grow stronger riled up the cowboy something fierce. He distanced himself from you when the thoughts became too much, which in turn only hurt you. You hardly ever saw each other anymore. You noticed that Jesse would take up more mission offers that took weeks to finish. This happened for two years. What really broke your heart was when Jesse was absent for your eighteenth birthday, which you spent crying alone in the apartment, denying any and all requests from your friends to go out that night to celebrate. Jesse came home stumbling from alcohol intake at approximately 1am and knew he had broke your heart when he found you whimpering in you sleep on the living room couch. His own heart sank as he looked at you, so pure and innocent as you slept, even though your lower lip quivered in your sleep.

“Ah fuck.” Jesse said to himself. He really fucked up this time.

“(Y/N). Hey, wake up.”

Your eyes fluttered open and then shut them tightly when you realized it was Jesse.

“Go away, Jesse. I’m sleeping.”

“(Y/N), I’m sorry I’ve been distancing myself from you.”

You sat up suddenly.

“Yeah. For TWO YEARS, Jesse. You abandoned me for two fucking years!”

“Watch your mouth, (Y/N)...I’m…”

“No! I have the right to be this upset. I remember hearing you when I was in the hospital two years ago. You said you would protect me from any more harm. Do you think what you did to me was harmful, Jesse?? Do you? Cause I sure as hell think so! You fuckin missed my eighteenth birthday today, you fuckin prick!” tears welled up in your eyes as you said this and Jesse sat there on his heels taking the verbal abuse. He closed his eyes and sighed.

“Your eighteenth birthday, huh?”

“Yes! I wanted nothing more than to spend it with you today because… because…”

You stopped suddenly, hiding your face from him in your hands.

“Because what, darlin?”

“I can’t say it.”

“Yes, you can. Tell me.”

You shook your head. Jesse grew more frustrated.

“If you don’t say it I’ll make you say it.” Jesse knew what you were about to say and it was something he was just dying to hear for the longest time.

You smirked.

“What are you gonna do, huh cowboy?”

That fucking mouth of her’s is gonna get her in big trouble.

You got up from the couch to turn the TV on but Jesse stopped you dead in your tracks. You looked up at him annoyed but your face fell when you noticed that his eyes were dark with feral lust, like an animal in heat.

“J-Jesse…”

You tried backing away but fell back onto the couch that you forgot was right behind you. Jesse was on top of you quickly, looming over your curvy figure.

“Don’t you dare try to run or resist me. Fuck. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while.”

Jesse’s metal arm wrapped around behind your head and grabbed a fistful of your hair, pulling your head back roughly, making you squeak.

“Jesse! What-” Your protests were cut short by his lips crashing against yours. Your eyes grew wide. Finally you were getting what you were wanting from him all along! McCree’s lips left kisses wherever he could touch on your face and on your neck.

“Mine.” He growled.

Jesse threw your body over his shoulder and carried you into the bedroom. Just before he threw you on the bed, he gave your ass a good smack, making you moan softly.

“Tell me what you were going to say earlier, (Y/N).”

You started to blush.

“I- I love you, Jesse.”

“God, something that I’ve always wanted to hear.”

You sat up on the bed and slowly peeled off your pj shirt, your sports bra, your night shorts and your panties, all while not breaking eye contact with Jesse.

“And is this something you’ve always wanted to see Daddy?” You paused, horrified at what you just said. Oh fuck. Did I just say that out loud?

Jesse’s eyes grew wide for a moment and then he smiled wickedly.

“Daddy, huh? Does someone have a daddy kink?”

You blushed and tried to hide your face, but Jesse grabbed your wrists.

“Don’t you hide from Daddy. Show daddy what he’s been missing for two years.”

You crawled up the bed and from your nightside table you pulled out a small pink vibrator.

“Ah, so this is what you do when daddy’s not home.” Jesse chuckled.

You situated yourself on the bed where Jesse could watch every minute of you touching yourself.

You moaned softly, letting the vibrator slip in and out of your folds.

“Aw Hell, you look so beautiful like this. Do you think of me when you touch yourself?”

You nodded in response.

“Can daddy touch you?”

You nodded again eagerly. You handed him the vibrator and he then pinned your hands above your head.

Jesse started by slowly dragging the vibrator up and down your already glistening slit, which made you mewl like a cat in heat. Then he made small circles around your clit before putting it right on the sensitive ball of nerves. You threw your head back and moaned.

“Does babygirl like that?” Jesse cooed.

“Ooh god yes.” Your toes curled from the sensation and your climax was approaching.

“I’m gonna cum, daddy.” You said as you looked into Jesse’s eyes. Jesse threw the vibrator to the side and replaced it with his fingers.

“So wet for me already baby girl. My fingers are covered.”

Jesse’s skilled fingers curled up at just the right spot, making your back arch.

“Oh fuck! Oh fuck! Shit! Right there! Oooohh fuck!” Your orgasm came crashing down on Jesse’s fingers, covering them in your juices.

“Daddy’s gonna taste you, ok?” Jesse let go of your wrists and moved his body so that he could lap up your sweet juices. You wrapped your hands in his long brown hair, shoving his face deeper into your cunt.

Jesse’s expert tongue made you go crazy and it was something that you too had dreamed and fantasized about since you began to live with the cowboy. The euphoric feeling almost made you want to pinch yourself to see if you were dreaming, but Jesse did it for you when he bit the inside of your thigh and you didn’t wake up.

Jesse sat up and wiped his face, his beard glistening with your juices.

“I think baby girl is ready for daddy, huh?”

You nodded, giving Jesse permission to shimmie off the bed to remove his belt and his pants. You stared up at the ceiling of your apartment bedroom still in a lustful trance and didn’t even see that Jesse had grabbed your ankles to drag you back to the edge of the bed. You squeaked in surprise and you were again met with Jesse’s face looming over you. Jesse’s rock hard cock grazed the inside of your thigh, giving you a taste of how big and girthy it was.

Jesse grabbed your throat and squeezed slightly.

“Do you want daddy to be gentle or do you want daddy to be rough?”

“Rough!” You moaned.

“Anything to please his baby girl.”

Jesse threw your legs over his shoulders and positioned himself in front of your entrance, slamming into your hole roughly. The force of it knocked the wind out of you. He was stretching you in all the right places and the feeling was almost too much.

“You like the feeling of me stretching you, huh? Does it feel good?”

You moaned and wiggled your hips in response to get him to move.

“Fuck, Jesse. Just move already!”

Jesse chuckled and bucked his hips into you at a rough pace. You don’t know how, but you felt as though he fit perfectly into you, like two puzzle pieces coming together. This was it. You found the person you would always be with.

“Jesus, you’re so tight (Y/N).” Jesse cooed. “I could cum right now if I wanted to.”

Your hands laced through Jesse’s long brown locks once again and pulled, making it his turn to moan.

“If baby girl gets to pull daddy’s hair, it’s only fair that he gets to pull hers.”

You giggle as you let your hands travel down his back and dig your fingernails into him, making his hips stutter.

“Now, if you do that, you’re gonna really make me cum. Daddy’s not ready yet.”

Jesse pulled out of you briefly to flip you over on your stomach and put your ass in the air. With a quick but powerful slap on the ass, Jesse entered into you once more.

“How about a taste of your own medicine?”

Jesse started scratching your back so hard that you are pretty positive that he drew a small amount of blood. It felt glorious to you. You hoped those scratches would stay on there for days, reminding you of the intimate night you had.

Jesse pulled your hair so that your back arched just right as he pounded into you. It was a good thing you were not tender-headed and pulling on your scalp hardly bothered you. The pulling only made you hornier.

Jesse brought your backside to his toned chest as he continued to pound into you. He wrapped his arms around your waist and throat to hold you upright and growled “Mine!” once more into your ear. He bit at your shoulder, leaving a giant bruise for everyone to see later and left a trail of hickies up the left side of your neck.

“There. Now everyone will know that your mine.” Deep in Jesse’s throat emerged a primal growl that you never expected to come out of him.

The familiar tight coil of an orgasm arose in your stomach once more and you whimpered. Jesse could also tell that you were reaching your peak. Your inner muscles fluttered and squeezed causing his hips to stagger.

“Fuck (Y/N)!” Jesse groaned.

Black spots appeared in your vision as your orgasm suddenly came crashing down.

“Jesse...I..”

Before you passed out, Jesse shouted his release into you and the only thing that escaped your mouth was a pathetic whimper.

****

When you woke up, Jesse cradled you in his arms on the couch. The false lights of the TV clouded your vision at first, but as your eyes adjusted, you saw Jesse’s peaceful sleeping face. You smiled to yourself and moved only slightly to adjust your position. However, your movement woke Jesse up.

“Hey, baby girl. You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m okay.”

“You passed out on me.”

“The sex must have been so good that I passed out.” You smiled at him.

Jesse chuckled.

“You sure you’re okay, though? Good birthday present?”

You paused. Oh right. It was my birthday wasn’t it?

“Yeah. Definitely!”

“Happy birthday, baby girl. I promise I won’t ever leave you again. I will protect you, alright?”

“You got it, cowboy. Don’t lie to me this time.” You grinned and shut your eyes once again, falling asleep in the lap of the guy of your dreams.

[starryknight09]

Whatever It Takes Ch. 7/?

Summary:  Peter’s struggling to cope after the loss of Mr. Stark. Everyone keeps telling him it’ll get better and that he needs to move on, but Peter doesn’t want to. He can’t envision a life without his mentor. So when an idea comes to him, he doesn’t hesitate, no matter how crazy it is. He’s going to get Mr. Stark back.

“What exactly are we going to do?” Ned asked.

“Whatever it takes.” Peter answered.

Read on AO3.

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“May and Happy?” Ned asked in disbelief.

“I know, right?” Peter shook his head.

“I mean…I guess it’s not a bad thing.  It’s just…surprising?” Ned shrugged.

“It’s weird.” Peter declared.

“It’s a little weird.” Ned agreed.

A movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and he turned to watch a bird fly by Ned’s bedroom window.

“Sooo is that why you called me sounding all crazy at four thirty this morning asking to come over or was that something else?” Ned asked.

“I didn’t sound crazy.” Peter frowned as he turned back to his friend.

“You sounded a little crazy dude.  I mean you were talking so fast I could barely understand you.”

“I was excited.”

“About May and Happy?”

“No!  I found out about the May and Happy thing on Friday night.” Peter explained.  It was Sunday.

“Ok…” Ned raised his eyebrows, waiting expectantly for an explanation.

“I went to the lake house yesterday and spent the night so I could work on stuff in Mr. Stark’s workshop.  I called you this morning because I was excited about—” Peter glanced around even though it was only him and Ned in Ned’s room, “—the time travel thing.”

“Oh.” Ned didn’t sound so enthused.

“I figured out how to convert the time travel suit into nanotech.” Peter grinned.  He’d been working on it all week but even with FRIDAY’s help it hadn’t been without its setbacks.  During the first test of the housing unit, it had unexpectedly exploded and sent him flying backwards to slam against the wall of Mr. Stark’s workshop.  He’d seen stars for awhile and it’d also left him with some not so pleasant burns over his chest.  He’d managed to figure out the problem after a couple more hours of work with FRIDAY’s help, but he’d been reluctant to try again so soon with fresh injuries.  He’d been afraid of hurting himself even worse, but FRIDAY had assured him it wouldn’t malfunction, so he’d trusted her and she’d been right.  The second trial had worked almost perfectly.  They’d spent the rest of the night tweaking it and he’d finally completed it around 4:30AM, which was when he’d called Ned, bursting with excitement through his exhaustion laden fog.

“The time travel what?” Ned asked, puzzled.

“The suit you need to wear to time travel.  I needed to convert it into nanotech so it’d be small enough to carry with me and put on Mr. Stark.” Peter explained.

“That makes sense.” Ned nodded.  “And you did it?”

“Yeah.” Peter smiled.  “I mean I kind of blew myself up a little, but I got it.”

“You blew yourself up?” Ned’s eyes went wide.  “Are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine.” Peter waved his friend’s concern away. “It was a slight malfunction but I fixed it.  And now it works!”

“That’s great.” Ned gave him a reserved smile.  “So…you’re um ready to do this thing then?”

“Almost.”

“What else is left?”

“Well I have the time travel device.” Peter counted off on his finger.

“The time machine.” Ned corrected.

“It’s a time travel device.”

“If I’m helping you, we’re calling it a time machine.”

“Fine.” Peter rolled his eyes.  “Anyway we have…the time machine and the time travel nanotech suit, but we need still the Pym particles to power the suit to get into the quantum realm.  I have one vial but I need another one for Mr. Stark.”

“And where exactly are we going to find an extra vial of Pym particles?”

“Antman’s suit.” Peter answered.

“You’re going to steal Antman’s suit.” Ned deadpanned.

“Well sort of.”

“No way.” Ned shook his head.  “No way dude.”

“Come on Ned.” Peter pleaded.  “I know where he keeps it in his house.  FRIDAY has all that information.  It’s a little creepy actually.”

“Peter you’re talking about breaking into someone’s house. A superhero’s house.  And stealing their superhero suit!  That’s crazy!  It’ll never work.”

“Yes it will!  And I’m not stealing the suit.  I’m just stealing the stuff that powers the suit.  The Pym particles.  Scott can get more from Dr. Pym, anyway, so it’s not really like that big of a deal.”

“You’re still going to break into his house!”

“Ned we’re talking about someone’s life.  What’s a little breaking and entering?  Besides, he’s an ex-thief.  If anything, it’s karma.” Peter reasoned.

“Oh my god we’re going to go to jail.  I’m going to go to jail.” Ned panicked.

“We’re not going to jail.” Peter rolled his eyes.

“Oh really, then tell me, what’s the plan?  What exactly are we going to do?” Ned asked.

“Whatever it takes.” Peter answered.  He didn’t have all the details of the plan fleshed out yet, but he knew nothing was going to stop him, not even the threat of getting in trouble with the authorities or the Avengers.

“It definitely sounds like we’re going to jail.”

“Only if we get caught.” Peter smirked but it was mostly a lie. He knew Scott would never turn them in. “But we’re not going to get caught.”

“I wish I had your confidence.”

“I’m Spiderman.  Trust me. It’ll be a piece of cake.” Peter gave Ned a wide cocky smile.  A kernel of happiness blossomed in his chest and as he and Ned discussed their plan, it expanded and grew into something more.  Something he hadn’t experienced in so long he’d almost forgotten what it felt like.  It was hope.

It turned out breaking into an ex-thief’s apartment wasn’t quite as easy and Peter thought it’d be.  It definitely wasn’t a piece of cake.  It was ridiculously hard.

“Maybe we should just ask him for the Pym particles.” Ned suggested for what seemed like the hundredth time.  “I’m sure he’d give them to us if he knew what we were going to do with them.”

“He definitely wouldn’t.” Peter argued as he paced behind Ned, waiting for his friend to finish cracking Scott’s security system.

“Doesn’t that tell you something?  That you think the Avengers would stop you if they knew what you were up to?” Ned asked as he continued typing vigorously on his laptop.

Peter shrugged.  “I don’t care.  Most of them were trying to kill Mr. Stark a couple years ago.  I wouldn’t exactly say they’re invested in him.”

“Seven years ago.” Ned corrected.  

“Whatever.  You know what I mean.”

“I’m just saying it might be worth a shot to ask them.  They might prove you wrong.”

“No.  I can’t risk it.” Peter said fervently.  “I have to do this myself.”

“Whatever you say.” Ned muttered, still working on bypassing Scott’s security.

Another minute of silence passed before Ned exclaimed, “I got it!”

His friend threw his hands into the air in celebration.  “Yes!  I’m the best.”

“You are.” Peter laughed.

“I bought you ten minutes.” Ned told him.  “So hurry.”

“I won’t need ten minutes.” Peter said and pulled on his mask. He was already dressed in the rest of his suit on the roof of Scott’s apartment building where Ned had spliced into the wires to get into the man’s security system and remotely disable it.

“Hurry anyway.” Ned said as Peter hopped over the ledge of the building and starting crawling the few floors down to Scott’s window.  Peter chose the window that opened into his guest bathroom.  Based on the schematics FRIDAY had provided, it seemed like the farthest and most sheltered place from the master bedroom, so hopefully any noise Peter made wouldn’t be loud enough to wake Scott up.  He grabbed the bottom edge of the window and pulled up, using his super strength to snap the lock.  It came free with a pop and he wasted no time sliding it up and crawling through the opening.

Inside the bathroom, Peter paused and listened closely for any indication the lock breaking had woken Scott up, but the apartment was completely silent.

“Scan Karen.” He whispered.

He waited as she did.

“There is one heat signature in the master bedroom.  Likely Mr. Lang.  He appears to be asleep.”

Good.

Peter walked as silently as he could out of the bathroom and through the living room toward the door in the hallway that led to Scott’s bedroom.  The door was closed.  He listened again and heard only the slow deep breaths of the man on the other side.

Peter took his own deep breath and twisted the door knob as slowly as possibly.  When it wouldn’t turn any further, he pushed the door open as gently as he could.  It made the faintest sound while opening, but Peter figured he could only hear it because of his enhanced hearing.

He padded in quietly, pausing just inside the threshold. Scott was in bed asleep less than eight feet away, tangled in the covers, face directed in the opposite direction.

Peter took another breath and released it slowly, trying to calm the racing of his heart.  This was it. He couldn’t blow it.  He tip toed carefully toward the closet, where the Antman suit was hidden according to FRIDAY.  Apparently it was the de facto place for superhero suit storage.  Peter kept his own suit in his closet.

He stepped over the array of clothes and junk that littered the floor.  Scott was really messy.  When he got to the closet, the door was partially dislodged.  He glanced back at Scott to make sure the man was still asleep. He seemed to be.  Peter pressed a hand against the door and gently pushed it open.  It’d almost completely opened when it let out a loud squeak that reverberated like a gunshot through the quiet of the room.

Peter froze, hoping it’d go unnoticed, but he wasn’t that lucky.  Scott stirred on the bed.  Peter’s head whipped around and he watched the man sit up, rubbing his eyes.

Shit shit shit.

He took two quick steps into the closet and hid in the space behind the now partially open door.  He could still see through the crack of the door hinge.

Go back to sleep.  Go back to sleep.  Nothing to see here.  He thought, hoping he could mentally will the man back to dreamland.

No dice.  He watched as Scott looked around and frowned once he noticed the wide open closet door.

Not good.

Scott crawled out of bed and started walking toward him.

No no no no.  

Peter glanced around.  There was nowhere to hide.

Except…

Scott paused at the partially open door, glancing inside before slamming it open the rest of the way.

The man looked around the closet, not seeing anything.  

Peter waited, holding his breath, as he watched from where he clung pressed against the ceiling, hoping the man wouldn’t think to look up.

Scott sighed loudly and ran a hand down his face before turning around and walking back to bed.

“That’ll teach me to watch scary movies before bed.” Scott muttered to himself as he got back under the covers.

Scott closed his eyes and Peter waited for a minute, then two minutes, then three minutes.  Scott’s face was lax, but Peter wasn’t sure if he was completely asleep yet.  And he had to be sure because now that the closet door was wide open, he had no cover.  And he didn’t dare try to move it again now that he knew how loudly it squeaked.

“You have three minutes before the security system comes back online.” Karen quietly reminded him.

Shit.

He had to chance it.  Peter grit his teeth and dropped down from the ceiling.  He landed soundlessly.  Scott didn’t move.  He bit his lip and parted the clothes hanging along the back of the closet, revealing a small hidden door with a keypad.  It was higher security than his own method of stuffing his suit in a bag in his closet, but no one knew he was Spiderman.  Everyone knew Lang’s association with Antman.  Thus, the locked storage unit in the back of the closet. Luckily, FRIDAY had the code since it was part of the Avengers security.

Peter typed in the numbers 0-7-2-0-0-7 and the lock clicked open.

Peter froze with a full face wince.  Had that been loud?  He didn’t hear any rustling but he turned back around to check.  Scott was still in the same position, asleep.  He let out a relieved sigh and pulled the small door open.  The Antman suit sat there, folded neatly.

“You have two minutes Peter.” Karen said.

Peter yanked the suit out and rifled through it, trying to find the access point for the Pym particles.  His mask’s view screen lit up, helpfully illuminating where the Pym vial he was searching for was located.  Good ole Karen.  He pulled a flap of the suit away, exposing the vial.  There.  It was right there.  The key to saving Tony.

“Ninety seconds.” Karen reminded, catapulting him to action.

He twisted the vial free and palmed it.  He did his best to fold the Antman suit and put it back exactly the way he’d found it, closing the hidden door once it was in place.  He readjusted the clothes on the hangers so they hid the door, just like before.

Vial in his possession, Peter crept back out of the closet, past Scott, and out the bedroom door into the hallway.

“You have thirty seconds Peter.” Karen said when he’d finished silently closing the bedroom door.

He picked up the pace as he made his way through the rest of the apartment back into the bathroom.  Karen had an anxiety provoking countdown displayed on the top corner of his mask.

Fifteen seconds.

He opened the window and craned his upper body through it.

Ten seconds.

While still keeping a tight grip on the vial, he twisted and stuck one hand to the outside of the building and hauled the rest of his torso and legs out the window.

Three seconds.

Once he was clear he grabbed the bottom edge of the window.

Two seconds.

He carefully slid it back down.

One second.

It closed without a sound.

Zero.

“Congratulations Peter.” Karen said.  “You made it.”

“Barely.” He said breathlessly.  That was close.  Too close. But it’d worked.

He scaled the building, careful to keep the vial cradled in his fist.

“You got it?” Ned asked as he crawled over the ledge back onto the roof.

“I got it.” He said holding up the vial in his hand as he pulled off his mask.

“I can’t believe that actually worked.”

“Yeah me neither.” Peter admitted and they both laughed, high off the relief and their victory.

“Now what?” Ned asked.

“Now we wait until morning so we can go to the lake house and get Mr. Stark back.” Peter smiled.

Peter went back with Ned to spend the rest of the night in his friend’s room.  Peter had texted May earlier in the day that he was sleeping over at Ned’s house.  By now, she had to know he was avoiding her. He hadn’t seen her since the whole incident with her and Happy.  He’d come home late Friday night after she was already asleep and then he’d left for the lake house early Saturday morning before she’d woken up, and he’d spent the night there before heading back to New York to see Ned.  But May hadn’t called him out on it.  She hadn’t pushed him, she’d just given him her blessing.  He was starting to feel a little guilty about it.  

Peter helped Ned climb up the fire escape and through his bedroom window, the same way they’d snuck out once Ned’s parents had fallen asleep. As soon as they’d made it inside, Ned flopped down onto his bed and fell asleep instantly.  Peter didn’t sleep.  It was late.  Three in the morning, but he couldn’t sleep.  He should be tired, especially after a long week of practically sleepless nights, but he was too ramped up and excited.  His plan was finally going to come to fruition.  By this time tomorrow, he’d have Tony back.  This whole nightmare of the past six and a half months would finally be over.

He stared at the ceiling, wide awake, as the darkness turned to light.  His thoughts were filled with Tony, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, he didn’t shy away from them.

“And you’re going back to what moment exactly?” Ned asked.

Peter tried not to get annoyed.  His friend had been peppering him with questions all morning as they drove up to the lake house.  He should be grateful Ned cared so much, but after almost two hours it was getting to be a bit much.

“I already told you like three times.” Peter said from the driver’s seat.

“Tell me one more time.”

“I’m going to grab him before he wields the gauntlet.” Peter shrugged.

“That’s not an exact time.  Whenexactly?”

Peter sighed, but answered, “There’s a perfect moment when he and Thanos are fighting and he has the gauntlet but he’s not wearing it. I’m going to grab him then.”

“You’re going to fight Thanos?” Ned’s voice squeaked.

“No.  I’m going to grab Tony-Mr. Stark, and get out of there.  I’m not going to fight anyone.”

“Ok.” Ned said hesitantly.  “Because I think fighting Thanos is a bad idea.”

“I’m not going to fight Thanos.”

“Because if you go back in time and die there you’ll be dead here for forever.”

“I know Ned.  I’m not going to die.” He threw his friend a reassuring smile.  “Don’t worry.  FRIDAY and I went through all the footage compiled from the Avengers that had recording capabilities.  I have it planned perfectly.”

“If you say so.” Ned stared out the window.  

Ned stayed quiet as three more songs played on the radio.  Just when Peter thought maybe his friend had finally run out of things to ask, Ned suddenly blurted out, “You’re grabbing Mr. Stark when he has the gauntlet.”

“Yes.  That’s what I said before.” Peter let some of his annoyance bleed through his tone this time. “That way that new reality should still have a chance.  The gauntlet will be gone.  No matter what happens, Thanos won’t be able to use it to destroy half the universe. The Avengers will just have to defeat him and his army.  It’s doable.”

Ned didn’t say anything for a few long seconds so Peter glanced in his direction.  His friend had a freaked out look on his face.

“What?” Peter asked as he turned left onto the private gravel road that would lead them to the lake house.  They were almost there.

“You’re bringing the gauntlet here.” Ned stated shakily.

“I have to.” Peter replied.

“But Peter—”

“Look we’ll figure it out, ok?” He snapped.  “I don’t like it either, but it’s the only way.”

Ned didn’t look so sure.

“You’re the one that pointed it out.  If I take Mr. Stark and leave the gauntlet, I’d be dooming them.  I can’t-I can’t do that.  I have to give them a chance.  Taking the infinity stones out of the equation is that chance.”

“God Peter.” Ned let out a sharp exhale.  “I really hope you know what you’re doing.”

“Yeah.” Peter mumbled back.  “Me too.”

They pulled into the lake house drive a few minutes later, arriving promptly at nine o’clock just like Peter had planned.  Pepper and Morgan were gone.  Pepper was working in the city and Morgan was at preschool for the day.  It was a Monday but Peter and Ned didn’t have school because it was their spring break week. The timing had worked out perfectly. Mr. Stark had always hated Mondays, but he’d have to like this one.

Peter grinned at that thought as he got out of the car and walked to the house, Ned trailing behind him.  He let himself in with the key Pepper had given him and headed directly down to the workshop.  There were a lot of pieces they had to move.  

Peter didn’t want to set up the time travel equipment in the workshop in case something went wrong, so he had Ned help him haul it a good distance into the woods outside.  It took three trips and even though Peter always took the heaviest stuff, Ned was still out of breath by the time they had everything set up in the small clearing in the woods.

Peter changed into his Spiderman suit and then pulled the time travel suit on over it.  He held the housing for the nanotech time travel suit securely in his hand, the Pym particles already installed into it.  Thankfully there hadn’t been any unforeseen issues with that.

He took a deep breath and let it out in a quick huff before giving Ned a nod.

“Ready?” Ned asked from where he stood behind the control station, looking like he couldn’t decide whether to scream in excitement or throw up from fear.

“I’m ready.” Peter nodded and pressed the button on his time travel suit glove that flicked the helmet on.  They’d already set the time he wanted to return to in the system with FRIDAY’s help.  Everything was all set to go.

“Ok.” Ned said uncertainly, hands hovering over the controls.  “Are you sure?  This is your last chance to back out.”

“I’m sure.” He said and then repeated, more sternly.  “I’m ready.

Nothing was going to change his mind.  He was doing this.  No matter what.  He was going to save Mr. Stark.  With the helmet on, his short, fast breaths echoed ominously throughout it as the nerves set in.

“If you say so.” Ned muttered and then pressed the keys on the console in front of him.  “All right, mission ‘going back in time to save Ironman’ commencing in three…two…one…”

Peter closed his eyes.

And promptly got thrown through what felt like the craziest amusement park ride ever.

He landed in the midst of the battle seconds later, his stomach still back wherever he’d just left from.  He swallowed hard, trying to keep the nausea at bay.  Not having eaten this morning, or really in days, probably wasn’t helping matters.

Peter glanced around him.  He thought he’d sufficiently prepared.  He’d studied all the recordings from his own suit along with everything FRIDAY had recorded in Tony’s and everyone else’s.  He knew exactly where he needed to be and when, but arriving in the middle of the chaos of the battle was completely disorienting.

His spidey sense spiked and he reflexively dove to the ground just in time to avoid getting brained by a huge piece of rock flying by. Shit.  He couldn’t get hurt yet.  He couldn’t die yet.  He had to get to Mr. Stark or all of this would be for nothing.  He had to do this.  For Morgan. For Pepper.  For Happy and Rhodey and everyone else.  And for himself.  He grit his teeth and jumped into the melee.

“Where is he Karen?” He asked, trying not to panic.  Time seemed to warp around him.  He had no concept of it.  He didn’t know if it was a side effect of the time travel or a result of his own panic, but he had absolutely no idea how long he’d been in the battle. And he couldn’t seem to find Mr. Stark. He hadn’t thought it’d be this hard, but there was so much ground and so many people and it seemed like most of them were trying to kill him.  It wasn’t exactly the easiest environment to keep a level head.  He didn’t remember it being like this last time.

“He’s one hundred yards to your left Peter.” Karen answered. “And I suggest you hurry.  The moment you planned for is imminent.”

Shit.  He couldn’t screw this up.  He couldn’t he couldn’t he couldn’t.  He only had enough Pym particles for this one trip.  The fear spiked.  He had to get there.

He ducked away from the ugly alien thing currently trying to kill him and started sprinting in the direction of Mr. Stark, doing his best to dodge obstacles and enemies long the way instead of engaging with any of them.

“Hurry Peter.” Karen said.

He did.

He finished ascending a rubble strewn hill and paused to get his bearings.  Mr. Stark. He was there.  Right there.  Below him, fighting Thanos.  This was it.

Mr. Stark had the gold gauntlet in his hand.

It wasn’t too late yet.

“Go Peter!” Karen yelled in his ear.  “This is the moment.”

She was right.  He had to hurry.  But he was still too far away.  He threw his gaze around desperately.  And a solution presented itself.  Like fate.

He shot his web high above him at a huge worm monster thing passing by.  It latched on and he jumped.  He lined up his trajectory perfectly.  It would be enough.  It would work.  It had to.

Time seemed to warp again.  He felt like he was moving in slow motion as he got closer and closer to Ironman.  To Mr. Stark. He was there.  Still alive.  And then it seemed like he only blinked and he was slamming into the man.  In the nick of time.  A mere second before Thanos would’ve gotten to him and grabbed the gauntlet back and propelled into motion the final cascade of events that would’ve resulted in Mr. Stark snapping.  And dying.

His mentor let out an umph of surprise as they collided.  Peter held on tight as they rocketed into the air together.  He released his web so the worm monster thing wouldn’t inadvertently jerk them in a different direction.  The force of their trajectory was enough to keep them flying upward.  His eyes flicked to Mr. Stark.  The man still held the gauntlet in his hand.  Holy shit.  This was actually going according to plan.  It was going to work.

Ironman’s helmet retracted and Mr. Stark caught his eye. The shock of seeing the man’s face, seeing him alive after months of mourning his loss, was almost enough to critically distract him, but Peter blinked and forced himself to focus. There’d be time to appreciate the aliveness of his mentor later.  Mr. Stark looked like he was about to say something.  Some sarcastic quip probably.  But before he had a chance to speak, Peter slammed the housing unit for the nanotech time travel suit onto the man’s chest.  He double tapped it to activate it just as their upward arc peaked and they started plummeting back down to the ground.

Mr. Stark looked down with a confused frown.  His mentor watched as from the housing unit the white time travel suit expanded and formed over his armor.

The instant Tony recognized it, the man’s eyes widened and sought his out.  Peter saw the exact moment his mentor noticed Peter was wearing the exact same time travel suit and realized he wasn’t actually his Peter.  That he was from the future.

“No.” Mr. Stark gasped and his fingers grappled at the housing unit, trying in vain to deactivate it.  But it was impossible.  Peter had made sure of that.  He’d thought of this exact scenario.  Once activated, it had a five minute period of inactivity before it could be disengaged. It would give him more than enough time.

They kept falling.  Peter held the man tighter.  

“Kid.” Mr. Stark entreated once he realized he couldn’t reverse the nanotech time travel suit.

The ground was rapidly approaching.  Peter brought his left hand up in the limited space between their chests.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered as he looked his mentor in the eye. Even though he wasn’t.  He was the very opposite of sorry.  Mr. Stark watched, helpless, as he pressed his thumb on the glove button that would return them together to the present time.

He scrunched his eyes shut as the world twisted around them seconds before they would’ve splattered back into the ground.  Together, they shot through the quantum realm’s dizzying maze.

Seconds later they slammed into the ground.  Together.  They were still together.  

Peter groaned as his chest seized from getting the wind knocked out of it during the rough landing.  He coughed and tried to sit up, barely managing it.  A couple feet from him, Mr. Stark was doing the same, sitting up and glancing around.

“Holy shit!” Ned yelled.  “It actually worked!”

“Kid, what did you do?” Mr. Stark’s question came out more as a fear filled accusation.  The man’s eyes were wide, with shock or panic, Peter couldn’t tell.  But he didn’t care.  Mr. Stark was here.  He was here. He was alive.  Peter had done it.  He’d saved him.

He didn’t have the breath to explain, so he didn’t answer. Everything was spinning.  He tried to focus on Mr. Stark’s face but that, along with everything else, seemed to be turning into a nondescript amalgam.

“Oh my god!  Oh my god Peter!  You did it!” Ned kept freaking out from where he stood by the control panel.

The world whirled abruptly on its axis and Peter slammed a hand into the grass, trying to ground himself and stay sitting semi upright. He felt terrible.  Was this a side effect of the time travel or had he gotten hurt and not realized it in all the commotion?  He didn’t think he felt pain anywhere, but he couldn’t quite tell since everything seemed kind of detached and unreal, including his body.  Maybe he was in some kind of delayed shock.  Or maybe this was finally the culmination of all the sleepless nights and lack of nutrients.  

“Kid?!” Mr. Stark’s voice changed, an edge of concerned panic in it.  It was so familiar, but it’d been so long since he’d heard it.  He’d missed it.  The corner of his mouth twitched but he was too tired to do more than that.

“Peter?  Are you okay?” Ned asked.

Peter wanted to look over at his friend to reassure him but everything was dark.  When had he closed his eyes?

He was so exhausted.  He’d been running on adrenaline for so long and now that he’d completed his task, it’d finally abandoned him.  He just needed to rest.  Just for a minute.

He groaned.  The elbow of his lone arm holding him up went weak and he would’ve faceplanted into the dirt if not for the two hands that suddenly grabbed him under the armpits and diverted his collapse.  His head landed against a hard chest instead.  It still kind of hurt, but at the same time, it was the most comforting thing he’d ever felt.  Mr. Stark. The man brought his arms up around him to hold him.  Sort of like a hug.  For Peter, it’d been months since the last time they’d hugged in the middle of the battle, while for Mr. Stark it’d probably been only minutes before.

“Mm—” He tried to say his mentor’s name but his lips were frozen and numb and not listening to his commands.

“Kid?” Mr. Stark’s voice was speaking directly in his ear. “Pete?  Come on.”

He tried to sit up, to wake up, to open his eyes, but his head just lolled weakly against his mentor’s chest.  It didn’t matter anyway.  All that mattered was that Mr. Stark was here.  He was here.  He was here he was here.  He wasn’t dead.  Not anymore. Peter had done it.  He’d done the impossible.  And no one could take it back even if they wanted to.  There weren’t any Pym particles left.  Mr. Stark was stuck here with them.  With Peter.

“You need to talk to me kid.  I’m starting to freak out.  What’s going on?  Are you hurt?” Mr. Stark kept talking.

He wanted to answer but all he could do was groan.

“FRIDAY read vitals.” Tony said, and yep that was definitely his panic voice.  “And run a full diagnostic.  What’s wrong with the kid?”

Peter opened his mouth to reassure his mentor that he really was fine.  Just tired. But before he had the chance, consciousness fled.

A/N:  He's back! The end of this chapter was actually the first part of the story I wrote after watching Endgame, so I'm happy I finally get to share it with you guys.  I hope it helps you feel a little better like it did for me.  Let me know your thoughts!

For everyone asking about my next story in my 'out of darkness' series I want you to know that I'm still planning to write it but not until this story is complete, which I'm hoping will be before Spiderman FFH comes out, but we'll see.

[rheesus]

corpse party! — richie tozier (two)

pairing: richie tozier x reader

warnings: panic attacks, mentions of murder, gore, horror, occult and paranormal happenings

— part two of ?

( see part one )

i wont do all 5 chapters since chapter one is entirely based on seiko and naomi who are beverly and eleven sooo yeah! if you want to know what would happen to them and you don’t know the story of corpse party well, watch a gameplay or something laksjshddh 

something soft and wet had landed on y/n's cheek as she laid unaware of her surroundings. whatever was running down her face like tear drops seemed to have woken the class representative up. her e/c eyes batted opened and met to the view of a ceiling that had a clear whole through both the top of the building and the floor between that and the floor she laid on, next to that was a broken light fixture, flickering intensely with its last life.

"so, you're one of the new victims, huh?" an unfamiliar make voice echoed from behind her. the voice alone sent a wave of chills throughout her entire body as she turned and let out a ear piercing scream, she scrambled away, looking up at a boy no older than 17 - the lower part of his body seemed to sway like flames but his whole being had a blue ethereal glow to it.

from out in the hallway she could easily hear two voices calling her name in worry; richie and ms byers. if not for the boy in front of her, she would've smiled at this revealation. the boy's eyes seemed to wander in the direction of their voices and he gave a bittersweet smile.

"wow, stuck in the same space with not one, but two people you know? you're lucky." 

"w-w-" 

"that luck wont last long, i mean - look what happened to me!" the boy had laughed but not in a way that emitted happiness or amusement. his eyes now wandered to the floor, where a pile of bones and some ripped clothing laid.

“what do you mean?” the teen girl boldly said, though her thoughts didn’t match her tone. the ghost just shrugged. 

“you’ve been dragged here against your will. it looks like an abandoned school but it’s hell. you’ll either die horribly or eventually, you’ll kill your friends and die horribly. no matter what, it’s just pain twenty-four fuckin seven.”

 y/n had gulped down her fear in hopes to ask more before something came barrelling through the door and the ghost had fled at the sight and sound.

richie tozier and their beloved ms. byers. 

the first thing that happened upon seeing each other was the tears and smiles of relief before ms byers wrapped the class rep in a tight embrace, richie had squatted down next to her. his grin only widened when she turned to playfully glare at him.

"of all our friends i could be stuck with and i get stuck with you?" the boy rolled his eyes and ms byers had chuckled.

“if you ask me, richie was more worried out of—”

“anyways, it’s good you’re alive.” richie cut the lady off, smiling and ignoring the way his cheeks warmed up. y/n had smiled too, hugging ms. byers again. their happiness was, however, short-lived. the building had started to shake violently and a loud scream rang out through the building — one of filled with the pain and suffering. and who it belonged to was a familiar person to the three.

eleven hopper. 

the very thought that one of her classmates and friends were in danger made y/n’s stomach churn and her mind to run wild with negative thoughts. soon those thoughts became to overwhelming to the point where the teen girl couldn’t help but lose her breath. ms. byers could sense her distress and cupped her face in her hands, 

“y/n, focus on me. it was probably nothing,” she gave an encouraging smile, “probably the wind.”

“but you heard it, right? that was el. our el.” ms byers sighed. richie looked around the wrecked classroom, chewing on his lip nervously.

“ms byers, stay here with y/n and i’ll go look for eleven—”

“no! you stay here with y/n where it’s safe and i will find eleven.”

“stop it! no!” the two looked back at the h/c, her breathing was still erratic but she persisted in talking, “you can’t leave, i just found both of you.”

the kindly teacher had done nothing but give a genuine, sweet smile, “you’ll be fine. i’ll bring eleven back here safe and sound. promise.”

not allowing y/n or richie to protest, ms. byers had left the classroom. the two students stared at the door for what felt like hours. y/n had moved her head towards the corpse of the boy she had talked to. near his the bones of what used to be his hand was nearly touching a card of some sort. she crawled to it and took it into her possession. in fine black print were the words.

derry boys high school

steve harrington 

d.o.b.: 16 april 1996

grade 12 

y/n had let out a shaky breath before stashing the id card in her jacket pocket. she looked back to the door ms. byers had left from and mumbled words of hope under her breath.

please, be okay.

joyce byers had found herself in a classroom worse off than the one she left richie and y/n. one half of it was collapsed in, leaving nothing but a black abyss. she would’ve gone up the stairs but she could hear a wicked voice giggle in her head, “unwise to go upstairs, teacher.”

and so she stayed on the same floor. she had taken five steps in before a blue boy had appeared before her, a bored expression across his face. his mullet was a mess and he glowed. 

“teacher! you stopped cowering with the two in the other classroom, huh?”

she looked at the boy in annoyance. what did he mean by cowering? joyce bit her tongue and gulped, “i heard one of my student’s scream and i’ve set out to find her.”

“i see... regrettably,” he spoke lowly, “that won’t be possible. this school exists in a nexus where multiple dimensions overlap. it’s a single closed space in a sea of closed spaces. in other words, even though you may be in the same school as your screaming student, you and her occupy different dimensions... which means you two can never meet.”

“if one of you should die, perhaps your body... or spirit may move from one space to another... you can find a way of traversing the planes freely as they do,” ms. byers didn’t know why but the way the boy spoke the word they, sent a chill running down her back. the blue boy continued to talk to her, “consider this fair warning: even if you should find the exact spot from which your student’s screams emanated... she herself may not be there and if she’s not there’s not a thing you can do about.”

the boy spoke smugly but there was no indication in his expression that he meant to be. joyce’s eyes were filling up with tears of desperation, “but i heard her scream!”

“it is true other children have arrived here not long ago and by all appearances seem to be your students,” the boy shrugged, “but as i explained, time and space is fragmented here and it doesn’t behave like you assume — you say you heard a scream. that may have taken place a few minutes ago or perhaps in another space hours previous or maybe an echo from the future, who’s to say. or maybe with the phenomenon as it is; it’s possible two closed spaces can have some influence on each other.”

the young woman had clenched her teeth. this young boy was doing her head in. all she wanted was to find eleven and verify her safety, “it doesn’t matter! i can’t go on and ignore an antagonising scream like that! step aside!”

she charged at him and he disappeared. ms. byers had missed the glowering expression he gave her. she had looked around the room for any clues or hints that her student was near but to no avail. as she went to leave the classroom, a supernatural force pull her back in, slamming the door fast. materialising in front of her was the same boy she had just talked to except her glowed red with nothing but malice and hate in his lifeless eyes.

“step aside?! why don’t you fuck off!” his voice was now no longer monotone, but angry at her. the ground had started to shake once again. too focused on the earthquake, ms byers had failed to notice the shelf filled with cutting supplies slowly falling towards her body. the shelf itself was too heavy with the combined force of wat was pushing it down and so it caused her to topple too.

she felt the bones in her back all crack at once and her skin was being sliced. was it the scissors or the scalpels or the glass that was worse? she couldn’t tell it was all too painful to bear. the angry teen started to talk again, “in all the world, the most vile and untrustworthy are you schoolteachers. all you give a shit about is your own well-being! you’re not worried about your students! you’re just worried about being held responsible if something should happen to them!”

joyce couldn’t worry about his rant, only how much the weight was hurt her, “youre all the same... every single one of you! and i won’t be taken in by your lies!”

this caught her attention. taken in by lies? 

“when you see a problem among your kids, you just keep your distance because you sure wouldn’t want to get involved! have to keep up appearances, right? you just pick out the problem children and chip away at them until they drop out or get expelled! you’re not disciplining them — you’re just raging at them! there’s no teacher ever that’s actually cared about their students!” 

with what little energy she had, ms byers spoke up bravely, “-you’re... you’re wrong.” 

this angered him more and the weight on her back grew more heavier, she let out a yelp of pain as he continued raging, “all of your students are destined to starve to death here if they don’t succumb to this hellhole and kill everyone! it’s the only possible outcome. they’ll all die meaningless deaths like me! and they won’t be thinking of you when they take their final breaths i’ll even pass on a message as they die so — any last words?”

the woman used her energy to glare up at him menacingly, “d...don’t touch those children.”

the teen boy snorted than laughed maniacally like she’d said the most wicked joke, “come again.”

“spare my students... please don’t hurt them.” for some reason this angered him more and more, “please! i beg of you don’t harm a hair on their... goddamn... heads.”

her voice faded out but her thoughts didn’t. 

please please be safe, my sweet students.

  richie had finally stopped looking at the door to turn and look at y/n. minutes had passed and no sign of eleven or ms byers could be seen. y/n suddenly stood up, legs wobbling slightly but nonetheless she bravely stood, walking to the door.

“we have to go find ms. byers.” she mumbled. she soundly drained and tired.

“no way, ms. byers said stay here so—”

“we have to go find ms. byers!” her tone caused richie to flinch, “i just have a bad feeling... we gotta go search for ms. byers.” 

the boy sighed and shook his head.

“fucks sake, fine. but we leave a note for her. do you have pen and paper?” y/n produced a pen but shook her head without any paper. richie messily written a note on the teachers desk and sighed again, “alright lets get the fuck out of here.”

this was so long holy fuck-

anyways i finished writing this at 1am and i’ve scared myself writing so congrats! here’s chapter two! and if you want to be apart of the tag list, i ask or just like the post i made abt it or if i forgot you please tell me oksejhdhdhd

taglist — @dovageidys @the-internet-is-a-scary-place @schwankyblock @musicalsandbooks 

[seven-oomen]

We are venom and you are mine | Chapter one

“Is there a particular reason that you’re bleeding out on my bedroom floor?” 

“Well its a little too cold to be bleeding out outside.”

He stared in shock at the man sitting on his bedroom floor, still not really comprehending that a rather handsome man of approximately six foot four with bulging muscles had crashed through his bedroom window in the middle of the day. Air drifted through the broken window ruffling his hair and caressing his cheek. It was rather cold on this November day. Imagine that.

“Right…” He blinked a few times before realizing the stranger was still bleeding from a gaping wound in his abdomen, that didn’t look too good. “Right, towel, you need help-”

He ran off to his kitchen, grabbed a clean towel and almost barreled into the stranger on his track through his living room. “Ow, hey, wait. No, you’re not leaving. You’re hurt.”

The stranger grabbed his arm, shaking his head at Eddie’s antics and gently guided him onto his couch where he sat Eddie down as if Eddie barely weighed anything.

 “I’ll be fine, here, these should cover the cost of the window.” A sizable stack of Benjamins was pressed into his hands. 

“But- what?” It was all a bit too much to truly comprehend. 

Eddie let out a little, undignified squeak. “Hey!”

A sigh escaped the stranger, “Look, I know you’re trying to help. But the people after me won’t hesitate to kill you if you get in their way. Best to stay out of it.” 

The stranger straightened up and tested his torso by rolling his hips and shoulders. 

He wasn’t ashamed to admit that his gaze drifted to the slightly visible six pack and the peek of a happy trail, he also wasn’t ashamed to admit that he quite enjoyed the little bits of skin on display. But what was truly astonishing was the fact that the gaping wound that had previously been there, had vanished before his very eyes. He stared openly, mouth slightly agape as he slowly looked up into the strangers' russet brown eyes.

The stranger merely sighed. “Don’t. I need to go.”

“Now wait just a minute-” Eddie rose to his feet and grabbed the strangers arm, eyes going wide as the stranger easily escaped his grip and turned the tables on him, pinning him back on the couch. “Or maybe not… ow-”

The stranger gave him a hard stare before he seemed to realize what he was doing. “I’m sorry,” He quickly let go of Eddie and sniffed- scented? The air. “Now be quiet. You’re not home.”

Eddie frowned, was this man insane? What was he sniffing the air for? He needed to leave, get out, call the cops. This went way beyond being a good Samaritan. He struggled to sit up, his face suddenly in the stranger's neck. He finally got a good sniff of the stranger's scent. Alpha.

He groaned under his breath. Great. As if he didn’t have enough problems to deal with at the moment. The stranger commanding him around made a whole lot more sense though. The Alpha was probably raised to keep Omegas like Eddie under his thumb.

“What are you-” A knock on his door suddenly knocked all the wind out of him and he instinctively leaned into the stranger. What the hell was going on here? He drew in a sharp breath, startling when a finger was pressed onto his lips. 

“Shhh…” The stranger hushed him. He hushed him… 

The fricking nerve. He attempted to shove the Alpha off him, but the stranger didn’t budge one inch. How fucking strong was this guy? It was like trying to move concrete. “Did you just- hush me?” He hissed back.

The knock on the door tripled in intensity. But not a single word was said. Maybe the stranger had a point, maybe it was better to just keep his mouth shut and follow the Alphas lead. Then again… it wasn’t him they were after so- He squirmed and wiggled his way off the couch, leaving a frowning Alpha behind. The stranger stared at him for a split second before moving into action. “Wait-”

But Eddie had already managed to cross the room, his hand on the doorknob as he looked back at the Alpha. “Maybe it’s just my neighbor, he’s an asshole.” 

A quick glance through his peephole showed an empty hallway. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and a shiver worked its way down his spine. Something was really off…

The door swung open and if it wasn’t for the pair of strong arms pulling him back he would’ve been hit square in the face by it. “What the-?!”

“Fucking hell-” The Alpha easily swung him out of the way, picking him up around the waist and more or less pressing him against the wall of his apartment as he engaged with the three armed soldiers that stormed his home.

He felt like he landed in a fucking dream sequence as the previously wounded Alpha turned into something right out of fucking Rambo. He’d never seen a human being fight like that, although to be fair, he hadn’t witnessed many fights to begin with. 

It became very clear, within the first few seconds that his unwelcome guest was military trained. Possibly special ops? With the way the guy drop kicked a fucking soldier through his bathroom wall and straight into his toilet. He would’ve laughed if he wasn’t in mortal peril.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when the Alpha grabbed him by the collar and pushed him towards his little kitchenette, whilst defending both of them against two attackers with his free arm and legs. Eddie stumbled back, there was little else he could do until his back hit the counter. He felt around behind him, a surge of triumph going through him as his hand closed around the handle of his frying pan and without thinking he swung it forward, hitting the left soldier directly in the face with it. 

The Alpha protecting him took the opportunity to break the right soldiers cover with a well-timed blow to the temple and kicked the left soldier so hard in the stomach that the man stumbled back across the room and went flying over Eddie’s couch. He then turned his attention back to the soldier in front of him and punched him right between the eyes with a ferocious growl.

He stared in morbid fascination at the three bone claws that stuck out of the soldier’s skull and couldn’t do much more than stare in horror as the Alpha retreated his clawed fist. The sound of bones scraping on bones would stay with him for a very long time.

He twitched nervously as the bone claws retracted back into the Alpha’s hand and the man looked at him over his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s cool…” Eddie squeaked out. It wasn’t and they both knew it, but the Omega was too terrified to really say anything else. “Where’d you learn to fight like that?”

The Alpha chuckled as he looked down at him. “That’s the big question after all of this?”

Eddie fidgeted and shrugged. “I don’t know what else to ask-”

“Fair enough.” The Alpha gave him a warm smile and ran a hand through his short, spiky dark brown hair. “Special Ops.”

“Cool.” Eddie nodded, not sure what else to do. “Figured as much.”

Sounds in the hallway had both of them on edge. Eddie trailed after the Alpha, not even trying to make himself small. There was no need for it if he were honest. The Alpha had a good seven inches on him and Eddie wasn’t exactly a small guy himself.

“Stay close.”

“Oh, I’m not going anywhere…” Eddie muttered, staying on the Alphas heels as they slowly made their way down the stairs.

Gunshots went off from down below and Eddie was slammed up against the wall within a second, the Alpha towering over him protectively. “I think your friends are here.” 

“Fuck.” The Alpha growled as he looked around for anything he could fight with.

“Fuck’s right.” Eddie groaned, stretching out his now painful back. “What’s the plan?”

“Getting you out in one piece. It’s me they want.”

It took a moment to register those words as the Alpha looked at him with a sad smile… He stared in horror as the strange man climbed up on the railing and dropped himself, plummeting down the flights of stairs before he hit the tiled floor at the bottom. Bile rose in his throat as he watched armed soldiers surround the lifeless looking body. It stung in his nose and before he knew it he’d emptied the contents of his stomach over the stairs in front of him. As well as over the shoes of the lone armed soldier that had come to collect him. 

“I’m having a really bad day, man. My friend just killed himself.” Eddie raised his arms in disbelief as the soldier still aimed his gun at him.

“Then he’s clearly not your friend-”

Shouts from below and the overwhelming sounds of gunshots spurred him into action. Without really thinking he surged forward, grabbed the barrel of the gun pointed at him, threw it upwards and pushed the soldier with all the strength he had left. He watched in morbid fascination as the man rolled down the stairs like some fucking tumbleweed. 

“Well, are you coming or not?” 

Was that? He quickly looked over the railing to see the Alpha standing below, his clothes torn to pieces and covered in blood from head to toe with those bone claws coming out of his balled fists. Alive and seemingly able to fight. How in the fucking world?

“Don’t just stand there, let’s go!” The Alpha beckoned him over and Eddie found himself running down the stairs to meet him.

“How in the world?!”

“We don’t have much time.” The Alpha had grabbed him by the arm and started guiding him out the back door of his apartment building. Adrenaline, fear and a strange sensation of trust had him following the tall, strange Alpha out the door and into the alley. Even though he really didn’t know what the hell they were doing right now. 

The cocking of a gun had them frozen in place as soon as they stepped out the building. “That’s far enough, Agent Oomen.”

His stomach churned once more as the intonations of the familiar silky smooth voice registered in his mind.

“Mr. Brock.”

Carlton fucking Drake.

Based on a prompt by @write-it-motherfuckers for @larissaloki

Hope you guys like this, although to be fair I’m writing this for me to break writer's block and it’s sooo much fun! So happy I’m writing again and I got so many good ideas for this.

Tag list:  (if you’d like to be added or taken off, let me know.)

@larissaloki @creationfail @queendophne @thoughtfulbreadpolice

@crystallized-iron

@daughter-of-infinity

@naferty

@valiantkittenwitch @smittenkitten143 @kaci1ynn @geekychic85

@missperfect-thisisfalse

@shadowrayven @bornwithgasolineheart

[theserpentsadvocate]

Sooo... I found this on my computer... and I apparently finished it and forgot to post it and now it’s been so long that like three of the people I was going to tag are no longer on tumblr so ooooops.

Rules: In a text post, list ten books that have stayed with you in some way. Don’t take but a few minutes, and don’t think too hard — they don’t have to be the “right” or “great” works, just the ones that have touched you. Tag some friends, including me, so I’ll see your list. Make sure you let your friends know you’ve tagged them.

Tagged by @the-disposessed ages ago, I’m sorry. Tagging… @allonsymiddleearth, @whimzhbeeaffairs, @natalie-is-my-name, @heckofabecca and … and anyone else who’s up for it.

In no particular order:

1.       Lord of the Rings (etc., etc.): I cannot remember not knowing this story, and I cannot remember not caring about it in some way. I think… that says enough.

2.       The Tortall books by Tamora Pierce: My first serious introduction to fantasy, and it was all women. I was too young to realize that was unusual; I kind of figured it was normal. Her other books are also excellent.

3.       Harry Potter: I have held on to the founders for years, and I will definitely continue to do so.

4.       Twilight: I liked Twilight at first... nothing special but I nodded along. (I didn’t get the general level of obsession, with it or with Edward.) And then I was tooling around on the internet one day and saw some mockery. I read it, it was funny, it was true… Fortunately I was never a huge fan or it might have hurt, but I slid into hatedom and critique pretty seamlessly, although I like to think I would have picked it up by myself as I got older anyway. I’ll be hating Twilight longer than I’ve liked some things.

5.       Hawksong (and sequels) by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes: Hawksong was the first romance I was fully on board with. It probably helps that it’s a romance but it’s also a fantasy novel and about a war and has lots of politics and culture world-building, so 13-year-old Riley who was a shipper but scorned typical romance didn’t run away rolling her eyes the whole time. It was excellent writing, the ideas were good, looking back I can see that it took an idea which could have been hackneyed and stupid in its execution (heirs to the rulers have to get married to end a war) and pulled it off originally and smoothly… and then there’s a later book where (as few spoilers as possible) a major character needs for plot reasons to choose a mate and there’s a lot of political tension attached to the choice, and then in the end, their romance turns out to be with someone completely different than expected and also of the same gender – and it’s just what happens, despite the fact that they’re an only child and one of the parents has no other family (at that point) to continue the line. It wasn’t something I expected (especially seven ten years ago) and I was really, really thrilled.

6.       Vampire Academy (and Bloodlines) by Richelle Mead: I’m still so very, very sold on Christian Ozera – but honestly, finding this series just before I started getting steadily disillusioned with the House of Night series and was forced to read the horrendous, disturbing, rape-apologist Hush Hush is probably the reason why I didn’t swear completely of YA paranormals, which would have meant missing a lot of excellent books.

7.       Artemis Fowl (and sequels) by Eoin Colfer: Probably my first actual fandom. I remember that I was thrilled to discover Holly was a girl – yes, it said ‘Captain Holly Short’ on the back, but my only reference for the name was Watership Down, where there was a soldier rabbit named Holly and all the characters who were anyone were men. (I should probably reread that book now that I’m not eight anymore.) It also contained the first major character death that actually seriously affected me FOR SOME TIME. Like, I’d cried at character deaths before, but I would lie awake at night for more than a year after, trying to figure out ways he could still be alive. (Book Four, oh my God!) Also, Trouble Kelp, enough said.

8.       The Spirit Gate by Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff: A really excellent book I found in my high school library and haven’t been able to find anywhere else since. Eastern-European-based fantasy with influences by non-European cultures and probably the best and most original magical/cultural system I’ve ever read. Also the protagonist is a widow with a ten-year-old son instead of one of the sprightly under-twenty-fives who are so common.

9.       Hunger Games books: They’re not perfect, of course, but it was nice to have a YA series I could obsess over that didn’t result in me turning around two or three years later and saying “Wow, I’m an idiot.” (See Twilight.) Also, I still haven’t read one of the ‘catch-the-craze’ dystopia novels that could compete with it. (I think the only one I would actively recommend is maybe Kiera Cass’s ‘The Selection’.)

10.   Princess Florecita and the Iron Shoes by John Warren Stewig: One of my favourite books as a kid, and I am so freaking angry I couldn’t find my copy ANYWHERE before I moved God damn it. You have a princess rescuing a prince, and do you want to know how badass Florecita is? Do you? Well, forget all the powerful wind spirits she has to deal with and the monsters she has to get past – she’s wearing those iron shoes, right? SHE WALKS SO FAR THEY FALL APART.

Honourable Mention: The King’s Equal by Katherine Patterson: Magic talking wolf, badass female protagonist, cute goats, and THOSE ILLUSTRATIONS.

[janethepegasus]

BMC Miraculous Ladybug AU RP Thing: RPG

An RP me and @pika-ace did relating to the BMC Miraculous Ladybug AU, where our main seven go through an RPG world thanks to an akuma named Queen Alexia.

(The main seven enter an empty warehouse, looking around for the Akuma) Leo: Okay, that weird queen lady has GOT to be here somewhere! (They look around until Owl spots a TV with an NES sitting on a box)

Owl: What's this? Hound: Ooooh retro!

(They approach the TV and it turned on by itself)

Leo: Ooooh. :o

(It showed static at first, but then it showed a title screen for an RPG game called "Miraculous Quest")

Swan: A game? Hound: I like the sound of this already :3c

(Suddenly, two hands emerge out of the screen and grabs the main seven)

Dasher: AHH!! Leo: Holy shit we're being Jumanji'd!!!

(The hands dragged them and into the TV) (Then there was a bright flash of light) (A couple of seconds later, the main seven, who are now their normal selves, stir) Jeremy: Owwww.....

Michael: Aw man...ow... Eric: *winces* Everyone alright?

Post: Yeah...!

Jordan: Shit...we changed back...? Why?

???: Because you're in my RPG game of course! :3

(They all look up to see the akuma, standing on a large rock over them)

Queen Alexia: And you seven are gonna go through the WHOLE thing! From beginning to end! >:3

Jeremy: Holy shit, we actually WERE Jumanji'd!

Queen Alexia: Well, not “Jumanji’d” but rather....you all became an RPG class! (They look over themselves and saw that Jeremy is a Fighter, Michael is an Archer, Eric is a Mage, Jordan is a Knight, Post is a healer, Lin is a Rouge/Thief, and Joe is a Mage)

Michael: ...I am strangely excited about this 8)c

Jeremy: Me too! 8)c

Jordan: *looks at his armor* I don't think we covered this during our game nights...

Post: I-I'm a healer...? M-Makes sense... :/

Joe: *to Eric* It seems you and I are...spell casters?

Eric: *to Joe* Seems like it...

Lin: I'm digging this hood and the black...I feel very edgy

Michael: But don't get TOO edgy Lin! X3c Queen Alexia: AAAAANYWAY, now that you all saw that you're in your RPG classes, let me explain a few rules...

Jeremy: Oh, I am READY for this! :D Michael: Same; I am ON BOARD!

Queen Alexia: First off, your Miraculous, they're not taken, yet, but you cannot use them at a lower level, you have to unlock the ability at a certain level! Wanna take a few guesses on what Level you unlock it? :3c

Post: uhh...10?

Queen Alexia: Nope! 35! :3c

Michael: WHAT?! D:< Jeremy: That's BS! >:(

Queen Alexia: Hey! I can't have rookie players in my game gain access to a powerful ability from the start! It would make things too easy! >:(

(Jeremy and Michael groan)

Queen Alexia: Second, you all have three lives! If you run out of HP, you loose a life! But if you loose all three lives, then you'll die both in game and in real life! >:)

(Everyone tenses) Post: Oh god...we've been sword art online'd too?!

Queen Alexia: Well not quite but, it'll seem that way if you loose your last life! ;)

Lin: In hindsight, we kinda asked for this when we asked Raven Claw to up his game...

Joe: Yes, now we ALL have to pay the price...

Queen Alexia: Also, all of you start at Level 1! So if you wanna beat the final boss, you gotta farm those EXP from battles! >:3

Michael: Oh, lovely >:(

Queen Alexia: Good luck! >:3 *disappears*

Jeremy: Welp, looks like we get to live the DnD cartoon

Post and Jordan: The what? :/c

Michael: The old cartoon based on Dungeons and Dragons.

Post: .....Never heard of it. :/c

Jeremy: We'll educate you later; right now, we better build up our EXP

Michael: Yeah! >:)

Eric: And how exactly do we do that? Jeremy: Beat the shit out of enemies of course!

Michael: Yeah! Beat em up and gain EXP! That's basically what makes an RPG.....an RPG!

Jordan: *looks completely lost* Uhhhh... Michael: You’ll get the hang of it

Joe: Well then, shall we start our quest? :)

Post: Y-Yeah! Jeremy: Onward!

(They begin their journey through the RPG land)

(Jeremy and Michael take the lead, being more experienced in RPGs)

(While the others are behind them) (After a couple of minutes, they encountered their first monster)

Jeremy: Ooooh boy, here we go!! Let's see what we can do!

(They get into position to fight)

Jordan: So how does this work exactly?! Michael: Just attack, like we usually do in the real world, dad, it's not hard!

Lin: Sooo....beat it up until it’s dead? :/c

Jeremy: Exactly!

Joe: Alright then, it may take some time to learn our new powers but we’ll manage!

Michael: I'll go first; my thing is pretty straight forward *gets his bow and arrows* Though I wish we took archery in gym class...

(He aims his arrow and releases it towards the monster)

(The arrow hits and the monster staggers a bit)

Michael: Woo! Did it on the first try! :D

Jeremy: Okay, I'll go next; I'm a fighter, soooo I guess I'll just punch him

(He approaches the monster and punches it)

(The monster staggers and Jeremy again and Jeremy leaps back to his position) Post: Heh, this is pretty easy! Jeremy: Well this IS a level one monster

Michael: Yeah, cause if we go into the later levels, they’ll get harder to beat!

Post: I'll go next but...I'm a Healer. Can I even attack?

Michael: Eeeeeehhhhh......kinda? :/

Jeremy: Give it a try, just...don't heal him

Post: O-Okay... (Post walks up to the monster and hits it with the stick end of his healing staff)

(The monster staggers again) Michael: There ya go!

Post: Yay! :D

Eric: Um, is there a reason this thing isn't fighting back? Jeremy: We all gotta take turns; once we all go, then he can go

Eric: .....Are you serious? -_-

Jeremy: Yep, that's how it works; be glad we're not in an MMO or else it'd be a free for all

Michael: Yeah!

Jordan: What the hell is an MMO?????! Michael: Later, dad, it's your turn, slash the monster or something!

Jordan: A-Alright then!

(Jordan gets out his sword and slashes at the monster)

(The monster staggers again, looking like it was gonna faint)

Jeremy: Almost there! Who's gonna take the finishing blow?

Joe: I will!

Joe: Now, if I'm a Mage then I suppose I can just... (He forms a spell in his hands and fires it at the monster)

(The monster falls and is defeated)

Michael: Woo! Victory!

Jeremy: Yeah!! :D

Post: So have we leveled up now? Michael: Oh, if only it were that easy

Post: Huh?

Jeremy: It takes a LOT of EXP to level up, and beating one monster isn't gonna be enough; we gotta beat up more.

Eric: .....Are you fucking serious? >:/

Michael: 'Fraid so, man.

(Eric sighs in annoyance)

Jeremy: Speaking of, we should probably look for GROUPS of monsters to fight to speed things up; Eric probably got barely any EXP since he didn't get to attack

Michael: Yeah, if we wanna best the final boss TOGETHER, we gotta be strong enough to both survive and win this thing!

Jordan: This is too much for my brain to handle...

Lin: You’ll get the hang of it eventually Tank! ;)

(They head on their way, fighting as many monsters as they can)

(They spent an hour or so fighting monsters and leveling up) (When they got to the entrance of a forest level, they were suddenly approached by a man in a long cloak) Magic Seller: Hello weary travelers!

Jeremy: Uh, hey

Magic Seller: Would you care to buy *quickly pulls out a potion* some of these??? :3c

Michael: *squints* What does it do?

Magic Seller: It makes you go fast *pause* Like Sonic the Bloody Hedgehog

Jeremy: Oh well in that case :D

(Jeremy takes the magic potion from the magic seller’s hands)

Eric: Are you sure about this? Michael: This is part of the game dude; you gotta get potions and junk

Jeremy: Yeah!

(They buy a few more potions)

Michael: Thanks for the potions man! :D Magic Seller: Ya welcome kid!

(They head on their way through the forest)

(They fought a few monsters as they went but all of the sudden, they felt the ground shake a little)

Jordan: What's that?!

(The shaking fades out and comes back, as if something big and heavy was coming towards them)

Jeremy: If Jurassic Park has taught us anything...that can't be a good sign...

(The stomping becomes louder and louder until a giant moving tree with large arms and a face comes into view)

Michael: Ooooh...goooood...

(The giant tree monster looks at them and roars loudly, then it starts charging towards them)

Joe: MOVE!!

(They run as fast as they can to get away from the tree monster)

(The monster chases them for a while, until it reaches out with one of its branches and grabs Eric)

Jordan: PEACH!!

(Everyone skids to a halt; Eric struggles and tries hitting it with magic, but they barely do anything, and the monster keeps his tight grip on him)

(Eric screams in pain as the monster tightens his hold on him)

(The monster roars and starts stomping away with Eric) Jeremy: Get back here, Treebeard!!

(They chase after the tree monster)

Post: Why aren't we doing the usual thing where it stays still and fights us?! Michael: This must be a cutscene or something!!

Jordan: A What?!

Jeremy: You know, like when those video scenes play in other games to move the story!

Jordan: *blinks* Oh, right.

Michael: Yeah; this must be a boss if he's getting a cutscene!

Lin: Then let’s follow him and beat that guy! >:)

Jordan: No need to tell me twice! >:(

(They chase after the monster)

(They eventually reach a forest clearing; the monster is waiting, and Eric is dangling from another tree, tied up with tree roots)

Jordan: Will!

Eric: Jordan!

(The monster roars at the six, getting ready for battle)

Post: Okay, NOW it's doing the thing.. Michael: Be careful, this is a boss, he's gonna be tough!

Jeremy: Yeah!

(They start fighting)

janethepegasus (They gave it all they got on their turn, while they try to dodge the monster’s attacks on its turn. This goes on for a couple of rounds) (Eventually, they were still holding on but Jordan had it rough, he was just a couple HP points away from losing his first life)

Eric: Jordan! Jeremy: Post, can you heal him on your next turn? Post: I....I don't have enough magic!!

Jeremy: Crap! He’s gonna loose his first life if he gets hit!

Michael: I...I guess we just hope the monster decides to hit one of us instead

Jeremy: I hope...

(They finish their turns and the monster takes its turn to attack)

(It raises its large arms and slams them down at Jordan)

Eric: NO!!!!

(It lands and the monster picks up Jordan, and then it throws him straight into the ground) (When Jordan landed, he looked like a bloody mess)

Eric: *struggling while tearing up* JORDAN!!! Michael: Holy fuck...!

(The monster finishes it’s turn and now it was their turn to attack)

Eric: *nearly crying* No...no, Jordan...! Joe: *angrily* You BASTARD!! (They take their turns, hitting the monster with their strongest attacks)

(Once their attacks hit on their turn, they managed to defeat the tree monster)

(The roots around Eric disappear and he falls to the ground, and everyone looks at Jordan's remains)

Jeremy: Holy fuck... (Eric manages to get up and race towards Jordan)

(Eric kneels next to him, tears falling and his hands shaking) Eric: Oh god...Jordan...no...please, please no...!

(Eric bursts into tears as he’s next to Jordan)

(Everyone else tears up at the sight, when Jordan's body starts to disappear)

Eric: *sobbing* No..! No no no no, please...Jordan...DON’T LEAVE ME!!!

(Jordan's body vanishes and a spotlight shines down from the sky; a few seconds later, Jordan is literally dropped right back into the world, falling on his face) Everyone: HUH?! Jordan: OW! FUCK, that hurt!!

Eric: *looks up* Jordan?!

(Jordan gets onto all fours and looks around at the scene) Jordan: Huh? Did we win?

Jeremy: Uhh....yeah we did.

Jordan: Oh... *sees everyone looking shocked* Uh, did I miss something? Eric: JORDAN!! *runs over and just about tackles him, tears running down his face*

Jordan: Woah! You okay there Peach?

Eric: You're alive...oh thank GOD you're alive!!

Jordan: Wh-What?? D-Did....Did I die?!

Michael: Y-Yeah...that tree just about made fertilizer out of you... Eric: I thought I'd lost you, I...god I was so scared, Jordan...!

Jordan: Oh Will.... *hugs Eric*

Post: But, how did you...oh...right...I forgot...

Lin: Oh yeah, the lifes thing....riiiiiight...

Michael: Wow...guess the adrenaline made us forget...

Jeremy: Yeah....

Joe: So that means Jordan has two lives left; now I see that we have to save as many as possible; three lives isn't a lot

Jeremy: Yeah, cause if we lost all three, we’re dead, like....for real.

Michael: And that was only the first boss...oh boy...

Post: Yeah...

(Eric and Jordan stand up, Eric still clinging to Jordan)

Jordan: You gonna be okay Peach...?

Eric: I...I think so...

Jordan: *wipes Eric's tears* Good...

Eric: Just...stay alive...please...

Jordan: I will, promise...

(Jordan kisses him on the forehead)

(Eric smiles)

Joe: Well then...shall we continue? Lin: Yeah, let's get out of this place...

(They walk forward and continue on their journey)

(They travel through many levels, slowly getting stronger as they go, but still having quite a few close calls as the fights get tougher)

(During one fight against a tough monster, Joe and Lin were trying their best not to get hit again, as they didn't want to loose their remaining HP with one hit)

Michael: Get ready!! (The monster roars and attacks Joe, and he falls down dead)

Everyone: JOE!!!!

Jordan: DAMMIT!! (They take their turns and attack as hard as they can, trying to end the fight quickly)

(As soon as the monster disappears, everyone rushes over to Joe)

Post: Dad!! Oh god dad, no!

Eric: Joe.....

(Joe's body disappears and he's then dropped back into the world)

(He falls on his back)

(Joe slowly gets up and looks around) Joe: Well, that was a bizarre experience... Post: DAD!

(Post hugs Joe tightly)

Lin: Well we made it THIS far without anyone losing a life; I'd call that progress

Jeremy: Yeah; hopefully we reach the final boss pretty soon...

Michael: What level are we on now? I think I've kinda been losing track, I think we're...in the twenties?

Joe: I believe so...

Eric: I guess we'll just have to keep going until the akuma tells us to stop

Jeremy: Yeah, pretty much.

(They get up and keep on going)

(They kept on going, fighting a lot of monsters as they went, getting stronger and managing to keep their lives. Until finally, the main seven reached Level 35, where they unlocked the ability to use their Miraculous)

Eric: FINALLY!!

Jeremy: Yeah! It took us a couple of hours just to get there!

Michael: Oh this'll make fighting WAY more fun! >:3

Lin: Hell yeah! >:3

Post: Onward! To the next fight! >:3

(They move on forward)

(They keep climbing the levels, their Miraculous abilities helping immensely in fights)

(Eventually, after many battles against monsters and bosses, they finally reached the final level, standing in front of the gates of a large castle)

Jordan: Oh thank god it's almost over... Eric: How are we doing on lives?

Jordan, Joe, and Lin: Two Michael and Jeremy: We got three!

Jeremy: How about you, Post?

Post: Um....I-I-I....i got one left.... :(

Michael: Oh fuck... Jordan: And...Will? How about you?

Eric: Two.

Jeremy: Okay...okay, so we just gotta watch Post's health more than anything

Michael: We don't wanna loose our precious baby! XS

Post: 'M not a baby... >:(

Jeremy: You are in our eyes! Michael: You precious cinnamon roll!

Joe: They're not wrong, son ;)

Post: T-True...

Jordan: Welp...let's go de-throne this Queen

Michael: Hell yeah, let's do this!

(They enter the final level and start slowly working their way up)

(Eventually, they managed to make their way to the top, where Queen Alexia is sitting on her throne)

Alexia: You finally made it...and with your whole party! Impressive!

Jeremy: Yeah, it was hard, but we fucking made it!

Michael: And now we're taking you down!! Alexia: Figures, the ones will ALL their lives are the ones running the show; you two have CLEARLY played RPGs before

Jeremy: Well DUH! >:(

Michael: Also, dropping our rookie friends into this with semi-perma-death? Not cool, lady! >:(

Queen Alexia: It's an RPG, they should've known better! ;)

Jeremy: Not everyone's a fan of RPGs, lady!! Michael: And not everyone are gamers!! Some people don't even know what RPGs are!!

Queen Alexia: *scoffs* Whatever. Anyway, you get the face the final boss to this game, me! So get ready cause i won't hold anything back! >:)

(They get into position and the fight begins)

(Both sides gave it all they got, landing powerful attacks) (However, during Alexia's turn, she tries a powerful attack at Jordan) (It hits and he's knocked out)

Eric: JORDAN!! Jeremy: It's okay, he's still got a little health left and two lives!

(Jordan struggles to get up)

Michael: Post! Give her a status spell! Stun her so we can get some extra hits in!

Post: O-Okay!

(Post hits Alexia with a stunning spell and she can't move for two turns)

Jeremy: Alright! Now we can get our extra hit! >:)

Jeremy: Don't hit her with the ultra big ones yet, we gotta save magic energy!

Eric: Right!

(They all hit her with decently powerful attacks and get a good chunk of her health down to almost red)

Michael: Almost there!

Jeremy: Alright, Post, you heal the party including yourself in case this somehow goes wrong! Michael: Everyone else, time for the big guns!

Lin: Hell yeah, let's do this! >:)

(They all use their Miraculous abilities and use their biggest spells and Alexia's health drops to zero)

All: YEAH!!!

(Alexia falls over and their levels skyrocket due to all the EXP) Michael: Ahhh that's the best feeling in the world! X3c

Jeremy: Hell yeah it does! X3c

(Eric walks up to Alexia's fallen form and gets her akuma) Eric: That was QUITE the payoff, I must say

Jordan: Yeah, it was rough going through the whole thing, but we did it!

Joe: That was a VERY satisfying journey...and I think we owe it all to you, Jeremy and Michael. Without your leadership and expertise...I don't think any of us would have made it out

Post: Yeah... Lin: Thanks for your knowledge of the genre Mikey! <3

Jordan: I didn't think you had in ya; you two may not know it, but you're born leaders

(Jeremy and Michael blush) Jeremy: Thanks guys

Michael: Never thought we'd be leading the victory charge through a giant RPG

Jeremy: Me neither. Yet here we are.

Eric: Perhaps during our next game night...we could play more RPGs, just without the threat of dying

Joe: Yes, i'm a bit interested in seeing more RPG worlds and see what they have in store for all of us.

Post: And working together like that was a lot of fun!

Lin: It was! <3

Jeremy: Hell yeah, that'd be awesome! Michael: It's a deal!

Jeremy: Next game night, more RPGs! <3

Michael: Yeah! Now let's get the hell out of here!

Eric: Right!

(Eric breaks the akuma and purifies it, and they're back in the warehouse)

Post: We're back! :D

Joe: Thank goodness

Michael: Yeah...

Jeremy: C'mon Michael; let's go home and try to narrow down which RPG we'll play first at the next game night! :Dc

Michael: Yeah! We gotta pick a GOOD one to play! :Dc

Eric: We're looking forward to it :)

Jeremy: Great! <3

[originalpistol]

𝑩𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚐𝚎, 𝑩𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆. 

Running — That’s something I am great at. But I never ran from /you/. There was something about the way your arms wound around the small of my waist, pulling me in, and making me remember what it felt like to call a person home instead of four walls and countless marble pillars. Something in the way your breath would gently cascade in against the delicate flesh of my neck with every heated wind from the slow wind of my hips. A simple, slow tease. Oh, but I knew it was pure torture for you; that’s why I did it. Two small reasons why...why I never strayed, and why I held tight when your presence was nonexistent. I still remembered the shock that settled in the day you knelt down against the warm sand, and pulled out a ring. Pear shaped; my favorite. Simple, golden band. I never was one for over-complicated jewelry. Gross. If that shit has more diamonds than the most important one? Throw it out. But that was something he knew. Boy, did you really do a number on me with this whole setup. Lure me in, take me to our favorite beach, and low and behold? Sharks! The one and only favorite animal of yours truly. Great. Gotta love a man that knows exactly what to do. Fuck, me. So here we were, sharing the best memory I could ever hope for — a shark meet-and-greet. I was right at home in the ocean, swiping light fingers along the silken backs of them, completely mesmerized by the way they moved. And then? That was when he pulled me away; I didn’t mind, I knew the day was drawing to an end, and that was usually the time when sharks become ravenous with hunger. Wish I would’ve sank you to them, honestly. Shit, then I wouldn’t be standing here, feeling stupid. The thing I hate almost more than feeling vulnerable. Good job, pal. The initial pain that followed his disappearance was something that I’d honestly learned to tune out. Just busy, or perhaps just up to some shit I didn’t know or need to know about. Shit happens, Alice. You’ll be fine, just keep on building your empire. So that’s exactly what I did. I built a wedding line while he was off gallivanting. Seven of the eight pieces were nearly finished. All that lacked was the eighth and final dress. Something I had taken my sweet time in both designing, but also in bringing my idea to life. I never had issues on this until now. Where I couldn’t even find the headspace to slip away from the lingering memories of having him at home with me. I used to take my pieces home, give him a little show all his own, and allow him to tell me the small changes to make to the pieces. It was stupid, probably, but it always helped to steady my mind. I still can’t believe I allowed myself to lean on someone else so completely. Wasn’t that the first thing I learned in life from my lunatic mother? Crazy bitch; still locked away in the asylum. If there was one solid piece of advice I’d bother to lend to anyone? Never rely on anyone other than yourself. Your fingers, feet, will, and determination will take you a helluva lot further than anyone else ever will. If you find yourself wanting to lean into or on your partner? Fucking stand up — Stand tall. We don’t have time for that bullshit here. Waiting wasn’t the hard part. Continuing to have hope when you’re six months into being alone? That is the hard part. Going back, recreating each and every little memory you have of him while he won’t let you know he’s still breathing; that’s hard. It’s the whole thing of not knowing, for me. I never thought I would be the kind of girl to sit back and find myself a mess of confusion, anger, and doubt all because of this goddamn ring that sat so prominently against my left ring finger. But yet? I held on, refusing to let go or to give up. Not because of myself, but because I knew the feeling of coming back to an empty life, an empty home. Detriment was a kind way of putting that kind of hurt. Trust, love, compassion; these are all things we built together. Things to which were slowly slipping between my fingertips as the eighth month alone was creeping in. Settling into its place on the chalkboard calendar I’d hung to track both my progress on the wedding show, but also so I would force myself to be conscious in the time that lapsed. Eight fucking months of space between the two of us. I had never felt so empty. Both in mind and in soul. He’d slipped away so easily to my dismay. Not a word, not even a second thought. Maybe marriage wasn’t for me. Perhaps I was the kind of girl that would always find herself in these fucked up situations because this wasn’t something in the deck of cards I’d been playing with? We shall see. Teeter...totter. Back and forth she goes. Do I slip away like he did, or do I give it the full length of a year before I let this crash harder than a car at 80 stopping against a tree? Fuck it. Held on this long, suppose it won’t ruin me any worse to wait it out. Yeah? Yeah. Back to the dress. That’s right. It was mid July — only one dress remained. I slipped another pin from between my lips, into my fingers, and right by my thumb right through the soft — damn near silken, fabric. Weaving the pin into place, and securing it with a final thread of fabric against the shoulder. Draping it down to sit perfect against the shoulder of the mannequin at hand. They would slouch slightly, but never enough to reveal too much skin. Classy. Effortlessly classy. For a moment I pulled away from my project to look over it, eyes narrowing in suspicion and critique of my own work. Everything would be perfect, and without flaw by the time I was done. Nine months deep in this treacherous hell hole of a relationship, ey? Here I go again, making my rounds of excuses for why he’s gone, why he hasn’t said a single word, and why I don’t matter. Here I go venturing into the path of unknown on whether or not I’ll ever speak to the second most important person I’d met. Can’t believe I let him in to this extent. Still feel stupid. My will to push forward with my long-lived journey of waiting was dwindling. Quick. It was almost as if with every tap my nails made against the glass top of my desk, my patience were wearing further. Down the drain. Oh, fucking, well. I remembered typing out my release form, allowing me to escape the confines of this, but instead? I’d somehow turned it into a soppy form of how much I loved this man, and how I was still going to persevere so he would see the love I gave. I couldn’t tell you how badly I wanted to just be able to hear that deep, rusk voice of his. To know he was near. Little did I know, this need to feel him would be met only days later. I was dead to the world on the leather couch in my living room, bottle in hand, and drool dripping down the corner of my mouth. How lady like, Madame Lunatic would be oh sooo proud. Insert eyeroll here, please. Thank you. Anyways. I’d slept for a grand total of three hours when I finally heard the soft ringing of my phone. For the record, I had seven missed calls from Brooklyn at this point. What in the sam fuck is this? “Swain is here!” That was all I had to know, and I immediately sprung into action. Time to see /my/ man. When it was said that it was either Swain or nothing? People meant that. I cared about little to none unless it dealt with him. Dude had my whole heart tangled around his fingers. Even when he wasn’t around. But he was now. That is what mattered, for me. Fuck, yes. I knew there was a reason I kept holding on. This is exactly why I never gave up. He was coming back, he was always meaning to come back. Right? Of course! Wait...but then why had he left for so long in the first place? How could someone who claimed they loved you so fully just...disappear? What kind of things ran through his mind when it wandered to me, and subsequently; did he think of me? Did I actually matter? How could I? Truly, how could I have mattered to this man if he could suck the life from someone so easily? But then again, I couldn’t place that blame solely on him. I chose to wait. I put myself here, but love for me is a beast to remain unconquered. There isn’t a thing I wouldn’t overcome if it came between me and someone I loved. He was the one person I loved more than anything. He wants to marry me. He wants to marry me. He’s here now and he wants to marry me. These are the words I had to forcibly think over and over as I pushed pins and needles in and out of the fabric of the dress. My very last dress. The only dress I would start and complete all on my own. The only dress that was completely created by Pistol. So here I was, completely knees deep in tulle and silk, and crystals alike. Beading sure was a fickle little bitch, and my compulsive need to have everything perfect wasn’t helping the situation at all. Guess that’s the price you pay when you know your craft, and you take pride in each and every facetted detail. A small smile managed to hem it’s way onto my lightly lined lips as I stitched in the last few sectors of the bodice. Lace was embellishing the tight corset, meant to strap in everything. There was a soft fabric draping the shoulders, and framing the bodice. That way it would look more vintage than new-age. Paying homage is the purpose, here. Must remain a take on a classic. That small reminder hit me as I was carefully weaving my needle in against the lace. Ocean inspired eyes watched over every stroke, making sure to take the time to correctly stitch everything. Lets see how many years this would take. Kidding. Only took the next two weeks. During those two weeks Swain and I went back and forth of colors for our wedding, the people we should include, and a date. A year. It had almost been a year since we’d gotten engaged and we were finally getting somewhere. Holy hell. I didn’t give a damn that he wanted to scrap the things I’d came up with, either. Not even the tiniest bit. Life was on overload as it was. Hell yeah, you can help! Do what you want, mister man. That was my way of thinking, at this point. I didn’t care if we didn’t invite a single soul to our wedding. I cared about the two of us and that was genuinely it. If you asked me? I was in favor of having this as small as it could be. I’d always been one to remain vulnerable with very few. Besides, he was all I truly needed. A marriage is between two people, not two people and everyone else. No thanks. Including other people in your relationship only succeeds to ruin that relationship. Outside opinions shouldn’t count or matter. This was about he and I. But the excitement that filled me to be able to say we had everything completely mapped out was unreal. I never thought we would get there. Not in the slightest, and especially not with nine months of space. Maybe this is that crazy level of love where nothing really forces you apart, or breaks you. Maybe. Just maybe. Slowly, though, oh so slowly he began to retreat back to the old habit. A few days at a time, at first, and then a week. See, I never was the girl that likes to nag someone because they’re absent for a week or two. Not when I’ve waited far longer. However, when you’ve got so many raw emotions invested into one human being? It’s genuinely a struggle to keep your head screwed on straight when that person starts fading once again. It’s like watching a relative relapse into the same shitty pattern. Over and over. This is where I had to sit back, on my own, and wonder how long until those little cracks in my heart would cause it to shatter? There has to be a limit to where I stay stable against the harsh reality that my favorite sense of comfort is about to wipe all that I’ve held onto, away, and into the nearest breeze. It’s almost as if I could feel the tension rising along my heartstrings. Each and every time I heard those fateful words, ‘I love you.’ There’s nothing more dangerous. October 31st, the big day. Holy hell, it’s finally here. I was going to be Kieran’s wife. His /wife/! The realization hadn’t even remotely set in at this point, but fuck it, I was hype. My nerves were non existent as I bustled to make sure I’d perfectly edited my vows for the man I loved endlessly. The erratic beating of my heart was unlike anything else, and even though I was surrounded by a group of people Swain and I had handpicked to witness our small ceremony? There was a huge weight of nervousness clouding my bronze shoulders. Lord, let's hope that my vows are enough. Nothing too short, nothing too long. Please, let me be enough. He said 2 o’clock. It is now well past 5p.m., but maybe he’s caught up and needs some time? Maybe a hundred different scenarios could’ve happened and that’s why he isn't here. Why I am standing here, wondering, waiting. My mind was running a million miles to the minute as I was being asked where he was, and if we were going to actually get married today. I hoped so. I remembered rolling the ring around the knuckle of my finger time and time again to ease my growing pangs of anxiety towards the situation at hand. He promised. He planned this. Why wouldn’t he show up, and how could /I/ not be enough to extract a goddamn hour of his time? One hour. That is all I wanted. Would I gladly accept and take more if the opportunity arises? Of course, but the chances of that were extremely slim. I knew that. I might’ve been in denial, but it wasn’t that goddamn strong. I could see two inches out from my feet, at the very least. As the hours passed, my anxiety level spiked, only to drop into the realization that it was now six hours later and not a word was said. No sorry, no dumbass excuse of what kept him from being here, from loving me. From making up all that time he’d already taken away. There really was nothing. Not a damn thing. You. I have loved you from the start. You drug me in with those stupid stoner jokes (that we both laugh at as if we’re kids), and kept me with your heart. When I think about you I see more than a body. I see your soul, your heart, and the mind that keeps it all afloat. I see you, Kieran. I’ve spent so many months learning any and everything from you that I can. And somehow it’s still hard to believe that we are here: waiting to be one. I know it’s probably weird for you to see this side of me; hell, it’s weird for me. But you allow me to be soft. To have emotion and to be vulnerable. You are my better half. You make all of the bullshit dissipate, and you are the light when everything seems to drown in black. I couldn’t be more thankful for someone than I am for you. But I’ve found myself thanking whatever higher power is there, for letting me find you. To have your love. And to be able to hide against you when shit gets hard. Marriage is something I /never/ thought /I/ would experience. But here I am. Here /you/ are. We’re fucking gettin’ married, and I couldn’t be more happy! I love you. More than a broken record loves to skip on the best part of a song. You have always and will always hold my heart and my hand. You are my most important. My constant. My rock. My ever-lasting love. The only one I would want to do forever with. You save me. In so many ways; from myself. You’ve always done that. Oh, but I doubt if you ever knew. You have bettered me in ways I don’t even know how to say, but baby? When I peer into those baby blue’s of yours I find myself watching out who life play out. The images I never thought I was worthy of. Being a wife. Being a mother. Owning about ninety-eight dogs. You’ve made me come alive in every sense of that word, and I love you even more for that. Loving. Admirable. Caring. Warm like the sun. Sweet. Honorable. Courageous. Funny. Talented. Wise. These are just a few words I have when it comes to you. These are aspects I watch flutter through your being each and every day. You inspire me to be a better woman in hopes that I will be the best for you. You called me the sun when you asked me to marry you, oh but you’ve never seen what you look like through my eyes, Kieran. You make me stand breathless all the time. And when I hear that deep voice of yours, signifying you’re home? Goddamn if my heart doesn’t want to run to you. Back to its home. Where I feel my safest. Because for me? You are my home. Fuck a house. It’s you. It has been you from the second week I knew you. So, Thank you, Kieran for always loving me. For staying even when I was the biggest pain in the ass. And for deciding you wanted to deal with my bullshit for the long haul. With that being said; please kiss me. Make me your wife, and let me take your last name, mister. Because I’m too in love with you for every passing minute it only gets stronger.‘ Those were the words that lay splattered across the back of this postcard I found nearly a year back. See, I wrote my vows far before I was ever even engaged to this man. He was my rock, my heart, my best friend. In every form possible, and I knew from the jump that it would always be him and I. Or, at least, that’s how it felt and seemed to be panning out. I felt like I was on top of the world when I felt the love he shared with me. He brought my heart to where it needed to be, and helped make me who I am. I knew that. But as I thought about the last year, I couldn’t help but to feel my pastel pink fingernails dig down into the weathered-most side of the postcard, tears welled, and soon strolled down the sides of my cheeks. I was slipping lower to the ground in hopes that I could avoid the incoming questions of our closest friends regarding our marriage. A marriage that wasn’t going to fail, because it couldn’t even start. I wasn’t worth the shot. The time. The effort...or the energy it took to simply show up. Processing the next few hours was something I didn’t fully understand, or know how to do. Maybe I’ll just push it away, or down? That’s usually how I would respond to a situation like this, but yet here I was. Still waiting. Everyone else gave up hours ago. Tears continued their way down my face, and I moved to get comfy in my favorite chair, in my home, that I shared as ours for over a year. Slap in the face. Insult to injury, as I thought more and more on this whole ordeal. What was I going to do? Was he ever coming back? Would he have the balls? OF COURSE HE WOULD! Here he was, in the early hours of the next morning. Did he apologize? Yes. Did it really mean anything? Not particularly. Did he give me an excuse? Also yes, but it wasn’t enough. Just that Halloween, the date he chose, was his favorite holiday (Mine too, but I don’t count, remember.) and he was busy enjoying it. You could’ve let me know, jackass. You could have taken three minutes to say you wouldn’t make the wedding. We either needed to reschedule or stop. Reschedule or leave. Those were the options I saw. The only ones that were worth a damn, and that would actually somehow save my heart a little bit. Would it fully save me? Fuck no, but in this case? I supposed every little bit really did count, didn’t it? Perhaps. We would see what came of this. To answer that one — A quick back and forth with how embarrassed I was, and how he didn’t care enough to save me from, what felt like, the ultimate embarrassment. I didn’t know what to do. I went back and forth with him. Fuck, me. Here we go again. How was it that all he needed to do was apologize, and I was going to nod my agreement to reschedule this? Yep. Yes, I was. Because why? Because I loved him more than I had anyone yet, and I had never been one to give up. Especially not when it came to anyone I loved. Perhaps that was my biggest downfall; the fact that I always loved to put those that I love before me. I could feel the rhythm of my heart picking up in pace, and the strong red discoloration coming into play along my chest and neck. God, I wanted to claw that skin away. Keep your hands away, Alice. Stop. It is going to be okay. I wanted to scream from the whole anxiety of it all. Not knowing what he would do next. Would he actually do what he said, or was this yet another empty promise for me to put weight into, and continue to feel my heart fall at the end of another dead-end result? September 1st.. That’s our new date for the wedding. Update all the guests. Everyone was ready. I was ready. Beyond so, even, and again? No Swain. Right back in stagnant water, huh. I needed to go, to get out. But I fought that overwhelming sensation turned urge to run from every part of this. I fought so fucking hard, and somehow I never got very far with it. Not in the slightest, and maybe that was one of the most devastating moments that compiled this shitty, shitty day? A sigh of defeat crossed my ruby red lips, and I nodded to myself in acknowledgement that he had fooled me this time, too. Here I was, with all the hope in the world, and a bouquet of daffodils. Soft, blue eyes swam in an ocean of pain as I sank into the nearest chair. Forget your life as you knew it, Alice. Forget the hope, forget the way he lies in his love for you. Someone who loved you a fraction of the amount he claims wouldn’t have done this. This guy is fine, just living his life, and at the expense of your raw heart. Pick yourself up, do better. But I can’t. I love him. Oh, the memory of it all was almost too real in this moment, and I could feel the want to let my tears form, but I would fight that, too. I was not allowed the right to be fragile or emotional, or vulnerable in any light. I am strong, right? Right...at least, that’s what I’ve always told myself. A day and a half later — That was the last time I saw him, and the last time my heart wept with weathered pain. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the way he spoke to me that day. I was a stranger, not the woman he wanted to marry, and that much was clear. I’d never seen him so cold, and why? For what reason was I given this kind of treatment? Because I stayed, and never gave up or gave in…? Was it because I loved him so completely and unconditionally? Was my love something too heavy to hold, for him? Did I, unintentionally, become a burden in the enormous love I shared? Every one of these questions plagued me for so damn long. They still do. But closure is a friend I do not know, nor do I yearn to. I only wish I could erase one thing that was spoken to me that day, “You know that even when we get married, I’m still not going to be around much, right?” There it was, I guess. What I knew he was doing, but at least? At least if he didn’t say it out loud, I wouldn’t have to deal with the reality of it all. I could just keep playing along as if my heart wasn’t slowly falling to a billion little shards, sharp as nails, and cutting me wide every time I attempted to bring myself together. God knows, he wasn’t going to even attempt to give me that small ounce of comfort that I was begging for. My pain was unimaginable. Sometimes it still haunts me. What makes me so hard to love...to deal with? Even with that guilt coming into play that I was the reason behind his drive to be so far? I found myself wanting nothing more than to love this man, who broke me so easily. “Never forget that I love you,” Boy sure did know how to sell it. All the way. Full fucking send. That was the last thing I told him, was how much I loved him. And then he was gone. I was broken. Void to everyone and everything around me, in entirety. I just didn’t care anymore. My wedding line was ready for the show in a week, and I was alienating myself from everyone in my life. Block them out. That’s all I cared to do. It wasn’t until the morning of the show that I found myself allowing a smile to crack along the lines of my lips. I had every dress perfectly organized in each bride’s dressing room, and on the eight one? I hung a sign on the door asking for privacy. She’d want to get herself ready for this day. Over the past few months, I’d gotten to know her fairly well, and I decided to do her this due justice. None of the other brides were aware of who the eighth bride was, and that was exactly as planned. I nodded to each of these women as I shut them into their spaces with their dresses. None had laid eyes on the finished product until this moment, and for once? I found comfort in not knowing the immediate reaction. Instead? I moved back down the long hallway, and stepped behind the door of my own little space. Here I could allow my soul some comfort, and a moment of peace before the runway bliss and clamor. Breathing was something that had become hard here lately. It was like I was suffocating beneath the pressure of tons of water. I couldn’t seem to get ahead of it, but yet here I was. Doing what I had always done, what I was good at — Acting like I was perfectly okay when I was anything but. One foot stepped down, into the dress, followed by the other. I’d made sure to have the perfect one for the show. Time in advance, and all. One couldn’t simply create a full wedding line, and look mediocre herself. I smiled up at myself as I lifted the dress from the floor, to my shoulders, and allowed Elie to complete fastening the back. Any other show? This would’ve been Swain’s place. To let his fingertips glide against the seam of my back, and drop a soft, simple kiss to my shoulder. But that was gone. A distant memory. Diminished, now, and I couldn’t allow myself that memory. Not now. Not today. I’d let Oscar take over guiding the girls in who was to take their walk down the runway, and when. I’d decided to take this time to myself, to ready myself. I kicked Elie out a few moments later only so I could wipe away the makeup I’d let a tear roll through, and for reapplication. Once that was done, I brought a diamond encrusted pin to slip between caramel locks, and fastened it in place. Both feet slipped down into my favorite pair of Louboutin shoes, and I took a few deep breaths before I headed out of the room, and down the hall...again. This time my heart was damn near jumping out of my chest, and I looked to both of these wonderful men for a brief moment before I moved to the stage entrance. All of the brides were lined up on the opposite side of the stage, where no one could see me from my current position. They’d taken their walks. Now it was my turn. Within the next few moments, life was a blur. It always was when I debuted a new line. Slowly, I stepped up to the stage, conscious of the dress, and overly conscious of what was going on. I allowed my smile to pour its way onto my porcelain features as I looked out at the hundreds of flashing lights, and began my journey down the runway. The dress was a tribute to a classic, just as all the rest. But this one hadn’t been touched by any hands other than my own. I’d taken months on months to create and sew this dress together. Lace, tulle, silk. All simple fabrics, with intricate weavings. Beautiful fabrics, for what was meant to be the most beautiful day. This was the first time I’d ever been allowed to step foot into my masterpiece. It never shined on its day of purpose. He’d ripped that away from me, hell, he’d never even known I was the eighth bride in my show. No one had. But here I was, making my way down, step by step, flash by flash, and with ease of motion. I’d learned how to fake it better than most, and this was where I used that to my advantage. The shoulders of my dress slouched along my slender shoulders, just as they were meant to, and everything fell perfectly into place. I had created something so beautiful, so perfect for my wedding day. It never shined on its day of purpose. “Oh my god, it was her this whole time?!” I heard those words as I was stepping back towards the exit of the stage, and I felt as if my heart was ready to shatter from the trauma of it all, all over again. And I was angry. So fucking angry at how I hadn’t been given the opportunity to shine, or to love, or to hurt. I’d only been allowed to deal with things as they came at me, in the moment, and never to process them. I continued to fake a smile as I stood alongside my co-creators of this line and took our final bows, but as soon as I managed to step away? I was gone. I needed to get out. I had to go. The urge to rip my skin off was rapidly approaching, and before my chest could start splotching, I needed to go. I knew exactly where, and truth be told? I never thought I would want to retrace my steps back to that spot, but here I was; already en route. My knuckles were white against the steering wheel as I flew down the PCH, throwing all caution to the wind, and not giving a damn about any speed limit in sight. Who cared, anyways. At this rate, it only took me a little over an hour to make it to the ocean. Well. The specific beach that Swain took me to nearly a year ago. Once I pulled in, I cut the engine, and sat there. Watching the waves crash against the sea-soaked sand, and rocks. I felt numb. I didn’t move, but instead? I reached over into my glove-box, and stole a cigarette to place between my lips. Lighter in hand. It was then that I slipped from the confines of the car, and made my way down the rocky path to where he asked me to marry him. I stood in the exact same spot I had then, and simply moved to unbutton the dress as best as I could. Rocking to and fro, ever so slightly, against my feet, as I did this. I didn’t speak. I didn’t think. I just let the dress fall to the sand. Leaving me in nothing more than my white, corseted slip, and heels. The cigarette remained between my lips as I flicked the igniter on the lighter, and took a nice, long drag. Ah, the ease of nicotine. Something to steady my restless and relentless nerves. In that same moment? I lifted the train of my dress, riddled with lace, and flicked the lighter to life once more. It took little longer than a minute to watch all my hard-work, love, and determination go up into flames. Just the same as my love for him. Burn the bridge, burn the memory. With the next drag of the cigarette, I was gone again. Sunk back into the seat of my ‘69 Hemi, and flying down the highway once more. It was time to go home. I am good at running. I am good at burning bridges. I am good at loving. I am good at many things. But what I am not good at is handling trauma. So, I’ll give you a Pro Tip: Never design and sew your own goddamn wedding dress. That shit will burn you far worse than any flame ever could. Much love, The Eighth Bride.

[dreamerology]

my biggest i love monsta x ever!!!!

no offence but if u had told me a year ago that these seven boys would have had this much of an impact on my life and not only that but i still love them as much now as i did on day one (maybe even more) i’d say u were lying. usually my interests come and go in phases and nothing has ever lasted as long as mx???? but i rly truly cannot imagine my life without them at this point. in fact, the 2-3 months at the very beginning of uni where i stopped having time for them and thought i was moving on were the worst of this year (ofc that wasn’t the only reason those months were hard, but feeling like i was falling out of love w mx hurt more than id care to admit). they’ve brought me so much happiness and connected me with so many amazing people and not 2 be cheesy but made me into a better person! like they just continue to have the biggest positive influence in my life and i got the opportunity to meet one of my best friends bc of them, i’ll forever be thankful for them

i know i havent been w mx since the beginnign but!!!! even just seeing shownu grow so much this year has made me sooooo happie!!!!!! i Love how u can just see he’s more comfortable now and seems a lot more at ease……..the fact that hes comfortable enough to host his own solo vlives and no offence but theres not a single thing i dont love abt that man! hes so fucking funny….like its sorta weird humor?? dad humor almost? BUT HES HONESTLY FUNNY WITHOUT EVEN TRYING hes just reached a point where he’s got no filter and will just say whatever and sometimes even the wording will make me laugh dkjfhkjsd the true underrated comedian of the group tbh. hes so selfless too bicht………….i still cant believe he split the money from his solo event w the other members My Heart :-((((((( and when hes on a solo schedule he’s always mentioning the others!!! nd doesnt let anyone forget abt them, they rly are one big family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALSO HIS SMILE is the cutest shit ive ever seen!!!!! like when he smiles rlllly big nd his eyes crinkle nd he :D and his big “ha ha ha” ,,,,music 2 my ears!!!!!!!! i wish he could be that happy forever. hes the biggest softest teddy bear i just wanna give him a giant hug???

fun fact wonho was the first member i knew abt nd was able to recognize nd such!! my friend who helped me get into mx talked abt him a lot so i grew to love him before i even knew the others!!! actually hes probably still the one i know the most abt bc of her? anyways! angels exist and wonho is living proof of that! his love for mbbs is on a whole other plane of existance???? ive never felt this loved nd appreciated as a fan before nd its all genuine!!!!!. wonho is a monbebebebe first and a monsta second. hes just so full of love….im convinced thats why hes so Large he needs to fit his heart in his body somehow...hes just got so much love to give!!!!!!! he is the most thoughtful and caring person??? like not even towards monbebes and his memebrs but like at the end of mxray when he made sure to buy all the staff and crew little gifts as well, my heart grew 3 sizes for him!!!!!! and im so soo soooooooooooooosososooo proud of him to have some of his songs on the albums this year and not only that but! from zero getting a stage on tv!!!!!! his song!!!! he did that!!!!!! his hard work paid off….i hope he continues to be able to produce more music this year! oh one last thing, i love how? childish he is??? idk if thats the right word but hes always teasing or changing or playing around w the other members and hes always being goofy and laughing and it just makes my heart!!!!! rly happy nd warm

what is there left 2 be said abt minhyuk that i havent already said yet jdfshkjdhf i just! Love Everything abt that boy :-((((((( i love his sunshiney positive personality that never fails to cheer me up, i love how caring he is and how he always makes sure to be there for his members and makes himself open for them, i love his uneven blink, i love how soft his voice is and how it sounds exactly how sunshine looks, i love his fingers go sorta crooked when he makes a peace sign, i love his laugh and how silly he is, i love his thoughtful and serious side, i love how smart he is, i love his toothy smile, i love when hes on stage and he looks so radiant and glowing and u can see how happy he is and how he was truly built to shine, i love his ears, i love how affectionate and loving he is, i love his one (1) dimple, i love how sometimes he just says the weirdest shit…...like i rly wanna understand what hes thinking sometimes, i love how cute he looks wearing hats or how soft he looks in giant sweaters, i love him sooooooo much my heart hurts

can u believe i didn’t used to love kihyun this much? past me was a whole fool! i’ll try to keep this one sorta short too since i’ve already written a love essay for him but! once again i rly do love him w my whole heart!!!!!! absolutely Everything he does is so endearing and i loooove how he cares so much….he rly went and made us our own season's greeting for free nd his photography is rly No Joke! hes so talented nd u can rly see how passionate he is abt it!!!!! it makes me so so happy seeing him talk abt it, like he just lights up its the best thing ive ever seen. i Love his smile!!!! when his face scrunches up and u can see the little dimples on his cheeks and see all his teeth and he laughs and throws his head back or hits whoever’s closest to him or just collapses thats Good Shit!!!!!!!! im so glad he’s happy enough to be able to smile like that!!!!!!! it makes my heart tingle thinking abt him being happy. he rly is the cutest, i love him nd all his beauty marks :D !! nd no offense but hes never had a bad hair colour/style nd thats the tea on that!

chae hyungwon 2018’s lord nd saviour????????? anyways its about Damn Time i write him a love essay :-((((( having both best friends being hyungwon biased ive secretly been converted 2 a whole chaebebe….their love rubbed off on me!!! i love it :D idk where to start...gosh hes seriously so hardworking????? im soooooo so soo so proud of him!!! icb he picked up djing as a hobby nd then made it to a big festival, is on mix and the city and has released not one but two (2) songs only months later!!!!!!!!! we love a talented man!!!!!!! nd his dancing bichksjdfhsdj hes so fluid nd smooth when he dances…...i always find myself watching him first in group practices like there something rly captivating abt him?? please let him show us more of his dancing its So Good. also hes got the nicest voice…...its so deep wtf...but like its So Calming 2 listen to? especially when hes sleepy nd its extra raspy? Good Shit! and when he sings!!!!!!!! bicshjkdfhksdhj hes got one of my fave vocal voices i rly wish he got the lines he deserves :((( hes! So! Cute! jfhsdjfhs he gets embarrassed so easily and always makes the goofiest faces but i love it….he covers his smile sometimes too :-((( i wish he wouldnt its So Bright nd cute nd warm just like he is!!!! hyungwon’s smile is the 8th wonder of the world thats just the facts folks!

mister jooheon……….the true example of the duality of man. i dont understand how he can go from his scaredy cat self to and Actual God,,,blows my mind. i’m pretty sure i’ve said this at least a hundred times but his stage presence is truly Unreal……..its on a whole other level…….ive never seen them live but if i ever do i fear for my life. nd i know once it’s over im only gonna know one (1) man and that man is lee jooheon. but at the same time hes rly The Cutest id trust him w my life???? his eyes are so warm!!!!!! And his Big Smile!!!!!!!!!!! his dimples? deeper than the marianas trench, i wanna build my home in them nd raise my family there. hes such a talented dude!!!! mx don’t have a single bad song thenks jooheon! also for the first couple months i’d alway forget he was one of the youngest? like hes very mature too nd seems very responsible djfhkjsdhfjsd idk how he was the only one 2 be able to keep it together during their first win 2 give the speech…..hes so strong. i love him so much :-( hes so cute nd gentle nd thoughtful...truly the biggest angel who deserves the world!!!!!!!!!!

i think if there's any member i would actually get along best w it would b changkyun. we’re both rly similar from what i can tell...like sorta quiet, but loud around those we’re comfortable with!!! first off hes so funny nd…..weird but like in a good way sdjfhksdjhf sometimes i rly just think he says the first thing that comes to his mind “actually we have a baby” ????? who let him \…..he always makes me laugh reading his fansign notes too omg that being said hes also one of the most serious members at times i feel like. hes just got this rly mature vibe nd he handles things rly well??? idk if that makes sense but Yeah. he’s just someone who’s not rly afraid 2 be themselves, i wish that were me??? ive got so much to learn from them. also icb he literally invented being cute???? he doesn't even have 2 try hes just adorable!!!!!! like his laugh nd smile? The Best!!!!! and when u can see his lil dimples yeahhhhh hes sooo super sweet and cheesy. i looooove how close hes gotten w the other members despite their rough start, they rly are a family nd im glad hes comfortable around them it rly warms my heart!!!!! whenever hes getting showered in love my heart !!!!!!! its what he deserves!

on that note, the one thing i think that has stayed with me more than anything is that one fansign note where ck was asked how he wants to be remembered in the future, when they only occasionally thought abt him and his answer was “that i gave you happiness” and not 2 b a sentimental shit but fuck! i cry every time i think abt that!!!!!!! bc i Know there’s gonna come a day where i don’t think abt them at all! there’s gonna be a day where i won’t think abt them until i see something that jogs my memory and jolts me back to this time and even tho this year has been rough i know i always will remember how much happiness they’ve brought me. i’ll remember how they were able to cheer me up when nothing else worked. i hope one day i’ll be able to feel the Pure Joy i felt when they got their first win….i’ve never felt anything like that before. i cant wait to be able to look back in nostalgia at all the happiness they’ve brought me.

anyways that got real sappy towards the end i gotta blast now bye!

[pikatsum]

...In The Oddest of Places

(inspired by a headcannon shared with @spiderling--parker + thinking of making this a mini-series, so send in suggestions for weird places for Peter to crash in!)

Okay.

So.

Patrol had been long that night. Or make that every night this week.

For whatever reason, the third week of August had New York up in arms, and as one of its resident heroes, of course it was Pete—ahem, Spider-Man’s—job to keep everybody in line. So, off he went, saving people, breaking hearts... or... some variation thereof.

Tonight’s highlights included webbing up a stolen ice cream truck, corralling a gaggle of angry geese in Brookville Park and totally humiliating a couple of harassers lurking outside a nightclub (he may or may not have strung them up by their underwear). Oh, and then when he was about to get home, he noticed a broken flower-box dangling treacherously from an apartment window and decided that a small act of kindness wouldn’t go amiss.

Needless to say, come four a.m and Peter was officially exhausted. He’d attempted to swing the remaining ten blocks home, but gave up around three later when he narrowly missed crashing into a fire escape. Climbing down to the street below, Peter began the slow trek home, trying to ignore the warning vitals Karen was flashing at him in increasingly obnoxious fonts.

‘I can call someone to pick you up, Peter.’ she reminded him.

“‘S not that far, though.” Peter dissuaded, leaning up against a pole for the crosswalk.

‘Your brain activity suggests an ongoing lack of sufficient rest. Common side-effects include a lack of focus, increasing your risk of injury.’

His eyes were fixated on the flashing OPEN sign across the street.

“Cool.”

Red-Blue-Red-Blue-Red and Blue—

‘The light is green.’

“M’kay.”

To the five or six pedestrians Peter passed, he must have looked like a drunk cosplayer. He tried to keep in a straight line at first, but then realized that trying made it worse and it was more fun taking up the whole sidewalk anyways.

“Hey Karen, think my spider-sense will lemme walk backwards?”

‘Don’t.’

(Turned out that his “spider-sense” didn’t warn him about trash cans).

So, tired, sweaty and smelling slightly of rotten fish, Peter finally arrived at his apartment building. He slowly trudged toward the entrance, hands searching for something in non-existent pockets.

“Karen, where’s my key?”

‘Going that way would compromise your identity.’

“Oh, yeah...” Peter remembered, catching sight of himself in the glass, “...whoops.”

‘A scan of the building indicates that your bedroom window is open.’

“Awesome.” Peter replied.

He walked around the side of the building, paused and looked to the welcoming light of his bedroom window— seven floors up.

“Sooo...” he trailed off, placing a hand then a foot on the brick, “Here we go, I guess.”

‘I guess.’ Karen echoed, though she didn’t sound as optimistic.

It’s funny how once you start climbing a building all of the lit windows start to look the same. Peter accidentally peered into a couple rooms that were definitely not his, slipped a little down the wall and finally, with a last pull of effort, found himself looking into his bedroom. As per usual, the teen went above his window and pushed the pane down, cautiously crawling onto the ceiling and closing it with his foot.

The rest of the process was simple:

-Shut the door

-Climb down

-Take off the suit

-Go to sleep

And yet, there Peter stayed, on the ceiling. In the soft light of his own bedroom, it was getting hard to keep his eyes open. And doing all of those things both sounded and felt like too much effort. Hanging was comfortable...ish. Comfortable enough. So, Peter pressed his hands flat to the plaster and let himself hang upside-down as he closed his eyes.

“Okay, g’night Karen.” he mumbled.

Briefly, he wondered if the faint, crackling static he got in reply was Karen’s attempt at a sigh. Outside, his corner of “The City That Never Sleeps” rattled on, now the slightest bit safer. Inside, the resident hero of Queens let his head fall back and finally slept.... for about three hours.

(On the bright side, Aunt May’s scream worked way better than his alarm clock).