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dirtylittlefairytales · 2 months ago

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Don't play with fire | - Part 2 - |

Autors Note: I recommend to read Part 1 first. This is going to be a rollercoaster, but I hope you like it. I liked writing it and I'm really happy I started writing again. Now I try writing smut too. If you like the song 'Unholy from Sam Smith' listening to it later on, made the scene better. At least I listened to it while I wrote the scene.

Also as before, english is not my first language, I hope I corrected most mistakes.

Summary: After having a panic attack and realizing that Cooper could be the Butcher., you tried living your life normally again, until you got a text from an unknown number. Should you go to the police? Half a year later everything is normal again, at least you think it is.

-> Writing in 'italic' is supposed to be the your thoughts

Warnings: Dark!Fic, Describing of a Panic attack, Age Gap! (Legal), Swearing! Praise! Alcohol consumption!, drugs!, bit of Smut, Angst!, Arguing

Rating: R

Word count: 7,4k

Tagging: @a-movie-that-youve-never-seen, @amethystblackkchaos, @hereforthehitsbaby, @waywardtigersandwich

That was your first panic attack you had in your life. You spend that day at the hospital, your mom picking you up in the evening. She didn’t pry for information, although she was very worried. When you got back to her house and sat in the living room over a hot tea, you told her everything– Though more like everything she could know.

You told her about the concert, how you weren’t feeling well because of the crowd of people. So you went home early, then your bike got stolen and your boss fired you after some nasty words. You said you didn’t know how you ended up at the hospital, you were just aimlessly walking and then woke up in the hospital. Remembering a lot of concerned voices around you but nothing more.

Seeing that you were near tears again your mom started to hug you for several minutes. You let it all out. All those bottle up emotions of the day. You just didn’t know what to do with all these emotions. It was too much, like you weren’t in control anymore.

“You know sweety, you should move closer again. Ah no disagreeing! Think about it. You know my grandparents also had their apartment. Please consider it, I worry about you.” she said, squeezing your shoulders. “You could save so much money!”

“Okay mom. I promise I’ll think about it, but not today. Let me find a new job first.” you tried avoiding the situation. She nodded

“Well, come one you can sleep in your old room today. Tomorrow I'll drive you to the mechanic so you can get your car back.”

“Thanks mom.”, she kissed the top of your head and pushed you towards the stairs. Shaking your head, you went up towards your old room. You could barely say no to anything, when it came to your mom. However, moving back was the one thing you didn’t want. It was stupid. You wanted to live independent and not in your moms apartment, where she probably wouldn’t even allow you to pay rent.

Stepping inside your room, everything looked as you last remembered it. Your mom tried to make it look like your old room. The big double bed near the window, with the one teddy bear on it. A small wooden closet near the wall. You closed the curtains on the window and went to bed.

On the bathroom mirror you could see a bruise starting to form on your shoulder, where Cooper had gripped it. Clearly you couldn’t wear something without sleeves the next few weeks.

Before going to sleep you checked your phone. You nearly forgot about it. There was nothing. No new contact, no number saved anywhere, everything was the same. You remember it clearly, he told you he had saved his number, but nothing. You checked your phone completely. Looked through everything, photos, deleted messages, deleted contacts. Still nothing.

‘Had he just been toying with you? Playing into your anxiety?’ After checking your phone for a second time you gave up. Maybe you imagined it, maybe you should just call it a day. As soon as you put your phone down and your head hit your pillow you were out. The events of that day were finally catching up with you.

Waking up the next day, you still felt exhausted but overall better. True to her word, your mom drove you to the mechanic, and reminded you to visit her once a week like you promised her on her last birthday. No more work excuses.

You promised, she was getting older and you did want to spend more time with her. She turned 59 this year. You loved her, she always did her best. Recently your grandfather passed away, leaving everything to your mom. Your grandparents had an estranged relationship with your mom, but seeing as she was their only child… she inherited it all. Now your mom could live without worries. She had a house and had a spare apartment. Seeing as they did have a bit of money.

Over the next week you wrote more job applications and went to a couple of interviews. Until you finally found yourself a new job. The company and boss seemed nice and you even got to work from home 10 days a month. Big plus and the pay was decent. You stayed in your apartment most of the time after the concert, fearing you might run into Cooper somewhere. You were quite paranoid. Fearing what he would do to you. Were you going to be next, if he was the Butcher?

With the new job, came new energy and you started to live again. Step by step you were going outside, to the office, meeting your friends or going out for drinks. Still sometimes, you looked around you. Feeling like someone was staring holes in your back.

The second panic attack came when on a day you were working from home. A few weeks had passed and overall it started like a totally normal day, just a few calls. Not much work to do that day and around lunch time you still wore your pajamas. When you went into the kitchen to cook, you suddenly got a text message from an unknown number. First you thought it was someone from work. Though, the number didn’t seem familiar, so maybe it was a customer? However, none had your private number. You opened the message and instantly knew who sent that text.

–You should watch the news. Unfortunately I must tell you that Spencer didn't seem to be very grateful. Sorry to disappoint you sweetheart. –

You dropped your phone, heart pounding in your chest. ‘Sweetheart– Was that Cooper? So he did have your number… Why should you watch the news?’ Slowly you crept down, picking up your phone from the floor and almost dropping it again. Your hands trembled so much.

After releasing a shuddering breath, you put your phone in your pocket and stepped towards your living room. One step at time, fearing you might fall if you walked too fast. Holding on to your sofa for dear life, you reached for the remote.

Turning on the TV, unsure of what you would find, you switched programs until you found the news channel. Your hands still trembling, you took deep breaths trying to calm yourself.

‘Maybe you should sit down?’ – Letting yourself fall onto the sofa you turned up the volume. You saw a lot of police in the background then view switched to the reporter, who started speaking

“Yesterday in the early hours, two hikers found something horrible on their daily hiking trail. We waited for further information from the police and we can now announce that the Butcher has found yet another victim. This marks the 13th victim of the Butcher.”

Your knuckles around the remote turned white from anticipation, your fingernails digging in your own palm. ‘Maybe you should stop with the acrylic nails’ You held your breath. They showed a photo of a young man on the screen. It wasn’t someone you knew.

“The victim seems to be a young man named Spencer–” Spencer.. That was the name he told you that day. You didn’t even listen to the rest of the news. Completely blending everything out, thoughts racing in your head. A sob escaped you, your whole body shook uncontrollably. Gasping for air, crying, you had your second panic attack. It felt even stronger then the first one, but maybe it was only because you were more aware now.

A part of you felt like you killed Spencer. You had thought he was just playing with your fear. It was your fault. ‘What have you done… you were right all along. Your sixth sense didn’t leave you. Why haven't you gone to the police? Were you an accomplice now? Why haven’t you told somebody? You could have saved him…’ The answer was simple. You hadn’t been 100% sure. Hell until now you thought you imagined most of his weird behavior, were overthinking it, writing it off as anxiety.

Helplessly you wandered around towards your kitchen in the search for a bag. When you finally found one, you sank down against your cupboard. Taking deep breaths with the plastic bag to calm your breathing. After calming down and just sitting silently in your kitchen for 20 minutes, you got up and shut down the TV.

‘You couldn’t go to the police, could you? What if they held you responsible for it because you didn’t say anything until now. You didn’t even know his last name or where he lived.’

A dry and humorless laugh escaped you. Putting your face in your hand, trying to come to terms with reality. Finally you pushed your hair back and grabbed your phone.

Pondering if you should write back? Try to get information from him and go to the police? Could you get burned even more? Thinking for another minute you decided against it. Panic and anxiety controlled your actions. Your course of action was going in the complete opposite direction. Simply deleting the message. Deleting the evidence, deleting a small part of your guilt– ‘out of sight out of mind’

You didn’t continue work that day, called in sick, went to bed and just stared aimlessly at the ceiling. Thinking about everything. About the concert, about every small detail you remembered. All the strange things you thought he did, but in the end you thought it was just your imagination.

This was so fucked up, why were you still alive and not locked up in some basement? Why were you still alive? He knew that you knew. By sending you that text, it almost seemed like he wanted you to know. It hardly made any sense to you. After hours and hours of thinking and getting a headache from it, you fell asleep rather exhausted.

Not even a day after you even changed your number, telling your friends and mom another lie. The excuse, you got too many spam calls on it, seemed to be good enough. You were that anxious that you were one step away from moving back into your mom's house. However you didn't want to exaggerate.

Everything you did, to feel secure didn’t help. The anxiety remained. Whenever you went outside you felt like a scared mouse, always looking around, getting in your car and inside the office building as quickly as possible. At first you looked for a black van, then you remembered that stupid little you had the great idea to reveal to him what the profiler said. Of course he was not driving that van anymore. Perhaps now he drove around in a girly pink car.

‘How could you have been so stupid?’, you wanted to bang your head against the table. You even judged Lady Raven for her naivety and here you were telling the Butcher what car to not drive. What to look out for. You helped him even further, by not going to the police. He must have been laughing at you in his head. What a fucking joke. He also must have realized what effect he had on you, using that for his advantage. That for one you found him attractive, on the other hand you were intimidated by him. You were glad you were still alive, but it also made you nervous.

A month later and nothing new from the Butcher and no strange occurrences you finally started to relax again. Cooper and all that happened was slowly being pushed to the back of your head.

Furthermore, you moved out of your apartment. You felt spooked and unsafe in it. Living near your mom again gave you a small aspect of security back. Fortunately your workplace had a second office 20 min from your mom's apartment. You rented some transporter and with the help of your friends you moved your stuff into your new apartment within a day. Moving out helped your anxiety a lot.

Another month later, you started to go out with your friends again, didn’t look around every time you left your apartment and became more yourself. Feeling confident. You were slowly going after your hobbies again. Running outside, Swimming, visiting your favorite coffee shop or reading in the park on a good day. All without turning around every few seconds.

Before you knew it about half a year had passed and it all was a mere memory. You hadn’t had another panic attack in months. Your job was great, you met your friends a lot, also visited your mom every week and you could even listen to music with noise canceling headphones again. It felt normal. Back to how it was before. There was no news from the Butcher. No new Butcher victims, just some mom in a horrible car crash, but aside from that there was just the usual news.

It was around January, a Saturday, your birthday to be exact, where it began to get strange again. Even though it started out as every other birthday since you were 21. First brunch with your mum, having some good quality time in your favorite restaurant. After that, you went home again and around the evening your friends should arrive to go out. You should be around 10 people later. Normally you would just celebrate at home, but your best friend Simon wanted to party. Who were you to deny his wishes?

You had been Besties for ages, growing up with the same situation of a cheating parent, pushed you even closer together. It was only after high school where you went in different directions. Simon wanted to study, whereas you started working. There he met his better half Sebastian, they’ve been together ever since and when the three of you did something together they treated you like their child. Which you found hilarious. You loved them.

So a couple of friends were coming over and around midnight you would go dancing. When you arrived back at your apartment you noticed something strange. There was a small gift in front of your door. You looked around if you saw any of your neighbors before picking it up and unlocking your door.

It didn’t seem to have a name anywhere. ’Strange. Maybe it was from that elderly woman on the first floor?’, you wondered. You put it on your kitchen counter, saving it for later. Seeing as you had only a couple of hours left to clean and dress up. Also you needed your makeup done before simon came, or he would go way overboard with his ideas. You already agreed to let him do your hair and change your outfit, if it was “too boring”.

That was another reason he wanted you to go out. Maybe you would finally find prince charming and you could go on cute double dates. In his opinion, your ‘no dating’ phase had been going on too long. Looking at yourself in the mirror you felt good. You decided to go with some short black pants, and a glittery black top with an open back.

By the time the others arrived you totally forgot about the present still laying wrapped on the kitchen counter. Friend after friend arrived, all of them overly punctual. Except for two individuals, as always. You didn’t mind, it was only Lucas, a friend of Sebastian, with his girlfriend Mary. You didn’t particularly like her, Mary needed to be in the spotlight, sometimes you felt like she tried to replace you in your friend group. None of the others saw this most of the time though. She was ‘little miss perfect’. Well, except for Simon and Lizzy, they did see her other side sometimes.

Putting on some music after everybody sat down in the living room, you went back to the kitchen to help Simon with the last drinks. As Simon was putting away the cake he brought on the kitchen counter he saw the small present laying around. “Who is this from?”

You walked towards him to see what he ment. “Oh, I actually don’t know. I think one of my neighbors left it for me.” shrugging you picked it up.

“Do you know what's inside?”, You shook your head, now you’ve done it. Simon loved a good mystery, something to solve, something thrilling.

“Well then, open it! I’ll get the rest of the drinks.”, he ushered you towards the living room where the others sat around your coffee table. Climbing over the back rest of your couch, you made yourself comfortable in the corner. Simon brought your drinks while you started to open the present. “What is it?”

“It’s…” you frowned. Pulling out a simple small teddy bear, with something silver on top. It was made out of plastic, nothing overly special. It was a Keychain.

“I think that’s something I could put on my keychain? Wait there's more…” There was something shiny at the bottom of the present.

“A bracelet– Oh, it’s really pretty.” You held it towards the light, it sparkled brightly. It was a simple silver bracelet, with a little charm in the center. A cute colorful flower.

“Aww how cute. But it seems like it was more for a child? Are you sure your neighbors know your age?” Lizzy laughed and poked you. She was what you would consider your girl bestfriend.

“Or maybe they know that you still have stuffed animals in your bed”,joked Simon and threw a pillow at him. “Hey, be careful, my drink!”, he exclaimed with a feigned outrage. You flipped him off. It wasn’t your fault that you could only go to sleep, while holding something in your arm.

“Don’t pout, come I’ll put the bracelet on. Then we get you a tiara and you’ll be a Disney princess.”Lizzy grabbed the bracelet of your hand and put it on you.

“And put the keychain thing to your keychain–”, Marcus said as they all laughed at your embarrassment. You gave them a look.

��Really guys, do I have to?”, you whined.

“Yes, give it to me, I’ll do it. You open the rest of our presents. I promise you’ll like them”, winked Simon and held out his hand. Reluctantly you gave him the key chain and started to open the other presents.

The other presents were way better. You got some games, wine and everybody plus your mom pitched in to buy you a new bike. They hid it in front of your door before. You had tears in your eyes as you thanked each of them. ‘You had the best friends’

After eating the cake there was nothing to stop you guys from going all out. Drinking games, Beer pong, dancing or just talking. Later on, Lucas and his girlfriend arrived around 10. At this point everybody was in a good mood and slightly drunk. On seeing the bike, Mary was offended that they hadn’t waited for them to give me my present.

You were about to tell her that it was your birthday, when some of the others already apologized to her. Telling her they didn’t know when they would show up.Annoyed, you refilled your drink, and went back to the friends playing beer pong. You needed to get drunk more to be nice to her. She wasn’t even here for 5 minutes and everything had to resolve around her.

The party got louder and better, all having a good time. Half an hour before you wanted to leave Mary came to you while dancing, grabbing your arm. “Is that the bracelet you got from your neighbor? The others told me about it. It's so cute. Can I try it on? I always wanted something like this…”, Mary asked you with her stupid baby voice. She immediately tried grabbing it off your arm.

“Ehm, hey wait a second. Here, but I want back before we go.”, You didn’t want any drama today. She nodded her head, waved you off and reassured you that you would get it back in a second.

You did, in fact, not get it back within a second and when you were standing in the queue to the club, you realized that she still had it on. Now it was too late.

Inside the club your friends surprised you, they booked a small area to sit with a table in the middle. Some drinks and bottles, waiting for you in the middle.

“Guys! You shouldn’t have!”, you exclaimed happily.

“Only the best for you Birthday girl!” Simon cheered! Hugging you tightly. Celebrating your birthday never felt better. You did a few shots and then most of you went off dancing to the dancefloor for the next hour.

Coming back from the dance floor you sat back down exhausted. Every time you went out you asked yourself the same question. ‘Why did you even decide to wear heels today?’ All of you started to get new drinks and someone suggested to spice things up and play an old fashioned “Truth or Dare”. Without truth of course, because it was way too loud.

You loved these games, it was always fun to watch. Though you didn’t like doing dares yourself, always feeling a bit shy and easily embarrassed. Now with the alcohol you did feel more comfortable. Maybe you would be up to do a dare. As if reading your thoughts Simon yelled at you over the table “Y/N”.

You looked at him with pleading eyes, your confidence dwindling. “Noo.. Please…”

“No! I’ve waited enough. I dare you to go out there and make out with a stranger!” he exclaimed, pointing to the dance floor. Some of your friends whistled at that.

Not waiting for you to think about it Simon stood up. “Do you trust me? We go dancing and I promise I won’t let some creep near you. Only handsome guys?” He held out his hand. You thought about it. If not now, when would you ever do it? You needed to get over your own shadow. Quickly you emptied your glass. For the extra bit of confidence.

“Pinky promise?” you asked, feeling bold suddenly and holding out your pinky. He looked surprised and instantly linked your pinky with his. “Promisee.” happily he dragged you to the dance floor.

“What's your age range? Still someone around your age?” Simon asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

You rolled your eyes at his behavior. “I don’t know. He can be older… but not above 50!!” Simon pretended to be shocked at your revelation, holding his hand above his heart.

“Older men! How scandalous!”, you jabbed his side.

“Let's go before I change my mind.”, you threatened. As you made your way on the dance floor they started to play one of your favorite songs ‘Unholy’.

“As information, I’m going back as soon as I see you enjoy yourself. I’m not watching a full make out session from you.”, he shouted in your ear. Laughing, you nodded. Fair enough, you wouldn’t want to watch him make out with Sebastian either. Both of you started dancing to the music, stealing glances at the people around you.

More like Simon was looking around, whereas you tried not to think about the dare too much.

You felt the people dancing all around you. Swinging your hips and moving your arms around your body, you felt yourself getting lost in the music.

Simon and you danced yourself further into the crowd. Someone bumped against your ass, touching it. Before you could even react somebody else pushed that person away. It was not Simon, seeing as he was still dancing right before you. He raised a brow gesturing behind you. Mouthing the simple word ‘Hot’.

While dancing you turned your head slightly to look behind. You couldn’t see much, all the flickering colorful lights made it hard to recognize anything. He was tall, broad shoulders and his hair seemed to be a bit longer. You continued dancing, Simon nodding at you. ‘Fuck it. Simon better not be wrong’ You trusted his judgment. In the rhythm of the music, you danced backwards until you found yourself practically grinding your ass on him. He didn't move away, dancing in sync with you.

One of his hands placed itself on your hip, pulling you even more against him. You felt a sudden rush of confidence, as you continued swaying your ass against him and felt something hardened in his pants. It felt huge.

Using this confidence boost and as a confirmation you spun around, still dancing. ‘Could you do it?’ Looking up at his face, sadly, the flashing lights still barely illuminated his face. Looking closer you could make out a few facial features. He also had a slight beard. Even without knowing his exact looks, you felt a certain pull towards him. ‘I bet he is handsome’ You were not one to make the first move, but you were going to fulfill your dare.

‘You could do it. You looked fucking hot and you wouldn't see him ever again.’ Dancing against him, his slight erection pressing against you, you took the initiative, steadying yourself with one hand at his shirt. 'Why wouldn’t he take the first step? Why did the women need to take control in this situation?' Until now you were always the more experienced partner, so it was nothing new for you. Even though you would like some change. Him taking control, getting rough or just doing what he wants… Maybe you read too many dark romance books.

Slowly wandering with the other hand up his chest, resting it at his neck. Slightly you pulled his head towards you to push your lips onto him. His lips were rough. At first it was just you moving your mouth against his. You felt him putting away his drink on the high table next to you.

As he still did not reciprocate the kiss and for a second you thought that you read the signs wrong. At least you fulfilled your dare. However as soon as you broke the kiss and stepped back, he roughly grabbed your face, pulling you back into him. Surprised by the sudden force of his grip, a small yelp escaped you, before he silenced it with a kiss. The action instantly sent a warm fuzzy feeling down to your core.

Kissing you hard, your mouths moved in sync. His large hand on the side of your face kept your head in place. You winced slightly when he bit your lip, but he hardly seemed to notice. He tried to slip his tongue between your lips, but you denied it.

Trying to gain control of the kiss and situation. You heard a low grumble from him, he seemed discontented with your attitude. You smirked against his lips, which seemed to annoy him further. Moving his hands down your body, he grabbed your ass, hard. The pain going straight into your core, making you moan into his mouth. He seized the opportunity to slip his tongue inside your mouth.

This time you didn’t even try to get the upper hand, you liked that he was in control. Finally someone who was more dominant in these things. Giving you the time to explore this new, more submissive side. Letting go of your face he moved his hand down your body. Over your chest, stomach and finally resting at your hips, pulling you against him. Goosebumps traveled all over your body, where his hands touched you. Your brain felt dazed, this was the hottest makeout session you ever had. You didn’t care about his roughness or the biting, you rather liked it.

When he broke the kiss you were both panting heavily. Slowly, almost teasing, he traced his fingers up your spine before grabbing you by your hair and tilting your head upwards to look at him. Your mouth parted slightly, a small moan escaped your lips. It stung where he had his grip on your hair, but the slight pain turned you on even more. Sure you knew you liked reading about these kinds of things, but experiencing them made you feel even more aroused.

For a split second, you thought you saw his panting expression change into a smirk. Before you could think twice, he kissed you again. Your mind instantly went blank, his kiss was like a drug. This kiss was slower, still rough but he set the tone. Moving his lips against yours, pushing his hand between your legs. You felt hot, everything felt way too hot to bear, never had you been kissed with such passion. You needed to be closer to him. You tried running your hands down his body.

He removed his hands in an instant, grabbing yours and pushing them back to your sides. You let out a small whine. ‘What was going on with you? You never whined. You felt like a schoolgirl, making out for the first time’ Shaking his head disapprovingly, he turned away to grab his drink. Taking a sip, he held it near your lips, offering it to you. “It’s just water.”

You knew you shouldn’t drink from strangers, though you were way too drunk to think straight or even logically. ‘You wanted to keep making out and if that helped?’ Looking up at him you tilted your head forward against the glass and emptied the whole glass. You didn’t even realize how thirsty you were, and a glass of water seemed like a good option.

“Good girl.”, you heard his deep voice beside your ear. The loud music was making it hard to hear him clearly. The praise went straight to your core. He put his drink away and you began dancing to the music. More like grinding on each other.

He still didn’t allow you to touch him much and you wanted nothing more than to travel your hands up and down on his body, or under his shirt. He leaned down, grabbing your hips to press you against him. Pressing his hard crotch against your lower stomach, making you inhale a sharp breath.

“Can I get your number?” his deep voice mumbled against your ear. You pondered. It felt like he was growling. Slowly he began caressing your ear, gently kissing his way to your neck, making you close your eyes, leaning your head back to give him better access. Your legs were feeling weak. Running his thumb along your jawline, he sucked and bit in your neck, as he kissed his way back to your ear.

“Please?” his voice was a low growl against your ear. Your eyes fluttered open again as you nodded, desire filled your body. You would do anything, if he kept going on like this.

He kissed you softly this time and you bit his lip as he tried ending the kiss. You wanted to kiss him longer. You missed his warmth already, and also missed the dark look flashing up in his eyes. He pulled his phone out, tipping something before handing it to you. As you grabbed his phone, you felt yourself wobble to the side. Luckily he grabbed you in time and stadied you against his body. Now your back was pressed against his front.

You thought about grinding your butt against him, but as if sensing your thoughts he nudged you towards his phone. Looking at the screen, it was truly hard to concentrate for you. He kept sidetracking you by placing soft kisses on your neck.

Blinking rapidly you slowly made out the numbers. Your vision seemed a bit blurry, your eyes feeling so heavy. ‘You didn’t even drink that much’ After what felt like hours you successfully put in your number. As soon as you were done, he grabbed his phone back.

You were so drunk that you didn’t notice the contact already had a name. - Sweetheart - Turning back to him you nearly lost your balance, falling against his chest. His arm wrapped around your side, steadying you as he began walking you through the crowd of dancing people. You found it so difficult to keep your balance, you felt funny. You couldn’t seem to focus, everything stayed a bit blurred. You didn’t even know where he took you. Was he taking you home?

“Hey, sorry to bother you guys.”, he loudly said to someone over the music as he came to a stop. You leaned your face against his shoulder. You were really tired.

“You are her friends, right? I think someone put something in her drink, one minute she was fine and the next she could barely stand.” Your brows furrowed, ‘drugged? You were fine… when should that have happened? Didn’t those drugs work way quicker?’ Shocked gasps filled the air.

“I thought I would bring her back to you, so you can get her home.” He had such a calming and sympathetic voice. ‘Why would he bring you back? You were having fun.’ You playfully bit him in his chest, making him tighten his grip on your hip. His lips pressed in a firm line.

“Yes, yes she is our friend. Oh fuck. Thank you so much man!” Four hands grabbed you off the stranger you were leaning onto. You pouted.

“No-o I don’t wa- want to”, your voice slurred, you sounded like a brat. Struggling against their grip, not wanting to leave his side, but they were stronger than you. Also your fight wasn't really that much of a fight as you thought, you could hardly stand straight. You didn’t even knew his name. His jaw clenched as he looked towards you and the two holding you, his eyes lingered on the arm of the girl.

“Yes yes, hopefully you got his number.”, said a high pitched female voice near your ear. It sounded like Mary. You looked around, it was Lucas and Mary who supported you. ‘Why those two?’

“Why didn’t you tell me you liked older men?” Giggling, you shrugged your shoulders.

“He is so fine, maybe I should talk to him too.” Mary whispered in your ear. ‘What about her boyfriend?’

“Well, thanks again man, I’m Simon, her best friend. We’re taking her home asap, before something happens…” he began, as Lucas and Mary led you away. He gestured for them to stop, but they didn’t look back. Thus you couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation play out. It was a good thing. Drugged or not, your subconsciousness would have freaked out sooner or later.

“No problem Simon. It is what everybody would have done. Call me Cooper.”, he held his hand out for him to shake, which Simon gladly accepted.

“Nah, I don’t think so. Some sick fuck, may have taken advantage of her in a state like that. So thank you Cooper.. Shit, I just wanted her to have a good time on her birthday.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself Simon. I was glad I could help. Wish her a happy birthday from me, I hope she feels better in the morning.” Simon nodded, turning around to talk with the others and Cooper soon vanished in the crowd. Slowly your friends started to follow the three of you back to the entrance of the club.

“Hey, Y/N you stay here and wait. Lucas and I get the jackets. Just hold onto the handrail of the stairs or sit down. You can stand on your own for a bit, can’t you? ”she asked, concerned and something different in her voice. You gave her a thumbs up before holding onto the railing again.

“We will hurry as best as we can, the others should be here soon.” She came closer, whispering in your ear.

“Also you can stop your show now. Yes it’s your birthday, but do you need that much attention?”, with that she and lucas made her way to the coat check waiting line.

You let your head fall back as you take deep breaths. ‘Show? What show?’ Deeply breathing in the fresh air that was coming from the entrance. Few people were walking past you either coming in or leaving the club. Still it was hard concentrating on anything, but you were doing okay.

Until you weren’t. All of a sudden you felt something against your back and in the next moment you lost your footing and along with the grip on the handrail and flew down the stairs. Instinctively your body tried not to hit the ground face first. For that you turned around to face the top of the stairs. ‘Was there a man?’ you thought. Blinking once whoever you thought you saw was gone, just panicked bystanders. Did you hear Simon?

Your side painfully crashed first into the stairs, then continuing falling further down the stairs. You tried your best to stop or push yourself up, but failed. Someone behind you grabbed your arm to stop you. The only thing it brought you was, that you landed on your foot, with your butt while also twisting it in a painful way.

(A/N: You know, I thought about it, Leaving you hanging right here. However a) I should not end all my chapters the same, you could get bored and b) I’m not evil.)

Pain shot up from your foot, as your tears began to form in your eyes. “Fuck, Y/N.” Simon and Sebastian seemed next to you in mere seconds. Carefully they lifted you off the ground and gently removed your foot from under you. It hurt like hell.

“Is she alright?”, one of the bouncers came towards you from the entrance, having heard the commotion.

“Hey, can you move your foot?” Simon asked. You gave it a try, whining instantly. Crying even more you shook your head, your brain was way too foggy to come up with a smart ass reply.

“Where were you?” yelled an otherwise rather quiet Simon.

“Getting our jackets...” began Mary.

“She was drugged and you left her alone? Are you serious Mary?” Lizzy yelled too, her face enraged.

“How do we know she really was drugged? Maybe she just played it to get away from that man?” Mary suggested in an annoyed tone.

“What the fuck? Did you look at her? Does she seem like a normal drunk to you? You have seen her drunk before, but never like this!”, came Lizzy's angry reply.

“Also from what I saw in the beginning, she sucked his fucking face off! Didn’t seem like she hated it.” Simon countered.

“Why did you even leave her alone in the first place? None of this would have happened! Lucas you have no brain of your own anymore?”, Sebastian joined their yelling. The statement made Lucas' face turn the darkest shade of red.

“Fucking pathetic. Lets get her to the emergency room, someone order an uber?”Simon turned around angrily, and he and Lizzy helped you up. Each of them supported you as you hobbled down towards the streets. The way from the Club to the ER was gone in a blur. You couldn’t remember most of it. One minute you were leaving the club and in the next you laid on a bed in the ER. ‘How did you get here?’

You looked around for your friends, but the room was empty besides Simon who was sitting next to your bed with a worried expression. Your head felt clearer, you cleared your throat.

“So what did the doctor say, Simon? What's the damage?”, better get it over with.

“Well.. bad news first. You have a bruised foot and a hyperextended ligament. As a consequence you have to wear a bandage and walk on crutches for the next month at least.”

You sighed. It seemed like he wasn’t even finished with the bad news yet.

“You also got a few bruises on your arms, legs and back. Buut the Good news– they've given you something to counteract the effects of the drugs, but you'll probably still have to sleep it off, to fully feel better.”

“Better?” you laughed “I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. Anything is better than this..”

“I know..” he said as he patted your head. “Listen, they want to keep you here overnight, but just call me in the morning and we will pick you up and drive you home, ok?”

Defeated, you nodded, he squeezed your hand and left soon after. Leaving you alone in the empty room. The rest of the night was uneventful. The nurses checking up on you from time to time, bringing you more water. Sadly they also woke you up at 6 to check your vitals again and give you painkillers. After one final talk with the doctor, getting instructions from him for the next weeks and your crutches, you were ready to go home.

As promised Simon picked you up, he even cleaned your apartment from you and forbade you from helping. He was too kind. He even made Sebastian shop some groceries for you, which he brought over. So you didn’t need to stress about that for the next couple of days. About two hours later they left, telling you to call if you needed something.

You never had a wild birthday like that before, but somehow trouble seemed to find you. It was just a small consolation that nothing had happened to you the last months.

Still exhausted, you laid back on the couch, still in your yesterday's outfit. Closing your eyes as you enjoyed the silence. The ping of your phone ringing loud through the quietness of your apartment. You grabbed your phone and held it above your face. It was from Simon, he left not even a minute ago. Did he forget something? You opened your Phone.

– I totally forgot to tell you something. I meant to wish you a happy birthday from the man from the club last night. He also wished for you to get well soon. –

A second message followed.

– You remember? The one you made out with? He said his name was Cooper. –

Cooper…You knew that name. There was only one person that came to your mind with that exact name. Alarm Bells were going off in your head, but whatever they gave you in the hospital was working. You weren’t shaking or panicking, you were rather calm, what confused you.

That couldn’t be true, no. Surely you would have recognized him, even in the dim light of the club. It wasn’t that dark, was it? You rested your phone on your chest and began thinking about last night. Trying to remember, you realized that reconstructing the evening would be way harder than you thought. There were a lot of gaps in your memories and many were quite foggy. Perhaps it was because of the drugs mixed in your drink.

Sighing you closed your eyes, attempting to recollect what the stranger looked like. He was tall, had a small beard, you didn’t remember his eye or hair color, but his hair was a bit longer? You were unsure. You remembered his large hands on your body, holding your head in place while kissing you. He was strong for sure.

‘Think straight!’ you warned yourself, already starting to feel hot again. Just thinking about it still turned you on. ‘If that was Cooper, the man from that concert. You were fucked.’

You tried to arrange your thoughts. Yes, you made out with him, a serial killer, and you liked it, you felt disgusted. ‘You didn’t know it was him. Why would he even be there? The possibility was close to zero’ Suddenly you remembered something.

Didn’t you drink from his drink? Of course you were drunk before, but after that everything went downhill. Recalling how super drunk and tired you felt soon afterwards. It would all make sense.

Except… Why did he bring you back to your friends then? Perhaps it was a weird coincidence?

Maybe you should ask Simon if his name was really Cooper. Maybe he misunderstood? That looked like a good option. Opening your phone, you started to answer Simon as a new message came in.

It was from an unknown number. A simple: – Happy Birthday Sweetheart. –

It couldn’t be, you changed your number. Not many people called you that and you faintly remember Cooper calling you like that. Before you could wonder about it more, a second message from the same number appeared. What you read then made your heart freeze in fear, your pulse increased and hands started shaking, which made reading the message harder.

– You know, you were always nervous and so easily startled, like a cute little doe. Constantly on alert and looking around, to run away, at the slightest noise. Though if there were a little accident to happen. Where will you go now little doe, if you can’t even run? –

(A/N: nvm i am evil)

#trap 2024 #cooper adams #cooper adams x reader #trap movie #josh hartnett #cooper adams x you #cooper adams x y/n #cooper abott × reader #cooper abott

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mysecretlittlelibrary · 4 months ago

Text

Heroes and Their Reputations

Pairing: As of right now there isn't one- trying to decide if this is going to be more than this silly one shot lol

Word Count: 2.8k

Warnings: none really?

Genre: kinda fluff mostly... comedy I guess is accurate

Summary: The Avengers may be Earth's mightiest heroes but there's plenty of room for improvement especially in the public opinion category, so what happens when the team is given a PR manager?

***

"Listen, I can tell you right now, this transition will not be smooth." Fury warns you as you walk down the hall.

"Oh come on Fury how bad can they be?" You scoff.

"Most of them are- fine, I'm sure the reception will be overall positive but at least one of them will try to run you off and you need to prepared."

"I've got pretty thick skin so I think I'll manage. Plus I've got a few tricks up my sleeve to deal with that sort of thing believe it or not." You say.

"Alright. I'll call you in in a moment." Fury says. He enters the meeting room while you wait in the hall. It takes a while for his head to pop out to call you.

"You ready?" He asks.

"Sure." You say kicking off the wall and entering the room.

"Avengers. Meet your new manager." Fury announces to the room.

"Hey everyone, my name is y/n. Like Fury said I'll be your manager moving forward." You say.

"Sorry, what does having a manager entail exactly?" Bruce asks, adjusting his glasses.

"All of your missions, any official public appearances, interactions with civilians online or in person, that'll all go through me now. I'll also deal with government officials on your behalf and any legal situations you may end up in."

"So you're a lawyer?" Clint asks.

"No, we have lawyers. She's just here to oversee you all so that you can be held to a standard." Fury says.

"We don't need a manager." Tony scoffs.

"Oh yes, you do." Fury says.

"It can't hurt." Thor shrugs.

"Don't be ridiculous Thor. Look, sweetheart, we've managed just fine on our own so far so I see what they're trying to do here but it's pointless and I will not be answering to some random figurehead they've brought in to play babysitter." Tony says.

"Okay, let me make one thing clear, Anthony, sweetheart, we're playing my game now, so you play by my rules or you don't play at all." You say.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He narrows his eyes.

"How do I explain this? If I'm a coach, I'm not going to put players in the game that I know are just going to continually rack up penalties, that's a poor game plan. The public doesn't trust you, it's my job to change that. So if you make my job harder you will no longer go on missions or even leave the tower. It's pretty simple. Fall in line or Iron Man will effectively be out of commission until you can be trusted to behave."

"Nice try but you can't do that." He scoffs. You cock an eyebrow at him and snap. His body tenses to a halt for a moment before you unfreeze him.

"My game. Understood?" You ask.

"W-w-what t-th-the f-f-f-f-fuck w-w-was th-th-that?" Tony wraps his arms around himself, shivering in his seat.

"What did you just do to him?" Steve's eyes widen.

"You have powers?!" Wanda asks excitedly.

"Nothing deadly." You wink at Steve. "Yes." You smile at Wanda. Bruce's hand hesitantly raises as he speaks,

"When you say nothing deadly-"

"Mr. Stark's body temperature was briefly at 28.2 degrees Fahrenheit. Low enough to freeze his blood but not for long enough to kill him." Vision informs the group.

"You frozehis blood?!" Sam gasps.

"What the fuck kind of power is that?" Clint asks.

"Are you some sort of demigod?" Thor asks.

"Technically I control water. Vision darling can you get him a blanket or something? The shivering is... excessive." You say.

"Of course." Vision says with a nod.

"F-F-F-F-Fury d-did y-you know a-a-ab-b-bout th-th-this?"

"It's got nothing to do with my job so it's not like it's on my resume, but if anybody would do the extra research on me it'd be Fury." You say. Vision returns then and drapes a blanket over Tony who pulls it tight around himself.

"Just want to make it clear that I did not know you could do that. Why the fuck you ain't mention that before now?" Fury looks at you.

"I did say I had some tricks up my sleeve." You shrug.

"We'll discuss that later." He tells you.

"Am I the only one not understanding how water manipulation lets you freeze blood?" Sam asks.

"Blood is made up of mostly water. I can control the water within blood. Goes for other things too, clouds, mud- anything really."

"So you froze his blood?" Bruce asks with wide eyes.

"Just to prove my point. I wasn't gonna kill him." You reiterate.

"I like our manager." Natasha smirks.

"Thank you." You say. Fury pulls out his phone and sighs.

"Imma leave y'all to get acquainted. Don't turn anyone into an iceblock in the meantime." He warns.

"She's already done that." Clint says.

"Fine, don't turn anybody else into an iceblock. If you insist I get technical." Fury rolls his eyes.

"You aren't seriously going to leave us with her Fury." Tony says breathily, his body finally warming up enough to talk normally.

"Don't push her buttons and you should be fine Tony you're an adult."

"Only in theory." Steve mutters and you let out a small laugh at his dig.

"I've told her not to freeze anybody, don't piss her off and you'll be safe." Fury reiterates before leaving the room.

"So-" you take a seat at the table with everyone and rest your chin in one of your hands propped up at the elbow. "Questions?"

"So are you like our boss?" Natasha asks.

"When you say monitor our interactions online what does that mean?" Steve asks.

"You mentioned public appearances. Will we be doing press conferences? Because I don't really like the idea of having to sit and answer a bunch of questions on a panel." Bruce asks.

"Since when do we have a team of lawyers?" Clint scoffs.

"Also what do you mean when you say missions go through you?" Sam asks.

"So when I said questions I didn't mean everybody throw them all at once. Natasha, technically speaking kind of since you guys do have to answer to me. Steve, you all are an interesting bunch, I assume none of you do but if any of you had a social media presence at all I would be monitoring that to make sure the things you're engaging with don't make you look any worse. Bruce, you probably won't be doing press conferences exactly because I can't say I trust you all to answer questions live like that but we do need to do damage control on your image as a team so you'll be making strategic appearances over the next few months at events and such so that the public sees you in a better light. Clint, the first thing I told them when I was hired was that a group of superheroes needs a legal team especially if the government is poking their noses around here so I put one together. Sam, Fury will send your missions to me, and I'll decide who goes on which ones based on your skill set as individuals and cooperatively."

"How did you remember all of those questions?" Steve binks.

"Do you know our skill sets?" Clint asks.

"I've seen some of your- combat, clips go pretty viral of the big ones, so I have an idea but I'll be scheduling targeted trainings with each of you to observe more directly over the next two weeks." You say.

"So, what happens in the meantime? Until you know our strengths if there are missions then what?" Natasha asks.

"Steve seems the closest to a leader here. I'll take his suggestions regarding assignments and go from there." You say.

"Cap is not our leader." Tony scoffs.

"Well, it's certainly not you." You roll your eyes. "Does anyone else take issue with me consulting Steve for your mission assignments?" You ask, a hand up to stop Tony from whining more.

"Nope." Bruce says.

"No." Natasha says.

"I'd rather Steve than Tony." Clint says.

"I trust Steve more than Tony." Wanda says.

"I'm here because of Steve- so, only makes sense." Sam shrugs.

"Vision? Thoughts?" You ask.

"My vote sways nothing as everyone else has unanimously chosen Captain Steve Rogers."

"No Vision this isn't about statistics, I asked because you're part of the team and your opinion is as valuable as everyone else's." You tell him.

"In that case, I think the most reasonable choice for who you should consult would be Captain Rogers."

"All of you have betrayed me today." Tony says.

"Cut the drama Stark you are far too impulsive to be calling any shots here." You roll your eyes.

"Oh what do you know?" He scoffs.

"I know you're reckless and make decisions without considering those around you, I know you've created more problems than you've solved, I know that you need serious lessons in collaboration because you are by far the worst team player I've ever come across, and this is just from reading your file and studying public records, you struggle with addictive behaviors, you have narcissistic tendencies, abandonment issues, self-destructive habits and an overall lack of basic social awareness, you consider yourself generally above reproach, and things like empathy are often lost on you and it makes you nothing short of insufferable to be around. And that is putting it very lightly. Shall I continue?"

"Yes please!" Natasha laughs.

"I get the point." Tony grits out.

"Good! Glad we're on the same page! Now you can stop questioning me because as I'm sure you've realized by now in a game of who can be the bigger asshole, Tony, for once in your life, you will lose. I've dealt with egos 10 times the size of yours and if they couldn't break me neither will you. So fall in line, or say buh bye to the iron suit."

"Oh shit. Fury's a genius." Natasha chuckles.

"What, Nat?" Steve frowns.

"She's here to fix our reputation. I dunno about the rest of y'all but based on today I trust her to do the job gotta be honest." She shrugs.

"Good. Makes my job much easier if you trust me." You say. "Any more questions Avengers?" You ask the group.

"Will you be living here?" Wanda asks.

"No. I don't see a reason to, so I don't plan on it." You shrug.

"What if we need you when you're not here?" She asks.

"Honestly a lot of my job can be done remotely. Since PR has nothing to do with your day to day activities emergencies are unlikely. I'll only be here a few times a week and that's mostly because I don't trust some of you to pick up if I call."

"Uh- when does this observational training start?" Bruce asks.

"We'll start Monday. I'll send out a full schedule later but I'll be starting with you, Tony. 9 am."

"Oh come on! Why me?!" Tony groans.

"Because I know you'll give me the most trouble and everyone else will feel like a cakewalk after." You smile. "If there are no further questions, watch your phones, I'll be reaching out to each of you over the weekend, see you Monday. Try not to do any more damage before then." You say standing and leaving the room. Yeah, you're going to have one hell of a time with this team.

Monday morning you reach the tower early. You told Tony to meet you in the training room at 9 o'clock, so at 8:45 you find a meeting room and have your coffee.

"Friday?" You call out.

"Good morning y/n."

"Good morning. I want a view of the cameras in the training room, and please make sure nobody knows that I've arrived at the tower yet." You say.

"Aren't you meant to be meeting Mr. Stark shortly?"

"Mr. Stark will be experiencing a series of trials today. The first of which will be a test of patience. Which means he cannot know I'm already here. Okay?"

"Understood."

"Thank you." You settle in at the round table sipping your coffee and kicking your feet up as you prepare to hang out here for a while. You watch Tony enter the training room at 9 on the dot. For the first 10 minutes, he seems to just be idly waiting. He checks his watch a few times, paces the room, lets out the occasional impatient huff. After the twenty minute mark, he calls you, which you promptly ignore. He starts to do minor training stuff, jumping jax, hitting a punching bag, messing around with weights. He calls again at forty minutes. You still don't answer. You watch him for a full hour before you leave the meeting room and finally make your way to where he's surprisingly still waiting.

"Good morning Anthony." You say casually when you walk in.

"Good mor- where have you been? You told me we were meeting at 9 am it's not 10:07. I've been waiting for over an hour."

"Well technically I told you to be here at 9 am. Never said anything about me being here at 9 too. But I have been in the tower. I was in a meeting room. Watching you. Planning the rest of the morning."

"So- you've been here since 9 am and you just- what? Decided I could wait?"

"I've been here since 8:45 actually. I wanted to see if first of all you'd be punctual and secondly could you wait indefinitely without direction simply because I told you to be here at 9." You say.

"You're telling me I just wasted an hour of my time in here for your amusement?" He crosses his arms.

"You lack patience and discipline, so I'm testing you."

"By wasting my time?"

"By challenging your equanimity."

"Challenging my equanimity? Really? That's you're justification for wasting an hour of my day?"

"Friday please prepare Ironman's training simulation." You say rolling your eyes at Tony's complaints.

"Simulation loading, please wait." Friday responds.

"We're not done with this conversation." Tony says.

"Oh yes we are. I think you're still struggling to understand how this works, I don't answer to you Tony. Now if you at any point want to go on missions, I suggest you suit up and run the training simulation I've prepared for you." You say.

"You prepared?"

"Simulation complete. Ready to begin." Friday announces.

"It's what I've been up to since I got here an hour ago. Everyone's getting personalized simulations to assess their skills. Yours begins- now." You say stepping back.

"Beginning simulation round one." Friday says and that's the only warning Tony gets before it starts. The training begins with a set of drills, a combination of shooting still targets and dodging projectiles. It takes him most of the hour to finish the first round of tests, and the final sequence ends with him on the the floor.

"I fight in a suit. Why the hell am I running target practice without it?!" He huffs.

"You wanna be a hero you're gonna need more than your rich kid toys to qualify. If it powers down or is rendered useless somehow in the middle of a mission you can't simply become a liability to the team and if you are- I need to know that too."

"Friday." He grits out.

"Yes Mr. Stark?" The computerized voice fills the room.

"Tell Pepper I'll be later than expected coming in today."

"Friday, tell Pepper not to expect him until after lunch." You say checking your watch.

"Yes Miss y/n."

"After lunch?!" His eyes widen.

"Oh relax, I won't be keeping you here that long, it's only 11, but by the time we're done you'll probably want to get something to eat or at the very least change your clothes before going to work." You shrug. "Friday please load the second round of the Stark Training Simulation."

"Simulation loading. Please wait."

"S-second round?" He groans.

"I had four planned, but that first one took you forever so we'll have to consolidate. Put on your suit before she's finished loading, you won't have time to once it starts." You tell him.

"How were you even able to get Friday to do this?" He asks as he forces himself to his feet.

"Fury gave me access to everything on the grounds." You shrug.

"Loading complete. Ready to begin." Friday announces.

"Great. Please begin round two at an increase of five percent Friday."

"Beginning simulation round two at a five percent increase."

"Woah hang on a five percent increase what the hell does that me-" Tony is cut off by a projectile launching across the room. Round two is more combat based using mechanical dummies Friday was able to activate for you. With the speed increase Tony struggles to keep up with the attacks but at least it won't take him over an hour to do them. It takes 47 minutes for him to complete round two.

"Right, I think I've got enough information. I'm going to let you go. I'll save rounds 3 and 4 for another day. Friday please send me the footage from today's simulation runs." You say.

"Understood."

"You plan on being a tyrant your entire time here?" Tony asks.

"What's the matter Stark? Can't handle the heat?" You quirk an eyebrow at him.

"That wasn't just heat that was being thrown into a volcano."

"You know what they say, pressure makes diamonds. I'll be in touch." You say walking out of the training room, already preparing the simulations for your next session, you're thinking Steve.

"Take your time!" Tony shouts after you and you roll your eyes. Maybe Fury was onto something when he warned you it would not be easy with these guys.

***

A/N: should I continue this story? Do we add a love interest? If so who?

#marvel #marvel fanfiction #the avengers #avengers fanfiction #steve rogers #bucky barnes #captain america #black widow #natasha romanoff #wanda maximoff #sam wilson #clint barton #bruce banner #tony stark

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ultimate-shipper-trash-blog · 1 month ago

Text

Substitute Teacher Steve Au

Delilah felt nervous. She ran into her little brother Paul in the hall because neither of them were looking in the correct direction...too nervous.

She hurried into her English class and grabbed her seat. The class's energy was off the charts. Everyone was chatting and gossiping.

"-sub! Can you believe THE St-"

"I just don't understand? Arent they fam-"

Uh oh. She thinks she understands now and pulls out her flip phone to type out a quick text to Paul to warn him. It's too late. He already texted her first.

"Code purple"

"Fuck."

"Language B!"

"Shit."

He laughs as he walks into the classroom. Someone slaps her shoulder as if they're trying to tell her "Hey! He looked in your direction!!!!"

Sitting on her teacher's desk is retired pop icon Steve Harrington. He lights up when he sees her looking at him and waves to her. He's waving so fast his hand is a blur.

"Del what the hell is happening?" Mandy, her best friend is looking at her expectantly.

"I-"

"Ok class! Attendance time!!"

'Adams'

'Andrews'

'Chase'

'Finch'

"Henderson!"

"..."

"C'mom B," he looks at her disappointed.

"Here," she grumbles.

A girl in the back raises her hand.

"Can this wait until after the attendance is taken?"

"Unfortunately not Mr. Harrington I just have to know, how do you know Delilah? Why do you call her B? I mean out of everyone we were not expecting you to be here for her." She says the last part kind of like a sneer.

Delilah knew she wasn't the most popular but she made a choice to stay out of the spotlight.

"Well...student-"

"Sam."

"Sam, I'm not here for Delilah."

Gasps went around the room.

"I'm also here for Paul!" His famous bright smile is shining bright. "He's getting his braces off today! Isn't that exciting! Gosh I remember when his dad got his off. Brings a tear to my eye."

Delilah sinks lower into her seat.

"As for the nickname-"

She shoots up, ramrod straight.

"Um Uncle Steve you don't really have to-"

"Now B it's nothing to be embarrassed about. When Del's mom was pregnant with Paul we told her that she wouldn't be the baby anymore. She was so frustrated that was the only name she responded to for six months!"

Sam pipes up again, "so B is short for-"

"Baby." Snickers went around the room. Delilah groans. "Obviously we couldn't go around calling her baby that's weird. So we shortened it, nickname. It also helps because she's baby Henderson, helps to distinguish the difference between them all."

Steve gives her a soft smile, like he's still imagining her as a toddler.

"As most of you may know I retired about five years ago along with my boyfriend." (Gay marriage was not legal yet but she's working on it.)

Josh's hand shoots up. "Your boyfriend famous metal musician Eddie Munson?"

"Yes student in the back, we decided it was time to retire and enjoy our time together. Then I got bored. I was always planning on being a teacher if music didn't work out so I became a sub. We have a house here to see the kids and I knew I wanted my first assignment to be one where I could see my favorite Hendersons."

Ok she can't be mad at him. She loves him so much and he obviously is just doing what he can to be closer to her.

"Uncle Steve-"

Uncle is whispered around the room.

"I appreciate you coming here but-"

"Henderson I'd appreciate it if you stayed after school to help me grade papers. I can give you a ride home. Uncle Eds is taking Paul to the orthodontist now so you don't have to worry about driving him."

Conveniently, beeping was heard outside along with the sound of a motor like an engine revving. The students all ran to the window to see what was going on and were shown Paul with his head down running to the convertible.

Poor kid. Everyone would be talking about this for at least a week.

Paul looked over at the window along with Eddie, when he saw Steve he blew him a kiss. As soon as Paul was buckled up he sped off.

Steve sighed wistfully and then headed back to the desk.

"Alright everyone! Let's learn!"

#steddie #strangerthings #eddie munson #steve harrington #ficlet #steddie fic #steddie ficlet #oc #stranger things #teacher steve harrington #famouseddiemunson #famoussteveharrington #oneshot

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clockwayswrites · 2 years ago

Text

Like Betta Fish Do - Part 12

Masterpost of ao3 link and all parts.

wc 2295 (Chapter 9 when on ao3)

“Hey, it’s Danny, right?” asked the person standing next to Danny’s seat. They shifted, tucking a long strand of pitch black hair behind their ear.

“Yes?”

“We thought—”

“She thought,” said the woman who practically barreled into the first speaker’s back. She hooked her chin over the other’s shoulder with a grin as she adjusted her hijab. “Cloe thought, but we all agree.”

“Which is why I said we, I’m Cloe, this is Fara, that guy over there is José.” She motioned to a young man with a head full of curly brown hair and an easy smile waiting by the door. “We need a fourth for the group project, want to join us?”

“Me?” Danny repeated in surprise. No one in Casper High ever wanted him on a team, not unless it was Tucker and Sam.

“Totally. Your comment today on the possible advancements of propulsion technology was just the sort of thing that we’d love to do our topic on. It didn’t look like you had a group?”

“No, I don’t, not yet. That would be nice,” Danny said with a crooked smile. He’d been worried about having to find a group to work with so the offer was a huge weight off. Honestly the presentation was way too much of their grade in his opinion (but maybe that’s just because he had been dreading it).

“That’s great!” Cloe smiled back at him. “Do you have time to meet now? Just, like, to a coffee shop or the library. We can hash out the basics and what everyone should research before we meet up again the next time.”

“Sure. I could almost always use a coffee,” Danny said as he shoved his aging laptop in his backpack.

“Yeah, we can kinda tell with the…” Fara pointed at her own face, finger circling around her eyes.

Danny barked out a surprised laugh when Cloe let out an affronted “Fara!”

“Hey, I’ve been cultivating these dark circles since high school. They’re like fine wine,” Danny said. Snarky he knew how to handle.

“Oh, José will like you,” Fara said with a laugh. She linked arms with Danny and practically dragged him towards the door. “José! I found you another coffee addict.”

“Thank you,” he praised, “because Cloe only drinks the most basic bitch drinks and Fara likes tea.”

“I make an exception for pumpkin spiced lattes and hot chocolate,” Fara said with coy smile.

“See? See what I have to put up with. Please, my dude— is it my dude?” Danny nodded in response. “My dude, please tell me you drink real coffee.”

“With as many espresso shots as they’re legally allowed to add,” Danny said.

“A man after my own heart— a heart that runs on coffee,” José said with a laugh as they all spilled out the front of the engineering building.

Maybe this presentation wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Okay, so maybe Danny was just really not used to being around people any more.

Really, really not used to it.

He’d only spent an hour or so with the other’s at the coffeeshop, but between that, class, picking up a treat for Jason, and just having to go back and forth throughout the city Danny felt his nerves crawling under his skin. Every noise from every apartment around was so loud. Even his fridge seemed to be screaming at him with its incessant whine.

And there was no where to get away from it.

If he went out, Danny would just be surrounded by the sounds and smells and lights of the city. People would jostle into him or sit too close on the bus and— Danny shuddered at the idea of being touched by strangers right then.

He rubbed his fingers against his palms as he shifted and tried to lay more comfortably on his small sofa. He had his t.v. on, streaming mindless video game play throughs, but he wasn’t really paying attention to it. It was just to try and block out some of the noise.

There were things about the city that he loved, sure. The access to food was great. There was an amazing variety in walking distance of his place or campus. He’d also found a few great stores— a game store and a second hand clothing shop were top of his list. It was great how there was always a distraction.

But there was always a distraction.

Nothing ever really stopped in the city. That constant hum, after a few weeks of it, was really getting to Danny. He hadn’t thought he was rural or anything, but Amity’s hundred thousand or so people never prepared him for living here.

He closed his eyes and made himself take a slow breath.

Jason was going to show him some places around the city today.

He had to get a handle on himself before then.

He’d been trying for an hour now— or so his phone alerted him to when he checked it for the hundredth time. He laid it back on his chest and closed his eyes. When it started ringing a moment later he nearly jumped out of his skin.

‘Jason Calling’, it read. He fumbled to swipe the screen. “Hi.”

“Hey. My meeting wrapped early so I was going to head your way now if that’s good?”

Danny swallowed, trying to force back the buzzing under his skin. “Oh, um, yeah, sure.”

The line was silent for a pause. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Jason snorted. “That’s a lie.”

Danny flung an arm over his eyes and forced himself to take another breath. “I guess, just… It’s stupid.”

“Fish.”

The endearment was more gentle than Danny felt he deserved. He was being stupid about this. Who struggled to be around people? And he wanted to see Jason too. It was just… everyone— everything else.

He could hear the sounds of the city on Jason’s end and tried to focus on his voice instead. “Come on fish, talk to me.”

“It’s just— being in the city all the time… it’s just getting to me a little, I guess. I’m not used it it. That’s all. I’ll be fine.”

Jason gave a considering hum. “Okay. Change of plans. Do you have a leather jacket?”

“What? No?”

“Okay. Are you up for one stop first? We’ll make it quick.”

“One stop before what?” Danny asked as he pulled himself up by the back of the couch.

“Before my new plan for the day.” Jason sounded smug.

“I don’t— we don’t have to—”

“Trust me, okay?”

It was such an earnest request that it brought Danny to pause. He swallowed once more before he found his voice. “Of course I will.”

“Good. Then I’ll see you in twenty. Go put on jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and some sturdy shoes.”

The abrupt end to the call had Danny blinking down at his phone before he pulled himself up to do as he was told.

Jason studied Danny as the other came out of his apartment building. He hadn’t liked how Danny sounded on the phone and he didn’t much like how Danny looked now. It was like the other had tucked all his loud, jagged, wonderful edges away. It was like he was hiding from the world.

Well, Jason would just have to fix that.

“Just one quick stop,” Jason said, handing Danny a helmet.

“I’m fine, you don’t have to ba—”

“Fish,” Jason said firmly. He waited until Danny was actually looking at him (not frowning at the ground) to continue. “It’s okay if you’re not okay. You don’t have to apologize to me or about it or about you. You can be not fine.”

Fuck he was sounding like his well meaning family now. Still, it got a wobbly smile from Danny, so maybe it was worth parroting back the words. The words didn’t always help, he knew that. They certainly didn’t fix stuff that he still struggled with some days, but they couldn’t hurt. It couldn’t hurt to be reminded that someone cared.

“Okay. One quick stop,” Danny agreed.

“Right,” Jason said. He turned and straddled his motorcycle. “You ever ridden before?”

“Yeah, actually I have. A friend has one.”

“Huh.” Jason was actually a little surprised by that. “Okay then hang on tight. We won’t be doing anything crazy in the city, but we might have to stop quickly. Some drivers are jackasses about motorcycles.”

The bike dipped under him as Danny settled on behind him. There was an obvious moment of hesitation before Danny let himself slide forward. As Danny settled along his back, Jason had a thought of how well Danny fit. He briefly squeezed the arms wrapped around his waist in notice before he started his bike up and they took off through the city.

The one quick stop was to get Danny a riding jacket and gloves; Jason wanted to be sure that Danny would be warm and, more importantly, protected on the drive. As it was, Jason drove more cautiously than normal, very aware that Danny’s safety was in his hands.

It wasn’t long to the store, and he tried to make sure the shopping didn’t take too long. He could practically see Danny’s edges fraying. He did make Danny try on several jackets, even if he tried to make sure they didn’t linger, so that Danny could find the right one.

“Are you sure this is it?” Danny asked, tugging on the hem of the black leather jacket. It had a bit of a retro cut, but there was enough modern padding that if Danny fell off the road rash wouldn’t be that bad. Besides, Danny looked good in it; it cinched nicely at his waist and fit his shoulder snugly.

“Yep,” Jason said. He reached out and smacked Danny’s hand away when he tried to take a peak at the price tag again. “Stop that. I already told you I’m buying.”

“Jason—”

“Just accept it. Give me the jacket and go pick out some gloves,” he said.

Danny rolled his eyes, but shrugged off the jacket and handed it over. Jason took the moment to explain the mater to the sales person, who was cooperative about not saying the total out loud. The knowing smirk was a bit weird though. It even had Danny glancing at Jason suspiciously, but they got out of the store with what was needed and Danny none the wiser to what a good motorcycle jacket could cost.

Jason took the time to sync up both helmets so that they could talk on the ride if they wanted to, but he left the matter to Danny. It turned out to be mostly silent once they left the city, especially since Jason wasn’t explaining where they were going. The longer they were on the open roads, the more that Jason could feel Danny relaxing against his back until. Finally he settled in and rested his head against Jason’s shoulder blade.

“Thank you.”

“Ain’t seen nothing yet,” Jason rumbled back.

Danny just answered with a soft hum before he fell silent again.

Jason took them on the highway, down some side streets just for the view, and through a smaller city to the more secluded parking lot that he knew about. He could feel Danny freeze up behind him, and chuckled as he pulled off his own helmet. Danny did the same as he stumbled off the bike.

“Come on,” Jason said. He practically had to guide Danny down the path and to the top of the first bluff where the concrete ended.

Danny let out a breath exhale. “Oh, wow.”

His mouth hung slightly open as he stared out at the crashing waves and the beach that stretched out before them. A cloudy fall day wasn’t exactly the best time to visit the coast (not that they were the only ones doing so), but Danny still stared at it like it was the best thing he’d seen in a long time.

He stared at it like it gave him life.

Jason found he wanted— suddenly and fiercely— to find a million more moments that would bring that same spark to Danny’s eyes. He didn’t want Danny to stop living just because he had died.

Jason didn’t want to stop living just because he had died.

Not anymore.

He reached down to undo the knots on his boots with Danny scrambling to do the same. Laces tied together, Jason slung the boots across his shoulders and made his way onto the beach. He reached out to help balance Danny as he stumbled a little on the soft white sand.

When they had gotten to the edge of the water, Jason hung back slightly in the damp, but not wet, sand while Danny, with all of his normal abandon, rolled up his pants legs and barreled into the waves with a whoop. He ran in and out of the surf like one of those sand piper birds as the wind whipped his dark hair around his face like a storm of shadows.

Laughing as he was chased by a larger swell of water, Danny stumbled back to Jason’s side. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with salt air, and then just slumped heavily against Jason like he was boneless. Jason took the weight easily.

Jason grinned down at Danny, who’s eyes were still locked on the water. “Worth the trip?”

“Yeah. Yeah, worth the trip. Completely. Thank you Jason.”

“’Course. Gotta get the fish to water now and then.”

“Shut up, dead boy.” Danny rolled his eyes, but his grin didn’t drop for a second.

Jason chuckled, but found he didn’t need to say anything back. He was content to just watch Danny watch the ocean.

-----

AN: Finally an update for you all~ ngl, there are some rough spots I'm not entirely happy with, I feel you can really tell what I wrote when I was feeling really, really poorly. But that's what a re-write is for, I guess!

The classmates won't show up too much, but I needed an outside perspective and to show Danny is settling in- even if he's struggling with some things.

Apologies for any typos, I currently want to melon ball my eye out from this migraine so you know, words are hard. Anywho, stay delightful, darlings!

#dp x dc #danny fenton #jason todd #dead on main #deadonmain #danny x jason #like betta fish do

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youling-the-ghost · 2 months ago

Text

sfth incorrect quotes pt.10 because school's kicking my ass and I need my daily dose of brainrot to survive

AJ: Go fuck yourself. Sam, smugly: Sure, but only if you watch Tom: It doesn’t have a bone. Sam: Then why is it called a boner? Luke: Look, do I consider myself attractive? Yes. But would I have sex with my clone? Also yes.

AJ: Is the plural of milf/dilf milfs/dilfs or milves/dilves? Sam: Milfs. Tom: Milf/dilf is an acronym, you can't change the spelling to milves/dilves. AJ: Wait, they're acronyms? What do they stand for??? Luke: Mom in late forties, dad in late fourties. Luke: I learned that from the movie called M.I.L.F that I saw the trailer of in theaters probably 5 to 7 years ago. Tom: Mom/dad I'd Love to Fuck. AJ: WAIT, WHAT THE FUCK— AJ: I NEVER REALIZED IT WAS ACTUALLY HORNY! Luke: Oh, is it not mom in late fouries? Sam: What? No! It isn't! Luke: THE MOVIE TRAILER LIED TO ME! Tom: Luke... Luke: THIS IS WHY I DIDN'T THINK CALLING PEOPLE MILFS WAS ALL THAT BAD BECAUSE IT STOOD FOR SOMETHING HARMLESS IT JUST HAD A SLIGHTLY SEXUAL CONNOTATION! Tom: I am entirely unsurprised that this is coming from you. Luke: AJ, DOES IT MAKE SENSE WHY I CALLED THE DIARY OF A WIMPY KID MOM A MILF NOW BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT WAS LITERALLY JUST A DESCRIPTOR WITH FUNNY CONNOTATION! AJ: The word milf has been ruined for me. Sam: THAT'S ITS DEFINITION, IT CAN'T BE RUINED THAT'S WHAT IT MEANS! Tom: Y'all are dumbasses. Tom: I am the left brain, I am the left brain. "I work really hard until my inevitable death" brain. You've got a job to do, you better do it right and the right way is with the left brain's might. AJ: I LIKE OREOS AND PUSSY- Sam: Is letting someone win at chess sapiosexual bottoming? Tom: Can everyone in this godforsaken group please learn the skill called "Think Before You Speak"? Luke: Ya know...it might be. Sam: How do you tell someone that you wanna have sex with them in a polite way? Tom: Excuse me Mx. Would you give me the honours of indulging in sexual activities with you? Luke: What the fuck is wrong with you two? at the supermarket Sam: All right, the last item on the list is "virgin oil." Sam: Sam: Wow. Imagine being an item and still being called a virgin. Tom: Capitalisation is the difference between "I had to help my uncle Jack off a horse.." and "I had to help my uncle jack off a horse.." (It was then that Junyu realised...he accidentally turned on NSFW only and that's why the quotes have been so horny.) Sam: Hey! Wanna hear a joke? Tom: Sure. Sam: Your life! Tom: Actually, my life isn’t a joke, jokes have meaning. Sam: Tom, no. AJ: Can you recommend a book that'll make me cry? Tom: General Mathematics 8th Grade Edition. (in reference to that one guessing game where AJ forgot how math worked) Luke: It's locked. You got a lock pick? Tom: Yeah- Sam: *kicks down the door* Luke: They can't make me admit France exists, right? Legally, that's not allowed. Luke: Sure, if France was REAL I'd say I liked it. Luke: But who's to say. AJ: I think France isn't real. Tom: AJ, you used to live in France. AJ: And??? AJ: You gave me up, you let me down, you turned around, and deserted me. Sam: But did I make you cry? AJ: *cries on the spot* Sam: ...Shit. AJ: Why's it called an oven when you of in the cold food and you of out hot eat the food? Tom: ...What??? AJ: What’s your biggest fear? Luke: I am incredibly arachnophobic. AJ, under his breath: You don’t want spiders to get married? Tom: Luke, I think we have a problem. Luke: What, the fire? Tom: No, the- wait, what fire? Luke: Oh forget about it, this sounds more interesting. Sam: Hey Luke, can you give me the opposite of these words? Sam: Always, Coming, From, Take, Me, Down. Luke: Never, Going, To, Give, You- Luke: The fucking satisfaction. Luke: Inside you, there are two kidneys. Luke: I’m gonna steal them. Tom: So my therapist was talking to me and she said that I really just need to break down my walls and let people in. Tom: So I’ve decided to break the fourth wall. Tom: *looks at camera* Hi there. I use humor as a coping mechanism.

#shoot from the hip #sfth incorrect quotes #luke manning #tom mayo #sam russell #alexander jeremy #I have no funny thing to add to the tags today #please just enjoy the chaos

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firstelevens · 30 days ago

Note

sambucky + “stubborn” for your consideration!

this screenshot was the first thing I saw from the Thunderbolts trailer and unfortunately I was perfectly positioned to have a brainwave about it. now it's a fic. bon appetit.

( read it on AO3 )

As it so often has these days, one in the morning finds Sam crawling around on the kitchen floor, mapping out a pattern in subway tiles. Tonight, he’s gone for herringbone, a choice that he regretted as soon as he started. There’s a legal pad on the floor beside him, covered in notes about angled cuts and tile wastage, and he’s still not sure the pattern looks the way it should. There are probably YouTube videos about this exact thing, but this is the first night in weeks that Sam can’t just blast a home improvement video from his phone at any given hour.

He pushes off the floor and stands to get a look at the pattern he laid out—his knees protest, which he doesn’t have time to be concerned about—and huffs in disappointment. The tiles are far too chunky for the design, the angled set looking more like a mistake than an artistic choice. It might come through if Sam was willing to tile the whole kitchen that way, but it makes his head spin to consider how much tile would be wasted if he did.

He’s still frowning down at the pattern when the creak of the staircase landing lets him know that he’s about to have company. Apparently, not even Bucky’s stealth is a match for hardwood floors in a hundred year old house, and after a moment, he appears in the kitchen doorway.

“Sam,” he says, his voice still hoarse from sleep, “why the hell are you still up?”

His hair is a fluffy mess, caught in an awkward growing-out stage, and he’s wearing a sweatshirt from some charity event that Kamala had wheedled them into attending last month, and he’s just bleary enough that all Sam has to do is hold out a hand before Bucky is taking it and allowing himself to be reeled in. He lets out a quiet oof when he collides with Sam’s shoulder, but immediately readjusts, slipping his arms around Sam’s waist and resting his chin on Sam’s shoulder.

“How are you gonna shake off your jet lag if you don’t get some sleep?” asks Sam. “If you fall asleep mid-conversation at lunch with Joaquín tomorrow, I’m never letting you live it down.”

“I’m over a hundred years old, Sam; I can nap whenever I damn well please.”

“You could also sleep in our bedroom at night like a normal person.”

Bucky snorts. “Are we pretending to have normal sleep schedules now?”

“Shut up, it’s aspirational,” says Sam. “Just like all those kitchen Pinterest boards are about to be if I can’t figure out this stupid tile arrangement.”

“That’s because you’re basically sleepwalking.”

“If you’re just gonna be quippy about it, you can take your ass right back up to bed,” snaps Sam. “We’re already running behind schedule, and I need these tiles set before the guy comes to install the stove, and we bought all these decorative pieces and we had a plan for all of it, but I can’t for the life of me remember how the designer at the tile showroom made it work, and if I can’t, that’s another three weeks.”

He feels Bucky’s arms retreat from around his waist and immediately regrets it. It’s not Bucky’s fault that Sam’s brain isn’t working right now, just like it isn’t his fault that Team Cap got called in at the crack of dawn today to deal with a squadron of rogue androids wreaking havoc in Chicago.

“Sorry, Buck,” he says, scrubbing a hand down his face and turning in the direction of Bucky’s footsteps. “This is the third catastrophe of the week, and I just– what are you doing?”

Bucky shrugs at Sam as he turns on the tap and fills the electric kettle with water. “What does it look like, birdie? I’m making tea.”

Sam narrows his eyes. “Why?”

“Because I’m not gonna sleep unless you come to bed, and you’re not gonna come to bed until you figure out how to make this tile pattern work. I don’t solve my problem until I solve yours.”

“There’s that romance I’ve been missing,” says Sam, his voice flat.

He gets a raised eyebrow in response. “Romance? Is that what you call staying downstairs to do math instead of coming up to bed when your partner just got back from a month-long mission?”

“It was barely three weeks,” scoffs Sam, like he hadn’t kept up a running tally of days until Bucky’s return. “And your so-called mission was to Wakanda, where you spent most of your time playing with baby goats and being nosy about Shuri’s experiments.”

“And that was very hard, very lonely work,” says Bucky, flicking the kettle on and turning to grab mugs out of the cabinet. He sets them on the counter, then drops in a tea bag each from the fancy wooden caddy that Joaquín got them as a housewarming present. “I pined for you, Samuel.”

“I’m sure you did,” says Sam. He decides to leave Bucky to it and turns back to the tiles, halfway to kneeling on the floor again before Bucky makes a disapproving noise from behind him. He huffs and looks over his shoulder, straightening up again. “What now, Barnes?”

“You keep at it like this and your knees and back are gonna give you trouble for the next month.”

Sam crosses his arms, more annoyed at Bucky being right than anything else. “How else do I make this puzzle work? It’s not going to make sense unless I can move the pieces myself.”

In retrospect, it’s gracious of Bucky to not point out that crawling on his hands and knees didn’t do much to make it make sense, either. In the moment, he just says, “Give me a second,” and disappears down the hallway again, turning into the family room.

When he reappears a moment later, he has two couch cushions in his hand, dropping them both at Sam’s feet. “Knock yourself out,” he says, gesturing to the tiles on the floor.

“Oh,” says Sam, blinking down at the pillows. He doesn’t know why he didn’t think of that earlier. “Thanks, baby.”

Bucky just hums in acknowledgment. “At least this way we don’t have to put out a press statement about you getting injured in a fight with kitchen decor.”

“Shut up,” says Sam, but it’s much softer now. He kneels on the cushion in front of him and sets to work again, referring to his legal pad and trying to make sense of the tile layout one more time.

On the other side of the island, he can hear Bucky pouring the hot water into their mugs. A second later, he hears the click and swoosh of something gliding across a smooth surface, followed by the thwack of two coasters sliding over the edge of the counter and landing on the floor. One of them skids far enough on the landing to end up on Sam’s tiles, and though he flicks it out of the way, it makes a familiar fondness bloom in his chest.

“Why are you pelting me with coasters? I know your mother raised you better than that.”

“She did,” says Bucky, coming around the counter. “Which is why I would never put these mugs on these ‘original hardwoods’ that you love so much.”

Sam makes a face. Being excited about original hardwood floors in a house from 1910 is normal and he won’t be shamed for it. “And you couldn’t just, I don’t know, carry over the coasters like a normal person?”

“Then I’d have to make two trips,” Bucky says. “I’m being efficient, Sam.”

“You’re being lazy, is what that is,” says Sam. He reaches up to take one of the mugs as Bucky sits down beside him.

“I prefer to think of it as saving my energy for important things,” says Bucky, setting aside his tea. “Like saving the world. Or ravishing my partner after yearning for him for weeks on end.”

Sam tries to nudge Bucky, but three years of partnership and supersoldier reflexes mean that Bucky almost never catches a ‘stop being corny’ elbow—although when he does, he makes sure to whine about it for far too long. “All that yearning and you still couldn’t bring me my own Border Tribe blanket?”

“That thing is enormous, Sam; why would we need two?”

“What if I want to curl up in a chair on my own?”

Bucky snorts. “Then I assume you’ll just steal the blanket, the same way you always do at night.”

Unfortunately, it’s an accusation backed up by hard evidence, so Sam has no defense against it, except to say, “What do you even need the blankets for? You’re like a furnace; you’ve got the serum.”

“And what do you even need the blankets for when you’ve got me?”

Sam can see the corners of Bucky’s mouth turning up just slightly, and he opts not to give him the satisfaction of a laugh. “You better be glad you didn’t say that back in Delacroix, because Sarah would never let you hear the end of it.”

“You say that like you’re not going to tell her about this on the phone tomorrow.”

He can’t argue with that, so he doesn’t, turning back to the tiles and the legal pad instead. Bucky watches him work in silence for a bit, drawn-out enough that Sam is itching to break it. It’s easy to forget that even before Bucky was the Winter Soldier, he spent his army career waiting out the enemy from a sniper’s nest, and he can play chicken with the best of them. Three years of partnership has built up Sam’s tolerance, too, though, and when he stays silent, it’s Bucky who finally cracks.

“So should we talk about why you’re this worried about a bunch of tiles? And don’t tell me that anything worth doing is worth doing well. Tile-arranging in the dead of night is not something worth doing.”

“Maybe I just take pride in the things I do,” says Sam, but it sounds surly even to him.

“Of course you do,” says Bucky. “That’s hardly news. But don’t pretend this is the same thing as you getting up at the crack of dawn to work on the boat. This is something else.”

Sam frowns, looking down at the tiles that he’s been staring at for hours. He’s quiet for a long moment, but Bucky doesn’t rush him. There’s no answer that Sam can come up with, really, not one that would be remotely satisfactory.

“I can’t just want this to be done? It can’t just be that I want to check it off the list now and not later?”

“Is that what’s going on, though?”

“Maybe,” says Sam, shrugging.

“So we’ll just tile the whole kitchen the same way,” says Bucky, his voice light. “No backsplash pattern at all. Then we’ll be done.”

“It’s not that easy,” he says.

“Why not?” asks Bucky. “It’s our house, and we have a timeline to stick to, right? If the design is slowing us down, we can skip it.”

“It won’t be the same, though,” says Sam. “It won’t be right.”

Anyone else would be polite enough to leave it at that, but Sam had to go and fall in love with the stubbornest asshole he knows. “What, we don’t get to pick what’s right?”

“We already picked this,” Sam says, his voice sharp. “We picked the design and all the details, and where it would sit, and how long it would take for us to be done. We decided that this is what home should look like. We should be able to have the thing we want.”

And it’s not like Sam can’t hear himself. It’s not like he doesn’t know that his late nights of tile arranging and testing wood finishes aren’t the healthiest choices he could make. He’s just been able to ignore that until now, because for all this time, he’s had something to do and a deadline to do it by, whether it was androids to punch or a sink to order.

He hasn’t let himself think of stopping and what that means, not until right now, with Bucky’s gaze heavy on him and the quiet of the kitchen broken by a murmured, “Oh, sweetheart.”

Sam still doesn’t let himself look up, skimming his fingers over the tiles in their pattern. “I just want it to look like we wanted,” he says softly. His thoughts drift to the office upstairs, the classified files in the secret compartment of Bucky’s desk, and the lump in his throat is immediate. “So anyone who sees it knows that it’s a home. So they know that it’s our home.”

Bucky sighs, and then there’s some shuffling before he’s pulling on the sleeve of Sam’s t-shirt. “Come here, baby.”

A quick peripheral glance reveals that Bucky’s back is resting against the island cabinets now, and his arms are open. In any other circumstance, Sam might be embarrassed by how fast he moves, but he can’t bring himself to care. He lets himself be hauled into Bucky’s arms and manhandled into a more comfortable sitting position, his back to Bucky’s chest and Bucky’s arms curled protectively around him.

“Sammy, sweetheart,” says Bucky, “I don’t know what world you’re living in where it’s not already obvious that this is our house. Our dining room has purple walls, Sam. Purple. The whole room. I’ll tell you right now, nobody’s walking into that room and imagining anything except the truth.”

“It’s maroon, you heathen, and it’s a nice color,” says Sam, his voice still a little watery.

“It is,” Bucky agrees. “It’s nice, and you chose it, and every time I look at it, I’m going to think of how you told the girl at the paint counter that your man had old fashioned taste but no budget constraints, and she thought you were someone’s sugar baby redecorating their love nest.”

“That wasn’t as funny as you thought it was,” Sam says. Then, because he’s sleep deprived and his brain to mouth filter is gone, he adds: “And for the record, I’d be a great sugar baby. My taste is expensive as hell.”

“Yeah, Sam, you’re a real material girl.”

Sam frowns. “I should never have let Sarah teach you about Madonna.”

“I’d like to see you try to stop Sarah from doing anything,” says Bucky, with a snort.

“I’m sure it’ll happen plenty when I’m back down in Delacroix,” says Sam, and he feels Bucky’s arms tense. “Maybe the boys can record it for you.”

“Maybe,” echoes Bucky. He’s quiet for a long moment before he says, “I haven’t talked to them yet. I don’t know how to explain myself. I thought it might get easier when I came back stateside, but it just feels more overwhelming now.”

Sam covers Bucky’s hands with his own, giving them a squeeze. “You just have to tell them it’s the same as any mission. We go out there, we do something scary but important, and then we come back home. It’s all fine as long as you come back home.”

“I know,” Bucky says. “Just this one thing, and then we’ll both be back home.”

“Uh-huh,” says Sam.

“Just one thing,” repeats Bucky, “and then we’ll both be here, and it’ll be home, and it won’t be because of the backsplash or the baseboards. It’ll be because it’s you and me. That’s home.”

Sam doesn’t bother to hide his sniffle this time. “Just that, huh?”

“You’ve got no idea, songbird,” says Bucky, tucking his face against Sam’s neck. “The two of us? You looking at me and actually seeing me? I think that was home even before I remembered what home was.”

He feels himself go very still as his brain makes sense of Bucky’s words, thinks of stilted conversation on a train platform and scowls exchanged in a rearview mirror. It’s not even worth trying to stop his eyes welling up.

“What the hell, Bucky?” Sam croaks, swiping at the tears. “Is this you making me feel better?”

“What?” asks Bucky, smiling against Sam’s neck. “No good?”

Sam shakes his head.

“Sorry, honey,” says Bucky, with a conciliatory kiss to Sam’s pulse point. “How ‘bout a distraction instead?”

With another sniffle: “What kind of distraction?”

The last thing that Sam is expecting is for Bucky to reach out and point at the tiles, now slightly askew with Sam and Bucky’s readjustments and their legs being sprawled out in front of them.

“What, you want to do math?”

“Not exactly.”

Sam narrows his eyes. “Then what?”

“First, I want you to remember we’re so in love that it made you tear up a second ago. Just keep that in your head for a second.”

“Bucky.”

“What, you don’t want to think about how far we’ve come?”

“Bucky.”

“Fine, but you’re going to hate it,” says Bucky. When Sam waves a hand for him to continue, he takes a deep breath and says, “I think I solved your tile thing.”

“No, you didn’t,” says Sam.

Behind him, Bucky shifts a little, then uses his foot to nudge one of the tiles out of its overlap with its neighbor, knocking it out of the herringbone shape. Then, he nudges it again so the short side of one tile sits flush against the long side of another. Straight on, it’s a right angle, but rotated forty-five degrees, it’s…

“Fuck off, I know that didn’t happen,” says Sam, pushing up onto his knees to get a better look. He leans over and replicates the pattern with four more tiles just below it: a perfect herringbone, and tight enough from the offset that the pattern is clear even with a handful of tiles. “What the hell? Was it that easy this whole time?”

“I mean…”

Sam covers his face with his hands. “Maybe you were right,” he says, but it’s garbled behind his hands.

“I don’t speak Dwarvish; can you repeat that?” asks Bucky, and Sam elbows him just because, but then he lets Bucky take his hand and lead him up to bed anyway.

#sambucky #shoutout to everyone who voted 'countertop' in that one poll; this one's for you!#'whiteboard' voters you will have your day soon I swear #I will probably revise this before it goes on ao3 but there you go #my fic #prompts from emma coming in clutch as usual

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bonefall · 10 months ago

Note

Don’t know if this is the right place to ask, but could you talk more about zoos? I’ve seen many people say that zoos are inherently exploitative and that we should instead focus on advocating for wildlife preserves, etc., but I’m not sure what to think of that. You seem to know a lot about wildlife protection, so what’s your opinion on this?

There are folks faaaar better than myself to talk about the issues of zoos specifically and I'll try to toss in some sources so you can go and learn more, but let me try and explain my mindset here.

Summary of my opinion on this: BOTH of these things can be poorly managed, and I broadly support both. They should exist in tandem. I am pro-accredited zoo and am extremely sensitive towards misinformation. I also do think the best place for animals to be is in their natural environment, but nature "preserves" aren't inherently perfect. They can also be prone to the capitalist (and colonialist) pressures that less informed people believe they're somehow immune to.

Because of the goal of my project being to make the setting of WC accurate to Northwestern England, my research is based on UK laws, ecology, and conservation programs.

On Zoos

On Nature Reserves

An Aside on Fortress Conservation

On Zoos

The legal definition of a Zoo in the UK (because that is what BB's ecological education is based around), as defined by the Zoo Licensing Act of 1981 (ZLA), is a "place where wild animals are kept for exhibition to the public," excluding circuses and pet shops (which are covered by different laws.)

This applies equally to private, for-profit zoos, as well as zoos run by wildlife charities and conservation organizations. Profit does not define a zoo. If there's a place trying to tell you it's not a zoo but a "sanctuary" or a "wildlife park," but you can still go visit and see captive wild animals, even if it's totally free, it's a marketing trick. Legally that is still a zoo in the UK.

(for fellow Americans; OUR definition is broader, more patchwork because we are 50 little countries in a trenchcoat, and can include collections of animals not displayed to the public.)

That said, there's a HUGE difference between Chester Zoo, run by the North of England Zoological Society, which personally holds the studbooks for maintaining the genetic diversity of 10 endangered species, has 134 captive breeding projects, cultivates 265 threatened plant species, and sends its members as consultants to United Nations conferences on climate change, and Sam Tiddles' Personal Zebra Pit.

Sam Tiddles' Personal Zebra Pit ONLY has to worry about the UK government. There's another standard zoos can hold themselves to if they want to get serious about conservation like Chester Zoo; Accreditation. There are two major zoo organizations in the UK, BIAZA and EAZA.

(Americans may wonder about AZA; that's ours. AZA, EAZA, and BIAZA are all members of the World Association of Aquariums and Zoos, or WAZA, but they are all individual organizations.)

A zoo going for EAZA's "accreditation" has to undergo an entire year of evaluation to make sure they fit the strict standards, and renewal is ongoing. You don't just earn it once. You have to keep your animal welfare up-to-date and in compliance or you will lose it.

The benefit of joining with an accredited org is that it puts the zoo into a huge network of other organizations. They work together for various conservation efforts.

There are DOZENS of species that were prevented from going extinct, and are being reintroduced back to their habitats, because of the work done by zoos. The scimitar-horned oryx, takhi, California condor, the Galapagos tortoise, etc. Some of these WERE extinct in the wild and wouldn't BE here if it hadn't been for zoos!

The San Diego zoo is preventing the last remaining hawaiian crows from embracing oblivion right now, a species for which SO LITTLE of its wild behavior is known they had to write the book on caring for them, and Chester zoo worked in tandem with the Uganda Wildlife Authority to provide tech and funding towards breakthroughs in surveying wild pangolins.

Don't get me wrong;

MOST zoos are not accredited,

nor is accreditation is REQUIRED to make a good zoo,

nor does it automatically PROVE nothing bad has happened in the zoo,

There are a lot more Sam Tiddles' Personal Zebra Pits than there are Chester Zoos.

That's worth talking about! We SHOULD be having conversations on things like,

Is it appropriate to keep and breed difficult, social megafauna, like elephants or cetaceans? What does the data say? Are there any circumstances where that would be okay, IF the data does confirm we can never provide enough space or stimulation to perfectly meet those species' needs?

How can we improve animal welfare for private zoos? Should we tighten up regulations on who can start or run one (yes)? Are there enough inspectors (no)?

Do those smaller zoos meaningfully contribute to better conservation? How do we know if they are properly educating their visitors? Can we prove this one way or the other?

Who watches the watchmen? Accreditation societies hold themselves accountable. Do these organizations truly have enough transparency?

(I don't agree with Born Free's ultimate conclusion that we should "phase out" zoos, but you should always understand the opposing arguments)

But bottom line of my opinion is; Good zoos are deeply important, and they have a tangible benefit to wildlife conservation. Anyone who tries to tell you that "zoos are inherently unethical" either knows very little about zoos or real conservation work, or... is hiding some deeper, more batshit take, like "having wild animals in any kind of captivity is unlawful imprisonment."

(you'll also get a lot more work done in regulating the exotic animal trade in the UK if you go after private owners, btw. zoos have nothing to do with how lax those laws are.)

Anyway I'm a funny cat blog about battle kitties, and the stuff I do for BB is to educate about the ecosystem of Northern England. If you want to know more about zoos, debunking misconceptions, and critiques from someone with more personal experience, go talk to @why-animals-do-the-thing!

Keep in mind though, again, they talk about American zoos, where this post was written with the UK in mind.

(and even then, England specifically. ALL UK members and also the Isle of Man have differences in their laws.)

(If anyone has other zoo education tumblr blogs in mind, especially if they are European, lmk and I'll edit this post)

On Nature Reserves

Remember how broad the legal definition of a zoo actually was? Same thing over here. A "nature reserve" in the UK is a broad, unofficial generic term for several things. It doesn't inherently involve statutory protection, either, meaning there's some situations where there's no laws to hold anyone accountable for damage

These are the "nature reserve" types relevant to my project; (NOTE: Ramsar sites, SACs, and SPAs are EU-related and honestly, I do not know how Brexit has effected them, if at all, so I won't be explaining something I don't understand.)

Local Wildlife Site (LWS) Selected via scientific survey and managed locally, connecting wildlife habitats together and keeping nature close to home. VERY important... and yet, incredibly prone to destruction because there aren't good reporting processes in place. Whenever a report comes out every few years, the Wildlife Trust says it often only gets data for 15% of all their registered sites, and 12% get destroyed in that timeframe.

Local Nature Reserve (LNR) A site that can be declared by a district or county council, if proven to have geographic, educational, biodiversity, or recreational value. The local authority manages this, BUT, the landowner can remain in control of the property and "lease" it out (and boy oh boy, landowners do some RIDICULOUS things)

National Nature Reserve (NNR) This is probably closest to what you think of when someone says "nature reserve." Designated by Natural England to protect significant habitat ranges and geographic formations, but still usually operates in tandem with private land owners who must get consent if they want to do something potentially damaging to the NNR.

Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) (pronounced Triple S-I) A conservation designation for a particular place, assessed and defined by Natural England for its biological or geographic significance. SSSIs are protected areas, and often become the basis for NNRs, LNRs, Ramsar sites, SACs, SPAs, etc.

So you probably noticed that 3/4 of those needed to have the private ownership problem mentioned right in the summary, and it doesn't end there. Even fully government-managed NNRs and SSSIs work with the private sectors of forestry, tourism, and recreation.

We live under Capitalism; EVERYTHING has a profit motive, not just zoos.

I brushed over some of those factors in my Moorland Research Notes and DESPERATELY tried to stay succinct with them, but it was hard. The things that can happen to skirt around the UK's laws protecting wildlife could make an entire season of Monty Python sketches.

Protestors can angrily oppose felling silver birch (a "weed" in this context which can change the ecosystem) because it made a hike less 'pretty' and they don't understand heath management.

Management can be reluctant to ban dogs and horses for fear of backlash, even as they turn heath to sward before our eyes.

Reserves can be owned by Count Bloodsnurt who thinks crashing through the forest with a pack of dogs to exhaust an animal to death is a profitable traditional British passtime.

Or you can literally just pretend that you accidentally chased a deer for several hours and then killed it while innocently sending your baying hounds down a trail. (NOTE: I am pro-hunting, but not pro-animal cruelty.)

The Forestry Commission can slobber enthusiastically while replacing endangered wildlife habitats with non-native, invasive sitka spruce plantations, pretending most trees are equal while conveniently prioritizing profitable timber species.

I have STORIES to tell about the absolute Looney Tunes bullshit that's going on between conservationists and rich assholes who want to sell grouse hunting access, but I'll leave it at this fascinating tidbit about air guns and mannequins which are "totally, absolutely there for no nefarious reason at all, certainly not to prevent marsh harriers from nesting in an area where they also keep winding up mysteriously killed in illegal snares, no no no"

BUT. Since Nature Reserve isn't a hard defined legal concept, and any organization could get involved in local conservation in the UK, and just about anyone or anything could own one... IT'S CHESTER ZOO WITH THE STEEL CHAIR!!

They received a grant in 2021 to restore habitat to a stretch of 10 miles extending outside of their borders, working with TONS of other entities such as local government and conservation charities in the process. There's now 6,000 square meters of restored meadow, an orchard, new ponds, and maintained reedbeds, because of them.

It isn't just Chester Zoo, either. It's all over the UK. Durrel Wildlife, which runs Jersey Zoo, just acquired 18,500 acres to rewild in Perthshire. Citizen Zoo is working with the Beaver Trust to bring beavers back to London and is always looking for volunteers to help with their river projects, and the Edinburgh Zoo is equipped with gene labs being used to monitor and analyze the remaining populations of non-hybrid Scottish Wildcats.

The point being,

Nature preserves have problems too. They are not magical fairy kingdoms that you put up a fence around and then declare you Saved Nature Hooray! They need to be protected. They need to be continuously assessed. They are prone to capitalist pressures just like everything else on this hell planet. Go talk to my boy Karl he'll give you a hug about it.

"Nature Preserves" are NOT an "alternative" to zoos and vice versa. They do not do the same thing. A zoo is a center of education and wildlife research which displays exotic animals. A nature preserve is a parcel of native ecosystem. We need LOTS of nature preserves and we need them well-managed ASAP.

We could never just "replace" zoos with nature preserves, and we're nowhere near the amount of protected ecosystem space to start thinking of scaling back animals in captivity. Until King Arthur comes out of hibernation to save Britain, that's the world we live in.

An Aside

My project and my research is based on the isle of Great Britain. The more I learn about the ecosystems that are naturally found there, the more venomously I reject the old lie, "humans are a blight."

YOU are an animal. You're a big one, too. You know what the role of big animals in an ecosystem are? Change. Elephants knock over trees, wolves alter the course of rivers, bison fertilize the plains from coast-to-coast. In Great Britain, that's what hominids have done for 900,000 years, their populations ebbing and flowing with every ice age.

Early farming created the moors and grazing sheep and cattle maintain it, hosting hundreds of specialist species. Every old-growth forest has signs of ancient coppicing and pollarding, which create havens for wildlife when well-managed. Corn cockle evolved as a mimic of wheat seeds, so farmers would plant it over and over within their fields.

This garbage idea that humans are somehow "separate" from or "above" nature is poison. It's not true ANYWHERE.

It contributes to an idea that our very presence is somehow damaging to natural spaces, and to "protect" it, we have to completely leave it alone. NO! Absolutely NOT! There are places where we have to limit harvesting and foot traffic, but humans ALWAYS lived in nature.

Even the ecosystems that this mindset comes from rejects it, but this shit doesn't JUST get applied to British people who become alienated and disconnected from their surroundings to the point where they don't know what silver birch does.

It's DEADLY for the indigenous people who protect 80% of our most important ecosystems.

It's a weapon against the Maasai people, stopped from hunting or growing crops on their own land. It's violence for 9 San hunters shot at by a helicopter with a "kill poachers on-sight" policy, as one of the world's LARGEST diamond mines operates in the same motherfucking park. The Havasupai people are kept out of the Grand Canyon that they managed for generations because they might "collect too many nuts" and starve squirrels, Dukha reindeer herders suddenly get banned from chopping wood or fishing, and watch wolves decimate their animals in the absence of their herding dogs.

It's nightmare after nightmare of human displacement in the name of "conservation."

That all ties back to that mindset. This idea that nature is pure, "pristine," and should be totally untouched. There are some starting to call it Fortress Conservation.

You can't begin to understand the criticisms of modern conservation without acknowledging that we are still living under the influence of capitalism and colonialism. Those who fixate on speaking for "animals/nature/trees who don't have a voice" often seem to have no interest in the indigenous people who do.

Listen. There's no simple answer; and the solution will vary for each region.

Again, my project is within the UK, one of the most ecologically devastated areas in the world. There are bad zoos that the law allows a pass. There are incredible zoos that are vital to conservation, in and outside of the country. There's not enough nature preserves. The best ones that exist are often exploited for profit.

I hope that my silly little blog sparks an interest in a handful of people to understand more about their own local ecosystems, and teaches folks about the unique beauty even within a place as "boring" as England.

But, my straightforward statement is that I have no patience for nonconstructive, broad zoo slander that lumps together ALL of them, and open contempt for anyone who tries to sell nature preserves like a perfect, morally superior "alternative." We need them BOTH right now, and we need to acknowledge that zoos AND preserves have legal and ethical issues that aren't openly talked about.

#ALSO THAT GUIDE IVE BEEN WORKING ON IS DONE #Im just waiting for the input of the sensitivity readers bc I made a whole section on--#How ableis m might express in the different clans #And part of it became a thunder-callout post lmaooooo #Also this zoo doc has been sitting competed in my drafts for a while #All this to say that uh. I hope the strange place they visit in the upcoming se is not a zoo :J #I will hit it with a golf club if it is <3 #Leaning heavily towards the 'oh no two DEMIGODS ended up in a zoo' idea #Which is objectively funnier #And you know what else is objectively funny. When these posts break orbit and then ppl are surprised that i am a kitty cat blog #Hal. It's about Cats.#Bone Babble

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copperbadge · 11 months ago

Note

Hey Sam, I remember reading a post or response from you about how to give to charities anonymously, but now that I’m searching, I’m finding a few different responses but still have questions. Any chance you could do a round up post? Wondering about the following:

1. How to give cash

2. How to give small amounts anonymously (e.g., if you can’t set up a DAF)

3. How to opt out of being sent branded junk if you can’t give anonymously, because it will end up in the garbage (seriously, no more pens, stickers or magnets please)

4. In giving anonymously, how important is the tax receipt? I only take the standard deduction on my taxes… is there a reason to bother with tracking the receipts?

Appreciate your help!

Ah yeah, it's rough knowing how to do some of these things. I've written about some of them, probably most of them, but disparately over several posts, so let me see if I can answer succinctly and all in one place.

How to give cash: You are pretty much confined to two options, giving cash to a staffer in person or mailing cash in an envelope. If you have access to the office of the nonprofit you may be able to swing by and drop the cash off, but it's not super convenient and often not possible. If you're at an event you can hand it in an envelope to a staffer, and that's really the only way my organization gets cash donations, but that requires you to be at the event. And technically I can't recommend mailing cash since the risk of theft is a real one. Giving cash is fine legally, but nonprofits often aren't thrilled with it because it can put their staff at risk and also there's, well, there's no way to track that donation to a person. But yeah, throw them dollars between two thick sheets of paper and mail that in with a note saying "This is for the XYZ organization" so they know they can accept it.

2. Giving small amounts anonymously: It depends on how you're defining 'small'; I have a DAF (for the readers: a Donor Advised Fund -- I talk a little about them here but I've never gone indepth) which has no minimum deposit or minimum monthly contribution, but they do have a minimum donation amount of $20. To me that's not especially large, but I know to many people it can be. Pretty much the only way to give an amount smaller than $20 anonymously is to give online through the nonprofit's website using a cash giftcard (like a Visa gift debit card), and just not give an address. If you custom-order checks you can sometimes order checks without a home address, or with the bank's address, and pay with one of those, but I've never tried that.

If you do use a DAF (and I can recommend Charityvest, they've been mine for several years now) you can always set up to pay small amounts into it and just have them send all that money in a lump sum once or twice a year. I pay in $75/mo and from that they pay out three $20 donations a month, and at the end of the year the extra $180 that has just sat there becomes a nice extra donation. Always bearing in mind of course that once you pay into a DAF that money is gone, you can't claw it back even if you haven't "donated" it yet -- just putting money in a DAF is considered a donation. Readers, if you're curious about DAFs I recommend googling, lots of banks have "what is a DAF" pages, but if you're not finding what you want to know do feel free to come ask me.

3. Opting out of swag when not giving anonymously: I'm tempted to just say "Ya can't" because it's hard, especially with larger orgs. Even if you opt out, often you'll still get mailings that are considered "stewardship" (maintaining a relationship) rather than "solicitation" (asking for giving) and swag counts as stewardship. You can always start with sending the org a letter saying "Please put me on a Do Not Contact list, I will continue to give but don't want to get your swag". If that doesn't work, start returning mailings -- if you get something from the org don't even open it, just write "return to sender -- no longer resident" and drop it in the mail. This is not guaranteed effective; some places will either just change the name to 'resident' or retry every so often just in case. You can call the org and ask to speak to "records" or "data", and then just be super up front: "I want to keep supporting you but I really don't want the swag, how do I get that turned off?" They can help, but if you give to another similar org, a lot of times orgs will do "list exchanges" where they swap mailing lists, and if the org does that and you're on the other org's list, you get put right back on the "ok to mail" list for the first org.

I will say, swag is very, very cheap and gets results, so you can also look at this as "well, it was wasted on me, but the five cents this pen cost will get them $1 from someone, so in accepting it, I am still helping them to gain donations." This depends on your tolerance for waste, of course, which I'll talk more about in a minute.

(I personally like getting magnets, because I put stickers over top of whatever's printed on the magnet, cut it out to the shape of the sticker, and behold! I have a cool magnet!)

4. Tax receipting: I'm not a CPA or a tax lawyer and I fucked this up the last time I talked about it, so take this with a grain of salt, but there is an "above and beyond" deduction -- after the standard deduction I believe you can deduct an additional up-to-$300 for charitable giving, and if you were to be audited you'd need receipts to prove that. (As I said, if you're planning on this, fact-check first, I am not a strong source for this information.) (Edited to add: comments informed me this is no longer the case, so I'm glad I added in the disclaimer :D) If you give via a DAF, no problem; the DAF tracks where and when and how much you gave, so I could use my DAF's records as "receipts". You can also, if you lost or didn't get a receipt, contact the org and ask them for your giving record for the year. Here's the problem -- if you are giving in a way that allows you to avoid giving your address, there may be no way to get those receipts, since you can't prove their record with your name on it is you. So if you want receipts but want to give semi-anonymously definitely make sure they have your email address. If you're giving $300 a year, you probably want to take that deduction; if you're giving $20 a year, probably it isn't worth it. But yeah, to get a receipt you generally have to give them enough information for them to identify you, but you don't need giving receipts if all you take is the standard deduction.

All in all, the options are -- give cash and get no receipt, give via DAF or using a giftcard and get receipts to your email, give with your address attached and just hope they honor your request to be removed from swag mailing, or give however you want, put up with the swag, and bear in mind that them sending you the pen or magnet or keychain wasn't much of a problem or cost for them and will get them money from someone.

Honestly, option four isn't the least irritating, but it's probably the least labor-intensive for you. But it really is a question of what you want from your relationship to the nonprofits you support, and how passionately you feel about the "waste" status of swag they send. Only you can determine where your tolerance point is between "having to put in so much effort not to get this stuff" and "having to throw this stuff in a landfill". It's a regrettable part of being a donor and building a relationship with a nonprofit, but we in the nonprofit field do appreciate your giving and your tolerance :) While there are some outlier bad-actors in the space, trust me, for most nonprofits, nothing we do is gratuitous. Almost all of us are on such a thin wire that if something costs us money and doesn't get us more money, it gets binned very quickly.

#nonprofits #charitable giving #donation

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pengweng-quack · 8 months ago

Text

Being a Witch with Vampires

Carlisle Cullen x Witch!OC

Summary: Stella (A witch) and Carlisle (A vampire), and how they blossomed from roommates to friends(?) to partners

Chapter 7/7

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7

Notes:

This was inspired by this fanfic on tumblr by lis-likes-fics titled "In My Defense, I Was Left Unsupervised"

This is also on Ao3 under the same title and same username too if you'd like to read it there (https://archiveofourown.org/works/53448940)

This is officially the final chapter, and thank you so so so much for the support that you've given this series

I will probably post some other stuff firsts before the other Carlisle series that I have been working on, so leave a follow if you're interested

Thank you so much! No words can explain what I feel for each and every one of you <3

Word Count: 3930 words

TW for this chapter: Smut

Timeline: After Breaking Dawn

Masterlist

~2007~

“Are we grandparents now?” Stella asked Carlisle while the two was in bed, hearing Renesmee play with Emmett and Jasper, hearing their giggles and laughs and screams as they seem to be having a pirate roleplay presentation for the other Cullens

“Why do you think so?” Carlisle asked

“I don’t know, we’ve always considered those five as sort of our kids, and you know, Edward and Bella have their own kid now so does that make us her grandparents?” Stella explained her point

“Mi amor, we’re not even married.” Carlisle answered with a small chuckle. They’ve always said that they’re married to the world, but has never really done anything to legalize it

The world knew her as Stella Cullen, but in reality, she was still Stella Allicere. Carlisle knew that he should change that by now.

It’s about time that she actually becomes his Stella Cullen.

“Everyone.” Edward called as Emmett, Renesmee, and Jasper was about to bow for their performance “I think Carlisle’s gonna propose.”

“What?!” Everyone shrieked in either shock, confusion, or excitement

“Yeah, he’s considering it after Stella asked if they’re grandparents.” Edward answered to everyone

“A wedding!” Alice said excitedly, clapping with a huge grin on her face

“We’re not getting married.” Carlisle announced, walking out the room with his hand around Stella’s waist “We’re doing something else.”

“He’ll be offering himself to me.”

The setup was ready. Stella was anxious, if not, more anxious that Carlisle. He was calm, just watching as her and Sam was setting up the finishing touches of the ritual

“You don—

“I want to do this mi amor.” Carlisle said, kissing the temples of her head “But if you think that today isn’t the right time, then we can postpone. I can wait for an eternity for you.”

“But I don’t want you to wait.” Stella murmured “I just want you to be safe.”

“After all that has happened in our 287 years of being together, I am not letting you go anymore.” Carlisle declared

“Well?” Sam asked the couple “Are you ready?”

Stella looked at Carlisle, nothing but a content smile on his face. The kids were watching just outside the circle of salt, all were giving thumbs up to the couple.

He was excited, he was ready.

And that made her ready too.

“Ego Samuel Vi, benedictus superis, ut ligaturam darem Carlisle Cullen et Stella Allicere (I, Samuel Vi, have been blessed by the gods above to grant the binding of Carlisle Cullen and Stella Allicere).” Sam chanted, looking at the two with a smile on his face

“Beata potestate a dis facere ut (Blessed with the power from the gods to make them as one).” He continued, going and looking down on the book of bindings to for the flow

“Carlisle, announce your offers.” Sam instructed

“I am Carlisle Cullen,” Carlisle introduced, making Stella laugh “I may not have much as what others could offer you. But I promise to offer you the entirety of me. I promise to offer you eternal happiness. I will be whatever you need me to be. And I will be by your side for all of eternity.”

“Nunc nos invitamus ad magicam Stella Allicere ut eius oblationem exeat vel recipiat vel neget (We now invite for the magic within Stella Allicere to come out and accept or deny his offering).” Sam said. Carlisle got a wave of nervousness hit him, he thought that it was Stella that would accept or deny, not her magic

A wave of red flew out of Stella, it was a version of her. Ghostly, but so beautiful. She was always so beautiful, no matter what she is.

“I have heard a lot about you, Carlisle Cullen.” The ghost talked, a bored expression on its face

“You’ve caused her pain.”

“You made her wait too long.”

“You made her fend for herself too much.”

“You treated her as if she was weak.”

The ghost was listing everything that could be used against him. Did Stella actually feel of those? He got nervous, thinking that maybe he didn’t think this thoroughly through.

“Yet her heart calls for you.” The ghost countered from everything she listed “Not once have I seen a witch’s heart call for a vampire like you.”

“As the magic within Stella Allicere, I accept your offer to be her mate.” The ghost announced before flying back in Stella

Carlisle felt at ease, it was done. It was over.

They were as one now.

“Accepta tua oblatio, nunc te unum voco. Stella Allicere, tu nunc Stella Cullen (Having accepted your offer, I now call you one. Stella Allicere, you are now Stella Cullen).” Sam said with a gleeful grin on his face, closing the book of bindings

“In normal weddings, with the powers bested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife, you may now kiss the bride.” He continued, getting Carlisle to pull Stella and give her a deep kiss

The magic accepted him. Stella was at ease.

“I love you.” Stella murmured as they pull away from each other

“My turn for a proper wedding!” Alice said, clapping in excitement. Stella and Carlisle looked at each other

They couldn’t care less how extravagant Alice will do for their wedding, all they cared is now they get to call themselves husband and wife.

Stella and Carlisle were making their way back near where the ceremony will be, the same place where Edward and Bella got married. They’ve given Alice their full support that she’s to manage the wedding preparation, too intoxicated with each other to even help in any preparation.

They’ve spent a week at a nearby cottage that Carlisle bought for them and was now just coming back to the main house to see what has happened in their week absence.

“Does no one here see a vision?” Alice yelled, watching as Jasper and Emmett tries to fix the place where they will have the ceremony

“Alice,” Carlisle called, a fond smile on his face “Give your brother and mate a rest.”

“Let her be,” Stella lightly scolded him, placing her hand on his chest “Those two definitely does not have a vision though.”

“We can here you mom!” Emmett yelled, causing the five to be quiet

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it to—

“My son!” Stella yelled, running to tackle Emmett in a tight hug

No one among them has called Stella ‘mom’ before, only in public to put up an act. It was a shock, a sudden burst that came out of nowhere. It wasn’t unwanted, but was certainly welcomed. She did see them as her kids already.

“Hell yeah!” Emmett cheered, hugging Stella back tightly

“So, can we start calling you mom now?” Jasper asked behind them

“Yeah, everyone has been dying to call you mom already.” Edward said, joining them outside, Bella and Renesmee behind him “We thought it would be Rosalie that would fold and call you mom, or Jasper.”

“Did you bet who was gonna slip and call her mom first?” Carlisle asked, amused with the kids’ odd bets

“Yeah, there was a 5000-dollar bet that Jasper will go first.” Edward listed, excited to share what had been going behind the couple’s back

“There was a 4000-dollar bet that Rosalie was gonna be first to say it.” He continued

“There was a 2500-dollar bet that Emmett was gonna slip up and say it.” Rosalie added, going outside and joining them

“I think 700 for me. It wasn’t as high as the three, but I was following them.” Edward continued

“I told them that I already knew who was gonna slip up so I just didn’t join, but I did want to call you mom just as much as they do already.” Alice giggled as Stella moved back to be next to Carlisle, resting her head on his shoulders

“Well, I think you owe them 2500, mister.” Stella said, a grin on her face as she playfully looked at Emmett before he groaned and pulled out his wallet. Everyone fell into a line, waiting to receive their 2500 from Emmett

“Why they’d bet like that when their dad is loaded amuses me.” Stella said, before everyone looked at the two, shock looks on their faces

“What is it?” Carlisle asked, curious with the kids’ sudden shock

“You just made us lose!” Emmett yelled in shock, before laughing hard

“Did you also bet who was gonna call Carlisle ‘dad’ too?” Stella asked, amused with their reactions

“We thought it was gonna be Edward.” Jasper answered “Like 15000 was all on Edward that he was gonna call Carlisle ‘dad’ first.”

“Give some respect to your dad.” Stella playfully scolded, giggling like crazy. She felt Carlisle’s hand find its way to her waist, resting as he watches the kids in amusement

Their kids.

“Technically,” Stella said, raising her pointing finger with a matter-of-fact tone “I didn’t call him dad, I do call him—

“We do not want to hear about you and dad’s sex life!” Rosalie yelled, covering her ears like a little child. They all looked at her, laughing as she slipped up

“Damn it!” She could only yell in reply

Carlisle and Stella could only laugh as Rosalie rushes in the house to grab the 15000 dollars that was promised, begrudgingly giving it to Edward.

“Okay!” Alice said, clapping her hands together “Now that you’re all here, you can go and help me with the wedding preparations.”

“Go help your sister out,” Carlisle told them before moving his eyes to Stella, eyeing her from top to bottom “Me and my wife-to-be is gonna enjoy some few moments—

“Ew!” Emmett yelled, covering her ears again “We do not want to hear what you and mom do in the cottage.”

“Mr. Cullen, don’t terrorize our kids like that.” Stella teased, lightly slapping Carlisle’s chest but using her pointing finger to trail down his torso

Carlisle made eye contact with Stella, her grey eyes looking at him seductively. Her body was calling for him, every inch of her needing and calling for every inch of him.

And that made his pants a bit tighter than how it was

“We will be in the cottage, call us when the pre-wedding preparations are over.” Carlisle said, his hands tightly on Stella’s waist “You know who to invite.”

(Smut Scene)

The two didn’t hear what they were gonna say next, as Carlisle picked her up bridal style and rushed to the cottage and into their bedroom. Where Carlisle carefully placed her down the bed, his eyes on her like a predator on his prey.

“I need you.” Carlisle murmured, removing the shirt that he had to wear in visiting the main house, Stella watched as his cold tone body was revealed, making her gulp.

What a masterpiece.

Carlisle crawled to the bed, making his way to be on top of Stella, his hands slowly making its way on Stella’s waist, playing with the hem of her top before fully removing it, giving him more access to her skin.

“How you managed to keep me outside when you’re this ravishing astonishes me.” Carlisle whispered, indulging himself and leaving shallow bite marks on Stella’s shoulders, getting the witch to let out whimpers of pleasure. He used his free hand to undo her bra, having experience from her teaching him how to undo it.

Carlisle took his time on Stella’s shoulders and neck, leaving bite marks wherever his lips land on. Such simple action, yet his beloved Stella is already moaning in pleasure. He moved down to her legs, removing the shorts and panties that were preventing Carlisle from giving more pleasure to his wife-to-be.

“Carlisle,” Stella moaned quietly “No teasing.”

“I do not intend on teasing you, my beloved.” Carlisle answered, using his two fingers to rub the wetness that was forming in Stella’s pussy around “I only intend on taking my time with you.”

“Carlisle please,” Stella breathed out. Carlisle chucked at the sight of her, he hasn’t done anything yet Stella is already crying her pleas

Carlisle slowly inserted two fingers in her, allowing her to adjust. Stella let out a moan, throwing her head back. He decided to end the slowness, increasing the speed of his fingers going in and out of her as he places his mouth on her clit, using it to stimulate more pleasure in her.

“Carlisle,” Stella breathed out, Carlisle could hear her heartbeat speeding, it meant that she was getting closer to her orgasm.

“Yes, mi amor?” Carlisle asked, pulling away from her clit, a string of saliva following as he used his other hand to stimulate her more

“C-close.” She could only mutter, deep pants coming from her mouth

“I know.” He only replied, keeping the pace of his hands on her

It didn’t take long for Stella to let out a cry of his name, her back arching in pleasure as Carlisle kept the pace of his fingers on her, even going back and placing his mouth on her clit to stimulate her freshly orgasmed pussy

“Carlisle!” Stella squealed, grabbing a handful of his hair as she grinded her pussy on his face. Carlisle welcomed it, pulling his hands away from her and wrapping it around her thighs, keeping them in place.

Carlisle decided that he was gonna force another orgasm out of her before he even thinks of his pleasure. She was getting close again, he didn’t need his vampiric senses to figure that out. Stella was chanting his name like a prayer, her grip on his hair tight and her back arched.

“Carlisle, I’m cumming!” Stella yelled, lifting her waist up in instinct. Carlisle pushed her down, making sure that he gets to ride her orgasm before he pulled away from her

“How was it, mi amor?” Carlisle asked her, looking at her face. She was panting, and anyone would clearly be able to see just how used she had been

‘To think that it’s just been two orgasms’ Carlisle thought to himself, chuckling as Stella catches her breath

Stella didn’t reply, only grabbing his hand and pulling him down the bed and making her way on top of him. Resting herself dangerously close to his cock.

“Need you.” Stella murmured, before turning around and pushing the sweatpants off the vampire, revealing his semi-hardened cock

It was now Carlisle’s turn to moan as Stella had wrapped her hand around his length, slowly stroking it for his dick to fully harden. When Stella was satisfied, he aligned his cock to her pussy, lowering herself down. They shared a moan; Stella’s head was thrown back in pleasure.

“Such a pretty sight.” Carlisle complimented, placing his hands on her waist as she started grinding on him. Moans and whimpers were coming out of Carlisle’s mouth, watching as his Stella grinds on his cock.

“Such a good girl for me.” He continued complimenting, before grabbing her waist and taking control for her grinding “You like being on top of me?”

“Mhm.” Stella nodded; her eyes closed in pleasure as she continued to follow Carlisle’s rhythm “So much.”

“Fuck,” Carlisle breathed out. The sight of her was so divine, a masterpiece.

All his.

“So close.” Carlisle whimpered “You want me to cum inside you?”

“Please.” Stella mumbled, covering her flustered face on his shoulders, her pace suddenly got faster as so her heartbeat did, it was obvious that she’s just had another orgasm. 287 years and she still make his undead heart flutter

“What’s that?” Carlisle asked again “Couldn’t hear you. Maybe you should face me so I can hear your answer, mi amor.”

“Need you to fill me up.” Stella whimpered, facing him with blushing yet fucked face, she was panting heavily, after just having another orgasm. The sight itself made Carlisle cum then and there. He didn’t expect that he wouldn’t be able to hold it a little longer, letting out a strangled moan in pleasure as he feels his release.

“I love you.” Stella murmured, resting her head on his shoulder

“Three orgasms and you’re already tired?” Carlisle teased her, picking her up and laying her down the bed, strings of his orgasm dripping out of her

“Try having three orgasms and then we’ll talk.” Stella said in a grumpy tone, closing her eyes in an attempt to sleep

(End of Smut)

“Come on mi amor. Let’s get you cleaned up.” Carlisle said, picking her up bridal style and carrying her to the bathroom

Stella allowed him to take care of her, doing what Carlisle was asking her to do. She usually had a higher stamina when they’re having some time alone but it seemed that today was just not her day. Carlisle prepared the bath for them, making sure that it was the perfect temperature for Stella before positioning themselves in it and feeling the water on their skin.

“Is it possible for a vampire to impregnate a witch?” Stella asked quietly, her head resting softly on Carlisle’s chest

“Mi amor?” Carlisle asked quietly, he was nervous if his carelessness of pulling out have led to something else. He had no physical heart, yet he felt something was pounding his chest.

“I’m not implying anything.” Stella assured him; her eyes closed as she was enjoying the water’s temperature “Just curious on it.”

“I would assume that it’s possible.” He answered to her curiosity “Since a human and vampire can procreate, I would assume that it would be possible for us too.”

“Would you want to have one of our own?” She asked again, though quieter than how she asked her last question

“Would you be happier if we did have one of our own?” Carlisle asked her back. He was curious and concerned with the sudden baby discussions and what Stella was implying with that

“I wouldn’t—

“Then we won’t.” Carlisle answered at once “Your happiness is my concern. If you think that having a kid will make us happier and will make you more fulfilled, then I will be willing to give you as many children as your heart desires.”

“I thought, seeing Bella and Edward have Renesmee, that you would want a kid of your own.” Stella confessed “You know, it opened a possibility for us, if you’d want to face through it.”

“I would not want to see you in such pain, knowing that Iam the cause of it. I have seen it once; I would not wish to see you in pain again.” Carlisle answered, kissing the back of her head in an attempt to comfort her

“Are you sure?” Stella asked again, she was craving assurance from him

“100% sure, mi amor.” Carlisle answered earnestly “And besides, the kids consider us as their parents. I don’t know about you, but I consider them to be my kids.”

“I love you. Thank you for understanding my doubts.” Stella said, scooting closer to him

“I love you more.” Carlisle whispered, kissing the back of her head and wrapping his arm around her “Never think that you need more just for me to love you. I already do.”

Almost all of Carlisle and Stella’s non-human friends were guests in their wedding, it was obvious that no one got to stop Alice from inviting them whatsoever. There were familiar faces, and less familiar faces, all were there to celebrate the long-awaited union of the two

Alice informed them just before the wedding started that they were gonna have another wedding, with only their human friends to give them a bit of normalcy in their union. And also, because she was well aware that even them have been rooting for them since forever.

After all, Carlisle gets to do the garter tradition on Stella twice, so who was he to oppose to that?

“Good evening, everyone.” Edward started, tapping into the mic before continuing “I’m Edward, you may know me as the vampire that fell for a human and led to a lot of things to happen, but that’s all behind us now.”

“We’re here today to celebrate a different union, one that everyone has waited to see since the beginning of their journey together. I, personally, have been a witness of how much of a coward Carlisle has been and just how patient Stella has been with him too.”

His comment made the audience laugh and Carlisle to roll his eyes at his playful antics. Edward looked at the two with a fond smile on his face before averting his attention to the audience.

“All teasing aside, I do want to thank Stella for having such a kind soul for staying with us. I know that becoming a mom was something you didn’t think you would fit to be, but you decided to step up and become the mother that we didn’t think we would need from our transition from humanity to eternity.”

“Carlisle is many things, but he is always Stella’s number one. His actions betrayed the words that came out of his mouth, for it spoke what his heart always yearned for. Carlisle, you may have waited centuries for a chance with your mate, but you don’t need to worry anymore, because she is now by your side until the end of our immortal lives.”

“Everyone has been a witness of their pinning, me painfully so because of my telepathy and the time that I’ve spent with them. And everyone had one hope for the both of you, and that was for you two to realize just how deep the love and respect that you have for each other.”

“I am standing here today, not just as their eldest son, but also a man that witnessed their love and how it was always bound to withstand the test of time.”

“May you be blessed to have the love that you will choose to live for every day.” Edward ended, raising his glass of blood to initiate a cheer for the newlywed

Edward went down the stage and hugged Carlisle and Stella, whispering his congratulations to the two of them. Rosalie made her way up the stage, a wide grin on her face.

“So, Edward made a long, very proper speech.” Rosalie started, getting laughter from the crowd “I intend to keep mine short, but I don’t think I will be able to summarize the 287 years of pinning that they had with each other.”

“Oh, come on.” Stella teased, playfully rolling her eyes at Rosalie

“I’ve only been with them for 74 years. But in those 74 years, not once have I doubted the love between the two of them. It was always there, though acknowledged very very late. Carlisle showed his through words, always knowing the right things to say to be Stella’s solace. And Stella showed hers through actions, making sure that Carlisle never forgets that he deserved rest just as much as the humans did. Both subtle yet screamed what their hearts wanted to say.”

“I wish I was as poetic as Edward.” Rosalie joked, getting the married couple to chuckle at her comment “But we really do wish nothing more but your complete happiness in your life as an officially married couple.”

“Congratulations! And finally, you’re married.” Rosalie ended, clapping because she was right

Finally, they were married.

Carlisle and Stella looked at each other as Rosalie went down the stage, a fond smile forming on their faces, before sharing a kiss. Getting the audience to cheer and yell for them.

The kiss was soft, it was gentle.

It was everything that summarized their 287 years of pinning.

@kisekihany

#carlisle cullen #twilight saga #alice cullen #bella swan #carlisle cullen x reader #edward cullen #jasper hale #rosalie hale #the cullens #twilight renaissance #no esme on this one (i love her though i promise)#emmett cullen #twilight x reader #twilight #carlisle x reader #renesmee cullen

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bookwormlover10 · 8 months ago

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So au idea Jason doesn't get adopted by Bruce Wayne but he does get adopted by A Batman....a tomorrow knight.....

So my idea is that somehow Terry mcginnis finds himself in the past of Gotham ( yes I'm going by Dcau continuity so it after after batman the animated series but before the new batman adventures is the time I'm thinking of this time misplaced.) So anyway Terry somehow find himself in crime Ally were he stumbled upon a young Jason Todd is trouble ( can't think if he's getting beat up or chase. You decide of the conflict) Terry being the hero that he is, no matter what time he's in, saves the little punk.

" you ok little guy?" Terry asked after the rescue. Young Jason is obviously ( and reasonably) scared out of his mind. Sure he has heard of the batman on the streets, even seen some photos of him in the newspapers. But batman looked like he was a demon from hell. Young Jason mind was quick change when the not batman gaved him his first real meal is week when he notices Jason stomach growled. ( How did Terry get the food might you ask ? Cause he's batman duh.)

With miraculously avoiding the young batman of the time, Terry does find a way back to his time, But a little someone tags along " come back with a souvenir, I see." The elderly Bruce Wayne says. This confused Terry so he says " what souvenir?" Then the elder Batman point his cane to Terrys leg so were young Jason Todd is hanging off of.

( it a good thing to mention that this is a little after return of the joker so old Timmy todd is here.) everyone is obviously freaking out. A literal child from 40 ish in the past is in their present. Tim recognized Jason Todd as they grew up together in crime Ally and the fact both their dad's worked for two face back in the day. Tim remembers Jason disappearing two weeks after Jasons dad got arrested and a year before he became Robin.

This is bad that means that Jason was ment to be here and if they send him back it could cause a time paradox. The question was now was what to do with the little punk. Tim thinks that Jason should go with him given their history. He's pretty sure that his wife wouldn't mind having an other kid around the house. Barbara even volunteers giving that her and Sam never had kids of their own. But Jason has already got attached to Terry and with won't let go of him, no matter how the other have try. He has already has chosen him emotional support batman. So Terry makes a decision....

Later Dana gets a call from Terry to meet up her at some place. When Dana gets there Terry says " I should of told you this a while ago but I'm batman." And before Dana has time to process this Terry then says " and I've recently become an teen father." Then he pulls out Jason from nowhere. " This is Jason my adoption son." ( "Dana meet our adopted son Jason." Terry probably.) Dana then also adopted Jason seeing that the little guy is so cute. It was also weird when Terry went home to explain to his mom and brother that they were now a grandma and uncle. ( Even when the child was around Matt's age.) max was also surprised with she Heard the story

Bruce legally has custody of Jason,until Terry turn 18 in a couple of months. Bruce is now Jason grandpa in this au and with tim and Barbara are his aunt's and uncles. ( I haven't decided if Jason becomes Terry Robin or not. It's your decision really. But hay at least the joker is already dead if he does)

-----------------------------

*bonus*

Tim: I always thought that Terry brother was going be his first robin. Not I owe dick 50 creds.

Barbara: you make a bet with your brother. Wait dick has never met Terry how does he know that he has a brother.

Tim: he's Nightwing duh

Barbara: of course he is ( facepalm)

Bruce:( is dialing someone)

Barbara: and who are you calling ?

Bruce : Wally West cause now I owe him 100 creds cause me and him make a bet if Terry was ever getting a Robin.

Barbara: ugh ( facepalm again.)

#i just thought it would be funny it Jason got adopted by Terry instead of the other way around #terry mcginnis #the new batman adventures #batman beyond #batman beyond return of the joker #batman the animated series #jason todd #timmy todd #tnba tim drake #tim drake #batman #batfamily #batfam #batfamily au #dcau #batman and robin #tnba robin #robin #dc robin

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igotanidea · 10 months ago

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Sous chef : Sam Winchester x reader cook AU (part 1)

sous chef fr): works directly under the head chef

Request: Sammy has his own restaurant, he is a Chef, he works in the administration almost always and usually cooks once a week at the place, he falls in love with the reader. Age gap but everything legal, he cooks for her, she falls in love with his food! and the excellent sex with him (played with it a bit, hope you'll like it anon :)

***

Before we start this story we have to make one thing clear.

Y/N was not a silly teenage rom-com heroine.

Did she watch them? Yes. Did she read them? Yes, absolutely.

But only for the funsies.

It was not like the “To all the boys I’ve ever loved” plotline.

Not like she was only living the fantasy inside her head, too scared to act on her own feelings.

It was not – god forbid – like the After plotline and Y/N was not the good girl focused only on her school stuff not wanting to have anything to do with the bad boys and boys at all.

No way in hell.

She had her own amount of love drama and with the slightly wild character she was more than ready for a new chapter in her life.

College.

Parties, boys, skipping classes and making out in the toilets, sneaking under the professors’ nose.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, let’s talk reality.

She was a nice girl. A kind spirit. A dreamer.

With a vision, sharp tongue and good priorities.

Not a pushover but also not the most popular. Not the sharpest crayon in the box, but street smart. If you asked Y/N Y/L/N how she classified herself she would probably answer in the middle. She could get lost inside her own head trying way too hard to figure things out instead of just letting it unravel and go with a flow. Dead set on putting some sort of label on herself to find out where she belongs. Which was still bound to happen.

She has just moved to the new city to college and what was better way to get acquainted with the surroundings and fellow students than –

- having a little trip? (I’m pretty sure you thought party, huh?)

In her defence – she tried partying, but seeing her college friends drunk dancing and throwing up because they actually wanted to let loose and have a big opening of the year was a bit too much. Therefore, she grabbed her girls, completely ignored their whining about ruining the mood and baptized as Y/N, the destroyer, dragged them out into the city.

That’s how they found this little nice restaurant in the suburbs. Nothing too fancy nor too expensive for a students’ budget but good enough for a group of young adult women who just started living (almost) on their own.

It was nice to have a ladies’ night. At least until the door to the restaurant opened and a representative of the opposite sex entered causing all the females to raise their gazes. A little rascal definitely noticed the sudden commotion in the henhouse cause he shot them a teasing gaze and winked in a flirtatious manner before heading towards the counter smiling widely at the other man standing there.

“Is he gay?” Y/N asked, barely holding back a chuckle, while observing the whole scene

“Who?”

“That guy who just entered!”

“What?” her friends laughed collectively “Dean Winchester being gay? Damn Y/N. He had more girls in his bed in last two months than any of us will have in our whole life!”

“Are you a lesbian then, f/n?”

“What?”

“You said he had more girls than any of us-“

“oh shut it! Slip of the tongue, you know what I mean!”

“so not gay?”

“definitely.”

“who’s the other one then?” Y/N took a sip of her drink pointing out behind her back.

“He?”

“yes he! Do you see any other good looking guys around?”

“That’s Sam.” f/n replied and went quiet teasing Y/N on absolute purpose.

“Care to elaborate or are you too busy foaming at the mouth while checking out that Dean guy?”

“Can you blame me? Damn, have you seen his-?”

“f/n!”

“face! Have you seen his face?” Y/N rolled her eyes in frustration. “they are brothers. Obviously. Sam’s a chef and Dean ... well, I am not sure what he does for a living but I’m all up for the bad boy style and attitude.”

“dare I ask?”

“you better not. I see that little blush on your face so enjoy your little teenage rom-com moment.” f/n laughed sipping her drink though the straw purposefully making it loud to get the man’s attention and be the eyecatcher on Y/N’s behalf.

“stop it!” Y/N shushed suddenly feeling eyes on her back, almost burning the hole and – ironically – do making her blush.

“and what if I don’t?”

“you’re crazy!”

“and you’re too shy for your own good. Come one, live a little. Have a hot, steamy romance. Free yourself! Burn the bra!”

“What?”

“It’s a figure of speech!”

“I know what it means!” Y/N laughed and shook her head at her friend’s stupidity. However, instead of leaving or making a scene she just raised her own glass in a celebratory gesture “cheers!”

And now – tell me, in your honest opinion, don’t you think that few young woman in an almost empty restaurant at the very late hour, laughing and acting the way young carefree girls should, would get some looks, even if covert?

***

Once the academic year got off the ground the time seemed to pass in an accelerated speed. Before anyone noticed the beginning of October turned into November and then everyone started slowly thinking about actual work and getting some work as a source of income.

Y/N was no exception to this rule. Between mingling, being a socially engaged person, going out with friends, studying, preparing for exams, finding little time for her hobbies and currently fighting for an internship, her life was simply crazy.

So she wandered around the city alone to get at least a bit of peace of mind. Not having any specific destination in mind, just letting her feet lead her to whatever place she might find herself in. Just being and floating in space, allowing her imagination and creativity run free, unrestrained by a rigid schedule.

The old bookshop looking like it was taken straight from the Harry Potter universe might have been a spot where she’s been spending most of her time, to such extend that the owner learned her name. moreover, she even started helping him in running the business which was quite good practice given the fact she was studying business and economics. And for one more reason too.

***

“I’m here, sorry for being late! Bus was delayed due to the weather and –“ she walked through the door shaking of the snow not realising that there was a client present and Bobby was nowhere to be found. That meant she was supposed to serve the man standing by the counter, whose face she could not see at the moment. “Morning sir. What can I help you with?” swiftly she hung her damp coat and hat on the hanger and approached him. “Sam?” the name escaped her before she bit her tongue.

“Hi. Do I know you?” the man frowned in confusion, but it was not a confused expression of someone offended by being called by his given name, rather a sympathetic question of someone trying hard to refresh his memory.

“No.” she shook her head with a smile of embarrassment “no you don’t, not really. But my friend got eyes for your brother, you should warn him about a feisty female sharpening her claws.”

“I am pretty sure Dean can handle- wait, you’re that girl from the restaurant.”

“Good memory. Surprisingly good, actually.” She reached her hand towards him “I’m Y/N Y/L/N. It’s only fair to tell you my name since I already know yours.”

“Nice to meet youY/N. You work here?”

“More like volunteer. Full time student, part time bookseller. Doesn’t seem like a match made in heaven, does it?”

“Well, I bet you wouldn’t expect to see a chef searching for a book, will you?”

“I’m not judgmental.” She shrugged taking a look at the pile of volumes in his hands “but choosing modern sci-fi crime and mythology books is a bit surprising. For a guy in general.”

“It’s just side interest. And actually I was hoping Bobby would find something that would be more complex than a manifestation of the author's exuberant and non-realistic imagination”

“Wow, now that’s the wording.”

“for a chef?” Sam smirked.

“For a person. Anyone else would just say the book was fucked up.”

“Thought you weren’t judgmental?”

“I wasn’t.” Y/N shrugged and grinned at him “till you said that you’re pretty much looking for fantasy book with no fantasy in it.”

“Then why do I get the feeling you know perfectly where to find one?”

“Challenge accepted Mr. Winchester.”

#sam winchester x reader #sam winchester #sam winchester x you #sam winchester x y/n #sam winchester fic #sam winchester fanfiction #sam winchester smut #supernatural x reader #supernatural x you

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twisted-confessions · 4 months ago

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Yikes, I'm so sorry because I know that one is these is a KINDA popular ship but uh... I honestly hate any ships between anyone in diasomnia. Including silbek.

Now don't get me wrong, Im not going to hate anyone who ships it but it personally runs me as way too familial.

Also Leona x anyone OUTSIDE OF CRACKSHIPS. He is 20, they are 18 or younger. Ickyyy.

Also, staff with anyone. No.

Look, i do understand the inworld complications of most of the ships in Twst, especially with faes like Mal and Lilia. But sometimes depending on the oc and their background it works. Take someone who has a Faculty oc around the same age as Crewel or Sam, if they were shipped with one of the students (minus said fae), i'd agree that it's a problematic ship. Shipping's complicated man, it's just liking certain people to be together, whether romantically or platonically.

For my AU, Age will be a complicated thing for Isabella with the other students and I plan on her talking to others like Lilia about it. At first she thought she was just a teen Viking girl who came from different universe, then she finds out she's technically 1016 years old? That's older than even Lilia!!! How would one in her situation even find an "age-appropriate" partner? Especially if she has an extended lifespan thanks to plot twists. She still feels and acts and has been around for 16 years but thanks to the mysteries of how time travel could work, who can say? Was she just frozen there, still technically aging albeit slowly, or was it just being brought to the future in an instant?? Should she try dating one of the kids around her "age" or a fellow immortalish being who has had similar existential issues about romance and such? There is no real clear cut answer, especially since it's all a fictional story about some handsome magical bois lol.

Regardless, there will ALWAYS be complicated ships and there will always be people who ship them FOR FUN! Cause thats what shipping's for, fun. That doesnt give people a reason or excuse to just go up and say "That ship is WRONG and ILLEGAL you should be in JAIL-" or what not to someone who doesn't have the same ship ideals as you. That's why most fanfics that ship characters make sure to have warnings for people who DON'T like that stuff or tag that it features certain ships. Self-ships can get even MORE complicated because of age too, like for example, I myself am 20 years old so the only NRC student I could "legally" date is Leona but that doesnt mean I'm not allowed to imagine or fantasize about the other characters. At the end of the day, enjoy what you enjoy and let others enjoy what they like too. Everyone has their preferences.

#twisted wonderland confessions #twst confessions #father twist's preachings #twisted wonderland #twst #disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #twistedwonderland #self shipping #shipping discourse #fandom #ships #shipping dynamics #While tagging this i saw the “shipping discourse” tag and thought oml guys #Shipping isnt that complicated #it is mainly all fictional #if youre trying to recreate some of those problematic ships and issues in real life #THEN i have an issue

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mostlymarvelgirl · 5 months ago

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Older [Part 1 of 3]

(James "Bucky" Barnes X OC Irina)

Words: 1.5k

WARNING: 18+, Initial Pedophilic Attraction, Mentions Of Anorexia, Age Gap [Legal], Irina (OC) is 20.

READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR MEDIA CONSUMPTION.

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.☆.

5 days.

5 days since Bucky had left Sam's family and bid them goodbye. He was going to miss them. The closure. The warmth. The togetherness.

But now, it was back to square one. No more Sam or S.H.I.E.L.D. or anyone. No more of that damn therapist either. It felt quiet. Again. The routine creeping back to him. Wake up and eat. Walk around and remember what he did. Repent his previous sins by comforting the families that got left behind. And by the time that happened, it was evening and he had his daily drink. But now, the list was over. Nothing to do anymore.

The bar wasn't any upper-class place, but it was alright. Good enough. Not too much attraction or crowd to deal with it. Everybody minding their own business and hanging with their own groups. He guessed the blip was pretty helpful in that way. Everybody got trust issues after it. Nobody wanted to know new people and move along. After all, everyone is a danger. He thought to himself. And also interacting wasn't his strongest suit. He preferred to look. Or as Sam called it "the bionic staring machine" look. He would roll his eyes every time Sam said it.

The beer he had gotten a hour ago had finally become warm. He chuckled to himself quietly wondering how lost he is. The weather was perfect, atleast at the moment. It was warm and chill at the same time. Quite pleasant. Nothing could go wrong.

He would notice a few minors trying to fake their age and fumle to get a drink not knowing it's name. It was nothing new. Nothing surprising. Or special. He saw a few older teens enter. Looking all dressed to blend in like adults. Of course he knew that. He could tell. After all, being an ex-assassin, an ex-spy and an ex-soldier helped with these things. Boring things.

A girl was there. On his right. He knew she was a college student. She could've been some 19 or 20. But, hey.... there was nothing wrong to look, just a little for observation purposes. She was not extraordinarily beautiful or drop dead gorgeous, but she was... something. Her green eyes gave off a youthful air despite the exhaustion that was evident in her face, her straight dark brown hair, and those natural pale pink lips. She had mildly dark underbags on her eyes. She looked as if she was done with everything and just wanted to melt into a deep darkness. He could give her that. That deep darkness. Soo deep and far down that she could never climb out. That's what he wanted to do to her. He quickly snapped out of his thoughts before he let himself take it over him. Then, she spoke.

"Umm.. do you have anything light but not expensive?", she asked while trying to sound experienced, and like as if she had done it before and was an adult.

Bucky chuckled. The girl turned to him. He could see she was not happy with his reaction. Typical. And he loved that. Why? He didn't know. But he did. There was that part in him that never left. The monster was never gone. It was still in there. It couldn't be caged forever. And she was just a small trigger for it come out. Even if it was just for a few seconds.

"Excuse me? Did you hear something funny?", she demanded him. Bucky turns his head to his right.

"Next time, you might want to come prepared to sound like it.", Bucky replied casually and aimed at the bartender, Gary.

"How many are you there?", Bucky asked her.

She wanted to snap back at him and slap him, but she felt that something about was dangerous and dark. Not in the good way at all. He just gave off this vibration of a nice person, but something felt cold and unknown. She didn't know him well enough, but she knew to trust her guts to keep her mouth shut than to provoke something she didn't know.

"Umm... 6 including me", she hesitantly replied. Bucky liked it. He could already feel her submitting to her instincts. He looked at her more clearly but not in the creepy way. He noticed her body. She was wearing a black dress. Pretty tight and till right above her knees. She was thin. Not naturally.. but sickly thin. He could feel it. The lack of proper and basic nutrition and that stupid trend to look "perfect." He thought to himself how weird the world had become and come to, some things had never changed. Crimes, trends, insecurities, and fears. Always there, regardless. He avoided rolling his eyes. He didn't want make any sort of impression that he knew about her.

"Gary, 6 apple martini's."

Gary nodded, and before he could look at the girl, Bucky replied, "It's on me."

He turned towards her and introduced himself.

She smiled back at him. Or at least she thought she did. It looked more like her lips pressed thinly. She face palmed herself mentally at her response.

"I'm James, by the way." He let out a small, simple, and polite smile.

"I'm Irina. Umm, and you don't have to like pay for us. I don't mean to offend you, but you really shouldn't pay for us. And like we- um kinda got our money and don't want to give this trouble and I'm really um sorry that-that- i-i", she started to ramble out of nervousness. He cuts her off.

"It's alright. I got it. You don't have return anything at all alright?", Bucky replied confirming her doubts.

She nodded and gave a small forced smile. She didn't like what he was doing at all. She didn't want to argue, more like did not know how to argue with him. He didn't seem quite like someone you would to argue with. He had these aura of something she couldn't point out and it scared the hell out of her. She thought herself to be good at reading people, but clearly not. She couldn't tell his intentions at all. He didn't seem scary, but something just didn't sit well with her. She didn't know what to say next or how to continue the conversation till the drinks arrived and her friends were clearly chatting somewhere in the back not bothering to side her here at the bar. She hated the silence between them. She wanted say something but didn't know what.

Bucky could feel her gears turning in her head. Hell, he didn't know what to ask her either. He felt internally embarrassed for volunteering to buy her drinks. He cursed at Gary, the bartender who, for some reason, now was taking too much all of a sudden.

"So... do you live around here?", Bucky immediately face palmed mentally. He sounded like an absolute creep.

Irina felt awkward at his question. She could he wasn't being creepy but the female instincts of it being creepy question just flared up.

"Um... yeah. I mean, kind of? I'm in student dormitory of (University Name) Law University.", she replied decently hoping he wasn't gonna ask more.

"That's good. It's a great University. So that means you're studying something Law related?", he asks in an attempt to find her interest.

"Yeah. Yup. Good guess.", jokes.

Bucky laughs awkwardly knowing he was dumb for asking a student whether they were studying Law at a Law University.

Irina carefully points out something hoping she wasn't rude. She sort of guessed he was The Bucky Barnes.

"So.. I don't mean sound creepy, but are you.. like The Bucky Barnes?"

Bucky froze for a second. But quickly recovered.

"Yes, that's quite right. It's that obvious, huh?", Bucky asks, embarrassed.

Irina laughs genuinely. Bucky likes it. It was finally a real one.

"We were studying about your case. You're pretty complicated for laws to be applied. Sometimes, even contradictory.", she explained.

Bucky nodded. He really didn't know his case was that complicated that it was now in textbooks as well. He was starting rethink why he approached her soo weirdly in the first place. She was clearly very well versed about his situation.

Before Bucky could reply, Gary showed up.

"I'm sorry, but your friends packed up the drinks and left somehow. Would you like anything for yourself?", Gary felt bad. Some college groups abandoned a few of friends like this. He was old enough to be retired but it still didn't sit right with him.

Irina looked... not surprised.

"It's okay. I'll just leave. Thank you so much for telling me.", before Irina could thank Bucky as well, Bucky was already out of the door.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

To be continued.....

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A/N: I know it's weird ending for part 1. I'll try better. Comments would really be appreciated. Thank you for reading. Part 2 will come out in a week or so.

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x ofc #bucky barnes x oc #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #marvel pov #bucky barnes fanfiction #SoundCloud #Spotify

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overtrred28 · 1 year ago

Text

Stargirl | matildas x original character fic [part four]

Words; 3.2k

Pairings; matildas team x astrid taylor (OC)

Warnings; swearing, mentions of alcohol

A/N; took me a while to do this one so sorry its a bit late. hopefully you enjoy this, I really like this one. again, please give it some love and hope you like it. also this might have a love interest at some point but i haven't figured it out yet. x

masterlist

The team had now travelled down to Canberra for their second and final match against New Zealand again. Throughout the day they had taken their match day walk, eaten their meals together and prepared for the game, feeling somewhat confident after their last win over the opposing team.

Astrid was still on a buzz from the last game and the love she had been showered in from her teammates, coaches, parents and especially the fans. Making her debut and scoring a goal in the same game on home soil was something really special and Astrid never thought that she would be doing it so young. She was still only 17 and had accomplished so much.

She was in a really good mood and the team could tell. She usually had a fun, bubbly personality, constantly making jokes and pulling lighthearted pranks but today she just had an extra aura about her that instantly lightened the mood of everyone on the team. And they knew why. Not only had she been promised some minutes on the pitch this game, but tomorrow was her 18th birthday. Finally, the baby of the team was becoming an adult; legally at least. And she got to celebrate with her new family; her own unable to until she planned to go home for a little while, now that club season was over and the next camp wasn’t until late June.

The rest of the day was spent in focus mode, making sure everyone was warm and ready for what could be another tough game.

The Matildas were off to a great start, taking possession of the ball and a good few attempts at scoring within the first 14 minutes before a corner from Steph and header from Sam secured their lead on the game. Only two minutes later and a great shot from the edge of the penalty box by Hayley, the ball just skimming past the goalie, had given them that extra leg up on New Zealand.

A shot from Sam had brought them up to 3-0 before New Zealand secured their first goal in the extra time before the whistle blew for halftime and the substitutes got themselves up to warm up in the break.

Astrid, Charli and Kyra found themselves chatting about Astrid’s upcoming birthday while practising passes and shots at the goal.

“Guys it’s not that big of a deal.” Astrid spoke, taking a shot at the net with her right foot, surpassing Teagan’s attempt to block it, sending it right in the back, a small smile at Teagan before turning to the girls with confused expressions on their faces.

“Not a big deal?” Charli used air quotes, stopping her small passes with Kyra. “First of all it’s your first birthday with the team,” She began counting her fingers as she walked closer to Astrid. “It’s tomorrow,” She counted a second finger. “AND it’s your 18th. What is wrong with you?” Charli was clearly more passionate about this than Astrid, gripping the younger girl’s shoulder, trying to look stern but failing, letting out that signature smile.

“I’m with Charli.” Kyra had stepped forward to the pair. Astrid bit her top lip, staying silent, contemplating Charli’s reason.

“Ugh fine. I guess we could do something,” Astrid finally gave in. “But!” She lifted a finger, Charli and Kyra grinning slightly. “Nothing crazy okay, everyone is about to go back to clubs so they probably want to relax.” Astrid spoke, grunting softly as they engulfed her in a hug after sharing a sneaky smirk with one another.

The second half of the game had finally started, and even with a few misses at a shot, the Matildas were still doing well. Substitutions had been made for both sides, all the Aus subs continuing to keep warm and moving on the sidelines. It was at the 70th minute that Alanna went down from a head collision, resulting in a broken nose and having to leave the pitch. That led to Charli being subbed on a few minutes later as a defender, happiness from Astrid growing for Charli and worry growing for Alanna as she was taken to the changeroom.

Again with only 15 minutes until full time, Astrid got to take her place on the pitch, subbing for Caitlin in the left forward position, the coaches hoping her fresh legs might help gain them another goal before the end of the game. And they were right.

The ball was shot far from Lydia, sending it to the midfield where Sam had collected it, heading for the goal but ran out of space, shooting it over to Astrid who shot it through the goalie’s still legs as she expected a higher shot, and slotted it right in the back of the net. The crowd roared, Astrid ran directly to the midfield where most of the team watched the shot, immediately covering the young girl with their bodies, screaming and yelling at her goal that brought them to 4-1.

The huddle of players parted, Charli making sure to press a kiss to Astrid’s forehead before they both ran off to their positions again with wide smiles. The final whistle blew and Australia had won against New Zealand again, Astrid fighting the urge to run and celebrate with her friends, instead calmly shaking hands with the opposition and sharing clap hugs with her teammates.

The team all get to their huddle after a few minutes, happiness running high through them about the successful win, waiting for Tony to begin his speech.

“You’ve been phenomenal in terms of focus and what you can control. Two good games, two wins. This is the closure of the camp now, so that you can enjoy the time with your families tonight, happy birthday to Astrid for tomorrow. Safe travels. Good luck in your club, okay? Looking forward to see you next camp. Good job, everyone.” He wrapped and everyone disconnected to start clapping.

Family and friends were invited down onto the pitch, Harper being snatched up by Mini the second she saw her and Astrid slowly moving to approach the mother and daughter.

“Hi Harper.” Astrid waved at the baby in Mini’s arms.

“Say hi.” Katrina picked up one of Harper’s arms, waving at the player as a smile grew on the baby’s face. “Good job again today Astrid, nice shot.” Mini looked up at the teen.

“Thanks Mini. Welcome back officially.” Astrid met the older woman's eyes and smiled. They both turned in the direction of both teams gathering on the pitch around Aivi, all of them moving closer to the huddle, Astrid going to stand with Kyra and Charli like always.

Aivi was shaving her head today in honour of her brother and donating it in a bid to raise $30,000 for brain tumour research. Everyone cheered on as they watched the brave woman, all running over when it was done, patting and rubbing her bare head as tears sprung in everyone's eyes.

The next morning Astrid had awoken in her and Charli’s hotel room to most of the team, balloons filling the air, and all the girls screaming happy birthday as soon as her eyes had opened. Her heart pounded against her chest at the fright of seeing at least 20 more people in her room at 9am, screaming in her face.

After letting out a quiet ‘fuck’, Astrid’s next reaction was to crawl back under the sheets feeling surprised, shocked and extremely loved in that very moment that the first thing she thought to do was to hide from it. The room filled with laughter and cheers, watching as Kyra and Charli pulled back the sheets and wrapped their arms around Astrid who was about to cry.

“Aye, she’s finally an adult like the rest of us. Took long enough.” Macca yelled from in the room, everyone laughing along with her, Astrid just looked her dead in the eye.

“Does that mean you’ll stop calling me kid?” She cocked her head at the goalkeeper.

“No.” Mackenzie spoke with a dead face.

“Absolutely not.” Alanna chimed in and everyone shook their heads. Everyone gives Astrid a hug and wishes her another happy birthday before leaving, now just Kyra as the only person out of their assigned room. Kyra and Charli approached Astrid on her bed with presents in each of their hands.

“Guys, no. You seriously did not need to do all of this.” Astrid could burst into tears with the amount of love she was receiving from her friends.

“Of course we did.” Kyra came to sit beside Astrid, holding a small bag.

“You’re part of the team, our best friend and as I said yesterday,” Charli paused, trying to emphasise her next point. “It’s your fucking 18th birthday.” Charli smiled and then sat down on the other side of Astrid, placing a box in front of her.

“I love you guys so much.” Astrid pulled the girls in with an arm over each of their shoulders, turning to place a kiss on their cheeks.

“Love you too, now open them please.” Charli was bursting with excitement to watch her open the gifts.

“This one is just from us.” Kyra handing the small bag over to Astrid.

“Thank you.” Astrid smiled, taking the small bag from Kyra’s hand. A little white box was inside, pulling it out to open it. “Oh my god.” Astrid gasped at the ring that was inside the box. It was a simple silver ring, an oval plate in the middle that was engraved with a small soccer ball.

“Do you like it?” Kyra shyly spoke after watching Astrid inspect the ring closer.

“I love it.” Astrid spoke, tears forming in her eyes.

“Good, because now we all match.” Charli smiled, herself and Kyra bringing up their hands to show the same ring on their own fingers. Astrid pouted before the tears of joy ran down her face. She had never felt more loved by two friends. “Oh, star.” Charli used the nickname she had given Astrid in their first camp.

Upon deciding that she couldn’t shorten her full name, Charli began to call her ‘star’ or ‘stargirl’ because her name sounded like something to do with the stars; later the rest of the team adopted it on and off the field. Astrid really liked it and anything was better than Macca teasing her and calling her ‘Asteroid’ or ‘As-turd’; although Astrid did think it was quite funny.

The girls brought the crying girl in their arms again, laughing at her reaction and glad she enjoyed their gift.

“Okay, enough crying. Open the next one.” Kyra spoke, Astrid wiping her face and letting out a small laugh.

“This is a bit of something from everyone.” Charli moved the box closer to the birthday girl.

Astrid opened the box to reveal a bunch of little goodies; a few cards, little bottles of alcohol, some Taylor Swift nic-nacs and other small presents. Astrid examined every one of them, reading every card and letter as the other girls got up to give her some personal space. They also collected some birthday hats they bought, along with a ‘18th birthday’ sash for her to wear.

“This is way too much, thank you.” Astrid jumped up, running to give them a hug again.

“Of course not, you deserve it.” Charli pressed a kiss to Astrids head. “But enough of this, we’re going to be late for breakfast if we don’t hurry up.” They all looked at the time and realised they had to be down in 10 minutes.

To Astrid’s surprise, the rest of the day was spent with the team as she thought most of them would be leaving today to go back to club. But when Kyra and Charli notified them of the important birthday a few months back, they all decided to stick around an extra day and celebrate their youngest member. She was showered with love throughout their team breakfast, when they went for a picnic lunch and then at a nice dinner where a cake was being brought out.

“Happy Birthday to Astrid, happy birthday to you.” The table cheered, taking photos and videos of Astrid and her cake, a wide smile on her face.

“HIP HIP!” Charli led the entire restaurant who had joined in.

“HOORAY!”

“HIP HIP!”

“HOORAY!”

“HIP HIP!”

“HOORAY!” Everyone clapped as Astrid leant forward to blow out the candles, silently making her wish that she could be with this group of people forever.

“Okay, now you have to skull your drink.” Sam who was sat across from Astrid pushed the girl’s almost full cocktail towards her. Her mouth opened in confusion. “It’s tradition, kid. It’s what you do at your 18th.” Sam simply shrugged her shoulders, Astrid looking to her other teammates who were nodding with grins, some holding their phones out to film her.

So she picked up her drink and began drinking it fast, trying not to spill any on her new dress. Everyone cheered and clapped until she was done and she wiped her mouth, showing off her empty drink.

A lot of the team members had left after dinner, opting to for an early sleep before their international flights, rather than taking Astrid clubbing for the first time. Those who remained with Astrid included, Kyra, Charli, Cortnee, Courtney, Clare Wheeler, Teagan, Ellie with Caitlin and Steph acting as chaperones for the youngsters.

Flash forward to 2am and the last remaining partiers stumbled into the hotel lobby by the guide of Steph and Caitlin. Charli and Cortnee held Astrid up with either of her arms, Courtney and Kyra following behind, Steph and Caitlin just watched all of them drunkenly walk to the lifts, trying not to laugh. They all eventually made it to their rooms, Steph instructing Charli to call her in case something happened with Astrid who was drunker than her.

Charli guided the girl who was almost passed out into their room and sat her down on her bed.

“Star, hey.” Charli stopped Astrid from falling asleep. “You’ll be mad at me tomorrow if we don’t get this makeup off and out of this dress. So just stay awake for a few more minutes. Okay?” Astrid nodded silently, using Charli’s outstretched arms to pull herself up and walk to the bathroom.

With makeup removed, teeth brushed and now both in pyjamas, Charli led the drunk girl back to her bed and helped her under the covers. As soon as Astrid’s head hit the pillow, she was out cold. Charli snapped a quick photo before falling asleep in her own bed.

Safe to say it was a good night out when Astrid woke up with a pounding headache, the natural sunlight pouring into the room harsh on her eyes, quickly pushing her face back into her pillow with a grunt.

“Oh welcome back from the dead.” Charli laughed as she walked out of the bathroom, Astrid lifting her head slowly to give the girl a death stare. “How do you feel, party girl?” Charli sat at Astrid’s feet, watching the girl slowly sit up, hands rubbing her face.

“Fucking shit.” She laughed as she met Charli’s face. “I went hard didn’t I?” Astrid rubbed her temples, attempting to ease the pounding in her head but it wasn’t working.

“Oh yeah. You did. Come on.” Charli laughed, hitting Astrid's feet as she stood herself up. “Let’s go soak up all that alcohol with food, coffee and water.” Astrid groaned but slowly got out of bed. After a shower and some fresh clothes, Charli and Astrid had made their way to the team breakfast room again where most of the team still sat, Astrid may have walked in with a pair of sunnies over her eyes.

“She made it through the night everyone!” Mackenzie threw an arm over Astrid’s shoulder as she rolled her eyes at the goalkeeper. She nudged her away and flipped her the bird with a smile before walking over to the coffee station.

“Fun night then?” Hayley asked as Astrid sat down next to her with an iced coffee and some buttered toast.

“Yeah… I think. I don’t remember a lot actually…” She took her sunnies off and rubbed her eyes. “I better ask the babysitters.” She directed her head over to where Steph and Caitlin sat.

“First night drinking and you got black out. Nice.” Sam reached across the table for a fist bump which Astrid loosely returned, shaking her head slowly, which ended up bringing back the headache that was fading into the background.

Everyone finished their breakfast slowly, taking in these last moments of camp together because not all of them would be together for quite a while. A lot of the senior players were going into an off season soon after returning to their international homes and taking a break for the first time in a while.

Everyone caught a flight together back to Sydney from Canberra before separating for their international and domestic flights, saying goodbye to each other in the departure terminals.

Kyra, Courtney and Charli were the last people Astrid had to say goodbye to, the three of them heading back to Sweden and Astrid sticking behind in Sydney.

“I’m going to miss you guys so much.” She brought them all in for a group hug quickly.

“It’s okay, we’ll be back together for the next camp soon.” Charli hugged Astrid singularly, squeezing her close to her one last time.

“Where hopefully we all get some more playing time.” Courtney smiled at the youngest girl.

“And we can have even more drunken nights with miss party animal over here.” Kyra teased, Astrid pushed her shoulder lightly, shaking her head.

“Alright, you guys better go before you miss your flight.” Astrid nodded at them to go, putting a small smile on her face that hid the fact she was quite sad she wasn’t going with them. One day, hopefully. “Have a safe flight. Love you.” Astrid called out as they walked away.

“Love you stargirl. I’ll text when we land.” Charli yells back before they are out of view.

“Ready to go?” Cortnee came up behind Astrid, she had been patiently waiting for her to say her goodbyes after her own with other teammates.

“Yeah, sorry for making you wait.” Astrid apologised as they wheeled their luggage out of the doors and began making their way to Cortnee’s car they left parked before camp.

“No, it’s all good. I get it.” Cortnee smiled over at Astrid. They made their way back to Astrid’s apartment where Cortnee dropped her off. They said their own goodbyes, Astrid promising to text her later as she made her way inside.

Her place was small, one bed, one bath, a kitchen and a living room, but she didn’t need much more for just herself. She was leaving again to go back home tomorrow, seeing her extended family for the first time since Christmas to celebrate her birthday with them. That meant she had the next 16 hours to unpack, repack, sleep and get on the road to Bateau Bay.

She also had to think about the next club season and what that looked like for her. Her short contract with Sydney FC was officially over and her agent hadn’t contacted her just yet about whether that was going to continue or if other clubs were looking at her for the 2022/2023 season. Hopefully she would know soon and her future would be clearer than it is now.

to be continued...

#auswnt #auswnt x reader #matildas #matildas x reader #kyra cooney cross #alanna kennedy #caitlin foord #charli grant #mackenzie arnold #sam kerr #steph catley

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