#always gotta give the 100 yard stare look

[bobasthrone]

This plcrew is cute!!

Feel free to add your s/i and f/o(s)

tagging: anyone!!

[frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe]

i'm outta my head over you Pt. 7

prologue (Pt. 1) | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 | Pt. 4 | Pt. 5 | Pt. 6 | AO3 | playlist

this is the last chap of my steddie week fic!! i have a little blurb i may do for tomorrow's open ended prompt, but for now, here's the last @steddie-week prompt: misunderstandings

Robin stops him as they’re herding the gremlins into their respective vehicles. You’d think that after nearly five hours of spending the four barely adults’ money would be enough time at the arcade. But no. They’re all fighting them on leaving. As if they all won’t be asleep by the time they get home.

“Once you get it done, you may want to get up early.”

“Uh..what?”

“Steve always goes for a run at like ass o’clock in the morning.” she’s speaking low and fast to try and not draw attention to them, but their normal level of volume with one another is normally 100 times louder than this, so she’s really doing the exact opposite. “If you get up early enough, you can leave it for him while he’s gone.”

“Okayokay, I got it! Now stop making this weird.”

She looks around to find Steve already staring at the two of them questioningly.

“Oh shit… OKAY, YEAH, GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR DATE EDDIE.” she practically yells.

“What the hell, Robin? I don’t have a date!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure it’ll be great!” she’s walking away already, shrugging like even she doesn’t know why the fuck she said that. “Call me when you’re home!”

Eddie smacks his palm against his forehead and turns to his van, not even daring to look at Steve again.

He finally does dare once he’s in his van and has started moving, giving Steve a ‘nothing wrong or weird here’ wave as he pulls away.

The expression on Steve’s face is indiscernible. Somewhere stuck between totally blank, and the most devastated look he’s ever seen.

Damnit, Robin.

He only ended up with Max in his van on the way back, so when they get back, he helps her inside, and resigns himself to staying up all night to finish the tape.

He pulls in next to Wayne’s truck at the same time his uncle is coming out the front door, a dufflebag in hand. 

“You off to work early old man?” and he asks as he gets out of his van, it’s only about 9 PM now and his uncle doesn’t usually go in until near midnight. 

“Yep, gettin’ some dinner with the fellas before we head in. Gotta leave shift early to go visit yer aunt.”

Ah. “That time of year is it?”

“Yep, I’ll see ya tomorrow evenin’, son. Don’t be getting into any trouble, y’hear?”

Eddie just shrugs. “You know me.”

“That’s exactly my point.” Wayne says with a crinkly smirk.

He gives his uncle a short hug, and Wayne kisses the top of his head with another ‘be safe’.

Then, because he’s agonizing about it, Eddie spends the next couple hours cleaning the trailer instead of picking the last two songs that will go on his side (listening to said tape while he does).

He’s still got some ideas from before, but only a couple good ones..and not all of them will fit in the time he’s estimated is left on the B side.

It isn’t until he gets to Be My Baby on his second listen through that he knows which one he’s going to add next.

After he’s got that one figured out and recorded, there definitely isn’t enough room left for the rest of the picks, so he adds the one he thinks says the most about how he feels about Steve, the one that says everything he needs to say.

-----

“Robin did say ‘ass o’clock’,” Eddie says to himself, glancing at the clock in his dashboard.

5:13. Yeah, that sounds right.

Eddie lets out a huge cracking yawn. Okay, he’s definitely gonna crash once he gets back to the trailer. He was so wired after finally finishing the tape, he couldn’t sleep even though he wanted to.

He makes it to Steve's street and parks up the road a bit (not wanting the rattle of his van to alert Steve to his presence if he hadn’t left yet), and walks the last leg. The tape in his pocket feels like it weighs a million pounds.

When he finally rounds the bushes at the front edge of Steve’s yard, Eddie feels every cell in his body seize up at once.

Nancy’s car is in the driveway.

What the–

Suddenly, the front door opens. He dives back behind the bushes, peeking through the leaves. You know, like a sane person?

Why the fuck is Nancy leaving Steve's house so early

Why is Steve only wearing those tiny fuckin’ shorts?

Oh no..

Oh shit.

There’s only one fucking reason

This is all wrong! Nancy knows he has feelings for Steve, was that not what that was at the arcade?

She’s with Robin, she didn’t refute it.

Oh fuck, he’s gonna have to tell Robin.

Eddie debates making himself known, let himself barrel over whatever awkwardness may arise, but he’s still got his heart in his pocket, addressed to Steve.. What’s he supposed to do with that then?

“Oh hey Steve, didn’t see you there! Just came by to drop off your very personal property that your best friend stole for me to defile! Nancy? Oh hey, you’re here! What’s up with tha–”

He’s startled out of his thoughts when the door of Nancy's station wagon shuts, the engine turning over. 

She pulls out, thankfully heading away from where he’s hidden.

Eddie watches until she’s out of sight, then jumps again when he hears Steve’s front door close.

Steve does a few hops in place from foot to foot on his front stoop (still shirtless), and starts off on his run the same way Nancy had gone. Had he been able to see shirtless, sweaty Steve whenever he wanted?? He just goes for runs like this every day? Why had no one told him??

‘Oh fuckin’ hell, shut up, shutup!!’ He yells at himself.

Now what?

Eddie sits in the grass in Steve Harrington’s front yard and stares at the back of his mailbox.

Does he still leave the tape? Of course he should, it is Steve’s tape afterall.

But what about the songs? Steve’s not gonna want his bullshit now…

He could go back to his van and re-write the note then come back and leave it. No, he wouldn’t have time now, Steve’s athletic, yeah, but Eddie’s been frozen in his front yard for a while now. He’d be back soon.

Fuck it. 

He’ll drop the tape on the front step, go back home and pack up his shit. Yeah. Good a time as any to get the fuck outta here.

Confessing your feelings to one of your closest friends who very obviously just got back together with his ex not even ten hours after you’d seen him and were very obviously flirting with each other?

Yeah. Not ideal.

Does he have the funds to get the fuck outta here? No. But he’s got enough for gas and he’s got a van. He’ll just load his mattress into the back and be gone before the rest of the town fully wakes up.

Good plan, Eddie’s brain. Thank you, rest of Eddie.

-------

Steve slows to a jog once he can see his house, cooling down from his run on the last little bit of his road, and stopping in his driveway to do some stretches back to the door.

He’s sinking down into his last lunge when he sees the little square of…something…sitting on the front step.

“The hell?”

He stoops down and picks it up, turns it over. There’s a piece of lined paper rubber banded around it.

Peeling off the band, Steve steps inside and unfolds the letter, leaning back on the now closed front door to read

“...oh no…” Steve looks down at the case in his hand. Now he sees why the rubberband was necessary, there’s another folded wad of papers shoved into the cassette’s case, now popped open without the band holding it together.

His heart, previously calmed down from his run, now beat wildly in his chest as he unfurls the short stack of paper.

He reads the first line, ‘8. I Was Made For Lovin’ You...’

“Holy shit.”

Steve books it up the stairs, he’s gotta get showered, he’s gotta get changed, he’s got one more song to add to the tape.

-------

Eddie’s just finished packing up his clothes when his alarm clock radio goes off, the 7am alarm still set for when he has to get up for school.

“...still don’t believe it, he was just leaving OH there must be some misunderstanding! There must be some kind of mistake…” blasts through the tinny speakers.

Nopenopenope, not dealing with that right now.

He slaps the clock around until it finally shuts off its maniacal teasing, and goes back to packing (and blinking away some wayward tears).

He’s just dropped the second bag of clothes and his sweetheart in her case by the front door and is contemplating if his mattress would actually fit in the back of his van, when there’s a knock on the door.

Eddie’s gut freezes mid-flip.

Oh no. Please n–

“Eddie, are you there? It’s Steve. Can I come in?”

‘Don’t move. Don’t make a single sound. Maybe he’ll think you’re not home and just leave.’

“C’mon man, I know you’re in there. You’re van’s out here.”

“Shit.”

Eddie trudges his way to the front door and opens it.

Even with floppy, just-washed, hair and an inside-out polo, Steve’s still the most beautiful person in existence.

“What do you want, Steve?” Wow. Even he’s surprised at how morose he sounds.

“I uh, I got your tape..my tape? I got your note. I added one more song and I thought, maybe, I could–” Steve looks down. “Are you..” his voice pitches high so he clears it. “Are you going somewhere?”

“Mhm.” Eddie can’t look him in the eye. He stares at the porch.

“Where are you–”

“Just going, ‘kay Steve? No need to worry about me being around anymore.” Eddie practically spits, still not looking up at his friend.

“Eddie, what are you–” he cuts himself off, his voice going soft. “Did you not mean what you said?”

That makes Eddie look up at him. Steve’s gaze is now cast downwards, staring blankly at Eddie’s packed bags.

“...I meant every word. Every song, Steve. But that doesn’t matter now, does it?” he’s truly mad now, who does he think he is, trying to act all glum like he wasn’t the one betraying his best friend.

“B-betraying my best–Eddie, what the hell are you talking about?”

Damn! He said that out loud.

“Just go away, Steve. I won’t tell Robin, but you definitely should.” Eddie moves to close the front door and turns back towards his room. He doesn’t hear it close, but he hears the creak of the floor when Steve follows him in.

Of. Course.

“Tell Robin what, Eddie? I already told her how I felt about you, that’s why she stole you the tape in the first plac–”

“Not that! You–” Eddie clenches his fists at his sides and spins back to face Steve. “That you hooked up with her girlfriend last night.” Steve’s face pales and Eddie continues on. “Yeah. I came by to drop off your tape; Robin thought I could leave it there when you left for your run. But lo and behold, what do I see when I come by? Nancy Wheeler’s car in your driveway at ass o’clock in the morning.

“Now, I may be a third time senior, but even I know what the fuck that means. Especially when, not long after I’ve gotten there, the Lady Wheeler herself waltzes out the door with Tiny Shorts McGee following her like a lost puppy.” he gestures at Steve, who’s still frozen in place by the door.

“So yeah, you can just burn those notes for all I care, I don’t even know why I still left it. Whatever. I’m leaving today anyway so you don’t need to worry about me pining hopelessly after you, ‘kay?”

Eddie’s chest is heaving, his eyes are burning with unshed tears, and Steve…starts laughing.

“I fuckin’ knew it!” There are tears spilling freely out of his eyes now. “You’re really good y’know, had everyone fooled. Even me! King Steve is alive and well, everyone!” Eddie spreads his hands wide and yells to no one.” I can’t believe you got me to fall for your good guy schtick. Get the fuck outta my house, Harrington.” Eddie points to the door, stalking forward.

“Eddie! Eddie, wait, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have laughed.” Steve puts his hands out and Eddie stops, crossing his arms and glaring. “Eddie, please, Nancy was only dropping something off for me.”

“Yeah righ–”

“She was! She came by that early because she’s driving to an interview this morning at a paper in Indy. She knew I’d be up for my run anyway, so she stopped to give me the revisions she made to my–you know what, hold on. I’m calling Robin.”

“Steve, I told you to get the fuck out of my house, not go further into it.”

Steve ignores him and goes to the phone, giving Eddie as wide of a berth as he can while he passes. He picks it up and dials.

“I’m not fucking kidding, Harrington, get the fuck out of here–” Eddie’s anger is multiplied tenfold when Steve holds out a finger to shush him.

“Hi Mr. Buckley, this is Steve. I’m sorry to call so early, but can I please speak to Robin? There was a last minute change to our schedule…thank you.’

Eddie watches Steve’s face morph from his customer service expression, to an admittedly frightening pissed off smile when Robin apparently gets on the line.

“Hey Robin! I found my Eddie tape! It’s the funniest thing, I came back from my run and it was sitting on my doorstep.”

Eddie can hear the muffled sound of Robin’s voice coming through the earpiece.

“I know, isn’t that crazy?” Damn, Steve’s passive aggressive voice is…something else. “He must’ve dropped it off while I was gone..why wouldn’t he give it to me in person?”

Steve waves at Eddie to come closer, and when he stubbornly doesn’t, Steve rolls his eyes and comes to him, stretching the cord across the kitchen as he does.

“Hmmm...maybe.. Or maybe something scared him off?” He takes in an over-dramatic sarcastic gasp. “Or maybe, my best friend and soulmate who stole the tape for him, told him to come by at the exact worst time! When she knew a certain ex of mine and current girlfriend of hers was stopping by before leaving to Indy and it scared him off!”

Steve tilts the handset out from his ear so Eddie can hear..there’s complete silence on the other end.

“That would suck, don't you think? Seeing your crush’s ex leaving their house early in the morning when you’re coming over to confess to them?” He continues.

“Oh. My. God. Steve!! I am so so sorry I–”

“Don’t apologize to me, apologize to Eddie.”

Steve grabs up Eddie’s hand and wraps it around the handset, forcing him to take it, then stomps off into the living room.

Eddie puts the phone to his ear and walks back to the receiver, Robin rambling in his ear the whole way. 

“--ddie, I’m so so sorry! I totally forgot Nancy was dropping off Steve’s paper this morning before she went to her interview! Please please don’t be mad at me, actually, scratch that. Be super mad at me, but definitely not at Steve, okay? I should have remembered, I should have told you, I should hav–”

It’s effective, he feels the anger draining out of him. “Robin, Robin! It’s okay, you’re okay.” Eddie glances over at Steve, who’s pacing up and down the short length of the trailer’s living room. “But now I have a very pissed off Harrington in my house right now…you got any survival tips for me?” he mumbles lowly.

“...Oh! I know, just go over there and kiss hi–her–stupid!” Eddie snorts through his nose, her parents must still be nearby.

“Got it, I’ll try that. Thanks Birdie…for everything.”

She sighs in relief. “You’re welcome, Doofus.”

Eddie slowly hangs up the phone, and turns to where Steve is. Now stationary, he’s got one hand on his hip, and the other is rifling through his hair nervously.

‘Yep. Buckley’s right.’

Eddie takes a deep breath and crosses to Steve in three short strides, grabs his face in both his hands, and kisses him deeply.

Steve responds immediately; he wraps one arm around Eddie’s waist, his large palm centered squarely on his lower back, and one around his arm, lacing his fingers into Eddie’s curls and cupping the back of his head.

Steve pulls their bodies flush and cants his hips into Eddie’s, tugs a breathy moan from Eddie’s throat when the hand in his curls tightens.

Eddie’s nose is pressed uncomfortably into the space between Steve’s nose and cheekbone with how close they’ve smushed themselves together, but Eddie can’t find it in himself to care. 

He’s kissing Steve Harrington. 

There’s a strong thigh slotted between his, and Steve Harrington is kissing him back. 

Eddie moves one hand down to clutch at Steve’s shirt, and pushes the other back, grabbing onto those short hairs on the back of Steve’s neck.

They finally come up for air after one too many teeth clashes, their foreheads coming together.

“Hi.” they breathe out at the same time, chuckling at the absurdity of it all.

“We’re kinda idiots, huh?” Steve says, looking cross-eyed between Eddie’s eyes. The hazel of his eyes sparkling with the movement.

Eddie chuckles. “Dingus and Doofus, remember?” he points to each of them in turn, only lifting his pointer finger out of the grip on Steve’s shirt to do so.

“Can I play you the last song now?”

and then they low dance in eddie's living room

Yay!! that's it, thanks for following along with this one!!! here's the last tags :o) @hellomynameismoo, @messrs-weasley, @manda-panda-monium

Here's some notes since it's the last part:

this is the most I’ve ever written in such a short time, I literally wrote each of these chapters the day before their day to be posted….most of it while at work lmao

Steve used a Sony C60 tape. i.e. there’s 60-ish minutes of space on it. before At Last, the songs on the tape totaled 55 min 55 seconds, a perfect amount left for Etta James (ending up at 58 min 54 seconds in total according to my spoofy playlist).

I know that the Eddie half of songs weren’t really…’Eddie music’, but in my head, Eddie likes music for being music. All music is good (like he said to Max in part 5). Plus, he wanted to put songs on the tape that he knew Steve would like/want to listen to.

steve asked nancy to make revisions on his nursing school application essay (he found he quite liked the process of taking care of eddie and wants to go to school for it!)

anyone else just recently realize that Take Me Home Tonight had an allusion to Be My Baby?? anyway, love that, wanted to make that a thing here :o)

and lastly, a couple of little things i LOVED about this fic that i didn’t see anyone else / only a couple people point out:

Steve singing the rubber duckie song to Eddie in part 5

Eddie literally giving Gareth the shirt off his back in part 2 when Tommy threw his pop on him (in my head, this is the same red buffalo check flannel that Gareth ends up cutting the sleeves off of and wears in S4).

that's all!! thanks for reading, friends :o)

[lowqualitygarbage]

Fetch Quest

This was it. The last part she needed to repair the Hotel's old water pumps was only a hundred yards away, according to the coordinates she downloaded onto her Pip-Boy. The trees began to thin, moss and twigs giving way to grass and pebbles as they approached the long-abandoned build site.

Her face fell as she took in what was at the center of this new clearing - something must have dammed the nearby stream some time ago, and now a small pond completely enveloped the construction site.

"Well, it looks like this plan's sunk!" Alastor chuckled at his own awful pun as Charlie wandered closer to the banks, her geiger counter starting to click sluggishly as she approached the water.

Vaggie followed her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. We can always backtrack to MacGuffin Manufacturing and see if there's another one we may have missed."

"We spent hours hacking their old intranet for all the manifests," Sir Pentious whined. "This was the only model MGU1028 flange within 100 miles!"

Vaggie shot him a venomous glare over her shoulder as Charlie began fidgeting with her Pip-Boy gloomily. "Maybe we can see if Voxtech has any parts close enough to fit? There's gotta be some other options."

"Husk, go in and get it."

The ghoul turned to Alastor incredulously. "What?"

Alastor's smile tightened in irritation. "It's a pond of irradiated water. The shipment was made the evening before the bombs fell; they probably never had a chance to install the parts. You won't get poisoned going in for a quick dip to grab a box. "

"What? Fuck you. I might be immune to rads, but I still gotta breathe, asshole!"

Charlie turned back to the group, looking thoughtful. "You can't swim?"

Husk made an odd noise that may have been a derisive snort if he still had a nose. "Not a lot of swimming holes out in the Mojave Desert."

Niffty waved an enthusiastic arm, as if waiting to be called upon in class. "I can't swim either!"

Angel Dust turned to Charlie and Vaggie. "Don't some vaults got like, swimming pools and shit? Can't you girls swim?"

"666 wasn't really a luxury vault." Vaggie explained as Charlie shook her head sadly.

Angel looked over at Sir Pentious, who also shook his head. "Figured. Wasn't really somethin' to learn in the city, neither."

There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Alastor sighed in disgust, leaning his rifle against a tree and shrugging off his pack. "Hand me the Rad-x."

Charlie jumped a little and stared at him in shock as he started to untie his bowtie. "Uh, Al?"

He handed the accessory off to Niffty who appeared obediently at his side, and paused in unbuttoning his vest to gesture at Charlie to hand over the pills. "Nola is one of the Sunken Cities, and unlike you Wastelanders, we actually bothered with basic survival skills. I suppose it's up to me to fetch the parts for your little project."

"Seriously?!" Charlie didn't bother stifling her squeal of delight, rushing forward to hug him in excitement before backing off when he stiffened in discomfort. She cleared her throat awkwardly and handed over the bottle of Rad-X. "Here you go. Ohmigosh, thank you so much for this, Alastor!"

Husk turned to the radio host, pissed off. "If you could do it, why the hell ask me to do it, asshole?"

"Because, even if I know how to hold my breath, I'm still susceptible to radiation." He tipped out several pills and swallowed them dry before dropping his vest on Niffty's head. The maid giggled and folded the item carefully, following Alastor as he approached the water line. "Now, if you wouldn't mind turning around?"

When the others just looked at him in confusion, he rolled his eyes. "I'm not about to spend the rest of the day trooping around in radiation-soaked clothing, nor am I willing to put on a show for you all. So turn around if you want me to go through with this."

Charlie obediently turned on her heel and gestured for the others to do the same. Angel protested when Vaggie grabbed him by the shoulders and forcibly turned and held him in place. "Why are you actin' like I'm gonna sneak a peek or something, geez?!"

There was another minute or so of rustling as he undressed, and then Charlie had to steel herself not to turn around at the sound of him wading into the pond with a pained hiss. When she could no longer hear him moving through the water, she chanced a peek over her shoulder. The only sign of Alastor's presence was some ripples on the surface of the pond.

The others joined her in watching the surface. After several long moments with no sign of the man, Charlie started checking the time on her Pip-Boy nervously. Husk turned to Angel and Sir Pentious standing next to him with a smirk. "Fingers crossed he gets eaten by a mirelurk down there."

Vaggie couldn't quite stifle her laugh as Charlie gasped in horror. "Oh my God we never checked if there was anything in the water!"

Niffty huffed in irritation at the the others from her place as an impromptu clothing rack. "Don't be silly. There's no nests or tracks anywhere. Mister Alastor wouldn't have just walked right in if there was anything dangerous around."

Charlie tried to let Niffty's confidence bolster her, but as more time crept by without anything disturbing the surface, she couldn't help but start pacing anxiously. "How long can people normally hold their breath?"

Husk canted his head in a way she figured meant he was rolling his eyes, though their solid black color kept her from knowing for sure. "Your first mistake is thinking he'd do anything normally, princess. He's just -"

He cut himself off as Alastor surfaced and took a deep breath, trying to shake his soaked curls out of his eyes before glaring at the crowd assembled near the shore. "Really?"

He was met with sheepish smiles, before Charlie seemed to remember something and swung down her pack to dig through it while the others turned back around. The man narrowed his eyes at her, treading water awkwardly while trying to hold the container and keep his head above water at the same time. She shot him an apologetic smile, and placed her prize on top of Niffty's stack of clothing - her spare blanket for cold nights. "Here, you can use this to dry off!"

She obediently turned back around and listened as he swam back to shore, much less gracefully than before. There was a scrape as the box was dragged ashore, and she wondered if they should have just struck up a camp and started a fire despite the early hour. She wasn't sure if Alastor would be up for any more walking after an extended dip in radwater. To distract herself, she fiddled some with her Pip-Boy's map, wincing at a muffled coughing behind her while Alastor pulled on his clothes.

At the sound of slightly uneven steps from the shoreline, she turned around and winced again. Despite his careful pace, Alastor's gait was still unsteady, and there were livid pink patches visible above his collar and on his pale face. His shirtsleeves and vest were unbuttoned, adding to his disconcertingly disheveled appearance.

As she weighed if it'd be worse to bruise his ego by suggesting resting or letting him walk around like this, he dropped to his knees by his pack and fished out a bag of RadAway. With a practiced hand, he uncapped the needle and found a vein in his arm. He massaged the IV bag a little as he slowly got back to his feet, using his rifle to help prop himself up.

Before she could open her mouth, he pointed at the box on the shore. "There's your flange, dear. Husk, grab my pack; I'll get it from you later."

Vaggie jumped in, eye narrowed suspiciously. "'Later'? Where are you going? You're going to wander off on your own without supplies?"

His tight grin made Charlie wonder how he was able to keep the some sort of smile on his face no matter what was going on or how he was feeling. It looked like his gums might be bleeding a little. "That's my own business, my dear. You should head back to the Hotel and make those repairs straight away now that you have the parts."

With a dismissive wave, RadAway bag tucked into the shoulder of his vest, he started off in the opposite direction.

[luci-in-trenchcoats]

Honey & Sweetheart

Spoilers for Season 15x20 finale

Summary: The reader talks to Jensen and a special friend about struggling with parts of the finale...

Pairing: Jensen x reader

Word Count: 1,700ish

Warnings: language, spoilers

A/N: I wrote this one more for me than anyone else but if you feel similarly to how I do, I hope it helps you a bit like it did for me...

______

“Honey,” said Jensen as you stared out the window over the kitchen sink. “Oven’s going off.”

You spun and heard the beeping from the timer but he was already pulling on oven gloves. He took out the dish and set it on the counter, taking off the mitts with a strange look.

“Y/N. Are you okay?” he asked. You shrugged and he stepped behind you, resting his chin on your shoulder, arms wrapped around your waist. “Still thinking about the finale?”

“It was a few days ago,” you said.

“Honey. I thought you said you liked it Thursday night.”

“Oh course I said I liked it. This thing has been a part of you for so long. You’ve been with the show longer than we’ve even known each other. I am so proud of you and the guys and everything you did.”

“But.”

“But I’m so angry and sad at what they did to Dean. I wish I’d asked you to tell me the end over a year ago when you found out instead me wanting to be surprised. I’m so mad because there was a sign all over your face about how it would go and I ignored it because I thought you were upset they would both live quiet normal lives and not go out blaze of glory. I should have said something. I would have called somebody.”

“Honey no one would have listened,” he sighed. “That was the ending always.”

“They should have listened to what you thought about it.”

“It was decided before I walked in the room.”

“I get it. It’s just not fair you had to do what they said with no say of your own. No one on earth knows Dean better than you and they ignored you and that’s wrong.”

“I’m not a writer, Y/N. I didn’t have a good idea.”

“Why the fuck did we just make a production company if you don’t have the ability to come up with ideas then?” you shot back. He stepped away and started to walk out of the kitchen when he paused. “I’m sorry. I know you had no choice. I’m sorry you’re telling me it’s okay as much as I’m telling you lately. I should be taking care of you. He deserved so fucking better though.”

“I know he did,” said Jensen quietly. “I know some people liked it. Some hated it. The general consensus I’ve gotten one or the other is that yeah, most agree he deserved better. I knew he did. But it’s done and I can’t change it.”

“I know, honey,” you said. You nodded and he stepped closer again, resting his hands on your arms and cocking his head.

“Sweetheart,” he said, voice lower and you looked up at him. You stared and he smiled. 

“Jensen don’t-”

“That’s not my name,” he said, still smirking at you. “You do realize I’m like right here, sweetheart. Anytime you want me I’m right here.”

“No you’re not. You died a stupid death. I would have taken a stabbing, a bite, a shot, a sacrifice, so many other ways. A fucking accidental death for you was stupid. Some think it’s poetic and realistic but I don’t,” you said. He shrugged and you bit your bottom lip. 

“You were always gonna be upset if I died though.”

“Because your character grew the fuck up and knew he could have more in life. You should have gotten to have more than a dog for a week. You deserved everything Sam got too. I deserved to see that was Eileen he ended up with. I deserved to see that Cas and everyone Dean cared about was in his eventual heaven when he was an old, old man. I deserved so much better than a premature death.”

“I was forty one.”

“Jensen’s forty two. So if he keels over I’m supposed to say aw shucks he lived long enough, it’s cool? I wanted you to have everything you fucking deserve. What was the fucking point of you growing all that time for you to die from fucking rebar on a run of the mill hunt? You died just like you thought you would as a kid and I fucking hate that. Just because it is how you thought you would go out does not mean it-”

He leaned down and kissed you hard, resting his forehead against yours as he broke off.

“I never said it was a perfect ending, sweetheart. Write your own story. Write how I come back. Take it from me, I know a guy, hot guy, you may be acquainted with him and he really wants to come back in a few years once he’s gotten some space. He wants to take more control if that happens. He will he promises. He wants someone that cares as much as he does to help him figure that out. So you gonna help him out and figure out that perfect ending for me? That way to bring me back? You know this world. We break the rules all the time. You could have me back in a heartbeat. What do you say? Gonna help him and his friends out?”

“Yes,” you said quietly. 

“I know you see yourself in me, sweetheart. I know you look up to me. I’ve heard from our mutual friend,” he said. You turned your head away and felt tears build up again for the millionth time in the past week. His fingers grazed your cheek and turned you back to face him. “So I deserved better. I deserved a long and happy life. Just because I deserved it and didn’t get it doesn’t mean that your story ends up like mine.”

You blinked and he smiled, stroking your cheek.

“You can have your happy ending. Keep going towards it. Don’t ever stop. You deserve your happy ending too. But you’re writing your story. You can take control in a way I couldn’t. You deserve happiness and you’ll get it. Don’t be scared it’ll go away, sweetheart.”

“I hadn’t thought of that until just now,” you breathed out.

“I know. Don’t be scared for you is all I ask. Go figure out my comeback story and figure out how to give me some kickass hunter wife and I get the kids and house and whole nine yards. You figure that out for me cause you need it and I’m not opposed to it. In the meantime, I’m gonna hang around with our mutual friend. Well I’m always gonna be around him but I’ll be around if you want to talk. Just say so. I’m gonna tag along the ride of his happiness for now okay?”

“You’re such a dork,” you said as you nodded and rested your head against his chest. “But I fucking love you. Both of you.”

“I know you do, sweetheart,” he said. “I’m okay. I promise. I want you to be too. If our friend tries to take care of you, do me a favor and let him? He’s not the only one allowed to feel so strongly about this.”

“Okay, Dean,” you said with a smile. “I think I feel better now.”

“It’s okay, honey,” said Jensen, his voice lighter as you hugged him.

“Thanks for doing that. I needed it,” you said.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he chuckled. “But maybe listen to our friend. He made some good points.”

“I’ll still be upset about it all, maybe forever, but I’ll be okay,” you said. He kissed your temple and you shut your eyes, holding onto him. “Would it bother you if I honestly said there was parts of it I didn’t like at this moment?”

“It’d only bother me if you pretended to like it because you think that’d make me happy. You can support me and be proud of me without loving 100% of it. I have my own thoughts and opinions on it all, you can have yours too...plus I wouldn’t mind seeing your way of mixing it all up...you gonna pull the boys out of heaven?”

“Maybe. A few years from now, if you’re ever really serious about what you said, own it. Make those choices yourself.”

“Yes mam,” he said, kissing you again. “Want to go see if the new coat rack I put up in the mudroom earlier looks alright? I think I really nailed it.”

You stared at him and he giggled as he broke away.

���Too soon. So too soon,” you said as he pulled you with him towards the far side of the house.

“You cry and stress bake. I use bad humor and talking to Dean to cope. We all got out methods,” he said. “But seriously, I think I nailed it.”

“Jensen. You need to stop.”

“I’m gonna take a selfie with it and make that joke on instagram. Everyone’s gonna love that,” he chuckled.

“You need to calm down with the shitty jokes on instagram young man,” you laughed as he spun you around.

“You laughed. I won,” he said, booping your nose. “Thanks for telling me how you really feel about the end though. The end for now at least.”

“Just gotta keep teasing me with that don’t you,” you smiled.

“Not a tease, sweetheart,” he said, flashing you a wink. “Maybe we can get Dean with a beard and some swearing, what do you say?”

“Maybe I could get a preview of that?” you asked.

“You certainly fucking can,” he smirked, voice low again.

“Oh yeah, that’s definitely on the list,” you laughed. He cocked his head and kissed you gently, picking you up off the ground. “Love you.”

“Love you too, Y/N.”

______

[a-writer]

Driver’s License - c.b.

Of course i needed to write something inspired in driver’s license cause i can’t stop thinking about it! Hope you enjoy xx

Colby Brock x reader

Warnings: angst, sad

I got my driver's license last week

Just like we always talked about

'Cause you were so excited for me

To finally drive up to your house

But today I drove through the suburbs

Crying 'cause you weren't around

You still remember the day you met Colby. It was spring and the sun was shining bright. You were having a very nice day, until your best friend convinced you to drive her car, even though you didn’t have your driver's license yet.

“C’mon, just to practice!”

You agreed. Dumb decision. You were doing fine until, accidentally, you crashed into another car. A red, old toyota. Both you and your best friend were okay, it was a very small crash, a little bump on the side. Neither one of you knew what to do and then someone knocked on your window. You completely froze when you saw a pair of beautiful blue eyes staring at you angrily.  Long story short, you ended up crying your ass off begging him not to call the police because you were driving without a license. He seemed angry at first, but surprisingly he agreed not to call the police on you and just asked you one thing in return for your accident: your number.

One month later, Colby and you were dating and were the happiest couple. You never got your driver's license. You don’t remember when things started to go wrong, you just remember how Colby started to avoid you. He didn’t call, didn’t text. You finally confronted him, asked him if he was cheating and he completely denied it. But he said he needed some time. He promised you two would get back together, because he loved you. But he said he needed to get off his mind and put his priorities in order. It hurted like hell. But you accepted, cause you were going to be back together, right?

After nine months of love, you’re alone in your room. You finally got your driver’s license and you immediately thought about him. Colby used to tease you all the time and now he wasn’t around anymore.

And you're probably with that blonde girl

Who always made me doubt

She's so much older than me

She's everything I'm insecure about

Yeah, today I drove through the suburbs

'Cause how could I ever love someone else?

You saw all the posts and stories on instagram. You saw Colby next to that blonde girl all the time. And it hurt to know that the girl you spent all your relationship worried about was where you used to be. You feel a pain in your chest just thinking about it, how his arms are hugging her, his lips are kissing her, his mouth is saying her name, his hands are holding her hands. You know you can’t blame her, but it is so difficult.

You try not to think about it too much, but social media keeps reminding you of the adventures they are living together. Your head tells you to stop looking and overthinking, tells you to stop loving him because he lied. But your heart just wishes for one more taste of his lips. And you know that you just can’t move on, not for now, cause the love you feel for him is just too much.

And I know we weren't perfect, but I've never felt this way for no one

And I just can't imagine how you could be so okay now that I'm gone

Guess you didn't mean what you wrote in that song about me

'Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

On your first date after the car accident, Colby took you to an amazing viewpoint where you could see all the silhouettes of the buildings in LA. It was beautiful, but you don’t remember the view that much. You just remember his blue eyes staring deeply in your soul and how much you wanted to kiss him, even though you didn’t know him that well. But you both wanted it so bad, it ended up happening. Things with Colby went so fast, it seemed unbelievable. But you felt like you had been friends for years.

It was impossible not to love him, even through your ups and downs. You fought, like all couples do. Especially because of the pressure of the fans, but you always got through it. Now you were completely broken, to the point that you even missed the fights. He seemed fine, at least that’s the image that you got from looking on his instagram.

You never told anyone, but the first day you got your driver’s license you drove up to his house at night. You cried until there were no tears left and then your heart turned black and cold, and even though you still loved him to death, you started to feel an anger towards him building inside of you.

He lied, he said he loved you, he said he would come back to you. The wind took the words away and he left you alone.

And all my friends are tired

Of hearing how much I miss you, but

I kinda feel sorry for them

'Cause they'll never know you the way that I do

Yeah, today I drove through the suburbs

And pictured I was driving home to you

You still talked to Sam sometimes, but you started to lose the relationship with him too. Katrina would still check up on you sometimes and you tried to not make it super obvious how much you wanted to know about Colby, but she knew. You could feel how sorry she felt for you and how bad she didn’t want you to ask for him, but it seemed like the only thing you could talk about was Colby. He was not your business, and both you and Kat knew that. Still, she always tried to be nice, she told you how she thought he was super sad. But deep down, you knew it was a lie to make you feel better.

And I know we weren't perfect, but I've never felt this way for no one, oh

And I just can't imagine how you could be so okay now that I'm gone

I guess you didn't mean what you wrote in that song about me

'Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

You knew too well. He was enjoying life with that blonde girl. He was happy without you and that was what hurt the most. You tried so hard to hate him, but it was impossible. Your heart belonged to him, it had his name tattooed with fire.

You wanted to reverse the situation and you went on dates with other guys. But you couldn’t stop comparing them to Colby, searching for all the flaws they had that Colby didn’t, thinking about how Colby did everything better. You felt like you were going crazy, that you would never get over him, so you unfollowed him on instagram and twitter, you removed his number from your phone and all your photos together. You threw away every little thing that reminded you of him in your house and you decided to start a new life.

Red lights, stop signs

I still see your face in the white cars, front yards

Can't drive past the places we used to go to

'Cause I still fucking love you, babe

It had been five months since Colby asked you to give him some time. You knew he was a 100% with the blonde girl and you still had a hard time understanding how he could do it so fast. For the first time in those five months, you decided to go to this little grocery shop where they sold italian products that you always used to go to together.

You just wanted to make a good pizza, but the universe had other plans for you, because while you were looking for your favourite type of cheese, a familiar voice called your name. You froze in the spot, you recognized it immediately. The voice called your name again and you turned around. There he was, standing right in front of you with a shy smile and his damned blue eyes staring deep into your soul.

“(Y/N), hi. It’s been quite some time.” His voice sounded the same and you couldn’t avoid the butterflies you felt on your stomach.

“Hey, Colby.” Your voice sounded more high pitched than how you’d like.

“You look good”. Your cheeks turned red when the word left his mouth and he smirked.

“You too.” An awkward silence arose between the two of you. “I’ve gotta go.”

You tried to walk away but his hand grabbed your arm and you turned to look at him surprised.

“I’m sorry” He blurted out the words without thinking.

You looked down, your eyes filling with water. Taking a deep breath, you looked back at him, holding onto your strength.

“Me too, Colby.” It physically pained you to say his name again and you could see the sadness in his eyes, too.

You tried to run away, but his hand was still holding your arm. You mentally kicked yourself for coming here, you should have stayed home and ordered a pizza. It would have been way better than this. You tried to speak again, but suddenly you felt a pair of lips on yours. You were surprised at first, but the feeling was so familiar that you couldn’t help melt into the kiss.

After five months, feeling Colby’s hands on your body felt heavenly. He kissed every inch of your skin and whispered sweet nothings into your ear. The feeling of him on top of you, the feeling of him inside of you, felt so good that it was almost like a dream. You went to sleep with his arms around you, hugging you tightly, and it felt like home.

You woke up alone. At first you thought it was impossible. You could still smell his cologne, but his side of the bed was cold. You couldn’t help but laugh at yourself. Of course this was going to happen, of course he saw the opportunity to fuck you and used you. You ended up spending the whole day crying in your bed, the feeling of his hands caressing you still present.

He lied to you twice. He saw that you were vulnerable and took advantage of that. He said how much he’d miss you, how much he’d wanted you and then he left without saying anything. And after all that, you still loved him.

Sidewalks we crossed

I still hear your voice in the traffic

We're laughing over all the noise

God, I'm so blue, know we're through

But I still fucking love you, babe

It had been one month since that night. You cut off everyone that had to do something with Colby from your life, even Kat. It hurt you, but you knew you needed to do it. Now you were okay. At least better. A part of you still loved him, but everyday a little less.

You were aware that Kat tried to get in contact with you, but you never responded. And you knew that eventually she would understand. She sent you direct messages in all your social media begging to answer her calls, to talk to her. One night you did.

“(Y/N)? Omg, finally!! I missed you, i’m so sorry”. Kat sounded desperate.

“Kat, it’s okay. I’m sorry I cut you off… I just needed some time.”

“I completely get that, just please don’t do it again.” You laughed at her words. “(Y/N)... I actually wanted to call you because I’m worried. Sam is too.” You did not respond, you already knew who she was talking about.

There were some seconds of silence and Kat took that as a sign to keep speaking.

“It’s Colby.” Well, duh. “We’re worried about him. You saw him, right? Like a month ago?”

“Yes” Your voice was quiet, but Kat could hear you perfectly.

“I knew it. Look, I don’t know what happened, but I can imagine. He’s been a mess ever since. Sam told me that he came home at like seven in the morning and immediately sent a text to…” Kat stopped.

“You can say it.”

“To her girlfriend at the time.” You felt your chest tighten but you ignored it. “He broke up with her. I think it was because whatever happened with you that night. The thing is that he has spent most of the last month alone in his room. When he’s out he’s always drunk and he’s not taking anything seriously. Not even his job, (Y/N). We’re worried about him.”

“Kat, I… I understand that you’re worried, but that’s not my business anymore. He lied to me, he used me and then he never talked to me again. I get it, he’s having a hard time. But I’ve been suffering because of him during all these past months. I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can do anything about it. I’m sorry, Kat.”

Before she could say another word, you hung up.

I know we weren't perfect, but I've never felt this way for no one

And I just can't imagine how you could be so okay now that I'm gone

'Cause you didn't mean what you wrote in that song about me

'Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

Yeah, you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

You couldn’t stop thinking about the conversation with Kat. It had been a month when she texted you inviting you over to a party. You declined the invitation, but she told you that Colby was much better and that he agreed on not even talking to you if you didn’t want to. You still said no. Kat begged you, she offered to be by your side during the whole night. She said she was missing you too much. Finally, you gave up.

When you arrived the party was already started, the music blasting and people dancing. Kat was waiting for you on the door, she grabbed you by the arm and she promised that she wouldn’t leave your side. You smiled politely and took the shot she offered you.

Hours passed by and you had to go to the bathroom. Sam offered you to go to the one in his room and you agreed. Going up the stairs the music turned lower and you breathed deeply, already kinda tired. You were about to go into Sam’s room when you heard the door behind you opening. You froze, what a surprise.

“(Y/N)?” That. fucking. voice.

You turned around with your best smile plastered on your face.

“Hello, Colby.”

“How are you?” You didn’t respond, the room filling with awkward silence, one more time. “I actually wanted to tell you that I’m really so-”

You cut him off.

“Save it, Colby.” He seemed surprised. “I’m done with your bullshit. In fact, I’m done with you. You hurt me and I’m just trying to heal and live my life. So please, leave me alone.” You tried to leave quickly.

“(Y/N), wait!” He grabbed your arm and you kept having flashbacks to the last time you found yourself in this position. “I’m sorry, okay. I know I fucked us up. But you can’t tell me that bullshit.” Your eyes widened.

“Excuse me?”

“C’mon, (Y/N).” His face was inches away from you and you could smell the alcohol on his mouth. “You’re really going to tell me that you didn’t come to this party expecting to bump into me? You’re going to tell me that right now you’re not dying to kiss me?”

You wanted to kiss him. You wanted to kiss him badly. But that was not an option, not tonight.

“Fuck you, Colby.”

You slapped his hand away from your body and ran downstairs. You went to your car directly and drove home. You couldn’t help the tears coming down your face when you arrived home. He was an asshole, a liar and an egotistical fuck.

And the saddest thing was that you were still completely in love with him.

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 139

Day Two of the Food Festival!  This one has a specific request from @baelpenrose, which was fun to play with in the Low-Stim session (always on day 2).

To everyone who has reached out to tell me how much they are enjoying getting to see Sophia actually relax and just have fun for once.... Y’all are the best! It’s been fun writing it, too. 

New reader shout outs go to @corvallis, @penguin--person, @amphibiousuprising, @chip5-0, and I think @lostsoul8822. I think that’s everyone... If I missed you, please DM me, and I’ll add you to the next chapter.

On with the show!

The first day of the Festival, Conor and I ended up staying through not only Maverick’s shift but the one after, just so we could drag him to our favorite spots. Day two, however, Conor was on deck as Support Personnel as well as Maverick, and neither were assigned to me - for the first half of day two, we were in the Low Stim Mode, so I was pretty sure I could brave it on my own with everyone else’s proximity alerts and my own personal hyper-alertness preventing accidental bumps.

For me, the most exciting part was the different foods offered, and the fact that I could focus on just the food. Not having to ignore the other stimuli was a completely relaxing experience. The visual of the mural, with everything present, was still completely different in the even, indirect lighting. The dual nature of it was toned down significantly, leading to the overall feel being softer and overall more pleasant without being distracting.

Halfway through a very good pad thai, I spotted Derek and Sam sitting with Ivan and poking at something that Sam was clearly excited about and Derek was equally doubtful of. I circled around so they could see me approaching, and made a point to wave. “What do you think?” I asked, trying to sign as I spoke but hampered by the food in my hands.

“It was a good try,” Derek confessed, cheeks stuffed with something that had previously been on a plate to his left as a backup plan.

Setting my food down, I grinned mischievously. “Doing my best,” I signed, leading to laughter on all sides.

“You just told him you do him the best,” Ivan murmured, my face immediately flooding red.

“That is NOT what I meant,” I tried to explain out loud, over-enunciating while I clenched my hands in embarrassment.

To his credit, Derek signed what he seemed to understand I meant, emphasizing each sign. It was clear that I had gotten several out of order and added one that changed everything overall.

After repeating the signs and getting confirmation, I shook my head and sighed dramatically. “I tried.”

Ivan was trembling with laughter. “You. You did,” he admitted. “But that was… wow.” His head dropped on his hands as he shook silently.

“Souffle pancakes?” I offered, finger spelling the word souffle since I had no freaking clue how to actually sign it.

“Egg pancake,” Derek explained, poking the one I offered and contemplating the jiggle.

“It’s cinnamon sugar, and not gooey,” I explained.

Apparently I got that one right, because Derek immediately stabbed a piece and shoved it in his mouth.  The only judgement I needed was the fact that he dragged the entire remaining pancake onto his plate.

Sam watched his roommate before contemplating his own sample. Before he could even ask, I held up a cup full of macerated berries. “And fruit topping for you, sir.”

“Are those my berries?” he asked, skeptical.

I shook my head. “Bog standard, from the consoles. Your vegetables and fruits are being used in the other shifts. We didn’t want to give anyone here unexpected tastes.”

He nodded and dumped the entire cup of fruit over his pancake, digging in happily.

Ivan batted his eyes at me until I explained. “Sam’s produce has… unexpected pairings. Tomatoes that pair with cheesecake and wines, strawberries that really go well with steak…”

“The mango that goes with beer but not fish?”

“Yeah, that one. Von soil does strange things to produce, turns out.”

“Those matcha-edamame are amazing though.”

“For ice cream, yes. For tea, less so. They’re like… cooking matcha, almost.” I laughed. They actually worked better for ice cream than matcha did, oddly - reducing the sugar content but still giving the same flavor.

“One vendor on the last day is using nothing but my produce,” Sam announced happily. “They asked my permission.”

“That’s good!” I encouraged him. “They should always ask your permission to do things like that.”

“People ask with requisition forms,” he agreed. “Mona asked in person.”

Note to self: much more patronage at Mona’s normal spot, I swore in my head.  She specialized in vegetarian dishes, and honestly made some of the best fried cabbage I’d had in my life.  Knowing that she was so considerate of Sam cemented her as my new favorite takeaway place.

After a little more chat, I finally waved my goodbyes to everyone and strolled slowly to the next tempting stall. I wasn’t really in any hurry, and did more people-watching than I did eating. Latkes were infinitely more interesting when I could overhear people arguing over family recipes.  A small bowl of udon was delicious, but not nearly as flavorful as the discussion around hot versus cold, what to top them with, egg or no egg… the only thing anyone seemed to agree on was that the smiling vendor ‘obviously’ ground their own flour, because the flour provided by the consoles was the wrong texture.

Another mental note: don’t learn to make udon.  Despite what I had previously believed, it takes a lifetime to make it right, turns out.

Wandering further down, I was delighted by the discovery of something that was very clearly Hannah’s doing: demonstrations of older food prep techniques.  Simon winked at me as he carried on a demonstration of - insanely - how to hand pull toffee. I didn’t know he could do that. Muna was demonstrating the correct way to make chapatis and handing them out as fast as she was making them. Clearly, she had been making them her whole life, because at no point did I actually see her look at them, but every single one was perfect.

Laughter erupted over my shoulder, and I whipped my head around to see the source. After wading through a crowd of smiling faces, I couldn’t help but join in.  There, right in front of the entire Ark, was Maverick trying to flip takoyaki as fast as the person demonstrating, and ending up with just a mess of octopus and batter on his side.  Both Maverick and the person guiding him were smiling, though, and in the end, the vendor handed Maverick four perfectly-round balls and quickly devoured all of the - less shapely, so to speak - ones on my partner’s side.  With an exuberant cheer and extending his arms wide to the crowd, the man exclaimed “The first takoyaki of a new student are always my favorite! Nothing tastes better!”

After bowing to his sensei, Maverick turned and spotted me, face still flushed with laughter.  He offered his food to a smaller man I did not recognize, who must have been the person Maverick was Supporting, before waving to me and continuing on.  Despite the urge to crush him in a hug, I forced my feet to stay in place and reminded myself that he was working.

By the time I trusted myself not to race after him, I realized someone had been trying to get my attention and had resorted to messaging me rather than shouting. “Phee, I don’t know what la-la land you are lost in, but look 100 yards to your four.”

The hell was Arthur doing here? He wasn’t scheduled to work this shift, as far as I was aware.  Craning my neck over my shoulder, I turned to see… Apparently a hallucination. It had to be.  There was no chance in any of the nine hells that Arthur Farro was dishing out spaghetti, much less smiling while doing it.

Almost dreamlike, I found myself drifting over to confirm that I was wrong, only to be startled when he shoved a plate with not only spaghetti but two gorgeous pieces of garlic bread under my nose. “Special plates, you can’t smell anything unless it’s on purpose.”

“You… Spaghetti?” I asked, eloquent as ever.

“Family recipe.”

“Leaning into the stereotype a bit, aren’t you?” I asked carefully before shoving as much of one thick, crusty piece of toast in my mouth as I could.

He shook his head. “Anyone who tells you their family is Italian and denies having a family recipe for anything is a damned liar.”

Skeptically, I took a bite. It was amazing. “Ah ee deh rehahee,” I tried to get out around the heap of pasta I was steadily shoving in my mouth.

“Maverick is a very bad influence on your table manners,” he observed drily, plating more portions and handing them out. “And no. Not happening.”

“You know I can cook.”

“Not the point. I also know that you will fiddle with it until it is unrecognizable, so there’s really no point in giving it to you.”

Defiantly, I took a smaller bite and chewed carefully. “Garlic, onions, obviously. Sausage and minced… Lamb? But that’s probably just for this session, knowing you it’s spicy sausage regularly.  I’m not getting carrot, though, so no soffritto? Unexpected…. Is that thyme, I’m tasting?”

“Rosemary, you heathen. And you’re still wrong.”

I mumbled to myself. “What did I get wrong? It’s gotta be the lamb… maybe he does usually use the lamb? I’m certain it is lamb…”

“It is lamb, and no, I don’t usually use it. But you left several things out.”

I stared at the plate again, confused. “I didn’t think I needed to mention the tomatoes….”

“Basil… oregano….” he drawled.

“Duhhh?” I poked through the last bite on my plate, sniffing it, trying to figure out what I was missing. “Fine, you win, I’m lost.”

“Mushrooms, Sophia. There’s mushrooms. Jeezus. It was an easy one, too.”  He showed me a bowl full of what looked like cooked and crumbled sausage, only for me to realize it was the tiniest diced mushrooms I had ever seen in my life.

“I am dying to know how you got them that small.”

“With a knife?” He arched an eyebrow at me as he turned to start another batch of sauce.

“Yeah, no shit, Arthur.”

“Correct, there is no shit in the spaghetti,” he confirmed cheekily as the vegetables started sizzling.

“Asshole,” I laughed, scraping the remaining sauce from my plate with the piece of bread I saved just for that purpose. Just as I was frowning at the sauce-less plate and remaining half-piece of bread, a scalding hot dollop of fresh sauce invaded my vision.

“You love me, because I won’t let you frown at your bread like that.”

Fiiiinnnne I sighed in my head as I shoved a piece of saucy, saucy bread into my cheeks and waggled my fingers to let him get back to work.

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[omg-im-such-a-masochist]

A NEW EXPERIENCE

Prompt: You and Roman have been together for 7 years now,and on the night of your 5th year wedding anniversary,you have a new way to demonstrate your love for him

Word count: Uh girl,grab a snack ‘cuz this one is long!

Pairing: Roman Reigns x Reader

Warnings: +18 smut,cursing,slight self-degradation,fluff(at the end),a lot of intimacy and Tantric Massage(yes,you’ve heard it right 😉)

A little disclaimer,before we continue: Tantra is a middle eastern (more precisely Indian) philosophy and spiritual path,the tantric massage itself is a wonderful experience that DOES NOT involves any sort of sexual interaction such as penetration or masturbation!Yes it does involve yoni/lingam massage(vagina/penis massage) but the whole goal of it it’s not orgasm/ejaculation.It can happen of course,’cuz we’re humans but if it can it has to be delayed/controlled since that’s not a goal to be reached,it’s a full body experience and a deeper self connection and healing journey.So if someday you reach out a PROFESSIONAL for this especific massage,keep all this things in mind,please.The only reason I’ve included sex on this it’s because the characters in this story are married and got carried away(also because,it’s Roman I mean,who wouldn’t?). Also they don’t live the Tantra as a philosophy or spiritual path at all! It’s just a new way of working they intimacy together as a couple.It is NOT my intention to degrade ANY form of philosophy/spiritual path from anyone’s beliefs,this is for entertainment purposes only,and also a new way for me to write about new/different themes(or personal study topics of mine) for my stories. I have a deep love for middle eastern cultures and an even deeper love for studying different types of philosophy/spiritual paths.

Tag: My soul sister @ziasaph

Notes: Y’all know the drill loves,sorry for misspellings,english isn’t my first language (bla bla bla),check out my other stories if you’d like to(it would make your girl here very happy 😊) and if you’re comfortable with it,please let me know what you think? Some feedback is always welcomed and appreciated ❤️You can check out my other stories typing ‘masochist writes’ on the search bar on my page and my newest story as a fixed post.

Okay,now let’s get to the fun part,shall we? Hope you’ll enjoy 😉

Today’s my 5th year wedding anniversary with my lovely husband,Roman.We’ve been together for 7 years now.The first time I met him,I gotta say, I hated him! There was something about him that screamed trouble.He was too good to be true,I mean,he was incredibly handsome,polite,thoughtful,kind,loving,funny,intelligent,respectful(a true gentleman really),the best kiss I’ve ever had and don’t even get me started on this man’s bedroom skills...No man ever fucked me like that,no man ever cared much more about my pleasure than with he’s own,no man could make me feel like a goddess the way he could..you see what I mean?He couldn’t be an honest good man right?!And I knew better!Oh I really did..I’ve always had a “rotten finger” when it came to my men choices.If you putted me in a room with two guys,a truly good man and a shitty asshole,I would’ve had 100% chose the latter.Maybe for the “fun” of it or even just to prove my Freudian fate,who knows?

But when I decided to finally give in to the Samoan’s charm and accepted to finally officially date him,I discovered why he smelled like trouble,because as soon as I found out I was in love with him I knew I had lost my whole heart to that man!And if you came from a emocional troubled background,like I did,you know that that’s the worst case scenario one could ever have.But funny enough,despite my deepest fears,he changed my whole world,he dragged me out of the shit pit I’ve always lived in and pushed me into the light beside him,making me forget everything bad that ever happened to me,transforming my reality into the fairytale I could never had imagined.If you told me,7 years ago,that right now I would be here telling you this same story,I would have have bitterly laughed at your face and asked you to give me a hit of whatever it is that you had.

But here I am,finishing to set up one of our guests room for the surprise I had in mind for my husband.I’m sure that this will never repay him for the way he always made me feel,but at least I hope he can have a bit of a glimpse of how much I truly love and care for him.

I was lighting up the last pair of candles when I heard the front door open,his deep sigh and the loud thump of his bags dropping on the living room floor.

“Y/N,baby girl? You home?” That voice alone could bring the biggest,truthful smile upon my lips.I put the lighter on my jacket’s pocket,carefully closing the guest room door and I ran downstairs to meet my redemption in form of a man.

“Roman!” I squealed while I preceded to jump on his arms and wrap my legs around his waist,kissing him like I would never see him again.

“Wow!” He chuckled “I see someone missed me those 3 weeks,huh?!” Still laughing,he wrapped his big arms around my waist and retributed my kiss vigorously.

“Of course I missed you baby!You’re my Samoan Prince Charming,how could I not miss that?!”I laughed.

“Prince Charming,huh?!”He chuckled “You wait ‘til you see what I wanna do to you...I’m pretty sure you’re gonna change your mind from prince charming to tramp real quick!”He smirks and I can already feel my panties getting damp with excitement.

“Oh really,big guy?! Well I’m sorry,but I’m about to piss in your yard and ruin your dreams!’Cuz I already have a surprise for you,and that took a lot of prep time too,so as much as I would love to see what you have in mind that will have to wait,at least ‘til later.”

“Piss in my yard?!Oh baby girl,always so delicate with your words!”He laughed

“What? I’m expressive,you know that!Also if anyone here is the well mannered,polite and posh one that’s you,I’m just you know,rough street trash”.I bitterly said

“Hey!Don’t say that,please.You know that I don’t like when you degradate yourself like that.You’re not trash,you’re my everything!And let’s be honest here baby, I love your rough side..”He squeezed my ass,to prove his point.

“If you keep doing that, I’m gonna get all worked up,and you’re going to ruin my surprise...” I whispered

“Ok,ok.I stopped!”He chuckled,then gave me a light peck on the lips before lowering me down to the ground.”So what do you have planned?”

“You know it’s called surprise for a reason right?!”I said.

“Oh c’mon Y/N! Not even a little preview baby?” He gave me those beautiful puppy eyes,and the bastard knew that I would give in.

“Argh,you’re the worst!”I faked an annoyed face,but he knew I was pretending so he just smiled and I couldn’t help but smile back.”Ok the only,ONLY thing I will tell you is that it involves a large amount of intimacy..I’ve never done that to anyone before..and it’s an incredible experience.That’s all I’m saying!”I proudly huffed.He stared at my face for an eternity before he slowly smirked at me saying “You do realize that you said you were going to tell me just ONE thing about it,but you ended up telling me THREE instead,right?!” He started laughing when I poked his broad chest saying “Shut up! You know,you’re lucky I love you,because otherwise I would just kick your ass right now.”I tried to hold back my laugh,but that soon was forgotten when he kissed my lips so slowly and sweet and said “I don’t have a doubt you could kiss my ass at anytime baby.” He lazily smiled at me,before his expression turned more serious. “I love you Y/N so fucking much!” He caresses my face before continuing “I’m so happy I could take a few days off to be with you,to celebrate the 7 years we’ve been together..and the many more years yet to come” He pecked my lips lightly “I could never have asked for a better woman,wife,best friend,lover,supporter..my own personal safe harbor.” He shyly smiled at me and pressed our foreheads together,and I couldn’t help the tears escaping through my eyes.

“Oh baby girl, I didn’t meant to make you cry!” He said

“Those are happy tears I promise!” I sighed “Besides,I feel bad that I can’t say such beautiful things to you,I’m sorry baby,that you got the product made with a broken mold” I sadly sighed.

“Hey,I already told you to stop saying those bad things about yourself! Also you don’t have to apologize,I know everything you went through and it’s normal for someone in your position to be a little careful when showing your fellings,and trust me babe, I don’t need your words to know that you love me,your actions already do the job!” The smile he gave me was so sincere that reached his eyes.And I really hope that my actions tonight will prove his statement to be right.

“So,when do you plan on giving me my surprise?” He asked with a sparkle in his eyes.And I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Well the first thing I need to know is if you’re already fed?”

“Yep! I stopped by a cafe on my way home and ate something light,like you asked me to”. He responded

“Good!Now I’m gonna need you to take a shower so you can wash away the tiredness of your flight,towel yourself dry,but don’t put any clothes on I’m gonna need you naked for this.” He maliciously smirked at me.

“You need me naked,huh?” He licked his lips “Ok,sounds like a great surprise so far..”

“Yes it is! And if I were you, I would hurry up..”

With that he ran off to the bathroom like a little boy,and a few seconds later I could hear the water running.

As soon as I finished stripping the last piece of clothing off my body,I heard the bathroom door open and Roman call for me.

“I’m in the guest room.The one near the stairs.” A few seconds later, I see him entering the room.

“Wow,this looks beautiful!” Since we never used that room as a guest room,it didn’t had a bed(which helped a lot) I just cleaned the hardwood floor,placed a big extra thick(about 40mm) yoga exercise mat in the center of the room,a lot of candles(some were sandalwood scented,but not many,so it doesn’t get too nauseating.Just enough to give that relaxing feeling),some rose petals around the floor, a few cozy cushions around the yoga mat and a little low table with one massage candle and a large thermical water bottle(to keep the water cold and fresh).It wasn’t much but it did look cozy and spa like.

“Did you like it?”

“If I like it?Baby girl it’s perfect!”Then he looked at my naked body and added “Perfect indeed” as he slowly lowered down to catch my lips in the most romantic kiss. When I broke the kiss(‘cuz if it was for him,we would stay there for hours) I begin to explain to him what my surprise was.

“I was thinking what I could give you for our 5th year anniversary that wasn’t bought from a store,but had more of a deep sentimental value” He slowly nodded

“I was talking to Sarah and she told me that Lisa,her new girlfriend is a Tantric massage therapist and had given her a tantric massage one day,she said it was the best experience she’s ever had.So I got curious and decided to make an appointment with her and babe” I sighed “I’ve never had in my life,such an amazing experience! The feeling is...I can’t describe,you have to feel it to understand it. My point is,Lisa told me that tantric massage can be used by couples as a form of bonding,like a deeper connection. It can be used to strengthen they’re intimacy.” When I saw the confused look on his face I said

“What I’m trying to say is that I love you so much” He smiles “I love you too baby girl” I smiled back,continuing my explanation “And I know that you’re the best man I could’ve ever had asked for myself!Even too good for me,but my point is that,it makes me upset that I don’t tell you as often as I would like to how much you mean to me,so I asked Lisa for some advice on how to perform a tantric massage on you and thought that,maybe it would be a nice way to show you how I truly feel,through this” I pointed out to the set up in front of us,smiling shyly.

“I-I..baby girl, I don’t even know what to say...This is all so beautiful, I mean, you didn’t need to make all this to show me that you care or love me babe,I know that regardless” he touched my face softly and quickly added “But that doesn’t mean I’m not curious about your surprise..In fact I’m quite excited to see what this is all about” He has a evil sparkle on his eyes and we both couldn’t help but laugh.

“Ok big dog,I gonna need you to lay down on your stomach for me,okay?”

He smiled and did as I asked.

I kneeled down on one of the cushions beside the yoga mat and said

“Alright baby,now,I need you to close your eyes,relax and just focus on my touch upon your skin ok?” When he nodded I grabbed the massage candle and started by dripping some of the wax into his ankles and calves,lightly spreading the melted wax up,until it reaches his back thighs.

I remembered that Lisa told me that this should not be a relaxing massage,in the sense of quizzing in the muscles to bring relief,but it was more focused on the touch it self,so I had to keep a very lightweight touch and make sure that only my finger tips(and occasionally my finger nails if I wanted to) touched his skin lightly.

When I reached his back thighs I notice Roman shifting his weight ever so slightly.

*Oh thank God,I’m doing this right!* I thought to myself relieved.

I dripped more wax,now,onto his perfect round ass and lower back.As I begin working out the wax and spreading it I heard a deep,low,almost inaudible,growl leave his lips and I couldn’t help but smile to myself.I let my finger nails just lightly roam his ass,lower back and side hips.I was so lost in the action that I was caught by surprise when a loud moan left Roman’s lips.

“Y/N..”

I grabbed the candle again and repeated the same process but now on his middle and upper back,shoulders,in the back of his arms and forearms,the palm of his hands,his fingers,neck and ears.

When I reached his head,I lightly dive my finger tips through his hair so I could reach his scalp and begin lightly massaging it,as if I was washing his hair,when I very lightly scratched his scalp I heard a very familiar sound

“Mmmmm fuck,oh shit...Mmmmm”

*Hold on..did he just? Oh I know THAT sound,I think he came!* I thought to myself

I lightly tapped his shoulder twice(a sign for him to turn onto his back) and when he did I could see that I was right,as there were evidences of his cum not only on his stomach but also on the yoga mat,and his deliciously thick erection resting on his belly.

I placed a cushion under his hips and one under the back of his head before I repeated the same previous actions.Starting from the soles of his feet,working my way up his shin,knees,thighs,lower abdomen,hips,abdomen,ribs,chest,nipples,side of the neck,face,front shoulders,biceps,forearm and the front of his hands.

Once I got up and placed myself on the mat,between his legs, I looked at him and I could swear that in 7 years,I’ve never seen that man with such a wild,primal,raw,luscious look on his face.

“Ro?”

“Hm?” I’ve never heard his voice so rough before

“We’re going to the last step now,ok?”

“Mhmm” was all he answered with his gaze glued to my face

I dripped some wax onto my hands and rub them together to spread it.

I took his length into my left hand,lightly squeezed the base of his cock and started to pull my hand up towards the head until my hand slides off,just so I could grabbed it with my right hand and repeat the same steps.

“Oh my fucking God” He rolled his eyes to the back of his head “ Sweet fucking Christ,Oohhh fuuuck” He moaned with a raspy voice.

I took the opportunity to massage the head of his cock in a orange juicer motion.

“Argh” He deeply growled,snapped his eyes open and look at me with a deadly look on his face “Fuck me Y/N! I need you to fuck me right now! Come here and ride me nice and hard baby”

“But Roman,I’m not done ye-“

“I don’t give a fuck!” He gritted “I need you,and I need you right now! Just come here,and put my cock inside that sweet tight pussy baby” He smirked in an almost demonic way and I immediately straddle his hips.

Once I lined his cock to my entrance he quickly thrusted inside of me,making me gasp.

While he gave sometime to adjust he said

“Oh it feels good to be home!” He chuckled

“Baby girl, I don’t know what you did or how,but we’re definitely gonna be doing this more often!” He smiled deviously before he holded my hips in place so he could fuck me like a maniac.

“Oh Ro,fuck”

I’ve never felt him so thick,so deep and so hard inside of me.He was fucking me at a pace so brutal that it was almost deliciously painful.

He grabbed my wrists from his chest and rapidly tugged me down so our chests were glued to each other’s,he took the opportunity to ferociously kiss my lips while he preceded to fuck me brutally.

“Ro,baby,I’m gonna-“

I couldn’t even finish my sentence,because my orgasm hit me so hard that I couldn’t even breathe properly.

“Oh fuck me baby! So fucking tight...so warm...” He gritted “So insanely wet”

With that I could feel his cock throbbing and the hot spurts of his cum inside of me.

When he released his last spurt,we look at each other’s eyes and shared the most passionate loving kiss.When we broke the kiss I said

“I love you Ro,so much”

“With your heart,body and soul?” He lightly smiled,remembering his own words said to me on our wedding vows.

I smiled back before answering without a doubt

“With all of my heart,my whole body and my only soul”

And it was in that moment that I knew I couldn’t have picked a better surprise for the owner and of my heart,body and soul.

[murderousginger]

Written In The Streets

Peaky Blinders fic

Cops & Robbers Part 4

Warnings: Sex. Murder. Fluff. Angst. They're criminals guys, they do bad things.

Words: 3.8k

--Note: Happy Tuesday! I had a 3 day weekend and got excited during a rewatch of Peaky Blinders season 1. This is a little spicier and violent, but it very much is in the realm of the show. Enjoy!--

Tagging: @imagine-that-100 @blinder-secrets @rae-you-gotta-be-kidding-me @theshelbyclan @peakascum @sweatydragoncloudknight

It was midday and you were busy about the house when a knock came upon your door. You paused, listening hard before you moved toward it. You hadn't been expecting anyone. You paused at the door, staring hard at it before you finally unlocked it and opened it a crack. 

"Come with me," Tommy said as he grabbed your hand and pulled you out of the sliver in your doorway.

"Tommy," you shrieked and fought back but his grip on your wrist was too strong. "at least let me lock the door."

He looked back at you and loosened his grip wordlessly. You turned and grabbed your purse from the hallway and locked the door, turning back to Tommy. He grabbed your hand again, this time with less strength, and led you to his car.

The ride was quiet and thoughts raced through your head. You stole a glance at Tommy, white knuckled and eyes locked on the road ahead of him. You had no way of knowing where he was taking you and you grew more worried the longer it was quiet. You itched to relieve the tension, but you feared it at the same time.

Tommy stopped the car at the side of a bridge over The Cut and got out of the car, rounding it to open your door. He held his hand out for you and you took it without hesitation, stepping out of the car and following him down a set of stairs to the canal. He stopped you a few steps from the bottom and sat you down, looking off at the water, his hand still holding yours. You watched him closely as he nodded out to the canal.

"This," Tommy said as he looked over the water, "is where I come to think sometimes. When it's quiet. When my mind won't be."

You sat quiet, watching his blue eyes scan the horizon. You looked out into the canal, surveying the waterway and the bend up ahead with fresh eyes to try to see what he saw.

"And this," Tommy rumbled, "here, here is how I found you and John." 

Your head snapped up to look at him, Tommy's gaze squinting over the water. You ripped your hand from his as if he burnt you. He pointed to the bank a few hundred feet down and nodded. 

"You came running into the water there," he said evenly. "Harping at John to turn his back as you threw off your dress." 

Your cheeks burned in embarrassment. Your head dipped when Tommy finally turned his attention to you.

"Nothing to see in the 2 a.m. black," he said softly before returning his attention to the riverbank and the story. "John turned, I'm guessing. Perhaps not. Your clothes went off, and that's when I realized you were the one occupying our John's nights."

"Our John," you repeated with mirth. "Your John. Esme's John. Not mine."

"He's as much yours as ours," he said. "There's few things he'd choose above you. More he'd fight."

"But he would choose above me," you said.

"Can't have that, can you?" Tommy teased dryly. "Our (Y/N)'s greedy."

"Business before me," you said stiffly. "Blood before me. Not a woman."

"Not a woman," Tommy said. "And when the business keeps the man from your bed? And coppers or Italians pull you from your door because they think they can leverage you from who you're fucking?"

"That life I know," you said softly. "As long as he's honest."

"If you want to work in my organization, you have to make sacrifices," he said. 

"All I've made is sacrifices," you retorted with a snort. "Who wants to date a Blinders girl, Tommy? There's always been rumors I'm either carrying a dick or being passed around by you lot. Any men that weren't deterred by that were sure as hell scared of you boys." 

"Well," he said with an amused look, "could always have left Polly's rule for search for a husband, if that's what you're after."

"I'm not after a husband, Tommy," you shot back. "My mother detests me I have no close kin, no husband, no love. Blinders are my life." 

Tommy reached for your hand again and slowly brushed his thumb along your knuckle. 

"You're family, (Y/N)," Tommy said quietly. 

"I'm not Shelby," you said. "You may be my boys but I don't belong."

"You'll always belong with us," Tommy said. "It's all about where you want to be."

"And where is it you want me to be, Tommy?" You asked softly.

Tommy let go of your hand with a pat and looked back out to the canal. All moments of softness hidden behind an air of business.

"I want to see what you're made of," he said. "I've paired you with John. Tomorrow you'll go with him to The Yard. Got a man named Wilks that works for us. Word is he's got loose lips on the whiskey. Find out who he told what to."

"You trust me with John?" You said with a raised brow.

"I trust that what's done might be done again," he said evenly. "But I trust he'll watch out for you more than anyone but me."

"Tommy--" you started.

"Go see him in the morning and do the job," Tommy cut you off. "To prove yourself."

"I've already proven myself," you argued. "Years ago."

"You proved yourself to Pol, not me," Tommy said cooly. "Pol's not running things anymore. And if you want to keep your place you'll need to keep up." 

"Fine, Tommy," you said with a sigh as you turned back to the canal. "I'll show you my worth."

"I've no doubt you will," he said as he looked over the water. 

----

The next morning you got ready in the twilight. You decided on a simple dress and boots and stuffed your pockets with a small knife each. You cursed yourself that you never got around to a gun, but you had never found a good way to conceal one and your shot needed work. 

When you were done, you slipped out of your apartment and headed toward John's home. You moved quickly through the streets as the sun rose and the birds started to sing their morning songs. After a few blocks, you looked up to John's house and took a deep breath before knocking on the door. 

A young girl opened the door and looked up at you expectantly. You nervously smiled. 

"'lo," you said, rubbing your sweaty hands along the front of your dress, "is John -- erhm your dad home?"

The girl eyed you shortly before opening the door the rest of the way and walking back to a seat next to a baby in a chair. Nothing was said as she went back to feeding the baby.

"John," you called, hesitating in the doorway before you walked in. "Where are you?"

Kids were all over the kitchen. One of the girls was perched on a stool cooking on the stove, two boys were wrestling on the floor yelling, and of course the baby being fed by the girl that let you in. None of them paid you much mind as you walked through the kitchen and into the other room. You saw a closed door, guessing it was a bedroom.

"John" you yelled and kicked the door with your boot. It gave way much easier than you expected and swung open to reveal the sight before you. 

Esme was on top of John, riding him like a prized racehorse. She barely stopped her rhythm as she wrapped the sheet around her more to hide her chest. John lay back grinning with his hands disappeared into the sheet. He laughed as she saw you in the doorway.

"Tommy finally get tired of interrupting us hisself?" Esme said in between breaths. 

Your eyes widened as you realized what you were witnessing. 

"Oh god--" you exclaimed and turned back around, walking back into the kitchen. 

You sat down on the other side of the table from the kids and waited, mouth shut as you tried to look anywhere but the doorway you came from. 

A sharp yell of passion erupted from the other room and you bit your lip nervously as you watched the girl at the stove. 

"You staying for breakfast?" The girl said, eyeing you as she stirred. You smiled nervously. 

"No thank you," you said quietly. "I'm just here to see your father."

Esme appeared in the doorway, still flushed but dressed in a navy flowy dress and shawl, and looked at you with an amused quirk of her lips. 

"Here to see John, eh?" She said over the scuffle on the floor as she wrapped the shawl around her shoulders tighter and sat next to the girl feeding the baby. 

"Boys, go wrestle elsewhere," Esme said sharply. 

They both sounded a "yes mum" as they got off the floor and pushed and shoved each other into the other room. 

"Yes," you said as the kitchen quieted. "Tommy sent me. I'm (Y/N). I'm s'pose to go with John to handle business at the dock."

"(Y/N)," Esme said as she looked at you. "His little friend from childhood? I've heard of you. Prettier than I expected, running with Shelby boys for so long."

You blushed and ducked your head with a murmur of thanks. 

"You're not one I should worry about, are you?" She said, leaning back in her chair and placing a hand on the table in front of her.

"No," you said with a laugh. "I'm not anyone's second priority. And you and the children are rightfully first." 

"Good," Esme said with a small smile. "I think I like you. It'd be a shame to kill you." 

"Knives or guns your specialty?" You asked with a grin. "You should have seen this man the other night when I threatened to cut off his balls."

You both laughed, equally relaxing in your seats.

"Is that my favorite girls getting along?" John said as he entered the kitchen while putting on his belt. 

John grinned at you as he put his arm around Esme, placing a kiss on her head. 

"Mornings are best when started with sex or breakfast," he laughed as he kissed Esme on the lips before turning to you. "When it's both it's better."

He nabbed a biscuit off the table and bit into it and winked at you.

"Shame you've been keeping us apart, John," you said with a look. "Esme and I could have been giving you a run for ages."

"Likely drive me mad," he said with a laugh. "Both of you on whiskey together would be more trouble than it's worth."

"Promise?" Esme said grinning. "We must have a night then, (Y/N)."

You nodded as John rolled his eyes. 

"Right, then," he said, ruffling his daughter's hair and giving Esme another kiss. "Let's be off before you can make more trouble in my kitchen."

You scoffed with a laugh as he shooed you to stand and pushed you out the door. 

"Nice to meet you!" You called behind you.

"You can't hide her anymore, John," Esme yelled as you both left. 

John guided you down to the car and opened the door for you. You smacked him as you climbed in. 

"What was that for?" He exclaimed and pushed your shoulder before he closed your door and made his way into the driver's seat. 

"I like her," you said. "And you're a dick." 

John chuckled and drove to the dock. 

----

John drove to The Yard and parked. You both got out of the car and made your way through the streets looking for the man named Wilks. 

"John boy!" A voice boomed. You both looked over to see a gruff older man with a big smile headed your way with open arms. 

"Uncle Charlie," John called back as he hugged the man. 

"I see you've got angel with you," Charlie said with a grin. 

You grinned back as Charlie let go of John to hug you. 

"Charlie," you said, "still up to no good?"

You both chuckled and John looked on at you quizzically. Charlie's arm hung around your shoulders as he faced John.

"Angel?" John asked. "You two know each other?"

"Your aunt Pol used to send this one down with orders," Charlie said, squeezing you in a side hug. "She refused to tell me her name for ages. Shy thing, she was. I told her angels had no names. So we all called her angel at the docks. Sweet thing she is, too sweet to run with you boys."

John's brows raised in shock. 

"Well aren't you full of surprises," he said as he grabbed a pick from his pocket and rolled it in his mouth. "You've got all kinds of names and secrets, it sounds like."

"And you're shortly learning them all," you grimaced. You turned your attention to Charlie. "We're looking for a man named Wilks, seen him?"

"Aye," Charlie said, watching you both closely before pointing. "He's down there by the dock."

"Right," John said. "We'll need to talk to him alone. Send the rest on break."

Charlie nodded and you all walked down, Charlie quietly sending the others away as he discreetly nodded to a pudgy man near the edge of the water. You both cornered the man, his eyes widened as he backed up and his heel teetered on the edge of the dock. You raised your hands to halt him. 

"We're only here to talk," you reassured with a smile. "Heard you might have gotten a little drunk at a pub. Told someone something you shouldn't."

"I didn't mean to," he said looking between you and John's stone faced expression. "Was just a drink or two and then he asked me a question I found odd." 

"Who?" You asked in a soothing voice, hands still up as you stepped forward. "Did you know the man?"

John watched you with sharp eyes as you got closer to Wilks as if walking to a scared horse. He chewed on his pick, letting you do the talking. 

"I didn't know them," he said, scared. "Just a man asking what it was like to work at docks. If we had any openings. If we moved anything odd. Anything to note."

"And what did you tell them?" John said, taking a step forward but still a good length behind you. You were nearly next to the man as his eyes darted between you both and behind him as he looked for an exit. 

"I told him we move the normal stuff," he said gruffly, "and sometimes we move what Shelby's ask. He perked up at the name. Said it must be exciting to work for criminals. Must see some crazy cargo. I shrugged. Just told him sometimes you have shipments. Anything from guns to medical rations. Told him a shipment went to Camden Town not too long ago."

"Shouldn't have done that, Wilks," John said darkly as he took another step forward. "We don't take kindly to business being passed around." 

"I didn't do nothin'," Wilks protested. "I've got a wife and kids to feed." 

"Should have thought of that before you went talking," John said. 

Wilks grabbed your wrist and swung your body around, his calloused hand gripping your throat and the other around your waist. John cut the distance in a stride and stopped as Wilks lifted you by the throat, pressing your back to his chest.

"I don't want no trouble," he said, eyes darting for an exit. "Let me go home."

Your hands flew to your throat and your feet kicked as he lifted you higher. You could barely breathe in through his grip.

"Shouldn't have done that," John said with a glint in his eye. He pulled out his pistol and aimed it at him.

"Shouldn't have brought a girl for a man's job," Wilks growled in your ear as he squeezed your throat tighter. 

John's eyes were dark as he tried to aim at the man behind you. His face cycled between fear and anger as you realized he wouldn't have a good shot with Wilks holding you so close.

You gritted your teeth and kicked again. You felt your heel connect with his shin and he squeezed your throat harder as he roared. You dropped a hand from your throat and elbowed his chest as you thrashed in his hands. You clumsily made way to your pockets and pulled out a knife as your eyesight started to blacken. John lowered his pistol as you pulled back and stabbed Wilks in the thigh, making the man drop you. 

You stepped out of his reach and John raged forward with his fist cocked back. John's fist connected with Wilks’ face with a crack and the man fell to the ground. John continued pummeling the man as he writhed on the ground, your knife still in his thigh. 

You touched your neck, feeling the bruising that was likely to occur. You breathed deep, feeling the oxygen rush through you as you tried to stay conscious. As oxygen came back you turned back to John beating the man and grabbed John's arm as he cocked it back to hit Wilk's face again. 

As you grabbed his arm, he twisted in your grip and was about to punch you when he realized who you were and stopped himself. Wilks was beneath his feet in a bloody pile, his face almost indistinguishable. John's eyes met yours as you held his arm and looked at the blood that had spattered on his face and the wild look in his blue eyes. 

"John," you said hoarsely. Your throat was scratchy from being choked. 

His eyes softened and he pulled you to his chest. 

"Don't fucking scare me like that, yeah?" He whispered into your hair as you clung to him.

"I'm fine," you said. "But we need him alive to ask, yeah?" 

John let out a sigh as he deflated. 

"Yeah," he said. 

You pulled away and looked at his blue eyes worrying over you. You patted his arm and stepped out of his embrace to lean over the half conscious man under his feet. 

"Wilks," you said with a low growl. "Who did you tell?"

Wilks cried out as John kicked his ribs, finally stepping to the side so he wasn't under his feet. 

"I don't know," he said, screaming as you grabbed your knife from his thigh and pulled it out. "I didn't know the man. He had longer hair maybe? An odd accent. I'd never seen him before, I swear." 

You scowled at him, wiping his blood off of your knife with his vest. You pressed the knife under his throat. 

"Are you sure?" You growled. 

"Sounds like it could have been an Italian," John said as he spit on the man. "Maybe a Jew."

"I don't know," he cried. "Please."

You pulled your knife away and hid it back into your pocket. You looked up at John as he glared down at Wilks. 

"Your call, Shelby," you said, voice still hoarse. 

"I'll kill him," he said, kicking the man again. 

"No," you said. 

John scowled down at you, his jaw ticked as he was about to talk. 

"I'll do it," you said, sounding stronger than you felt. "This is meant to be my proofing water." 

John started again to fight you, but you raised a hand while you fished your knife out. Wilks started to thrash beneath you and John stepped on his chest to hold him still. John's eyes looked conflicted as you pulled the knife out of your pocket again and ran a finger along the blade.

You had hurt men before, but you had never killed. Most of your experience was from self defense. Tommy wanted to prove yourself, so prove yourself you shall. 

"You don't have to," John said defeated. "I'll tell Tommy you did it. You don't have to."

"No, John," you said solemnly. "I do. You aren't saving me from it. This is mine." 

You turned to Wilks and cut his throat in a swift motion. Blood poured from his neck as the light left his eyes. You stood up and stepped back as John kicked Wilks into the water. You watched numbly, knife still at your side. 

"Hey," John said as he turned around and rested his hand on your cheek. "Is'aright. Come here." 

He pulled you into his chest and you teared up but fought the urge to cry. You gulped it down, feeling the pain in your neck again. 

"John," you whispered. 

He pulled back to look you in the eye, one hand on your cheek and the other on your waist. 

"Let's get you back to your wife, yeah?" You said as you tried to feign a smile. 

You rested your hand on his chest before gently pushing him away. 

"Yeah, (Y/N)," John sighed. "Okay."

The ride back was quiet. You looked straight ahead as John drove, even though you could feel his eyes on you from time to time. When he offered to drive you home, you declined, telling him you'd rather walk from his home. 

You hugged him goodbye when you arrived at his home, and breathed deep the smell of him. He always smelled of gunpowder and pine, and you breathed it in deeply to comfort yourself. You said your goodbyes despite his worried expression, and walked down the road in a daze. You weren't ready to go home just yet. 

You stopped at a local bakery and bought a small piece of bread and walked to The Cut. You sat on Tommy's thinking place stairs and looked out over the canal, thinking. You sat for hours in a daze, eating bread and trying to process your thoughts. As twilight began to tease the sky, you snapped out of your thoughts. You needed to get home. 

You walked to your apartment and at the last minute you were grabbed by your neighbor. Gail was an older neighbor that always treated you kindly. You often brought her teas when you found a new flavor she might like. 

"Men came through asking where you were," Gail said in hushed tones. "They claimed to be coppers. They're in your apartment waiting for you now." 

You thanked her and left quickly back into the streets. It was now dark and getting colder by the moment. There was only one place you could think to go, so you walked to Tommy's house. You snuck in to sit on his bed and waited for him to arrive home for the night.

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch32: The Impossible Choice. Part 1: So Was I

Summary: Tony catches up with Steve, Katie and Bucky in Siberia and as the events unfold he learns the truth about how his parents were killed.

Warnings: Bad language, angst!

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: Wonderful edit again from @angrybirdcr​

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 31

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

The jet wasn’t fully fuelled so they couldn’t fly at full speed, meaning it took them a few hours to reach the wide, flat, snow-covered landscape of Siberia. Once they touched down, Steve cut the power and Katie stood up and moved to the back of the jet, opening the closet that held the Avenger’s weapons. Bucky stepped over and started examining the rack of guns labelled ‘Romanoff’ before he selected a light machine gun.

Katie reached over to grab two 9mms and twirled them in her hands before she slotted them into the holders on her thighs. Bucky watched her through the corner of his eye and raised an eyebrow as she reached over to select another larger rifle.

“Sure you can handle that thing, Sweetheart?” He asked, his tone was gently teasing and Katie snorted, whilst behind her Steve gave a chuckle.

“Stop flirting with my wife, Buck, and I’ll have you know she’s a trained sniper, give you a run for your money.” He spoke, almost proudly, as he slung his shield onto his back.

“That so?” Bucky’s mouth twisting into a grin. Katie simply smiled in response and cocked the larger gun, looking down the sight to check it was all clear.

The three of them stood together, Katie in the middle of the two super soldiers, waiting for the exit ramp to descend as Steve tossed his helmet in his hand. 

“You remember that time we had to ride back from Rockaway Beach in the back of that freezer truck?” Steve asked suddenly, looking over at Bucky as the cold air hit them. 

“Was that the time we used our train money to buy hot dogs?”  Bucky frowned

“You blew three bucks trying to win a stuffed bear for a redhead” Steve smirked.

“Right, what was her name again?” Bucky asked, a tone of amusement on his voice

“Dolores.” Steve answered instantly, smirk still on his face “You called her Dot.” 

“She’s gotta be a hundred years old right now.” Bucky said.

“So are we pal” Steve said, clamping his hand on Bucky’s shoulder. The ramp was now almost completely down. Steve placed his helmet on, fastened the strap under his chin and the three of them descended.

“Well it aint quite a freezer truck.” Katie mused. 

“I hate the cold.” Bucky sighed as they trudged through the snow.

“Yeah Stevie isn’t exactly a fan either. Although he still runs the Air Con at like minus twenty.”

“No, I don’t.” Steve sighed, and Bucky gave a bark of a laugh as the two of them began to playfully bicker.

“Our bedroom is freezing.”

“Look, I run at a higher temperature than you.” “Yeah yeah.” Katie rolled her eyes, gun still raised as she looked around.

“Our place was always cold in the winter.” Bucky mused, and then he laughed again “Hey Katie, once when we were kids, we built a fire using all this spare and wood we found in the outhouse.” “Yeah, your dad gave us a whack each round the back of the head as he’d been saving it to build a table.” Steve grinned again. “My ears were ringing for days.”

Katie smiled as the two men shared a laugh, it was nice to see them caught up in memories. But their reminiscing was short lived as they had reached the entrance to the bunker. Bucky turned round, just to make sure no one was behind them as Katie looked at the large, steel door set into the rock. It was open.

Bucky and Katie both raised their guns towards the gap.

“He can’t have been here more than a few hours” Steve shook his head as they stopped just outside, 

“Long enough to wake them up.” Bucky sighed. 

Steve looked at him, before his attention went back to the door and he stepped forward, into the cast iron bunker. Katie followed him in, Bucky taking up the rear and a couple of meters in front of them was a caged elevator. The three of them climbed in, Steve pressing the button hanging from the top and they descended into the depths of the bunker in silence until it reached its destination with a soft thud. 

Steve nodded to Bucky and then heaved up the cage door, Bucky readying his gun as they walked slowly down a corridor, keeping close to the wall. This time Bucky went first, Katie second, Steve following. Katie kept her gun raised, eyes sharp as she looked round into an alcove full of junk, the place seemed to be nothing but a dumping ground. They continued to move down the corridor before a loud thud rang around, causing them to spin around. Bucky aimed his gun back down the corridor, as did Katie, whilst Steve pulled his shield in front of him.

“You ready?” Steve asked, looking at Katie, then over at his friend as he took a slight step forward so he was almost shielding them both taking a step down the flight of stairs in front of them.

Katie nodded as Bucky replied “Yeah.”  

The double doors at the bottom began to open, but it wasn’t another super soldier that greeted the trio. It was Tony in his full Iron Man suit.

Katie stared in surprise as her brother retracted his helmet. 

“You seem a little defensive.” Tony quipped as Steve strode down the steps towards him, shield covering his body. Katie followed a yard or so behind, her gun now by her side. 

“Well, it’s been a long day.”  Steve replied, shield still raised, not quite sure what Stark was doing there. Bucky shifted slightly and Tony turned his head to look at him.

“At ease, Soldier. I’m not currently after you.”

“Then why are you here?” Katie asked. 

“Could be your story aint so crazy.” Tony shrugged, not quite meeting her eyes. 

“Sorry, is that you admitting you’re wrong?” She raised her eyebrow slightly at her brother.

“Maybe.”

“Ross?” Steve looked at him.

“Ross has no idea I’m here. I’d like to keep it that way. Otherwise, I gotta arrest myself” 

“Well, that sounds like a lot of paperwork” Steve quipped as he lowered his shield “It’s good to see you, Tony.”

“You too Cap.” his brother-in-law smiled softly before he looked over at Bucky who still had the gun raised “Hey, Manchurian Candidate, you’re killing me. There’s a truce here. You can drop…”

Steve motioned at Bucky to lower the gun and he did. 

“So how did you find us?” Katie asked.

“I went to the prison. Spoke to Sam.”

“How are they?” Steve asked.

Tony hesitated “Angry, mostly at me. Clint especially but, they’re, ok.” 

Katie looked at him, she had the feeling he was holding something back but now wasn’t the time.

“What made you change your mind?” Bucky asked Tony. He may have lowered his gun but because his Captain had asked him to, but he was still unsure. 

“I got an update from the Berlin police.” Tony turned to face the man. “The Task Force called for a psychiatrist as soon as you were captured. They dispatched a Dr Broussard from Geneva but he was intercepted by the man who questioned you.”

“You got a name?” Katie asked her brother. 

“Yeah, Colonel Helmut Zemo, Sokovian Intelligence. He ran Echo Skorpion, a Sokovian covert kill squad”

“Sokovia.” Katie sighed as Steve groaned. “Is that place set to follow us around for the rest of our days?” 

“You think that’s what he wants with these Super Soldiers?” Steve asked. “Some form of army to get revenge?”

Tony made a face, shrugging. “Your guess is as good as mine Cap, but I reckon so, yeah.”

Tony re-engaged his helmet and the four of them set off to continue the search. Katie felt bolstered by her brother’s appearance, and Steve also felt hopeful that they could sort this out then go home, together, and work through the whole unholy mess that had been left in the wake of the Accords.

They moved cautiously and silently through the bunker until Tony, who was at the front, turned right into a smaller corridor at the end of which was a vast chamber.  

“I got heat signatures.” He said gently.

“How many?” Steve asked.

“Uh…one.”

“One?” Katie frowned. She looked at Steve and then the two of them turned to Bucky who shrugged, equally as puzzled.

As they all walked up the three small steps into the chamber, Katie could just about make out several huge pillars when the lights in each of them snapped on. It was then that the all saw they weren’t pillars, they were capsules. Each containing an enhanced soldier surrounded by some form of hazy, yellow mist. 

The four of them looked around, bewildered when the PA system crackled into life, causing Katie to jump.

“If it’s any comfort, they died in their sleep”. The voice spoke as Bucky looked up at the solider in the capsule nearest to him whilst Katie continued to the next, her gun still raised. It was then that she noticed there was a bullet hole in the glass and a shot buried right between the female soldiers eyes. 

He’d killed them. 

“Did you really think I wanted more of you?” 

There was another pause as Katie turned to look at Steve and Tony who were walking slowly through the middle of the chamber to her right, towards the machine that was used to wipe the soldiers’ minds. Bucky and Katie exchanged a puzzled glance. None of this added up. Why had he killed them? What had he come all this way for if he didn’t want to activate them? 

“I’m grateful to them, though. They brought you here” the voice said, and then a window lit up to their right. Zemo was in there. Steve hurled his shield at the window but it simply bounced off the glass and returned to him where he was stood by Katie’s side. 

“Please, Captain.” Zumo spoke with amusement. “The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets” 

“I’m betting I could beat that.” Tony shot,  as he and Steve rounded the chair to the right, Bucky and Katie to the left.  

“Oh, I’m sure you could, Mr. Stark. Given time. But then you’d never know why you came.”

“You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?” Steve stepped forward so there was just the glass separating his face from Zemo’s as he glared at him. 

“I thought about nothing else for over a year. I studied you. I followed you. But now that you’re standing here, I just realized, there’s a bit of green in the blue of your eyes. How nice to find a flaw.”

Steve drew back slightly, frowning as Katie reached his side.

“You’re Sokovian.” She stated, watching the man, his brown eyes flickering to hers. “Is that what this is about?”

“Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell.” Zemo shook his head. “No. I’m here because I made a promise.” 

Steve studied Zemo as he asked “You lost someone?”

Zemo bowed his head and clicked his tongue. “I lost everyone. And so will you.”

Steve watched as Zemo pressed something and then a screen just behind them, to the right clicked on. He shot another look at Zemo before he made my way over to it, Katie following.

“An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again, but one which crumples from within?” Zemo spoke and Katie glanced back at him, Steve doing the same “That’s dead forever.”

Katie looked at the screen, the still image that was portrayed was somewhere very familiar. Her eyes flicked to the date on the freeze frame. December 16 1991. And in that split second she understood.

One which crumbles from within…

This was about splitting the Avengers up, pitting them against one another.

“I know that road.” Tony jerked her out of her thoughts from where he stood to her right, “What is this?” he spoke louder, aimed at Zemo who didn’t answer.

Tony glanced back at the screen and Katie felt herself grow cold as the footage began to play. The Stark siblings watched as their parent’s car entered the frame and crashed into a tree.  And then the Winter Soldier rode up and got of his motorbike. 

“Shit.” Katie mumbled, as besides her Steve shifted a little and she glanced at Tony, who’s unease was increasing, his brow furrowing as he watched the driver of the car, their dad, laying on the ground. Tony inhaled deeply as the footage progressed and the Winter Soldier walked over to their dad who had struggled out of the car and hoisted him up by his hair and stared down at him.

Tony wasn’t watching the screen anymore. He was stood, eyes fixed on Bucky who had his head bowed. The soldier took a deep breath and glanced at Tony, his eyes locking with the man’s. Tony looked away and back to the screen as the tears began to freely fall from Katie’s eyes. On the footage the Winter Soldier reined blow upon blow upon her father before dragging him by his collar and shoving him back into the driver’s seat. She felt Tony take her hand, his Iron Man Gauntlet tightening painfully around her fingers as The Winter Soldier rounded the car and reached in through the window.

At that point she couldn’t take it anymore and she turned away, supressing the sob that was rising in her throat and pressed her face into Steve’s chest were he stood beside her side on, watching Tony carefully. He gently placed a hand at the back of his wife’s head before he glanced back at the screen to see the Winter Solder aiming a gun at the surveillance camera, shooting it. 

There was a moment’s pause and Katie moved and looked over to where Bucky was stood a few paces behind them, his head bowed, shoulders slumped in disgrace. He looked up, his own tears clouding his eyes and then Tony lunged, and Bucky’s face contorted into panic, his rifle flying up as Steve hastily moving to stop Tony grabbing his arm.

“Tony, Tony.” he conciliated.

Tony looked down at the screen again, before he looked up at Steve, the tears glistening in his eyes as Katie wiped away her own with the back of her hands.

“Did you know?” Tony asked his voice barely audible.

“I didn’t know it was him.”  Steve began, his voice pleading as he looked at Tony. 

“Don’t bullshit me, Rogers!” Tony cut him off before Steve could continue, his voice full of fury. “Did you know?” 

There was a pause, before Steve sighed and dropped his head slightly. “Yes”.

Tony pushed Steve away before he glanced back at the screen. 

“Tony.”  Katie pleaded as he turned to look at her. “He didn’t know for sure, not until we-”

“You knew as well?” Tony asked, his voice cracking as he looked at his sister and her face crumpled.

“I knew they’d been murdered, but not by him. Not until yesterday, I swear.”

At that Tony’s chest tightened with betrayal and heartbreak and he stepped back, his chin jutting upwards twitchily before he re-engaged the Iron man helmet. He pushed Katie out of the way and as she tumbled left, he punched Steve hard, sending him to the floor. Bucky started to fire, bullets easily deflecting off Tony’s Iron Man suit and Tony shot a beam at Bucky, disarming him and then flew across the chamber, slamming him into the floor. “Tony, please!” Katie shouted, as Tony jumped on Bucky’s chest. Steve stood up, threw his shield which hit Tony, distracting him momentarily before he tackled him from the front, barging him backwards. Then Steve was on the floor, then Bucky was there, it was getting really out of hand and Katie was powerless to stop any of it.

“You need to go.” Steve instructed as he cut the restraints that Tony had fired at him off his legs.

“I can’t! He’s my brother, Steve!”

“That wasn’t a request.” Steve repeated firmly “Go, get Zumo. If we don’t apprehend him, then all this is for nothing.”

She hesitated for a second. 

“Katie!” He yelled, as he jumped up, shield raised, his voice full of authority. “Just do as I fucking tell you!”

With a shuddering breath, she looked at him.

“Steve, please…”

“GO, NOW!”

With a final, shuddering breath, she turned and ran. Back the way they had come, the sounds of blasts and yells and metal on metal growing fainter and fainter as she sprinted down the corridors, the tears in her eyes hindering her view and sense of direction.

Every so often snippets of the footage flashed across her mind. Her mom and dad, pleading for their lives before Bucky, no, the Winter Soldier coldly executed them. This entire situation was a mess, and she had no idea how any of them were going to come back from this.

Whether they could ever come back from this. 

Eventually she made it outside. The snow had been falling, almost completely eradicating any sign of the three sets of footprints that were hers, Steve and Bucky’s, leading into the bunker, but there was one set leading away. 

She took out one of her pistols, having lost her rifle in the chamber somewhere, and began to follow them, eventually coming to a thicket of trees. As she approached she could hear the sounds of voices, it sounded like one of them was talking via a phone. 

“You should’ve seen his little face. Just try, okay? I’m going to bed. I love you.” 

It was a woman’s voice and then Katie spotted Zumo, he was sat by a rock, looking at the phone in his hand. As she approached someone else emerged from the corner of her eyesight and she spun, raising her gun. It was T’Challa, Black Panther suit fully engaged.  He gestured at her, palms up, before he retracted his helmet and spoke to Zumo.

“I almost killed the wrong man.” 

“Hardly an innocent one.” Zumo shot back, no sign of surprise in his voice at them two of them being there.

“This is all you wanted.” Katie shook her head sadly, the cold snowy wind whipped her hair about her face and it stung her cheeks which were wet with tears. He looked up at her, eyeing the gun which she still had trained on him. “To see us rip each other apart?”

“My father lived outside the city.” Zemo began to explain “I thought we would be safe there. My son was excited. He could see the Iron Man from the car window. I told my wife, “Don’t worry. They are fighting in the city. We’re miles from harm.” When the dust cleared and the screaming stopped. It took me two days until I found their bodies. My father, still holding my wife and son in his arms. And the Avengers?” He looked up at Katie and she saw the hatred in his eyes as he glared back. “You went home”

“None of us wanted any of it.” Katie shook her head, eyes welling up again “There isn’t a day goes by where I don’t wish things could have turned out differently. We tried, but we couldn’t save everybody.”

“I knew I couldn’t kill you.” Zumo ignored her. “More powerful men than me have tried. But, if I could get you to kill each other…”

Kill each other. 

Katie swallowed, her thoughts returning to Steve and Tony back in the bunker. 

“I’m sorry about your father. He seemed a good man. With a dutiful son” Zumo looked up at T’Challa.

“Vengeance has consumed you. It’s consuming them.” T’Challa blinked ruefully and retracted the claws in his gloves. “I am done letting it consume me. Justice will come soon enough”

Zumo smiled thinly, and for the first time Katie saw that he had a gun in his hand. “Tell that to the dead” 

As he raised the gun to shoot himself, T’Challa grabbed the shaft of it, absorbing the bullet and shot in his hand before he rolled round behind Zumo, getting him into a headlock.

“The living are not done with you yet.”

All three of them fell silent and Katie slumped onto a rock, her head in her hands. Whatever happened now, it didn’t matter. Zumo had gotten what he wanted. The Avengers were split, right down the middle, Tony and Steve were pitted against each other. Her brother and Husband. 

And she had no idea what she was going to do.

*******

The fight went too far. Tony blasted Bucky’s metal arm off of his body which sent Steve off into a frenzy but he lost his shield in the fracas that had ensued. And now, he stood in between Tony and that final blast that the billionaire knew would end his parents’ killer once and for all. And Tony was going through him if he had to.

“He’s my friend.” Steve pleaded breathing heavily and he looked at Tony hoping to get through to him. Surely he understood it wasn’t Bucky that had done it, it was HYRDA, it was always fucking HYDRA!

“So was I.” Tony answered flatly before punching Steve in the face once, twice then throwing him into the opposite wall. Steve coughed, spitting out blood, then began to unsteadily work his way back up to his feet. “Stay down,” Tony warned aiming his repulsor beam at him “Final warning.”

Steve lifted both his hands in a fighting stance shrugging slightly as he said, “I can do this all day.”

I can do this all day… those words roused Bucky and, for a moment he was in an alley, bailing the little blonde punk out of a fight. Well, why break the habit of a lifetime? He grabbed Tony’s ankle with his remaining hand, distracting him and Tony turned kicking him in the face rendering him unconscious again. Seizing his chance, Steve leapt up and grabbed Tony from behind and, with a monumental heave he lifted him over his head, Tony tried to fly away but with his failing jets it was no use and he landed hard when Steve threw him down onto the concrete.

And then Steve was on top of him throwing punch after punch, grabbing his previously discarded shield bringing that down onto the mask until it broke and fell apart revealing Tony’s frighten gaze to Steve.

Steve raised his shield one more time and Tony brought his hands up to cover his face but that wasn’t Steve’s intention, he couldn’t and wouldn’t ever hurt him like that. Instead, he brought it down hard onto the arc reactor. Tony lowered his arms and stared up at Steve with a mixture of surprise, betrayal and resentment and the soldier looked back at him, his own face contorted with remorse as he rolled off to the side of the now useless suit.

Both men took a moment to catch their breath as fatigue and exhaustion begin to set in, Steve was the first to move as he pulled the shield from the chest of the suit and hooked it back onto his arm. He glanced back at Tony one last before time, wishing it could be different before making his way over to his best friend and pulling the barely conscious man to his feet.

“That shield doesn’t belong to you,” Tony spat turning over on his side. “You don’t deserve it. My father made that shield!” he shouted angrily.

Steve paused. Howard had made that shield, yes. And he had betrayed the man’s memory by keeping the true nature of his death a secret. Taking a deep breath, he realised Tony was right, he didn’t deserve it after all. Captain America was a righteous man, fighting the good fight, a moral man…and Steve Rogers had been selfish and arrogant thinking he could act as he had without consequence. With an immense air of sadness he shrugged the shield from his arm and let it clang to the floor. Then he proceeded to carry Bucky up the exit and out into the snow.

The sound his shield made as it hit the concrete was a noise that Steve knew would be forever ingrained in his mind.

The sound of him leaving Captain America in a bunker in Siberia.

**** Chapter 32 Part 2

[wewritesometimes]

Til’ The End

Written By: Cid

Warnings: Underage Drinking

Word count: 1.5k

Ship: DaiSuga

Daichi dangled his legs off of the balcony, music and excitable banter wafted upwards from the rowdy partygoers below him. Sugawara had insisted that he throw a party in order to celebrate their graduation. Watching the rest of the volleyball team mingle below him, Daichi couldn’t help but feel melancholic.

His accomplishments and goals he worked so hard for these last three years, everything was about to be swept away from him. College was a clean slate. A new chapter in his life that didn’t include Hinata and Kageyama’s bickering or Tsukishima’s snarky remarks. Without Nishinoya and Tanaka’s crazy antics. Without Asahi’s worrying. Without Suga…

The balcony door slid open, pulling Daichi out of his thoughts. Suga closed the door behind him, carefully balancing two cups in his hand. 

“I got us drinks!” He said, a bright smile stretching across his face. Suga passed Daichi one of the bright red solo cups he was balancing in his hand before gingerly sitting down next to him. Daichi mumbled his thanks, not quite meeting Suga’s gaze before taking a swig of the beer in his hand. Suga stared at him for a few moments before sighing, “Alright, fess up. What's wrong?”

 Daichi shook his head “I’m fine Suga, just thinking…” his voice trailed off, the weighty silence left behind only slightly being filled by the pounding rhythm from the speakers on the patio. 

Suga rolled his eyes, “If you're going to lie to me Dai, at least make an effort. Now seriously, tell me what’s wrong,” 

Daichi’s eyes stooped downwards once again, observing his underclassmen. “I’m gonna miss this…” he admitted quietly, as if he didn't acknowledge that this was likely the last time they would all be together, then it wouldn’t be. 

Suga let out a knowing hum. “Well,” he cast his eyes downwards to the backyard below them, “It’s not like you can’t visit!” Suga delivered a soft punch to Daichi’s shoulder, a small routine gesture whenever he was trying to cheer up his friend. Daichi let out a low hum, one of acknowledgment but not quite one of agreement. One that told Suga that he would have to do more to cheer up the now-former captain. Suga mindlessly chewed on his lower lip, trying to search for a solution to solve Daichi’s melancholic state. 

He had found the solution.

Nishinoya was clinging to Asahi’s arm, snuggled against the larger male as he interacted with his fellow teammates. Asahi’s face was flushed a bright rosy red, both from the alcohol and from Noya’s proximity, his eyes darting back and forth between the small brunette and a secluded corner of the backyard. 

 Suga nudged Daichi’s shoulder, pointing at their friends. “I bet you 1,000 yen that Asahi will ask Nishinoya out by the end of tonight,” he said, a smug smile stretching across his face. Sugawara was always so smug when he made a bet, especially if he thought he would win. 

“No way,” Daichi stared down at the duo, “Either Noya will tell him or Asahi is gonna chicken out.” As much as Daichi loved his friend, Asahi was a wimp and he was 100% certain that Asahi wouldn't confess.

Suga’s grin grew even wider. “Well then,” he stuck his hand out towards Daichi “Shake on it!” Daichi grabbed Suga’s hand, giving it a firm shake. He tried to ignore how soft and cool the setter's hand was compared to his calloused fingers. How nice it felt when he held Suga’s hand, even for a second. 

Daichi had opened his mouth to confirm the bet when a high pitched squeal cut through the air, followed by a splash. 

Hinata was quick to surface, his tangerine hair slick against his face as he began to sputter and cough as he made his way to the edge of the pool. Kageyama hesitated before he knelt down to check on his friend. A twinge of remorse ran through his veins for pushing the redhead into the pool. 

“Hey dumbass, are you okay?”

“REVENGE!”

Hinata grabbed the collar of Kageyama’s shirt, yanking him into the pool with all of his might. 

Daichi leaped to his feet, ready to reprimand his underclassmen. Ennoshita beat him to it, his voice rang through the boisterous laughter of everyone else at the party. 

“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU TWO THINK YOU’RE DOING? GET OUT OF THE POOL!” Ennoshita’s words fell on deaf ears as Hinata and Kageyama began to viciously splash one another. 

 Suga grabbed Daichi’s hand, gently tugging him to sit back down. “Everything will be fine, Daichi, Ennoshita can handle it,” his voice was soft, full of affection for his friends as they watched Tanaka fling off his shirt and cannonball into the pool with a warcry, much to Ennoshita’s dismay. 

Daichi couldn’t help but chuckle at the chaos his team caused, “He’s gonna be a great captain,” Daichi sat next to Suga. At least he knew that the team was in good hands after he left. 

Suga quietly agreed as he rested his head upon Daichi’s shoulder, watching his teammates with the same level of intrigue and amusement as the crappily made rom-coms he forced Daichi to suffer through. 

Daichi felt like his face was on fire. He was certain Suga could hear how fast his hammering away in his chest or how all of his thoughts turned into Error: 404 as he went into a state of  ‘Gay Panic’

He wasn’t sure how long they sat like that, what was likely only a few seconds felt like a millennium to Daichi. Or at least that was until Suga let out an excitable gasp before smacking Daichi’s shoulder repeatedly with one hand and aggressively pointing down towards a smaller corner of the yard away from the rest of the team. 

Asahi was leading Nishinoya away from the rest of the group, his eyes trained anywhere but the smaller teens' faces. Nishinoya stared up at him wide-eyed, with an almost knowing smile on his face. 

“Oh my god, he’s actually gonna do it!” Suga whispered as if the pair could hear him. 

Daichi couldn’t make out what Asahi was saying. All he could see was that he was speaking and that he was looking at the ground rather intensely while he shuffled his feet, shifting his weight from side to side. That and Nishinoya’s smile was getting wider and wider by the second. So wide that Daichi feared his face would split in half. 

Asahi stopped speaking, squeezing his eyes tight in fear of rejection and that if he refused to look at Nishinoya he could pretend he didn’t just confess to his longtime crush. Or at least that was the plan until his eyes flew wide from the shock of feeling Nishinoya’s lips pressed against his own.

Suga jumped to his feet with jubilee. “YES!” he screeched as if his favorite team just won the winning goal of the final game in the season. He whipped around to face Daichi, grinning wildly. 

“You owe me 1,000 yen and you gotta buy me spicy mapo tofu from that one market I like!”

“Wait, that wasn’t part of the deal you can’t just-”

“Too bad! You’re buying me food whether you like it or not!”

Suga plopped down next to Daichi again, happily finishing off the rest of his mixed drink. Daichi didn’t know why he kept making bets with Suga. He always lost. Despite losing, Daichi felt a sense of pride as he watched Nishinoya and Asahi separate. Tanaka ran over to the duo, high-fiving Noya, and shaking him vigorously with excitement. Daichi’s eyes drifted over to Asahi, who was staring up at him. One eyebrow quirked upwards in an expression that seemed to read ‘Your turn’

Fuck… Daichi thought to himself. Asahi was right. If wimpy Asahi was able to confess, then so should he, right? Otherwise, well, that made him more cowardly than his anxious gentle giant of a friend. 

Daichi took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves before speaking. 

“Hey, Suga?”

Fuck. His voice cracked. 

Suga turned to look at him, his head cocked to the side.

“Listen… I really care about you and before we leave for college I have to be honest with you. You’re my best friend and well, ah… hm… You see it’s just that I really wanna stay in touch cuz I uhm- wait why are you laughing?” 

Suga’s shoulders jerked up and down with giggles he was failing to suppress behind his hand. His laughter quickly died down. “Oh Dai, is that what you were worried about?” A small smile was left behind on his face, the kind he usually reserved for Asahi when he was stressing over small and insignificant problems. 

Daichi slowly began to realize how silly it all was. Of course they would stay in contact, of course they would visit one another. They were best friends! Daichi began to beat himself up mentally, for being so stupid when he felt Suga’s lips press against his cheek. 

“I’m not going anywhere Dai, you’re stuck with me til’ the end,”

[okaybutlikeimagine]

What if when Hopper first adopted Billy he was mentally preparing himself for a mess of clothes tossed about, dishes left everywhere, general teenage chaos? Instead, it's the complete opposite. Billy's had responsibility literally beaten into him, so he takes over all the chores thinking if he doesn't Hopper will toss him out. He cleans, cooks, drives El (and Max still) everywhere, etc while going to school and working part-time. How would Hopper react when he realizes why Billy does it all?

Oh I so agree with this, 100% feel like he was!! Like… I don’t think anyone expects Billy to be as super considerate and clean as he is. Bc he really is! He lived his whole life w/ a man who very obviously carried his military service through his life into his adulthood in a very dangerous away and so I believe Billy was scared as all hell to ever let himself slip. He keeps everything he can immaculate bc if anything isn’t Just Right, he’s the one getting punished every time.

When he was younger, Neil would put him through random, weekly checks of his room to make sure everything was clean and orderly. (when he got “old enough to be called a man”, Neil stopped with those, but still yelled at Billy for anything disorderly in his room.) When Max was really young and would accidentally break things, Billy would absolutely always take the fall. Even if Max admitted to it being her fault, Billy would be hit for not watching her close enough/for letting her reach for that glass herself/for giving her those permanent markers/etc.

So I think Billy feels responsible not only for his things but for everything. This is his house now too, after all; his space, and he’s gotta make sure it’s perfect.

And Billy moves in with very few things. Billy just doesn’t have a lot of stuff in general. I dunno if we’ve all seen the pictures, but some people on here have analyzed the little makeshift nightstand + mirror thing that Billy has. Like, he piled a bunch of things on top of each other to make his little vanity. I’ve talked before about how I don’t believe Billy was ever the type of kid to share things bc he just doesn’t HAVE a lot. He doesn’t own a lot of things and he KNOWS the cabin is small so he doesn’t bring a lot of the things he does have with him either. He gives his stereo to Max. He leaves all the furniture and his mirror. He only brings his clothes in a duffel, a couple of trinkets he holds dear to his heart, and his hair stuff.

And it’s definitely not what Hop was expecting at ALL. he was expecting absolute chaos. Like you said, clothes strewn around the place, etc, so before Billy moves in, Hop goes out and picks up a dresser he finds at a yard sale. It’s not much, but it’s something for Billy to keep his things in and on. And he’s fully prepared to have to give him a real hard lecture about keeping his shit where it belongs, which is inside the dresser or hamper and nowhere else, but he doesn’t even need to. Hop gestures to the dresser and Billy thanks him quietly before immediately folding up all of his things neatly and placing them where they belong. He doesn’t have enough clothes to even fill the dresser. Hop has to tear himself away from watching bc Billy can feel Hop’s presence and looks over his shoulder every now and then as Hop stares.

It’s just that… this isn’t what he was expecting. This isn’t the same kid he agreed to take in.

He also 100% takes over literally every single chore! Some he does out of feeling of necessity, like cooking. He didn’t cook all the time at home bc Neil felt that was a “woman’s job” but the thing is, Neil and Susan would leave Billy and Max at home all night or even all weekend sometimes and they’d leave so few leftovers that Billy had to learn how to cook to feed the both of them. (I also like to think about little Billy cooking dinner with his mom or grandma ♥ anyway)

So the boy has been cooking for years and when he sees that Hop feeds himself and El frozen dinners or freezer waffles or take out, he realizes he needs to be the one to cook. His biggest fear about it is Hop having the same mentality as his father, AKA “this is a woman’s job and you shouldn’t even know how to do it”.

But he doesn’t! Hop is honestly amazed at Billy’s knowledge of a kitchen, esp because he 100% does not share that same knowledge. And yeah, Billy tends to make very simple, very easy dinners, but they still taste a whole lot better and do a whole lot more than the frozen dinners that they’re eating every night. So Hop lets him cook and supports it very much. There’s no underhanded comment there. He tries to tell Billy how much he appreciates it, but he’s not sure if the boy hears him.

And Billy does more than just cook. Bc some chores he takes on bc they just seem necessary, and others he takes on bc he’s always had them. Bc he feels obligated. Bc he feels fear bubbling in his chest over it. Bc the more he did around his old house, the less anger would be directed at him. Doing chores kept him busy, kept Neil from getting angry, and kept everything calm. For the most part. It was like a saving grace.

He carries that feeling with him.

So he does the laundry. Everyone’s laundry. He’s always taking out the trash as soon as it gets full, and he’ll check it religiously, even if he doesn’t need to throw anything away. He picks up everyone’s dishes and washes and dries them. It takes him a few days to remember where they all go, but he gets it down quickly and Hop finds himself never washing dishes again. And it takes a few weeks to realize but suddenly, on his designated Chore Day (which is the second of every month, bc I’m sorry but Hop really can’t be fucked to do any kind of chore unless he’s designated a day, not even with El here now. He tried for about a month and it didn’t work.) Hop finds himself with nothing to do. Like absolutely nothing. The shelves are dusted, the floor is swept, the trash is empty, the cabinets are full bc the dishes were washed this morning and when Hop goes to question Billy with a:

“Seriously kid? Is there anything you didn’t do?”

Billy’s eyes flash with fear. It’s a bit longer than a flash, actually. He’s scared. Hop doesn’t like how often he sees that look when he addresses the boy.

Billy starts to pull at a curl on the nape of his head, elbow against his chest, closing himself off even if it’s a little bit. Hop has been working hard to pick up on all of the little nervous habits Billy has. This is one of them.

“I dunno… is there?” Billy asks like he’s serious. Like either of them are serious about Billy needing to do more.

But Billy is serious.

Bc Billy is fucking terrified. Every day he feels it in his chest: Today is the day Hop realizes what a mess he’s gotten himself into. Today is the day Hop recognizes the tornado that is Billy Hargrove and he’s gonna realize how fucking far from worth it he is to keep here.

So he worries. And he does absolutely everything he can think of to prove to Hop that he isn’t going to be a nuisance in the “living under the same roof now” department. That he isn’t going to be the “typical messy teenager”. It’s before he lashes out at the niceness because right now, nice isn’t what scares him most. Everything just feels… tenuous. Uncertain and downright frightening. Even a speck of dirt or food or whatever on the floor strikes something in Billy and Hop sees how tense the boy is about it but doesn’t comment.

Until now, bc now Hop is catching on. Now Hop’s getting a peek at what’s happening. And it’s kind of completely breaking his heart.

“No. I was just joking around.”

Billy blinks hard, looking away and moving his tongue around in his mouth in deep thought.

“Yeah… course.”

Hop eyes him carefully as Billy heads out of the house with the lame excuse of “seeing a friend.”

And Hop realizes pretty quickly that Billy isn’t in the house too often in those first few months. If he’s not at school, he’s at practice, if he’s not at practice, he’s with “friends”, if he’s not with “friends”, he’s driving the kids to the ends of the Earth or something bc he’s literally just never home.

It’s not until he’s on call somewhere that he sees Billy, across the street, lugging boxes around the local warehouse and sweating like a pig.

And he watches him work and struggle and sweat and groan. He watches this boy, very visibly tired, and it really starts clicking. Bc Billy is always stressed out, tired, dragging himself around. He’s always falling asleep on the couch or just sitting at the dinner table. (he also always freaks out when he gets woken up)

It’s just that… yeah of fucking course this kid has a part time job. Of fucking course this kid is working himself to the bone. Now that Hop thinks about it, he reminds him of Jonathan, who always looks like he got hit by a freight train right out of bed. It’s as he’s really thinking about that when a red flag pops up, because Jonathan has about 3 jobs and is stressed far too often for a young teen to be stressed and Hop never really understood the amount of concern Joyce had for him until now bc fuck watching this boy work like a dog is not fun.

So he brings it up when they’re both home. When they’re eating dinner and El is at Max’s and there’s a lull in the conversation bc Hop just can’t stop thinking about how tired Billy always is. How stressed he always seems. It worries him so much it gives him headaches.

“So… you’re working down at the warehouse?”

Billy nods absentmindedly. “Yup.”

“And going to school?”

Billy takes a big bite. “Yup. Pretty sure that’s why I still go every day.”

“Right. And you do everything around the house?”

“Do you have a point?” Billy asks over a mouthful of chicken.

“I- Look kid, you afraid of getting kicked out or something?” Hop asks, putting his fork down and staring at Billy with the question hanging between them.

Billy tenses. Sets his own fork down. Sets his eyebrows low too, showing off that hard disdain he’s always sporting.

“Why? What are you thinking about?” Billy asks, leaning back in his chair, arms crossed tight. Hop has seen the boy do this countless times before: he’s trying to look tough. But the thing is, it never works. It didn’t even work the first time he did this. He’s trying to look big but in reality he looks like a little kid who got told he can’t have dessert tonight. He glares but it’s always paired with a pout like a toddler.

Hop shakes his head. He feels like he can never win with the boy. He also feels like he says all of the wrong things in the wrong ways at the wrong times. He relies on Joyce for a lot of stuff. Probably too much stuff, but he’s been trying, alright?

“Cool it, I just… you do too much.”

“I what?” Billy asks like it’s some kind of insult. Hop can’t help the sigh he releases.

“You do too much. You don’t need to bleed yourself dry every day, alright? You’re doing too much.”

Billy’s mouth moves but no words come out. He looks semi-desperate to say anything, but he doesn’t. Can’t? Just furrows his brows and squints his eyes and shakes his head minutely and pouts. And Hop doesn’t know how to continue this, he just feels bad. Feels it heavy in his heart bc this boy has the deepest circles under his eyes and he feels kind of responsible for it. Really, seriously feels responsible bc he watches this boy work himself down every day and doesn’t say anything about it. It’s just that he didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what to do about any of it. He let it happen bc there wasn’t a lot of alternative when he was always at a loss for words as to why a boy would even want to work so fucking hard all the time.

But he can’t let it slide anymore.

“You can keep your job, I’m not saying you have to quit or anything, I just… stop cleaning everything. And doing all the laundry. It’s…. Nice, sure, but it’s too much.”

“I just… what are you talking about?” Billy asks, irritation laced with confusion in the blue of his eyes.

“I’m saying I need you to stop doing all the chores around here.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re tired! I can see you’re tired.” Hop pauses for a second. “And it weirds me out! I mean, you’re a kid, don’t you ever just act like a kid?”

“I’m not a kid.”

“You’re still 17, you’re a kid.”

“Why are you mad at me for doing what I’m supposed to do?”

“I’m not mad!” Hop nearly yells, hands going to his hair to pull at it. It’s a lie. He is mad. He’s mad at himself for not being able to find the words this boy needs to convince him to just calm down with the “responsibility” shit. “I just don’t want you running around-”

“I’m being responsible-”

“It’s not your responsibility!” Hop’s eyes are hooded by thick eyebrows bc he’s far too confused by these words to have any other kind of expression. At first glance, this kid looks like a brat. A boy who complains about having to do more than he needs to. About having to move off the couch to take the trash out.

But that’s what knocks Hop into it. Into the realization that he’s completely wrong. Bc Billy’s hands have always been calloused, he works on his car himself, he knows how to do all of this stuff in a timely manner. He doesn’t walk around like he’s confused, he walks around like a machine as he dusts the shelves and wipes down the tables.

It’s never a sarcastic, smarmy little  show of “I’m being a good house guest, can’t you see?”

No. it’s an act of: “i’m doing what I’m supposed to, don’t look at me.”

He always moves fast; always quick about it. His shoulders are always hunched over. Like he’s trying to stay hidden and now Hop knows. It starts clicking more and more and he’s livid at so many things right now he can’t even pinpoint them all and-

“No. It’s not your responsibility to take up every chore in the house. We can do it together and I know I kind of drop the ball on a lot of it but I’m gonna get better about cleaning but I can’t do that when you do everything and-”

Hop’s not even looking at Billy anymore. He’s looking at his mostly empty plate, rubbing at his forehead and his hair and trying to see through his squinted eyes bc this isn’t the conversation he ever thought he’d have to have but here he is and he looks up at Billy who-

Who is so confused. Whose eyebrows are closed in and whose lips are parted trying to form a question that isn’t coming out and Hopper sighs.

“Your place in this house is safe. I mean it.” Hop says seriously. Looks Billy in the eyes and doesn’t leave even a sliver of doubt. Doesn’t let Billy think for a second this is a joke or that it’s an empty promise. That he isn’t anything but absolutely serious.

Billy’s face falls from his confusion. His eyes are shifting everywhere, on the table, the floor, the wall next to them.

“Billy.” Hop starts, leaning forward a bit on his elbows on the table. “I’m serious. If you’re afraid of getting… I dunno, kicked out or something, you won’t.”

Billy blinks.

“Just…” Hop continues on a sigh. “Please stop doing everything. It makes me nervous.”

Billy nods slowly, eyes still confused. But he smiles a bit at the small smile Hop offers and it’s fine. Everything feels fine. Far better than fine.

And so Billy lets them help. El sweeps the floors and dusts the shelves. Hop wipes off the counters and learns to cook some more, as well as load the dishwasher correctly. Billy teaches him the “secrets” of doing laundry. (“They’re not secrets, old man, you’re just a caveman who doesn’t know how to keep towels soft.”)

And it’s a little alien for both of them (and everything is a new and exciting experience for El) but it’s far better than fine.

[ddaengyoonmin]

BTS Friends To Lovers Series (Jungkook)

Pairing: Swimmer!Jungkook x Swimmer! Reader

Genre: Smut, Fluff, Angst

Warnings: Cheating, Fingering, Nipple play, Praise kink, unprotected sex, outdoor sex

a/n: I included another member in this and we are just going to assume that they are the same age as Jungkook and the reader for this fic. 

Song Inspo: Swim- Chase Atlantic;  Youth Water- Manila grey

Word Count: 8k (Wow yikes so much for these being drabbles lmao)

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

Weightlessness, the cold water holding your body up.  Nothing else matters but this, your mind completely focused on pushing your muscles to their limit, to victory.  Your arms moving with purpose, propelling you towards the touch pad, you are staring up at the bright lights on the ceiling through the water droplets splashing onto your goggles.  Red flags that hang over the pool now come into your view and you know what that means, you are only a few arm lengths away from the finish.  You use every last bit of your strength and glide with an outstretched arm, reaching your destination.  

As soon as your hand hits you instantly tear off your goggles and whip your head around to the screen high on the wall to your right.  Adrenaline flooding through your body. 

1: Y/L/N 00:57.96

Your face lit up instantly and you pumped a fist into the air, you grabbed on to the bars under the starting block and pulled yourself out of the pool, speed walking over to your team who were cheering and hugging you. 

“I broke a minute!” you squealed “Oh my god I can’t believe it” 

You’d been aiming for breaking a minute in your 100 yard backstroke your entire high school experience.  Now finally at 18 and a senior only a few weeks away from graduating, you’d finally done it and by way more than you thought you could.  You were so proud of your hard work paying off

Your spring team coach shot you a thumbs up and a wide grin from the other side of the pool. 

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

After the meet was over your coach pulled you aside with an excited look on her face, putting a letter into your hand. 

“There was a scout here from Bangtan University, and they think you have potential.  They are inviting you to a summer swim training camp for incoming freshmen and if you can get to 55.0 by the end of summer you’d get a full ride scholarship.  Even if you don’t make the time, they want you on the team and are offering a pretty nice scholarship” she clapped her hands together. 

You clapped a hand over your mouth

 “Seriously?” 

You hadn’t thought that you were anything that amazing, you weren’t the best swimmer on the team overall but you couldn’t argue, that backstroke time you’d just swam was quite impressive.  If this team saw potential in you, you weren’t going to pass up the opportunity to prove yourself. 

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

You had pulled into the parking lot of the university’s athletic center, many others were pulling in and walking over to the pool doors.  You felt so much excitement and nervousness at meeting your new teammates. 

You noticed that there were also men that were in the crowd of swimmers making their way to the pool doors, you hadn’t realized this was going to be a co-ed training.  You’d only swam with your girls from high school and it was the same team since you were in elementary school.  One of your best friends had also been offered a place on a college team, but to a different school.  You were going to miss her a lot, but you’d still get to see each other occasionally, and you were excited for this new adventure.   

You grabbed your bag that held your towel and gear and followed the crowd to the pool. 

After getting changed and admiring the incredible size of the facility you walked out to the pool where you could see the rest of the team gathered around a white board waiting for the coach to give further instruction. 

You found an open space to sit down on the floor next to a blonde tall man with broad shoulders, the perfect figure for a swimmer, you wondered if he did butterfly.  His shape and muscles seem to be very fitting for that stroke.  He was shirtless and you had to try to not make things awkward by staring at him or any of the other shirtless men scattered among the swimmers here. 

The man turned to you and extended a hand for you to shake.  

“I’m Jin” he smiled at you. 

You shook his hand and returned his friendly smile “y/n” 

The coach now started a speech introducing himself to the group and talking about the types of things that would take place here at the training camp, you’d get to compete against other colleges in practice meets and you’d be doing many time trials throughout the summer to see how you were improving. 

As the coach was starting to explain the workout for the day, the sound of a door slamming loudly from the direction of the locker rooms. 

A tall man with gorgeous jet black hair walked out from the men's locker room.  He was wearing the same tight fitting speedo that most all the other men were wearing and was wearing a white warm-up jacket that had a blue stripe down the side.  You let your eyes linger on how it was completely unzipped and exposing his extremely sculpted and muscular chest.  

“Ah Mr. Jeon.” the coach glared. “Thanks for gracing us with your presence today.” 

You half expected the coach to yell at the man and tell him to get out.  Showing up to your first day of practice was quite rude and didn’t really show good commitment to the team in your opinion.  

The man just silently stood back behind the rest of the team with his arms crossed, nodding for the coach to continue.  He was quite cocky you thought.  He must be really good to be able to get away with an attitude like that.  And as rude as it was, you also found it slightly amusing. 

The rest of practice went well, you work your hardest and tried to prove yourself, you ended up becoming the lane leader for your lane and were quite proud of that.  

There were eight lanes and it was split up by your times,  the fastest swimmers all in lane eight and the slowest in lane one.  You had surprisingly landed yourself in lane three which had surprised you, you weren’t the worst, and that was something!  

That cocky man Mr. Jeon had ended up in lane eight, and you noticed he was lane leader at that.  You were right, he had the speed to back up his cocky attitude.  The tall blonde named Jin was also in lane eight right behind him, so he must be the second best swimmer on your team. 

After practice was over you decided to step out of your comfort zone and approach him. 

He was pulling himself out of the pool to sit on the edge, pushing his wet strands of hair out of his face and breathing heavily from the workout. 

“Hey” you said with an awkward wave. 

He glanced up at you, raising an eyebrow wondering what you might want from him. 

“I-I just... wanted to say, I s-saw you swim and, y-you did a really good job, I mean, you swim well.  Your stroke is p-pretty, I mean pretty good.” Fuck why were you being so fucking awkward.  You weren’t very good at making new friends, but something in you just really wanted to get to know this man, and hoped that maybe he could help you improve on your times so that you could get that scholarship. 

He chuckled at your bumbling around. 

“Ah, Thank you” he stood and started to walk away. 

“What's your stroke!” you yelled after him.  

He turned and smiled “Freestyle.” he said simply, starting to walk away again.  He probably thinks you’re a complete weirdo but swimmers were always hungry, so...here goes nothing…

“Wanna grab some dinner?” 

He spun around again.  “Uh,” he thought for a moment “Yeah sure, why not.  Meet me outside the doors after we get changed, did you have something in mind?” 

Shit, you had nothing in mind.  “I was thinking pasta?” 

He put a hand to his chin in thought, “Okay, I know a good place.” 

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

You followed in your car behind Jungkook’s car to the place he had suggested for the two of you to eat and then got a booth seat at the restaurant, sitting across from each other. 

Jungkook ordered a big glass of milk and you chuckled a bit at that.  

“Good for the muscles” He shrugged cutely with a smirk. 

“So how long have you been swimming?” you asked, trying to make some small talk and swimming was basically your only conversation point even with your non swimmer friends. 

“My whole life pretty much”

“Yeah me too! I took one year off where I tried track but, I discovered I’m more of a water creature” you laughed.

Jungkook stared at you, narrowing his eyes.  You thought you must’ve been being awkward or offended him somehow without realizing it. 

“I feel like I’ve seen you before…” Jungkook says. 

Oh. 

“Um, not sure…” you didn’t quite know what to say. 

“4th grade! Summer swim team!” he exclaims.  “y/n y/l/n right?” 

Oh my god, you had actually done a co-ed swim team once when you were younger at a pool your family had a membership to.  You had totally forgotten about that. 

“Jeon...Jungkook!?” it suddenly clicked.  “Holy shit, yes, I remember you” 

He grinned and took a large drink of his milk leaving an adorable milk mustache on his upper lip. 

The two of you talked for the rest of the meal reminiscing on your memories of the team you were on together.  He had changed so much from the skinny dorky boy you’d known.  He was a man now and had grown up well. 

Suddenly he stopped mid conversation as his phone rang, he put up a finger and mouthed a sorry.  

“Hey hon” he answered. “Yeah-” he nodded “Okay I’ll be there soon, Just finishing up a meal with an old friend I reconnected with today…” he paused as the voice on the other end of the line said something “Yep, see you soon babe, love ya” he clicked the button to hangup. 

“Girlfriend?” you asked, slightly jealous for reasons you couldn’t quite understand, it’s not like you had any place to feel that way. You’d only just re-met him today, and he was an attractive man, of course he had a girlfriend. 

“Yep, I gotta hurry up and get going, she’s had a rough day at work” 

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

The next couple weeks you went to practice every day besides Sunday and each day you and Jungkook would end up hanging out for a bit after. Sometimes going out to eat, and sometimes you’d stay late for him to help give you some tips on your swimming form.  You were happy to have made a friend like him.  You feel like you’d already improved so much. 

Today was the first practice meet you were going to have with another school and It was a home meet.  You were nervous but also couldn’t wait to see how much you’d improved.  

Right before you were about to enter the locker room to get changed Jungkook yelled out your name and motioned for you to come over to where he stood.   He was next to a skinny, curly haired blonde woman with glasses, she was dressed all in pink, tiny hot pink shorts, a tiny baby pink crop top that exposed her tanned stomach, and a pink headband holding back her perfect hair. 

“Y/n this is my girlfriend Missy” Jungkook motioned towards the girl.

You tried to give your friendliest smile and extended your hand out to the girl.  She didn’t return your gesture and instead rolled her big blue eyes slightly and looked you up and down while blowing a big bubble from the gum she was chewing loudly.  When it popped she turned to Jungkook

 “Kookieee, I don’t wanna wait in the stands for you, it’s way too hot up there.  Can’t I just be with you in the pool area” She spoke in a ditzy voice while she pouted, crossing her arms and pushing her perfect perky breasts up as she did, almost as if she was trying to use them to convince Jungkook to cave into her. 

“Missy I told you, you aren’t allowed in the pool area during a meet, I promise it won’t be too bad up in the stands.  Do you need some money to go to concessions and buy a cold drink or something” he whispered, but it was loud enough for you to hear.  

You shifted uncomfortably, debating on whether you should just leave to go get ready for the meet now.  Jungkook’s girlfriend obviously didn’t care for meeting you, and you didn’t quite care for her at all. 

Missy groaned childishly and just put a flat palm out towards Jungkook, which had him scrambling through his pockets and pulling out his wallet to put probably five times more money than she needed in her hand for the drink.  Yet she still held her hand out until Jungkook put even more money into her hand.  Then she instantly spun around on her heels and left. 

“Nice meeting you!” you yelled after her, well aware that you were lying. 

You turned to Jungkook with wide eyes. 

“Wow.  Whipped.” you chuckled. 

He sheepishly ran a hand through his hair, “She’s actually awesome once you get to know her.” 

You shrugged, “I’ll take your word for it” though you can’t imagine anything about that girl that would end up being a redeeming quality. 

“It really does get hot up in the stands…” he tried to stand up for his girlfriend. 

You chuckled “Well you gave her enough for like twenty cold drinks so I think she’ll be fine” 

Jungkook and You went to your separate locker rooms to get ready and then out to the pool.

The meet was going extremely well, you had placed in second in the last heat of the backstroke and improved a lot on your time just in the few weeks you’d been training.  You couldn’t be happier. 

It came time for Jungkook to swim the 200 Free, you made sure to stand on the edge of the pool  with the rest of the teammates where he could see when he went to take a breath, while you cheered enthusiastically for him. 

“Go Go Goooo Jungkook!” you yelled, jumping up and down in your spot.  He was amazing, his muscular arms pulled him forward through the water so gracefully, he was at least a full body length ahead of the other swimmers in his heat.  It was incredible watching him. 

You happened to glance up into the crowd to see Missy sitting on her phone, sipping on a lemonade and texting, not even looking up from it once to see how Jungkook was doing. 

It irritated you quite a bit.  Why was she even here?  

Jungkook finished in first, no surprise.  He seemed happy with his time, a wide grin on his face while he was hopping out of the pool.

You ran over to him, both hands out for a double high five that he returned instantly.  

The rest of the meet went well.  Your college ended up winning overall which put everyone in high spirits. 

After getting dressed and exiting the locker room out to the lobby of the aquatic center you decided you wanted to at least try to extend an olive branch to Jungkook’s less than pleasant girlfriend.  You didn’t want to lose Jungkook as a friend over something as silly as not getting along with Missy. 

You found Jungkook standing in the lobby looking around. 

“Hey you!” you smiled as you approached him “Do you and Missy wanna go out for a celebratory dinner on me?” 

“That sounds awesome! I just gotta find Missy.  Did you see her come down from the stands?” he looked confused as he scanned the crowd for her. 

“I didn’t, I’ll help you look around for her” 

He nodded and the two of you walked through the crowd to try and find her.  She was nowhere to be seen and the crowd was slowly getting thinner and thinner so it should’ve made it easier to see her.  Odd. 

After about ten minutes of searching the whole crowd was gone and it was only you and Jungkook standing in the lobby. 

“Okay, y/n, I’m kind of nervous.  Where could she be?”  Jungkook's eyes were full of worry. 

“Maybe she wasn’t feeling well and went home early?” you suggested. 

“She would’ve texted me…” his brow furrowed as he checked his phone to see if maybe he had missed a message or call. 

The two of you started to walk some of the hallways of the building looking around.  

Then an odd noise hit your ears, there was some giggling coming from a storage room. 

“That sounds like...What would she be doing in here?” Jungkook gripped the door handle and swung it open. 

His eyes almost flying out of their sockets at the sight of Missy completely naked her legs wrapped around your teammate Jin. 

“What the fuck!” Jungkook screamed angrily. Causing Missy and Jin to realize for the first time that they had been walked in on. 

Missy instantly jumped off of Jin, and Jin scrambled to cover himself up. 

“Jungkook wait!” Missy squealed as Jungkook slammed the door shut on the two of them, shaking slightly while he stomped down the hall away from them.  

You followed right behind him silently, not really knowing what to say. 

“Babe wait!” suddenly Missy was sprinting down the hall after the two of you, grabbing Jungkook by the shoulder trying to turn him around to face her.  He shook her off and kept walking, trying to just make it out the doors of the building and to his car, wanting to get as far away from her as possible. 

“Jungkook, please I can explain!” Missy was sobbing. 

“Missy.  Maybe now’s not the time.” You softly spoke at her in a serious tone. 

“Sorry bitch but no one was talking to you.” Missy snapped at you. 

At that Jungkook finally spun around to face her. 

“Don’t you dare Missy.  You’re the bitch right now okay? And I never want to fucking see your face again.  So please, leave me alone, go home.” he growled. 

Missy froze on the spot, Jungkook had never spoken to her so harshly before.  You felt that she deserved even worse than just some mean words after what she’d done, but that's none of your business. 

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

You drove Jungkook home, telling him it was probably not a good idea for him to drive himself due to the state of mind he was in, and he reluctantly agreed. 

You pulled up to his house and the two of you sat in silence for a moment before Jungkook spoke. 

“I was with her since eighth grade…” he choked out, covering his face with his hands as he was starting to tear up. 

You put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.  Wishing that you had the right words. 

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

Jungkook missed practice for the next two days.  You texted him asking where he was both days and each time he answered with a simple ‘don’t feel well sry’ 

When he finally returned to practice he seemed to be pushing himself even harder than he was before.  You wondered if it was hard for him to swim in the same lane as Jin.

And your curiosity was answered when you were taking a breather after a set and heard some commotion going on from lane eight. 

“What the fuck did you just say?” You heard Jungkook screaming. 

“I said, it’s not my fault your girl is a SLUT” Jins voice boomed

You looked over to see Jungkook starting to pull his fist back, he wasn’t able to land his punch before a few of the other teammates from the lane were holding him back. 

The coach ran over and tried to defuse the situation. 

“That's it. Everyone out of the water!” The coach yelled to the whole team.  You all hopped out and went to sit on the benches or the floor to wait for further instruction. 

“You two.  Up on the blocks” the coach motioned for Jin and Jungkook to comply with his orders. 

“100 Freestyle.” the coach informed them. 

The two men glared at each other and hopped on the block. 

You thought this was probably a good way to settle things without violence.  Jungkook was the fastest on the team, and freestyle wasn’t even Jin’s stroke, so it would feel good for him to beat Jin after all that went down. 

“Ready. Set…” The coach blew the whistle to signal the start. 

Jungkook dove off the block, his arms outstretched and strong as he hit the water.  

You stood up and yelled “Gooooo Jungkook!” then motioned for the rest of the team to stand and cheer.  Most of them did, all cheering for Jungkook. 

But...the cheers started to die down on the last lap.  Because...Jungkook was losing? No.  Not good. 

Jin touched the wall about a few seconds before Jungkook, a big smirk on his face as he turned to him. 

“Better luck next time buddy.” he chuckled. 

Jungkook was in shock. He...lost, he never lost…

He hopped out of the pool fuming, stomping off to the locker room, kicking a stack of kickboards and knocking them all across the pool floor on his way in. 

You covered your mouth with your hand.  Poor Jungkook.  Your heart was breaking for your friend and you had no idea what to do. 

After practice was over you were walking out to your car and noticed that Jungkook’s car was still there.  You’d thought he left but he must still be somewhere back in the building. 

You decided to go and find him, returning back to the pool area and searching around.  Everyone else including the coach had already left, so you decided you would take a chance and check the men’s locker room. 

When you entered you heard a shower running and walked towards the sound.

You found Jungkook sitting on the grey tile floor with his back against the wall, eyes closed, letting the water fall onto his face. 

“J-Jungkook, are you okay…” You said quietly. 

He jumped, and snapped his eyes open, wiping the water out of them quickly to see you better. 

“Shit y/n you scared me.” he whispered. 

“Sorry, I just saw you were still here and wanted to check on you” you explained. 

He nodded, bending his head down and letting the water fall on the back of his neck. 

“Well, I’m fine” he spoke quietly. 

You were still wearing your suit under your clothes, so you decided to take off your sweats and jacket and sit next to him in the shower. 

“This is probably not very sanitary” you laughed as you sat down. 

“The water washes the germs away” he mumbled, his head still down on his knees. 

“I’m not sure I buy that one, but I’ll let you have it” you chuckled, leaning your head towards him and resting it on his shoulder. 

“I’m really sorry Jungkook” you got more serious. 

He lifted his head a bit, turning to look at you.  “I just don’t understand what I did wrong.  I treated her like a queen, I gave her everything.” he sighed “I haven’t seen her since the meet, but I have to swim with Jin right next to me every day now.  And hes so fucking smug about it, and now on top of everything hes somehow faster than me” Jungkook spoke with his hands emphasizing his anger. 

“He’s definitely not faster than you, I think you’re off your game a bit cuz of everything that happened.” 

“Still…” Jungkook sighed “That was embarrassing and just the icing on the cake of the worst week of my life” 

He leaned his head so it was resting against yours. 

“Hmm, I might have an idea on how to cheer you up!” you grinned, lifting your head and meeting his eyes. 

He looked confused and then suddenly he seemed to form an idea of what you might have meant. 

He brought his face close to yours, and before you could tell him that wasn’t what you meant his lips had landed on your own.  He tasted like chlorine, and his lips were so soft.  As much as you enjoyed it, you pulled back quickly. 

“I-I didn’t mean.  I wasn’t trying to say that…” you stuttered out in shock that you let that happen.  He was vulnerable right now after having his heart broken, you shouldn’t take advantage of that. 

Jungkook looked mortified, “You didn’t want me...fuck.  Y/n I’m so sorry.  I’m not thinking right” he shook his head embarrassed. 

“It’s fine Jungkook” you chuckled “It was...nice actually.  I just don’t think we should, we’re friends, and you are going through something.” 

He still looked ashamed of acting on what he assumed you had wanted “So...what did you mean?” 

“I was thinking a midnight star swim?” 

Jungkooks face lit up, “Oh my god I haven’t done that in years” 

There was an outdoor pool in your town that most of the swimmers knew how to sneak into at night.  There weren’t any cameras or security, and the fence was easy to jump.  It was up on a hill and if you went on a clear night, it had the most beautiful view of the stars.  So everyone called it a star swim. 

“I’m so down for that” Jungkook nodded excitedly.  “Oh, and thanks for not being weird about…” he trailed off looking down. 

You chuckled, “Weird about what?”  you smirked knowingly. 

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

It was about 11:30 when you pulled up to Jungkook’s house.  You hadn’t stopped thinking about the kiss since it happened.  At first you really had planned on brushing it off like nothing happened, but the memory of the feeling and taste of him wouldn’t stop pushing itself into the front of your mind. It was so persistent that you almost cancelled your plans with him, faking being sick or something like that.  But, he had thanked you for not making it weird, and that’s exactly what you’d be doing if you cancelled plans.  Just pretend it never happened. You told yourself.  Yet that seemed so impossible. 

Jungkook was skipping out to the car not long after you arrived.  He seemed to be in better spirits, which is exactly what this was for, you were quite relieved to see a smile on his face as he hopped into the passenger seat. 

“Sup Y/n” 

“Sup Jungkook” you chuckled

-----------

As was usual for star swims you parked down the road from the pool and not in the parking lot so as not to be suspicious.  The two of you walked in the dark towards your destination. 

You didn’t want to use your phone’s flashlight as you walked just in case someone saw.  As common as it was, it was not in any way legal for the two of you to be going into the pool at this hour, and you were slightly nervous about getting caught. 

But, because of the lack of light you happened to trip on a dip in the road you hadn’t noticed.  You fell forward and let out a small gasp, but before you got close to hitting the ground, two strong arms wrapped around you and caught you just in time.  Jungkook pulled you up and steadied you. 

“Woah there” Jungkook whispered. 

You awkwardly stood up straight, quite embarrassed of your clumsiness. 

“Shit, thanks…” 

“Here,” Jungkook grabbed your hand “I have good night vision, I’ll guide you” 

For some reason, the small and seemingly platonic gesture of his fingers intertwined with yours made your heart skip a beat.  The kiss popped into your mind again.  

No, he's just confused because of everything that happened with his ex, you aren’t going to let yourself just be a rebound, he’s just your friend! Your mind tried to reason with your heart.  Your heart didn’t seem to want to listen, it continued to flutter as you walked hand in hand with Jungkook the rest of the way. 

When you got to the silver chain link fence Jungkook motioned for you to go first, offering to help give you a boost up.  You declined and pulled yourself up easily,

 “You forget I’m pretty strong too Kook” You winked at him as you landed on the other side. 

There was something behind the smile and soft, admiring look he gave you through the holes in the metal fence where he now stood opposite you.  Maybe your stupid heart was making something out of nothing, but something flickered over his expression, that seemed like...nah, it couldn’t be.  

He hopped over effortlessly and landed next to you.  He almost instantly pulled his white t-shirt up and over his head. 

You’d seen him shirtless so many times at practice, but being here at night, and alone with him had you feeling slightly shy.  Trying not to look his way you decided to get undressed into your suit that was under your clothes as well. 

You cursed yourself for deciding it was a good idea to wear a skimpy bright red two piece.  You thought it would be more comfortable, but, you should’ve just worn your completely unattractive practice one piece suit.  Then you wouldn’t have to notice the way Jungkook’s eyes were bugging out of his skull upon seeing your figure.  

You noticed him bite at his lower lip and gulp, not being able to tear his eyes away from you.  

“Ready to swim?” You asked, hoping to snap him out of his trance. 

He nodded, his eyes still glued to the skin right above the fabric of your bikini top. 

You decided to take his view away, jumping into the pool quickly.  

Jungkook wasn’t far behind, taking off his shorts so he was wearing only his tight workout speedo, then doing a dive into the pool. 

You swam over to the edge of the pool, resting your arms on the side and laying out on your back to stare up at the sky.  It was peaceful and calm, the dark black sky was lit up with sparkling lights, and they reflected almost like a mirror in the water of the pool.

It was one of the most beautiful sights in the world to you.  

Jungkook slowly swam over to you, not wanting to disturb the stillness of the water and break the calm glass like reflection of the stars.  It did slightly, but it almost made it more beautiful, the ripple in reflection now looked like the stars were dancing. 

You felt Jungkook’s arm rest against your own. 

“I’m not sorry that I kissed you” he whispered, almost like it wasn’t meant for you to hear.  Yet when you snapped your gaze over to him, he was looking right at you.  Staring at your lips, his eyes full of want. 

“Jungkook...You just got out of a super long relationship that ended badly.  I don’t think you’re thinking clearly” 

Jungkook sighed. “Honestly, she was so controlling and I always just did whatever she said.  I never realized how much of my life was just me following her orders until I left her.  It’s like I didn’t fully understand everything I was missing out on in life because of her.  I’m upset, mostly because I realize how much time I’ve wasted not being with someone good and kind who actually cared about me the way I care about them…” 

Your heart was beating wildly and you had to take some deep and quiet breaths, trying to not make it noticeable to Jungkook how much he was affecting you. 

“So I think I’m actually thinking more clearly than I have in quite a long time.” He smiled at you. 

“I hope you find someone who treats you right Jungkook, you deserve it” you muttered, continuing your efforts to ignore that he was now staring over your whole body hungrily.  

“Yeah…” he murmured, “They say sometimes there’s moments in life where you realize everything you’ve been searching for has been right in front of you the whole time.  I feel like maybe I…”

You suddenly jumped out of the pool, trying to stop him before he got any further with that thought. 

You ran over to the diving board and sat on the very edge, your legs dangling off the edge. 

“Um, this way...we don’t mess up the view with our movements.” You explained your awkward and sudden escape. 

Jungkook sighed and got out of the water as well.

“Why are you avoiding me y/n.  I thought you weren’t going to make things weird after the kiss” he spoke as he started to walk over to the diving board. 

“Shit. I-I’m not trying to make things weird, it's just, I don’t want you to think…It just sounds like you think that...” 

“That you’d want to kiss me again?” his hands rested on the metal bars on either side of the board.  He was now standing right at the opposite end from where you sat. You turned around to face him, your back now to the pool with your legs still dangling off the edge.

“Exactly.” 

“And you really don’t want to?” he cocked his head to the side. 

You bit your lower lip nervously, of course you wanted to again.  Look at this gorgeous man, shirtless, muscular, and he’s almost begging for it.  But, this is your friend, you couldn’t just be his rebound.  So you regrettably settled on that as your next words.

“I’m not interested in being your rebound Jungkook” you almost snapped, realizing how harsh that came out, you added in a softer, “Sorry” 

Jungkook seemed to not have lost his determination though.  He slowly walked towards where you sat.  He teased for a second like he was going to bounce the board and make you fly off.

“Don’t you dare!” you giggled. 

Jungkook smirked, when he reached only a few steps in front of you he sat down facing you and hanging his legs off of either side of the board. 

“If we hooked up, I wouldn’t think of you as a rebound…” Jungkook said quietly.

You sighed “Ugh, Jungkook, I still think it’d be a bad idea” 

“Is it because you actually like me?” he said raising one eyebrow, “And you’re thinking ‘oh if I give into him now he’ll never be serious with me,’” he said trying to mimic your voice.  

You reached out and smacked him on his arm, “My god, you are full of yourself aren’t you” 

Jungkook let out a loud laugh and scooted forward on the bench a bit closer to you, your knees were touching now. 

“But, what if I told you that I liked you.  Like... actually liked you.  At first I thought we were just good friends...but I think I’ve felt this way since that first day of practice.  So maybe I deserved getting cheated on like that.  In a way, I was cheating in my heart by liking you the way I do.” 

You really didn’t know what to say.  

“I...don’t know if it’s quite the same thing.  I’m not really any kind of relationship expert.  But, you definitely didn’t deserve what happened to you.  That’s all I know” You said then suddenly the entirety of what he said hit you.  You wanted to just toss yourself off the edge of this board, he really just said he liked you?

“You like me?” You said with your voice wavering. 

“Ah you got that part now huh?” He chuckled. 

“Jungkook are you sure…” your eyes widened as you trailed your gaze over his sinful half naked figure sitting in front of you. 

“Quit trying to fight it y/n.  Let's just live in the moment, huh?” 

Fuck.  You really were getting mentally exhausted by trying so hard to hold back your feelings.  You liked him, a lot, maybe not right away but now? Definitely. You leaned in close to him, hoping you weren’t about to ruin everything by caving in. 

Jungkook’s mouth pulled into a smile as you inched closer to him.  

“That’s my girl” he whispered, reaching a hand to the back of your neck to pull you in closer.  His lips touched yours gentle and smooth,  the kisses he pressed into you were so innocent compared to the way his eyes had been roaming you hungrily.  

You started to speed the kisses up, running a hand through his soft locks of pitch black hair.  He groaned softly into your mouth as you touched him. 

You felt an ache in your core just from these small kisses and touches, you couldn’t tell if you were wet from swimming or from your own arousal, you were deeper into your feelings for him than you’d even realized.  

Jungkook’s hands gracefully trailed down from your head to your sides, the feeling of his fingers tracing your bare skin sent a shiver throughout your body.  You whimpered slightly when his hands reached the fabric of your bikini bottoms, he reached under your ass and pulled you up from where you sat and onto his lap. 

The board bounced up and down at the movement, causing you to bounce on Jungkook’s lap.  He grunted softly at the feeling. 

You could feel the hardness of his erection through his swim shorts, and you started to roll your hips against him, enjoying the friction and pressure that you could feel on your clit through the fabric of your suit. 

If you had any doubts about whether or not you should be doing this, the feeling of his hands starting to untie the string of your suit that was resting on your neck, had washed them all away. 

Your top fell down, exposing you to him.  He inhaled sharply and shook his head.  

“I imagined this so many times.  And you just had to go and be better than any fantasy I could’ve come up with” He said breathily. 

“You’re being cheesy” you giggled. 

“I mean it though” he smiled, giving your breasts a small squeeze. Then taking each of your nipples between the tip of his thumb and index finger, pinching them lightly.

You moaned out lewdly and tossed your head back at the pleasurable feeling. 

“Fuck” you hissed. 

“You like that baby?” Jungkook smirked, already knowing the answer to that question but wanting to hear you say it.  Needing to know how it would sound to hear unending praises fall from your lips. 

“I love it Jungkook” you gasp as he pinches you again, then brought his lips to one of your breasts, trading places with his fingers and nipping at you lightly.

“How much?” he asked, his breath warm against your tits as he spoke. 

“So much, I love it so much Jungkook, you’re amazing. I want you so badly” you admitted.  

Jungkook moaned against your skin at your words. 

“Don’t feel shy to let me know you’re enjoying yourself babe.  I wanna know how good I make you feel” he whispered, pulling himself from your chest and planting sloppy kisses on your neck. 

Jungkook started to move you off of his chest and lay you back on the diving board.  It shook up and down at the two of you moving around.  You laughed as you almost fell off at one point, Jungkook having to steady you with his hands on your hips. 

He hovered over where you laid, his hands gripping the edge of the board in a plank position, and gave you a quick peck on your lips. He then pushed himself up, standing between your legs that hung off the side of the board.  He pulled his swim shorts down quickly and stood confidently with his hands on his hips showing himself off to you with a smirk. 

You giggled wildly at his cockiness, which he mistook for you giggling at his...cock. 

“Hey now.” He growled crossing his arms against his toned bare chest. “Don’t make me bounce you off this thing” 

“Oh my god, no It’s just that you’re so cute.  Displaying yourself with that confidence” You assured him. 

“Well, I have reason to be confident no?” he moved his eyebrows up and down, and motioning his hands down around his hips, gesturing to his erection.  He wasn’t wrong...He had plenty of reason to feel proud of the cock that was hanging between his legs, long and large.  You’d never been with someone as big as him and you started to feel slight nervousness as you anticipated and hoped for the feeling of the stretch. 

Jungkook got down and balanced himself on his knees between your legs, pulling the string on one of the sides of your bikini bottoms.  

You felt the fabric being lifted away after he’d untied it, and you were completely bare and exposed to him now. 

He growled lowly.  

“Fuck you have a perfect pussy” 

“And you have a perfect cock” you returned. 

He smiled widely, you had a feeling that a strong feeling of pride grew in him at your words.  And you were right, any bit of praise that you gave him made him even more excited to dive into your pussy and feel you around him, he wanted to hear how good he made you feel. 

He gripped himself in one hand, trying his best to stay balanced as his other hand started to lightly touch your entrance. 

You gasped at his touch, and tossed your head back,  you were right on the edge of the board and the feeling that one wrong move could throw both of you off into the water was scary and exciting. 

You were seeing stars, literally as you stared up into the sky while two Jungkook’s fingers entered you, moving around and stretching you out, preparing you to take him. 

“That feels so good Jungkook” you moaned.  His ego swelled at that and it only made him want to work harder to please you, increasing the speed of his fingers. 

“Fuck” you whimpered out, gripping the sides of the board and trying not to squirm too much. 

Suddenly, he pulled his fingers out, you pouted at the feeling of emptiness and loss of his touch. 

But he was now pulling you on top of him and flipping the two of you around so he was laying in the spot where you were just seconds ago. 

The sight was nothing less than magical. 

You were sitting on top of him with your hands on his chest, the moonlight shining on his skin making him almost glow.  And framing his perfect face on every side from below was the dark water reflecting the stars from above, it looked like something straight out of an artsy indie movie.  

You lifted your hips slightly and he brought a hand to position his cock at your entrance. 

You lowered yourself down onto him excruciatingly slow, but you wanted to give yourself the chance to adjust to his thickness. 

His hands squeezed your ass tightly as you sank down onto him, and he threw his head back in pleasure, biting down hard on his lower lip. 

“Fuckkkk” he hissed once you had him completely sheathed inside your pussy. 

You started to rock your hips slowly, not wanting to move too much and bounce the two of you off and down into the water.   

But Jungkook seemed to be a bit overtaken by the feeling and started to grab your hips and lift you up, slamming you down onto him.  He set a steady pace of bringing your hips up and down onto him, and it was the most incredible feeling ever.  Every time you took him fully at that speed, the board would bounce and cause a second in and out, causing him to thrust up into you effortlessly. 

“Jungkook, oh my god” you screamed out.  Jungkook grinned widely, loving how good he was making you feel.  It felt like a dream having you here riding him. 

His hands continued to guide you up and down on his cock, the board bouncing made it hard to keep a steady pace now.  

“You gonna cum for me baby? Use my cock however you need y/n” Jungkook moaned, releasing his grip on you and putting his hands behind his head.  You swore he was flexing his biceps right now.  So cocky, you thought.  Though, you couldn’t deny, he was so fucking hot like his.  He always seemed to have the goods to back up that cocky attitude of his. 

You started to bounce and roll your hips around in small circles, it took a lot of effort to continue without having any support for your knees, you really had to thank yourself for all those ab exercises you’d been working on.  

His cock was hitting you in all the right places now and you felt yourself approaching your high.  

“J-Jungkook, I’m gonna cum” you whimpered. 

“Yeah baby? My cock is gonna make you cum?” he smirked.  

You nodded biting your lip while you stared down at the god like man below you. 

“Say it.” he growled.  

You figured it didn’t hurt to indulge him, he really was rocking your world right now. 

“Jungkook, your fucking amazing, giant, sexy, cock is gonna make my pussy cum” you moaned.

“Fuck, hurry up if you’re gonna keep talking like that” he chuckled. “I’m so fucking close too y/n” 

After a few more bounces your orgasm was on you, it ran like a tidal wave over your whole body, nothing you’d ever felt before could compare to the incredible feeling rushing over you.  

Your walls tightened and spasmed around Jungkook’s cock, you had stilled your movements and fell down onto his chest, but he kept moving himself into you quickly, approaching his own orgasm.  His hips rolling up into you were greatly assisted by the bouncing of the board.  

He gripped your ass hard and sped up even faster, his face contorting into an expression of intense pleasure. 

“F-Fuck, Y/n baby” he groaned loudly, his nails biting into your ass cheeks and his head burried into to crook of your neck as he came. 

At that moment he completely lost control of his balance, and you, who were also overcome with post orgasm bliss were in no place to steady the two of you. 

And before you knew it both of you, clutched tightly onto one another, and him still twitching and emptying hot cum inside of you, were rolling off the board and crashing into the water. 

The two of you were now completely submerged, bodies still intertwined and holding each other tightly, Jungkook brought you into a passionate kiss as you rose back up to the surface. 

Once you reached air again he slowly pulled out of you and you both laughed wildly. 

“Holy shit” you threw your head back and floated on your back savoring this blissful moment. 

You turned to Jungkook who did an excited forward somersault in the water, which caused you to laugh even more. 

“Well that's how fun that was for me” he chuckled as he paddled over to where you floated and kissed you on the cheek. 

“You’re a dork” you shook your head. 

“And amazing...giant...and sexy” he listed your previous words while he wiggled his eyebrows up and down. 

“Yes that too” 

“And completely falling for you…” he whispered. 

You stared up to the stars, you swore you saw a shooting star right then. 

You don’t know what you could possibly wish for in this moment.  Everything already felt so perfect. 

You were completely falling for him too. 

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Stark Spangled Banner Ch32: The Impossible Choice

Summary: Tony catches up with Steve, Katie and Bucky in Siberia and as the events unfold he learns the truth about how his parents were killed. A dramatic show down ensues and Katie finds herself forced with an impossible choice: her brother or her husband.

Warnings: Bad Language words.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist 

Please don’t hate me for this one... it’s a tearjerker

The jet wasn’t fully fuelled so they couldn’t fly at full speed, meaning it took them a few hours to reach the wide, flat, snow-covered landscape of Siberia. Once they touched down Steve cut the power and Katie stood up and moved to the back of the jet, opening the closet that held the Avenger’s weapons. Bucky stepped over and started examining the rack of guns labelled 'Romanoff' before he selected a light machine gun.

Katie reached over to grab 2 9mms and twirled them in her hands before she slotted them into the holders on her thighs. Bucky watched her through the corner of his eye and raised an eyebrow as she reached over to select another larger rifle.

“Sure you can handle that thing, sweetheart?” he asked, his tone was gently teasing and Katie snorted, whilst behind her Steve gave a chuckle.

“Stop flirting with my wife, Buck and I’ll have you know she’s a trained sniper, give you a run for your money.” he said, almost proudly as he slung his shield onto his back.

“That so?” Bucky asked, his mouth twisting into a grin. Katie simply smiled in response and cocked the gun, looking down the sight to check it was all clear.

The 3 of them stood together, Katie in the middle of the 2 super soldiers, waiting for the exit ramp to descend as Steve tossed his helmet in his hand. 

“You remember that time we had to ride back from Rockaway Beach in the back of that freezer truck?” Steve said suddenly, looking over at Bucky as the cold air hit them. 

“Was that the time we used our train money to buy hot dogs?”  Bucky frowned

“You blew three bucks trying to win a stuffed bear for a redhead” Steve smirked.

“Right, what was her name again?” Bucky asked, a tone of amusement on his voice

“Dolores” Steve answered instantly, smirk still on his face “You called her Dot.” 

“She's gotta be a hundred years old right now.” Bucky said.

“So are we pal” Steve said, clamping his hand on Bucky’s shoulder. The ramp was now almost completely down. Steve placed his helmet on, fastened the strap under his chin and the three of them descended.

“Well it aint quite a freezer truck.” Katie mused. 

“I hate the cold.” Bucky sighed as they trudged through the snow.

“Yeah Stevie isn’t exactly a fan either.” Katie said “Although he still runs the Air Con at like minus 20”

“No, I don’t.” Steve sighed, as Bucky gave a bark of a laugh as the two of them began to playfully bicker.

“Our bedroom is freezing.”

“Look, I run at a higher temperature than you.” Steve shot back, looking at her “Yeah yeah.” Katie rolled her eyes, gun still raised as she looked around.

“Our place was always cold in the winter.” Bucky mused, and then he laughed again “Hey Katie, once when we were kids  we built a fire using all this spare and wood we found in the outhouse.” “Yeah, your dad gave us a whack each round the back of the head as he’d been saving it to build a table.” Steve grinned again. “My ears were ringing for days.”

Katie smiled as the two men shared a laugh, it was nice to see them caught up in memories. But their reminiscing was short lived as they had reached the entrance to the bunker. Bucky turned round, just to make sure no one was behind them as Katie looked at the large, steel door set into the rock. It was open.

Bucky and Katie both raised their guns towards the gap.

“He can't have been here more than a few hours” Steve said as they stopped just outside, 

“Long enough to wake them up.” Bucky sighed. 

Steve looked at him, before his attention went back to the door and he stepped forward, into the cast iron bunker. Katie followed him in, Bucky taking up the rear and a couple of meters in front of them was a caged elevator. The three of them climbed in, Steve pressing the button hanging from the top and they descended into the depths of the bunker in silence until it reached its destination with a soft thud. 

Steve nodded to Bucky and then heaved up the cage door, Bucky readying his gun as they walked slowly down a corridor, keeping close to the wall. This time Bucky went first, Katie second, Steve following. Katie kept her gun raised, eyes sharp as she looked round into an alcove full of junk, the place seemed to be nothing but a dumping ground. They continued to move down the corridor before a loud thud rang around, causing them to spin around. Bucky aimed his gun back down the corridor, as did Katie, whilst Steve pulled his shield in front of him.

“You ready?” Steve asked, looking at Katie, then over at his friend as he took a slight step forward so he was almost shielding them both taking a step down the flight of stairs in front of them.

Katie nodded as Bucky replied “Yeah.”  

The double doors at the bottom began to open, but it wasn’t another super soldier that greeted the trio. It was Tony in his full Iron Man suit.

Katie stared in surprise as her brother retracted his helmet. 

“You seem a little defensive.” Tony said as Steve strode down the steps towards him, shield covering his body. Katie followed a yard or so behind, her gun now by her side. 

“It's been a long day.”  Steve replied, shield still raised, not quite sure what Stark was doing there. Bucky shifted slightly and Tony turned his head to look at him.

“At ease, Soldier. I'm not currently after you.”

“Then why are you here?” Katie asked. 

“Could be your story aint so crazy.” Tony said, shrugging. 

“Sorry, is that you admitting you’re wrong?” she asked, raising her eyebrow slightly at her brother.

“Maybe.” Tony shrugged.

“Ross?” Steve looked at him.

“Ross has no idea I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way. Otherwise, I gotta arrest myself” 

“Well, that sounds like a lot of paperwork” Steve quipped as he lowered his shield “It's good to see you, Tony.”

“You too Cap.” his brother-in-law smiled softly before he looked over at Bucky who still had the gun raised

“Hey, Manchurian Candidate, you're killing me. There's a truce here. You can drop…”

Steve motioned at Bucky to lower the gun and he did. 

“So how did you find us?” Katie asked

“I went to the prison.” He sighed, “Spoke to Sam.”

“How are they?” Steve asked.

Tony hesitated “Angry, mostly at me. Clint especially but… they’re, ok.” 

Katie looked at him, she had the feeling he was holding something back but now wasn’t the time.

“What made you change your mind?” Bucky asked Tony. He may have lowered his gun but because his Captain had asked him to, but he was still unsure. 

“I got an update from the Berlin police…” he said, turning to face the man. “The Task Force called for a psychiatrist as soon as you were captured. They dispatched a Dr Broussard from Geneva but he was intercepted by the man who questioned you.”

“You got a name?” Katie asked her brother. 

“Yeah, Colonel Helmut Zemo, Sokovian Intelligence. He ran Echo Skorpion, a Sokovian covert kill squad”

“Sokovia…” Katie sighed as Steve groaned, “Is that place set to follow us around for the rest of our days?” 

“You think that’s what he wants with these Super Soldiers?” Steve asked. “Some form of army to get revenge?”

Tony made a face, shrugging.

“Your guess is as good as mine Cap, but I reckon so, yeah.”

Tony re-engaged his helmet and the 4 of them set off to continue the search. Katie felt bolstered by her brother’s appearance, and Steve also felt hopeful. Hopeful that they could sort this out then go home, together, and work through the whole unholy mess that had been left in the wake of the Accords. Still, they moved cautiously and silently until Tony, who was at the front, turned to his right, into a smaller corridor at the end of which was a vast chamber.  

“I got heat signatures.” He said gently.

“How many?” Steve asked.

“Uh…one.” Tony said as he walked into the chamber.

“One?” Katie frowned. She looked at Steve and then the two of them turned to Bucky who shrugged, equally as puzzled.

As they all walked up the 3 small steps into the chamber Katie could just about make out several huge pillars when the lights in each of them snapped on. It was then that the all saw they weren’t pillars, they were capsules. Each containing an enhanced soldier surrounded by some form of hazy, yellow mist. 

The four of them looked around, bewildered when the PA system crackled into life, causing Katie to jump.

“If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep”. The voice spoke as Bucky looked up at the solider in the capsule nearest to him whilst Katie continued to the next, her gun still raised. It was then that she noticed there was a bullet hole in the glass and a shot buried right between the female soldiers eyes. 

He’d killed them. 

“Did you really think I wanted more of you?” 

There was another pause as Katie turned to look at Steve and Tony who were walking slowly through the middle of the chamber to her right, towards the machine that was used to wipe the soldiers’ minds. Bucky and Katie exchanged a puzzled glance. None of this added up. Why had he killed them? What had he come all this way for if he didn’t want to activate them? 

“I’m grateful to them, though. They brought you here” the voice said, and then a window lit up to their right. Zemo was in there. Steve hurled his shield at the window but it simply bounced off the glass and returned to him where he was stood by my side. 

“Please, Captain.” Zumo spoke with amusement “ The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets” 

“I'm betting I could beat that.” Tony said, as he and Steve rounded the chair to the right, Bucky and Katie to the left.  

“Oh, I'm sure you could, Mr. Stark. Given time. But then you'd never know why you came.”

“You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?” Steve stepped forward so there was just the glass separating his face from Zemo’s as he glared at him. 

“I thought about nothing else for over a year. I studied you. I followed you. But now that you're standing here, I just realized… there's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes. How nice to find a flaw.”

Steve drew back slightly, frowning as Katie reached his side.

“You're Sokovian.” she said, watching the man, his brown eyes flickering to hers “ Is that what this is about?”

“Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell.” Zemo shook his head “ No. I'm here because I made a promise.” 

Steve studied Zemo as he asked “you lost someone? 

Zemo bowed his head and clicked his tongue. “I lost everyone. And so will you.”

Steve watched as Zemo pressed something and then a screen just behind them, to the right clicked on. He shot another look at Zemo before he made my way over to it, as Katie followed.

“An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again…but one which crumples from within?” Zemo spoke and Katie glanced back at him, Steve doing the same “That's dead… forever.”

Katie looked at the screen, the still image that was portrayed was somewhere very familiar. Her eyes flicked to the date on the freeze frame. December 16 1991. And in that split second she understood.

One which crumbles from within…

This was about splitting the Avengers up, pitting them against one another.

“I know that road.” Tony jerked her out of her thoughts from where he stood to her right, “What is this?” he spoke louder, aimed at Zemo who didn’t answer.

Tony glanced back at the screen and Katie felt herself grow cold as the footage began to play. The Stark siblings watched as their parent’s car entered the frame and crashed into a tree.  And then the Winter Soldier rode up and got of his motorbike. 

Katie glanced at Tony and could see his unease was increasing, his brow furrowing as he watched the driver of the car, their dad, laying on the ground. Tony inhaled deeply as the footage progressed and the Winter Soldier walked over to their dad who had struggled out of the car and hoisted him up by his hair and stared down at him.

Tony wasn’t watching the screen anymore. He was stood, eyes fixed on Bucky who had his head bowed. The soldier took a deep breath and glanced over at Tony, his eyes locking with the man’s. Tony looked away and back to the screen as the tears began to freely fall from Katie’s eyes. On the footage the Winter Soldier reined blow upon blow upon her father before dragging him by his collar and shoving him back into the driver’s seat. She felt Tony take her hand, his Iron Man Gauntlet tightening painfully around her fingers as The Winter Soldier rounded the car and reached in through the window. At that point she couldn’t take it anymore and she turned away, supressing the sob that was rising in her throat and pressed her face into Steve’s chest were he stood besides her side on, watching Tony carefully. He gently placed a hand at the back of his wife’s head before he glanced back at the screen to see the Winter Solder aiming a gun at the surveillance camera, shooting it. 

There was a moment’s pause and Katie moved and looked over to where Bucky was stood a few paces behind them, his head bowed, shoulders slumped in disgrace. He looked up, his own tears clouding his eyes and then Tony lunged, and  Bucky’s face contorted into panic, his rifle flying up as Steve hastily moving to stop Tony grabbing his arm.

“Tony, Tony.” he conciliated.

Tony looked down at the screen again, before he looked up at Steve, the tears glistening in his eyes as Katie wiped away her own with the back of her hands.

“Did you know?” Tony asked his voice barely audible.

“I didn’t know it was him.”  Steve began, his voice pleading as he looked at Tony. 

“Don’t bullshit Rogers!” Tony cut him off before Steve could continue, his voice full of fury. “Did you know?” 

There was a pause, before Steve sighed and dropped his head slightly. “Yes”.

Tony pushed Steve away before he glanced back at the screen. 

“Tony.”  Katie said as he turned to look at her. “We didn’t know for sure, not until…”

“You knew as well?” Tony asked, his voice cracking as he looked at his sister and she began to cry again as she nodded, and Tony’s chest tightened with betrayal and heartbreak.  

He stepped back, his chin jutting upwards twitchily before he re-engaged the Iron man helmet. He pushed Katie out of the way and as she tumbled left he punched Steve hard, sending him to the floor. Bucky started to fire, bullets easily deflecting off Tony’s Iron Man suit and he shot a beam at Bucky, disarming him and then flew across the chamber, slamming him into the floor. “Tony, please!” Katie shouted, as Tony jumped on Bucky’s chest. Steve stood up, threw his shield which hit Tony, distracting him momentarily before he tackled him from the front, barging him backwards. Then Steve was on the floor, then Bucky was there, it was getting really out of hand and Katie was powerless to stop any of it.

“You need to go.” Steve instructed as he cut the restraints that Tony had fired at him off his legs.

“I can’t!” she said stubbornly, “he’s my brother, Steve!”

“That wasn’t a request.” Steve repeated firmly “Go, get Zumo. If we don’t apprehend him, then all this is for nothing.”

She hesitated for a second. 

“Katie!” he said, voice full of authority.

“Alright.” she swallowed “but please...don’t…”

She trailed off as Steve gently touched her face before he leapt up, shield raised. Then she turned and ran. Back the way they had come, the sounds of blasts and yells and metal on metal growing fainter and fainter as she sprinted down the corridors, the tears in her eyes hindering her view and sense of direction.

Every so often snippets of the footage flashed across her mind. Her mom and dad, pleading for their lives before Bucky, no, the Winter Soldier coldly executed them. This entire situation was a mess, and she had no idea how any of them were going to come back from this. Whether they could ever come back from this. 

Eventually she made it outside. The snow had been falling, almost completely eradicating any sign of the three sets of footprints that were hers, Steve and Bucky’s, leading into the bunker, but there was one set leading away. 

She took out one of her pistols, having lost her rifle in the chamber somewhere, and began to follow them, eventually coming to a thicket of trees. As she approached she could hear the sounds of voices, it sounded like one of them was talking via a phone. 

“You should've seen his little face. Just try, okay? I'm going to bed. I love you.” 

It was a woman’s voice and then Katie spotted Zumo, he was sat by a rock, looking at the phone in his hand. As she approached someone else emerged from the corner of her eyesight and she spun, raising her gun. It was T’Challa, Black Panther suit fully engaged.  He gestured at her, palms up, before he retracted his helmet and spoke to Zumo.

“I almost killed the wrong man.” 

“Hardly an innocent one.” Zumo shot back, no sign of surprise in his voice at them two of them being there.

“This is all you wanted.” Katie shook her head sadly, the cold snowy wind whipped her hair about her face and it stung her cheeks which were wet with tears. He looked up at her, eyeing the gun which she still had trained on him. “To see us rip each other apart?”

“My father lived outside the city.” Zemo began to explain “I thought we would be safe there. My son was excited. He could see the Iron Man from the car window. I told my wife, "Don't worry. They are fighting in the city. We're miles from harm." When the dust cleared… and the screaming stopped. It took me two days until I found their bodies. My father… still holding my wife and son in his arms. And the Avengers? “

He looked up at Katie and she saw the hatred in his eyes as he glared back. “You went home”

“None of us wanted any of it.” she shook her head, eyes welling up again “There isn’t a day goes by where I don’t wish things could have turned out differently. We tried, but we couldn’t save everybody…”

“I knew I couldn't kill you.” Zumo ignored her. “More powerful men than me have tried. But, if I could get you to kill each other…”

Kill each other. 

Katie swallowed, her thoughts returning to Steve and Tony back in the bunker. 

“I'm sorry about your father. He seemed a good man. With a dutiful son” Zumo looked up at T’Challa.

“Vengeance has consumed you. It's consuming them.” T’Challa blinked ruefully and retracted the claws in his gloves. “I am done letting it consume me. Justice will come soon enough”

Zumo smiled thinly, and for the first time Katie saw that he had a gun in his hand. “Tell that to the dead” 

As he raised the gun to shoot himself T’Challa grabbed the shaft of it, absorbing the bullet and shot in his hand before he rolled round behind Zumo, getting him into a headlock.

“The living are not done with you yet.”

All 3 of them fell silent and Katie slumped onto a rock, her head in her hands. Whatever happened now, it didn’t matter. Zumo had gotten what he wanted. The Avengers were split, right down the middle, Tony and Steve were pitted against each other. Her brother and Husband. 

And she had no idea what she was going to do.

*******

The fight went too far. Tony blasted Bucky's metal arm off of his body which sent Steve off into a frenzy but he lost his shield in the fracas that had ensued. And now, he stood in between Tony and that final blast that the billionaire knew would end his parents' killer once and for all. And Tony was going through him if he had to.

"He's my friend." Steve pleaded breathing heavily and he looked at Tony hoping to get through to him. Surely he understood it wasn’t Bucky that had done it, it was Hydra, it was always fucking Hydra.

"So was I." Tony answered flatly before punching Steve in the face once, twice then threw him into the opposite wall. Steve coughed, spitting out blood, then began to unsteadily work his way back up to his feet. "Stay down," Tony warned aiming his repulsor beam at him "Final warning."

Steve lifted both his hands in a fighting stance shrugging slightly as he said, "I can do this all day."

I can do this all day… those words roused Bucky and for a moment he was in an alley, bailing the little blonde punk out of a fight. Well, why break the habit of a lifetime? He grabbed Tony's ankle with his remaining hand, distracting him and Tony turned kicking him in the face rendering him unconscious again. Before he could react Steve grabbed him from behind and with a monumental heave he lifted him over his head, Tony tried to fly away but with his failing jets it was no use and he landed hard when Steve threw him down onto the concrete.

And then Steve was on top of him throwing punch after punch, grabbing his previously discarded shield bringing that down onto the mask until it broke and fell apart revealing Tony's frighten gaze to Steve.

Steve raised his shield one more time and Tony brought his hands up to cover his face but that wasn’t Steve’s intention, he couldn’t and wouldn’t ever hurt him like that. Instead, he brought it down hard onto the arc reactor. Tony lowered his arms and stared up at Steve with a mixture of surprise, betrayal and resentment and the soldier looked back at him, his own face contorted with remorse as he rolled off to the side of the now useless suit.

Both men took a moment to catch their breath as fatigue and exhaustion begin to set in, Steve was the first to move as he pulled the shield from the chest of the suit and hooked it back onto his arm. He glanced back at Tony one last before time, wishing it could be different before making his way over to his best friend and pulling the barely conscious man to his feet.

"That shield doesn't belong to you," Tony spat turning over on his side. "You don't deserve it. My father made that shield!" he shouted angrily.

Steve paused. Howard had made that shield, yes. And he had betrayed the man’s memory by keeping the true nature of his death a secret. Taking a deep breath, he realised Tony was right, he didn’t deserve it after all. Captain America was a righteous man, fighting the good fight, a moral man…and Steve Rogers had been selfish and arrogant thinking he could act as he had without consequence. With an immense air of sadness he shrugged the shield from his arm and let it clang to the floor. Then he proceeded to carry Bucky up the exit and out into the snow.

The sound his shield made as it hit the concrete was a noise that he knew would be forever ingrained in his mind. The sound of him leaving Captain America in a bunker in Siberia.

*****

Katie had no idea how long she sat waiting, lost in her thoughts and worries but eventually she heard a shuffling noise and spun round to see Steve supporting Bucky who was missing his metal arm. Both men were bloodied, battered, but alive. 

“Where’s Tony?” she said standing up, looking at Steve.

Steve took a deep breath, “In there. It got out of hand but he’s ok.” Katie immediately headed to the door of the bunker.

“Katie, he won’t listen.” Steve shook his head sadly as he called after her “This…it’s too far gone to fix.

“I have to try Steve, he’s my brother.”

She left the sentence hanging, not looking back as she moved back into the bunker. She had to try and talk him round, make him understand this was what Zemo wanted…  it was the last chance to try and sort all of this out. If she couldn’t then there was no way Steve could go back. No way he would go back.

And she was going to lose one of them.

“Tony.” she said gently, walking towards where he was sat, back against a wall in the depth of the concrete building.

“You know, when Rogers asked for your hand in marriage I couldn’t have been happier. Finally you’d met someone that treat you well, looked after you…now, I wish he’d never come out of that fucking iceberg.” He snarled up at her.

Katie took a deep breath. “You’re upset, I get that.”

“Really? You do?” he said, sarcasm dripping off every word “Oh that’s good because I thought for a moment you were missing the point.”

“What is the point, Tony?” she asked, softly “Do you think for one minute that I like what happened to our Parents?”

“How long have you known?” he looked at her.

“Since we took SHIELD and Hydra down.” she bowed her head.

“2 years?!” his voice rang round the cavern. “You knew for 2 fucking years?” “I didn’t know for certain it was him until yesterday, I swear.” she took a deep breath “But Steve is right. It wasn’t Bucky that did it. It was the Winter Soldier.”

“Oh god, he’s brainwashed you as well.” Tony groaned, banging his head against the wall “That man murdered our parents!!” 

“No one is brainwashed, it’s simply a fact. Hydra murdered our parents.” she sniffed slightly  

“BUT HE DID IT!” Tony yelled, “And whilst that mind control is in there he’s a danger and he needs to be dealt with.”

“He needs help.”

Tony laughed, scornfully “Frankly if you believe that, you’re the one that needs help.”

"We both know what it’s like to be tortured, to have your dignity stripped from you in a way people cannot possibly imagine.” she turned to her brother “And for us it was weeks Tony, fucking weeks. He endured it for 70 damned years." "He killed our mom!" "And he saved my life!" Katie said, her voice cracking "The Winter Soldier did those things, not Bucky Barnes.Tone, this is tearing me in two. I can’t choose between you, I can’t do it!" "You already chose." "No, I didn’t. I did what I thought was right. Not just the Accords but coming here. And you know it was right too, deep down or you wouldn’t be here either. You saw those soldiers in there, it could have been so much different." Tony snorted. "For once in your life just admit you'd follow Rogers anywhere..." Katie shook her head, sniffing slightly as her eyes misted over "Look, You're my brother, my father even, and I love you so much, but he is my husband and I love him, with everything I have.” Tony looked at her, and turned away. He felt betrayed, by them both. But as much as he hated what she had done, he loved his sister beyond belief and he knew no matter what happened here there would be no winners. If she stayed her heart would break at losing Steve and she would probably end up inside that shit hole pokey until some agreement or deal was done. And if she left, she might be free, but then he would lose her. 

But above all Tony knew the thing that would break her the most was having to make that choice, a choice between a life of freedom on the run with Rogers, or a choice between being locked up or with him. He couldn't see her go through that, he couldn't see her locked up and miserable and without the man she loved, and who clearly loved her. Tony knew, there was nothing else to do, he had to make the choice for her. And moreover he knew he had to be the one to lose.

"I don’t even wanna look at you right now." His voice cracked and he turned away "Get lost, go on." "And go where?” her voice was strained. "Wherever your precious Captain is running to. And you best run fast. Because if Ross gets hold of you, you're both gonna be in that pokey with the rest of them and I'll make sure Rogers never sees the light of day again." "And me?" She said, her eyes wet as she looked at him. "You went against the accords." He shrugged, unable to meet her eye "Maybe they could get you a double cell" Katie felt her heart breaking. Her brother, the man who had been there all her life, was actively pushing her away. This is what it had come to. But just as she was about to argue, try and see they could get a way through this, he delivered the final blow. "You know, I'm glad mom and dad ain't here to see this, because they'd be so ashamed of you...” he took a deep breath before he delivered the blow he knew would kill her, and he was going to hate himself for it. “You disgust me." That. That there. Was the moment Katie felt her heartbreak. "Tony." her voice cracked "Tell me you don’t mean that." "I mean every word." he lied. Because he didn’t. He didn’t mean any of it. He was beyond proud of her, how strong she was. But he knew, this was the only way she could be spared the agony of a shitty choice. 

With a shaking sob Katie stood up and began to walk across the cavern slowly, giving Tony a chance to stop her but he didn't. As she reached the start of the corridor she stopped, taking a deep breath and turned back to look at him through her tears.

“Me not telling you about mom and dad was a mistake. But I did it to save you from all this, save you from hurting because I figured you’d seen enough over the past goodness knows how long.” she shrugged, wiping her face “I’m so sorry Tony.”

He looked away, not meeting her eyes because he couldn’t.  “Just go.” he said softly.

She walked from the cavern as calmly as she could. Once she was out of site she began to sprint, wanting nothing more than the comfort of Steve. She was that wrapped up in her thoughts, twice she took a wrong turn and hit a dead end, screaming in frustration, before eventually, after what seemed like a lifetime she burst out into the snow before collapsing onto the floor, a loud agonising wail erupting from her chest.

“Katie?” Steve saw his girl fall to her knees, the noise she made chilled him to the bones. He sprinted straight towards her, ignoring the aching all over his body from the blows he had taken over the past 3 days or so. He dropped besides her “Honey?”

Katie took a deep breath before she looked up at Steve unable to voice her emotions or explain what happened. She simply bowed her head again and shook it. Steve sighed and placed an arm round her shoulder “Come on.”

With his help she rose to her feet, looking round. There was no sign of T’Challa. Zemo or Bucky.

“Where is everyone?” she asked, sliding her arm around Steve’s waist, more for support than anything else.

“T’Challa left about 2 minutes ago. He’s taken Zemo to the United Nations.” Steve said as they trudged through the snow.

“Least Bucky’s in the clear.” she sniffed, always searching for the positive.

“He’s not.” Steve sighed “Even if he’s proven not guilty they’ll want to lock him up, especially whilst Hydra are in his mind.”

They stopped at the bottom of the ramp to the jet.

“T’Challa has offered to help.” Steve turned to Katie, taking a deep breath as he knew this was it. The point at which she was going to have to make a decision on what she did next, and his heart was breaking for her. “He’s given me the coordinates to Wakanda and says he has someone there who could assist in fixing whatever it is Hydra did to Buck’s mind.”

“If the UN catch on he’s harbouring him it’ll cause even more trouble.” Katie sighed. “I know, which is why they can’t find out.” Steve said looking at her “T’Challa is going to tell the UN that me, you, Bucky and Tony are here, so they can send a craft out to pick everyone up. Then the cover story is that in the meantime Bucky and I escaped, and no one knows where we have gone.”

“Think they’ll buy it?” she asked, ignoring for a moment the fact that he had said Bucky and I, not Bucky and us.

“They’ve no reason not to.” Steve said after a moment.

“And he really thinks he can help him?”

Steve nodded. “So that’s the plan. Take Bucky and lay low for a while, at least until I can figure out what to do next”

He paused for a moment and then looked up the ramp before taking a deep breath and looking at her.

“I didn’t want any of this to happen” he sighed, “and if you don’t want to come I’ll understand.” he took a deep breath, as he grabbed both of her hands, the tears swimming in his eyes “I don’t ever want to force you to make a choice so whatever you do decide, I’ll understand, I just want you to know that I love you, I’ll always love you.”

Katie looked up at him, his last words were barely audible above his choked back sob. She knew Steve wasn’t ever going to go back, he couldn’t go back. He wouldn’t settle being behind bars but he was offering her a way out, a chance to stay with Tony. Her husband had never, not once through this entire situation pressured her to take his side. And she hadn’t taken his side, she had done what she believed was the right thing. But now, when it came down to it, there was simply no choice for her to make. Tony hated her, the Accords had finished the Avengers, Ross would make sure she was locked away…and the thought of Steve not being with her broke her more than anything.

There was nothing else left for her to do but go.

Her eyes misted over as she looked up at the man who was her world, her everything. “I can’t stay.” she whispered “Not without you. Please don’t leave me.”

“Leave you?” his voice cracked and he pulled her into his chest, hard, hands pressed at the base of her back and her head as she fisted her hands into the dirty material of his uniform. “Never, Doll.”

“Then get me out of here.” she pulled back to look up at him, gently using her thumbs to wipe away the tears on his face that had run down below the line of his helmet.

“Are you sure?” he had to ask again. “Because if we do this, there’s no going back. You might be able to sort things with Tony if you stay.” “When I’m locked up in prison?” she shook her head “What’s the point in that. Besides, we both know that you wouldn’t stand for it. You’d break me out in a week.”

He gave her a soft smile, she was right. He would. She leaned up to place a soft kiss on his lips before she turned and strode up the ramp into the jet, wiping her eyes and putting her weapons away silently. Steve followed her in and she turned to look at him when she spotted Bucky who was looking significantly worse for wear sat on one of the seats.

“You ok?” she said gently. He looked up and gave her a small smile.

“Yeah, look, I’m sorry, I really am.” his voice cracked and his head hung again.

“I know.” she said sadly as she touched his shoulder and headed over to the co-pilots seat.

Steve settled in the pilot seat just in front of her, removing his helmet and punching in some co-ordinates. Moments later the jet was airborne.

“Auto-pilot locked. ETA 4.5 hours” Katie muttered, reading the computer before she stood up and dropped her hand on Steve’s shoulder “Think it’s about time I patched you boys up.”

“Start with Buck.” he said gently, standing up “He’s worse than I am.”

She moved to the back of the jet and began rummaging in the first aid boxes gathering various things before she told Bucky to sit on the gurney in the medi-bay area of the jet.

“This is probably gonna sting a little.” she said, biting her lip as she began to wipe gently at the various cuts and bruises on Bucky’s face. If it hurt he didn’t give any outward signs that it did. She then moved to the back of his head, clearing up a nasty gash from where he had taken a hit and once that was done she checked his arm, there was no new wound, but his metal arm had been removed just below the shoulder blade, leaving the metal socket intact.

“Does it hurt?” she asked him gently.

“No.”

She looked at Steve, shrugging as if to say that she had done the best she could and he nodded, looking at Bucky.

“Why don’t you rest?” He said, nodding over to the seats. “We’ve got a while before we arrive and I doubt any of us had much sleep last night.”

“You guys certainly didn’t…” Bucky said slyly. Katie shared a look with Steve who she was amused to see had flushed from the neck upwards, the patches of his face that weren’t dirty were now a bright crimson.

“Walls in hotel rooms are thin…” Bucky continued, grunting slightly as he dropped into one of the seats, leaning back and closing his eyes.

Katie bit her lip as Steve sat down on the stretcher, same place Bucky had sat before. She studied his weary face and noticed that there was a huge bruise forming on his right cheek and a smaller abrasion on his left. His nose had at some point been bleeding and there was a split in his lip, but all in all his helmet had saved him for the most, as he was nowhere near as bad as Bucky. She gently wiped at his face, as tenderly as she could to avoid hurting him. She cleaned off the dirt, dried blood and then the cut above his eye, before moving to the one on his lip. As she touched it with the antiseptic wipe he hissed slightly.

“Stop being a baby…” she said, teasingly as she continued. He opened his eyes and simply watched his wife’s face intensely. Her eyes were red rimmed from her crying and he couldn’t help but wonder what Tony had said to her when she had gone back in.  But he knew she would tell him when she was ready. Eventually she finished and dropped the wipe she had been using into the dish to my right, and he placed both his hands on her hips and pulled her closer to him, so that she was stood in between his legs.  

“I love you so much.” He said gently. She brought her hand up to brush across his now clean but bruised face and sighed. 

“I know.” she said gently, placing a soft kiss onto his lips, careful not to aggravate any cuts further. He would heal fast, he always did. In a few days there would be no evidence of any of these.  

From over in the corner of the jet there came a soft groan “Get a room…preferably not next to mine.”

*****

It was 3 hours into the journey when she told Steve everything. What Tony had said, how he had told her to leave, and that he was disgusted with her, and Steve’s heart broke for her as she cried again, her tears falling to his shoulder as he sat and simply held her before insisting she also took some rest. He knew what Tony had said was bullshit, the man was ridiculously proud of his sister, and he found himself understanding why he had done it. To save her from an impossible choice. Tony was as selfless as the next person where his sister was involved.

About 45 minutes or so later, when Katie was fast asleep, Bucky woke up and he noticed Steve was sat in the seat at the front, simply staring out of the window.

“Got anything to drink?” he asked, and Steve’s head snapped round.

“Should be some water in the fridge, hang on…” “I lost my arm Punk, not my legs.” Bucky grumbled, heading over to where Steve was directing.

“Glad to see your attitude is still as bad as ever.” Steve raised an eyebrow as Bucky threw a bottle to him which he caught in his right hand.

“Yeah well, there are somethings even being brainwashed can’t get rid of.” he sighed as he headed over to the seat by Steve. Clasping the bottle in his knees he worked the top off with his right hand and took a deep swig.

“Do you really think they can do it? You know, get whatever Hydra put in my head out?” he asked.

“T’Challa seems to think so.” Steve nodded, looking at his friend.

“Well, perhaps when he has we can catch up properly…” Bucky’s voice was wistful.

”Like old times huh?” Steve said with a twinkle in his eye.

Bucky smiled before he grew serious again. “You know I did think about finding you, but…” 

Steve looked at him for a moment and then leaned forward slightly. “How much do you remember?” he asked.

Bucky sighed, “I remember most things, about my life that is, but at first it was just a big jumble. That’s why I wrote it all down...”

The two men fell silent again, Steve full of his own guilt again for not going back for him that day he fell from the train. He could have spared him all of this.

“How did you do it?” Bucky asked suddenly, making Steve look back at him “Wake up 70 years in the future and just carry on?” “Katie.” Steve said instantly “I came out of the ice, I’d lost everyone I knew, had no idea what to do…but then I found her…almost like it was meant to be.”

“I thought Steve Rogers didn’t believe in fate?” Bucky teased “What was it you used to say? You make your own luck?” Steve chuckled “I didn’t, I mean I don’t really, but whatever it was be it fate, luck, circumstance…I’m just glad it happened.” he trailed off, smiling, before he carried on “You know, I loved Peggy but that was nothing to what I feel for Katie. I can’t imagine being without her.”

Bucky looked at his friend, smiling. He had always known that when Steve found the right dame he would fall hard and fast, and it was clear he had. After all of his bad luck before the war it was nice to see the man so happy and loved. But Bucky wasn’t going to let it lie without the chance to tease his friend. He grinned and looked at him, a cheeky smile spreading across his weary face.

“Yeah she’s pretty hot too. How did a punk like you manage to pull a gal like that?” “Buck!” Steve said exasperatedly as Bucky laughed.

“I’m just playing with you Stevie. I’m glad you found someone.” Bucky said gently. “Just gutted I wasn’t at the wedding, well properly anyway. You looked happy though when you came out of the church.”

“I was. And I wish you could have been there properly too pal.” Steve said, his voice taking on a teasing tone “But Sam made a pretty good substitute best man.”

“Wait, you had Seagull as your best man?” Bucky’s tone was indignant.

“He’s a good friend.” Steve said.

There was another pause.

“You know I haven’t thanked you yet.” Steve said gently “For saving her life.” he nodded over to where Katie was curled up in a seat under a blanket “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t been there.” “Right time right place.” Bucky shrugged “You know, I didn’t recognise her at first, just heard all this screaming and…well she was in a bad way.” “I know.” Steve said, softly “They…they hurt her.” Bucky didn’t need to ask what they had done to her. He could imagine.

“She’s ok now though, right?”

“Physically yeah..” Steve nodded “mentally…she still has nightmares sometimes but don’t we all? She’s strong though, way stronger than me…”

“I dunno from the noises I heard last night you seemed to be pretty strong.” Bucky quipped and Steve groaned

“Sorry, our walls at the compound are soundproof so…” he offered an explanation, blushing again.

“Yeah, well the first time we just kinda ignored it but then when you started again an hour later, then again, well…frankly it was a little gross.”

“Guess we just got a bit carried away.” Steve felt the heat spread up his neck.

“Sam said you were showing off.” Bucky smirked causing Steve to snort. “You got some stamina, bud, I’ll give you that.”

“Something we both thank Dr Erskine for on a regular basis.” Steve shot back cheekily and Bucky barked out a laugh.

Then the alert on the cockpit started to go and Katie sat up, rubbing her eyes as the noise roused her. Steve shot her a smile, pretty sure he was still blushing, and then turned to look at the dials on the cockpit

“Hey.” she said, approaching the front, dropping her hand to Bucky’s shoulder as she pressed a soft kiss to Steve’s head “We here?”

“I think so.” Steve frowned, “The co-ords are telling me to drop to 2600, heading 0-3-0…only...”

Katie looked ahead, it was nothing but a thicket of what looked like jungle.

“You trust T’Challa?” she asked, settling in a seat behind him.

“Yeah.”

“Then do it.” she said simply, looking at him like he was an idiot.

Bucky smirked slightly and Steve rolled his eyes, but obeyed all the same. They passed through the trees as they simply disappeared, like a computer image and they were left with the skyline of a beautiful city. Katie let out the breath I hadn’t even realised she had been holding.

"What the fuck?" Bucky whispered, and Steve laughed in agreement.

*****

They were welcomed by T’Challa’s Mother, younger Sister Suri and a few members of his King’s Guard. T’Challa was on his way back from the UN and wouldn’t be back for an hour or so, so in the mean time they were given something to eat and a place to clean up, Katie taking her time in the scalding hot shower in their luxurious suite. Steve had stayed with Bucky and she was glad, as she broke down once more thinking about Tony, wondering where he was. Once she had cried all the tears she had left to cry, she dried off and crawled into the bed passing out almost immediately. She didn’t feel Steve climb in besides her later on that night. He stayed awake for a lot longer than she did, having spent the evening with T’Challa who had filled him in on what the UN had said. Tony was home ok, he knew that much, and the authorities had accepted T’CHalla’s explanation, essentially meaning he, Katie and Bucky were outlaws. For once in his life he had no idea what to do next, and the guilt at dragging her into this was eating him up. With a sigh he wrapped his arms around her, pulled her close and drifted into an uneasy sleep.

The next day felt slightly more positive. After breakfast Suri took Bucky into her lab for a scan on his brain. Bucky had worried that going into a scanner would remind him of the machine Hydra used and could bring out the Winter Soldier again, but Suri had simply smiled and shook her head, before using what looked like a beaded bracelet to perform the scan.

Now she stood over a tablet looking at the image.

"Your mind has been fighting this the whole time." she said tapping a few places on the tablet and bringing up a hologram image of Bucky’s brain for them all to see. She pointed to a bright, pink line which snaked all over the image “That's what they put in there but it hasn’t melded properly, which I suspect is why you required constant…how to put this…recalibration I suppose.” she pondered something before she turned to look at the soldier and smiled. “I can fix this.”

"Really?"  Bucky said, his head jerking up as he looked at her, his eyes shining.

"I may have to engineer something new equipment wise, and it could take me a few months to do it- but it is reversible." She nodded, voice oozing with confidence as she looked at the scans of Bucky’s brain on the screen

"How?"  Bucky frowned, hardly daring to believe what she was saying. He would be free…

“I can cut it out.” she said, like it was something she did every day. “Like I say, it has not melded to your brain. Think of it as foreign object, not a part of you, and all foreign objects can be removed."

Katie squeezed Steve’s hand as Steve let out a loud breath as he looked up at the ceiling. Bucky was going to be ok. He glanced down at his wife who smiled at him, as they both turned to see Bucky’s eyes were wet as he wiped tears off his face. Suri dropped a hand to his shoulder.

“You won't have to live with this anymore, Sergeant Barnes." she said to him.

Bucky looked at her, then to Steve before his face crumpled and in a stride Steve had closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around his friend in a brotherly hug as Bucky sat on the bench, unable to believe that he was going to be free, finally free from Hydra. Katie watched the two of them as T’Challa gently squeezed her shoulder as he and Suri made to leave the room. She followed them, pausing in the doorway to turn to look at the two men, Steve stepping back from Bucky to look down at him as he wiped at his face, a teary smile crossing his features.

It had cost them everything, but at least there was something good going to come out of it all.

 Tags

@the-omni-princess

@momobaby227

@geekofmanythings16​

@angelofhell-666

@thewackywriter

@marvelfansworld

@cobalt-gear

[twilightimagines28]

Honestly I’ll take anything that is Paul Lahote x reader because BAE. (But more specifically a reader who is short and with dark hair)

~The Heros~Paul lahote x reader

~Warning! Abuse / swearing~y/n = your name ( I’m just assume geneder here so if your what I put down please feel free to privte messege me if you would like it changed), plus this is prob 100% sh*t buttt let me know) 

You sat staring at yourself in the mirror at your desk, atempting to cover up the brusies left once again by your father, it was hard as the make up kept running down your face due to the tears you had to meet up with Paul and the pack for the end of the summer bomb fire.

You didn’t want any of them knowing because they would beat your dad to a blood pole you tried to cover it up as best you could, after about an hour or so fixing up your face you were sadicfied and headed to Billy Blacks, Paul ran up and hugged you causing you to wince “You okay?” He asked. You nodded your head not wanting to speak because you knew you would break.

“Y/n what’s wrong?” He asked worry building up in his eyes, “I’m fine Paul, really.” you said giving him a smile “Alright come on.” he said you guy went a sat down by the rest of the pack while Billy told the legends of the tribe,after the stories you looked at the time on your phone and jumped up kissing Paul, an walking off “Where are you going?” Paul asked running after you.

“I gotta go.” You said “But it’s early.” He pleaded with you to stay “I can’t Paul if I don’t get home i’m in deep trouble.” you said he tensed up “He’s doing it again isn’t he?” Paul asked clunching his fist you nodded your head, he pulled you in to his arms, you being short then him it made you feel safe when you were close like nothing could hurt you.

“I’m gonna kill him.” he mubbled in to your dark hair “No you’re not.” you said backing up from him “Y/n he put his hands on you!” he said raising his voice a little causing you to jump back and the rest of the guys run over. “What’s going on?” Sam asked being the first one by your side “It’s nothing Sam we’re fine.” “He hit her!” Paul nearly yelled “Who?” Sam asked “My dad.” you said quitley Sam sighed “Pack up guys.” he said and walked away before you could say anything you and Paul got in to your truck and followed the rest of the guys, “What he do to you?” he asked “he slapped me a few times and pushed me.” you said Paul nodded his head.

When you all pulled in to the drive way your dad stepped outside on the porch arms crossed Paul got out in front of you and ran up to Sam mummbling something Quil, Embry, Jared, Sam and the two new pups stood there in your yard staring at your dad.

“You put your hands on her?” Sam asked as you walked up behind them “So what if I did?” he asked stepping off the porch “Your gonna get a freaking beating thats what!” Paul said getting in his face “Paul don’t” you yelled Sam holding you back, “Sam stop him.” you said. 

Mean while your dad stood there laughing “So Paul hmm you must be the so called boyfirend she’s always running off with.” he said “Damn right!” Paul said “Paul that’s enough.” Sam said Paul took a deep breath and began to walk away “Punk.” Your dad said and spit on the ground near him “Lets go y/n i’m fucking starving and since you haven’t finish the clothes you can stay up an do them.” with out saying a word to anyone Paul walked over to him and throw a punch Sam holding back the rest of the guy the best he could. But by the end your dad was messed up limping back in to the house “Get out of her you stupid B***ch.” he yelled this time causing Sam to get fired up before Sam reached him he had slammed the door shut and locked it.

“Come on baby you’ll stay with me.” He said said limping over and placing his arm around you. “I love you guys but I wish you wouldn’t get invloved.” you said  “Listen you’re the love of my life i’m not gonna stand here and let him hurt you.” he said “GROUP HUG!!” Jared yelled rushing to you and Paul with the others following him.

[winchesterprincessbride]

The Parent Trap-Part 5

Part 1         My Master List

Pairing: Sam X past reader, Sam X Ruby (currently)

A/N: Did you like the movie “The Parent Trap” as a kid? It is one of my favorite movies! I decided to write my own version, with a Supernatural twist, of course!

Summary: Mary Winchester and Annie Campbell meet at summer camp, and they quickly realize they look too much alike for it to be a coincidence.  They are twins! Their parents, Sam Winchester and Y/N Campbell divorced 12 years before, each taking custody of one girl.  Now Sam lives in California and Y/N in New York.  The girls hatch a plan to bring their parents back together, but will Sam’s new fiancee ruin their plans?

A/N/N: The girls' thoughts are in italics

Mary

New York City was like nothing Mary had ever seen before.  There were people everywhere, and the sounds and smells of the Big Apple were nothing like California. There was a frenetic vibe here that was completely different from anything on the West Coast.

“So Carlos has been asking me pretty much every day when you were coming home.” you told Mary conversationally.  “He’s been pretty mopey since you’ve been gone.”

Carlos.  He’s Annie’s friend that lives next door.  I got this!

“He just missed having someone to walk to the garage with him,” Mary said lightly, looking to you for your reaction.

You grinned at her.  “Well, someone has to make sure he doesn’t eat his Dad’s dinner on the way.  He is a growing boy.”

Conversation flowed easily as the two of you sat in the snarl of traffic out of the airport.  After what seemed like an eternity, the cab pulled up to a quaint, old building with dark marbled stairs worn smooth from years of feet, and tall narrow windows overlooking the street.  Many of those windows held boxes filled with flowers, and Mary was enchanted.  It was a scene right out of “West Side Story”, one of her favorite musicals.

She was struggling to drag Annie’s bag up from the curb when she felt a hand grab it.  Whirling around in surprise,  her eyes met those of a tall muscular boy and she froze for a second.

“ ‘bout time you’re back from wilderness prison!” He said with a smirk.  “So I guess you didn’t get eaten by a bear, huh?”

Inside, Mary was panicking.   Who is this? I think it’s Carlos., but I’m not 100% sure, so I’ll just play along until he clues me in.  He’s cute, like really, really cute.  I hope he IS Carlos.

“Yeah, you wish. I’ll try to get eaten by a bear next time,” she replied with Annie’s typical sass.  “So, anything exciting happen while I was gone?” she couldn’t seem to stop staring at him.

“Nah, same old same old.” The boy replied with a shrug,  still giving no clue to his identity.

As you headed up the front steps, you turned and spoke.  “ I know how much you like my beef stew, Carlos.  Why don’t you come over for dinner? I made it for Annie’s first dinner back.”

Carlos nodded.  “Sure Ms. C. I just gotta let my Ma know.”

He carried the bag to the top of the steps, and Mary grabbed for the handle, accidentally taking his hand in hers. His hand was huge with long callused fingers. She yelped and dropped his hand like it was on fire, hoping that you didn’t notice the awkward moment.

You gestured towards your daughter. “Are you coming, or would you rather fight Carlos for your bag?”

“What? No! I’m right behind you.” Mary insisted.

“See you later, Carlos. Say hi to your Mom for me!” you called over your shoulder.

You were already on your way down the hall.  Mary grabbed her bag and ran to catch up.  She turned to look back.  Carlos was still standing in the doorway staring after her, a confused look on his face.

The text message alert beeped on her phone, and Mary pulled it out of her pocket and scanned it quickly.

Dad has been “seeing someone”. She is coming to dinner tonight. Call to discuss. 11PM your time.

“Oh no!” Mary whispered.  This could ruin everything!  She quickly sent back a reply.

OK. Talk tonight. We need a plan.

Annie

The car headed up the long driveway and stopped in front of a sprawling split-level house.  A large black and white dog came bounding out the door jumping around excitedly and barking.  “Juliet, calm down you maniac!” A pretty blond woman said as she emerged from the house.

“Mary! Thank goodness you’re back! Finally another woman around here besides Juliet! I’ve missed you, Kid. Oh my god! Let me see your hair!” She took Annie’s hands, and Annie did an obligatory spin for her before she was pulled in for a hug.

“Hi, Donna! I missed you too!” Annie said as she hugged the housekeeper warmly.  Mary had shared how close she was to Donna, and Annie could already tell she was going to like her.

“I LOVE it!” Donna pronounced. “So chic! Who cut it?” She asked as she fingered it.

“One of my bunk-mates,” Annie said offhandedly, not mentioning any names.

“Juliet sure missed you! She pouted in your room the whole time you were gone.  Jules! Mary is home!” Donna called to the dog who was chasing something across the yard.

I am Mary. I am Mary. I am Mary.

“Hey, Juliet! Come here, baby!” Annie called, and the dog came running.  Before Juliet reached her, she stopped in front of her and looked at Annie warily.

“Jules, it’s Mary! What is wrong with you?” Sam asked as he joined them.

Oh, crap! The dog knows I’m not Mary!

Annie ran to Juliet, fell to her knees, and hugged her. “I missed you so much! Do I smell like the woods?” She kissed Juliet’s head, and the dog licked her face once and trotted off.  There was an awkward silence.

“That was weird.” Uncle Dean finally said after a moment.  “Got anything to eat, Donna? I’m starving!”

“What else is new?” Donna grumbled. “I can make some sandwiches.” Come help me, Mary. I want to hear all about camp!” Donna held out her hand, and Annie grabbed it and headed toward the house.

“We’ll be up as soon as we get the bags from the car,” Sam told Donna and he and Dean headed back toward Dean’s car.

“So Dad’s been seeing someone? What’s up with that? Who is she?” Annie asked, looking behind her to see if Sam and Dean were coming.

“Don’t even get me started on her,” Donna said with a toss of her shoulder as she opened the refrigerator and grabbed sandwich fixings and put them on the counter.

“Come on Donna���.spill it!” Annie whispered eagerly.

Donna sighed, seemingly wrestling with herself.  “Okay, fine. He met her at some charity thing.  Her name is Ruby.  She is pretty, yeah, but she is so not his type! I know a gold digger when I see one. But your Dad’s been so lonely and he looks at her like she hung the moon.”

“Shhhh...Here they come!” Annie hissed.

“I hate airport food!” Dean exclaimed as he entered the kitchen, and Annie and Donna quickly separated.  Annie tried not to look guilty.

“Well don’t eat too much, because I’m making a special dinner tonight.“  Donna reminded him, not looking happy about it.

Annie turned to Sam as he entered behind Dean.  “So Dad? Who’s coming to dinner tonight?”

“And I’m outta here!” Dean said quickly, grabbing his plate and bolting from the kitchen.

“Coward!” Donna called after him.  “I’m gonna give you two some privacy, I think.” She said as she gave Sam a telling look.  “We’ll catch up later, okay, Mary?”

Annie nodded as she waited for her father to speak.  He took a deep breath.  “Mary, honey, you have been my whole world for as long as I can remember.  But as fun, as that’s been, I’ve missed being with someone.”  

I’ll try playing dumb, see where that gets me. Annie thought.

“But Daddy, you have lots of friends! And you always have Uncle Dean.” Annie said earnestly.

Sam frowned slightly.  “I know, Mary. That’s not what I mean. I miss being with someone, romantically.”

Annie smiled sweetly.  “But you were involved with someone romantically.  My mother.  But you never talk about her, do you?”

“Now Mary….” Sam began.

Annie stood up abruptly. “I’m gone two weeks, and you suddenly have a girlfriend?  What’s next, we’re moving to Alaska? I can’t believe this, are you TRYING to ruin my life, Dad?” Throwing her plate in the sink, she started to yell to throw Sam off his game.  “I bet you planned this whole camp thing to get me out of the way so you could shack up with your GIRLFRIEND while I was out of the way, didn’t you? DIDN’T YOU?”

Sam looked utterly gobsmacked. He had no idea what was happening.  One minute they were having a normal conversation, and now Mary was screaming.  What the hell was going on?

The next thing he knew, he was in the kitchen by himself, and he could hear Mary stomping up the stairs to her room. “I HATE YOU!” He heard her yelling.

Dean returned now that the coast was clear.  “She seems thrilled about Ruby.” He deadpanned to his brother.

“I haven’t even told her yet,” Sam said quietly.

“What now?” Dean asked. “Then what was all the screaming about?”

“I don’t know, I really don’t.  One minute I’m telling her I miss being with someone, then she brings up Y/N, then she’s screaming and stomping away.” Sam looked worried.

Dean sat down across from Sam, looking thoughtful for a moment.  “She brought up Y/N?  What did she say exactly?”

“Something about how I never talk about her, and then she accused me of sending her to camp to get her out of the way so I could “shack up” with Ruby. She’s never yelled at me like that before.” He scrubbed a hand over his face.  “She sounded just like her.”

“Like who?” Dean asked, confused.

“Like Y/N,” Sam said sadly, memories washing over him.

“Better get used to it, man. She’s a teenager.  Are you sure this dinner tonight is a good idea?” Dean questioned. “Maybe give her a day or two to simmer down.”

Sam shook his head. “I promised Ruby.  We want to tell her tonight.”

Dean looked shocked. “Her first night home? Are you sure? Especially after this?  She’s your daughter Sam, but if I were you, I would tell Ruby to slow down a little. If she wants you, Mary is part of the package too.”

“I hear what you're saying, but I want Mary to meet the woman I love, the sooner the better. She and Ruby will get along great, I know it.” Sam said stubbornly. Ruby had him under her spell, and Dean saw it, even if Sam couldn’t.

“It’s your funeral, dude,” Dean said finally. “ Maybe you should take Ruby and Mary out tonight? Someplace that’s neutral territory?  Then they will both be on their best behavior, and me and Donna don’t have to be there.”

Part 6

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[lunasohma]

phantom menace (under the weather)

[ ao3 / ff.net ]

Kuroko is sick, but he has good friends. 

Momoi places her hand on Kuroko's forehead. He startles and she tsks.

"Tetsu-kun," she starts seriously. Kuroko backs up a little. "I'm going to get Akashi-kun if you don't go to the nurse's office right now."

"Momoi-san, are you my mother?" She raises an eyebrow. Kuroko plows on. "I didn't think so. Now kindly let me get back to practice."

It's Momoi who keeps him from face-planting onto the gym floor. She helps him to the nearest bench and gently lays him down.

"Tetsu-kun, are you... pouting?" Kuroko turns so that his face is acquainted with the slatted surface of the bench and resolutely ignores Momoi's soft laughter.

Kuroko Tetsuya has nothing against winter. But he also has nothing against microbes. His weak constitution was always a large concern of his grandmother's, but now that she's been permanently hospitalized, Kuroko fends for himself.

The winter months bring out the worst in Kuroko because with them usually comes a virulent tempest of sickness. The storm cloud that brews around Kuroko typically goes unnoticed by those around him. No matter how ornery or sickly he becomes, his weak presence masks his angst effectively.

This time, however, is different.

"Tetsu!" Aomine's voice rings out in the empty classroom and does nothing good for Kuroko's sinus pressure. "I've got notes for you!" The taller boy states this proudly, standing before him. He has the enthusiasm of a puppy who's retrieved a stick. Kuroko has to consciously keep himself from pointing this out; the fog of sickness somehow loosens his tongue.

"Aomine-kun," Kuroko looks up at him. "Has notes for me." Does not compute.

"Come on, Tetsu - don't be mean! I pay attention in class sometimes!" Kuroko levels a blank stare at him. "And you were, uh, sleeping through most of it, so I figured you might need 'em," he adds, with a small grin. Kuroko belatedly notices the small puddle of drool on his desk.

"So yeah! Notes!" The chicken scratch is remarkably earnest and thoroughly indecipherable. It was kind, Kuroko thinks.

"Thank you, Aomine-kun." He means it.

Kise is being extra clingy today, probably because it's cold, and Kuroko is having none of it.

"Kurokocchi, are you pinching me?! Owowowow—" Kuroko has no remorse and stamps down on the blond's foot with all the wrath of an angry god. Kise yelps and bounces out of range, looking hurt.

He feels bad (relatively quickly for where Kise is concerned) and apologizes as sincerely as he can with a stuffy nose. The other boy recovers quickly as per usual and they continue walking, Kise talking enough for the both of them.

Massaging his temples, Kuroko closes his eyes and rifles through his pocket for tissues.

"Kurokocchi, do you have a cold?" Kise asks, tilting his head to the side. Kuroko cracks one eye open to look at him.

"Something of the sort," he blows his nose dejectedly, "always happens around this time of year." He waves goodbye to Kise since they've reached the intersection where they part.

"Wait!" Kise frantically scampers after him. Kuroko turns to fix him with a deadpan glare. Being sick usually cuts his glares' effectiveness in half (something about red, rheumy eyes), but he's gonna work with what he's got. However, Kise is doggedly determined.

"I can help!" he says excitedly, "Let's go to the store first - I gotta pick some things up!" He leaves no room for argument and takes a hold of Kuroko's wrist. He has no strength to dig his heels in (damn these cold aches), so he ends up trailing around after the other boy.

Kise pays for everything—

("Model's paycheck!" A signature wink was tossed his way. Kuroko resisted the urge to walk out of the store.)

—and they end up taking it all back to Kuroko's.

"My sisters used to take care of me when I got sick," Kise is explaining as he's deftly slicing vegetables. "And then I took care of them when they finally allowed me near the stove." Kuroko is seated at the table, his appetite actually surfacing for the first time this week. Savory cooking scents fill the kitchen for the first time in a long while. If Kise had noticed the disuse of the place, he didn't voice it.

"They've both moved out now, but they left me some great recipes and I've memorized them all!" He sets the steaming bowl in front of Kuroko with a flourish. He's beaming with pride and it's rightly warranted.

It's really good.

Aomine crouches in front of Kuroko's prone form and neatly rolls the ball out of his limp hands, wiping it off on the front of his shirt. Kuroko, even in his feverish state, can recognize this as unsanitary and says as much. At the same time, Momoi aims a pack of disinfectant wipes at Aomine's head.

The taller boy grins and tells him not to worry. Apparently, he can't get sick. Momoi recounts all the times that Aomine ate dirt as a kid. He's bizarrely proud of the fact ("Must've done something right!") and Momoi shakes with silent laughter behind him.

Kuroko rolls onto his back with a long-suffering sigh, blinking hazily in the too-bright lights of the gym.

"I feel like shit," he utters dully.

That gets Aomine's attention. "What was that, Tetsu?"

"I said," Kuroko grouses, "I feel like shit and I want to die." He rolls back onto his front, soundly ignoring Aomine's howls of laughter and Momoi's expression of horror.

Midorima had gotten wind of Aomine's abysmal notetaking skills and had promptly taken over from him.

"Unexpectedly, Midorima-kun is quite the mother hen," Kuroko deadpanned.

That had gotten Midorima on a passionate rant about academic responsibility, which kind of proved Kuroko's point, but he didn't reiterate it.

Midorima's notes are exceedingly competent and Kuroko feels as though he's been blessed. And no matter how much Aomine and Kise whine, he makes sure they don't get so much as a peek. He even surprises himself. A sick Kuroko can be quite vindictive.

Midorima sews, as it turns out. And knits and crochets - the whole nine yards. Kuroko learns that knitting and crocheting are two very different things after an offhand comment of Aomine's. Kuroko had wisely kept his mouth shut.

It had started with the threadbare elbows on Kuroko's coat sleeves; Midorima had zeroed in like a hawk. It only escalated from there. He now has an assortment of homemade goods, ranging from scarves to mittens to a quilt. Soon enough, Kuroko is drowning in yarn.

It's very warm.

It's 9 a.m. on a Saturday (read: too early) and Akashi has the aura of a benevolent monarch, looking quite satisfied with his showing. There is, absurdly, a small moving crew accompanying him, unloading a small van.

"Akashi-kun-"

"Not another word, Kuroko." The red-haired captain is fairly giddy. Kuroko may be hallucinating. "I won't take them back until you're feeling 100% again."

Kuroko glances around at the various items starting to pile up. An assortment of humidifiers and incense diffusers, a space heater, surprisingly technical blankets (apparently they heat up and cool down), numerous baskets of citrus. The list goes on and floor space is shrinking at an alarming rate.

Kuroko opens his mouth again, but he really has no words.

Akashi beams.

Cold rain is pelting the windows and Kuroko is grateful for the fact that he's inside, cocooned in a myriad of blankets. He's working his way through the limited-edition snacks that Murasakibara has been giving him throughout the week, many of which are vanilla-flavored. In moderation, of course.

He hears a knock at the door and he is loath to leave his nest. Since there is no one to hear his petulant stomping, he pads quietly to the door.

"Kuro-chin. Our cat had kittens." Murasakibara is wearing an all-encompassing raincoat, which is also shielding a very small cat. Kuroko hurriedly ushers them in.

In the kitchen, Murasakibara is tending to tea.

The kitten is wading its way through the peaks and valleys of Kuroko's blanket nest, curiously sniffing all the while. Kuroko falls in love (just a bit). It's mostly black but has white-socked paws. It also has startlingly blue eyes.

"It must be fate," Murasakibara says, handing Kuroko a steaming mug.

"I didn't think you believed in that sort of thing too, Murasakibara-kun." The taller boy simply shrugs, joining Kuroko on the floor.

"They always make me feel better when I have a cold."

"I would've thought that snacks and sweets did that." Murasakibara considers this.

"It usually takes both," he replies as he carefully places the kitten in Kuroko's lap.

Akashi is saying something, but Kuroko can't quite make it out. The captain's words are muffled and Kuroko's head is full of fluff. His vision is getting blurry.

"Akashi-kun." The other boy stops. "I think I am going to faint."

He does.

He wakes up in his bed, miracle of miracles. He can hear familiar voices downstairs.

"Breaking and entering," Kuroko accuses, narrowing his eyes from the doorway. He's brought his comforter down.

"Hardly, Kuroko," Akashi looks pleased. "We used your keys."

"Entering, then," he amends, making his way to the last free seat in the kitchen.

Kise's at the stovetop. At this point, he's pretty much memorized the fridge, cabinets, and pantry. Aomine's helping him and he has a knife. Everyone must be getting sick if that had gotten approved.

Kuroo's up on the table. The kitten is alternating between chasing the feather toy Murasakibara's got and the loose yarn of Midorima's latest project. It looks like another scarf.

Momoi gives him a warm smile as he sinks into his chair, sliding over some cold medicine and a glass of water.

"Feeling better, Tetsu-kun?"

Objectively, no. His head is pounding, his nose is stuffed up, and his throat burns, but somehow—

The atmosphere of the room is warm and comforting, the low buzz of conversation and sounds of cooking are soothing.

"Yeah," he says, "I really am."