#and I gotta get it blue toothed so I can pair a controller

[cesium-sheep]

I get to enjoy my christmas videos and christmas magazines and christmas decorations until new years at minimum.

[lovelybarnes]

sushi and fun mugs- b. barnes

pairings: bucky barnes x reader, sam wilson, steve rogers, random ocs and duck variant quack warnings: people misjudging bucky, reader being upset about it, somewhat short about: request! bucky is super quiet and intimidating and everybody is parting like the red sea whenever he's around yet there's *this one agent* who does everything to make him feel included and loved. everybody thinks she's being delusional for trying but, is she? part two

“how do you think he takes his coffee?”

“black.” genevieve leans back in her chair, lips puckering as she thinks, eyes thinning. “pure black. no milk, no sugar—he probably just chews on the beans.”

you send her a look and ignore her reponse. “i think he’d take it with sugar. lots of it.”

genevieve’s nose wrinkles, meeting your eye in incredulity. “he doesn’t seem like the type to have a sweet tooth,” she tells you. “sugar fuckin’ turns to… like salt or something in his mouth.”

shrugging, you jut out your bottom lip thoughtfully, cocking your head to catch a glimpse of the man in question through the captain’s office window. bucky barnes sits silently at the table, listening to steve as he talks and ignoring the quips sam wilson seems to be making. you see him roll his eyes twice after sam manages a chuckle from steve, not reacting when he’s nudged with a playful elbow.

“i disagree,” you respond finally. “i think he’s plenty sweet.”

steve and sam finish up the conversation with a single word from bucky, beginning to get up and leave the conference room. a moment after they’ve opened the door, bucky parts his lips with a silent sigh and stands as well, turning in time to catch your stare.

you smile at stunning blue beneath tense eyebrows, lifting two fingers in an enthusiastic wave. bucky manages a rigid lilt of his lips back at you.

“see?” you say to genevieve, who sends you a grimace.

“he looks like it’s physically paining him to have to interact with you.”

with a final glare her way, you move away from her desk, spinning when you hear sam’s voice nearby.

“hey, sam! steve,” you greet. sam returns your grin and musses up your hair while steve settles with a controlled smile and a nod.

“how’s my favorite agent? still kicking ass?” sam asks.

“i just finished up that mission two days earlier than planned, so… yeah,” you brag with a wink. “how’re sarah and the kids?”

“good. she went on a date yesterday, still gotta see how that went. jim and jody start school again next week, so they call to complain about it whenever they can. somethin’ about superhero uncle privileges.”

you suck air in through your teeth and stare up at him guiltily. “they bring up good points.”

“that’s the problem!” sam exclaims, eyes flickering to something off to the side. “someone needs me. talk to you later.” he pats your shoulder before taking his leave.

you turn to steve, bouncing on your heels excitedly. “how’s your cat?”

steve laughs before replying, already slipping his phone out from his back pocket. “she’s doing great. already stealing my socks.” he shows you his phone’s screen, faint smile on pink lips as you eye the orange cat over pairs of mismatched socks, disappointed frown on its snout as it stares into the camera.

“oh, that’s love,” you praise with a clap. “and art class? monday, right?”

“yup. surprisingly relaxing.”

“i told you,” you pester before catching movement on bucky’s end. he steps out, and the agents that had gathered in front of the office to talk to the other avengers silence, beginning to dissipate. you frown, able to see bucky’s indifference but not having it in you to mimic it yourself.

you bend to grab a mug of coffee you’d prepared earlier, giving steve a friendly smile and a tilt of the drink. “be right back.”

you weave your way to bucky until you’re next to him, cheeks pulled as you offer him the large teal mug, index finger over the bump of the ceramic octopus’ eye, pinky grazing one of the tentacles at the bottom.

“hello,” you say.

bucky stares at you. “hi.”

“i made you coffee.” you shake the drink a little. “i hope you like it, it’s completely based on my assumptions.” you chuckle lightly at yourself. “if you don’t, it’s fine.”

bucky’s eyes continue to bore into you, but you don’t falter, continuing to smile with the octopus mug in hand. slowly, his fingers reach to hook around the handle, pulling it to his chest.

“thank you.” he’s gruff as always, but there’s a note of surprise sewn in that you find interesting.

“no problem,” you quip, beginning to head back toward your desk, but you stop yourself, pointer finger in the air as if you’d recalled something. “oh! some of the other agents and i are ordering in from this sushi place that’s supposed to be really good. would you like to join us?”

you can feel genevieve’s stare as you offer it, catch the confused part of bucky’s lips as he mulls it over in confusion.

“...really?” he says finally, shifting on his feet somewhat suspiciously.

you giggle. “of course! we’d love to have you there.”

there’s another brief pause of his intense staring and your intense beaming before he clears his throat. “sure. why not?”

“great! it’s at the conference room on the third floor, see you there!”

bucky isn’t left with much of a response as you turn and walk over to the incredulous look on genevieve’s face.

-

bucky’s grumbling in the elevator next to sam, shuffling his feet as he concentrates on the lowering numbers above the elevator doors, made out of bright white dots underneath smooth glass. sam stares at him, watching him clench his jaw, ocean irises stormy.

“you’re really gonna eat with ‘em?”

bucky grunts in response, rolling his shoulders.

“now, why the hell would you do that?”

he sniffs, tongue swiping at dry lips. sam brightens, dark, squinted eyes widening in annoying realization, mouth pulling into an understanding grin. bucky groans when he says your name.

“‘shoulda known,” sam says, a lilt to his words that makes bucky huff a little sigh.

“she asked.” is bucky’s explanation.

“i ask you for things all the time,” sam complains, stubbornly shoving his hands in his pockets, lips in a wobbly thin line.

bucky feels the wait between five is three is longer than it should be.

“s’what? i gotta be a pretty girl and make some coffee for your grumpy ass?” sam asks. the doors part and bucky exhales in relief, stepping through them but sam’s not finished. sam’s never fucking finished. “is that how i get you to stop eating my fuckin’ ice cream? do some paperwork?” he calls.

bucky flips him the bird, searching for the conference room and your bright smile.

he spots it a few paces away through the window, licking his lips again when he catches your eye. his opportunity to ditch this entire thing is out the window the moment you send him an excited wave with chopsticks between your fingers.

you’re the only one who’s seen him until he pushes open the door and all eyes turn to him, conversation dying on every tongue once soaked in teasing jests. bucky looks around the room, nose twitching. the tension is palpable and he thinks he should leave.

then you cheer his name, bouncing off your seat to wrap your fingers around his bicep, tugging him to the chair next to yours. he spies eyes widening and thinks the agents are being a little dramatic. “i didn’t think you were coming,” you admit.

“‘told you i would,” he reminds gruffly, scanning shocked features. “did they know i was?”

“what? oh.” you wave a hand dismissively at your coworkers. “the more the merrier. paula invited her yoga instructor once.”

it’s still tense, chopsticks frozen around sushi as if unsure what to do next, but you’re either oblivious to it or you don’t care, chattering on with explanations about the different types of sushi available.

“help yourself,” you finish, setting a plate down in front of him. “what were you saying, toby? about last night’s yoga?”

toby eyes bucky uneasily, biting down on his bottom lip uncertainly. “uh. just saying how much of a weirdo this instructor was.”

everyone nods stiffly.

“right! now i’m glad i didn’t take you up on your invitation,” you laugh. “my dog makes a great yoga buddy, though, so it worked out.”

“yeah,” patricia pipes up hesitantly, eyes still flickering from bucky to you. “how is quack?”

you beam so brightly you put down your food. “he confuses the sit and roll over commands, so if i tell him to sit, he’ll roll over, but if i tell him to roll over, he lays down. not sure why but i love him anyway.”

“what’ll make him sit?” bucky asks, all knitted brows and gruff voice.

“down,” you reply, then raise a finger. “but also, strangely enough, if i say the word ‘duck.’”

bucky grunts, shoving one of the pieces of sushi you recommended to him into his mouth.

the silence that follows is long and uneasy.

“my hamster died yesterday,” genevieve blurts suddenly. you send her a confused look as the other agents say their quiet apologies.

bucky chews slowly. “sorry for your loss.”

“thanks,” genevieve replies. she clears her throat. “i should go… train. for the… mission.”

“right,” patricia says, standing too. “yes. we’re very dedicated agents, sergeant.”

bucky wrinkles his nose and she shifts awkwardly. “...sir.”

toby packs up, too, sending your pout a quick smile. “i’ll see you later,” he offers, inhaling sharply before he ducks his chin at bucky. “um, it was… very nice eating with you, sergeant bucky barnes, sir.”

they scramble away, leaving only you and bucky in the conference room.

bucky tenses his jaw as you frown.

“think that was because of me, doll.”

“no!” you argue. “there really is a mission. at some point.” a sigh. “i’m sorry, bucky—”

“why? you didn’t do anything, sweetheart. i’m just saying that you should’ve probably expected that—”

“if they knew you—”

“they don’t like me, they’re not gonna know me.” bucky pops a pieve of sushi into his mouth as you look at the door disapprovingly.

“it’s not that they don’t like you,” you contest. “it’s just… you’re so angry all the time—”

“that’s just my face, sweets, i’m not angry.”

“maybe,” you pause. “smile a little.” at his grunt, you poke his side. “just sometimes. as a peace offering,” you tease, then grin brightly as if to show him what to do.

he glowers at you for a moment before sighing, swallowing his food. “fine.” he tries it, lips twitching up into a strained smile.

you wince, patting his cheek gently. “thank you for trying, baby.”

“what? you don’t like my award-winning smile?” bucky jests, beginning to eat again.

“i like it when it’s real,” you retort, tapping his nose with your finger. “you have a very pretty real smile, bucky.”

bucky’s features set again, but his cheeks pink. “thanks, sunshine.” he runs his tongue over his teeth. “sorry you’re stuck eatin’ with me.”

you humph disdainfully. “i love eating with you. and today’s gossip wasn’t even that good, bucky, don’t even worry about it.”

“really? nothing about joanie’s date?”

“nope.”

“what about genevieve’s email admirer? toby’s secret child?”

“hasn’t messaged in a week, is his cat, i think.”

“well then. i guess we’d be the best gossip today, huh?”

“we’d always be the best gossip, bucky, please,” you condemn. 

“we probably are. little sunshine eating with the big bad wolf. they’re probably sayin’ i’m taking your food or something.” bucky laughs.

you beam, cocking you head at him.

“what?” he asks.

“i told you your real smile was real pretty.”

bucky grunts, leaning over to press a kiss to your hair. “sunshine, you’re really ruining my reputation here.”

“you like it,” you badger.

“i do,” bucky hums, scanning your face with quick blue movements. you’re so bright and pretty, light in a way that makes him feel dirty for daring to kiss his shadows over your sunshine. he growls in frustration, catching the concerned knit of your brows before he dives to kiss you. “i really do.”

[anika-ann]

The Winter Tale (S.R.)

(Of Snowflakes, Hard Fallings and Soft Landings)

Pairing: Steve Rogers x fem!reader    Word Count: 3900

Summary:

Scoring a date with Steve Rogers is not easy. One’s gotta be patient.

Fall might blend into winter before you get to go out with him, but know one thing; Steve Rogers makes things worth your while.

Warnings: swearing and tooth-rotting fluff (no really, it’s strong with this one, and it’s me saying that, so...)

A/N: Sequel to The Fall Tale, works as a standalone too I guess

The Fall Tale (previous one-shot)

💙❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️🤍❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️💙

Fall was reluctantly letting winter take over, as it usually happened towards the end of November, and you were still painfully single. Technically at least, because you yet had Steve Rogers to take you out on your first date.

How was that possible? Glad you asked. It was because fate was a bitch, to put it eloquently. Steve had got your number with almost a scout’s-honour promise to call you soon, and then he didn’t. He lied. Like a liar.

To be fair, after three days of you being mad at the embodiment of truth and justice for all, Steve Rogers did call you, awfully apologetic and sounding truly regretful and either he was that good of a liar who even hired foreigners to be his alibi, or he really was on a market somewhere in Eastern Europe, catching his breath in a middle of a mission.

Being angry with him got considerably harder after that, especially since two days later, you read about a major showdown in his supposed current location and saw a brief footage of him protecting innocent civilians.

Because Steve damn Rogers just had to get more perfect.

The thing was, right after that mission, there was another one, this time lasting twelve full days. You were incredibly pissed at the circumstances – and maybe a little bit angry with Steve too – but mostly mad at the circumstances that didn’t want you to get romantically involved any time soon.

Sure, you could have just told Steve off, bid him goodbye and find someone else, but you couldn’t.

Because Steve tried his best to stay in contact whenever time and safety measures allowed it, texting, calling and on one precious occasion, even facetiming. And once he relaxed a bit – which seemed to be always happening rather soon into the communication, allegedly because you made him feel like a normal guy – Steve could be an entirely nice guy and you couldn’t make yourself let go.

Steve Rogers was kind, charming, witty, which was a cocktail you would never say no to, but on top of that, he was panties-dropping gorgeous. So even if the chances were that eventually, after the date actually happened, you might only end up like friends due to the immense distance between your league and his, you would feel like an idiot if you didn’t try to make it work, hence waiting for him to have a damn day off.

And you didn’t regret it; the date was totally worth the wait.

Yes, the weather sucked, so your clothes was perfectly damp just like your hair just from walking from your door to the cab due to the wildly swirling snowflakes, but Steve held the car door open for you, standing right there in the cold just to be a gentleman for you. He also reluctantly took your hand once inside the cab and even dropped a shy kiss on its back, his demeanour and bright blues reminding you exactly why you had been patient.

The restaurant was nice but not too fancy, which didn’t prevent Steve from opening doors for you, pulling out your chair, letting you order first and generally doing swoon-worthy things that made you feel both touched and aroused. The less posh environment didn’t make either of you feel bad for laughing and being entirely unsubtle, as the conversation varied from light to serious, laughter blending into chuckles and need to touch each other’s warmth for comfort. There was teasing, there was touching, there were unexpectedly dropped lines that made your heart flutter and there was inevitable falling deeper into the pit labelled ‘adoring Steve Rogers.’

“You really are going for the whole shebang tonight, aren’t you?” you teased him lightly when he helped you put on your coat and informed you that he made a reservation to a cinema.

The blush that crept up his neck caused you to feel even giddier than before. The wine you had both ordered might have not affected his brain as he had told you, but it had definitely coloured his cheeks rosy – and yet, now they grew even hotter.

“I mean, we don’t have to-- I don’t-“

You took his hand and squeezed, which shut him up effectively, his expression puzzled and hesitant.

“I would love to spent more time with you, Steve,” you assured him and he smiled sweetly as the cold air from outside caressed your face.

Your breath caught in your chest at the sight you were offered. Yes, New York never lasted long as a winter wonderland, but right now? Now it seemed almost magical as the freshly fallen snow proudly displayed its silvery white.

“Is the reservation paid?” you blurted out, your head snapping to Steve’s only to see disapproval on his face.

“I don’t want you to worry about that-“

“Not an answer.”

“… it’s not,” Steve replied, frowning a bit. “I wasn’t sure how long we would need for the dinner or if you’d even like to go. So… you don’t? Want to go?”

You wondered how Steve did not see the child-lie enthusiasm radiating off you with how perceptive he appeared to be so far. He missed it altogether, apparently, because he sounded disappointed.

It dawned to you that he didn’t get many chances to just go and see a movie and you instantly felt bad for rejecting something he kept his hoped up for.

You couldn’t have Steve sad, even if he was barely showing it. Not to mention that he had been treating you almost like a princess, you sure as hell wouldn’t treat him like you were the evil queen.

“Well, if you really do want to go, we can…”

He only shrugged his broad shoulders, charming a small smile for you.

“It’s up to you. I can cancel the reservation if you have something else in mind. Whatever to keep that beautiful smile on your face,” he offered and your stomach actually flipped as butterflies filled it for the hundredth time that day.

That was your thought exactly about him, but nope, of course he beat you to it and on top dropping a line like that, he was the embodiment of perfection when delivering it.

Steve looked so hot and adorable at the same time that you had to fight yourself not to jump to his arms and kiss him senseless. Pink plush lips, slightly red cheeks, gorgeous blue with a drop of green of his eyes twinkling and he wore such a kind expression that it made your heart simultaneously weep and race.

He kept complimenting you so effortlessly and was so considerate the whole evening too and you weren’t sure how much more you could take before you forgone all self-control and pinned him to the nearest wall; or casually confessed your undying love for him.

“Steven, you are a dangerous man. You should wear a damn warning,” you grumbled insetad, smiling so widely your mouth might actually tear.

He pursed his lips a bit, head tilted to side a fraction, looking like a confused kicked puppy.

Jesus, Steve, stop it or I’ll have to kiss you and I want you to kiss me, so please, be considerate of my lack of self-restraint.

“What did I do?”

“You’re being annoyingly perfect-“ oh now he was frowning hard, “-not like annoying annoying, but—you know. Just… I have a hard time believing this is actually happening. I really like you, Steve Rogers.”

The lines of his forehead smoothened out at your admission, his expression softening as did his gaze.

He helped you put on your gloves, fingers skimming over the first bare and then clothed skin tenderly, small sad smile playing in the corner of his lips.

His eyes met yours, the twinkle in his eyes you which already learned to love dimming. “Well, I did sort of make you wait for almost a month. Not so perfect. No warning needed.”

You had to physically fight yourself so you wouldn’t snort unattractively at the remark; yeah, the said waiting did nothing to protect your heart now. Sadly, your brain-to-mouth wasn’t fully functioning, still letting out more than it was appropriate for a first date.

“Steve, even with that, you’re making it very hard not to fall for you.”

Well, shit. The first admission had been playful. This one sounded pretty clingy. Now he was about to run off and think you a crazy girl-

But Steve didn’t. His face lit up with gratitude and affection and then a smirk found its way to his lips.

“That’s good to know. But I happen to recall a particular moment when you have already fallen-“

A surprised exasperated laughter erupted from your throat, and you actually had to gasp to gather both air and your wits. That little sh-

You yanked your hands free from his, raising your index finger towards his face.

“You know what, forget it, I’m taking it back!” you exclaimed, taking a pointed step back as Steve chuckled. “You are not perfect, you are a jerk and I think I should go home-“

“No, no wait-“ He reached out for you, but you took another step away, squinting at him playfully.

“I wanted to walk with you in the park, taking in the romantic sight of clean New York snow, but you know what? I don’t think I wanna anymore-“

Steve made a lunge for you and grabbed your hands, raising it to his face to drop kisses on your gloves- well, damn, now you regretted that he had so kindly put them on you.

“No, wait, doll, let’s walk. Unless you’re going to be cold-“

“There are some thermal microfibres in those tights or whatever, I won’t be,” you grumbled and he beamed as you unwittingly showed him that you weren’t really mad even despite his little-shit display earlier.

You said won’t be not wouldn’t have been and Steve appeared to be entirely content with you yielding so easily.

Well, damn it, it was really hard to keep up with Steve’s wits and humour; you loved it.

“Very well then. May I offer you a walk in the park, ma’am?” he said, holding out his elbow in invitation – the one farther from the road, of course, gentleman – and you chuckled, unable to help yourself.

“It was my idea, you know. Also, depends – are you going to be a jerk?”

“You wound me, miss,” he clutched at his chest theatrically, but definitely tugged you a bit closer when you slipped your arm through the loop of his own just in case you were about to change your mind when another of his jokes inevitably arrived.

“Sure I am.”

You barely made few steps without a word, when his gaze fixed on your face for long enough for you to get nervous.

“…what is it?”

He smiled, gently tugging at your joined arms, and looked you dead in the eye. “I really like you too.”

Oh. Oh. Okay. Where did all the oxygen go? And when did your heart started pounding so loudly in your chest?

“And for the record, I find it impossible not to fall for you.”

You lowered your gaze under the intensity of his, watching your feet walking in tandem as your cheeks burned and your head spun.

“A friggin’ warning,” you muttered under your breath darkly, drawing a breathy chuckle from Steve, followed by his ‘I mean it.’

Truth was, a warning wouldn’t have helped, probably. Because Steve Rogers was impossible not to fall for; but he was definitely worth it.

💙❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️🤍❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️💙

You weren’t sure what possessed you; must have been the wine, lowering your inhibitions.

Once again, you couldn’t contain your child-like behaviour.

One moment, you were walking in the park, dim street lights causing the snow glow brighter, fluffy and pure, as not many people were here to disturb the peace. Even the city fell almost silent in the first snow’s honour, as if grateful for the good two inches it was given.

The next moment, you freed yourself of Steve’s warm hold and hurried from the path to gather enough of the wet delight to make a snowball – and hit the pole nearby streetlamp with a surprising precision.

You turned to Steve with a grin, finding him mirroring your expression and clapping, a sound muffle by his own thin gloves.

“Very good aim. I’m impressed,” he assured you and you curtsey for him like the child you were and went to try again.

Before you could finish making a perfect ammunition, three balls hit the very same pole in quick succession, causing you to gasp and swiftly turn to Steve – who winked at you with a shit-eating grin on his face.

It was a justified display of smugness, because he stood almost ten feet behind you, the distance from which he hit the pole actually impressive.

Wow.

“Show-off,” you called out silently, drawing a shrug from him. You went to try your aim again to settle the unofficial score and whined when you missed. “Okay, you win, Rogers.”

Steve, on the other hand, continued his strike and hit three more; you noticed him bending for more snow, making a quick and very dumb decision as an idea popped up in your mind.

As he was busy showing off his skills, you got your own two bullets ready and shot-- one of them did hit your target, which just happened to be Steve’s chest.

His mouth formed a theatrical ‘o’ and you couldn’t but double over in laughter despite missing with your next attempt.

“You didn’t!” he gasped, clearly genuinely shocked that you in fact had hit him with a snowball. “Now you’ll get it!”

In hindsight, you should have known that it was like waving a red cloth in front of a bull; you should have realized that Steve would take it as a challenge to a snowball fight.

And it was very obvious from the start that you stood no chance, even if he was blatantly holding back as you tried and failed to hide behind a bench, behind a tree and anything in your reach, your and his laughter carrying through the park as if you were damn children, both of you. You hadn’t felt so alive in years.

Steve however stepped up his game upon you hitting a point of him so high that some of the snow clearly got behind the collar of his coat. The hiss he let out and the flames in his eyes when they met yours after your perfect hit made you run away with all you got, your heart thumping in your ribcage frantically as you knew all too well that there was no escaping a supersoldier.

You tried and failed to speed up as you heard him closing in; perhaps it would be much easier to catch your breath to run faster if you weren’t laughing at the expression of pure shock that had been on Steve’s face when the snow tickled the sensitive skin of his neck.

A yelp escaped you as he grabbed you a tackled you to the ground, spinning you to he would take the brunt of the impact and only then he rolled you over – trapping you against the cold wet ground, making you squirm at the biting sensation on your own neck.

“No! No, Steeeeve,” you whined miserably, but your cheeks were hurting from the laughter and he was a solid mass on top of you to keep you warm, so you didn’t have any reason to complain. You in fact enjoyed the feeling and the intimacy of it a little too much, considering that this was still only your first date.

How? You felt like you knew him for months now; it was like having an unfairly handsome best friend you not-so-secretly had a crush on.

“You brought this upon yourself,” Steve exclaimed, grinning down at you and for the first time, it dawned to you that not only his torso way lying on you and that his hands were caging your head as he tried not to crush you with his weight, but also his gorgeous face with his tempting lips were in dangerous proximity to yours.

Dangerous to him – if he wasn’t careful, he might get kissed very soon.

You stared up at him, lost in the beautiful colour of his eyes and you were only mildly ashamed to find your gaze wandering down to his red lips.

“I—I suppose,” you whispered as your laughter died down, your breathing still heavy and only growing heavier with each second spent mesmerized by Steve’s face so close to yours.

“You suppose right,” he whispered back, voice slightly hoarser than a moment ago, his gaze roaming your face with intensity that had your heart stumbling in your chest. “This is a nice trip down the memory lane.”

“I-uhm… I remember it being the other way around.”

A smile grazed his mouth, still so damn tempting and you really found yourself barely noticing the snow melting into your clothes when—him.

“You complaining?”

You smiled right back when he lowered his head a fraction, so so painfully close you would barely have to move to finally taste his lips.

“Well, the snow is cold, but-- you know how it is… I had worse things happen to me than having a handsome fella land on me.”

Steve chuckled, the vibrations of his chest sending liquid fire through your veins, especially when his eyes seemed to brighten despite the dilatation of his pupils.

“You remember that, huh?”

“You kidding?” you mused quietly, wondering if Steve decided to torture you; if he wasn’t about to kiss you in the next thirty seconds, you might actually combust. His gaze was now more on your mouth than anywhere else and if you were honest, you might have been trembling with anticipation a bit. “That was the line, Steve. I thought you were so smooth.”

An inch. One damn inch, if not less of a distance remained between his lips and yours, practically touching, his radiating warmth and begging for yours to lick at their sweetness.  

And yet, Steve still spoke, words you could almost taste: “What do you think now?”

“I think that I’d really like you to kiss me.”

This time, his lips brushed yours, a soundless ‘kay’ tickling deliciously, your eyelids fluttering shut.

Your hands automatically gripped the lapels of his coat, using them as leverage when he withdrew, giving you space to breathe and process what happened. Too bad you didn’t want to, you needed more right in that moment; you tugged at the fabric, chasing after his lips and lifting your head without even opening your eyes.

You could feel his smile as he kissed you again, lingering this time, a tender dance of lips, parted a fraction to breathe in each other’s air. Your head was spinning, your tummy tingly and you truly felt like you could fly, not even ashamed if Steve was grinning at your eagerness – he seemed pretty board on with continuing to kiss you too.

So you smiled back, happy to let him take the lead as long as he stayed-

A discontent hum rambled in your throat when Steve retreated again, even if he caressed your icy-cold nose with his, dropping a kiss there too to warm it up.

You met his eyes, heavy lidded, misted with emotion and you found yourself smiling wider.

“Can’t have you catch a cold, doll,” he rasped and before you realized what was happening, before you could as much as frown in confusion, a silent yelp left your throat as Steve rolled you over again, one arm secured around your waist, keeping you on top of him.

You might not be lying on the snow anymore, but your wet back was exposed to the cold night air now, which wasn’t much any better.

But you were too busy to care, because Steve lost one glove, cupping your cheek for a better angle and he sank his lips into yours again, causing you to see and feel the stars.

💙❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️🤍❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️💙

If Steve walked you all the back to your apartment and you invited him in to dry off, only for him to end up spending the night, well, no one needed to know – even if you kept each other warm with nothing but tea and cuddling under the covers.

Whether things got a little more spicy than sweet in the morning… that was only for the two of you to know.

Either way, you decided that while the fall, early or late, had its serious downsides… you were willing to put up with it, because it had brought someone as amazing as Steve into your life.

Which got even more handy when you ended up catching cold from your snowy adventures.

💙❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️BONUS❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️💙

Blissfully wrapped in each other, not you nor Steve (which was more of a wonder) noticed two pairs of eyes focused on you and your shenanigans in the snow. Neither of you heard Bucky sigh under his breath either as he lowered the night-vision binoculars.

“Thank God, I thought for a minute that the punk wasn’t going to go for it,” he muttered under his breath, handing the device to his field partner.

Sam took one glance through the binoculars before rising his hand for a high five, which Bucky instantly complied with.

“With the way they eye-fucked in the restaurant, I would have to rip him a new one if he didn’t,” Sam stated.

“You’d have to get in the line behind me,” Bucky retorted, but grinned, truly happy for his friend.

“More like get ready for being ripped a new one,” a voice behind them opposed, causing both soldiers to nearly jump out their skin in surprise – and literally jump to their feet in fright, ready to face their enemy.

Their enemy seemed harmless to an untrained eye: the one and only Black Widow, watching them with her arms crossed on her chest and a raised eyebrow.

“We knew you were there,” Sam blurted out instinctively, earning an eyeroll from the redhead.

“Sure you did,” she scoffed and nodded in the direction of the pair still rolling over in snow in the distance. “Now that you know that Rogers still got some game, you going to stop stalking him or do I have to keep an eye on you?”

“Please. You were just curious as we were, otherwise you wouldn’t be here,” Bucky smirked and Natasha shrugged with one shoulder dismissively.

“Maybe. Maybe I just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t crash their date to ‘help’,” she said, taking care to make air quotes with the last word. “Now let’s get out of here. If you really want to help, you can start looking up some chicken soup recipes to cure her inevitable sniffles.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Bucky replied dutifully with only an edge of irony, while trying hard to remember the recipe for the soup Mrs. Rogers or his ma used to cook back in the day when the always sickly Steve Rogers refused to take normal (disgusting) medicine.

The thought of Steve not being on the receiving end of that treatment and instead being the caretaker had his lips curl up in a smile.

💙❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️🤍❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️💙

S.R. masterlist

💙❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️🤍❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️💙

Thank you for reading!

I don’t often write sequels to one-shots when asked, but inspiration struck this time (I went to a wedding and caught very mushy feelings). I hope you enjoyed. Don’t sent me your dentist bills, you’ve been warned.

[teruthecreator]

Red Lines, Blue Hearts

hi friends! remember how i keep saying i’m going to write something, and then i do anything but? today’s “anything but” is brought to you by this epic and emotionally laboring art by matt (@accesscodex), as well as his chaos!fitzroy au which injures my soul. i don’t feel like putting this on ao3 but!! my ao3 is always available if you would like to see my other graduation crimes. 

reblogs > likes and i hope y’all enjoy!!! 

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The first thing Fitzroy sees when his body is released from Chaos’ grasp is red. 

Pinkish-red scars litter nearly every inch of his body, permanent reminders of the power he let consume him. Some follow the pathway of his veins, like the ones on his legs. Others are large patches that once revealed the pearlescent skin Chaos manifested underneath, like on his face and back. There are a few that look to be a result from fighting, puncture marks or slashes in odd spots across every plane of skin. Along with the dull pain that persists for weeks after, they leave Fitzroy feeling mangled and ugly. Like a porcelain doll shattered by a rowdy child, glued back together but never looking quite the way it once did. 

His friends have done a good job keeping his mind off the changes. Rainer comes over every week to repaint his nails and catch him up on what’s happening outside the safety of his room. She always extends the offer for him to meet at her place, but he always refuses. The wounds of what he did under the control of Chaos are still too fresh, and he’d rather spend months in solitude than force the people around him to relive through any of the destruction he caused. 

Buckminster and Leon (now restored to his human form) also visit with new cloaks and waistcoats for Fitzroy to try on; the excuse being they accidentally bought a size too small or large, even when the garments look ill-fitting for the pair at a glance. The brothers will then sit on Fitzroy’s bed and demand a fashion show, Leon politely clapping as Buckminster narrates each outfit with overabundant dramatics. They never ask for anything in return, nor will they accept the gold Fitzroy shoves into their hand each time. 

“It’s what friends are for!” Buckminster will say, patting Fitzroy on the back heartily (yet gently, so as to prevent any flare-ups of pain).  

Althea Song stopped by once, meekly peeking into Fitzroy’s room with a large bag in hand. He later found out the bag contained a number of hair and skin products for people with sensitivities. They spent the next hour smelling lotion scents and talking self-care. Admittedly, Fitzroy had pretty much stopped both his hair and skin routine after his faculties returned to him; the thought of even staring at himself in the mirror for that long gave him the shivers. So it was nice to have an excuse to start trying to mend the damages done to his body, even if he had to cover his mirror for the time being. At the end of her visit, Althea nervously extended her arms for a hug, which Fitzroy hesitantly allowed. The moment was a little tense, but overall nice. Althea murmured some encouragement that was lost to Fitzroy, who was too in his head to hear. 

Althea smelled of maple and charcoal. Just like his mother. 

It is a few days after this visit that Fitzroy sees something else, something he lost in all the constant red lines and marks. 

Blue roses, delicately painted along the skin of his left wrist. Marred by two lines of red, crossing out the pristine image permanently. 

The sight broke Fitzroy’s heart in twain. 

The tattoo was, admittedly, a bit of an impulsive decision. After spending nearly every day with the other two Thundermen, the roses on Argo’s right arm became a bit of a focal point for Fitzroy’s dazed stares. There were...quite a few reasons why his gaze always seemed to drift to the genasi, as loathe as Fitzroy was to admit to that, at first. But the roses were different; they were beautiful, matching Argo’s complexion perfectly and complimenting the rest of the art painted up that arm. After a while, the flower became synonymous with Argo. Fitzroy would pass by a rosebush and suddenly images of Argo’s sharp-toothed smile would flash through his head. He would smell rosewater and hear Argo’s boisterous laugh echo through his skull. The two became intertwined--land and sea, beauty and beauty. 

So, when Rhodes invited him to New Hope to touch up one of her forearm tattoos, he felt compelled to get the roses. It was only after the deed was done--artist paid, skin wrapped in a tight plastic, and instructions handed to him on how to care for the new ink--that Fitzroy realized how weird this was. Him and Argo weren’t even an item, yet! 

Not that they would be, or that Fitzroy even wanted them to, but-- 

You know what? Never mind. 

He couldn’t hide the tattoo forever, at the very least. The topic would have to be breached. Would Argo be offended that Fitzroy copied his tattoo without asking? Would he feel weird that they technically have matching tattoos? Would he...like it? Would he find it sweet or endearing that Fitzroy thought of him so much he wanted a tattoo to match?

After two weeks of hiding it and a week of teasing from Rainer (after she saw it during one of their study sessions), Fitzroy randomly showed it to Argo. He attempted to not be weird about it--simply rolling up his sleeves while he did homework with Argo in their common area--but Argo only noticed after a handful of dramatic coughs and awkward arm movements on Fitzroy’s end. Once he saw it, though, his eyes lit up with delight. He immediately reached out to grab Fitzroy’s wrist, leaning across the table to admire the artistry on his skin. The contact lit a fire in the pit of Fitzroy’s gut; a fire that continued to burn for months after.

A fire that doused in the wake of seeing his roses ruined. 

Instinct overrides rational thought as Fitzroy stands up from his bed, maimed wrist planted firmly at his side to hide the truth from his eyes. His legs carry him to Argo’s room, who was in bed studying. Argo’s head shoots up just as Fitzroy’s body leans and collapses into the embrace of the genasi. The tears unconsciously streaming down his face continue to fall as Argo’s arms come to envelop him. 

“F-Fitz? What’s goin’ on?” Argo asks, his voice gentle but concerned. Fitzroy hiccups a few sobs, feeling weak and helpless and utterly broken, as he leans back to show Argo his wrist. It takes a second for Argo to pinpoint the problem, but once he does he lets out a soft, “Oh.” 

“I-It’s broken,” Fitzroy whimpers, leaning his head onto Argo’s right shoulder. “I-I ruin--ruined i-it!” 

“Aw, no, hey,” Argo says, gently carding through Fitzroy’s platinum locks. “This isn’t your fault.” Fitzroy stubbornly shakes his head, face still pressed into Argo’s shoulder. 

“Y-Yes it is because I a-allowed them to do this to m-me.” Fitzroy’s voice warbles with his cries. “I-I wanted p-power, and they knew that, and th-they used me to g-get what they wanted because I didn’t stop them. A-And then they hurt you, and Master Firbolg, a-and Rainer, and the school, and the town, a-and nearly the world if--if you hadn't stopped them.” Every point of contact with the rogue is both a soothing salve and a knife to his skin. He burns with the broken, defeated rage of man with nothing. “A-And they’ve broken me, Argo! I--I can never return to normal, I can never be who I o-once was, I-I’m ruined!” 

“Hey!” Argo’s voice is stern, yet his touch is gentle as he pulls Fitzroy’s head off his shoulder to look him in the eye. It’s then Fitzroy can see the glimmer of tears in Argo’s eyes, along with the scattered lines of light-blue permanently streaked across his face. He moves the hand holding Fitzroy’s head to gently rub along his wrist, the other still firmly wrapped around his waist. Fitzroy’s mind unhelpfully provides only one thought: He’s beautiful. 

“‘M not gonna sit here and let ya kick yourself while yer already down, alright?” he continues. “I know this is all really...really hard for you t’handle. You spent--gods, felt like years, but was really only a couple’a months under Chaos’s control. And, yeah, things did get massively fucked because of that. But...But that wasn’t you!” 

“I-It was, though--” 

“--Will you let me finish?” Argo stares at Fitzroy until he sheepishly nods. “Thank you. What I was sayin’ was that the destruction wasn’t you! It was Chaos--they had most of the control of yer body during that time! And, sure, maybe you did allow them a little access in the beginning because y’wanted power. I-I get that, though! You...You didn’t have the nicest childhood. You’ve been constantly pushed down and made to feel lesser--so have I, if I’ll be honest. It’s a natural reaction to wanna get some power in return, to finally get what’s yours, as the saying goes. B-But you didn’t ask to be hurt like this. You didn’t ask to hurt me! Or anyone else! It just...it just happened. And we gotta just start...tryin’ to move beyond it, I guess. Not really a ‘live and let live’ situation, but more of a… ‘you got hurt and so did I, so let’s just try and move on together’ sorta thing...Y’get what I’m saying to ya, Fitzroy?” He carefully pulls Fitzroy’s wrist up and closer to his face so Fitzroy can see. 

“Yer not broken, Fitz. This,” he gently shakes Fitzroy’s arm to emphasize, “isn’t ruined. It’s just...new! A different take on life! A different take on art! But yer still you, Fitzroy, even with all the new. I still...I-I still think you’re gorgeous, if I’m, uh, bein’ honest. You, uh, always have been...to me…” The genasi’s cheeks flush as he breaks eye contact, bashfully looking towards the floor as the words flood Fitzroy’s head. It seems so silly--the smallest, most asinine fact out of Argo’s whole speech--but hearing Argo call him gorgeous makes the burning rage within turn to a melty, gooey, warm mass of fondness. 

“I...Thank you, Argo.” Fitzroy mutters, feeling his own blush start to climb up his face. “You, uh, you’ve always been...there for me. H-Helping me. And I, uh...truthfully, I do not know where I’d be if it was not for you and your kindness, and humor, and cunning...ness. And...you’re, uh...I-I think you’re handsome, as well.” The last part he’s barely able to get out of his mouth, but Argo still hears it because he looks back to Fitzroy. The half-elf smiles nervously and shrugs. “I...thought I made that obvious on several occasions, but, uh. I’ve always thought you were handsome.” 

Fitzroy and Argo’s relationship has been difficult to understand, to say the least. The two have been dancing intricate circles around the truth of their feelings for so long it feels almost like instinct. Yet, despite their hesitations, the pair have been drawing ever closer in their rotations. Now, in this moment--their bodies pressed close together, their hearts beating in unison--it’s natural what happens next. 

Argo smiles, full and big, and leans down to press a kiss to Fitzroy’s wrist. And Fitzroy, lost in the sensation, makes no move to pull away. 

They spend the rest of the day in this embrace, sharing few words and even fewer kisses. When the Firbolg finds them later that night, he smiles softly at the two wrapped in each other’s arms and quietly heads to his leaf bed. 

And when Fitzroy wakes that next morning, the first thing he sees is blue. Beautiful, beautiful blue. 

[returnn-of-the-mac]

FO4 Romanced Companions (+Maxson) React: SS saying "I can't do this" before having a breakdown over something that seems so small.

I’m sorry this took so long! I honestly had some pretty bad writer’s block. I’ve been working on this on and off for several weeks. I was finally able to finish the last few companions though, so we’re golden! Please enjoy!

FO4 (❤️) Companions (+Nick, Deacon, & Maxson) React: Sole Having a Breakdown

Preston:

After walking in an uncomfortable silence for several hours, Preston decided to address it. He turned around to see Sole lagging behind.

“Babe, is everything alright?” the Colonel asked, concerned, “You haven’t been yourself today.”

Sole frowned and looked at the ground.

“[Name]?”

Sole lugged themself over to their lover and collapsed in his arms. Preston was surprised, but immediately composed himself.

“Shh, it’s okay,” he cooed, “Let it out.”

“I can’t do this!” Sole sobbed.

Preston held Sole and let them cry. A part of them wondered if he had overwhelmed them by asking them to help so many settlements back-to-back.

“[Name], I love you. And if you’re ever feeling down or overwhelmed, just know that I’m always going to be here for you.”

Sole mustered a smile and Preston gave them a gentle peck on the cheek.

“I’m glad to see you’re feeling better.”

Piper:

“Hey slowpoke! Hurry up,” the reporter teased, “I don’t have all day!”

Sole frowned and ignored the comment. They were too busy trying contain themselves. Unfortunately, the lack of an answer concerned Piper.

“Blue? Why so quiet? You always have a killer clapback.”

Sole— who could no longer hold back their tears— looked at the ground.

“I can’t do it.”

“Oh, Blue. Do what?” Piper asked, “Come here.”

The reporter wrapped her arms around her lover and held them close.

“It must be exhausting running around the Commonwealth 24/7. You need a break.”

Sole grunted and Piper shook her head.

“You’re not changing my mind. You need a break. Why don’t we do something fun? We can shop around Diamond City for a bit and then get some dinner?”

Sole eventually complied and the reporter beamed.

“Great! Oh man, this is so exciting! I don’t think I’ve ever been on an actual date with you, Blue!”

Cait:

Cait noticed the absence of her partner and turned around.

“Darlin?”

Sole had crumbled to the ground, tears streaming down their face.

“Ah, don’t ye start blubberin on me,” Cait whined.

Sole‘s face twisted.

“What’s the matter?”

“I can’t do this!” Sole burst, causing the redhead to shift uncomfortably.

Cait thought about what Sole had been doing lately, and immediately realized that Sole’s breakdown was stress-induced. The concerned redhead pulled her lover into her arms.

“Well, I have to give ye credit; I couldn’t even imagine runnin mission after mission. I’m sure it wears ye down.”

Sole nodded and Cait continued to hold them.

“I know I’m gonna sound like a damn hypocrite for sayin this, but you should focus on takin care of yerself. I love ye, and I’d hate to see ye run yerself into the ground.”

MacCready:

“Didn’t realize we’d be walking at turtle speed today,” MacCready called, “Maybe if you didn’t pick up every teddy bear you saw—”

He turned to see Sole looking down, shoulders slumped.

“[Name]?” The merc asked, concerned, “Are you…crying?”

Sole turned away from him.

“Aw come on, I was just teasing you,” MacCready reassured, wrapping an arm around their shoulder and pulling them close, “I don’t actually mind carrying your bears. I’ve got four on me as we speak.”

Sole looked at him, tears streaming down their face.

“I can’t do this!”

“Do what?”

Sole didn’t answer.

“Come on, I’m going to need some context here,” the merc pled, “Tell me what’s wrong, beautiful. I want to help you.”

Sole collapsed into their lover’s arms and began sobbing into his shoulder. MacCready held Sole, and it dawned on him that they might be having a stress-induced breakdown.

“[Name], you’ve been through so much. You need to take a break.”

Sole stared at their lover for a few moments before nodding in agreement.

“Why don’t we head back to Goodneighbor for a little while? We can get some drinks at the Third Rail and hang out with Hancock. I’m sure he’d be glad to see you.”

Sole, managing to crack a small smile, agreed, and the pair made their way toward the city.

Gage:

“Boss, why’re ya draggin your feet? Ya good?”

Sole didn’t answer. They weren’t sure they could speak without breaking down.

“Boss?”

Gage approached his lover cautiously, unable to figure out what was wrong.

“You can tell me if there’s somethin botherin you. I promise I won’t pick on ya like I do Mason because, yanno, I actually like you.”

With that, Sole threw themself into the Raider’s arms. He awkwardly held them as they cried into his chest.

“Hey, what’s the deal? Did someone mess with you? Do I gotta go kill somebody?”

Sole shook their head.

“I can’t do this!”

Gage cocked his head to the side, trying to figure out what Sole meant. After a few seconds, he finally spoke again.

“You stressed, babe,” he asked softly.

Sole nodded and to their surprise, Gage held them tighter.

“Yeah, I feel. It can be rough. But ya know what? You’re doin a hell of a good job. And I’m proud of ya. No shit.”

Sole looked up at him, and the Raider smirked.

“Now enough of this…er…mushiness. Let’s get back to business, yeah?”

Deacon:

Deacon noticed his partner’s absence and looked around. He spotted them a little ways out and and cupped his hands.

“Hey [name]! Why’re you moving so slow? Did you stub your toe or something?”

Sole looked up, but they weren’t smiling. Deacon knew something was wrong.

“C’mooon!” he pressed, approaching his lover and loosely throwing an arm around them, “Turn that frown upside down!”

Sole immediately started bawling and threw themself into their lover’s arms. The Railroad agent jumped a bit.

“Woah! Hey, are you alright? Was it something I said?”

Sole shook their head.

“I can’t do this!”

“[Name], it’s going to be okay,” Deacon stated, genuinely concerned, “You can talk to me, you know. I’m here for you!”

Sole continued to cry and Deacon stayed by their side the entire time, sympathetically rubbing their back.

“C’mon, you can get through this,” he reassured, “Are you stressed? Is that what the problem is?”

Sole nodded and Deacon thought for a moment.

“Well. Then how about we take a few days off? We can’t have you burning out!”

Sole looked at the ground.

“The world won’t burn to the ground if you relax for, like, 72 hours. Besides! We should do something fun. I think a date night is well overdue, babycakes.”

Sole rolled their eyes at the nickname, but liked the idea of having a fun little vacation with their lover.

Nick:

“Are you feeling alright, [name]? There’s something…off.”

Sole shook their head and Nick chuckled.

“Dear, I think you’re forgetting I’m a detective. I read body language for a living. Now please— if you’re comfortable, of course— would you mind telling me why you’ve been so quiet? Is there any way I can help you?”

Sole made eye contact with their lover and tears immediately began streaming down their cheeks.

“Honey?”

Sole sniffled and the detective opened his arms. Accepting the gesture, Sole latched onto their lover and cried into his jacket.

“I can’t do this.”

Nick gently rubbed Sole’s back and kissed the top of their head.

“Shh, it’s alright. Deep breaths, okay? Let’s try to calm down.”

Sole obeyed and tried to control their breathing.

“You’re obviously…stressed. Beyond that, even,” he commented, concerned, “Dear, you need to take care of yourself. Everyone needs a break, including you.”

Sole loomed up at their lover and he brushed aside strands of hair that were matted to their tear-soaked face.

“Why don’t we head back to Diamond City and have a relaxing little break, alright? We can stay at the agency. I’m sure Ellie will be delighted to see you again.”

Sole nodded and Nick looked relieved.

“Glad to see you’re onboard with this. Now how does Power Noodles for dinner tonight sound?”

Sole beamed and the detective gave them a quick kiss.

“Alright then. Lead the way.”

Curie:

“My love? Are you alright,” Curie called, backtracking toward Sole, “Are you fatigued?”

Sole shook their head, but Curie still looked concerned.

“Please, my dear, eef zomething is wrong I want to ‘elp you,” She stated, wrapping her arms around Sole, “‘ugging ees biologically good for ze mind, body, and zoul! Did you know?”

Sole immediately broke down and their lover held them tighter.

“Shhhh…” the synth soothed, rubbing Sole’s back, “Oh, [Madame/Moniessier]. I knew you were noyt yourzelf today.”

“I can’t do this.”

“Ah. You must be zo ztressed. I can’t even imagine.”

Sole continued to cry as their lover held them.

“But my dear. I ‘ave a zurprise for you.”

Sole let go of theirlover as she fished through her bag. After a few moments, she pulled out a flakey golden pastry with a red filling.

“You zaid you ‘ave a sweet tooth, [Madame/Moniessier], and I knew you were veeling down. Zo

I managed to make zome yummy tarberry tarts zis morning bevore you woke up!”

Sole looked down at the dessert, and then at their lover who was beaming. The tears of sadness quickly turned into tears of gratitude as they pulled Curie into a tight embrace.

“I’m pleased to zee zat you’re mood ‘as improved, my dear,” Curie exclaime, planting a kiss on Sole’s cheek, “I love you zo much!”

Hancock:

“Ya still back there, hot stuff?” Hancock chuckled, looking over his shoulder at his lover who was lagging behind.

Sole nodded and picked up their speed a bit. When the finally caught up to the ghoul they smiled, but their lover could tell something was off.

“You good, gorgeous?”

Sole nodded.

“You sure? I sense some pain behind those eyes.”

Sole knew the gig was up, and they immediately dropped the facade. They fell into Hancocks arms and bawled into his jacket.

“I can’t do this.”

Hancock frowned and held his lover close, rocking them slightly.

“It’s gonna be okay. You’ve just gotta...chill out a bit. Take a break. Relax.”

Sole looked up and the ghoul wiped away some stray tears. He then smiled.

“How about we head back to Goodneighbor, yeah? We can just chill out, do some chems, have a good time. You dig?”

Sole nodded and Hancock smirked.

“Excellent! That’s what I like do hear.”

Danse:

“…And at this pace we should reach our next checkpoint by 19:00.”

Danse turned around and noticed Sole lagging far behind. This was unusual.

“[Name]? Are you alright?”

Sole nodded and tried to force a smile, but their face immediately fell as tears cascaded down their face.

“I can’t do this!”

Danse felt an immediate pang of guilt.

“I’m sorry. Did I push you too hard?”

Sole shook their head and Danse frowned. He approached his lover and pulled them into a tight hug, rubbing their back to soothe them.

“You haven’t taken a break since you destroyed the Institute, have you?”

Sole muffled a ‘yes, I have’ into their lover’s chest, and Danse immediately pulled away.

He looked at Sole sternly.

“Don’t lie to me, soldier.”

Sole sighed in defeat; they knew they’d been caught. Danse frowned and enveloped them again.

“The checkpoint can wait until tomorrow. We can bivouac here for the night,” he stated, “You need to take a break.”

Sole looked up at him, as if about to argue, and he gave them a gentle peck on the nose.

“That’s an order.”

Maxson:

“How’re you holding up back there, Sentinel,” the Elder asked, concerned, “You have a distinct lack of energy today. I’m a bit worried.”

Sole tried to deny that anything was wrong, but their words got caught in their throat.

“If there’s anything I can do to make you feel better, please let me know.”

At that moment, Sole threw themselves into Maxson’s arms and started sobbing.

“Sent— [name]! What’s the matter? Why are you so upset?”

“I can’t do this!”

Maxson firmly held Sole’s shoulders and crouched to make direct eye contact with them.

“Whatever’s troubling you, [name], please let me know. I want to help you.”

Sole sniffled, but Maxson held their gaze.

“Is it stress-related?”

Sole nodded and Maxson closed his eyes. He pulled his lover into a firm embrace.

“I’m sorry. For making you do assignment after assignment. I understand you’re long overdue for some R&R, and I can respect that. Please take a rest. It’s painful to see a [man/woman] as strong as yourself fall apart.”

[avengerscompound]

The Tower: The Queen of Asgard, 3

The Tower: The Queen of Asgard An Avengers Fanfic

Series Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Pairing:  Avengers x OFC, Bruce Banner x Bucky Barnes x Clint Barton x Wanda Maximoff x Steve Rogers x Natasha Romanoff x Tony Stark x Thor x Sam Wilson x OFC (Elly Cooper)

Word Count: 1861

Warnings: None this chapter

Synopsis: The twins are now three and while the Avengers know that Clint and Thor are the biological father’s none of them know or care which blond, blue-eyed baby is related to which man.  When Riley gets the power to control wind and it becomes evident that she is the heir to the Asgardian throne, Elly, Steve, Thor, and Tony take the twins to Asgard to train her.

Not every Asgardian is happy with their king’s choice of consort, nor the impurity of the heir’s blood.  While others expect Thor to make things more official.  What’s clear is, the role of Queen of Asgard is not easily filled.

Author’s Note: Written with my very own Clint Barton @fanficwriter013​

Chapter 3 - The Hair Cut

That night we all gathered together for a family meal.  Wanda and I had cooked.  She took the lead so there were a lot of Sokovian and Romany dishes, as well as some very American sides like Mac and Cheese just in case the kids were being fussy.

Thor sat with Riley in his lap as Steve put Pietro in his highchair.  “This is Riley’s highchair,”  Steve said indicating to the other chair.  “If you don’t want her wiping her sticky fingers on you while you eat.”

“Am I not meant to be a napkin?”  Thor joked.

Steve chuckled.  “You can be if you like.  But there are other options.”

“I’m sure she will love using you as a napkin.”  I teased.

“I would assume so,”  Thor said as Riley buried her face into his neck and started kicking her legs.

Wanda and I put a variety of foods into the kid’s bowls and then sat and began helping ourselves.

“Now, Natasha,”  I said when everyone had started eating.  “There’s something you need to come to terms with.”

“What’d I do?”  She asked.

“Well, see... here's the thing,”  I said, putting my fork down and looking at her.  “Out here at the compound, we can go outside with the kids and play or do whatever and we're left alone because the worst case it’s just agents around, but generally the house is isolated.  If we go back to the tower, the only way the kids can get to play outside is to go to the park, which means…”

“No,”  Nat said, firmly.  “Nope.  No.  Nuh-uh.”

“They have to be able to go outside and play, Nat,”  Sam said.

“No.”  She repeated, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Nat, they have to.  Taking out the psychological need children have to do that.  They need vitamin d to live.”  I said.

“They can play on the roof,”  Natasha said.  “You said you could make a garden for them to play in, right, Tony?”

“Yeah.  I can do that, but Nat, you can’t …”  Tony started.

“Three years!”  Natasha almost shouted.  “I have saved them from those monsters for three years!”

“I know you have, Natasha,”  I said.  “You've done a great job.  But every year you do it their world becomes smaller.  They can't just exist in a bubble where there are no other parts of the world.  They should be able to go to the beach or Disney or the park with their dog.  The longer we keep them from that the less chance they have of actually being normal kids who can interact with society.  They will grow to resent us for what we kept from them.  I know it sucks... but we have to figure out a way we can navigate in the actual world that negates the damage.”

Natasha scowled and muttered something in Russian as Clint rubbed her back.  She let out a breath and gave a slight nod.  “They need to respect their boundaries, or so help me…”

“Luckily we have someone here who grew up with it and might have some ideas,”  Steve said.

“We could take out restraining orders.  Happy was always pretty good at keeping them out of shot of me.  I’ll talk to him.  Maybe they can have a team that just stays out of sight and sweeps around.”  Tony said.

“That’s a start,”  Steve said.  “We’ll work this out, Natasha, but El is right, as much as we want to protect them, they can’t live in a bubble.”

“I want to keep them in a bubble,”  Natasha muttered.  “I mean it though, I’ll kill them if they get too close to my babies.”

“Mama!”  Pietro scolded, scrunching up his nose.  “Don’t be naughty.”

Natasha laughed so hard she snorted.  “Sorry, bud.”

“Nat snorted.” I giggled.

“El, don’t make me get in trouble with my son again.”  She warned.

“What?  It was cute.”

She eyed me but didn’t say anything and I smirked at her as I took a mouthful of my food.

“I may require some assistance here,”  Thor said.

We all looked over to him to see Riley’s hand stuck to the side of his head.  She looked distressed as Thor held her hand in place so she didn’t yank his hair out.

“Oh, damn,”  Clint said getting up and coming over to him and slowly trying to get Riley’s hand free.  “Okay, get me the vinegar.”

I got up and rushed to the kitchen, bringing back apple cider vinegar.  “Okay, bug, don’t move,”  Clint said as he began to work the vinegar into Thor’s hair and untangle Riley’s hands from it.

“Daddy!”  Riley whined as she tugged on Thor’s hair.

“Jelly Bean, your hand is literally attached to someone else right now,”  Clint said.  “You know how you complain when daddy brushes your hair too hard and it rips the knots out?  That’s what you’re doing to Daddy Thor right now.”

“Sorry, daddy.”  She said, starting to cry.

“It’s okay, princess.  I’m not angry.”  Thor said.

“I stuck.”  She said, fat tears running down her cheeks.

“I know,”  Thor said.  “Daddy Clint is going to get you out.”

“You kids need to use your forks when you eat,”  Steve said.

“Yeah, that’s the difference between babies and big kids,”  Natasha added.

“‘M a big girl.”  Riley sobbed as Pietro picked up his fork and awkwardly started to shovel Mac and Cheese into his mouth, more spilling down his front than getting in his mouth.

Clint managed to work Riley’s hand free and she stopped crying and looked up at him  “Fank you, daddy.”  She said, opening and closing her hand.

“You're welcome, sweetheart,”  Clint said wiping her hands clean.  “Now we’re going to use our fork and after dinner, you and your brother are going to have a bath.”

“Baff!”  Riley said excitedly.

“No, Baff, daddy,”  Pietro whined.

“Thor, we’re going to need to put coconut oil in your hair to untangle it properly.   Maybe a hair mask.  I can help you with that after dinner if you like.”  Clint said.

“I would appreciate that,”  Thor said.

We all finished up eating and Wanda and Sam took the kids for their bath while Clint and I took Thor to fix his hair.

“Take a seat on the edge of the tub,”  Clint said.  “Gotta rinse it out first if I’m gonna try and save it.”

Thor took his shirt off and sat down on the rim of the tub.  Clint began to fiddle with the water and started to rinse Thor’s hair.  “El, can you pass me the wide-toothed comb.”

I handed it over and he carefully began to pick out the knots with it.  “This is going to be some feat.  I hope you’re feeling patient, Thor.”  Clint said.

“You could just shave it.”  I joked.

“Yeah, that would definitely be easier.”  Clint chuckled, as he very patiently worked on Clint’s hair.

“Perhaps that would be best,”  Thor said.  “She was very upset at being stuck.  I do not like that I upset her like that.”

“You’re sure?”  I asked.

“Yes.  I’m sure.”  Thor said.

“Oh, god,”  I said, going to grab the clippers.  “I can’t believe we’re about to shave off the mighty Thor’s beautiful tresses.”

Clint began prepping the clippers while I plugged them in.  “Why are you more upset than Thor?”

I shrugged.  “I’m a dramatic bitch?”

“Okay, well. Don't scream.”  Clint said.  He turned the clippers on and ran them through Thor’s hair.

“Oh my god,”  I said as I watched.  “Don’t make him bald.”

“Don't worry, it'll look good,”  Clint said as he worked.

I watched on as Thor’s hair got shorter and shorter, his blond locks collecting on the floor around him.  I swept up as Clint went and soon it began to look more like a hair cut.  Quite like Clint’s actually.  Short, back and sides, a little more length to the top.  Clint pulled back and looked over his work.  “It’s still gonna need a treatment.”  He said.

“Coconut oil?”  I asked.

Clint nodded and grabbed a brush to sweep away the stray strands and I got the coconut oil and began to work it into Thor’s hair and scalp.

Thor looked up at me and hummed.  “Thank you both.”

“You're welcome.  Sorry about ol' sticky hands.”  I said.

He put his hand on my hips and smiled softly.  “I was warned.”

“Well, this is extreme,”  I said.  “He’s done a good job though.  Steve might say you copied him.”

Thor chuckled.  “It was getting a bit much anyway.  With all my duties I barely had time to take care of it properly.”

“Really?”  I asked, spiking it up at the top.  “But don’t you have people for that.  You had all the braids and everything.”

“I know, but… I have been growing less comfortable with asking for that level of treatment.  I know my people don’t mind but I always feel more relaxed here, when I lack all the privileges that come with the crown.”

“You feel guilty don’t you?”  I asked.  “About not being able to be here?”

“Very much.”  He agreed.

“You’re doing your best.  You’re allowed to put them down when you’re here.”  I said.  “This isn’t ideal, I know.  It wasn’t planned either and you are the king whether that’s what you want or not.”

“They don't want to be put down,”  Thor said, sounding guilty.  “They climb me.”

“I know.  They are really, really excited to see you.  And you're very strong and they like that you just put up with it.”  I said, taking a seat beside him.  “But... being a parent is more than that.  What you're being is a fun uncle.  Which... is Loki's job I guess?  You can be firm with them about boundaries.  And you should be.  That's what being a parent is.”

“I miss them when I am away.  I want to make it count.”  He said, frowning.

“They love you.  We all do.”  I said, rubbing his thigh.  “Are you seeing anyone?  Else I mean.”

“I’m supposed to.”  He said.  “But no.  Nothing else feels right outside of this.”

I rubbed his leg.  “This will always be here.”

“You can probably rinse that out now,”  Clint said sweeping the last of the hair into the trash.

I grabbed the showerhead and rinsed the oil out of his hair.  When he was done I switched it off.  “You want to check the damage?”  Clint asked.

“Please.”  Thor agreed, getting up and looking in the mirror.  “It looks good.  You are good at this.”

Clint blushed a little.  “Thanks.”

Thor pulled Clint up against him.  “No, thank you.”

Clint grinned and leaned up and kissed Thor.  Thor pulled him closer and kissed him hungrily.  Clint hummed and submitted to him, almost melting in the larger man’s embrace.  Thor pulled back and looked down at Clint, he caressed his jaw gently.  “I have missed you, little bird.”

“I missed you too,”  Clint said.

“Shall we go find the others?  Have a little fun?”  Thor suggested.

I smiled and came over and kissed his shoulder.  “I think that’s a very good idea.”

// NEXT

[stars-in-my-universe]

Bad Idea: Part 6

Summary: When pop star Trixie can’t get her act together, her team makes a deal with the NHL…one that she can’t turn down. When NHL player Tyler Seguin can’t seem to get himself under control his team decides to thrust a certain Pop star into his life. Can the two play nice?

Warnings: Cussing.

Note: You guys have been so patient and I appreciate you all so much. Feel free to send me your thoughts and any asks, I love answering questions. Hell, even send me prompts! This isn’t much but this chapter did need to happen, so I hope you guys enjoy it! 

Tyler had let two full days pass, he was now completely sober, no hangover to distract him from his adult problems and guilt that sat in the lower part of his stomach making him toss and turn for two full nights. Today though, he had woken up early, taken the dogs on a run, and made himself some eggs before getting ready to head over to Trixie’s which wasn’t as far as he thought it was going to be. 

It was closer to downtown Dallas probably the same distance his place was from the arena. Grabbing his car keys and locking up, he made his way to his car and typed in the address on his phone. He didn’t know what he was going to do or say but he assumed apologizing would be his best bet. Tyler jumped into his jeep and headed down the road to the freeway, the soft pop music playing in the background was immediately cut off as his blue tooth rang through his car’s speakers. 

Glancing at the screen, the name ALI popped up. Sighing he knew it was now or never; without missing a beat he answered the phone.

“Hi, Ali.” He grimaced as she practically screamed his name. She was lucky she was good in bed because after all the bull shit she’s pulled, he was ready to cut her off a long time ago. 

“Tyler, come on. I just want to see you and talk.” He rolled his eyes.

“We both know, when we see each other we never talk.” He listened as she rambled on about how they could fix this and where they could go from here. He loved the girl once, but she was a lot and it was always on her terms. She broke up with him and yet here she was still trying to suck him back into the toxic cycle. 

“Ali, I can’t do this anymore. You ended it with me, remember that.” He heard her let out a squeak.

“It’s cause of that bitch right?” Tyler groaned, of course of all things she remembered she’d remember Trixie. He also could feel himself get angry at Ali calling her a bitch, when he got so protective of her, hell if he knew. 

“No, it’s because my games suffering Ali.” His phone beeped signaling he was arriving soon to the destination.

“Look, I gotta go. I’m sorry but this is done.” He didn’t give her a chance to explain herself as he hit the end button on the steering wheel. Turning into a round about driveway he parked the car and got out. It wasn’t a huge house, but it was bigger than most. Walking up the porch stairs he knocked and then rang the doorbell twice. He waited to hear any noise from beyond the door, rubbing the back of his neck; a habit he had when he was nervous. He shifted from one foot to another and looked up when the door swung open.

“Fucking hell, Cami. You were supposed to be here-” Tyler had to keep himself from letting out an embarrassing moan. Tyler had hooked up with his fair share of girls, hell he even dated a playboy bunny and had a threesome in Mexico, but he had never gotten hard so fast as he stood in the doorway staring at Trixie, who was in fact staring wide eyed back at him. 

He was lucky he had sunglasses on because the way his eyes shamelessly raked her body would make him turn fifty shades of red. He always knew she was attractive, you had to be in her world, but this was not what he was expecting. Trixie stood with her hair in a messy bun, her face clear of any make up, standing in the doorway wearing nothing but a black bra with cute little purple stars and moon with bikini underwear to match. All the bra did was give her more cleavage then he was used to seeing and the little string that hugged her hip did nothing to hide her curves. Tyler had never wanted to fuck someone so bad then he did in that moment. 

Clearing her throat, Trixie let our a ‘Tyler?’ making him snap out of it. He looked back up at her face and remembered why he was here, all the anger and confusion on her face said it all. 

“Do you answer your door like this all the time?” She rolled her eyes and put a hand on her hip.

“What do you want, Seguin?” He watched as she stood there, practically no clothes on, all the confidence in the world and he didn’t think she could become any more attractive. 

“I wondered if I could come in and maybe talk...and uh, apologize?” He watched as she rolled her eyes yet again and motioned for him to follow her in. He watched as she took a step back and let him in, closing the door behind him. She pointed toward the hallway that he assumed lead to another room.

“Go ahead and go in the kitchen, I have beers in the fridge. Help yourself to anything, let me just put a shirt on.” He nodded and walked into the kitchen, not really wanting to go through her stuff, he made himself comfortable on a bar stool and waited for her. 

Luckily he didn’t have to wait long, Trixie walked behind the counter in an oversized t-shirt that covered the majority of her body minus her legs. Atleast now he wasn’t popping a boner like the fucking teenager he was, apparently. Trixie stood behind the counter, arms crossed and eyebrow raised. Tyler knew it was show time.

“Look, I’m sorry. I was out of line, I shouldn’t have said what I said. I was angry and frustrated which is also no excuse. But if you haven’t noticed yet, I’m not the brightest bulb in the box? Shed? See I don’t even know the right saying.” Trixie shook her head.

“Tyler-”

“I’m sorry I made you look like an idiot with those pictures, you told me it was your reputation too and I would ruin it.” Trixie was watching him, intently now. She could see the sincerity in his eyes, the desperation in his voice.

“Everyone says you’re good for me, everyone says we could help each other out, whether or not we see it now, I think on some level they are right, Trixie.”

“Okay but Tyler, you hate me. You want nothing to do with me half the time-”

“I know, I know and that’ll change. We’ll work on this contract for real this time, I won't...I wont be as closed off.” Trixie was now leaning her hip against the counter, she wasn’t as defensive as she first was.

“You helped Crosby, you dated Anderson. I’m not saying we need to fall in love-” Trixie laughed.

“I would prefer if we didn’t” Tyler sent her a smirk.

“But some hot angry sex is still on the table?” Trixie let out a genuine loud laugh making Tyler smile back at her. She was still hurt by the things he said, she was still angry but he did come here to apologize and he was doing a good job. Whether or not they wanted to, they had a contract and she believed this could work. 

“You gotta let me in, Tyler. We don’t have to be best friends, we don’t even have to be friends, but I can guarantee it would be a lot easier if we were.” It was Tyler’s turn to sigh, he hated not knowing who he could trust but looking at Trixie, all doe eyed and innocent he knew she knew about his world, the risks, the drama it all came with. 

“Then let’s work on it, we’ll keep the contract and work on becoming friends.” Trixie nodded.

“We are in this contract for about a year.” Tyler’s eyes went wide.

“A year?” She nodded.

“Did you not read the papers?” He shrugged.

“I figured it couldn’t be too bad, but alas I was wrong.” Trixie giggled and stared back at him. 

“And uh..Ali?” Tyler shifted in his seat.

“I’ll tell you the whole story one day but I ended it with her for good on the way over here, I need to focus on hockey if I ever want to get us a stanley cup.” Trixie didn’t say anything she just continued to stare at him.

“It’s not going to be easy, Trixie. I was on and off with this girl for awhile.”

“Then I’ll help you, get rid of her. Keep you distracted. I really am sorry for what I said in response to you attacking me. It wasn’t fair, I’m also sorry for breaking your sunglasses I’ll buy you a new pair. I was just...angry Tyler, I was hurt. I thought we were making progress. If you really do give me a chance, I’m not as bad as you think I am and we’ll be able to get through this a lot smoother.” Tyler nodded but didn’t say anything, this was all a little much for him but then he felt a hand placed over his making him look up from the counter top. Trixie was looking back at him with a small smile that somehow calmed his nerves. When she wasn’t being Hollywood Princess, she was actually really-

“I smell some sexual tension in here!” Tyler and Trixie both jumped back from each other. Trixie grabbed the nearest thing which happened to be a spatula and hauled it at her best friend. Tyler remember her from the club, the one who warned Tyler not to try to tame Trixie, she was going to do what she wanted either way. 

“I guess I should be going, don’t want to crash...whatever this is.” Getting up from the stool he waved over at Cami who in return waved him off and made her way into the living room. Trixie shook her head and lead him back to the front door opening it for him. He shoved his hands in his front pockets and could feel his cheeks warm up as Trixie sent him a small smile.

“I’ll email my team and tell them it's okay.” He nodded and went to make his way back to his jeep.

“Oh and Tyler, you busy on Friday?” He took a second to think.

“ I have practice in the morning and that’s it.” She nodded.

“If I send you an address would you go? I’m doing this thing for spotify and you being there would be good publicity.” Tyler pretended to act shocked.

“Do I get to hear the princess of pop sing...live?” She glared at him.

“I’ll text you, you asshole.”  She could hear him laughing as she closed the door.

“Bye Trixie.”

Trixie leaned against the back of the door, surprised at how well and how smooth that went. He was trying and that’s all that mattered. They could get through this contract, she would have her money and both their reputations would be saved.

“I know that look.” Trixie glanced up at her best friend.

“What look?”

“That look, don’t you dare-”

“Cami, I’m not going to fall for him.” She gave Trixie a look making the popstar glare back at her.

“He’s just a contract, another number.” Cami eyed her and shrugged.

“I would at least try to sleep with him before the contracts up.” Trixie didn’t say anything as she sat back down on the couch and turned the TV on. He was just another number, didn’t mean they couldn’t be friends? Her phone dinged from the table in front of her making her pick it up right away. She smiled to herself as she saw a message from Tyler. It was a picture of his radio and on it had a radio, with the artists name which happened to be her latest single. She giggled at the caption: ‘must be a sign.’

“Just another number huh, Trix?” Without thinking she threw a pillow at her best friend.

“Fuck off, Cami.”

[dzamie-oc]

Smaugust 21 - Hydra

While the dragon's away, the kobolds will... commit shenanigans. (1908 words)

Just outside of a wide, rocky cave, a dozen distraught kobolds of all sorts of horns and colors surrounded a blue-scaled dragon. Four kobolds sat patiently in bags hanging off the dragon's side, along with several of his favorite things.

"I'll just be gone a week or two," he said in a soft voice that clashed with his outward appearance of tough scales and sharp claws, "the festival is not something I want to miss, and I can take the opportunity to start these four on their new task." The little lizards in the bags chirped their enthusiasm.

A teal kobold with short, rounded horns approached. "But what if someone comes to steal from your hoard?" she asked.

"Then you shall stop them," came his calm answer. "The VitAzurel den does a fine job working together; why, losing a kobold is rare for us, AND it's rather uncommon for me to have to face adventurers, myself, unless I particularly want to." The dragon turned and carefully stepped over a couple of his kobolds, preparing to take off. "Oh, and if - not when, but if - you do lose a part of my hoard, make sure to note what the thieves look like. I'm much more lenient on a full stomach, after all." With that, he sprang off of powerful legs, flapping his broad, blue wings to soar towards the nearest friendly town.

The twelve remaining kobolds looked at each other. "So... we have our assignment," started the teal one, "we just need to figure out how to guard our lord's hoard."

"A dragon's hoard is best guarded by a dragon," a white-scaled one pointed out, only for a red one to interrupt, "but Azurel isn't here, and another dragon might try to claim it for themselves. So his hoard can't be guarded by a dragon."

They chatted amongst themselves, offering ideas for traps and encounters to dissuade or kill adventurers. While several were accepted as helpful minor things, and more were discarded out of hand, the kobolds couln't quite come up with anything big. Nothing could beat a dragon guarding a hoard.

Just before the den was going to return, fruitless in finding an idea to protect Azurel's hoard, the black-scaled kobold gasped. The others turned to see a big, eager, sharp-toothed smile on his muzzle. "Guys, what if... what if WE were the dragon protecting his hoard?"

There was a brief period of assorted muttering before the teal kobold came up and placed her hand on his shoulder, two pairs of yellow eyes locked onto each other. "...we're kobolds. We're not dragons. There is a truly insurmountable difference between us and Lord Azurel, and us and other dragons, even though he IS exceptionally amazing." Several kobolds behind her nodded as sagely as they could manage.

The black kobold shook his head, still smiling. "No, not an actual dragon. But Azurel encourages us to be sneaky and tricky to keep unfair fights in our favor, right?" There was a general murmur of agreement, so he continued, "so, we're small, and dragons are big, but there's at least ten of us, and we're scaly like dragons."

"And we have tails, too!" a green kobold helpfully offered from the back of the group.

"So, what if we trick adventurers that we, together, are one dragon?" the kobold continued, undaunted, "we have scaly, we have big, and they'll be expecting a dragon so they'll totally believe us!" His tail whipped back and forth in excitement. This got the group talking, some of them planning out a costume, others just gossipping about the mimic that Teal was getting to be a little too close friends with.

"We don't have a breath weapon or wings!" one pointed out, but another called out, "multiple heads! Our fake dragon's breath weapon will be more bites than a silly adventurer coul possibly imagine!" A cheer went up, and, invigorated, the den of kobolds hurried back into the depths of Azurel's lair to work on the disguise.

---

The white-scaled kobold pushed away from her part of the costume, dangling from the ceiling by a rope. "Okay, how's this?"

The green, black, and teal kobolds wriggled into position, drawing the aperture of the necks closed around their own. They looked at each other and tested out their controls, wiggling the heads around and occasionally bumping into each other, then grinned. "Functional and sturdy! I swear, Raktor," the green one said, "if I didn't see you make this in front of me, I'd think you had done some magic on it to get it to work so well!"

Teal turned around and called down to the body disguise, comprised of a kobold per leg, plus one to move the tail. "How's it working down there, guys?" She got several chirps of approval, and the fake, three-headed dragon took a step forward to test. More chirps. "Great! This is coming together really w-"

Suddenly, the group was interrupted by a pink kobold slipping out from one of their small kobold tunnels. "Intruder alert!" he called out, "a human traveler is in the lair!"

The green kobold gasped. "A human traveler is in the lair?" The kobolds looked at each other, gauging how ready they were for their first test of their dragon costume.

"Protect the hoard!" the pink one loudly reminded them.

"We must protect the hoard!" the green kobold relayed, and the eight dragon-bolds maneuvered between the entrance tunnel and the start of Azurel's huge cache of gold, gems, and other shiny things. The other four grabbed weapons and retreated into ambush points, waiting for the interloper to make an appearance.

Instead of the menacing adventurer, armed to the teeth, that they had expected, a young woman with curly, brown hair in a yellow sundress stepped out, smiling brightly when she saw one of the hiding kobolds in his normal spot. "Hey, VitAzurels! It's Penny. Is your dragon around?"

The green kobold opened his mouth to answer, but the black one started faster and replied, "foolish human girl! Your adventure was futile! This Ah-shoo-rell you speak of does NO LONGER exist in this lair!" Hidden claws moved the kobold in a fake dragon neck closer, looming over her. "Now flee, flee before you face the wrath of TAM!" The pink kobold made eye contact with Teal and Raktor, silently assuring each other that nobody else knew that was what he was going to call the fake dragon.

The woman seemed amused by this show. "Oh, huh! I thought he'd be back by now. So, do you kobolds wanna hang out? Feels a shame to waste all the time I spent coming up here, and I'm in a very playful mood."

"SILENCE!" the black kobold shouted. "Do not waste your time here, Penny-girl, for we have clocks numerous and beyond your feeble human brain! And-"

"I don't think that's working," Teal said, "gotta be more direct." She turned to face Penny. "Look. Human. I'm Tam, the dragon who now lives in this lair and protects its treasure from humans."

"Yeah, but you guys know me. If I was going to steal from Azurel, I'd save all of us the time and effort, and just climb down his throat directly."

"I... don't know what 'guys' you speak of, strange human," Teal lied, poorly, "now leave, or I will eat you, as that is what we dragons do to humans who try to steal treasure."

"Okay, then, eat me."

The three kobolds blinked. "What?" they said in near unison.

Penny pointed at Teal. "Eat me. Send me down that throat and into that belly. I don't think you're a real dragon; prove me wrong."

The baffled kobolds looked at each other, then the black and green ones stared expectantly at the teal one. Her scaly hands gripped the controls for her neck disguise. "Uh... okay, then," she said, and dipped down towards Penny.

"Wait, what?" The human took a half-step back and froze in shock. Right when she was above Penny, Teal spun the lever letting her have a snug fit in the disguise. She let go of the controls, reache out, and pulled Penny under her body and into the disguise's neck, pushing her out of the way before taking the controls once more and lifting back up with her green and black denmates.

Penny slid smoothly down the costume's neck like it was a slide, in large part because it was a slide, until she came to a stop in the empty cavity where the leg and tail kobolds stared at her. The human looked at them, rolling onto her back to better see all of the kobolds. "Huh, and from here I guess you could start beating on an adventurer..." she mused, "clever. Anyway, so what do we do now?"

The red kobold glanced around. "Uh... we could undo one of the flaps and let you out through there, I guess." There was a level of tension in the costume that all six of them could sense, but none of the kobolds were willing to break it.

Fortunately for them, Penny was not one of the kobolds. "Let me rephrase, guys and girls. Ahem," she fake-cleared her throat before putting on an exaggerated voice, "oh, heavens me, here I am all alone, deep in a dragon's lair, and hopelessly surrounded by kobolds. I wonder what ever might happen next!"

Purrs and soft growls filled the base of the dragon costume as multiple sets of scaly hands went to grab at her clothes...

---

"...so we only got through her modeling, like, a quarter of the casual outfits you keep for princesses," Raktor explained to Azurel, "plus, when she left the first day, she suggested mixing and matching stuff, so that was us set for the rest of the week. Oh, and yesterday she and Jimothy came over for House-Rules Parcheesi, so Teal and Irnat are almost done cleaning that up."

The blue dragon lifted one of the necks of the limp costume in a paw, peering at the mechanism inside. "Well, I'm glad to see my creativity has been rubbing off on you," he said. "How'd this do versus an actual threat? Looks well-used by now."

Raktor fiddled with her horns, a little sheepish. "Well, actually, only two tried; one ate the brownie we helpfully labeled 'poison,' and the other got mimic'd. It looks worn because we all wanted a go at quote-unquote 'eating' Penny, and she liked the slide." The white-scaled kobold perked up with a wicked smirk as she recalled one more detail. "Oh, and Norak is now called Tam."

"Oh, that's a fun development. Who's best to ask about that?"

"Probably Teal. She and Vernda were closest to him when the thing happened, and Vernda..." she trailed off.

"Doesn't have a way with words," Azurel supplied. "I'll look forward to hearing it from her, then. Now be a dear and get a couple others to put away the bags and the sword Kassar no longer needs." He yawned as he walked through the wide main caves. "Oh, and see if one or two will volunteer for basic shining duty; I'll be napping after that long flight, so it's perfectly fine if they can't get much of my scales."

Raktor chirped and darted off through the kobold tunnels as everyone fell back into normal motion again, the absence of their dragon remedied and new memories passed around as gossip.

[detroitbydark]

Have Yourself a Merry Airport Christmas.  (H.O.)

Title: Have Yourself A Marry Airport Christmas

Chapter 1: I'll (Not) Be Home For Christmas

Summary: You thought your holiday had been ruined until a handsome Brit steps in to rescue your Christmas spirit.

Word Count: 2200+

Authors Notes: Fun little fluffy piece just in time for the holidays. No Warnings warnings. Thank you to @tomsrebeleyebrow​ for the lovely mood board!

A rough breath squeezes past your purses lips as you hike your backpack further up on your shoulder. The arrival and departure boards were cloaked in more red than Santa Claus. You stared up, looking for your connector, eyes tracing the flight numbers. 2524. That was what would take you from Boston to Detroit. Outside, the wind whipped and the snow fell in blinding waves.

 You’d only just landed from the first leg of your journey from Atlanta. Initially, your biggest concern had been missing your next flight. The strong gusts and limited visibility had left your plane circling for far longer than it should have. When you’d finally arrived to the gate you knew you were going to have to book it through the terminal if you were ever going to make it to the next plane before it departed.

You should have known better.

The crowd around you jerks and moves as people push upto than away from the digital board. 

No one is happy.

 A young mother near you bounces a fussy baby on her hip while holding tightly to the toddler at her side. There is not a smile to be seen. Not a single plane will be leaving Logan International tonight.

 Your going to spend Christmas Eve alone.

 In an airport.

You work your way through the crowd, apologizing as you bump or are bumped in return. You can feel the hot sting of tears threatening and you take a deep breath, swallowing back the sorrow that’s threatening to over take you. You’d been looking forward to seeing your family for months. You hadn’t been home for Christmas since you’d moved to Atlanta five years ago. You had a brand new niece who you were dying to see and a nephew who’d been promised “auntie y/n” would help set out cookies for Santa and now it was all ruined. 

You remembered telling your supervisor earlier in the week how much you’d missed snow in the winter. Looking out the floor to ceiling windows, there is nothing beautiful or nostalgic about the way the snow is beginning to drift and pile up. You hate it.  The charge on your phone is wearing low and you regret not going in and getting a new one like you’d been promising yourself. It barely held a charge these days but you’d spent so much on airfare that you’d promised yourself to limp it through the holidays.  You look around for a spot near a charging station. You have to walk half the length of the terminal before you find a gate where you can wedge in between two grumpy looking travelers and charge your phone.

You give the man to your right a weak smile as you scroll through your Facebook feed. Images of happy families assault you as you scroll. Your family, both immediate and extended, are all together. Your brothers handing out slices of tourtiere and your Gramma is sitting with Olivia, your three month old niece, rocking in a chair by the fire. You feel your chest get tight. You close out of it before you get anymore lost in your emotions. It’s not even noon yet.

After allowing your phone to charge for a bit you unplug and make way for the next person looking for a top off. You glance around for a quiet spot to make the call you’ve been dreading all morning. You had to let your mother know you weren’t going to make it. She’d never been happy that you’d moved so far away from home and made it known each time your distance caused you to miss an event or inconvenience anyone. She hadn’t made an effort in five years to come visit, no one in your family had, but you were made to feel guilty every time you had to tell them you wouldn’t be there. This year was supposed to be different, you’d be there for Christmas. You’d scrimped and scrounged for the airfare. Worked extra and traded shifts to get the time off. You’d planned for everything. Everything but this. 

The hollow ring of the phone in your ear feels a million miles away as you wait for someone at the house to answer.

“Hello?” 

“Mom! Hey!” Your smile is entirely fake as you try to sound upbeat.

“Sweetheart, I thought you’d be in the air right now?” Mom was no fool and you can hear her tone already.

“Yeah, well…” you take a deep breath, “I didn’t get through Boston before that storm hit. Everything’s grounded. Looks like I might be here for a minute.”

It’s so quiet. You pull your phone back to make sure you haven’t been disconnected, “Mom?”

“If you would have just flown out yesterday like I suggested-“ you let the dull roar of the crowds around you drown  her words out. 

You knew she was going to do this. If something went wrong, be it out of your control or not, you could have prevented it by doing this or that. You feel tears prick at your eyes again, your chest is beginning to feel heavy and you breathing is becoming more difficult. You try to get a word in but your Mother just keeps steamrolling ahead. You start walking down the concourse, moving your feet in hopes of walking off some of the nervous energy that building up.

I’m not going to cry. 

I’m not going to cry. 

I’m not going to cry. 

You repeat the words in your head like a mantra. The tears are held back by sheer force of will.

“And another thing-“

“Mom!” You don’t mean to snap but it does the trick of stopping her. “Listen, I’m going to go talk to this gate agent and see if I can get anymore information” you both know it’s a lie but she doesn’t call you on it.

“Fine. Keep me updated.” She doesn’t even bother to say bye but you don’t either and the call drops away.

You walk passed one of the many lines leading to the gate agents, cringe at the irate people who think their shorty attitude and loud voice will suddenly make flights available.

Finding an open space near a wall you let yourself slouch to the floor. For having so many bodies pressed in around you it’s still surprisingly cold. After a moment of digging through your backpack you unroll and hoodie and slip it on, pulling the hood up and over your hair. Your knees get pulled up tight to your chest and you rest your chin on them while you watch people filter by.

A place to stay is your next course of action, a hotel room to hole up and lick your wounds. Out of the prying eyes of the world.

 Scrolling through app after app you find that everyone else is thinking the same thing, maybe that’s why the crowds have dwindled slightly. All the places you typically stay, the ones in your budget, are booked. The few that are left are so far out of your price range that you can’t help but finally let out a soft sniffle and a few tears. Your phone ends up in your hoodie pocket and you rest your head back against the cool tiled wall. Your hood hangs over your eyes, hiding your mini breakdown from the world. 

When a warm weight settles next to you, you don’t think too much of it. Even with fewer people milling about, space is still at a premium. What you don’t expect is the bag of chips wiggled under your nose.

“Crisp?”

You feel so gross as you sniffle again and wipe your nose on your sleeve.

“I’m good” 

“Got some Malteasers too.” The stranger offers again. This time you catch the proper sounding British accent. You rub the tears from your eyes, intent on telling the stranger you’re good but when you turn you’re caught in a pair of gorgeous eyes, soft blue and sincere. He gives you a little smile and you can see him scanning your red eyes and tear stained face before he’s turning and rummaging in his backpack. You hear the sound of a box of something jostling around and you can’t help but lean closer to see what he’s after.

He comes up a second later with a triumphant smile and presents the red box.

“Malteasers.”

You look at him and the box of candy. His smile falters just a little bit than he’s cracking open the box.

“Hold your hand out now.” He encourages and, after the day your having, you know you shouldn’t be taking candy from strangers but he’s cute and has a nice accent and that really has to stand for something. 

The little chocolate coated balls land in your palm. He watches intently as you pop a few in your mouth and chew. The candy crunches loudly, sticks to your molars, but it’s good.

“They’re just like Whoppers” you offer cautiously. Blue Eyes pulls a face. He’s cute. You watch him drag his fingers through his hair. It’s soft brown straddling the line of dirty blonde and brunette and you can’t decide either way what it is besides nice.

“Definitely, heads above Whoopers.” He holds his hand out to you, “Harrison”.

You hesitate for a moment before you slio your smaller hand into his.

“Y/N” 

Harrison’s grip is firm and he gives you a smile that you can’t help but return even if it’s the weaker of the two. He offers the bag of chips up again and you shake your head and point back to the candy. He chuckles lightly.

“Got a sweet tooth, yeah? Girl after my own heart.”

“Gotta eat sweets during Christmas” you explain as if it’s a well known holiday law. He watches as you chew another handful. The pair of you lean back against the wall silently.

After a minute you look over and see him smiling to himself, eating another chip.

“I’ve got a bottle of water if you’re thirsty” you stumble for a moment “I mean, it’s new and I haven’t had any yet.” You pull your bag in front of you and dig until you pull out two bottles. 

“Thanks Y/N” he says accepting your offer. “So, you come here often?” He jokes. You can’t help the small smile that pulls at your mouth.

“Do you share your candy with random girls in airports often?”

Harrison shrugs, “just the sad ones.” His words make you stiffen. You really hated for people to see you cry. You’d only allowed yourself the luxury because you thought you had  been pretty well hidden in plain sight. Harrison notices your sudden tension.

“Hey, I didn’t mean anything bad by it, you know? I just don’t like seeing people upset and it’s Christmas Eve and all and I just figured-“

“It’s fine. Really. I’m just weird about things I guess. Thank you. Really.” When you glance away you can feel his appraising look but he doesn’t push.

You both slip back into silence. Someone is playing Christmas music on their phone. Carol Of The Bells.

“This is one of my favorites.” You blurt out.

“Mine too” Harrison’s reply is soft and you catch a wistful look in his eyes when you turn back and angle your body toward him. You weren’t the only one who had to be missing Christmas with loved ones.

“So where were you heading?” It seems like a safe topic and he seems to perk up a little bit when you ask.

“Atlanta, my best friend is working down there for a bit and I was going to do the whole Christmas thing with them. I celebrated an early one in London so I guess at least I get one, right?”

You nod, “I actually live in Atlanta.”

“No shit?”

“Yeah, I feel like I should say something about a small world but Atlanta is huge.”

“I know, right. So where are you heading?”he asks.

“My family is in Michigan. I’m supposed to land in Detroit and drive the hour home from there.”

Harrison nods as you talk and takes a drink of his bottle of water, “so we’re both stuck away from our people.” He looks contemplative as he says it his brows furrows into a stern line. “We should do Christmas together.” He says after a moment.

It takes you off guard and you stutter for a second before you’re starting to laughing, “you don’t even know me? Also, airport.” You gesture around.

“Yeah, that it is but I bet we could pull it off.” 

You realize he’s actually serious, “you don’t even know me.” Harrison is already pulling his phone out.

“You don’t know me either, Darling.”

You ignore the warm feeling ‘darling’ in his accent gives you.

“I can assure you I’m not a serial killer.” He says “but you’ll have to take my word for it.”

You bark out a laugh, “serial killer? Hitting the extremes there. I was going to say you could be an asshole.”

Harrison’s laugh is warm. “I’ve been accused of worse I suppose. You gonna stick around and find out?” It feels like a dare and you never backed down from a dare.

“What the hell…” you mumble. “Sure. We’ll have each other’s backs for Christmas.”

“Perfect.” Harrison looks down at his phone pulling open an app. You stare curiously as he glances back up. “Now Darling, what is on your Christmas bucket list?”

[mustangshelby04]

Boston Boy Chapter 2

Kate stared at herself in the mirror trying to see what had made Chris Evans want to spend an entire week with her.  He had stayed till almost one in the morning.  They had spent the whole time talking and looking at pictures on their phones. Chris had taken a few of them on his phone and set one of the selfies as her contact picture when he saved her number in his phone.  Now she was waiting for him to come pick her up and take her to the game.  She’d thrown on some jeans, a pair of black leather motorcycle boots, and her Brady jersey.  Her hair was in a high ponytail and she’d thrown on her usual makeup consisting of under-eye concealer, powder, mascara, and Chapstick.

There was a loud knocking on her door and she took a deep breath before opening it.  Chris stood there with his brother Scott and another guy she didn’t recognize.  Chris was beaming at her. “Good.  Got the lucky jersey on.  We should win today, right?”

“If the luck holds up.” She said, smiling back.

“Kat, this is my brother Scott and his friend Tyler.”

“Nice to meet you.” She reached out and shook their hands.

“You’re right, Chris.” Scott said. “She’s beautiful.” Chris blushed and avoided eye contact with her.

“Don’t embarrass him.” Tyler said.

“He’s my brother.  I can if I want.” Scott turned back to her. “He gushed about you the whole ride over here.  He used the word perfect about twelve times.  And I think he wrote a sonnet about your eyes.  Which are gorgeous, by the way.” It was her turn to blush.

“Scott!” Chris cried. “Man, you have no chill.” He turned to her. “I’m sorry about him.  I said I was going to the game and he invited himself and Tyler.”

“Seriously, it’s really nice to meet you.” Scott said, giving her a bright smile. “My brother is weirdly shy and for him to actually have a multiple hour conversation with a woman he just met is really rare.  Be glad he only told me about you.  If our mom and sisters find out…. Well, I hope you like Boston cause they’ll move your stuff up here for you.”

She laughed. “Wow. My brother is contemplating coming out here with one of my cousins and my step-dad to scare ‘the Boston boy’ off.”

“We might have a war on our hands.  Fun!”

Chris laughed and looked back at her. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah.  Let me grab my coat and my phone.”

“Is that David Bowie you’re listening to?” Scott asked as they shuffled into her room.

“Yeah.  You a fan?”

“Of course!  I don’t trust a person that doesn’t listen to Bowie.”

“Me either.” She turned the bluetooth speaker off and unplugged her phone before grabbing her coat. Chris helped her into it and his fingers brushed the back of her neck as he helped release the bottom of her ponytail from the coat.  She held onto the urge to shiver but bit down on her bottom lip. “Ok.  To the game!”

“To the game!” Chris repeated, holding the door open for her.  Scott and Tyler made it to the elevators first and held the doors so Chris and Kate could get on too.  She caught Chris eying her a few times and smiled to herself.  Scott and Tyler were engaged in a conversation about the game and didn’t seem to notice the other two in the elevator.  Chris shot her a smile and she smiled back.  

The elevator doors opened and just before she stepped out, she remembered something. “Shit! I’ve gotta run back to my room.”

“What’s wrong?” Chris asked.

“I forgot to take my blood pressure meds.”

“Oh.” Chris turned and tossed the keys to his brother. “We’ll meet you out front.” He stepped back onto the elevator and waved at Scott as the doors shut.

“I’m sorry.  I keep forgetting that I’m supposed to be taking it. I haven’t been on it long, so it’s an adjustment.”

“High blood pressure?”

“Yes.  Genetics is a bitch.  Though I technically got lucky.  Mom was on them from the time she was 16 and her blood pressure is really high. I just got on them last month and it’s the lowest dose of medication since my blood pressure isn’t bad.  Just high enough to make my doctor and my mom worry.”

The elevator doors opened and they stepped out. “Have you tried setting an alarm on your phone to remind you?” He asked.

She laughed. “I’m not sure it would help.  I did that for my birth control and I forgot to take it at least three days out of every month.”

“Yikes.”

“I don’t know why my brain doesn’t process taking medication daily on time, but it fails hard at it.  It’s why I got an IUD.  I never have to remember to take a pill every day.  If they could invent that for blood pressure pills I’d be set.” She opened her door and rushed into the bathroom, embarrassed that she’d just told him that she had an IUD.

“Hey, listen, I’m sorry about my brother.  Sometimes things come out of his mouth before he can stop them.”

She laughed. “I have that problem myself.”

He appeared in the bathroom doorway. “I hope he didn’t embarrass you too much.”

“No.  It’s ok.  I think he got you worse.” She popped the pill in her mouth and took a drink of water from the bottle next to the sink.

“It wasn’t as bad as he said.  I don’t think I used the word perfect that many times.”

“I didn’t think you had. It would definitely be a major exaggeration if you said it that many times.  Using it just once is exaggeration enough.”

“Not at all. You’re pretty awesome.”

“You’ve only known me a day.  Trust me, I’m not that great.”

“I’ve got all week with you, so I’ll be the judge of that.” He shot her a smile and moved out of the way to let her pass by him.

They caught up to Scott and Tyler waiting in the backseat of the car.  Chris held open the passenger’s side door for her to get in before walking over and getting in the driver’s seat. “So, Kate,” Scott said as they pulled out into the street. “What color are your eyes?  Chris was confused.”

“Scott!”

“What?” Scott asked innocently. “You said they look blue, but sometimes they looked more green.”

“They’re both blue and green.” She said before Chris could get any more red. “And my left eye has a streak of hazel in it.” Scott leaned forward and she turned to look at him.

“That’s neat.”

“My eyes change color, too, depending on my mood.”

“What mood are you in now?”

“Scott!” Chris cried.

“What?”

She laughed. “I’m excited right now.  I’ve made new friends and I’m going to see my favorite football team play live for the first time.  Unless you count when they came down to Richmond for training camp last year.”

“You saw them at training camp?” Chris asked.

“Yeah.  They were at the Redskins training camp in Richmond for two days.  I was there both because I’m a dork.  I got the worst sunburn, but I got to meet Gronkowski.  The only thing I could think to say was ‘you are one big dude.’”

“Did you meet Brady?” Tyler asked.

“I shook his hand, but I didn’t get to talk to him.  There were a lot of fans there and I kind of got pushed out of the way.”

“That sucks.”  

Chris glanced over at her and smiled as she kept up a steady flow of conversation with his brother and Tyler.  They made it to the stadium and had no trouble getting inside the private entrance and up to their suite.  There were a few people milling about, but the stadium below was full of people. There weren’t any players on the field yet, but there were other people out there getting ready.  Chris watched her as she stayed standing by the glass, staring out at everything with a look that reminded him of Christmas morning excitement.  He ordered them some drinks before joining her at the window.

“Our seats are over here.” He pointed to ones in the second row.

“This is unbelievable, Chris!” She was beaming and the smile was infectious. “I can’t believe I’m at Gillette!  I’ve only ever seen it on TV and now I’m here.”

“I’m happy I could put that smile on your face.” He was suddenly engulfed in a bear hug and all he could do was squeeze back as he held her up. “Wow.”

“Sorry.” She pulled away. “I’m just so excited and you’re the best for doing this for me.”

He laughed. “Don’t be sorry.  This is exciting for me too.”

  They were well into the fourth quarter of a close game.  Chris and Kate had been yelling at the teams from their seats and barely able to sit down for most of the game.  Luckily they were surrounded by like-minded people.  Scott and Tyler were excited about the game, but Scott kept stealing glances at his brother and his new friend.  He was pretty sure that Chris was really liking Kate.  He’d never seen his brother act this way with a woman he’d just met before.

“GO!” Chris yelled suddenly as Amendola caught the pass from Brady.  The stadium went mad as the refs called a touchdown.  The people in front of them threw their hands up and one of the guys lost his grip on his cell phone and it flew back and hit Kate in the mouth.  She instantly threw her hands up, but blood was already running down her chin.

Chris moved into action to grab some napkins and the man that lost his phone began apologizing profusely.  Scott and Tyler left to get some ice and more napkins.  Finally, Chris escorted Kate out into the hallway and leaned her up against the wall.  It was quieter in the hallway.

“Are you ok?” Chris asked, holding multiple napkins to her lips.

“Ow.” She said, her voice muffled behind the napkins.  Her eyes were watering profusely and she kept wiping at them. “I think a tooth is broken.”

“Let me see.” He pulled the napkins away and sure enough, the lateral incisor on her left side was missing a chunk.  He hissed and put the napkin back.

“That bad, huh?”

“Uh, yeah.  I’m not going to lie.  You’re missing part of a tooth.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “Don’t worry.  I’ve got a plan.”

Scott and Tyler came running back with ice in a towel and more napkins. “How is she?” Scott asked, handing the towel over.

“Broken tooth.  I’m going to call dad and ask if he’ll fix it for her today.”

“Good idea.” Scott looked at Kate. “That’s some awesome mascara you have on.  It hasn’t budged at all with all that leaking you’re doing from your eyes.” That made her laugh.

“Here, hold this.” Chris said, guiding her hand to the towel against her mouth. “I’m going to make a phone call.”

Scott moved over to take his brother’s place in front of her and he smiled. “Our dad’s a good dentist.”

“Good.  Cause this hurts.” She said.

“I’m pretty sure if you asked him to, Chris would go beat that guy up.”

She chuckled. “It’s ok. It was an accident.  I’m not mad.  Just in pain.”

Chris came back over. “Dad’s going to meet us at his office.”

“You guys go.” Scott said. “We’ll grab a cab to take us home.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” Scott gave Kate a quick hug. “We’ll see you later, ok?”

“Bye.” She waved at Scott and Tyler as Chris escorted her to the elevators.

“Are you ok?” Chris asked again as the doors shut.  He was clearly concerned about her.

“You should see the other guy.” She joked.

Chris chuckled. “I’m so sorry.”

“It was an accident.”

“I know, but you’re missing the last of your first game at Gillette.”

Her eyes widened and she looked down at her jersey. “Please tell me there’s no blood on it.”

He gently pushed her head back up, replacing the ice towel on her mouth.  With a chuckle, he grabbed the bottom of the jersey and pulled it out slightly to inspect it. “Nope.  No blood.  I saved the good luck charm with my quick reflexes.”

“Thank you.” The elevator doors opened and he led her out.

  Bob lead Chris and Kate back out into the empty waiting room of his dental office. “You might be a little sore for a couple of days and you shouldn’t eat any hard foods for the rest of today.”

“Thanks for doing this, dad.” Chris said. “I know it’s your day off.”

“Yeth.  Thank you.” Kate said, trying not to sound funny through the numbness in her mouth.  It must not have worked because Chris was desperately trying to hold back a laugh.

“It’s my pleasure.” Bob said. “If that tooth starts bothering you, or starts acting funny, don’t hesitate to call me.”

“I won’t.” She followed Chris back outside where the sun had begun to set.

“I know you’ve got to be hungry.  You haven’t eaten much today.” Chris said to her as he helped her in the car.  He walked around to the driver’s side and slid in. “Do you feel up to getting something to eat?”

“I’m tharving, but I think I thould wait until this numbneth goeth away.  I might drool on mythelf.”

He didn’t hold back on the laugh this time. “I’m sorry.  You sound so funny!” She stuck her tongue out at him, but it only made him laugh harder. “Ok,” His laughter finally died down. “Ok, we’ll go back to the hotel and hang out there for a while.  Figure out what we want to get for dinner.”

“Thoundth good.” He laughed again as he backed out of the parking space. “Can I play thome muthic?”

“Yeah.” He laughed and handed her his unlocked phone.

She scrolled through his music before selecting a track by Garbage.  He shot her an approving smile and she settled back into the seat and closed her eyes.  It wasn’t long before they were back at the hotel and headed back up to her room. Chris opened the door for her and she skipped the living room and went straight to the bedroom, plopping down on the king sized bed with her legs dangling from the side.  He laughed and took his jacket off, laying it across the chair in the corner before sitting down on the bed next to her.

“Did we win?” She asked.

“Yeah.  Scott texted me.  We won.” He laid back. “Good.” She opened her eyes and turned her head to look at him.  He was lying so close to her that their arms were touching and she could feel his breath tickling her nose. “Is this real?”

“What?”

“Are you really here?”

He smiled and linked some of his fingers with hers. “Yeah.  I’m here.”

“Chris….”

“Your talking is back to normal.  How are you feeling?”

“Light headed.”

“Are you hungry?”

“Starved.”

“Me too.  Let’s go for a walk and just pick a place we come across.” He stood up and held his hands out to help her up.

“Sounds good to me.” She took his hands and he pulled her up.  For a moment they were almost pressing against each other, but she stepped sideways and went into the bathroom. “I’ll be out in just a minute.”

“Ok.”

She shut the door and sat down on the edge of the bathtub.  What was happening?  Chris Evans was flirting with her.  Her of all people.  She wasn’t a movie star.  She wasn’t a model.  She wasn’t even close to his league.  Why was he flirting with her?  Fairytales weren’t real and they definitely didn’t come true for people like her.  She looked in the mirror and stared at herself.  There was nothing remotely special about her.

There was a knock at the door and Chris called, “Are you ok?”

“Yeah.” She stood up and brushed her hair. “Sorry,” She opened the door. “I was inspecting my tooth.”

“It looks good. You ready?”

“Yeah.”

They didn’t talk much as they walked down the streets.  It was full dark out, but the street lights and the lights from businesses lit up the sidewalk.  They found a Tapas restaurant on Newbury Street a couple of miles away from the hotel and decided to eat there.  After they were seated, Chris watched her for a long moment.

“What?” She asked.

“Nothing.” He took a sip of water and looked down at his menu. “So, you haven’t mentioned a boyfriend back home yet.  Nobody special?”

She didn’t look up from her menu. “Nope.  You?”

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

He shrugged. “I haven’t had a lot of time recently.  You?”

“I haven’t found what I’m looking for.”

“What are you looking for?”

“I have no idea.  I guess I’ll know when I find it.”

“That’s a very romantic way of thinking.”

“Yeah?  I’ve never really considered myself very romantic, honestly.  I’m not a flowers and chocolates kind of girl.”

“No?”

She shook her head. “I prefer things that don’t die in a week and my taste buds get more excited over fruity candy than chocolate.” He nodded like he was taking mental notes. “I like stargazer lilies, though.  I would accept those flowers happily.” The waiter came and took their order and they no longer had menus to hide behind. “I also have a hard time trusting people.”

“Because of your father. I remember.”

“That’s not the only reason.” She took a deep breath. “I was engaged to this guy.  I met him at work.  He was younger than me by five years, but he seemed so much older.  When I met his family, it made sense.  They’re mostly barely functioning alcoholics and he kind of had to raise himself.  We got pretty serious pretty quick.  We moved in together barely three months after we started dating.  We were living in a house with an acquaintance of mine. Things were good for a while, but my best friend came over one night to take me out for a girls’ night out and he didn’t want to let me leave.  He whined and moaned and said he wanted to come with me, but I laughed and said no and didn’t think much of it.  But the next few months, he got really…. Possessive I guess is the word.  I was kind of kept at a distance, but he didn’t like me going out with any of my friends.  I look back now and realize he was using mental abuse to keep me at home. About a year into the relationship, he gave me a ring and we were suddenly engaged, but it wasn’t what I’d expected it to be.”

“What did you expect?”

“I don’t know.  A nice gesture?  Him to at least get down on one knee, you know?  But we were sitting at dinner and he slid it across the table and said ‘we should get married’.  I was so excited, I didn’t even really think about it then.  My friends that I was still in contact with weren’t happy.  They all said that I looked different and sounded different…. Like they were talking to a stranger with my face.  A few months later it was Christmastime and we were busy at work.  He left his phone in my desk while he was out in the warehouse and it kept going off, so I pulled it out to turn it off.  The first thing I see when I unlock it is this message from a girl talking about how wet she was and how badly she needed him to come take care of her again.  I opened the text up and there were more.  There were pictures passed between them that should’ve only been reserved for us, you know?”

“They were sexting.”

“Not just.  He was meeting her behind my back.  And when I dug a little deeper, it wasn’t just her. It was two other girls as well. And I mean girls.  They were all about eighteen years old, if that.  I kind of lost my shit and my boss had to restrain me from killing my fiancé when he walked in my office.  I screamed at him and my boss told me it might be best if I went home.  When I got there, I just couldn’t stay there so I went to my parents’ house.  The next day was a weekend for us, so I went home and confronted him about everything.  He blamed it all on me.  Said I wasn’t what he wanted and the only reason he kept me around was because my paycheck helped him pay the bills.  I really felt less than human at that point.  I told him to get out, but he said that he was just going to move into the upstairs bedroom.  That he was going to bring his girls home and fuck them so loud every night I would never get any sleep.  So my roommate, who heard all of this, told me he would let me out of the lease if I wanted to leave.  I’ve never packed up a house so fast.  My friends Ryan and Mike, they had heard through my parents what had happened and they came and helped me move.  We were out of there in 4 hours.”

“Damn.  I’m so sorry.” He reached over and took her hand.

“It doesn’t stop there. After about a month of seeing him at work and still having these annoying feelings for him, I let him come back. We started seeing each other again. I found out that I had a strain of HPV that could be treated and gone in two years, but it was still an STD.  It’s a dangerous one, too, that can lead to cancer later on in life.  Anyway, he accused me of cheating on him because there was no way he had given it to me. You’d think I would’ve wizened up at this point, but I let him stick around.  I was living at my parents and they went out of town, so he came to stay with me for a weekend.  That Monday he left work before me and kept asking me for the key to my parents’ house. I told him no, I didn’t feel comfortable giving him the key and he said that someone had to feed the dogs because I didn’t know when I’d be home.  He promised he would be waiting for me.  I was busy with work and he just kept pestering me, so I gave in against my better judgment.  When I got home a couple hours later, he was just shutting his car door and getting ready to leave.  I got out to ask him what was going on and I spotted the Wii that he’d bought me sitting in his car.  He’d gone into my parents’ house and stolen it.  I tried to get past him, but he was bigger than me and he shoved me backwards. I ended up landing on the gravel and scraping up my hands and that snapped me back to myself.  I got up and decked him so hard when he fell, he cracked his window on the driver’s side of his car.  I grabbed my phone to call the cops and he hightailed it out of there.”

“Fuck!” He shook his head. “No wonder you have trust issues.”

“I’m working on the trust thing, but it takes time.”

Their food came finally and they ate in silence for a little while.  Chris kept stealing glances at her which she pretended not to notice.  The only conversation they made was on how good or bad the food was.  They had ordered about six different types of tapas and were making their way through each one.  

A little over half way through, Chris said, “Did he even feed the dogs?”

She looked up at him incredulously, but began to laugh. “You know what?  I don’t think he did.”

“Fucking asshole.” They laughed until their sides hurt and the waiter had to come over and make sure they were ok.  They finished their dinner and Chris paid for the meal before they started walking again. They made their way towards Boston Common and were standing on the bridge looking out over the lake with the swan boats.  

They leaned their arms against the railing and listened to the sounds of the evening around them. Chris moved closer to her and purposely rubbed his knuckles against the back of her hand.  She looked over at him like he’d lost his mind and he gave her an embarrassed look.

“Was that too forward?” He asked.

“Uh….”  She stood up straight.

“You seem a little freaked out whenever I touch you.  I don’t want that.  I just…. I like you.”

She gave him another ‘are you crazy’ look and shook her head. “It’s barely been two days.  You don’t even know me.” She started to walk away and he moved to catch up.

“But I want to get to know you.  I feel a connection to you, Kat.  You’re not like anyone I’ve ever met.”

“How is that even possible?”

“I don’t know.  But it’s true.  I feel completely at ease with you.  I don’t feel that with anyone else outside of my family.  Especially not this quickly.” Chris boldly took her hand and pulled her to the stairs on the side of the bridge.  There was no one there, so he sat her down at the bottom of the steps and stepped back a couple of paces. “Look, I’m not saying let’s run off to Vegas and get married.  I’m just saying…. Let’s seize the moment.  Live in the now.  See where this goes.”

“I’m leaving in a week.”

“I’ve got two weeks before I need to be anywhere and I’ve never been to Richmond.  I want to get to know you and see what happens.  If you don’t feel like there’s anything here, I won’t push it.  But will you at least give it the two weeks?  Please?”

“What happens after two weeks?”

“I don’t know.  But if there’s something real here between us, I don’t want to regret not trying.”

“How could there be anything between us?  You’re completely out of my league.”

“What do you mean?”

She surged up and walked past him towards the water, stopping just before the edge. “Have you looked in a mirror?  Have you seen your ex-girlfriends?” She turned back to him. “I’m a fan of yours, Chris, remember?  I’ve looked up your name on Tumblr and seen you in magazines while I buy groceries. I know that I don’t even come close to stacking up with your life.  I’m ordinary. You’re extraordinary.”

He laughed. “I’m not extraordinary.  I’m nothing close to it.  I’m a dude from Boston who listens to 90s music and drinks beer and laughs at fart jokes. I’m the most ordinary guy out there. You’re the extraordinary one.” She huffed. “Really?” She huffed again. “Ok, from the little that I know about you so far, you’re remarkable.  You’ve survived an abusive parent, you were at the brink of suicide and fought back, you went through a terrible relationship that nearly killed your spirit, and you’ve survived a family full of boys.  As far as I’m concerned, you’re a fucking superhero.  I’m in awe of you.”

She shook her head. “The internet never said you were crazy.”

“Well, the internet doesn’t know everything about me.” He grinned. “Look, it’s two weeks and if at the end of it, you don’t want anything to do with me, then I’ll go back to work and we’ll both just have great stories about the times we went to new places together.”

“Fine.  Ok.  I will spend the next two weeks with you.  But if you’re going to get to know me, then I want get to know Chris Evans, the beer drinking fart guy from Boston.”

He laughed. “Ok. Fair enough.”

“I still feel like I’m Jim Carrey in the Truman Show, though.”

“There are no cameras. I promise.” He held his hand out to her and after a moment’s hesitation, she took it.

Tag List:

@joannaliceevans-fanficblog @jamielea81 @southerngracela @kelbabyblue @introvertedmouse

[almostrealdudes]

Pale Blue Glimpses

A/N: finally, there it is, the thing no one asked for, a long-ass piece for Nathan Prescott. Yes, this has an original female character, I’m kind of over people ignoring any writing that does not address them in the second person. A character with a name and some backstory feels more wholesome, so please, don’t scroll down just because it’s not a reader insert. Pairing: Nathan Prescott x Sophia Hughes(OC) Warnings: Mentions of anorexia, mentions of bruises and scratches, mentions of blood Word count: 7,6k (strap the f in)

Sophia could sense Victoria’s predatory look even from across the classroom, right after stepping inside. Chase was chatting with Nathan, leaning against one of the desks but stopped herself mid-sentence, seeing the girl approach them.

“Oh, look, it’s the dancing queen, I’m quaking. The fuck you want, Spandex?”

Sophie rolled her eyes and ignored the vile comment, only gripping onto the strip of her bag a little tighter.

“I need to talk to Nathan,” she said firmly, looking at him, trying her best to avoid Victoria’s glare.

“Tough shit. Can’t you see I’m talking to him? If you have something to say, do so now or stay silent forever.”

“Nate?” Sophia didn’t move her gaze off the boy, who was remaining silent this entire conversation, his arms crossed and his gaze somewhere on the floor. Hearing a call of his name made him finally raise his head and look at Sophia’s face. She stared at him with hope, her eyes begging him to be the better person and step outside. Just for a moment.

“What is it, Hughes,” he said, his voice small, as he immediately looked away. Sophia frowned. Is that how it was? Last name basis?

“Okay. I just wanted to say—I got accepted.” She reached into her back pocket and fetched a white envelope with a swan print on it. “To Somerset. I leave at the end of the month.”

Just as Sophia saw Nathan’s face change, she looked down at the charms hanging from her bag, biting on her lower lip. Making the last effort, she looked up, seeing Nathan’s pained expression he was trying to disguise with indifference.

“Oh my god, Hughes,” Victoria was first to break the silence, rolling her eyes, “what the fuck ever, no one cares, you can scram to whatever shithole you got accepted into, just stop wasting any more of my time.”

“Bye, Nathan,” said Sophia quietly, making wobbly steps back and leaving the classroom. She heard him call out her name, but his voice was quickly cut off by the shutting door. She didn’t want to listen to him anymore. To hear him. What was supposed to be a tough decision turned into a binary question with an obvious answer. She would leave the abomination that was Arcadia Bay. Nothing was holding her back. Not anymore.

***

Sophia met Nathan for the first time near the Blackwell fountain. Right at it, to be specific. Not that she hasn’t seen him before, but before the fountain, they never really talked to each other. He was sitting on its edge, looking at his severely scratched palm. She was about to leave school when she heard him whimper quietly. He was shivering, his posture shrunken and small. Sophia immediately stopped and made a 180 turn and quickly approached Nathan.

“Fucking jocks,” she assumed, putting her bag down and sitting next to him. By the way he shrugged his shoulders Sophia found herself to be correct. She softly reached for his palm and tried to take a closer look, but Nathan yanked his hand out and pressed it to his chest protectively.

“I don’t need your help,” he hissed, tensing up.

“You don’t need an infection either.” Sophia reached into her bag and took out bandages and rubbing alcohol. “Please, may I?”

He watched her for a few seconds, doubt and hurt in his eyes. His wounded hand was clenched into a fist, probably hurting him even more, but his self-preserving instincts took control over his body, making him try and move away from Sophia as much as possible. She had to be patient: he was like a wounded animal, aggressive out fear to be hurt again.

“Please,” she repeated.

Slowly, but with caution, Nathan unclenched his fist, revealing his palm, covered in blood and scratches. Sophia nodded in gratitude and opened the alcohol bottle.

“This will burn,” she warned him, holding his hand softly by the wrist. “What did they do?” As she asked him the question, she spilled some of the liquid onto the grazes.

“They—ah,” Nathan winced, his arm stiffening again, “they pushed me.”

“Assholes,” Sophia whispered, beginning to wrap his hand in bandages. Poor guy. The amount of pressure he was under was a lot to handle already, but the bullying too? She couldn’t imagine how Nathan felt every day, going to Blackwell, constantly being a target, never safe. “Why?”

“Cause I’m Nathan Prescott?”

Sophia looked up in distress, examining Nathan, who was looking down at his palm, hiding his gaze. She bit her lips, desperately wanting to say something but not finding the right words to express her feelings. She didn’t want to pity him. Nathan hated being in this situation already, showing weakness and getting help, Sophia didn’t want to make him feel worse. That way, the conversation died down, and the girl finished her treatment in silence. When she was done, she gently patted the boy’s palm, wrapping the excessive bandages back into a roll.

“You’re good. Don’t mention it,” she smirked.

“Why do you carry a first aid kit anyway?”

“It’s for my feet,” she explained. Seeing Nathan’s confused expression, her smile grew in size. “I do ballet. There’s always a scratch to treat.”

“I didn’t know there were ballet classes in Blackwell.”

“There aren’t. I’m doing private lessons, with my mom. After class.”

“Aren’t you late then?”

Sophia gasped and looked at her phone screen.

“Fuck, I gotta run!”

She zipped her bag shut and jumped up, getting back onto her way to the exit gate. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

“You don’t have to,” he said, lowering his gaze.

“I want to,” she said determinedly. “Besides, I’ll need to check how your hand is healing. And Nathan?”

The sound of his name made the boy raise his head again and look at Sophia with uncertainty.

“There’s nothing wrong in being you.”

He sighed through his nose, pursing the corners of his lips not in a smile, but in an appreciative motion.

“Thank you,” he raised his bandaged hand lightly, “uh—”

“Sophia. Sophia Hughes.”

“Thank you, Sophia.”

She smiled brightly, showing off her tooth gap. “Call me Soph.”

***

Sophia stormed into her dorm room, smashing the door behind her. Her breath was heavy and unsteady, she was trying to calm herself, but every attempt only stimulated her inner turmoil. She threw her bag on the floor and looked at the now creased envelope she was clutching on her way from the school building. Glancing over the swan print, Sophia rolled her eyes and tossed onto her bed. Taking her shoes off, she then joined the envelope, propping her head on the pillow, which felt so heavy she thought she would never be able to lift it again. She told herself in the morning, it was a bad idea. Sophia wasn’t even sure now why she argued with her mom to postpone her departure. I need to say goodbye to my friends. Right. As if she had any. She could’ve left tomorrow and be done with this shitty school. This shitty town that brought her nothing but heartbreak. Her mom was right, you shouldn’t make friends. If you open up to somebody, you just give them a chance to manipulate and abuse you when they need it. When they’re done with you.

Sophia’s eyes shifted to her wall, decorated with pictures and photographs. In the center, there was a photo of them; she told him not to come to her performance, said she would do poorly and didn’t want him to see her fail. He came anyway and brought flowers. They were standing close to each other: Sophia’s hand was holding out her phone to capture both their faces. You’re a treasure, Nathan Prescott. She was so stupid. She should’ve gotten rid of this photo ages ago. But she didn’t. Why? Because she hasn’t moved on. Because every day she woke up and hoped for things to return to how they were. Every time she walked past Nathan, she looked at him, hoping for him to look back. But even when he did, it was never what she wanted it to be. There was no warmth in his gaze, only cold and regret.

Fucking sentiments.

Sophia reached for the photo and ripped it off the wall. She stared at it closely, contemplating. Then, crumpling it, she threw it into the trash bin across the room and rolled over in the bed, resting her head against the wall. There. No big deal. It’s just a photo. She’s moved on, it’s about time.

It’s just a photo.

It’s just a photo.

“Fuck,” Sophia mumbled getting up and rushing to the bin, getting the wrinkled picture out and smoothing it out. “You’re such a little bitch. What would your mother say?”

She knew exactly what. That she was weak, vulnerable. And weakness meant failure. Winners don’t hold on to old photographs. Winners aren’t petty.

She lied back on the bed and covered her face with her hands. It’s incredible how tired can you become from just being anxious. And about what? Stuff that doesn’t matter anymore. That shouldn’t matter. Sophia looked at the photo for the last time before her eyelids closed shut. She wasn’t sure sleeping would solve her problems, but at least it would stop her from thinking about them.

***

When Nathan told her he would be in the school’s production of the Tempest, Sophia was beyond excited. She kept jumping around him, all bubbly and giddy, saying over and over how proud she was, and how great he would do, and how she wanted to join the production too somehow now that Nathan was in it. And she did, as a makeup artist. She couldn’t contain herself. Before, she didn’t participate in school life much, not having friends to do it with, or the time to spend. Her mom used every free moment she had to get her training. So now, being a part of a performance, doing it together with Nathan filled Sophia with joy.

On the performance’s night, Sophia told Nathan to come for makeup first, since his face required the most effort.

“Don’t move,” she muttered, gently brushing over the boy’s face with paint.

“I’m not,” he mumbled, looking at his knees.

“Just did,” she giggled softly. Nathan huffed but remained silent. His breath was warm on her skin every time she moved her hand past his nose. He was nervous before the performance, as Sophia assumed.

“There,” the girl said, setting the brush aside. “Look at me.”

She raised her hands and lightly caressed Nathan’s face with her fingers, setting his face straight. Moving closer, she looked him over, checking for missed spots. Nathan’s breath hitched and he quickly looked away. His cheeks were burning, and he was forever grateful for makeup covering it. Not finding any significant mistakes, Sophia moved back, grinning.

“Look-look,” she jumped in her chair enthusiastically. Nathan turned his torso to the mirror and smiled widely, seeing the final look.

“Soph, this is amazing. Where did you learn to do all that?”

“My mom made sure I learned to do my own makeup for performances. To hide those hideous freckles of yours,” she mimicked her mother, shaking her head side to side, her voice bitter.

“Your freckles are beautiful,” he uttered. Sophia’s eyes widened. She blinked rapidly, moving a strand of hair behind her ear awkwardly. Nathan, realizing what he just said, felt his cheeks growing hotter. “I—I mean—”

“Thanks, Dimples,” the girl suddenly said, smiling warmly. “It means a lot.”

Deciding against saying anything possibly embarrassing again, Nathan just smiled shyly, fiddling with his fingers.

After that, Sophia was occupied for quite some time, doing the rest of the cast’s makeup. Nathan wasn’t there, so after being finished, she was determined to find him before the show and help him with his lines. Although he was trying to play it cool, Sophia knew Nathan was extremely anxious, and she didn’t want him to be alone with his thoughts at a time like this.

Looking for him, she heard a low voice coming from around a corner. Coming closer, she saw Mr. Prescott hanging over Nathan while hissing in his ear.

“Keep your voice down!”

Air got significantly thicker, and Sophia felt her mouth going dry. Nathan looked even smaller, his dad’s figure was almost pressing him into the ground, making his shoulders shrink. The boy’s gaze was glued to his shoes, he felt cornered and helpless. She couldn’t let this continue. Sophia knew enough about Sean Prescott to see just how much harm was he causing Nathan every day and right now.

“Nate,” she called loudly, making sure to interrupt Mr. Prescott’s speech, “come, I need to fix your makeup.”

She hurriedly approached him and grabbed his hand, dragging him away.

“We’re in the middle of something,” said Mr. Prescott lowly. Sophia stopped and turned back to face him, still squeezing Nathan’s hand in hers. Her narrowed, cold eyes pierced Mr. Prescott’s face.

“The show is about to begin. I have to make sure everyone is looking their best. You are free to visit Nathan in the dressing room and wish him good luck before the show.”

Not waiting for an answer, Sophia turned on her heels and pulled Nathan away, quickly walking towards the tent she came from. Only after entering did the she let go of his hand, leaving him standing in the middle of the dressing room. Sophia walked to the makeup table, grabbed a random brush, and started toying with it. Nathan watched her for a moment, not knowing what to do with himself. His hand went to the back of his neck awkwardly, as he thought of something to say.

“Hey—”

“He’s such an asshole,” she interrupted him, throwing the brush back, “I—Sorry, but—what he’s doing—It’s not okay!” Sophia was rambling, firing herself up the more she thought about what happened. Her hands fell to her sides and clenched into fists. A small smile spread across Nathan’s face.

“I should be the frustrated one, you know.”

Sophia turned around and Nathan’s eyes widened in surprise. Tears were sparkling in her eyes. The expression on her face was so pained, so frustrated as if she was the one to receive the talk from Mr. Prescott. She ached for him. She gave a fuck. Lots of them, actually. Hell, she just dragged him away from his dad. Nathan couldn’t process that. Never in his life did someone care enough about him. Or at all. People were closing their eyes on what was going on in the Prescott family. What was going on with him. They tried to detach themselves, looking away, pretending not to see anything they didn’t want to be a part of. But she didn’t.

Nathan slowly approached her and cautiously took her hand in his, afraid of her reaction but still wanting to try. To his relief, she squeezed it back.

“Thank you,” he mumbled, just above a whisper, “it means a lot. But—don’t cry. Please. Especially because of him.”

“It’s not him, it’s you,” she said, sniffing.

“Well, that doesn’t make it better at all.”

Sophia chuckled, a bitter-sweet smile slowly spreading across her face. She sighed, quickly looking up and blinking rapidly to get rid of the tears.

“Okay, the performance is about to begin, and I’m standing here crying in front of you. Not exactly a good pep talk.”

“They’re going to laugh at me either way.” Nathan averted his gaze and the tension started taking over his body again. Sophia furiously shook her head.

“What? No! No-no-no, Nathan, I’ve seen the rehearsals, your acting is amazing, you’ll kill it!”

“They hate me, Soph. It doesn’t matter what I do or how I do it.”

“Fuck ‘em,” she said, throwing her hand to the side. “They’re just a bunch of jackasses who prey on others. Forget about them. Nathan,” Sophia took both of his hands into hers, “you love theatre. So why not do what you love?”

He looked at her, contemplating, still uncertain, yet grateful for her presence. She tilted her head, looking at him with begging eyes.

“Please, Nate. For me?”

He sighed and nodded.

“For you.”

Sophia squealed and, standing on her tiptoes, pecked Nathan’s cheek, leaving a burning mark. Nathan reflexively covered the kissed spot with his palm, feeling pleasant warmth spreading throughout his body.

“I’ll go find a seat. Break a leg, Dimples.”

***

Sophia woke up to a new message notification. She grumbled, slowly turning over to face the room. The sun has set, she could barely tell the furniture apart in the dark. A sigh left her lips.

“Great, here’s to a sleepless night.”

She brought the phone closer to read the message. The second her eyes went over the screen she jerked up, sitting straight, her body immediately tensing up.

Dimples meet me at the pool

Time seemed to freeze as Sophia sat there, propping herself on her hand, staring at the dialogue that remained dead for months and months until a minute ago. She was blinking rapidly, trying to make sure she was awake. Being the only light source in the room, the phone screen highlighted her face: furrowed brows, lips pressed into a thin line, narrowed eyes that went back and forth over the five words that looked so simple yet were so hard to comprehend. Her heart was pounding as she read the message over and over, trying to see something through the letters. The phone buzzed again, and Sophia jumped, almost dropping it.

Dimples we need to talk

What?

“Are you fucking serious,” she hissed, squeezing the phone harder. Gradually, worry in her chest started turning into anger as she got off the bed, walking to the center of the room and stopping there, eyes not leaving the screen. Oh, now he wants to talk? The moment she decided to screw it he wants to settle things? No thank you. Sophia started typing viciously, one sentence after another, asking what he was thinking she was going to say, did he really think this would work, how dare he do this to her after ignoring her for months in school corridors. Finishing up, Sophia read her answer over. Letting a sigh of frustration, she highlighted the entire thing and erased it.

“Fuck me,” she said under her breath, letting her hands helplessly fall to the sides. Reaching the nightstand, she flipped the lights on and looked over her room, not knowing what to do with herself. Honestly, what was she supposed to do? There was that chance to get clarification, to confront him, to demand answers for his actions. But the timing… she spent so much time forcing herself to move on, to stop caring about Nathan, about their relationship or what was left of it. Choosing to look back meant to waste all her efforts to move past the pain and to jump right back in.

Sophie walked to the wardrobe mirror, looking at her reflection, questioning herself. No matter how much she wanted to shift the responsibility on somebody, there was no one else but her and herself in this room. Her figure, emaciated, bony even through the clothes, stood in the mirror frame downcast, small. Her eyes, too tired for her liking, stared back returning all the questions where they came from. In the midnight silence of the dorm, a decision was to be made; and there was only one person capable.

***

Nathan knew where to find Sophia without her answering to his texts. As the summer approached, she gradually grew more and more frustrated, detaching from him and leaving school earlier each day. In the mornings, she looked exhausted, slowly walking from classroom to classroom, sometimes limping, holding onto her bag with both hands. She was smiling less and seemed constantly distracted.

Nathan knew parental abuse when he saw one. Sophia was strong, way stronger than him. He was sure she kept most of her pains to herself, swallowing them without sharing. But now and then even she vented to him about her mother, and it was enough for Nathan to know that this woman was nothing good for her daughter. Now, as he was walking towards the gym, he figured her feelings were about to spill over the edge. It broke his heart to know what she was going through but he understood it better than anyone else.

He found her sitting on the floor, defeated, hunching her back over her feet. She was still wearing her ballet attire, which meant she’s been training extra hours. Her legs were covered in bruises. Her mother was really out there to crush her in every possible way.

“Hey,” he called quietly, slowly entering the room.

“Go away, Nathan,” her response was sharp, yet he could hear the trembling in her voice she tried to mask by harshness.

“You know I won’t.”

Nathan closed the door behind him and slowly approached Sophia. Noticing his figure above her, she quickly got up and started walking to her bag.

“Then I will.”

“Sophia,” he called her loudly, making her stop in her tracks. He saw her fists clenching as she drew her shoulders in. “Talk to me.”

Nathan knew she’d hate this. Hell, he hated this phrase even more than Sophia did, but for this exact reason did he use it on her. Because he knew she would resonate with it. With him.

“She keeps calling me worthless. Every. Day.” Sophia turned around to face him, her eyes flooded with tears. “That I will never make it if I keep slacking off. But I’m not. I’m tearing my ass off twenty-four-seven, I don’t have a fucking life, Nathan!”

The end of her sentence came out as a sob, and she ran hands through her tied hair, making an effort to maintain a straight face as tears streamed down her cheeks.

“And it wasn’t even my fucking choice! She made it for me! And now she tries to take it away from me. The only thing she let me have, that fucking bitch!”

Hearing the queue, Nathan quickly approached her, pressing her body to his as she sobbed into his chest, her tears soaking through his cardigan. He held her as tight as he could, wanting to squeeze out all the pain she had bottled in for weeks.

“I have nothing else in my life, nothing,” she repeated, holding onto his arms with all her remaining strength. Nathan gently took her by the shoulders and moved Sophia away to look into her eyes. They were red, puffy, and devastatingly tired. She looked back at him in despair, waiting for him to say something.

“You have me.”

Nathan didn’t think anymore. Sophia’s tears made him say and do things without planning them first. He couldn’t bear seeing her upset and hastened to distract her, no matter what it took. So he acted on his instincts. Squeezing her shoulders slightly, taking one moment to gain the courage he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. Closing her eyes, Sophia relaxed into the kiss, not letting go of his arms. The setting sun laid its soft orange rays on their bodies, outlining them in the evening glow. Sounds of birds, leaves, and students were coming through an open window, yet all of them seemed to dissolve in the room’s air. Time moved lazily slow, almost stopping completely.

They didn’t want it to end.

***

Standing in front of the pool entrance, Sophia contemplated her decision for a hundredth time, constantly asking herself if this was a good idea and if she should leave before it wasn’t too late. The door was unlocked. The view of it made her scoff: of course, how else could it be. The school territory was empty, to no one’s surprise, it was past midnight. Sophia was sure some outlaws were up partying at someone’s dorm room. And some of them were standing outside the pool, doing nothing but thinking too much about a yes-no decision. Street lanterns shed their toxic orange light onto the ground, mixing with the moon’s subtle glow. Sophia shifted uncomfortably, hugging herself. The air was cold and cruel, sending goosebumps dancing on her skin.

“Whatever,” she whispered. “Get in, get out. No big deal.”

With this mentality, Sophia approached the door, pushing it and walking inside.

The smell of chlorine hit her nostrils. It was pitch-dark; Sophia fetched her phone to see where she was going. The sound of her steps resonated with the walls, sending an echo through the entire building. She wondered if Nathan could hear her coming. Passing through the girls’ changing room, she entered the pool itself. The turquoise water was still, its reflections played leisurely on the walls. Stopping, Sophia looked around, searching for the painfully familiar figure. It wasn’t long until she saw him: standing across the room, his hands in his pockets, his gaze somewhere down. She walked closer, hesitant to approach him. Her footsteps echoing made Nathan aware of her presence, and he snapped his head up, looking at her surprised. Silence thickened the air, as they stared at each other from the opposite sides of the pool.

“Hey,” Sophia’s voice came out too hoarse and quiet for her liking.

“You came,” Nathan stated, turning to get a better look at her.

“You’re surprised?” She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

“Why are you doing this?” He asked suddenly. His speech was fast and abrupt.

“Excuse me?”

“Somerset. Why? You hate it. All of it. Why go there?”

“Do you care?”

“You know I do.” Nathan’s voice went lower as he looked away.

“Actually, no, I don’t think I do anymore!” Sophia felt frustration growing in her chest. “You act all nice around me, then high school starts and you just fucking ghost me! Start acting like you don’t know me, avoid me, talk shit about me?”

“I’ve never talked shit about you.” His eyes return to meet hers.

“Oh wow, thanks, Nathan, how fucking nice of you.”

“If you go, you’ll regret it.”

“Jesus fu—you know what? I knew coming here was a mistake. But at least now I won’t have any difficulty forgetting you. Have a good life, Prescott.” Turning on her heels, Sophia walked back into the changing room, rushing to the exit. Her loud footsteps spread across the building, disturbing the silence. Reaching the door, she aggressively pushed the opening beam. To her dismay, it caused nothing, and the lock remained shut.

“No,” she mumbled pressing onto the beam again, “no, no, no. Fuck!” Sophia slammed her hands on the door, helplessly pressing her forehead against it. She was locked in.

They were.

Instantly regretting the decision to exit her room at all, she looked down at her feet, trying to think of any possible solution. The only option available seemed to be coming back to the pool.

“Fuckin—” Sophia winced and squeezed her eyes shut in frustration. Deciding there was nothing to lose anymore she slowly made her way back. Nathan, seeing her figure yet again, looked at her questionably.

“We’re locked in.” She stated. “Can you open the door?”

“Shit. No, I can’t.” “What?” she threw her hands in the air, “you opened it in the first place!”

“Yeah. You were supposed to leave it open.”

“You were supposed to freaking tell me!”

“I thought you’d figure.”

Letting out a growl, Sophia walked to the pool’s wall and slid down, sitting on the floor and burying her gaze in her phone. Its sharp brightness illuminated her annoyed face as she opened Facebook and started scrolling down her feed, not looking at any of the posts. Nathan sighed.

“What are you doing?”

“Waiting,” she cut off.

“For what?”

“For the school guard to open the door.”

“We’ll be here till the morning.”

“Great, I haven’t checked my news feed since yesterday.”

Nathan looked up, frustrated. His eyes searched the ceiling for some hint, yet all he saw was jiggling water reflections.

“Talk to me Soph, please.”

“Funny, I was telling you the same thing a few months ago. Guess how that turned out?” “Stop acting like a bitch already.”

“Oh-ho-ho,” Sophia’s eyebrows flew up as she shifted attention from her phone, fury burning in her eyes. “Look who’s talking!” She shot up and finally closed the gap between them, approaching Nathan and staring him directly in the eye. “You have completely lost your shit if you think you can treat me like I’m some annoyance to you, after asking me to come here. Is this why you called me? To get another chance to be an asshole?”

“No.”

“Then why?”

“I wanted to ask you about Somerset.”

“Bullshit!” she pointed at his chest, putting Nathan under pressure, making him look away, “you could’ve used your phone for that, instead of luring me into the pool at midnight. Why do you suddenly give a shit? Why are you suddenly so invested in my life? Why, after months of neglecting me and ignoring my existence do you think it’s okay to—”

Nathan grabbed Sophia’s hand and yanked it off. His eyebrows knitted together in rage as his gaze locked with Sophia’s, making her take a step back.

“Because I don’t want you to leave!”

***

The entire school was gossiping about Sophia for the last week. It’s been a month since Nathan Prescott has officially “unfriended” her, and everyone was out for blood, ready to say anything for the littlest sense of entertainment.

“Oh em gee, have you seen Hughes lately? She looks like a fucking Victorian ghost.”

“Uh, don’t get me started, I don’t believe this shit for one second. Anorexia my ass.”

“Imagine faking a disease for attention? Can’t relate.”

“Shh!”

And that was the queue for Sophia to enter the classroom, per usual. She looked different from middle school. Her face was pale, exhausted. Her cheekbones were horridly sharp, sticking out unnaturally from her visage. Her eyes, hollow and fatigued, surrounded by dark circles, slowly looked around the room, before she approached her desk, sinking into the chair like a rag doll.

Quickly after her, Nathan entered the room, being immediately surrounded by people who were discussing Sophia mere seconds ago. He greeted them indifferently and glanced in Sophia’s direction, catching her eyeing him back. The space between them stiffened, unspoken words lingering in the air.  Nathan was the first one to look away, rubbing his neck and sitting down. Sophia followed, burying her gaze in the surface of her desk. She always knew how these encounters would end, but the awareness never eased the pain. It was the first month since she last spoke with Nathan, and it was insufferably far from being the last.

***

“I don’t want you to leave, Sophia. You’re the only good thing this entire shithole has, the only good thing I have, without you… nothing will make sense.”

For the first time in months, Sophia saw softness in Nathan’s gaze. She crossed her arms protectively, feeling emotion already creeping on her. She examined his features she’d already forgotten after such a long pause.

“Then why did you abandon me?” Her question is quiet and not even angry, just sad and hurt. She looks at him with pain and expectation, finally granting him the benefit of the doubt.

“Because—” Nathan grabbed onto his head along with the last bits of composure, squeezing his eyes shut. His breath fastened as he started rocking his body back and forth. “Because I’m fucked up, Sophia! Okay? Everything about me is fucked up.”

“Is this your reason for shutting me off?” She interrupted him.

“You weren’t supposed to see any of it. I cut you off so I could figure my shit without getting you involved. But it got worse and worse, and I just—I couldn’t allow you near me. You don’t deserve this,” he pointed at himself, “any of this.”

“It’s not your call to make,” Sophia parried, loosening the grip on her shoulders, “the amount of time I spent questioning myself, trying to figure out what I did wrong—”

“You did nothing wrong.”

“Well, you weren’t there to tell me.”

Sorrow distorted Nathan’s expression. He narrowed his eyes, fighting back emotion, seeing Sophia’s lips shiver lightly.

“I know, I—shit—I blame myself every fucking day for this. For fucking this up and losing the only nice thing I had.”

Sophia remained silent, biting on her cheek. Nathan couldn’t tell what she was thinking, he felt exposed, put on the spot, which probably suited him right. It was a nerve-wracking feeling like the judge was about to voice the verdict, and he was the accused. He watched her face cautiously, afraid to catch any sign of distressing news.

“You still have it.”

Sophia’s voice was barely above a whisper as she said it, returning Nathan’s pained gaze. Maybe she was wrong for doing this. For giving him another chance so soon. Or at all. But this conversation, no matter how heartbreaking, was the best thing happening to Sophia in a long time. She couldn’t help but feel happy from just being able to talk to Nathan again. Yeah, she probably was stupid.

“Is there really nothing you can do to open the door?” She quickly followed up, changing the topic.

Nathan shifted in his place.

“I’m—I’ll see if someone’s up, maybe they can break us out of here.”

Sophia nodded, watching him reach for the phone into the pocket of his jacket. As he was pulling it out, she noticed something small falling to the ground and landing at her feet. Before Nathan could notice, she kneeled and picked it up. It was a photo of her.

She remembered that day clearly: she was training in the gym, and Nathan was watching her, taking pictures. He said he needed to snap some photos for his photography assignment, but something was telling Sophia he just wanted to spend time with her. Either way, she didn’t mind. She was already done dancing when she heard his camera click again.

What’re you doing? She asked him, sitting on the floor.

Sorry. You mind? He shyly lowered the camera.

You know I don’t. It’s just—I’m not exactly photogenic right now. She smiled, gesturing around her.

Wanna see?

She nodded. The photo was surreal. Sophia’s figure was seated on the floor, her upper body bent down, reaching forward over her lifted knees. Her feet, bare, with the dance shoes lying next to them, were bruised and calloused, framed by Sophia’s hands treating them. She remembered Nathan calling it The Cost. It was dark but wholesome. Very much Nathan’s style.

“Oh, um—" She heard Nathan stutter, making her digress from the photo.

“You still have it,” she stated softly, astounded.

“Of course I do,” he said hesitantly. He reached his hand forward, taking the picture back from her, their fingers lightly touching in the process. Sophia sighed, rubbing her face tiredly. To think she spent most of the day not doing anything yet felt more exhausted than from any of her ballet training. Lowering herself, she sat cross-legged at the pool’s edge, watching the water shift in the dark. Nathan did the same, placing himself next to her. His phone screen caught her attention, and she glanced to the side, catching a glimpse of his contacts. Among many names of the Blackwell academy, one of them said “Freckles.” This made her smile: guess she wasn’t the only one.

“Nope. None of the assholes are answering. Guess we’re stuck here. Sorry.” He looked at her, seeing her small smile.

“Freckles?” She asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Oh. I—I forgot to change it, it’s—I can—”

“Whatever. I didn’t change you either.”

Silence fell on them again, leaving the pool to be the only source of background sounds. It wasn’t awkward anymore; if anything, it felt relaxing to finally sit there quietly in each other’s presence. Like the old times. Sophia would lie if she said she didn’t miss this. Without Nathan in her life, silences became insufferable, but in his company, they were calming. She could spend hours just sitting there, doing nothing if Nathan was beside her. Water reflections danced on their bodies, turning them and the entire room pale-blue. It almost felt like some otherworldly place, away from Earth.

She glanced at Nathan: he looked nervous; she could tell he wasn’t as relaxed as she was, but it was fair, considering he was the one at fault. She eyed him up and down, noticing that his leg was shaking lightly. He really got worse from middle school: his ticks severed, he became fidgety and snappy. Sophia could only imagine the amount of pressure he was under. His dad was probably giving him hell every day. Watching him tremble, she decided to fill the silence with talking.

“So,” she began, uncertain of how to phrase the sentence, “what’s going on with this, “she gestured between them, “us.”

“We’re friends,” he answered, although it sounded more like a question as if he was unsure of his own words. Sophia pursed her lips, looking at her reflection in the water. If they already were going through all the highs and lows of their relationship, she could as well add to the discussion. Not looking up, she muttered it out, quick enough not to change her mind:

“Aren’t we more than that?”

There was silence again, and Sophia wasn’t sure if Nathan was silent because he didn’t understand what she meant or because he did. She fought herself over stopping the thought now or proceeding and seeing where it would go. She ended up thinking she’s already said A, might as well say B.

“We kissed. Last year of middle school.”

She waited again and, receiving no answer still, proceeded.

“At the gym.”

“I remember,” Nathan interrupted her description.

“What was it?” She finally looked at him, gaining up the courage.

“A kiss,” he said shortly, still avoiding her gaze.

“Nathan, I swear to god,” Sophia rolled her eyes, “you know what I mean.”

“I don’t know, okay? It just—sort of happened.”

“You never mentioned it after that. Then summer came, and you disappeared.”

“I didn’t want to ruin what we had.” Sophia gazed at Nathan skeptically, quirking a brow, forcing a groan out of him. “Not in that way. I was afraid it would ruin our friendship.”

“First of all, ironic, second... why?”

“Don’t make me say it.”

“Say what?” She furrowed her brows in confusion. Nathan closed his eyes and turned his head away completely, hiding his face.

“That I love you.”

Sophia froze in her place, starring at the back of Nathan’s head, his words echoing in her mind. He turned his head back, still looking at the pool.

“I don’t wanna say it.”

She looked at the pool too, as if there was something that grabbed their attention from each other. Seeing Nathan’s reflection, she looked at him, noticing he was looking back at her through the water.

“You just did.”

Perhaps it was easier, looking at each other’s reflections instead of facing reality because Sophia’s heart was pounding with merciless force. It was everything she could hear in her head: the thumps of her heart and Nathan’s confession, smashing together into a big mess that sent Sophia into a hazy trance.

“I can take it back,” Nathan rasped. His leg was shaking furiously now, sending his entire body in motion.

“Don’t.”

Sophia’s voice, like a triggering alarm, distracted them from the water surface and brought their gazes together. Their eyes shared terror, it intertwined somewhere in the middle, making their bodies tense, yet being the common ground for them to stand on. Sophia couldn’t tell if she was still breathing or not, her mind seemed to separate from her body, taking off and wandering around the room, merging with the water glimpses that kept dancing on the walls.

Their bodies, like magnets, slowly gravitated toward each other, shortening the distance until there was none. Nathan smelled of cologne and cigarettes, she smelled of lavender and sedatives. They balanced on an edge, not being able to move or breathe any longer, just rooted to their spots, insanely close, contemplating the last millimeter that held them apart. Then, like going down a slide, their lips pressed together, and the ball of tension exploded, returning the air into their lungs and the sense of control over their muscles. Sophia’s arms entwined around Nathan’s neck, she pressed her body to his, shifting the weight on him, willing to give herself to him entirely. Nathan’s arms accepted her with passion, locking behind her, pulling her in his direction. The motions of their bodies made them lose their balance and sent them into the pool. A loud splash emerged into the quiet air, disturbing the room’s silence. The gleaming reflections broke loose and began to shake vigorously, setting the entire place in motion.

All the noise around them turned into a vacuum as their bodies floated below the surface. Pushed back up, they gasped for air shortly before their lips collapsed again, with a bigger force. Nathan lifted Sophia up, resting her on top of him while her hands found his cheeks, grasping them to hold him close. Nathan held her body tightly against his, as if afraid of her moving away. Sophia lifted her lips from his ever so lightly, just to be able to whisper her pleads into them.

“I don’t want to leave,” she sobbed voicelessly, hiding her face in the crook of his neck, “I don’t want to leave, I don’t want to leave.”

“Stay,” he replied shakily, kissing her ear. She lifted her head and looked Nathan in the eyes, furiously shaking her head in agreement. Tears streamed down her cheeks, mixing with pool water.

“I love you, I love you,” she choked on her cries, kissing Nathan again, eager, desperate, forcing the entirety of her emotions down on Nathan’s shoulders. He accepted it gladly, happily, holding her close and swearing on the entire world to never leave her again. To never let go.

***

The aftermath wasn’t as fun after the heat of the moment passed. Seated on the floor in some towels they found in the changing rooms, their bodies shook from cold, as they leaned against each other seeking warmth.

“I don’t know what I will say to my mom,” Sophia said, chuckling, “she’ll probably beat the shit out of me.”

“I won’t let her,” Nathan replied, “I’ll call my lawyer and make her stay the fuck away from you.”

“Aw,” she cooed, “I wouldn’t normally find your rich talk adorable, but it’s very nice of you.”

Her smile then faded, which caught Nathan’s attention. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, distracting her from her thoughts.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just—” she played with the hem of her towel anxiously, “maybe it’s not her who needs to stay away. Maybe it’s us.”

“What do you mean?”

She turned to face him and grabbed his hands in hers, suddenly determined.

“Let’s run away.”

He looked at her startled as if trying to be sure he understood her correctly. “Huh?”

“Fuck this place. Fuck Arcadia Bay. Fuck Blackwell. Fuck Somerset. Fuck all these people, two-faced snobs, and dirty junkies. Fuck our parents. Fuck everything.”

She moved her hands away, looking at him hesitantly, afraid of his reaction. Would he disagree? Would he get angry with her for saying something so radical? Would he refuse her and her offer? Sophia felt the time drag painfully slow as she watched Nathan’s face for any sign of emotion, anything that would let her know what he thought.

Growing anxious, she averted her gaze.

“You know what—”

“Fuck everything.”

Her head jerked back, meeting with Nathan’s determined gaze. Staring back at her, he nodded, smiling devilishly. “Fuck everything!”

Seeing his reaction, Sophia started laughing, connecting their hands back together. The relief ran through her body, lifting the tension of her shoulders.

“Fuck everything,” she echoed after him.

Nathan leaned in, kissing Sophia, feeling her smiling against his lips. The smell of chlorine, usually irritating, brought him a sense of joy he’s grown so unfamiliar with. He could sit there forever, on the cold floor tiles, wearing damp clothes, freezing, yet feeling growing warmth starting from Sophia’s lips and transferring to his, spreading through his body.

Nathan’s phone rang, breaking the moment. Groaning in irritation, he pulled away from Sophia, checking the new messages.

“Victoria answered,” he said, typing, “she called the guys to break us out.”

Sophia smiled, pulling the towel off her shoulders. “Cool. Can’t wait to change.”

“Tell me about it,” Nathan chuckled, getting up and offering her a hand. She rolled her eyes, accepting it.

“Although,” not letting go of his hand after standing up she brought her face close to his, “I am glad we got locked up.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

“What will Victoria say about—this?” she squeezed Nathan’s hand firmly.

“I don’t care. Why?”

“I kind of thought you were a thing. She was always around you.”

“What? No, we’re just friends. Wait,” he looked at her slyly, “you thought we were together and still kissed me?”

“You kissed me,” Sophia countered.

“Keep telling yourself that.”

Their dialogue got interrupted by loud noises piercing the air.

“That’s our queue. Let’s get out of here,” Nathan said, walking in the exit’s direction. Sophia lingered in spot, looking at Nathan’s back. He suddenly stopped, looking back at her.

“Soph?”

She raised her eyebrows in question.

“Did you mean it? Running away?”

“I did, “she said firmly. “Did you?”

He nodded.

“Good,” she smiled.

Nathan smiled back at her. He looked calmer, steadier. Reassured.

“C’mon,” he said after staying silent for a moment, “or you want to spend the night in the pool?”

Sophia rolled her eyes, catching up to him.

“Maybe another time.”

[maximumkillshot]

"When You Call” Part 13

Warnings: SMUT!!! ALL OF THE SMUT!!!!, Oral, Male recieving, descriptions of previous sexy times, if you are below 18 years of age SHIELD YOUR EYES!!, Cursing, all that stuff, also tooth rotting fluff, ABO Dynamics.

Pairing: Alpha!Dean Winchester x Omega!Reader.

Characters: Omega!Reader,

A/N: PART 13 is HERE!!!! Special thanks to @emoryhemsworth for helping me navigate this chapter... INCLUDING FINDING THE GIF THAT I WAS LOOKING FOR!! This is just straight up love making y’all. Also a big thanks to @anathewierdo as well for helping hype me up as well... ENJOY!!! (Italics indicate past events.)

“All I Could Do” Masterlist- CLICK HERE

Overall Masterlist- Click Here

“When You Call” Masterlist- Click Here

“The Situation” Masterlist- Click Here

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

Previously

... I licked at her new claim bite while she licked at mine… and I said to her, “Finally, you’re mine.”

It was then that she looked at me in the eyes and said, “I always was, Alpha, but now everyone knows it… I love you…”

I then rolled us to our sides, so that we could be more comfortable as I kissed her and said, “I love you too, my beautiful Omega. Now rest, I’m nowhere near done with you.”

I can't believe that this is what I've been missing with her. Finally, she's my Omega, and soon, she's gonna be my wife. I can't wait for all of it.

NOW:

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

Dean POV:

I can’t remember the last time I slept like that. So full of peace, happiness. It’s almost like a dream. I lull my head to the side, taking in her intoxicating scent. Her form is always so relaxed, pliant when she sleeps. Yesterday was the dream after a nightmare. Even after everything we went through… she still wants me.

As I pondered I touched the bite mark on her neck, now well on its way to healing, I never even knew that I was missing the largest part of me until yesterday afternoon. The minute she smiled, it breathed life into me. Man, I got it bad… and I don’t even care that I don’t care.

She shifted a little, nuzzling into my chest, trying to mold herself to me. I could feel her body already reacting to me, even when she’s unconscious, her face becoming flushed. When I shifted to get out of bed, she immediately stirred…

“Mmmm Alpha?” Y/N murmured.

“It’s okay Mega, just going to the bathroom… Rest.” I whispered as I kissed her on the lips. I grabbed my boxers off the floor and slid them on.

Immediately she grabbed my pillow and was out like a light once again. I smiled absentmindedly at her form.

After going to the bathroom, I knew that we needed food. We didn’t even leave our bed yesterday, our only meal being breakfast.

I went over to the fridge afterward, looking for the pre-packaged meals Sam left for us. Right there, front and center were pink and blue plastic containers, each labeled by content. On top of one of the containers was a note in Sammy’s handwriting: “Don’t worry, I looked up how to make all of your favorites, see you guys soon!”

I heated up what I thought she’d like and stepped back into the bedroom.

“Baby?” I whispered…

No response...

“Y/N?”

“Mmmmmm”

I set the food down on the nightstand next to our bed and I carded a hand through her hair.

“Y/N… Baby, you’ve gotta eat something.” I coaxed…

“MMmmnnnooo too tired…” she groaned, “come back to bed, Alpha.”

“Even if it’s steak and eggs?” I said with an eyebrow raised.

She lifted her head from the pillow that she stole when I left the bed… “And hashbrowns?”

“And hashbrowns…”

She perked up as I handed her plate to her and sat down…

“So last night” she chuckled as she tried to smooth down her hair.

Immediately my mind flashed to last night.

I hear her mewl once again, clawing at my skin. Ever since I slid that ring on her finger I haven’t been able to keep my hands off of her. Every time she makes a noise, a moan, a plea, I’m hard all over again. Not to mention the fact that I haven’t been able to keep my mouth off of her either.

I look down at her, her eyes wild, her breathing uneven, she is a wreck, and it’s all for me. I trace her collarbone with my tongue, tasting the mixture of her pheromones and our sweat, so sweet and tangy, if I had the chance I’d probably devour her whole.

I cage her in with my body again as she raked her nails over my back, leaving a delicious sting.

“Please, Alpha,” Y/N breathed as she nuzzled my face.

“What is it ‘Mega?” I asked as I grabbed her hands, pinning both under one of mine, my other tracing over her torso, mindlessly connecting all of the marks I left.

“Need you.”

“I’m right here.”

“Alphaaa” She whined as she moved her hips,making my dick slide slightly through her folds.

“You mean this?” I asked as I looked down, “You want my knot?”

“Need it Baby, I need it…”

“Yeah, last night was…” I said as I grabbed my plate, “wasn’t too rough with you, was I?” I asked.

“Not at all…” She said, “Felt good, really good.” She smirked at me, almost shyly.

“Don’t get shy on me now, Y/N. This is only day one of satiating that heat of yours.”

“Oh I know, believe me I know. Getting wet just thinking about it.” She answered as I almost choked on my food. She giggled at me, “and who’s shy now?”

“Shut up… it was the pepper… Sammy used too much pepper in my eggs…” I tried to cover.

“Mhmm suree Dean… totally wasn’t because you were…. Distracted.” She said as she grabbed another bite. I watched as she made a show of lifting the food to her mouth, her lips still kiss swollen.

I gulped, “Distracted by what exactly?” I teased as I ate.

“Well I mean, it’s pretty clear.” She chuckled.

“Maybe I need some more clarification.”

“You weren’t distracted by the image of your face between my legs, tasting me, watching me lose my mind.” She smirked knowingly.

Oh two can play at this.

“Actually I was more preoccupied by that time that you were clawing at my back, begging me for more.” I saw her legs close at that as I relaxed in the pillows, “What’s wrong? Did I… distract you? What’re you thinking about?” I asked.

“If I say what I’m thinking we are not finishing breakfast.” She chuckled.

“I’m a patient Alpha, I can take it.” I assured her.

“I was just wondering if that was before or after you were pinning me down to the bed.” She commented.

“Directly before actually, never would’ve thought I’d need to restrain you.” I said as I finished up my plate.

“I mean, I’ve never been one to just lie down and take it.” She chuckled, “I have a feeling that’s one of the things you like about me.”

“Oh I don’t like it… I love it. Makes it a challenge. It’s a shame though.” I said as I snatched her now empty plate from her and set it to the side with mine.

“What is it?”

I slowly peeled the covers off of her waist as I began to turn to her, “You see, I like to use both of my hands to please you. But because you squirm everywhere… I always have to hold you down.” I smoothed one of my hands down her thigh and stared into her eyes.

“Such a shame, you know something, Alpha?” She said as she welcomed my weight on top of her.

“Hmm?” I hummed as she addressed me.

“You attended to me all night… But I never got to return the favor.” She said as she reached in between us, freeing me from my boxers, “I mean you got to taste me so many times and… I never got to taste you.” She fake pouted as I slowly kissed her.

“You don’t have to do that Y/N, I love to taste you. It’s not something you have to do.” I reassured her. She took one of her hands, pushed me down to the bed, and crawled over me.

“I wouldn’t be asking if I didn’t want to do it.”She breathed as she kissed down my torso. Her eyes burned into me with an intensity that I could never and will never describe. She kissed and licked all the way down my torso and came back up. She whispered in my ear, “Can I Alpha?”How could I say no with her looking at me like that? I gave her a nod.

She responded with, “just sit back and relax, let me make you feel good.” As if I was under some sort of spell I relaxed into the pillows, closing my eyes and just feeling her. Everything about her. The way that her hands danced gingerly down my torso. The way those sinful lips kissed and nipped at me gently. By the time she made it back down to my boxers, I was a tense wreck, fisting the covers in my hands.

She got my boxers off the rest of the way and lightly nipped at my hip bones, making me groan. Fuck, I may just come right now.

“But I barely even touched you, Alpha.” Her voice rang out as she gently massaged my dick, completely making me miss the fact that I said that last sentence out loud without even knowing it.

“Fuck Y/N, feel so good, ‘Mega” I groaned as she twisted her hand just right. My head hit the pillow as I let her take what she wants.

Then I felt the wet heat of her mouth envelope the tip as her tongue molded to the underside of it. I let out a huff as she released me completely and licked from base to tip. She hummed in approval as I did everything not to take over and fuck her like I was made to.

“Ugghh just like that Baby, fuck.” I moaned as she started bobbing her head in time with the twist of her hand. Soon I started hearing the sounds of her sucking me down into her mouth, slowly working her throat open more and more.

I didn’t even notice that my eyes have been closed since my head hit the pillow. When I looked down at her I was met with the most gorgeous sight. Y/N was looking at me, eyes wide and almost innocent, as her head bobbed on my cock.

I was almost mesmerized by her, she looked so wild, free, yet innocent? Only Y/N could pull that off, she brought me back to Earth when the tip hit the back of her throat and she held me there, swallowing.

This woman’s gonna kill me.

It was then that I started moaning freely my words starting to blend, “Ohmyfuckin’  ssssshittt yesss fuuc.” Then I felt one of her hands leave and grab one of mine, guiding me to control her motions. I took the hint and started to move her head to where I wanted her.

Every time she went down she took more of me into her mouth, until, by the end, she was all the way down the base… With three hard swallows, I was almost there. “Sweetheart I’m gonna come…” I warned. She looked up and smirked around my dick, a slightly devilish ‘do it I want it.’ smirk.

Within seconds I was shooting my load down her throat, it seemed almost never ending and by the time it was over, I felt like jelly. I looked up just in time to see her licking whatever was left off of me. “Mmmm, you taste good, Alpha.” She purred as she kissed up my torso, “need to taste you more often,” she said as she pecked me on the lips.

x

“I think that can be arranged,” I said half breathless.

After I was able to catch my breath again I said, “You know what’s funny?”

“What?” She asked.

“I’m hungry again…” I said as I looked her over.

“For what?” She asked.

“You.” 

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[bard-of-worlds]

Darkening Dawn Chapter 3

 Lilith walked out of the bathroom of the room in the hotel she checked into dressed in a bathrobe, her hair flowing down her back, having finished a shower before she would order a meal.  Her target was at the region’s Professors lab and after the excitement earlier she had slipped away to rest and finalizes her plans. She had released her Pokémon to feed them, taken her clothes from her one of her Item Cubes and was currently deciding on what to wear when she meets up with the prince.  

 “Nido nid rina.”  Her Nidorina said as she bumped her legs as her other Pokémon looked up from their bowls as she sat on the rooms bed.

 “Don’t worry girls I order something in a few minutes.  I’m still worried about the seals on the ‘Prince’.  I mean I wasn’t able to see much from so far away and I will be the first one to say I don’t know much on the subject.  But if they weren’t a prototype, then who or what was the experimental subject.”  Lilith wondered as her Pokémon adopted looks of concern.

 “Yeah I know where would they get a test subject like the prince but that’s only if they care if he survived.   These are the Crusaders we’re talking about but really, are they that dedicated to protecting humanity?”  Lilith said as she and team exchanged looks of concern she sighed and she shook her head.

 “Come on girls let’s stop with all the doom talk.  Let’s see what’s on the local news channel, maybe they’ll have the Baccer results, and then I’ll order something.”  Lilith said as she reached for the remote control.    she turned the room’s tv on and changed the channel…TO HER PRINCE ON THE NEWS FOR SAVING A POKEMON BY RISKING HIS LIFE?!?  Lilith just starred in shock, not moving a single inch or reacting before her Nidorina bumped the bed and she exploded.

 “TWO HOURS!  I LEFT HIM FOR JUST TWO HOURS!  How can he get into something where he risked his life how, just how?”  Lilith said as she hugged her legs to her chest as she rocked back and forth on the bed. She perked up when she felt something rub against her legs, looking up she saw her Liepard on the bed while her Nidorina looked at her from the floor with her Skorupi on her, both given her a look of worry.  Reaching she scratched her Liepard under her chin and sighed.

 “I’m good girls. Teacher said the boss was quite the dare devil when they were teens, so I guess the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.  Once I find a way to make contact with the prince, get a feel on where he’s going and what to use as a cover for being here in the region.  I’d bet you gals would like it if we hit a few of the contests around here, hu?”  She smiled when she saw her Pokémon smile and start to cheer, back home their teacher had sent them into the Contests to teach her humility, she had learned that and taken to the arts of training Pokémon to use their moves differently like a bat to the night.  Her Nidorina had even evolved during one contest battle, scoring them the trophy! Hearing a beep from her phone she smiled as she connected it to her laptop, she had the prince’s history of his journey now, all the competitions he had ever been in, now all she had to do was find a style to hit Kalos with and she was golden.  Looking through the data she smiled, a way to have heard of him and maybe a reason to have come here, just what she needed.

 “Well girls get ready to the Lovely Lilith is back on the circuit!  So lets’ eat girls, tomorrow it’s time to meet and greet!”   Lilith proclaimed as her Pokémon cheered around her, a smile on her face as her shadow on the wall behind her grew wings from her shoulders.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 Serena stared at the TV in shock, she couldn’t believe her eyes.  Ash, that was Ash!  He’s in Kalos, in Lumo City!  He’s in the region, I can’t believe it he……… he almost died! How the heck did that happen, what was he doing to have fallen off the Tower like that?! Serena thought as she stared at the screen, her mind blue screening as

   OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 A teenage girl in a black shirt with a v neck that exposed the top of her large cleavage under a black well-traveled coat and black pants leaned against the wall of the Pokémon Center. Her face was bare except for a bit of black lip gloss and a pair of glasses. She smiled as she saw Bonnie, Clemont and Ash talk with Nurse Joy.  She walked toward them as Ash started to speak and reached for his backpack

.

“Can you register my Quest Scanner here too Nurse Joy?”  Ash trailed off as Nurse Joy adopted a look of confusion which worried Ash.

 “Quest Scanner?” Bonnie asked Clemont as she turned to her brother.  Ash turned to them and let his thoughts fly.  Come on!  I know some countries don’t follow the Treaty but not to give out Quests too?! How do they expect Trainers to earn money, part time jobs that take weeks to earn anything?!

 “I believe they call them Task Trackers here in Kalos.  The Alola Reg call them Job Watchers.”  A voice said behind them, turning Ash saw a girl his age dressed in black with black lips and sunglasses.

 “Sorry to cut in but I figured I should help out before everyone spends too much time trying to figure out the terms a fellow Old Worlder used.  You can call me Lilly and…say aren’t you Ash Ketchum?”  The girl said as she gave a start as he turned to face her.

 “I’m Ash Ketchum, do we know each other.” Ash asked as he tried to remember if he ever met the girl before him.

 “No we’ve never met but a teacher I had showed me your performance at the Wallace Cup, and a friend of mine stumbled across what you did in Crown City while looking into a company the League took over.”  Lilly said dryly as Ash rubbed the back of his head.

 “A teacher?”  Bonnie asked as she gazed at the girl.

 “Ya, back home I’m a Pokémon Coordinator of some small fame and student of someone pretty famous locally and after the end of the season last year she said it might be good if I tried something differently after coming in the top 4 and then the runner-up the year after.”  Lilly said as she beamed with pride.

 “Wow!  You’re a keeper!  Please take care of my brother.” Bonnie said as she looked upon the girl.

 “Bonnie, I thought we talked about this!”  Clemont cried as a mechanical hand grabbed his sister and picked her up.

 “Sorry little girl but I never date anyone I don’t know, so what your name blondie?”  Lilly purred as she looked at Clemont who went red at Bonnie’s and her words and started to stammer.  

 “What did you do in Crown City Ash?”  Clemont said as he turned to look at Ash, trying and succeeding to make Ash the center of attention.

 “Ehhh, nothing much really. Just reunited a mother and with her child, exposed a prominent Businessman as the worst Eco-Criminal in the region with a crime 20 years old that he almost got away with and got the scum to confess on live TV.  And this is Bonnie and her brother Clemont”  Ash said as Bonnie and Clemont starred at him.

 “Your Task…er Quest Scanner can be registered with Officer Jenny, her office handles all Tasks and handles payment after the person who issues one send a notification that it was completed.  And how can I help you Ms. Lilly?”  Nurse Joy interrupted.

 “Since Kalos usually only does the Showcase I was wondering if I had to register as a Coordinator here or not.”  Lilly said as she brought out a Pokédex.

 “No but the Professor has a list of where and when the Contests will be held, you’ll have to talk to him for that information and with the damage to his lab you might have to wait a bit, and a new trainer is coming for her first Pokémon today.”  Joy said as Lilly stared at Ash for a bit.  She shook her head before anyone noticed her look and smiled at the three of them.

 “So where are you guys going, from what Nurse Joy said I have to wait a while before I can get the info I need.”  Lilly said as the four of them walked out of the Pokémon center

 “Bonnie and I decided to travel with Ash for a bit; we need a change of pace for a while.”  Clemont said as he rubbed the back of his head and looked toward the Prism Tower.  And when I’m back, I’ll be stronger and more powerful.

 “So it’s straight on to Santalune City and the Gym.  Maybe we’ll run into you again.”  Ash said as he gave Lilly a smile.

 “Maybe, it’ll depend on where and when the contests are.  So see you.” Lilly said as she walked off.  Her faces showed nothing but inside her thoughts were going a mile a minute. An Aura Link!  The prince already has a soul-mate?!  Just what kind of life has he been living and what affect are those seals having on him! To block it an Aura spark from joining with its chosen Aura, something like this is just NOT done!!

 Lilith’s glass showed a spark of a humans Aura dissipating when it met the seals.  Just what hell did the seal-maker create if it could block a soul-mate bond.  She went dead still when the thoughts hit her, did it happen with others, did Ash have more than one soul-mate?  Gotta stop thinking about it, I need to find this girl, if I’m lucky then I’ll meet her at the Professor’s lab.  I’ll make up a report on what I saw and my actions and mail it to teach, she’ll get it to the boss.

  Jenny snarled to herself as she slammed the phone down into its cradle.  The international police had laughed off her concerns that the Kanto criminal group was expanding into her region.  Something about the Rockets she describe as being the bottom of the barrel, to call back if the Tooth Fairy joined them with the Easter Lopunny.   Those criminals almost cause the death of a trainer and when she brought it up it caused the person answering to laugh even harder when she described the person in question.  The bastard said something about sending her a file once he calmed down and hung up on her.  A noise at the door caused her to glare at two trainers and a little girl who jumped a bit at her expression.

 “Can I help you kids?” Jenny asked as she got her emotions back under control.  She identified the gym leader and his sister and the black haired trainer looked somewhat familiar but she couldn’t place him, a flaw she had when her emotions were agitated.

 “Nurse Joy at the Pokémon Center said I could register my Task Tracker here?”  The black haired trainer said as he handed over a Task Tracker. Connecting it to her computer she loaded it with the regions security passcode and grabbed the Trackers serial number before handing it back to him. A chime from her computer pulled her back toward it, the file the international police was going to send her, maybe she would get some answers, and she absently handed the Tracker back to the boy and waved him off.

 “Thank you Officer Jenny.” The boy said as he and the others left her office.

 “All part of the job, have a good day.”  Jenny said robotically as she opened the file.  The first few pages were about the Rocket members she had described and the pages after were about when and where they had committed criminal acts.  After a while next few page she noticed that the same trainer ID kept coming up as both victim and stopper.  Then another chime and an email entitled ‘Protector’ appeared.  

 “Didn’t my cousin in Unova mention that a trainer had earned a title from the Pokémon Rangers and the International Police?”  She muttered to herself as she opened the file, to no surprise it was a trainer bio, the kind of files the government kept of trainers that caught their eye. As she started to read accommodations for valor, for saving people and Pokémon, for defeating criminal gangs she recognized the ID as the same one in the previous file.  The final page was the photo ID and when she saw it she shot up from her chair.

 “THAT’S THE KID FROM LAST NIGHT, WAIT HE WAS JUST HERE!!”  Jenny cried out as she looked into the hallway in shock.

  OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  “Frankenmons attacked a courier in the Wind Road?”  The speaker was a tall man in a purple tuxedo and a black cape with an Eevee on his shoulder who lead two pale attractive women in maid uniforms down a hallway. The woman on his right had blue hair in a pageboy style, her blue eyes had black eye shadow above and her blue lips were set in a frown, in her ears were two white gems and by her side walked a Glaceon with a collar with four white gems. The maid on his left had flowing red hair that reached her waist, the only makeup she had was red lipstick and blush with two red gems in her ears, a Flareon was by her side whose front legs had clawed boots on.

 “Yes Master Alex, Lady Joy ordered all off duty morticians to assist in retrieving all parts from within the corpses post haste.  She entered the castle two hours ago according to a local agent so this is likely a briefing about them to quell the rumors.  Though a few days ago Lady Camilla sent her apprentice out on a mission and the same night the Elites were summoned for a meeting, so there is that which I am sure one of them will bring up. ” The blue haired woman spoke with a cold tone as she followed .

 “One of Morg’a’s little temptresses is dating one of the security staff called to transport the materials harvested, the bitch probably bugged the poor sap with a seal.  So she’s probably the source of most of the rummors. Hope the fool she’s using had a good time with the little tramp at least, but given what I had when one tried to use me, I really, really doubt it master. And like sister Sarah said, one of them will bring it up.”  The redhead’s voice was full of passion as she strutted down the hallway.

 Alex smiled as he thought of the meeting a month ahead of schedule, a summit of the Elites and now Frankenmon, the times were getting quite exciting, what next, did they find the Queen and Prince?  He gave a chuckled at that thought, he had probably taunted murphy, but if that happened, those harpies would die of shock.

 Turning a corner he stopped cold as he saw what was guarding the door to the meeting chamber.  Two humanoids in full plate armor holding lances with two Haxorus with black body armor stood sentinel.

 “Master, those are Highguard.”  Sarah said as she reached Alex and stared with him at the door guards.  Alex slowly gained a grin on his face that as he eyes twinkled.

 “My dear cold Sarah, my passionate Ellie, this is going to be explosive.” Alex proclaimed as he walked down the hallway as his two maids looked at each other and sighed.

 “Tell me again why do we love that man-child sister?” Ellie said as he followed after him.

 “The sex, definitely the sex.”  Sarah answered bluntly as the two of them followed their lover down the hallway while Alex only gave a small smirk at the words his followers exchanged.

 Walking into the throne room he moved toward the left side and gazed around the room.  A few people in clocks were debating Aura casting by the window, representatives from the School of Aura, they only came when there was an important announcement, were the Frankenmons were made by someone they expelled and escaped the law.  The last Chimera breeder supposedly caused the procedures to change, but there are geniuses out there.

A few of the Families had a few more members then just their heirs with them, more girls than boys again, were they trying the catch the bosses eye with a pretty face?  He nodded his head at his allies among the Lords as they passed each other as he led his party toward windows, and saw with no surprise that saw that the Lady Morg’a was dressed to the nines in the middle of a small crowd of ladies, was she trying to draw in others with her beauty.  And she was striking today.  Her long black hair flowed down her back to her thighs; her jade dress stopped at the middle of her breasts, with a cut show the inner sides with a green gem in the shape of the Grass-Type symbol resting between her breasts.  Her dress went to the floor with a slit that revealed white stocking clad legs in green high heels.  Her lips were painted a vibrant green, while eye shadow of an aqua green shade brought out her green eyes.  Her Roselia was next to her with a grass symbol around its neck.  He noticed her eyes never left a target across from her and saw who Morg’a was watching; the newest of the Highlords, the Lady Cleo Ro Clor of the Desert Realm was talking with a few lords who, if he remembered their homes locations right, bordered her territory.  She cut a striking figure with her dark skin in a form fitting white robe dress that showed off her figure while still giving off a classy feel.  All the makeup she wore was a simple black lipstick, while her black hair was in a simple pageboy style. Her Krokorok was standing next to her, a simple Ground symbol around its neck, showing that the simple things had a class all its own.

 “So you made it to this thing youngster?”  A gruff voice said as a heavy hand landed on his other shoulder.  Turning he saw an older man with a beard in a white shirt and black pants next to an Ursaring.  

 “Sir Viktor, how are you old man?  How was that Chimera hunt you went on a few weeks back, it was an Ice Fire mix that was the pack leader?”  Alex said as he smiled at his friend and ally among the Lords.

 “Me and mine handled it, but I gotta talk to you about it afterwards.  You’ll never guess whose territory it they never even sent a scout towards.”  Vicktor said darkly as he glared toward Morg’a group.  

 “I’ve dealt with such things in my own lands my friend, after the meeting let me track down the last two members of my old team to have a talk for old times, you can join us.” Alex said with a sigh as memoires of days long gone pasted behind his eyes.

 A commotion near the front caused them to turn and saw three of the Elites walk into the room, each shadowed by one of their Pokemon.  Lady Camilla was followed by her Zoroark, the brown haired robed form of Magnus walked next to his Golurk while Mordred was dressed in a simple smock and pants was walked next to his Chesnaught.   Following after them was their lord walked with his Mightyena with Lady Joy walking after him in a black gown with a white Crobat on her shoulder.  So a briefing by Joy was part of this after all, but why were both Camilla and Magnus here? Why were the Highguard outside?  I think this might be bigger than I thought. Alex thought as he looked over the gathering.

 Morg’a smiled and gave off an air of sophistication looking at the Elites entering the room but she let her thoughts tell her true feelings, confident that the Psi-Changer she wore around her neck kept them to herself.  So that bitch Camilla is taking part in this after all.  So whatever reason she pulled that brat from the party is important. Damn that idiotic little tramp for not getting closer to the slut!  It probably was her little beast that was attacked after all.  But she’s only been gone a few days, and in Kalos of all place!

 As Dracula sat upon his thrown, all before bowed and curtsied to show respect for their liege lord. Before anyone could speak up about the nature of the gather he raised his hand for silence.

 “My loyal subjects let me cut away all the rumors you’ve heard.  Approximately two hours ago the Lady Joyce briefed me upon the 8 Frankenmon that tried to intercept a courier using the Wind Road.  Lady Joy, if you would care to take over?”  Dracula said as he gestured at Joy who curtsied as a holo projector appeared before the throne.

 “Thank you my lord. As per my orders when I was informed what had entered my morgue, all personal were recalled and all machines were removed from the bodies before all but two were incinerated.  This decision”    Joy began before Morg’a stepped forward and interrupted her.

 “Two of the bodies were kept from the final peace Lady Joy?  Forgive my impudence but aren’t all Frankenmon bodies supposed to be incinerated after the foul machines which move them are taken from their corpses by rule of law?”  Morg’a melodious voice interrupted, causing murmurs to spread among the crowd at this seemingly breach of law.  Joy gained a small frown before she continued.

 “Normally, yes that is the law.  But the bodies were reanimated by an unknown process and power source.  As the bodies were inspected, it became apparent that the machines were split in two different configurations.  From what my limited mechanical knowledge told me, one type had a receiver of some kind while the other had a transceiver.  The bodies saved were the ones most intact with detailed notes were made on where each machine was removed from the individual corpse. However both types had a few similar parts, this one we are having the most trouble identifying the components purpose.”  As Joy spoke the projector glowed, showing a diagram of a machine connected to two broken crystals with the crystals each connected to one side of a hexagon stone.

 “The gems aren’t like anything we’ve seen before.  The hexagon seems to be artificial and seems to be the main power source, one of my people theorized that the gems act like a kind of converter.   The fact that they were able to use attacks is a cause for concern, but the most distressing thing we’ve discovered is that there is no way for an external power source to connect to the stone, we have no idea how these things receive power at all.” Joy finished as murmurs started back up.

 “This is troubling, tovarish.”  Victor whispered to Alex as thoughts raced through his head.  One of the only ways Frankenmons were found was the massive electrical power drain they used to recharge.  And with the fact they were able to use Pokémon attacks…Wait, what were the attacks used elemental propertiess? Could there be a connection? Alex thought as his mind raced, signaling his group that he was doing this alone he started to walk through the crowd toward the throne. Alex exited the crowd until he was next to Morg’a and bowed to Lady Joy.

 “Lady Joy, do we know what attacks were used by the subjects.”  Alex said as he saw the scowl Morg’a sent him, curious.  Did she want to score a point with that or keep people from asking? Just what is your end goal you Grass bitch

 “As the witness was a Pokémon, a psychic copy of the incident was made.  From what Lord Magnus divined, the moves used were Flash Cannon and Arial Ace.”  Joy trailed off as she looked at the hologram.

 “So moves of two elements and two gems.  Were any gems recovered intact?”  Alex continued as Joy called up data.

 “All gems were found shattered.  A failsafe or the result of battle…” Joy trailed off as she turned and shared a look with Magnus.  Mordred stepped forward as a hologram of the Homeland appeared.

“Thank you Headmistress for your report, Lord Alex, Lady Morg’a for your points I give you my thanks. As of 1 hour ago our lord has issued orders that the patrols groups along our shore are be increased in size. The remains are to be turned over to the School of Aura as soon as the masters exit this chamber for a period of one weak for a detailed examination.  All lords are to take any action they believe is necessary in their territories its security, all suspicious events are to be investigated by local authorities.”  Mordred began as a map of the Homeland sprang from the holo-project identifying the various territories

 “Wait one minute Commander Mordred!  How was a single courier identified by those monsters and from where did the courier come from? What was its cargo?  These facts would affect any plans we make to protect our citizens.”  Morg’a interrupted with a smirk.  Joy had a look of worry on her face while Camilla had a sever frown

 “From the machine’s localization before we removed them, some of them were hooked up to the eyes of the corpse, so a possible Aura sensor is possible.  The cargo….”  Mordred began until the person behind him interrupted and spoke loudly.

 “Was an Aura scan of my son.”  Dracula declared as he stood up from his throne.

 Alex blinked, their lord couldn’t have said what he thought he’d heard, did he?

 “I Declare this for all within this chamber to know!  After years of not knowing their fate, my Queen and my son have been Found!  Even as we speak, measures are being undertaking to return them to our shores!”  Dracula proclaimed as the chamber exploded in conversations.

 Morg’a had a wide smile on her face while on the inside her thoughts were complete anarchy. Arceus Damn it!  With that old slug found she’ll be back and warming his bed within the next year!  All my plans to find and influence her replacement just went up in smoke!  I should have known that those stupid Crusaders wouldn’t kill them!

 “My lord may I be the first to offer my congratulations on such wonderful news!  If there is anything that any of us could do to help I’m sure my fellows would jump at the chance!” Morg’a said with cheer in her voice. Alex merely looked at her and let his eyes grow hard. So they did find D, and I think my people needs to spend a little time making sure that that tart doesn’t try to send anyone after little whoever go the scan or the kid

 “I can only say that in this matter the Lady Morg’a speaks for me as will my lord.  If there is anything my people and I can do to help you have but to command it.”  Alex said as he bowed to his liege lord as the other Lords and Highlords copied him.

 “Thank you but as I said measures are being done to return my beloved to me.  May our people stand forever against all who would threaten us!” Dracula declared as he got up from his throne and his Pokemon followed him out the door.  Alex looked at Camilla and fixed the right side of his collar and saw her and Magnus clench their right hands before he walked back to Victor and his maids.  He grinned to himself as he walked.  Time for an old friend and her son to come home at last, but how did they find them?  And who better to ask then her brother and her best friend?  He thought with a grin as he walked away with his two maids to ‘celebrate’.

 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  Cleo sighed as she and her Krokorok walked into her inner apartment.  That meeting had been as nerve wracking as the rumors that had been swirling around the local net.  The reality was even worse, Frankenmon powered by unknown means, and able to use attacks!  That wasn’t even touch the fact that the Queen to be was alive with the Prince, that changed everything! When she returned she had given orders that all local wild Pokémon dens were to have surveillance equipment set up, if anything came to harvest fresh corpse, they would see them if they hit the dens.  Why did she ever have to be chosen as the High Lord’s successor anyway?  It was supposed to be just a simple Quest, why did her predecessor have to use it to choose replacement before he died, she was just an orphan who had to play peacekeeper at the orphanage.  She didn’t like to fight, and his will that said she had to build her household herself without any of the previous staff, thank Arceus that Marshall Asim and his crew had stayed on and the homunculi maids. But things were hard; she had her pen pal to chat with!  With a smile on her face she walked toward her computer, her Krokorok pulled out the chair to let her sit down and signed into a chat room.  She had meet her friend on a message board about the impact Pokémon and human settlements had on each other, and since then the two of them had had conversations about care and feeding, exchanged recipes and helped each other deal with problems.  She did feel a bit bad that he thought she was a middle management in a company who got promoted after her superior left, but the rest of the world wasn’t like her home, they didn’t have Lords and High Lords and to burden a doctor with her political problems just wasn’t the right thing to do.

SandyLady:  You online Doc?

RockDoc: Hey Lady, how was your meeting.

SandyLady:   The boss’s wife woke up from her coma, she’s going to return to the company but the medicine that helped wake her was almost stolen by thieves so security of all divisions were raised, and two people on my level are fighting with each other, I’ve had to issue a few orders that might get people hurt in the name of said security, what about you?

RockDoc:  I have a bit of a problem myself; the mother of one of my old friends sent a quite inquiry about a girl she’s worried about, wants to double check something and my job says I should make it official, but everything I feel screams me to keep quit, I’m a bit conflicted.

SandyLady:   So keep quiet and look into what might happen if you don’t, you might find something you don’t know you know about would happen. But why do you feel what you that way?

RockDoc:  Thanks for the advice Lady, it’s a supervisor who would receive the report just rubs me the wrong way, something about them feels wrong to me.

 Cleo went cold as she rereads the last message; some people Aura’s were able to ‘sense’ the nature of people, when they were hurt and needed help.  Most of them became public servants, doctors or police if Doc felt something wrong about his supervisor, then they might be trouble if he went official on this.  One piece of advice old man Victor had told her when she was sworn in was to trust her instincts about people and Pokémon.  Said instincts said the Lady Morg’a was a trustworthy as a coin left in the sun was cold, so she trusted the advice.

 SandyLady: Doc, one bit of advice I think I can pass on to you; always trust your instincts.  Your hindbrain might be seeing what your forebrain can’t.

 “Lady Ro Clor!  We have a situation!”  A voice called from her door.  That was Marshall Asim, but he should be out along the dunes, helping set up the observation cameras.  If he was back then there might be a rather large problem that needs the local High Lords authority.

 “I’ll be right there!” Cleo called back as she typed one last message and walked toward her door, her Krokorok falling in step behind her.   The duties of a desert High Lord never ended, but she was ready to meet them.  Opening the door she was met with Marshall Asim, a hard faced black haired man wearing a black cloak over black clothes with a Braviary wearing a Searcher’s Gem next to him.

 “What happened Marshal?” Cleo demand as he would only have his Braviary with him if he was searching for something before he came to see her.  Gesturing for her and her Pokémon to follow him he led them down the hallway. His Braviary took flight and flew ahead and out a window.

 “Everything was going like clockwork M’lady, we had finished setting up most of them when we hit the Northern Mountain, one of the caves is or was used by a herd of Trapinch as their nest, it was empty and it showed signs of a battle.  Thankfully we found the herd at an oasis, but the herd defenders were all injured. The team I sent into the cave discovered a hole in the floor that led into a chamber; it looks like an early Ritual chamber. The battle damage in the cave looks like the herd was attack from the cave mouth and then who ever made the hole was attacked by something inside.  The problem is a sand storm swept the region after this all happened, at least we think so.” Asim as he led her into a room with a map of her territory, marked with symbols for her towns, cities and Pokémon dens.

 “Send word to all towns nearby to be on alert, anything or anyone out of the ordinary is to be reported at once.  Once night falls patrols are to be run between the cities for the next week. The Trapinch are to be relocated to a territory where they can prosper, send word to the School of Aura, I want an archeological team to be sent to study those ruins as soon as possible. And put the Gates on full alert for the next 2 weeks, if people broke into that chamber I don’t want it to be easy for them to escape.” Cleo Ro Clor, Highlord of the Inner Desert commanded as she gazed upon a map of her lands.  What happened when the chamber was breeched, what did they wake up and who were they?  I always knew I would face a trial by fire, this has to be it. Cleo thought as she walked through the palace to the situation room.

  SandyLady: Sorry Doc, duty calls.  Good luck with your problem.

 Brock sighed as he read the last message SandyLady had sent him. ��For a corporate manager she always had the right thing to say to help him. Maybe it was wrong to let her think he was only a doctor, but the problems of a Gym Leader, even one who was away from their gym weren’t for the faint of heart.  Just last week he had helped to take down a pack of Houndor and the alpha Houndom to relocate them to stop a swarm of Paras from raiding the city, thankfully his Marshtomp had evolved and defeated the alpha.  The Pokemon Rangers had a nice valley far enough away that was perfect for the Dark Fire types, and there was supposedly a river full of water types between the valley and the habitat of the Paras, so there was no way for them to go after them or return to their old habitat.

 Getting up from his computer he thought back to Delia’s message.  She had sent a text that she was worried about a new hire at her restaurant, and was that a surprise when he and Misty first visited Pallet Town!  To think Ash had grown up in around a commercial restaurant, and that it was famous!  But the girl was the problem or had a problem.  She had been settling in fine but all of a sudden she had started to jump at anything and seemed to have closed off from people.  Delia had contacted him because she had a Johto accident and he currently was at learning about medicine in Viridian City and was wondering if he heard anything from Johto from either the towm or his position as a Gym Leader.  He had sent back that he hadn’t heard anything, but he didn’t tell her that a few days ago he had run into Karen, a member of the Elite Four, while his party was hunting the pack in the mountains.  Sure she had said something about a monstrous creature she was tracking but Brock didn’t think a Chimera was connected to the girl, but like he told SandyLady, something about Karen was just wrong.  He couldn’t describe it but he’ll trust it for now and contact a few of the gym leaders in Johto through couriers, maybe one of them had heard something.  

 As Brock walk out of his room he never thought that maybe the monstrous creature Karen was hunting was really the girl in question, never thought that maybe others were watching people like him who would help her without question.  Brock never saw the glint of light a pair of binoculars gave off as a silent watcher cataloged his activities.

  OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  Lilith was able to identify the Aura from the sparks and had tracked her to and from a bus stop and was able to finally catch her and was currently tailing her toward the Professor’s lab.  When she saw the girl in question she was able to get a general read of her Aura, this girl was someone with a good heart and a bit of creativity, and watching the interactions she had when she interacted with people and Pokémon between her and the lab she seemed to be a pleasant person.  A good fashion sense, natural beauty and what looked like a great personality and a bit of creativity, the prince had a good one after him.

 Lilith let a smirk grace her lips before she walked a tiny bit faster; she had to time this just right, she reached for a button on a crossing post and hit Serena’s hand.

 “Sorry about that, you need to cross too?”  Lilith asked the honey haired girl.  

 “Yeah, I’m heading toward Professor Sycamore lab, what about you.” Serena asked as she looked at the black clothed girl.  There was something that seemed to pull Serena out of the shell she had around herself.

 “The same, he has some information that I need for my journey.  Oh, sorry I forgot to introduce myself, the names’ Lilly and you are?”  Lilly said she offered Serena a hand.

 “Serena Yvonne, nice to meet you Lilly.”  Serena said as they both walked toward the Professors lab.

 “Nice to meet you too Serena, so have you decided on a goal for your journey?” Lilly asked as the walked toward the lab’s door.

 Serena only blushed and walked faster, opening the door, pretending that she hadn’t heard anything.

“Hello? Is Professor Sycamore around?”  Serena called out as they walked into the building

 “That’s me. I’m up here.” A voice called out from atop a set of stairs opposite the doorway

 “Huh? Hello there. I’m Serena and this is Lilly.”

 “I bet you two are here to become Pokémon Trainers.”  Sycamore said as he smiled at the two girls as he walked down the stairs.

 “She is, I’m here for the information you have on when the Pokémon Contests happen.” Lilly said as she held up a Pokéball.

 “Yup. Also, Professor, I saw this Trainer on the news. The report was all about how he had saved a Garchomp.” Serena said as she went a bit red in the face.

 “Oh, you're talking about Ash.” Sycamore said as Serena smiled. Ash, I knew it!

 “I ran into him at the Pokemon Center.  He said he was heading for the Santalune Gym.” Lilly said, causing Serena to turn and look at her.

 “Santalune Gym? Hmm. Professor, may I choose a Pokémon?” Serena said turning back to the Professor.

 “Of course. And do you have any idea which Pokémon you'd like?” Sycamore asked. Lilly stood back and watch with a smile. A trainers first Pokémon was a mystical moment that only happen once for anyone, and only after a while did people understand what happened to them.

 “Yup.”

 “All right. Everybody out!”  Sycamore called to the right before a woman in a white lab coat led three forms into the room.

 “These are the Kalos Pokémon new Trainers may choose from, Fennekin, Chespin and Froakie. Which Pokémon will you choose as your partner?” Sycamore asked as he turned back to Serena with a smile.

 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

P A treon.com/bardofworlds for special rewards for all patrons

 Crusaders: Knights who launched attack on Homeland and kidnapped Ash and Delia

Aura Link:  The result of two or more auras connecting, the people must meet and spend time with each other first, but when entering an area of 50 miles area sparks seemingly flow between auras unless something is blocking connection

Psi-Changer: Aura Equipment: Gemstone Type Special.  A Gem that creates a false ‘mind’ that is the opposite of what the wearer is thinking, a convert defense against mind readers

[sellyoursoulforagoodfic]

Run Away from Your Problems Chapter 5

Nero x reader

Summary: So that pining wasn’t for nothing, after all.

Word Count: 1659

By the time she reached her room, Nero was lying on the floor with her spare blanket draped over him. He was still awake but clearly lost in thought based off the way he was staring slightly cross-eyed at the wall.

“You okay?” she asked, instantly worried about her friend/crush. It had to be pretty impactful (in both good and bad ways) to have his uncle and father back so abruptly.

He blinked with a sharp inhale that quickly turned into a sigh. “Yeah. Just weird having them back.” Well, at least that confirmed her thoughts.

“Well if that’s all,” she decided the best course of action to at least get through the night was to act like it was not a big deal and hope he would follow her guidance, “get the hell out of the floor. You’re sleeping on the bed, dumbass.”

He couldn’t help but bark a laugh at her bluntness. “Alright, alright. I didn’t want to assume.”

When he stood, part of Y/N was sad to see that he’d donned a t-shirt before coming to her room. The sight of him annoyed and shirtless had been one she was enjoying back in the living room. “Get comfy; the side by the wall is mine.” Perhaps she should have thought about how exactly she was going to get into that spot before she said that . . . Deciding that it was too late to worry about that, she went about changing into some night clothes.

While it’d been years since they were in the Order, it appeared Y/N never lost her shameless habit of changing in front of others, and given his feelings for the woman Nero found this little quirk of hers to be highly distracting. He tried to look away respectfully, but the sight of her stripping down to her underwear with her back to him tested his self-control and his ability to keep his blood flowing normally instead of focusing in his dick. It only got worse when she donned a large shirt he was pretty sure had been his at some point; the sight of her in his clothes was apparently a newfound kink of his. Oblivious to his watchful eyes, she put on a pair of sleep shorts to at least pretend to be modest while sleeping.

The heated look in Nero’s eyes when she turned around surprised her. It immediately reminded her of the look Dante would get right before yanking her to him and bending her over the desk, but that clearly couldn’t be the case with Nero. Her denial insisted that she was misunderstanding his expression, so she simply ignored it. There was simply no way that sort of expression would ever be meant from her coming from Nero. 

Then came her struggle about how to get on the bed. She quickly settled on making him move since it would be the easiest, least embarrassing option. “Okay, you giant, move your legs so I can get up.”

“Just crawl over ‘em,” he whined. Really, the words left his mouth before the full implication of them occurred to him. If he didn’t move . . . how would she . . .

His train of thought was viciously derailed by slapping his stomach. “Lazy ass,” she muttered while starting to awkwardly get to her spot.

“And yet you love me anyway.”

The phrasing of that little taunt made her freeze where she was: straddling his thighs. In hindsight it was hilarious how much like a nighttime drama the whole scene was, but right then she didn’t realize. She could only stare at him with wide eyes while assessing whether or not he was being serious.

Meanwhile, Nero was trying his damnedest not to grab her hips and pull her up the last few inches so she’d be astride his. While he certainly wasn’t complaining about the view, it made his mind start to wander into not-so-friendly territory. Eventually, he managed to drag his thoughts out of the gutter enough to roll so that she was tossed off his legs into her spot.

“You call me lazy and then you can’t even be bothered to finish getting on the bed on your own? Shameful,” he teased, trying to lighten the mood and steer the conversation clear of the obvious tension that’d just taken hold. Thinking either with his dick or about how absolutely terrified she’d looked would surely land him in trouble, so he tried to avoid those situations altogether.

“Um, yeah . . .” she said lamely. There were several moments of awkward silence between the two that consisted of them just watching each other. She didn’t even settle into the bed; she just kept sitting atop the covers with her legs criss-crossed. “You sure you’re okay now that they’re back?” He’s acting weird because of them. That has to be it.

It was endearing, the way she went from frightened to being concerned about him. Of his body’s own accord, Nero found himself sitting up and resting his forehead against hers. “I’m fine, Y/N. Just a lot on my mind.”

She closed her eyes, unable to meet the intensity of his gaze. By all rights, the color of them should make their stare icy, but the warmth that was there as he looked at her made her shiver all the same. It’d been a while since they’d done this, but the position brought out that old temptation to pull him into a kiss all the same.

Lucky for her, Nero was feeling a similar pull, and he lacked the ironclad self-control she’d had for almost twenty years. He found himself leaning in those last few inches and pressing his lips to hers before he really thought about the potential consequences of the action. Well there went that plan, he thought but couldn’t really find it within himself to care as his hand slipped up to cup the back of her head.

Y/N jerked away in surprise, hand coming up to rest on his chest as if to push him away. His grip on her head kept her from getting more than a few inches away. “Nero, what the hell?” she panted. Her heart was beating an embarrassingly fast rhythm that he could no doubt feel at such a simple kiss. 

Those blue eyes widened dramatically at her words. “I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry; I’ll go crash on the couch or something.”

Y/N’s hand clenching in his shirt kept him from going anywhere despite the attempted movement to leave. “No, you’re not going anywhere. What was that about? I know you miss Kyrie, but--”

“I don’t,” he cut her off, “miss her. That’s not . . .” he sighed, trying to grasp for the words he needed. “That’s not what that was about.”

“Then what was it about?”

His hand came up to scratch at his nose; the old tick showed just how nervous he was. She thought he managed to shake that ages ago. “I, uh, I didn’t want you to think this was about her. We weren’t joking when we said it was completely mutual when we broke up. I’ve . . . realized lately . . .God this isn’t as easy as it was when I was a teenager. How does that make any sense? I like you a lot more than as just a friend, okay? I think I have for a long time.”

She was speechless. She’d heard Dante heckle him over the years, but teasing was one thing. This was something completely different. Her free hand drifted up to cup his cheek. It was the only thing she could manage to do that wasn’t just staring at him in complete awe.

“I know you and Dante have . . . whatever it is, and I don’t want to come between you guys if you don’t feel the same. I just suck at ignoring my feelings as you probably know, and--”

Y/N cut him off this time by pressing her lips to his. It only took a couple seconds for him to realize what was going on and become an active participant. That one kiss became two became ten. None were particularly raunchy, but it was a collection of separate little kisses connected by the fact that both of them kept leaning in for more. Several minutes passed before they could pull themselves apart.

Once they weren’t connected at the lips anymore, Y/N felt an embarrassed little grin start to spread across her lips, prompting her to bite her bottom lip to try and stop its spread.

“Hey stop that,” Nero protested, using his thumb to run along her lip. “That’s my job.”

“Not even ten minutes, and you’re already making assumptions,” she teased after nipping his thumb.

“But you’re not arguing,” he pointed out. “So I’m guessing you feel the same way?”

Y/N rolled her eyes. “Yes, Nero, I like-like you. I don’t just go around kissing everyone I meet.”

“Well, you kissed Dante so many times,” he teased, a smile of his own causing the corner of his mouth to curl up. The gradeschool phrasing of her feelings for him made him chuckle under his breath. “But good, ‘cause now you’re stuck with me.” The ensuing kiss was one of those where neither of them could stop smiling, so it ended up with a lot of lip-to-tooth contact.

And it abruptly came to an end when Y/N had to jerk away so she didn’t yawn directly into Nero’s mouth which seemed to amuse the man greatly. 

“Okay, sleepyhead,” he chuckled. “Time for all humans to go to bed.”

“You need sleep, too, jackass,” she gambled.

“Just turn over so I can cuddle you.”

“Fine, but we’ve gotta talk about all this tomorrow.” She might have sounded grumpy about being told to go to bed, but she’d be damned if she didn’t enjoy how it felt when his arm wrapped around her to pull her back flush to his chest.

“Sleep, Y/N.”

[silyabeeodess]

FusionFall Fic: “Sweets by the Seaside”

Just submitted a couple things over to the art contest forum, but I decided to go ahead and share what I’ve done so far here as well.  Here’s what I made for the written portion. Please enjoy! :) 

Orchid Bay and Bravo Beach might’ve been two of the top summer vacation spots, but Silya had a certain fondness for Candy Cove.  It was surrounded by a lush forest that kept it isolated from the neighborhood—keeping city noise and the amount of people bustling around it to a minimum.  More importantly though, if you passed the resting place of the Sweet Revenge and followed the creek all the way to the sea, there were none of Fuse’s monsters stalking about to ruin an otherwise perfect day by the shore.

Unfortunately, the Fusion Fighter leaders thought the same thing.  They had turned the ideal spot into one of their more secretive bases of operations.  As a result, they were always monitoring who came and went from the area.  Numbuh 20,000 was one of the worst sticklers assigned to the cove, chasing away almost everyone who wasn’t there on duty.  If it weren’t for Stickybeard and his crew, the place would’ve just become another dull mark of war.

Stickybeard wasn’t a part of the top rung of leaders, but he was one of everyone’s favorites.  He led with a boisterousness that was easy to rally behind, replacing the fear of battle with the thrill of adventure.  He made Candy Cove’s base lively.  Better still, he handed out some of the best missions—easy and fun jobs that were often a much-needed respite from the war effort.  There was no doubt in Silya’s mind that any Fusion Fighter called to his side would come running.  That went for herself too: The instant she had received a transmission from him to come to the cove, she readied her nanos, packed her supplies, and left.

Dozens of Fusion Fighters had rushed over.  After passing the sentries that kept the Candy Buccaneers at bay, Silya found herself standing on the coast with a swarm of her fellow soldiers hanging out by the water.  Some of them chatted with each other, catching one another up on their adventures. Most swam close to the shoreline, took turns jumping off the nearby cliffs, or reclined on hastily strapped-together rafts.  A few used their hoverbikes as improvised jet skis over the shallow waves.  One group had even brought a picnic.  A self-respecting warrior would balk at the rowdy mob that had gathered just to have a good time all while the war raged on.

That’s what made it perfect. Moments like this were what kept hope alive.

Silya stumbled forward as she was greeted with a forceful slap to the back, “Here ye are, lass!  Shufflin’ in with the stragglers, are ye?”

She’d recognize the red, burly mat of hair tangled with lollipops any day.  She gave the pirate a light smirk, “Considering how I had to slip away from Dex and Mandark, I’m probably lucky to be here at all.”

Stickybeard guffawed at that, walking with her to the water’s edge, “Sounds like those two boys could use some time out of the lab themselves.  I hope ye know that I didn’t just call all of ye here fer a swim though.” Looping an arm over her shoulders, he directed her gaze out to sea, “Fuse’s goons blasted a hole in me ship b’fore we could pull her onto land and try to turn her around. We thought we lost most of our candy when the infection took over. Turns out that a good part of it spilled out into the water first.”

“And you want help getting it back.”

“Aye! There’s not enough hands to go around: We needed a few extra sweet-tooths with strong backs to lift it all.” He turned to bark orders at the Fusion Fighters standing around, “That goes fer you lot! Ye can have yer fun, but ye better scrape every bit of candy off the seafloor! And a portion of the bounty to whoever rounds up enough of it!” As though to highlight his point, he tore a lollipop from his beard and plopped it into his mouth.

Aye aye, captain!  The crowd lifted in a short chorus of cheers in reply and Stickybeard marched off.  Silya paused to watch him go before hitting a few controls on her belt and kneeling to fetch some goggles and an oxygen mask from her pack.  Streaks of red, blue, and gold danced around her as she summoned her nanos.  As she readied her equipment, the trio hovered close by to wait for orders:

“Mandy, use your Finder ability to scan for anything under the water,” she began to direct as she double-checked the mask’s filter, “Four Arms, help collect any loose pieces of candy that may have sunk to the bottom.  Courage…”

She looked down to the little, pink canine that stayed low to the sand, gazing meekly at the water and the large group of Fusion Fighters that surrounded them.  He was one of her newest nanos and he hadn’t seen much experience out in the field.  She had hoped taking a bit of a break would help him find his place on the team.  However, somehow, he was even more anxious than the original Courage: It was going to take some time.

She gave him a reassuring grin, pointing over to a less crowded section of the beach, “Anything we miss could wash up on shore, so wait for us and see what you can scavenge on land.”

He blinked back up at her for a moment, then gave a somewhat relieved smile and nodded.  

Within a few minutes, they had laid out a place for him and set their belongings aside.  Nano Mandy darted off ahead to begin the search. The chill of the water seeped through Silya’s wetsuit as she waded in, biting down on the rebreather’s mouthpiece and adjusting the goggles over her eyes.  As she ducked beneath the waves, the chatter above was muffled to a dull roar and the world around her transformed into a symphony of striking blues and softly greyed greens:

A thick layer of algae carpeted over the large rocks that littered the seafloor.  A large trail carved through them where the Sweet Revenge had pulled into the creek’s mouth only to follow it and later turn around to where the ship now stayed.  There weren’t too many different types of fish around, but there plenty of mussels, clams, and sea urchins buried in the sand or tucked between stones.  Other Fusion Fighters with their own diving gear and assisting nanos wove through the rocks in search of the missing candy.

A blur of red and gold shot past her in an eruption of bubbles as Four Arms jumped in after her and swam off. She looked up and could make out the pink of Mandy’s outfit above the distortion of the water’s surface. Diving even further down, her eyes scanned the seafloor along the trail.  Whatever candy that had fallen out of the ship would more than likely have landed along the same path; however—whether because it had already been collected or carried away by the current—the way was clear.  

I just hope anything we find will be worth saving.  Chocolate dipped in saltwater didn’t appeal to her anyway, although she doubted Stickybeard himself would care too much.  Hopefully, most of the sweets were wrapped and sealed tight.  

Within a few minutes, nano Mandy returned—diving beneath the waves and motioning for Silya to follow her.  They ventured further away from the beach, swimming to one of the larger cliff-faces that sat at the edge of the cove before it spilled out to the open sea.  A chest sat lodged between the rocks.  Bingo! Leaving Silya to do the heavy lifting, Mandy returned to the surface to regain her breath and continue the search. Silya pressed a foot against one of the rocks as a platform, grabbing one of the large, bronze handles along the sides of the chest with both hands, and pulled.    

She couldn’t lift it.  She tugged it into an upright position and inched it away from the rocks, only for her to sink back down with its heavy weight. Eventually, another Fusion Fighter noticed her struggling and came to help—gripping the chest by the other side to balance the load.  She gave the other an appreciative nod, and the two kicked away from the stones in unison to launch themselves back to the surface.  

A tentacle shot out from the crevice beneath the chest to make a grab for it.  A black eye glistened from the shadows and Silya’s heart leapt in surprise as she watched the reddish-orange shape creep into view. The feeling was swiftly replaced, however, by humor at the sight of the tiny octopus that clung to the wood.  Its attempt to yank the chest back was fruitless, the Fusion Fighters carrying the sea creature with them before the latter’s nano Bubbles could gently urge the creature back to its home.  They brought the chest over to one of the waiting rafts, where another pair of hands helped them lift it onboard.  

“There better be candy leftover for us at the end of this,” she heard someone fuss to her left.  Nano Mandy hovered close by, clutching a nougat bar in her arms.  She glared hard at it for a moment, then tossed it onto the raft with a pile of other loose sweets.  

Silya briefly removed her rebreather to tease the Blaston, “Then no slacking off. We gotta make sure to get a little for everyone.”  If her nanos shared only one trait, it was an incurable love of sweets.

“No way!  Only anyone who helps gets a share!”

She and the other pair of Fusion Fighters just laughed at the bratty declaration.  After introductions were made, the group joined forces to try to collect as much as they could.  As expected, not everything they found was salvageable, but that would be for Stickybeard and the other candy pirates to sort through.  They stacked all of the candy into a large pile, sending the raft off mid-hunt to drop what they found off at the main camp, then dragging the raft back for another round.

Silya was scouring through the sand when she found something glistening under it.  She had been at her task for so long that, at first, she thought it was a piece of taffy. Upon closer inspection, however, she saw that it was a pink, speckled shell.  It reminded her of her Courage nano, and she stowed it in her pocket for later.  Maybe she could collect a shell for each of her nanos as a small souvenir.

A kind of motherly worry hit her when she swam to surface once again to check on him only to find their spot on the beach empty.  Safe as the place was, habit cast a wave of fear over her.  Even though—as a nano—he could fly, she thought of him drowning.  Even though the place was clear of fusion monsters, her thoughts went to the Candy Buccaneers not too far away.      

Her heart raced, and she began to swim back to shore when at last she spotted a pink shape several meters away from their spot.  Courage tottered back with an armful of candy he had apparently gathered along the coastline. A few seconds later, seeing her watching him, he waved at her only to clumsily drop part of his spoils.

She blinked, steadying her nerves, then smiled.

Later that evening, as the sun fell and the first stars began to appear in the sky, the candy pirates, Fusion Fighters, and their nanos gathered around a large bonfire.  Stickybeard made a big show of it, taking the opportunity to tell everyone one of his adventures—casting wide gestures with a booming voice to emphasize the action in his story.  Silya’s three nanos all huddled around her, somewhat sleepy but all too intent on staying awake.  Silya organized the shells she had gathered, sorting out which ones to give to the members of her team.

Nano Courage snuggled up against her leg, seeping in the fire’s warmth. Their group had been given a few days off for Stickybeard’s “mission” and had collected plenty of candy already, so—for the most part—they could enjoy the beach for the remainder of their trip.  There was a nano station close-by, so she’d probably switch out everyone to give them all a chance to fully enjoy the summer waves and the time off from the war.

All in all, it was a pretty sweet vacation.

[hyrulessongkeeper]

A Mafia of Sorts 2

“Boss do ya know this monster!?” Layla shouted, bringing Malenchka back to the present. The boss woman bit her lower lip as Red looked smug as a fox who got a chicken. She growled at herself, grabbed the fawn and exited the room.

“Not only do I know that monster, but we might have some trouble comin’ our way, send out news, I need the following people to get here pronto.”

Meanwhile on the other side of town, Q looked at the clock on the building that was near her. Almost time. Then, like clockwork, she saw the tall lanky skeleton in question. He was sharp dressed as usual, his tall frame was in a relaxed pose as he walked to the candy shop. 

Q snickered remembering the first interaction she had with the snarky skeleton. She worked this newsstand for her candy fix, and the skeleton noticed this on his first few routes passing her. He tried to offer her some candy for news which she offered a very polite, “ "uhhhh takin candy from a stranger s'like no no number one pal". 

He had snickered at her, pocketed the candy and walked across the street into the candy shop, bought some candy, and offered it to her. She was initially shocked of course, but laughed it off, and so the routine had started. 

Speaking of, he approached her offering her favorite candy, which she pocketed and gave him the latest news. 

“So got anything to do later sweetness?” he purred as he leaned against the stand, reading the paper nonchalantly. Q scoffed at him and shook her head.

“I say it every time ya ask lamppost, I am a busy gal, ya ain’t takin’ me anywhere.” she growled. He started askin her to places on the regular now, he either did it as a joke, or was actually interested in her, she didn’t care which, but she wasn’t really lookin in that department.

“Ya never know little girl, one day I might get ya with no plans.” he chuckled darkly, it made Q glare at him, making him raise his hands in fake surrender. Q was about to continue when she saw a familiar fawn walking up to her. 

That was odd, normally the crazy girl was off doing odd jobs for the boss, or stalkin her newest infatuation of the time. The fawn approached, faltered a moment at the skeleton, which made Q question even further. She knew the girl didn’t fear many things, and monsters were certainly NOT one of those fears.

Layla finished her approach, asked for the paper and slipped Q a piece of paper. The fawn quickly walked away. Q looked at the note, glared, and began closing shop. 

“What’s the rush little girl?” the tall skeleton asked, looking at the frantic nature of the small Q.

Q glared at him. “None yer business Rus.” she hissed out the last words. Rus backed off and left, knowing when she called him by name it was serious time and that was the time to leave. He was curious though, what was on that paper that that fawn girl gave to Q?

Layla booked it to the next place, careful to avoid the prying eyes and walked into a shop. She found the next person easily, it was hard to miss the monstress that ran the Red Light District. 

“Beast.” Layla whispered. The monster is question lifted her head from her work, the light blue monster raised her head, her abyss like eyes finding Layla’s blue ones.

“What is it darling?” the monster asked.

“Boss is callin’” was all the fawn said. Beast narrowed her eyes and nodded, the fawn left quickly as Beast closed up shop for the day, making her way to the hideout quickly, not knowing a pair of eyes was on her, a large red pupil trained solely on her.

The next three were not hard to find thank the stars. They were all at the usual bar. Havin’ a few drinks and a couple of laughs. They all looked to the fawn when she entered.

“What’s goin on Layla?” Roxas asked, propping her head into her hand and leaning on the bar to look at the little fawn. Layla sighed, she was not a good info runner, the itch the tugged on her arm was growing with her impatience.

“Roxas, Sinny, Cash, boss needs us..” she muttered. The three stood up quickly. Their eyes were narrowed, their cheerful demeanor gone. 

“Let’s go.” the one Layla called Sinny, a big boned, literally, monster said, grabbing his jacket and leading the others out. Layla followed the trio. The last of the crew gotten, Feenie was already with boss, so there was no need to get her after all.

The crew arrived and the Boss looked like she was going to have a small break down, her mind a flurry of thoughts as she paced. When the ones she called for arrived she relaxed a bit but it was short lived when the monster that was in the room was shouting that he was ‘uncomfortable’. 

“What’s goin on boss?” Feenie asked, curious to the commotion. 

“Well, seems our friendly skeletal gang stepped on our toes, and Layla brought him here and well, I know the monster. I met him tha other day, had a talk, didn’t mention the gang to him, but he talked his up big time. They are probably as large as us if not larger.” Malenchka ran her hand through her hair as her crew of misfits looked to each other.

“Look, Boss, we can handle it okay?” Roxas looked to the Boss with concern and it was met with a warm smile. 

“I don’t doubt that, but I was wantin’ to open negotiations with the skeleton gang, and now that might be a bust cause the RIGHT HAND IS IN OUR INTERROGATION ROOM!” The boss slammed her hand against the door and everyone flinched.

“How do ya know he is the right hand boss?” Layla asked softly. The itch grew in her, she was going to need to pay a ‘visit’ to her ‘sweetheart’ soon. 

“I have Q runnin tabs on a guy named Rus, he walked by everyday, wasn’t hard to make the connection. She got some useful info, but the guy is tight lipped, much like us, it was only through some interactions she saw that helped us decern a bit of who is who in their gang.” Malenchka sighed, starting to pace back and forth now. 

“ey cupcake! i know yer out there! come and loosen me up a little here! i am a bit tied up at the moment!!” the monster shouted through the door and there were several groans at the monsters bad pun, and a few hidden snickers. 

“Boss, maybe you can sweeten him up.” Sinny stated.

“WHAT?!” a chorus of voices shouted. The large man rubbed the side of his skull and glared at everyone.

“Damn guys, not so loud! Look, he seems sweet on the boss, callin her cupcake like that. He either has a large pair of balls to be callin’ the dangerous woman cupcake, or he likes her in some fashion.” he shrugged and everyone looked to each other, the logic was there. It sounded pretty sound too.

With a determination in her gaze Malenchka nodded. Sinny was right, she was goin to be the one to get him to be a bit softer. She wouldn’t let no harm come to her family. She was head bitch here, and she was going to show it damnit.  

She opened the door and shut it softly behind her, her eyes cold as she looked at the large and burly skeleton monster in front of him.

“‘ey there cupcake.” he grinned, his smile growing, showing off that glinting gold tooth.

“Red..” she offered. He stared at her, she stared at him. The tension was thick and heavy. She sat down in a chair, crossing her elegant legs, and then her arms across her chest. Red kept eyes on her, not looking away for a second. 

“ya know, if ya wanted a date that bad ya could’ve just asked.” he chuckled.

Malenchka glared and forced the blush that was threatening to creep up her face away.

“Look Red, I’m sorry that this had to happen, you didn’t know about all this, let me just offer ta let ya go and we leave this whole thing as water under the bridge.” she offered.

He thought about it and shook his head, which made her gape. 

“no can do cupcake, gotta reputation and all that.”

“Are you out of your mind?! She could have killed you you know! Let you dust and all that!”

“she wouldn’t have been able ta dust me.” he glared. 

“Yeah? Then how did she knock ya out then tough guy?!” Malenchka was not relenting. 

“needed to get to yer gangs base somehow.”

Malenchka gaped and then glared.

“Was this a trap Red..”

“nah, got it all wrong cupcake, i’m here to proposition ya.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“we want to enter a partnership with ya, you control quite a large portion of this city, we know ya want access to the monster side o’ town, and we want access ta the human side. so boss said to me, he says ‘red, go find their hideout, make an offer they can’t refuse.’ “

“And how would you do that?! I deny most people who ask for territory ya know!” she growled. Most of them got killed too.

“cause ya can’t deny me now cupcake. not only do i know who ya are, where ya hideout is, but ya captured me, maybe roughed me up a bit, and man o’ man would that be the gang war of the century.” he smirked.

Malenchka stood up with such force from her chair it flew backwards, her eyes held such anger that Red flinched from it. She paced back and forth, a habit of her thinking. He had her. He HAD her! DAMN HIM!! He was right, she would have to meet their boss, maybe even meet some of the demands they asked for. All cause they fell for his TRAP!! Even if he didn’t call it a trap it was one, and a clever one at that. Damn it all!!

“Fine...I will meet with your boss.” she relented. The skeletons grin widened more, his sockets lidded, she felt a small shiver run down her spine.

“excellent.”