#and i agree that if wired headphones went away that would be Bad

[sosei]

Every single pair of wired headphones I have ever owned have become unusably broken within a year. Usually less than that. They always broke in the exact same way: The wire connecting them to my phone/computer/whatever wearing out, causing one (or both) headphones to stop working.

I recieved a pair of bluetooth headphones for Christmas in... I think 2017? They lasted until THIS SUMMER.

I have had a better experience with wireless headphones than wired ones across the board.

[lancermylove]

Vines (Oneshot)

Fandom: Obey Me

Pairing: No pairing.

Warning: None

Requested by: Anon

Prompt: Could you please do a one-shot/scenario where the brothers arrive home and a kneels-for-none MC who usually stays out of trouble throws themself at Lucifer's feet begging for forgiveness because they tried to practice reading Devildomish using a gardening book they found in an "antique" shop (read: "magical artifacts") and now vines are encasing the HoL. (Investigation will reveal that they got the magic needed to cast the spell from a watch they bought at the same shop.) Thanks!

A/N: Aww poor MC. Idk why I imagined thorn vines lol. 

Word Count: 1,253

———————————————

"Something seems...off," Satan whispered as the seven brothers got closer to the House of Lamentation.

Asmo glanced towards his older sibling and nodded in agreement, "I sense unfamiliar magic."

"Maybe someone is playing a prank or somethin'," Mammon mumbled, holding his hands up with palms towards the sky and shrugging.

"Not everyone is like you," Levi replied while shaking his head, his purple bangs slightly rustling in the wind.

While the younger siblings conversed, Lucifer listened quietly, but his focus was on the road ahead of him as countless theories raced through his mind. Was this magic as harmless as it seemed, or was it a trap? Did someone want to hurt his family? Where were you, and were you alright?

As soon as the House of Lamentation was in sight, all of them froze in their tracks. Asmo placed one hand on his chest while the other covered his mouth. "Who could have pulled such a prank?"

"I don't sense any danger, so it seems like a prank," Satan spoke, studying the rainbow-colored vines.

Beel's eyes sparkled as he scanned the plants encasing their house. "They remind me of a rainbow pizza. Can I eat them?"

"Beel...don't," Belphie yawned and tugged on his twin's sleeve, "we can eat after this mess is sorted."

Lucifer touched his index finger and thumb to his forehead, letting out an exasperated sigh. How he wished he could have one peaceful day. Gathering himself, the Avatar of Pride marched inside through the main entrance, ready to rebuke the one responsible.

"What am I going to do?" You mumbled under your breath as you paced by the grand staircases. "Maybe he'll forgive me if I apologize? What if I start explaining as soon as they walk in?"

As soon as you saw the eldest brother, your body reacted automatically. Kneeling at his feet, you took a tight hold of his pants and lowered your head, much to Lucifer's shock.

"I am so sorry! I don't know what happened, so please forgive me! I swear I didn't mean it." You apologized continuously without pausing to take a breath. Out of the corner of your eyes, you saw two gloved hands taking hold of your shoulders.

"Stand up," Lucifer said in a commanding and almost irritated tone.

You released his pants and stood up, but your eyes remained glued to the ground. You considered apologizing again but decided to wait on one of the brothers to speak.

"I considered you to be a well-behaved individual, so explain how this situation came about." The Avatar of Pride crossed his arms and glared down at you.

"I-I...," you hesitated, taken aback by his sharp tone.

"Sweetie, it's alright. Take a deep breath and explain what happened." Asmo gently said, stepping beside you and resting his hand on your back.

You glanced at the Avatar of Lust and nodded before speaking. "Since I am going to be here for a while, I wanted to practice reading Devildomish. Then I came across a gardening book and purchased it...the salesdemon even complimented my book choice."

"Then what happened?" Asmo flashed a sweet smile, encouraging you to continue your story.

"The book was a bit difficult to read at my current level. There was one section that seemed easier, so I read the pages out loud, and this happened." You shifted your eyes to Lucifer but quickly averted them after seeing his vexed expression. "I don't know what happened, but I am sorry! Please...don't be upset."

The eldest demon sighed and rested his hand on the top of your head. "My apologies for being harsh. I thought you came under the influence of one of my brothers and pulled a prank."

"H-Hey, you're makin' me sound like a bad guy," Mammon rubbed the back of his head. "Though this would make a great prank."

"Mammon..." Lucifer's voice sent a down everyone's spine. The Avatar of Greed backed away from his older sibling, preparing to run.  

"Hold on a moment," Satan said, furrowing his eyebrows, "something doesn't seem right."

"I agree." The raven-haired demon nodded, "This situation is quite unusual. (Y/N), where is the book you purchased?"

You hurried down the foyer and grabbed the book with your damp hands. Rushing back you nearly tripped over the long runner but managed to recover.  Your cheeks were a bright red as you held the work in front of Lucifer. "H-Here."

He raised an eyebrow and took the book from your hand. "Where...did you purchase this book?"

"The antique shop."

Satan glanced at the book and chuckled, "Are you certain you went to an antique shop?"

"Y-Yes. Why?" You titled your head to one side and blinked in confusion.

"'Cause that's a spellbook," Mammon answered, leaning in close to Lucifer to get a better look at the book.

The eldest sibling glared at the Avatar of Greed and hit him on the forehead with the bounded pages, earning a groan in return. "Yes, this is a spellbook. Regardless, due to your lack of magic abilities, you still should not have been able to cast the spell."

"Interesting." Satan tapped his right index finger on his chin while his left hand rested on his hips.

"Normie, can you use magic?" Levi asked while twirling his headphone wire in his fingers.

"Are you hiding something from us, (Y/N)?" Satan teased with one eyebrow raised and a smirk.

"H-Huh? N-No, I am not."

"All of you stop teasing (Y/N). Can't you see how nervous they already are?" Asmo hushed his brothers and rubbed soothing circles on your back. "Don't listen to them, sweetie. We know you are not hiding anything from us."

"How can you be certain, Asmo?" Belphie asked in a tired voice, his head leaning against Beel's arm, "Humans are known for being deceiving."

"Someone solve this already," Beel mumbled as he rested his head on his stomach. A loud grumble echoed through the foyer, startling everyone. "I am hungry..."

You recalled your journey through the antique shop and remembered that the book was not the only item you bought. "Oh, I forgot to mention this watch. I thought it was unique and got it along with the book."

"May I?" Satan asked, pointing towards the watch and holding his palm out to you.

You removed the item and placed it in Satan's hand, watching his reactions. He carefully examined it and exchanged a glance with Lucifer. "So, how will we rid the House of Lamentation of these vines?"

"What about solvin' the mystery first?" Mammon asked with his eyes fixed on the watch. He had to resist the urge to snatch the wristwatch and sell it for top dollar.

Satan shook his head, knowing Mammon's intention, but proceeded to explain. "This watch gave (Y/N) the ability to cast the spell. Looks like they were completely innocent after all."

Belphie chuckled, "You should be careful of entering unknown shops. You never know what you'll end up with."

"At least the vines are harmless." Asmo chimed in, "Hm, you know these vines are quite beautiful. Can we keep the vines for today? The House of Lamentation will be a little less dreary for the day."

"Um...everyone..." Levi called out and pointed towards Beel.

The Avatar of Gluttony could no longer hold his hunger pains, so while the rest of you deliberated, he began chomping down on the vines. All of you stared at him with various emotions - shock, awe, disgust, and amusement.  

"At least he's eating his greens," Asmo chuckled.

"Still better than him trying to eat a castle pillar," Mammon shook his head. The rest of you couldn't agree more.

———————————————

➣ Obey Me Masterlist ➣ Buy me a Ko-fi or Commission?

[1tsnoya]

HI love can you do a HC where the reader is in like a 'team slumber party" w the whole Karasuno vbc bc hONESTLY my heart is so soft for that idea like they're all jus vibing 😭😭 love my babies so much

IMPORTANT | a/n: i believe that i’m shadowbanned so my message history disappeared and my posts will probs slack for a bit >:( pls don’t mind </3 super sorry babes ! hopefully it gets resolved soon

✧･ﾟkarasuno sleepover✧･ﾟ headcanons

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* :･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

↳ it was like 2 in the morning and the gc with the volleyball club was blowing up

↳ everyone was awake and it was just CHAOS

↳ so it made you wonder — wtf would a giant sleepover with us all be like

↳ so u asked just that in the gc

↳ the responses were...

tsuki: no way

yams: cmon it’d be so much fun!!

kageyama: sure

hinata: LETS DO IT

noya: FUCK IT UPPP

tanaka: YUH GET INTO IT

daichi: sounds interesting

tsuki: fine

suga: i’m down!

asahi: me too!

yachi: i’m scared

kiyoko: it’ll be fine yachi

↳ so it was scheduled for friday night at 6pm

↳ and when everyone got there WOW it was so loud there was so much going on

↳ everyone finally calmed down when pizza was ordered hksksjhs

↳ a debate about pineapple on pizza went down

↳ HUGE SUPER MARIO PARTY GAME HOLY SHIT

↳ there were 12 of you (including yourself) and max was 8 players so kiyoko, yachi, asahi, and tanaka sat out

↳ tanaka was yelling at noya and hyping him up though and so was asahi at suga

↳ hinata picked diddy, kageyama picked the goomba, tsuki picked bowser jr, yamaguchi picked shy guy, suga picked yoshi, daichi picked donkey kong HSHSJJSH, and noya picked wario obvi

↳ so. much. SCREAMING

↳ tanaka: “NOYA OHMY- dont fuck this up you need to roll 4- LETS GO BABY LETS GET A-”

↳ he rolled a 4 pure luck and him and tanaka started running around screaming “LETS GOOOOO”

↳ tsuki: “you have 0 stars”

↳ noya: “wtf i’m still gonna win-”

↳ daichi was clueless at first but then really started getting into it

↳ suga was hyping everyone up but was super determined to win

↳ kageyama had the WORST luck. he could have sworn that the game was against him

↳ hinata made fun of him HAA

↳ SUPER CLOSE GAME BETWEEN SUGA AND TSUKISHIMA

↳ tsuki won are u fr?

↳ after another round, tanaka and noya suggested spin the bottle

↳ sigh

↳ they obviously were hoping to kiss kiyoko

↳ she played ONE round. ONE

↳ landed on yachi ofc<3

↳ SO MUCH YELLING WHEN IT WAS JUST A QUICK AND SMALL PECK BETWEEN THEM

↳ yachi was so nervous it was hilarious

↳ OH AND THEN IT LANDED ON TSUKISHIMA AND YAMAGUCHI

↳ tsuki did it like it was NOTHING

↳ cue the screaming. again

↳ after a few more turns, it started getting late so asahi took some uno cards out of his bag

↳ everybody changed into their jammies and sat in a circle

↳ hinata was wearing some old tee from grammar school as his pj shirt and the first and second years FLAMED him

↳ anyways. uno game. right

↳ tell me why daichi got the worst cards every turn

↳ hinata was peeking at other people’s cards

↳ kageyama was pissed off by how many cards he kept having to pick up

↳ so. many. plus 4 cards. from suga

↳ but ohohoh he got some karma

↳ yamaguchi placed down a +4 to give to yachi (he picked it up and was s o s o r r y) then she placed another one down to give to hinata, THEN HE PLACED ANOTHER +4 AND LASTLY TANAKA ADDED 4 AND GAVE IT TO SUGA

↳ 16 fucking cards- he was scared

↳ yamaguchi won <3

↳ and then asahi whipped out another game

↳ family feud....

↳ you can already tell how bad this is gonna get

↳ team #1 consisted of: hinata, kageyama, daichi, yachi, nishinoya

↳ team #2: tsukishima, asahi, suga, kiyoko, tanaka

↳ yamaguchi wanted to be the steve harvey of the night so you helped him keep track of points

↳ in the gc, asahi texted a msg for someone to bring a button

↳ tanaka brought a “nut” one 💀

↳ you placed it in the middle of the table. boom. what could go wrong?

↳ round one began...

↳ tanaka vs daichi

↳ yams: “name something you find sand in after a day at the beach”

↳ the fucking button SLAMMED AGAINST THAT TABLE AND SOUNDED LIKE IT WAS GOING TO BREAK

↳ tanaka: “MY ASS-”

↳ the GIGGLING THAT ESCAPED EVERYONE’S MOUTHS-

↳ daichi was just “:O um. my turn-or?”

↳ noya: did he get the point?

↳ kageyama: he is on the OTHER TEAM

↳ hinata: i guess but it was a good answer..

↳ i’m pretty sure you can already guess what team won

↳ a few more rounds were played and it was like midnight so you put a movie on

↳ tanaka noya and hinata sat in the front, laughing at every single thing going on

↳ kageyama: “hinata if u don’t shut ur FUCKING MOUTH”

↳ yamaguchi: “can you raise the volume?”

↳ tsukishima: “no they just need to shut the fuck up before i go over there and-”

↳ a pillow was thrown...

↳ shit went down..

↳ asahi: “come on guys let’s just watch the movie”

↳ daichi threw a pillow at him

↳ cue the surprised pikachu face @ daichi

↳ yachi was sCared

↳ so her, kiyoko, and you snuck off to the bathroom while chaos erupted between the boys

↳ kiyoko: “okay when they all fall asleep, i want to mess with them”

↳ yachi: “are you sure that they won’t kill us-?”

↳ OHOHOHO a plan was devised

↳ you three waited until the screaming died down a bit and then walked out

↳ feathers everywhere, uno cards all over the floor, and the nut button was smashed...

↳ wtf happened you left to the bathroom for like 6 minutes-

↳ “ummm...”

↳ “so...”

↳ “bed..time?”

↳ it was 1:30 in the morning and i’m sure you can already tell who was wide awake

↳ daichi, kageyama, asahi, yamaguchi, and tsukishima were trying to get ready to sleep

↳ you and the girls were trying to stay awake for your little plan

↳ hinata, noya, tanaka, and suga were just... wired

↳ yeah did suga surprise u? nope not me. that boy is chaotic at sleepovers don’t @ me

↳ they set up a smash game (while the others were sleeping) so tsuki woke back up to beat everyones ass-

↳ it started getting loud until daichi got up like - “shut✨the fuck✨up✨”

↳ so everyone quieted down HSJSHS

↳ you joined in on the game and teams were formed

↳ you and tsuki vs hinata, noya, and suga

↳ tsuki: “just pls don’t fuck this up-”

↳ you and him won😫obvi

↳ at the end when it was only tsuki and suga, he kept RUNNING AWAY FROM HIM

↳ suga was just — :p u cant catch me

↳ and when he did.. yikes..

↳ everyone eventually fell asleep

↳ except you, kiyoko, and yachi

↳ kageyama grumbles in his sleep, daichi sleeps like a serial killer, suga was just-he looked like an angel, asahi was lowkey breathing loud, noya and tanaka were SPOONING, hinata kicks in his sleep, tsuki sleeps with his headphones in?? and yamaguchi turns around every second

↳ it was time for the plan nehehehe

↳ kiyoko put makeup on kageyama, tanaka, and asahi

↳ yachi started doodling on daichi’s, noya’s, and yamaguchi’s faces

↳ you put an alarm set to go off in the morning and blast ‘deepthroat’ by cupcakke on tsuki’s phone ***yes he still had his headphones in

↳ and you all put some creepy clown doll right next to hinata’s face so that it could be the first thing he wakes up to

↳ next thing you know it’s 7AM and all you hear is “hUMPME FUCK ME-”

↳ tsuki was the first one awake and was already grumpy

↳ he thought that it was noya and tanaka’s idea to mess with him so he like shoved them awake

↳ “cupcakke? really?” and then he stopped to look at their faces

↳ yachi drew some fucked up shit on noya’s face and tanaka was wearing red lipstick with pink eyeshadow

↳ “it’s too early for this...” HE LEFT TO THE BATHROOM LMFAO

↳ oh god and then everyone woke up

↳ you and the girls were fake sleeping and listening to it all go down

↳ breakfast was.. interesting

↳ hinata was traumatized from that clown incident (he scream sounded like it came from his little sister) the boys were trying to rub off their makeup and it was smudged all over their faces, and the other boys were just ... trying to ignore the drawings on them

↳ ofc yachi drew a mustache on daichi

↳ oh and noya was trying to play the drawings off as tattoos😔

↳ you don’t even wanna know about breakfast-

↳ everyone agreed on pancakes and well...

↳ batter was everywhere and the smoke detector went off

[moonbeambucky]

Hey Neighbor (Part 3)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader Word Count: 2686 Warnings: none unless you count awkward/cringeworthy moments

Summary: You had a plan and then life came along with one of its own. With your future almost derailed you worked hard to get yourself back on track and finally everything seemed to be going right… that is, until your new neighbor moved in.

A/N: This is a slow burn people so sit tight! A huge thank you to my wonderful beta Sam @buckyofthemyscira​ Feedback is always appreciated!

PART 2 | HEY NEIGHBOR MASTERLIST

You paced in your apartment for a few minutes, debating what you should do. The gift card was a lovely gesture but you can’t accept it, Bucky is a stranger even if he’s your neighbor, and even though he inconvenienced you it would be wrong to take this.

But then again, maybe he really meant no harm at all and it would be rude not to accept this. It certainly would be put to good use.

All of these thoughts raced through your mind as you walked the length of your apartment. The walls truly were thin and you knew Bucky was home, meaning if he heard you come home then he knew you had the gift card. Was he expecting you to thank him?

Fuck it, you’re going over there. You went to the bathroom to make sure you looked alright. You aren’t sure why you cared so much but you quickly brushed your teeth and dabbed a bit of perfume on your pulse points. With a final look at yourself in the mirror you put your phone in your back pocket, grabbed your keys and the gift card and shut your door.

Your teeth were clenched as you made a fist and knocked at Bucky’s door, holding your breath as you heard him shuffle towards the door to answer it.

“Y/N, hey!” Bucky seemed surprised to see you.

His hair was loose, falling on his shoulders. The blue of his t-shirt brought out his eyes, even in the dimmed hallway lighting.

“Hey Bucky,” you replied easily, as if the words fell naturally from your lips. Holding up the gift card you smiled and Bucky mirrored the gesture.

“I see you got it.”

“Yes, thank you. This was really sweet but honestly you didn’t have to do this.”

Bucky lifted his arm to rub the back of his neck, exposing part of his waist as his shirt ran up. Your eyes couldn’t help but catch the deep V line sculpted on his body, making you unconsciously lick your lips. As Bucky spoke you lifted your eyes to meet his again.

“I felt really bad. I didn’t mean to be a shitty neighbor. I’m not really used to this.”

“Having neighbors?” you asked with a giggle.

Bucky smiled. “Not ones so close.”

“That’s the city for ya,” you said awkwardly, looking everywhere else except Bucky.

“So listen,” Bucky began, clearing his throat. “You just got back from class right? If you wanted, how about I make you a cup of coffee? I definitely owe you a lot, even more than the gift card.”

The thought of having coffee with the embodiment of sex on legs made your knees wobble. You politely said you couldn’t impose.

“You wouldn’t be. I was about to make a pot myself, I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

There probably should have been more insisting on your end, saying that you couldn’t come in because you also have a lot of work to do but somehow your mouth had a mind of its own as you agreed to coffee.

You wanted to keep things light, and so as you followed him inside you joked, “How do you get any work done with all that music?” but the moment you stepped into his apartment you wished the ground would open up and swallow you whole.

Bucky’s apartment was a mirror of yours with his bed and couch placed in the same spot against the wall, though it felt smaller with the dark taupe covering the walls, but what really made things feel cramped were the instruments scattered all over the apartment.

Several guitars were hung along the brick wall with a variety of amps on the floor. A large keyboard was laid out on the trunk that served as his coffee table in front of a black leather couch. An electronic drum kit sat beside a large desk, with wires attaching to a device beside his computer.

“Music is my work.”

You were stunned into silence, feeling completely stupid for asking him to not play music when you were home. You wanted to turn around and go back to your apartment where you could shake away the cringey feeling that rooted itself into your bones.

“Ohh,” you managed to squeak out.

“Yeah…” he trailed off, baring his teeth for an awkward smile at your revelation. “But don’t worry about the sound, I went out earlier and got headphones.”

Bucky turned to hold up a bag from the floor and you recognized the name of the professional audio shop.

“I never needed them before. My old landlord had lost most of her hearing so my music never bothered her.”

Bucky turned to the small kitchen counter to start preparing the coffee. He hadn’t offered you to sit, not that you saw a chair, so you stood watching his shirt cling to his muscles as he reached up to open the cabinets. They were different from yours, their honeyed tone showing a little age but not old by any means.

He pulled down a small coffee maker that was clearly made for a single person. You’ve already had more cups of coffee today than that tiny thing can produce in a sitting. Bucky was an obvious bachelor, even if you didn’t know about the revolving door of women you could see it in the way he kept his place.

He had been here just over a month but the apartment looked as if he had been settled in for years. Beside the bag he previously held up were others filled with things that hadn’t been put away. His bed wasn’t made, but the dark blue comforter was mostly strewn over the mattress with just the corner pulled a little too low.

His TV was opposite the bed on a dresser whose bottoms drawers hung open, with a bunched up shirt preventing the middle one from fully closing. Things weren’t dirty, it just needed a good tidying. Behind you was a large bookcase, with each shelf overstuffed with books and graphic novels, loose music sheets spilling out from the top, a few Funko Pops and some other knick-knacks.

“Milk and sugar?” he asked, turning around as one hand gripped the handle of the refrigerator.

You nodded with a smile as you continued to observe his apartment. Above the couch was a large framed poster of the movie Psycho and briefly recalling the conversation you heard this morning you really hoped he was actually talking to his mother.

“Shit.”

You turned around to find Bucky watching you stare at the poster, though his eyes moved to the couch.

“I’m sorry, I should have asked you to sit down,” he said, apologizing for his manners as he moved the keyboard off the trunk and on to his desk. “I don’t usually have people over.”

You both know his statement was a lie; he has people, women specifically, over every night but what he meant was he doesn’t usually entertain.

The couch scrunched under his weight as he sat beside you, handing over a mug of steaming coffee. He warned you it was hot and so you held it as the ceramic heated your skin before placing it on the trunk. Bucky had done the same and so you felt comfortable enough to do so as well, even though asking about a coaster would have been just as simple.

“So you mentioned you’re in school. What are you studying?”

You were aware of how close his knee was to yours as he turned to face you. Nerves made you grab the cup of coffee first, sipping on the still too hot liquid before answering.

“I’m going for my MSW. I’m nearly finished too, I just have this last class before I somehow have to fit a ton of hours for an internship into my schedule which is a little difficult to figure out.”

“You work full time too, right? It must be hard doing both.”

Bucky’s blue eyes were focused on you, deeply staring into your own. All you could do was nod your head in response. He was enchanting, clearly a great listener; it’s no wonder he can charm the world into his bed.

You fell into a conversation about Stark Industries and how you came to work there, going to school part time as you worked to pay the rent.

“It feels like I’ve wasted so much time because of the road I had to take. I keep picturing myself at the end, finally graduating, knowing all the stress and sleepless nights were worth it.”

Bucky watched as the passion you had for social work poured off your lips. There was something deeper than wanting to be handed a diploma, he could see the fire burning in your eyes that you had for this field, something you left unsaid.

“I’m sorry, again, if my music kept you up and distracted you.”

“No, I’m sorry Bucky. I was rushing to class this morning and I probably could have said things in a better way.”

You shared a quick smile with him, bringing the mug up to your lips to mask the way your cheeks wanted to stay pulled tight to cement the smile on your face. Staring at Bucky made you feel giddy and warm all over.

You suddenly realized how long it’s been since you’ve hung out with a man that isn’t Steve. With all your school work keeping you busy you hardly had any time to notice what was missing in your life, not until now where you felt butterflies fluttering away in your stomach. Wow, you definitely needed to get out again.

“So you said music is your work, what do you do?”

Bucky tipped the mug back to finish the last drop of coffee, before smoothing his fingers over his lips.

“I’m a composer actually.”

Well that was unexpected. You definitely judged Bucky too quickly, with the loud music and louder women. Without seeing him you figured he was some punk in a band, who stayed up all night and didn’t give a shit about his neighbors because he wanted to live out the party lifestyle of a wannabe rock star. But as Bucky explained you found out he was so much more than that.

From a young age he was musically gifted, picking up melody and sounding it out by ear as he sat in front of the piano. His mother Winifred had also played and taught him what she could until Bucky’s enthusiasm for playing outgrew the time and knowledge she had to teach him. She and his father George hired a piano tutor who noted how talented Bucky was, especially for a young child.

Bucky’s ambitions grew as he wanted to learn more instruments, guitar, violin, percussion.

“I can’t do horns,” he joked, not having the patience to practice proper breathing for the brass instruments.

Bucky has been composing music since the days you were pining over boy bands, selling his first work to a commercial for an international airline.

“Wow, I feel like the biggest asshole for telling you to stop.”

Bucky chucked at your admission, “It’s okay Y/N, really. I should have realized I’m not in Long Island anymore. I promise to use the headphones for every instrument that I can.”

“Thanks Bucky,” you smiled, sighing a breath of relief although you still felt embarrassed. While trying to lift the weight of guilt you somehow made it worse. “I’m sure our other neighbors would appreciate that too.”

Bucky’s face twisted with concern. “Shit. Have they complained too?”

Your palms covered your face as you shook off your stupidity. Why was this man making you say all the wrong things?

“No, not in a bad way,” you tried to convince him. “Have you met Clint? A bit shorter than you, dirty blond hair.” Bucky shook his head back and forth. “You must have seen his fiancée then, beautiful redhead, Natasha?”

Again, Bucky shook his head. “Well they live above you.”

Bucky cringed at the thought. If you heard all the noise they certainly have as well.

“So it’s actually kinda funny…” you began, telling Bucky that Clint takes his hearing aids out when he was playing. “They’re both really nice, you should say hello if you see them. Plus now I can tell Clint I won our unofficial bet.”

Bucky’s head quirked with curiosity. “Well, he called you the Guitar Hero,” you admitted, watching a smile form on Bucky’s face.

“I don’t just play guitar,” he said proudly.

You smirked, “I know. That’s why I was calling you the Music Man.”

Bucky’s hair blanketed his face as he tipped his head forward to laugh at your nickname. When he sat up again you noticed the crinkles around his sparkling eyes, and the way he smiled from ear to ear showed off perfect teeth, beautifully bright against the beginnings of dark stubble that started to fill in along his jaw.

Butterflies swirled around your stomach like a tornado as your heart rattled against your chest. This sensation was bubbling up the longer you stared at Bucky. Why were you feeling this way? You couldn’t distract yourself, not with a man, especially not this one.

“I get it now, the walls are thin,” he stated, still shining that beaming smile.

Your brain jolts to life again, as common sense starts to combat the small army forming to defend your developing crush. Your brain wins this round however, as you remind yourself the noise wasn’t just about the music.

“Oh yes they are. Our beds are on the same spot on the wall,” you said, raising your eyebrows and widening your eyes to infer what you were talking about.

Bucky’s cheeks blush a deep shade of pink with embarrassment. “Oh… I’m….” He’s too nervous to apologize for what you both know you’re referring to.

“I wear headphones to sleep to drown out the noise.” Great, just keep making it worse Y/N. “But on the bright side, the banshees all sound like they’re enjoying themselves.” Nope, that didn’t help at all.

Fear of saying something even worse had you quickly fumble up an excuse to leave, telling Bucky you had a paper to work on so you thanked him for the coffee and practically ran back to your apartment, dreading every future interaction you would have with him.

Later that night Bucky opened the door for a woman who swayed inside with determination. He offered her a beer and with lust in her eyes Dot licked the neck of the bottle before bringing the top to her lips. Bucky turned away, shuddering with embarrassment at how hard this girl was trying.

He knows what she wants, what they all want but Bucky hasn’t believed in relationships for a very long time. It’s something that works for other people whereas he enjoys the physical connection; release your needs and move on.

Bucky wished he cancelled tonight. He felt… awkward after you left. It made him shift his bed forward a few inches away from the wall. He didn’t realize just how much his entire presence has affected you.  

With his arms caged beside Dot’s head he moved above her, thrusting his hips and checking to see that the bed didn’t touch the wall as his motions rocked it. Her nails dug crescents into his back as she began to cry out in pleasure. Bucky forced his lips against hers, an action she felt in her heart but Bucky just wanted to shut her up, hoping you hadn’t heard her.

Shutting the door behind Dot who begged to stay Bucky went to the bathroom, splashing cold water on his heated skin. His reflection stares back at him but he doesn’t want to look, wondering why his mind has been wandering to places he doesn’t want it going. He dries his face, letting the towel hang over the sink as he shuffles back to bed, staring at the wall for a few lingering moments before he turns over and hopes sleep will come quickly.

PART 4

[whosemorales]

Sensory Overload

Peter slumped further into his chair, his light brown curls falling onto his face. He sat at the back of the class next to Ned as his history teacher droned on about... Peter didn't even know anymore. He turned his focus to the window as the howling from the storm caught his attention, the rain hammered against the roof as the thunder rumbled through the ground.

Peter had tried to focus but it was no use, he was having a sensory Overload. His head was killing him, his skin was hot and itchy, he could smell the chemicals being used in the science labs down the hall, he could hear the scratching of his classmate's pens on paper and he could taste the food he had had the weekend before. It was sickening.

He knew it was bad but he didn't know how bad. Aunt May was in London, she had gone to finish her medical course meaning that Peter was now staying at the avenger's tower, he was scared to meet them at first 1. Because of Civil War and 2. Because he was going to be meeting his childhood heroes, but once he did meet them he realised there was nothing to be scared of. They had all grown really close, they were one big dysfunctional family.

An ear-splitting noise suddenly brought him back to the present and he realised that class was over. He slowly grabbed his stuff and made his way out of the classroom with Ned and into the bustling halls of the school. The noise was astronomical and he had no idea how he was still upright, he could hear each individual slam of each locker and the shuffling of everyone's feet, the lights were blinding him and the smell was absolutely awful. He needed to get out of here.

Quickly grabbing his stuff out of his locker he made his way out of school with Ned following close behind, but a soon as he opened the door to leave he was hit with a wave of nausea, outside was 10 times worse. He could hear the honking of car horns and the screeching of their tires, he could smell all the toxic fumes coming out of nearby factories, the rain was making his clothes stick to his skin making it burn even more.

"PETER!!!" Ned yelled, Peter spun around to face his friend who was looking at him with a worried expression.

"Are you ok?" Even though Peter knew Ned didn't yell, that's what it sounded like. Peter gave him a small nod.

A car honked behind him, turning around he saw happy waiting for him, waving to Ned he walked quickly walked over to the car, hoping that it would cancel out some of the pain. He opened the door to the back seat and climbed in careful not to shut the door to hard.

"Hey, Kid." Happy greeted.

"Hi," Peter mumbled.

Happy frowned slightly at the kid's behaviour, Pete would normally be smiling and would immediately start telling Happy about his day, but Peter just sat in the back and closed his eyes, he looked like he was in pain. Something wasn't right.

"Hey, Pete are you ok?" Happy asked slightly worried.

"Yeah, I'm ok," Peter whispered just loud enough for Happy to hear.

OK now Happy was really worried this wasn't like Pete at all, but he decided not to push the kid, so he pulled out of his parking space started to drive to the tower.

*One hour later*

Happy pulled up to the tower and parked the car. He called out to Pete that they were there. Peter mumble a quiet 'goodbye' to Happy before opening the door and making his way into the tower.

When Peter got to the lobby he quickly made his way over to Mr Starks private elevator, when the doors opened Peter climbed in and asked Friday to take him to the penthouse floor. As the elevator started to move Peters headache got worse he could hear the metal grinding together as the elevator went up he could hear the conversations of people on the other side of the tower, his skin was burning now and he wanted to rip off his clothes, he could taste last night take out and the light in the elevator was starting to blind him.

He hadn't even realised that the elevator had opened and that everyone was walking over to him with worried expressions. The pain was finally too much, he couldn't take it anymore, letting out a blood-curdling scream he dropped to his knees and pressed his hands to his ears trying to stop some of the pain.

Everyone's eyes went wide and they rushed over to Peter, Tony was the first to get to him, he put his hand on Peter's shoulder but that just made Peter scream again, quickly taking his hand away he looked back to the others, he didn't know what was happening.

"Sensory Overload." Peter managed to say.

Steve's eyes went wide and he quickly told everyone to stand back and not say a word.

"Friday," Steve called out, "Turn off all the lights, shut the blinds and make the Penthouse as soundproof as you can."

Even though Steve was quick he wasn't quick enough, the pain was too much for Peter and he finally passed out.

"Cap what's happening? What's wrong with him? Why did he pass out?" Tony asked frantically.

"Calm down Tony, he'll be ok. He was having a Sensory Overload but I've never seen or had one that bad before." Steve frowned and Bucky nodded silently agreeing.

"What's a Sensory Overload?" Clint questioned.

"A Sensory Overload is when all your senses get dialled up higher than they normally would meaning everything is brighter and louder, it's normally like that for the whole day. Bucky and I normally get headaches, but the pains never been bad enough that I pass out." Steve answered, looking at Peter with concern.

"Can I pick him up?" Tony asked moving closer to Peters unconscious form.

"Yeah, put him somewhere comfy and make sure that the lights are off and that it's as quiet as possible." Tony nodded, slipping his arms under Peter's torso and under his knees.

Picking Peter up he took him down the hall and opened the door to his room, walking over to Peters bed he pulled the covers back and placed him down carefully. Tony slowly slipped his arms out from underneath Peter and brushed the light brown curls off his face. He smiled slightly at Peters sleeping form, he looked so peaceful, what did Tony ever do to deserve this kid. Smiling Tony pulled the covers back on top of Peter.

"Friday?" Tony whispered.

"Yes, boss?" Friday whispered back.

"Can you inform me when Pete wakes up or if something happens?"

"Of course."

With that Tony quietly made his way out of the room and closed the door. When he got back to the living room everyone was waiting for him.

"When will he wake up?" Nat asked Steve.

"I'm not sure," He frowned, "Maybe in an hour or two."

"How do you stop them?" Wanda wondered aloud.

"You can't, it's one of the downsides to having enhanced powers. Like I said before Bucky and I normally just have to lay low for the day and try to stay somewhere quiet, but we've never passed out we've only had headaches."

This time Bruce butted in. "If we can't stop it then maybe we could make something that will cancel out the noise, like special earphones and some sunglasses to help with brightness."

"That actually might work," Bucky nodded.

"Well then let's get to work," Tony announced already making his way over to the elevator. Bruce quickly caught up to Tony and they both headed down to the lab.

*One And A Half Hours Later*

"-so if we connect this wire to the mainframe of the headphones it will cancel out the noise if we push this button an-"

"Boss?" Friday called out cutting Tony off.

"Yeah, honey?"

"Peter just woke up."

Quickly putting their stuff down Tony and Bruce made their way over to the elevator and up to Peters room. Tony was the first to reach th door, knocking softly he waited for a reply.

"Come in," Peter chimed.

Opening the door Tony saw a much better looking Peter, he had a bright smile on his face and his eyes were full of excitement he looked nothing like the kid that had entered the tower one and a half hours ago.

"What happened?" Peter asked as Tony took a seat at the end of the bed.

"You don't remember?" Peter shook his head slightly.

"I remember getting in the elevator but everything after that is kind of a blur," he recalled.

"Well we were all sitting in the living room when we heard the elevator ding, we expected you to come bounding around the corner but when you didn't we all got up to make sure everything was OK, when we got to the elevator we saw you standing there and then you let out a horrible scream and dropped to your knees, we all rushed over to help but when I touched you it only made it worse then you said 'Sensory Overload'. Steve told Friday to close the windows and to make it as quiet as possible but it was too late because a second later you passed out."

"Wow they've been bad before but I've never passed out," Peter admitted.

"How often does it happen?"

"Twice a month but sometimes it's more depending on the weather."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Tony asked.

"Well I didn't think it was serious and I could always handle it so it didn't seem like that big of a problem," Pete shrugged.

"Kid if you're in agonising pain or if your in any pain you need to tell someone OK."

"OK," Peter agreed.

"Now what do ya say you come help Bruce and I in the lab, we're working on some special earphones and sunglasses to help with your Sensory Overloads," Tony said getting up off the bed.

"Really Mr Stark!! That would be awesome," Peter exclaimed jumping out of bed and running past Tony.

Tony rolled his eyes and ran after the kid. "For the last time, it's Tony!"

[capricornus-rex]

could you maybe right something with cal where the reader and cal are maybe doing repairs on a part of the mantis but the door gets stuck and the end up locked in the area for a while? and they’re both obviously in love with one another but just can’t really admit it to each other? if that makes sense lmao. you’re writing is super good btw!

Hi Anon! I’m really sorry that it took a while because I got caught up with the prior requests and my OC x Cal fic ;;;; I hope that I can make it up to you by finally writing this fic request. I hope you’ll still enjoy this story! I’M BACK TO WRITING, I SWEAR. I just enjoyed my break way more than I should ;-;

“Little Secrets That You Know That I Never Told” | Cal Kestis x Reader

Also in AO3

Tags: Subtle hints, secret crush, slightly jealous! Cal, mutual pining, bonding, warm and fuzzy feelings, fluff

Masterlist

Greez takes your hand to nestle a small pouch of credits onto your palm. It’s neither too heavy nor light, though the slightest movement warranted the metal inside to clink against one another.

“Alright, here’s the money for the parts and I’m sure you’ve got a good eye for quality!”

You bobbed your hand with the pouch to feel its weight, and then you thought out loud to Greez.

“Why don’t you come with us, Greez? Nothing bad about a little stroll, it’ll help in stretching your legs,”

“Aww no, my ship should not be out of my sight within a one-inch radius!”

“Uhh… Don’t you mean one-mile radius?”

“No, I did mean a one-inch radius!” pressed the Lateron.

Cal stepped in just when your banter with the captain has concluded. He asks you if you’re ready and you say yes. Even from a distance, you can feel the hostility from the town; in Cal’s case, it sort of reminded him of Bracca, and he sensed your uncertainty disguised as caution.

“We best be careful, Cere found a lot of Imperial signals here,” you recall.

“Then stay close to me,”

It came to Cal naturally, but when he realized what he just said, all of the color drained away from his freckled cheeks. You turned to him and he returned the gesture with a nervous side-glance that evolved into a full look; he was greeted with a small yet warm smile from you and you mouthed the word “Sure” within his earshot. Immediately, the color returned to his cheeks.

The two of you came across a shop that seemed promising, and so you enter the establishment, making your presence known by the ring of a chime that hung by the door—or lack thereof, since it was only a canvas curtain. A young man—perhaps in the same age as you and Cal—and his attention was drawn to the sound. He shifted in his seat, as he was originally facing away from the door, and vaulted over the main counter.

“Well now, what can I get for you?”

“Yeah, uh,” you fished out the compact holodisk and switched it on. “We have a list of parts. Do you happen to have these?”

The young shopkeeper leaned closer to the point that the hologram’s light pooled the entirety of his face, he makes a pensive look: chin between his fingers, squinted eyes, and a long “hmm” as he skims your list.

He clicked his tongue, “Yep, I think we have those,” then there was an awkward pause mainly on your end, so he decided to continue on. “Name’s Seff by the way.”

“Oh cool,” your lip stretched into a straight smile and you shrug your shoulders. “Could you, like… at least show us where they are, Seff?”

While you and Cal weren’t exactly there to make niceties, both of you continued to be polite to Seff. But Cal sensed something else from the boy—it was his seemingly desperate attempt to get your attention. Though he was comforted by the fact that you were uninterested in the subtlest way possible. Seff gestured the pair to the wall of wares; when you took the step ahead towards it, Cal stayed close by your side and shot Seff a sharp glance as he obscured the shopkeeper’s view of you—practically standing in the middle.

BD-1 obliged to flash his copy of the list through lens in the form of a hologram, he did this while perched on Cal’s shoulder. Meanwhile, you browsed the racks upon racks of parts. You felt a little playful and picked up a cylindrical lens shaft and held it to your eye level, the other end points to Cal—who was still busy looking for the other part on the list—when he noticed you in your little game, you finally caught a glimpse of him and his smile through the glass lens.

“Ooh, I think I spotted some treasure!” you chirped.

“Harty-har-har,” Cal cooed, barely even doing the impression of a space pirate. He carefully lowers the lens away from your eyes with his the tips of his fingers, revealing a cheery smile painted on your face.

You teasingly bit your lip to him, as if holding back a laugh, before returning the lens to the shelf. Endeared, Cal himself smiled privately as he looked rummaged through the shelves; he attempts to catch a glimpse of you, angling out his head just to get a wider view than just his periphery and caught your little smile while examining a power cell. You continued to search for the remainder of the list until the last item was ticked off.

“Do you honestly think the damage is that bad?” Cal thought out loud.

“I… I guess so. But we can only really tell once we come and look at her,”

“Ditto. But still, don’t you think these are a bit… excessive?”

That prompted you to check the list again, seeing that you’ve completed the list, you look at the haul and start to agree with Cal. The two of you exchange looks and give each other a resigned shrug of the shoulders. It didn’t take long for both of you to stay in the shop, but the whole time, you did what Cal has told you earlier—to stay close to him.

You approach the counter and paid for the parts, fishing out and counting the credits of silver and gold from the pouch that Greez handed over to you.

“Pleasure doing business with ya,” Seff bade as he swept the credits to him with his forearm.

“Thanks for the help,” you casually said, grabbed the rucksack, and then turned away.

The pair of you exited the shop and you can finally be yourself again with Cal. You slung the rucksack over your shoulder as you made your way to the ship.

“Persistent bugger, wasn’t he?” you quipped jokingly to Cal. It was your own way to relieving yourself from that rather awkward encounter, he concurred with a chuckle.

“Well, did you get all of them?” Greez greeted you from the entry ramp.

You beamed and showed off the rucksack to the Lateron, “Yup! Surprisingly, this one shop had it all. I hope you have the tools for it, though.”

“Oh sure, there’s an entire toolbox waiting for you in the engine room,”

Cal went ahead to the engine room—which was essentially his bedroom—and searched for the particular toolbox that the captain referred to. There were only a few compartments installed in the wall of the room, so it didn’t take long for the redhead to find the said toolbox.

The damage was in the room where the escape pods are, but the affected area was the auxiliary engine—which occupied an entire wall on the opposite side. The size of the auxiliary engine room was strictly enough for two people. You were in first and Cal followed behind after bringing in the tools, you were undisturbed by the hiss of the door and the clattering of the metal.

“Mind if I join in?”

“Come on, the more the merrier!” you squeaked.

You dismantle the grate covering the internals of the power hatch. You take a step back to get a full view of the damage—tendrils of gray smoke wafted out of the narrow crooks between the conduits, tiny orange sparks flew out of the dangling wires. It was an electrical mess.

“This is gonna take a while,” you groaned sardonically.

“Well, we better start then,” Cal gently bumps his fist against your shoulder and approaches the power hatch.

You set down the rucksack of parts and went one by one on which goes where. Being the expert scrapper that Cal was, he worked much quicker and handier, though that didn’t bother you—you’re just glad you weren’t the only one that’s going to tinker the Mantis until it’s completely repaired.

To keep your boredom at bay, you fished out the foldable headphones from your jacket’s inner pocket—you fix the gadget on your head, a single button on the right earpiece prompted a song to play. Even at a low volume, given the silence that hung in the room with you and Cal, he was able to hear and make out the song just by listening in on the rhythm and muffled lyrics.

“Mou houlingting gaan Sugaan Essena…”

He had to pause from unscrewing the auxiliary compressor when he heard you softly sing out those lyrics. Of course, he recognized it—it was The HU! When he turned his head, he found you lost in the song and found your antics quite adorable—bobbing your head to the rhythm, parroting the percussion with your fingernails tapping against the metal, and even strumming an imaginary fiddle in the air with your fingers assumingly flicking in the same pace, intensity, and timing as the actual guitarist.

It took you a second to acknowledge that Cal has been watching your little concert with yourself, you noticed it in your peripheral vision. This time, he didn’t dare to hide the smile—his main reaction of endearment to seeing you getting too lost in the song.

“You listen to The HU?”

You pulled down your headphones, “Yeah, I do! I love that band. Sorry, was my volume too loud?”

“Nah, don’t sweat it. I love that band as much as you do!”

Your eyes lit up in the poorly-lit engine room. You take off the right earpiece and offered, “You wanna listen in too?”

Cal nodded and you scooted yourself closer to him; your headphone was the kind that can have the headband extended or be safely split into two for sharing—you did the latter and fixed it on his ear. The slightest touch of your fingertips pressing against the side of his face was enough to make his heart skip a beat. His eyes became shifty as they struggle to look away and avoid eye contact from you, hoping that you would never notice the blush burning all over his face.

“There we go,”

The song continued to play in both of your ears. It’s already reached the chorus, and your spontaneous reaction to hearing that climatic portion was to belt out your best impression of the main singer’s pitch, accompanied with the fade-out at the last syllable. Cal and yourself did this in your own tones, it didn’t matter if it was off-key or that your pitches didn’t match in some parts, both of you enjoyed the song regardless.

When the iconic chorus—the namesake of the song—came in once more, for a moment, the two of synched and sang your hearts out while facing in front of each other. It felt like the two of you were doing your own musical gig inside the engine room when you’re supposed to be working on the repairs.

However, you went the extra mile—you mimicked the guitar riff that followed after the chorus and worked on the auxiliary engine panel at the same time. When you caught Cal looking at you again, you snapped out of your performer alter ego and awkwardly laughed.

“Sorry, I just… I tend to do this when I work. It’s a bad habit,”

“No, it’s perfectly fine. You seem to be having fun anyway, so I wouldn’t wanna wish to ruin that,”

You cleared your throat and bit your lip. The awkwardness gradually dissolved, the two of you exchanged shy smiles and continued to work and listen to the music spilling out of your headphones’ earpieces. You went on with your tinkering and repairing until the ship went dark: all the lights went off in a cascading succession, the engine hum had gone totally silent, and the door that the two of you came through was stuck and sealed shut.

“What happened?” exclaimed Cal.

“I don’t know! I can’t see anything!”

“BD, give us some light, would you?”

“Beee-woo!”

A switch clicked in BD-1 and his little lens was able to light up your spot in the room. The tiny droid shines his light on the entire panel in search of the potential cause of the ship’s blackout.

“It can’t be me—I was working on the secondary hyperspace compressor.”

“Can’t be me, either. I’m working on the wiring,” Cal’s eyes scaled up to the top of the engine panel. He points at something with his soldering gun. “There’s the auxiliary’s main power cell. That must have went out while we were working.”

“Then it must be from the outside, could be Greez,” you assumed.

“Yeah, but we can’t waste our breaths slamming the door calling for help like trapped scrap rats,”

You looked around the room, squinting your eyes to see better with the little light you’re left with through the cracks and gaps of the ship. You tap Cal’s shoulder, with BD-1 subsequently aiming the spotlight in your general direction.

“Look, there’s a vent. Maybe BD-1 can fit through and tell Greez to switch on the main power grid,” you suggested.

The droid chirped in agreement. He hopped off and skittered towards the said air vent. Cal crept to him, unfastened the screws and removed the grate for BD-1 to crawl into. Without a word, the droid entered the ventilation shaft in the hopes of finding a way out into the main interior of the Mantis.

“Well, I guess we’re stuck here. No point in fixing the ship without any light,” you sighed.

“Yeah, guess we’ll just have to wait for BD,”

Suddenly, a spark livened up your brain with an epiphany.

“Does Greez understand droidspeak?”

There was a silence, you’re hoping for a swift reply from Cal, but it seems to he too had the same realization. He didn’t answer you right away, you assumed that he had returned to the engine panel and probably didn’t catch what you said. You pawed the air, searching for Cal until you felt something solid touch your back and then fall with you.

At first, you didn’t even notice that you didn’t land on the hard, metal floor. In fact, you felt rough fabric and cracked leather on yourself. It took you a bit of a while to realize that you landed on someone else.

“Arrggh, took a wrong step there,” Cal groaned. In the darkness, you heard his voice was too close.

“Oh gods, I’m sorry!” you scramble away to his side and off of him.

You crawl to the wall and press your back against that as you watch the shadow of him toss and turn until he sat up. Your heart raced and your cheeks flared. You were grateful for the blackout obscuring your face, because not a single good excuse exists for you to save yourself if Cal did see the look on your face.

Though, you could’ve sworn you felt his heartbeat pace so quickly underneath his leather armor.

“No, no! I’m fine, [Y/N], really,” he insisted as both of you regain your bearings in the dark.

Either of you have to squint their eyes in order to see better. Only silhouettes appeared in your vision, you can make out the shapes but the facial expressions were difficult to read.

“Well, guess we’re stuck here,” Cal pointed out.

“And we even sent out BD-1 to tell Greez about this—and I know for a fact that he’s not fluent in droidspeak,”

“Crap, you’re right,”

Both of you released a concurrent sigh. Cal drew his legs closer to his chest, crossed them together and secured them around his arms. The stale air hummed through the vents—including the open one where BD-1 went through—but both of you cannot deny that the air’s gotten a bit thinner.

“I hope they’ll get his message,” you mumbled.

“I’m sure Cere will fill Greez in if he doesn’t get BD-1,”

Cal took a slow, deep breath and nestled himself next to you. The silence was a bore and you decided to engage in small talk while waiting for BD-1 to come through.

“So, when did you first find out about The HU?”

“Well, I was in a cantina having a drink with an old friend, Prauf, after working hours—it was the end of the work week, so we decided to unwind—and then this cantina had no live performers that time, which was a usual thing on that particular day. So instead, they had their speakers on and put on a virtual performance—they played that band’s top record and it just stuck to me.”

“Which is Sugan Essena?”

“Exactly. How did you come to know the band?”

“Nothing memorable, really. Overheard it being played from a frequency channel in a store owner’s radio. Coincidentally, a few of my friends knew it and I just had to ask.”

The two of you got lost in each other’s own stories over something mutual, which felt genuinely nice. The air gradually became stale by the minute, the longer the time seemed to have dragged on, the more anxious you became; Cal sensed this and he wanted to comfort you so bad, but he was afraid that it might turn out awkward or worse.

The least he could do—at least, that’s what he thought in his mind—is to stay close and keep you company.

You felt him scramble in the dark, two soft but heavy thumps sounded on the floor—he had just stretched out his legs and let out a leisurely exhale. You felt his sleeve brush against your bare arm.

“So, that Seff guy seemed to like you a lot,” Cal initiated, though he seemed to be disgruntled by his own topic.

You scoffed in the guise of an indifferent laugh, “Guy wasn’t really up in my alley, honestly. I was just trying to be polite as best as I can.”

“Oh? He wasn’t your type?”

You shake your head, quite fervently and added, “Nah. I have someone else in mind.”

You looked to him when you said the latter and managed a smile. A ray of light persisting through a gap in the ceiling shone over his left eye, making his jade iris twinkle and you watched it shift ever so slightly. His eyes were one of your favorite features of him—placing first place before his delightful freckles and his fiery, scarlet hair in third—but it was your own little secret.

To a certain degree, Cal was relieved, but then the next thing he thought about was whether or not to admit his feelings to you. He’s troubled himself with the thought for perhaps a couple of months now—according to your own counting—that you curiously wonder if he has ever felt it.

Surely he has, being quite the empath that he is. You’ve come to the presumption that both of you are just too shy to admit it to each other.

The predicament has made you forget about your headphones, which you took off and unintentionally dropped to the floor when the blackout happened; the music was still playing but it had already switched to a new song. Cal used the Force to bring it to his hands.

“Air’s getting a little thin, don’t you think?” you blurted softly.

Cal didn’t reply; he saw that your eyes are droopy, your breathing is slow and labored, and your face relaxed into a calm expression. He can barely suck in enough air to fill both lungs. The deprivation was getting to him as well.

Your entire body felt heavy too. Your eyes gaze down on Cal’s open hand facing up. You clench your own fist while fighting your hand from inching closer—you came to a stalemate with yourself and flimsily plopped your hand on the floor, just mere centimeters away from Cal’s. You parroted his posture—head leaning against the wall, staring at the ceiling, conserving your air with slow, calm breaths.

Bit by bit, you felt warm flesh nudge against the curve of your hand between the thumb and the forefinger—it was Cal’s knuckle. Your fingers flinched, and slowly he intertwines his with yours; it began with the first inches until it evolved into a clasp. You comforted each other with the warmth radiating from your hands that is now spreading across your bodies. It was a little silly, naïve idea at first, but you could’ve sworn you felt his heartbeat follow after yours.

A relieved sigh escapes your nostrils as you manage a smile—not bothering to hide it this time, you thought: if he sees it, so be it. Cal indeed felt your smile and did so himself. He dared to squeeze your hand softly but securely while the two of you wait out the power to return. Just when everything seemed to be taking too long and hopeless… the lights burst back into life, all the air from the surface blew in vigorously into the auxiliary engine room, and the entire power panel bellowed!

“Oh good, the power’s back on,” Cal mumbled, slightly groggy from the oxygen deprivation.

“Good, I knew BD would come through—and Greez too,”

You and Cal, together, fixated your eyes on your intercrossed hands. He shot you a fond, tender gaze that’s usually paired with his boyishly charming smile—the kind of smile that’s so hard to read, whether he was teasing with you or mischievously planning to mess around. You’re convinced that it was the former.

“Shall we get to work?”

“Let’s take a breather for a few minutes…” you shuffled in your seat, not planning to let go of his hand any time soon. “This actually feels nice.”

Cal slowly lowered his head so his cheek rests atop your head. You felt his thumb run across the skin of the back of your hand while the two of you rest and recover until, eventually, both of you drifted to a nap.

[gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights]

Rating: G

Summary: Kagami and Nino plan a surprise party for Adrien's seventeenth birthday. With help from their friends, nothing can go wrong this time. Nino's even invited an extra special guest who's sure to make Adrien's night. (Nino & Kagami & Adrien friendship, with a side of Ladrien)

Word Count:  3101 | Chapter 1/3

Notes: written for @marinetteplztakeabreak through the @mlbforblm charity drive!  The donations go directly to Color of Change, an online organization for racial justice centered on the Black Lives Matter movement.  I highly recommend checking them out and reblogging/donating the mlbforblm posts if you’re able!  I have one fic slot left as of 7/23/2020, and many other talented writers and artists are offering incentives as well!  There’s even a giveaway going on; see the mlbforblm blog for more info!

XXX

“Hmm.”  Kagami’s brow furrowed as she stared at Nino’s Operation: Totally Swank Party binder.  The two of them sat on a bench in the park, where she had agreed to meet him after slipping away from her fencing lesson.  “Bribing the bodyguard is a proven technique.  Get me a list of action figures his collection is missing, and I’ll have them by tomorrow.”

“Way ahead of you, dude.”  Nino tore a piece of notebook paper out.  He’d done his research last night after a long phone call with Adrien.  “Glad I can count on you.”

“Of course.”  She neatly folded the paper and slipped it into her jacket pocket.  “I’ll have them shipped to your apartment.  Do you have a plan to dispose of his babysitter?”

Nino sighed and flipped to the page with a doodle of Nathalie with horns at the top.  It was a much more tentative outline than what he’d prepared to deal with the Gorilla.  Hopefully Kagami would be able to help him with that.

“Nathalie’s whole job is to suck out all the fun in my bro’s life.  We’ll never be able to throw this party with her in the picture.”

He’d tried the past three years.  From Hawkmoth transforming him into the Bubbler, to Nathalie locking him in a closet, to Gabe himself nearly arresting him for trespassing, each had been a total bust.  At this point Adrien probably wasn’t expecting Nino to try.

But Adrien was his best bro.  Nino would never give up on throwing him the most poppin’ party ever.  

Plus, this year, he had a secret weapon.  One that even Kagami didn’t know about.

“You seem quite prepared.”  Kagami squinted at the page.  “You’re sure Max can play his part?  The Agrestes use my mother’s security technology.”

“Positive.  He and Markov can hack anything.”  

Max had already wired into the speaker system last time they threw a party for Adrien.  Of course, on Adrien’s birthday, the mansion would be too obvious a target.  That’s why the plan just required getting his bro out of the house altogether.

“I’ll trust you, then.  What exactly is my role?”

Nino grinned, placing a hand on her shoulder.  “You, my good bro, will be sneaking Adrien away from his fake fencing lessons.  Adrien says you’ve done it a thousand times, and his pops still barely knows who you are.  You’ve got like, some kind of invisibility superpower.”

“I simply have practice.  That’s all.”  She took his pen and began making notes in his binder.  “Nathalie will realize we’re gone approximately forty-five minutes after we leave.  The Gorilla has set patrol routes for finding Adrien when he goes missing, which I can map out for you.”

“If he takes the bribes, that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Kagami was already sketching out a map of the city on a clean sheet of paper.  Geez, how did she remember all that?  He doubted he could even draw the path from his apartment to Alya’s.

“I don’t want to take any chances.  We cannot fail Adrien.  Do you have a venue reserved already?”

“Huh?”  Nino scratched under his hat.  Kagami was pretty rad, but it was hard to follow her train of thought sometimes.  “Oh, right! I was thinking the hotel.  Now that Chloé’s not a total jerk—”

“No.  Too obvious.  Nathalie will find us within the hour.”  Kagami frowned and tapped the pen against the back of her hand.  “The ice rink will be our best option.  It’s out of his bodyguard’s patrol zone, and it can accommodate all of Adrien’s friends.  We hid there all the time when we were dating, and no one ever found us.”

“Sure, sure, there’s just one problem.”  He grinned nervously and tapped his fingers together.  “I, uh, don’t know how to skate.”

Kagami tilted her head and.  “Really?  No matter.  His birthday is twenty-one days away.  You have plenty of time to learn.”

Over her shoulder, he watched her write “Teach Nino to ice skate” in her crisp print.

“Uhh… well, I guess that works.”  Hopefully everyone else knew how to skate already, or they could just enjoy the food and cake from the seats surrounding the rink. Nino could technically do that too, but he didn’t want to miss hanging out on the ice with his best bro.

“I’ve seen you parkour with Alya.  You seem like you’ll learn quickly.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”  Nino chuckled.  “Just get ready to watch me starfish out there.”

Her lips pursed thoughtfully.  “If it proves too difficult for you, I can try to find a backup location.  I doubt one exists that will fit everyone you’ve listed, though.”  She flipped back to the guest list, which included all of their classmates from the last few years, Adrien’s whole fencing team, and a few other friends like Luka and XY.  Pretty much everyone Adrien had ever interacted with was on the list.

Except for one special guest, but Nino had left her out on purpose.

“No, no, it’ll be fine!  I’m just joking, dude.”

“Oh.”  Her face pinked a bit.  “How are we going to deliver the invitations without alerting Nathalie or Adrien’s father?

“I’ve started planning that too.”  Nino flipped forward a few pages.  “The most important guests—ones who aren’t gonna snitch on us—will get their invites a week in advance.  The rest will get theirs by text on the day of.  If they can’t come, they can’t come.”  It was the best solution he’d been able to come up with.  He was sure that even if people did have plans, most would drop them for a chance to party with Adrien Agreste.

“Hmm.  It still feels too obvious.  The fencing team in particular may give us up.”  She frowned before scratching a few names off the list.  Well, she was on the team herself; she would know better than anyone who could be trusted.  “You’re right though.  This does seem like the best plan.”

Nino grinned.  One nice thing about Kagami was that when she gave a compliment, he knew it was sincere.  If she agreed with his birthday plan, then it was as close to foolproof as it could be.

“Sweet.  I think that covers everything for now.”

“A very productive planning session.”  Kagami nodded before holding out her fist.

Nino laughed and bumped knuckles with her.  After a year of hanging out with him and his bro, Kagami was finally getting the hang of fist bumps.

“Meet me at the ice rink at eighteen hundred on Saturday.  We’ll begin your lessons then.”

She closed the binder and handed it back to him, then stood and walked away.

“Skating lessons with Kagami, huh…” 

This was either going to be a legit time, or he was going to make a total idiot of himself.

XXX

“Come on, Nino, you’ve got this!”  Alya called encouragement as she and Marinette lapped him again.  He frowned at their backs.  How was it that even Marinette, certified clumsiest girl in Paris, could be a better skater than him?

“Focus, Nino.”  Kagami snapped her fingers.  She stayed near him, slowing her pace even though she could’ve skated rings around him.  “Your girlfriend’s praise will only become reality if you practice proper technique.  Keep your weight centered.”

“Right, right.”  He pushed off from the handrail and tried not to flap his arms.  This time, he made it a solid twenty seconds before he slipped and went skidding across the ice.  His hat slid off in the opposite direction, but Kagami quickly retrieved it.

“Don’t try to go so fast.  Catching up to Marinette and Alya isn’t your goal.”  Kagami’s advice was blunt, but helpful.  Nino didn’t mind her getting to the point.  He knew his skating needed work, and no matter how many times he fell, she didn’t lose patience with him.

It was nice that Alya was so far ahead, honestly.  It meant she didn’t see him look like a total dorkasaurus every time he fell.

I’m doing this for Adrien, he reminded himself each time.  He didn’t need to be a pro skater.  He just needed to be able to stay upright.

“You make it look so easy.”  He frowned as Kagami glided backwards.

“I’ve been skating since I was six.  It makes a relaxing hobby.”

He snorted.  “How is anything about this relaxing?”

“Hmm.  Perhaps you’re thinking too hard.  It makes you hesitate, place your weight incorrectly.  You’re a musician, aren’t you?”

“Huh?  Yeah, you know I’m DJ-ing for the party.” He had no clue why Kagami was asking, though.

“Skating has a rhythm.  Maybe you’ll feel more comfortable timing your strides with music.”

He tapped his chin.  “Y’know… that’s not a half bad idea.”

“Not half bad?  Does that mean only half is good?”

“No, no, the whole idea’s good!  It’s just an expression.”

He slipped his headphones over his ears and picked one of the slowest songs on his playlist.  It was a waltz in ¾ time; hopefully that wouldn’t trip him up.

“Alright, here goes.”

He took a deep breath and pushed off from the wall.

One-two-three, one-two-three.  The music was smooth as the ice under his skates.  Kagami kept pace with him, smiling as he counted the beats under his breath.

Something about it did feel different.  Maybe it was that he stopped overthinking; maybe it was just the magic of music.  Either way, he went the whole six-minute song without falling on his butt.

“Not half bad.”  Kagami smiled.  “...Did I use that right?”

“Heck yeah, dude.”  They fistbumped.

“Way to go Nino!”  Marinette gave him a high five as she and Alya caught up.

“Thanks for teaching my boyfriend, Kagami.  I owe you one.”

“You owe me nothing, Alya.”  Kagami’s cheeks turned red.  “We’re all working together to ensure Adrien’s birthday is perfect.  Teaching Nino is just one step in that plan.”

“Well, I still think it’s really cool of you.  Oh!  And speaking of the party, my mom says she can cater.  I’ve already sworn her to secrecy.”

“Awesome!  What about you, Marinette?” Nino took his headphones off to better hear the conversation, but his legs still knew what to do.  “Are you gonna get Adrien a totally rad birthday cake or what?”

“Yeah, absolutely!”  She nodded.  “I’ll just have to drop it off before the party.”

“You’re still sure you can't come, girl?”  Alya asked her.

“No, sorry.  I promise I would if I could, but I—I’ve already made a commitment.  But I’ll have the cake here on time, I swear!”

“And one of his fifty birthday presents, right?”  She nudged Marinette with her elbow.  Marinette nearly fell, but Nino wasn’t sure if that was from Alya’s bump or her words.

“I—I don’t have those anymore!”  Her shoulders slumped.  “It turns out, planning presents fifty years in advance works a lot better if you can see the future.  They’re all out of style by now.”

Alya laughed at that.  Nino couldn’t help noticing that Kagami had gone silent, though, her gaze locked on the ice in front of them.

“Something wrong, bro?”  He asked her.

She shook her head.  “Adrien’s party won’t be perfect if Marinette isn’t present.  I thought she of all people would understand how much she means to him.”

Marinette gasped.  “I… I’m sorry, Kagami.  Adrien does mean the world to me, and… I promise, I’ll make it up to him.”

Nino was forced to stop as Kagami grabbed the handrail and locked eyes with Marinette.  Some kind of silent conversation seemed to pass between them.  He looked to Alya for help, but she just shrugged.  By now he thought he’d understand the girls, but maybe some things would always be a mystery.

“See that you do.  He deserves that much.”

This wasn’t some kind of love triangle over Adrien again, was it?  Kagami had stayed good friends with all of them after she and Adrien broke up.  Marinette was probably still crazy in love with him, but that was nothing new.

“It’s okay, dudes.  The party’s still going to be perfect.  I’ve got a special surprise planned for our favorite bro.”

He winked at Alya, who grinned back.  She’d been the one to help him pull it off.

“A surprise?”  Marinette clapped her hands together at the same time Kagami raised an eyebrow.

“I didn’t factor any surprises into our plans.  Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

“It’s not much of a surprise if everyone knows, is it?”  Nino said.  “But you’re right, I should have told you, Kagami.  I just wasn’t sure if it would be awkward for you, knowing who Adrien’s crushing on now and all…”

“It’s not an issue.  Adrien is a wonderful friend.  That is more than enough for me,” Kagami replied.

“Adrien’s... crushing on someone?”  Marinette asked, her eyes wide.  

Oops.  Kagami might have taken it well, but Nino should’ve waited until Marinette was gone.

“What’s the scoop, babe?”  Alya raised her eyebrow, and Nino threw his hands in the air.

“I thought you already knew!  Why do you think we worked so hard to get Ladybug to show up for his party?”

Marinette caught hold of the hand rail before her legs slipped out from under her.

“Adrien has a crush on Ladybug?”

“Oh.  That’s all?”  Kagami asked.  “I’ve known that for months.”

“You have?”  

“Was it supposed to be a secret?  He keeps posters of her in his fencing locker.”

Marinette still looked like she was blue screening.  Alya glared at Nino, and he gave a nervous smile.  What was he supposed to do?  Kagami had a point; the dude wasn’t exactly subtle.  

“Anyway.”  He coughed.  “Our bro likes Ladybug, and she’s coming to his party, so he’s going to have a totally cash money time.”

“Cash money?  You’ve been hanging out with Luka and XY too much, babe.”

Marinette giggled at that.  She got her feet back under her, and they started skating in unison again.  So… she wasn’t that upset?  Whew.

“Oh, speaking of XY, I gotta get him here to help set up the special effects,” Nino said.  “I already got permission from Phillipe.  We’re going all out, courtesy of the actual cash money Kitty Section and XY’s last collab made.”

“How did we end up friends with so many rich people?”  Alya mused under her breath.

“It sounds like the plan is in motion, then,” Kagami said.

“Yeah, it’s going to be perfect!  Adrien will love it.”  Marinette grinned.  “Thank you two for putting all this together.”

“Anything for my best bro.”  Nino shot her finger guns.

“He deserves a party worthy of his friendship,” Kagami added.

And he was going to get one.  This year, of all years, Nino refused to let anything go wrong.

XXX

Three weeks later, on the night of September twenty-first, Nino paced the blue chairs surrounding the perimeter of the ice rink.  His friends wove between the chairs, setting up tables of food and games.  His turntables were already in place at the head of the rink, and XY was hooking them up to the speaker system.

“Nathalie’s schedule?”  Nino asked as he passed Max.

“Hacked and adjusted.”  Max flashed a thumbs up.  

“Great job, dude.”  He clapped him on the shoulder before moving on to Rose and Juleka’s station.

“Presents?”

“Stacked and organized!”  Rose saluted.

“Sweet.  Make sure to leave some extra space, there’ll be more where those came from.”  He continued his path to where Chloé was lounging in a chair and scrolling through her phone.

“Chloé, status report.”

“No trace of Adrikins on Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, or YouTube.”  She flipped her ponytail.  “You should check your tone, though.  I’m not some peon you can just order around.”

“Right.”  He rolled his eyes.  Classic Chloé.  At least she was taking her job seriously, though.  “Thanks for all your hard work.”

“You’re welcome.”  She smirked.

Her job was one of the most important.  If the media caught wind of Adrien’s location, the party would have to split before he even got here.  To prevent that, Max had jammed the wifi and cell service so that only his computer, Chloé’s phone, and Nino’s phone had wifi.  If anyone wanted to post about the party on social media, they’d have to wait until after it was over.

Everything was looking perfect.  There wasn’t much else to do but wait for updates from Kagami.

19:00.  Arrived at the court.  No sign of Adrien.

19:04. Adrien has arrived.  Bodyguard bribed and driving away.

19:05. En route to ice rink.  Adrien was suspicious, but believed my excuse of buying him birthday orange juice.

Nino shook his head with a smile.  How did Kagami type all that without Adrien noticing?  At least everything seemed to going smoothly on her end, too.

He started pacing again.  According to Kagami, a casual stroll from the school to the ice rink took twenty minutes.  It was longer than Nino wanted to wait, but the location had to be far enough away to avoid notice.

His phone beeped again.  He unlocked it to see a selfie of Kagami and Adrien smiling wide, though Adrien was practically unrecognizable in the oversized hoodie and bright blue wig Kagami had borrowed from Juleka.

Alya’s chin rested on Nino’s shoulder.  “Aww, look at them.  All grown up and ready to rebel.”

“Psh, Kagami’s been rebelling for ages.  Adrien could still learn a thing or two from her.”

“Oh look, she sent another one!”  Alya clicked his phone.

In this photo, the two of them were pulling funny faces.  Adrien stuck out his tongue, while Kagami puffed out her cheeks and gave him bunny ears.

Nino laughed and put an arm around his girlfriend.  “We did a great job with them, didn’t we?”

“Absolutely.”  She smiled before zooming in on the background.  “Looks like they’re in front of the parking lot.  They’ll be here any time now.”

Sure enough, Kagami texted, 19:25. Two minutes away.

“Right!”  Nino gave her cheek a quick kiss before running to his turntables.  He snatched up the microphone, and his voice blasted through the speakers.  “Alright, dudes!  Adrien’s about to walk through those doors, so everyone hide!”

Their friends dove behind tables and chairs.  All of them except XY, anyway.

“What’s the point, dude?  He’s gonna see all our sick lights.”  XY pointed to the laser lights next to the turntable.

“That’s why we switch them off,” Luka said, pressing the button.  The rink fell into darkness.

“Ohhhh.”

Nino pulled the two of them under the table with him just before the double doors opened.

[justwritethatdown]

Chapter 2 of my high school AU :D

Beca finds herself wanting to know more abou Chloe, but Chloe's friends - and her social anxiety - give her a hard time about that. Also some more insights of her relationship with Jesse, Amy and her family :)

Words Count: 3K

Rating: T

Warnings: Underage smoking and language

Read it on AO3 or under the cut ↓

I don't need much of anything, but suddenly…

“How does it feel to be / Different from me      Are we the same / How does it feel?”

That night Beca fell asleep with the smell of Chloe on her pillow, which made her heart do funny things in her chest.

Maybe Chloe wasn’t that bad after all.

Nothing changed at school between them, Chloe didn’t talk to her the next day or the following couple of weeks – not that Beca tried to talk to Chloe but, you know – Beca told herself she wasn’t disappointed at that. They weren’t friends.

 __

 “Beca wait!" she heard Chloe call after her and immediately turned around to see the redhead running towards her in the schoolyard “hey! What’s up?” asked Beca unable to control her grin. Chloe offered her a pink ear bug, smiling brightly “I wanted to ask you what you think of this song, it came out yesterday I think".

Beca took the ear bug and put it in her ear, the song was already playing but she knew right away it was Airplanes by B.o.B. ft. Hayley Williams “you like Paramore, right?” Chloe checked and Beca was surprised that the girl not only recognized them from one of her playlists, but she knew them well enough to know Hayley Williams was the singer of the group.

Beca’s smile widened while she nodded “yes! And I think this song is really good" she answered looking at Chloe with surprise “what?” giggled the redhead “nothing...” said Beca looking at her feet “I didn’t think you liked this stuff" she admitted looking back at Chloe.

“And what stuff you thought I liked?” asked Chloe biting her lip “I don’t know... Britney Spears?” guessed Beca screwing up her nose and Chloe gasped “you don’t like Britney Spears?” she gasped in shock tugging at the ear bug wire to make it pop out of Beca’s ear “ouch! I didn’t say that...”

“Who else do you think I listen to? Let’s see" asked Chloe in somewhat of a teasing tone “I don’t know, I don’t want to get in worse trouble that I’m in already... just tell me you don’t listen to Mariah Carey please"

“Mariah Carey is the greatest singer of all times" stated an irritating voice interrupting them “Chloe, I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Who is that?” asked the blonde girl who joined them “hey Bree, she’s Beca... family friends” dismissed Chloe, putting her iPod away. Beca didn’t know why that statement stung so much, it was the truth after all, they only knew each other because their parents – not that she’ll ever consider Sheila family – were friends.

Aubrey – Chloe’s best friend, for what Beca could understand – looked at her from head to toe in disapproval, before turning back to her friend “come on, Stacie is waiting for us” she said walking away and dragging Chloe alongside with her.

“Bye...” Beca told to no one, since the girls were already gone. She went to class wondering if maybe she was wrong about Chloe and they could be more alike than she though, but even popular girls are allowed to like good music, right?

One thing was sure, Chloe wasn’t even remotely as mean as Aubrey was.

 __

 At lunch Beca was glad Jesse decided to sit with Benji for once, instead of bothering her, so she could make a playlist of songs she thought Chloe might listen to, and one of those she thought Chloe should listen to.

Amy slept in and skipped school that day – something she did almost every Tuesday – so Beca didn’t have to worry about her either.

 __

 “sorry if I stood you up at lunch" apologised Jesse wrapping an arm around her shoulders, knowing very well that Beca would have shrugged it off and be dramatic about him touching her. He giggled when she did just that “you weren’t at my table? I didn’t notice” declared Beca in a monotone voice and Jesse pushed her gently “stop iit" she complained pushing him back “Benji was upset about his chemistry test" he explained without Beca asking “but he got B+” argued Beca and the guy shrugged “it’s the lowest he ever got".

“Where’s Amy by the way? I saw she wasn’t with you at lunch either” he asked “are you going to walk me home?” queried Beca stopping on her tracks – it was a ten minute walk between her house and the school – Jesse shrugged again “if you don’t mind. I don’t have anything better to do anyway" and before Beca could answer, he added “I know you must have missed me today, so you’re welcome" which granted him another shove from the brunette.

“How come you're not wearing your headphones?” “my iPod died at lunch" “aw, because I wasn’t there to keep you company?” he teased “you’re an idiot.”

 __

 The truth was that Beca craved more moments with Chloe, she was intrigued by her. Even if she usually was a pretty good judge of character, she was wrong about Chloe the first time and she still couldn’t completely figure her out yet. At school Chloe was a completely different person than who she was at home, she was nice to everyone and always smiling. And then there was that moment they shared in Beca’s room, that was what confused Beca the most, making her second guess all her assumptions about the redhead.

She wanted to get to know her better, but whenever Beca saw the girl in the hallways with her stupid friends she didn’t have the guts to say hi to her and just focused very hard on her steps to avoid eye contact. Beca hated to interact with that kind of people – she hated to interact with any kind of people – they acted like they owned the school and even if Beca couldn’t care less about that, she didn’t want to waste her time feeling judged by them or worse, letting them make a fool out of her. She really didn’t know why Chloe liked them, but again, she didn’t know Chloe at all.

Another month passed by. Beca never showed Chloe the playlists. It wasn’t important and Chloe probably wouldn’t care about that anyway.

 __

 “Why is this playlist called ‘Chloe'?” asked Amy making Beca’s blood freeze “that- that’s nothing, why do you always touch my stuff?” she gasped struggling to take the device from Amy, who won the fight without any effort “Jonas Brothers? These songs are so not you" added the blonde confused “It’s just... stupid songs, so I gave it a common stupid girl name” she blurred out wincing at her own words.

Amy narrowed her brows “Isn’t Chloe the name of that redhead you met at those ‘fucking lame dinners' with your father and Sheila?” she inquired making the quote marks gesture while repeating Beca’s words “maybe... I don’t know” tried Beca but she knew she was screwed “Beca...” said Amy not buying it at all.

“Yes, it’s her, okay? I made a playlist of songs I thought she lik-" “you never made me a playlist” interrupted her the blonde “that’s different, she’s- that’s different” blurred out Beca. Amy finally decided to let it go with a shrug connecting her loudspeaker to Beca’s iPod, letting the music fill her bedroom.

 __

 “Ugh! Why can’t I just stay with mom?” growled Beca “a couple of weeks at the beach are going to be good for you Bec, why do you have to fight me over everything?” asked her father “I don’t wanna come, dad I wanna work on my mixes, why don’t you understand that?” she whined and ran to her room smashing the door closed behind her.

Her father just informed her that in July they were going on a two weeks’ vacation someplace in Florida with Chloe’s and other two families the Beale used to go on vacation with every year. Beca didn’t have the time to be thrilled about it that she heard the name Posen being mentioned by Sheila. She didn’t even register the other one because she was already spiralling.

Posen like Aubrey Posen. The high bitch in charge at her school, Aubrey Posen. Chloe’s best friend Aubrey Posen. That couldn’t be a coincidence and Beca wasn’t willing to spend a single minute with her, let alone two entire weeks.

“Why is she like this Robert?” she heard Sheila question “what kind of kid doesn’t want to spend time on the beach with her friends?” at the world ‘friends’ Beca felt rage build up inside her – why was Sheila so fucking naive? – but it didn’t last long, because she heard her father sigh defeated “I don’t know honey, I’m afraid I did something wrong with her".

Beca put her headphones on trying to push back the tears that started falling from her eyes.

 __

 “She doesn’t want me, does she?” mumbled Beca sitting on her bed, knees pushed tightly against her chest. Her father looked at her sympathetic, sitting at the edge of the bed “Your mom is...” he trailed off for a moment, struggling to find the right words “she is having a hard time and needs to be alone for a while" he tried his best to explain “but she loves you! More than anything” he rushed to add and Beca rolled her eyes.

Lately her father did nothing but take her mother’s side, funny thing is that when they were married, they couldn’t agree on anything. Ever. Beca supposed he felt guilty about her ‘midlife crisis’ since it started just when he asked for a divorce because he couldn’t keep going on like that – or maybe it was the fact that he was in a relationship with stupid Sheila for about a month before that.

Beca’s blood started boiling in her veins at the thought, it was his fault after all, he gave up on their family.

“I’m gonna go at Amy’s” she spat out jumping off the bed.

“Beca, I need you to tell me you’re coming to Florida” he repeated.

“Whatever” answered the girl before leaving the room. It’s not like she had a choice anyway, her dad was just trying not to feel guilty about yet another thing.

 __

 “So, you’re going?” asked Amy passing her the joint. They were laying on Amy’s bed listening to music, as always.

“I have to" sighed Beca before smoking “I wish my dad was like yours, he lets you do everything you want" she wined “yeah he's pretty cool" laughed the blonde “or too busy to care maybe" she scoffed carelessly “dude, this pot sucks by the way" growled Beca giving the joint back to her.

Amy took another smoke before agreeing “I know, but I bought it from Luke" she explained “ugh, that dude is an idiot! He wrote ‘Meghan’ on my fake ID” complained Beca. The blonde stared lamely at her for what felt like forever, before cracking up in a loud laugh “Beca all fake IDs have fake names" she gasped trying to stop laughing. Beca looked at her blinking quickly before starting to laugh too.

“Anyway, he is an idiot yes, but he’s hot, so I don’t care" stated Amy “okay but never buy his pot again" demanded the brunette taking back the joint.

“So how are things going with Jesse?” asked Amy out of the blue “what do you mean?” “I mean you have this thing going on for a while now, when are you going to make it official? If you know what I mean...” said Amy wiggling her eyebrows, Beca felt slightly nauseous at that.

“There’s nothing between Jesse and me" she said defensively “oh come on Beca, you two are always attached to the hip!” growled the blonde “you don’t have to hide it from me" she said more softly “he's always attached to my hip I've got nothing to do with that!" spat out Beca getting up “I know you, you wouldn’t let him near you if you didn’t want to" pointed out Amy.

Beca knew her friend was right, she never let anyone get too close to her, but for some reason she allowed Jesse to do that and she had to admit she liked having his invasive ass around – not to Amy anyway, she was never going to admit that to Amy.

“That’s none of your business” she cut off rising the volume on her iPod to end the discussion.

 __

 When Beca came back home she found a brand-new soundboard to connect to her computer – the one she’s been asking for and her dad always denied her – sitting on her desk.

It was the same way she got her headphones, she got into a fight with her dad about something concerning the divorce somehow, stormed out of the house and found them at her return. Robert knew it wasn’t the best way to deal with conflict, but he really didn’t know how to deal with a teenager in full rebellion mood, so expensive gifts were his go-to in these cases.  It wasn’t enough for Beca, but she decided to take what she could from this situation. She didn’t like to deal with conflict either anyway.

The girl spent the whole night trying all the functions her new device offered while thinking about Chloe. She spent most nights thinking about Chloe recently. She thought about what it must be like being at the verge of the high school social ladder, having everyone’s eyes on you all the times – a kind of pressure Beca couldn’t be able to stand, for sure – how it felt to be respected, feared even, by the whole school and mostly how would it feel to be bossed around by Aubrey all the times.

Aubrey gave Beca chills. It wasn’t that Beca feared her – she didn’t fear anyone – but there was something about her that made her stomach clench, as if she was under examination. She knew Aubrey judged everybody from her high throne and Beca didn’t think enough of her to care about that, but what scared the brunette was that Aubrey’s stupid opinion could affect what Chloe thought of her.

By the time sun started creeping up from her window, she had decided that suffering through two weeks with Aubrey Posen was a small price to pay to get to know Chloe better. Her social anxiety will have to come to terms with that.

Beca threw herself on the bed, cursing her decision to staying up all night on a weekday. Her clock showed it was half past six and she briefly wondered if she could push it a little and try to gain a ‘you can skip school today’ too from the argument she and her father had, but she knew Professor Mitchell considered school the most important thing ever, even over the peaceful atmosphere he tried so hard to maintain in their home. She groaned and set her alarm to an hour later before falling asleep in her outside clothes.

Of course, she didn’t hear the alarm going off and now she was super late. As she fumed to gather all the things she needed for the day she jumped at the sight of Sheila’s head peeking from her not-closed-anymore bedroom door.

“You’re late" she stated with that irritating tone Beca really didn’t want to hear first thing in the morning.

“I know that, thanks” spat out the teenager.

“Let me drive you to school” offered the woman now fully standing in Beca’s room.

“Absolutely not" said Beca without looking at her, still busy looking for her maths' notes.

“You left a notebook in the kitchen the other day, maybe that’s what you’re looking for" told her Sheila before leaving the room.

After getting ready Beca went to the kitchen and found the notes. Sheila was sitting at the kitchen table, probably waiting for her. Beca groaned “okay let’s go" as if she was the one doing the woman a favour.

Beca was sure it was a trap, so she rushed to put her headphones on to avoid any unwanted discussion about her weird behaviour or whatever. Surprisingly Sheila didn’t try to talk to her at all and when she stopped in front of Beca’s school she even offered the girl a sweet smile “have a good day”.

“Yeah...” murmured Beca under her breath before leaving the car.

 __

 It was a shitty day, like if she was under a heavy cloud; she forgot to charge her phone, her head was killing her and Jesse didn’t shut up for one second all morning, not to mention math class – which was always a nightmare. Beca was about to commit murder when suddenly Chloe approached her at her locker.

“Hey" breathed out cheerfully the redhead and Beca found her breath catching in her lungs “I’ve heard you’re coming to Florida with us this year” she continued with her classic bright smile. Beca’s heart started racing and she was positive her face was red “I- yes, we- uh...” she rambled focusing, on nothing in particular, inside her locker. “I’m glad you’re coming" at that Beca forced herself to look at Chloe and try to mirror her smile.

“Hey babe" she heard Tom call from the other side of the hallway. Chloe turned towards him with heart eyes and accepted his kiss when he reached them. Beca felt nauseous watching that – she hated pda and cheesy happy couples.

When they parted Tom friendly nodded at Beca “hi, I’m Tom" “Beca" she said shaking the hand he offered her. Beca tried to smile at him, she really did, but all she could manage was a grimace. The girl was never so glad to hear Jesse’s “Beccaaawww" approaching her.

“Uhm, sorry, I have to go. It was nice meeting you Tom. Bye Chloe" se excused herself locking the metallic door and walking to Jesse. It was the first time she’d ever said Chloe’s name to her face and was still marvelling at the sensation it gave her, when Jesse started to throw a million words at her again, but she couldn’t focus on him at all. For some reason she kept replaying that stupid kiss in her brain over and over again.

“Earth to Beca?” called her Jesse snapping his fingers in front of her “what happened to you? You’ve been weird the whole day" he asked in a somewhat of a worried tone “I didn’t sleep" she told him “why not? You can talk to me you know” he assured her, but behind him Beca spot Amy in the distance shamelessly gesturing at her with her index finger entering a ring she was making with the other hand “gross...” whispered Beca glaring at her.

“What?” asked the guy confused “dude you need to leave me alone okay? You’re not my fucking boyfriend” she snapped making some students turn to look at them. Jesse was staring at her with a hurt expression and she regretted right away snapping at him – it was Amy’s fault not his.

“All right” he said raising his hands and turning no leave. Beca wanted to stop him, but she was too proud to apologise.

“Troubles in paradise?” asked Amy joining her “Amy fuck off!” “geez somebody woke up on the wrong side of life today" she exclaimed rolling her eyes and walking away, she knew it was best to leave Beca alone when she was like that.

[mysteryartisticwriter]

Alright, Spider-man // Peter Parker X Reader

A/N: Hey loves, I know I need to do a part two of “What’s Stopping You?” but I just had this idea and I really wanted to write it! Every time I see an AU where the reader is the daughter of Tony, I always like to think of how they would actually meet if they met in the actual MCU. So, I made this! I hope you guys like it because I still need to do several other stories to do, such as my Wattpad story and that part two. Anyway, enjoy!

TAKES PLACE IN CIVIL WAR

REQUESTS ARE STILL CLOSED BTW (FOR NOW)

Requested: Nope

Warnings: None

Not my gif!! (Please tell me if you, the owner, would like me to take the gif down!)

-

“Why do I have to come, again?”

Your father, Tony Stark, had forced you to come with him to pick up a new recruit. You’ve heard the situation currently happening at the moment, Uncle Cap and your father having a disagreement about the Sokovia Accords and a division between the Avengers.

Soon, Tony was going to Germany with Auntie Nat, Uncle Rodey and two other recruits, one being the one you were going to pick up right now. The two of you were in front of the small apartment door and were about to knock.

“Because the kid is your age, he might feel more comfortable around someone his age. It’ll be quick, I swear.” Your father answered.

You sighed, patting down your black dress suit and blowing a few strands of (h/c) hair, usually braided but now in a bun, from your face. You knew better than to argue with your dad, it never went anywhere since his stubborness was passed down to you.

While wiping a stray hair from your face, you knocked on the door and stood next to your father.

A middle aged, yet young looking woman opened the door. “Can I help you?”

“Hi, I’m Tony Stark and this is my daughter (Y/n),” you waved at the woman. “We’re here to speak to Peter Parker.”

The lady’s face turned to shock and she seem flustered for a moment then she regained her stance.

“Oh my- um...come on in!”

She opened the door wider to let you two in and you walked in after your dad. You looked around her apartment and felt a comfort and homey feeling. It was nice and simple, definitely a humble family.

“My name is May Parker, I’m Peter’s aunt. He’ll be home soon, he just finished school. But until then, I made tea and meatloaf! Take a seat and have some!” The woman, May, picked up a tray of cookies from the kitchen top.

You graciously took a piece and smiled at her, giving her a thank you in responce. Your dad took several pieces and sat on her couch, you following him.

May set down the tray on the table in the middle of the living room and sat on the couch next to you.

“I don’t mean to be rude, I mean it’s an honor to have the Tony Stark and his daughter in my home but what do you need to talk with Peter about?” She questioned.

“I assume Peter has told you about the grant, yes?” Tony lied.

“Grant? Um, no, he hasn’t. I-I don’t think so, at least.” May replied.

You and your dad exchanged fake shocked looks.

“Well basically, your nephew applied to the Stark Inc. Internship; a internship where young smart minds, like Peter, get the chance to work around my company part time. He got accepted.” He explained, taking another bite out of his meatloaf piece.

May’s eyes widened at your father’s words and looked over to you, as if not believing him. You nodded and a large smile grew on her face.

“O-oh wow! I can’t believe he hasn’t told me about it!”

Just then, the door of the apartment opened. You could see a young brown haired boy in a thin, navy blue sweater walk through it. He hadn’t said anything so you guessed he just didn’t notice you yet.

“Hey, May.” You assumed was Peter, greeted before dropping his keys on the counter and heading to the kitchen.

“Hey, how was school today?” May asked.

“It was okay, but there’s this crazy car parked outside.” Peter turned towards his Aunt but saw you and your father as well. You and your father pretended to not notice him while he came in.

His face showed silent shock, his mind not believing what he was seeing. From what you saw, you had to admit he was pretty cute and good looking. For a second, you didn’t believe he was your age because he looked to be about maybe 18, but looks can be deceiving.

“Oh, Mr. Parker.”

“Um,” Peter took out his wired headphones. “W-what are you- hey! I’m uh...I’m-I’m Peter.”

“Tony.” Your dad gestured to you.

“I’m (Y/n).” You smiled.

“What-what are you doing here?”

“It’s about time we met. You’ve been getting my emails, right?” Tony winked with his eyes, telling the boy to go along with what he was saying.

“Yeah-yeah...regarding the-”

“You didn’t even tell me about the grant?” May interjected.

“About the grant! Right.”

“The September foundation? Yeah? Remember when you applied?”

“...yeah.” Peter sheepishly replied.

“We’ve approved!” Tony pointed to him and you.

“So now, we’re in business.” You finished for him.

“You didn’t tell me anything. What’s up with that? Are you keeping secrets from me now?” May asked, a little hurt.

“I just- I just know how much you love surprises so I thought I would let you know...anyway, what did I apply for?”

“That’s what we’re here to hash out.” You told him, his eyes looking towards you.

“It is so hard to believe that she is someone’s aunt.” Flirted your dad, you gagged on the inside.

Aunt May just laughed. “Well they do come out in all shapes and sizes, you know?”

“This woman’s meatloaf is exceptional.”

“Lemme just stop you there. Is this grant like got money involved or whatever..?” The brown haired boy wondered. You giggled at his words.

“Yeah, its pretty well funded. Look who you’re talking to.” You stated, smirking a little.

“Can we get five minutes with him?” Asked Tony.

May agreed and the three of you headed towards a more private area, more so, Peter’s bedroom. Once you entered, you closed the door behind you and did a quick scan of his room.

It was filled with many layers of technology around the room and his desk was full of it. His room was smaller than the average bedroom, definitely smaller than yours and one twin sized bed laid in the middle of it against the wall.

Peter walked towards his desk and your dad spat out the meatloaf in his mouth to the trashcan. You almost laughed at his distaste to the woman’s food.

“As meatloaf goes, that wasn’t too bad.” He said then looked around the room.

Your dad looked at the old computer and other devices on Peter’s desk.

“Oh, what do we have here? Retro-tech, huh? Thrift store? Salvation Army?” Tony asked Peter.

“The garbage, actually.”

“So you’re a dumpster diver?” You raised an eyebrow at the boy.

“Yeah I was...um anyway, look. I definitely did not apply for your grant-“

“Nah uh! Us first.” You looked over to your dad, he waved his hand and you took out the small device in your pocket.

“Quick question of the rhetorical variety,” as you held up the device, a hologram popped up and a video started to play of a web swinging person stopped a man from breaking into a car. “This is you, right?”

“Um, n-no. What do- what do you mean?”

You smirked before pulling up another video of the hero you knew was him. It was footage of him stopped a car from crashing into a moving bus.

“Look at you go!” Your dad joined in.

“Wow, nice catch. 3,000 pounds and 40 miles an hour? It’s not easy. You’ve got mad skills.” You complimented Peter while putting the tech away.

A small smile grew on his face until his washed away almost immediately.

“That’s all- that’s all on YouTube though, right? I mean that’s where you found that? ‘Cause you know that’s all fake, it’s all done on a computer.” The boy tried to lie but you and your dad were not having it.

“Mhm.” Your dad hummed, looking up in the ceiling and noticing something. You followed your dad’s gaze and grabbed a nearby bat from the floor.

While Peter continued to prattle on, you pushed the top part of the bat into the attic opening and a red and blue suit, attached on a string came flying down.

“No!” Peter managed to grab the suit before you could and hid it in the small part of his room where the rest of his clothes were.

You high fived your dad and he gave you a proud smile. Peter turned away from his hidden suit and awkwardly looked anywhere but you two.

“Ahh...that’s uh...” The hidden hero sighed, knowing he was finally caught.

“So, you’re the ‘Spider-ling’? ‘Crime fighting Spider’? You’re ‘Spider-boy’?” Asked your dad.

Peter hesitated for a moment before answering. “Spider-man.”

“Not in that onesie you’re not.”

“It’s not a onesie.” Peter gave a hard glare at your dad, walking past you both.

You grabbed his suit out of the corner of his room, handing it to your dad.

“You know, I was actually having a really good day today, Mr. Stark. Didn’t miss my train, found this perfectly good DVD player that was just sitting there and algebra test; nailed it.” The boy told you.

“Who else knows? Anybody?” You inquired.

He just shook his head in reply. “Nobody.”

“Not even your unusually attractive Aunt?”

“Dad, no.”

“No! No, no, no! If she knew, she would freak out! And when she freaks out, I freak out.” Peter pointed towards the outside of his room where his Aunt was still sitting.

Your dad then tapped you on the leg with his own and showed you a small container filled with some type of fluid. He passed it to you and you examined it, looking at it with fascination.

“You know what I think is really cool? That webbing.” Tony pointed towards the container in your hands and you tossed it to the web slinger, who caught it right before it hit his face. You looked at him with an impressed expression and smiled at him, earning a shy one back.

“The tensile strength is off the charts. Who manufactured this?” You brought into the conversation.

“I did.” Answered Peter, throwing the web fluid back into the corner.

“Climbing walls, how do you do that? Adhesive gloves?”

“It’s uh...long story.”

“Lordy! Can you even see in these?” Your dad teased as he brought Peter’s suit goggles up to his own eyes. You laughed as he made weird sounds with them.

“Yes! Yes, I can!” Peter yanked the suit away from your father and tossed it into the clothes pile.

“Yes, I can see in those, okay? It’s just that when whatever happened...happened, its like my senses have been dialed to 11. There’s way too much input so they just kinda help me focus.” Explained Peter.

‘This is going nowhere.’ You thought. Gazing back to Peter and his suit, you walked to Peter’s desk.

“Dad, mind if I talk to Peter alone for a bit?” You insisted.

Tony looked between you and Peter, sighing then got up to leave the room.

“No funny business, Mr. Parker.” He said, using his ‘dad voice’ as you called it then walked out.

It was silent for a few moments until you spoke up.

“You are in dire need of an upgrade.” You snickered, sitting on his bed and looking at him.

The boy just leaned against his wall, shy and awkward. You just figured he’s never been alone with a girl before, nonetheless, in his own bedroom.

“Okay, start talking.” You pat the bed part next to you, offering a seat.

Peter shuffled quietly towards his bed and sat next to you, looking away and slightly blushing.

“Why are you doing this?” Peter just looked to you, confused. “I gotta know, what’s your MO? What gets you out of this twin bed in the morning?”

Fidgeting with his hands, the hero replied, “Because...because I’ve been me my whole life and I’ve had these powers for six months. I read books! I build computers! And yeah, I would love to play football but I couldn’t then so I shouldn’t now.”

“Sure, because you’re different.”

“Exactly. But I can’t tell anybody that so I’m not.”

Peter began to grow shy again so you gently rested a hand on his fidgeting ones in his lap. He looked to you, shocked but no words came out of his mouth. The brown eyed boy sighed and looked to you.

“Look, when you can do the things that I can, but you don’t,” you slightly leaned forward, but not enough to envaid his space. “And then the bad things happen...they happen because of you.”

You knew what he was talking about, your dad always told you about how it was dangerous out there in the field. You were kidnapped with Pepper years back, getting hurt in the process and your dad almost lost it. Tony didn’t want you to get involved with any hero stuff to avoid you getting hurt or killed. Your dad felt guilty, guilty for letting you into this life where someone was always after him. Therefore, after you.

“So you’re just looking out for the little guy? You wanna help out the world, do your part and make your home a better place on that, right?” Quietly, you responded.

“Yeah-yeah, just looking out for the little guy. I mean, it is what it is.” He stuttered.

A couple seconds go by until you stand up, looking around his room one more time.

“You got a passport by any chance?”

“No, I don’t- I don’t even have a driver’s license.”

“You ever been to Germany?” You interrupted him. He shook his head.

“Oh well, then you’ll love it.”

Peter looked at you with a mix of a strange and shocked expression on his face.

“No, no I can’t go to Germany!” Exclaimed Peter.

You chuckled, “Why?”

“I-I...I got homework.” Peter stuttered. You rolled your eyes and stuffed your hands in your dress pants pockets.

“Okay, I’m gonna just pretend you didn’t even say that.”

“I mean, I’m serious! I can’t just drop out of school!”

“Why not? I did. And I’m your age.” You gestured to yourself.

“W-well, why can’t you just go?” Peter tried to argue.

You scoffed, “As if my dad would allow me, his own daughter, to go against Captain America. He barely lets me out of the house.”

The brunette sighed and ran his hands over his hair in distress. You knew you only had one more chance to get Peter to come to Germany, and a bright idea came to your mind.

“Welp, it might be a little dangerous so I think I’ll just tell my dad to tell your Aunt May-“

Right before you could touch the doorknob of his room, Peter sprayed a douse of web fluid onto your hand, sticking it to the knob so you couldn’t turn it.

Smirking, you turned to look at the new recruit, whose arm was pointed outwards and fingers in a position so he could spray the webbing at you.

“Don’t tell Aunt May.” Peter warned.

“Alright, Spider-man.”

-

TAGGED:

A/N: Tell me if you wanna be tagged in my Marvel stories!

@dear-selena​ (i know this is what you requested but i promise you i will make the part two of the last one you liked!)

[skepticalcatfrog]

Among The Stars Chapter 5

First Chapter Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Summary: Logan Watts is a famous scientist, known by almost everyone in the galaxy. His most famous invention is his friend and assistant, a healthcare android named Patton. When they are called to another planet for a meeting with the local ruler, they're expecting a completely normal trip. Little did they know, this trip would send them into a daring adventure to protect their galaxy and stop a war. Teamed up with unlikely friends, including a runaway gladiator and an infamous crime trio, Logan and Patton have to figure out how to make peace and save their universe (and beyond) from being destroyed.

Pairings: (Eventual) Logicality, Prinxiety, and Demus

Word count: 3,379

Author's Notes: As I said in the notes on the first chapter of my other fic, I will still be continuing this one. So as promised, here's the next chapter!

Dalton and Remus sat outside of Logan's lab on opposite sides of the door. Remus was just waiting, but Dalton was eavesdropping, his ear pressed to the door as he listened to the conversation going on inside the room. Logan and Virgil had been in there for a while, presumably working on repairs. But Dalton didn't trust this guy just yet. He wanted to make sure Virgil was okay.

"Dalton, he'll be fine. Better than he was before, even." Remus assured him.

"Shh." Dalton snapped at him, bringing his index finger to his lips. "I need to be ready to step in if things go wrong."

Remus rolled his eyes. Dalton could be so stubborn. Once he was doing something, there was nothing that could stop him from doing it. Sometimes it worked in his favor, and sometimes it didn't.

Dalton could barely hear anything. He could tell when different people were talking, but that was about it. He kept on listening though, just in case. He was entirely prepared to punch that scientist right in his stupid pretentious face if it came to that. He was also prepared to do it even if it didn't come to that. He didn't like that guy.

~~~

Virgil was sitting on a metal table in the middle of Logan's lab. It was all clean and orderly, unlike his usual surroundings. Based on everything he'd heard about doctor's offices, this seemed like the closest he'd ever get to being in one. It wasn't very comfortable, plus all of the circuitry on his arm was currently completely exposed. And he was totally conscious too, since most androids couldn't feel pain. Logan was muttering to himself as he worked on altering the wiring. Patton wasn't there, because he didn't want to watch. He said that it would've been like a human watching a surgeon operating on another human.

"This is almost done, and once I finish I'd like you to try to move your arm." Logan requested. He knew Virgil couldn't respond, but he just wanted to make sure he knew what to do. "That way I can see if this method of repair works. Your circuitry isn't particularly new, as you may have noticed, so many of my more traditional approaches to this issue wouldn't have worked." He went quiet for a couple minutes. "Alright. Can you please lift your arm?"

Logan closed the panel of metal on Virgil's arm, taking a step back. The android shakily lifted up his arm. It was the first time he'd moved in years, so he was pretty out of practice. The machinery made a loud buzzing sound as it moved. Virgil's eyes widened at the noise. Hopefully that wouldn't stick around.

"Okay, good. We'll come back to that later now that we know it works, for now let's get to work on some slightly smaller jobs." Logan wrote down a couple of notes on a piece of paper. "Try to speak, please."

Virgil did try to speak, and it went exactly as it always did. He heard the familiar creaking and rattling of his broken voice box, and Logan took another note.

"I think I know what's wrong." He discarded the paper on to a nearby desk. "A piece of your voice box must have come loose. Luckily, we won't need to replace it entirely. I am going to need to shut you down for this part, because it will be a much more complicated process. I might also fix a few other things after I finish this."

The world dropped into blackness quickly once Virgil was shut down. He'd never really experienced that before. His thoughts came to a halt, the world went away, and everything went quiet. It was like being in a locked room with no windows while wearing noise cancelling headphones. Either that, or it was like being temporarily dead. It didn't feel like any time had passed at all before he regained consciousness. He was still sitting on the same table, in the same room, but something was definitely different. Logan immediately got back to talking.

"I think we've made some new developments on your condition. I fixed the issues with your voice box, which we'll be testing in a moment. Other than that, you should be able to move your head now as well." He told him. Virgil's curiosity kicked in and he turned his head to the left and right, then looked up and down. He really could move his head again. Logan handed him the paper he'd been taking notes on before. "Please read the first few sentences aloud."

"Tests on android #229187922 ("Virgil") have proven successful." Virgil spoke, saying each word slowly. He gasped. He was talking. "He appears to have been made over twenty years ago, however the exact date is unknown. A piece of his voice box has been knocked loose, maybe from faulty construction and/or a fall."

"Good." Logan took the paper back. "How do you feel?"

"Different, that's for sure. Definitely good different, though." Virgil smiled. He had forgotten what his own voice sounded like.

"Perfect, that's exactly how you should be feeling." Logan nodded. "Would you like to talk with Remus and Dalton?"

"Yes." Virgil nodded. He might not be able to walk yet, but the progress Logan had made on his repairs already would be enough for them.

Logan walked over to the door and opened it, which prompted Dalton to fall to the floor at his feet. He'd been listening to them, Logan knew for sure. Not only was he a criminal, but he was a distrustful one as well. Logan kept his composure, ignoring the small bit of frustration growing inside him.

"You may come in. Virgil wants to speak with you." Logan told them, turning around and walking back to the table.

"Okay, great. Thanks for helping me up by the way. Jerk." Dalton muttered the last part so no one could hear it. He got up and dusted himself off, speed-walking to the table. Remus followed him. His tone softened a little when he reached Virgil. "Hey, bud. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing great." Virgil said, offering a small smile. 

All Dalton could do was stare. After years of stealing and trespassing to get things to help Virgil, breaking almost every law there was, today was the day. He pulled Virgil into a hug, just holding on to him for a minute. And for the first time, the android could hug him back. Just that simple action made Dalton burst into tears. Remus put a supportive hand on his back.

"You're getting better." Dalton pulled back and laughed weakly, wiping the tears from his face.

"Slowly but surely." Virgil nodded. Logan stood off to the side, knowing that he should just let them have their moment.

"And that's what your voice sounds like, huh? Different from how I heard it in my head, but not bad." Remus decided.

"Glad you think so, because there's no changing it without a lot more work." Virgil laughed.

"No, no, I like it. It suits you." Remus smiled.

"Agreed." Dalton nodded. "So what else is done?"

"I can move my arms and my head, but I can't walk yet." Virgil told them. "Hopefully soon, though."

"Yes, if I've calculated it correctly, the repairs should be finished by the end of the day." Logan stepped back in. "I will be able to fix all of your physical malfunctions. However, the glitch in your coding may be permanent. I can't access your programming from my computer, because there's an identification password protecting it."

"Oh… well that's okay, I guess." Virgil was clearly disappointed, but he tried to hide it. "I've lived with it for this long, so it's not a big deal."

"You're sure there's no way to fix it?" Dalton raised his eyebrow.

"Have you tried hacking the computer to get past the password? Or maybe giving it a virus on purpose?" Remus asked as if Logan would really take that as an actual suggestion.

"No, I haven't, and I don't plan to." Logan shot him a look similar to one a class clown would get from a strict teacher. "Now I'm afraid that's all the time I can give you. I need to get back to work. You can still wait outside if you'd like, but you can't be here anymore."

"Fine. But call us back in when you're done." Dalton did the universal sign for 'I'm watching you' at Logan, then walked out of the room with Remus following close behind. He heard the door close behind them, and suddenly felt very nervous once again. He knew that feeling wouldn't go away until all of the repairs were finished, so he just had to wait it out.

~~~

Meanwhile, since Patton didn't want to be in the lab, he'd decided to get to know Roman a little better. They were walking around the hallways in the lower level of the ship, asking each other questions back and forth.

"How long have you lived on this ship?" Roman asked.

"I would say about… seven years? The first thing I remember is Logan's home planet, Isethena. It's entirely man-made, built by humans a few centuries ago. We lived there for three years, then moved to a smaller ship and lived there for four years." Patton explained, trying to recall every place he'd ever lived from memory. "When Logan started to get more famous, we started to get more money. When we could afford this ship, we got it, and have been living here since then."

"Wow. I honestly wasn't expecting you to go into that much detail, but I'm impressed." Roman looked around, but the entire hallway looked exactly the same.

"I'm an android, I have great memory." Patton laughed. "What about you? What's your story?"

"It's a long one, that's for sure." Roman was about to go deeper into the web of lies he'd created for himself and he knew it. But to be honest, he didn't really care anymore. Even if it wasn't true, this was who he wanted to be, so why shouldn't he let other people believe it was real? "For basically my whole life, I lived on Xialea VI. It was all beautiful, with a kingdom covering most of the planet. Whatever wasn't kingdom was forest, with beautiful trees and plants growing everywhere. Basically it was the exact opposite of Xialea VII. I grew up preparing to take on the crown, which I never got to do. I spent pretty much all day either studying in the library or training in the arena. My parents loved me. I'm an only child, so I got all the attention. They were always so proud and supportive of everything I did, and they were always there for me when I needed them. Everyone in the kingdom was happy, and no one ever wanted to leave. But then one day, a couple of months ago, I was sent to the city on Xialea VII to have a conference with the president. Apparently they thought I was an intruder, so they chased me away. I had no choice but to steal a ship and get away, or else I would've been killed."

"You could've just asked, you know!" Patton pointed out. "Logan probably would've helped you, even if I wasn't there with him. He's a good person."

"I know, I don't doubt that, I just wasn't in the mood to take risks." Roman shook his head. Then he decided that he wanted to test something. "Speaking of taking risks, do you want to hear a fun story from a few years ago?"

"Sure. I'm always in the mood for a good story." Patton smiled.

"Well, it all started when a ship crash-landed just outside my kingdom. The person inside wasn't too badly hurt, but he definitely had a few bruises. We asked him who he was, and he told us he was a prince from another planet. We let him stay with us for a little while, and gave him a way to get back home. But, it turned out that he was lying all along! He was actually a gladiator, and had run away from his home planet. He told us he was just sick of that place, and he couldn't go back. After all, he was technically a criminal, and he definitely would've been punished upon his return." Roman was relieved. Patton seemed very interested in the story, and he didn't seem to realize that Roman was telling a story about himself.

"So what did you do?" The android asked, his eyes widening.

"Well, we let him stay." Roman shrugged. "He was a good person trying to get out of a bad situation, and we couldn't blame him for that even though he'd lied to us."

"That was a good choice." Patton decided. "I think I would've let him stay too. It would just be mean to make him leave."

"I agree, trust me." Roman nodded. It was working. Patton was on his side, even if he didn't know it yet.

~~~

It took hours until Virgil's repairs were finally finished. The whole time, Dalton was waiting outside the door of the lab like a nervous parent. At one point he was just pacing back and forth until he got tired. Remus was starting to get worried. Sure, Dalton always wanted Virgil to be safe, but he'd never been this concerned. The second Logan opened the door, Dalton was interrogating him.

"How is he? Tell us what you know, scientist!" If looks could kill, Dalton's scowl would have Logan dead on the ground in an instant.

"He is doing well." Logan managed to keep his cool. "I managed to fix his legs, so he will be able to walk. I also gave him a defense mechanism. Be aware of that, because he doesn't have full control over it yet. Otherwise, he should be fully awake and recovered."

"You should've led with that!" Dalton pushed past Logan to get into the lab. Remus followed him. The first thing they saw was Virgil. And he was standing up.

"Would you look at that…" Remus muttered.

"Hey guys!" Virgil waved, revealing a dark circle in the palm of his hand. "Hold on, watch this."

He aimed his hand at what looked like a makeshift target. A sound that was sort of like a vacuum cleaner rang out, then a beam of purple light shot from his hand. The target disintegrated. He turned back to Dalton and Remus.

"Holy shit." Dalton stared at the place where the target used to be. He glanced at Logan. "I don't know if that's a good idea."

"He needs a mode of self defense. Based on the way he was built, he wasn't meant to be a fighter. But in your line of work, if that is how you would describe it, he will likely be getting into many dangerous situations." Logan explained. "With all due respect, he wouldn't last five minutes in a battle."

"Yeah, that's why he doesn't go on missions with us." Dalton said as if it was obvious. "We protect him by keeping him at home. Plus, do you have any idea how easy it would be for him to hurt himself with a weapon like that?"

"Actually, the chances of me hurting myself with this are only 15%." Virgil piped up. Dalton held up his hand.

"Not now, Virgil." He scowled, still focused on Logan. "I want you to make it less dangerous. Like, put a safety setting on it or something."

Logan shook his head. "I'm not sure I'll be able to-" 

Suddenly, the entire ship shook. Virgil looked around frantically, trying to find the source of the movement. Logan froze. He didn't know what to do. Dalton immediately went into a fighting stance. Remus ran to the window, tapping on it rapidly when he saw what was outside. Whatever it was, he was absolutely mesmerized by it. "You guys, you've got to come see this!"

Dalton was the first to the window. Logan and Virgil joined him soon after. Outside, there were two gigantic ships, which appeared to be shooting at each other. Neither of them were particularly accurate in their shots, so a stray projectile must've been the source of the shaking. Without warning, one of them exploded, flooding the lab with orange light. Roman and Patton burst through the door to the lab. Roman's heavy breathing made it clear that they'd been running.

"Does anyone know what just happened?" Patton asked.

"There were some ships outside fighting each other, and one of them just blew up!" Remus explained, making a gesture with his hands that was meant to represent the explosion.

"They appeared to be built for war." Logan's brow furrowed in thought, his eyes still intently focused on the remaining ship. "Patton? Do you think that maybe the president of Xialea VII wasn't kidding about starting a war?"

"Starting a war?! He never said anything about a war." Roman's eyes widened in shock as he looked at the remains of the exploded ship. Then he realized that everyone was staring at him. He tried to think of something else to say. "In the time that I was there, that is. It was very brief, I wouldn't trust anything I say."

"Okay…" Dalton raised his eyebrow. That hint of suspicion didn't do anything to help Roman's nerves. "But why would he want to start a war anyway?"

"It could be lots of things." Virgil shrugged. "For resources, for land, to settle an argument. All we know for sure is that it definitely won't end well."

"Wait, you can talk now?" Roman fixed his confused gaze on Virgil.

"Clearly, but that's not what we're talking about right now." Remus answered for him. "How fast can this ship go? Maybe we could get out of this galaxy before it gets so messed up that it self-destructs."

"We can't just leave! What about all the innocent people?" Patton was quick to shoot down that idea.

"Well it's not like we can fight." Remus pointed out. "There are only six of us, so I think packing our bags and leaving is our best bet. Unless anyone else has a better idea."

"What if… what if we did fight?" Roman suggested. The rest of them fell silent. If he didn't have everyone's attention before, he sure did now.

"And how exactly do you suggest we do that?" Logan raised his eyebrows. "We don't necessarily have a government to collaborate with."

"Hey, what about your kingdom?" Patton suggested. Roman tensed up.

"No, that won't work. They're peaceful, they wouldn't want to engage in a battle like this." He was impressed with his ability to think of such a quick lie. "Logan, do you have a map I could look at?"

"Of course." Logan tapped at what looked like a smart watch on his wrist. Within seconds, a three dimensional model of the galaxy appeared in the air.

"If that's where we are now… and that's Xialea VII…" Roman muttered to himself as he examined the map. He pointed to a very small planet near the edge of the map. "Aha! That planet, since it's so far away from everyone else, shouldn't be involved in anything yet. Let's get a closer look at it."

As if activated by his voice, the map zoomed in on the planet. Columns of information appeared beside it. Unlike Xialea VII, this planet was covered entirely in buildings. Despite its size, it had a lot of people living on it. But what they were really focused on was the fact that it had a king.

"Its name is Illathea." Logan read from the list of information. "They seem to be neutral as of right now, so perhaps we'll be able to get to them before they make a final decision about which side they're on."

Reading further down on the list, they were met with the amount of time it would take to get there. 21 days, 4 hours, 12 minutes, 40 seconds. They were all speechless.

Finally, Remus decided that someone needed to break the silence. "So, when are we leaving?"

Taglist: @idkwhyimhere0o0 @icequeenoriginal @mostpeopleannoyne @007ardra @logan-is-my-spirit-animal @multifandomnightmare

[pufflyhallows]

Muggles

Pairing: Fred Weasley x reader

Request: I don't know if this will spark anything for you but you could do something like Ron, George, Fred (whichever) bring home their girlfriend (lives in the muggle world doesn't have to be muggleborn though) and Arthur, everything-muggle enthusiast, wants to hear all that he can (and she's all for telling him). maybe she even has an iphone or something and he's like losing his mind over it, but the boyfriend (whichever one) is so happy and proud that reader/girlfriend loves to entertain his family??

a/n: I loved this idea very much and I really hope the sweet anon who asked for it is happy with the result <3

Summary: You go spend the summer at the Burrow for the very first time in order to meet the family of your boyfriend, Fred, and Arthur Weasley is really excited to talk about the muggle world with you.  

Warnings: language

Word count: 2,599

*******

You were nervous. How could you not be? The fear of being rejected took over your heart and mind. 

“They’re fine! You’ll see,” Fred said countless times. 

It was easy for him to say. He wasn’t the one that was going to be judged by eight people at once! Well, four actually. Percy, George, Ron and Ginny knew you already. Percy didn’t seem to care. Neither did Ron. As for George and Ginny... they expressed their approval in the best ways possible. 

But there was Bill and Charlie, the oldest siblings that were way too cool for you. And then there were the ones you were most nervous about: Arthur and Molly, Fred’s parents.

“What if they don’t like me?” you asked one more time. 

“I’m sure they’ll love you, doll,” your boyfriend reassured you, “But if they don’t, they can fight me about it.”

You gave him a tiny grateful smile. 

It was summer, and you were going to spend it at the Burrow for the very first time. You were really happy that Fred had invited you to come home with him and meet his family, although your parents expressed they would miss you. 

“Ready?” Fred asked when you all arrived.

The house was several stories high and very crooked, probably held up by magic. It had a lovely yard with several fat brown chickens around and a jumble of rubber boots and a very rusty cauldron lying at the front door. You loved it!

“Yes,” you nodded as he took your hand in his and went inside. 

“My boys!” was the first thing you heard when you stepped in. 

A short ginger lady rushed to hug Percy, and then George. When she turned to hug Fred, her eyes fell on you.

“Oh, Merlin! You must be Y/N!” she smiled widely and involved you in a tight hug, “You are a very pretty young lady, just like my Fred said. Welcome, dear!”

“Thank you, Mrs. Weasley,” you smiled relieved. 

Fred’s mother squeezed your cheek lightly before rushing to hug Ron and Ginny.

“It wasn’t that bad, was it?” your boyfriend asked jokingly as you walked in the kitchen, leaving Molly and his siblings behind, “She even forgot I was there.”

“She likes me more already,” you winked at him. 

“I wouldn’t doubt that,” he chuckled, “Hey, dad!”

Only then you realized Mr. Weasley’s presence in the kitchen. Feeling nervous again, you squeezed Fred’s hand.

“Hello, children! Welcome, welcome!” the tall ginger man approached you two and held out his hand at you, “I’m Arthur, dear. You must be Fred’s... um... friend.”

“Girlfriend, dad.”

“I’m Y/N. It’s nice to meet you, sir,” you shook his hand with a very amused smile on your face.

“My pleasure,” he smiled as well, “Where are the others?”

“I’m here,” George announced as he came in the kitchen, “Hey there, dad.”

“Welcome back, son,” Arthur patted George’s shoulder. 

“Who’s hungry?” Molly asked when she entered the kitchen being followed by Ron and Ginny. Percy had gone straight to his room.

“I am,” Ron replied sitting at the wooden table. 

Soon enough, the family started having an excited conversation about everything that had happened in the time they were apart. You just watched enchanted by the love emanating from them. 

“What do you think?” Fred whispered to you.

“I love them,” you smiled. Your boyfriend gave you a quick, discrete peck on the lips before going back to his conversation. 

When Bill and Charlie came downstairs, Fred introduced you to them. They were really polite and welcomed you to the family. You felt more than happy to hear that. 

After you all had breakfast, Fred, George and Ron went outside to ‘get rid of the garden gnomes’, which was something very odd to hear. You followed them to the backyard and sat by the door watching. 

Ron picked up a small and leathery-looking... man? With a large, knobbly, bald head exactly like a potato. He grasped it around the ankles and turned it upside-down, swinging it in great circles before finally releasing it. The gnome flew twenty feet into the air and landed with a thud in the field over the hedge.

“Poor thing!” you covered your mouth in shock.

“Don’t worry, Y/N, it doesn’t hurt them,” Fred explained, “We just have to make them dizzy so they can’t come back.”

“Oh... I feel kinda bad, though,” you admitted.

“Really?” George asked as he held up a gnome who was tirelessly trying to kick and bite him. 

“Watch this,” Fred told you, “Hey, Ron! That was quite pitiful. I bet I can get mine beyond that stump.”

Your boyfriend picked up another gnome from the ground and started swinging it. When he let go of its little ankles, it flew forty feet into the air.

“Impressive,” you stood up to see where it landed. Ron simply shrugged it off. 

The air was soon thick with flying gnomes. After a while, the crowd in the field started walking away in a straggling line, their little shoulders hunched.

“They’ll be back,” Ron said, as they watched the gnomes disappear into the hedge on the other side of the field. “They love it here ... Dad’s too soft with them, he thinks they’re funny.”

You smiled at the information. You also thought they were funny.

“How about some Quidditch now?” George proposed. 

“I’m in,” Fred replied, “And you, Y/N?”

“I think I’m just gonna watch you guys while I listen to some music,” you said.

“Okay.”

You went back inside to search for your bag. You found it lying on the couch with the rest of the boys’ luggage. Grabbing your discman and one of your CDs, you rushed outside. 

The boys were having fun while you sat by the door and listened to the latest Nirvana album your mom had bought you.

When the second song ended, Mr. Weasley showed up. You paused the third song at its initial beats to listen to him. 

“Pleasant morning, isn’t it?” he said as he watched the boys playing and you agreed, “Ginny told me you live in the muggle world. Is that correct, dear?”

Fred was concentrated on the game, but when he saw his dad talking to you, he knew exactly what the older man was going to talk about.

“Yes, sir.”

“Your parents are muggles, then?” 

“Just my mother,” you replied, “My father is a pureblood.”

“Oh! He must hear quite a lot of nonsense sometimes, huh?” Mr. Weasley gave you a pitiful look. Yeah, your father got called a blood traitor a few times. 

“He doesn’t really care. Besides, since he lives a bit away from the wizarding world, it doesn’t happen too often.”

“I see,” he nodded, but suddenly his eyes widened, “And what is that on your lap?”

“This?” you grabbed your discman, “It’s a device used to listen to music, like a radio. It’s called a discman.”

“Like a radio? How does it work exactly? Discman...” the man sat down by your side and watched carefully as you opened the object.

“You have to put a CD inside,” you explained, taking the Nirvana album and giving it to Mr. Weasley, “That is a CD. The music is recorded on it. It’s really just like playing one of Celestina Warbeck’s record on a gramophone.”

“Interesting,” he examined the CD on his hands, “And what is the function of this reflective side?”

“That’s actually where the music is recorded. The other side is just the cover.”

“CD stands for...”

“Compact disc.”

“It is compact indeed. You can carry these in your pocket!” he smiled at the object, “And what about that wire you’re holding?”

“This is my headphone,” you showed it to him, “I connect it to the discman and put it over my ears like this.”

You carefully placed the headphone on Mr. Weasley’s ears and pressed play. 

The man’s expression changed in a matter of seconds. He looked at you with widened eyes and opened mouth. 

“I’M HEARING IT!” he yelled, catching Fred, George and Ron’s attention. You giggled as he clumsily moved his shoulders to the beat. You paused the song so he could hear you.

“That’s the function of the wire. It allows you to listen to music anywhere in a way it won’t bother anyone. Only you can hear it like that,” you explained.

“Brilliant! Muggles are really intelligent people!” Mr. Weasley removed the headphones and handed them back to you, “Thank you, Y/N. That is very fascinating.”

“You’re welcome,” you smiled and thought for a few seconds, “Actually, you can keep it.”

“What? Oh no, dear. I can’t accept such gift,” he shook his head, “It’s your entertainment.”

“It’s okay. I’m sure my mother can give me another one on my birthday,” you reassured him, “Keep it. I will send you more CDs when I go back home.”

“Well... in that case... thank you very much, Y/N,” the man smiled widely and stood up holding the discman and the headphone. 

The boys had stopped playing and watched the two of you from across the yard curiously. 

“Molly will go crazy when she sees this,” he mumbled going inside. 

You beamed to yourself feeling really happy.

“Let me guess,” Fred said as he approached you, “My father asked you what’s the function of a rubber duck.”

“What? No,” you chuckled, “He wanted to know what my discman was.”

“Why did he take it away?”

“I gave him.”

“Y/N...” your boyfriend sat by your side, “You don’t have to give your things away to make my family like you.”

You laughed out loud at his joke. 

“Shit, you discovered my plan.”

“But... You made the old man happy like a child with a new toy. So thanks.”

“Ah, it was my pleasure really. He is so sweet.”

Fred smiled.

“Hey, lovebirds! I don’t mean to interrupt, but... we need you, Fred!” George waved at him from across the yard. 

“Sorry, babe. Duty calls,” your boyfriend gave you a quick kiss before standing up and going back to the game. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At noon, Mrs. Weasley called everyone to have lunch. The kitchen was quite crowded once the family of ten people (since they insisted you were part of it now) sat by the table. 

Fred’s mother talked excitedly to her children. She asked Percy several questions about his prefect duties and he did not hesitate to show off his work. The twins silently made fun of him, which caused muffled snickers on the other siblings and you, although you did feel a bit bad about it. 

“And Y/N, darling, you live with the muggles, don’t you?” Mrs. Weasley asked suddenly and you nodded, feeling shy that everyone was looking at you now, “Arthur works at the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, in the Ministry of Magic. Tell her, Arthur.”

“Well, we regulate the use of magic on muggle objects and try to keep items that have been bewitched away from muggles. Not long ago I was able to catch a few shrinking door keys and a biting kettle. I can’t even imagine what we would have had to do if a muggle had seen any of those objects,” Mr. Weasley said in a worried tone, “But please, tell me dear, you don’t happen to know any cases of muggles finding... interesting objects, do you?”

“No, sir. I do not,” you replied.

“Good, good! That means we’re doing it right,” he smiled, “Now, I’ve heard about a new muggle invention. It’s called ‘microwade’. Do you know anything about it?”

“Um, I think what you mean is microwave and it’s not really a new invention, I’m afraid,” you explained politely, “It’s used to heat up food.”

“Heat up food?” he frowned, “How so?”

“It’s like a box and you put the food inside it. You set the time on a little keyboard and wait as it starts to create heat. When the countdown is over, it’ll make a beep sound and you can take the food out.”

“See?” Mr. Weasley looked around at his family, “Muggles are incredibly ingenious people! And how is the heat created inside it?”

“Well, that’s a lot of science and physics and I’m not smart enough to explain it,” you chuckled, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s completely fine, dear. Thank you very much,” Mrs. Weasley smiled at you, “Who wants dessert?”

“Beep sound,” Mr. Weasley chuckled, “Muggles.”

“Don’t tell me you have a microwave there with you,” Fred whispered to you as Ron told his mother he would like a slice of pudding.

“This time I’m gonna let your father down. Sorry,” you smirked. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You sat on the bed Mrs. Weasley had prepared for you in Ginny’s room. Through the window, the night sky was dark and the stars shone brightly. You took a deep breath, feeling your chest too crowded with different emotions: relief, happiness, love and gratitude. The day was as perfect as it could be. 

You lay down on the bed and closed your eyes, ready to sleep. When a couple of minutes went by, the door was quietly and slowly opened. You looked at it and saw a ginger head appearing. It was Fred.

“What are you doing here?” you asked in a whisper as Ginny was already asleep.

“Come with me,” he motioned and left the room. 

Sighing, you stood up and followed his track. 

Fred walked down the stairs and only stopped in the kitchen to grab two bottles. He handed you one. Butterbeer. 

“Where are we going?” you questioned when he took your hand and pulled you outside the house. 

“This is it,” he let go of your hand and pointed at the ground. There was a tablecloth and cushions on the grass, “I wanted to do something special for your first night here.”

“You are the best boyfriend in the world. You know that, don’t you?” you said as you wrapped your arms around him. 

“Of course I do,” he snorted jokingly, hugging you back, “Now, let’s sit here and drink our butterbeers looking at the stars and all that romantic stuff.”

“I happen to like a lot that romantic stuff,” you pocked his rib. 

“And I happen to know that, love,” he smirked.

You both sat down on the tablecloth and looked up at the sky. It was beautiful. 

“I loved it,” you spoke after a while.

“What?”

“Everything. Your family, your house, this... Every single moment of this day,” you looked at Fred, who was already looking at you, and smiled, “I love you. Very much.”

“I love you too, Y/N,” your boyfriend moved closer to you and threw his arm around your shoulder. You rested your head on his chest and wrapped your arms around him again, “Thank you for being patient with my dad. He asked you a lot of questions today.”

“Oh, stop. It didn’t bother me at all.”

“You were really sweet and kind to him. I could see how happy he was talking to you. My mom too. She really liked you.”

“I’m glad to know that,” you beamed, “Your family is great, Fred. You’re lucky.”

“I know,” he smiled and kissed you tenderly. 

You two lay down on the tablecloth, Fred resting his head on your chest this time. You started to run your fingers through his hair and it didn’t take long for you to hear him snoring lowly. 

“I love you, Fred.”

[welcometohashihigh]

Meeting the Cast: Akira

Akira ran to his classroom, his breath coming in short gasps. He couldn’t believe he was late on his first day. Not again, he thought. He slid to a stop in front of the door and flung it open, revealing only two students. He checked his watch, then looked up at the clock on the wall. Damn, he forgot to adjust the time for Tokyo. 

Akira looked up at the two students, familiarity shooting through him. They were the two boys from his vision! The gray haired one was at least attempting to get some sort of work done while the blue haired one was doing his best annoy the gray one. When Akira slid the door open, both had looked up, a minor amount of shock crossing over their faces. He felt like he had intruded somewhat.

“Ah, s-sorry to disturb both of you.” Akira was about to walk away when the blue haired one spoke up. His voice was voice was soft and almost monotone.

“No, its ok. Come on in, we weren’t busy.” The gray haired one glared at the small boy. 

Akira walked in and sat down next to the two. “I’m Kurusu Akira. Are you two part of the cultural exchange?” He felt odd sitting close to them. The only other time he saw them was the vision of battle, and both had looked much different then. 

The blue haired one nodded. “Yeah. This class is supposed to be everyone who’s part of it. Arisato Minato.” He smiled very softly, like he didn’t do it often. Arisato wore a small pair of headphones over his school uniform. His voice was light, but staring into his eyes Akira found a rather similar look. He wasn’t sure why, but whenever he looked in the mirror recently his eyes had this dark gleam in them. He didn’t have it until…. Well the more he thought about it, the gleam had only shown up after he had ‘died’ by Akechi’s hands. Perhaps that was it. The look of someone who not only saw death, but truly felt it.

“I’m Narukami Yu.” Narukami adjusted his glasses, a pair of thick black frames with a few colorful stripes on the side. “It’s supposed to be a rather large mix of different years. Not sure who else is supposed to be here, besides some of my friends from Yasogami High. I heard some students from a nearby school are coming too.” Narukami seemed friendly enough. His gray eyes were hard as stone though, filled with a rather odd intensity. They flickered when he mentioned his friends, as is fear had flashed through them.

“A nearby school?” Akira thought about it. There were lots of local schools, but his mind went straight to Shujin. Though he doubted all of his friends would end up here. And Yusuke went to Kosei anyway. He felt his heart drop at the mention of friends, especially since Narukami was going to get to spend his school year with his. 

“My friends from Gekkoukan High are a part too.” Arisato sighed. Despite his teasing of Narukami, he seemed to have a rather lax personality. “There was another school. Just one student, one who volunteered. I heard rumors he only came because of the free food.”

Now that sounded like Yusuke. “Were the other two schools Shujin and Kosei?” Akira couldn’t keep the hopefulness out of his voice. He truly missed his friends. 

Narukami shrugged. “Maybe, I don’t exactly remember. All I really remember was that Yasogami was on the list.” He continued to do his work rather dutifully. The two seemed like such interesting people. 

“You really only care about the Investigation Team, huh?” Arisato teased, a small smirk pulling at his mouth. “It’s fine, you know. S.E.E.S. would absolutely destroy you guys anyway.”

“Huh?” Akira was confused. Was that their friend groups? They had odd names, but then again… he still referred to the group as the Thieves. Despite the Phantom Thieves technically being done, the friends still talked and hung out when they could. 

Narukami looked up, a little worried. He shot an angry glare at Arisato, before responding. “Well, you see-”

“Yu!” An incredibly happy voice burst into the room. Narukami instantly perked up as a tall, brown haired boy walked in. “Sorry for taking so long, Chie wanted to finish her breakfast.” Narukami stood and walked over to the boy as five more people walked in behind him. 

Akira smiled at the onslaught of people. They must have been the students from Yasogami High, considering how friendly they were with Narukami. He couldn’t deny that he felt a pang of jealousy. 

The group made their way to their seats, still chattering. Arisato turned away, apparently not interested in further teasing with Narukami. Once it started to settle down, Akira introduced himself. “Hi, I’m Kurusu Akira-”

The brown haired boy grabbed his hand too eagerly. “Hi Akira! I’m Hanamura Yosuke.” Akira felt odd, but not bad at hearing Hanamura call him by his first name. The boy reminded him of Ryuji. He smiled at the memory. When he and Ryuji had first met, the boy had absolutely refused to call Akira by his family name. He had found it slightly off putting at first, but he grew used to it. 

A girl with short, light brown hair and extremely intelligent eyes laughed at Hanamura. “What was that, Yosuke? I’m Satonaka Chie, but go ahead and call me Chie.”

“It’s….” Akira giggled. He found the group absolutely charming. “It’s nice to meet all of you.” Narukami seemed to be the odd one out, with his larger stature and softer personality, but all of his friends liked him. Another pang of jealousy hit him. Damn, he really missed his friends. 

“Akira! Holy shit!” That was a voice he recognized. Akira stood quickly, almost tripping over himself to get to the source. There he was, the absolute idiot. 

“Ryuji! I didn’t think I’d see you until later!” Akira felt elated, his heart fluttering. He pulled Ryuji into a tight hug, though what was behind him shocked him even further. “Ann? Makoto? Yusuke?!” The entire group was here, apparently just as surprised that their leader was here too. 

“Akira, we… we all volunteered for the exchange program, since we already knew each other. We never expected you to be here too.” Makoto smiled softly, clearly happy to be back with the gang. “The Thieves are all back together again.”

“Well, almost all of us.” Ann noted the absence of Morgana with a sad note. It was true, Morgana hadn’t come back with Akira to Tokyo. The group seemed a little downtrodden, but then Akira remembered. 

“Oh, well I promised I would video call him tonight. I’m sure he’d love to see you guys too!”

“The Thieves? Wait, are you guys talking about the Phantom Thieves?” Chie looked over at the new group, and Akira felt his heart drop. Oh. Just because they beat Yaldabaoth didn’t mean that people just forgot about the Thieves. “Do you guys remember that from last year? That was crazy to watch! Oh, but they were so cool!” Chie seemed oddly optimistic. 

“Ah, right. I lived in Tokyo at the time, so they were a little… up close and personal.” Akira cast a sharp glance at the others. His message was clear; we weren’t the Thieves. He walked back to his seat with them, everyone sitting down and chattering. People introduced themselves, laughs were exchanged. Akira felt happy, relishing in the wonderful people he was surrounded by. 

“It was weird though. Didn’t the very police say that the leader of those Thieves was dead? But then he turned up all of a sudden! Completely unharmed!” Hanamura pondered the logistics of Akira’s death. A small boyish looking person, who sat really close to the largest of the group, spoke with a firm voice. Akira remembered that their name was Shirogane Naoto. 

“It was very odd, yes. We weren’t in Tokyo at the time but the stories circulated everywhere. I myself watched that calling card several times over, trying to figure out how this ‘Phantom Thief’ managed to escape death.”

“Perhaps he was as crafty as the gentlemen thieves of legend.” Akira smiled sincerely. Ann had looked ready to try and bullshit, but knowing how horrible her acting was, he decided to step in. “We liked them so much we decided that we’d name ourselves after them.”

“While I agree that the Phantom Thieves were quite the spectacle, imitating them is probably a bad idea. What happened earlier this spring doesn’t just go away.” A tall girl with long red hair walked in. She didn’t seem to be from Yasogami or Shujin, but Arisato jumped up. 

“Mitsuru! Junpei!” It was weird to hear Arisato sound so excited. He didn’t seem like the type to really get excited. But Akira couldn’t deny it was almost cute. Arisato greeted the group that just showed up. The room was starting to get full. 

“Oh, I’m glad everyone is here finally.” A tall woman strode in. She looked young, with short black hair and wire glasses. “I’m Mrs. Tori, I’ll be your homeroom teacher. Welcome to Hashi High.”

[countlessimagines]

The Gamer Guy [ Colin Ritman x Reader ]

Summary: your brother Stefan introduces you to the one and only Colin Ritman

“hello!! can you write a colin ritman x reader? fluff of any kind? (i can be more specific if you like :})” - @the-outrages

“Please write anything Colin please 😭 I’ve always loved will, now he’s finally being appreciated I need my fix of fanfic 😂x” - @justleave-already

“Hey. Can you write me a few imagines with Cokin Ritman from Bandersnatch. And then tag me in them? Thanks ❤” - @maryhuffxoxo

Warnings: Some language

MASTERLIST

-

It was a tough week for your little brother, Stefan, to say the least. You saw him rotting away in his room trying to finish Bandersnatch but it just wasn't going well for him. You went to go check on him one day and when you entered his room, he slammed his fist against the desk.

“Stefan?” You cautioned while walking over to him. “Hey, maybe you need a break.”

He rotated in his seat and looked at you so frustrated and miserable. “Yeah, that - that would be nice.”

-

You drove Stefan and yourself to his favorite lunch spot and parked in front. Getting out of the car, Stefan saw someone he knew and hurriedly walked to the sidewalk to say hello.

“Colin?” He said and started fiddling with his fingers. Now that he was in the situation, he didn’t know what to say.

Colin looked at Stefan and didn’t miss a beat while nodding, “How’s it going with Bandersnatch?”

“Frustrating, really really frustrating,” He stammered. “But my sister drove us here so we could eat and I could get my mind off of it.”

You walked up to the two and eyed Colin suspiciously, “And who are you?”

“I’m Colin,” he said and titled his head. You had the thought he was checking you out as his eyes darted over you.

“Ah, yes,” You nodded and pointed your finger at him, “You’re that gamer guy that my brother always talks about... Want to join us for lunch?”

Colin took a second to think but agreed and followed you two inside. Funny thing it was, though, for the server. He had just left the restaurant only a few minutes ago.

-

“Eh, they’re not my favorite band,” You said and skipped through the various records Colin had in his room. “I rather listen to my dad go on about his new food techniques he learned. Which is so boring, may I add.”

Colin chuckled from where he sat on his couch, staring at you with a certain look in his eyes.

“I bet that’s not too bad.”

“Want to bet? You should come to my house sometime... He's also pestering Stefan so much that I think the poor kid is going to snap at him.”

“Mm, that's not good. Especially if he’s working. Might release his anger on your dad if he messes up or something goes bad. I yelled at someone so badly one time that they quit.”

“How charming.”

You both had found out that there were many similar interests Colin and you shared. Stefan became wary about you two hanging out - claiming he had terrible dreams where you two being together wasn't the best. You ignored your little brother’s concerns and carried out the blooming friendship - or whatever it was - with Colin.

You often caught him observing you, a look of admiration on his face.

Turning around, you took a seat next to him and noticed that he became a little more tense.

“So, did you see your latest reviews on that one show? Stefan had it on and I was listening in. They gave it a good review.”

Colin shrugged, “I don’t really look at those types of things.”

“Oh come on!” You told him exasperated. “It’d help you. You know, some criticism.”

“What did you think about the game?” He questioned, more interested in your answer more than a random kid on the television.

“I liked it, but I prefer others games more than yours,” You teased and noticed him get visibly upset. “I’m just joking.”

“Yeah, yeah,” He smiled and placed his hand on your knee. “Well, you better head home, check on Stefan.”

You became confused because it was only an hour ago you arrived, “How - how come?”

“I’m tired and I have a long day tomorrow,” He said bluntly and his  “Okay,” You murmured and collected your things. “Want out hang out on Saturday?”

“I’ll have to see.”

-

A couple weeks went by and you heard nothing from Colin. No calls or visits.

You tried to reach out to him but he always said he was busy or didn’t have the time to hang out with you.

Thinking you did something wrong to scare him off, you stayed at home and didn't really leave unless it was for meals. And Stefan noticed this.

He knocked on your door and saw that your were laying down with your headphones on. He approached you and took the headphones off, “You alright?”

You shook your head, “Colin’s been blowing me off. I don’t know what I did.”

Stefan sighed and held back the urge to say I told you so, but didn't and mumbled instead, “I don't think it’s your fault.”

“Why else would he reject me?” You shouted and then apologized to Stefan who moved back a bit. “Sorry, I’m just - I don't know. I thought there was something special between us, you know? We have so much in common and had fun hanging out together. Guess it was all for nothing.”

Stefan saw how broken you were over Colin not paying attention to you so he made up his mind on what to do, “I’ll be back.”

-

It was later on that night that another knock came to your door. You sighed, not really up to talking to Stefan about Colin or you dad asking if you were hungry.

“Come in, I guess,” You mumbled loud enough for the person to hear you. Sitting up on your bed, you could feel some bones cracking because of how long you were laying down.

Colin shyly slid into the room and did an awkward smile.

A lot of thoughts ran through your head. First, you wanted to hit him with a pillow. Second, you wanted to cry. Three, you wanted to push him out. You went with option one.

Chucking a large pillow at him, he tried to dodge it but rather got hit harder, “Hey! Hey! Easy with the pillows.”

“You are truly a terrible person.”

“I wouldn’t say terrible. Im here, aren't I?”

You raged, “After two weeks of rejection! What happened, Colin? Did you lose interest in me and think I wasn't worthy of being in the presence of the Colin Ritman?”

“No, it’s not like that!” He said and made a large step to your bed. “I... I just... I couldn't...”

“You couldn’t, what?”

“I couldn’t see you because I... I have feelings for you.”

You were shocked by his statement and gave him a what the hell look.

“I know it’s crazy and we’ve only know each other for not even two months. But, there's something about you that makes my heart sting and my head go high wire and my thoughts filled with how much I love you.”

“It’s not crazy at all,” You comforted him and fully stood up from your bed. “Hearing what you said made me realize I have feelings for you, too. I think that’s why I got so mad. I thought I lost a really amazing man.”

Colin beamed at you so brightly and rushed forward. He grabbed your face in his hands and kissed you roughly, but you didn’t mind. Kissing him back felt like it was an eternity waiting for something like this to happen. And it felt warm and familiar.

“Are you guys okay?” Stefan came into the room and then instantly left. “I wasn't suppose to see that.”

-

[kindofwriter]

The first ever AI: or is it?

Is this an alright story? I’ve been told so many times that my taste in literature is so abstract and removed from what other people like that I’ll never be able to write an enjoyable narrative. Before I develop anything I just want to know if this is ok. Not good, just acceptable.

Briefly (or as briefly as I can):

The story starts with a young man taking out the trash. He’s told to take it to a proper waste removal plant, but decides that that’s too far out of his way. He takes a look at what he’s suppose to be disposing of, and is terrified to discover it’s a human body. Upon closer inspection he realises it’s actually a very convincing human-shaped robot and tosses it in a dumpster.

Then the proper story begins. It’s ~2235. We have robots, but not AI, that have taken over a lot of manual labour, service jobs, and medical procedures. After a huge population spike a few billion were killed due to global warming, meaning there are huge cities that now have the population of towns. Folding phones and interactive holograms are the norm, but some older tech (3D kindles, wireless headphones) has hung around. In the US the middle and lower classes have joined to form socialist state governments, but the upper classes remain in control of large business and the federal government. Average life expectancy is ~90 years.

Our MC Iris, 19 y/o college student studying coding and robotics and part-time teacher, is walking home. Upon spotting an insanely complex robot just discarded on top of a dumpster she puts it on the trolley with her robotics projects and takes it home.

She lives with her mother who used to be a kind, supportive parent, but began to develop symptoms of dementia nine years ago. Now she’s hostile, forgetful, and abusives. Iris avoids her at all costs, and only stays because of monetary issues. She spends as much time as possible out of the house.

In her room, Iris sets about fixing up the robot. The tech’s a little more complex than what she’s used to, but she adapts. The robot looks horrifyingly like a human man, complete with overgrown hair and blood and tissue, but mimicking this is completely possible with 3D printing tech.

The robot has circuitry in its head, with wires connecting to its spine, a robotic hand, trachea, and voice box, a heart-sleeve, a robotic arm, and a faulty robotic foot + shin. Most other things seem to be printed cells.

Once she’s put the finishing touches on the robot’s head it wakes up, instantly panicking and trying to run away, but its damaged foot prevents this. After a lot of struggling, failed attempts to speak, and a lot of shushing from Iris, the robot becomes tired and ‘powers down.’

While it ‘sleeps’ Iris tries to see what kind of tasks it’s coded for, as it behaved very strangely, but she can’t find anything besides basic bodily functions. She fixes its voice box then goes to sleep.

When Iris wakes up the robot is gone, but she can hear her mom in the kitchen so gets up. It isn’t her mom, but the robot, rummaging through her cupboards and eating as much junk food as it can find.

It sees Iris and apologies for last night, and for eating all her food, and introduces himself as Adam (ahaha, see what I did there? THE BIBLE). He says he’ll be leaving now.

Iris is very confused and wants to know more, so when Adam goes to drink some of her mom’s liquor she offers to buy him a drink somewhere else. They swap his hospital-like attire for a hoodie and one of her mom’s skirts (he’s too tall for the pants, but says he’s partial to skirts anyway).

As they leave the house Adam mentions that he has a family, but the wife he mentions created the code for AI 200 years ago, only to have her designs forbidden and confiscated by the feds. Iris assumes he is the first illegal AI, made by someone who found her plans, and is amazed.

Adam talks to her about working for a dangerous corporation - he doesn’t dare give her the details - and being forced to leave his home. Iris begins to piece together that he was created and coded to act like a regular worker, but forced to work like a non-sentient robot.

She starts to explain to him about AI and Nita Sarcar’s coding, during which he is captivated, but when she tells him Nita died ~150 years ago he looks horrified and excuses himself to the bathroom.

After a while Iris follows him and finds him curled up on the floor, sobbing violently. She marvels at the humanity of the AI, and how easily he can evoke an emotional response from her.

However as she comforts him he tells her that he’s a person and explains where he comes from. Nita Sarcar actually was his wife. They had two children and lived in suburban New York. He was, if he says so himself, an astounding biochemical engineer. His wife was a computer scientist.

A company hired him to create a cure for death. He took the job, but after a few months and some critical thinking he decided it was immoral to develop something that would allow the upper class to evade death. He quit.

But the company wouldn’t let him. They effectively kidnapped him, locking him in a lab until he finished the cure. For ages he refused, but after almost a year he was desperate to see his family, so began work again.

He was forced to test products on himself, and after a while, just to stay alive, he was forced to perform procedures.

As he developed the technology the people at the corporation began to use it themselves, slowly becoming immortal.

Eventually, after what he assumed to be around thirty years, Adam had created a syrum that would cure death in a single injection. He demanded to be returned to his family, but instead the corporation severed the circuitry in his foot, shutting down his entire robotics system, including the brain. Then they told someone to trash him.

He demands that they involve the police, but Iris explains that society is fragile, and the police aren’t allowed to interfere with upper class, federal business. He decides to interfere himself.

Adam and Iris return to her house where she makes him a crutch and supplies him with some tech (some of her own, some that just exists now, like cool future-knives) while Adam used the weird, futuristic hair styler to get rid of his matted hair. He still doesn’t look like a person and it bothers him.

Adam starts to leave and Iris begs him to let her go too. He doesn’t want her to, he admits it’s probably a suicide mission, but she explains that she doesn’t care. There is nothing left in the world for her to do; so far her life has been 19 years of nothingness. Even if it means dying, she’s desperate to get away from home and do something, anything. She also tells Adam that hearing him talk about his family kind of makes her heart ache. She imagines what her life would’ve been like if her parents had loved her.

Her mother hears them arguing and comes to confront Iris, becoming mad when she sees Adam. She accuses Iris of ‘trying to build herself a new mother again’ and tells her to leave and never come home again. Adam instantly agrees to let her come with him and they run.

Iris tells him that when she was eleven she tried to build her mother a new brain and put it in a robot to test it. Her mom found out and accused her of trying to replace her, destroying her project and locking her in her room, then forgetting about her. After a few days Iris had to escape through the window.

They go somewhere: an old mall, an old library, an old camper van - wherever fits the story, and plan an assault on the corporation. Along the way Adam learns that they concrete jungle they’re exploring isn’t actually NYC but rural New York: at some point it become so built up it was indistinguishable from the city.

Now I get to the point in my planning where I know something else has to happen but I don’t quite know what. I know that Adam and Iris have to bond, that Adam has to feel crushed that he missed watching his children (who were 9 and 7 when he went missing) grow up, that Adam has to express extreme emotional and physical pain. Some actions stuff has to happen too. And it definitely needs some side characters at times.

Anyway, before they infiltrait the corp Iris gives Adam a little pass key, explaining that it will completely shut down and destroy his systems when used. He laughs and says something like ‘you’re giving me a suicide opportunity?’ and she says ‘no, I’m giving you autonomy’ in a very serious tone.

Then, obviously, fight-stuff happens. Disabling security, running from robots, meeting creepy cyborg-like people, like Adam but older (probably should’ve mentioned earlier, part of being immortal is preventing ageing. Adam looks mid-late thirties, these dudes are like 60-70. They’re terrifying.)

Adam has no qualms about killing any of these people, and although Iris is all for disabling systems and knocking people unconscious she turns away from Adam’s violent removal of people’s heads.

They corner the ‘main bad guy’ but he locks himself in a lab. Iris begins to disable the systems, but has a better idea. The building, coded to protect The Bad Guys, is gradually getting its remaining defences to Adam and Iris. She logs into the computer’s system and types wildly while Adam panics. She completes the code just in time.

The building’s system wakes up and, remembering all the horrible things it’s been forced to carry out, kills Bad Guy #1.

Iris, having thoroughly, thoroughly studied Nita’s work, has created the first actual AI. She tells it that they’re going to do some great things for the world (here’s where I need some side characters for her to hire. Definitely some people she teaches with etc.)

Iris takes Adam to one of the few non-built-up places in the state and they watch the heavy, dark cloud-coverage sludge around the sky. Adam tells Iris about travelling the world with his family, and the plans he’d had for the future. He apologises that he can’t stay and be like a father to Iris. She says she never expected him to.

Adam tells her he loves her, he’s proud of her, and that getting to know her was the only good thing to come out of his miserable torture.

Iris says he’s given her everything she ever wanted in life, and she can’t wait to start acting like a person herself.

They cry.

Iris offers to leave. Adam asks her to stay. He tells her that he’s not scared; the most frightening thing isn’t death, but feeling dead while you’re still living.

He inserts the chip into the circuitry in his head.

And that’s pretty much it. I’d probably call it something lame like Alive Indefinitely, because that has the AI and the immortality aspect in there.

Thank you so, so much if you stuck it out this long, I actually love you for it ❤️ Obviously it wouldn’t be quite this bad, this is just off the top of my head, but I just wanna know: is it ok? Not if it’s a best seller, or even a seller at all, just it seems like a story.

Thank you, I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you’ve made it to the end of this post!

[a-little-bit-colorful]

This is for @devils-deeds-23 coraline au!! I had a blast writing this! 

- 

"So... can I go see john today?" 

"Not today, no." 

Luke stopped untangling his head phones, a task he chose to keep his mind off of the pretty blue eyed boy he befriended few days ago. "Aw come on! Why not?" He threw his hands and the tangled mess down on the table, shuffling some of the papers that seemed almost torn apart from being in a cabinet for so long.  

"It's raining, there's mud. And I don't want you to slip and hurt yourself." Luke's father, Evan, said with a look of disinterest. He was a strong man and could easily take you down in a heartbeat. But he was also a softie. He took an injury a few months ago because of his profession, he was a hockey player. Key word: was, past tense. Evan had their family move all the way to North Carolina. Both of Luke's fathers were pretty well off, so he didn't really have to worry about your normal 'my family is poor' stuff. Luke really did enjoy his life... except for the fact he can't keep a good friend for more then a month. He misses their old house, the neighbors were nice, it wasn't a 'bad' part of town. His fathers didn't enjoy it as much as their son did. THEY of corse wanted to be secluded and anonymous. 

 The 14 year old sighed, giving up on untangling the wires, putting the jack into his iPod. "I'll be careful! Come on... please?" Luke begged his father. With a sigh, Luke accepted defeat. Deciding that convincing Evan was a lost cause, he came up with another idea. Of course Evan was so engrossed into doing his taxes that he didn't even notice his son slip away, a small doll in his arms. 

Walking through the hall ways, Luke found his second fathers study after awhile of roaming around aimlessly. Dathi is an author, though his husband would call him the 'dork of all dorks'. The tall Irish man sat at his desk typing away on an old computer, bags under his eyes. He seemed hard at work, but Luke could care less as he knocked on the office door. His attempt to get his fathers attention was proving fruitless when he was given a half assed reply to everything Luke said. 

 "So... can I go to the orchard?" Luke finally mused. 

"What'd the big man say?" 

"He told me to ask you!" The fourteen year old replied with a hopeful smile. "Okay, that's a lie and we both know it. Evan would never let the fate of our son rest in my arms!" He chuckled. Dathi then proceeded to go back to his work. 

Luke, still bored as ever tapped his finger to a beat on the cardboard box beside him. That beat grew to a drum solo, Luke was jamming out in no time. No one, and I mean no one, can stop that little devil when he has music on the mind. Slaps and knocks on the boxes to tiny taps and silent beat boxing under his breath. Luke almost forgot where he was, bobbing his head to the artificial beat.

It was all cut short though when Dathi groaned. "Can't you just go n unpack your stuff? I gotta finish this chapter today, or boss'll have my head! I swear I'll help ye set up your computer later. Just go n explore the house!" Dathi rambled with a tired expression. Huffing in defeat once again, Luke goes to explore the hundred year old house as his father suggested. 

Of course it didn't help that his head phones would catch on every single door knob. Or that everything in the house was so dull you couldn't even tell if the old thing had color in the first place. It was all so... old. He tried to turn his music up to drown out the sight of how boring everything was. But it only made it worse. Luke's mind drifting from the old house back in Canada, then to Jon. 

He ran the memory of meeting him through his mind. Remembering every detail. He walked out of the house to explore the property while his parents got everything situated. Luke shoved his headphones on, blasting techno through his skull. It sounded almost like a shrill screech, he was surprised he even heard it through the music. It was a cat, it was sitting on the gate that lined the pink palace. The poor thing looked almost homeless, thin body, matted fur. Even a torn ear, from what he could tell, this cat meant business.

The cat seemed to smile when Luke went up to greet him. Luke was shocked to see how friendly this cat was. The cats eyes followed his hand as he proceeded to scratch the cat behind his ear; doing his best to not mess with the small white woolen hat that hung upon the cats head. 'Weird, but cool.' Luke thought to himself. The mysterious black cat jumped down from his perch, walking into the orchard. He looked back to see if Luke was following. Luke caught on quickly and ran up to the cat, walking alongside him. Dead apples littered the floor, leaves on the verge of falling off the trees. The orchard felt as it should be a horror movie setting.

 Luke hesitantly stopped walking all of a sudden when the cat slowed to a halt. He looked up at Luke with a look of expectancy. Luke not catching onto the cats plan looked around them. To their right was a tree stump, a pretty large stump at that. Almost platform like. On top of the stump was a person. Luke's eyes followed the lean legs up to see a hockey mask. The kid looked to be around Luke's age, he wore a ragged blue hoodie. Skinny jeans hugging the boys legs perfectly. In his hands were a baseball bat, a skateboard in the other. The stance the masked boy was in looked almost majestic. Stoic even. But, little Luke was so startled by the hooded figure, he tackled him to the ground. 

The two wrestled for a bit before Luke was finally able to snatch off the hockey mask. Underneath it was blue eyes and a smile so bright Luke thought he might have gone blind. Getting out of his trance, Luke pushed the boy away. Sticking his hand out for a hand shake, "That was a bit unnecessary, I'm Luke." He seemed almost excited to meet this blue eyed creature, but you couldn't tell, with his cool kid facade n all. 

"I'm Jon! Short for Jonathan, but call me what ever you like!" Luke resisted the urge to say 'guess I'll call you mine' and gave up on the handshake. 

"I see you've already met Marcel?" 

"Who?" 

"The cat! He has a name! And feelings," Jon stated, "he's wild but, still a really cool cat. He'll come to my window at night and bring me dead things! Like this one time-" Luke didn't bother to listen in to Jonathan's story, only focusing on how excited he seemed. Or how his voice sounded so... delirious? Yeah, let's go with that. 

The two kids talked for a bit, even going so far as to wrestle for a second time. After a bit they both mutually agreed they'd become friends. You could hear a bell ring and a mans voice following suit. 

 It's been five days since that whole ordeal happened. But each would meet by the same tree stump everyday. They'd talk and play like they've know each other for years rather then days. At least until that darn bell rings and a voice calls him home. Luke learned later that the voice belonged to Jons grandpa. He always seemed to call him home at the most inconvenient of times. Luke really liked Jon, platonically of course, why would he like Jon romantically? That'd be ridiculous! 

Luke was brought back to earth by a drop of water landing on his nose. Shaking off almost all thoughts about Jonathan, he gripped the doll in his hand tighter. Luke turned up his music a bit more before moving on to the next room of the apartment. 

 The living room was nicely decorated so far. A few paintings here and there, snow globes and four trophies lined the top of the fire place. Three of them to Evan, and the other to Dathi. Luke placed the mini doll on the table. 

It was weird, the doll was an almost complete copy of himself, besides the devil horns and tail. A complete copy. The thing looked professionally made, the stitchings were neat and even. The fabric was well kept, very clean. Luke wouldn't dare say it out loud, but he appreciated the craftsmen ship. He found it on his door step one day. Jonathan left the thing wrapped in newspaper for him. It had a note attached to the package. Luke read the note, smiling at the nickname Jon gave him a few days prior. 

 Hey Toonz! found this lil guy at my house. He reminds me of you! - Jon 

Confused at first, he started to pick at the stitching. It didn't work of course, but he still tried for some reason. The doll seemed to grow on him the more he carried it around the house. Luke even took it to dinner, got the doll its own chair. Sometimes Luke would stay up and just talk with the doll. Who knew how much of a bad thing that was. 

Back in the present, Luke picked up one of the pictures above the fire place, it was a picture of Evan. Right before his injury. He smiled, this photo was the only proof he has that his father did indeed smile. His father was in his team uniform, hockey stick in hand, smile on his face. He put the picture back on the mantle. He tried looking around the room for something else interesting, coming up with nothing. He went to go grab the doll he left on the table, Luke's hand came up empty. 

 Confused as ever, he searched around the table, to see if it fell off when he didn't notice. That's when he saw it. In the corner of his eye. It was the doll. The head facing him, half of its body stuck behind a shelf. Luke moved the shelf to the side. Gathering up the doll he saw an indent in the wall. He realized it was a door. Studying the supposed key hole, he thought about getting up to find the key that opens this tiny hidden door. 

He was to lazy to actually go all the way to the kitchen to find a simple key. So he called for his dad instead. "Hey dad! Think you could get the key to this door?" 

"What door?"

Luke didn't know how to explain his predicament, so he went with a simple answer, "Just come over here!" 

Evan walked through the living room archway, his eyes wandering from his son to the impression of a hatch on the wall. "You're not going to give up till I do this for you... Fine. Just don't bother me after this." 

Luke's father sighed in exasperation. After a minute or two Evan came back with a black old time-y key in hand. Luke watched in awe as his father cut the wallpaper and stuck the key in the keyhole. Turning the mysterious key.

It opened with a click. 

 - 

 And that was part one my friends!!! This was really fun to write so, if you want to see more of this let me know!! Have a good day!

[vernon-luv]

Mr. Headphones Pt. 11 (Highschool AU)

word count: 1k

Being in New York, you didn’t attend the meetings that much since it was mainly for Joshua and his dad.

Your purpose was to just be Joshua’s fiancee. Many times some of Joshua’s father’s business partners would question why Joshua was not engaged with no to be engaged with a higher classed woman who’s within the business but those questions were never answered.

“There’s no more meetings today so do you want to go anywhere?” Joshua asked nicely, sitting down on the edge of the bed beside you. He talked while fixing his sleeve.

He had just gotten back from the meeting, still in his suit. You had been waiting for a while in the hotel but you didn’t mind since you had breakfast at the restaurant downstairs.

You really didn’t want to go anywhere. All you thought about was going home and seeing Vernon.

“We can go shopping if you’d like.” He suggested.

Joshua was trying his best to cheer you up about the trip.

“I guess…” You agreed to the idea. “Wear your ring, their will be interviews and new reported taking pictures.”

There were already articles about this engagement and how Joshua will be taking over the business soon, in about a year or so, after he finishes high school.

He got up to get your ring and putting it on your finger. He grabs your head gently to bring you in so he can place a kiss on your hair.

“The car’s waiting downstairs.” He said indicating the two of you should be heading out now.

—-

Days later, you came back from your trip to New York and to no surprise, all eyes were on you and Joshua, walking into school, hand in hand.

It felt like your rings were slowly and everyone was looking at it.

Whispers were louder than usual and you kept your eyes looking down, letting Joshua guide you to class.

Joshua was not bothered by the talks at all but you were the very opposite.

Getting into class was even worse because your friends were there and crowded you,asking questions.

You didn’t respond which ticked them off. The teacher came in so everyone had to go to there seats.

Once every had left, you looked to Vernon who looked back at you. Even he couldn’t believe what had happened.

Through your eyes, you wanted to apologize. You wanted to talk to him after.

He kept quiet with his cold eyes, he looked away, disappointed in you.

You could tell you hurt him and it hurt you more. You wished you didn’t come to school but it would have happened either way.

You couldn’t even see him after class or talk with him because he left as quick as he could.

It was only until after school that you barely got to hold him back.

“Vernon, wait let me explain, I-“ You started, grabbing onto his wrist and he immediately takes his hand away.

“Don’t even fucking touch me!” He yelled, looking at your hand, the one with the ring on it and looked up at you, shooting an awful glare.

“I don’t want to talk with you anymore, I’m done.” He said walking away.

You stood there, frozen. Should you run after him? Would he stay if you tried?
 It wasn’t until Joshua came from behind you to grab your hand and pull you to the direction of his car.

“We need to get home now.” He sounded worried and also very dead serious about going home.

“What? Why? Did something happen??” You questioned, worrying as well.

All thoughts about Vernon vanished as you focused on your best friend.

“My dad’s in the hospital, apparently he had a heart attack. We need to get home, grab a few things for him and head to the hospital right away. My mom’s already there and she’s waiting for us.” 
You eyes went wide at the news he had given you. “What? How?” You questioned even more as you got into the car and put on your seat belt.

He drove out of the parking lot quickly before answering your question. “I don’t know the details, the doctor and my mom will explain it more once we get there.”

“I hope he’s okay.” You said in a low voice, sadden by the incident.

—-

It wasn’t a long wait once the two of you got to the hospital. His dad was being taken care of by the doctors.

His dad later then was taken into a room where he’d be staying for a while to heal. His dad was connected to wires that connected to different machines.

It looked worse than you thought. “Everything seems to be fine, we were able to get his heart beating normally. He just needs to rest right now.” The doctor had ended his explanation to Joshua’s mother.

Joshua held his father’s hand, sitting down next to him. Joshua’s father was fast asleep. Joshua looked at him with hopeful eyes.

You were paying attention to both what the doctor was saying and how Joshua was reacting to all this. It must be horrible to see one of his parents in a bad state.

“Thank you doctor.” HIs mother said as the doctor bowed before leaving the room.

His mother sighed walking slowly over to her husband’s side.

HIs father’s phone rang. “I’ll take it, it must be a business call.” Joshua said in a very sadden, broken hearted voice. 
“No, you say with your father, I’ll answer the call.” HIs mother quickly said back, stopping Joshua from picking up the call.

She went out answering the call, closing the door behind her. 
You didn’t know what to say in this situation. You wanted to comfort Joshua but you also wanted him to have time alone with his dad.

“I’ll grab something from the cafe downstairs. It’s been a few hours since lunch, you must be hungry.” You tried leaving but Joshua quickly responded sharply.

“No, stay here with me.” He said in a both serious yet soft tone.

You stood there at the end of his father’s bed, still and not knowing what to do.

He told you to come closer to him so you did and he took your hand, making you be more at ease.

“Are you okay?” You asked caressing his hair.

He looked up at you and nodded. “It’s okay, I know he’s a strong man. He’ll be alright. I just.. want to be beside him right now.”

How…how were you suppose to leave Joshua? When his father was in this state? Joshua need you more than ever, to be there to support him. You couldn’t tell him that..you might’ve loved someone else. That..that someone else might be holding you back from wanting to continue with this marriage more than anything else.

We were silent for a while before he spoke again. “Everything will be alright.”