#and when they reached any of them they were so vague they basically raised seven new questions with one question

[james-sunshine-potter]

Regulus and Lily would both steal James’ clothes, and walk around Hogwarts in his clothes.

It would confused everybody but that was the joy of it.

[goldthcrns]

𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑖𝑐𝑜𝑛 , 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑑 𝑠𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ;

*  ♔  ◟   the  gates  of  highgarden  open  for  the  arrival  of  LADY ALYSANNE REDWYNE  from  HOUSE REDWYNE  of  THE ARBOR!  it  is  known  throughout  the  realm  that  their  aura  exudes  EMPATHETIC  and  HONEST;  however,  beneath  the  silken  robes  that  shine  in  the  sun,  whispers  run  that  they  are  DOGMATIC  and  also  JUDGMENTAL. visions  of  them  always  relate  to   a gentle hand that sews together heavenly wardrobes , as she glides through life in her art + roots that dig into the ground beneath her , stubborn and unwavering in nature + an unresolved fear of what one will see once retired , her dreams are green and inevitable ;  but  make  no  mistake,  in  the shadows,  they  hide  the  fact  that  they  SECRETLY HAS DREAMS THAT PREDICT FUTURE EVENTS AND IS UNSURE ABOUT HOW TO / WHO TO TELL !   i  wish  you  good  fortune  in  the wars  to  come.

⸻　　basic information　.

full name: alysanne redwyne. moniker(s): the pride of the arbor , lucky dreamer. title: lady , alysanne redwyne of the arbor. age: seven and twenty. date of birth: tba. place of birth: the arbor , the reach , westeros. languages: common tongue & valyrian taught to her during her travels to essos. culture: the reach. race: the first men. religion: faith of the seven. gender: cis woman. pronouns: she / her. orientation: heterosexual , heteromantic. status: unwed , pure.

⸻　　familial information　.

father: deceased ruling lord redwyne. relationship: coming soon. mother: deceased ruling lady redwyne. relationship: coming soon. siblings: utp redwyne , utp redwyne , utp redwyne , utp redwyne nee utp. betrothed: tba. relationship: tba.

⸻　　personality information　.

label: the pristine , the favorite daughter. positive traits: intelligent , adaptable , empathetic , determined , honest. negative traits: manipulative , overcritical , vague , judgmental , dogmatic. moral alignment: lawful good. temperament: sanguine. deadly sin: pride. heavenly virtue: kindness.

⸻　　misc information　.

allegiances: house redwyne , the reach + and the targaryen royals. personal goals: to ensure peace and unity within westeros , even if that means becoming a royal herself. hobbies: reading of the histories , sewing , embroidery.

⸻　　history　.

spring  comes  to  the  arbor  in  the  form  of  the  youngest  redwyne  babe  ;  placed  within  her  mother's  arms  ,  she  was  quiet  ,  unnaturally  so  ⸻  a  stark  contrast  to  who  she  would  grow  to  become  .  the  youngest  of  her  family  and  her  father's  delight  ,  sure  enough  that  same  favor  would  emulate  throughout  the  seven  kingdoms  .  as  the  girl  grew  older  she  began  to  show  the  characteristics  that  any  lady  should  ,  were  expected  to  be  ,  soft  spoken  ,  witty  ,  gentle  but  the  demeanor  of  a  roaring  seafarer  built  her  foundation  .  she  was  gentle  ,  yes  ,  but  she  was  strong  willed  and  opinionated  all  the  same  . 

suggested  paths  laid  out  before  her  ,  when  the  time  was  right  she  would  marry  into  a  noble  house  ,  as  equally  qualified  as  her  own  ...  diminished  strength  was  never  an  option  ,  her  duty  as  she  chose  to  accept  it  was  to  serve  her  family  in  only  the  way  a  lady  could  .  proposals  came  in  droves  as  she  came  of  age  ,  political  gain  for  each  side  in  many  cases  .  the  pride  of  the  arbor  they'd  soon  raise  her  up  as  ⸻  a  moniker  that  truly  did  her  justice  .  yet  ,  each  were  found  with  a  heavy  hearted  denial  as  alysanne  struggled  through  her  father's  passing  .  the  first  time  she'd  wonder  if  the  events  that  unfolded  could  have  been  curt  -  tailed  had  she  only  spoken  of  her  dreams  .            

upon  her  father's  passing  ,  and  her  brother's  ascension  within  the  family  ranks  alysanne  grew  tireless  .  home  lacking  fruitfulness  ,  becoming  a  screeching  reminder  of  what  she  had  lost  ,  who  they  had  all  lost  :  a  good  man  ,  the  patriarch  of  the  arbor  .  the  greenlight  given  for  her  to  embark  on  her  own  travels  ,  to  revisit  herself  ,  a  privilege  easily  awarded  to  the  spare  of  the  spares  -  spare  .  a  promise  lies  dormant  between  herself  and  her  brother  ,  her  new  ruling  lord  ⸻  when  she  is  set  to  return  home  her  presumed  love  and  loyalty  would  be  wed  to  another  house  . 

in  the  morning  she  sets  sail  ,  for  essos  .  the  men  upon  the  ship  eager  to  have  the  lady  in  their  care  as  her  safe  arrival  would  mean  bountiful  gifts  with  their  return  to  the  arbor  .  whole  belly  laughs  echo  throughout  the  ships  cabin  for  four  long  days  ,  one  thing  is  learned  by  her  companions  :  the  lady  redwyne  is  full  of  wit  ,  even  in  her  darkest  hour  .  stories  to  tell  for  ages  of  her  demeanor  ,  an  unpenetrable  positivity  and  lightness  ,  a  breath  of  fresh  air  .  as  she  bids  them  farewell  ,  the  goodbyes  are  with  heavy  hearts  as  they  know  they  must  trek  back  without  her  aura  ,  as  she  must  trek  forward  into  unknown  territory  .  she  is  nervous  but  she  has  also  seen  how  this  journey  concludes  . 

an  extended  period  of  time  in  essos  ,  a  learning  curb  at  every  corner  ,  ones  that  are  welcomed  and  other's  not  so  much  .  it  is  in  this  time  she  meets  a  man  in  braavos  .  when  asked  by  alysanne  who  he  is  ,  he  tells  her  "  no  one  "  ,  yet  in  his  presumed  secrecy  she  trusts  his  wisdom  .  his  knowledge  of  greensight  ,  expansive  ,  although  she  had  never  told  him  of  her  dreams  there  remained  a  silent  understanding  between  the  two  of  them  for  the  month  she  would  know  him  .  in  this  time  the  man  would  teach  her  ways  to  decode  her  dreams  and  above  all  to  follow  her  gut  feeling  upon  awaking  from  them  .  this  same  advice  was  what  prompted  the  lady's  retreat  from  braavos  in  the  early  hours  of  the  morning  one  day  and  set  her  travels  across  essos  ,  where  she  would  find  herself  in  volantis  .  her  last  stop  in  her  journey  and  potentially  the  greatest  learning  curb  for  her  .  during  her  stay  one  of  the  triarch's  grows  fond  of  her  ,  taking  her  under  his  wing  and  claiming  her  as  his  guest  .  throughout  her  time  with  him  ,  he  teaches  her  of  the  histories  of  volantis  and  more  importantly  of  old  valyria  ,  all  whilst  teaching  her  the  valyrian  language  .  before  she  is  scheduled  to  set  sail  back  home  ,  she's  privy  to  the  annual  election  in  volantis  watching  as  her  new  friend  is  reelected  .  giving  her  the  moniker  of  his  lucky  dreamer  and  a  promise  that  so  long  as  he  lives  the  doors  of  volantis  will  be  open  to  her  ,  before  he  sends  her  off  with  a  few  of  his  most  trusted  men  to  ensure  her  peaceful  return  back  to  westeros  .  another  four  day  long  journey  ,  different  in  many  ways  though  now  :  her  will  restored  ,  her  opinions  vast  ,  and  her  gentleness  no  longer  damning  . 

her  return  to  the  arbor  is  without  any  hiccups  ,  as  was  promised  ,  rejoiced  by  her  house  and  the  small  folk  of  the  arbor  :  the  pride  of  the  arbor  has  returned  to  them  ,  more  whole  than  she  had  left  .  it  is  not  long  before  she  is  informed  of  the  happenings  in  highgarden  ,  the  targaryen  attempts  to  unify  westeros  and  her  nomination  to  partake  in  this  attempt  .  it  is  on  that  night  she  dreams  in  green  ,  events  to  come  laid  out  in  a  perfectly  painted  picture  :  it's  not  pretty  ,  nor  satiable  and  for  that  reason  alone  she  fears  once  more  her  quiet  tongue  may  be  her  or  another's  ruin  .  the  bravoosi  man's  words  to  follow  her  gut  upon  awaking  is  the  only  thing  that  leads  her  to  highgarden  ,  although  she  will  tell  herself  it's  her  fealty  to  her  brother  ,  his  wishes  and  their  house  .

⸻　　wanted connections　.

coming soon .

[writesowhatnext]

everybody has those days // fred weasley

Summary: A drunken night at Harry and Ginny’s wedding leads to a slightly, very awkward situation with the reader and the bride’s elder brother

Request: nope

A/N: basically I read sunkissed by @ickle-ronniekins​ and I became, as the kids say, thirsty also as I was doing the warnings I realised that I essentially described uni so go figure!!! i don’t know why but this was so difficult to write and I’m like wow am I just losing the ability to form sentences

Reader: female

Warnings: suggestive themes, hangover, drinking, nudity, hickeys, innuendo, swearing, 

A low sound escaped your lips as you shuffled, frowning at the strange weight over your waist. Peeling your eyes open, you winced as rays of bright sunlight leaked through the open curtains. So, you figured, today was almost certainly not going to be a very productive one. You huffed and then blinked slowly, adjusting to the light and letting your eyes focus, a decision you definitely regretted as a familiar face came into view.

Now, you’d recognise Fred Weasley’s face anywhere. Not only was he your best friend’s brother, but he was also half of your bosses and a man you’d been regrettably attracted to for almost seven years. So, as you looked at the slope of his nose and the freckles sprinkled across his cheeks and his brassy red hair, you knew that you had made a decision somewhere along the way the night before with very hefty repercussions. And so, as all rational and mature people do in such a situation, you decided to handle it with a certain level of grace and decorum.

“Oh, fuck.”

You hauled yourself from the bed, your head screaming at the immediate whiplash from your sharp exit. The room spun around you and your knuckles look fit to burst as you clutched at the sheets in your hands, pulling them to your chest. Whether it was your abrupt profanity or the vicious reorganisation of his bedsheets, Fred let out a deep, gruff exclamation and tumbled backwards off the other side of the bed.

For a moment, you were both silent, except for the panting noises of your combined heavy breathing, and you found yourself staring very intently at Fred’s confused expression, trying desperately to remember the night before. Why couldn’t you sleep with and forget someone you hadn’t been pining for years for? Wouldn’t that have been more fun?

“What the bloody hell did you-“ he stopped himself as he looked at you wrapped up in his bedsheets, the skin of your neck and collarbones mottled with dark purplish bruises that he was sure he could almost still taste on his tongue. “Oh.”

He stood up with great difficulty, rubbing his head with his hand, sending his hair into ruffled disarray. You didn’t exactly mean to look down and you also didn’t mean to let out a high-pitched screech at the sight of his manhood.

“You’re naked!”

You looked away quickly, heat flooding your cheeks as he grabbed a pillow, the one you’d just been lying on, and placed it over his junk.

“You’re naked, too!”

Though you hadn’t intended to, his indignant tone made you look at him, and you caught what was left of an embarrassed flush extending from his face, all the way down his neck. You clenched your jaw at the sight.

“Please don’t think about me naked,” you said, squeezing your eyes shut as the throbbing in your forehead returned.

“Sorry, love,” he said. A lopsided grin pulling at his lips despite the edge to his voice, his inner panic rather obvious beneath the surface. “But I think that ship’s already-“

“Fred!” you squeaked, your eyes growing wide. He stayed silent, but his smile didn’t budge, enjoying your flustered expression far too much. “Do you remember what happened?”

You looked at him then, properly this time. He was handsome, but you always knew that, what with his strong jawline and the long slant of his neck. The skin all over his collar and chest was pale and freckled and covered in dark, splotchy hickeys, you realised with a strange warmth flooding your system. You swallowed against the tightness in your throat as your eyes trailed down, taking silent note of the lean muscles of his arms and his toned stomach.

“No, but if the way you’re looking me up and down right now is anything to go by, I think I can take a guess how it started.”

“What- No- You… Fred, you are so irritating,” you spluttered, annoyed that he could get you so riled up so easily. He shot you a lazy grin, the same one you’d seen almost every day since Ginny introduced the two of you. From the day you met, you and Fred had a habit of bickering constantly about nothing and everything all at the same time and you were sure that had you not been a close family friend, you’d have been fired years ago. Thinking of the family for the first time, your face soured as you dreaded to think what their reaction would be if they found out about how you spent your night. They’d probably hate you.

“You’re not too bad yourself, love.”

You shot him a dry look before remembering where you were. “I have to leave. Like right now.”

You didn’t wait for him to reply, too busy searching the ground for your clothes, heat searing under your skin at the haphazard display of them on the floor.

“Hey, wait, hold on,” Fred said, reaching out to you with one arm, holding the pillow with the other. You bit your lip, forcing yourself to focus.

“What?”

“Shouldn’t we…” he voice wavered slightly, a first for Fred. “Shouldn’t we talk about this?”

“This-“ you said, pointing between you and him, your underwear flying around in your grip. “Was a mistake.”

You noticed the way his eyes lingered on your hand and huffed, reaching down the get the rest of your clothes, searching for your dignity whilst you were down there. He probably only wanted a shag and whilst that would be totally fine for someone else, you just couldn’t do that. Not with your history. Not with your feelings.

“But-“

You didn’t give him the chance to speak as you shot up sharply.

“Turn around then!”

His brown eyes turned dry as he tilted his head, a silent sarcastic question on his lips. Your frown deepened and he sighed, turning around dutifully. You rushed to put your clothes from the night before on, struggling to keep your balance, especially when your eyes stalled on his bare bum.

“You better be looking at my arse,” he said, his signature smirk loud in his voice. You couldn’t even try to respond, returning to your dressing with new-found haste.

That had been a week and a half ago and you were still avoiding a proper conversation with him. You’d talk, of course, you worked together, you had to, but it was always just courtesy, small talk, and then that deafening silence Fred hated so much. He missed the easy banter you had and more than anything, he missed you. It all just felt so wrong and he couldn’t help but feel that he’d messed everything up somehow. And so, if you asked him, that’s why he was stood there, hiding behind boxes of sweets stacked neatly on a row of shelves and watching you refill the massive tub of love potions. He felt like a creep, but he hadn’t formed the right sentences or backbone required to talk to you yet. And so, as you emptied the box in your hand and made to fetch another from the backroom, he went to follow you, stopped only by a familiar waistcoat, or rather the man wearing it.

“You alright there, Fred?” George asked, the smile in his voice more than evident as he looked down at his crouching brother.

“Just peachy, cheers, George.”

“So, you’re just stalking Y/N for fun then, yeah?”

Fred glared up at his brother, sighing and standing up under his expectant stare.

“What’s going on with you two?”

“Nothing,” Fred said far too quickly. He cursed his defensiveness and groaned. Instinctively, he knew you wouldn’t have told anyone; you said it was a mistake, he reminded himself, earning a familiar sinking feeling at the memory. And so, he’d avoided mentioning it to anyone either, even George, who was now staring at him with a very suspicious scowl.

“Fine,” Fred huffed, rubbing his face with his hands. “At Ginny’s wedding we uh- we-“

Well, he didn’t really remember, did he? He knew on a base level what must’ve happened, but you’d both been so pissed and-

“You shagged.”

“How the bloody hell do you know that?”

George’s laughter only served to further Fred’s indignance. “You two disappeared at midnight, fawning over each other like lovesick teenagers… it doesn’t take a lot to connect those dots, Freddie.”

Fred’s expression soured. “So, everybody knows, then.”

“Afraid so. Mum’s chuffed, obviously, thinks it means you’ll finally get together. With you pair, it was inevitable, though. Especially with that industrial-strength Romanian firewhiskey Charlie smuggled in.”

Fred groaned at the memory, gripped the shelf in front of him so hard his knuckles turned white.

“It’s ruined everything, George. She doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

George laughed again.

“What’s so bloody funny?”

“You’ve both been mad for each other since fourth year and you think a quick screw is gonna change that? We’ve been placing bets on you for years.”

“You what?”

“You’re so bloody oblivious, the pair of you, honestly.”

“I don’t-“ Fred huffed, immediately dismissing the idea that you would fancy him in any way. There was no chance. “I don’t understand.”

George, helpful as ever, just shook his head, chuckling as Fred rested his forehead on his hands. Neither of them spoke for a moment, but when someone cleared their throat next to him, he sighed.

“George, I’m-“

He stopped short when he saw you, with your arms cross and eyebrows raised. You were clearly unhappy with him. It was hard for him to care though when his words caught in his throat at the sight of you.

“You’re not George.”

“Why are you spying on me?”

“I’m not-“

“Fred.”

“I am Fred, actually.”

Your vaguely threatening expression made him rethink his approach.

“I’m not spying on you,” he insisted, throwing his hands up. “I’m just watching… closely.”

You rolled your eyes. As you looked at him properly for the first time since the incident, a strange feeling stirred in your chest. He was the same Fred he had been before; the same handsome features and the same five-steps-ahead ingenuity behind his eyes, but somehow it was all different. A very bad different. You sighed, turning to go back to your restocking when his hand caught your wrist. You frowned, your eyes trailing from his hand to his face, studying his almost surprised expression.

“It wasn’t a mistake,” he said, his eyes oddly sincere. You swallowed. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes-“

“I’ll say-“

“Can you not just listen to me?”

“Not when you’re acting so strange!”

“I’m acting strange? You’re the one that’s barely said a bloody word to me since we-“

“Fred!”

“Oh, give off,” he huffed, finally letting go of your arm. “George already knows.”

“You told him?”

“The whole family knows! Apparently, love, we aren’t as subtle as we think.”

You groaned, leaning back against the cash register and sliding down it until you hit the floor, rocking your head back against the wood.

“Is it really that bad?” he asked, pausing a moment before sitting next to you, your shoulders almost touching. You rubbed your eyes with your hands, thinking about Ginny’s reaction when she found out. It was a surprise she didn’t hate you already.

“It’s not the same for you, Fred. This is your family, it’s fine for you. But I’m just this girl that’s friends with your sister and probably should’ve been fired ages ago and they probably think I’m a right slag-“

He barked a laugh, his head tipping back and smacking against the register loudly. Had you not have found his consequent pout annoyingly adorable; you probably would’ve been able to keep your frustrated tone without a smile tugging at your lips.

“What is so funny about that?”

“Well, I mean, you don’t need to be worried about that, do you? You’ve always been a slag,” he said, laughing at your offended expression as you smacked his arm, unable to contain your own laughter.

“You’re such a cheeky git.”

“Oh, come on, Y/N, you were never just some girl. You’ve been a part of this family since you were fourteen.”

You didn’t say anything at that, not even when you felt his eyes carefully inspecting your side profile.

“And it wasn’t a mistake for me,” he said, softer this time. “It’s actually been a very long time coming.”

You sighed, drawing your knees up to your chest and biting your lip.

“It wasn’t for me either.”

It wasn’t until his knee hit against yours that you mustered up the courage to look at him, floored slightly by the sheer amount of emotion in his eyes.

“So, what now?” you whispered, raising an eyebrow. It felt foreign to be so vulnerable with Fred, but you found that you didn’t hate it as much as you thought you would.

“Well,” he said, pulling back his sleeve to look at the time. “We’ve got about twenty minutes till we open and an empty cupboard about,” he squinted. “Thirty feet away.”

You wanted to be mad at him; that was always your go-to emotion with Fred, but as you watched him grin with his bright eyes and his tongue between his teeth, all you felt was a familiar fondness for this stupid, obnoxious, annoying man. And even as you stood up and let him pull you to the broom closet, you couldn’t bring yourself to be mad about that either.

harry potter tag list:

@creator-appreciator​

@decadentwastelandtrash

@loveisblindness​

@xinyourdreamsx​

@brainlesspasta​

@hariosborn​

@staringmoony​

@rexorangecouny​

@ickle-ronniekins​ 

@harrysweasleys​ 

@alittletoomanyobsessions​

[hale-13]

Slipping Through the Cracks

By Hale13

For the Summer of Whump Day 5 - Broken

Just when his life was finally leveling out Parker luck struck again. Peter has had four opportunities with parents and has lost all of them. The way he sees it, this is the least of what he deserves.

Post-Homecoming - Tony didn’t meet with Peter immediately to offer him a place on the Avengers.

Words: 3856, Chapters: 1/1 (Complete), Language: English

Fandoms: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)

Rating: Gen-Teen

Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark

Characters: Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Happy Hogan, Ned Leeds

TW: Depression, Dissociation, a single line of Suicidal Ideation, Referenced Child Abuse

Read on AO3 or below the line break.

Peter was silent as he exited Midtown with Ned keeping a quiet pace with him. Seven months ago they would be just as excited as their classmates for the weekend, for the plans that they surely would have made to build Legos or marathon movies or even to just study together. Ned would have been ecstatic to set up in Peter’s bedroom as his ‘guy in the chair’ while Peter did a quick patrol or two. If they were at Peter’s instead of Ned’s, May would attempt some new dish that would, inevitably, be awful and they would order pizza from their favorite place for dinner.

Now Peter never saw any of his limited friend group outside of school. He didn’t build Legos or watch movies or eat take-out pizza and he certainly wasn’t Spider-Man anymore – he had given that up after the Homecoming disaster when he had destroyed Mr. Stark’s plane.

It had been just over six months since he had found May dead in their kitchen and Peter didn’t really do anything at all anymore.

The ER doctors told Peter that she had an undiagnosed aneurysm that had finally burst – there was no way for anyone to know. She went quickly. She felt no pain. There was nothing that Peter could have done even if he was there when it happened.

The reassurances meant nothing really – Peter was numb. May was his last living family member, he had no one else and nowhere to turn. He can vaguely remember telling the social worker that was with him when they told him the news about May that he was alone now. He can remember being taken forcibly from the hospital before he was ready to go, wanting to kick and scream and drag his heels but too shocked to do so. And then everything was a blur.

Somewhere in his mind he knew that he had been allowed to pack up everything important from their apartment to go into storage until he was eighteen besides the bag of essentials he had for himself. He knew that everything else was donated or sold to pay off their remaining debt and the medical bills he had incurred by calling for help when he found May on the kitchen floor. He knew that the social worker told him that, even after selling everything, they couldn’t afford a funeral. He has a business card in his wallet with the number of the crematorium that was holding May’s ashes until he was old enough to retrieve them and, hopefully, give her a proper burial in their family plot next to Ben.

He spent the two weeks after in a group home, mute and dissociating with seven other boys in similar situations. He didn’t go to school, but he remembers the constant stream of unanswered texts and calls from Ned and MJ before his phone plan was discontinued then his phone became a dead relic in his bag. There were a lot of discussions about school that Peter didn’t take part in but, thanks to his full scholarship, he was able to continue at Midtown at least until the end of the year.

And then he was placed with his foster parents.

The Fishers seemed to be pleasant people when Peter first met them; they didn’t force him to speak, they had extensive fostering experience with teenagers and were willing to pay for his subway pass so he could get to and from his school even though there was a decent public school in walking distance. It didn’t take long, however, for their true colors to show.

Now, though, Peter knew the rules. He was always home by his curfew of four on school days and he never went out on the weekends. His grades were perfect. He kept his undecorated room spotless. He cooked supper every evening and breakfast and dinner on the weekends. He kept the house presentable. He stayed out of the Fishers way. Mostly he drifted. His days slid together to the point he had difficultly remembering entire weeks passing him by but it was fine.

He was fine.

“I’ll see you Monday,” Ned muttered as he split off to get in his mom’s car, not acknowledging the pathetic little wave Peter offered in return. A coiling feeling settled in his gut and Perter felt guilt rise up to swirl in his throat. Ned was his best friend and he was treating him like shit. With Peter basically unresponsive, bullies had taken to picking on Ned instead… well except for Flash. Flash had been the only one to back off and stand up for both of them – it helped but didn’t fix everything.

“Better if he leaves you now,” a little voice in his head whispered. “It’s better to be alone.” And maybe at one point he would have fought against that mindset but now he couldn’t help but agree. Peter destroyed everything he touched and everyone around him was doomed for misery. Better for Ned to get out while he could.

Lethargically, Peter began across the empty football field toward the subway entrance – his trip home was always a little tight and he couldn’t afford to miss this train.

“Peter!” A harried voice shouted as his shoulder was grabbed and he was roughly turned around to face a red-faced and irritated Happy Hogan. Peter’s mind blanked for a moment in total shock at seeing the man again after so long. “Didn’t you hear me calling for you?”

“Sorry Mr. Hogan,” Peter mumbled, not making eye contact. He felt the phantom sting from the slap he had gotten for that when he first moved into foster care burning his bare cheek.

“The Boss has been calling you, he wants to chat. You screening our calls now?” Happy asked, accusatory as his eyes raked down Peter’s form. Peter felt a shiver crawl up his spine and kept his sight locked on Happy’s chin, trying to remain as relaxed as possible. It was important to not draw any unwanted attention to himself.

“No sir,” he answered, voice a little rough and quiet with disuse. “I don’t have a phone anymore.” Happy huffed and narrowed his eyes at Peter before steering him to the expensive Audi parked in front of the school.

“No matter, he wants to talk to you in person anyway. Hop in and I’ll take you to the Tower.” Peter gulped and fought the urge to dig his heels in – it wouldn’t be polite.

“I have a curfew of four,” he protested weakly as Happy pulled open the door for him and motioned for him to climb in. Peter hesitated but relented when Happy gave him a little shrug.

“I’m sure May will understand and Tony can always give her a call to clear anything up.” And with that Peter was gone. No one had said her name since she died and the thought… the very implication that he could still be living with his aunt, happy and carefree, was insane. His mind floated away and he felt like he was watching himself as a specter. He saw his body relax but his eyes were distant, cloudy. Happy, for the first time that Peter could remember, didn’t raise the partition between the front and rear seats and, instead, watched Peter in the rear view mirror.

The drive to the Tower took over thirty minutes with traffic and Peter would be panicking about how late he was going to be if he had any capacity to feel at all. Instead, he let his mind wander as the skyscrapers of Manhattan blurred into a grey mosaic outside the window, fat raindrops sporadically hitting the window as a drizzle started. “We’re here,” Happy told him as he parked the car in the underground garage that was reserved for Mr. Stark and other high level staff of the Tower. Peter popped his door open and followed the man to the private elevator that he assumed would take them to Mr. Stark’s office.

“Hello Happy. Hello Peter,” the disembodied voice of Mr. Stark’s AI, FRIDAY, said as the doors closed and the elevator began to move. “Boss is awaiting your arrival in his workshop.”

“Thanks FRIDAY,” Happy said, texting intently on his phone. Peter just remained silent as the elevator began to slow before stopping completely, the doors trundling open soundlessly. Happy nudged Peter out but remained inside the car as the doors closed, leaving Peter alone in the sleek room.

Tony was seated in front of a large hologram of his armor, code scrolling past on his monitor as he made adjustments. “Mr. Parker,” he said as Peter edged closer to him, not looking up from his work. “You’re a hard man to get in contact with.”

Though Tony sounded more forthright than angry, Peter still had to fight the cringe in his shoulders as he came to a stop about ten feet away from the work bench – out of reach and with enough time to prepare if the man were to make any sudden moves. “Sorry,” he murmured, keeping his eyes low and doing his best to keep his shoulders from curling in – the last thing he needed to do was show any weakness.

“No need for apologies,” Tony said, light, as he fiddled with a holo mechanism in the right repulser. “Just a statement of fact. According to the news Spider-Man has also been just as difficult to find.”

Peter just hummed in response, choosing not to comment on his previous alter-ego. He didn’t much feel like a hero these days.

“A man of few words,” Tony commented, shutting down the programs in front of him and turning to face Peter fully. “Are you the same kid who was talking my ear off in Germany a year ago?”

“Yes sir,” Peter said, keeping his eyes focused on Tony’s chin. He could feel his mind slipping as his heart rate sped up and he struggled to keep present – it was getting harder and harder to stay in the moment the more he allowed himself to get lost in his head. He occasionally dreamed that one day it might be permanent; one of the few good dreams he had.

“Sir?” Tony parroted, his eyebrows raising and a flash of guilt washing over his features quickly before disappearing. “Look kid, I think I owe you an apology. Actually, I know I owe you an apology. I didn’t communicate with you about the whole alien weapons take-down thing. I underestimated you and treated you like a side-kick and ignored you and then I left you alone and without any protection and you saved my bacon anyway.”

“I deserved it,” Peter said matter-of-factly. “I was in over my head and I disobeyed. The punishment fit the crime.”

“No it didn’t,” Tony told him bluntly but firmly, looking surprised but resolute. “Maybe we both share some fault in the situation but I’m the adult and the one with experience and I didn’t do anything to teach you or help you and for that I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Peter assured him, allowing himself to tap his index finger against his thigh once to let out his stress. Mr. Fisher didn’t like his constant fidgeting and Peter knew that it was pretty annoying so he had done his best to learn how to stand as still as possible to not incur any extra punishments – the index finger tap he was able to normally get away with.

Mr. Stark’s eyes were narrowed as he surveyed Peter. “I wanted to offer you a real spot as my intern. You could spend a few days a week in the shop working on tech and I made you a new and improved suit for the other part of your ‘internship’. I promise that you’ll always have the support you need to be New York’s Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. You’re the future of the Avengers, kid, its pretty clear to me now. Your spot on the team is there whenever you want to take it.”

For the briefest of moments, Peter was overwhelmed with excitement and incredulity. Ever since Tony had announced he was Iron Man to the world, Peter had wanted nothing more than to be a superhero as well, to be an Avenger. If Tony had offered him a spot on the team after Germany, Peter would have taken it in an instant. Now…

“Thank you Mr. Stark,” Peter said, voice still a little broken and hoarse from how little he spoke these days. “But I can’t.”

“Oh you don’t have to join now,” the man assured, misunderstanding. “You’ll need some training first but Rhodey and Vision are always down to join us at the compound for some group work. You have a lot of potential.”

“Thanks but that’s not what I meant,” Peter clarified. “I have to decline all of it but I appreciate the offer.”

“Oh,” Tony looked a little crestfallen, a dark expression of acceptance on his defined features. “I understand. Broken trust and all that. Sure.”

“It’s not that,” Peter reassured quickly. “I don’t hold anything against you – I was the one who messed up. It’s just I have a four o’clock curfew every day so I can’t do the internship.”

“That’s easily remedied!” Mr. Stark said, his eyes lifting with a smile and looking relieved. “I’ll just give Aunt Hottie a call and work things out and we’ll have you in the lab and out swinging through the streets in no time!”

Peter’s ears fuzzed out again, a sharp high-pitched note cutting off Tony’s excited words as a feeling of immense emotion flooded through Peter before he could tamp it down. His breathing felt a little ragged in his chest and he squeezed his eyes shut for just a moment to gather himself. “My aunt is dead,” Peter gritted out, interrupting Tony and rendering him speechless. “She died six months ago. My foster… the people fostering me are a little more strict.”

“Oh,” Tony said, face blank and an awkward silence filling the space. Peter gripped his worn down backpack straps and backed toward the elevator.

“Thanks for the offer,” Peter said earnestly. “It really is an honor I just…” he trailed off. “Thanks. For everything.”

And with that, he entered the elevator and pushed the button for the lobby, the doors shutting on Tony’s pitying expression before the man could say anything much to Peter’s relief. The metro card the Fishers had gotten him only had a set amount of money on it every month so Peter would be hoofing it back to their house from the Tower. His cracked watch face told him that it was already close to four-thirty and his stomach bubbled with anxiety. At this rate he wouldn’t be back in time to have dinner on the table at five-thirty.

Resigned to his punishments, Peter left the building through the shining lobby and pointed himself toward Queens, moving as fast as he could.

——————-

“You’re late,” Mr. Fishers’s tone was short and monotonous from where he was seated on the couch. The house was otherwise quiet which meant Mrs. Fisher was out that evening.

“I’m sorry sir,” Peter whispered looking at the floor and making no excuses. He had learned the hard way that trying to justify his poor behavior only made things worse for him in the long run.

“Go to your room,” Mr. Fisher told him making Peter cringe. “I’ll join you in a moment.”

Later, when Peter was lying on the bed with silent tears still leaking from his eyes and his back and ribs stinging in pain, he thought about Mr. Stark’s offer with selfish desire. In another universe, in another life, he would have been elated but now he only felt desolation - life always did like to dangle things in front of him he couldn’t have.

Setting his alarm for five-thirty so he wouldn’t oversleep, Peter let his consciousness slip away into the ether, mind going blissfully empty and blank.

——————-

Monday came both faster and slower than Peter wanted. His body still ached from his well-deserved punishment and he was exhausted from the extra chores and minimal food he had been offered as a result of his actions. School passed in a lonely blur for him as he drifted from class to class, hiding away in the deserted music room during lunch to avoid Ned and MJ. They didn’t ask as many questions anymore but Peter didn’t want to put himself in a situation where he would have to lie to his friends again.

When the final bell of the day rang, Peter chose to not stop by his locker where he may be ambushed and, instead, left the school, headed directly for the subway. He had nearly made it when a body physically blocked him from the stairs.

“Howdy Pete,” Mr. Stark said, peering over his glasses to look at Peter and Peter did his best to school his expression into indifference. He couldn’t be late again. He couldn’t take another punishment, he was just so tired all he wanted to do was sleep. Maybe forever. “Where are you headed?”

“Back to my fosters,” Peter told him, trying to skirt around. “I have a four o’clock curfew.”

“I remember you saying something about that,” Mr. Stark agreed with a nod. “Tell you what – let me give you a ride home. You’ll get home well before your curfew and I can talk to your foster parents about the internship. Who can say no to Tony Stark right?”

“NO!” Peter said loudly before smacking a palm over his mouth. He could feel the blood draining from his face as his body tensed, preparing for the correction he knew was coming. Mr. Stark’s brow was furrowed now and his eyes behind his blue glasses had a twinkle of understanding in them.

“Peter,” he began, reaching a hand out with the intention of lying his hand on Peter’s shoulder but he never got that far. Seeing the hand coming towards him and already being on high alert after his exclamation, Peter violently flinched away, only barely able to catch himself from falling over due to his enhanced reflexes, and squeezed his eyes shut tight. “Oh Peter,” Tony said, a desolate understanding in his voice.

Peter cracked his eyes open to see Mr. Stark with both hands raised in the universal ‘backing off’ signal, a soft look on his face. “Sorry sir,” Peter croaked out. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. It’s fine.”

“Do you have something you need to tell me kiddo?” Tony’s voice was soft and gentle and Peter felt his eyes well up with tears he hastily blinked away as he shook his head quickly. “It’s okay buddy. You can tell me.”

“I’m fine. I’m okay. It’s fine.” Tony looked even more crestfallen at Peter’s answer and tapped the side of his glasses to activate FRIDAY.

“Can you I’ve me a scan FRI?” He asked and Peter flinched again knowing there was no way to hide the broken and healing bones and skin that he had been doing his best to conceal. Tony’s face was tight as he stared at Peter and Peter felt all of the blood left in his face drain away.

“I deserved it,” Peter told him desperately. “I disobeyed, it was my fault.” Mr. Stark just looked even more beaten at his words and Peter felt his breathing picking up.

“It’s not,” Tony said, voice still unbelievably soft but firm. “It’s not your fault and you didn’t deserve it. You’re a great kid Pete.” Peter shook his head no and couldn’t stop a couple tears from leaking out before furiously wiping them away. “I promise that it wasn’t your fault Underoos. Will you let me help you?”

“You can’t,” Peter said, feeling hollow. “Everyone… everyone close to me dies. I’m cursed and I can’t do that to you too Mr. Stark.”

“Can I hug you?” Tony asked suddenly, arms twitching with need. After a seconds hesitation, Peter nodded and was hastily folded into the man’s arms; one arm tight around his shoulders and the other snaking up into his hair to pull through the too long strands carefully. Peter felt more tears leak out and, suddenly, he couldn’t hold it in any longer, throwing his own arms around Tony to return the hug and letting out a gut-wrenching sob into the man’s shoulder. Tony just shushed him and let him take as much comfort as he could. “You’re not cursed and none of this is your fault. I get the feeling no one has told you that yet and you need to hear it.”

Peter sobbed loudly again, curling in tighter. He had always thrived on positive affirmation and had grown up in a family where hugs and shoulder pats and forehead kisses were the norm. To go so long without… he had forgotten how nice it was to just be held and cared for. “Thank you,” Peter said, his voice clogged with emotion. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me,” Tony said firmly. “Anyone decent would do the same thing and it’s the least of what you deserve.”

Peter squeezed him one more time and took a deep breath before pulling away. “Thank you,” he reiterated, fighting to make eye contact so he could show just how sincere he was. “But I need to get back before four and I already missed my train. I can’t be late.” Tony, who still had one hand resting on Peter’s shoulder, gripped him tightly to prevent him from escaping up the stairs to the train.

“You aren’t going back,” he said firmly, ducking his head and forcing Peter to make eye contact. “You’re coming with me back to the Tower where I’m going to call CPS and my lawyers. You’re never going back there again.”

“I can’t ask you to do that,” Peter insisted. “It’s really not that bad if I’m home on time and do my chores and stay in my room. And its only two more years until I’m eighteen and then I can get a job and an apartment.”

“Pete,” Tony said, eyes shining as he wrapped an arm around Peter’s shoulders and started leading him away from the subway and toward the Audi that was parked in the pickup lane; Peter could see the outline of Happy’s silhouette in the driver’s seat. “You deserve better. You deserve somewhere safe and you deserve to have someone care about you. I know you don’t believe it now and that’s okay – I’m just going to keep telling you until you do.”

Peter sniffed back another onslaught of tears and allowed himself to be pulled away. “Thank you Mr. Stark,” he said, voice clogged with emotion.

“It’s Tony kiddo,” the man told him with another squeeze that warmed Peter to the core. “And you don’t need to thank me for this okay?”

“Okay,” Peter agreed, fully aware and present and wanting to be for the first time in a long time. Things were never going to be the same, but maybe, just maybe, they would get better.

[tack-tick]

Technoblade Sometimes Dies

@dreamsmp-au-ideas I wrote a thing based on for the SBI Swap AU. Everyone else check out this blog if you haven’t already. Loads of great ideas on there and the person who runs the blog gives good responses to ideas!

To those who don’t know, basic gist it Tommy swapped with Techno and Philza swapped with Wilbur. This is about the duel to determine L’Manberg’s independence, which doesn’t go well for Techno. If this does well, there’ll probably be a second part.

ao3 link here- https://archiveofourown.org/works/29849562

“Techno, for Twitch’s sake just set a respawn,” Philza said as he gave Techno a small shove towards the bed. Techno sighed as he sat on the bed.

“Really Phil,” he said “You think I’m gonna lose to Dream of all people, I kinda have a motto to keep up”

“Technoblade never dies, I know but,” Philza sighed as he rubbed a hand across his face “Dream is a very skilled fighter, you know that”

Techno shrugged as he got up from the bed and straightened his uniform. The two has cleaned it up as best as they could but the green and white had long since fades after many battles. Techno had already told him he was switching back to wearing his cloak after the war ended. He always said that if there was one thing L’Manberg needed, it was a bit more style.

“Besides, Tommy would never let me hear the end of it,” Techno said with a shudder. Philza chucked at the thought as he checked to make sure he had healing potions on him.

“You ready, mate?” He said as he nodded towards the door. Techno gave him a confident grin and the two walked out.

If Philza had known what was going to happen, then he would’ve just given up L’Manberg’s independence.

+

The five members of the L’Manberg squadron marched to the path, each one quiet.

Ranboo was whispering encouragement to Techno, but he seemed more like he was trying to reassure himself rather than the older man. Philza heard Techno say something about making sure he wrote down Techno winning the duel in his memory journal.

Philza could feel Bad giving him worried glances as he whispered with Skeppy about something. He glanced over at Bad to give him a reasssuring smile. Skeppy wasn’t telling any jokes for once. Instead, he kept his hand on his sword handle, ready to pull it out and fight if needed. The five slowed down as they reached the top of the hill, where Dream and his goons were waiting. Dream, George, and Sapnap.

“What’s Eret doing here?” Skeppy hissed. Philza glanced up in surprise. He figured the traitor would rather hide out in their castle than come out and watch. Philza shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to worry about that.

“You think I’m gonna win?” Techno said to him as the two left the group and walked to the center “Chat’s already giving me the L”

Philza rolled his eyes. “Tell Chat that Dadza says to shut it” He gave Techno a light pat on the back “It’s time to show Dream the power of The Blood God”

Techno chuckled and gave him a confident grin. “Yeah, blood for The Blood God,” he said. The two stopped in front of Dream. Dream stood with his arms crossed, like a man who had much better things to do.

“I trust you have the potion?” Dream said and Philza wordlessly handed it over. He gave Techno one last glance before he flew to the small hill overlooking the path. The water below was silent and still, like nature itself knew the importance of this duel.

“I will count down from one to ten,” he shouted to the two armies, “Once I get to ten, you both shoot”

Techno and Dream both gave silent nods and turned around. Both were holding their bows casually, like this was just a casual fight and wouldn’t end in someone with one less life.

“One!”

The two each took one pace.

“Two!”

Philza glanced over at their enemies. George and Sapnap looked as arrogant as ever, even though he saw the glint of a healing potion in George’s hands. Eret was glancing back and forth between the sky and the fight. He pulled his red cloak closer to himself. Philza wondered if the traitor felt any guilt, any shame. Well, too late now.

“Three!”

L’Manberg’s side was watching anxiously. Ranboo already had his memory book and quill pulled out and he tapped the quill against the book. Bad has the bandages out and he was crouched, ready to sprint to Techno with them if necessary. Skeppy glared at the SMP forces, especially at Eret. Philza saw Eret whilt a little under the glare. Even though Techno had told them over and over again that he would be fine, both sides knew one thing.

“Four!”

If anyone could beat Techno, it was Dream.

“Five!”

If anyone could beat Dream, it was Techno.

“Six!”

Philza winced as he saw Techno shudder at the sixth pace. He couldn’t see what Dream was doing, but he hoped the potion was affecting him as well. By now, they should both have reached half a heart.

“Seven!”

Philza should have know not to take Techno to the negotiations. He knew that if there was one thing Techno hated, it was losing. He��d already proved that during the potato war. Techno had insisted on coming in case Dream tried anything. Even if Philza could protect himself just fine, thank you very much.

“Eight!”

Techno was muttering something under his breath. Philza could just imagine what Chat was saying at this point. Probably a jumbled up mess of tips and discouragement and E. Philza actually wasn’t sure what would happen to Chat if Techno died. Whether they would be stuck in the void with him or temporarily released out in the world. He hoped they wouldn’t find out.

“Nine!”

Techno gave him one last look and Philza gave him what he hoped was an encouraging smile. Underneath the confident air, he saw just the slightest trace of fear in Techno’s eyes. Like he just now realized what he had gotten himself into. Then, the fear disappeared as Techno looked away and readied his bow. Philza raised his hand at the final pace.

“Ten paces, fire!”

The two warriors both spun around and arrows flew from their bows. Years of fighting and experience were clear in their shots. It was also clear in that they both dodged the shots with ease. Techno’s arrow landed behind Dream and Dream’s arrow was slowly sinking in the water. Techno quickly jumped into the water and started desperately digging in the mud for the arrow.

Techno let out a triumphant yell when he found tha arrow. Philza sighed in relief but then he heard a sharp gasp from Bad. Philza’s eyes widened in horror as he saw that Dream got his arrow first and was aiming it straight at Techno’s back.

Techno wouldn’t see it in time. Philza could only watch, frozen in horror, as Techno spun around to aim.

The cocky grin slipped off his face as the arrow hit his chest with a sickening thump.

“TECHNO!” Philza screamed as he flew towards the water. He heard yells, both of horror and triumph. He heard splashes as the others ran towards them. Philza tried not to look down at the now bloody water. Philza scrambled through the water and sat Techno up. He could already feel tears welling up at the sight of him.

The arrow was sticking out of his chest and Techno’s eyes already looked dead. His clothes had so much, too much blood on them. Techno was looking at the arrow in shock, like if he blinked it would disappear.

“Phil, I don’t think I can, I mean I don’t think he’s going to,” Bad trailed off as he held the bandages limply in his arms.

“There’s got to be something you can do!” Ranboo said as he looked back and forth between Techno and Bad, his eyes flickering from red and green to purple. Philza vaguely heard Skeppy yelling at Dream to stay away. Philza couldn’t focus on them.

Techno was going to lose a life. His son was going to lose a life and it was his fault and he never ever should have-

“D-dad,” Everyone went quiet as Techno tugged on Philza’s sleeve. “I’m...sorry”

“Don’t be sorry,” Philza said with a watery chuckle as he pulled Techno up into a hug and ran his fingers through his hair. Like they used to do back in the old days when Chat was too loud and Philza was the only one Techno would turn to. “You’re gonna be just fine, Bad will fix you up and-“

“Heh, no I’m...not” Techno said as he clutched at Philza’s jacket, “Don’t worry...I’ll come back...soon as I can”

Philza let out a sob as he felt Techno’s chest start to slow down. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m-”

“I choose...this” Techno said, his words getting painfully slow, “Won’t regret it...one bit”

“You’ve done such a good job Tech” Philza said, “I’m so proud of you”

“D-dad?” Techno said.

“Yes, son?”

For the first time in years, Philza heard fear in Techno’s voice. “I’m scar-”

And then there was a poof of smoke and Philza was left holding a jacket stained with blood and tears and a golden crown that fell into his lap. Philza was sure he could hear Ranboo crying.

“Oh my goodness Phil,” Bad said as he crouched down beside him and swept him up in a hug. Philza clutched at Techno’s jacket and for a moment everyone was quiet.

Then Philza collapsed into Bad’s arms and let out a heart wrenching cry as he sobbed. As he sobbed for the son who he was supposed to protect.

Philza sobbed and all Bad could do was hug him even tighter.

Philza wasn’t a general mourning the loss of his country. Philza was just a father who had done one of the worst things a father could do.

Leave their child behind.

[tomtenadia]

Island Dreams - Chapter 19

Good evening, afternoon, morning to everyone and welcome to chapter 19.

I have a few notes before letting you to the chapter. Rowan and Aelin finally attend Heb Celt. Heb Celt is this wonderful festival held in Stornoway each year (non covid years) and it's all about Scottish and Celtic music. It's big and it's amazing. That's where they are. I mentioned some groups. Peat and Diesel have been mentioned before in the fic. The new ones are Skerryvore and Skipinnish. they do some amazing music and I highly recommend it if you want to try some Scottish bands. They also sing in Gaelic. The song from Skerryvore that Aelin sing is called You and I. Awesome stuff.

Half way through you will notice Elide and Lorcan appearing in the fic. I tried to keep Lorcan IC as much as i could. not an easy task. I had to give them modern world jobs so Lorcan in my head is perfect for a rugby player. He is the Captain of the Glasgow warriors. They are a real team in Glasgow. The boys also mention the Six Nations. This is a wonderful competition that if you are in Europe you might have heard of. It happens every year and it has 6 teams competing: Scotland (YAY), Italy (YAY - I am Italian... imagine my pain on a Sco vs Ita game), Wales, Ireland and France. I love this competition and it's going to start this weekend. Rowan and Lorcan joke about England and Scotland. Although England wins most of the times (grrrrr) a few years back Scotland actually won and it almost became a new national day after St Andrews. I am not joking. Rugby is a big thing in Scotland.

Two Gaelic phrases: -Tha Gàidhlig agam cuideachd: I speak Gaelic too -Tha beagan Gàidhlig agam. I speak little Gaelic.

Quick update as well about the fic. Most of the chapters have some big chunks written. But there are two important chapters: 22 - something big happens. I wrote the main important part 5 times already and probably re write another five before i publish it. It involves something I don't usually write and I am really nervous. So finger crossed.

26: this will be the last chapter (there's an epilogue as well) and again I have written the main event. There is so much fluff that it's probably not healthy :)

So, after this massive introduction I can let you go and enjoy (hopefully) the chapter.

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

Aelin had woken up before Rowan that morning. It was finally mid July and it was Heb Celt day and she was super excited. The festival would run for three days but they had chosen the one with the most of their favourite artists. Plus Rowan had tickets for Peat and Diesel and they could not miss them. She rolled out of bed and went to the kitchen. That morning it was her turn for once to prepare breakfast. Rowan had taught her enough for her to make breakfast safely without burning the house down. It was a special day and she was going to make eggs and bacon, the only concession Rowan would make in his perfect diet. Once a week they could treat themselves to a non healthy breakfast. She prepared the coffee, sliced some bread for the toaster and started frying the bacon in one pan and getting the eggs ready as well. She felt good, she could make breakfast for Rowan for once. She was almost done when she felt his arms around her waist and a soft kiss behind her ear. “It smells lovely.”

“It’s a special day today so we are having our special breakfast.” She told him while finishing ti prepare the eggs. She was very proud of her job. “I’ll set the table.” He added and moved away and she missed his arms. “So, the main event is tonight at seven.” She said passing him the plates with food “I had a look at some events and it seems there is enough for us to fill up the entire day.” “You have done a good job,” he commented taking a bite of the food she had prepared for him. She tasted it as well and found it edible. Well, at least she was not going to poison them and he seemed satisfied. “Look at you.” He pulled her to him, and Aelin sat on his lap. She grabbed her plate and finished her breakfast with one of his arms around her. She was really loving it living with him. It had taken her a little while to adjust to his way of life but she had realised that living with him was quite easy. They had their little fights but he seemed to hate to hold grudges for too long so every time they had fixed their issues quite quickly. The two of them ate in silence for a moment “This is good, Fireheart.” And he polished off his plate. “I had a good teacher.” She stood and Rowan noticed that she was only wearing a large t-shirt, his t-shirt, and under it he could very barely notice her underwear. He grabbed her and pulled her back on his lap and she straddled him. His hands landed on her butt and she kissed him. “You really love teasing me, don’t you?” “It’s fun.” He looked at her in a weird way “Sure, torturing a poor man like that.” She got up again and took all the plates to the sink and she walked swaying her hips on purpose. Rowan almost howled at the sight. She started washing the dishes and at the same time she began dancing and singing and that’s the way we do it, the way we do it in the Western Isles. Rowan laughed and helped her. She washed and he dried them. She kept singing and bumped her hips into his and the two started dancing together. Once they were done Aelin went to her old room to get changed. She wore a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Then she braided her hair and tied a colourful bandana to her head. She prepared her backpack and she was ready to go. Once out, Rowan was waiting for her. He had blue shorts a grey t-shirt and on top of it a blue shirt with short sleeves and his sunglasses on top of his head. Aelin took a photo of him “so sexy.” He raised an eyebrow at her comment “I am not—“ “Shh…” she said placing a finger on his lips “I am your girlfriend and I am the one to judge.” He bit her finger in reply. “Fine, fine.” He grabbed her hand “Come on, I have a surprise for you.” Her face lit up and he could spend an entire day staring at her smiling at him. It was such a beautiful sight. They left the house and began their walk all the way to the harbour and Aelin was getting curious about their destination. They reached a small house down at the pier and Rowan pulled her toward the small group of people gathered. Aelin noticed another couple and a woman on her own. She was quite intent in studying the couple. The woman was quite petite with black hair and black eyes as well and she had a very bright smile. The man was almost the opposite. He was tall, Aelin suspected even taller than Rowan, something she could not believe it was possible. He had a thick muscular build with long dark hair and same for his eyes. But where she exuded a friendly attitude, he seemed to scowl even at the stones. “Is this part of the festival?” Wondering about his plan. “In a manner.” He explained quite vaguely “It’s just a pre festival fun.” Sure, now it was clear, thought Aelin, none the wiser. Rowan left her side for a moment and she noticed him talking with a man who, from the way he was dressed seemed to be a crew member on a boat. Rowan looked relaxed and Aelin suspected the two were friends. And with sadness she realised she had never met any of Rowan’s friend and he did not seem to mention any of them. “Ready for an adventure?” He told her once he came back, carrying two lifejackets. Aelin stared at him and then he pointed at the small rib boat and he gave her a huge grin. “I know one of crew members, Callum,” and he pointed at the man he was talking to. We used to dive together. I asked him if he could save us two seats for this morning. It’s a gorgeous day and a boat trip seems like the best way to spend the morning.” “You are a very resourceful man, Rowan Whitethorn.” She tiptoed on her feet and kissed his nose. One of the crew member walked around distributing lifejackets and explained the basic health and safety measures. Aelin wore her vest and Rowan double checked it was up to his standards. Once he was happy that the jacket was safely on he helped her to get on the rib. The brunette girl who was part of the couple sat beside her giving her a wide smile full of excitement that probably mirrored Aelin’s. “I am Elide.” The woman introduced herself and Aelin took her hand. “I am Aelin.” She smiled back “Are you here for the festival too?” She had a feeling they were tourists. “Yes,” she replied excited “Lorcan and I come every year. We love it.” Then she turned to the man at her side “This is Lorcan by the way. Don’t worry he does not bite. That is just his regular face” and the man grunted in reply. Aelin laughed. The man seemed to be mad at the world. She turned to introduce Rowan to the couple, but she noticed he was still on the pier chatting away with one of the crew members. “The tall guy on the pier with the blue shirt? My boyfriend, Rowan.” Elide’s gaze took in Rowan and Aelin smiled wickedly at the woman’s stare of understanding. “Did you come here for the festival too?” “Oh, Rowan and I live here. He is the local, I moved her a few months ago.” “Nice,” said the woman. Aelin liked her already, she had a very bubbly personality. “Lorcan and I live in Glasgow.” “I never been there but Rowan did uni there..” “You should come and visit. It’s quite a fantastic city. So alive.” Rowan finally returned and sat down beside Aelin “nice chat?” “Yeah, I haven’t seen him in ages. I knew he had opened a boat tours business but I never had the chance to come and say hi. We were just discussing some ideas for possible diving adventures.” She caressed his head and realised that there was still so much she did not know about him. Some days he still felt like a huge mystery, but still, she was madly in love with him and she was looking to find out more about him day by day. “I made a friend by the way,” and she pointed at the woman at her side “This is Elide. She and her boyfriend Lorcan are here for the festival too.” Rowan extended his hand and then he and Lorcan exchanged a manly nod and both women rolled their eyes. Rowan fussed over her again and double checked one more time that her lifejacket was fitted and tied properly, when the rib boat started to move. His hand reached behind her back and he leaned comfortably against the side of the boat and closed his eyes, letting the sun kiss his face. Aelin and Elide on the other hand, were taking photos and chatting away happily pointing at all the points of interest. The boat glided on the water and Aelin leaned back against Rowan, taking in the scenery in front of her. She had explored all of that during her adventures, but seeing it from the water was a completely different experience. “Thank you for this.” She said to him. “Hopefully we will see some wildlife.” He added “Callum said that yesterday they spotted Orcas.” Aelin’s eyes went wide in surprise “I saw whales at the Butt of Lewis, or what I think it was whales.” “Highly likely.” Then she turned to Elide “So, you guys are staying here for the whole festival?” The woman nodded “Yes, Lorcan and I always rent a cottage for a week and spend the whole weekend at the festival. I am looking forward the main event tonight: Peat and Diesel.” Aelin almost squealed “us too. Rowan introduced me to them very recently and I am dying to see them live.” “We have been to one of their concerts in Glasgow at the Barrowlands.” Said Lorcan almost grumbling. “Oh, he speaks,” joked Elide, patting his leg and giving him a smile. He did not reply and just placed a hand on her back. “What about we spend the day together?” Aelin turned all excited to Rowan who gave her a nod “Yes,” she shouted looking at Elide again. They sailed for a bit longer and reached Tiumpan Head and Rowan told her to keep and eye on the sea. Not a moment later she spotted a couple of fins and she and Elide almost jumped. “Dolphins,” Rowan said in her ear. She made a 360 and sat on her knees facing now the water. She felt Rowan’s arm tight around her waist. “Please, don’t fall in the water.” Her hand was in the water and a dolphin passed very close to her and she almost touched it. Rowan used his free hand to take pictures of her. His phone gallery had nothing but pictures of Aelin. Elide turned as well and Rowan noticed the panic in the other man’s eyes and they exchanged a glance of understanding. Aelin leaned a bit further but Rowan’s arm pulled her back “Please don’t. Lifeguard service is not in my plans for today.” “There’s dolphins around the boat.” Aelin squealed. “I know, Fireheart,” he pulled her back “but you need to calm down.” She sat back down to a safer position and Rowan felt like he could breath again. “Is that Tolsta?” She then asked when they continued north and she recognised the place in front of her. The closer they got to the beach the clearer the water got and Aelin was in awe “This reminds me of when Lys and I swam at Luskentyre.” Oh yeah, Rowan remembered the day and very quickly chased the memories away. They were in public. The boat made a turn and they began to make their way back to the town. Aelin snuggled to Rowan’s chest, with her arms around his waist. “Are you cold?” He demanded “I have your favourite hoodie with me.” “I am fine.” An hour later they were back at the harbour and Aelin was high on excitement. The trip had been amazing. Once off the boat she flung her arms around Rowan’s neck and kissed him “Thank you. I loved my surprise.” “You are most welcome.” He pulled back from her “Let me say bye to Callum.” And she was left alone with Elide and Lorcan. “That was a nice trip.” Said the woman, grabbing her boyfriend’s hand. “Totally. I had never seen dolphins before. It was so awesome.” “Really?” Elide was curious. Aelin nodded “Until a few months ago I lived in London. Born and bred there. Not much chance to see dolphins in the water. I doubt they would enjoy the Thames.” Elide gazed at Lorcan “We were planning a quick weekend in the capital next month.” “Ask me anything. I can tell you the best places to go and how to survive London without breaking the bank.” “That would be lovely,” was Lorcan’s reply “I feel like I need a mortgage for this trip.” He kissed the woman’s head and she noticed the first sign of affection “But it’s a belated birthday present, so…” he shrugged. “Ach, I can help you with that. I survived London on a budget when I was student.” Rowan finally came back and embraced her from behind “Sorry, Callum and I were just planning an excursion for next Sunday.” He kissed her ear. “Can I come too?” “Of course.” Then he lifted his head and looked at their two companions for the day “Aelin and I are going to grab lunch, fancy joining us?” Lorcan almost protested but Elide poked his shoulder “Stop being grumpy.” Then she turned to Aelin and Rowan “Of course we are coming.” Rowan smiled and took Aelin’s hand and started walking to Maeve’s. He laughed when he noticed that Aelin was almost skipping. Gods, the woman had never ending energy. While walking to Maeve’s Rowan and Lorcan ended up side by side and Aelin just noticed that her assumption was right and Lorcan really was taller that Rowan. The man must have been closer to two metres. She felt tiny all of a sudden and Elide seemed even more petite beside the huge man. She could put Aedion with them as well and they could form a sexy, tall wall of muscles. She grinned and was glad that Rowan was busy talk to Elide so he did not notice her savage blush. They reached the cafe and noticed that it was packed and Rowan sighed. He loved the festival but it also meant a savage invasion disrupting his day to day life. He entered first and went to his aunt and Aelin smiled when she noticed that Maeve had managed to find some space for them. “Privileges of being related to the owner,” he smiled, going back to them. “This is a lovely place,” commented Elide “why we never stopped here?” “So, will you be enjoying the entire festival as well?” Asked Elide, passing a menu to Lorcan. “No, Rowan and I will be doing today only. Tomorrow we have to reopen the bookshop.” The woman’s eyes lit up in surprise “do you run the bookshop down the road?” Rowan nodded “It’s my shop.” He took Aelin’s hand in his “she helps.” “Yeah, I fix his displays and I charm customer. Rowan scares them away by being a grump” She grinned back at him and he, in exchange, flicked her nose. “I am a primary school teacher,” continued Elide who was definitely the chattier of the pair “And Lorcan is the coach of the Glasgow Warriors. They are a rugby team.” And Aelin was grateful to the woman for the clarification. “No way.” Said Rowan amazed “That’s why you looked familiar. You were their captain until a few years back. Lorcan Salvaterre.” Lorcan nodded. “I studied at Glasgow university and the Warriors were, and still are, my favourite team. I went to see plenty of their games. You guys are awesome.” “You like rugby?” “Aye,” added Rowan and Aelin studied him for a moment. He was alive all of a sudden, his usual calm disappeared and he was one beautiful sight “Stornoway has a small club and I go and watch some of the games. But I miss the big league guys. I usually get tickets for the Six Nations as well.” Lorcan smiled “I can get you some tickets for one of Scotland’s home games. Perhaps for the one against England. Wonder if it will be finally the year we trash them as they deserve.” “Hey,” Aelin exclaimed almost hurt “English woman here.” And as a joke she pushed her London accent. “No one is perfect, Fireheart.” Rowan kissed her temple. She pinched his side and he barely reacted “Fine, I will support England this year, just to annoy you” She threatened and the two guys glared at her. “Fine.” She raised her hands “but you need to teach me Flower of Scotland.” “It would be my pleasure.” And he pulled her to him and in that instant Maeve came with their order “Sorry for the wait guys, we are quite busy today.” Rowan said something in Gaelic to his aunt and she walked away with a smile. Elide turned to him “Tha Gàidhlig agam cuideachd.” Rowan’s face lit up. “I teach at the Glasgow Gaelic School. I am not a native. I picked it up at uni and I fell in love with it. I spent some time on the islands to learn it and then I got a job as a teacher.” “Yeah if she starts to shout at me in Gaelic I know she is really mad at me.” The man joked taking her hand. “I only know a few sentences. Tha beagan Gàidhlig agam.” Aelin said proudly “Rowan has been teaching me.” They finished their lunch chatting away nicely and getting to know each other. Lorcan did manage to utter a few more sentences but he became quite talkative once he and Rowan started talking about rugby. Aelin ordered a trip to the ice cream parlour. And the boys followed. Aelin took Elide’s arm and let Rowan and Lorcan follow. They were super immersed in their conversation. Aelin wished Lysandra was there too. She had a feeling the three of them would get along greatly. Aelin and Elide got a triple cone and the two men just went for something more sober with just one flavour. “Look at them all perfect and healthy.” Aelin mocked them and Elide giggled at her side. Rowan, in front of her just met her gaze and then licked his ice cream in a very taunting way and took great pleasure in noticing her reaction. Aelin almost chocked and his eyes flashed in amusement. A wall, she just wanted a wall and twenty minutes alone with him to remove that smirk form his face. He knew he had rattled her and hated the way he casually went back talking to Lorcan. She would have her revenge. Eventually her mind started functioning again and went back talking to Elide, hoping the woman had not noticed their exchange. That would have been embarrassing. Slowly they reached the festival grounds. They made it till four and they still had three hours to fill in before the main event. They all collected their tickets and ventured inside the main arena. Aelin squeezed Rowan’s hand and once she turned to him she noticed he had the most amazing smile. “We got a concert coming up.” Said Elide, then grabbed a notebook and scribbled something down “this is my number. Text me later. We can meet again for the main event.” Aelin took the piece of paper and then the notebook and wrote her number for the woman “Looking forward to.” The two said their goodbyes and Rowan finally pulled Aelin to him and kissed her deeply “I had to restrain myself all afternoon.” “You are a wicked man,” a whisper against his lips “You will pay for the ice cream trick.” But in response his kiss deepened and his tongue repeated some of the motions he did early. “Unless you want me to drag you in a hidden corner and have sex at a festival, you’d better stop it.” He laughed “Yes, Fireheart.” And mirth flashed in his pine green eyes. “Come on, let’s go and have a look at the merchandise. See if we can get you a P&D hoodie.” And he dragged her to the area with all the stalls. “Uh, food stalls.” She pulled on one side. “Later. We just had a massive lunch and ice cream.” “You are no fun.” She complained while following him. He walked with her in tow for a little longer and they finally found all the stall with the merchandise for the bands and the festival in general. “Look,” he said to her pointing at the big stall of the band “Good thing we are here early, we can do all these things now. Later on it will be mobbed.” Aelin got closer to the stall and started having a look at the hoodies. She noticed a green one and gave it a try. She had decided that for some reason green reminded her of Rowan, perhaps for his eyes, but the colour now was a reminder of him. She tried on the hoodie and Rowan turned and stared at her in appreciation. “You look lovely.” “I’ll take it.” As Rowan turned again, apparently interested by what was going on on the big screen and she used the moment to buy a t-shirt for him. His birthday was coming up and this was the second part of her present. She paid for her stuff and quickly placed the t-shirt in her backpack before he would turn again. She embraced him from behind and leaned her head against his back, he turned, “I really, really like it.” And kissed her forehead. They wandered a bit longer until they finally reached one of the smaller stages where the first band they were waiting for was going to play soon. They did manage to squeeze to the front and Aelin felt bad for whoever ended up behind Rowan. He pulled her in front of him and his arms went around her neck “Are you ready to sing?” She nodded. The band was called Skipinnish and one was one of Rowan’s favourite and she agreed that they did some wonderful music. The group started with a slow song and Aelin danced on the spot in Rowan’s arms and she felt like the happiest woman alive. In his arms she was finally happy. As if the last year ceased to exist all of a sudden. That had been his magic. He had slowly taken away all the grief she had felt until only a few months ago. He had given her again the desire to dream. She squeezed his hand and tried to convey somehow all those feeling in that simple gesture. The music suddenly picked up in pace and Rowan turned her to him, one of her hand landed on his chest and the other one in his hand that he held high. He started dancing and she swayed with him, then he lifted her and turned on the spot and put her back. A quick kiss and they kept dancing. His eyes alive with happiness. She giggled and he smiled at that sound. All through their dance, Aelin sang, impressing him by her knowledge. She only refrained from singing the songs in Gaelic, that was still too much of a challenge. They danced for another few hours then they moved to the next stage where Skerryvore, the next band they wanted to see was going to play. This time they ended up at the back, but Rowan had Aelin climb on his back, piggyback style, and that allowed her to see the stage a little better. She could not dance but loved her position. Her chin leaned on his head and her arms went around his neck. She took a sniff of his wonderful scent of pine and snow and kissed the back of his head. One of Aelin’s favourite songs began playing and she sang out loud you and I, we held each other tight. Time will take its toll, but I will never let you go. Your love is like a high, you and I. Our love can never die, together as we grow. I’ll always let you know, you’re my reason why Rowan joined in and she hugged him tighter and her head leaned against his head. “I love you,” she whispered while he was busy singing the chorus. It was past six when the concert finished. Aelin looked at her phone and noticed a text from Elide telling her that she and Lorcan were already at the main stage and they had a spot at the very front. “Let’s go.” Aelin grabbed Rowan’s hand “Elide and Lorcan have spot fro us as well at the front of the stage.” Luckily the main stage area was not busy yet, and they found the couple quite quickly. Rowan had a look and noticed they had found a good spot. “This is perfect.” Rowan commented. “Not our first festival.” Lorcan grinned back. Aelin and Elide were huddled together talking and being all excited for the grand event. Aelin paraded her hoodie and Elide showed her the t-shirt and the hoodie she had bought as well. Rowan really thought he had created a monster. With the passing of time the area started to fill and Aelin could feel the excitement around them. Half an hour later the show started with a roar. Aelin climbed on Rowan’s shoulders again and she noticed that Lorcan offered the same to Elide. Aelin roared as well and shouted as soon as she recognised the notes of the first song Stornoway of course. She sang with all of her voice and waved her hands in the air. She and Elide grabbed their hands and sang and waved together. Then they moved to Western Isles and the crowd went wild. Rowan laughed at Aelin’s wild excitement and was impressed by the fact that Aelin really had learned all the lyrics. “And that’s the way we do it, the way we do it in the Western Isles” she was singing with a passion and his mind went to that morning when she was cooking breakfast in nothing but a baggy t-shirt while singing and dancing to that song. Rowan moved a bit dancing as much as possible with Aelin on his shoulder but he sang as well and with his hand he beat the rhythm on Aelin’s legs. The band was playing some of their hits and he was having the time of his life. He had never been able to convince Lyria to go to Heb Celt with him. Her music taste was different and she was never interested in that type of music so he had gone alone for a very long time. But now he had Aelin and she was basically perfect. The guys started playing My islands and Aelin let out a savage cheer and then started to sing. She slowly slid off his back and started dancing and jumping in front of him shaking her head at the rhythm of the music Elide at her side being just as wild. She took his hands and danced on the spot as much as the crowd allowed it. Aelin took some photos of her and Rowan and went back dancing. It was quite late when the concert finished. Aelin and Elide were now walking silently hand in hand with their respective men. “I think they finally ran out of fuel.” Joked Rowan, seeing the two women quiet. “It took them a while, but eventually it happened.” Joked Lorcan who had slowly opened up a bit more. “You are both so mean.” Said Elide leaning against Lorcan. “Yes, and you are going to fall asleep soon.” Lorcan crouched down and offered to carry Elide piggyback “Come on, time to get you to bed.” “Are you coming to the ceilidh at An Lanntair tomorrow?” Aelin and Rowan looked at each other “we might,” she said. “Let us know.” Said Lorcan settling Elide properly on his back “Thanks for the day and evening.” And the two slowly walked away. Rowan turned to Aelin and noticed she had a massive grin on her face. Alas, she seemed to have some energy left. “That was awesome.” She took both of his hands “And we need to go to the ceilidh tomorrow. It’s your birthday. We need to celebrate.” “Fine. We can go. But now we are going home. You have to rest and recharge the batteries for the ceilidh.” She leaned forward and kissed him “Thank you so much for this. It was unbelievable.” He pulled her to him and lifted her and pirouetted while kissing her. Finally they started making their way home and when Rowan noticed that Aelin was on the verge of falling asleep on her feet he offered a piggyback ride and she accepted. By the time they got back home she was fully asleep. At home he deposited her on the bed and he started to ponder how to get her out of her current clothes and into a pyjama. He went to get her Cookie Monster pyjama, removed her hoodie and placed it on the chair at the bottom of the room. Next it was the t-shirt and her shorts and he tried to look away. He was about to put the new clothes away when she groaned and woke up briefly. “I am just changing you into your pj.” He told her gently. Still half asleep she let him guide her body into her night clothes. Then he realised she liked to sleep without a bra and he had no idea how to solve that one. “Bra…” she muttered. “I am… you…” he tried to hide his embarrassment “you do that.” She muttered something unintelligible and removed her bra and threw it in his face. Then collapsed on the bed and went back to sleep. Rowan slowly tucked her in then changed in own night clothes and joined her. His arms went around her waist tucked her head in the crook of his neck. Not longer after he was asleep as well.

[itsuki-minamy]

“K - THE FIRST STORY”

CHAPTER 10: THE MAN WITH THE FOX MASK (Complete)

* K - The First Story (List of Chapters) * Projects & Chapters

Translation: Naru-kun Raws: Ridia

He doesn’t remember the first thing.

However, when he was secretly called by the Slate and became "King", he knew that the color of the "King" he received was "Colorless", and he remembers that he was strangely convinced.

He was a transparent man like water. Not individual and flat. He was a person who had few emotional ups and downs, had no noticeable thoughts, was not attached to people, things, or even himself, and was just there in silence.

Why did such a person become a "King"?

He somehow he was convinced that he knew of his ability as "King".

He was able to insert his soul into someone else's body, read and swallow someone else's memory, abilities, and life and make it his own. In other words, it was just water in a large pot to make soup. That is why he was transparent, tasteless and colorless.

He had no interest or attachment to himself. So he left his body without any regret and walked around the bodies of others.

He doesn't remember it well, but at first he thinks he probably didn't have any particular purpose.

However, since he had become a "creature with such power", he continued to swallow the lives of many human beings with the vague idea that such power should be used.

"I wonder if this power can save people." He entered the body of a nurse and thought so.

"If my mind drifts, I can be a genius, right?" He entered the body of a college student, and that was the end.

"Most of the people in the world are stupid. It should be led by a powerful person." He entered the body of a politician and cross his arms.

"To have power, first of all, violence! Fear has brought people down." He entered the body of a yakuza man and breathe.

"Let's get what we want from one end. I can do that." He entered the body of a rich woman and laughed a lot.

"This is strange. This is wrong." He entered the body of a teacher and held his head.

"It's lonely. I want someone to praise me." He entered the body of a lonely child and cry.

He walks through many human bodies.

Many skills, knowledge, thought, experience and life have become his. He started to get a sharp idea and his emotions got higher and lower. Although his capacity was great, as a result of continuing to take possession of the lives of people with conflicting ideas and sensibilities, his thoughts, desires and actions became inconsistent, and his personality as a human being was disturbed.

One day he was visited by a parrot.

"Putting on a mask is a good idea. You are a person."

Said the parrot.

At that time, he was an old man who owned an antique store.

Interrupted by his personality and spirit, he took an attacking action, knocking the merchandise out of the store to the ground and rampaging, not knowing what he wanted to do.

The air outside was cold in late fall, but the windows were open. A parrot with green feathers was standing on the window railing and speaking in fluent words that could not be considered as a bird.

He should put on a mask.

"Who are you?"

The passion that had made him rampage like crazy until then subsided, and he asked calmly as he watched the strange parrot.

The parrot inclined its head in a strangely human gesture.

"I'm a passing advisor. You seem to be in trouble, so I called you. It's advice."

"What does it mean to put on a mask?"

The parrot makes a rattling noise and spreads its wings. It was very similar to how an exaggerated person extends his hands.

"Now you are unable to unify your will and your actions. This is the price of your great power. As a result of assimilating all human memory, your memory has been altered."

"Other than that, I don't regret anything in my memory."

"Still, it would be a problem if you couldn't define 'who you are'. You're just a bankrupt person. Without you, you have no purpose."

The parrot who spoke softly, did not take his eyes off his emotionless eyes.

"What do you do with a mask?"

"I entrust 'myself' to the mask. That mask will become your faceless face, and it will be a good idea to assemble the ego that is being photographed."

He silently stares at the parrot for a while, and suddenly he looks down at a point in the messy shop.

There was a fox mask that fell on the tea utensils that broke on the floor.

He reached out and lifted the fox mask, staring at the elongated, eerily cut eye hole.

The "King" fox, who is bad for others, is a source of the fox. He felt it was a good match for him.

(This is the face of "myself".)

That perception mysteriously fell on him and became the outline of his shyness.

He raised the fox mask to his face and looked at the parrot.

"I am the Seventh King, the 'Colorless King'."

"Fufu.", Laughed the parrot.

"Nice to meet you," Colorless King ". What is your dream?"

There were various thoughts and voices in him. Soft voices used to be quiet, lost to loud and violent voices and became inaudible. He heard many inner voices and shook the baton like a conductor to combine those voices into a piece of music and put it in his own thoughts.

"I will be the strongest 'King'."

After that, the parrot became kind to him.

He gave him various information and advice when he started acting to become the strongest "King".

It was fun talking to the parrot about his ambitions and acting like him.

"The meaning of my birth was probably to unite the world. I am a recipient that accepts the whole world."

"I see. It's an interesting idea."

"The King does not need seven people, and I will swallow all of his power, skill, experience, memory, and thought, and unite him."

"That's your way. I understand."

The parrot disagreed with his words, but showed understanding.

He took the sincerity of this parrot to simply listen and understand that that was his chosen path, rather than a weak empathy.

"There are four 'Kings' that we know where they are now. The first king, the 'Silver King', who is still flying in the sky in an airship. The second king, the 'Golden King', who lives in the huge Mihashira tower. In Shizume, there is the third king, the 'Red King', who lives in a bar. And the fourth king, who has a camp in Tsubakimon, the 'Blue King'."

He licked his tongue, wondering where to start.

"The "Golden King" is still a bit overloaded. It will be difficult if you don't get the power of another "King" before sneaking into the stronger "King". The powers of the "Red King" and "Blue King" are similar, but the red is unbalanced. Between these two people, the red could be broken."

"I agree. We are going to come up with a strategy for that."

"Oh, but before the red, it is better to start with the easy part."

"The easy part?"

"The only king of his kind, the 'Silver King'. I think he's no longer motivated to play the 'King'. It's better for him if he gets it right away."

The parrot was a bit quiet.

"But it's also the beginning of the Dresden Slate. Don't let your guard down."

"My power is effective in humans who have a void in their hearts. The "Silver King" has abandoned the responsibility of the "King" and has been fleeing all the time. My heart is empty. For me, he is the easiest person. to catch."

Also, the attributes of "Silver King" are not modified. In other words, basically, he will be the strongest body that will not get hurt or die. He argued that once he had that power, it would be much easier to eat another "King".

"Okay, so it's a good idea to plan in parallel the contact with the 'Silver King' and the trembling of the 'Red King'."

When the parrot decided to take over from the "Silver King", the parrot seemed eager to cooperate with him, although at first he was a bit reluctant.

By carrying out the plan, the parrot even gave him a nice body as a gift.

A harmless boy with a pretty face and a simple identity.

"As he is an unaffiliated child, you can use it however you want and it will not cause you any inconvenience. I have tampered with the information and erased the public records, so it is unlikely that you will be caught by a public institution."

The boy's body was in good shape. He sang with his body. A song of delight. It was a song of joy.

He was ready. The necessary tools, including firearms and bombs, were collected on the way through the body and stored in various hiding places. The body of the mob was useful for collecting tools, but it was inconvenient for them to live after using them, so, he kill some of them when he leave their bodies. He killed them, but no one needed to cry, since all the memories and experiences of them were stored in him.

The parrot had never denounced or denied his actions. He was just there, taking care of him and giving him advice and information if he asked. For him, the parrot was the only "friend of the outside world."

"Hey, parrot."

The night before the decision, he told the parrot.

"The 'King' creates the Clansmans, right?"

"As for the presence or absence of Clansman and the amount, it depends on the 'King', but basically it is affirmative."

"Why don't you become my clan member?"

It was a funny word. But it's not that he wasn't serious.

The parrot rolled its eyes and bowed its head.

"I can't do that. Didn't you notice?"

"No. I noticed. Are you also a 'King'? 'Green King', Nagare Hisui."

There was no reason not to notice. In the first place, it was clear that he was not the only one who felt and he contacted the awakening of the "Colorless King", which not even the Golden clan could capture, and now he had this parrot ready. He was in the body of a young boy. All the memories of the boy were inherited by him. This boy was a user of an SNS called "Jungle" operated by the "Green King", and a game in which he actually completed missions issued from him and received points, a game in which many people are crazy behind the scenes. He knew, of course, that it was one of the more well-known games, and he kidnapped the boy in the first place because he was invited to an unpopular place called a mission.

The boy who possessed this body was a transparent boy who had little connection with people, like air, like water.

He felt that this boy looked a bit like the original me that he had forgotten about.

Just as the boy, who was not interested in interacting with people, was still looking for some connection with the peculiar social network "Jungle", he could have looked for something in the parrot.

"I just said it. I sent three people thinking that it would be fine if there was one person who could see me from the outside."

"Are you dreaming of putting the world in you? Don't get halfway there."

The parrot simply replied, spreading its green wings.

"You and I are walking different paths and dreaming differently. You were very interesting and I helped you because it was perfect for the basis of my dream. It is a unit of interest."

"Oh."

"In order for you to capture all the 'Kings' and become the strongest 'King', you will eventually have to fight me. So, let's play a good game."

The parrot's eyes were directly directed at him, not reflecting his emotions.

"Then, goodbye."

There was a creak.

The green feathers that flew fluttered in the air to his feet.

"Hey."

He called involuntarily, looking at the parrot, which flew away and got smaller.

The parrot, who appeared when he was about to destroy his ego, put a face on him, listened to his ambitions and gave him an answer, he was terribly gone.

Being left alone, he felt asexually reluctant.

He felt that the lonely child in him was crying "alone".

"Hey."

He calls back to empty space. At that moment,

"What?"

There was a voice to answer.

It was a voice that came out of his mouth, there was no one.

Oh, yeah, it felt like a revelation.

He was not alone. Even if he had only one body, he was filled with the greatest abundance. There was a world in his body. He lifts the world.

He heard the voices of the many personalities within him, but before the voices confused him and broke his ego, he covered his face with the fox mask.

"I am the Seventh King, the 'Colorless King'. A human being who accepts all 'Kings', gains all power, knows everything and becomes the world itself."

It felt clear in his head.

He grabbed the pistol he had prepared and stroked the black barrel with his slender fingers.

"Let's step forward. First of all, as the first stone to destroy the 'Red King', let's kill Totsuka Tatara, an executive of the Red clan who is also a plug of the 'Red King'."

Then, he will go to see the "Silver King".

Once he has the immutable defense and the flame of destruction, he will no longer be afraid.

Making a smile under the fox mask, he also sang a song of joy.

++++++++++

"Damn!"

He attacked the "Red King" and, on the contrary, he was bitten and jumped out of the room in anger.

Immediately afterwards, Suoh's flames, which were chasing his power, exploded and the force of the explosion sent him rolling down the hall.

The room he was in until now was blown up, and when it burned, the flames consumed everything. The power was great even though it was an attack from a remote location. He clicked his tongue feeling ridiculed.

He thought the unstable "Red King" was weakening in the "Scepter 4" dungeon, but he still seemed reluctant. Nothing is more dangerous than a beast that has some physical strength left.

His forehead ached a little and he touched with his hand. The fox face he wore was gone. Looks like he was blown away. He appeared to have a small burn on his forehead. It is not something he cares about, it is just a temporary body. There is no problem if it breaks.

"Wow! Hey, are you okay?"

He could hear the footsteps and the voice of the schoolgirl running down the hall. When he raised his face, Kukuri Yukizome, a girl who was a classmate of that body, came running up and looked at his face anxiously.

"Oh, I have burns on my forehead! I'm cold! What happened?"

Kukuri immediately wet her handkerchief with water and put it on his forehead. She made a confused look.

"I don't know... When I passed by, the room suddenly exploded..."

"That room shouldn't have been strange, but... maybe a gas explosion."

He reflected, looking at Kukuri, who was afraid to look inside the charred room, saying that she had to contact the fire department and the police.

Perhaps the red clan will reach Gakuenjima before the fire department and the police. The "Red King" Mikoto Suoh must have identified this place by grabbing his tail, which has interfered with his psyche.

It was easy to leave that body and escape before the "Red King" entered, but it was also an opportunity. This island, which is isolated to some extent from the main world, is a perfect place for battles between kings. He was ready to face it.

When the "Red King" arrives, the "Blue King" will definitely start moving. It's a good idea to push red and blue to physically weaken them before eating.

And the mystery boy, Isana Yashiro. The boy, who was alive even after being thrown from the airship, suddenly began living on this school island with the face of a student. He was in a position to be hunted by both the red and the blue, but he can return if this school island turns into a battlefield.

He will have to meet Isana Yashiro again.

"Hey, Yukizome-san."

He told Kukuri, returning the slimy handkerchief to his forehead.

"Do you know what Isana is doing now?"

"Isana-kun...? Um... who...?"

Kukuri turned her head with a confused face. It seems that Isana's memory is not preserved.

"Oh, Yukizome-san, you don't seem to know Isana. Nothing, don't worry."

"Oh, where are you going? Let's report the explosion together..."

"I'm sorry."

He smiled at Kukuri. Perhaps because he wore a fox face all the time, he smiled like a fox.

"I'm busy with a lot of things to prepare from now on. And since only one room exploded, Yukizome-san, you don't have to worry too much."

It's not as bad as a disguise or two disappearing, because something was about to happen.

When the Himmelreich crashed, he kidnapped the boy's body and rushed to the crash site. He examined the body of the "Silver King", who had fallen from the airship, but after he left, his body had no pulse and he was not breathing, and he never woke up like Weismann again.

He left Weismann's body unattended, left the scene before the police and "Scepter 4" reunited, and went to a hideout in search of firearms and bombs to retrieve it.

He then kidnapped the driver of a truck carrying goods to Gakuenjima, loaded weapons and bombs, and invaded Gakuenjima. Weapons are important to him who does not have much attack ability currently, and Gakuenjima, who is very isolated as a hiding place, is unexpectedly convenient and above all, Isana, who is the person in question, was on the spot and was likely to return. After hiding the guns in the school, he kidnapped one of the boys and settled in the school.

It was a miscalculation that the "Red King" was stronger than he expected, but he was more or less within his calculations.

They were ready to start the festival.

Sitting in front of the clock tower, he was looking in the direction of Gakuenjima gate.

The sky above the door distorted and a red light exploded.

"He already came."

A huge sword emerged from the tension created in the sky.

The red Sword of Damocles.

The shape of the sword collapsed, cracked here and there, and the debris spilled into small pieces.

Well, he was impressed that he kept that spirit in that state.

"It's an early arrival, 'Red King'. Well, it's a day early, but it's the start of a fun school festival."

At the same time as his words, the door exploded. The screams of the students echoed.

From the rising smoke, Mikoto Suoh, the "Red King", appeared with a large number of clansmen behind him.

The students were stunned for a moment by the sudden explosion and the invasion of men with terrifying apparitions carrying weapons like metal bats and iron pipes, and then they all escaped at once, starting with someone yelling.

Looking at the fleeing students, Suoh made a troublesome face and developed a flame in his left hand.

He shook his arm with the flame lightly. The flame flew straight towards the clock tower and landed.

"Whoops."

Sitting under the clock tower, he hurriedly jumped out of the place. When he turned around as he evacuated inside where sparks and fine tiles fell from above, he saw the clock tower bend cleanly from the middle, kick up dust, and collapse.

(Just bullying the loud boy, I don't think it's an attack aimed at him, but... he's a strangely level-headed bastard.)

He was alone on the inside, with a cold sweat and a smile on his mouth.

The students, who were in a panic and trying to escape, were left with pale faces, witnessing the extraordinary power and the clock tower that collapsed.

The area had changed from the previous annoyance and was quiet. It is a horror that you can imagine, but when you witness a horror beyond your imagination, people become rigid.

In the frigid air, a man in sunglasses raised a megaphone. Izumo Kusanagi, the executive member of "Homura".

"Hi, keep calm. Didn't you learn anything at school? Don't push, don't run and don't talk during an emergency. It is important to obey those three 'no's. We are not here to cause you trouble. So please remain calm and cooperate. This shouldn't take long."

Kusanagi said with a smoky smile and a soft, reassuring voice, and when he removed the megaphone from his mouth, he exchanged a word or two with Suoh. Suoh seems careless, and now he was walking towards the clock tower that he destroyed.

After looking at his back and taking a breath, Kusanagi turned to the "Homura" people and raised his voice.

"Find the boy who murdered Totsuka, even if you have to destroy this place!"

According to the command, the members of "Homura" screamed. A large group of young men with bad style rioted. He snorted and looked to see if these unmannered thugs could conquer this vast school, but "Homura's" men were unexpectedly well-mannered on a personal level. They began to divide them by hand, and while listening to the students, they began to put them together in one place.

He gently left the place.

When he returned to the school building while he was avoiding the "Homura" boys, the students who still didn't understand the situation were wandering around.

"What's going on...?"

"I just heard an explosion nearby..."

Kukuri, Inaba, Mishina and others huddle together eagerly. He approached them casually.

"Now a lot of people like gangsters have broken through the door and invaded."

In his words, Kukuri and her colleagues expressed fear and suspicion. She maybe she couldn't believe her words because she couldn't feel reality.

However, the school broadcast started to flow at a good time.

"Well, from this moment on, Gakuenjima is under the control of "Homura". I repeat. Gakuenjima is now under the control of "Homura"."

"Lie."

Inaba muttered involuntarily and covered her mouth with both hands. Kukuri supported the one who staggered with a pale face. Mishina turned his face around and looked at the speaker he was broadcasting.

"Students must follow the instructions of our members. As long as you do, you have nothing to fear. We are currently looking for a friend of ours. He looks like the image on the screen. If anyone recognizes him, please report immediately to the closest member of our team."

The hologram monitor in the entrance hall of the important school building, which was sending information about the school festival, was distorted and the video was changed. An image of a boy holding a gun was projected.

"What is this?"

"Oh, this is the guy I saw at the website earlier."

Along with the stunned Kukuri and the others, Mishina screamed. Kukuri looked at Mishina with wide eyes.

"No, it was rumored that it was a video of a murder done as a prank, but I was curious and I kept it. But, it is true that they are looking for him like that. He is a murderer…"

"Why come to our school to find such a person?"

Inaba pursed her lips with a tearful face.

Apparently "Homura" is still looking for "Isana". The body of a child who was his favorite with a cute and harmless face.

That body now walks alone. He still has something to do with "Isana". If "Homura" can find him, it would be better.

Well, that seed is already broken for the "Red King". For Suoh, searching for "Isana" may just be to find a clue.

"Oh, the staff is here! Everyone quietly enter the room!"

Several men from "Homura" ran into the school building and intimidated the students. The schoolgirls scream in fear.

On the other hand, some well-built male students looked at each other and sent signals to each other, and all at once jumped to take control of the "Homura" boys. There were more male students than "Homura", and they probably had confidence in their strength in the martial arts athletic club or something like that. In fact, the boys managed to take the metal bat that they had as a weapon from several of "Homura's" men.

"You are the ones who should be quiet!"

One of the boys barked. However, the "Homura" man laughed. The guys who tried to support themselves turned and kicked with a single kick.

Shouts and echo of marshal. The man from "Homura" did not use flames, but the boys' large bodies flew slightly and fell silent.

"If you follow me, did you say on the air right now that you are not afraid? On the contrary, if you do not obey and make a fuss, I will hit you! Remember that!"

A man from "Homura" said that and took the metal bat that was picked up by a student. When the man shook it slightly, the bat turned red and on fire.

The strange sight increased the voltage of horror from the students. In addition to the fear of simple violence, the fear of the unknown cultivated the students.

"Good.", He giggled inside.

His power pierced people's hearts. He sneaked into the other person through a space in his heart, he shook the other person's heart and opened the door, and made the other person's content yours. Therefore, it is difficult to get into a stable human being.

But now there is no one in this place who has a stable mind. The students were shaking with fear and anxiety, and "Homura" was more excited than usual.

He licked his tongue alone, watching a convenient stage complete.

As the ready meals are lined up, he walks melee.

When the student's body was restricted in his actions and it was inconvenient, he entered "Homura's" body and then entered another student's body and wandered around the school.

Every time he changed bodies, he gained new memories and experiences.

Naturally, he was singing a song of joy again.

The song of delight shone well on the island where elation and crying mingled, and it seemed like an auspicious cry.

He shook his body from side to side, sang a hummed song, and walked down the hall. There was only one voice that followed the melody, but in it many voices overlap and reverberate like a magnificent chorus.

The chorus was the proof that he was not alone, that he was a "King".

(Who will move on? It might be interesting to eat the best ranks of "Homura" here. Oh, but isn't it bad to get close to Anna Kushina? I shouldn't look into that girl's eyes. That girl's sensitive eyes will see through of anyone inside.)

First, he will delve into the mixed environment. The blue will come and start to bite the red, then...

Ping, pong, bread, pong. And a silly sound that was not suitable for this situation echoed, and the transmission flowed again.

"Oh, attention to all the members of our team. The blue dogs will pay us a visit. The groups near the gates, reinforce the guard."

Izumo Kusanagi's voice was heard giving instructions to his friends.

The blue dog is "Scepter 4." It seems that the actors are getting together.

He laughs like a fox. The great delicious song chorus that hasn't stopped yet.

[heyiwrotesomethings]

Stay By My Side

Mitsuri Kanroji x Fem Reader

A/N: Obanai please don’t come for me. She may be your wife, but a girl can dream, alright? As far as warnings go, there is some nudity, but like, no detail about it just chillin’ in the hotspring nothing explicit.

“Is that who I think it is?” Mitsuri giggled, jumping on the tips of her toes rapidly while watching a figure come up over a hill with someone on their back. “I think it is!” She clapped before rushing through the Swordsmith Village to meet the new arrival. “Thanks for the lift.” (Y/n) smiled and removed her blindfold as the Kakushi gently lowered her to the ground. “No prob-“ “(Y/n)! You made it!” Mitsuri made it down the steps in record time and tackled the other girl, nearly sending her to the ground and knocking the air out of her lungs with a bone crushing hug. “Mitsuri, hey!” Although the girl was straining to breathe, she hugged back with just as much force. Mitsuri and (Y/n) first met after their Final Selection when they were picking the ore for their nichirin blades. They had initially reached for the same one, which led to battle of politeness, insisting upon the other that they should take the material. Eventually a game of rock, paper, scissors decided that Mitsuri would take the ore, but she insisted on treating (Y/n) to meal afterwards and they had been friends ever since. Unfortunately, they had grown apart after Mitsuri had became Rengoku’s Tsuguko and then quickly rose through the ranks until she became a full fledged Pillar herself. (Y/n) herself was at rank Hinoe, so she was doing pretty well for herself as well. (Y/n) and Mitsuri still wrote each other and occasionally met up when they would be in the same area for missions, but those meet ups were always much too short for Mitsuri’s liking. Which is why when (Y/n) wrote that she needed to go to the Swordsmith Village for maintenance on her blade, Mitsuri couldn’t have been more excited and since her blade was in need of some maintenance as well, she made plans to meet (Y/n) there. So, that’s how they got here, wrapped in each other’s arms. Mitsuri was so excited she raised (Y/n) a few inches off of the ground and spun her around a bit until they were both breathless from laughing.

“Ahem,” The young women turned in each other’s arms and looked up sheepishly at the Kakushi that they had completely forgotten about upon their reunion. “Someone will return for your pickup a week from today, (L/n)-san. Make sure you are prepared before then,” The Kakushi informed. “Alright, I will. Thank you.” (Y/n) nodded. The Kakushi waved a farewell before disappearing back in the woods, leaving the girls alone. “I’m so excited to see you!” Mitsuri cheered, her tone a bit shrill. Nevertheless, (Y/n) laughed as she parted from the Hashira’s grasp. “Really? I couldn’t tell.” “Hmph!” Mitsuri pouted, lightly shoving (Y/n) away. “What about you, huh? Did you miss me, did you miss me?” “Of course I’ve missed you! I’ve been looking forward to this ever since you told me you would be coming here too.” (Y/n) cheerfully replied. “Awww, you’re too sweet!” Mitsuri blushed. “So, wanna grab lunch? I’ll buy.” “Wahhh no fair, I was gonna treat you!” Mitsuri whined, pouting cutely. “I’ll be here all week, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to try again. How about you? How long will it take for your blade to be back in fighting shape?” “A little less than two weeks. My swordsmith wants to test out some new modifications so it’ll take a bit longer.” “Ooo, I’d like to see what they come up with if they finish before I leave. It sounds exciting.” “Sure, I’d be happy to show you. That won’t be for a while though, we have a whole week ahead of us and I recall someone saying something about lunch?” Mitsuri smiled, cheekily. “Wow, you sure changed your tune quick,” (Y/n) joked. “Do you have a place in mind or do you want to wander?” “I know a great place! You’ll love it!” Mitsuri cheered. She grabbed (Y/n) by the sleeve and tugged her up the steps Mitsuri had descended just a few minutes ago. She pulled (Y/n) through the bustling village, both girls waving at every friendly, masked face they passed. Soon they entered a small shop, the owner of which, greeted Mitsuri like an old friend. “Battle stations everyone, Kanroji-sama is here!” The old man chuckled joyously. “Oh, um, you don’t have to make so much. I’ll be having a light lunch today.” Mitsuri informed, looking a bit bashful as her eyes shifted around the small room. “Nonsense,” (Y/n) interjected. “Eat as much as you’d like Mitsuri. I may not be a Hashira, but I still earn a decent amount of money as a Hinoe. I can afford to pay for you to have a satisfying lunch.” “(Y/n)-“ “Is something on your mind?” (Y/n) questioned, sitting at the low table the masked man gestured to. “We’ve eaten together on numerous occasions, it isn’t like you to say something like that.” “You’re right, I don’t know why... it just sort of... slipped out.” Mitsuri blushed and kept her eyes trained on her hands as she messed with the fabric of her skirt. (Y/n) frowned, concern laced through her features before speaking again, “Hey,” Mitsuri jolted a bit as (Y/n) poked at her forehead from across the table, “You don’t need to put on a front for me. I like you just the way you are and I wouldn’t have it any other way. No matter how much time passes between our meetings, that will never change, got it?” (Y/n) offered a smile that Mitsuri timidly returned. “Thank you, (Y/n). I guess it’s just been so long since I last saw you in person. I think you were still a Tsuchinoe back then. I guess I was just worried you’d grown tired of me,” Mitsuri confessed. “No way!” (Y/n) rose her voice, sheepishly looking about the small restaurant before returning her gaze to Mitsuri, speaking more quietly, “If anything, I don’t know why you still bother with me. I mean, you climbed the ranks so fast. You became a Tsuguko, then you became a Hashira not much longer after that. Meanwhile I’m just - you know?” (Y/n) gestured vaguely, “Ugh, I don’t even want to talk about how long it took me just to go up one rank from Hinoto to Hinoe. The point is, you’re super strong and talented as well as kind, fun, and just all around a good person. Anyone who decides to pick you apart based on appearance or habits is just not worth your time.” “Aw, (Y/n), I’d still hang out with you even if you were still a Mizunoto! I don’t think rank matters that much at all!” Mitsuri smiled, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. “Is that all you got from that?” (Y/n) let out a breath of laughter, “Just order what you want, okay? I think they’re getting a bit antsy in the kitchen.” “Right,” Mitsuri grinned, “I’ll take two beef udon, two ramen, and some tempura and rice, please!” She yelled enthusiastically. “I’ll have curry and rice, please!” (Y/n) waved with a smile of her own. With that taken care of, Mitsuri was pretty much back to her usual chipper self. She and (Y/n) caught up, talking about missions and random anecdotes that never made it into any of their correspondences. They happily ate their food when it arrived and (Y/n) paid for the meal after they had finished. “Gods, I think I’m going to explode,” (Y/n) groaned while holding her stomach. “Don’t be so over dramatic,” Mitsuri laughed, good naturedly, “I only offered you some of my dessert, you could have said no if you were full.” “But it looked so good.” (Y/n) sighed, “And it was. Really, really good.” “Sounds like you need some rest. We can head to the inn and relax a bit,” Mitsuri suggested. “Oh right, the inn! I still need to get a room,” (Y/n) remarked, giving Mitsuri a double take. “Why are you suddenly so bouncy?” Sure enough, Mitsuri was bouncing on her toes, seemingly really excited about something and when she spoke up, (Y/n) almost didn’t understand what she was saying as she talked super fast and excitedly. “You don’t need to do that because I requested a room we can share!” “Really?” “Yeah! I wanted to maximize our time together, make it really efficient!” (Y/n) laughed, “Wow, how do you get along without me at all if when we’re together we’re basically attached at the hip?” “I read over past letters you’ve written me and think about where you might be and how you are doing,” Mitsuri answered, candidly. “You, my friend, are the sweet one,” (Y/n) smiled, a faint blush crawled up her skin. “Well, no point standing around, lead the way!” She said, playfully poking the Hashira’s side and making her squirm and giggle. Mitsuri led (Y/n) to the small inn near the hot spring and checked them in. She enthusiastically showed (Y/n) the room they’d be sharing and showed her the back door that led to a small deck and a private section of the hot spring. “Isn’t this great?” Mitsuri clapped, “It’s like a vacation!” “This is very nice, this is going to be a fun week,” (Y/n) agreed. They pushed their bed rolls together and lazed around a bit, digesting their meal and continued talking about whatever came to mind. A lull in the conversation made Mitsuri turn in her side to observe (Y/n) who had fallen asleep. She nearly cried she thought it was so cute. She swallowed down any sweet exclamations that threatened to spill out of her mouth and simply smiled at the sleeping girl at her side. Mitsuri reached out and tentatively combed her fingers through (Y/n)’s hair. It was still hard for her to believe that they were together again. It had been nearly seven months since they last met face to face and Mitsuri took this moment to really study (Y/n). (Y/n) appeared a bit taller, more muscular and her hands were callused and a few scars were scattered over her arms and hands. Her face had lost some of its baby fat and she appeared more mature. “What are you looking at?” Mitsuri jolted her hand away and blushed madly. “Ahh!” She squeaked. (Y/n) looked over at Mitsuri with drowsy eyes filled with warmth and laughed, “Sorry, I kind of fell asleep there. You must’ve been bored,” “Not at all. It was nice to just relax for a bit. I was actually just thinking about how much you’ve grown since the last time I saw you.” “Hm? Do I really look any different?” “Mhmm. Just a bit, I can tell you’ve been working hard.” “Of course I’ve been working hard. How else am I gonna catch up with you, silly.” (Y/n) grinned. “You aren’t exactly the same girl from the Final Selection yourself.” “Really? How so?” “You were strong before, but now your muscles are more defined. You’re a bit taller too and then of course there’s your hair. I remember when it was still black!” “Do you think it looked better dyed black?” Mitsuri mumbled. “No, you looked cute with black hair, but I think your hair suits you as it is now. I think it’s beautiful.” “You mean it?” “Yeah, I really like your hair,” (Y/n) reached out and stroked the fringe out of Mitsuri’s face. “What else do you want to do today, Mitsuri?” “Hmm?” Mitsuri had been temporarily distracted by the gentle strokes moving her hair, but she quickly shook her head and regained her bearings. “Oh! Yeah, we could go for a walk around the village, see what there is to see. Then I’m paying for dinner and you can’t stop me!” Mitsuri grinned triumphantly. “Alright, you win this round,” (Y/n) hummed and sat up. “You ready to go right now?” “Yeah! Then when we come back we can hop in the hot spring. I can’t wait!” “Ha, yeah, can’t wait...” (Y/n) looked away and scratched the back of her neck nervously. Before Mitsuri could comment on the change in behavior, (Y/n) shot up into a standing position and gave Mitsuri the most sincere smile she could muster. “Let’s get going, we’re burning daylight!”

*** Mitsuri showed (Y/n) all around the village and introduced her to all her favorite spots. They occasionally stopped to rest or look into certain shops and watched masked men and women practice their craft. Eventually Mitsuri led (Y/n) to a restaurant with outdoor seating and they happily enjoyed the sweet breeze while also eating a delicious meal. After Mitsuri had paid, they slowly made their way back to the inn as the sun sank lower in the sky. “Woo! Today was so much fun! I can’t wait to get in the water.” Mitsuri grinned, already dragging (Y/n) toward the bath to rinse off before getting in the hot spring. “Um, you go on ahead, I’ll meet you out there. I wanted to uh, check on something quick.” (Y/n) stumbled over her words. “Oh, okay. I’ll see you out there I guess.” Mitsuri tilted her head and watched (Y/n) disappear down the hall before turning back to the bath. Mitsuri washed off and wrapped a towel around herself before returning to the main room. Still no sign of (Y/n). Mitsuri frowned, her eyes mirroring the concern she felt, but shrugged it off and headed into the hot spring. She dropped her towel on a rock at the side of the water and melted into the steam as she stepped in. She sat with her head resting on top of her arms on the edge of the rocks and sighed pleasantly. “Sorry I took so long.” Mitsuri glanced up and smiled lazily at (Y/n) who had just emerged from the doorway in a fluffy towel of her own. “What did you need to do that was so important, (Y/n)?” “Ahhh, just looking around the inn. Looking to see what’s up.” (Y/n) answered and sat on the pool edge, her towel still tightly wrapped around her. “Aren’t you going to get in?” Mitsuri asked, propping up her head with one hand. “I think I’ll just hang out here. It’s just really warm and I don’t want to get dizzy.” (Y/n) replied. “That’s no fun, you should get in for a few minutes at least,” Mitsuri said, gliding over to the other demon slayer. “Come on, I’ll catch you if you faint.” She singsonged. “My hero,” (Y/n) rolled her eyes. “I’m fine right here, really.” “Aww, that’s a shame,” Mitsuri moved to be right at (Y/n)’s side. “I’m just so lonely in here. I was hoping you’d join me.” “What a drama queen,” (Y/n) huffed. “I’m literally right next to you.” “True... but you could always be closer!” Mitsuri laughed as she pounced on the other girl, scooping her up in her arms and dunking her in the water. (Y/n) was submerged in the water and kicked off the bottom and spluttered for air due to the surprise attack. “Oh my gods, (Y/n)! What happened?” Mitsuri gasped and rushed forward in the waist deep water. “Don’t play innocent with me, you literally just threw me in. And it is really hot in here!” (Y/n) scoffed, a smile tugging at her lips. The smile soon fell however, as Mitsuri’s hand delicately brushed against her now bare side. (Y/n)’s face morphed into one that held a bit of fear and apprehension as she realized she had let go of her towel when Mitsuri had thrown her in. “(Y/n), this scar tissue stretches from your ribs all the way to your hip! How did this happen? Why hadn’t you told me about this?” Mitsuri was almost in tears as she inspected the mark that no doubt came from a very serious injury. “I didn’t want you to worry,” (Y/n) replied softly. “You remember six months ago when I wasn’t writing as often? Well, I was on a mission to defeat a demon that had been snatching children from a mountain village. The reports suggested there was only one demon responsible, but there were two. I killed one, then the other caught me off guard and attacked me from behind. By then it was nearly sunrise so the demon ran off. Another slayer happened to find me and rushed me to a wisteria house for medical attention and well, then the rest is history,” (Y/n) recounted her mission, hyper aware of the fingers that lingered on her scarred skin. “Why didn’t you tell me? Or ask someone to find me? You could have died!” Mitsuri cried. “It’s not exactly an easy thing to write about. I thought I’d tell you when we met face to face again, but then weeks turned to months and I felt that too much time had passed. So I tried to hide it, I’m sorry.” “You don’t have anything to be apologizing for!” Mitsuri wrapped her friend in a strong embrace and rested her tear stained face on (Y/n)‘s shoulder. “I’m just glad you’re alright. You are alright, right?” “Yeah, up and moving again within three months of recovery training. I’m pretty much as good as new,” (Y/n) informed, then cleared her throat. “It is really hot in here though, and as much as I enjoy your hugs, I’m getting a bit light headed.” “Really? Let’s get out then!” Mitsuri panicked a bit before picking up (Y/n) again and trudged over to the edge of the hot spring and set her down briefly before quickly exiting the pool herself and reaching for (Y/n) again. “Mitsuri, I can get back into the room myself. You don’t have to carry me,” (Y/n) said, pushing herself to stand on her feet. “I know I kinda caught you off guard with this nasty scar, but I’m really fine.” “You’re right, it’s just- I feel kind of helpless, you know? Like, I know what happened has long since passed, but I wish I could have been there for you.” “Mitsuri, it’s okay, really. Besides, we’re demon slayers these things tend to happen, and you’re a Hashira, you can’t just drop whatever you’re doing to check up on me,” (Y/n) reasoned, wrapping a fresh towel around herself and offering another to Mitsuri. “It’s just not fair. I don’t know what I’d do if you had... If you were gone,” Mitsuri accepted the towel and used it to dry her eyes rather than cover herself. “Come on, let’s get some clothes on and see if we can get you some snacks. Sound good?” Mitsuri sniffled and nodded her head, following (Y/n) inside. The girls got dressed in silence, any cheer from before seemed to have disappeared. They managed to snag some onigiri from the kitchen, but even when they returned to the room to eat, the mood was still somber and any attempts at conversation died rather quickly. “Mitsuri, please don’t let me being a reckless idiot ruin this break for you. Please stop thinking about what could have been and see that I’m right here with you, I’m okay, you don’t need to be worried about me,” (Y/n) spoke, taking one of Mitsuri’s hands in hers. “I hate it when you’re sad more than anything so please, stop making that face.” “What face?” Mitsuri sniffled, wiping her free hand over her eyes and discovering wetness from fresh tears, “Oh, never mind. I’ve got the idea now.” “What can I do to make you feel better?” (Y/n) asked, tenderly rubbing Mitsuri’s knuckles with a calloused thumb. “What can I do to make you smile again?” “Can you- Could we cuddle tonight? Like we used to when we still got to go on missions together?” Mitsuri asked, timidly. “Sure,” (Y/n) smiled, warmly. “I’m pretty tired anyway. Are you ready for bed now?” Mitsuri nodded, a small smile tugged at her lips as she followed (Y/n) over to the bed rolls after most of the lamps had been extinguished. (Y/n) laid down and spread her arms wide as an invitation that Mitsuri eagerly accepted. She snuggled into the crook of (Y/n)’s neck and wrapped one arm around (Y/n) while the other rested securely between their bodies. She breathed in the familiar scent and her smile grew a fraction wider as (Y/n)’s fingers ran through her loose hair that hung off Mitsuri’s back like an extra blanket, a comforting gesture that calmed her immensely. “Feeling better?” “Mhmm.” “I’m glad. But I think you could be happier.” Mitsuri giggled as the fingers attacked her sides and instead of moving to escape their assault, she wiggled closer to (Y/n) and smiled into her collarbone. Once the fingers resumed stroking her hair, Mitsuri found it harder to keep her eyes open and they eventually shifted close, and she fell into a deep sleep.

*** The rest of the week moved much too quickly for Mitsuri. She was having so much fun with (Y/n) that she never wanted to leave. She had come to think of the hidden village as a haven of safety and every time she saw (Y/n)’s scar, she was reminded of the dangers that lurked just beyond the wisteria blooms. On the sixth day, Mitsuri accompanied (Y/n) on her visit to see her swordsmith and test the quality of her nichirin blade. Mitsuri watched with bated breath as (Y/n) scrutinized the blade and swung it around. Mitsuri found herself hoping that the swordsmith made an error that would require another week to fix, something that would mean (Y/n) wouldn’t have to leave tomorrow. She had to stop herself from physically deflating when (Y/n) smiled and her eyes sparkled with appreciation for the swordsmith’s work. “It’s as good as new, if not better! You really did an amazing job, thank you!” (Y/n) praised the swordsmith. “I’m glad you find it satisfactory. Thank you for your kind words.” The swordsmith mumbled, Mitsuri was sure that if she removed her mask, the smith would be positively red from the praise. “Mitsuri, look at this! Isn’t it awesome?” (Y/n) presented the (f/c) blade to the Love Hashira and Mitsuri had to admit, it looked really good. “Yes, it looks wonderful.” Mitsuri said, a tight smile formed over her lips. “You keep on going like this, and I’m sure you’ll be maintaining blades for Hashira in no time!” She addressed the swordsmith. The masked woman spluttered her gratitude over the statement then quickly made an excuse to leave, absolutely over the moon from being praised by a Hashira. “Looks like I’ll be leaving tomorrow as planned. Too bad, I wanted to see what your swordsmith was doing with your blade,” (Y/n) sighed. “Well, at least we got to spend a whole week together. I had a really good time.” “Me too,” Mitsuri answered, simply. She didn’t quite trust herself to not burst into tears at that moment so she didn’t say more. “Care for a walk?” (Y/n) smiled, sliding her blade into the scabbard on her hip. “Mhmm,” Mitsuri grasped (Y/n)’s hand tightly and steered her into the woods and they followed the scenic path together. “Mitsuri, this has been really nice,” (Y/n) gave a relaxed sigh. “Makes me kind of wish I didn’t have to leave.” “Maybe you don’t,” Mitsuri whispered, tightening her grip over (Y/n)’s hand. “Just stay here with me, they can’t make you leave.” “As much as I would love that, I need to get back out in the field. I need to get out there and help people. I can’t do that if I’m here, besides, I don’t want to be holding up traffic by overstaying my welcome.” Mitsuri had stopped moving, causing (Y/n) to stop as well and observe the Hashira closely. “Oh no, Mitsuri, don’t be sad. I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon!” “You don’t know that!” Mitsuri yelled, surprising herself and (Y/n) with her volume. “Before this week, the last time we met face to face was seven months ago. Then I just learned about this,” Mitsuri pressed her hand over (Y/n)’s waist where just under her uniform the scar marred her skin, “You could have died and the only way I’d know, would be because I wouldn’t get anymore letters from you. It would have been like you just disappeared off the face of the planet.” “Mitsuri, I’m sorry I scared you, but it’s just not practical. You know how dangerous our line of work is. I worry about you a lot too, you face much stronger demons than I do, so I just wish for your safety and hope that I’ll catch up to you one day so we can work together again. I can’t do that if I stay a Hinoe forever.” “I want to work together too! To have each other’s backs like when we were Mizunoto.” “Then you have to let me go,” (Y/n) smiled, a bittersweet smile. “Come on, let’s go get dinner, I’ll even let you pay for it.” Mitsuri laughed and wiped at the corners of her eyes. “Yeah, alright.” Dinner was somber. After they ate they headed back to the inn and relaxed in the hot spring, Mitsuri discreetly stared at (Y/n)’s scar as she eased into the water. “(Y/n)?” Mitsuri whispered. “Yes?” “Can we cuddle tonight?” “We’ve kind of been cuddling every night, so yeah, we can cuddle,” (Y/n) laughed. Mitsuri jumped out of the water and draped her towel over her shoulders . “Let’s go then!” “Already? We’ve only just got in,” (Y/n) said, getting out of the water anyway. “I want to get all I can get. I wanted to make the most of our time together, remember?” “Yeah, okay, I’m coming! You don’t need to push,” (Y/n) laughed as Mitsuri guided her back into their room. The girls put on their yukatas and snuggled up to each other, Mitsuri held tight and found sleep despite the emotions swirling within her, but not before a plan started to form in her brain.

*** “(L/n)-san, are you ready to go?” The Kakushi guide asked as (Y/n) came within hearing distance. “As ready as I’ll ever be...” (Y/n) forced a smile. When she had woken this morning, Mitsuri was nowhere to be found. (Y/n) assumed something came up with her blade and she had to go check on it which was fine, but she had hoped that Mitsuri would have at least been able to see her off. As soon as the Kakushi finished tying the blind fold over her eyes, a familiar voice could be heard yelling in the distance. “Wait, wait, wait! Don’t leave yet, please!” (Y/n) turned her head in the direction of the voice and grinned. “Mitsuri, is that you? Where were you this morning?” “Sorry, I had an important letter to send to Oyakata-sama!” Mitsuri huffed as she closed the distance and grabbed onto (Y/n)’s shoulders as she attempted to catch her breath. “I’m so glad I caught you in time!” “I don’t mean to be rude Kanroji-sama, but we really must be going now.” The Kakushi informed. “Um, actually, you’re services are no longer necessary. (Y/n) will be staying here with me until my blade has been finished,” Mitsuri said. “I don’t understand,” the Kakushi’s eyes narrowed. “(L/n)-san must leave today. Her blade has been repaired, there is no reason for her to stay here any longer.” “Mitsuri, what’s going on?” (Y/n) removed the blindfold and gave the Hashira a questioning look. “I’m scouting you!” Mitsuri’s eyes gleamed. “I’m recruiting you to be my Tsuguko!” “Your what!?” (Y/n) looked and the bouncing girl before her absolutely dumbfounded. “What do you think? I mean, I guess I should have asked you first before informing the Master, but I thought about it last night and I was just too excited to wait for you to wake up,” Mitsuri spoke excitedly. “Isn’t this great? This way you’ll always be by my side until you become a Hashira yourself!” “Mitsuri, I don’t know what to say...” (Y/n) rubbed the back of her neck. “Are you sure you want to do this? I may be a competent demon slayer, but I’m nowhere near good enough that you should be taking me on as a Tsuguko.” “Is she your Tsuguko or not, Kanroji-sama? I have a schedule to keep,” the Kakushi asked, losing patience. “What do you say, (Y/n)?” Mitsuri held (Y/n)’s hands in her own. “Will you stay by my side and take me as your mentor?” (Y/n) looked down at their connected hands and closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She looked back up at Mitsuri and smiled. “I’d be honored.” “Is- is that a yes?” Mitsuri squeaked, positively vibrating with hope. “It’s a yes-!” Mitsuri picked (Y/n) up just as she released the last word and spun her around, cheering loudly. Then she turned to the Kakushi with (Y/n) still in her arms. “Sorry for the inconvenience, my blade is still with my smith and as my Tsuguko, (Y/n) must remain here with me until it is completed.” “Understood, Kanroji-sama,” and with that, the Kakushi jumped out of sight, seemingly a bit miffed off. “I can’t believe you did this,” (Y/n) said, still baffled. “I’m going to be training under you, the Love Hashira. This is insane!” “Insane in a good way?” Mitsuri asked, timidly. “You know what? I think so,” (Y/n) booped Mitsuri’s nose, eliciting a giggle from her. “You can put me down now.” “Hmm? Oh, right,” Mitsuri gave a chagrined laugh. “So what’s the plan, Kanroji-sama? Master?” (Y/n) smirked as Mitsuri’s face bloomed red. “Please just call me Mitsuri, it’s too weird to hear you call me either of those names,” Mitsuri squeaked, her voice slightly muffled by her hands as they attempted to cover the burning blush settling in her cheeks. “Let’s start with food since I missed breakfast to write that letter to Oyakata-sama,” she added, just after a loud growl came from her stomach. “Sure thing, Master!” (Y/n) grinned, cheekily. “Stop that!”

*** When the time finally came to leave the Swordsmith Village, the Love Hashira and her Tsuguko left together and she could not have been happier. Despite being blindfolded, she craned her head in the direction of (Y/n)’s voice as she recounted her lessons from their training sessions in the village. Now that both of their blades were in perfect condition, the real training could begin once they returned to Mitsuri’s Estate. They were already on to the fourth change of guides and would soon be left to their own devices. To say Mitsuri was excited was an understatement. “Kanroji-sama, could you please refrain from wiggling so much? I’m worried I’ll lose balance,” The concerned Kakushi spoke, adjusting their hold on the Love Hashira. “Sorry!” Mitsuri apologized and quelled the wiggliness in her limbs to a mild jittering. “Sensei, what are we going to do once we get back?” (Y/n) called from the back of another Kakushi. “It depends on if a mission comes up. I was hoping to start with some breathing and sparring practice... and don’t call me sensei!” Mitsuri shot an accusatory finger in the direction she believed (Y/n) to be in. She was a little off, but it didn’t really matter since (Y/n) wouldn’t have been able to see it anyway. “Kanroji-sama, please stop moving so much!” The exasperated Kakaushi asked once again. “Sorry!” About twenty minutes later, they were dropped off near the edge of the forest and they thanked the Kakushi as they disappeared back into the trees. Mitsuri tested (Y/n)’s memory on the Love breathing techniques as they continued walking on their own feet in the direction of Mitsuri’s home. Once Mitsuri was sure (Y/n) would remember the names and purposes of the techniques, they switched over to more general conversation. “I’m so excited! We’re going to live together, and eat together, train together, go on missions together, bathe together, sleep together-“ “Mitsuri, do you ever think that maybe we spend too much time together?” (Y/n) simpered. Mitsuri thought for a second before shaking her head resolutely, “Nope. I don’t think I could ever spend too much time with you.” “I feel the same,” (Y/n) said softly, heat blooming over her face and chest. “What the hell is this?” The two women jolted and snapped their gaze to a low lying tree. Upon one of the branches sat Obanai, who was observing the interaction with calculating eyes. “Iguro-san, hi!” Mitsuri waved. “What brings you here? Oh! You are not going to believe this! This is (Y/n), you know, the friend I’m always writing to? She’s my Tsuguko now!” Obanai slid silently to the ground and observed (Y/n) closely. The intensity of his gaze making (Y/n) sweat. “Um, it’s an honor to meet you Iguro-sama. Mitsuri spoke very highly of you in her letters,” (Y/n) said with a bow. His eyes seemed to light up at that, but his words were still standoffish and cold. “Yeah, when she gets letters from you she goes on and on about you for days. Now that I’ve finally met you, I don’t see what the big deal is,” he said nonchalantly. “Iguro-san, that’s so rude!” Mitsuri gasped, giving her shell shocked friend a hug as Obanai shrugged indifferently. “Anyway, I came by because I figured you’d forget about the Pillar meeting we are supposed to be having today,” Obanai said, not sparing (Y/n) a second thought. “Oh shoot, I forgot!” Mitsuri suddenly yelled. “There’s still time, but we have to run! (Y/n)!” The girl in question jumped as Mitsuri’s face moved to be only centimeters away from her own. “Make yourself at home and uh, practice Love Breathing stances or something!” “But you haven’t taught me the stances yet?” (Y/n) said, rubbing the back of her neck. “Right! Well, just remember what I’ve already told you and yeah, I’m sure you’ll figure it out! Gotta run, be back later!” (Y/n) stood with her mouth slightly agape as the Love and Serpent Hashira ran out of sight. “What the hell just happened?”

*** “Iguro, forgive me if this is a bit presumptuous of me, but did someone shit in your breakfast this morning? Because you seem more surly than normal today.” Tengen asked as he heard the Serpent Hashira sigh bitterly for the umpteenth time as they waited for the Master to appear. “I said I was sorry, Iguro-san! I didn’t mean to hit you that hard. I just couldn’t believe you’d talk to (Y/n) like that!” Mitsuri apologized for the umpteenth time, the only difference being that it was the first time she had done it since they had gotten to the garden and some of the other Hashira took interest. “(Y/n)? Isn’t that the friend you’re always writing to, they’re here?” Shinobu asked. “Yes! Oh you’ll love her Shinobu, I can’t wait for you to meet her. She’s my Tsuguko now so you’ll have plenty of opportunities!” Mitsuri informed excitedly, as Obanai continued to sulk. “A Tsuguko! How grand!” Kyojuro exclaimed, loudly. “It was not long ago when I took you under my wing. I’m sure you’ll soon realize how rewarding it is to be on the mentor side of things! I couldn’t be more proud!” “Thank you, Rengoku-san!” Mitsuri blushed and smiled proudly. “When did you have time to execute this?” Shinobu asked. “Didn’t you just get back from the Swordsmith Village?” “Oh, (Y/n) was at the village too. We spent the whole first week together and then (Y/n)’s sword was done so she was going to have to leave and I kind of panicked and wrote a letter to Oyakata-sama so (Y/n) would be my Tsuguko and not have to leave my side!” Mitsuri explained, speaking animatedly. “Ah, I see,” Shinobu smiled knowingly, a teasing gleam in her eye. “She must be very special, yes? Tell me, how much of your decision was based on skill versus desire?” “D-desire? Desire for what? And skill! (Y/n) is super skilled, she’s already memorized the Love Breathing forms and their purposes, she just needs to put them in motion and she’ll be a Pillar in no time!” Mitsuri replied. “Nah, I think Kochou’s got a point. You tend to fawn over every letter that girl gives you and hang on to every word. I think you’re judgement might’ve been clouded over by your feelings for this girl,” Tengen commented. “What!” Mitsuri’s face heated up. “Come on, do you guys really think I’d choose (Y/n) as my Tsuguko just because we’re friends?” Of the Pillars that were engaged in the conversation, all nodded in agreement except for Obanai. “Friends?” He scoffed. “I may not have many friends-“ “Still have more than Tomioka-san,” Shinobu interrupted, waving over at Giyuu as he stared at her blankly from across the garden. “Anyway,” Obanai continued, “I may not have many friends but even I know people don’t say the kind of lovey dovey crap you were spouting to their friends.” “Ooo, do tell Iguro-san, just what did you hear,” Shinobu smiled as Mitsuri squirmed. “She was basically talking about how they’re going to spend every waking moment together and even all the time in the world wouldn’t be enough to satisfy her need to be together,” Obanai said, his tone was cold but his eyes held mischief. Sure he was disappointed with where Mitsuri’s affections laid, but he had known about (Y/n) for nearly as long as he new Mitsuri and knew he never really had a chance. Right now he just wanted revenge for that punch because his back still hurt like hell. “I never said that!” Mitsuri spluttered. “You’re totally blowing this out of proportion! All I said was how excited I was to be living with her and how I didn’t think we could ever spend too much time together!” “That’s nearly the same as what Iguro-san said!” Kyojuro stated. “But don’t worry, I trust in your decision making abilities, I’m sure you’re girlfriend is a fine demon slayer worthy of your teachings!” “(Y/n) isn’t my girlfriend!” Mitsuri squeaked, her skin felt like it was positively on fire and her heart was beating impossibly fast. “She kind of is, unofficially of course,” Shinobu said, offering Mitsuri a handkerchief to wipe away the sweat from the poor girl. “We’ve all heard you talk about her and how you covet every letter and, well, we’ve kind of read some of them so we know that she really likes you as well.” “You people have been reading my mail!?” Mitsuri yelled. “Eh, it’s kind of hard not to when you leave the letters out in the open,” Tengen shrugged. “Will you all just shut up already! The Master will be here any second and I’m tired of listening to this shit excuse of a conversation! You can sort out your love life at home, Kanroji,” Sanemi growled. Tengen scoffed and Obanai rolled his eyes. Kyojuro continued to smile as he stared into the distance and Shinobu offered a sympathetic pat to Mitsuri’s shoulder before focusing her attention toward the engawa. Mitsuri wasn’t the first to greet the Master when he arrived, she barely registered that he had entered at all. In fact, she hardly paid attention at all during the meeting as her mind raced to process everything that had just occurred and as all the pieces came together she could only repeat the same sentence to herself over and over. Oh my gods, I’m in love with (Y/n)!

***

Once the Master retired to his room and the meeting concluded, Shinobu tugged on Mitsuri’s haori to bring the girl back to reality. “The meeting is over, Mitsuri. We can go home how,” Shinobu smiled when Mitsuri jolted at the unexpected contact. “Oh, cool,” Mitsuri mumbled, wringing her hands nervously. “I certainly hope we haven’t said anything to cause you distress, just keep being yourself Mitsuri, you aren’t going to scare her away by sharing your feelings,” Shinobu reassured. “And if she hurts your feelings in any way you tell me and I’ll take care of it,” Obanai added. “What do you mean by ‘take care of it’?” Mitsuri asked. “Don’t worry about it,” Obanai replied cryptically. “Let the flame in your heart run wild, Kanroji!” Kyojuro cheered. “I’ve got three wives, how hard could it be for someone as flamboyant as you to get one as well?” Tengen said. “Okay! I’m gonna go for it!” Mitsuri shot up and ran to jump over the top of the fence. “Kanroji, be careful.” Obanai chided as she nearly slipped off the ledge. “No time to waste! I need to hurry before I lose my nerve!” Mitsuri called over her shoulder as she ran all the way back home. When Mitsuri got back, she was sweating profusely and breathing heavily. She gave herself a few minutes to catch her breath before looking around the grounds for (Y/n). She finally found her stretching under a tree and she stood watching (Y/n) from a distance. Mitsuri’s heart began beating nearly as hard as it had when she ran home. Her hands trembled and her face grew hot and she nearly decided to back out of her confession, but she took a deep breath and approached (Y/n) to tell her how she felt. As her footsteps neared, (Y/n) swiveled her head, craning it upwards as she stretched. “Mitsuri! Welcome back!” (Y/n) called, her smile making Mitsuri’s heart feel like it was going to explode. “Can you help me stretch a bit further?” “Yes, sure!” Mitsuri squeaked. She knelt behind (Y/n) and pushed her back forward so her stomach was nearly even with the ground. Mitsuri held (Y/n) in position for a few moments then let up, allowing (Y/n) to return to a sitting position. “I don’t think we thought this through very well,” (Y/n) sighed, catching Mitsuri by surprise. “What do you mean?” “Love Breathing was developed by you to maximize the use of your flexibility and strength. Even your whip-like blade is important to your style and how every move is carried out. What I’m trying to say is, I don’t think it’s possible for me to properly execute Love Breathing,” (Y/n) explained with a frown. “I’m afraid I won’t make a very good Successor for you Mitsuri.” “That’s not true!” Mitsuri interjected. “I mean, yeah, Love Breathing compliments my skills, but you can still learn something from it. I learned Flame Breathing from Rengoku-san, I don’t really use it anymore, but it heavily influenced my fighting style. We just need to enhance your skills and you can develop a Breath of your own!” Mitsuri encouraged. “I don’t know, Mitsuri...” “You can do it! I know you can because you’re smart, strong, and dedicated and those are just three of the many things I love about you!” Mitsuri said, grasping the sleeve of (Y/n)’s uniform and blushing furiously. “Mitsuri, you’re too good to me,” (Y/n) smiled, placing her hand over Mitsuri’s, nearly sending the pink haired girl to the other side because of the gentle, yet firm contact. “Well, how does pancakes sound for dinner? I was going to see if you had the ingredients but I got lost in there and didn’t know where anything was.” “Pancakes sounds awesome! Great! Can’t wait to make them!” Mitsuri babbled paying more attention to their still connected hands as they walked toward the house. “Are you okay, Mitsuri? You look hot.” “H-hot?!” Mitsuri squeaked. “Yeah, your face is all red and your palm is sweaty. You aren’t getting sick, are you?” “No! I, um, I just realized something and uh, I was going to do something about it, then I didn’t do it right away and now I don’t know if I can do it and-“ “Mitsuri,” (Y/n) faced the Hashira and held Mitsuri by the arms. “What is it, what’s wrong? Whatever it is I’ll help you.” “It’s not that simple,” Mitsuri mumbled flicking her eyes to look anywhere besides (Y/n)’s own eyes. “Okay, just start by saying what the problem is and we can figure it out from there. We can take baby steps.” “The problem is what it is! If I say it, that’s it, there will be nothing left to do!” Mitsuri whined. “Then you should say it!” (Y/n) laughed in spite of the situation. “What’s the worst that could happen?” “You’d hate me,” Mitsuri replied, tears began spilling from her pastel green eyes. “You’d hate me and never want to see me again!” “Mitsuri, I could never hate you!” (Y/n) said, emphatically. She raised a hand up to catch the tears that broke free from Mitsuri’s eyes. “What? Did you change your mind about the whole Tsuguko thing? That’s okay! I’d never resent you for that it’s a lot of work after all and you already do so much-“ “I’m in love with you!” Mitsuri cut (Y/n) off, her eyes filled with a fragile hope as she scanned over (Y/n)’s face for her reaction. “You are?” (Y/n) asked, her expression one of surprise and awe. Mitsuri tried to speak, but her throat was suddenly dry so she settled on furiously nodding her head. Then she gasped as (Y/n) pulled her close to her chest in a tight embrace. “I love you too,” (Y/n) said, smiling brightly. “You do? Why didn’t you say anything before?!” Mitsuri whined, burying her embarrassed face into (Y/n)’s neck. “You always seemed dead set on finding a man that was stronger than you and well, I’m neither of those things,” (Y/n) answered. “To be honest, I’m very surprised you like me as more than a friend. I didn’t think I had a chance.” “Aw, I can’t believe I wasted so much time!” Mitsuri pouted, more tears threatening to spill. “You didn’t waste anything. If I had been a bit braver I could have told you how I felt before now as well. Now, we could focus on the past, or we could focus on the present and maybe even the future. Everything is out in the open now,” (Y/n) smiled, gently pushing Mitsuri off of her chest. “So, what do you want to do?” Mitsuri stared unblinkingly at the girl before her, seemingly lost in thought. Then, she carefully cupped (Y/n)’s face in her hands, causing the other girl’s face to heat up significantly. Mitsuri searched (Y/n)’s face for a moment more before diving in and- their noses bumped almost painfully together. “Stop laughing!” Mitsuri whined as she covered her tender nose with her hand. She could hear (Y/n)’s muffled laughter through their own hand that covered their nose and mouth as well. “I’m sorry!” (Y/n) wheezed, trying to regain her composure. “I love you so much! You’re just so amazingly endearing in every way!” “You say the nicest things, I want to kiss you really bad!” Mitsuri pouted, tugging on (Y/n)’s uniform. “But now my nose hurts and I ruined the moment!” “No, you haven’t,” (Y/n) smiled. She raised herself to kiss the tip of Mitsuri’s nose. She paused for a moment to observe Mitsuri’s reaction before tilting her head and allowing their lips to finally meet in a short but sweet kiss. “Was that okay?” (Y/n) asked, softly. “Do it again!” Mitsuri asked, well, more like commanded, while bouncing eagerly on her heels. “Okay, but you have to stop bouncing first or we’ll knock our teeth out,” (Y/n) laughed. Their lips met again, and again, and again and then when Mitsuri got the hang of it, (Y/n) was sure she was going to pass out from lack of oxygen. Fortunately for (Y/n)’s lungs, Mitsuri paused her attack on (Y/n)’s lips as a loud growl ripped through her stomach. “Oh right, pancakes! Who knew kissing could make you work up an appetite,” Mitsuri marveled. “Come on, let’s get inside and start cooking! The sooner we eat, the sooner we can get back to kissing!” “What have I gotten myself into?” (Y/n) grinned as Mitsuri pulled her along. “You’re insatiable.” “It’s too late to back out now, the kisses sealed the deal. You have to stay by my side forever now! You know, unless that’s not what you want,” Mitsuri said, getting nervous again. (Y/n) squeezed Mitsuri’s hand and lovingly brought it to her lips and planted a kiss on the skin, making Mitsuri smile radiantly. “There is no place I’d rather be.”

[sxveme-2]

blueberry pancakes // bucky barnes

MASTERLIST

Description: A single mother. Juggling being a mom, a full time pediatrician, and a difficult ex who believed now would be the best time to finally be a father. A soldier ripped out of time. Ex-assassin turned superhero. Learning how to balance a new domestic life with handling demons of his past, while facing the trials of the future. a love story began over something as simple as chocolate chip pancakes with hidden blueberries.

Disclaimer: I do not own any original Marvel characters! All canon plots and canon characters belong to Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios. This is an original work. You may not publish it anywhere else

Status: Edited

Note: Takes place after endgame. I have elected to ignore Tony's death and Steve's leaving. Did not happen. Quick Reminder! My works are only published here, AO3 and on Wattpad, thank you.

Chapter Ten: The One with the Phone Call

Warnings: Mention of alcohol

Word Count: 2700

If we're being honest, Lily Osborne's past was no different than most. She was raised in an upper-middle-class family. Her parents were renowned scientists who were credible in their field and brought home their findings. Other than her parent’s overly obsessive need to have everything recycled, there wasn't much about Lily that was interesting or stuck out. Nothing that she really believed to be interesting at least. Two loving parents, who were still married. Two younger siblings whom she loved dearly. A steady career and a lovely child. She was living the overused and overly generalized, 'American Dream'. the only slight oddity of Lily's life was how young she was when she had Hunter and the fact she was only mid-thirties and already divorced. But other than that...she was a basic, domestic, woman.

That's not how Bucky saw it though.

He found her astonishing. Admirable, even. The fact she was able to complete a Ph.D. level of education, graduating as valedictorian, at the top of her class, was enough to make his heart reach out to grab onto hers. But what really intrigued him, was her ability to be descriptive but vague all at the same time. She spoke about her divorce, but never the contents. Never diving deeper than the surface of it. How she gained primary custody, and that it was due to an affair. He learned everything, and nothing, all at once. He was only able to make a general picture of who Lily Osborne was, nothing more than the basics.

"Osborne, you said?" Bucky commented, shifting in his seat as he sipped on a beer that he held in his naturally warmed hand, "I feel like I've heard of the name Osborne in the environmental field before..."

The comment he made cause Lily's eyebrow to perk up. From the sound of it, Bucky had just admitted to being a bit of a science nerd. The fact he recognized the Osborne name just from Lily mentioning her parents. It was endearing, really. The fact he let that little tidbit of information slip out, not even realizing he had. Lily had made note of it, ensuring she remembered in case they were lucky enough to have a conversation like this again. Learning about one another, becoming more educated on their pasts.

But just like the supersoldier, Lily had secrets. Maybe not as extreme, but nonetheless, they were secrets. She wouldn't give him the full story of anything. Just the slightly important details. It was like a burger, sort of. She gave him the bun, but not the meat in the middle. If she was open and honest with him, that would open up a case of vulnerability. And though a talented doctor, Lily would not be able to cure it. It'd be the crack in her armour he could use to bring her down if he so wished.

"Probably from their discoveries about eco-friendly teddy bears. They still give me nightmares." Lily chuckled, sipping the ale that Bucky had given her. Though she had elected not to drink, the small voice in Lily's head convinced her that one beer wouldn't be too harmful. She wouldn't lose her morals just from a beer. She'd never been like that.

"Yes yes, I've seen Starks kid wandering around with one. They're terrifying," he replied, steel eyes reflecting the glow of the moon that provided them with the romantic ambiance that swirled around them. The whole scenery around them was more romantic than most of the dates Gen had set Lily up on in the past. It was genuine and natural, nothing forced or rushed to make it happen. But the demons inside of Lily's heart were screaming at her to run, get out of there while she still could. However, her feet stayed planted, and her butt sat in the lawn chair. She wasn't going anywhere.

Lily was still mortified of any sort of relationship. This wasn't one of those cheesy situations where the moment she met Bucky, her fears disappeared. That all of those years of emotional manipulation and toxicity had just vanished from her psyche. Lily hadn't changed because she met Bucky. The scars on her heart were still there, and just like her, had no intention of leaving. Sure, she was attracted to him. He was a fine specimen, had a voice that was as smooth as butter that created goosebumps on her arms. His presence brought a warm blanket of comfort that he would drape around her shoulders. But the pain still sat heavily on her shoulders. All of the damage Scott had caused to her mental state and self-image. They still stood, strong and sturdy. Lily was still Lily. The same girl who had been in a troublesome relationship and managed to emerge the other end. And that's all there was to it.

Change can happen. It's just not an immediate thing.

"You've mentioned that you've been through a divorce. How long ago was that?" Bucky inquired, his phrasing eluding the fact he wanted to know more. He had a hankering for the knowledge of Lily's past. To know what she's been through. What made her the shy and meek girl in front of him. What about her history created such a fragile state of mind, yet such a strong and independent visionary. A single mother, a full-time doctor, yet riddled with anxiety.

Bucky's trained eye could see the signs. The tapping of her fingers, the shortness of her breath. The way her collarbone heaved up and down at a faster pace whenever she spoke, or even when he asked her a personal question. How she never seemed to make eye contact with him. God, he wanted her to. He wanted to see those beautiful green eyes match with his. Memorize every detail of her face. The curve of her nose. the arch of her brow. Bucky wanted to render it into his mind, so he would never forget it. So he could always have the picture of those forest green eyes in his mind. The stories they held. The pain they kept locked away. But she never would long enough for him to capture their beauty. If Lily ever caught his eyes, she'd avert them within a millisecond. He'd watch as she'd turn her head, staring out into the sky.

"Four years ago. Seven years of marriage later." Lily answered after a few moments of pause. Her cheeks heated up in a red hue at the mention of her marriage. All of the pain she went through welling up in her throat as she attempted to wash it away with the beer in her hand. The words he would use were stitched into her skin, the things he would call her. She was a ragdoll in the eyes of Scott Harvey. He would take her lifeless body and sew in the worst of the English language onto her skin. It wore her down, the emotional trauma she suffered. But Lily came out on the other end, broken down and beaten sure, but still alive.

"And Hunters your only one?" Bucky inquired, studying the way that Lily fidgeted under his glance. It wasn't as if she was nervous around him, no. From the first time he met her, she seemed to relax around his presence. It was something about everyone that made her nervous. She was a survivor of something, on top of seemingly just always being a shy person. Introverted and hidden away. Add the emotional drainage she suffered all of those years, it made her a shell almost. Bucky was trained to catch small signals, the details others wouldn't care to look at. And all of Lily's body was littered with the little things, the way she breathed, to the way her cheeks always held a red hue.

Lily Osborne had piqued the interest of James Barnes. Not just in a romantic way, though that was a major factor. No, she had different layers to her. Different parts that all connected to create the woman that sat across from him. The way her eyes were slightly sunk in from years of work. Yet her hands seemed soft and velvety smooth, the hands of a mother. The way her arms always sat across her lower stomach, crossed in a way that hid that small part of her body. All signs leading towards insecurities, anxieties, a constant need to have a wall up. Not only did Lily create an opposing side of Bucky, but he saw himself in her. The part of himself that was locked away in a cell in the back of his mind. Constantly doubting, reminding him of the pain he caused. But she wore it on her sleeve, as though it had managed to free itself and take over her persona.

"Yes, he's my one and only. Something inside of me knew I wouldn't want another with my ex-husband, so I made sure measures were taken so there wouldn't be a chance of another until I was ready," Lily answered, crossing her legs and readjusting the dress in an attempt to cover the bit of thigh that she had revealed, "He's the only male I need...my son's everything to me."

Whenever Hunter is ever brought up in conversation, Lily's heart grew four sizes. He was truly the rock in her life that kept her tethered to reality. If he was gone, well Lily wouldn't know what to do. Having a child so early in her life was never something that the blonde had anticipated, nor wanted. She had a whole life plan ahead of her. Get her degree, get her Ph.D., find a husband, then start thinking about a family. Instead, she got pregnant, got a husband, then got a Ph.D. and her degree. The complete opposite of what she had originally planned for herself. Lily was far from ready to be a mother at the age of 22, but she knew she could never, ever, give up her child. So, miraculously, she made it work. Through hours of crying and yelling trips to Gen's and her parents, she did it. And managed to raise a happy, healthy, baby boy.

"There you two are!" a familiar voice rang after Lily had finished her inner monologue about the love she had for her son. Rose. And in tow, were a few of the Avengers and a quite inebriated Genevieve Fairchild, hanging loosely onto a seemingly amused Steve Rogers. As the group paraded around the two, Lily's younger sister spoke, "You lovebirds have been up here for an hour. Gen thought you died."

Lily let out a Gentle sigh before standing from the couch that you'd typically find on a porch, but it was on a roof and went to alleviate the Captain of her intoxicated best friend. Whom, Lily could only guess tried to drink Thor or somebody under a table. Another thing about the doctor’s best friend, she never backed away from a challenge. Even when it came to going head to head against a literal God when it came to drinking. It really sometimes surprised Lily that Gen had survived this long. But, if we're honest, it's because Lily had been babysitting her for close to twenty years. That's about the only reason.

"I take it back. I have two kids. This is Genevieve, she owns the cafe you guys go to," Lily smiled, wrapping her arm around her best friend’s waist and leaning Gen into her side, to keep her up. The last thing that Lily wanted was to have her best friend pass out in front of a cute guy, as well as the literal Avengers. That would just be embarrassing. Not to mention, Gen would have passed out and that would require a hospital visit, somewhere Gen hated for some reason that even Lily didn't know, "We should get her home. Thank you for hav-"

"Gotcha," Gen grinned while shoving her fingers into Lily's side, causing the blonde to jump. Untangling herself, Gen dropped herself down onto the couch while throwing herself into a giggle fit at Lily's surprised face. The others around chuckled softly at the practical joke, before Gen piped up, "Told you she'd fall for it, Rose. Every party we've ever been to it happens. And every time, Lily goes all mom mode on my ass."

A conversation erupted after Gen's comment, and Lily just shook her head and joined the brunette on the couch that sat parallel to the chair Bucky occupied. Both Lily and he seemed to stay silent as the group around them laughed and created a merry atmosphere. Instead, they snuck shy and reciprocated glances at one another, both erupting in a fit of blushes anytime they made eye contact. Of course, this didn't go unnoticed, but instead of causing an uproar, the group just smiled at the two. They were like two school kids who had a crush on one another but were too shy to say anything. Stealing glances from across the classroom and having nervous conversations filled with short answers. It was endearing, yet aggravating.

Rose and Gen knew the damage that had been caused to Lily's perception of love. They were the two closest people to Lily, and were there for every step of the divorce, each tear, each time she screamed into a pillow, each time she shot one too many drinks in an effort to forget the pain that reverberated from her heart. The endless nights of Lily calling one of them in tears because Scott went out and had yet to come home. Or when he did, smelled of another woman. But Lily always, always, ignored the bright red sign that said he was no good for her. Rose and Gen were the two people in the world that knew Lily more than she knew herself. They saw the flowers that bloomed inside of her and the beauty that could rise from the ashes if she just allowed it. If Lily allowed herself happiness, they would witness the rebirth of her. See her smile for no reason again, dance around her house, and sing without the help of alcohol. God...her voice was angelic. But it had been ages since anyone had heard it.

Scott had stolen her voice. stole the one thing that really separated Lily from the pack. he kept it hidden as a token of the pain he had caused. a memento of the heart he had shattered with one hand while twisting a knife into Lily's back. he managed to keep it locked away for years, and Lily had grown weary and tired of fighting, and gave up. she stopped searching for the light inside of her he put out. she didn't believe it was possible for her candle of light to be lit once again. all because some son of a bitch decided to crush her life like she was nothing but a bug.

-----

The clock struck midnight, and Lily laid draped in Gen's arms on the same outdoor couch. Her best friend’s arm draped along her shoulder, a blanket that bruce had grabbed laying on top of them to keep the crisp September air at bay. Everyone was having a lovely time ignoring the party that raged down below them, that had slowly begun to dwindle down and grow quiet. Now, instead of booming music with deep bass, Lily's ears were filled with the laughter of her new friends that surrounded her as jokes and stories were exchanged. It was peaceful, and at that moment, Lily felt calm. Her palms were soft, with no sweat in sight. Her breathing was steady, and her mind stayed on one thought. There was no spiralling, no intense paranoia. just...peace.

Then her phone rang.

Hunter's contact popped up, and that calm heart rate skyrocketed in an instant. Not only was it an odd time to get a call from her son, but he was at Scott’s. if there was an issue, Hunter would go to Scott. This in itself sent that peaceful feeling that Lily had flying out the window. Throwing off the blanket, she slid her phone across the screen and stood, pushing herself up from the couch. Excusing herself off to the side, Lily's hands grew warm and clammy.

"Hunt? Baby, what's wrong?"

"Mama please come pick me up.”

[kjack89]

Personal Gain (Chapter 4/?)

This chapter got long, so I decided to split it. This may have one or two more parts after this, depending on how writing the rest of it goes.

My personal appeal is that if you are an American reader, please make sure you vote if you are able. Seven days to go!

Modern magic AU, developing E/R and Courferre. Read Chapter 1 here, Chapter 2 here and Chapter 3 here (or catch up on AO3).

Courfeyrac waved his apartment’s warding spell off with a distracted hand, barely noticing that Combeferre had apparently been in his apartment at some point. He had spent the entire meeting wracking his brain for things to try next, and he was drawing a blank.

He didn’t like drawing a blank.

He flopped down on the couch, barely glancing up when he felt the warding spell tingle as Combeferre came in. “Come to gloat some more?” Courfeyrac asked sourly, staring up at the ceiling.

“As much as I may love gloating, no,” Combeferre said, hanging his coat on a hook and heading over to the couch, lifting Courfeyrac’s feet and settling them on his lap like he had a thousand time before. “I come bearing inspiration.”

“Oh?” Courfeyrac said mildly, propping himself up on his elbows. 

Combeferre nodded and pulled a bottle from his bag, setting it down on the coffee table with a clunk. “Yep, inspiration in the form of a bottle of Jägermeister.”

“Jäger?” Courfeyrac asked, wrinkling his nose. “The only thing Jäger ever inspired was bad life choices.”

“Yeah, but Grantaire gave it to me forever ago, and besides, it was between that or a bottle of absinthe, and seeing as how we’re not characters in a nineteenth century French novel—”

Courfeyrac laughed. “Fair point.” He held his hand out and Combeferre pressed the bottle into it. 

“Do you want a glass? Or a mixer, or—”

He broke off as Courfeyrac screwed the cap off and took a gulp straight from the bottle. “Oh, God,” he rasped. “Tastes like freshman year.”

Combeferre grabbed the bottle and took a swig, making a face. “Tastes like a frat party,” he said, handing the bottle back to Courfeyrac, who sat up, looking intrigued.

“When did you ever go to a frat party?”

“Despite what you may think, I didn’t spend my entire college career in the library,” Combeferre said.

Courfeyrac snorted and took another sip of Jäger. “So you say,” he muttered.

Combeferre rolled his eyes but didn’t push it, instead leaning forward to grab the Book of Shadows off the coffee table. “So what are you thinking?” he asked, flipping idly through the pages. “What’s your next grand plan?”

Courfeyrac sighed somewhat mournfully and cast a baleful look at the grimoire. “Would you believe me if I said I didn’t have one?”

Combeferre hesitated. “Would you be mad if I said I wasn’t surprised at all?”

Courfeyrac groaned and took a gulp of Jäger before passing the bottle back to Combeferre. “Just shut up and drink,” he sighed. “And let’s hope the inspiration hits us soon.”

Combeferre wisely chose not to say anything to that, just raising the bottle to his lips and taking a sip.

----------

“What about lightning?” Combeferre asked vaguely, the now almost-empty bottle of Jäger sitting between him and Courfeyrac, who had swung his legs up over the back of the couch and was resting his head on Combeferre’s stomach. 

“Lightning?” Courfeyrac repeated.

Combeferre waved a hand. “Yeah, you know, like the, uh, coup de foudre.”

Courfeyrac turned his head to look up at him, looking amused. “I don’t think an actual lightning strike will help with that,” he said, with a slight hiccup. “Besides, I thought the point of the Jäger over absinthe was so that we wouldn’t get our inspiration from French fairytales.”

“Nineteenth century French novels,” Combeferre corrected, before sitting up, almost knocking Courfeyrac off the couch in the process. “Wait a second – fairytales.”

“Ow,” Courfeyrac complained, sitting up as well. “What about fairytales?”

Combeferre ignored him, flipping through the Book of Shadows, before landing decisively on a page and pointing excitedly at it. “Here,” he announced, shoving, the book at Courfeyrac. “Like a fairytale!”

Courfeyrac blinked down at the page, finding it difficult to focus enough to read. “Draught of Living Death,” he read outloud, before looking at Combeferre incredulously. “You want me to kill them? I don’t think we’re that desperate.”

Combeferre rolled his eyes. “No, don’t you see?” he said excitedly. “Give one of ‘em that, and then the other can wake him up with True Love’s Kiss! Like a fairytale!”

Courfeyrac started at Combeferre for a moment before bursting into laughter. “Ferre, True Love’s Kiss is not a real thing,” he said, reaching out to pat Combeferre’s head patronizingly. “That is a fairytale. So the only thing I’d be doing is putting one of them in basically a coma. Which I’m not gonna pretend I haven’t thought about. Especially Enjolras.”

“You’re not wrong there,” Combeferre muttered.

“But that magical coma can’t be broken by Grantaire kissing him. Not to mention you were the one all concerned about consent.”

Combeferre sighed, looking crestfallen. “Well, I thought it was a good idea,” he said, slumping against the couch cushions and grabbing the bottle of Jäger. 

“Better than anything I’ve come up with,” Courfeyrac sighed. “Since all I can think of is locking ‘em in a room together.”

“And casting a spell on them?” Combeferre asked interestedly.

Courfeyrac sighed. “No. Just making them stay in there until they either confessed or...I dunno. Something.”

Both men fell silent, Combeferre staring at the Book of Shadows as if it might somehow reveal something to him, while Courfeyrac played absently with the crystal he wore on a chain around his neck, feeling the gentle flare of the spells his father had placed on it, spells of charisma and luck and strength and…

“Wait a minute,” he said slowly. “Lock ‘em in a room together.”

“You said that already,” Combeferre sighed.

“Right, but not put a spell on them.”

“You said that too.”

Courfeyrac shook his head. “No, but I can put a spell on the room.”

Combeferre glanced over at him. “Like your worthless warding spell?”

“It’s not worthless,” Courfeyrac said impatiently. “But yes, kind of like that. I’ve trying to cast the spell on them directly, and that hasn’t worked. So maybe I need to try spelling a location they would both go.”

“Like the Musain?” Combeferre asked doubtfully.

Courfeyrac shook his head. “No, that gets too much traffic from outside parties, it’d be impossible to limit the spell effects.” He fell silent, wracking his slightly drunk brain for an alternative before brightening. “Enjolras’s apartment!”

Combeferre nodded slowly. “That would probably work,” he said. “But, uh, what spell would you use?”

Courfeyrac grinned. “The exact same spell I was gonna use from the beginning – the attraction spell that I used for Marius.”

Combeferre didn’t look convinced. “Ok, but Grantaire already hangs out at Enjolras’s apartment all the time, frequently without Enjolras, because it’s closer to the Musain and his work and because he claims Enjolras’s couch is more comfortable than his bed—”

“Having seen Grantaire’s bed, I believe him.”

Combeferre was undeterred. “Right, but my point is that Grantaire is there all the time anyway, which brings us to the same problem we had when you originally suggested this idea.”

“Exactly,” Courfeyrac said. “Which is why the attraction spell won’t be focused on Grantaire. It’ll be focused on Enjolras.”

Combeferre blinked. “You want to attract Enjolras to his own apartment?”

“Yep,” Courfeyrac said with a confidence only alcohol could provide. “Because that man barely spends any time there. This way, he’ll want to spend all of his time there. With Grantaire and away from Les Amis or anything else to distract them.”

He was so confident in this idea that he was actually taken aback when Combeferre asked, still sounding doubtful, “Ok, so we get him to spend time with Grantaire at his apartment, and then what? What if that’s not enough?”

Courfeyrac frowned slightly. “Well, if they’re spending that time there without any distractions, maybe it’ll just...happen?” he suggested, wincing at how weak it was.

Combeferre gave him a look. “They’ve been spending time together for years. That’s the whole reason why we’re doing this.”

Courfeyrac sagged back against the couch. “Damn, I really thought we had something there,” he said mournfully, leaning over to rest his head against Combeferre’s shoulder.

Combeferre sighed. “Well, we can always go back to my idea.”

Courfeyrac made a face. “Draught of Living Death?”

“No, not interfering.”

“That ship has long since sailed,” Courfeyrac reminded him, glaring up at him. “Besides, you’ve done enough interfering already that you should probably let that idea go.”

Combeferre half-smiled. “Fair.”

“You know, that reminds me,” Courfeyrac said, lifting his head off of Combeferre’s shoulder. “I know why I’m doing this, but why are you? You’ve been against this from the beginning, but you keep coming back.”

“Well, someone’s got to stop you from making a complete fool of yourself,” Combeferre said lightly.

“Ha ha,” Courfeyrac said dryly. “C’mon, I mean it – why’re you helping me?”

Combeferre glanced over at him, something unreadable in his expression. “You really want to know?” Courfeyrac nodded, and Combeferre took a deep breath. “Well, honestly—”

“Wait, that’s it!” Courfeyrac burst, realization hitting.

“What’s it?”

Courfeyrac grinned. “An honesty spell. I can cast an honesty spell on Enjolras’s apartment along with the attraction spell.”

“You can do that?” Combeferre asked.

“Oh, sure, you can layer all kinds of spells to work in tandem.”

Combeferre nodded slowly. “Ok, so you do a truth spell, and—”

“An honesty spell,” Courfeyrac corrected. “Truth spells tend to backfire and make people confess all kinds of deep dark secrets, and I don’t think sending Grantaire down that path will lead to the kind of confession we’re hoping for.”

“Grantaire?” Combeferre snorted. “I’d be more worried about Enjolras confessing his plans to violently overthrow the government.” 

Courfeyrac considered it. “Fair point,” he allowed. “But in any case, I’m taking chances this time, so no truth spell, just a mild honesty spell so that they can’t lie to each other. That’s as far as my magic can go. The rest’ll be up to them.”

Combeferre was silent for a long moment before he nodded again. “You know, this just might actually work.”

“What was that?” Courfeyrac asked distractedly as he grabbed the Book of Shadows.

“I said, this might actually work,” Combeferre repeated, slightly louder.

Courfeyrac looked up from the grimoire, grinning at him. “Oh, I heard you the first time,” he said smugly. “I just wanted to make you say it again.”

Combeferre scowled and punched Courfeyrac lightly on the arm. “Well, I’m certainly not going to say it a third time,” he said, slightly petulantly. “Not until it actually works, at least.”

“Trust me, this time, it will,” Courfeyrac said, his confidence less fueled by Jäger this time and more by sheer determination. “It has to.”

>>Read chapter 5 here>>

[tonystarktogo]

“It’s never gonna be over.” They are a practiced liar in it only for her own gain, an amoral mercenary who doesn’t play well with others and a business shark on a warpath. [If there is such a thing as a match made in Hell, they are it.]

*

Natasha stares at the number on her bank account — well, one of them — in stunned silence, too numb to feel the happiness, joy, ecstatic shock that is probably appropriate for a moment such as this. 

As a grifter — a damn good one at that, Natasha strives for nothing less than perfection in her chosen craft — Natasha is used to being surrounded by wealth and money, extravagance and shameless posturing. It’s basically her job description. 

But there’s a lot of zeros and then there’s a hell of a lot of zeros. It’s too much, the amount far too high to feel real. The kind of money that goes beyond wealthy, beyond filthy, stinking rich. Tony’s rich, Natasha knows that. Everyone knows that. Or, well, he used to be. Back before he sold his properties and put all his money into saving Stark Industries, only to turn around and retire from his position, sell his stock to his successor and disappear out of the public eye.

[Everyone in the industry knows there’s more to it than that. Everyone knows there’s something shady about the way Tony Stark left his own company — some say of his own volition, some say his hand was forced. No one is stupid enough to believe that the murder of his assistant preceding those changes is in any way or shape a coincidence.

But Natasha is one of the few who has run into Tony Stark since then — or rather the ruin of what used to be Tony Stark. He goes by Anton, these days, and that he smiles a hell of a lot less is the least of the changes. As such Natasha isn’t forced to rely on unconfirmed rumors and gossip. She knows damn well that Stane did something unforgivable. And didn’t have the smarts — or the guts — to put Tony Stark down when he could.

He’ll regret that weakness one day, of that Natasha has no doubt. If there is a man out there, that will one day turn Tony Stark into a killer, it is Obadiah Stane.]

The point is, even for the old Tony Stark this would amount to an indecent fuck-ton of money. For your usual mortal — which Natasha in spite of all her talents is — it’s the kind of sum you vaguely dream about because you can’t even picture what it might look like. What it might mean.

Now here they are.

“We’re gonna be set for life when this is all over,” Natasha mutters. Tries to work through the confusing mixture of disbelief, shock, relief, exhilaration and amusement this seemingly innocuous number evokes in her. To understand how she feels about this, not just the situation itself but its implications.

She’ll never have to work again. She’ll never have to do anything she doesn’t want to again. And — far more important — she’ll be able to do anything she wants. 

This? This is what Natasha’s been working towards, been dreaming of all her life. It’s what every grifter wants, really. Every criminal even. This is the mythical big score. The one everyone always talks about and most never, ever achieve.

[It should feel more satisfying, shouldn’t?]

And yet, despite all that Natasha isn’t sure what to do with it. She’d assumed it would take her several more years yet to reach this moment. [And even then, the payoff she would’ve considered acceptable would’ve been much, much lower.] It feels almost too easy.

Natasha forces herself to tear her gaze away from the screen. The number won’t change and it’s not wrong, she’s already run those checks a dozen times. While her temporary colleagues have remained quiet — perhaps caught up in their own shock, though considering their identity, that doesn’t seem likely.

Anton isn’t smiling.

It’s such an odd, little thing to stick out to her, and yet it’s the first thing Natasha notices. After all, people usually smile when they’re holding a payout of more millions than they knows what to do with. Not that it surprises Natasha.

[She hasn’t seen Anthony Stark smile since the day Pepper Pott bled out in his arms.]

Anton’s staring at her now, not avoiding eye contact for once. An unvoiced challenge. [Natasha’s never been good of letting those go unanswered. And it irks her, just a bit, that he knows her well enough to know this already, even though she’s already decided she doesn’t mind playing along. For a bit.]

"There’s no way Hammer put this much aside," Natasha states the obvious. "Even if we’d taken his company for everything it got, no way would we have made this much money off one job."

"Or maybe you’ve been working the wrong jobs." Anton smirks when she rolls her eyes in response. "Come on, I’m a motherfucking Stark. You can’t seriously think I don’t have any tricks up my sleeve. Playing with the stock market? I’ve been doing that shit since I was fourteen and contrary to what my esteemed former board members like to think, I’ve learned a lot over the past decade."

And the thing is, Anton wears casual arrogance like second skin and just like his infernal goatee and those ridiculously fancy suits he’s so fond of, he makes it look good.

As if to underline Natasha’s point, Anton continues with a simple "All of this?" accompanied by a careless wave of his hand. "There was no way I was gonna let us walk out of this job with anything less. It’s the least of what we’re owed."

There’s something in Anton’s eyes that sends a by now familiar thrill down her back  – because Natasha knows that cold edge. Knows Anton’s brilliant mind that constantly works on fifteen problems at once. Knows even now, with this little game of theirs finished [a stunning victory, as though it could’ve been anything else] he is already setting up the next move. [The next target.]

Natasha has met men on a warpath before and Anthony Edward Stark meets every single criteria. She doesn’t need to understand how he thinks exactly — doubts anyone could, the man’s been called many things, but his unofficial title as a genius has been hard-earned — to know that somewhere in that pretty, pretty head of his, Anton’s keeping book of every offense committed against him and his. Is slowly but surely working through a list only he knows the full extend of.

[Stane was a fool. Part of Natasha — the part that has watched Anton break himself apart over the last fourteen days — hopes she’ll be there when Anton finally, inevitably turns his attention to him.]

But now is not the time for these things. With that in mind, Natasha forces a teasing grin on her lips, keeps her eyes shadowed but her words light. "Yes, yes, we all know you’re amazing."

Even Barnes snorts at the dryness of her tone, though Anton, at least, is unbothered.

"And don’t you forget it."

"Well, then." Natasha catches herself before she involuntary glances down at her phone’s screen again, still not convinced that this money is real. Is hers. "I suppose this is it."

Catches the eyes of Barnes, then Anton because they deserve that much. Working with competent partners is always a pleasure. And though Barnes prefers too much brute force for her taste and there’s a ruthlessness to Anton’s machinations that goes far beyond Natasha’s own cool practicality, she’s enjoyed this job. [More than she thought she would.]

"It could be."

To her genuine surprise, it’s Anton who says those words. [The same Anton whose first words to Natasha were 'I don’t do teams’ with casual derision.] But there’s no doubt he means them — means what they imply — else Anton wouldn’t have spoken up at all.

A quick glance towards Barnes confirms what Natasha has assumed: He’ll let her take the lead on this conversation, if only because it means he won’t have to talk himself. Barnes is a man of very few words indeed.

"What else is there to do?" Natasha obligingly asks. "The job is done. We’re done. It’s over."

[She knows those words are a lie, of course. Knows that big score or not, it was never just about the money. You don’t become a world-class grifter wanted in seven countries and counting just because you need money. Maybe that’s how it started — and sure, the riches are nice to have — but Natasha loves it. Loves the rush. Loves reading the mark, enticing it, blinding it. Loves pulling off a job and getting away with it against all odds.

It’s been less than ten minutes, but Natasha doesn’t need time. She already knows that, millions or not, she won’t stop now. Wouldn’t know where to start, even if she wanted to.]

“It’s never gonna be over.” Anton says it absently, matter-of-fact. "Not for me."

A simple acknowledgement of a truth Natasha already knows. [Men like Anton, they don’t stop half-way through. They don’t stop at all. And perhaps she should know better than to get involved with someone so hell-bent on revenge, but. Hell was always gonna be her ultimate destination anyway. Why not enjoy the ride?]

The way Anton looks at her, at Barnes, there’s no missing the implication. The unspoken offer. The warning. 

You can walk away now if you want. [Get out while you still can.]

A sensible person would’ve taken him up on that offer. A sensible person would walk away.

“Good.” Barnes hums. “I’d be bored to death if I didn’t have to pull your ass out of a fire.” Light and easy, everything he shouldn’t be and usually isn’t. [Like he isn’t committing to a cause without a take-back option.]

Natasha thinks she hates Barnes for that, a little. For the light in his eyes that never dims, no matter how much blood he spills. For how easy he makes it seem, like he really just makes that decision in the spur of the moment, because he likes Anton well enough and doesn’t mind sticking around some more.

[Like he doesn’t care at all about all the ways in which this can and will blow up in his face.]

Anton raises a questioning eyebrow at Natasha. She licks her lips. Thinks of the life she can afford now, somewhere far, far away, without an extradition agreement to any of the countries she wouldn’t like to revisit. The comfortable, even extravagant life she could lead. [Thinks of the bloodied smile on Barnes lips, the way Anton’s eyes lit up when Hammer broke.] Shrugs.

“You’re not completely incompetent. Sure. What’s one more job?”

*

AN: I hope you’re all safe and healthy and that this fic will be a pleasant distraction for everyone who’s currently trying very hard to keep calm and carry on. Please take care of yourselves, lovelies!

[awhitehead17]

Universal Signs

Chapter Eight / Previous Chapter

Also on AO3

A/N: The rating has changed! It was general but is now teen. There is a bit violence and hints of blood towards the end of this chapter. Its nothing too graphic but just in case here's the warning if that makes you uncomfortable. 

Enjoy! :D

Tim wasn’t sulking. He wasn’t! He was just pouting in the common room on his own as he thinks through recent events. That’s all. No sulking involved whatsoever.

Okay so maybe he was sulking.  

His arm was irritating him. Underneath the bandage his skin itches and he has to forcibly stop himself from scratching at the wound. He scowls at the ceiling as he slumps back into the plush couch he was sat on. He can’t believe a cat spat at him and burnt his arm. Out of everything he’s encountered so far, that cat-like creature is probably the strangest things he’s yet to see. 

The aliens did tell him to not get too close, but in his defence they neglected to mention that the creature could spit over seven feet away! How was Tim supposed to know that? He saw the creature, it looked cute and fluffy and he wanted to pet it, then Kon-el found him and dragged him away. The alien’s reaction to the creature just made Tim more curious about it.

After grabbing food Tim found the cat again but kept his distance. It looked harmless and it even resembled his brother’s cat back home. However things went wrong when something spooked the creature and caused it to get nasty. In a matter of seconds it went from cute and cuddly to vicious and evil. It hissed and then spat at Tim before darting away and disappearing into the trees.

Thankfully he had quick reflexes and was able to cover his face with his arm before getting hit with the creature’s acid-like spit. His arm instantly flared up with pain which caused him to cry out. That’s when Kon-el appeared.

At least it was his arm that got burnt and not his face. Who knows what kind of damaged that would have caused if that was the outcome. Curiosity killed the cat. Tim snorts. Yeah, his curiosity did almost kill him this time.

“Are you okay?”

Tim jumps at the sudden voice. He turns around to look at them and follows them with his eyes as they walk over to the couch and sit opposite him.

“What’s funny?”

Cassie looks at him with slightly narrowed eyes, as if she’s suspicious of his behaviour. Tim eyes her up momentarily, even now after he’s been with them for a few weeks he still gets the odd feeling around Cassie. She’s warmed up to him a little in that time, as if she’s getting used to his presence now but there was still that underlying mistrust of him hanging around in the air.

Tim shrugs it off. There wasn’t a lot he could do about it in that moment. He averts his gaze from her and waves a dismissive hand. “Oh nothing, just some human crap.”

That was another thing Tim had learnt. Half of the time they have no idea what he’s saying, common phrases and sayings go right over their heads. Any abbreviations he makes gets him blanks stares. Movie and TV show references get him a raised eyebrow in question.

Of course this was to be expected considering where he is, but every time it happens the ache inside his chest of where he’s missing home just grows that bit heavier at the reminder.

Tim’s missing his friends and family. He doesn’t know how long it’s been since he was taken from earth as he was unable to track time while he was captured and he only has a vague idea of how long he’s been with these guys on this ship.

It sucks and Tim absolutely hates it. Unfortunately he doesn’t have much of a choice but to suck it up and get on with it.

“Sure...” Cassie drawls giving him that look that says you humans are strange. “I wanted to update you on some stuff. First off, our next stop will be in a few days’ time to collect the next item we need. There isn’t much to do between now and then, so basically get comfy and relax. Second thing, how would you like your own room on the ship? We were speaking and it’s only fair that you get your own space like the rest of us have.”

Tim nods taking in the information before pausing and shooting her a surprised look. He had been expecting the next stop details, however the room news did surprise him.

“Really? I didn’t think there would be any room for me to have my own space?” He questions her. “I don’t want to put any of you out or make any trouble.”

“We can clear out one of the storage rooms and place a bed in there. It wouldn’t be much but it’s somewhere other than in the common room for you.”

Tim smiles gratefully, “Yeah, that would be great. Thank you.”

Having his own space would be nice. As comfy as the couch in the common room was, having his own space would definitely be preferred.

She nods. “Okay, I can let the others know and we can get started on that. Third thing, how’s your arm?”

Tim lets out a breath and shrugs. “Irritating. The wound is still fresh so it’s going to be annoying for a little while yet. If I keep it clean and stuff it should hopefully heal up within a week or two. Thankfully it’s not anywhere where it would really be a nuisance.”

She stays quiet as he watches him. Tim glances at her but looks away again. He has no clue to what she’s thinking, he probably doesn’t want to know either.

When the silence drags on, Tim decides to fill it. “So what’s the plan until the next stop? Got any ideas or no?”

She shakes her head. “No. As I said there’s not much we can do now until we reach the next destination. Try to keep yourself occupied until then. I’m sure one of the others can help entertain you if you get bored.”

After that apparently Cassie was done with the conversation because she stands up and leaves the room without another word. Tim blinks at her vacated spot, wrapping his head around the conversation. Right, so now he has to entertain himself for the time being.

He sighs and starts deciding what he’s going to do with himself. As he looks around the room for inspiration, his eyes land on the Rubik’s cube on the table in front of him.

Figuring that’ll do for the time being, Tim reaches over and grabs it. Two of the sides were already solved and Tim’s going to assume that Bart was the one to do it. He wonders how many more he can complete until their next destination.

 In the time it took to travel to the next planet, Tim simply plotted around the ship looking for things to do. One of the main things to be achieved within that time was that his room Cassie had mentioned has now been set up. It’s a storage room turned into a bedroom so it’s pretty small but they manage to get a bed in there along with a small wardrobe and a small chest of draws. It wasn’t a lot but it’s not like Tim had a lot of belongings anyway.

While it was nice to have his own private space sometimes it felt wrong. At times the room felt too small and it made him feel claustrophobic, especially since there were no windows. The bed sometimes felt to hard and he would just be tossing and turning on it. It made him miss his own bedroom back home. Like his pillow, god he misses his pillow, and his own blanket. Just the little things that he once took for granted.

He gets by though. It’s nice that they’ve created the room for him and he appreciates it.

To pass the time, they would occasionally play a few games, have the entertainment night that Bart got to decide what they do, work and chat.

Tim’s arm was still healing and from what he could tell it was healing nicely. Another couple of days and it should hopefully be back to normal. He’s been keeping an eye on it and treating it to the best of his abilities.

Eventually they enter the next planet’s atmosphere and Tim observes the descent from the window in the common room. The planet was filled with what looked like trees, well, at least if trees had dark blue leaves and purple trunks. By this point he wasn’t even surprised any more. The amount of crazy, beyond imaginable, things he’s seen and discovered while in space, things like this just don’t really shock him anymore. Though the idea of telling his family about all of this is rather amusing. They wouldn’t believe a single thing of it.

The ship descends down to the ground and lands with a thump. Once everything was stable Tim leaves the common room and heads for the cockpit where the others were gathered. He enters the room to find Cassie at the dashboard and Kon and Bart together at the table. He walks overs and claims one of the free seats for himself.

They both look at him as he settles.

“Tim, just to get you up to speed. We’re on the planet Tordar and we’re here because we need to gather up 50 pieces of Pingon,” Kon tells him.

Tim nods his understanding and straightens up when Kon slides a piece of paper across the table to him. He picks the page up and scans it. There was an image of what Tim is assuming they need to collect. It was a golden cylinder shape with what looked like pink coloured spikes sprouting out from the main body and there were large dark blue leaves appearing from one end of it.

It reminded Tim of a pineapple. At least if they were skinner, pink and had blue leaves.

Kon continues speaking, glancing at his team as well as Tim as he does so. “The picture is what we need to collect from this planet. Pingon’s are found hanging low off the trees. So hopefully we can simply grab and go.”

Tim puts the paper down and rubs a hand over his forehead. He sighs and looks up at the alien. “There’s more to it than that isn’t there? It’s never a simple grab and go. So what is it?”

The alien looks uneasy, shifting from foot to foot as he glances at Tim before sharing a look with the other two like he’s reluctant to tell Tim the information.

“Kon.” He presses.

In the end it wasn’t Kon who shares the information with him, it was Bart. Tim whips his head around to look at the speedster.

“A species called Galavent live on this planet and they are dangerous. They’re ferociously territorial, will maim and kill in an instant. They are not fun to be around at all.” He was staring at Tim with an intense expression, this alone was telling Tim Bart wasn’t joking around and this was the truth.

“Right,” Tim drawls, “Avoid killer… Galavents? No problem.”

He starts getting up from the table only to be stopped by Kon speaking up. “Tim, maybe you should stay on the ship for the time being.”

Tim grits his teeth and tries to hide his annoyance. “Why? Because I’m human? Because I don’t have powers like the rest of you?”

Kon open his mouth to say something but seems to reconsider his words. “No. Not because you’re human Tim but because your hurt. It’ll be safe for you on here than out there.”

Tim snorts in disbelief. It was only a matter of time before they would start treating him like he was a delicate piece of glass unable to do anything. He continues standing and pins Kon with a look.

“I’m fine. I have a minor injury, nothing that’ll stop me from doing regular things. I’m going to help you whether you like it or not.” When the alien stays silent, Tim takes that as a win. “I’ll meet you by the door.”

He leaves the room in a tense silent and heads for his own bedroom. If the planet did have dangerous creatures on it, it may be best that he has some sort of weapon. He grabs the metal pole from his room before heading down to the main door of the ship.

About a minute later the three others show up. As he approaches, Kon scowls at him, clearly not happy with this arrangement of Tim joining them out on the planet. Tim fakes a sweet smile, like he was completely innocent in the ordeal. He smiles for real when the only reaction he gets is Kon’s scowl deepening on his face.

As they walk, Tim notices that each of them was carrying something that resembled a large picnic basket. He doesn’t question them about it, figuring that they must be for carrying the pingon’s back to the ship.

The four of them soon leave the ship and step foot onto the planet. Tim was surprised to find it warmer than he expected. With all the trees around them (even though they’re purple) it reminds him of a jungle or forest back home. It was surprisingly light on the planet too, despite all of the leaves blocking the sky, everything was still visible to Tim’s human eyes.

Moving away from the ship, which was parked in the middle of a large clearing, they all enter the tree line and start hunting for the pingon’s they need to collect.

Thankfully the hunt doesn’t take too long for them to find the first bunch of pingon’s. They were indeed hanging low off the branches towards the ground, basically in perfect height for picking.

Tim walks over to one of the trees and studies the fruit. The colours were more vibrant in real life than what they were on paper. It looked like an exotic fruit someone would find in the Caribbean or something. He reaches out and gingerly touches the spikes of the fruit, not knowing what to expect. They were sharp but didn’t feel like they would pierce his skin, once again reminding him of a pineapple.

He grabs the fruit with a hand, pulls it off the branch in one swift movement and weighs the thing in his hands. It didn’t feel heavy like a pineapple does, in fact it was fairly light which was surprising. He wonders over to where Bart was picking a few from off another tree and puts his in Bart’s basket.

Between the four of them they clear that area of fruit fairly quickly and decide to move onto the next area. As he picks the fruit, Tim was half tempted to eat it. Maybe split one open to see what it looked like on the inside and try some of it.

He fiddles with the one in his hands as he glances around to where the others are. They were all too busy with their jobs to pay attention to him. Tim turns back to the fruit and positions his hands where the leaves were and braces himself to pull them off when –

“Tim what are you doing?”

When Cassie’s voice makes him pause. Annoyed he’s been caught, he sighs and turns around. He puts on his best innocent looking expression and shakes his head. “Nothing. Why what’s up?”

Cassie narrows her eyes at him in disbelief. “I’m going to say this now, but don’t eat the pingon’s. If consumed like this,” she holds up the pingon in her hand as demonstration, “unprepped, they can burn your insides. So listen to me and don’t eat the pingon’s. Understand?”

Tim blinks in horror at the fruit. Okay, apparently this is fruit that can burn your insides. This is just another thing to add to the mental ‘what the fuck?’ list Tim has currently running inside his head.

“Right, not eating the pingon raw. Got ya.”

He was still tempted to try the fruit of course but Tim’s going to listen because he likes his insides functioning and wants to keep it that way. Shaking the thoughts of burning insides out of his head, Tim continues with the task at hand. The quicker they finish the better.

They spend a little over an hour collecting all the fruit they need and gather a few more for themselves to have a treat at a later date. Once finished they begin to head back to the ship. The aliens were carrying the baskets while Tim walked behind them, lazily swinging his pole around with each step.

He doesn’t know when it started, but he knows when he first recognised the feeling. All the hair on the back of his neck suddenly stands up and goose bumps appear on his skin as he shivers. An uneasy feeling washes over him as he travels behind the aliens. It went on for a little while and the feeling wouldn’t go away.

Tim was sure something was watching him.

He stops walking to observe his surroundings, looking for anything unusual (or something that looked out of place at least) however all he could see were the thick trunks of the trees, hanging fruit and the dark blue leaves.

Tim takes a deep breath and lets it out before shaking his head. He’s just being paranoid, that’s all. Overthinking things and letting his imagination get the better of him.

Turning back around, Tim continues walking now picking up his speed to catch up with the others who were further up ahead and hadn’t noticed he stopped. Tim only travelled several meters when the growling started. It was a low sound that shook him right through his core, something that made him freeze on the spot.

He tries to control his breathing in order to stop himself from panicking, his heart starts pounding inside of his chest and all of his muscles in his body were frozen and tense.

The growling’s coming from behind him and it felt like it was getting louder by the second. His brain was screaming two different things at him. One was to run. Run and don’t look back. The second, was to turn around to see what was there.

Ever the curious human, Tim goes with the second option and stupidly turns around. He keeps his movements slow and steady so he doesn’t startle whatever is behind him.

Tim’s breath catches inside of his throat when he finally faces what was behind him. Hanging from a tree there was a huge monkey-like creature. It was staring at Tim with two black orbs for eyes, its long razer teeth were borne in a snarl as it growls at him.

For a moment Tim thought it was a baboon. The colour of the fur was the same and its body was similar. The main differences however was the size and the fact this thing was eyeing Tim up like he was candy.

Tim didn’t know what to do. He’s sure if he makes a move the monkey will pounce and after getting a glimpse of its claws Tim would rather not chance it.

Swallowing thickly Tim decides to take a cautious step back away from the animal. His eyes never leave the thing as he starts slowly backing away. If he doesn’t startle or aggravate it, fingers crossed, he’ll come out of this alive.

Tim’s method appeared to be working. The monkey doesn’t make a move against him as he backs away.

“Tim? Where are you?”

The sudden shout makes him jump and he holds his breath as the monkey seems to stiffen up in front of him and the growling increases in volume. Tim doesn’t dare look behind him though. He feels like if he moves his attention away from the creature then the animal will make a move. Almost like a spider you’re trying to capture, you keep watching it so you don’t lose it.

“I’m here.” Tim calls back carefully. Not too loud so he doesn’t startle the thing. “Um, something’s come up.”

“What do you me -oh.”

Now Tim could feel another presence behind him. However unlike before this one doesn’t feel threatening or put him on edge.

“Tim remember what we said on the ship. That’s a Galavent.”

Tim huffs, because of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be?

“What do we do?” He asks the alien. He can make a few guesses himself but he’s out of his element here and does not want to do anything wrong.

Before Kon could reply even more growling echoes around them. From above, the leaves all rustle and a glance up shows more monkeys – Galavents – appearing. Tim’s eyes widen at the realisation that they’re surrounded.

The animal in front of Tim finally moves. It drops down to the ground with a thump, and starts stalking towards Tim. It snarls and growls at him as it gets closer. With fear Tim starts backing up, no longer caring about careful movements. The animal in front just takes that as an invitation to move quicker, letting out a roar as it starts speeding towards him.

After that, it was like hell all broke loose.

As the Galavent charged towards him, Tim let out a yell and turned tail and ran, almost falling over as he does so. Kon, who was standing behind him, shouted and also ran with him. From behind, the monkeys all followed, letting out their roars, snarls and growls as they chased them.

“Get to the ship!” He hears Kon scream at him but Tim wasn’t really paying attention.

Sprinting through the trees, they scramble to get away from the animals pursuing them. Together they somehow make it to the clearing where the ship was but only to be stopped short. Next to him, Kon goes flying as a Galavent lands on his back and tackles him to the ground.

“Kon!”

Tim doesn’t get a chance to dwell on Kon being attacked because suddenly he was thrown to the side. When he hits the ground he rolls a few times before landing on his back, he barely gets the chance to react before a monkey was coming at him from above. Letting out a scream Tim uses the pole he still had to block the monkey’s attack as it lands on him.

Large fangs were snapping at him and sharp claws trying to rip him to shreds. Tim uses all of his might to keep it away from him.

Just as his arms were about to give out, the weight of the monkey disappears. Tim blinks in surprise at the sudden change of events and again as Bart materializes out of nowhere above him. He smirks down at Tim before darting off again.

Swallowing Tim scrambles up onto his feet and swings with the metal pole as one of the monkeys jump up at him. The pole hits it clean in the head and knocks it down. Tim swings a second time to knock another down which comes from above. He knocks it down to the ground and hits it again to try and knock it out. When it no longer moves Tim stops his motions and straightens back up looking for the next immediate threat.

A yell from his right gets his attention. It was Cassie wrestling one of the creatures on the floor. Her hands were locked around it’s jaw in attempts to keep it from biting her head off. Without even thinking about it, Tim’s moving. He sprints over to Cassie and bodily tackles the animal off her.

Because of his momentum, the two of them go sprawling over the ground. Tim loses track of the animal as he rolls several times before coming to a stop on his front. He shakes his head and tries to get past the dizziness that’s currently taken over.

His luck seems to run out there because unfortunately something lands on his back before he could get his head together. The impact winds him, leaving him breathless and then there’s the piercing pain that erupts in his shoulder. He lets out a curdling scream and thrashes wildly in an attempt to buck the thing off his back.

The pain somehow worsens as it seems to travel down from his shoulder to the middle of his back. Tim lets out another sound as he feels his skin split open and warmth spread across his back. Tears were forming in his eyes and there nothing else but pain.

From there it becomes a blur. Things just all mould into one. At some point the weight disappears off his back, there were shouts of what he thinks was his name but all that registered in Tim’s mind was the pain coming from his shoulder and back.

When something else touches him, he weakly fights it off, however that something was persistent and easily bats away Tim’s sluggish strikes. He screams again when more pain explodes inside of him.

He must have blacked out or something because the next thing he knows it that his face was being pushed into something soft underneath him. Unknown things were still touching him, there was a noise which sounded like a voice surrounding him but he couldn’t make it out and the main thing was there was still overwhelming pain coming from his back.

He yells again when something touches his back, causing another jolt to go through him. He tries to get away, tries to escape from what was hurting but he’s forced to stay still by a force. With his pain-fogged mind, Tim couldn’t work out what it was, but he didn’t actually care, he just wanted to get away from it.

After futile attempts to wiggle free, he whimpers. The whimper turns into a hoarse scream when it somehow gets worse. Tim’s never felt anything like this before. It must have been too much for him to handle because the last thing he remembers is letting out that scream and then nothing.

[kinnsporsche]

i get to love you (it’s the best thing that i’ll ever do)

ben and callum discuss the benefits of spousal privilege 

alternatively: the ben and callum get engaged fic that nobody asked for

word count: 1.7k

read on ao3

They’re on the couch when it happens. Ben has his head pillowed on Callum’s stomach, eyes fighting between drifting shut and staring at the television screen as Callum alternates between running his fingertips down his arm and through his hair. There’s a movie playing, but neither of them are paying attention to it.

“You know-” Ben starts, huffing a little when Callum stills his hand. He shrugs his shoulders restlessly until Callum takes the hint and starts moving his hand again, deciding instead to start tracing random patterns across his back. He’d deny it if anybody asked, but this was where he felt the safest.

“Yeah?” Callum prompts after a few seconds of uninterrupted silence, fingers creeping their way up the back of Ben’s neck and fiddling with the short hairs at the nape of his neck.

“Hm?” Ben hums, distracted, before he regains his thoughts. “Oh, right. I was going to say, you know you couldn’t testify against me in court if we were married?”

Callum freezes, his hand stilling, much to his boyfriend’s annoyance. It wasn’t like he’d never thought about it before. The two of them. Married.

There had been mornings where Callum had woken up long before either of them had to and had passed the time by simply looking. He’d watched the way Ben’s chest would rise and fall each time he took a breath, the way he let out little snores whenever he took a particularly deep inhale - something that Ben vehemently denied and Callum took great joy in teasing him about. He watched the way Ben almost instinctively reached out and curled closer to him when he felt the distance, the tension bleeding out of him when he felt the weight of Callum once more. Callum had thrown his arm over Ben’s waist, smiled against his shoulder and thought to himself, god I am so in love with you. Then their alarm had gone off and Ben had huffed and moaned and hid his face in the pillow with a gruff “turn that fuckin’ thing off would you” and Callum thought to himself I’m going to marry you one day.

He’d thought about it on the days he spent with Lexi where she would put on her fanciest dresses and pretend she was a princess. She would be organising her loyal subjects around the table for a tea party as he watched from the couch, thinking about how she would look walking down the aisle ahead of Ben, throwing petals haphazardly out of a basket as she went. Ben would deny ever wanting something that traditional, but Lexi would pout, and they would both give in and let her have her way. Lola would tease them about them both being wrapped around her little finger and throw her arms around them when they asked her to be involved in the ceremony too, but neither of them would have wanted it any other way.

Kathy hadn’t helped the one time she’d referred to him as ‘her future son-in-law’. He’d laughed a little awkwardly and spent the rest of their new ‘family dinner traditions’ thinking about how he would feel wearing Ben’s ring for the rest of his life. He’d glanced down at their intertwined fingers more than once on the walk home and found himself beaming at the prospect of a ring there. 

“Ben Mitchell.” Callum smiles down at him, one eyebrow raised quizzically. “Is this your way of proposing to me?”

“Yeah… yeah, I guess it is. You interested?”

The laugh that slips from Callum’s lips is soft and carefree, and for once he’s glad that Ben has his head on his stomach instead of his chest so he can’t feel how hard his heart is beating. “Buy me a ring first, Romeo. And then we’ll talk,” he says, reaching his hand down to lace their fingers together when Ben reaches his own hand out for him.

-

“Ben!” Callum calls out as he walks through the door a few weeks later, nudging it closed behind him with his hip. He spends a second shrugging off his jacket and throwing his keys into the bowl near the door before he calls out again. “I’m home.” It still makes his heart skip a beat in his chest whenever either of them refers to it as their home despite them having been living together for over a month now.  

He hears a muffled grunt coming from the kitchen and heads that way, eyebrows knitting together in confusion at the lack of a greeting. It isn’t uncommon on the days that Ben has off for him to be greeted with a shout of acknowledgment, a hyper seven-year-old barrelling into his legs screaming “uncle Callum!” and lifting her arms for a hug, or a kiss from his boyfriend that usually involves their hands wandering further then they should in the middle of the hall. It’s rare, however, for him to be greeted with silence.

The sight he’s greeted with when he walks into the kitchen is not one he was even remotely prepared to see. Ben’s leaning back against the kitchen counter, his shoulders slumped in something akin to defeat as he glares daggers at the oven.

“What did that oven ever do to you, eh?” Callum asks, sliding up next to Ben and dropping a kiss to his forehead.

Ben doesn’t say much at first, just winds his arms around Callum’s waist and buries his face against his neck for a minute or two and lets himself be held. When they first started their relationship, Callum never expected Ben to be such a tactile person, but he found out early enough that it’s a form of intimacy that he craves but will never admit he needs. Not that Callum needs him to admit it, he’s more than happy to oblige. “Burnt dinner,” he finally mumbles, unwinding himself from his boyfriend and gesturing vaguely at the oven. “It must be broken or something.”

Callum huffs out a laugh and rolls his eyes fondly as he goes to inspect the charred remnants of what once appeared to be chicken parmesan. “Right. It definitely doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that the extent of your cooking skills begins and ends at warming something up in the oven.” He pulls the dish from the oven and rests it on the side, waving away some of the grey smoke that lingers there. The chicken is near enough black and could probably be used as a hockey puck, but he decides not to point that out. “Distracted, were you?”

“Something like that,” Ben mumbles, taking a swig from the beer bottle at his side. He reaches behind him with his free hand and holds a piece of paper out towards Callum, gesturing for him to take it. “Lexi made you something today. Asked me to give it to you.”

Callum cocks his head to the side and slips off the oven gloves, closing some of the distance between them so he can take the paper. It wasn’t strange for Lexi to draw them pictures or write little stories, hell, their entire fridge was covered in her arts and crafts, but usually she couldn’t wait to show them to him herself. She said it made them extra special that way.

He shakes his head fondly when he turns the card over, a handful of glitter falling from the cover and onto the floor by his feet; Lexi never was one for subtlety. On the front of the card were three carefully drawn figures, one with a princess crown and a dress and a huge grin. The other two were taller, and he guessed that they were him and Ben. “She’s a proper little artist, isn’t she?” Callum hums, taking in the glitter-covered flowers and trees with a smile on his face. How he ever ended up so lucky, he’d never know. “I’ve no idea where she gets it from, though. I’ve seen the way you and Lola draw.”

“There’s more. Inside.” Ben points out, hands anxiously tearing at the label on the bottle.

Callum unfolds the card, careful not to disturb anymore of the glitter with his fingers. Inside, written in Lexi’s messy handwriting is Uncle Callum, will you marry my daddy? with two stick figures holding hands surrounded by more hearts made from glitter.

Ben clears his throat and Callum looks up at him, breath catching in his throat when his eyes land on the box that he’s turning over in his hands. He opens his mouth to say something but before he can, Ben cuts him off.

“I think we all know by now that you’re basically a part of the family, but I thought we could make it official. And this time I actually do have a ring for you.” Ben thumbs open the box, a small silver band inside catching the light. “We both know I’m not a traditional guy, I didn’t want to do something that didn’t feel like us. I don’t want to do something cliché like get on my knees for you, yet-” Callum chokes out a laugh and rolls his eyes fondly at the wink Ben accompanies that with. “And doing it this way… having Lexi involved, it just felt right. So, Callum Highway. Now that I’ve got you a ring, will you finally agree to marry me?”

Callum surges forwards, pressing his lips against Ben’s almost as soon as he’s got the words out. “Yes. Yes, of course I will. I’d marry you if you proposed to me with one of Lexi’s bloody dress up rings you idiot!”

They’re both beaming when they pull away from each other’s mouths long enough to slip the ring on Callum’s finger, Ben’s thumb brushing against it when they go back to kissing.  

Eventually, they both know that they’ll have to tear themselves away from each other and share the news, but for now, standing in the kitchen of their home surrounded by glitter and the smell of burnt chicken, they’re both content to trade kisses that can barely be classed as kisses considering how much they’re both smiling, and let themselves get lost in each other.

Later, when they’re in bed Ben will insist on ordering food and tomorrow they’ll be overwhelmed with congratulations and hugs and Callum will have to recount the proposal story at least a dozen times to everybody on the square who somehow managed to find out before either of them could tell them. But for now, in their home, surrounded by the memories of their lives that they’ve spent months making, they both let themselves be loved in a way they never thought they could.

[blushingbarnes]

seven types of love (2)

Series summary: There are seven different types of love, and over the course of knowing you, Bucky experiences every single one.

Warnings: elements of a toxic and emotionally abusive relationship. it will get worse in upcoming chapters, so be warned

~series masterlist~

Ludus- a playful, flirtatious sort of love.

A few thoughts went through Bucky’s mind when you entered that day.

“That must be a friend.”

“Totally not her type.”

“His clothes look a little worn in, probably doesn’t make too much money.”

Then, something more important crosses his mind. Does he stay at the register? Or make Peter trade with him again? It’s pretty suspicious if he switches whenever you are almost at the front of the line right?

And there you are, with whatever his name is, next in line. Bucky takes a breath, and starts to take the next person order. Trying to subtly glance up at you and the man next to you.

The customer leaves, and there you are. You smile at Bucky.

“Hi.” You say, in the cute voice that he loves so much. “Hey Y/n. Are you trying something new today?” Bucky asks, throwing up a tight-lipped smile.

“No, actually. I’ll get what I got last time. What was it...” You say, thinking.

“Vanilla latte?” Bucky confirms, with a knowing smile.

“Yeah.” You answer, going into your purse to get the money out.

“Don’t worry honey. I got it.” The man says next to you.

And with that, there’s a pull in Bucky’s chest. His suspicions had been confirmed. He attempts not to show any emotion. And lightly takes the money from the man.

“That will be right out for you ma’am.” Bucky says.

~

“So, who’s that?” Will asks you, almost as soon as you sit down to wait for your drink.

“Oh, he’s just always here whenever I come in before work.” You say.

“Hm, kinda weird how he remembered what you ordered last huh?” Will comments, pulling out his phone.

“It’s a small shop, I’m sure he remembers a lot of people's orders.” You say defensively.

“Geez babe, no need to cause a scene okay?” Will looks up from his phone, giving you a disapproving glance.

You sigh, “I’m sorry, you’re right.” You look up as Bucky calls for your name and drink.

You walk up to the counter, “Thank you.” you smile.

~

The next morning, you wake up at around 8. You go through the morning movements, and as you walk through your kitchen to get some breakfast, you look at your coffee machine.

The machine had gathered dust on the top, since you hadn’t used it in weeks.

You grab a cup from your cabinet, and begin to make some coffee.

You take the coffee from under the machine, and add the rest of the components to it.

Getting ready for the day, you put on your everyday work clothes, a basic black pantsuit with a fun shirt underneath usually.

You put your hair in a low ponytail, and head to your front door to put on your shoes.

You got in your car, and began to drive along the Brooklyn streets.

You were a little vague with Bucky when you told him you were a social worker. You were actually much more than that.

You worked with mostly teens and young adults, you got called to schools when there was a problem, and you worked in a lot of small groups.

After you pull into the parking lot of the main building you work at, you check your calendar.

At 12:00 you had a group with some kids, in your notes you had written ‘15-19’ that age group was one of your favorites.

It was about 11:30 so you headed into your building. It wasn’t the fanciest thing, but you made it work.

You went into your office, where you had one on one meetings, and searched through your drawer for your notepad.

You found it, and headed to the group room. No one was there yet, so you got the chairs set up.

The groups were technically for anyone who wanted to come in, but you mostly had the regular kids show up, with maybe a new person every few weeks.

The kids start arriving, and you are ready sitting down with your notepad, smiling at the people who arrive.

Once it’s about 12:05, you start the group. “Alright guys!” you say, with a smile on your face. “Most people here I know, but I do see maybe a few new faces. So if you didn’t know, I'm Y/n. The way I like to start group is for you guys to say one thing you had trouble with this week, so we can get an idea for our talking points today.”

The kids start telling you their issues from the past week, but one sticks out to you.

“This week I’ve been seeing so many people in relationships at school, and it’s like, why haven’t I ever been in one? Why doesn’t anyone want to date me?” a girl, Bianca, finishes.

After everyone in the group shares, you begin talking.

“So I’m going to circle back to what Bianca said. It’s important to remember that you don’t need to be in a relationship right now. You are all either in high school or starting college. You need to be finding yourself at this time.” You say. “But if any of you are dating, we need to discuss healthy relationships.”

A boy, by the name of Alex, raises his hand. You gesture to him to talk.

“So, are you in a relationship Y/n?” He quirks an eyebrow.

The whole group starts ‘ooo-ing’ and you roll your eyes with a smile on your face.

“Not that it’s technically any of your business, but yes, I am.” You say. “Now, let’s talk about dating young. It’s easy to find your personality changing whenever you have a partner. You want to impress them, change yourself for them. It’s important that you stay true to yourself. Someone will come along that loves you for you.” You say, emphasizing the last phrase.

“What if you’re afraid that once they learn the real you, they’ll leave?” A girl, Z, asks.

“Now, are they really worth it if they don’t like the real you?” You answer with a question.

The whole group murmurs a negative answer.

You finish the group at 1:30. You check your calendar again, and you don’t seem to have anything left for the rest of the day.

You begin to drive home, maybe watch a show or something to occupy the rest of your day, you weren’t sure yet.

But then, you find yourself driving toward the familiar coffee shop you love so much.

~

Bucky is cleaning the cappuccino machine when he hears the ding of the bell.

He attempts to contain his excitement when he sees that it’s you who walked through the door.

He goes to look at Peter, who’s at the register, and finds that Peter is already walking towards him to switch places.

You walk up to the counter, just as Bucky reaches it.

“Hey Y/n, I missed you this morning, were you with your new fling?” Bucky says, teasingly, but secretly he was curious.

“Ha-ha.” you say stoically. “Will is my boyfriend, of a while now..” you trail off

So Will was his name… Bucky thinks. Even in the midst of his thought, he can still see the far away look in your eyes at the mention of your boyfriend's name.

“Well, you guys seem very cute together.” Bucky smiles, another tight lipped one.

“Yeah..” You look into Bucky’s bright blue eyes.

“So, coffee?” Bucky says, a hint of humor in his voice.

You shake your head, sort of like you’re riding yourself of thoughts.

“Right! That’s what I’m here for.” You say. “I’ll just have a hot caramel macchiato.” You smile

“Alright, i’ll have that right out for you sweetheart.” Bucky says.

You slightly quirk a brow at the name, and Bucky immediately regrets it.

Bucky has been thinking about making a move for a while. And honestly, he had nothing to lose now. You were in a relationship, and he needed some new friends.

So he picked up the cardboard cup and wrote,“Why did y/n cross the road? To get Bucky's number.” And he wrote his number beside it.

It was good that Bucky wasn’t the one who was going to hand you the drink, because he was horrible at confrontation.

So naturally, he hid in the supply room and looked through the window, as you picked up your drink, and read the message.

~

**send an ask if you’d like to be tagged**

@nsfwsebbie @scarletnerd05 @fentybucky @darlingtholland @rachel-rebellio @majesticavenger @lustfulholland @yknott81 @haikyuuea @captainamerica-is-bae

[xxpadfootxx]

🐾Night Terrors & New Beginnings - Part 7 (Living with a Monster)🐾

Once school started up again, things got harder. Izuku was determined to keep Dakota a secret until he figured out what to do with her, but at the same time, he was aware of the fact that each day was one step closer to her wounds healing completely. The thought made him suppress a shiver as he wandered down the halls, the hustle and bustle of the students creating a dull roar in the building that allowed Izuku to drown out all other thoughts. He made his way carefully to the lunchroom, his mind was just vaguely aware of Iida and Ochako who were chatting idly beside him. His eyes scanned the mass of students in front of him and he suddenly felt fearful and self-conscious. He twitched his hand so that the blue mark was hidden behind his back and his unmarked fist tightened a little on his backpack straps.

“Hello? Earth to Deku…”

Izuku was suddenly aware of the fact that Ochako was trying to get his attention, her hand resting on his shoulder. He flinched involuntarily and she removed her hand quickly with a light blush dusting her cheeks.

“Deku are you alright? You seem kind of skittish,” She said, her eyes glittering with worry.

“Yeah, Uraraka is right, you have seemed awfully worn out and concerned lately, are you taking your meds?” Iida chimed in, his glasses glinting with the reflected light of the windows as he turned his head to look at Izuku properly.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry guys, I’m just really tired is all, those meds don’t have a sleep amplifier in them so my mind keeps me up at night sometimes,” Izuku replied, his hand retreating to rub at the back of his neck nervously.

“Are you sure? You seem a little more than just tired, you know that you can tell us anything right?” Ochako asked, her voice filled with a worry that made Izuku blush slightly. Izuku looked at his two closest friends, his heart torn between keeping Dakota a secret and settling his friend’s worries. He bit his lower lip and took the time to think while their conversation was interrupted by the act of getting food from the lunch line. Eventually, though, the trio made it to a table to eat and his friends were still staring at him as if he were about to drop dead. Finally, Izuku sighed and made a decision.

_____________________________________

“Mom, I’m home, and I’ve brought friends!” Izuku called once he had entered his house and locked the front door behind Ochako and Iida. There was no answer to his call, and upon entering the kitchen, Izuku found a note from his mother that said she had gone out to buy some supplies from the store and to contact a veterinary office about having someone come by to check out Dakota. Izuku crumpled the note and threw it away before opening the fridge door and ducking in to see what food they had available.

“Iida, Ochako, do you guys want anything? Any snacks or drinks?”

“I am alright, thanks Midoriya.”

“I’m good too, Deku!” His friends called from the living room. Izuku pushed some food around in the fridge before finding some fish in the back, fish that Izuku knew his mother was not planning on using anytime soon. He found his friends standing in the living room, exploring the space and admiring the apartment space despite the lack of things to admire.

“This is a nice place, Deku! Hey, what is that fish for?” Izuku was about to respond that his home wasn’t much when he remembered how little money the Uraraka family had so he swallowed down his first answer and smiled.

“Thanks a lot, Uraraka! It is small but it is cozy and it is the perfect home for both my mother and I. As for this fish, I am going to use it in a moment because it has something to do with what has been keeping me up at night.”

Iida and Ochako glanced at each other before nodding for him to go on. Izuku took a deep breath and sorted his thoughts in order. He planned to tell them about Dakota but he meant to keep her true identity a secret. He did not need them panicking or getting themselves killed, he still had no idea how Dakota may react to him bringing new people to the house to see her. He did not want to accidentally let on that she was not actually a dog.

“You see, about two days ago or so, I went out with my mom for dinner in hopes of relaxing a little and taking my mind off of some of the recent events that have happened to me. We had a great time but on our way home, we encountered this dog. She had black fur and these beautiful gleaming eyes, it was almost as if a piece of the night sky had wandered out of those bushes. She was a really impressive animal but she was injured, to the point where she collapsed in front of us. We didn’t want to leave her there and all of the nearby veterinarian offices were closed for the night so…”

“You took her home didn’t you, Midoriya?” Iida asked, pushing his glasses up on his nose, his eyebrows furrowed as he processed what Izuku said.

“Yeah, we did. That is what has been making me so skittish and anxious. She is a little on the aggressive side but she is mostly just scared for her life. I have been cleaning her wounds and trying to heal them as much as possible as there is no way we could ever take her to a vet, she would never in her life let us pick her up again. That is why my mother is gone today, she is trying to see if a vet would be willing to stop by the house to see what is wrong with her, but until then I’ve been taking care of her basically twenty-four seven.”

“But what about school then?” Ochako asked worriedly.

“Yeah, well that is why I was so anxious and out of the loop today, I’ve been stressing all day about her. I know my mother has been here for most of the day but you just never know with a strange dog you’ve just met at your house. I honestly don’t know how she will react to meeting you guys but I thought I’d give it a shot because I trust you guys and I needed someone to confide in.”

Ochako and Iida were silent for a moment before Ochako stood up and leaned in to give Izuku a tender hug. Izuku was a little bit shocked at first, his arms hesitating awkwardly over her back, but then he threw caution to the wind and returned her affections.

“Thank you for trusting us, Deku. I promise we will help you in any way possible with this injured dog, alright? We don’t want you to get too far behind in class right?” Ochako said as she released him and smiled at him. Izuku looked at both of them and smiled genuinely.

“Alright then, thank you so much, guys! Are you ready to meet her?”

“Yeah!” Iida and Ochako stood up and followed Izuku down the hall to his bedroom. Izuku blushed a little at the fact that he forgot to clear out some of the All Might memorabilia in his room, and tried to ignore the fact that his bedroom was even labeled with an All Might sign. Forcing down his nerves as the trio reached the door, Izuku finally turned the door knob with one hand, his other hand holding the plate of fish up high. He opened the door a crack and peered in carefully, checking to make sure Dakota had not healed enough to be waiting by the door for an ambush. He only felt himself relax a little when he saw her curled up in her makeshift bed, as usual, her eyes watching him warily but somewhat less coldly. Izuku then pushed the door all the way open so that the dog and his friends were able to see each other clearly.

Dakota tensed immediately but did not growl or bare her teeth, she just watched. Iida and Ochako peered through the opening and looked down at the dog, Ochako bringing her hands up to her mouth and Iida nervously readjusting his glasses again. Ochako then mumbled something behind her hands and Izuku turned to her, worried that she was scared of the dog.

“What was that, Ochako? Are you alright?”

“She is beautiful,” Ochako said, removing her hands from her mouth so that everyone in the room could hear her clearly. Dakota’s ears perked a little at that and her tail thumped twice and then stilled.

“Oh my god, Deku! I can’t believe you found this dog just wandering around the streets, injured and alone! She is the most gorgeous dog I’ve ever seen! I bet she will be a real prize-winner when she is fully healed,” Ochako gushed, her eyes never leaving the black dog. Dakota lowered her head a little, Izuku could almost describe it as a bashful move and licked her lips slightly. Her tail thumped twice more and Izuku’s eyes widened.

“Wow, congrats Ochako, you are officially her favorite person, I have never seen her wag her tail that much in one go.”

“Granted, you have only had her for two days, Deku,” Ochako said with a light blush decorating her cheeks but she smiled anyway and took a slow, tentative step forward. Dakota raised her head again and lowered her ears slowly but still did not act outwardly aggressively. Ochako still stopped once she saw the dog tense and turned to Izuku.

“May I feed her?”

“I don’t really know, Ochako, she is still pretty aggressive, this is the most calm I’ve ever seen her.”

“I understand that Deku but I would like to try something and I need to be able to feed her to make it happen. I promise I won’t go through with it if she starts getting agitated.”

Izuku rubbed the back of his neck as he hesitated, his eyes roving over Dakota and her more relaxed stance. She was definitely still tense but at least she wasn't trying to tear anyone’s hand off. Yet.

Finally, he sighed and nodded, handing the plate of fish over to Ochako.

“Promise me you won’t let her hurt you?” Izuku asked.

“I promise,” Ochako responded, taking the plate and facing back towards the dog again. The dog eyed both the fish and Ochako but did not react when Ochako took a slow step forward.

“Deku, what is her name? Does she even have one?”

“Yes, I have been calling her Dakota. She seems to like it, or at least, she tolerates it.”

Ochako nodded and took another tentative step, her body position slack and relaxed, and her eyes shifted to the side so that she could still watch the dog but avoid making eye contact with her. Finally, Ochako was close enough to lean down and place the plate in front of the dog’s face, her body remaining lax as she barely bent down at the knees and pushed the plate to the dog. The dog hesitated but then lunged at the plate, the fish caught in her jaws before she leaned back into the dog bed and began ripping at the meat. Izuku and Iida both flinched a little when the dog went for the meat but then felt the tensions drift away slightly once she settled back down into the bed. Izuku and Iida were both expecting Ochako to slowly back away from the dog, but to their horror, she leaned down closer to the dog. She was not an idiot, she knew that even though Dakota was busy eating, she knew that the dog was watching her every move and would not hesitate to strike despite her injuries.

Izuku and Iida beckoned for her but she ignored them and raised her hand slowly until it was at the same height as her stomach so that the dog could see it clearly but was also not threatened by the idea of being hit. The boys wanted to launch in and stop her but they knew that that would only make it worse so they waited and watched, ready to bolt in and grab her should everything go downhill.

Moving at the pace of a snail, Ochako slowly snaked her hand past the plate and came to hover over the dog’s shoulder. She waited for a moment and took a deep breath before resting her hand ever so lightly on Dakota’s fur. Dakota immediately froze, a piece of meat hanging limply from her lips but she did not attack.

“Shhhh… shhh… easy girl, my name is Ochako Uraraka. Your name is Dakota, right? That is a very pretty name, very fitting for such a beautiful creature,” Ochako spoke in a barely audible whisper, a blanket of determination and courage fogging over the fear in her eyes so that they shone. “I am here to help you heal so that you can be free to do whatever you please. You are a good dog, a really good dog.”

Ochako moved her hand at an even slower pace than before, her hand able to detect each and every piece of fur that passed beneath it. She kept her hand on the shoulder, just twitching her fingers as a form of petting. At first, Izuku didn’t notice it as his mind was clouded with fear for his friend, but then he felt it. Very lightly, very softly, he felt a warm, pleasurable sensation drift from his shoulder and flow down his arm as if someone had poured liquid gold over his skin. He didn’t know why he felt this way and he stared at his arm as if there were an alien attached, but he wouldn’t say that he hated the sensation, in fact, it felt… nice.

As soon as the Izuku realized that the sensation was there, it was gone, just as Ochako lifted her hand from Dakota’s shoulder and leaned back on her heels before standing very slowly and backing away from the dog. The dog continued to watch Ochako, ignoring the fish clamped in her claws until she was all the way back at the door with her friends. Then, just before the floaty hero in training turned away, Dakota thumped her tail two more times and went back to eating her fish. The trio left the room and closed the door softly behind them. As soon as the door was shut, the three of them let out a breath they each didn’t know they had been holding.

“Uraraka! Are you out of your mind!?” Iida exclaimed. “Midoriya, no wonder you don’t sleep at night! That was some of the highest stress I’ve ever felt and we are heroes in training for god's sake!”

Izuku shook his head, his hair swaying as if he were shaking rainwater off of him.

“Yeah, Uraraka you could have gotten really hurt, I told you she was aggressive. I don’t really know why she liked you so much in particular, but I was really worried about you. Please don’t do that again without letting us know what the plan is first,” Izuku said. Ochako felt her face flush, she was embarrassed to have caused so much trouble even though nothing really happened and she knew that she should have told her friends what she was planning but she was happy she got to try out what she wanted to do.

“I’m sorry Deku, Iida, I won’t do that again, I promise but I am glad that she let me touch her like that. I wanted to test something out.”

“What was it that you were testing for?” Iida asked, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand, the anxiety having caused a light sheen of sweat to build up.

“I think part of the reason why she is so aggressive is that not only do her wounds suggest that she has been seriously abused by a person, but I don’t think she has been lovingly touched in her life, ever. When I pet her, she was wary but I could also tell that she was just scared and so desperately lonely. She may not understand Japenese, but you saw her reaction when I complimented her, I don’t think she’s ever even been looked at without fear or aggression. She just wants someone to love and for someone to love her back. She wants to know kindness. I was testing to see how she would react based on how I approached her and since she was wary but still let me touch her, I’d say she is willing to give it a chance.” Ochako had been speaking to both boys but now she turned her whole attention to Izuku.

“Deku, please don’t ever give up on that dog. She is one of the most unique creatures I have ever met, I can just tell just from having this one interaction with her. Treat her like someone who hates heroes because of some kind of accident, someone who needs help but pushed everyone away. I’ve seen the look in your eye when you see someone in need, promise me you won’t ever lose that spark, especially when it comes to this dog.”

Izuku stared right back into Ochako’s determined eyes, his heart racing and his body trying to force his breathing into a normal rhythm again.

“Ochako, I promise.”

[miracleboiz]

Making a Home Ch. 10

Kita Shinsuke had experienced a lot in life. He had been raised with his grandmother, a loving foster parent and for some time he followed in her foot steps before finding his own path. He thought his foster care license had expired before getting a call at three am with two small boys thrust into his arms. Miya Osamu and Atsumu, from broken homes but still fighting. Thirty days before his license expires. Thirty days to make a choice, keep the boys or let them be separated into different homes. Thirty days to fall in love with them.

Words: 3k

Relationships: Gen

Warnings: Mention of past child abuse, non-graphic abuse

Not from Kita, but it is mentioned. I will post any warnings before any panic attacks or vague descriptions of abuse.

Read below or on AO3

Shinsuke didn’t look up as the doorbell rang again, letting Oikawa move past him to greet whoever had come in. Instead he and Osamu had Azumane on his knees in the back corner office while Osamu did his best to braid a ribbon into the long stips. Azumane still looked a little traumatized from having a four foot tall child run up to him and yell the question at him to braid his hair.

“Are you sure… This is highly unprofessional.” Azumane said, glancing up at his boss.

Shinsuke was moving the drawings on the back wall to clear up more space and barely gave Azumane a quick flick of his eyes before he was shrugging. He didn’t say that as long as Osamu was smiling he would let him do anything, he didn’t think it needed saying aloud.

“My store, my rules. And I think you’re meeting the dress code just fine.” Shinsuke hummed, trying not to laugh at Azumane’s defeated sigh.

“We have a dress code?” Sugawara’s voice made Azumane whine a little louder as the silver haired man crouched down to offer Osamu a new clip to slide into the braided ribbons before moving to the thread wall. Azumane gave him a look of despair as the butterfly was quickly added to his hair, Shinsuke only felt a little guilty that it was probably starting to get unnaturally heavy. Not nearly enough to stop Osamu though

“Yes, it specifically states not to wear anything Oikawa considers to be good.” Shinsuke turned, ignoring the laughter that broke from Sugawara as the pounding of feet reached him. Seconds later Atsumu burst through the gateway.

“ ‘Samu! I’m getting married.” The words made Shinsuke drop the drawings immediately as he scrambled to understand what was going on. He twisted to stare open mouthed at Atsumu, completely speechless as the child rushed at his brother and skittered to a stop in front of him.

“Why?” Osamu looked as confused and terrified as Shinsuke himself felt. Atsumu either didn’t notice or didn’t care because he just held up a box with a bright oversized grin.

“ ‘Cuz if I marry him then I get all the cookies always!” Atsumu chirped, eyes wide with wonder and delight. Shinsuke slowly turned his head to blink at Azumane and Sugawara, both of them were already looking to him for answers.

“Akagi…” Shinsuke called, letting his eyes fall shut as he heard Akagi’s squeaky answer from outside of the back office. He moved around the boys, pausing only enough to brush Atsumu’s hair down from the wind, and looked to find Akagi attempting to hide behind a rack.

“I left you alone with him for…” He glanced at the clock and then back over. “An hour and a half. And now he’s getting married?”

Akagi looked momentarily ashamed before shrugging and holding up a box of baked goods. He smiled pleasantly over the box, attempting to flutter his lashes sweetly but it did nothing against Shinsuke’s annoyed glare.

“It’s not my fault.” Akagi whined, pitching his voice up and making a few customers glance over. He quieted when Shinsuke’s eyes narrowed but his pout only grew stronger as he huffed.

“I didn’t tell Shinji-kun to give him an extra muffin. He just did it and said he liked Atsumu’s shirt, then Atsumu was declaring their engagement to everyone. I thought I was going to have to fight Takahiro-kun for his son’s honor.”

Shinsuke watched him before sighing and glancing back at the twins. They had joined Azumane on the ground and were currently sharing pieces of muffin with him while Sugawara finished grabbing the fabric he’d actually come in for.

“I think Asahi’s already planning the wedding outfits,” Sugawara said breezily as he moved past and back to his customer.

“I’m not making enough money to deal with all of you at the same time.” Shinsuke said softly, wondering if this was going to be his life. 

Running after Akagi to keep him from accidentally traumatizing Shinsuke’s kids, or worse teaching them things to traumatize all of the adults in their life. Meanwhile, Sugawara had found Oikawa and was currently harassing him with a perfectly innocent smile while he tailored a customer’s pant leg. Azumane had grabbed his tablet and was sketching something out while Atsumu was being taught by his brother how to continue the endless braids on Azumane’s head.

In all honesty, a life like this… was a good one. The feeling was sweet, winding in Shinsuke’s stomach as he watched the scene and he wondered if that was why his grandmother had never given up on foster care. Children weren’t necessary for his life to be happy, he was happy before they had arrived and if they left he would still find his life fulfilling and what he wanted. Yet, they brought something new, something light that Shinsuke was hesitant to give up. He could nurture them, protect them, help them grow and the option was more enticing by the minute.

“Oh shit you’re smiling… I’m going to die… Goodbye my sweet ‘Mimi, goodbye my muscular boo Aran, farewell my darling nephews- Shinsuke where are you going? You know my dramatic monologue needs an audience. Don’t make me download TikTok to get attention, you know I’ll do it.” Akagi called softly as Shinsuke took the box of treats before turning and walking away, a fondly exasperated smile playing on his lips. Shinsuke raised a hand to dismiss his remarks, ignoring the whine that rose up.

“Go help one of the customers, I have kids to watch.” Shinsuke said, slipping into the office to watch Atsumu finish his first braid. It was terrible and unbalanced and Shinsuke was proud of him.

“Hey, did you want to meet the others and bring them their muffins?” Shinsuke asked the two of them, holding up Akagi’s box in explanation. Both of them lit up, smiling brightly as they nodded and reached their hands up eagerly for Shinsuke to take them.

The day passed rather quickly, especially after the length of the day before, and as seven o’clock hit Shinsuke was flipping off the last light in the shop. Azumane and Sugawara had left only a few minutes before and Akaashi had escaped a few hours ago. Oikawa was still on the phone with someone but he gave Shinsuke a thumbs up and mimed locking the door as he passed.

Atsumu had already snuck back into the house and was curled up on the couch with Kitty as he played through ‘Spyro’. Osamu on the other hand, had decided he was in charge of Akagi for the day and was enjoying bossing him around.

Still, Shinsuke hadn’t expected to walk into the office between the two buildings to see Akagi on the floor and Osamu in front of him. Osamu was doing his absolute best to explain how to draw a flower for a card and Akagi was either intentionally harassing him or genuinely had no idea what he was doing. Shinsuke watched from the doorway for a moment before deciding it was a little bit of both.

More than a few doodles decorated the floor, markers and crayons laying beside both of their knees while they leaned over Akagi’s current project. Each one was decorated with rather… adorable characters for ‘cheer up’ and ‘you’re doing great’. Shinsuke honestly had no idea what it was for or why Osamu was making Akagi make them but as long as they were having fun he wasn’t going to say anything.

“No, no, you have to make petals- Shinsuke-san!” Osamu chirped as he felt eyes on his back and turned to see him. He grinned, a bright and free smile, and pointed at Akagi who was still just drawing lines on his paper.

“We’re making cards for Azumane! So when he gets scared he can look at these and know it’s okay!” Osamu explained and Shinsuke’s heart melted. He moved over, gently mussing the hair and trying not to give in to the urge to kiss his head.

“That’s great, Osamu. Will you be helping me with dinner tonight as well?” He asked, heart swelling at the way Osamu’s eyes lit up and the child twisted to grab ahold of his hand.

“Can I?”

“Of course. But you need to clean up all of this before we can. So why don’t you help Akagi clean up and then we can get started?” Shinsuke offered and Osamu nodded. He turned to Akagi, hands on his hips.

“C’mon Oji-san! Let’s get this taken care of! Then I can show you how to cook so you’re not hungry anymore.”

Shinsuke laughed softly, making his way inside as Akagi insisted he knew how to cook. Between himself and Osamu, Akagi might actually leave the country with basic knowledge to feed himself instead of eating out constantly.

Shinsuke glanced over at the couch as he walked in, noting Atsumu’s curled-up position. As attached to his brother as he was, Atsumu hadn’t really branched out much and didn’t seem to connect with people as well as his brother. Even with his comment about marriage (though Shinsuke still thought it was rather cute he had forgotten that money was a thing that he could use to buy pastries and instead skipped straight to marriage) he hadn’t brought up Shinji-kun or the bakery again all day.

“Do you mind if I sit with you?” Shinsuke asked softly, waiting for Atsumu’s nervous glance and jerky head nod. “Thank you, Atsumu… Can I check on your cheek?”

This time Atsumu fully froze, pressing the pause button on the game. His eyes darted to Shinsuke before he slowly nodded his head, anxiety clear in his gaze. Despite seeming to finally relax and branch out, Atsumu wasn’t actually asking for what he wanted. Instead he was letting his brother lead them around and following along happily with whatever adult offered him something.

Shinsuke moved closer until he could gently tilt up the child’s head, looking over the dark purple skin carefully. Atsumu’s eye didn’t seem affected by it and it was healing well for only being the second day. Though Shinsuke could see that it was slightly swollen, the skin around it pink and irritated like someone had been prodding it.

“Does it hurt much?” Shinsuke asked as he pulled his hand back with a quiet thank you.

“I’ve had worse.” Atsumu said and Shinsuke noticed he didn’t answer the question. Atsumu turned his head away as Shinsuke tried to look closer, a frown on his own lips.

“Atsumu, were you touching it?” He kept his voice light and gentle so Atsumu wouldn’t think he was in trouble. Regardless the child flinched subtly, fingers grasping the controller tighter.

“The… the people in the shop… kept staring…” Atsumu confessed after a few heartbeats, shaking slightly. “I wanted to make them go away but… It just… made it worse…”

Shinsuke stared at him for a moment, feeling guilty for not noticing at all. Of course Atsumu would have been self conscious about his face especially with the memory of how it happened so fresh in his memory. 

“Why didn't you say anything?” Shinsuke regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. Of course Atsumu hadn’t said anything. He didn’t know he could trust anyone yet, it was only the second day there was no way he would have warmed up so quickly with his past.

Atsumu froze, shaking slightly and Shinsuke realized he was trying to hold his breath before he started crying. His mind blanked for a second before he rapidly told himself to calm down and instead focused on Atsumu.

“I’m sorry Atsumu. It’s alright if you don’t want to tell me things, I didn’t mean to imply otherwise…” Shinsuke started but it was clear that it wasn’t helping when Atsumu shook again with a ragged breath. “Atsumu…”

Shinsuke licked his lips, trying to think of how to calm him down before Osamu and Akagi finished. He didn’t want Atsumu shutting himself off to everyone to keep his brother happy and he definitely didn’t want Osamu to pick up on his brother’s panic and leave him with two anxious kids to calm down.

“Atsumu,” he started again letting his voice soften until it was near a whisper, “it’s alright. I’m sorry they were staring at you, next time you can come back inside if you want. I’m sorry I didn’t notice, I should have been there to help you. I’m very sorry I didn’t protect you.”

Atsumu’s gaze shot to him, once, twice, three times. The tiniest tears were forming at the edge of his eyes at his panic before confusion started to build instead. His mouth moved without words, and his eyes danced around the room. His fingers tapped at the controller for a moment before he finally seemed to be able to come back to himself.

“What…” His voice was a whisper and Shinsuke regretted not watching his words better. “Why… Why are you sorry?”

“Atsumu, it scared you right? Made you upset that they stared?” Shinsuke waited for the inevitable nod before continuing. “I should have stopped that but I didn’t realize it was happening. It’s my fault for not protecting you… Atsumu… A parent is supposed to protect you, I should have let you know you were allowed to leave earlier or let you know you could have stayed right next to me. And for that I’m sorry. The bruises on your face won’t go away by poking at them, they’ll just hurt worse and now it’s because I failed you. I’m sorry, Atsumu. I hope you can forgive me.”

Atsumu wasn’t able to speak, he just stared at Shinsuke. Choked noises came from his throat but no words escaped as he looked on with confusion and anxiety. The child swallowed, looking away a second later before rapidly nodding his head.

The only other time any adult had ever apologized had been when Kenma-kun said sorry for his game music being loud back at the police station. No adult had ever apologized to Atsumu for messing up and certainly none of his foster parents had ever bothered to ask him to forgive them.

Atsumu had no idea what to do with the knowledge or how to act. Did he say yes? Did he hug Shinsuke? Did he say sorry back? Cry? Smile?

He put the controller down slowly beside him, biting his lip as he turned to look more fully at Shinsuke. His foster parent actually looked remorseful, like he did really feel bad for not noticing Atsumu’s problem. Atsumu wasn’t really sure how to tell him that he was good at hiding it, and he had a feeling that would just make Shinsuke sad again. After all… Parents were supposed to love their kids right? Being hurt would make a parent sad and Shinsuke had said...

“You… Said...parent…” Atsumu said softly, flinching internally as Shinsuke blinked at him. He meant foster parent, of course he did. Atsumu shook his head, shoving away the hope and the heartache that was taking its place.

“It’s okay…” Atsumu said quickly as Shinsuke opened his mouth to say something. “Really… it’s okay. I… I… I’ll leave, next time.”

Shinsuke hesitated, wanting to push further but this wasn’t a teenager. This was a scared six year old who didn’t have the tools or the emotional maturity to talk through all of this in one sitting. They’d have to work at it. Together.

“Only if you want to.” Shinsuke murmured, tilting his head to look at the bruises again. “I’ll go get an ice pack for the swelling alright?”

Atsumu nodded, letting his gaze fall to the couch when Shinsuke left. He should have known better than to think Shinsuke actually thought of himself as their parent. He must have meant whichever parents decided to adopt them, if any did.

Yet….

Shinsuke-san was kind, was it bad of Atsumu to wish Shinsuke was his parent? That Shinsuke would decide to keep them after all instead of passing them off like a baton? Was Atsumu a bad person for not wanting Shinsuke to be disappointed in him for being weak? Was he betraying his future parents by wanting Shinsuke to stay with him and Osamu?

He jumped as he felt Shinsuke sitting down again, looking up to see him offering an ice pack in one hand and… The fish crackers that Atsumu had asked for at the store.

Shinsuke’s blank face softened and Atsumu was starting to realize that Shinsuke wasn’t blank so much as… quiet. You had to look further than just his frown to know what he was thinking.

“You didn’t eat much at lunch since you ate so many muffins, so I thought you might like them.” Shinsuke explained as he reached forward and placed the ice pack gently over Atsumu’s bruise. Atsumu shook slightly, the words escaping him again but Shinsuke didn’t seem to mind as he ruffled his hair.

“Are you okay? You just have to nod or shake your head, okay?” Shinsuke said, the corners of his lips lifting as Atsumu nodded his head and moved to hold the pack on his face. Shinsuke pushed off the couch after opening the box, turning back towards the shop.

“I’m going to go see what’s taking Osamu and Akagi so long okay?” He explained, moving a few steps towards the door. He glanced back when a soft noise came from Atsumu, taking in the blinking eyes that lingered on the spot beside him.

Atsumu didn’t want to be alone again. Part of him hated it, he’d only had Osamu for years. Why was it different now? Part of him wanted to call Shinsuke back, ask if he was allowed a hug… Ask if he could stay a little while longer so Atsumu could pretend Shinsuke cared about him more than the money, more than because a friend asked. So Atsumu could pretend a little longer he was wanted.

“Hey Atsumu?” Shinsuke called, waiting until he glanced up to make sure he heard. “After dinner, would you be okay with showing me how to play that minecraft game?”

Atsumu’s eyes lit up immediately and he nodded, the barest hint of a grin growing on his face. Shinsuke couldn’t help but smile back, finally turning to look for his wayward sons that probably were covering his walls in paint. 

They had some more work to do. A lot more work really, but Atsumu was smiling and Osamu’s laughter was echoing from the office. Shinsuke couldn’t help but think that this was a very good life.