#anyway my eyes went IMMEDIATELY to the word castrated

[figuerockfaeth]

best email i’ve ever received

[babyjamiebarnes]

Build-A-Bear

Part Eight

Featuring: Bucky x Stark!reader, Steve, Sam, OC Monique, Tony

Warnings: language, implied smut, talk of pregnancy/children, pregnancy scare

Chapter Summary: Sam finds out about Reader and Bucky’s secret. Reader has a scare that helps Reader and Bucky have a very important conversation.

Author’s Note: This was originally going to be longer but in light of recent events in America, I decided to postpone a violent scene (so warning for the next part: violence). It’s kinda short and I’m so sorry but I wanted to give you something. As always, feel free to buy me a coffee!

Tags: @amourmarvel @fangirlvoice @kennedywxlsh @devilswaldorf @what-the-hap-is-fuckning @alyispunk @fredweasleysbitchh @wearegroot @sunflowerbebe107 @prestigious-tea

(Part One) (Part Two) (Part Three) (Part Four) (Part Five) (Part Six) (Part Seven)

Despite his frustration with finding out he was breaking way more than just company protocol, Bucky’s attitude simmered and eventually fizzled out as the day went on. You’d bet seeing you uncomfortably directing security where to put your lab equipment while Bucky’s cum stuck to the inside of your thighs had an impact on his mood.

The rest of the day went by surprisingly well, all things considered. You took the day to set up your at-home lab while Steve got groceries and cooked, Sam installed security cameras in all the common areas, and Bucky searched your place for any bugs or wires. No one was weird about things, aside from Bucky when you first arrived. Sam was his usual goofy self and Steve was a dad stereotype.

That night, however, Steve sat everyone down in your living room for a little chat. Steve and Sam sat on the sofa across from you and Bucky, almost like they were concerned parents talking to you before sending you to prom.

“Okay, time to address the elephant in the room. Who knew about who you are before it was leaked?” Steve asked, elbows propped on his knees and that signature crease between his brows.

“Other than dad, Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy, just Monique,” you shrugged. “But it wasn’t her. She has nothing to gain from telling anyone.”

“Well, unfortunately we’ll have to look into her anyway,” Steve sighed. “But if it’s not her, it won’t be a problem. And you’re sure there’s no one else?”

“What about that boyfriend of yours?” Sam asked.

“It’s not him,” you said meekly. “I never told him.”

“Are you sure he couldn’t have found out?” Sam pressed.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

Sam nodded but added, “We should still talk to the guy —”

“I didn’t know,” Bucky interrupted from beside you.

Sam looked confused, but Steve next to him was smirking, clearly trying to hold back a laugh.

“What?” Sam asked.

Bucky leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, his stance wide and fingers intertwined in the middle. If the situation wasn’t so serious, you’d be even more turned on.

“I didn’t know,” he repeated with a forced, tight-lipped smile. “I found out this morning and I was just as shocked as you were.”

“I said I was sorry!” you groaned, tossing your arms in the air in exasperation.

Bucky leaned back to wrap an arm around your shoulders and pull you into his side. When he slid his arm over your neck, you instinctively gripped his forearm but the giggle you let out showed you weren’t trying to pry him off you.

While you wiggled in Bucky’s grasp to get comfortable, Sam’s eyes darted between the two of you in a mix of shock and curiosity.

“Man, how the hell did you get a girl like that?!”

Steve finally let his laugh out at this. Bucky just tightened his arm around your throat, making you moan quietly, just barely loud enough for him to hear.

“Trust me, she’s a pain in the ass,” Bucky teased. You giggled again and squirmed out of his grasp to straddle his legs, now that everyone in the room knew your secret.

“You can always be a pain in my ass,” you smirked as you draped your arms over his shoulders and scooted forward so your pelvis was pressed against him. He groaned in frustration and tossed his head back, gripping your ass cheeks in an attempt to ground himself.

“You better watch your mouth before I fuck you right here, right now, princess,” he practically growled. You bit your lip to tease him just a little bit more. He had only called you ‘princess’ twice but it was definitely doing something for you.

“I hate to be a buzzkill,” Sam started, “but her dad would skin you alive if he heard you saying that.”

“And then filet what’s left if he saw this,” Steve added.

“Bucky’d probably taste pretty good though,” Sam shrugged. “Especially if we got to the thighs.”

“Yeah, I’d go for the thighs,” Steve agreed, making Bucky roll his eyes.

“I’d go for something else,” you piped in.

“Okay, let’s end this before it gets out of hand,” Steve said. You frowned but plopped back onto the couch next to Bucky instead of on top of him.

The rest of the night was spent mapping out who knew about you, who might’ve figured it out, and what any of those people would’ve gotten out of leaking your secret. You adamantly ruled Monique out; she didn’t need the money or the attention and already knew the type of stress your secret put on you. And her concerned texts begging you to believe it wasn’t her and vowing to castrate whoever told the media helped support your case. Unfortunately, it led to a lot of dead ends. You knew it couldn’t have been Happy, Rhodey, or Pepper, but that left literally no one as a suspect.

Halfway across town, your dad, Rhodey, Happy, Pepper, and Bruce were going over their own documents and information to get to the bottom of it. None of the news stations were willing to divulge their source, claiming it was “anonymous” so they didn’t know who said it, but Tony wasn’t convinced. He was worried about you, but he also knew your temporary roommates were solid protection for you.

He just didn’t know the additional protection you’d need with one of those roommates.

•

Bucky was always great about your period. It usually only lasted a few days because of your birth control and was on the light side, but he had no issue with laying down one of his “safety towels” before laying you down during those three days. He even set reminders in his phone so he knew to be prepared. So when his reminder popped up on what was usually your final day, he walked in with a towel while you lounged in bed, but he was confused at your own confusion.

“Why do you have a towel?” you laughed.

“Babe,” he whined. It amused you to no end when the big bad Winter Soldier whined at you. “I’m horny.”

You laughed again as he tossed the towel onto the bed beside you and settled his weight between your legs.

“Okay? Why does that involve a towel?”

Bucky furrowed his eyebrows at you.

“Aren’t you on your period?”

It only took one second for the realization to make your breath catch in your throat. It took one more second for Bucky’s entire body to grow tense.

“You’re on your period, right?” he asked. The urgency in his voice did nothing but stress you out more. You pulled your body out from under his and ran into your bathroom, rummaging through the drawers looking for an old test you were sure you had lying around somewhere. You had personally only ever taken one as a joke, but you knew Britt had panicked and taken more than a couple at your place before she got married.

“[Y/N].” Bucky’s voice behind you as you crouched on your bathroom floor made you pause your searching. “Talk to me,” he pressed.

You didn’t look at him as you spoke.

“I’m late.”

He let out a huff behind you but quickly crouched beside you, wrapping an arm around your shoulders because if he thought he was scared, he couldn’t imagine what you were feeling.

“Okay. We’ll go pick up a test and cross our fingers in the meantime,” he said quietly.

“How are we supposed to get a pregnancy test, James? Everyone knows who I am now,” you snapped.

You hated how easily you could tear up because you didn’t want to cry over your situation, but the stress hit you too quickly for any other reaction to kick in first.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” you muttered quickly, pawing at your face to wipe away stray tears. “I’ll call Monique and have her pick one up.”

“Okay.” Bucky was treading lightly, you could tell. “Do you want to be alone or do you want me to stay with you?”

You bit your lip and took a deep, shaky breath to push more tears back.

“I think I want you to stay.”

Bucky let you sit between his legs while you called Monique.

“Hey, what’s up?” she answered almost immediately.

“I need you to come over,” you said, trying and failing to cover the panic in your voice.

“What’s going on? Are you okay?” You could hear rustling in the background and knew she was already sliding on shoes to rush over.

“I kind of need you to pick something up for me.”

“Anything.”

“Um… I need you to grab a pregnancy test.”

“A preg—” she paused. “A… okay, yeah, I’ll pick that up and swing by soon.”

“Thanks, Momo,” you replied quietly, tossing out the nickname you gave her after you two rewatched Avatar: The Last Airbender a couple years prior.

“See you soon, love you,” she said as you heard the slam of her door.

“Love you.”

True to her word, Monique knocked on your front door less than 20 minutes later. Since Steve and Sam practically interrogated her just a couple days before, they didn’t hesitate to let her in. She proved she wasn’t one to just let them toss around unsubstantiated accusations.

“Hey booboo,” she cooed as she stepped into your room. “I grabbed three different brands just to be safe and threw in a bottle of sparkling grape juice and a bottle of champagne, depending on what results we get.”

You couldn’t help but finally laugh at the cross between a cringe and a smile on her face. You practically lunged off the bed to give her a hug. She held you a second longer than usual and started leading you to your bathroom. When Bucky started to follow, she turned sharply.

“Uh-uh. You stay put. You’re the whole reason this is happening.”

“Monique, it takes two,” you chuckled behind her.

“And he’s the one who ejaculated in you.” You scoffed and grabbed her arm to tug her into the bathroom with you.

“We’ll be out in a few minutes.”

Bucky loved seeing how easily your best friend could immediately lift your spirits, but hated being sequestered in the bedroom.

The minutes ticked by even slower for you. Monique tried to keep you occupied as your phone and her phone counted down until the results would appear. One only took three minutes but the other two took five, so you anxiously stared at the three-minute test lying face-down on the sink until Monique’s phone beeped.

You breathed out an early sigh of relief at the test that read “NOT PREGNANT.”

“Two more,” Monique reminded you.

Those last two minutes felt even longer than the first three. But once your phone dinged, you and Monique each grabbed one of the two remaining tests. Judging by Monique’s squeal, you had the same results. You peeked over just to make sure and barreled through the bathroom door, startling Bucky as he sat on the edge of the bed.

“Not pregnant!” you screamed in excitement.

You ran and tackled him, sending him onto his back on the bed.

“Do I need to remind you two what caused this in the first place?” Monique laughed behind you two.

All of your heads turned when your bedroom door swung open to reveal both Steve and Sam looking even more concerned than usual.

“Did you just say what I think you said?!” Steve asked.

“What do you think I said?” you asked, sitting up onto Bucky’s lap.

“We heard ‘I’m pregnant’!” Sam shouted.

“Not pregnant!” you clarified and held up the test you were still gripping. “No babies yet.”

“Yet?” Bucky parroted.

“Uh… yeah…?” you replied hesitantly.

It was something that seemed so far into the future for you two that you never discussed it, but you did want a kid or two someday. And judging by the scare you just had, it was something you should probably discuss soon, just in case.

But Bucky’s reaction pretty much answered your unspoken question. He moved a hand to the back of your neck and pulled you down for a forceful, heated kiss. He easily slid his tongue into your mouth and squeezed your ass — until Monique cleared her throat.

“You should probably use these next time,” she said as she tossed a box of condoms at you.

Bucky pulled away quick enough to catch the box before it hit you, but the rest of the room still laughed at your expense.

“You really like giving Stark a reason to kill you, don’t you?” Sam asked Bucky, who groaned out loud and collapsed back on the bed.

“I didn’t know!”

•

That night as you and Bucky were lying in bed — just a couple hours after your period finally started — you forced your nerves away and asked the big question.

“Hey, what were you feeling today? Before I took the tests, I mean.”

Bucky continued to stroke your arm, unfazed by the topic.

“Initially, fear. And then the more time passed, the more that fear turned into... excitement, I guess? I mean, I always wanted kids back in the day, but now I’m kind of worried, you know?”

“Why?” you prodded, propping yourself up on Bucky’s chest so you could look directly at him. He propped his head up with his hand to look back at you.

“Do I need to remind you that I was the deadliest assassin in the world 10 years ago?” he smirked.

“Well yeah, but not anymore!” you smiled back. “You’re my Bucky Bear now.”

“Mm, keep saying cute shit like that and I’ll actually get you pregnant next time.”

You giggled at this but shook your head.

“Monique got us condoms for a reason.”

“Do you want to use one now?” Bucky smirked.

“I gotta be totally honest,” you started slowly. You felt weird saying this but, “I don’t think I want to use them at all.” That cute little wrinkle popped up between Bucky’s eyebrows as he silently questioned your answer. “I just… I like feeling you.”

You swung a leg over his body to straddle him and pressed your body to his. Your lips attached to his neck before trailing up to his ear.

“I’m not against them if you want to use them,” you said softly. “But you should make that decision soon.”

He made up his mind real quick.

[cheelduh]

How to strike your way into someone’s heart (Highschool AU)

Part 2 to this. Can be read alone!

Pairing: Childe x fem!reader

Warnings: A lot of swearing I mean what do you expect they’re all teenagers. Lots of brick slapping. Childe clowns Scaramouche. OH YES this isn’t edited at all lmfao have fun.

Synopsis: It’s your big date with Childe after you lost the bet miserably. You decide to pay the occult club a visit in hopes of finding something that can...ease your concerns. Childe on the other hand has Signora give him a friendly piece of advice, believe it or not. 

Note: SRY THIS TOOK ME LIKE A MONTH

For as long as you can remember, you've never believed in ghosts, demons, or souls that lose their way in the endless void, forced to roam the earth in repentance.

Believing in the unknown takes creativity, adventure, maybe even a little sense of fear. Scratch that—a shitton of fear, because humans love to weave in their insecurities and inability to explain something into something of a phenomenon.

Bad luck lies in this category. Bad luck is simply a way to justify the catastrophe that one cannot admit they have fabricated themselves. Everyone wants a reason as to why shit hits the fan, and it can be anything but their own fault.

Bad luck is nothing but a load of bull to you. That's totally why you're standing outside the calculus classroom during lunch break, which happens to be the official meet spot for the occult club.

You raise a fist to knock, but then falter, thinking over your options once again. Is this what it has come to? Putting your faith into the weird kids that once tried to summon Schrödinger's cat for the physics final.

Fischl kicks the door wide open, a smirk playing at her lips once she spots you. "One cannot refrain from the song of your cogitation. The feline for which thou dwell on—"

A squeak leaves your throat and you flinch back, cutting her off. "You can read my mind?"

"Fischl," An icy eyed boy shows up from behind her and points a thumb back. "Mona needs your help."

Fischl squints at you for a brief moment, and then spins onto her heel to go back into the room.

The blue haired lower class man, Chongyun you guess, narrows his eyes at you. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Finally you manage to speak, palms all sweaty. "Yeah uh, I need your help. You know, with occulty things." You use your hands to articulate your thoughts, but ultimately give up.

You're not sure if it's pity towards your pathetic explanation or simply annoyance, but Chongyun widens the opening. He silently gestures for you to follow.

Stumbling on your feet and putting on your big girl pants, you hurry inside of the room, hoping you aren't seen by Beidou. She wouldn't let you hear the end of this.

The temperature instantly drops, and you have to adjust your sight to navigate. There's heavy incense in the air as well as a a few lighted candles from the dollar store, you guess.

Sitting smack dab in the middle of all the demonic markings is Mona, with a mischievous glint in her eyes. Chongyun has made his way next to her, crossing his arms with a sigh, and Fischl is busy cooing at her bird.

"Well well well..." Mona's amused, eyes almost twinkling as she gets up from the poor desk that had to suffer the wrath of her ass. "If it isn't Y/N."

Mona is a glorified dick wiper in your books. One time, she partnered up with you in chemistry last year and refused to do any work because apparently her "star sign" said she was incompatible with science. You haven't forgiven her since.

"I need your help." You barely manage to choke out the words, reigning yourself in by clenching your fists instead. It'll be unethical to claw her face, especially since you're the one who's come to her.

"Oh?" She smiles wickedly, revelling in every moment of this no doubt. "Why would the high and mighty Y/N need help from the 'Whoroscope whore'?"

Fischl nearly slips out a laugh, trying with her upmost ability to refrain from rolling all over the floor.

You blink away your tears of almost-laughter, casually sliding in twenty mora across the table dividing you two. If she's a whoroscope whore like you say she is, she'll definitely put it in her bra.

Mona raises a brow, but her eyes linger on the bill for a second too much. "What makes you think I'll do it for money?"

"That's simple," You say, rolling your eyes. "When you see mora, you cling to it like a baby clings to a tit. Now just take it and solve my issues."

She fumes a litany of curses but snatches the money up anyways.

"What do you want?"

You breathe in, then out. "I need a talisman."

Mona raises a brow, hand on her hip. "I'm sorry. Did I get that right?"

How dare she. You will your eye into not twitching, the beginnings of fire thrumming through your veins, scalding hot. How dare she make me repeat myself.

"You know, the thing to fend off evil spirits," Your statement hangs heavy in the air as the cogs in their brains click into place. "I need one that can remove the most evilest thing times ten to the power of twenty five on this planet."

Everyone immediately thinks of Hu Tao.

Chongyun is the first to speak from an area of expertise, seemingly shocked at your words. "Are you sure you want a talisman that powerful? How bad is the evil spirit you've come across?"

You glance out the window, through the semi-open blinds. The apprehension curls in your stomach once you spot Childe chasing Aether with safety scissors, and you've never been more sure of than anything in your life.

Gulping, you turn back to the exorcist. "I'm 110% sure."

He doesn't ask any more questions and goes to fetch the talisman.

Mona clears her throat. "So I hear you have a date with Childe today. Quite the character you've taken to."

"Oh please," You hiss through your teeth, your blood pressure going up tenfold, "you're the one that told him our star signs were intertwined and that we're fated lovers."

She shrugs innocently, stance casual unlike your own that is ready to lunge an attack.

"Here you are," Chongyun hands you a talisman, a colourful mix of some charms, some kind of liquid in a bottle, and about a shitton of other things. "You'll need these if you're going to face the most demonic of all evils."

You think of Childe's stupidly handsome smirk, the playful life of his eyes, and how gentle and considerate he is with you. You think about how cruel he is to others, but how loving he can be to you.

"Oh, I will be."

—

Childe is getting his ass handed to him by Scaramouche on the switch. It's just that he can't seem to focus, not with the forthcoming date all over his mind.

He hasn't experienced these kind of jitters in a long time. Has to endure that foolish smile that's about to plaster all over his face.

Scaramouche may be a son of a bitch with an agenda, but he doesn't appreciate his acquaintances safeguarding their personal crap when it starts to leak onto him. Especially when it comes to video games.

"Okay," The short boy sighs, stretching over the staff room sofa to drop his controller on the cushions. "Let's hear it." He can't even properly enjoy his victories when Childe isn't giving it his all.

"Hear what?" Childe lays his head back, relaxing from all the strain of endless gaming during the lunch hour. He seems too relaxed for someone who's broken into the teacher's lounge.

"Why you're so distracted." Scaramouche points out. "Not that I care—hey! I'm serious here!"

Childe's cracking up for absolutely no reason, rudely cutting him off. "I'm sorry—sorry it's just so hard to take you seriously when you're wearing that stupid fucking hat."

"Don't question the drip." The older moves his head to glare at him, but the thin stripe of silk on his hat swooshes with him, and it's enough to have Childe clutching his stomach in pain as he barks out in laughter.

"Grow the fuck up." Scaramouche says, no doubt exasperated from the constant shit he gets.

"Ok—ok I'm sorry."

There's a knock on the door before Scaramouche gets the chance to intimidate him again.

"Fuck shit fuck who is that? Wasn't there a staff meeting?" Childe whisper yells, panic clear in the ocean of his eyes.

Scaramouche shrugs and downs a can of soda with no care in the world.

Childe would be nonchalant too. If it were a normal day, he wouldn't give two shits about getting caught.

However, he's looking forward to that date he has with you today. Detention is going foil all his lecherous plans.

"It's me." The feminine sound of a threat calls out from the other side. "Open the door." The clicks and clacks of her toes tapping the floor indicating her impatience.

The two sigh in relief, Childe getting up to open the door. It's way too early in the afternoon to deal with this crap.

"Surprised to see me?" Signora greets sweetly, and if not for the murderous glint in her eyes, he would smile back.

"Yeah, I didn't say Bloody Mary three times." The ginger replies, keeping a steady eye on the upperclassman in case she pulls a fast one.

The blonde shoves him aside in offence, and prances in like she owns the goddamn place. Scaramouche greets her with the bird.

"There's this rumour going around—I'm sure you've heard..."

"Oh?" Childe pockets his keys, ready for an attack, not even remotely interested in the topic.

"Something about how Y/N gave Mona a visit today" Signora muses, elegantly taking a seat on the arm of the couch, "with your date and all, I just thought you should know."

"Hah!" Scaramouche bursts out in laughter, tears in the corner of his eyes. "I can't believe she went to get a horoscope reading on how shitty your date's gonna be."

"Get castrated." Childe growls, flipping him off on both hands.

"Now now boys," Signora's lips curl, and she clasps both manicured hands together, prepared to break the fight if it ever reaches its peak. "Settle down. You two are comrades."

"As if I'm comrades with this SIMP!" Scaramouche has to wheeze out the words.

The youngest clenches his fists, unclenches, and then lets a smirk grow. "Oh? I'm the simp? What about that time Mona pantsed you in-front of all the freshmen and you fell in love with her."

Scaramouche glares at him, a glare strong enough to have anyone shaking in their shoes. "I'm attracted at her sheer audacity of trying to fuck I, Scaramouche, the 8th harbinger, over. It takes balls."

"Mad respect." Signora leans forward to place her phone on the coffee table, then approaches Childe. "Moving on, the reason I've decided to bestow my precious intel on you is because I have a favour to ask of you."

"What?" He says blankly, confused that she has a request for him out of all people.

"I need you to let me get you ready for this date of yours." She gives him a gaze that is enough to wither away any arguments.

Childe shares a look with Scaramouche as if to say "am I fucking deaf because I sure as shit didn't just hear that."

"You sure as hell did, boys." Signora intercepts the connection of their two brainwaves with a dreaded sigh. "I hate Y/N. This is the only way I can get back at her."

"Hey!" Childe exclaims loudly, waving his hands in the air incessantly. "What makes you think I'll let you shit on my future girlfriend."

"I'll be doing nothing of the sorts." She points out, giving him a sly smile. "I just know she's terrified of what's coming. The better the date is, the more she's gonna hate herself. What more do I need but to sprinkle some inner conflict within her airtight resolve?"

As favorable as the proposal is, Childe  contemplates for a second. Signora...helping him? This could work to his advantage if he plays his cards right.

His inner turmoil takes him into the future, where you two are happily married with eight and a half kids. If you ever managed to find out Signora was the culprit that was finally able to set you two up, you'd never forgive him.

"Nah I'll take a hard pass." He doesn't want to think about divorce and custody battles this early on. He'd rather face the brunt of Signora's wrath.

Scaramouche chooses right then to make a tactical withdrawal out through the window since he doesn't want to be a witness to a murder he hasn't caused.

Surprisingly— "Fine then." Signora shrugs, unbothered when summoning out a minty juul from no where. She's disappointed nonetheless.

Childe tilts his head, perplexed, but decides against mulling over it for too long. Instead, he strides off to the door, wanting to get the last two periods over with so he can run home and freshen up for this date.

"Oh and Childe?" Signora calls out to him, but he barely acknowledges her, only pausing momentarily without looking back. "A piece of friendly advice. A diligent student like Y/N, there's no way she'd be into rash things like fighting. So try and control yourself, hmm?"

He flashes the senior a sheepish smile, the front row tickets to the illegal underground fight-club burning in the back pocket of his pants.

—

Childe conceals near the bushes by the gate, expertly hiding his shaking hands by pretending to look for something in his back. His goal isn't to seem desperate, even though he's raced out here at the speed of light after Havria's dismissal.

It's not like he's trying to eavesdrop or anything. He just wants a little insight on how you're feeling about this, in case the rumors of you visiting the occult club wasn't a farce.

From his peripheral, he spots you and a familiar figure that is Lisa, leisurely walking side by side as you approach the main side walk.

"Ready for your date, Y/N? You've been daydreaming all afternoon." Lisa winks, and dodges the shove you send her way with experience like no other.

"Yes, daydreaming about punching you in the face." Your left eye twitches in annoyance as you fix your hold on your skateboard.

"Well then, I'll be off—ah!"

The gorilla grip you have on her sleeve takes away all the time she has to get on the last bus she's about to miss.

Your utter strength is enough to make Childe's knees weak. How pathetic he thinks.

"Oh no you don't," You say in a sing-song voice, "you got me into this, so you're going to help."

"Help with what?" Lisa fakes a hard pout as she bats her lashes, trying to collect pity points.

"I—" You inhale, loosening your grip on her and averting your eyes nervously to see if anyone's watching. "Don't make me say it."

The older girl motions for you to continue, and you're sure you've suffered more for less at this point.

"I've never...been on a..." The sentence ends in a trailed murmur.

Childe doesn't think he's ever seen you so flustered. He's about to snap a picture for later, but decides against it. They'll be plenty of moments later on to see your cute expressions.

Lisa's grin is both seductive and terrifying, Childe notices. "You've never been on a date?"

"Shut up!" You hiss, dropping your board so you can cover her lips with your palm, eyes darting around your surroundings frantically. "Not so loud."

He has to bite at his fist to hide his amusement.

As if she has a sixth sense, Lisa's eyes somehow find Childe's through the abundance of leaves, and there's a glint in her eyes that nearly makes him shart his pants.

"Of course Y/N," She replies sweetly to you, who is currently unaware of the staring match going on. "I'll teach you everything you need to know...and more."

Childe doesn't know if that's a good or bad thing. Nor does he want to find out.

—

You ponder on what's taking him so long, more on edge than you usually are. Thankfully, Lisa basically pried your hair down from its usual up-do. Said something about how you can hide your lack of shits given as to not offend him.

Except you think you're giving more shits that you expected to. Why else would your heart be pounding so hard?

"What took you so long?" You sense him creeping up on you, ceasing his chance to pounce.

Childe groans playfully and slaps a hand over his face as he comes into view. "How'd you know?"

"You have a douche-styled gait." You reply as you remove your gaze off your phone to approach him.

He's prepared to shoot a witty reply, but it dies halfway through his throat when he procures a good look at you. Your hair frames your face elegantly, eyes shining despite the tiredness that's so clear, all complete with a cooling spring dress that hugs you just right.

Mouth going dry, he forgets how to speak the common tongue, unable to tear his gaze off your form.

You shift in place awkwardly. "Uh are you okay? Looking a little...blank."

"Sorry—sorry just thinking." Childe stumbles over his words like the complete idiot and a half he is, berating himself countlessly on the inside. He regains his confidence once he spots the light dust on your cheeks. "You ready for the best date ever?"

"The best date huh?" It's the first time you smile today, and he swears his heart leaps in his rib cage. You're the prettiest thing he's ever laid his eyes on. "I'm ready. I better not be disappointed."

"I wouldn't dare disappoint, girlie." He feigns mock offence as dramatically as possible. "I'll show you how to have some real fun. Cool keychain by the way, for good luck?"

It's one of the charms Chongyun urged you to carry with you at all times to keep all forms of evil away.

"Yeah...something like that."

The two of you ease into the walk in a relatively comfortable fashion, contributing with lively chatter and a few jabs here and there. It's not awkward at all, not like you thought it would be. Your nerves loosen up, mind diverting from the roots of the stress of high school.

"—And you won't believe what Kaeya did the other day. I'm telling you there's something wrong with him because that SoundCloud rapper wannabe Venti goaded him into birdboxing through the hallways at lunch."

"And the son of a bitch did it?"

"The son of a bitch did it." Childe confirmed, gasping through his laughs as the two of you converse in psychobabble. "And guess who he bumped into?"

You're choking in laughter, tears in your eyes as you hunch over and shake. "He didn't. Childe—no he didn't."

"Straightttt into Diluc. And he had the balls to feel him up because he thought he bumped into a hot bab—"

Childe crashes into a sturdy chest and stumbles backwards towards you, but manages to catch his balance midway. Both of you freeze when faced with a buff guy from another school, bandages on his fist and a crooked smirk on his face.

Fuck. You think. Classic high school cliché.

Realizing he can't risk the remainder of this date when it hasn't even begun, Childe raises a hand in apology, aiming to be the bigger person instead of socking the kid in the face.

"Sorry. I wasn't looking." He offers to the guy, but you can tell he isn't buying any of it. There are about four more kids who group, a setup that isn't going to end in your favour.

"Hey punk. You don't remember me?" The upperclassmen barks out, glaring holes into your date.

You deadpan towards Childe, but he's too is racking his brain to remember. Ends up shrugging with no recollection.

"I have a list of names but they're in my other pants." Shit, what an a-grade reply. Now you know you're done for. "Listen dude, I'm kind of on a date and the vibe is going great. Don't ruin it."

"It's a good thing she's here to watch then!" The guy yells, stomping so that he's right in-front of Childe, ready to pounce. "You humiliated me in front of my gang last week. I'm here to rip you a new one."

Childe blinks, tries to remember, and when he doesn't, he grabs a wad full of cash from the his Fanny pack and throws it at the guy's feet.

Everyone's eyes bulge out of their sockets, including yours at the amount of money placed there casually on the crack of the dirty sidewalk.

"Hopefully this is enough for the damages." Childe offers, aiming to not further escalate the situation albeit how pissed he is right now. If you weren't here...well that would be another, much more violent story.

With a soft tug, Childe brings you close and begins to pass the guy, until he's abruptly stopped by a hand gripping his shoulder tightly.

"I don't think so!" The guys barks, and his lackeys move to surround you two. "You gotta pay taxes too buddy." Oh he's getting way too comfortable now.

A feral smile grows on Childe's face as he looks over his shoulder. "Oh?"

"Yeah shithead." The guy seethes, puffing out his chest to size him up.

Childe itches for a fight. He can no longer keep in the urge and is just about ready to raise a heavy fist, but is beaten by the sound of a loud thwack, and then a painful groan following.

There you are, standing in front of the trembling asshole, spinning your crossbody bag in circles like it's a nunchuck in all it's glory. There's a deadly glint in your eyes, pure, unadulterated vexation in your features.

If Childe could fall for you any harder, it's probably happening now. In that exact moment, his heart beats in his ears uncontrollably, and there's nothing but raw adoration that piles up all at once.

You're an angel of destruction, a force not to be reckoned with, and shit, you're the eye of the fucking storm.

Fire courses through your veins as you pulverize the guy with your bag, swinging with such expertise it has Childe in awe. "He may be an absolute idiot for not remembering—"

"Hey girlie you're killing me here!" Your date snaps out of his astonishment temporarily.

"—but you don't get to call him a shithead, you asshole!" You snarl angrily, gripping the handle of your bag tightly, decking everyone that lunges at you, letting out strings of curses with every hit. Every hit sends a flock of them either stumbling back in pain, or knocked out completely.

Childe doesn't even get a chance to lift a finger by the time you're done violating them with your heavy ass pink bag. Stands there like an absolute loser.

"Apologize." You pant, prepared to send another flurry of attacks at the leader, who is crawling away with a battered face. "Apologize or I'll—I'll fucking Russian neck tie your ass."

"S-sorry!" The guy whimpers out and tries not to piss his pants at the threat.

Childe is still in too much shock at the whole ordeal to reply, short circuiting.

Another thirty seconds pass until he registers the smaller hand waving in front of his face. He catches your cold hand through his haze, brings it closer.

Running a free hand through his locks, he doesn't hide his astonishment. "You're fucking gorgeous, girlie." He whistles lowly, eyeing you with a new kind of regard.

"I-I uh." Your face is all shades of red by now, the adrenaline from kicking ass wearing down. "Let's go."

"How is that bag so heavy?" One of the fallen gasps out in pain, clutching his ribs as he trembles on the floor. "Like a buh-brick."

A part of your zipper in open, and Childe briefly peeks out of morbid curiosity. His jaw slackens. "Is that a...no, it can't be."

"It's a brick." You murmur guiltily, gnawing at your bottom lip. "Just in case." Fingers tentatively play with the straps.

Childe is head over heels by now, all smitten as a foreign warmth bubbles up in his throat, and he's just about sure he'll puke his heart out.

His next words are picked out carefully. "There's an underground fight club going on—"

You lock and aim for his right kidney.

Worth a try, Childe thinks.

"SIKE. Joking—joking. Just a joke." He insists, gloved hands raised by his ears in defence.

Clicking your tongue, you scowl and rush past him.

It hasn't even been an hour and it's been the most exciting date Childe's ever experienced. When he sees your lips twitch, he knows it's the same for you as well.

"Are we going or not?" You mumble, avoiding eye contact, a tinge of red still decorating your cheeks.

Childe crumbles into his hands at your deadly duality. One that comes for his enemies and one that comes straight for his heart.

[afterhoursfic]

Geralt comes back from a hunt to find Jaskier and Ciri teasing each other or just being playful and they go to stop messing around but Geralt axii's them to pursuit it further and do it like he isn't there and he watches as Jaskier ends up plowing into her and she screams for more. Maybe it's not enough and Geralt ends up axii-ing them to keep going, to get Jaskier to eat her out after he's cum in her and to fill her again and again and Geralt gets off on his fav 2 people finding pleasure

So this is technically the half way point of the fic week so have you been enjoying it so far? or not so much? :’D

.

It had been an easy hunt, refreshingly easy almost, as what was thought to be a werewolf turned out to just be an extra aggressive pack of wolves, easily dispatched and left his blood thrumming under his skin for an outlet.

He tried to scout the area to find any more wolves or even wild dogs he could kill just to take the edge off, but after half an hour of nothing, he resorted to just heading back to camp and just hoped Ciri had managed to hunt something decent for dinner, that was if Jaskier hadn’t eaten it all already.

It had been strange, but pleasant, coming across Ciri on their travels, and she had gladly joined them on the path for a time, but it had been even stranger to see her and Jaskier embrace like old friends, almost like lovers before they seemed to remember he was there and pulled away with sheepish looks.

The next few days had been just as strange. The two slept side by side, in separate bedrolls of course, but they were usually sharing one come morning, and the evenings they were spent huddled together in conversation talking about their travels and health, their plans for the future, and about meeting for the solstice. A couple of times he swore he could see them holding hands, of Ciri’s sword calloused hands tracing marks on Jaskier’s lute calloused ones as they snuck gazes at each other in the dying firelight.

He wasn’t sure how he felt. At first, he was angry, traveling with Jaskier as long as he had he knew his dangerous reputation of sleeping in the wrong beds with the wrong people, but he couldn’t pinpoint when, but things had changed. He still flirted and left several people flushed and aroused in his wake, but he never went through with it, in fact, he didn’t know when was the last time Jaskier had taken someone to his bed.

He wanted to be mad, to be the protective father figure to Ciri, but even he couldn’t deny that she looked happy by Jaskier’s side, an almost childish youth to both of them when they were together, and wasn’t that what he wanted? The people he cared about most to be happy and healthy?

At least that’s what he thought as he approached the camp, until he heard the faint whispers between his two companions and some other noise he couldn’t place, made clear when he passed through the treeline to see Ciri sat on Jaskier’s lap, his hands down the back of her pants, grinding them together whilst they made out with each other.

Whilst he suspected something was going on between them, it was different seeing it happening right in front of him, but he felt frozen in place as he saw Jaskier pull away from the kiss, flustered in a way he’d never seen before he went to nibble at Ciri’s ear, and he felt his traitorous cock twitch when he heard her moan.

“I promised you the solstice Ciri, best we don’t go any further tonight” He could practically see the pout on Ciri’s face at Jaskier’s words, but that didn’t stop the girl pleading with him anyway, snaking a hand down to rub at Jaskier’s cock, he guessed, and sure enough he saw the bard’s eyelids flutter closed and let out a strained groan.

“C’mon Jaskier, he’s hunting a werewolf miles away, he won’t be back for an hour at least” Both he and Jaskier were fixed on Ciri as she moved down his lap so she could begin to lick at the head of Jaskier’s cock, and it was his fist in his mouth that stopped his moan from being heard.

Jaskier just stroked a hand in Ciri’s hair and let her continue for a minute as she began to suck at the head of his cock before pulling away for a couple of teasing strokes with her tongue, and it was then that Jaskier pulled her away, a chuckle on his lips as he kissed her “Then you underestimate him, my dear, I’ve traveled with him for years and I can bet you he’s on his way back now”

The news however didn’t deter Ciri, who simply smirked into the kiss before getting up on her knees and began to pull her pants down below her ass before positioning herself just over Jaskier’s cock “Guess we better be quick then, shouldn’t be a problem for you old man”

In the next moment Jaskier had rolled them over so that he was on top, a smile on his face as opposed to Ciri’s put out one, clearly, this had happened more than once and he watched as Jaskier carefully put his cock back in his pants before he kissed Ciri’s still exposed hip.

“I told you we’ll wait until the solstice, you’ve gone longer without my cock before” He could see the protest already on Ciri’s lips, but Jaskier is quick to kiss them away before she can voice them “Besides, I don’t intend for Geralt to castrate me tonight if he catches me having my way with you”

The clearing is filled with the sound of both of their laughter, and he feels reassured by it almost, knowing that the both of them are truly happy together as he watches Jaskier pull Ciri’s pants back up before a hand in his hair is pulling him down for a kiss.

“It would be a shame to lose such a beautiful cock, although I think half the continent will hunt Geralt down if they found out”

“And we wouldn’t want that, I put far too many years into improving his reputation for it all to be ruined in a fit of fatherly rage” their snickering was quickly replaced with the sound of their kissing, if it could even be called that, more a mess of tongue and teeth, nothing more than pure passion, and again he felt his cock twitch at the sight.

He lowered a hand to try and readjust himself in his pants and give his cock a squeeze to try and deter it from getting any harder at the sight of his best friend and daughter getting off together, but he couldn’t help but watch the fluid way they moved together, one that spoke of practice together and he was all the more curious just how long the two had been together.

He must have made a sound or something, for the next thing he knew the two of them were tearing away from each other and getting to their feet, and even just where he was stood in the treeline he knew Ciri had seen him from the red in her face and how she kept avoiding his gaze even as she tried to ask for details of the hunt.

The gnawing feeling of guilt began to eat away at him, he had intruded on a personal moment between the two of them, one which made them uncomfortable and would likely mean they wouldn’t seek comfort in each other whilst he still hung around.

Besides who was he to meddle in their affairs, they were happy and so he’d give them what they both wanted, and totally had nothing to do with the half hard cock already straining at his pants.

They didn’t even notice as he performed the sign, just stared at him as he told them to pretend he wasn’t there, that he wouldn’t return until the morning and the effect was instantaneous. Immediately they went to each other and began to make out, any finesse to their actions gone as Jaskier nipped at Ciri’s bottom lip which caused her to moan and press closer against him.

He watched as Jaskier began to undo the laces on Ciri’s shirt and moved to kiss along her neck as he pushed it off of her before moving to his knees to start tugging her pants down “I know I promised you the solstice love, but given the situation, it would be such a waste not to fuck you like you’ve been begging me too”

“I do not beg, bard” He heard Jaskier’s chuckle, muffled from where he was pressing kisses along Ciri’s hips before venturing lower to lick up her clit and watched as Ciri shuddered with a muttered swear.

“And yet you were ready to write odes about my beautiful cock, you’ll have to beg if you want it so bad”

“You’ll have more luck asking the grass to change color”

“We’ll see about that Ciri” It’s then Jaskier got to work, lifting one of Ciri’s knees to hang over his shoulder before eagerly licking at her cunt, the only sound in the clearing being the slick sound of Jaskier licking and sucking at Ciri’s clit accompanied by her moans and the bard’s growls.

He watched as Jaskier first teased one finger along her folds, taking a break to rub at her clit before teasing her hole with it, a smirk on his face as he pressed it in as he watched Ciri’s back arch at the intrusion. He must have done something, moved his finger in some way, or teased it somewhere because the next thing Ciri’s legs jerked and her breath caught before she was shaking through her first orgasm.

“Something you want to say, love?” He could hear the mirth in Jaskier’s voice and could imagine the smirk on his face, especially when Ciri hooked her knee behind his head to shove his face into her cunt again.

“Put your mouth to good use, bard”

“As you wish, your highness” Jaskier didn’t give her a chance to make a rebuttal as he put his efforts into getting her off, sucking at her clit as two then three fingers fucked her to get her through a second then a third orgasm that she was still shivering through when the first rattled please escaped her lips.

He ignored whatever happened next because he was struck by how beautiful Ciri looked, sheened in sweat under the light of the moon, chest, and legs shaking as she bit her lip to try, and fail, to keep back her whines as she shuddered through a fourth orgasm.

That was when his eyes flickered to Jaskier, who was prowling up Ciri’s body, taking his time to lave over one nipple to enjoy the hitch in Ciri’s breath before he moved to her other nipple, tugging it with his teeth until a hand in his hair forced him up to Ciri’s mouth, able to press a quick kiss to her jaw first before flicking his tongue into her mouth.

He saw the muscles in Jaskier’s back bunch and move, watched as Jaskier’s legs forced Ciri’s open wider until she was splayed obscenely, her hands pulling at his hair and scratching down his back whilst her teeth tugged at his ear. Over the sounds of their panting and the slick sound of Jaskier working Ciri’s cunt, he could just about hear the moment Ciri finally begged.

“Please Jaskier, please fuck me”

“What was that Ciri?”

“Don’t play, just get your cock in me, need it” Geralt couldn’t hold back his swear as he grabbed his cock, and squeezed it through his pants, the fabric already wet with pre that was starting to leak down his thigh. He saw them freeze and for a moment he thought that they had heard him, but a quick flash of axii and a bit of suggestion and Jaskier was back to teasing the tip of his cock around Ciri’s hole whilst she tried to use her legs to force him inside her and stop the whole game.

He didn’t see who won, didn’t care when he got to watch Jaskier with his head thrown back and a low groan in his throat slowly grind his cock deeper and deeper into Ciri as she swore and tried to pull him closer.

When Jaskier was fully seated, Ciri pulled him down for a kiss which was more of a messy meeting of tongues as Jaskier started fucking her, quick and hard and dirty and nothing like he’d seen them act that night, not the slow practiced movement of lovers but something to get them off as quickly as possible.

He hadn’t even realized his hand has made its way into his pants, just that he was jerking his cock whilst Jaskier fucked into Ciri, whose back was arched, breasts held tantalizingly close to Jaskier’s mouth and he was only a little jealous when he saw him begin to bite on one nipple and only with Ciri’s hand in his hair did he move to the other one.

It wasn’t long before both of their breathing became ragged, Jaskier telling Ciri to come, to be a good girl and listen to him, and she did with a whine, Geralt watched her body shake, and Jaskier pull her closer as he fucked her through it, even after she began to groan when her pleasure edged with pain. He would intervene but it was clearly just what they did, Jaskier getting her to come over and over until she was limp and sore, and even then, begging for more, frankly, he was surprised Jaskier had the stamina to keep up with her.

Yet he watched Jaskier fuck her through a second orgasm, which had Geralt bite his knuckles as he leaned against the nearest tree to catch his breath as his come spattered over the forest floor, obscenely loud to him and yet the other two paid no mind, Jaskier’s thrusts growing sloppy and desperate, letting out small growls as he tried to hold onto his control.

He watched Ciri move her leg and in a quick movement had flipped them around, a move he had taught her, and that had Geralt swear as he grabbed his cock again, ignoring the ache as he began to jerk himself off to the sight of Ciri eagerly bouncing on Jaskier’s lap, small moans leaving her lips as her tits bounced until Jaskier put his hands on them, thumbing and pinching the nipples before pulling Ciri down to kiss.

In a matter of seconds, it was over, Jaskier let out a shout as his hands clawed at her hips, leaving dents in her skin as she rode him through it, never losing pace even when he whined ‘no more’ which quickly turned into ‘yes just like that love’ and ‘faster princess’.

He had always admired Ciri’s stamina and he did so now as even with sweat coating her and hair clinging to her forehead and a loose smile on her face, she continued to ride Jaskier like it was the only place she wanted to be. He came before they did, Jaskier lifting his hips to meet hers with every thrust until the slap of their skin was the only sound for miles around and it was so obscene, so dirty and yet it was them, his best friend and his daughter in love with each other and so desperate they would have done it in the forest despite him, well they did but before he axiied them.

They didn’t last long after that, first Ciri and then Jaskier let out groans as they came for what felt likes hours before they settled, chests heaving and sweaty as they came down, smiles mirrored on their faces before they met for a messy kiss and let their heartbeats slow down.

Geralt was just about to leave them, to make some excuse to leave, not like he needed one, but to give them privacy to clean up and so he could jerk himself off a couple more times and take the edge off before rejoining them. However, he hadn’t even turned around before Ciri was pulling off Jaskier’s cock, come already dripping out of her and onto Jaskier as she moved over his body until she was straddling his face.

The last thing he saw was Jaskier’s wolfish grin before he put his hands on her ass to bring her closer, to grind her cunt against his tongue, and watched as Ciri tugged at Jaskier’s hair, each pull getting another growl from the man as he edged her towards another orgasm. Well, it gave him an excuse to stay and jerk off here, maybe with a bit more axii he’ll help clean up and look after them later and hope they don’t notice his come staining the ground when they leave tomorrow

[charliesradiodemon]

Charlastor Week Day 7: Free Day

(Requested by my raffle winner @sailormovebitch ^.^ I had a lot of fun this this one, I WENT OFF writing this one day and hit 2000 words. I think the overall word count here is 3000?

Well anyway, enjoy my last submission for Charlastor Week! It’s been a great week! <3)

Day 7: Detectives/Serial Killer AU

A lone detective Charlie Magne gazed at the computer monitor with narrowed eyes. It was another murder victim, but the case was so odd it got passed to her desk. She was no stranger to odd murder cases, but this one was too different yet too familiar. “It doesn’t make any sense...”

The door opened to reveal her partner and boyfriend, Alastor. They’d been working together for five years and dating for four. They were the perfect team and a locally famous duo that solved cases that seemed near impossible to figure out. They were known as Pentagram City’s power couple and over their five years of partnership, they’d brought down the biggest scum in town and they were damn proud of it. 

“What doesn’t make sense my dear?” Alastor asked as he walked into the room and placed his steaming mug on his desk.

“Hey Al,” she waved him over to her own desk, still engrossed in the images on her monitor. “Take a look at this.” Charlie scoot her office chair to the side to make room for Alastor, who pulled up a chair beside her. 

Alastor sided up next to his partner and repressed a chuckle when he realized what exactly he was looking at. It was the familiar sight of his latest work. It was about time, it had been well over a week now after all. “The name is familiar. Looks like the abdominal cavity was completely cut open... There are several bruises and cuts all over the limbs and face,” he reached for the mouse and scrolled down, still anticipating what else CSI could have discovered. “The victim was also castrated... Wait, this wouldn’t happen to be the suspected rapist that was acquitted last month, would it?” If he could, Alastor would have applauded his theatrics tenfold. He’d always been a good actor, but it seemed that he was getting better and better at it every day. 

Charlie turned her gaze back to the monitor. “It is. He was found in his home last night. We’re waiting for the autopsy for more information, but CSI didn’t seem too hopeful.” She tsked. Her gaze was once again glued to the screen with a determined but thoughtful look. 

He gazed down at the shorter blonde. She couldn’t see it, but Alastor’s neutral smile grew into a wicked grin. He felt a rush looking through his own handiwork with his girlfriend and partner. She was completely unaware, as it should be. “So what was the odd part about this case?” He asked with an innocently oblivious tone- a complete contrast to his sinister look. 

“There were no signs of another person even being there. No hairs, fingerprints, tools, and with all that blood everywhere... you’d think there’d be bloody footprints all over the place, but no! Whoever did this knew what they were doing. They have got to be very experienced in murder.” Charlie still couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d seen this before, but she’s seen so many cases in her life. She’d have to look back in the archives. 

Alastor hummed in response, trying to keep his giddiness down. He loved watching her get so close to his cases. ‘You’re much too perceptive my dear.’ Despite her innocent and naive exterior, Charlie wasn’t stupid. She was so damn good at her job that she had very nearly made Alastor sweat with her perceptive mind on more than one occasion. It was simply exhilarating and he couldn’t help but be drawn to her for it. And not to mention how good of a person she was. To Alastor, Charlie was everything good on this cesspool called Earth and he so desperately wanted to preserve it.   

The little detective was on the nose this time. He was a very experienced murderer, though he wasn’t an aimless one. No, he did exactly what he needed to in order to right the wrongs of the world. He needed to punish those who escaped justice thanks to the flawed justice system. He needed to avenge those who have been hurt by monsters, just as his mother had been. He’d seen what the scum of the Earth could do and he needed to purge them for the greater good. Now that he had Charlie, he had something to protect- something to fight for. 

Alastor changed the subject, hoping to get his dearest from thinking too hard about the perpetrator. “How do you know the murder was done in the victim’s home? It could have been done elsewhere.”  

She scrolled to a specific picture of a bloodied chair. She pointed to the floor between the legs of the bloodied chair and glanced up at her partner. “Yeah, but if you look at the floor, there’s a bunch of scuff marks on the wood directly under the victim’s feet. It must have been from the victim’s shoes kicking and digging into the wood while he was being tortured.” Sure enough, there were scuff marks that were only exemplified by the blood that seeped into the fine lines of the scarred wood. 

Alastor chuckled, thoroughly impressed. Since becoming a detective he managed to learn from his mistakes and grew from them. Charlie only sped up the learning process and he was forever grateful for the opportunity to learn from her. “That’s my gal, always so perceptive and quick like a rabbit. Now drink your coffee dear.” He handed her the mug and kissed her temple before getting up from his seat.

Charlie giggled and took the warm mug and watched him walk back to his desk. “Hey we’re at work! What if someone sees?” She glanced around the room’s fully transparent office. She could see several officers and clerks thankfully minding their own business. 

Alastor chuckled and looked over his shoulder as he organized the papers on his desk. “Oh I’m sorry detective Magne, are you embarrassed to be seen with me?” 

She scoffed and walked past him. “I love you, but you’re an ass sometimes. I just hope my dad didn’t see that, he’d explode seeing fraternization going on in his office.” she joked, earning her a lighthearted chuckle from her partner and boyfriend. 

This had been their everyday life for the past four years. Years of teasing, dates and intimacy made Charlie wonder if it was time for them to take their relationship to the next level. They’ve been dating for four years now and they were hardly strangers to each other’s homes, so maybe it was time for them to move in together? She’d have to ask him later when they weren’t working. Talking about moving in together was hardly appropriate in the middle of a murder investigation. 

“Yes, well it wouldn’t be the first time would it?” he smirked, remembering the time the police chief caught the two of them holding hands under the meeting table. The two of them got quite the earful from Lucifer Magne. Had they been caught doing anything else, they could only imagine the dire consequences.

Charlie’s face lit up like a police siren. “Shhh! Dad still hasn’t let me down about it.” Alastor only replied with a hum and an amused chuckle before continuing his task, just waiting for Charlie to announce that they were going to review the crime scene themselves. He’d remind her, but wasn’t in a hurry, He had fruitful work to complete at the station, unlike the lost cause he’d created. 

“Oh right, we need to head down to the crime scene and check it out,” Charlie abruptly spoke, standing up. She set some papers aside in attempt to organize her messy desk space where there was, in fact, no organization in the slightest. Alastor swore he’d clean it up himself sometime, but Charlie was heavily against it. 

After a couple of hearty gulps, Charlie placed the empty mug on the end of her desk and shrugged her coat on. “Come on, Al let’s get to work.”

Arriving at the scene, the place was still taped off and the police were still around to ward off curious eyes. The duo didn’t even need to flash their credentials and were let in immediately. It was a perk that Alastor enjoyed in his years as her partner. It was nice working with a familiar face like the police chief’s daughter. There were simple yet useful perks that really helped them save time as well as grant them access to certain resources. 

They approached the house and suddenly Alastor became fully aware of his heartbeat. His heart began to race upon re-entering the home of his latest kill. It still smelled of the blood that he caked the floors and walls with. 

The smaller detective stood in front of a particularly bloodied wall. “Looks like our perp is a fan of slasher films.” she commented without much thought behind it. Who would have suspected the bloodied wall anyway? There were no visible clues.

Alastor nodded and pretended to study the wall for anything suspicious. Being the only person in the room that knew why that particular wall remained bloodied excited him. He felt giddy like a child with a secret that was near unbearable to hold any longer. This wall wasn’t just an ordinary bloody wall made by a blind lust for blood. No, what laid beneath the blood and gore were symbols- summoning symbols that promised a soul for a summoned creature’s participation in his gruesome murders. With the offering of his victim, Alastor managed to summon several hellish tentacles to effectively beat, lacerate and castrate his unsuspecting victim. The torture was slow and excruciating, but the tentacles from Hell were efficient and didn’t require Alastor to get his own hands dirty. All he had to do was slice into his victim deep enough to draw enough blood for the symbols and then hide the bloodied symbols with more blood.

“I wonder...” he said, attempting to look lost in thought. After another moment he turned his head to a lone, empty bloodied chair in the center of the living room. As Charlie had pointed out, the scuffs on the floor were superficial, but easily noticeable if one was looking for them. He’d have to take note of his minute mistake for his next target. 

He hadn’t noticed that Charlie had left until she came back through the front door. “Have you gotten any statements from the neighbors? Surely they must have heard something.” He asked, though he already knew the answer. He gagged the man before summoning help and from there his anguished screams were muffled by a tentacle stuffed down the man’s throat. He still remembered how the man struggled to breathe, only able to take momentary breaths to prolong his suffering. 

Charlie looked down at her notepad with a frown. “Yeah, looks like no one heard anything.” Alastor nearly cracked into a wide grin at the look of frustration on his lovely girlfriend’s face. She was an excellent detective who’d been at it for a few more years than he, so seeing her get stumped at anything was certainly entertaining. Especially when it was his murders that she couldn’t pin.

Alastor took great care to make sure each of his murders were difficult to track and pin to one individual. Each crime scene was wildly different thanks to his methods and his connections to the other side. Several of those murders were pinned to different guilty individuals as well. Thanks to his excellent framing job, he and Charlie quickly rose to fame for putting truly despicable people in the slammer. They may have been innocent of murder, but they were still criminals walkng freely on the Earth. Thanks to his position, his summons and Charlie backing him up, Alastor truly felt like he was making a difference in the world.

Once he murdered a child abuser and framed the abuser’s wife, who was his partner in the neglect and abuse. The children they abused even testified against her in court despite having no information on their father’s murder. Another time he murdered several business men who happened to be partnered with each other and were stealing money from their employees. By the end of it, the last remaining businessman was sentenced to life for the murders of his fellow partners. 

But not all of his murders were solved cases. Many of his murders remain open in vain. This new case would end just the same. He hated to do it though. Seeing Charlie so upset when there was nothing to go off on was never pleasant. But it had to be done as there was no one to pin the case on. 

He and Charlie had headed several of his own cases and never had she suspected him in the slightest. And when he’d successfully pinned his deeds on another, his dear Charlie would figure it out herself and feel great about putting the scum behind bars. He loved how happy she was when taking horrible people off the streets. 

She truly was the purest thing on Earth and he would kill any and all who would dare harm her. He had done so already, he wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. 

Mirroring Charlie’s frustrated expression without dropping his slight neutral smile, he looked down at Charlie’s notes. “Impossible, the houses are nearly touching.”

Charlie sighed and looked around the crime scene. “Well I guess it’s possible because no one knew anything. We can look into them further because right now they’re all suspects at this point. Did you find anything here?” 

Alastor thought for a moment. Maybe he could pin this murder on someone after all. His dear Charlie seemed to need a pick-me-up, if he looked into his victim’s neighbors, maybe he could find another local scumbag. Then he could plant some evidence for his love to find. “Nothing you haven’t already pointed out to me this morning I’m afraid.” he wasn’t lying. As graphic as the crime scene was, it was a relatively simple scene. It was just how he planned it.

The blonde woman snapped her notebook shut and stuffed it in her pocket. “Okay, well I don’t think there’s much else for us then, let’s head back.” she said as she started back toward their car out front.

Without much effort, Alastor caught up to his partner and sighed. “Not too much hope for the case here is there?” 

Charlie got in the passenger’s seat and shook her head. “Nope. This is probably gonna be our third unsolved case in a row.” she sighed and sunk into her seat and coat. Seeing her like this pained him. The last thing Alastor wanted to do was upset Charlie. He’d have to look into those neighbors quickly, or find an easier target to frame a future murder on. 

Despite Charlie’s feelings on the matter, Alastor pulled out of the scene of the crime feeling satisfied. He placed his hand in his sulking partner’s hand and squeezed. “Don’t worry love. We can’t be expected to catch them all.”

The rest of the day was uneventful as Charlie attempted to solve the hopeless case. No progress would be made until Alastor found someone to frame so he went straight to work on his own investigation. 

It was getting late and Alastor decided it was time to call it for the night. 

“I’ll bring you home.” Alastor insisted as he gathered his few belongings from his desk. Charlie would always walk to work in the morning and before she met Alastor, she’d walk home at night by herself. Alastor had been bringing her home nearly every day for the past five years now.

Charlie’s thoughts about moving in together returned once she got into Alastor’s car. She thought about what she would say and how she would bring it up to him. “Hey Al?” She started, grabbing the hand that wasn’t on the steering wheel. 

“Yes darling?” He asked. Charlie paused, thinking about her next words carefully. But before she could say anything, she suddenly got cold feet. 

“Actually can you drop me off at the corner? I need to pick up some stuff for home.” She blurted, trying her best to sound natural. Charlie felt like bashing her head against the dashboard. 

“Why don’t we go together? I’ll bring you straight home after.” 

“Nah it’s fine Al. I need to keep moving, you know how I am.” she squeezed his hand back reassuringly. 

“Are you sure?”

“Very,” she brought his hand up to her lips and kissed his bare knuckles, sending shivers up Alastor’s spine. “Don’t worry, I can handle myself.” 

It was hard to argue with her. She was a fairly capable fighter, but Alastor couldn’t help his concern. “I know.” He replied with a worrisome sigh. 

When Alastor pulled up next to the corner Charlie requested to be dropped off at, a familiar figure caught his attention. ‘It couldn’t be.’ He thought. 

He reached over and kissed Charlie on the lips. “Be careful okay?” He pressed his forehead to her’s as he spoke. 

With a slight blush on her face, Charlie smiled. “Yeah, you too. See you tomorrow.” 

“See you tomorrow.” he brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. 

Charlie chuckled. “You miss me already?”

“I miss you every second you’re out of sight.” 

Charlie scoffed at his cheesy line and kissed his cheek. “Oh shhhh, you cheeseball. I’ll see you tomorrow. Love you!” She shut the door and already made her trek into the corner store. 

Alastor watched her up until she disappeared into the store and drove off, keeping his eyes peeled. ‘I bet your blood’s boiling now that you saw that.’ It was the perfect night to take down the individual that seemed to be stalking Charlie. With an angry stalker, they were more likely to act irrationally and make mistakes. 

He pulled into an alley parking lot and began his hunt. He backtracked back to the convenience store on foot, securing disposable gloves on his hands. 

Once he was closer, he spotted Charlie leaving the store and heading in the direction of her home a few blocks away. That’s when he noticed the tall figure trailing about a hundred feet behind her. 

‘You’ve finally come out you scum.’

Alastor scouted up ahead, looking for a vantage point. Luckily there were several run down areas quiet and secluded enough to execute his plan. 

He quickly removed his glove and bit his finger. He whipped out a notepad from his pocket and began drawing symbols with his own blood. “I want that creep apprehended. Alive but unconscious. I offer his soul and my blood for this deed.”

Shortly after, he watched as a tentacle emerged from behind the man, smacking the stalker on the back of the head and knocking him out instantly. Another portal opened below the falling figure and he immediately dropped in front of Alastor. His grin widened in amusement. 

He quickly hoisted the man over his shoulder and jumped into the portal the tentacles left open for him. They were always eager to help as much as they could. After all, he fed them with entertainment and the lives of the criminals he cleansed from the world. It was a symbiotic relationship akin to caring for and keeping a pet.

He discovered this magical ability when his mother was murdered half a decade ago. When he had to clean out her home of her personal belongings, he found a notebook full of scribbles and hastily written descriptions of supernatural things. Alastor wasn’t sure when or how his mother got her hands on this knowledge, but he decided it was worth his time to study his mother’s notes. 

In the couple of months it took to decipher the notes he eventually figured it out. It shocked him that the deciphered ritual worked and when he summoned a tentacle to do his bidding, he knew exactly what to do. By then he’d already killed a few times before, but it always came with a risk. Now that he had this ability, his secret life of murder only became easier. 

The night he figured it all out, he tested his new abilities on his guilty father. He’d gotten away with too much over his lifetime and Alastor was a witness to it all. All the abuse his mother suffered at his hand and the possibility that he had in fact murdered his own wife was too much to go unpunished. Alastor raged when he found out that his father was no longer a suspect to his mother’s murder. The justice system failed his mother, but Alastor made sure that he wouldn’t. 

Now, he could get his jobs done faster with his contract-bound friends. That meant he could remove more scum from the planet and keep the love of his life safe. 

Tonight, he was killing two birds with one stone. He’d noticed a shadowy figure hanging around Charlie’s neighborhood for a while now. Alastor played the waiting game to flush out the creep and he finally had him. Now he could rest easy knowing that Charlie was safe. All he had to do now was take out the trash.

He tossed the man in the trunk and drove off into the night. “One less piece of trash off the street...” he chuckled lowly. He just couldn’t wait to sacrifice this scum to his friends. 

[porkchop-ao3]

A Thrill I’ve Never Known (Chapter 61)

Stitched Up

I really love this chapter, ngl... I hope you do too ;) Full of conflict, violence and gore!

Tagging @emily-strange and @actuallyhansolo ❤

(All chapters tagged with #ATINK and also posted on Ao3, username PorkChop)

-

"I was in Van Horn, selling those jewels, Arthur," I began, wrapping my arms carefully around Arthur’s waist as he began riding back to camp, avoiding his injury, "I went into the bar and had a drink 'cause I was thirsty and there was Pinkertons in there! One of 'em came and spoke to me, he didn't know who I was and I didn't give him any clues."

"What did he wanna know?" Sadie asked.

"He was talking about us. Had photos of you boys, was showing 'em 'round. But when I came out I saw Micah! I stopped him and warned him, told him what happened and then…" I stalled, remembering the kiss. "We argued again. He… he really upset me," I shook my head.

We slowed when we came upon our abandoned campsite.

"But we went our separate ways and I came back here, after I told him this was where I was going," I continued. Charles and Sadie got down and helped each other to swiftly collapse the shelter, and we were soon on the move again. "Then the Pinkertons showed up, knew exactly where I was and who I was… that Arthur and I are together. I can't possibly see how they'd find out without Micah telling them. He must've gone back and done it out of spite 'cause he was mad."

"I guess he was counting on both of us getting taken out of the picture," Arthur growled. "Soon as I see him I'm gonna kill him," he added. 

"Do it slowly so I can castrate him before he loses consciousness," Sadie hissed through clenched teeth.

"And I wanna pull his teeth out one by one," John piped up.

I panted heavily, panic pulsing through every limb, putting me right on edge. This was it. It was all going to implode… and all because I wanted to have a damn drink.

–

We made it back to camp, a strong sense of urgency dictating our every move. I slid down off of Jet and supported Arthur on his way down too, conscious of the pain he must've been in. I stowed away the guilt I felt for another time; we had something big to confront. Like a wave of people storming towards us–

"Here she is, the goddamn Judas!" Bill roared out across the camp, and my heart suddenly felt like it was going to fall out of my ass, I froze on the spot. "Kill the bitch!" 

"Wha– the fuck are you on about Williamson? You better stay the hell back!" Arthur growled, stepping in front of me immediately. 

"It's her! She's the rat, Arthur, Micah figured it out," Javier pitched in, heading right for us, his hand on his gun where it sat in his holster. My eyes darted to Bill's hand, his gun was already out, sitting between white knuckles. I gasped, going lightheaded, staggering backwards.

"She ain't a goddamn rat, he is! You're gonna believe anything that comes out of that goddamn snake's mouth?" Arthur spat. 

"It's true, she ain't done nothing, it's–"

"Shut up, Marston! You ain't got a loyal bone in your body, I trust you as much as I trust her!" Bill interrupted. Sadie stomped forwards, in between us and them.

"Everybody calm down!" 

"How can we be calm? There's a traitor standing right in front of us and we've gotta move again, before the Pinkertons show up!" Javier argued.

"What exactly has that bastard been saying?" Arthur demanded. 

"Either you're really as stupid as everyone says, or you're in on it too. Move aside, Arthur, or I'll just blow a hole right through you," Bill spat, though he didn't raise his gun. Part of me knew that he wouldn't. He couldn't. Bill wouldn't do anything without Dutch's say so; I'd taken him to be one of the boot-lickers, especially in more recent days. 

"Arthur! Arthur, goddamn it, I knew she weren't to be trusted, I never wanted her in this gang in the first place! Ever since John brought her in–" Dutch began yelling from across the camp, barging out of his tent, but his words turned into muttered grumbles that we couldn't make out until he got closer again. Micah was dutifully at his side and I scowled at him over Arthur's shoulder. "– all she's done is poison you against me, typical woman. Just like Abigail!"

"What the hell are you talking about Dutch? She ain't poisoning me against nobody! You wanna see top class manipulation you wanna look at yourself, see what Micah's done to you!" Arthur protested, waving an arm in the blonde bastard's direction.

"She's working for the Pinkertons, Morgan. She's got to go," Micah said snidely, ignoring Arthur's words. "She was in Van Horn, having a good old chat. Even had the courtesy to warn me about 'em! You know, I believed her at first, thought she was too innocent to sell us all out. But then she suddenly disappears, and comes back without a scratch on her?"

"They were using her to get to me, after you told 'em where she was staying!" 

Micah laughed, shaking his head. "Why the hell would she tell me where she was going? She hates me, told me herself!"

"She saw you and told you about the Pinkertons in that bar, she said you had some sort'a argument and then you went back and told 'em about us. They wanted to capture me, and I'll bet that was all your idea anyway!" 

"The entire time you've been here you've caused nothing but trouble and tension in this gang, Micah, and you didn't see how they had her; chained up and sitting there like an afterthought while they all waited for Arthur to show up–" Charles began, but was swiftly interrupted. 

"She ain't been here as long as I have and you really believe her over me?" Micah hissed. 

"She ain't been nothing but good to every one of us, even you, Micah. Even with how you been slobbering over her this whole time," John said, shaking his head in disgust, "I wouldn't be surprised if you did all this just 'cause you're bitter."

"You kissed me!" I shouted, stepping out from behind Arthur, he tried to grab me and shield me but he was too slow. "You grabbed me and kissed me earlier on, again! Ain't the first time you've tried."

Micah laughed harder. "God, are you listening to this?"

"You never said that," Arthur pointed out, stepping forwards and grabbing my arm, his tone sharp and surprised. 

"It weren't the best time," I breathed a laugh void of any humour, pulled my arm from his grip. 

"You s'posing I'm heartbroken, wanted to get my revenge?" Micah cocked a brow. 

"Not at all. I think you like playing God! You like seeing me squirm, you like doing exactly the things I don't want you to do, and you like seeing other people suffer. You did all this to entertain yourself, probably!" I exploded, I looked at the crowd that had gathered; most of the gang. "You wanna point the finger at me? Go ahead! But if you kill me I guarantee you'll still be in the same goddamn boat 'cause you'll still have your filthy rat!" I jabbed a finger at him. 

Micah swaggered towards me, stepping between Bill and Javier, who'd both gone very quiet, looking unsure. Arthur edged closer, sticking by my side protectively. Sadie, John and Charles hovered close too.

"Your nasty lies'll get you killed before the rest of us, mark my words. We all know you're such a great con-woman. You've probably had us all on from the start, even Morgan," he said, his voice a low rumble. 

"I think I'd know by now," Arthur scoffed, his whole body exuding disbelief and something like amusement.

"I think you wouldn't have the slightest idea, you're just like any other pretty boy, gets his pecker wet and turns soft," Micah accused and it was Arthur's turn to laugh. 

"That why you're so tough?" He retorted. A sharp sigh caught my attention and Dutch, who had been mostly silent, standing and listening to the whole thing unfold, was rubbing at the bridge of his nose.

"Enough!" He snapped. "Children! You are all a bunch of children! It seems we are at an impasse of sorts, and ain't nothing gonna get solved by throwing petty insults around."

"You can't be serious, an impasse? How can you not listen to the things I'm saying? Dutch, you know me! I at least thought you'd listen to me and see sense," Arthur exclaimed, I could see the wounded look in his eye just from his profile.

"I thought I knew you, Arthur, but you started putting her before the rest of us and it's you that ain't been listening to me. You've questioned me at every turn ever since she showed up, and now you wanna turn around and act like I'm the one betraying you?" Dutch's voice cracked with its sudden raise in volume and I looked at the sneer of a smile Micah was wearing. 

"But Micah–"

"At least Micah is with me! All you're concerned with is getting away from me, running off with your new woman! Why should I listen to a damn word you say when you're a goddamn deserter!" Dutch yelled, thoroughly losing his temper. My heart felt as though it had been shattered. I shook my head and stared brokenly at Dutch.

"So that's it, that's what you think of me?" Arthur hissed after a few long seconds of painful silence. "All them years don't mean nothing now, yet you'll trust him, just fine," Arthur nodded slowly, leaning backwards, his body loosening, not quite shrinking, but losing its menace.

"I think we're getting a little off track, here," Micah indicated with a mildly impish tone, a little like he was tip-toeing through the words. Eager… but trying to hide it. "What're we doing about the traitor, Dutch?"

"Which one?" Was the response he got, and a series of gasps could be heard. 

"That ain't right, Dutch. First you give up on me and now you wanna do the same to Arthur? Ain't you thinking straight?" John rasped irritably, "what's wrong with you?"

"You're one to talk, seems real convenient that they had you locked up for a month or so and never hanged you!" Bill spat.

"Fuck you, Bill!"

"For God's sake! Why don't we just leave? We'll go our separate ways and that'll be it, never have to see each other again," I cried out, squeezing my eyes shut and balling my fists at my sides.

"You'd like that, now, wouldn't you? Finally getting your way, pulling this gang apart," Dutch said, regarding me with disdain. My jaw clenched tight and a growl built in my throat.

"She never did that, that was you and Micah. You didn't need any help from her," Arthur defended me. 

"You lot ain't had an ounce of loyalty between you!" Bill chipped in. 

"I have to agree," Javier added, a little pompousness to his tone. 

Everyone had their say, talking over one another and bickering and shouting and getting defensive and I stood there with something building and building inside me until I couldn't take anymore and I snapped–

"I am done with this!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, "I'm going! Anyone else who is finished here is free to fucking join me."

I spun around, pounding my feet into the hard mud below me as I headed straight for Rayna. 

"Ain't none of you gonna act?" I heard Micah questioning, words all but a growl. There was a pause, I had one foot in the stirrup. "Well I guess I gotta do everything around here," he added, and it gave me pause enough to turn and look to see what he was on about and–

My heart stopped when as quick as a whip he drew his gun, arm swinging up, eyes locked on me. I barely had enough time to register my fear before Arthur reacted; standing just a few feet away from him he threw himself at Micah, colliding hard with his chest, his shoulder slamming into him as he tackled him to the ground. The gun went off, Micah's arm flying up into the air, the stray bullet soaring past my head so close I could've sworn I'd felt a breeze. But the gun slipped from his grasp, skittering across the ground. 

Arthur was on top of him, grunts of exertion came from them both as they struggled and fought for the upper hand. It happened so quickly, not even giving anyone enough time to know what to do and then there was a sudden, choke of a gasp and Micah froze, his hands turning a sickly white with how hard they gripped onto the fabric of Arthur's shirt. Then I saw Arthur's hand jerk back, and registered the fresh blood – wet and glossy, adding to the dry flakiness from his own – before I registered the knife. 

Then everything kept moving. 

"Arthur!" Dutch yelled, and he along with everyone else swarmed forwards. Bill dragged Arthur off of Micah, pulling him out of the prickly grip on his clothes as if loosening him from the spines of a cactus. He stumbled back and landed on his backside, sitting on the ground and staring at the aftermath of the scuffle, the crimson knife still in his grip, wrist resting almost daintily on his knee as he stilled.

Huffs and grunts and wet, shaky gasps came from Micah where he remained on the ground, and I inspected him through the bodies rushing around him and saw the darker shade of red spreading out across his already carnelian shirt, rushing down to stain his beige pants. I stood with my mouth wide open, all stiff, not even in a fit state to tell my muscles to move let alone successfully do it. 

Charles and John came forwards, checking Arthur; his only wound was the one he already had, though it started bleeding profusely again, soaking his shirt with fresh blood after all the commotion. Charles took his wrist in his hand, and carefully peeled Arthur's fingers from the knife, removing it from his firm grip and tossing it on the ground. 

Mary-Beth was teary-eyed with shock, her hands plastered over her mouth where she stood far off from the crowd. Javier stared open-mouthed at Micah. Dutch and Bill hoisted the injured man up, hands underneath his arms. Micah hiccupped and gurgled and coughed and retched, groaning in agony, his face crumpled in a wince the likes of which I'd never seen on him. Blood oozed from his lower belly, leaving droplets on the ground like breadcrumbs all the way to Dutch's tent. Susan followed them, rushing around and yelling about cloth and towels and anything at all to stop the bleeding–

And I stood there, my foot still in the stirrup. Arthur still sitting on the ground, his head in his hand now, Charles and John asking him if he was okay, was he hurt? John congratulating him in a very muted way, telling him it was okay, he did what he had to, Micah deserved it. Sadie came into my line of sight and it took effort to get my ears to focus and register what she was saying. 

"You okay?" She was asking. I nodded numbly and dropped my foot down, marched straight over to Arthur and kneeled down beside him, hissing at the sharp pull on my burns but sucking it up, touching Arthur's arm and his knee and finally getting him to peel his eyes from the ground. 

"You hurt?" Were his first words and I shook my head sharply. 

"You are, we need to do something about this," I told him, bringing my hand to the wound on his side and applying some pressure. Arthur sucked in a sharp breath but I shushed him in a way I hoped was soothing. We needed to stop the bleeding. "Can someone get me something to clean this and wrap it up?" I asked anyone who'd listen. 

"Grimshaw's throwing everything we've got at that bastard in there, I don't know if there's anything–"

"Are you fucking serious?" I screeched, interrupting Sadie, my rudeness not at all intentional or personal. She didn't mind. 

"I know!" She hissed back, just as livid. 

With my free hand I opened up Arthur's satchel, it wasn't a time to worry about asking permission, I searched for whatever alcohol I could find. There was a few inches of whiskey left inside a bottle. It'd do. 

"Sweetheart, lie back," I whispered, and he did as he was told wordlessly. 

I pulled open his ruined shirt, pushing it off of his shoulders, his suspenders getting dragged off with it. He helped me get his upper body out of his union suit and I could finally see what was leaking all the blood. He had a deep gash ripping right past his mid torso, at the bottom of his ribcage. It was clear a bullet had skimmed past his side, trimming a chunk from him. An inch further in and he'd be in real trouble. 

"Arthur," I whispered, shaking my head. 

"I'm fine," he shook his head.

"You're hurt. Stop it," I chastised, "I'm gonna clean it as best I can. I'm gonna hurt you, but it's gotta be done. I think it'll need stitching, it needs closing up somehow," I added.

"I'll see what I can scavenge to help him," Sadie said. 

"Shall we move him to his bed?" John asked. 

"Yeah that's probably best," I nodded, watching the blood drip down Arthur's side with a churning gut. 

John and Charles helped Arthur to his feet and we all walked back through camp, enduring all sorts of stares. Some looked worried and upset, while others just looked pissed off. Disgusted. I didn't have time to really think about who was wearing which set of emotions.

"Did I really jus– did I kill him?" Arthur questioned, his tone lifting up in shock. 

"He ain't dead… you ain't–" I was trying to make him feel better. My instinct was to nurture away any guilt he might've felt; but he had no reason to be guilty. "Thank you," I suddenly blurted out. 

"Huh?" He grunted as Charles and John helped him to lay down on his bed.

"You saved me. He almost shot me," I breathed, a laugh bubbling out from me that was totally misplaced. Nothing about this was funny; I was just in shock. 

"You should'a gone in a second or third time with that knife," John hissed. "If that prick lives–"

"He won't," Charles said firmly, and it almost sounded like a threat the way he said it, "I'm calling it now, the knife went deep, and you see where it was? Try all they like to stop the bleeding, that had to have done some damage inside." 

"I didn't know I'd done it till it already happened. Didn't consciously do it," Arthur frowned to himself. I tended to him, pouring a splash of whiskey over his wound, earning a sharp hiss. "Who the hell expected me to just stand there and let him– he pointed his gun right at you! No fucker does that and lives, especially not someone I've been waiting for a damn excuse to kill anyway." 

"I got some stuff, managed to convince Grimshaw to give me just a little dressing. Got a needle too, in case he needs stitches," Sadie returned, handing the supplies over to me. I shook my head bitterly. 

"How on God's green earth can they all coddle him and leave you with nothing," I spat. "After what he's done! Why don't any of those fools believe us?"

"Cause he got to 'em first," Arthur muttered pessimistically, staring down at his side where I gently pressed an alcohol soaked cloth to him, cleaning the wound. "Anything we said after just sounded like we were trying to save ourselves."

"But you've been with Dutch years!" I exclaimed. 

"So's Marston, yet he's been a suspect since that bank robbery. Dutch had his doubts, thinking he was the rat; ain't no reason he wouldn't think the same of me. 'Specially since I been sneaking off with you, that fool will believe anything once he's got his claws hooked into an idea." 

"Goddamn it, I hate that you're right," John sighed, leaning against the side of the wagon. 

"So that's it? He thinks we're all betraying him, selling him out to the Pinkertons? I can't believe he's listening to Micah over anyone else, what a stupid man!" I spat through bared teeth, then took a breath to try and steady myself. I had to sew him up. "I am so sorry, all of you. If I hadn't– I don't know. This is unbelievable."

"Don't apologise for him. You ain't in control of how he thinks, he chooses to trust the wrong person, that's his mistake!" Arthur said, his eyes shifting across the camp towards Dutch's tent, unrelenting hatred in his eyes. "I will never forgive him, all those years I spent with him don't mean nothing to me no more."

"Stay still darlin', I'm gonna stitch you up," I told him softly. My hands were shaking a little as I eyed the wound. I really didn't want to hurt him. 

"If it makes you folk feel any better, Micah is not doing well," Sadie began frankly, "he was out cold when I was over there. Grimshaw's packing bandages into his gut just to try and stem the flow, ain't pretty. You really did a number on him, Arthur."

"I ain't sorry," Arthur muttered, "hope he dies slow."

"They keep wasting our medical supplies on prolonging the inevitable, he will. Even if they stop the bleeding, you probably punctured his intestines, or his bowels. Next few days will be fun, if he even lasts that long," Charles said almost nonchalantly, glancing off towards Dutch's tent.

I bit down on my lip as I carefully began to stitch up the gash on Arthur's side. He didn't flinch or make any noise, so either he was good at hiding it or I wasn't causing him much pain. It was reassuring enough that I could finish the job quite quickly. The stitches held enough to greatly reduce how much he was bleeding, so I carefully had him sit up so that I could wrap the dressing Sadie had nabbed around him. I secured it firmly, keeping it tight to his wound just enough to support and protect, but not so tight as to be uncomfortable. I checked he was okay, if there was anything else I could do for him. 

Arthur shook his head, "thank you, my darlin'," he sighed, his words so sincere and sweet, his eye contact so warm and full of love it felt almost like it shouldn't be shared in the company of others. I kissed his forehead once, then rose to my feet. 

I cleared my throat and looked around at John, Charles and Sadie one by one. "So, what the hell are we gonna do?”

[supermanshield]

But not all of them, he loves

~~~

If anyone’s heart is big enough to love two people, it’s Clark’s. 

~~~

This deals with polyamory and open relationships. Clark/Lois and Clark/Bruce. The main focus of the fic is Clark/Bruce, but it’s angsty.

Words: 2,896

A/N: The timeline/continuity on this is weird, maybe. The boys are still quite young (I imagine them at the end of their 20s in this), have maybe been superheroing for a couple years max. There is a league.

Read on AO3

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Jimmy’s chosen the place. He’s absolutely star-struck and aware of the company he’s in, but keeps it cool as he leads their little party into a relatively quiet bar in downtown Metropolis. Barry had suggested a karaoke place in Tokyo, and Clark had to remind him that not everyone he wanted to invite would be able to fly, run, or teleport there. So, Barry is here, in civvies, and Hal with him. Behind them enters an eerily human-looking J’onn, and John Stewart, even though he’s not in the league anymore, but he tells a damn good story and Clark wouldn’t want one of his closest friends to miss his bachelor party. Pete has flown out here all the way from Smallville, just for him.

As if by miracle, Bruce has shown up too, although he keeps looking over his shoulder when they’re still out on the street, high-collared jacket and baseball cap obscuring his face. Clark is happy to see him take it off once they’re inside, but some of that fades when he notices the stiches above one of his eyebrows and makeup covering a bruise on his left cheek.

When they’re all finally settled around a large table tucked into the back of the bar – it’s quiet, even for a Friday, but you can never be too careful, and Clark is happy he let Jimmy choose the location because he obviously knows his way around Metropolis nightlife – Oliver walks in, large grin plastered onto his face. Bruce looks as if he wants to castrate him, grumbles something about discretion and leaving any society reporters at the door. The two billionaires argue back and forth a bit, Clark hears Oliver mention something about it being fine that he parked his helicopter on top of the Metropolis branch of Wayne Enterprises, and yes. They’re complete. The night of his bachelor party is underway.

Lois is with Diana, Cat, and a couple of other friends. Clark has offered to let everyone choose, they didn’t have to do the traditional men-women thing, but Diana said she would choose Lois’ bachelor party over his any day of the week. To which, of course, Lois was absolutely rub-it-in-your-face for about a week. That Wonder Woman wanted to party with her, and not with him, and somewhere, Clark can’t wait to hear what they’re getting up to right now. Everything at its time, though.

He orders everyone a round of drinks, Hal claps him on the back (which he immediately regrets and Clark is the one to apologize), there’s toasts.

“Are you nervous, man? I know I was,” Hal starts. “They say nothing changes, it’s just a piece of paper, blabla, but it does!” Everyone laughs. “I’m telling you, the moment you get back from your honeymoon, you’re knee deep in domesticity and no more going out.”

“I don’t think that will be much of a problem with Lois, Hal. Although we did have that a little bit when Jon arrived. But Lois couldn’t wait to get back out.” It’s Clark’s turn to laugh.

“If anything, she’ll start dragging you out to more things,” Jimmy adds gleefully and winks at Clark.

“Anyway,” Oliver starts, holds up his glass. “Last night as a free man!” Clark’s never really understood that. Lois has already captured him a long time ago in so many ways. All of them he loves, but he raises his half-empty glass anyway.

The table settles into a comfortable chit-chat, more jokes about Clark, stories of the early days of the league, memories and laughs. Somehow, his gathered and stray group of friends mixes surprisingly well, for which he’s grateful. Maybe this really won’t be so bad, and tomorrow will be the best day of his life (or so they say).

-

Amid the chatter, he looks at Bruce on the other side of the table, utterly out of place between their friends in a dark brown bar and jazz music playing softly. As Clark talks and laughs with the others, Bruce looks back at him. The gaze unsettles him, as it always does, makes him question things, as it always does. It shouldn’t. Not anymore.

(He’s chosen. A long time ago in fact. Lois is the one that waits for him, all the time. That doesn't turn him away. The one to make him laugh and feel at home in a city where no one knows each other. The one that holds him at night when the world has been too much. Bruce can simply never be that.)

---

“We should stop,” Bruce breathes, inch away from his mouth and the wall of the cave wet behind his cape.

“She’s okay with it.”

“To what extent?”

Clark sighs, swallows. “I don’t know, exactly.”

“That’s something you might want to consider discussing.” Bruce turns away before he can come up with a reply. The rock crumbles under his hand and Bruce tells him to leave when he reaches the computer.

---

“… and then Hal went and actually asked her for it! You should have been there!” The group’s laughter pulls him out of his thoughts and he laughs along meekly when Pete taps him on the shoulder. “You okay?”

“Yeah… yeah, I’m fine.”

“Not getting cold feet are we, Clark?” Oliver asks.

He looks at Bruce. “No.”

-

The night eventually takes them back out onto the streets, half of them already stumbling as they make their way out of the small bar, but the cool night air sobers them up. Jimmy hangs onto Clark’s shoulders, Barry tries to jump onto his back for a piggyback ride, but Clark is fast to blur away, too fast for Barry, who, despite his fast metabolism, is a little intoxicated.

“So, what now? Night’s still young.”

“That it is, Hal. If you’re on the west coast.” Oliver has his hands in his pockets, Bruce’s cap is back over his eyes.

“Hey, supes can just fly around the world and spin back the clock a little, yeah?”

“You know I can’t actually do that, right? Ask Barry.”

“Nope, not tonight. I’ll throw up.”

“Not to mention you’ll mess up big time.”

“Any other good joints around here, Jimmy?” John asks.

“Plenty. What do you say, Clark? Another bar? Something more adventurous?”

“I have an apartment close to here,” Bruce cuts in. “Bar’s fully stocked.”

“Of course you do.”

“Don’t you?” Bruce raises an eyebrow at Oliver. “Comes in handy when I have to keep an eye on a certain Superguy around here.”

The small crowd looks at Clark, awaiting answer. “Sure,” he shrugs. “It has a nice view.”

---

Lois is pregnant at home on the couch and he’s in an unfamiliar bed, away from her. The apartment feels cold, not kept by Alfred, and only illuminated by a bright moon streaming through the sheer curtains draped across large windows. The bed sheets are white, the walls light, and the corners angular, modern. A bigger contrast with Bruce’s bedroom at the manor is near impossible.

“I don’t know what you want anymore, Clark,” Bruce says as he rolls away from him, sits up. “Don’t you like this place?”

“Bruce. You bought a penthouse in downtown Metropolis. For what? To be closer?”

“It seemed convenient.”

“Don’t talk to me about convenience when I could fly to Gotham in less than a minute.”

“You know what I mean.” When the baby arrives.

“Bruce,” he starts again. But gets stuck, because what does that mean? He swallows, makes a decision in the span of a second. “I won’t be here. He’s going to need a dad. Lois needs me.”

“Okay. That’s clear.” Bruce gets up. “Okay,” he says again as he walks to the bathroom.

Yet after that, there’s the bed, cold and warmed up by their bodies on a chance night, or a take-out dinner on the couch, a documentary running quietly on the large flatscreen TV while they talk. Lois never asks, but only because she knows. Jon grows healthily, strong, Lois falls asleep in Clark’s arms, and he feeds Jon in the middle of the night.

---

Now, the apartment smells clean, the fridge is empty but the pantry fully stocked. And the bar, as Bruce said. Two couches face each other in front of large windows, Clark knows which door leads to the bedroom. He doesn’t look at it.

Bruce switches on all the lights, it floods the place in yellow. It’s bright in a way Clark’s never seen it, he realizes. He pulls out a couple of bottles, asks the others what they want. A mirror of Brucie Wayne, host and not how Clark has ever seen him, here.

“You been here before, Clark?” Jimmy asks.

“Yes,” he admits.

“Sweet place.”

The group gets comfortable on the couches, Bruce suggests they could play pool, and Clark has a hard time imagining Bruce doing anything so casual. He wonders if he’s good at it, if he’s played here before, with anyone else. The pool table is new.  

John draws up some kind of a tournament, teams are formed and bets are placed. Clark sits on one of the couches next to Bruce, watching the others play, another beer in hand and Bruce has started a glass of whiskey. He’s savouring it, clearly enjoying the flavour and laughs at Barry’s jokes, J’onn’s overly serious tactics at the pool table. Clark can’t get a grasp on how normal Bruce looks, how calm, as if nothing will change tomorrow. Here, of all places and it’s somehow not fake.

He realizes, Bruce brought them here to abandon the illusion that were those slow, quiet nights. It’s a normal apartment, he says with this. It will be, now. After tomorrow. A comforting thought as much as a terrifying one.

The cashmere of Bruce’s turtleneck is soft under his fingers when he reaches out to him and there’s a glint in his eyes that Clark is unable to read, hasn’t seen in a long time.

“Can I try a glass of that too?”

“I didn’t know you were into whiskey.”

“Hey, it’s my bachelor night. I got taste buds.”

Bruce smiles. “Sure.”

Clark leans against the large island counter as Bruce reaches for a whiskey glass that he could have easily found himself.

“It doesn’t have to end,” he says to Bruce’s back.

“Doesn’t it.”

The soft kitchen light hits Bruce’s shoulders just so, accentuates his jaw, and makes him yearn for simpler times. Bruce on one of the bar stools, humming as he tastes the food Clark’s cooked for him, same light, same cashmere sweater. Who was the one to complicate it anyway? Briefly, Clark wonders if he’s made a mistake by asking Lois to marry him, but no. Bruce is the mistake. Clark was just the one to make it.

“I mean,” he starts. “I don’t know. What difference does marriage make, anyway?” Clark laughs. It comes out hollow.

“This ended a while ago, Clark. Tonight is merely closure.”

Bruce is right, of course. “Okay.”

Bruce hands him the glass, their fingers touch, and that’s it. He sends him a look, one that says are you, though? but Clark doesn’t know how to respond to that, so he just walks back to the living room. It’s his turn at pool.

-

Not an hour later Clark finds himself on the bed, the carpet in front of him only illuminated by the faint light reflected off the clouds over Metropolis. Raindrops stick to the large windows as they trickle down, and isn’t that ironic? Rain in Metropolis the night before Superman gets married.

“Thought I might find you here.” Laughter and yelling drift into the room before Bruce quietly shuts the door again.

“I just needed a minute to come to terms with the fact that we just... broke up, I think?”

Bruce stays in the middle of the room. “You knew that would happen. You chose.”

“I did.”

“Then stop with the guilt. I’ll be fine." His expresssion softens. "I have a kid to take care of now, too.”

“He’s great,” Clark smiles. “I know you will be.”

“Worried about yourself then?”

“I think I’ll just miss you. Miss this.”

Clark gets up and walks past Bruce. The glass of the window is cold under his touch, the street far below them. Bruce's fingertips white, his palm pressed flat again the glass, same view. He kisses Bruce's neck, tells him he loves him. He chooses those moments carefully, when it barely registers, when Bruce is almost physically unable to respond. But he makes sure he knows, anyway.

“Me too.” Bruce’s hand is on his arm now, turning Clark towards him. Bruce has captured him too, in many ways. But not all of them he loves.

(It’s hard to love Bruce Wayne. It’s hard not to love him.)

A tentative smile forms on Bruce’s face. “Last night as a free man, right?” Bruce’s offer is tempting, they’re already crowding each other’s space, heartbeats loud and it won’t take much more now. But that will only make it harder. Clark shakes his head. Still, he hugs Bruce closer, caresses his temple, mindful of the stitches on his brow. Bruce leans into the touch.

“Why does it feel so wrong to love two people, Bruce?”

Bruce huffs. “Society. Most people don’t have a big enough heart. Plus, partners cannot deal with the jealousy.”

“But you do.”

“I’m not Lois, nor is she me.”

They could never replace one another. Clark’s breathing feels restricted, his throat thick, in spite of Bruce’s comforting presence. “What if I don’t want to choose?”

“Then don’t.” Bruce’s hand moves up along Clark’s arm. “Then don’t.”

He isn’t sure who starts the kiss, but their noses touch, breathing the same air, lips brush. There’s no tongue. It’s not a start, not tonight. It’s an end.

“I’m sorry.” Sorry for loving you. Sorry for choosing Lois. Sorry for everything we did together.

“Don’t be.” Bruce is the one to make sure there is some breathing room between them again, his hand lingers. “You and I both know I've always been number two. And I... was okay with that. It was enough. In fact,” he chuckles. “It was almost too much.”

The cave is only illuminated by the blue light of the computer monitor as Clark lifts Bruce out of his chair, already fast asleep. Alfred watches from a distance and thanks Clark for arriving so fast. On those night, he sleeps next to Bruce, just to keep him in bed. On nights that Bruce pushes him away, stuck in a case and his anger almost palpable, even Superman admits defeat. Clark waits for him upstairs and eventually leaves through the window before dawn to go back to Metropolis, bed unslept in.

He’ll make sure Bruce is fine without him. Alfred knows who to call.

“I want to move out to the farm with them. Jon needs room to grow. Rao knows I did.” He smiles at the memories of Kansas, yellow fields and endless sky where he learnt to fly, where he could be himself.

“Stubborn. Thinking you can take Lois out of the city.” Bruce doesn’t know they’ve already talked about it. “But that’s good. I’ll make sure to visit with Dick and Alfred.”

“We can play baseball.” Outside, the rain has stopped, the sky slowly turning lighter.

Bruce throws him something as he walks back to the door. The key to the apartment. “Stay here tonight.”

“It’s morning.”

“Whatever. I’m going home, I’ll see you at the wedding.”

“Catch some sleep,” Clark tries before Bruce opens the door, but he’s already gone.

In the living room, the others are in various states of consciousness. John and J’onn, back in his alien form, are still wrapped up in their game of pool, Barry and Hal asleep on the couch and Jimmy and Pete passed out on the other. The coffee table between them is littered with beers and glasses. Oliver has his forehead on the cool marble of the kitchen island. He turns his face to Clark.

“Bruce just left without saying anything. What happened?”

Clark thinks, shrugs. “Not important. He gave me the key, we can stay here until we’re ready to go to the wedding in a couple hours.”

“A couple hours…” Oliver groans.

“Is that an early wedding gift, Clark?” John asks from over by the pool table.

Clark looks at the key in his hand. “No,” he chuckles. “I’m pretty sure he’ll want it back.”

“I’ll never understand the guy.”

“Don’t even try. That’s what we have Clark for,” Oliver says to the marble counter.

“I mean, I like to think I’ve got a pretty good grasp of him, but he surprises me too.” His soft insides contrasted by a hard shell, blackened by trauma and the night. His cryptic language that is like a puzzle for Clark to unfold, understand, reciprocate. They’ll still have that, have friendship. And the memories of time spent together.

In the distance, he hears Bruce’s heartbeat speeding back to Gotham. With him, doubt that leaves Clark, replaced with a light and excitement. He looks out the window up at the blue sky over the city. He’s getting married today.

He regards his friends, a bunch of gathered individuals, outcasts like himself who have found each other through Clark, through the purpose of trying to do good. “Who wants breakfast? I’ll go get eggs.”

[fuwafuwamedb]

Dodging Death Pt 15 (Proto Cu, Cu Chulainn, Rin, Ereshkigal)

Previously: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 , 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

___

She’d come to this world with one intention: find the king that was supposed to die and immediately take him to the underworld.

That was it. Ishtar had already made this whole process a thousand times more complicated than it needed to be. She was supposed to be looking for a human and would have had a much easier time if Ishtar hadn’t butted herself into the whole affair.

Then again, she’d asked for Ishtar to help her.

She’d thought that Ishtar would be tying him down or casting a castration spell or simply tripping him before complaining that her feet hurt so bad and no one loved her. She’d expected something much more Ishtar-oriented. Instead, what had the woman done?

She’d turned Gilgamesh into a cat.

A golden, puffy feline.

They’d had to run to one of the other gods to be able to trail after the king through his tear through time. That had taken enough of an effort that he had actual time and adjustment to this life and world. He could have been anywhere, anywhere at all and they would have to go hunting him down like a beast in the wild.

“I know what we can do,” Ishtar had told her.

She didn’t want to know what the plan was.

Thinking about it now, Ereshkigal couldn’t think of anything she wanted to know less about. Her sister was going to end up creating a mess of trouble in this time and it would be entirely up to her to fix it all. Their father would hound her about it. Her brother would roll his eyes and return to worshiping his wife. Their mother would wince.

The one upside to the whole thing was that she was in the underworld.

She was at least able to distract herself with her audit of those who had died. Small favors were still favors.

“Miss?”

Ereshkigal looked up, noting the same lookalike that Hakuno had pointed out before she’d left.

“Miss, we’re about twenty minutes to close. I wanted to let you know so that you could find a good stopping point and make sure to check out your books before you go.”

The books she’d found were actually rather cute. There were lots of precious pictures of families and their feline friends. She had no idea what they said, but the pictures were worth looking at. It was like someone had frozen the people of this world in a still image, preserved forever more like a painting. She’d tried scratching at one of the pages a bit earlier in time and found that the images weren’t even made of paints.

These people were fascinating.

“Thank you,” Ereshkigal told the woman.

Turning back to her book, Ereshkigal pressed her fingers lightly to a cat with similar patterns to that of Gilgamesh’s cat form.

After this was all said and done and the great and noble king of Uruk was in the underworld… maybe she would have to come back here. She could spend a few days in this time, learning how to read the strange script of this world and spending more time with that girl from before.

Hakuno was so full of life.

There had been no malice or hatred. She’d shared no ill will or ulterior motives. When she had spoken of a cat, the woman had immediately assumed she had wanted one and had described the beauty of the beasts. It was thanks to her that she could see these beautiful images.

Her eyes strayed to the card that the woman had given her with a contacting method.

Her eyes drifted to the woman at the counter.

First things first, she needed an answer.

Ereshkigal stood up and hurried over to the counter.

“Are you ready to check out?”

“Umm. No,” the language of these people were a bit difficult. She’d used magic to learn, but it was still a challenge. She set the card on the desk. “Can you… Can you tell me how to use this?”

The woman, Rin, looked down at the card before laughing a little.

The woman brushed her hair back.

“This is a phone number. You’d use it on a phone. You must have been getting along really well for Hakuno to give you her number. She just got recently engaged.”

“I-I just came here from far away… Hakuno said she would be my friend.”

It felt so strange to say it to this woman. It was like confessing to her sister.

Rin raised a brow and smiled.

“You must have been getting along really well for Hakuno to give you her number,” she said again. “And your accent is really cute. You must be from somewhere near where Hakuno’s fiancée is from. You just take this card and go to type in the digits.” She pulled out a device and pressed the buttons, the woman’s name showing on the phone. “Click the green button and it will start dialing.”

“A phone…”

Rin frowned a little. “…Do you not have one?”

She expected a laugh.

Ishtar was always laughing and causing trouble like that. She would get the haughty, hip swaying retort a moment before one of them would get pissed off at the other making a comment. They’d begin fighting and there’d be another series of destroyed buildings for the rest of the gods to clean up.

“Miss,” Rin was still frowning. “Do you… Do you have somewhere to stay in town?”

“I’ve been wandering in the streets.”

“The streets?!”

“My sister um… she kind of abandoned me.”

Rin moved around the counter, her face in a mixture of anger and something else. She barely had time to flinch before she felt the other’s arms around her. She was pressed against the other’s chest, held tightly to the woman.

“Miss Rin?”

“Good god, no wonder Hakuno gave you her number. I can’t believe that. Do you know how dangerous it is right now? There’s an axe murderer out there right now!”

“I’ll be okay-“

“NO! No.” Rin pulled back, holding her shoulders. “I can’t allow it. If you can’t stay with me, let me at least get you a hotel room for a night. Or I have a couple friends that would be able to hole you up for the evening. My um… I have a guy that I sometimes spend time with for the sake of personal amusement that would be able to take you in… if you were okay with it. His roommate is a great cook.”

“I don’t know them though…”

“Or you could stay over with me? Or your own hotel room.  I don’t need to know the room number or anything!”

She was still being hugged.

This had to be the strangest day she’d ever had in her entire life. She was being hugged by someone that looked exactly like Ishtar, all the way to the voice. The only difference were those eyes. The deep blue eyes were so soothing.

“I don’t want to be a burden,” Ereshkigal tried.

“You’re coming home with me,” Rin told her simply.

A voice drew their conversation to a stop. Rin’s head turned immediately before Ereshkigal found herself yanked over to the blue haired man nearby.

“Cu!” Rin smirked, “this is my temporary roommate.”

“My name is Ereshkigal,” Ereshkigal found herself saying.

“Right!” Rin smiled, hugging her again. The hugs were becoming addictive. “Eresh doesn’t have anywhere to stay and has been living on the streets!”

“Geez, are you tryin’ to die?” Cu stared at her in horror. “You got bags somewhere we gotta grab?”

“Bags?”

“Your things,” Rin explained. “That’s a good point, Cu.”

“I don’t have things.”

The two stared at her before Rin moved to Cu.

“I’m sorry! I just- I don’t really need things and my sister had what we brought,” she tried to explain.

“Your sister is going to get her ass beaten by me,” Rin snarled. “The first thing I will do when I see her is give her a good smack to the face.”

Cu was practically glowing at her words.

“Anyway,” Rin huffed. “Since you have nothing, I can’t stand for this. Eresh, you can borrow something of mine. I might be a bit small in size for you, but I think I have something.”

“I appreciate it.”

She didn’t know what else to say on the matter, but that was alright. The two began to talk and Ereshkigal found herself waiting with Cu as Rin went about closing the library. There was a little man that came out from the back to grumble and complain about Hakuno before leaving. There was a tall woman that looked like she would have been one of the more foreboding spirits in the depths of Kur. She followed the little man out.

Rin led them to the doors and locked up, testing the doors and waving to the strange little device near the doors.

“Hakuno out today?” Cu asked.

“No, we had her leave early.” Rin shook her head as they headed to a strange metal wagon nearby. Ereshkigal found herself ushered into the back before the two climbed into the front seats.

“How come?”

“Hakuno, in her great brilliance, brought her boyfriend to work with her. Hans got a bit hot under the collar. Kiara started making some little comments here and there. I decided I could use the extra hours.”

“Did they do something?”

“Hans says they didn’t,” Rin told them. Her eyes flickered between the two of them before her smirk became bigger. “Kiara swears up and down that she saw the two of them having a moment by the magazines. She made it sound like Hakuno was doing… less than appropriate behavior.”

That sounded more like Ishtar.

It was so weird to sit here, listening. Cu would keep the conversation going, earning more and more Ishtar-like gossip by the woman. The smug smile was so familiar that she had the need to almost ask Ishtar what she was doing here.

She was too similar.

“Welcome home!” Rin told her, the wagon coming to a stop near a quiet building.

“This is your home?”

“Our home,” Rin corrected. “At least until you can get on your feet again.”

“I’ll stay here with you both just to look after you.” The man grinned a bit, “Rin’s a good egg, but she is a terrible snorer.”

“Excuse me?”

“Terrible,” Cu went on. “You’ll see her pass out when watching TV with you and you just hear this sound. It’s like a loud foghorn, escaping straight from that mou-“

Rin smacked his arm, storming out of the car.

“She’s a great woman,” Cu told her. “I’m just here because Rin’s been having a few nightmares and you stayin’ gives me a good reason to both stop the nightmares and keep ya both safe.”

Ereshkigal simply nodded.

“Come on,” Cu nodded towards the doors, leaving her to climb out and follow him into the house.

The two led her to a room. Rin gave her a nightgown, beaming proudly at seeing her get excited. The nightgown was cute. Even better, it matched another that Rin had changed into.

They settled onto a large cushioned bench together, Rin and her both cuddled up next to Cu. Cu turned on the large portrait somehow, illuminating it with a great deal of light before he found-

“You mind?” Cu glanced over at her. “Rin likes mysteries and this is supposed to be funny.”

“It’s a play?”

“A movie,” Rin told her, like that explained everything.

Something buzzed a moment before Cu was feeling his pockets. He pulled out one of those phones, his name showing a moment before Cu held the phone to his ear.

“Ah, so you finished work?” Cu laughed at a small voice coming from the phone. “I’m over with Rin and our friend Ereshkigal.”

The sounds began again, but stopped a second before Cu spoke again.

“Ah… hold on.” Cu pressed his phone to his chest. “Rin? You mind if Proto comes?”

“Junior? Sure… but, don’t let him get up to too much trouble. If he does anything-“

“I’ll keep him on a leash,” Cu promised, brushing the woman’s hair.

He spoke on his phone a moment longer before they settled in. The two of them began to wait, with Rin going to the door and turning on the light. It didn’t take a great deal of time before there was another Cu looking guy there. He was younger, he had shorter hair, but he seemed nice enough.

“Oh… Hi.”

Ereshkigal smiled to the man. “Hi.”

“…Hi.”

Ereshkigal glanced over at the other two, finding Cu smacking the boy upside the head.

“Eyes on the TV, Junior,” Cu growled.

They settled back down to watch the strange movie, which, as it happened, was a strange and beautiful play. They paused it about halfway, with the main actress sobbing over an old man that she had given bad medicine to.

“I have to use the restroom,” Rin told them, pressing the pause button and hurrying towards the other room.

“I’ll be right back,” Cu told them, heading into the room with cooking things in it.

Proto looked around.

“I feel so bad for the apsu,” Ereshkigal breathed, looking at the frozen faces of the actors. “She loved the man. You can see it in her eyes.”

Humans were so astounding.

She could feel all that pain, all that terror and horror in her eyes was stalled. The wrinkles on her forehead were so prominent.

“I don’t think this is the truth,” Proto murmured.

“What? But she can’t lie,” Ereshkigal pointed out.

“Oh, no. She can, but she gets sick. She’s also a nurse,” Proto pointed out. “I bet you she’s taken something for it.”

“Do you think so?”

“We can look it up,” Proto offered, pulling out his phone. “It’ll take me maybe a minute to find out the plot to this movie.”

“…You can phone someone?”

“Ah, no, I was going to use the internet.”

“The internet?”

Proto began to laugh, “You sound like Gil when I first showed him how to use his tablet. Come here, I’ll show ya.”

Ereshkigal stared at the phone, her eyes widening.

The phone was a universe in a rectangle. The man looked up the actors of the play. He looked up a video of a cat when she mentioned cats. He showed her a video of someone falling off a wagon and into a lake, which he laughed about for several minutes.

She leaned against his arm, watching in fascination.

“You can look up anything with this?”

“Anything at all. I can buy things with this.”

“That’s amazing.”

Proto glanced over at her, his smile growing.

“…What?”

“Nothin’. It’s just been a really long time since I’ve had a girl tell me that somethin’ I’m doing is amazing.”

“You are amazing! I never would have guessed that a phone could do so much.”

The man’s face turned pink, making her lean in closer.

“…are you okay?”

“You’re name’s Eresh, right?”

She opened her mouth to point out that it was actually Ereshkigal, but… No one was here to really point that out except her. Ishtar had run off with the king’s axe in hand. Rin and Cu were already calling her their friend and was giving her nice things and a room. She had… friends.

The thought made her vision swim.

“Whoa, whoa!” Proto moved immediately, facing her more. “I didn’t mean to upset ya. Is it an insult or something-“

“M-My name is Eresh.” Ereshkigal smiled a bit, shaking her head. “It’s just… It’s really nice to be around people that are kind.”

“Ah, shit.” Proto shook his head, She felt his arms wrap around her tightly, pressing her against his chest.

“CU! YOUR BROTHER-“

“OI! LAY OFF RIN!” Proto yelled over at her. “ERESH WAS CRYING BECAUSE SHE’S HAPPY TO HAVE FRIENDS! LET ME GIVE A DAMN HUG!”

She felt another hug against her. Rin was wrapping her arms around her tight, tugging her away from a squawking Proto and against her shoulder instead.

“I’ve got you,” Rin murmured. “You’re going to be my sister and friend, alright? Remember I’m friend number one.”

Rin was amazing.

Hakuno had been so right.

She had been on the roads of this city for so long, hunting for that damn king that wouldn’t let himself die. She had been so cold and so tired. Her sister was doing something stupid no doubt. There was never anyone to talk to and, when there was, she was always at the short end of the whole thing.

Hakuno had let her have three friends.

She had Cu. She had Proto. Most importantly, she had Rin.

“D-do you want to watch the rest of the movie?” she asked her first and best friend and sister, Rin.

“Well,” Rin grinned, “we can, but I think we should make Proto and Cu break out the wine. If we’re going to cry, we’re going to cry because of wine.”

The next time she saw Hakuno, Ereshkigal decided, she was going to make sure that woman knew that she would give any favor, anything at all, to her.

Proto held her tightly after the wine was poured and the movie was resumed.

Rin cuddled against Cu, holding her hand as the film continued.

This was the best night of her life.

[ray-ray-writings]

Suite Life-- Make Up

Here’s Part Two to this preference: Break up

Find my Masterlist Here

Zack: “Babe,” Bailey sighed from her position at the foot of my bed, “It’s been three days. You have to get out of this room.” I pouted, knowing she was right. It had been three days since Zack and I broke up. Just because I broke up with him because he was flirting with other girls doesn’t make me miss him any less. “I know.” I sighed, snuggling deeper under my covers, “How about you let me finish out this day and we’ll get a fresh start tomorrow, and if I refuse you have permission to drag my whole mattress out of this room. 

Bailey let out another sigh but nodded, “Okay. We’ll start fresh tomorrow. I’m going to go down to the cafeteria for dinner, do you want anything?” She asked. “Can you bring me some pizza and something to drink?” I asked. Bailey smiled softly and nodded. “Yeah.” She spoke as she patted my leg. “I’ll be back in a bit. I’ll even bring some popcorn and candy and we can have movie night.” It was my turn to smile softly, “I’d really like that.” Bailey grabbed her phone and made her way out of our room. I was now alone. I rolled over on my side and stared at the door. Maybe I could doze off until Bails comes back. I closed my eyes and allowed my thoughts to take over. Yeah, that didn’t last long as there was a jarring knock on the door. I huffed and hauled myself out of my bed, perhaps Bailey forgot her key or her arms were so full she couldn’t open the door. I giggled at the thought. I placed my hand on the knob and began to open it, “What happened? Did you forget your key? Or did you bring so much-” the words died on the tip of my tongue when I saw who was actually at my door. Zack stood before me, one hand on his hip the other scratching the back of his head. “Oh, it’s you.” I stated coldly. “Well, thanks for stopping by.” I said as I began to close the door. “No, Y/N wait please.” Zack begged as he put his foot in the doorway. I huffed at him, “What?” “Please let me talk.” Zack begged with pleading eyes. It was then I noticed the dark purple bags under his eyes and his sunken expression. I sighed and rolled my eyes. I let go of the door and crossed my arms in front of me. “You have two minutes.” I huffed out. “Thank you.” Zack sighed in relief. 

“You broke up with me because I was flirting with girls.” “Way to state the obvious” I mused. “But it was more than that. Okay that sounds bad. No, what I mean is that there was a good reason I was flirting. Okay that’s even worse.” “Minute and a half.” I prompted. Zack ran a hand over his face, “I’m just going to say it. I flirt with girls because they give me money.” I perked an eyebrow at his confession. “Excuse me.” Zack groaned at his words. “Girls, for some reason, find me attractive, so they flirt with me. When I flirt back they leave me huge tips. Like sometimes $8-10.” “Okay but why would you need that much money if you already have a good paying job?” Zack looked at the ground. “I was… I am saving up for something.” He mumbled. I sighed and hugged myself tighter, “Okay cool. Are you done now? Bailey’s coming back with pizza soon.” I informed him. “I was saving up to get you a gift.” Zack blurted. My demeanor shifted, “Oh,” I uttered softly, “Why?” I questioned. Zack sighed, “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me. I wanted to get you something to show you how much you mean to me. So in order to do that, I needed a little more cash, hence the flirting. But of course, I was so stupid and blind, I didn’t realized how fucked up that was and how much that would hurt you. I’m so sorry.” Zack admitted. We stood there for a couple of beats. “I don’t know what you want me to do here Zack. I still love you but I don’t want to get hurt like that again. You don’t need to get me fancy gifts to show me you love me. Just being with me is enough. Watch a movie, baking brownies, hell even just flirting with me. That’s all I need.” I confessed. Zack reached into his pocket and pulled out a slender box. He opened it and in it was a beautiful diamond necklace, “Oh Zack,” I gasped, reaching out for it. “I know I messed up. I know you probably don’t want me back. But if you’d have me, I’d really like another chance. I promise no more flirting with girls that aren’t you, and if I need more cash for some reason, I’ll talk to you about it. I still love you Y/N and I you said you love me too. So what do you say, take me back?” Zack rambled. I stared at Zack for a moment before giving him a soft smile, “Okay.” I answered. Zack went wide eyed, “Really.” I giggled and nodded. Zack rushed forward and wrapped me up in a big hug. “Thank the Lord.” He pulled out of the hug and made me do a 180. I lifted up my hair and let him clip the necklace in place. “Perfect” I spun back around and wrapped my arms around his neck. I pressed a small kiss to his lips and then pulled away. I placed my hands on his shoulders and pushed him away from me, “However, if you do ever pull that kind of stunt again, I will castrate you and then I’ll have Bailey chop off your head.” I threatened. Zack gulped at my words. He was about to answer, but another voice cut him off. “She’s right.” Bailey had returned with my food and our popcorn. “Now, move. You may have gotten back together with her but we’re having a movie night. So you can see her tomorrow but for now she’s mine.” Zack opened his mouth to protest but Bailey cut him off by closing the door in his face. Bailey turned to me and handed me my plate and cup. “Now I’m going to be honest, I’m glad you’re back together, y’all are a cute couple.” I laughed at Bailey’s confession. “You know Bails,” I began, “One day we could be related.” Bailey’s face went red. She gently shoved me, “Yeah, yeah. So what are we watching?”

Cody: I sighed as I walked across the open deck. I had been thinking a lot about Cody and what he said about my writing. I know I shouldn’t let it get to me, but I can’t help it. What if he’s right, what if my dream is stupid and I never become a famous writer? I sighed and tucked the folder I was carrying further into my chest. Inside the folder, you ask? Loose leaf print outs of my writing so that I can read them in a different format and make physical notes on them. I was going to actually sit outside for once and go through them but I decided not to at the last second. Anyway, I was so deep in thought that I didn’t even notice another body coming toward me until it was too late. In my surprise, my hand loosened causing my folder to fall out of my grasp, hit the ground, and scatter my papers everywhere. Immediately I bent down and began to pick everything up. “Oh gosh. I’m so sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.” The other person bent down and began to help me. They opened their mouth and the all too familiar voice froze me in my tracks. “Oh no, you’re fine. I wasn’t paying attention either. It’s my fault.” I cleared my throat and began to pick everything up faster. Soon I had most of it back in my folder, all that was left was those papers in Cody’s hand. I quickly reached to pull the papers away from him, but he moved away. “Y/N, did you write this?” He questioned, eyes scanning over the words. I crossed my arms in front of me, “Maybe. Why do you care. Gonna tell me it sucks?” I huffed. Cody looked up, a sad look in his eye. “Y/N. This is really good.” my face turned red at the compliment. “Thanks.” I muttered. “No, I mean it. Like really good. I’ve actually been looking for you.” Cody stated softly. “Okay.” I said, reaching out for my papers again and once again not succeeding. “Seriously. What I said the other day. It came out all wrong. My mom had, has, a dream. She wanted to be this famous singer and that’s what she put all her time into. Then she and my dad had me and Zack then the only thing she could get was the gig at the hotel. She raised us single handedly, struggling on the way. I never want you to struggle. I am so in love with you and the thought of you failing and not getting what you want is like my worst nightmares. I said you needed to focus on something more real, You needed a Plan B.” Cody explained. I nodded at his words, “Someone once told me that if you have a plan B, then you actually only have a plan A and it’s not the one you want it to be. Because you have to focus on your “plan b” so much it becomes your plan A and your original plan A gets lost.” I chimed. “And I know this now. I should have been more supportive. I should have encouraged this instead of trying to tear it down because you have a real gift. This is something you need to chase, and I’d like to be there every step of the way, if you would let me.” Cody expressed. Cody and I stood there for a moment just looking at each other before I nodded. “I would like that to. I love you too Cody.” I rushed and closed the gap between us, crushing my lips on his, wrapping my arms around his body pulling him close. “Thank God.” I heard Cody breathe out. We stood there for a while, just enamored in each others arms. “You wanna maybe go back to your room and you can show me more of your writing?” inquired Cody. I let out a little giggle. “Well I’m not sure about that, but I would love to go back to my room with you.” I bubbled. Cody wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. I gasped and smacked his shoulders. “Not like that you freak,” I giggled. Cody laughed with me, “I know. I just missed teasing you.” I rolled my eyes, “Yeah okay. Now let’s go,” I urged, grabbing his wrists and pulling him towards my dorm. Before we got far, Cody grabbed my arms and held me in place, “What are you do-” my question was cut off by Cody’s lips hitting mine. I quickly kissed back, wrapping my arms around his shoulders, his moved around my waist. After a couple of beats, Cody pulled back with a loopy grin playing on his lips, “I really missed that.” I pecked his lips once more, “Me too babe. Me too.”

Bailey: I sighed as I pushed opened Ms. Tutweiller’s office door. I got an email from her asking me to meet her because she wanted to talk to me about my homework or whatever. I didn’t want to be here though. I want to be cuddled up in bed, with a tub of ice cream and sad movies so my tears feel verified (I wanted to put a different word here but I could not for the life of me think of what it was). But alas, I was here, about to talk about heaven knows what. “Hey Ms. Tutweiller, what did you want to talk-- what are you doing here?” I questioned my ex-girlfriend. Bailey sat behind Ms. T’s desk with a nervous smile. “Hi Y/N.” “Hi. I came here to have a meeting with Ms. Tutweiller but seeing as you’re here, I’ll reschedule.” I deadpanned before turning around and starting to walk out. “No! Wait!” I heard Bailey yell before I felt her hand on my wrist. I got spun around to face her. “I asked Mrs. Tutweiller to set up a fake meeting with you to get here so I could apologize to you.” I rose my eyebrow at her words. “I’m sorry. The day I broke up with you, I had gotten news that my oldest, most favorite cow had passed away. We had had Betty literally since I was born. When I got picked on for being the weird girl, she was there. When I heard she died, I was so pissed and upset. I got so homesick. I missed it, I wasn’t there when she had always been there for me.” I stared at Bailey with loving eyes, “Oh Bails.” I sighed as I brought her in my arms. “I just got so angry and I took it out on you. I’m so sorry. I’m hoping you’ll take me back.” “Of course. I just wish you would have talked to me about it. I’m always going to be here for you, I wish you could just see that. I forgive you, just next time try and talk to me.” Bailey smushed her face into my neck further, “I promise. I love you.” “I love you too.”

London: I rolled my eyes as another text from London came through. What part of “break up” did she not understand? She’s the one that excitedly agree to us no longer being together then ran away. I clicked the off button on my phone and rolled over in my bed, ignoring the further buzzing. Finally, after quite a bit of time, my phone stopped buzzing. I closed my eyes, fully intending on getting in a nap, but my dorm door flew open. “London, what are you doing here?” London crossed her arms and huffed, “What was I supposed to do, my girlfriend kept leaving me on read and sending me to voicemail.” I scoffed at her words, “Girlfriend? London, we’re not girlfriends anymore. We broke up remember?” London had a panicked face, “What? We broke up? When?” I rolled my eyes at her, “The day I was eating ice cream on the deck. You were telling me that I didn’t need the help to look fat and bloated and that some days you felt embarrassed to be seen with me. So I said, ‘If you feel that way maybe we should break up.’ and you, very excitedly said, ‘Break up over ice cream! That sounds amazing.’ So we’re broken up, remember?” London’s face became confused, “Wait, you think I wanted to break up? No! That was the last thing I wanted. I was talking to myself. Any dairy makes me feel awful and I look bloated. I feel embarrassed to be seen with you because you always look so good, even when you’re not trying and it makes me so jealous. Me agree to break up was me agreeing that breaking up chocolate chip cookies over ice cream was an amazing idea, not us no longer dating.” London explained. I let out a soft, “Oh,” London sat down on my bed next to my chest. “I’m really sorry that my meaning got lost in translation and I didn’t explain further. I promise I’ll make it up to you, but for now can we cuddle? I would really like to spend some time with my girlfriend right now.” I giggled and scooted back, opening the blanket and my arms for her to join me. “Okay, I guess I’ll forgive you.” I said as London joined me in the bed. I kissed her forehead, “Just so you know, you also always look amazing in everything and I love you.” London kissed my forehead in response, “I love you too.”

Woody: “I know I shouldn’t have been that upset but the things he was saying just made me so mad.” I ranted to my sister. “No sweetie, you had every right to get angry. I know that you get compared to me a lot and I hate it. You’re your own person and you don’t have to be anything like me.” Bailey ranted back. I nodded at her words. “I love you Bails.” I spoke, she smiled and took my hands, “I love you too.” There was a knock on our door. “Come in,” Bails called out. The door opened and there stood my ex. “Oh hell no.” Bails said standing up and walking toward the door. “Get out. Now.” She said, pushing him out the door. “Wait! Please! I need to talk to Y/N.” Woody begged. Bailey rolled her eyes, “You lost that right when you compared her to me.” Bailey hissed. Woody caught my eye and made me melt, “Please,” He spoke in a broken voice. “Bails.” I simply said and she stopped and looked at me. “You have one minute. Go.” Woody immediately jumped into his explanation. “I’ve never been in a relationship before. Cody’s relationship was the only one I was ever really exposed and so that’s what I’ve thought of a healthy relationship. That’s why I always compared, cause I thought I was doing something wrong.” Woody explained. I sighed at his words, “Woody there are many types of healthy relationships, but comparing one to another isn’t healthy at all. As you can see, all it does is cause a riff between the two.” Woody kneeled at the edge of my bed, “And I know that now. Please forgive my ignorance and take me back.” I looked up at Bailey and we had a silent conversation. “Okay, but if you ever compare the two of us again in that way, you’re going to regret it.” “Okay. Anything you say.” Woody said getting up slightly and pressing a kiss to my lips. I giggled at his response. “Okay. That’s good. I kind of missed you Woods.” I joked. Woody pulled away and chuckled. “That’s good because I missed you a lot.

Maddie: I had spent the last couple of days watching a lot of TV shows and movies. I had been trying to keep myself busy so I didn’t think about Maddie and our break up. I think I did the right thing. I mean why keep going if we never see each other or hang out. It doesn’t make it hurt any less. My binging was interrupted by a knock on the front door. I sighed, rolled my eyes, and got up to answer the door. I swung the door open and came face to face with the girl I was trying not to think about. “Hey.” Maddie said softly. “Hi.” I greeted a little coldly. “I brought something.” Maddie jumped right to the point. “Great.” I deadpanned. I thought it would be everything I ever gave her, hoodies, pants, gifts. Boy was I wrong. Maddie then pulled out a poster with words on it. However, some of the words were candy. “If I had a 100 Grand I’d take you on a shopping Spree to New York. Thank you for Mounds of conversations, millions of Snickers, and being a huge Nerd with me. I’m Extra sorry and I hope you can forgive this Dum-Dum Airhead for letting the best thing I had, go.” I giggled at the poster. “Maddie this is sweet.” “Well duh, it’s candy.” We had a good laugh about that joke. “But in all seriousness Y/N. I don’t want to be single, I want to be girlfriend that go on dates. Please, give me another chance, I promise I’m going to make more of an effort to be there for you, for our dates, because I really want this relationship and I really want you.” I rushed forward and threw myself in her arms. “I love you Mads and I really want that too, but I really don’t want to get hurt again.” “I promise you won’t. I swear I’ll do better and be better. And if I don’t, you have permission to chop off my head.” We let out a hearty laugh at that. We pulled back a little bit and I nodded “Okay. One more chance, don’t blow it.” Maddie hugged me tighter, “I promise I won’t”

Hello! I hope these were okay and you enjoyed! Be sure to leave a like and maybe even a comment, I would definitely appreciate it!

[pezberry-week]

So I have to admit this is a little bit of a cheat for my Pezberry Secret Santa fill for @angel-hummel - as in, it’s both my present fill and a prompt fill for my 25 Days of Christmas (AO3) fic collection. As it is, I have plans to revisit this someday, but I hope you enjoy this self contained bit anyway. Happy Pezberry Secret Santa, angel-hummel!

*

Day 21: Character A is pretending to be their friend’s lover for the sake of the friend’s family. Character B is said friend’s sibling.

*

“Santí! Come down and meet your brother’s girlfriend!”

“That’s really not necessary.” Rachel smiled at Maribel, hoping the woman wouldn’t see her unease. “If she’s busy we can always meet later.”

“Nonsense. It’s time for her to come down anyway.” Frowning, Maribel sighed, saying under her breath, “That girl,” before taking a step on the staircase, rapping harshly against the wall. “Santí! Get off the computer and come meet Rachel! Your brother’s girlfriend!” She turned her head, smiling at Rachel, “I’m so sorry. She’s always playing around with those music programs of hers.”

“Puck did tell me that she worked for Big Machine Records…” Rachel tried to placate, starting to feel even more awkward than she originally had when she’d first walked into her friend’s father and step-mother’s house as his fake girlfriend. “Perhaps she’s busy mixing and can’t hear you?”

Maribel huffed. “That would be just like her. Here,” she turned, descending the step she’d taken, “Can you be a dear and fetch her for me? I have to check on dinner, and this way you can introduce yourself.”

Blinking, feeling a little blindsided, Rachel barely had the chance to agree before Maribel was hustling her up the stairs, calling out a thank you as she turned to make her way back to the kitchen. Figuring there was no point in pausing in the middle of the stairs, she finished her walk up, pausing and wavering at the top before sighing and squaring her shoulders, turning to the hall of doors. About to start worrying about which she should knock on, she relaxed when she could see a door proudly proclaiming, “Santana’s Room Keep Out!!!” from where she stood. That was lucky.

The door opened after Rachel’s second smattering of hesitant knocks, Rachel still pulling her hand away. “I told you, Mamí, I have a deadline I have to – – you’re not mom.”

Beautiful brown eyes blinked down at her. Framed by thick, curly bangs and above a thin nose and plush, red lips, Santana Lopez practically took Rachel’s breath away. When the striking eyes narrowed, Rachel realized she was still staring, and she took a step back, shoving her hands behind her back so they wouldn’t fidget in front of her. “I’m Rachel. R-Rachel Berry,” she stuttered, “Puck’s… Girlfriend.”

“You don’t sound so confident about that,” Santana smirked at her, leaning against the side of her doorway.

Red slashed across Rachel’s face. “Oh, no, I am. I, er, just…” Trailing off, she remembered herself, standing forward to offer her hand, “It’s nice to meet you.”

Untangling her arm from the doorway, Santana accepted the handshake, and suddenly long, warm fingers were wrapped around Rachel’s. “Rachel, eh? Puck’s bandmate?” She made vocal bunny ears, “The tiny fellow Jew hottie?”

More red bloomed on Rachel’s cheeks. “Ah, yes, that’s me. Apparently…” She’d have to have a talk with Puck about how he described her in the future. Not wanting to relinquish the handshake, but knowing she had to before it became weird, Rachel pulled her hand back, Santana’s grip briefly tightening before releasing her, sliding her hand into the pocket of her skinny jeans. Following the motion, Rachel wondered why she’d thought it be a good idea to wear one of her ‘best impression wholesome girl’ dresses when she could have worn something like what Santana was and have given her an extremely different impression than what she was probably giving her.

“Seems like a pretty accurate description,” Santana smiled, bringing Rachel’s attention back up to her face.

Rachel laughed self-consciously. “You should hear how he describes you.”

Fine eyebrows rose. “Oh, you’ve gotta tell me.”

“Well, you know…” Taking a second to come up with a response, Rachel affected her voice lower, “’Santana Puckerman? My totally pain in the ass step-sister.’”

Rolling her eyes, Santana shook her head, a smirk still curling her lips up. “He just never stops complaining about when I almost castrated him with a s’mores fork, doesn’t he?”

“What?”

“We were eight.”

“Wait, his pain is literal?”

“I’m sure you’ve seen his ass. Is the scar still visible?”

“That’s… Actually not something I would know.” Thank god.

“Really?” Santana’s eyebrows shot up again. “Normally bro’s faster with getting his chicks naked. Boy does not know how to do the romance.”

“And you do?” Rachel immediately lobbed back, both out of curiosity and automatic defense of her friend.

Santana smirked. “I’m sure you’ve heard the tales about me. What do you think?”

Opening her mouth, Rachel was saved from making some obvious and pathetic attempt at not being flirty by the loud racket of Puck loping up the stairs. “Babe,” he called out carelessly, swinging himself around the banister, “Stop flirting with my sis and come make me look good. Mom’s wantin’ us all down there.”

“Puck,” Rachel snapped, not bothering to hide her mortification at his words as Puck wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side.

Puck smirked at Santana. “Ain’t she hot?”

Again, “Puck,” and Rachel elbowed his side, using his indrawn breath and flinch to disentangle herself, stepping aside and straightening her dress.

Santana surveyed them curiously, a lazy tilt of her lips showing her amusement. “At least this one seems to know how to handle you,” she teased, shaking her head; disappearing into her bedroom – Rachel getting a glimpse of black and white and a sumptuous looking bed – she called over her shoulder, “Give me a sec to save my work and I’ll be there.”

Once Rachel was secure she was far enough away to be able to hold a furiously whispered conversation, she rounded onto Puck. “You,” she jutted her finger at him, “Didn’t tell me how… Attractive she was!”

That elicited a loud, full-belly laugh, Puck even going so far to pretend to wipe away tears. “You’ve seen pics, haven’t ya?”

“Those were crazy, unflattering ones, and you know it!”

Still laughing, Puck shook his head, urging Rachel down and in front of him, meeting his mother in the kitchen. “Well now you know, eh?”

Giving Maribel a calm, benign smile, Rachel elbowed him again the second she was turned away.

*

A couple of hours later, gathered at the family table with a mug of spiked eggnog and reams of awkward, fake relationship comments behind her, Rachel couldn’t look away from Santana.

“You’re being obvious,” Puck teased, breath hot against her ear, lips curled up.

“Not caring,” Rachel lilted back, raising her mug in a toast when prompted, her tongue lapping up foam when it clung to her upper lip.

A strong finger poked her side. “Have you forgotten you’re my girlfriend?” he prodded.

Rachel grit her teeth. Turning her head, angling back to glare at him, she humphed. “Shhh. You, grateful, me going to ogle if I want to.”

“You do so criminally rarely ogle,” Puck hummed agreeably. “Should I let slip that you’re an out and proud bisexual?”

Rachel didn’t feel bad about the strength of the kick behind the side of her foot impacting her bandmate’s shin. She took a sip of her eggnog to cover the proud smirk at his fumbling of covering up the reason for his squeak. As her eyes traveled along aimlessly, she had to stop and blink, a blush covering her cheeks at the dark eyes smirking at her. Well. At least it was only Santana who had seemed to catch on. Rachel softly cleared her throat. “Dear, you alright?”

“No thanks to you,” Puck hissed, but gathered himself. “Hey, sis,” he abruptly burst out, motioning at Santana when both Abby and Santana looked at him, “Now that Show and Tell’s done with me n’ Rache, how ‘bout you? Got any hot tail in LA?”

“Noah,” Maribel sighed from her spot down the table, lowering her mug to the table, “Must you speak like that? I swear, I don’t know where you and Santana got it.”

Santana and Puck exchanged grins. “Lima Heights Adjacent,” they chorused.

Maribel closed her eyes. “We never lived in Lima Height Adjacent.”

“Tell that to the jocks and nerds who were terrified of Santana in high school,” Puck laughed. He affected his voice, lifting his hands, “’I’m ‘bout to go Lima Heights Adjacent on your ass if yous don’ts. Step. Offs. Afores I ends you.’”

Santana grinned. “You forgot the razors ‘all up in my weave’.”

Abby tched, rolling her eyes. “I went to William McKinley after you guys and heard nothing. So I think you’re lying. Or exaggerating.”

Grinning, her teeth biting lightly on the rim of her mug, Rachel watched the play-by-play. She jerked, cheeks glowing bright as Santana suddenly winked at her.

“Puh-lease. Puck was the one exaggerating,” Santana grinned, tossing her hair and adopting a teasing tone, “Who was the one who was a ‘sex shark’ who died if they stopped having sex?”

“Ay Dios mio and the Mother Mary!” Maribel groaned, her palm slapping on the table, stopping Puck’s retort, “Who raised you children? Have you no tact? Do I need to hear this, hmm?”

Santana snorted. “Ask your son, Mamí. He’s the one who used that excuse.”

“Oh, and you didn’t use tricks to get the girls into your bed,” Puck snapped, looking actually insulted, his chin and chest jutting forward.

Santana clicked her tongue at him. “Unlike you, I didn’t need to.”

“Oh god,” Abby muttered, hands covering her face, “Stop! Forget about need, I don’t want to hear this!”

“I agree,” Rachel chimed in, steel filling her voice as she pressed her hand into Puck’s thigh, stopping him. “Noah.” She didn’t actually really care, having made peace with how much of a horn dog her friend was years ago, but she figured his girlfriend probably wouldn’t be amused at all.

Puck frowned at her. “Why do you care? You’ve always listened to me talk about girls…” he asked, Rachel’s eyes widening as she figured out, before him, what he was saying.

Rachel didn’t dare look at the stares she could feel until, taking a deep breath and pasting a large smile on her face, she looked up with a, “We… Have a very open relationship.”

The first person she looked at was Santana, who quirked her eyebrows at her. “How open?”

“Santana Maria Puckerman, please stop antagonizing your brother’s girlfriend.”

“Who’s antagonizing?” Santana asked ‘innocently’, hands raised, “It’s a legitimate question.”

Though obviously a little uncomfortable with the confession, Maribel helped (made) the conversation pivot, and with only a few moments of grumbling and heated glares at his sister, Puck settled down. Doing so as well, though expressing it with a dark smirk instead, Santana hummed, turned to Rachel, winked again, and only turned away in satisfaction as Rachel’s ears heated up.

Rachel had a week more of this. Of Santana.

Rachel’s teeth bit lightly into the rim of her eggnog mug.

Oh god.

[alicedopey]

New Year’s Kiss

Fandom: Twilight

Genre: Angst / Romance

Pairing: Leah x Embry

Warnings: none

Words: 1984

Summary: Minutes before the new year, Leah and Embry share some thoughts.

A/N: Okay guys, this one has been sitting for a long time in my drafts and I finally decided to share it with you. I have a weird relationship with Twilight, meaning there are a lot of things I don’t like but there is this one character I am really fond of: Leah.

The wind was furiously blowing, snow was heavily falling and yet, Leah sat motionless outside the Cullens’ house, enjoying the weather which reflected her thoughts.

They were happy. They were all happy. She couldn’t. She wouldn’t. It was impossible for her to play best buddies with the perfect leech family when she had nothing.

The mother was nice and the pixie was not that bad; after all, she had bought her the dress she was currently wearing – which was ruined now, thanks to the snow. Nonetheless, how could she be friends with them when they were responsible for everything that had happened to her those last two years?

Phasing, imprinting, death of her father, Sam leaving her…nothing would have taken place if stupid Bella Swan hadn’t come to Forks. She would be happy. Instead, she felt chained to this town, a condemned prisoner waiting for her death to come…or a chance to escape.

And escape, she will. Soon, the Cullens were to leave Forks and no matter which destination they chose, Jacob and the pack would follow. But she wouldn’t. It was her chance to go to college, to get rid of this wolf fur, to have a normal life far away from La Push. It was not as if she would be missed…

Her mother would have Charlie Swan, Seth would be with Jacob, Embry and Quil would probably go back to Sam, everyone would be happy and maybe she would be too, away from this Hell.

“Leah?” She turned around. A surprised and somewhat anxious Embry Call was approaching her in a cautious way.

“I thought you had left. What the hell are you still doing here?”

“Seth absolutely wants to wish me a happy new year before I go.” She rolled her eyes. “As if it would change anything…” She looked at him through narrowed eyes. “What are you still doing here? Quil left ages ago…”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not always glued to him, you know. Besides, I was playing video games with Emmett. He is pretty cool.”

Leah snickered. “I bet he is. If he is cool, what made you feel the need to leave the house, then?”

He cringed. “The smell was becoming too overwhelming. I needed some fresh air.” He cleared his throat and asked hesitantly. “May I sit with you?”

Needless to say, Leah was surprised. Embry Call was willing to sit down next to her and probably talk to her too. That was something new! Always playing the unaffected part, Leah just shrugged in response and Embry sat down next to her.

“So…tell me Leah, what were you thinking of all alone in the snow?”

That was even more surprising. “And tell me Embry, why should I tell you?”

He smiled. “Come on! I’m trying to be friendly here.

“Don’t feel obligated Embry. You can go back to the precious Cullens.” She snapped. “I don’t need any company.”

“I believe you do.”

Now he was just getting annoying. “I don’t need any pity either. Go away. Now.”

Embry let out a heavy sigh. “Why are you pushing me away? I just want to know you better.”

“Know me better?” She snickered. “You’re in my head most of the time, there is nothing else to know.”

Embry shook his head stubbornly. “There is a lot of things to know. Obviously, the subject is bothering you or you would tell me about it.”

“Fuck off, Call.” Leah got up to leave but he grabbed her arm and forced her to sit back down. Then, he released her.

Leah glared at him. “Why did you touch me? Do you have a death wish or what?”

The young man just rolled his eyes. “Quit the bitter bitch act with me. I am not Paul, this isn’t going to work. Can’t you just tell me what you were thinking of?”

Against her better judgement, Leah blurted out an answer. “Leaving?”

Embry frowned. “Leaving? Leaving where?”

“Far away from here, from the vampires, the wolves…them.”

A shadow briefly appeared in Leah’s eyes. Embry immediately understood who this “them” was referring to and he could easily get her point of view, but leaving seemed a little bit too much in his eyes.

“I thought you felt better being in Jacob’s pack now.”

“True…but with mini-leech and the imprinting, something tells me the Cullens are going to move very soon and Jacob will follow. What will become of me, then?” She let out a trembling sigh. “I don’t want to go back to Sam. I’m not a masochist.”

It made sense but…Where will you go? What do you want to do?”

“I was thinking about going to the college in Seattle to study Arts or something like that.” She seemed to hesitate a few seconds but chose to spill everything. “I just want to feel peaceful again, you know? “

Embry nodded, fully aware of Leah’s situation and strong need to escape. Nonetheless, he was suddenly feeling bothered by this idea of fighting vampires without her by his side. “What if we need you to kick some vampire’s ass?”

Leah snickered again. “I doubt you will. Forks will become a boring place again once the Cullens are gone.”

“Did you tell Jacob?” He asked, a little bit anxious. He knew Leah wouldn’t appreciate him reminding her that Jacob had power over her…and that he could use it against her will to make her stay. Surprisingly, she did not seem to mind.

“I’ve already mentioned it a few times, actually and Jacob seems okay with it. He understands what I need.

“And what is it that you need?” Embry asked boldly. He was amazing himself with this sudden bravery towards Leah. It was clear the woman could literally kill him.

She just narrowed her eyes and he let out a tiny sigh of relief. “To be away from my dreadful past love life in order to finally break free from those invisible strings.”

Once again, a shadow went through her eyes which suddenly became teary. She blinked several times and turned away from him. Embry wanted to comfort her so much, his hand was burning with the need to touch her skin. But he had to refrain himself for he knew she would castrate him if he ever dared doing it.

He heard her sniff lightly, take a deep breath and she looked at him, composed.

“Anyway, I’ll leave for the next term in September.”

Embry frowned despite himself. “That soon?”

“It’s in nine months, Call. Besides, may I remind you I will be in Seattle. It won’t be that far away from you, suckers.” She smirked and punched his arm.

Had he been a mere mortal, he would have ended up on the floor with the force of her blow but he merely flinched, being the wolf that he was.

He stared at her and Leah fell ill-at-ease for a moment. She had the feeling he was trying to memorize every inch of her face.

“I’m going to miss you, I think.” He whispered.

“You think?” She sneered. “I doubt that. You’ll gloat about the fact that I’m not here to bitch around all the time.”

“I can assure you I won’t.”

Leah rolled her eyes, clearly not believing him at all. “Well, the others will.”

He tilted his head and stared at her. “And it will bother you?”

She sneered, once again. “Since when do I care about what other people do or say when I’m concerned?” “So it won’t bother you at all?” He did not know why he was insisting so much. She was going to murder him.

“What do you want me to say, Call?” A heavy sigh left her lips as she stood up. “That I will be miserable, that I would love for the others to miss me instead of criticizing me behind my back. That I will miss you all.”

He stood up as well and walked towards her until his chest was almost touching her back. He felt her tense but chose to stand his ground. He leaned on her and whispered in her ear. “Just tell me what you feel, Leah. Tell me the truth.”

She shivered when she felt his hot breath on her skin. “Why?” She whispered back. Her voice was unsteady, Embry sensed she was on the verge of tears.

“You have the right to feel, Leah. I’m just curious to know if a friend is alright. Is that too much to ask?”

Another heavy sigh left her mouth. “Why, Embry?” She turned around abruptly and they came face to face. Her eyes were glistening with tears, a mix of sadness and anger he could tell. “So that you can make fun of me because for once, I was weak enough to admit I was feeling something.”

A lonely tear rolled down her cheek. This time, Embry could not help himself. He gently brushed the tear away with his thumb. She flinched, having lost the habit of being touched by anyone. She did not push him away though.

“Feeling is not a weakness, Leah. It is a strength.”

She sniffed. “Being bitter is a strength? Really, Embry?”

It was his turn to sigh now. he stroked her cheek tenderly.

“You are not bitter. You’re just having a really bad time. But it will get better, don’t worry. I’m certain it will.”

She closed her eyes, defeated and shook her head. “I’m broken, Embry. I’m not even sure that moving away from here might change me. I’ll just be way from my pain but when I come back, all of those negative feelings will come back as well….as strong as ever.”

Another tear rolled down her cheek. Once again, Embry brushed it away softly with his thumb.

“You’ve said it yourself, Leah. You’re broken, meaning that one day, you will heal. Maybe sooner than later. You just need to want it.” He gulped almost loudly before letting out his last words. “And if you let me, I’d be happy to help you.”

Leah’s eyes widened, realizing what he was implying. “Embry…”

Suddenly, massive screams coming from the Cullens’ house could be heard “10, 9, 8…”

The countdown had begun. “7, 6, 5…” Embry’s face got closer. Everything in her being wanted to push him away but her heart was screaming not to.

“4, 3, 2, 1.”

Their lips crashed a whole bunch of “Happy New Year” went out from the house.

Embry’s hands cupped her cheeks while his tongue tickled her bottom lip, asking for entrance. Leah tentatively put her arms around his waist as their tongues danced together. It has been a while since she felt those pleasurable sensations that only a kiss could give. If she was honest with herself, she did not want it to end but they both needed to breather.

Embry let go of her lips and sweetly kissed her forehead. “Happy New Year, Leah.”

Leah could not help the smile that stretched her lips. “Happy New Year, Embry.”.

She cleared her throat, suddenly remembering where she was. “I’d better go before Seth comes looking for me.”

“Yeah…”

Reluctantly, she left his warm embrace and made her way to the house. She was just reaching her destination when Embry called her.

“Will I get the chance to kiss you again before Valentine’s Day?”

She turned around and smiled mischievously. ‘We will see.”

Maybe this year could be the start of something new.

Tagging: @naaladareia​ (tell me if you want to be added)

[emmelineparker308]

Unimaginable Love- FINAL PART

Part 1    Part 2    Part 3    Part 4

A/N: I tried several times to post this but for some reason, Tumblr wouldn’t let me. Anyways thank you for all the support and love you’ve shown for my writings. 

Previously on Unimaginable Love: “I want to know why you did what you did,” you commanded. He smirked, “Well cause I wanted to. I mean you’re such a slut and throw yourself at any guy you see looking for validation, I just thought I would take advantage of that. Plus HYDRA did pay me well to make you suffer,” He stated.

At the mention of HYDRA, your demeanor faltered a little and he took that as an opening to hurt you with his words. “Oh yeah princess, you didn’t think that HYDRA would have forgotten about you because you went and joined the Avengers did you? Oh no! They sent me to come into your life and make you suffer for humiliating HYDRA by running off. That’s why I dated you, I tried everything in my power to make you fall in love with me so that I could hurt you even more by breaking up with you or cheating on you but damn it even then you were in love with that coward Barnes! And then I thought of hurting you physically but HYDRA hasn’t approved me for any of that super juice. They didn’t think that I was worthy of it or something! Psh! Never thought that was right, I mean look at the people they thought were worthy a slut and a coward! Anyways but then you blindsided me by breaking up with me, after thinking of various ways to get to you I came up with my masterplan. I mean all you women, want to act all strong and want to play on the same team as us men when in fact all it takes is some roofie to put you back in your place, underneath strong men. Literally.” He laughed maniacally throwing his head back in joy. However, what he didn’t see was the punch to the throat that was coming his way. Brandon coughed up blood and tried to regain his breath but even in pain he screamed “BITCH!”

The door flew open with such force that it came off its hinges. Bucky ran in with anger clearly written all over him and went straight to beating the living shit out of Brandon. “She. Is. My. Everything.” He said each word with a punch. “If you even think of hurting her, ever again I will end you!” The others tried to pull Bucky off of Brandon but it wasn’t until Thor said that Bucky was gonna kill the guy that Bucky stopped. “This asshole is not getting off that easy. I’m gonna make an example out of him so that HYDRA and its agents will think thrice before sending someone to try and hurt her again, hurt any of us ever again!” You tried your best to calm him down but Bucky was a man with vengeance on the mind. He demanded you leave the room at once. You knew that there was no way that he could be persuaded to stop so you left, not before you had Steve promise to stop Bucky if he were to derail. Steve made the promise but muttered under his breath that he would finish what Bucky started. You gave him a disapproving look but left the room nonetheless. 

You were standing on the rooftop looking over the large city trying to manage your feelings. “You have to be the bravest woman I’ve ever met,” the smooth voice of your favorite trickster friend broke through the silence of the empty common room. 

“And I’ve met a lot of women before,” he added cheekily smiling once he saw the frown on your face was replaced with a small grin. 

“Yeah, I know you’ve met a lot of women before. Afterall you are like a billion years old, Grandpa,” you teased him. He jokingly punched your shoulder and stared at you for a while. You were an odd pair and no one really knew how you two worked. Though everyone was wary of your friendship what they didn’t know was that like Steve you considered Loki more of a brother than a friend. And even though he refuses to admit it, in his eyes, you were a sibling that he would go to the ends of worlds for. 

You had met him not long after joining up with the Avengers, the team had finally caved to the requests of Thor and gave Loki a chance. As part of your first ever assignment, you were put in charge of Loki, babysitting the God 24/7 and making sure his intentions were real and genuine and non-apocalyptic. You were eager to prove yourself to the others and knew that this assignment was to test your abilities. Loki, on the other hand, was annoyed at the notion of having to be babysat by someone. He tried to escape from you several times but thanks to your magical abilities you were able to keep up with him, much to his chagrin. It wasn’t until day three of the babysitting that he realized the only reason you were keeping up with him was that like him you too possessed magical abilities. Since then Loki and you formed a weird alliance using both of your magic to pull the most outlandish of pranks and jokes. The alliance grew to be a bond when you started being paired for missions, having each other backs no matter what. Back then everyone had thought that both of you were romantically involved but you had put all of those rumors to rest. 

Loki was smooth, and sneaky to the others but you were the first person to see past the jokes and pranks and see the aching soul tormented with mistakes he once made. Just like that, he was the first person in the team to realize the true horror that you went through, he was the only one that you allow yourself to be vulnerable around. Until of course Bucky had joined your crew of misfits. Loki knew of your love for Bucky even before you did. He encouraged you to pursue it after thoroughly investigating Bucky and seeing how happy you two made each other. The one thing Loki had ever fought with you was over Brandon. Loki was never fond of Brandon and was pleased when you broke things off with him but what that asswipe did to you was something Loki did not see coming. It’s okay, Loki reassured himself, He’ll pay for his sins soon enough. 

“You gonna keep staring at me?” You asked breaking him out of his trance. Loki simply smiled at you before taking your arm and teleporting you to the kitchen. “Stop teleporting me without warning, Gramps!!” you smack him knowing that you can’t hurt him. As happy as he was to see a genuine smile spread along your features his attention was quickly caught by the Avengers that were leaving the room were Brandon was held. Your attention went immediately to your boyfriend who looked oddly happy as if a heavyweight had been lifted off of his shoulders. You made eye contact with Steve searching to know that Bucky hadn’t done too much damage, Steve reassured you that Brandon was still breathing. “Loki is here,” you mentioned to Thor as you turned around to where the God of Mischief was standing a second ago. 

“Brother was here? Lady Emmeline are you sure?” Thor replied confused at you staring at thin air. At that precise moment you heard an ear-piercing scream coming from the room the Avengers just exited from, before you all could rush inside Loki came out looking rather pleased with himself. 

“Loki, what did you do?!?!” you exclaimed hoping that your best friend didn’t kill a man for you. 

“Relax, my love, I just gave him the same punishment that we would give someone with his crimes on Asgard,” Loki soothed you. Thor winced at his brother’s response but was proud of him for once breaking the rules for a good cause. 

“You didn’t,” Tony stated rather amused. Thor had suggested the punishment after Tony tracked the bastard down, and Tony was on board. But no one else on the team agreed despite his protests, Tony couldn’t help but feel grateful for the Tricksters disregard for rules. 

“What did you do, Loki?” you asked frustrated at all the secrecy. 

“I castrated him,” Loki stated bluntly. 

It took a couple of seconds for you to register what he said, and the way he said it with the amusement hidden in Thor’s, Tony’s and Loki’s face made you burst into laughter. Seeing you genuinely laugh for the first time in a while filled the rest of the team with joy, especially Bucky who held you tightly and joined in on your laughs. 

Deep down in your mind, you were terrified about HYDRA coming back to get you but knowing your family of superheroes will do anything to help you have peace of mind. And with Bucky holding you tightly in his arms you knew that nothing in the universe could harm you. 

“The best and most beautiful things in this world can not be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart”- Helen Keller

Tags:  @ashleyloveslots, @iza-lc , @jessicao19 , @thelostverse , @chibiyanai  , @ moody-angel-blossom, @lemonlimeliz , @skyerun13 , @moody-magician-arcana

[hungline]

cheetohead works wonders

pairings: junhao, side meanie  genre: fluff, uni au, rated t  warnings: none  words: 2930 

summary: It’s all Mingyu’s fault that Junhui ends up with Minghao’s number, but Minghao doesn’t really seem to mind much when Mingyu bakes him a cake and Wonwoo gives him money for food. His birthday is alright in the end. 

“I swear to god if you order a PSL, I’m going to castrate you,” Minghao mutters under his breath, half hoping the customer in front of him can’t hear him.

But it’s just Minghao’s extraordinary luck that he does.

“I’m sorry,” the customer replies, their voice a deep, smooth tenor Minghao is pretty sure he’s heard before. “I actually hate pumpkin spice everything, so you’re good.”

Minghao looks up and is immediately floored by how pretty Wen Junhui is up close. He’s half sure his mouth open in shock or something close to it and he hastens to come up with a reply before Junhui thinks he’s weird on top of being murderous.

“Good. Me too,” Minghao manages, sending a death glare over his shoulder when Mingyu snickers at his lame attempt at making normal conversation. “Um, so, what would you like then?”

Junhui purses his lips together in thought as he studies the menu over Minghao's head and Minghao has to tear his gaze away from Junhui's lips before his sleep-deprived brain jumps off the deep end and dooms him to eternal embarrassment. Junhui tuts a soft noise and Minghao meets his gaze, surprised to see Junhui sporting an amused smile.

"I'll just have a caramel macchiato," he murmurs, then very subtly winks. "And your number."

"Sure, that'll beーWait, what?" Minghao sputters, shock clear on his face.

Junhui smiles and shakes his head. "Nevermind, the coffee will do fine by itself."

"Iー" Minghao tries for words and when he finds he can't, he merely nods and continues to ring up Junhui's order.

Thankfully, Minghao doesn't have to tell him his total because Junhui can clearly see it on the cash register and hands over the money, smiling kindly at Minghao when he receives his change. Minghao gulps down the nervous wave of word vomit lodged in his throat and focuses on greeting the only other customer in line. He plasters on a fake smile and tries to be cheerful while taking the order, his expression not even flickering when they finally decide on a pumpkin spice latte.

Minghao grits his teeth and tells them their total, before turning to help Mingyu with the drinks. Generally, Jeonghan would be in charge of this or at least overseeing them as they work, but their shift manager will often be found sleeping in the back room whenever he's present and Minghao has gotten so used to it, he doesn't even question why Jeonghan still works here in the first place. Mingyu is all smiles and tries to prod at Minghao's buttons but his shift will be over soon and the fact he had to come in to cover for Jihoon being sick on his birthday is just shitty all around so absolutely nothing Mingyu could say or do would make today worse than it already is.

So it's with great surprise when Minghao finally returns back to his dorm and collapses on his bed, ignoring Wonwoo who's staring at him with concern from over the top of his latest sci-fi novel, and his phone chimes with a text message from a number he doesn't recognize.

hey, i'm glad you changed your mind

Minghao blinks when he realizes that the text is in Mandarin, and as far as Minghao knows, his mom hasn't changed her number so who could this possibly be?

sorry i think you have the wrong number

"Hey, hyung, this random number just texted me. Do you know who it might be?" Minghao tries to not let his nerves bleed into his voice, but Wonwoo wouldn't judge him for being a little freaked out over someone he doesn't know texting him.

"What's the number? I'll see if it pops up in my contacts," Wonwoo murmurs, phone in hand now.

Minghao doubts that it will, considering that texting gives Wonwoo anxiety sometimes and the person is Chinese, but it's a Seoul number so he recites the digits anyway and freezes when another text comes in.

oh, is this not the cute barista from starbucks then?

Minghao groans and buries his face into his pillow. He's going to murder Mingyu the next time he sees him.

"Oh," Wonwoo says from his side of the room. "That's Jun's number. He's my chem partner. I didn't know you knew him."

"I don't," Minghao grumbles, pushing himself into a sitting position as he ponders over a reply to the new text. "I think your boyfriend gave him my number."

Wonwoo doesn't stutter when he replies, but the blush spreading across his face is easy to see. "Mingyu is not my boyfriend."

"Not yet," Minghao adds on before looking down at his phone again. "Anyway, thanks for your help, hyung."

"Yeah. Sure thing," Wonwoo mutters, furiously tapping something into his phone before dropping it on his bed and returning to his novel again.

youre going to have to be a little more specific than that

Minghao leaves his phone on his pillow and drags his backpack onto his bed, rifling through it until he's found his math homework. He forgets about the weird texts from one of the most handsome guys on campus and throws himself into statistics. He's gotten through three problems when his phone chimes again.

um, kinda short, sorta? pretty eyes and brown hair.

Minghao rolls his eyes and is about to respond when another text comes in.

oh! he threatened to castrate me if i ordered a psl

Minghao groans and hastens to reply before any more can be said.

ok yeah im him  howd you know to text me in mandarin tho

Statistics isn't so interesting anymore, not that it ever really was, to be honest. Minghao's a good student though so he always finds a way to focus on homework, no matter how boring the subject. This however, warrants a great excuse to put off his math homework for later.

you said to, on the cup [photo]

Minghao clicks on the photo and groans aloud when he recognizes Mingyu's handwriting. It isn't as shitty as Wonwoo's (honestly nobody's handwriting is as ineligible as Wonwoo's), but Mingyu's isn't so pretty either. Wonwoo looks up from his book to pin Minghao with a questioning gaze but returns to his novel when Minghao shakes his head and frowns down at his phone.

did my shitty cheetohead coworker hand you the drink

The response is instant and Minghao pales when he realizes that Junhui must be waiting for him to reply.

yeah

Another groan is let out into the air by Minghao and Wonwoo stares at him again, his gaze conveying do you want to talk about it or will you shut up? 

hey im sorry i never actually wrote that

This entire thing is embarrassing and Minghao wishes he hadn't been guilted by Jihoon to cover his shift on his birthday of all days. Wonwoo stands up from his bed and disappears into their kitchen, which prompts Minghao to follow him because Wonwoo can't cook for jack shit and shouldn't ever be trusted to be alone in a kitchen, no matter how small or inadequate the kitchen is.

Minghao makes them sandwiches and Wonwoo digs out a bag of shrimp chips that went stale last week and they eat quietly before returning to their beds.

"Hey, you'll be okay for an hour or two right? I have to head out to pick something up from Mingyu's," Wonwoo asks, one arm already in his jacket.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. No worries, hyung," Minghao mumbles, his mind back on his statistics homework again.

"'Kay. Be back soon, try and clean the place up a little because I'm pretty sure I'll come back with Mingyu," Wonwoo murmurs, an apologetic smile on his lips as he digs his wallet out and drops a few bills onto Minghao's lap. "Here. In case you want pizza or takeout while I'm gone."

"Bye, hyung. Text me when you're on your way back."

Wonwoo leaves shortly after that and Minghao is left alone in their dorm with no company except his math homework and his phone that just chimed with another message again.

oh, well this is awkward i'm sorry for bothering you then

Minghao is pretty sure he's going to regret this but he sighs and rolls his eyes, his text already halfway ready to send.

nah its fine i was considering putting my number on your cup anyway i guess mingyu just beat me to it really

Junhui's next response takes a while, but Minghao considers it worth it when he reads it and bursts into loud laughter.

mingyu is cheetohead, right?

So maybe today hasn't been that bad, but still, Minghao kind of wishes he was with his mom right now so she could bake him a cake and serve his favorite ice cream with it as they watch horror movies and laugh at how bad they are. Then they'd go out for actual dinner at that Chinese restaurant he adores for no real apparent reason other than that their food is almost as good as his grandma's. When they'd get back home, it'd be to more cake and ice cream and maybe another horrible horror movie before they go off to bed.

mingyu is cheetohead yes

Minghao decides to order takeout from the Chinese place nearby who's noodles are always too greasy but it's cheap and Minghao wants Chinese food, damn it. After he's done ordering, he does some more of his statistics homework and cleans up a little, which translates into he cries over stats and doesn't clean for shit while he waits for food.

guess i'll have to thank cheetohead next time i see him, which is, wouldn't you know it, right now!

It takes Minghao a minute to realize what Junhui just said, but by then his food is here and he hastens to open the door. Yixing smiles at him and Minghao hands over all the bills Wonwoo gave him, not caring that the tip is way more than what's expected. Wonwoo does the same thing whenever he orders coffee while Mingyu is working so if Minghao wants to generously tip the cute takeout guy, he'll do just that.

why are you with cheetohead right now

Minghao doesn't have a moment to rest because as soon as his text to Junhui has sent, Wonwoo has texted him.

Hey, I'm on my way back. Did you order food?

hao: yeah, chinese takeout

wonu: Did you tip Yixing again?

hao: you tip cheetohead all the time

wonu: Mingyu needs the money. Anyway, I hope you ordered enough for four.

hao: youre in luck cause i definitely did not

wonu: I'll buy some more on my way back then. See you soon. Please, clean up the place a little.

hao: see you

Minghao almost bowls over with laughter when he realizes that Wonwoo immediately knew who he meant when he called Mingyu cheetohead. His phone chimes again and luckily, it's a text from Junhui this time.

wonwoo kinda coerced me into coming with him to cheetohead's place and i guess we're heading back to yours now??

cute barista: i guess ill see you soon then

Well shit, Minghao thinks.

Cleaning up doesn't take much time, but Minghao shoves his takeout into the microwave anyway to keep it semi-warm as he sweeps the dorm and pushes all of Wonwoo's things onto his side of the room. He considers mopping, but it's only Mingyu...and Junhui so yeah, he probably should mop, but then he remembers Seungcheol broke their mop last month and still hasn't gotten them a new one so he hopes that wet wipes will do for now.

He picks up a few of Wonwoo's novels in the kitchen and bathroom and puts them on top of the elder's desk. He moves back to his own bed and packs up his math homework for later. He's just closed the zipper on his backpack when the lock on the door twists and Wonwoo is standing in the doorway, covering most of what Minghao can see of Mingyu and Junhui.

"Oh, you did clean up. Nice. Thank you," Wonwoo nods, a grateful smile on his face as he lifts up the bags in his hands. "I brought more takeout and that ice cream you like."

"Thanks," Minghao blinks and nods at him, not really knowing what to do as Wonwoo continues to stand awkwardly in the doorway.

Wonwoo steps inside then and Mingyu steps in after him, holding the door open for Junhui who's holding a fucking cake in his arms. The door closes behind Junhui and Minghao struggles to say something.

"Whaー" Minghao starts to say, but he's cut off by Mingyu launching himself into the birthday song while Wonwoo and Junhui hasten to join in as well.

By the end of the song, Minghao is undoubtedly blushing and Mingyu is hollering with laughter as Wonwoo steps forward and kisses the crown of Minghao's head, only making Minghao feel even more flustered. Mingyu steps forward as well but then stops when Minghao pins him with a murderous glare.

"Don't you dare try kissing me, Kim Mingyu. I'm very pissed off at you."

"Why? 'Cause I gave a hot guy your number? Come on, Minghao! I baked your cake, just let me kiss your cheek or something!" Mingyu whines.

"No," Minghao crosses his arm, firm on his decision until Junhui steps forward and passes the cake to Mingyu.

"Can I kiss you then?" Junhui asks, a timid smile on his handsome face.

Minghao blinks. "Um."

"Go for it, Junnie-yah," Wonwoo mumbles from the kitchen where he's heating up Minghao's takeout. "Doesn't look like Hao's going to give you much of an answer anyway."

Junhui nods and crowds into Minghao's space and Minghao is helpless to the pull Junhui has on him. Junhui leans in and very quickly presses his lips to Minghao's before darting away to safety while Mingyu starts whooping at them.

"Shut the fuck up, Cheetohead," Minghao spits through his teeth.

Junhui giggles and Minghao forgets about his irritation with Mingyu momentarily while he flushes again and avoids eye contact with Junhui. Mingyu coos at them again and the irritation comes back. Minghao takes a menacing step forward in Mingyu's direction, but Wonwoo is back in the room, candles and a lighter in hand as he pops the lid off the cake and arranges the candles atop it before lighting them.

"Happy birthday, Hao. Make a wish," Wonwoo murmurs, a hand on Minghao's back as he pushes him in front of the cake.

Mingyu smiles and nods at him, proud of the blue icing and white letters on the cake he holds that proclaim it Minghao's birthday. Minghao sighs and blows out the candles, smiling when Mingyu starts whooping again and almost drops the cake so Junhui ushers them all into the kitchen where Mingyu can set the cake down where it'll be safe for the most part.

They eat the cake with ice cream and Minghao decides he'll try and call his mom more often as they settle back into the boys' sleeping space and Wonwoo drags out the tv they never use. Mingyu hands Wonwoo Minghao's favorite shitty horror movie and then hides in Wonwoo's chest for the entirety of the film as Minghao finds himself nodding off on Junhui's shoulder.

Junhui nudges him awake sometime later and Minghao is mortified to find he drooled on him while asleep.

"I am so sorry, do you want to borrow a shirt or something?" Minghao hastens to say, keeping his voice down to not wake up Mingyu and Wonwoo who lay passed out on the floor, cuddling.

Minghao should probably be laughing at the fact that he was right and Mingyu is most definitely the little spoon, but he ignores that for apologizing to Junhui instead.

Junhui laughs and shakes his head, a hand on Minghao's shoulder to keep him from standing up just yet. "Nah, it's okay. Don't worry about it. I actually wanted to ask you something."

"Uh, sure. What is it?" Minghao gulps and settles himself back down, fingers twisted together in his lap.

"Well, I was wondering if you'd like to go the movies with me sometime? Jigsaw is out right now and I heard the plot is pretty shitty and that seems to be your kind of thing considering how many b-rated horror movies we watched tonight," Junhui asks, a nervous smile on his face.

"Oh, um, Iー" Minghao stutters.

"He'd love to go," Mingyu mutters from the floor, making both Minghao and Junhui jump and bump their heads together.

"Ow," Minghao groans, rubbing his head as he glares at Mingyu who ignores it and turns over in Wonwoo's arms before falling asleep again. "I guess we're going then, yeah."

Junhui is also rubbing his head when he asks, "You sure? I don't want you to feel obligated to go because Cheetohead said so."

Minghao snickers at the nickname they'd adopted for Mingyu and nods. "Yeah, I'm sure. Let's go on Wednesday, I don't work that day. So no Cheetohead to tell me what to do!"

"Awesome," Junhui says with a visible excitement clear in his voice and Minghao smiles at it, a little flustered but willing to test out whatever is happening between them. "Happy birthday, by the way. Sorry I didn't get you a gift or something."

"That's fine," Minghao waves the worry away. "I hate getting gifts."

Junhui nods, smiling calmly now. "Still, happy birthday."

"Thanks," Minghao murmurs, before leaning in and kissing Junhui briefly on the lips again.

[pamsmoon]

The rain will never stop again

From Orihime Inoue's point of view she should be the happiest girl in Karakura: Ichigo Kurosaki is her boyfriend, who is no longer a shinigami and Rukia Kuchiki has never seen them again. The sun should shine on them, in their golden days, but it's not like that ... it's still raining incessantly on Ichigo, and there's only one shinigami that can stop it. IchiRuki with a lot ANGST.

Can find it in fanfiction.net too here

If I were the rain. . . that binds together the Earth and the sky, whom in all eternity will never mingle. . . Would I be able to bind two hearts together?

POV Orihime Inoue

I declared my love to Ichigo-kun almost a year after Kuchiki-san left Karakura. I had waited my entire life for that moment, and still felt that it was not right in some way.

Ichigo-kun had lost his shinigami powers one afternoon not too warm or too cold, in which he could not feel Kuchiki-san's reiatsu anymore. That had only meant that he would not see her again, even though we could still see her. Even so, she must have returned to the Soul Society, and I expected, like everyone else, that she would return one day...

Sometimes I looked over Ichigo-kun's shoulder hoping to find her, taking care of him, but it did not happen once, and I stopped that horrible habit since every time Ichigo-kun followed my gaze, he squeezed his own heart in the fist.

So it happened slowly that year, and although Ichigo-kun seemed calm and just like always, sometimes he kept long silences, and let us fill them, with our daily life. Although from Tatsuki-chan to Ishida-kun, we all knew perfectly well that Ichigo-kun was not the same one who rescued Kuchiki-san, or myself from Las Noches.

And we (Ishida-kun, Chad-kun and myself) were still protecting Karakura from the hollow, without his help. He never turned around to see us, when we were leaving the classroom unexpectedly, to go 'to the bathroom'.

It was not that he was different. He was the same as always, only was the one who still did not know Kuchiki-san.

I loved him as always, the one before, the one now or the one after. And I was happy that things were quiet again, and that I was part of their group too, as was Chad-kun, or Ishida-kun. But it was not more or less than that, a good friend. And life went by so normally, that sometimes everything happened (my powers, the powers of Ichigo-kun, the rescue of Kuchiki-san, my encounter with Ulquiorra) seemed like a distant dream. And although our ties with Ichigo-kun were almost unbreakable, I was still the same distance from him, and from his heart. And the rain seemed to wet him more than ever.

So one day, without intending to or thinking about it, I really told him what I had wanted to tell him most of my life.

"I'm in love with you, Kurosaki-kun!" I told him in his surprised look. Possibly it was the most awkward and nervous declaring in the history of the all declaring, but he did not seem to bother. Of course it surprised him, but I could not say how his face looked, because I was not able to look directly at him once, but I did notice that he touched the neck with some nervousness, maybe discomfort.

"Thanks." said in a neutral tone that I could never decipher, I was surprised by that, thanked me and laughed of pure nervousness. Looking at his face without focusing directly on the eyes, I imagined that they were the same color as that day's sunset. "But I do not know, I ..."

"It does not matter, you don't need to tell me your answer now, Kurosaki-kun... I-this I can wait!" I said stuttering as ever and raising both hands in sign that there was no hurry. He looked at me seriously as always. His brow furrowed more than before and nodded silently.

I don't remember how I said goodbye. I think tripped on my own feet a couple of times and ran away.

A couple of days passed, in which we both acted. I was twice as nervous at his presence, and I hoped that in some word, look, or attitude, he would give me the answer. But he did not. He kept silent, and looked at me with such intensity, that I was sure that everyone could see my heart making my breasts jump.

Of course Tatsuki-chan realized that I was twice as distracted, and had already hit almost every pole and/or tree every day. When Ichigo-kun had heard it, I was sure he felt some guilt and want to apologize, but I interrupted him immediately saying that I would try to be more attentive to the road. He was silent and nodded before leaving.

Until the next day, when I had stayed in the room distracted, looking out, saddened by that long wait, when felt the door open and Ichigo-kun appear there.

I looked at him surprised, but he did not seem it. Lather he told me, that had waited until I was alone that day, if he had not gone to my house, because I deserve my answer.

"Inoue." said in his serious voice and frowning. He looked so tall and magnificent, I thought I was in one of my waking dreams, in the best shojo imaginable. But it was real. I was speechless "Sorry for the delay to your answer, I ..." and I could see the blush on his face, I thought it was the most adorable thing in the world, while my heart rumbled so loud that I thought Ichigo-kun he would hear it. "I accept it." finished, and said no more.

He stared at me, and I thought my face would catch fire. Not only that, my eyes watered and could barely focus.

"Inoue?" He asked a little scared to see the tremor of my shoulders "Eh? Are you crying?" exclaimed without understanding when I could not help but start sobbing. I just felt the tears running down my cheeks, and my childish crying to be heard throughout the room. He ran to the place where I was sitting and knelt beside me.

"Buu ... I ... I'm sorry ... I'm sorry, a lot Kurosaki-kun." I said drying my tears in shame. I felt his warm hand on my back, comforting me like a little girl.

"It's okay, Inoue." and I saw him smile. But his face ... did bring a memory to my mind. It was the same face with which he said goodbye to Kuchiki-san, a melancholy face, as happy as well as sad. That was the first time, that I felt that what I did was not the right.

I took out a tissue and he offered to accompany me my home. We walk talking about many things. He said had thought about it a lot, and that knew that I was a very special girl. He never said in words that I liked to him, but said so many good things about me, as I said about him.

"I didn't think you saw me like that." said scratching his head something embarrassed "I think you can see the best in people."

"Don't say that Kurosaki-kun!" I said and he smiled with my reaction, I blushed to the ears, thinking that I should get used to his look. "Y-you are a great person, you are a superhero!"

"Huh? A superhero?" He said, looking skeptical, until we got to my house.

"This ... eh, do you want to come in?" I asked in a shaky and embarrassed tone.

But he, still smiling, shook the head. He hit me gently on the forehead and said.

"You should not let in guys like that to your house Inoue." complained almost in a scolding. For a moment I felt like one of his sisters ... the way he looked at me, the things we talked about, his words always imbued with a deep affection ... "See you tomorrow." He had crouched a little, and had kissed my lips suddenly, erasing everything I had thought. I was left blank and he left as if nothing. I could not appreciate his reaction or anything, for the quick withdrawal. My legs failed, and I collapsed in the entrance of my apartment, not daring to touch my lips and erase their warm trace.

That night I could not sleep, because of the butterflies that fluttered under my navel, while remembered every event that afternoon.

This is how they began, my true golden days. My dream had begun, and although there was still something there, making weight in my heart, I did my best to ignore it.

He sent me a text, and we met in the middle of his house and mine, on my way to the institute the next day. When I saw his face when we met, it seemed that he had thought much more things, and doubts had arisen, deep circles under the eyes gave him a double tired face. During that week, he did not seem sure about anything that concerned us. However, since was Ichigo-kun, he did everything was supposed to do anyway, no matter what he really felt or thought.

So he kissed me again as a greeting and goodbye every day, we took each other's hands the third day, and we even had dates after school, to have an ice cream, or to play games. We had fun like two great friends, but every once in awhile, I would lean on him, or he would hug me awkwardly. Sometimes he taked my hair between the fingers, and say they were pretty. He protected me when we went on the street and let me enter the places in first, always gentlemanly. He had even scared a couple of guys who had messed with me. Saying he was annoyed by the idiots who harassed women.

The day the others at the school asked me if there was anything between us, I knew it was my fault. I had done an obento to Ichigo-kun and even he had turned green when tried it, has thanked me and accepted it.

Tatsuki-chan knew everything since I had confessed to Ichigo-kun, she had been sincerely happy, and had said that we were both important people in her life, that she expected us to be very happy but if Ichigo-kun hurt me, she would castrate it ... whatever that was.

So she kept silent, or growled if someone thought that some attitude of Ichigo-kun or mine was strange or too close.

But that day Keigo-kun pointed to the obento, then to Ichigo-kun and when he was going to point to me, Ichigo-kun hit him by throwing to the ground.

"Do not even think about pointing to her." Ichigo-kun groaned with my obento still in his hand, and looking at a sore Keigo-kun on the floor. "I should not even tell you, because it does not concern you at all, but just to stop bothering us ... Inoue is my girlfriend."

I was as surprised as everyone else on the roof that day having lunch. Tatsuki-chan was the only one who did not say anything, and in fact she looked with acceptance at the fact that Ichigo-kun had stamped poor Keigo-kun on the floor.

However, neither Chad-kun nor Ishida-kun seemed happy, and they looked at me in a surprised way.

"It's ... is that true, Inoue-san?" Ishida-kun asked with the glasses sliding down the partition of his nose. I nodded ashamed, with the heavy attention of everyone on me.

Ishida-kun without saying more, took his lunch and headed for the exit.

"Eh? Ishida-kun!" I screamed without understanding why was leaving.

"I remembered that I have things to do." He said and left.

I looked at Ichigo-kun to understand something, but he did not look Ishida-kun left, his eyes were down and did not seem happy at all.

Keigo-kun got up and touched where Ichigo-kun had hit him.

"I can't believe you take away Inoue-san from us." He complained even while rubbing himself. "After Kuchiki-san is gone ..."

And then it happened. Ichigo-kun opened his eyes a lot and we all saw it coming, he was furious.

"You want to close your fucking mouth for once!" he shouted, furiously pushing my obento out of himself and rising to his feet. "I've lost my appetite! I'll go talk to Ishida." He growled and stood toward the exit.

The silence fell on everyone after that. My stomach tightened so much that I could not pass a mouthful. No one understood that overreaction of Ichigo-kun, but those of us who knew him as shinigami knew why.

Then Keigo-kun apologized many times to everyone, I still do not know how many times he apologized to me and he wishes me the best with Ichigo-kun.

I didn't go after Ichigo-kun. But when returned, he had a broken lip and a black eye. They had fight with Ishida-kun. I did not understand why, and it bothered me a lot, but he still pissed off, snarled at me saying:

"You don't understand anything."

And that day, we did not go home together.

The day our friends found out, it was our first fight. It was the day I went blank, with his words embedded in my skin, without even being able to cry.

He apologized the next day, but never detracted from the meaning of his words, nor did he hint that he wished to end with me. After that, everything went on smoothly.

Everyone got used to us being a couple, and even nobody gave importance when he began to tell me just Orihime and I Ichigo-kun to him. Ishida-kun eventually also came back to be in our group, but he hardly crossed words with Ichigo-kun.

The Kurosaki family welcomed me with the love and energy that characterized them, but their father at some point of that dinner, took it aside to Ichigo-kun and asked him if was sure of what he was doing. Ichigo-kun was deeply annoyed and did not answer, avoiding my gaze when noticed that I had heard everything

For my part I was deeply happy. That he held my hands, his warm breath on my neck, the smell of his hair, or his voice, made my heart jump, and wish that the rainy days would never come back.

But in real they had never left.

I loved Ichigo-kun deeply, but I felt the same distance as always. I knew him so well that knew perfectly well that had not made the sun shine completely once for him.

And the first time I thought that clearly, the tears came spontaneously from my eyes. I dried them quickly, preventing them from falling on the face of my dear Ichigo-kun while he slept on my legs, and pressed my hands over my mouth preventing any sound that would wake him up.

He did not see me cry that time, or any other. Sometimes without reason and for the most insignificant things, my eyes betrayed me and I began to cry without having the slightest control of it.

Sometimes I thought about many things, like the real reasons why Ichigo-kun had decided to accept my feelings. I was sure he like me deeply, but no more or less than his best friends or his family, but did he love me? Sometimes I thought he did, and sometimes I was sure not. Sometimes when we talked about the future, his face was always emptied of emotions, and his words was very flat. He did not expect anything from what was coming.

One day, almost a year since we started, he went for me, to my work in the bakery. I was excited for a good working day telling him that I would start a great bakery one day where the employees could eat what they wanted and at great prices. When I had asked him what would do in his future, he replied with indifference that would see what would study or what would work on.

I kept silent, disappointed, and with all the previous emotion deflated around me.

"If we continue like this, the logical thing would be to get married." he commented carelessly suddenly.

"Get married?" I asked, almost feeling the steam coming out of my ears. He had nodded without paying any attention to my embarrassed and sometimes exaggerated reactions. "Are you sure?"

He had only come up and dropped his shoulders, and had returned the gaze to the front, without speaking again.

I looked at him feeling that in my chest, heavier than ever. Then I looked at the sky, it began to cloud.

"Why don't you look at the sky never, Ichigo-kun?"

He left his thoughts, frowned a lot and looked at me without understanding my question or my tone.

"What are you talking about, Orihime?"

I stopped, the hair covered my eyes, and I didn't want to look at him anyway.

"Sky." I said "You always avoid looking at the sky."

He looked at me a second, without saying anything.

"I don't know what you're talking about, had not noticed." He responded and started walking. As we were holding hands, I had to resume my steps too.

"Nor never ..."

"Eh?" said turning to look at me, since I was one step further back.

"You never talk to me about Kuchiki-san." I said and looked up to see how his eyes widened. Since that lunch in which Keigo-kun had made him angry, it was implied that the Kuchiki-san theme totally decomposed Ichigo-kun, and none of us mentioned her again. "Why?"

He returned the gaze to the front without stopping.

"Tsk. What does Rukia have to do with all this?"

"Are not you worried about her, Ichigo-kun?" I said ignoring his words. "Don't you want to see her? Are you not sad?" I said trying to keep my voice steady, and at the same time following his quick step.

"What if it's like that?" he muttered without turning around. "Does matters?

"It matters!" I said beginning to cry at the exact moment it started to rain too. He did not hear my cry, between the strong rain and the thunder. He did not stop either, but hurried the step even more, while we began to get wet. "If you would share that with me ..."

"It would not change anything!" He interrupted me annoyed. "Damn, stupid rain-"

I kept crying while we ran in the rain. Then he stopped suddenly.

I stopped by his side, almost falling for the abrupt stop. I had heavy hair soaked by rain, like my clothes. I looked at him, looking up through the thick drops, and saw how he looked towards the front with a face that I had not seen him until almost two years ago.

The heart jumped in my chest and I looked forward too.

In the rain, there was a small figure as wet as us, who was looking at a cell phone in her hand, which she covered with the other so that it would not get wet.

"Kuchi-"

"Rukia." Ichigo-kun interrupted me, without realizing it. He kept looking straight ahead, unable to believe what his eyes were seeing. Then turned around to see me surprised and exclaimed. "Can you see her? Is she there, right?!" He had let go of my hand and was holding my arms tightly, almost hurting me. His eyes were so excited, they left me speechless, while the orange hair fall to the shape of his head.

I barely nodded in my stupor, when we both heard a scream that was lost under the incessant noise of the rain. When we both looked forward, Kuchiki-san had already seen us and was running in our direction.

Ichigo-kun released me straightening up, and I'm sure that just because his emotions were too confused, he stayed where was, and did not go out to meet her.

The figure of Kuchiki-san was getting closer and closer. She was still as small and thin as ever. Was as drenched as we were, and her black hair fell damp down the cheeks of pale color, similar to marble.

She was as beautiful as I remembered her. Maybe even more.

She seemed as excited as Ichigo-kun and her white-toothed smile stood out in the gray of the rain. She did not wear her Shinigami clothes, but did wear a pretty dress that looked like of spring, instead of the time we were. Clearly she was in a gigai, that explained to us the fact that Ichigo-kun could see her.

"Inoue." she said once in front of us, in her elegant voice. She touched me with long, thin fingers on one arm and smiled sweetly.

"Kuchiki-san." exclame, sincerely happy to see her. I had heavy eyelashes from the water, and I tried to dry my face of traces of rain and tears, knowing that it was a total disaster. Ichigo-kun beside me, was still speechless and surprised.

Kuchiki-san turned to him. I did not dare to look at them.

"Ichigo." I heard that she said "Huh? Why that idiot face?" and that puzzled me so much that I could not help looking at him too.

"What? Who are you saying idiot, damnit?" answered and on his face ... it was as if life were returning. In the middle of that storm, under the rain, the sun shone again, and I could see it with my own eyes. "This is my face after you disappeared for two years!"

"Eh? So long?" answered Kuchiki-san sincerely surprised, she put a hand to chin. "I'm sorry, the time is different in the Soul Society, and I had no mission here."

"Sure, and if we don't find you now, you would not even have visited me!"

"Eh?" she said pissed off. "Of course I was going to visit you later, but I'm on an important mission here in Karakura!" she picked up the cell phone, and almost hit Ichigo-kun's eyes with it. "After I finished it, and if time allowed I would go visit you all." concluded very sure of herself.

"If time allowed you?" he replied skeptically.

I watched them discuss, and I felt totally out of place. What was I doing there? Kuchiki-san had unwittingly brought us back to Ichigo-kun, the real one. These two ghost years, these two years in pause had suddenly disappeared before her presence.

The three of us ran to a bus stop to take shelter from the rain. Kuchiki-san was in the lead, Ichigo-kun was following her and I was after them.

Ichigo-kun offered his jacket to Kuchiki-san, scolding her for not knowing what kind of weather there was in Karakura before appearing. But she refused, and blamed Urahara-san for not providing her gigai with appropriate clothing.

"Uh, by the way Urahara gave me the good news." Kuchiki-san said suddenly looking at us both. "Congratulations." said smiling.

"Eh?" Ichigo-kun said without understanding, but I understood it immediately.

"I mean, I congratulate you, because the only one who came out winning is you, damn moron." she said putting a hand on his shoulder, before Ichigo-kun even understood more than the insult added ."You should make Inoue happy, Ichigo."

He stayed in one piece and didn't know what to answer. But she did not give him the opportunity either and turned around to look at me.

"I can no longer watch his stupidities." she smiled at me with a thumb to the sky. "Take care of him for me, Inoue."

I didn't say anything, but it was not necessary either, her cell phone started ringing. She opened it quickly and checked it before our eyes.

"Your mission?" Ichigo-kun asked.

"No, a hollow, but I'll have to take care of him anyway." said, closing the cell phone. She smiled sadly at us, towards Ichigo-kun especially, but then she looked forward and added:

"It stopped raining."

And she stretched out a hand to the front, which got wet with a couple of last drops of rain. I looked at Ichigo-kun, and I could see the same surprise that was in me at the last words that Kuchiki-san had said.

'It stopped raining. But it will do again, as soon as you leave.'

Without thinking, I snatched the phone from Kuchiki-san, who looked at me surprised.

"Orihime?" Ichigo-kun asked without understanding either, while I checked the Hollow's last warning.

"I'll take care of him." I said with a sure tone.

"What? Are you kidding? Ichigo says something to her." Kuchiki-san replied worriedly.

"No, I'm sure, it's near Ishida-kun's house, he's probably on way there." I said, returned the cell phone to Kuchiki-san and nodded again.

Kuchiki-san was not at all convinced, but Ichigo-kun took a step toward me.

"When you have spoken with Kuchiki-san, I will wait for what you have to say to me, Ichigo-kun." I told him. I did not want to add more, because knew he would understand me. He nodded, and didn't say anything.

Then I turned to see Kuchiki-san, hugging her tightly.

"Inoue."

"It was good to see you, Kuchiki-san, thanks again." I whispered in her ear, and ran away before started crying again.

I did not turn around to see them, nor did I stop at any time on the road. Look at the sky, and I worry about the fact that it seems that at any moment it will start to rain again.

End POV Inoue Orihime

"Inoue!" the shinigami shouted watching the girl running away, then turned to the orange hair. "Are you really going to let her go alone?"

"Of course." He responded by looking at the figure of his girlfriend disappearing into the distance. "I trust her and her power, is not it a disgrace to show concern for the comrades in the battle?"

The little brunette then remembered Renji's words when they made the promise to return alive in Las Noches. She nodded with a small smile.

"Anyway, it's not like I could do much." added, and Rukia looked at him sadly.

"You don't need to look at me like that." Ichigo growled. "I'm fine."

"I do not know what you're talking about." she replied looking forward, although Inoue was no longer visible. The young man sighed and smiled slightly.

"Hey, and how are everyone there?" asked, stuffing his cold hands into the trouser pockets. "What have you done?"

The little brunette did not seem to listen, but the ex-shinigami knew perfectly well that she had heard him, so just kept silent waiting for the answer and looking at her. He felt a strange sensation in the chest. He was so happy to see her, but everything was so unreal. After almost two years, just like that, she had appeared again ... but could not shake the feeling that it would end long before he wanted to.

"Ru-"

"They're all fine, and I ... I've continued with my shinigami labors." responded at last. Her eyebrows were contracted and made a sad diagonal outward.

There was a new silence in which Rukia's face and her aura of absence, tortured Ichigo a little more, and the sense of momentariness. He supposed that was the way life was, and that was death, too.

"Rukia." said then. "Were you really going to see us if time allowed you?"

The brunette without looking away, shook her head.

"No. It was a lie."

"Eh? Why?" Asked he surprised, she remained still and did not look at him. "Rukia!"

"It was a mistake to use this gigai." whispered and rested one of her hands on the chest, over her heart, squeezing her clothes. "But I believed that my spiritual energy would attract what I am pursuing and I would quickly finish this mission." she smiled with some pity. "I don't know how you do it, but you always find me."

She raised his big violet eyes, and could see again that sad face in Ichigo.

"Rukia."

"I'm sorry, I promise you I will not do this you again." she said and went out of the bus stop, to the surprise of the orange-haired one.

"Hey, Rukia, what are you talking about?" he exclaimed, chasing her but did she not stop the escape. "Rukia!" He shouted annoyed and grabbed her arm when reached her, the little woman cut off the contact immediately.

"Don't touch me." she said, and to Ichigo's mind came the exact memory of the time she saved him, when she is gone with Byakuya and Renji of own free will. It was the same hurt look, the same broken and shattered voice.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ichigo said annoyed beginning to despair.

"I can see it in your eyes, Ichigo." she mumbled with glazed eyes. As her shoulders had begun to shake hugged herself. "But this is the life you should have lived if I had never come to this city, you will not recover your powers, never."

"What? What with that?" he shouted annoyed.

"You have the silly illusion that if you can see me, you will be a shinigami. Idiot, it's not like that!" her eyes shone, was about to cry, Ichigo held her by the arms. "Let me go!"

"No, I will not." he said seriously as never before. Rukia was surprised and tried to get away from the grip, but he did not give up. Ichigo then slipped one of his hands into her back, and grabbed the wet cloth tightly between the fingers. He pushed her to him, until Rukia's forehead hit his chest.

"What are you doing, idiot?!" the shinigami yelled embarrassed, and made strength with her hands, but the orange haired one finally hugged her. When doing this, by surprise she stopped struggling. He rested the nose on Rukia's shoulder "...Ichigo?"

"You have no idea, how I had wanted to do this." murmured in her ear. "So long ago ..."

"Wh-what the hell are you saying?" Stup- "

"You're the stupid one!" Ichigo grumbled, interrupting, straightened and separated a little looking at her. "Don't you understand anything? What does it have to do that I has lost my powers, with you Rukia? What does it have to do with not having seen you in two full years, huh? Tell me!"

"Everything, idiot!" said Rukia exploding and cutting off the contact at last with her own hands. "As long as you see my face you will think of a past that will not come back, Ichigo!"

He shook the head, and tried to catch her again, but she took a step away.

"No, stop it." said the brunette with a serious and firm voice. "You also know it Ichigo, just look at the life you've started to lead, how happy you are, it's the correct course of your lif-"

"No, it's not like that!" shouted clenching his fists so hard on the sides of the body, that he thought would break them. "I thought it was the right thing to do, but it's all wrong!"

His voice sounded loudly in the empty street. His throat burned and the chest pain began to increase, more intense than those two full years, more intense than every June 17. He had grabbed the clothes that covered his chest with one hand, and had the eyes closed, while breathed between gasps.

"Inoue is waiting for you, Ichigo." Rukia said and as soon as finished, the first drops fell.

The young man heard Rukia's voice and opened his eyes without being able to believe what was happening.

"No! No! No!" he shouted, approaching and taking her again, as it began to rain. "I don't care about my powers! You must listen to me!"

The brunette allowed him to grip her, maintaining a serious expression, absent and distant, while her face was wet from the rain. She had made a resolution and Ichigo knew it.

"Listen to me!" he shouted, trying to make her react. "I like her, but you-"

"Don't."

"Rukia!" Ichigo shouted beginning in despair, the rain was drowning him.

"It's time to wake up, come back to reality."

"No!"

"Be happy Ichigo."

"No! Shut up! Don't protect me again! Don't decide for yourself!" and he could not be as strong as the little shinigami. Tears ran along with the rain from his face contracted with pain. He bent forward and captured her in a tight hug as began to sob at the words thought would stop the rain.

The brunette heard the words in her ear surprised, but they did not seem strange to her. She knew Ichigo's feelings as well as her own, and although had never heard them with her ears before, she knew them with the heart. She pressed the fingers into Ichigo's jacket, which had not accepted before, and thanks the rain that covered her crying.

"Please ... come back with Inoue, Ichigo." she pleaded with a thread of voice, fearing that if remained trapped in that embrace, she could never leave.

Rukia always believed that the most painful hug and farewell would suffer in her existence would be the death of Kaien-dono in her arms.

She was wrong.

Inoue returned to her home soaked from head to toe. Ishida had eliminated the hollow long before she appeared in the place, so had no choice but to return to her apartment.

In the silence of the place, she had prepared a tea that could not be drink, while heard how it was raining outside.

She changed the clothes and sat on the bed, in the darkness of the room. She was not even able to look at her brother's portrait, or talk to him.

Absently took a towel and began to dry her hair. The rain became increasingly intense.

At one point she stood up and walked slowly to his window, when reached it dropped the wet towel at her feet.

Looked through the glass and felt that she was soaking without even being outside.

Ichigo was, alone, under his window, getting wet in the rain, without looking up and who knows how long ago.

"Ichigo-kun." she whispered, resting a hand on the glass, almost feeling his pain. Then her knees trembled, and fell with them to the ground, as began to cry again.

The rain will never stop again.

[a-splash-of-stucky]

Here’s What I Propose

Pairings: Steve x Reader

Summary: All I’ll say is that I chose that title for a reason.

Warnings: A teeny bit of bad language, but besides that? Fluffy fluff

Notes: Written for @redgillan’s challenge, being held in honour of Steve’s birthday. This one uses emotion 53: Nervous

What better way to celebrate the end of exams than with a Steve fic? Happy reading, my lovelies!

“Hey,” Bucky says, as he steps into Steve’s room and shuts the door behind him. “Ran up here as soon as I saw your message.”

“Bucky,” Steve says, voice tense. He’s sat on the edge of his bed, wringing his hands together nervously. His golden blonde hair is ruffled, like he’s been raking his fingers though it.

“Steve? What’s wrong, what’s up, pal?” Bucky asks, crossing the room in big strides.

He stops dead in his tracks when he sees the little box beside Steve’s thigh. The faded scarlet is a stark contrast to the crisp white of Steve’s bedsheets. Bucky recognises it from when he and Steve packed up Sarah’s things, all those decades ago.

“You’re gonna ask her?” Bucky asks, putting two and two together.

“Yeah,” Steve replies, voice hoarse.

“So…what? You wanna practice on me? We can do that.”

Bucky clears his throat and tosses his hair back theatrically. “You wanted to ask me something, Stevie?” he asks, putting on his best imitation of your voice.

Steve laughs. “Nah, Buck. I’ll pass on that.”

“Okay then, why am I here?”

“Because I need you to help me set it up.”

“Sure,” Bucky says, nodding easily, “What’s the plan?”

“Well. Here’s what I propose…”

Bucky levels Steve with a murderous glare. “Steve. You did not.”

————————————

“Bucky, I swear to god I will castrate you if I break my neck,” you growl, wavering unsteadily as you make your way down the stairs. Blindfolded.

The asshole has the audacity to laugh. “Re-lax, Y/N, I got’cha, I ain’t gonna let you fall.”

“I don’t trust you,” you grumble, as you continue to take baby steps down, guided by Bucky’s hand on your elbow.

You have no idea where Bucky’s taking you.

A few minutes ago, he’d shown up outside your room and asked you to follow him. When you agreed to do so, he produced a blindfold out of thin air and tied it over your eyes. You’d protested vehemently, but he wouldn’t let you take it off. You’ve been pestering him with questions this whole time, but Bucky isn’t giving you anything. You’ve been trying to use your knowledge of the compound’s layout to figure out where he could be taking you, but you’ve made so many twists and turns that at this point, it’s a lost cause.

“We’re almost there,” Bucky murmurs, making you jump in surprise.

“Finally,” you gripe. “I swear to god, Barnes, if I take off this blindfold and Wilson throws a pie in my face or something, you won’t be sleeping for a week.”

“It’s nothing like that,” he assures you. “Big step, now—okay, perfect, aaaaand we’re here.”

“Great!” you say sarcastically, “Can I take the blindfold off yet?”

“Nope,” Bucky replies. “Just—yeah, turn that way for me Y/N, no—okay, yes, stay there,” he orders, letting go of your arm and stepping away.

“Bucky?” you say, slightly panicked by the loss of contact.

“Just hang in there, Y/N,” he calls, his voice coming from somewhere behind you, “Patience!”

“I’ll show you patience—oh!” you squeak, when a warm hand comes to rest on your lower back.

Someone chuckles in amusement.

You know that sound.

“Steve,” you hiss, “What the hell is goin’ on here, I—,”

“It’s a surprise, honey,” he soothes, “I’m gonna take the blindfold off now, but I want you to keep your eyes closed for me, okay?”

“Okay,” you agree, still feeling rather suspicious.

With deft fingers, Steve unties the blindfold and whips it off you. You inhale sharply when he takes your hands in both of his.

“Okay. You can open ‘em now.”

“I swear to—wow,” you gasp, eyes going wide as you take everything in.

You’ve never been in this room before. It’s small and square-shaped, with warm lighting, pale grey walls and a wooden floor. It’s also completely empty, save for the framed photographs, sketches and paintings hanging on the walls.

“Steve—what?” you ask, confused.

He laughs softly, lacing your fingers together as he tugs you forward. “Surprise!” he says, sweeping his arm around in a huge flourish.

“Surprise for what?”

Steve shrugs. “Well…I wanted to get this done in time for our anniversary a couple’a weeks back, but I had some technical difficulties. So I thought—better late than never, right?”

As he talks, he guides you to the framed photo nearest to your left. You recognise it immediately.

“Aw, our first date,” you murmur, a smile tugging at the corner of your lips as you reach out to touch the corner of the photo; a selfie of the two of you in Prospect Park.

When you’ve looked your fill, Steve takes your hand and brings you to the next framed piece. You remember this one — it’s a sketch of you that Steve drew when you were both on the way home from a mission in Seoul. You’re looking over your shoulder, a soft smile on your face.

The frame after that holds a set of cheesy photobooth pictures taken during a Christmas party that Tony had a few years back. You and Steve had been dating for nearly two months when you took these.

They’re all memories, you realise.

Your smile grows wider with every sketch, selfie, painting and polaroid that you come across. As you and Steve make a slow circuit around the room, you’re able to relive some special moments from your five years together.

There’s that blurry polaroid from Sam’s birthday, and that’s a painting that Steve made when the two of you went to New Zealand. There’s that naughty selfie you sent him when he was stuck in Uzbekistan for a month, and beside it, the photo he sent you in return. Steve’s arranged everything in chronological order, so you’re able to see how your relationship has grown and evolved through the years.

God, has it really only been five years?

“This is the last one,” Steve says quietly, as he guides you to stand in front of a painting hanging by the door. You narrow your eyes in confusion as you study it, because you don’t recognise where it’s from.

It’s a watercolour painting of you standing in front of a floor-to-ceiling window, the sunlight casting a warm glow on your features. The dress you’re wearing looks similar to one you’d worn to a Stark Industries gala dinner earlier this year, except that one had been a pale blue, whereas this one is a crisp white, with lace adorning the bodice and an elegant train pooling by your feet.

Huh. Now that you think about it, you remember seeing a picture like this one in the official photos released from that night. Steve has managed to capture the beatific smile on your face and he’s added some white flowers to your hair and—

Oh.

“Steve,” you breathe, understanding dawning as the puzzle pieces fall into place.

You turn around and goddammit, there he is, down on one knee, a red velvet box clasped in his outstretched hand. There are tears glistening in his blue eyes and a hopeful smile on his lips.

“Y/N,” he starts, his voice raspy, like he’s on the verge of tears. Steve closes his eyes and huffs out a laugh. “I—I had this whole speech written out and everything but—the truth is, I’m too damn nervous to say a word of it anyway.”

“Honey,” Steve says, the pet name rolling off his tongue as smooth as the substance itself. “Y/N, I’ve loved making all these memories with you. The good ones, the funny ones, the sappy ones—and I wanna keep on makin’ memories with you. For as long as I can. So…will you marry me?”

“Stevie, you didn’t have to do all this,” you whisper, your brain too overwhelmed to process anything right now.

He quirks his lips in a smile. “That’s not a yes.”

“Of course it’s a yes, Steve,” you say thickly, “A thousand times yes, baby, I love you so much.”

Steve’s grin is brighter than any star in the night sky. “I love you too,” he murmurs.

You thrust your left hand forward and in a shaky voice, ask him to put the ring on you.

With trembling hands, he opens the box to reveal a simple gold band with a single diamond at its centre. “It was my ma’s wedding ring,” Steve says softly, as he slips it onto your finger. “It felt right, y’know?”

“I love it,” you declare, as you let yourself be pulled into his arms, your lips finding his in a clumsy but fierce kiss.

“I love you,” you repeat, cupping his face in your hands as you lean back to look at him. “And for the record? Steve, this is the best memory ever.”

[manymessyfandoms]

Ooh, I loved your IronDad fic ^_^ Could you please do one of Peter making puppy eyes (unintentionally?? lol) to get out of trouble with Tony? In any case, thank you, and I hope you continue to feel inspired to write for this adorable superhero father & son duo... :3

Alkdsifjs I’m so glad you liked my other one! Y’all are so nice to me and I could write a paragraph on how every single person who enjoyed it had me cheesin but ANYWAYS

This is a sequel to this bad boy (in case anyone is just seeing this post) and Steve and Bucky make an appearance. It’s also a 3+1 type fic because this is a lawless website and I’m drunk off power.

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR SPOILERS!

Now I present to you…

The three times Tony was swayed by Peter’s puppy eyes (+ the one time he wasn’t)

1.

Tony Stark had a problem, and that problem was Peter Parker and his goddamn puppy eyes.  It wasn’t even something he was fully aware of until it was pointed out to him.

Thanos had been gone for almost a year now, and things had settled down substantially. It took awhile for everyone to feel like they weren’t holding their breaths. It was so hard at first. For everyone. Seeing the people you’re closest to disappear right before your eyes took a toll on the lot of them.

But things were better. There were still bad days, of course there were, and unfortunately Tony was having one of those bad days when Peter came bouncing in the lab, speaking a mile a minute. 

“Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark, Steve and Bucky are going out for a ‘small mission’- and it is small, you can ask- and they said I could go with them! Something about field training, and that I’m getting rusty-” Tony tuned out the rest of what the kid was saying as he turned to the two grinning men behind Peter.

The thing was, it hadn’t taken long for the entire group to fall in love with Peter. He was something of a light that could brighten up any of their darkest days. They all cared for him, so when Steve approached Tony a few days ago with the proposal of taking Peter out on something small to train while under the watchful eye of Captain America, Tony reluctantly agreed, but that was before he woke up from a vivid nightmare of the kid dying in his arms and he knew it was going to be a bad day.

“Not today,” he said as he stood from where he was saying. He noticed Steve frown slightly, but shifted his attention back to Peter.

“W-why not? Tony,” he whined. “Please!” He turned to Steve and Bucky, wordlessly asking them for backup. Tony crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows, waiting for one of them to make the next move.

“Tony, we’ll take care of him. I promise, he’ll be safe,” Steve said. 

“Yeah!” Peter exclaimed, excited at having backup. “And who could protect me better than Captain America!” He immediately blanched when Tony’s eyes widened. “I- I mean-”

“I’m sorry,” Tony started as he stood, “but did I just hear you right? I am way better than Captain America!” Peter nodded frantically as Bucky barked out a laugh. Tony turned to them and noticed Steve smiling widely. “Wipe that smug look off your face, Rogers. You aren’t all that.” Tony had a tough time keeping a straight face when he saw Peter’s anguished face.

“Right, sorry, Mr. Stark. But can I please go? I haven’t gone out patrolling in so long and I need to do something. Please?” The kid looked at him with wide, pleading eyes. Peter turned to the two men behind him and then back at Tony, and he felt his resolve crack. 

He sighed. “Fine, but if you come back with needing so much as a bandaid, I’m going to have both of your asses,” he said, directing the second part at Steve and Bucky.

“Yes!” Peter cheered as he leapt forward a quickly hugged Tony before running out. “I’ve got to go grab my suit! Be back in a sec!”

“What?” Tony asked when he saw the knowing looks Bucky and Steve were looking at him with.

“You’ve got a weakness,” Bucky said. Tony felt a flare of anger because of course Peter is his weakness, but he didn’t need that pointed out to him, especially when he was about to go on a damn mission- “His eyes,” he continued before Tony could say anything. 

Tony paused and scrunched his eyebrows. “Huh?”

Steve laughed. “The kid’s got wicked puppy eyes, Stark. You can’t say no to them.”

“I-” he started but paused, thinking back to whenever Peter managed to convince him of something he didn’t think he could. “Well, shit.”

The kid came stumbling back in as he was putting his mask on. “I’m ready! Can we go? Let’s go!”

Steve clapped a hand on Peter’s shoulder and Bucky winked at Tony before they were exiting the lab as Tony shouted at them to be safe. When they were gone, Tony thought back to his kid’s newfound power.

This could be an issue. 

2.

Tony was picking up Peter from school when he saw a familiar face shove Peter down the front stairs. Tony wasn’t sure if he was more angry or surprised. Why would Peter let himself be pushed?

Tony was out of the car before he could register his movements. “Hey,” he called out, “Flash? Yeah don’t think I’ve forgotten about you, douchebag.” Flash’s face went from confusion, to wonder, to fear, and honestly you’d think these kids would at least somewhat get used to having him there, but apparently not. “Last time I was here it was because you gave my kid a panic attack, and now I’m here and you’re shoving him down the stairs. I’m starting to sense a pattern, a pattern that I don’t like.”

“Mr. Stark, it’s fine, I’m okay,” Peter said as he grabbed his papers that flew out of his bag. “Let’s go.”

“No, Pete, I want to have a word with Eugene. Yeah kid, I did my research.” Flash looked like he was ready to vomit, and Peter stepped in his way and looked Tony in the eye with a way too patient look on his face.

“Mr. Stark.” His calm and borderline amused expression was enough to have Tony twitching in annoyance. “It’s fine. You and I both know that he can’t actually hurt me. Let’s go.” 

Tony’s eyes flicked back to the twerp that was still frozen in spot but Peter drew his attention back to him. “Tony. I mean it. I want to leave.”

Peter’s pleading eyes took out all the fight in Tony. You’ve got a weakness. His eyes, The words echoed in his head. “Dammit kid, that’s just not fair,” he muttered. “We’re talking about this in the car!”

“If I want to be Peter Parker then I have to be Peter Parker,” the kid explained as they drove home. “Peter Parker is a nerdy loser. Being shoved around a little comes with the territory.”

“Pete, you can be yourself without getting bullied!” he exclaimed. “You don’t have to be a superhero to live your life without getting pushed down the stairs!”

Peter sighed. “I know, but it’s just easier to take it myself. If he’s not bullying me, then he’s bullying a different kid, a kid that might not be able to take it. Unlike me. So it’s just easier this way.”

Tony ran a hand down his face. “You stupid, selfless little menace,” he said without any malice. Peter just smiled. “Don’t grin, I’m trying to scold you for being too damn heroic. Can’t you just think think about yourself like every other teenager out there?”

Peter laughed and Tony reached over and rubbed his shoulder. This kid was too good for these people.

When they got home and watched a movie, Peter fell asleep and if he just happened to miss the phone call Tony made to the school about a certain bully terrorizing the students, well then he’d just have to find out the next day when he got to school and noticed Flash walking around like a castrated dog, not even lifting a finger towards any of the students at Midtown School of Science and Technology. 

3.

“I don’t want to hear it!”

“But Mr. Stark-”

“Nope!”

“Can’t I just-”

“Absolutely not! You deliberately disobeyed my direct orders to stay behind-”

“In my defense, you always tell me to stay behind, even when I know you need me.” 

“-and now you’re shot-”

“It’s really just a graze,” Peter mumbled and Tony’s eyes snapped to his.

“Oh, I’m sorry, just a graze? Is that supposed to make me feel better? That the bullet just grazed you?” Tony asked incredulously. “Kid, I had that under control! You were supposed to stay back!”

“I can’t just stay back! I can’t! Don’t you get it? I can’t stay back when hundreds of lives are in danger, when your life is in danger!” There was a pregnant pause before Peter rambled on. “I- I mean, I’m sorry I disobeyed you, but it kills me to have to sit here and wait for you to get back, not knowing if you’re okay.” Peter looked up from his hands and Tony’s heart thudded. The kid pulled out the puppy eyes again. “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

Tony ran a hand over his face. “You’re going to turn my hair grey, kid, and we all know I’m too young for grey hair.”

“Do we though?” Peter sniped back with a playful smile.

“Yes, you little shit, we do.” Tony stepped forward and wrapped his arms around his kid, careful to avoid the graze, and yes okay it was a graze, but that didn’t make it okay. “I just- I can’t see you get hurt, Pete. That’s why I want you to stay. I can’t lose you, do you get that?”

Peter nodded. “I can’t lose you either. That’s why I want to go.”

Tony couldn’t stop the chuckle from escaping his throat. “Well, we make quite the pair, don’t we?”

“Yeah,” Peter laughed. “Quite the pair.” There was a few moments of comfortable silence before Peter piped up again. “Hey, Mr. Stark? Do you think we could order some of that fancy pizza?”

Tony laughed and avoided Peter’s face. “You know what? I’m just going to skip to the end of this debate and say yes. You and your freaking puppy eyes pretty much make me powerless,” he muttered the last sentence before walking off to order the food, but Peter heard and he cocked his head, a plan developing in the kids mind.

+1

“Hey, Tony?” Peter called out, waking up Tony from where he was asleep on the couch.

Tony scrubbed at eyes. “What’s up, Pete?”

Peter walked in with a weird look on his face. “I need to ask you a favor.”

“What’s wrong with you, kid? Are you sick?” Tony asked immediately. Something wasn’t right. 

“No! Nothing’s wrong. I just need a favor to ask you.” 

Tony ignored him and got up and felt his head. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

The weird look left Peter’s face and it shifted to annoyance. “I’m fine, Mr. Stark, but I need to ask you for a favor.”

“Oh. My God.” Tony was suddenly wide awake. “You’re trying to manipulate me into doing something by using artificial puppy eyes! Peter Benjamin Parker, how could you?”

Peter was suddenly bright red and Tony was laughing. “I- I am not! I just- I need a favor-”

“And you thought you could convince me by using your eyes, but you’ve got one problem: you can’t fake your sad, desperate look that gets me, kid. I have a sixth sense for bullshit.” Peter deflated and Tony continued. “Well, come on now. Ask me the favor. Let’s see how bad this is for you to try out that tactic.”

Peter fidgeted nervously. “Th-there’s just this stupid bring your parent to school thing where they just talk to the class about their careers and Aunt May can’t miss any work- and you know what? It’s okay, I’m just going to tell my teacher to pass me when it’s my turn-”

“Peter,” he cut the kid off. “It’s fine. I’ll come.”

Peter’s eyes shot up to his. “Wait, really? You don’t even know what day, or if you’ll be busy-”

“I won’t be.”

“But- you’ll come? Just like that?”

Tony nodded. “Just like that. See? You don’t need to pry on my weaknesses to get something from me. Sometimes you’ve just got to ask.”

Peter probably would’ve been embarrassed for longer, but he was too excited. “This is going to be so fun! So, I have this little packet in my bag, actually, that’ll tell you what to talk about-” Peter continued talking quickly as he reached into his bag, and Tony grinned.

Tony may have had a weakness for that certain look Peter got in his eyes, but as he looked at the kid talking brightly about the upcoming event at school, Tony felt a warmth in his chest. He realized that there isn’t anything he’d rather be doing and that Peter Parker wasn’t actually his weakness.

He was his strength.