#anyways in the end i’m glad i made a billion plans over the next three weeks

[starbuck]

okay. Just planned out my next two weeks and change and i THINK i will not die!

[spaceskam]

Pretty Little Picture (1/3)

fake dating au, pure fluff, no serious tags, just a bunch of fluff

for day 1 of @malex-cupid​

ao3

When Alex agreed to this, he thought it’d be a piece of cake.

“You’re going to regret this, it’s a horrible idea,” Liz said through the phone as he walked around his room, packing his bag for the weekend. He furrowed his eyebrows.

“Why? We’re friends. And I’ve done musicals and stuff, I’ve acted before.”

“Okay, but this isn’t acting. This is going on a weekend getaway pretending to date your friend who you have a crush on is a bad idea,” she scoffed. Alex shook his head, looking between his plain black button-up and his plain black fitted turtleneck. He chose the turtleneck one and folded it carefully.

“I don’t have a crush on him.”

“Really?”

“Really. Trust me, I’ve seen him after pulling an all-nighter and falling asleep in his coffee. I know not to have a crush on him,” Alex said. Though he will admit, that was pretty cute.

“Sounds like something someone with a crush would say,” Liz scolded. Alex snorted a laugh. “Fine, do what you want, at least you’ll be believable with the heart-eyes and everything.”

“I do not have heart-eyes!”

Truly, Alex was sure it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. He lived with Michael already. They shared the house he inherited‒Michael needed a cheap place to live while in college and Alex wasn’t really looking forward to living alone, so it worked out‒and nothing weird had happened in the last three years. They were best friends, what would one weekend hurt?

“Alex, I need your help,” Michael had said, bursting into the living room and nearly making Alex spill his coffee. He stomped towards him, dropping his bag on the ground and flopping onto the couch with a pathetic whine. “Help me.”

“Help you with what?” Alex had asked in return, taking his eyes off his laptop to give him his full attention while he threw a little tantrum.

Michael twisted onto his stomach and rested his chin on his hands, looking up at him. Alex’s heart absolutely did not skip a beat in adoration. He wasn’t that cute.

“You know my internship? The fancy one with all the rich people that pay me to be an intern for them and actually listen to my ideas and‒”

“Yes, Michael, I know about your internship,” Alex laughed. Michael pouted just a little bit.

“Okay, so every year, the CEO takes all the interns and entrance-level employees and their partners on a trip for Valentine’s day and it’s a fun trip, I guess, but it’s really just this big, super informal interview where he and his wife sort of see if you’ll be a good fit for the company long term. Khalil said I have to go no matter what, that it’s super crucial and to make a good impression. Like, I have to go, Alex. I have to get hired for real after I graduate. Do you know how much I’ll get paid just to start? $35 an hour, Alex! I could do so much with that money!” Michael explained, exasperated and overwhelming as if Alex hadn’t heard how much money he would make if he got this job a billion times.

“Yeah, okay, then go,” Alex told him, “Sweet talk them like we all know you can.”

“I need a partner, though,” Michael said, pouting all over again, “So come with me. Please? We can pretend to be, like, long term boyfriends and, like, convince them I’d be a good queer diversity hire at the very least.”

Alex felt his cheeks grow warm at the suggestion and shifted in his spot. “Why me?”

“Because! You were raised around a bunch of bougie rich white people, you know how to act at these things! I’d ask Isobel or Max, but I don’t even wanna pretend to be in love with them. With you, I can do the whole starry-eyed thing and if we have to show PDA, it won’t be that big of a deal because, like, it’s you,” Michael persuaded, clambering onto his hands and knees before putting his head on Alex’s arm and pouting up at him, “Pretty please? I’ll buy you something nice and fancy with my first big kid paycheck.”

“Okay,” Alex agreed, not letting himself think too much about it. They spent all their time together anyway. He’d fallen asleep with Michael’s feet in his lap, he’d seen him basically naked, he’d hugged him and gotten platonic head kisses from him. They could pull it off.

“Okay?” Michael repeated, sitting up more. His smile was shining and bold and Alex had to take a breath. “Okay! Okay, so we have two weeks to pack and come up with stories and shit to tell. It’ll be so easy, they’re gonna love you, you’re so chill. Thank you, Alex, thank you so much.”

Which led to now when Alex was preparing to go on this trip. From the way Michael explained, it would be a lot of just talking and discussing with a side of couples retreat-esque activities.

“He’s apparently superfamily and relationship-oriented. I don’t know if it’s because he’s, like, super conservative or if he’s super progressive and is all for, like, living wages for family and will give people ample time off. I’m too scared to ask just yet,” Michael had explained.

Michael had also assured him that, during discussions, he could either sit with him or go talk to the other partners, whichever he preferred. He basically just needed Alex to look pretty and seem like they were totally in love. According to the way Liz spoke about them, it wouldn’t be a difficult feat.

So Alex packed his clothes and anything he thought he’d need to get by on a three day trip to some bed and breakfast in the middle of nowhere. He wanted to look nice the whole time, even when they weren’t at formal dinners, and he was even going to flip his septum piercing. He planned to use his skills at selling himself to sell Michael as well.

“If you ever need a break, I’ll cover for you while you drive to the nearest convenience store to get a bunch of snacks,” Michael told him as he threw their bags in the backseat of Alex’s little car. Alex snorted a laugh.

“What about if you need a break?”

“Well, I plan to work for this fucker for at least the next thirty years, so my only break will be sleeping,” Michael said. Alex shook his head, going over to fix the collar of Michael’s shirt. It’d taken a bit of convincing to get him to forgo the flannels for a couple of days, but now he had a collared shirt that wouldn’t stay down for some reason. “Speaking of, are you gonna be chill sharing a bed or do I need to sleep on the floor? I don’t mind it, just wanna know if I should ask for an extra blanket.”

“Dude, we’ve shared a bed before,” Alex laughed, “It’s not gonna kill me.”

“Just making sure,” Michael said, taking a deep breath. It was only then that Alex realized that he was actually nervous.

“Hey,” Alex said, grabbing his shoulders and looking him in the eyes, “You’re going to impress the hell out of them, I’m gonna make sure of it, okay?”

“I just really want this job, Alex,” Michael said. Alex smiled.

“And you’re going to get it,” he said, “And, hey, if you don’t, this internship will always look good on your future resume.”

“Let’s just stick to telling me I’m gonna get it, okay?” Michael breathed. Alex laughed and nodded, patting him on the shoulder before shoved him gently in the direction of the passenger seat.

“You’re going to get it. Now get in the car.”

The whole ride there Alex was completely fine. This was going to be a piece of cake and he was going to show Liz that he could totally handle it. He didn’t have a crush, he wasn’t going to catch even more feelings, he was just being a good friend.

It didn’t really dawn on Alex just how stressful this weekend was going to be until they stepped inside the bed and breakfast and Michael looped an arm around his waist and tugged him in close. He knew they were going to be showing casual PDA, Alex agreed to that, but saying it and doing it in private was a whole different world to having Michael hanging onto him in front of other people.

Alex could hear his heart in his ears over the ringing, suddenly very aware of the fact that Michael was muscular. He knew he did a lot of manual labor jobs before he got that internship, but had he always been obvious about it?

Even then, Alex was able to smile through it as Michael led him up to the group of people that were already there. He was able to keep his feet under him as Michael leaned up to his ear to whisper a ‘you got this’. Alex was even stable as he shook the hand of the man whose suit was probably more than Alex’s inheritance.

“This is Alex,” Michael said, smiling over at him like he was the most important thing that ever existed, “My boyfriend.”

Well, shit.

Maybe Liz was onto something.

-

No, honestly‒Alex was fine.

Michael was charming, he knew that. He’d seen him with girls and guys he liked, he always laid on the charm thick and so it absolutely made sense for him to turn it on Alex. He just wasn’t used to it, that’s all. He just needed to adjust and then it’d be all roses.

“Alex, have I mentioned today that you’re my favorite?” Michael hummed as they went into their little room. Alex finally felt like he could breathe and tilted his head at him, raising an eyebrow. Michael was grinning with his back pressed against the door. “You’re incredible. They like you. Ivan laughed at your joke‒he never laughs.”

“Well, I’m glad you picked the right suitor,” Alex laughed, rolling his shoulders as he sat down on the bed. His back was facing Michael, finally, and he used it to close his eyes and count to three.

Michael was charming, simple. And, honestly, Alex was on the receiving end of it the more he thought about it. Just not in front of people. That’s what made it feel like so much. The audience. He’d never been so loudly out in front of that many people before. That’s what it was.

“The best,” Michael insisted. 

The bed creaked under his weight as he crawled across it and Alex was only able to prepare himself for the weight to be draped over his back because he was used to Michael being clingy. Just… in private. 

“Hey, you okay?” Michael asked after he was quiet for a second too long.

“Yeah,” Alex breathed, “I’m fine. Just never proudly stated I was into guys in front of that many people before.”

“Oh,” Michael said, pressing against his back just a little more, “Good feeling or bad feeling?”

Alex didn’t answer quickly enough.

“Alex, if you want to go home, then‒”

“No, this is good. I feel good. Just overwhelmed,” he explained. It wasn’t a lie.

“Okay, fair enough,” Michael said, kissing his temple before throwing himself backwards onto the bed, “I swear, it feels better after the overwhelming feeling goes away. None of them are gonna say shit to you either.”

Alex nodded and laid back on the bed beside him, looking over at him. They had to get ready for one of their informal discussions and dinner, but it sounded like a good idea to just lay there for a moment. The longer they laid there, the more he was able to realize this wasn’t going to be too bad. In fact, he was going to have fun with it.

In an actual relationship, he wouldn’t want to show a lot of PDA or be super touchy. But this wasn’t an actual relationship. He could just be a little extreme for the fun of it. He was going to school to perform. Why not try his hand at acting?

Bonus points if Michael got flustered.

“Okay, I’m good,” Alex said. Michael turned his head and they locked eyes, a smile on his face.

“Good,” Michael said, shifting onto his side, “But if you start feeling overwhelmed again, you can just squeeze my hand. We’re boyfriends for the weekend, so it doesn’t matter if they think it’s gay.”

Alex huffed a laugh, turning onto his side as well. 

“Do they actually know you’re bisexual or is this like your coming out and you’re just letting them think what they want?” Alex wondered, “I saw a couple of shocked faces.”

“Some people know, mainly the people I talk to every day, but I don’t try to hide it. I think most of them thought I was straight until Callie was showing Emily some picture of a hot guy and I said I wanted to see,” Michael said, grinning in that way that told Alex he’d done it purposefully to get a shock out of some people.

“Oh yeah, how’d that go?”

“No one really said much, the girls laughed. Khalil breathed like a sigh of relief because they thought they were the only queer person working there,” Michael said, scooting closer, “I think there’s probably a couple more somewhere are the office. It’s a big place, there’s gotta be.”

“Mm, but we’re gonna be basically the only same-sex couple this weekend, right? I didn’t see anyone else while we were down there,” Alex pointed out. Michael nodded.

“Yeah, sorry. But only for a couple of days! It’s already Friday afternoon and we’re leaving Sunday afternoon, it’ll be fine. Plus, you got me,” Michael said, reaching out to poke Alex in the side, “I’ll make it worthwhile.”

Alex found himself smiling just a little.

“Yeah, I know you will.”

They both eventually got up and got dressed. Alex broke out the turtleneck and some relatively tight black slacks, drawing on fresh eyeliner. He pulled as much of his hair back as he could into a small low ponytail and deliberately made his bangs and everything hanging down a little intentionally messy.

This was a performance and he was going to sell it easily.

When he came out of their bathroom and into the main room, he saw Michael was in a pair of chinos and a maroon button-up that he was sure Isobel had gotten for him. He was just fastening his belt when Alex made a show of leaning against the doorframe as he whistled low.

“Well, well, well, don’t you look good,” Alex said. Michael looked up at him with a shit-eating grin, hands fumbling as he tried to tuck the end of the belt into his belt loops. 

“I bet I smell better, Isobel got me fancy cologne,” he said. Alex huffed a laugh.

“Yeah, I can smell it, it’s nice,” he said, pushing off the door frame and walking closer, “You wearing real shoes, or am I going to have to publicly break up with you for wearing cowboy boots?”

Michael rolled his eyes and reached out to grab Alex by the waistband of his pants, tugging him in. Alex’s eyes went wide as he laughed at the forwardness.

“I’m wearing shoes, the fancy ones that are pointed at the end and click when you walk,” Michael said. Alex grinned and put the back of his hand to his forehead.

“I’m swooning.”

“You should.”

Michael let him go and went to go slip on his shoes while Alex went to his combat boots‒much more situation-appropriate than cowboy boots and he would stick by that. They gave each other another once over of approval before leaving their room. 

“Those boots make your ass look great,” Michael said as they headed towards the elevator. Alex’s eyebrows shot up and he looked over his shoulder. Michael flashed an innocent smile. “What? You’re my boyfriend, I can look at your ass, right?”

“If I can look at yours, boyfriend.”

“I’m begging,” Michael said warmly as they stepped into the elevator. Alex shook his head and pressed the ground floor.

Because, of course, this was what it would be like to be with Michael. Flirting, banter, touching. No wonder he had so many people wanting to be with him. Hell, Alex got a decent taste of it and they didn’t even like each other like that. Though, it definitely helped him understand where all of Liz’s concerns came from.

“You really are feeling better, right? Like, don’t let me do anything you’re not comfortable with. I’ll try not to, but, you know, slap me if I do,” Michael insisted before the elevator doors could open, sincerity dripping from his tone.

Alex held out his hand as the doors opened.

“I’m fine.”

Alex was able to make that statement even more true as they started socializing and he managed to snag a flute of champagne. It tasted expensive, just like the shit he and Kyle would sneak at their parents’ parties. It was easier to loosen up when pretending that’s what this was.

“Michael, Alex!” Curtis called as he neared, a big smile on his face and a gorgeous woman on his arm.

Curtis was the CEO of Disionic, a company that specialized in doing work for other companies’ prototypes. Companies of all sorts would use Disionic to outsource their new and fancy inventions for all sorts of different things, from engine-powered toys to ad blocking apps to literal blenders, as a way to test run them and get credible feedback from engineers and usually would employ them to fix any mistakes that were made. Michael loved it, it was a constant stream of new things and it made big money. 

The fact that he made a point to know all the interns' names was simply a plus.

“You two look like the perfect pair,” he said, looking between the two of them with a warm smile. Alex raised his eyebrows at Michael and offered a smile.

“Thank you, Mr. Iverson,” Michael said, nodding to the woman on his arm, “Mrs. Iverson.”

“Call me Jeannie,” Mrs. Iverson said, holding out a hand. Michael shook it firmly and Alex did the same. “So, I’ve heard about Michael, the agricultural and mechanical double major from Berkeley, but I haven’t heard about you. What do you do, Alex?”

Alex felt Michael take a deep breath, a silent ‘oh God, am I good enough that he told his wife about me?’ and he tightened his hold around his waist. Alex gave his award-winning polite smile that did wonders when he took etiquette classes back when his father thought dressing him up in a suit around other boys in suits to learn about how to act right would make him less likely to be a raging homosexual.

“I actually go to SFSU for right now,” Alex said, “Music major.”

“Oh!” she said, and Alex had already predicted her words before she said them because it’s what people always said, “That’s cute!”

“Mm,” Alex hummed, taking another sip of his champagne, “My major is piano education, but I also take vocal classes as more of a minor.”

“Oh, good, you’ll be able to do a lot with that. And it’s not that far from Michael’s school,” she said. He nodded, looking towards Michael.

“Yeah, we live somewhere in the middle,” he said.

“That’s good that he’s with someone who’s also focused, it’s a good environment to be in for a boy his age with his promise,” Curtis insisted. Michael went a little weak in his grasp and Alex didn’t have to be a genius to know it had everything to do with a grown man caring about his promise. 

“I think so too.”

After moving on from Curtis, Michael was able to regain his legs and his brain and Alex didn’t have to carry too much of the weight‒literally and figuratively. They sat and had dinner, all paid for by the company, and then got back to socializing. It was honestly a bit draining, but Alex kept reminding himself it was just for the weekend and it was for Michael and also that most of the people there were winging it just as much as Michael.

“So, how did you two get together? I know Michael said you were roommates before things got started, so that must’ve been a risky move,” Alisha‒Michael’s coworker’s wife of two months who wouldn’t let either of them forget how sad it was that they couldn’t make it to the wedding as if they’d known either of them long enough to be invited in the first place‒asked. She was kind and all, but she asked a lot of questions. Alex was waiting for her to ask something that was too invasive to even justify a polite answer.

Honestly, some of them already felt too invasive, but Alex knew that was probably him just being touchy.

“Oh, I just got up the courage to ask him out one day and hoped it wouldn’t be weird. I mean, look at his face. It was impossible not to catch feelings,” Michael said. Alex rolled his eyes and leaned into his side, playing it up to the best of his ability. It helped that the champagne he’d been sipping on had made him a little more comfortable.

“Stop it.”

“I’m serious! I couldn’t help myself. I just wanted a chance to look at the stars with you and know you were mine,” Michael cooed, pressing his nose into Alex’s cheek and nuzzling just a little. Alex’s ears were ringing a bit as he turned his head to look at him up close. They locked eyes for a moment too long before Michael cleared his throat and looked back to Alisha. “So, yeah, couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”

“How cute, I wish straight men were that romantic,” she cooed, just tone-deaf enough to level Alex’s thoughts, “Have you talked about marriage? I’d love to come to the wedding, it’d be so fun.”

“Not really, yet,” Alex said, pinching Michael’s hip just enough to make him jump, “But I figure one day I’ll get him on one knee.”

“What, you won’t propose to me?” Michael said, trying to put but failing through his smile. Alex cupped his ear in his hand, running his thumb gently along the curve of it. If Michael’s eyes drifted to his lips, well, Alex pretended he didn’t notice.

“Maybe I just like seeing you on your knees,” Alex said. Michael’s eyes widened.

“Oh, dear, I feel like I’m intruding,” Alisha giggled and Alex blinked out of it.

“Sorry,” he said, “Just teasing.”

“I totally get it! Me and my Tom get like that all the time.” 

“Speaking of your Tom,” Tom said, sidling up beside her and looping his arm around her waist. She smiled up at him. “Emily wanted to see your ring.”

“Oh! Okay, see you later, guys! I had fun talking to you,” Alisha said, waving as she let herself be tugged off to wherever Emily and her boyfriend were.

Alex let out a breath of relief and raised his glass to his lips. Mid-sip, Michael leaned in close to his ear, lips nearly pressed against his skin. Alex focused on his drink.

“You’re gonna do something stupid like make me fall in love with you,” he breathed, leaving a kiss on his cheek before he pulled back.

“Ah, a tragic mistake many men have made,” Alex said playfully. Michael beamed at him.

“Seriously, you’re amazing, Alex. I’m so glad I brought you. You even managed to make Alisha bearable,” Michael said. Alex laughed and looked over to where Alisha was proudly showing off her ring.

“She’s not that bad.”

“You haven’t met her as many times as I have,” Michael huffed, “I was terrified when I saw her comin’ this way. She means well, but, you know.”

“The straights just aren’t as romantic, Michael, don’t you know?” he said. Michael laughed and squeezed his hip. “But are you good? You’re starting to look a little drained.”

“I’m gonna start lookin’ for a way out so we can go upstairs. My people tolerance is dropping,” Michael confessed. Alex nodded.

“Well, you’re doing really well. I almost didn’t notice.”

“Hopefully no one else will.”

“No one else knows you like I do, so I’m assuming you’re good.”

Michael tilted his head, that little smirk on his lips as he said, “You know me so well, huh?”

“I do live with you,” Alex pointed out. Michael nodded and his eyes went to the flute of champagne in his hand.

“How many of those have you had?” he asked. Alex shrugged, swirled it around a bit before downing the rest.

“Three, maybe four. Yeah, four, one before dinner, one during, two since,” Alex explained. Michael nodded.

“Feelin’ good?” he asked. Alex hummed and nodded, looking over Michael’s face easily. “I’m not a champagne man.”

“Neither am I, but this shit is too expensive not to drink.”

Michael laughed, “Guess I’ll have to taste it.”

“You will.”

Alex’s eyes drifted to his lips, not for the first time. He started wondering what he actually looked like on his knees. Then he shook that thought right out of his head.

“I’m tired,” Alex said, maybe a bit louder so other people would hear. Michael grinned.

“Okay, let’s make our rounds in saying goodnight.”

They said goodnight to Michael’s coworkers that they passed on their way to say goodnight specifically to Curtis and Jeannie. It was an absurd amount of small talk, very ‘oh, yeah, we were up early, Alex had class’ and ‘it’s a long day, want to be fresh in the morning!’ and ‘you know how it is, can’t wait to get this one alone, haha!’ It was all tragically boring and as he got closer to when he’d be free of it, Alex began to itch to get back to their room.

By the time they said goodnight to Curtis and his wife, they were basically speed walking to the elevator. Once the doors closed, Michael tugged Alex into a hug, burying his face into his neck and Alex giggled, feeling light as he draped his arms around his neck. Michael lifted him off the ground for a moment, until the doors slid open.

They made it back to their room and Alex didn’t have a moment to process anything before the door closed and Michael was closing in on him. He grabbed his face in between his hands, staring at him with the biggest smile. Alex was probably a little too drunk for this.

“You are so fucking good at this, I could kiss you. The flirting, the touching, the lines? Alex! You’re a genius, a pure genius. I knew they’d like you, but they like like you. You are so good, Alex Manes,” he gushed, peppering kisses to his forehead and his nose and his cheeks. By the time he pulled away, Alex’s face was on fire and he was smiling so wide it hurt.

“I’m just selling it,” Alex said.

“And you are doing a damn good job. I should date you more often,” Michael said. Alex nodded lamely and Michael laughed, grabbing his hand and pulling it to his mouth. He pressed a kiss to the back of it. “I am going to go take a shower, boyfriend. You start trying to sleep off that champagne, okay?”

“Okay.”

Michael dropped his hand and turned, stepping out of his shoes on the way to the bathroom. Alex let out a breathy laugh and sat on the edge of the bed. He slowly pulled his hair down and pulled off his boots, taking a deep breath. He licked his lips and turned his head to the bathroom door, head swimming with too many thoughts as the water kicked on.

Alex changed out of his shirt and his pants into sweats and a t-shirt, climbing into bed without much thought. He tried not to think, at least. He closed his eyes and tried to lull himself to sleep.

But, when the bathroom door opened, he couldn’t help himself.

Alex peeked over the edge of the blanket and watched as Michael, dripping wet with just a towel around his waist, searched for his clothes with nothing but the bathroom light to guide him. He was gorgeous and overwhelmingly… Michael. Alex couldn’t remember the last time he wanted something so bad as he wanted to touch Michael at that moment.

At the thought, he pulled the blanket over his head, his eyes going wide.

Oh.

Oh no.

[chilling-seavey]

Heartbreak Hotel (d.s.) - Chapter One

A/N Hey there, ladies and gents! It’s time to be swept away into an alternate universe where 1950s LA is the place to be. This is my first ever soulmate au and it took a lot of planning to make everything fit just right so I hope you all enjoy! 

Summary: It’s 1958 and summer has just begun, sending the teenagers of Los Angeles into warm weather freedoms and part time jobs. Eighteen-year-old Daniel finds himself spending his days trying to find his soulmate and he refuses to give up until he has her.

Los Angeles in 1958 was a thriving city of luxury and fame; housing many of the greats and certainly more to come in upscale Beverly Hills mansions with top dollar views. They lived in their own worlds in the coastal city; unbothered by the working class with 9-5 jobs and single-family bungalows in the suburbs. To the everyday person, life in Los Angeles was more than nice with the beach on one side, the mountains on the other, and enough cultural entertainment to hardly ever be bored. People were happy you could argue and, in a sense that was true. Happy that they were able to settle down in that warm American Dream with the one they were destined to be with. Their soulmate.

This wasn’t a world full of lonesome heartbreak – unless one would choose to live that way – as everyone was assigned someone that they were meant to be with. By their eighteenth birthday, strange habits started to arise where you could taste whatever your soulmate was eating at any given time. It started faintly the day of your eighteenth birthday, as just a light sensation on your tongue, sort of like what it feels like to have a craving for a specific type of food. As weeks progressed it became more pronounced until after a month or so you could taste nearly exactly what they were eating as if you were eating it yourself.

It was something to get used to at first, but it was reality, and everyone went about their day to day lives with this invisible connection to the one they were destined to be with. Some people never found their soulmate – after all, the world had a population of almost three billion, so the odds weren’t always on your side – but eighteen-year-old Daniel refused to let that be his fate.

The second the clock hit midnight on April 2nd, 1958, Daniel shut his eyes really tightly in his bed and swirled his tongue around his mouth to try and taste something. You see, he was in love with the idea of love for as long as he could remember, and he had been counting down the days until he turned eighteen since he was old enough to know what numbers were. His parents had that perfect love story; high school sweethearts in 1935 where his father knew she was the one from the first week he turned eighteen, married and expecting their first child by 1936 and had three boys with a baby girl on the way before his father was drafted into the war in 1942. His father returned home in 1945 just as in love with his mother than ever before and the rest was history. Daniel wanted a story just like his parents; one where it all just fell into place.

The two-and-a-half months from the day Daniel turned eighteen to his high school graduation gave him absolutely no clue as to who his soulmate was. He tried scrounging the cafeteria at lunch time to see if any of the girls were eating that turkey sandwich he could taste or drinking that cold bottle of Coca-Cola, but he was met with no luck again and again. His soulmate seemed to eat something different everyday for each meal, but he soon came to realize that the only consistent thing was strawberry milkshakes. Usually around the time Daniel got off the school bus at home he’d lick his lips with the sweet flavour of strawberry and whipped cream that was rolling its way along his tongue.

He was just glad it wasn’t chocolate. He hated chocolate.

On the first real day of summer vacation, after graduation and their final high school dance, Daniel was staring out his bedroom window towards the street, impatiently waiting to see his older brother’s shiny red Thunderbird turning onto their street. Sure enough, he got a glimpse of the shiny red sports car in the distance and with an excited gasp, Daniel took off for the stairs.

“Christian’s home!” he shouted through the house, hopping the last three stairs and whipped open the front door just as the car pulled into the driveway.

He jumped off the porch as his parents came out of the house behind him and Daniel rushed to set his hands on the pretty red hood of the car that was still warm from the long drive from upstate.

The tired nineteen-year-old stepped out from the driver’s side and pulled off his sunglasses to offer a dimpled smile to his family, “Hey, you guys. What’s shaking?”

“Christian! How was college?” Daniel asked with a grin.

“Just swell, little brother. Why don’t you come help me bring my things upstairs? I have something for you.”

Daniel absolutely idolized his older brother, so he didn’t need to be asked twice to carry his things. As Christian headed for the porch to greet his mother with a kiss to her cheek and his father with a handshake, Daniel opened the trunk of the car to unload the bags. Out of the four Seavey children, Christian and Daniel were closest in age; Christian was only four months old when their parents fell pregnant with Daniel; leaving the two boys at only thirteen months apart. This made them very close and they shared a bedroom up until their oldest brother Tyler moved out for college a few years before. It was safe to say that when Christian was next to leave for school, Daniel had a hard time adjusting to life in the house without him.

But he was finally back, dressed in his usual slicked back dark brown hair and finished with a leather jacket. Leather was never usually Christian’s choice and Daniel let his eyes linger on the back of his brother’s jacket as he helped him carry his things upstairs to his room.

Christian stopped in the doorway to the left at the top of the stairs, poking his head into the light pink painted room, “Hey, ankle biter, I’m back. Did ya miss me?”

Their younger sister, Anna - a moody force to be reckoned with at fifteen - glanced up from her magazine she was reading on her bed, her record player playing quietly from on top of her dresser, “Didn’t even notice you were gone.”

“Did you get that Elvis guy to marry you yet?”

“Oh, shut up, Chris.” Anna blushed, throwing one of her stuffed animals at him before getting up to slam the door in his face.

Christian glanced back at Daniel with a small smile before heading into the room adjacent to toss his bag on his bed. Daniel set his suitcase by his closet and leaned against the wall with his hands in his pockets.

“What’s with the new getup?” Daniel finally asked.

“Oh, this old thing?” Christian grinned, pulling at the hem of his leather jacket. “A buddy in the dorms threw this little bash back in the fall and there were all these swell guys there talking about this new fashion tread. Said it was what everyone’s doing now. I think it looks pretty good, don’t you?”

“I guess.”

“You guess?” Christian scoffed. “Well something’s coming to you of this whole business too.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. The guys got me a job at the car shop upstate for the year, I made a bit of dough, fixed up some wheels, and I’m even transferred to another shop down here for the summer. But with the big bucks I made since the fall I can afford a new car.”

“That’s great, Chris.” Daniel said slowly, unsure of where his brother was going with that.

“So I want you to have my T-Bird.” Christian tossed over the keys.

Daniel tried to grab them in his shock but fumbled them and they fell to the carpet. He bent down quickly to pick them up, “Are you pulling my leg?”

“Nope. Car’s all yours. That or I’ll resell it but I know you’ve had your eye on it since I first got it.”

“Yeah! Oh, boy! Thank you!” Daniel grinned.

“Only thing I ask is that you tell me how your birthday went.” Christian smirked, flopping back onto his bed. He leaned back against the headboard with his hands tucked behind his head and his shoes resting up on his bag.

Daniel bit back a small smile, sitting gently at the end of his older brother’s bed, the car keys still in hand, “It was nice. Mom made me a cake. Vanilla, of course. And I had a few friends over to watch a movie on tv and we ordered a pizza.”

“You know that’s not what I’m asking.” Christian kicked him with the toe of his shoe lightly.

Daniel’s whole family knew about how excited he was to turn eighteen, solely for the purpose of finally being able to find his soulmate. The younger brother blushed lightly through a smile.

“I haven’t found her yet. But she likes strawberry milkshakes.”

“Strawberry? Well, thank God it’s not chocolate or you’d be miserable.” Christian chuckled. “Think she goes to your school?”

“I dunno. High school’s over anyway. But I want to try and find her this summer. She’s gotta be in the city, right?”

“It’s a big city, little bro.” Christian said.

“You’ll help me, right?”

“I gotta work.” Christian shrugged. “Besides, I gave up on that junk.”

“That junk? Finding your soulmate?” Daniel frowned over at him. He thought back to the late-night talks in their shared bedroom when they were nine and ten, sitting up facing each other on their adjacent twin size beds, talking about what it would be like to grow up and find their soulmates.

Christian hummed, sliding his tongue over his lips and in his mouth, an obvious unaware habit that meant his soulmate was eating something right then. Daniel wondered what he could taste.

Christian clicked his tongue and sat up with a deep inhale as if to pull himself out of his own thoughts, “Yeah, no use stressing yourself over it. Plenty of swell birds around to find, right?”

“I guess.” Daniel mumbled.

“I gotta unpack my things. Why don’t you take the car for a spin before dinner?” Christian suggested, clapping his brother on the shoulder.

“Sure.” Daniel stood up, glancing down at the keys in his hand. “Thanks again.”

Christian only sent him a dimpled grin and Daniel left his brother’s room without another word. He walked down the stairs and to the front door, calling over his shoulder to his parents that he would be back in a little bit before heading for the driveway. Daniel hopped over the door of the convertible and settled into the red leather seats with his hands falling gently against the steering wheel. He let a small smile come to his lips as the engine roared to life and the familiar taste of strawberry milkshakes grazed his tongue.

[chrisevansgoodgirl]

the closest i’ve been to a bar was at ballet class

summary: just some smut building up to 🎟🩰(that’s a ticket and ballet slippers in case you aren’t reading this on mobile)

pairings: reader x natasha romanoff, reader x steve rogers, reader x carol danvers, reader x ...someone 👀

word count: a little under 12,000

warnings: everything. as usual, all kinds of sex in here. i can’t remember all of it. some is pretty rough so avoid if that is not your thing.

a/n: so...i may have added a fourth and bc i’m a jerk, i’m not yet tagging who... but i’ve been thirsting for this character so hard lately and idk why! i’m done tho, i swear! no more. none.

a/n2: so, obviously there is no show here and they have yet to find out about each other but i started writing that but this all happened first and it would have been like a billion words. so part 3 will be coming!

a/n3: part 1

Your ballet instructor was Natasha’s number one enemy. It had started almost instantly. As with her experiences in ballet, she felt that your instructor was someone who simply needed to be watched. She said ballet instructors were hardly ever completely honest, they always had ulterior motives.

You highly doubted your instructor—a 38-year-old woman with an amazing husband and three adorable children—was up to no good. But you couldn’t take another lecture!

Natasha liked to remind you that she had been at this for a long time. Sure, she was paranoid, sometimes. But other times, she was very much correct and that was enough for her. She just wished you would put your guard up sometimes.

So she claimed, anyway. And she was convincing, but at the end of the day, she was glad you weren’t jaded and cynical. It meant she got to take care of you. It meant that she got to protect you in all the ways she knew how—threats, murder maybe.

She was waiting for you at your apartment around noon after practice was over. Her eyes sought out any signs of stress. You knew you looked tired—a big show was coming up, that same show you knew was going to conclude this whole sneaking around thing you had going on. You also knew there was a huge bruise on your shin and arm that she would be furious about when she undressed you.

"Hungry?" she inquired. No 'hello', no 'I missed you', but Natasha liked to save that for when you were falling asleep. She really thought you wouldn't remember how sappy she'd gotten in the morning. You let her pretend because the alternative was no sappiness.

"Starving. Are we going somewhere?"

"Let’s stay in, I’ll make something."

You opened your apartment for her and she waltzed right in. She directed you to change as she headed for the kitchen.

You didn’t have the energy to try to hide the bruises. It was better to get it out of the way. Besides, were you going to say no when she wanted to fuck you?

You chose a tiny bra top and a pair of tiny shorts. Maybe your ass would distract her.

She was at the counter, waiting to see what you came out in. A box of pasta in front of her, a few jars and a saucepan off to her side. It wasn’t anything too crazy but you were okay with that, and at least she wouldn’t get to tease you in that restaurant she loved taking you to.

Concept: picture that scene from a movie where the rich, white man has his favorite restaurant that he takes his billions of too-young, way-out-of-his-league dates to and the staff is used to not mentioning any of the terrible things they see to his wife. Now, take that vision and place it on Natasha. Subtract all the dates and the wife and that Natasha was out of your league, and that had you sitting at her usual table of her favorite overpriced, noisy, terribly lit restaurant at least once a week. At least you were starting to make friends with all of the hostesses and most of the servers. But they weren't naive, they knew when Natasha was, in a sense, in a mood, and they knew when to be succinct but still helpful. That was what made part of The Incident possible—

"What is that bruise?" she demanded, startling you out of your thoughts.

You contemplated the innocent act for a moment, but you'd rather be dismissive. It was just quicker. "Nat, I'm fine—"

"Did you get that in class?"

"No."

"Where, then?"

You sighed. "When I was leaving class. I fell walking down the stairs."

"Because you’re so tired!"

"I am not that tired," you protested.

"Y/N—"

You sauntered over to her, sliding in between her and the counter. "I guess I am a little tired but only because I’ve had some trouble falling asleep lately."

She already knew where you were going, but she would never refuse one of your challenges. You weren’t in charge, she was, and you wouldn’t know that if she was too soft with you. She sighed, "why is that?"

"Because you haven’t fucked me in so long."

She rolled her eyes.

"When you tire me out, I sleep like a baby. Without you...I have to tire myself out and that can take forever."

She sighed, knowing she was not going to get you on a different path. "Forever, huh?"

You nodded. "I mean...I can think about you when I do it. Your mouth, your fingers... But it’s not the same."

"And how often, exactly, do you think about me?"

It was the closest she was ever going to get to asking where she stood with you. She knew there were others but she wanted to hear that she was special compared to the rest. She was, so special you couldn’t put it into words. But that didn't mean Steve and Carol weren't special in their way as well. You figured they were going to have a hard time wrapping their mind around that when they found out about this. A competition? Sure, they could understand that.

"Very often," you promised. "I missed you."

You craved them exactly as you had gotten used to having them in your life. The mornings had you longing to be with Natasha, staying in bed late while you thought about how she wasn’t going to be walking you to class or waiting for you after. Nights were reserved for Steve when you realized how empty your bed felt and wanted to have one of your under-the-covers conversations with him—a trend started in the winters when he would unintentionally wake you up because he was trying to slip out of bed, it was your way of keeping him there for just a little longer. Then there were weekends, random mid-days, and every Thursday night that Carol had you set aside just for her so she could take you to Maria's for dinner.

Natasha's hands settled on your hips. "I missed you, too. But that doesn’t mean I don't want to hit your damn teacher."

"Why waste time?"

"I’m nearly retired," she countered. "I have the time."

"No, you really don’t." You slowly removed your shirt and then shimmied out of your shorts before kicking them away. "All of your time needs to be spent on me, not worrying about my teacher."

Natasha always looked at you like she’d never seen anything quite so beautiful regardless of how little time elapsed from the last, but there was something different this time. For the first time since she’d met you, your skin was an unpainted canvas. Steve and Carol had been gone as well and that meant there were no bruises anywhere because there was no one else.

Natasha liked marking you up because Steve did—not that she knew that, but it was a possessive outlet for them both. Steve’s marks were always bigger, bigger fingers, bigger love bites, she’d known instantly that he was a man—random, inconsistent. Hers were smaller, healed quicker, but no doubt sent the message that you were fucking a woman. Something she wanted to be known to whoever else was sharing your bed.

She lifted you onto the counter, leaving your hips hanging over the edge as she dropped to her knees. Immediately, her mouth was set to your inner thigh where she nipped at your skin and kissed after. She never once took her eyes off you as she switched legs..

You wouldn’t beg, even after the eighth time she made that switch. You knew she had her plans and not even you could change them. That didn’t mean you weren’t dripping and squirming, cursing her for being so thorough, however.

She shoved your legs apart wide as she stood, dipping down to run her tongue through you slowly, just once.

You shuddered when she caught your clit. "Natasha—"

"Hush." She eyed your pussy, then the rest of you. "You are delicious, baby. I can’t believe I had to go so long without tasting you." She chose your hip bones to mark up next but finally, slid two fingers inside you. She didn’t move them, she just wanted to fill you up a little.

You clenched around them several intentional times and she didn’t bat an eye. She was trying to drive you crazy; she hadn’t said it but the second you tried to take, if you rolled your hips, if you grabbed her arm and attempted to rush her, she would make you wait longer.

She trailed up to your breasts, small kisses scattered without pattern before she started to bite and suck until your skin was numbly tingling. You knew her game was over when she pressed her lips to yours.

You wasted no time, opening your mouth for her tongue and moaning out of the sheerest need. There was just something about Natasha’s lips that could always get you weak. They were beautiful to look at but they felt even better gliding across your skin, kissing, sucking.

She was the one who pulled away, turning down to look at her fingers still inside you. "You are soaking my hand."

Now you grabbed her forearm, pulling her fingers in deeper. "Fuck me, please."

She acted as if she was thinking about it, arched her eyebrow and curled her fingers once, twice, and then yanked them away from you.

Your eyes widened up at her. What the hell?

"Go sit at the table while I finish making the pasta."

Your mouth dropped a little. "Um...?"

"Hurry up," she ordered.

She was serious, dead serious. You slid off the counter, leaning down to reach for your clothes.

"I didn’t tell you to get dressed," she pointed out. With her hands on your arms, she stood you back up and turned you around. You went to move away but she grabbed your ass and leaned down to kiss your cheek, then gently urged you forward. "Sit down, stop pouting. Be a good girl or else I won’t be fucking you, understood?"

No, hell no, not understood. At all! But you didn’t say any of that as you moved for the table. No, no, no way in hell.

Steve teased, even Carol had her tendencies to make you wait, but Natasha was different. After that first time in the studio, she had never again made you wait for something that you wanted. She gave and gave until you shamelessly flaunted how spoiled you were to anyone who would listen—mostly the ballerinas from class. It was that Natasha didn’t need to be as in control as them, it was that it didn’t need to be some power struggle.

Maybe she was trying something different, but that meant that you could do that, too. Instead of sitting in a chair like a boring mouse, you turned to her and sat on the table instead.

She was pouring the box of pasta in the pot, but she turned up to arch an eyebrow at you.

You lifted one leg, then the other, setting the arches of your feet on the edge of the table. You were obscenely spread for her and she acted as if that wasn’t unnatural.

You brought your hand down to your pussy, two fingers slowly tracing circles around your clit. You watched her watching you the entire time, there was never a break in her resolve. But you were too far now to just quit, besides that was more than likely was her feigned indifference was trying for.

She didn’t stop making the pasta either, but that was how you knew you were winning. She was trying to speed dinner along because she was going to remind you that she was in charge.

It was so cute that they believed that. You worried that she may not let you finish that night, so even if you wanted to give her that little bit of obedience you could manage, you weren't convinced it was in your best interest.

Your hand began to move frantically as you cried out her name because you were just mean like that. Your eyes closed and your head fell back as you took in two of your fingers. Your hips rose to grind against the heel of your palm, around that time you were almost certain you’d heard something clatter in the kitchen.

Your finish was little more than a show, an end you’d drawn yourself to many times in their absence but one that you played up. It felt as good as it could have but you needed them, nothing else could suffice. That didn't mean you weren't acting like it was the best orgasm you'd ever had.

You came down quickly and did so without a word or even another glance at her. You climbed off the table, sat in a chair, and looked at her once more.

She looked down at the counter in front of her and shook her head. Yep, you were in major trouble, but you deemed it well worth it.

After an uneventful meal, she took you to the bedroom where she edged you ruthlessly. She was trying to get you to apologize for misbehaving, but you refused. Well, until she told you that she wasn't going to give you the presents she brought you back from Paris. (Later, you opened a new pair of thigh-high boots and a diamond choker with a dangling charm of cursive letters spelling out angel.)

And finally, when you gave in and apologized, she herself was worked up beyond comprehension and set your cunt over her face so she could eat you out until you were crying and delirious. Thankfully, she didn’t stop even though you begged her to, not until she was satisfied.

That was the first night Natasha stayed over. She kept her arms wrapped around your bare torso to keep you pinned to her as tightly as possible. You felt her running her hands through your hair until you fell asleep, enjoying the sound of her breathing in the quiet room.

In the morning, you woke first. You were able to watch her sleep for a while, surprised by how peaceful she looked. And you were caught off by how good she looked in your bed, her red hair fanned out over your pink pillowcases, the sunlight filtering through the blinds and layering her in gold light. 

Her arms were slack around you, her right falling away as you sat up. You situated yourself on her side, crossing your top leg over her hip. You took her hand in yours, guiding two of her fingers to your already wet pussy.

You teased your clit for several minutes, careful not to wake her just yet. When you were ready, you slid down on two of her long fingers. Still, she was not woken by you.

You rolled your hips desperately, moaning every time your clit swept against her palm. You felt her fingers curl on their own and moaned louder, an attempt to get her conscious.

When her eyes shot open, they focused on you instantly. You continued to fuck yourself on her fingers, setting your head on the pillow next to hers and staring in her eyes.

"Fuck," she whispered. Then she was up and urging you onto your back. She spread your legs wide and slotted herself between them. She started slow, hands groping your breasts as she dragged her pussy against yours. 

She was deliciously slick, you could feel her cunt dripping onto yours. Wet sounds filled the room, along with the small, desperate noises that spilled from your open mouth.

When she knew she was close, she used your thigh as leverage, moving quicker. It was a breath-taking scene when Natasha got lost in pleasure. She shut her eyes, tilted her head back and her red curls lined her back, her breasts bounced hard because that was how she was fucking you. She didn’t stop until you were both screaming each other's name and coming.

She collapsed on top of you, mouth lazily seeking out yours. "That’s the best way I’ve ever been woken up."

You smiled.

"Turn over, let me see your gorgeous ass."

You waited until she stepped off the bed to roll over, eagerly sticking your ass out for her. She had never asked you to do this so you were excited to see where she would take it.

You heard her get back on the bed and then felt her hands gripping your ass hard.

"You have such a beautiful ass."

You smirked, glancing back at her.

She set her body flat against your back and you titled your head just so you could kiss her. She began grinding her cunt against your ass, nipping at your lips as she moaned. One of her hands slithered down between your pussy and the mattress, her fingers circling your sensitive flesh skillfully.

Her soaking pussy brushed over your ass desperately, you could feel her soaking you all the way down the back of your thigh. She got herself off on your skin, never once easing up on your clit even though you’d finished and were terribly oversensitive to her touch. Instead, once again, she stopped only when she wanted to.

And if you thought that would be the end, you didn’t know her very well. She sat up and brought you with her. She took your hips in her hands and situated you over one of her thighs, her front pressed to your back once again. "Come on my thigh, baby, don’t stop until I tell you to."

You leaned over, using your elbows to keep your balance. You rode her thigh hard, making sure to give her quite the show of your ass. When you were reaching your end, you grabbed one of her hands and set it over your ass. She took the cue immediately, grabbing you, digging her fingers in.

When you finished, she shoved you flat onto the mattress. You were only half aware of what she was doing behind you, still floating from your orgasm. You snapped right out of that when you felt her lips against your ass. She kissed you several times before you felt her tongue against your hole.

You startled, hands fisting in the sheets. You were definitely surprised, you guys had never even approached this topic. But just as soon as you had felt her, she was gone. She turned you back over, kissed up your body, stopping only to worship your breasts. When she reached your mouth, she gave you an out-of-place chaste kiss and sat up. "Seriously, we need to get out of bed or I'm never going to stop fucking you."

When Carol opened her apartment door for you, things quickly changed. She gripped your arm and walked you to the couch where she forcefully sat you down. One thing was clear: she was in no mood to hear you speak.

"Stay." She headed to the kitchen where you heard cupboards being opened and slammed shut, the fridge a few times. Mostly, she was just walking around.

Perhaps you should have been scared, but you were just wet. So fucking wet.

She came back with a beer, glanced at you, then began pacing. "You’re..." she trailed off and shook her head before taking a long drink from the bottle in her hand. "I mean, I can’t even..."

It was definitely a mistake to laugh.

Her eyes widened and she turned to you, a clear warning, but one that you would not heed. "Just try to make me understand," she finally settled on. "What possessed you?"

"Well, you were gone for quite a while."

"So, you missed me?"

"Of course."

"So, you decide to be a brat?"

Was that supposed to make you regret acting out? It was a somewhat humiliating thing for her to call you but you didn’t dislike it. "Well, you weren’t paying enough attention to me."

Again, that sharp look that you were sure was supposed to make you backtrack. "I only pay attention to good girls, girls who behave."

You hummed, standing. "I suppose I should go home, then."

"Sit down," she growled.

Instead, you tossed your purse on the couch and slowly removed your jacket. Nat had left you covered in marks but she was secure enough in her place with you that she didn’t need to do so in a way that would inconvenience you. She understood you were a ballerina so she left your neck, shoulders, and chest mostly untouched. Your breasts, stomach, and thighs were another story, but you were still in a tiny ass skirt that allowed Carol to finger you in the car before you’d arrived at another little gathering Maria was having—who had more parties, her or Tony Stark? She was giving him a run for his money.

Which was where you’d started acting out. Carol had picked you up around noon and you were as sweet as could be. But around 3, you were suddenly hit with the realization that you wanted to be fucking her more than anything else. It started with a text about how you had taken off your underwear. She was having none of it, she told you this was not happening. You let her know that the scrap of lace was in her purse.

You sent a picture 30 minutes later. She warned you to stop. You sent a video showing her just how wet you were for her, then told her all the things you wanted her to do to you. All the things you had missed while she was away.

In total, you sent her 27 texts, 2 videos, and 7 pictures. You’d received 4 responses, but the final one was completely out of place. Show me your ass. You obliged but then nothing. She said nothing, she requested nothing further.

Did you feel as though you'd gone too far? Not exactly. Carol was definitely into the most public shit, making possible for the second part of The Incident. You still blushed thinking about that day.

She rolled her eyes at your display of disobedience, bringing the bottle to her lips once more. "Strip."

You didn’t need to be told twice. First, it was the shirt, and you paid no mind at all to what Natasha had left you with, but you noticed Carol's lingering gaze. Next, you pushed your skirt down and stepped out of her pumps you’d borrowed. You loved wearing heels when you were out with Carol, she was taller than you without and sometimes it brought you to her level or made you just a tad taller.

She made her way closer to you, setting her bottle on the coffee table off to her side. Abruptly, she grabbed a handful of your hair and pulled you closer to her. "If you wanted me to get rough with, princess, all you had to do was ask."

You didn’t have time to respond before she was kissing you, greedy and demanding. But just as you reached up to touch her face, she yanked back and turned you around with her hands on your shoulders. She grabbed your hair once more and forced you down toward the table.

You were on your knees, bent over the edge, your breasts flat against the freezing glass. Your cheek was pressed so hard against the solid surface you almost couldn’t open your mouth to speak. "Carol—"

"Silence."

It was a while before you heard her move, she got down behind you and kept one hand on your head as the next began to feel through your folds.

She slipped one finger inside you, pulled back, then added another. She curled up against that spot that always made you buck your hips wildly, even though now you were digging into the sharp wooden border of the table she’d bent you over.

"You know how to drive, right, princess?"

You paused for a moment, confused.

"Answer me."

"Um, yes?"

"You know that when you reach a traffic light, green means go and red means stop, don’t you?"

"Yeah..."

"So, right now, bent over this table, your soaking cunt filled with my fingers, you are...?"

She was speaking slowly as if you were a child that could barely comprehend this conversation. Never mind that you were definitely getting lost and her fingers were turning your brain to mush. It was another humiliation tactic and you felt yourself blushing. She’d never been quite so...formal. "Green?"

"Are you asking or telling? Green means that you are still my desperate little whore that needs to be fucked hard."

"I’m green," you assured.

"And if at any point you feel like you need me to slow down or you are beginning to get worried or uncomfortable, if you need any verbal communication, you’re yellow. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"And you understand if you need me to stop, if I’m hurting you or you don’t like what’s going on, you can tell me you are red and you know I won’t get mad at you?"

"Yes."

"One more time, what are you?"

"Green."

She pulled her fingers from inside you. "Arms on the table."

You hurriedly obeyed, gripping the edges hard. Carol never really spoke to you like this, it was all spoiling you in attention and affection. This was something else, something you hadn’t anticipated when you started this game.

She brought her hand down on the right side of your ass, your hips stuttered forward and your gasp and the echo of the smack filled the room. Your cheeks burned and your eyes filled with tears. It didn’t hurt, she was experimenting, but you knew it would eventually.

"And what are you now, princess?"

You swallowed, willing your voice to stay even. "Green."

She finally let go of your hair and you tilted your head a little just to get the pressure off your cheekbone. She repeated the slap on the opposite side with just a bit more pressure.

You shuddered and blurted out the same color. Your skin was stinging but you felt yourself growing wetter, your slick running down your thighs now.

She had you in this cycle until she found enough force that it was barely manageable. Tears were running down your cheeks, landing on the table and she had to hold you up on your knees because you no longer could.

She hummed. "These marks are going to be pretty in the morning."

You realized then where this came from. Had you come to her with the same attitude but without all of those marks Nat left you covered in, you probably never would have pushed Carol to this point. They had both officially found their ways to be just the slightest bit possessive.

"You sorry?"

You snorted. "No...are you?"

"Excuse me?"

"You should have fucked me at the party if you really wanted me to stop sending you pictures and videos."

She rolled her eyes. "Stay here. I'm not joking."

You smirked as she stormed off to her bedroom. You knew what she would be coming back with. She returned naked, save for her strap. A smooth red dildo hung between her legs, one of the larger ones she owned.

You went to stand up but she clicked her tongue disapprovingly.

"Crawl over here."

You lifted your eyebrows—crawl? Hadn't she just called you ‘princess’? But you could be a ‘whore’ since she called you that, too. On hands and knees, you made your way to her.

She reached down to grab your hair, pulling you up to stand on your knees. She said nothing else as she used her other hand to press the tip of the dildo against your lips until you opened your mouth. A struggle that ended with the sounds of you choking on the piece of silicone down your throat.

The rest of the night was spent on the couch. She made you ride her strap until you physically couldn't continue, which ended up being a bit after two in the morning. She didn't tease or edge, she allowed you to come as many times as you wanted to, in fact, she ordered it—unstated, but the threat that would come from not playing her game was clear.

She didn't help, however, she stayed still underneath you and didn't say a word. She just watched you, watched as you pathetically attempted to get her to break. You would kiss her, take her fingers and suck on them, place her hands over your breasts. A few times, you even got up, turning your back to her before sinking back down on the dildo, knowing that she would love the sight of your battered ass.

Steve understood your love of ballet.

Sure, Natasha knew what you were talking about and related to you somewhat, but she also had her opinions about ballet and sometimes she was a little closed off about your dancing. And hell, Carol would support you doing anything. Tap, softball, book club, Broadway, murder, she just wanted you to be happy.

With Steve, well, he sort of understood interests that left you a little battered and bruised. His new obsession (TM) was patching you up through those unanticipated injuries and wrapping your feet before you practiced at home to prevent injuries. It was a careful 20-minute process where he was utterly focused on making sure you were completely protected. And either he paid tremendous attention to you—his skills at quickly prepping your feet was enviable—or he had a thing for ballerinas. You were okay not knowing.

When he called you and told you he was coming over, you noticed something in his voice. It was different, not that usual sweet and doting tone, but you'd heard it before. Steve was always confident and assertive, but this was...something else. Something more. When he told you that you needed to get dressed in nothing more than a leotard, you wanted to be a brat and flat out refuse, maybe just tease, but you didn’t. You had enough sense to know that it wouldn’t get you the results you wanted.

You also had reason to be nervous. Carol had left you some nice marks. They didn’t really hurt anymore, but they were there. There was also no false illusion about what they were. Steve would know and you just weren’t sure how he would feel about them. Most of your ass was covered with what you were wearing but there were still the especially dark areas that could be seen through your one-piece, and there were a few bruises that extended the cut of your outfit. Not to mention, there was no way to hide what Natasha left on your upper thighs.

But you just decided to act like it wasn’t an issue. He was the one who said he couldn’t be your boyfriend, right? He couldn’t get upset over others leaving marks behind. At least that was what you kept repeating to yourself as you walked toward your barre in the corner of your apartment living room.

You began going through your usual warm-up routine, only glancing at him when you felt you wouldn’t be caught. He was laid out on the couch, eyes following your legs as if he hadn’t seen you do this a dozen times already. He was already hard, made more noticeable by the one leg draped over the edge of the cushions. His hand was on his thigh, fingers twitching just barely. The control he was trying to maintain was clear on his face, through his sharp blue eyes, his set jaw, and furrowed brow.

It was silent the entire time and your nerves were growing. Eventually, you would have to turn around and he would have the perfect view of your ass. He’d already noticed your thighs, you saw him eyeing you when he was prepping your feet for the pointe shoes. But he didn’t say anything and he wouldn’t, because he wasn’t allowed to. Right?

With a finishing soutenu turn, you were facing the opposite direction. You heard him sit up but then it was completely silent, minus your breathing and your shoes brushing along the floor.

When you were done, you stayed put. You’d gone as far as teaching him a lot of ballet vocabulary because he knew what he wanted to see and after your warm-ups, he would often direct you. It was always somewhat thrilling—apparently, you both shared this depraved ballerina kink. Maybe there had been role play—maybe he was the casting director and you were a desperate ballerina auditioning for a role, willing to do anything to get it, and maybe he pretended he had a million and one critiques for you, and maybe instead of having the talent, you got the role after you sucked him off.

“Face the barre. Run through your pliés.”

You turned to your side, pretending to be focused on keeping your hips squared and your pelvis locked. You could do pliés no problem, but the alternative was meeting his stare in the mirror and you were too nervous to do that. You completed the demi-pliés slowly and the grand pliés much the same. Normally, he would speak during this step, knowing that he wasn’t going to distract you, but nothing.

You waited for more instructions but they never came. You felt his arms wrap around your waist and you startled—you hadn’t heard him get so close.

He just held you for a moment, pinned your back to his chest as he kissed the side of your face. His hands began to squeeze your breasts and you melted into him eagerly. But soon, gentle touching became rough grabbing and all you could do was watch him in the mirror. He looked at you like he was starving and he touched you like it had been ages.

One of his hand dropped down and grabbed your ass. You held on tighter to the barre, shuddering. "What do you call him?"

Because you just didn’t know what was good for you, you laughed. "Are you jealous?"

He gripped you harder, bringing down his other hand to join. "I don’t need to be. What do you call him?"

'I’m not fucking another man," you informed, amusement still clear in your tone. Steve Rogers jealous, you never thought you’d see the day.

"Then what do you call her?"

She had you call her captain, but you couldn’t exactly tell him that. "What do you want me to call you?" you purred. "Sir?"

"No."

You hummed. “Master? You don’t strike me as the type, but you’re weird enough that I wouldn’t be surprised."

"No."

"Then I’m not sure what you want, Steve." You did know, you’d always had the suspicion since he liked to take care of you and loved calling you baby girl.

"I won’t ask you again," he finally said. He didn’t much care what you were doing with other people, but he did have a special liking to your ass. Maybe he was just mad that someone was spanking you before he was.

When it came to Steve, you knew how to get under his skin. You always knew just what to say to shock him and he could pretend all he wanted that he didn’t love when you would say the filthiest things to him, but you knew better. And after he just handed you this, how were you supposed to resist? "I don’t think I’ll have enough time to answer."

He lifted his eyebrows. "Oh, are we on a clock?"

You shrugged, leaning back to set your head on his shoulder. "Well, yeah, if you want to fuck me before mom gets home."

He scoffed, averting his gaze forward.

You knew you’d caught something though, his hands tightened on your hips and his jaw was doing that thing.

"You are sick."

You snorted. "And you’re hard, so."

He turned you abruptly, pinning you between his body and the barre. "Fine, what’s the story?"

You hummed. "You met my mom in a bar, you liked her, you started this all with the purest intentions. But then you stayed over one night, and there I was. You’ve tried fighting it—"

"But you don’t make it easy," he sighed.

You smirked. "I’m sorry, daddy. Really."

Any last reluctance he had was destroyed when you called him daddy. "Well, baby girl, daddy really isn’t okay that you’ve been letting so many other people fuck you."

You shrugged. "Maybe I was practicing."

He scoffed, fully aware of how you were intending to turn this. "Practicing. For what?"

"You. I just wanted to make sure I was good when you fucked me."

He hummed, turning you away once again. "And are you?"

"Good?"

"Mhm."

"The best," you promised.

"Baby, I don’t know how I feel about sharing you. What if I wanted to be your first?"

"I—"

He brought his hand up to your neck and you fell silent. "Daddy is really disappointed."

Rarely did Steve commandeer your scenes. Mostly, he pretended that he was just humoring you, then he fucked you well enough that you weren’t in the position to tease him afterward. It was a great system. But you weren’t complaining that he was suddenly changing things.

"Are you sorry for letting me down?"

You nodded quickly. It was surprising how naturally he could commit to this character.

"How are you going to make it up to me?"

"I’ll do anything," you promised.

He took his other hand, palm sliding over your ass. "Have I ever told you how much I love your ass?"

"No."

"I do... you ever had your ass fucked?"

That was a huge no. The men you had been with up to that point, prior to Steve, did not meet your standards that well. There was lacking trust, skill, most of them couldn’t define 'foreplay' if their lives depended on it. And after, well, Carol was the only one who liked straps so much and she’d never brought it up.

"No."

"No?"

You were about to repeat the answer when his hand came down on your ass. It (illogically) was the last thing you were expecting and you pathetically squeaked before you could stop yourself.

"You know what I want you to call me. Correct?"

"Yes, daddy. No, I’ve never been fucked there."

"You want daddy to fuck you there?"

"Will daddy forgive me?"

"Maybe."

Pouting, right now? Steve Rogers knew no bounds. "Yes, daddy, I want you to fuck me there."

"Spread your legs and hold the barre."

You hurriedly did as he asked, watching his face in the mirror. His eyes were focused on your ass, the way you moved, the way you were teasing him by leaning over just a little.

First, he moved your suit aside and buried two fingers inside you. You were obscenely wet, something he chuckled at.

You would have blushed, had you not already been. He pumped his fingers in and out, ordering you to watch, even though you couldn’t see much with your leotard in the way. When he added another finger, you squirmed a little, trying to get more comfortable.

"Does that hurt?"

"A little, daddy." It always hurt, taking Steve was always an adjustment process. The first few times, uncomfortable, an orgasm without his fingers rubbing quick circles around your clit was impossible. You were getting used to him, it was still a stretch, you’d just grown to like that ounce of pain because you knew how much pleasure was going to follow.

"Well, imagine how they’re going to feel in your ass. Then imagine how my cock will feel. Worried?"

"No, daddy. I like it when you hurt me."

He thrust his fingers a tad indelicately and your hips jerked.

Ass—obviously you’d said that to get a rise out of him, but still, rude. You had completely soaked through your thick suit by the time he pulled his fingers out, and not a single finish to show for it. But you figured he knew what he was doing, he’d probably had experience with this before so you were fine letting him run the show.

He pulled the material over your ass so he could watch you take his fingers.

"Take it off, daddy," you pleaded, voice all weak and breathy. You were pathetic.

"Can’t, baby. If your mom walks in, you can’t be naked."

You whined unintelligibly. Was he serious right now?

"Don’t misbehave," he warned. "I don’t want to have to punish you. Understand?"

"Yes, daddy." You set your forehead to the bar, angling your head so you could still see his face.

"Are you ready?"

You nodded slightly. "Yes, daddy." You startled a bit when you felt his finger, taking a breath when he told you to. The first finger didn’t hurt but you felt impossibly full—he was right, how were you going to take him? There was a sting when he got to his knuckle but he told you to relax so you tried.

His opposite hand reached through the suit where he pressed his fingers flat to your clit and began to massage them over you, back and forth, with a toe-curling pace and pressure. He pumped his finger in and out of your ass until you were crying out about your approaching orgasm. His finger felt different now, better, and you weren’t sure any finish had ever built up so intensely.

Before you could find out, he stopped touching your clit, dipping his first two fingers down to tease your entrance. It was then that he decided to add another finger to the one working on opening your ass for him. He was quick about it, slid one finger out, shoved two in.

You threw your head back, moaning loudly.

"Starting to feel good, baby?"

"Yes, daddy." Maybe just the looming promise of the right kind of pain, but not necessarily good. Not yet.

He continued his pattern of edging you until he had four fingers inside your ass. Your legs were shaking and his other hand was completely soaked. He never stopped talking, telling you about all the times he had thought about fucking you like this, how he touched himself during these fantasies, how he was going to make you feel better than you’d ever felt.

Steve wasn’t the most forthcoming man. He didn’t lie, never, but sometimes he kept things so completely to himself and you never had a clue. When did this obsession with your ass start, and how? And if Carol had never spanked you, would he even be doing this now? What other fantasies was he keeping to himself?

"Do you want to go to your bedroom, doll?"

"Not yet."

"Do you want your mother to catch us?" he joked.

You snorted. "Maybe I do."

He leaned over you, kissing the side of your face. "You know, I’m just saying, if you really did have a mom and I was your stepfather and was trying to fuck you on a clock, we would have definitely been caught by now."

You couldn’t possibly refrain from smiling. "You’re such a dork, Steve."

He smiled a little. "You think you’re ready?"

"Yes."

He arched an eyebrow at you. "Don’t drop the act now, baby girl."

You scoffed. "Yes, daddy. I’m ready." You watched him in the mirror as he moved his pants out of his way, something he eventually had to remove his fingers to do. You immediately missed that full feeling.

He adjusted your leotard out of his way once more, opposite hand leading his cock to you. He pressed in just barely, allowing you time to adjust or to protest if this was a failed experiment. You guys had had a few of those. Beyond handcuffs, he did not like tying you up. You guys actually weren’t overly into public sexual situations, save for the final act of The Incident. And phone sex was something that only occurred in times of true desperation. This would not be making the same list.

He folded his hands over your hip bones, pulling you back further on his cock. Your mouth dropped and your eyes slammed shut. It didn’t feel natural, it was like your body was trying to push back at him but well, Steve was nothing if not stubborn. He just kept pushing and pushing until your ass was flush against him.

It felt like an eternity when he started to pull out and then another eternity when he thrust back in, but you enjoyed every second. You felt high by the time his hips were moving easily, steadily. It was this maddening feeling like you were on the edge of something really good but he wouldn’t touch you anywhere else and it just wasn’t enough to finish. You suspected he knew that.

His hands moved up your hips and your waist until he could grab your shoulders. He stood you up, his hips stilling, your back flat to his chest. Just when you thought you he couldn’t get any deeper inside you. He pressed his hands up until he closed around your breasts. He pinched your nipples through the material, lips brushing against your ear as he spoke.

"Let’s go to the bedroom."

He would have a much better angle to watch, of course. Two months prior, you were days away from a huge audition so you were either at the studio or at home practicing. One night when you arrived home at nearly 10, it just felt like something wasn't right. Like someone had been in your apartment, nothing looked off. You just felt it.

You didn't lock the door behind you, just in case. You kept hold of your phone. You hadn’t spoken to Natasha that day and you worried she wouldn’t answer, she didn’t generally stay awake so late. And well, it wasn’t like Steve was a stranger to your AM calls or texts. But Carol lived closer and would have been there in a second if you’d needed her.

You made yourself move, tomorrow was another busy day. You flipped on your bedroom light, nearly sprinting straight back out when you saw flowers on your bed. But fear was quickly replaced with all sorts of confusion.

It looked like an expensive bouquet and there was a card right next to it. And see, these were not roses or daisies, these were dahlias—dark red, full, extra flowers. And who was more extra than... As the card read—ding, ding, ding. Steve Rogers. 

When you’re not so busy, we’ll try it out. 

Fear soon returned. Oh no, you thought to yourself. What could he have possibly done? It took you only three more seconds to find a full ass mirror over your bed. At the moment, you were stunned, but once more, pulled yourself out of it with your insistence of sleep. You did not have time for this.

However, when you were in bed, your phone charging next to you, you just couldn’t fall asleep. Of course. You had to call Steve. He’d broken into your home, or allowed others to break into your home, without your permission. All to put a fucking mirror over the god damn bed? He was insane, you realized.

"Hey, doll."

He sounded so smug. "You’re sick."

"Hmm, does that mean you don’t like it?"

"That means what I said: you’re sick."

"Take your clothes off."

You snorted. "Who said I’m wearing any?"

As mentioned, this wasn’t your usual routine with him. Steve loved seeing you, feeling you—phone sex just didn’t cut it. But who knew when you would have time for him next?

"There are many toys in your bedside table, pick one now."

You eagerly obliged, spreading your legs and fucking yourself with a vibrator he’d used on you several times. He told you to watch, to not take your eyes off the mirror.

The mirror added to discovering that Steve Rogers liked role-play had been some of the most pleasant surprises of your life. It was fun for both of you, never a question about when or where. When either of you wanted it, the other was always up for it. You’d thought it was just a one-time thing after the ballet incident, but then he found handcuffs in your room, which believe it or not, you hadn’t actually been using for sex. They were sex handcuffs, but they were just part of your costume to the Valentine's Day party Carol had taken you to, thrown by the lovely Maria.

Regardless, he asked you about them and you dismissed them. He then “arrested” you for “being a brat”. That got you bent over the kitchen counter as he fucked you from behind. He had you beg him to let you go but didn’t stop until his cum was dripping out of you onto the floor.

Then he’d noticed you were struggling in one of your classes and offered a prize for doing well on an upcoming exam. Of 50 questions, you’d only missed 4. He laid you out on your bed and told you he was going to eat you out. After the first time, you attempted to pull him up to you, gasping about how you needed him inside you, please Steve. He grabbed your hands and held them down, ordering you to call him professor Rogers. 

Then there was the loose sugar daddy scene. He’d bought you a diamond choker on one of his trips away and it was stunning. You felt spoiled and wanted him to feel the same. You got on your knees and stayed there until you were sure your jaw was going to suffer permanent damage if you kept your mouth open that wide for much longer. It was three days later that he sent you a screenshot of your Instagram post about the diamond choker and told you to get dressed exactly how you were in the photo. So, in a rose pink wig, a tiny pink satin dress, a dangerously high pair of red heels, and the diamond choker. He didn’t use your name when finally got to your apartment, he called you baby and made you ride him, fully dressed, until you couldn’t sit up on your own.

Then there was the time Steve Rogers actually sent you the address to a sex shop and told you to meet him there. You’d had no idea until you pulled up to the building but you knew immediately that you were going to enjoy this. He asked you to help him find toys that his wife would enjoy—you told yourself you could play along, but you definitely needed to smack him upside the head later. When he got you in the car, after a little back and forth, you being somewhat mouthy, he placed one of the vibrators inside you and wouldn’t turn it off. His fingers paid attention to your clit the entire drive home.

Your payback for that was you dressed as one of his former chorus girls. A designer at the university that you’d met because she always made the costumes for the show was all too happy to help. You sent him a picture of the outfit then flipped the skirt up to show him you weren’t wearing underwear. The absolute last thing you expected was for him to show up in one of his suits. He was wild almost animalistic, he made you scream so loud that three different neighbors came to check if you were okay. Which had been a great source of pride to him.

Then you bought a stripper pole. It took 7 entire classes before you had any idea what you were doing. Though he appreciated it, it was a requirement of patience that he did not want to execute. Natasha, though,

Natasha loved watching you dance. Carol had the same problem as Steve but if you let Natasha, she would watch you for hours.

When you woke up, it was because Steve was getting out of bed. You glanced at the clock, 4 in the morning. He was getting up for his run, then he'd head out to the tower for another day at the office.

He fucked you again before he left. He had you on top of him, chest to chest, his arms wrapped tight around your back, one hand on the back of your head to hold you to the bend of his neck. He liked to do this with the mirror. He liked holding you flat against him and then watching your ass as he fucked you fervidly. He had become wild and insatiable since the mirror's arrival.

Natasha liked to lay you down, tie your legs to the bedpost, sometimes your arms, and would spend hours teasing you with her mouth. Sometimes, when she knew you weren’t too tired, she would tell you to finger yourself and she would stay next to you and watch in the mirror for as long as you would allow it.

Carol liked making you ride her and you couldn’t deny that was a beautiful scene to watch play out from above. She also liked to turn you away from her, settle directly behind you, drape your leg back over her hip, and fuck you with one of her straps.

They had their shared interests, that was undeniable. You still blushed every time you thought about The Incident. It occurred four months ago. They’d been on a short trip; not even a mission, they’d promised, they’d told you it was more politics than saving the world. The first one you saw when they got back was Carol.

She had texted you while you were out with friends and asked where you were. You informed her that you would be shopping alone after lunch. She joined you because she had a present that she just couldn’t wait. It was a vibrator that she could control from her phone. She never used it while you were walking, concerned that you may actually fall and hurt yourself but if you stopped to look at something or sat down for even a second, it was on.

Natasha had taken you to the restaurant. She told you to go to the bathroom and take off your bra and panties and she handed you her purse to place them in. She made you sit down next to her, slipped the same vibrator inside you, then made you sit on her lap for the entire night. She let you watch her phone, let you know when she was going to speed up or slow down, and all she did the entire night was sip on her wine and keep a tight hold on you so you couldn't move away from her.

Two days later, Steve made you wear it to class. Not ballet class, actual classes where you would be sitting down. It was so random when you would feel it and it was terrifying as he wasn't there. You never knew when or where, or if you were standing up and reading! You wanted to hit him when you got back to your apartment and he was waiting for you. You didn't, but you were really upset. Mostly because he hadn't let you come the entire day.

You wanted to know why? You’d asked, but their answers were dismissive and it wasn’t like you could elaborate on what you actually meant. You weren’t just asking why, you were asking why all three? It was just one of those answers you weren’t going to get while you were still keeping secrets from them.

When Natasha showed up after Steve left, it was two hours before class. You were still in bed checking social media when she slipped under the covers and made you come with her mouth and fingers. You’d taken a shower since Steve left, fortunately.

She kissed up your body and settled on top of you. You undressed her, kissing her bare skin as soon as you exposed it, her arms, her chest, her stomach, her legs, her ass, her cunt. She wanted you on top, grinding against her as she watched in the mirror.

She walked you to class and you fingered her in the dimly lit hallway before she left. She picked you up afterward and made you eat since you simply did not have the time to before class. She walked you home, set up her phone on the table next to the couch, sat down, sat you on top of her, and made you ride her fingers. Sometimes, Natasha wanted videos.

In between your second and third lecture classes, the biggest gap in your day, Carol texted. She picked you up in her car and drove out to some hiking trails that she felt were empty enough. In the back of her car, she had you pressed down to the seats, ass up as she fucked you with her strap. She held the side of your face down against the leather, not so much that it would stifle your screams.

When you finished, she made you clean the seat with your tongue. You could distinctly tell the difference between her taste and yours. She watched you as she removed the strap, taking the dildo and fucking herself with it.

She laid back and let you on top, directing you to sink down on the dildo as it was still buried in her pussy. You didn’t stop taking it until your pussy was against hers, thankfully it wasn’t one of the longer ones in her collection. Leaning over, you used the side of the car to keep your balance. She rose onto her elbows, nipping and sucking at your nipples as you ground your wet center against hers.

This was a regular day, one you had grown to love, one you were completely obsessed with. You were scared. You felt that the likelihood of them all being okay with this was low. But you were not so scared that you would ever lie to them. Withhold information? Sure. Lie? Out of the question.

You'd finally confided in the ballerinas. They'd always known about Natasha because she was at practice all of the time, but you only told half-truths about Steve and Carol. You didn't actually want them to know that you were sleeping with three Avengers. Maybe it was because everyone was drunk, but they promised you that Natasha adored you and she wouldn't leave you.

Okay, but what about Steve and Carol? You were stressed, really stressed. During the preparation period for shows, when training was intense, the ballerinas often went out on Saturdays and got wasted and talked. This was why you were in a loud night club with dancing and alcohol, and no one who was going to stop any of you from getting in trouble.

You were impaired but you were not a bad friend. At the bar, you counted all of your friends. They would likely be leaving with someone as they had all found someone to dance with, you would make the rounds in a minute. It was a rule, if they wanted to leave with a guy, that guy had to give you his number. You would verify it right then and there by sending him a text, then they could be on their way.

It was one in the morning when the girls started leaving. You had a drink at your side and five new names (proven by ID) and numbers saved in your notes.

"That's sweet."

You turned to your left, eyebrows shooting up. Gorgeous blue eyes, long brown hair, and beautiful fair skin. Wanda Maximoff was either sitting right next to you at a bar or you were completely imagining her. Given your drunken state and your current obsession with her, it was possible.

"Well, they don't exactly agree...I read stories about guys and bars and how to avoid getting chopped up into little pieces."

She smiled a little. "Who makes sure you get home?"

"I live close."

She hummed. "Were you heading out?"

Yes, you should say yes. You should leave because this could not happen. You didn't know how to explain that you were sleeping with three of them! And Wanda was wearing this red dress that was really tight and so low cut, so, how would you explain four?!

"Maybe...after I finish my drink."

She eyed your glass for a moment. "I'm Wanda."

"I know. I'm Y/N."

"I think you're the first person who's recognized me all night."

"You're stunning. I don't know how anyone wouldn't recognize you."

She smiled slightly, turning back down to her glass.

There was something so wrong with you. Instead of leaving, you just wanted to sit there and drunkenly flirt, clearly.

"Can I buy you another drink?"

No, say no! "Sure."

It was two drinks later, technically three drinks later, since you finished your drink and then she bought you two more. Things were starting to get...closer. You guys were closer. You'd started out at a normal distance, at least you assumed, but the next thing you realized, you were centimeters away from her.

She had her hand on your arm and she'd stopped ordering drinks. She was ready to leave or almost ready to leave. You hadn't neglected your duties as the best friend. You had 12 names and numbers in your notes but now you were realizing that you were all alone and if you wanted to do something, you could.

You'd talked about yourself a little, the usual. You were a student, you were a ballerina. However, you left the part out about your apparent gambling addiction! She didn't share much and you didn't think that was odd, the others didn't for a long while. They had to be a lot more guarded than you. You completely understood.

Wanda glanced at her phone when the conversation died down, or when you stopped babbling like the intoxicated fool you were, before looking back at you. "Can I be honest with you?"

"Yeah." You should still be saying no. You should try being honest. You should say: I'm sleeping with three of your team members and I should go home. But god, she really was fucking stunning.

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No."

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"No."

"I do. I have a boyfriend that I love very much...but sometimes, there are things that I want to try. Things that he doesn't want to try."

"Are you...referring to me?" That was a stupid question, you were almost sure. But was she? Was that what you were supposed to be picking up?

She scoffed. "In a sense, yes. I do think you are beautiful and you're nice, and really cute. I want to have sex with you, but it can't be a relationship. My boyfriend is offering me an open arrangement... I'm still with him, very committed, but sometimes...I would like to call you and meet you. Does that sound like something you would be okay with?"

Should you be offended by how many Avengers didn't want to be in a relationship with you at this point? You may end up dwelling on that later, but now, you were thinking about having sex with her. She looked soft and sweet, very unlike Carol, Steve, and Natasha. You weren't saying she was better or worse, it wasn't like you were comparing them to rank them.

You were just acutely aware of the fact that they were so dominant and you were not. Wanda didn't seem to need that so much, she seemed like she would be fine just having sex. Meaningful sex, but not too meaningful. Soft sex, but not boring. In fact, it sounded like she wanted to try something different, and maybe you wanted to also.

So, you said yes. Mostly because it reminded you that Natasha, Steve, and Carol all said they were not able to be in an actual relationship with you. You were getting ahead of yourself, maybe they wouldn't care at all. Maybe it would be a complete non-issue, and you shouldn't miss out on having sex with Wanda if you don't have any proof that they'll react negatively.

She kissed you the first time while you were both still sitting at the bar. After you'd given her your consent, she set her hand to your cheek and pressed her lips to yours. It was all soft lips and tongue, no teeth, no power play. She tasted like alcohol and lip gloss, at least her mouth did. You wanted to know what her pussy tasted like, which you didn't fail to whisper to her when she pulled away.

She immediately took your hand and led you out of the club. It wasn't terribly cold as you waited for the Uber she sent for. She was just a bit taller than you and wrapped her arms around your shoulders as she leaned down again to kiss you. Your hands started at her hips but soon began to roam, her ass, her waist, her back, her shoulders to pull her down closer.

By the time the driver showed, you were both completely flushed and very ready to find a bed. She was taking you to a hotel. You figured that was best, no need to add any more people to the list of individuals who randomly show up at your apartment without calling or texting.

She kept her hand on your thigh the entire drive there but didn't dare move it underneath your dress. Another point of difference between her and her teammates. Any of the others and you would have already finished at least twice.

Getting up to the room was a blur. Thankfully, she did all the talking. You weren't sure how to function under this kind of calm, steady build. It was always fast and immediately, but Wanda was taking her time and making sure everything was how she wanted it.

When you finally got into the room, she didn't bother turning on the light. She curled one arm around you, the other pulling your hair off to the side as she began to kiss your neck. She held you against her as she walked forward. There was a bed that you supposed was big enough, a small bathroom, a sad excuse for a kitchen, a huge window with dirty curtains shining light on the mattress.

None of that really mattered, anyway. She led you closer to the window, stopping only when she wanted to remove your dress. It hit the floor, she peeled the curtain away from the window, and her hands were all over you. "Is this okay? I like the moonlight tonight."

She waited for your confirmation before she ran her hands up and down your sides, a teasing touch before she grabbed your breasts. She was still kissing your neck, gentle and open-mouthed.

You turned your head upward, catching her mouth. She opened her lips for you instantly and you took full advantage of that with a slow but sloppy kiss. Her fingers trailed down from the middle of your chest, straight down your stomach, and all the way to your pussy.

She hummed when she felt you were wet. The brushes against your clit were faint but somehow it was enough, it didn't take long at all for you to unhurriedly fall apart. Your legs were shaking and your mind was even more blurry than before.

You turned to her to slip her out of her dress. You kissed across her collarbone, then over her chest, glancing up as you closed your lips around one of her nipples. Her eyes fluttered shut, her head fell back, and she opened her beautiful mouth to moan.

Your hands on her hips, you directed her to the bed. She sat down first, grabbing your arms to pull you down with her. Your naked skin was flush against hers and all you did for the longest time was kiss. Hands buried in each other's hair, quiet moans and gasps filling the room, all the while just building up to this intense scene.

When you sat up, she remained on her back. She pushed your hair over your shoulders so she could see your chest and your face. She was right about the moonlight, it washed over her so well.

You kissed her chin, off to the side of her jaw, then down her shoulder and arm until you reached her hand. You took it in yours, the same with the other as you lowered onto your knees on the floor, intertwining your fingers. There was no prelude, you simply took her with your mouth.

She cried out your name, arching her back and squeezing your hands. She tasted sweet, smelled musky and a little like vanilla. You kissed down the length of her soaking cunt, sliding your tongue into her entrance.

"Oh, fuck," she gasped. "Do that again."

You obliged, releasing one of her hands so you could rub her clit with your fingers. She took her newly freed hand and grabbed your hair. She pulled you down harder, rolling her hips up slowly, trying to get your tongue in deeper.

Not even a minute later, she was making you aware of her approaching orgasm, "I'm close, suck my clit--please, fuck! Suck my clit."

You ran your tongue through her as you brought your hand down, you closed your lips around her and began to suck hard. You pressed two fingers inside her and pumped them in and out, moaning when you felt her clenching around them.

She was shaky and smiling as you lazily licked her through her finish. She pulled you up as soon as her brain was working enough to tell her arms to pull you up. "And how do I taste?"

"Amazing."

She smirked.

You had to figure her boyfriend wasn't much for going down on her since she was looking at you like you were the reason the sun would rise tomorrow morning.

You laid on top of her but she quickly rolled over, legs slotting so you could grind against one another's thigh. Her slick center against your skin was almost enough to make you finish. Again, her mouth was on yours and nothing was hurried. You canted your hips, catching your clit on her soft leg, and she did the same.

Soon, your hips started to gain speed, you were close and could tell she was, too. The sounds of wet pussy slapping against thigh nearly drowned out the desperate screams and whines you both made.

You completely soaked her thigh with your orgasm. As she continued pursuing hers, she reached down, hand gliding between you and her wet skin. She brought her fingers up to her mouth, humming and sucking on them. "I can't wait to have you sit on my face." Then she closed her eyes, her hips stuttered, and your leg felt much hotter.

She didn't waste any time at all, she rolled back over and hauled you on top of her. Your hips jerked when you pressed against her, still sensitive from the last finish. She didn't seem to mind, she just placed both hands on your hips and moved you relentlessly against her.

"Hands behind your back, lean onto the mattress," she instructed.

You quickly did so, relieved to have some type of balance.

She loved watching your breasts bounce this way, loved watching your eyes roll to the back of your head. And she especially loved when you sat up again to grab her hands, an attempt to pull away from the overstimulation. She didn't allow it, she kept her grip tight and pulled you in faster as she rolled her hips up.

[jeawrites]

RD AU Draft: 2

(Same as last time but now featuring some edited parts-- Considering this a draft because its mostly unedited and I haven’t added everything in yet- but feel free to read it! The finished part will most likely be uploaded on ao3 but I’ll be sure to post a link to it on here.) Anthony had, had a similar reaction to Evan’s when he saw Tyler’s outfit. He wheezed and laughed too hard for his own good, but he got over it quickly in place of his own excitement.

The entire trip to the skate park was about how much they were going to enjoy the bout, how much fun they were going to have. Even after they had gotten inside and seated it was still just him blabbering on.

“They’re so-so cool! I promise you’ll both enjoy this and-”

Tyler put his hand on Anthony’s mouth. “Okay, we get it. Calm down, dude,” he mumbled. After getting a nod, he removed his hand. Then, he jumped in his seat after hearing a voice. “Tyler?” he turned his head, fear raising in hm. More people he knew meant more people not letting him live down the fact that he wore this outfit, meaning more jokes, meaning- wait.

“Luke?” he asked, snickering.

The man in front of him grinned and crossed his arms. “The one and only,” he chuckled. “What’re you doin’ here? I didn’t know you liked derby,” he asked, curious. Tyler shrugged. “I don’t know if I do. My friend dragged me out here to watch. What are you doing here and-” he giggled, “With bunny ears?” Luke blinked and then chuckled. “These?” he gestured up, “Aren’t mine. I stole them from Ryan. He came with me this time, but I usually regular the bouts,” he explained. And, aren’t you one to talk, cat boy?”

Tyler decided to ignore the comment, not wanting to linger on the topic of his clothes. “No way is Ryan here,” he spoke, genuinely surprised. “Oh, yeah. It's his first time at one of these too,” he replied, “I wanted to get him introduced to a new sport.” Tyler nodded, and glanced over to his friends, who were both sort of looking at him in confusion. Which, that made him confused until he let out an ‘oh’.

“Right. Luke,” he looked at him again, smiling some, “This is Evan and Anthony, my friends. You and Ryan should come sit with us.” Luke smiled at the other two, getting polite smiles in turn. “Sounds great!” he agreed. “I’ll go find, Ry and tell him we’re over here,” he added and turned to walk away.

They all grew more excited for the bout.

--

The bout had started off good, the teams getting introduced and the first few rotations going well.

Tyler was really getting into it, yelling at the skaters, encouraging the team he was rooting for, the Derby Dolls, and getting just overly excited.

“Keep going!” Tyler shouted, watching as the girl quickly moved her way out of the group and onto the turn. The crowd cheered excitedly as well. “Yeah! You kick their asses, AnnihilateHer!” he shouted, gripping the edge of his seat. He was having a better time than he thought he would.

Evan watched the girl quickly move her way around one that tried to stop her, his eyes wide in amazement and his smile wide. “Good job!” he shouted, hoping his encouragement would reach her as she sped a corner.

Tyler watched her with careful eyes and then he glared at the ref who called her, managing to hear it was a backblock- like the eighth one called to night (not on just her). “She wasn’t anywhere near her back! Open your fucking eyes!” he yelled at the ref and he kicked the wall in front of him. He’s done it several times already.

Anthony laughed gently. He was glad his friends were enjoying themselves. “I told you both you’d like it,” he teased as the jam ended, the next one setting up to be a power jam. Tyler looked at him, his eyes sparkling and his grin crazily wide. “Dude this is sick! It’s so fucking cool- I can’t believe they’d allow a sport like this,” he laughed. “It’s wild,” he chuckled. “You’re wild,” Evan snickered, “You’ve kicked that wall a billion times now, and I think you’re voice is loud enough the refs hear you the last few times. Control yourself,” he teased and got a punch to the arm in turn. “Shut up and let me have this,” he stated, but there wasn’t any spite or sarcasm, he was still smiling and having a good time. This was fun!

He looked to Ryan and Luke, who were in a similar state, though Luke was calmer due to having seen this all live so many times.

“And she just slammed into her-” Ryan exclaimed, hands flailing as he tried to explain. “Yeah, I know, Ry. I saw it,” Luke laughed softly and he looked at him with wide eyes full of awe. “They didn’t flinch, Luke! That’s amazing! This is really cool-” he looked to the track as a new pack formed. “Can you imagine if I did that?”

Luke tilted his head a bit. “Ryan, if I could imagine you doing it, I’d already be doing it,” he answered and Ryan huffed a little. “Really, Luke! Think about it! It’d be so much fun to play together- to learn how to do this cool stuff and-”

“You know, you can play it,” Anthony answered him. Ryan paused and looked back, curiosity in his eyes. “What?” he asked. “You can totally play it. In fact, I’m making a mens team- if you want to play,” he offered and Ryan stared before grinning wide. “No way.”

“I’ll do it,” Luke followed, gaining eyes. “I’ll totally play. Sounds fun.” Ryan pursed his lips. “It does sound really fun,” he agreed.

Tyler looked at Ryan, nodding. “I was the first to join, can confirm it's very fun-” “You didn’t want to join- plus, you haven’t even played yet,” Anthony cut in and Tyler looked at him with a glare. “I was the first you asked which makes me first to join,” he stuck his tongue out at him, and Anthony stuck his out in turn before they both chuckled. “I was second to join then!” Evan declared, snickering.

Luke looked at Ryan as he spoke. “I was third. You wanna be fourth Ry? Come on, you wanna do what those awesome girls are doin?” he asked, encouraging him to join. Ryan bit his lip lightly, thinking it over before he nodded. “Yeah… Yeah! I do! I wanna do that shit too! Consider me on the team! Whenever it's actually made anyways,” he grinned.

Anthony couldn’t believe his team was actually beginning to form.

--

The bout ended on a good note, the team they were rooting for winning and Anthony treated his friends to dinner (he even took out Ryan and Luke- they were going to be on his team after all so he figured he’d get to know them).

But, when he got home and sat down to start putting preparations for the team together, he finally got hit with a realization;

Making a team was harder than Anthony initially thought.

He had to advertise out to get more people. Four weren’t enough to cut it- it wasn’t even enough to start practicing (five being a good place to start). He also had the issue of needing to register his team, get jerseys, budgeting, getting forms and waivers.

He needed some help.

He ran his hands over his face, and sighed. This wasn’t too good. Who could he get to help? He didn’t know anybody else who seemed to show an interest in coaching the sport, and it didn’t seem like the type of thing he could drop a flyer for.

He thought over people, thinking of names he hadn’t thought of for a good while until one hit him with a good familiarity and made the lightbulb in his head go off as he grabbed his phone.

Anthony stared at his phone, eyeing the profile he had quickly pulled up on Facebook- thankfully they were friends already. He was hesitant, of course. He hadn’t talked to Brock in years. Was this weird? He fidgeted a bit with the device before he sucked up his worries and quickly typed a message. When he finished it, he patiently waited, running his hand through his hair.

--

A yawn left Brock’s lips as he sat his bag down on his bed. His clothes were stained with a drink some lady spilled on him, and he couldn’t wait to get them off.

God he hated his job. He was the nicest person he could be, yet someone was always ready to complain. The fast food industry could die. But, that thought made him laugh a little. Like this country would let fast food die.

He shook his head and got changed quickly before he finally got into bed and looked at his phone, only to see he got a message from… Anthony?

He stared at his screen, eyeing the message a few times over in surprise. Why would Anthony of all people be messaging him this late? Or now? He hadn’t even talked to him for the last few years. Regardless of that thought, he opened the message curiously and read through it quickly, a smile crossing his face momentarily before confusion hit.

‘Wanna help coach a bunch of dumbasses with my dumbass?’

The idea of himself coaching didn’t sound right, but the phrasing of the request was funny and it did keep Brock’s attention, especially as three dots appeared at the bottom.

‘Roller derby, I mean. You wanna help coach it? Adult league.’

A sudden feeling hit at the mention of the sport. He had loved playing it as a child, really. It was dangerous- despite the gear they wore, but the team experience is something he always held onto, even after he aged out at 18. But, the idea of coaching it? It had never crossed his mind. Until now, and it was till laughable. However, an opportunity to meet new people is always nice, and he did need a change in setting from where he was now.

He especially needed the latter. Quickly, he responded back.

‘More details would be nice, like where you’re living these days. But, I’m in.’

--

Anthony didn’t actually live too far from him, so it wasn’t hard to start planning on moving closer to the area if he were to actually take up the coaching position.

“What’cha thinkin’ about?” he jumped a little and looked up from the counter before sighing. “Don’t scare me like that, Lui,” he mumbled before standing up straight. “Sorry, just thought I’d kick you from you daze before someone else did,” he spoke, a bit genuine and a smile went with it that Brock could resist. “It’s fine,” he passed it off, “Thanks for snapping me out of it, actually.”

The shorter nodded and kicked his feet lightly before speaking; “So, you gonna answer me?” Brock took a minute before nodding a little. “I was offered a coaching position,” he answered, “I’ve been considering taking it up. I’m supposed to go meet the… team they have so far and the actual coach.” Lui beamed. “You should do it!” he nearly squealed. “It’ll be good for you, Brock! Get you out of your comfort zone,” he added, “Plus- I can totally go with you to the meeting, right?” The brunette grew confused at that request. “Why… why would you want to go to the meeting?” he asked and Lui chuckled. “As your back up incase stuff goes wrong, of course!” he chuckled. “I’m a tough cookie!” he squeaked out and Brock chuckled. “Yeah, Okay. You can come. Just don’t be too mean to anybody.” “No promises!”

[harrysahottie]

i’m tired

just another angst piece abt H ignoring Y/N that you’ve probably read 100x

Y/N had been treated poorly before, she really had. From a shitty group of friends, to a shitty boyfriend, to shitty parents, she really had been through it all.

Despite the fact that these things hurt, it allowed her to grow a thick skin and recognize how she should and should not be treated.

And how Harry was treating her right now, well, was just shit.

He hadn’t been ignoring her per se, but rather just treating her with pure, unadulterated hostility and antipathy.

She hadn’t known where this sudden hard-nosed side of Harry had come from, but she didn’t like it one bit.

And although Y/N definitely wasn’t one for confrontation, she knew she had waited long enough for this to fizzle out, and it hadn’t, so after a month of Harry treating her worse than she deserved, she planned on trying to talk through his feelings with him.

Just having come back from work, she was tired and definitely not in the mood for a fight, but she knew it was needed to keep their relationship steady.

So when Y/N comes home to Harry in the kitchen, she immediately noticed how he tenses as her presence neared his.

Gathering up the courage too, she inhaled deeply before placing herself behind the counter opposite of him and exhaling the words, “Hey, H, could we talk?”

Not even bothering to look up from his dinner and phone, which he hadn’t even made for Y/N as well, which was unusual for him, since their routine for the last year and a half that they lived together was Harry making the dinner and Y/N cleaning up, since she frequently worked later than he.

Although Y/N tried not to be hurt by this, it did put a little dent in her heart, seeing him so carelessly eating his dinner without her, but what put in even bigger nick in her heart was when he quickly and impassively uttered, “Got things to do Y/N,” and then began to put his plate in the dishwasher before picking up his phone and walking away.

The second time Y/N had tried to bring the topic up again was exactly three days later, and Harry just wasn’t having it.

“Y/N, haven’t you realized that I’m busy?”

He would walk away before she even got a chance to reply. Another little scratch.

The third time she had done it was the day after that, not letting him scare her. She had gotten a similar response of a snide remark leaving his lips before he walked away from his problems. Her heart was dented again.

Week after week she would try to get him to just speak, to her without being cold, but his fog of hostility never seemed to let up, dampening the mood of their shared apartment and relationship all in one. And each and every time, her heart was cut, teared, and chipped off, little by little, again and again.

She was denied cuddles, kisses and even the simple luxury of being able to talk to him was now foreign to her.

And what hurt most was that he was like this only with her, because she had seen photos of him all over Instagram with his friends, and he was seemingly having the time of his life. Hell, he even had his friends come over once or twice and his demeanor changed from icy and stoic, to warm and friendly in a matter of seconds.

Though he wasn’t coming home late, he might as well have, because he wouldn’t even dare be even in the same room as Y/N unless it was time for them to go to bed.

She was tired, she was a resident at the local hospital, working 50, 60, hours a week and on top of all that, she was dealing with a shit boyfriend who didn’t seem to love her anymore.

He didn’t love her anymore. She came upon this conclusion while mulling her brain during her hospital rounds about why the hell Harry had been treating her like this, for the last two fucking months. And her heart shattered.

At first she was a bit upset, wondering what she had done to become unloved by him, and then she got angry, angry at him for not having the fucking decency to tell her how he felt as he felt it, and then she felt acceptance, acceptance about the fact that not every single relationship lasts, and that Harry, albeit being pretty shit recently, was a relatively good boyfriend previous to all of this and she was glad she had been with him.

And then, right then and there, she decided that what they had was obviously over, and worked to grieve the relationship before it officially ended, reminiscing on the good times in which Harry had actually loved her.

So that night, after the usual hours of silence, Harry had finally retired to their shared bedroom where Y/N sat, still in her work clothes, sat at the edge of the bed.

“What are you doing still up?” Harry questioned as he stripped into only his boxers.

The silence from her made him turn, and there he was met with her tired and dreadful looking eyes. She sighed almost nostalgically before letting out, “Isn’t this getting a bit old?”

“What?”

“Harry, just tell me you don’t fucking love me anymore, so we can finally end this sad excuse of a relationship we’ve been having these last two months.”

She had taken his silence as an answer, so Y/N walked over to the suit case she had brought out earlier and began to back some of her essentials. She should’ve packed it before, but there was still a flicker of hope in her heart that thought that maybe, just maybe, Harry had still loved her.

“Y/N, I still—, I still love you.” He finally let out after what seemed like eons of silence.

Y/N giggled, she really did. “Let’s not keep bullshitting ourselves here Harry, you stopped loving me a long time ago, or at least you stopped acting like you even knew me, a long time ago,” she threw a few more pieces of clothing into her suitcase, “I just wish you had the fucking decency to tell me.”

“Y/N—stop.” Harry moved towards her, gently grabbing hold of her wrist, preventing her from grabbing the next items in the draw. “Let’s talk this out, yeah?”

And finally hearing his voice speak two sentences to her after months of radio silence, it set her off, it really did.

“Oh fuck off Harry, I gave you a billion chances to talk this through. So many god damn times, and you want to talk now? You’re speaking to me now?”

“Y/N—“

“How little respect do you have for me that you actually, genuinely think that you can ignore me for almost 3 months and then the second I get the courage to leave, you finally decide to have the spine to hold a conversation with me?”

Before he could cut in again, Y/N quickly cut in again, “You have 2 minutes to explain yourself.”

Y/N continued packing, waiting for Harry to collect himself and answer. But after a considerable amount of time, she looked up to him with a raised brow, “Nothing?”

“I’m—I don’t know.”

Y/N nodded, accepting the fact that she would probably never get a clear answer from Harry.

“You can’t—you can’t just fucking leave. We have to talk this through Y/N, we are gonna talk this through, I just need, I just need time,” Harry sputtered out almost desperately.

“I don’t have to do anything, and I’ve spent the last two months enduring you treating me like shit and giving you time to sort yourself out, and I’m done.”

And with that, she walked away, leaving Harry conflicted and a little tearful.

-

wrote this like a month ago when i was feeling like an angsty teen wearing thick black eyeliner. it’s kind of shit and needs a lot of editing but i decided to post it anyway, and the ending is quite anticlimactic but 🤷🏻‍♀️.

[i-am-church-the-cat]

Fake Boyfriend

This is different than what you’re thinking and wasn’t actually supposed to be this originally, but I couldn’t do pure angst so here you go. (Also, @taters-later I know you’re running out of fics)

————

Cyrus slowly swayed on the swing. Jonah has said he was going to meet him an hour ago, but so far, nothing. Cyrus checked his phone, but all it told him was that Jonah hadn't texted in the last thirty seconds since Cyrus last checked. He sighed, turning back and forth on the swing. I know he isn't good at being on time, Cyrus though. But if he was going to be this late, he could have at least let me know. Suddenly, Cyrus heard footsteps coming from behind him. He whipped around and saw-

”Oh”, Cyrus said turning back around. ”Hey TJ.”

”Oh hello to you too, my best friend who is so glad to see me”, TJ replied chuckling. He came around and sat in his official swing on Cyrus’s right.

”Sorry”, Cyrus apologized guiltily. ”I just thought you were Jonah.”

TJ nodded and started to swing, though not very high.

“You want to talk about it?”, he asked softly.

Cyrus smiled but shook his head. Remembering TJ couldn’t hear him, he said, “No it’s fine. It was nothing important anyway.”

“Obviously not if you asked him to meet you here”, TJ rebuffed, glancing at him. After a few minutes where Cyrus didn’t say anything, TJ sighed and slowed his movements. He got off the swing and Cyrus looked at him curiously as TJ walked behind him. Suddenly, Cyrus felt TJ’s hands on his back, propelling his swing forward.

“Ah, TJ!”, Cyrus exclaimed, gripping onto the chains as TJ pushed him higher into the sky. Cyrus could feel the grin that appeared on TJ’s face at his reaction.

“If you’re not going to tell me what’s wrong, I’ll have to cheer you up like this”, TJ explained. “Underdog!”, he called out before pushing Cyrus up and running underneath him. Cyrus laughed just like he had the first time his friend had pushed him like this. Cyrus looked down to see TJ smiling back up at him, a satisfied smirk on his lips.

Cyrus sighed and slowed his swing down. “We were supposed to go out tonight. I’ve been waiting for an hour.”

“He hasn’t texted?”, TJ asked confused. Cyrus shook his head.

TJ frowned and grabbed Cyrus’s swing, bringing him up to eye-level. He just stared at Cyrus for a bit before releasing that swing and grabbing Cyrus’s hand. TJ pulled him up and they started to walk out of the park, TJ pulling Cyrus along.

“T-TJ”, Cyrus called surprised. “Where are we going?”

“He’s an hour late Cyrus. This is past sad time, it’s mad time. It’s where you leave and go and do something fun without him.”

“But, but he’s my boyfriend”, Cyrus replied. TJ sighed and stopped, pulling Cyrus so he was facing him.

“Yes, he’s your boyfriend. But he’s late for something you guys planned with no explanation. I know you’re the kind of person to get an explanation first and be mad later, but he can explain tomorrow. You’re sad, and it’s my job as your best friend to cheer you up.”

TJ shook Cyrus as he talked. He makes a good point, Cyrus thought. Cyrus was sure Jonah had a good explanation, but Cyrus didn’t want to hear it right now. He wanted to hang out with TJ.

“Ok”, Cyrus caved. “Let’s go.”

TJ smiled and pulled him out of the park where his car was waiting by the curb. Cyrus got into the passenger side while TJ got behind the wheel. He started up the car and soon they were cruising down the empty streets of their small, quiet town. It wasn’t unusual for the two of them to just drive until TJ was lost, but he seemed to have a destination in mind. Cyrus started to get curious as they drove out of town.

“Where are we going?”, he asked, looking around. TJ just smiled at him and kept humming along to the radio. Cyrus huffed and turned to look out the window. He went to check his phone again, but TJ noticed and quickly intercepted him.

“Uh uh”, he said, taking Cyrus’s phone despite his protests. “Right now, it’s just us okay?” TJ put both of their phones in the glove compartment before glancing at Cyrus. Cyrus sighed and leaned back; TJ smiled and went back to humming.

Soon, they were both completely lost in the music and they were just driving down an empty road. Cyrus wasn’t sure how long they had been driving, but Jonah was the last thing from his mind. TJ seemed to find what he was looking for because they were gliding off the road onto an familiar dirt path. He stopped and hoped out, Cyrus hesitantly doing the same.

TJ was fishing around in the back. Suddenly, a giant fluffy thing came flying at Cyrus. He helped but was able to catch it. It was a blanket, and he looked up to see TJ lying another blanket out on the ground and plopping down. Cyrus followed, sitting close to TJ. A breeze came and Cyrus wrapped the blanket around him. He looked over to see TJ smiling softly at him before drifting his sight back up to the sky. Cyrus followed his gaze and sighed.

There were billions of stars shining brightly above them. It wasn’t unusual for them to go stargazing during the summer, but this was the first time they were doing it during fall. The sky was entirely different than it was during June and July. Cyrus smiled before feeling TJ shiver beside him. Cyrus realized TJ didn’t have a blanket and scooted closer before throwing the blanket over the both of them. TJ turned to look at him and Cyrus smiled back.

His eyes are really green, Cyrus thought as the two boys just looked at each other. Has he always had those freckles?

All of a sudden, Cyrus was pressed up against TJ’s chest, his arms wrapped around him. Cyrus was surprised, but he quickly relaxed, snuggling closer to his friend. He’s warmer than Jonah, was the last thing that went through Cyrus’s head before he drifted off to sleep.

————

TJ woke up a few hours later. What time is it?, he thought about to get up before realizing that Cyrus is was still in his arms. TJ took a minute and just looked at his sleeping crush. It always hurt when he had to cheer up Cyrus for when Jonah hurt him, but TJ knew it was better to have Cyrus in his life as a friend then never at all. He figured the feelings would fade with time but it had been three years and nothing had changed.

TJ sighed and shifted Cyrus so he was laying with TJ’s arms underneath him. TJ got up slowly and carried Cyrus bridal style to the car. He was able to get him into the car without Cyrus waking and packed the car. He got in and started the car, hoping to get back to town before someone realized they were gone. He had texted Amber that he and Cyrus were going to be gone for a bit, but he wasn’t sure she had seen the message.

TJ sat quietly in his thoughts as he drove back to Shadyside. He drove through the familiar streets, somehow being able to connect everything he saw back to Cyrus who was still peacefully asleep in the seat next to him. Eventually, he pulled up at Cyrus’s dad’s house. He got out and went over to the passenger side before pulling Cy out of the car. When he had the boy in his arms, TJ looked up and saw Jonah sitting on the front steps.

He looked like he was about to say something as TJ walked up to him, but TJ cut him off with a loon and he just timidly followed TJ inside. Once TJ had Cyrus upstairs in his bed, he went downstairs to face Jonah. He glared at the boy as they stood on the Goodman’s front porch, his scary-basketball-guy persona—as Cyrus liked to call it—at full force.

“When did you pick him up?”, Jonah asked quietly.

“Oh you know, after he had waited for you for over an hour”, TJ replied sharply. The oblivious boy had the awareness to look remorseful.

“Why weren’t you there”, TJ asked tersely.

“I forgot”, Jonah answered, his voice barely above a mumble.

“You….forgot”, TJ repeated, disbelief and anger bubbling just under the surface.

“Do you even like him, Jonah?”, TJ asked, nearly shouting.

Jonah looked indignant, ready to retort the accusation in TJ’s voice, but his expression faded to resignation.

“I-I love him. His one of my best friends, but I just….I don’t like him like that anymore.”

TJ wanted to be mad. He really did. But he also knew Jonah couldn’t control how he felt, a fact that made him sigh and say: “Then you need to tell him.” Jonah nodded and TJ hesitated before getting back into his car. TJ drove away, feeling both guilty and overjoyed. It’s going to be a long night.

————

Cyrus woke up in his bed. It took a minute to remember what happened the night before, but when he did, he shot upward. He found his boyfriend sitting at the end of his bed looking at him guiltily.

“Hey”, Cyrus said softly.

“Hey”, Jonah look conflicted for a minute before turning to face him. “We need to talk.”

“That’s not a sentence I’d thought you’d say”, Cyrus said, chucking uncomfortably.

Jonah looked sad as he said, “Cyrus, I love you. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. But, you deserve someone who you can talk about your feelings with and who will treat you with the respect and love you deserve. That someone’s not me, Cy.”

Cyrus took a moment to digest this. He was sad, that was a given. He didn’t want to break up with Jonah. But he couldn’t force Jonah into a relationship that he didn’t want, and it was true that Jonah didn’t do anything that Cyrus would expect for a boyfriend to do. But he was never bothered because he always did those thing with

“Oh”, Cyrus breathes shakily.

“Are you mad at me?”, Jonah asked quietly. Cyrus looked at him and shook his head and pulled his friend into a hug.

“I’m sorry”, Cyrus said.

“Hey”, Jonah said, pulling away. “You have nothing to be sorry about.” Cyrus nodded and Jonah got up off the bed.

“I should probably go”, he said awkwardly.

“Yeah, probably”, Cyrus agreed. Jonah nodded and left the room. It took a minute before Cyrus realized tears were streaming down his face. Cyrus sniffled and wiped them away before looking around for his phone. He couldn’t find it and guessed he must of left it in TJ’s car.

Cyrus shakily got out of bed and got changed. He made his way downstairs and out the door, calling to his dad that he’d be right back. Cyrus made his way down the street, barely able to see the sidewalk through his tears. He made his way more by muscle memory than conscious thought. One moment, he was walking down the sidewalks, the next he was knocking on the Kippen’s door.

The door opened to reveal TJ in his usual Saturday morning attire, his hair fluffy and glasses perched on his nose to keep him from falling down the stairs. Upon seeing Cyrus, TJ pulled him into his arms. Cyrus reflexively snaked his arms around his friend, visibly relaxing. After a moment, TJ tugged Cyrus inside and into TJ’s room. Cyrus went to lay on the bed but refused to let TJ go. TJ sighed and later down, Cyrus automatically curling into him. Cyrus used TJ’s heartbeat to center him.

They laid there in complete silence before Cyrus said, “When were you going to tell me we were dating?”

TJ was surprised but didn’t pull away. “What do you mean?”

“Jonah said that I deserved to date someone who I could talk about my feelings with and who treated me with love and respect. Jonah didn’t do that, but you did. The more I think about it, I realize we act more like a couple than me and Jonah did.”

TJ was quiet for a while. He finally said, “Are you okay with that?”

Cyrus nodded against his chest. “But I would have preferred if you had just asked me out than me having to figure it out by getting dumped by a boyfriend I didn’t like.”

“You didn’t like Jonah?”

Cyrus shook his head. “I got over my crush on him in middle school. But one day he asked me out and since the person I actually liked didn’t seem like he was going to, I said yes.”

“Who did you like?”

Cyrus pulled away a bit and leaned his head up. He placed a soft kiss on TJ’s lips before pulling away and snuggling back into his chest. “Guess.”

TJ laughed and pulled Cyrus closer into him. “Don’t date anyone other than me anymore, okay? Watching you with Jonah was horrible.”

“Okay”, Cyrus replied softly. I don’t want to date anyone other than him anyway, he thought as he fell asleep in his real boyfriend’s arms.

[sunnybugz]

only fools

chapter: iv

word count: 1968

authors note: this chapter has been finished for over a week, but i’ve been freaking out over whether or not it was good enough hhh. im still super anxious to post this, so please give me some feedback! i love y’all

11:05 AM, Gina Linetti’s car

Rosa had spent a while trying to figure out what to wear. Gina refused to tell her where they were going, so she eventually just decided on a pair of dark wash jeans, a long-sleeved black t-shirt, and her black Docs. She wore a little more makeup than usual, but nothing too elaborate. She worried that Gina would think she was too much, or not enough, but managed to not freak out before Gina showed up at her door. Luckily, she was 15 minutes late, giving Rosa enough time to fix her curly hair.

When Gina had shown up at Rosa’s house, Rosa got a pit caught up in gay panic. Gina looked absolutely gorgeous, wearing an olive-green sweater with the collar of her white button down sticking out and a pair of jeans, and her auburn hair was just down, curled at the ends. She had on minimal makeup, yet still looked absolutely beautiful. Rosa literally stood there frozen for a few seconds before Lillian shouted, “Bye Rosa!” from the couch.

“So, does Lillian know?” Gina asked her as the doors shut.

“Uh, yeah. She heard our phone call through the stupid thin wall between our room. It’s like she’s trying to spy on me sometimes!” Rosa says. Gina smiles at her and shakes her head, her cheeks flushing a slight pink. Gina blushing was probably the cutest thing Rosa had ever seen.

Now she was sitting in Gina’s car, listening to her sing along to some pop song on the radio that Rosa didn’t recognize. It was her new favourite though, not because of the actual piece, but because Gina was singing it, and anything that Gina did was Rosa’s favourite. The song ended, and Gina looked at Rosa with a smile. Rosa had a huge grin plastered on her face, and she felt amazing. She was in the car with her girlfriend, and she couldn’t be happier.

“So are you planning on telling me where we’re going?” Rosa asked. Gina had a mischievous grin on her face.

“Nope, you’ll see when we get there. How have I dealt with you being so impatient for the past five years?” Gina responds. Rosa smiles and gives a slight eye roll.

“The same way I’ve tolerated you breaking out into random dance numbers. You thought it was cute,” Rosa responds. It feels weird to flirt so lightheartedly. She’d never felt this way with Marcus, Adrian, Becky, Aubrey, or even Alicia. It was like she was floating.

“I feel so attacked,” Gina laughed. “I mean, you aren’t wrong, but jeez!”

The two of them drove and flirted for a few more minutes before Gina pulled into the marketplace parking lot. Rosa looked at her quizzically.

“You’re taking me to the market?” She asked. “Not that that’s a bad thing, any place with you is the best.”. She realizes she’s rambling and turns bright red.

“You’ll see,” Gina says. “And by the way, you’re adorable when you blush.”. This causes Rosa to turn an even deeper shade of red, and Gina laughs.

It turns out Gina was taking her to get gelato. They go to a smaller stall in the market, with more flavours than Rosa has ever tried in her life. Gina gets birthday cake, and Rosa gets coffee. The two of them walk back out to Gina’s car, because according to Gina, there’s still more places to go.

Their second destination is a small diner that Rosa has passed a hundred times but never gone to. “You’ve talked about this place like, a billion times,” Gina said. “I had to take you here on our first date”. Rosa’s cheeks flush pink at that D-word. She could barely believe she was on a real date with the girl she’s liked since eighth grade.

The two of them get a booth right by a window. Rosa orders a burger and Gina orders nachos. They get a strawberry milkshake to split. The two of them are sitting, waiting for their food to come, while Gina gossips about the girls in her dance class. Rosa just sits there, staring into Gina’s beautiful blue eyes. She could listen to that girl talk for hours. Even though Rosa doesn’t know who Natasha is or why she’s allegedly pregnant at 19, or even why Gina cares so much about exposing her for faking her pregnancy, but the one thing Rosa does know is she loves Gina. She loves how passionate she gets when she talks, she loves how her face scrunches up when she smiles, she loves how she knows she’s always the most beautiful girl in the room.

Rosa is laughing at a stupid joke Gina made when their food comes. Rosa tries to stop herself from inhaling hers, because even though she’s known Gina since the eighth grade, she’s still embarrassed about eating in front of her or anyone really. She eventually gives into the delicious burger in front of her, stopping to make silly quips during Gina’s story. They take turns sipping from the pink milkshake between the two of them, but after Gina finally finishes her story, the two of them lean in at the same time, and they almost kiss. Rosa turns beet red and hides her face in her hands, smiling behind them. Gina giggles. “C’mon, stop hiding, you’re cute when you’re embarrassed,” she says, but this just makes Rosa’s face burn red, and she’s pretty sure she’s blushing down to her neck. Somehow, she can make out with Gina in a dressing room and be perfectly fine, but putting her face close to Gina’s on a date nearly kills her? “Rosa, if you don’t move your hands in the next three seconds I’m eating your food.” Gina says. She starts counting down from three, and on one, Rosa finally takes her hands away from her face, and Gina smiles big. “See, I told you that you were cute.” She says, making Rosa smile.

“I am not cute,” Rosa says. Gina just rolls her eyes.

“Of course you are Rosie. You’re adorable and pretty and I know you’re a badass but badasses can still be cute.” She says in response to Rosa. Rosa feels her face heat up, but not in the good way this time.

“No, I’m not pretty or any of that stuff. I don’t look anything like those pretty girls in magazines and on TV,” Rosa says, her voice getting quieter as she looks down at the table. She doesn’t know why she’s getting so emotional in the middle of a diner. She’s always been insecure of how she looks, but she usually just hides it with her badass attitude and a stoic face. Only around Gina does she really feel like she can be open about how she feels.

Gina looks at Rosa with sad eyes, slightly shaking her head. How can she not see how perfect she is? Gina has literally never seen a more stunning person in her life, and no matter who she’s been with, she’s always wished it was Rosa. She scoots into the booth with Rosa, putting her arm around her girlfriend.

“Baby, you’re right. You don’t look like the girls on TV. You look better. You’re absolutely beautiful, and gorgeous, and stunning, and elegant, and every single synonym for those words in existence. You’re perfect,” Gina whispers, rocking her girlfriend slightly, kissing her hair. Rosa begins to cry, tears spilling over her cheeks.

“I’m sorry, I’m being so stupid-” She starts, but Gina cuts her off.

“Don’t say that. You’re the smartest person I know. You aren’t stupid,” Gina reassures her.

“Gina, we’re friends with Amy Santiago, you can’t say that.” Rosa laughs a little.

“No, you’re definitely smarter than her. Don’t tell her that I said that though, she’ll probably beat me to death with one of her binders.” Rosa actually laughs at this, wiping tears away from her face. She grabs Gina’s hand, who gives hers a squeeze, and they finish their meal like that, sitting in the same booth, holding hands. It feels safe, and Gina’s heart swells a little every time she sees Rosa sneak a peek at her. This girl was so beautiful, she really would be the death of her, Gina thought. She hadn’t felt this much for any person in her life, except for her mom and Jake, both of which were family love. She’s never truly been in love other than with Rosa, and it felt nice to be a little less alone.

When the bill comes, Rosa goes to pull out her wallet, but Gina grabs her wrist. “Nuh uh, I asked you out, I’m paying,” She says. Rosa rolls her eyes.

“You already paid for us to get ice cream!” Rosa says, but Gina just gives her that look, and Rosa knows there’s no arguing with her. “Fine, but I’m getting you next time.”

The waitress smiles at the two girls, wisps of blonde hair framing her face. “You two are cute together, I’m glad you’re able to be out at such a young age. I’m still not out to my parents, but I’m happy you girls are able to do it,” She says. Rosa’s stomach drops a bit when she says this, but she smiles anyways.

“Thanks,” she says to the pretty waitress. Gina looks at Rosa, and can tell something is off. Rosa shakes her head a bit, and Gina knows that means she doesn’t want to talk about it. Rosa isn’t in the mood to talk about more sad things at the moment, she’s already cried once. Luckily, Gina understands. The two of them have always understood each other like that, despite how different they are.

The two of them are walking back to Gina’s car, holding hands. Gina is swinging Rosa’s hand and Rosa is going along with it. God, if anyone from school saw them doing this, Rosa’s reputation would be completely different. However, she doesn’t really care all that much. She would give up everything if it meant she got to be with Gina. When they reach Gina’s car, Rosa holds the door open for her. “Wow, Rosa Diaz is a gentleman, who would’ve guessed?” Gina says. Rosa smiles and pecks her on the lips. Gina grins and looks at the ground for just a moment before getting into the car.

Gina and Rosa drive around for a while, just talking. They talk about school, and the play, and their friends, and all the while holding hands and making googly eyes at each other.

“Do you wanna go chill at my place?” Gina asks. Rosa smiles.

“Is this the intro to some cheesy porno?” She responds. This sends Gina into a fit of hysterics, and it’s lucky the two of them are stopped at a red light, because otherwise, Gina most definitely would have crashed the car.

“No, it’s you using up all my gas money bitch! Although…” she trails off. Rosa rolls her eyes and laughs.

“Sorry, I’ll pay you back for the gas. How long have we been driving anyways?” Rosa says, completely ignoring the last part of Gina’s sentence.

“An hour, and you don’t have to worry about paying me back babe, this is a date,” Gina says, and Rosa kisses her on the cheek.

“Best first date I’ve ever been on,” Rosa replies. Gina just smiles. “Also, you’ve got lipstick on your cheek.”

“Diaz, if you aren’t kidding I’m going to kill you,” jokes Gina. Rosa actually has no clue if Gina is joking or not, but hopes for the best.

“No you aren’t, because I’m pretty sure I owe you a second date,” Rosa flirts.

Gina shakes her head and smiles. “Oh, Rosie. if only you knew what you were getting yourself into.”

[tsfanart]

The Last Week--Chapter 6

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5

--

At 5:30 on Friday evening, Logan got into his car, drove across the street, and pulled over. He froze. It felt weird to not get out of his car and ring the doorbell...but Logan didn't feel like wasting his time anymore, either. So, with a wince, he lifted his hand and honked the horn.

Virgil came out a few minutes later and got in the passenger side. "Hey!" he greeted. "How was your day?"

"It was fine, and yours?" Logan asked, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Pretty normal on my end," Virgil said, but then he trailed off.

The car ride was quiet the rest of the way, but when they reached the restaurant, Logan softened a little. They parked the car and made their way inside.

"Oh, hey there, guys!" the host greeted them. "Funny seeing you both here so late in the year!"

Virgil shrugged. "Yeah, well, here we are. Reservation for two?"

The host found the reservation and led the boys to their table, and Logan smiled a little more. Virgil couldn't have come up with the idea at the last minute if they had a reservation.

They sat at the table and ordered their usuals, and then Virgil perked up. "Oh hey, guess what I brought!" he singsonged. He reached into his pocket and pulled out two pens and a pad of sticky notes.

Logan grinned in spite of himself and reached for a sticky note. He took one of the pens and scanned the room, looking for things to write down. It was a game they always played when they went to Baire's Lair--a combination of I Spy and 20 Questions. They each had to write down three things that they saw around them, and then they would trade piles. Then Logan would put one of the things that Virgil saw to stick on the latter's forehead, and vice versa.

"Alright, you ready?" Virgil asked after a few minutes. Logan looked up and nodded.

"Okay then...time to trade!" Virgil announced. The two exchanged piles of sticky notes and looked them over.

Logan stared down at the notes in front of him. One of them was a green jacket that a man the next table over was wearing; another was the salt shaker that was right in front of them; and the last one was...a Miami State hat that someone on their other side was wearing.

His heart sank at that last one, but he selected it anyway. It was all that mattered at that point, after all.

Logan looked up and nodded, and he and Virgil both leaned across the table to put their respective sticky notes on each other. They sat back.

"Alright, so, you ready?" Virgil asked. Logan gave a thumbs up, so Virgil leaned forward and stroked his chin.

"Hm..." Virgil began, "am I all one color?"

Logan shook his head. "Nope. Mostly one, though. Uh...am I green?"

"No, you are not!"

The game continued as normal for the next few minutes, interrupted only by the arrival of their food. Virgil guessed his pretty easily, but it was a while before it became clear to Logan what was going on.

"Wait..." Logan said, "am I the Harvard sweatshirt that's on the coat rack over there?"

Virgil nodded cheerfully. "Yup! You've got it!"

"Huh. I guess we were kind of on the same page then, huh?" Logan choked out.

Virgil shrugged. "Eh, makes enough sense. It's only a few days off, right?"

Virgil's nonchalant behavior was starting to disturb Logan again. "Yeah...that it is. But hey, no sense in worrying about that, right?" He ripped off the sticky note and crumpled it. "We've still got a little over a day left, after all."

"Yeah, for sure," Virgil said, and Logan looked up, surprised to realize that the other's voice had cracked.

Logan glanced down at his plate and looked back up at his soon-to-be ex shyly. "Hey, um, do you want to maybe get a check or something? And then after that we could..."

"Go to the park?" Virgil finished. Logan nodded tearfully, and Virgil gave a half smile. After paying for their food, the two left to walk to the public park just a few blocks away from the restaurant. They found a patch of grass, moved a foot or so away from each other, and laid down for a while to stargaze and think.

After around half an hour had passed, Virgil got up to lay down next to Logan. Logan turned to look at him.

"I'm glad you're gonna be able to do such great things next year," Virgil said shakily. "Really, I am. And you should be proud of yourself for it."

Logan looked down and picked at the grass below him. He shrugged. "I know, I am. It's just...I'm gonna miss you."

"You are?" Virgil asked in disbelief.

Logan sat up and tilted his head. "Well, yeah, of course. Nobody at Harvard knows what I need when I get anxious at the store. No one there knows how to play our sticky note game. No one else has had an epic pillow fight with me or endured Mr. Spinner's wrath firsthand. And no one has seen me at my worst and decided to stick around anyway.

"And I know everyone says that I'll make new friends and stuff, but...I don't care, okay? It doesn't matter. They're all the same. Just faceless, pretentious blobs." He laid back down again. "But look, I'm happy for you too. I'm glad you're so excited about all this...at least one of us is, anyway."

Virgil's heart sank with guilt. "Logan, I...I owe you an apology for what went down yesterday. I thought I could trick myself into being happy and not caring. Because you're right, everyone around us is saying that."

"Well..." Logan began thoughtfully, "screw what everyone else says. Maybe they don't have the right idea. And maybe...maybe we had the wrong idea here in trying to live in the present this whole time."

"Yeah..." Virgil said. His lip started trembling. "But...we're okay though?"

"I think so, yeah," Logan replied. He outstretched his arms, and Virgil leaned in for a real hug this time.

Eventually, Logan pulled back. "Well, hey, there's still one thing left to do!" he pointed out. He stood up and extended his hand, and Virgil took it.

"That there is," he said with a smile. "So...your room, or mine?"

"Probably yours," Logan said. "We'll head back home and meet up in a few minutes?"

Virgil nodded. "Sounds like a plan," he said. The two walked arm in arm back to Logan's car, and had one last silent car ride home.

--

Shortly after getting home, Logan knocked on the Donovans' door for the last time, hiding his gift behind his back. Virgil opened the door.

"Hey...come on in," he said shyly.

Logan ducked his head and followed Virgil upstairs, but when they got to the door, Virgil paused. "Wait, one second..." He ran inside and got his own gift, and then opened the door again hiding it behind his own back. He nodded, and Logan came inside.

They sat down on the bed. "So...we'll share them on the count of three?" Virgil asked shakily.

Logan nodded, and they counted down. And then, as if they were hot potatoes, the boys both threw their gifts in the other's lap and glanced at one another sheepishly.

Logan looked down at his lap. As he had figured, Virgil had made him a multicolored scarf. He smiled and picked it up. "Oh, wow. This is really great. Thank you!" he said genuinely.

"Yeah, it's..." Virgil began. Then he turned red and chewed on his nail again.

Logan tilted his head. "It's what?"

Virgil looked straight ahead and started swinging his feet. "Well, the colors aren't exactly random. I mean, the colors themselves don't mean anything, but their order does."

"Oh yeah? And what meaning would that be?"

Virgil took a deep breath. "Well, I was thinking about how your messages for the week were in Morse Code, among other things, of course, and I wondered if I could do something with that for your gift, and I thought, what if each color represented a different thing? So the pairs of blue rows stand for dots and the pairs of purple rows stand for dashes. And the single black rows stand for letter breaks and the single gold rows stand for word breaks."

Logan smiled in awe, and examined the scarf closely. Virgil turned to look at him. "It's upside down," he clarified.

"Oh! Okay." Logan turned the scarf around and continued inspecting it. Finally he laid it in his lap and let out a high-pitched sound. "Logan and Virgil," he choked out.

Virgil nodded, and Logan leaned over to hug him again. "Thank you so much."

Virgil smiled. "You are so welcome. But hey, now it's your turn!" He picked up his gift, which looked like some sort of atom model made with the wires and styrofoam. "What exactly is this, anyway?"

"Oh, right, of course!" Logan lit up. "That's a Cesium atom. It measures seconds in an atomic clock. Did you know that one electron in the outer shell of a Cesium atom vibrates over nine billion times every second?"

Virgil raised his eyebrows. "Wow, really?"

"Yup!" Logan nodded. "That's the technical definition of a second, actually. Anyway, there are over 250 million seconds in eight years, and I multiplied those numbers together to get...two quintillion, three hundred nineteen quadrillion, one hundred ninety trillion, six hundred eighty-three billion, nine hundred eighty-nine million, seven hundred sixty thousand vibrations all together during the time that we've known each other. And that's the number that's written on the nucleus. Oh yeah, also I used rainbow beads for the electrons because, well, that's self-explanatory." He trailed off and looked away, but Virgil brought his face back around and kissed him on the nose.

"This is, without a doubt, the Logan-est gift I've ever seen in my life. And I mean that in the best way possible."

Logan broke out into a grin and sighed in relief. "Thanks, Virgil...for everything."

Virgil nodded again and shoved both of the gifts aside, and pulled Logan into the tightest hug he could muster. Logan reciprocated the hug and held onto his boyfriend for dear life, and they stayed that way the whole rest of the evening until they fell asleep.

[bigherosixfeels]

Big Roommates REVIEW

SPOILERS BELOW

Well, the US is still waiting for new episodes of the show to come out. A new programming strategy is causing the delay, but the UK are getting these new episodes. It's frustrating, but I do hope this strategy ends up being good for the network.

For those wondering, yes, I do plan on reviewing each episode of the show. I like being able to talk about what happened and voicing some opinions at the end. So let's do this!

The episode begins in the school cafeteria with Fred and Gogo looking at mystery loaf which not only looks disgusting, but it also moves like Jell-O and I'm concerned as to why this is being served at the school. Although, according to Baymax, it won't cause any permanent damage to eat it which is reassuring enough to Fred until he tastes cilantro. 

Meanwhile, Honey Lemon is reloading her chem purse at the table which is worrisome to Hiro, but fun for her since she gets to be around both her best friends and chemistry. Wasabi then rushes to the table in relief to see that Honey Lemon is alive. Apparently she had tried to make instant ice after her roommate made lemonade and she froze up her entire apartment (including her roommate). How...how did Regina get to...nevermind. 

The gang is discussing where Honey Lemon could live for the time being. Fred mentions that Gogo has her own place, but Gogo shoots back mentioning his mansion. It would work out, but his parents insist on doing in-depth three year background checks for overnight guests. Honestly, given how rich they are, I don't blame them for taking precautions like that. Gogo tries to explain to Honey that she wouldn't like her place due to it being in a sketchy neighborhood, but Honey being the optimistic person that she is doesn't think it'll be that bad. Gogo then caves and agrees to letting her stay at her place. Honey is continuing to show her optimism and there's a discussion of whether or not the glass is half-full or half-empty. Wasn't there a Tumblr post explaining how that works? If liquid is added, it's half-full. If liquid is taken out it's half-empty. Something like that?

Everyone is happy to help Honey Lemon move in. Wasabi notes that there's a lot of jaywalkers in the neighborhood. Honey is happy to meet new faces and bedazzle a biker's motorcycle. The biker, who is properly introduced as Felony Carl, loves the glitter because it shows how comfortable he is with his masculinity. It's official. Felony Carl is amazing. 

We're then introduced to Dibbs, a guy that walks proud, but is a terrible thief. He does manage to get a hold of an elderly lady's purse for about a second before instant karma literally hits him in the face and the purse gets back into her possession. He then spots Honey Lemon's chem purse out in the open. Rather than an easy snag, the purse ends up on a taxi and he jumps on the cab and falls off the car before making a run. 

It's now night time and we're at an abandoned warehouse. Wait. Is this the same warehouse from the movie? If so, that's a great callback! Anyway, Dibbs talks to a rat about his (probably only) successful attempt at stealing. He doesn't understand that this isn't a normal purse, but his attempts to open it are cut short due to a couple people coming in. 

We're reintroduced to Alistair Krei and his assistant! I was wondering when we'd be seeing him again. The reasoning for them being in the warehouse is that he's hiding something. A supposed "better version" of Hiro's neurotransmitter. Basically if you wear it, you can control anything linked to it with your mind. The only reason this version is better to him is because it's just different enough so he can't get sued. Congratulations, Krei. You're losing brownie points with me. 

Overhearing that it'll be worth billions, Dibbs successfully steals it for himself. Unfortunately for him, the chem purse gets stuck and chemicals are released onto Dibbs, covering his entire body. He's now what is considered to be a monster. 

It's now the next morning in Gogo's (and now Honey Lemon's) apartment. Honey is settling into the apartment, opening a box that releases an incredible amount of butterflies. They must be so happy to be free. The girls have rather different daily activities. Gogo punching a punching bag interferes with Honey's focus to meditate. Honey adding cute stickers to the fridge and everything inside it irks Gogo. Gogo accidentally destroys some of Honey's flowers. Honey's snoring causes Gogo to not get any sleep. The iconic Oh My God They Were Roommates™ vine is on loop in my head. 

Later on, the gang (minus Fred) are at the cafe and Honey is asking if anyone has seen her chem purse. Gogo immediately believes it was stolen, but Honey doesn't think that's the case. Due to the lack of sleep, Gogo is exhausted and lulled to sleep by Baymax's calm music. The relaxing moment is broken by Fred who excitedly bursts through the door. He's ecstatic over the fact that there's a monster in the city. Nobody else believes this (despite the news report) because monsters aren't real. Of course, Fred won't let the matter drop unless the others check it out. Hiro decides to join Fred on this monster hunt. Meanwhile, the others are headed for Gogo and Honey Lemon's apartment. Baymax proceeds to pick up a sleeping Gogo and cradle her in his arms which is the most wholesome content I think we've gotten so far. Seriously, that was adorable! 

Hiro and Fred are investigating for any clues that a monster has been around. Hiro steps in some chemical goop. Fred gets a sample on his finger and sniffs it up his nose. Ew. Then he (why did he do this) took it out the other nostril and put it on Hiro's face. WHY. Fred then proceeds to sing a song about how he was right about the monster which doesn't amuse Hiro in the slightest. The sound of screams has both of them jumping into actions (well, Fred is still singing, but you get the point). 

Back at the apartment, Gogo has awoken from her nap and there has been no luck with finding Honey's purse. Gogo keeps explaining how is was probably (and it was) stolen, but Honey doesn't want to accept her negative views. The girls begin the argue; Gogo stating it's hard to respect someone who's happy all the time and Honey stating it's hard to understand why she's always so serious and cool. They storm off, but screaming from outside catches everyone's attention. 

The monster is confidently walking in the street and Big Hero 6 is officially in action for the episode! Baymax scans him, stating what we already know, but he does have fragments of Honey's purse within the goop. Honey feels concerned for him, but the mention of a purse has him nervous. His attempt to flee is quickly cut short on two occasions. While he clearly doesn't have the hang of his new abilities, the team doesn't have an easy time against him. 

Hiro and Fred join the fight. Fred comes up with the name Globby for our villain, which doesn't settle well with him. He asks the cliche "Can things get any worse?" and is immediately hit by a bus.

Taking Globby down is on pause for the time being and Honey is upset knowing that she should have been more careful with her stuff. She apologizes numerous times, even after Gogo points out she's doing so too much. Our usual bubbly, cheerful character has hit a rough patch. 

Back inside the apartment, Wasabi is trying to remove goop from his suit while he, Gogo and Fred watch the news. Fred considers naming Globby his legacy. Meanwhile, Hiro is finishing up making Honey a new chem purse, but this doesn't please her. Gogo takes note of her friends’ somber mood and attempts to cheer her up. What she says doesn't get through to Honey and Baymax tries to help with a hug. That also doesn't work and Honey is ready to "face the darkness of reality". 

The gang watches as Honey begins to create a compound that will un-stick the goop from Globby. Honey mentions that her beaker is half-empty, but Gogo argues that it's half-full. The discussion from earlier in the episode has reversed on the characters, leaving them all surprised. 

We cut to Globby at a restaurant with Felony Carl. He mentions that he's having a hard time with his now mutated body (he grabbed a cat instead of a spoon). Felony Carl takes note of the headband that Globby admits he doesn't know how to use it, but seeing a photo of Krei sparks a new idea for him. 

We get a quick shot of Krei Tech (rebuilt and everything!). And what is Krei up to now? Getting a statue of himself made. Of course. During the process of getting his sculpture finished, Globby breaks through the window and takes the statue before realizing his mistake and kidnapping Krei himself. 

Meanwhile, Honey is continuing to make an un-sticky ball. Her negative attitude has yet to fade and Baymax suggests that a pleasant image may help. As he says this, some of Honey's butterflies flutter around Baymax. Gogo considers that a sign, but Honey doesn't want to see it that way. 

Wasabi gets everyone's attention to watch the news which is about what happened to Krei earlier. I'm really glad that we're hearing his assistant talk and getting a feel for her personality. She seems nice and a little funny too. 

Globby has Krei stuck to him as he climbs to the top of a building. He refuses to let him go until he explains how the headband works. Krei tries to get the neurotransmitter back while Bluff Dunder covers the current situation on live TV. Krei explains that all Globby has to do is think for it to work naturally. 

Big Hero 6 comes to his rescue and immediately jumps into action. Bluff Dunder continues his constant updates. Honey offers Globby the chem ball that will help un-stick him. Globby is visibly stressed because all he wants to do is concentrate on thinking. He knows he's been making some bad choices lately and Baymax suggests positive reinforcement. The group looks to Honey who is unsure if she should, but Gogo assures her that her upbeat attitude takes getting used to, but it's good for her. These words finally get through to Honey and the girls share a quick hug before Honey starts to help Globby. Globby doesn't want to accept what she has to say at first because no one has ever believed in him. However, hearing that he can dedicate himself to making the best out of his situation and that he's special because no one else has his abilities inspires him. 

Despite accepting himself as he is, Krei wants his prototype back and his attempt to un-stick Globby almost costs him his life when he slips off the building. Globby manages to use his new abilities to save Krei, earning an awkward thanks from him. Globby thinks all the thanks goes to Honey since she believes in him. He announces that his days of being a purse thief are over, which pleases Honey until he states what he'll be doing now. He's determined to be a super villain, making a sticky escape. The episode ends with him smacking himself into a window. 

Overall, I thought this was a pretty enjoyable episode. There was humor, heart and an interesting origin story for our new super villain. 

I really liked the character development that we got for Honey Lemon. I'm glad that we got to see a side of her that wasn't her usual self. Her negative attitude is a complete 180 for her. I enjoyed that Gogo continuously tried to help her feel better until it actually worked. Despite the differences that they had prior to Honey being sad, Gogo put that aside and was later on able to get through to her. Just...ugh that was amazing. 

Globby is an interesting character. He's pretty comical throughout the episode, so he doesn't strike me to be a major threat for the time being. Of course, I'm sure we'll be seeing him again (If the description for Failure Mode is correct, we'll be seeing him pretty soon too.) I imagine once he learns to get a better hang of his abilities, he'll be more of a challenge. As I said earlier, I like that Globby got a little origin story of how he became Globby and it'll be cool to see him again. I'm glad that there's a good reason for the chemical compound being attached to him.

Speaking of the neurotransmitter, it was nice to see Krei again. I've always been indifferent to his character since the movie and I'm still indifferent now. He's still as money hungry as he was when we were first introduced to him so I'm not entirely surprised he's still like that. I have to admit that I'm disappointed to see that he has created a "better version" of Hiro's neurotransmitter. He wasn't able to accept Hiro's rejected offer and knowing that he's pretty much copied it continues to show his arrogance. I don't feel bad that Globby stole his prototype. Still, I can always appreciate seeing a familiar face and if he ends up building Tadashi Hamada Hall (I really hope that happens in the show), he may earn those brownie points back. 

I loved our side characters from this episode! Felony Carl was such a highlight to this episode. He may be a one-off character (or we might see him again who knows), but he's so great. I'm also glad that we finally heard Krei's assistant talk. I'm sure we'll see more of her because we'll be seeing more of Krei. 

I'm really liking the humor in the show too. There's always just the right amount of it and each joke is played out well. Wasabi had some funny lines. I liked Honey Lemon's "It's time to face the darkness of reality" line. I got a kick out of the scene where Globby took Krei's statue before realizing he didn't take Krei himself and came back to get him. Bluff Dunder was pretty funny during the last scene too. 

I also I liked when some goop got on Baymax and Wasabi said, "Nobody does that to Baymax and gets away with it!" Lines like that are small things that I'm happy to hear. 

I'm still not over Baymax cradling Gogo while she slept. That was so pure and adorable and I loved it very much. 

The style of the show continues to grow on me more and more witch each episode. I love the character designs for the new characters and I think Krei and his assistant look pretty good. The animation flow isn't bothering me either. Every once in awhile, the lip syncing is just a tad bit awkward, but it's easy to look past (for me anyway). The scenery looks so good! This style honestly brings San Fransokyo to life. 

On a scale of one to ten...I'd rate Big Roommates an 8!

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

The Start of a Beautiful Friendship

This was part of a series of GuardianCorp moments I’m drafting, as an attempt to rewrite the start of S3 to show where some moments of natural ship development could have happened, but I’m splitting it out here to be a friendship piece because it was just a really nice moment of Lena and James just sharing space and breaking the ice, so to speak.

—-

There were things about Lena Luthor that surprised James.

Like the way she sat in on conference calls, silent save for the scratching of pen on paper as she took notes until the call ended and she peppered him with sharp questions he mostly knew the answer to.

Or when he saw her ask Eve a favor. An actual favor, not just an order disguised as a casual suggestion.

“When you have time, would you mind getting me the minutes for the last three years’ board meetings?” He heard Lena ask, her voice low. “It’s absolutely not urgent, just when you get a moment?”

Asked like that, he could hardly blame Eve for dropping everything and getting the minutes to her within the hour.

Or the night he came in late after an uneventful Guardian run, itching to take out some of his restless energy to find Lena seated out on the balcony with a wireless lamp and a sea of papers spread out in front of her, weighted down in piles under various objects she’d found around the office– his collectors baseball, a pencil cup, and most oddly, tumblers filled with chocolate candy.

With her hair down, there was something utterly human in the way Lena blindly reached for one of the cups, snagging a couple pieces of candy. He knocked on the open terrace door to avoid startling her, but the sound made her jump anyway.

The smile that greeted James upon recognition eased some of the tension in his shoulders, and he strolled casually to join her.

“I have to say,” Lena began lightly, her voice carrying in the breeze, “Cat Grant has excellent taste. In both views and chocolate.”

“What, you’re telling me L-Corp’s executive suite doesn’t have a bucket of chocolate hidden on its drink cart?” James eased himself down onto the cushion next to her.

“It will now,” Lena countered. “Here I was, using it to store ice, like a chump.”

Her laugh lilted on the night breeze, soft and open. Leaning forward, she consolidated two piles to free up one glass, which she took with her as she reclined into the pillows behind her. She tilted the glass towards James, and he scooped out a handful of treats.

They munched together in silence, gazing out across the city.

“What has you here so late?” he asked finally.

“Going over minutes. And my notes. And my notes of my notes.” She gestured vaguely towards one end of the table where a notepad sat, packed with dense lines of flowing script. “Those are the questions I plan to ask you tomorrow.”

“You could ask me now.”

Lena waved him off, reaching back into the cup and plucking out a green piece. “There’s no need to waste anyone else’s night.”

James grinned. “It’s not a waste if I’m offering.”

Lena regarded him for a long moment, before popping the green candy in her mouth and reaching over to snag the pad off the table. As she flipped through, James tried not to be impressed by the level of detail he spotted in pieces– the name of an old acquisition he’d not given a second thought to, a conflict of interest with a board member who had retired not long after audit spotted the contention… it went on and on, but to his surprise, Lena closed the pad once more and set it down in her lap.

“Can I ask you a question?” She asked in a low voice. Her fingers smoothed over the pressed pages of her pad.

James watched her. “I think that was the plan.”

“No, I mean… I find myself in a difficult position. About Kara.”

Lifting his chin, James carefully worked to keep his expression unchanged. This was not the conversation he’d expected to have tonight.

“She’s been more alert in recent weeks, and has gotten better at showing up for staff meetings, but she’s still sporadically absent. No one seems to know where she disappears to, she’s chronically late, leaves early… no one seems to bat an eye, which tells me it’s been going on for some time and yet there’s not a single reprimand in her file.”

James waited, hesitant to say anything until he knew exactly where she was going with it. “I hesitate to address it if it’s just part of her grieving, but ignoring it could open us up to accusations of favoritism, which will only reflect poorly on her career.”

James nodded. Okay. This, he could do– if he tread carefully.

“I had the same concerns you did when U was promoted,” James fibbed, “but ultimately I gave Kara the same trust that Cat did, and she hasn’t let me down yet. She usually lets me know where she is, if she can, and whatever her methods, wherever she goes, she’s come back with some amazing stories from it.”

“And your other employees don’t chafe under the knowledge they’re not afforded the same trust?”

James lifted one shoulder. “In a way, they are. We trust them to be on time and put in a full day’s work. If a supervisor feels that policy is being abused, they can discuss it and see what’s going on. Sometimes it’s a sick kid, sometimes it’s anxiety or depression. And sometimes, it’s just following a hunch.”

Watching Lena, James could tell she wasn’t entirely convinced. Having worked with her this long, and seeing the easy way she treated her employees with respect, he sincerely doubted she was a slave driver at L-Corp, which meant the problem wasn’t with CatCo’s policy, or even the choice James had made in regards to Kara– it was Kara herself, and what her absences truly meant.

James wasn’t going to touch that with a ten foot pole.

“If you want, I can have her notify you instead–”

“No,” Lena returned quickly. “No, let’s not change anything. I trust your judgement.”

An unexpected swell of pride filled his chest at her words, and he hid it with a nod. “Okay. Anything else you wanted to ask?”

Lena blinked, refocusing on the pad in front of her. “Right, of course.”

This time, she flipped to the exact page she wanted and immediately launched into it. “I wanted to discuss Mr. Bainbridge. He was on the board when CatCo acquired the Tannen Paper company to supply the southeast distribution center. I met Mr. Bainbridge at a charity gala a few years ago, and I remember he mentioned having recently purchased stock in Tannen…”

They worked until the first lightening of the morning sky, shocking James with the lateness of the hour and how much energy he still had. As Lena gathered her array of piles, James shot her a grin.

“Can I interest you in breakfast, Miss Luthor?”

Green eyes shone up at him from over a warm grin. “I think you can stoop to calling me Lena, don’t you?”

James nodded. For the first time since CatCo’s acquisition, he felt completely at ease. Not only that, he found himself wanting to know more about his new boss, reluctant to quit her company even after their long night.

Perhaps that’s how the Luthors won people over– with all-nighters and chocolate candies in a scotch glass.

“All right then, Lena,” he replied amicably. “How about it?”

Somehow, her smile warmed even further. “If there’s Noonan’s sticky bun in it for me, I’m all yours.”

James nodded. “And I can see why Kara likes you so much. You speak her language.”

“Oh god, not fluently,” Lena grimaced. “I mean, what does that girl have against kale? It’s good for you!”

“You should see the faces she makes when I bring in my wheatgrass shakes…”

Talking about Kara was easy, and the easiness continued over breakfast as talk eventually turned to Metropolis. It was the first time since Lucy left that James had someone who missed the restaurants he did, and knew the parks he used to photograph. He enjoyed himself, and he enjoyed the way Lena was quick to laugh.

More and more, she was nothing like he’d assumed she’d be.

“We still have a few hours before that call with London,” James said as they re-emerged from Noonan’s. Just enough time to freshen up, change clothes, maybe even catch a power nap.

“I have to say, Lena,” he continued, “I had my doubts when word came down about the merger. But I’m glad I was wrong. I enjoyed the night, even if it was spent at the office.”

“Likewise.”

Lena smiled up at him, only looking away when her phone started to buzz in her hand. She glanced at the screen and laughed at the name that popped up on the screen.

“Think her ears were burning?”

“More like she smelled the sticky buns,” James replied. “Catch you at the office.”

Lena nodded, already lifting the phone to her ear. “Hey,” Lena greeted. “Yes, I’m already outside– what? No, I didn’t spend the entire night at the office… Okay, fine, I did, but Kara, you do realize I now run two multi-billion dollar companies, right?”

James watched her go, listening to the dwindling sound of Lena’s half of the conversation. Yeah. They were in good hands.

[yellowcanna]

Surprising Treasure

Summary: Being an omega is great and all...Tsurumaru never had to worry much about responsibility unlike alphas and can do whatever he wants. So when he planned that surprise hot spring trip for his brothers, he didn't take into account what kind of troubles his omega status might bring. In the end, it seems he was the one who got the surprise of his life...

Pairings: Mikazuki x Tsurumaru

Genre: Yaoi

Rating: M

Author: Canna / Yellow Canna

Status: Complete (One shot)

“Hey…check that out…!”

The once rowdy street filled with food stands was now quiet with nothing but hush whispers as a young man in white slowly strolled by. Everywhere he goes, all eyes would follow that elegant figure; shamelessly taking in everything his body to offer. The target of those heated gazes was seemingly oblivious to everything around him as he wore a carefree expression on his face.

A man standing by the sideline with the other bystanders gulped down a mouthful of saliva. Fantasies ran wild in his head as he stared at that beautifully sculpted face, already having billions of ideas of what he could do with those pair of delicate pink lips.

Noticing many other males preparing to make their moves, the man panicked. He forced his way out of the crowd, his mouth open to show off the sharp fangs that had grew out at the sight of the beauty. Just as he reached out to the white haired angel, a tanned hand suddenly appeared out of nowhere and caught his wrist in an iron grip.

A threatening low growl emitted from the man’s throat, but when he glared up to the owner of that hand, he nearly wet his pants. Staring back at him was a pair of menacing amber eyes, staring at him as though he was nothing but a pile of rotting meat.  

“I-I’m sorry…!” The spineless man shrunk as far as he can get with his wrist still caught by the other. He quickly averted his eyes, dropping his gaze to the ground as a form of submission. The man was a simple, middle aged beta who had never gotten near fights in his entire life. So when faced with an alpha in his prime emitting waves of bloodlust, he could do nothing but cower. “I-I didn’t know h-he’s your omega—”

“Get lost.” The tan alpha hissed before he single handily lifted the beta up and threw him into the pile of garbage next to a fruit stand.

“Kara-bou!” The white haired omega called out. His voice was slightly deeper than the fantasies some people were having. Judging by his angelic feature, many expected a honeyed voice like most omega has. But rather than sounding out of place, the deepness in this omega’s voice was a refreshing surprise and it fit the beauty wonderfully. “What are you doing here?”

“I would ask the same to you, Tsuru-san.” An alpha much taller than the tanned one said as he walked up to the pair. He gazed down at the omega with his only eye, the identical golden hue swirling inside his pupil unmistakably revealed the three of their relationships. “Do you know how worried we are when the maids said you snuck out?”

“I didn’t sneak out, don’t make me sound bad here, Mitsu-bou.” The omega said as he put his arms onto his hips, either he didn’t care or he is truly oblivious to the heated gazes trained at that general area. However, the two alphas watching over him wouldn’t fail to notice or ignore it.

They each grabbed the omega by an arm before hauling him out of the crowded street.  

“Hey!” The white haired omega complained as he was shoved into a black limo with an alpha on each of his side.

“Take us home please.” The raven haired alpha told the driver through the speaker before turning to meet a pair of large golden eyes. Despite his complaints, the omega was smiling, looking nowhere near angry for being handled so roughly.

“Tsuru-san, you know you’re not supposed to go out alone.” The raven haired alpha said, his voice laced with concern.

“I wasn’t going to be gone for long.” The omega waved casually as he leaned back against the comfy leather seat with his hands behind his head. “You two are too uptight over everything. You won’t get much surprise in your life if you keep that up.”

The tan alpha frowned in obvious disagreement, but kept his silence. Though just because he didn’t say doesn’t mean the omega can’t tell what was going through his head.

“I could have handled that guy—along with the rest of them.” The omega said confidently. He was aware of what kind of attentions he was getting. How could he not? After all, something like this is normal to him. The only reason he acted as though he didn’t see was simply because he knew they would be no trouble to him. While the two alphas knew that as well, they beg to differ.

“What if an alpha stronger than you appears?” While the raven haired alpha was glad that their omega brother has so much confidence, being overly confident is a different matter. “I know you’re strong, Tsuru-san, but if an alpha marks you, you’ll get bounded to them for the rest of your life!”

The omega scratched his head as his silky white hair swayed in the movement. He looked at the two alphas staring intensely at him for a long moment before reaching his hands out. He wrapped an arm around each of their necks before pulling them in for a tight hug.

“Thank you, Mitsu-bou, Kara-bou.” The omega spoke with a soft smile on his lips. “Sorry I’ve made you two worried.”

“…I wasn’t worried.” Kara-bou muttered, but made no move to pull away.

The raven haired alpha let out a small breath, the tension between his brows finally relaxing. “So?” He asked after he was released. There was no way either of them can continue when the omega apologizes like that. “What were you trying to do by going there?”

“Hehe…” The omega put a hand into his pocket and smiled at the pair excitedly. “…Tada!”

He shouted, pulling out three tickets with a picture of an old fashioned building printed on it.

“That’s…” The dark haired alpha’s eye drifted over the large font. “Tickets to a hot spring inn?”

“Two nights stay…” The tan alpha added quietly as he read the back of the ticket.

“Tsuru-san, this is…?”

“Surprised?” The omega chirped. “I won it at the lottery machine!”

“Lottery machine?” The two alphas stared at the omega, confusion written all over their faces.

“Yep! I heard from Kiyomitsu and Yamatonokami that if you buy a certain amount on that street you get to spin that lottery machine and see if you could win a prize! I won the first prize on my first try!”

“That’s amazing, Tsuru-san!” The raven haired alpha smiled brightly—his previous displeasure of the omega sneaking out completely forgotten. It wasn’t everyday someone can win a free trip. Even if it’s something small like a hot spring trip, the omega had won it with his own ability, so the two alphas were genuinely happy for him.

“Right?” The omega said proudly before holding out two tickets to his brothers. “Since we have a long weekend anyways, let’s go tomorrow!”

The tan alpha hesitated, but took the ticket nonetheless. If there was one thing he can’t deny, it is anything the omega gives him.

“Thank you, Tsuru-san.” The raven haired alpha carefully held the ticket in his hand like it was the most precious thing in the world. Touched by the gift from the omega, neither of them noticed the small smirk that appeared only for a second before melting back into a blinding smile.

oOo

“This is awesome!” The omega ran up the rocky path with the two alphas trailing behind him as they finally reached the top of the mountain where a large building stood.

“This is the place.” The raven haired alpha said, looking over the ticket in his hand before to the inn they will be staying at.  

“Welcome.” A tall man in green kimono greeted when the trio stepped in. Despite how old it seemed on the outside, the inside of the building appeared surprisingly new while maintaining its old fashion features. “I am the owner of the inn, Ishikirimaru. May I ask if you are Tsurumaru-san, Mitsutada-san and Ookurikara-san?”

“Yes. I’m amazed that you can tell.” The raven haired alpha, Mitsutada, answered politely.

The owner of the inn simply smiled as he took their tickets. “I already have your rooms prepared. Shishiou-kun will show you there.”

“Right this way!” An energetic blond haired omega bounded out from around the corner with a bright smile on his face. “Ah, let me take your luggage—”

“No, it’s fine.” Mitsutada quickly said, unable to let a boy half of their sizes help them lift their things. “We got it.”

“Okay! Just follow me!” The boy said before leading the trio down the sparkly clean hallway.

“It’s a beautiful place you have here.” Mitsutada commented as he took in everything he sees with great interest.

“Of course!” Shishiou said proudly. “We pride ourselves in having the best hot spring around! Did you know that this inn dates back to the Heian period?”

As the blond began blabbering off histories of the inn, Ookurikara was noticing something other than the structure of the building. He stared at a pair of lovers that walked by them. Since they’ve entered this place, they’ve already passed by six couples. It was like that back in the lobby too. He didn’t think too much about it then, but all those people seemed to have also come in pairs.

“This is the sunniest room we have with your own private hot spring!” Shishiou said, coming to a stop as he pulled out a keycard and tapped it over the sensor. With a beep, a soft clicking sound of the door unlocking was heard as the blond slid it open.

Tsurumaru was the first to go in, eagerly looking over the room before sliding open the door to the outdoor hot spring.

“Woah!” The omega was blown away by the sight as he took in the mountain of red and golden leaves covered by a thin layer of steam from the hot springs.

“It’s beautiful!” Mitsutada smiled and even Ookurikara was taken by the sight.

“Now then!” Shishiou said after the trio finished observing the room. “Tsurumaru-san, I will take you to your room!”

“Wait, we’re not staying together?” Mitsutada asked.

“Uh…” Shishiou’s eyes darted from the two alphas to the white haired omega. “Y-you see, we have ah…we have an omega section—I mean, we have an omega’s only living quarters. They ah, stay in a separated area for, you know, extra security!”

“He’s safe here.” Ookurikara frowned, not happy of how the blond seemed to have doubted their ability to protect their own brother.

“What Shishiou here means,” Tsurumaru swiftly cut in, using his body to shield the sweating blond that was obviously panicking. “All omegas must live separate from the betas and alphas. It’s apparently a rule at this inn, so I can’t stay in here with you guys.”

“Even if we’re family?” Mitsutada frowned. While it was quite normal for inns and hotels to have such system as a safety measure for omegas, it was usually optional.

“Don’t worry guys, it’ll be fine! I’ll get an entire room to myself!” Tsurumaru laughed as the two alphas exchanged looks.

“Is that so…” Mitsutada frowned, unhappy of the arrangement but if that was the case then nothing could be done. “How secure is the omega’s quarter?”

“E-eh?” Shishiou blinked, fumbling with his thoughts for a moment before collecting himself. “It’s super safe, you don’t need to worry! We got the most advance lock in both the rooms and the hot spring so you don’t need to worry!”

“Then…can we come along?” The raven haired alpha asked after a moment. “Just to make sure everything’s alright?”

“Sorry, but alphas can’t enter the omega’s quarter.” Shishiou said apologetically.

“It’s fine, Mits-bou, Kara-bou.” Tsurumaru waved. “I can take care of myself. Besides, it’ll be all omegas there, what can happen? I’ll just go with Shishiou to put my stuff away and I’ll be back before you know it!”

Without waiting for either of them to respond, Tsurumaru hastily pushed Shishiou out the door. He dragged the blond down the hallway, down the stairs before all the way to the far side of the building where the omega’s living quarter is located.

Though it was the omega’s living quarter, there were really only just six rooms. Tsurumaru only took a small whiff before knowing that he won’t have any neighbours here. The air was simply too clean, meaning that no one had lived here quite some time now.

“Ah…that freaked me out! I thought they were gonna find out!” The blond gasped once they got into one of the rooms.

“Oh! I got an outdoor hot spring too!” Tsurumaru laughed as he crouched by the rocks paved on the edge of the hot spring and dipped his hand into the steaming hot water. “Haha, this is awesome!”

Tsurumaru looked up; expecting to see similar scenery in his brothers’ room, but all he saw were tall wooden fences blocking his sight. “If only I have a view, then it’ll be perfect.”

“You sure are relax, Tsurumaru-san.” The blond frowned at the other omega’s carefree attitude.

“Don’t worry too much about it, Shishiou.” Tsurumaru said, turning to the worker standing by the doorway. “They won’t know that I planned this since they’ll never suspect me of anything.”

“You really are confident.” The blond omega sighed. “If I didn’t know they were your brothers, I would have thought those two are your suitors.”

“Everyone seems to think that.” Tsurumaru chuckled as he shook the water off his hand and gazed up to the vast blue sky. “Helps keep any real suitors away, so it’s all good.”

“Just when I haven’t hear from you for so long and you suddenly came to me with such crazy idea…they’re bound to find out something’s wrong when they see nothing but couples in this inn!”

“It’s fine—oh!” Tsurumaru turned to the blond, seeming to have just remembered something. “You did make sure the rooms around theirs are safe, right?”

“Of course.” Shishiou sighed. “I made sure the couples in that area didn’t have any omegas.” After all, if he didn’t do that, then those alphas would definitely know they had been lied to about Tsurumaru needing to be isolated.

“They say this place is blessed by the goddess of love. Couples who come here will get their bonds strengthened. Do you think she would bless those two?”

“I wouldn’t know…” Shishiou replied. “But if they have attractions to one another already like you’ve said, then it’s only a matter of time isn’t it?”

“Seriously…it’s painful to see those two always dancing around one another. It’s so obvious yet neither of them ever noticed.” Tsurumaru sighed. And to think those two always lecture him about needing to be more self-conscious. “If this trip doesn’t fix it then I’m going with my original idea.

“And what’s that?”

“Lock those two in a closet until they confess.”

“…”

That entire day, Tsurumaru spent his time exploring every nook and corner of the place with Mitsutada and Ookurikara following him tightly, giving warning looks at any alphas or betas daring to look at the omega for longer than half a second.

Even for alphas that already have a bond mate, the omega was an enchanting sight. There was more than a few where those poor omegas had to forcefully drag their partners away just because they couldn’t bring themselves to look away.

After watching another couple bickered for the fifth time that day with Tsurumaru as the source, Shishiou wondered if letting his friend stay here was a good idea.

“Oh boy…” The blond omega mumbled and flinched when a loud slapping sound echoed. He quickly stepped to the side as a tearful omega ran off, followed by a panicky alpha sporting a very red hand print on his swelling cheek.

“Ha…ha…” Shishiou laughed dryly. The blond wondered if they’ll be known as the hot spring inn famous for breakups after this. He glanced back to where Tsurumaru and his brothers are. Two of them are now playing at the ping pong table while the dark skinned one watched from the windowsill.

There was suddenly a shift of movement in the corner of his eyes, so Shishiou looked over just in time to see someone running up the stairs. He was only able to catch that person for a brief second, but there was an unfamiliar air around him.

Shishiou frowned. He has a pretty good memory and he pride himself in knowing all the customers that comes to stay. Even if it was only the backside, he would normally be able to recognize it.

But that person just now…the blond has no recognition whatsoever. Nothing came to his mind and the stranger was wearing their inn’s kimono, which meant he has to be a customer of theirs, right?

“Shishiou?”

Shishiou snapped out of his thought as he turned to see Ishikirimaru waving at him from the counter with a beta couple standing by the doorway. “Can you please take them to their room?”

“Ah, yes!” The omega gasped, the unfamiliar man was soon forgotten as the blond immersed himself into work.

Day soon turned into night as Ishikirimaru closed the front door to the inn with Shishiou finishing the last of his chores.

Tsurumaru was running down the hallway, having lost track of time as he looked over his shoulder to the two alphas chasing after him. “Come on, Mitsu-bou, Kara-bou! Dinner will be gone if we don’t hurry!”

“Tsuru-san, you shouldn’t ru—!” Mitsutada was about to warn when he saw a shadow coming from around the corner. “Look out!”

“Huh?” Before Tsurumaru could react, he felt himself colliding into something hard. Just as he was falling backward, a strong arm came around his waist just in time to pull him back onto his feet. When golden eyes looked up, the first thing he saw was a bottle of sake falling off a tray. The omega moved purely by reflex as he reached out and caught the sake before it could hit the ground.

“Are you alright?”

Tsurumaru tilted his head up to see that the person he had collided into was an alpha with long platinum silver hair and deep crimson eyes. Golden eyes dilated and the first thought that came to the omega was that this alphas strong—much stronger than him.

And what’s more…

The omega gapped a he was pulled behind his brothers’ taller frames.

“My apologies for my brother’s rudeness.” Mitsutada said sincerely, but the tenseness in both his and Ookurikara’s muscles tells Tsurumaru that they’ve sensed it as well.

This is a pure blooded alpha like them, meaning that he is a noble.

If there was anything worse than attracting the wrong attention with the omega, it was attracting the attention of nobles. Unlike commoners, nobles are much harder to deal with. If the situation isn’t handled delicately, then it may cause a fuel between not only their families, but as well as all ally families’ relationships.

Coming from one of the oldest family as well as being a pure blooded omega, many nobles have set their eyes on Tsurumaru. Due to his guardian, Date Masamune, outright declaring that the omega would not accept any suitors at the time; many families went with underhanded methods. The omega had encountered more coincidences and even accidents than his fingers plus toes can count. Seeing a noble in front of him and in this countryside hot spring inn nonetheless, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was another trick some family set up.

“Hn…?” Tsurumaru shifted back a little when his nose caught a strange scent lingering in the air. He lightly sniff at it…it was very faint, but this smell…it was familiar yet foreign at the same time.

“No worries, he did save my sake.” The alpha said, easily looking pass the two alphas as his wine red eyes fell on the bottle in the omega’s hands.  

The omega stared at the alpha. At first, he didn’t seem to have comprehended his words, but when he saw the way the alpha was eyeing his hands, he looked down and remembered what he was holding.

“Ah…sorry about that.” Tsurumaru mumbled as he handed the bottle of sake back to the much taller male.

The alpha nodded at them politely, saying no more as he placed the bottle back onto the tray and walked off—much to Mitsutada and Ookurikara’s surprise. They had been waiting for when the alpha tries to make some sort of move on their brother but this…were they mistaken?

Tsurumaru watched the strange alpha go, unable to help but notice that there are two sake cups on the tray.

“Come on, Tsuru-san.” Mitsutada said, giving on last look to where that other alpha disappeared to before guiding their omega brother into the dining room.

Throughout dinner, Tsurumaru didn’t speak at all and that made Mitsutada and Ookurikara extremely worried. The two alpha exchanged glances every now and then. They knew that Tsurumaru had gone quiet ever since running into that alpha, but why? It didn’t look like he was worried about that alpha coming after him, but then what other reasons could there be?

Half way into their lunch, Mitsutada finally decided to break the ice. “Tsuru-san?”

“Hm?” Came the absentminded response.

“…Are you alright?” This time, it was Ookurikara who had asked. Under normal circumstances, Tsurumaru would have cheered in joy that Ookurikara was vocally voicing out his worries, but now…the omega didn’t even seem to realize who it was that had asked.

“I’m fine…” His voice was muffled as he bit around the tips of his chopsticks with a mouthful of rice.

“Tsuru-san, can you look at us?”

“Hm?” Tsurumaru kept chewing his food slowly, not even registering the question. Irritated, Ookurikara reached out and snatched the omega’s chopsticks away from him. That brought him out of trance as he looked up at the pair in surprise. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re acting weird, Tsuru-san.” Mitsutada frowned. Tsurumaru blinked at him, taking a moment before finally seeming to notice his own behaviour a moment ago.

“Ah.” He laughed weakly. “It’s nothing…it’s just…I was thinking about a scent.”

“Scent?” Mitsutada frowned even more while Ookurikara scowled.

“That alpha back there…there was a strange scent on him…” Tsurumaru said slowly, his golden eyes starting to glaze over again as he recalled that smell. “It was very light…but it smelled…”

Tsurumaru trailed off; unable to find any words to describe what was it that he had smelled. It was a very faint scent, too faint for him to confirm what it was, but enough for him to feel a strange attachment to it.

The omega’s mind flashed back to the two cups he had seen that alpha carrying.

That scent definitely didn’t belong to the red eyed alpha, could it be his companion? If so, it couldn’t be any normal companion. After all, any pairs that come to this place are usually lovers or like Mitsutada’s and Ookurikara’s situation where they needed that final push.

The omega’s thoughts were cut off by a threatening growl as his golden eyes snapped up to Ookurikara who was baring his teeth towards the doorway.

Mitsutada was the first to move as he leaped over the table, ignoring the startled gasps of a couple walking by them and charged to the doorway. The raven haired alpha looked left and right, only coming back after confirming that there wasn’t anything.

“Whoever it was, they’re gone.” Mitsutada said with a disgruntled expression.  

From just Ookurikara’s reaction and Mitsutada’s words, Tsurumaru easily figured out what was going on. Someone was watching them.

“Let’s continue in your room.” He suggested, picking up his dinner as the three headed back to the two alpha’s room. On the way, Tsurumaru made sure to notify Shishiou in case anything happens and to get someone to come by and pick up their dishes when they’re done.

They didn’t talk about what happened in the dining room, nor did they continue the topic on that noble they’ve crossed paths with.

Instead, they just chatted idly of unimportant things. For Tsurumaru, it was just stuff that happened at school while Mitsutada complimented the food of the inn and how he wanted to meet the chiefs. Ookurikara just listened to the two quietly.

It was only a little past midnight did Tsurumaru announced that he’ll be going back to his room to rest. The two alphas tried to talk him to staying as the incident back in the kitchen gave them a bad feeling, but Tsurumaru assured them that he will be fine and waved them off.

When the omega got back to his room, the first thing that welcomed him was a blast of heat when he opened the door.  

“What the heck?!” The omega shouted as he stared at his overheating room. He rushed in, looking all over until he found the temperature adjustment. He stared at where the red arrow was pointing on the meter and noticed that it was adjusted to thirty-six degree.

He quickly turned it off before opening the door to the outdoor hot spring. With the door to his room and this one wide opened, the wind easily blew in and out through the other side.

Tsurumaru decided to sit outside as he waited for heat to fan out.

He sat by the heated rocks and dipped his feet into the hot spring. Without any scenery for him to enjoy, he could only gaze up at the stars as he waited for time to pass by. He didn’t know how long he sat there for, but the omega began to feel parched from the sweat clinging onto his body.

He shook the water off and walked back into his room. It was still a little bit warm, but already way better than what he had come back to. He went right for the refrigerator and smiled when he found a bottle of water in there. He eagerly twisted the bottle cap off and gulped down the cool fluid. Once he finished the entire bottle, he let out a huge breath as he felt the refreshing coolness flowing through his entire body.  

Unfortunately, his relief was short lived as a split second later; an intense searing heat coursed through his entire being. He choked, staggering on his feet as he dropped the empty bottle and grasped onto the metallic surface of the refrigerator as support.

“W-what…?” Tsurumaru panted as his cheek heated up in a rosy colour. He cried out when sharp pain suddenly came from each side of his neck, his wrists and the inside of his thighs. The omega’s eyes dilated, recognizing all these locations to be his scent glands.

He quivered in disbelieve, almost able to feel the way his pores expanded as a sickly sweet stench was spat out from his throbbing scent glands.

No way…

It can’t be…

It couldn’t be…!

He was in heat…but that shouldn’t be possible.

Unbounded omegas can’t go into heat. The only way for them to go into heat was to have close interaction with a highly compatible alpha, and Tsurumaru never even met anyone like that his entire life let alone coming into contact with one.

The omega shook his head before banging his forehead against the fridge to calm down.

No, this wasn’t his heat. It was similar, but a lot of things were missing. The only similarity he has right now compared to real heat was his feverish body and the weakness overtaking his body.

Golden eyes drifted to the empty bottle lying by his feet. His face scrunched up and wanted to beat himself up for how careless he had been.

This is a false heat caused by heat inducer drug.

Tsurumaru banged his head against the fridge again, unable to believe his own stupidity. He knew this. He should have known the danger of drinking things at an unfamiliar place. It was drilled into his head, so why did he gulp down the water without even sniffing or testing it to make sure it was safe?

He had forgotten who he is and lowered his guard at the worst possible time. Just because they had gotten so far from the city, he subconsciously thought it was alright for him to relax. That was the worst mistake any omega could make.

“Mitsu-bou and Kara-bou were right…” Tsurumaru laughed bitterly before hearing the sound of footsteps. His head snapped up to see alphas of all shape and sizes stepped into his room one after another.

Tsurumaru bit his lips harder as he remembered the door he left open. Then again, the fact that these people could even drug him meant they already have access to this room. They must have been the ones to turn up the heat as well, all to get him to drink what they had prepared.

The omega forced a smirk on his face to hide away the unease and spark of fear that was slowly growing inside him. There are six of them, all around the age of eighteen to twenty.

“This is a surprise…all these big alphas for little old me?” Tsurumaru rasped, only to realize how hoarse and quiet his voice sounded. He had meant to talk normally, but all that came out was a whisper. He didn’t notice with all the changes in his body, but the inside of his throat was burning up. He tried to let out a loud shout, but all that came out of his throat was similar to a cough.

These alphas came prepared. Now he can’t even scream for help.

The omega swayed a little on his feet as he his vision began to blur. No matter how much he rubbed his eyes, his sight wasn’t clearing up. The pounding in his head was getting worst as well. At this rate…

“Don’t look so tough now without your little guard dogs, eh, Tsurumaru?” A gruff voice snickered as Tsurumaru focused on the tallest alpha where the voice seemed to be coming from.

“Who are you?” Tsurumaru questioned with large beads of sweat constantly rolling down his face. From that alpha’s words, he obviously knew the omega. However, Tsurumaru couldn’t afford to think about that right now. He needed to get out of here somehow.

“Who are we?” A scratchy voice was the one that replied, but Tsurumaru couldn’t bother trying to figure out who was who anymore. “How dare you say that after getting us expelled!”

“What?” That caught the omega’s attention as he thought over what those words meant before everything finally made sense.

Around a month ago at Touken University, a pack of alphas had locked him into an empty classroom and tried to have their way with him. Tsurumaru only learnt afterward that they were a bunch of delinquents that came from average income families. They are those lazy kinds that dreamed of living a glamorous life without putting any amount of effort and despised the nobles who are born with everything they wanted.

That was why they came after him. They thought that if they’re all mated then the omega will give them they life they can only dream of.

While it sounded preposterous, it wasn’t a baseless idea. Once omegas are marked by alphas, they won’t be able to fight the instinct and desire to be closer to their alphas. Natured designed them as such for the sake of reproduction in the distant past. The only difference was that back then, things were much simpler. Alphas would only mark the omegas they love and would never dare to lay their hands on them. Domestic violence was treated like a mental illness back then.

Nowadays, this system is purely broken.  

Even though all three dynamics are technically on equal level, many thought otherwise. Too many alphas are entitled, thinking that omegas are naturally meant to be owned and used by them. While it is illegal to forcefully bond omegas and even worst when an omega was marked by multiple alphas, these idiots thought they can get away with it purely because Tsurumaru is a noble.

They bet on the fact that his family won’t have the heart to watch the omega in pain because he was separated from his alphas. After all, everyone knows how much Tsurumaru is treasured by his family. With his family’s power, getting a couple criminals out of jail isn’t hard—even if those criminals are given capital punishment.  

“So this is revenge.” Tsurumaru huffed. His nonchalant attitude seemed to rile up the alphas even more as they began to barked nonsenses at him.

“Do you know how much money my parents spent getting me into that school!? Because of you, everything’s gone!”

“We went bankrupted because of you!”

“If it weren’t for you, I would be working in the upper class right now!”

“You took away my future from me!”

“You’re just nothing but a bitch meant to pleasure your master, who do you think you are?!”

Tsurumaru wanted to laugh. So it was his fault now?

He didn’t bother reasoning with them. After all, these kinds of selfish people can’t be reasoned with. Everything is always other people’s fault. They never once reflect on what they had done to cause the outcome.

“You reaped what you sowed.” The omega bit the words out nice and slow, making sure that these fools heard every single syllable.

“You—!”

“Dude, calm down.” One of the alpha quickly grabbed his companion’s shoulder just when that alpha was about to give the omega a good beating. “Let see how long he can act all high and mighty after we turn him into our personal slut.”

“Yeah!” Another alpha cackled as his eyes shamelessly roamed over the omega’s body. He inhaled loudly, his body arching back as he filled his lungs with that sweet scent that made the tent in his pants twitch. “I’ll pump my pups into him real good. I called the scent glands on his thighs.”

“The necks’ are mine!”

“I’m marking those wrists!”

“Hey, hey, you gotta save some for us!”

“I’d like to see that head of his family looking down on us again! I’ll make him beg us to take that overused hole as our wife!”

Tsurumaru gritted his teeth as the air reeked with the foul stench of the alphas’ excitements.

“Now be like the good little slut you are.” One of the alphas wore a nasty smile on his face as he approached the omega. “Kneel on the fucking floor and lift your kimono up.”

Tsurumaru shuddered. He fell onto his knees, his hands trembling as he grasped onto his kimono. His eyes began to glaze over as he slowly began to lift the silky fabric up, his snow white knees being the first to reveal.

One of the alphas let out a low whistle while the others’ breathing hastened.

“Hurry up and let’s do this!”

“Don’t rush me!” The alpha that had given Tsurumaru that command snapped, but the drool dripping out of his mouth showed just how eager he was as the rest of them.

He stepped closer to the omega and began to unbuckle his belt. “Suck—”

Before he was able to finish, a pale knee shot up, smashing into that indecent budge between the alpha’s legs. The man howled out as he curled forward, instinctively going to nurse that broken part only for a pale hand to hit him under the jaw, thrusting his head upward. With a swift kick to the back of his knees and a hand grabbing his wrist, the alpha’s world was flipped upside down before he landed hard on his skull.

“What the fuck?!” The tallest alpha of the group was the first to react as he looked back to see the omega’s golden eyes staring back at them. Although a little unfocused, those eyes were filled with signs of life unlike the dead look omegas usually have when controlled. “H-how? That was an alpha’s voice!”

“Why so surprised?” Tsurumaru smirked. “It didn’t work the last time you’ve tried to use it on me. What makes you think it would work now?”

“B-but the drug—!”

“Only a pure blood can command a pure blood. Did you really think drugs can change that? And even if I’m not a pure blood, what makes you think your weak alpha’s voice will work on me? Omegas will only bow down to alphas worthy of their respect, and you are no alphas. You’re just trashes desperate to become somebody.” The omega let out a melodic laugh that would have been music to anyone’s ears, but to these alphas that got their prides ripped into shreds, it was nothing but insult.

Tsurumaru knew he had done it now. He was adding oil to the fire, but there was no other choice. He had tried to think of a way to escape, but he couldn’t even concentrate with the changes rapidly going through his body.

One thing was clear though—he would rather die than to let these scums bound him for the rest of his life.

“You…you bitch!”

oOo

A cool breeze traveled through the mountains, picking up gold and crimson leaves as it swept through the forest. A slender hand reached into the wind, precisely snatching out a bright yellow leaf from the tiny bit of treasure the wind had been carrying.

Sapphire blue eyes slowly opened, revealing the golden crescent ring around the iris as the elegant man surveyed the prize he had caught.

“Mikazuki-dono.” A voice called as a man with long fluffy white hair walked outside with a tray of two red sake cups and a bottle of sake. With an effortless leap, the silver haired man jumped eight feet into the air and landed soundlessly on the edge of the roof.

“Kogitsunemaru.” The midnight blue haired man gracefully greeted as the other alpha sat down next to him.

“The mid-autumn moon is certainly beautiful.” Kogitsunemaru said, gazing up at the full moon while setting down the tray.

“Indeed.” Mikazuki nodded slowly softly before his eyes trailed to the bottle of sake, then to his companion’s right arm.

“Have you met someone on the way here, Kogitsunemaru?”

“Hm?” The long haired alpha blinked as he picked up the sake and opened it with ease. “Ah…an omega ran into me. There were two alphas with him as well.”

“…I see.” Mikazuki said, his eyes narrowing just the slightest at that last part.

“Is something the matter, Mikazuki-dono?”

“No.” Mikazuki replied as he accepted the cup of sake handed to him. He looked down at the clear fluid inside before taking a small sip. “This sake has been brew well.”

“Ishikirimaru prepared it especially for us.” Kogitsunemaru chuckled. “He is very courteous. By the way, Mikiazuki-dono, what is in your hand?”

“This?” Mikazuki looked down at the leaf he was still holding between his fingers. “It was blown here by the wind.”

“May I?”

The dark haired man just smiled as he handed his companion the bright yellow leaf.

“A ginkgo leaf.” Kogitsunemaru smiled broadly as he observed the fan shaped leaf. “There were many ginkgo trees at the base of the mountain. It must have been carried all the way up here. Come to think of it, the nuts it bears should be ripe at this time. Shall we take a look when we leave the mountains, Mikazuki-dono?”

“Oh, that is a delightful idea. It would be a nice souvenir to bring back.” Mikazuki hummed before taking another small sip. However, his gaze was no longer reaching up to the moon, but on the bottle of sake sitting quietly on then tray. When another breeze swept by, the scent lingering on the bottle was blown right up into his face, making him unable to help but inhaled deeply, trying to get as much of that scent as he could.

“Mikazuki-dono?” Kogitsunemaru set his cup aside, his crimson eyes locked on the other male worriedly. “Is everything alright?”

Mikazuki didn’t even realize that he had closed his eyes when the scent had hit him. He slowly looked down at the bottle, carefully picking it up before taking a small sniff at where the scent is the strongest.

Through the heavy scent of the liquor and the alpha musk of Kogitsunemaru and Ishikirimaru, he could pick out a sweet scent. It wasn’t an overwhelming kind of sweetness. It was more like the type of sweetness spring water would taste on a dry tongue. It was a very clean smell…like the scent of freshly fallen snow.

“This is a nostalgic scent.” Mikazuki finally said as he stared down at the bottle in his hand.

“Nostalgic?” Kogitsunemaru stared at the sake, then up to Mikazuki. It was only when he saw that gentle expression on the other that he realized it wasn’t the alcohol the other was talking about. The image of the omega flashed across his mind. That was the only other person that had come in contact with that bottle aside from Ishikirimaru. “You know that omega I‘ve came across?”

“No.” Mikazuki slowly shook his head as he set the bottle back. “It is the first time I’ve smelled this scent…it simply felt like this is a scent I have been unknowingly longing for.”

Kogitsunemaru stared at Mikzuki’s usually composed face and was able to see a spark of desire within those heterochromia eyes. It took a few seconds before a look of realization dawned his face. “I will go ask Ishikirimaru of that omega!”

“There is no need, Kogitsunemaru.” Mikazuki called out, stopping the other just as he is getting up. “It is late in the night, best we don’t disturb anyone.”

“…You are too composed, Mikazuki-dono.” Kogitsunemaru huffed as he sat back down. “From the look on your face, he must be extremely compatible. This might be your only chance in finding him. For all we know, he could be leaving first thing in the morning.”

“If fate paired us together, then I am sure we will eventually meet.”

“You’re not afraid of that omega finding another alpha?” Kogitsunemaru asked. “When I saw him, he had two alphas accompanying him. From the smell, they are also from a pure bloodline. That omega is extremely pleasing to the eye, surely he doesn’t lack suitors.”

Kogitsunemaru stopped there, sparing a quick look at the other from the corner of his eyes before letting out a hearty laugh. “You act like you don’t care, but the expression you have is frightening!”

Mikazuki just pretended not to have heard anything as he gradually drank down the rest of his sake. Neither of them spoke after that, for that words are no longer necessary. They took turns pouring each other sake while savouring the beautiful scenery the moon brought for them. It was when Kogitsunemaru was pouring out the last bit of the sake did this peacefulness suddenly shattered.

“What is it, Kogitsune?” Mikazuki asked as he watched Kogitsunemaru turned his head towards a specific direction.

“…It’s rather rowdy over there.” Kogitsunemaru replied with his brows furrowed. The heavy waterfall near the inn was muffling some of the sounds, but whatever was going on, it didn’t sound good.

Mikazuki’s eyes followed to where his companion was looking as another breeze blew by, causing his hair to flutter as his kimono swayed. Deep blue eyes with golden ring widened as he caught a whiff of a distressed scent laced with a sickly sweet smell that made his stomach turned in a nauseating way.

Kogitsunemaru immediately pressed his hand over his nose and mouth as he staggered back at the powerful scent. “We need to inform Ishikirimaru!” He said, but when he looked over, the spot where Mikazuki once stood was now empty.

oOo

“Ugh…!” Tsurumaru gritted his teeth as water splashed around him. The water of the hot spring meant for relaxation felt like molten lava melting away his flesh.

He grasped the side of the slippery rock, but he couldn’t find any strength in his body to pull himself up. The most he could do was use the little support he has to keep his head above surface.

“…!” Tsurumaru gritted his teeth, refusing to cry out as a foot stomped over his fingers. He grasped onto the rock tighter as his golden eyes glared up at the blurred figures around him.

“What’s wrong bitch?” The alpha grinding on his fingers taunted. “Where’s the spirit you had before?”

Tsurumaru bared his teeth at them, only to wince when a fist swung down and smacked him across his right cheek. The omega’s footing slipped thanks to the impact as he sank into the boiling hot water, only to be lifted back up by his hair. His limp body was thrown against the jagged edge of the hot spring with a body much larger body pressing up to him from behind.

His skin was mercilessly scrapped against the rough rock, causing red marks to blossom over his delicate skin he struggled to push the alpha’s weight off him. He wanted to gag in disgust when he felt something hard pressing against his backside. And what’s more, he could feel it twitching in excitement as the alpha began to dry hump him.

“Feisty little bitch! Once we’re bonded, we’ll have to make sure to thoroughly train you!”

The omega’s golden eyes burned with hatred as he fought the holds on his hands and hips.

Fed up with his constant resistant, the alpha behind him grabbed a handful of soft white hair and slammed the omega’s head into the ground.

Tsurumaru finally choked out a cry when both of his hands were seized by an alpha, stretching his limbs to the limit before his hands were pinned onto the ground by their heavy foot.

A large hand grabbed him by the back of his collar, ripping his kimono down to his waist as those beautiful shoulders and pink little buds on his chest were exposed to the alphas’ eyes.

Distantly, Tsurumaru could hear them laugh and taunted him as hands ran over the velvet pink skin heated from the drug and the water.

This was it…

As soon as the omega was pinned down, he knew it was over. Or perhaps it had been over from the very start, he just didn’t want to accept a fate like that.

Once he becomes bonded to these alphas, his life would come to an end. Even if it was an illegal bond, they will be his alphas for the rest of his life. Even if these bastards get thrown in jail for eternity, he will suffer from the bond’s desire to be near his mates. His entire world from there forth will revolve around these scums.

Tsurumaru closed his eyes as the image of his brothers flashed across his mind.

Mits-bou…Kara-kou…

“…Sorry…” Tsurumaru whispered quietly to himself just as he felt a tongue ran across the sensitive skin of his nape.

“AAAAH!!” A loud scream brought Tsurumaru back into reality as his ears were suddenly filled with crashing sounds.

“Who the fuck—KUAH!”

Tsurumaru opened his eyes just as a black blur flashed by his vision before more screams rang into his ears. The noises around jolted him back to reality as he realized that the hands on his body were all gone. Even the heat of the other alpha pressing against his back wasn’t where anymore.

He let out a shaky breath as his body slowly slid downward. Without those alphas pinning him in place, his body was starting to sink into the water. His hands were involuntarily shaking and he could barely even move a finger. His head began to fall back as his eyes drifted up to the darkness he assumed was the sky.

Just as the back of his head grazed the surface of the water, his fall was stopped by a large hand gently supporting the back of his neck.

“Who…?” That word slipped out of Tsurumaru’s lips weakly as the omega notice something hovering over him. He could feel the water around his body moved as his legs were hooked up by something before he was lifted out of the water.

The omega’s muscles tightened up as he realized he was being held in someone’s arms. He tried to fight against this person, but his body was too weak. The arms under him shifted, pulling him up slightly as his face fell against the side of a slender neck.

“Hm…” He moaned softly when he smelled the scent under his nose. It was a very light fragrance, one that Tsurumaru wouldn’t have been able to smell if he wasn’t so close. He knew it wasn’t normal. No one’s scent should be this faint…but he wasn’t in the right mindset to think much about that. The only thing he could figure out was that this person isn’t an alpha. The scent doesn’t have an alpha’s natural dominancy. So this person is a beta? Omega?

Was he safe now?

Did someone discover what was happening and came to help him?

Tsurumaru parted his mouth, wanting to ask so many things but the only thing that came from his throat was a high pitched mew that a distressed omega would release to call for their mate. His body stilled the moment he realized what he had done. Thankfully, the person holding him didn’t seem to mind being called so intimately as the grip around him tightened.

“It’s alright.” A husky voice resonated from the strong body he was pressed against, causing the omega to tremble ever so slightly. “I’ve got you, little one.”

Tsurumaru didn’t know why, but all his fears and worries disappeared from just those small, simple words. He couldn’t understand why he was behaving this way. Perhaps it was the drugs…

Mikazuki held the omega securely in his arms, not daring to use too much strength in fear of further harming the beautiful creature. His eyes roamed over the omega, taking in every cuts and bruises he could find. The worse injuries were those pale, willowy legs. The omega’s left ankle was badly twisted and perhaps having relied on his right leg too much after that, he pulled a muscle or two, causing nonstop twitches to the entire limb.

Then there were those hands…the boy’s fingers were completely filled with cuts and bruises. Mikazuki knew what these beautiful hands had suffered. And when his eyes finally stopped on that ugly bruise marring the omega’s lovely face, he could barely contain the rage threatening to explode from his chest.

Each breath that escaped the omega’s lips had a raspy sound to it. From that, Mikazuki knew that his throat has been damaged. The suffocating sweet scent gushing out of those inflamed scent glands only further spiked the anger within him. The smell didn’t excite him like it did to those alphas. All it smelled to him was an overwhelmingly revolting scent—like a woman drenching herself in a pool of perfumes.

Thankfully the omega didn’t seem to have any dislocated or broken bones. Omega’s bone structures are the weakest among the three dynamics. Even an average alpha wouldn’t be able to get away with what the omega has when going against six fully grown alphas. Normal people would call this a miracle, but Mikazuki never believed in such things. He has seen the injuries on those alphas and knew what this omega was capable of. But even so…no matter how strong this omega is, Mikazuki wanted to protect him.

No…he needed to protect him.

Mikazuki carefully pulled the omega’s kimono back over his shoulders before finally sparing a look at the group of alphas he had thrown onto the other side of the hot spring  

There were only five of them, curled together like threatened puppies. The last alpha that had been pinning down the omega was behind Mikazuki—lying in the hallway next to a broken door with all four limbs twisted at odd angles and eyes rolled to the back of his head.

“Y-you bitch…!” One of the alphas howled as he cradled his broken arms. “Fuck!” Tears were flooding down his face from the pain. The bones in his forearms were completely shattered with a purplish bruise on his skin in the form of a hand print.

“The fuck’s your problem!?” Another alpha wheezed, he too suffering from broken bones except his was in the ribs. He didn’t know how it had happened. One moment he was grinding his foot over the omega’s fingers. The next, he was soaring over the steaming hot water and slammed into the wooden fence so hard that it knocked the air out of his lungs. His face was red with anger and pain, not knowing which was greater as he glowered at the stranger that seemingly appeared out of thin air.

“Bastard!” The alpha on the far right tried to act tough as he gave out a shaky smirk. “You guys can take that albino bitch. This one’s mine! I’m gonna mark him and chain him to my fucking bed for the rest of his life!”

“Oh my…” The raven haired man said quietly. He stared at the alphas with a soft smile yet the look in his eyes caused goose bumps to crawl over the alphas’ skins. “It seems there is a bit of misunderstanding.”

Adjusting his hold over the white haired omega, Mikazuki reached up a free hand to the crook of his neck—right over one of his scent glands. He pinched the skin there and pulled.

At first, the alphas were completely grossed out. They all thought this maniac had lost it and was peeling his own skin off. However, when they noticed that what was being pulled off was just a transparent material with texture similar to skin, they finally recognized what it was.

Scent blocker.

“I am no omega.”

In an instant, a pressure they never felt before slammed into them with full force, causing them to lose their footings and tumbled onto the ground as their faces twisted in horror.

That ethereal being with a face on par with the white haired omega was an alpha. And from this amount of pressure, it must be an alpha of a really old bloodline.

Tsurumaru let out a sharp gasp as the scent rushed up his nose, blowing the fog in his mind away as his vision suddenly cleared. For a moment, he couldn’t figure out what had happened. It was like waking up from a nightmare…everything just seconds ago felt like nothing but a distant dream.

He stared—lost within those sapphire blue irises with an upside-down crescent moon wrapped around the pupils. Tsurumaru has never seen such eyes before. He didn’t even know something so beautiful could exist. Those eyes were enchanting, and the owner even more so.

“Are you alright?” The man asked kindly when he noticed the omega starring intensely at him, the dazed look from before completely gone from those golden eyes now shimmering with life.

Tsurumaru opened and closed his mouth like a fish on land, unable to find the right words to say. When the man leaned down trying to hear the nonexistent words, Tsurumaru found himself staring at that pale neck that came closer to him. Once more, he was hit by a face full of that delicious scent that reminded him of the summer’s night.

“Ah…uh…!” Tsurumaru writhed as he felt a sudden pulse of heat. He froze in the man’s arms with his breath held as he felt his own heartbeat pulsing through his entire body.

Wide golden eyes stared into those blue and amber ones…

And then, he screamed as a blast of heat suddenly filled him.

This wave of new heat was way more intense than before as he felt his entire body starting to become hyper sensitive. His face flushed when he felt something wet oozing out from the most sinful place in his body.

Unlike before, this time his mind was crystal clear. Or rather, his body was forcing his mind to be clear in order for him to pleasure the one that had woken the omega within him.

He was in real heat this time.

“Ah…!” Tsurumaru shookshiv as the scent glands on each side of his neck gradually rise into small bumps on his smooth skin, releasing a light, creamy scent into the air. Even the alphas on the other side of the hot spring had forgotten about the over powering alpha before them and stared at the omega hungrily. Unlike the false heat that was just forcing out waves of aphrodisiac scent due to the chemical reaction of the drug, Tsurumaru’s body right now was releasing a real omega’s scent.

It was the most primal scent that truly wakens the alpha’s desire. Plus with his scent gland budging out of his neck like that, only an alpha with insane resolve would be able to resist the urge to sink his fangs into that delicate flesh and permanently engrave their mark onto the omega.

When those alphas on the other side tried to make their move, that enchanting scent was covered by a certain alpha’s musk so strong that it made them want to vomit. In fact, one did just that.

Mikazuki’s eyes were narrowing dangerously at those alphas as he used his kimono’s long sleeve to hide the omega from those unworthy eyes.

“Shh…” He hushed, feeling the omega shivering in his arms as he carefully guided the omega’s head until the boy’s face is nested onto the scent gland on his neck. He patted the omega’s back and after a while, he finally felt the omega relaxing under his ministrations. “It’s alright. You are safe with me.”

“Mikazuki-dono!” Hearing his name, Mikazuki looked up to see Kogitsunemaru running in with Ishikirimaru and the worker Shishiou.

“Tsurumaru!” The blond shouted when his eyes spotted Tsurumaru hidden within the raven haired alpha’s arms. He wanted to go up to them, but the alpha’s crushing presence wouldn’t allow him to take even a step closer. Sweats were already pouring down his face and it took all of his will power not to turn tail and flee.

“Tsuru—” The blond was cut off when his boss suddenly stepped in front of him.

“Stand back, Shishiou. You’ll become affected by his heat if you get too close.” Ishikirimaru was holding a cloth over his mouth as he slowly took in the alphas in his rooms that were obviously not his customers.

Kogitsunemaru approached cautiously. If it was under any normal circumstances, he wouldn’t be worried as Mikazuki has immense self-control. However, Kogitsunemaru has witnessed how the other alpha he had known all of his life acted around that omega. Worse of all, that omega appears to be in bad shape. If he isn’t careful and somehow aggravated that omega even more, Kogitsunemaru was certain Mikazuki won’t hesitate to turn on him.

“Ishikirimaru,” The silver haired alpha glanced at his long-time friend from the corner of his eyes. “Do you have any emergency necessities for omega heat?”

“Y-you mean toys?!” Shishiou choked as his eyes darted back and forth between this alpha and his omega friend. The blond was on the edge of a breakdown as he struggled to figure out what he was supposed to do in a situation like this. He didn’t care if his boss seems to know that alpha, Tsurumaru definitely does not know! There’s no way any alpha would be sane enough not to touch an omega when they’re in heat!

Then it came to him…Tsurumaru’s brothers! Blood relatives won’t react to an omega’s heat. Surely they can protect him during this time.

“Wait! He has brothers!” Shishiou shouted as he stumbled to the doorway with wobbly feet. Sweats rolled down his face as he wondered just how strong that alpha was. The alpha only let out his scent and he could barely stand on his feet. “I’ll go get—”

“NO!” It was the white haired omega who had cried out right then. Shishiou looked over to the omega in shock and was met by a pair of pleading amber eyes. “Don’t tell them…!”

“B-but…” Shishiou bit his lips. He watched Tsurumaru curled up in the alpha’s arms, his body trembling as his breathes came out in uneven puffs.

“We do have some.” Ishikirimaru responded after a while. “We’ve have some in the storage in case of an emergency. Shishiou, can you bring them here?”

“Ishikirimaru-san!” Shishiou wanted to argue, but Ishikirimaru lightly patted his shoulder.

“Don’t worry. Mikazuki-san isn’t an average alpha. He won’t hurt him.”

Shishiou wasn’t convinced, but when he heard another strangled sound coming from Tsurumaru, he turned and ran as fast as his shaky legs could carry him.

“Kogitsunemaru, I will leave them to you.” Mikazuki said, sparing one last look at those alphas before he leaped onto the edge of the roof. As much as he wanted to personally take care of those alphas, the omega in his arms was more important.

It only took him a split second to arrive by his room’s window on the third floor. He grabbed the edge of the roof with one hand while the other held the omega tightly against his chest. With a flip, he slipped through the window with ease and slammed it shut. He let down the curtains, looking around to make sure everything is alright before slowly setting the omega onto the tatami.

The omega was shivering badly. With the way his wet hair and clothes were sticking onto his skin, he looked like a wet kitten Mikazuki had once seen trapped in the rain. The only difference this omega has with that kitten was his eyes. That kitten’s eyes back then were dead—having given up on life. Yet these golden eyes were glowing vibrantly in the dimness, reflecting the omega’s strength,

This was the first time Mikazuki had ever seen an omega like this before. From what he could gather, this omega has been forced into a false heat for quite some time before his real heat hits. Throughout this, he was able to maintain consciousness and even held off six alphas until he gotten there.

It was truly amazing.  

“I’m going to go get a towel and a change of clothes for you.” Mikazuki said as he stood back up. “You’ll be sick if you keep wearing that.”

The alpha hurried to his closet, well aware of the pair of golden eyes following his every movement.

It hurts.

It hurts so much.

Everywhere hurts. From inside to outside…every part of Tsurumaru’s body was crying and begging to be relieved from the pain. His skin was itching as though filled with invisible rashes. Every part of his body had become hyper sensitive, to the point where even the clothes sticking to his skin was hurting him.

He stared at the stranger that had saved him. He knew the moment he smelled that scent—it was the same scent that had bothered him on that other alpha.  He buried his face into his knees, ashamed of the state he had become. More importantly, he was ashamed of being seen like this in front of that alpha.

He didn’t know why. He was never the easily embarrassed type, but he couldn’t help but want to look good in front of this alpha. He didn’t know what this feeling is, but he didn’t dare to think too deep into it. He was in heat. For all he knows; this could all be the heat’s fault.

“Ugh…” Tsurumaru fell onto his side. He clawed at the floor—his body already hurting so much that he didn’t even feel the way his fingers were bleeding as his nails scrapped against the tatami.

His hands were quickly seized by a pair of larger hands that were so hot it felt like it was burning through his skin. But unlike the feeling of the hot spring, it was a pleasant heat that he wanted more of. His mind began to fade, but he smacked his head into the ground to bring himself back. He looked up to see the alpha’s concerned eyes gazing back at him.

“It’s alright.” The alpha cooed as he slowly pulled Tsurumaru upright. When the alpha tried to pull the wet kimono off the omega, Tsurumaru reacted by pushing the other away.

“No…!” The omega panted as he clutched onto his clothes despite how raw it felt on his skin.

“It’s alright.” The alpha said, looming over the omega as Tsurumaru realized how trapped he was. His mind was panicking, but his body was shivering with pleasure at their position.

“You’ll get sick if you don’t take it off.” The alpha said gently, there was a vast amount of patience in his voice, void of any emotions other than concern.

However, Tsurumaru couldn’t see any of that. He kept shaking his head, but was powerless as he felt his kimono slid off his body. The itchiness was finally gone when the wet kimono was removed. His body felt relieved, but at the same time tears were silently rolling down his face in shame. He tried to hide himself from the alpha’s gaze. He knew how battered his body looked right now. He didn’t want to show something like this to the alpha making him react this way.

When the alpha had taken off his clothes, he noticed how the other had paused for a second before getting to work with drying the omega. Upon first contact with the supposedly soft towel, Tsurumaru hissed at how rough the material felt.

Realizing what was wrong, the alpha hurried to the bathroom and returned with a blow dryer instead. The omega yelped in surprise when the cool air first blew against his burning skin. It left a tingly sensation on his body, but it didn’t hurt like the towel.

Little by little, Tsurumaru found himself relaxing under the breeze. In no time at all, the water had vaporized from his hair and skin. Once the roaring sound of the hair dryer was turned off, the omega found something smooth and silky laid over him.

Tsurumaru stared down in shock.

What surprised him wasn’t the fact that the alpha covered his body with a white kimono, but the fact that this kimono hadn’t hurt his skin like other fabrics. Only silk of the highest quality wouldn’t scrape against an omega’s skin in heat. Coming from a prestigious family, money was something Tsurumaru never lacked. Every one of his clothes is made of the highest quality thanks to his overprotective family. Even so…none of his clothes could compare to this simple kimono resting over him.

If water has a solid form, then this kimono would be it. That was the only way Tsurumaru could think of describing this feeling. There was zero friction against his skin—the fabric almost felt like it wasn’t there at all. Tsurumaru didn’t hesitant to put it on, sneaking the alpha a small glance to find the man had his back turned towards him.

The omega wanted to laugh at that, wondering what’s the point when the alpha no doubt saw his body when drying him. Strangely though, such small gesture made his already racing heart skipped a beat. He gripped tightly on the kimono, his reddened face burning even brighter as the alpha’s scent assaulted his nose. That heavy alpha’s musk was all over the clothing as proof of how much the alpha has worn it. He could almost feel his pores expanding just to soak up that heavenly smell.

“Ah!” Tsurumaru let out a startled yelp when he was suddenly lifted up. The alpha sat down against the wall with the omega placed on his lap and his strong arms around that slender frame.

Tsurumaru was completely frozen. His heart was beating like crazy as he was pressed against the alpha’s chest. Despite having such a delicate face, the alpha had solid muscles. The blue haired man had changed to a white kimono as well made with the exact same material as the one he had given the omega.

With only two thin fabrics separating their bodies, Tsurumaru couldn’t help but become aware of the well-defined structure of the body he was leaning against. He could feel the fine lines of the alpha’s muscles, especially texture of those eight packs under the loosely tied kimono.

Tsurumaru wanted to die. He couldn’t believe the kind of thoughts that are going through his head. His breathings were quickening as he felt his skin starting to burn up again. The alpha acted fast as he leaned down and rubbed the side of his neck against the omega’s slightly budged scent gland.

Soft moans uncontrollably sipped out of Tsurumaru’s lips as he felt the alpha’s musk being soaked into his body through that delicate gland. He had heard that scent marking feels good, but he didn’t know it was this good. His legs trembled as he felt more slick flowing out, drenching through the white kimono and pooling over the alpha’s laps.

The alpha lightly shivered upon feeling the wetness on his lap, but he just focus on his task as he began marking the scent gland on the other side. By the time he was done, Tsurumaru was turned into a pile of quivering mush in the alpha’s arms.

The alpha looked down at the delicate creature. A small frown tugged the corner of his lips as he gently brushed a finger by the omega’s bruised cheek. When Tsurumaru came down from his high, he opened his eyes and was welcomed by the sight of the alpha’s kind smile.

“How are you feeling?” He asked, adjusting the omega so that the other’s head was up against his neck where his scent is the strongest.

“Hm…” Tsurumaru moaned as he tried to push back the longing inside him. He took in a deep breathing, trying to use the other’s scent to calm the heat inside him. “I’m…fine…”

The alpha grinned at that lie. The omega was obviously not fine and they both knew it.

“May I ask for your name?” He asked after a while.

“…Tsu—” Tsurumaru sucked in a sharp breath as a wave of heat shifted through his body. “Tsurumaru… K-Kuninaga.”

“I see…” The alpha hummed, everything about this omega now made sense. “So you are the treasured omega of Date-dono.”

Tsurumaru wasn’t surprised this alpha knew of him. While they’ve never met, all noble bloodlines have their own ways of knowing their competitions. Alphas especially, as they are the future heir of every household, so it was no wonder that he would know of the white haired omega.

“Surprised…that someone like me is here…?” Tsurumaru tried to joke through gritted teeth as sweats rolled down his forehead, only to be soaked up by the alpha’s sleeve gently dabbing his face.

“It certainly is a surprise.” The alpha chuckled. “Your beauty is famous among the nobles. At gatherings you are always the most popular topic. Many desire you.”

Tsurumaru only responded with a dry laugh. He knew that well. That is why he never attends any of those gatherings. “And? Surely…you are famous among nobles as well…?”

The alpha smiled, seeming to ponder over something before finally speaking. “Mikazuki Munechika. That is my name, Tsurumaru.”

Tsurumaru nearly choked on his saliva right then and there.

“Wha—?!” He stared at the alpha in shock. He felt stupid for not realizing it sooner.

Mikazuki Munechika, that name is one of Japan’s five great alphas! And what’s more, that very alpha was also ranked as the number one beauty in Japan—his face even putting omegas to shame. Tsurumaru had once joked to his friends how sad it would be to become such alpha’s mate—especially if they’re an omega. After all, no omega would want to be compared to their own alpha.

“Hahaha…” Tsurumaru laughed, ignoring the pain wrecking his body as he thought about the irony of their situation. “This is…a really big surprise…!”

After calming down a little, Tsurumaru looked up at the alpha and smiled. “Now it makes sense …why you haven’t mark…me even though my…uh…scent gland is presented out to you.”

“…I am not as composed as you think.” Mikazuki said after a moment, looking down at those golden eyes that were getting tired from fighting a losing battle. They both knew time was running out for them.

It was already a miracle Tsurumaru can stay conscious for so long. Sooner or later, that ancient, primal instinct will take over and all that will be left are lust and desire.  

“I will not lie. You smell delectable to me. Never have I met an omega that can stir me up as you, Tsurumaru.”

“Me…me too…” Tsurumaru mumbled weakly. “First…time…”

“I am honoured.” Mikazuki said, carefully lifting one of the omega’s hands and lightly planted a small kiss upon his bruised knuckles. “I understand that you do not trust me.” The alpha began slowly. “Shishiou mentioned your brothers. If you are not comfortable with me, I can—”

“No!” Tsrumaru stated firmly. That is one thing he cannot allow to happen. He knew they will find out eventually, but when they do, he wants to confront them while having a clear mind. Not in this heat driven and battered state. He couldn’t let himself be seen like this. It would leave scars on both them and Tsurumaru have no doubt they would blame themselves for his mistake.

A large hand was suddenly placed on his head. Long fingers combed through his hair as a gentle voice said, “then can you allow me to take care of you, Tsuru?”

For a moment, Tsurumaru’s mind when blank at the nickname. Sure he has been called that way by his brothers, but that was it. Even his friends never called him by just “Tsuru”. However…when the alpha said it, it gave him the illusion that that gap between them wasn’t as large as before…as if they had known each other for a long time.

Mikazuki had only omitted the last half of the omega’s name on a whim. He wanted to see how it would roll on his tongue, and his body trembled in delight when he found out just how much he liked calling the omega so intimately.  

Tsurumaru stared at the alpha intensely. From everything he had seen up to now, he knew that Mikazuki is trustworthy. This man isn’t the like those other alphas. He is a true noble—exactly like those alphas described in ancient times. He knew he would be safe, but he also knew what omega’s heat can do to alphas. Even the kindest alpha would lose control around an omega in heat. Just because this alpha is in control now doesn’t mean he will always be, just like him.

Tsurumaru hugged his head as his mind started to become fuzzy.  

Can he trust him?

Can he hand himself over to this alpha?

“I will not take you, nor will I mark you. If I even attempt to break my word, do what you must to protect yourself.”

Tsurumaru froze.

His breathe was caught in his lungs as he suddenly felt everything in his body just…stopped. Those soft words resonated through his ears and latched firmly onto his brain. The omega jolted slightly as he felt a small consciousness hiding in the back of his mind…waiting to break free when the conditions are met.

It took a couple seconds before Tsurumaru finally realized what had happened.

Mikazuki had used an alpha’s voice on him.

He stared up into those gentle eyes as his eyes began to sting a little with tears beginning to gather.

Though he hid it behind a fearless smile, Tsurumaru feared alpha’s voice. He never knows when he will encounter an alpha stronger than him. He never knows whose voice would actually work on him until they try it out. Every alpha command that had ever been thrown at him where shameless and even criminal commands, but the only reason he was still here was simply because he hadn’t encounter an alpha that possesses the strength to rule over him. He had always wondered what if he met a stronger alpha…what then? How was he supposed to escape?

Never did he think—or even dare to imagine—that the very first alpha’s voice he would experience would be this. The voice was so unbelievably tender, and the words even more so. He had never heard of an alpha giving a command to the omega just to have him protect himself from the very person giving such order. It was ridiculous on so many levels…

“Tsurumaru?” Mikazuki looked down at the omega, wondering if the other was alright when the omega suddenly leaned up and pressed a chaste kiss on his lips. It was only for a brief second, but for the alpha, his time was completely frozen to when their lips were still connected.

Those lips were so unbelievably soft…like kissing the petal of a newly blossomed flower.

“Tsuru is fine…” Tsurumaru mumbled, looking up at the alpha with eyes filled with warmth. “Thank you…Mikazuki…”

Mikazuki was finally woken from the shock. He hid half of his face behind his sleeve; successfully hiding that pink blush dusting his cheeks.

Tsurumaru couldn’t help but laughed at how cute the alpha was behaving. It wasn’t often to see an alpha acting like a blushing maiden. If he didn’t know any better, that face would totally be an omega’s face. Unfortunately, his laughter didn’t last long as the next second his lips were sealed by Mikazuki.

The omega wrapped his arms around the alpha’s neck as he fell backward onto the tatami with the alpha hovering over him. Their lips mould together as their tongues slid against one another sensually. Neither had experienced such heated passion before and were soon drunk on the feeling. Moans sounded through the room as the two lay on the ground, having done nothing but kiss for nearly five minutes until a knock came from the door.

Mikazuki reluctantly put their activity to a pause. He pushed himself up while Tsurumaru continued to lay there, panting with a dazed look in his eyes. Seeing how the omega was still zoned out, Mikazuki use this chance as he walked over to the door, sliding it open just a small gap to see Kogitsunemaru on the other side.

“Here are the things you need, Mikazuki-dono.” Kogitsunemaru said with a light smile.

“Thank you, Kogitsunemaru.” Mikazuki thanked while holding his breath to prevent himself from smelling the scent of the other alpha. The moment he took the bag, Kogitsunemaru left without another word, knowing better than to stay around another alpha guarding an omega that’s in heat.

Mikazuki watched him go. It was only when that silver hair disappeared around the corner did he shut the door tightly and locked it. He looked inside the bag and saw that not only were there toys for omega’s heat, there were bottles of water and nutrition drinks as well.

He will have to thank Kogitsunemaru again later.

Hearing an almost inaudible whine, Mikazuki was by Tsurumaru’s side in a flash. He gathered the omega into his arms and rubbed the younger male’s back in a circular rhythm. Tsrumaru buried his face into the alpha’s neck and greedily inhaled the man’s scent. He needed this smell to calm down…he needed to know that this alpha hadn’t abandoned him.

He felt so pathetic…

Never in his life had he felt so useless and weak before.

“You’re not weak, Tsuru.” Mikazuki suddenly said, his hot breath coating the shell of his ear. “It’s just your pheromones making you behave this way. I know this isn’t you.”

Tsurumaru tucked his head under the alpha’s chin. He didn’t know if he had spoken out loud or not, but he was grateful for those words. “Mikazuki…I-I can’t…anymore…”

He was losing control. Any moment now he will lose himself into the heat…

“Mika—hm…” Tsurumaru moaned into the pair of lips smothering his as the alpha slowly stood up.

Mikazuki carried the omega to the futon in the center of the room. Holding the omega with one hand, he reached out his other hand and grabbed the neatly folded blue kimono on the side of the futon. With a wave of his hand, the kimono unfolded, fanning out as it nearly covered the entire surface of the futon.

It was only then that Mikazuki placed the omega onto the cool, silky material. Throughout this, their lips never once parted. The omega stranded his neck as the alpha settled behind him. They were back to chest as Mikazuki slid a hand under his kimono and grabbed a certain sensitive organ that had been leaking for quite some time now.

Tsurumaru practically screamed into the alpha’s mouth as he came right then and there. The alpha hadn’t even stroke him and he came from the feeling of that large hand around him. Tears of relieve streamed down his eyes as Tsurumaru became completely boneless within the alpha’s arms.

The omega’s face was peppered with little kisses as the hand holding that still hard organ began to move.

“Ah! W-wait…I just…I just—nnh…!”

“It’s alright…just let it out, Tsuru.” Mikazuki said softly, not needing to take long before the omega came for the second time. The alpha swiftly wrapped an arm around the omega just as the other was about to fall over.

“Mika…zuki…” Tsurumaru panted as Mikazuki saw a filmy haze glazed over the omega’s eyes. Those clear amber irises that perfectly reflected the alpha like a golden mirror was now muddy with lust with those round pupils dilated like a cat’s.

The alpha’s smile was full of affection as he leaned down and placed a kiss between the omega’s brows.

“Sleep, Tsuru. I will take care of you.”

Tsurumaru smiled as those white lashes fluttered down, finally allowing his mind to rest as he trusted himself to this alpha.

oOo

Tsurumaru opened his eyes to the sunlight streaming through the open window, leaving a warm glow on his pale face. He groaned at the brightness and rolled to his other side, only to wince when a weird sting came from his cheek.

Irritated and hot, the omega pushed off the thick blanket and tried to sit up—only to fall over when a weird sensation came from his lower body. Before he was able to hit the mattress, a strong arm slipped around his shoulder and held him up.

“Mitsu-bou…?” Tsurumaru whispered, only to cough at how terrible his voice sounded. Feeling something pressed against his lips, Tsurumaru opened his eyes to see a glass of water. He took the glass and eagerly gulped down the fluid. He didn’t even realize how thirsty he was until the lukewarm water washed down his dry throat.

“Who is Mitsu-bou?” A voice that was definitely not Mitsutada asked, casing Tsurumaru to spat out the last mouthful of water he was just about to swallow. He coughed a little, thankful that he was using the water to rinse his dried mouth, otherwise that would have gotten into his lungs. Golden eyes looked up to meet a pair of stunning sapphire eyes with golden rings around the pupils.

“Y-you’re…!” Tsurumaru spluttered as he stared at the handsome face of the alpha. Though Mikazuki was smiling, there was something sinister about that smile…almost as if he was angry at something? “Mikazuki!”

“Well?” Mikazuki pushed on, his smile widening as he leaned closer to Tsurumaru.

“Well what…?” Tsurumaru backed away slightly, a tiny bit intimidated by the look on the alpha’s face as his brain frantically tried to figure out what the man was talking about. It took a couple seconds before the omega finally recalled the alpha’s question. “Mitsu-bou’s my brother.”

“I see.” Like a switch being flipped, Mikazuki was smiling normally again as though nothing had happened. He took his time setting the empty glass aside before asking, “How does your body feel?”

“My body?” It was when the alpha pointed it out did Tsurumaru became aware of the pain and itches throughout his body. His muscles were so sore that the beating he received from the alphas paled in comparison. He has no problem moving his hands, but his legs were numbed to the point where he could barely move his toes. The omega looked down at his legs, only to find white bandages wrapped tightly around his twisted ankle. He reached down, wanting to touch it when he noticed that his hands were taken care of too.

He stared at the clean bandages neatly wrapped around his fingers, going past his wrists and disappearing into his kimono’s sleeve. Feeling a light throb from his cheek, Tsurumaru reached up and found bandages on there as well.

“Did you do this?” Tsurumaru looked up to the alpha curiously.

“Yes.” The alpha responded, gently wrapping a large hand around his smaller one and brought it up to his lips.

Tsurumaru felt blush creeping up his cheeks as he felt the warmth of those lips through the bandages.

“Thank you.” The omega whispered, but he knew such simple words won’t be enough to cover everything this alpha had done for him. This alpha had saved him, protected him, cared for him and so much more. He knew Mikazuki had kept his promise. If the raven had taken him or mark him, then his scent would change to carry a hint of the alpha. On top of that, Tsurumaru could still feel the alpha’s command somewhere in the back for his mind. Although it was faint since so much time has passed, it was still there, meaning the other didn’t go back on his words.

“You really held back.” Tsurumaru whispered.

“I promised, did I not?” Mikazuki said.

“You did…” Tsurumaru mumbled after a while.

Silence then fell over the pair. To Mikazuki, it was comforting. He enjoyed sitting there just holding the omega in his arms, however, Tsurumaru was a different story. The silence couldn’t be more awkward for him, so he decided to break it.

“What happened to those alphas?” Tsurumaru bit his tongue the moment those words left his mouth. Of all things why did he have to ask that? “Never mind, forget—”

The omega shut his mouth when the arms around his shoulders tightened. He looked up at Mikazuki, only to see a strangely serious look on his face. Was he…angry? Tsurumaru can’t really tell since he didn’t know the other that well. The alpha seemed really adapted at hiding his thoughts, but the omega’s survival instinct told him he wasn’t far from the mark.

“The police have already taken them away. They will never hurt you again, I promise.”

“Oh~?” Tsurumaru couldn’t help but teased when he heard those last two words. “You promise?”

Mikazuki chuckled as he raised his hand and sensually traced his thumb over the omega’s lower lip. “I promise.”

Tsurumaru blushed at the feeling of the alpha’s finger against his tender lips and shy away from the touch. The alpha didn’t seem to mind at all as he watched the omega with amusement dancing in his eyes.

“Aren’t you full of yourself?” Tsurumaru grumbled.

“Am I not qualified to be?”

“Pfft…” Tsurumaru almost choked as he tried to hold in his laugh. This alpha really is full of himself, he thought. Golden eyes shifted up and down as the omega blatantly eyed the alpha from head to toe.  He tilted his head to the right in thought with a soft hum vibrated from his Adam’s apple.

The alpha just stared back at that pair of mischief eyes, unable to help but admire how beautiful they were. After what felt like forever, the omega finally spoke.

“Nope.” Tsurumaru announced as he put his hands onto the alpha’s shoulders, pulling himself up until their lips were only inches apart. “You’re more than qualified.”

They didn’t know who had moved first, but neither of them cared as their lips met and tongues dancing to the wild rhythm of their heartbeats.

…Meanwhile…

“Shishiou-san” The raven haired alpha stared down at the blond worker of the inn with his only visible eye. “Please be honest. Why can’t we see Tsuru-san?”

“T-That’s…” Shishiou was sweating bullets under the two alphas towering over him. How was he supposed to explain that Tsurumaru got attacked by six alphas (now behind bars), went into heat and spend the night with some alpha he doesn’t even know?!

“Did something happen?” Mitsutada kept pushing on while Ookurikara eyed the blond suspiciously.

“N-nothing happened! R-really…H-h-he just overslept, I swear!”

“You said that two hours ago.” Ookurikara cut in.

Shishiou flinched, sneaking a glance at the clock to find that it was already three in the afternoon. What in the world is Tsurumaru doing? It can’t be that he’s still sleeping, can he?

“Where is Tsuru-san’s room?”

“W-wait!” Shishiou cried when the two alphas finally had enough of not getting any answers and ran out of the dining room in search for their omega brother.

“Tsuru-san!”

“Stop! You’ll disturb other customers!” Shishiou shouted as he ran after them, leaving only Ishikirimaru and Kogitsunemaru sitting by the window as they enjoyed a cup of steaming hot tea.

“It sure is peaceful…” Ishikirimaru sighed, completely oblivious to the shouting and chaos in the background.

“It certainly is…” Kogitsunemaru nodded with a satisfied smile.

[minimin1993]

B/L 23

Warning: Violence. Death.

“Glad you like the view, Romanoff. It's about to get better.” Nick Fury said out of nowhere into the com just as the Helicarrier show up. “Nice, right? I pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do.”  

“Fury, you son of a bitch.” Steve said  

“Oooh! You kiss your mother with that mouth?”  

“Altitude is eighteen thousand and climbing.”  

“Lifeboats secure to deploy. Disengage in three, two...take 'em out.” Agent Klien said as lifeboats fly in towards the them.  

“This is SHIELD?” Pietro said.  

“This is what SHIELD's supposed to be.” Linda said with a smirk to the silver hair boy.  

“This is not so bad.” 

“Let's load 'em up.” Steve said.  

“Sir, we have multiple bogies converging on our starboard flank” Maria said as Legionnaires flies toward the Helicarrier.  

“Show 'em what we got.” Fury said  

“You're up.”  Maria said when Rhodes shows up in his War Machine suit and blasts one of the robots.  

“Yes! Now this is gonna be a good story.”  

“Yep. If you live to tell it.” Tony joked  

“You think I can't hold my own?”  

“We get through this, I'll hold your own.”  

“You had to make it weird.” 

“Come on everyone move.” Linda said routing the people onto the lifeboats    “You think you're saving anyone? I turn that key and drop this rock a little early and it's still billions dead. Even you can't stop that.” Ultron said  

“I am Thor, son of Odin, and as long as there is life in my breast, I am...running out of things to say! Are you ready?” Thor said when Vision hits Ultron with the hammer.  

“It's terribly well balanced.” ‘Vision’ said handing him the Hammer back.  

“That's what I told him but he said ‘Well, if there's too much weight, you lose power on the swing, so.’” Linda said with Thor in unison.

“Oh shut up Luna. Still don’t understand how you are still able to hold my hammer.”  

“Its Linda but I will let this one go, Plus you guys all heard him say it I can hold the hammer.” Linda said through the com hearing a few laughing.  

“I got it! Create a heat seal. I can...I can supercharge the spire from below.” Tony said  

“Running numbers. A heat seal could work with enough power.” Friday said.  

“Thor, I got a plan!”  

“We're out of time. They're coming for the core.” Thor said.  

“Rhodey, get the rest of the people on board that carrier.”  

“On it.”  

“Avengers, time to work for a living.” Tony said as they all rush to the core.  

“Romanoff? You and Banner better not be playing "hide the zucchini."” Tony joked  

“Relax, Shell-head. Not all of us can fly. What's the drill?” Natasha said as she was the last to arrive.  

“This is the drill. If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose.” Tony points to the center just as Ultron shows up.  

“Is that the best you can do?” Thor screams as they all turn to look at Ultron before he summons his army of robots to join him making Linda look down with a sigh.  

“You had to ask.” Steve said practically ripped Linda words out of her head.  

“This is the best I can do. This is exactly what I wanted. All of you, against all of me. How could you possibly hope to stop me?” Ultron said.  

“ Well, like the old man said. Together.” Tony said, Hulk roars as they all start to attack Ultron robots who comes near the core. Linda ended up conjuring another   whip on her other hand and now with 2 whips she destroys anything that comes in her way. Ultron jumps in trying to attack when Vision grabs him and blast him with the mind stone sending him out as Thor and Tony joins blasting Ultron with all their power destroying some of Ultron metal.  

“You know, with the benefit of hindsight....” Ultron tries to talk but Hulk knocks him far away before turning to look at the other robots who drops their weapons   and starts to retreat.  

“They'll try to leave the city.” Thor said.  

“We can't let 'em, not even one. Rhodey!” Tony said  

“I'm on it. Oh, no, I didn't say you could leave. War Machine, comin' at you, right …”just then Vision flies in and helps to destroy the robots. “Okay, what?”  

“We gotta move out. Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats, Linda and I will sweep for stragglers, be right behind you.” Steve said.  

“What about the core?”  

“I'll protect it. It's my job.” Wanda volunteered.

Steve and Linda starts to run out going a final sweep for stragglers navigating them into the lifeboat meeting Thor at the edge.    “Is this the last of them?” Thor asked.  

“Yeah. Everyone else is on the carrier.”  

“You know, if this works, we maybe don't walk away.” Tony said.  

“Maybe not.” Thor said just as Natasha tries to calm Hulk down to get him back to being Bruce Ultron flies in with the Jet as Barton is saving the boy, Ultron starts shooting at them but Pietro intervenes and takes the shots to save them

“You didn't see that coming.” Pietro said before falling on to the ground. Linda and Steve runs over to Pietro.  

“Steve, get him on the lifeboat.” Linda said sadly watching Steve carry him dropping him down on the boat.  

“Thor, on my mark.” Tony said as Thor brings on a blast of lightning, at the same time Vision flies in, picks up Wanda and flies off with as the city is being destroyed. “Now!” Thor uses his hammer to hit the Vibranium core in the church, destroying the core and the floating city. 

The next few days the team recoups before Steve, Tony, and Linda walks Thor out before he returns back to Asgard.     “Anyways The rules have changed.” Steve said.   “We're dealing with something new.”  

“Well, the Vision's artificial intelligence.”  

“A machine.” Tony said  

“So it doesn't count.”  

“No. It's not like a person lifting the hammer.”  

“Right. Different rules for us.” Steve said  

“Nice guy, but artificial.”  

“Thank you.” 

“If he can wield the hammer, he can keep the Mind Stone. It's safe with the Vision and these days, safe is in short supply.” Thor said  

“But if you put the hammer in an elevator…” Steve said  

“It would still go up.”  

“Elevator's not worthy.” 

“Hey I can lift the Hammer you know, Thor admitted it.” Linda said 

“I remember no such thing.” Thor said 

“Whatever, give me right now and I will lift it. Come on give it.” Linda said reaching for the hammer but Thor lifts it up again making Tony and Steve laugh. “Give me!”  

“Okay if you want to lift it so much go right ahead.” Thor said giving her the hammer, once he lets go it immediately drops it to the floor.

“Wait what?” Linda said trying to lift it up but it doesn’t budge making Tony and Steve laugh harder. “No no no, I lifted it before this is so unfair.” 

“Ohh looks like you aren’t worthy after all” Tony said with a smirk just as Linda lifts it up with ease shocking the two causing Thor to laugh now. 

“And you were saying.” Linda said twirling the hammer with a smile on her face. “Told ya I can.”  

“I'm going to miss these little talks of ours.” Thor said grabbing the hammer back from her.  

“Well, not if you don't leave.” Tony said 

“I have no choice. The Mind Stone is the fourth of the Infinity Stones to show up in the last few years. That's not a coincidence. Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us. But once all these pieces are in position…”  

“Triple Yahtzee?” Tony said as they walked out onto the field. 

   “You think you can find out what's coming?”  

“ I do. Besides this one, there's nothing that can't be explained. “ Thor said lifting his hammer into the air returning to Asgard which burns a circle in the grass he was standing on.  

“That man has no regard for lawn maintenance. I'm gonna miss him though. And you're gonna miss me. There's gonna be a lot of manful tears.” Tony said as they walk over towards Stark's car.

“I will miss you, Tony.” Steve said as Linda nods.  

“Yeah? Well, it's time for me to tap out. Maybe I should take a page out of Barton's book and build Pepper a farm, hope nobody blows it up.”  

“The simple life.” Steve said  

“You'll get there one day.” Tony said to Steve making Linda smirk.  

“I don't know, family, stability. The guy who wanted all that went in the ice seventy-five years ago. I think someone else came out.” Steve said as Tony turns to get into his car.

“You alright?” Tony said

“I'm home.” Steve said before watching Tony drive off.

“So I guess this is where I leave as well.” Linda said turning to look at Steve who has a sad look on his face. “Come on, don’t give me that look. After all that has happened, I just want to be alone.” 

“You are going to go look for him, I am not stupid Linda.”  

“Yeah that is also another reason why I am going. I am going to miss you Stevie.” Linda said hugging him.  

“I am going to miss you too Linda.”  

“I promise I won’t be long, but hey if you ever need me you know how to call me.” Linda said waving her phone at him making him smirk.  

“Ok sweetheart. Be safe okay.” Steve said. 

“I will Captain, you promise me you will too okay?”  

“Promise.” Steve said as Linda gives him a kiss on the cheek.  

“And maybe date while your at it.” Linda said making him laugh.

“I swear you and Romanoff…”  

“Hey I was only teasing. Bye Steve.” Linda said getting into her car and drove off.

[sharperthewriter]

Locked Together (a Kim Possible fanfic collab between me and TemporaryInsanity91)

This story was a collab between Daisy and Sharper. Find Daisy on FFn and Wattpad @ temporaryinsanity91 and find Sharper on FFn and Deviant Art @ Sharper the Writer. Special thanks to Chris for creating Heehaw the Hellacious Hillbilly. He's a good friend and we both think he should start a reaction channel on YouTube xD Check him out on out on Deviant Art @ tennente. Thanks for reading. Let us know what you think!

Legal stuff:

Any recognizable Kim Possible characters and settings are created by Schooley and McCorkle and (c) by Disney. No profit is being made from posting this story, but the plot and any OCs do belong to us so please contact before copying or translating all or part of this story. Heehaw the Hellacious Hillbilly is an OC and created by a good friend of ours, Chris. Check him out on Deviant Art as Tennente.

The Fanfic is rated PG for brief language

Chez Couteaux, 7:15 pm)

"Hey. Come back."

She raised her eyes from the cloth napkin in her lap, made greener by both the dark liner and mascara that created a soft dark fringe around them, and the shadows underneath them poorly concealed by makeup. Her soft, turquoise blue sleeveless dress made her red hair look even more fiery, and the natural paleness of her skin seem just slightly more tan and golden, especially in the dim, glowing light of the tiny white candles floating in the vase between them. Ron concluded, not for the first time, that Kim Possible was absolutely stunning.

She'd been determined to finish the mission in time for them to celebrate their fourth anniversary, but even though they had been extremely prepared and cautious, the mission became complicated. The villain, one with a ridiculous name and title she couldn't remember—Heehaw the Hellacious Hillbilly?—had tried to take over her uncle's farm in hopes of using his surveillance, robotic animal and farming technology, and land for his evil master plot. What should have been a simple rescue and capture turned into Ron being scarred for life again by a robotic horse, being held captive for two days with no food or water, and a whole lot of trouble catching the crazy horrible hillbilly, whatever his name was.

"Sorry," Kim said quietly, picking at her nails. They were painted white, as were her toe nails, which she seemed to be staring at now. "I had hoped we'd be more up to this, but I'm kind of exhausted."

"I understand." Ron reached out and took her hand, squeezing it. "I get it, KP. But I know you. That's not what's on your mind. Talk to me."

She shook her head, offering a smile he could tell was forced. "It's nothing, Ron. I'm just... overreacting I guess."

"For the record, you said that, not me." She finally laughed, reaching across the table squeezing his hand. He squeezed it back. "I know better. But if you would just say it, KP, I would be happy to tell you how much you're NOT overreacting."

She sighed. "I just... I hated that that weird hillbilly villain diagnosed us so quickly. He knew that you'd be my weakness, or that I would be yours. He knew that splitting us up would be the easiest way to capture us, and he knew that keeping us apart would be the best way to make sure his plan would succeed. I... don't like feeling like I'm a danger to you, that's all."

"Uh, KP... how many times did I get us captured?"

Kim's face showed how unimpressed she was. "So? How many times did I get us captured?"

"Exactly. Does it matter at this point? Look. I'd rather get locked up in some lair with you any day—hell, every day of the week than be free somewhere without you, or worse, be free somewhere knowing that you're out there fighting bad guys by yourself. And I know you feel the same about me. So don't do this to yourself. Don't blame yourself for how these situations play out."

"I know... I know. I mean, I do. I feel that way about you. There's nobody I'd rather be in a shark tank with, or surrounded by evil robot horses with, or tied up in the dark with."

"Ooh, kinky."

"Har har," Kim said, smacking his arm. She hid a smile, but Ron knew that he'd broken her out of whatever dark place her mind had gone to. Well, mostly.

"Here are your appetizers," the waitress said quietly, trying not to disturb them, but also wanting them to move their joined hands so she could set the hot plates down. Or, so that Ron wouldn't be holding her hand anymore...

"Thank you," Ron said absently. The waitress looked extremely flattered, but said nothing. Kim leveled her with an icy stare. If looks could kill, The waitress would have been vaporized. When she was gone, Ron grinned. "Is there a problem?"

"Yeah. She was... looking at you."

"So? I'm looking at you. And I love what I see, to boot."

Kim laughed again, this time looking away as her cheeks turned light pink. "Thank you." She focused on her food, and Ron reached over and stole a bite. "Hey!" She stole a piece of his in retaliation, and her eyes closed as she put the bit of food in her mouth. "Ohmugawshf," she mumbled around the mouthful.

Ron smiled at her. "Glad you like it," he said simply, grabbing the extra plates and handing her one full of his appetizer.

After dinner, Kim thought about that moment for a long time. Ron held her hand and guided her as they walked along, occasionally moving her around cracks in the sidewalk so she wouldn't lose her balance, since she was lost in thought.

The city was, and still is, struggling to rebuild from the alien invasion that almost wiped them off the face of the earth almost three years ago. During the day, various reconstruction sites rang out with the pounding of hammers, road work, and the beeping of cranes and trucks, solemn reminders of how close humanity had been to complete annihilation. The city owed an enormous debt of gratitude to Ron Stoppable since that day.

The recent financial crisis that occurred at the same time didn't help things either. It especially wrecked the super villain industry, as only Professor Dementor was able to weather the storm. Jack Hench, whom built a multi-billion dollar  empire to finance super villains, was in complete ruin.With the sudden influx of funding, newer, darker more insane villains became new threats that national agencies and GJ combined struggled to keep tabs of. Enter Kim and Ron, the ones that had stopped a whole alien invasion. Their help was highly sought after, and between their classes, and cleaning up Middleton... and America... and the whole planet... they kept pretty busy.

In the past, she had always been the one completely in control, as opposed to Ron. She always felt that she was the one taking care of the boy who once feared the lawn gnome in his mother's backyard. But after the invasion, Kim didn't know what to think. Ron was no longer the coward, the distraction, the sidekick. It was a huge adjustment for both of them. Feeling herself suddenly relieved of caring for Ron, she felt that her focus as well as their whole dynamic had changed dramatically.

She was used to it now, though. In the years since, they had come back into sync, despite her personal troubles financing her education while the Possibles figured out where they would live, and his struggle to find what was next for him. Her family ended up buying a new home and rescuing what little they could from the destroyed Possible home, but that left very little room for them to help her pay for school, and with government financial aid being diverted into reconstruction projects across the country, Kim had gotten a job and negotiated with GJ for a scholarship to get her by the first two years of school. Ron had returned to Japan for the summer, honing his powers and spending a lot of time working on himself before joining her in Middleton University.

Since then, missions only got more complicated and more time consuming, and that had added to her struggles as well. But as her website insisted, she could do anything, and she did. With Ron at her side, she pushed through as always.

Their most recent mission had been particularly brutal. Heehaw Hillbilly (or whatever his name was) had captured and imprisoned her uncle and cousin, and she and Ron had quickly followed. The plan had been simple, really. the way the villain had set up security basically required a distraction. With them separated, it was easy to overwhelm them with security and capture them.

She woke up in the dark with no idea of how much time had passed and no idea of where Ron could be. There was no plan gloating or dramatic plan for their demise. There was just darkness. She was terrified that Ron had been harmed. She didn't know where he was and she couldn't talk to him. At some point, she'd convinced herself that Ron wasn't with her because he was dead, and the dark place her mind went to then was what spurred her to act, sheer rage and revenge pushing her to find an escape route.

She found her uncle first, and got him into the control room to retake control of his systems. She found Joss next, and together they tried to form a plan. The ridiculous villain had almost gone through with his plan, and Kim was still preoccupied with finding and rescuing Ron, who had escaped and was looking for her, and in the chaos, Heehaw had almost succeeded in his plan... something about a robot horse army and evil moonshine.

Kim snorted as she walked, wiping at her nose. Moonshine was evil without the world domination scheme, anyway.

"KP?"

"Huh?"

"You're crying, baby. What's the matter?"

"Oh." She quickly sniffed and wiped at her face with the back of her wrist again . "I'm sorry."

"Kim," Ron said, stopping short and turning to face her.

"I thought I lost you," she finally confessed. "I thought that crazy bastard took you from me and that I would never see you again. I..."

"Aww... KP, I..." Ron brushed the fresh tears from her face, kissing each cheek and her forehead. "I was scared too. They had me in this place and I had no clue how long it had been, or if you had a plan, or anything. But now that it's over, all I can think is that what we have thought all along is true. We're better when we're together."

"I'm my best when I'm with you," she whispered. "I need you, Ron."

"I'm here, KP. I'm not going anywhere. We got him. He's not gonna hurt anyone anymore, and he's not going to get us apart like that again.”

She sniffed, curling her fists into his shirt, under his suit jacket, and pressed herself against him. “Okay,” she whispered. “I love you, Ron.”

His arms went around her, hugging her close to his body. He pressed a kiss to her hair. “I love you too, you know. We've been through a lot, KP, but as long as I'm yours and you are mine, we've always turned out alright.” He loosened his embrace, placing one hand on her hip while the other gently rubbed her back. He kissed her forehead and looked into her eyes, smiling. “Come on, KP. I have something for you.”

It was then that Kim looked around and noticed that Ron had guided her to the entrance of Middleton Park. She'd volunteered there some weekends during high school, but since she graduated, she hadn't had much time to see what had changed since the invasion. The trees that had been downed in one section of the park, had been removed and replaced with a beautiful memorial to the lives lost and the persons injured. The wall where Josh Mankey had once shown her his art had been overgrown with ivy and flowering vines,and the stone path that went around it and led to the lake had spots of grass growing between them. She looked up at Ron, curious. “Why are we in the park?”

Ron grinned. “You'll see. Come on!” He led her toward the lake, and they skip-hopped across the stones, over the grass to the path at the edge of the lake. The path sat at the top of a hill, and they both silently contemplated the sun setting over the lake, brilliant orange, pink and lavander coloring set the lake on fire. A short walk away, there was a bridge that crossed over the stream that emptied into the lake.

The bridge was made of wood, the wood worn and stained by years of weather. In between the wood railings there was a long, chain link fence that was attached just after the invasion. “Remember this, KP?”

“Sure. I mean, it has changed some after the invasion. A lot, really. So much has changed in this park. But this bridge has been around as long as I can remember, and we've been here a couple of times together. Actually, last time we were here, your belt loop got caught in a piece of wire...?”

Ron glared as he saw a tiny smirk pulling at her lips. “Hilarious. I thought that went in the vault of silence!”

“It did,” Kim said with a slightly bigger smile. “Why were you asking about this?”

He smiled and led her toward the middle of the bridge. Overlooking the lake, the trees' reflections became dark shadows as the water reflected the subdued pinks and purples, and the bright neon orange of the sky as the sun faded. In the distance, little neon lights flickered as fireflies danced through the trees, their lights reaching the reeds at the edge of the water and reflecting in the lake's shadows as well.

“This is beautiful,” she whispered.

Ron kissed her cheek in response. “We've been together since we were kids, and I never in a million years thought this day would come. It's our fourth anniversary, KP.”

She turned to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and resting her hands behind his neck. With a smile, she said, “Really? I kind of always knew it would. I was in denial.”

“Is that what you call it?”

“Seriously. Josh Mankey, and that Japanese transfer guy, and even Eric, they were all just placeholders. The whole time, there was just some part of me that was comparing them to you. Clearly, nobody measured up.”

Ron grinned and circled his arms around her waist. “You know it, KP. This bon-diggety babe has the essential Ronness that no one can ever imitate.”

She giggled. “Whatever you say, Your Ronness.”

“Yeah? Well then I say we just stay like this until our skin sags and our driving licenses are taken away.”

She grinned at him. “They already took your driver's license, Ron.”

“Okay well, you know what? It's not my fault that that car had the wheel on the wrong side of the road—and we were being chased by evil singing robots! What was I supposed to do, stop at the yellow light? They should have been thanking me!”

“Ron, I was just teasing you.”

“I know. But my objection still stands!”

“It's noted,” she said with another giggle. “Now tell me why you brought us here.” Her smile fell away when he reached into his pocket and retrieved a small box. Tears instantly poured from her eyes, and Ron startled when he saw her face.

“KP, what—what's wrong. Oh—no, baby, it's not that kind of box. Just look at it.”

Slightly embarrassed and feeling more than a little bit awkward, she took the box from his hand and opened it. There was a lock inside. Upon further inspection, she saw that that there were words on it. Tears welled in her eyes again as she read the inscription:

Kim and Ron true love set us free 2007- forever

“KP, we had a lot of messed up things happen to us, and we did a lot of screwed up things to each other.” Ron remembered the morning they talked about her feelings, when she told him she wasn't sure how she felt about his newfound skills. The argument that followed left him dazed and hurt, and he knew that she felt the same. She didn't accompany him to the airport. He thought he would spend two months in Japan wondering if he would come home to a girlfriend, or if everything he had with her was ruined because he finally wanted to make himself better. In the end, Kim came to him, and they spent two days together making up before she had to go back home. He thought it was the best weekend of his life. Until now, anyway. “We fight and we make up, and we save the world, and those are only ever going to be things that I want with my best friend, with my partner. Those are only things I'm every going to want with you. I love you.”

She remembered the moment she saw him come through the door, ready to save her. She was on an Alien ship in outer space. Truly, He would go anywhere after her. More tears spilled from her eyes. “I love you too,” she said, throwing her arms around him and pressing her lips to his. There in the growing darkness, the clicked the lock around a link in the fence, and then Ron handed her the key. With a smile, she threw the lock into the river. She watched it sink quickly into oblivion, and she realized that Ron was right. From the moment she admitted to herself that she would go to the ends of the earth for him simply because she loved him, there had been weight that lifted from her mind and from her heart. Giving herself to him wholly to him was the only thing that truly made her feel free. She never wanted that feeling to end.

This time, when she turned to face Ron again, he was holding a different box, and was kneeling. Shifting, he pushed one leg out and rested his foot down, so that he was on one knee. Then he grinned up at her. “You can freak out now.”

[wonderwomanlovesyou]

Considerations, a Miraculous Ladybug angst fic

So I uploaded something I wrote however-long ago and it’s gotten a pretty good response and I thought I’d post it on here :)  It was originally supposed to be a one-shot, but the amazing comments and appreciation I received have inspired me to write some more so we’ll see where that goes.

AO3

“Why hello there, My La-”

“Are you fucking kidding me? England? ”

At some point between seeing his girlfriend’s name on his phone and hearing her screech into his ear, Adrien felt a heavy cloud of dread settling over him.

Oh shit oh shit oh shit. I forgot to call her.  I forgot to even text her.  Oh shit oh shit oh shitfuck.

Feeling Plagg snickering in his front pocket, Adrien quickly tried to figure out a way to diffuse the situation.

“Shit, I’m sorry Marine-”

“Sorry?! ” Marinette exclaimed. “You left the country and didn’t say a word to anybody, including me or Nino, who, if you recall, you’d made plans to hang out with and who called me last night and left me a billion messages worried about you, so when I woke up I had to find out from fucking Nathalie that you went to England on a spur-of-the-moment trip without telling anyone but your dad.”

Adrien could envision perfectly what she must be doing now, as furious as he could tell she was.  He could just see her pacing around her room, face as red as her spotted costume, and hands tightly fisted and at her sides

“I was only in London for like 12 hours, Mari, I honestly was there less than a day, and it was no big deal,” Adrien nervously began. “Some of the models I’ve been working with for the past few months offered for us to go out.  It sounded cool and they seemed nice, and while I didn’t expect them to take me to England, it was fun and-”

“I’m so glad you had fun, Adrien,” Marinette snapped. “I’m so glad that you had a great time being completely inconsiderate and treating the rest of the people in your life like they have no effect on your decision-making.  Like we have no vested interest in you.”

“Marinette, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you would get this angry, I...I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, honest. We had talked about going sometime soon, I didn’t think anything of it.”

“You don’t think anything’s a big deal! God, one of your friends could ask you to fly to the moon with them on a whim and you would do it! You’d known this was a possibility for days, at least, and yet you didn’t say a word when I talked to you!” she fumed.

“My friends asked if I wanted to go out, and I said yes!  I really didn’t think it was all that important! I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I didn’t think about it, a lot of stuff was going on, and my service was spotty at best while we were there!” Adrien felt himself getting more and more annoyed as she continued to yell at him.

“Adrien, you didn’t even think to tell me you were leaving the country until you had already fucking left!  Do you see how ridiculous that is? And the rest of us? We weren’t even a consideration!”

“I didn’t realize I needed your permission to spend time with my friends!  I’ll be sure to ask you if you’re okay with me hanging out with Nino the next time he asks, or when Chloe asks to get lunch.”  He regretted saying Chloe’s name the moment it left his mouth, but was quickly snapped out of it by Marinette’s rebuttal, her voice now more furious than ever.

“Of course you don’t need my permission to spend time with your friends, but when you leave the fucking country, you should probably think to send me a text before you go! Even a ‘Hey, I’m going to London for a few hours, thought you should know,’ would have sufficed, but I didn’t even get a '#London' before Nathalie was telling me that you were off with people you’ve been friends with for less time than you and I have been dating, not to mention partners!”

“Something tells me you would have been more pissed off if I had just sent you a text saying '#London,'” he said.

“If I hadn’t called Nathalie, or you, would no one have told me? Would I have found out days after you got back? Would I have found out from a facebook post? Maybe twitter, people are pretty big on documenting celebrity outings on there.”

“You would not have found out from a facebook post, my Lady, but I just forgot to tell you that this was happening!”

“You can’t just do reckless shit like this, Adrien!  I get that your friends are important to you, I do.  But you can’t just do shit like this when you have people invested in your life, people you say you care about as well.”

She took a deep breath before continuing, “We’ve been in a relationship for almost two years, Adrien.  And I’m still not a consideration when you do things like this.  You still act like things you do don’t affect me.”

“Princess, I know it was inconsiderate, and I’m sorry I forgot to tell you, but I really didn’t mean to hurt your feelings in anyway with this.”

There was a short pause where he could hear Marinette taking shaky breaths before she finally spoke.

“It always comes back to this,” she said quietly.

“Always comes back to what?” he asked, on edge at the sudden loss of hostility in her voice and the defeated, sad tone that replaced it.

“It always comes back to the fact that I’m not a priority in your life - not important enough to even be a consideration.”  Adrien began to argue this, but she started again.  “I was going to call you last night to tell you that I might be going on a week-long trip to New York for a fashion thing. In a little less than five months.  I asked your opinion on whether I should go with Alya to Marseille for three days this past summer, not because I needed your permission, but because you were a consideration in my decision. You went to another country without even letting me know, without even thinking of me until you were already there.

“What it always comes back to, Adrien, is that I am at the bottom of the list of people that are important in your life.  I’m not saying I should be the most important person in your life, not at all.  You have your dad, Nino... but it would be nice to not be the last person you think about when you do things.”

“Mari,”  he started. “I-

“No, Adrien,” she interrupted.  “Every time something like this happens, when you treat me like I’m not important to you, you always, always say that I’m wrong, that of course I’m as important to you as you are to me, and maybe you act like it for a few days, but after that?  Your actions don’t line up with your words.  I’m the one that’s more invested, Adrien.  If something happens to us, I will be the one that’s broken.  And you can say all you want that I’m wrong and you care just as much as I do, but I know it’s not true even if you don’t.”

“You are important to me, Marinette.  Honestly, you are, and I don’t know what else to say to make you understand that I care about you too.”  Adrien was racking his brain on what to do to fix this, to make her see that of course he loved her just as much as she loved him, but he couldn’t find anything.

“Sure. I’ve got to go,” she said.

“My Lady-” he implored, but the tone ending their conversation rung out before he could utter the last syllable.  And he was left speechless and stunned.

Thanks y’all! Let me know what you think of it and what you think should happen next! I’m juggling a few possibilities at the moment so we’ll see where it goes :) x

[billydmacklin]

Cooking Without A Kitchen!

As we already know, my kitchen for the past nearly two years has been a sorry gutted pit of despair. Let’s not dwell on it. If you didn’t already know, here’s a basic rundown. Life comes at you fast sometimes.

While the period between gutting the old kitchen and finishing the new one might be JUST A TAD longer than what a more normal renovation might demand, most kitchen renovations do result in a space that’s temporarily unusable. The classic response to this is often some combination of microwaveable meals and take-out, the latter of which I am ALL ABOUT except for the part where it gets insanely expensive and super unhealthy and, honestly, pickings are slim around these parts. Additionally, I actually do like to cook my own food, especially to wind down a bit at the end of the day!

SO. If you are anything like me, and you might be taking on a kitchen renovation, HEED MY WORDS: give yourself the gift of setting up something efficient and functional in the meantime. It can be tempting to just throw yourself 300% into the renovation while your life disintegrates into squalor around you, but you actually don’t have to make your house a living hell of dysfunction as punishment for trying to make it better long-term. Don’t be a martyr. It’s taken me…a while to learn this.

For me, the most painless way to do this was to set up my dining room as a temporary kitchen. And honestly? It’s not the worst kitchen I’ve ever had!

I turned the dining table the other direction to free up a little space for that honker of a fridge next to the hutch. That big butcher block is my makeshift countertop, and the cookie jar thing holds food scraps for compost. I know they sell containers for this very purpose, but I find that it needs to be emptied because it’s full long before it ever starts to stink, so I like my vintage crock thing.

I gotta hand it to that fridge, by the way—it came from my friend Anna‘s old kitchen and is at least a decade old and aside from a few dents on the door (don’t ask), might as well be brand new. All LG appliances (including televisions!) I’ve ever had have been wonderful. Sometimes I get a little weepy over how great my LG washer and dryer are. On one hand I kind of hope the fridge dies because having a built-in ice-maker would be HEAVEN but at the same time, a new fridge is not an expense I need to incur at this moment. Anyway. Carry on, fridge. A+ work.

The hutch now holds all my everyday dishes, glasses, mugs, mixing bowls, colanders, measuring cups, etc., as well as pantry items! That thing can store so much shit. It’s not the most beautiful display I’ve ever put together, but it’s organized and efficient and works! Good enough!

Speaking of unattractive but organized and efficient displays, here’s what’s happening on the other wall! You might recognize the dresser from my old Brooklyn apartment, but I think it was originally intended to be a server. Those top two drawers are the perfect depth for storing flatware and various cooking utensils like peelers and pastry brushes and measuring spoons and stuff like that. The other drawers hold saran/foil/plastic bags, tupperware, pots, pans, oven mitts, tea towels—I basically have a whole slimmed-down kitchen in there! Those plastic drawers next to it could probably be eliminated, but do hold a few things, and mostly provide a pedestal for the trash so that my adorable and naughty dog doesn’t get into it. That girl is incorrigible.

I have to pause for a second to gush over these little induction cooktops because I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. Induction is pretty crazy/amazing technology that I won’t claim to totally understand, but essentially it turns your pot/pan into the heating element, rather than heating the pot with an electric coil or a gas flame. It’s super efficient and precise, and because the cooktop itself doesn’t heat up (although it DOES get hot just from the residual heat of the pan during cooking), the cooktops are incredibly easy to clean—WAY easier than an electric glass cooktop. After a bit of searching around, I bought two of these single-burner cooktops by Waring for just $60 a pop! They make a double-wide version too, but I’m glad I bought these because they can stack and store away easily. For over double the cost, you can buy one with the Cuisinart brand name on it, but it’s literally exactly the same product so don’t do that.

Anyway. I love my little hot plates a lot. The plan for the kitchen is a gas range, but I can totally see myself continuing to use these now and then if I just need to boil some spaghetti or fry an egg or just keep something warm on the lowest setting. Endless opportunities!

Oh also! That leather skillet grip was a Christmas gift from bae and it’s perfect. It was made by locally owned and operated Jay Teske Leather Co.. And now that I’m looking at their website, I want to order about 5 other things…so much nice stuff, gah! I love the way natural leather patinas over time and expect to have it forever. I love that there are so many artists and makers producing stuff like this right out of Kingston. And at $24, I mean, such a good gift idea.

Oh also, also! The marble piece is this pastry slab from Crate & Barrel, which amazingly is still the same $50 as it was when I bought it several years ago. Once I tried to find a less expensive alternative, but this one’s such a great value for the size that I couldn’t beat it.

On top of the microwave (also a hand-me-down from Anna—thanks, pal!) are a few essentials within easy reach! I don’t know what that little teeny tripod bowl is for, but I use it to hold Malden Salt flakes which in my experience make all food taste better. A few cork trivets, paper towels, salt and pepper mills, and I decant olive oil in that little cork-lidded container which is supposed to be a creamer.

Side note: just realized the creamer was designed by Kaj Franck, who also designed my mushroom bowl from my last post!

Side-side-note: who knew BB&B sold iittala?! That little stack of 20% off coupons just got a whole lot more valuable.

In terms of actually cooking instead of just talking about cooking…I have a hard time getting to the grocery store regularly while in the midst of big house projects, and Sun Basket has been a GODSEND. I know, all you wanted today was to read another blogger review a meal delivery service. BUT I have no affiliation whatsoever with them, I just heard about them a few months ago on a podcast about cults like any other normal person and gave it a shot.

It’s been several years since I used a meal kit delivery service (Max and I used to get Blue Apron—also no affiliation), so I’m not sure how far the others have advanced, but Sun Basket is the best as far as I’m concerned. The food is REALLY good, produce is fresh, portions are generous, and I’m always kind of stunned when I look at the calorie counts—each meal is usually somewhere around 500-600 calories but you’d never know and it does not feel at all like diet food. Every week, they put out a menu with 18(!) different meals to choose from, of which you can either pick your selections or let Sun Basket do the work for you by specifying a meal plan. The meal plan thing is AMAZING—there are 8 options like Paleo, Vegetarian, Vegan, Pescatarian…and gluten-free! This is a big deal for me. Bae needs to be gluten-free, so consequently I end up being mostly gluten-free, and figuring out what to cook is hard enough already without throwing dietary restrictions into the mix. Sun Basket’s gluten-free meals have made that transition a billion times easier and unquestionably tastier. You can also skip as many weeks of delivery as you want, get 2, 3, or 4 recipes each week that can feed either 2 or 4 people! I have mine set up for three recipes a week for two people ($78), but it’s easy to bump up to 4 recipes or down to 2 if the spirit moves me. Each delivery comes with a little recipe book containing all the recipes from that week, so you can reconstruct and cook ones that you didn’t even order to try out. They’re actually good enough that you want to do that, for real!

The cooking part is nice, by the way. It’s never too complicated, but is involved enough that you really feel like you’ve made something instead of just tossing some pre-measured stuff together. Typically recipes will require 1 or 2 pots/pans and rarely do they call for the use of an oven, which is convenient because I don’t have one. I do have a lil bitty toaster oven, though, and that’s usually fine for whatever the recipe’s asking me to do. It really just works out well all around!

ALSO JUST SAYING: if you were considering trying out Sun Basket, now is a good time because they’re running a promo for $40 off your first order! And if you follow this link to place your order, I’ll get a $40 credit too, which I would not complain about.

Try Sun Basket. Feed me. Win-win.

Annnndddd while I’m just recommending ways to spend your money left and right, I just got a bottle of this stuff and it’s SO GOOD. Expensive and SO GOOD. I’m gonna have to experiment with trying to make my own because I cannot afford for this to be a habit, but I’ve never used something that cleans and protects a wood countertop in one fell swoop, and I just want to smear it all over every wood product I own. Liquid. Motherfucking. GOLD.

So there it is! The irony of gutting a pretty decent kitchen with the goal of building a better kitchen and then ending up living with this for two years isn’t lost on me. But I do feel like this “kitchen” has actually taught me a lot about what I actually need rather than simply want, and has really forced me to evaluate the utility of each and every kitchen item I own—it’s amazing how much extraneous stuff we can justify when we have the space for it. Also, just IMAGINE how luxurious my expanses of countertop will feel after becoming so accustomed to this set-up. I won’t even know what to do with it all.

The ounce of shame I have left will not allow me to show the dishwasher strapped to a stud in the kitchen to keep it from tipping over and draining into a five gallon bucket that I dump in the backyard because the kitchen sink still isn’t plumbed, so I’ll just let your imagination run wild with how fancy that is. Related: what the hell is wrong with all plumbers? That’s not a question that needs an answer, just one that I ponder constantly. LET ME GIVE YOU MONEY TO DO THE THING THAT YOU DO TO MAKE MONEY. PLEASE.

Anyone ever plumbed a kitchen sink? Asking for a friend.

Cooking Without A Kitchen! published first on https://carpetgurus.tumblr.com/