#at a circuit that literally had a track cat

[petit-papillion]

Mario has stolen Leo from you

Everyone, including Pirelli's Mario Isola, is falling for Leo.

Imola GP Qualifying Day | 18 May 2024

📸 Cl16__FanpageFr

[carmenized-onions]

ok this was really fucking cute!

ngl I totally forgot they had locked themselves in the bathroom at the end of the last chapter lol

honestly, shout out to Sara bc those six therapy sessions SHOW

also, love the dialogue where they’re trying to convince each other that Mikey’s death wasn’t their fault. they both really needed that conversation and the reassurance that no, they don’t hate each other :,)

and that cat metaphor! the fact that Carmen’s immediate thought was “I love you” LMAO, pretty sure his brain short-circuits anytime Tony claims him as hers in any way, even as a metaphorical emotional support cat 💕

this part was also beautiful, “You’re not exclusively for Carmen, he knows that. You weren’t made for him—You’re made for many things. But maybe you’re curated.”

“He can work on his codependency issues in therapy, ok?” Sara has her work cut out for her, bless her heart

HE’S FINALLY ON PAYROLL! The numbers are fucked, but who cares!

“Should’ve believed the you in his head…He’s still working on being the only voice in his head,” oh boy…Sara please be on call

LMAO not Carmen making a quick stop at David’s restaurant before the wedding, please let us know if he had to hype himself up to do this and how he even brought it up to Richie and Fak 😂

“I’m white and overdone, but you’re an entire other goddamn beast…” say it loud, say it proud Carmy ❤️

“Can’t make direct threats in New York, Cousin! Penal code!” I fucking love Richie, you really got his character down bc I can totally see him saying this shit, and I’m crying at Fak shamelessly promoting The Bear

“Carmen completely abandoned the idea of keeping appearances and getting a star through kissing ass…And he did it for you—and Richie…” YEAH HE DID, SO PROUD OF HIM

THE KISS!!! THEY KISSED!!! It’s so cute that she’s literally thinking of a whole ass drink during this, just like he was thinking about a dish earlier ❤️

Tony keeping track of the 168 hours they’ve been apart, too 😂

FACE KISSES!!! They’re so in love it’s disgusting

“Absolutely not forgiven, for being late.” And I KNOW he means that with every fiber of his being 😂

“I don’t think your mouth tastes bad,” awwwwww, I forgot he was feeling insecure about that

“I wanna fly you to Paris.” LMAO, between this and that repressed “I love you” I’m dead, the intrusive thoughts keep winning

“I want you to be permanent and carved in my tables and I want you to wear my jackets and I want you in my kitchen and in my menu and in every dumb fucking conversation I have at Christmas tellin’ family what the fuck I’m doing—I want you in every sentence.” ok and what if I cried??? what then? this is that one scene in a movie where sappy instrumental music is playing in the background and I’m NOT okay, jail for you. wait, actually what song would be playing during this moment? I need the whole vibe

Carmen and his fucking hickeys 💀 like this is him before they even say I love you, I can’t even begin to imagine how he’s gonna react to the actual words

“Mood not dead—Mood present and alive—“ LMAO

Everyone listening in on their conversation 😂 love love love Richie and Syd’s moment with Tony, they’re all healing ❤️

And Tony’s right, outsourcing Ted is cheating and the ultimate form of betrayal. If something breaks, too bad

wait my heart wasn’t ready for Tony and Carmy to interact with baby Michaela…I’m definitely not having thoughts…MOVING ON

“You wanna come up to my room or not?” HAD THE SAME REACTION AS TONY

I love Ratatouille, too. It’s such a classic 💕

“He thought of…roughly fourteen more recipes since leaving the bathroom with you?” oh he’s SO far gone and it’s only been a MONTH. I really love the way you wrote their moments of inspiration by the way. Like you kept adding layers to it throughout the whole chapter whenever they thought or noticed something in particular about the other? Idk how to describe it, words are hard, but the makeup cleansing balm inspired dessert was really cool to read and the drink Tony came up with during the kiss

“Please say yes to the white apron. Please say yes to his team. He’ll get your initials monogrammed and everything.” He’s so adorable, but I think his heart might actually give out when he sees her wearing the apron

“You’re fucking Carmen! You said you were in bed! His bed?” LMAO that’s a perfectly valid reaction, I’d be thinking the same shit

“No, I know, I’m worth more than a Holiday Inn.” YEAH SHE IS!

AHH they’re fully booked! Love that for them

wait, hold up! Was that the first time Carmen called her baby?! and she didn’t even hear it?!

“He’s so excited to have someone encourage his ideas, for once.” I’m gonna cry

“Good God.” is right, Syd.

“But like, like my instinct when I’m scared is to call you.” STOP THIS RIGHT NOW. EMOTIONAL DAMAGE.

I totally didn’t struggle with pronouncing “tchotchke”. Definitely didn’t need to look it up.

“I feel like what I think can only be described as emotionally violent—affectionately.” Thank you for putting it into words because that’s exactly it

“You take a breath, looking her in the eyes…’Love you.’” okay, but why no kiss??? she made out with Carmy in the bathroom, but Syd gets nothing?! make it make sense

anyway, loved the chapter, it was perfect, no notes, wouldn’t change a thing, brain chemistry forever altered, serotonin and dopamine levels are at an all time high, and THIS really is season 3 for me, you should’ve been a screenwriter for the show 💜💜💜

also, how many more chapters do you think are left? obviously never want it to end, but gotta prepare for when it inevitably does :,)

Firsttt of all thank you so much i'm so glad you enjoyed and listen if anyone's got the writer's teams numbers i'm happy to call in folks. someone just match me up with my hero joanna calo and i will handle it. please. please. please.

second of all, length of chapters left!! let me do the math. there's this next one, then there's that one. then there's.... that one. and then there will need to be one after that. and that's kinda good there tbh but i imagine an epilogue will be demanded of me after that one. so like.

so like.... 4 or 5 left? So 19-20 chaps total! We had a good run boys. Hopefully after this next one churns out it'll be an easier flow state for me. i had to rework so goddamn much. anyways itS TIME TO TALK ABOUT YOUR THOUGHTS YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS LETS PUT THE KEEP READING ONNN

I'M PUTTING A DUMB POLL ON THIS ONE SO KEEP READING CMON BOYS AND GIRLS

everyone forgets that the last chapter (two steps back) ended with them in the bathroom. it is why i knew i had to put SUCH a meta opener LMAO-- It was a very brief non-sequitur bow at the end of that chap, so I was happy to remind the class lmaooo

writing a carmen that's gone to a touch of therapy is really so interesting because i think he has a self-awareness that is deeply unhelpful that he is now trying to turn helpful, like a 'oh. bad thought. let's go ahead and jot that down for sara later'. which like hey man. she cannot do all the lifting for you babe.

Man if Richie/Chip get to have the not your fault talk, so does Carm!! Thinking about it right now I think we rarely see those 3 (if ever) act as a trio, the bois are always bickering. doomed dynamic. these toddlers ruin everything.

CAT TALK IS JUST SO I LOVE YOU YKNOW. like how else can one respond to being told "not only do i need you, but i claim you as something and someone i cherish, covet, and find comfort in'. SORRY? SORRY? SORRY? SORRY? WHAT'S UP? maybe me and carmen the chronic over thinker gang are just acting amok in the brain.

i think one day down the line i will do a flashback special, that no one will read because the series would be done, about this road trip. either that or i'm going to keep referencing insane random things to have happened on the road trip that no one will be able to connect together into anything cohesive. but i can say with a certainty for now, these things happened:

Carmen decided he wanted to confront exec

Carmen did want to bitch out as soon as they got there

Richie DID have to pep talk his ass back into doing it

As soon as Carmen got in there he was immediately so hyphy and Richie and Fak did IMMEDIATELY think "oh no he needs to pull back oh no". hence the penal code.

you ever have a friend hesitate to speak up but once they do it's like oh they're going to release a bomb? Carmen's like that to me. using his anger issues for good.

THEY KISSED!!! Stupid bartender and cook dynamic. more must write about this, methinks. They're so inlove with their crafts and each other it's DISGUSTTINGGG YOU SHOULD SAY ITTT

would you rather admit "i wanna fly you to paris" or "i love you", no you cannot yeet yourself you have to pick one.

AHHHH THE PERMANENT PARAGRAPH, when i first read this essay of an ask i was like MUSIC?!?!?!? IN MY SCENE!??!!?! which is funny. because i love music in all scenes. THIS one however, was sort of like, lightly inspired by that one scene in truly madly deeply (you can stop watching after she gets up) , like that very sweet very close very like, realistic but still very day-dreamy love? And that scene with ZERO romantic music. i'm just very titilated by that. there's something about no swelling music that makes me just ?!?!? even more emotional, somehow.

but if we HAD to set something to this? I think I listened to champagne coast a lot while writing/editing, so I'd say that. the WOOOAAAHHHHHHAAHHAWWWAAAHOOOAHHHHH feels fitting.

don't even start the conversation with me as to what carmen's actual reaction would be to a real i love you. i can't even. it'll honestly really ruin my plans if tony spills it soon. i'm going to let her do whatever writes naturally but for fucks sake i don't want to have to sort out what actual demons will be unleashed in that man.

SAY IT WITH ME FOLKS, CHEATING ON YOUR HANDYMAN IS WORSE THAN MURDER!!!!!!!!!!!

now as for your thoughts on Tony and Carmy interacting with baby. First of all. I want to hear all of the thoughts. please tell me all the thoughts. just cause tony doesn't want kids that bad doesn't mean i don't think about it ad nauseum. everyone send in their kid head canons.

and here's the poll, because i've had many a DM or ask say 'hey it means a lot to me that tony doesn't want kids because FUCK kids' and 100% that but also just out of intrigue, promise this will have no real story effect:

truly just curious. ANYWAYS MOVING ON.

love ratatouille. i have insane personal lore with ratatouille. not that insane. it just weaves into a tapestry. we won't get into it. but i love that rat chef!

and I'M GLAD THE FOOD SHIT PAID OFF. my favourite thing with writing CK is that romance is all about the little shit yknow? love is just being known and being seen and taken care of. and these two really do it for each other in a really good way.

carmen dying on impact upon seeing his favourite new employee in an apron 4k.

you're FUCKING CARMEN?!?!? some variation of this question has been asked i think... 4 times? take a shot everytime. CK drinking game someone make it.

FIRST TIME CARMEN EVER CALLED HER BABY AND CHIPS TWEAKING TOO MUCH TO NOTICE LMAOOOOO poor dumbass bird, i love her so.

“He’s so excited to have someone encourage his ideas, for once.” I’m gonna cry

this line does also mean kind of a little bit of the world to me. i was semi a carmen hater for season 3 but i came around the bend as i put my empathy goggles back on (you did put yourself in a hell of your own creation though, babe) and the thing is. carmen is great. but no one i think actually verbally says this to him without a very deeply hurtful statement coming before or after. so. like. to be supported in a way that is for both him and his craft? fuck man.

syd's whole scene is such a emotional damage we can't think about it for too long. why didn't they make out. my bad tbh. i'm emotionally violent.

I HAD TO LOOK UP TCHOTCHKE I ALWAYS GET IT WRONG. I THOUGHT IT WAS CHACHKI LIKE VIOLET. BUT THAT BITCH LIED TO ME. i honestly just forgot the word memento i think and couldn't come up with anything else. that's my fault alright.

anyways.

thank you so much for your thoughts and thank you for WAITING so long for me to actually answer them. do i have any gifts for you,,, i've shared too many wips,,, but what about something stupid like my chaos search history in the making of it?

this is what really cool people do. this is exactly the type of thing really cool people google.

[mysticpetals]

Sorry for bothering you, but I had another idea! :D If you don't mind me sending two requests, how about a headcanon (or imagine if you want, you can choose what you like best) where Jake will meet MC's parents and he is super nervous because he is afraid of what they will think of him and if they knew that he is a hacker. But when Jake and MC arrive at her parents' house, they are quite different than Jake thought.

I'm sooooo sorry that this is super late but life got in the way and I just couldn't bring myself to write. And when I did have the time, I was almost ashamed of how long it had been and delayed it even further.

So this is me, finally writing what I should have done months ago. Thank you so much for your patience!!! ❤️

Jake and f!MC headcannons

(meeting the parents)

There aren't a lot of things that phase Jake

In fact, he's seen so much over the years he was on the run, done some illegal things too

But nothing and he meant nothing, could terrify him more than when his girlfriend told him that her parents had invited them over to have dinner together the next week

"next week? Like....like seven days later?"

"yes." she nodded and his brain short circuited.

"oh my god, oh my god."

MC amused herself by looking at Jake panicking about it for a few minutes and then grabbed his shoulders and made him look at her

"relax, babe. You don't have to. I can tell them that you're busy or something."

Jake calmed down for a moment but then he noticed the sad smile on MC's face

And he doesn't like seeing her sad

At all.

So despite his nervousness, he steeled himself to do this

"why don't we go? I think it'll be fun."

MC's face was priceless.

Shocked beyond belief, she cupped his face in her hands and leaned forward, eyes wide

"are you sure, honey? You don't have to force yourself."

She looked so hopeful and excited to hear his answer

And they had been dating for a while. So it was only natural that they meet each other's families

And since MC had already pretty much met his (only the people he considered as one!), it wouldn't be fair if he didn't make an effort too

"yes. We should go," he smiled and MC squealed excitedly, pressing a quick kiss to his lips

"oh my gosh, I'm so excited!! I'll go call them right now!!"

:))))

Did he make the right decision?

Wellllll, standing in front of MC's house, he was sweating profusely

He had worn his best outfit, a white button up shirt and black jeans

And they had already been late because MC liked his look a little too much

Anyway!!!

He was anxious about making the best impression and he really hoped that they wouldn't be put off by his shyness

Or his profession

About which they didn't know

It's fine it's fine it's fine—

MC's hand slips into his, she gives him a soft smile and the world around them fades away

"I'll be with you the whole time. Tell me if it becomes too much."

Jake swears he's never been more in love

Okay, he can do this!! Absolutely!!

He nods resolutely and MC leads them to her parent's doorstep

Jake's heart is pounding but he's ready

The door opens and he's immediately engulfed in a bone crushing hug

He thinks he can't breath and he looks at MC with wide eyes, asking what to do and she just rolls her eyes in fond exasperation

"really feeling the love here, dad. Not like your daughter is here."

And the weight immediately lifts off of him and turns towards his girlfriend who is laughing as her father hugs her to himself

She squeezes him tight in return and Jake feels himself smile

"it's been too long. I wish you'd come by more. And Jake! Welcome home, son!"

Jake is flabbergasted by the warm welcome. Especially coming from MC's father.

Aren't fathers supposed to threaten the boyfriend?

The flashcards he used to prepare for today did not cover this

"Um, thank you," he stammers out somehow and the man laughs

"My daughter here did say you were shy but no matter! Come on in, I won't bite."

He led them inside and Jake just knew that MC was enjoying all this a little too much judging by the amused tilt of her lips

He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw a stern woman sitting on the couch, watching them walk in

"mom! How have you been?"

MC immediately went in for a hug while the older woman kept staring at him and MC's father leaned close to him and whispered

"She's a tough cookie to crack. Good luck, son."

He was so screwed

Jake gulped and watched the smallest of smiles cross her lips as she regarded her daughter, who was talking excitedly

"and this is Jake! My boyfriend!"

Jake literally felt the temperature inside the room drop, when her mother looked him in the eyes

"h-hello ma'am."

She nodded at him and well, that meant she acknowledged who he was, right?

She immediately turned away from him and started asking her daughter how she had been

Well, apparently not

"sorry, Jake. She's not trying to exclude you. She's just....a little hard around the edges."

He appreciated MC's dad because at least one parent didn't seem to hate him

"I appreciate that, sir."

He looked horrified at being called sir

"please don't call me that. Makes me feel old. Call me dad!"

Jake was once again astounded by the man's openness and not wanting to offend him, nodded hesitantly

He smiled widely and Jake was immediately reminded of MC's face when she laughed

"that's more like it! Come on now, the ladies shouldn't be left alone, they'll talk the night away."

MC smiled as soon as Jake entered in the kitchen where both the women were cooking and bringing out the cutlery

"had a nice chat, you two?" MC asked and her father nodded enthusiastically

"I like him! He's very nice, I approve."

"you've known him for two seconds." MC's mom deadpans and Jake smiles nervously

"can I help you with anything ma'am?"

She appraises him for a few moments and then nods

"then please help MC set the table."

Jake literally sighs in relief when the two of them come out from the kitchen

"your mom is scary."

MC laughs and pinches his cheek

"only because you look terrified of her. She enjoys making you squirm."

"well I almost wet myself because she looked at me like I murdered her dog or something"

MC laughs loudly and her father pokes his head out of the kitchen

"alright you two?"

Jake fights off the blush he knows he's sporting and prays that neither of her parents heard what he had said

Table was set quickly, with MC telling Jake about her childhood memories and her parents brought out the food

Jake thought he might have seen MC's mother smile when he made MC laugh but he wasn't sure

Dinner was a loud affair, with MC and her dad competing about who remembers the most about MC's childhood and Jake and her mother listening quietly

He definitely knew where MC got her charisma from

MC's dad was sweet to include Jake in their conversation, addressing him directly and asking him about his own experiences

He slowly found himself relaxing in their presence and telling them about his own hobbies and pet cat

MC's mother gave an approving nod at his choice of pet and asked him to bring him along the next time

Next time

Jake's brain short circuited at the thought that she wanted Jake to come over again

Does that mean tonight was successful?

"so Jake, you didn't say what you do for a living."

Ahhh

Well, it had to go wrong somewhere, right?

Jake froze and looked to MC to see her in a similar state and immediately deduced that she had not told them about his profession

Well

He knew this was going to come up eventually

"I'm a hacker."

Pin drop silence

You couldn't even hear anyone breath over the quietness

MC's mother put down her spoon slowly and opened her mouth to say something but Jake interrupted her before that

"I know you might think it's not a respectful job but it's what makes me happy. And MC supports me every step of the way and I promise you that I'll do everything in my power to honor her confidence in me. Keeping her safe and happy and healthy is my priority and I'll give my all to make sure that she's never unhappy with me."

Everyone at the table looked at him, MC with tears in her eyes and her father looking very proud

Her mother's expression was still unreadable until she smiled at him

The first smile directed at him

"I was going to say that's very interesting. I myself work in cyber security so I've had dealings with hackers. I've found that they're usually very polite."

What

The

Fuck

Jake blinked slowly and MC shifted guiltily in her seat

"haha what a coincidence, right?" She smiled nervously and her dad picked up quickly at her hint

"oh definitely! Why don't you two talk about work stuff and MC and I can clear up the table?"

MC and her father practically fly out of the dining room and Jake and her mom are the only ones left

It was MC's mother who initiated the conversation this time and Jake replied to her questions

He found it quite pleasant to be honest

It was not a regular occurrence that he could chat with someone who knew about computers so this was a nice change

And MC's mom was quite knowledgeable

She even offered to hire him the next time her company had a need of someone to check their software

Jake had no problem agreeing to her wish

He found that she was actually a very kind but fair woman who loved her family dearly, judging by the way she spoke of MC and her father

His heart warmed to know that MC had grown up in such a loving household, even if his heart gave a twinge at never having felt something akin to parental affection

"okay, you two. I think that's enough chatting for today," MC's father said and Jake looked at the time

Holy shit

How is it so late??

MC gave him a discreet thumbs up behind her mother's back and he had to stifle a laugh

"as much as we loved having you two, you should probably get going if you want to reach the city before midnight."

The goodbyes were a little sad and Jake found himself getting a bit emotional too

He really felt like he belonged here and not like an outsider

And MC's parents are so nice and inclusive

No he did not cry

Not at all

To Jake's surprise, MC's mom pulls him into a hug

"take care of my daughter."

And then he's getting roped into another hug, this one much tighter by her dad

"you hurt her, I'll kill you."

And when he stepped back, he was smiling as usual and Jake almost thought that he imagined his words

Anyway!!!

They are in the car and MC is already planning their next trip

And before he would have been scared but now, after spending time with her family, he knew he had found people worth considering his family

[in3ptbean]

𝑵𝒆𝒘𝒃𝒊𝒆

Steve Harrington (DBD)  x Reader 

Summary: You are there to help Steve understand the Entities realm.

Check these out 

Masterlist  

Prompt List  

Warnings: Blood, death, the works 

(Not My GIF) 

The Entity dragging a pour soul into it’s game of cat and mice had become a regular thing. You’ve been around long enough to become unfazed by it; giving nothing more than an apathetic smile and light clap to the back to keep them on their toes.  

You awoke in the laboratory under an ominous mist. An unfamiliar roar echoed through the once white walls, your step momentarily faltering before you climbed up the steps of the laboratory.  Gagging at the sight of the mutilated scientist, you kicked him body off to the side slightly before walking into the small closet like space. 

“New place,” you muttered, kneeling before the generator, “Same fucking thing,”. You worked quickly and efficiently, known amongst the survivors as one of the most diligent and unhinged survivors the realm had to offer.  Another roar reached your ears, soon accompanied by the rhythmic thudding of your heart. You let go of the wires, smiling at yourself when it didn’t short-circuit, and glanced outside of the doorway.  

A tall brunette  clad in green nearly jumped when he saw you, a harsh intake of air causing him to choke slightly. You stepped out of the room, ushering him inside when you saw the red stain. 

The newest killer stood at the top of the steps, staring down at you with it’s lack of eyes. You’re heart was thudding against your chest, yet you made no move. You glanced at the brunette, noticing the puddle of blood underneath him before looking back at the monster. 

It roared the moment you took a step towards the doorway to  your right, \lunging as you the moment you booked it.  “Work on that fucking generator!” You said, glancing back at the boy before getting the killers attention once more. You hopped down the large hole in the floor, landing with a grunt before running down the hall towards a very promising room. The floor shook with each unwavering step it took, and a sudden heaviness caused you to glance back. It was practically on top of you, slobbering as it swung it’s claws towards your back. You grunted, nearly falling over due to the impact, but jumped over the railing an attempt to put some space between you and the killer. 

Turning left, you ran into Feng Min, who stopped you in your tracks. Your eyes widened when her hand wrapped around your own, and pulled you back. 

“What the fuck are you doing?!” You asked, the terror radius growing with every passing second. “Let me go you fucking dunce!” You threw you elbow back, harshly shoving her right onto the ground; right in front of the killer. You knew you would never hear the end of this; Feng would make sure of it. You sprinted passed the alien-looking creature, leaving Feng behind, and jogged  towards the upstairs in search of the newbie. 

The generator was near completion when Steve felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder. He jumped, whipping around as the generator blew up. Nancy gave him a thin smile before a pounding headache caused him to wince. A scream rang out, forcing Steve to turn back to the hunk of machinery after heeding your parting words. 

“I’m going to go help her!” Nancy said awkwardly before  going down the same hole you had fallen through a few minutes prior.  “Be care-” She was gone before he could even express his worry. “-ful.” 

“Hey Jockstrap,” He popped the generator, a low groan leaving his lips as pressed his hand to his bleeding side. Looking up just as you tossed him a med kit, he raised a hand in greeting.  “Start wrapping yourself up,” You continued, giving the boy an apathetic smile before glancing around. New realms were always tied to the newest survivor in some way shape or form.  “Thanks,” Steve groaned out, sitting against the wall, before popping open the med kit. 

“Sit up,” He looked at you questioningly. “Like a lunge. Increases you chances of getting away faster,” He looked at your stance before copying it, and continuing his self-heal. 

“I’m Steve,” He said after thanking you for the med kit. “not to be rude or anything, but how the hell did you get here?” You didn’t question his confusion, giving him a mere shrug before leading him towards the lower level. 

Question after question after question; that’s all this kid was full of. After explaining the realm and the Entity to him, Steve was in immediate denial. 

“Why can’t we fight back?” He asked, connecting the two live wires exposed on the midriff of the generator. “I’ve done it before,” He quickly assured. You rolled your eyes at the Indiana teen. 

“I’m sure you have, Harrington,” You mused, grinning at him as you worked on  a generator with Steve right at your side. “But if you have a problem with your current situation, you can take it up with HR,” He looked at you blankly before a grin rose to his lips; oblivious to the looming shadow growing from the portal on the ground behind him. 

It was in the midst of the your adrenaline burst, and the subtle nagging in the back of your mind that you shoved Steve to the floor.  The Demogorgon roared, overwhelming your pain-stricken scream. 

It was in the midst of your throbbing side and the rapid, unrhythmic thudding of your heart beating against your chest that Steve had grabbed your arm and was pulling you down the hall. 

Glancing back, you noticed the Demogorgon's hunched over crouch. 

“Sprawl!” You cried out, stopping Steve. 

“What?!” 

“Sprawl!” You let yourself fall to the floor,  pulling Steve with out as the Demogorgon flew over your heads. You scrambled up, glancing down at Steve’s balled up form before dragging him up and hauling ass  away from the stunned killer.  You knew Steve and yourself could hold off the killer for a while; after all, there were only two generators left. You just hoped that Nancy and Feng could pop them before one of you went down... 

Needless to say, the trial did not go to plan. 

The moment the rusty hook penetrated your should, you wanted to be consumed by the Entity.  Across the laboratory, Feng was crouched, not moving an inch. Nancy was running around in search of something, and Steve was sloppily working on a generator near the basement. 

You didn’t struggle, rather letting the Entity’s gangly tendrils impale your body; allowing your body to succumb to the rather pleasant void of nothing and silence.  

You awoke on the camp grounds, next to David and Kate. Oblivious to the rather heated glare  coming from the young Asian teen, you sat up, hand naturally falling to your side.

“How did it go?” Claudette asked, handing you a damp cloth for your hands. 

“You tell me,” You joked, smiling at the pink clad woman,  who merely shook her head, stifling a laugh. Glancing around, you noticed Steve sprawled out on the floor at your feet, unconscious and mumbling incoherently about ‘the lights’ and ‘flicking them on and off’. 

“You’re a bitch,” Feng hissed, bringing upon a silence over the camp. You simply cocked an eyebrow,  merely dismissing Feng’s comment until she brought up todays trial. “You literally pushed me into the killer-” 

“You were fine! Stop bitching around so much. You’re alive aren’t you?!” You interrupted her, now pushing yourself off of the log to stand, practically towering over the gamer. She scoffed, averting her gaze from your burning stare. 

“Just don’t be a dick,” She muttered. You rolled you’re eyes, the sudden caws of a crow getting your attention. It flew quickly, followed by three more omens. With a quick  swoop, it perched itself upon your shoulder. 

Another  landed by Felix, Cheryl and Steve. 

“Good luck,” Feng sneered. You rolled your eyes once more before taking your foot and nudging Steve’s head of hair.  His eyes snapped open, widening at the sight of you’re still alive form. 

“What the hell? I thought you were dead-” 

“So did it,” You feigned, helping him up. “Let’s go,” 

He groaned, glancing round the camp fire before jogging slightly to catch up with the trio now walking into the thick  wild surround the camp; unaware of the danger that waited in the trial ahead. 

[acegarlicloaf]

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Pack Wave 1 & 2 - My Review!

I wanted to post a review of Wave 2, but then realised I never posted 1, so here’s both!

This DLC has been quite a mixed bag so far. Some courses are actually pretty great, and others are quite dull. And visually, some of them look like they had more effort put into them than others.

One last thing before I get into the track by track review. I just thought I’d mention that I definitely found Wave 2 to be much stronger than wave 1 overall.

Anyway, keep reading for the full review!

Gold Mushroom Cup

Paris Promenade: Boring and flat. Looks a bit pretty I guess. 2/10

Toad Circuit: Not too bad, though the inflatable toads definitely could’ve had a little bit of a higher poly count, lol. 4/10

Choco Mountain: Actually enjoyed this. The little touch ups they did make to the Mario Kart Tour style graphics were actually enough for me. It looked nice. 7/10

Coconut Mall: The visual style of the tour version of coconut mall didn’t capture the nostalgia of the original version at all. It’s still a decent course to play, but just knowing what it could’ve been, it was disappointing tbh. On another, less subjective note, the scale felt a little weird. It somehow felt smaller and shorter than the Wii version, which is odd. Music still slaps. 6/10

Cat Bell Cup

Tokyo Blur: Also quite flat, as to be expected with Tour courses, though I found the alternate routes in this one a bit more interesting… still pretty dull. 3/10

Shroom Ridge: Not bad. Very basic. And I will use this course to address the “bad graphics” everyone keeps talking about. Going from a base game course to these DLC courses definitely does give me a bit of whiplash, though I’d say that more for some courses than others. I liked the aesthetic of Choco Mountain, for example. I think they added just enough texture for it to fit in enough. This course, however? I can truthfully say that the flat, texture-less grass absolutely does bother me. But I will also say, if they had made the courses more interesting - added anti gravity sections and all that good stuff - I would most definitely care about the change in aesthetic a bit less. It is disappointing, and I’m already just looking forward to the DLCs being over so we can start speculating about the next Mario Kart game again. Rant over. Shroom Ridge? 2/10

Sky Garden: Actually very pleasant. Would’ve liked to see some anti-gravity added, but pretty nice otherwise. Visually nice too. The lack of animation on the completely stiff shortcut leaves is a bit jarring. But yeah, I kinda liked this one. 5/10

Ninja Hideaway: Actually pretty cool! Visually it could’ve just used some extra texture here and there, and the pink trees look pretty bad. My only complaint about the actual track though is that it feels quite compact and a little claustrophobic. Overall though, cool course. 5/10

Turnip Cup

New York Minute: Kinda fun aesthetic, a few interesting twists and turns. As I’ll be saying a lot though, quite flat for most of it. Could be worse though. 3/10

Mario Circuit: faithful recreation of the original track… probably? I don’t actually know or care, boring and flat, 1/10

Kalimari Desert: liked the little surprise of going on the train tracks on lap two. Not the most interesting course, but better than the other two. 5/10

Waluigi Pinball: It’s Waluigi Pinball, what else can I say? 7/10

Propeller Mushroom Cup

Sydney Sprint: One of the first Tour courses I’ve actually quite enjoyed! (And I’m not just biased because I live there!) One complaint though: why the actual f*ck was the audience in the Opera House flat, animated textures?!?! They had 3D people cheering literally at other parts of the same course!!! However, unlike that audience, this track was solid. 7.5/10

Snow Land: Aesthetically, this course was surprisingly nice! The course was fairly basic, but the only thing that did irritate me a bit was the hole in the ice you can fall through. Playing this for the first time, I assumed maybe they had a little underwater alternate route, because Mario Kart 8 lets you drive underwater. Overall nice though. 5.5/10

Mushroom Gorge: Top tier course. Favourite DLC Course so far. Didn’t feel like it needed added anti-gravity, and the new version of the big mushroom section is really cool. I was worried that having all three of those routes might over-complicate it, but it absolutely didn’t. Best DLC Course yet! 8/10

Sky-High Sundae: Good course! The hype died down a little after the first lap, since it seemed a bit short, and the way you kinda float up those stairs looked a little odd. Overall though, solid track! 7/10

If you actually read all this…

Have a cookie 🍪

[imagineabrighterworld]

Married to Aizawa headcanons?

Married to Aizawa pt1 out of who knows how many 

I love him send help

In the beginning

Aizawa isn't a big PDA man, he hides his emotions and desires very well, you happen to be one of those desires that he hides

The only one aware of your marriage is Yamada and that's only because he overheard you talking about forgoing a ceremony while he was on call with Aizawa

Yamada literally invited himself to your mini wedding

And by mini I mean mini

You really just had a little photoshoot in your backyard after you had your marriage licenses done with

You walked into this relationship knowing Aizawa wasn't one for showing off, so when he wore his wedding ring on a chain hidden under his shirt, you didn't take offense to it

He saw it as maintaining your safety, knowing that he has enemies that would jump at any signs of weakness, and he didn't want you to be tracked down because of a simple band of metal

That isn't to say he doesn't feel pride at marrying you

He enjoys it when the two of you are at home and he can lay his head on your lap, knowing he is safe as he closes his eyes and falls asleep

You absolutely love playing with his hair when he is like this 

His students never know who it is that braids his hair or puts it up in a bun, but know that it’s you

You take movie nights with him very seriously

He goes on night patrols all the time {he's an underground hero so, that's kind of in his job description} but he takes nights with you just as seriously 

You prepare the floor with fluffy blankets and enormous pillows, and prepare an array of snacks as you slide next to him and use the movie as an excuse to cuddle with him on the floor

Cooking with you is one of his favorite things to do

You both have a silent language, without speaking you already know what the other needs

Salt? It's already in his hand. Knife? You're already sharpening it for him

There are days where he comes home in the dead of night, days where he isn't home long enough to talk to you as you're already asleep, but those are the nights he’ll find a plate of food wrapped and waiting for him on the table

Overall, the beginnings of being married to Aizawa are the months that feel just like when you were dating, simple little things that speak words

After a few months of marriage

Aizawa, after some convincing that your friends knowing you're married won't lead to disaster, finally lets the other staff and friends know about your marriage

Needless to say they are over the moon and screaming {Yamada and Nemuri that is}

He leaves it up to you to deal with their phone calls of congratulations and well-wishes, his back against the wall as he listens to you speak to them with a vigor he knew he couldn't match 

But on the inside it touched him how happy you were about all of their words

He knows you love him but it just cemented it further

He finally wears his ring on his finger, but leaves it at home when he goes on patrol, just in case

This means his students learn of his marriage

Class 1-A was always a riot, but he truly wasn't prepared to be bombarded by their shouts of glee and utter confusion

He later recounts the story of how Denki short circuited for half of the class and nearly sent four kids to Recovery Girl when his shock turned into literal shocks

You decide to pay a visit to his class one day to see them yourselves, a visit he begrudgingly approves of

Just so you can get his kids to stop peppering him with questions

At home and outside of the house, things change up a little

He doesn't admit to it, but he loves calling you his spouse

When it comes up in conversations that he's married to you, a warm feeling comes to being, he's reminded of your friendship and love and it brings a small smile to his face

He tries hiding how happy you make him when others are around, but there's no denying you make him feel like a better person

He takes better care of himself, attempting having a better sleep schedule, taking packed lunches the both of you prepared instead of only drinking juice packets, and generally getting a better mindset

When you're walking outside with him, you love intertwining your hands and brushing your arm against his as you stroll 

Without noticing it, he always gives your hand a squeeze when you find stray cats, as if he subconsciously has to remind himself to stay by your side instead of trying to woo the cat to him

This prompts your decision to adopt a stray cat from one of the nearby shelters

Which leads to having four cats and one kitten because you both couldn't help yourselves

[cyberloops]

Watch from the beginning if you want to see some of my process and maybe get a glimpse of one of my cats. Skip to 4:25 for the start of the jam.

The last 24 hours have been strange. Last night I broke my tooth. It didn’t hurt. But a third of my molar is just missing. And of course, it happened Saturday night, so the dentist’s office won’t be open until Monday.

I just turned 40 in November. Everyone says your body starts to fall apart after 40. I didn’t expect it to be so damned literal.

So this jam session was mostly a distraction. Keeping myself busy, figuring out how best to capture these jam sessions and prep them for internet readiness. I probably spent more time futzing around with video editing software after the fact than I did actually doing the jam.

The Novation Circuit Tracks is the center of this jam session, I programmed in a basic percussion loop before I hit record. The first MIDI track on the Circuit are the chords that are looping, the second track is the bassline that I record in at 4:25. After that, I barely touch the Circuit and do most of the rest through the Yamaha CS Reface and the Beheringer MS-1. The only time I really go back to the Circuit is when I’m using its touchpad to control and play the Behringer Crave, which is the orange synth that you can barely see at the bottom right of the screen there. It’s an interesting one, I’ve found that it does fantastic bass and soprano, and it’s kinda meh around the midrange. Honestly, I feel like I could do an interesting bass counterpoint/high solo line if I had two of them. But if I had an extra couple hundred bucks to spare, I’d probably get something that I don’t already have, like maybe a Yamaha DX reface or something like that.

Of course, I have no clue how much my upcoming dental surgery is going to cost. We’ll see if I have any money left over after that.

[peachyteabuck]

enemy of my enemy is my lover

summary: you planned on just going to a meeting with an adversary, hoping to gain more territory in the process. you left with something much, much better. 

pairing: mobster!bucky barnes x mobster!reader

words: 3,226

trigger warnings: smut (oral - f recieving and vaginal sex), mob dynamics

notes/other: this was inspired by ask received by @bucky-plums-barnes a long, long time ago about a mobster!bucky headcanon that describes the plot to this fic. while i could not find the exact ask (trust me, i tried), i credit the anonymous genius & gen heavily for inspiring this. thank you both!

ask box / masterlist / commission info / ko-fi

Each step you make is loud, sharp; the sound of heels clicking against the cold, cracked cement of New York City. It’s something, one of the things, that makes you powerful – sends this thick feeling of invulnerability through your veins, as if you’re some deity returning to her alter.

That feeling – one of untouchable power – has always been…sort of…hard for you to conjure. It’s not like you’re not not powerful in this world absent your fantasies. You run the second most powerful mob in the country! You’ve got a large pull in international trade! You’ve got major influence in congress and almost every state senate! You’ve got money, a smoking hot and super amazing boyfriend, and loyal coworkers. What else do you need?

Regardless of all that, roaming the streets at night never fails to send a special kind of shiver crawling across your skin. It’s a particular type of fear, one that makes you pull your steel grey coat closer to you as you roam the street, makes your hand cling tighter to the .45 in your deep, righthand pocket.

As you reach the alley where the deal you’re brokering is supposed to take place, your phone buzzes a few times in a row. You have an urge to check it, to make sure the man you love is okay, but letting your guard down now wouldn’t be wise. You’ve got to keep a keen mental sharpness about you to make sure no one kidnaps you (or worse) or fucks you over at your own deal, but still, the only person who would be texting you at this godforsaken hour is the man you left at home, and in this business you can never be too careful about the ones you care deeply about…

Your thoughts are interrupted (quite rudely, you might add), by the sound of a thick winter coat shuffling – as if someone were to be rolling their sleeves up. The noise of the fabric gets louder as the person – a man, you soon realize – steps closer. A man with sharp cheekbones and a dark beard and beautiful, pillowy lips.

His gaze, even under the dark baseball cap that lacks insignia, seems hauntingly familiar. You can’t place it, and it seems rude to ask if you’ve met before, given the circumstances. Still…something seems…recognizable about this mystery man.

You don’t realize it, though, until the man opens his mouth and asks about the new baby seal in the San Francisco zoo. It’s the right code, that’s not what throws you. Rather, it’s the gravely voice of the man you’ve been dating for years that stops you in your tracks.

“Bucky!?” you call out, completely confused and abandoning the correct coded response. “Why are you out here?”

Bucky, now meeting your eyes, seems just as bewildered as you are. “I, uh…I’m….what, what are you doing here?”

You have no idea how to respond, mind too baffled to form words. “Wh…what…”

You step closer, carefully – as if he was some rabid cat you found behind your apartment building. His beautiful baby blues are wide, eyes narrowed – you gasp when you get close enough to smell the cologne, his cologne, the exact scent you bought him for Christmas the year previous. “Are…are you…you’re…are you the White Wolf?”

Bucky visibly steps back at the mention of the street name – the street name of the guy who runs the mob that (similar to yours) is based in New York and works in black market goods. He tries to hide his shock, just in case what he thinks is happening definitely isn’t happening. In all honesty, Bucky can’t tell which one would be worse. “And, you’re uh. You’re…um…are you….are you She-Devil?”

If you were disoriented before, you have no word to describe how much your brain is short-circuiting at the thought that this man – the man you love, has secretly been running not only a mob, but a rival mob, this entire time.

“Do…wait,” you shake your head to try and collect your exceptionally scattered thoughts. “Are you the guy who wanted to negotiate territory with me?”

Bucky hesitates for a second, body tense and reluctant to say anything. You’re both still, not daring move a muscle and the both of you stare each other down. It feels like an eternity before he does anything, your surprise only growing as a massive, shit-eating grin spreads across his gorgeous, scruffy face.

It’s a look you know well, one you’ve come to both love and despise. It’s the same look he gave you when he told you he wanted to build (not pay someone else to build, build himself) a deck in a house you moved out of two months later, when he almost got a face tattoo, when he sold your house (you know, the one he wanted to build a deck for) to buy one three streets away. That’s the look he get when some grand idea that will probably turn out to be a disaster – the look that says “this may be a disaster, but the only way to see if it is will be to try it.”

In an instant, Bucky closes the gap between you and presses his lips to yours. As he arms wrap around you, you can feel him rub at the small of your back, just as he always does when he’s trying to keep you calm. “Yeah, babygirl. That’s me. I’m the White Wolf.”

You press your face in the warm embrace of his coat, muffling your speech. “But why didn’t you tell me?”

Bucky shrugs as he answers. “Didn’t want you to feel unsafe, I guess. Didn’t want you to worry about me.” He presses a kid to the top of your head. “Better question, why didn’t you tell me?”

You sigh, your small voice becoming even tinier. “I dunno…same reasons as you, I guess. Felt like I’d be dragging you into something you wouldn’t want to deal with.”

Bucky barks a laugh into the night, the sound reverberating off the tall buildings. “Seems reasonable.”

You pull away but refuse to make eye contact as tears well in your eyes and cloud your vision. For a mob leader, you’re very emotional. “Baby, are you sure? Like, are you sure this is okay? I mean, we kept this major part of our lives from each for literal years…like, does that say something about us as a couple? And we’re, like, rivals, we’re supposed to be competing against each other for money and goods and ports and clients and-“

Bucky cuts into your anxious ramblings by pulling you back into a tight bug. “Hey, hey! Baby, listen. This is a good thing! A great one, if you want it to be!”

You wipe at your nose with your hand. “Are you…what do you, are you sure? What do you mean?”

Bucky nods, eyes ablaze with excitement for the future. “Of course, baby, listen. Separate, our mobs are both powerful, right? We can agree on that. But together? With the territory, the influence, us...together, we could rule the fucking world.”

Technically, he isn’t wrong; with your strategy and Bucky’s brutal execution, your combined business could easily become the apex predator of the mob scene within the Western hemisphere. What Bucky had, you lacked, and vice versa. You’d studied his…business…for years (before you knew it was Bucky who ran the Pack, of course) as you climbed the ranks of your own mob. You know they have hands in several international black markets, have relationships with lots of lots of rich people who do lots and lots of bad things and pay lots and lots of money for those bad things.

Oh God, you’d never think being power-hungry and love drunk could feel so good. Your mind fogs over with all the things you could do if you had Bucky and his gang by your side, you could do anything. Simply by territory you’d be outgunning Hydra, let alone the combined wealth and human capital. You’ve never felt this exhilarated before in your life, the freezing night air electrifying your rib cage and-

Bucky and you grin madly. Wordlessly, you clasp hands and walk back to your shared apartment halfway across town. Both of you are silent until you’re safely inside your secured home. As you pull your hair up into a messy ponytail, Bucky began grabbing bowls for dinner.

“You know-” he said as he ladled soup out of the deep red Crock Pot. “Now that we aren’t desperately trying to hide our occupations from each other, we can move into a bigger house?’ Bucky says it like a question, but you know better.

Normally you’d tell him “no, of course we can’t do that, we can’t afford it.” But now that you both know that you’re each hiding hundreds of millions of dollars in offshore accounts, slush funds, and dummy corporations throughout the world…

“Sure,” you shrug. “Why not.”

Bucky grins like a child on Christmas. “If we’re gonna rule, we need the proper palace.”

You forego giving into Bucky’s terrible, awful joke to hang up your studded coat, to take off your business casual navy-blue pants and black button-up in, and change into a pair of workout shorts and some tie-dye hoodie you thrifted about ten years ago. Bucky calls them your “thinking clothes,” attire you wear specifically to center yourself, to clear your mind of everything except the task at hand.

During dinner, you and Bucky begin to plan how you can consolidate assets, personnel, jobs, and everything that comes with heading mobs. It’s a long talk, one that lasts long into the night and ends with hastily-drawn diagrams and maps strewn around your living room.

It takes hours and way too many pots of coffee, but eventually the plan for the merger is laid out in front of you – all the graphs and math and official language handwritten in your neat cursive (along with a few notes scrawled by Bucky) on over twenty sheets of pristine printer paper.

Bucky sighs happily when he sees it all finished. He’s standing, desperate for a bird’s eye view of the entire thing.

You, on the other hand, are much too tired to stand. You settle for, “How does it look, babe?” as you draw two lines for each of your signatures below both of your full names.

When you look up, you see Bucky – eyes twinkling with joy. “It looks…,” he sighs, happily. “Amazing. I love you so much.”

You giggle, drawing lines for a few witnesses (you’ll make a few of your associates sign tomorrow). “I love you, too, babe. Now, you still got that champagne from our visit to France?”

Somewhere between the front room and the wine fridge, Bucky had you pinned against the wall and was cupping your clothed pussy.

“While I think you look great,” Bucky murmurs against the hot skin of your neck. “You’re wearing just a little too much for me.”

In an instant he tears the skimpy shorts from your body, the sound of ripping fabric making you moan;

“Fuck,” you gasp as one digit, then another enters you. “Holy shit that feels good.”

Bucky pulls away enough to look you in the eyes, smiling as he watches your jaw slacken from the pleasure. “Yeah? You like that?”

If you could speak you would, but each word just comes out as a breathy moans. Your first orgasm hits you like a wave, Bucky pulling it from you with crooked fingers and his lips on yours.

When you come down Bucky carries you to the bed, undressing himself as you do the same.

He pulls you to the end of the bed by your ankles, pushing your legs up to your chest. He enters you easily – bottoming out within a few thrusts.

You and Bucky moan into each other’s mouths as he fucks into you.

“Oh God,” he groans, moving to kiss at your neck. “Holy shit!”

He rubs at your clit with the thumb of one hand as he bites bruises in your collarbones, desperate to hear the symphony of sweet sighs and deep moans as you near another peak.

“Come on baby,” Bucky murmurs into your lips. “Come on, cum around my cock for me.”

It doesn’t take much after that – a few more circles around your clit in time with his thrusts and soon you’re scream and nearly tears the sheets from how tight you’re gripping them and your whole body convulses from pleasure.

Bucky finishes himself onto your stomach, head thrown back in pleasure as he does so.

He takes a minute to collect himself, still panting as he grabs a tissue to clean you off.

After water and a snack (two granola bars you had stuffed into your bedside drawer an unknowable amount of months ago), you curl into Bucky’s chest, tracing the litany of tattoos there. “Weren’t we supposed to drink to celebrate?”

Bucky lets out a full belly laugh. “Probably. But the alcohol is all the way downstairs. Plus, I know something else I can drink to celebrate?”

You wrinkle your nose. “Only you? Why don’t I get to get drunk?”

Bucky just smirks, moving you off of him. You’re about to protest but begin to understand once he pushes the covers off the both you to make room for himself between your legs.

“Trust me,” he tells you, leaving kisses on your skin between every few words. “You’ll love this a lot more than any old champagne.”

And, of course, he was right.

The next day, you meet with your closest adversaries. While you two wait in the conference room in the building Bucky took over after it was condemned a couple years back, you can feel your heart ram into your ribcage. It’s less from anxiety and more from anticipation, knowing you might face major backlash from the people you trust the most.

The first to arrive is the woman you trust the most in this world: Natasha. She doesn’t move towards the table, simply stands just inside the doorway while staring you down. She doesn’t recognize Bucky, but doesn’t enjoy being below the eyeline of a man she’s never seen before.

“Natasha,” you say, desperate to remain calm. “This is Bucky. We’ve been together for five years. And he’s the leader of the Pack.”

In a fashion much atypical for Natasha Romanoff, her eyes widen slightly. “Oh…” she says after a long while. “Okay then.”

She promptly sits down with no further questions.

As with many business, heads and second-in-commands of mobs rarely come face to face. They have goons, messengers that do their footwork. Descriptions of the faces belonging those in charge pass around akin to rumors, only whispered quieter.

Which is why, when Steve comes in, he has no idea what to think until Bucky introduces you and Natasha.

By the time Bucky’s finished talking, Steve’s beat red. “Buck, what the fuck is this.”

“Just,” Bucky sighs, worried about his phrasing and angering his best friend on the face of the planet (whether that be Steve, for reasons that feel obvious, or you, for reasons that feel even more obvious). “Sit down. We’ll explain-“

“’We’ll!’” Steve nearly screams.

Bucky is the only one who flinches at the sudden loud noise. You finish his sentence for him. “Yes. Bucky and I will explain.”

Steve doesn’t like it, doesn’t like taking orders from a rival. Still, he sits at the large, oval conference table opposite Natasha.

The last two people to come in are the head of you and Bucky’s legal departments. Wanda gives you a single nod before sitting next to Natasha, a man Bucky addresses as “Tony” sits next to Steve.

You exhale deeply once the metaphorical dust settles, encouraging Bucky to begin the spiel he had prepared last night been orgasms four and five.

“Alright. We have,” he sighs. “We have decided to combine our two…”  Bucky struggles to find the right word. He worries for bugs and secret agents and misunderstandings, brain always struggling to remember that this is sacred, secret business. Any crack in any of the numerous protective facades could mean its downfall, along with the loss of billions of dollars and his life.

“Entrepreneurial endeavors,” you finish for him.

You hear Natasha snort, amused by the avoidance of saying gang and mob and illegal distributor of goods. The rest of your cohort are silent, unsure of what to say next.

Each beat of verbal inaction leaves you more fearful than the last, your heart getting louder and louder in your ears.

For what feels like forever, no one says anything.

Though, with the pounding of blood in your ears, they could be screaming obscenities at you and you wouldn’t be able to hear them.

The only thing that seems able to quiet the noise is Bucky’s fingers intertwining with yours.

Only then do you hear Wanda speak, her accent tinging each word. It’s comforting, to hear something so familiar.

“I assume you both have drawn up something that,” she eyes the man across from her with a look dusted with disdain. “Tony and I can look at.”

Bucky slides the thick document, held together in a beat-up binder you found under a bookshelf, across the table. Wanda is the one who stops it and looks into it first.

She says nothing, holding her tongue as she allows Tony to eye the document. He’s wearing dark sunglasses and pushes them to the corner of his nose as thumbs through it, looking bored and tired.

“Yeah, this shit looks good,” Tony says quickly, shoving the dark glasses back over his eyes. “Can we leave now?”

The resounding silence continues until you break it yourself, attempting to detail for Steve and Natasha what it all means. They listen diligently and sign where needed, Natasha being decided on as the most likely to type it up into an official document and send it to the necessary parties.

Once it’s all over, you and Bucky ride down in the big, glass elevator together – excitement electric in the air.

“How’re you feeling?” Bucky asks. It doesn’t seem to be out of concern, even if tears of happiness are pricking at your eyes.

“God,” you tell him, voice breathy and ecstatic. “I don’t even know how to describe it. I just, I don’t know. I’ve been so terrified I’d have to hide this forever – or that you’d find out, or that someone would figure out who you were. And now…I just,” you wipe at your eyes, and Bucky pulls you into his chest. “I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I know you’re protected. And I don’t have to hide this from you. And I’m so fucking happy about it.”

Bucky kisses the top of your head, tucking you under his chin. “Oh, baby. Darling I’m so sorry you had to go through all that.”

The two of you stand in silence, holding each other until you have to exit. Neither of you say anything until you’re both in the car, safely on your way back to your shared home.

“We’re in this together right?” you ask, looking at Bucky as he keeps his dark eyes on the road.

Regardless he smiles, moving his right hand from the wheel to rest on your knee. “Always, baby. Always.”

[nikxation]

If You Give a Mothman a Loan

Huge thank you to @birdgirlamp for commissioning me to write a fic by donating to WHO (if you want more information, see this post). Sorry it took so long to get this out, but here it is! Hope you enjoy!

Word count: 2359

Characters: Stanford Pines (pre- and post-portal), Fiddleford McGucket (pre-portal), Wendy Corduroy (post-portal... obviously)

~ ~ ~

It’s three months into Fiddleford’s stay in Gravity Falls, and the skeleton in the closet (or the portal in the basement) is slowly looking less and less like just a bundle of messy wires and half-finished structural supports and more like the behemoth of a machine it’s meant to be. The raw stock for the exterior plating should be here any day now, the first of the two power transfer beams is online, and every day is another day closer to their end-goal.

He’ll hand it to Stanford Pines, this is some of their best work yet.

He still remembers the day he arrived and Ford showed him the initial drafts. He’d thought the size was overkill, that the hollowed-out basement beneath the house would just become a room with decent acoustics for him to practice his banjo playing away from his old college roommate while the real machine was built somewhere less cold and damp.

Boy howdy was he wrong.

Now, every time he walks in the room, he feels the thing like the presence it is, towering stories tall, looming over him in a way that he would almost consider menacing if it weren’t for the fact that it’s just a machine.

He’s got blueprints and prototyped miniatures of literal death bots.

So why would the interdimensional portal in the basement put him on edge?

It shouldn’t.

So he shakes the thought away and gets back to work.

An unsuccessful system test led to the time-shift circuit on motherboard seven incinerating again. If he were the kind of man to actually keep count (which he certainly is), he’d know it’s the fourth time in the past week this same part has crapped out on them.

It’s also the reason he’s gonna finally stop out-sourcing these parts and just start making them in-house from now on. He’s about sick of replacing them every five minutes.

That’s what brings Fiddleford to where he is now, with his upper body shoved halfway inside the portal’s support structure and crammed between God knows how many electrical components. His arms have just started to cramp in their rather unnatural position as he pries at the burnt-out part to replace it with a newer one that will hopefully hold out against the power output better than its predecessor.

Ford’s sitting in the control room, supposedly running through some of the math again to double-check that they didn’t miss anything.

The “supposedly” is only because, for the past twenty minutes, the man has been prattling on like Fiddleford’s grandma at Sunday family brunch. He can only hear the occasional snippet from his position (quite literally) inside the portal, and as far as he can tell, he thinks he’s talking about either his most recent research outing, or something about preacher scouting. He wants to lean towards the former, but with the new stories he’s found about a so-called “velocipastor”, he can’t rule out the latter. Either way, the man hasn’t stopped talking long enough to breathe, let alone re-run equations that use relative space-time physics with integrated fourth dimensional calculus.

Fiddleford just doesn’t have the heart to tell him that he really can’t hear him.

He snaps the ribbon cable off the still-smoking component (after the first time it blew, he learned to bring heat-resistant gloves in here with him) and is rather glad to see it’s still intact. Rewiring is a day-long project he’s glad to not have to do again. He maneuvers his hand back out into open air and tosses the old piece somewhere into the room before getting to work mounting the new one.

Ford’s voice echoes from the next room over.

“… extra funds… exploring… investing for…”

Bolting the circuit down turns out to be easier the fifth time he has to do it, and he’s about to start running a simple, probably non-exploding test to make sure the new part is integrated correctly when he hears—

“… so I gave Mothman a thousand dollars…”

And that, of all things, stops Fiddleford in his tracks.

“Come again?” he yells. He had to have misheard because he swears he just heard the man say—

“I ran into Mothman in the woods yesterday,” Ford says, all too nonchalantly, “and they told me they were starting up a small business and needed an investment, so I gave them a thousand dollars from my excess funds with a verbal agreement that they would pay me back within the year.”

… So he didn’t mishear him, that’s for darn sure.

The fact that the Mothman is real is surely weird enough. But he’s lived in Gravity Falls (and known Stanford Pines) for long enough that it doesn’t really surprise him too much. No, that’s not the part that brings him to wiggle himself out of his position inside the portal’s underbelly just enough so that he can meet Ford’s eyes in the other room.

“You gave Mothman… a thousand dollars…” Fiddleford says slowly.

“To help kickstart their new business, yes.” It’s so casual, like he doesn’t even register the inherent absurdity in what he’s saying.

“And that business is?”

“Mothballs.”

“Stanford!”

“What?”

“That’s the stupidest scam I’ve ever heard.”

Ford sputters, his face aghast for a moment. “I did not get scammed by Mothman!”

“You did.”

“Did not.”

“Do you even know what mothballs are for?”

He pauses, his mouth snapping shut, his face turning the slightest shade of red. Fiddleford can see it from the next room over. “No. I always assumed they were some biproduct created by moths during reproduction or something.” Fiddleford lets his head fall back, bonking on a bar of the steel framework behind him.

“Stanford, they repel moths,” he says. “You just let a bunch of moths convince you they’re starting a business making the thing they hate. That’s stupider than the time my neighbor tried to convince me his cat could see God. And you have three PhDs!”

“Four now,” he says quietly, and Fiddleford levels him with a single raised eyebrow.

“You’re gonna go back, find that over-glorified insect, and get our money back. Or so help me, I will never do another grocery run for as long as I live here.”

“Oh come now, that’s hardly fair. You know I hate going into town.”

“Then you better hurry along and find him.”

“You honestly believe the actual Mothman is pulling a con.”

“People lie, Stanford,” he says, finally ducking himself back into the machine to finally run the diagnostic on the new circuit. “Even cryptids and aliens probably from another dimension.”

There’s a moment of silence, but it’s broken a few moments later by the sound of a chair scuffing on the floor and footsteps ascending the wooden stairs out of the basement.

Fiddleford snorts, shaking his head and getting back to work.

~ ~ ~

“So, like, the Mothman,” Wendy says, keeping pace next to him as they make their way back into the woods, the sun’s last rays just starting to slip behind the trees. “The actual Mothman. He’s real?”

“As real as any of the other anomalies in this town,” Ford says, adjusting the strap of the bag slung over his shoulder. He’d heard the cryptid had come back into town again shortly after Wierdmageddon, and after his first attempt at getting his money back a few weeks back (second if you count that time over three decades ago) went sour, he decided to bring back-up this time. But with Stan still out of commission and the kids rightly wanting to stay with him, he was hard-pressed for options. That is until the cashier girl piped up and said she’d do it for ten percent of whatever they recovered.

Ford negotiated her down to eight and a half. She drives a hard bargain; he can see why Stan hired her.

“Dude, that’s sick,” she says.

“I mean, I hardly think they’re ill or anything,” Ford says. “As fast as their moths die off, they re-introduce new ones to the population through some sort of reproductive mitosis—”

“Nah dude, it’s a phrase,” she cuts him off. “Means, like, ‘that’s awesome’.”

“Ah, alright.” Ford pauses to check the anomaly scanner on his watch, the little white blip flashing on the screen. “I’ve never been exceptionally ‘with it’ when it comes to slang, so you’ll have to pardon my misunderstanding.”

“You’re fine, Dr. Pines,” she says. She kicks a loose rock off into the brush. “I’m pretty sure Stan doesn’t understand half of what I say either.” Ford hums an affirmative, intently watching the small blip on his watch, confirming that it is, in fact, slowly moving in their direction. After a few seconds, he drops the bag he’s been carrying with a thwump, a bit of dust swirling up from the dirt.

“We’re going to set up the trap right here,” he says. “We have probably ten minutes until the Mothman comes through here, so we’ll need to act quickly.”

“You got it boss-man.”

It’s a fairly simple net trap, one that they make short work of assembling. Ford had already built the majority of it to bring out here, including a magic-imbued mosquito net that should contain the Mothman’s consciousness so long as they catch the majority of their moths.

He made that mistake last time, the Mothman managing to escape in the couple moths that his trap missed.

“So, you really were in, like, a different dimension for a bunch of years, right?” Wendy asks as she spreads some leaves and twigs over the net.

“Multiple dimensions,” he says as he carefully sets the trap’s trigger pole. “I travelled through thousands of them in my thirty years away from this one.”

“Dude, that’s nuts.”

“It was… pretty sick,” he says, shooting her a wry grin. Wendy groans.

“Well,” she says, “you just confirmed for me that I was right to never teach Stan slang, so thanks for that I guess.”

“Glad to help.” With the trap finally set and ready to go, he pulls the last item out of the bag: the bait, which he flicks on and gently sets down against the trigger.

“That’s a flashlight,” Wendy says, the statement almost a question.

“Indeed, it is.”

“Is it, like,” she says, waving her hands slightly, “I don’t know, magic or something?”

“Nope,” he says, backing off and giving the trap one last look-over. He has to hand it to the girl, she knew what she was doing.

“You’re serious?”

“Entirely,” he says. “It doesn’t take much to attract them. Back in the eighties, they used to hang around streetlamps and windows all the time. It’s a wonder they’re still considered a cryptid considering how blatantly out in the open they—”

He hears the tell-tale sound of fluttering insect wings, not too far off, but loud enough to make him pause. He glances in the direction and then down at his watch, the blip on the screen almost on top of them. Quickly, he motions to Wendy to hide and then does the same himself, crouching behind the nearest tree and peering around the side to watch.

It’s rather quiet for a few moments, the darkness starting to settle into the pines, the lit flashlight a lone beacon, just the sound of the pine needles whistling in the breeze and the far-off humming of the approaching cryptid. But that low hum gradually gets louder, turning to a white drone of hundreds of small wings beating in tandem.

A familiar dark shape emerges from the underbrush. Humanoid, but just barely. Ten-feet tall with two enormous wings sprouting from its back, two large yellow eyes reflecting the scattered light of the flashlight in the clearing. Their entire shape feels blurred at the edges, like someone drew a line of charcoal and smudged it, the hundreds of moths that make up their body shifting and moving amongst each other in a din of small beating wings.

The Mothman.

Ford hates to admit that the thought still sends an excited shiver up his spine.

They emerge into the clearing, glancing around and taking an immediate interest in the flashlight lying on the ground. They approach it slowly, cautiously, glancing around as if waiting for the ambush, eventually making it onto the net before moving to bend down to pick up the flashlight.

They stop.

Ford holds his breath.

“Stanford Pines,” a voice says, the sound a high whine broken up and mixed with soft clicking. The Mothman stands back upright, snapping its eyes right in his direction. Immediately, Ford’s mind starts swirling with potential fallback options to try to turn this in their favor. “Surprised you’re still alive after last week. Really think we’re stupid enough to fall for—”

“Suck mothballs, lamp licker!” Wendy screams from across the clearing, the Mothman whipping around just as a projectile of some sort (is that an axe?) flies out of the underbrush and hits the trap’s trigger dead-on, sending the net shooting upwards and capturing almost all of the moths above it. A shrill screech fills the air from the now-dangling mass of moths, but Ford is too busy gaping at the cashier girl as she emerges from her hiding spot.

“Nice shot, Wendy!” he beams, shaking off the shock and coming out to join her on either side of the now-enraged Mothman. She shrugs, retrieving the axe from off the ground and sliding it back into her belt loop behind her back.

“No biggie. My dad enters me into the annual axe-throwing competition every year. I’ve won the last 5 in a row.” Ford, having not known anything about this girl before today, is rather stunned. He certainly was not expecting that from the teen, let alone the nonchalance over it. “But anywho,” she says, turning her attention to the writhing mass in front of them. “About that money…”

~ ~ ~

About two hours after they left, Ford and Wendy arrive back at the Mystery Shack, Ford heading to the back of the house to find Stan and the kids, Wendy collecting her things and heading back out to go home, a crisp one-hundred dollar bill tucked into her pocket.

[dikiyvter]

Boss Battle for both Gio ( :(( ) and Riga

[ x ] BOSS BATTLE! | @melodicbreeze you can tell it was a lil easier to think of the concept of riga being a boss bc his attacks have actual names lol​...

VS GIACOMO, THE TRAVELING JESTER [ song ]

       A boss battle need not be sad-- After all, what’s better than some fun between friends? The arena is not much of an arena at all, but the incline of one of Mondstadt’s many cliffs. Rocks dot the surface of the arena- cover to hide behind. The harsh wind that surrounds the clown makes this a battle best fought a distance; Arrows are your friend, here- After all... This is a challenge. 

       “You don’t really think you can outshoot me, do you?” he laughs, summoning his bow with a flourish. “You shouldn’t underestimate me, you know! This is what I’m made for, after all!”

       Of course, Giacomo knows your his equal- And so he’ll hold back little, fully intending to make this a fight worth celebrating with plenty of wine and tasty treats afterwards. He is quite unlike himself in battle, the flourishes and fancy performances long gone as he focuses solely on utility, making the most of every action. The clown primarily has three different attacks.        1. HIS ARROWS. These are his main attacks, arrows shot in short barrages. Making use of the stones around the arena to hide from the onslaught will be your best bet to not getting injured. His arrows do Physical DMG.         2. HIS VISION. Giacomo is no stranger to using his wind as both offense and defense. His vision provides two different uses; Pushing you away once you land a certain number of blows. This deals Anemo DMG.         3. HIS KNIFE. Should you get close enough, the clown will pull out the knife he often keeps at his side and dart for you, dealing Physical DMG with the blade. 

       Dodging, making use of cover, and memorizing how many hits you can get in before he blasts you back with Anemo are the safest bets for surviving the fight. It’s not a hard fight, by any means. Memorizing his patterns will help you immensely, but remember... he’s fighting you as a friend, not an adversary. 

       When you finally manage to defeat him, the cutscene begins. You tackle him to the floor, wrestling his knife away from him- though it really doesn’t pose much of a risk to you, anyways. The two of you lay there panting for a long moment... before the clown breaks into laughter, congratulating you on defeating him and conceding that you can shoot better than him. You let him up, grabbing his hand to assist him to his feet. “To angels share, then? My treat.” 

       I’m considering all of these to be weekly bosses, so... he drops Shivada Jades, Vayuda Turqouise, and Prithiva Topaz. His unique drops would be Bell of The Clown [ a bell from his coat ] , Tuft of the Clowns Coat [ a tuft of fur from his collar ], and Pompom of the Jester [ one of the little pompoms from his shirt/shoes ]

VS GIACOMO PART 2, SNEZHNAYA’S BITTER WIND [ song ]

       Of course, all friendships must end in due time, whether through death or through the cold sting of betrayal. “You really should have stayed away from me, you know,” the clown says, anger dripping from his voice. He won’t even turn to look at you- not now. Not through these eyes. A careful hand unclips the mask from his belt, and it is only as he slips the Despairing Mask on over his face that he finally meets the eyes of the man he once called a friend. The wind around you two kicks up, a harsh barrier blocking you from even hoping to escape across the open plain of snow and ice. The freezing cold that settles in your bones hits almost as deep as the cold rage that lurks beneath Giacomo’s mask. 

       The clown does not play with his prey. It is not the nature of the storm’s winds to toy- It is their nature to cut. To topple. There is remnants of the previous fight in this one. His arrows hit faster, harder. Without cover on these snow-swept plains your only hope is to dodge the attacks as they rip through the air- your plight made all the more miserable by the snow kicked up by his winds. The field is covered in a haze that serves to obscure your vision just enough to make things a bit difficult, and through it all you hear the quiet jingle of the clown as he moves around you. His blade makes a far more common appearance, here; Watch your back. When he isn’t firing arrows at you he’ll be positioning himself at your back to jump forward, slashing at you two or three times before pushing you away with wind, dealing Anemo DMG- The same occurs after you get a few hits on him. Jumping a fair distance away is usually a good means to avoid taking any DMG from this attack. 

       Giacomo does not speak the entire time. 

       STAGE TWO - MY DEEPEST GRIEF. [ song ]

       Cutscene. You manage to successfully knock the clown back. The winds rip around the two of you as you try to explain this wasn’t what you meant to happen. That you never meant to hurt him this bad; That you are his friend, not his enemy. Your attempts are met with nothing but a bitter scream of shut up as he rises back to his feet, stumbling. One of your attacks has left his arm injured, and he tosses his bow to the ground in frustration- And yet, still, he fights you, tooth and nail.

       Without the ability to use his bow, he is frantic. His attacks come more frequently; More desperate. He doesn’t come at you just from the back now, but from all sides- slashing at you more and pushing you back further. Harder. His goal is dodging; He’s playing cat and mouse with you, leading you through a battle field that becomes rife with sharp winds, dealing a sum of Anemo DMG if you’re not careful to avoid them. He is quicker to blow you back when you get too close, this time. The snow rips harder, limiting your view of the battlefield even further. 

       There are tells to his attacks, of course; The jingle of his bells is louder as he darts for you out of the snow. The sound of the wind grows louder before it cuts across the field. 

       When you finally defeat him, a cutscene triggers. The way you throw him to the ground is far less gentle than it was in your previous fight, and the clown scrambles backwards, his knife pointed threateningly to you. “Get on with it, Barbatos,” he snarls, his anger tinged in despair as he stares up at you through the slits in his mask. “I won’t let you toy with me! You and the Tsaritsa have had your fun, destroy me already!” 

       He drops Shivada Jades, Vayuda Turqouise, and Prithiva Topaz. His unique drops would be Sinister Bell [ a bell from his coat ] , Shard of Despair [ a shard off of his Despairing Mask ], and Arrow of The Jester [ an arrowhead from one of his arrows ] 

VS RIGATELLO, THE STORMS LIGHTNING [ song ]

       Rigatello’s boss battle is thunderous. Literally. You find him amongst the burnt wreckage of a village that he tore to shreds in the pursuit of his supposed darling little brother; The smell of burnt wood and corpse that mingles in with the stench of ozone that follows him, lightning and atmosphere. These are crimes even you cannot permit to go unpunished; And he knows this. He grins, well aware of what he’s doing as he attacks you, leads your own attacks; You follow him up the mountain, suspended above all beneath the vast and empty night sky. He need not be a god, for this to be his domain. 

              “Let’s go, little Barbatos! Patron of song, I’m sure you can hear it now, the melodies they’ll sing when I rip your pretty head clean from your neck and toss it to Her Majesty’s feet!” 

       His claymore is summoned, tossed with a twirl and he catches it with one-handed ease, his outline massive against the dull light of the moon- and soon glowy with the thrum of electricity that dances across the metal of his blade, across his finger tips, glows in his eyes as he lets out a cackle. 

       This is not an easy battle. He is quicker than the average claymore user, swinging down upon you in successive strikes with twirls and heavy swings, his pace relentless. True fear comes, though, from the electricity that arcs in the air with every strike. He has a few different moves.         1. CLAYMORE. Physical DMG with an small aftershock of Electro DMG.               I. His main attack, he swings at you three times before backing off a bit and being open to attacks. II. Swings at you, then gears up for a larger swing that deals a small AOE of Electro DMG. III. Swings twice, then uses a larger swing to knock you back.        2. SHOCKING REVELATION. Rigatello tosses his claymore into the air; catching it and driving its blade firmly in the ground, channeling Electro into a AOE around him. Back up, or you’ll get knocked down.        3.WAVE OF LIGHTNING. His tell is relatively similar to the one above; He tosses the claymore a bit, catches it, and then swings it hard against the ground, sending a wave of lightning bouncing across the ground at you.         4. ULTIMA: SHORT-CIRCUIT. Powers up for a while. Rigatello allows his electro to flow through him; Electro will arc off of him as he performs more rapid attacks, dealing Electro DMG. This lasts a short period of time and then leaves him stunned for a few seconds. 

      STAGE TWO - DOTTORE’S BROKEN DOLL . [ song ]

       The Electro is hurting him. You become aware of this fact quickly. As you back him up against the top of the cliff his form begins to twist, jerking as electro-fried circuits screaming at him to stop his relentless assault. But he won’t give up; He can’t give up. He will never give up. “You’re doing f-f-f-f-fascinatingly well!” stutters, screams, distortion, “L-l-l-l-lets turn it up a n-n-n-no-notch!”

        This aspect of the battle focuses far more on the electro that is coursing within him. SHORT-CIRCUIT is activated throughout this entire portion of the battle; His attacks faster, heavier, leaving Electro aftershocks on their wake as he darts after you across the battlefield. All the previous moves are present here, as well, with some interesting new additions.

       1.  WRITHE. Riga stops dead in his tracks, body spasming as an AOE of Electro courses through the ground around him.        2. WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE... After performing three swings, Rigatello gathers Electro on his free hand and swipes at you, knocking you back and dealing Electro DMG.         3. ULTIMA: NO PAIN NO GAIN. Takes a while to charge up. Riga grabs at his hair and screams; As he does, areas of the ground light up in sparks; Avoid these if you don’t want to get struck down by the lightning that spikes out from the ground in haphazard arcs. 

      He drops Shivada Jades, Vajrada Amethyst, and Prithiva Topaz. His unique drops would be Cog of the Construct [ a cog from one of Riga’s inner workings ], Bell of the Construct [ a bell that fell off his uniform ], and Shard of Mania’s Mask [ a shard off of Riga’s fatui mask ]

[starrosefics-archive]

FNAF AU: The Night Crew

So, I decided to write out the au I’ve been writing for Flash Fiction Friday.

When the last Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria closes, Fazbear Inc takes this as a sign to deal with the 80s’ tragedies. (And not in a way that involves arson, since the CEO, Henry Emily, has recently gone missing.)

Their first steps are to fix the animatronics, create  a new animatronic group and two new restaurants. Mike Schmidt, the long lasting night guard of the pizzeria, is offered a position as night guard at Freddy and Friends’ Pizza and manager at both, and he accepts. The second step is to create a video game, addressing the tragedies.

Things go wrong.

Characters (Night Crew):

Mike Schmidt, 30: The longest-lasting night guard of the pizzeria, Mike is friendly and charming with a tendency to draw people close. It was this friendliness that made the Fazbear band decide to keep him. (He’s honestly kinda scared of what might’ve happened if he didn’t agree to stay.) He’s the main leader of the night crew, both in management and literally.

Vanny Valdez, 20: Kicked out of college due to issues with a professor, Vanny took a job as a programmer and beta tester for the video game. Due to the influence of her friend Jeremy Franklin, bright-eyed and cheerful Vanny had a desire to help fix things. That didn’t last, thanks to Glitchtrap, so she’s now tired and done with everything.

Michael Afton, ?: Forced to be a part of William’s Remnant experiments, which didn’t save him from scooping or him puking out Ennard right in front of Freddy and Friends’ Pizza, Michael is tired and done with everything. He can, however, easily put on a happy mask and make a good show. (He is legally not supposed to be on Fazbear property but everyone ignores that.)

Charlie Emily/the Marionette, ?: There are two sides. One is the kind giver of life, while the other is the cool, calculating, vengeful protector of the animatronics and children. Which one is which? (Both sides have the tendency of ask weird and random questions.)

The Fazbear Band: Freddy is the firm and imposing leader while Foxy prides himself on tall tales. Bonnie is the cool cat rockstar and Chica is the peppy chef-cheerleader. But all them were haunted by the souls of the kids Afton murdered, brough to life by Charlie/the Marionette. Due to said murder, all of them are fiercely protective of the kids and the humans that they deem ‘theirs’.

Bon-Bon and Bonnet: A pair of matching robotic hand puppets, build to both track parents and help stabilize Funtime Freddy, both share a ghost in Millie Fitzsimmons. Michael accidentally stole them after Freddy accidentally left them behind. Both are cheerful and calm, although both- due to Millie’s death- are very bitter when Funtime Freddy is brought up.

Glitchtrap: Created when Fazbear Entertainment managed to briefly get their hands on Springtrap, long enough to scan his circuit boards, Glitchtrap or ‘Glitchie’ is a virus that used to haunt Help Wanted and now Vanessa. He is his own person, his personality inspired by Spring Bonnie. Despite this, he does have Afton’s memories, which helps.

Alessia Danvers, 21: The night guard of Fazbear’s Entertainment’s new Mega Pizza Plex, Alessia works to make sure Springtrap doesn’t pull anything. She also serves as a tech to make sure both gangs don’t fall apart. She’s also an excellent sharpshooter, which comes in handy if Michael needs to break into the corporate office. Again.

The Glamrocks: The animatronic band of the Mega Pizza Plex, they aren’t haunted but share the Fazbears’ desire to protect kids and their possessiveness- theirs over Alessia. All of them share the same traits as the gang- Monty and Roxanne split Bonnie and Foxy’s- however they are more excitable and cheerful.

Fritz Smith, 40: The oldest member of the Night Crew, Fritz works as the team’s spy in the corporate office. Due to depression, thanks to his horrifying night shift and the loss of his friend Jeremy Fitzgerald, the happy cheerful young man he once was has largely faded. However, his skittishness hasn’t.

Jeremy Franklin, 27: Vanny’s fellow beta tester and crush, Jeremy was a charming and smart young man who made large steps in the video game’s creation. He was the second member of the video game testers to meet Glitchtrap. What has happened to him after his death is unknown.

[soranihimawari]

A stroke of luck

Here is a short story I wrote instead of a drabble. Please be kind (it’s been a while since I wrote in 1st person):

taglist: @kaidasen, @m0nstergeneration20xx, @oikawaandkuroostan, @smolbludandelions

Notes: a different hc/mini-hc will happen about natsu and “ono-sama” on a different date later in the summer. 

this takes place a little after the first loss to seijoh and the tokyo training art is a few weeks away. a practice match is set up with nekoma due to takeda and ukai’s swift thinking.

Begin here ::points down::

_________________________________________________________

“Oi! Natsu-chan! Wait for me!” I called out to the younger of the Hinata siblings as she scurried off around the corner. I received a text from her mother asking if I could babysit tonight since her son had evening club practice and since my house wasn’t too far from theirs, I humbly agreed. Afterall, I loved little Natsu. Her energy was quite like her brother’s. However, this is not a story about Shoyo’s antics with the club. Today was going to be a “princess day,” as dubbed by Natsu when she came to visit the Karasuno campus. I had explained to her on our walk over that I had left my lunch box behind in my last class, which was photoprahy. The darkroom was located close to the gym where the boy’s volleyball club was in the middle of practice. I literally turned around for one second in the darkroom when I noticed that Natsu had wondered off.

I didn’t really panic though when I heard her voice cry out, “Niii-chaaaaan!” 

Oh shit. I came jogging up to the corridor and I thought I was going to lay my eyes on a teary eyed Natsu. I tried to think of viable excuses as to what Hinata’s mother, yet although I believe she would of expected something of the sort to happen eventually because as they say, “the apples don’t fall far from the tree.”

Thankfully that wasn’t the case, but I observed that Takeda-sensei was looking in my general direction along with the other coach. My lunch box was still in my hands when I heard Natsu call my name since the boys were also not alone that day. There was another club with them today. Unmistakably clad in the colors of red, white, and black; then deja vu threw my memory back a bit since Hinata mentioned he made a new friend. The battle of trash heap was real and apparently the visiting team today was from Nekoma. Upon closer inspection of the kanji and western alphabet on the side of their track jackets strewn across several of the bleachers, at least that was what I had deduced.

“Natsu-chan? What are you doing here? Wait,” Natsu was scooped up by her brother, who was in a state of confused surprise. “Was I supposed to pick you up today?”

Natsu just giggled and babbled on with sounds of delight of seeing her brother and his team again mid-practice.

“Hinata-kun... Umm... W-Who’s this?” 

I heard one of the managers say. She was an adorable blonde first year as well. I recognized her because although I may have been in my third year, I noticed her around campus with Shizumi-san. Shizumi-san and I shared a class or two this year, so it honestly didn’t surprise me to see them all there and now both teams surrounded the sunshine children. I was eerily quiet, witnessing this interaction was for more appealing than retrieving my bento successfully.

“I’m Hinata Natsu!” she was so eager when she smiled. Her tiny thumb jutted outward as she pointed to her puffed out chest. 

I walked toward the group with my hand behind my neck while I glanced at Daichi and the rooster haired boy who towered slightly over him. Judging that they were side by side and didn’t really notice my arrival, they were startled when my cleared my throat with a smirk curing my upper lip higher.

“Fearless this one, that’s for sure,” I said. My voice had a joking tone. As soon as my voice broke through the huddle of volleyball players, I laughed nervously before bowing apologetically, hiding my lunch box behind my back. 

“Ono-sama!” Natsu exclaimed with a wave. 

“Sorry for the interruption,” I stated as soon as I stood up. “I left my lunch bento in the darkroom earlier today and I was supposed to be watching over Natsu today Sho-kun. I guess she heard the game going on here and wandered in.” 

Natsu was placed on the ground with a soft thud of her shoes before she took a hold of my hand. I brushed my long hair behind my ear glancing at the captains. Takeda-sensei told me it was ok since Natsu was a family member, since life tends to throw curveballs literally; and all was forgiven. Even Nekoma’s coach was chuckling since the score was still in the single digits of the second set. Apparently, the old man appreciated seeing just how close the bonds of siblings can play in shaping the mindsets of any athlete. 

Now that all eyes and the excitement of this cute distraction took place, I felt Natsu squeeze my hand gently. She usually does this when she felt inadverntly shy around new people. I guess having Nekoma here for a practice match really sunk in. 

“You’re gorgeous,” I heard one of the Nekoma players say. The voice belonged to the rooster haired boy. He was bold, but I saw the looks what I would assume his vice captain with a pudding styled hair gave him (slightly to severely annoyed). I noticed how he eyed me too after the fact Natsu greeted me formally. My instinct was to not give into such comments about my physical appearance as much, but it’d be foolish of me to not humour myself (and those present).

“Ono-sama! He’s really prince-like. Say something!” Natsu whispered loudly. Earning her a quirked brow from me as well as a few amused looks from the crows on my side. Upon further inspection, I was able to read the room. The boys were itching to go back to practice, especially the first years. I winked at Natsu and brought a finger to my lips.

“We’re supposed to be princesses today little one,” I said, chuckling letting the others know the game Natsu was wanting to play, hence my formal name. 

“Woah, she even laughs prettily,” I heard him whisper. 

“Kuroo, you’re embarrassing us,” his cohort with pudding hair said.

“Back off, she’s ours!” Noya exclaimed. Tanaka nodded. Those two jumped in the space between myself at the captain of the visiting team. Daichi shot his underclassmen a glare which froze those two in their place.

“Well, we ought to go now, Natsu. Seems like your brother and his friends have a score to settle,” I stated in a matter of fact tone. “Oh, and Kuroo, was it?” I walked straight toward his team after giving Natsu my lunch bento to hold.

“Y-yeah?”

“Ever wonder what it’s like to witness a murder, kitty cat?” My voice was menacing at best, but my eyes had a mischievous glint in them. “Because I believe you will one day. I look forward to seeing an official match. Until then, see you.”

He backed up a little bit. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the foreboding shadows of the crows’ behind me. They were a lot stronger together than they were apart (one of my classmates asked me to come along to one of their games in Sendai city a few weeks ago and I recall saying this to her). Anyways, that didn’t stop me from walking back toward Daichi and Koushi before pressing a kiss for luck on both of their cheeks which caused them to briefly short circuit. 

“Good luck boys,” there was a smile in my voice amidst the hollering of their teammates. “Come along Natsu, we can’t reschedule the tea party with the royal guards again.”

A few steps were taken before I felt a tug on my sleeve. Natsu and I were almost at the front side gate of Karasuno when her curiosity got the better of her: 

“O-ok Ono! Wait, what’s a ‘murder’?” 

[mobius-prime]

216. Sonic the Hedgehog #148

Hey, nice cover art! For those who aren't familiar, it's drawn using the same style as the art from the little-appreciated Gameboy Advance game Sonic Battle. It's always interesting when the comics imitate the art style of one of the games for a little while as a kind of lowkey advertisement.

The Good, the Bad & the Unknown (Part Three): Genesis

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Steven Butler Colors: Jason Jensen

We open not in the underground facility where all the action is taking place, but in Knothole, as Dylan delivers a message to Sally about how the Freedom Fighters haven't been answering any communications for the past hour. Oh, hey, Dylan, long time no see! We haven't seen the members of the Substitute Freedom Fighters in a while, now that I think about it. Shame, I always liked them. Anyway, Sally is highly concerned upon hearing of the loss of contact, and orders Dylan to bring Sonic's father Jules to the court immediately. Back in the facility, Tommy rushes off to find a way to help Rotor, Bunnie, and Fiona while leaving Tails behind to man the monitor room. Tails finds Sonic on the monitors, who is currently lying winded on the ground where he fell after the floor dropped. He hears a loud rumbling, and hops up in time to dodge an incoming train car, since it turns out he landed on some tracks for an underground rail system. Shadow isn't far behind, approaching Sonic rapidly, but Sonic decides he's going to turn the tables and fight on his own terms, hopping onto one of the passing cars (which is really more like a high-tech mine cart than anything). Shadow stops, catching up to Metal Sonic and Isaac and wondering why Sonic would use the train car to travel if he can run faster than it at his highest speeds, and neither of the two robots have an explanation.

I think that's literally the first time anyone in the entirety of the comic so far has actually acknowledged out loud that Robotnik is just Kintobor backwards. I mean, it's kind of obvious if you look at the name for more than two seconds, but no one's ever actually said it. While this is going on, Tommy arrives at the corridor where the other three teammates are being electrocuted, and searches around frantically for a way to save them without getting caught in the electricity himself. After finding a random leather glove, he hits a circuit box, hoping it will help.

This is where things get a little jumbled. Tails finds Sonic on the monitors, as well as the two pursuing robots close behind him, and becomes fascinated by the conversation that Metal Sonic and Isaac get into. Their conversation continues in the background of the next several pages, so instead of trying to describe it interspersed with the rest of the action I'll just summarize it here. Isaac explains that he was created by one Dr. Ivan Kintobor, who was born in 2006 - yes, our 2006, only a few decades before the Xorda dropped the gene bombs on Earth. Ivan anticipated the Xorda's genocidal response to the capture and dissection of one of their own by the humans, so he designed Isaac to be able to function in a post-apocalyptic environment before sealing himself away in a stasis pod. Isaac bore firsthand witness to the results of the gene bombs, which, contrary to their intention to kill all humans without disturbing the planet's ecosystems, threw tons of volcanic ash and dust into the atmosphere, transforming the planet's surface forever. As mentioned before, this was the first "Day of Fury" recorded by the echidnas, and over the next thousand years, humans devolved into the Overlanders we know today (though how losing one finger and nothing else counts as "devolving" I have no clue), while their residual DNA mixed with that of various ordinary animals, who consequently had their own evolution accelerated into Mobiankind. When Ivan, from his pod, learned that societies were emerging from the newly-created Mobian species, he ordered Isaac to chronicle important historical events of the planet in addition to scientific data. Not long after the sun finally burned through the rest of the ash and dust in the air, the energy from the gene bombs, having finally absorbed deep into the planet's crust, reacted with beryl deposits to create… the Chaos Emeralds! Yes, interestingly enough, this is the backstory of the Chaos Emeralds in the comics. But wait, remember how Sonic encountered red Chaos Emeralds on another planet during Tossed in Space? All I can imagine from that is that Earth must not have been the first planet the Xorda used their gene bombs on - it makes sense, as the other species of the galaxy are clearly terrified of them for some reason - and thus, there are slightly different versions of Chaos Emeralds on other planets that the Xorda have targeted before.

Anyway, Isaac explains all this to Metal Sonic as Sonic continues to ride his train car to get away from Shadow and the two robots. He tries to contact Tails for help, but Tails is caught up in listening to the impromptu history lesson over the monitors, and thus Sonic is attacked from behind by Shadow. He manages to throw him off by abruptly stopping his car, and abandons the vehicle while Shadow is still stunned from the impact to run down another side corridor, shutting the door behind him. Rotor, also listening to the audio feed as he, Bunnie and Fiona race to meet up, asks Tails if he's recording this, but Tails doesn't have time to figure out if he can download a recording form the computers' systems, as Shadow is quickly approaching Sonic's hiding place.

The three finally meet up, and Shadow directs them to the door Sonic has taken refuge behind, trying to deadlift it open. Isaac says frankly that if Sonic has gone in that particular room, he's dead, but Shadow replies that Sonic tends not to die even in the face of otherwise-mortal danger, lifting the door and calling in that he just wants to talk. Wait, what? Shadow, this entire time you've been beating on Sonic for no good reason, and now you want to try to talk things out? Sonic is clearly as skeptical as I am, immediately darting out to hit Shadow in the face once his hiding place is discovered, but at that moment everyone is distracted by an ominous new sight - the room Sonic was hiding in is in fact a gigantic launch base for a missile, whose thrusters have just fired… Wait, now I'm even more confused! How the hell did Sonic hide in that room for a good minute without somehow noticing the huge flaming missile behind him?! Ah, whatever, this is Penders, we already know his stories don't make much sense.

Playing Around

Writer/Pencils: Nelson Ribeiro Colors: Jason Jensen

Time for some more silly stuff! Apparently, the Freedom Fighters (along with a few other of their allies) have decided to put on a play for some of the younger children of Knothole, about one of their missions against Eggman. Sally isn't in the play, leading Rosie to question who will be playing her if not, well, her, but Sally just giggles and tells her to wait and see as Sonic and Tails come out to welcome the kids to their play. Before Sonic can even get his final words out a spiked mitt emerges from behind the curtain to drag him backstage, and we see none other than Knuckles in an auburn wig and blue vest and boots, furiously reminding Sonic that the only reason he's doing this is for the kids, and otherwise he would be clobbering Sonic into the ground right now for even suggesting this crazy scheme. Oh, boy, this should be good…

So, who exactly is playing who in this production? It opens with Knuckles-Sally in "her" room in Knothole, when Geoffrey, played by Bunnie, arrives to warn of an impending attack on the castle. Knuckles-Sally, barely able to contain his disdain for this whole affair, uses Nicole, played by Archimedes, to call Uncle Chuck for help, but just then, Eggman, played by Big the Cat, and Snively, played by Tails, burst in and capture the two to roboticize them. Wait, if Tails is playing Snively, then who is playing Tails? Why, Rotor of course, being laboriously held aloft by ropes controlled by Jules, Mighty, and Espio from the rafters. He and Sonic (played by, well, Sonic - guess we know who got the most preferential treatment during casting) are relaxing in Knothole when Uncle Chuck, also played by himself but sporting various kitchenware all over his body to suggest a roboticized form, rushes in to warn them of Knuckles-Sally's capture. Rotor-Tails flies Sonic to Robotropolis, where the two prepare to attack Eggman, Snively, and a shadow-bot played by Vector. Also, we get some convenient sound effects, courtesy of Amy Rose!

With Knuckles-Sally rescued, Sonic embraces "her" and goes in for a kiss, and well, let's just say he's really in the spirit of the role, with Knuckles having to warn him away from actually kissing him through clenched teeth, that is unless he's ready to redeem that promise of a clobbering. Oh, come on Knuckles, we all remember how you said quite a few issues ago how you didn't want to have to deal with girls and would rather only hang around boys - accept your gay side, my dude! Smooch that 'hog!

Destiny's Child

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Tim Smith 3 Colors: Jason Jensen

Tim Smith… 3? I'm so confused by this name. Do they perhaps mean Tim Smith III, as in, he's the third person in his family named Tim Smith? Or is there just a hidden cloning facility in the back of the Archie Comics headquarters that occasionally churns out extra Tim Smiths to draw for random issues of their comics?

Tails is hanging out alone by a pond at the outskirts of Knothole Village one afternoon, and it turns out that though he's kept quiet about it, he's extremely frustrated at the knowledge that even though his parents are alive somewhere on the other side of the galaxy, no one seems to be rushing to actually go and rescue them. Suddenly, Athair's disembodied head appears floating in front of him, speaking cryptically about how the hour of the Chosen One draws near or whatever. Tails isn't impressed, and confronts him about the whole Chosen One thing, that by now multiple different people have talked to him about it and he was even kidnapped and held hostage for months by Mammoth Mogul over it, yet no one will actually tell him what this supposed prophecy even refers to. He asks if everyone knows about this but him, and honestly, I don't blame him one bit for being upset - not even us readers know what the hell the prophecy is all about, and we're normally given behind the scenes info like, all the time!

Oh, about time someone informs Tails that he has other family still left on the planet! Seriously, this kid has believed he was an orphan all his life, and yet Merlin never thought to, you know, contact him and reassure him he still had an uncle? Athair recounts the exact hostage situation with Mogul from before, how it occurred when Tails was in transit to help Knuckles back then, and Tails waves him off, saying that Sonic already told him everything that happened while he was captured. He demands an explanation, but Athair simply fades from view, leaving him frustrated and alone by the water once more. However, Athair's voice echoes back to him after a moment, urging him to be patient, as soon he'll finally know what all this is about… and about time, too, this has been going on since literally the first era of the comic with no resolution in sight.

[aire101]

Ashes Chapter 1 (MCU/HP)

Lily Evans attends the Stark Expo during the Autumn break of her 7th year, and ends up finding–and bringing home– more than scientific passion.

Tony Stark just wanted to escape his security detail for a few hours, but a beautiful red head with a sharp mind and fiery soul derailed his plans for the week–and maybe longer. But secrets burn scars in the soul, and they both live in worlds far apart. Can they find a way to rise above or will it all turn to ash in the end?

October 20th 1991

Lily Evans strolled through the Stark Expo, her eyes gleaming with each innovation and display. No matter how much she loved magic, science remained her passion.  Even after she had accepted her place at Hogwarts, she could not bring herself to completely forsake her muggle education. So during the school year she participated in a distance learning program and over the holidays she and her family would take trips to museums, science expos, and academic conferences that allowed her to expand and keep up with current developments. This year her parents had decided to splurge on an especially big trip during the autumn mid-term break-- a trip overseas to New York, where the Stark Expo was currently running through the rest of the year.  Scientists, mathematicians and engineers from across the globe came to exhibit their latest innovations and inventions. It felt like an endless amount of information to take in, and she only had a week to see it all before she headed back home and back to Hogwarts for the rest of her 7th and final year.

As she read a board detailing the release of the internet to the general population, she realized she had never felt more frustrated with the level of alienation that came with living amongst wizards. The world was moving forward at breathtaking speed, and the wizards were being left in the dust.  For every magical innovation released, there were a dozen or more made in science.  It wouldn't be long before wizards were surpassed completely.

And at that point, all the Secrecy Acts in the world would mean nothing.

She sighed and shook her head. There was no point dwelling on the bullheadedness of wizards. They would simply have to face that storm when it hit.

"I know, I think giving the general populace web access is a bad idea too. Bet there's porn on there within a month."

Lily couldn't help the snort that escaped her as she turned to see who had spoken. It was a handsome boy about her age, with dark tousled hair and deep brown eyes.  She smirked as she said, "Well, you'll just have to look it up and tell me if it is then. If it's not too hard for you, that is."

He stared at her in shock for a moment before a wide and devious smile spread across his face. For a moment, Lily wondered if James Potter didn't have an  American cousin...

Merlin she hoped not.

"That was a most delightfully lewd pun! Thank god I finally found someone here with as terrible a sense of humor as myself!" the boy said, as he stuck out a hand. "Miss...?"

"Lily Evans," she said as she shook his hand.

"Beautiful name for a beautiful lady," he said with a winning smile. "You can call me Tony."

Lily felt her face warming in a blush and turned back to the exhibit. "So Tony, what do you really think about the release of the internet on the general masses?"

"Truthfully? It's been a long time coming, and I think the world will be better for it. Just imagine a scientific breakthrough happening on the other side of the globe and reading about it within an hour of the development. But people tend to ruin even the best things in life, so it's only a matter of time before human toxicity bleeds into it. Seriously, it's intended to connect the world and increase the spread of global knowledge, but I bet you my inheritance it will eventually devolve into an international porn hub and pictures of people's cats."

"I can't tell if you're a pessimist or a realist," said Lily with a shake of her head.

"Just depends on if I'm right," shrugged Tony. "And since I'm always right, I'm going with realist."

"Not arrogant at all, are you?" asked Lily sarcastically.

"Not arrogant, just immodest," said Tony.

"Humility is a virtue, you know," said Lily.

"Good thing I'm not very virtuous," said Tony. "It disagrees with my aesthetics."

Lily couldn't help it, she laughed loudly and shook her head.

Tony just stood and watched her with a small smile.

"Would you care to join me, Mr. Immodest Aesthetics? This is my first day at the expo and I only have a week to see it all," said Lily.

"Lucky for you, I know every square inch of this expo and can make sure you see all the parts worth seeing. So let's get started," said Tony with a clap of his hands, before he reached out and grabbed her hand and started running.

When Tony said he knew every inch of the expo, he had apparently meant it as they had hit the ground running (literally) that morning, and didn't stop. He took her from display to demo, the two of them discussing and debating all the way. Occasionally he would suddenly jump track and insist there was something she just had to see, before he would grab her hand and run, just like he had that morning. Tony was wild and brilliant like a solar storm, with the gravitational pull of a black hole. His mind ran at a speed she had never experienced from anyone before, and the sheer charisma of his personality pulled everyone they spoke to in and compelled them to engage, whether it was in emboldened discourse or aggravation.

They spent the rest of the morning and the afternoon like that before they finally decided food was necessary. A quick stop at a midway stall outside the main expo building and they were ready to go again, New York style hot dogs in hand.

That's when security finally caught up to them.

"Shit," Tony muttered as they were surrounded by large, burly men in suites.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to come with me," one of the men said, staring at Tony.

Lily's eyes widened. Who had she been hanging out with all day?!

"No, if you haven't gotten the hint every time I've ditched you today, here's your sign- I don't need a damn escort!" yelled Tony.

Ah... so that's why they would suddenly start running throughout the day.

"That's not your call to make. Now your father requests-"

"Do I look like I give a shit what he requests?!"

"HE REQUESTS your presence at the main stage for the evening's closeout ceremony. I am to make sure you arrive there within the next half hour by any means necessary. Mr. Stark, it's been a long day, please don't make this any more difficult than it has to be. Take up your issues with your father himself," the man said, almost pleading at the end even as he sounded resigned to his fate of chasing and fighting the boy in front of him.

Meanwhile, Lily's brain had short circuited on one word.

Mr. Stark. Mr Anthony Stark- boy genius, recently graduated from MIT at the age of 17, heir to Stark Industries.

No wonder he knew the whole damn expo by memory.

Tony sighed dramatically, running a hand through his constantly wayward hair. He turned to Lily and gave her a sheepish look that she was sure was meant to be a grin, but looked more like a grimace.

"Sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but for what it's worth I really had a great time with you today," he said.

"So did I," Lily said. "Thank you for taking the time to show me around. You were the best tour guide a girl could ask for, Mr. Immodest Aesthetics."

Tony smiled brightly. "See you around, Lily."

And with that he was gone.

Lily sighed and checked her watch. It was 4:30 pm, and she had arranged to meet her family at the drop off point at the front of the expo at 6:00. Just enough time to get there at her leisure, so long as she didn't get distracted and stop anywhere too long.

As she walked her thoughts turned back to Tony. He obviously thought she would be mad that he hadn't been completely truthful about his identity. And maybe she should be, but she couldn't actually bring herself to be.  The look on his face as it was revealed was just too sad. And while she couldn't say she completely understood why, she could hazard a few guesses.

She wondered how many times Tony's heart had been broken by would-be friends using him for their own prestige for him to have that look in his eyes.

The next hour and a half seemed to crawl by as she made her way through the expo to the front. And while she wandered and looked, her mind continually turned back to wild brunette hair and expressive brown eyes.

'I wonder if I will see him again?'

# "Did you miss me?"

It was around noon the next day, and the familiar voice made her jump as it came from right behind her while she was reading a log journal at an expo booth.

"Bloody hell, Tony! Don't do that!" she growled at him.

"I would say I'm sorry, but I'm really not," he said with a grin.

Lily rolled her eyes, "Well, at least you're honest."

"Yes I am, so you must believe me when I say that yesterday was the most fun I've had in quite some time," said Tony.

Lily smiled, "Same. So does that mean you would like to pick up where we left off?"

"I was actually about to ask if you would be interested in heading out to get a bite to eat, followed by a guided tour- provided by yours truly- of the New York branch of Stark Laboratories," said Tony.

Lily's eyes widened. She had promised her parents not to leave the expo, but the offer of an inside look at Stark Labs was too much to pass up.

"Are you sure, Tony? I wouldn't want you to get in any more trouble, especially after yesterday," Lily said.

Tony waved off her concern, "It's not a problem. We do tours regularly anyway.  And I promise, there's a lot worse trouble that I could be up to than showing you around. Pretty sure my security detail will be thrilled that I want to head back to headquarters.  So lunch, then back to HQ?"

"Sure, though I should probably find a phone first so I can leave a message at the hotel for my parents," said Lily.

"No problem, the limo has a phone," said Tony as he started walking towards the exit.

"Of course it does," sighed Lily as she shook her head.

"How much have you seen of New York?" asked Tony.

"Not much. I've basically spent all my time at the expo so far," said Lily.

"So no preference on restaurant? Anything you can't or won't eat?"

"No allergies, and I'm pretty adventurous so I'll let you choose," said Lily.

"Does that sense of adventure extend to things beyond food?" asked Tony with a mischievous look in his eyes.

"Well, I'm here hanging out with you, aren't I?" Lily said with a flat expression, but a gentle turn of the lips belied her amusement at his innuendo.

"Touché," said Tony as they arrived next to a black limo. He beat his guards to the door by breath and opened it, gesturing for her to enter. "Ladies first!"

"And they say chivalry is dead," said Lily.

"Oh it is. I'm just courting favor," said Tony. "Is it working?"

Lily smiled as she ducked into the limo, "Guess we'll see later."

"You know, I would have been just fine with a pizza parlor, right?" said Lily as she looked around the decadent room. Noon light filtered through etched glass windows and lit candles set a decidedly romantic ambiance.

When they had arrived at the obviously upscale restaurant, Lily had been concerned as usually such places had a required dress code, which she obviously had not planned for today. Tony had just smiled and walked past the front entrance to a side one that had led to a private dining area.  He had to have called and reserved the location before he had even found and asked her to lunch at the expo. She could only roll her eyes at the presumption.

"Hey, I hardly ever do the whole 'date' thing, let me have the opportunity show off properly," said Tony as he pulled out a chair for her.

"I have a hard time believing you can't get a date," said Lily with a raised brow.

"I didn't say I can't get one, I just said I don't do them," said Tony as he sat.

"I'm assuming for the same reasons that you didn't tell me your surname yesterday," said Lily.

"And you would be correct. It doesn't help that I've always been significantly ahead in school, so I've not really had much opportunity to hang around many people within a dateable age range. Anyone willing to date my fourteen year old self after I graduated high school was suspect at best, for a variety of reasons.  And dating in my own age range is... tedious," said Tony.

Lily frowned, "I can see how it would be. You graduated from secondary school at fourteen and just graduated MIT at seventeen. There must have always been about a three to four year age gap between you and your classmates at best. Never mind the performance gap between yourself and most of our age group.  Guess that's the curse of genius."

"How about you? Is there a special someone across the pond I have to worry about hunting me down? Unless you also have a 'curse of genius?'" asked Tony.

"No, I'm no genius. I have been told I'm quite bright, and I've been top of my year at school for as long as I can remember. But being 'bright' isn't quite enough to chase the hounds away.  That being said, no there is no one you need to worry about back home. No matter how much he may wish otherwise," said Lily.

"Oh, that was specific."

"Indeed. Just a boy with an overly inflated ego with just enough talent to get bored, make mischief and still make top marks," Lily said.

"Hey, he sounds like my kind of people," Tony said with a grin.

"Actually, when you and I first met my first thought was to wonder if he had an American cousin," said Lily with a laugh. "In all honesty he isn't a bad sort.  He's a pretty decent person overall, but is an immature prat most of the time.  If he ever decides to grow out of that he might actually make a good man of himself someday."

"Enough about the competition. Tell me more about you.  You mentioned being top of your year. Where do you attend?" asked Tony.

"My school is... a very unique place. I've been attending there since the age of eleven. It's a very old, traditional boarding school located in a remote area of northern Scotland, in an honest to god thousand year old castle," smiled Lily.

"No kidding? Wow, how do you guys get electricity to power stuff in a structure like that?" asked Tony.

"That's probably the biggest downside to the whole thing. There is none," said Lily.

Tony blinked and stared, "What?"

Lily laughed outright, "'What?' That's all?  Did I break you?  This is the first I've seen you at a loss for words."

"I'm still trying to comprehend what you just said... how does your school run their tech?"

"There is no tech. It does however have a most impressive library. And eventually you get used to candle and lamp lighting," said Lily, thoroughly enjoying the gobsmacked expression on Tony's face.

Eventually his shock changed to laughter, "Oh wow, you actually got me. For a second there I actually bought it.  Medieval Scottish castles..."

"I'm not joking," said Lily, looking him square in the eye.

Tony caught his breath for a moment while looking into her emerald eyes. But after a moment he swallowed nervously and grinned.

"What's this technological purgatory called? Just so I know to never go there?" asked Tony as he lifted his glass to take a drink.

"Hogwarts," said Lily.

Lily had to fight to keep a straight face as Tony accidentally snorted water up his nose.

"Ok, now you're shitting me."

"Honestly, I wish I was. I love my school, but the founders must have been barmy," said Lily with a shake of her head.

Just then the wait staff returned to the room, bringing in the first course. Tony had just ordered the chef's tasting menu for the both of them.

"How about you, Tony? What are your plans now that you've graduated?" asked Lily.

"Well, there's not really any choice, is there? My old man is the founder of a corporate empire.  And he's not exactly young. I'm about to start graduate school--was originally supposed to start at Oxford this term actually, until dad decided I needed to get better acquainted with how things were run around SI. I've already dipped into the R&D pool, and I'm supposed to start shadowing around corporate. Before too long I'll have to take over the business," said Tony while he pushed some of the food around his plate.

"I guess that's true enough. Though I like to think we all still have choices, even if sometimes it doesn't seem like it- a choice on what to do, how to do it, when to do it... We can't always control what life hands us, but we can control our own choices on what to do with it," said Lily.

"Hey now, keep your deep thinking and existential logic on that side of the table. It might contaminate me," said Tony with a grin.

"Sorry, things have been a little... tense across the pond. It starts to make you think about what the right thing to do is," said Lily.

"Yeah, I've heard some rumors about a terrorist over there, right? Nothing official mind you, " said Tony with a worried look at her.

"Yeah, it's all really hush-hush. But there's definitely a shady faction gaining power back home. You won't hear anything until it's too late, but if things don't change for the better we might end up in a civil war," said Lily.

"Is it really that bad? I would think the news would be all over something like that," said Tony.

"I really shouldn't be saying anything at all. Most of this is pretty confidential.  It mostly involves certain... underground groups. In all likelihood, most of the world won't even know when the war starts.  There won't be any public battles on the world stage, no news coverage. You'll only know the war has started by the body count and the list of missing persons," said Lily.

"Then how do you know about it?" asked Tony.

"Let's just say I myself have some pretty big choices to make once I graduate," said Lily. "Or as my esteemed headmaster would say, 'we must all choose between what is easy and what is right.'"

"I mean, personally I prefer to do what's smart but maybe that's just me," said Tony.

"I would prefer to do the same as well. Unfortunately, war tends to take that option off the table," said Lily.

"So... what? You're talking about enlisting?" asked Tony.

"Something like that."

"You wouldn't be on the front lines though, right? No offense, but you're not exactly the most physically intimidating person," said Tony.

Lily grinned, "You'd be surprised what an angry red head can accomplish when we set our mind to a task."

The waiter came back and took their barely touched first course and replaced it with an equally unappetizing second course.

They both sat, staring down at their plates with frowns in contemplative silence.

"You know, I think there's a pizza joint a block down-"

"You're a man after my own heart."

The Stark Industry labs were everything Lily imagined and more. The company primarily dealt with weapons development, but included in that was a number of different scientific fields-- energy, chemistry, physics and a dozen others, all with their own projects separate from the defense contracts. And Tony showed her around all of it, explaining each in minute detail with the excitement of a kid in a candy store.  The breadth of his knowledge floored Lily.  It was hard to believe they were the same age; for all her brilliance, she could not hold a candle to his intense genius.

To be fair, she doubted many in the world could.

"...and that is current state of the biochemistry project department. Though I was poking around in my dad's files last night and I think there's a secret project he's been working on for a while that he might be close to completing soon. If he does it might be disclosed sometime around the end of the expo this year," said Tony.

"You hacked your father, Tony?" asked Lily in shock.

"Shhh! Not so loud... and not hacked per se--more like opportunistically investigated his recent activities without his permission or knowledge," said Tony with a wave of his hand.

"Why don't you just ask him?" asked Lily.

"My father and I haven't gotten along in... ever really," said Tony. "Mostly we just try to stay out of each other's way these days.  So long as I keep my head down for the most part and get shit done he leaves me alone. He tried to pull the 'involved dad' bit after I started college, but after doing his best to ignore my existence for the first 13 years of my life, he was a bit too late to the party for that."

"That's... really sad, honestly," said Lily.

"Yeah well, who needs to be a dad when you have butlers and nannies to do it for you, right?" said Tony with a tight lipped smile. "To be fair, Jarvis-- the butler-- is pretty awesome."

"What is your father like?" asked Lily.

"Cold, methodical and brilliant. He's a business cutthroat as much as he is an inventor, if not more so," said Tony. "He didn't rise up from nothing to the leading weapons developer in the world by making friends. Everyone is either a project, an asset or a liability.  And you don't want to be a liability."

Silence hung over them as they walked towards the elevators. It was getting later into the evening now, and Lily would need to check in soon with her parents.

"How about you? What is your family like?" asked Tony.

"They're wonderful. My father is management at a local industrial factory back home in Cokeworth. My mother has been a homemaker for years now, but before that she was a secretary at the same factory. That's how they met.  They are both hard workers and loving, supportive parents. I'm lucky to have them," said Lily.

Tony smiled wistfully as he pushed the down elevator call button, "I'm glad you do. Any siblings you have to share them with?"

Lily's smile fell a bit as she thought of her sister.

"Uh oh... I take it that's a yes," said Tony as they stepped into the elevator.

"I have an older sister, Petunia. We used to be close when we were little, but haven't gotten along for many years now."

"How could someone not get along with you?" asked Tony incredulously. "You have the most agreeable personality of anyone I've ever known."

"It begun a little before I started at my school. Petunia wanted to attend there as well after I got my acceptance letter, but admission is very restricted, and is by invitation only. My parents were very proud of my admission.  But after Petunia found out she couldn't attend as well, our relationship soured," said Lily with a sigh.

"No offense, but your sister sounds like an idiot. You must have been the one to get all the good genes," said Tony.

Lily glared at Tony. "Watch your words. We may not get along well, but make no mistake--she is my sister, and I love her dearly. You do not know her, nor do you understand our circumstances, so you would do well to hold your tongue," Lily said as she exited the elevator.

Tony stood still and wide eyed as if he had just been slapped, and had to lunge out the elevator door to keep it from closing on him.

"Wait! Wait!  I'm sorry! Ok, I'm sorry.  I was way out of line," said Tony as he ran and cut off her path to the door. "Please don't leave."

Lily stood in the atrium and gave him another glare before she rolled her eyes, "Apology accepted. Now stop giving me those sad puppy eyes."

"I will... if you agree to go to dinner with me," said Tony, innocently batting his eyelashes for good measure.

"That is so not fair, Tony! Stop!" Lily laughed.

"Is that a yes?"

"I don't know... I'm supposed to meet up with my family in the evenings," said Lily.

"Do you guys already have plans? If not we could all go to dinner together," said Tony, putting his hands in his pockets. His tone was lighthearted, but there was a tension in his form that belied his nonchalance.

"I don't know, it depends..." said Lily.

"On what?"

"On whether you are the one choosing the restaurant. That lunch earlier was awful," said Lily with a smirk.

This time it was Tony's turn to roll his eyes, but as he looked back at her his expression was noticeably more relaxed.

"Fine, you guys can choose the spot.  But if I already know it's trash I reserve the right to veto," said Tony.

"That is acceptable. Now I need to find a phone to call my parents and see what they had planned for this evening," said Lily.

"Just ask the front desk to use the phone there. They saw you come in with me, so they shouldn't give you any trouble," said Tony.

"Alright, I'll be right back," said Lily with a soft smile before turning to walk across the atrium.

# Tony had no idea what he was doing.

He was by no means a blushing virgin, and the last couple years had given him plenty of experience in wooing women, but the last 32 hours had been something completely different. When he had first approached Lily he had been ready for the usual either disparaging remarks or obsequious flattery.  What he had found instead was sincerity, humor and depth.

He wasn't sure what it said about him or his life that he was more prepared to deal with a manipulative gold digger than he was a genuinely kind and clever human being.

He had to assume that was why he currently found himself heading to dinner to meet the parents of a girl he had known for less than two days.

'I need a drink... What the hell was I thinking?' Tony asked himself again as the driver pulled up to Francisco's Restaurant.

"You look like you're going to meet death, rather than my parents," said Lily with a mischievous smile that made her eyes narrow in amusement.

For what felt like the hundredth time just that day, Tony felt his breath almost catch as his stomach fluttered.

Right, that's what he was thinking. Someday he would learn to put a leash on that tongue of his...

While Tony was busy lying to himself, Lily opened her door and stepped out to head inside. Tony ran his hand through his hair nervously, which only served to increase its chaotic mess, before finally moving to join her in front of the restaurant. Seeing as this dinner had been his own idea, it would be pretty cowardly to beg off now.  Tony Stark was many things, but a coward was not one of them.

"I'm not sure why you're so anxious. My parents seemed pretty excited to meet you. And my sister is enough of a sycophant that I doubt you will have any trouble from her--"

"Wait, your sister is here too?" asked Tony. As nervous as he was, he had figured that dinner with Lily's parents would be a mostly pleasant affair. But if things were as bad as he suspected between Lily and Petunia, dinner with her sister was a completely different matter; and Tony had doubts about his ability to censor himself that long.

"Yes, and I expect you to play nice," said Lily before opening to door and going inside.

"I will if she does," muttered Tony petulantly as he followed.

The smell of rice, garlic and saffron wafted through the entire building, leaving Tony moaning lightly in appreciation. His mother didn't cook often, but when she did this was the smell that always clung to the air for hours afterwards.  If the food was anyway comparative to her cooking, Tony would have to add Francisco's to his list of restaurants to stop at when he was in New York.

A few short words with a host, and they were being lead to the back of the restaurant, where in a secluded corner sat Lily's family.

As they approached, Lily's father stood to greet his daughter with a smile and a hug. Tony's first thought was that the man was quite a bit older than he would have expected. His brown hair was streaked liberally with gray and white, and laugh lines were etched deeply into his smiling face.  By Tony's estimation, the man was likely pushing towards 60. Still not as old as his own father though.  But where Howard had gone into fatherhood begrudgingly late in life, this man seemed to have embraced it.

The man finally turned towards Tony and offered him a polite smile and handshake.

"William Evans.... And you must be Tony. Thank you for keeping an eye on my youngest. I imagine you didn't originally plan to spend the last couple days playing tour guide, but I would be lying if I didn't say that it does this old man's heart good to know his princess isn't gallivanting around New York completely alone."

"Oh Daddy, it's not that bad. I've hardly even left the expo," said Lily as she took a seat next to who Tony assumed must be her sister, despite the fact that the two looked nothing alike. Where Lily's face was soft and slightly rounded with open expressions, Petunia's was long, harsh lines and pinched looks.  Where Lily was fire, Petunia was ice.

It was perhaps unkind, but the simple truth was that Petunia's homeliness was accentuated sharply by Lily's loveliness.

"Petunia Evans, it's a pleasure to meet you, Anthony," said Petunia.

As Lily predicted, Petunia had plastered on a simpering smile as she offered her hand, palm down.

Tony blinked for a moment. Surely she didn't actually expect him to...

Before he had to decide whether to stomach a chivalrous hand kiss to the harpy's claw or risk Lily's ire for laughing in her sister's face, somebody stepped between them.

Midnight black hair tumbled down her back, and familiar bright green almond eyes stared right into his soul from a round face that Tony felt looked far younger and more innocent than this creature before him really was. She was quite petite, and was physically less than intimidating.

But the look in her eyes as she smiled at him left him cold. Her eyes roved over him in inspection.

She held out her hand to him, palm down.

"Rose Evans, it's wonderful to finally meet you Anthony Stark."

He took her hand and carefully brought it towards his lips without quite touching, and never let his eyes leave hers.

"The pleasure is mine, Ma'am," said Tony quietly.

For a second that felt like an hour, they held each other's gaze. Finally Rose gave a slight grin and a nod to him before she turned away with a whispered, "You'll do."

Tony raised an eyebrow in askance, but Rose merely turned to her husband who pulled out her chair for her before sitting himself.

He took that as his cue to seat himself in the last open seat at the round table, situated between Lily and Rose.

A quick perusal of the menu had Tony settling on the roast lamb, and after the table had ordered they all settled into a semi-awkward silence.

William smiled at Tony, "Lily mentioned you had already graduated from university. That's quite the achievement for your age.  Where did you attend?"

"I graduated from MIT this past spring, with a focus on electrical engineering and physics," said Tony.

"Planning to follow in your father's footsteps then?"

"Ideally I suppose I hope to surpass them," said Tony with a cocky grin.

William laughed, "Indeed! Well, I wish I could say I look forward to seeing it, but given the nature of your father's company, I admit it's a bit of a terrifying thought."

Tony had to fight back a wince at that.

"Don't be rude, father," said Petunia, "It is good and respectable work, and obviously pays well."

She shot a smile to Tony as if to say she had his back, but all it did was tighten that uncomfortable knot he pretended didn't exist in his stomach at the thought of their weapon contracts. If he had his way he would scrap the whole damn thing.  Weapon developers were a dime a dozen.  Any idiot could make something explode.  No, the future lay in energy production, information management and processing, and the systems they would build to do it.

Artificial intelligence.

"No offense taken, though I'll be honest, so long as people continue to try and beat each other into submission, the weapons industry will continue to grow and turn profit; with or without Stark Industries," said Tony.

"And it's only one part of what the company does. Tony showed me dozens of different projects today with civilian and medical applications," said Lily.

"Not that you have any need for such technology, Lily," said Petunia with just the barest hint of disdain.

Lily gave the barest flinch, and had he not been looking at her he would have missed it. She glanced at him before turning back to her sister giving her a pointed glare with her lips pursed into a thin line, clearly holding back a biting retort.

Unfortunately, Tony didn't have that good of a censor.

"Neither do you apparently. I don't recall you having been at the expo at all yet. A bit above your grade point average?" said Tony.

Petunia looked gobsmacked.

"Tony!" hissed Lily as she smacked his arm.

Tony sighed and he closed his eyes before he spoke in a droning voice, "My apologies for my rude behaviour. It was uncalled for and immature."

"Have to give that speech often I take it? I can't say I approve of your rude words to my daughter, but given she was out of line as well, we will let it pass," said William with the air of someone used to dealing with such squabbles.

Then he turned to Lily and shook his head. "I swear Lily, you and your catty, sharp-tongued boys. This one is nearly as bad as Severus," he said with a laugh.

"Severus?" asked Tony.

"A childhood friend of Lily's who attends the same school as she does. We used to live in the same neighborhood, but we moved across town a few years ago. Hardly see the boy now," said Rose as she sipped from a glass of red wine.

"Oh, is this Mr. Inflated Ego?" Tony asked Lily.

"No, that's someone completely different. Mr. Inflated Ego has the potential to become something more. Severus... I'm afraid Severus is a lost cause," said Lily.

The look on her face as she said it was heartbreaking.

"I never did understand what you saw in that lout, Lily. He was wretched from the start, so I'm not sure what you expected. Bad blood, that one," said Petunia, her nose wrinkled in distaste.  She shot Tony a withering look, "At least this one is well bred, if still ill mannered."

Oh hell no!

"Excuse me?!" growled Tony. "What the f--!"

"ENOUGH Petunia," William raised his voice over the table. "You speak of Tony and Severus' ill manners, but here you are being churlish and snobby. As far as Severus is concerned, never forget-- 'There, but for the grace of God, go I.'"

"Really father? God's Grace?  Such hypocrisy! How about 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live--"

"Hold your foul tongue child," hissed a cold voice. It took a moment for Tony to place it as Rose.

'What the hell was the harpy even going on about?' wondered Tony. He turned to Lily and felt his heart lurch.

Lily sat beside him pale and listless, eyes glazed over and studiously avoiding his eyes.

He reached over under the table and grabbed Lily's hand, holding it with firm reassurance. She didn't look at him, but he felt her hand close around his like a lifeline.

He didn't understand what was going on. He didn't understand what had drained all the life from Lily's eyes. And he couldn't fathom why his fiery Lily continued to take her sister's ridiculous venom...

But he would be damned if he was expected to sit here and watch it quietly.

Play nice his ass!

"Listen to me you maleficent hag, Lil' may love you and be willing to let the terrible things you're saying slide, but I'm not. Your tiny, jealous mind is too much for me to suffer," growled Tony.

"Jealous?!" scoffed Petunia. "You don't know what you're talking about--"

"I admit some of this conversation perplexes me, obviously there's some family secret that I'm not privy to that affects the dynamics. But your body language screams of repressed aggression and your words of a deep seated inferiority complex," said Tony.

"You don't know anything about me!"

"I know you fancy yourself a lady of high standing by the manner of your greeting, and that your family's humble beginnings must chaffe you viciously by your critical remarks about blood and breeding. Accordingly, you've no doubt already begun to line up 'appropriate' suitors of well funded stock with which to settle down into a stable and unremarkable life of procreation and home keeping. Unfortunately, your homely appearance, average intelligence, and mean personality has not given you much with which to barter upwards socially, so you feel the glass ceiling above you with equal parts contempt and frustration. To add insult to injury, your younger half sister-- a situation that has left its own chip on your shoulder-- possesses all that necessary to advance herself in whatever manner she would choose, whether it be to marry up into nobility or to blaze a path into a career of her choosing. And it burns you to know that her name will be lifted from the tongues of such exceptional people you will never have the pleasure of knowing.

You're right Petunia, I don't know just anything about you, I know everything about you that I need to know."

# "For the hundredth time Lily-- I am sorry!"

Tony was chasing Lily down the sidewalk, nearing Central Park. Part of him distantly wondered why he even bothered.

But a quiet yet stubborn voice at his center knew why. And so here he was.

The table was a silent battlefield after his scathing roast of Petunia Evans. Tony only had a moment to reflect that perhaps he should have reigned in the tongue lashing a bit before William was on his feet shouting god knew what in Tony's face. But before he could think of an appropriate way to respond Lily moved between them.

"You would side with him against your own sister?! Your own blood?!"

"No, but I refuse to let you abuse him like this when he was coming to my defense! You always turn a blind eye to Petunia's hateful words!"

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words--"

"CAN LEAVE WOUNDS THAT MAY NEVER HEAL!"

After that explosion, Lily had shot off out of the restaurant. Tony had only taken a moment to throw a couple hundred dollar bills at the waiter before he was out the door after her.

"Just tell me what I can do, what I can say--"

"Do you even know what you're apologizing for?!" Lily yelled as she finally spun around to face him, tears streaming down her beautiful face.

It was unfair how beautiful she was, even while crying.

"I don't know?! For castigating your sister? Pissing off Daddy?  Being an insensitive prick with a mouth that won't quit? Not minding my own damn business?  Pick one!  Why are you laughing?"

It was the most confusing thing. Lily was still crying, but now she was bent over double, laughing her ass off.

Most likely at his expense.

But whatever, even if there were still tears, there was a smile back on her face.

And suddenly Tony realized he would give anything-- anything-- to see it stay there.

Shit...

"Thank you," said Lily.

"Uh... could you run that by me again?" asked Tony, perplexed.

"You heard me."

"Ok, then clarify for what I'm being thanked," said Tony with an eye roll.

"Just... for being you," said Lily.

"Oh. Well, there's a first for everything I guess. Usually me being me ends with lawyers and calls to my parents," said Tony.

"Not this time. This time it ends with my thanks..."

Lily stepped forward, close enough that Tony could feel her breath. She leaned in, and he could feel the soft touch of her lips press against his cheek. As she lingered, his arms moved to embrace her.

She pulled back only enough for her bottle green eyes to meet his own.

Then she leaned in again, and this time their lips met, tentatively at first, then deeper just a moment later.

It was electric and it was gentle; it was passionate and it was calming.  It was precious, like holding a star in his hands... 

It was everything he wanted and like nothing he had ever had before.

And it was over all too quickly.

As Lily pulled away, Tony's hand moved to cup her face and keep her close, unwilling to completely give up what he had only just found.

"Tony... what is this?" asked Lily hesitantly.

"I don't know. But I don't plan to let it go," said Tony.

"We barely know each other..."

"Then we'll go on more dates. At better restaurants."

"I still have a year of school left in Scotland..."

"My family has a private jet."

"There are no airports nor phones anywhere near the school. Even our postal service is... not standard."

"Seriously? Are you sure you aren't going to school in a pocket dimension?" Tony asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It does feel like it sometimes," sighed Lily.

"Do you... I mean, if you aren't interested--"

He was cut off as her lips found his again.

"Did that seem uninterested to you?" said Lily when she pulled away again.

"Then stop blowing holes in my ship," said Tony.

"I feel like that's a reference, but I can't place it..."

"What I mean is, if you want to, I'm willing to find a way," said Tony. "But I need you to look for solutions, not problems."

"You make it sound so simple," said Lily.

"Why complicate it?" asked Tony.

"Because it is complicated," said Lily.

"It doesn't have to be," said Tony.

Lily sighed, "You don't understand..."

"Then help me to understand."

"That's the problem! I can't. It's illegal! I could do jail time if I did," said Lily.

"What in the hell are you mixed up in? Does it have to do with that civil unrest you mentioned?" asked Tony.

"Yes and no... they are related, but it would be a problem whether there was a war or not. It just makes it that much more dangerous," said Lily.

"Do you need a way out?"

Lily looked up at him and searched his face. She moved to speak before she halted and pursed her lips. After a moment she seemed to settle on a response.

"That is certainly one of my choices. One many others have already made.  It would be the easy choice. The smart choice..."

"But not what's right," finished Tony.

"When you have the power to help others, but you don't because of fear, it makes you complicit," said Lily.

"No, it makes you human," said Tony.

"Then perhaps we should aim to be a bit more than that. Instead of superhuman strength, we should try for superhuman heart and will," said Lily.

"That sounds great, but expecting people to be more than what they are... don't you think that's a bit unfair as well?" asked Tony.

"Perhaps..."

The lull in conversation stretched on, and Tony began to inspect their surroundings. It was long since dark, and they stood on the outskirts of Central Park.  They should probably head somewhere else soon...

"How did you know Petunia was my half-sister?"

"What? Oh, it was a bit of a deduction. Petunia's bone structure  and features only somewhat reflects her paternity and does not reflect your mother at all. Your father has brown hair and blue eyes, your mother has black with green eyes- Petunia is blonde with brown eyes. The likelihood of both of those traits coming through are relatively low if she were their daughter. Also, your father said 'my daughter' when referring to Petunia, not our daughter. And while the difference in age between you and Petunia is not large, Rose is already significantly younger than your father, and likely had you very young. If she were Petunia's mother as well, that would have pushed their relationship from the realm of 'serious age gap' into 'illegal.' Therefore I assumed Petunia a child from a previous marriage, and his marriage to Rose a matter of convenience and a need for a caregiver."

"You know what they say about assuming things?" asked Lily.

"I already know I'm an ass. But was I wrong?"

Lily sighed as she shook her head. "No, you're not wrong."

"So what is Petunia's problem? I get that there's stuff you apparently can't talk about, but it's obvious that something about your relationship disturbs her. With the way she seems to try and emulate Rose I would think it might have to do with you and your mother's relationship versus her own."

"You are perceptive beyond reason," laughed Lily. "How do you do it?"

"It's all in the details, my dear Watson."

"And what do the details tell you about me?" asked Lily fondly.

Tony let his eyes travel freely over Lily's form, until her cheeks began to show a dusting of pink.Then he took a step forward, drawing her into a light embrace.

"The dilation of your pupils and the flush of your cheeks at my proximity tell me you're intensely attracted to me..."

"Well done, Sherlock," said Lily with a roll of the eyes. "You've cracked the case."

"Your description of your school tells me that your exceptional grasp of modern sciences and technology didn't come from their halls, so you must be concurrently enrolled in a proper education program in addition to whatever 'specialized education' this Hogwarts must offer. This tells me that you are a brilliant, driven and stubborn woman, considering the hassle it must be to manage a concurrent enrollment out in the middle of nowhere with limited access to communication," said Tony.

Lily nodded, "I am in fact, concurrently enrolled."

"And the nature of your school itself is extremely telling. Remote--exclusive acceptance done by a manner not related to income, test aptitude, or generational acceptance--limited outside contact--confidential and specialized education.

Between that and Petunia's fit earlier... I gather you're something a little 'more' than the average human."

She did her best to quell her tells, but Lily couldn't quite stop the slight widening of her eyes, the sudden contraction of her pupils, or the subtle tightening around her mouth.

Like he said, he's always right.

Tony lifted his hand to cup her face, and gently stroked his thumb over the tight lines of her mouth. "Don't worry, I'm not going to ask. When you're ready though, I'll listen. Just wish there was something else I could do since powers or not, apparently that world of yours isn't safe right now."

"'Powers' only do so much good when the other side has them as well," said Lily. "I need you to promise you won't say anything about this to anyone. For your own sake."

"Alright, I promise. But if the shit hits the fan over there, I don't care what sort of abilities these people have, I'll come to get you," said Tony.

Lily didn't answer, but gave him a tremulous smile.

"Well, well, well... what have we here?"

<<<<>>>>

AN: Hey ya’ll decided to go ahead and throw this out into the wilderness.  I’ve been working on this story for a while, it will ultimately have a sequel, seeing as this work was originally started as a prologue to another story, it got out of hand and became its own thing.  Basically I wanted to write a story where Harry was Tony’s son, but didn’t have Lily cheating on James to make it happen. So... here we are. Thanks for reading. <3

[serenlyss]

Concordat

Rating: G Relationships: ritsu&reigen, ritsu&shigeo Summary: He’s expecting another old woman searching for a beloved family cat, or maybe a young man concerned about a cheating partner, but instead he finds himself face-to-face with a kid. “Is this… Spirits and Such Detective Agency?" (When Reigen Arataka, PI, decided to pursue a career as a detective, he'd never expected to take on a missing persons case. Then again, he hadn't expected to receive said case from a literal child, either, and yet, here he is.) Crossposted to AO3: Concordat

Concordat - An agreement or treaty relating to matters of mutual interest.

This is a gift for my dear friends @winsstar-writes and @pigpantpoop on tumblr for their Detective AU, which I've just fallen in love with so fast hahaha. So here's more Ritsu and Reigen content bc I love their dynamic So Much. I hope you two like it, ily <3

---

Reigen sinks into his office chair, letting his whole body slouch with a long sigh. Business is slow at the agency today, and he’s bored out of his mind waiting for someone to show up and give him something to do. Outside his window, he can hear rain hitting the sill, a gentle summer storm outside chasing the pedestrians indoors. He has no clients scheduled for the rest of the day, and it’s only just past lunch, which means he’s going to spend the rest of the work day sitting around, doing nothing.

He rummages around in his suit pocket for a cigarette and lighter, leaning over his desk. He holds the cigarette between his lips and lights it up, uncaring of the cloud of smoke that leaves his lips and hangs around him. Briefly, he thinks that he must stink of it, and that it won’t make a very good impression if a client walks in on him smoking in his own office, but he can’t bring himself to care, today. He leans back in the chair again, blowing smoke toward the ceiling. Maybe I should just pack it up, move on to something else, he laments with a frown. He’d left a comfortable office job for this, but, well, he’d always been a bit of a drifter. Perhaps the detective life just isn’t what he’s cut out for, after all.

The chime of a bell reaches his ear as the front door to his office is opened, and he hastily moves to put out his cigarette, pressing it down into the ashtray at the corner of his desk. “Come in,” he calls, voice cracking slightly as he attempts to put on his cheerful customer service voice, and pushes himself up from his chair to greet his guest.

He’s expecting another old woman searching for a beloved family cat, or maybe a young man concerned about a cheating partner, but instead he finds himself face-to-face with a kid.

“Is this… Spirits and Such Detective Agency?” asks the literal child who’s come to greet him. He can’t be older than ten, considering the primary school uniform he wears, and he looks up at Reigen from beneath a furrowed brow, dark gray eyes scrutinizing him carefully. His black hair sticks up in all directions, like he’d just rolled out of bed before coming here. Reigen is deeply unimpressed, but, well, it can’t hurt to humor a child for a little while.

“Yeah, this is the place. What can I do for you?” Reigen asks, opting for a plastic smile as he beckons the boy inside.

The boy shuffles a bit on his feet, looking around the office with undeniable skepticism written all over his face, and then reluctantly takes a step inside. The door falls quietly shut behind him, and he hovers in the entryway. His gaze is more deliberate and calculating than most adult clients Reigen’s had. “You’re the detective?” he clarifies, flashing Reigen that uncertain look again.

Reigen resists the urge to sigh. What was with this kid? “Reigen Arataka, PI, at your service! I must say, I don’t get a lot of kids coming here, though. What’s the matter, you lose something?” He can’t fathom why an elementary school student would come to him for answers, of all people, or what a kid would find so important that he’d need the help of a detective to find. It must be some kind of prank.

The kid shakes his head, clinging to the straps of his backpack as though he can’t figure out what else to do with his hands. “No--I mean, yes, but not like what you’re--I’m looking for my brother!” he stammers, fumbling over his words nervously. He looks away, seemingly embarrassed, his face flushed pink. “Nobody else I talked to would take me seriously… the police keep saying they’re going to find him, but they won’t even listen to me when I tell them--” Suddenly, the kid freezes, cutting himself off abruptly.

The mention of a missing brother makes Reigen pause in his tracks, halfway to his desk where he usually sits and consults with clients. He’s an only child himself, but the thought of losing a sibling… He shakes his head, turning to face the boy and raising a brow at him. “Tell them what?” he prompts, though he honestly isn’t really sure he wants to know.

The kid looks up at him with uncertainty, eyes filled with distrust, then glances away again. “My brother… he was kidnapped because he’s an esper,” he mumbles, and quickly adds, “I know it sounds stupid and crazy, but it’s true! I’ve tried to tell the police, but they don’t listen to me! Your sign said you specialize in psychic cases, right?”

Reigen freezes. He’d known at the time that adding that caveat was a stupid idea, but he hadn’t expected anyone to come to him about a missing esper. He’d only done it to attract the easily-manipulated types, the older folks who believe in spirits and the gullible people who think throwing around a little table salt is enough to exorcise them, but this is in a league of its own. “Esper?” he echoes, feeling the dread inside of him multiply.

“Yeah, that’s what I said!” The boy says, impatient. “Everyone keeps telling me to give it more time, but it’s been months now. I can’t give up on finding him!” He fixes Reigen with what is potentially the most determined expression the man has ever seen on such a young child, hands balled into tight fists that quiver with barely-contained emotion. “So? You can do it, right?”

For a few long moments, Reigen can do nothing but stare, and then he clenches his teeth, glaring. “Is this some kind of joke?” he blurts, annoyed. “It’s not funny, kid, so just give it up already.” The words come out a bit harsher than he intends them to be, a hint of spite behind them, but he can’t find it in himself to be remorseful.

He expects the kid to give up then, to either admit to his prank or burst into tears or do some other kid thing, but instead he gets angry. “I’m not lying!” he snaps, stomping a foot on the floor in his outburst. “Two months ago, my older brother disappeared while he was walking home from school. I wasn’t there ‘cause I was in the hospital, but I know he wouldn’t have just wandered off! Someone took him, and I need to find him!” He’s rambling, the words tumbling from his mouth without much forethought, and Reigen can practically feel his desperation in the air. He continues, “I-I can’t just leave things the way they were, I can’t. I have to find him, I’m going to find him. I have to be someone for him, be there for him! If I don’t try, then what kind of lousy brother am I?”

The kid sniffles and reaches up to his eyes, just inches in front of Reigen, and it’s only then that Reigen realizes that the child has begun to cry, big crocodile tears that leave his eyes red and puffy and his nose a little wet. He can feel his brain short-circuiting at the sight of the crying boy; he has very little experience with kids, and would never, in a thousand years, consider himself the kind of person a child goes to for help or comfort. And yet here one is, crying in the middle of his office and all but begging for his help. He takes a breath, steadying his racing thoughts. I’ve never attempted a missing person case before, he thinks to himself, but something keeps him from outright refusing. Ask me to find a cat, sure, but a whole-ass person? I’m not equipped for this… Then again, had he ever really been equipped for a job? He’d always prided himself on being flexible with the kinds of jobs he would take--’flexible’ is a lot nicer of a word than ‘unqualified’--and, well, crying children have a certain persuasion of their own about them.

He isn’t sure what possesses him to do it, but he reaches up and pulls the tan hat from his head, pressing it against the boy’s mop of dark hair with a gentle puff. “Alright, enough of the tears. It’s not exactly my line of work, but what the hell--heck, what the heck?” He corrects himself with a cringe of embarrassment, but the kid doesn’t seem to mind all that much as he peeks out from beneath the brim of Reigen’s too-large hat in bewilderment. “Why don’t we start with a name, huh? Since you barged in here and demanded I help you out.”

The boy blinks, and a little light returns to his dark gaze. “Oh, my brother’s name is Shigeo,” he says, a little breathless, like he’s still processing the fact that he’s finally receiving the help he’s been searching for.

“Well, I was talking about your name, but that’s important, too,” Reigen corrects, flashing the boy an amused smile.

The boy flinches, and immediately the bewilderment is gone, replaced by a childish little pout that’s probably meant to be angry but comes across more endearing instead. Endearing… god, what is wrong with me today? Reigen berates himself. He’s in way over his head. “Kageyama Ritsu,” the boy replies stiffly, clearly embarrassed and attempting to hide it behind a stubborn frown.

Reigen moves over to his desk and flips his pad open to a new page, retrieving a pen and starting to jot down the two names. There will be lots of details to gather, still, but for now he’ll stick to the basics. Once he’s written down the two names and started to organize his messy thoughts, he gestures Ritsu over to sit in the chair across from him. He sets his pen down and clasps his hands in front of him on the desk, putting on his business face. “Alright, then, Ritsu, let’s talk.”

[mydarlingvioletine]

Just a Puppy Crush - Chapter Thirteen Ship(s): Violet/Clementine, Louis/Aasim, Ruby/Brody Media: The Walking Dead Game (Season 4)

author’s note: finally introducing one of my favorite boyos into this au!! sorry for the late update i hope you like it!

Just on the outskirts of the school, there was a patch of land that Violet had always overlooked, chalking it up as nothing.

        Turns out it was the community garden.

Clementine had pointed it out to her on their way to the corner store, and abruptly remembered that she had to check on her bok-choy and spinach plants.

       Violet waited patiently at the entrance, not noticing Clementine’s expression turn from tentative to mischievous. She turned her head just in time to see Clem reaching over a small fence, plucking a flower from another garden plot.

“Dude, isn’t that someone else’s?” Violet stammered, as Clementine rose to her feet and tucked the red flower behind Violet’s ear. “Can’t you get in trouble for that?”

      Clementine pursed her lips, tugging at the collar of Violet’s jacket with a smirk. “You’re the one who has a shirt that literally says ‘Be gay, do crime’.”

Still bashful from Clem adjusting her collar, Violet huffed and crossed her arms. “Never said I was a role model.”

        Clementine beamed before shutting the gate behind them, and interlocking her fingers with Violet’s. “Don’t worry, they’re Javi’s brothers’ flowers. That guy is kind of a dick, so I don’t feel bad. Child support dodging asshole.”

With a weak smile, Violet walked alongside Clem beside the road, kicking the occasional pebble that she saw.

      “Plus, I don’t think anyone could be that mad if they saw how cute you look.” Clementine chided, happily humming when she saw the deep pink flush across Violet’s face.

Fighting every instinct to bury her face in her hands, her smile became wobbly. “I’m not - I’m not fucking cute. Cute is for puppies and... babies.”

        Clementine huffed, swinging their intertwined fingers back and forth between them. “Fine. Beautiful, then.”

Violet groaned with exaggeration, trying to throw the attention off of the blush she couldn’t control. Being pale sucks when it comes to stuff like that.

      Clem held the door to the front of the shop open for Violet, and a cool breeze met her, along with some borderline emo pop music.

“Benny boy! How’s your shift going?” Clem hoisted herself up onto a bar stool beside the counter top, and swung her legs as she smiled at the lanky teenager at the cash register.

        “Well, this fucking terrifying lady just left about five minutes ago. Textbook definition of a scary soccer mom.” Ben murmured, pushing back his mess of shaggy back hair to glance at Violet. “She was even taller than me. Like, nobody’s taller than me.”

“Glad to see your ego is still intact.” Clementine giggled, patting the stool next to her for Violet to sit down on. Ben smiled wearily, eyes dancing between the two girls. “Did you get Larry to fix up the milkshake machine?”

         Ben softly shook his head, and took two large glasses from table behind him and set them under the spout. “Cheap bastard didn’t do shit. I got it fixed out of my own pocket. So, what can I get for you guys?”

“Two taco bags, puh-lease!” Clem sang out, digging the twenty dollar bill out of her pocket and slapping it on the counter. “Oh, Vi. What flavor do you want?”

       “Flavor?” Violet scrunched up her nose at the question, and Ben pressed a couple of different Doritos bags towards them. “Oh, uh... the best flavor.”

“A woman after my own heart,” Clem swooned dramatically, leaning back in her seat. “That’ll be two bags of Cool Ranch.”

     Violet guffawed and shook her head at the notion. “What? No. I said best flavor, Nacho Cheese.”

Ben beamed, and grabbed the bag from a shocked Clementine, who then crossed her arms. “At least one of your friends has taste. That kid who almost broke my jukebox by sitting on it went for the Supreme Cheddar. Fucking nasty.”

     “It’s Louis-“ Clem interjected, as Ben rolled his eyes and turned the corner to the kitchen.

Violet tugged her knees to her chest, and focused her gaze on the cheesy cat clock in the corner with big yellow eyes. “You take all your dates here?”

     Clementine blinked rapidly, and went to say something when there was a bang in the kitchen, followed by a “FUCK!”

A disheveled Ben rubbed the back of his head with embarrassment as he came back into the counter area, holding two bags of Doritos with chunks of taco meat and lettuce and cheese in them.

        “Bon appetite.” Ben dramatically bowed, passing the bags to Clem and Violet along with a fork. “Is that it?”

Clementine’s eyes landed on Violet, and she pursed her lips while contemplating. After a couple of seconds, she slammed her hand enthusiastically on the counter.

                   “One chocolate milkshake, please.”

Her eyes landed on Violet, and she cocked an eyebrow, her lips curving into a lopsided smile.

                  “Two straws.”

Violet scoffed to herself as they left with arms full of Gatorades and Doritos. Clem held the milkshake tightly in her hand, the water droplets from the sunlight making it slippery.

      “Louis dragged me along after one of our games. He asked Aasim to show up and watch him, and I guess he really didn’t expect for him to actually show up. But, he did and Louis got all flustered and had me be a third-wheel while they were doing all their mushy gushy shit. Definitely was not a date.” Clem confided.

“Oh,” Violet mulled it over in her head before giggling, letting a vulnerable snort slip out. “I can’t believe Louis is really trying to slip into my relationship shit when he can’t even handle his own. He’s.. so dumb.”

        “Relationship shit?” Clem cooed with curiosity, bumping her shoulder against the taller girls’. “Do tell.”

A rush of heat hit Violet’s face at the feigned obliviousness, and she ducked her head to take a sip out of the red straw from their shared milkshake. “It’s nothing..”

      Clementine was about to press further when the calamity of adults screaming hit their ears. With an eye roll, they quickened their pace back towards the ball game, which had just started.

The chanting from the green team was incoherent until they got closer. The time the words were said, and the wires in Violet’s brain short-circuited, Louis and Marlon had dropped their attention from the game, and looked worriedly at the two.

“Let’s go, Delta Destroyers!”

Violet froze in her tracks and scanned the field. Her eyes landed on an uninterested kid who was crouching down and playing in the grass.

        The kid with the burn scar across the side of his face.

“Vi, you good?” Clementine picked up on her change of mood, and brushed against her to snap her back into reality. “Violet?”

     “I’m okay. I’m - yes. Good.” Violet stammered, her eyes dancing nervously across the crowd that had accumulated around the Delta’s side.

She slumped herself down beside Carley and Lee on the bottom bleacher, and tried to channel her focus on cheering for AJ. But she couldn’t fucking stop looking, checking.

    With a concerned frown, Clementine sat herself down next to Violet, and placed her hand on top of hers. Relaxing at the touch, Violet let out a deep, shaky breath. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Violet gave in, her hands wrapped around the milkshake as if it could soothe the racing thoughts in her mind.

       “The private school, Delta.. I’ve got history with a girl from there. Her brother’s out there. Fuck... I hope she’s not here.”

Confirming her suspicions, a shout from the other side rang out that Violet knew too damn well. She flinched at the familiar tone, and tugged her knees to her chest. “Shit.”

      “Hey, we can ditch this if you want,” Clem offered, tightening her grip on Violet’s hand. “I’m sure Ben wouldn’t mind some company.”

Violet shook her head, and pulled the straw towards her lips. “I’m good. Just haven’t talked to her since the whole thing went down. Was kinda hoping it’d stay that way.”

         Clementine rolled up her sleeve and dramatically flexed, bringing an involuntary smile to Violet’s face as the dork next to her kissed her bicep. “Don’t you worry, my darling. You won’t have to. Let me know if I need to kick some ass. Take some names.”

“Clem,” Carley groaned, reminding them of her presence relatively close to them. “Javi can only let so much pass before you get kicked out again.”

          “Again?” Violet softly elbowed the pouting girl beside her, intrigue in her smile. “What’d you do?”

“I didn’t do anythin-“

        “Threatened to shove a foam finger up the ref’s nose and had to be physically held back by Javier.” Lee interrupted, a glint of pride as he smiled down at his daughter.

“That call was bullshit and you know it.” Clem huffed, crossing her arms and shoving a forkful of taco meat and Dorito chip crumbs into her mouth. “Let’s not forget when you got so mad at a call and you accidentally spilled the entire ice bucket.”

      The domestic moment that she got to be a part of brought a sense of peace to Violet, and she let her shoulders relax with a happy hum as Lee and Clem bickered. She shared a glance with Carley, and they burst into a giggling fit at the sight of their sweethearts squabbling passionately over the dumbest things.

A sharp ‘crack’ interrupted their arguing, and everyone’s eyes landed on AJ, who was holding the bat in disbelief, looking at the ball he’d struck almost over the fence.

       Clementine and Lee pushed up against the fence, cheering incoherently and yelling for him to run as the shocked kid just blinked. He tossed the bat aside, and booked it towards second base.

Looking at the kids mindlessly fucking around in the outfield, his velocity was definitely unnecessary but she’d be damned if it wasn’t adorable.

       “Go, AJ!” Violet rose to her feet, raising the foam finger above her head and cheering as the flustered kid made it to third. “You got this!”

The kid beamed at his fans, and sped towards home, letting himself get low to the ground and slide dramatically on the base.

       Carley and Lee’s cheers were quickly cut off by groans as AJ stood up and dirt and dust was absolutely covering his baseball uniform.

“Not it for laundry tonight!” Clem pressed her finger to her nose, and Lee and Carley followed suit. Confused, Violet glanced between them and reluctantly raised her finger to her nose.

     “Technically, Vi was the last one. She’s on laundry duty.” Clementine beamed, slinging her arm around Violet. “Don’t worry, my dirty underwear will not be included.”

Clementine’s willingness to let her in on family outings and secrets and all that stuff meant so much more to Violet than she let on. When she started catching on to inside jokes and eventually creating ones of her own, a sense of belonging just overflowed all of her senses.

       Lee rolled his eyes, and scoffed. “You really need to take a class or something on the proper way to ask someone out on a date.”

He earned simultaneous punches in the arm from both Clem and Carley.

    Clementine huffed, and sat back in the bleachers, watching as AJ high-fived his teammates. “I volunteer James, then. Bastard ate my Cocoa Pebbles.”

The rest of the game went by pretty quickly. Turns out Delta is all bark and no bite. From her past experiences with their students, Violet would’ve never guessed that they couldn’t back up their smack talk.

      The Delta kids - besides Tenn - begrudgingly shook the hands of the home team, and the players dispersed back to their families.

Violet watched as Tennessee slung a backpack over his shoulder, and hopped over the fence to embrace his older sisters.

         It happened too fast. Minerva’s eyes raised up to meet hers, and she seemed thrown off, standing stiffly before she turned her attention back to her little brother, who’d attached himself to her leg.

Her thoughts were cut off by Louis running up to her and squeezing her tight, even lifting her a couple inches off the ground. Over his shoulder, she saw Clementine beaming, and her face went numb as she shoved the tall dork off of her.

        “I can’t believe you came all this way to see little ol’ me,” Louis feigned a Southern accent that would make Ruby turn in her grave. “You really do love me!”

Violet discretely flipped him off.

     “We still going to the diner? I can give you guys a ride.” Louis offered, eyes flickering down to his watch.

“Oh, fuck yea.” Clem squealed, tugging on Violet’s arm. “I’d take late night pancakes over a fucking casserole any day.”

       “Pancakes sounds amazing right now,” Violet agreed, shuffling her hands into her pockets. “I’m in.”

The four of them walked back to Louis’ car after Clem said goodbye to everyone, and sneak-attack tickled AJ. Marlon glanced at Violet with his bottom lip pursed, and the weight of the flower on her ear suddenly occurred to her.

         “People are really stupid if they eat anything other than breakfast food.” Clementine chirped, earning a collective sigh of agreement from everyone else in the car.

“Onward! To pancakes!” Violet lightly kicked the seat in front of her, causing Louis to twist himself around and wag his finger at her.

            “I will turn this car around, Violet. Don’t you test me.”

“You kinda have to anyway, to get to the diner...” Marlon noted, earning a stern glare from Louis.

      The cheer of the three passengers crying for pancakes was drowned out by Louis aggressively turning up the volume, and shouting along to the Britney Spears lyrics.