#been working mornings and JUST fixed my sleep schedule I promise I still draw

[sovhina]

Please enjoy this lailani wip 🥹 we’re so back! and on a Wednesday too!

I’m gonna tag actually! I’m tagginggggg @beezhive @laaskrin @galadae annnnd @sunshinemage no pressure ofc! <3333

[let-me-luve-you]

Separated Cherries

Tom Holland x Sister

Summary: The reader deals with anxiety and one form of the readers anxiety is separation anxiety. She really misses Tom so he flies her to Cleveland while he’s working on Cherry. He later admits how hard it was for him to worry about her and focus on the seriousness of the character.

Warnings: anxiety, separation anxiety, angst, protective Tom, talks of Cherry (nothing is mentioned specific i don’t think, but I do mention that it was hard for Tom to film it and how it deals with difficult topics)

A/N: I’m awful. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for the late post but I hope you enjoy it!! This was for a special person and I hope they enjoy it! Also I mention a scene in Cherry but don’t go into detail but if you have watched the press tour, you may know what scene I’m talking about. Or if you’ve seen the movie, you may know what scene I’m talking about. I tried to avoid spoilers so I hope you like this story.

MASTERLIST      BUY ME A COFFEE

The days leading up to Tom leaving, you didn’t leave his side. He didn’t mind though. He loved having you around. You grounded him and reminded of the normal life he left behind when he went to be The Tom Holland the world knows and loves.

Earlier this month, Tom took you with him to Utah for a convention. You had never gone to one before so Tom thought this would be a good time. Tom also was being a little selfish and wanted you there with him since he was still dealing with the news of Spider-Man leaving the MCU.

Now he’s about to leave for Cleveland to film Cherry. A movie Tom knew was going to be a challenge for him. The Russo’s fought for him to be in this movie. They wanted Tom in this role more than anybody. They even got a job for Harry. You had asked Tom, when he first learned of the filming dates, if you could go with him. Since Tom knew the contents of the movie and how dark it was, he didn’t want you around that, so he said no.

Now, it’s the night before he’s leaving. You are curled up on his bed watching him pack his bag. “Don’t forget your blue light glasses.” You said.

“Already have them packed in my carry-on with my laptop and chargers.” He said to you with a smile. “Thank you though. I do forget them all the time.” You laughed.

You turned serious, “I’m going to miss you. I know you said I couldn’t go, but I still wish I could go with you.” Tom sighed.

“I know. I’m going to miss you too, but this film is just going to be dealing with a lot of serious issues and I don’t want you to have to see me like that.” He said, honestly.

“I know. Can I still call you though?” You asked sheepishly.

“Always.” He said before turning to his dresser to get socks and underwear. “So, what are your plans for the next few months?”

“I plan on helping mum. She apparently has a lot of shoots. Probably taste test all of Sam’s food.” You laughed.

“I’m so jealous. I have yet to find something I don’t like of Sam’s.” Tom said.

“He is a great cook.” Tom agreed. “Paddy apparently has a show he’s going to be on, so I’ll help him with that in any way I can. And Dad is working on a new book, so whatever he needs me to do, I’ll do.”

“You really are great, you know that?” Tom asked as he paused his packing to come sit next to you. He wrapped you in a hug. “Are you going to do anything for you?” You shrugged. “Do me a favor? Do something for you. Learn to do more for you. You help all of those around you, but you rarely do things for you. Draw more or hide away and read. Go out to a party or go do something with your friends. Remember to take care of you. Promise me, you’ll try to do that.”

“Promise.” You said. He squeezed you tighter in the hug and gave you a kiss on your head before getting up to finish his packing.

The rest of the night was uneventful. Tom finished packing and put his bags by the front door. You both got comfy on his bed and watched a movie. You were the first to fall asleep and first to wake up the next day. Tom’s and Harry’s flight wasn’t until 10 am and it was currently 630. You decided to make them a good breakfast so they would be fine until the flight gave out their lunch.

“What are you doing?” You heard a tired voice. You looked over your shoulder to see Tom walking up to sit at the counter. You smiled at him and fixed him a cup of tea.

“I’m making you and Harry breakfast.” You said cheerfully. You walked back over to the stove and finished making the eggwhite omelet. Tom was on a strict diet so you made something he could eat, but also something that he liked. You put it on a plate and set it in front of him.

“You didn’t have to do this.” Tom said. “But thank you. This looks delicious.” “What looks delicious?” Harry asked as he sat next to Tom. “Oooh. I want one.”

“It’s coming right up.” You said as you set a tea in front of him and turned back to making his omelette.

“Thank you Y/N.” Harry said, taking a sip of his freshly made tea. “Can I hire you to be my personal assistant?” You all laughed. “When we get home, I’ll treat you to dinner via Sam’s cooking.”

“Sounds good to me. I’m holding you to it.” You said. “I’m really going to miss you guys.”

“Just a few months and then we will be home for Christmas.” Tom said standing up to put his plate in the sink.

“I know. Still sucks. I hate when you leave.” You opened up. You had been holding it in. You felt bad for dropping it on him right before he leaves, but it needed to be said. “It always just feels different around here. I don’t know how to describe it, but it doesn’t feel like we are complete.”

“I know it’s not ideal to have two brothers that are constantly traveling for work. That we aren’t here for family dinners, but we are a phone call or text away. Reach out and we will try to answer as quickly as possible.” Tom said looking into your eyes. You could see that he meant them.”

“Ignore me. I’m just in my feels this morning. I’ll be okay.” You whispered. You wrapped Tom in a hug. “I’m proud of you, you know? It’s so great to see you out there doing what you love and seeing the people’s lives that you touch.”

“Thank you y/n/n. I love you.” Tom said kissing your forehead.

“Love you too.” You squeezed him tighter before pulling away and wrapping Harry in a hug. “Love you too Hairball.”

Harry scoffed at the nickname you gave him when you were both extremely young and you were mad at him. “Don’t call me that…” He paused before hugging you back. “Love you too.”

“Now you better get going before you’re late.” You said. “I also packed you small snack bags and put them in your carry ons.”

“You’re the best.” Tom said as he walked to put his shoes on. “Thank you y/n/n.” Harry said doing the same.

You watched them grab their bags and walk out of the house with one last smile. You sighed and went back to your room to take a nap. Already missing your brothers, you decided to turn on Spider-Man Homecoming.

It is now mid-October and you were missing Tom and Harry more than anything. You tried to hangout with Sam and Paddy more to try to not feel the sadness of missing your other two brothers. Paddy didn’t want to hangout with you. He was too busy hanging out with his friends and playing football. Sam was always at the restaurant or in the kitchen at your parents house. You would stay with him and watch him cook, but it wasn’t the same.

Your sleep schedule was messed up due to the fact you were staying up late watching Netflix. Looking over at the clock, it read 3 am. Pulling your phone from your bedside table, you pulled up Tom’s contact and decided to FaceTime him. It only rang for a couple of seconds before he answered.

“Is everything okay?” Tom asked worriedly. You could tell he was laying in bed.

“Yeah. I just wanted to talk to you.” You answered honestly.

“It’s 3 am where you are! Why are you not asleep?” His eyes widened as he realized how late it was for you.

“I can’t. My schedules messed up. I’m fine. Did I wake you?” You asked, scared of the answer.

“No. I was just watching some TV before I went to bed. I have a 7am call time.” He said and you breathed a sigh of relief for not waking him.

“How was filming today?” You said looking at his tired eyes.

“It was good. We did a hard scene today, but it went really well. We have another hard, long day again tomorrow.” Tom rubbed the tired out of his eyes. He was just about to fall asleep when called.

“I’m sorry you’ve had some hard days.” You said sincerely.

“Thanks but it’s okay. Thankfully Harry’s here. He’s really helping me.” Tom sighed.

“I’d help you if I was there. I know it’s hard, but I’m proud of you.” You said with your eyes tearing up.

“Are you doing okay?” Tom asked concern noticing the change of tone in your voice. “Mum said you’ve been at the house a lot.”

“I’m doing okay. I went and got my nails done today with Chandra.” You said showing Tom the Marvel based nails. With Tom only being a year older than you, he got you into Marvel when you were younger. Spider-Man was always your favorite and when Tom got the role, you celebrated just as much or even more than he did.

“I like them. They’re pretty.” Tom said with a small smile. “How are you holding up though with me and Harry being gone? I haven’t asked in a while.”

You sighed and looked away from Tom. You didn’t want him to know how much you missed him, but you missed your best friend. “I’m good. Been hanging out with friends more and I help Sam when he’s at home. Mum, Dad, and I have had movie nights. It’s been good.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” He asked, still concerned. You felt a tear you had been fighting fall down your cheek. You looked away from the phone. “Y/N/N. Look at me.”

Shaking your head, “I’m fine Tom. I just miss my best friend.”

“I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do.” He said.

“I’ll be okay.” You whispered.

“How about this…” Tom said. “Let me fly you out to visit. We are about to do some of the easier stuff and you can come stay with us while the scenes aren’t so intense.”

“You don’t have to do that. I’m just being weird.” You said not wanting for him to be pressured into inviting you.

“Separation anxiety isn’t you being weird. It’s an actual thing.” He said sincerely. He cared about you. You didn’t know you had this issue until Tom got the role of Spider-Man and left for Atlanta. Your mum noticed you clingy to them more or your other brothers. When Tom arrived home you stuck to him like glue. Your mum decided to take you to a doctor to see if there was anything to do for you. You learned the anxiety medicine didn’t help you and talking to a therapist only went so far. All you wanted, was to be with your whole family.

“I’ll get Harry to schedule you a flight. Pack warm clothes and at least two weeks worth.” He said.

“No, Tom, it’s okay. I’ll be okay.” You fought back.

“I’m serious. Come stay with us. Harry will get your flight.” He kept fighting back.

“If you're sure.” You said softly. Tom almost didn’t hear it.

“I’m sure. I miss you too. Plus having you here may help me.” Tom said, laying back down on his pillow. You could tell he was tired, but he was staying awake for you.

“I appreciate it, T.” You spoke honestly. “I really do miss you. I love you.”

“Love you too y/n/n.” He whispered while fighting to keep his eyes open.

“Get some sleep. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Night.” Tom said before hanging up. You smiled knowing you were finally going to get to see your brother again very soon. You laid back on your bed and finally felt the exhaustion from staying up late. You could worry about what you were going to pack tomorrow.

When Tom told Harry to schedule you a flight out, Harry accidentally scheduled it too early. Tom still had some hard scenes to film. When you landed in America, he didn’t want you to come to set, but he didn’t want to leave you at home either.

Harry showed you where you could go and couldn’t. You basically only went to Tom’s trailer, the bathroom, the food tent, and Tom’s chair. Today, Tom begged you not to come because he knew the day was full of hard things. He knew what the last scene was going to be filmed and he didn’t want you to see that.

You insisted you could handle it. You didn’t want to be alone. You wanted to spend time with your brother. Tom finally gave in after you promised you would stay in his trailer during that final scene.

Throughout the day, you stayed close to Tom. When he wasn’t filming or on set, you were right beside him. He tried to be understanding of how you were feeling, but he really needed to step away from everything he’s been feeling for filming.

“How’s your sandwich?” Tom asked at dinner. It had been a long day and there was only one more thing to film before there were four days off.

“It’s good. How’s your salad?” You asked, pointing at his plate.

“It’s good.” He said nonchalantly. You knew he was craving more food. You had asked Harry to go get him a cheeseburger with fries. You looked up and noticed him carrying a bag from Five Guys.

You smiled and Tom looked over his shoulder. “Thanks for going to get that Harry.” You said as Harry sat next to you. You grabbed the bag and pulled out the burger and fries. “Eat up Tom. I know you’re hungry for more.”

“I can’t you guys.” Tom said in a defeated tone. “I’m still on this diet. I can’t. I can’t do that to everyone that’s working on this film.”

You sighed, “Tom, you have had salads everyday for two weeks. You can have one burger. You need more food.” Tom looked at you and then looked at Harry.

“I mean, I did go get it and I agree with Y/N. You do need to eat more and it will be okay. One cheeseburger won’t hurt.” Harry said. Finally Tom agreed to eating the food Harry brought. “Y/n/n are you going to set tonight?”

“No. I promised Tom I wouldn’t be there.” You answered honestly. Harry looked over at Tom shocked. Harry figured Tom would want you there since it’s such a hard scene. Maybe have someone other than him that’s familiar.

“You can come work with me.” Harry told you.

Tom looked up at him shocked. “I don’t want her to see this. It’ll be hard enough to have her watching it in the movie.”

“I think it’ll be good for her to be there. It’s a hard scene and I won’t be able to be there between takes.” Harry said. Harry was doing a new role tonight and needed to focus on that.

“It’s okay Harry. I can wait in the trailer. I brought my book.” You said with a smile. Trying to help Tom out so he doesn’t feel like he’s being teamed up on. Tom smiled at you gratefully. Harry turned to Tom and started to whisper something to him. You watched Tom’s demeanor change. He rolled his eyes before turning back to you.

“You can come. Bring your book and a blanket. You can sit in my chair.” Tom said finally giving into Harry.

“It’s okay. I don’t mind waiting in the trailer. Promise.” You told Tom. Tom finished eating his food before standing up to go to his trailer with you and Harry following. He walked in and grabbed your book off of the counter and grabbed your blanket. “Let’s go.” Tom said as he walked out the door towards the set.

“Tom. I’m not going.” You said. Harry shook his head and started to push you towards set. “I promised I wouldn’t go.”

“Come on y/n/n. I promise it’s okay. I don’t count this as a broken promise. I want you there.” Tom said with a sigh. You decided not to keep fighting with him about it. You ran to catch up with him and grabbed the blanket and book from him. “Thank you.” He whispered. “This is going to be a difficult scene to watch, so I’m sorry for what you have to see.”

“It’s okay Tom. I’m a big girl. I can handle it.” You said with a small smile.

Later that night, Tom was in the makeup trailer getting his makeup removed. You were sitting in his trailer with Harry waiting to go home. You tried to hold in your tears. You hated seeing Tom like that.

“Are you okay?” Harry asked.

“Great.” You said forcing a smile.

Harry looked at you skeptically and then nodded. He pulled out his phone and sent the video he got to Tom. You were exhausted and just wanted to go to sleep. You decided to lay down and rest your eyes until Tom got back. You were just about to fall into a deep sleep when you heard Tom walk in.

“Should I send this to mum?” Tom asked with a laugh.

“Do it.” Harry laughed. “But first, let’s go home. I think someone needs a bed.”

Tom looked over at your sleeping body. He smiled at you. Harry was right. Having you there helped him. This was probably the hardest scene he was going to have to film in the whole movie.

“Go get the car. I’ll bring her out.” Tom said as he started putting your stuff in your backpack. He quickly put his and your backpacks over his shoulder before he moved over towards you. He picked you up bridal style and made sure the blanket didn’t fall off. “Shhh. It’s just me. We’re going home.” He said when you started to wake.

Pulling up to the house, Tom decided to shake you awake this time. You woke and looked around confused before you unbuckled and walked into the house. You crashed on the couch and watched Tom set your backpack in the chair.

“How are you doing? Today was hard.” You said.

Tom picked your feet up and sat down before he placed your feet in his lap. He laid his head back. “Today sucked. I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight.” Tom said with a sigh.

“Want to talk about it?” You asked.

“No. There isn’t much to talk about. I just need to get out of that mental mindset.” Tom said honestly. “How are you? That had to be hard to watch.”

You finally let a tear slip. “I’m okay. I just didn’t like seeing you like that.”

“I’m sorry. You weren’t supposed to see the hard parts.” He said, pulling you into a hug.

“It’s okay. I promise. It’s scary to think people actually go through that. I don’t want to see you or anyone go through this.” You whispered.

“Hopefully this movie brings light to these situations and starts a conversation.” Tom said, giving you a kiss on the head before releasing you. “Now no more talks of this. Let’s try to forget about today and watch a movie instead.”

Tom started up a comedy to try and bring the mood up. Harry joined you after changing into his pajamas. Mid way through the movie, you fell asleep. Tom looked over at you. He knew you being here helped you, but in his head he was worried about you and everything you were seeing. It was hard to focus on you and filming.

It’s now been a year since Tom finished filming Cherry. Tom invited you to come with him to film Spider-Man No Way Home. He went three months without seeing you after the pandemic due to his heavy film schedule for Uncharted. He knew those were hard days for you since you went from spending all day with him to not even seeing him.

Now Tom was doing press for Cherry since it is due to come out in a few weeks. He set up in the living room. Harry had got a ring light to make the videos look better. You were supposed to be out while Tom was doing his few interviews for the day, but you got back early. He still had one more to go. You decided to sit in your room so you wouldn’t interrupt.

Even with your door closed, you could hear Tom talking to the interviewer. What you heard made your heart stop.

“Tom, your brother and sister were with you when filming Cherry, right?” they asked.

“They were. Harry helped on the film. Even had a small role. And my sister, Y/N, came out to visit and stayed the rest of filming.” Tom answered.

“Did having them there help you?”

“It did. This was a role I had to go to a dark place. Having them there really helped ground me and bring me back from that dark place. They definitely had my back during these times. I was actually on a strict diet throughout filming. Y/N actually made Harry go get me a cheeseburger on her first night there because she knew that I needed a little more substance. I had two weeks worth of salads and she knew I needed a little more. On nights of hard filming, we would all sit in the living room and watch a comedy because it all took us a while to calm down from the day. So having them there was very important to me.”

“That's amazing to hear.” they said. “It’s always good to have family there for you. You said there were hard filming nights. Even though it was hard, which was your favorite?”

“There was one scene that was extremely hard to film. The entire day was hard. Sadly, it was my sister’s first day there. I didn’t want her to see those scenes, but it was good to have her there. The day was a couple of scenes that dealt with something with Emily. The whole day was based on that situation. It was a variety of emotions. I had to be scared, angry, sad.” Tom said. “I actually sent my mum a video from that and she was not happy. She called me immediately to tell me she didn’t appreciate it.” He laughed.

“Can you give us a hint of what that was?” they asked.

“I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s when I’m in the truck. You’ll know when you see it because it involves Emily and it’s very hard to watch.” Tom said.

“You say it’s hard to watch and that was your sister’s first day, how did she handle it? And how did Harry handle it?” you heard them ask. They were starting to dig deeper.

“Harry was the one that filmed that scene so I could send it to my mum.” Tom laughed. He knew Nikki would give him heck for it later, but he knew it was only because she cared. “My sister actually hated watching that scene. She’ll hate me for saying this, but she cried. It scared her because she said it felt real and she didn’t want to see anyone like that.”

“That makes sense. Both of you are close in age, how are the two of yours relationship? It has to be good for you to allow her to visit during such a hard movie.”

“We are very close. She’s my best friend. I can say this because she openly talks about it and helps raise money for charities, but she has anxiety and one thing that really affects her is her separation anxiety. It was great to have her on set because she brought me back to myself, helped me get out of that dark mindset. But at times, I felt I was more worried about her and making sure she was okay. Mixing the stress of taking care of her and the stress of playing the role was hard to take on.”

You listened and felt tears build up. You made Tom’s job harder. You felt a tear fall down your face and you held back a sob so Tom couldn’t hear. You immediately went to the closest and grabbed your suitcase. You started packing your clothes. Once you were finished you set it near the door and grabbed your laptop so you could find a plane ticket. Tom walked in as you were searching.

“Why is your suitcase out?” He asked, confused.

“I’m going home.” You said shortly.

“Why?” He questioned.

“I’m just a burden to you. I don’t want you to have to worry about me while you focus on filming. I just like being in the same city as you. I didn’t mean to add stress to you.” You said as a tear slipped.

Tom sighed, “You heard?” He asked. You nodded. “Did you hear everything?”

“I didn’t need to. I heard enough.” You said honestly.

“So you didn’t hear what I said after that?” He asked. You shook your head. “I told them that it was worth it. That I would go through 20 times the stress if it meant you were happy and safe. That your anxiety wasn’t holding you back. That I used some of the stress from caring about you to help with the film. You remember the emotional scene in Morocco.” You once again shook your head. “I used the stress to make that scene. I know that sounds bad, but I think that really helped me hit the emotion I needed.”

“That was a beautiful scene. From what I saw, it’s one of my favorites for you. It’s heartbreaking, but you made the viewers feel what you were feeling. That was because of me?” Tom nodded his head.

“I’m sorry for admitting to it, but just know, if we redid all of the filming, I would have you there from day 1. I love having you around. I have all this noise around me that is trying to change me and having you here helps keep me the kid from Kingston.” Tom said. “Please don’t leave. I really do want you here.”

You looked around at your room. You then focused on your suitcase. You thought about it. “I’ll stay.” Tom smiled when you looked at him. “Only if you promise me something.”

“Anything.” He agreed.

“If I am stressing you out, in the way, or affecting your work, you tell me. I’ll stay here for a few days or I’ll go home. I don’t want to burden you with my problems.”

“Your anxiety isn't a problem. It’s something you battle and I want to help you fight.” Tom interfered.

“I know. And you will. But if it affects you, it isn’t fighting, it’s a problem. So please promise me that you’ll tell me.” You begged.

“I promise. But know you are never a burden to me. You are my best friend and I love you. I want you here. Trust me on that.” Tom said as he pulled you into a hug. “Now, are you ready to go to dinner? We have an early day on set tomorrow.”

You nodded. You knew that your anxiety was a battle but you didn’t want to bother Tom. You knew he was telling the truth when he said you weren’t a burden. You knew the thought would come back, but you had to tell yourself that it was your anxiety. Now working on your separation anxiety would be worked on at a later date.

[captainneverever]

Snow Day

written for @lightsonparkave's Prompt Challenge Round 6 -- Love

The Avengers think that Steve and Tony got engaged at the annual holiday party. It’s news to Steve and Tony. (light 616, 1900 words)

Tony rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, vaguely aware of the Avengers alarm going off. Usually he’d be off like a shot heading for the armor, Steve’s voice in his ear relaying mission information. Instead, he saw Steve standing shirtless in his workout pants, coffee mug in one hand, watching the snow dance outside the Tower windows.

“Um, Steve, there’s a mission --”

Steve sipped his coffee and watched the snow. “We’ve been benched.”

Tony narrowed his eyes. “Isn’t that your call?”

“Not today. Carol called it.”

Tony couldn’t recall a single thing that occurred during the annual Avengers holiday party that would have resulted in them being benched. Food was excellent. He drank seltzer and lemon all night and Steve his craft beers. The Cards Against Humanity game hadn’t resulted in blood-letting. No one had stupidly challenged Thor or Carol to arm-wrestling. No one had complained about the silly, the serious or the thoughtless presents. 

He glanced over at the small black box with the arty cufflinks Steve had given for him on the nightstand. Steve had commissioned the artist sometime last year to craft “space geode” cufflinks. The gift stemmed from a long-standing private joke that would be impossible to explain to anyone else. He grinned, thinking of how Steve said “space geode.” 

It all went off the rails when Steve had given him the box in the kitchen when it was just them alone instead of during the group present opening. Jan had walked in on Tony enthusiastically kissing Steve and then jumped right out with profuse apologies.

Now that he wasn’t on call, Tony snuggled deeper into the sheets and blankets and blatantly ogled the lovely ass sight in front of him.

He asked, “Why? As far as I can tell, you and I still have all our limbs attached, no concussions, no body swapping …. Unless there’s a surprise you’re about to spring on me. Like a visit from our clones or something.”

“Team thinks we got engaged last night so we’ve got the day off.”

Tony could hear the touch of amusement in Steve’s voice and wondered if Steve had put up much of a fight about being benched. Probably he did; he didn’t take benching well, even for a good cause.

Then it sank in what Steve had said. “What?! Wait -- did Jan think --”

“It wasn’t just Jan. Clint overheard us talking about big news before the party.”

“The new quinjet redesign?”

Steve set down his coffee mug and joined Tony on the bed. He swung his legs up, and rolled onto his stomach, and smiled at Tony. He kissed Tony’s bicep. “Only you and T’Challa would consider that big news.”

“The team will love the more comfortable seats are bigger galley,” Tony grumbled. “So, the whole team thinks that you and I are getting married.”

“Jess asked if we’d set a date yet.”

“July, of course. Best weather in the Hamptons,” Tony replied automatically. “Hard to get hotel rooms, and we’d have to book the venue a couple of years ahead of time. It’d be worth it.”

Steve booped Tony’s nose and chuckled. “That’s the official date -- we’ll have already gotten married in private a few months earlier. City Clerk’s office.”

“That’s just complicated and unnecessary.”

“So are supervillain attacks and alien invasions. Have we gone to a single superhero wedding that didn’t get interrupted?”

Tony had no answer. He couldn’t think of one, and he’d gone to his share of the events. Sue and Reed couldn’t even have a baby shower without a supervillain attack.

Steve concluded, “If we’re already married, then all Zemo or Kang or Ultron would be breaking up would be a party.”

“Or the Controller or whoever is in charge of AIM these days or -- let’s be real, there’s at least fifty guys and gals that would go a long long way to bust up our big day.” Tony drummed his fingers on the bed. “Wait -- why did they jump straight to us getting engaged? Why not moving in together? I could have given you a box with a key to my suitet.”

Steve collapsed on the bed, his body shaking from laughing. Tony swatted at him as Steve shifted away from him and wiped tears from his eyes. 

“What’s so funny, big guy?”

“The team and reserve Avengers thought we’ve been living together for the past year. I was informed of this fact this morning.”

“Oh, wow. How could we have missed that?” 

Steve looked thoughtful. “I do spend most nights here already.” He poked Tony in a ticklish spot. “If I moved in officially, I’ll need some closet space, more than the two drawers I’m using --”

“I’ll build you your own closet. I can draw the plans up right after breakfast. I’m going to design you a closet that’s going to be on the cover of Architectural Digest.”

Steve wriggled back under the covers and the sheets, and propped his arm up on the pillows. “Are you asking me to move in?”

“Do you want to move in?” Tony replied. His breath hitched and pulse beat faster as that old fear that Steve would bail on him reared its ugly head. A lifetime full of disappointments and Steve’s workaholic tendencies had taught him to be wary.

But he’d give his eyeteeth to have more of Steve.

Steve fiddled with the blanket and looked at a spot at the end of the large bed. “I always imagined you’d ask in a more romantic way. Involving a dinner.”

Tony’s heart flipped. “You’re one of the most unromantic people I have ever met. We can order takeout and eat while we make space for you and your toothbrush in the bathroom.”

Steve slid an arm around Tony’s waist to draw him close. “Home is where I hang my shield. A nail in the wall, a nightstand, and one side of the closet, and we’re all set.”

“Ha,” Tony snorted. “Do you think we could get all that done before the team returns?”

He grinned as he watched Steve analyze and calculate the team’s chances. He adored Steve’s brilliant tactical mind, the little half-smile he always had on his face as he considered and weighed strategies. Just part of Steve’s charms. 

“The main factor is whether or not the Wrecking Crew are having a magically juiced-up week. Weather forecast has more snow. Team is worse for wear because of the party. Odds are that they’ll be out for a couple of hours minimum.  

“Well, now that we know it’s the Wrecking Crew --”

“I didn’t want to leave the Tower to fight the Wrecking Crew,” Steve confessed.

“Instead you settled for moving in with me? Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.” 

Stevet tugged him closer, letting Tony tuck his head into his shoulder. The idea of waking up to this every single morning warmed Tony from head to toe. Something they could build a life around.

“Now that we’re living together, when are you going to make me an honest man?” Steve teased.

“Wow, we haven’t even hung up your medals and had a fight over your hideous chair --”

“Team thinks we’re engaged already. We can’t undermine their trust in us.”

“You just don’t want them to know that you didn’t tell them the truth that you didn’t want to fight the Wrecking Crew in a blizzard.”

Smiling, Steve ran his fingers through Tony’s hair. “They saved me from planning the proposal.”

Tony pulled away to stare at Steve. “Wait. Slow down. You just talked me in letting you move in --”

“A formality -- I have clothes and uniforms here, my pile of books are next to my side of the bed, I was just asking for more closet space.”

“Right. Back to that proposal thing. What?”

Steve sat up a little straighter so Tony could curl into his side. They could see the snow coming down in thick white flakes, the sort of snow that promised many inches, school closures and miserable fighting conditions. The Avengers had been more than generous to let the newly engaged couple sleep in. 

“I bought more than the cufflinks at the jeweler’s. Just waiting for the right occasion. I made reservations at L’Artusi for Valentine’s -- was working on other ideas, like flowers, that sort of thing.”

“Steve,” Tony exhaled with all the love he felt for Steve. A Valentine’s Day restaurant date was a big, fussy ordeal -- with a planned proposal thrown into the mix -- and Unromantic Steve was planning to do it all for him. A big risk, given all the space wars they’d been in recently.

“We’ve talked about it, getting married.” Tony nodded in agreement, and Steve continued. “I picked up the ring and all I could think about was when I could ask you. I almost asked last week at breakfast when you were fixing the coffee machine.”

The thought of wearing Steve’s ring took Tony’s breath away. Steve had always wanted to be married, though Tony had a healthy fear of marriage, considering his parents and the strong likelihood he’d wake up and find that he’d married sentient armor or a Skrull. It could happen -- he’d lay good money that it would. Tony’s luck ran on the rotten side.

But here was Steve, right next to him on a snowy morning in New York, and he was going to Officially Move In today. He’d loved Steve forever, since Steve opened his eyes in that sub a few years ago. He couldn’t possibly name anyone he’d want to marry more than his Avengers co-leader -- they had saved each other’s lives too many times to count, they finished each other’s sentences, he could practically read Steve’s mind by now. 

No wonder the team thought that Steve had proposed last night. They should have been married years ago. They should have gotten married the afternoon Tony found him. It was ridiculous the amount of time they hadn’t been married. 

“Since you’re asking, yeah, I’ll marry you.”

Steve kissed the top of his head. “How about next week?”

“Next week?”

“City Clerk’s Office.”

“I take back what I said about you being unromantic. You’re such a true romantic, through and through.”

“We could get married Tuesday at the City Clerk’s office -- we get a license on Monday and there’s a 24-hour waiting period.”

“Tuesday? Hmmm -- I probably have something scheduled that day.”

“You’re free, I already checked your schedule.”

“You planned this,” Tony accused Steve. 

Steve put his arm around Tony and hugged him. “No, that’s giving me too much credit. I researched possibilities, in case they came up. Be prepared.”

“I couldn’t possibly love you more than I love you now.”

“You will when the Masters of Evil crash that fancy wedding the wedding planner put together and we have to drop everything to arrest them. And we’ll be married during the whole fight.”

“Our secret.”

“Just us.”

The wind picked up outside and the snow fell harder. “I should feel bad about the team out there in the snow,” Tony admitted.

“It’s their gift to us,” Steve replied. “An early wedding present --”

“For the men who have everything,” Tony finished. 

“Yeah.”

Tony tapped the bed thoughtfully. “I have some favors to cash in for the honeymoon, in that case.”

“I’d like to go to Europe,” Steve offered. “It’d be nice to visit on our own, not as Avengers.”

“I have ideas already -- you won’t regret it. We’re still going to L’Artusi for Valentine’s, right?”

“You bet.”

[thehopeofitalll]

2. enchanted.

THEY MEET! THEY MEET! anyways...just a suggestion, but you should probably listen to taylor swift's "enchanted" because, well it's an amazing song, what more can i say?

read it on ao3.

~

“Look who’s here!” Thalia said, grinning. “My…” She drummed her fingers against the table, making up for an imaginary drum roll, as a figure walked towards Annabeth, Jason and Thalia.

“...girlfriend!” Thalia finished, a rare smile on her face that she always showed to her aforementioned girlfriend.

“Reyna!” Annabeth exclaimed, smiling as she stood up to hug her friend. “You’re back? I thought you said it’d take you a few more months!”

“As you know,” Reyna began in a horrible imitation of a British accent, struggling to hold back her grin. “I am very well versed in the art of lying.”

“One of the truest things you’ve said in, like, your entire life I think,” Thalia added, getting a playful punch from her girlfriend.

“Still know how to be a badass, Chase?” Reyna asked, raising an eyebrow.

Annabeth smirked. “You should have figured that being a badass has been in my blood since I was born,” She replied.

“Maybe I could race you,” pondered Reyna. “It’d be fun to see you lose.”

“Hey! That’s not fair,” Annabeth muttered, folding her arms. “You’ve literally got a sports scholarship based on your running, and I bet you’ve practiced a lot all the way back in Berkeley.”

Reyna shrugged. “Yeah, you'd lose either way. So, it’s been a few years since we’ve seen each other and things have certainly changed. Someone’s got a little famous.”

“All because of her wonderful manager,” Thalia said, proudly.

“Oh shush,” Annabeth said, folding her arms. “Also, Thalia, about the whole getting-away-from-the-world-for-a-few-hours thing, I’m planning on sneaking away to Coney Island.”

“Coney Island?”

“Hey, I’ve wanted to go see it for a long time now, and this might be the perfect opportunity,” Annabeth reasoned.

“But so many people there could see you!” Thalia argued. “Like, thousands! It isn’t exactly the most secluded place for someone who wants to be anonymous and all that shit.”

“Relax, you know how good I am at disguising myself. I promise not to let the paparazzi get a hold of me. Okay?” Annabeth asked.

Thalia hesitated, then sighed. “Well…” she began. “Okay, fine. But you better be careful, young lady.”

“Yes, mom,” Annabeth said, rolling her eyes in Classic Annabeth Style, her voice dry with irony.

Usually it was Annabeth who was called “The Mom Friend” of the group (though she preferred to be the one who always advises her friends to not do the dumb shit they eventually end up doing. It wasn’t her fault she was the only one who had common sense).

“So?” Annabeth asked. “What’s the schedule for today?”

“Well, I’ve managed to give you around roughly two to three hours of free time, but besides that we’ve got the usual shooting. Thankfully, I think you have only a few scenes today, and I’m guessing the other stars are shooting most of their scenes today,” Thalia said, whipping out her clipboard.

“Fun.”

—🎡—

“Late to work again, Perry Johansson?” Mr. D exclaimed, with a groan.

“Sorry, Mr. D!” Percy said, sheepishly. He’d thought it was a Sunday morning, pressed the snooze button on his alarm five times and was late to the cafe for work. “Won’t happen again!”

“That’s what you told a week back!”

“Rough morning, huh?” Percy’s best friend, Piper McLean, asked, her eyes surveying his more-dishevelled-than-usual hair.

“That would be an understatement,” Percy replied, groaning.

“Nightmares?” Piper asked.

He nodded, as she gave him a sympathetic look.

It was common knowledge to all of his friends that he had nightmares, caused by his abusive past. Sometimes he woke up, sweating, his throat sore after yelling in his sleep. When he stayed with his mom, and his stepdad, she would usually rush into the room as soon as the screaming began. But once he moved out, he learnt to calm himself down. It didn’t help though, he found himself having panic attacks while thrashing around in his bed.

“And, hm, let me guess,” Piper began, feigning to be in deep thought. “You stayed up all night painting?”

He rolled his eyes, confirming that she was correct. “The nightmares were getting too much for me,” he mumbled.

Piper nodded, staying silent. She, and all of his friends, knew about his past. It wasn’t exactly easy to hide the long scar that ran down your back, when you were the captain of your swim team back at school.

“Well,” he said, drawing out the l. “How are things with Jason? Didn’t you tell me that you started dating?”

“Yeah…” Piper smiled. “He’s amazing, Percy. He cares a lot about me. I think he’s...perfect.”

He grinned. “Well, years of screaming at both of you to date each other finally paid off,” he said.

“Yes, Jackson, I truly appreciate it,” Piper said sarcastically. She turned around to greet the customer who had just come in, with a perfect smile on her face. “Hello and welcome to Olympus!”

Percy pulled out his phone, scrolling through his nearly non-existent proof of his social life, not really paying attention. He eyed a few messages from his cousin, Thalia Grace, planning to reply to it later, when a single word caught his eyes:

Annabeth.

Wait, what about Annabeth? he typed back hurriedly, fixing the typos that came along the way.

She replied almost immediately.

Knew that would catch your eyes, Kelp Head. - Pinecone Face

He let out a soft huff, but grinning affectionately nevertheless. He could literally hear the smirk in her message.

We’ve talked about this, Thalia. But what did she say?

Don’t worry, she didn’t say anything. I just mentioned her while reminding you about how dad wants you to come to dinner. And I know you well enough to figure out that you’d never check a message the first time you see it, unless it mentioned someone like, you know, Annabeth. - Pinecone Face.

You’re an asshole, Thals.

I know right! It’s one of the many things I’m good at, thinking of adding it to my resume~ - Pinecone Face.

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. His eyes were trained on his phone as Thalia continued to be typing something more.

Don’t forget about the dinner! Dad specifically requested that you and Nico must be there, or something. - Pinecone Face.

He was going to type back a quick yeah, okay and head back to the front, where Piper was greeting customers, when another message from Thalia popped up.

Hey, if you’re lucky, we might even run into Annabeth ;) - Pinecone Face

Not the winky face, he replied, unable to stop the grin from coming on his face.

—🎡—

There I was again tonight forcing laughter, faking smiles Same old tired, lonely place Walls of insincerity Shifting eyes and vacancy vanished when I saw your face All I can say is it was enchanting to meet you. —🎡—

Percy yelled, “I’m leaving as soon as I finish three more orders, you hear me?”

“I hear you, alright!” Piper yelled back, as she picked up her phone and walked towards him.

“I honestly wonder why I’m such a good friend,” Percy said, leaning against the counter. “Why am I always the one who covers the last 15 minutes of his friend’s shift?”

“Because you love me, and think I’m the most amazing person to ever walk on earth,” Piper replied, grinning proudly, as she flicked her dark brown hair over her shoulder.

“Of course I do,” Percy said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Now, go meet Mr. Loverboy.”

“And you?” Piper asked. “What are you gonna be doing this evening?”

“Visiting the Ferris wheel in Coney Island,” Percy replied.

“Again?” Piper asked. “You were there, like, three weeks back. You need to get a social life, Perce.”

“Mm, I was just planning on spending my life with blue cookies,” he said. “And, it isn’t a waste of time. I learn more about landscapes and silhouettes, you know.”

“Ah yes, painting stuff,” Piper summed up. “Honestly, I don’t understand you at times, and we’ve been friends for so long.”

“I’m an artiste, Pipes,” Percy replied, grinning, with a terrible French accent on the artiste.

“Mhm, sure,” Piper mumbled. “Okay, don’t mess up the rest of the orders. I’ll see you soon.”

As Piper made her way out of the shop, Percy sighed. While he lazily waited for someone new to come in, he found himself bored, again.

He could blame his restlessness on his ADHD but in reality he never wanted to work here, he just needed some money while he struggled with becoming a popular artist, and he had to work here until the aquarium nearby finally accepted his resume. Then he’d be out of here.

He was tired. Tired of faking smiles, tired of seeing people bustling around in here, tired of vacant spaces. He couldn’t wait to leave this place behind him.

While he ruminated about this, another customer walked in, wearing a dark blue hoodie, with the hood pulled all the way down to their nose.

Percy stifled a groan and took his place at the counter. “Hey, welcome to Olympus Cafe. What would you like today?”

“One Chocolate Creme Frappuccino, please,” came the woman’s voice. He nodded, slightly pleased that he wasn’t the only one in the world who liked that drink off their menu.

He went inside to prepare her drink. When he came back, she was resting her head on her palm. “Name?” he asked.

“Oh? Uh, Annabe-Annabel,” she replied, stuttering a little bit.

He raised an eyebrow, but didn’t question her. Writing Annabel on the cup, he pushed a straw in her drink. “That’ll be $4.95,” he said.

She nodded, reaching to her pocket. Percy always hated this part of delivering an order: that awkward silence while the customer got out their money.

He looked at the woman before him, as she fumbled around while bringing out her wallet. He could barely see her, but she had tan skin and maybe he caught a few wisps of golden hair. A five dollar bill fell out of her wallet, floating towards the ground.

“Shit,” she muttered.

Percy tried to hide a smile at that. He didn’t know why a random woman before him mumbling profanities was amusing to him. She bent down to pick up the dollar, and when she stood up her hood had fallen. Percy looked at her, then suddenly stopped fidgeting around.

Was it…? It was.

He knew how she looked from their time in high school. Stormy grey eyes. Honey blonde hair. He definitely knew her, knew her all too well.

She quickly pushed the bill towards him, and pulled her hood back up. A faint flicker of recognition passed through those intimidating eyes, as he took the dollar.

He picked up the cup, and handed it to her. She reached out for the cup, her fingers slightly brushing against his. A little spark seemed to drive up his arm, and despite himself, he grinned goofily.

“It was enchanting to meet you,” He said, then winked at her.

She rolled her eyes in annoyance, a faint blush of red coating her cheeks nevertheless. “That’s the cheesiest thing I’ve ever heard,” she said, her voice low.

He continued to grin as she looked up, sea green eyes meeting grey, then turned around to leave the shop. There was no mistake about it. It was her. Annabeth.

Annabeth Chase.

[opheliacassiopea]

CHAPTER 10.

TW: Mentions of a weapon.

Landing back in Quantico that evening was a welcome feeling, the few hours of sleep you managed to get on the plane making little difference in rejuvenating your body and you were practically on auto-pilot for the short twenty-five minute drive back to your apartment. Typing in your alarm code, you quickly tidy your things away, securing your weapon and your credentials. It might seem odd to start tidying your apartment when your body is aching all over, and you’re practically dead on your feet, but it calms you, tethers you to some form of normalcy. So you cleaned the small amount of mess you’d left in your rush to get to work once you’d gotten the call to come in, you weren’t really a messy person anyway so it didn’t take long. Apartment cleaned, you set about fixing yourself dinner and hopping into the shower, turning the water to the highest temperature, the hot water bringing you comfort, easing your sore shoulder and side as you wash away the stress of the last few days.

Despite how tired you are, you fear that sleep won’t come to you easily, you had a lot to think about, your mind still focused on the case that technically still wasn’t over as the paperwork hadn’t been completed, and of course you couldn’t help but think of Hotch, what had happened between the two of you. Realistically you knew nothing would come of it, but that didn’t mean you could suddenly stop thinking about it altogether, it was incredibly good sex after all, and the sweet moments afterwards were something you couldn’t forget any time soon. Clambering into bed and getting comfortable under the covers, you find that sleep washes over you quickly, leading you into a dreamworld. Many hours later you awaken from a peaceful sleep the next morning, feeling well rested and slightly less sore than the day before and decide to make the most of your morning off, choosing to change the bedsheets and open all the windows to let in some fresh air. Along with the rest of the team, you were having to head into the office later that afternoon to fill out the paperwork for the recent case in Bend. 

Much like your appearance, you look pride in your apartment looking the very best it could be, and much like your appearance, your apartment truly resembled you too. It was a fairly decent sized apartment, the reasonably sized living room decked out with fashionable, yet vintage looking sofas and chairs that were situated around the antique coffee table that faced toward the TV. Arguably the best part of the living room was that in the cupboards of the small coffee table, was a small projector that allowed you to play some of your favourite films, or productions of your favourite books and it was something you often did on your days off. Stacks of books, plants and knickknacks lined the shelves that covered many of the walls, all arranged to look neat and tidy, rather than cluttered. The back corner of the room was home to your record player and cart of vinyl's, next to your beautiful wooden piano, plants and candles covering the top. There were many smaller lamps dotted around on the side tables throughout the room, small trails of fairy lights used to accentuate certain accessories.

The back wall of your bedroom was painted in your favourite colour, a deep forest green, your bed placed directly in front of it whilst the rest of the walls were exposed brick, which was the main reason you’d fallen in love with this particular apartment. There was a decent sized wardrobe along with a full length mirror, chest of draws and a small vanity, all home to strategically placed plants, accessories and yet more fairy lights to make the room warm and inviting. You used the smaller box room at the end of the hallway as an office so had decided to keep the colour scheme fairly neutral since it also doubled as a spare room, but was still filled with yet more books and little knickknacks that you absolutely adored and truly made your apartment feel like home and the walls were adorned with your various achievements. Your bathroom could be described as a jungle, multiple plants lived on the window and hung down from the ceiling in macramé pots, loving that it made the room feel more open. The kitchen was relatively simple, a decent sized dining table with benches and chairs always sporting fresh flowers in the middle and the windowsill lined with various cookbooks you’d yet to even open. In short, you loved your apartment, it was your sanctuary, where you felt safest and you couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride when it came to your home.

Filling the rest of your morning with errands and odd jobs like laundry and food shopping, your morning off scurries by in a hurry and you’re soon headed back to Quantico, ready to speed through the necessary paperwork and potentially catch up on any other administrative tasks you needed to complete. The bullpen is relatively quiet upon your arrival and as you walk through the glass doors, you can already see Reid halfway done with whatever he’s working on, smiling to yourself you stop by the breakroom to grab yourself a tea. 

“I’m surprised that you’re here on time, you looked dead on your feet yesterday” Prentiss greets you as you enter, handing you your mug from the cupboard.

“How charming of you” you rebuke, swatting her on the shoulder as you take the mug. “I feel way better after a decent night's sleep” you tell her as you finish making your drink.

Sensing she wants to say something you turn to face her as she begins to speak up. “That case, I know it was your first of its kind and it was pretty intense, I just want to check in with you”. Concern was apparent in all of her features and as always you appreciated how the team looked out for you, for each other.

“Seriously, I’m fine, all good I promise. Not looking forward to sorting out this paperwork, the reports are gonna be much more complicated, and with that being said, we better get a move on” you say as you exit the breakroom and head over to your desk, freshly made tea in hand. 

After a couple of hours of completing various forms and case reports, you begin to bring the report you were working on to a close and as you came to the end of the sentence you were writing, you lean back and flick your gaze to Hotch’s office to find that he was already looking at you. Sending him a small smile, which he returns immediately, you dip your head down and continue working the day away, offering to help JJ with some of her extra case consults.

Finally the weekend rolls around and you’re buzzing with excitement, once a month the team meets for breakfast in a local diner and if you’re being honest, it’s one of your favourite pastimes with the team. It’s laidback, it’s easy and you relish in the simplicity of it. It’s not even been ten minutes since you’ve all sat down at one of the large round booths at the back of the diner, conversation flowing; Spencer telling Emily and JJ about traditions for new homeowners, Derek and Penelope swapping office gossip, whilst you’re engaged in a conversation with Dave and Hotch about the upcoming FBI triathlon in a few months when you’re interrupted by your phone ringing.

“SSA Paisley Selwyn” you speak into the phone, wondering why nobody else was taking a phone call, let alone a phone call from a bureau phone number; normally the entire team would receive a phone call if you were all out of the office to inform you of a new case or potential emergency. 

“This is Heather Price, Chief of the Crime Translation Unit. We’re in need of a translator for a case we’re working and as a language and linguistics expert, you’d be the perfect fit to help”

she tells you over the phone and you’re slightly unsure, you’d heard of the unit a few times in passing, but never been involved. This might strike an outsider as odd considering as the woman rightly stated, you did specialise in linguistics, but the BAU appealed to you much more.

“I’m flattered, but is there nobody else that can fill in for the case?” you query, you loved your work, but sometimes you needed a break and you weren’t overly keen on leaving breakfast with the team. With such bizarre schedules and hectic jobs, sometimes dealing with unspeakable things, you welcomed any normality that you can find. For that morning the eight of you aren’t FBI agents, you’re just eight friends out for breakfast and today that’s exactly what you needed. 

“Unfortunately not no. We’re keen to make use of your profiling abilities too. I’ll see you here in no less than forty minutes” she informs you, hanging up shortly after. Letting out a small sigh, you twist with the two pendants hanging around your neck, you’d been looking forward to this morning since the moment last month's breakfast ended and it hadn’t gone unnoticed by the team. 

Seeing your slightly crestfallen facial expression as you place your phone on the table, Derek is the first to question you. “What’s going on, Lee? Who was that?” concern evident on his face.

“Heather Price, she’s requested my help on a translation case” you tell him, looking down at the table as you do and when you look back up, you have the entire eyes of the team focused on you, a range of facial expressions on show; JJ and Emily look slightly surprised, Spence and Dave looked proud, whereas Hotch’s expression never falters, staying stoic as ever.  

Spencer’s eyebrows suddenly shoot up. “The translation unit? Isn’t that where Oliver WIlliams works?” he questions and you know he already knows the answer, his voice raising slightly being the dead giveaway and despite your slight annoyance at having to leave you can’t help but laugh at him.

“Don’t act like you don’t already know that, you’re not that smooth, Spence. I’ll tell him you said hi” you tell him, through Derek's confused expression only makes you laugh all the more, clearly he hadn’t been clued in on Spencer’s slight crush. Collecting yourself, you turn your attention to the brightly dressed woman to your left.

Penelope however, looked outraged that you had to leave. “What?! Now?! But it’s your day off, you can’t miss our breakfast, you’ve been looking forward to this for ages! Is there really nobody else they can call?”. Penelope exclaims, waving her hands as she expresses her annoyance at the interruption. Arguably, Penelope valued these outings with the team more than the rest of you might have done, working back in her office to perform her technical magic whilst the rest of you were out in the field, or even another state, left her somewhat isolated and therefore occasionally missing out of the odd inside joke so times like these were perfect for filling her in on any missed gossip and it broke your heart to see her upset at the change in plans.

“I know, I know, sorry PG, we’ll just have to do something another time” you tell her, kissing her cheek as you begin to gather your things in order to leave. Standing up, you bid the rest of the team a hurried goodbye, hearing the end of their conversation as you go.

“How many languages does she even speak? I lose track of her sometimes” JJ questions, though you can tell she’s joking and it’s Reid who answers.

“Three; French, Spanish and Italian. Though if you count sign language, it would be four, which is marginally impressive because statistically speaking..”.

Quickly swinging by your apartment to pick up your weapon and credentials, you decided against changing out of your very casual outfit, this was meant to be your day off after all. 

It was an odd feeling riding the elevator to a different floor, nerves building in your stomach for whatever it was you were about to work on. Stepping out of the elevator and taking a deep breath, you’re greeted by who you assume to be the woman you spoke with on the phone. “Unit Chief Heather Price, nice to meet you, please, come this way” she introduces herself to you with a welcoming smile, gesturing for you to follow her to her office.

“As I mentioned on the phone, we’re in need of an translator, specifically for Italian translations. I realise that your primary work for the bureau isn’t in fact translating, but you’ve come highly recommended to us and we think your knowledge of language and linguistics, along with your profiling abilities would prove to be an incredibly useful asset for this case” she informs you, handing you a brown folder that clearly contains the case information that you flip open and start to read over, leaning back on one of the office chairs when there’s a knock at the door.

“You wanted to see me?” the voice questions. Head snapping up from the file in your hand, you see that the voice belongs to a male detective and you immediately placed him to be Oliver Williams thanks to Spencer’s descriptions. He’d confided in you about his small crush during

one of the late night sessions in the library; the two had met around a month ago when the team was working a local case and in order to solidify a theory you and he were working on, Reid had gone to the translation office to collect a transcription manual and bumped into the man and since then the two had been buying each other coffee

“Ah, yes I did” Price tells him, ushering him into the room. “This is Dr Paisley Selwyn, I requested her help on this case as you know”. Pushing yourself up from the arm of the chair, you lean forward to shake his hand and the two of you exchange pleasantries and you can tell that the both of you will get on well as Price starts going over the case plan, explaining that 

essentially the two of you would be left to your own devices, taking the lead on the case and she would only be stepping in when it came to the interrogation of the suspect. 

Following Williams back out to the larger desk spaces, the two of you begin working the case, starting over from the very beginning, and coming up with entirely new strategies regarding everything from the translations of smaller articles of evidence, to various interview methods and spoken translations. Eventually you found yourself working in a rhythm with Williams, discovering that the two of you had similar methods in translating which sped the process along and soon you found yourself enjoying the work you were doing; applying theories, methods and techniques you hadn’t used since doing your masters degree and it came as an easy reminder as to why you loved working with language. When it came time for the interrogation of the suspect, it wasn’t hard to tell that both Price and Williams were impressed with your translation skills, picking up on the smallest changes and inconsistencies that eventually brought the case to a close at around eleven o’clock in the evening. 

Now you were sat with Williams filling out the huge stack of files for the case, because you weren’t officially part of the unit, there was more paperwork than usual and by the time you were both done and finally out the door, it was pushing midnight. Walking to your cars, the two of you conversed like you’d known each other for a lot longer than a day and you called across the car park to him “Oi, Williams, Spence told me to tell you hi” which caused him to smile from ear to ear and blush a deep pink and you smiled to yourself as you made your way home, singing along to the radio as you drove.

A/N: I can’t believe I’ve written 10 chapters of this fic already! Tried making this a slightly shorter chapter as the past few have been quite long. Don’t forget you can follow along and read the story over on my Wattpad: @opheliacassiopea

As always, let me know what you think; any feedback is welcome!🖤

[beyondconfessor]

Principle Decisions [5/24]

Rating: Explicit

Pairing: Lilith/Zelda Spellman

Summary: “Zelda,” she purred, stepping forward as she bit her lip, drawing her eyes over her body. “Believe me, the idea of fucking you against the nearest surface is never far from my mind. Let me formally apologise for misleading you.”

N.B.: Also posted on AO3. This is pure fantasy, please suspend your disbelief.

Zelda flicked through her local morning newspaper, reading through articles as Hilda fussed around Sabrina for breakfast. Her niece was…avoiding her, and Zelda for the life of her, couldn’t work out why. At first, she thought that it was only paranoia that caused her to consider it, but no. Sabrina was definitely avoiding her.

She flicked through another page, drawing her eyes over the personal articles again as Hilda finally settled down with her own breakfast.

As Zelda went to fold the newspaper close, she noticed her sister and Sabrina having a silent communication with each other over something.

“Would somebody like to inform me as to what’s going on?” she asked.

Sabrina dropped her fork loudly on the plate before she was suddenly pushing off from the table and leaving, unusually surly for this hour of the morning and only providing further evidence to the fact that she’d somehow managed to upset her niece.

Zelda quirked an eyebrow and looked to her sister. “What on earth was that about?”

“Well, Zelds, you um, happened to have missed another one of Sabrina’s shows for cheerleading. She’s been feeling a wee bit…neglected by all the work you’ve been putting into your students over her.”

Zelda frowned, “It’s only early in the school year, I couldn’t have missed––“

“No, you haven’t missed the so-called big events, but you didn’t attend the volunteering they’re doing to raise money for  the pep rally that you promised you’d attend two weeks ago.”

“Has that occurred already?”

“Ah, yes, it did. Yesterday in fact when you were…off at a…meeting was it?”

Zelda drew in a breath. Yesterday had in fact been a legitimate meeting between herself and Prudence to run over the marking of recent essays of one of her classes. She’d noticed Sabrina had been rather sharp with her at the time when she mentioned it but had thought nothing of it. There was little time to book in the time to go over such things with Prudence on top of the girl’s own schedule, and Zelda had limited time as it was before she’d taken over the extra class of Shirley’s.

Looking back, however, she could see how it would come across as neglectful to Sabrina’s part, especially since she had promised.

“I’ll speak to her,” she agreed.

“She’ll appreciate it more if you attend. There’s a sporting event next Friday; perhaps you could take some time to see it?”

Zelda felt a defiance rise in her before she settled it back. “That is fair,” she agreed, though the idea of sitting on the bleachers, watching a game as Sabrina danced around was not in her top 10 things she wanted to do, especially since she couldn’t very well bring her laptop with her. “I’ll clear my evening for next Friday.”

As agreed, she moved a meeting with Prudence to an earlier day, ensuring her TA understood the guidelines of the marking she’d set out, and cleared the Friday evening to focus entirely on the event. If it was important to Sabrina, she could make time. Though her niece made a few snide comments to the effect that she doubted Zelda could afford to leave her work undone.

It was rather hurtful if she was honest, but not entirely untruthful. She had been placing more focus on her work as of late over her family.

When the time finally came, and the entire household was climbing into her car, her niece finally warmed back up to her. She began excitedly discussing the match against Riverdale, the importance it had, as well as talking about her own classes.

For once, the tension in the household had eased, and Zelda felt that maybe the worst of the last few weeks were over. There were only three more weeks left until Shirley was to return, giving her plenty of time to return to her previous schedule and actually spend more time with her family.

They parked near the stadium and made their way to the bleachers with a picnic basket (filled with snacks and hot drinks), and a blanket. Zelda ensured she sat with Hilda and Ambrose, watching as Sabrina ran off to the cheer squad with Roz and the others. It’d been some time since Zelda had seen Sabrina been social with anyone outside of her circle of friends. As she watched her niece excitedly chat with girls, Zelda didn’t recognise, a pleasing feeling of satisfaction fuelled her.

“It’s good that you found time,” Hilda commented as she opened up the picnic basket, taking out cups and the thermos filled with hot chocolate. “I think we’ve all noticed that you’ve been running yourself a bit ragged.”

“I’ve taken on an entirely new class,” she reminded, not unkindly, “Thankfully, Shirley is meant to return soon.”

“Is Prudence still your TA?” Ambrose enquired.

“She is and is doing surprisingly well,” Zelda admitted. In truth, she owed the fact that she was sleeping at all, to Prudence. The girl had surpassed her expectations and taken on the work diligently. Faustus had managed to wrangle together some funding, providing a nice stipend that meant that Prudence could reduce the shifts she had at her outside work to focus on her studies.

But if Zelda was honest, she was using her work as an escape as well. The Spellman household was loud and raucous at times, and Sabrina’s foul moods mixed with Hilda’s incessant needs of discussing her future departure only further caused Zelda to hide away in her office, which apparently seemed only to cause everything to become a vicious cycle.

Beside her, Ambrose sighed, shifting in his seat. “I don’t see why I needed to be here. I’ve attended the last two.”

“Because it’s a family event,” Zelda reminded. “And if I have to be here, we all do.”

Ambrose sighed loudly, and Zelda could feel him holding back something, but whatever it was, he thought better of it, leaning forward to rub his hand over his face.

“Have you spoken to Prudence?” Zelda asked.

“No,” he said. “I’ve been busy.”

“She asked about you.”

“She could make an effort to ask me,” he pointed out before his shoulders sagged. “I’m not avoiding her, I just…”

“Don’t want to get hurt again?” Zelda prompted.

“I don’t know,” he said. “What’s Aunt Hilda doing?”

Zelda turned, looking to where her sister was chatting on the very side of the bleaches with a group of parents, handing out the cookies she’d made before finding her way back, pushing around Zelda to get to her seat.

“Oh, there’s the new principal,” Hilda said, giving a wave to a sea of people Zelda didn’t care for.

“Sabrina’s quite taken by her, girl power and all that. She’s a bit scary in the PTA though, won’t let any of the parents walk over her. Reminds me a bit of you, actually, Zelds.”

“Fascinating,” Zelda sighed, washing her eyes over to where her niece was currently with the cheer squad, apparently stretching before the event began. “When does Sabrina’s part finish?”

“When it’s over. There’s a timer over there.”

Zelda looked to the scoreboard and noticed with a heavy heart that it was blank, apparently having not begun yet. They’d been here for an hour already, and all Zelda had done was stare blankly and politely smile at anyone who waved.

“When does it star––“ and then she was cut off as the crowd began to cheer as the sports players came onto the field. At last, she thought. But oh no, the other players had to come on the field, too. And then, finally, Sabrina and the cheerleaders were performing some sort of routine that Zelda clapped politely too before the game began.

They’d been here for over an hour by the time the game finally started.

The ball was…kicked, carried, tossed from one side then to the other and Zelda wasn't entirely sure which team was the correct team to cheer for, so she just clapped when Hilda yelled and hoped that it was the right thing to do.

Sports had never been something that she followed or cared to, for that matter. Any man she’d been with who even tried to get her involved in an understanding of that was politely reminded that she spoke over a dozen languages. If he expected her to understand what a play-off was, she expected him to have read Homer in Ancient Greek.

“Why don’t you stretch your legs,” Hilda said, prodding her. “We’re still some way off half-time, and you’ll probably want to use the bathroom before there’s a line-up.”

There was no way in hell that she was going to use the school’s public bathroom, but she made a vague response, agreeing to have a cigarette. At the same time, Sabrina and the cheerleaders just chanted the letters of the alphabet––or whatever it was that they were doing.

She climbed down from the bleaches, taking a cigarette and a lighter with her as she walked over to the parking lot (since that was the closest area she’d be allowed to smoke) and was promptly stopped when she saw Lilith walking from the parking lot, in the direction of the bleaches as she fixed the jacket she wore.

Zelda stared at her, feeling her heartbeat pound as once again, her two worlds seemed to be colliding.

“Zelda,” Lilith greeted, blinking twice in obvious surprise. “I didn’t take you for someone to be apart of school sports.”

“I wouldn’t usually, but my niece apparently feels I’m ignoring her,” she advised, still holding her unlit cigarette, lighter in her grip. “I…” she paused from commenting how she didn’t expect the same from Lilith when she realised the woman was likely there for the same reason she was.

“Well, we do what we can for those in our care,” Lilith said, “even if we don’t have any interest for the event.” There was a flippant way she said it, but Zelda noticed a tightness to her shoulders as if she was uncomfortable by the very sight of her.

Guilt rose in her chest. It’d been two weeks since she last saw Lilith, and yet every time she considered dialling the woman’s number, the way her face had pulled away from hers echoed in her mind over and over.

“I…” Zelda swallowed, “I’m sorry,” she found herself saying. “For making you uncomfortable.”

Lilith blinked, looking at her. “What do you mean?”

“The last session,” she said, feeling awkward even saying the words.

Lilith’s head tilted, eyes narrowing. “What do you think happened?”

“We…” and Zelda paused, taking a moment to see if anyone was within earshot as she stepped closer. “Engaged in the services I asked for, but at the end of the session, you seemed to withdraw back as if I pushed over the line. What I’m trying to say is that we don’t need to engage in sex. I don’t want that from you if you’re….not…interested,” she finished.

Lilith blinked at her, and then a bright smile filled her face. “Oh, no, I quite enjoyed that,” she said. “If I implied otherwise, I am very sorry and would like to make it up to you.”

“Are you certain? I was quite fine to continue the previous services, or…”

“Zelda,” she purred, stepping forward as she bit her lip, drawing her eyes over her body. “Believe me, the idea of fucking you against the nearest surface is never far from my mind. Let me formally apologise for misleading you.”

A warmth spread through her chest at the words. “And how would you do that?”

Lilith grinned and then turned around as she began leading her into the parking lot. It was quiet and empty, and Zelda followed, intrigued at the very least as to what was happening.

They walked past a dozen or so cars, before finally coming to stand by a black sedan. There, Lilith removed keys from her pocket and clicked the door unlocked. “In you get,” she said, opening the back door.  

Zelda paused. Had she not herself spoken the cautionary tales about getting into cars with strangers? And yet here she was, considering getting into the car of a woman she’d met only twice before.

“No one’s around, I assure you. And it’s too dark for them to see inside once you’re there.”

Her heartbeat pounded, and she watched as Lilith’s brows rose as if to say that she could leave…if that’s what she wanted (it wasn’t).

Swallowing, Zelda climbed into the backseat and slid across, allowing Lilith to climb in beside her, shutting the door. Immediately the interior light flicked off, and all Zelda could see in the dim light was Lilith looking at her with a hungry expression.

And then the woman was reaching up, her hand curling around the back of her neck, a hand on her thigh and all at once, Zelda felt very warm for what otherwise was a cool fall evening.

When Lilith’s lips pressed to hers, Zelda shivered and reached out, settling her hands onto the woman’s hips. And then Lilith was kissing her and Zelda was lying back as she felt the woman climb on top of her, her mouth drawing against her own, teasing and tugging and biting and sucking.

A hand slid up her thigh, set high on the skin, underneath her skirt as she felt Lilith grind purposely against her.

“So your way of apology is to seduce me?” she teased, feeling the friction rub against her underwear.

Lilith laughed against her mouth, and Zelda felt herself slip against the leather seat, one shoe pressing against the door as the other tried to press against the carpet of the interior.

And all she could focus on was the way that Lilith’s tongue stroked against her mouth as her hand raked against her thigh, flicking over the garter belt as Zelda began undoing her jacket.

“I saw the doctor,” Zelda said.

“Good girl,” Lilith said. “I assume it was good news?”

Zelda nodded earnestly and felt the woman’s mouth descend on her throat, “Have a copy for me,” she asked, and then the hand on her thigh slid over her underwear, and Zelda was trying to focus on if she was really doing the right thing. Suppose it was immoral to engage with a sex worker at your niece’s cheerleading practice.

“Mmhm,” she managed, before reaching into her jacket pocket and pulling out her phone. It wasn’t difficult to find the emailed report, type in the password and show it to Lilith. The woman took one glance before her face lit up.

“I’m going to enjoy ravaging you,” she said, and then Zelda found herself pinned to the backseat as Lilith kissed down her neck, tugging the jacket out of the way before she began stroking over Zelda underwear.

“Lilith,” she keened, pressing into the fingers. “If you don’t stop teas––“ she sighed, feeling the fingers slide over the edges.

“If I don’t…what?” she asked. “What will you do?” Lilith asked, dragging her fingers slowly, firmly over her slit until she was pressing against the clit through the material of her clothes. “You’re mine, now.”

Zelda hummed and nodded, a heat pulling in her lungs.

Lilith pushed the underwear aside, and suddenly she was pressing against her, sliding over her sex. “Do you want me to fuck you?” Lilith asked, “or should I just leave you like this?”

“For fuck’s say, just fuck me.”

Lilith laughed against her mouth, kissing her sweetly until Zelda was whining. “Say, please.”

Zelda pulled away, staring at her as she felt the fingers stroke firmer, pressing over her entrance. She tried to hold back the words, her nails pressing into Lilith’s back, but as the woman stared at her, slowing as she slowly began to pull away, Zelda canted her hips up, pressing firmer against her.

“Please,” she said.

“Please what?”

“Please fuck me.’

“Well, if you insist,” Lilith said, and then her lips were on hers again, fingers drawing over her clit and sliding down and down.

Zelda gasped as she felt the fingers enter her, thrusting inside of her. She squeezed around them, humming into Lilith’s mouth.

It’d been so long, Zelda realised. That to actually be fucked, truly fucked was having a larger effect on her than she expected.

Lilith’s fingers worked inside of her, thumb drawing purposely over her clit as she continued to kiss her and Zelda didn’t know how she was able to concentrate so well whilst Zelda could barely remember how to kiss, spending the entire time bucking against her as she moaned and keened into her mouth.

And yet, Lilith took great amusement in the effect she had, her kisses deepening, grounding Zelda as she continued to thrust inside of her, curling. Hence, she pressed against a spot that had Zelda squeezing her thighs over Lilith’s body, trying to press herself closer.

“Lilith,” Zelda keened, not sure what she was asking for––but knew it needed to be more. Faster or harder or something, but she needed more. “Stop teasing."

“Oh no, this is my apology. I can do it however I want.”

“Do it fast, or I swear I’ll take over.”

“Such a spoil-sport,” Lilith said, an entirely melodramatic sigh pulling from her before she returned to kissing her, and then finally her speed increased. Zelda could feel her self riding the fingers as Lilith’s mouth drew to her neck, kissing her with featherlight affection as Zelda moaned and bucked, trying to hold back in case anyone walked past…

But she didn’t care, so as long as Lilith got her off. It was all she could think as she squeezed her eyes shut, riding closer and closer to the moment. Please, please, please let me––

And then she was arching, and Lilith was kissing her again as she moaned and keened, feeling the wetness drip against her thighs, sliding against the leather seats. Every muscle seemed to clench.

And then spasm.

And then Zelda was clinging to Lilith as she felt it all come crashing down.

Finally, it stopped, and Lilith’s fingers slid from her, sliding the underwear back in place with a flick, her thumb dragging over the seam intentionally. Zelda jerked at the touch and glared in the dim light, watching as the woman sat back in the seat.

“There,” Lilith said, “I hope you see that I am very pleased to service you, should you ever wish to engage in that side of my services.”

Zelda panted, drawing her eyes up to the car’s ceiling as she tried to catch her breath back, watching as Lilith reached into the centre console and pulled out a set of tissues to clean at her hand before she grinned down at Zelda.

“At a loss of words?” she inquired.

Zelda swallowed, trying to find the moisture on her tongue again. “I…” she said, managing to push herself up into a sitting position, awkwardly moving her legs. “Can see why…” and she trailed off, honestly at a loss of words. Anything she said would be a filler. “Yes,” she answered, looking away.

Lilith adjusted, moving to sit properly, and then Zelda adjusted herself as she sat up properly, feeling a wave of dizziness wash over her.

“My demeanour the other day was not with regards to you,” Lilith said, handing her a tissue. Awkwardly, Zelda took it from her and wiped over thighs, cleaning up the wetness the best she could.

“It just seemed to happen after we engaged in…whatever you call that form of rope use,” Zelda said, uncertain if it could be described as sex or foreplay. What they had then was definitely sex, but the rope had been more like a challenge, a dare to see if Lilith could deliver on what she promised.

“It was situational, but had nothing to do with you.” Lilith turned and looked at her, and in the dim light, coming from the football field, she could see the woman was staring at her seriously. “If I have a problem with you, or with any services you want to engage in, I’ll be upfront. I don’t have a problem saying no, even to clients who look very lovely gasping my name.”

Zelda flushed, feeling how the name tasted on her tongue again as Lilith looked at her. A part of her wanted to press close and draw against her again, but she didn’t.

Instead, she asked, “Is it even your name?”

Lilith smiled at her. “Oh, you haven’t worked it out yet.”

“Haven’t worked out what?”

Lilith shook her head. “Gone are the days I could blend into the city, never seeing a client outside of sessions.”

“Why have a service here at all, then?”

“Why engage my services since you live here?” Lilith enquired, posing the question back at her with a sharp look. “Because you wanted to.”

Zelda looked away, not liking the intensity of the stare. It felt as if Lilith was peering into her soul, and she didn’t like how easily the woman read her whilst remaining an enigma herself. Besides, she’d been here for too long.

However long had passed, she knew it was too long, and Hilda was likely to send off Ambrose to search for her, and this was not something she wanted to explain to anyone, let alone a family member.

“Thank you for your honesty,” Zelda said, and then growing awkward as she wondered if payment would be required for services rendered, she paused, biting her lip as she tried to think about how to bring it up as a polite enquiry.

“You can return to your family now,” Lilith said. “If I come to you, like today, then I don’t expect payment. But if you come to me, I think it’s fair to say you’re requesting a paid service, don’t you?”

“Am I to expect this to be a repeat offence?”

“If I ever need to apologise, I’m sure we can work out a suitable arrangement.” She leant forward then, and taking a tissue, she wiped over Zelda’s mouth, cleaning off the ruined make-up. “Here,” she said, once again reaching into the centre console to pull out a lipstick. “It’s not the exact shade you were wearing, but I doubt anyone will notice.”

Before Zelda could take it, Lilith was uncapping the lid, and then with one hand holding her jaw steady as she used the other to draw the lipstick on her mouth. It was deeply intimate in a way that ached inside of Zelda as she longed for something from it. But then Lilith was using her thumbnail to fix up the line, and then her hands were dropping away.

Zelda watched her expression remain neutral as she capped the lipstick and then combed her fingers through Zelda’s hair. “There, now you look less like you were fucked in the backseat of a car, and more like you were wind tussled.”

“Thank you,” she said nodding. “I’ll…see you.”

“I look forward to our next session.”

Zelda paused, unable to help herself as she turned back and grinned at her. “Who said there was going to be the next time?”

Lilith only laughed at her, as if the idea Zelda wasn’t going to return was ridiculous. It caused a flare of annoyance to rise in her, but Lilith’s face softened before she made a shooing motion.

Zelda gave a last look to ensure there was no one else and then stepped out of the car, fixing her skirt as she closed the door and walked back.

If Ambrose of Hilda noticed anything, they didn’t say it as Zelda took her seat, fixing her coat around herself against. She hoped she didn’t smell of sex, but the truth was, all she could smell faintly was Lilith’s perfume. Light and intoxicating, as if she could feel the woman’s mouth drawing against her skin.

Shifting in her seat, she snatched the thermos from the picnic basket and poured herself a cup of cocoa.

It didn’t take long for the endorphins to fade in her bloodstream and boredom return as she watched the ball get moved from one side of the field to the other. To Sabrina’s credit, the cheerleaders made a decent effort of being entertaining, enough so that Zelda watched with her interest as they cheered and performed when the ball managed to make it over a certain marker on the ground.

By the time it was finished, Sabrina was bouncing excitedly, talking about how happy she was for Theo––who had either managed to kick a goal or block it from going somewhere, Zelda wasn’t entirely sure what a penalty kick was, but was nonetheless pleased to see Sabrina’s excitement.

“We’re going to go get pizza,” Sabrina said as she dragged Harvey and Roz beside her. “Theo’s going to get changed, and then Harvey’s going to drive us to Pop’s.”

Zelda nodded, “as you wish,” she said. “Do you need us to pick you up later?”

“No, Harvey will drop us home before midnight.” Sabrina bounced again, looking as if she was thinking about hugging her before she squealed and ran off. Zelda flinched at the noise, her brow furrowing as she tried to understand what her niece's enthusiasm was with regards to. It wasn’t surly, however, and whatever disagreement they had seemed to have blown away.

“Well,” she said, looking to Hilda and Ambrose. “Shall we?”

They nodded, and Zelda led them back to the car, finding herself glancing the black sedan that was parked. She didn’t know if Lilith sat inside of it, or if she sat on the bleaches, but Zelda hadn’t noticed her since she’d returned.

“You okay, Auntie?” Ambrose enquired.

Zelda blinked, snapping her thoughts away and nodded, opening the door of their car.

The drive home involved Hilda eagerly speaking about the match and the upcoming PTA meeting, explaining that they were helping to get some money for the football team. Ambrose politely spoke about his lack of interest in sport, whilst commenting that Theo had managed to be quite good on the field and seemed to have become better since the last match they’d watched.

“Zelds?” Hilda enquired as they got onto the main road, leading out of town to the Spellman Manor. “You haven’t said much.”

Zelda sighed. “I’m not sure what to say,” she admitted. “Sabrina looked very happy, and it’s good to see her widening her friend group.”

To that, Hilda murmured an agreement.

And then a silence pulled, and Zelda asked, “The PTA meeting, sister. Are all guardians welcome?”

“Are you looking to involve yourself?” Hilda asked.

Zelda paused, thinking on it realistically and realised that no she could not take on another thing such as a PTA meeting onto her otherwise full schedule. “I suppose not,” she said out loud. “I just happened to run into one of the parents and thought it…”

“Ooh, a single father? There are a few of those as Baxter. You should ask him out the next time you see him.”

“Or was it a single mother, Auntie?” Ambrose teased. “Can’t imagine any of the men would manage to get you curious enough.”

Zelda sighed. “I––no, nothing like that,” she said, feeling her cheeks heat. The idea of actually dating someone, anyone was too much to consider, let alone Lilith.

But whether Hilda and Ambrose believed her was another story, as she could see them sharing a look, eyebrows raised though their humour was stifled. She regretted asking. In truth, she was curious as to Lilith’s personal life, and despite her intrigue to the woman, she should respect her privacy.

Staying away from the PTA, as she always had, remained in her best interest. She didn’t have time in her busy schedule to set aside time to organise bake sales and whatnot for a few hundred dollars. She’d rather just open up her wallet and provide it to the charity herself.

The conversation shifted to the bookshop, and again Zelda found herself listening, anxiety filling her as Hilda hinted at once again that she was saving up to leave.

In fairness, with the inheritance from their parents and their business that had been sold off, Hilda probably could afford to move out, but if she did, she would likely be slowly living in a negative income, eating away at; what should tightly remain her retirement fund since she was unlikely to gain a decent one from the shop.

“Zelds?”

Zelda glanced to her sister. “Did you say something?” she asked, truly having been lost in thought.

“Well, no, it’s just the turn off was back there.”

Zelda looked around the main road. They had indeed past their turn off and were accidentally driving towards Riverdale.

“I was distracted,” she admitted, given there was no excuse.

Turning the car around, she drew the correct way, back home and felt the embarrassment swell inside of her.

Once they arrived, Hilda began making her way to the kitchen to fix a light dinner as Ambrose set the fireplace for the evening.

Zelda, instead, made her way upstairs and took a quick shower to clean herself off. Her body still hummed as she washed the slickness from between her legs, a rolling hunger growing inside of her again.

She hungered for her, deeply incessantly now. She’d thought that by finally engaging in the sexual side of Lilith’s services that that hunger would drop away and she’d better be able to manage herself. Still, it seemed that instead, the woman had fanned the flames and all Zelda desired was dropping to her knees and kissing between the woman’s thighs until it was her name on the woman’s lips.

She rolled her shoulders, feeling a tightness form.

Lilith hadn’t explained what had caused her withdrawal any further, but whatever it had been, was private. It could be remembering a client, it could be remembering an ex-paramour, or it could be that she was lying.

Zelda doubted the last part––although Lilith could be motivated by money, she seemed eager to draw Zelda to new depths of passion.

A pang of guilt laced in Zelda as she dressed again (in case she needed to pick up Sabrina). She shouldn’t have agreed in such a public space. Not only would it had reflected poorly on herself (especially when she was in such a prominent position with her work), but it would have affected Sabrina even worse at school.

Walking downstairs, she fixed herself a glass of whiskey and set in the living room as Ambrose seemed to flick through a new book of poetry.

A quiet settled over them as Zelda sunk in her armchair and returned to mulling over the mistake before Ambrose said. “You’re allowed to date.”

Zelda paused, turning to look at him. “What makes you think it’s not my choice?”

“You seem on edge. You don’t need to protect Sabrina or me from a myriad of people you have lined up at your door. You’re allowed to date.”

Zelda shook her head, taking a sip of whiskey. “My single status is not a reflection of my status as a guardian to either of you. I don’t have time to date.”

“And soon you won’t have any time,” Ambrose pointed out, though he wasn’t trying to be cruel. “I’m not saying that you should find someone and settle down. Life is more than just work.”

“My work is significant to me.”

Ambrose shrugged as if he disagreed but didn't want the argument. Zelda had spent decades on her work. Writing papers and journal articles and even a few books that sold enough to keep her comfortable. There was no way that she was going to give that all up, just for some person, no matter how good the sex was.

Zelda brought the whiskey to her lips and was thankful when the silence was interrupted by Hilda bustling in with bubble and squeak.

“I’ll need to go shopping tomorrow,” Hilda advised, handing out the plates of food. “Bit low on anything substantial.”

Zelda thought of Lilith, and of meeting her in the grocery store. The last thing she needed was to be pinned against the cereal aisle and have the woman have her way with her––not that Lilith was likely to do it in such a public place.

But it wouldn’t be awful if she did.

Zelda drew away from her thoughts, eating her food as she listened to Hilda fill the silence once again with talks of Baxter High, talking about the upcoming charity they were organising.

Zelda made the odd agreement to the conversation, but couldn’t deny that her focus wasn’t entirely there. It was around eleven when Sabrina arrived home. Her cheeks flushed as she set her bag down and excitedly spoke about her evening, that Zelda decided to draw away and exhaustion hit her.

It’d been a long day.

Still, her thoughts returned to Lilith, and in the privacy of her bedroom, she dug around for her vibrator to at least quell the growing desire before getting some rest.

________________________

[gcdslike]

𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐆: 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐳𝐚𝐫.

hi   friends   !   i’m   fox   (   22.   she/they   ),   one   of   holloway’s   admins   &   your   local   dumpster-on-fire   !   i   can’t   wait   to   read   all   about   your   muses’   stories   ?   everyone’s   char   looks   so   beautiful   i’m   excited   !!   anyways,   this   is   all   about   my   baby   boy   benny,   who’s   a   new-ish   muse   so   excuse   me   while   i   still   try   to   figure   him   out.   if   you’d   like   to   plot,   please   heart   this   post   or   hit   me   up   on   discord   at it’s mr himbo to you#9349

💀      *   [   arón   piper   +   cis   male   +   he/him   ]   ——   have   you   met   benício   ‘benny’   salazar?   they   are   a   twenty-two   year   old   junior   currently   studying   fine   arts.   they   live   on   farrow   house,   and   word   around   campus   is   that   this   leo   is   debonair   +   confident,   as   well   as   careless   +   abrasive.   i   wonder   if   they’ll   make   it   out   alive.   paint   stained   clothes.   a   golden   crucifix   against   a   freckled   chest.   sunlight   filtering   through   thin   drapes.

𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘.

benício   was   born   july   23rd   1998   in   granada,   spain,   to   two   teenage   parents.   he   doesn’t   know   their   names,   doesn’t   know   anything   about   them   other   than   the   fact   that   they   were   both   very   young   and   very   afraid   on   the   morning   of   august   1st,   when   they   officially   handed   benício   over   for   adoption.

just   three   months   later,   benny   was   adopted   by   grace   and   cristiano   salazar,   one   of   the   wealthiest   couples   in   all   of   spain;   benny   was   then   brought   to   barcelona,   where   he   lived   until   the   day   he   was   accepted   into   holloway   university.

his   mother   is   an   american   businesswoman   that   owns   one   of   the   most   lucrative   (   yet   utterly   imoral   )   shipping   companies   in   the   world,   and   his   father   is   a   spanish   artist;   they   were   both   very   absent   in   his   growing   up,   his   mother   spending   most   of   her   time   in   the   us   while   his   father   would   spend   his   days   locked   away   in   his   studio,   creating   world-famous   paintings   and   sleeping   with   all   of   his   far   too   young   protegés.   benny   and   his   sister   were   mostly   raised   by   nannies   and   the   house   staff,   unless   they   were   to   somehow   make   his   mother   look   good   in   the   public   eye.

his   parents   wanted   him   to   follow   his   mother’s   footsteps,   to   graduate   from   a   good   business   school   and   take   over   the   company   alongside   his   sister,   but   that   was   never   what   benício   wanted   for   himself;   he   was   an   artist   just   like   his   father,   always   marvelled   by   the   color   palettes   of   cristiano’s   paintings,   drawing   figures   from   the   moment   his   chubby   little   fingers   learned   how   to   grasp   a   pencil   for   the   first   time;   he’s   always   had   so   much   money   it   has   lost   its   value   in   his   eyes,   and   benny   would   rather   live   as   a   broke   artist   than   to   exploit   people   the   way   his   mother’s   company   does.

still,   growing   up,   benny   was   the   perfect   son.   he   was   always   very   neat   and   quiet,   got   the   best   grades   in   his   class,   dated   only   the   prettiest   of   girls.   in   his   parents’   presence   he   was   subdued   and   polite,   the   golden   child   his   mother   had   always   dreamed   of.   that,   of   course,   wasn’t   the   case   at   all:   benny   would   lie   and   cheat   his   way   into   good   grades,   skip   class   to   smoke   week   in   the   parking   lot   with   his   friends,   fool   around   with   any   cute   boy   he   could   find.   he   lived   a   double   life,   and   it   made   him   truly   miserable.

when   time   came   for   his   college   decision,   benício   decided   he   was   done   lying   about   who   he   was;   he   enrolled   in   a   fine   arts   major,   and   held   his   head   high   as   his   mother   screamed   the   nasties,   most   horrid   words   at   him.   he   left   for   school   just   a   month   after   that,   and   although   it’s   been   years,   the   young   man   hasn’t   had   an   actualy   conversation   with   the   woman   since.

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘.

despite   refusing   to   lie   about   his   passions   in   life   (   or   his   sexual   orientation   ),   benny   still   isn’t   fully   honest   with   most   people.   he   wears   a   mask   of   a   party   boy,   the   fun   guy   that   is   always   ready   to   take   things   to   the   next   level.   in   reality,   benny   still   has   the   same   quiet   habits   he   used   to   have   with   his   parents,   always   more   of   an   observer   than   the   center   of   the   show   when   he’s   with   people   he   actually   cares   about.

absolutely   addicted   to   adrenaline,   even   if   he   refuses   to   admit   it.   will   put   himself   and   others   in   the   way   of   danger   if   it   means   getting   another   fix.

aesthetic   hoe™. 

he’s   always   ready   for   a   fist   fight,   though   that   has   more   to   do   with   his   wild   persona   than   any   anger   or   resentment   he   holds   inside;   those   issues   he   often   bottles   up   and   lashes   out   onto   himself   instead   of   others.

a   creature   of   habits,   despite   of   his   wild   outings   during   the   weekends   and   drinking   binges,   benny   has   a   very   strict   schedule   he   likes   to   follow.

don’t   call   him   benício,   or   he   will   clock   you   in   the   face.

𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐒.

a   BEST   FRIEND   /   benny   and   this   person   met   during   their   first   year,   and   they   instantly   clicked.   they   know   each   other   better   than   anyone   else,   and   you’ll   never   see   one   without   the   other.

an   EX   GIRLFRIEND   /   despite   promising   himself   that   he   would   be   his   most   authentic   self   in   college,   that   didn’t   happen   right   away.   these   two   dated   for   a   good   few   months   during   benício’s   second   year,   before   he   felt   comfortable   enough   to   come   out.   i   can   definitely   see   him   trying   to   come   out   to   her   by   the   end   of   their   relationship   and   just   blurting   out   something   stupid   like   ‘i’m   not   attracted   to   you’   or   something   just   as   equally   hurtful   and   not   knowing   how   to   fix   it   afterwards.

a   RIVAL   /   another   party   person,   they   have   a   rivalty   where   they   are   constantly   trying   to   out-do   each   other   during   parties   and   outings;   if   one   of   them   chugs   a   bottle   of   beer,   the   other   will   chug   two   etc.   they   are   definitely   very   messy   and   bad   for   each   other.

a   GOOD   INFLUENCE   /   someone   that   sees   benny   for   who   he   is,   the   soft   layers   underneath   the   bad   boy   persona,   and   often   tries   to   bring   that   out   of   him.

a   SIBLING-LIKE   RELATIONSHIP   /   they   are   each   other’s   cornerstone,   bickering   constantly   but   still   dying   for   one   another;   benny   often   tells   them   he   would   rather   have   them   as   family   than   his   own   sister.

a   HATE   SHIP   /   they   hate   each   other,   but   still   can’t   get   enough   of   each   other;   they   fight   constantly,   and   those   altercations   always   end   up   in   a   bed,   or   angry   sex   in   the   local   bar’s   bathroom,   or   frenetic   make   out   sessions   at   the   library.

a   FRIENDS   WITH   BENEFITS   /   they   like   to   get   on,   but   they   also   enjoy   each   other’s   company   outside   of   the   bedroom;   be   it   in   a   study   group,   or   just   hanging   out   on   a   friday   night,   benny   always   says   the   sex   is   just   the   cherry   on   top   of   their   no-strings-attached   relationship.

a   ONE   NIGHT   STAND   /   for   some   reason,   their   little   affair   didn’t   work   out.   maybe   they   even   tried   to   go   on   a   date   after   their   night   together   but   the �� chemistry   just   wasn’t   there;   maybe   it’s   super   awkard,   maybe   they   became   really   good   friends   afterwards.

FRIENDS   OF   ALL   KINDS   /   literally   all   of   the   friendship   ideas.   maybe   they   share   some   classes   together,   maybe   they   met   on   the   communal   spaces   of   the   dorm,   maybe   they   bumped   into   each   other   on   campus   and   started   talking.

[justkending]

10 Years Time. Chapter 5.

Series Summary: As princess of Alberia, it is your duty to grow into a rightful young lady if you plan on ruling your family's country. Of course, the only way your father can see this happening is sending you off to a boarding camp at the age of 14 for 10 years to learn what it means to grow into a Queen.That means leaving all your friends and family behind. One specific person, your best friend, you never want to say goodbye to. But 10 years later, you come back grown into a young lady like your father hoped, and find your best friend has grown into a knightly young man. How will you two adjust after 10 years apart? Will things be the same, or will all that’s happened in that span of time affect your relationship?

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Stark Daughter Reader

Word Count: 5200+

Warning: SLOW BURRRRRRNNNNNN....

A/N: As you all can tell, this is going to be a slow burn... Yes, we will get to the reasoning behind Steve not showing up so long ago, but I have the perfect scene for it, and need to build to it. Please enjoy this chapter, and let me know what you think:)))))

Chapter 5:

What Y/N didn’t notice as she was walking back to the party, was that Steve had managed to sneak away from his friends protruding questions that he didn’t have the mind to answer right now. Despite his best effort, he has never been one who can stay away from Y/N when she was hurting in any way. 

He came out seeing her sitting down with Wanda, and it looked like the redhead was doing a good job of counseling her.

He watched carefully as he saw her wipe a tear away milliseconds after it escaped, and he was so close to running and wrapping her in his arms so she could let it all out if she wanted. But he held off when she heard a giggle and a small, but genuine, laugh at something Wanda said. 

Straining his ears, he faintly heard something about being overwhelmed and nervous about the changes that she knew were to come. His heart hurt at that.

She deserves joy and happiness. Not the stresses of getting everything right, when it was far from possible to do that. But she always has wanted so much for their country, and she would stop at nothing to get just that.

Zoned out in thinking of ways to help Y/N feel more at home, he didn’t notice that they were moving his direction now. He quickly slipped behind one of the giant pillars out of view from them, but was still able to see a little of them with the limited moonlight showing. 

She stopped, looking out into the field. Steve stopped and looked out following her eye line, and it hit him. 

Anytime she felt overwhelmed and needed a sense of calmness, and the library was too full, she would go into the field of wildflowers in the forest closer to the back of the kingdom. No one bothered her out there because it was hard to find her. She knew the spots and tree covers that kept her out of sight from anyone trying to bring her back home. Steve was one of the two people who knew those spots too. Her mother being the other. Even Wanda and Nat didn’t know about those places. 

That’s what she wanted. A sense of serenity in the moments of up and down chaos. Those flowers pulled to her, and Steve could feel it. He had the same kind of pull to her. He smiled slightly at the field before turning to her. He watched as she looked up at the moon, gave a subtle smile, closed her eyes taking in the night's energy, and turned back inside. 

Once she was inside, he snuck out of his place and placed his hands on his belt. Turning back to the field, a spark in his eyes shined in the low light.

_______

More time went by of greeting people here and there, but Wanda kept her promise of dragging Y/N out of those conversations, and the second half of the party actually was fun for her. She drank, got a little tipsy, but not enough to draw attention, just enough to relax the nerves. She caught up lightly with her friends seeing that they really hadn’t changed much. Just had more experience in this thing called life, but still the goofy loons they were. Steve was the only one who was gone the whole time, and never showed his face after that dance.

Eventually the feeling of exhaustion hit her full on and she placed a hand on Nat’s shoulder. 

“I think I need sleep.” Y/N whisper shouted.

“I think you do too. Ready to call it a night?” Nat said supporting her friends weight. 

Y/N nodded resting a tired head on her shoulder, but still swaying slightly to the calm music that took over the atmosphere. 

“Do you ladies need an escort to your rooms?” Bucky asked Y/N and Nat both.

“I think we got it, but thanks boys.” Nat said positioning herself to get a better grip on the Princess. 

“You’re sure?”

“It’s a 5 minute walk and there are guards lining the halls. I think we can make it.” Nat winked.

“Ok Miss. Headstrong woman.” Bucky taunted before leaning Nat’s way. “Goodnight my dears. May sleep come easy for you all.” he bowed, Clint and Sam do as well. 

“Night dorks.” Wanda laughs through her nose since he was being so formal when that was far from what their group was like. 

The boys laughed and waved the three girls off who smiled and tiredly made their way through the crowd back to Y/N’s room. 

_____

“Rise and shine my dear!” Tony’s voice resonated throughout the room.

The curtains were pulled open abruptly bringing in the morning light as bright as ever. Y/N let out a groan at the sudden change, and threw herself under the blankets. 

“That’ll do ladies.” Tony instructed the maids who opened the curtains and then he moved to the end of Y/N’s bed sitting on the edge. “Bug. You have to get up. I know you had a long night, but didn’t they teach you about starting your day early? It’s almost 8!”

“They didn’t host Tony Stark parties every night dad. Makes it a lot harder getting around the next day.” she grumbled from under the covers still. 

“Yeah. No one can throw a party quite like me, can they?” Tony said looking up as if he were daydreaming about a new party. “That aside!” he said standing and moving to the top of the bed. “We have a loaded schedule today, and you are already an hour late since I was nice enough to give you extra time to rest. You’re welcome.” he said pulling the covers down and moving to the door. 

Y/N let out an annoyed groan as she stretched and reached for the thick comforter again. 

“Wanda, Natasha, have her down for breakfast in 30 min. You know our schedule for the day so dress her accordingly.” he nodded toward Y/N who managed to hide back under the covers. “Even if you have to drag her out of bed.” he laughed leaving. 

Y/N didn’t see anything or anyone in the room because she refused to cast sleep completely out of her head. That is until Wanda peaked her head under the covers as well.

“Hey princess. You ready for a new day?” he said cheerfully.

“No.” Y/N groaned.

“I see the start of the morning is still not a favorite.” Nat’s voice came out. 

“We have coffee.” Wanda coaxed.

Shooting up Y/N brushed her hair down.

“Co-Coffee?”

“You act like you’ve been repressed from it for years or something.” Nat laughed pouring a cup, but then sitting it on the vanity in hopes that it would lure the sleepy princess out of bed.

She was right though. The trick worked like a charm, and Y/N slide over to the vanity sitting and then crossing her legs as she grasped the warm mug on both sides encasing it in her grip. She leaned down and took a long sniff of the java and her eyes rolled behind her head practically. 

“I have been.” she sighed breathing in another whiff. 

“What?” Nat and Wanda gasped shocked. 

“I didn’t tell you that? Boarding school didn’t have in imports of coffee beans because they didn’t see them as a necessity. So that means-”

“It’s been 10 years since you had coffee?” Wanda gasped again as Nat moved around to get started on Y/N’s hair. 

“Well, Gamora would sneak in some stuff every once in a while, but the stuff was awful. I only drank it to help my fix, but this?” she pointed at her cup closing her eyes again in bliss. “This is heaven compared to that shit.”

“You really are going to need to start watching your language. You don’t want it slipping around your father or another superior.” Nat chasted as she began braiding her now loosely curled hair. 

“Right. Sorry. I think I should be good though. I was able to hide it from the teachers. Never got caught other than that one time…”

“Oh do tell.” Wanda said bringing out the dresses and laying them on the bed before going to help with the makeup. 

___

30 minutes later of gossip and getting ready for the day, Y/N was ready to head to brunch. 

Her dress for the day was one she instantly fell in love with just like last nights. Jay had been busy and all her day dresses were just as stunning as the parties gown. 

This one was covered in flowers that varied from blue, red, and yellow. The beige background material was like netting, but still held a modest cover to it. It had a deeper V in the front, and the long sleeves were puffy, but cinched at the wrist. Lastly a slight slit that normally would be looked down on, but it was subtle, and Y/N didn’t care about the status quo looks. She had reasoning behind the slit, and Jay knew those reasons. 

It held the princess look, but had a hint of flower child mixed with sultry. Which was exactly what Y/N was. 

Her tiara for the day was a simple one since the dress was so eye catching, and who wants a heavy piece of gold on your head dragging you down all day. This one was more of a band than a full tiara. It was made up of golden leaves that formed a circle as each leaf connected. It fit on top, but also came down slightly to push on her forehead. Head jewelry as Wanda called it. And it went perfectly with the elegant braiding style Nat pinned Y/N’s hair in too. 

She looked every bit of the Princess who was about to do business for her kingdom. 

___

“Glad you can finally join us. You’re late. I said 30 minutes Y/N. It’s been 45.” Tony said standing as his daughter made a way into the room. A smile on his face no matter the annoyance in his voice. 

Three other male figures rising at her entrance, but Y/N couldn’t make out their faces from the distance. 

“Sorry about that. It’s all on me.” Y/N laughed as she walked. Coming closer to the table she saw Colonel Rhodes, Bruce Banner, and Captain Rogers all staring at her. Seeing the latter made her heart stop, but she quickly composed herself before motioning for them to sit and joining them as well. “But as a wise woman once taught me, ‘A queen is never late. Everyone else is simply early.’” Y/N winked her fathers direction as she sat properly in her chair. 

“You’re mother.” Tony said looking down with remembrance and a small laugh came out. “She always knew the right things to say to get herself out of trouble.” he said shaking head and rubbing the stubble on his chin.

“Yes she did, and she did a great job teaching her daughter those very traits.” Y/N said placing a hand on his arm and bringing his attention back to her. He smiled pulling his hand from his chin and placing it on top of hers. “On another note.” Y/N said bringing the attention back to the brunch. “What’s planned for today? Rhodey. Sir Banner. I see you’re both finally home.”

“Yes we are, and might I just say, it is a pleasure to see you again Princess.” Bruce smiled. 

“It’s a pleasure seeing you as well Bruce. It’s been far too long.” she smiled back. “How have things been?”

“Oh you know, busy.” Bruce waves off.

“These two have been hoarding themselves in that lab your father has, and tinkering with everything they can.” Rhodey steps in. 

“Why am I not shocked?” Y/N says laughing and turning a pointed stare at her father who avoided it. “That is why our kingdom is so high up in our resource of technological needs though. If it wasn’t for their random ideas they get going. We wouldn’t be second in mass production of that area next to Wakanda would we?” she said turning back to Rhodey.

“Eh.” Rhodey groans shaking his head going back to the eggs on his plate. 

“Y/N, what are you hungry for? I had the kitchen cook up anything they could find.” Tony smiled. 

“Coffee for now will do.” She smiled crossing her hands in her lap.

“Coffee will do?” Tony mocks. “Hear that boys? Coffee will do.” he says getting a few laughs from the men. Steve trying to hide a smirk with the napkin he brought up to his face. 

“Excuse me.” Y/N scoffed, but really just laughed through her nose at her teasing father. “What’s so bad about just wanting coffee?”

“It’s just-” he paused gaining his breath back. “You used to eat a 5 course meal at this time practically. We would have to actually pull you from the table so you didn’t explode from the amount of pancakes you could take in.”

“I remember you ate 6 queshes in one serving once. Brought my record to shame.” Rhodey laughed. 

“Ok, those were single serving queshes. Not entire ones. It wasn’t that hard.” Y/N shook her head. 

“Sure. Keep telling yourself that. I still can’t even get 4 down without wanting to throw up because of how full I am. Single serving my ass. Those ones were meant for at least 3 people.” Rhodey grumbled taking another bite of his meal.

“Well, portions are something that they really focus on at the Academy. I guess my teenage appetite never leaked over into adulthood.” She shrugged grabbing her mug of coffee and sending her father a wink over the rim. 

He laughed before patting his thigh and turning back to the matter at hand.

“Well, how much we can eat aside, Y/N, we have quite a bit for you to learn today, but we’re going to start with just giving you a tour so you can meet the staff, and everyone else who lends a hand on the castle grounds. As you know, within 10 years we have gained new colleagues.” he nods toward her.

“Hmmm,” she hums putting the drink down. “Natasha was telling me about some new laws and regulations you are thinking about putting into play. She wasn’t specific about any, but I would love to hear about those as soon as possible.” 

“Right. Those are some more changes that we will get to. First,-” he turned to the doors that opened quickly and one of the messengers came flooding in. Everyone turned with him seeing the urgency in the young man's face. He quickly ran to Tony’s side and whispered something in the kings ear. Tony let out an annoyed sigh before standing, and everyone followed. “It looks like I have some matters to attend to in the Lab. Banner, Rhodey come with me.” He nods. 

“What about our planned day today Father?” Y/N asked catching her father before he could go too far. 

“I’m sorry bug. I’ll have to reschedule. This new project is really big, and can be a major key in keeping our kingdom safe and flourishing.” he said with sorrowful eyes. “I hope to have it fixed and back on the roll before dinner, but if not then I’ll see you tomorrow for sure.” 

“But-”

“I’m sorry. This isn’t how I wanted your first full day back to go.” he leaned down giving her a soft kiss on the forehead and looking back at Steve. “Steven, have Sam and Bucky accompany you all on your tour today. It’ll give you all a chance to catch up too. That way she’s has some chance to get things back to normal.” 

Y/N turned back to Steve seeing him nod and bow at her father, but what she didn’t see was her father send Steve a very keen and almost threatening look. There was something he was telling Steve to be careful about that Steve knew exactly what it meant, but Y/N was completely oblivious to. 

“Yes sir.” Steve said.

“Keep her safe too.” Tony added walking toward the doors.

“Always.” Steve said to himself, but still out loud.

Y/N watched until her father was completely out of the room before turning to the blonde. 

“So, uh, I guess it’s just you and me for now.” she said straightening her dress and posture.

“I guess so.” Steve smiled softly to reassure her, but also happy that he was spending time with her. Then again, Tony’s look brought his smile back down as he thought about how he couldn’t make the step he wanted. Tony would never allow it. “If you’re done with breakfast, we can head to the target zone. Clint, Sam, and Bucky should be there practicing, and we can start our tour there.” 

Y/N looked down at the half drank coffee, and saw the platter of freshly baked muffins next to it.

“You’re allowed to eat if your hungry.” Steve spoke up. “I heard they feed tiny portions at the boarding school.” he said when he saw her confused face. “You don’t have to be all fancy with me. I’ve seen the real you and I like her. She deserves to live a little.” he smirks in a friendly manner. 

Besides Y/N wanting to hate him for a lot of things, she was relieved at his ease around her. Everyone else wouldn’t stop talking about how much she’s changed, and how much of a lady she is and how great it is to watch her like that. But Steve helped her feel confident in her old self too. Nothing wrong with being a proper princess, but having a small wild side too, right?

“I guess one won’t hurt.” she shrugged grabbing the oversized muffin and a napkins before following Steve. 

“One could never. Now 6 queshes-?” he said sending her a snarky look with a pulled up grin.

She playfully pushed his shoulder as they walked and let out a laugh before grabbing a piece of the top of the muffin. 

“They weren't that big!” She laughed and Steve remembered how much he enjoyed that laugh. He had wanted to hear it for so long. Hell, since the minute he left her balcony that night. He already missed it then.

“Big or not. 6 things of eggs? How did your stomach not explode?” he said folding his hands behind his back and looking down at her by his side as she focused on the pastry.

“Stomach’s made of iron. Dad’s got it too.” she said looking up, sending a wink. 

Steve didn’t know how to react to the small motion, but it sent butterflies throughout his chest. Did she mean to wink at him? Was she being more like her old self and less cut off from him? Maybe this day wouldn’t be as tension and awkward filled as he thought.

“So what’s everyones’ new positions? I know you're the Captain of our forces, like your father once was.” Y/N said looking forward after chewing a piece of the top of the muffin. “Bucky’s second in command. No shock there.” she nodded.

“Sam’s our hand to hand combat leader, and intelligence force. He scouts out the field with some new technology your father made that helps him see miles around. He was one of the only people who got a grip on the tech, so I made him head of command for that.” Steve continued.

“Let me guess. Clint is located somewhere close to the weaponry?” she said with a slight smirk looking from the corner of her eye before taking another bite.

“He never misses. Who else would I want teaching the rest of the cadets how to shoot and work their weapons?” Steve said with a smile in his voice still looking her way.

“Is he still attached to that bow and arrow?”

“Can’t seem to push him another direction.”

“Sounds about the same as it was 10 years back.” Y/N chuckled.

The rest of the walk was filled with shockingly comfortable silence. Y/N took in her surroundings as if it were all new territory, and ate the rest of the muffin. Steve did the same as her taking in his surroundings since he was always on high alert, but he also made sure to take the time and study Y/n. 

The dress she was wearing hugged her perfectly in all the right places. The flowers reminded him of the flowers she looked at the night before, and how they were kinda like her in the sense that they were wild, but still found grounding in in the kingdom and in certain spots in her life. Steve had never noticed how perfect her skin tone was either. Especially with the sun hitting her face as if it was made to just shine on her. Hence the nickname, Sunshine.

Yep. She was definitely the sunshine everyone needed. Steve especially.

“Bucky!” Y/N shouted forward, making Steve snap out of his daydream and turn to where she was looking.

Ahead was Bucky and Sam watching Clint give archery lessons to some of the new trainees. 

Bucky spun around at the sound, and him and Sam sent the princess wide grins. 

“Look who came to visit!” He said unfolding his arms and stretching them out as he walked toward the other pair. 

Once they were a few feet apart, Y/N closed the gap between the two, and gave Bucky a hug that she wasn’t able to fully give the night before. This one was more sentimental and showed how much she missed her old and very close friend.

After she pulled back she noticed Sam had the same open arms and sped over to give him a warm hug as well. All Steve could think from the sidelines was; where was his hug? He never got one of those. 

“It’s Sergeant Barnes here Princess. Can’t let the cadets know I’m a softy when it comes to you.” Bucky winked as the two men remembered how they should bow before hugging. 

“Right. We’re in the work place.” Y/N smiled and winked back before crossing her arms back in front. “What exactly are we training for today?” she said looking beyond them where Clint finished helping one trainee, and then turned to wave before going back to the next. 

“Barton’s teaching them how to shoot a moving target. We got the aim down for standstill, but now they need to know how to pinpoint the harder targets.” Sam answered as they all came and stood in a line watching them work. 

Steve next to Y/N, Bucky next to Steve, and Sam on the other side of Y/N. The 10 or so cadets not even realizing that high ranking knights as well as the Princess where just 20 yards away.

“Hmmm, and how are they doing?” she asked never looking away.

“So far, not too bad. We have a few stragglers, but nothing a few more extra sessions couldn’t fix.” Bucky answered this time.

“Well let’s see for ourselves.” Y/N said straightening and moving toward where Clint was helping someone straighten their elbow. The boys following.

“Ok, now breathe and focus on where they’re going to be next.” Clint instructed before taking a step back.

The trainees shot after a few seconds of centering themselves, and was able to clip what they were aiming for, but not hit it head on.

“Close, but-”

“But you’re propping your elbow last second without knowing it.” Y/N interrupted. 

Now they knew someone was there, because when everyone including Clint turned at the sound of the voice, they went wide eyed and scrambled to bow. 

“Princess. I wasn’t sure if you would come check in with us, or if you were stopping by for a second before moving on.” Clint bowed with a smirk before coming up as the others stayed down.

“Now who in their right mind would miss an archery lesson with you?” she responded elegantly.

Clint just laughed and Bucky, Sam, and Steve just smiled at each other before turning back to her.

“Getting the tour today I see,” Clint responded after a while. 

“Yes. But if you don’t mind, I would like to give a quick tip to this kind individual,” she said nodding to the one who had just shot last.

Everyone's head rose slowly as they went to a soldier's positions, but keeping their focus on the princess. 

“Soldier Nicholes?” Clint asked with a raised eyebrow. “I mean sure, but what do you know about-”

Y/N simply walked past Clint before he would finish the sentence and walked over to the young man who now looked horrified that he was about to get yelled at.

“Nicholes, correct?” She asked.

“Y-Yes, your highness.” he responded looking back and forth between her eyes for anger or disappointment, but finding neither.

“What’s your first name dear?” she asked with a soft smile.

“Uh, Joseph ma’am. Joseph Nicholes.” he responded.

“May I see your bow, please?” she said extending her hand. He looked down at it with a raised eyebrow, and carefully handed it to her. “Thank you.” she smiled walking past him and to the shooting post. 

Steve and the boys shared a far confused look with each other completely taken aback from her motives. Each of them taking steps to get a closer look to what she was up to. 

“Joseph, you made a simple mistake that I made my first time doing this activity. Last minute before you shoot, you tense at the idea of shooting without knowing it, and your elbow rises causing you to miss just slightly.” she explained putting an arrow in the bow and rolling her shoulders back. “Watch how I ease my elbow first, and then focus on it as I shoot. Not too much, but enough to not tense.” she said turning back to the range. 

The boys all shared another bewildered look and took another step forward. Clint closest to really see is she was doing it right.

Watching the range she saw the moving targets pop up, and found the pattern. Taking a deep breath and pinpointing the spot she ease back like she instructed, and the arrow went flying. Everyone watched as if it were in slow-motion, and an audible gasp came out of everyone's mouth.

Y/N looked out to the target seeing she had hit it straight on the bullseye. Turning her head to the side with a proud smile, she walked back to the awestruck men and handed the bow to Joseph who was too shocked to move. 

“See? Focus on that and you’ll be shooting like Sir Barton over there.” she said putting her hands back in front.

No one talked. No one knew what to say. A Princess shooting perfect shots with a weapon? It couldn’t be, could it? Surprise, surprise it can. Don’t act too shocked.

Steve, Bucky, Sam, and the rest of the soldiers all had their jaws to the ground. Clint the only one with a smirk not too surprised like the rest.

“What?” she shrugged looking over the men, who quickly picked up their jaws and tried to tear their eyes from her, but couldn’t seem to.

“How did you-” Steve started.

“Where did you learn-” Buck said same time.

“That was, uh-” Sam stuttered as well.

All three men murmuring under their breaths and clearing their throats.

“Well, unlike the rest of these pinheads, I’m not that shocked.” Clint said walking over and giving her a sweet hug. “Let’s be honest, you guys can’t be that surprised that Y/N learned some things. She was gone 10 years!” 

“But-” Bucky started.

“You did learn that at the academy, didn’t you?” Clint continued turning to her.

“Hmm Mmm,” She hummed with a proud smile. “Every royal there taught the others a skill or skills that their countries were known for so that we could learn better of the other cultures. I learned that from the Valkyrie.” she said turning to the men. “You don’t even know the other tricks I have up my sleeve from Hilde. She taught me quite a few things. Things that I hope to implement into our own home if Father will allow it.”

“Such as?” Sam asked with a quirked eyebrow.

“You’ll have to wait for that surprise.” She winked.

“Figures.” Bucky chuckles.

“Hey, I have to get back to the group, but we’ll see you around soon, right Y/N?” Clint said pulling the Princess’s attention back to him.

“For sure. You keep up your training.” She turned to the herd of knights in training and they all bowed again. “From what I can tell, things seem to be going well. Keep listening to Sir Barton here, and you all will be prepared for anything.” She grinned, turning to the younger of the group who she had just helped. “Joseph, fix that elbow and you’ll be golden.”

“Yes, your majesty.” he bowed a second time. 

“Please, call me Y/N. Never cared for the formal names.” she waved off with a sweet smile, that pulled a smile of his own out of the nerves. “Shall we gentleman? I know we have a lot more grounds to cover today.” Y/N said turning to the three men who would be stuck with her the rest of the evening before walking through them and continuing the tour ahead of them.

Steve and his other friends watching before they followed.

“Not much has changed, but I got to say,” Bucky spoke up and brought a hand down on Steve’s shoulder. “Whatever the hell happened to her at that school, I like it.”

“Agreed.” Sam spoke up.

“Is it possible for someone to become more badass, crazy, and intense as she did?” Bucky continued.

“Didn’t think so, but I’m learning new things every second with her.” Steve scoffed with a grin on his face. “Come on. She’ll keep going without us if we don’t catch up now.” he said with an admirable smile as he quickened his pace to catch up with Y/N. Bucky and Sam a few steps behind sharing yet another knowing glance at each other.

10 Years Time Tag:

@starstrucknature  @zlixlle @thorne93 @captainsteveevans @girlintheshire @shreddedparchment @queenie4ce @laneygthememequeen @averyrogers83 @sp2900 @heyiamthatbitch @purpleclodpastamug @noobmaster63 @snow30285 @zeilenkrieg @twizzziee @buckybarneslove76 @srrymydood @kaytizzle @cheeseburgersstuff  @teller258316 @thejourneyneverendsx @notyourtypicalrose @sebastianstanfavpita

Other Tags:

@shamelesslydean @sleepless-sin  @sandlee44 @gripmetight-raisemefromperdition @spnwoman @ravengirl94 @carryonmywaywardcaptain @ezilyamuzed @thosekidswhohuntmonsters @anise-d-castle6 @tailsoflightning  @spookycowz @snffbeebee @angelessquirrel @deans-baby-momma @natura1phenomenon @tftumblin @gh0stgurl @screechingartisancashbailiff @herscrunchiehairtie @dreaminemz @monkeymcpoopoo @a-girl-who-loves-disney @andthatsmyworld @greenarrowhead @savio-the-depressed-moose @awesome-badass-cafeteria-sauce @greyeyedsmile14 @adoptdontshop-blog @casper57 @traceyaudette @rainflowermoonlibrary @luciathewinchestergirl @almostelegantfire @thefaithfulwriter @the-is13 @kaz11283 @jerkbitchidjitassbutt @squirrelgirl67 @jackles-15 @lauravic @deansgirls-1968 @a–1–1–3 @spnbaby-67 @deannotmoose @naomi02hook @were-not-the-losechesters @lilulo-12

[maxdark158]

PART TWO OF BEING INSPIRED AND WRITING ANYWAY

PLEASE check out the amazing @ozmav my friend!! AMAZING!!

Characters are probably OOC because MLB is a kids show and you guys liked stressed and cursing Damian so I kept that going even though it’s probably OOC

Angel in Gotham: Part 1 ~ Part 2 ~ Part 3 ~ Part 4 ~ Part 5 ~ Part 6 ~ Ao3

Demon in Gotham: Part 1 ~ Part 2 ~ Part 3 ~ Part 4 ~ Ao3

Fanart for AiG: Riddler ~ Joker thank you @thegreysman

Please tag me in any fanart you draw for this guys ^^

oooOOOooo

Damian tried to ignore his phone after checking it for the thirteenth time. But who was counting?

He was, actually. Because it seems the stupid worry feeling will never fucking go away! It took root, and it’s only growing. Damian wondered if drinking weedkiller works on emotions. The bitches.

He wasn’t even that worried initially! Sure, he wanted his An- Marinette to text him when she got to the hotel, but that was just… a friend thing. It’s what friends ask! And they were friends.

Damian wasn’t worried on the car ride to the manor, he had only checked his phone once then. When his father questioned him about The Riddler incident, he was thoroughly distracted and didn’t check at all. After he left the room he checked twice in one minute just to make sure he didn’t miss anything in the first check.

He checked sparsely while training briefly, adding up to eight… okay, maybe not so sparsely. But at this point the awful god damn plant had grown a mouth and it was gnawing on his sanity, bugging him every moment of peace he had.

Damian was getting really fucking sick of this whole worry business. It was awful! Why did Grayson partake in it for so many years? Why did anyone?

He was beginning to understand his classmates’ sense of humor now. But “I want to ka-shoot myself,” was not as funny as they thought it was.

Damian was so busy thinking about worrying and getting more worried – the fucking circle of life – that when he checked his phone for the fourteenth time, he realized he missed a message from Marinette.

Angel: I’m at the hotel now.

Thank fuck. Damian banished all the worry from his mind – leave, motherfucker – and typed out a response.

Damian: That’s good

Damian: Did you get in trouble?

Wait fuck the worry wasn’t gone. He wanted to smack the phone against his head. Or break his thumbs for typing that without his permission.

Angel: Professor Mendeleiev must’ve been tired or something.

Angel: She didn’t leacture

Damian bit his lip. Marinette needed to work on her English.

Angel: Lecture?

Damian: *lecture

Angel: Quiet, English is hard

He could fucking understand that! It may have been long ago but Damian had to learn once too, ya know.

Damian: Understandable.

Damian: In my original question I meant any of your classmates btw

Holy fucking shit his thumbs would be cut off by sunlight he swears to all the justice league members-

Angel: btw?

Angel: Oh by the way

Damian: yeah

Angel: I’m good at text slang in French, okay

Damian: I don’t doubt you

He really didn’t. Marinette seemed intelligent if The Riddler incident had anything to say about it.

Angel: Anyway Alya tried to bother me but I’m good now

He frowned. Alya? She hadn't told him about her.

Angel: Professor Mendeleiev told her off for bothering me after my ‘traumatic’ encounter with a Gotham villain

Damian: Speaking of, are you SURE you’re alright Angel

Damian sighed, letting his head drop. Okay, fucking fine he was still fucking worried and he hated it. His thumbs weren’t to blame, his fucking emotions were.

He pulled up Google to look up liquid weedkiller when his Ang- Marinette texted back.

Angel: I’m fine

Angel: I’ve survived akuma for three years, I’m not about to let some riddle fanatic with terrible clothing choices ruin my day

Damian: His clothes are that bad?

Good, subject change. Maybe he can stop fucking worrying.

Angel: Too much green, for one

Angel: Green shouldn’t be used in large portions when it’s that bright of a shade

Angel: Also the cloth itself was cheap, but the kind of cheap meant to look expensive if you don’t know cloth good

Damian frowned. That was so fucking obvious. Surely she didn’t actually make that mistake…

Damian: *well

Angel: Whatever

Angel: Also his hat didn’t match the type of suit he was wearing

Angel: If he wants to go old fashioned he should at least match the time period

Angel: Longer coat, more layers

Angel: He is an atrocity

Her comments were appreciable though. He could see where she came from.

Damian: he is

Angel: If I had time to cry then my tears would had been blood

Damian: *have

Damian grinned. If Marinette didn’t want her fucking grammar fixed she should learn how to spell in English.

A different motherfucking bitch of an emotion appeared at that thought. He didn’t like that one either. It made him feel bad for being mean.

Angel: istg

Damian: It appears you’re learning

Angel: Yepp

Damian: Also the Gotham news posted an article online about you

Might as well bite the bullet, right?

Damian: “Unnamed Teenager From France Holds off The Riddler Until Batman Arrives!”

Angel: Wait what?

Angel: But we both held him off?

Damian: I was kind of useless, you did most of the work

God damn it! Damian thought he told that emotion to get the fuck out! He was fucking Robin he isn’t useless, he just happened to not be needed at that exact moment.

Damian: I left shortly after you solved his riddle because the Robins had arrived

He grumbled to himself. He hated emotions. It wasn’t like he hadn’t ever felt them before, but they were easier to ignore. This girl made them hard to ignore, and Damian wasn’t sure why.

He did know that he fucking hated it.

After a moment, he realized h- Marinette hadn’t replied for a few minutes.

Damian: You there?

Angel: Yeah. I was just reading the article

Good. He didn’t want anything to happen- motherfucking dammit.

Angel: The Riddler was bad at hand to hand combat. It was easy to take him down with the practice I have from Paris

Damian: I bet.

He saw the time on his phone. Marinette had more field trip stuff tomorrow morning, right? Shouldn’t she get to bed?

Damian: It’s getting late, Angel. We should go to bed.

Damian: Goodnight

Angel: Goodnight

Angel: Also I’ll find a chat name for you soon, promise

Damian’s smile felt weird on his face but unlike the god damn worry and fucking other emotions, he didn’t hate the feeling of it.

After replying, he prepared to get dressed for his patrol as Robin.

oooOOOooo

“Sooo, Robin,” Drake dropped down next to him. “Want to share why you were at that ice cream parlor with that pigtailed French girl?”

“Fuck off,” is Damian’s extremely eloquent response. He can say it in many different languages.

“Wait, Demon Spawn has a girlfriend?” fucking Todd over the fucking comms in his fucking awful Red Hood suit. At least his current helmet didn’t have the fucking lips.

“No, I don’t-“

“I’m trying to figure that out, Red Hood, so would you kindly butt out of the conversation.”

“Of course Red Robin, good luck getting anything out of him though.”

“I don’t have a fucking girlfriend you numbskulls,” Damian hissed through the comms.

“Wait what’s this about a girlfriend, Robin?” Grayson’s overexcited cheerleader voice screamed. Damian wanted to rip out his eardrums.

“Red Robin, I thought I instructed you to leave him alone about this,” finally, his father, for once being a fucking voice of reason, speaks on the comms.

“Bruce you said I should wait until he admits to having a girlfriend,” Drake sounded too smug, Damian wanted to cut it off his masked face. “We know that isn’t going to happen.”

“I hate this fucking family,” Damian hissed.

oooOOOooo

Marinette hadn’t missed her field trip this time. Or had she? Maybe she slept in really fucking late. Damian didn’t know. He didn’t know what her sleeping schedule was like.

She could have also been captured or killed. Those were not fun thoughts. The fucking worry was back, like a virus. Damian anxiously awaited his weedkiller.

She likely wasn’t kidnapped or dead. His father would have known by now and would have told him. He hopes. If his father didn’t tell him he’s a fucking asshole.

“Master Damian.”

“Yes?” he turned around to face Alfred, grateful to be away from the god damn brain-eating plant in his head.

“I simply wanted to prevent you from walking into that wall,” Alfred gestured behind Damian.

He glanced and – yep. Fucking hell. He almost walked into a wall because of the god damn weed of an emotion forcibly taking his mind hostage.

He was having a grand ol’ time.

“Perhaps you would like to go for a drive?” Alfred asked, a single brow raised.

Damian hesitated. “Alright. Where do you want to go?”

“We can figure it out in the car, Master Damian.” Alfred went to grab the keys and his shoes. Damian checked on when his weedkiller would arrive.

A week.

Fucking fuck fuck.

He should have paid for one-hour shipping.

“Are you ready to go, Master Damian?”

“Yes.”

Alfred didn’t try to talk to him during the drive, for which Damian was grateful though. He hated this emotion thing, and people forcing him to talk made it so much worse.

His phone buzzed. Damian pulled it out and checked it.

Angel: Kill me now

His eyes widened. What happened? Is she okay? Did someone- god fucking motherfucking dammit bitch.

Damian: What’s wrong?

Stupid god damn worry.

Angel: We have to all get lunch as a class before I’m free

Angel: I’m in the group with Liar Rossi

Damian raised a brow. Marinette hadn’t told him much about this girl in her class, but he knew she lied and nobody but Marinette knew she lied.

He didn’t like her.

Angel: Death would be sweatier

Damian: *sweeter

Angel: Rude

Damian: Anyway

Damian: You can’t die yet

Damian: We still technically didn’t get ice cream

Absolutely wonderful excuse you fucking asswhipe. Damian should be a politician with that reasoning.

He looked around, recognizing the streets. They were a bit weird from the actual street instead of the rooftops, but-

Damian: Also you’re at the Gotham City Heroes and Villains Museum right?

Angel: Yes I am

Damian fought to keep the smi- self-satisfied smirk off his face. Bingo.

Damian: I’m nearby

Damian: I can pick you up for lunch

Angel: OMG really? Please do I’d really really like that

Damian: omw

“Alfred,” Damian leaned up toward the front seat. “Head to the Gotham City Heroes and Villains Museum? I’d like to pick someone up.”

“Of course Master Damian,” Alfred’s tone didn’t betray anything about his thoughts, but for some reason that was calming to him.

The car drive to the museum was fairly short, if Damian was honest. They were only a few minutes away to begin with anyway.

When they arrived, Damian saw a redhaired girl with glasses yelling at his An- Marinette. At Marinette. He couldn’t hear what Marinette had said, but it must have been good. The red-haired girl’s jaw fucking dropped. The people behind her looked fucking dead.

Priceless.

Marinette saw him and he waved. Alfred unlocked the door, and Marinette got in. She didn’t look back at her classmates' faces as Alfred drove away.

Shit. Something must have happened. He wasn’t good with emotions though, after all he ordered weedkiller to see if he could get rid of fucking worry.

So, Damian Wayne did what any Wayne would do when faced with emotions.

Ignore them.

“Where would you like to eat, Angel?” Damian asked.

Shit, fuck, too insensitive.

Marinette shrugged. “I’m not sure, I don’t know what’s here.”

She sounded so goddamn miserable-

Damian frowned. “Angel, you okay?”

Fucking shit, stupid mouth. Learn the fucking rules. He should be banned from fucking talking.

“I’m okay,” she mumbled. “I’ve got a lot on my mind right now.”

Damian wanted to press the issue but decided against it. If he was happy when Alfred didn’t make him talk feelings, maybe Marinette would be too.

He was a friend first – wait first before what, exactly?

“Alfred, can you take us to the nearest,” he glanced at Marinette. “four-star restaurant?”

“As you wish Master Damian.”

He hoped Marinette didn’t feel out of place, but he wanted to lift her spirits. She deserved to smile – that was a weird fucking sentence what the fuck?

Damian is pretty sure he’s losing his marbles.

“I know,” Marinette suddenly blurted out. “I know you’re Damian Wayne.”

Fucking fuck fuck.

Shit. She’s probably pissed he didn’t tell her-

“I just want you to know that doesn’t change anything. You’re still my friend, and I don’t care who your dad is and who you are.”

Damian gaped at her for a moment before shaking his head. He should have fucking told her, he’s an ass. “I’m sorry you had to find out on your own. I should have told you-”

Marinette interrupted, “you didn’t have to. You don’t owe me that.”

He was confused. What?

She didn’t want to know who he was right off the bat? She was okay with that secret?

“As a stranger or even a friend, you don’t owe me any details about who you are. Ever,” Marinette told him. “You’re allowed to keep secrets and not tell me things you aren’t comfortable sharing. It isn’t fair of me to demand you tell me everything.”

Holy fucking shit.

This… this woman…

“Thank you,” he said earnestly. “I… nobody’s ever said secrets are okay…”

Marinette shrugged. “I can’t help if I feel left out, but forcing you to tell me everything isn’t how friendship is supposed to work. If you don’t want to tell me, it’s okay.”

Damian’s smile was small, and it felt a bit out of place on his face. He couldn’t find it within himself to care.

“Perhaps instead of a restaurant, I can take you both to the mansion for your lunch?” Alfred, the god damn traitor, suggested.

He wanted to say ‘have you lost your god damn marbles, Alfred?’ but he didn’t.

Instead, he said, “You sure Alfred?” like a fucking loser.

Marinette glanced at him. “You don’t have to if you aren’t comforta-”

“No, it’s not that,” he assured. Why would she think he was uncomfortable? His brothers were menaces, but he was used to them! Marinette, however... “My brothers can be… rambunctious.”

Drake and Todd were going to have a fucking field day, especially after what they pulled last night over the comms. He was lucky Grayson was working today. But those two motherfuckers…

Marinette smiled. “I can handle them if that’s the only reason you’re nervous.”

Damian thought for a moment.

Fucking fuck fuck.

He hoped she could. Because if they caused her any unnecessary harm or discomfort he would murder their asses.

With pleasure too.

But one look told Damian that he wouldn’t need to. This girl was going to be the death of him. He hoped the weedkiller was miraculously early.

He sighed. “Alfred, please talk us to the mansion.”

“My pleasure, Master Damian.”

Fucking fuck fuck.

[vivxwrites]

Let’s Do It

*not my gif*

Word Count: 1347

Summary: You relationship with Natasha has hit a stale point and you realize that needs to change when you find out that you’re pregnant.

Warnings: Mention of vomiting, Some light angst

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Reader

A/N: Request by an anon, I hope you enjoy it :) I did my best to make it long for you and I sincerely hope it’s what you imagined it to be. Enjoy.

Set in an AU where a woman can biologically and naturally get another woman pregnant (just go with it).

You sighed as you carded your fingers through your unruly hair. You had just finished fight number four of this month with your girlfriend of three years, Natasha. Lately the two of you fought over every little thing and quite frankly, you were growing tired of it. The stress was getting to you and you found it was starting to affect your mental health too. You stepped into the large shower and let the blistering hot water fall over your skin in an effort to relax yourself. The relaxing atmosphere brought your mind to a happier time in your relationship with Nat and you yearned to go back. To go back to a time where Natasha was home and where whatever time you spent with her wasn’t taken up by lashing out at each other. A tear made its way down your face as all of your troubled feelings punched you in the gut at once. Your girlfriend was never home, your relationship was crumbling slowly into thousands of pieces, did she even love you anymore? A panicked feeling crawled up into your chest at the thought. It dug itself into your chest and your knees buckled below you. You were completely numb on the outside while on the inside your mind raced around faster than Natasha on her motorcycle. Tears flowed freely down your face, mixing with the water spraying out of the shower-head. When you finally mustered up enough strength to stand again you shut the water off and stumbled to your bed, falling into it and crying painful tears until you finally fall asleep.

You woke up the next morning and a wave of nausea promptly spread over you. You rushed to the toilet and emptied the contents of your stomach. Since you weren’t sick you chalked the nausea up to being a result of crying yourself to sleep last night and went about the rest of your day. It passed, with no Natasha in sight. You sighed and went to bed, alone and cold. When you woke up that morning, the nausea was there again and so you rushed back to the toilet. The following two mornings started the same and so you finally scheduled an appointment to see what was up with your stomach. 

“Have you taken a pregnancy test lately?” The doctor had just finished going through a check up and after ruling out any illnesses, concluded that you were either pregnant or suffering through a condition of sorts.

You pondered the question and tapped a finger against your chin. A look of wonder crossed your face, could you really be pregnant? A warm smile slowly appeared on your face as you  imagined what having a little Natasha running around would be like. “You know doctor, I haven’t. Do you have any on hand?”

The doctor nodded and reached into a draw, handing the packaged pregnancy test to you. You took a hesitant step into the bathroom, then the next few steps quickly and stared at the test. After a while you shrugged and followed the directions to the test, wondering if it would appear with double lines or not. 

Time stood at a standstill while you waited for the pregnancy test to process. You and Natasha hadn’t been intimate together in…how long was it now? You had no idea but you assumed that it was sometime before the fighting started which was...six weeks ago, give or take.

You paced around anxiously for the remainder of the ten minutes that the test was supposed to take, fiddling with your fingers and picking at your nails. As if your mind had an internal timer, you glanced towards the test and peered down at its display. Two blue lines. You sucked in a breath and held your tears at bay. The only coherent thought you had flickered through your mind repeatedly, Natasha needs to know.

Later that night, after searching through the entire compound, you knocked on the door to Natasha’s room…which was unused since the two of you had moved in together, right? You felt like breaking into sobs as your mind tore itself into pieces, some praying that Natasha wasn’t inside, sleeping without you, while the others desperately wanted to see her, no matter the current circumstances. 

After a few minutes of a vicious battle between the pieces of your consciousness, the door finally creaked open to show a sleepy, bleary eyed Natasha. ‘So she was sleeping without you, ouch,’ you thought. She blinked a few times and you watched as her mind processed that you were the one who had knocked on the door. “(Y/N).”

“Hi Nat,” you spoke meekly and fiddled with the bottom of your shirt, “I need to tell you something, can I come in?”

“Yeah of course.” The tension in the air was obvious as you cautiously took a seat on her couch. She looked at you, her head tilted in question and you internally cooed at the sight.

You squeezed your eyes shut and decided to just rip the bandage off. “I’m pregnant.” She blinked at you and her mouth formed the shape of an o. 

Natasha was silent and you kept your ears open for even the slightest sound from her. When nothing came after a while, you opened your mouth to speak again, only to find yourself cut off as she finally spoke up, “Let’s do it.”

“What?” You spoke the word slowly and furrowed your eyebrows in confusion, you certainly weren’t expecting her to say that.

“Let’s do it, (Y/N). Let’s have a kid, let’s start a family.” She sunk to her knees and scooted on the floor until she was situated in front of you. She grabbed your hands and laced her fingers through yours, giving both of them a firm squeeze as she glanced up at you. “You’re already pregnant, half of the work is already done. We can do it baby, I know it.”

You bit your lip and met her gaze, “You’re serious?” She nodded her head and you paused once more.

You spoke hesitantly and softly, thinking about each word carefully, “Our relationship is in shambles Nat, I mean, we aren’t even sleeping in the same bed anymore. How can we possibly have a kid?” You were conflicted, of course you wanted nothing more than to start a family with Natasha, she was it for you. It was you and her, till the end of the line...but things were so awful lately, so toxic.

“I know we’ve been fighting lately but we love each other, right?” You nodded and she let a small, sincere smile make its way onto her face. “This is just a small hiccup in our relationship, we’re three years strong babe, we’ll fix it.”

You sat, dumbfounded for a minute as you thought through her answer. The two of you could fix it, she loved you and you loved her and that was all that mattered. 

Natasha continued, her eyes pleading with you, “I know things aren’t great, but I promise to be better, to do my best for you (Y/N). Our relationship needs to change, regardless of the baby on the way. I love you and it kills me fighting with you all of the time.”

You were still conflicted but you trusted Natasha with everything that you had. You trusted that things would change, would become the environment that they needed to be in order to raise a child. You searched her eyes for one final answer, and you found it, “Ok, let’s do it.” 

She gave you a rare giddy smile and hopped up, picking you up and swinging you around the room in her arms. You squealed and she peppered your face in kisses. When she finally put you down she cupped your cheeks and connected her lips with yours, speaking to you through her actions: a language that you were expertly fluent in.

“I love you so much.” She rested her forehead against yours and clutched your arms tightly, though not enough to hurt you.

“I love you too, Natasha.”

A/N: I’m gonna use this author’s note to give a warm welcome to everyone new to my blog! My name is Viv, I run this blog and write all of the wonderful (hopefully) fics, though most of them are requests and very few are actually my own ideas. Right now I have two series going, you can find them in my masterlist (see bio) and the next parts of them will be written soon. Requests are always open and right now I’m cycling through updates to my series and a ton of Nat fics (to everyone who has requested one, I’m doing my best to go in order of when they were requested, I hope to get through all of them soon). I think that’s it, welcome to my blog and I look forward to sharing my future content with you all :) Thanks, Viv :)

Permanent Tag List: @aesthetiff @autumnjackson4 @captainwonderwidow @5aftermidnight @fansanctuary @gigglygwil @lesbian-x-blackwidow

P.S. If you want to join my permanent tag list, full of lovely lovely people, all you have to do is ask! Admission is free!

[bunnyhanasong]

My Safety

Main ship: pharmercy

Side ships: n/a

Genre: disgustingly soft fluffy fluff 🥰

Notes: pharmercy are the softest and that’s all that matters. This mushy fluff is a result of me missing my girlfriend and procrastinating assignments lmao.

Cross posted to my Ao3, lesbianlenaoxton

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Every action in Angela’s day has a rhythm, never a beat out of place. Her schedule is down to a tee, the only variation is what cases and surgeries she participates in. She enjoys the constant, the knowledge that her days are always the same. Life goes on but does it really? When you have a schedule you follow religiously, are you actually living your life?

The rhythm is where she finds peace in her busy life. The constant keeps her calm, feeling comfortable. If one thing throws off that constant, Angela feels off for the rest of the day. These constants, though, can become tiring. She is a doctor , after all; life does not slow down even when you need it to.

Angela was certainly feeling the weight of her job that day. She had been in her lab since 5 AM, trying to get a head start on some calculations that day. She left the lab only for a surgery scheduled for noon, didn’t even stop to eat before going to help one of her teammates. Of course she knew the medical ramifications of her schedule, knew she should pencil in more time to eat and rest, but she just couldn’t find the time. Besides, work was work and it kept her occupied.

It was almost two in the morning when she finally got back to her quarters, having had an emergency surgery and a lot of stitches to do and bones to set after the latest mission. She had effectively drained her caduceus staff of its power, sometimes she would have to fiddle with to improve in the future, but everyone was stable and healing.

She was not exactly expecting to find Fareeha in her room, certainly not awake anyway. Her girlfriend was still on a soldier’s schedule, taking every possible second she could to nap in case she had to go a long time without rest. The Egyptian woman was awake, though, perched on Angela’s bed with a book in her lap. She bookmarked her page when she saw Angela, setting the book aside as she greeted her gently.

Angela didn’t say anything, just dropped her bag of files on the floor next to her haphazardly kicked off shoes and crossed the room. Fareeha chuckled in that warm and lovely way she did when her girlfriend promptly climbed into her lap, pressing her back against the wall as she wrapped her in a tight embrace.

“Long day?” Fareeha asked, rubbing Angela’s back carefully. She could feel the stability implant under her fingertips, tracing the metal contraption gently. The thing had been surgically implanted, by Moira O’deorain of all people, to aid Angela during both surgery and battle. It allowed her to stay on her feet for up to 18 hours without break, keeping her perfect posture and taking excess weight off her spine. Still, Fareeha knew the thing still caused Angela pain, especially after a long day. One too many hits in battle had caused it to shift slightly and since Moira was certainly no longer available to fix it, Angela had to deal with the pain on her own.

“Mhm,” Angela nodded against Fareeha’s broad shoulder, relaxing against her body a bit. The rhythmic feeling of her hand running over her spine was calming and Angela just wanted to surrender to sleep already. She allowed herself to slump into her girlfriend’s embrace, feeling her implant pinch at the action, and sighed deeply.

“Have you been sleeping?” Fareeha’s voice was calm and warm in her ear, a low murmur that Angela was very fond of.

The doctor shrugged, “If you can call twenty-one hours a week sleeping.”

“Habibti,” Fareeha chastised, “You need to rest.”

Angela hummed dismissively at her words, “I am,” she waved her hand pointedly at their position and closed her eyes, “See? Resting.”

“Angela.”

“Shh,” The blonde tucked her head into the crook of Fareeha’s neck, ghosting a kiss there that made the younger flush slightly, “Nap time.”

Fareeha shook her head fondly at her girlfriend, “Don’t you want to change?” She was still clad in her beige scrubs, white coat slipping off one shoulder.

“No,” Angela replied, “You’re warm ‘n’ I’m tired.”

The way her voice slurred and her accent was more apparent gave away her exhaustion. Usually Angela was very careful in her enunciation and tried her hardest to omit her thick Swiss accent for clarity’s sake. She had gotten better over the years, probably from spending more time with Jack and Jesse, but her accent was still there, especially when she was tired. That wasn’t a bad thing, of course; Fareeha actually found her girlfriend’s accent quite endearing.

“Alright,” Fareeha answered, gathering Angela’s thin in her arms with ease. She laid them both down, shifting a bit until she could get the blankets out from under Angela. The blonde just allowed herself to be partially manhandled into a comfortable position, already halfway to dreamland.

“Get some sleep, Habibti. I’ll wake you if anything happens,” Fareeha promised, drawing Angela closer as she pulled the blankets over them. She pressed a kiss to the top of Angela’s head, thumb stroke over her cheek gently in a loving gesture that made the only lean into her touch.

Angela hummed in agreement, tucking her head under her girlfriend’s chin as she snuggled against her chest. She had so many things to do and worry about, but all she wanted right then was to surrender to the call of sleep. Besides, she knew there would be no arguing with her stubborn girlfriend on the matter.

“Athena, turn off the lights, please,” Fareeha spoke softly so as not to disturb Angela, but the watchpoint’s AI heard her fine. The lights in Angela’s sleeping quarters shut off with a click, bathing the room in darkness.

“Very well,” Athena’s monotone voice replied through a speaker in the wall, “Goodnight, Chief Amari, Doctor Ziegler.” With that the AI went silent and the green light beside her speaker flicked to red as she fell dormant in that room.

Angela mumbled something into Fareeha’s shirt, unintelligible by the way her words were muffled. Fareeha chuckled lowly at that and asked Angela to repeat herself, busying herself with gently pulling the blonde’s hair from it’s messy ponytail.

“Ich liebe dich. Danke, Schatz.”

Fareeha smiled fondly at the way Angela reverted back to her mother tongue in her half asleep state. Despite her limited knowledge of Swiss German, Fareeha knew enough to reply without prompting Angela to repeat herself in English.

“I love you too, Habibti,” the Egyptian woman replied, “Please rest, you deserve it.”

Angela didn’t answer after that and soon enough her breathing evened out into that of unconsciousness. Fareeha laid there with her girlfriend in her arms, listening to her soft snores and the rhythmic exhale of her breathing that caused strands of Fareeha’s hair to flutter against her neck. She continued playing with Angela’s hair, letting the feeling of her weight comfortably on top of her calm her mind.

Moments like this were a good reminder to Fareeha that Angela was there and real. PTSD attacks often haunted her in the dark or when she was sleeping, so she always found peace in Angela’s presence. Her gentle breathing and barely audible mumbles were the only indication that she was alive, since she often fell completely still in unconsciousness. Angela’s lack of heartbeat, a side effect of her using herself as a guinea pig in her nanobiotic experiments, had been hard to adjust to at first. It scared Fareeha, when her girlfriend’s heart rate had slowed and then abruptly ceased existing after a while. It still scared her in the dark sometimes, fear of losing the older woman still strong, so feeling Angela breathing against her skin was reassuring.

She couldn’t lose Angela, it would be too hard for her to bear. She had become so dependent on the older woman since finally joining Overwatch. Fareeha had found peace and safety she had lacked her whole life in the stern Swiss doctor. The comfort and love Angela gave her constantly was something Fareeha would never take for granted. That was why she was so insistent of Angela resting and taking care of herself. It pained her to see her girlfriend working so hard and forgetting about her own health. She wanted Angela to be happy, had made it a priority to ensure she was always safe.

It was moments like this, with her favourite person in her arms, that Fareeha found the peace she had spent so long searching for. She hoped that Angela felt the safety and comfort with her as well, because that’s all she wanted in life; to ease her worries and keep her safe.

[writehardwhumpharder]

FMA fic - Appendicitis and Fever 7k+ words

Ed didn’t think much of it when he woke up with a slight stomach ache for the second day in a row. Between researching the stone and doing missions for Mustang, he was beyond stressed and wondered how something like this hadn’t come up sooner. Al, of course, was as lively as ever, not the least bit exhausted from their nonstop work. In fact, he only seemed to get more hopeful and determined with every hour they spent reading in the library. Edward couldn’t stand to let his brother down so he put a smile on his face and got dressed. They had an early train to catch but once they were on their way to the next town in their search, Ed could spend the four hour train ride taking it easy.

“Are you ready to go brother? I don’t want to miss the train!” Al called excitedly from outside Ed’s room. They had plenty of time to get to the station and they both knew it but Edward tried to mimic his brother’s enthusiasm, throwing his coat on even quicker, the budding pain in his stomach long forgotten.

“Yeah Al just let me grab my things,” Edward laughed, grabbing the small suitcase tucked away in the corner. They probably wouldn’t be gone long enough to need a change of clothes but you never know and Ed used the rest of the space in the suitcase for a couple books and some paper that he’d need to write his report for Mustang and any other important notes he had.

Ed reluctantly allowed his to brother carry his bag for him. If he was being completely honest with himself hauling the heavy bag was making his side ache a little bit. Despite not having a human face, Al’s expression seemed to brighten at the thought of being useful. His soulfire eyes glowed happily. Ed wished he felt that good. Unlike Al, the smile on his face was a carefully constructed mask made for the sake of his brother.

They walked to the station and boarded the train fifteen minutes before its scheduled departure. Al stowed the bag on the shelf above them and sat down. Ed sank heavily into the seat across from him.

“Are you okay, brother?” Al asked, picking up on Ed’s subtle discomfort.

“I’m fine. But I make it a point not to wake up before eight and today is no exception. I’m gonna take a nap, you won’t be too bored will you?” Ed asked as he settled across the bench. His small stature allowed him to lay down on the seat easily. They had gotten up earlier than usual that morning so Al thought nothing of it when Ed laid down and closed his eyes.

“Go ahead,” he said, turning to face out the window where the city would shift into rolling hills as they went by once the train got moving. After everyone else was settled on board, the train jolted to life sending a sharp but quick pain through Edward’s stomach. He contained the grimace before his face could react and immediately went back to resting. Maybe he ate something that didn’t agree with him. Again Edward dismissed the thought in favor of drifting back into a light sleep.

Al was perfectly content to look out the window as they passed some farms and smaller towns. The hills were dotted with sheep and cows and Al wished brother was awake so he could point them out to him. But Ed was still sleeping which was a little odd. It was nearly eleven and Ed never had any breakfast. Al decided he’d rather wake up his brother with some food and coffee to offer him, knowing how cranky he got when he was hungry, so he got up and headed to the car with food and drinks. He picked out a bagel that looked good and ordered a coffee, pouring in just a hint of milk and a lot of sugar, just they way his brother liked it. Solemnly, Al thought about how he couldn’t smell or taste the food he was holding as he made his way back to where Ed was sleeping. To his surprise Ed was awake and sitting up when he got back.

“I was just about to start looking for you,” Ed said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Since Al himself wouldn’t need to leave to go to the bathroom or grab food he was surprised to wake up and see him gone.

“I just went to get you some breakfast, I figured you’d be hungry when you woke up,” Al said cheerfully, setting the bagel and coffee down in front of him. Ed was surprised to find that he actually wasn’t hungry but Al had gone through the trouble of getting it for him so he’d eat every last bite of it. He also knew that hungry or not his automail needed constant fuel to function properly.

“Thanks Al, this looks great,” he said taking a large bite from the bagel. It didn’t taste bad, but it didn’t taste good either. He wolfed down the food and coffee though like he always did, not wanting to worry Al. Which was stupid because there was nothing to worry about.

“Do you think we’ll find anything here?” Al asked suddenly. Edward drew his attention away from the window.

“I don’t think we’re going to pop in, grab the stone, then head back to Central but I’m sure we’ll find out something important that gets us a little closer to the stone,” Ed said with what he thought was a reasonable amount of hope. That was how these things usually went. They would go to a small town looking for the stone and inevitably find some kind of trouble. If there was anything the brothers could do for the people they would do it, using their alchemy to quickly fix things in desperate need of repair. And in the unlikeliest of places they found some important piece of information which took them right back to the library and Mustang’s office respectively.

Edward couldn’t be more relieved when the train finally rolled to a stop. He was starting to get motion sick. Al followed Ed off, carrying the suitcase with ease. Edward paused to take a deep breath, the air was just so refreshing and cold. It took some kind of weight off his shoulders.

“What is it?” Al asked.

“The weather is perfect today, being in the city makes me forget just how nice fresh air is,” Ed said. Al didn’t comment, he had nothing to say about the wind that he couldn’t feel. Ed’s heart sank, “Sorry…” he started.

“Don’t apologize,” Al said quickly, already knowing where his brother’s mind was going. There wasn’t a single day that Ed didn’t regret what he did, it should have been him. Al seemingly read his mind again, “If you were the one that lost your body, I wouldn’t have been able to bind your soul like you did for me, then I’d have to live without you. I wouldn’t want that. This way we can still be together, and we’ll both get our bodies back.” Al said.

Edward wondered just how his brother always managed to stay so positive. Maybe he was right, there was no use dwelling on it now. Why was he so emotional all of a sudden anyway?

Edward quickly shoved his feelings aside, mental and otherwise, and proceeded forward, “Come on, let’s go find this alchemist.”

***

The sun was now high in sky and the pleasant breeze hadn’t gone away but Ed felt like it was only getting warmer and warmer outside. He was glad that Al couldn’t feel things like temperature because he certainly would have questioned it when Ed was forced to take his coat off.

“Man, the sun really came out since we got here,” Ed commented casually as they walked through the small town. The cobblestone streets weren’t quite wide enough for cars so everyone walked to and from work. They were looking for a retired author whose notes on alchemy they had come across in the Central library. Thankfully they hadn’t come looking for a fight, the promise of information on the philosopher’s stone their only reason for the visit. Given the ever present cramp in Ed’s side which ached with every step he was glad he wouldn’t have to do any serious alchemy.

Ed pulled the scribbled note out of his jacket pocket and double checked the address. The house in front of them was looking a little worse for wear, not at all what they expected of a renowned scientist and author. Then again if he moved all the way out here he probably wasn’t trying to draw too much attention to himself. When they ran the idea past Colonel Bastard he said that the man had been very cooperative with the military in the past and probably didn’t pose a threat. Ed and Al were still a little on guard though as Ed approached the door, Al standing just a few steps behind him.

“Mr. Haruta?” Ed called as he knocked on the door. The door opened abruptly and Ed almost stumbled inside, finding a gun aimed right at his chest. Every muscle in his body froze up and he readied himself to jump out of the way. A startled looking man stared down at him behind a pair of glasses.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, no one has called me that name in a long time,” he sighed, lowering the gun, “You must be the Elric brothers, do come in.” he said politely as if he’d been expecting them.

Ed and Al exchanged looks, “How did you-“

“It’s my job to know these things, I may be retired but that doesn’t mean I don’t keep up with the news. What brings you here?” Mr. Haruta asked. Ed and Al stepped inside hesitantly, understanding that this may be a conversation he wouldn’t like to have on his porch in plain view.

“My brother and I have been reading some of your books on alchemy and have a few questions.” Ed explained with a smile. The older man gestured for them to sit down which Ed gladly did. Being off his feet did help a little with the growing pain in his stomach that sat like a ball of lead weighing him down. Despite his long nap this morning Ed was oddly exhausted. The couch dipped beside him as Al sat down.

“Which books would those be?” Mr. Haruta asked, sitting down in an armchair across from them.

“The fifth volume, specifically the part where you theorize about the making of a philosopher’s stone.” Ed said cautiously. Normally he wouldn’t lay it all out like that but he was hoping to catch the train back to Central later today and they didn’t have much time to waste if they were accomplish everything they came to do and avoid being stuck here an extra day. Mr. Haruta’s face hardened into an unreadable expression. Al felt his brother tense beside him, unsure of how the alchemist would react to that question.

“There is a reason those books are classified, they are dangerous and I will not discuss them,” He said strongly, keeping his voice from being too harsh. To be fair he’d been caught completely off guard by the question.

“Please sir, whether you help us or not we will find the philosopher’s stone,” Al interjected, his voice grew quiet, “we have to.”

Mr. Haruta shook his head uncertainly, “I am familiar with your… predicament. But I vowed never to pursue the stone again and I would advise you to do the same.” The way he said it the brothers knew that his decision was final. His face softened again, “since you’ve come all this way why don’t you stay for lunch and tea. I just made it before you arrived, should still be warm.” He said, getting up to grab the dishes from the kitchen. Since Ed was fairly certain that the man wouldn’t have had any time to poison the food he graciously accepted the offer, hoping the warm tea might ease some of the hollow ache spreading through him. He seemed like a nice man but Ed had met plenty of “nice” men before and he had to worry about these things. Mr. Haruta brought out a tea kettle and three cups as well a pot of stew. The meal had clearly been made for one but they managed to spread it between them. He poured three cups of tea and offered Ed a bowl for the stew, apparently planning on eating the meal in the living room rather than the formal dining room. Al picked up his cup of tea, unable to drink it, feel its warmth, or even smell its herbal aroma. He was grateful though that Mr. Haruta had bothered to give him any tea at all knowing he wasn’t able to drink it. It made him feel included. Ed ladled some stew into his bowl and stared at it curiously.

“Something wrong?” Mr. Haruta asked with a hint of concern. Ed started to answer him but he suddenly closed his mouth, setting the bowl down on the coffee table. He swallowed thickly and took a steadying breath before speaking.

“Actually, would you mind if I used your bathroom?” he asked, voice quivering slightly.

“Sure it’s right down that hall,” their host pointed. Ed wasted no time getting up from the couch practically running toward the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him. It had come on so suddenly. The smell of the food was enough to make his stomach turn and he fell down next to the toilet, heaving up the bagel and coffee he’d had on the train. Al’s voice drifted in from outside the bathroom door.

“Brother?! Are you okay? I’m coming in.” He said. Ed quickly flushed the toilet. Though he knew Al couldn’t smell the vomit he was still embarrassed about him seeing him like this.

“Okay,” he grumbled, knowing Al would come in either way. He leaned his head on his arm which was draped over the edge of the toilet bowl. He felt miserable — sick, dizzy, achy, and suddenly way too hot. Al moved past him to the sink and wet a washcloth and wiped his mouth clean before refolding it to put on his forehead. Ed couldn’t have been more grateful and he took the cloth from his brother, holding it to his face himself. He could do that much.

“What’s wrong?” Al asked, trying and failing to hide how concerned he was for his brother.

“I don’t know, I just felt sick all of a sudden.” Ed explained, leaving out that he’d had a stomachache all day before it climaxed just now. “Let’s just go back to Central okay? Mr. Haruta won’t give us any information on the stone so we might as well go home and get some rest before I have to hand in my report.”

“We can’t travel with you feeling like this. I saw a nice inn in town by the train station, we can leave tomorrow morning if you’re feeling better.” Al said, grabbing his brother by the shoulders to help him to his feet. They still had plenty of time before the last train would leave so Ed didn’t see the harm in laying down for a couple hours. Maybe by then Al would calm down and agree to heading home. Mr. Haruta appeared at the end of the hall.

“Is everything okay?” He asked, seeing how pale Edward looked. He was pretty sure he knew what had happened but he didn’t want to pry.

“Yes everything is fine, Edward is just a little sick so we’re going to the hotel. Sorry to have bothered you.” Al said as they walked to the door.

“Wait. Hold on just a minute,” Mr. Haruta looked conflicted but he had made up his mind seeing how the brothers looked out for each other. He could make an exception for them. Finding a scrap of paper and a pen he wrote something down, thrusting it into Al’s metal hands hoping he wasn’t making a mistake that would get the two boys hurt. It didn’t seem like they could get more hurt than they already were.

“Take this before I change my mind. And good luck,” he said. Al thanked him and Edward managed to mumble a thank you as well, still looking pretty pale and shaky. After a few more steps Edward felt strong enough to walk on his own, sliding out of Al’s grip.

“I’m alright now Al, really, the smell of the stew was just a bit overwhelming and my stomach hurt-“ Ed started, only to be cut off.

“When did that start?” He asked, knowing Ed had a tendency to hide this sort of thing.

“What?” He asked innocently, hoping to just skip over it.

“You didn’t tell me your stomach hurt.” Al said, if he still had a human face Ed was sure his brows would be scrunched together, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“I didn’t mention it because it’s not a big deal.” Ed lied.

“You promise?” Al asked with the voice of a little brother much younger than he actually was. His heart panged at the thought of blatantly lying to him.

“I promise,” He said, flashing Al a little smile as if to prove how okay he was. Al wasn’t too sure he believed him but his brother had promised so he dropped it for now. They rounded the corner and approached the small inn framed under a cheerful yellow awning.

A woman behind the counter perked up at the sight of them, “can I help you boys?”

“Yes we’d like a room for the night, whatever is cheapest,” Ed said, leaning heavily on the counter. While he did have plenty of funds from being a state alchemist he didn’t intend on spending much time in the room.

“Very well, we have a room with a queen bed on the first floor, we also serve basic meals,” she said kindly.

“Perfect, we’ll take it,” Ed handed her the money and she led them down a short hallway to the room. After unlocking it for them she handed off the key and told them she would be available at the front desk if they needed anything. There was a phone out there they could use as well since there wasn’t one in each of the rooms.

Setting down Ed’s suitcase Al watched his brother take off his coat and jacket before laying face down on the bed. Al couldn’t help but notice his movements were a little stiff, but he chalked it up to not wanting to upset his stomach further. Al could hardly remember now what having a body felt like so it was hard for him to determine whether Ed was actually okay or not. He seemed to relax as he sank into the mattress.

“I’ll call the Colonel and tell him we’re coming back tomorrow morning,” Al said. Edward abruptly sat up, concealing a wince.

“Don’t call him, we can take the train out tonight, I’m fine, really.” Ed assured him. Al hesitated by the door but ultimately gave in to his brother and sat down on the chair in the corner of the room.

“Fine, but for now you should just get some more sleep.”

“Hey, what did Mr. Haruta give you?” Ed asked. Sleeping sounded pretty good to him right about then but if they had a lead, that was more important.

“It’s a list of books in the Central library, just the call numbers and a couple names. It’s nothing we can look into now so don’t worry about it.”

Ed groaned, he was probably right.

***

When Ed woke up again it was dark outside, Al still sat in the same spot as he did before but his suitcase was open and a few things having been unpacked.

“What time is it?” Ed demanded, “why didn’t you wake me?”

“You were sick, I thought it best just to let you sleep, there’s no rush to get back home,” Al said. The hell there wasn’t. The pain in Ed’s stomach only seemed to get worse and he desperately wanted to be back in his own bed, not some random hotel room in a different city. He wondered for a second if that was Al’s plan was all along, to let him sleep through the last departure back to Central. That was crazy though, he wouldn’t be that conniving.

“I could have slept on the train, Al. Now we’re stuck here until tomorrow,” Ed whined.

“Actually it’s about 1am now, the next train leaves in four hours so stop pouting.” Al said. Crap, had he really been sleeping that long? He vaguely remembered waking up a couple times, only to resign back to sleep when the pain in his side got to be too much. He wasn’t sure how he could possibly convince Al that he was fine after sleeping through the second half of the day but he really was feeling better.

Ed got up from the bed and walked around to the desk, snatching up the slip of paper Mr. Haruta gave them.

“You said there was nothing we could get started on. I see three names listed here we could start looking into,” Ed said walking over to the small stack of books resting next to his suitcase. One of them was a book checked out of the library dedicated solely to personnel records from the last two decades. If any of these people were alchemists or military he could find out and that would give them some idea as to where to start their next search. Ed dragged the chair  opposite Al out from under the desk and sat down, opening the book on military records. He scanned through the different sections and titles looking for the names. Ed was a little surprised to find that none of the people had been state alchemists but two of the names were listed in the book. The first was a women who served as a personal assistant to an alchemist ten years ago, the second was a scientist who had also served in the military four years ago. Once they got back to Central they could start looking for a connection between them.

Ed managed to stay awake until they had to get ready to head to the train station, he couldn’t fathom the idea of going back to sleep after wasting half the day before. As exhausted as he felt, he had to keep moving forward, for Al, but when he was about to stand up from his chair a flicker of doubt stopped him.

“Hey Al could you call ahead and let the bastard know I’ll report in around 9am but might be a few minutes late,” He said trying to get his brother’s back turned for a few moments so he could collect himself. Also it was better to just tell the guy that he might be late so the Colonel wouldn’t start getting irritated after only ten minutes of waiting. Once Al was out of the room Ed stood up, unsurprised when a wave of dizziness threatened to knock him back down. His blood roared in his ears and it took a minute to get his bearings. He managed to at least look steady on his feet as they checked out. The station was only a block away, Ed could manage walking for that long, couldn’t he?

He found himself shivering against the wind, the cold seemed to penetrate all the way down to his core. He wrapped his coat around himself tighter, but when that didn’t work Ed realized that nothing would because it wasn’t the weather that was messed up, it was him. Ed chanced a touch to his forehead when Al wasn’t looking, confirming that he likely had the beginnings of a fever. He’d almost gotten used to the steady throb in the right side of his stomach as well. Looking back, the fever must have been worse than he realized because the idea that something might actually be wrong didn’t even occur to him as the pain continued to worsen. If he had eaten anything since yesterday morning he was sure he would have thrown it up by now so he was glad that the biting hollowness in his stomach was worth it if it kept him from having to repeat yesterdays events.

Ed leaned his head against the cold window as he stared down at the blank page in front of him. He still needed to write his stupid report. He had gotten halfway through it when realized that he’d literally addressed it to Colonel Bastard. His brain was starting to feel like warm jello so rather than starting a fresh report like he should, Ed crossed out the name and rewrote Mustang above it. He didn’t bother to hide the mistake very well, and if he didn’t feel like his stomach might burst into flames at the action, he would have laughed at the subtle insult. Al glanced over at him often during the train ride. It was still terribly early in the morning though so both boys were happy to spend it in peaceful silence.

Edward tensed suddenly, grabbing his side under the table. Only one thought consumed his fevered mind at this point — he couldn’t let Al know. He had no idea why that was so important but he avoided showing any kind of vulnerability at all costs, even if he was just with his brother. The pain was starting to make him sweat so Ed got up to go to the bathroom to clean up a little.

“Where are you going?” Al asked, seeing his brother shift in discomfort as he got to his feet.

“Bathroom, be right back,” Ed said. Walking proved to be more of a challenge than it should have been and once he was in a different car from his brother he allowed his flesh hand to grip his stomach, curling in on himself in hopes that that would somehow help with the pain. Sweat beaded on his forehead and he got more nauseas with every second he was upright. Someone else reached the bathroom at the same time he did but they took one look at the ill boy and insisted he go first.

Ed gave a lazy nod of thanks and scrambled into the bathroom, bolting the door behind him. He used the rim of the sink to gently lower himself to the ground where he positioned his head over the toilet. There was nothing left in his stomach but his body insisted on purging it anyway. Ed dry-heaved until he thought he might actually start puking up his intestines. Every contraction of his stomach sent a wave of red hot pain through his body.

Once his body had finally given up on the futile act, Ed dabbed at the sweat gathering above his brow. He stood up carefully, being sure not to straighten up too quickly. Despite his efforts Ed was assaulted with dizziness as he lifted his head and he was back on the floor before he even knew what was happening. “Did I just pass out?” he wondered, looking up at the ceiling of the small bathroom. It could have only been a few seconds but Ed had the unmistakable feeling of waking up. Surprisingly, after having lost consciousness for a short second he didn’t feel nearly as dizzy as he did before. The fever ravaging his body was still there and the pain pulsed along like a second heartbeat but he didn’t feel like he was going to faint again so he slowly got back to his feet again, leaning on the sink for support. The mirror in front of him showed that he looked paler than usual, the thin sheen of sweat only making him look sicker. His eyes lacked their usual spark, seeming dull and glazed over. He didn’t care how bad he looked though, he was determined to deliver his report and go home without incident. Why, he didn’t know, since he did enjoy purposely frustrating the Colonel. Deep down he knew he was worried someone would send him to the hospital and his skin crawled at the thought of Al worrying about him more.

“I’d better get back,” Ed thought, realizing he had been staring at the mirror for who knows how long, he’d kind of spaced out and when his mind did come back to him he accidentally said his thoughts out loud. Al must be getting suspicious. He rubbed as much life back into his face as he could and pushed himself away from the sink, standing on his own for a second just to make sure that he could before walking back towards the car Al was waiting in. He nearly bumped into him as he slid the connecting door open.

“Oh, brother, I was just coming to check on you. What took you so long?” Al asked as he stepped aside so Ed could walk back to their sits.

“You can’t just ask people why they took a long time in the bathroom, Al,” he chided, trying to sound vaguely offended at the question.

“Right, sorry.”

Ed picked the report back up to continue where he left off but when his eyes scanned the page letters blurred together, the words swirling dizzyingly on the paper. He blinked a couple times and decided to just add a couple more sentences summarizing their findings, then he could put it away. Mustang was used to less than stellar reports from him. Ed let the ink dry before folding the paper and sticking it in his coat pocket. Why on earth was he still wearing it? It was like 100 degrees in there. Slipping out of his coat, Ed groaned when he accidentally twisted his torso the wrong way.

“Are you alright?” Al asked. Everyone else on the train still had their coats on and seemed just fine, Ed was sweating visibly through his shirt.

“Yeah fine,” Ed said, sounding a little distracted.

***

The rest of the ride back to Central was a blur. The brothers stepped off the train, Al still carrying Ed’s luggage. Normally he would have insisted on carrying it himself but he seemed tired so Al didn’t even give him the chance. Not that Ed even noticed. They were surprised when they saw a familiar black car idling by the curb. Hawkeye sat behind the wheel, Havoc was next to her in the passenger seat smoking a cigarette, blowing the smoke out the open window. The scent almost made Ed want to hurl again but he pushed the thought out of his mind and climbed into the backseat when Hawkeye told him to hop in. Apparently Roy wanted them all back at his office immediately. The only issue was that there simply wasn’t enough room in the back for both Ed and Al. Al noticed and casually said he was just going to go straight back to the dorms, getting the hint that they probably didn’t want him going with them. It was like that sometimes, with Ed being the state alchemist and all. Sometimes things were above his clearance or there just wasn’t a reason for him accompanying Edward. Ed watched him disappear in the direction of the dorms as the car pulled back onto the street.

He took a moment to thank the gods that Hawkeye was such a good driver. She avoided every pothole with ease and made smooth, gentle turns. He wasn’t sure he could have made it if it was Havoc driving instead who paid no mind to the bumps in the road and sometimes didn’t even slow down before veering onto another street.

“Could you stop smoking please?” Ed asked quietly. He hoped that they hadn’t picked up on the way he gripped his stomach that burned with pain, or the way he grew pale whenever the smoke drifted into the backseat. Asking Havoc to stop smoking was like asking a person to stop breathing but the man reluctantly put it out and put his cigarette case and lighter back in his pocket. The fact that Ed was just a kid, far too young to be smoking, especially when he obviously still had some growing to do, made him a little more compliant. Hawkeye eyed him in the rearview mirror.

“You don’t usually mind the smoke, something bothering you today?” She asked, taking in the circles under his eyes and the unusual paleness to his skin.

“No, just didn’t get much sleep, and besides, smoking is gross,” he deflected, which might be the most boldfaced lie he’d told all year. He slept over twelve hours yesterday if you combined each of his naps but Hawkeye didn’t know that and Al wasn’t there to contradict him. All he needed to do now was turn in his written report, he could probably get out of reciting it if he played his cards right. He had to wonder though why they had bothered to pick him up at the train station.

“So what’s going on? What’s so urgent that I couldn’t just walk like usual?” He asked, forcing more strength into his voice than he had.

“Big meeting, we can’t get into it now but he wants to brief us all on a new threat,” She said. Being Mustang’s assistant Ed had no doubt she knew exactly what was going on but it was apparently secret enough that they couldn’t talk about it until there were behind closed doors. Ed briefly considered telling them that he was sick at the thought of enduring a meeting on top of reporting in but he couldn’t bring himself to admit how much pain he was in. He also suspected his fever had gone up significantly since leaving the hotel, oh well, he could sleep when he got back to the dorms. He probably just caught some stupid stomach bug.

As they neared the building Ed started to panic as he realized he’d have to walk up all those steps. His legs felt weak, like they might not support him when he stood up. Edward was stubborn though, he’d make it through this meeting with sheer will power if he had to. He was the god damn Fullmetal A-

“Are you coming Fullmetal?” Hawkeye asked, holding the door open for him. He hadn’t even noticed that they had arrived.

“Yeah of course,” Ed said, hopping out of the car only to start swaying when his feet hit the ground. Hawkeye quickly grabbed his elbow to steady him. He looked much worse out in the sunlight where she could see the slight shine of sweat on his skin that came with the fever.

“Really, be honest, are you okay?” Her voice was stern yet caring.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I swear. It’s just this heat,” Ed said, shooting a glare at the looming sun.

“What heat?” She asked, really starting to get concerned. Shit, he had slipped and his mind was moving too slowly to come up with a realistic excuse for it.

“Oh nothing,” he smiled, jerking his arm out of her grasp. She followed him up the stairs, he still looked a little shaky but seemed okay. Maybe he really was just tired. Mustang had a tendency to overwork the boy, partly to keep him from getting into more trouble and partly to instill some level of military work ethic.

They made their way to Roy’s office where a few other military personnel were waiting including Hughes and people Ed didn’t recognize.

“Thank you for joining us Fullmetal, I hoped to address everyone at once but since you’re late as usual you missed most of the briefing.” Mustang said, leaning against his desk. Then he looked out at the officers sitting and standing near the two couches, “If you have no further questions you are dismissed.”

Everyone got up and filed out of his office. Havoc followed them out leaving only Mustang, Hawkeye, and Ed. The room somehow got more suffocating with just the three of them if that was even possible. Ed didn’t wait for permission to go sit down on one of the couches. The pain was getting to be too much to bear and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hide it. Roy didn’t comment on Ed’s lack of manners. That was nothing new. He set down a folder on the coffee table for him to look at and started talking. Ed took the opportunity to reach one hand under his jacket while he was hunched over the file, pretending to read it. He caught bits and pieces of what Mustang was saying but it didn’t quite make it through his brain.

“..so make sure to be careful of that.” He said, walking around his desk to sit down. Hawkeye took up her position next to him.

“About what?” Ed asked, sounding genuinely confused.

“Have you been paying any attention at all? This is serious,” asked the Colonel, frustration evident in his voice. He sighed deeply, “Just bring it here,” he said, talking about his mission report.

“What? You mean… the file?” he said, looking at he pages in front of him. He gathered them up and made to stand but before he got that far sharp pain exploded from his right side at the movement and he gasped, falling back onto the sofa.

“Did you hit your head or something? I meant your mission report. Turn that in and you can go home and get some rest.” Mustang said as if it was painfully obvious, which it was to everyone but Ed.

“What report? Why are you yelling at me?” Ed said, cradling his head in one hand. His words slurred slightly and both Mustang and Hawkeye caught it, exchanging worried glances. At Roy’s nod Hawkeye approached Fullmetal.

He tensed suddenly, folding in on himself with his arms wrapped tightly around his middle, “Oh god…” he moaned in pain.

Riza crouched down in front of him, “What’s wrong?!” she asked looking him over for wounds. His face was scrunched up in pain now and his breathing became ragged. Hawkeye tried to move his hands away from his stomach so she could get a look at him but Ed only curled tighter. When she successfully forced him to straighten out a little he yelped loudly.

“Fuck, fuck it hurts.” Ed said through clenched teeth. She felt bad causing him more pain but they needed to figure out what was wrong so they could help him. She held the back of her hand up to his forehead, drawing it back quickly.

“Oh my god, he’s burning up. Roy, call a medic,” She said urgently. Mustang picked up the phone at his subordinate’s orders and started barking into it to whoever was on the other side.

The burning pain started to blur along with his vision and Ed pitched over sideways onto the couch when he got too dizzy to stay sitting. Riza muttered comforting words that he couldn’t quite understand. He started to go slack and she slapped at his face desperately, “You have to stay awake Fullmetal, medics are coming but you have to let us help you. Let me know if this hurts.” She knew the pain was coming from his stomach by the way he kept trying to curl into a ball with his arms covering it. In the brief moment that he was too out of it to stop her she pressed down and Ed jolted back to alertness screaming in a way that they had never heard from him before. When she removed her hand he only seemed to scream louder. His eyes rolled back, trying to escape into unconsciousness but Hawkeye wouldn’t let him.

“No I don’t know what’s wrong with him just send help and hurry,” Mustang slammed the phone down in frustration. The medics knew where to find them and he didn’t have any more answers so their questions so he hung up and ran to where his subordinate laid on the couch in utter agony.

“What’s going on?” He asked, a little out of breath.

Hawkeye’s face hardened, “I think its his appendix, he has a really high fever and the pain seems to be coming from the right side of his stomach. Roy brushed away some of the hair sticking to Ed’s forehead, getting a feel for his temperature. He too jerked his hand back as if afraid he was going to get burned.

“I’ll, I’ll get a cold cloth,” he stammered, completely out of his element.

“Don’t… don’t make me go…” Ed whined deliriously. Hawkeye’s heart broke at how young and fragile he looked in that moment, “don’t let them take me.”

“Shhh, calm down Ed we’re here to help you.” Ed blinked at her as if he didn’t recognize her face. She had no idea what he was talking about but she tried to comfort him anyway, “No one is taking you anywhere yet.”

Ed started to shake, his face grew even more pale, a deathly white compared to the rest of his flushed skin, “I don’t want to go to the hospital,” he cried hysterically. If it really was his appendix they would have no choice but to take him. He’d likely need surgery, and soon.

Mustang came back a moment later with a wet cloth that he laid on Ed’s burning forehead, he used it to dab at his face and neck too. They both cursed themselves for not noticing sooner. He must have been in terrible pain for a while now for it to be this bad.

Ed lurched, leaning over like he was going to throw up again but there was nothing left to throw up. His stomach convulsed sending a wave of pain worse than anything he’d ever felt through his body. His breath caught in his throat, unable to even get enough air in his lungs to scream in agony. His eyes grew vacant as he came close to blacking out from the pain.

“Stay with us, Fullmetal,” Roy ordered as he gripping the boy’s shoulder to keep his attention. To his surprise Ed snapped his eyes open again, fighting to obey the order. He stared at the two of them, you could see it in his face somehow that his mind wasn’t working right, that he was delirious from the fever.

“Where’s Al?” he whimpered, “he needs me.”

“Al is fine Ed, don’t worry about that,” Roy said, still dabbing at the kids neck. If he weren’t worried for his subordinate’s life he might have felt awkward about touching the kid’s face so tenderly, “you’re gonna be fine too,” he said, trying to be soothing. He turned to Hawkeye, “guide the medics in, they should be here any second.”

She got up and rushed out the door returning two minutes later with two medics and a gurney. Ed had deteriorated even more in those short minutes. Roy was glad no one was there to see the single tear that escaped his eye as fear started to take over. A woman shoved Roy aside, none too gently, to get immediate access to the patient. Ed was still conscious, barely, moaning in pain and staring off into space. The two medics got the gurney level with the couch and lifted him as gently as they could. Ed didn’t have the energy to scream but he did make some horrible strangled sound of pain. The woman shined a light in his eyes as the man raised the gurney and reached under Ed’s shirt to assess him.

“He’ll need to go straight into surgery. I think his appendix already burst.” The medics talked to each other as they wheeled him out at top speed, leaving Hawkeye and Mustang standing there speechless. Luckily the military hospital was connected to this building and they could get him into surgery in no time. They just had to hope that it was enough, knowing that if his appendix already ruptured it might be too late.

“Do you think he’s going to be okay?” Hawkeye asked quietly.

“He’s too stubborn to let his own organ kill him, I’m sure he’ll recover. After all he has been through worse,” Mustang said sadly, though with a little bit of parental pride. Ed was a strong kid, he was sure of that.

[cheese-knife]

A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing

Chapter One: The End.

Hello everyone! I know I’m not exactly know for writing fanfiction, but this is the newest project im working on. Its a bit strange, as it is a crossover between BNHA and The Wolf Among Us/ Fables Universe. But this AU is starting to dig a precious place in my heart, and I’d love it if you checked it out.

Rating: Teens and Up

Pairings: (Eventual) Bigby Wolf/Snow White

Read it on Ao3

The room was nothing special, a plain grey room built like a brick shithouse, meant to house and contain some of the most dangerous criminals in New York for questioning. The only things furnishing the room were two chairs, a table, and a single light without a cover. One of the walls had a rectangle of dark glass inlaid into the brick.

Bigby Wolf sat unnaturally still in the uncomfortable metal chair, greasy, unkempt hair hanging in a curtain around his head as he stared a hole into the table in front of him. His hands were latched to the table by heavy cuffs, kept well apart so there was no way he could rip the hand cuffs off without doing significant damage to himself. Even then, the small red lights blinking on the cuffs showed that they were actively suppressing his quirk so its not like he would get very far.

The door to the room opened with a slam as two stern looking officers entered the room, one carrying a significantly thick file folder under his arm. One stood at the door, and the one with the folder sat down across from Bigby at the table.

“Fifty-Six confirmed counts of murder.”

The folder was slammed down onto the table,

“Sixty-One counts of property destruction.”

Dozens of photos of the were laid out before the wolf, each a snapshot moment from his rampage.

“An an association with an unknown number of missing persons. Their bodies were never recovered.”

He didn’t move as the officer spoke. He didn’t even acknowledge that he was there.

“The list goes on and on. You know what this means, don’t you Mr. Wolf?”

Nothing. The three in the room sat in uncomfortable silence for several minutes.

“Damnit-”

Bigby didn’t even flinch as the hand cracked across his face, hard enough to break the skin over his cheekbone. Definitely a strength quirk behind that.

“-You know what this means right?” The officer was in his face now. “We have enough shit on you to put you away for a *thousand* lifetimes, and to kill you a hundred times more. Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?”

Bigby finally looked up, furious, wild yellow eyes digging into the frustrated lawman. In this moment, it was clear that he was more animal than man. He had the physicality of a caged feral animal.

In the years after his mother passed away, Bigby let himself slip into the pitfalls of his powerful quirk; in fact, he welcomed it. He welcomed the separation from the world and his humanity, fully embodying the once silly nickname his brothers used to tease him with. The Big Bad Wolf.

The trial went unsurprisingly smoothly. There was no question of what his verdict would be as he stood in front of the judge, still an overwhelming presence in the courtroom despite his restraints.

”Members of the Jury, in the case of Wolf vs. New York, what do you say?”

A small, timid woman stood and cleared her throat.

“Your honor, the members of this Jury finds the defendant wholly GUILTY of his crimes.”

The jury filed out of the courtroom as the judge dismissed them, all more than ready to leave the presence of the newly convicted felon. Bigby could smell the fear-tinged pride on each and every one of them.

The judge looked down on him.

“Bigby Wolf, it is the judgement and sentence of this court that the charged information is true, and the jury having found that the penalty shall be death. It is the order of this court that you shall suffer death, said penalty to be inflicted in Southport Correctional Facility in the manner prescribed by the law, the date later to be fixed by the Court in warrant of execution. You are remanded to the custody of the warden of Southport, it is so ordered. In witness whereof, I have hereon set my hand as Judge of this Superior Court, and I have caused the seal of this Court to be affixed thereto.”

“May God have mercy on your soul.”

He could see the pure joy in the Judge’s eyes as he delivered the sentencing.

It was five years he spent in prison. Each one hammering in the point that the law was making a mockery of him. Everyday, the guards got a little worse, a little more teasing and pushed the limits of what they could do to him without him fighting back. The bastards got comfortable around him, and there was nothing he could do about it.

They treated him like a sad dog doing tricks just for the pleasure of a shitty treat, only to be denied even after groveling at their feet.

Five. Fucking. Years.

At this point he was just craving some sort of relief. He even welcomed death, and despite the judge’s promise all those five years ago, the court seemed determined to draw out his torment for as long as possible before sending him to the slaughterhouse.

Bigby blearily opened his eyes, never getting enough sleep these days, involuntarily flinching at the sharp sound of metal banging against metal. Though the cuff permanently clamped to his wrist prevented him from transforming, its not like they could cancel out his quirk entirely. Enhanced hearing had its downfalls, and every morning he woke up to the same three scents. Sweat, shit, and corruption.

But anyway, apparently he had a visitor. Which was strange, considering Bigby’s family was either gone, or dead, and he never made any friends. So who the fuck could possibly want to see him?

Only after having shackles firmly attached to his wrists and ankles, he was led into the surprisingly private- well, as private as you could get in a supermax prison- and was forced into a rusting metal chair in front of a booth comprised of two phones and bullet proof glass. And on the other side, politely escorted by guards to the seat in front of him, was a woman with skin like porcelain and hair blacker than coal; none other than the Princess Hero herself: Miss Snow Fucking White.

Real cute fucking name there, right?

She picked up the phone on her end, staring down Bigby with her calm, cold stare until he did the same.

“Mr. Wolf-“

“Listen, Miss White, I’m not in the fuckin’ mood to be berated by one of the top heroes in New York, so cut the shit and get outta here. Whatever you have to say, I’m not interested.” Bigby nothing but growled into his phone, nearly hanging up then and there and dragging is own ass back to his cell.

Miss White simply let him calm down, cleared her throat and continued.

“Mr. Wolf, I am here to inform you, in association with the Fables Hero Agency, that the state of New York is willing to grant you amnesty for your past crimes:”

That got Bigby’s attention. It wasn’t obvious, but there was a certain way his eyes widened just a touch, his body tensed and leaned just a hair in towards Snow that let her know that he was interested, very interested.

“Why should I trust you?” And. Twice as skeptical.

“Because, put plainly, I am your last chance at you living past 35. My agency has been interested in your case for a long time, and your time is running short. The court has scheduled a date for your execution, the end of this month. In 2 weeks exactly.”

Sounded good enough- except it didn’t. Bigby couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out of him mouth, regretting them as soon as they hit the air. Why would he be actively trying to fuck up what’s already secured for him.

“Why the hell would you be interested in a serial killer with a knack for tearing people limb from limb?”

Snow leaned in towards the glass, hovering just a few inches from the glass.

“Because, you’re not as bad as everyone says you are.”

“Seven years ago, you broke into and killed six men in the basement of the Geppetto Casino, all wealthy and well know celebrities, CEOs and millionaires. These men were preparing to rape, torment, and humiliate the three women they were holding captive, including myself and my sister, before auctioning us off to the next highest biding sick perverted fuck.

But you showed up before any of that could happen. You gave those men what they deserved and you let us go without so much as a scratch before you nearly destroyed the whole building. The world mourned the death of those truly evil men, never acknowledging their heinous crimes, while insisting that you were the true monster. But I know the truth. At least in that moment, you were a hero.”

“...I’m not always like that, you know. I’ve killed innocent people.”

“We have one of the best investigative teams at the agency, I think we both know that isn’t entirely true. At points, yes. You were a villain through and through, but you’re not a bad person, Mr. Wolf.”

“Right... so where the hell do I sign up for this pardon thing?”

Snow produced a large envelope from a bag sitting at her feet and removed a few legal documents from it and handed them to a guard to present to Bigby.

“You should know that this doesn’t come without heavy restrictions. You’ll be under twenty-four observation, as well as required therapy, and extremely strict parol. You will also be required to study and work at the hero agency, and acquire a hero license at some point in the next 2 years. If you breech any terms of the contract, you’ll be arrested and sent back here to await execution again. But, if you manage to survive all of this, you’ll be relatively free within ten years. Reduced to five on good behavior.”

Bigby nodded, soaking up the information Snow was giving him while he looked over the several contracts placed in front of him. It was a lot of legal jargon, but it was easier to understand than he thought it would be. Well that, and he also spent the little free time he did have studying up on legal practices, curiosity pushing him to figure out just how fucked the system was right now.

“One problem, I can’t sign this. They don’t really let me use pens.”

Snow almost looked like she smiled at that. And it seems like she thought ahead, producing a pad of ink from the bag and passed it along to Bigby’s side of the glass.

“Don’t worry, your fingerprint makes a good replacement.”

There were ten pages in total, and each page was stamped with Bigby Wolf’s fingerprint black swirling ink. The pages were handed back to Miss White as she now truly smiled and looked at Bigby.

“I’ll need to send the paperwork in to be finalized, but you should be released within forty-eight hours, we’ll send a car to bring you to the agency do that you can see where you’ll be staying for the next few years. I look forward to working with you, Mr. Wolf.”

She returned her phone to its place and turned to leave, but he reached out and tapped loudly on the glass. Snow looked back and picked up her phone again.

“Bigby.”

“Mr. Wolf I-“

“Just call me Bigby.”

Next>

[homesoutofhuman]

NFWMB (John Wick x You)

Thank you so much to everyone who read, liked and commented on the first part of this our bodyguard John Wick AU. Myself and @keanuwwu have worked hard to bring you the next one and we would LIVE for feedback, cheers my dears, anyway enjoy...

Part 2/? (link to Part 1)

Gif credit @justforkeanurevees 

Bodycount: 4.5k

Warnings: Smut

Give your heart and soul to charity 'Cause the rest of you, the best of you Honey, belongs to me

-Hozier, NFWMB

John guides you back to your bedroom, his hand on your lower back burning hot.  He leaves you at your door with a terse nod and goes into the room next door. Your father has asked him to stay close while the threats to your safety are still fresh. You strain your ears to hear any sounds through the wall, imaging him undressing, laying down in his bed alone. You consider creeping in and joining him but something stops you, you have to admit you are still a little intimidated by your stern bodyguard.

Taking off your dress, you place it back on the hanger in your walk-in closet. You step into the bathroom, grinning when you remember that John and you are able to share one; since no one has slept in the room next to yours until now; there’s never been a need to open the adjoining door. You hear a rustling sound coming from his side of the door, you decide to leave it be and focus on getting ready for bed. Grabbing a washcloth from the cabinet you take off the remaining makeup you had on; remembering most of it came off in the car anyway.

John’s POV

John is restless, pacing the floor of his room. He is angry at himself for losing control and letting you seduce him into a kiss, telling himself firmly it can never, and will never happen again. He focuses on his job instead, securing the windows and checking all exits. When he steps into the bathroom you share he sees traces of you scattered around; lipstick, a washcloth left discarded, and he frowns, regretting how quickly you’ve got under his skin. He tries the door to your bedroom and finds it unlocked, moving into your warmly lit room with stealthy, silent steps.

The image of you laying on your bed is almost too much for John. Forgetting to turn off the lamp on your bedside table before falling asleep, he watches as the warm light makes your soft skin glow. Taking cautionary steps, he stands beside your bed; taking in the way your hair is spread across the pillows. The baby pink night gown slowly rising up as you turn over in the bed, John has to ball his hands into fists in order to keep himself from touching you. John watches over you for a bit, loving the blissful look on your face. What are you dreaming about, Darling? John thinks to himself as you little out a small whimper.

Almost against his own will he reaches down, the silken strands of your hair sliding through his fingertips as he brushes it off your forehead. You let out another sigh, squirming against the mattress as if reaching for something that isn’t there. Your movement exposes the top of your breasts to his hungry eyes, and John bites his lip hard enough to draw blood, feeling himself growing hard. John stretches out a hand, craving to caress your skin just one more time. As his eager fingers reach your face, your eyes shoot open and John is dismayed to see you staring back at him, caught red-handed like a naughty schoolboy.

Your POV

You blink your eyes a couple times - trying to get them adjusted to the darkness of your room. You see John, standing over you with his hand caressing your hair. The puzzled look on your face causes John’s hand to shake a bit.

“John… what are you doing here?” The sleepiness pouring out along with the words you’re saying. His eyes wander long over your body before responding.

“I was just making sure you’re safe, Princess. I wanted to check up on you before going to sleep myself.” John whispers as he lowers himself to sit on your bed. You scoot closer to him, letting your head fall in his lap. You bring your arms around him, holding him at his waist. Craning your head up, you meet his eyes.

“Is there any chance you’ll stay with me tonight? Please don’t make me beg. I will, but I just want to sleep with you.”

John gives a pained, shuddering sigh at your words, petting your hair as you shift in his lap, kneading your scalp with nimble fingers. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea Princess…”

“Please?” you entreat, purring at his touch and rubbing your cheek against his thigh. You feel heat coming off him in waves and you can see his erection pressing against the seam of his pants. John groans, his voice faint and breathless.

“Well I guess I will be close enough to protect you this way…”

You motion for John to stand up, getting on your knees you perch on the edge of the bed. John’s hands set on your waist, holding you up just in case you fall over. You bring your hands to the front of his pants, eyes shooting up as you try to undo his belt - his large hand grabbing your wrist.

“Princess, watch yourself.” John throws another warning your way.

“But I just want you to be comfortable. Who sleeps in pants? Let me help you.” You plead against his chest, your eyes growing wide as he drops the hold on your wrist. John drops his tense shoulders and allows you to work him out of his clothes. You go back to his belt, pulling it out of the belt loops. Your hands skim around his thighs and you feel him give you a shudder as you pull down his pants. You reach for his shirt next. Taking your time as you slowly unbutton it, starting from the bottom. Your face inches away from his as you undo the top button. You lean towards him a bit, settling in on his neck and kissing the smooth skin there. Letting out a hiss; John’s hand flies to the back of your neck, forcing you to make eye contact.

“Are you toying with me?”

You shake your head as best you can while your neck is in his very strong grip. You feel tiny and weak compared to John as he towers above you, looking almost angry in his desire.

“Then give me a proper kiss…”

Moving your mouth to his you start with a hesitant brush of lips, growing bolder as you hear John make a low noise in his throat. Deepening the kiss, you almost feel faint as your tongue touches his. John loses patience and takes over, ravaging your mouth as you slide your arms around his neck, clinging on for dear life.

John slowly lays you back down on the bed, pulling apart to turn off the lamp. He runs his hands over your thighs, hiking up your leg so it’s laying across his stomach. With your knee colliding with his erection, he gives you a soft moan. You bring your hand to his cock, giving it a lazy pull. John quickly bringing his hands to cup your face.

“Not now, Princess. I promise I’ll give you what you want - you just need to do something for me first. Sleep.” He gives you another kiss, hard on your lips; and then another for good measure. You nod in his hands and release the grip you had on him. He grasps your hips and turns you on your side so you press your ass back into him, eliciting a moan that makes you dizzy with pride.

“Goodnight, daddy..” you whisper before letting sleep rush over you.

The sun shines bright through your large windows, you forgot to pull the curtains closed before falling asleep. You stretch out your arm in hopes of finding John next to you, instead you’re greeted by emptiness. Sitting up, you see him fully dressed sitting on the chaise near the window. He’s wearing another jacket but instead of a button down a black turtleneck is in its place. You admire him, taking in the way the sunlight hits his skin.

“Good morning.” he says, his voice level and calm, even as his eyes travel over your body as you sit up in bed.

“Morning.” Smiling you get up and brush past him to get to the bathroom. “Don’t mind if I take a shower do you? We’ve got a busy day ahead.”

John stands up and moves behind you so closely you think he might follow you into the shower. “What’s happening today? I don’t have anything on the schedule your father gave me.”

Winking at him you move to undress, John keeps his eyes fixed studiously on yours as you let your pink nightdress fall off your shoulders. “I have plans, with friends. A little get together at Rollbotto. Don’t worry, you’re good enough dressed like that.”  Nodding towards his turtleneck which you have to admit makes him look even more desirable than before.

You walk into the bathroom with John still close on your heels, he presses you against the counter and lifts your head up to look in the mirror. You stare at the image the both of you make, his black clothing in contrast with yours. John’s eyes are dark as  they roam over you once more as you let the nightdress fall to the floor.

“I’ll be waiting in the hallway for you when you’re ready to go.” John gives you a small pat against your ass before slipping back into his room. You feel your blood run hot as you turn the shower on.

Stepping back into your room you head straight for your closet. Remembering the way John was looking at you the night before, you hope to give him those same feelings. Pulling the recently bought lacy white mini dress off the hanger - you step back to look in the mirror. Your long hair flowing against your back also framed your face perfectly. You give yourself a small smile, anticipating John’s reaction.

Moving out into the hall, you see John frowning at his phone and playfully sneak up on him, hoping to make him jump.

“I can hear you a mile away, (Y/N)” he says, deadpan and not even looking up from his phone as he talks. “You might want to take off those heels if you’re trying to be stealthy.”

Rolling your eyes you come deliberately close to him, forcing him to look up from his phone and appreciate your outfit. His dark gaze scans you up and down and you fidget a little under the intense scrutiny.

“Well? How do I look?” you ask, a little insecure suddenly.

“Let’s just say, if you were mine, you wouldn’t be allowed out looking so...innocently tempting.”

“Then make me yours. I’ve been trying to tell you this from the beginning.”

Sighing with conflicted emotions John reaches down, pushing your hair behind your ear gently. “You know I find you beautiful but I cannot just give into my instincts, even if they’re screaming at me to have you, I’m not a wild animal.”

You give John a big grin, giving him a quick kiss to catch him off guard. Peering into his eyes after pulling away, you notice the hunger in them. “I’ll keep my hands to myself. I’m sorry, John.” Grabbing his arm you attempt to pull him towards the elevators. John stops in his tracks, “Don’t you think you’re forgetting something?”, John raises his eyebrows as he looks at you.

“I don’t really need anything besides Father's black card…” you mention as you check your clutch.

“Grab a coat or we’re staying here.” John shoots at you while pointing back at the door to your room. Rolling your eyes, you select the one closest in your path as you enter your bedroom - your favorite gray pea coat heavy in your arms.

“We have some time before meeting them. Mother’s birthdays coming up soon though so you’re joining me on a trip to the mall, we can knock that out of the way before.”

“Shopping?” John makes a pained noise in his throat but lets you pull him down to the car. “What did I ever do to deserve this?”

You ignore him, but once you reach the mall you find yourself wanting John to enjoy himself, so you trot beside him chatting about random things you hope he will find interesting and you even offer to buy him whatever he wants, using your Father’s card of course. He declines but you can sense he is relaxing slightly in your presence, chuckling a bit at the stories you tell about your friends and adventures.

You decide on getting your mother the most expensive earrings you could find, jewellery usually is good enough to suffice. Grabbing John’s left wrist you check his watch as you head towards the exit.

“We should head out now to meet the girls. The reservations at 3 pm and we shouldn’t leave them hanging.” John gives you a nod and opens the door to the limo, allowing you to climb in first. The drive to the restaurant isn’t long and you can feel the tension in the air as you and John force yourselves not to linger.

John pushes open the door of the restaurant with his shoulder, wanting to check the place out before you enter. “It’s very quiet in here…” he exclaims, puzzled. “Where are your friends?”

“What friends, John? I’ve been with you the past day. Did you see me talking to anyone besides you.” You grin back at him as you hear the server call out your name.

“Table for two, right?” The hostesses name tag reads ‘Linda’.

“Yes, thank you so much for being able to alter the reservation! I know how busy you guys get.” Linda places you in the large booth near the back of the restaurant, adding a little bit more privacy.

“You’ve got about 10 seconds left to tell me what the hell is going on.” Whispers John urgently as Linda leaves you to look at your menus.

“Oh, you want me to mention that I’m a genius who created this master plan to have dinner with you? To be fair, we did have these reservations for awhile - my friends are just out of town.”

John stares at you. “You did all this, just to have dinner with me? I don’t understand Princess, why?”  

“Because I like you, John. And you would’ve protested if I asked you, so I took matters into my own hands.” You peer over at him with hooded eyes. Shrugging off your coat you feel John’s stare on your chest. Linda comes around and you order a bottle of champagne along with your dinner.

John slides himself closer to you in the booth, bringing his right hand up to cup your jaw. Moving your head slightly to the left, he plants a kiss at the base of your neck. The heat from the kiss causing a warm wave to wash over you making you want more of his touch. You find yourself leaning into his hands, moving the one on your jaw to your lips, opening them slightly to suck on his middle and index fingers. John hums at the sight and takes a sharp breath.

“Look at you, you really do like me, huh?” He breathes in an awe-struck voice, moving the pads of his finger against your tongue making you moan, then remembering where you are he moves away slightly, taking a long sip of champagne. You watch his long neck working as he swallows and resist the urge to lick his throat.

You’re pulled away from your lustful thoughts as you notice a figure entering the restaurant. The tall male glances around the different tables before making eye contact with you and heading towards the bar. He looks back at you a few times, then gets up, approaching your booth. You feel John tensing beside you, his hand moving to his belt.

As the man approaches you realise he looks familiar. “Oh hi… it’s Jack, right?”

“Hey pretty girl, I just thought I’d come say hello when I saw you were here. It’s good sushi, huh?”

John clears his throat. “We’re eating.”

“Oh, my bad. I didn’t know this was a date. You’re her bodyguard, aren’t you?” Jack raises an eyebrow at the question he throws at John.

You’re able to feel the tension in the air as the two interact. John’s knuckles are turning white from how hard he’s balling up his fist.

“Is there something we can help you with, Jack? It was nice seeing you but we’d like to finish our dinner.” You try to take back the little control you know you have between the two men. John eyes dart to yours for a second, appearing dark and angry.

Jack holds up his hands and moves away. “We’ll talk later.” He sits back at the bar and even as you turn to John you can sense his eyes looking over. John puts a firm, possessive hand on your knee under the table. “The fuck is that guys deal? How would he know you were here? I gave my speech about posting on social media didn’t I?”

“I may have missed that lesson, John. I don’t know him really, only met after I bumped into him.” You roll your eyes at him, annoyed by his questioning. Jack continues to frequently look back at your booth.

“Do you wanna give him a show?” You cock your head to the side, hoping to distract John and advert his attention elsewhere.

John’s dark eyes slide down your body and he moves his hand from your knee noticeably up your thigh. “Oh my bad girl. What did you have in mind?”

“I can show you better than I can tell you.” You give him a smile before leaning in and kissing him. John allows this, moving more towards you and allowing you to deepen the kiss. The hand on your thigh rises a bit with his thumb rubbing your clit over the fabric causing you to whimper against him. Pulling away from John you look back trying to find Jack. All that’s left is an empty seat and his half empty drink. You look back at John and smile, giving him another kiss before finally diving into your food.

John watches you, amused. “Was that all for Jack’s benefit? Cause you made such a pretty noise for me, I’d like to hear more.”

“That was 100 percent for you, John. And if you think back to last night, you kind of owe me...” His eyebrows furrowed together, face laced with curiosity. You bring a piece of sushi up to his mouth which he opens without hesitation. His eyes light up for a second before he gives you a quick nod.

“Okay Princess, you got me,” he grabs your waist pulling you snug against him, “I’ve been holding myself back but you’ve broken my resolve.”  

The way back to the hotel is silent. You both manage to keep a decent amount of distance between the two of you while sitting in the limo but you manage to steal glances his way. Harry quickly pulls up and jumps out of the car to grab the things you bought earlier from the trunk. Before stepping out, John grabs the sides of your face, pulling you in and pressing a soft kiss on your forehead.

“Now, Princess, I’m going to fuck you. You’ve been extremely patient with me but I need to know, do you trust me?” John’s voice is strong and direct, your mouth dropping a bit at his confession. He searches your eyes and bites his lip, anticipating your answer.

“Of course I do. Please, John, I’m ready.”

That was all the confirmation needed for John. He pulls you from the back of the limo, your hand secured in his as you walk up the steps to the hotel.

John lets you unlock your room while he stands behind you, tall and solid and so close you can feel his breath on your neck. You move inside, giving him a nervous glance and he leans down, brushing your lips with a gentle kiss. “Don’t look so scared. I won’t hurt you.”

Starting with your hands on his broad chest you push his jacket off his shoulders. “What if I asked you nicely though?”

John attempts to laugh, shaking his head at you, but his eyes are dangerous. “Try it and we’ll see.” John runs his hand down your back, undoing your dress as you untuck his turtleneck. John pulls the turtleneck over his head before shrugging your dress off your shoulders. His eyes brush over your body, taking in every inch of you. He gives you a low growl as he pulls you towards the bed, his grip strong enough to leave a mark.

As you reach up to undo his belt, you’re greeted with that familiar warning. “We’ll get to me, Princess. Lay down,” John puts his large hand on your chest, forcing you to lay back. You’re sure John was able to feel how fast your heart was beating which is why he resorts to petting your hair to calm you down. His hands skim over your body as he slowly starts massaging your body. You feel him move himself off your bed, not daring to open your eyes to check where he’s gone.

A yelp escapes your throat as you feel John suddenly grab your hips and pull you to the edge of the bed. He looks up with a smirk, kneeling on the floor as he pushes your legs apart and leans down to nip at your inner thigh. “Shush now...we don’t want your father rushing in.”

John’s tongue stays flat as he runs it over your core. You give him a whimper which gets you rewarded with another long lick. Your hands dive into his hair, holding him steady against you as he devours you once more.

“You taste like heaven, Princess.” You feel the blush run over your body at his confession. John’s tongue continues to swirl around you, occasionally pausing to make sure you’re okay. John brings his left hand to your mouth, pushing against your lips to be allowed in. You coat his fingers with your saliva, which he happily brings to your entrance, sliding two fingers inside you slowly.

Lifting your head up slightly you can see him staring down at you, his handsome face a picture of focused concentration. You feel your legs trembling a bit as he speeds up his movements, thrusting his fingers deeply, opening you up. “You’re so tight Princess...you feel amazing.” He whispers in awe, glancing to you and catching your gaze. You groan with embarrassment at the look on his face; pure want mixed with fondness. “Do you like how my fingers feel inside you?”

Bringing up your hands to your face, you peek through them before admitting to John you’d like more. His thick fingers are making you desperate with need.

“Daddy.. Please, can I have all of you now?” Your voice small and shaky as you lift yourself off the bed to see his reaction as you ask. John’s movements slow as he takes a moment to study you, his dark eyes continue to loom over you.

“Get in the middle of the bed.”  John directs as he undoes his belt and throws it to the side. He hurriedly pulls down his pants and you let out an involuntary moan when you see him standing over you dressed only in his white boxers. “You’ve been such a good girl, you can have whatever you want Princess, and fuck you’ve made me so hard...I can’t take much more.”

He crawls over you like a predator and you feel yourself growing hot, reaching up to greedily run your hands over John’s skin. He leans down and kisses you forcefully, moving down your neck and biting your soft skin. You let out a hiss as you drag your nails hard along John’s back, making him bite a little harder.

John settles back between your legs, trailing small kisses from your stomach and around your breasts. Your breathing becomes a bit uneven as you look up at the man above you; John’s strong hands trailing over the marks he’s made. You let your hand brush against his erection, smiling once you feel him shiver against you.

“You don’t know what you do to me.” John whispers, and with a swift motion, he’s sliding inside you. You gasp at the feeling of being full, John’s cock taking up every inch inside of you. John curses at the feeling of you stretching around him. He holds your legs together and presses them against his chest while he thrusts against you. A wave of pleasure washes over you that makes you curl your toes and ball the sheets into your fists.

“Daddy, fuck, I don’t know if I can hold on much longer.” You plead to John, your nails diving into the sides of his thighs.

“You can and you will.”

John continues to fuck you with no remorse, moaning at the tightness of your walls. Unable to control yourself, you feel multiple tears spill across your cheek and onto the satin sheets. John pauses the onslaught of his thrusts for a moment, seeing that, bending his head to your face.

“Look at me…”

Blinking through your tears of pleasure you try to hold his stern gaze. John sees something in them that makes him nod quietly to himself, reassured you’re not really hurt.

“You’re so beautiful little one, especially now you’re under me crying so prettily as I fuck you, you have no idea.”

Whimpering at his words you can only submit as John kisses the damp trail on your face, his tongue licking at the salt on your skin. He gives you a moment’s break before starting to move inside you again even deeper now, and you let go of all your inhibitions, sobbing and almost screaming at the overwhelming feeling. Somewhere in your hazy mind you realise you’re being too loud, but John of course has the situation under control, as you feel two of his fingers caressing your lips before hooking inside your mouth, stretching it slightly. You suck on them gratefully, feeling the sensation calming you.

John continues thrusting into you, burying himself deep inside you. He brings a hand to your jaw and forces you to look into his eyes, “Come for me, Princess. Let me feel you come all over my cock. You’ve done so good, baby.”

John slowly rolls his hips, causing you to tip over the edge. A ripple of warmth comes over you, causing you to moan in pleasure and making your body shake. John’s quick to put his hand over your mouth, suppressing the moan as best as he could.

“Princess, is it okay if I come in you?” John asks while brushing the untamed hair off your face. You reach up to cup the sides of his face, giving him a small nod before kissing him.

“I wanna feel you, all of you..”

John kisses you passionately before coming deep inside. He slowly thrusts against you, letting you take all of him. The feeling of John coming inside you almost makes you climax again and you hold him as tight as you can, wanting skin on skin contact, shivering in his arms as you are both left breathless. Letting out a roar louder than any of your screams, John twitches inside you a few more times before rolling off you and falling back on the mattress.

Lifting yourself off the bed, you find John already sleeping peacefully next to you. Smirking to yourself, you place a kiss on his temple before falling asleep snuggled next to him.

-----------

once again! thank you for lending us your eyes! we appreciate you all so much- Cat & Al

[goldgrave-and-glory]

I don't know if this has been done before, but can you do the main 6 finding out that the MC self harms/used to self harm?

TRIGGER WARNING: SELF HARM, BLOOD

So I just want to preface this by saying that I have had (and still have) issues with self harm in the past, and some of the methods I’ve used may not really be seen as “conventional” methods of (or reasons for) self harm.  This, combined with the fact that my apprentice is also known to self harm, might not make it exactly what you expected it to be.  I hope you still like these anyway though.

Asra

Asra remembered that Mc used to have issues with self harm back before they died

However, they had stopped years before the plague started after some therapy

When they came back, it started again

They doubted their abilities to read the cards and were always hard on themselves at any mistake

They’d never do it in front of him, but it wasn’t uncommon for him to find them practicing on their own and having issues

They would curse their stupidity and try to “punish” the parts of themselves that weren’t working: their hands and their head

They would punch stone, bend and bite at their fingers, crush them with something, sometimes even burn them

As for their head, they would bash it against the closest wall or just smash things over their skull

It never got bad enough to knock them out, but Asra’s become good at fixing broken fingers

After their memories were revealed, Asra made sure they knew just how talented and valued they were and always had been

Now it rarely happens and not nearly to the same extent

They always know that if they have any urges, they can go to Asra for help

Nadia

Mc was worried about Nadia isolating herself more and more often, especially in her room and in bed, so they decided to come clean

They told her how they used to spend days, sometimes weeks without leaving their room for more than a few minutes at a time

They would forget to eat, drink, bathe, they’d ditch plans, just wasting the day away

They couldn’t sleep and their back hurt from lying in bed so often

Sometimes though, they would spend the whole day eating and sleeping to make up for the past few days

Kind of going in and out of consciousness every few hours and eating a bunch of junk, usually desserts, without any nutritional value

Nothing ever got done and it messed up a lot of the relationships they may have had before

Nadia was shocked to hear all of this from Mc since they seemed like such a lively, extroverted person most of the time

She promised them that she’d make sure to get out for at least one hour every day and eat three balanced meals

Mc would remind her if she ever forgot, and many times they spent more than an hour out on a date with her in the town

Julian

Little things had happened before, but Mc really started having a problem after Julian came back from being hung

They had failed to defend him in front of the people and it had gotten him killed.  What if he hadn’t been able to come back?

They had to do better.  They had to be better, for him

They started working night and day trying to defeat the Devil

After that, it still didn’t stop.  They started researching the law from every book they could find, just in case

It reminded Julian of how he used to be and reminding Mc of this made things a bit better

But it got so much worse after Julian got into a particularly bad bar fight

They scrapped the books and replaced them with weights

They created a ridiculous diet and exercise plan for themselves with the goal to get stronger so they could protect Julian in the future

Of course, since Julian was a doctor, it was easy for him to tell just how unhealthy this plan was

Not enough food or nutrients, not enough sleep, and they were obviously working their body way too hard

He wrote out exactly what was wrong with their routine, and they promised to change it if he promised to also work on his sleep schedule and diet as well

They collaborated to create a routine they could do together and that would benefit both of them

Muriel

Muriel understood how irritating it was to be surrounded by a bunch of loud people, but he’d never seen a reaction like Mc’s

They were out in the marketplace when he left to find Asra, who had gotten separated from them in the crowd

He came back about ten minutes later to Mc panicking and scratching at their ears so much that they bled

He immediately took them by the arm and led them to a quiet, secluded place to calm down

Once they were calm enough to speak, they described how they had been going through sensory overload

Everything seemed too bright or smelled too strong, but mostly, everything was too loud

They entered a state of panic where the only thought was to remove the problem–their ears–by tearing them off

Muriel remembered times in the coliseum when he had similar feelings

The next time they visited the marketplace, Muriel reminded Mc to bring some good earplugs

Portia

Mc was home alone at Portia’s cottage while she was finishing up some work at the palace

They’d always had issues with anxiety, but they’ve never been able to figure out many good ways to cope with it

When the sun started to set, they got more and more worried about Portia.  She was never usually this late

They could feel their chest tightening and their breathing pick up

They needed a distraction, now

The first thing they did was dig through the cabinet for Portia’s sewing kit, pulling out as many needles as they could find that weren’t rusty

Each one they stabbed into their arm until they found the one they “liked” the most

They used that one to carve little patterns into their skin, letting the painful sensation draw their attention away from their fear

Portia found them surrounded by bloody needles and marking their skin and she screamed

She freaked out and sobbed while she patched them up

Mc was completely taken aback by the power of her reaction.  They had never considered it that serious

She ended up taking the next few days off (with permission from Nadia) to help Mc come up with some better coping skills to manage their anxiety 

Lucio

Lucio has lots of scars on his body from all different things, but there was only one type of scar he shared in common with Mc

The more he learned about what he had done, the more he felt he didn’t deserve the good things he had

Mc spent a lot of time reassuring him that he deserved their love, as well as food, sleep, happiness, etc. regardless of his past because he was doing his best to make it right

But they often forgot to remind themselves of this fact too

Lucio found out about their common scars on one of Mc’s more unfortunate, sleepless nights

They lied awake next to Lucio’s sleeping form while their head ran rampant with hate

They didn’t deserve to sleep, they didn’t deserve warmth, they didn’t deserve a bed, they didn’t deserve Lucio

They deserved pain

They sat bolt upright in bed and started scratching at their arm, ripping their skin until it stung like fire

Dead skin and blood and dirt built up under their fingernails as they kept working on that one spot

It bled more and more the longer they tore.  It was beautiful

This is what they deserved.  The pain, and the fear, and the hate, and the blood, the blood, the blood, THE BLOOD

And suddenly Lucio caught their arm and held it away from them.  His eyes were the size of dinner plates

Mc just stared.  Then they cried

The next morning, after Mc had been patched up, Lucio canceled all of his meetings and pampered them with everything he felt they deserved

He also told them about the scars he had gotten from similar breakdowns

They realized they had to fight their inner voices together and constantly made sure the other had and knew exactly what they deserved and more

[deviationdivine]

Safe Harbor (Connor|Request!)

TLDR: Connor remains your constant harbor even through the harshest of storms…

TW: HEAVY SUBJECT MATTER (DEPRESSION)

Word Count: 2,602

A/N: Hi anon! I’m happy to get a request from you but for something like this I had to tweak it just a bit since I’m not too comfortable with knives and the idea of self harm. Also I don’t want to be too triggering for readers that stumble across my blog. I hope you understand and this request comes out at least in some way that you were looking for. For anyone facing anything similar just remember that you are loved and worth it no matter what. You are important. This includes you anon and anyone else apart of my followers/readers. Just know I love and appreciate every one of you.

Deviancy is an all new learning experience and Connor has been absorbing every second of it since opening his eyes. Emotions, sensations that fill him with pleasant blooming center of his chest, understanding humanity more so than conceptual analytics in a program. He is gaining so much from this on his own path but there is one that opens his eyes beyond being alive.

You.

That is why the thought of you hurting in any way will undoubtedly shatter his soul if androids do possess such a thing. One time you even said as much calling him a living being, a man that you hold close in heart. So many times you have assured him he belongs. Now, he cannot help but notice the little changes.

At first it is barely conscious in his brain. Attentive to all things around him by nature of his programming when it comes to you he is blind. It is not in a negative light. Contrarily it is a simple blindness to love. Falling completely into this human concept means he still needs to learn. Many things have grown since then but this is something he is not readily prepared for.

This day seems particularly heavy. 

Awaking from stasis in his usual perch beside your sleeping form it becomes clear you do not wish to partake in any of his morning snuggles. He assumes you’re asleep still. Until taking a vital scan, reading the sharp spike of heart rate that accompanies a subtle inward balling of your body. 

Connor is not accustomed to what Hank deems “the cold shoulder” but he ignores the lieutenant’s choice of description. Leaving you be despite his growing stress levels, the android dresses without disturbing the quiet of bedroom. 

Attending to the tie around his collar one of many identical sets he keeps for work the android expects you to be up. Usually you are by the time he finishes getting ready for the DPD. Lately you have been pushing back your time, seemingly losing track of how much is required in the mornings. A few days ago you were even late to your job. 

He asked you if something was wrong before. You merely brushed his question aside explaining you were under the weather. That is enough to stop a personal interrogation and take care of whatever you need. Despite this Connor cannot stop a swath of probabilities popping into the equation. Are you sick? Perhaps he should schedule an appointment with a doctor. Humans can become extremely ill if left untreated. Suddenly the thought heats up his system, tossing out stress warnings. 

The detective appears out from bathroom. Eyeing your curled form still residing beneath covers does nothing to curb his anxiety levels. “Y/N?” he speaks softly, sitting beside where you continue to lie. His hand rests atop your shoulder gentle. “Are you all right, Love?”

“Connor, please.” Twisting under covers unravels your body and flings you to your back. “I’m fine. I’m just...tired.” 

Connor leans forward to place lips atop forehead. Reading data from the soft kiss shows no signs of fever. However there is something dull in your voice. It does not sound remotely like the bright, lively spark  he has so grown to cherish. He frowns at the ache in his chest taking over. It is unpleasant to say the least. Emotions are fickle but he understands more now than ever. Sometimes even the most advanced of androids has no proper conclusion. 

“Do you require anything?” he asks carefully. “I am equipped with the most accessible features as you know.” A joke he finds acceptable after practice. Typically you will laugh at some of his more colorful misconceptions or confusion. It is the forever android part of him but there is nothing from your lips. “Y/N?”

“I’m not feeling good!” Biting at him should stop the questions. He needs to leave. “Connor, I-I just want to sleep. I haven’t been sleeping right. Going to work isn’t something I can do today.”

“Forgive me. I did not mean to be unpleasant. I am only worried about your current state of...”

“Just go, Connor.” Pleading with him so you can be alone it already hurts to speak this way. Making him go is the complete opposite of what you want but you will not be the reason to keep him here. “Please,” insisting in a desperate breath is a final resort. 

“I-” Connor pauses to assess the current situation. Stress is apparent in the scan of you but he is unable to force anything. If you do not wish to do something he will respect your space. “Love, if you are sure. It will not hurt for me to take a vacation day.”

Vacation day. He doesn’t take those unless it’s something... Oh. Wait, he-he took one on your anniversary. The thought makes you press face further into pillow. Everything feels wrong because it’s been building up these last few months. You’re too afraid to tell him the truth. He’s still dealing with his emotions. This isn’t fair to him. You’re not worth worrying over. 

“I want you to go into work,” making it clear, you keep your face away. Not seeing Connor is better like this. “You’ll be late as it is.” 

While he disagrees with this the android rises to feet. Leaving you alone is not something he feels comfortable doing because you are sad. It is not a normal type of melancholy. “Y/N, if you need anything please call. I will drop whatever I am doing. I promise.” 

Of course he does. That’s just him. It doesn’t really garner a response however. You’re certain he’s defeated. Listening to his barely audible movement draws a peek from beneath a fluffy mound of balled blankets to watch him. 

“I love you,” the android proclaims deeply. He eyes the stillness of you unable to properly see your expression. Perhaps you have fallen asleep again or you do not wish to speak any further. 

Only when he leaves the room do you finally start stirring. Rising up with dark circles, messy hair and exhausted features paints a grim picture. Sleeping is so difficult. Why can’t you just drop a head and get enough hours? Instead of mulling on sleep the nervy churn in stomach forces you out of bed. Waiting only for Connor to leave apartment seems cruel. Letting him see the real cracks form around you isn’t something you can handle. 

Slipping from room reveals an empty living space. No sign of your android boyfriend and it’s what you want. Of course it is. Dealing alone is the only way to fix this going on in your head. If only it were that easy. 

Moving sluggishly towards kitchen you already reach to run tap. Filling a glass and draining water down a dry throat doesn’t have the needed effect. You still feel wrong. Do something. Do something to ignore it. Dishes. There are a few left. Last night Connor cooked despite pleas to the contrary but it didn’t stop him. For he will do anything but –

More and more you wonder what Connor will do if you’re not here. Slowly but surely eating away it comes from somewhere unknown. How can you know when nothing is simple? 

This happened before. When you were younger it took over your life. So long things went well. Why now? Why when-? 

Dropping the dish in a clattering bang leaves pieces of porcelain skewed in a shatter. First time it really wakes you that sound and your breathing becomes harsh. Almost as if your throat is closing up, chest hurting but it’s not right. None of this can be right. 

“More red ice assholes? Can’t you give me something else to work with?!” 

The irritation on current case files passes over the android’s head as he sits at desk unable to find focus. Analyzing findings and recording them onto computer is an immediate task. However he finds it difficult to concentrate. That is not at all like him. Considering all of his programming skills this makes him vulnerable to stress. Deviancy has brought many things to him but there can also be negative connotations.

Hank grumbles across from his partner’s neat work space. The lieutenant’s looks as opposite as it can get. That’s not what’s got his attention. “Hey, Connor. What’s your problem today?”

Connor’s head rose sharply. “Sorry, Lieutenant. Were you speaking to me?”

“Do you see any other pain in the asses around?” 

The android answers with a small shake of the head. 

Hank leans back in his chair. Giving this kid a good once over he doesn’t like what he’s seeing. “Something you wanna tell me? Or are you going to act weird all day?”

“I have not been acting ‘weird’ as you put it, Lieutenant.” Defending current state of mind will not answer questions he longs to ask you. He never should have left. He should have defied your wishes if only to hold you close, to promise whatever is starting to push you from him it will not change what he feels. Perhaps he is overreacting. In his humanity he may be a bit overzealous in this thinking. 

Connor’s frown before leaving your shared apartment returns. He feels hollow where his synthetic heart beats. “It is Y/N. I-”

Explaining to the seasoned detective cuts short, reaching into pocket for cell phone buzzing loudly. His eyes lock on screen prompting a hurried answer. “Y/N?”

“Connor. Please, come home.”

A flood of red burns the android’s temple. Listening to sniffles, straining voice, you have been crying. “I will come home. I promise. Y/N, are you safe? Please, tell me if...” 

Hank watches his partner spring up from chair. Seemingly having the call cut out on him and it’s starting to come together. “Go on,” the lieutenant ushers him to move it. “I’ll handle Fowler.” 

Connor nods. “Thank you, Hank.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Waving that off is a sign he doesn’t want to hear it but Hank still drudges up a small smile. Sounds like Connor’s gonna need it before he goes.

“Y/N?!” 

Calling for you after entering front door reveals his current panic, a blaze of scarlet flickering uncontrollably in a painful surge of distress. 

There is zero sign of you here. He moves down hall towards bedroom as it is the only other logical place. Everything in your voice before ending the call abruptly fills him with what he believes to be dread; strange how real these feelings can be in him now. 

Connor finds you with some relief. You are still here. One probability of needing to look outside apartment did flicker in his mind on the way. Thankfully that is not the case. It is where you sat on floor back to wall, arms folding over knees to enclose body in a ball that shatters any good outcome. 

Your eyes lock on his quick movement and before you manage to unwind he is already there. Connecting hands with yours and drawing tears that don’t fall. It’s knowing how quick he is to get to you. Knowing that you are putting him through something he doesn’t deserve. 

“Connor, I-I’m sorry,” you apologize profusely. “I know you must think...”

“I thought something hurt you.” He interrupts quietly, drawing you close into his arms. 

The warm loving embrace only makes you sob finally letting it all out in a tidal wave and he remains offering himself as a dam to hold you together. “Connor,” choking out his name reveals guilt and regret in your behavior towards him these past weeks. All he wants to do is love you the way you crave. This is ruining everything. 

“Please, Y/N. Please, tell me what’s wrong.”

Everything in his voice hurts because you’re the cause of him feeling that way. It’s never something you want. How can you put this amazing boy in such turmoil?

Stress scares you because despite whatever is going on with you personally right now seeing him in pain only strains this further. Honestly, you have no idea. It’s just something that happens at certain points in your life. Even when things seem to be going so well and they are. They should be. Yet, it’s sitting back of the mind almost similarly to when Connor had that master program in his head.

This is entirely different. Of course there’s no comparing but-

“I-I don’t know,” the honesty is upsetting. Why isn’t it an easy answer? “Connor, I don’t know.”

Tears meet the tender brush of his fingers. Taking immediate action to wipe them away he will not let this happen. He will never allow anything to hurt you but when it is not a physical danger what is he to do? In a way he feels as though he is failing to protect you. 

“It is all right,” he promises in a quiet sheltering breath. “I am here. I will help you, Y/N. No matter what is required.”

He makes it sound simple. Of course it’s not and you know he doesn’t think so but none of that stops his optimism. Maybe that’s what you need to believe in. 

“Perhaps if we spoke with someone.” Connor makes a suggestion but does not force this upon you. Ultimately it will be what you decide but he will only be patient. “Maybe that will help. Only if you would like. And I will go with you. Each time no matter if I have work. I will take off for you whenever you need me.”

A steady breath is all you muster. Believing him is easy because this is your sweet detective promising just as he promised you forever. “Connor, I don’t deserve you.”

“No. You deserve everything. It is you I am lucky to have. Without you, I can’t feel as alive as I do.” Truth can be poetic or so they say. His is the very foundation of freedom. There is nothing if he can’t live with you. 

“I cannot pretend to understand what you are feeling,” the android admits his lack of personal experience. If he is certain this may be similar to a software glitch if it were to affect his kind. Even then it is no excuse not to do everything in his power to rectify. “All I know is that I want you to be healthy. Physically as well as mentally. I love you too much to ever allow harm to come to you, Love.”

Tears ran anew but this time you completely fell against him, allowing both body and soul to sink into Connor who becomes your one true brace. How can you push him away? That will only make it worse. You love him too much. “I’m sorry.”

“Be still, Y/N, I will stay here. Everything will be all right.” 

“OK.” Agreeing in a quiet breath is all the resolve you have left but it’s enough for right now. He’s enough. If you didn’t have him you’re sure you wouldn’t be here. The thought is terrifying. “We’ll do it together.” 

Connor smiles only to show you how glad he is that you are willing. No matter what happens he will never let you go. That is impossible when his synthetic heart beats for you in ways mere words can never describe. Nothing in this deviant life will ever rip you away and will continue to harbor, shield you from the darkest parts until he no longer functions. 

This is what love is about as he understands. It means supporting, caring and most of all weathering any storm, as long as it is together.

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