#buying time to finish actual fics by writing bullshit

[sweetdispatch]

How would the Hughes brother react when they find out her bf is Connor

i'll definitely write longer fic for this but here's shorter version!

Next door hearts

“How’s Chicago?” That's the first question you heard from Quinn when you entered the house after returning for a summer.

“Great! I love the city and the job and…” You didn't finish your sentence because Jack interrupted you.

“Later you’ll tell us. We have more important things to discuss. What does the caption mean under your post?” Jack asked you and the eyes of all three brothers were on you.

“Umm… I meant that I fell in love with the city” You lied and judging by their faces, you knew they’re not buying this..

“Bullshit, tell the truth” Luke said and you were surprised at this outburst. You expected this from Jack, even Quinn but not Luke.

“Okay I have a boyfriend. Happy?” You were done with this conversation already and it hasn't even started. 

“Who’s the boy?” Quinn asked you and you took a deep breath.

“He’s my neighbour, his name is Connor” You told them, trying not to share the news that he’s a hockey player and keep it simple thinking that they’ll drop the topic.

“Like Connor Bedard? The one from the Blackhawks?” Jack asked you and you cursed under your nose. Of course they’ll connect that you said to them that you live next to the hockey player and work with the team.

“Yes” You confirmed and waited for their reaction.

“I’m cool with that” Luke replied and you looked shocked at him.  

“Me too, he looks like a good guy” Quinn said it back and you froze. You expected screaming from their side and they just accepted it. This felt bizarre for you.

“He better treat you right or I won’t be too careful on the ice towards him” Jack said and you laughed. Now that was the reaction you expected. 

“I’ll tell him that but Connor is treating me right. We’ve been friends for the past 5 months before he asked me to be his girlfriend. Actually he planned a super cute day for me before he even asked me the question. I’ve never been in such awe of a man” You replied, still replaying the day in your head.

“That's the most important thing, but as Jack said, he better not hurt you because we might not be too careful on the ice next time playing against Chicago” Quinn said and hugged you. You smiled, grateful that your brothers accepted Connor but also scared of them playing against Blackhawks next season. 

[embbarnes]

Logan being a brat tamer scratches my brain just right.

18+ MDNI | Dom/sub themes. 'P/t' is used for preferred title.

Logan is not exactly known for his patience, or to be pushed around.

He would absolutely put you in your damn place if he needed to. You think you can get away with being bratty? I don't think so.

If you so much as say 'no' or disobey him when he tells you to do something, you are over his knee and his hand is smacking your ass at least ten times. You don't realize how effective this method of punishment is until you realize his adamantium skeleton makes his spanks hurt a lot. You're brought to tears every time, and he rubs over your ass when he's done. "Are finished being a brat, hm?" his hand continued to rub soothingly over your red hot backside, handprints imbedded in your skin by now.

"Uh-huh..." you manage, making him smirk slightly as he pulls you up into him. "Such a naughty thing. Why can't you just behave for once?" he asks with a light scold to his voice, but it's mostly calm by now. "What the hell am I gonna do with you?" he sounds a bit amused now, still holding you after and rubs your exposed thigh.

I think a lot of people assume he wouldn't be into toys because he sort of has that 'I'm all you need' vibe, but come on. He has things for you. He's not insecure about it either. And he certainly doesn't get jealous over silicone.

Sometimes he will make you sit on a dildo while you suck him off, knowing it drives you crazy not to have his cock in you. You want him, not silicone. But he doesn't give in if you've been naughty. "You're a lucky girl/boy, at least I let you have something put in that greedy hole of yours." Logan grunts out, watching you struggle to take his dick down your throat, "You've been so unruly today, now you have to deal with your punishment. My cock won't be going in your sweet honey hole, so sit there like a good girl/boy and take your punishment."

Even if you're a brat from Hell, he will tame you down. A single glance and you stiffen and instantly rethink your attitude. "Talk to me like that again, and I will show everyone here why you always scream my name."

He's a good dom though. He knows how to take care of you. Maybe you act like a brat as a way to cope with something that happened in your life, and you need the stability of a dom like that. Logan's had his fair share of traumatized buddies, he is traumatized himself ffs. He can read you easily and identify exactly what's wrong or where your behavior stems from. He can differentiate when your brattiness is on purpose and playful, or when you're struggling mentally. And he will approach it properly.

Sometimes you don't need to be spanked or forced to cum until you're crying for forgiveness and he wipes those tears away. Sometimes you need a sit down and to just talk. Sometimes a verbal scolding with firm yet gentle authority does the trick, or you need to cry and he sits with you so you're not alone.

Not all of it is about sex.

Logan is good with whatever you may need. He's there for you, which is the most important thing. "Come on pup...what's the matter today? You're being a brat for no reason. Why are you being so bad, hm...tell your p/t." The way he asks in a different tone than normal can make you crumble, and sometimes a good cry or needing some grounding helps a lot.

Maybe your brattiness stems from a lack of care in your life, or an absence of a nurturing figure so when Logan shows himself to be a protector, you lash out with bratty behavior.

He obviously notices this, and he is unmoving. You might get frustrated, used to pushing people away and his stern authority frustrates you to lashing out. Logan is smart; he can handle your little tantrum. "You can fight all you want, little one. You're not gonna move me." He says calmly, hypothetically since he's not actually cornering you in any way. He watches you get mad but eventually his persistence pays off and you realize he's not going to hurt you like others may have done in the past.

Logan is the protective figure you needed. He keeps you in line, but he also tends to your needs. Sexually, emotionally, physically, mentally. He's a good dom, able to handle your behavior with ease and keep hold of you when necessary as he fucks you to climax.

That’s all I got.

[faustianfascination]

Oooh I'd love to know a little more about "puppy" for the WIP list!

Puppy is actually something I started for the 12 days of Arthur challenge last year (shoutout to @scummy-writes & @oigimi for hosting that)

It's a bit of a fluffy fic, using the prompt 'puppy'.

It's about Arthur getting a puppy for my OC as a gift but trying to keep it a surprise ends up in shenanigans including: Comte & Leo acting like a pair of mischievous school boys and making everyone think Theo likes to roam round naked barking.

Really need to finish it at some point.

As loathsome as it was to admit, perhaps Theo was right and maybe he should have at least investigated if she wanted a puppy first, not just buy one. Although he had made sure this one was actually a girl this time.

Arthur hit the first major snag in his surprise puppy plan, getting it into the mansion without the recipient noticing. Which is difficult if said recipient spends her days roaming the mansion halls dealing with the resident’s bullshit.

“We’ve been in the bath together Theo, no need to act so bashful now. Plus, I could hardly say cock in front of a lady outside the bedroom” “LONG JOHN MILKER?” Theo gesticulated for added emphasis

“Sebas, get out your notebook. You’re not going to believe what I just heard”

[diggingupgrave]

Magnificently Cursed... the blog post ✨

🕰🍂🕯🌿📔🧣🌙

My writing log says it’s been exactly a year since I started writing Magnificently Cursed, my Dark Academia Inuokko Magic School AU! I find summer to be insufferable (my apologies to the sun) so I took an escape hatch to an early fall last year and immediately fell down this massive rabbit hole. Not only did I write the whole fic and make overly-intricate graphics for each chapter… I also made a ton of other content that I simply didn’t have enough time to post! (Fall is but one season… unless you’re me, and it’s two, because fuck summer) So as a little anniversary gift to me, I’m going back through the archives and finally putting everything in one place. 

Let’s start with the character mood boards, shall we? 

Toge Inumaki: 

I wanted Toge to have an earthy/natural, vintage-y feel, while Yuuta was all sleek and new. I’m still completely obsessed with this library-lizard aesthetic for Toge.

I low-key wound up buying a brown sweater after searching online for literal hours just like the one in the upper left so we could twin. That duffle coat still has my whole heart. Lavender mug inspired by Neara 🥺

Yuuta Okkotsu:

The lil ghostie patch 😭 I still think Yuuta would look hot as hell in all these clothes- especially the speckle-y fisherman sweater. Coat game is strong here as well. 

... so is it obvious that I spend too much time on Canva yet? 😅

The Timeline: 

My outline wasn’t outlining and I resorted to making an in-world calendar to make sure the dates were realistic. Each chapter is a different color, and the lines represent what days the chapters covered in-world. The corresponding stars represented each chapter’s posting dates… except the real life dates didn’t line up with the fictional dates (rude), so those thursdays were actually saturdays? I think? I'm actually not 100% sure what past me was up to here, to be totally honest 😅

(also, politely ignore that bit that says “epilogue - december” 💀i’ll get to it when i get to it. I don’t really like the idea of it being *over* so maybe i'll just gatekeep that bit forever)

⬆️ Example of aforementioned “outlining,” which, yes, is unfortunately littered with as many potential tweets as actual organization 💀

Not pictured: the outline for the first three chapters… when i thought this fic… would only *be* three chapters. 🪦

Writing Log:

I wrote all 92k between July 13th and September 13th (including 60k in August, nanowrimo style)!

Honestly would love to know what her regimen was because i immediately went back to being slow and undisciplined. I don’t foresee this coming august looking anything like this, lol.

Also, sidenote, hilarious that I took a break to work on it would make a whole in the middle of this? Because I literally just finished that piece this week and posted it today 😅

The Playlist:

Spotify proving that July 13th commitment! If you start a wip without procrastinating and making a playlist for two hours first... did you really start a new wip?

The playlist was three and a half hours and i would listen to it nearly every day, sometimes multiple times in a day 💀. Listen during a rainstorm for peak vibes.

(other favs not pictured: The Butterflly Effect’s cover of “Lay All Your Love on Me,” Sabrina Carpenter’s “Decode,” Liz Longley’s “Rescue My Heart,” and "Nothing's Gonna Happen" by The Staves) 

Bonus:

(fall baking... toge's fav pumpkin muffins of course)

(my toge sweater knockoff)

(editing buddy... clearly working very hard)

(cider donut cider... for the ✨vibes✨)

(obsessively drinking massive pots of harney and son’s victorian london fog tea as i tried to interpret my own bullshit)

(me celebrating actual halloween like i didn't start in july)

.... ANYWAY (if you made it this far 😅) many thanks to anyone who read/kudos/commented/supported this fic, because (if you can't tell already) i had so much fun writing it.

Currently, working on another longfic rn that's also promising to destroy my life... but you never forget your first 😘

[lesbianwyllravengard]

Hello! I just finished the game for the first time like, a week ago, and it's taken over all my other interests. My head is full of stupid question like "why the fuck Kara needs scissors to cut her hair?" or "how does liberating androids even work? does cyberlife stop producing them*? or do newly made androids have to buy/reimburse their production cost? if they *somehow* get a piece of land to call Androidland, how would they get by economically?" and "are all androids equipped with genitalias that you can activate like DLCs, since only pleasure models' are advertised as "functional"?",

Pls help

Aw hi there! So unfortunately you've gotten interested in a game that doesn't make any sense and also is Bad. I'm very sorry about that. There are no concrete answers to your questions and your guesses are as good as mine. My experience in the dbh fandom was just corralling the characters into my arms and ignoring the bullshit writing in the game itself, because funnily enough the characters are actually all amazing. Just make up your own answers to these questions, or read fics that attempt to do the same and adopt their explanations, and you'll be fine

[starry-mist]

Have I done a “here’s where I think this bullshit might be leading to this season plus also some alternate options that I hate” post yet?

Anyway, here’s where I think this bullshit might be leading to this season plus also some alternate options that I hate.

It took me three tries, as per usual, to remember how to spoiler cut on my phone. Tumblr, I hate you sometimes.

Okay. Sarah. Taking Ph.D classes in behavioural science in Halifax. This is either setting up a) Mayko actually leaving or b) Sarah pulling a Julia Ogden from Murdoch Mysteries with the multiple role changes. I prefer the latter. The former is because I’ve had trust issues since season 3. (Also if Sarah nopes out to Halifax I’m gonna headcanon that she’s run away to be with Karma, fight me.)

Charlie being distant with Sarah (and also everyone.) I hate this. However, the parallel between Sarah taking classes and Julia going back to school before promptly cheating on him has to weigh on his mind. I have written a bit of an angsty fic that touches on this. Not sure if I’m ready to edit and post.

I also think Charlie is intentionally being written as a little more “rough around the edges” and I’m not a fan. And I think they’re purposely separating him and Rex from the rest because iT’s ThE hUdSoN aNd ReX sHoW.

Jesse. Joe is clearly training him in some detective skills, despite his being at a desk. I need him away from that desk. I need Sarah out of the lab. I neeeeed them to keep continuity with s5.

Charah. There is a possibility they’re taking a break. There is a possibility they just don’t have as much time together right now. Also, the promo for episode 4 100% feels like shipper bait. But I’d be happy to be pleasantly surprised.

Random hints I’ve noticed being dropped: Jesse perhaps taking another job (episode 1.) Sarah considering a new house/eventually “officially” moving in with Charlie, or they buy a place together (episode 2.) Sarah considering leaving (episode 2.) Charlie on the outs with his family (episode 2.) Charlie finishing his motorcycle because…reasons? (episode 2.) I’m wondering if episode 4 he goes in to renew his insurance and then ends up in the hostage situation. Which is quite silly but also high stakes so, there’s potential. Some of these hints feel like they could be setting up this season being the last, and they may have planned the arcs for a satisfying finale. (Look, I’d love lots of seasons too, with the caveat that they bring back the familiar format, but Diesel won’t live forever.) I haven’t watched episode 3 so I don’t know if it dropped hints.

There’s a lot riding on this week’s episode, which I may end up watching and regretting. If it confirms a Charah breakup, I’ll be back after episode 16. If it elaborates on what their current status is, and what the deal is with Sarah taking classes, I’ll accept that. The thing is, this episode is supposed to be a one hour real time episode, so I’m not expecting it to answer a ton of character questions in that hour. Though as I write this, the thought has popped into my mind that if Sarah is taking classes in psychology she might play “hostage negotiator”. Could be cool. But given they’ve so far reduced her screen time, I won’t hold my breath.

Anyway. My thoughts so far, based only on two episodes.

Also, it amuses me to no end that any time the show accounts post literally anything, the majority of comments are “tell us what the hell is happening with Charah.” Give the fans what they want, production team. We’re literally begging you.

[shera-dnd]

Hey so over the past couple of months I've been writing a little G Witch fic as a warm up before my actual commissions, just something easy to get my brain in writing mode

And now it's finished!

This one is a post canon ChuChu/Miorine/Suletta fic, in which Miorine tries to sacrifice herself for Suletta's happiness and ChuChu decides she's having exactly none of that.

I'll be posting a new chapter every sunday so we can keep those Suletta Sundays alive at least for an extra month

Also fair warning chapter 4 is mostly shameless smut.

but right now enjoy some angst

Chu Chu shuffled in her sleep, a strange coldness making her stir. 

She reached forward on instinct, trying to reach for something, just to hit the cold mattress instead.

When she opened her eyes she saw that she was alone in the bed. 

The room was dark, except for the soft glow that came through the large window - the distant earth reflecting the sun’s rays. And framed by that glow stood Miorine, wrapped in a dark blue night gown.

Figures .

Chu Chu huffed as she sat up on the bed, “if you’re gonna ask me to stay the night, the least you can do is actually stay in bed with me.”

Miorine did not bother turning, she just kept staring off into the distance.

“I didn’t feel like sleeping,” came her half assed answer.

With a muttered complaint Chu Chu stood up from the bed, a white tank top the only thing keeping her from being fully nude.

“You’re thinking about Suletta, aren’t you?” Chu Chu accused, fully certain she was right, “when are you planning on telling her about this?”

That got Miorine to look at her, Suletta Mercury’s name pulling on her like a leash.

“My husband and I already have an agreement,” Miorine explained coldly, “she’s free to pursue her happiness with whoever suits her fancy.”

“Tch!” Chu Chu stomped over, “then what is all this crap?”

A cruel smirk formed in the heiress’s face, “a woman has her needs.”

She scoffed, “like I’m gonna buy that! You’re plotting something. What do you have to gain from this?”

Miorine laughed, “at least three orgasms just tonight.”

Chu Chu’s hand slammed against the window, cornering the heiress in a way they’ve done many times before.

“You think if you piss me off you’ll get to keep lying,” Chu Chu accused, “but I know you. You can’t hide shit from me, princess.”

Miorine scowled, “I have nothing to hide! Not from you, nor Suletta!”

Realization hit Chu Chu like a sack of bricks.

The reason they’ve been doing this more and more, why she had asked her to stay the night.

Why she refused to tell the truth.

“You want her to find us, don’t you?” she spoke, more calmly than even she expected.

Miorine looked away, confirming her suspicions.

But why? Couldn’t she just tell Suletta about this? 

She was pretty sure that girl would accept it just fine.

Unless…

“You want a scandal!” she exclaimed, pushing away from Miorine, “you want to give Suletta a reason to divorce you!”

Miorine shrunk down and crossed her arms, still refusing to make eye contact, “Suletta performed admirably as the Holder. She saved me from a life of being used as a political pawn. The least I can do is offer her a chance to find her happiness.”

“So that 's it?” Chu Chu asked, her tone having gone somber, “you’re throwing both of us under the bus for Suletta’s happiness?”

“Of course not!” she argued, finally meeting Chu Chu’s gaze, “I’ll make sure the name Chuatury Panlunch will never hit the news.”

Miorine pushed herself up again, her hands bracing against the glass behind her.

“With the entire scandal resting on my shoulders alone I’ll be useless as a pawn,” she explained, “I’ll earn my freedom, Suletta will have her happiness, and you… get to put me in my place as many times as you’d like. Everyone gets what they want.”

Bullshit!

That was a bold faced lie, and Miorine was an idiot if she thought Chu Chu would buy it. 

Then again, maybe Chu Chu wasn’t the one she was lying to.

“What they want?” she asked, stepping closer. 

With two fingers she held Miorine’s chin, lifting her head so she’d look her in the eye.

The heiress closed her eyes, lips parting ever so slightly in anticipation for a kiss that never came.

“That Mercury girl sure is a lucky bitch,” Chu Chu whispered, before letting go of her chin, “but she’d be happier if you actually listened to her.”

Miorine blinked in confusion, opening her eyes to find Chu Chu picking up her clothes from the ground.

“What are you doing!?” she demanded.

“Leaving,” Chu Chu answered.

She stormed over, grabbing Chu Chu’s wrist as she began to put on her pants.

“You can’t do that!” she yelled, “you promised you’d stay!”

Chu Chu scoffed and yanked her hand free, “that’s when I thought you were touch starved, princess. I never agreed to taking part in your stupid plan.”

Miorine looked away, a frown forming on her face before she glared back at her.

“Why do you care!?” Miorine pushed back, “you just want to watch the rich spacian bitch suffer, don’t you? I’m giving you everything you want!”

Did she really think that lowly of Chu Chu?

...or did she think that lowly of herself?

“The smartest woman in the entire solar system, and you still can’t see the shit that’s right in front of you,” Chu Chu mocked, “tell me, princess, do you really think I would have agreed to fucking cuddle with you if all I wanted was to make you suffer? Do you think I’d come here night after night if I just wanted to put you in your place?”

There was silence as Chu Chu’s glare bore straight through all of her princess’s walls. Any arguments, any deflections, all crumbling before the unstoppable force that was Chu Chu.

What could she do now except be honest?

“Why else would you?” Miorine whispered, tears beginning to sting her eyes.

Chu Chu sighed and continued to get dressed.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” she muttered, shaking her head, “talk to Suletta, and actually listen to her for once.”

Fully dressed, Chu Chu made her way to the door. 

Behind her she could hear a hiccuping sob.

Fuck, that stung. 

She… she really didn’t want to leave Mio like this, but this would only get messier if she didn’t get her shit together.

Chu Chu stopped by the doorway. 

She didn’t dare look back. She knew she’d cave in if she did, but she still stopped, because she couldn’t leave her princess like that.

“Trust us,” she pleaded, “trust us to actually care about you.”

And with those words she took one more step and the door shut behind her.

[lovecolibri]

SaL anon here my friend after a very, very long week. This is actually my 3rd attempt at sending you an ask. First, I finally had time and was excited to type up something for the latest episode and then the Buck LI stuff came out and the mood for that was killed. Next I had mostly typed up my salty thoughts only to have my internet go down (yes, I whined at home "what i was going to read??!!" and pointedly ignored my very much filled bookcase because my ships aren't in them). So here let's see if this one works out.

So how is it KR and the promo dept always manage to kill any joy we have when we get fed any kind of Buddie content (the follow-up to the Eddie getting shot, and the 5b and premier come to mind here)?? Seriously Buck and Eddie more or less went on a date and had family night together and almost immediately they came back with "look Buck and Eddie are going to go on dates!!". Its exhausting cause it seems like any time they put out a story that might even be slightly suggestive of them being more than platonic bros they insist on following it up with stories to "prove" they are, no matter how recycled those plots are.

And okay let's take a second here to ask WTF is KR doing with these characters? In 6b alone we've had Buck dying, a coma dream, PTSD, super powers, and now he's getting a crush, and we STILL haven't finished the accursed sperm donor storyline??!! Bobby and Athena investigated had the death of a beloved friend 🙄 plot, HenRen had the nonsensical Denny secretly seeing his Dad which was never an issue before plot, and Madney and Eddie are just kinda there?? The other characters have had at best one storyline where the audience has to either invent or rewrite the backstory for. But for Buck he's had like 50 plotlines, none of which have really gone anywhere? I love Buck but I'd rather have him have 1 good arc and resolution than whatever this bullshit is. I'd easily take that screentime and give it to any of the other characters if it meant we got 1 well thought out and executed storyline. Instead we're just recycling and redressing old plots for everyone else while KR uses a magnetic poetry set to plan what Buck's doing from episode to episode. We have 5 episodes left in the season, 4-5 guest characters that are going to be incorporated (including 2 much beloathed ones 🙄🙄🙄), and nothing really setup for our mains to do (even Eddie dating isn't setup, it literally hasn't come up after Ana and you'd think they could have in 6a while he was watching his son mature).

Anyway, I'll stop the rant here though there's definitely more I could say. I'll close off saying I hope you're feeling better today since this week looks like its been rough on you. Sending you virtual tea, soup, and hugs!!

Long week is RIGHT my friend! I'm so sorry you were foiled in your previous attempts! I am right there with you on the Buck LI stuff just...sucking a lot of the joy out of things for me. Because of course we're doing this again 🙄🙄🙄 I was even writing up notes on a possible fic and you KNOW I haven't written anything since Malex and even that was before s4 started. But alas. That sucks about the power going out! I hate when that happens especially if I was in the middle of something! (Also I am SO with you. I keep buying books and then just...not reading them because my brain says "it's not our blorbos so no.)

I am just...so tired at this point. Like yes these people *may* not stick around, but even so, I don't want to loose out on Buddie scenes and Buckley-Diaz family scenes! I don't want Buck to have 90% of his time and discussions with some new character I do not know or care about instead of Eddie and the firefam! They already tried to do that with BT and it was the woooooorst! I want Eddie to have screentime and arcs but again, I don't want the little time we DO get to be wasted on some random side character! And lets be honest, there is no person they can introduce at this point that can compare with the relationship Buck and Eddie have already built and the ways in which they are the perfect partners for what each other needs. So the options are to a) cut down on seeing that relationship so their new het ones don't look so shitty and lame in comparison, b) have these women be mostly just Blurry Girlfriends in the background with no personality or depth just to have the boys paired off so they don't have to do Buddie while still centering their relationship so people can't call them out for not committing to Buddie because their "friendship" looks basically the same, or c) give them LIs that are basically the other's personalities transplanted into a female body in order to have the relationship be anything close to what Buck and Eddie need in a life partner. These are all terrible options, and I hate them, more than I hate the idea of them ending up single even though it undercuts their own narrative set up for the characters but that's a cop-out too.

ANYWAY

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 to everything about Buck's 700 shitty arcs this season while everyone else is mostly twiddling their thumbs. KR is literally the worst at pacing and planning, and constructing a season with any kind of flow. On the bright side, Ravi is coming back and Chim is going to get to do something! I'm so excited! I was really hoping for more of him and Bobby teaming up last week because the little crumbs we got were GOLD.

I did have a very emotionally rollercoaster-y week and the show being Like This absolutely Did Not Help, but I am making it work. Mostly with loooots of fic. Cheers friend, lets see if we can make it through the finale intact, if Buddie dreams can make it through the finale intact, and if the SHOW can make it through the finale intact with how these renewal negotiations are going.

[stackthedeck]

i normally really do not enjoy starker but dear god i need you to write the sad old dilfs fic

Sad old dilf (singular) Tony is still in his young, dumb, and full of you know playboy era. Hear me out, I'm at my most creatively fulfilled when I look at fanon or canon and I say "that has potential but poor execution, let me help you out, let me 'yes and' you" so here's my pitch for the kind of starker fic I could get on board with (Peter B Parker x 616 adjacent Tony Stark)

Peter B Parker, according to into the spider verse, is 38 years old, freshly divorced and for the sake of keeping him at his most sad and pathetic, the plot of into the spiderverse hasn't happened yet. He is crying in the shower, still wearing the spider suit, eating pizza as we speak

The last time Tony Stark's age was mentioned in the comics he was 34 (can you fucking believe he'd be 50 in the mcu currently) but I think this pairing would benefit from Tony having just finished his origin. So lets say this Tony has just realized the error of his ways and is trying to get this whole Iron Man thing to work and for the sake of drama he's still doing that thing where he pretends the iron man is his bodyguard because I love that. That'd put Tony in his mid-twenties

Spider-Man runs into Iron Man one night, at the top of Stark tower and Peter gives him a stay out of my city new guy I don't trust you kinda talk. Iron Man is like I know I'm new at this but I've got to do something good, I've got to make him for my past mistakes, I have all this power and I need to actually use it to help people. And Peter's like...okay I didn't ask for your whole backstory dude. He also makes a snide comment about Iron Man being that spoiled brat Tony Stark's bodyguard and Iron Man says that spoiled brat pays my bills. Peter is like damn is he taking applications? Iron Man gets really excited about this because Tony is of course inspired by the first superhero this city has ever had, the one protecting people for as long as he can remember. And Peter is like, I don't do team-ups or friendships, Spider-Man is a solo act right now. But he promises to help Iron Man out in an emergency, maybe give him some hero tips. Iron Man says he wants to help Spider-Man in any way he can but Peter kinda shrugs him off

There's like some Stark charity gala that Peter is forced to cover for the Daily Bugle but oh no a super villain attacks or some shit. Peter is like fuck I'm getting too old for this but puts the suit on anyways and somehow saves Tony before he can call the iron man armor. Spider-Man has to carry him out of the building which requires some kind of cradling. Spider-Man is like are you okay while like maybe holding his face or something. Tony who is instantly down bad for anyone that shows him the slightest bit of care is obsessed

the next day, Peter gets a call from the Bugle that Tony Stark wants to give them an interview, but he insists that Peter has to be the one to do it. Peter is like shit, the super genius put the pieces together but my life can't get worse so fuck it. He goes and Tony is like, you're the guy that takes pictures of Spider-Man can you give me his number. Peter is like what. Tony wants to sponsor Spider-Man and this instantly boils over into a fight because Peter thinks Tony is trying to buy Spider-Man and you can't just buy goodness, but Tony genuinely wants to help. Peter storms out and Tony slumps against his desk with a drink in his hand. He is now down bad for Peter because his type is older men that are mean to him *cough* daddy issues *cough*

Spider-Man and Iron Man work together for some save the world type thing idk I hate action set pieces. Peter mentions that Stark tried to buy him and Iron Man suggests that maybe he was just trying to help. Peter calls bullshit, but Tony pushes and says that he could give him some upgrades to his suit or Peter could work for Stark industries, with the webs like that, the guy behind the mask also has to be pretty smart. Peter tells him a hard no. But Peter gets back to his apartment to a pile of bills and no emails back from all the jobs he applied to. So he puts his masters in biochemistry to use and applies for a position at Stark Industries. He gets a call back the next day

Tony interviews him and even though he was hoping Spider-Man would apply, he needs to fill the position and Peter is undeniably qualified. Peter notices that Tony looks like shit, he looks exhausted and like he's drinking more than usual but also he's got bruises that Peter can't imagine a CEO having. After the interview is over, Peter reaches across the desk and takes Tony's hand and earnestly asks him if he's okay, maybe does the "who did this to you?" thing. Tony nearly starts crying and melts into a puddle at the same time. He does neither of those things thankfully and tells Peter he's got the job, no reason to kiss his ass. Peter rolls his eyes and says that he can be concerned without wanting Tony's money

Peter starts at Stark Industries and he's working in the lab...with Tony. He's surprised that Tony is still getting his hands dirty and he's even more surprised that the CEO wants to work with him even though he's just a new hire. Tony needs someone with biochemical experience for three reasons, he wants the vital measurements in the iron man suit to be more precise, Stark Industries used to make chemical weapons and he wants to make treatments for the victims, and he wants to improve his chest plate and treat his heart condition. Peter is like holy shit none of that is for profit that's so sexy

As they work together, they actually become friends and at the same time, Spider-Man and Iron Man are teaming up more often. After months of working with the Iron Man armor, watching Tony try on and test the armor, Peter puts two and two together, but he understands the importance of secret identities so he keeps it to himself, but he does feel bad about the double life he's created with Tony and he can't help but compare it to how that foundation of lies was what made his and MJ's relationship so unstable in the first place

It's the anniversary of MJ and Peter's divorce and Peter is fucking distraught but comes into work anyway. Tony is like you look like shit man and Peter explains. Tony gives Peter the day off and offers to go bar hopping with him. Peter gets mad at him because he knows that Tony is pushing himself too hard just like Peter did at his age. He tells him that he's still young, still has a chance to make something of his life why is he throwing it away on drinking and this party boy life and wasting away in a lab with an old burnt-out weirdo like Peter. In the middle of Peter yelling at Tony, Tony kisses him says some cheesy pick-up line about maybe he likes being yelled at by older men.

They take the elevator to Tony's penthouse in the tower and they sleep together, Tony probably calls him daddy. Peter mostly does it because he misses MJ but also maybe he likes Tony too, he definitely cares about him. But he's also having a crisis because he's a decade older than Tony but Tony is also his boss oh god what's the responsible thing to do here. Tony is down bad for Peter, he wants this so desperately to work, needs this to work because no other relationship has given a shit about him like Peter B Parker has

Tony obviously moves too fast and instantly tries to start doing romantic gestures for Peter, nice dinners, gifts, getting physical while they're working together, etc. And Peter just kinda lets it happen like he's not opposed to dating Tony and he's definitely physically attracted to him, but he's not sure if he's ready for a romantic relationship

and then idk after that Tony probably reveals that he's iron man and Peter is like fuck I feel really bad about not telling him I'm Spider-Man and that's only going to make things more complicated. Maybe Peter tries to break it off and Tony kinda spirals so Peter as the older more responsible one feels the need to continue to care for Tony. Maybe Peter thinks they're just fwb when Tony has caught feelings idk

[klanceyuri]

oh yeah?

Most recent Kenman fic. What inspired it? Any lessons or morals? Be ignorant be gay? 👉👈🥺

before we begin talking about Contractually Obligated we need to start with some small pre-ambles

1: it's intended to be the final piece of a trio of fics, one wherein Cartman is taking the aforementioned photographs of Kenny (mentioned when they're making out on a car), and one wherein they have a big ass chat about how they should hook up now that Kyle is dating Stan (Cartman is already out of town). will I finish either of those fics? fuck if I know, do they exist in my head without fail and keep me motivated to keep going? absolutely

2: I usually write kenman fics to fill the gaping void, to cope with the complete lack of kenman fics. I also use the kenman dynamic to explore different scenarios that I can't entirely justify with K2, Stenny, Crenny, etc, etc- because sometimes Cartman is the only one who hits the specific vibe I'm shooting for.

3: they would've had gay sex on screen but I wanted it to be safe for tumblr so we only get a scene of them smoking in bed like in the movies just to make sure people understand that they hit it hard

now, actually talking about the fic itself

see, i have a fixation with the whole 'if we're both single' type of contract, because it can go two ways. both parties struggling to prevent the contract from happening, or both parties shrugging off attempts to prevent it. in this case, they gave up on preventing it, and almost forgot about it, style and creek both happened so why not try and hook up right.

but they are both stubborn, repressive, idiots! and they won't just ask each other out because no, that's pretty fuckin' faggy, and Cartman won't lower himself to that. he will lower himself to going on a date with Kenny only in the case of a bet, or a contract, because there's no control over that. he can't control it, it's not of his own volition, he's not gay if he does it, he just lost a bet. Kenny on the other hand? he's kissed all of his friends, fuck, he's slept with all of his friends because of course he has.

the pre-existing dynamics, my god, kill me now, they make me go insane. Kenny is Cartman's best friend, and Kyle and Stan are less Cartmans friend than Kenny is. already we have a rooted relationship, they're close, so very, very close, and Cartman remembers when Kenny dies (he briefly states Kenny dies all the time in the ep where he buys an amusement park). there's this dependency you know, Cartman goes to Kenny because no one else will actually listen, and Kenny listens. they ran a restuarant together! thats fuckin gay as shit!

i am getting off point, very off point, sorry. but basically, they made this contract age thirteen, and Kenny knows Cartman will still be single, because of course he will. it's just a convenient excuse, quell the anxieties. and you know what? it worked, Kenny got a partner (will be disclaimed in the unwritten fic) and so did Cartman, and that contract was as good as dead. they could just tear it up and move on.

but no, nineteen, Cartman is fresh out of town, and he calls up Kenny to tell him he finally got a girlfriend. and Kenny is so fucking happy for him, the contract fades into obscurity and that point it's entirely out of Cartman's head. Cartman gets dumped first, and he doesn't dare call up Kenny, but when Kenny gets dumped? they are sitting on the phone, consoling each other, and just bullshitting like long distance friends do.

two more years pass and Cartman is back in South Park and he knows what must be done, he's been waiting patiently for it. and he'll never tell Kenny that he dumped the chick in the same way Kenny will never tell Cartman he got dumped because his partner found the artfully nude photographs ('to test lighting!') that Cartman took.

'so what? they both fucked their relationships?'

big fucking what, it wasn't purposeful, remember, that contract has faded into obscurity. Kenny never thought the photos would come up and Cartman isn't getting what he wants, someone to remind him of his best friend. they require each other, Stan and Kyle got together, Craig and Tweek married at age twenty one, Butters is off with Tolkien, yuri happened between Bebe and Wendy- everyone is together.

except for Kenny, he's single in South Park and no one is available for him, and Cartman, single out of South Park and he's been asked out once or twice at that. he turns them down, he has business to fulfill and he refuses to leave this contract unfulfilled. he's been waiting for this, for the dominoes to finally fall so he has an excuse to get what he wants and so does Kenny.

sure, it's subconscious, but they've always had each others backs. they'll never get married (unless they make another elaborate bet for Cartman to lose so he has his personal excuse), they'll never have kids, they'll never call each other boyfriends in the public eye, even rarely around friends and family. 'it was a fluke' Cartman keeps saying whenever they're caught in public, 'I lost another bet' he needs his excuse, he needs his reason because he can't just have something this nice.

Kenny on the other hand? oh how he revels in what he's finally attained with a man as untouchable as Cartman. that he can finally have the brunette to himself, that they belong to each other instead of defying a fact as simple as that they should've coupled off so long ago. but again, Cartman needs his reasons, and Kenny respects that, he respects that they'll only be lovers in private and that they'll always be friends in public. because this is good enough, it's almost what he's been waiting for since he was thirteen.

in short: the tension of this fic weighs heavily on Cartman being inwardly homophobic, and to an extent outwardly, despite knowing he wants Kenny. an addition to the tension is Kenny being queer, no fancy labels and entirely out, the entire worlds know at this rate. he is gay and Cartmans safe way to step foot into being a little bit gay despite the idea making him feel ill (he can't, he's failing himself if he is). he can't be romantic with Kenny for a reason as simple as 'i love him' and Kenny will keep giving Cartman all sorts of elaborate schemes and reasons now that the initial barrier is broken.

[monstrousfemale]

AO3 - First Lines

I was tagged by @grandmastattoo @afewproblems @daysarestranger – thanks for the tags 💖

Rules: post the first lines of your 10 most recently published AO3 stories. If you have less than 10 fics posted, post the first lines of all your fics.

I'm cheating a bit, I'm skipping my non Stranger Things fics just because...

a hot blush

Rated: M, Words: 3786, Chapters: 1/5 (finished work, posting whenever we finish editing chapters)

Summary: Eddie writes Steve fridge poetry. They're roommates and Steve has caught feelings, walking the line of telling him (and risking their friendship) or not telling him (and risking eternal suffering) while dreading the next installment of Eddie and Argyle's Challenge Triathlon. Or: straight up self-indulgent fluff with not-so-subtle The Walking Dead and Top Gun references that I bought an actual set of fridge poetry magnets to write.

buy milk

and honey

thank you

Steve stares at the fridge magnets. They weren't there at all yesterday when he went to bed, but now here they are, covering pretty much the whole fridge with random words and letters. Six of those words organized into a little message, no doubt left for him, since he's the one responsible for the grocery shopping around here. The words are a bit skewed and he pokes the "honey" so it lines up more straight. 

burn auburn (and smoke)

Rated: T, Words: 2,201 Chapters: 1/1

Summary: Eddie is sick a lot, but that doesn't deter his smoking habit. Steve is not sick, but he sure is tired of Eddie's bullshit. He finally decides to do something about it.

In the months after being released from Hospital, having been there for two weeks, Eddie gets sick a lot. His body has used up all its energy keeping him alive, and now he's paying the price.

Through it all, Eddie smokes. Eddie smokes through sore throats. He smokes through bad colds, the flu, high fevers. He smokes like there's balm in that white cloud of stink, like it helps somehow. His voice grows coarse and broken and yet, Eddie smokes.

waters so inviting

Rated: E, Words: 28566, Chapters: 9/9

Summary: When Steve's short on cash for weed, Eddie comes up with a trade.

By the time Summer of 1989 rolled around, Eddie had fallen into a routine without noticing it. He worked at the garage, and at the record shop. He ate dinners with Uncle Wayne. There were uneven times and dates for Corroded Coffin practice, gigs, and the like. Then there were even-ish dates for D&D, though he stepped down as the DM to join Dustin's sick campaign. But every week, rain or shine, there was some time between 6PM and 10PM on Fridays when he saw Steve Harrington.

led by blind faith

Rated: M, Words: 1845, Chapters: 1/1

Summary: Eddie is out on tour, and a long-distance relationship is not exactly easy to navigate. Snippets of Steve and Eddie trying to keep things from falling apart.

"I don't know why we thought this would work."

The words echo over the payphone, carried over thousands of miles. They hurt just as bad as if they had been said right in Eddie's ear.

He wants to fight, wants to ask Steve, just how could he say that? Instead, he breathes deep; in, out.

"I love you," he says, because it's true. Because he wants it to be enough.

"I know."

unconditionally cared for

Rated: T, Words: 2949, Chapters: 1/1

Summary: Steve doesn't do Christmas, and Eddie just wants some happy holidays.

When their first Christmas together rolls around, Eddie thinks he's gonna take things slow. He knows himself, he tends to go overboard. And though usually he'd just cause chaos and deal with the consequences later, this is Steve he's talking about. And he really fucking cares about Steve.

So Eddie casually waits and watches for Steve's behavior, wanting to know his opinion regarding the holidays, so he knows how to react himself. But then Steve just… doesn't react.

I'd like to tag: @p1013 @aringofsalt @strangeswift @fruityfour ~no pressure ofc ✨

[oldsoulsoupbrain]

I noticed on the new z-toon art theres poster with tom playing a guitar, could you write something with that? :3c

like ted showing chris how to play or him playing for chris (perhaps even writing a whole song for him?) or chris buying a new cool guitar for ted and being really excited to listen for it but he doesn't really know anything about guitars so he buys a wrong wire or something so they have a fun/cute moment about it idk :D I would love anything

and thx you!!!!<3

Hello! I had finished this one a few months ago but never got around to posting it since I've been more focused writing for other fandoms recently. Hope you enjoy and thank you for the request! 🤎🤎🤎

This fic is called Thursday Nights and you can read it on ao3 here as well as under the cut!

A teenage Cherry teaches makeshift guitar lessons to a young Ted and Chris for some extra money while the two boys each struggle with them for different reasons.

Thursday Nights

One of the things about growing up under the home of  an “old money” family meant that members of that family were each expected to hold certain skills, such as being capable of playing an instrument, or several for that matter. In Ted’s case he was lucky that his parents at least let him pick his poison of choice, and in his he decided on the guitar.

In Chris’s case it was as simple as his mom’s opinion that it was “cheaper than her therapy bill” and it kept him occupied for a few hours once a week, every Thursday to be precise.

For Cherry she needed the extra money to save for college and with the one guitar she owned and would lend to Chris for every lesson plus Ted bringing his own she was able to bullshit some makeshift lesson together every week for these kids. It wasn’t the nicest job to be known for doing since people would assume she knew more herself then she really did but it certainly wasn’t the worst option out there. Unfortunately their families were expecting to see actual progress. Something that worked wonderfully for Chris since he was a quick learner. Not so much for Ted, however being as even with practice at home he was still getting stuck on the same things time and time again.

It was simply a pity that while Chris excelled he never took the class seriously and Ted tried his best each and every week with slow progress. Two problems that Cherry didn’t know how to fix, if it weren’t for one idea. That the two kids could help one another in the ways that only kids could.

“Teddy! You came back!”

“I come back every week, Chris.”

“Still! I miss you every week.”

“You do?”

Despite having nearly the same conversation every week Chris was always just as excited to see Ted, who always seemed surprised that he had a friend. It was sort of sweet.

As the kids got settled down Cherry left the room to give them more space to talk privately, something they would have if it weren’t for the fact the kids always talked so damn loud. It was only two weeks ago that Cherry had told the two that part of their lessons would be to help the other out and so far it seemed to be working to varying levels of success. Chris was able to explain things to Ted in ways Cherry had never thought how to before and in return Ted was able to get Chris to settle down without even saying a word, which was downright impressive. Granted, Chris was never down to the same levels of chill that Ted was but it was still certainly an improvement from how it had been before the two boys had been introduced.

“-So then you just kind of do what sounds right to you, you know?”

“I guess.”

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay, alright?”

“How can you be so sure?”

“HMM!”

It seemed that whenever Ted asked a question that Chris considered to be obvious he would make a sort of judgmental sound in response. One that he apparently felt necessary to use when discussing Ted being asked to play for his parents. Up until now the only person that he had ever played for aside from Cherry was Chris, a fact he didn’t seem very keen on changing anytime soon, and for the time being he wouldn’t.

Over the following weeks Cherry noticed that Ted had improved with the help of Chris being his personal moral support cheerleader and when the time eventually came when Ted was more advanced than Chris was, even if it was only by a little bit, there was no person looking more proud of Ted than Chris was. By the time that Cherry was ready to go off to school herself the boys were ready to “graduate” from her little makeshift school, and so with a celebration with cake and small gifts for being such good students the boys said goodbye to their young teacher.

It wasn’t until many years later when Cherry received a letter in the mail detailing the impact she left on the lives of two husbands and their family that she realized just how important those classes were to a couple of kids in need of something special. She also questioned how they found her mailing address but knowing the lengths Chris was always willing to go to get information for Ted she didn’t put nearly as much thought into it as probably should have.

In the end she would always be their guitar teacher and there was now some pride to be had in that.

[makahimetenshi]

Follow me inside the wastelands - Chapter 21  -Arthur Maxson x Female Sole Survivor Fanfic

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14242575/21/Follow-me-inside-the-wastelands

Alright people we are getting into the final stage…not final chapters because I kinda counted how much they will be and I expect ten or more…

If you are very very very delighted with one fic and want a continuation I didn’t write or post you can donate me at least $5 bucks, most of this fics have next chapters I don’t finish because lack of motivation but hey a $5 is a $5, I see a few reviews and coments that fics that are abandoned months laters receive coments of wanting to know what happends next. Here it is, I finished my handling with you all, enjoy the fic

-I wanna go out

-Absolutely not.

Nora grunted, and look at the floor annoyed.

Its been a week, she has been with Arthur the whole time again, imprisoned in his quarters but this time for real, he didn’t want her out at all. He didn’t trust her.

-Come on Nordhagen Beach is not that far from here

-You are not going anywhere

7 weeks pregnancy, levels at 15000-12000 mui/ml. Yeah, they keep doing the controls and the diet, but for only 7 days the only thing that changed were her….pregnancy hormones in blood and urine, a diet need much more time before showing changes.

-That family needs help! I heard the alert on liberty radio!

-Some other minutemens will show up.

She wasn’t having any pregnancy symptoms yet but the chems from before were still on her blood, and obviously only after a week she wasn’t gaining any weight, too soon.

-They are too far and they often need help too!

-Croup Manor is close, someone will go.

He was still mad at her.

-What im going to be here until I pop out a baby or…-well that was an actually good idea?

-Where do you really want to go Nora? Seriously.

She stay in silence and look dead into a wall.

He wasn’t buying any bullshit anymore. Although there was an alert on liberty radio yes that was true.

-To the castle…but i was going to go to that beach obviously…and then go to castle.

-Well now you are being frank to me.

Their relationship was not improving at all these days.

-I need to talk with Ronnie Shaw, I don’t like the way she is organizing the rescue groups.

-My soldiers: your soldiers, can deliver a message just perfectly.

Truth is that he didn’t plan on this that much, he was letting the days pass until she…pop a baby out but…yeah this wasn’t realistic. She will break her way out.

-I cant stay here forever and you know it.

-As a sentinel you can, you can do your own projects

-Im a minutemen general and they depend on me.

Oh nononono she can’t manipulate him with that sense of duty now, not you wont, he was also a leader of his faction and the fact that there was people that also count on him wont soft his shell.

-I can go with you, since the brotherhood and the minutemens are working together –she raised and eyebrow-you don’t want to be seen with me?

-The question is if you want to be seen with me?

-Im the elder, you are the sentinel, we are both brotherhood and working together, if im around and your people trust me you can delegate to me in the future –specially when the months pass by and she is actually unable to be on the field.

She stood in silence looking at him for some moments, he wonders what was going up in her head, a trap, a plan, a curse…

-Do you want to be presented in some way or…-ohohoho, catched up

-Just Elder Maxson.

-You will be at Castle as my companion

Alright.

First, they took a ventibird to the Nordhagen Beach were there was indeed, a family, but there also was indeed, minutemens that actually arrived there to help as quick as possible. Nora congratulate them but before being able to say anything else Arthur offered to take them back to the castle in the ventibird, surprising and compromising her in front of his soldiers and people.

Yes, he was controlling her, he didn’t know how many of her friends and people know about the pregnancy and specially who the father is…but it wasn’t hard to imagine it.

SHE did in fact present him weeks ago, before all this happened…before their son happen specifically…

He will use her reputation and titles to hold her, to play with their people, she wouldn’t lecture him in front of her minutemans to not lose the little authority she had over them. Nora was constantly  proving herself to them, bringing results to keep them loyal together in her plans, she needed to act.

SHE didn’t say anything in the trip from the beach to castle, didn’t want to be so vulnerable in front of her people. If she play smart, hell had to do it too.

The ventibird parked not so far from the little bridge at the gate of castle, not in front of the structure but a bit far since from the heights they can see guards on the ceilings of the structure and a lot of laser turrets, small ones, well hidden, but Arthur had the experience to recognize them.

Since Nora was a general of the minutemen but also a sentinel, they don’t shoot ventibirds but since they were on their air space…well they can. A benefit from having a both side woman in the force.A group came to receive them, at seeing the general they put down the rifle and salute her, the woman greeted them with actual joy and walked along them to the structure.

Arthur had never been here, yes, he can see the view from the command deck in the Prydwen but it was so different being actually walking around the place. He had this fantasys about the King Arthur tale and story…when she asked him about ancient cultures yeah he knows a bit…and that story fascinated him, of course he had his ship…but if he joined to Nora at some point…hell had his dreamed castle!

But it wasn’t going to go anywhere with they are still mad at each other. Shit, now he wanted to work harder on getting better but she wasn’t doing it easy. Specially because he didn’t know exactly why they were here.

Sure Maxson bring some soldiers to protect him but Nora was…surrounded by hers. He trusted that she wouldn’t hurt him, maybe menace him, but not shoot at him or held him hostage.

Damn here he was again with this damn paranoid thoughts about getting kidnapped but oh well the life of the supreme commander, it would be very irresponsible and air headed from his side if he didn’t worry for his well being, the whole brotherhood would be compromised if something happened to him of course. Very different from Nora who didn’t seem to care about that aspect of her position, putting herself in danger multiple times. She does undercover tho.

-What is doing Max Steel here? –said the old lady Nora wanted to meet at seeing both walking together to her. Rude.

-Elder Maxson, he is my companion

-I can see that

-We take the emergency call at Nordhagen Beach, when we arrived some Minutements were already there so we bring them back here as a thanks–speak out and loud…Max Steel.

-That’s interesting, now the Brotherhood is listening Liberty Radio? –oh if she knew why…

-Yeah…about that…-said Nora taking the old woman by the shoulders and walking off, talking between them around the patio. He didn’t like being out of the conversation because who knows what they were really talking but…yeah he cant be around about this…if that’s what they really were talking about…he wanted to believe that she wouldn’t betray them.

-Look who is around today –a familiar voice came from behind, Arthur turned his head to meet Maccready…great…he isn’t fond of this guy.

-Nice to see you, Nora told me almost two months ago that you were in this place

-My boss told me to stay around and not go too far, If you are here that means she is here –Arthur pointed were the two womans were talking and he smiled

-So this means you don’t see each other since a while

-Yeah but that’s common, I only accompany her when im asked to do it, the last time I see her was…maybe a month ago –so at least she wasn’t lying about being around the airport the weeks before the first pregnancy test

-I see

-Come with me, there’s something Nora has been saving for you to see but im guess she is busy now

Yeah, sure, why not, a chance to be around Noras friends is a chance to know more about her. He made a sign to his guards to stay and let him alone for a while, he can manage.

Usually going down into destroyed basement with an stranger wasn’t a good idea, and although he was confident of his self defense skills maybe going with the mercenary his annoyed woman pay him monthly wasn’t the best of the occurrences so he was a bit…tense…

The man pull down a fabric of what seems to be a human figure, by the height it must be an armor and yeaaaaaaaaaaaah there it was a…green power armor?

-Why is it green? –he asked genuinely concerned, looking at the T-45 painted in different shades of green

-Its called camouflage genius –rude, again, why doesn’t anyone outside of the airport respect the fucking elder Maxson my god- do you know about Noras power armor collection right?

-She barely talked about it –he knew just a tiny tiny bit.

-I guess she started collecting them for the other brotherhood guy –gosh there werent much brotherhood guys, he must be referring of Danse- anyway a couple of months ago she asked us to pick some green paints from Hardware Town and do this…on one of her descartable armors, never came to see the result but its not hard to imagine that it must be for you –he must admit that the idea was…

-Its witty but this paint doesn’t attach to the armors

-We noticed, that’s why I thought you should ask for the Atom Cats for full paint jobs

-The Atom Cats?

-They are a group that customize old power armors, Nora has a few painted by them, maybe you should replicate more if this idea, it could be helpful –Arthur wasn’t sure in taking advice from a mercenary with fallen teeth- I can take brotherhood shinys casserole from a mile away with my sniper rifle

Cool, he had a point. And it looked helpful too, after all camouflage can be of different colors.

Nora is brilliant, she sees things in a way he never got the chance to get a perspective before, of course, from knowing better.

Coming up again to the patio he look around for both woman, but they weren’t there, he make another sing to his guards and they pointed were she was. Yes, they had the instruction to protect him but also don’t lose her, they were watching.

She was in one of the towers, just looking at the sea apparently, as he climbed the broken stone stairs she wasn’t moving at all

-Nora –he called from far, so she would listen and  not get all surprised and fall to the beach near to the castle walls, the woman look at him and hummed.

Apparently yes, she was just watching the waves moving.

-We can go now, I already talk all I needed to

-Cool, I think you should salute Maccready before leaving, today he was less loathful than usual –she nodded, and went back to look at the water for a moment.

They stay in silence, just watching the waves moisten the sand of the beach beneath the wall they were standing, he felt an awful cold in the back of his calves from the wet wind of the sea.

-How can you be so sure? –she asked and both meet their gazes- that you want to have it

That was an stupid question.

-How can I not want it? It’s a kid with you, i love you –saying I love you watching at the sea wasn’t manipulation to continue the pregnancy, it was just the perfect time an place for saying that.

Of course it wasn’t that simple, he had a million reasons to want a child with her.

-I love you too but…im scared…-scared to have it, to continue with this, scared to just be a mom again.

Oh, so they were talking about the pregnancy now. Okay. Goodgoodgood.

-You don’t have too, you are not doing this alone, I will back up in everything you need –the original plan was work together to be a happy family but lately he was just enough if she even allowed them to be a family, not happy or anything, much pretension, nono, just at least be a family

-This is your first right? –the question upset Arthur.

-What do you mean of course is my first

-Is just that being the elder of the brotherhood of steel a lot the lucky womans that share bed with you would like to have your son so it’s a bit strange that…-before finishing talking Arthur was walking down the stairs-what? –she only babble looking how he walked down.

-You are an asshole –he just said, making the sentinel jump out of her place to follow him.

-Wait! What did I say!? –she tried to make this as subtle an non scandalous as possible but the man was infuriated.

-Sometimes you are so stupid –he was making his way to the ventibird, the soldiers spot him and form around the helicopter.

-Well I clearly don’t do it on purpose! Come back!

-Hi boss! –said Maccready from far in the patio but Nora wasn’t in the mood for this, she had something to fix in her hands!

-Not now! ill talk to you later! Arthur! –this display of…emotions from the elder and the sentinel were indeed unexpected for the brotherhood soldiers, not much for the minutemen who holds a way of acting more informal but for them…I mean they know both are a couple but in comparison to the rest of the journey this feels a bit odd.

-Im heading back to the Prydwen! You can come with me or stay here I don’t care now! –Nora open her eyes wide and for a moment her body panicked, feeling an immense cold in all her limbs. No, he couldn’t be serious about leaving her. Not after insisting to be all week together to not do anything stupid and not letting her go out. Nononononono.

-Wait no! ill go with you! –he gave her the chance of separating and leave but…no in this terms, not like this! She didn’t know what the hell was wrong!

Nora got on the ventibird behind him and hold in one of the handles with a hand, placing the other in the man chest, he was furious, angry like she never see him before at least with her…

-Sometimes I feel like a little shit in comparison to you…-he said looking at the dirt ground of the castle, not wanting to face her. His hands were  hanging on the security measures the transport have to offer them.

-Please I don’t understand…-the lousy noise of the ventibird starting to raise filled her ears so she had all the attention on his lips. She was nervous, this wasn’t normal, he wasn’t acting like himself.

-Why do you have to be like this!? –he simply asked, full voice of pain, making Nora eyebrows cross in doubt and anguish.

-What do you mean? –she asked, getting closer, leaving the handle as other soldiers wanted to go up the ventibird with them.

Arthur felt the strong urge to pick her up from the collar In her neck but there was people around, his own soldiers and he was…careless now enough to talk about this in public

-Im careful Nora! Im the elder! Im supposed to be careful! I must look after every detail in my life! And the only person I ever felt comfortable enough to think in this kind of situation happening…!-suddenly and out of nothing he see the woman jump over him to grab the slides of his jacked and pull them for a kiss, a brute, chap, simple and actually horrible kiss were her dry salty lips just meet his in a cold contact even with both pair of eyes open…But it was the first time they kissed in…almost two months…since they separated at Sanctuary and he craved for this closeness.

-Im sorry –she said breaking the kiss going apart, after all they were around the other soldiers and this was…a drama…an unnecessary drama, the fact that the helicopter was noisy and they were talking to each other…well screaming practically wont make them stand out less if they are putting on this show- im so sorry I didn’t mean to upset you –Oh my Arthur was so confused, his body was so confused, in a hand he wanted to lick his lips and enjoy that sensation he missed so much but in the other he wanted to pick her by the waist and keep devouring her mouth until they arrived the Prydwen again- is just that I can’t help but only have doubts about it and you are so young but so sure…-his heart was pounding so hard in his chest right now, racing like crazy, even hurting, he wanted to answer, answer that kiss and call for contact.

-Its okay –he just managed to say while being out of words. Alright apologies weren’t exactly her strong point, he was still hurt that she will doubt of him like that, placing him in a positon of a fuckboy who didn’t care when all he is fucking doing right now is care even if she doesn’t want it but if she apologized…it will be okay…

Gosh this displays of couple drama in front of his soldiers will get him in trouble but…he was the elder and she was the sentinel…no one  would dare to step in the middle of their discussions. And no one did. This was highly improper from his side, normally he wouldn’t let himself carry out like this but…situation was consuming his good behavior, this woman was pushing all his limits. He didn’t know exactly how to manage situations go out victorious. Constantly trying to win to not stumble.

Both gazed at each other until the trip was over, each one in an opposite wall of the ventibird, looking for the other presence around…The transport landed on the platform and the crew went down arriving on the Prydwen, again, in public, in need and totally out of reason and good behavior, Nora took Arthurs hand, searching for his blue eyes. The man corresponded and squeeze her hand, looking into her eyes too.

-Im sorry, I know you care –she just said, pressing her lips together trying to suppress the urge to cry, she never meant to upset him that way and for some reason the thought of being…left behind by him who was always looking out for her… No, she wanted to keep him around, didn’t want him out of his life, that’s why this was so hard, she didn’t want to be a mom, no matter if it was Arthurs son or whoever but she definitely wanted him in her life. She couldnt just vanish, it wasn’t so simple.

He picked up her face by the chin using just two fingers, connecting their eyes together. She was emotional, It was the hormones? She suddenly fear? Normally she was the one leaving so this was a taste of her own medicine, he understands that but it wasn’t delectable to hurt her. His eyes look for her red lips unconsciously, until now he didn’t realize how much he missed that pair of lips, there was a lot of their chemistry broken right now its true but…he craved for the missing contact, even the smaller ones. Is not like it was the primary element of their relationship but this weeks had been hard on them and he really missed to be…alright…

-Lets call todays mission over? –she nodded and sob a bit, melting a tiny tiny piece of his heart- shall we go to my quarters? –again, she agreed

Even before  finishing closing the door of his quarters Nora was all up over him, clinging into his neck with her arms melting their lips in a wet and sloppy kiss, he instantly corresponded, taking her waist rough and possessive, turning down his back to gain a bit of dominance over the kiss, making it more passional, taking the control to turn it more pleasant for both since she was doing it silly and nervous. She hummed at the change of vibes, from a desperate attempt to taste a bit of him again to a enjoyable and loving embrace like they used to.

Yeah, he missed this so much, he missed her soft lips and the warm of her mouth. His lips moved and hers did it too, making the kiss more deep, in the exact moment his fingers did a gesture to…lift…or grab her waist up even on top of the black suit she climbed to his waist, legs closing on the back like they used to making him grunt in their closed mouth, just like a black widow with long black legs. His hands went down to grip her tights and hold them in place, Nora put down her hands on his chest, playing with the slabs of his jacket while separating and moving  her head and her lips from side to side, also playing with the illusion of kissing. For craving contact she was maybe too good at holding back for a bit of teasing.

-Are you alright? –before she was all confused and nervous so it was just polite from him to ask. She nodded and kiss him again, tongue pushing inside making him jump a bit and hum excited about it inside their mouths. Arthur move them both to the bed and before letting his mind slip in the primitive hot fact that he was now banging  his pregnant woman he thought:

That she had the permission and opportunity to stay back at Castle, to not come obliged with him on that vertibird and be separated at least in that instant, to not be imprisoned at his side but…she choose him, she follow him, she came behind him to see what he was up to, to check on what she did wrong to their relationship this time. She chooses to care.

[underburningstars]

Wow can't believe l actually finished this one. It's been in my wips for a long time. I have only posted my starker fics so far. So I'm a bit nervous about this one. Hope everyone likes it.

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Pairing : Steve Rogers/Tony Stark

Warnings :Canon Divergence, Temporary Character Death, Mpreg, Sentinel AU, mention of deaths, hand wavey science, violence. (Tell me if I need to add something more).

Words : 16K (m'so proud)

on ao3

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Right when the video starts playing, Steve knows that his whole life is about to fall apart.

“Don’t bullshit me Rogers. Did you know?”

Rogers. Not honey or babe. Not even Steve. Rogers.

For a moment he thinks about lying. Saying that he didn’t know. That he’s seeing this for the first time too. But he feels his insides churn even for thinking about lying to Tony again. There’s only one thing left to do now. He just hopes Tony takes it all out in him instead of Bucky.

“Yes.”

The blow that comes is expected. But the amount of strength Tony used wasn’t. Right then standing in front of him wasn’t the man he loves, the one who loved him through everything, not the man he thought he’d one day have a family with. Right in front of him was someone who was on the opposite side of the war, an enemy. An enemy who Steve has to protect Bucky from.

So he hits and keeps hitting. And by the time he brings the shield down, his world is already destroyed.

After that all of Steve’s senses were going haywire. He doesn’t know what he’s feeling. Everything is too overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time. He can sense pain, betrayal, hurt and fear. So much fear. But these feelings are not his own.

It hurts.

He looks down and sees his shield plunged deep into Tony’s arc reactor, the familiar whiskey eyes Steve loves so much looking up at him. And it all clicks. Oh, he…he’s scared of me. His blood runs cold. Steve thinks the universe must be laughing at him right now. He destroyed the one thing he should’ve protected with his life.

He gets off Tony, picks Bucky up and leaves the Shield back. He doesn’t deserve it. He feels hollow. Like all his senses have turned off. Not the comfortable calm that Tony brought him every time he got overwhelmed. No, this was different. Like the part of him that was responsible for feeling anything was missing . As if he’s body refuses to feel anything without Tony. His other half.

Steve feels numb. As though everything around him has blurred away. He know he’s sitting in the Quinjet heading towards Wakanda but he feels disconnected with it all. Bucky is sitting right there too. Injured but alive. He wanted to have his friend back for so long. But at what cost?

Everything. It cost me my world.

Right before the Quinjet lands his gaze falls down to his shaking hands. He clenched them hard to stop the tremor. Now that no one’s there to hold them for him.

He doesn’t cry. Not even when he washed the blood off his hands. Tony’s blood his brain helpfully supplies. But when he lies down on the comfortable yet unfamiliar bed at night he can’t help but feel the wrongness of it all. The weight of a head on his chest, mop of unruly brown hair tucked under his chin, the soft glow and buzz of the arc reactor. It all gone. He lost it all.

Forever.

That’s when he finally let’s himself break down.

In the morning he tries to hide the fact that he had cried himself to sleep the previous night. But by the look Bucky gives him, he realizes he didn’t do that good of a job.

He doesn’t let himself think about it. He has friends to break out of jail and plans to make. If he let’s himself think about the whole mess, he in no way will be in the slightest bit of functional. This is something he’ll think about late at night when he’s alone with no one to judge him for his tears.

He breaks the rest of them out of the Raft. Buys a flip phone (which Tony would call ancient disaster if he were there). Writes about a hundred letters – some too obscured with tears – and sends one.

The letter was the absolutely horrible. It didn’t show half the things Steve wanted to tell him. It probably made things even worse. Steve knew that. But he had to let Tony know that no matter what happened between them, he’ll always be there for him. Even if Tony didn’t want him there anymore.

Wakanda treated them extremely well, considering all that happened. They had a place to stay, food to eat and also a space to train. A few days into staying there Natasha joined them too. As much as he is glad to see her he can’t help but wonder that who’s there with Tony.

Bucky is having a hard time. He can see it. Sometimes he looks lost, forgets fragments of his memory, sometimes he takes a long time to recognize Steve. So he isn’t really surprised when he wants to go back to the cryo again. He never liked half-assing anything.

He carries the phone with him all the time. He knows it’s not healthy. But just can’t bear the thought of letting it go out of his sight even for a second. It’s the last bit of connection he has with Tony. He needs to have this.

Wakanda has been nothing but hospitable towards them. But it’s time for them to leave. The reason he didn’t want to sigh the accords was because he wanted to help people without anything binding him and holding him back. That’s exactly what he and the rest of the team are going to do now.

Being on the run isn’t easy. It’s shitty motel rooms, even shittier food and lots of sudden bouts of depression. Although compared to him all the others are coping much better. The only one who can slightly relate to him is Wanda and Clint. But Steve knows she meets Vision sometimes. And Clint regularly talks to his family.

He wishes he could have that.

They are in Germany right now. It was a fairly easy mission considering it was a small HYDRA base without too much security. But for Steve this day is nothing better than hell. His limbs hurt, head pounding, his ears are ringing. He’s surprised he’s not bleeding from his ears, yet. It’s getting harder to breathe, lungs contracting in a way it hadn’t even on his worst asthma attacks.

He knows it’s because of being away for too long from his bonded. It’s been two months since Siberia. The first month he could still distinctly feel bits of Tony’s emotions although Tony did a great job at building a shield around. The soulbond isn’t really that complicated. Just constant contact even just emotional is enough to stay healthy.

But it’s been so long without any kind of proximity with Tony that the bond has started to feel scared and abandoned. Steve thinks it’s ironic as he’s the one who abandoned Tony. But the bond doesn’t understand that. It’s feeling threatened and just wants its mate close. Like Steve wants anything else.

“Are you okay? How are you feeling?” Nat’s voice is uncharacteristically soft. Although she’s also a Sentinel so she at least knows that it can be extremely painful. That’s the reason Scott left and is serving house arrest. At first he wondered how he got off with such a small penalty. But he soon understood that it must’ve been Tony.

He thought Clint would leave too. But he didn’t. He stuck with them even if he missed his family like crazy. In the very least, he got to talk to Laura and the kids regularly. That was good enough.

Sam and Wanda are Guides too. So when Nat feels overwhelmed, they help her. But that doesn’t work for him. He needs his bonded and instantly feels territorial if any other Guide tries to help him, increasing his pain ten fold.

“No. I’m feeling like shit.” Steve is in no condition to filter his words.

“Must be pretty bad if you’re admitting to it and you also cursed.”

“I think my ears will start bleeding if I even move an inch of my head.”

“Go to sleep okay? It’ll make you feel better.” Nat sighs. After a few more hours of pain and restlessness, his body is too exhausted to even feel the pain and falls into an uncomfortable unconsciousness.

That night doesn’t dream. No nightmares haunt him. But he hears a voice. A voice he’d give anything to hear again. But now he only feels dread.

Steve…

Help me, Steve.

Steve. Where are you? Help me. Save me please.

It hurts so much. Hurtshurtshurtshurts…

Steve!

He wake up with a jolt. He can’t breathe. There’s not enough oxygen in his lungs. His body is rigid. His enhanced senses are going erratic, sensing danger.

He suddenly feels nauseous. Bile rising up his throat. He runs to the washroom and throws up in the toilet. By the end his throat his burning and tears are pouring down his eyes. His body still in a defensive and rigid.

The voice was Tony’s. He knows it wasn’t Tony but the voice was. It was his soul searching for his soul mate. They’ve been out of contact for too long and the bond is feeling like it’s mate is in danger.

He can’t feel Tony’s emotions anymore – they have to imprint on each other at least once a month for that – but he can still feel a distant presence. Warm and alive. He’ll have to learn to live with that.

Watching Pepper announcing information what Tony was supposed to inform is a bit disconcerting. The last time Tony was seen on public was two month ago when he saved a ferry that split into two. Steve sometimes thinks of calling. However, he couldn’t gain courage. Even though it has been three months since Siberia.

Steve isn’t sure if he’s hallucinating or not. Maybe his desperate brain just made this up. But the flip phone ringing on his hands feel real. Perhaps Tony is drunk, a simple mistake. Or maybe he called to tell Steve how much he hates him. He’ll take anything he gets.

“Tony?”

“No, Captain. It’s me. Tony doesn’t know I’m calling. But I really need to talk to you.” Colonel Rhodes. Steve didn’t expect to get a call from Tony. But this is even more unexpected. Oh God, is he okay?

“What happened? Is everything alright? How’s Tony?” Okay, so yeah Steve was slightly panicking now. But what had happened that Rhodes needed to call him. That too without Tony’s knowledge.

Right then Natasha entered the room and came to an abrupt halt, eyes widening when she saw Steve talking on the flip phone. ‘Tony’ she mouthed towards the phone. Steve wishes he could say yes, but with a shake of his head he mouthed ‘Rhodes’.

“That’s what I need to talk to you about Cap. This might be a bit hard to hear but I need to stay calm. ” Steve’s heart his racing too fast but his hands have gone completely cold.

“Just spit it out already! What is it?” From the corner of his eyes he could see Natasha’s body going rigid. Worry lines starting to build on her face. Sam and Wanda had entered the room too, concern masking their faces.

“Tony, he-he’s pregnant.”

¦

Tony already knew that his life was huge, horrible sitcom. But this is really something else. At first the whole emotional turmoil about Spencer, then the Accords, finding out that his bonded is actually a lying bastard and said bonded leaving him for his BFF. Steve is the epitome of ‘bros before hoes’.

For cherry on top, he’s pregnant. Voila!

The doctor is talking to him but he actually stopped listening to her after her big announcement. Mr. Stark you’re two weeks pregnant. Congratulations! He doesn’t know if he should actually be congratulated.

Now sitting on a stupid hospital bed he’s caressing his stomach where a little life is growing inside him. “Guess now it’s just you and me now sugarplum.”

Breaking the news to Rhodey and Pepper was surprisingly easy. As much as they looked shocked, they also looked like they expected something like this to happen all along.

The amount of NDAs Pepper has had people sighed in such a short notice is truly amazing. There is no way this news can get to Ross. And Rhodey has taken up full on overprotective little shit mode.

Tony still has to announce shit, show the world his lovely face and help the kid occasionally. But after a month of running around Rhodey has promptly locked him inside the tower. And to add to that, Pepper and Peter are helping him too. Traitors.

The first two months of pregnancy went quite well. He had horrible mood swings and absurd cravings but that happened to him even without the pregnancy. The amount of food he eats everyday worries him at times but the doctor said having twins does that to someone.

The third month, however, isn’t as pleasant. It happens while Peter is with him in his lab, working on his web shooters that Tony suddenly feels the world tilting sideways. If it wasn’t for Peter’s enhanced senses, he would’ve been screwed.

Now he’s laying on the hospital bed again, letting the doctor explain him what is going on.

“Your bonded is going into bond shock due to prolonged separation between the two of you. You would’ve felt the symptoms before but because of the pregnancy you’re health had been much better than most.”

“So what happens now?” Tony’s voice is carefully blank but now he’s feeling increasingly scared. No just for the baby but Steve too. Tony doesn’t know what it feels like. But he has heard enough about how bad bond shocks are. At that the doctor looked hesitant to speak.

“You need at least the minimum amount of connection with him right now. Otherwise, it could be dangerous for both the kinds and you.”

If there is a God then Tony is his biggest entertainment source. Connection the doctor said. But how? Steve left him and he’s trying so hard to live with that. But now even that seems impossible.

Rhodey’s eyes are boring into his head. He knows what Rhodey wants him to do. What he should do. But this isn’t that easy. Tony’s the one who got abandoned. He has to live with that along with all the international problems they are causing all over. He is the pregnant one. His kids are at risk. All because of a stupid super soldier.

He’s taking a big risk. He is used to his life being in danger. But right now it’s not only about him. He knows he can’t stall calling Steve anymore. He’s nearing his fourth month and his condition his not getting any better.

Pepper and Rhodey are constantly fussing over him. Even Peter has started looking worried. Yet, as he takes that ancient phone in his hands, his body weakens a d backs off. One more day. I’ll call him tomorrow. He wonders how long he can tell himself that.

Rhodey called him. That’s it. The cat’s out of the bag. Tony knows that he should be angry. That this is his life and he should’ve made that decision. But right now he just feels relieved that he didn’t have to go through ‘The Phone Call’ – what Peter calls it – himself.

Taking a deep breath he presses the ‘call’ button of the phone. The phone doesn’t even get the chance to ring before Steve picks it up.

“Tony?” Steve sighs, voice hopeful and desperate.

“Rogers.” Tony doesn’t want to fight. He’s too tired for that. But he can’t keep the ice out of his voice after all he went through.

He can hear Steve let out a shuddering breath, maybe from the memory of what happened during their last conversation. The silence stretches until he can’t take it anymore.

“I honestly promised myself that I’ll never use this phone. Do you feel happy, Cap? Now that you’re not alone in the promise breaking trope.”

“Yes, Tony I’m happy. I’m so glad you called. Rhodes…he told that--is it true? You’re—”

“Pregnant? Yeah I am. That’s the reason I’m calling. Since you left me…”

“Tony no—”

“…our bond is now strained and it’s effecting the kids. The doctor said we need the bare minimum contact to keep them healthy.” Tony didn’t let Steve interrupt. He’s had enough of people – Steve – walking all over him. He’s Tony fucking Stark and he’s not letting anyone push him down any longer. Bond or no bond.

“I-I’m…please Tony I’m sorry”

“I know Steve. I got your letter. It was a bit too formal for my taste. Not something you’d usually write to your bonded. I want to yell at you so much. But I can’t hurt the kids more.”

“You keep saying ‘kids’. Are we—you – having twins?” Steve’s voice was filled with an emotion Tony couldn’t decipher. It was unsettling.

“Yes Steve, I’m having twins. The fourth month is coming soon. I even have a medium sized bump now.” His hand automatically went to pet his belly. He never thought of having kids of his own. But now that they’re here, Tony can’t wait to hold them in his arms.

“Oh…” Steve’s voice was surprising small. He sounded more lost than Tony had ever heard him. It hurt to hear his voice so unsure. Steve was always the more emotionally stronger one in their relationship. Oh how the tables have turned. Tony thought sadly.

“I think that was enough for today, Cap. I’ll call again when necessary. Bye Steve.” To be honest, Tony’s proud of himself. He didn’t think he’d be able to have a civil conversation like this with Steve. The call also went longer than he expected.

“Bye Tony. Take care.” Steve sounded a bit dazed. Although he can’t be blamed for that. Too much information in such sort time. He guesses Steve will need some time to posses all this

“I will.” He will. He has to. No matter how much it hurts listening to Steve’s voice, he will do it. For this kids he’d do anything.

¦

Rhodes had hanged up long ago but his words were still ringing clear in his head. Tony’s pregnant. He knows the others are still in the room waiting for an explanation, wanting to know what the call was about. Suddenly Natasha comes and puts a hand on his shoulder.

“Steve, what did Rhodes say?” That breaks him out of the daze but he still can’t bring himself to look up at the others.

“It’s…Tony. He-he’s…” He swallows, not being able to say the word. He immediately feels Nat’s body going tense.

“What about Tony?” Nat inquired, her voice tight. “What happened to him Steve?” she demanded, voice low yet penetrating when he still didn’t answer.

“He’s pregnant.” He finally replied, his tone smaller than ever. He could instantly feel the tension in the room risen. Wanda’s eyes were wide and sad on him. Even Sam and Clint looked unsure and jittery. He could feel Nat’s hand tightening on his shoulder.

“Guys, give us a minute.” Nat said and the rest complied silently, leaving him and Nat alone in the room.

“What did Rhodes say? Tell me everything.” And so he did. He told her about Tony being pregnant. Him and the baby having issues because of the disturbed bond. How Tony needs minimal connection with me. How he’d call. Everything he knew he told her.

Through it all Nat was quiet. She heard him rant out everything to her and she didn’t interrupt her once. “The only issue Tony is facing is because of the troubled bond, right? And nothing else?” There was something in her tone that made him pause. Her voice was flat but the implication was heavy. Siberia. She’s talking about Siberia. Oh God, he was going to be sick. I almost killed my own child.

After that everyone left him alone. Sam wasn’t even the slightest bit subtle about wanting to talk to him but Steve wasn’t ready for this conversation at all. Especially, not when the anticipation of Tony’s call was killing him.

Talking to Tony was like drinking water for the first time after a long time in a desert. Tony was still pissed. And rightfully so but their conversation was much more civil than Steve had thought it would be.

It was all still so surreal. Tony’s pregnant. With twins. He was also showing a bump. He has never seen a person pregnant with twins, so he really doesn’t know how big it actually is. He only has the vague idea that it must be bigger than usual.

He wants to be happy. But all this just reminds him more of what he lost. His bonded is pregnant. He’s alone and hurt a d instead of taking care of him he’s miles away from him, living life as a fugitive. He’s going to have kids which he’ll probably never get to meet. His kids won’t know him. He would be the absent parent. The father who hurt their dad and left them on their own.

He misses Tony even more now. Not only Tony, his kids too. He wants to be there. To select the baby names, to buy their stuff, learn everything he needs to, decorate their room. He also wants to handle his random moon swings, to see him eat the most ridiculous things in the world, go through the morning sickness and hold him through the pain. He wants the good and the bad.

But he can’t. His team members came here with him leaving their everything behind too. He’s their leader. They’re dependent on him. He can’t allow himself to be selfish. If the calls are all he gets now, he’ll take them without a second of doubt.

He and Tony talked a few times more. Usually Tony calls him once a week, sometimes twice depending on his health. Their calls were shorter than Steve preferred but he knew he deserved that.

Tony always just told him about his health and about the kids. He never asked about the others or where they were and that they were doing. He never asked anything at all.

Today it was his turn to keep guard at night. They are in Geneva in a run down motel that barely fits them all. He’s sitting on the balcony when the call came and he was quick to pick up.

“Everything okay? You didn’t tell me you’re going to call.”

“Why? Annoyed by my calls already, Rogers.”

“No! That’s not-that's not what I meant Tony. You just always give a heads up text first so I was surprised. I’m glad you called.”

“Hmm. Well, the kids have started kicking inside my stomach. They’re impatient to come out. Thought you should know.”

“Really? Both of them?” he kept his voice carefully neutral not to let Tony know his real feelings. Tony has enough problems already. He doesn’t need to deal with Steve’s guilt now.

“Yeah. Both of them. I can see the outlines of their heads, hands and feet occasionally.” Oh how Steve wanted to be there.

“Does it hurt?”

“Well, yes. Kinda. But it’s bearable. It’s a small price to pay when I can feel their tiny bodies moving around inside. Anyway, that’s why I called you. I thought you’d like to know this sooner than later.” His voice carried a type of uncertainty that breaks Steve’s heart.

“Yea Tony. Thank you so much for telling me.”

“You’re welcome. Bye Cap.”

“Bye Tony. Take care.” And Tony hung up.

He felt like crying and laughing at the same time. He doesn’t understand his emotions these days at all. He might as well be losing his sanity.

Right then Nat came and sat beside him.

“Can’t sleep?” He asked a d she replied with a hum.

“So, the kids started kicking, huh? And no don’t give me that look. You’re sitting on the kitchen balcony and I was making tea.”

“Yeah.” He sighed. “The kids started kicking around. He said he can see the outline of their heads and limbs some times.”

“Sounds nice.” Nat said softly as she put her head on his shoulder.

“Yeah it does.” Then they fell into a comfortable silence which Nat broke with a question he really wanted to avoid.

“Why didn’t you tell him? About Barnes.”

After a few quiet moments he started saying. “At first, I didn’t know how to tell him that my supposedly dead best friend killed his parents. At least that’s what I told myself. But now looking back to it, I was just being a coward. I didn’t want to lose him. I was scared he’d drift away from me because of the revelation. That I’d have to choose between staying with him or helping out Bucky.” He let out a bitter chuckle at that. “And that’s exactly what happened. I had to choose and I chose Bucky. I don’t regret helping him. Not at all. But when I thought that if Tony knew about his parents, he’d pull out his tech from finding Buck, I didn’t tell him. Then Ultron happened, Tony retired and the finally the Accords. In the end I hurt him more than anyone ever did. I feel like all this could have been prevented if I was a better man.”

“Even if you had come out clean about Barnes, the issue with the Accords would still be there.” Nat pointed out.

“A lot was going on at that time. Bucky, Peggy, Wanda. I didn’t hear anything about what he’d had to say about the Accords. I just placed my own opinion and ridiculed him for his decisions.”

“Tony…he’s not like us Steve. We didn’t follow the government, so here we are on the run, being fugitives. He’d have to stay and fix our mess. Like always.”

“I know that. I knew that then too. But back then I kept thinking that he was making excuses for his actions regarding Ultron. I was still angry that he hid things from us…me. I’m a hypocrite Nat. I’ve way too many flaws for some who’s supposed to be perfect.” Nat didn’t say anything more and eventually went to sleep leaving him alone with his thoughts and loneliness.

They don’t talk about it again. Sam looks at him like he wants to talk to him but eventually backs off. He sometimes wonders what Sam seen on his face that makes him relent. They’re in Berlin now and just took down a HYDRA base where they were experimenting on children. The kids were all so young that they made him think of his own – still unborn – kids. He feels protective of them but also extremely anxious as he’s away from them.

Anger fills him. He wants to be with them, stay during the pregnancy, see the grow, what they look like when they first open their eyes. He wants to experience being a father. But he can’t. He subconsciously starts blaming Tony. It’s his fault. If he just hadn’t been so stubborn, he had communicated with them properly then the situation would be much better. None of them would suffer like this.

After a moment, when he calms down, he hates himself.

¦

Pregnancy is shit. Tony loves his kids. Really. But he hates the process. It’s been almost six months now and he’s huge. He can’t walk, sit, sleep or tie his shoes. It’s all so hard. But when he feels the kids roll around in his stomach, all his annoyance drains away.

Even before the pregnancy, he’s had his bad days and good days. But those mood swings got nothing on the ones now. Some days he feels elated and over the moon, looks at the world with rose colored glasses but some days they have to physically hold him back to stop from throwing a wrench on the first random person he sees.

Pepper and Rhodey try to help. But they are both Sentinels and their presence doesn’t to much good to his body. Because of his Peter has all but moved into the tower. He’s a Guide too so his body reacts most pleasantly with him around. He let’s Peter play around his – their – workshop and in return Peter pets his bump like he’s a house cat. Everything works out eventually.

It hurts. His chest feels like it’s been cut open. He’s bleeding. He’s cold. And it’s just getting colder. It all hurts so much. There is a figure looming over him. Tony can’t see his face but can tell the figure has blue eyes that are welled with tears and his face is contoured with fear.

There are hands on his face. Hesitant and trembling. The figure is calling him. Saying his name repeatedly. Begging him to wake up, to look at them. But he can’t. He feels frozen. Even when the figure wails on his chest, telling him that he can hate them as much as he wants, that they’ll never show Tony their face, he can’t move. Then he realizes. Dead. He’s dead.

He wakes up gasping. His eyes and throat are burning, he can’t breathe. He quickly drowns the glass of water kept on his bedside table and wills himself to calm down. He’s had nightmares before. Had them regarding this specific topic too. But this is the first time he shared a dream with Steve. He swiftly takes his phone and calls Steve. He can’t even get a word out before Steve’s sob rings through the phone.

“Tony…” he has never heard Steve sound like this. He sobs uncontrollably. Repeatedly saying his name and apologizing. All this time Tony says nothing. He waits for Steve to calm down which takes longer than he anticipated.

“Say so-something please. I-I need to-”

“I’m here. I’m right here Steve. I’m okay.” He hears Steve sigh in relief and they fall silent as Steve collects himself.

"I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to share the dream with you. I’m really sorry Tony.”

“It’s fine Steve. Really. Everything’s good.” It takes a while before Steve speaks up again.

“How are you? All fine? And how are the kids.”

“We’re all fine. Stop worrying so much. The doctor asked again if I wanted to know the gender and I refused. Again. Though I can’t wait for them to come out. I’m so big now that even the simplest works are a hassle now.”

“Don’t work at all, Tony. Please be careful.”

“Yes sir yes. And anyway, the three musketeers are here to keep an eye on me all the time. They don’t let me do anything other than rest and eat. I don’t think the kids are the only reason I’m this huge. Pretty sure at least thirty percent is food.”

“Let them spoil you a bit. You deserve it. I won’t keep you more. Go to sleep. Take care, Tony.”

“I will. Goodnight Steve.”

“Goodnight.”

They don’t talk about the dream ever again.

Tony really, really hates hospitals. It’s nothing new but right now so close to his delivery date with all the doctors fussing over him along with Rhodey, Pep and Peter, it’s the absolute worst. He’s just giving birth. It’s not like he’s dying. After so many near death experiences this shouldn’t be such a big deal for them but apparently it is.

It’s also been a while since he talked with Steve. So he doesn’t really know that Tony’s in hospital, preparing to go into labor. Steve’s in for some real surprise.

Giving birth hurt like a bitch. But now that he is holding his angels in his arms, every pain feels worth it. They are beautiful. A boy and a girl. Harley James Stark and Morgan Maria Stark.

They are the absolute perfection to him. Morgan with her brown eyes and brown hair, looking exactly like him and Harley with his blonde hair and blue eyes reminding him so much of Steve. They are his. His kids. His world.

There is so much yet to be done. He has to tell Steve, make sure that the media doesn’t know about this, keep shit from hitting the fan. And shit will hit the fan. He knows it. But delaying the inevitable is all he can do right now. But those tasks come later. Now it’s just he and his kids and he’s going to enjoy this peace all he can.

Taking care of kids is so much harder than they make it in the YouTube videos. They cry a lot, sleep when they shouldn’t and are wide awake ass o’clock in the morning. They are all the time either hungry or want to poop. Tony can’t feel his hands from constantly making the formula.

Peter helps a lot with them and brings May along once a week as she is the one having most experience with raising children. Tony is extremely grateful for all the tips she has given him. Rhodey comes along too and so does Pepper when she has time off from the company. Even with all the trouble, there is no greater joy than being with his kids.

Steve is still unreachable. He calls him everyday whenever he has time. But every time the call goes to voice mail. Tony figures he could just leave a voice mail but he doesn’t want to inform Steve about his kids through a voice mail, so he doesn’t.

Just before Tony starts considering the worst case scenarios he calls Steve one more time and this time he picks up.

“Hey Cap. It’s been a while.”

“Hey Tony. Yeah, it’s has. I’m sorry I couldn’t pick up your calls for so long. I was in a kind of rough situation.”

Rough situation, huh.

“I see. You good to talk now?”

“Yeah I am. How are you? And what about the kids?”

“That’s actually what I wanted to say today. I gave birth Steve. They are already 5 weeks old.” The line went silent for several minutes. At that time Tony kept quiet, letting Steve process the sudden information.

“So…um…are you okay? Were…were there any complications? And what about the kids? They’re not sick, right?”

“I’m fine, Steve. So are the kids. I checked for every infection or disease we both ever had. They’re both healthy.”

“Two boys? Or two girls?”

“One boy and one girl actually.”

“Oh, I…wow!” He could hear the awed laughter in Steve’s voice. “What did you name them?”

“Morgan Maria Stark and Harley James Stark. Do you like them?”

“Yeah, they’re wonderful.” His replies were all hurried. Voice filled with joy and wonder. “Can you tell me a bit about them?” This question though came out a little bit hesitant.

“…Yeah sure. Morgan actually looks exactly like I did when I was a baby. Same brown eyes and the same hair too. She is slightly underweight but the doctor said it’s common between twins that one of them is born a bit smaller. Nothing to worry about. Harley, on the other hand looks just like you. Sandy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. I can already tell that he’s going to be tall.” Tony could talk about the all day. He never thought he could love someone so much so quickly.

“Sounds like they’re well. Thank you for telling me Tony.” He could hear the smile in Steve’s voice but he could also hear how his voice was slightly chocked up with tears. His voice almost makes Tony feel guilty about the next things he is going to say. Almost.

“Steve, I-I think it’s better if…we don’t talk any more after today.” There he said it. He was also proud that his voice didn’t break. Too much.

“What? What do you mean by that, Tony?” The disbelief was clean in Steve’s voice. All signs of the tentative happiness present before now gone.

“You need to understand. It’s just not about me now. I have to take care of the kids. Keep their identities a secret. I’m already getting enough pressure from Ross. If he knows about the kids or that we are talking it’ll be a huge problem.” Tony tried to reason with him. But if Steve was capable of reasonableness then they wouldn’t to in this situation.

“So that’s it, huh. There is no way I can be aware of how my kids are in any way ever. I don’t get to be a parent. Even from a far.” Steve’s voice was now angry. Tony could tell that he was clenching his jaw hard to stop himself from yelling.

But Tony was nothing but determined. He wouldn’t risk Morgan and Harley’s safety over anything.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m asking you to do. And from what I remember you’re the one who left me behind. Don’t whine to me about your own big boy decisions Rogers.” Tony heard Steve let out a pained sigh like he was exhausted. To be frank so was Tony.

“Tony I’m sorry. I’m so goddamn sorry for everything. If I had known you were carrying—“

“You what?” Tony interrupted, suddenly even more annoyed. “You wouldn’t have left? It would’ve taken me being knocked up to keep you here?” he asked angrily.

“What? N-no, that’s not what I mea—“

“Well that’s what it sounds like, Steve! I begged you to think it all through, to stop what you were doing, but you didn’t listen! You never listened to one word. It was all about what you thought was right. What you thought was necessary. You never even considered my situation. And yet I came after you to try and help, and you—you just—“

“I’m sorry!” Steve replied, and his voice was pleading. “I fucked up. I messed up so bad, and I know that. Leaving you was the biggest mistake I ever made.”

Tony exhaled slowly, put a hand over his face. Steve admitting he made a mistake was kind of delicious, because he had always been stubborn before, never admitted his faults, but it didn’t make Tony feel any better. Not as much as he thought it would “What the hell does it matter if you’re sorry?” he asked. “You did it, and you can’t take it back.”

“I…I know I can’t take it back. You think…that I don’t know that. It’s all I can think about every single moment.” Steve started. “And I also know I don’t deserve to be in your presence ever again, but…please, please Tony don’t pull away from me. I’ll do anything. Just tell me what I need to do to earn your forgiveness.”

“Earn my forg—? You’re not getting it, Steve! That’s not gonna fix anything! You’re a fucking fugitive, and I’m being watched, and even if—if I could ever bring myself to forgive you, we can’t see each other again! You ruined any chance of that, any chance of a future together!”

“But-but there must be something we can do. Please Tony, I love you. Don’t you miss it? Don’t you miss us? Every time I close my eyes all I can see is the time when we were so happy, planning a future together. I can see you and our children, smiling. And it hurts. It hurts so much thinking about them and realizing that this would never be possible. ” Tony knew his next word would hurt Steve in an unimaginable way. It for once he didn’t want to be the one to be hurt.

“You’re lucky Steve. You dream of good things, even if they won’t come true. You have no idea what I’d give to dream such things. Because every time I close my eyes the only thing I see is you bringing down your Shield on my chest. Maybe I didn’t die on that day in Siberia. But we did.” Then he hung up.

¦

When they were part of The Avengers, some missions were exceptionally difficult. Even with the tech and careful planning, things could get really messy. But now with the missing tech, equipment and members trouble lays heavier than ever on them. Their last mission particularly was both emotionally and physically draining.

Anything related to children were always messy. But this time a terrorist organization was experimenting on small children to turn them into biochemical weapons.

Everyone had roughened up quite a bit during this mission. But Steve took a particularly bad hit and came down with a bad fever. Which was healing albeit very slowly. Natasha had doubts that the innumerable amount of unknown chemicals was causing the slowed healing.

Steve was mostly delirious the whole time. He didn’t know how much time had passed and what happened around him. By the time he could walk without leaning on to someone several weeks had passed.

Tony had called him a lot of times during the first two weeks. But after that there was radio silence which worried him to no end. The could stop thinking if about him and the kids. Wondering if they were okay. The fact that Tony was close to his due date did nothing to quench his worries. Rights when he was contemplating whether he should just call Tony first, the phone rang.

He couldn’t believe it. He was a father. He was the father of a boy and a girl. He was Harley and Morgan’s father. He had kids now. Kids that apparently looked like him and Tony. But even through the thick cloud of happiness sorrow managed to slip in. He would be a father to them but never their papa. He would be the absent parent. The father who had hurt their dad and left them alone. The thought made his heart quiver.

His train of thoughts were cut when he heard Tony speak again. And Steve’s more than sure that he will never be able to forget Tony’s words ever again.

Steve didn’t know how long he sat there with the phone in his hand but after a while his feet carried him to his bag where he pulled out a hoddie – one that Tony wore more than he ever did – that gives him some comfort on his hardest days. As he slipped in to the hoodie and his head hit the pillow, he didn’t bother trying to stop his tears.

Steve knows that the rest of them can feel that something is wrong with him. He isn’t sleeping well and doesn’t have an appetite most of the time. It’s getting to the point where it has started to show on his face. But no one says anything. Especially, since Clint has finally reached his limit and is now going back to his family with T’challa’s (and Tony’s) help.

But they are definitely talking about him when they think he is not listening. (They should stop underestimating how enhanced his hearing is). The side glances they give him and the silent eye contact conversations they have are starting to get unnerving. They’re probably deciding if Sam should or talk him or Nat. He can bet ten bucks that they’re gonna send Nat in the end.

And he was right. He took a tiny victory in that. It was his turn to guard and suddenly Natasha came and sit next to him.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” he asked.

“I hat a lot of chances to tell you that for the past few weeks but I restrained, didn’t I.” Steve huffed and was about to reply but she continued to talk. “What happened, Steve? You’ve been very quiet – well quieter – these days. You’re not even eating or sleeping properly.” He worried tone made him feel guilty. Natasha wasn’t one to show vulnerability often. But such moments slipped in when she was feeling too emotional.

“Tony gave birth. A boy and a girl.” Steve didn’t bother hiding. What was the point. Even if he didn’t tell them, they’d figure out that it was past his due anyway.

“Oh, congrats then. What did he name them?”

“Harley James Stark and Morgan Maria Stark. Apparently they look exactly like us.” Even though his heart was heavy with longing, his mouth curved into a small smile at the thought of his bonded and their kids.

“You’re happy.” She says matter-of-factly but a slight curious tilt to her voice. “Then why the long face all the time?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because I want to see them. That I want to be more than just a parent who was never there.” He snaps and instantly all fight leaves his body. The next time he speaks his voice is small and defeated. “I want to see them grow. I want to be there with them. I want to be more than the absent father who lied to their dad for years. Who hurt him and left them all behind.” Natasha just looks at him with her head tilted to the side. An indication that he should continue. “Tony told me that we can’t talk any more. That he is being watched by Ross. Communicating more would put both his and the kids’ safety at risk.”

“You know what he is doing is right. You might want to think that it serves him right for signing the Accords. But he didn’t have any other choice. If he didn’t sign them, he would’ve ended up in jail. And it’s not like he could run with us. People can recognize his face from a mile away. You know all that. So what are you so upset about?”

“Maybe…maybe I’m not upset with him at all. Maybe I’m just disappointed at myself. I hate myself for lying to him. For-for leaving him behind…in Siberia. For everything that happened between us. Right after coming out of the ice, I initially thought that I should’ve just died there, you know. Life was so hard and difficult and lonely. Then I met Tony and I thought that I too had a chance at happiness. Not normalcy but happiness sure. And we were happy. For so long. Even after Ultron happened we managed to find common ground. Then I ruined it all. I don’t know what to do anymore, Nat. Everything is so hard and complicated.”

“You can’t do anything, Steve. None of us can. All we can do is hold on and hope against hope that someday everything will be alright.”

After them none of them say anything. There is nothing left to say.

Even after his short talk with Nat things didn’t automatically become better. Steve was still silent on the good days and downright depressed on the bad ones. He wanted to stop feeling like this. Knows that there is not point. The team had trusted him and followed him to exile. The least he could do is be a good leader. But that’s also proving to be very taxing.

Sometimes Wanda goes out alone and comes back a few hours later. They all know she goes to meet Vision. No one says anything though, as she always comes back a little happier. Steve wishes with all of himself that he could at least have that. But he doesn’t. So he just aches.

Few weeks pass like that. Steve has now once again demoted to staring at the flip phone longingly waiting for a call that won’t come. Then they go to Wakanda for a respite. Out loud they tell each other that it’s for new information. Better weapons. To see how Bucky is doing. But in the privacy of their own minds they can acknowledge to themselves that they are all tired. Tired of fighting for others, for their lives. Tired of hiding from the ones they fight for and the ones they fought together with once.

The King of Wakanda welcomes them warmly. They have warm showers, healthy and delicious food and warm beds. None of them do anything to qualm the emptiness inside them.

A few nights in and Steve has his first nightmare in a very long time. Most would argue that it was a wonderful dream instead. But the overwhelming grief it left him with says otherwise.

He dreamt of a cozy cabin in the woods with a huge lawn. Children running around with pet dogs. That he’s sitting on the porch watching them and there is a hand in his, fingers intertwined, and a head of his shoulder. It’s all he’s ever wanted. And everything he’ll never get to have.

It’s four am in the morning. He should sleep. But after that dream there is no way he can close his eyes again. So he pads over to the lab where Bucky is sleeping in his cryo and sits by him on the floor. Even though they can’t talk Steve feels a sense of stability by being close to him. He’ll never regret saving his friend. Bucky went through more than he ever deserved to and he’d protect him a hundred times over. Steve just wishes he’d been more honest.

The Accords aren’t the reason for their fallout. They could’ve been fixed. Like the way Tony is fixing them now. Placing everything correctly. The problem was that he was too stubborn and too wrapped up in his own problems to consider Tony’s words. Now they’re in this mess and it’s all his fault.

Bucky could’ve had better than this if not for Steve’s mistakes. He could finally stop running and hiding. The rest would be with their family. And even if Tony didn’t forgive him for lying, he’d not have to go through so much trouble from Ross daily. Things could’ve been so much better. If not for him.

“Can’t sleep, Captain?” Princess Shuri’s sudden voice startles him out of his thoughts.

“Uh, no. We have been moving around so much that it’s hard to get comfortable somewhere.”

“I see. You must miss him.” She points her head at Bucky.

“Yes, yes I do.”

“He’ll be fine soon. He is making wonderful progress and we are all confident that he will make a full recovery in no time. So, please be patient for a little bit more.”

“Thank you Princess. I will always be grateful for all that you and your people have done for us.”

“You’re welcome.” With that she left, leaving him alone in this never ending loneliness again.

What Nat said was right. He knows that there’s nothing he can do other than having hope. But even that seems too far fetched considering the situation he has found himself in.

With a sigh he pulls himself up and goes back to his room. He craves the dreams – and nightmares – just as much as he dreads them. Because now dreaming is the only way Steve can ever see him.

¦

His last conversation with Steve was horrible, to say the least. He didn’t want to say anything about his nightmares – no matter how true – but in the heat of the moment it all burst out. He let himself grieve Steve’s renewed absence for a few long minutes before Maria screamed out and hearing her Harley started crying too and he had to run off to take care of them. Taking care of kids is really no walk in the park.

Tony doesn’t know how it is for other parents but for him the kids grew up too fast. It was like he blinked and now they’re two year olds. They can already walk and talk and read. Harley now can take apart his toys and build them up again. Morgan talks about astrophysics with Peter. Sometimes Tony feels dizzy with everything happening around him.

He is extremely thankful to the kid. Without him (and May’s miraculous tips) he’d have fucked this up long ago. Rhodey and Pepper are there tor him too. But they both work away so in the end Peter is the one who gets most of the babysitting duty.

Peter also always looks way too excited to indulge the kids. It’s a win-win situation for all.

When Tony went out in the morning after handing the kids over to Rhodey, he didn’t think that he’d end up meeting a wannabe Voldemort, have a reunion with Bruce, fight stupid aliens and end up in a flying donut with god damn idiots and stowaway spider. This is not what he signed up for when he made that suit.

Tony hates his life.

Tony knew that considering the life he was leading he’d dodged death quite a lot of times. But death by turning into dust and disappearing in thin air feels a bit anticlimactic to him. It doesn’t hurt at all. Just a disturbing feeling from vanishing from existence. He hates that the last thing he sees is Peter’s distressed face. So he tries his best to smile for him. And then he’s gone.

¦

Right when he thinks that he had seen it all, the universe again surprises him. But at least he has learnt not to be phased by them. To he honest, Thor telling him that he copied his beard is more unsettling than greeting a tree.

When Thor lunges at Thanos, Steve thinks that they really have a chance to win but a moment later people around him start to turn to dust and vanish into thin air. He falls to his hands and knees when the ever present feeling of Tony in the back of his mind is…gone. Someone’s calling him. Bucky maybe or Nat. It could be Sam. But no Sam turned to dust. Steve doesn’t know. He can barely make out some words over the ringing of his ears.

“I can’t feel him.” He whispers or maybe he screams. He has no idea what he’s doing right now. All his senses has intensified and numbed at the same time. He thinks someone has hauled him up to his feet and they’re now walking or perhaps he’s laying down. Steve doesn’t know. He doesn’t know anything anymore. Maybe it’s better this way.

When Steve opens his eyes its early in the morning. The date shows that it’s been a week since Thanos. Steve doesn’t remember falling asleep. He doesn’t even remember the whole week passing by. Suddenly with a jolt re senses Tony’s absence and wants to go back to sleep again, preferably forever.

But he can’t because right that moment Nat enters the room. Her face is unreadable as always. However, her eyes are haunted and red rimmed, like she has cried. Steve wants to cry too. He wants to sob and wail and pull his hair out. He wants to scratch his arms bloody and rub his eyes raw. He wants to be in Tony’s arms and feel his heartbeat. He wants to breakdown at the impossibility of it all. But he can’t. Through the whirlwind of his senses and emotions there is absolutely nothing that he can feel.

Nat’s saying something to him. He has possibly agreed to whatever she said. He’s looking at her but he can’t see her. He can’t see anything at all. Steve distantly feels like she’s talking about going home. Though he has no idea where home is anymore. Steve’s body has surely stayed but his heart had turned to dust.

Things are…well, a mess, to say the least. Most of the time Steve doesn’t k ow what he’s doing or who he’s talking to. He doesn’t remember showering or eating yet he knows he has when he finds that his hair is wet or he isn’t feeling hungry. Bucky and Nat are tip toeing around him all the time. He should feel annoyed but isn’t able to bring himself to do that either.

All his thoughts stray back to the same conclusion. ‘Tony’s gone so what’s the point of anything else.’ He knows it’s the because of the bond. But Steve at least has that much sanity left to know that even without the bond his thoughts wouldn’t differ much.

After his senses slowly start coming back to him, panic and grief hits him with full force. It even worse than no feeling at all. Most of the time he’s either crying or somewhere having a panic attack. He thought that Tony is truly gone. Forever. That he won’t ever see him again. Steve mind simply refuses to accept that. He goes through the stages of grief several times but never makes it to acceptance.

After he’s stable enough to form coherent sentences without breaking down he hops on to the Quinjet to the compound. On his way he stupidly wishes that maybe Tony is there. That he’s alright. That Steve can’t feel him because he found a way to break their bond. It’s ironic how merely a few days ago this thought was enough to break him. Yet now, this very thought – as impossible as it might be – keeps him steady, even just for a little while.

Steve isn’t in the mood for conversions. Especially when said conversation is with Secretary Ross. But he says all that needs to be said and leaves the conference room as fast as he could. He’s exhausted from facing loss, from looking at what is left of the world now, from trying not to think about all of what is missing.

When he enters his – their – room he notices that it still smells like Tony. Like he’s just in the shower or in his workshop and will come back to Steve any moment. He won’t. But Steve doesn’t want to think that.

After two years looking at everything he left behind and everything he’ll never get to have again makes it hard to breathe. His throat is closing up and his eyes are burning. The pain in his chest feels like it wants to kill him. For a moment Steve hopes is does.

He should get himself together. From what Rhodes said Pepper will bring the kids to the compound tomorrow. Hopefully try to make them understand why Tony wasn’t ever coming back and also introduce Steve.

Steve wants to meet them, really. He has waited for two years for this moment. To see with his own eyes what they look like. He just wishes that he wasn’t alone. That the kids could have them both together.

He showers and changes into whatever he finds in the closet and sleeps on Tony’s side of the bed.

Next morning he wakes up early showers and shaves and spends three hours talking himself out of any kind of breakdown he could have after seeing the children. He hopes he doesn’t mess this up too.

Tony was right. The kids look absolutely similar to them. Morgan’s brown hair and brown doe eyes, Harley’s sandy blonde locks and blue eyes, looking like the perfect mix of both of them. They’re both taller than average children, most probably due to Steve’s enhanced serum. But the way of their speech, already forming genius level intelligence, is all Tony’s. Seeing them is reliving and hurtful at the same time.

He doesn’t tell them instantly who he is. But he has a feeling that they know. He sees them watching him with such familiar intensity in their eyes that Steve almost flees. This goes on for some days. The kids waiting for him to spill out the truth and Steve delaying the inevitable. In the end Harley’s the one who bites the bullet. Steve is at least ashamed that his two year old kids have to clean up his mess.

“You’re our papa, aren’t you?” The way his voice leaves no place for an argument makes him smile. Hearing the word ‘papa’ also makes his heart flutter. Tony must’ve taught them. As soon as the thought comes, his eyes start burning a bit.

“Yeah, yeah I am.” It’s a relief finally letting it out.

“Aha! We knew it! You look exactly like Harley. Or well Harley looks like you. But we’re right.” Morgan’s is practically vibrating with excitement. Jumping from one place to another. But the same can’t be told for Harley whose face is harder than any two year olds face should be.

“Were you really on a secret mission?” At Steve’s confused face he continues, “Dad told us that you were on a secret mission to save the world. And that you couldn’t talk to us or come back so you could keep us safe. Is it true?” Steve’s heart clenches painfully thing that even after everything he did, Tony painted his image nicely in front of his children. That is such a ‘Tony’ thing to do.

“Yeah…um yes. I was. It was really dangerous so I couldn’t come back earlier. I’m sorry.” Both kids look at him dubiously. Too smart to believe such utter nonsense. But to his great happiness they let him be.

“We can call you papa then?” they’re both looking at him wryly.

“Of course!” he waited so long to hear those words. “I really missed you two.” Suddenly he has an armful of tolders yelling ‘we missed you too’. This is enough to quell the hollowness inside him, even if it’s temporary. Steve smiles and thinks that maybe he can live. If not for himself then for his kids. He has to.

Everyday he wakes up and breathes he feels a bit disappointed. But doesn’t let that feeling linger too long. He exercises, showers, makes breakfast for the kids and spends time with. The kids take his mind off whatever is happening around him by talking about anything and everything. They are both absolute chatterboxes.

He has formed a little support group for people where he encourages people to move on. There are a lot of people like him. Who lost their significant others. He tells them that they should learn to live. For themselves and for who are left. Saying them makes him feel like a hypocrite. But he has acknowledged this character flaw a while back.

Nat is looking for Clint. All his family are dead and now he’s nowhere to be found. All they know is that he’s alive. But Nat’s not someone who easily gives up. So she keeps on looking. Bucky comes with him too to the support groups. He also helps people in re-building whatever is left. He’s trying to find himself. Steve’s happy he’s doing better.

Everyone has found something to cope with. Not all their methods are healthy. But with all that has happened no one can blame them for this. It goes on for three weeks until a glowing woman comes to the compound with a broken spaceship and things mess up a bit more.

The kid Tony went to space with – Peter ��� is here after three weeks in space. When the blue cyborg lady brings him down he’s barely able to stand. So Steve runs to him to help. Just as he holds him he collapses on him. The kid must’ve seen him looking at the spaceship because he says, “He’s gone. We lost time.” In a rough broken voice before Rhodes takes him inside.

He stays behind even when everyone has left, looking at the sky and waiting for a spark of red and gold to show. He must’ve been standing there longer than he thought – his sense of time is a bit distorted these days – because suddenly Bucky has a hand wrapped around his bicep and is pulling him inside.

It doesn’t take long for spider man to be a fully functional human. But the psychological trauma is a different matter. He was lost in space of weeks and came back to all his family and friends gone. They’ve tried to be respectful and give him some time but Ross is demanding a briefing and if we don’t get it he’ll come here instead. Even Peter won’t be happy with that.

He debriefs everything he knows. Some parts similar to Earth. Like Thanos being a purple twisted and violent maniac. Some parts though are hard to go through. Like Tony getting stabbed and then turning to dust. Steve doesn’t know how close Tony and Peter were. But if the calls two years back were anything to go by, Tony had adored the kid and vice versa.

Nat thinks he should talk to Peter. Steve thinks so too. But he’s pretty sure Peter is avoiding him and then he’s avoiding Peter too and like that three months go by without any conversation. He spends with the kids when Steve is absent, goes out early in the morning and skips breakfast with them. Steve stays away from the common room when Peter watching movies and goes out of way to not go to the gym the same time.

Natasha gives them both disapproving looks but they both pretend they can’t see it. Steve thinks maybe they won’t ever break this extremely unhealthy pattern.

In the end the pattern does break. But in a more horrible way than he could have imagined.

When Pepper comes to the compound, face hard and unreadable, everyone knows something is wrong.

“FRIDAY tell everyone to come to the conference room.” No one wastes a minute.

The tension in the room is so high that he can feel in buzz on his skin. He wants to get over with this but is also dreading the conversation.

“This file in my hand is the official copy of the will of Anthony Edward Stark.” All eyes of the room snap towards her but she doesn’t stop, “I’m going to read it now-

“I, Anthony Edward Stark, being of full age, sound mind and memory, do make, declare and publish this to be my Last Will and Testament, hereby revoking and annulling any and all Last Will and Testaments or Codicils at any time heretofore made by me.

ITEM I

I direct that all my funds, authorities and shares belonging in the name of Stark Industries to Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts. She will have full access to all company files and be named the Executive Director of the company.

ITEM II

All of the rest and residue of my property, real and personal, of every kind and description and whosesoever situate, which I may own or have the right to dispose of at the time of my death, I give, devise, and bequeath to my bonded, Steven Grant Rogers. The properties, shares and funds created for my children, Harley James Stark and Morgan Maria Stark, should be handled by him until they are of age.

ITEM III

I direct that the fund named ‘Itsy Bitsy Study Plan’ should be provided to Peter Benjamin Parker each month after he starts his college. The full access to EDITH should also be given to Peter Benjamin Parker.

ITEM IV

The word “Executor” means the same as “Administrator”, “Executrix”, or “Personal

Representative” and refers to the person who is to administer my estate and carry out the terms of this Last Will and Testament. I hereby name, constitute and appoint as my Executor and direct that my Executor shall serve without bond. Should my Executor be unable or unwilling to serve or continue to serve, then I hereby name, constitute and appoint.

Testator: Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts

Witness Initials: James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes.”

With that she snapped the file closed. “All funds and property authorization has been transferred to your name Mr. Rogers, including this compound and the cabin house in Georgia. There are shares of Ms. Romanoff and Mr. Barton in this compound too. All files have been transferred to respective accounts.”

She takes out a sunglass box out of her bag and hands it over to Peter. “This is for you, Peter. The college and other studies fund will be provided to you monthly after you start college. He has secured scholarships and sessions for you in NYU, Columbia and MIT. You can choose any of them. That’s it for all of you. Goodbye.”

Everyone sits in silence for long moments and then Nat gets up and leaves and then so does Rhodes and Thor and Bruce and lastly, Bucky. In the end it’s just him and Peter left sitting there in silence until Peter breaks it.

“He loved you, you know. Even after everything you did and all that he suffered because of you, he kept on loving you.”

“I know.”

“Do you?”

“Yes! Yes, I do Peter. He-I loved him too. I still love him and I always will. I know I hurt him but-”

“You hurt him?! Is that what you keep thinking? Because from what I know you left him to die in a cold bunker in Siberia.”

“No! I-I didn’t-…”

“No, you listen to me.” Peter was now standing up, eyes wild with rage. “You left him there to die. He was hurting, you shut down his suit and left him there. Without King T’Challa he really would have.

Do you know that there is – was – a huge crescent shaped scar in his chest. Do you happen to know where that is from? It’s from your Shield. You crushed his sternum! How will you explain that?!”

“I know what I did, okay! Do you think I don’t know about the damage I caused. About exactly how much I hurt him! I know all that. But now it’s all pointless.” Steve was so tired. Tired of fighting, of grieving, of trying to be okay.

“Yes, you’re right. It’s all pointless. You knowing what you did wrong won’t change anything. Won’t change that he’s gone, that he’s dead.” Peter’s voice breaks as he chokes down a sob in the last word.

“What did he do wrong? Why did he have to go? Why couldn’t you leave in his place?” His voice is now small and pained. Afraid of facing what he lost even after all this time.

Steve can understand very well how he’s feeling. “You have no idea how many times I have wished for the same thing, Peter.” And he leaves too.

They go on with their lives. Steve takes care of the kids, helps people around with Bucky in support groups, misses Tony and – more often than he’d like to admit – cries himself to sleep. Peter went to NYU to study so he can stay close to the city. And Nat never confirms anything but he knows that she’s still looking for Clint.

Telling the kids about their dad wasn’t easy. They cried and cried until Steve couldn’t hold back his tears. But it was nice to be held instead of being blamed for once.

Thor mourns too. Mourns about his brother, about his kingdom, about his friends. Gets drunk and doesn’t listen when we try to talk to him. None of them know where Bruce is. But it’s most probably better for him to stay away from this kind of environment.

One day Carol Denver comes back and tells us that she has killed Thanos. It should be a victory, but it doesn’t feel like one to him. Doesn’t feel like one to anyone at all. She comes to earth a lot more after that. Helps them with fixing whatever they can. Makes Rhodes smile. Something he hasn’t done in a long time. It’s as good as it can be. For them at least.

Some days Morgan and Harleys behavior is too worrying. One moment they are playing around and smiling and the other they’re looking seconds away from crying. Natasha advices therapy and it helps. Their mental state looks much better. Nay sometimes have a look on her face where she wants to tell Steve to go see a therapist too. Steve ignores her.

Things have been bearable lately. The kids play around and also study well. The Avengers help around whenever and wherever they are needed. Even Peter and he managed to build a civil relationship. For him things are as okay as they could be in a world without Tony. Although Nat and Bucky seem to disagree, he is doing just fine.

Five years after people lost half of their world, Rhodes and Carol get married. It’s a small ceremony. They all look happy, despite that Rhodes’s eyes go downcast whenever he notices the absence of Tony in the best man’s place. This day Steve misses Tony more than he ever did for the last seven years.

He doesn’t stay for the after party. He puts the kids to bed and goes to the room he’d been avoiding like a plague. Tony’s workshop. Here, Tony spent most of his hours and days. Entering the room feels like he’s closer to Tony just as it feels like Steve lost him a bit more.

Before he can fully enter, DUM-E wheels closer to him, making cheerful chirping noises. It makes him smile through hi solemn mood. He pets its claw and sits facing the large floor to ceiling window. He pulls out a small black velvet box out of his pocket. The one thing he avoids more than even talking about Tony.

Inside it sits two identical rings. Their vibranium bands and ruby on the center gleaming because of the moonlight coming from outside. He sits there for long. So lost in his thoughts that doesn’t even notice when he’s no longer alone in the room.

“They are beautiful.” The sudden voice of Bucky coming over his shoulder breaks him from his reverie. Steve instantly shuts the box close.

“Warn a guy a bit next time please.” Steve doesn’t wants to talk about this but also knows Bucky’s not gonna leave him alone now.

“Did you design it on your own?” Bucky asked as he sat down next to Steve.

“Yeah, I did. It was…before all this happened?” The heavy implication of what ‘all this’ isn’t missed by either of them.

“Steve, look…um…there’s something we all wanted to talk to you about.” The words immediately tense Steve. This can’t be anything good.

“What is it?”

“It’s just…it’s been five years Steve.”

“…And?”

“Don’t-don’t you think that it’s time you let him go.” Bucky’s word are hesitant and careful. Like he’s talking to a wounded animal. Well the notion isn’t particularly wrong.

Steve wants to control his anger. He wants to handle this by remaining calm. But dammit how dare they!

“Do you have any idea what you’re saying right now? You want me to what, let-let Tony go. How could even think of saying that?!”

“Steve, calm down – ”

“ – calm down?!”

“…and listen to me!” Steve takes a deep breath and settles down. He nods indicating his friend to continue. “He’s gone. It’s been five years since he’s gone. We all need to move one Steve. Stop hurting by reminding yourself all that went wrong and remember the good.”

Silence falls upon them after that. Steve slowly collects his thoughts and starts talking. “The last time I saw him, I saw fear in his eyes. He was scared. Scared for his life. Scared because he thought I would kill him. So forgive me but there is no way I can think of him with our happy moments only.” His voice is barely a whisper. If he speaks any louder he’ll break. “I ruined the one person I swore to myself I’d protect with my life.” He added.

“He’d want you to move on. He’d not want you to spend your life mourning. He would like it for you to be happy with your kids and build yourself up again. You know he would.” Bucky insisted.

“I do. I really do, Buck. But after I woke up in this time, my life was divided into two parts. One is Captain America, an Avenger. And another is Steve Rogers, Tony Stark’s bonded. None of those parts are really there now.” The thought is really upsetting about how less is left of him. Without the kids he probably wouldn’t have survived so long.

“I don’t know, Buck. I don’t know who I am or where I stand in a world without him. And frankly, I don’t want to. I am fine this way. And I don’t want to be better than fine.” The already exhausting day turned even worse after this conversation. So he did the only thing he does most often these days. He fled to his room.

He cried that night. After a long time he cried, cried and cried. He cried until his eyes stung from dryness and his throat ached. Yet he just couldn’t stop. All while the ring box was clutched close to his heart.

Seeing Natasha look so exhausted Steve wanted to tell her to give up. That she should let Clint go. But then he remembered his last conversation with Bucky and kept quiet.

If Steve was capable of having a heart attack, then he definitely would have had one seeing Scott.

The explanation and solution Scott gave them seemed too good to be true. He didn't even want to imagine everything that could be solved if this actually worked.

Everyone gathered around the table. Dialing up from wherever they were on earth or outer space. Carol's hologram against a blank wall and Thor drowning in self loathing.

"Okay, so you're gonna tell us what's going on?" Rhodey asked as Peter entered the room and Nebula's hologram lit up.

Steve looked around, taking in everyone's expressions, "You guys remember Scott Lang? Otherwise known as ant man?"

"I don't remember." Nebula stated bluntly.

Peter shrugged and explained, “He’s a guy who can turn real small and then real big. That’s all you need to know about him.”

“Sounds useless,” Nebula mused aloud.

“Hey!” Scott protested.

"Anyway." Steve cleared his throat. "Scott here was experimenting on some things and from that he found some ways to help us. Mind explaining, Scott?"

Scott swallowed and responded with only a slight waver in his voice, “When I came out of the quantum tunnel, Mister America, I mean, Captain America said it had been five years since I entered the quantum realm. But for me, it had only been six to seven minutes max.”

“So you got knocked on your head and can’t tell the time now, big whoop. I don’t need a knock on my head to have the same effect,” grumbled Rocket.

Scott had been told ahead of time by Steve about Rocket being a talking raccoon and Nebula being a blue alien, but that didn’t stop Scott from staring like a total rube. It also didn’t stop Scott from responding with snark. “I don’t know about where you come from, but for us humans, we can definitely tell the difference in time between a few years and a few minutes. For one, I wasn’t dead from dehydration and starvation when they pulled me out of the quantum realm.

“He’s right, it’s not something he would get mixed up about,” Steve interjected.

“Where are you going with this?” Thor asked, seemingly to wake up from his sullen silence.

Peter was already shaking his head, meeting Steve's gaze straight on. “No, that’s not possible. It’s a fluke that he even managed to make it out alive, let alone at the right point. You can’t possibly—”

“Can someone translate for those who don’t have telepathy?” Carol interrupted with raised eyebrows.

“They’re talking about time travel,” Rocket jumped in. “Time travel through this quantum realm.”

There was the briefest of silence as everyone who hadn’t caught the clue took in the meaning of this.

Then a pandemonium of questions, demands and suggestions was unleashed.

Steve sighed, rubbing his temples. It was going to be a long night.

The Avengers compound was bustling with energy and people, everyone back in one place and working with an edge of mania towards their final goal. Carol, Rocket and Nebula had all come back to Earth, adding to their numbers.

No one said it, but it was an unspoken thread running between all of them that this whole thing might be a fool’s errand. It might be a complete waste of time and energy. Countless people across the universe might be dead and gone for good, but rather than confront the uncertain nature of their mission, they all worked with frenzied speed, like they could get ahead of the awful possibilities if they just paddled a little faster.

Steve let the kids stay with Pepper for the while. If something went wrong, at least they'd be alright.

Even tthrough the countless uncertainties hope blossomed in Steve's chest. After a long time he slept without any nightmares.

Peter, Bruce and Scott worked day and night to crack time travel. They elwerent seen anywhere other than the lab. Steve or Rhodes sometimes brought them food. But that was all the interaction they had with the outer world.

It was just another day in the compound when Peter burst into the common room, followed by Bruce and Scott. "We solved it!"

Everyone went near them. Desperate for an explanation. "It's done? Really?" Natasha spoke first.

"Yeah, it's-it's done. We really did it!" This was the first time Steve saw Peter smile so bright.

"We need to get the whole team together." Steve said.

“What? The team is together, we’re all standing here together, like a bunch of idiots.” Rocket pointed out.

Steve shook his head. “Not all of us.”He turned to Natasha.

She took a deep breath and nodded. “I’ll find him. He’ll come back for this, if he knows there’s hope.”It was time for the Avengers to assemble.

Rocket muttered under his breath, “I hate this cryptic bullshit.”

While Natasha started looking for Clint even harder, the rest of them started practicing with the time travel GPS.

Peter designed a white, red and black suit with nano tech. The design looked a lot like something Tony would do. Looking around he could see in other's eyes that they were thinking of the same thing.

Rhodey wandered over to where Bruce was standing and asked, “If we can do this, go back in time, why don’t we just find baby Thanos, you know, and…” He mimed wrapping something around a small neck and pulled tight on the ends of his imaginary garrote.

Bruce’s horror was written all over his face, and he stared at Rhodey, aghast. “First of all…that’s horrible.”

“It’s Thanos,” Rhodey replied with an eye-roll.

Peter was snickering and even Steve had to bite his lips hard to hide his grin.

“Secondly, time doesn’t work that way,” Bruce continued over Rhodey.

Scott frowned, stopping his sniping with Rocket to pay attention to this conversation instead. “Look, maybe we don’t do that baby Thanos killing part, but we go back and get the Stones before Thanos gets them. Thanos doesn’t get the Stones. Problem solved.”

"It doesn't work like that." Nebula hissed. They continued bickering like that for a long time. Steve tuned out the conversation in the middle. Content with watching his teammates and reminiscing how it was before.

The first thing they did for the trial run was steal more Pym particles. It had given them enough resources to work through their plan.

The next day when he went to the kitchen he found Clint making coffee. Sensing his arrival Clint looked at him with a desperate light in his eyes. So Steve told Clint what he wanted to hear. "We're gonna make this right." He was a bit surprised by how much he believed it.

Rocket and Scott were trying to make more Pym particles. So it left the rest of them to work on the Infinity Stones.

Nat was furiously scribbling on her notebook, not leaving even the tiniest factors. They were retracing where the Infinity Stones had been over large sections of time, to better decide the exact time they should travel to in their goal to collect all the Infinity Stones.

Thor had a bit of a breakdown while discussing the Power Stone and Reality Stone and things got tense when Nebula told them how to get the Soul Stone. They were only vaguely aware of the location the Space stone and Mind Stone. Which only left the Time Stone to search for.

"Strange had it." Bruce said. "The magic guy." Not bothering to hide his distaste at the word 'magic'.

"Didn't he live somewhere in New York?" Peter asked

Bruce thought for a while and replied. "Yeah. Bleaker Street. I think."

Natasha wrote that down to her notebook too. "That's the last one then."

Clint and Thor inspected the dates and locations. "So, we got all of them then."

“When can we go?” Thor asked, face set in grim, determined lines.

“Hold on, Thor, we’ll still need to plan how we want to do this. We’ll each need to time travel three times at least or we’ll need to split into three teams,” Bruce explained.

Peter then spoke up, “What if we didn’t need three teams or to time travel three times.”

Bruce tilted his head thoughtfully. “But there are three different points in time, over here, here and here, which have the Stones.” He gestured at the Space Stone, Mind Stone, and Time Stone in 2012, then at the Power Stone and Soul Stone in 2014, and the Reality Stone in 2013. “I don't see how we have any other choice.”

"What are you thinking of Peter?" All of them were focused on Peter now.

“We’ve tried this before. We tried to get all the Infinity Stones from Thanos, but we were too late because he destroyed them. But being too late isn’t an issue anymore. What if we went earlier this time?” Peter suggested.

��Go to the retirement planet,” Bruce said, with a hint of wonder in his voice. “Let Thanos do our dirty work, and get them all from him. Peter, you’re a genius.” Peter's cheeks flushed at the praise.

They trained themselves for any possible outcome and followed through the plan. When Bruce snapped his fingers the first time, at first nothing happened. But then portals started opening in the planet and all the people they'd lost started fighting along them.

He felt Tony even before he saw him. Steve had forgotten what the thrum of the soulbond felt like. He hadn't feel this alive in a very long time.

He saw Peter and Tony hug somewhere in the middle. He wanted to hug Tony too. But he didn’t have the time now. But he definitely planned on holding Tony later and not let him go again.

Afterwards, Steve found out that he might not have that 'later' at all.

He didn't see Tony snap his fingers. But he saw Thanos's army turn to dust in a painfully familiar way. Then, he looked for Tony. Ready to tell him that they won. That everything was gonna be okay.

He wasn't prepared for the sight that welcomed him.

Half of Tony's body was burned. He was on the ground, leaning against some rock. Steve immediately ran to him, taking off his helmet and kneeling beside him. "Hey, hey. It's-it's gonna be okay. You'll be fine."

Tony looked like he was gonna say something but couldn't get any words out. In the end he gave Steve a week smile.

On Tony's other side, Peter was crying, held back by Rhodes. But Steve didn't look at them. No, he couldn't look at anything but Tony. "Please." he sobbed. "I just-I just go you back." Steve didn’t touch Tony, afraid of what will happen. "Tony please. Please don't leave me. Please, I'm-I'm so sorry." It hurt. It hurt so much to look into his eyes after so so long, only to see life fading from them. "I love you so much."

Right at Tony's last breath, the Stones on his hand started to glow, slowly desolving into him. Steve was pulled backwards by Bucky whe Tony started floating up. He was too shocked by the turn of events to even protest.

Everything that happened next was a huge blur. Suddenly everyone was yelling. Tony was still glowing and floating mid air. Strange was opening a portal to Wakanda.

They didn't even know what kind of medical attention would be needed for Tony. But Strange seemed confident about whatever he was doing. To be honest, Steve was content as long as Tony didn't die.

Steve had somehow managed to fall asleep in the middle of this ruckus. He was stirred awake by Natasha. "So? How..." Steve cleared his throat when his voice cracked. "How is he?"

"He's...better." Steve almost fainted from the immediate relief. "Strange won't tell us what he did. He just said that the Stones have served their purpose. But Tony's alright."

"Is he awake?"

"No, Strange says he'll wake up when it's time. I don't know how long Clint will be able to handle his crypticism before he punches Strange. And honestly, I'm not gonna stop him."

Steve let's out a chuckle and sighs, mood dwindling. "Can I see him?"

"Yeah, that's why I woke you up."

Steve looked up at her with a small but grateful smile. "Thanks."

Tony looked extremely small on the hospital bed of Wakanda, surrounded by white sheets and pillows. Very unlike someone who just saved the whole world. The was plugged with wires and tubes and the beeping EKG machine indicating his pulse rate.

Steve slowly approached him and sat down on the bedside chair. He placed a hand on Tony's and was relieved to feel warmth. Despite being unconscious in a hospital bed Tony looked better than ever.

His skin was glowing a healthy olive tan. The aging lines and scars from years of being Iron man gone from his face and no sign of grey hair. He looked like a man on his early thirties rather than fifties.

Maybe this was a part of the many other things Strange refuses to tell them. But no matter what Tony looks like, Steve feels himself loving him more than ever.

It takes a few weeks for Tony to wake up. Even though Strange has sewed his mouth shut, Shuri says that it's his body recovering the severe strain and also adjusting to the changes.

All through it Steve refuses to move from the bedside. Occasionally, Bucky or Nat or Sam drag him for a shower or to eat but otherwise he stays rooted there. Rhodes and Peter aren't too different. Although Rhodes goes to New York for a few days to take care of whatever he can, Peter doesn't go.

He talks to his aunt and friends but refuses to leave until Tony wakes up.

Steve is grateful for the company.

He talks to Harley and Morgan almost everyday. They keep asking about all the people coming back and Steve says as much as he can. He knows they want to know about Tony. But he refuses to tell them anything before Tony wakes up.

¦

His head hurts. Actually scratch that. Everything hurts. Tony has a feeling that the full body aching is his default now.

He tries to open his eyes and immediately regrets his whole existence. Slowly he tries again and after blinking a few times he gets used to the light. He a weight on his hand and looks to his side. There he sees Steve blissfully asleep on top of his hand.

Tony takes his hand out of Steve's grip and doesn't resist the urge to run his fingers through the blonde hair.

Tony can feel Steve stir under his hand. He sleepily lifts his head up and squints at Tony. Then his eyes wide and he sits up with a jolt. "T-Tony, you're awake!" Steve gasps. "Shit, wait here. We-we need to calm the doctors." and promptly runs out of the room.

It's almost a week later that Tony sees Steve again. After endless fussing of the doctors and a ridiculous conversation with Strange about how the Stones valued his sacrifice and gave him a gift, Tony finally gets to take a breath.

Rhodey, Pepper and Peter coddle (and lecture) him for hours. On any other day, he'd be annoyed. But now he only feels fond. He hears all kinds of stories. About how life was while Tony was wandering along the dust. (Don't say it like that Tony!) How Peter had grown up and went to MIT. (It's so cool Mr. Stark) About Harley and Morgan. (They’re both absolute terrors) About Rhodey’s marriage. (Hey! How could get married without me as your best man?).

He's only a little jealous he didn't get to take part in discovering time travel.

When Steve comes back, he doesn't immediately come to Tony's side. He stands at the door, looking unsure if he's welcome. Tony extends his hands towards him and instantly he has an armful of super soilder crying into his chest.

It takes a while for Steve to calm down. But even after that they don't talk. Just hold each other tight. Talking can come later.

Seeing Morgan and Harley so grown up had Tony desperately trying and horribly failing to hold back tears. They are so tall now. They talk about school and studies and trips when the other day Tony was teaching them how to eat properly.

To absolutely no one’s surprise, the meet up ends with all four of them hugging and in tears. More so, because he never thought there would a way for all four of them together.

He had noticed the changes of his body, of course he had. How he could breathe better. The strains of his body that came with age and years of fighting, gone. But he truly sees them when he looks at the mirror the first time.

He looks a bit too young for his taste. Oh well, no point in complaining now. Tony was pretty sure he had an accelerated healing factor and enhanced senses. Maybe even super strength. He couldn't wait to get out of here and test them all.

The first thing he did after reaching The Compound was get a coffee. Wakanda was truly a beautiful place. But the coffee there sucked.

Missing five years of life was pretty shit. Sim many things had changed and he wasn't there to experience any of them.

Steve and Tony eventually do sit down to talk. Like actual mature adults.

"I'm sorry." Steve starts.

"Stop saying sorry, Steve." Tony sighs.

"But I am sorry. I'm sorry for so many things Tony."

"Start from the first."

So Steve does. He tells him how he found out about his parents. How he wanted to tell him. How he kept delaying thinking that they'd have one more day together before it alm went to shit. How it was too late and Steve lost a thousand chances. How he reacted during the Ultron fiasco and the guilt just piled up.

Tony apologized too. For not being honest during Ultron. For reacting impulsively during the Accords. For trying to kill Barnes.

It ended with them imprinting on each other after seven years and sleeping with bodies held too tight.

Not everything was okay obviously. They had so much to work on. But, baby steps.

They try to fix a world that's too messed up, that doesn't want to be fixed. It's hard and they get hurt a lot in the middle of everything. But they don't stop.How can they?

After all they're the Avengers.

¦

Fifteen years later, when he and Tony were married and enjoying retirement in a white picket fence house in the suburbs, Steve finds an old video on his phone.

As it plays he realizes it's the unedited version of their weeding day. The kids are running around, adults chatting and laughing. Everyone with a bright smile on their faces.

Right when the video stops playing, Steve knows that his whole life is perfect now.

[strangergrove]

Ooo, been a long time since I've been tagged. Thanks @lovebillyhargrove!

1. Do they get together before the mindflayer possessed Billy or after shit goes down (or maybe during 😲)?

I've written fics for every variation (kinda?) I'm not sure I have a favourite, but I usually lean toward before. The one I'm finishing up right now is kind of during/immediately after.

2. Who kisses who first?

While I think neither of them is shy about going for what they want, I think Billy would be more comfortable being the first to go for it in this situation because I've always hc'd this being Steve's first queer relationship.

3. Where do they have their first sex? (Location) (HJs and BJs count)

First place for non-penetrative sex? If they hook up circa s2, I'd honestly say the locker room after everyone else leaves. As for anal and hooking up post s2... Probably the Camaro, otherwise Steve's house when his parents are inevitably out of town.

4. Who says 💖 I love you 💖 first?

I honestly think Steve would be wary of being the first to say it because of the "bullshit" thing with Nancy. I think that hurt him pretty badly and he wouldn't be keen to open his heart up without fully believing Billy truly loved him.

5. Bottom!Steve or bottom!Billy?

Whichever fits the vibe I'm writing. I like the idea of top!Billy 'cause I just like me some tops hahaha. But I could see them both being vers.

6. Do they give gifts to each other?

I see Steve buying Billy things because he doesn't know how to make anything, and Billy making Steve things because he doesn't have money to buy anything. I also think they'd both be insecure about it, thinking the other one's way of gift-giving is superior, but in reality Billy loves the obscure, thoughtful gifts Steve finds and Steve loves the shit Billy makes him.

7. Where do they end up living? California, Chicago, Hawkins… idk. Alaska?? Any other location?

I usually write them moving to Cali but lately I've really been into the idea of them living in Minnesota. Granted, I'm extremely biased because that's where I'm from, but I like the idea of it. Steve gets to stay in the midwest and Billy still gets to surf, even though he'll be very cold doing so haha.

8. What are their future jobs?

In the 80s? I could see Steve being a coach of some sort. He loves sports and has taken a liking to looking after and teaching kids, so I think it would fit. I can't see him in any sort of job like what his dad does, and although I love the idea of him and Robin working together forever, I don't think they'd actually be interested in the same kinds of jobs. Billy I could see either being a mechanic or a lifeguard/swim instructor/surf instructor. He knows his way around a car and he loves his Camaro, but I think he'd be a mechanic moreso out of a financial need than a passion. Water is his passion.

9. Who’s a better cook?

At the time of the show, I think Steve would be awful because he's never had to cook in his life, and Billy wouldn't be great but he'd know how, because his dad made him help Susan sometimes, or cook for Max while they were out. However, I think Billy would get more into cooking healthy meals and Steve would maybe get into baking.

10. Steve Hargrove or Billy Harrington?

As much as I love the last name Hargrove, I have a very strong feeling Billy would jump at the chance to bury it forever. He wouldn't let that cursed name anywhere near Steve. So, Billy Harrington.

11. What’s Max’s reaction when she hears they’re together?

She would lovingly tease the absolute shit out of them, but she'd be so happy Billy found someone who loved him, especially since Steve's influence would calm the raging fire in Billy.

12. Describe in one sentence Hopper’s reaction when he hears the names Hargrove and Harrington mentioned together.

Just utterly distraught, thinking about the havoc they'll wreak.

13. Does Robin like Billy or does Robin hate Billy?

I'm thinking she doesn't meet him until after he and Steve are together, when he's less volatile and angry, and she adores the shit outta him. However, if she met him in school she'd have hated him at first.

14. What about Dustin?

It takes a while, but once Billy apologizes to Lucas and starts making up for everything, Dustin starts to like him.

15. Fave harringrove AU?

Fuck if I know 😂

16. Billy + Camaro =…?

That's his baby. His Camaro comes second only to Max and Steve.

[berriusagi]

Stomach Bug Ch2

Dinner Announcement

Should I be writing my geology essay? Yes. Am I going to write it right now? No. Am I instead going to write a new chapter to this fic? Absolutely. Thank you everyone who showed interest in this story it means a lot that people actually like this and to everyone asking to be tagged I’d take a bullet for you. You are all the best.

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The calm collected tone Bruce had during his call did well to hide the absolute madhouse that was Wayne Manor. While he was trying to subtly interrogate his youngest son over the phone his other three were playing the world's worst game of charades. Dick’s arms were flailing around as he made exaggerated motions trying to get a read on what Damian was saying through Bruce’s stony features. Jason was seemed to be working his eyebrows as much as humanly possible seeing if he could get even a hint of a reaction from Bruce. Tim, however, was just patiently waiting too tired to do any of the over the top actions of his brothers.

“Okay son, if you’re sure I’ll speak with Alfred.” Bruce nodded before hanging up and took a moment to compose himself before his sons launched into their own interrogation.

“What’s going on?” Dick asked, “Is little D okay?”

“What’s up with Demon Spawn I’ve never heard him have an emotion other than anger before,” Jason asked leaning forward.

“Why was he at Ivy and Harley’s?” Tim asked sipping his coffee.

“He didn’t say much.” Bruce sighed rubbing his eyes, “he told me he’ll be out for the rest of the day but that he’ll be here at dinner to explain what happened. He’s also bringing a few guests though he wouldn’t give any names.”

The three boys all shared looks before flying out of the room and scrambling through the halls towards the Batcave. Alfred stepping out of the way as they flew past him all shoving each other away or jumping over the other to try and be in the lead.

“They are quite lively this morning.” Alfred hummed walking over to Bruce with a raised eyebrow, “What did I miss?”

“Damian ran out during breakfast after a phone call and won’t be back until dinner he’s bringing three guests. He didn’t tell me more than that.” Bruce sighed leaning back in his seat, “How am I not grey yet Alfred?” he asked

“Must be favorable genetics as it can’t be from your tranquil life.” Alfred mused as he cleaned up the table and headed off to wash the dishes leaving Bruce alone to listen to the distant shouts of his sons fight their way into the Batcave.

~.~.~.~

“Angel, you need to eat something.” Damian said rubbing Marinette's back as she covered her nose turning away from the food set out in front of her, “I know it makes you nauseous but at least eat some toast.” he coaxed grabbing some dry toast and held it up to her.

“Eating is the last thing I want to do right now.” Marinette groaned still a little green from her last round of sickness.

“I know but the baby needs you to eat.” he soothed looking in her eyes, “you need to eat so the baby can be fed.”

Marinette groaned and pushed the plate stacked meats and eggs away from her and leaned back further to get away from the smell. Once her stomach seemed to settle she gingerly took the toast Damian kept insisting upon her eating and took small bites slowly working through it. Her stomach settled further the more she ate allowing her to relax a bit more and a healthier color to finally come to her face.

“Think she’ll be a vegetarian during this pregnancy,” Harley chuckled taking the plate away and deposited the food in the doggy bowls by the door for the two hyenas to come rip through later, “probably for the best for her to not have any meats though might really mess with her stomach.”

Ivy hummed looking through the pamphlets reading up on the different options, “Marigold we should set up an appointment with the OB-GYN Dr. Beau recommended. We should also grab some prenatal vitamins too since you’re not going to be getting enough nutrients from eating like a little bird.”

“I’ll go buy some,” Damian said standing quickly only to get shoved down in his seat a second later by Harley.

“Yeah no,” Harley said grabbing her brag, “That’s just what we need you on the front page, ‘ Wayne Heir spotted buying prenatal vitamins ’ this whole city would be in an uproar trying to figure out who you knocked up. You stay here and keep our little bug comfy we’ll go do the shopping.”

“You’re just going to leave your daughter alone with her boyfriend unsupervised?” Damian asked raising an eyebrow.

“What are ya goin to do? Knock her up?” Harley chuckled raising an eyebrow at the two blushing teens at the dining table. “You two talk, cuddle, be teens and red and I will do the shopping then later we’ll all go to Wayne Manor and act as buffers for marigold here so she doesn’t go catatonic.”

“Thank you,” Marinette mumbled looking up at the two women who so kindly took her into their home and wanted nothing more than for her to grow and be happy, “for everything I can’t thank you enough.” she sniffled scrubbing at her face.

Ivy and Harley both smiled and wrapped her up in another tight hug showering her in love and affection until her sniffles died down once more. The two women pulled back giving Mari kisses all over her face until she was giggling and pushing them away her face flushed with laughter instead of tears. Only once she was smiling brightly again did they finally pull away and leave the two teens alone.

“She’s going to be okay.” Harley smiled slinging her arm around Ivy’s shoulder, “our little marigold is gonna be just fine.” she sighed as they made their way out of the apartment building.

Marinette finished her dry toast sipping on some warm tea to soothe her throat from the torture it had gone through that morning with her stomach issues. Damian cleaned up the discarded dishes and helped Marinette up walking her over to the couch keeping a firm hold on her so she wouldn’t trip over the stray toys littering the floor. “Dami I can walk just fine.” she giggled softly as Damian helped her to sit.

“You’re pregnant I don’t want you to fall.” He said sitting down beside her, “I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.” 

“Walking around the apartment isn’t going to hurt me or the baby.” She sighed leaning on his side, “I might be a klutz but I’m not going to fall that easily. I was Ladybug for three years have some faith in me.” she mumbled closing her eyes all the stress and tension from the morning finally easing off now that she had Damian by her side.

Damian sighed wrapping an arm around her hugging her gently, “I have so much faith in you,” he whispered leaning down to kiss the crown of her head, “I’m just worried about what could all go wrong.”

Marinette sighed sitting up and turned to face him looking up into his emerald eyes, “I don’t want you to worry, I’m already scared I just want you to be the one to tell me everything is going to be okay. That we’re going to be okay.” she said moving forward to bury her face in his chest, “I want to act like this wasn’t an accident and that we’re not two stupid teens.”

Damian wrapped her up in a tight hug pressing a gentle kiss to her temple, “Okay angel,” he mumbled, “I’ll be your rock, we’ll get through this and we’ll be the best parents we can be.”

“That’s all I want.” she sniffled nuzzling closer using Damian's relaxed state to shove him back to lay on the couch quickly climbing up to cuddle up onto his chest burying her face into his neck, “I love you Dami,” she mumbled.

“I love you to angel.” he smiled softly gently running his fingers through her hair to help her relax as she began to slip away into a quiet sleep. He waited until she was fully asleep to allow himself to fully relax and take his time to process just what was happening. “I’m going to be a father.” he mumbled rubbing a hand down his face a soft laugh bubbling up from his chest as he smiled at the ceiling, “Todd’s going to have a stoke.”

~.~.~.~

“How is there nothing?” Dick asked staring at the screen of the bat computer, “That’s impossible there isn’t anything you can’t find.” he said turning to look down at Tim as he tapped away at the keyboard staring intently at the screen.

All three of the eldest Wayne boys had been down in the Batcave for hours scrubbing through phone logs, security feeds, anything and everything to get even a hint of what was to come for dinner. The longer they searched the more interested they got at the sheer lack of anything involving Damian and anyone else that would prompt him to act how he did.

“Doesn’t make sense Demon Spawn doesn’t just change overnight so either he’s just really good at covering his tracks or he’s a clone,” Jason said stretching out in his chair propping his feet up on the desk.

The other two made a humming noise as they continued to search through the documents for what felt like the hundredth time. “Wait!” Dick shouted jolting Tim and Jason nearly out of their seats as he pulled the keyboard from Tim’s grasp and started typing away, “We’re going about this all wrong.”

“And how, pray tell, should we be doing this?” Jason deadpanned looking over at Dick with a raised brow, “We should just go ask Demon Spawn and let him feed us a load of bullshit?”

“I mean clearly he doesn’t want us knowing anything because he buried it so deep but maybe asking him will give us some answers?” Dick said smiling in the face of his two brothers thoroughly unimpressed looks. “Oh come on it’s worth a shot.”

“Master Dick,” Alfred hummed walking down into the Batcave, “Master Timothy and Master Jason.” he nodded looking at the three men, “Our guests will be arriving for dinner soon please head up to the main house to clean up and get ready.”

“It’s time for dinner already?” Tim muttered turning to look at the clock noticing just how long they had been down there looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

“Yes so if you three will make your way to the manor proper.” Alfred nodded turning on his heels and headed back up the stairs so that he could continue with the dinner preparations.

The three men sat in silence for a moment longer before slowly making their way up the stairs. “Well, maybe we’ll get some answers during this dinner?” Dick asked looking at the other two only to receive shrugs in response.

Reaching the top landing they all split and went their separate ways to get ready for dinner taking their time to do their own thing. Soon enough a hard knock was heard through the manor signaling their mystery guests arrival. The three ran down once again shoving and tripping up each other to try and be the first in to see who would come through just narrowly avoiding crashing into Bruce’s back as they slid to a stop behind him.

Alfred calmly walked past them and opened the door, “Good evening Miss. Quinn, Miss. Ivy.” he said stepping aside allowing the two women to enter, “Welcome home Master Damian.” he said bowing his head to him, “and good evening miss?”

“You can call me Marinette.” she smiled softly up at the older gentleman, “I brought dessert,” she added holding out the large pastry box to Alfred trying to hide her nerves.

“Thank you, Miss. Marinette I’ll go put this away now. Dinner will be served shortly I hope you enjoy your stay.” he smiled softly nodding to the three women as he made his way to the kitchen.

“Damian you had us all quite worried when you ran out of here this morning.” Bruce said looking at his youngest and taking a moment to look over the three women before him, “Would you care to explain what happened?”

Marinette started to fidget keeping her eyes on anything but the Wayne’s before her, the soft pressure from Tikki in her purse doing little to keep her heart from beating out of her chest as her mind filled with everything that could go wrong. She managed to relax just a little as she felt the calm warm pressure of Damian's arm settling around her waist gently squeezing her hip to help ground her.

“Father, this is Marinette Isley-Quinzel,” Damian started his features cold and unreadable as he stared his family down, “she is my girlfriend.”

A pin could drop and sound like a gunshot in the silence that followed, the Wayne patriarch did well to hide his shock keeping a blank face as the three sons behind him ticked down to their own detonation.

“How much is he paying you?” Tim shot out.

“Where did you meet?” Dick grinned leaning forward.

“Blink twice if he’s holding you hostage.” Jason cut in.

Ivy and Harley stifled their laughs as they watched the three Wayne boys continue to throw outlandish theories and questions at poor Marinette. She seemed to calm down a small smile beginning to show on her face as she giggled at the two thinking she’d been coerced and the one trying to find out her life story. “He isn’t paying me or forcing me to be his girlfriend.” she smiled as Tim and Jason looked completely unconvinced, “and we met through a penpal assignment when I was thirteen but we didn’t start dating until I was fifteen,” she added on to answer Dick’s question.

“Well it is a pleasure to meet you Marinette it’s not often my youngest shows interest in anyone.” Bruce smiled stepping forward to take her hand, “shall we move to the living room while we wait for dinner?”

“That sounds just lovely Brucie.” Harley smiled stepping through them grabbing Marinette's arm and dragging her along out of Damian’s hold depositing her on a large armchair. Ivy shook her head smiling and followed her as she shrugged at Bruce taking a seat beside Harley on the loveseat as the Wayne’s made their way in. Once everyone was settled in and Damian got Marinette resettled on another loveseat so he could be beside her Harley decided it was a great time to drop the bomb, “So who’s gonna tell him?”

“Harls,” Ivy warned giving her a stern look.

“What? They need to know,” she said looking far too innocent for the chaos she was about to start.

“Tell me what?” Bruce asked looking at the two women carefully.

“Father,” Damian said drawing the attention of his family, “I know you just met Marinette but we feel you should know.” he said wrapping an arm around her to help keep her grounded, “Marinette’s pregnant.”

Silence doesn’t even begin to describe the absence of noise that followed, it was like a cold void swallowed the room as the Wayne’s collectively shut down at the news. Bruce’s face was unreadable as he took in the latest bit of news. Dick was practically vibrating out of his seat his eyes filled with glee. Tim looked as if his own brain was blue screening like a cheap laptop. Jason was the one to break the silence.

“Demon Spawn fucks.” Jason deadpanned

“JASON!” the room erupted from there Harley and Ivy cackling, Dick asking a million and one questions, Tim trying and failing to keep a straight face, and Jason roaring with laughter.

“What?! You’re going to look at me and tell me that I’m wrong?” Jason laughed, “the only thing I’m wrong about is that Demon Spawn would lighten up if he got laid.” he pointed at Marinette grinning wide, “She’s proof that he can fuck and still have a stick up his ass!”

“How long have you known?” Bruce asked his voice calm and collected effectively shutting down all conversation.

“I...” Marinette started her face a little pale from fear as she looked at Bruce’s emotionless face, “I found out this morning. I’ve had morning sickness for the past week.”

“You’re positive it’s Damian's?” he asked

“Father!” Damian glared moving to stand only to be held down by Marinette's small hand on his shoulder.

“I expected this,” she whispered urging him to remain seated before taking a deep breath and looked at Bruce, “I’ve only been with Damian since we began dating. If it’s not him then it’s Jesus coming back.”

Jason snorted getting a wide grin at the joke as he eyed Bruce trying to gauge his reaction.

Bruce seemed to take in everything he’d learned before a small spark lit up his eyes, “I’m going to be a grandfather.” he whispered tension starting to leave the room as he looked at Damian and Marinette pride and joy filling his eyes as he smiled wide, “I’m going to be a grandfather.”

“I call dibs on best uncle!” Dick shouted hopping up racing over to Marinette only to be tripped up by Jason.

“Like hell!” Jason shouted jumping over Dick, “I’m the best uncle for Pixie Pops kid.”

“Pixie pop?” Marinette asked letting out a yelp as Jason got right up to her practically throwing her up in the air as he lifted her from Damian's grasp.

“Hell yeah you’re small like a little fairy.” he grinned holding her as he jumped away from Damian's reach and Dick’s attempts to grab her, “so you’re Pixie Pop.” he chuckled.

The chaos began to unfold as Marinette finally relaxed all the stress bleeding away as she was welcomed into the crazy Wayne household. Ivy and Harley chuckled watching the two eldest and the youngest Wayne’s fight to grab hold of Marinette while Tim and Bruce seemed to quietly come to terms with all that was happening.

“So when’s the baby shower?” Ivy asked grinning wide.

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@myazael @beautiful-disasters-sunshine @moonlightstar64 @moonlitceleste @stainedglassm @casual-darkness @mochegato @ultimatetornshipper @heemsanddamemes @nathleigh @qualitypeacepainter