#can you tell yesterday was the last day I had queued

[amphibia-a-day]

Day 916 of Amphibia Screenshots

Episode: Temple Frogs

[doitforbangchan]

All Bark and No Bite - 18

Masterlist /Series masterlist

Chan x reader (y/n) x ot8

ABO!Nonidol!SKZ Alternate Universe

Previous - Next

Chapter warnings: Afab/fem reader, smut, unprotected p in v, mentions of oral (f receiving), sub!reader, Dom!Minho,crying (a TON), Dacryphilia, edging, masterbating, borderline voyeurism, choking, spanking, sir kink, subspace, biting, blood in mouth, angst, threats of violence, illusions to violence, cursing, fluff, kissing, dirty talk, petnames

WC: 14k

“Yeah, no thank you.” 

“Come on, baby! I promise it won’t be like last time!” 

“Jinnie…. last time was yesterday..” 

“Exactly! 24 hours is enough for me to hone in on my skill.” 

“Technically it’s been less than 24 hours-“ 

“That doesn’t matter! I swear I’ve gotten better!” 

Hyunjin had been trying to convince you to let him do your makeup again, but this time he wasn't satisfied with just staying at home; no, this time he wanted you to wear it out. In public.

You stood before the mirror in the bathroom, freshly showered and beginning to get ready for the day. Albeit a little late in the morning- Jisung had demanded his ‘new favorite breakfast’ again this morning- but after making real breakfast for the pack it was time to get a move on with your day. 

“Jinnie,” You fiddled with your hair brush, not wanting to upset him or hurt his feelings in any way but still attempting to remain adamant, “As much as I love you, I would really prefer to do my own makeup for today. Especially since Chan said most of the town would be attending the carnival, I really want to make a good impression on everyone.” 

His lips curled in a playful grin and he practically had heart eyes. “Say you love me again.”

“I love you.” 

“Again.” He requested, wrapping his lanky arms around your midsection from behind. “Tell me again.” 

“Hyunjin, I love you so much.” The sincerity in your voice almost made him cry. 

“Ok, I concede. You can do your own makeup today, baby.” He planted a wet smooch against your cheek, making you giggle and squirm in his hold. “On one condition.” He held up one finger. You hummed in question. “I get to sit here and keep you company while you get ready.” 

You nodded with a wide smile, “Deal.” 

The beta removed himself from you and hopped onto the counter next to you, being careful of your products. You started on your hair while he queued up some music on his phone. 

“So what brings on this sudden interest in makeup?” You asked, genuinely curious, as he had not expressed (to you at least) any urge to learn. 

He set the phone down; a slower melodic sounding song playing into the room, it was a gentle tune that just screamed Hyunjin. 

“My muse, of course.” 

He said it so casually, like it didn’t make your heart swell.

“I wanted an excuse to spend time with you, so I started looking up videos about makeup. Then it turned into me wanting to perfect the art form, and what better canvas than my favorite person.” 

“Jinnie.” You blinked away the tears, but one slipped out anyway. “ You never need an excuse to be with me. I want you around, always. You’re my Jinnie.” 

He reached out and wiped the wet trail off your cheek, cooing at you. “Sweet baby, don’t cry. I just love you so much I wanted something just for us. Time for only Baby and Jinnie.” He kissed you and wiped more of your tears. “Seriously, if you don’t stop crying you're gonna make me start.” 

“Ok ok,” You pulled yourself together, sniffling once and willing the water works to stop. “Enough sappy shit,” that caused Hyunjin to snort, “I gotta get ready.” 

You chatted with each other as you finished your hair and began on your makeup. You did your face then moved on to trying to cover up the hickeys and bruises left all over your neck and shoulders. 

“Why are you doin that for?” Hyunjin asked, eyeing the cover up in your hands. “Everyone will know you’re there with us anyways.” 

You dabbed your makeup sponge on your skin, glancing at him through the mirror. “I have no issue whatsoever with everyone knowing I’m with the pack. I don’t particularly want to go out in public looking like an animal mauled me, though. I am still a lady afterall.” 

Hyunjin nodded in agreement, “Yeah that makes sense. Not everyone gets the privilege of seeing the naughty things we do to you, baby.” 

“Exactly!” You applied the finishing touches, putting down your applicator and turning to face him. “How do I look?” 

You had already gotten dressed beforehand; clothed in a pair of black high cut jean shorts that had little white flowers all over it and frayed edges, and a white one shoulder crop top that had corseted laces in the back. You also planned on pairing the fit with some strappy white sandals. Now with your hair and makeup done, you felt cute as hell. 

“Looking great baby! Give me a spin!” You did as he asked and he cheered out loud for you, hyping you up. “Hot damn, gonna give the whole town a boner, out there looking like that.” 

“Hyunjin!” You laughed and pushed at him. “Don’t be gross.” 

He held his hands up in defense, “It’s not gross if it’s true.” 

You laughed again, now turning on your heel to exit the bathroom. “Very profound of you, Jinnie.” Hyunjin followed you out of the bathroom and to your room. You were surprised to find there was already someone in there, rifling through your drawers. “Minnie, what are you doing?”

Seungmin looked up at you, clearly having been caught but showing zero remorse or embarrassment. “Hey puppy. Loving the shorts.” He grinned, and continued his digging. It was only when he lifted a particularly flimsy garment did you realize exactly which drawer he was rummaging in. Your panty drawer. “Why don’t you ever wear this one for me, huh?” 

“Seungmin!” You felt your face heat up. 

“You dirty perv! What the fuck are you doing?!” Hyunjin demanded, aghast at the younger's blatant behavior. 

“Oh lighten up Hyung.” Seungmin snickered, then he held his fingers like a slingshot, shooting Hyunjin with the pair of underwear. Hyunjin was shocked at the assault, yelping when it hit him (even though it didn’t hurt at all).

You shrieked and stormed over to him, grabbing the next pair he held up before he could sling another one. “That is enough of that!” 

“Yeah stop your shit, Seung!” Jinnie stomped his foot and pouted dramatically. Seungmin narrowed his eyes at the elder beta, his lip twitching with disdain at the order from his Hyung. Though Hyunjin was not his alpha- so Seungmin chose to ignore the demand. 

A request from you on the other hand; looking up at him with a stern glower, eyebrows scrunched and lip tucked between your teeth- he couldn’t possibly continue his teasing, no matter how much he enjoyed it. 

Seungmin threw his hands up in surrender, offering you a lazy smile. “Alright, baby. I concede. Don’t wanna get on my puppy's bad side. Last time she threw a can at me.” He ruffled your hair as you huffed, making him laugh. 

“Funny how you don’t worry about my bad side, little prick.” Hyunjin attempted to launch the previously flung pair of underwear, but it only slung past Seungmins body, missing by over a foot. The younger beta glared menacingly at the elder, the latter immediately understanding the threat.  He looked at his wrist as if there were a watch there (there wasn’t).“Well would you look at the time, I should get ready to go. See you later baby!” With that Hyunjin sped down the hall. 

Seungmin smirked at the retreating figure, amused that his look had the desired effect. You, though, were still giving him that disapproving frown, clearly finding the ordeal humorless. “Seungmin, what are you doing in my drawers?” 

He ran a hand through his hair, gesturing to the items on your bed you hadn’t noticed. It was a stack of t-shirts. Seungmins t-shirts. 

He now felt a little abashed, refusing to meet your eyes and a light pink dusting covering his cheeks. “You walk around wearing Chan’s clothes so often, I thought maybe you’d want something of mine sometimes too.” 

“Aww Minnie,” Your heart melted and you encased him in your arms, nuzzling against him. “Of course I want some of yours too, that is very sweet of you Minnie.” 

‘Yeah, so sweet. Not possessive at all.’ He thought cynically of himself as you held him.

Your words were slightly muffled as your face continued to bury in his chest, “But why were you in my underwear?” 

“I was going to put the shirts inside your dresser, but I got distracted.” He shrugged, not seeing a problem. “Puppy, I am just a man. A man who is a little bit obsessed with your pussy- and anything to do with it.” 

You pulled away quickly, mouth agape and your face heating rapidly. “ Why is everything you say so vulgar?!” 

He grabbed your face with both hands, his thumbs running along your cheeks, “Because I know how embarrassed it makes you, my little puppy.” He was cooing his words, as if talking to a real puppy. You wanted to move and avoid further mortification but he held you still, relishing in your submission. He held your gaze for another moment longer then he sighed wistfully, closing his eyes and leaning in to plant a soft kiss on your forehead. 

You also closed your eyes, leaning into his touch once again. “Minnie..” You sighed quietly, more like a whisper than anything. 

“Hmm”

“Love you..” 

“Mm,” He pulled away slowly, peering down at you now. “Love you, baby.” 

“Even though you're a perv.” 

That made him fully burst into laughter, his eyes crinkling “ Only for you.” He reached around and pinched your ass hard. You yelped and smacked his hand, backing away and out of reach from his torment. 

“Way to ruin the moment, jerk.” 

“You’re the one who ruined it by calling me a perv!” 

“I only call it like I see it, Minnie.” 

You had a little smirk on your face that he just wanted to wipe off, and show you how much of a pervert he could really be. That would have to wait for another day, though. There was no time, seeing as the summer festivities were already underway. 

“Remember this conversion. You don’t know what a perv looks like yet, pup.” He made his way to your door, stopping at the threshold. He pulled his car keys out of his pocket and turned to you again. “Get your shoes on, it’s almost time to go.” 

He winked then left your room. You let go of the breath you didn’t know you were holding. Sweet and tender Seungmin was definitely your favorite - though the playful cheeky side of him was amusing sometimes as well. 

‘I love a versatile man’ You laughed at your own thoughts, then gathered yourself and found your sandals. 

You found Hyunjin, Changbin, Jeongin, Seungmin and Chan all downstairs chatting and cracking jokes. 

Changbin was the first to notice you when you walked into the room and he made a show of whistling and clapping. “WOAH! Looking GOOD baby!” 

Jeongin coughed, “Simp.” He coughed again, then received a harsh push from the older alpha, making him laugh. 

You giggled, “Thank you Binnie.” 

Jeongin pushed Changbin back, making Changbin stumble back into Seungmin who at the contact made a disgusted face and pinched Bins arm. They all started to bicker as Hyunjin laughed and Chan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

Only when the roughhousing started getting too mean did the head alpha step in. 

“Enough!” His voice raised only slightly, but his tone held so much power- so much authority. Hearing it instantly made you wet. 

The three boys stopped their antics at the command of the alpha, all three separating from the other. 

“All of you, go get into the car.” He pointed to the door, “Quietly.” He looked at Hyunjin, “You too, go.” The beta went to protest but an eyebrow raise and a look from the alpha quickly shut him up, him too shuffling out the door like a wounded dog. 

“Never a dull moment, huh Channie?” You smiled in jest, it was then you noticed he wasn’t dressed to leave yet; he was still shirtless and in his basketball shorts. “ Not that I mind you being shirtless, but why aren’t you ready? Aren’t you coming with us?” The look on his face gave him away immediately. “Channie! This is supposed to be a fun day out for all of us! You included!” You whined, tugging on his arm. 

“I’m still going, omega. Just a little later.” You pouted at his words and went to turn away from him, making him grab your cheeks with one hand turning you back to face him. “Don’t pout. It’s still a weekday, I have to work. Someone in this house has to make enough money to support nine people. I will be there in a few hours after I get some important work done.” You felt your lip tremble in his hold, his tone noticeably hardening and making you want to cry. Thankfully you were able to steel yourself and hold your tears back before you messed up your makeup. 

“Ok alpha, I understand. M’ sorry.”

His look noticeably softened. “You’ll have fun regardless, I promise.” He kissed you on your mouth and let go of you. “The boys are waiting for you, better go before they strangle each other.” 

You nodded, leaning up to give him another quick kiss, then scurrying yourself out the door. 

As you expected, the drive into town was.. Chaotic to say the least.  Chaotic yet comforting. You loved how authentically themselves they are with each other. You pressed your face to the glass of the window as you passed by downtown, seeing it set up with booths and market stalls and tons of people. A little further down  obscured by buildings you could make out the tops of some rides. 

“Cutie pie.” Jeongin tickled your side from behind as he watched how enthralled you became. 

Seungmin parked his car in a back lot and the lot of you clamored out. “The others are around here somewhere, they got a head start this afternoon.” Seungmin said, locking the car. 

Hyunjin grabbed one of your hands and Jeongin grabbed the other one. Both started to drag you along with them. “What should we do first, baby? Shopping? Food?” Hyunjin asked, pursing his lip in thought. “OOO how about rides?” 

“Yes, rides! You like rides, dontcha baby?” Jeongin beamed at you. 

“I love rides.” You beamed back, excited. Even back when you lived with your family you hadn’t been allowed to go to the fair in years. Your elder sister always made sure to bring you back something. Be it food, stuffies won from games, hell one time she even brought you a goldfish. 

You couldn’t stop yourself from thinking of her now. You remembered how she used to hold your hand, back when you were too small to be left to your own devices. You both used to be the best of friends, even though she was so much older than you she always made sure to include you in her plans. As you got older and presented as an omega, the bond you shared began to strain. She still had most of her freedoms as a beta. Your father didn’t hold her leash as tightly as he held yours and your mothers. She still got to go to school, have friends, meet boys.. In your teens you had resented her for it, but now you understand it wasn’t her fault she was able to have more of a life. It was your fathers. 

You wondered what she was up to since you left. And if she missed you as much as you now missed her. You missed your mom too. She was the only one you could relate to. There was a pain in your heart as you thought about how much she must have cried when you disappeared. 

A sourness was draining out of you in waves, your inner turmoil coming out for all to smell. It was only a second before you were being tugged into the arms of Jeongin; the alpha being able to smell it just before Hyunjin could. 

“Baby, what’s wrong? Did something happen?” He asked, keeping you close and away from any one else. 

“We don’t have to do rides right now if you don’t wanna!” Hyunjin said, trying to make it better but having no idea why. 

You shook your head, “No, no I’m ok. Nothing is wrong.” You gave them a weak smile that didn’t quite reach your eyes. 

Jeongin tapped his nose, “I think you’re forgetting we can smell your emotions, omega. And I’m just saying, you do have a lot of emotions.” He saw your face fall in shame before he backtracked, “Not that it’s a bad thing! It’s not your fault your sensitive baby! I love it! Just not when you're upset like this.” 

“M’ sorry guys. I was just thinking about my family, how much my sister loved the fair. I didn’t mean to  make myself sad.” You hugged tighter into Innie, Hyunjin coming in and sandwiching you between them.

“I know you’ll never forget the memories you’ve made with your family, and of course I never want you too; but I hope that we can make more happy memories together as a new family. Ones that we can look back on when we’re old.” Jeongin had a light pink creeping onto his cheeks, his own sentiment making him shy. 

“Yeah memories we can tell our kids about!” Hyunjin added, pressing kisses to the back of your head. 

Now it was your turn to get shy, “You guys wanna grow old with me and have babies? You guys don’t eventually want to find someone who you don’t have to share?

They both shook their heads vehemently, with Jeongin answering first. “Of course we want to grow old with you baby! We took your mating bites, there is no one else for us for as long as we live. If you’ll have us…” 

“Yes I want you! All of you! I love everyone in this pack so much, I can’t imagine a life without all of you in it.” 

“And our babies?” Hyunjin added, sounding hopeful. 

You giggled “Yes Jinnie, and future babies.” You reached up and pinched both of their cheeks, laughing harder when they whined, smacking your hands away. “Any babies from you lot are going to be just the cutest. Now let’s stop being sappy and go ride some rides.” 

You took their hands again and tugged them off to have fun. You were feeling much better now, the boys having done a great job at taking your mind off of it. Though now, all three of you could only think of a litter of little chunky babies. 

The future is looking better everyday.

“Hey Changbin!” 

The alpha was perusing the food stalls, deciding which sweet to start with (though he knew he would eventually try all of them), when he heard his name being called. Behind him was Wooyoung, his hair slicked back and his hand in the air waving him over.

“What’s up bro?” Changbin went over to where the beta was standing, greeting him with a bro hug. “Thought you were busy with your uncle today.” 

“The old man let me go early.” Wooyoung replied, putting his hands in his pockets casually, and looking around. “You uh, here alone?” 

“Pfft, no. The whole pack is here, I think minus Chan. Old man never stops working.” Changbin replied, peeping at the goods at the stall they were by, and missing the glint in Wooyoungs eyes. 

“Chan is your head alpha, right?” What Changbin didn’t miss was the mild excitement lacing the betas voice suddenly. 

He looked at him with a side eye, “Yeaahh, he’s pack leader. Why?” 

Wooyoung did his best to look abashed, glancing away and then rubbing the back of his neck. “Oh you know me, just love a strong alpha. Woulda been nice to meet him.” 

Changbin laughed then, clapping Wooyoung on the back. “Don’t let your own alpha hear you say that. From what you said he can get pretty possessive.” 

The beta snorted, “You don’t know the half of it.. Anyways, do you wanna hang out for a while?” 

Changbin agreed enthusiastically, happy to have a companion for the day. The two of them meandered together, chatting and laughing. After a while Changbin got a text in the group chat, asking for whoever is closer to the ride section to come for a second. Changbin happened to be only a few yards from the rides area, thus he replied so. 

“Looks like Baby got a little motion sick, I’m gonna run and get her real quick.” Changbin said and turned to walk down the path. Wooyoung nodded, biting his lip to conceal his smirk. 

Everything was spinning, you couldn’t stand up straight or you would surely tumble down. You were leaning against Hyunjin for stability. 

“You’re alright baby, take all the time you need.” The beta said, rubbing your arm. 

“Too much spinning.” You mumbled, trying to get your bearings. “I think I’m done with the rides for now, boys.” You caught the crestfallen look on both of their faces, “But you guys don’t have to be done! I can go find another pack member to tag along with!” 

The boys shared a look, then Jeongin said “You’re not going off by yourself. I’ll see who’s around.” He pulled out his phone, typed for a moment then waited. After a minute or so he got a ding. “Perfect, Bin is around the corner. He’s coming to get you, baby.” 

True to his word there was Changbin coming towards you with open arms. “There's my sick little omega. Come to Binnie.” He pulled you off of Hyunjin and into his awaiting arms, giving you a hug. 

“M’ not sick, just a little too dizzy.” you said but allowed the hug. “Thank you for coming.” 

“Binnie to the rescue!” He flexed his arms, making a show of kissing his biceps. Jeongin faked gagged, making Changbin roll his eyes. “Come on, let’s leave these heathens to get so sick they throw up.” 

He took your hand and took you the opposite way from where you came from.  

“I really appreciate you coming for me, Binnie. You didn’t have to, I could have figured it out so I didn’t have to bother you.” 

He brought your joined hands up to his mouth and kissed the back of your hand. “I will always come for you, baby. No bother at all. I was just hanging with Woo, looking at food.” 

Your stomach lurched at the mention of eating right now, making you grimace. “A water bottle sounds lovely right now.” 

Changbin waved at his friend, a man you had never seen before came striding up to the pair of you. “Baby, this is my friend Wooyoung.” 

“Hi, I’m Y/n. It’s nice to meet you.” You offered a shy wave, still holding onto Bin. 

The new man's gaze was intense as he took you in. There was something ominous in the way he looked at you, a clear eagerness residing behind his smile. “Nice to finally meet you too.” Even his voice had an eeriness you couldn’t place. 

‘Be polite Y/n, this is Binnies friend. Give him a chance.’ You thought to yourself, shaking off the negative thoughts. 

“I can finally put a face to the girl that has this pabo wrapped around her finger.”  Wooyoung pointed in jest at Changbin, who in return shoved him with a light blush creeping up his ears. 

“Shut up, Woo!” The alpha whined. That made you giggle, Bin was too cute sometimes. “Let’s get you that water, love.” 

You and Changbin walked ahead with Wooyoung following close behind. You both failed to notice when the beta pulled out his phone, taking a quick picture of you and sending it off in a text message. The only words accompanying the picture being ‘ found her’. 

Changbin bought you water and told you to let him know when it was finished, knowing you would want something after your stomach settled.  The three of you walked the downtown stalls, occasionally stopping to look at booths or for Bin to get another snack. After a while you started to feel better, no longer having a headache or the gurgling in your stomach and you found yourself accepting some of the offered bites and goods. 

You were munching on an oversized churro, listening to the two guys banter when Changbin stilled your walking with a dramatic gasp. “Look!” He pointed excitingly at a game booth. The game was one of those arm wrestling competitions, where the winner plays until they lose. “I gotta try!”

 He pulled you till him and Wooyoung were in line and you were waiting with them. The line went pretty quick, the current champ taking out people left and right. Soon there was only one person ahead of Changbin. 

“That game was made for you, Binnie.” You hyped him up with a laugh, rubbing his shoulders as if he was a fighter. “Show em who’s boss!”  

You stood off to the side as Changbin faced his opponent. You cheered him on as the arm wrestling began, both men giving it their all.  All too soon it was Changbin who forced the other man's arm down, claiming victory. The alpha jumped up and down animatedly, pumping his fists in the air. His next opponent was his friend Wooyoung. 

“You’ve seen how much I lift, Woo. You sure you wanna take me on?” Bin was being cocky, flexing at his friend. 

“Might as well give it a shot. Maybe I’ll win.” The beta responded, getting into position. 

In a matter of seconds Changbin had won again. Wooyoungs arm went down almost without resistance. 

“All that weight training and nothing to show for it.” Bin laughed, clapping the other man on the back. “We gotta work you harder from now on.” 

“Guess I gotta catch up before I can beat you.” Wooyoung shrugged, laughing too. 

Bin looked over at you, gleaming with joy at being undefeated. “Just a few more times baby, then we can go.” 

You sent him two thumbs up from your place a few feet away, “ Play as much as you want Binnie. I’m good staying here waiting for you.” He blew you a kiss then went back to playing. 

After a few minutes you finished your Churro. You went to take a drink from the lemonade  Bin got you, only to find it already gone. ‘Dangit Binnie! You said you didn’t want any!’ You glared at his back playfully, knowing he couldn’t see you. It was at this moment that Wooyoung shuffled up to you with a grin. You did your best to give him a polite smile in return. 

“Doin alright over here?” He asked you, being a touch to close for your comfort. 

You stepped back, now leaning against a wall and trying to appear natural. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just having my snack.” You lifted your now empty drink cup. 

“Ah Changbin went to town on that thing.” He laughed. 

“After he said he didn’t want any.” You laughed too, not being mad about it but still finding it amusing. 

“Do you want another one?” The man asked, still sporting his grin that gave you the chills (not in a good way). He motioned for your drink. 

“Um, “ You didn’t want to be rude. “No thank you. I should cut back on how much sugar I’ve had today. And I wouldn’t wanna inconvenience you. I’ll just wait for Binnie.”

He shook his head, “ It’s not an inconvenience at all. You look thirsty, let’s go get you another drink.” He grabbed your wrist and went to move with you. 

You dug your heels into the ground and attempted to pull your arm away.  You looked over to where Changbin was, he was too far away and cheering too loud to notice what was going on. “I said no thank you. I’m staying right here.” Now you were beyond nervous, eyes wide as you pulled again. 

“Come on, It’s just lemonade. The stall is right over there. Don’t be difficult.” He tried to keep up his nice guy tone, but you could tell he was getting frustrated. “I thought omegas were supposed to be nice and grateful.” 

He tugged you again, his grip tightening. You started to raise your voice despite the trembling in your lip “ I said no! I’m not going anywhere with you.” 

“Don’t yell you little -” 

“Get the fuck away from her.” 

Minho was across the way, browsing a booth selling tiny animals made of rocks. He wasn’t initially going to buy anything -he just liked to browse- but he couldn’t help but stop, thinking of how excited you would be if he gifted you one of these. He wanted to show he did care about you but he wasn’t the best at verbally expressing his emotions. He figured this would do. 

After a looking for a few minutes he found the perfect one. A little cat made of some kind of pink rock. Rose quartz he would assume. He was happy with his find, quickly waving over the shop keep and pointing at the one he wanted. 

He was just finishing paying when he caught the familiar scent of the exact person who had been on his mind. Minho pocketed the little figure, and turned around with his head held high, searching for the source of that intoxicating aroma. All to quickly that scent started to sour, indicating you were in some kind of distress. 

Minho looked through the sea of people until his eyes locked on your figure from the other side of the street. You were leaning against a wall, standing with someone. No, more like being grabbed by someone. Getting closer he could see who it was. 

Wooyoung.

“That son of a bitch.” He murmured, now starting to walk quickly over to where you were. He didn’t want to run and cause a scene, well more of a scene than he was about to cause, he didn’t need anything else making his pack look bad. 

He got to you to see Wooyoung holding your wrist, not letting you go as you tried to pull away. 

 “ I said no! I’m not going anywhere with you.” 

“Don’t yell you little -” 

“Get the fuck away from her.” Minho practically snarled, pushing the younger beta away from you and getting in his face. “What the fuck is your deal?” 

Wooyoung let go when he felt the contact from Minho. “Hey man, it’s alright, just a misunderstanding.” 

“A misunderstanding huh?” He scoffed, not moving away from Wooyoung. “Here's something you should understand. Stay the fuck away from Y/n and Changbin. I don’t know what the fuck is your motive here, but this is your only warning. Stay. Away. From. them. Or I will hurt you.” The tone he used was venomous, his glare deadly. 

By now this altercation has attracted some attention, a few onlookers stopping to watch the scene unfolding. Not that any one of you cared much, too caught up in it yourselves. You just watched on in horror, praying this didn’t escalate into violence.

“Is that a threat, Minho?” Wooyoungs look hardened, glaring at the elder. 

“I don’t make threats.” 

“Woah woah woah! What is going on over here?!” Changbin had come running, now paying enough attention to hear the commotion. He put his body between Minho and Wooyoung, separating the two. 

“Keep better track of your ‘friend’, Changbin.” Minho spat, he shoved a finger into his chest, making him stumble. “He grabbed our omega. Good fucking job watching her by the way.”

“Hyung, I don’t understan-” 

“Yeah of course you don’t fucking understand. You are too fucking trusting. You don’t even know this guy and you left him with the most precious thing in our pack? Get a fucking grip.” Minhos words were like a stab to Changbins chest, the impact sitting heavy. “Tell him to keep his fucking hands to himself, and then stay away from him. I’m not joking, Changbin.” He turned to walk closer to you, putting his hand on your back and leading you away, past the onlookers. 

“Min where are you going?” Changbins voice broke as he called out. 

“I’m taking Baby home, away from him.” He replied in a hard tone, not turning around to address him at all. 

You were on the verge of tears, trying to contain your emotions but they took over anyways. You didn’t want to be around Wooyoung so you just let Minho lead you away. 

Changbin shook his head in grief. Then he turned to face Wooyoung who was still standing behind him. “What did you do?” 

“Changbin, it was nothing.” The beta tried to shrug but Changbin wasn’t buying it. Not this time. 

“You know what, Wooyoung? I think Minho’s right. Maybe I should stay away from you. You say and do some weird shit sometimes. Don’t call me. Don’t come by my gym. We’re done.” Changbin turned and walked away. He had a lot to think about. 

That left Wooyoung by himself. He waited for a second then turned and walked the opposite way Changbin had gone. He kept going until he was a few yards away from any of the townspeople, then he took out his phone. 

“Hey, it’s me.”

 Pause.

 “No, she got away from me, I couldn’t cause a big scene like that.” 

Pause.

 “I know where to find her. I’m sure you’d love to hear about her new alpha.” 

Minho silently walked you all the way to the parking lot. Just arriving was Chan, seeing you both approaching. “Hey! Having fun?” He asked, then he noticed the hard pressed look on Minhos face and the tears in your eyes. “Oh no, what happened?” He reached up to wipe your tears, heart breaking at the little whimper you let out.

“Wasn’t me this time. I’m taking her home. This has been enough excitement for today.” At Chan's confused face he continued. “ I’ll explain it more to you later, for now you should check on Changbin. Make sure he’s not with his ‘friend’ “ Minho spit the word, clearly still steamed. 

Chan nodded slowly, feeling like Minho had his reasons for taking you. He kissed you and gave you a hug, pumping out comforting pheromones to help you calm down. He felt your shoulders relax slightly, and you hugged him even tighter. 

“Minho will take care of you, baby. I will be home soon to check on you, ok?” The alpha said, kissing your cheek this time. You nodded into him and let him go. Being in his hold helped to ground you; remind you that you’re ok. “I love you.” 

“I love you too, Channie.” 

Minho led you further into the lot and to his car. He opened your door for you and waited for you to be seated, then he reached over you and tried to buckle you in. It was at this point you were done being babied. “ I can buckle my own seatbelt Minho. I don’t need you to do it for me.” You attempted to grab it from him but he pulled it back and glared at you. 

“Oh you don’t need me to do this for you but you need me to save you?” He scoffed, finally buckling you in and slamming your door shut. 

“I didn’t ask to be saved by you.” You replied snarkily when he opened the drivers side door and climbed in. 

He turned to look at you, really taking you in for the first time that day. He took note of your teary eyes and the scrunch of your brow. He also noticed that the marks that were on your neck and shoulders were gone. 

“Where are your claiming bites?” 

His question threw you off. “Huh?” 

“Your bites and marks. They’re gone.” 

“I covered them with makeup.” You said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Why? Are you embarrassed? Don’t want everyone to know you're taken by us?” 

“Of course I’m not embarrassed! I just wanted to look presentable in public!” You narrowed your eyes, “And there's no mark on me from you Minho, so I don’t know what you mean by us.” You knew you were being a little petty, but honestly you didn’t give a damn. 

He scoffed, a borderline menacing glaze taking over his face. “ Is that why you're acting up? Because I haven’t laid my bite into you yet? Grow up. You’ll get it when I’m good and ready to give it to you.”  He started the car, and began to back out of the spot. 

You leaned back in your seat, crossing your arms and looking out the window. You didn’t have a reply that wasn’t an insult so you thought it better to keep your mouth shut. The whole drive home you and Minho ignored each other, opting to drive in silence. Both of you are stewing in your own thoughts. 

Soon enough the car pulled up to the house. You shot out of the car as soon as he parked, barely giving him a chance to turn off the vehicle. As you went up the steps you heard Minho's car door slam after he stepped out. 

You had made into the doors threshold when he grabbed your arm, halting your movements. “Go wash that filth off of you.” 

Filth? 

“Do you mean the makeup?” Or did he mean Wooyoungs stench?  

He huffed, “Yes, I don’t like it on you.” You were about to protest, but when you went to open your mouth he leaned his face closer to yours and lowered his voice. “It’s the least you could do after I brought you all the way home and away from danger.” 

You decided the matter is not worth the fight.

“Yes sir.” You rolled your eyes as you said it sarcastically. Minho resisted a growl at the title, biting his lip instead and showing off those bunny teeth of his.

 You pulled your arm free and stormed into the house and up the stairs. You did make it a point to slam the bathroom door shut, though.

You knew you shouldn’t have been so rude to him, especially after he stood up for you and got you out of that frightening situation- but you couldn’t help it. Minho was the only person you were testy with, and clearly neither of you understood why. 

The house was quiet. No one else was home yet, it was just you and Minho, and the latter was making no sound at all. It was almost eerie. You removed the makeup from your neck in silence, using the wipes provided by Hyunjin. You finished the task quickly and headed out into the hall. You rounded the corner to go to Chan's room to hide away, but before you could open the door a hand grabbed you and wrapped loosely around your neck, and a sturdy chest at your back. Your movements were halted completely as you screamed in fright, your hands coming up to grab the offending hand.  

“So you can listen to me.” 

It was Minho. You were so in your own head you didn’t even sense him nearby. 

“Minho.. What are y-” 

“Shhh,” You felt his lips by your ear, the rasp of his whisper making you shudder. “ You look so good with these pretty marks of yours showing. Purple is my favorite color, you know? And the boys sure did a good job covering you in it.” 

You felt his lips brush against your neck, lingering on the biggest hickey at the base, and his tongue poked out to touch the bruised skin. The actions felt so erotic, so sensual, yet he was barely doing anything to you. Your heart was beating so fast in your chest you were sure he could hear it pounding- if not being able to feel it in your throat. He wasn’t squeezing hard enough to hurt you, only hard enough to hold you in place. 

When the light brushes of his lips turned into full on sloppy smooches you started to lose your cool, your hand tightening around his that still held your neck as a mewl escaped your mouth. You could feel his smug smirk against your skin and you would have rolled your eyes if the situation had been different. His other hand found its way to your hip and he pulled your body even closer to his, his chest now flushed against your back. 

“Here’s what's gonna happen, omega.” You bit back another whimper at the mention of your presentation. “We’re gonna put an end to this stupid tension you and I share. You are going to be good for me and do as I say, and in return I’m going to fuck you so good you forget your own name. Do you understand?” 

You tried to nod your head frantically but with the way his hand tightened as he held your head in place told you he wanted a verbal response. “Y-yes, Min. I u-understand.” Your voice came out raspy as you tried to hold back showing your arousal yet doing a terrible job. Your panties began to dampen further when you heard his little chuckle in response to your stuttering. 

He hummed into your skin, “Mmm good girl.” He kissed your neck again and his hand traveled from your hip to your ass. He gave the cheek a squeeze, cupping it over your shorts and he hummed again. Your breathing picked up when you felt it and your eyes were falling shut as a result of all of the light stimulations. Then right as your lids finally shut he stopped; taking his hand from your throat and backing up from you. 

“Huh?” Your breath returned to you in full and you spun around to face Minho. 

He gave another chuckle at your confused expression. “What? Did you think I was gonna take you right here in the hallway? No no. I’m not that much of an asshole.” He grabbed your hand and pulled you with him down the hall in the direction of his room. “Plus, how else am I going to get your scent all over my sheets if I don’t have you in them?” 

You felt your face burn as he tugged you along, loving the thought of him wanting your scent all over him all the time. He opened his door and pulled you inside. The second the door was closed he had your back against the door and his arms on both sides of you caging you in. Your breath hitches in your throat as he leans in and looks into your eyes, as if he can see straight through you and into your soul. 

You lifted a hand up to his face, using your thumb to rub his cheek- so softly he could have missed it if he wasn’t so focused on your touch. “Min…” 

The whisper of his name was the scissors cutting the thread, his last strand of willpower snapped  and he was on you. His mouth was burning hot as he crashed it against your own. You returned his enthusiasm by reciprocating and the two of you devoured each other. His kiss wasn’t soft or sweet; instead it was desperate and frantic- as if he had been longing for this just as you have.

The taste of Minho's mouth was exquisite. It was very similar to how he smelled but richer. It was slightly tart and tannin rich- almost like a dark wine that's been aged to perfection. You moaned weakly into him when he ran his tongue on your own, now the two appendages fighting for dominance. 

His hands left the door and went to the base of your ass, gripping and massaging your lower cheeks, fingertips digging into the meat. He bit your bottom lip , almost drawing blood with his bunny teeth. “Fucking love these little shorts. Your ass looks so good it should be a crime. Can’t believe Chan let you out of the house looking like this.” He gripped tighter and you whined from the light pain. “If it were up to me you would never be able to show off  your sexy body to anyone outside this house. Though if it were up to me, you wouldn’t be able to leave at all. I’d keep you here, naked and ready for us to play with whenever we wanted.” 

An involuntary mewl left your lips. His words ignited a flame within you; your inner omega panting and begging for that reality. A rush of slick gushed out of you and in your panties. Minho's nostrils flared and his pupils dilated when he caught the sweetness that he knew to be the scent of your arousal. 

His hands went to your thighs, “Jump.” You wrapped your arms around his shoulders and did as he said, jumping into him as he hoisted you up. The muscles in his arms flexed as he carried you to his bed. He dropped you on his bed, your back hitting the softness with a small bounce. You leaned back on your elbows as you took him in. Minho was standing at the foot of the bed gazing down at you with wild eyes, and his breathing labored. You hadn’t noticed before but he was sporting a dark pair of jeans and a black tank. His hair had been pushed back but a few wispy strands fell over his eyes anyway. He looked incredibly mouthwatering. 

He sported a cocky smirk as he palmed his hard on through his jeans. In his mind you resembled a bunny rabbit; with your big glassy eyes and trembling lips- and he was the wolf that wanted to swallow you whole.

Ironic given that you thought he also looked like a bunny. 

“Take your clothes off.” You went to shuck off your top but the beta tsked, “Uh uh, slowly f’me baby.” Minho didn’t believe in instant gratification- not even for himself. 

You sat up a little more and with shaking fingers you found the laces on your top, undoing them as slow as you could while also steeling your nerves. He was watching you like a predator, a dangerous gleam in his eyes as he focused on your nimble fingers. He appeared to be much more put together than you mentally and physically. You eventually got your shirt off and your breasts were freed, the AC in the house made your nipples harden.  You then moved on to your shorts. You looked right into his eyes as you undid the buttons and the zipper, slowly pushing them down your legs and off of the bed. 

You could feel the intensity of his aura; his general assertiveness coming off of him in waves and making you want to submit fully to him. He could tell you to jump off a bridge and you would probably do it without question. Even though he wasn’t an alpha (a fact you love to remind him of) he still held domination like one. You guessed that was a natural side effect of being second oldest and second in command of a pack of men. 

Finally you got your shorts down your legs, now being almost completely naked except for your underwear. Just as you went to pull down your underwear he stopped you. “Wait, leave 'em on while I get a good look at you.” Minho’s eyes roamed all over you and made you feel slightly self conscious, your hands going to cover your chest but the growl he let out halted your movements. “I said I want to look at you, don’t you dare cover yourself from me.” Your hands reluctantly fell back to your sides. “Thata’ girl. Mmm those are some pretty panties you got on, omega. Look strangely like one of the pairs I picked out for you. Pink is definitely your color.” 

You hadn’t even realized you had on the frilliest pair he had gotten you. It was a baby pink and brazilian cut, made of intricate lace that had small bows at the edges and the waistband was sparkly. It was definitely one of your cutest pairs and it was very comfortable. He definitely knew how to pick lingerie…  and it just occurred to you he could most likely see how wet you were through the material. 

“I love this pair. It’s one of my favorites.”  You said, looking away from him after your admittance not wanting to see his the self satisfied grin you knew he was sporting. 

“Show me how much you love them.” 

You were confused. “I-I don’t understand..” 

“You said you loved that pair.” He tilted his head condescendingly. “Show me how much you love them. Touch yourself while wearing them.” 

You were speechless, your mouth agape as you looked at him in trepidation. “I uh, Minho I don’t, uh..” 

The beta put both hands on the foot of the bed and leaned down so he was closer to you, “Didn’t you say you would be good and listen to me for fucking once?” You nodded hesitantly, biting your lip. “Then do as I say and rub your pussy through those cute little fucking panties.” 

He stood again and gave you room, motioning for you to get on with it. You avoided eye contact as you took a deep breath and brought your hand to your center, gingerly running your fingertips along the soaked material hiding your core. You lightly dipped your finger into the fabric, teasing your hole then moved the digit up to your covered clit. Your chest was heaving as a moan left your lips. You touched the bundle again, this time there was more pressure that made your hips buck up into your hand. You heard him curse so you risked a quick look over to him and the sight was a spectacle to say the least. 

The man had his pants unbuttoned and lowered to his mid thigh, and his big hand was palming the erection over his underwear. He never took his eyes off you, his eyes flickering between your face to watch your expressions then back down to your hand that played with yourself. You felt yourself gush more slick and you moaned, now finding a good rhythm on your clit. 

The tension was so intense that you felt your high approaching in record time. Whispers of his name came from you and your tongue ran along your lips. “Min, Minho, I’m- m’ gonna..” 

“You wanna cum, baby?” He was being patronizing, even as he gripped his member harder.

 You nodded vehemently, right on the precipice. “Yes, yes!” 

“That’s too fucking bad. Don’t you dare cum.” 

You gasped when his other hand shot out and grabbed your wrist, halting your rubbing and ruining your orgasm. “Minho! What the fuck? Whyyyyy?!” There were tears welling on your lash line.  

You always look so pretty when you cry

He laughed at your expression, “You think you get to cum just like that? Like you deserve to after the way you consistently defy me? Nuh uh, I think you gotta work for it a little more.” He let go of your wrist but remained leaning over you. “Start again, this time with more vigor.” 

You wanted to protest, to refuse to adhere to his game- but you knew either way you would be doing as he commands. So with a wet pout your shaky fingers returned to the place between your thighs. 

This time your touches were more delicate, but that wasn’t what Mihno was after. He shook his head at you, eyes narrowing at your almost defiance. 

“Harder, omega. Rub her nice and good. I wanna see you squirm.” 

Ah, now you knew the game he was playing. He wanted you to put on a show for him, so you would do exactly that. 

You gave your clit a circling with your finger, then slipped it down your slit then back up again quickly. You felt yourself clench on nothing and more wetness left you, now it had completely drenched the fabric and was making you uncomfortable. Still, the sensations were delicious nonetheless.

All too quickly you were once again built back up and your orgasm was a few rubs away. You knew what you had to do to get what you needed. 

“Minnnn,” You whined, looking right into his eyes now. “Please, wanna cum. Been good for you, please let me.” 

He looked like he was thinking about it, and just as you thought he was going to grant your wish, he grabbed your hand again and made you stop. You let out a groan of frustration, tears now descending down your cheeks. 

“Please stop teasing me! I can’t take it!” 

“Or what? Gonna cry about it? Little crybaby omega, always blubbering. Well go ahead and cry for me. Let me see those pretty tears.” His voice was soft but his words were mean; the difference giving you whiplash and making you cry harder giving him exactly what he wanted.

Minho bit back a moan of satisfaction at the sight of your tears. He just loved to watch you cry, it made him even harder than he was before (as impossible as it seemed) and scratched the mild sadistic itch that laid within him. Soon he wanted to watch you cry while you sucked and gagged on his cock, but that would wait for another day. 

You sniffled and sobbed, unable to contain the dam that had been broken while he cooed at you. Min shucked off his pants while you wiped your eyes, then he leaned over your body and caressed your now wet cheeks, smearing the wetness into your skin. You let out a wet squeal when you felt his tongue on your cheek as he lapped up your salty tears. He pulled back with a moan and his eyes shut. 

“Such a good little omega, being so obedient for me.” He nuzzled into your neck, nipping at you with a purr. “I don’t even have to be an alpha to make you do as I say right now, hmm? You're so desperate for my dick you just give into my demands.” 

One thing you noticed about Minho was that he had a strange complex about not being an alpha. He seemed to get upset when it was mentioned that he wasn’t one or when he couldn’t command the respect of one. And now he was even bringing it up in the bedroom. 

‘Maybe that’s why he takes it so personally when I attempt to defy him.’ You thought to yourself but chose to not mention it outloud. 

“How bad do you want to cum, omega?” 

“So so bad!” You continued to cry, now your hands were on his chest tugging at his shirt, “Need it, Min.” 

“As much as I like the sound of my name on your lips, I think I want you to call me something else.” He ground his hips against yours, “Call me ‘sir’.” 

How mortifying. If you had known your snide comment would lead to this you would have never made it. But if you were being honest with yourself, you kind of liked it. 

“Please sir.” 

“Fucking hell.” That was the straw that broke the camel's back. The beta roughly shoved down your panties, the fabric was soaked and wanted to cling to your nether lips, there was a string of your arousal that came with the garment as it was removed from you. 

The kisses you had shared before were child's play compared to the one he gave you now, the clashing of teeth and tongues making you feel lightheaded. Never would you have imagined the amount of passion and all consuming vigor that he would be able to channel into something as simple as a kiss, yet it had you careening into space at a devastating pace. 

Minho's fingers wasted zero time in running his fingers through your slick then spreading it around your core, soaking your skin even more. A desperate whine burst from you into his mouth, tears still steadily leaking down your face as his fingers purposefully avoided your aching bundle. 

“Please, please Minho. Need you to fuck me, I can’t take it.” 

 There was no better sound in the world than you begging for him, but you used the wrong name. He laid a sharp smack against your center, the wetness splashing with the contact. You let out a hiss at the pain. 

“That’s not my name. Try again.” 

Goddammit, he wasn’t going to let you off easy. 

“Sir, need you. Need your cock, Sir please. Need to be filled by you.” 

Minho quickly removed his boxers and threw them on the floor. Then he repositioned himself over you with a cocky smile. “Careful what you ask for, baby.” 

He gave no warning before he plunged into you, filling you completely and bottoming out in one single thrust. Your eyes rolled into your head as you threw your head back with a deafening cry. “Nggggg oh my gooooood.” 

“Holy fucking shit. Now I see what all the fuss is about.” He started to thrust into you at a punishing pace, his whole weight on top of you. “ You really do have the tightest and wettest pussy in the world. Can’t believe I waited so fucking long to fuck you.” He laid messy kisses to your neck, sucking harshly on the skin and adding his own marks to the ever growing collection. 

Your hands were gripping his hair and you cried and moaned in his ear. Sighs and whimpers of ‘sir’ ‘s’good’ and ‘please’ leaving you and being music to his ears. 

Minho sat back on his knees, taking his weight off of you and your hands scrambled out to him attempting to pull him back to you. You cried out at the sudden emptiness you felt when he pulled out with no warning. 

“No sir! Don’t go!” Your blubbering started again, your emotions running high at the consistent denial. “M’ good f’ you! Please Sir, need you back in me.” You were crying harder than you had this whole day, begging for him. 

Minho used his red tip to slap against your clit, a resounding wet ‘smack’ filling the room along with your cries. “Hear that? Here the way your pussy cries for me? The way even she begs to be filled? Don’t worry, omega. Sir will give her what she wants.” 

It was humiliating; the way he addressed a part of your body as if it wasn’t attached to you, like your pussy was its own entity with its own consciousness. You wanted to cover your face and hide so you put your hands over your face. 

“Don’t you fucking hide from me.” His growl was deep and menacing, his eyes narrowed at you. “You look at me when I fuck you.” 

Still sitting back on his knees with his back straight, Minho grabbed your hips and lifted you up enough to haul your butt over his thighs to be flush on him, and rammed his member back into you. 

This position allowed him to go even deeper than before, your eyes shot open and a scream left you at the pleasure. “Sir! Ngghhhgg fuck sir!” Your hands balled into fists as you held the sheets below you. 

“Arch your back.” He demanded through his panting. You did as he said and it somehow made you feel even closer to him. “Mmmm there we go, nice and deep in there.” He began to sweat, the teasing and playing with you has finally caught up to him. His thumb went down to where the two of you met and he found your clit, rubbing hard and precise circles on your throbbing bud.

“Fuck! Oh my god! Min-Sir, need to cum, please please let me cum this time. Please.” You were crying and babbling so hard you started drooling, mouth and eyes alike leaking wetness that dripped down your face and onto the man's bed.

His thumb pressed even harder on your clit, and gave you a lusty look, with his eyes set on yours as you begged. 

“Cum for me, omega. You’ve earned it.” 

Immediately you let go, the cord inside finally getting permission to snap. Your essence gushed out of you and sprayed onto his shirt, soaking the fabric so much that if it were any other color than black Minho was sure it would stain.  

Minho had never seen anyone cum so hard in his life, and it boosted his ego even more. It sent him hurdling quickly towards his own orgasm.

You were completely at his mercy, your mind was floating far from you and you let him manhandle you again, pushing your legs back as far as they could go by your head and he leaned back over you. His hips were snapping against you rigorously with his balls smacking your butt with each thrust. 

You kept muttering little whispers of his name and ‘sir’ in his ear, your head falling to the side to show him your neck; a sign of utter submission. “Sir, bite.. Wan it…” 

 Every ounce of the betas self control was thrown out the window, your true omega self coming through as you surrendered to him being the final push. He buried his face onto the skin of your neck - though not your mating gland- and bit into you. 

 If you could describe it, his bite was like being doused in oil and set aflame; all consuming yet you welcomed the burn. You were shaking as you felt him deepen his bite, his teeth digging as far down as he could possibly get. He wanted his bite to leave a long lasting reminder of what happened here. 

It was becoming too much for you, your core was clenching and spasming as you came for the second time in mere minutes. At the feeling of your palpitating walls clamped around him, Minho finally came with a snarling growl, teeth still latched onto you as his hips stuttered. Rope after rope of his burning hot cum entered you and filled you to the brim. 

Minho finally let go of your neck with his teeth as he pulled back to look at you. Your eyes were droopy and your face was wet and your lips (along with your whole body) were trembling. You were a mess.  A beautiful debauched mess. The most beautiful sight he had ever seen. 

Min wasn’t looking much better. His skin had a sheen of sweat and his eyes were crazed. His mouth was dripping with your blood but he made no move to wipe it away. 

There was a beat before either of you moved, though he could if he so desired, but Minho was beginning to become addicted to the way you felt wrapped around his length. He knew you probably couldn’t take any more at this time though. With a deep breath he slowly pulled out of you. You both could hear the squelch of your combined fluids cascading out of you like a waterfall. 

You groaned when he exited you, your walls were so sensitive after the pounding he gave you. 

“Shh baby, I know it hurts. You’re ok, omega.”His voice was soft and even as he petted your hair, “I’ll be right back, just take it easy for me.” 

You whined again when the beta slipped off the bed, grabbing his boxes and leaving the room quickly. Only a few moments passed before he returned with a rag and a small first aid kit. In his absence he had cleaned the blood off his face. He approached you with a soft smile, “Hold still baby, need to clean you up.” 

“Mhm” You mumbled, still clearly out of it. 

Min first used the wet rag to clean you up between your legs, wiping you down of any left over cum and fluids. When he deemed you thoroughly cleaned he tossed the rag in the corner to deal with later. Then he brought out the antiseptic from the first aid kit. He dabbed a cotton pad in it then used it to dab at your fresh bite mark. You hissed at the sting, wanting to squirm away. 

Minho cooed at you, “Nuh uh, gotta get the blood off so it doesn’t get infected. Lord only knows I’d never hear the end of it if it’s my bite that doesn’t heal.” He cynically murmured that last part but you still caught it, a little giggle coming from you as you slowly came too.  “You did so good for me, ya know? Were the most perfect little omega.” 

You purred at his praise, unable to stop the lovesick smile from etching into your lips. “Never thought I’d hear you say that.” 

He scoffed lightly, not in malice but more so in disbelief. “ You’ve always been a perfect omega.” He finished cleaning your wound and put the kit to the side then he climbed on next to you. 

He laid on his back and softly pulled you to rest on his chest as he pet your head. There was silence except for the sound of your breathing, but it wasn’t awkward. Oddly enough you found it comfortable as it gave you a moment to collect your thoughts. You imagined he was feeling similar. 

You tentatively reached for his hand and he let you. He gave your hand a squeeze then loosened the hold, instead laying his hand flat against yours and comparing the difference in size. He played with them for a second, his fingers able to slightly curl over your tips. 

“You have baby hands.” 

You snorted at his sudden comment, then looked up at him to find him already gazing down at you. “Maybe that’s why you all call me baby.” 

“Mmm” he hummed, still looking at you. “That among other things.” 

“Like what?” You raised a brow curiously. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” He laughed when you whined, “Ok, fine. We call you baby because we cherish you. You’re something worth caring for.” 

His words made you pause, your hand tightened its grip on his hand and your other one fisted his shirt. That definitely was not the answer you were expecting. You honestly thought he was going to say something like ‘you cry a lot’ or ‘you whine too much’ and had mentally prepared for that answer. To know the real answer was something so genuine and romantic made your heart pound. Your lip began to wobble and the tears gathered on your lashes. 

“That, and you whine too much.” 

“Minho!” You smacked his chest lightly as he laughed. You were still crying and he brought a hand up to wipe it off your face. 

“Aww don’t cry, baby.” He was cooing at you, “You’re gonna make me hard again.” 

You brushed his hand away and buried your face in his chest. “Stooooop. You’re not funny.” 

“Who’s joking?” 

Your whole body heated from your bout of shyness and you refused to leave the safety of his chest, since you knew for a fact he would have that cute stupid smug look on his stupidly cute face. 

“I couldn’t go again right now even if I wanted to. My body is exhausted.” Your words were muffled but he still heard them, bringing that cocky smirk to his face. 

“So,” here we go, “ you’re saying I fucked you so good you physically can’t take anymore?” 

“You are the worst!” You whined, shoving him but laughing all the same.

There was another pause. Min still never stopped his delicate touches on your head. Then he broke the silence again.

“You don’t really think I’m the worst, do you?” His voice was soft yet even, as if he was trying not to show too much emotion at the question, though you could tell this was something he was self conscious over.  

“Oh Minho,” You lifted your head up to look into his eyes, though he refused to meet yours, instead staring straight ahead.  “No, of course not. Not a single one of us thinks that.” Your hand went up to his chin, trying to tilt his face down so he could look at you. 

“It’s not a secret I’m a little opinionated and hyphy. I know my attitude isn’t everyone's cup of tea. I mean, look at us, it took us how long to get here?”  

“But we made it here!” You wanted to protest but still kept your tone light. “Min, the pack cares so deeply for you. They hold the utmost respect for you and love you.” You took a deep breath and closed your eyes tight. “And so do I.” 

Silence 

Silence

Silence

“Look at me.” 

You shook your head, refusing his request. 

“You’re going to have to look at me. Especially if you’re going to give me a claiming bite.” 

That made you snap your eyes open. The beta sported a toothy grin, his beautiful bunny teeth on display for you. 

“You-you want my bite too?” You sniffled, wiping your eyes again. 

“Well, if not from the girl I love then who?” He was being WAY too casual about it but at the same time you could see the pink dusting on his cheeks. “Unless you don’t want to.” 

“Minho” you blubbered into him again. You turned your body to be chest to chest with him and you threw your arms around him. “I want to! Wanna make you mine too, please!” 

“Ok ok, baby don’t cry it’s alright.” He sat up higher so his back was against the headboard. He pulled you to climb into his lap fully, and you straddled his lap. He tilted his head to show more of his neck and he cradled you against him. “Be gentle with me, it’s my first time.” 

Of course he had to make a joke out of it. 

You chose to ignore his jest- though you did roll your eyes- and you started peppering his neck with little kisses. You wanted him to truly feel your love for him. He sighed in contentment and rubbed circles into your back. With your lips you mapped out the spot you would claim him then once your inner omega deemed it the perfect spot you bit down on him. 

He twitched from the sensation, a quiet moan rumbling out of his throat and his hand finding your head, knotting in your hair and pressing you even harder into him. It’s as if he wanted you to bite down harder. You did as your instincts told you and bit with more force. 

After lapping at the wound you remove yourself from him. Minho let you go as he found his breath, panting and eyes fluttering. His cheeks were beet red and his hair had fallen in his face. Honestly, he looked more fucked out now than he did after actually fucking. And he had never looked better.

Minho hugged you tight, then kissed you sweetly and got his own blood on his mouth but he didn’t seem to care. “Good girl.” 

A little chirp escaped you, you were clearly very pleased with the turn of events. And so was Minho. After you helped him clean the bite and wiped up the blood the two of you snuggled on his bed together and talked. It was still hard for him to open up, but he did give you some insight into his brain about how he feels. In return you did the same. It was much overdo and very therapeutic for the both of you. 

After another hour you heard the front door open and a cacophony of voices entered the house. Minho groaned when he heard it, “The idiots are back.” You laughed and rolled off of his chest. He picked up his forgotten phone and saw it was already late into the evening. “Ah shit, I have to start dinner.”

You whined and made grabby hands at him as he got off the bed. “Do you have too? I wanna cuddle some more.” 

He grabbed his pants off the floor and slipped them back on, “Yes omega, someone has to feed the children. And I need to talk to Chan.” After his pants were back on he felt something small and hard in his pocket. He stuck his hand in and pulled out the little trinket he had gotten for you earlier in the day. “Though I have something to keep you company.” He handed you the little pink cat. 

You squealed and pulled it up to your face to analyze it with a beaming smile. “How CUTE! Thank you so much!!” 

He just pecked your cheek in response. 

“Take all the time you want here baby. But soon Channie will probably come looking for you.” 

You huffed and laid back on his bed. You were not excited for that conversation. 

Chan watched as Minho hauled you off in the direction of his car. He had no idea what had occurred but he wanted to get to the bottom of it. He could smell the distress that radiated out of you and it made him wary and irate. 

‘Today was supposed to be a good day, what the fuck happened?’

The alpha stalked off in search of Changbin. He offered people polite hellos and smiles to all the people who greeted him. He was a pillar in this town and needed to act like it especially in public. He found the younger alpha striding away from the games area with a frustrated furrow in his brow. 

“Changbin.” Chan called to him and waved him over. He took notice of how Changbins face fell slightly at the sight of the elder, and he knew it to be a sign that something definitely went wrong here today. Changbin went over to Chan- albeit slowly- and came to stand in front of him. “Hey man, what is going on? I just ran into Min and baby and he said to come find you.”

Changbin bit his lip and blinked back the tears. Chan hadn’t seen him this emotional in a long time so he knew something was up. 

“Hyung, I think I made a big mistake.”

Minho went down to the kitchen first. He took some meat out from the fridge and set it on the counter to rest then he went to find the alpha. It didn’t take long as Chan was looking for him too. 

“Min.” He beckoned him to his office. Chan's face may have been hard to read but his eyes were steely. Once the door was closed he turned to the beta. “You saw him grab her?” 

Minho nodded, “Yes.” 

“You’re sure?” 

“Yes Chan.” The beta clicked his tongue as he recalled it in his mind. “ He had his filthy hand on her arm and he tried to get her to go with him.” 

“And she was scared?” 

Minho nodded again. “Terrified. She didn’t want anything to do with him. If you had seen it you would have ripped his head off.” 

The alpha growled “If it was me there then there wouldn't be a head left to rip off. I’m surprised you didn’t take a swing yourself.” 

Min huffed, “There were a lot of people around. Though I was ready to put him in the ground if he didn’t back down.” 

“Wooyoung… The name is familiar but I can’t place my finger on it.” Chan started pacing as he racked his brain. 

“Changbin had been talking about him a lot. He was so happy to have made a new friend he wouldn’t shut up about it.” Minho rolled his eyes in distaste, “He didn’t know the guy would turn out to be a piece of shit.” 

“But you knew, didn’t you?” Chan asked. “Bin said you could tell but you didn’t say anything.” 

“I knew there was something funky about him, but I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt for Changbins sake.” Chan nodded at the betas words. Then he just had to ask. He smirked a little, “So what happened with you and omega after you got home?” He could clearly see the brand new claiming bite on the betas neck. 

“Nothing much, we just worked out our differences.” He gave him a cheeky wink in return though he felt his face heat up. “Anyways, where is Bin? I didn’t hear him come in and usually he’s the first one I hear.” 

Chan sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “He didn’t come home with us. He’s too ashamed of himself and said he wanted to walk home to think about how clueless he was.” 

“How hard were you on him?” 

“Well I wasn’t sunshine and daisies. But everything I said to him he had already been thinking to himself. He was definitely beating himself up over it.” 

“Did you give him a punishment?” Chan nodded at the question. “What is it? Is it that he can’t touch Y/n like you did with Felix?” 

“Worse.” 

“Worse? What could be worse than that?” 

“I took his car keys and forbade him from going to the gym for a week.” 

“Oh my god he’s never going to come home.”

You didn’t come out immediately. You wanted to have a few moments to yourself to collect yourself and your thoughts. Eventually you knew you needed to make an appearance. You pulled on one of Minhos shirts that you took from his closet as you exited his room. You missed your boys and wanted to spend some time with them. You padded into the living room to find the four youngest boys sitting on the couches holding beers and laughing with each other. 

Jisung was the first to notice you, yelling when you walked in the room. “There's my baby!” He was obviously drunk already, his eyes having trouble focusing on you as he giggled. “Come here gorgeous.” 

“Hi Ji.” You giggled and walked over to him. He grabbed you and yanked you onto his lap, tickling you more when you laughed. “No no no!” 

“Sungie don’t hog!” Felix whined from his place next to Jisung. “It’s not fair you’ve spent so much time with baby!” 

“Not true! I have barely seen her!” 

“Jisung, you literally had your tongue in her pussy this morning.” Seungmin deadpanned from across the room. “That’s more than we’ve had in days.” 

Jeongin and Felix laughed as Jisung pouted, still holding on to you. You on the other hand were mortified. 

“Don’t talk about me like I’m just a piece of meat for you to consume!” 

That made all four of them burst out laughing at your plight. 

“Aww baby, we know you're not just something to eat.” Felix cooed and unhooked Jisungs arms from you and hauled you onto his own lap. “We just all wanna spend time with you.” Then he leaned into your ear and lowered his voice. “Though, if eating you out was an option right now I’d happily take it. I’m starving.” 

You shivered at his husky and seductive voice in your ear. “Lixie..” 

“But by the way you smell and who’s shirt you're wearing.. Not to mention this new bite mark on your neck- I’d say Min already had a taste today.” 

“Stop it you!” You whined and pushed at his chest while he and the other boys cackled. “Since when are you the dirty one?!” 

“M’ just teasing you baby. I’m happy you and Min made up. Now we can all be one big happy family.” He nuzzled into you. 

At the mention of his name the beta appeared from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a kitchen towel. “Quit being literal menaces to society and go set the table. Dinner is done.” 

The three boys around you groaned and got to their feet and shuffled to the dining room. You went to follow but were held back by Felix. “Lix we gotta help.” 

“Nah they got it. Just want a minute alone with my love.” He kissed you tenderly and you reciprocated. This boy was too sweet to refuse him. “Mm I love you baby.” 

“I love you too Lixie.” You kissed him again and he smiled against your lips. 

“Felix! Come help!” 

“Oop! Gotta go baby or he’s gonna cook me next.” 

You made your way to the table to see Chan and the other boys (minus Felix) all helping and sitting down. Chan smiled at you as you entered the room, reaching a hand out for you. You grabbed on to it and let him pull you into a kiss. 

“Hi baby. Are you feeling better?” 

You nodded, “Yes Channie. Min took good care of me and I feel much better.” 

“Min? We left you with Binnie, didn’t we?” Hyunjin asked, looking at the youngest boy for confirmation. “Were you that sick you had to come home?” 

“Oh uh, well-” You stuttered but were cut off. 

“You moron, don’t mention Changbin right now. There's a reason he’s not here.” Seungmin scoffed, picking up some food and serving it on his plate. 

It was then you noticed there was one empty seat at the table. Changbin had not come home. Chan noticed how forlorn you looked when you saw the empty chair. He cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. “We are not having this conversation right now. Changbin is not here on his own volition. That is all you need to know right now.” He was using his alpha voice to make his point known and they all nodded in understanding. 

No one brought it up again for the whole of dinner. They all carried on like nothing happened at all. Everyone except you. You couldn’t stop staring at the empty space at the table, and feeling guilty. You wished Changbin was here. You wanted to hold him and hear his loud contagious laughter. Your heart felt heavy with him being gone. Chan noticed your mood- of course he did- but he didn’t want to bring it up any further at the dinner table. 

Instead he waited until the dinner was complete. As soon as you were done eating he stood from his spot at the head of the table and came to your side. He scooped you into his arms, chuckling when you shrieked. “Hush now. I need my omega now.” 

The other guys hooted and hollered at you both as he carried you up the stairs. 

“Channie.. I’m too sensitive down there right now.” You murmured, your face aflame. 

He plopped you on his bed, then sat down next to you. “Oh baby, I know Min probably did some work on your poor kitty huh?” You nodded, and tried to hide your embarrassment. “We do need to talk, though my love. I need to know exactly what happened and what that bastard said to you.” 

As much as you didn’t want too, you knew your alpha needed to hear it from your own lips. So with a deep breath and a lot of tears, you recounted the experience. From start to finish he just let you talk. He was patient when you got choked up at the part about being grabbed, even though you could feel the rage that brewed inside of him at the thought of a man outside our pack laying a finger on you. 

If there was one thing Chan knew for certain, it was that someday soon, Wooyoung would pay for his indecencies. He would make sure of that. 

Alternate smut scene

Comments and reblogs are very much appreciated!

Also if any one wants to chat about the story or share predictions please send me an ask!!

Beta read by my loves @ayejaii and @jehhskz <3

©doitforbangchan

TAGLIST- closed

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[oniondip420]

Yarn Log - Mini Hyperbolic Paraboloid

Background & Thoughts

After my experience doing the coaster in a single day, I again felt like doing just a tiny crochet project that I could speed through. I’ve always wanted to do one of the hyperbolic plane curly guys, but searching on Ravelry only turned up paid patterns or ones that were technically hosted on other sites. The app on my phone I use to actually hold the patterns I’m working on (knitCompanion) can only automatically import free Ravelry downloads, so I opted for this instead.

A hyperbolic paraboloid is the mathematical name for the kind of saddle shaped surface that you may recognize as the Pringles shape. As a former math major I think they’re pretty cool, and it seemed like a good substitute for the actual hyperbolic plane I was searching for. Plus, it was a really small project, so I could once again bang it out start to finish in a single day.

Once again, I used my 4.25mm crochet hook, but this time I used the medium weight yarn I had left over from The Blanket™ (post still incoming! I just am queuing up a few smaller yarn logs in the mean time lol). The only new maneuver in the pattern was the sc2tog, which was pretty easy to google and execute.

Something you may notice in the above picture is that my result barely resembles the target shape lol. I can think of a few explanations for this, all relating to yarn tension:

I generally messed up the yarn tension, which I already know I need to work on (see yesterday’s coaster post)

I improperly handled the sc2tog’s as the mirror reverse of the doubled-up sc stitches (to increase the stitch count back up on the latter half). This may have caused the weird curling

What is certainly clear though, is that I used the wrong size of crochet hook. Looking at another small roll of the same yarn in a different color that I’ve yet to take off the packaging for, it recommends using a 5mm crochet hook for the medium weight yarn. This means that using the hook itself to measure my gauge as I was working resulted in it being too tight, which also likely combined with the sc2tog and general yarn tension issues to produce this outcome.

UPDATE ON LAST POINT SINCE I FIRST DRAFTED THIS: I did it again with the yarn I used for the coaster (which seemed the right weight for the hook size), and the shape is still bogus. So while I still think the hook size was an issue, at this point I think either it’s a flaw in the pattern itself, or the same general tension issue from the tiny swatch I made with the coaster. Not including a pic of that, bc it’s basically the same just slightly smaller and purple.

Since this piece is not meant to lie flat, I am unable to block it into a better shape. So I’m just accepting it as it is lol

Major lessons learned:

I need to continue working on my yarn tension problems before working on a bigger project. My hyperfixation-specific perfectionism-triggered affective disorder would easily undermine any triumphs I’d make if the tension is messed up on a project I care more about, and I don’t want to set myself up for avoidable depression lol.

I need to obtain a more complete set of crochet needles. I have a good set of smaller ones, but after my bookmark experience, no way in hell will I be using the tiny-ass weighted yarn that would be appropriate for those. This 4.25mm is what I carry in my active projects bag to handle mistakes and to fasten the outside tail of when I make center-pull yarn balls. It worked with the yarn weight I used yesterday for the coaster, but I don’t have a lot left of that kind. My next hook size up is 6.5mm, for heftier yarn weights. So if I want to be crocheting with the yarn weights I commonly have on hand, I really am gonna have to invest in different sizes. Bleh, money. I have since made the purchase and am waiting for it to arrive.

Sometimes it seems, pattern makers will not tell you explicitly to do the turning stitch when going to the next row. This hasn't really been an issue for me since, due to me working in a spiral ever since then, but I have gotten a lot more observant about stitch counts when reading patterns.

Pattern

[michellemisfit]

Tag Game Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday… this week?

Sorry @celestialmickey 🥺

Beyond late, but I’m here because I was tagged by these lovely humans: @suzy-queued @squidyyy23 @lingy910y @creepkinginc @energievie @francesrose3 @suchagallabitch @xninetiestrendx @thepupperino @deedala @harrowhark-a-vagrant @gardenerian @sleepyfacetoughguy @mzshko

Name: Michelle. (Mys for short. Myš for fancy)

Sun Sign: >fishy

What day of the week we’re you born? Friday's child is loving and giving - - I was a scheduled C Section though, so not sure if that’s cheating? 🤔

First app you open in the morning? Depends on notifications and time of day. When I wake up at 3.30am I look at discord and tumble, but when my alarm actually goes at 7.30am it’s probably the calendar app, shortly followed by the Trying To Get Rid Of Notifications Round.

If I’ve posted something I’m hoping for nice feedback on I will save tumble for last, which sometimes works when there is nice things, and backfires horrible when there isn’t. Such is life.

Last song you listened to?

What type of phone do you have? iPhone… some number 🤷🏽‍♂️ it still has a HOME BUTTON. That’s all that counts.

Something you’d like to learn how to do: There are many things I’d like to *know* how to do, but not necessarily learn. However I would actually love to take sign language classes. Good old fashioned classroom learning style!!

Art Gallery or History Museum: Natural History Museum please and thank you.

Your Least Favourite Chore: It’s probably not my *least* favourite, as one doesn’t have to do it very often, but like… mopping? I just can’t get down with the concept of mopping! It’s very British and it’s not at all Swiss. I didn’t touch a mop until I was like… 24. That’s very late to learn and I’m really bad at it and it makes me feel inadequate :( Especially because I’m shit hot at sweeping. #FarmingSkills

I’m also bad at making the bed. @rutherinahobbit has to make my bed for me, because she’s good at it and she’s nice!!

Do you believe in fate? No. I believe we create our own chances in life.

If offered immortality, would you take it? God no. You know how we all talk about all the things we would do if only we had the time? And then remember the pandemic and how none of us did any of those things we’ve been putting off forever because we didn’t have the time? It’d be basically that, times infinity. Shudder.

How are you feeling right now? Better than yesterday. Hopefully better again tomorrow.

Finally, tell me something you’re looking forward to: Going to the states for the first time this year since pre pandemic times. Looking forward to that.

~~

Not tagging anyone as I’m a week late, but anyone who hasn’t done this, please do and make sure to tag me so I can see your answers <3

[amor-immortalem]

A Change in Routine

Word Count: 5.4k +

Repost from yesterday cuz my dumbass queued it for the wrong day!

A/N: Allergies were kicking my ass last year, so I didn’t have much energy to finish this up before Mammon’s (and Mahlon’s) birthday hit. I’ve had a whole year to work on this instead, so we’ll see if it’s still any good.

“What do you mean he won’t be home for our birthday?!”

“Honey, your father has a lot of souls to judge.” Arella frowns at the look on her youngest’s face. She always hated it when any of the kids were let down. “He’s trying his best to be done with his work by the weekend but unfortunately, sometimes these things happen. I know it’s disappointing because you two always celebrate your birthdays together, but there’s always next year, right?”

The boy only looks away from his mother frowning. “Yeah, I guess…” and then he runs off to sulk.

“He’ll be fine.” the human tells herself, “Learning how to accept changes will be good for him.”

・・・〆・・・

As the week goes on, Mahlon seems to get more upset over Mammon not being home on their birthday. He doesn’t do any schoolwork- not that grade one offers that much schoolwork to begin with. Even if it did, the little one was too distracted wracking his brain over why his father was really missing their birthday. It had to be something he did.

“Maaaahloonnn, are you even listening to me?” Oliver complains as he waves his hand in front of his cousin’s face. “Helloooo, are you in there?”

The pair were waiting for their mothers after school let out that Friday as both Azalea and Cyrus had been stuck in detention, Henry had cut school to stay home and play video games all day, Melissa and Solaris were at cram school and Aurelius had a photoshoot at Majolish right after R.A.D had gotten out for the day.

“No… I wasn’t. Sorry…” the apology was half-hearted at best. “What were you saying?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” the older half-demon sighs as he takes a seat next to the freckled boy. “You’ve been like this all week- I thought you would be super excited considering your birthday is the day after tomorrow…”

“Daddy won't be home for it this year so what’s the point in being excited?”

“You’re sad about it? I thought you’d like having a party all to yourself this year…”

“I like sharing my birthday with Daddy. That’s the only good thing that makes me special from my brothers and sister… you wouldn’t get it. You’re Aunt Paisley and Uncle Belphie’s only kid so things are different for you, but I have to compete for my parents’ attention with the others…”

Oliver only shrugs as Paisley and Arella arrive.

“Hey, boys.” Paisley smiles as Oliver runs up and all but leaps into their arms. “Did you have a good day?”

“My day was good! I didn’t fall asleep at all during class!” the blue and white-haired boy smiles, “I missed you lots and lots though!”

“Awww, I missed you to, baby.”

“And what about your day, Mahlon?” Arella asks, “Did you have a fun time?”

Mahlon only shrugs, he won’t tell her about all the teasing and bullying that went on throughout the day.. “It was okay, I guess… not a whole lot happened so I guess it was kinda boring…”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Arella kneels down, “I know you’ve been kind of down in the dumps this past week so how about we go get some ice cream to make up for the day, hm?”

Oliver’s eyes lit up at the mention of sweet treat. “Can we go too, Mommy? Please, please, pleeeeease?”

“I don’t really want ice cream,” the black-haired boy says softly. “Sunday, I’m gonna have cake. That’s way too much sweets for one weekend. I just wanna go home…”

Arella and Paisley share a worried look. Mahlon loves ice cream- it’s his most preferred treat when his mood is off and to hear the boy turn down such an offer is surprising.

“He’s really taking the whole news about Mammon being away for his birthday pretty rough, isn’t he?”

“Unfortunately…” Arella sighs before turning her attention back to Mahlon. “Alright well, if you change your mind later, we can always go then.” She offers her hand to him which he takes. “We’ll see you all on Sunday. Have a good night, Paisley. Please remind Belphegor we have that meeting on Monday at 8 am and unless he is actively judging souls in Hell, he needs to be there, awake and alert.

“Alright.” They smile, “Also when is your next trip to the human world going to be? I’d like to go visit my sister and see the sun.”

“Next week, I think… I’ll let you know once I check my calendar.”

After that, the two humans part ways, their children in tow.

・・・〆・・・

Once Arella and Mahlon get home, the boy goes straight to his room. He doesn’t even greet Azalea as she sits in the middle of the living room floor attempting to beat the final boss of a new RPG Levi had lent her. Something not unnoticed by the 20-year-old.

“What’s his deal?” she asks as Arella takes a seat on the couch behind her.

“He’s upset that your father won’t be home for his birthday.” The human frowns. “You know how he likes these types of things to be the same every year and the fact that it’s different this year has been affecting him all week.”

“Oh, he’s so dramatic- it's one birthday.” Azalea rolls her eye, “The kid’s gonna have a billion more to celebrate with Dad, one year won’t hurt nothin’. ‘N besides, Cyrus isn’t doing so hot in his training which is causing all sorts of back-ups for Dad- and I’m out here putting in all this hard work behind the scenes so Cyrus can know what he’s doin’, and yet, it’s being wasted.” She feigns a disappointed sigh, “You can tell he ain’t got the spine for the job... so annoying but what can I do?”

“Well, I appreciate what you’re doing to help your brother- and I’m sure your father does as well even if he doesn’t quite realize it yet.” Arella smiles. “Changing subjects, you had an eye-doctor appointment today- how did that go?”

“Shitty.” the freckled girl replies, “Turns out I can’t see for shit out of my remaining eye. I’m gonna need glasses or a monocle or some shit like that. Hey, do ya think if I got a glass eye to replace the one I’m missin’ that that would be weird?”

“No,” Is all Arella responds with at first, “I think it would make for some interesting pranks with demons who don’t know you very well though.”

“It would, wouldn’t it?” A mischievous grin paints itself on her features, “Thanks for the idea, Mum.”

“Any time, my dear.”

・・・〆・・・

“So, there’s absolutely no way you’ll be able to make it home in time for Sunday?” the human chews on her bottom lip as she washes the dishes from dinner.

“No.” Is Mammon’s response, “I ain’t even gotten through a small fraction of the souls I had to go chase down after Cyrus summoned ‘em but couldn’t judge ‘em fast enough. There has to be a good 5000 left. Probably another 1000 still out runnin’ around the fourth layer too. Some even escaped back up to the human world- Thirteen told me she’d round them all up and haul ‘em back here for me but the whole situation is just a mess.”

He runs a hand through his hair as he sighs.

“This ain’t what I wanna be doing on mine and Mahlon’s birthday of all days. I’d like to be home with y’all, but it just isn’t meant to be this year, I guess.”

“Yeah, Mahlon’s taking it especially hard. I don’t know what it is about your guys’ birthday, but he just refuses to compromise on it. He didn’t even seem too keen on a party because it’s not something we usually do for you two.”

“It’s cuz ya spoil him too much, Babe.” The demon teases, “Every time he even looks like he’s gonna have one of his meltdowns, you cave.”

“And you don’t?” She asks worriedly, “You’ve seen what he does to himself when he gets that upset- the biting, the hitting, the head-banging, the scratching-”

“Yeah, I’ve seen it all. But I don’t let it happen either. I lock the kid down ‘n hold on until he’s done and had a chance to calm down some. It ain’t all that difficult to keep him safe and not let him have his way at the same time.”

“Easy for you to say,” Arella sighs, “I don’t have the physical strength necessary to hold him down like that and with how hard he bangs his head, he might actually break my ribs if he decides to bang his head against my chest, so my only option is to give in to his demands.”

“And that’s why ya have the hardest time setting limits with him, ‘Rella. Get one of his siblings to hold him down- ‘Relius and Cyrus both know how, and Azalea’s seen me do it enough times that she’s got the gist of it too. Anyway, I have to go before I lose these souls that I just managed to bring back. I love you, and I’ll see you... hopefully sometime next week?”

“I love you too. Come back soon.”

She doesn’t know it yet, but the demon’s been lying to her this entire time. He’d managed to catch up on this disaster his son had made earlier in the week and now didn’t have nearly as much work left as he’d told her- maybe just a single night’s worth of work left. All this lying was meant to just be a big surprise for his youngest.

As the pair hang up, Arella can hear some kind of commotion going on upstairs. She runs to go check it out. To her surprise, she sees Mahlon being held down by his sister as he just wails and struggles and screams.

“Hey, hey, it ain’t the end of the world, kid. It’s just one day. It’s not worth hurtin’ yourself over.” Her words end up breaking with each backswing of the six-year-old's head against her chest before she shifted her hands to grasp both of his wrists in one and the other’s placed against Mahlon’s forehead so he couldn’t headbang anymore. Azalea even has her legs placed over his to keep Mahlon’s legs from kicking violently. “It’s okay for things to be a little bit different.”

“NO, IT’S NOT!” The black-haired boy shrieks at the top of his lungs as he coughs in between sobs. He starts squirming to get out of his sister’s grasp, but she’s got him locked down. “I WANT DADDY!”

“Well, Daddy ain’t here and carryin’ on this way ain’t gonna make him magically appear either.” Azalea’s tone is stern as she looks over at their mother. “Look, Mum’s here. You’re scaring her by acting like this. I can let you go but we need to have a calm body first.”

“NO!” Again, the six-year-old wriggles and squirms. “I WANT DADDY! I WANT DADDY HOME WITH US FOR OUR BIRTHDAY!”

“Mahlon, honey, this is quite enough.” Arella is kneeling down in front of her youngest. “I know this is a big change for you, but we can’t help that your father won’t be here. Nothing can stay the same forever. Everything always changes even if it’s just a little bit.”

“B-but I don’t wa-nt it to!” The little half-demon's voice hiccups as he starts to calm down. He’s still heaving breaths as he sniffles.

“I know, Baby.” the human smiles sadly as she wipes the remaining tears away, “But as time goes on, that’s just what happens. There’s no reasoning to it.”

As the child finally de-escalates, Azalea let’s him go. Arella can’t help but try to cover up the wince her face takes at the sight of his little arms all scratched and bitten up. All the wounds were superficial, thankfully, but they still look painful.

“My head hurts...” is all Mahlon mumbles as he leans against his mother.

“Well, yeah, I bet.” Azalea grumbles as she rubs the spot on her chest that he’d been all but bashing his head against. “You’ll feel better in a bit once you calm down a bit more.”

“I can give you something for the pain,” Arella says as she wraps the six-year-old up in her arms. “Azalea, do you want anything for your chest? You look like you’re in pain.”

“Nah, I’ll be fine.” She’s scrolling through her fabsnap when she comes across a shipping video between her, the poster, and her twin. “Grooooossss, why’re people even inta real-person-fiction? It’s kinda depressing to be honest.”

Arella merely shrugs. “Comes with the price of coming from a family as well-known as ours. Just block them and move on.”

“Those are the types of people who didn’t get bullied enough as kids and it shows.” The 20-year-old chuckles. “Like we’d even be into sharing partners with each other anyway.”

“Azalea. Just ignore it if you’re uncomfortable with it. The longer you watch and engage with it, the more frequently that type of content will appear on your feed.”

“Fine, fine, I’m done. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a project I still need to finish before the party on Sunday.” She’s off before either Mahlon or Arella can ask what she was working on.

・・・〆・・・

It’s rather early in the morning- just before the crack of dawn- when Mammon sneaks into the house. This was supposed to be a surprise, not only for his youngest, but for his wife as well who was none the wiser about what was really going on. He finds her in the kitchen, brewing her usual morning cup of tea.

Quietly, he inches closer and closer until...

“Gotcha!” Mammon wraps his arms around her waist.

Arella reacts immediately, head flying back and hitting the demon square in the mouth. The white-haired male recoils letting out a pained groan as he stumbles back.

“Mammon!?” Arella’s surprised as she gets a better look at him in the dim kitchen light. “Oh, Love, I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

“Totally,” He’s still covering his mouth as he leans against the counter. “I’m fine.”

Unconvinced, the human only grabs an ice pack from the freezer. “How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me like that? Let me see your mouth.”

“Hundreds,” Mammon does as he’s asked, revealing the freshly busted lip he received from this exchange. “I thought it would go better than this...”

“Well, unfortunately that’s not the case.” She sighs as she wraps the ice pack in a towel and hands it to her husband. “You could have told me you were coming home early, you know?”

“And have you ruin the surprise for Mahlon? Nah. Speaking of, is he still in bed? I thought he woulda been up by now even with it being a rough night for y’all.”

“So, you heard about that? You can thank your daughter for stepping in to help.”

“She did? I’m surprised.”

“Yes, she did. Anyway, to answer your question, yes, he’s still sleeping- well more like he just fell asleep not too long ago. There was a lot of self-injurious behavior, so Azalea’s been sitting with him the past couple of hours. You can be the one to wake him up later.”

“Yeah sure, but for right now…” Mammon wraps his arms around her waist as he leans in for a kiss, “since we’re the only ones up ‘n all, I figured we could-”

“No.” The human chuckles softly as she dabs at his lip with a paper towel. “After I have my tea, I promised Azalea I would finish wrapping the present she made for Mahlon and after that I’m starting on the culinary prep work for today’s party and then breakfast. Buuuut if you’re a good boy today, then I promise we’ll have time for that later once the kids all go to bed.”

“Fiiiiine,” The demon purses his lips in a pout at the rejection. “Can I at least get one kiss? It is my birthday after all.”

Arella leans over and presses a kiss to his cheek. “You can’t trick me that easily, Mammon. We’ve been together long enough that I know one kiss isn’t just one kiss with you. Now, run along and go get some rest. You’ll need it if I’m going to have my fun with you tonight.” She gives her husband a pat to the cheek as she turns back to the kettle that was now whistling.

“Nah, I think I’ll stay and help.”

・・・〆・・・

At about 11:30, after a whole seven and a half hours of assisting his wife, Mammon decides it’s time to wake Mahlon for the day.

As he ascends the steps up to the second level, who should he run into but his daughter. She was just coming out of her youngest brother’s room when Mammon calls out to her.

“Thanks for helping your ma out last night, Zay.”

“Hmm? Yeah, don’t worry about it.” The half-demon yawns. “Cyrus and Aurelius seemed pretty fit to be tied with the kid last night, so I just dealt with it. Don’t expect it to be a regular occurrence though.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it- anyway, it’s just nice to know I can count on ya to step up when we need it.”

With nothing more said between the two, Azalea stalks off back to her room and Mammon continues of his mission to wake up Mahlon.

As he enters the child’s room, he knelt down beside his son’s bed.

“Mahlon, time to wake up, Buddy.”

The little half-demon grumbles as he rolls away.

“Mahlon,” the demon tries once more, “Mommy made breakfast for you. Its gonna get cold.”

“Noooo,” this time there’s an audible response as Mahlon pulls his pillow over his head. “Want Daddy.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m the one wakin’ ya up then.” Mammon’s voice is a little louder, a little clearer than the gentle tone he’d just been using.

It takes the boy a little longer to process what he’s just heard than usual, but when it clicks, Mahlon sits up frantically with wide multicolored eyes.

“Surprise!”

“Daddy!”

The seven-year-old leaps forward, nearly knocking his father to the ground as he wraps his arms around the demon’s neck in a tight hug. Mammon’s able to catch himself before he manages to topple over though.

“You said you weren’t gonna be home in time.” Mahlon’s voice comes out muffled.

“Thought I wasn’t for a minute there,” Mammon sighs as he stands up and heads downstairs, “but I worked extra hard so I could be home in time to celebrate with you.” He sets the boy down as they reach the kitchen.

“There’s the birthday boy!” Arella smiles as she sets Mahlon’s plate at the table. “Did you sleep okay?”

“Mhm. I slept really good. I’m still kinda sleep.”

“Didn’t know being an obnoxious little brat could be so exhausting,” another voice grumbles under their breath from the table.

“Aurelius, enough.” The human replies sternly. “Finish up your breakfast so you’re not late for your photoshoot.”

“Don’t got one anymore after a certain someone decided to bite me so hard his fangs broke skin,” his green eyes send an annoyed glare towards his younger brother who misses the malice behind it completely.

“Don’t have your arm near my mouth then.” Mahlon shoots back as he sticks his tongue out.

“Don’t be so out of hand that I have to restrain you!” He stands suddenly and Arella puts a barrier up between the two of them to keep anyone from getting hurt.

“No thanks, boys. We’re not doing this right now. Both of you need to finish your breakfast and then you can go your separate ways until the party.”

“And when you’re done, Aurelius,” Mammon pops his head in through the kitchen serving hatch, “come see me in Mom’s office. I wanna talk to ya about something.”

Mahlon just gives his older brother a smug look when neither of their parents are looking, thinking he’d won their little exchange, to which Aurelius just rolls his eyes and shovels what remained of his breakfast into his mouth.

・・・〆・・・

“So, you wanted to see me?” Aurelius asks as he closes the door to the office. He’s surprised to see his older siblings sitting in the chairs in front of the desk. “Well at least I know I’m not in trouble if the two of you are here as well.”

“Ya weren’t in trouble to begin with, kid.” The demon has to suppress a soft chuckle, “Pop a squat, it’ll only be a couple minutes for you. Your brother and sister however- well I got more than just a couple of minutes worth of lecture for them.”

Once Aurelius has taken a seat next to his sister, all three of them wait patiently.

“I want y’all to stop helping with your brother.” Mammon starts after a long pause. None of them can believe what they just heard.

“Come again?” Azalea is the first to speak. “Did you say ‘stop’ helping?”

“I did.” The demon nods as he looks over some files on the computer. “Mahlon’s seven now so he won’t need as much constant supervision like he did when he was really little. Not to mention, I’m leaving modeling altogether after my next photoshoot so I’ll be able to home all the time now.”

Aurelius’s eyes widen at hearing the news.

“So no more babysitting after that?” The youngest of the three asks. “And what about your throne in Hell? Are you abdicating that as well?” This was great news.

“Nah, I’m still gonna hold onto that for a while. With that whole mess that your brother and sister made for me to clean up down there, it proves to me to Cyrus definitely isn’t ready to take over just yet.”

Cyrus only looks away out of embarrassment and mumbles a small ‘sorry’.

“That’s all I really wanted to talk with you about, Aurelius. You’re free to go. Majolish will probly be calling ya by the end of this week to see if you’re interested in filling my spot so be on the look out for that.”

“Right,” the half-demon gets up and heads out, a new spring in his step as he can hear his father lay into his siblings about summoning all the souls that had escaped the throne room in hell. “Well sucks to be them I guess.”

・・・〆・・・

With the party in full swing, Mammon and Mahlon both find it difficult not to let themselves have a good time. While the adults and the older kids were all occupied by hearing embarrassing stories about Mammon’s past, much to the demon’s chagrin, Mahlon and the cousins he was closest in age to just ended up snooping around his gifts- well more like just Mahlon and Oliver. Hakan was trying to help himself to a tenth helping of chips and a taco dip that Isabella had brought.

“What’re you even trying to do, Mahlon? The ginger-haired half-demon asks as he enjoys the newly acquired dip on his plate. “Usually, when people snoop around their gifts, there’s a lot of shaking of the boxes. They don’t just stare at them.”

“I was trying to see if my powers had come in yet or if I had any magic like Mommy yet…” he sighs, “but I guess the doctor wasn’t lying when they said I’d never get either…”

“You don’t need any of that though,” Oliver smiles. “I like you just the way you are.”

Mahlon doesn’t say anything in response. As the adults announce its time to cut the cake, the black-haired half-demon takes off.

・・・〆・・・

Mahlon hides out in the backyard behind a tree as he tries to stifle his tears. How could his cousin say that? ‘I like you just the way you are,’ what a joke. They’re family. He has to like him even if it’s only just a little bit. What Mahlon really wants is for his peers to like him.

As the boy wipes at his eyes, he feels someone take a seat next to him.

“Was the party too much for ya, buddy?” Mammon’s voice is soft, worrying that any louder might push the child into an overstimulation meltdown. When the seven-year-old only shakes his head, the demon lets out a sigh of relief. “That’s good. Do ya know what’s got ya so upset?” A nod this time. “Did it have something to do with whatever Oliver said to you?”

“Kinda… he’s not in trouble, is he?”

“No,” Mammon smiles as he ruffles Mahlon’s already messy curly hair. “We were all just really confused when you took off like that. Ya wanna tell me what the deals is?”

“It’s dumb…” the freckled half-demon admits. “You’ll laugh at me.”

“I really won’t. You could tell me the dumbest thing in the world ‘n I still wouldn’t laugh at ya.”

“… it’s ‘cause I don’t have any powers or magic yet. The other kids at school tease me, call me a freak and it hurts my feelings.”

“Oh, Mahlon… I’m sorry, buddy. I know that’s gotta be really tough to go through, especially when you look at your siblings and cousins and see them with theirs…” Mammon wraps an arm around the little one and pulls him into tight side hug.

“They say th-there’s s-something wrong with me. That I-I’m-m broken and-and-”

“Hey, shhh, it’s okay. Just take a couple deep breaths, alright?” He brushes away Mahlon’s tears and holds him tight even as the green-to-blue-to-gold-eyed boy starts to thump the side of his head against Mammon’s chest. “No, we’re not doin’ any of that right now, lil’ man.”

They sit in silence for a few moments until the worst of it passes before the demon speaks again.

“It doesn’t matter what those kids say to you Mahlon, ‘cause they don’t know nothin’. I know what they said to you hurts but you ain’t broken. You’re just built different and that’s what makes you so special. When you grow up, there’re gonna be opportunities that only you will have because you don’t have any demonic powers or magic.”

“Like what?” His multicolored eyes peer up at his father.

“Well, for starter:” Mammon smiles, “you are the only one out of you and your siblings that will be able to have the choice to live in the human world if that’s what you want. No magic or powers means you won’t be so easily clocked as anything other than just a normal human.”

“Really?”

“Really, really.” He smiles. “‘N besides, why would ya ever wanna be just like everyone else when you can be one-of-a-kind? The teasing and bullyin’ll be short-lived but one day, you’re gonna meet people that will like you for you, not what you can do. Trust me on it.”

Slowly, Mahlon nods. “Okay.”

“Good,” Mammon stands, with a slight bounce, making Mahlon laugh as he grabs on tighter to his father, “now, let’s back to the party. There’s a big ol’ piece of cake with your name on it, literally.”

・・・〆・・・

The rest of the party goes off without a hitch. After it seemed all the presents were opened, their family began to take their leave. That’s when Azalea pulls her youngest brother aside for a moment.

“Here,” she produces one last gift from behind her back and handed it to Mahlon.

The box is pretty as the black-haired boy inspects it. He begins to open it slowly, pulling the lid off and peaking inside.

He looks up at her with surprise before reaching in to pull the gift from its container.

“A Blue Jay!” He smiles wide as he hugs the stuffed toy tightly and is delighted to find the toy lets off the calls of the bird it's made after. “Thank you!” He wraps his arms around her in hug. “I love him.”

“Yeah, yeah, no worries, squirt. Just make sure you take care of it. I’m not makin’ ya another one if ya lose it or it gets broken somehow.” Azalea manages to extricate herself from the hug before walking past her brother. “If y’re up for one more surprise, follow me out to the Aviary, yeah?”

And that piques Mahlon’s curiosity as he follows his sister’s lead. When the pair arrive, they’re greeted by Mammon’s crows all huddled around their master as he fiddles around with the doors of the incubator he has for eggs some of his younger crows won't care for.

“I got him, Dad.”

“Thanks, Mahlon, c’mere. I wanna show you something.” Mammon picks up something out of the incubator and kneels down to his son’s height.

The young boy can only watch in awe as a fledgling jay pokes her head out of his hands to look around at her surroundings. When the bird sees Mahlon, she chirps happily.

“Wanna hold her? She’s yours.” The demon asks as Mahlon nods furiously.

“Where did she come from?” He asks, “We don’t have blue jays down here.”

“A cat brought her down here to make a meal out of her- if you look really closely, you’ll see her wings still kinda messed up so she can’t fly all that well yet.” He explains, “in a few weeks she’ll be good as new but you’re gonna help me take care of her til that happens.”

“Okay,”

“So, what’s ‘er name?” Azalea asks, one of her own familiars swooping down and landing on her shoulder and dropping a pretty rock into her left palm.

“Doesn’t she have one already?” Mahlon asks.

“You’re her master,” Mammon explains with a chuckle, “wouldn’t be right if anyone else named her.”

“What about… what about Azul… that’s a good name, right, Daddy? Azalea don’t laugh at me!”

“It is if you say it is.” Mammon swats at Azalea to get her to stop snickering at the name her little brother had chosen for his first familiar. “Now, let’s put ‘er back to bed so she can rest her wing. We’ll see her in the morning.”

Mahlon nods as he gives the bird in his hands a gentle kiss on the head as he sets her back in the incubator.

As the three of them all head in for the night, Mahlon can’t help but think this was the best birthday he’d ever had.

・・・〆・・・

Once all the kids are out for the night, Arella takes the time to seek out her husband in the living room where he’s just finished cleaning up the mess left from the party.

He hasn’t realized she was coming up behind him, so Arella takes the chance to get a little payback for this morning.

“Maaaammmon!” The sound of her voice and the ways she wraps her arms around his neck as she jumps up onto his back makes the demon jump.

“Wha- Arella!” He’s not amused by his wife’s antics. “I coulda really hurt ya just now.”

“And it would be worth every bit of pain. Think of it as payback for this morning.” She kisses his cheek and drops back down to the floor. “Did you have a good birthday, Love?”

“Yeah, it was great actually.” He nods as he turns to face her, pulling her close. “Third best birthday ever.”

“Third? What were the first two?”

“The last one we had with Cyrus before he went missing and the year we had Mahlon.” Mammon smiles as he takes a seat in the couch, pulling his wife down with him.

“Well, I’m glad you enjoyed your special day. I actually have one more gift for you. Would you like it?”

“Do ya even gotta ask?” Mammon leans in for a kiss, but Arella stops him by holding up a small box to his lips. “Oh, you meant an actual gift…”

“Don’t worry, Dear.” she laughs softly at his slight disappointment, “We’ll still do what I promised this morning, but I wanted you to open this last- when it was just us.”

“What is it?” He studies the box before opening it. “A new ring? Thanks, Babe.”

“Look on the inside. It’s engraved with a message.”

“For my soulmate, I would conquer time, space, and even death itself…” he takes a moment to take in the words etched into the band. “Oh, you are so corny… but I don’t think I’d change it for the world.”

He leans in and presses a kiss to her lips, leaning his forehead against hers once he pulls away.

“Love you, ‘Rella…”

“I love you too, Mammon. Happy Birthday.”

・・・〆・・・

End

[weekend-nathan]

Part 3: It's decided

In the morning, I always have trouble waking up, but I know it's my fault, I played on the console too late again and didn't get enough sleep.

Mom comes to wake me up, dad is drinking his coffee. She has to shake me several times to wake me up and open my eyes. I hope she doesn't see the console I put under my bed before falling asleep.

I finally get up and go have breakfast.

"What day is it?" I ask once seated.

"It's Tuesday," dad replies.

Oh man, the week is far from over. Can't wait for the weekend to get some sleep. My schedule sucks and I have classes every morning at 8 am, no chance to sleep in on a weekday.

"Don't forget to ask your friends if they could host you for 2 nights," mom asks. We still don't know which days, but it will be around the end of the week.

"Oh yeah, I completely forgot about that funeral."

"Yes mom, I'll do it."

Once I'm done, I get dressed and decide to go by bike this morning. I have to take advantage, soon it will be dark in the morning and my parents will want me to take the bus.

Nathan is already at the bus stop and watches me arrive.

"You look tired," he says, "did you play Fortnite again last night?"

"I leveled up several times and didn't want to stop. I had to turn off the console around midnight."

"Oh yeah, that's only 6 hours of sleep, not much. Avoid falling asleep in class like the other day though. By the way, did your parents say anything when they saw the note from the teacher?"

"They haven't seen it yet..."

"Haha, you'll be in trouble one of these days."

"You look better than yesterday, though," I say.

Nathan doesn't respond, apparently not feeling like talking today either. I don't insist.

Our bus arrives and we arrive a few minutes later at school where I meet several acquaintances. I could have asked Nathan if he could host me, but I prefer to ask others first. Throughout the morning, I ask those I know:

"Sorry Sam, but it's not possible at my place, my stepsister is already in my room," Antoine replies.

"Yeah, no way," Kevin says curtly.

"I'm not here this weekend," Ralph says.

"My parents don't want me to invite people to sleep over," Tony replies.

Well, I think I've covered everyone, I think to myself as I arrive at the cafeteria. I think Nathan heard my requests but didn't offer for me to come to his place. While queuing to enter the cafeteria, I still ask him:

"My parents will have to be away for 3 days from the end of the week and I'm looking for a place to stay, do you think it would be possible at your place?"

"Um... I don't know..."

"Otherwise, I'll have to go with them to a funeral, and I'm not too keen on that."

"You know, my mom, she is..."

"Plus, it would be great," I say, "we could spend some time together."

"I know, yes, that would be nice. I'll ask her tonight and let you know tomorrow."

I don't know if Nathan just doesn't feel like it and uses his mom as an excuse, or if she's really a special case.

The afternoon passes, as usual, very slowly. In the evening, mom asks me and I tell her that I'm waiting for a response from Nathan or more precisely from his mother. Mom tells me they don't know yet and that they'll leave Friday morning and come back Sunday evening.

The next morning at school, Wednesday morning, I quickly find Nathan and ask him what his mother said.

"Oh, I forgot to ask her," Nathan replies.

Hmm... forgot or deliberately forgot...

"You'll ask her tonight, right? My mom needs to know if she needs to inform that I'll come with them. It would be to stay Friday night and Saturday night. My parents come back Sunday."

"I'll ask her but I don't think she'll agree, you know."

Again, I don't get a sincere impression from what Nathan is telling me.

The next morning, at the bus stop, I find myself asking Nathan the question again.

"So, what did your mother say?"

"She didn't say no but... she said it would be better if you checked with someone else."

"I've already asked others, and they really can't. You're the last one who can help me."

"You know, at my place... it's..."

At that moment, the bus arrives and we get on. There are already acquaintances inside and they come towards us, ending the conversation.

It's already Thursday, and my parents leave tomorrow morning. They'll want me to come with them, for sure. Nathan didn't say he didn't want me to come, and his mom didn't say no either.

Today, I'm having a bad day, I even got a detention for next week for pushing another 6th grader who was in my way. It's not my day.

Nathan doesn't bring up our conversation again but I don't forget it. Once home, around 5 pm, mom is already there. She's obviously back earlier than usual, probably to pack our things.

"So, are you staying at Nathan's or not?"

"I don't know. He didn't say no and didn't say yes either."

"So you're coming with us."

"But I don't want to come! And I feel like Nathan didn't even talk to his mother. Mom, please, can we go to their place to ask? It's really close by."

"But if Nathan didn't ask his mother, it's because he doesn't want you to go to his place."

"I don't think that's it either. He was about to talk to me about his mother when we were interrupted."

"Alright, at least you two aren't mad at each other, right?"

"We get along great and I'd be really happy to spend time with him for the weekend."

"Okay, let's go to his place then."

Cool, I'm happy, at least I'll know where I stand, at least if his mother is there. During the few minutes of walking with mom, I cross my fingers that there will be people at Nathan's place.

The car is there, a good sign. Mom knocks on the door and it opens, I recognize Nathan's mom.

"Hello," my mom says, "I'm Samuel's mom."

"Hello ma'am," she replies. "Samuel? I don't know," she says without even looking at me.

Suddenly, her gaze falls on me.

"Oh, but yes, Sam," she says. "Nathan talks a lot about your son, they're friends at school."

"Yes, my son prefers to be called Sam. My son also talks a lot about Nathan, I feel they get along well, yes."

Suddenly, Nathan comes over to his mom but stays behind her.

"I'm sorry to bother you," my mom continues, "but my husband and I have to be away for 3 days starting tomorrow morning to attend a funeral. My son asked yours if he could spend 2 nights at your place and..."

"But of course," Nathan's mom responds, cutting her off. "There's no problem at all. When are you leaving?"

"We're leaving tomorrow morning and coming back Sunday evening. Are you sure this wouldn't bother you?"

"Sure, and certain!"

I see Nathan's mom turn around and look at him for a few seconds. To me, this conversation and that look confirm what I thought: that Nathan didn't even ask his mother. I hope he won't be too mad at me. I look at him, but the room isn't very bright and I can't see his gaze.

"What time are you leaving tomorrow morning?"

"We have a long drive so we'll leave as soon as Samuel is off to school."

"Would it be alright if he stayed here tonight?" Nathan's mom asks.

"Oh, but I wouldn't want to inconvenience you, already two nights is fine."

"If I'm offering, it's because it doesn't bother me."

Mom looks at me and I nod to indicate that I agree. I still can't see Nathan well, it's as if he's hiding.

"Okay then, thank you. It will allow us to leave a bit earlier. I'll bring him over tonight after dinner then, with clothes for 3 days and his school stuff."

"I'm sure Nathan would be happy for Sam to join us for dinner tonight, right Nathan?" she asks, turning towards him.

I don't hear a response from him. It's really strange that his mom is so nice and that he didn't want to talk to her about my need to stay over. He must be hiding something from me, or maybe we're not really friends and he's pretending.

"Bring him over as soon as you can," Nathan's mom continues, "we're not going anywhere and we'll be waiting for you."

"Great, we'll do that, thank you very much. I'll leave you my phone number too."

"Yes, good idea, you never know. See you soon."

"See you in a bit."

Mom and I walk away and quickly return home to pack my things.

[sadgurlsposts]

I've been craving a drink lately and my anger has been simmering. It's a lot of subtle resentment, the small things that go wrong, and feeling shitty about myself. I'm trying not to isolate, and project, but I find myself being a little sharp or impatient. It's such an uncomfortable place to be.

It's just the physical part of alcoholism and I know this period will have an end. Nothing lasts forever, and anger is part of the fluctuations of life. What is different is that I'm trying to talk about it (to the appropriate ppl), not isolate, check myself continuously, and smudge.

Yesterday I knew my self worth was fragile and I had to lead a mtg. I was not grounded at all. So I sat down to meditate, smudge and pray.

I queued a meditation on anger (there's so many YouTubes for meditation and you can search a specific topic). When it was done, I sat in silence and continued my meditation. I needed time to self reflect. Why was I so angry? What I saw was myself as a drunken mess trapped in a cage, spewing out all the inadequacies I thought of myself. I approached her and wanted to help her. I told her that we didn't have to drink and all the things she was saying about us (her and I) weren't true. I felt so helpless but also felt so much compassion for her. I asked my creator to help her and there was this subtle confirmation that they would.

I came out of my meditation and I felt better. I didnt get an answer, but i felt less angry and insecure, and more grounded in myself by being gentle.

Meditation is one tool I'm learning to use in these moments. Some days can be so streneous bc I really am my own worst enemy. I don't like telling people in the moment when I'm struggling bc I'm so "self sufficient", but I'm seeing how it's necessary to reach out to ppl. Its also nescessary to practice my new life skills in these moments.

Grateful that I came out sober for the day with my self worth in tact.

[minisugakoobies]

Sparks | JHS

Pairing: Hoseok x Reader

Genre: romance, fluff, BestFriends!AU

Rating: T

Warnings: a lil' smooching, mutual pining

Word Count: 1.4K

Disclaimers: None other than obviously I don’t own BTS - they simply inspire me

Summary: It's the end of summer. If only Hoseok were by your side.

A/N: Mood inspired by "Sparks" by Coldplay. Unbeta'd. I didn't plan to write another fluffy one-shot, but these things happen. I also didn't plan to create my own header, but I decided what the hell. I have a real passion for graphic design, as you can clearly see (🤡🤡🤡).

Masterlist 💜 Find me on AO3  💜 

You strolled into the night, serenaded by the trilling of crickets as they sang their evening lullaby. The sun had set hours ago, and the air had cooled off enough that it was a pleasant walk. Crossing the street, you headed towards the center of town, where people were gathering to celebrate the anniversary of your hometown’s founding.

In the dark, the park at the heart of your little town was transformed completely. White paper lanterns, strewn from trees and hung from pavilions, bobbed gently in the night breeze, creating the illusion that they were floating in mid-air. The benches under the main pavilion had been pushed to the side to create a makeshift stage for the band, which was currently playing a quick-tempo swing tune. Dancers gathered on the grass in front of the band to show off their best moves, women’s skirts twirling and twisting as their partners pulled them close and dipped them low.

You hadn’t intended on coming to the party alone. You’d been hoping to ask Hoseok if he’d come with you. All summer, you’d been gathering your courage, waiting for the perfect opportunity to ask him to be your date. But each moment that passed just never felt like the right one.

It was silly, honestly – Hoseok was your oldest friend. You’d hung out a million times, all throughout elementary school and then high school, and now you reunited every summer when you both came home from college. It was always the two of you together. Why was it so hard to ask him out as a date instead of as a friend?

(You knew why.)

Yesterday, he’d mentioned that his family was going out of town for the weekend on one last trip to the lake house, and that was that. You’d lost your chance. In just a few days, you’d be heading back to school for your final year. You’d made it to the end of summer without telling Hoseok how you felt. Again.

All your other friends had their own dates for the party, and you didn’t particularly feel like being a third wheel. But you also didn’t want to sit at home on such a beautiful August evening. So, you put on your favorite white cotton dress, the one with the simple floral eyelet pattern, and pinned your hair up. You thought you’d pulled yourself together quite nicely enough to put in an appearance.

As you ambled across the park, you spotted a cluster of booths by the tennis courts, where vendors were hawking delicious treats - caramel apples and salty kettle corn and other sweets whose intoxicating fragrances swirled in the night air. You queued in a line for icy cold lemonade, deciding at the last minute on the raspberry flavor. Standing off to the side of the main pavilion, under a large oak tree, you sipped at the tart concoction as you surveyed the crowd.

Children ran to and fro, darting in between the dancers, chasing the fireflies that blinked around the park like tiny Christmas lights come unbound from their wires. One firefly flashed near your left elbow. Deftly, you swept your hand out and caught it. Bringing it close to your face, you peeked into your cupped hand. The gaps between your fingers pulsed with a faint light, and you laughed joyfully, remembering how much you’d always loved catching fireflies as a child.

After enjoying the glow for another minute, you released the bug, watching it flicker as it flew away. Lowering your hand, your eyes focused on the crowd in front of you, and that’s when you saw him. Hoseok. He stood on the other side of the grassy square, scanning the crowd.

His blonde hair was parted for once, instead of hanging messily in his eyes. He wore a light white linen button-down shirt and a simple pair of slacks, with his black Chucks peeking out from underneath the hem of his pant legs. Effortlessly handsome, as always. He locked eyes with you, and a broad smile lit up his face.

He started to move toward you. You quickly finished your lemonade and tossed the empty cup into a bin. Your fingers flew to your hair, checking that no strands had come loose. The swing song ended and the couples on the lawn parted, applauding politely.

Another few steps and suddenly he was there. You smiled and he smiled back, his dark eyes crinkling slightly at the corners.

"Hi,” he said, his voice husky.

“Hi,” you echoed, shifting your weight from one foot to another. “I didn’t know you were coming tonight.” You peered up at him, still smiling. “I thought your family was going to be at the lake house all weekend?”

“Yeah, they are,” he grinned. “But without me. I didn’t go.” “Oh,” you replied. “You didn’t go? But… why?” Hoseok would live at the lake house if his parents would allow it.

“So I could be here,” he answered matter-of-factly, gesturing around him.

You blinked in confusion, wondering why he hadn't told you he wasn't going with his family, as he glanced at the lanterns dancing overhead. “I can’t believe how nice the park looks tonight.” He turned back to you, and your breath caught in your throat.

He was gazing at you like you’d hung the moon.

“And you… you look lovely tonight.” He shuffled slightly as he spoke, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. In the dim light, you saw a blush begin to crawl across his cheeks.

You felt yourself warming at his words. “Th-thanks, Hobi. You look very nice, too. Almost respectable, even,” you teased, delighting as his blush deepened. You didn’t know if it was the sugar from your drink, but you suddenly felt giddy and lightheaded.

Just then, the band began to play again. The guitarist stepped forward, his fingers nimbly strumming a gentle waltz. On the grassy dance floor, couples drifted together as though pulled by invisible strings.

Hoseok stepped closer to you as the music crescendoed. Reaching out with his left hand, he bowed slightly and grabbed your right. “Dance with me,” he said, not quite a question, but not a command, either. It was simply a fact that he stated. A given.

Of course you would dance with him.

He drew you to him, his left hand raising your right as his other arm snaked around your waist. You draped your arm around his shoulder, and together, you slowly stepped out onto the lawn.

Hoseok smiled down at you as you swayed. His right thumb stroked the small of your back lightly as he turned you about the dance floor. Overwhelmed by the nearness of him, you dropped your head to his shoulder, hoping he couldn’t feel how your pulse quickened under his touch.

The two of you stayed this way, silently moving together to the beat of the band, for a minute before you found your voice again.

“So,” you said, tilting your head a little so your words wouldn’t be muffled by his shirt, “you skipped the lake to be here tonight? I didn’t know you cared about this town’s history so much.”

He chuckled softly. “I’m not here for the celebration. I’m here for you.”

You lifted your head in surprise. “For me?”

He nodded, biting his lip, suddenly seeming unsure. “I… I’ve been trying to tell you all summer, how I feel about you. About us.” He glanced away, eyes roaming the crowded dance floor as he considered his words. “But I kept letting my chances slip through my fingers. When I woke up this morning, I decided I wasn’t going to let another one pass by.” He turned back to you, a serious expression on his face. “I went to your house earlier, hoping to talk to you. When you weren’t there, I knew I’d find you here. I just… I just hope I’m not too late.”

“Hobi,” you murmured, voice gentle, as if you could to soothe his worries with his name alone.

“Tell me, please,” he whispered, his eyes searching your face, “did I miss my chance?”

Your heart seemed to swell in time with the music as you stared up at him and wordlessly shook your head, tongue too tied to speak. Hoseok beamed, his radiant smile shining brighter than the sun, and pulled you closer while the band struck up another slow love song.

You weaved around the other couples on the lawn as fireflies floated above you, dancing their own minuets through the night sky. And as Hoseok’s face dipped towards you, and your eyes closed as his lips met yours, you could still see the sparks.

© 2021-22-23 by sunshinerainbowsbts/minisugakoobies. Crossposted to AO3. Please do not copy or repost.

[watchmegetobsessed]

Update - Harry Styles

i’ve been deep inmy harry feels and this thought just wouldn’t leave me alone so i had to write it. im thinking about starting a taglist for harry, i think i’ll write more about him in the future. let me know if you’d be interested in the taglist!

word count: ~5.9k

masterlist

Sequel: The best present

Harry is not that into YouTube videos, has never really been, which is kind of ironic seeing the number of videos on the internet that is about him. The man himself who makes everyone talk online feels weird seeing someone talking on his screen, looking into his soul as if they were right there with him. But today he felt the sudden urge to be like his peers and get lost in random rambling videos from strangers, who felt the need to put themselves out there.

He has made a mean cup of tea for himself, made himself comfortable on his couch with his laptop balancing on his thighs and now is opening up his browser to unwind in an unusual way. As YouTube opens in front of his tired eyes, he stops when he tries to type in the keywords he is searching for. What is he looking for really? He thinks to himself trying to remember what he heard from his friends when they talked about funny or interesting videos. One thing is for sure, he is trying to avoid watching videos of himself in any content. He has had enough of him for the day, it’s time to focus on someone else, even if he doesn’t know the person.

He scrolls through several pages of many different keywords until he settles for a video where a girl talks about how her latest moving day went. Starting off Harry feels weird listening to her talk about such personal things as where her bed went in her room, how she packed all her stuff to fit them in the boxes, but soon enough this feeling settles and he starts to realize it’s kind of relaxing.

It doesn’t take too long for him to fall down a rabbit hole and by the time his tea empties out from his cup he is intensely watching a guy rant about his boss at Subway while doing a mukbang. The latter is a new discovery for Harry, he has never heard of it before, but he can see why some people find it satisfying.

The video ends, Harry checks the time and sees that it’s already after midnight and he hasn’t even realized how fast time flew by.

“Alright, just one more,” he mumbles to himself scrolling down the column of the recommended videos until his eyes stop at one particular upload at the very bottom.

July update for my Sammy, ready the title and an eye-catchingly beautiful girl is smiling from the thumbnail. He finds her breathtaking, the lack of makeup, the worn out hoodie she is wearing and the many various plants in the background makes it appear she is sitting in the middle of the forest.

Harry finds himself clicking on the video before he could even decide consciously to watch it. The screen loads and the girl appears in front of him, this time in a much larger size.

“Hi Sammy, welcome back to our channel,” she starts with an angelic little laugh as she pulls her shoulders up to her ears as if the camera is making her shy. She has no reason to be shy, Harry thinks to himself. His second thought is about Sammy, he is one lucky guy to know this angel and have her think about him. “It’s Y/N here, your one and only sister,” she adds.

Sister. The word brings Harry relief and he is surprised to feel this way, but he has no time to think anything of it because she starts talking again.

“Here is my July update, I’m sorry I’m a little late, but we got back from Oregon yesterday. Aunt Ella is sending you kisses and hugs, she missed you at the barbeque, or maybe it was just your helping hand at the grill,” she chuckles to herself, probably recalling the memory.

Harry has no idea who Aunt Ella is or where she lives in Oregon, but the way she talks about it makes him feel like he is part of the family a little.

Y/N carries on and starts talking about everything that has happened in July. Painting the shed at her parents’ home, buying a new armchair, one her cat absolutely adores and refuses to sleep anywhere else now, she went to the hairdresser to get a trim, but not too much. She tells about her plans for August, how she is thinking about going to the farmers’ market more often, and she has been playing with the idea of adopting another cat.

“I think Henry has been feeling a little lonely lately. He could use a buddy,” she tells the camera, her eyes moving to the side from where a weak but moody meow can be heard as an answer. “Yeah, I think he agrees,” she chuckles and Harry finds himself smiling at the screen.

At the end of the video she asks a few questions from Sammy, how he has been doing, if his wrist feels any better, even asks about a friend called Matthew. Harry wonders if she has ever gotten the answers to her questions and where Sammy saw this video. What is he doing that made her want to do an update on YouTube?

When the video ends Harry clicks on her profile faster than he would willingly admit to anyone and it’s like he opened the gate to paradise. Tens and maybe hundreds of videos are queuing on her page, monthly updates, birthday wishes, short story times about family gatherings, news and happenings in her life.

Harry gets lost in her tales. He watches video after video, noticing the smallest details about her, almost mentally taking notes about her updates, finding anything and everything she talks about so interesting as if he knew those people and places she mentions. He comes to realization that Sammy is her older brother who is serving somewhere in the military. Y/N is making the videos to update him about her life even if she knows most of them doesn’t get to him until weeks later, but it doesn’t seem to bother her. He also learns that Sammy sends them back lengthy emails once a month and always ends them with a joke they made up with his mates at the army. Y/N loves them even when they're not even funny, she never fails to mention that she smiled reading them.

Hours pass by and the rising Sun peeks inside the window pulling Harry back to his own reality, shocked that he just spent the whole night watching her videos and didn’t even realize how deep he has gotten in her life. Lucky for him he has nothing planned until the afternoon, so shutting his laptop he sets it aside and heads straight to bed, but lying between his silky sheets he catches himself staring out the window, wondering what Y/N might be doing right now. From what he collected she lives somewhere in Spokane and has family in Seattle and Portland, which puts her quite a few time zones behind him. He finds the thought of them going to bed at the same time despite the distance a little funny. He lies in bed for quite some time before he finally drifts off to sleep with a particular girl on his mind, who doesn’t even know he is thinking about her.

 “Do you think you can fall for someone you have never met?”

Harry’s question catches Mitch a little off-guard, but he is kind of used to his random bits of thoughts. Pouring some sugar into his coffee he follows the wondering singer to a free table in the corner.

“Isn’t it what all your fans feel?” he answers with a question, earning a surprised look from Harry. He hasn’t thought about this side, now the situation is kind of ironic, he supposes.

“Y’re right,” he nods stirring his coffee around in the small cup.

“Want to let me in on your thoughts?”

Harry feels a little shy to admit how he has watched all of her videos in the past few days, 207 to be exact and now he feels an oddly deep connection to this girl he has never even seen outside of a screen. Last night he dug up her Instagam profile, and even though she is not posting as frequently as she does on her channel, it was a refreshing change to see her in different settings. Chilling at a lake, having drinks with her friends, playing with her parents’ puppy, it amazed him that she has a whole life outside that small portion she lets him see in her videos.

Hesitantly, but he tells his friend about his latest hobby, if it’s not too weird to call it that, while his friend patiently listens and nods along his words while sipping on his morning coffee.

“D’you think I’m crazy?” Harry sighs leaning back in his seat, looking at his friend and colleague for validation that he hasn’t lost his mind entirely.

“Definitely not,” he chuckles shaking his head. “It’s like falling for that girl in school you know so much about but never really met.”

“Only that I’m stalkin’ this poor girl.”

“This is not stalking. We both know it’s far from that.” Harry nods with slight relief that his situation doesn’t seem as bad as he has been feeling lately. “Have you gotten in touch with her?”

“And what am I supposed to do? Comment on her video that I think her cat’s a cutie and I watched all her videos in three days ‘cuz I think she’s beautiful and I find her voice soothing?”

Mitch lets out a soft chuckle at the oddly specific answer he just gave and finds it amusing how interested his friend has grown about someone in such a short time.

“Maybe phrase it a little different.”

“So you do think I should reach out?”

“I don’t see why you shouldn’t. Use your personal YouTube, leave her a nice comment. Maybe she’ll reply.”

“And then what?”

“I don’t know, Harry,” he chuckles. “Just go with it and you’ll see. You are obviously interested in her, it’s better than just sit and watch her videos.”

Harry agrees. It wouldn’t hurt to try to reach out to her, possibly in a not too creepy way. Maybe just a sweet comment on one of her videos and if she replies… Well, he doesn’t know what comes after, but he’ll figure it out.

 Y/N updates regularly. Usually once a week and mostly it’s Sunday when a new video gets uploaded. This next Sunday Harry finds himself checking her page occasionally through the day to see if there’s a new update, but it seems like she is missing today. Right until he is driving home and gets a notification from the app.

Y/N has just uploaded a new video! It reads and Harry’s heart beats a tad bit faster. He thinks about pulling over to see it right away, but he tells himself that would be a bit too much, so he is forced to wait until he is in the comfort of his home.

Finally sitting on his couch he opens up his laptop and clicks on the video that has the title: September update.

Y/N sits in her usual spot, Henry in her arms as she is gently stroking his head with a warm smile on her face.

“Hi Sammy! Welcome back to our channel,” she greets him with her usual words and Harry loves how she calls the channel theirs. “This is my September update, even though not much has happened,” she breathes out, eyes wandering to the window besides her and Harry wonders what she sees from her window every day. Does she live in the city? Is it an apartment or a house with a backyard? Are there any trees or does her room have a terrible view, maybe just another house next to hers?

She starts her talk about the month, which she spent mostly with working, a little shopping and meeting her friends. She tells him about her planned trip to the local shelter to see possible new kittens to add to her household and Harry feels himself growing excited about it. He even thinks about what kind of cat he can see get along well with Henry even though he has never even met him.

“Anyway, mom and dad miss you, I miss you too. I loved your joke about ducks in your latest email,” she chuckles sweetly, bringing a smile to Harry’s face as well. “Mom is excited to see you at Christmas, our cousins will come to Portland as well. Maya can’t wait to play Jenga with you, she said she’s been practicing.”

The video soon ends as Y/N tells Sammy how much she loves him and eventually turns the camera off.

He straight away moves the cursor to the beginning of the video and as she starts talking again he scrolls down to the comment section that’s entirely empty. There are only two views on her video, usually a hundred is the max, but she doesn’t seem to care about the views, it’s more about the message.

He clicks to type a comment, but his hands stop above the keyboard as he tries to think of what to write. Mitch was right about taking a chance at reaching out, but what is he supposed to write exactly? Everything that comes to his mind sounds so creepy and scary, and he knows it’s weird that he formed such a deep connection to an unknown girl online. At last he starts typing.

“Hi Y/N! I’ve stumbled across your videos the other day. Love how you keep your brother updated, it’s such a nice gesture. I hope life treats you and Sammy well, you truly deserve it. Good luck with finding a buddy for Henry! Love, an admirer of yours, H.”

He reads it back several times, deleting then retyping it again until he decides to just go with it. A rush of adrenaline washes over his body when he sends the comment and it’s officially out there. Secretly he wishes she would reply right away, but moments pass by, then moments turn into minutes and nothing happens. His comment stands there alone and he has to realize that maybe she will never even reply or even see it.

It doesn’t matter, he tells himself as he shuts the laptop down and goes on to do his things, but he finds his thoughts wander over to her from time to time.

He has a busy day ahead of him the next day, quite a few meetings and a fitting. He checks back for a reply in the morning, but it slips his mind the moment he leaves from home and his phone rings right away. Throughout the day he basically barely has time to check his emails, his other notifications are just sitting patiently on the bar, waiting for him to acknowledge them. It’s way past five in the afternoon when he finally have some time for himself after his fitting. He is sitting in his car, people walk past him without even realizing who is sitting behind the tinted windows. Scrolling down he gets rid of everything that doesn’t seem urgent until his eyes stop at one particular notification.

“Y/N replied to your comment,” he reads it out loud, just to make it real, as if he is seeing it wrong and saying it with his own mouth brings it to life. He quickly taps on it and the familiar video opens up and while Y/N starts talking again the screen jumps down to the comments where, in fact, there is a reply from her.

“Dear H! Thank you for your heartfelt comment! I always forget it’s not just my family who sees these videos, but I’m happy you found them interesting enough to watch a few of them.”

“A few?” Harry huffs to himself feeling a little ridiculous he has watched all of them.

“I hope I didn’t bore you too much. Thank you for the well wishes for me, my brother and Henry too. He is sending his love to you. Y/N xx”

The comment was posted three hours ago. The thought that she has acknowledged his existence with not only reading but also replying to his comment brings him extreme joy. He reads her words over and over again, looking for any clue that would give away that she found his comment weird, but it seems like she was more surprised and happy that someone else saw her video besides her brother. Harry starts to type his reply without hesitation.

“Bore me? You saved me from watching another “what’s in my bag” video the other day. It was a pleasant change. I love your plants, by the way. Your room always gives off the most relaxed vibes. It reminded me I should have more of them in my home. H”

Harry smiles to himself posting his comment, the fear of appearing like a stalker long gone from him, the interaction is making his inside blossom from joy. For his biggest surprise a reply appears just a few minutes away and Harry reads Y/N’s new lines with deep hunger.

“Those videos suck the life out of me every time! I might be having a problem with buying too many plants, but I can’t help myself. They truly bring peace to me just by looking at them. I’m glad you are planning on buying some more, you won’t regret it!”

Harry is dying to reply, but he doesn’t want to look too eager and needy, so he opts for just liking her comment to let her know he read it and agrees. He locks his phone and puts it aside with the widest smile on his face as he starts his car and leaves his parking spot.

Two weeks pass by. In those two weeks Y/N uploads two more videos, one about her time with her grandparents, for a change it was filmed at their home and they even said hello in it. Harry feels wholesome seeing her with her granny and grandpa, it’s clear she cares a lot about them. The other video is just a short one where she has met some of Sammy’s old high school friends and she had a check in from them, sending a sweet message to him through the video. Harry doesn’t doubt how much these little things mean to Sammy, even if he doesn’t get to see them right away. Seeing Y/N alone boosts his mood every time she uploads a new video, he can only imagine how they make Sammy feel.

He leaves comments on her videos without a second thought and she replies to all of them, a lot of the time almost immediately. These are the highlights of his days without exception. Knowing that she has anything to do with him just fascinates him and he is starting to realize what his fans feel towards him on a different level. Whenever he sees the notification that she has replied to what he wrote or that she uploaded a new video he flies right to her page to check it, no matter what he is doing. Some of their comment threads turn out pretty lengthy, almost like a chat conversation and it has Harry wonder how they could maybe move it to somewhere else from the comment section.

He wants to ask for her number, but figures it wouldn’t be the best idea. Regardless of how much he enjoys their short little conversations, the situation is still weird and complicated and he doesn’t want to forget that.

But he is pleasantly surprised when she brings it up herself, to move the conversation to somewhere else.

“Would love to discuss that more with you. Up for exchanging IG names?” her question reads and he blinks a few before he fully comprehends that she wants to talk to him more in private. However there’s no way he can send her his real Instagram profile and making a fake one would be way too suspicious. Opening up the private messages he sends her a short, but informative message.

“I don’t use Instagram, but feel free to text me,” and then his phone number.

He sits at the dinner table anxiously, waiting for his phone to light up from a new text, and just a few minutes later it finally comes.

“Hi! It’s Y/N,” he reads from the notification and he saves the number right away.

“Hello! Save me as Harry. I haven’t even told you my name yet, how rude of me!” he replies chuckling to himself.

“Will let it slip this time. Harry. What a nice name!”

“Is it what you thought about from the H?”

“It was one of my theories. The other one was Hayes, but Harry fits you better.”

“You haven’t even seen me, how do you know what name fits me?”

“I don’t know. You had a vibe. There are many great Harries in the world, you seemed to fit between them!”

Harry wonders if she is thinking about him without even knowing that… it is him. He wants to ask her, but decides not to. Instead, he is enjoying that he can now reach her immediately and not through a comment section. He never thought this would actually happen.

 The texts never stop. They have so much to talk about! Their entire life to share, millions of thoughts and so much to discuss! Harry is not proud of the time he has spent with his eyes glued to his phone, but he wouldn’t miss a chance to talk to her for anything. Their friends are not blind to the change in him, but Mitch is the only one with a guess about why he has gotten so addicted to his phone.

“Is it the girl from the videos?” he asks Harry one time when they are at the studio, having lunch break. Different food boxes are scattered around them, on the table and the couch. Harry’s phone just light up from a text and he immediately dropped his lunch to type a response.

He glances up at his friend with a shy smile nodding his head. He hasn’t talked about his newly funded friendship with Y/N yet, it feels like as if he tells it to anyone it might evaporate into just a dream.

“So you reached out, huh?”

“I did,” he nods returning to his food once his message is sent. “She’s great.”

“Does she know who she is talking to?” Harry’s lack of answer tells enough about the truth to Mitch. “You can’t hide forever, especially if you are planning on meeting her.”

“I know,” he answers shortly. “But I just don’t know how I could even bring it up to her without sounding like a mad man.”

“She’ll need proof.”

“M’not ready to show m’self to her. What if it changes everything?”

“Then it wasn’t worth it,” he simply tells him.

Deep down Harry knows it’s the truth, but he is not ready to be robbed from the joy she is bringing him. He has never felt such a deep connection to anyone before and they haven’t even met. It’s just a version of her he is seeing on the screen, not her real self. But it feels real to him and he wants to keep this reality to himself for just a little longer.

 “I wish I could hear your voice, Harry. You are one big mystery to me, you know that?”

He forgets to breathe for a moment as he reads her message, lying in bed one evening, getting ready to sleep, but he wanted to check in with her before ending the day.

“You know so much about me already,” he types back.

“Not enough, I feel like. Sometimes I’m afraid Nev and Max are about to show up at my door and tell me that I’ve been catfished.”

He chuckles at her words, though he completely understands her fear.

“What do you want from me then?”

“Send me a voice message so I know you are real. That would put my suspicion to sleep. For a while…”

Harry hesitates for a long time until he decides just one voice message couldn’t hurt. Just a short one where his voice is not that recognizable so his cover won’t be over immediately.

“Good night, Y/N,” he tells into his phone and then send the recording to her.

He watches the status change from delivered to read and a couple of minutes go by before she finally responds.

“Thank you. Now I know that you are real. I hope I’ll hear your voice in real life one day.”

“I hope that too.”

 His time spent undercover is coming to an end and he knows it’ll happen soon. It’s been weeks since they started chatting, almost an entire month and she’s been hinting her will to see his face and though he has been putting it off, he knows it has to happen.

Fate is playing under his hands, because he is traveling to Seattle for a few days, exactly when Y/N is traveling there to visit her parents.

“I hope you know you can’t leave without meeting finally,” she wrote when she found out they are going to be in the same city.

“It never even crossed my mind!” he wrote back chuckling to himself, however it brought him extreme anxiety that he is now going to be forced to come clean about who he really is.

He spends his whole flight to Seattle making up possible outcomes for their first official meeting. Not all of them end well and it’s just fueling his fear that he might lose her for not telling her the entire truth.

But she is a smart girl, she’ll see your reasoning, he tells himself, however he can’t entirely convince himself that it will be the case.

In hopes of squeezing in more than just one meeting into the weekend they agreed to meet almost first thing after he lands. So after checking into his hotel he heads into the city to finally meet her in real life in a local café she suggested for the occasion. Arriving to the place he is running a little late and she already texted him she’ll be waiting for him inside. Harry is wearing a beanie with shades to try to keep up his cover and it seems to be working, no one has approached him yet.

Stepping inside the cozy looking place his eyes roam around and immediately finds her sitting in the corner, pouring sugar into her coffee, not even paying attention to the door at the moment, but truth is she’s been intensely staring at it in the past ten minutes she has been there.

Harry takes a deep breath and nods to himself before heading in her way, hands shaking nervously as he stops at her table.

She glances up at him with innocent eyes, a smile spreads across her face as she sees that her mysterious Harry has arrived and she doesn’t recognize her until he finally takes his sunglasses off.

Harry watches her face turn from happiness to surprise then utter shock as she realizes who is standing in front of him.

“You are… my Harry?” she asks, confusion laced through her voice and Harry can’t ignore how she called him her Harry. He likes the ring of it.

“M’orry if it’s a little too much f’you, I really didn’t know how to tell ya.”

Keeping his eyes on her he pulls out the other chair at the table and takes a seat across her while she is still staring at him with a shocked and puzzled expression sitting on her face. Then she looks around in suspicion as he wiggles his coat off his arms, before her eyes settle on him once again.

“It’s not an episode of Catfish, right?” she asks making him chuckle.

“It is not, don’t worry.”

“I’m sorry if I’m being weird, but this was literally the last thing I was expecting,” she admits leaning back in her seat. “I believed things like this only happen in movies.”

“Not just there,” he smiles, slowly relieving that she is still sitting there and hasn’t ran out. It’s going way better than he expected.

She needs a little time to put the whole picture together and befriend the thought that she indeed just developed a friendship with Harry Styles through her videos for her brother. The absurdity is still shocking to her, but the more time passes by with him still sitting there, the more she finds peace with it.

Once the shock and surprise is gone they slowly realize they are seeing each other in real life finally. Harry feels overwhelmed, she is even more breathtaking than in her videos and through texts. He is mesmerized by her whole being and could listen to her talk in person forever, he wouldn’t get bored of her.

Time stops existing as they sit at the little café, talking for hours even though that’s all they’ve been doing through texts, but they just can’t get enough of hearing each other, seeing each other’s reaction and be able to see each other and not stare at a screen while talking.

Unfortunately, time never stopped just for the two of them and soon she realizes she needs to head back home. Harry doesn’t want to let go of her just yet so he offers to give her a ride, thanking himself for getting a rental for himself upon arriving. Y/N accepts the offer so the two of them head back to her parents’ home, soaking up the last minutes of their precious time spent together.

“Thank you for today, I really loved meeting you finally,” she smiles at him once they are parked on the driveway.

“I hope I didn’t shock you too much,” he chuckles scratching his chin.

“Just a little,” she admits before they both get out of the car and walking around it she stops in front of him, after a moment of hesitation she opts for a hug that he returns more than happily.

It feels as if her frame was perfectly sculpted to fit in his embrace and Harry can’t imagine how he could go this long without even seeing her in person. He knows it’s gonna be utter misery to be away from her after they leave the city.

“Will I see you before you take off?” she asks letting go of him. Harry looks down at her, the urge to kiss her growing bigger with each passing moment, but he is not sure if it would be appropriate to give it a try on their first time meeting.

“I’m free tomorrow for a lunch,” he tells her and she nods smiling.

“Then I’m free too,” she chuckles.

There’s an awkward moment where they are not sure what else should be done or said and the more they wait the weirder it’s getting so Harry clears his throat as he takes a step back, sad that he has to leave without feeling her lips on his, but he is not trying to be too greedy.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” he smiles walking back to his car. Y/N waves after him and sitting back to behind the wheel he takes a moment to himself to collect himself after everything that has happened today. His hands curl around the wheel and he is about to start the car when someone knocks on the window. Y/N is smiling at him through the glass and he rolls it down curiously.

“I just…” she starts hesitantly, her eyes wander down to his lips and Harry knows what’s about to happen, but it still catches him by surprise.

Y/N leans in through the window and presses her lips to Harry’s, capturing them in a sweet, long awaited first kiss they both have been dreaming of for quite a while. Harry smiles into the kiss, bringing his right hand up to cup her cheeks as they stretch the moment for as long as possible. Whenever one pulls back the other brings them back for just one more kiss that turns into two more, then three… It takes a long time for them to finally let go of each other.

“See you later, H,” she smiles backing out of the car and running up to the front door, smiling wildly as she waves in his way one last time before disappearing in the house.

 Lying in bed that evening Harry is scrolling through his Instagram feed when he finally realizes he can now follow her without a worry. He is quick to find her profile again and hit that follow button. He is happy to see she was already following him.

He is just about to put his phone aside and go to bed after such a busy but exciting day when a notification pops up on the screen.

Y/N has just uploaded a new video!

He taps on it quickly and her smiling face greets him from his phone’s screen.

“Hi Sammy! It’s me again. Welcome back to our channel,” she starts with a shy smile. The setting is new this time, he supposes it’s her parents’ home this time. “This is going to be a short video, but I wanted to tell you about something. Or someone.”

Harry’s heart skips a beat when he thinks about where it’s heading. He listens to her voice holding his breath.

“I met someone today. We’ve been talking for a while, but I could finally hug him today. His name is Harry, and he is a wonderful man. I think you two would get along well,” she says with a soft chuckle. “I love spending time with him and I hope he feels the same way. Actually…” Her eyes move up straight to the camera, something she doesn’t do often. She usually stares out the window or plays with Henry while talking. “I think he is watching it right now. Hi Harry!”

“Hello, Beautiful,” he greets her back with a smile as if she could hear him.

“I wanted to tell you how amazing you are making me feel. I hope I didn’t disappoint. I was so nervous to meet you today, I hope I lived up to what you imagined me to be.”

“You were so much better than that,” he answers again.

“Anyway… I hope you feel the same way. You are the first guy I’m talking about in an update, so appreciate it!” she tells him and he chuckles lightly. “I’ll see you soon, H. But until then… Know that I’m thinking about you.”

“M’thinking about you too, Angel.”

“Sammy, I miss you as always. I hope everything is well, can’t wait for your next email. I love you,” she smiles before the video ends.

Harry heads straight to the comments. This time he doesn’t leave a lengthy one, just a short line, but it has everything he wanted to tell her.

“I feel the same way.” The comment reads. Just a few seconds later comes the notification and he smiles sweetly at his phone.

Y/N liked the comment.

[liquorisce]

High School Years, Ch 3: aftermath.

pairing: eren x mikasa (SnK)

rating: M. (nsfw)

Summary: for eren and mikasa, love was easy; they'd loved each other forever. but physical attraction? that's a whole other story.

read on ao3 | chap 2 | chap 1

The morning after the… “confrontation”, when they walk to school, they hold hands. It's a new dimension of their ‘relationship’, and the thought of calling it that, of calling Eren her ‘boyfriend,’ is something that makes her feel so many things.

“So um,” she begins, squeezing his hand a little bit, soft pink dusting her cheeks, as he turns to look at her questioningly. “... Are we going to tell the gang?”

For the briefest moment he looks confused, but when he sees her shy expression, not spelling it out because she doesn’t know how to say it yet, his eyes widen in understanding. “Ah that you and I...,” he colours, just a little bit, because it wasn’t until the words were literally at the tip of his tongue, that he realizes he doesn’t know how to say it either.

She’d said it last night, called him her boyfriend, and it did things to him, making his heart constrict with a nervous kind of excitement. Because he was Mikasa’s boyfriend, and that was something of an honour.

But another part of him, the part that recognizes what it means for a high school kid, just finds it completely lacking, he doesn’t want to announce that he’s ‘dating’ Mikasa Ackerman, the word simply does not do it justice. And he sure as hell doesn’t want to hear her name in the gossip rings, from the mouths of shallow, boring girls who have little better to do than keep track of their high school reality show or from the dirty whispers of teenage boys who can’t control their hormones (if Eren is one of them, he doesn’t acknowledge it).

“... Maybe we could just keep it quiet? Just for a little while…” He watches her expressions searchingly, and she does that thing that she does, hides into her bangs when she doesn’t want him to see what she’s thinking and he panics, just a little.

“Hey, listen,” he stops her by the wrist, before they round the corner onto the street of their school.  “... It’s not that I want to hide it,” he whispers, resting his forehead against hers, because god forbid she thinks he’s embarrassed or ashamed or anything short of absolutely ecstatic, “You know that, right?”

She closes her eyes and she lets the waves of insecurity pass her by. Surely, there was nothing more to worry about. He’d made no secret of the depth of his feelings last night. “Mm-hmm.” She feels his minty breath cool on her lower lip and she reaches up to press her mouth against his. It’s tentative, the way she does it, reserved and shy but completely incomparable. It’s like everything she does, he thinks breathlessly, as he deepens the kiss. There’s no one like her.

She threads her hands into his already messed up hair, breathing harshly as she breaks away from his kiss. “I don’t mind,” she agrees, “... I think I’d like it to be just between us for a while…”

And because he’s so grateful that he’s in love with his best damn friend, who knows him and understands him like nobody else, he kisses her again… just because he can.

…

They know. He doesn’t know how they know, but they fucking know, and he mutters unhappily under his breath, “... fucking vultures, the whole lot of them.”

Armin smirks, not unsympathetically. They’d mutually decided to tell him (rather, he spotted them holding hands, and he’d almost cried in happiness), even though Eren had been somewhat sour about it, sulking when Mikasa had pointed out that they obviously needed to tell Armin. Eren was a brat, and a jealous one, especially where Mikasa was concerned, so despite having ample proof by now that the kiss between Armin and her had meant nothing, it remained a sore topic for him.

“Isn’t it easier this way? At least now you won’t have to stare down all the boys queuing up to ask for her number in the cafeteria.”

“... That’s not the point,” Eren sulks, even though he knows Armin has a point (he always does), the phenomenon he’d described was a canonical and frequent event that he actively loathes, because Mikasa was quite free with her personal details that way.

( It’s high school, Eren , she’d told him exasperatedly one day when he’d actually brought it up to her, if I don’t give them my number they’ll get it from someone else anyway. Besides, the block functionality is quite useful .)

Somehow Eren is fairly certain that knowing she was in a relationship wouldn’t be enough to deter potential suitors (/ fanboys) and as they walk towards their class, he spots the best example of this crass behaviour in none other than his horse faced friend chatting up his girlfriend, who seemed to be fairly liberal with her smiles.

Armin watches the scene from right next to him and snorts, barely able to contain his laughter. “... You’re so transparent, Eren.”

“Clearly the news hasn’t reached everyone,” he clears his throat, tearing his gaze away from the beauty and the beast, trying his best to remain civil and not scare his girlfriend away in less than 24 hours of them being, you know, together .

“This is what you wanted,” Armin reminds him, clapping his shoulder sportingly, barely able to contain his grin.

…

She tugs nervously at her hair, feeling ridiculously exposed despite the fluffy maroon scarf around her neck. She hadn’t been prepared for the events of yesterday, be it the emotional confession, or the heated kisses, or the possessive nips at her neck.

She certainly wasn’t prepared for the self consciousness that came with the marks he left on her, and had absolutely no knowledge of the make up skills required to cover it. (It hadn’t helped that it had taken Armin less than two minutes to spot the hickeys.)

But what she was least prepared for, is how almost everyone seemed to know, without her even having to open her mouth, and how they all seemed to have an opinion.

… Aw, but I was really counting on him getting back together with Krista… they were so cute…

… I wonder how long he’ll stay with this one…

… wait, Mikasa Ackerman? Aren’t they like practically siblings or something? Ewwww~

She wasn’t sure if she wanted to gag, or if she wanted to hide… or both.

She doesn’t hide. Because Mikasa Ackerman is a class act and despite feeling completely torn up listening to bitchy people talk about her like she does not possess hearing, she goes through the day looking outwardly untouchable.

But after trudging through the entire day of listening to absolute bullshit rumours and whispering, she’s pretty sure she feels a migraine incoming. Groaning to herself, as she takes out her notebook from her locker, she finds herself face to face with a chirpy voice that she once hated.

“... Hey,” Krista says, with a small smile. “... rough day, huh.”

Mikasa nods, it’s not that she dislikes the cute blonde in front of her (not too much, anyway), it’s just that today was not the day she wants to be visually reminded of her existence. Because watching her, in her white miniskirt and pink sweater, perfect blonde hair and her perfect smile, is reminiscent of all the days she hid in her room with only her insecurity for company.

“So um,” Krista begins, because Mikasa can be comfortable in her silence, just looking at Krista questioningly. “... Everyone’s talking about it, basically,” she blurts out, unable to help herself.

“And if you want to know whom to smack, it’s Hitch, because she says she saw you guys holding hands outside school and making out, and she snapchatted it to the whole world, because that’s what she does and,” - Mikasa’s eyes narrow and Krista takes a deep breath.

“Look, I just wanted to reach out, and you know,” she clears her throat, like it was obvious what she was doing here. Mikasa just looks blank, feels blank. “... Like, I don’t want it to be awkward or anything, between us,” Mikasa is genuinely confused at this point, because there didn’t have to be an us, between her and Krista, their social circles were comfortably distant enough to have as minimal interaction as possible. “... You seem like a great person, and honestly, I’m not even surprised you guys ended up together. It was just a matter of time, I guess.”

She smiles earnestly as she says this, and Mikasa finds herself liking the short blonde despite herself, and offers a smile back. “... Thanks, that’s sweet of you.”

“And um,” Krista offers, completely casually, “... I could lend you some concealer if you wanna… you know, cover that up.”

…

“Snapchat!” Sasha wails theatrically, “... I can’t believe this is what our friendship has boiled down to.”

Mikasa has the grace to look guilty. “Explain to me, bestie ,” Sasha can be quite scary when she has her manic face on, “why, I had to receive a snap from the school’s number one hoe, informing me of the fact that my best friend had finally hooked up with her absolute thirst trap of a roommate.”

She doesn’t have much to say to defend herself, she simply slinks lower into her seat. “... I’ll buy you lunch for a week,” Mikasa whispers, defeated.

“Oh you better,” Sasha declares, still fuming. “... Snapchat, are you fucking kidding me…” She turns around once more, sizing Mikasa up deliberately. “... What about that time I walked in on you guys, in the kitchen, and he didn’t have a shirt on?” Sasha narrows her eyes accusingly. “... Were you two already…? Did you lie to me back then?”

“No! God, no,” Mikasa vaguely wonders why she sounds so defensive and apologetic about her own love life, but she remembers that Sasha is upset and for what it’s worth, she loves her like a sister, so she says, “... I swear, there was nothing between us then. It only happened, like… last night.”

Mikasa blushes as she says it, and the twinkle returns to Sasha’s brown eyes. “You must tell me everything,” she commands, and despite her sighing and blushing and giggling, Mikasa does exactly that.

...

He waits for her as they walk back from school. This is new too. Well not entirely, they’d walk back together, the three of them, Him, Mikasa and Armin, everyday in middle school, but high school had brought them different routines, and a distance that he was happy to get rid of.

“So…” he says as he slips his fingers between hers. “So much for our plan to keep it quiet.”

She burrows her head into his arm, “... everyone knew. Literally everyone.” After a minute, she adds reproachfully, “The hickeys you left on my neck didn’t help, either.”

He grins despite the glare she gives him. Embarrassing or not, he didn’t regret it one bit, not the moments that led up to those anyway... the way she’d found herself on his lap, fitting so perfectly in his arms, and against his mouth. The way she’d gasped when he’d let himself explore the sensitive skin on her neck.

He understands her situation, but god, there was no way he’d apologize for the sheer sensation he’d felt in that moment.

Tugging at her scarf to see his own handiwork, he can’t help his disappointment when he sees only a faint outline of them on her pretty skin. “... I see you’ve covered them up.”

“Ah,” Mikasa grins, “... that was your ex, actually.”

She feels him still, letting go of her hand for a brief moment. “... What?” Eren blinks nervously. They don’t really talk about his ex, not much more than they did yesterday anyway, and he wishes they’d never have to, not now that he knows perfectly well how much it had hurt Mikasa.

“You… um, spoke to her today?”

Mikasa nods, “... She came by to say hello, yeah.” And because Eren looks extremely uncomfortable at the thought, she giggles and tells him, “She says she didn’t want things to be awkward between us.”

Eren groans, “... this sounds like the teaser to every high school drama ever.” But despite his sarcasm, he was worried because despite Mikasa’s unassuming popularity in school, she lived her life outside of the cliques, the gossip rings, the drama… and Krista, sweet that she was, was somehow always in the thick of it.

“Don’t worry,” Mikasa says sweetly, “... if you want me to tell you that we had a catfight over you, prepare for disappointment.”

He grins in relief and asks, “... Is it so wrong to indulge in the fantasy of you fighting with another girl over me?” And because he can’t help himself, he adds, “You’d win for sure, Mikasa.”

…

As long as she can remember, Mikasa had been in love with Eren. It wasn’t complicated, or confusing for her, she’d loved him and she’d always known it.

When she was younger she had less trouble expressing it, they played together all the time, and she shared her toys with him, her sweets, and promised his mom she would take care of him when he got into trouble.

During her darkest days (after losing her parents), he would look after her, keep an eye out for her, tuck her in sometimes and sleep by her side when she had nightmares. Back then it was easier to ask for his attention - Eren could you stay with me, she remembers her 12 year old self asking, sniffling in the night, with no inhibitions, just a young girl asking for comfort from the boy she shared everything with.

(He’d given her everything she asked for graciously, fussing over her in his own way, watching over her even when she didn’t notice.)

It’s the ‘how’ that increased in complexity, the way she wanted more and more as the years went by, until the point where her love for him was a complete stranger. It was frustrating when she first realized it, when she realized she looked at him more often than usual… when she realized she wanted him to look at her too.

Growing up they’d watch movies together, and she’d often wonder about the way the hero kissed the heroine at the end of the movie, and wondered if someday Eren would kiss her like that. Most of all she wondered if Eren thought about it too.

When he started dating, that became amply clear to her - he thought of kissing, and to her unfortunate attention, it became clear that he thought of much more too. Those months were incredibly difficult for Mikasa because not only did she have to go through life like nothing had changed - ostensibly nothing had, not between them - but she had to police every indiscrete thought when he walked around after his shower without a shirt on, she had to control her gaze every time it fell on his beautiful mouth, wondering exactly what it would feel like against hers.

And for the first time in the longest time, Mikasa could no longer love Eren the way she always had, openly and without shame, she could no longer ask of him his care and attention.

But it feels like overnight so much has changed, she can barely comprehend it. Eren is so generous with his attention (his love), she wonders if the last couple of years of distance was the doing of her own imagination.

He is so free with his touches, sometimes gentle on her waist, sometimes tender on her face, sometimes rough in her hair (this excites her most of all). She no longer has to wonder if he’d ever kiss her like in the movies, he kisses whenever he damn pleases, and it always, always takes her by surprise. And it is so much better than she has ever imagined.

…

He saunters in as she prepares the tofu carefully, and because Mikasa is a perfectionist in everything she does, she’s concentrating completely on flipping each piece at the perfect moment when they turn golden brown.

But because Eren finds literally everything she does impossibly cute, he wraps an arm around her waist and kisses her gleefully on the cheek. It has the desired effect, she gasps, dropping her fork, and he catches her in an open mouthed kiss.

He manages to distract her for a good couple of minutes until she smells the tofu becoming decidedly darker than golden brown. “Erennn,” she whines, “... my tofu is ruined!”

“I’m sure it’ll taste wonderful,” he says because she’s an excellent cook, but also because he’s slightly affronted that by the way she pulls away in complaint.

“Please. Go sit,” she swats him away, making him pout adorably. He does as he is told and waits till she plates the food minutes later, and he’s pleased to say that he was absolutely right, it did taste wonderful.

But he’s more eager to eat up as soon as possible and finish what he tried to start a few moments ago.

“What are you going to do after dinner?” The answer he wants to hear is I’d like to make out with my boyfriend , but just as he expected, Mikasa’s mind is on a slightly different wavelength.

“... Hmm,” she eyes him suspiciously, “... I guess I’ll finish cleaning up and read the latest chapter in English Lit before bed, and just drift off to sleep. Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” he states innocently. “... I’ll help you clean up.”

He changes the topic before they have a chance to linger, and does good on his promise to clean up as fast as he can. It’s ridiculous the way he’s acting, and he doesn’t understand it himself, but he can’t seem to help himself. He can’t seem to stop looking at her, can’t seem to stop craving her, whether it’s the closeness of her body or the taste of her lips, and he’s pretty certain the way he’s acting right now is downright embarrassing, but somehow since its with Mikasa, he feels emboldened.

Or at least that’s how he’d felt until recently. Of late there’s been just the slightest amount of doubt that’s crept in. He finds himself wondering if it’s just him who feels this way, this inexplicable urge, and he wishes that she’d be the one reaching for him more often.

“Thanks, Eren,” she murmurs, breaking him out of his intense internal monologue, when she reaches over and brushes a chaste kiss on his cheek. It warms him instantly, immediately making him want more.

He dries up and follows her out of the kitchen, and as she turns into her room, he grabs her wrist and says, “... Mikasa, wait,” and when she flips her head to look at him, he nestles her against the wall and whispers, “... I just wanted to say goodnight,” before kissing her full on the mouth.

For all that he internally complains about her not initiating their kisses enough, she responds beautifully to him, opening her mouth to him, and slipping her tongue inside, gasping when his fingers slip under her shirt, brushing softly above her ribcage. She slides one hand around his neck and the other clutches his shirt, pulling him so close to her, he revels in the feeling of her body pressed against hers.

He doesn’t even know how, or why, because he isn’t thinking when he’s kissing Mikasa, just going with it, running on the sheer feeling of it all, because he just gives into her - but she’s got both arms around his neck and he’s pressing her so firmly against the wall, tongue shameless in its exploration of her mouth, he slips one of his legs between hers.

She likes it, likes the pressure between her legs and she finds herself moving against him, grinding almost, embarrassingly, and she doesn’t even register consciously, until she feels him hard and pressed up against her thigh. She makes an embarrassing noise, something between a gasp and a moan, and suddenly his eyes snap open, all too conscious of their position.

She feels him twitch against her, and she can barely breathe with the excitement of it all, the newness… the feeling. He looks at her like a different person, green eyes heady and searching, holding her in a heated gaze. But in the most crushingly confusing move, he steps back and whispers “good night,” before turning towards his own room.

Quite frankly, she doesn’t know what to do with herself. Any more of that and she would’ve melted into jelly all over the leg that was between her thighs. And instead of pursuing that intense, boneless feeling, she finds herself catching her breath alone in the hallway with a confoundingly novel ache between her legs.

…

He watches her at the tennis court the next day; he drags Armin with him.

He’s never cared much for the game itself, only knows the basic rules because Mikasa’s been playing for years. She has a practice match today, against Jean, and he’d claimed he’d only wanted to see ‘his girl’ crush that horse face to the ground.

But the more he sits next to Eren, the more Armin feels decidedly uncomfortable. “Oi, Eren,” he says, when he’s fairly certain he’s had enough. Eren looks at him annoyed for being distracted from the game. “... What?”

Armin pinches the bridge of his nose before speaking, because how does he say this politely? “... You’re staring.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t huh me! You’re literally ogling her,” he hisses under his breath, “... it’s embarrassing, so please stop.”

He feels his face burn as he splutters, “I, I’m just watching the-,” he’s quite literally red by this point, “... Armin, what the fuck?” He just wants to hide, and so he hides his face in his hands.

He was right, he was staring, and he knew this because his mind had memorized the way she looked in that outfit, white tank top low cut and body hugging and giving him an excellent view as she moved. And he didn’t even want to comment on the way those shorts hugged her curves and how it flowed perfectly into her long, glorious legs.

If he could kick himself he would.

“What’s going on with you?” Armin asks, after he gives Eren a moment to recover from absolute mortification. Hesitating, he says, “... This isn’t the first time I’ve caught you staring at her like this recently.”

He looks at Armin helplessly, because he doesn’t know how to put it into words. “You can talk to me,” Armin coaxes him, “... you do embarrassing shit in front of me all the time anyway,” he supplies helpfully.

There’s conflict in his green eyes as he considers just how to say it, if he wants to at all. He’s still not a hundred per cent over the fact that Armin was Mikasa’s first kiss and if anyone could hold a (pointless) grudge it was Eren.

“However if you still choose to not talk to me about Mikasa because you are hung up over a stupid drunk kiss, then that’s completely fine with me too,” Armin says, reading Eren’s mind cheerfully.

“... You didn’t have to bring it up,” he says sullenly. Armin rolls his eyes. “... You’re thinking about it anyway, so I might as well talk about it.” He’s known him far too long to not understand the very simplistic nature of Eren’s thought processes.

“... I can’t stop looking at her,” he confesses, deciding to gloss over the discomfort of their kiss and focus on the main problem instead. “I hadn’t noticed,” Armin quips dryly, and Eren glares at him - so much for ‘ You can talk to me, Eren.’

“I’m losing my mind here, Armin,” trust Eren to always be dramatic, without fail, “... You can make fun of me all you want, but everytime I look at her, I,” he inhales sharply. “... God, I feel disgusting. It’s Mikasa for fuck’s sake.”

And It’s Mikasa whom his friend had always been slightly unhinged for, but Armin thinks better of saying this.

“... I feel like I just don't know how to look at her respectfully anymore,” and he says

this almost choked, so distressed, that Armin tries very very hard to suppress a laugh.

…

She wishes she hadn’t done it.

In a rare moment of weakness that she now regrets, she had given into Sasha’s ever curious inquisitions into her love life. And by love life here, Sasha was explicitly digging for the good stuff.

“Eh?!?”

Mikasa waits patiently for Sasha to return from her high pitched look of disbelief.

“... What do you mean you haven’t slept together yet?” Sasha asks, a bit calmer this time, but still urgently distressed about the matter.

“We just… haven’t,” Mikasa explains rather unsatisfyingly.

“So… do you like, want to wait or something? I thought you’ve been in love with him since forever…”

No matter how much she’s accepted that fact herself, it still makes her blush when she hears it out loud. “... It’s not like, I want to, um, wait or anything,” she confesses. Because she’s found herself thinking of the same thing every night since the time Eren had her against the wall, pinned against him and his hardness. It’s almost like it created a monster out of her, a monstrous desire that has her eyeing him out the corner of her eye whenever she gets the chance. It makes her seek him out more often, seek him out after his workout, after his shower, innocently, by accident of course, and she’s ashamed of herself.

“... You just need to jump him,” Sasha says, with the utmost seriousness. Like she knew anything at all on this subject. “And boy have I got the perfect thing to help you.”

…

Mikasa Ackerman is a huge fan of Marie Kondo. It was one of the curiously annoying yet cute things about her that Eren has an impressively large list of.

She’s watched the Netflix show more times than he can count, follows her on Youtube, and once he’d seen her pray to her room or some shit before she started cleaning. It mystifies him, and he doesn’t care enough to understand more so he just goes along with it.

Today she’s decided she has way too many clothes and she will only keep what “sparks joy” in her, so she’s strewn out her entire closet and demanded in the sweetest way that he helps her with her mission.

(She throws in the offer of trying out all her outfits before she throws them out, and Eren is horny for a fashion show or the moments in between so he readily agrees)

“... I’m not sure about this one,” she says, eyeing herself in the green dress critically.

Eren’s eyes bulged in disbelief. “... You’re kidding, you look like a fucking goddess, Mikasa.”

She blushes happily with the compliment, but Eren isn’t exaggerating. It’s a slinky strapless number which was incredibly short. And it had a slit. According to Eren, the slit could not be emphasized enough.

“... Your legs look incredible,” he says, providing her the only decent compliment he can muster. The rest he does his best to convey with eyes.

“... It just doesn’t feel like something I wear usually, you know… so I don’t know if it sparks joy...”

He resists the urge to roll his eyes, “Well, you should wear it. C’mere let me help you spark some joy,” he says, playfully pulling her down into the pile of clothes that made a poofy bed on the floor.

She giggles, settling over him happily, and for a moment his sappy little heart feels like it’s going to explode. He’s pretty sure her giggle is his most favourite sound in the whole world.

“... You’re insane,” he breathes, relishing in the way she feels on top of him, his hands sliding up her legs and resting just beneath the hem of her dress (just beneath her ass). She kisses him sweetly, tongue flicking gently on his lip and making him groan softly. His hands brush past her ass, caressing ever so softly as they come to rest on the small of her back.

She deepens the kiss, and he grabs her hips roughly, angling her mouth onto his in a way that suits him, gives him access and he sighs into her mouth. The view of her on top of him, is unparalleled, her thighs around his hips and her chest heaving temptingly with her harsh breathing. He closes his eyes and captures her mouth again before he makes a fool of himself in front of her again.

But she has her hands in his hair, and she’s pressing down, grinding down against his crotch, and he can feel himself pulse at every brush of contact, and he groans knowing fully well that there’s no way she can’t feel his length brush against her legs.

He doesn’t want to stop, or run away, because he’s ridiculously turned on at this point, and unwilling to let go of her, so he simply turns her around and pins her beneath him, taking advantage of the way she squeals, to slip his tongue into her mouth and taste her.

It’s so tempting having her beneath him like this, so he gives in and slips his leg between hers again, eager to have her rub against him like she did that day, with the faintest hint of a moan, like he hasn’t been able to forget.

His fingers entwine with hers and he stretches them above her head, wanting so much to just kiss her senseless, but they collide with a cardboard box and he spares a glance at it, in annoyance.

Until he squints and actually sees what it is. The label alone makes him blush, not to mention the contents that he could clearly see under the transparent plastic covering.

Mikasa looks up, dazed and a little bit disoriented from what was possibly the most intense make out session she had ever experienced. “... Eren?”

“Babe,” he rasps, choked, “... are you trying to tell me something?”

She follows his line of sight, and wants to hide, wants to die, wants to erase this moment from her very existence.

Her Sensual Pleasure kit, he reads, his mind effectively going numb as he comprehends the contents: a vibrator, a blindfold, some pink fuzzy handcuffs and what looks like a generous bottle of lube.

Somehow even though she forgot about this ridiculous thing, having stuffed it into her closet to forget all about the ridiculousness on her friend’s face when she gave it to her, it seems to have stumbled out into the light of day at the worst possible moment.

If she could murder Sasha and get away with it, she would.

“... I-It’s not what you think, Eren,” she mumbles, cheeks red and panicking, even though she has absolutely no idea what she wants him to think.

“I assure you,” he manages, “... I’m not really thinking right now, Mikasa.” Sure enough his mind had somewhat short circuited, barely able to handle the pressure of having his extremely sexy girlfriend beneath him and somehow simultaneously having discovered what appeared to be her sextoys .

Gingerly, he reaches for it, and he almost gasps, because the box had been opened and fiddled with. “Did you actually…”

He looks at her face, and it’s the colour of a tomato by this point, teeth biting her lower lip nervously, and he doesn’t know whether to laugh or if he is even more turned on.

“The vibrator, Mikasa, did you…?” His voice is so hoarse just imagining, it superseded any fantasies he’s had up until this point. “... Eren,” she whines, embarrassed, hiding her face in her hands.

“Please for the love of god, Mikasa, please just tell me, baby,” he’s pleading because he really needs to know at this point. He needs to know if he’s been going to bed in the room besides her without the potent knowledge that she’s been using this to relieve herself at night.

When she nods, just ever so imperceptibly, he’s pretty sure he’s going to combust. “... What did you think of when you were using it?” His voice sounds like a stranger’s.

She looks conflicted, looks unbelievably embarrassed, but he’s pretty sure he isn’t imagining it when he hears the faintest whisper from her saying, “... you.”

But that isn’t going to cut it, because he’s spent countless nights with a raging boner and raging guilt, as he jerked off to the most tantalizing moments he’s had with her… and he barely ever manages to look her in the eye the next morning. So he has to, no, he needs to know that he hasn’t been the only one in this absolutely ridiculous situation.

He kisses her hard, teeth grazing hers, mouth eager and greedy, and she responds to him with equal fervour. His head drops to her shoulder as he kisses her bare collarbone. “... If you knew how many times I’ve touched myself thinking of you, you wouldn’t be able to look at me the same again.”

His words are a deep, throaty confession that he whispers on her skin, and it brings a tingle down to her spine and all the way to her toes. She thrusts her chest upwards against him subconsciously.

“... I think of you too, you know… all the time,” she confesses, forgetting the very meaning of inhibition. It’s hard to remember it when he looks at her that way, heat burning from his verdant eyes, his grip firm against her hips. She doesn’t want to; doesn’t need it, if it means she can be this close to him.

“... Do you think you can show me?” he whispers, barely thinking through his requests through his lust-filled haze.

He sees her hesitating, contemplating, and he finds himself praying as his fingers inch up the dress and dig into the curves of her ass, lips delicate against the tops of her breasts.

“Only if you show me how you touch yourself,” she murmurs, and he can feel himself twitch in excitement.

She backs up against her bedpost and slips out of her panties, and Eren is absolutely, positively certain, he has never seen anything more appealing than when she slowly, deliberately, hikes up that beautiful green dress and spreads her legs.

He’s so lost in the sight before him, he forgets what he’s promised until she says, steel eyes determined, challenging him almost, “... your turn, Eren.”

He shucks his pants off gracelessly, he couldn’t make it look as artful as she does even if he tried, but he’s happy to be free of the restrictive material as he springs heavy and erect at the sight of her. “... Could you um, pass me the lube,” he asks, and she does, but not before squeezing some onto her own hand.

It’s hypnotic how she rubs it into herself, wet, and pretty and pink, and he jerks into his hand, slick and wanting, as he whispers, “... God, you’re beautiful.”

His words only serve to enhance the needy pressure between her legs, the tingling feeling that her slow circular motions were only making worse. She picks up the vibrator and turns it on, pressing it to her nub, the way she’s done a few lonely nights by herself, wishing it was him against her skin.

It’s different this time, because even though it’s her and the silicone toy, Eren’s gaze is like liquid fire on her skin, dark and licentious, and almost greedy. She throws her head back, shivering with pleasure and gasping.

“... What did you think of when you played with yourself?” He asks again, and this time she knows he wants a more specific answer.

“Your fingers,” she mumbles, and she finds the pleasure makes her startlingly more honest. He could ask anything of her, and she would tell him.

The idea, the thought of it, makes him twitch happily in his hand, and he jerks erratically, feeling an unbelievable urge come over him. “... Did you get wet thinking of my fingers on you, Mikasa?”

“Mm-hmm,” she nods, blushing prettily, high off the vibrating sensations. Without planning to, he crawls over between her legs and kisses her deeply, murmuring on her lips, “... then let me touch you, baby.”

It was her who was being stimulated, but he nearly groans into her hair at the feeling of her soft wetness, the way it feels against his fingers, the way her arousal coats him so eagerly.

“... I’ve wanted to touch you for so long,” he murmurs hoarsely, rubbing delicate circles across her nub, diligently favouring the area she had favoured mere moments ago. “Then why didn’t you,” she gasps at the last syllable, at the sudden intrusion of his long finger having slid deep inside her.

“... Sorry,” he says, sounding far too turned on to be sorry, “... you’re so wet, Mikasa.” He’s in awe, almost reverent of how warm she is, how easy.

She hangs on to his neck now, teeth grazing his neck, whispering, “... I want you, Eren.” Her breath is warm and damp and he’s unmistakably certain of what she asks.

“... Are you sure?” He asks, panting, hoping to god she’s sure, because he’s so ready, he’s been ready for a long time now, and he can barely control himself from leaking onto his own hand, when she says, “Yes.”

He makes sure she’s comfortable, or as comfortable as she can be on top of her clothes, and he commits everything to memory, the way she looks beneath him, the way her breasts heave when he pulls off the entirety of that dress, the way her nipples stiffen against his warm kisses. “... Please,” she whimpers, when he takes his time with her, taking the peaks of her breasts into her mouth and teasing ever so slightly with his teeth.

“... I can’t help it,” he rasps, “I want to touch you everywhere, you’re so pretty, babe, I,” -

He chokes, cut off, by the feeling of her delicate hands circling around him, pumping slowly as she guides him to her entrance. “Shit, Mikasa,” he curses, closing his eyes as he feels the sensation of her warmth against his tip.

It’s not his first time, but he feels like a stumbling virgin, murmuring desperate things as he feels her sheathe him completely, pausing only to pay attention to her comfort. Barely coherent, he asks, “... you okay?” She nods quietly, and his eyebrows furrow, looking at her questioningly. “Feels… so full,” she manages, with a feeble groan, and he can’t help but grin at how irresistible she is.

“... That’s because I’m supposed to fill you up, babe,” he whispers, not caring how far gone he is, because he slides out just a little only to spread her legs for him again, and slide back in. He tests the rhythm carefully, watching her expressions for any sign of discomfort, but the way she squeezes her eyes, the way she throws her head back with a gasp, just makes him lose whatever little control he had.

“Please tell me if I need to go slower,” he tells her, but judging from her reaction, from her moans, she only seemed to be egging him on.

It’s too much, he thinks, too much for him to possibly handle, not with the way she bucks her hips, and definitely not with the way she clenches needily around him.

And in a moment that he’ll probably never live down, he groans, “Fuck, babe, I’m going to,” - barely realizing with some consciousness to pull out of her tight, wet, core, and spills onto her stomach.

Mikasa’s never seen him make a face like that.

When he opens his eyes, she’s looking at him in wonder. And he’s looking at the mess he’s made on her stomach, and even though a small part of him only feels arousal at the sight of that, today he just feels like a massive asshole. “Shit,” he curses, not happy with how this played out at all. He reaches for the panties she’d so easily discarded and mops up his sticky release, mumbling, “... God, I’m so sorry, Mikasa. This was your first time, I can’t even believe,” -

“Eren,” she interrupts, because she doesn’t have time for this, his self-derision can come later. “... I, um…,” she clenches her thighs together, and he suddenly realizes that he hadn’t yet completely fucked shit up, he could still make her feel good, and that’s all he wanted.

He settles himself between her legs and spreads her folds open for him, feeling a familiar twitch at the pretty sigh in front of him. “I’ll take care of you, baby,” he whispers earnestly, before she feels his mouth on her folds. He kisses her like how he kisses her lips, like he wants to consume her, and if she thought it felt good against her own mouth, it felt only a million times better down there. He’s generous with his tongue, probing circling, sending her into a frenzy that only he could have managed.

She threads her fingers into his hair, gasping his name, prettily, holding on to him as she rides wave after wave of pleasure against his tongue.

When he lifts himself up and looks at her, he grins, his mouth shining because of her juices, and she closes her eyes swearing to herself that she will never forget that sight.

He collapses next to her, this time of a happier countenance because somewhere in his mind he’s judged this to be a fair exchange, and because Mikasa knows him so well, she can’t help but giggle.

“I’m not usually like this,” he asserts, once he’s caught his breath, and she’s barely managed to catch hers. She raises an eyebrow at him, amused. Trust Eren to be bothered about the unnecessary mechanics of his ego, barely minutes after their first time. “... I swear, next time I’m not going to let you go unless you have at least three orgasms. Minimum.”

“I guess I’ll have to hold you to it, Eren,” she murmurs, chuckling. “And before you freak out about the other thing; I’m on birth control, so don’t worry.” There’s silence, remarkably guilty silence, because he hadn’t thought about it, and that’s ridiculous because he’d never done it without a condom before, and if he ever feels like the biggest idiot on the planet, it’s at this moment.

“... I fucking love you, Mikasa,” he says sincerely, thanking the gods and this insane goddess right beside him, and this time she can’t help but laugh out loud.

a/n: edit: two whole weeks after posting ao3, i finally got around to putting this on tumblr.

to all those who have been on this journey with me, thank you so much. it's been so fun with these guys in the hsy verse.

i can't believe the story is over; i'm not ready to let go. going forward i may or may not right 3 more chapters each focusing on armin, historia, and jean respectively. i'm still mulling over it :)

i've recently been made aware that some people who read my stories are minors and i should be more mindful. so the note below -

i'd just like to clarify that it's fairly normal to be 18 yo in senior year of high school (at least where i'm from), which is when this last chapter takes place, so i did not feel the need to write age anywhere. i just want to clarify this; im no one to lecture any body on the appropriate age to be sexually active - as long as the person who you're with treats you respectfully and honours your consent. and respect your own limits and body.

HOWEVER I WILL ABSOLUTELY TAKE THIS MOMENT TO LECTURE YOU ON THE USE OF BIRTH CONTROL - PLEASE USE CONDOMS. please discuss birth control or std prevention with a sexual partner. DO NOT BE LIKE EREN AND FORGET JEEZUS. i'm 27 when i'm writing this so the last scene was just meant to be funny, especially his unbelievable sigh of relief when he finds out she had the foresight to be careful.

anyway, see ya and if it might interest you pls check out my mikasa stripper au ;) i'm very excited about it.

[pretend-writer]

Kid Of The Future (Chapter 5)

Mini-Series

Summary: After time traveling from the apocalypse in 2019, a surprise waits for Diego and Y/N as they arrive at Dallas, Texas circa 1960.

Pairing: Hargreeves x sibling!reader, Diego Hargreeves x reader

Word Count: 2.7k words

Warning: mention of violence, mention of sex, swearing

✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤

'This is an easy fix, do I even need to spell it out?' Five blurted, getting frustrated about the plan of getting back to 2019.

'Yes, Five. I need you to spell out exactly what you mean because if so, that is so messed up.' I yelled at my kid brother. I knew what Five was implying when he said "it was an easy fix." I would never get rid of Bel and if Five tried anything, I would fight him.

Luther sighed, 'Guys can we please not fight about this again?'

'No. It's always Five bringing up bullshit that no one agrees on and he expects everyone to listen to him.'

'That kid doesn't even belong in our timeline. We cannot bring her to 2019. We barely escaped that apocalypse, I'm not going through that shit again Y/N.'

'So you think I'm going to trade off my baby to the psychopath? You must really be crazy Five.'

Allison jumped in, 'I agree with Y/N. You out of everyone knows what The Handler is capable of. Do you really want to hand off an innocent kid to her?'

'Do you know why she wants her? For her to be so desperate to hand us a briefcase? The kid can be some assassin from the future that The Handler wants.'

'More reason for me to keep Bel.' I crossed my arms, 'Maybe she became an assassin because you decided to hand her to The Handler and she's seeking revenge.'

Klaus nodded, 'Y/N makes a great argument Five. I'm sorry but I don't think it's a good idea to give sweet Bel away.'

Groaning loudly, Five balled his fists. 'You imbeciles are so.... ugh.'

'So if The Handler wanted Deloris in exchange for the briefcase, you're saying it's okay?' I raised my eyebrows, watching my brother's response.

Luther laughed but immediately stopped as Five glared at him. 'So how do we plan to go back to 2019?'

Allison licked her lips, holding in her laugh as she made eye contact with me. Honestly, I didn't think convincing Five would be so easy. I should've thought Deloris was the key to breaking him.

'You take me with you to the Commission. Simple as that.'

'Woah, woah.' Diego jumped in, 'Just the two of you? Are you crazy?'

'No, I'm not.' I turned back to Five, 'So what do you think?'

Vanya cocked her head, 'Is this really safe? Shouldn't we all go together and help each other?'

'Ah, no offense Vanya but taking you would be a terrible idea considering the fact that you ended the world in 2019.' Luther flashed an awkward smile.

Five, Allison and Diego groaned in sync, Klaus hitting Luther on his forearm. 'You dummy! Why would you bring that up?'

'Guys, it's fine.' Vanya smiled, 'Let's just figure out a safe and effective way to go back without turning Bel away.'

I smirked, clapping my hands cheerfully. 'Don't worry, I have a plan. Five will love this.'

He rolled his eyes, 'Ugh. Can't wait to hear it.'

✤ · ✤ · ✤ · ✤ · ✤

Diego walked in the room after putting Bel to sleep in her room, sighing as he sat on the bed next to where I was laying down. 'Are you up?'

Turning around to face him, I nodded. 'Yeah.'

'Ah.' Diego scooted a little bit closer to me, biting his lips as he figured out what words to say next. 'Uhm, I'm sorry about yesterday.'

'What do you mean?'

'The things I said before you left to the alley.'

My eyes immediately shifted away from him, embarrassed about what I told him while I was intoxicated. I wish that I could take whatever I said back to him, I hated the awkward tension between us.

'Don't know what you're talking about but don't worry about it.' Pretending that I was too drunk to remember, I tried to brush everything off.

'It's not okay because I was lying, Y/N.' Diego looked down, started to fiddle with the bed sheets. 'I care about you, a lot. I was too scared to talk to you because I didn't know how you felt. I honestly thought it was just a casual thing between us, or at least I thought that's how you felt about me.'

That was a surprising thing to hear, thinking that the response I got from him yesterday at the salon was the truth. I didn't think that Diego would think of me as more than a friend, despite the things we did.

I've always assumed everything we've done was just casual, I tried so hard to suppress my feelings I had for him.

'I thought that you thought the same thing. I'm sorry I brought it up out of nowhere last night. It had been a while since I had alcohol.'

'No, no.' He softly grabbed my forearm, it was a comfort touch that I loved from him. 'I'm kind of glad you did. If you hadn't, I don't think I'd had the guts to tell you all of this right now.'

Smiling at him as he rubbed on my arm, I sat up next to him. 'Well, thank you for telling me.'

Diego nodded, softly smiling at me and enjoying my touch. 'Please be careful tomorrow when you go out with Five. I don't even know who this woman is but she sounds dangerous.'

'I'll be fine, I promise.'

He nodded, 'Uhm, you still don't want me to come with you guys?'

'Five and I will be just fine on our own. Don't worry. Besides, the less of us we have will be better. We're trying not to draw attention to ourselves.'

Diego seemed unconvinced, he always worried about things he didn't know what to expect. Especially with this mystery lady that Diego knows nothing about, I knew he was scared.

'Stop, don't think about it.' I scooted towards him, rubbing my hand on his forearm as I tried to calm him down.

He looked me in my eyes and slowly came closer, leaning into me as he cupped my cheek with his hand. I leaned closer, our lips touching as I gently started to kiss him.

'Daaaaad, the aliens are coming after me!' Bel's scream echoed through the entire apartment, I wouldn't be surprised if our neighbors heard her.

'Mood killer.' Diego sighed as he pulled away. As I giggled, he rolled his eyes. 'I bet you're happy she started calling for me instead of you. She needs to start calling for her mama.'

'Very happy.' I grinned, 'I've been waiting for this day where I don't have to get out the bed after her screams.'

Diego got up lazily, 'Someday when I get old, I'm gonna keep calling her name every ten minutes for her to come get me too.'

✤ · ✤ · ✤ · ✤ · ✤

Crouching down as soon as Five helped me get to The Commission, he looked around nervously. I knew that he was some sort of legend around here, helped them assassin many people in the past to fix the timeline and what-not.

'The Handler's gone in the 50s but she could be back anytime. I'll leave to go get the suitcase while you switch up to The Handler and you try to distract them from me. Please for the love of Deloris, don't leave her office. We can't be caught.'

'Speaking of.' I pulled up a mask, handing it to my brother as I smiled. 'Your famous self can cover up with this.'

It was a mask that fairly looked like the ones ChaCha and Hazel wore, except it was a bunny and I honestly thought it would look good on him.

'The fuck do I look like wearing that?' Five looked disgusted. 'I'm not wearing that thing.'

'Yes, you are. If they find you, this is over. We are never going back home.'

Five decided to ignore me and change the subject. 'Why don't you turn into The Handler first and maybe I'll wear that mask.'

'Ew, she reeked of strong perfume and I'd rather just wait. Besides, I asked you first.'

'Okay, I asked you next.'

'Five, please don't play with me.'

He squinted his eyes, 'You wanna be childish, I'll act like you so you know how annoying it is.'

'I swear Fi-'

The sound of the door nob startled us both, not expecting anyone to come into her office especially without knocking. That queued me to morph into The Handler quickly, rehearsing how she sounded like in my head so I wouldn't be caught by these people.

'Oh, mom. So glad you're back from the trip.' A girl, probably the same age as us Hargreeves, ran up to hug me. She pulled away and looked over next to me. 'Who's this midget?'

I looked over and saw Five wearing the mask I got him. I smiled at myself softly, happy that Five decided to wear it. I knew he didn't have a choice but the fact that he took the mask over running away into thin air made me feel like I did something right.

'Ah- my new recruit. Trying to find him the perfect partner for this new mission I have lined up.'

The girl stared at him, 'Nice to meet you.'

Five just stood still, possibly staring back at her too. I figured he didn't speak because she would've figured out who he was as soon as she heard his voice, so I didn't force anything on him.

'Ah, not much of a talker. Such a professional assassin move.' She grinned and looked back at me. 'Speaking of assassins, why don't you take me to the mission with him. I can be his partner.

'Uhm, no. You can't go.'

The girl groaned, 'Why? I'm old enough you know? You trained me since I was a child for stuff like this and you're not even letting me use my talent. Instead it's always "Lila do this stupid thing" and honestly I'm so bored now.'

'You know I just care about you, right Lila?' I'm so glad she said her name because I was panicking not knowing what else to say. 'You're too important to me and I just can't risk that.'

'Whatever, mom. I asked to go to the Hargreeves mission with you and you didn't let me go so I know that's bull.'

In my mind I was screaming, I wanted this girl to leave so we can get the briefcase and get out of here. 'Five isn't a priority right now and frankly, he's a harmless boy. It was a quick job and I didn't need another person with me.'

'Not Five, Belinda Hargreeves. You told me you'd take me with you and you just left me, knowing I was asleep. Why would you do that, I was so excited to take her down.'

She must be talking about the night The Handler visited me, I thought to myself. The stories were slowly lining up. 'Well, she's just a baby. I figured I didn't have to wake you up and I'd just take care of her myself.'

'Just a baby? Mom, you wouldn't shut up about her being this next big thing The Commission needed and now she's just a baby to you?'

'I think you'll best fit that position anyway. Maybe it's time for us to move on from that.'

Lila chuckled, 'You're kidding me right? This kid has like one of the best powers I've seen. Even the Hargreeves siblings don't have that much talent. You really want to turn that down now?'

It was hard to contain my confused and my urge to beat this girl up. It annoyed me that Lila was talking about my daughter as if she was some experiment, and now she's talking about her having some powers. The frustration didn't help either when I had to stay in character.

'Are you sure that's Belinda Hargreeves we're talking about? That harmless looking baby? Surely we're talking about some other kid.'

'Mom, you clearly need sleep or you're doing drugs or something because you really don't sound right. We need her here, that was your saying. Literally, last night you told me that and now you're changing your mind?'

'There's just things in mind I need to consider before I take that route.'

Lila laughed, 'Okay mom. Whatever it is, I hope you make the right decision for us.'

'Yeah sure.'

She shook her head as she slowly walked to the door. 'You are acting a little weird so I'll leave you to it mom. Take a nap, rethink it. I'm sure you'll change you mind again.'

'I can't believe this.' I heard shuffling from behind as the door shut behind Lila. 'All that girl said was true, the powers and everything.'

Quickly rushing next to Five with doubt still on my mind, I snatched the file from his hand.

Everything about her was there; Her name, her birthdate and birthplace. All the information I knew nothing about was here in my face.

'October 1st, 1989...' I mumbled as I continued to read the rest of her file. 'Sh-she has powers. I-I don't understand.'

'So technically Bel's our sister.' Five blurted, 'How did she get to the 60s with us?'

None of what Five was saying was sinking into my brain. The reason why The Handler was hunting me and my family down made sense, how Bel was probably going to end up being their next soldier that does their dirty work.

Five looked over at me, realizing that I was having a hard time processing everything. 'Y/N, don't worry. We will figure this out, okay? We won't abandon her, I promise.'

'But she's one of us. She somehow ended up in our hands and now-' I was trying to put all the information in my head and tried to make sense out of this.'

'Y/N, Y/N. Breathe, it's okay. The Handler doesn't know that we know, we're one step ahead of her. It's perfect.' Five nodded his head. 'We have the upper hand and we can get rid of her before she tried to her Belinda.'

It was nice to see this side of Five, especially when I was freaking out about this huge news. Even thought it was a bit weird. I turned to Five, 'Why are you being nice to me?'

'Honestly, it's hard given the fact that you look like that.' He chuckled lightly, looking me up and down in my "The Handler costume." 'You seemed to grow fond of her and knowing The Handler, I don't know what she's going to do to her. I've worked with her my whole life and I didn't even know she had a daughter.'

I raised my brows, 'Wow. How brotherly of you.'

'You know, I try but you all are annoying and stupid for me to care sometimes.'

'And there's the brother that we all know and love.'

He rolled his eyes, 'Bel is going to outsmart all of you guys. Not to mention she has ecokinesis.'

'Sounds like you're obsessed with this child now.' I smiled, 'I love that you love her.'

'Whatever helps you sleep at night, Y/N.'

I looked at Five and smiled, it was unbelievable to almost impossible that our beloved brother had sympathy for how I was handling this news. 'Thanks Five, really. Don't know what I'll do if I lost her.'

'You won't, you got us now to have your back.'

'Are you really Five or are you a shapeshifter too?'

'Just trying to be nice, for once.' Five's smile went away as he became serious. 'But if you tell anyone about this, I'll figure out a way to send you to a different dimension.'

I laughed lightly, nudging my brother as he got to leave. 'I try to keep the secret to myself.'

Despite Five's thoughtfulness and caring words, I was scared. Even with my family by my side, the reality was that Bel didn't belong here either. Not only was Belinda warped from 1989 for some odd reason but The Handler really wanted to get her, as if she had something planned for her.

Nothing was making sense, starting from the reason why she was out of her timeline but none of that mattered. The only thing that mattered was keeping my child safe from that freak.

No matter what it takes, I was determined to protect my daughter. Nothing was going to stop me.

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Stark Spangled Forever

A Very Rogers Christmas.

Part 1- The Best Things In Life Are Tree.

Summary: It’s that time of year again and the Rogers family prepare to go and pick their Christmas tree. But when Emmy calls with a bit of bad news, it puts a little downer on the whole thing for Katie and Steve decides to call in reinforcements to pull off the best Christmas Heist he can…

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: So here we go, Part 1 of my Stark Spangled 2020 Christmas special- A Very Rogers Christmas.  This one was written for for @sweater-daddiesdumbdork​ and @sagechanoafterdark​ ‘s Winter/Holiday Challenge. My prompt- Finding the PERFECT Tree.

It feels like AGES since I wrote for my babies so I hope you enjoy this little three parter. Part 2 posting next Friday, and part 3 on Christmas Eve.

SSF Masterlist //  WIYPT Masterlist 

"Daddy, I found something else I want to ask Santa for, for Christmas." Rori bounced into the study and Steve closed his eyes on the papers he was trying to grade and sighed.

"I bet you have." He mumbled before he glanced up at his daughter and couldn't help but smile at her as she skipped over to him, her long pony tail swinging behind her "What is it, Princess?" "A capybara." she said, scrambling up onto his lap. "A what?" Steve frowned. "A capybara. Look!" she turned the tablet she was holding towards him to show him a picture of the brown animal "They're like huge guinea pigs. I saw one at the zoo with Uncle Buck yesterday and when I said I wanted one he told me to tell you that I was gonna ask Santa." "Course he did." Steve sighed, mentally cursing his asshole best friend. "You know, Rori, don't think Santa can get you one of those." "Why not?" "It’s too big." He attempted “There’s nowhere for us to keep it.” "Our garden is huge!" Rori blinked at him. "And when Emmy and Petey move into the Tower he can live in the cabin." Trust her to be as damned smart as her mother. "They're wild animals honey." Steve shook his head as he tried attempt number two. "But they live in a zoo." Rori looked up at him, her face full of eager excitement “That’s not the wild.” "Yeah but that’s different." Steve reasoned patiently. "They're not like dogs or cats or regular guinea pigs. They need very special care.” "Oh." Rori looked down a little, her shoulders slumping and Steve sighed.

Fuck you, Bucky.

"Okay. Never mind." She clicked off the screen of her tablet and turned towards Steve, looking up at him with those damned green eyes. "Do you think he could get me a kitty instead?"

No, just say no… "Maybe."

Way to go, Rogers. Rori's eyes lit up and Steve inwardly groaned. It was a well-known fact in their house that whenever Dad said maybe, it meant yes. Fuck.

“I love you Daddy!” she beamed, reaching up to press a kiss to his bearded cheek before she hopped off his lap and skipped towards the door “Oh, me and momma are going to make gingerbread men for tomorrow so we can have them when we decorate the tree.”

“Can’t wait baby.” He smiled

“Are you gonna be working tomorrow afternoon?” she asked a little shyly and he shook his head.

“No, I promise.”  He assured her. “All day tomorrow is family day.”

She gave him another huge smile, one that truly warmed his entire being as it made her look even more like his wife, and then headed out of the room, her feet pattering on the tiles of the hallway as she skipped back into the other part of the house. Steve exhaled and looked back down at the paper, groaning as he realised he’d lost his place. He’d been home early that afternoon hoping for more peace and quiet than he got in his office at the University to concentrate on getting through all these and for the most it had worked, until Jamie and Rori had arrived home from school full of it as usual. Katie had kept them out of his way for the most but the realisation that Christmas was well on the way had hit the eldest two and whipped them up into a fever.

Not that Steve particularly cared. He adored this time of year. It was Katie’s holiday and from the day after Thanksgiving the Christmas period started in full throttle in the Rogers household, and they’d picked tomorrow, 2 weeks before the schools broke up, to go and pick the trees for their lounge and hallway. He was a little disappointed that it hadn’t snowed yet, there had been a good covering the previous year but, still it was set to be a cold and dry day so they could still get bundled up and have their hot chocolate and snacks as usual.

He rubbed at his eyes and focussed, reading through the paper in front of him on the ‘Strategy, Diplomacy and politics of Axis and Allied forces in WW2’, wishing to God he was marking something on the course he was actually employed to teach now- Fine Arts- but all those had been done and graded last week. This was the module of History that he taught, because as the Uni said- he was a living, breathing expert.

Aparently.

An hour or so later he finished red-penning the final six paged essay, with a proud smile as that one had been particularly good and he quickly checked it over once more, making sure he’d captured all the notes on the electronic copy and queued it up to send on Monday, just like Katie had shown him how to, so that each student had the hard copy and soft copy back. He stood up, stretched, turned off his laptop and headed through to the main area of the house, the smell of baking and cooking hitting his nostrils as he went.

He walked into the kitchen to find Rori kneeling on one of the tall stools over the island-slash-breakfast bar, her hands and face smeared in pink icing as she decorated a gingerbread man, her little tongue poking out of the side of her mouth in concentration. Katie was stood supervising Harry who was also covered in frosting, this one bright green. Flossie sat in the highchair opposite, banging a spoon on the tray occasionally letting out a yell or babble of something incoherent. As soon as she saw Steve she gave a huge grin and her shouts became louder and he smiled.

“Hi Floss-Floss!” he beamed, crossing to drop a kiss to her head before he looked across at Katie “Where’s Jamie?”

“Upstairs in his room.” Katie gave a little sigh “He said, and I quote, ‘I’m ten now, far too old to decorate gingerbread, mom.’ I could have cried there and then Steve.” She finished with a pout.

Steve gave her a sympathetic smile, the fact her eldest baby boy was growing up was something he knew she hated “Yeah, I bet he won’t be too old to eat them, though.” He appeased and she smiled.

“That’s what I said.” Rori gave a dramatic roll of her eyes and Steve chuckled.

“You finished Grading?” Katie asked as she gently guided Harry’s hand over the cookie shaped like a Christmas tree.

“Yeah, all done. Sorry it took so long.”

“It’s okay.” She looked up at him, smiling “Your dinner is in the oven. I already ate with the kids. Sorry, I was starving.”

“I didn’t expect you to wait.”  Steve walked over the room and dropped a kiss to her cheek. “Thanks, Sweetheart.”

He made his way over to the Aga stove and opened the door, giving a little groan when he saw she’d done his favourite, a Mac and Cheese bake laced with chicken, chorizo and broccoli. He turned to look at her and didn’t miss the flicker of a smile on her face as she knew what he was thinking, before he pulled out the plate giving a yell as it burnt his fingers, dropping it onto the side with a clatter.

“Careful daddy, hot!” Harry turned to face him, and Katie burst out laughing.

“Yeah, thanks Son.” Steve tried not to roll his eyes as he sucked his thumb. Grabbing a tea-towel he gripped the plate, found some cutlery and sat down at the table to the side of the kitchen, tucking in.

“I finished all mine, Momma.” Rori grinned, placing the tube of squeezy frosting down on the side. Steve watched as Katie moved to look over Rori’s shoulder.

“Good job sweetie.” She smiled, “Creative, I’ve never seen a pink cat before.”

Steve paused and looked at Rori as she grinned “I know they’re not really pink, and my kitty won’t be, but it can have a pink collar.”

At that he winced and hastily shoved another forkful of food into his mouth, praying that the conversation stopped there.

Katie sighed “Rori we’ve been over this, you can’t have a cat.”

“Daddy said I could.”

Shit.

Katie’s eyes shot to Steve and he gave her his best innocent look, but from the way her features grew stern he knew he was utterly busted and he swallowed the food in his mouth which turned to cement in his throat.

“No, that’s not what I said.” Steve shook his head.

“You said maybe.” Rori shrugged “Same thing.”

“We getting a kitty?” Harry asked, looking at Katie.

“No.” she shook her head.

“But I asked Daddy if Santa would bring me one and he said maybe.” Rori looked at Katie.

“Well Daddy is wrong.” She glared at Steve and he visibly shrank in his seat. Katie’s green eyes narrowed before they turned back to Rori. “Santa can’t bring live animals. It’s in the rules.”

“What rules?”

“The Christmas Rules” Katie said quickly “No live animals. It’s not fair on them. They don’t like the sleigh.”

“But…”

“No buts Rori.” Katie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose “I’m sorry honey, but it’s not gonna happen.”

Rori pouted a little but she knew when she was beat and glanced down at the cookies on the tray before she looked up, grinning smugly. “I’ll just ask Uncle Bucky to get me one. He got me Dory.”

“Oh for the love of…” Katie spluttered “Uncle Bucky won’t get you one either.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’ll tell him not to.” Katie looked at her “We have Stark. No more animals.”

Rori folded her arms and at that point Steve stepped in, sensing an impending tantrum.

“Aurora.” He said sternly and she turned her head to face him as he pointed his fork at her. “Enough.”

She glared at him before she sighed and looked at Katie “Can I get down now please?”

Katie obliged and pulled her stool out a little allowing Rori to hop down. “Stay right there little miss.”

“Why?” Rori frowned as Katie headed to the sink, coming back with a cloth. With a groan, Rori held out her hands so Katie could wipe them clean, along with the little smear of icing on her face “20 minutes and then its bath time. We’re up early in the morning.”

“Ooh, yeah!” Rori bounced excitedly “To pick our trees. Hey, can I get one for my room?”

Katie hesitated before she shrugged “You know, I saw some in the shop that already have the lights on and they change colour. We’ll get a big one for the lounge and hallway like normal and I’ll get you a special one. And you get to keep it for next year and the year after.”

Rori pondered this for a moment before she shook her head “I want a real one from the farm.”

Katie groaned, and threw her hands out to the side “Fine, just, go and watch TV or something in the Play Room.”

“I watch TV too please, Momma?” Harry asked and Katie nodded, cleaning him up too before she lifted him down off the stool. He toddled after Rori, yelling for her to wait and as soon as they were gone Katie rounded on Steve.

“Honey, I…” he began and winced as she exploded on him.

“Seriously? A damned cat?”

“She caught me unawares.”

“She always catches you unawares!” Katie scoffed “After six, almost seven years I’d have thought you’d be used it by now.”

“I only said-“

“And as usual I’m left to be the bad guy.” Katie ranted, shaking her head as she moved to turn Flossie’s chair so she was facing the table. “You’re an asshole.”

“This is technically Bucky’s fault.”

“Oh, no, Steven Grant Rogers! Don’t you are try and blame this one on Buck.” She hissed.

“But he took her to the zoo and told her to ask for a capybara!” Steve practically whined “When I said no she asked for a cat, the maybe just slipped out.” Katie paused, her arms folded, face furious and Steve peered up at her giving her a little smile “Don’t be mad, come on baby. I didn’t mean it.”

“You’re still an asshole.” She grumbled, before she crossed to the fridge and pulled out the wine. “And for that you can deal with bedtime. I’m going for a bath.”

“Sure, not a problem.” Steve nodded, swallowing more of his food. Katie poured herself a large glass before she moved to put the bottle back and then changed her mind. With the bottle in one hand, full glass in the other she made for the door. “I love you.” Steve shot as she passed him, and despite her annoyed demeanour, the slight smile that played on her face told him he wasn’t in too much trouble.  

****

All kids were bathed and in bed little over an hour later. The youngest three settled down to sleep, Jamie instructed he had an hour of TV or reading time before lights off.

“Ok Dad.” He nodded, running his hand through his hair as he tidied up his games console a little, Stark curled up on the bed.

“I’ll be in to check.” Steve looked at him, and Jamie rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I got it. You can trust me.”

“I know.” Steve gave a chuckle “Night son.” He crossed the room to drop a kiss to his head and Jamie pushed him away.

“Gerroff, I’m ten.”

“Yeah, well, you’re still my kid so…” Steve grumbled, and Jamie burst into laughter as the pair of them began to play fight, Jamie digging Steve in the ribs with a well-aimed jab. “Ouch! “ Steve stood up, rubbing at his side, that had hurt a little too much for his liking. “Nice shot.”

“Bucky said I had a good right hook.”

Steve rolled his eyes “I don’t wanna know how he even found that out.”

“He has a punch bag in the garage.” Jamie shrugged as he flopped down onto his bed. “Like yours. He was teaching me to swing.”

“I could teach you that.” Steve replied, a little petulantly.

“Will you?”

“No. You’re ten.” He shot back and Jamie let out a groan of frustration, before Steve chuckled “Ok, I’ll teach you a little IF you promise not to use it anywhere but on the punch bag.”

“But what if I need to use it?”

“Well, that’s different.” Steve pondered, before he shook his head. “But you’re far too young to be getting into situations like that.”

“Uncle Buck said you were fighting people form the age of six. And getting your ass kicked.”

“Well, you do as I say…”

“Not as I do, yeah I got it.” Jamie grinned and Steve arched an eyebrow before he made his way to the door. He paused and turned back to look at his son, not for the first time taking in how damned tall and broad he was for his age. He pointed to Stark “Don’t let your mother catch him on the bed.”

“You know she says the same thing about you.” Jamie looked at him and Steve chuckled.

“I do, but let’s just pretend I don’t okay?”

“Okay, night dad. Love you.”

“Love you too.” Steve smiled, closing the door behind him.

He made his way back downstairs and into the lounge, and paused as he saw Katie talking into the laptop, her eyes brimming with tears.

“Don’t worry about it.” She said softly, and he could tell she was fighting to keep her face straight as Emmy’s voice came from the other side.

“I’m just gutted we can’t get home to come with you guys for the tree.”

“What’s going on?” Steve frowned as he sat next to Katie on the sofa, looking at Emmy and Peter as they both waved to him on the screen “Hey Kids.”

“The UK has been caught up in a huge snow storm.” Katie turned to him. “Their flight has been cancelled.”

“Bummer.” Steve’s frown deepened “Is there nothing from another airport?”

“Not in London.” Emmy shook her head “And the roads are that bad, even if we managed somewhere else…”

“Don’t wanna risk driving Mr R.” Pete shrugged and Steve had to give it to him, that was a sensible move.

“Wise decision.” Steve bit his lip, before he turned to Katie “Can we not get The Stark jet over? You guys should have used that anyway, not gone commercial.”

The irony of his statement didn’t pass him by, as there’d been a time when he had hated using a private jet as he felt it was ostentatious, but he’d fast learned to live with it as it was less hassle and a damned sight comfier and quicker too.

“I told you we didn’t want to.” Emmy shot back and Peter hastily cut in to prevent an argument.

“Already tried Happy before we called. He can’t get in any airfield be it private or other. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” Katie shook her head “If you need anything just call. Have you got a place to stay?”

“Yeah, The Savoy found us another room.” Emmy shrugged before she grimaced “I’m gonna have to put it on my credit card though.”

“Don’t worry about that.” Katie shook her head “Just do what you gotta do, we’ll sort the bill out. Do you need us to wire you some cash or-“

“No, we’ve got enough between us for that.” Pete smiled “Just the hotel. We could get somewhere cheaper if that’s-“

“If it’s that bad out there you can stay where you are.” Steve shook his head. “Don’t worry about the money kids, it’s not important.”

“Just call us if you need anything.” Katie added.

“Thanks Mom. Look, we’re gonna go try and get something to eat and then sleep” Emmy sighed “It’s past 1 am now.”

“Sure, call us tomorrow okay, keep us updated.” Steve instructed and Emmy nodded.

“Will do. Love you both.”

“And you.” Katie smiled “Stay safe, and look after each other.”

“Got it.” Emmy grinned and with that she blew them both a kiss as Peter waved and the screen went blank.

Katie bit her lip before she tapped at the keyboard of her laptop “I’m going to send her some money, just in case. I know she has plenty in her savings, but…”

Steve nodded “Good idea. Those are for a rainy day, not a snowy one.”

Katie gave a small smile as she logged into the banking, and hesitated before she transferred a few thousand over to Emmy and closed the laptop, running her hands over her face. Steve saw her shouldes shake and he gave a sigh, pulling her to him.

“Hey, come on. They’re safe. In the poshest hotel known to man.” He pressed a kiss to her head “No doubt thinking this is some kind of huge romantic adventure. Snowed in, in London, with a mini-bar, room service.”

At that thought he grimaced, as his mind took him to a very dark place about just exactly what the spider kid would be doing to his daughter in said hotel room but he shook himself out of it as Katie spoke, sniffling a little.

“I know it’s just, well we started this tradition with Emmy that first Christmas she lived with us.” Her voice cracked “We went with Tony, Pep and Nat remember?”

“I could I forget.” Steve chuckled, his hands rubbing Katie’s back “You were almost five months pregnant and had that jumper on with a huge Christmas pudding on the front.”

“I’ve still got that.” Her voice was muffled as her face pressed into his Henley.

“And Pepper was going mad when Tony bought that nine foot tree for their lounge.”

“Ours wasn’t much smaller.” Katie laughed, leaning back to wipe her eyes. “You had to trim the top off.”

Steve chuckled, his hands cupping her face “A few days after that we found out bump was blue. Hello Jamie.”

“God it seems so long ago.”

“It was.” Steve smiled pressing a kiss to her lips. “11 years.”

“Yeah.” Katie looked at him “We’ve been through a lot since then.”

Steve nodded, as he wiped her face with his thumbs “And a lot worse than this. I know it’s disappointing, kitten, and I’m gutted as well, but it can’t be helped. We’ll still have a good time and we can go out with Emmy and Peter when they get back, nice meal and a few drinks somewhere instead, just the four of us. Start a new tradition now she’s all grown up.”

“Yeah suppose.” Katie sighed “I mean when they moved out in the New Year, they might not wanna come with us to get a tree anymore.”

“Like that’s gonna happen.” Steve snorted “She’ll simply be getting one for her own place. You know she loves Christmas as much as you. All the kids do. Because you make it so special.”

“It isn’t all down to me.” She smiled “You help.”

“It’s definitely your speciality.” Steve shook his head “You do the baking, the carols, the cooking…suss the decorations out.”

“Yeah, but you hang them. And you’re the one that started leaving Santa footprints by the hearth.”

“Okay so it’s a team effort.” Steve shrugged, dropping another kiss to her lips. “It always is when the kids are concerned.” He pulled back a little and nodded to her glass “You want another?”

“I wasn’t going to but yeah, now I do.”

Steve chuckled “I’ll go get us a drink, you find us something suitably Christmassy to watch.”

He stood, pressing his lips to the crown of Katie’s head before he wandered into the kitchen. As he closed the door behind him he pulled out his phone. He’d had an idea, but hadn’t wanted to mention it to Katie just in case it didn’t work…but if it did, well, he was going to reunite his family for their tradition and earn himself major husband points.

Win win situation.

“Hey punk.” Bucky drawled as he picked up.“What’s crackalackin?”

“God you talk some shit.” Steve rolled his eyes and Bucky laughed

“Sorry, we were watching Madagascar.”

“Yeah, I know where it’s from. I got five kids, remember. Six if I count you.”

“Well you could argue Diva Doll counts for two so you really have seven.”

“Yeah, speaking of which, I got a bone to pick with you about her and a damned capybara.” Steve narrowed his eyes as he spoke and there was a pause before Bucky burst out laughing. “Yeah, laugh it up, jerk. That got me in some major shit before.”

“You didn’t say yes?”

“No of course I didn’t.” Steve sighed “But she sideswiped me asking for a damned cat and I said maybe, so…”

“You fucking moron.”

“Whatever, listen, that’s not why I’m calling anyway.” Steve sighed, his voice growing serious. “I need a favour, Buck.”

“I’m listening.” Bucky replied, before Steve explained the predicament and possible solution. When he finished there was a pause and Bucky let out a long whistle. “Man, that’s…”

“I know, I know.” Steve sighed “But I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t desperate. Katie’s heartbroken Emmy can’t get home.”

“Well, we can’t have the second most important woman in my life upset now can we?” Bucky replied “Leave it with me.”

“Cheers buddy.”

“You’ll owe me a life time of favours if I can pull this off.”

“We’ll call it quits for you almost getting me couched.”

“Not my fault you can’t say no to your likkle Princessa.” Bucky responded and Steve snorted.

“You’ve met her, right?”

There as another pause and Bucky laughed “Point taken.”

“Not a word to Katie.” Steve instructed “Just in case you can’t do it.”

“You seriously doubt me after all this time?” Bucky sighed “That hurts Stevie.”

“You know what else will hurt?” Steve shot back “My foot up your ass.”

“You want me to do this or not?” Bucky scoffed “Because threatening me aint gonna make me wanna do you any favours.”

“No but not wanting to see my wife upset is.”

“You fight dirty, Steven.” Bucky’s voice was low and Steve could imagine the narrowed eyes he was pulling as he spoke. “Okay, I’ll call Sam now. Leave it with me.”

“Thanks Buck.”

Steve cut the call and stuffed his phone back in his pocket, running a hand over his beard. Buck was right, it was a big ask and ridiculously over the top but, well, nothing was too much for him where his family was concerned. And after everything they’d been through this year what with Flossie’s horrific birth and Katie’s post-partum depression, his amazingly brave and gorgeous wife deserved the damned world. With a sigh he yanked open the fridge as he pulled out Katie’s wine and a beer for him, simply hoping that it worked.

**** “You good?” Steve asked as Jamie hopped into the back of the Q7, taking his place on the rear row of seats.

“Yup.” Jamie grinned “I prefer it back here, Rori can’t bug me.”

“Wanna bet?” Rori turned her head and peered at him from her place in the middle of the second row and Steve shot her a look.

“Enough. I hear one sound outta you that’s annoying him, we’re coming straight home.” He said sternly. Rori eyed him shrewdly, as if weighing up whether he was serious or not and he raised his eyebrows, challenging her.

“Ok Daddy.” She shrugged, turning back round. Steve shot Jamie a wink as turned and collapsed Flossie’s little stroller. He slotted it down the side of Jamie’s seat before he shut the trunk and then quickly inspected the roof rack. Satisfied he looked up just as Katie came out of the house, Flossie on her hip, Harry jumping down the steps in front of her. He headed over to his dad and peeked up, Steve giving a laugh as his little woollen hat slipped down over his eyes.

“Come here, buddy.” He said, swinging him into his arms. The little boy gave a giggle as Steve pulled his hat straight so he could see.

“Thanks Daddy!” he smiled and Steve pressed a kiss to his rosy cheek.

“No problem. You ready to get a tree?”

He nodded “Big one!” he threw his arms out wide and Steve nodded seriously.

“The biggest.”

Ten minutes or so later they were sailing out of Brooklyn in the winter morning sun, heading for the tree farm some forty or so minutes away. True to her word, Rori was behaving and chatting to Harry, Jamie was quiet in the back doing something on his tablet and Katie was gently humming to something on the radio. Steve’s hand reached over for hers and he entwined their fingers, gently bringing her arm across his body, pressing a kiss to her wrist.

The journey pass uneventfully and as Steve announced they had arrived the kids all gave a cheer. He parked the car up and then the disembarking began along with issued orders for Jamie and Rori to stay where they were as they sorted the youngest two.

“I think I’ll just carry Floss.” Katie glanced around. “Pushing her stroller is gonna be a pain. I’ll put her in the carrier.”

“You sure?” Steve asked “I would say I’d do it but…”

“You’re gonna be carrying trees, yeah I know.” Katie waved him away. “Its fine, she’s not heavy. Besides, she’ll be too big to do this with next year.”

Steve smiled at her wistful tone, and between them they had Flossie strapped to Katie’s back in no time, having become experts at it over the years. Katie glanced over her shoulder as Flossie gave her a hug grin, before she peeked around and started to gabble animatedly.

“Ready?” Steve looked around and held the hand that wasn’t containing the saw out, Rori taking it as Katie took Harry’s, Jamie falling into step at her other side next to Steve who strategically placed himself between his eldest son and Rori to avoid any potential arguments between the two siblings.

“Want me to take that Dad?” Jamie asked, nodding to the saw. Steve hesitated then shrugged, it had the safety cover on so he handed it over, Jamie slinging it over his shoulder proudly, stepping in front of them a little and Harry wriggled his hand free of Katie’s and ran forward to take Jamie’s. Jamie smiled down at him and Steve shared a glance with Katie as she smiled at him, slipping her hand into his. The family made their way to the entrance and as they approached the various little trade stands, one of which was selling various hot drinks and baked snacks. Katie took a deep breath and smiled, the warming scents of spices, cinnamon and pine hitting her nostrils.

“Smells exactly the same.” She beamed and then frowned as Steve was looking around, blatantly not listening to her as he was busy studying something to their right.

“Hey!” she tugged on his hand and he glanced down at her.

“Sorry, honey.” He diverted his attention “Just saw someone I know.”

“Oh, from work?” she asked.

“Not exactly.” He nodded in the direction he had been looking and Katie spun at the same time Rori let out a shriek.

“Emmy!” she yelled, wrenching her hand free of Steve’s and bolting towards her sister as she strode towards them alongside Peter, Bucky and Sam.

“I don’t-how?” Katie was struggling for words at the sheer emotion of seeing her eldest daughter, who should still be stranded in England, sweeping Rori into hug. “Steve? What?”

“You got Bucky and Sam to thank.” He said gently, as she spun between them all, before she strode forward meeting Emmy halfway and throwing her arms around her.

“Hey mom!” Emmy smiled, before she pulled back and gently waggled Flossie’s hand. “Hi Floss!”

“How did you get here?” Katie sniffed, wiping her eyes, chuckling before she gave Pete a hug.

“Quinjet.” Emmy grinned “It was awesome. Hey Dad!”

“Hey, sweetheart.” Steve swept her up into a huge hug, picking her up slightly off the ground kissing her head. “Nice to have you home.”

“Hold up, a Quinjet?” Katie looked at Emmy, then to Bucky who shrugged.

“Yeah well Steve rang me last night begging for my help…” he began, putting on a whiney voice “Please Buck, I can’t do this without you Buck, you know the usual.” Steve rolled his eyes as Bucky sniggered. “So, me and Birdbrain set off on a daring rescue mission.”

“Yeah, we totally used and abused Fury’s equipment.” Sam chuckled, as he pressed a kiss to Katie’s cheek as he gave her a hug. “He’s gonna be pissed when he finds out.”

“Oh, screw him!” Katie gave a laugh as she turned to Bucky, wrapping her arms round him. “Thank you so much!”

“Anything for you darlin’” he beamed before she stepped back and spun to face Steve, reaching up and grabbing his face. With a smile she pulled him down to meet her in a long, deep kiss.

“Thank you.” She whispered against his lips, and he beamed at her, his nose brushing hers. “I love you, so much.”

“Love you too.” He smiled, before he drew himself up, a little embarrassed at their PDA in front of his two friends and the kids. “Right, who’s ready to go tree picking?”

“We’ll leave you to it.” Bucky smirked as various excited shouts rang out around them. “I’ve got stuff to do with Jen and Sam’s…ahhhh, crap.” The smile on his face turned into a grimace and Steve spun round to see a familiar figure in a trench coat and eyepatch stood by a black SUV watching from a distance.

“Son of a-” Steve snorted, shaking his head as Fury started walking towards of them. “He still knows everything.”

“You have no idea. “Sam muttered.

“Oh, trust me, we do.” Katie grinned as Fury stopped in front of them.

“Someone wanna tell me why one of my jets was in London this morning?” Fury looked at Bucky, then to Sam, then to Peter, all three of them giving him an innocent look.

“Well, there was a thing.” Bucky shrugged “Emergency.”

“Emergency.” Fury dead panned “So nothing to do with a certain Miss Rogers and Mr Parker being stuck in London in snow storm?”

“How do you know this stuff?” Bucky looked at him.

“I told you Barnes, you wanna get one up on me you gotta keep both eyes open.” He levelled him with a look. “Happy called me in a flap to see if I could action a pick up and I told him I wasn’t running a damned Uber service. And then one of them went missing so I put two and two together and looks like I came up with four” He paused and shrugged, smirking a little “Plus, you forgot to wipe the mission log.”

“Damned it Tin Man!” Sam shoved Bucky “You dick, I told you!”

As the two men began to squabble Fury raised his eyebrows and turned to Steve and then Katie, a small smile flickered across his face “Nova, Cap. Long-time no see.”

“Hi Nick.” Steve smiled, reaching out and shaking his hand.

Fury jerked his head as Katie shook his hand, his eyes roving over each of their kids in turn. “I’ll say. You’ve been busy I see.”

Katie gave a huff “One way of putting it.”

Nick arched an eyebrow before he sighed and turned to Bucky and Sam who were still bickering. “Imma let this one slide.” He spoke loudly, the two men instantly turning to face him. “But only because it’s the holidays and I’m in a good mood.”

“You know technically Stark Industries owns half those jets. Tony paid for and designed a lot of the tech on them after all.” Katie quipped and Nick looked at her, before he let out a laugh.

“You’re more like your brother than you’ll ever care to admit” he shook his head as she snorted, pointing at her.

“Worse people to be like.” She smiled fondly, and Fury gave one last scoff before he turned to Sam and Bucky.

“I’ll see you two later. Now, imma go get me some churros then split.” He looked back at them all “Merry Christmas.”

As they all waved him off, watching the curious glances he attracted as he strode towards the hot food stand and then Harry tugged on Steve’s sleeve, causing him to turn his attention from Fury to the little boy.

“Daddy, who’s the pirate?” Harry asked.

There was a pause before Katie burst out laughing, Steve following suite as they both shared a knowing glance, remembering Tony’s fond little nickname for their one time director.

The Goth Pirate.

“He’s an old friend of mine and your momma’s “Steve explained before he glanced up, not surprised to find that once more Fury had disappeared from sight. “We haven’t seen him in a while. And I doubt we will again for a long time.”

There were more hugs shared and after another final thank you to Sam and Bucky, Katie demanding they come over later for drinks, the four remaining adults and four kids all headed into the farm and the chaos began as they began to scout for their perfect trees.

“So we need two large ones.” Katie spoke, “And one for Emmy and Pete in the Cabin and a smaller one for Rori’s room.” she paused “Jamie, did you want one for your room too?”

“Nah, it’s okay.” He shook his head “Thanks though.”

“So four over all.” Steve nodded. “Okay gang, let’s find us some trees.”

They decided to get Rori’s first as it would be smaller and easier to carry once they’d picked it. They set about walking down the various aisles, and before long the jokes started flowing and they were getting worse and worse with time.

“What would you get if you ate the Christmas decorations?” Pete asked and Jamie looked at him, arching a brow. “Tinselitis.”

“Oh God.” Emmy snorted “That’s as bad as one of dad’s”

“Which reminds me.” Steve said, a smirk on his face, “Did you guys hear the forecast for Christmas eve? They’re predicting rain, deer…”

Katie and Emmy both let out a groan as Jamie and Peter howled with laughter.

“What do you call an elf that runs away from Santa’s workshop?” Jamie asked and Steve paused before he shrugged.

“No idea.”

“A rebel without a Clause…”

Katie, Steve, Emmy and Pete burst out laughing as Pete held out his hand to hi-five him. Jamie grinned.

“That’s a good one buddy.” Steve chuckled. “Where did you hear that?”

“Moo text me before.” He smiled “She said her and Auntie Pep had been googling them to put in their cards this year.”

“Like Father like daughter.” Katie smiled to herself, a little nostalgically as a memory of her brother crashed over her and Steve pulled her a little closer, his hand tightening on hers as he dropped a kiss to her head.

After half an hour or so of scouting and plenty of excited shouts and laughter, Rori paused in front of a tree that was the same height as her and she gave a gasp.

“Daddy, that one.” She pointed.

“You sure?” he cocked his head to one side. The tree was leaning to one side, the branches completely uneven, sticking out at all angles and the top was bent. “It’s a bit-”

“It’s perfect.” Rori insisted.

“Okay Princess, whatever you say.”  He looked at Katie as she smiled, her hand dropping to the back of Rori’s head. “Jamie, you got the saw?”

“Yup.” Jamie nodded, passing it over and they all watched as Steve gripped the trunk of the small tree with one hand a little higher up and began to cut it towards the bottom. He could have easily snapped the trunk with his bare hands but he played the part and in four strong swipes it pulled free with a little crack and Rori gave a shriek and clapped her hands.

“I love it!”

Once the safety cover was back on the saw they continued their search, walking towards the slightly bigger trees they spotted and Katie paused in front of a large, Norwegian spruce and reached out, gently crushing one of the needles between her fingers. She took a sniff and stepped back, nodding.

“That one.”

“I still can’t believe you pick them with the smell.” Steve shook his head.

“It’s not all the smell.” She protested “There’s a lot to consider. The height, width and spacing of the branches…this one’s just right for the corner in the lounge. And that one two down will do for the hallway.”

Steve chuckled, knowing better than to argue. “Positive?”

Katie nodded and once more Jamie passed him the saw. This time they all stepped back as Steve crouched down on the ground, expertly cutting the trunk and just the right place. As he took the final swipe, the tree pitched over to a loud shout of “Timberrrrr” from Jamie and Peter and it landed with a thud.

Harry gave a loud cackle and clapped, Flossie shrieking too as Steve then moved two down and repeated the action with a slightly smaller one that would sit in the entrance lounge directly in front of the photo of the pair of them at their wedding, so it would be the first thing anyone saw as they walked into the house.

Emmy strode past the tree to one that was behind it and then nodded to Pete “I think this one will do. I kinda like the way it fans out at the bottom.”

“Sure, Em.” He smiled “Mr R?”

“Oh, here.” Steve handed him the saw and watched as Pete cut his and Emmy’s first Christmas tree down, his arm round Katie’s waist, lips softly kissing Flossie’s cheek as the baby grinned. He arched an eyebrow as Emmy pressed a kiss to Pete’s lips, giving a soft huff as Katie dug him in the ribs, shooting him a warning glance which he returned with an innocent one of his own.

“Well, that was easy.” Emmy commented “It took us 2 hours last year.”

“They need to be right.” Katie shrugged simply, Steve and Emmy exchanging a look before Steve watched as Pete hoisted his tree easily onto his shoulder. It still surprised Steve how strong Peter was, even though it shouldn’t, he knew he was enhanced after all.

“I’ll take Rori’s, Dad.” Jamie stepped forwards, puffing his chest out a little, picking the smaller tree up easily and placing it on his shoulder, in an identical manner to Pete. Steve actively fought the urge to laugh as Jamie began to walk besides Peter and Emmy, clearly proud as punch at being able to help before he turned to Katie.

“Don’t say it.”

Katie laughed “Oh I’m gonna.” she smirked “If he was any more like you I’d be convinced he was a clone.”

Steve snorted as he bent down and easily lifted their two trees onto his shoulders, before they followed a little slower due to Harry being with them. Steve maneuvered around the other tree pickers as they went, his boot clad feet traipsing on the damp of the ground as they made their way back towards the main entrance and joined Pete, Emmy and Jamie at the place ready to pay. As the various helpers, all dressed in little Elf outfits bustled around to wrap their trees and strap them to the roof of the Audi, Katie was suddenly struck with a little problem.

“Hang on.” she turned to Emmy as she thanked the man who’d been dealing with and handed over the cash. “How are you two gonna get home if Bucky and Sam left?”

At that Pete gave a little grin and pulled a set of keys out of his pocket, “Mr Wilson let me borrow his Chevvy.”

“Yeah they went home on Buck’s bike.” Emmy shrugged and at that Steve let out a huge laugh.

“What?” Katie asked.

“Sorry, I’m just picturing those two riding pillion.” He snorted “I give it five minutes before Sam ended up tells Buck to let him off on account of him driving his Ducatti like a maniac.”

“You’ve no room to talk.” Katie scoffed and Steve looked at her with mock outrage.

“Mom?” Jamie asked and Katie turned to him “Can we get a drink now please?”

“Sure, come on.” She smiled and they headed over to the stall. She purchased a hot cider each for her, Steve, Emmy and Pete before hot chocolate for each of the kids along with a selection of donuts, churros and Stollen as Steve took Flossie back to the car so they could pop her in the stroller. They made their way over to one of the benches by the side and sat down and Steve returned, parking Flossie besides them before he handed her a piece of a donut and slipped his arm round Katie, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

“You have a good time?” he asked.

“Yeah.” She beamed, before she glanced over at the other side of the bench. Jamie was settled to Emmy’s left, talking to her about school, as she nodded along whilst Rori was perched on Peter’s knee as she animatedly told him about how she was going to decorate her tree in unicorn colours. Harry meanwhile sat in between both Pete and Emmy, his little frame chewing on a donut as he grinned at his parents who smiled back. Katie turned to look a Steve again, leaning up to kiss him softly “It’s been perfect, thank you for making sure we were all together.”

“Well it wouldn’t be a Rogers Christmas otherwise would it?” he smiled, kissing her again.

“Get a room.” Emmy grumbled and Steve turned to her as she smirked, shoving a piece of donut in her mouth.

“Watch it young lady.” Steve pointed at her.                      

“Daddy.” Rori asked “Can I go with Pete in their car to Target? I need decorations for my Princess Tree.”

Steve hesitated for a while and Pete hastily cut in “It’s no bother Mr Rogers.”

“Yeah we need some for ours.” Emmy nodded.”So we’re going anyway.”

“I come too?” Harry asked hopefully and Emmy shrugged

“If Momma and Daddy say it’s ok, course you can, squirt.”

Steve looked at Katie who shrugged “Fine by me. Sure you can manage them?”

Emmy rolled her eyes “They’re no bother.” She then turned to Jamie “You wanna come too?”

“Hell no.” he said hastily, peering round at Rori before he shook his head “I’m going home for some peace and quiet.”

Both Steve and Katie let out a loud laugh, as Katie shook her head “Oh Jamie.”

“What?” he frowned.

“Nothing pal.” Steve smiled, reaching for his cider. “Nothing at all.”

#ssholidaychallenge #sageandsweater

[forasecondtherewedwon]

Our Names in a Heart

Fandom: WandaVision Pairing: Wanda Maximoff/Vision Rating: G Word Count: 1190

Summary: Wanda watches sitcoms. Vision watches Wanda.

“Wanda, may I say something?” Vision asks.

His host halts in the process of queuing up the next episode of I Love Lucy. Oh, he does enjoy this show, particularly the zany moments of tension arising from the heroine failing to effectively synchronize her actions with those of the machine at which she works. People and technology are able to exist so harmoniously now, he thinks, expression soft as he studies Wanda’s face.

“Alright.”

She gives him a reassuring smile and his own grows in confidence. He’s noticed this about her: she’s usually more at ease the further back into television history they probe. Though still frequently standoffish, and even cold, when questioned directly about her past, she has revealed bits and pieces to him, enough that he understands the significance of sitcoms in her life. They are a tie to her childhood, a reminder that comforts rather than aggrieves. She is less defensive as she retreads the familiar ground of the Ricardo residence with her eyes.

“I’ve noticed a pattern with many of these shows. Now, I know I’m not meant to be analyzing them,” he adds before she can interrupt. “Believe me, it’s nothing so very astute. Perhaps so obvious that you would not consider it anything worth remarking upon.”

“Well, now I’m curious,” Wanda says, leaning back against the wall and holding a cushion to her stomach.

He has observed this behaviour in her before, but it’s gentler now. She doesn’t squeeze the cushion to her body or grip until the ends of her fingers turn white. The motion is relaxed, like her posture. Vision has been entirely alert to the gradual changes as they pass largely conversation-free hours watching television together. The way Wanda leaves the door to her room open in invitation when she desires his company. The fact that they’re no longer seated on the edge of the mattress but all the way back, the stand on which her television sits wheeled to the foot of the bed. With these physical signs, she’s begun to let him in. Her thoughts though… her feelings… They are not so easily accessed.

“You tend to prefer series featuring… families.” He hesitates briefly before the last word, wary of upsetting her, but the lull of the 1950s sitcom they’ve been watching appears to hold.

“Yes, they… remind me of better times.”

“Of course. Frequently, these families have children.”

Wanda smiles absently, staring at nothing.

“Pietro and I used to replicate what we could. I’m not sure which was the greatest gulf to span—limitations because of the war that raged around us or the differences between Sokovian and American culture. Certain children’s antics are universal, though they only ever made Mama and Papa laugh rather than scold, but we would also pretend that Pietro had to practice for football tryouts, or that I had some trivial crisis the day before the prom. We had such an incomplete picture—” Though her laugh is short, it warms him. “—but that imaginary world seemed so rich, so big.”

“Do you see yourself in them still? The children?”

Yesterday, she introduced him to The Brady Bunch. There were so very many children in that series into whose lives she may have wanted to step.

She blinks and Vision’s sorry to have pulled her from her memories.

“Somewhere in between,” Wanda says. “It’s the feeling of it. The completeness. The children will always cause trouble, the parents will always protect them. The parents encounter their own obstacles, which are always hidden from the children. It’s all ridiculous, but… the love is real.”

“Especially on this one,” he suggests, gesturing towards the television. “The stars were married in real life.”

“True. Even when they’re just actors, the illusion can be enough.”

“You were never bored? Some of these series ran for many, many seasons. The children grow up.”

“And the parents grow old.”

A tear escapes the corner of her eye and Vision leans towards her, alarmed, but she swipes it away on the cuff of her shirt.

“They begin to, anyway,” Wanda corrects, that momentary pinch of melancholy vanishing from her features. “The shows always end while the actors still look young.”

“Hmm. Yes.”

Vision settles back against the rails of her bedframe. He won’t press her any further, doesn’t want his perhaps needling questions to perforate this sanctuary she seems to construct every time they sit down next to each other and fix their gazes on the glow of the screen, laughing at so many silly, happy families.

Wanda sighs and shifts. Their hands brush and Vision stares at them, flying rapidly through his established protocols in search of a suitable reaction, but she slips her fingers between his before he has an answer. The music of the next episode starts and he sees the heart appear on the screen, his eyes following the path of the line that traces it. How safe the actors’ names seem within it. A cartoonish symbol of love, yet also promise, stability, and one that is never misunderstood.

He never tells her, but part of the reason for this routine of imposing his presence in the evenings is to help her through the loneliest hours. If he remains with Wanda until she begins drawing her blankets up over her legs and closing her eyes during the title sequence, Vision knows she’ll fall asleep soon after he departs. Before this began, it was during these hours that he would hear her muffled crying. He doesn’t mean to impede the natural course of her grief. He hopes he isn’t doing that. He only intends to smooth the road she must take, ideally by distracting her with the occasional discussion on the periphery of her feelings, or else by simply sitting quietly at her side.

Tonight, he drifts out of her room with an idea. A foolish idea, an incomplete plan. The kind of ill-conceived scheme that a character on one of Wanda’s favourite shows might attempt and face the obvious consequences of shortly after. He’ll keep it private. He’ll “oh, nothing” it away when she catches him staring at her consideringly and asks what he’s thinking about. But on the inside, Vision will dream.

It will begin with an evening like this. The two of them, watching television. A room where she can feel at home within a building where she feels safe. He will find the walls and she will be the life between them. It will be after all of this conflict, when her grief is smaller and her love doesn’t have to work quite so hard to persevere. Returning her family’s home to her is impossible, but a different one? With a love just as real? One where the years may pass and pass and pass, his own face unchanging, his back never to hunch and his heart never to tire? Will she accept this clumsy charade of how it could be to grow old together when he offers it?

Could she sleep where the door was always open?

He never wants to be more than a room away when he leaves her.

[world-of-aus]

Behind the Screen - (Part 4)

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

Word Count: 3,437

Warnings: 18+ here be smutty times

Author’s Note: So i thought i had put this to be queued yesterday but apparently i did it wrong, i apologize for the day delay.Hopefully the contents in this chapter will makeup for it! As always the tag-list for this series is open so if you’d like to be added just let me know! Thank you all so much for reading and enjoying my work, there’s nothing that means more to me!

Part 3 / SERIES MASTERLIST

“Barnes,” you moaned, “I swear to god if you show me another fic, that is more than three parts I may just scratch my eyes out”

Bucky turned to look at you from where he was laying on his stomach computer screen illuminating his features, “I thought you liked doing this, do you not?” he questioned brow raised.

“of course, I love to do this, but not when you’re here, you’re literally reciting porn written about you to me as if it’s the daily news,” you deadpanned, “you have gone through two masterlists, two, you know this isn’t exactly what I thought you meant by catch up,” you muttered side eyeing him.

You saw Bucky’s lips twitch as a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth, he pushed your laptop off to the side, his arm sliding around your bare waist, “oh,” he grinned, “and what is it that you thought I meant?” he questioned drawing your body closer to his.

“definitely not reading your best rated porn without plot one-shots about you,” you muttered, though there was a teasing underlying to your tone.

“is it because you can’t get off?” he teased, “rub one off to the thought of me,”

You rolled your eyes smacking his chest lightly, “If I wanted to get off I could very well do so if pleased, but why use my finger’s when I could use something else,”

A growl left Bucky’s lips as he pushed himself up onto his arms, his body sliding over yours, hips pressing yours into the sheets below you.

“Look at you doll, a needy little thing” He murmured his finger running over your cheek, eyes staring intently at yours. He leans down slowly his lips hovering above yours for a second before his teeth are nipping at your lower lip, his tongue smoothing over the bite. Your body is squirming under his ever so slightly, your lower half searching for his. The hand that isn't by your head slides down the length of` your body curving over your hips, his hand pushing you down. A groan slips past your lips, Bucky grins his lips molding to yours. Your hips are eager to feel him against you as you push against his left hand, his lips leave yours pulling a whine from you, “if you don’t stop moving, I’m going to stop,” he warns, your hips still. He’s chuckling low before his lips are leaning down once more to cover yours, your lips are moving fervently against one another, Bucky drawing the sweetest noises from you, he’s grown addicted to the little mewls he’s able to pull from you. He pulls away from your lips, head nudging yours to the side exposing your neck to him.

He wastes no time as he licks, sucks, and bites across the sensitive skin till his teeth find that sweet spot, the one that has a low moan falling from your lips, back arching, toes curling. He grins into your skin before continuing the ministration, the hand that holds down your hip is now sliding to the side, cooling down your heated skin. A loud gasp falls from your lips as his left hand roughly cups your mound, his index finger runs over your slit, the moans he’s drawing from you are scandalous, he thought the noises he was driving from you before were something, but these noises, oh these were delicious. You can feel his hard cock against your thigh, and that only makes your skin grow hotter, you need him inside you, you need to feel the thickness of it through your walls as you clench around him.

His finger finally slips into the heat of your folds, his finger dipping in slightly to your entrance before its trailing up circling your throbbing clit. Bucky drinks in the breathy moan that spills from your lips his tongue licking it from your mouth. He gives you a few rubs before his finger is trailing back down your slick, finger teasing your entrance before he’s pushing it into the knuckle working it inside of you. Your head pushes into the pillow beneath your head, soft moans falling from you lips. Bucky's working in a second finger when the sound of your phone vibrating startles you both, you look to your night stand eyes wide. Your tempted to let it go to voicemail, “answer it,” Bucky murmurs against the skin of your jaw.

A whine leaves your lips as you reach over the best that you can with Bucky still on you. You look at the vibrating device, Sam’s name staring back at you, “can’t I just let it go to voicemail,” you whine. Bucky shakes his head, “answer it” he murmurs fingers thrusting tentatively. You groan answering the call bringing the phone to your ear, “this better be good Wilson,”

Your breath is catching in your throat but it's not due to Sam’s infectious laugh in reply to your grumbling answer, oh no, rather its due to Bucky’s thumb currently circling your sensitive clit.

“You know for you being gone a week I thought you’d be happier to hear from me, I'm beginning to think you’ve been spending too much time with tin man,”

You bit your tongue to keep the moan from spilling out as Bucky thrusted his fingers within you, “You have no idea,” you grounded out glaring at Bucky.

He gave you his best Cheshire grin, his thumb gliding over your clit causing a gasp to fall from your lips, “Uh you okay y/n?” Sam questioned.

You coughed clearing your throat, “yeah I'm fine Sam, thought I saw something on the bathroom floor is all, so what has you calling me Wilson?” you questioned needing to hurry this call up.

“we’re all heading out to the bar tonight, in like ten maybe fifteen minutes tops if you’re up for it.”

You went to answer but Bucky beat you to it, “yeah we’re up for it,” he called out, your eyes widened in horror.

“Was that Barnes?” Sam questioned the laugh evident in his voice.

“Yeah he’s a little obsessed with me,” you ground out, smacking at his chest.

Sam barked out a laugh, “we’ll see you in fifteen Wilson, Barnes has to help me with something and then we’ll be down.” You didn’t wait for his reply as you hung up the call, flinging the phone to the side.

Your hips roll against his hand, a low laugh falling from Bucky’s lip as he continues to work his fingers into you, “can't believe you hung up on Wilson sweetheart,” he chuckled his teeth nipping at your jaw.

You aren’t able to give him the remark that sits on your tongue as he draws a low moan from you his fingers scissoring inside of you curling against that toe-curling spot.

“Fu- fuck bucky,” you moan hand curling around his wrist that's finger deep inside of you.

“you’re so wet doll, does it feel good, you like having my fingers fucking you like this?” he questioned breathily.

You nod your head not finding the words through the moans he’s drawing from you.

“Use your words angel, am I making you feel good?”

“Yes,” you moan, “ohh god yes please don’t stop,” you begged your body writhing beneath him as he brought you closer to that sweet release.

You could feel that sweet release building, your body teetering on the edge of a delicious orgasm.

You were so close, almost there, almost, a loud whine was leaving your lips as Bucky pulled his finger from you, his body sliding off yours.

“Bucky,” you moaned.

He chuckled lowly from where he stood at the side of your bed, “ten minutes till we’re supposed to meet the team downstairs doll,” he grinned putting on the clothes he had discarded hours ago.

You gaped at him as you watched him head towards the door, “I’ll see you downstairs sweetheart, you might want to get dressed don’t want to keep them waiting,” he grinned throwing you a wink before he was slipping out of your room.

Your head flew back into your pillow a loud groan leaving your lips at the unsatisfied ached between your legs.

“So you going to tell me what Tin man was helping you with before I called?” Sam grinned cheekily eyes twinkling in the low light of the bar. You rolled your eyes but smiled behind the glass of whiskey in your hand, “he was just checking up on me, pretty sure you heard the mission went south,” you murmured taking a sip from your glass

Sam nodded taking a sip himself, “yeah Steve briefed me on it, you okay?” He questioned.

You shrugged your shoulders, “as okay as anyone can be,” you smiled.

You and Sam kept up the small talk at the high top table the team had chosen, though the others had left you long ago for the darkened corner of the bar where the pool tables sat lined up.

“You wanna go shoot pool with the others?” Sam questioned throwing back the last of his drink, you mirrored his actions.

“Sure, I love watching Natasha slaughter Barnes and Rogers,” you grinned grabbing his extended hand as he pulled you towards the team. You got there just in time to see Natasha grinning cheekily, Steve throwing his head back in defeat a heavy sigh falling from his lips. “See,” you said smackin Sam’s chest, “we got here just in time to see them get their asses handed to them, though I don’t think Steve needs anymore,” you grinned throwing Steve a wink. A laugh fell from your lips at the sight of Steve’s cheeks taking on a pink hue, “Awe Steve,” you cooed.

“you know y/n you’re a lot of talk for someone who never play’s pool when we come out, pretty sure you could get your ass handed to you too,” Bucky spoke up from where he stood on the other side of the pool table, leaning on the pool stick.

“pick on someone your own size Barnes, don’t be a sore loser,” you teased.

“oh come on y/n, Bucky has a point you never play pool,” Steve added in his eyes glinting in amusement.

You groaned, “if I play one game will you guys stop picking on me?” you questioned arms crossed.

Bucky perked up, “i’ll show you the ropes doll,”

You shook your head a laugh falling from your lips, “I think I'd rather have Nat teach me,”

“I think Natasha's a little preoccupied with schooling Sam, so whaddya say doll?”

“as long as you show me the ropes,”

“oh don’t worry sweetheart,” he spoke voice dropping low as he came behind you, “I'll show you everything I know.

You’re wound tight and he’s not even touching you, at least not in the way you need him to. Your skin is glistening with sweat under the lowlight of the bar, he sidles up behind you, his voice ghosts over your ear, “your turn,” the word alone has shivers running down your spine, you’re not sure you want to go again.

With shaky hands you get into position, you can hear his tongue clicking behind you, his left hand runs down the back of your relaxed fit dress, pushing you down lower to the table, his right hand obstructed from the view of any onlookers climbs up your thigh till its nestled in the warmth of your legs, his hand cupping your mound, “you’ve got to master your stroke,” he instructs, his index finger stroking you through your dampened panties. You bite back a moan that climbs up your throat, “during your practice strokes,” he murmurs into your ear his index finger circling your aching clit, “your eyes should switch from the contact point on the cue ball to the point you’re aiming for on the object ball,”

Your hair catches on your damp forehead obscuring how your mouth drops open slightly in pleasure, your so close. He had been winding you up just like this every time it was your turn, it looked innocent to the eye of anyone who might look your way it was anything but innocent underneath. His fingers are working you over faster, you’re trying to focus on the task at hand but your mind can do nothing but focus on the immense pleasure he’s bringing you.

“Now,” he speaks up bringing you back from your pleasurable haze, “line up the pool tip,” he presses his clothed erection against your backside, grinding ever so slightly, “up with the cue ball, aim” he murmurs flicking your clit, “and hit, away,” just as you’re about to push over the edge he stops all movement, a pained gasp leaves your lips as he retracts his hands from you panties, rubbing your slick on your thigh.

“darn doll, you were so close,”

You turn on wobbly legs to glare at him, “I've had enough, I don’t want to play this stupid game” you ground out, “I'll be right back,” you mutter pulling away from the pool tables. You can hear him chuckle lowly behind you. You pass Natasha on your way to the restroom to hopefully freshen up your heated skin, “you alright y/n you look like you’ve just run a marathon,” she grins.

You groan but let a laugh slip past your lips, “Barnes is just really making it hard for me to get the hang of pool, he's working me up only to let me down at the last second,”

Natasha patted your shoulder, “you’ll get there, before long you’ll be handing his ass to him,” she teased pulling a grin from you, “we’re ready to call it a night, would you like us to wait for you?” she questioned.

“You guys can go ahead, I still need to get my tab after I freshen up,” you responded pushing back your sweat slicked hair.

“You sure?” she asked, “i can get one of the guys to wait for you,”

You shook your head, “it’s fine really Nat, you guys can go ahead, I shouldn’t be too far behind you guys.”

“only if you're sure,” she replied.

“positive,” you smiled.

You waved at her as you walked towards the restroom desperately needing to wet your heated skin, and maybe wipe away at the slick that had accumulated on your lace panties, it was beginning to grow uncomfortable.

You walked into the one stall restroom not bothering to lock the restroom door behind you as you wouldn’t be taking long. Staring into the grimy mirror you turned on the tap, running your fingers in the cool water. You ran your damp fingers over your face feeling instantly cooled, though it was doing nothing for the throbbing ache between your legs. Your patting your face down with a napkin when the door is swinging open, you turn toward it wide eyed to see Bucky walking in, “what the hell Bucky, I thought you left with the team,” you said your hand reaching up to feel your racing heart.

He didn’t reply as he gave you’re his back, a almost inaudible click resonated through the dingy restroom, “Uh buck, what are you,” you paused watching him closely, “what are you doing?”

He turned to face you then his eyes clouded over with lust, you’re barely able to get a word out before he’s closing the distance between the two of you, his lips crashing into yours roughly. It’s a battle of tongue and teeth as he pushes your back up against the wall closest to the sink. You grow dizzy of the feel of his tongue dancing with yours a loud breathy gasp falls from your lips as you both pull away for air, Bucky dropping to his knees. “Buck what-” he’s lifting up your dress, head darting between your legs to bite at your inner thighs. Your head falls back against the tiled wall, fingers webbing into his hair, “You think you’re the only one who’s tired of playing this little game, you think you’re the only one who’s been on edge?” he questions huskily looking up at you through his lashes where his head rests between your legs.

“Barnes what has gotten into you,” you moan when he hoists your leg over his shoulder his warm breath fanning over your dampened lace panties.

“I’ve read through a lot of teasing,” he murmurs running his tongue along your covered folds, “but I've yet to come across someone edging, teasing their partner till they’re falling apart at the seams,” he licks again pressing his tongue in deeper, “and doll,” he whispers eyes catching yours, “you’re bursting,”

Bucky makes quick work of pulling your panties to the side, exposing your slick wet folds to him. He doesn’t waste another second as he leans in burying his face between your legs. His tongue delves in licking, sucking, lapping at your sensitive core. Your head is thrown back in ecstasy, mouth dropped open in a moan as your finger pulls at his long brunette locks. His tongue is working you over trailing up your folds to seek out your clit, he flicks over it once, twice, before he zones in on it, sucking flicking the sweetened little bud.

“Fuck Bucky,” you moan, “please don’t stop, please don’t stop,” you cry.

As soon as those words spill from your mouth, he’s doing just that, a cry falls from your lips as he inches up your body. His lips are finding yours his tongue sliding into your mouth letting you taste yourself on him. Your shaky hands reach down to unbutton his jeans, but they’re not coming undone as quick as you’d like, “Fuck Buck please,” you whine into his mouth.

His hands are taking a hold of yours stalling all movements, he’s looking down at you, eyes hooded with lust, “you’ve made it this far baby, just a little bit longer,” he grinned giving your lips a sweet peck. He holds eye contact with you as he unzips his jeans, pulling himself from the tight confines of his jeans, he lifts your leg onto his hip, his cock splitting through your folds.

You hold your breath as you wait, his tip teasing your entrance, a broken moan falls from your lips as he bottoms out your arms wrap around his shoulders gripping him to you, it only takes a few thrust and your coming undone. Your mouth drops open in a loud moan as your orgasm take you by surprise, your back arches against the wall, bucky wraps his arms tightly around your waist his head burying in your chest as he continues to fuck you through your orgasm. Choked sobs are falling from your lips as your vision blurs, another orgasm washing over you from the pleasure you had been withheld from all evening.

Bucky is biting at the skin of your breast, low grunts falling from his lips and you can swear its music to your post orgasmic ears. You clench around him tightly bringing him to his own end, his warmth spurting deep inside of you.

Your fingers thread into his hair as you pull his lips to yours, swallowing the moans that fall from his lips as he shallowly thrusts into you. Your thighs are quivering in his hold, barely keeping you upright if it hadn’t been for him pinning you to the wall.

Bucky’s head falls to your neck, his breaths coming out labored, you can feel puffs of laughter against your skin. “what?” you questioned a hint of laughter in your own voice.

“this isn’t the way I planned on taking you after all that,” he grinned looking down at you, “didn’t see it going this way.”

“and how did you plan on taking me?” you questioned your cupping his cheek, thumb running over his bottom lip. He’s thinking over his next words, “just not like this," he whispered placing a kiss to your thumb.

For a moment you can feel the energy shift between the two of you, both of you are letting the vulnerable side of you come out, the one you were told not to let cloud this agreement, yet here it was.

You both stand there just staring at one another, your thigh slips from his hip, “you think your reader’s will be excited to read about this?” he questions, and just like that the bubble you were in bursts bringing you back to reality.

You open your mouth to reply but your cut off by loud knocks against the wooden door, “hey y/n, have you seen Barnes?”  

Part 5

Behind The Screen Tag-list: @ladifreakingda @georgialeighc13 @racewife2004 @multy-fandom-lover @otvlanga​ @sailorstupidsblog​ @nightshade7117​ @wantingtobekorra​ @gazzan-a​ @clarinette07​ @amanda-the-fangirl​ @im-sure-its-fine​ @sagechanoafterdark​ @heyywestman @runaway-escape​ @ilovesupersoldiers​ @unlistedpond​ @rayofdawnworld​ @badassbaker​ @spookyanairwin​ @fandom-basurero​ @krabby-tentacles​

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Forever

A Very Rogers Christmas Part 1- The Best Things In Life Are Tree

Summary: It’s that time of year again and the Rogers family prepare to go and pick their Christmas tree. But when Emmy calls with a bit of bad news, it puts a little downer on the whole thing for Katie and Steve decides to call in reinforcements to pull off the best Christmas Heist he can…

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: So here we go, Part 1 of my Stark Spangled 2020 Christmas special- A Very Rogers Christmas.  This one was written for For @sweater-daddiesdumbdork​ and @sagechanoafterdark ‘s Winter/Holiday Challenge.

Prompt- Finding the PERFECT Tree.

"Daddy, I found something else I want to ask Santa for, for Christmas." Rori bounced into the study and Steve closed his eyes on the papers he was trying to grade and sighed. "I bet you have." He mumbled before he glanced up at his daughter and couldn't help but smile at her as she skipped over to him, her long pony tail swinging behind her "What is it, Princess?" "A capybara." she said, scrambling up onto his lap. "A what?" Steve frowned. "A capybara. Look!" she turned the tablet she was holding towards him to show him a picture of the brown animal "They're like huge guinea pigs. I saw one at the zoo with Uncle Buck yesterday and when I said I wanted one he told me to tell you that I was gonna ask Santa." "Course he did." Steve sighed, mentally cursing his asshole best friend. "You know, Rori, don't think Santa can get you one of those." "Why not?" "It’s too big." He attempted “There’s nowhere for us to keep it.” "Our garden is huge!" Rori blinked at him. "And when Emmy and Petey move into the Tower he can live in the cabin." Trust her to be as damned smart as her mother. "They're wild animals honey." Steve shook his head as he tried attempt number two. "But they live in a zoo." Rori looked up at him, her face full of eager excitement “That’s not the wild.” "Yeah but that’s different." Steve reasoned patiently. "They're not like dogs or cats or regular guinea pigs. They need very special care.” "Oh." Rori looked down a little, her shoulders slumping and Steve sighed.

Fuck you, Bucky.

"Okay. Never mind." She clicked off the screen of her tablet and turned towards Steve, looking up at him with those damned green eyes. "Do you think he could get me a kitty instead?"

No, just say no… "Maybe."

Way to go, Rogers. Rori's eyes lit up and Steve inwardly groaned. It was a well-known fact in their house that whenever Dad said maybe, it meant yes. Fuck.

“I love you Daddy!” she beamed, reaching up to press a kiss to his bearded cheek before she hopped off his lap and skipped towards the door “Oh, me and momma are going to make gingerbread men for tomorrow so we can have them when we decorate the tree.”

“Can’t wait baby.” He smiled

“Are you gonna be working tomorrow afternoon?” she asked a little shyly and he shook his head.

“No, I promise.”  He assured her. “All day tomorrow is family day.”

She gave him another huge smile, one that truly warmed his entire being as it made her look even more like his wife, and then headed out of the room, her feet pattering on the tiles of the hallway as she skipped back into the other part of the house. Steve exhaled and looked back down at the paper, groaning as he realised he’d lost his place. He’d been home early that afternoon hoping for more peace and quiet than he got in his office at the University to concentrate on getting through all these and for the most it had worked, until Jamie and Rori had arrived home from school full of it as usual. Katie had kept them out of his way for the most but the realisation that Christmas was well on the way had hit the eldest two and whipped them up into a fever.

Not that Steve particularly cared. He adored this time of year. It was Katie’s holiday and from the day after Thanksgiving the Christmas period started in full throttle in the Rogers household, and they’d picked tomorrow, 2 weeks before the schools broke up, to go and pick the trees for their lounge and hallway. He was a little disappointed that it hadn’t snowed yet, there had been a good covering the previous year but, still it was set to be a cold and dry day so they could still get bundled up and have their hot chocolate and snacks as usual.

He rubbed at his eyes and focussed, reading through the paper in front of him on the ‘Strategy, Diplomacy and politics of Axis and Allied forces in WW2’, wishing to God he was marking something on the course he was actually employed to teach now- Fine Arts- but all those had been done and graded last week. This was the module of History that he taught, because as the Uni said- he was a living, breathing expert.

Aparently.

An hour or so later he finished red-penning the final six paged essay, with a proud smile as that one had been particularly good and he quickly checked it over once more, making sure he’d captured all the notes on the electronic copy and queued it up to send on Monday, just like Katie had shown him how to, so that each student had the hard copy and soft copy back. He stood up, stretched, turned off his laptop and headed through to the main area of the house, the smell of baking and cooking hitting his nostrils as he went.

He walked into the kitchen to find Rori kneeling on one of the tall stools over the island-slash-breakfast bar, her hands and face smeared in pink icing as she decorated a gingerbread man, her little tongue poking out of the side of her mouth in concentration. Katie was stood supervising Harry who was also covered in frosting, this one bright green. Flossie sat in the highchair opposite, banging a spoon on the tray occasionally letting out a yell or babble of something incoherent. As soon as she saw Steve she gave a huge grin and her shouts became louder and he smiled.

“Hi Floss-Floss!” he beamed, crossing to drop a kiss to her head before he looked across at Katie “Where’s Jamie?”

“Upstairs in his room.” Katie gave a little sigh “He said, and I quote, ‘I’m ten now, far too old to decorate gingerbread, mom.’ I could have cried there and then Steve.” She finished with a pout.

Steve gave her a sympathetic smile, the fact her eldest baby boy was growing up was something he knew she hated “Yeah, I bet he won’t be too old to eat them, though.” He appeased and she smiled.

“That’s what I said.” Rori gave a dramatic roll of her eyes and Steve chuckled.

“You finished Grading?” Katie asked as she gently guided Harry’s hand over the cookie shaped like a Christmas tree.

“Yeah, all done. Sorry it took so long.”

“It’s okay.” She looked up at him, smiling “Your dinner is in the oven. I already ate with the kids. Sorry, I was starving.”

“I didn’t expect you to wait.”  Steve walked over the room and dropped a kiss to her cheek. “Thanks, Sweetheart.”

He made his way over to the Aga stove and opened the door, giving a little groan when he saw she’d done his favourite, a Mac and Cheese bake laced with chicken, chorizo and broccoli. He turned to look at her and didn’t miss the flicker of a smile on her face as she knew what he was thinking, before he pulled out the plate giving a yell as it burnt his fingers, dropping it onto the side with a clatter.

“Careful daddy, hot!” Harry turned to face him, and Katie burst out laughing.

“Yeah, thanks Son.” Steve tried not to roll his eyes as he sucked his thumb. Grabbing a tea-towel he gripped the plate, found some cutlery and sat down at the table to the side of the kitchen, tucking in.

“I finished all mine, Momma.” Rori grinned, placing the tube of squeezy frosting down on the side. Steve watched as Katie moved to look over Rori’s shoulder.

“Good job sweetie.” She smiled, “Creative, I’ve never seen a pink cat before.”

Steve paused and looked at Rori as she grinned “I know they’re not really pink, and my kitty won’t be, but it can have a pink collar.”

At that he winced and hastily shoved another forkful of food into his mouth, praying that the conversation stopped there.

Katie sighed “Rori we’ve been over this, you can’t have a cat.”

“Daddy said I could.”

Shit.

Katie’s eyes shot to Steve and he gave her his best innocent look, but from the way her features grew stern he knew he was utterly busted and he swallowed the food in his mouth which turned to cement in his throat.

“No, that’s not what I said.” Steve shook his head.

“You said maybe.” Rori shrugged “Same thing.”

“We getting a kitty?” Harry asked, looking at Katie.

“No.” she shook her head.

“But I asked Daddy if Santa would bring me one and he said maybe.” Rori looked at Katie.

“Well Daddy is wrong.” She glared at Steve and he visibly shrank in his seat. Katie’s green eyes narrowed before they turned back to Rori. “Santa can’t bring live animals. It’s in the rules.”

“What rules?”

“The Christmas Rules” Katie said quickly “No live animals. It’s not fair on them. They don’t like the sleigh.”

“But…”

“No buts Rori.” Katie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose “I’m sorry honey, but it’s not gonna happen.”

Rori pouted a little but she knew when she was beat and glanced down at the cookies on the tray before she looked up, grinning smugly. “I’ll just ask Uncle Bucky to get me one. He got me Dory.”

“Oh for the love of…” Katie spluttered “Uncle Bucky won’t get you one either.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’ll tell him not to.” Katie looked at her “We have Stark. No more animals.”

Rori folded her arms and at that point Steve stepped in, sensing an impending tantrum.

“Aurora.” He said sternly and she turned her head to face him as he pointed his fork at her. “Enough.”

She glared at him before she sighed and looked at Katie “Can I get down now please?”

Katie obliged and pulled her stool out a little allowing Rori to hop down. “Stay right there little miss.”

“Why?” Rori frowned as Katie headed to the sink, coming back with a cloth. With a groan, Rori held out her hands so Katie could wipe them clean, along with the little smear of icing on her face “20 minutes and then its bath time. We’re up early in the morning.”

“Ooh, yeah!” Rori bounced excitedly “To pick our trees. Hey, can I get one for my room?”

Katie hesitated before she shrugged “You know, I saw some in the shop that already have the lights on and they change colour. We’ll get a big one for the lounge and hallway like normal and I’ll get you a special one. And you get to keep it for next year and the year after.”

Rori pondered this for a moment before she shook her head “I want a real one from the farm.”

Katie groaned, and threw her hands out to the side “Fine, just, go and watch TV or something in the Play Room.”

“I watch TV too please, Momma?” Harry asked and Katie nodded, cleaning him up too before she lifted him down off the stool. He toddled after Rori, yelling for her to wait and as soon as they were gone Katie rounded on Steve.

“Honey, I…” he began and winced as she exploded on him.

“Seriously? A damned cat?”

“She caught me unawares.”

“She always catches you unawares!” Katie scoffed “After six, almost seven years I’d have thought you’d be used it by now.”

“I only said-“

“And as usual I’m left to be the bad guy.” Katie ranted, shaking her head as she moved to turn Flossie’s chair so she was facing the table. “You’re an asshole.”

“This is technically Bucky’s fault.”

“Oh, no, Steven Grant Rogers! Don’t you are try and blame this one on Buck.” She hissed.

“But he took her to the zoo and told her to ask for a capybara!” Steve practically whined “When I said no she asked for a cat, the maybe just slipped out.” Katie paused, her arms folded, face furious and Steve peered up at her giving her a little smile “Don’t be mad, come on baby. I didn’t mean it.”

“You’re still an asshole.” She grumbled, before she crossed to the fridge and pulled out the wine. “And for that you can deal with bedtime. I’m going for a bath.”

“Sure, not a problem.” Steve nodded, swallowing more of his food. Katie poured herself a large glass before she moved to put the bottle back and then changed her mind. With the bottle in one hand, full glass in the other she made for the door. “I love you.” Steve shot as she passed him, and despite her annoyed demeanour, the slight smile that played on her face told him he wasn’t in too much trouble.  

****

All kids were bathed and in bed little over an hour later. The youngest three settled down to sleep, Jamie instructed he had an hour of TV or reading time before lights off.

“Ok Dad.” He nodded, running his hand through his hair as he tidied up his games console a little, Stark curled up on the bed.

“I’ll be in to check.” Steve looked at him, and Jamie rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I got it. You can trust me.”

“I know.” Steve gave a chuckle “Night son.” He crossed the room to drop a kiss to his head and Jamie pushed him away.

“Gerroff, I’m ten.”

“Yeah, well, you’re still my kid so…” Steve grumbled, and Jamie burst into laughter as the pair of them began to play fight, Jamie digging Steve in the ribs with a well-aimed jab. “Ouch! “ Steve stood up, rubbing at his side, that had hurt a little too much for his liking. “Nice shot.”

“Bucky said I had a good right hook.”

Steve rolled his eyes “I don’t wanna know how he even found that out.”

“He has a punch bag in the garage.” Jamie shrugged as he flopped down onto his bed. “Like yours. He was teaching me to swing.”

“I could teach you that.” Steve replied, a little petulantly.

“Will you?”

“No. You’re ten.” He shot back and Jamie let out a groan of frustration, before Steve chuckled “Ok, I’ll teach you a little IF you promise not to use it anywhere but on the punch bag.”

“But what if I need to use it?”

“Well, that’s different.” Steve pondered, before he shook his head. “But you’re far too young to be getting into situations like that.”

“Uncle Buck said you were fighting people form the age of six. And getting your ass kicked.”

“Well, you do as I say…”

“Not as I do, yeah I got it.” Jamie grinned and Steve arched an eyebrow before he made his way to the door. He paused and turned back to look at his son, not for the first time taking in how damned tall and broad he was for his age. He pointed to Stark “Don’t let your mother catch him on the bed.”

“You know she says the same thing about you.” Jamie looked at him and Steve chuckled.

“I do, but let’s just pretend I don’t okay?”

“Okay, night dad. Love you.”

“Love you too.” Steve smiled, closing the door behind him.

He made his way back downstairs and into the lounge, and paused as he saw Katie talking into the laptop, her eyes brimming with tears.

“Don’t worry about it.” She said softly, and he could tell she was fighting to keep her face straight as Emmy’s voice came from the other side.

“I’m just gutted we can’t get home to come with you guys for the tree.”

“What’s going on?” Steve frowned as he sat next to Katie on the sofa, looking at Emmy and Peter as they both waved to him on the screen “Hey Kids.”

“The UK has been caught up in a huge snow storm.” Katie turned to him. “Their flight has been cancelled.”

“Bummer.” Steve’s frown deepened “Is there nothing from another airport?”

“Not in London.” Emmy shook her head “And the roads are that bad, even if we managed somewhere else…”

“Don’t wanna risk driving Mr R.” Pete shrugged and Steve had to give it to him, that was a sensible move.

“Wise decision.” Steve bit his lip, before he turned to Katie “Can we not get The Stark jet over? You guys should have used that anyway, not gone commercial.”

The irony of his statement didn’t pass him by, as there’d been a time when he had hated using a private jet as he felt it was ostentatious, but he’d fast learned to live with it as it was less hassle and a damned sight comfier and quicker too.

“I told you we didn’t want to.” Emmy shot back and Peter hastily cut in to prevent an argument.

“Already tried Happy before we called. He can’t get in any airfield be it private or other. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” Katie shook her head “If you need anything just call. Have you got a place to stay?”

“Yeah, The Savoy found us another room.” Emmy shrugged before she grimaced “I’m gonna have to put it on my credit card though.”

“Don’t worry about that.” Katie shook her head “Just do what you gotta do, we’ll sort the bill out. Do you need us to wire you some cash or-“

“No, we’ve got enough between us for that.” Pete smiled “Just the hotel. We could get somewhere cheaper if that’s-“

“If it’s that bad out there you can stay where you are.” Steve shook his head. “Don’t worry about the money kids, it’s not important.”

“Just call us if you need anything.” Katie added.

“Thanks Mom. Look, we’re gonna go try and get something to eat and then sleep” Emmy sighed “It’s past 1 am now.”

“Sure, call us tomorrow okay, keep us updated.” Steve instructed and Emmy nodded.

“Will do. Love you both.”

“And you.” Katie smiled “Stay safe, and look after each other.”

“Got it.” Emmy grinned and with that she blew them both a kiss as Peter waved and the screen went blank.

Katie bit her lip before she tapped at the keyboard of her laptop “I’m going to send her some money, just in case. I know she has plenty in her savings, but…”

Steve nodded “Good idea. Those are for a rainy day, not a snowy one.”

Katie gave a small smile as she logged into the banking, and hesitated before she transferred a few thousand over to Emmy and closed the laptop, running her hands over her face. Steve saw her shouldes shake and he gave a sigh, pulling her to him.

“Hey, come on. They’re safe. In the poshest hotel known to man.” He pressed a kiss to her head “No doubt thinking this is some kind of huge romantic adventure. Snowed in, in London, with a mini-bar, room service.”

At that thought he grimaced, as his mind took him to a very dark place about just exactly what the spider kid would be doing to his daughter in said hotel room but he shook himself out of it as Katie spoke, sniffling a little.

“I know it’s just, well we started this tradition with Emmy that first Christmas she lived with us.” Her voice cracked “We went with Tony, Pep and Nat remember?”

“I could I forget.” Steve chuckled, his hands rubbing Katie’s back “You were almost five months pregnant and had that jumper on with a huge Christmas pudding on the front.”

“I’ve still got that.” Her voice was muffled as her face pressed into his Henley.

“And Pepper was going mad when Tony bought that nine foot tree for their lounge.”

“Ours wasn’t much smaller.” Katie laughed, leaning back to wipe her eyes. “You had to trim the top off.”

Steve chuckled, his hands cupping her face “A few days after that we found out bump was blue. Hello Jamie.”

“God it seems so long ago.”

“It was.” Steve smiled pressing a kiss to her lips. “11 years.”

“Yeah.” Katie looked at him “We’ve been through a lot since then.”

Steve nodded, as he wiped her face with his thumbs “And a lot worse than this. I know it’s disappointing, kitten, and I’m gutted as well, but it can’t be helped. We’ll still have a good time and we can go out with Emmy and Peter when they get back, nice meal and a few drinks somewhere instead, just the four of us. Start a new tradition now she’s all grown up.”

“Yeah suppose.” Katie sighed “I mean when they moved out in the New Year, they might not wanna come with us to get a tree anymore.”

“Like that’s gonna happen.” Steve snorted “She’ll simply be getting one for her own place. You know she loves Christmas as much as you. All the kids do. Because you make it so special.”

“It isn’t all down to me.” She smiled “You help.”

“It’s definitely your speciality.” Steve shook his head “You do the baking, the carols, the cooking…suss the decorations out.”

“Yeah, but you hang them. And you’re the one that started leaving Santa footprints by the hearth.”

“Okay so it’s a team effort.” Steve shrugged, dropping another kiss to her lips. “It always is when the kids are concerned.” He pulled back a little and nodded to her glass “You want another?”

“I wasn’t going to but yeah, now I do.”

Steve chuckled “I’ll go get us a drink, you find us something suitably Christmassy to watch.”

He stood, pressing his lips to the crown of Katie’s head before he wandered into the kitchen. As he closed the door behind him he pulled out his phone. He’d had an idea, but hadn’t wanted to mention it to Katie just in case it didn’t work…but if it did, well, he was going to reunite his family for their tradition and earn himself major husband points.

Win win situation.

“Hey punk.” Bucky drawled as he picked up.“What’s crackalackin?”

“God you talk some shit.” Steve rolled his eyes and Bucky laughed

“Sorry, we were watching Madagascar.”

“Yeah, I know where it’s from. I got five kids, remember. Six if I count you.”

“Well you could argue Diva Doll counts for two so you really have seven.”

“Yeah, speaking of which, I got a bone to pick with you about her and a damned capybara.” Steve narrowed his eyes as he spoke and there was a pause before Bucky burst out laughing. “Yeah, laugh it up, jerk. That got me in some major shit before.”

“You didn’t say yes?”

“No of course I didn’t.” Steve sighed “But she sideswiped me asking for a damned cat and I said maybe, so…”

“You fucking moron.”

“Whatever, listen, that’s not why I’m calling anyway.” Steve sighed, his voice growing serious. “I need a favour, Buck.”

“I’m listening.” Bucky replied, before Steve explained the predicament and possible solution. When he finished there was a pause and Bucky let out a long whistle. “Man, that’s…”

“I know, I know.” Steve sighed “But I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t desperate. Katie’s heartbroken Emmy can’t get home.”

“Well, we can’t have the second most important woman in my life upset now can we?” Bucky replied “Leave it with me.”

“Cheers buddy.”

“You’ll owe me a life time of favours if I can pull this off.”

“We’ll call it quits for you almost getting me couched.”

“Not my fault you can’t say no to your likkle Princessa.” Bucky responded and Steve snorted.

“You’ve met her, right?”

There as another pause and Bucky laughed “Point taken.”

“Not a word to Katie.” Steve instructed “Just in case you can’t do it.”

“You seriously doubt me after all this time?” Bucky sighed “That hurts Stevie.”

“You know what else will hurt?” Steve shot back “My foot up your ass.”

“You want me to do this or not?” Bucky scoffed “Because threatening me aint gonna make me wanna do you any favours.”

“No but not wanting to see my wife upset is.”

“You fight dirty, Steven.” Bucky’s voice was low and Steve could imagine the narrowed eyes he was pulling as he spoke. “Okay, I’ll call Sam now. Leave it with me.”

“Thanks Buck.”

Steve cut the call and stuffed his phone back in his pocket, running a hand over his beard. Buck was right, it was a big ask and ridiculously over the top but, well, nothing was too much for him where his family was concerned. And after everything they’d been through this year what with Flossie’s horrific birth and Katie’s post-partum depression, his amazingly brave and gorgeous wife deserved the damned world. With a sigh he yanked open the fridge as he pulled out Katie’s wine and a beer for him, simply hoping that it worked.

**** “You good?” Steve asked as Jamie hopped into the back of the Q7, taking his place on the rear row of seats.

“Yup.” Jamie grinned “I prefer it back here, Rori can’t bug me.”

“Wanna bet?” Rori turned her head and peered at him from her place in the middle of the second row and Steve shot her a look.

“Enough. I hear one sound outta you that’s annoying him, we’re coming straight home.” He said sternly. Rori eyed him shrewdly, as if weighing up whether he was serious or not and he raised his eyebrows, challenging her.

“Ok Daddy.” She shrugged, turning back round. Steve shot Jamie a wink as turned and collapsed Flossie’s little stroller. He slotted it down the side of Jamie’s seat before he shut the trunk and then quickly inspected the roof rack. Satisfied he looked up just as Katie came out of the house, Flossie on her hip, Harry jumping down the steps in front of her. He headed over to his dad and peeked up, Steve giving a laugh as his little woollen hat slipped down over his eyes.

“Come here, buddy.” He said, swinging him into his arms. The little boy gave a giggle as Steve pulled his hat straight so he could see.

“Thanks Daddy!” he smiled and Steve pressed a kiss to his rosy cheek.

“No problem. You ready to get a tree?”

He nodded “Big one!” he threw his arms out wide and Steve nodded seriously.

“The biggest.”

Ten minutes or so later they were sailing out of Brooklyn in the winter morning sun, heading for the tree farm some forty or so minutes away. True to her word, Rori was behaving and chatting to Harry, Jamie was quiet in the back doing something on his tablet and Katie was gently humming to something on the radio. Steve’s hand reached over for hers and he entwined their fingers, gently bringing her arm across his body, pressing a kiss to her wrist.

The journey pass uneventfully and as Steve announced they had arrived the kids all gave a cheer. He parked the car up and then the disembarking began along with issued orders for Jamie and Rori to stay where they were as they sorted the youngest two.

“I think I’ll just carry Floss.” Katie glanced around. “Pushing her stroller is gonna be a pain. I’ll put her in the carrier.”

“You sure?” Steve asked “I would say I’d do it but…”

“You’re gonna be carrying trees, yeah I know.” Katie waved him away. “Its fine, she’s not heavy. Besides, she’ll be too big to do this with next year.”

Steve smiled at her wistful tone, and between them they had Flossie strapped to Katie’s back in no time, having become experts at it over the years. Katie glanced over her shoulder as Flossie gave her a hug grin, before she peeked around and started to gabble animatedly.

“Ready?” Steve looked around and held the hand that wasn’t containing the saw out, Rori taking it as Katie took Harry’s, Jamie falling into step at her other side next to Steve who strategically placed himself between his eldest son and Rori to avoid any potential arguments between the two siblings.

“Want me to take that Dad?” Jamie asked, nodding to the saw. Steve hesitated then shrugged, it had the safety cover on so he handed it over, Jamie slinging it over his shoulder proudly, stepping in front of them a little and Harry wriggled his hand free of Katie’s and ran forward to take Jamie’s. Jamie smiled down at him and Steve shared a glance with Katie as she smiled at him, slipping her hand into his. The family made their way to the entrance and as they approached the various little trade stands, one of which was selling various hot drinks and baked snacks. Katie took a deep breath and smiled, the warming scents of spices, cinnamon and pine hitting her nostrils.

“Smells exactly the same.” She beamed and then frowned as Steve was looking around, blatantly not listening to her as he was busy studying something to their right.

“Hey!” she tugged on his hand and he glanced down at her.

“Sorry, honey.” He diverted his attention “Just saw someone I know.”

“Oh, from work?” she asked.

“Not exactly.” He nodded in the direction he had been looking and Katie spun at the same time Rori let out a shriek.

“Emmy!” she yelled, wrenching her hand free of Steve’s and bolting towards her sister as she strode towards them alongside Peter, Bucky and Sam.

“I don’t-how?” Katie was struggling for words at the sheer emotion of seeing her eldest daughter, who should still be stranded in England, sweeping Rori into hug. “Steve? What?”

“You got Bucky and Sam to thank.” He said gently, as she spun between them all, before she strode forward meeting Emmy halfway and throwing her arms around her.

“Hey mom!” Emmy smiled, before she pulled back and gently waggled Flossie’s hand. “Hi Floss!”

“How did you get here?” Katie sniffed, wiping her eyes, chuckling before she gave Pete a hug.

“Quinjet.” Emmy grinned “It was awesome. Hey Dad!”

“Hey, sweetheart.” Steve swept her up into a huge hug, picking her up slightly off the ground kissing her head. “Nice to have you home.”

“Hold up, a Quinjet?” Katie looked at Emmy, then to Bucky who shrugged.

“Yeah well Steve rang me last night begging for my help…” he began, putting on a whiney voice “Please Buck, I can’t do this without you Buck, you know the usual.” Steve rolled his eyes as Bucky sniggered. “So, me and Birdbrain set off on a daring rescue mission.”

“Yeah, we totally used and abused Fury’s equipment.” Sam chuckled, as he pressed a kiss to Katie’s cheek as he gave her a hug. “He’s gonna be pissed when he finds out.”

“Oh, screw him!” Katie gave a laugh as she turned to Bucky, wrapping her arms round him. “Thank you so much!”

“Anything for you darlin’” he beamed before she stepped back and spun to face Steve, reaching up and grabbing his face. With a smile she pulled him down to meet her in a long, deep kiss.

“Thank you.” She whispered against his lips, and he beamed at her, his nose brushing hers. “I love you, so much.”

“Love you too.” He smiled, before he drew himself up, a little embarrassed at their PDA in front of his two friends and the kids. “Right, who’s ready to go tree picking?”

“We’ll leave you to it.” Bucky smirked as various excited shouts rang out around them. “I’ve got stuff to do with Jen and Sam’s…ahhhh, crap.” The smile on his face turned into a grimace and Steve spun round to see a familiar figure in a trench coat and eyepatch stood by a black SUV watching from a distance.

“Son of a-” Steve snorted, shaking his head as Fury started walking towards of them. “He still knows everything.”

“You have no idea. “Sam muttered.

“Oh, trust me, we do.” Katie grinned as Fury stopped in front of them.

“Someone wanna tell me why one of my jets was in London this morning?” Fury looked at Bucky, then to Sam, then to Peter, all three of them giving him an innocent look.

“Well, there was a thing.” Bucky shrugged “Emergency.”

“Emergency.” Fury dead panned “So nothing to do with a certain Miss Rogers and Mr Parker being stuck in London in snow storm?”

“How do you know this stuff?” Bucky looked at him.

“I told you Barnes, you wanna get one up on me you gotta keep both eyes open.” He levelled him with a look. “Happy called me in a flap to see if I could action a pick up and I told him I wasn’t running a damned Uber service. And then one of them went missing so I put two and two together and looks like I came up with four” He paused and shrugged, smirking a little “Plus, you forgot to wipe the mission log.”

“Damned it Tin Man!” Sam shoved Bucky “You dick, I told you!”

As the two men began to squabble Fury raised his eyebrows and turned to Steve and then Katie, a small smile flickered across his face “Nova, Cap. Long-time no see.”

“Hi Nick.” Steve smiled, reaching out and shaking his hand.

Fury jerked his head as Katie shook his hand, his eyes roving over each of their kids in turn. “I’ll say. You’ve been busy I see.”

Katie gave a huff “One way of putting it.”

Nick arched an eyebrow before he sighed and turned to Bucky and Sam who were still bickering. “Imma let this one slide.” He spoke loudly, the two men instantly turning to face him. “But only because it’s the holidays and I’m in a good mood.”

“You know technically Stark Industries owns half those jets. Tony paid for and designed a lot of the tech on them after all.” Katie quipped and Nick looked at her, before he let out a laugh.

“You’re more like your brother than you’ll ever care to admit” he shook his head as she snorted, pointing at her.

“Worse people to be like.” She smiled fondly, and Fury gave one last scoff before he turned to Sam and Bucky.

“I’ll see you two later. Now, imma go get me some churros then split.” He looked back at them all “Merry Christmas.”

As they all waved him off, watching the curious glances he attracted as he strode towards the hot food stand and then Harry tugged on Steve’s sleeve, causing him to turn his attention from Fury to the little boy.

“Daddy, who’s the pirate?” Harry asked.

There was a pause before Katie burst out laughing, Steve following suite as they both shared a knowing glance, remembering Tony’s fond little nickname for their one time director.

The Goth Pirate.

“He’s an old friend of mine and your momma’s “Steve explained before he glanced up, not surprised to find that once more Fury had disappeared from sight. “We haven’t seen him in a while. And I doubt we will again for a long time.”

There were more hugs shared and after another final thank you to Sam and Bucky, Katie demanding they come over later for drinks, the four remaining adults and four kids all headed into the farm and the chaos began as they began to scout for their perfect trees.

“So we need two large ones.” Katie spoke, “And one for Emmy and Pete in the Cabin and a smaller one for Rori’s room.” she paused “Jamie, did you want one for your room too?”

“Nah, it’s okay.” He shook his head “Thanks though.”

“So four over all.” Steve nodded. “Okay gang, let’s find us some trees.”

They decided to get Rori’s first as it would be smaller and easier to carry once they’d picked it. They set about walking down the various aisles, and before long the jokes started flowing and they were getting worse and worse with time.

“What would you get if you ate the Christmas decorations?” Pete asked and Jamie looked at him, arching a brow. “Tinselitis.”

“Oh God.” Emmy snorted “That’s as bad as one of dad’s”

“Which reminds me.” Steve said, a smirk on his face, “Did you guys hear the forecast for Christmas eve? They’re predicting rain, deer…”

Katie and Emmy both let out a groan as Jamie and Peter howled with laughter.

“What do you call an elf that runs away from Santa’s workshop?” Jamie asked and Steve paused before he shrugged.

“No idea.”

“A rebel without a Clause…”

Katie, Steve, Emmy and Pete burst out laughing as Pete held out his hand to hi-five him. Jamie grinned.

“That’s a good one buddy.” Steve chuckled. “Where did you hear that?”

“Moo text me before.” He smiled “She said her and Auntie Pep had been googling them to put in their cards this year.”

“Like Father like daughter.” Katie smiled to herself, a little nostalgically as a memory of her brother crashed over her and Steve pulled her a little closer, his hand tightening on hers as he dropped a kiss to her head.

After half an hour or so of scouting and plenty of excited shouts and laughter, Rori paused in front of a tree that was the same height as her and she gave a gasp.

“Daddy, that one.” She pointed.

“You sure?” he cocked his head to one side. The tree was leaning to one side, the branches completely uneven, sticking out at all angles and the top was bent. “It’s a bit-”

“It’s perfect.” Rori insisted.

“Okay Princess, whatever you say.”  He looked at Katie as she smiled, her hand dropping to the back of Rori’s head. “Jamie, you got the saw?”

“Yup.” Jamie nodded, passing it over and they all watched as Steve gripped the trunk of the small tree with one hand a little higher up and began to cut it towards the bottom. He could have easily snapped the trunk with his bare hands but he played the part and in four strong swipes it pulled free with a little crack and Rori gave a shriek and clapped her hands.

“I love it!”

Once the safety cover was back on the saw they continued their search, walking towards the slightly bigger trees they spotted and Katie paused in front of a large, Norwegian spruce and reached out, gently crushing one of the needles between her fingers. She took a sniff and stepped back, nodding.

“That one.”

“I still can’t believe you pick them with the smell.” Steve shook his head.

“It’s not all the smell.” She protested “There’s a lot to consider. The height, width and spacing of the branches…this one’s just right for the corner in the lounge. And that one two down will do for the hallway.”

Steve chuckled, knowing better than to argue. “Positive?”

Katie nodded and once more Jamie passed him the saw. This time they all stepped back as Steve crouched down on the ground, expertly cutting the trunk and just the right place. As he took the final swipe, the tree pitched over to a loud shout of “Timberrrrr” from Jamie and Peter and it landed with a thud.

Harry gave a loud cackle and clapped, Flossie shrieking too as Steve then moved two down and repeated the action with a slightly smaller one that would sit in the entrance lounge directly in front of the photo of the pair of them at their wedding, so it would be the first thing anyone saw as they walked into the house.

Emmy strode past the tree to one that was behind it and then nodded to Pete “I think this one will do. I kinda like the way it fans out at the bottom.”

“Sure, Em.” He smiled “Mr R?”

“Oh, here.” Steve handed him the saw and watched as Pete cut his and Emmy’s first Christmas tree down, his arm round Katie’s waist, lips softly kissing Flossie’s cheek as the baby grinned. He arched an eyebrow as Emmy pressed a kiss to Pete’s lips, giving a soft huff as Katie dug him in the ribs, shooting him a warning glance which he returned with an innocent one of his own.

“Well, that was easy.” Emmy commented “It took us 2 hours last year.”

“They need to be right.” Katie shrugged simply, Steve and Emmy exchanging a look before Steve watched as Pete hoisted his tree easily onto his shoulder. It still surprised Steve how strong Peter was, even though it shouldn’t, he knew he was enhanced after all.

“I’ll take Rori’s, Dad.” Jamie stepped forwards, puffing his chest out a little, picking the smaller tree up easily and placing it on his shoulder, in an identical manner to Pete. Steve actively fought the urge to laugh as Jamie began to walk besides Peter and Emmy, clearly proud as punch at being able to help before he turned to Katie.

“Don’t say it.”

Katie laughed “Oh I’m gonna.” she smirked “If he was any more like you I’d be convinced he was a clone.”

Steve snorted as he bent down and easily lifted their two trees onto his shoulders, before they followed a little slower due to Harry being with them. Steve maneuvered around the other tree pickers as they went, his boot clad feet traipsing on the damp of the ground as they made their way back towards the main entrance and joined Pete, Emmy and Jamie at the place ready to pay. As the various helpers, all dressed in little Elf outfits bustled around to wrap their trees and strap them to the roof of the Audi, Katie was suddenly struck with a little problem.

“Hang on.” she turned to Emmy as she thanked the man who’d been dealing with and handed over the cash. “How are you two gonna get home if Bucky and Sam left?”

At that Pete gave a little grin and pulled a set of keys out of his pocket, “Mr Wilson let me borrow his Chevvy.”

“Yeah they went home on Buck’s bike.” Emmy shrugged and at that Steve let out a huge laugh.

“What?” Katie asked.

“Sorry, I’m just picturing those two riding pillion.” He snorted “I give it five minutes before Sam ended up tells Buck to let him off on account of him driving his Ducatti like a maniac.”

“You’ve no room to talk.” Katie scoffed and Steve looked at her with mock outrage.

“Mom?” Jamie asked and Katie turned to him “Can we get a drink now please?”

“Sure, come on.” She smiled and they headed over to the stall. She purchased a hot cider each for her, Steve, Emmy and Pete before hot chocolate for each of the kids along with a selection of donuts, churros and Stollen as Steve took Flossie back to the car so they could pop her in the stroller. They made their way over to one of the benches by the side and sat down and Steve returned, parking Flossie besides them before he handed her a piece of a donut and slipped his arm round Katie, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

“You have a good time?” he asked.

“Yeah.” She beamed, before she glanced over at the other side of the bench. Jamie was settled to Emmy’s left, talking to her about school, as she nodded along whilst Rori was perched on Peter’s knee as she animatedly told him about how she was going to decorate her tree in unicorn colours. Harry meanwhile sat in between both Pete and Emmy, his little frame chewing on a donut as he grinned at his parents who smiled back. Katie turned to look a Steve again, leaning up to kiss him softly “It’s been perfect, thank you for making sure we were all together.”

“Well it wouldn’t be a Rogers Christmas otherwise would it?” he smiled, kissing her again.

“Get a room.” Emmy grumbled and Steve turned to her as she smirked, shoving a piece of donut in her mouth.

“Watch it young lady.” Steve pointed at her.                      

“Daddy.” Rori asked “Can I go with Pete in their car to Target? I need decorations for my Princess Tree.”

Steve hesitated for a while and Pete hastily cut in “It’s no bother Mr Rogers.”

“Yeah we need some for ours.” Emmy nodded.”So we’re going anyway.”

“I come too?” Harry asked hopefully and Emmy shrugged

“If Momma and Daddy say it’s ok, course you can, squirt.”

Steve looked at Katie who shrugged “Fine by me. Sure you can manage them?”

Emmy rolled her eyes “They’re no bother.” She then turned to Jamie “You wanna come too?”

“Hell no.” he said hastily, peering round at Rori before he shook his head “I’m going home for some peace and quiet.”

Both Steve and Katie let out a loud laugh, as Katie shook her head “Oh Jamie.”

“What?” he frowned.

“Nothing pal.” Steve smiled, reaching for his cider. “Nothing at all.”

[retvenkos]

only for you | l.j.c.

To All The Boys - Lara Jean Covey x Reader, fluff

word count: 1.1k

A/N: i thought i had this queued for yesterday, kms.

prompt: every holiday you make me watch the most horrendous holiday rom-coms with you, and they really are terrible but your face when you’re laughing out loud is the most beautiful thing i’ve ever seen

It was a longstanding tradition that every year, snow or shine, you went over to Lara Jean’s house on the first day of winter break. The first time you went over was years ago, when you stayed with your cousin, Josh, for the holiday and he insisted that both of you go over. He had managed to convince you when he told you that Lara Jean was a baker, and that she always managed to be making something or another when he showed up.

He wasn’t wrong; you had been greeted with sugar cookies and the three of you watched a movie together. Deciding on the movie was easier, back then, and you watched the Lion King on VHS. 

When the credits rolled Lara Jean had said you should come over the next year, too, and you never stopped.

Many major events had happened in front of Lara Jean’s television set - from the first time LJ told you she had a crush on Josh to your first kiss - her couch had seen the evolution of your relationship from it’s very inception.

Yes, movie nights at Lara Jean’s house was important to you. There was nothing you and Lara Jean liked better than getting snacks, curling up under a mountain of blankets and pillows, and watching movies late into the night, holding hands beneath the covers. After all this time, that couch was your safe place - you never felt more loved than when you were sitting there beside LJ, warm and content. 

For your entire life, movies with Lara Jean was a constant, and in that knowledge lay a comfortable sort of intimacy between the two of you. Movie nights were special and nothing could ruin that.

And yet...

“I love you, Lara Jean, but I’m not watching that.”

“But—” the sound of popping popcorn drowned out your girlfriends protest and she scowled at the microwave before turning back to you, eyebrows set in determination. “I’ve never seen Love Actually and it’s rated as the number one best rom-com!”

“By who?” Lara Jean opened her mouth to respond but you beat her to the punch. “Buzzfeed?”

She blinked, closing her mouth after a moment of hesitancy, and you chuckled. The microwave beeped and you pulled out the popcorn, shaking it up before dumping it into a large, plastic bowl.

“What’s wrong with Buzzfeed?”

You stuck LJ with an unimpressed expression and she rolled her eyes.

“Buzzfeed helped me pick out your birthday present last year.” Lara Jean stole a piece of popcorn. “I don’t see what’s wrong with it.”

“Buzzfeed is fine, but whoever wrote that article is misinformed. Love Actually is a terrible misuse of the name. It’s better called ‘Toxicity Actually’ with the way it ends.” You took the overflowing bowl of popcorn over to the couch, setting it down before going to scan the shelves of movies the Coveys had collected over the years. There had to be something you could sway Lara Jean with. “I get that the movie was going for realism or whatever, but some things shouldn’t be done.”

“Come on, (Y/n) it can’t be that bad.”

“Romanticising stalkers and obsession? I think it can be pretty bad, LJ.” You shot back, still scouring the different movies. 

Romantic comedies had never been a favorite of yours, but you watched them every winter break for Lara Jean. Romance was one of her favorite movie genres, and you were hard pressed to say no when she looked at you happily, barely able to contain her excitement at finding yet another romantic comedy filled with crazy hijinks and the most ridiculous of meet cutes.

Besides, you could get through any movie if LJ was at your side. Through the years, you had gotten pretty good at finding ways to occupy your time:  counting how many times the two main characters almost kiss; trying to determine whether some scenes used a green screen or actual location; getting style inspiration from some of the leads; or trying to create a rom-com universe that every movie could fit into, with Jennifer Lopez and Keira Knightley having an insane amount of doppelgangers that roam the earth, looking for love.

And if all else seemed boring or cliche, you could always look over at Lara Jean, snuggled into your side with your legs tangled together, and the smile on her face would be worth it.

You turned away from the shelves of movies to find Lara jean huffing in annoyance. “Besides, seeing Alan Rickman play someone other than Snape was weird.”

Lara Jean narrowed her eyes and just like that, her entire demeanor shifted. “Have you seen Love Actually without me?” 

Oh, no. She was onto you.

“You know I only watch rom-coms with you.”

“Then how do you know so much about it?” She had a point, there, and Lara seemed to know it, too. Lara Jean took a step closer to you, a smug smile on her lips. “I think you secretly like rom coms and you watched Love Actually without me.”

At that you had to scoff. “You know as much as I only watch rom-coms for your enjoyment.”

“Then do you care to explain how you ended up watching Love Actually?”

“I didn’t watch it all the way through—”

“Oh?” 

“—I knew that winter break was coming up and so I, too, searched for the best romantic comedies, hoping to find one that sounded interesting.” Lara Jean smiled and cocked an eyebrow, teasing you with her expression alone. “Someone on YouTube did a ranking video of popular rom coms and their review of Love Actually was scathing. I didn’t even watch the movie, but I know it’s terrible.”

“You didn’t watch it! How can you know it was terrible?” You made to respond but Lara Jean cut you off. “Do you trust a youtuber more than me?”

Now it was your turn to close your mouth. Lara Jean smiled, knowing she had won. “Alright,” you relented and Lara Jean squealed, “but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

LJ popped in the movie and the two of you got comfortable on the couch, shifting around beneath the blankets and causing some of the popcorn to spill onto the floor. Lara Jean hooked her feet with yours and you yelped at how cold they were. She laughed, slapping you playfully on the shoulder and you caught her hand before she could pull away, pressing a kiss to her fingertips. 

“And you tell me I’m the romantic.” 

You smiled. “Only for you.”

Lara Jean leaned in and kissed you sweetly, stealing popcorn from the bowl when she pulled away. “Hey!”

She shushed you, whispering to pay attention to the movie. You rolled your eyes but settled in for the show, sneaking a glance at Lara Jean’s smile.

...

“You were right, that was terrible.”

“Have I ever led you astray, before?”

“Want to watch one of Vanessa Hudgens’ Netflix rom-coms?”

-- taglist: @theletterhart​, @brokenandheadoverheels​ // message me if you want to be added!