#catch me adding to his bruises by hitting him over the head with my ace headcanon bat

[mo-ok]

remember when they chained up and beat the shit out of my boy to torture one of the literal children on the team?????? cause I sure do

[morkleemelon]

off the ice || chapter 4: don’t look back

previous || m.list || playlist || next

pairing: college hockey player! mark x fem. college figure skater! reader

genre: fluff, sports au, college au

word count: 6.5k

warnings: blood, mention of surgery, description of injuries, swearing, financial struggle

author’s note: huge thanks again to my beta readers @writing-frog​ and @skiimmiilk​ for being a great help to making this story better! the slow burn fire is finally burning in this chapter and I’m so excited :) if you haven’t been listening already, I highly recommend the playlist for this chapter! enjoy~

“What do you mean ‘it’s fine’?,” you sobbed, gripping the side of her hospital bed. You wanted to give your best friend a hug, but you didn’t want to risk hurting her more. Yuna’s right leg was pinned into an apparatus, the intricate metal carefully holding together the broken bones, her usual perfect skin marred by scratches of red and patches of blue. 

“I mean what I said”. Even with a sore voice and her current situation, Yuna managed to speak with dignity.

“And Ms. Kim is right,” the doctor agreed, jotting down a prescription on her clipboard, “the surgeries went well and she is in stable condition. The good news is that with proper rest and physical therapy, she will be able to walk again. Now, it’s my duty to be honest with you. You said you’re a figure skater?”.

“Yes”. Yuna uncurled her fingers, inviting you to hold her hand. You accepted it, bracing both of you for the bad news. Ten sat at the other side of the bed pressing her other hand to his lips.

“While we cannot rule out the possibility, the likelihood of you being able to skate again is very low. Especially for the next few years”. 

Yuna’s tough façade started to crumble at the shocking reality and her lips trembled as she choked back tears. You pressed your forehead to her hand as you hid your own tears from her. 

“God damn it!”. Ten yelled, getting up and kicking away the stool he was sitting on. The loud bang was followed by the sound of quiet weeping. “I shouldn’t have let you out of my sight. I shouldn’t have told you to go to the car first. None of this should’ve happened, god damn it”. The older boy cried into his palms as he placed the blame on himself. 

“Please settle down and refrain from disturbing the patient,” the doctor warned, “but we would like to talk to you about the details of the accident, Ms. Kim, now that you’re awake and stable”.

Yuna nodded, a few tears escaping and rolling down her scraped-up cheeks.

“Your right leg is broken in three places upon impact with the vehicle: two in the femur and one major area in the tibia. You then sustained minor external injury as you fell to the pavement, scraping your arms and face. We will run additional tests later on to determine if you also have a concussion. If you can remember any details of how this accident happened, please describe them to me and we can notify the police to help find the suspect”, the doctor continued.

“I,” Yuna cleared her throat, “I was at a party last night and I had a bit to drink. We stayed pretty late and Ten is close with the host, so we just decided to sleep over. Then this morning, I woke up early and I wanted to go on a drive to clear my head. Ten had to get something so I left the house first. I- I checked both ways before I crossed the street to his car, but before I knew it… it came out of nowhere and I was on the ground. I don’t… I can’t remember anything about it. The next thing I remember was being in the ambulance with Ten”. 

“I heard the whole thing happen,” Ten added softly, “I was inside the house at the time and I heard the screeching tires and Yuna screamed. By the time I ran outside, the car was gone and Yuna was bleeding on the ground”. He closed his eyes and clenched his fist. “All I could do was call an ambulance. I- I didn’t see the car or the bastard driving it. All I could do was sit with her in the street while we waited. She wasn’t waking up and all I could do was sit with her. I couldn’t even move her because I was afraid it would make it worse and she was bleeding everywhere. All I could do was sit there”. 

Tears stream down your face as you listen to Ten break down. The normally bright and optimistic man now had his face in his hands, hiccupping uncontrollably at the thought of how close he came to losing the love of his life.

“Hey,” Yuna groaned, struggling to keep her own voice steady, “baby, I’m okay. When we met, you were hurt and struggling, but you got through it because we were together. We’re still together and we can get through this too”. She touched her fingers through his hair gently. 

“Thank you for your cooperation, Ms. Kim, and both of your friends. The police are currently asking for witnesses for your hit-and-run case and will update you with any findings. These are your prescriptions”, the doctor slid the piece of paper onto the counter, “the nurse will come find you later to talk about your treatment. For now, I’ll leave you all alone”. 

The room fell silent, only interrupted by the occasional sniffle as the doctor shut the door behind her.

“Hey y/n?”. Yuna turned her head gingerly to you.

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry I can’t do the competition with you now. I promised I would but…”

“Don’t even… how could you worry about that right now?”, you sobbed, “don’t you worry about it, Yuna, the competition doesn’t matter at all. I’m just glad you’re okay right now. You should focus on getting better, not worry about me of all things”. 

“Y/n is right,” Ten agreed, “you were there for me when I got hurt. And when I thought there was no way out, you held my hand and pulled me up from the darkness. Doctor says you have a good chance of walking, so let’s get you there first. Then we’ll work on beating the odds and getting you back on the ice again”. 

“You guys…” Yuna smiled slightly, careful not to strain her bruised jaw. 

“I’ll come visit you as much as I can,” you promised, “I can bring my sleeping bag, clothes, and a jar of peanut butter. We can just be roommates here instead. There’s free AC and disney band aids too, it’ll be great”. Your attempt to lighten the mood was well received as the couple chuckles together. 

“By the way, I called your parents while you were in surgery and they’re on their way over now. They should actually be here soon,” Ten noted.

“I’ll leave you guys then,” you offered. There was a two visitor limit and you didn’t want to intrude on Ten and Yuna’s chance to have some private time before her parents bombarded her with concern. Not to mention Mark has been sitting in the waiting room for a few hours now and you wanted to be respectful of his time too.

Offering your last words of support to Yuna, you shut the door quietly behind you. Dabbing at your watery eyes with the edge of your sleeve, you attempt to fix your run-off makeup using your phone camera. Everything felt kind of numb. The events of the last 24 hours were surreal and staying up the whole night with Mark certainly did not help as the tiredness was catching up to you. Concern, upset, worry, and frustration formed a thick cloud in your thoughts. Your brain was like a jammed printer and the thoughts were not processing. You were in shock to say the least.

You shuffle your way down the hall to the waiting area and look for Mark’s familiar blonde hair. You spot him fast asleep in his seat, arms crossed over his chest as he leans his head back against the wall. His mouth is slightly agape, forming a soft ‘o’ as he breathed steadily in and out. Seeing him sleep so peacefully made you relax a little. 

At least there was something good about today.

“Hey,” you whisper, shaking him gently. His eyes blink open slowly, wincing at the bright hospital lights. 

“Hey,” he croaks, rubbing his eyes as he sits up straight. “How’s Yuna? Did you get to see her?”.

“She’s…,” you pause, “she’s okay. She said she was okay when I saw her just now and the doctor said she’s stable but…,” your voice trails off. 

“But what?,” Mark asked gently, placing a comforting hand on your back. You look around to make sure there was nobody around who could overhear. A few people sat around the waiting room a ways away, texting on their phones or flipping through the free health magazines. The receptionist’s monotonous voice droned on as she answered a phone call.

“The doctor says that Yuna might not be able to skate again,” you murmured. Even though the doctor made it clear before, saying the words out loud felt extremely surreal. You imagined if it were you lying on the hospital bed hearing this news. To not be able to skate again… it was too awful to comprehend. Tears roll down your cheeks before you could help it, dangling from the point of your chin before falling onto your green volunteer shirt. 

Mark thought about what he could say in reply to the devastating news, but decided it was best to not say anything at all. Pulling you in for a hug, you cry silently into the crook of his neck. You wrap your arms around his torso and hold on for dear life. 

The next few weeks pass by rather uneventfully after the incident, at least comparatively. Police were still on the case of Yuna’s hit-and-run perpetrator, but they struggled to find witnesses when the crime occurred so early in the morning. Even the local CCTV didn’t cover the area where it happened and the driver was still ultimately at large. 

The Lee’s and your other friends texted in the group chat plenty and you grew much more comfortable with having them around. Mark drives you to the hospital to visit Yuna a couple times a week and the three of you would eat lunch together in her room for a small sense of normalcy. It was a tough transition for you nonetheless- your best friend and roommate who you were used to seeing every day now was now seemingly so far away and your time together was reduced to a few hours a week. However, the initial shock of the situation eventually faded and the two of you came to terms with how things were. Yuna and you agreed to not cry about it anymore until she got started on physical therapy and gave recovery her best shot. Thankfully, Ten was there with her everyday and night, so it was bearable for her. 

Mark’s always been sweet about your comfort zone, too, never pushing you to talk about your feelings yet at the same time, always there for you when you needed him. Neither one of you brought up the almost-kisses, the first reason being you weren’t ready to remind yourself of the horrible things that happened afterwards and the second being that Mark wanted to respect that you needed time to process it. 

So the days tick by and seeing Mark became part of your daily routine. It was something you looked forward to when you got ready in the morning and although you didn’t really know it, it was something you needed to make your day feel complete. His good heart shined more and more to you everyday as you chose to continue to accompany him to Sunday volunteering. You got to witness how Mark’s eyes glowed whenever he talked to the people he served. He treated everyone there as if they were his own family and even though many of the people he helps are much older, he continues every conversation with sincerity and maturity. 

In addition to walking you to class everyday, Mark now has a special seat next to you in the front row of your economics lecture, leaving Jeno and Ten snickering behind you as they watch your close interactions. You ate lunch at the willow tree by the basketball court on the days you weren’t visiting Yuna. After a while, you grew used to the dirty looks from the girls across the court, even glaring back when you met Hillary’s fiery stare. Nonetheless, you developed a comfortable social routine and everything was going quite well, except for one abundant issue weighing heavily on your shoulders.

The middle of October rolls by and you grind your way through your evening shift at Frankie’s. Thankfully, it was a Tuesday, so late-night stragglers weren’t an issue. You finish scrubbing down the counters in the kitchen and wipe your hands on your waitress apron. Unfortunately, it was your turn to close so you were the only one left working tonight. Your back ached from the hours of waiting tables and your cheeks hurt from the wide smile you offered all of your customers, rude or not. Sighing, you count your tips for the day.

A bell chimes from the door.

“Sorry we’re closed-,” you stop your words as you see the figure illuminated by the low diner lights. 

“Is it too late for me to talk with the pretty waitress?” Mark grins, unzipping and taking off his wind breaker. You roll your eyes but your smile tells him you aren’t actually annoyed.

“The pretty waitress is covered in barbeque sauce and all purpose cleaner. Proceed?”

“Oh no, not barbeque sauce! Cancel request! Cancel Request!”

You laugh, throwing a nickel at his dramatic show. 

“Wait, give that back to me. I need every tip I can get,” you say, holding out your hand to receive the coin. Mark obediently picks it up, handing it to you as he takes a seat at the bar. You thank him, flipping through the crinkled, greasy bills from the tip jar. The creeping disappointment must have shown on your face because Mark broke the silence.

“Not a good night?” His words were careful. He understood you were under a lot of stress recently, but he didn’t have the heart to pry further and make you tell him why, which you appreciated. Mark assumed it was about Yuna or grades, but you never confided the real reason of how much your financial situation really scared you.

“Not a good…” you debate telling him everything. On one hand, you didn’t want to come off as needy or desperate. You were infamously bad at sharing your burdens with others. On the other, you wanted to tell Mark because you know he would listen and it would make you feel better. “Not a good anything,” you finally admit, setting the scraggly bills down on the clean counter between you. 

Only $26.84 for the whole night.

Mark’s soft brows were creased in concern as he waited for you to elaborate. He rested his chin on his knuckle, watching you pensate your feelings carefully. You meet his soft gaze, his eyes telling you that it’s okay. You let your shoulders relax, not even realizing the tension they were carrying.

“I…,” you start, letting out a small sigh as you walk your way around the counter to sit on the stool next to him. He spun his stool so he was sitting facing you. You pick at the mysterious stain on your apron. 

How do I even tell him about this? Hey Mark, I’m broke! I might drop out because I don’t have money for school, thus ruining everything my parents and I have worked for. 

“I guess I’m just worried,” you resolve after a minute, “I’m worried because, well, because of money”. You wince at hearing the words out loud but continue before you could take it back, “my parents are working really hard to get the money for my tuition, but things aren’t looking good for next semester”. You continue to tell him about how you’ve been picking up extra shifts to try to save up, but skating fees and money for basic necessities eats whatever you earn right up. The thought of quitting skating to save money came to your mind, but you never followed through because that was as much of a necessity as anything. A miracle occurred with the skating competition, only for some sick bastard to hurt Yuna. You asked around but everyone already had a partner or were too busy to participate in the competition. So now you could either go rob a bank or take a gap year and hope you’ll be able to return. Mark listened to your qualms quietly until you finished.

“The competition, did you ask people who aren’t on your team?,” Mark inquired, resting a reassuring hand on yours.

“Yeah, I even asked the girls on JV, but nobody wants to do it since they think they can’t win,” you confirm with a sad nod.

“That’s so dumb,” Mark stated, “you’re like, the best skater ever. Even the worst girl on JV could win if they did it with you”.

You look at him in surprise. His thumb ran comfortingly across your knuckles, sending tingles down your arm. A blush creeps onto your cheeks as you look back down at your joined hands. To be honest, you weren’t really sure what you guys were: officially, you were just friends at the moment, but anyone could see that there was something there. As of late, too much has been on your mind for you to possibly sit down and ponder it. Neither one of you has confessed feelings of any sort, but the night at the lake couldn’t just be ignored. And do normal friends hold hands like this?

“Right, tell that to them. Nobody wanted to be my partner, so yeah, I’m kind of in a pickle with tuition right now”

“Well can anyone be your partner?,” Mark asked.

“What do you mean? Like, just ask random strangers to skate with me?”

“No I mean like… I could do it”. His expression was serious, alluding that he meant every word of his ridiculous proposition.

“You could-” you stop to consider, “I mean I guess? I don’t think Coach Tanya said anything about the participants needing to be on the team… or be a girl. But there’s a big problem we’re not considering.”

“What problem?”

“You don’t know how to figure skate”. You free your hand from his and punch him lightly in the arm. 

“But I play hockey and I’ve skated all my life,” Mark bargained, pointing to himself smugly and shrugging, “how hard can it be?”

“How hard-” you wheeze. You laugh out loud as the serious boy looked on indignantly. “Figure skating is miles different from what you guys do. Y’all go, what, forwards and backwards? Can you do a jump?”.

“I can too do a jump,” Mark defended.

“Okay, what about a single axel jump?”

“Uh…”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” you giggle, grabbing the counter and spinning your stool around. Mark watches you endearingly.

“Y/n” the sound of your name stops your childish break and you look at him expectantly. “What if I practiced every day. I can learn your uh- single axis”

“Axel,” you correct.

“Axel. I can learn this axel jump and I can practice it and whatever else you need so you can do the competition”. You couldn’t tell if he was being serious, but your heart skipped a beat nonetheless.

“Deadass?” 

“Deadass,” Mark nodded. 

“Why… why…”. You struggled to find the right words.

“Because I like you,” Mark interrupted, “and I want to do this for you because it would make you happy. I’d streak across campus fully nude and screaming if it made you happy”. 

Did he just...confess?

“It would,” you nod seriously.

“It would? Which part? The competition or-”

“No, the streaking,” you shake your head, ignoring the steady increase of your heart rate. You press your lips into a flat line and nod to feign seriousness. Mark paused before getting up. He reached for the hem of his shirt, sighing before lifting it up over his head. 

“Let’s get this over with,” he sighed, reaching for his belt buckle. You shriek, shielding your eyes from his half-nude appearance. Although you didn’t want to admit it, you let your eyes linger on his lean torso through your fingers.

Damn, maybe hockey does have some benefits. 

“I was kidding! Please put your clothes back on!,” you cry. You heard him laugh as he pulled the fabric back on. 

“Okay I’m decent. I’m decent,” Mark assured, taking his seat next to you again. “But seriously, I meant what I said and you don’t have to reply until you’re ready. I completely understand if you don’t know yet. Just know that I am here for you and I,” he grabbed the edge of your stool and pulled it firmly so you were facing him, “really like you. As more than friends”.

You felt surprisingly confident; the stress of life always went away when Mark was around and you forgot all about the scattered pennies and nickels on the counter. Although his confession was so sudden, you had a feeling it was coming eventually. It didn’t feel shocking, but more like… finally. That being said, you were unsure of what to say. You weren’t sure you were ready for a relationship and most of all, you weren’t sure about your feelings for him. The last thing you wanted was to say you like him back and have it end up not being true. 

Like always, the understanding, patient look in Mark’s eyes told you that he would wait for you to reply when you’re ready.

“Okay”. You smile. 

“Okay”. He mirrors.

“Let’s do it, the competition,” you decide.

“Really?”

“Yeah, let’s give it our best shot! After all, it’s a crowd vote and your popularity might gain us favor,” you tease, poking his chest. “What time is it?”

“It’s 9:48pm, why?,” Mark replied, checking his lock screen. You hopped off your stool and began untying your apron.

“You drove here right?”. He nods. “Then there’s somewhere I wanna go if you’re willing to drive”. You shove your tips for the night into your bag. 

“You know I’m always down for you,” Mark smiled, grabbing your jacket off the rack and helping you into it. He stood in front of you and zipped you up without you asking, fixing the hood so it was proper. You watch him in silence and awe as he smooths down the wrinkles by your collar carefully and slings the strap of your bag over his shoulder without a word. It’s always these things, the little things, that leave you speechless.

The drive was pleasant. Mark put on your favorite radio channel and the two of you vibed comfortably to the acoustic music, the only interruptions were your quiet directions to the desired destination. You examined Mark’s face as he focused on the road, tipping his head back and forth to the beat with one hand on the wheel. It was dark, but the passing street lights illuminated his features in mesmerizing flashes, almost as if they were afraid to show his face for too long, the beauty would be too much to handle. His cheekbones were especially accentuated by the small smile on his lips. Looking at him made you feel… calm.

You pulled into the familiar parking lot. The blue neon lights above the building reading “Skate City” buzzed with electricity as the two of you got out of the car. 

“You wanted to come here? To a kid’s roller rink?”. Mark chuckled as he shut the driver side door. 

“Make fun of me now but you’ll see why” you rolled your eyes, walking through the building door which Mark held open for you.

The interior of the building was just like you remembered: the dark, ragged carpet was covered in colorful squiggles and dots resembling an abstract representation of worms and confetti. If that wasn’t bad enough, the matching wallpaper and UV lights topped off the hallucinogenic nightmare of a roller rink. Usually, it was also filled with the screams of children. Due to the lateness in the day, the rink was empty and usual disco funk was turned off. You would think it was closed if it weren’t for the man watching TV behind the counter.

“Mr. Joseph,” you call out with a wave. The man grunted, pulling his feet from off of the counter and shuffling through the mess of papers to find his glasses. He was an unassuming man in about his early forties, balding, pot-bellied, and proud. Nobody would guess that he was the man who taught you to skate all those years ago.

“Why, is that Miss y/n?,” Mr. Joseph exclaimed, rounding the counter to hug you.

“How have you been, Joe?”

“Well, you know me. I’m gettin’ by. Who’s this fella over here?”. Joe adjusted his specs and squinted at Mark.

“This,” you nudge the shy boy forward slightly, “is my friend, Mark. Mark, this is my family friend and former coach, Mr. Joseph. Also known as Joe,” you introduce.

The two men exchange a firm handshake.

“Nice meeting you, Mark. You treating her right?” Joe narrowed his eyes.

“Um so,” you cough, saving Mark from the awkward question, “Joe, we need skates for Mark”. 

“Wait but I already have skates, y/n-,” 

“No, you have hockey skates, Mark. You’re gonna need proper figure skates if we’re gonna do this competition right,” you explain. 

“Competition, huh,” Joe gruffed, waddling into the back room and motioning for you to follow. 

“Yeah, I don’t know if my parents told you, but Yuna was in an accident and now she can’t do the pair skate with me. Mark’s a hockey player but,” you glance at him with a smile, “he offered to pick up some skills and be my partner”.

“Here,” Joe smacked a pair of skates into Mark’s arms, “try these, boy”.

“Thank you, sir”. Mark bowed and went out to the bench to try them on.

Once he was out of sight, Joe leaned down to you, “you like this boy?”.

“Stop!,” you cry, covering your reddening ears with your hands.

“I’m just saying,” Joe held up his hands innocently, “I can tell he likes you by the way he looks at you. Even from meeting him just now”.

“Yeah… I just,” you stop to think about it. Well it’s true he likes you...

Do you like him?

You look to the door where you could see his shadow lacing up the new skates. You wish he would hurry back. Being without him felt like something was missing. Even if he was right around the corner, it didn’t feel good that you couldn’t see him and feel his reassuring presence. Realization began creeping in and you turn to look back at Joe’s I-told-you-so expression. He gave you a pat on the shoulder, “Make sure he’s good to you”.

Mark’s figure reappeared at the doorway, oblivious to your pounding heart and emotions which were becoming slowly more apparent. You watch endearingly as he stepped awkwardly into the room wearing the skates, stretching out his arms to maintain his balance. 

“I think they fit!,” Mark beamed at you, causing the butterflies in your stomach to migrate all around. 

“That’s good, boy. Take them on the house,” Joe guided him back out to take them off before he could hurt himself. 

“Oh no, sir-”

“Please, they were collecting dust in that storage room. Nobody wants men’s figure skates anymore these days and I’m glad to help y/n out” Joe dismissed. 

“Joe,” you stop him, wrapping your arms around Joe’s neck to give him a big hug, “thank you,” you whisper. 

“Of course, kiddo” he pat your back, “you make me proud”.

After chatting for a bit longer, you bid your goodbyes to Joe as he locked up Skate City for the night. In the car, you hold your breath and turn towards Mark. Strangely, your head was in the clouds as you examined his face, a face you’ve grown so familiar with in the past few weeks, yet seemed brand new. Suddenly, he leaned in close, close enough to count his pretty eyelashes, warranting your breath to hitch in your throat. Unaware of your, Mark places the box of skates in the backseat and sits up straight again to buckle his seatbelt. You let out the breath you didn’t realize you were holding.

Right, I shouldn’t get ahead of myself.

“So, are you tired or do you wanna do some skating today?,” you finally ask.

Mark flashed you a crooked smile, starting the car, “Y/n, I’m always down for you. School rink?”.

You nod. 

The whole drive back to the school was noticeably more awkward, at least to you. You tensed  at every word he said and felt your heart clench when he hummed along to the soft radio tune. Saying nothing or giving short, one word replies, you didn’t trust your voice to say more. Instead, you opted to look out the window at the passing scenery for the fear of Mark noticing your flushed expression. You tug uncomfortably at your jacket collar, beginning to regret asking him to skate tonight. Ironically, and perhaps foolishly of you, you’ve received his confession yet you’re unwilling to admit the good news of mutual feelings to yourself. What should you do or say? Surely it’s not right to just say ‘I like you! I figured it out haha let’s date!” out of the blue. 

Pulling into the sports center parking lot, you notice the locks on the front door.

“Oh crap, I forgot it’s a weekday. The rink is closed after 11,” you mutter, slightly relieved at the thought of heading home to sort out your feelings alone. 

“Don’t worry, we can sneak in through the side door,” Mark answers nonchalantly, getting out to open the car door for you. You don’t disregard the kind gesture and instead feel the familiar pressure in your chest again. 

And sneak in you did. 

Mark had clearly done this a few times judging based on the way he led you confidently to the obscured side door which was propped slightly open with a rock.

You went your separate ways in the eerily empty stadium to your respective locker rooms. Splashing your face with cool water, you attempt to rein in your fiery flush. 

How should I bring it up? Or do I wait? He already said he likes me, but what if he didn’t mean it? 

After changing into your skates, you take a deep breath and head out to the ice.

He was already there waiting for you by the railing. Mark must have heard your footsteps approaching and he turned to give you a warm smile. 

“You’re right, y/n, these skates are kinda different”. He tapped the toe pick into the padded floor.

“Yeah… right,” you mumbled, struggling to meet his bright eyes. 

He’s so cute.

Pale moonlight streamed through the glass ceiling panels and illuminated your surroundings. Mark’s hair made his face glow silver and his eyes sparkled with the reflection of the moon. His face fell at your weak response, reading it as disinterest.

You open the gate and skate out onto the ice in front of him. Mark tentatively skated out to follow you, wobbling slightly at the different sensation. You reach out to grab his arms and steady him, meeting his gaze briefly before blinking away. You loosen your grip on his sleeves, the contact making your feelings go wild.

For a few moments, the two of you silently glided across the ice. For the first time ever, it seems, you weren’t sure what to say to him.

“Listen,” Mark finally spoke, struggling to a stop. He looked down at his skates thoughtfully, “If it’s about what I said earlier, if it’s about me liking you and that made you uncomfortable, I- I take it back. I feel like I didn’t give you a chance to say no if you wanted to-”

“No it’s-,” you interrupt, skating slightly ahead, “It’s not that”. 

“Then why are you acting so strange?,” Mark asked, struggling to keep up.

“I just,” you circle to a stop at the middle of the rink. How do you even begin to explain how you feel? Never in your life have you felt like this about anybody. Never in your life have you felt so special and so cared for than when you were with Mark. You would have been lucky enough just being able to know him, but he even likes you. Out of all of the people he could have chosen, he chose you.

Mark careened to a halt behind you, waiting for you to finish. You take a deep breath.

Now or never.

You turn around to face him. 

“What you told me in the diner, tell it to me again”. Your voice came out weaker than you had intended.

Mark’s eyebrows were furrowed in confusion and worry that you were upset with him. He wanted to pull you into a hug, tuck that piece of hair back behind your ear and tell you it’s okay if you didn’t love him back.

“I-,” Mark cleared his throat from his emotions, “I said that I like you, y/n. I like you as more than friends”. He looked down towards his feet but before he could blink, he was crushed in between your arms as you jumped to hug him. Your face fit perfectly into the crook of his neck and you breathed in his familiar, warm scent as he wrapped his arms delicately around your waist. The force from your impact caused both of you to drift slightly, but you kept steady. Not brave enough to look him in the face, you whisper your confession to his ear.

“I’m ready to answer you. I… I like you too. As more than friends”

Mark’s grip tightened around your waist as he lifted you slightly off the ice. Spinning around, he curled his fingers into the fabric of your sweatshirt as if he never wanted to let you go. Your heart swelled at the feeling as you held onto his sturdy shoulders. Neither of you needed to say anything more. He pulled you close so there was no space left and you listened to the gentle rhythm of his heart beating for you.

Pulling away at last, you rest your forehead against his. Your eyes fluttered closed but you could feel the tip of his nose brush gently across yours, his warm exhalation fanning across your lips. 

“You don’t happen to have your phone on you, do you?” Mark mumbled deeply, savoring the moment.

You let out a small giggle, “no, do you?”.

“Nope”

And with that, you tilted your head up ever so slightly and Mark cupped your cheek to bring your lips together. You melt into his kiss and touch, allowing the way his soft lips moved against yours to express his silent affections. Exhaling through your nose, you sigh into the kiss, moving your hand to rest at the back of his head to pull him in deeper.

Finally.

Mark ran his thumb affectionately across your cheek, his lips speaking of all the times he’s wanted to do this. Your fingers lace their way through his soft hair, loving the way he reacts as you tug against the strands slightly. 

A loud bang from a closing door causes you to pull apart finally. The bright beam of the security guard’s flashlight flashes across the ice as the two of you look on like deer caught in headlights. 

“Hey, you two! Get out of there!,” the guard shouted, pointing a finger at your embracing form.

“Run!,” you whisper yell, pulling him quickly towards the gate. The two of you run as quickly as you can in your skates, pulling them off before you enter the hallway. 

“Hey! Stop right there!,” the guard yelled, stumbling down the stadium stairs.

“Quick! In here!” Mark tugged you into the boys locker room, shutting the door before the guard could see and ushering you quickly to hide in the gap between two lockers. You squeezed in with him, panting softly as the adrenaline pumped through your body. Mark’s arms wrap around your body to pull you closer as the guard opens the door. The flashlight flicked menacingly across the dark room. You hold your breath as it comes particularly close. Finally, seconds that feel like hours pass and the security guard grunts before deciding to move on. You exhale in relief. 

Mark rests his chin on top of your head and you realize how closely you’re pressed together. You giggle into his chest, loving how warm he felt. 

“I can’t believe that I get to hold you,” Mark whispers. His fingers draw invisible shapes across your back.

You nuzzle your face into his tee shirt. “Well I can’t believe we’re doing this in the boy’s locker room after being chased down by security,” you mumble against the fabric. His chest sounded a low vibration as he chuckled back, moving his hand up to stroke your hair. 

“You are so, so beautiful, y/n,” he moves to kiss the top of your head, “I don’t know the words to express how beautiful you are to me”. 

You press deeper into his body at the words you’ve always wanted to hear. Lifting your face up from his chest, you press a small kiss to his lips, heart jumping at the still-new sensation. It was sweet, his lips ghosting over yours breathlessly as you nestle your nose gently against his in a slow eskimo kiss. 

“I’ve liked you for so long,” Mark whispers in between kisses, “I’ve wanted to do this for so long”.

You answer by gripping the fabric of his collar to pull him in deeper, moving your lips rhythmically against his. 

“I think I’ve liked you for a while too,” you admit as you catch your breath, “I just didn’t understand it. Or some part of me wasn’t ready to admit it”.

“That makes sense” Mark rests his forehead on yours, smiling, “I would have waited a thousand years if that’s what you needed”.

Again and again, he captivated you with his words. He was so good to you and never made you feel like you were anything less than perfect. Day after day, his patience with you never faded and slowly, you let him break down your walls. His comforting smile and optimism always filled you with reassurance and peace. 

So standing there, making out in the boy’s locker room, illegally, in the dead of night on a Tuesday, you became sure. You were sure that you wanted him in your life. You were sure you wanted to try to be a part of his. As you pressed your lips to his and as he ran his fingers through your hair, there was no turning back.

previous || m.list || next

[herstarburststories]

Merry... Birthday?

Pairing: Dean Winchester x reader

Summary: You love christmas, but Dean doesn’t. Yet, he might make an exception for your birthday this year.

A/N: This one goes for @negans-lucille-tblr​ ‘s secret fic exchange. My secret Santa was @katymacsupernatural​. Hey, honey! I hope you enjoy this and happy birthday! You deserve double presents, so here’s mine. All mistakes are mine!

Divider by @talesmaniac89 !

You loved Christmas.

It was probably a nostalgic longing for your long gone urban life. Just in the same way you’d still catch yourself looking through the news for election results or feel your stomach twist if you didn’t eat homemade food at least twice a week. You were dead to the government and certainly spent more on the road than in a home. Besides, you had met up with God enough times to know him. All the encounters and screaming and unapologetic abandonment should make you want to throw any baby Jesus against a wall or even climb on a Christmas tree just to shout about all the hoaxes so perfectly molded in patterns through our brains like braids.

Yet, something about you loved christmas. 

The pretty lights always shining, it didn’t matter where you go. For once, all the city-- everything would be entirely made of light. Their incandescent glow always companishing each person, either it was in an once treacherous alley or only to make the kids' grin bigger as they watched them among the busy streets with wide eyed gazes. The confusion in the kitchen that often ended up with huffs bursting into chuckles between the smell of meals that were too much and would make a room for leftovers for the rest of the week. How everything seemed to be made only of happiness, and nothing could ever cut through those water; all the knives were suddenly swords for kids to play and no white gun. In Christmas, a house became a kingdom for every heart. Everything was good and felt through the skin to the bone, like a single glimpse, a hidden day of what would be paradise.

That was how you were raised, at least. The Winchesters didn’t share the same mindset, no. While you grew up with decorating the tree, they were hiding bodies in the dim light. Leftovers were all through their whole year, and Christmas was described as good or not with one single criteria: snow streets. They had to take one? Annoying date. They didn’t and there was eggnog? Bearable Jesus’s birthday.

Yet, you attempted to make the bunker the more festive possible: buying a bunch of christmas lights, cookies’ ingredients and even a small nativity scene. Your attempts to enjoy the date’s niciities ended up with Sam breaking his arm after crashing on the ground because you insisted on him putting the lights in a place higher than his age, not to mention the burned cookies that looked more like tiny monsters than gingerbread men.

Your parents used to make this look so much easier.

Although the youngest Winchester understood a little more about the concept of holidays, a believer in the good until the very end, his brother didn’t share the idea. You couldn’t say you were surprised. Dean just had two barely normal christmas in his life: one when he was dying and one with Lisa and Ben. Both situations made it to his heart only to shatter from the inside.

‘’Baby Jesus?’’ Dean snorted, shaking his head at the sight of you adjusting the weird little dolls in the nativity. He placed another ruined cook in his mouth, speaking with his mouth full next: ‘’We have the son of Lucifer, guess that counts.’’

‘’Don’t say that once Jack gets home.’’ You rolled your eyes, turning to face the oldest Winchester with your hands on your hips. How could he eat that? You couldn’t even make it a bite and Sam only had half of those. ‘’And stop eating those. They are burned.’’

‘’I’ve had worse.’’ He remarked, adding another cookie to his mouth. You grimaced, wondering for a brief moment how your boyfriend could be simultaneously the guy who saved the world and a man with the taste of a five years old.

‘’Yeah. But I’m the one who has to hear you whining about your bellyache later.’’

‘’I don’t whine--’’ You arched your eyebrows at his statement, making Dean huff in agreement. ‘’That was once and because of Sam’s weird ass vegan bacon.’’

‘’You acted like you were dying.’’

‘’My tongue was!’’

‘’So get this.’’ Sam’s voice interrupted your childish argument, catching the attention of both hunters like a shiny object did to a cat. ‘’Apparently we got an earlier christmas gift.’’

‘’What is it?’’ You asked, approaching the table.

‘’Three teenagers disappeared in the forest, all personal objects left behind.’’ Sam explained as Dean scratched out his neck to glance at his brother’s computer screen. Nothing like a case in Colorado. ‘’The authorities think it’s a serial killer. But one of the girls, Kayla Wodson, said she saw a weird, skinny giant take her friends.’’

‘’Ho ho ho and three bodies.’’ Dean clapped his hands together with a wry curve of lips. ‘’Alright. Let’s hit the road-- Wait, wait, wait. Where do you think you are going?’’

You were standing beside Dean while Sam raised to his feet, ready to pack his bags. Dean, nonetheless, was quicker than his brother, soon putting himself in front of Sammy; hands protectively standing in front of the youngest’s chest to keep him from moving any further.

He shook his head with a scoff. ‘’Dude, come on.’’

‘’Not happening, Sammy. You got a broken arm.’’ You mumbled a sorry along Dean’s big brother speech, to which Sam replied with a comprehensive smile. ‘’Y/N and I take care of it.’’

‘’He’s right. Must be the first time in his life, but he is.’’ Dean turned his head, furrowing his eyebrows at you ‘’Don’t worry. It’s just a wendigo anyway. ‘’

‘’Okay. Just…’’

‘’Don’t forget the fireblazer. As if your brother would miss an opportunity to use it.’’ You scrunched up your noise, causing a chortle out of Sam while Dean commented something about grabbing the specific instrument and walked away. ‘’Maybe you could call Eileen. Ask her to help you to back some christmas cookies.’’

Sammy shook his head at your wiggling brows. ‘’That doesn’t sound as sexy for me as it does for you.’’

Dean Winchester was good with numbers.

Not the urban numerical sense of the deal, of course. He almost didn’t make it in sixth grade with useless geometry and all that, and he still used his fingers to count when he had to deal with an equation. No, his good and quick way with numbers was easier, intrinsic to his head.

How many years since mom died? Seventeen. How many people did he have to save? All of them. How many years had he left? Less than he once owned.

Hunter math was simpler, and was all he really needed since he was four years old, running from the fire with his baby brother in his arms-- which brought him to the second section of his particular geometry: birthdays and death anniversaries. Dean never, ever forgot any special date. Those were his own holidays, the only worth celebrating and remembering. His wishes, grief, and cherishment were reserved for the people he loved, not some celestial assholes who saw his life like a book.

Therefore, his mind went on a golden rush for your day as soon as the Wendigo hunt took more than you both expected. You wouldn't be able to make it home before your birthday, which would be ending shortly, a matter of two or three hours. His inner engineers were useful tonight, in his vision, useful enough to make those sappy movies jealous. While you were washing some guts and leaves away, Dean went to the nearest convenience store. His long arms nesting a bunch of stuff he never dared to touch in years. The cashier with drowsy eyes and escarlet Santa hat seemed bored with his shopping, probably because she saw an uncountable amount of people buying the same things over and over. He couldn’t blame her for the suburban exhaustion. If anything, it was a small comfort for his war orbs to see and be a part of a scene so mundane.

He hustled back to the dive motel room, singing in relief to himself once he stepped in and heard you singing Christmas Tree Farm while the water rushed in. He grimaced at himself for recognizing that Taylor Swift song. How couldn’t he? That woman was 80% of all you heard everyday. Man, he was whipped.

Tilting his head back in reality, he started organizing in clumsy manners of putting everything in place for you. His bruised hands touching so carefully the fragile ornaments to make the motel room with grubby walls and weird black stan on the floor that only seemed to grow a little more like you.

You, the woman who put up with him, who laughed at his stupid jokes, and who watched Scooby Doo, all snuggled up to him every friday. You, the woman who switched from AC/DC to Taylor Swift and then Eric Clapton. You, the one who understood his job and helped him to wash off some of the blood on his hand and never got scared of how red the water could get. You, the girl who rolled her eyes at his first attempt of flirting and now stole his french fries and kissed his lips as if he was worth being delicate with. You, his breathing, his true holiday, his only act of faith besides Sammy.

Dean pressed his teeth against his bottom lip, looking up and down his little manual work. Part of him said it was ridiculous, he surely would make a lot of fun of Sam if he did that to a chick. Yet, mostly he was proud. He wanted you to like it. It wasn’t even near to what you deserved, but it was a piece of it. It was what the Winchester could give you, and that would be hopefully, enough.

While Dean was caught in the crossroad of judging and admiring his surprise, you left the shower with a towel wrapped around your head and lips mumbling Cocaine. Your feet glued to the ground once you witnessed what was in front of you: the room was decorated with christmas lights, a tiny plastic tree on the table, right beside a pie with candle on the top and two cup of what smelled like hot cocoa.

‘’Dean…’’ Your tender tone brought him back from his traineck thoughts as he turned around to glance at you. You chortled in astonishment as he raised his eyes and said surprise! ‘’What’s this?’’

‘’Well, it’s your birthday.’’ He shrugged, scooting closer to you with a smirk. Dean smoothly wrapped his arms around your waist, yours instantly resting around his neck. ‘’In my defense, they just had christmas stuff. Blame your parents for having you close to Jesus’ special day.’’

‘’Christmas stuff include pie and not cake?’’ Your brows knitted together, a heartwarming smile on your lips as you watched his expression marked by multicolored little lights. He smelled like something was a blaze, and you knew that was for standing too close to the candle and not for burning a body this time. Small changes.

He scoffed humorously. ‘’You like pie better anyway.’’ He nodded at the carnival-like situation around you two. Dean Winchester wasn’t the kind of man who got insecure, but you could catch a perk of brand nervous hesitation as his green eyes shot you an anxious glance. ‘’Did you like it?’’

‘’I loved it.’’ You pulled cheeks dimpled with joy that was kissed by Dean’s own smiling lips. The kiss was so gentle, it was his own palpable light hearted emotion. You being happy in his arms. It had been so long since he felt he could be enough, he could make someone happy. But you were right there. As you pulled away, another short kiss was given between playful words: ‘’That’s what I call a christmas miracle.’’

‘’Shush.’’ He leaned in and pecked your lips. As Dean pulled back, he couldn’t help but watch around with the pride of Hubris. His glance went back to you, a lopsided grin on his face. God, you loved that smile. You loved that man. ‘’So I added some whiskey to the hot cocoa. We could drink some, eat the pie, and see if those lights make a good improvise rope. What do you tell me?’’

All you could do was kiss him again.

Comment & reblog. Feedback is magic! Check my masterlist ♡

TAGS IN REBLOG!

WANNA BE TAGGED? SEND ME AN ASK/DM

[marvelyningreen]

Aftershocks - From the Series Finale (a deleted scene)

Night 1 | Night 2 | Night 3

[Summary: You’d traveled to Westview to rescue Peter. Getting locked away by some sinister witch might’ve delayed you a bit, but you’d escaped, and you weren’t going to be stopped again.

Warnings: mild language, references to injury / mind control / death

Notes: Peter Maximoff x reader. This was meant to be a flashback during Night 2, but it turned into way too long of a digression. So, here it is: presented as a deleted scene while I finish Night 3. It’s a bit sparse in the places where I would’ve just been summarizing the episode, but I figure you already know the details. Into Tomorrow is a continuation of the scene, more or less.

Tag list: @cowboyenorgy ]

After an indeterminate amount of time sneaking around Westview, trying to find your way back to the street where Vision lived, you’d finally done it. It might’ve taken days, or maybe it’d only been hours. It was so hard to tell here.

One minute it was spontaneously Halloween. The next, the entire layout of the town kept shifting around you until you were completely lost. But you’d made it.

As much as you’d wanted to go straight to find Peter, you knew you couldn’t do it on your own. You didn’t know how to counteract the witch’s powers. Vision seemed to know something, though. He was your best chance.

Unfortunately, his house seemed to be deserted. From your hiding place, you couldn’t see any lights on, or any signs of movement. Maybe he was at work? You’d waited this long already; you figured you might as well stay put until he came home.

And just as you’d decided on that course of action, the sound of breaking glass erupted from the neighbor’s house. The attic window shattered outward, and two people crashed through it, landing on the lawn.

One of them – a woman you hadn’t seen before – stuck a perfect three-point-landing more or less facing your direction. The second – a man – didn’t land nearly as gracefully, but still seemed unhurt. You couldn’t see his face, but you were certain it had to be Peter.

He stood, moving as though to cut off the woman’s escape route. He gestured for the woman to get up.

“I can do this all day, babe!” he called.

Scowling, the woman straightened up, dusting herself off and clearly getting ready for round two. The witch was nowhere in sight. Maybe you’d have a better chance of getting through to Peter if he was on his own. You scrambled out of hiding.

“Peter!” you shouted.

Confused, they both turned to look your way. You didn’t have a chance to say anything more before Peter sped over to you – and you just then noticed how weirdly slow he was moving. Instead of almost appearing to teleport, he was a visible blur that your gaze could follow as it approached you.

Peter stopped directly in front of you. He smiled.

“Hey again,” he said, and cheerfully threw you halfway down the block.

You landed hard, skidding another yard or so before coming to a stop. You thanked your lucky stars that you’d landed on somebody’s lawn, not on the pavement. When the hell had Peter gotten superhuman strength, anyway?

As you sat up, the woman ran to your side.

“Are you alright?” she asked, casting a wary glance back towards Peter, who was strolling casually towards you both.

“I’m okay,” you said. You were winded, and you could tell already that you’d added some new scrapes and bruises to your growing collection, but it didn’t seem like you’d been hurt.

“Captain Rambeau,” she introduced herself, offering a brisk handshake.

“You can call me Ace,” you said, “I’m… a friend.”

“Of his?” The captain raised an eyebrow incredulously.

“Yeah, well, he’s not exactly himself at the moment.”

Peter had stopped a ways away from you. You weren’t sure why he didn’t try to attack again.

“You called him ‘Peter,’” said Captain Rambeau. “Is that his real name?”

You nodded.

“Listen, ladies, if you wanted to make this a threesome, all you had to do was ask!” Peter called.

“And I’m guessing that’s not his real personality,” said the captain, catching sight of your disgusted expression.

“Not remotely,” you said.

The captain shrugged. “Well, guess we know what Agnes is into. The witch,” she explained. “The one who’s controlling him.”

“Why’s he just standing there?” you asked. You weren’t opposed to getting a second to breathe, but it was weird.

“I think he’s just supposed to stop us from getting to Wanda,” she said.

At that point, you hadn’t the faintest idea who Wanda was or how she was part of this whole mess, but you figured you could ask later. As you looked over at Captain Rambeau, you noticed her eyes glowing an unearthly blue. That was… unexpected.

“It’s that necklace,” she said. “That’s how Agnes is controlling him. If we can find some way to break it… But he’s too fast.”

Fast? Maybe by normal human standards, but he was moving at a crawl compared to his usual speed. Wait. That was it.

Your abilities didn’t work well in this world, but maybe they’d be more effective against something from your own world.

“Listen,” you said. “I think I can slow him down for you, if you think you can get that necklace. Act like you’re going to make a break for it, and when he tries to go past me, I’ll catch him.”

Captain Rambeau nodded, and took off down the street. Peter immediately gave chase.

Back home, Peter was far too fast for you to ever catch. But here, with him moving like he was running through quicksand? You might actually stand a chance.

You took a deep breath, reaching out. You felt a familiar resonance, and the sensation of something setting like a fishhook.

Peter slammed to a halt like he’d hit a brick wall. He paused for a moment, seemingly confused. He tried to run, but only managed a casual jog. It was working.

Then Peter turned back towards you, his expression something between furious and impressed. Your arm began to shake as you felt him struggling against you.

You really hoped this Captain Rambeau wasn’t going to leave you hanging.

“Well, looks like you’re good for something after all, huh, babe?” he said, strolling towards you.

“Peter would know,” you said, trying to keep his focus on you. “I don’t just break the laws of reality. I can enforce them, too.”

Peter sighed, shaking his head. “I really wish you weren’t complicating things so much. You could’ve just walked away, but-”

At that moment, Captain Rambeau dashed in, grabbing hold of the necklace and tearing it from Peter’s throat.

With a gasp, Peter’s smug expression shifted into a look of horrified panic. He looked at his hands like he was shocked he could move them. Then his gaze snapped back to you.

Your name – your real name – burst from his lips in a strangled cry. He rushed towards you, but stopped short, eyes widening as he took in the state of you.

“Oh, God… What did I-?”

“It’s okay, Peter,” you said. “I’m okay.”

You took his hands, and for a second you were worried that he was going to collapse.

Peter shook his head vehemently. “But you’re hurt!”

“Are you kidding?” you said. “Raven’s kicked my ass worse than this in training.”

Which was a lie, but at that point, you would’ve said just about anything to calm him down. It seemed to work, but only just.

“You’re here,” he said. His voice was quieter now. “You’re actually here.”

“Of course I’m here,” you said. “I came to bring you home.”

That wild look hadn’t left Peter’s eyes as they stared into yours. Gently, you took his face in your hands. At your touch, his eyes closed, and his head bowed just a little. You moved closer, pressing your forehead to his. He laid his hands on yours. His shaky breathing began to grow steadier.

Before either of you could say anything else, you were interrupted be the honking of a car horn.

Or rather, a funnel cake truck horn, to be exact. The driver – a bespectacled brunette – leaned her head out the window.

“As adorable as this is – and hi, by the way,” she called, “I think we’ve got bigger problems right now.”

Peter blinked rapidly, trying to pull himself together. He turned to Captain Rambeau.

“She’s right. Those kids are in danger. We have to do something. I’ll explain everything later,” he said, looking back at you, clearly distressed. “You’re already hurt. Just… stay safe until we get this under control, okay? Please.”

It killed you to think of letting Peter out of your sight after you’d only just gotten him back, but you nodded. You didn’t know what was going on or what kids were in danger, but you and Peter were X-Men. The safety of civilians always came first.

“It looks like they were headed downtown, Darcy,” Captain Rambeau called back to the driver. “Take Ace and follow us there, alright?”

With one last backward glance, Peter took off after Captain Rambeau.

As quickly as you were able, you climbed into the passenger side of the truck, smiling awkwardly at the driver as she put it back in gear and started off.

“Dr. Darcy Lewis,” she introduced herself, side-eying you. “Not the kind of doctor you clearly need, though. Sorry.”

“Nice to meet you,” you said. There was silence for a moment.

“So…” she said, “You and fake Pietro, huh?”

“His name is Peter,” you said, “But, yeah. I came to rescue him. We’re… not from around here.”

You were honestly too tired to explain more than that, but Dr. Lewis seemed to accept that explanation.

“Well, it’s not the first time I’ve met people who aren’t from around here.” She shrugged. “You ever heard of Thor? God of Thunder? He’s a friend of mine. Nice guy; great muscles.”

She said it so casually. Any other time, you would’ve thought this woman was nuts. But after time in Westview? Her claims didn’t sound that outlandish.

“Huh. Nice.” You nodded, impressed. Then, “This is gonna sound like a stupid question, but, uh… Who’s Wanda?”

Dr. Lewis gaped at you incredulously for a moment.

“Oh, boy…” she sighed.

Dr. Lewis gave you the rundown on the whole situation, and frankly? It was a lot. Parts of it – stuff about Avengers and Infinity Stones and snaps and blips – didn’t make any sense to you. But you did manage to grasp some of the more immediately relevant bits. Namely:

Wanda was immensely powerful. She had a twin brother named Pietro who – like your Peter – had superhuman speed, and who had died saving lives, leaving Wanda completely alone in the world.

Vision was apparently some sort of android, and also technically dead…?

But some real piece of work named Hayward had recreated a brainwashed zombie version of Vision and brought it to life using Wanda’s powers, and he was now trying to kill Wanda to cover up his crimes.

How the witch named Agnes and her kidnapping and mind-controlling Peter played into this, Dr. Lewis wasn’t entirely sure.

“Finally!” she said, apropos of nothing. “I swear, Wanda must’ve changed the whole layout of the town. The center is just up ahead.”

There was some sort of commotion overhead, and on the ground, too. Two young boys (probably the kids Peter had mentioned) stood in the street, facing down some military-looking types.

You and Dr. Lewis both shouted in alarm as one man pulled out a handgun and aimed it directly at the kids. From around the corner, Captain Rambeau and Peter ran in, and –

Shots rang out. You could only watch in horror as the man opened fire.

The strange blue blur that was Peter struggled to catch and redirect as many as he could, but it wasn’t enough. Two rounds tore through Captain Rambeau’s midsection, but…

You were still too far away to see exactly what happened, but Captain Rambeau seemed to glow, or phase out of sight for a second, and then she straightened up – unharmed. One of the boys raised his hand, evidently catching the single bullet that had gotten past Peter and the captain.

The man – Hayward, judging by the doctor’s lurid swearing – threw down his gun and hurried to climb back into his vehicle.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Dr. Lewis said under her breath. “Ace, hang onto something.”

“What are you- Oh, shit!”

You grabbed the door to brace yourself as Dr. Lewis gunned it down the street. Before Hayward could begin to make his escape, the funnel cake truck slammed into the side of his Humvee, pinning him inside.

Hayward turned, glaring daggers at Dr. Lewis.

“Have fun in prison,” she said cheerily.

You know what? You take it all back. Dr. Lewis was, in fact, kinda nuts. It was still a pretty badass move, though.

As steam began trickling from the truck’s busted radiator, Dr. Lewis unfastened her seatbelt.

“Well, looks like this thing’s not going anyplace, and neither is he,” she said, nodding at Hayward. “We might as well – I dunno – see if we can help or something.”

As you followed her lead, you heard Peter shouting: “How was that in any way ‘staying safe?’”

“Yeah, well, that’s what seatbelts are for,” Dr. Lewis called back. “And you’re welcome, by the way.”

Peter was there beside the truck as you stepped down out of it. You shifted your weight experimentally onto your injured leg, and let out a strangled yelp. Okay, bad idea. Peter immediately looped your arm around his shoulders and wrapped his arm around your waist.

“Lean on me, lean on me,” he said, “I got you.”

You fought the impulse to collapse against him completely. You’d spent… days? You didn’t know how long – scrambling and searching and breaking out of hospitals and hiding in hedges just to get back to him. You just wanted to hold him and sleep for at least a week.

But the whole business wasn’t over yet. As Peter helped you limp around the truck, you saw that there was another man standing by the kids and Captain Rambeau, talking to Dr. Lewis. He skin was an unnatural shade of red (was that face paint or something?), and he was wearing this strange caped costume. Catching sight of Peter, the man’s eyes narrowed.

“No, it’s okay,” said Dr. Lewis. “He’s cool. He’s with us now.”

The man didn’t seem convinced. His gaze shifted to you, and he tilted his head curiously.

“Ace?” he said.

You blinked. “Vision?”

The voice was the same. The eyes, too. You wouldn’t have recognized him otherwise. He was the only friendly face you’d seen in this place. You couldn’t help but smile at seeing him again. Still, you remembered what Dr. Lewis had said – you’re talking to a ghost.

“Do you two know each other?” asked Dr. Lewis.

“We met, briefly,” you said, “When I first got into town. I’m glad you’re alright.”

“So, the friend you were looking for…?” Vision inclined his head inquiringly towards Peter.

You nodded. Peter waved, letting out a stilted, rueful laugh.

“Your children…?” you asked, gesturing to the boys.

Vision put his arms around them both, a proud smile brightening his worried expression.

“My children,” he said, “And… up there is my wife.”

As one, the whole group looked up to the two women still locked in combat above you.

Captain Rambeau frowned. “Can’t we do something?”

“I tried,” said Vision, “But it seems that Wanda wants to finish this on her own terms, unaided.”

The others kept worried eyes on the proceedings, but Peter turned his attention back to you, helping you to sit down on a nearby bench. He knelt in front of you.

“Scale of one to ten,” he said, “How worried should I be?”

“One,” you said. “I’ll be fine. I don’t think anything’s broken, so I’m calling that a win.”

“Hmm, nope. Still worried. Less dire question – why is everybody calling you ‘Ace?’”

“The professor said not to tell anybody my real name,” you said. “There was no way of knowing what I was walking into. We didn’t think we should tell anyone too much.”

“Oh…” Peter’s mouth twisted into a guilty grimace. “I kinda told Monica everything when we were running over here.”

Red light flashed blindingly above you, drawing your attention upwards.

[The battle proceeds as in canon, ending with Agatha’s defeat.]

Wanda turned back to the others, smiling. The boys ran to hug her, and Vision was close behind. You were too far away to hear what was being said, but at Vision’s words, Wanda’s smile faded. Putting their arms around each other, the family walked a little ways down the street.

“What’s going on?” you asked.

Peter shook his head. A pained expression crossed Captain Rambeau’s face. She closed her eyes, turning away.

“This Vision was never real to begin with,” said Dr. Lewis, her tone oddly solemn. “I think he’s saying goodbye.”

At that, she, too, turned away. Whatever passed between Wanda, Vision, and their children – their farewell wasn’t for prying eyes to watch.

Peter seized your hand and leaned his forehead against your shoulder. You bowed your head over his, closing your eyes. After a moment, you felt something pass over you.

It was that same feeling of overwhelming grief that’d struck you when you first entered Westview, but you understood it now. If you had lost Peter – truly lost him, for good – you imagined that it’d feel something like that.

It only lasted a second, though. In its wake, everything felt brighter, colder.

When you looked up, you cast an uncertain glance back down the main street. There stood Wanda and her children.

Vision was nowhere to be seen.

Wanda pressed her hands to her mouth and slowly sank to her knees. The boys knelt beside her, crying openly, and she pulled them close.

Your heart broke to see them, and you turned away again. It felt wrong to intrude on their grief, even from a distance. Westview had changed. The town seemed faded and dull, somehow desaturated.

Peter had changed, too. His hair was silver again, instead of that strange dirty-blond shade, and his clothes were the same ones he’d been wearing when he was taken.

“You’re all yourself again,” you said.

Peter looked down at himself in surprise. His eyes widened, and he frantically felt his pockets before letting out a sigh of relief. Something about him looked too bright for your pale surroundings. Maybe it was the fact that neither of you belonged to that world, or maybe it was the fact that you were so damn glad to have him back.

Or it might’ve been that this was the first time you’d seen him smile since he was freed from the witch’s control. You leaned in and kissed him.

“God, I missed you,” he said.

Before he could say anything else, another conversation interrupted him.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Dr. Lewis was saying. “I was just trying to keep him from getting away.”

She and Captain Rambeau surveyed the dented Humvee in which Hayward was still trapped.

“Well, we’re gonna have to get him out of there somehow,” said the captain.

“Can’t you do some sorta…” Dr. Lewis extended her arms, wiggling her fingers in the direction of the vehicle, “Now?”

Captain Rambeau laughed, shaking her head. “I don’t think that’s how it works, Darcy.”

Suddenly, the former funnel cake truck lurched. With a strained metallic groan, it was dragged slowly back and away from the Humvee, leaving just enough space for someone to hypothetically get through and apprehend Hayward.

“What the-?”

Captain Rambeau turned to look back towards you and Peter, or rather, to the street behind you. You caught Peter’s eye just before turning to look yourself, and smiled. Of course.

Peter’s eyes widened again. “Dad?”

“Professor?” you exclaimed.

You might’ve expected Mr. Lehnsherr to come after Peter when he found out what’d happened, but you certainly didn’t expect to see him standing on the main street of Westview with Professor Xavier at his side. Peter stood up, but anything he might’ve said was cut off – once again – by Dr. Lewis.

“Hey, cheekbones!” she called out. “Nice one.”

Upon realizing that he was the one being addressed with that remark, Mr. Lehnsherr gave her a perplexed smile and lowered his arm. But his expression turned serious again at the sound of approaching sirens.

“It’s okay,” said Captain Rambeau. “Agent Woo is with is. I’ll talk to him.”

She and Dr. Lewis went to meet the approaching vehicles, while Mr. Lehnsherr and the professor moved quickly towards you.

“Are you two alright?” the professor asked.

“We’re fine,” you said.

“I’m fine,” Peter corrected. “You can barely walk.”

The professor’s brows furrowed in concern. “I shouldn’t have let you go alone.”

“I’m glad you did, though” you said frankly. “I wouldn’t wish this experience on anybody.”

Peter turned his attention to Mr. Lehnsherr, eyeing him with an expression that seemed a little incredulous, but pleased.

“So. you really came all the way from Genosha for me?” he said.

“I heard you’d been abducted to another reality; of course I came back. Something this ridiculous could only happen to you, Peter,” said Mr. Lehnsherr. Then his expression softened, “I’m glad you’re alright, son.”

“What happened here, exactly?” asked the professor, as he surveyed the street.

“Well, my perspective on events might be kinda limited, but you can see for yourself.”

You leaned towards the professor slightly, offering your thoughts. He touched your temple, and that odd dreamlike sensation washed over your mind as he sifted through your memories of Westview. You were glad you’d asked Dr. Lewis to explain things to you. Maybe the professor could glean more meaning from the story than you’d been able to.

When you opened your eyes, the professor looked pensive, and no less concerned.

“I think it’s high time we get the two of you home,” he said.

“Not that I want to distrust government agents,” said Mr. Lehnsherr, keeping a wary eye on Hayward’s arrest in progress, “But I’m inclined to agree with Charles.”

Peter frowned hesitantly. His gaze had drifted to Wanda and her sons.

“Just… give me one minute, alright?” he said. “There’s something I wanna say first.”

[yamithediaperdork]

Rescuing the baby (DC)

Barry Allen sighed as he was in the third hour of a 6 hour car trip, wondering for the millionth time why he had let his loving wife talk him into using a stupid car when he was the fastest man alive.

even as he cruised at a solid 55 MPH on the highway, it was like a slow walk to the man who when he wasn't being a CSI or a loving husband, happened to be the flash.

Of course he knew WHY and had agreed with her at the time, that Barry Allen managing to make it from Central city to Gotham in under 10 minutes would of raised all sorts of flag, but still. He hadn't even enjoyed the conference he'd been forced to go to by his supervisor, the highlight of the 3 day event had been hanging out with Batman.

Still it was over with and he vowed to find a way to squirm out of the next conference, even if he had to let a super villain or two out of jail. (Ok, he wouldn't actually do that but it was fun to picture on the long drive.)

Still there was a highlight on taking the long drive, it would give him a legitimate excuse to stop by and check on his favorite (well ok, only) nephew though his marriage to Iris: Wally west.

The boy had made a habit of spending any and all vacation time he could get (within reason) coming out and visiting them and while it made things a little harder on Barry's double life, seeing the freckled smiling face of the boy always made up for the slight inconveniences.

The only downside to making the trip without Iris (who had been kept busy with work) was there was no one to act like a filter between Barry and Rudy west, Wally's very unpleasant father who made his dislike of Barry well know while also never QUITE insulting Barry and giving him a excuse to put the bastard in his place. Barry knew that while Rudy would sight Barry's low income and long work hours as reasons that Barry might wanna find a 'real job', it was more the fact Wally looked up more to Barry then his own father that had turned the man more and more sour.

Barry also couldn't be totally sure, and wally wouldn't talk about it but since the poor boy had started bed wetting again Barry was convinced Ruby had started abusing his son, Mentally if not physically and disguising it as a spanking helped little bed wetters stop (a belief Barry did not follow)

Still he was sure wally would light up when Barry swung by as a surprise and if it just happened to ruin Rudy's day, gee, wouldn't that be a shame.

Rudy was home alone, having a beer (or two or three) and watching a game when there was a knock at the door. he started to call out for his wife Mary to go and answer the door before recalling where she was and got up out of his lazy-boy , cursing slowly as he spilled some beer on his plain white t-shirt.

"Hold your damn horses! I'm coming!" he called.

Already in a bad mood, it got worst as he saw who was at the door and sighing like he had the WORST luck, he opened the front door, sipping his bee that was still in his right hand.

"What do YOU want?" Rudy asked.

"Hi to you too Rudy." Barry said dryly , looking at his watch. "Little early for a brewski isn't it?"

"Don't tell me you drove all the way here to give me shit for enjoying a cold one on my day off." Rudy snorted. the booze took away what little filters he had and well, it wasn't like Iris or Wally or Mary were there to give him any shit.

"..I'm actually on my way back from a conference, and thought I'd drop by and see wally for a bit. and maybe enjoy your charming company." Barry said, then added. "Though PLEASE tell me you haven't been drinking in front of him? That's a bad example Rudy."

"Well Barry, when I want you to tell me how to raise my son I'll ask. Maybe I could give you advise on how to raise YOUR kids..Oh wait." Rudy said, smirking then taking a long drink, not aware the man he was insults could of stranded him in the middle of a city in just his boxers because he'd even know what was happening, and that Barry was fighting the urge to do so at this moment. "in any case, Wally's not here. He's in the ER with his mother. the little Klutz fell down the stairs and pretty sure he broke his ankle."

"Wait what? If he broke his ankle why aren't you-" Barry started, anger and fear mixing.

"Kid shit his pants and smelled something awful, so I stayed behind. wasn't room for me in the ambulance." Rudy paused and anther smirk. "and since I've been drinking I didn't wanna drive, I thought you'd appreciate that Barry."

"..How did Wally fall down the steps?" Barry asked, voice going low as something about the attuide and smugness in the man's voice had Barry worried.

"Stupid little dork tripped over his own pissy diaper when it hit the floor. you know he's wearing 24/7 now? started pissing himself at school!"

"...Rudy I happen to be VERY good at my job, and I'm going to drive over to the ER now and talk with Mary and see how wally's doing. If there's something you wanna tell me now, it'll help you out in the long run." Barry said, pushing his way into the house and the smile vanished from Rudy's face.

"I..I don't know what your-" Rudy stammered out, looking anywhere but at Barry now.

as much as Barry wanted to get the story out of Ruby, maybe go a little batman on him, his biggest concern was getting to wally before Mary, ever the dotting wife could convince Wally to keep the truth to himself.

"This is NOT over Rudy. Think about what I said about helping yourself. It IS what your best at." Barry said and stormed out.

Rudy gulped and slumped to the floor, wondering if it might of been time to call in some vacation time and take a little trip before Barry came back.

Barry's knuckles were going white as he drove to the nearest hospital, he wanted to just zip over but having the flash show up for a kid only Barry should know would of been against secret identity rule number one.

Still the time wasted on getting a parking spot and having to get directions irked him to no end when he knew he could of searched the place in less then 1.5 seconds.

Finding Mary sitting outside of the OR, he walked over to her and was silently counting down in his head as she looked annoyed and mad she was waiting on her only child to get out of surgery then worried.

"Barry, what are you doing here?" she asked, shocked and sounding a little worried.

"I went to stop by for a visit and Rudy told me what happened.." Barry said, then added. "How's Wally?"

"It's taking longer then they thought, they had to stop and change his diapers because he shit himself again. Like it wasn't taking long enough." Mary said and rolled her eyes then caught herself. "I mean, I just.. I'm annoyed he hurt himself is all. he should be really more careful where he puts his toys." She added fast.

Already spotting the difference in stories, Barry just rolled with it.

"Yeah, Rudy said it was a toy truck I believe. " Barry lied., hoping to catch her in the lie.

She looked confused for a second, then nodded.

"well, since he's started needing diaper ALL the time and his friends at school have shunned him, he's gone pretty infantile." she said.

"..Mary with this happening at home you know child services will be investigating right? So as a CSI my advice to you is to make sure you tell the truth. whatever it may be." Barry said, crossing his arms across his chest.

he didn't have the broad shoulders of Batman or superman, but he a twig either and cut a imposing frame.

"W-what do you mean by that?" She asked.

"Rudy told me Wally tripped down the stairs because of his diapers, you told me a toy, I'm damn good at my job Mary but it doesn't take a genius to guess what happened. I SAW the bruises last time me and Iris had him." Barry said flatly.

"I-I swear, it's not me Barry!" Mary said, keeping her voice low and looking around the waiting room now. it was only the two of them and it was clear she was scared now. "if I don't go along with it Rudy wi-" She started to add, But Barry cut her off.

"Iris and you went swimming together not too long ago and she would of told me about any bruises. If Rudy was mentally harming you then you would of taken this chance to out him. So drop the victim act."

"..Oh like you know what it's like, having a promising young boy end up pissing himself and shitting him and looking at his own parents with disdain because he'd rather be with his aunt and her side piece!" Mary snarled.

"watch your tone. Look, I'm willing to help you and Rudy out with this, stay out of jail because I don't want wally to have to visit you in prison..but the price is going to be simple and clear." Barry said.

"Let me guess, you need a loan?" Mary said, a smug smirk on her face reaching for a check book.

"I don't want your Money. I want wally somewhere safe. Me and Iris are going to take custody of him and your NOT going to contest it."

Mary argue, she called the house to tell Rudy about it but he wasn't answering having already taken off, leaving a note for Mary on where to find him and in the end Barry had his way. With Mary taking a taxi back home Barry cleared that he was the impending legal guardian and then located a pay phone. Calling Iris as he wanted on Wally to recover after his surgery to tell her everything that had happened, The only part of the whole thing she disagreed with was Barry letting them off Scott free.

After that he put in a call to a few friends in the DA and family court back in Central city and got assured the whole thing would be settled with minimal fuss.

Wally giggled softly as they wheeled him out of recovery. he was naturally in a wheelchair and dressed in a green gown that fluttered in the AC of the building revealing the thick green tinted diapers he was wearing and his left foot had a sock on it while the right had a thick off white cast around it. The boys freckles stood out as he smiled, his orangish red hair a mess and his eyes totally glazed over.

"Unca Barry! Hiiii!" he giggled and for a second went to get out of the chair before a nurse gently pushed him back down.

"Lizard queen, we talked about this, you can't walk yet." she said with a smile on her face and a amused tone.

"..Lizard queen?" Barry asked.

"Your nephew apparently has next to no tolerance for pain killers and well.." the blond nurse started but was cut off by Wally tossing his arms up.

"I AM THE LIZARD QUEEN! FEAR ME!" He giggled and coo'ed.

Barry snorted and nodded.

"I see. well is her Majesty ready to be signed out yet?" he asked, coming over and patting a head on wally head, a paternal gesture to most, and it was head, though he was also looking for lumps or bruises.

"we'd like to keep him for a little while longer, at least until he's more lucid and well, his clothes are clean and out of the landry. I'm sure the lizard queen would prefer not to drive around in just a diaper." the nurse chuckled."besides, you might wanna go and stock up on some item's Mr. Allen."

"Heh, touche. Wall man, you gonna be ok with the nurse while Uncle Barry goes and gets some supplies for you?"

"I can count to purple." Wally giggled and held out his arms for a hug.

"Oh wow, thats VERY talented!" Barry chuckled and kneeled down, Hugging the smaller boy gently and then feeling Wally slump and pulling back, alarmed.

"Relax Mr.Allen, it's the drugs, he's just been sleepy. Someone will stay with hi in his room to watch him." She said, putting a reassuring hand on Barry's shoulder.

the statement was made to sound like it was because of his drugged state, but the underline was that they were making sure Mr. and Mrs.west didn't come back.

"I'll be back as fast as I can." Barry said and took off.

Getting in the car he drove out to a field where he could park it and felt assured it would be left alone for at least a few minutes. Sliding out from behind the wheel and hitting a special ring he wore out popped a compressed version of his costume and making around in a blur, he quickly suited up and then put his clothes in the back seat of his car.

Experience had taught him that when it came to what he was likely going to need to to to pack a duffel bag for wally, his normal clothes wouldn't of made it.

in the micro seconds it took him to get to the west household a check check confirmed that the doors were locked and not wanting to give them any chance of coming back and getting him or Iris in trouble Barry backed up a few feet in their back yard where the sight of the flash wouldn't be seen(or at least not as easily) for the 2 seconds it would take to ready himself for this.

One of his more useful skills could also be terribly destructive if he wasn't careful so taking a deep breath he readied himself then started to dash at the back door, willing his molecules to vibrate just right and he was able to phase though the door clearly, not blowing it up like he'd done when he'd first learned this trick.

Racing up the stair Barry helped himself to a duffel bag and filled it with some of Wally's clothes, recalling his favorite t-shirts and pants, and as well as the boys gaming devices and a few of his action figures and books, and of course the teddy bear wearing a costume just like Barry's that they'd made at a make bear last year.

with the duffel bag full Barry helped himself to a back pack now, and filled it with the thick, over the top babyish diapers the wests had gotten their son, that while cute and made Barry warm up to a idea he was getting, made him fume as it was clear they had been trying to shame the boy out of his accidents.

he also helped himself to the changing supplies and noted the extra steanght diaper rash cream and made a note to ask the nurse about if wally had a rash when he got back.

Giving the room one last look over, Barry slowed down enough to be hit by the smell of the diaper pail in the corner and grimaced, smell molecules couldn't affect him when he was moving at super speed but they tended to come back with a vengeance once he slowed down.

Looking in the diaper pail the thing didn't even have a bag in it and was set where the sun was sure to hit it as well, and had marking on the inside showing how full it had to be before Wally would of been allowed to change it.

"..Should of smashed the bastard into a pulp when I had the chance." he growled, then sped back up, leaving the room.

he simply unlocked the back door and placed the bags on the grass as they wouldn't of survived the trip though the door then went back in and re locked it and zipped back though it before packing the bags in the car and changing back to his normal clothes, the whole thing taking all of maybe five minutes.

Getting behind the wheel of the car, he fished out a JLA commutator he kept with him at all times (which all Justice leaguer's were required to do, though some like Green tended to forget) and made a call to Batman, for the plan he had to make wally happy and settle in at home and life with the Allen's, he was going to need a bit of finical help.

Once the situation was explained Bruce was only too happy to help though recommended that they take Wally's recovery slowly, but warned Barry he wouldn't hold back if the west's happened to end up in Gotham city.

Barry took Batman's advice and extended his leave, even after wally was discharged from the hospital they didn't go to Central city right away, Barry taking the sullen and emotional boy to several road side attractions on the drive back.

wally had been unwilling to confirm that he'd been pushed down the stairs at first, even when it became clear that his parents had admitted to at least some of it. (as it turned out he'd been pushed down the stairs twice before this.)

The worried about diaper rash had been confirmed and while Wally whined that he could look after his own diaper changes, Barry was having NONE of that and insisted on changing his nephew, teasing the blushing boy about the freckles on his butt that became more clear as the rash faded.

Wally also was embarrassed at first but grew to like how Barry insisted on carrying the boy instead of making him use his crutches, his thin and light frame made it easy enough.

Getting home to central city Barry was all smiles and wally was actually more relaxed and ok, even eager to see Iris as they pulled up, who was in fact waiting in the drive way for them and rushed out.

"Wally! How are you? Are you ok?" She asked, showering the boy in hugs and kisses and fussing over him as he got out of the car on his crutches, having insisted on not being carried into the house.

"I'm fine aunt Iris, just a little sore. Aunt iris I'm.. Iris.. Barry help!" Wally giggled and then gave a mock plea for help.

"heh, Maybe let him get in the door before you shower him with love?" Barry suggested, getting his bags and Wally's out of the trunk of the car.

"Never!" iris chuckled but did back up, while adding. "Just so you know little guy, expect lots of that from me."

"heh, well I suppose I'll allow that." Wally said, grinning like a goof ball as he made his way towards the front door.

Iris and Barry exchanged grins, as if to say 'that's cute, he thinks he has a choice!'

getting the wall man inside Barry put the bags down by the door and swept Wally off his feet.

"wally, there's a little something that me and your aunt have been meaning to talk with you about, and we think it's going to help your recovery a lot." Barry said, heading for a room on the first floor that had been converted into wallies new room since they didn't like the idea of him having to go up and down stairs.

"Oh? what is it?" wally asked, not even fighting it as he was carried on Barry's hip, his thick diaper puffing out his cargo shorts.

"well, we think a bit of regression therapy would help with your recovery so on that note.." Barry said, and opened the door to Wally's new room.

The wall's were painted flash red with little flash symbols on the walls every few feet and there was a light yellow plush carpet on the floor.

what caught Wally's eyes though as the little guy's jaw dropped was the large changing table and a crib in the room, as well as a large toy chest.

"So.." Iris said coming up and kissing Wally's cheek. "what do you think of your nursery?"

[cheemerthelizard]

I’m... I’m...

Body swap scenario! I absolutely love these, and thought it would be fun to try out my own. I made a short fic for each of the Crusaders, but I would love to do these for other characters, and probably will. I would also like to point out that these interactions will be completely platonic. Okay, enough explanation! Enjoy!

The Stand’s attack sent you flying back, and it wasn’t until you hit a pole that you stopped.

“Ugh...” you grunted. You looked up from the pole that you had hit, and saw your body on the ground, still unmoving. No. You didn’t just die, did you? You looked down at your hands. Nope. Still normal. But they looked familiar. Not yours, but familiar. You gasped, frantically checking the clothes, face, and top of the head of the body you were in. This wasn’t you. “I’m... I’m...” You clamped your mouth shut. That was the voice of...

“Jotaro!”

You couldn't help but notice how bulky it felt in Jotaro's body. In a good way, of course. His arms and legs were toned to perfection, and you could feel the squeeze of his abs on your stomach. Or rather, his stomach.

Your body, which you could only assume had Jotaro’s soul trapped inside it, started to gradually get up. You quickly ran towards him, and tried helping him up. Or, was it her?

“Thanks, but I can get up myself.” It was extremely disassociating hearing your voice when you weren’t speaking. It seemed like Jotaro noticed something off, too, as his eyes (your eyes?) widened and he looked up, way up, to lock eyes with you.

“You’re not dead,” you reassured him. “You’re in my body.”

“I’m in your what?” Jotaro was showing small signs of panic, something you’d never seen before, as he started turning round and round, slapping his hands on his cheeks, and grabbing his arms and legs. After a while, he looked back at you. “Good grief, (Y/N), it wouldn’t hurt for you to hit the gym every once in a while. Your limbs are like twigs.”

You could feel heat rising to your cheeks, but you didn’t know if it was from embarrassment or anger. You didn’t even know how to respond to that. “Shut up! My physique is fine as it is!” Ooh. Those words sounded much more intimidating in Jotaro’s voice.

“Okay, but if you snap your arm handshaking someone, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“It only feels like that to you because you’re stronger than me,” you huffed. “In fact, I can probably pick you up with ease in this new body.”

“Don’t. You. Dare.” Jotaro glared you down, but in your body, it was far less intimidating. In fact, you had to hold back laughter from how silly it looked.

“What are you gonna do? I know my body’s limits, and I know it can do nothing to yours.”

“Because I have Star Platinum by my side,” Jotaro said. However, in attempt to show his Stand off, he summoned Ace of Pentacles instead. That could only mean one thing...

“Oh, ho, ho!” You looked Star Platinum in the eyes, then looked down at Jotaro smugly. “Looks like I have the almighty Stand now!”

Both Ace and Star looked a little confused and defensive at their user's body, as if they knew it was someone else.

"Don't worry, Star," you smiled. "It's me, (Y/N). And Ace, that's just Jotaro."

Both Stands seemed to accept that answer, and lowered their defenses. You crossed your arms, and smirked. "I can even calm Star Platinum better than you," you said to Jotaro. "What does that say about you as a Stand user?"

“Can you wipe that stupid grin off your face?” Jotaro asked. “It looks good on you, but not on me. Also, we need to find who did this, and fast.”

“Yeah, I agree,” you replied. “Although it’s nice being tough and strong, it’s weird feeling something between my thighs.”

This time, it was Jotaro’s turn to clench his teeth and blush. “I’m going to kill you once I have Star Platinum again,” he murmured.

“Oh, don’t act like you can’t feel a difference in your chest.”

“Anyway,” Jotaro quickly changed the subject, “we have to find the others and explain this situation. Let’s go.”

“Fine,” you laughed. Woah. You’ve never heard Jotaro’s voice laugh like you just did. It sounded nice, actually. “I can’t wait to see what Star Platinum feels like in action.”

“It’s super cool.”

“Guess I’ll find out when we get to our enemy.” You grabbed Jotaro and hoisted him up, which made him give out a small yelp, and immediately clamp his mouth.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m not dealing with this body forever.”

Once you got to the hotel that everyone was staying in, it took a couple of protests to convince Joseph that you were really in each other’s bodies.

“You’re kidding,” Joseph laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding!”

“Mr. Joestar, I promise you, this is serious!” you told him.

“You’re doing pretty good, Jotaro,” Joseph replied. “I can’t believe you’d call me anything other than old man.”

“That’s because I didn’t, old man!” Jotaro growled. “We’re telling the truth! We had an encounter with an enemy!”

“Mr. Joestar,” Kakyoin said, “I think they’re serious. Look at the way they stand. The look in their eyes. The subtle stuff that they wouldn’t be able to catch if they were pranking us.”

Joseph looked up and down both of them, then muttered, “You're right. They do kinda look like their bodies have swapped.”

"Well," Avdol added, "there's only one way to reverse this, you know."

"Killing the user," you sighed.

"But it's getting late," Joseph told you. "We'll deal with it tomorrow."

"No!" Jotaro protested. "I'm not going to sleep in a girl's body!"

"I'd take your place, Jotaro," Polnareff snickered. He didn't realize that you had summoned Star Platinum and sent a punch straight to his face.

"Don't you EVER say something like that again!" you yelled. "I'm lucky I swapped bodies with Jotaro and not you!"

"Anyway," Kakyoin glared at Polnareff, who was rubbing his cheek, "how does it feel in a boy's body, (Y/N)? Just out of curiosity."

"Strange," you answered. "Really strange."

"What feels different?" Polnareff asked, a smug smile spread across his face.

"I don't really know how to answer that," you laughed. "I mean, how do you describe being in a body that's not yours? Surreal?"

"Old man, please, we have to find this guy tonight! I'm not sleeping in (Y/N)'s body." Jotaro begged Joseph. "Do you realize how awkward this is for both of us?"

“My mind has been made,” Joseph said. “We’re going to wake up tomorrow feeling refreshed and ready to catch our Stand user!”

“Hey, I’m sure it won’t be that bad,” you consoled Jotaro, although you were unsure who you were trying to convince. “As long as you keep yourself fully clothed, it’ll be fine... I think.”

“Same goes for you,” Jotaro added. “I mean, I guess I don’t mind the shirt coming off, but the pants stay on.”

“That’s fair,” you said. “Well, goodnight, Jotaro.”

“Night.”

The two of you went to your hotel rooms, and when you closed the door, you sighed heavily. Being in another person’s body was exhausting. You turned to your bed, and saw Iggy, head tilted.

“Relax, Iggy, it’s me, (Y/N),” you chuckled. “Jotaro and I had an encounter with a Stand that swapped our bodies.”

You went to the bathroom to brush your teeth, which was really weird, since you were staring into the mirror at someone else’s reflection. When you were done, you jumped into your bed, which Iggy kept warm for you. Yawning, you curled up into your favorite sleeping position, and closed your eyes. The problem was, in Jotaro's body, you were far from comfortable in that position. You tried another one. Still uncomfortable. You kept trying all sorts of different positions that you hoped would work in this body, but no prevail. Eventually, you had tossed and turned so much Iggy decided it would be better to sleep on the floor. Groaning, you got up from bed, left your room, and knocked on Jotaro's door.

"What do you want?" you heard your voice from the other side.

"What sleeping position is the most comfortable for you?" you asked.

"I could ask you the same thing." Jotaro went to open the door, but didn't realize you were leaning on it. As soon as he opened it, you stumbled over and fell down right next to him.

"Hey, try to be a little more careful in my body," Jotaro said. "I don't want to come back to bruises and scars that were from something stupid like leaning on an opening door and falling over. Anyway, I usually sleep straight up, legs spread apart, arms to my sides."

After exchanging sleeping positions, you headed back to your room, where Iggy had fallen asleep on the floor. You tried the position that Jotaro told you, and noticed how comfortable it was in his body. Finally, you were able to go to sleep. Hopefully, this whole thing would be sorted out in the morning.

“Kakyoin!”

You had to be honest, even if he wasn’t as buff as the other men in the group, you could definitely feel a difference from your body and his. After all, he did carry some beef with him, and it was noticeable to you.

“Ugh, I think I hit my head too hard,” you heard your voice say. “My voice sounds all weird, and I feel really strange.”

Right. If you were in Kakyoin’s body, then Kakyoin was bound to be in your body. You kind of wanted to tell him the situation, but another part of you wanted to see him figure it out himself.

“Wait a minute,” he muttered. “This voice sounds familiar. And these hands look familiar.” He looked down at his (your) shirt, and gasped. “This is... (Y/N)’s body!” He looked up at you (him) in horror. “Tha-that’s... my... body...”

You nodded.

“And I’m... not in it...”

Again, you nodded.

“Why don’t you say something, (Y/N)?” Kakyoin shuddered. “You’re creeping me out.”

“There hasn’t been a need,” you answered.

“Fair,” he nodded. “Still! Aren’t you freaked out by this, too?” He got up and started moving his limbs back and forth. “It’s so...” he shivered in disgust. “I feel like a pervert in this body.”

“Don’t say it like that!” you exclaimed. “You’re making me imagine things that you’d do in my body I don’t want to imagine.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Kakyoin quickly apologized. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“It’s okay,” you told him. “We should probably tell the others before we go off and try to find the Stand user ourselves.”

Kakyoin nodded in agreement, but before you headed off to the hotel, you heard him say, “Wait. Do we have each other’s Stands? Or do we keep the same Stand?”

“Well, only one way to find out,” you shrugged. Both of you summoned your Stands. Or, rather, each other’s Stands, because, sure enough, the Stands didn’t travel with you. You were able to harness Hierophant Green, and Kakyoin could wield Ace of Pentacles. And the Stands seemed to realize that whoever was in this body was not their user, but they were hesitant to do anything that would kill the intruder.

"Don't worry, Hierophant, I'm (Y/N)," you told him. "Kakyoin and I got into a little bit of trouble, and now our bodies are swapped." Luckily, Hierophant seemed to understand, and calmed down.

"Okay, now that we know the Stand situation," Kakyoin said, "let's go tell everyone else what happened." He started walking to the hotel, and you quickly followed.

"So," Jotaro leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, "my two best friends have been attacked by an enemy Stand while going to buy some things, and now they're trapped in each other's bodies."

"Sounds about right," you nodded.

"Yeah, that's what happened," Kakyoin replied.

Jotaro lowered his hat and sighed. "Good grief," he muttered. "This isn't going to end well."

"Anyway," Kakyoin said, "we should probably find this user as soon as possible. It won't be good if we're forever in each other's bodies."

"I wholeheartedly agree," Joseph answered, "but it's getting really late. How about we get a good night's sleep and wake up completely ready to take on the user?"

"No!" you both exclaimed at the same time.

"This feels weird! I don't wanna sleep in Kakyoin's body!" You squirmed just thinking about it. "No offense, Kakyoin."

"None taken, because I feel the exact same way," Kakyoin replied.

"Well, the rest of us are tired," Polnareff said, "so unless you plan on going out in the streets of Cairo alone, you better get some rest."

"Fine," both of you sighed. Before you headed off to your rooms, though, Kakyoin shared something with you.

"In case you didn't know, my most comfortable sleeping position is on my side, curled up. It would probably be the most comfortable to sleep in that position."

You told Kakyoin your usual sleeping position, too, then both of you headed off to your hotel rooms.

"Oh, and one more thing."

You turned your head. "Yeah?"

"I have PJs if you want to use those."

You thought about it for a little bit, then said, "You sure trust me a lot if you'd let me undress in your body. Unless it's not about trust..." you wiggled your eyebrows.

Well, now you knew what you looked like when you blushed. "Um, uh, no, that's not what I meant, at all, I promise," Kakyoin stuttered. "I mean, my school uniform isn't the comfiest thing to sleep in, so, heh, y'know, PJs are, are much comfier. It really is about trust, honest!"

"I know what you meant," you laughed as you went down to pat his head. Er, your head. This was so confusing. "And trust me, I'll change as quickly as possible."

Kakyoin sighed with relief. "Okay, I'll go get them from my room."

While you patiently waited for Kakyoin to come back, you started playing with his hair, pulling his long strand down, then letting go and watching it bounce back up again. It was actually pretty entertaining. At least, more entertaining than it should be.

"Okay, here's the PJs," Kakyoin tossed them up to you. "Good night, (Y/N)."

"Good night," you replied.

This time, you truly parted ways. When you got to your room, Iggy stood on all fours defensively.

"Don't worry, Iggy," you chuckled. "Kakyoin and I got into a fight with an enemy Stand, but I'm still (Y/N)."

Iggy laid back down, and yawned as he fell asleep. Quickly, you changed out of Kakyoin's uniform and slipped into his much comfier pajamas, and turned off the light, snuggling up next to Iggy. This would all be sorted out in the morning, you knew it. For now, you needed to rest. And rest you did.

“Joseph!”

You were always surprised on how fit Joseph was, especially with his old age, but this was beyond what you thought it would feel like. You expected at least a few creaky bones, but he was still in tip top shape, and you couldn’t help but flex his arms and feel his strength coursing through your veins.

“OH MY GO-“ your voice shouted, but cut off for some odd reason. You whipped your head around to see your body suddenly reanimated, spinning around in circles and darting its eyes all across the surface. “What happened? Why am I in (Y/N)’s body?”

“Mr. Joestar, please calm down!” you begged. “I don’t want people thinking I’m crazy!”

“Ah!” Joseph exclaimed. “You’re in my body, too? What’s going on?”

“Do you really think I have any more of a clue than you do?” you asked, still not used to his voice. “Look, I’m a high school girl in a grown man’s body! Do you think this is any easier for me?”

“We have to get back and tell the others about all of this!” Joseph said. “Come on, (Y/N), let’s go!”

As Joseph started running, you joined him, boosted by his incredible strength, and scooped him up along the way.

“Mr. Joestar,” Avdol said, “don’t you think a prank like this is a little too much for our current situation? And how did you get (Y/N) to agree to this?”

“Avdol, I am (Y/N),” you replied. “This isn’t a joke! I have Ace of Pentacles and everything!” You tried to summon her, but you were met with purple thorns. Uh oh. That could only mean that Joseph had Ace.

“This isn’t helping our argument,” Joseph muttered as he summoned Ace of Pentacles. “Look, we’re telling the truth, you have to believe us,” he pleaded.

“Favorite colors,” Jotaro said. “Go.”

“(Color),” you stated.

“Yellow,” Joseph answered.

“Favorite foods.”

“(Food).”

“Squid ink spaghetti.”

“My favorite food.”

You stayed silent, since you had no idea.

“Your mom’s cooking,” Joseph stated. “You used to be such a momma’s boy.”

“Yup, they’re in the wrong bodies,” Jotaro concluded. “There’s no way (Y/N) would have known that.”

“Finally!” you sighed. “I was beginning to worry you’d never believe us and we’d have to go find this guy on our own.”

“That would be pretty bad,” Kakyoin chuckled. “Neither of you have fighting Stands.”

“At least I have a fighting body,” Joseph beamed, putting his hands on his hips. “Well, I did.”

“That fighting body is mine now,” you smirked, flexing his muscles.

“Cut that out!” Joseph tried shoving you, but in your body, it did next to nothing. He tried harder. Still almost nothing. He pushed his back against you. He ran and jumped. He attacked you from above. Everything he tried was useless as you stood, as strong as a pillar, in the exact same place.

“You’re no fun,” he pouted. “You could at least act like I did something.”

You looked down at him, gave him a tiny push, and watched as he toppled over. “Nice acting, Mr. Joestar,” you chuckled.

“That hurt,” Joseph mumbled. “That hurt a lot.”

“What’s that?” You held up a hand to an ear. “I can’t hear you since you’re so much closer to the ground than I am.”

“I’ll pay you back when this is over, you know,” Joseph warned, “so I’d stop now if I were you.”

“Then why don’t you stop?” you asked him. “After all, you are me.”

“You know what I mean,” he grumbled.

“I know, I know,” you laughed. “I’ll stop.”

“Anyway, I’m getting a little tired,” Joseph yawned. “How about we hit the hay for tonight? We can go after this Stand user tomorrow when we’re refreshed.”

“Oh, you’re delusional if you think I’m spending a night in your body!” you exclaimed.

“And you’re delusional if you think I’m going after a Stand user in the middle of the night!” Joseph retorted. “No way, no how! An old man needs his sleep, you know.”

“But you’re not an old man right now, are you?” you countered. “You’re a high school girl. We stay up late. You should be raring to go, excited to explore the wonders of Egypt late at night.”

“If that were true,” Joseph said, “Then you should be exhausted and begging me to go to bed, yet here you are.”

“Good point,” you muttered. “Fine. We’ll go to bed.”

When you got to your room, Iggy was already asleep, so he couldn’t be bothered by your arrival. Thank goodness. He probably wouldn’t take too kindly to your new, hopefully temporary form. Unfortunately, you had to toss and turn so much that you ended up awakening him, anyway. And, of course, Iggy wouldn’t allow anyone but you to sleep in your bed.

“Iggy! It’s me!” you cried as you held the growling dog as far away from Joseph’s hair as possible. “It’s (Y/N)! Mr. Joestar and I got into some trouble with an enemy, and our bodies are swapped!” Iggy seemed to believe you, thankfully, and stopped attacking you.

A knock on the door made you jump, but you quickly asked, “Who is it?”

“It’s Joseph,” came your voice from the other side. “How do you sleep in this body? I can’t find a comfortable position.”

You sighed, realizing you were suffering the same problem. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours,” you answered, opening the door.

“I usually sleep with my arms and legs extended off the bed, face up,” Joseph answered.

“How do you sleep like that?” you asked.

“How do you not?”

“That’s fair.”

You told Joseph your preferred sleeping position, and then he left back to go to his room. Sinking down in your bed, you realized how comfortable it was to sleep belly down in this body. You yawned, and slowly drifted off to sleep. You would swap back to your body in the morning, and that’s all you needed to know to feel at peace.

“Polnareff!”

Having your hair in a tower felt really strange, considering you’ve never had it up like that before. It felt weirder than having all of the bulk from his muscles on your skin. Although, you were less worried about how you felt, and more worried about how Polnareff would feel. He’s the one you trusted the least in your body.

The sound of not so distant screams caught your attention, and you knew Polnareff was awake.

“This is bad, this is really bad!” he panicked. “I shouldn’t be in a girl’s body!”

Well, that was a relief. He didn’t seem to be immediately overjoyed. Maybe he would be trustworthy after all.

“Look, let’s just get back to the hotel,” you suggested, “and we can figure this out with the help of everyone else.”

“That sounds good,” Polnareff answered, still a little shaken. It wasn’t until you two had been walking for a while when you heard Polnareff giggle a little.

“You know, I was a bit freaked out at first, but feeling this light and delicate is a nice change.”

“I’m not light and delicate!” you shot back. “I’m just as strong as everyone else!”

“Relax, madame,” Polnareff held up his hands in defense. “All I’m saying is that you feel light and delicate. You’re far from that.”

“Thanks,” you answered. You could feel a light blush coming up to your cheeks. “That means you won’t be touchy-feely when you’re alone if we don’t get this sorted out by nightfall, right?”

“No promises,” Polnareff smirked.

“No, there has to be a promise,” you insisted. “I won’t let you get a moment alone if there’s no promise.”

“I’m kidding,” Polnareff laughed nervously. “I’ll keep my hands, er, your hands, away from your body.”

“Good,” you finished, making sure not to break your seriousness. “Thank you.”

After a few minutes of walking, Polnareff started to get a little jumpy. “Um, I don’t know if this is okay, but I really have to use the restroom. May I? I know it might not be comfortable with you, but I’m about to-“

“Just go,” you interrupted. “We all need to.”

“Thank you,” Polnareff sighed, and ran into the men’s restroom, quickly coming out and running to the woman’s.

“What do you mean there’s no urinals?! You pee SITTING DOWN?!”

You turned beet red as you heard your voice yell out, and covered your face in your hands. That was your voice, in your body, shouting those very words.

“I’m going to kill you,” you hissed when Polnareff left the restroom.

“You can’t kill me, you only have Ace of Pentacles,” Polnareff gloated. However, once he summoned Ace, he was taken aback. “Uh oh.”

“You’re lucky I don’t want to kill my body, or I’d have Silver Chariot slice you to bits right now,” you growled, summoning Polnareff’s Stand. “Girls pee sitting down. That’s why there’s no urinals. Don’t ever, EVER, say those words in that order again, especially to other women who don’t know the situation we’re in right now. Got it?” You had the tone of a mother who quietly scolded her child in public, the angry whisper when she can’t cause a scene.

“Yup, I got it,” Polnareff nodded quickly and quietly.

Once you got to the hotel, you and Polnareff explained, as best as you could, what happened to the two of you.

“So, you’re (Y/N), and you’re Polnareff?” Kakyoin pointed to the opposite bodies as he said your names, which were, at the time, the correct bodies. This was confusing. You both nodded, and Kakyoin sighed. “This is bound to make at least one of you mad.”

“Already happened,” Polnareff replied sheepishly.

“Anyway,” you interrupted, “we need to find the user, or else we’ll be stuck in these bodies forever.”

“Not tonight,” was Joseph’s answer. “We aren’t going tonight. I doubt he’ll get too far before the sun rises.”

“What?” you exclaimed. “No! I don’t trust Polnareff for a whole night!”

“Sleep in the same room I don’t care,” Joseph answered, “but I’m getting my rest, no matter what.”

“Look, I promise,” Polnareff told you. “I absolutely, positively promise nothing will happen to this body while I’m in it.”

“Doesn’t matter, you’re sleeping in my room tonight,” you replied. However, after some consideration, you remembered that Iggy was in your room, and that he loathed Polnareff more than anyone else. He would most likely rip all of your hair out before you could tell him that you were (Y/N). “Actually, your room. Your room tonight.”

“You’re sleeping on the floor, then, got it?” Polnareff asked. “My room, my rules.”

“It’s better than getting attacked by Iggy,” you sighed.

“You’re going to make a woman sleep on the floor?” Joseph asked. “What kind of man does that?”

“But I’m the woman now,” Polnareff countered. “Therefore, I get the bed.”

“Well, I’d rather wake up with back problems instead of going the rest of the day with back problems, so the bed’s all yours.”

“Huh,” Kakyoin said. “That was fast. I would at least expect (Y/N) to insist that Polnareff get her mattress from her room, since he’s in the body that Iggy hates the least.”

“That’s a good idea,” you complimented. “Polnareff, if you could be so kind and-“

“Already ahead of you,” he answered, leaving his room.

“I wonder how long it’ll take Iggy to realize that the person in your body is, in fact, not you,” Kakyoin chuckled.

“My bet is thirty seconds.”

“I’ll bet less than thirty.”

“Iggy! Iggy, stop! No!”

You heard a loud thud and barks from the tiny dog.

“Looks like I was right,” Kakyoin smirked.

“I’ll go calm Iggy down,” you laughed, and walked to your room. Hopefully Iggy connected the dots before you were attacked, as well. You entered the room, and he reared up and charged towards you.

“Iggy, wait!” you exclaimed, but it was too late. Iggy had pulled out a good amount of your hair, and you could smell an awful stench.

“Iggy,” you sighed, “it’s (Y/N). Polnareff and I swapped bodies.”

“I probably shouldn’t have called that dog a dumb mutt,” Polnareff muttered. “I think that’s what gave it away to him.”

“You think?” you groaned. “Come on, let’s get this mattress to your room.”

After some hard work (mostly put in by you), the mattress was successfully in Polnareff’s room, and you immediately curled up, and Polnareff landed face down on his bed. After a while, both of you were tossing and turning. Something about the way you two were sleeping did not settle well with the bodies you were in.

“Are you really going to sleep that way in that body?” Polnareff snorted. “(Y/N), that body is made to sleep face down. No other position is comfortable.”

“Maybe that’s why you can’t sleep in my body, either,” you suggested. “You’re sleeping in it wrong.”

“Perhaps that is what’s wrong,” Polnareff said to himself. He changed positions to how you were sleeping, and sighed happily. “My, my, this is so much more comfy!”

“Same here,” you replied. “Well, I’m going to go to sleep now. Goodnight, Polnareff.”

“Night.”

“Avdol!”

Woah. How many layers of clothing did this guy have? All of his coats and everything weighed you down much more than your clothing. However, all of that weight paid off for Avdol, because his arms were stronger than you could even imagine yours being.

“So, you’re awake, as well.”

You turned your head, and saw your body, fully reanimated. You concluded that the one speaking must have been Avdol.

“It seems that Stand has the ability to swap bodies,” he muttered, “and we happened to be the two he came into contact with.”

“Great,” you mumbled. “How do we reverse it?”

“Killing the user seems to be the only solution,” Avdol sighed. “Of course, he ran away as soon as his Stand landed an attack on us, so it’ll take a while for us to find him. But when we do, I’m prepared to use Magician’s Red, no matter what.” He summoned his Stand, but soon realized that it wasn’t who he thought it would be. Instead of summoning the fiery bird, he summoned Ace of Pentacles.

“Nice,” you said as you summoned Avdol’s former sidekick. “So I get to use him when the time comes.”

“I guess so,” Avdol chuckled. “Just remember, use those flames responsibly. We don’t want a bystander to get hurt.”

“I understand,” you nodded. “Plus, we should probably update the others on our situation before we go and fight this guy alone. For all we know, we could be swapped into a bystander’s body before we have the chance to fight him.”

“Good thinking,” Avdol replied. “Then it’s settled. We’ll go tell the others about this, first.”

When you got back to the hotel, Jotaro was already standing outside the doorway, leaning on the brick wall.

“There’s something different about you two,” he eyed you and Avdol suspiciously. “What did the enemy Stand do to you this time?”

“Swapped our bodies,” Avdol answered.

“So it was Avdol who answered me, then?” Jotaro asked. You both nodded.

“Ah, Avdol and (Y/N) are back,” Polnareff said as he emerged from the hotel’s entrance. “What supplies did you get?”

“Actually, we didn’t have time to get supplies,” you admitted. “We were attacked by an enemy.”

“Well, you got out fine,” Polnareff replied accusingly, “so why didn’t you get supplies after the attack?”

“Because we didn’t get out fine,” Avdol answered. “We’re in the wrong bodies.”

Polnareff playful grin suddenly vanished. “Oh,” he muttered.

“Anyway, we came here because it would be easier to take on this enemy with all five of us attacking,” you explained. “Where’s Mr. Joestar?”

“He already fell asleep,” Polnareff answered. “It is getting late, after all.”

“Then we’ll go without him.”

“No, that doesn’t seem like a good idea,” Avdol told you. “I mean, think about it. Leaving a member of our team alone while he’s out like a light? That could easily put him in danger. Plus, it would be bad if we all felt tired while trying to fight against someone else. We should sleep.”

“Fine,” you groaned. “Let’s go to bed.”

When you got to your bedroom, Iggy didn’t do much but give you a slight head tilt.

“It’s me, Iggy,” you consoled the worried dog. “It’s (Y/N). Avdol and I got put in the wrong bodies from an enemy.”

Iggy laid back down, accepting the answer. As you brushed your teeth, you kept staring at the reflection that wasn’t yours. It was strange to be in another body. As you laid in your bed, you noticed how comfortable it was. Even in different sleeping positions, you felt like you could sleep for hours. Avdol’s body was a blessing right now, since you probably couldn’t have possibly fallen asleep in any other body from the gravity of this situation. However, right as you were about to be out for the night, you heard a knock on your door. “Who is it?”

“Avdol,” your voice said from the other side. “Pardon my interruption, but I could really use some sleep, and for that, I need your sleeping position.”

You opened the door, and looked down to meet eyes with Avdol. After you told him your usual sleeping position, he nodded, and went back to his hotel room. Now, you went back to your bed, and almost instantly fell asleep. Tomorrow, everything would be solved. Now, you needed to rest up for the day ahead.

[prismatica-the-strange]

A Week at Universal with Daniel Jackson (Modern AU)

Day 2

A/N: let's hit the Parks Campers! I won't be featuring Volcano Bay since I don't know it too well due to my water park anxiety!! This might also sound like a long Universal ad or trip advise so there’s also that.

Previous: Night 1

Warnings: Sex mentions(mostly alluding to the first part) (Under 18 Do Not Interact!!), Food Mention, Fluff, Possible Ride/attraction spoilers if you’ve never been to Universal

You wake up to butterfly kisses trailing from your wrist, up your collar bone and then lips lingering over yours

“Good morning, beautiful,” Daniel smiles before finally kissing you

“g’morning,”  you grin when he pulls away, “You ready for the parks?”

“In a bit,” He’ll cuddle back into your chest and you run your fingers through his hair, “had fun last night”

You hum in agreement, knowing there would be bruising from the night before’s activities, “Me too”

You kiss the top of his head and move to get out of bed

He’ll whine and try to pull you back into his arms, “No, no, no, come back”

“We’ve go a whole week for that Dr. Jackson,” You laugh, pulling one of the sheets with you to cover yourself

“But you look so exquisite in this light,” he’d try as you open one of your suitcases

You playfully toss a pair of boxers at him and he rolls his eyes before getting up to put them on

You feel his eyes wandering your skin when you let the sheet fall to the floor

“You’re staring,” You smile as you start pulling on clothes.

“I can’t help it,” He tells you, coming up behind you to rummage through the case of clothes.

Once you manage to get him into some decent clothes you both go down to the breakfast bar in the lobby, grabbing something quick to eat before heading out to the boat to City Walk

You took his hand and lead him off the boat

He’d squeeze your hand and won’t be able to help smiling at your excitement

It didn’t take long for you to get over the bridge and into Islands of Adventure (The best park in my opinion)

Assuming neither of you have been here before, you decide to go clockwise around the park

Making the first stop when you get through the Port of Entry is Seuss Landing, obviously aimed toward a younger audience, the Caro-Seuss-el is definitely worth a ride, but totally skippable

Then you get into Lost Continent, and you both think it would be fun to do Poseidon’s Fury (I fucking love the Character of Taylor!) as it is a nice easy start to the day

As an archeologist, Daniel find the attraction fun, and even though it’s an older show, the pyrotechnics and water features were cool

He takes a few pictures of you at the Mystic Fountain, one of which where you’re getting splashed

The Florida heat seems to melt away as you make your way into the snowy facade of Hogsmeade

If you’re a big Harry Potter fan and can’t wait until you’re in Diagon Alley to get your robes, then, after enjoying the beauty of Hogsmeade, you can stop into Dervish and Banges and pick some up

But if you plan on wearing them in park, I would recommend holding off, you can’t wear them on Hagrid’s Magical Creature Motorbike Adventure and you really shouldn’t pass up the chance to ride that

You also shouldn't get them wet and there are a handful of water rides you might want to ride

 Speaking of Hagrid’s Magical Creature Motorbike Adventure, you two get in line as soon as possible, and even then it’ll be at least an hour wait

But the que is well decorated the whole way onto the ride so you always have something interesting to look at

Daniel’s hands are either un yours or on your hips the whole time

You hear a voice behind you scoff ‘Honeymooners’ an you manage to catch them in time for them to roll their eyes at you

Daniel’s face heats up at the comment, but he chuckles and brings your hand up to his lips

The Coaster itself was an amazing ride, super fast and smooth

You might as well leave your things in the Hagrid’s locker and make your way to Forbidden Journey in the castle

Since you have express pass with your room key, and don’t have to wait for a locker you get on the ride

Now it’s time for shopping and butterbeer!

Daniel is either a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw, but since he’s a nerd that looks so nice in blue we’re gonna go with Ravenclaw

I mean look at himmm

He also really wants an Elder wand so when you stop at Olivander’s he get’s one and you get one of your choosing, both interactive of course

You do a few interactive stops and then stop at the Butterbeer cart

Butterbeer foam mustaches!!!

Butterscotch flavored kisses!!!!

And what better to go with Butterbeer than a Pumpkin Pastie from Honeydukes? Or maybe a cauldron cake? 🤔🤔

You also send a couple chocolate frogs back to the room for later

If you're looking for a more savory snack then maybe it's time to head to the next part of the park... Jurassic Park

The Watering Hole has a small selection of snack and lunch foods

Now that you're in the tropical jungles of Isla Nublar, maybe it's time to cool off with the Jurassic Park River Adventure

You and Daniel decide that if you're going on a water ride you might as well go all out, so you aim for front row seats in the raft

Well now that you're both soaking wet (😏😏) You're feeling more of a sit down meal for lunch

So you double back to lost continent for Mythos

Don't forget to make a wish in the indoor fountain, I'm pretty sure it's actually magic so make it a good one!

Normally it would be difficult to get a table as a walk up, but you luck out and get a small booth to yourselves

The cold AC is a nice break from the humidity, and for a little while you forget the constant running for your life from murderous aliens during your day job

You said something particularly funny and you couldn't help but marvel at the way his eyes crinkled with his laugh

You couldn't stop yourself from leaning over the table and kissing him

What's next?

Well, you wander back around to Jurassic park, maybe ride River Adventure again? Or perhaps it's time for the next ride?

That would be Kong!

If you're not a fan of small spaces, this que may not be your favorite. Daniel is definitely excited for this one, but will skip it if it gets to be too much.

Other wise, he'll be the one pulling you along, and he'd be buzzing with excitement,

And oh lord that Kong animatronic is beautiful!

It's been a bit and you guys have finally dried off, so time for some more water rides!

Ripsaw Falls? Get ready to get absolutely soaked. There is no escaping the water.

Well you're wet again so you might as well ride Bludo's

Maybe you should invest in a copule comic strip themed beach towels (I know I would) (but maybe that's because I really love beach towels)

The next land is Superhero Island (one of the best places in the world!)

Time to dry of with a ride on Dr Doom's fear fall!

If you can't do heights I would recommend skipping this one, but if you can hype yourself up enough to get on you should! The view is incredible.

Are you a fan of Spider-man? That ride is my absolute favourite! Hagrid's coming in a close 2nd.

With Express pass it's easy to get on a three times in a row, then you could go across the street and mr. Parker

There's only one ride left (I know I skipped flight of the hypogriff but I think that one is lackluster at best)

If you're up for a coaster with inversions and the such get right in line for the hulk

Stay tuned for date night in Night 2!

Taglist: @mysg1spacemonkey @sgcprometheus @malcolm-reeds-pineapple

Masterlist

[brittledame]

Pairing: Shirabu Kenjirou/Reader

Warnings: Explicit, hate-sex, swearing, name calling, light bondage, edging, overstimulation, semi-public sex

Word Count: 6.6K

Summary:  Contrary to what you both believed, the tryst in the study room only served to intensify the tense air between you two. Not wanting to acknowledge how he’s been on your mind since, you shut him out completely. Unknowing to you, Shirabu is plagued with the same thoughts. Tension boils over once again as you find yourself left alone with him in the gym.

Series: Part 2 of 3 (Part 1 & Part 3)

To say that the last few weeks since handing in the assignment have been tense was an understatement. Ever since the incident in the study room, your head has been in utter disarray.

There were many things on the burning pile of your mind that added to your mounting vexation. The first one being that you gave into him, and no matter how pleasurable that was, it was a major blow to your pride. Since that library session, Shirabu acted as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. Hell, if you weren’t for the bruises painted on your hips, you might’ve convinced yourself it was a very vivid sex dream about your rival.

Unlike Shirabu’s heated anger, yours was more of the frosty kind. Cold shoulders punctuated with icy looks. The two of you were opposites in every sense of the term and yet he haunted you like an embarrassing childhood memory that refuses to let you sleep.

You let your hand slip out from where it was supporting your cheek and let your head ‘thunk’ against the table. Concerned, Natsuki pauses from her bento and gives you an assessing look.

“Alright, you’ve been acting weird for a while now. Are you alright?” Natsuki narrow her eyes at you, a silent warning that you wouldn't get away with lying.

Asides from her expression, you could hear concern ring loud and clear in her voice. Natsuki was a dear friend but she was also as stubborn as a bull if she wanted something, just like you. Now that you think of it, maybe that was why you two got along so well.

Knowing that you weren’t going to be able to evade the question, you give her a plausible excuse.

“University entrance exams are getting closer and I feel like I’m hitting a wall when I try to study.”

It was partially true. Albeit the reason you were hitting a wall was mostly because you can’t go more than an hour sitting there without your thoughts drifting to Shirabu’s hands on your hips, thrusting inside of you with vitriolic comments on the tip of his tongue. But Natsuki didn’t need to know all of that.

Accepting the lame excuse, Natsuki nods her head in empathy.

“I feel you there,” she frowns, “with my council duties on top of everything, I feel like I’m doing work but getting nowhere with it. They have me running around every afternoon trying to get forms signed. By the time I’m done I don’t want to study.”

You quietly hum at her tribulations. Annoyed at your uncharacteristic brooding demeanour recently, Natsuki sharply prods your cheek with her chopstick. You bat her hand away and turn to weakly glare up at her.

In your periphery, a flash of copper-toned hair catches your attention. Peering at the boy that’s been distracting you from the corner of your eyes, you could see him sitting like a statue among the lively chatter of his table. For some reason, the mere sight of his blank face and stupidly straight fringe elicited anger inside of you.

If it wasn’t clear before, that reaction to his existence was enough to rule out the possibility of you falling for him. This fills you with relief. You had suspected the possibility when you caught yourself thinking about him on a daily basis, but the thought terrified you.

“Hey, are you even listening to me?” Natsuki pouts at you, hand poised to jab you in the cheek with her chopstick again.

“Yes.”

“Is that a yes to delivering the form or for listening?”

“Both,” you absent-mindedly answer, eyeing off your unfinished bento, knowing you weren't in the mood to finish it.

“Thanks for doing this favour for me.” Natsuki sounded genuinely glad as she riffles through her binder she refuses to leave in her desk.

With a small ‘aha’, she pulls out a sheath of paper and holds it out to you. Sitting up from your slouched position, you gingerly take the paperwork. You wonder what you might’ve signed yourself up for when you see how much writing is crammed onto the first page.

“What is this?” You ask.

“I knew you weren’t listening.” Natsuki says, a knowing glint in her eyes. “I told you that I need to get the volleyball’s club captain to submit their plan for the new people filling the team roles and other admin stuff like that.”

At the casual mention of the volleyball’s captain, dread gripped your heart.

“The volleyball captain?” You parrot back weakly.

“Yeah,” she gives you an odd look, “you know, Shirabu. The guy who you claim to hate. Surely you knew he was captain.”

Oh, you knew all too well that he was the damn captain. Being the overachieving bastard that he was, as if acing high school and aiming for medical school was enough, the dick had to add in being captain to a national-placing sports team as well.

Petulantly looking away to not meet Natsuki’s unimpressed look, your eyes incidentally met golden ones. The eye contact probably lasted all of a millisecond, but it was the most you two shared over the past few weeks. With you avoiding looking at Shirabu at every possible opportunity and Shirabu himself making no attempt to address the elephant in the room, you both let the elephant waste away and dye under the lack of attention.

Breaking the eye contact, you turn your attention back to the brunette in front of you. “Why am I doing this for you?”

“Because you’re a good friend?” She bats her eyelashes at you.

You give her a flat look, not believing her for a second.

“Come on,” she whines, “you know those volleyball guys scare me. They’re way too tall.”

“They shouldn’t. They’re a bunch a meat-heads.” You don’t mention the fact that their captain is below the national height average, which you find quite hilarious for a sport that’s all about height and strength.

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Whatever, I’ve got the papers now, so it’s already settled. Don’t say that I’m not a good friend.”

Natsuki gives you a wide smile that makes you pause.

“Maybe while you’re at it, you can sort out whatever happened between the two of you since working on that science project.”

Your skin breaks out in goose bumps at the innocent words paired with a meaningful undertone.

It was then that you swore to never underestimate the power of Natsuki’s perception.

Not wanting to interrupt practice and bring unnecessary attention to yourself, you decided it was best to wait until practice finished. Remembering the time practice should be ending from your previous sessions with Shirabu, you holed yourself up in the dorms during the meantime, trying your hardest to work through some practice exam questions to no avail. Your traitorous thoughts kept drifting to the copper-haired setter roughly handling you.

Phantom touches ghosted along the same places Shirabu had graced upon not that long ago. Unthinkingly, your thighs press together as the memory of him ruthlessly fucking into you plays in your mind for the umpteenth time this week alone.

Frustrated with your horny mind, you slap your cheeks. The sting drives away the faint tendrils of arousal and brings back clarity. God, now was not the time to be getting all hot and bothered over something he probably hasn’t thought twice about. You valued yourself more than to ruminate over something so basal.

Looking at the time, it signals that you should head off if you want to get the forms signed tonight as per Natsuki's explicit orders. Snatching the forms off the corner of your desk, you set off to the gym with a stone sitting heavy in your stomach.

Thankfully, it was warm enough to not wear a jacket. The heat teases the stress from your tense shoulders. The walk was calming, the scent of blooming sakura and freshly cut grass further soothing your frayed nerves.

You weren’t nervous per say, more anxious at finding out how your body may react to being in such close proximity to him again. Since that night, purposeful or not, you both struggled to find an appropriate time to meet up and decided that it was best to do it all online since the majority of it was completed.

The sounds of shoes squeaking over varnished wood along with the low murmur of male voices met your ears as you slide your shoes into a cubby and slipped on indoor shoes. You’ve only been in gym one three times before and that was for the opening ceremonies. The sight of high beam ceilings and sleek modern interior still astounded you.

The boys running around had mops in hand, whilst others climbed to dismantle nets, but most of them were missing. Looking around for a head of copper-hair, you hoped that Shirabu hadn’t left early like most captains would. However, your mission was interrupted as your sight was filled with black hair and glittering dark eyes peering at you.

“Hi, can I help you?”

“Yes. Is Shirabu still here?” You answer, taking note of how tall the boy is. His face doesn’t seem familiar and you’d definitely remember meeting someone with a bowl-cut. He must be in a year below you, you reason.

“Ah,” the boy’s eyes flit over to the right, “he’s over there.”

Following his line of sight, you found Shirabu standing with his arms crossed next to an open door talking to a ginger-haired guy that you’ve definitely seen in your class before.

“Thanks.” You nod to the younger who smiles to you and continues whatever chose he was assigned.

Walking over to the pair, you catch his eye without even trying. Shirabu’s expression changes minutely, a subtle twitch of the mouth that has you contemplating homicide. You were over-reacting, surely. Still, you hoped that maybe he could fake being pleasant for as long as it takes to fill the forms out.

“Sorry to interrupt –“

“No, you’re not.” Shirabu interrupts. Well there goes the fantasy of him being pleasant for one minute. Even his tall friend gives him a look for cutting you off.

“You’re right. I’m not,” You concede. Placing a hand on your hip, you hold the papers out to him.

Shirabu blankly stares at you instead of taking them, which added to your mounting annoyance. Fine. If he wanted to play the petty game, so would you.

“These are forms for the retiring captain of the volleyball club to fill out. Unfortunately it turned out to be you.” You say with a plastic smile. “The team must be really sad to see their esteemed captain leave, huh?”

Shirabu’s jaw clenched at your poorly concealed insults, not even bothering to dress them up like you preferred to do. Expecting him to rise to the bait, you waited for the onslaught of offense he’ll spew in response.

“I’m busy right now. You can wait until I’m done.”

He brushes you off, turning and walking away from you. His friend gives you an apologetic look, knowing how shitty his friend’s personality is.

Your eye twitches with restrained violence as you watched him saunter away. With clenched hands you wait by the storage room’s doorway. You dismiss the few pitying glances from the few people walking past you to put the cleaning equipment away.

You busy yourself with your phone as Shirabu continues to waste your precious time that you could be using to catch up on some much needed studying that he was unknowingly depriving you of recently.

Kenjirou had not expected you to turn up tonight, catching him by surprise. When he noticed you, an inexplicable feeling rushed over him. He tried to keep his face neutral as you drew closer but the moment you opened your mouth he couldn’t help himself.

That temporary high of riling you up and then giving you the cold shoulder was incredible. After the weeks of your frigid treatment and the plain disregard for his existence you subjected him to, it was the least he could repay you with. The worst part of it all was that he couldn’t even ask about your sudden change of attitude, as you would try your hardest to avoid being in a room alone with him.

All he did know was that he weirdly missed the fiery attitude you possessed. It frustrated him to no end that as soon as the assignment was completed, you had done your hardest to ghost him. As much as one could when you shared the same classroom for near seven hours of the day.

Your suddenly frigid attitude didn’t stop you staring, though. Kenjirou had caught you a few times looking in his direction with an indescribable expression. From your distant expression, he couldn’t tell if you either wanted to stab him or re-enact that last study session.

Regardless, the entire affair has him on edge. He thought that fucking you would vent all those conflicting emotions and give him peace. Instead he feels more restless now than ever.

And to his dismay, this did not go unnoticed by Taichi.

“Is there a reason why you’re being more of a prick to her than usual?”

Kenjirou ignored the question in favour for checking out the gym. The first and second years were generally tasked to do clean-up and they did so with vigour, feeling privileged to work in an old war-horse team with a vendetta.

“Man, I never took you to be the ‘boy pulls girl's pigtails because he likes her’ stereotype when getting a girl's attention.” Taichi muses.

Shirabu scowls at Taichi. “Shut up. She annoys the hell out of me and that’s all.”

Taichi grabs him by the arm, eyebrow piqued. “She didn’t even speak two words and you were at her throat.”

“She doesn’t need to say anything to piss me off.”

“Funny that she’s willing to be civil and yet you aren’t.”

Kenjirou chooses not to comment on that.

The pissed off expression on his face has the younger members avoiding him like the plague, choosing to leave for their dorms over loitering in the locker room.

“Are you going to help me lock up or not?”

“Only if you stop looking murderous.”

Taichi’s knee buckles as Kenjirou delivers a swift kick to the back of it.

“Go away, I can do it on my own.”

“Fine,” Taichi says, looking relieved at the early dismissal. Kenjirou didn't doubt for a moment that Taichi planned for it. “Don’t murder the cute girl. I won’t be your alibi.”

“You’re a terrible friend.” Kenjirou hisses under his breath.

Taichi laughs and leaves Kenjirou to his own devices. Remembering that you were waiting on him, he’s surprised to find that you were still there. Leaning against the wall tapping at your phone looking bored, you didn’t notice his eyes on you. You were still wearing the school uniform, with the exception of your tie and first few buttons undone.

There was a casual air about you that he didn’t get to see every day. His eyes linger on your skirt, fingers twitching with the memory of how the fabric felt under them. Without his permission, an image of your panties tucked away in the back of his bedside table flashes to the forefront of his mind.

Unlike the previous times the thought popped into mind, Kenjirou chooses not to fight it away as he turns away from you and goes through the motions of checking the locker room and hallways before locking up.

The lacy scrap of fabric was a memento of sorts, a trophy of him putting you in your place the same way he envisioned in his more… illicit fantasies. Although, they may be cursed. As absurd as the idea is, Kenjirou has no other explanation for the phenomenon that’s been occurring since his ownership of them. He can barely stand looking at the harmless piece of furniture containing them without feeling heat spark up inside of him.

At first, he ruled it to anger or frustration, a common emotion he experiences in your vicinity. It only took a week after the tryst, left alone in his dorm room for the weekend did he indulge the demon in his mind. It wasn’t until he was coming down from his high, your soft panties wrapped around his hand covered in drying cum, did the weight of his actions sink in.

It didn’t stop there, though. No, that’d be too easy for him, and if Kenjirou had learnt anything since you breezed into his life, life was all about being difficult.

He had woken up a few times to ruined sheets from dreams of your sweet moans and pliable body under his hands, all too willing to obey his every demand. It's laughable that he thinks you would ever be like that, but that’s why he supposes their called wet dreams – they’re unrealistic fantasies. The logical part of him chimes in the significance of Kenjirou liking you to the extent of your appearing in those fantasies, but Kenjirou did his best to smother that voice until it died.

The keys in his hand rattle as he shoves them into his pocket. Without even realising it, he managed to complete lock-up. The only soul besides his in the gym belonged to the only person that could piss him off with just a look.

Walking down the hallway, towards where you were waiting, Kenjirou decisively concluded the knot in his stomach was not anticipation, it was from the annoyance at knowing he was forced to be with you in the few precious hours he has to himself.

Your mindless scrolling stops as you check the time, pissed that he’s held you back for this long. You wished you could leave but you promised to give the completed forms to Natsuki in the morning and you didn’t trust Shirabu for as far as you could throw him.

Whilst you didn’t expect him to greet you with open arms and a charming smile, you were fed up with his belligerent attitude. While he’s always been like that, it’s really been grating on your nerves recently. You’ve become acutely aware of Shirabu’s every move. The sight of him alone, at ease talking among peers made you experience something you’ve never felt before.

The closest description to the feeling is butterflies fluttering around your stomach, but the idiom was simultaneously nauseating and horrifying to you.

From dwelling on it for weeks now, you knew that your sudden interest towards him stemmed from lusting over him, as adamant you were to admit. Unfortunately, you enjoyed him taking you from behind without any regard for you. It infuriated you that you got off on his nasty personality.

“Give me the papers.”

The unexpected appearance of Shirabu’s voice startles you, very nearly causing you to drop your phone.

You click your tongue at him and give him an admonishing look for his rudeness. Grabbing the papers tucked under your arm, you hand it over to him.

“Here.”

Without a word of thanks, he takes them and starts reading over them, not wanting to dignify your cold tone. Biting your tongue, you fish out a pen in your pocket. You were sorely tempted to toss it at his head, but you were above acting so childish, unlike Shirabu.

Moving close to him, you stay out of his personal space as you point to sections of the paper with the pen and start reciting everything Natsuki told you. You were nothing but meticulous and as much as you despised her for setting you up, you never half-assed anything.

At the end of your spiel, Kenjirou snatches your pen from your grasp and start filling out the form against the wall. At your indignant shout, he simply rolls his eyes.

It was obvious that Shirabu wanted to be anywhere else but here with you, evident by his silence. Weirdly enough, the thought hurt, like little pinpricks piercing your chest.

Surprisingly, Shirabu is the one to break the silence that fell over the gym.

“Why does the council need to know how many students I think are going to join next year? How could I possibly guess that?”

You roll your eyes at his griping. “Just fill out the damn form.”

Uncaring of the dilemma threatening his fastidious nature, you grinned as his jaw clenches. He’s put you through psychological torture for a month now, this was only a taste of the frustration you felt.

You felt a little vindicated when he huffs out loud at another unnecessarily specific question.

Fuck what Natsuki said, this was exposure therapy at its finest. If you could do this without admiring his body in some way then that’d be a victory. And you despised losing, so you were intent on winning this as well.

Easier said than done.

Your eyes lingered on his lips as his tongue darts out to wet them. They further stray down the column of his throat and settle on the hand scribbling down information. His hands were surprisingly slender for a guy, but no less deadly. You’ve heard about his pin-point accurate tosses and serves. You knew firsthand the mistake of underestimating his strength.

“What?” He snaps, noticing you intently staring at his hands.

“Nothing,” You sniff, trying to look disdainful to cover your embarrassment at your wondering attention.

‘For fuck’s sake, pull yourself together woman!’ You inwardly admonish yourself.

For Kenjirou, this was the last straw. He tried carrying on as normal after the incident, he tried not biting back for the sake of decency, and yet your attitude flips on him out of nowhere. He’s tired of all of this shit.

Letting the papers fall to the ground, he grabs your wrist in an iron-hard grip and bangs open the door of the storage room beside you. Fed up with your attitude, Kenjirou knew that confronting you about it could blow up in his face but he couldn’t stand his last few weeks of high school spent with your bitchy demeanour.

“Hey! What the fuck?” You protest, pulling against the tight grasp he has on your wrists as he kicks the door closed pulls your further into the dark room.

Not listening to your complaints, he pulls you behind the high stack of mats and shoves you against the shelving unit. The shelves uncomfortably dig into your back as he cages you in, arms placed beside your head, breaths intermingling.

“This has got to stop.” He growls.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” You raise your eyebrows at him, outwardly acting unaffected. Internally, your heartbeat thundered in your ears, deafening you with the excitement you felt.

“Oh, so now you want to act normal?” He snorts.

“Fuck off.”

For the past three years you’ve taken enough of his shit. You thought denying the issue attention would starve him and he’d get bored. How wrong you were. Instead you managed to piss him off even more, evident by the way the air vibrated with the tension between your bodies.

“I bet you can’t get me out of your head,” Shirabu says lowly, possessive grip on your hips tightening minutely. “Maybe that’s why you refuse to meet my eyes.”

“Don’t sound all high and mighty. I bet you get off with my underwear that you stole, asshole.” You bite back, defiantly meeting his gaze head-on to prove him wrong.

Unexpectedly, Kenjirou flushes. If you didn’t know how big of a prick he was, you’d almost think it was cute. Now though? It was all you needed to know that was exactly what he’s been using your stolen panties for.

“Oho, hit the nail on the head now, did I?” You tease, drawing your faces close enough to see the faint freckles that were hidden by the redness.

“Shut the fuck up.” He says warningly, a hard expression on his face.

“Or what? You’ll gag me again? Oh no.” You challenge, lips pursed in faux concern.

“No,” he drawls, brushing his thumb across your lower lip. “I want to hear you beg for me this time.”

His thumb presses down hard, preventing you from responding coherently . You glare at him from under your eyelashes, not liking the smug look on his face at all.

His titillating tone had your horny hindbrain rearing to go. Meanwhile, your forebrain was too stubborn to give in just because he was wanted it, despite you wanting it as well.

Shirabu’s eyes dart from your eyes to your mouth, watching your tongue flick at his thumb. He replaces it with his index and middle finger, pressing down on your tongue and admiring the way your tongue melded around them. It was the best way he could stop your witticisms for one fucking second.

“You’re so much cuter when you’re not talking.” He sighs, feigning a wistful tone.

You scowled at him, hating the fact that he was enjoying himself and that you were weirdly enjoying it as well. His other hand migrates southward, slipping up underneath your skirt. The brush of his fingertips leave a tingling sensation on your skin as it makes its way up your inner thigh.

Your knees lock up as he brushes along the edge of your panties. Unable to take his intense focus on your face, you shove shove his fingers out of your mouth and pull him down into a kiss. Much like the first one you two shared, there was much more teeth and tongue involved for it be labelled such, but you had no other word for it.

As his tongue slips in, Kenjirou forcibly rubs against the wet spot he found. He pressed against it, testing how far the fabric would stretch. You keened into his mouth at the rough feeling of the fabric stroking against your folds.

Breaking the kiss, he leans his forehead against yours. His fingers move the panties to the side and you finally get the skin-on-skin contact you’ve been craving. Stroking your bare folds and smearing the wetness around, Shirabu manages to touch you everywhere but the place you wanted him most.

“If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought you never done this before.” You tease, hoping to urge him on but unknowingly sealing your fate for another rough night.

Shirabu’s ministrations stop and he levels you with a serious expression – a dangerous glint in his honeyed irises.

“I’m going to make you beg for me.”

Committed to his promise, he buries two fingers into you without concern. You yelp at the burn of the sudden stretch and lack of lubrication. As if you didn’t think you were insane as it was, you could feel yourself get wetter at the lick of pain. Kenjirou smirk as he watches your face screw up as he pumps and twists his fingers inside of you, feeling you become wetter around his digits.

Skillful fingers make a mess of you. Unable to support yourself on weak legs, Shirabu and the shelving unit bare your weight as you pant and give breathy sighs whenever he makes a particular set of motions that has heat rushing throughout your body and your hole gush.

It wasn’t long before you could feel that heat accumulating low in your gut. Throwing your head back and letting out a lengthy moan, needlessly warning Shirabu that you were close.

‘Just a little more,’ you thought desperately, ‘just a little more and I'll be there.’

Kenjirou knew he was a sadist at-heart, told many times by Taichi and his seniors for pushing the younger years during practice. He never had the chance to explore it with a partner before and while he never imagined you to be the one, he found himself enjoying your sinful expressions and sounds.

With a cruel smile, he watches your reaction as he pulls his fingers out of you. You Eyes fly open, hips pausing in their mindless rolling and a complaint rises to your lips.

“You fucker.”

He laughs at your reaction. it was exactly what he expected from your impatient bitchy self.

Instead of resuming the bickering from before, you force yourself to calm down. Closing your eyes and turning your thoughts inwards, you practice breathing techniques counsellors taught you for exam stress. The back of your mind registers his fingers skirting around the edge of your hole with enough pressure to cause your leg to twitch.

Envisioning the smug look on his face did not help you calm down. it caused your blood to boil all the more. Begrudgingly opening your eyes, your eyebrows furrow when you see his contemplative look.

Kenjirou wondered how long it would take for you to give in to him. From the way your chest was heaving, looking at him through lidded eyes, he concluded that it would be miracle if you could last more than two rounds of this game.

Determined to prove his theory, he ripped your skirt down with your panties in one smooth motion and slipped his fingers back into your greedy hole. It took a much shorter amount of time for you to get close this time, thighs tensing around his hand.

Trying to spread your legs wider, you’re stopped by the elastic waist of your panties. Annoyed, you step out of them and kick the skirt and panties away. Now freed, your legs spread wider to give Shirabu’s miracle hand more room to work with, which he gladly abused.

“Fuck.” You moan

“I’ve barely started and you’re already a mess,” He notes, eyeing your glistening eyes and the bared column of your throat.

“Screw you.” You hiss, thighs tensing as he works you back towards the high he ripped from you.

Kenjirou darts forward to deliver a harsh nip to your bottom lip in punishment. Not expecting it, you moaned at the bite of pain, tightening around his long fingers.

Believing you learnt you lesson, his lips move southward. Trailing down the column of you throat, his mind summons thoughts of your neck being littered with his mark. His hand increases the pace, brutally pumping in and out as the mental image makes his dick harden impossibly more.

The sting of his scalp as you tug at his hair pulls him away from the thought and in turn gives him another idea.

You smother the whine threatening to come out as he remove his fingers from your soaking hole, once again depriving you of that high.

Mildly confused, you watched as he loosens his tie and slips it over his head. It hits you a moment too late what he was planning. The fabric rasp against your overlapped wrists and tightens as he slide the knot down.

“I didn’t know you were into that, Shirabu. Mummy and daddy must be so proud of their little boy using their knot tying skills for bondage.” You comment, to which he rolls his eyes and forces your arms upwards to loop the other end of the tie around a pole.

He tests your new restraints by tugging at the knot. Satisfied with his handiwork, he turns his attention back to you.

“I was serious about you begging,” he starts conversationally, like you weren’t tied up and half naked. “I’m not going to fuck you until you do.”

“I’d like to see you try and get me begging, pretty boy.” You taunt him full-well knowing that you were starting to become a little desperate. Once clear mind was now clouded with a need that he’s been denying you over and over again.

Kenjirou knew this as well. Your legs were trembling minutely, your pupils dilated, and face flushed a cute pink. He could tell you were close to breaking. He was mildly surprised that you survived this far in, but your resilience – more like stubbornness, he muses – only served to make him all the more determined to break you.

Unlike before, it starts off slow. Calloused fingers massaging your faintly pulsing walls as you roll your hips against his palm. Just when he lulls you into a sense of security, the pace is amped straight back to maximum and fans his fingers out.  

Kenjirou scissors his fingers as he pulls out and twists his wrist as he draws out. This had your eyes rolling into the back of your head, loud moan reverberating off of the walls.

It takes only a few pumps and a twist to have the heat grow and spark inside of you as he brings you closer to an orgasm than the previous times.

Kenjirou can feel the tell-tale fluttering of your walls, thighs clenching around his hand, as if trying to force him deeper. Easing up, he lazily pumps his digits in and out, watching as your expression twists into a pained one as he rips yet another orgasm from you.

“Fuck me already.” You moan, fed up with the ups and downs. You both loved and hated Shirabu having all the power right now. You’re sure this was something you’ll contemplate once this is all said and done.

“You know what I want.” He massages your walls and brushes against a sensitive spot.

A moan cuts off your words, walls clenching down on long fingers that weren’t enough to scratch the itch deep inside of you.

“Say it.”

Kenjirou buries his fingers inside of you, this time deeper than before, reaching spots that your own failed to reach. You very nearly screamed at the sensation. Shirabu was pushing you to your wits end without any effort.

“Please! Just fuck me already!���

The tears gathering at the corners of your eyes spill as he hastily pulls his fingers out of your sopping core. The sound of a zipper followed by fabric dropping to the floor fill your ears as Kenjirou hastily preps himself.

Smearing the juices from your dripping hole onto his length with slick fingers, Kenjirou catches your eyes as he strokes himself and smirks at your curious look.

A blush sears onto your cheeks at his look. Last time you didn’t get to take a look at his member, even though you became intimately aware of its slight upwards curve, you had to admit to yourself that his length was impressive. You’d rather cut out your own tongue than tell him that, so you make sure your face devoid of those thoughts.

Kenjirou doesn't waste a moment as he grabs your thigh and wraps it around his back as he lines himself up. The breath in your chest stalls as his tip prods at your entrance.

“Good girl,” He breathes as he finally enters you inch by excruciating inch.

Head dropping back, your arms strain against their restraints as his dick perfectly fills every crevice inside of you. The slight sting of the stretch brings more tears to your eyes, but it was soon overshadowed by the liquid pleasure that coursed through your veins as he starts rocking up into your warmth.

The shelves rattle as each thrust jostles you back. You were unaware of the pain caused by them digging into your back as each stroke already had you becoming closer and closer to your peak. The friction alone from his hurried pace had your toes curling and mind wiped of coherent thought.

Having you tied up and at the mercy of his whims had blood rushing from his head to his dick. It was an incredible feeling to tame your fiery spirit, creating a high that he could see himself chasing for the rest of his life.

“Look at you, taking my cock like the good cock-slut you are.” He pants into your ear.

You moan loudly, not giving a single fuck for any unfortunate soul that might still be in the gym, as your evasive orgasm finally comes into arms.

Your walls tighten around Kenjirou's length hard enough for him to hiss. Kenjirou knew you were close, moans reaching a new pitch. As a reward for you being compliant with him, Kenjirou lends you a helping hand. With a few strokes of your sensitive bundle of nerves he tips you over the edge.

Sparks coalesce inside of you and dance along your skin as you orgasm, creaming over Shirabu’s cock. Your vision turns black, but the feeling of Shirabu fucking you through your orgasm intensifies as he works through your tight warmth, seeking out his own peak.

“Kenjirou.”

Hips jerking out of motion, Kenjirou nearly chokes on his tongue as his orgasm sudden crashes down on him at your call of his name. Burying himself as deep as possible, cum sprays inside of you with considerable force as he unloads inside of your hole.

“You sound so good begging and moaning for me,” He pants. “It’s the only time where you’re not being a bitch.”

“Like you can talk Mr. When-I-Talk-Over-Someone-I’m-Automatically-The-Winner. You’re no better-”

Abruptly pulling out, Kenjirou replaces his cock with his fingers, pushing his cum back inside of your leaking hole. A weak groan rattles your chest as his fingers brush against sensitive hole, holding their position.

“As you were you saying?” He says smoothly, knowing he’s robbing you of speech as he applies more pressure to your hole.

“You fucker.” You grit out, tugging at your restraints as you automatically move to try and move his hands away, the full feeling of his hot cum inside you becoming overwhelming.

“A reward for being a good girl.” He breathes into your ear, causing a shiver to consume your form.

Reaching up with his free hand, Shirabu single-handedly undoes the knots of his tie and frees your wrists. You’d be impressed by this if it weren’t for his two fingers rubbing incessantly against you the entire time, making your vision fritz at the edges.

Arms falling to your sides, the blood rushes back into them and the feeling of static pairing wonderfully with the way Shirabu’s digits moved against your abused hole.

Pain flares up in your wrists when you grab his hand to stop his unrelenting movements. Working through the pain, you move his hand away. As Shirabu pulls away from you, he avidly watches as his cum drains from you. You swallow thickly at the sensation of warm globs trailing down your thigh.

Disgusted at the feeling of it drying, you glance around and spot a roll of paper towel sitting on the shelf beside your head.

You busied yourself by cleaning up the mess Shirabu made of you as the devil himself also wiped himself off.

Leaning down to pull up his shorts, Kenjirou notes the red fabric sticking out from your skirt piled on the floor. Surreptitiously checking that you weren’t paying attention, he tucks the fabric into his pocket with a sly grin, claiming his rightful trophy to his second conquest.

Glancing over to Shirabu as you pick up your skirt, you find him tucking himself back into his shorts with a carefully blank look on his face. You eye him suspiciously, unknowing of what he was going to do or say next.

“Here’s the key, lock up when your done and give it back tomorrow.”

You scramble to catch the key he tosses at you, dropping your skirt in the process. He doesn’t wait to hear your complaints, giving you one last long look and waltzes on out like he didn’t have you tied up and fucked senseless not even five minutes ago.

Incredulously, you watched his back disappear around the corner. Shaking your head, you go to pick up you skirt again. Noticing the absence of red fabric inside of the purple plaid, you looked around the floor, hoping that maybe you kicked them under the shelves.

After one quick look around, the fate of another pair of your favourite panties hits you like a brick to the head.

“Motherfucker!” You scream after him.

The deep laughter in the distance filters through your ears and fanned the hatred simmering inside as well as the blush doing its best to turn you into a strawberry impersonation.

Leaning against the shelving unit, chest heaving and sweat drying along your skin, you swore to fix the part of you that craved Shirabu's touch.

Notes:  Too bad I can’t write degrading stuff without looking too far into it because goddamn does Shirabu suite it. Hope you enjoyed this indulgent fic!!

[aelin-queen-of-terrasen]

“I’m not a damsel in distress. I’m a damsel doing damage.” And “ you’re gonna hier yourself even more if you do stupid things like that” for Rowaelin

Thank you. This prompt is so hilarious and so Rowaelin, I love it.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 | 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤

Rowaelin modern AU ▶Masterlist

note: so idk if it's just me but I think y'all don't like this fic??? if I'm doing something wrong, let me know cause i can't figure it out!

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

"Can we leave now?" Rowan asked.

Vaughan shook his head. His friend dismissed his question with an airy wave before he said, "If you want to leave so bad, why come at all?"

Rowan didn't know the answer to that. High school parties were not his scene, nor were social gatherings with more than five people. He had never attended one before and he had no idea what prompted him to come now. He ignored his friends' words, making his way towards the table where drinks and snacks were kept. The music blasted loud enough to cause a headache, students stumbled around in the cramped space with no semblance of balance or control whatsoever, smelling of sweat and alcohol.

His mood soured when he was elbowed in the ribs for the third time in the cramped drawing room. "If we can't leave, I am going out for some fresh air. Ring me up when we need to leave."

And then he walked out of the lake house towards the woods in the back, the cool wind a welcome relief from the humidity from inside.

Rowan halted when a familiar voice drawled out, "You are boring me, Finn."

Rowan turned to find Aelin Galathynius backed against one of the walls of the house, one hand stuffed inside her pocket while the other clutched a black heel in it and an insolent smirk on her face. Archer Finn stood in front of her with a few of his friends and a smug look on his face. Aelin's eyes darted between the three of them as if she was deciding who to aim the heel at.

"Oh, sweetheart," Archer chuckled, stepping forward. "It's cute how you think you stand a chance."

Rowan expected the girl to step back. She only smiled at the asshole—the kind of smile that promised nothing good. "Maybe but I bet I can hold you back until my friends come."

The grin faltered from Archer's face for a moment. "You are bluffing. No one knows you are here." Then he stepped forward again. Aelin stood her ground.

She yawned in his face, all arrogant and rude. "If I am bluffing, why is Rowan here? I am sure my boyfriend would love to show you how this will go." A jerk of chin turned all the attention towards Rowan. He schooled his face into neutrality as he stepped forward. This was stupid. She was smart, she didn't need his help to get out of trouble. He should have left.

But Rowan walked towards them, towards Aelin. "Take a walk with me?"

Then he turned his most withering glare towards the boys, daring them to stop her. Archer and his friends exchanged nervous looks, shuffling away. Once they left, Aelin released a relieved breath, slumping against the wall but the nervous tension hung in the air around the two of them. Then she lifted herself off the wall, walking towards the woods. When Rowan made no movement to follow, she looked back with a raised eyebrow.

"Aren't you coming? You are the one who asked me to take a walk with you."

Rowan nodded, making his way towards her. They walked in silence, Aelin looking around at the trees and the grass and anything she could find. Rowan had his eyes trained ahead in order to spot any broken branches waiting to attack them. Finally, the girl opened her mouth again, "Sorry I called you my boyfriend. That asshole won't leave me alone."

Rowan nodded in response.

They fell into silence again as they walked but this time instead of watching her surroundings, she was looking at him. "Are you sure you want me here? I can leave."

"I am sure," he said.

Aelin shook her head with a small sigh. "You refuse to talk," she said in quiet voice, halting beside him. It was strange seeing her quiet and calm. Normally, Aelin Galathynius was an overwhelming vortex of energy, shouting and skipping from one place to another—not this quiet, unsure person.

"It's not personal. I prefer to listen," he told her, halting beside her. Then he added, "You can talk about anything at all and I will listen."

She grinned, not her usual unrestrained grin but it was bright enough. "You will regret that. I talk a lot."

He shouldn't be here. Archer had left, she was fine and he had Vaughan to return to. His roommate had a tendency to make terrible decisions when drunk and he had left him alone for long enough. He should have returned but he only moved forward, pace slow enough for Aelin to decide if she wanted to leave or follow him further inside.

"Thank you," Aelin said, falling beside him. They found themselves a large boulder to sit on. "I can talk about anything I want to?"

When Rowan nodded, she started talking and gods, she did talk a lot. She talked about books and her favourite dishes and her friends and her parents. Sometimes, she talked so fast, Rowan had to concentrate extra hard to make sense of her words. When she was talking about something she didn't like, her eyebrows puckered ever so slightly and she picked at her nails unconsciously. Her turquoise eyes came alight with excitement when she talked about something she liked. Sometimes, she was so focused on talking, he had to remind her to breathe.

Rowan yawned, turning her attention towards him. "Bored of me yet?"

He shook his head. "Not bored. I am tired," he answered. He hadn't gotten much sleep after he had returned from the diner, had wondered why she behaved strangely after he had touched the bruise on her wrist, had wondered if there were more like that on her body.

Almost as if Aelin heard his thoughts, she tugged the sleeve of her black shirt down. Still, a small smile remained on her face as she climbed down the boulder. "You really will regret letting me talk all I want one day," she warned, flashing him one last smile though. "Aedion and Lorcan will be worried."

Rowan followed suit, walking her out of the woods in companionable silence. This time, she didn't say anything to fill the silence. With one last wave, Aelin walked away from him.

Gods, Rowan was screwed.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

"You son of a bitch," Someone shouted from the kitchen. "I will skin you alive!"

Rowan groaned. He was about to leave when he heard that voice, the one he had been listening to for a half hour before he returned to the party. Vaughan was waiting for Rowan outside the lake house now that everyone had started leaving and even the music had quieted down. Most people either crashed on the sofa or went home already. The ones who still remained were too drunk to drive or like Rowan, too tired to bother with it.

When Rowan peeked inside the kitchen, he found a drunk Aelin draped over the kitchen table beside the punch bowl.

"Ace, come on babe, we'll find a room and wait for Lor," her friend said.

The golden haired guy looked like he was done with Aelin for the night who refused to move from the couch. She grinned at him, flinging herself off the couch onto him. "Rowan!" He almost fell back on his ass at the collision, catching her just in time.

Her friend looked over at Rowan, eyes widening in surprise for a minute, then said, "Please help me get this diaster of a woman to a bedroom!"

"Who are you callin' disaster, Fenrys?" Aelin pouted, pulling back.

Fenrys rolled his eyes. "Will you please come wait with me in some room, Ace?"

"No! You called me disaster!" And then before Rowan knew what was happening, the punch bowl went flying towards Fenrys. He cursed, diving behind the kitchen counter for cover.

Aelin moved towards him, wobbling, then tripped over the bowl, hitting her head on the counter. The curses that escaped her mouth in return were vulgar enough to curdle all the milk in the world. She lifted herself off, almost crashing face first on the ground again but Rowan was prepared this time, catching her before she could fall.

"What you doin', Ro-Ro?" Gods, what had he gotten himself into?

Fenrys spoke as he rose from behind the counter, slowly backing out of the room. "Hold her still. I am calling Lorcan, he'll take her off our hands soon. Don't let her move." Then he was gone, leaving Rowan alone with a drunk Aelin.

Aelin shouted at her friend's retreating form. "No, leave me! I am not a damsel in distress. I am a damsel doing damage." As if to hammer her point home, she threw another glass in the direction where Fenrys disappeared.

They could hear him shouting into his phone. "No, she isn't listening... Get here fast, Lor... You don't think I tried?! Some help would be nice!"

When Rowan tried to hold her still again, Aelin thrashed wildly in his arms, flinging her limbs in all directions.

"Aelin, you are hurt," he said, rolling his eyes as he scooped her in his arms. "You are only going to hurt yourself more if you keep doing things like that."

She was beyond the point of listening though. Gods, if he believed sober Aelin was wild and stubborn, he didn't know what to call drunk Aelin. Fenrys stepped inside looking tired. "I am never letting her drink again for months. If you can, we should wait for Lorcan in the guest room. I have the keys, come on."

Rowan raised an eyebrow. "Why do I need to help? She is a handful."

Fenrys only waved a hand in the air in dismissal, whistling a bawdy tune as he led them towards the guest bedroom. Aelin had calmed down a little but Fenrys locked the room anyway in case that she went nuts again.

Rowan carried her inside, laying her on the bed, still unsure if she would be up and running in a minute. Aelin was frowning down at her palm red with blood. Indeed, the place where her head had collided with the kitchen counter was wounded, blood trickling out of the small gash. Fenrys cursed again, almost as vulgar a vocabulary as Aelin's. He nodded towards Rowan. "I will find her a first aid kit if you can stay for a few more minutes. Thanks for the help."

Rowan said, "I will stay."

Aelin sunk back into the mattress, glaring at the two of them, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'overprotective bastards' before she shut her eyes. Rowan smiled. Aelin Galathynius was smart and cunning and wild and insane. She was like a ticking bomb poised to explode but when she did, he had no doubt she would be the most gorgeous firework of all.

Rowan pushed the thought away from his head as soon as it came.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

hope you liked this chapter! let me know if you'd like to be tagged. feedback is super appreciated. 💖

tags:

@thesirenwashere // @judexcardanxgreenbriar //@fangirltrash74 // @the-dark-swan // @queenofgreenbriar // @clockworkgraystairs // @julemmaes // @rowaelinforeverworld // @mymultiversee // @queen-of-glass // @strangely-constructed-soul // @mijaldraws // @http-itsrebecca // @aesthetics-11 // @lord-douglas-the-third // @flowersinvegas // @towhateverend17 // @aelinchocolatelover // @justabunchoffandoms // @cool-ish-nerd // @faerie-queen-fireheart // @sad-book-whore // @didsomeonesayviolin // @atozfantazyxx

[jinmukangwrites]

Whumptober Day 7

Support | Carrying

Ao3

Warnings: Gunshot wounds, blood, canon typical violence

-o-o-o-o-

Here was the thing about fighting crime in Gotham. Well, or just fighting crime in general. Sometimes things just went wrong and there was nothing you could do about it. You could be the most powerful superhuman in the world, or the most skilled martial artist, or have a reputation to the moon and had the documentation to prove that reputation wasn't complete bull. 

No matter who you were, sometimes you got hurt from a dumb thing. A thing you could have avoided. A thing that you most certainly will beat yourself up over in the coming weeks. 

Sometimes a stray bullet just happened to ricochet juuuuust right off the concrete walls and into the back of your hip while you were fighting crime in the streets. 

When Jason felt the intense pain of the aforementioned stray bullet entering his flesh, it took every ounce of will power he had to not cry out or fall down. 

"Hood!" 

He heard Nightwing call his name. The idiot practically begged for tonight's brotherly bonding session and Jason wanted nothing more than to look up and glare at him. Saying: "let's patrol together, Jason! It will be fun , Jason!"

He didn't for a number of reasons. Mostly because he couldn't say his real name out loud; though he supposed he could say 'Hood'?. Anyway, it was also kinda because he had his helmet on and it was sorta hard to glare through it unless he had the helmet literally sculpted into a glare. Partly because the pain was muting even though the bullet couldn't have gone that deep. It should have lost power while bouncing off the stone bricks, and the material of his jacket and under armor should have stopped it a little . All the way if it hit right. But it didn't hit right. Somehow, it came at him in that very specific angle that Kevlar didn't like. 

He had a bullet in his hip. He could feel warm blood pouring out of a hole in his body, trickling down the back of his legs and ever so slowly becoming painfully stabbing. 

So while Jason wanted to joke, look up at his dumb older brother and tease that this is why they don't do things together, it was all he could do maneuver his arms so he didn't faceplant when his hip eventually gave out. 

And oh yeah. The pain was definitely settling in now. It forced his eyes to widen and tear up, his hands to clench, his arms to twitch as his body desperately tried to figure out what to do without his consent. He wanted to grab at the wound, which was good right? Stop the blood flow? But it was at an awkward position behind him, and he was sure there were still thugs in the alleyway; he kinda really didn't want to be seen clutching his ass in front of them all. 

So he sorta just... laid there pathetically, hating how a simple patrol turned out like this; with Jason laying in a growing puddle of his own blood.

This was Dick's fault. Jason was sure. When he got the medical treatment he needed, he was definitely going to hold this above Goldie's head for the rest of time and eternity. 

Although, quicker than what he expected, Dick was by his side with eyes comically wide behind his mask, hands hovering over Jason like he wasn't sure what to touch or where to apply pressure. Jason had just the presence of mind to remember that he was hit by a ricochet bullet, shot in the back by a projectile that should have, by all means, missed. Dick wouldn't have seen him get shot, just the aftermath. The poor idiot was babbling like a soaking wet domesticated house cat, probably thinking he was shot somewhere much more important than his rear end. Like his heart or something. 

"Hip-" Jason gasped, and then groaned when hands immediately landed at the area just to the side of the small of his back. It hurt like a bitch, that was for sure, but it really couldn't have gotten that deep. It probably just entered him at an angle instead of straight on. More torn flesh that way. And Jason knew from experience that the pain of a wound didn’t necessarily correlate with how deep the said wound ran. It could be how long it was. How gaping. How beaten and bruised. 

It seemed silly to drop from a wound such as this. He could hear Dick muttering about how it didn't look horrible and that Jason probably didn't need a hospital and most likely didn't get hit in the bone, but it still hurt. A lot. 

He sucked in a deep, lungful of air, then forced his head to turn towards where they had been previously fighting a group of thugs who thought they could mug some beanpole old man. Confusion washed over him slowly. The thugs… they were so determined to fight Nightwing and Red Hood when they showed up. One of them was even bragging about having fought one of the bats before. Which Jason doubted. They probably ran away from whatever illegal activity they were doing before the bats actually arrived, but put that little white lie on their criminal resume to get hired for big gigs more easily. If they'd fought a bat before, they wouldn't be so excited to fight them again. 

Regardless, the guy was excited and trigger happy, even after the man they were trying to mug managed to escape. You could probably guess who managed to get a one-in-a-million shot on Jason without having to be told.

That all added up to why Jason was confused at this moment, laying on the ground, hands on his back that pressed down with way more force than Jason thought necessary. The alley was empty. Not a thug in sight. No unconscious bodies with hands restrained and a note taped to their foreheads for the cops. Nada. Goose Egg.

"Wh- where-?" Jason tried, but talking made everything hurt . 

Thankfully though, Dick knew what he was trying to ask. "They ran off after they realized they shot you. Got cold feet."

Jason opened his mouth, but ground it shut as Dick increased the pressure with one hand and removed the other to probably get some bandages going. Jason just breathed for a moment. Catch his breath. Bring the focus of his attention away from the hole in his back to return to the matter at hand. 

When Dick pressed a thick sheet of cotton over the wound, Jason knew the next few minutes would be agonizing; as Jason would soon be sat up to allow bandages to be freely wrapped around his hips and stomach. He opened his mouth before Dick could begin the process and forced the words out.

"You let them run?"

"Of course," Dick grumbled, and Jason wasn't sure if he said it as a “ yes Jason, because I love you I let the enemies go so I could take care of you !” or a “ of course you'd ask this, geeze, so annoying…” kind of way.

Jason was offended either way. 

When Dick forced him up so he's sitting and leaning heavily against the older hero, he was positive he saw stars. Bright, flashing starts shining through the constant murk that was Gotham's sky. Or maybe he was just in intense pain. 

Oh well. 

Dick wrapped the wound—working with way more clockwork and practice than what any normal person without a medical degree should be able to do—then, at the count of three he lifted Jason by grabbing the arm of Jason's good side and wrapping it around his shoulders. Jason could barely contain a yelp as he was lifted to his feet. His hip screamed at him, trying to get him to fall back down and just lay there. Probably just die there. He had to force every ounce of his willpower into moving his good leg, dragging his bad one behind him, as Dick struggled to carry his weight out of the alleyway. 

Not so happy to be small and quick now, huh Grayson? Rethinking those offers Jason had made months ago to teach you how to go make more muscle and maybe even get a little taller? Pathetic. Can't even drag Jason's injured ass out of an alleyway without breaking a sweat on your forehead. 

"M'not that heavy," Jason grumbled anyways though when Dick began to release small, panting puffs of air.

"You're heavier than B," Dick wheezed, "so shut the fuck up."

Jason lifted an eyebrow under his helmet. He was sure Dick could sense his amusement, if the twitch of his lips were anything to go by. "How do you know how heavy B is?" 

"Oh you know," Dick said in a mock-sigh, his voice almost singsong, "I'm always saving everyone's asses. Drag each of you to a med bay at least once a month. Did you know Orphan is heavier than Red but not as heavy as Spoiler?"

"Do you want Orphan and Eggplant to kill you?"

Dick let out a bubbling laugh, which made Jason wonder if Tim, Cass, then Steph was really the order of that scale. Jason wouldn’t linger on it for long though, because they've finally made it to where they've parked their bikes. Jason immediately began to plan on how he was going to ride to his nearest house without passing out in Gotham late-night traffic. The dead-hours of night always brought out the best and worst in Gotham drivers. He'd have to manage. He did it before. 

However, all of his plans suddenly flew out the window as Dick disregarded his own blue and black bike and proceeded to try and force Jason into the passenger seat of his own bike. 

"I can-"

"I'll cuff you if I have to Hood," Dick snapped, though there was mirth and amusement in his tone. "I'm driving you."

"You're not ," Jason grunted though clenched teeth as he inevitably lost the battle with Dick and was forced into the passenger space. "You're gonna take me to the manor if I let you drive."

"Yeah?"

" No ."

Dick sighed then stepped away from the bike, planting hands on his hips as he gave that disappointed older brother pout he'd been working on and improving for the past decade. It worked on most everyone except Jason and maybe Cass. Jason was immune to the Older Brother Pout™. Still didn't stop Dick from giving it. 

"Little Wing, you have a bullet in your back."

"Woah, thanks for telling me, I didn't know!" 

Now Dick looked a little annoyed. Good. "Jay-"

"No," Jason snapped, desperately wanting to stand up and cuss him out like he deserved. "We'll go to my safehouse."

"What one?" Dick argued and angrily Jason threw his hands in the air on instinct. 

The action sent bolts into his back, making his brain short circuit as his body tried to figure out if it wanted to bend forward or back. In the end, it didn't matter, because like the absolute bastard he was, Dick used his pain as a distraction to jump onto the sitting space in front of him. He turned on the engine and Jason felt himself go boneless, the pain of the wound on his back ate up his energy more violently than a crocodile. His metal helmet slammed against Dick's back, and when he felt the bike jolt with motion, he angrily, carefully, and reluctantly wrapped his arms around Dick's waist. 

"'ny of them," Jason mumbled, blinking blurry shapes from the corners of his eyes. "Ju's don' take me t'the manor…" 

"Alright," Dick chimed, revving the engine. He sounded too happy about something, but Jason was too focused on holding on and ignoring the pounding hole in his back to question it too much. 

Dick drove with more caution than what he normally did. Jason had ridden with Dick on bikes and in cars before, and the guy is borderline psychotic while driving. Jason supposed it was because his adrenaline junky tendencies mixed with the famous Blüdhaven road rage to create a man to be feared on any sane roads. Or as same as Gotham got. Jason swore Dick was always on the horn, always looking for that split second window to speed up and get to where he wanted as fast as possible. He wasn't a dangerous driver, just one that wasn't one to trifle with when in the zone of driving. Yet now, while the speed was fast and the spaces between cars was utilized to get the cycle through quicker, there were hardly any other risks involved. No running lights, no cutting it close between cars, no sharp and split second turns. Everything was calculated and smooth, and Jason made a mental note to mention it to him later. 

So you do know how to drive?

With the hum of the engine and the warm body in front of him, it became rather difficult to keep his eyes open. A weary cloud had slowly begun to settle around him, probably not because of any blood-loss but because of falling levels of adrenalin and perhaps mild shock. He squeezed his arms tight around Dick's chest—he silently promised that if Dick mentioned this as a hug he would lose it—and let his eyes fall shut. He would just rest them… for a little while. He had a long night ahead of him. One of digging out a bullet and stitching the wound shut. He should guilt trip Dick into going out to buy ice cream or takeout chinese later.

And thankfully, focusing on the sounds around him by having his eyes closed helped him ignore the pain. Well, not all of it. It was there. Just… muted. 

He could relax to this. 

It was a pity all the peace and relaxation left the moment the bike suddenly dipped in altitude, the sounds of the city becoming the seemingly endless echoes of the bike itself. Jason snapped open his eyes, recognizing the dark tunnel around him. A growl escaped his throat. 

"Dick," he hissed. Or well, grumbled. His voice was slurred and definitely sounded as tired as he felt. 

"Yup?" Dick replied like he was innocent. Jason will kill him. 

"Safe. House."

"Yup." He popped the "p" on that one. Alright. Jason will definitely kill him. 

"This isn't my safe house," he growled, putting as much force as he could into each syllable. " No manor."

"Kay," Dick hummed, "but I don't know where any of your safehouses are. So I thought, Jason doesn't want the manor, so where's the next best place?"

"The manor includes the cave, Dickhead!"

"Y'know, everytime you insult me with my own name it just gets more and more sad."

Jason wanted to scream. "I'll show you what's sa-"

The tunnel opened up, revealing one of the last places Jason was in the mood to be at. The Batcave was just as large, impressive, and condescending as ever. Dick came to a stop near where the rest of the vehicles in the cave were parked, killed the engine, then stuffed the keys into his gauntlets so Jason couldn't snatch them and drive away in a pain filled haze and probably crash in the straight and narrow tunnel used to get here. Dick looked up from the bike, smiled, and waved. 

Jason wanted to shoot something. With rubber bullets, don't worry, but he still wanted to shoot something. 

Of course Batman and Robin couldn't be out in the city right now. Of course they were right here, a good distance away near the batcomputer, both standing up to curiously regard their guests. 

"Don't tell the truth of how it happened," Jason said quickly.

Dick scoffed and dropped his hand, using the other to tear off the edge of his mask. "I don't even really understand what happened-"

Jason glared. "Just make me sound cool, alright? I have a reputation. Can't have them know I was taken out by street level thugs."

"Don't worry, Jay," Dick assured, jumping off the bike and grabbing Jason's arm again, grunting under the weight to eventually help Jason to his feet. "I'll make sure your ego isn't bruised."

"Ya better."

"Richard," came the voice of the most tater tot boy to ever tater tot. "… Jason." There was only one kid that could say someone's name like it was a poison that tasted good. Jason looked up from where he'd been focusing on his feet to see the kid had ran up to get ahead of the big man.

He grinned wickedly, because he loved watching the kid be a little unnerved by him. Not in a rude way. Just in a " hell yeah, little man, I'm your second eldest brother and you gotta respect me " kinda way. 

"Hey, short stack," Jason waved half-heartedly as Dick began to guide him over to the medbay. Alfred, who was standing by the computer, looked Jason up and down, sighed, then walked over to the medbay as well. "How's the cow? Ready for the grill yet?"

"Batcow is fine," Damian replied civilly. Jason wondered why that was. Normally the kid was ready to throw down at the slightest tiny itty bitty inkling of a suggestion of cooking any of his pets. Jason wasn't even subtle about it this time. And Damian also had issues with comments of his perfectly normal for a thirteen year-old shortness. Jason honestly expected reddening, bloating cheeks and narrowed eyes. Instead, Damian looked him up and down, his green eyes calculative and his posture looking oddly like he was trying to convince himself to say something more.

Luckily, or unluckily in many cases, Bruce came up before this odd little exchange could be explored more. 

"What happened?" He demanded in that worried-but-constipated-about-it way of his that he was always so good at.

Jason saw Dick open his mouth and he prepared himself for the coming lecture. Always be ready for an attack, Jason. Be prepared for anything. Even if the enemy is low level street muggers who barely even know how to hold a gun, Jason. Ugh. 

"I shot Jason."

Aaaand Jason now remembered that Dick was literally the worst liar in the whole entire goddamn world. Alright. Jason could work with this. 

"Yup. Dick shot me," Jason agreed, probably enjoying Bruce's frown way too much. Bruce walked around towards their backs and Jason fought a tense as a hand barely even brushed across the bandage around his lower abdomen. 

"Richard wouldn't shoot anyone, even someone as annoying as you," Damian argued, looking genuinely outraged and confused. 

"I'm sorry, Dami," Dick continued, sighing in mock apology as he continued to drag Jason closer to the medbay. "I finally snapped."

"No you didn't!" 

"I did, and I'll do it again!"

Jason tuned out the coming shouting match between a literal child and Damian. That would keep them occupied. He side-eyed over to where Bruce was walking besides them, looking torn between walking ahead to the bay or helping Dick carry Jason. It was times like these that Jason found himself more grateful than ever for his helmet, it allowed him to watch as Bruce has a whole mini crisis, trying to decide what to do with his hands, without Bruce actually seeing him paying attention to that stuff. 

"B," Jason tried, and somehow his voice carried over regardless of Damian's shouting about how Dick wasn't secretly a murderous psychopath who had been repressing his violent urges up until this point. Dick really was going to stick with that story huh?

Bruce's eyes flickered up towards Jason, looking immediately guarded. Jason knew it was a front. So he reached up with his free hand and took off his helmet. He proceeded to look Bruce directly in the eyes. 

He tried a smile, even though he really didn't want to be here in the cave right now. He'd rather be at home, watching replays of Harry Potter and stuffing his face with chocolate fudge brownie ice cream. But, he supposed, if he was going to be forced to be here via one stubborn prick of a brother, pun intended, then he was going to do his best to be as civil as Damian was a moment ago. 

He had a reputation to keep up, after all. Jason didn't get gunned down by street muggers, and he didn't lower himself below the only kid in the cave. 

"Why don'cha help out, yeah?" Jason asked, "Dick is tiny and slow and my back hurts."

Dick squawked. "I take offence to that! I might just shoot you again, Hood!" 

"Stop it Richard! You don't shoot people!"

"I can't help it, little D! The urge to shoot people is stronk ."

Damian groaned at the horrible attempt at gen z slang while Bruce slowly and almost... timidly grabbed Jason's other arm and immediately sped up the process of getting him towards the ever awaiting Alfred and the cot behind him. 

Jason tried to not focus too hard on that. Of how far they have fallen from when Jason was still young. Robin. Full of magic. 

He tried not to think about how far they have come from when Jason was stuffing heads in duffle bags. 

He just allowed Bruce to take him to the cot and gently set him down, shooing Dick and Damian away as Alfred approached with the tools he needed. 

Dick was correct in saying that the bullet didn't go in far, and Jason was right that it went in weirdly and that was why it was so painful. After an excruciating makeshift surgery and a stitching session, Jason reluctantly allowed himself to be lowered into the cot. He was all tuckered out. He was so tired from the entire night that he couldn't keep his eyes open, even though Bruce was in the same room and Jason still didn't feel comfortable being vulnerable around him. 

He might have imagined it, but when he was a sliver away from falling fully into a deep sleep, he might have felt something warm and calloused grab his hand and stroke the joint of Jason's thumb. The hands holding his own were easy to recognize. Bruce had unique hands. He might have felt weirded out by that, that Bruce was holding his hands as he fell asleep, or maybe annoyed. But like he said, he was too exhausted to really… care. 

Too tired to know if it was real. 

"I'm glad you're safe, Jay-lad," Bruce whispered. Or maybe he didn't. 

Jason was too far gone by then. 

[cheemers-writing-archive]

I’m... I’m...

The Stand’s attack sent you flying back, and it wasn’t until you hit a pole that you stopped.

“Ugh...” you grunted. You looked up from the pole that you had hit, and saw your body on the ground, still unmoving. No. You didn’t just die, did you? You looked down at your hands. Nope. Still normal. But they looked familiar. Not yours, but familiar. You gasped, frantically checking the clothes, face, and top of the head of the body you were in. This wasn’t you. “I’m... I’m...” You clamped your mouth shut. That was the voice of...

***

“Jotaro!”

You couldn't help but notice how bulky it felt in Jotaro's body. In a good way, of course. His arms and legs were toned to perfection, and you could feel the squeeze of his abs on your stomach. Or rather, his stomach.

Your body, which you could only assume had Jotaro’s soul trapped inside it, started to gradually get up. You quickly ran towards him, and tried helping him up. Or, was it her?

“Thanks, but I can get up myself.” It was extremely disassociating hearing your voice when you weren’t speaking. It seemed like Jotaro noticed something off, too, as his eyes (your eyes?) widened and he looked up, way up, to lock eyes with you.

“You’re not dead,” you reassured him. “You’re in my body.”

“I’m in your what?” Jotaro was showing small signs of panic, something you’d never seen before, as he started turning round and round, slapping his hands on his cheeks, and grabbing his arms and legs. After a while, he looked back at you. “Good grief, (Y/N), it wouldn’t hurt for you to hit the gym every once in a while. Your limbs are like twigs.”

You could feel heat rising to your cheeks, but you didn’t know if it was from embarrassment or anger. You didn’t even know how to respond to that. “Shut up! My physique is fine as it is!” Ooh. Those words sounded much more intimidating in Jotaro’s voice.

“Okay, but if you snap your arm handshaking someone, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“It only feels like that to you because you’re stronger than me,” you huffed. “In fact, I can probably pick you up with ease in this new body.”

“Don’t. You. Dare.” Jotaro glared you down, but in your body, it was far less intimidating. In fact, you had to hold back laughter from how silly it looked.

“What are you gonna do? I know my body’s limits, and I know it can do nothing to yours.”

“Because I have Star Platinum by my side,” Jotaro said. However, in attempt to show his Stand off, he summoned Ace of Pentacles instead. That could only mean one thing...

“Oh, ho, ho!” You looked Star Platinum in the eyes, then looked down at Jotaro smugly. “Looks like I have the almighty Stand now!”

Both Ace and Star looked a little confused and defensive at their user's body, as if they knew it was someone else.

"Don't worry, Star," you smiled. "It's me, (Y/N). And Ace, that's just Jotaro."

Both Stands seemed to accept that answer, and lowered their defenses. You crossed your arms, and smirked. "I can even calm Star Platinum better than you," you said to Jotaro. "What does that say about you as a Stand user?"

“Can you wipe that stupid grin off your face?” Jotaro asked. “It looks good on you, but not on me. Also, we need to find who did this, and fast.”

“Yeah, I agree,” you replied. “Although it’s nice being tough and strong, it’s weird feeling something between my thighs.”

This time, it was Jotaro’s turn to clench his teeth and blush. “I’m going to kill you once I have Star Platinum again,” he murmured.

“Oh, don’t act like you can’t feel a difference in your chest.”

“Anyway,” Jotaro quickly changed the subject, “we have to find the others and explain this situation. Let’s go.”

“Fine,” you laughed. Woah. You’ve never heard Jotaro’s voice laugh like you just did. It sounded nice, actually. “I can’t wait to see what Star Platinum feels like in action.”

“It’s super cool.”

“Guess I’ll find out when we get to our enemy.” You grabbed Jotaro and hoisted him up, which made him give out a small yelp, and immediately clamp his mouth.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m not dealing with this body forever.”

Once you got to the hotel that everyone was staying in, it took a couple of protests to convince Joseph that you were really in each other’s bodies.

“You’re kidding,” Joseph laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding!”

“Mr. Joestar, I promise you, this is serious!” you told him.

“You’re doing pretty good, Jotaro,” Joseph replied. “I can’t believe you’d call me anything other than old man.”

“That’s because I didn’t, old man!” Jotaro growled. “We’re telling the truth! We had an encounter with an enemy!”

“Mr. Joestar,” Kakyoin said, “I think they’re serious. Look at the way they stand. The look in their eyes. The subtle stuff that they wouldn’t be able to catch if they were pranking us.”

Joseph looked up and down both of them, then muttered, “You're right. They do kinda look like their bodies have swapped.”

"Well," Avdol added, "there's only one way to reverse this, you know."

"Killing the user," you sighed.

"But it's getting late," Joseph told you. "We'll deal with it tomorrow."

"No!" Jotaro protested. "I'm not going to sleep in a girl's body!"

"I'd take your place, Jotaro," Polnareff snickered. He didn't realize that you had summoned Star Platinum and sent a punch straight to his face.

"Don't you EVER say something like that again!" you yelled. "I'm lucky I swapped bodies with Jotaro and not you!"

"Anyway," Kakyoin glared at Polnareff, who was rubbing his cheek, "how does it feel in a boy's body, (Y/N)? Just out of curiosity."

"Strange," you answered. "Really strange."

"What feels different?" Polnareff asked, a smug smile spread across his face.

"I don't really know how to answer that," you laughed. "I mean, how do you describe being in a body that's not yours? Surreal?"

"Old man, please, we have to find this guy tonight! I'm not sleeping in (Y/N)'s body." Jotaro begged Joseph. "Do you realize how awkward this is for both of us?"

“My mind has been made,” Joseph said. “We’re going to wake up tomorrow feeling refreshed and ready to catch our Stand user!”

“Hey, I’m sure it won’t be that bad,” you consoled Jotaro, although you were unsure who you were trying to convince. “As long as you keep yourself fully clothed, it’ll be fine... I think.”

“Same goes for you,” Jotaro added. “I mean, I guess I don’t mind the shirt coming off, but the pants stay on.”

“That’s fair,” you said. “Well, goodnight, Jotaro.”

“Night.”

The two of you went to your hotel rooms, and when you closed the door, you sighed heavily. Being in another person’s body was exhausting. You turned to your bed, and saw Iggy, head tilted.

“Relax, Iggy, it’s me, (Y/N),” you chuckled. “Jotaro and I had an encounter with a Stand that swapped our bodies.”

You went to the bathroom to brush your teeth, which was really weird, since you were staring into the mirror at someone else’s reflection. When you were done, you jumped into your bed, which Iggy kept warm for you. Yawning, you curled up into your favorite sleeping position, and closed your eyes. The problem was, in Jotaro's body, you were far from comfortable in that position. You tried another one. Still uncomfortable. You kept trying all sorts of different positions that you hoped would work in this body, but no prevail. Eventually, you had tossed and turned so much Iggy decided it would be better to sleep on the floor. Groaning, you got up from bed, left your room, and knocked on Jotaro's door.

"What do you want?" you heard your voice from the other side.

"What sleeping position is the most comfortable for you?" you asked.

"I could ask you the same thing." Jotaro went to open the door, but didn't realize you were leaning on it. As soon as he opened it, you stumbled over and fell down right next to him.

"Hey, try to be a little more careful in my body," Jotaro said. "I don't want to come back to bruises and scars that were from something stupid like leaning on an opening door and falling over. Anyway, I usually sleep straight up, legs spread apart, arms to my sides."

After exchanging sleeping positions, you headed back to your room, where Iggy had fallen asleep on the floor. You tried the position that Jotaro told you, and noticed how comfortable it was in his body. Finally, you were able to go to sleep. Hopefully, this whole thing would be sorted out in the morning.

***

“Kakyoin!”

You had to be honest, even if he wasn���t as buff as the other men in the group, you could definitely feel a difference from your body and his. After all, he did carry some beef with him, and it was noticeable to you.

“Ugh, I think I hit my head too hard,” you heard your voice say. “My voice sounds all weird, and I feel really strange.”

Right. If you were in Kakyoin’s body, then Kakyoin was bound to be in your body. You kind of wanted to tell him the situation, but another part of you wanted to see him figure it out himself.

“Wait a minute,” he muttered. “This voice sounds familiar. And these hands look familiar.” He looked down at his (your) shirt, and gasped. “This is... (Y/N)’s body!” He looked up at you (him) in horror. “Tha-that’s... my... body...”

You nodded.

“And I’m... not in it...”

Again, you nodded.

“Why don’t you say something, (Y/N)?” Kakyoin shuddered. “You’re creeping me out.”

“There hasn’t been a need,” you answered.

“Fair,” he nodded. “Still! Aren’t you freaked out by this, too?” He got up and started moving his limbs back and forth. “It’s so...” he shivered in disgust. “I feel like a pervert in this body.”

“Don’t say it like that!” you exclaimed. “You’re making me imagine things that you’d do in my body I don’t want to imagine.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Kakyoin quickly apologized. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“It’s okay,” you told him. “We should probably tell the others before we go off and try to find the Stand user ourselves.”

Kakyoin nodded in agreement, but before you headed off to the hotel, you heard him say, “Wait. Do we have each other’s Stands? Or do we keep the same Stand?”

“Well, only one way to find out,” you shrugged. Both of you summoned your Stands. Or, rather, each other’s Stands, because, sure enough, the Stands didn’t travel with you. You were able to harness Hierophant Green, and Kakyoin could wield Ace of Pentacles. And the Stands seemed to realize that whoever was in this body was not their user, but they were hesitant to do anything that would kill the intruder.

"Don't worry, Hierophant, I'm (Y/N)," you told him. "Kakyoin and I got into a little bit of trouble, and now our bodies are swapped." Luckily, Hierophant seemed to understand, and calmed down.

"Okay, now that we know the Stand situation," Kakyoin said, "let's go tell everyone else what happened." He started walking to the hotel, and you quickly followed.

"So," Jotaro leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, "my two best friends have been attacked by an enemy Stand while going to buy some things, and now they're trapped in each other's bodies."

"Sounds about right," you nodded.

"Yeah, that's what happened," Kakyoin replied.

Jotaro lowered his hat and sighed. "Good grief," he muttered. "This isn't going to end well."

"Anyway," Kakyoin said, "we should probably find this user as soon as possible. It won't be good if we're forever in each other's bodies."

"I wholeheartedly agree," Joseph answered, "but it's getting really late. How about we get a good night's sleep and wake up completely ready to take on the user?"

"No!" you both exclaimed at the same time.

"This feels weird! I don't wanna sleep in Kakyoin's body!" You squirmed just thinking about it. "No offense, Kakyoin."

"None taken, because I feel the exact same way," Kakyoin replied.

"Well, the rest of us are tired," Polnareff said, "so unless you plan on going out in the streets of Cairo alone, you better get some rest."

"Fine," both of you sighed. Before you headed off to your rooms, though, Kakyoin shared something with you.

"In case you didn't know, my most comfortable sleeping position is on my side, curled up. It would probably be the most comfortable to sleep in that position."

You told Kakyoin your usual sleeping position, too, then both of you headed off to your hotel rooms.

"Oh, and one more thing."

You turned your head. "Yeah?"

"I have PJs if you want to use those."

You thought about it for a little bit, then said, "You sure trust me a lot if you'd let me undress in your body. Unless it's not about trust..." you wiggled your eyebrows.

Well, now you knew what you looked like when you blushed. "Um, uh, no, that's not what I meant, at all, I promise," Kakyoin stuttered. "I mean, my school uniform isn't the comfiest thing to sleep in, so, heh, y'know, PJs are, are much comfier. It really is about trust, honest!"

"I know what you meant," you laughed as you went down to pat his head. Er, your head. This was so confusing. "And trust me, I'll change as quickly as possible."

Kakyoin sighed with relief. "Okay, I'll go get them from my room."

While you patiently waited for Kakyoin to come back, you started playing with his hair, pulling his long strand down, then letting go and watching it bounce back up again. It was actually pretty entertaining. At least, more entertaining than it should be.

"Okay, here's the PJs," Kakyoin tossed them up to you. "Good night, (Y/N)."

"Good night," you replied.

This time, you truly parted ways. When you got to your room, Iggy stood on all fours defensively.

"Don't worry, Iggy," you chuckled. "Kakyoin and I got into a fight with an enemy Stand, but I'm still (Y/N)."

Iggy laid back down, and yawned as he fell asleep. Quickly, you changed out of Kakyoin's uniform and slipped into his much comfier pajamas, and turned off the light, snuggling up next to Iggy. This would all be sorted out in the morning, you knew it. For now, you needed to rest. And rest you did.

***

“Joseph!”

You were always surprised on how fit Joseph was, especially with his old age, but this was beyond what you thought it would feel like. You expected at least a few creaky bones, but he was still in tip top shape, and you couldn’t help but flex his arms and feel his strength coursing through your veins.

“OH MY GO-“ your voice shouted, but cut off for some odd reason. You whipped your head around to see your body suddenly reanimated, spinning around in circles and darting its eyes all across the surface. “What happened? Why am I in (Y/N)’s body?”

“Mr. Joestar, please calm down!” you begged. “I don’t want people thinking I’m crazy!”

“Ah!” Joseph exclaimed. “You’re in my body, too? What’s going on?”

“Do you really think I have any more of a clue than you do?” you asked, still not used to his voice. “Look, I’m a high school girl in a grown man’s body! Do you think this is any easier for me?”

“We have to get back and tell the others about all of this!” Joseph said. “Come on, (Y/N), let’s go!”

As Joseph started running, you joined him, boosted by his incredible strength, and scooped him up along the way.

“Mr. Joestar,” Avdol said, “don’t you think a prank like this is a little too much for our current situation? And how did you get (Y/N) to agree to this?”

“Avdol, I am (Y/N),” you replied. “This isn’t a joke! I have Ace of Pentacles and everything!” You tried to summon her, but you were met with purple thorns. Uh oh. That could only mean that Joseph had Ace.

“This isn’t helping our argument,” Joseph muttered as he summoned Ace of Pentacles. “Look, we’re telling the truth, you have to believe us,” he pleaded.

“Favorite colors,” Jotaro said. “Go.”

“(Color),” you stated.

“Yellow,” Joseph answered.

“Favorite foods.”

“(Food).”

“Squid ink spaghetti.”

“My favorite food.”

You stayed silent, since you had no idea.

“Your mom’s cooking,” Joseph stated. “You used to be such a momma’s boy.”

“Yup, they’re in the wrong bodies,” Jotaro concluded. “There’s no way (Y/N) would have known that.”

“Finally!” you sighed. “I was beginning to worry you’d never believe us and we’d have to go find this guy on our own.”

“That would be pretty bad,” Kakyoin chuckled. “Neither of you have fighting Stands.”

“At least I have a fighting body,” Joseph beamed, putting his hands on his hips. “Well, I did.”

“That fighting body is mine now,” you smirked, flexing his muscles.

“Cut that out!” Joseph tried shoving you, but in your body, it did next to nothing. He tried harder. Still almost nothing. He pushed his back against you. He ran and jumped. He attacked you from above. Everything he tried was useless as you stood, as strong as a pillar, in the exact same place.

“You’re no fun,” he pouted. “You could at least act like I did something.”

You looked down at him, gave him a tiny push, and watched as he toppled over. “Nice acting, Mr. Joestar,” you chuckled.

“That hurt,” Joseph mumbled. “That hurt a lot.”

“What’s that?” You held up a hand to an ear. “I can’t hear you since you’re so much closer to the ground than I am.”

“I’ll pay you back when this is over, you know,” Joseph warned, “so I’d stop now if I were you.”

“Then why don’t you stop?” you asked him. “After all, you are me.”

“You know what I mean,” he grumbled.

“I know, I know,” you laughed. “I’ll stop.”

“Anyway, I’m getting a little tired,” Joseph yawned. “How about we hit the hay for tonight? We can go after this Stand user tomorrow when we’re refreshed.”

“Oh, you’re delusional if you think I’m spending a night in your body!” you exclaimed.

“And you’re delusional if you think I’m going after a Stand user in the middle of the night!” Joseph retorted. “No way, no how! An old man needs his sleep, you know.”

“But you’re not an old man right now, are you?” you countered. “You’re a high school girl. We stay up late. You should be raring to go, excited to explore the wonders of Egypt late at night.”

“If that were true,” Joseph said, “Then you should be exhausted and begging me to go to bed, yet here you are.”

“Good point,” you muttered. “Fine. We’ll go to bed.”

When you got to your room, Iggy was already asleep, so he couldn’t be bothered by your arrival. Thank goodness. He probably wouldn’t take too kindly to your new, hopefully temporary form. Unfortunately, you had to toss and turn so much that you ended up awakening him, anyway. And, of course, Iggy wouldn’t allow anyone but you to sleep in your bed.

“Iggy! It’s me!” you cried as you held the growling dog as far away from Joseph’s hair as possible. “It’s (Y/N)! Mr. Joestar and I got into some trouble with an enemy, and our bodies are swapped!” Iggy seemed to believe you, thankfully, and stopped attacking you.

A knock on the door made you jump, but you quickly asked, “Who is it?”

“It’s Joseph,” came your voice from the other side. “How do you sleep in this body? I can’t find a comfortable position.”

You sighed, realizing you were suffering the same problem. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours,” you answered, opening the door.

“I usually sleep with my arms and legs extended off the bed, face up,” Joseph answered.

“How do you sleep like that?” you asked.

“How do you not?”

“That’s fair.”

You told Joseph your preferred sleeping position, and then he left back to go to his room. Sinking down in your bed, you realized how comfortable it was to sleep belly down in this body. You yawned, and slowly drifted off to sleep. You would swap back to your body in the morning, and that’s all you needed to know to feel at peace.

***

“Polnareff!”

Having your hair in a tower felt really strange, considering you’ve never had it up like that before. It felt weirder than having all of the bulk from his muscles on your skin. Although, you were less worried about how you felt, and more worried about how Polnareff would feel. He’s the one you trusted the least in your body.

The sound of not so distant screams caught your attention, and you knew Polnareff was awake.

“This is bad, this is really bad!” he panicked. “I shouldn’t be in a girl’s body!”

Well, that was a relief. He didn’t seem to be immediately overjoyed. Maybe he would be trustworthy after all.

“Look, let’s just get back to the hotel,” you suggested, “and we can figure this out with the help of everyone else.”

“That sounds good,” Polnareff answered, still a little shaken. It wasn’t until you two had been walking for a while when you heard Polnareff giggle a little.

“You know, I was a bit freaked out at first, but feeling this light and delicate is a nice change.”

“I’m not light and delicate!” you shot back. “I’m just as strong as everyone else!”

“Relax, madame,” Polnareff held up his hands in defense. “All I’m saying is that you feel light and delicate. You’re far from that.”

“Thanks,” you answered. You could feel a light blush coming up to your cheeks. “That means you won’t be touchy-feely when you’re alone if we don’t get this sorted out by nightfall, right?”

“No promises,” Polnareff smirked.

“No, there has to be a promise,” you insisted. “I won’t let you get a moment alone if there’s no promise.”

“I’m kidding,” Polnareff laughed nervously. “I’ll keep my hands, er, your hands, away from your body.”

“Good,” you finished, making sure not to break your seriousness. “Thank you.”

After a few minutes of walking, Polnareff started to get a little jumpy. “Um, I don’t know if this is okay, but I really have to use the restroom. May I? I know it might not be comfortable with you, but I’m about to-“

“Just go,” you interrupted. “We all need to.”

“Thank you,” Polnareff sighed, and ran into the men’s restroom, quickly coming out and running to the woman’s.

“What do you mean there’s no urinals?! You pee SITTING DOWN?!”

You turned beet red as you heard your voice yell out, and covered your face in your hands. That was your voice, in your body, shouting those very words.

“I’m going to kill you,” you hissed when Polnareff left the restroom.

“You can’t kill me, you only have Ace of Pentacles,” Polnareff gloated. However, once he summoned Ace, he was taken aback. “Uh oh.”

“You’re lucky I don’t want to kill my body, or I’d have Silver Chariot slice you to bits right now,” you growled, summoning Polnareff’s Stand. “Girls pee sitting down. That’s why there’s no urinals. Don’t ever, EVER, say those words in that order again, especially to other women who don’t know the situation we’re in right now. Got it?” You had the tone of a mother who quietly scolded her child in public, the angry whisper when she can’t cause a scene.

“Yup, I got it,” Polnareff nodded quickly and quietly.

Once you got to the hotel, you and Polnareff explained, as best as you could, what happened to the two of you.

“So, you’re (Y/N), and you’re Polnareff?” Kakyoin pointed to the opposite bodies as he said your names, which were, at the time, the correct bodies. This was confusing. You both nodded, and Kakyoin sighed. “This is bound to make at least one of you mad.”

“Already happened,” Polnareff replied sheepishly.

“Anyway,” you interrupted, “we need to find the user, or else we’ll be stuck in these bodies forever.”

“Not tonight,” was Joseph’s answer. “We aren’t going tonight. I doubt he’ll get too far before the sun rises.”

“What?” you exclaimed. “No! I don’t trust Polnareff for a whole night!”

“Sleep in the same room I don’t care,” Joseph answered, “but I’m getting my rest, no matter what.”

“Look, I promise,” Polnareff told you. “I absolutely, positively promise nothing will happen to this body while I’m in it.”

“Doesn’t matter, you’re sleeping in my room tonight,” you replied. However, after some consideration, you remembered that Iggy was in your room, and that he loathed Polnareff more than anyone else. He would most likely rip all of your hair out before you could tell him that you were (Y/N). “Actually, your room. Your room tonight.”

“You’re sleeping on the floor, then, got it?” Polnareff asked. “My room, my rules.”

“It’s better than getting attacked by Iggy,” you sighed.

“You’re going to make a woman sleep on the floor?” Joseph asked. “What kind of man does that?”

“But I’m the woman now,” Polnareff countered. “Therefore, I get the bed.”

“Well, I’d rather wake up with back problems instead of going the rest of the day with back problems, so the bed’s all yours.”

“Huh,” Kakyoin said. “That was fast. I would at least expect (Y/N) to insist that Polnareff get her mattress from her room, since he’s in the body that Iggy hates the least.”

“That’s a good idea,” you complimented. “Polnareff, if you could be so kind and-“

“Already ahead of you,” he answered, leaving his room.

“I wonder how long it’ll take Iggy to realize that the person in your body is, in fact, not you,” Kakyoin chuckled.

“My bet is thirty seconds.”

“I’ll bet less than thirty.”

“Iggy! Iggy, stop! No!”

You heard a loud thud and barks from the tiny dog.

“Looks like I was right,” Kakyoin smirked.

“I’ll go calm Iggy down,” you laughed, and walked to your room. Hopefully Iggy connected the dots before you were attacked, as well. You entered the room, and he reared up and charged towards you.

“Iggy, wait!” you exclaimed, but it was too late. Iggy had pulled out a good amount of your hair, and you could smell an awful stench.

“Iggy,” you sighed, “it’s (Y/N). Polnareff and I swapped bodies.”

“I probably shouldn’t have called that dog a dumb mutt,” Polnareff muttered. “I think that’s what gave it away to him.”

“You think?” you groaned. “Come on, let’s get this mattress to your room.”

After some hard work (mostly put in by you), the mattress was successfully in Polnareff’s room, and you immediately curled up, and Polnareff landed face down on his bed. After a while, both of you were tossing and turning. Something about the way you two were sleeping did not settle well with the bodies you were in.

“Are you really going to sleep that way in that body?” Polnareff snorted. “(Y/N), that body is made to sleep face down. No other position is comfortable.”

“Maybe that’s why you can’t sleep in my body, either,” you suggested. “You’re sleeping in it wrong.”

“Perhaps that is what’s wrong,” Polnareff said to himself. He changed positions to how you were sleeping, and sighed happily. “My, my, this is so much more comfy!”

“Same here,” you replied. “Well, I’m going to go to sleep now. Goodnight, Polnareff.”

“Night.”

***

“Avdol!”

Woah. How many layers of clothing did this guy have? All of his coats and everything weighed you down much more than your clothing. However, all of that weight paid off for Avdol, because his arms were stronger than you could even imagine yours being.

“So, you’re awake, as well.”

You turned your head, and saw your body, fully reanimated. You concluded that the one speaking must have been Avdol.

“It seems that Stand has the ability to swap bodies,” he muttered, “and we happened to be the two he came into contact with.”

“Great,” you mumbled. “How do we reverse it?”

“Killing the user seems to be the only solution,” Avdol sighed. “Of course, he ran away as soon as his Stand landed an attack on us, so it’ll take a while for us to find him. But when we do, I’m prepared to use Magician’s Red, no matter what.” He summoned his Stand, but soon realized that it wasn’t who he thought it would be. Instead of summoning the fiery bird, he summoned Ace of Pentacles.

“Nice,” you said as you summoned Avdol’s former sidekick. “So I get to use him when the time comes.”

“I guess so,” Avdol chuckled. “Just remember, use those flames responsibly. We don’t want a bystander to get hurt.”

“I understand,” you nodded. “Plus, we should probably update the others on our situation before we go and fight this guy alone. For all we know, we could be swapped into a bystander’s body before we have the chance to fight him.”

“Good thinking,” Avdol replied. “Then it’s settled. We’ll go tell the others about this, first.”

When you got back to the hotel, Jotaro was already standing outside the doorway, leaning on the brick wall.

“There’s something different about you two,” he eyed you and Avdol suspiciously. “What did the enemy Stand do to you this time?”

“Swapped our bodies,” Avdol answered.

“So it was Avdol who answered me, then?” Jotaro asked. You both nodded.

“Ah, Avdol and (Y/N) are back,” Polnareff said as he emerged from the hotel’s entrance. “What supplies did you get?”

“Actually, we didn’t have time to get supplies,” you admitted. “We were attacked by an enemy.”

“Well, you got out fine,” Polnareff replied accusingly, “so why didn’t you get supplies after the attack?”

“Because we didn’t get out fine,” Avdol answered. “We’re in the wrong bodies.”

Polnareff playful grin suddenly vanished. “Oh,” he muttered.

“Anyway, we came here because it would be easier to take on this enemy with all five of us attacking,” you explained. “Where’s Mr. Joestar?”

“He already fell asleep,” Polnareff answered. “It is getting late, after all.”

“Then we’ll go without him.”

“No, that doesn’t seem like a good idea,” Avdol told you. “I mean, think about it. Leaving a member of our team alone while he’s out like a light? That could easily put him in danger. Plus, it would be bad if we all felt tired while trying to fight against someone else. We should sleep.”

“Fine,” you groaned. “Let’s go to bed.”

When you got to your bedroom, Iggy didn’t do much but give you a slight head tilt.

“It’s me, Iggy,” you consoled the worried dog. “It’s (Y/N). Avdol and I got put in the wrong bodies from an enemy.”

Iggy laid back down, accepting the answer. As you brushed your teeth, you kept staring at the reflection that wasn’t yours. It was strange to be in another body. As you laid in your bed, you noticed how comfortable it was. Even in different sleeping positions, you felt like you could sleep for hours. Avdol’s body was a blessing right now, since you probably couldn’t have possibly fallen asleep in any other body from the gravity of this situation. However, right as you were about to be out for the night, you heard a knock on your door. “Who is it?”

“Avdol,” your voice said from the other side. “Pardon my interruption, but I could really use some sleep, and for that, I need your sleeping position.”

You opened the door, and looked down to meet eyes with Avdol. After you told him your usual sleeping position, he nodded, and went back to his hotel room. Now, you went back to your bed, and almost instantly fell asleep. Tomorrow, everything would be solved. Now, you needed to rest up for the day ahead.

[emybain]

i’m picking a random number here. 5 for nodrian.

i saiiiid i was going to focus more on young nova in the nova’s family lives AU bUT then i got this ask (Throwing their arms around the other person’s neck, hugging them close before kissing them passionately on the lips) and i couldnt NOT use it. after this though i promise to dive into a younger nova with her family, as that was my original intention for this AU. this is about a month following the last fic i wrote for the AU (after two certain people...keiss) and yes i kind of drew inspiration from the fight with Hawthorne in Archenemies bc im basic. enjoy! feedback is always appreciated, especially if you want to see more of my content:)

ao3

Nova’s first week back on patrol and the fates decided to screw her over. 

Her team had been patrolling from the rooftops of a busy area when she received a message from Sketch, requesting assistance in capturing criminals that had just performed an armed robbery. Of course he knew she was patrolling that day, as she had told him so a few days prior. Many blocks and a scuffle later, Nova found herself being dragged away from the edge of the bridge by Ramona, who was worried about a wound on Nova’s arm where a bullet had grazed her. The fight was over. The criminals escaped on a getaway boat. And Adrian...Adrian had chased after them, despite being told not to by the Council. And then he got himself thrown overboard after putting up a fight on the boat. There was no sign of him in the water, which was beginning to calm from the boat disrupting it. 

They hadn’t even been dating for a month yet, and Adrian had to go and get himself killed. 

“He’ll be fine.” Ramona led Nova over to a healer, who sat Nova down and immediately began addressing the injury, instructing her to unzip the top of her uniform and pull her arm out of the sleeve so they could get a better look. The pain from moving her arm was nothing compared to the fear pounding in her chest. “This is Adrian we’re talking about.”

“Can’t you go searching the water for him?” Nova begged, wincing slightly as the medic began roughly cleaning the wound. “If anyone can find him, it’s you.”

Ramona shook her head. “No can do, babe. Since you’re a dumbass and got yourself shot, I have to go give the briefing to the cleanup crew.” She began to walk away, but looked over her shoulder. “They’re already sending out people to look for him. He’ll show up, like he always does.”

Beside her, Adèle sat down. Benton crouched in front of her and took her free hand. 

“Someone’s upset over her boyfriend, is she not, mon ami?” Adèle shot a playful smile at Benton. Skies, Nova swore the two only got along when it was at her expense. 

“Oui, oui.” Benton grinned at Nova, who only glared back. “Oh, don’t give me that look, pouty pants. Ramona’s right. You’ve known your little boyfriend for years, and you’re trying to tell me that some water is going to take him out?”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Nova lied, as she had been doing smoothly for the past month. “I’m just...worried about him. As a friend should be. That was a hard fall.” 

“Why so uptight all of a sudden?” Benton frowned. “You’ve never been this upset over him before. You know he always bounces back.”

“Benton is right, Nova.” Adèle laid a hand on Nova’s good arm. It was rare for her to show her affectionate side. Nova must’ve looked as though she was in really bad shape. “What is bothering you?”

Nova sighed and looked down. She knew it was only right to tell them the truth. They were her best friends, after all. But...not yet. Especially when there was a healer still mending Nova’s arm. “I’ll tell you guys later, okay?”

They gave her space after that, assessing their own injuries and getting supplies from the healers. Nova was handed a pair of sweatpants and a loose cotton tank after she was patched up. The injury was already beginning to heal itself with the added prodigy assistance. She ducked behind a curtain set up in the little tent and changed out of her bloodied uniform. Mom wouldn’t be too happy about cleaning this one. 

Why did Adrian have to go and do that? Nova was terrified for him. What if he was still in the water, stuck somehow and drowning? What if the boat hit him when he fell in and knocked him out? Frankly, she was frustrated with him as well. He was always doing shit like that, trying to make himself out as the hero. But, as Simon liked to say, there was no ‘I’ in hero. Adrian had a team, dammit, and she wished he would work with them instead of against them. Nova would never understand that side of him. He wasn’t an attention seeker, not in the slightest, so it wasn’t because he wanted recognition. And besides, his parents were some of the most famous people in the world, debatably. Adrian already got enough attention as it was, and he had expressed many times before how uncomfortable it made him. Nova understood that, of course, having grown up in the spotlight alongside him as Ace Anarchy’s niece. 

When she stepped out onto the street to examine the damage done to the bride, a shriek cut through the air. Her eyes landed on Ruby, who was now in shorts and a tank top, a bandage around her thigh. The girl ran across the bridge and nearly tackled a familiar looking boy that was drenched from head to toe. The rest of his team followed, although at a light jog, embracing their leader. Nova’s mouth fell open, and she suddenly couldn’t help herself. 

Clenching her jaw shut, she stormed up to him. He had the audacity to grin at her, opening his arms for a hug as his teammates stepped back to let her through. Instead, she shoved his chest. He fell back a little, probably more from the shock of her reaction than the impact. 

“You fucking idiot,” she said between her teeth. “What made you think it was smart to do that?”

“Nova,” he reached for her arm, but she stepped back, “I thought I could catch them, but I was wrong, okay?”

“You could’ve died.” Nova didn’t notice that they were starting to get looks from the prodigies and newscasters and journalists. “And for nothing. What if you drowned?”

“I can swim.” He took on a light hearted tone, as though the conversation was a joke. But it quickly dissipated, a softer voice replacing it, meant just for Nova. “Babe, I’m fine, okay? Only a few cuts and bruises.”

“Don’t call me that,” she muttered, getting closer to him again until their shoes were practically touching. Her head craned up to look at him. She sent every atom of her anger in his direction through her piercing eyes. “You’re an idiot, Adrian Everhart. Do that again and...and I’ll-”

“What?” he interrupted, tilting his head to the side. “You’ll do what?”

Damn her emotions. 

She jumped up, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down to her height. His hands immediately went to her back as she hugged him tightly, burying her face in his neck. “I’m just glad you’re safe. Please don’t scare me like that again.”

He pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder, pulling her closer. “I won’t. I promise.”

Nova wanted to scold him on his stupidity more, and how he left his team behind, but she knew this wasn’t the time or place. She drew back enough to see his face. Her hand trailed over a cut on his cheek, another on his temple. He was dripping with water still. She tilted her head up, inviting his lips to come down onto hers. A warm feeling draped over her, as it always did when they kissed. It didn’t matter that they had done quite a bit of kissing in the month they had been together; every time his lips were on hers, it was like the first time. 

She sighed against him, allowing him to deepen the kiss. Her hand curled at the nape of his neck. She wanted him to know how much he worried her, how much he angered her, and how much she cared for him in this kiss. 

He broke away first, closing his eyes and resting his forehead against hers. For a moment, Nova let herself forget about his impulsiveness and just enjoy being in his arms. And then the moment ended with an awkward cough from her right. 

His team was staring at them with open mouths, along with nearly every person on that bridge. Nova’s cheeks brightened. Well, that was one way to announce they were a couple. She had been so caught up in her emotions and Adrian that she had literally forgotten where she was. Adrian seemed to have forgotten as well, based on the sheepish yet unashamed smile on his face.

“Told you,” Danna muttered, shouldering Oscar. “Pay up.” 

Adrian sighed loudly and took Nova’s hand as he pulled away from their embrace. He squeezed her palm. “This one’s going to be fun to explain, huh?”

Nova could only look around as people began going back to work. The press were only louder now than before, shouting at the two of them and taking pictures. Her team was headed over in their direction, the most stunned looks on their faces. Had the circumstances been different, their expressions would have almost been funny.

“Yeah. Real fun.”

[theravencawsatmidnight]

Kentarou is a delinquent werewolf who was taken in by Reader. Hes in his second year of highschool, a track kid whos involved with the wrong crowd. Till he meets the Schools volleyball Ace.

Part Four

Kyotani x Hajime

It was after school now and Kyotani was waiting for Hajime outside the school like he asked him too. Hands in his pockets and cigarette in his mouth with an angry expression on his face. He was only going for the food, thats it.   He groaned into the stone wall he was leaning on , switching his cigarette to the other side of his mouth with his tongue when Ayme ran over hugging his hips and dipping her fingertips into his pants. 

 “Let go” he told her, shimmying away  to lean back again.

“What are you doing ? we gotta get ready fo the party” she told him a little huffy.

“What party” he asked, puffing out smoke through his teeth, he could feel his wolf was agitated, he always was when Ayme was around him. 

Aymes parties were not parties, anything but; everyone was drunk or high and grinding on each other. Kyotani could not get drunk anymore since he was a werewolf so he just stuck to smoking his cigs while everyone practically threw themselves at him. He did not care much for it and often left unsatisfied each and every time.  Ayme and her friends often tried to play on his ‘ Mad Dog’ nick name during sex and it just pissed him and his wolf off more. His wolf tried to take over one time and Kyotani had to force him back down , he had never had to do it before and trying to focus while he had girls on him was not easy. He left as soon as he could to go change in the woods and kill something.

“My partry!! I told you about it at lunch!” 

“Mm..” he was looking around now.

“I know you dont drink but cmon baby.” she moved back to him touching his belt. “I promise this will be different”

 “Oh yeah?” he looked down at her puffing smoke in her face

“Ack.. yes! We were talking and… what if we let you tie us up?”

“Id tie you sluts to the bed and leave” Hajime was finally coming into view

“Hmph!” Ayme stepped back folding her arms. “Just you wait , youll show up at my door one day begging for me” her tone changed and she ran a hand down his tone chest. “And you can do whatever you want big boy”

“Am i interrupting something?” Hajime came over to see Kyotani looking very pissed off and Ayme touching his hips. 

“yes you are!” she told him “we -”

Kyotani pushed her off and started walking. “ no, were done talking”

“Hey! Kyotani! Just cuz your a third year doesn't mean you can interrupt !”

Hajimie flashed her a smile “ sorry, but i have no idea who you are” and left to catch up with Kyotani.

**

Hajime jogged over to the angry boy and slowed to a walk next to him.

“So are you gonna ask where my house is or are you gonna walk around aimlessly?” Kyo puffed some smoke looking in the other direction.

“Do you need to let anyone know your not going right home?”

“Pfft..”

“Hey uh, you think you could put that out?”

Kyotani stopped walking to give Hajime a glare, his cigarette shining bright red at the end. Hajime stopped and gave Kyotani a happy grin. “Smoking is bad man, pretty please? “

“Screw off” 

Hajime got closer, rubbing on Kyotanis side whispering in his ear . “for me? Mad Dog?”

He jumped in his skin feeling goosebumps travel from his neck to his chest . “the fucks your problem?” Kyo said moving away hitting a stone wall leaving him no options for a exit. Hajime walked over cornering him but left his left side open , 

 “Im just looking out for you.” he flashed a smile and Kyotani felt his wolf stur around in him, he felt slightly aroused as well. Why though? The fuck. This was just some volleyball kid , no one important. He didnt need anyone, not you , not Ayme and not him.

“ i can look after myself”

“Even when your backs against the wall?”

“Yes”

Hajime backed off giving Kyotani some space. “Look. you can damage your body over time by smoking, happend to my dad ,thats all. “ he looked away scratching the back of his head talking a little low. “Just dont want to lose you yet , you seem cool..”

Kyotani had enhanced hearing thanks to his wolf and Hajimes words made his heart skip a beat, he could call him out on it if he wanted to . but he was confused by these feelings.

“What?” was what he finally said.

“Nothing, you like hamima chicken?”

“Fuck yes i do”

“Good! Cuz i've got plenty” 

Kyotani watched Hajime walk past him with a smile on his face. Kyotani stood there for a minute trying to focus on his wolf. “ knock it off…” he told himself as he flicked his cigarette away to catch up with Hajime.

**

Kyotani was sitting at the island in Hajimes kitchen watching him make the Hamima chicken, no one else was home yet so it was just them, his wolf was still on edge and he was even more aroused now. What was his problem? Its just Hajime, no one important.  Kyotani caught himself looking at the boys chest a alot and his arms, so tone.. Lean.. fuck. He shook his head and looked down pulling out his phone.

Kyotani/ Ma

Y.n/ yes kyo? Are you alright?

Kyotani/ im at a 

He looked up to see Hajime still cooking , he looked down at his phone again.

Kyotani/ im at a friends house, his name is Hajime so ill be home later

You were at work staring at your phone with utter disbelief on your face. Kyo never told you where he was or texted you.  And it was a boys home and not that.. Ayme girl.

Y.n/ okay Kyo, ill see you tonight, have a good time. 

Kyotani looked up again to see the food in front of him on a plate with a water and Hajime leaning on the table looking pretty smug.  Kyotani picked up the food taking a rough bite out of it. “Like it ?” Hajime asked coming around the island to sit next to the quiet boy.

“Its fine” 

“Just fine? Im hurt.”

“Pft..” Kyotani looked away still eating and felt a finger on his cheek scoop up some food . Kyotani looked back to see Hajime eating the piece of chicken. His face felt like it was on fire , Hajime leaned close to Kyotani whispering in his ear. 

“You can at least say it tastes good… i worked so hard on it”

“Maybe you need to pull it out of me”

“Oh yeah?” Hajime smirked moving back a bit. “Throw a dog a bone?

Kyotani was feeling very flustered and aroused at everything happening. Never before had he had any interest in guys, his wolf was not fighting it or trying to rip him to shreds . Hajime leaned back in his seat spreading his legs slightly and leaning on the island. Kyotani put his food down and looked Hajime up and down, his wolf forcing him up off the chair.

“Cmere Mad Dog” Hajime said low.

His wolf forced him to take a step forward , Kyotani gripped the island leaning down so he was eye level with the smirking boy.  

 “Yes?” Hajime asked, leaning forward taking in Kyotanis scent.” you smell like cigarettes”

“I dont care, i -..” his voice trailed off once he felt Hajime brush his lips against his. Kyotani sucked in air and Hajime pulled him on his lap . “cmon Mad Dog, loosen up for me” he lightly pressed his lips against the confused boys mouth. 

“Ff!” Kyotani stumbled into the boys lap falling into his kiss. He laid his arms on the boys shoulders, kissing him back , his wolf was rejoicing inside him, he never felt better than he does right now. Normally he would make Kyotani growl at Ayme and her slutty friends but right now he was pushing Kyotani in more,

 Kyotani pulled away breathing through his mouth staring at the boy in front of him watching him lick his lips and bite the bottom one. Hajime rested his hands on the tall boys hips leaning back in the chair rubbing in little circles with his thumbs.

“You haven't killed me yet” The smug boy said.

“Shut up..” Kyotani sat down on the boys lap looking everywhere but him, he could feel his gaze on him though.

“Have you never kissed a guy before?”

Kyotani growled looking back at the boy and Hajime pursed his lips together smiling big. 

“Im flattered, “

“Pft..” 

“I guess i shouldint of done that, your girlfriend will be upset”

“Girlfriend?”

“That girl touching you after school”

Kyotani clicked his tongue leaning forward a bit till their elbows connected. “Shes not my girlfriend, just a quick fuck.” his lips were tingling from the kiss still.”unsatisfying fuck” He added, even though it was not really necessary . 

Hajime pulled Kyotani closer, smelling the cigarettes in his clothes still, he looked down looking for the pack of smokes on his person. Kyotani’s heart was racing. He wanted more, why ? why was his wolf trying to get him to do more?  It felt nice .. was that it? Feeling nice is .. nice…

 Kyotanis hands lingered down from Hajimes shoulders to his neck drifting down to the boys chest , his thumbs pulling it up. He had gotten the shirt half way up taking in his tone chest. From all that stupid volleyball obviously. No cuts or anything , no bruises.. His left hand held the shirt up while his right one felt all around the boys chest. He could hear Hajime breathing pick up in his ear and Kyotanis heart was going nuts, he ran his fingers all along his chests slowly… slowly moving down to his pants. His fingers gliding along the black belt.  

 Hajime had found the pack of smokes in Kyotanis pocket and reached in taking them out and holding them up leaning back in the chair, he also pulled his shirt back down .

  “This needs to stop, if you want to do more”

“Excuse me?”

“The smoking”

“What makes you think i want to do more huh ?”

Hajime patted the boys hips with his free hand . “still sitting on me”

“Shut up..” he got up off the boys lap walking into the island.

“And well..” he pouted when he saw his lap was empty , “you were getting pretty handsy” Hajime looked up and lifted his shirt teasing the werewolf. “Pretty sure i felt hands on my belt too”

Kyotani huffed looking away at the fridge ignoring the arousal in his pants. Hes just another guy, no one important. Just take the smokes back Kyotani..

 “Im unsure about all of this”  he finally said.

“Im okay with friends with benefits, but the smoking needs to stop” Hajime got up still holding the pack. 

 “Fine”

“Fineeee?”

“Ill stop fucking smoking”

He held the pack out shaking it around lightly. “Break each and everyone one of these sticks in here if your serious”

Kyotani snatched the smokes from him opening it up , he reached for one and stopped to stare at the 7 smokes.  Its not like he paid for these smokes, Ayme always supplied him with them. He would never get sick from them because of his wolf so he could technically keep doing it without a problem… but … Hajime would smell it on him and .. he cant say why he wont get sick..He pulled a couple out of the pack halfway and broke them. Why..?  why was he..? A couple more snapped. He never listened to what anyone said, so why was he doing this? Why did he care? Another, one left.  Something about snapping these smokes was .. relieving. His wolf was happy and he felt stronger. Snap.  the pack fell on the island and Hajime smiled up at the angry boy. 

 “You actually did it.”

“Were you expecting me not too ?”

Hajime got closer to the boy running a hand up and down his chest. “Yeah if im honest, felt like you were gonna tell me to fuck off”

“Pft..” Kyotani touched Hajimes chest lifting the shirt again. 

“Like what you see?” he teased pulling Kyotani closer

“Shut up”

“Cmon… be a good boy for me” He whispered in his ear

Kyotani felt his cock feel hot at those words, good...boy..

“Sit down then.”

Hajime pulled back sitting back in his chair , his arm leaning on the island to support his head, he rubbed his lap slowly. “Okay, sitting.”

Kyotani rubbed his shoulder trying to ignore the tension in his pants. “Can you..”

“Hmm? “Say it again.”

“Say what? Be a good boy for me?” His cock was straining against his pants now. “Yes , christ. Yes okay?”

Hajime straightened out on the chair leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. “Cmon Kyotani, be a good boy for me”

 “..ff.. Fuck..” Kyotani swatted the boys arms away and sat down on his lap , Hajime grabbed his hips kissing him again . he leaned back in the chair smirking , pulling Kyotani closer slipping his tongue in his mouth.

[imagine-loki]

Fix My Mistake

TITLE: Fix My Mistake CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: One-Shot AUTHOR: peachlobotomy666 ORIGINAL IMAGINE:  Imagine you and Loki have been divorced for for 3 years when you get a phone call saying that he was in a car accident/ had an injury. The reason for the call to you? He has amnesia and his last memory was marrying you. RATING: PG NOTES/WARNINGS: I changed the prompt a little bit from what was written for the idea to work for me.

Warning: maybe like two curse words, fertility issues, divorce. If there are any I missed please let me know.

A/N: I wrote this is 4 parts but decided to combine them all together to make it a oneshot for submitting cause I’m new to this. That being said sorry this seems so long.

Today definitely didn’t go as planned. Then again an unexpected call from a hospital five towns over saying that it’s urgent for you to come as soon as possible isn’t what anyone ever plans on. Neither is dropping everything and driving as fast as legally possible to said hospital. Now you may be asking who is it that I stopped all I was to go five towns out of my way for. Truth is I don’t know because I hung up before they could tell me.

“Miss, your name.” The man questioned as I rushed inside and just asked where to go.

“(Y/F/N) (Y/L/N).” I answered out of breath. “I got a phone call saying that I needed to come as soon as possible.”

“Sixth floor, room six hundred and sixty six.” He replied after looking at his papers.

I then quickly rushed to an elevator and once inside pressed the number six and waited impatiently. From the lobby up the elevator stopped on each floor. Each stop letting someone off and others on. I was starting to think that I should’ve taken the stairs with all the off and on.

When the elevator finally got to the sixth floor I squeezed passed whoever was by the doors and then started my search for room sixty six. I thankfully found it rather quickly and respectfully opened the door and walked in slowly.

“Who are you?” The dark toned doctor asked upon seeing me near the bed.

“(Y/F/N) (Y/L/N), can you tell me who-” I started but froze upon looking at the bed.

Laying on the bed, eyes closed and the heart monitor beeping normally, was Loki Odinson. My ex- husband. His raven black hair messily on the pillow below his head in different directions. His right arm in a dark green cast, ankle stuck in an ACE bandage, and his torso covered in the thin white hospital gown. I was thankful he was sleeping and alive when I walked in as I have no idea what to even say.

“Ms. (Y/L/N), why don’t we talk about this outside.”

All I did was nod and follow him outside wordlessly.

“So Mr. Odinson was in an accident. He wasn’t driving, just walking and was hit by who we believe to have been a drunk driver. His only injuries are a fractured arm, sprained ankle, and two bruised ribs. You were his only listed emergency contact, and we’re not sure if you’d know who she is, but he keeps masking for his wife.”

I just stared at him for a moment before responding, “I was his wife. We...we divorced four months ago.”

“Oh, I’m sorry if this re-opens any wounds from that time. It also seems he may have some amnesia then.” He paused before adding “I know it may not be ideal and may be uncomfortable for you but would you be able to help him as he heals if there’s no one else.?”

“Y-yea, sure.”

I followed the doctor back into the room, and stayed as he left to go find out if he had any other family. Deep down I knew I was gonna have to house him until he was better. With his brother Thor on an entirely different realm, and all the avengers still basically wanting him dead after the whole New York incident; even if it was 6 years ago. That and the fact that the slow steady beeping of the monitors was the only sound you couldn’t help your mind from drifting to all the bad scenarios that are about to come.

“(Y/N)? Is that you?”

My head shot up from looking down at my hands at the sound of his voice. Groggy and full of sleep. I couldn’t get my voice to work so all I seemed able to do was nod my head yes. Before he could ask another question the door had re-opened and in stepped the doctor.

“I’m sorry to inform you Ms. (Y/L/N), but no one else can take him in.” The doctor paused and looked between the two of us before continuing. “If everything starts to heal correctly during observation period, he’ll be good to be discharged in a week. That should be enough to get your house ready, right?”

“Y-yea.” I looked over at Loki quickly before turning my attention back to the doctor. He looked confused yet sad. “You’ll call when he’s ready to be released?” All I got was a “yes” before he left, allowing the room to be consumed by an awkward silence.

“What did he mean by ‘there isn’t anyone else to look after me? We’re married you can and should be able to take care of me.”

“No Loki...we’re not...not anymore, anyway.”

“What. I get injured and it’s just over?” He exclaimed.

“No! Why would yo-?” I paused realizing he didn’t remember. “It’s a long story can I explain it when I bring you to my place...?”

All I got was a small nod followed by an annoyed huff. I whispered goodbye before leaving to go set up my house for his company.

“You ready Loki?”

“Yea.”

I opened my door and then came around behind him to help wheel him in through the doorway, coming to a stop in the living room. Just at the quick glances I took from my own living room made me self-conscious; as if I wasn’t already. Hanging on the wall behind the recliner to the left by the fire place was one of our wedding photos. Loki was holding me bridal style and we were just looking at each other, getting lost in each other’s eyes, huge grins adorning our faces.

“I remember these.” Loki spoke snapping me out of my thoughts. “That was from our wedding two years ago.”

“Yea.” I didn’t know what to say about that, everything was just so awkward after what happened.

“If you don’t mind me asking...who moved out of the house when we divorced? Because this looks like the apartment we shared.”

“You moved out, said that you didn’t want me worrying about finding an apartment.”

“I hate to be a pest but...” he paused trying to choose words carefully. “Why do you still have all these pictures up if we...divorced?”

“It’s...it’s been a rough four months.”

“Was I-?”

“You wanted the divorce cause I couldn’t give you what you wanted, and instead...instead of fighting and arguing I signed the papers. No matter how much it hurt me to do so.”

“Why? If it hurt you-.”

“I- all I want is for you to be happy Loki; and I couldn’t do that for you.” I paused. “I’m gonna go make dinner. I hope you still like shrimp.”

The tension which layed in the dining room was so thick it could be cut with a knife. I just poked the shrimp and pasta as Loki was slowly eating as if he was skeptical of what I had put into it.

“I didn’t poison it, if that’s what you’re wondering.” I tried lightening the mood.

“No that not it. Not at all. I just...have a lot of questions on my mind....and it’s really good. I’m trying to savor it as I don’t know when or if I’ll be able to eat it again.”

“How about this...tomorrow after breakfast I’ll answer your questions.”

“No matter the topic?”

I paused, thinking before slowly confirming “no matter the topic.”

***

“Thank you for breakfast.” Loki spoke after sipping his coffee.

“No problem, it’s been a while since I ate breakfast let alone cooked.” I chuckled a bit.

“I’m sor-.”

“Loki, you don’t have to be sorry.” I took a sip of coffee before continuing. “Anyway what questions do you have?”

“It’s all one big question I suppose... why did I want the divorce? What couldn’t you give that led to divorce? Why didn’t we fight more or why did we fight so much?”

I let out a small sigh, knowing that it was gonna come out eventually.

“You wanted a family Loki. We kept trying and trying but it never seemed to catch. Finally after trying for two years, tired of all the negative results; I went to the doctors to see if they could tell me why. The tests they did took a week to get results. Every. Single. Test that they did showed infertility, and if I were to get pregnant...it was very slim basically impossible. When... when I told you...you were devastated. I tried to explain how...how there are other ways we could’ve had a family. How...we...could’ve adopted, get a...a surrogate. Hell Loki I even suggested taking eggs out and doing it that way and having someone we trust carry the child.” I looked up and saw how tear stained his face was, covered in guilt, eyes red and puffy; my face probably being no better. “I tried... I wanted to have a family with you...hell I still do, but... two weeks after all the arguing after getting the results...two weeks of me sleeping alone in our king sized bed and you on the couch you... came home with divorce papers. You begged, and I mean begged me to sign them. The look that was on your face...said it all, there was no way in could convince you otherwise. I signed them...all of them while crying. So you can go be happy...find someone who could give you the family...that you want....and deserve.”

I hadn’t realized that Loki and wheeled over toward me until I felt his cold hand on mine.

“I’m sorry. It was four months ago... I shouldn’t... I shouldn’t be crying this much over it anymore.” I said while desperately wiping my tears.

“Nonsense. I can’t believe I did that.”

“It’s...It’s okay. When you get your memories back fully you’ll want nothing to do with me anymore anyway.”

“That’s absur-.”

“Loki, I...appreciate how you want to assure me but your old memories once they come back... you cat promise you’ll feel the same as you do right now.” I wiped my eyes once again before asking “anymore questions?” In a hopefully happier tone.

It’s been about a month and we were now at the doctors to see how Loki was recovering. Things were pretty tense between us after that morning but things has slowly started to loosen once again. Loki’s currently doing all the x-rays to see if his ribs, arm and ankle got better.

When they cam back into the room Loki was no longer in a wheel chair but walking in front of the doctor.

“Well I’m assuming your ankle is better.” I stated happily.

“Assuming makes and ass out of you and me.” He replied with a smirk.

“Along with his ankle his ribs are no longer bruised. However his arm still has some time to go. It’s now a hairline fracture so maybe another week or so and we can have his cast off and he can fully go back to doing things as he used to. Also we did another memory test, and it seems as if his memories are fully intact. If he wishes he can live on his own again.” He paused before saying “have a good day you two.” Then leaving the room once again.

Loki and I got up and left going to the car. Once inside I looked over towards him then back in front of me.

“Well I guess we’ll go back to my place, gather your things and then I can take you back to yours.”

“Why?”

“I just-the doctor said you don’t need me anymore and that you got your memory back meaning that you were most likely just being nice because you were under my care.” I stated trying not to get emotional.

“Right...” he trailed off. It almost sounded sad but that was probably just my mind playing tricks on me.

***

“Do you need any help?”

“No...but I uh...have a confession to make.”

“What’s that?”

“I never had amnesia...”

I just laughed. “Nice trick Loki, really, but you’re gonna have to up your game if you want to trick me.”

“No...seriously. I felt terrible after a month of making you sign those damn papers. When I got hurt and would need to stay with someone...I saw an opportunity to get you to talk to me again.”

“Loki.” Tears were threatening to fall.” “Why not just call?”

“Didn’t think you’d want to answer or talk to be honest. I did royally fuck up.”

I walked closer to him. I went to cup his face with my hand, but pulled back slightly. “You’re serious.” I stated in a whisper.

He took a step closer and put a hand on my cheek. “My love, I’ve never been more serious except for the time I asked you to marry me and that I love you with all my heart.” He wiped a tear away with his thumb. “I’m truly sorry for what I said and did.” He took a breath looking into my eyes before saying “if you would want...I’d love to marry you again.”

I brought my hands up to his neck and pulled him towards me and kissed him. Loki immediately responding until we had to break for air.

“I take that as a yes.” He smiled.

“As long as you’re okay with having to adopt.”

“If it’s with you, of course I am.”

[araniladin]

The One Bed Trope is Happening

She hung in the air, framed by the moon. Team RWBY and their friends all looked up in shock.

Ruby’s mouth hit the floor, not believing what she was seeing. That red hair, the green dress, it couldn’t be.

She landed with a heavy thunk, turning towards the other huntresses and huntsmen. Her eyes focused on Ruby and widen in surprise and excitement.

Ruby’s heart started to beat faster. It couldn’t be. “Penny?”

“Sal-” she said, crouching low.

Panic settled in Ruby.

“-U-”

“Oh no no.” Ruby looked left and right, but there was nowhere to run.

“-tations!” A flash of green fire and she closed the distance.

Ruby managed to engage her Aura right as Penny impacted her. She was pretty sure the tackle hug only bruised her ribs instead of breaking them.

“It's such a pleasure to see you again!” Penny said. She held onto Ruby’s hand after helping her to her feet.

“Penny...I thought...I thought you died.” Ruby wiped tears from her eyes.

“I mean, technically she did,” Pietro said, walking up to them. “But we found her core intact when Amenity Arena finally arrived here.”

“I’m as good as new!” Penny said.

“And no more accidental shredding,” Pietro said. Penny knocked on her head with a fist, a metallic drum sound. They both laughed.

“That is…” Weiss started.

“...surprisingly wholesome,” Blake finished, both of them smiling.

“That sounds like Penny,” Yang added, joining in on watching her sister reunite with Penny.

“We have so much to catch up on,” Penny said, pulling Ruby into a hug. “I cannot wait!”

In the distance, another alarm sounds.

“It looks like it has to wait.” Still holding onto Ruby, Penny launched them both into the sky.

Ruby, trained huntress and master of aerial combat, wrapped her arms and legs around Penny.

“Meet us back at the house!” Pietro called out after them. Penny turned around in the air to snap off a salute before flying away.

“Penny,” Ruby asked as they flew through the city. “Are you sure this is okay?”

“Everything will be fine.” Penny patted Ruby’s head. “I’m the protector of the city. Plus with you here, I have backup.”

Ruby bit her lip. “I’m not licensed, and it seems like Atlas is pretty strict on that kind of stuff.”

“Oh,” Penny said, sad before perking up. “Don’t worry about it!” She hiccupped.

That made Ruby worry more.

As they cross over a section of the city bathed in red light, Ruby saw the Grimm.

“Do you know what a speedball special is?” Ruby asked, judging the distance between the Grimm and them.

Penny’s eyes faded for a second before brightening. “I do now! Let’s do it!”

Braking in the air, Penny lifted Ruby over her head. Snapping out Crescent Rose, Ruby prepped herself for the throw. “NOW!”

Spinning forward to build up momentum, Penny launched Ruby at the Grimm.

Her impact sent the tiger-like Grimm into the air. Penny’s lasers flashed out and turned them into little specs of evil dust.

Knowing that Penny held air superiorty and had awesome lasers, Ruby tossed the Grimm into the air.

Ruby set them up, Penny knocked them down. No other partner Ruby worked with synchronized as well as Penny did. 

Soon the area was clear of Grimm and Penny landed next to Ruby.

“That was so much fun!” Penny hugged Ruby, and Ruby worried if her ribs would ever be the same.

Suddenly, Penny let Ruby go and grabbed a cable out of the air. It wrapped around her arm, but did nothing to imped the robot girl.

“Halt! You are in violation of Atlas law!” A tall, very handsome man jumped down, landing in front of Ruby and Penny. Behind him, four other people jumped down. One carried an odd gun, most likey where the bolos came from. They all wore matching uniforms, blue, white and red of Atlas special operations.

“We are not!” Penny said, pulling the bolos from her arm and placing it on the ground. “You know who I am, Commander Ebi.”

“I have no idea who she is,” Commander Ebi said, pointing at Ruby. “We cannot have unauthorized weapon use in our city.”

“She’s my partner,” Penny said, taking Ruby’s hand and standing between her and the spec ops team.

Commander Ebi frowned, pulling out his scroll. “Is she licenced to hunt in Atlas?”

The glow in Penny’s eyes faded again, dull for a second before coming back. “Yes!” She hiccuped. “Her name is Ruby Rose.”

The scroll in his hand flashed up a picture of Ruby, from back before the fall of Beacon. He peered at the date of licencing, but e couldn’t find anything wrong with it.

“My apologies, Miss Polendona and Miss Rose.” Commander Ebi tucked his scroll away. “This is not the only case we need to investigate, have a good evening.” The ops team leaped into the buildings and disappeared into the night.

“What was that?” Ruby asked.

“The Ace Ops, General Ironwood’s elite police force,” Penny reached down to take Ruby’s hand again. She leaned into her. “They are nice people, but my father says they are doing the wrong thing for the right reason. He says it’s okay if I bend the rules.”

“Wait, what do you mean, bend the rules?” Ruby said. “Wait, did you hack his scroll to tell him I was a licensed huntress?”

Penny blushed, grinding her toe into the pavement. “I didn’t hack his scroll…”

“Oh, good,” Ruby said, sighing in relief.

“I hacked the Atlas licensing servers and backdated you into the system.”

“PENNY! That’s illegal!” Ruby looked around, panicking. If they found out she was illegally licensed, she would go to jail and never speak to Ironwood.

“I know, but it was for a good cause!” Penny shrunk down. “They would have taken you to Atlas, and processed you, and I wouldn’t be able to see again for six to eight weeks, if they didn’t deport you for being a non native huntress in Mantle.”

“Penny…” Ruby leaned into the other woman, conflicted.

Penny pressed her forhead against Ruby’s. “I’m sorry for lying, Ruby.”

She shook her head. “I’m not upset you lied, I’m just not sure how to feel about all this.”

“Well, mabye we should also go check on your team, I believe they might be the second task Commander Ebi was referring to.” Penny looked back the way they came. “Although my father says they are in the safe house and thus are safe.”

Ruby shot up. “Oh no! Yes, let’s go!” She turned to start running before stopping. “Can… can we fly there?”

“YES!” Penny said.

“Just, do you have another way of carrying me?”

Penny nodded, and picked Ruby up bridal style. “Let’s go!”

Ruby was pretty sure Penny took the scenic route back, not that she complained. Penny assured her team was safe, the Ace Ops were off making sure that some miners didn’t strike, and Penny could fly. It was one of the coolest things Ruby ever did.

That and it was Penny. Since the Fall of Beacon, she always felt anxious, felt that she could do more. That everything was horrible and she couldn’t do anything about it. But seeing Penny again, she felt that hope again.

That and a few other feelings. The blush across her face was from the cold and not being so close to Penny again.

The safe house turned out to be deep in the slums, another clinic run by Peitro. Penny landed on the roof, although still carrying Ruby. She paused at the door, puzzled at finding her hands occupied. Ruby noticed that Penny’s face was very red, and she wondered how an android would suffer from the cold. 

“Uh, Penny, want to put me down?” Ruby asked, although she didn’t, not really.

“No,” Penny said. “But I think I have to.” She dropped Ruby to her feet. This time, Ruby grabbed her hand as they entered.

In the kitchen, Nora and Ren cooked. Jaune had wondered off to the room he was sharing with the rest of his team. Maria, Peitro, and Oscar conversed at the table.

“Is there anywhere I might be able to change or freshen up a bit?” Ruby asked.

“Your team took a room down the hall,” Maria said. “Although Weiss went to try contacting her sister again. Blake and Yang should be in there.”

Peitro glanced at Ruby and Penny holding hands and smiled.

Leading Ruby to the room Maria said Team RWBY staked out, Penny burst in.

Blake straddled Yang, kissing her as she pinned her to the bed. They both looked up at the interruption before Blake hissed.

“I am so sorry!” Penny pulled the door closed and pushed Ruby into the hallway.

“Well, my room should be free, want to use that?” Penny asked.

“I think it might be safer for me to just stay the night there,” Ruby said, pulling out her scroll. “And someone should warn Weiss.” She shot off a short text.

“YES!” Penny hugged Ruby. “Although it’s not really my room, since my actual room is up in Atlas, but my father always let me have the highest room in the building. Come on!”

Up the stairs they travelled again, but Ruby didn’t care. Penny’s excitement bled over to her.

“Welcome to my-” Penny opened the door before slamming it shut. “Wait, it’s messy, let me clean it up.” She hiccuped before disappearing into the room

Ruby blinked. What she had peeked, the room looked spartan, two beds and a shared dresser drawer.

The unmistakable sound of an old window opening added to the confusion. The scraping sound of someone shoving something heavy across the floor, grunts as they lifted said heavy object before the unmistakable sound of something falling out the window. There was a loud crash, and Ruby heard Weiss yelling.

“What the fuck?! Is that a bed?! What is going on up there?!”

“Sorry Weiss!” Penny yelled back, and the sound of Weiss yelling back quieted as the window shut.

“Come on in!” Penny said, opening the door.

The room now had one bed, a dresser drawer, and the dusty trail of one person flinging the other bed out of the window.

“Penny…” Ruby said, unsure what to say.

“Sorry there is only one bed, but I’m sure we can manage.” She hiccuped and Ruby wondered which part of what she said was a lie.

Smiling, Ruby reached out and hugged Penny. “I am so glad you’re back.”

Penny wrapped her arms around Ruby, and did not crush her ribs this time. “I’ve missed you so much.”

Tear stains appeared on Penny’s top and Ruby realized it was her. She squeezed her friend harder, and didn’t let the tears stop.

Penny cradled her as Ruby cried. All the feelings of the past year, it broke. Ruby wasn’t sure how long she cried, but Penny hugged her, whispered encouragement into her ear, and mostly just made sure Ruby felt safe.

Sitting up, Ruby wiped the snot off her face. “Do you know where the bathroom is? I..I just want to clean my face and put on some clean clothes.”

Penny placed Ruby on the bed, and grabbed a large shirt out of the dresser drawers. “Will this work? The bathroom is just down the hall.” Looking down. “And I can get another bed, if you don’t want to share…”

Taking the shirt, Ruby kissed Penny’s cheek. “I think it would be splendid to share a bed with you. Although I’m big spoon.”

They both laughed and Ruby went to clean up. She changed, brushed her teeth with the stuff on hand, and went back.

Penny had turned off the lights, although the city glowed through the window. Penny had also changed into a sleeping shirt. She grinned at Ruby. “How you feeling?”

Ruby walked over, tilted Penny’s chin up, and kissed her. “Much better, and very tired. Thank you.”

Penny blushed, but did not pull away. “Than lets get some you some sleep.”

“Wait, are you not going to sleep?” Ruby frowned.

“I’m an android. I’ll just shut down for a bit.” She laid on the bed, scooting over so Ruby could spoon her. “And don’t worry, I’ll make sure you aren’t cold.”

“Oh, okay,” Ruby said, unsure but willing to do it. She laid behind Penny, hugging her to her chest. The android was surprisingly warm, and Ruby let it drag her into sleep.

Till Weiss kicked open the door. “Fucking Blake and Yang, they should hang a sock-” She stopped seeing, first only one bed, and two, Ruby and Penny sharing the other one.

“...are you two going to be fucking?”

Ruby blinked, and Penny shook her head.

“Good, move over, I’m tired.”

“Uh….” Ruby and Penny shared a look, but Weiss laid down behind Ruby.

She nuzzled into Ruby and was soon asleep. Ruby, trapped between the two of them smirked and just went with it.

“Tomorrow, I’m the middle spoon,” Penny said, and the other two giggled.

[tara-the-quiet-bookworm-2016]

Cycle Chapter Two

Authors Note- And here we are with Chapter 2, now I know nothing over the top has happened yet. Just Connor trying to smooth things over with Hank. All while investigating android related crimes. Though despite everything, Connor finds you still invade his thoughts every once in a while. But that could be nothing, right?

Chapter Two: Another Day

“You malfunctioning, or what?” Hank spoke up, jerking Connor out of his thoughts. Blinking a few times Connor turns to Hank, noticing the lieutenant glaring at him, brow furrowing.

“I’m sorry?” Connor asked, mentally kicking himself for having gotten lost in thought.

“You were just standing there, staring off into space, thought your batteries had died or something.” Hank commented, taking a sip of cold coffee before grimacing. Putting the cup back down he turned his attention to his computer. “That would have been the last thing I needed, you crapping out on me, and leaving me with all of this work.”

“Androids don’t come with batteries Lieutenant, so you don’t have to worry about that.” Connor assured him, as Hank merely rolled his eyes at that. Frowning Connor tore his gaze away from his partner. Things were still pretty tense between the two of them. And the incident at the Stratford Towers didn’t help when he chased after the deviant as it tried to escape, something that resulted in getting several people killed, and the deviant itself, getting him nowhere.

It should have perturbed Connor, they were getting nowhere in regards to this case, turning back his computer he worked on his report, or tried to. For some reason he found himself unable to focus, brow furrowing he stared at his screen. He knew what he needed to write but still every time he so much as tried to focus on the task at hand you would pop into his head, perplexing him.

Why would you of all people be on his mind constantly? He had only met you a day ago and still...

“The fucks wrong with you?” Hank asked, looking over at Connor, eyes narrowed. “You sure you’re working all right? You’ve basically sat there staring into space for over an hour now.”

“What’s the matter, Hank?” Gavin chimed in, walking towards the desk, that same irritating grin on his face. “You little toy on the fritz?”

“Or something.” Hank murmured, his gaze remaining fixed on Connor. If Connor were capable of it he would have felt rather uncomfortable under their gazes, but he felt nothing.

“I’m fine, Hank.” Connor reassured him, forcing himself to push those invasive thoughts of you out of his head. “I just have something on my mind.”

“What could a plastic prick like you have on your mind?” Gavin asked, placing both hands on the desk, moving closer to Connor. 

“You know I often think the same about you.” Hank retorted, casting a glance in Gavin’s direction. “I also wonder how a useless asshole like you still has a job here when we all know you shirk your work on some poor, overworked uniform all the time.”

Connor had to admit in the time he had started working here he never thought he’d see someone’s face that many shades of red as Gavin’s, however before either Connor or Hank could be privy to some sort  out burst from the young detective officer Chris Miller walked up to Hank’s desk.

“Lieutenant?” He piped up, just as Gavin was about to open his mouth, to no doubt spit insults at Hank about his drinking and such, but stopped himself when Chris spoke, casting one final glare at the two he turned on his heel and walked back to the break room. 

“What is it?” Hank asked, watching as Gavin disappeared.

“We just received a report that there was a murder recently, looks like it might be another android related crime.” Chris told them, then gave them both a sympathetic smile as Hank rolled his eyes, and pushed himself away from his desk, Connor following after.

“The fun never ends, doesn’t it?” Hank murmured to himself, as he headed for the exit, Connor trailing behind, this was what he needed, something to take his mind off of you, something to keep him busy.

“No, it doesn’t,” he said, climbing into the passenger seat as Hank fired up the engine. “And I fear it’s only going to get worst unless we do something.”

Silence.

“Do....you and Detective Reed...are you always at each others throats like that?” He asked.

“No, most of the time we manage to stay out of each others way.” Hank provided, stopping at a red light. “He ignores me, I ignore him it’s been like that since forever back when he was a mouthy, short-tempered uniform and...yeah. If you’re curious about why I didn’t just ignore him back there well...him hassling you was unnecessary in my eyes. Speaking of which you all right?” Hank asked

Connor’s LED flickered yellow for a brief second. Was he finally getting through to him? “I’m fine, I just have something on my mind is all.” Connor told them.

“Something on your mind?” Hank repeated. “Like what?”

Connor was silent, was it something he wished to discuss with Hank? What if it turned out to be nothing? What if by the time the day was over you were gone from his thoughts? Upon thinking that he felt a pang in his chest, making his LED flash yellow for the briefest of moments.

“Connor?” Hank spoke. Jerking him out of his thoughts once more. “You sure you’re... okay? Do you need to reboot or something?” he asked, as Connor merely shook his head.

“I’m fine.” He assured Hank. Seeing that they were at their destination, red and blue flashing lights filled his vision. 

“You say you’re fine but you’ve been acting strange,” Hank mused, as he followed Connor out, the corner of his mouth turning upwards. “Maybe your have some virus, or maybe,” he added with a chuckle. “You’ve gone Deviant and you’re too ashamed that someone such as you could go deviant, and that’s why you’re so quiet.”

“I’m not deviant, I just... can we get to the crime scene?” Connor asked. 

Chuckling to himself he nodded and followed Connor into the apartment building. Climbing up the stairs they came to their crime scene. The android officer barely casting them a glance as the two of them as they entered a small, one bedroom apartment.

Casting a glance around Connor noted that the place was spotless, nothing was turned over, there were no signs of a struggle, no sign that the victim had fought back. That is... until they reached the bedroom, and it was then Connor was glad that he had no sense of smell, or a stomach as he watched as one of the officers wretch, then raced out of the room, holding his stomach.

“Goddamn rookies.” Hank muttered, moving past Connor to look around the room. His eyes fixed on the girl, no more than twenty laying on the blood soaked bed, eyeless sockets staring up at the ceiling, blood running down her face in rivets as if she was crying blood. Her hands were bound to the head board, as were her ankles, her night shirt was torn open, exposing her breasts to those around her. Not like the poor girl really cared about modesty anymore that is. 

Knife wounds, burn wounds, bruises littered her body showing them how much she had suffered before her killer had put an end to her life with a quick slice to her throat. “Poor, kid.” Hank muttered, as he turned away from the gruesome scene before him. “Well, Connor you’re the ace detective android around here maybe you can tell all of us what happened here, was it an android?”

Saying nothing Connor moved around the room, taking in the room, analyzing anything and everything, noticing how the girl lived, noticing various unicorn themed pictures and figurines along side some feline themed stuff. “Did the victim have an android?” Connor asked one of the officers in the room.

She shook her head. “No, victim’s mom stopped by every once in a while to help her out, so she  had no need for one.” Connor turned back to the victims desk, taking in the odd little trinkets, as the officer moved to stand beside him. “My sister collects the same stuff, unicorns, cats, cutesy stuff. Kind of sad...”

Upon hearing those words, Connor couldn’t help but wonder if you collected things like this, collecting small figurines and stuff like this as well to fill your house with. LED flickering yellow for a brief second when he found his thoughts going back to you...

Shaking his head he moved away from the cluttered desk, and out of the room. Heading towards the bathroom he opened the door, and was greeted by the sight of the stark white bathroom walls, covered in immaculate writing. The words RA9 written lavishly in the victims blood. 

“Well, we have the very same compulsive writing we saw at the Ortiz crime scene. If that doesn’t scream android I don’t know what would.” Hank said, peering into the bathroom, as Conner moved to analyze the blood. “You know I’m pretty sure it’s the victims blood there is no need to- Connor! Jesus Christ!” He grimaced, watching as Connor slipped his fingers in his mouth.

“Bloods the victims.” Connor concluded.

“No, really?” Hank grumbled, disgust etched on his face. 

Looking to him Connor opened his mouth to say something when-

Creak...

The two of them stopped in their tracks as they heard a door open in the apartment. Followed by a shout of surprise as a figure slammed into one of the officers, knocking him to the ground. Connor was only able to catch a glimpse of a bright red LED before the figure darted out of the apartment.

“The fuck are you standing around for, go!” Hank shouted.

Connor didn’t need to be told twice, racing out of the room he watched as the suspect raced up the stairs towards the fire escape on the roof. This would be easy, Connor thought as he followed closely behind, shouldering the door open and found himself on the room of the building.

The cool night air hitting him in the face like a hard slap as he scanned the area, when suddenly something slammed into him from behind, knocking him to the ground. Grunting he picked himself up off the ground, and turned to face his attacker. 

Coming face to face with an android he wasted no time charging at it. The two of them fought and grappled with one another until they reached edge of the roof. All it would take was one wrong step and Connor would be plummeting to the ground below... unfortunately for him it seemed like that was exactly what this android had planned. With one final, forceful push the two of them were plummeting to the ground below.

Connor had failed, but despite this...Connor wasn’t upset, because he knew that when he had his mind downloaded into a new body you would be there...

MISSION FAILED.