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writingwithciara · 7 months ago

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birthday cake -quinn hughes-

summary: quinn believes everyone forgot his birthday in favor of thanksgiving. but that's simply not the case

word count: 2k

pairing: quinn hughes x reader

notes: in honor of the love of my life's birthday, i decided to cook up this little gem. hope everyone enjoys it. (should've been posted on his birthday but i got super busy because of thanksgiving & other projects i'm working on)

"hey quinn. do you have any plans for monday?"

"actually, yes." quinn looked up from his phone as brock entered the room. "why?"

"my sister wanted to invite you over to her place for thanksgiving. she said she gave you an invitation the other day but you just shoved it in your bag and that you haven't said anything to her since then."

"that's what that was? i thought she was just handing me some mail that was put in the wrong box."

"have you not seen her since tuesday? you live across the hall from each other."

"i know but our schedules haven't given us the time to chat. she's working when i'm home, and vice versa."

"you should text her and tell her you're going to be busy on monday. i think it would be best coming from you. maybe she won't be upset."

"i'll text her after practice." quinn set his phone in his bag and finished lacing up his skates.

during practice, everyone was talking about y/n's thanksgiving dinner. quinn was the only one who wouldn't be attending. and while he felt bad about it, seeing as she was one of his good friends, he also started to feel bad for himself.

monday was also his 25th birthday but it seemed like no one remembered.

practice went well. so when quinn walked to his car, he sent a text to y/n to let her know he wouldn't be able to show up to her dinner. he made up a lie and said he wouldn't be home.

his plan was to just stay home and watch game highlights while cooking his own meal.

when monday rolled around, y/n and brock were finishing up the food preparations when a thought occurred to y/n.

"oh my freaking god. it's the 14th today. how could i be so stupid?"

"i would love to object, or even agree, depending on what it's about." brock looked at his sister with a curious expression. he couldn't quite read her like he normally could. "care to let me know what you're talking about?"

"october 14th. quinn's birthday! how could i forget? i bake him a cake every year." y/n set her oven mitts back on the rack. "i am a terrible friend."

"i'm sure it's fine. quinn probably forgot about the cake anyway. pretty sure you're in the clear, y/n."

"brock, i've made the cake every single year since we've been friends. he loves it. you should see the way his face lights up when i deliver it to him."

"are you sure it's the cake he likes to see every year?" brock raised his eyebrow, earning a slap to the shoulder from his younger sister.

"brock, no."

"look, just bake him a cake today and give it to him tomorrow. i'm sure he won't mind."

"i don't have the time or oven space to bake a whole new cake." y/n shook her head. "i'm gonna run to the store and buy him one instead.

"people are going to be here any moment. i'm afraid it's gonna have to wait."

"can you please keep them company? i'll be back in 20 minutes."

"you're lucky you're my sister and i love you." brock smiled. "now go fix your friendship with your neighbor."

"love you, brocky." y/n kissed his forehead and went out to her car. she hated the idea of buying a cake from the store. it didn't have the personal touch that her homemade cake did and she knew it wouldn't live up to it either. but she was desperate.

when she got back to her apartment, brock was the only one there.

"nobody's here yet?"

"not yet. mom and steve are almost here. been getting location updates from steve."

"did he let mom drive?"

"yeah. that's probably why they're not here yet." brock chuckled and grabbed the cake from her hands. "this looks amazing. are you gonna try to pass it off as your own?"

"no. i could never lie to quinn." y/n smiled and took it back, setting it down in the fridge. "i'm just going to tell him the truth."

"that's new for you. are you that honest with everyone?"

"i don't think so. there's something different about quinn. he makes me want to be honest."

"have you ever lied to me?"

"no. of course not."

"okay. good." he looked at his sister. "i want you to answer a question then. i'm only gonna ask it once."

"alright. shoot."

"is there something going on between you quinn?"

"no, brock. that would be ridiculous."

"okay. i'm gonna ask it twice. is there something going on between you and quinn?"

"no. you told me he was off limits for dating, as well as the rest of your teammates. but i would be lying to you if i said i didn't think he was really good looking."

"you really think so?" brock's eyes widened at his sisters confession.

"mhm. i do. like, super insanely good looking."

"okay. well, thanks for the honesty." brock couldn't help but chuckle.

before y/n could respond, there was a knock at the door, followed by a few voices.

"sounds like your guests are here. i'll let them in." brock went to the door and opened it, letting their parents inside, along with a few other guests.

y/n spent the first half hour finishing up the meal before brock served it to everyone.

conversation flowed easily around the table, but y/n was stuck thinking about quinn. all his friends were with her and he was most likely alone.

when she stood up abruptly, it caught everyone's attention.

"are you okay?" brock asked.

"yeah. i just have something i really need to do." y/n walked over to the fridge and grabbed the cake. she left her apartment without another word and knocked on quinn's door.

"hey. what are you doing here?" quinn smiled when he answered the door.

"happy birthday." y/n handed him the cake and walked back towards her apartment.

quinn was left standing in his own doorway, staring at the cake. he was used to getting a cake from y/n every year. it was always homemade & this time, it was store bought. but he didn't care. someone actually remembered his birthday.

y/n walked back into her apartment and sat back down at the table. she ignored the looks everyone was giving her and continued eating. everyone went back to eating and talking with each other, quickly forgetting that y/n disappeared for a moment.

a few hours later, everyone was heading out. brock stayed behind to help y/n clean up.

"what did quinn say when you gave him the cake?"

"how did you know that's what i did?"

"you were beating yourself up over missing his birthday. and you left right after i told mom about quinn's goal the other night."

"i wasn't even paying attention to the conversations around me. all i could think about was how quinn's friends were here and nobody mentioned his birthday. i felt bad so i took the cake to him."

"and what did he say?"

"i have no idea. i came right back over here." y/n finished washing the last dish and handed it to brock so he could dry it.

"maybe you should go see him right now. i'm sure he would appreciate some company for the last little bit of his birthday. Oh, and take him some leftovers. dinner was delicious and i guarantee he'll love it." brock grabbed a plate and put all the food he could fit onto it. when he handed it to his sister, she hesitated. "take it to him, y/n. you can't keep beating yourself up over forgetting his birthday."

"you're right." she took the plate and walked to the door. "i'll be back."

"i'll be here." brock chuckled and started putting away the rest of the leftovers.

y/n knocked on quinn's door and waited patiently. when he opened it, she handed him the plate. he looked at her and smiled.

"what's this for?"

"thought you might like some leftovers from today."

"oh. well thank you. smells delicious." he set the plate on the table by the door. "would you like to come in? or do you still have company over there?"

"just brock." y/n smiled and walked into his apartment. "so, how was your birthday?"

"it was good. i got to have breakfast with my parents and then i went to the gym for a bit. then i got a cake delivered to me. it was amazing, by the way."

"really?" y/n smiled. "i'm sorry it wasn't homemade this year. i'm ashamed to admit that i briefly forgot about your birthday and i didn't have enough time to bake you a cake. but i can make up for it if you want."

"look, it doesn't matter to me whether it was homemade or store bought. all i care about is the company that comes with it each year." quinn smiled. "also, thank you for stopping by today. i thought everyone forgot my birthday."

"but quinn, i did forget."

"you remembered eventually. that's all that matters to me. things like that stand out and i appreciate it. more than you think." he sighed. "other than my parents, you're the only one who remembered. so, thank you."

"you're welcome. and i promise i'll make up for almost missing your 25th birthday."

"you don't have to. you're here now. and honestly, your company is the only thing i wanted this year."

"wait, really?"

"yeah. it's the one thing i look forward to for every birthday, no matter how brief it is."

"are you serious?"

"yes. very serious." quinn hesitantly reached for y/n's hand and when she didn't yank it away, he slowly intertwined his fingers with hers. "i'm not sure if you can tell but i like you. i've liked you since the first second i saw you move in across the hall. but unfortunately, i can't do anything about this."

"and why not?" y/n was confused. she liked quinn and it was becoming evident he liked her too. but she didn't understand why nothing could happen.

"you're brock's little sister. it wouldn't be right. it just-"

quinn was unable to finish his sentence. he was pulled forward and y/n's lips were placed on his, softly.

"what was that for?" he asked when y/n pulled away from the kiss.

"your birthday present, dummy." y/n smiled. "and because i like you, quinn."

"you....you do?"

"yes. i don't bake a cake for anyone else's birthday, you know."

"but what about brock?" quinn looked all over her face.

"i'm 24 years old, quinn. brock can't tell me who i can and can't have feelings for." y/n smiled and leaned closer. "besides, i think he actually wants us to be together."

"what makes you say that?"

"he kept encouraging me to come over here to see you. even gave me the plate so i'd have a reason to come over here." she glanced at quinn. "not that i didn't already have a really good reason to come and see you tonight anyway."

"i'm really glad you came over tonight. and kissed me." quinn smirked. "god, i sound like a freaking teenager when he gets his very first girlfriend."

"it's cute." y/n smiled and looked at where her leg touched his. "i think i know the answer to this, but are you enjoying your birthday?"

"i really am." he couldn't help the smile that came upon his face. "i'm still trying to get over the initial shock of you liking me back."

"it's the same for me. guess we can figure it out together, huh?"

"yeah. i guess we can." quinn held her hand and looked at her fingers. "is every part of you just perfect?"

"yes. i do believe every part of me is perfect. perfect in my own special way."

quinn chuckled at the girl he oh so admired. "would it be alright if i kissed you?"

"quinn, you know you don't have to ask." y/n smiled and gave quinn what he wanted. really, what they both wanted.

#nhl #quinn hughes x reader #quinn hughes #qh43 #vancouver canucks #quinn hughes fanfiction #quinn hughes fic

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dp-marvel94 · 4 months ago

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Real -Chapter 5

Summary:

While hiding from his parents in Gotham, an ill-timed encounter with his neighbor, Jason, has Danny pretending to be his own twin. Fortunately for Danny, the more he pretends the easier it gets. Until he is not pretending at all. Or: Danny names a duplicate and via ghost logic, said duplicate ends up becoming real.

First->Previous

Also on AO3

Note: This chapter really fought me but it's finally here! Notice I updated the tags. Warning for body horror, specifically of the "clone melting into ectoplasm" kind.

While Danny is making dinner, Jamie scribbles. Annoyed mutters sound. The older half ghost glances back ever so often. Each time, the younger covetously covers the paper, brow wrinkled in a scowl.

Again, Danny turns back to the stove and again, he massages his stress-tense forehead. He needs to do something about this.

The older brother has just finished the food and turned off the oven, when Jamie sits up, hand lighting with ectoenergy.

“Stupid letter.” He hisses, the paper going up in flames. “Nothing sounds right!”

The half ghost sighs, turning around fully to face his twin. “I’m inviting Jason over for dinner and we’re going to talk about everything.”

“What?!” The younger more floats than stands up. “No!”

He isn’t making this decision on impulse or out of annoyance. He’s really not. He needs to do something to move both of them forward and having someone else to confide in – like Jason or Jazz – is sure to help his twin finally shake off this fear.

But all the same, Danny fights to keep the frustration from his voice. “Jamie, I’ve tried to be patient. I really want you to feel ready but…” He motions to the ashes smeared on the carpet. “Putting it off is just making you more freaked out.”

“No, it’s not.” The clone tries to argue. “You… you can’t.”

Danny steps towards the door, turning the handle before Jamie can get in front of him. “We don’t have to tell Jason everything, but we need to at least start getting everything out in the open.”

The older brother opens the door, standing in the hallway the next second.

The younger jogs after him. “Danny, wait! Let’s just talk about this.”

Two doors down from Jason’s apartment now. “We have been talking about this, in circles.” Danny half-turns his head, throwing the words back at his brother. “I swear it’s going to be okay. Whatever horrible thing you’re imagining won’t-”

A sudden yelp, somewhere between surprised and pained, sounds, followed by the thud of a body falling.

Concern clashes with exacerbation. Did Jamie really just manage to trip over his own feet?

Danny turns, moving to help his brother up before even really looking.

“Are you okay?” He bends down, offering a hand. “I’m sorry…

He trails off, eyes widening. Jamie groans, pushing himself to sit up. Neon green wells on the big toe of his right foot. Did he step on something that made him fall? A cut or puncture on his foot could be serious. But…

“It… it burns.” His brother hisses, face screwing up in pain.

Danny’s eyes desperately search the ground. A nail? A piece of glass? Even a sharp rock? Nothing, but…

The green trickles, not towards the floor like blood from a cut. But… up and across. There is a sizzle, a faint pop. The ectoplasm spreads, a sickening whiff of rotten limes, pennies, and ozone.

“It’s… it’s melting.” Danny stutters out, mind whirling.

Jamie’s toe is melting. Dissolving into ectoplasm, like… like Danielle had before being stabilized.

The clone’s eyes widen, drawn to the digit at the words. A spike of panic dashes across their bond.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Danny shoves away the feeling, desperately scrambling for composure. “Just focus on making it solid again. We’ll get you some more ectodejecto and you’ll-“

“There isn’t anymore.” Jamie pants out the words, chest starting to heave.

“We’ll figure it out. We’ve got time. If you don’t use your powers-“

The words die in his throat, eyes widening in horror. The ectoplasm is spreading rapidly, half of one foot gone as the toes of the other begin to sizzle.

“I…I don’t understand. It shouldn’t be happening this fast.” Danny stutters out, heart suddenly pounding. “You were fine five minutes ago.”

“Sorry. Sorry.” Tears well in Jamie’s eyes.

The link between them quivers, vibrating with terror, and Danny sees.

The tip of Jamie’s finger warping, ectoplasm beading as if from a cut. With a gasp, he drops his knife.

Paper underneath ink-stained hands. Between one blink and the next, neon green wells, appearing from nowhere.

Danny’s heart drops, a feeling like being squeezed. “You were… you were hiding it?”

“Sorry. Was…was scared.” His brother whimpers.

Disappointment wells, clashing with panic. But the older half ghost breathes shakily. Focus, he needs to focus. “Okay. Later.” They will talk about that later. “Make your feet solid. Picture them like… like turning your tail back into legs.”

It’s like Jamie doesn’t hear him at all. The clone’s breath heaves, gaze locked on his melting legs. His feet are now puddles, the green eating away at his calves.

“Jamie!”

Eyes snap back, meeting Danny’s. “Turn… turn solid?” At the older’s desperate nod, Jamie’s brow strains in concentration. Five long, ectoplasm sizzling seconds….

“Ca… can’t!” The clone cries. A destabilization has overtaken his knees now, halfway up his thigh, and… “No.” The word full of desperate dread, Jamie’s hands tremble. “F…fingers.”

That same dread floods Danny’s mind, his chest tight. “Okay. We’ll thermos you. That will buy some time.”

“Spectra’s in the thermos!”

“Shit.” That was the only thermos he had and… “Shit.” His heart pounds in his ears, deafening but he can’t panic. He can’t! He has to save Jamie. He has to…

“Danny. It… it hurts.” Jamie’s voice shakes, just starting to beg.

“I…I know.” Danny can feel it distantly, an echo of the agony ringing across their bond as sharply as Jamie’s panic.

Their bond… That’s it! They’re still connected. If they’re still connected, then Danny can reabsorb his duplicate-twin’s body and… The older half ghost wraps mental hands around the thread linking them and yanks with all his might.

“Ah!” Both boys scream.

Pain rips through Danny’s head, sharp and piercing. Hands raise to clutch it. “Not… not doing that again.”

“Please. No.” A whimper on the floor in front of him.

And… Jamie is still melting, ectoplasm now dripping from his nose.

Danny’s eyes widen. He… he can’t reabsorb Jamie’s physical form. The clone isn’t a duplicate. Jamie really is separate from him like he’d thought. But… but…

“Please.” His brother cries. “Make it stop!”

His legs are gone, his arms up to his elbows.

“I’m… I’m trying.” Danny pants. “I don’t know how. I can’t reabsorb…”

No energy trickles between him and his twin. The link is not that of duplicate and original. Danny can’t reabsorb Jamie. But…

“Jamie, you… you need to do it.” Danny stutters, the idea flailing and desperate.

The body isn’t a duplicate. But if he can hold Jamie’s core, keep it close to his, sustain it with his energy….

“What?” His twin blinks, confusion cutting through the panic.

“You need to overshadow me.”

Another blink, then a snap of clarity. Jamie understands. “No. Can’t.” A fervent shake of his head.

A door slams open, not that to Jason’s apartment, but… the stairway.

“Holy-“ Jason’s voice. Something heavy drops, pounding feet. A second later and the man is kneeling on Jamie’s other side. “What is happening?”

“Yes, you can.” The older half ghost has no eyes for his neighbor, only his brother.

“Can’t. Not… not strong enough.“

“Yes, you are.” Spectra’s words flash in his mind. Too weak to- Is that what the shadowy ghost had been taunting his brother with? The thought of Jamie never being strong enough to exist on his own?

Jason says something, the words watery, not reaching Danny’s ears.

“Yes, you are.” The older half ghost pleads again. “Please. I… I can’t loss you… You have to.” He grabs Jamie’s shoulder, the flesh underneath his grip quickly turning green and sticky. Ectoplasm runs over his fingers. “You have to.”

“But…but…” Tears run down the clone’s face, streaks of neon.

“You are strong enough. You’ve always been strong enough.”

Doubt in Jamie’s eyes, echoing across their bond. A bead of ectoplasm drops from his hair.

Danny strums the line, sending all his sincerity, all his love across. Please, let it be enough.

The clone’s brow wrinkles. The doubt wavers, a shaky determination rising.

“Will… will try.” Jamie’s face scrunches with effort.

The clone’s body goes transparent and fuzzy, the semi-solid shoulder under Danny’s hand turning into mist. The spilled ectoplasm evaporates with it, the cloud swirling. And… between one breath and the next, Jamie’s physical form disappears.

At the same time, cold rushes through Danny. A queasy, distant feeling like his body is far away. Then the half ghost exhales, back in control. “Jamie.” He breathes, his twin’s cold spark taking its familiar place below his ribs.

Relief floods through Danny. His… his brother is still there, safe for now.

But… Jamie is anything but relieved. His almost-core spasms and twists, the other ghost’s fear and devastation stabbing Danny’s insides.

The half ghost winces. “Jamie!” He shouts, trying to get his twin’s attention.

“Danny?” Jason’s voice is far away.

Another wave of his ghostly passenger’s feelings sends tears to Danny’s eyes. “Jamie!”

“Danny.” Large, scarred hands appear on his shoulders. “Kid, are you with me?”

“Jamie!” Danny pokes back with his own core.

Half formed words echo from his twin, the volume deafening. Danny flinches, covering his ears to quiet it. Except… the sound is in his head, not his ears.

“Danny!” His name cuts through the chaos. “We’ll figure out what just happened to your brother. But I need you to focus-“

“I know what just happened to Jamie!” Danny shouts. “He’s being very loud, very upset in my head right now!”

Jamie instantly quiets, his emotions going still and muted.

At the same time, Jason’s mouth snaps shut.

Danny blinks. “Jason?” His mind whirls, finally catching up. “Fuck.”

His neighbor’s brow winkles, the wheels turning in his own head almost visible. But… he doesn’t look shocked nor panicked.

Instead, his expression softens. “Can Jamie hear me right now?”

Another confused blink. “What?”

“Can he hear me?” Again, the neighbor asks simply.

“Um… I think so.” At the words, Danny almost feels his twin turn, gaze fixed on their neighbor through his eyes.

“Jamie, your brother and me have got you. We’re both right here.” The man’s voice is calm and soothing. “Can you… breathe with me?” A hint of uncertainty enters his voice.

Danny nods, one hand raising to rest just below his sternum where the immaterial sensation of Jamie’s almost-core swirls. “I’ll breathe for both of us. You just follow along, baby bro.”

Jason breathes slowly, in and out. Danny copies. His lungs expand and contract, his brother’s cold spark seeming to dim and brighten in time.

Finally, Danny lowers his hand.

Jason raises an eyebrow. “Better?”

“He feels calmer.” A long exhale. ”Jamie? Do you want to talk to Jason?”

No. The words quivers, watery.

“He said no.” The answers fall, quiet and heavy, as Danny frowns down at the floor. His heart aches. A small part of him wants to sink down to the floor and cry. But…

As understandably upset as Jamie is, as both of them are, his brother is no longer melting. Danny can protect him, keep him safe until they figure this out.

And yet….

“Jason?” Tentatively, Danny looks up. “You’re not…uhh… freaking out as much as I’d expect.”

His neighbor raises an eyebrow. “We’re still playing this game?” Despite the words, there is no harshness as Jason leans closer, voice lowering. “I know that you know about my real job.”

Danny nods. Then, biting his lip. “And you know I’m the ghost kid you saw when you protected Jamie.”

Jason gives his own nod. “We should go somewhere else to talk about this. My apartment?” Frowning, his eyes flicker back to the stairs, to the busted grocery bags he’d dropped in his rush to help.

The half ghost winces, offering a sympathetic, though dim, smile at the broken eggs and spilled milk. “We can go to ours. I just finished dinner. Actually…” A blush colors his face. “I was just coming over to invite you to talk about everything. Jamie was trying to convince me to wait and…” A sudden guilt stabs his core. “That’s when he started…” Wide, haunted eyes gravitate to the carpet again. No sign of the stomach-churning gore remains, but… “He started melting.” A shaking hand covers his mouth. “Jamie, I’m… I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” Jason tries to reassure. Not that he can possibly know that.

Not your fault. Jamie repeats, the words unwavering.

“No, no. It is…” The older half ghost shakes his head.

Was hiding it from you. His twin emphasizes. Not your fault.

Danny again shakes his head, not believing the words. But… “I can’t… can’t do this right now. We’ve got to explain things to Jason.”

Their neighbor frowns. “It can wait a bit. As long as there’s no danger of more… melting?” The last word pitches up, again unsure.

“No, Jamie’s safe for now.” Danny exhales, beginning to push himself to his feet. “And you deserve an explanation.”

“And what about you?” Jason rises to stand.

“I’m fine.” The older half ghost sighs. He puts his feet under him, wobbling as blood rushes to his head.

His neighbor reaches out to steady him. “Are you sure?”

“I’m not going to melt.” Danny rolls his eyes. “Just getting used to having a ghostly passenger.”

Jason doesn’t say anything in response, eyes just widening ever so slightly. The man helps Danny to the twin’s apartment and sits the half ghost down on the couch. He takes one of the kitchen chairs.

For a long moment, the two stare at each other. Danny’s mind whirls. Where does he even begin to explain?

Finally, Jason speaks. “Earlier, you said you were a ghost. Does that mean…” A hint of grief wavers in his voice. “what it sounds like it means?”

“That I died?” Danny bites his lip. “Yeah.”

“And the accident you told me about, was that how it happened?”

“Yep.” The half ghost sighs. He leans back, quipping dryly. “At least it gave me cool powers.”

“Damn kid.” Jason chuckles just as dryly. “I wish dying gave me the ability to fly and shoot Lazarus water from my hands.”

“So you died too…” Danny raises a brow. “that explains the death aura, I guess”

“Death aura? What’s a death aura?” Jason asks.

“What it sounds like.” The half ghost shrugs. “There’s this energy coming off you. Feels kinda ghostly. That’s uh… part of the reason we figured out you’re Hood. Jamie realized you had the same aura.” The neighbor nods, eyes narrowing in understanding, and Danny continues. “Also, again, what’s Lazarus water?”

“It’s what I was resurrected with.” Jason crosses his arms. “My adopted dad’s crazy ex stole my body, threw me in a pit of the stuff, and I came back to life.” His noise wrinkles. “Nasty shit. It messed up my head for years. Which makes you literally bleeding the stuff and not making heads roll, pretty unbelievable.”

“That sounds like some hella contaminated ectoplasm.” Danny’s nose wrinkles in kind. “And a whole pool of it? Where would someone even get that much?”

“In a cave in Nepal, guarded by a cult of assassins.” The vigilante snorts, then shakes his head. “Enough about my tragic backstory. You died, became a ghost. Then what?”

“Half-ghost, actually.” Danny motions to his body. “Still got a living human body and everything. But I can change into a ghost, hence the white hair and green eyes you saw.” He sighs. “Anyway, Mom and Dad are ghost hunters. The accident was in their lab in our basement. They were trying to open a portal to the Ghost Zone, the dimensions ghosts come from.”

“I thought ghosts were dead people?”

“It’s complicated.” Danny waves his hand dismissively. “I ended up opening the portal and ghosts started flooding the town. Some were fine, just minding their own business. But others tore up the street, stole things, hurt people. So… I stepped up to stop them. I started calling my ghost form Phantom and fought the other ghosts off.”

“So the shadowy ghost, that was one you’d fought before.”

“Yeah, Spectra.” Danny narrows his eyes, gaze falling to a spot on the floor. “She was one of my rogues. I’ve still got her in the thermos, under the floor.” He shakes his head. “So, I did the vigilante thing. Fought ghosts and put them back in the portal, tried to protect everyone. All while trying to not fail math, and to uhh… keep my ghost hating parents from learning I’m a ghost….“ He trails off, heart squeezing at the reminder of their eventual discovery.

Jamie sends a gentle stream of comfort, his cold spark flickering brighter.

Across from him, Jason’s brow furrows, expression a mix of concern and anger. “Damn. And you were doing this by yourself? What about your brother?”

Danny shakes his head. “It wasn’t just me. My two best friends were there for everything. My older sister found out a couple month in. She covered for me a lot. Made sure I was eating and getting enough sleep, the noisy mother-hen.” He chuckles. “And Jamie…”

At his name, a spike of anxiety radiates from the clone. Danny’s stomach twists in turn.

Still, the half ghost continues. “Well… Jamie doesn’t come into all this until later.”

“So he wasn’t in the accident with you?” Jason raises his brow.

“No. He wasn’t around at all. Or…” Danny swallows. “He wasn’t around yet.”

Just a hint of confusion mars their neighbor’s face. Still, he doesn’t reply.

Meanwhile, the clone tentatively pokes Danny’s core. Jamie wants to tell him.

The half ghost looks down, frowning at his chest as if that will let him see his twin’s forming core. “Are you sure?”

“What?” Jason asks.

“Not you.” Danny waves vaguely. “Jamie, are you sure you want to explain? I can do it.”

Yes. Want to explain.

“Alright.” The half ghost heaves a sigh. He closes his eyes, letting himself sink deeper inside his own head.

A few seconds later, his eyes open, though not through Danny’s effort. They glow green.

“Jamie is… is Danny’s clone.” Distantly, Danny feels his shoulders hunch, body crumpling under his brother’s fear.

“Oh.” Jason blinks, surprise flickering for just a moment. In the next, he offers a comforting smile. “That’s cool. One of my best friends is a clone.”

Tentatively, Jamie glances up at the vigilante. “You’re not mad?”

“Of course not.” The man’s face softens. “I’m glad you told me.”

The clone hums in acknowledgement. Still, he averts his eyes.

“How did you end up living in Gotham with Danny?” Jason asks after a long moment.

Jamie stiffens at the question. “Danny’s parents found out.” He starts cautiously. “He ran away to Gotham… alone. And…” He swallows. “He was lonely…”

The clone trails off, eyes fixed down. His cold spark so close to Danny’s own core, the half ghost can feel it quiver. A queasy anticipation vibrates across their bond.

I can tell him about the duplication for you. Danny offers gently.

Jamie shakes their shared head. Finally, his gaze returns to Jason. “Danny needed Jamie. He…” His eyes pinch closed, straining with effort. “He needed me, so I came.”

Their neighbor’s brow raises slightly, a silent request to continue.

The clone continues. “The twin telepathy’s real. It’s always been there, always been connected. Felt that Danny was sad, that he needed help. So…” The younger boy bites his lip. “So Jamie came.”

In his chest, Danny’s heart squeezes. Despite the evasiveness of the answer, it is the truth. He had needed someone to offer comfort, to love him. No, more than that. He had needed someone to love too. And, so Jamie had come. Whether he’d imagined his twin into existence, or he was a gift from the Universe or fate or whatever other powers that be, the person he had needed had come.

“Jamie needs you too.” The other ghost whispers, a hand comfortingly rubbing over Danny’s core… just like the half ghost had done for his brother so many times before.

The soft smile that rises on the currently shared face is both of the twins’. For a long moment, the two sit in its warmth. Despite the earlier disaster, despite having to bare the truth, they are safe. They are still together.

Jason pointedly looks away, as if cognizant of the brothers’ private moment. But eventually, he interrupts with a cough. “Came from where? Where were you before, Jamie?”

The tension returns at the question, shoulders rising again. “Don’t know. Don’t remember.” Jamie looks away, just as pointedly.

The vigilante’s face says that he knows the words are a lie. Danny braces, sure that the man will press for the truth. But just as he’s debating whether he should gently take back control of his body and answer Jason’s question…

“You don’t have to tell me everything.” A look of sympathy flashes over their neighbor’s face. “I get it. Biz, my friend, doesn’t like talking about where he came from either. But…” Jason leans forward. His expression turns serious, the very picture of the Batman trained vigilante he is. “If there’s bad guys who might be coming after you, you have to tell me.”

“No.” Jamie shakes his head fervently. “No bad guys.”

“Are you sure?” The man’s pointed expression ceases to waver. “I’m going to be blunt, but someone made you, for a reason. If you’re missing, they’re probably looking for you.”

“No. Jamie’s… my… maker….” The clone hesitates over the word, a jolt of discomfort wavering across the bond. For just the smallest second, Danny feels mental eyes on him. “isn’t looking for me.”

The slightest furrowing of Jason’s brow. “If they just let you go-“

“He thinks Jamie destabilized.” The younger ghost interrupts forcefully. “Melted, like the other clones.”

What are you doing? Danny flinches at the lie. That’s not-

The older half ghost’s protests are ignored as Jamie continues. “That’s why Jamie’s a full ghost, not half.” He looks down, arms wrapped around his chest as if to self-sooth. “Is supposed to be gone, completely dead.”

Again, concern softens Jason’s face. “Who’s he?”

“Plasmius.” Jamie answers without hesitation. “One of Danny’s rogues. Wanted Danny as his creepy perfect half ghost son. Danny kept saying no so Plasmius made clones.”

“That’s messed up.” The man’s nose wrinkles at the words. Then the worry returns. “And you’ve melted before.”

“Yes. Before-“

No, you haven’t. Danny reaches for his vocal cords, silencing his twin’s words. “Why are you-“

“Wait. Just…” Jamie yanks back control. “Just let Jamie explain.”

The half ghost narrows his eyes, taking his tongue back. “What do you mean-“

“Danny.” The younger boy whines through the shared body’s throat, pushing the older away again. “Please.” This time the roughness of the grab sends a stab of pain through Danny’s head. “Sorry.” The clone winces.

The pain stills Danny in his tracks, stopping his reach for control. Why are you lying to Jason? He instead asks inside his own head.

Jamie gives no response, just a wave of fear, of desperation. His mental eyes avert from Danny’s questioning gaze.

Across from the two, Jason’s brow wrinkles. “Danny? Jamie?”

Something in the clone’s emotions tenses at the words and their shared body flinches in kind. Please. Jamie whispers across their bond. Please don’t tell him.

The clone steps back and Danny finds himself back in the driver’s seat, his voice back. He opens and closes his mouth, the truth at the tip of his tongue. But…

Danny remembers their conversation from earlier, before the melting. Was that… was that just an hour ago? It feels like a lifetime. But…. He’d pressed about why Jamie didn’t want to tell Jason the truth. His brother had bite back with anger, closed off after he asked about the ghost aspect and the clone…. Jamie had closed off when he got close to the root of the issue.

That anger… it was just fear, wasn’t it? The same fear trembling Jamie’s almost core now. And… Danny’s own core stales, a wash of cold that has nothing to do with his ice powers. Had that fear been what led to Jamie almost melting?

The half ghost swallows. He’ll table this for now, play along. Between the potential tug for control and the possibility of destabilization…. god, what would happen to them if Jamie started melting again while overshadowing him? No, he couldn’t risk it.

Finally, Danny looks up again, offering the most disarming smile he can manage. “Sorry. It’s Danny again. It’s just…” He frowns down at his own chest, putting very real worry-born exacerbation into the words. “Someone didn’t tell me about the melting before.”

Jason looks dubious but again, he doesn’t call out any lie. “Could that have something to do with what just happened?”

“I don’t know. Maybe?” Danny’s brow wrinkles. “My other clone, Ellie, she wasn’t stable after she was made. She almost melted into ectoplasm too, like Jamie just did. But I used this purified ectoplasm called ectodejecto to stabilize her.”

The vigilante’s eyes widen slightly, a flicker of relief. “Good. We need to get our hands on that pronto.”

“The thing is…” Danny bites his lip, not so confident. “I used ectodejecto on him before, to heal his ankle after Spectra. And it worked right off the bat, healed the sprain in like three seconds, and he’s been stronger than ever since.”

At the words, a wave of anxiety crashes over Danny from his twin.

At the same time, Jason asks. “And what do you mean by that?”

Danny narrows his mental eyes at his brother. You’re the one who decided to lie to him. I’m not gonna fib any more than I have to. Not when Jamie’s continued stability was at stake.

Out loud, the half ghost answers. “Jamie’s never been that strong. He’s had trouble with… being physically present. Like he can’t be visible or tangible for very long.” Not… technically a lie, right? “I’d been letting him hitch a ride, overshadow me.” The vigilante gives a questioning look at the unfamiliar word and Danny offers a casual shrug, explaining. “That’s what ghosts call possession. Anyway, by hitching a ride, Jamie could rest and get used to the powers he’s too weak to use when I use them. He’d been slowly getting stronger, able to be out for longer and longer.”

“That’s a lot of trust.” The neighbor cuts in. “Letting him share your body like that.”

“I’d trust Jamie with my life.” Danny says, completely sincere. “He really is like the little brother I’d never had. Besides,” He shrugs. “having a psychic link is very helpful for building trust. Really makes two people of one mind.” Even if Jamie was putting his growing ability to shield his mind to annoyingly proficient use right now.

Jason nods. “So the ectodejecto helped with the strength problem.”

“Yep.” Danny smiles dimly, remembering the excitement that first morning after Jamie lasted the night. Then his lips twist into a frown. “Until he started melting and put us back at square one.”

Not exactly back at square one. Jamie hesitantly reminds, more than a hint of guilt shaking the words.

No, we’re not. Danny replies. His heart twists; he hadn’t been meaning to make his brother feel guilty. We’re not back at square one. And even if we were, this isn’t your fault.

Jamie says nothing, guilt continuing to swirl.

Obvious to the internal conversation, Jason asks. “You don’t happen to have more of that ectodejecto, do you?”

Danny turns his attention back. “No. Do you think it would help though?”

“It couldn’t hurt to try.” The man leans back in his chair, sighing. “Especially if it’s not actually a complete cure.”

“What do you mean?” The half ghost’s brow winkles.

“You said you used it once on your other clone and on Jamie. It got rid of the melting. But for Jamie, the problem came back.” Jason pauses, continuing at Danny’s nod of confirmation. “So maybe it needs more doses, or to be taken regularly, like someone taking pills to keep their HIV from turning into AIDS. Can’t be cured but can be managed.”

Danny blinks once. “Damn. I… I hadn’t thought of that.” His heart pounds, a dose of panic. “I need to get up with Ellie if that’s the case.”

“One thing at a time.” The vigilante’s voice is soothing, a held-up hand quieting the panic. “Do you know anyway to get more ectodejecto? Or how to make more?”

Right. Danny breathes, soothing his pounding heart. He needs to focus on the current problem. “My parents made it. But I know the recipe. I’ll need some things.” His brow furrows, already beginning to make a list. “Like fresh ectoplasm. The pure stuff, not stinky Lazarus water or whatever.”

Jason’s nose wrinkles at the reminder. Then he asks. “And how would we get ectoplasm?”

“I’ll need a portal. Going home…” He shivers at the thought. “Or making one.” He taps his chin, a idea blooming. “If I did have a portal though, I could get to the Far Frozen and ask Frostbite to take a look at Jamie.” His eyes wide, brightening at the thought. That would be even better than just making more ectodejecto.

“Who’s Frostbite?” The neighbor’s quiet cuts through the blooming hope.

“A ghost he’s helped me before. He’s like a doctor.” The corner of his lips turns up, fondly. “He really knows his stuff. Saved my life when my ice powers came in and I almost froze myself solid.”

“Damn.” Jason frowns, narrowing his eyes at the casually upsetting information. “This is a lot.” He rubs the bridge of his nose. “I hate to say this but it looks like I’m gonna have to bring Bats in on this one.”

At that, anxiety strikes again, radiating from Jamie’s almost core.

Danny can’t help but feel much the same. “What? Why?”

“We need to get you two to a portal and I know absolutely nothing about how to find or make one.” He sighs. “Hopefully Bats can get up with a magic user from the JL who knows something.”

“Oh. Okay.” Danny bits his lip. He’s wanted help but to so suddenly being bringing The Batman into all this…. “If you think so.”

“I will figure out how to help you and your brother.” The words are a promise, delivered with Jason’s comforting smile. He stands, stepping towards the door. “Why don’t you eat dinner? I’ve got some calls to make.”

“And spilled food to pick up.” Danny adds, his heart squeezing at thought of the man’s lost groceries.

“That too.” Jason barely grimaces at the reminder. “And pack yourselves a bag too. Bats will probably want me to take you both to the Cave while we get things figured out.”

“Yeah.” Danny nods. “I’ll pack us some clothes.”

“And eat.” Jason points, more than a hint of disarming humor despite his sincerity. “You’re eating for the two of you, Danny, so you better make it count.”

The half ghost laughs, face turning bright red. “Don’t ever say those words in that order ever again.” If only their neighbor knew.

#Danny Phantom #my fic #Danny Phantom Clones #dp x dc #dpxdc #dcxdp #dp x dc crossover #dc x dp crossover

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magdelanesingerin · 1 year ago

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Little Socks

Read on AO3

Jaskier could not get warm.

He was pretty sure he was fighting off a bug; there was always something circulating amongst the students he taught, and it was a miracle if he ever got through a winter without catching something wretched that would lay him out for a week. It was frustrating timing, though, since they both finally had a stretch of days off together for the holidays, and Jaskier had been looking forward to spending the two weeks’ break between semesters with his boyfriend, not laying in bed sniffling.

At any rate, he was currently wearing long flannel PJ pants and one of Geralt’s old t-shirts, curled up in their bed in a cozy, two-layer blanket burrito which he had pulled up around his ears, and he was still cold. He could hear Geralt puttering around, coming quietly in and out of the bedroom where Jaskier was napping their snowy Saturday afternoon away.

He wished that Geralt would come lay down and nap with him (he’d love having that big warm body to cuddle up to and steal all his warmth), but he knew getting the man to laze around was a lost cause, even on vacation. It was nearly impossible to bring his boyfriend to rest; Geralt was like a damn shark that had to be in motion at all times, cleaning, and doing chores, and working on projects around the house. Jaskier, who was an expert in relaxing, found the whole thing baffling.

Of course, if Geralt ever did sit down to do anything less active than playing a video game, he tended to fall asleep in minutes like the cranky old man he was at heart, head konked back against whatever chair he’d sat down in and snoring like a lumberjack. It was endearing.

Jaskier slitted his eyes open against the pale, wintry afternoon light just enough to see Geralt emerging from the closet with a laundry basket, and called out to him.

“Geraaaalt,” he whined sleepily into the blankets tucked around his face, and Geralt turned back from the doorway to peer down at him. “I’m cold.”

“D’you want another blanket?” Geralt asked like the wonderful, thoughtful boyfriend he was.

“No, that’ll make me too hot,” Jaskier groaned, sounding pitiful even to his own ears. He shoved his bare foot out the bottom of the blankets and waggled it in the chilly air. “Can you put some little socks on me?”

He could hear Geralt breathe a laugh at him, but he put the laundry basket down on the other side of the bed and headed to the dresser. Jaskier snuggled down further in his blankets as he listened to the dresser door slide open and closed, and sighed happily as Geralt caught his waving foot in his big warm hands and carefully pulled on one of the cheap, brightly-printed, thin cotton socks that Jaskier loved to wear around the house–- just thick enough to be a little warm, but not so fluffy they’d make him overheat. As soon as one foot was covered he pulled it back into the warmth of his blanket cocoon and stuck the other foot out in its place.

“You’re pretty cute, did you know that?” Geralt said fondly and squeezed newly sock-clad arch of Jaskier’s foot gently before he tucked it back under the blankets.

“Yep, I know,” said Jaskier with a happy wiggle and a smirk, already starting to warm up and rubbing his sock-covered feet together contentedly. “Thanks babe, that’s already better.” Geralt laid his hand over Jaskier’s blanket-wrapped ankles. The gentle weight was more comforting than it had any right to be for such a small thing.

“Yell if you need anything,” Geralt rumbled quietly. “I think I’m going to go scrub the oven, so just text me if I don’t hear you.”

“Of course you are, what else would you be doing to relax on a Saturday afternoon? Freak.” Jaskier murmured lovingly, starting to drift off with a soft little smile.

The low sound of Geralt’s chuckling faded down the hallway as Jaskier hummed and fell asleep.

#domestic fluff #sweet silly little moments #small acts of love #Geraskier #modern AU #geralt #jaskier #my fic

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eclecticopposition · 5 months ago

Note

😂😍 <- fic asks :]

let's fucking gooooooooooo

fic ask prompts

😂 a funny or crack WIP snippet

(oh we have been WAITING to post cook scene)

under the cut for length! a bonus scene from wire guy awaits

The oven thing works itself out. When Avier hears about it, he and the other cooks descend upon the Majority Rule eagerly. Phrygian finds him ordering two sous-chefs around, directing them to prepare sufficient pizzas for the lot of them.

“Why are you the cook if you can't eat?” Phrygian asks, and then belatedly realizes that this might be rude. “I mean, no offense. Sorry.”

“Oh, the same reason I'm a doctor,” Avier says sagely. “I like to watch.”

“...Excuse me?”

“It's all so wet,” he says. “Biology, I mean. Digestion especially. Don't you think?”

Phrygian no longer likes this conversation very much.

“The Captain really is a genius,” Avier says, with a distant look in his eyes and a tone of clear admiration. Or something. “He understands the beauty of digestion. And him, him? He just does it. Leap, he doesn't mess around like most people. He's a man of action.”

“Does he know you think that?”

“He told me not to talk to him about it anymore,” Avier says, and sighs. “Just make the pancakes, he said. Just cook the eggs.”

“Okay.”

“People will just eat things that you give them if you learn how to cook,” Avier says, sounding very gratified by this. “And let you be a doctor.”

“Because you learned to cook?” Phrygian asks, to clarify. They really hope that this is not what they mean.

“No, no, because I went into organic medicine,” Avier says. “I did two years of school.”

“Oh.”

“And I'm good as gold at stitches!”

“That's... great?”

Avier rattles, which they decide to take as agreement.

“Should I... be concerned?” Phrygian asks, to clarify. “Are you going to like... poison somebody just to see what happens?”

“No, no, of course not!” Avier waves his hand. “No no no no, no. Shortsighted. I live here. There's a trust factor. If I wanted to poison someone, I'd poison someone else.”

“...Okay.”

“Besides, poisoning isn't...” He sighs, shaking his head. “It's passé, don't you think? I'm a little bored of all that by now. Big moves like that are a young man's game. Me? I already shoot people for a living. I’m just here to cook.”

“That answer really is not very comforting,” Phrygian admits.

Avier clicks in displeasure. “People always say that! I never understand why!”

“Do they?”

“Yes! Is it supposed to be more comfortable to hear someone just say No, no, I would never? Anyone can tell lies! I, at least, would want to hear a reasonable case for why our interests align. You’d want to hear that even if I did want to poison somebody, I wouldn't.”

“I... could see that,” Phrygian concedes. “I can see the logic there.”

This ship is completely full of freaks.

😍 published lines or a section of a fic that you loved writing?

Six Sunday number three. It's funny as fuck. Shoutouts to Kalrin being a five star weirdo and having a normal relationship to the things they keep in their cupboards.

Highlights include:

There! There he is, a few doors down. His candy red fur, his glossy dead eyes. His gaping, mocking smile. The light does not touch him directly. Even just the sight of his face in the dark sends a chill up your spine. For a moment you waver. Some things not even you should trifle with. But – no, Ohnyxx needs you. Your house and life are on the line. You grab that fucker by the throat and you drag him out from behind the oversize plates. They came with the house. You never use them. You squeeze his throat and you put a finger to his open mouth to preempt his evil whispers. “DO NOT FUCK THIS UP FOR US,” you tell him. “I WILL PUT YOU BACK IN THERE. I AM NOT JOKING. YES, IT’S ME, I’M SURE YOU CAN TELL.” He stares past you and does not make a sound. “DO NOT FUCK THIS UP,” you repeat. “SERIOUSLY. I MAY KID ABOUT A GREAT MANY THINGS BUT I KID YOU NOT RIGHT NOW. I HAVE NO INTEREST IN YOUR TRICKS AND THE AMOUNT OF BULLFUCKERY I WILL TOLERATE COMES TO A GRAND TOTAL OF ZERO. THIS IS NOT A TRANSACTION AND YOU SHALL KEEP YOUR WRETCHED LITTLE MAW AS QUIET AS THE SHALLOW GRAVE I WOULD OTHERWISE PUT YOU IN, BECAUSE FAILING ALL ELSE, I WILL SEND YOU BACK INTO THE DEPTHS OF KITCHEN SOLITARY AND LEAVE YOU THERE, FOREVER UNABLE TO ROT. KAPICE?” He does not say anything. You choose to take this as compliance rather than him biding his time, on account of how yours is running out.

and our favorite line in the fic

“I WILL FORGIVE YOU IF YOU PULL THIS OFF,” you lie.

#we love both of these scenes #thanks for the ask!#jupitermoths #wire guy #phrygian #kalrin #avier #we've never tagged anything for the individual pirate crew members but we think this one warrants it #havenfree #writing #asks #this time on wire guy: can a robot be a chaser for digestion? yes. apparently

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bibiwrld · 2 years ago

Text

The Sweet Babysitter🧁🎀| Miguel O’Hara

previously: –two.

–three.

MIGUEL’S POV

I sat on the edge of my bed mentally cursing myself, with my fingers pinching the bridge of my nose.

What was wrong with me? Gawking at that girl, practically drooling at the sight of her. Her beauty was undeniable. Her shyness was so cute. The way she looked in office attire, so adorable.

God, I’m a freak for even thinking of her. She’s young, she probably has a boyfriend her age anyways.

She called me Mr. O’Hara for fuck sake. She sees me as an old fart.

As soon as she left, there I was waiting for her to text me.

So pathetic.

Then I opened safari and started typing.

‘How soon can you start dating after a divorce?’

I began scrolling and a text came in.

Unknown number

Good night Miguel, it’s Kenedi🎀☺️

She even texts cute. I quickly saved her number and began typing back.

Hi Kenedi, I hope you’re enjoying your evening. Don’t be afraid to ask me anything.

Kenedi🎀

Yes I am, I just finished my dinner.

Well I wanted to know if I could use the shower? Since I’m coming straight from work

Ofc. Just think of my home as your second home😊

Was the emoji too much?

Kenedi🎀

Thank you☺️ I’m headed to bed now. Enjoy the rest of your evening <3

Is that a heart? Is this considered flirting?

Goodnight <3

I leaned back on my bed. Was that okay to send back?

🕷️

It was the weekend, mid afternoon. The only time I don’t have to go to work.

“Papá!” Gabby ran and hugged my leg as I washed dishes.

“Yes Gabby?” I glanced down at her with a smile.

She looked up at me with those adorable eyes. “When is Kenedi coming?”

“Mija, I told you on Monday.” I sighed, putting the dishes in the dish rack.

She pouted. I hated seeing her so sad.

I dried my hands and went to grab my phone, Gabby still attached to my leg.

I sat down, pressing Kenedi’s contact in my phone. My phone was brought to my ear, letting it ring.

I moved the leg Gabby was attached to, up and down, making her giggle.

“Hi Miguel.” Her soft voice greeted me.

I sat up. “Kenedi, hi. I hope I’m not interrupting you or anything.”

Gabby’s eyes brightened at the sound of Kenedi’s name.

“No no, I just finished putting away some groceries.” She replied. “Was there anything you needed?”

I scratched the back of my neck. “Gabby is asking for you and I wanted to see if you could come over.”

“Of course I can, I’ll be there soon.”

My heart throbbed.

“Okay thank you. See you then.” I hung up and smiled at my phone, then at Gabby who was also smiling.

“She’s coming?” Her smile was wide.

“Yes.” I nodded.

She hopped off my leg and danced around the living room.

I laughed and clapped at her movements.

“I have to get my toys!” She darted upstairs.

I laughed and eased into my seat waiting for Kenedi’s arrival.

🕷️

“This one pink please.” Gabby sat on the living room floor with Kenedi, who painted her nails.

Kenedi smiled. “Okay.”

I was in the kitchen preparing dinner. At least I’m trying to, I’m just so distracted by Kenedi. Sneaking glances at her, scanning her from top to bottom.

She wore more casual clothing today. A white t-shirt that exposed a small portion of her stomach, light washed low rise flared jeans that hugged her so well, and baby pink converse. This time, her braids weren’t held back by any headband, they were free.

“How old are you, Kenedi?” I drizzled cheese over the uncooked lasagna.

“23.” She answered, keeping all her focus on painting Gabby’s nails.

“Wow, that’s a big number.” Gabby commented, causing Kenedi to smile.

7 year age difference. Is that bad? Is it weird?

“How come you asked?”

I twitched, then looked at her.

Her eyes were such a gorgeous shape, almost like a cat.

“I just never caught your age is all.” I replied, turning around to open the oven.

The heat hit my face and I turned back for the pan of uncooked lasagna, gently placing it in the oven. I closed it and took my apron off, then made my way to the sofa.

“Daddy look!” Gabby ran towards me with her hands out.

I admired her neatly painted nails. “They’re so pretty, mija.”

She smiled, showing her missing teeth. “I love them!” She turned and hugged Kenedi which caught her off guard. “Thank you Kenedi.”

She hugged back. “You’re so very welcome, Gabby.”

Pulling away, Gabby ran upstairs. “I have a dress I want to wear with my nails!”

“Okay, mija! Take your time!” My eyes followed her up the stairs.

“Si Papá!” Her little feet tapped as she ran up the stairs.

“She’s so cute.” Kenedi awed while sitting in the floor.

“She is. She really likes you, she was going to cry today if you didn’t come.” I laughed.

She playfully pouted. “I’ll make time for her on the weekends.”

“Oh that’s okay, I’m trying not to spoil her too much.” I leaned back in my seat. “Besides, you probably have plans with your friends and boyfriend on the weekends.”

She chuckled softly and played with her hair. “Funny of you to think I have a boyfriend, thanks for thinking so highly of me.”

So she doesn’t have a boyfriend.

My brows rose. “Oh sorry, I was convinced you did. You’re just a very pretty young lady.”

She laughed again, this time looking directly into my eyes, but only for a second. “It’s okay, I’m not that famous with guys, I tend to shy away.”

“Don’t be shy.” I told her.

“Okay.” She answered quietly. “What about you? Do you have any girlfriends?”

I tensed up at the question. “No I don’t, I haven’t started dating since the divorce.”

“What happened?” She suddenly asked.

My eyes darted towards her. She looked a bit sad, maybe it was pity for me.

“That’s if you don’t mind me asking.” She trailed off.

I let out a breath. “It felt like a loveless relationship, so she filed for divorce, I agreed it was for the best.”

“Do you still love her?” Empathy in her voice.

“Well I did, during the remainder of that so called relationship, but I grew out of it during the entire process of the divorce.”

Why am I even talking to her about this? This was so embarrassing.

“I’m sorry that happened, Miguel.” She stood and made her way towards me.

I began silently panicking. What was she going to do?

Her arms wrapped around me, holding me so tightly. My arms slowly wrapped around her smaller frame. She was warm, she smelled so good. She was soft, just how I imagined.

My eyes closed, taking it all in.

“Hugs make everything better.” Her breath hit my neck, making me shudder a bit.

She pulled away and gave me a smile. “Do you feel better?”

God, how could I not like this girl?

I replied. “I do, thank you.” My body was hot.

She picked her bag up off the floor. “I have to get going now, I promised my parents I would go to church with them tomorrow morning.” She groaned.

I frowned. “I was hoping you could stay for dinner.”

“Next time, I promise.”

I smirked. “I take promises seriously.”

She smiled. “I do too. Good night, tell Gabby bye for me.”

“Will do, drive safe.”

She flashed a smile one more time and she was out the door.

“Mierda.” I ran both hands down my face.

Were we just flirting?

Gabriella’s feet tapped down the stairs. She appeared in front of me in a big pink puffy dress.

“Princesa!” I marveled.

She twirled and look around. “Where’s Kenedi?”

“She had to go home, she said bye. But you can show her your dress on Monday, okay?”

She sighed. “Okay Papá.”

🎀

Next part: –four.

#flustered Miguel #miguel o'hara #my works💌🌷#black coquette #spider man: across the spider verse #dilf miguel #he’s so precious #gabby is the cutest🥺❤️#astv miguel

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smolwritingchick · 1 year ago

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Forced To Believe Chapter 27- Total Divas Season 1 Episode 8

Chapter Summary: Melanie gets upset with Jon when he misses their dinner. Melanie attends Nattie and TJ's wedding

Words: 2,000+

----- 'To Melanie and Jon's hotel room on Tuesday, in the afternoon'

Melanie was doing her hair, in casual clothing, already in the bedroom and Jon walked in.

"Hey, I was wondering if we could hang out here, alone tonight. Eat in and have a romantic dinner." Jon smiled.

"Really? Wow, that sounds awesome." Melanie beamed.

Melanie (This is really unexpected. We really haven't been on a lot of romantic dates lately because of our schedules but I'm really happy that he decided to do this for me. So, while Jon was out, doing some errands, I decided to go food shopping. Since he likes pecan pie, I wanted to buy a premade one that I could heat in the oven.)

'Later on, at 9o'clock'

Melanie sets up the table and lights a candle in the middle of the table. She then checks on the food. She made steak and also had a bottle of wine for them. After she was done preparing the food, she got her hair done and put on a nice red dress.

Minutes later, she tried to call Jon but he wouldn't answer.

"Oookaayy..." She decided to watch TV and wait for him.

Hours later, she was on the couch waking up after falling asleep. She looked at the clock and it read 12. "Are you serious right now?"

Melanie (Wow...you can't spend one night with your girlfriend instead of hanging with the guys? I know for a fact he did. How can you forget our date? I'm like so upset right now)

She decided to put the food up and watch TV, on the couch. When it was 2'o clock, Jon walked into the hotel room.

"What's up? Why are you looking mad?" Jon asked, taking his leather jacket off,

"Oh, I don't know...forgetting a romantic dinner which I cooked." She retorted, glaring at him.

"Shit...baby, I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry? Saying I'm sorry isn't going to fix anything!"

"Mel-"

"How could you forget? We've both been talking about this. It was your damn idea!"

"Well, maybe I don't think I'm good enough for you." He countered.

"What? Are you serious? Are you serious?"

Melanie (Bullshit! You are not going to play the victim and play the pity game on me. That's not cool. No, don't do that. We had this talk about this before. Enough already)

"Don't try to put this on you and be the victim. Don't because it's not gonna work. Gosh, I just wish you would at least spend some time with your girlfriend. At least an hour or two. Is that too much to ask? Just us. Alone, with no interruptions, and chilling at home. You holding me and telling me you love me. Do you love me?"

"You know I do."

"Then prove it. Show me. Don't ditch me like that if you say you want to make plans with me and not show up." She stands up as he walks over to her.

"Baby-" He reached out to grab her arm but she pushed him away.

"Do not touch me. And don't even speak to me. Please. I'm not happy." She went to the kitchen and started doing the dishes.

Melanie (I am pissed. Beyond pissed!)

"You got me waiting for you, all fucking night, but you were hanging with the guys. Are you kidding me? What was the point of you saying you wanted a romantic dinner with me?" She snapped. "I know I'm nice and all but I'm not gonna be played like that. No freaking way..."

Jon walked behind her and held her. He rested his head on her left shoulder. "I'm sorry..."

"Sure..."

"Mel, I really am. Let me make it up to you." He started to kiss her neck.

Melanie (Really? Really!? That really got me angry...)

She pushed him away and turned around, slapping him in the face.

"What the fuck was that for?" He exclaimed, rubbing the side of his face in surprise.

"For being an asshole! Are you fucking kidding me!? You are gonna try to have makeup sex with me to get yourself off the hook? Hell to the fucking no!" She yelled as her face started to flush from anger. "I hope you aren't thinking about sleeping in bed with me tonight, cause your ass is sleeping on the couch." She walked past him and slammed the bedroom door.

Melanie (I feel so stupid...)

'On Thursday, hours before WWE Superstars'

Ariane, Eva Marie, Trinity and Melanie were chatting backstage.

"What's up, girl? You seem pretty pissed." Trinity said to Melanie.

Melanie sighed. "Jon wanted to have a romantic dinner with me, so I was like, that'll be awesome, I'll go shopping and cook for us. I cooked all day, I was tired, wanted to relax, and was waiting for him to come home. He told me he had some errands to run and will be back soon. Come to find out, once he was done his errands, he hung out with the guys at the bar."

"What?!" Ariane exclaimed.

Trinity (That's not good.)

Ariane (Melanie has every right to be upset with him.)

"When did he come home?" Eva asked.

"2 fucking o'clock. 2 o'clock in the morning." Melanie retorted.

"Oh no, gurl, you better make him sleep on the couch or something. What did you do?" Ariane asked.

"Gave him an earful. He kept saying that he was sorry and forgot. When I was doing the dishes, he came up behind me and started kissing my neck, trying to have makeup sex. Are you fucking kidding me right now!? I slapped him in the face."

Eva Marie (I never knew Melanie could get so angry. But she has the right to be. How can a guy stand her up like that? I feel so bad for her.)

"Yes girl, don't give in to that, he needs to earn your forgiveness a different way," Ariane replied.

Trinity (I've never seen Melanie this angry off camera. She even started venting in Spanish since she was so mad. Even her face was getting red. She told us she started hanging around her father more and when he was mad, he would cuss in Spanish, so now we know where she gets her anger from)

"Gosh! Everything that guy said was bullshit!" Melanie said angrily.

'To Nattie'

Nattie (I decided to find Jon because I really don't want him and Melanie to be an unhappy couple at my wedding. Maybe Melanie is overreacting about something. So I decided to go to Jon to find out to get the man's side of the story of what might be going on between them)

"Hey, Jon." Nattie smiled as he turned around.

"Hey, what's up?"

"You and Melanie look like you have some tension. Something happen?"

"I messed up...bad...I fucked up big time..."

Nattie (Ugh...now that got me worried...)

"Melanie cooked dinner for us all day but I hung out with the guys and forgot about our date." He confessed.

"Jon! She has every right to be upset with you."

"I know..."

"You need to fix this. Like, now. You need to make it up to her in a good way."

Nattie (I really hope Jon mans up and makes sure to earn Melanie's forgiveness. Melanie is one of the nicest divas here and to see her angry and upset can be heartbreaking at times since we always see her smiling.)

'To Melanie'

Melanie calmed herself down. "Enough about me, let's just stay positive. So, what's going on with you girls?"

"I'm nervous." Eva Marie replied.

"Nervous about what? "Ariane asked.

"Tonight is the night when we find out who will be accompanying someone to the ring."

"That's exciting, now maybe it's your time to shine."

"I agree." Melanie smiled

Mark Carrano, senior director of WWE Talent Relations, walked over to the girls. "Hello, ladies."

The divas greet him while Jojo and Nattie walk over to the gang. "Mark, are we in trouble?" Nattie asked.

"Nah. First of all, Nikki is hurt, she will be out for 6 to 12 weeks. You." He pointed to Trinity. "Who is your BFF?"

"Her." Trinity pointed to Ariane.

"Girl bye." Ariane joked as the divas laughed.

"All right, Nattie, in your corner for WWE Superstars will be...Eva." Mark informed.

The divas but Jojo cheered while Eva hugged Nattie.

"Seriously Mark? Seriously?" Jojo asked, looking upset.

"Listen, it's not the end of the world." He said. "You are on the radar."

Eva Marie (I am seriously so excited that I get to valet Nattie because Nattie is a dope wrestler but I feel like I have to downplay my excitement because of Jojo)

Nattie and Eva Marie get ready and leave the girls with Mark. "You going to be okay girl?" Ariane asked Jojo.

"Yeah, I'm good," Jojo replied while Melanie hugged her

"You'll get your chance. All good things come to those who wait patiently." The Philly diva smiled.

"Yeah, and Jojo is the youngest out of all of us. Once we long gone, she'll still be here, kicking butt." Trinity grinned.

"I know right!" Ariane exclaimed as Jojo started to smile.

'Later at night'

Melanie (After WWE Superstars, I decided to go back to the hotel room and just relax. But when I came back to the hotel room, I saw a nice candlelight dinner. I was in awe.)

She walked into the room to see Jon in a suit. "Surprise!" he smiled.

She couldn't help but grin. "Oh my gosh..." She chuckled at the sight. There was a nice candlelight dinner in the room, and she was handed a bouquet of red roses. "Jon..."

"I know I fucked up, and I deserved the slap and the earful, but I just want you to know that I'm really sorry. So, I decided to heat up the food you made and recreate the romantic dinner. Just us tonight. No hanging out with the guys tonight. Just you and me."

"This is so awesome." She set the flowers down and hugged him tightly. He wrapped his arms around her waist and looked down at her.

"So am I forgiven?"

"Yes...you're forgiven." She kissed him

-----

'Nattie & TJ's wedding day'

Brie, Melanie, and Trinity arrive at the place and walk up the stairs.

"Hello? Nattie?" Brie called out as she and the girls carried their suitcases.

Nattie opened her door and let them in. "Hi!" she greeted the girls with hugs.

"You look awesome." Melanie grinned and looked at her wedding dress.

"This is unbelievable," Brie said with a smile.

"So...Jaret is coming," Nattie whispered as she shut the door.

Melanie (Really? I don't think that's a good idea. I mean, ever since the text messages, I just think it'll cause problems but it's her wedding so, she can do what she wants to do)

"Did you tell TJ?" Trinity whispered.

"No. How do I always get myself in these awkward positions?" Nattie frowned.

"I'll tell you this, if the pastor says please stand up or forever hold your peace, and he says anything, we're dropkicking him." Brie guaranteed as Trinity agreed.

"Dibs on me giving him the backfire!" Melanie raised her hand as the girls laughed

'2 hours until ceremony'

The women get ready. Melanie had her hair out with curls at the end. She wore a black dress that stopped near her knees and low black heels.

"How come you're not wearing real heels?" Brie asked.

Melanie laughed. "I am not a high heel person. Low heels I can handle. I just don't want to break anything. You, Nattie and Brie are high heel veterans."

Melanie (So, while we all are getting ready for Nattie's wedding, we all find out that a thunderstorm is occurring outside. Lightning and thunder, are not a good mix, so the workers had to move everything inside.)

Nattie (I'm trying to fight back tears. All I wanted was a beach wedding. That's all I wanted and this day is starting to turn into the worse, like, what else can go wrong today?)

Later on, while the divas were upstairs, Melanie was downstairs, waiting for Jon.

"Ooh, you look awesome Mel. Showing some skin." Trinity cheered. "Where's Jon?"

"He's coming, he needed to pick up his suit " Melanie trailed off as her phone rang.

"Haha, speaking of the devil." Trinity chuckled.

"Hey, you here?" She answered.

"Yeah, I'm getting soaked, can you open up the door?" Jon said on the phone.

"Yeah, see you in a few." Melanie hung up. She went to the entrance and opened the door. "Yikes, it's really raining."

She looked at the sky. She saw Jon, in a suit, jogging up the steps. His hair and suit were a little damp from the rain.

"Glad you made it." She wrapped her arms around his neck to kiss him.

"Get a room!" Trinity joked.

'30 Minutes Until The Wedding'

Melanie sat next to Trinity and Jon at the table. Brie and Bryan, Jey and Jon Uso also sit at the table, waiting for the wedding to start.

TJ walked in. "Hello!"

"TJ!" Melanie grinned and kissed him on the cheek, hugging him.

Trinity (Melanie is grinning like no tomorrow. I'm happy Melanie and Jon are not fighting and there are no conflicts between them)

"Ready for the big day, brother?" Jey (Jon Uso's Brother) asked.

"So ready." TJ replied.

"You're in the back of the curtain and when that music hits, you're totally fine."

"What's up, man?" Jaret greeted as he walked up to TJ.

"Jaret, hey, how ya doing man?" TJ stood up and shook his hand.

Melanie (Oh boy)

"You must be excited, Nattie's awesome." Jaret sat next to him.

"Yeah," TJ replied.

Trinity, Brie and Melanie glanced at each other.

"We've been talking a bit lately, she came in for a spray tan while I was working and we started talking," Jaret mentioned. Trinity, Melanie, Brie and their lovers were looking at TJ and Jaret talking. "She said that you two had some issues."

Trinity (I'm like, aw shoot, it's about to go down)

TJ and Jaret leave the room to talk privately.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the wedding is about to commence, if you would please take your seats, thank you." Damien Sandow announced.

Jon Uso sat next to Trinity, who sat next to Melanie, who sat next to Jon. The band started playing as Melanie listened to the violin and viola. But no one came down the steps.

Brie (I have to admit with Jaret showing up, and the way TJ reacted, I don't know if this wedding is going to happen or not.)

Melanie and Trinity grinned when the wedding continued to happen and TJ was down the aisle.

Trinity (Woo! The wedding is still happening!)

Nattie walked down the steps with her father as everyone stood up. She walked down the aisle with Gismo in her arms.

Melanie (Nattie is so beautiful. She's smiling, she's just glowing)

Nattie (I honestly could not feel any happier. My dad in one arm, Gismo in the other, this is just a reminder of how perfect my life is.)

After TJ and Nattie said their vows, they kissed as the audience clapped and cheered.

Nattie (I cannot believe that I'm married now.)

'The Reception'

"We don't know how to dance," Nattie said as everyone laughed while watching her and TJ have their first dance.

"I have a hurt knee, that's the excuse." TJ joked.

Melanie smiled while Jon held her from behind while they watched them.

"All ladies on the dance floor," TJ announced

"Come on Melanie." Brie grabbed her arm and dragged her to the dance floor.

"What? I'm not interested." Melanie exclaimed.

"Oh yes, you are." she grinned.

Melanie (Catching the bouquet...Yikes, I hope I don't get attacked by heels if I slip and fall.)

Nattie threw the bouquet up for some of the women. The bouquet was near Brie but she jumped and pushed it towards Melanie, making it fall in her hands.

Melanie's eyes widen. "Brie!"

Brie laughed and clapped. "Yay, Melanie!"

Brie (I decided to let Melanie catch the bouquet because I wanted to see her reaction and plus, I want to see Jon put the garter on her. They're cute. I think marriage is in their future.)

"Melanie catches the bouquet, yay!" Nattie cheered.

Ariane (Melanie catches the bouquet and I'm like, ooh girl, good for you, I wasn't ready for all that.)

"Can we get the garter?" Brie asked. "Let's let Jon put the garter on Melanie."

"What?" Melanie blushed.

Brie grinned and walked Melanie to the chair. TJ took the garter off of Nattie and gave it to Jon. Jon looked at the garter before smirking at Melanie as she started to laugh nervously.

"She's blushing." Brie giggles.

While she was seated on the chair, Jon kneeled before her legs. He grabbed one of her legs and slowly put the garter on her leg with his teeth as everyone was cheering.

"Omg!" Brie exclaimed, getting hyped with Trinity.

"That was awesome." Trinity clapped.

Brie (That was great. Go Melanie and Jon!)

Melanie (Hahaha, my face was such a tomato. I'm not surprised Jon did that, he can be a little...adventurous.)

"Now for a word from our groom," Damien said before giving the mic to TJ.

"Well, it's kind of hard to keep a surprise from Nattie since she is usually organizing everything, but I put a little something together," TJ announced as he showed a video of him and Nattie together in the WWE.

Melanie (That is so sweet.)

Nattie (TJ put together some moments that I even forgot that happen and I was just so touched)

After TJ's video, everyone started to dance and have a good time.

Nattie (At the end of the day, I am such a lucky girl, it's been such a roller coaster of a day. I couldn't imagine spending my life with anybody else than TJ. TJ is my family and he will be a part of my life forever)

#dean ambrose x oc #jon moxley x oc #total divas #forced to believe

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frightnightindustries · 1 year ago

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@indigo-flightly-falls

Real look inside the clubhouse

Fragment, slamming pots and pans together to the rhythm of "Give it to me, I'm worth it": I didn't get no sleep cause a' y'all! Y'all never gonna sleep cause a' me!

Absence, spraying a melted cutting board with a tiny water gun: We gotta cool this bitch down. Cool it down. Fragment: I actually just put the cutting board in the oven... Phantasm, visibly confused: Okay, so they decided to put the cutting board in the oven? Absence, spraying Fragment: You FUCKING DUMBASS! Fragment: Dude, I forgot- Absence: OH MY FUCKING GOD! We're trying to make Chicken Alfredo right now, and you fucking MELT the cutting board in the oven at 400 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT!? Epitome: *Watching in complete confusion while trying to process this whole situation.*

Absence: I’ve organized your messages into three categories. Absence: “From Parody” Absence: “Death Threats” Absence: and “Death Threats From Parody”

Epitome: A person can really hear themselves think out here. Epitome’s mind: Did you leave the stove on? The front door unlocked!? WILL YOU DIE ALONE!? Epitome: Well, that was a mistake.

Phase: Advice of the day kids, if you ever meet someone who calls Gatorade flavors the actual name of the flavor instead of just the color then they are a certified nerd. Freak: Yeah but you have to specify, frost glacier or cool blue? You can’t just say blue because there’s more than one blue. Phase: Blue and light blue, nice try nerd.

Phase: I once tried to play a pirated copy of Garfield Kart, when Garfield jumped out of my PC! We are currently married with three beautiful children and a summer house in Lisbon.

Parody: Sometimes I like to call people by the wrong name to show them I don’t care about them. Absence: That’s brilliant. Parody: Thank you, Neurosis.

Epitome: I am going to cry. I’m going to cry until I can no longer physically cry anymore because all the water in my body is gone and I die from dehydration. Mastermind: Are you okay? Fragment: Did you actually just ask them that? Like, you need that to be answered otherwise you won’t know?

Phase: As someone who has a long history of not understanding anything, I feel confident in my ability to continue not knowing what is going on.

Mastermind: Can I offer you a nice stick in this trying time?

Fragment, talking about Phantasm: Y’know, you never mentioned an intern. Neurosis: That’s because they’re not officially an employee, they’re unpaid. Fragment: You don’t pay them?! Neurosis: They get college credit. Fragment: Are you sure your not evil?

Epitome: Even Phantasm and I have been getting closer. The other day, they gave me half of their sandwich. Phantasm: I mistook them for a garbage can.

Neurosis: Phase and I are so close we even share a toothbrush. Phase: We what?

Neurosis: Any tips on how to make someone like me? Phantasm: Try to make them laugh all the time. Neurosis: Oh, wow! You actually help me for once, and it's even good advice! Phantasm: Yeah, the more they laugh, the more time they spend with their eyes closed, so it'd be easier.

Absence, planning a group disguise: You cannot be Blake Bortles. Mastermind: Fine! Then I’ll be Jake- Epitome, under their breath: Don’t say Jortles. Mastermind: Jortles! And I work at the molotov cocktail department.

Mastermind: My mom is calling… hi mom. Freak: Come on guys, stop. They’re trying to talk to their mom. Phantasm: *loud fake sexual noises* Parody: EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP! Absence: *is asleep* Epitome: *gets really close to the phone* Tell her I said hi.

Absence: Imagine if someone handed you a box full of all the things you lost throughout your life. Neurosis: It would be nice to have my sense of purpose back... Freak: Oh wow, my childhood innocence! Thank you for finding this. Mastermind: My will to live! I haven't seen this in years. Phantasm: I knew I lost that potential somewhere. Parody: Mental stability, my old friend! Absence: Jesus, could you guys lighten up a little?

Neurosis: Hey, let’s mess with Mastermind, guys! Absence: Hey, Mastermind, your momma so fat- Mastermind: My mom committed multiple war crimes and is now locked in solitary confinement in a Bolivian prison. Phase: Well, uh- your dad- Mastermind: My father left when I was two to be captured and consequentially sacrificed by a group of feral ferrets. Absence: The fuck- Fragment: Well then... Neurosis: Stop, Fragment! Fragment: Your grandparents so- Mastermind: My grandmother floated into the sky like a balloon with too much helium when my grandfather spontaneously combusted. Mastermind: You cannot best me, mortals.

Neurosis, singing: I don’t want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need— Parody: A family. Phantasm: A better love life. Epitome: Mental stability. Absence: *clueless* Bagels?

Freak: How do I ask someone out? Mastermind: Roses are red, violets are blue, guess what, my bed has room for two. Freak: No! Phase: Twinkle twinkle little star, we can do it in a car. Freak: Stop! Neurosis: Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily I can make you scream. Freak: I feel like the last one is verging dangerously into serial killer territory.

#ocs #P4R4D0X's Clubhouse

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baptistsuicidewidow · 1 year ago

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Due Date

Just got done trying to dry my hair while crying and it was not working very well. But when I'm feeling extra feels I come to this blog since helps me to digest all these big feelings that I would otherwise not know what to do with.

I didn't trust the due date I was given this time by professionals since last time was off by 2 and a half weeks. I also don't know my conception date or last period date (which tells me I need to be better about tracking that sort of thing), so I went by a third guess, a third google, and a third intuition. I guessed it was a Mothers Day conception... I googled "what is the date 40 weeks after Mothers Day 2023?"... and February 20th just 'felt right'. So here we are, one day before the professional's due date, and 13 days after mine. So I am looking up good crow recipes, since my friends and I were going back and forth about this for far too long, and I am going to have a turkey sized crow to eat after all this!

My period showed up immediately after I healed from Isaiah, which I thought was weird since I thought breast feeding would prevent my cycles more so. But my body was back to cycles around when Isaiah was 2 months old. This continued until around March or April of 2023.. All of a sudden my period just stopped happening. So Jeremiah and I would get temporarily freaked until we bought a cheap dollar store pregnancy test, heaved a sigh of relief that we werent pregnant, and went on with our day. But then another month went by and still no period would happen, and each month we went through our new cycle of "Are we pregnant again?", cheap pregnancy test, sigh of relief...

So in July, there was still no period, but this time I was feeling pregnant.. I could tell something was different and this time it could be a positive test.

So we went to the dollar store and 30 minutes after coming home I approached Jeremiah... He was on the kitchen floor doing something or fixing something... I forget what he was working on. But I handed him the test, knowing he didnt know how to read it. And then I handed him the instructions on the kit... And waited. After a couple moments studying these items, he heaved a sigh of relief and said, "So its negative right?" to which I said "Is it? Maybe look again Jeremiah"... He looked again and still thought it was a negative test. So I had to turn on the better light in the room and show him the faint line that he wasnt seeing.

Heres the test and I had to edit the contrast settings so the line was clearly visible...

Anyway, Jeremiah didnt want to believe me.. Kept saying I was seeing things,... I had to remind him of our conversation with one of the ladies at church... The first time we got pregnant we weren't sure if we could trust Isaiah's test/we thought we had to go to a doctor to verify for sure, but she kept attesting (ha! test! attest! get it?) that if the test was positive it was a positive. The next week we saw her she had brought in all 8 of her children's positive pregnancy tests, all varying different degrees of boldness of lines,-some were so faint I was shocked.

This pink test was Isaiah's test.. and as you can see Isaiah's line was bold as can be. Plus we knew the conception date since we were using a fertility tracker and really hoping to get pregnant.

So it took a couple days of us discussing for him to accept that there were two lines he was looking at. I think he was under the impression that a really faint line wasnt a positive, but I had to let him know that the test only shows a line if the growth hormone is present, and there wouldnt be any type of line if I wasnt pregnant. Growth hormone=pregnant.

So when his family came to celebrate Isaiah's first birthday on August 3rd, we wanted to share the news with them after Isaiah's festivities were over.

It was really funny, for Isaiah's reveal we were trying to put a "bun in the oven", but apparently Jeremiah's parents were using the oven at the time and so we didnt really have a recourse other than dropping hints. (I was wearing a maternity "I got you babe" shirt, plus we were saying how I shouldnt have caffeine all this, when Ruth and Sarah started screaming when they finally realized what we were getting at/it was hilarious)

This time we were enjoying the scenery in Peoria when suddenly I had to go to the bathroom really badly.. Which was a bit of a bummer since we hadnt been there long/ I think we wouldve stayed another half hour if given the opportunity. So we all had to load back into the cars and rush home. Yet I knew this also was my chance to get a bun in the oven this time.

So Jeremiah and I schemed that he would open the garage door and let me run inside (since I really did have to go use the restroom), and then I could set up the bun in the oven.

I think on someone else's phone they got a picture of the 'bun in the oven'. There was all this meat in these large disposable trays that the Joldes family had cooked that was in the oven, so I took out the meat and set that on our washer in the laundry room, and I put a figurine of a bunny (Thumper from Bambi) in an extra matching tray, with some other things weighing it down. I then covered the tray to match what the meat looked like. And it wasn't long until someone wanted to nibble on some meat (we would usually graze all day snacking on the tastiness), and they couldn't find any!

The lack of meat in the oven was quickly becoming an uproar, so I rushed to go get my "Sorry I lied, we actually are pregnant" card for Ruth, since she had mentioned something very slightly and I felt bad for misleading her... and I held onto it until the scene played out. The family was searching for the meat, while Jeremiah kept saying over and over very loudly, "WHY IS THERE A BUNNY IN THE OVEN",.. the whole thing was sooo funny! This was followed by screaming and eventually Tata came into the kitchen from what he thought was a good chance to get in a nap in the bedroom. There were hugs and tears, and Tata started with his usual "I knew she was pregnant" speech like last time. It was overall a very heartwarming moment.

Revisiting these memories have made me feel much better.

A part of me doesnt want to continue to blog. But a part of me feels like I must. As a woman who has been nesting full time, I am looking for anything that might be preventing the baby from being born to do.. My thoughts very much these days are, "maybe he doesnt want to come until I finish with all the laundry... and when I am done with all the chores my body will signal to the baby that the coast is clear, and labor will commence. "

Truly waiting on a baby to come is a bit crazy-making.

So now for the sad part of this post... other than the obvious... Jeremiah, and his whole family have vanished.

Other than that, Isaiah and I got 'into town' earlier than planned since I was having contractions for hours on Friday, Feb 23rd, only for them to cease after my neighbor came to the house (its truly awkward this guy was making me uncomfortable since he had been trying to let me know he's romantically interested in me, and I have been trying to let him know that I am sad about my husband please stop pursuing me), and the people I live with announced he was going to be the one to drive me 2 hours away-not them as planned. Contractions stopped, but my midwife suggested I get some sleep and drive myself when I was able.

It was actually fortunate that everything stopped since my car started shaking when I got on the road/ I pulled into a shop with the highest google review rating and learned my caliber was stuck causing my brand new tire to smoke. So they needed to change my brand new passenger brake, rotor, and caliber before they would deem me as safe to go anywhere. (I just got new tires, new brakes, fixed the front of the car, I have been NESTING and getting done with all the things!)

When I got here I pushed myself to get the car unloaded and get the house arranged since I was thinking the baby could come at any moment/that he was just waiting for me to get settled. People were texting me everyday for updates and here we are, a week later and zero more contractions.

So I drove up to Walmart to try to return an item I bought from their website (turns out some of the items are non-refundable if they are listed by a reseller/buyer beware-just cuz you're on Walmart's site doesn't mean it abides by Walmart's return policy). Now I am officially done with anything other than regular chores to do. I've written a will, set up life insurance, notarized the will, arranged for the boys' care if anything should happen to me, the bunnies are at my friend's rabbitry, taxes are filed, EVERYTHING has been done.

On the way back from Walmart I was flipping through cds in the car to listen to.. Recently I have been listening to a lot of my 17-21 year old Christian influences (which were few), and I finally got tired of listening to the Danielson Famile's Trying Hartz album, which is a feat in itself, since its so fun and random. I stumbled upon Daniel si Marcel's cd that I havent been listening to and thought it was good to pop that in, since it had made me so happy to hear before.. It brought up good memories with Jeremiah. And the baby needs oxytocin for contractions to get going so I thought it was worth the try.

Much to my surprise, this cd which was such a source of happiness before was starting to make me more and more sad. after about 15 minutes unbearably so. Before the cd had given me the feeling that Jeremiah was close by, and now its just alarmingly apparent he isnt close by. I cant stop thinking about Isaiahs birth, and how much of a help Jeremiah was during that. It was our marriage's mountaintop moment. I was having contractions for a few days, and in the last few hours Jeremiah really helped me carry through. I remember getting dizzy from the lights and the steam from the pool, and they adjusted the lighting, but Jeremiah kept asking me to lock my eyes with his so he could help me breathe through (I have a natural tendency to hold my breath). All I remember are his big beautiful blue eyes and his deep calm voice helping me through the impossible part of the labor. And after a couple more positions Isaiah was here in this world.

After my first checkup with the midwife back in September, she sent some pictures I had never seen before of this moment and I cried immediately since this was the memory that I most cherished of Jeremiah.

Tears again.

these moments were all before his confusion... before our discord... before his loss of self-control... before the bad times. We were still a team.

I'm trying to imagine what this birth will be like, in a new space and without Jeremiah.. We are in a beautiful cottage that has been designed to look like the 1940s, with pastel colors, old books, hymns framed, and pastoral paintings on the walls.

Plus there will be no Jeremiah, and a little Isaiah there. Some have said that hopefully Isaiah can sleep through the birth, which would be very nice. A very sweet older widow woman has offered to occupy Isaiah if he's awake during the birth, which was a relief since I've seen her with him before and they had fun together while we were packing up the house in Peoria.

I have been working on my playlist, since it was a huge help during Isaiah's birth... I am still going through it with a fine tooth comb-the last thing I need is something to be "off", or "throw me off", since it's hard not to feel like I will be going into this whole birth a little "off" already, as Job's dad wont be there physically.

Speaking of, I found an interesting fact about the name "Job".. The true meaning is up for debate, but I did find this one definition of Job that struck a chord within me:

So whether it means NO FATHER, or WHERE IS MY FATHER or HE WILL FATHERIZE it all seems very fitting. After Jeremiah died it was an automatic gut choice to pick the name "Job". I pray Job will look to God as his Father, and ultimately come to terms with the bittersweetness of who exactly his own biological father was ...with the help of a very firm Biblical worldview

With the baby taking his time to arrive, it's given me more time to dwell on things, and come to terms emotionally with where I am in my life and with this birth. I have been blocking out much of the pain to survive and put one foot in front of the other to get ready for this moment... Now I am here and I'm out of daily distractions, and yet its still hard to focus on the pain that I'm feeling from the loss of my best friend.

A couple verses come to mind while I try to sort out my feelings:

Isaiah 40:11; "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young."

Matthew 5:8; 8 "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."

James 4:8; "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded."

Hebrews 12:1-2; "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Hebrews 12:14-15; "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled"

These verses to say, God will lead me gently through this birth... and that I might not be able to see Jeremiah's eyes, but maybe if I can clean out my heart I can see God,... and although he wont be with us physically, it is quite possible Jeremiah is compassed about us, as a cloudy witness to cheer us on to finish this race.

Sorry I don't know how to properly give a well worded ending for this post, as I am left with an ellipsis myself, ...perpetual thought bubbles floating over my head during this time..

dot dot dot...

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ltadoriyuujl · 11 months ago

Text

annotation time!

Sure, he doesn’t mind sweat but it’s her job to take note of wet things and he hates just how much it puts him at her mercy.

she's got him under a microscope and he's the world's most unwilling experiment sigh real romance

spitting out thirty-some balloons and a voice like high tide.

this is such a fun descriptor I'm stealing it asap

It’s gotta be on purpose, little things he knows she could fix but leave just to make him insane. A pencil with squeaky lead, the half dead hem of her uniform skirt– knocking a water glass over shared notes and leaving the paper dry but misshapen when her quirk sucks it all out again.

she's such a menace its so fun

He stares ahead and has entirely forgotten what he’s doing in the hallway besides bracing for a fist fight or doing his best to keep his head above her spicy summer perfume.

the established detail of katsuki having a journal is so real to me bc this is exactly the kinda stuff he would notice, try not to think about, and then think wayyy too hard about. anika changed her lip gloss shade today i hope she chokes on it YOU'RE OBSESSED

“You see my catch today?”

she loves to corner the market on his attention and i fear she's got him hook line and sinker

He never considered how it might feel to have the life pulled from his pores, but her quirk makes it easy and the second she shows up he starts overheating.

opposites attract but in the sense that they could easily be narrative foils

A single afternoon jump from twelve to seven should make #3 Katsuki shudder but he’d have to be brain dead to let his heart beat that fast in this heat.

there's something to be said about the strength of his self-control and how she still manages to test the limits of it

He can’t get hotter than white fire and he could never be more destructive than her, so what could possibly go wrong in a firing oven?

they enable each other they neutralize each other they match each others freak ad infinitum

back in her perfume, back caught in a trap, looking, watching the shapes her eyebrows can make when she isn’t glaring—

this is what i'm talking about HE'S A NOTICER HE SEES EVERYTHING. half the time its really to his own detriment poor guy

“Bombsquad’s here.”

this was literally so funny and so apt she knows how to defuse him but she's fascinated by the aesthetics of his explosion

She lets Mina pull her in by the shoulder while she fills a smitten Kirishima in on details from her sidekick gig and an apparently psychic new neighbor.

KIRIMINA CRUMBS RAHHHH

so much so he splashed the blond with freshly washed hands and got kicked into the fridge.

nooo izu's catching strays...

“You know,” she coos and breaks the seal on crisp frozen air, “When a puppy’s too aggressive you’re supposed to play with their paws.” “You fucking drunk?”

the fact that he didn't even throw out warning sparks here...real love

They can’t let guests in, can’t check their phones, can’t mix a decent drink or queue any good music— Why’d Mina throw this party anyway? Graduation was ages ago. Why did she need balloons twenty minutes before this was all supposed to start? Katsuki simmers beside her, resting his hips on the rounded edge of the counter.

it's all coming together....

His waist is so narrow compared to his shoulders that the hem of his shirt hangs slightly over his jeans, a black belt hugging milk skin in Mina’s obnoxious colored strip lights.

hes so sharp and triangular in every possible way i'm crying

“Not starving like a dog you fuck, starving like the ocean. You’re breathing all my goddamned air so go back to your wasted friends.”

this line made me want to drop to my knees at 8 in the morning. guy who's only ever read "a hymn to black water" voice: wow getting a lot of ahtbw vibes here

Katsuki’s asahi sits four good steps behind him for how far he’s leaned into his frustration and Anika’s legs part to accommodate him at the sticky lip of the counter.

that is all.

Finals and a nasty burglary at their internship agency. The last two awake in a 3A study session and the first awake on the last day of school. Catching the sunrise, they’d both lied.

in another, scarier universe they're the worlds most intense situationship thank god its not this one though

Anika was not built to treat him gently.

It hurts when she wants it to, when the sweat leaves too quickly or explodes while she’s stealing it. She can be gentle. She is gentle with him, the water fell off of his knuckles as if he wanted it to and floats in pools like the tide on her palm.

THE CONTRAST THE PARALLELS I'M CRAWLING ON THE WALLSSS

Doing a favor for a friend, huh? Anika slips off the counter when she understands, finally understands the whole weird evening. Shitty margaritas keep her from exploding and in fact help her reach out for a rapidly escaping Dynamight.

THE DOTS THEY'VE CONNECTED

From another party, another planet, Katsuki bobs under her spice just once, glaring—

Suddenly the apartment is infinitely larger than it should be, stretching and winding with two bad tempers at one end and the rest of their old classmates ogling at the other,

“Hey,” Anika whispers because she knows if it’s anyone, he can hear her through white noise, even tossing on a jacket and kicking on his shoes.

they're literally the only two people in the whole world everyone else is just fluff and dressing. my favorite binary stars

“Seven minutes!” someone hollers from the living room and then wheezes from a blow to the head.

ten bucks this was denki

“Scared she’s gonna steal his secrets or sumthin and take his precious ranking.” There are some grumbles, nods, and Shinsou snorts and ducks his head back out. Right, suicide.

peer pressure is a crazy thing yall stay safe

YESSSS THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT. the love makes the bickering really mean something its a crucial ingredient

He sighs too, and dips too far down for her to stop him, eyes closed, to brush his lips over hers.

bro folded in .2 seconds he's so whipped its actually crazy

His exhale tastes like hops, warm oats in the second Anika gives herself to think before she raises a startled hand and swings, claps it perfect center, into Katsuki’s cheek.

this bit genuinely made me snort on the bus

“You— no, explain myself!” Seven minutes is an awfully long time Anika stares, fingers to her lips.

i imagine during this whole exchange everyone outside is just turning their heads back and forth like it's a tennis volley

“I’m not sorry I kissed you, I’m not sorry we’re fighting—” Her freckles shift with her cheeks and she wets her lips, “It’s hard unless we’re fighting, huh?” “I like fighting with you,” he bites, hint of a smile, like he couldn’t possibly get the thought out fast enough.

asshole4asshole. real love <3

Katsuki did his homework in the common room on nights Anika made dinner. He didn’t say anything when she clipped her hair short, though she only got compliments if he was somewhere in the room. He was always in the room, the first hero to respond to a call for backup, the last person home after a drunk night out, grumpy but inevitably the one you know will answer a text when someone can’t walk on their own.

IT'S ABOUT THE QUALITY TIME THE SHARED SPACE. KNOWING WHO'S WAITING ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR. BINARY STARS I TELL YOU

Anika wraps her fingers in his tshirt to stay standing, suckling, kneading, begging for him to lose slightly more composure and make some noise for her. A tongue across his teeth gets her what she wants.

he can't refuse her anything real men are so back

He holds his weight as much off of her as he can in the tight space and the subtlety of his strength gets steam trickling from her ears.

she wants to be thrown over his shoulder so bad...

He doesn’t need to see to know what kind of face she’s making as she takes his fingers in her mouth and the thought stalls him just long enough— wet, swirling— to— tight— whimper.

you can actually see him planning their honeymoon itinerary in this scene if you look closely

How quickly would her breasts warm in his fingers? How quickly would she—

this the kinda lust they were talking about in the bible

“Alright, jesus!” Mina’s pop pink voice shrills in a sudden wash of light and fresh air and her kitchen monsters startle on the floor. “Party foul! No fucking in the closet.”

another part that made wheeze out loud

Black charcoal is smudged on all fours walls, on every clean sheet on the shelf, drips in streaks and fingerprints over the bruises at both of their throats and generally illustrates the whole incriminating scene.

i felt so bad for mina at this part...her clean sheets...half their next paychecks have to go to her dry cleaning bill

Katsuki blinks up. Anika tightens her lips and Shinsou pretends not to watch through the window but smiles nonetheless in a puff of smoke on the fire escape.

AND THEY ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER YIPPEEEEE

once again pomme my love you have outdone yourself and my gratitude knows no bounds

drive me like a madness, to the sea

bkg x water quirk!oc

"Fluorescent lights, hallway must, caramel and big brown eyes, melting together and at this rate forever waiting on the wrong side of a the party."

this piece was sponsored by the inimitable @ltadoriyuujl for the @ficsforgaza initiative! thank you sm for trusting me with your lovely Anika and for all your patience and guidance. cw seven min/heaven shenanigans including makeout + heavy petting, clothed grinding, manhandling, quirk use, brief description of alcohol use, aggressive banter, and implied audience. stevie nicks. one (1) miserable stint in a sweaty hallway and approximately thirty balloons. 5.9k

Sometimes just touching pages in a book, leafing through chapters, is too much. Damp hands on dry paper– they jump and rub, grate like running fingers between bricks to test how smooth they'll get. Katsuki regrets the paper gift bag he picked, slowly deteriorating in his fist and tries not to linger on the drag of class textbooks or crisp study planners as he pulls a little moleskine from his pocket.

Jun 9

Mina’s, 9pm.

6-1-63-802.

He clamps the A5 shut with his free hand and shoves it back into the depths of the hoodie he shouldn’t have worn. It’s the 1st. It’s 9:30, apartment 802. Why the fuck isn’t anyone answering the door?

The celebration in Mina’s new place thumps like caught fish and Katsuki tries to find new things to notice about the sweltering hallway, no windows, cobwebs under sprinklers, someone rattling around in the elevator a few stories down, and the errant blinking of a security camera, instead of blasting the door off its hinges. He shakes a stray blond strand from the sweat on his forehead and prays Mina can at least afford a box fan after scrounging the last few cents of the security deposit for this place from their penniless friends.

Katsuki doesn’t mind being sweaty. He doesn’t love being stranded in stuffy hallways, but he doesn’t hate the noise at these things; he mostly just hates the laundryproof reek of liquor and cigs but he’s not tapping holes in carpet for fun. Soon a distant dam will break and the floodwater hero he has no chance of outswimming will be perched on the opposite end of a loveseat six asses over capacity. She’ll be here, Anika, inevitable, thunderstorm. Sure, he doesn’t mind sweat but it’s her job to take note of wet things and he hates just how much it puts him at her mercy.

Before he can fish out his phone again to call someone inside, a bell kills the peace of the hallway and the muffled tumult of the elevator shaft bursts when its doors ding first and open, spitting out thirty-some balloons and a voice like high tide.

“Dynamight?”

He doesn’t have to turn around to know it’s her but a choir of two dozen rubbing, kissing, squeaking rubber hellions makes the hair on his arms stand up so fast that he instinctively spins to bear his teeth to it.

“What the fuck?”

Anika, as if summoned by his own dread, struggles through the elevator frame and down the hall in the same black jeans she’s worn all spring and a too-big leather jacket that does nothing to help her manage her cargo. She shakes her head in an attempt to calm some static, “Fuck what? These?” and tips up to the balloons with her chin.

“How are you showing up late with the decorations?”

“You’re just as late as I am.” Anika grunts, shrugging a purse back up her shoulder and dragging her supplies towards the door.

“Sans party essentials.”

She doesn't look like she just got off overtime but contrary to popular belief Katsuki doesn’t have the group chat muted: picking up a shift that afternoon but I’ll be there! Blah, blah. Plus, he knows that charcoal residue. She plays it off as eyeliner when she doesn’t have time to wash her face well in the agency showers. It’s gotta be on purpose, little things he knows she could fix but leave just to make him insane. A pencil with squeaky lead, the half dead hem of her uniform skirt– knocking a water glass over shared notes and leaving the paper dry but misshapen when her quirk sucks it all out again.

Anika doesn’t look like a tsunami, ambling closer in the tight space with a litany of balloons in tow and increasingly irritated he isn’t coming to meet her. She doesn’t look like the hero that apprehended a villain with their tears this afternoon and she certainly doesn’t look like a girl whose slender hands have ever knocked him unconscious. She’s grinning, practically growling through her latex bouquet when she finally manages the journey to Mina’s door and lets her bag drop off her shoulder to the doormat. She rolls her head towards him theatrically, “my hero.”

“Spare me,” Katsuki grimaces. He stares ahead and has entirely forgotten what he’s doing in the hallway besides bracing for a fist fight or doing his best to keep his head above her spicy summer perfume.

“You see my catch today?”

He considers and then grunts, fingering the binding on his notebook to give the hand in his pocket something to do instead of, again, breaking and entering. He did. Balloon static pours off Anika’s chest in waves and the cloy of it at the fuzz on his cheek almost makes him turn to face her. Like the hallway couldn’t get any stuffier. Earth would be too cramped if they were the last things on it.

“That why you’re late?”

She at least has the courtesy in this hell hall to push her ballooned fist away before leaning in close like she might have a secret to tell, “Gimme some credit Dynamight,” and, bad omen, he can taste the smile in her voice before he hears it, “or am I making you nervous?”

Everyday is the day that he met her, transfer student, water quirk, a poor matchup in his sparring class– every conversation or study session or close proximity since that day, has been the sudden agony of his defense peeled off of him like a skinned animal. He never considered how it might feel to have the life pulled from his pores, but her quirk makes it easy and the second she shows up he starts overheating. Is it that obvious? What else can he do but tilt his chin down to finally spare her a glance after so many weeks apart?

It’s a mess. Just a painters wash of freckles on cider brown cheeks and mischief close enough to bite. Anika was not built to treat him gently. Her hair, short, spikes like his with static and tickles the sleeve of his jacket as she waits for him to finally admit that she’s right. She presses closer, predator, purring on his shoulder. Fluorescent lights, hallway must, caramel and big brown eyes, melting together and at this rate forever waiting on the wrong side of a the party.

He rolls his eyes but doesn’t turn away and hopes a few of his teeth are still bared, “What am I supposed to be nervous about, huh? Your nine-week plateau at #12?”

But Anika is not like him. For all her attitude she doesn’t explode off the battlefield and he knows this won’t be the thing that suddenly makes her do anything besides draw the damp off her brow with the trace of a fingernail. She leans away, jostling giggling balloons, “That’s number seven to you.”

A single afternoon jump from twelve to seven should make #3 Katsuki shudder but he’d have to be brain dead to let his heart beat that fast in this heat. Anika, hurricane, bends to collect her purse and knocks on Mina’s door as she rises,

“And what’s in your bag?—or—wait,” and grins. She bats her black lashes up, up, sweat pearling at her temples and in wild baby hairs, “about-to-be-clutch. I know you’re melting that dumb paper handle.”

The inside of kiln is actually a very nice place to be, he concedes. It’s a place Katsuki knows he can’t truly destroy anything. He can’t get hotter than white fire and he could never be more destructive than her, so what could possibly go wrong in a firing oven? What could he do, explode? Cure a porcelain vase or two? She’ll flood the whole hallway, she’ll drown all the guests, there’s nothing he could do to break her. He is melting the paper handles. What here makes him angrier, the fact that she’s right or that he’s smirking too? Albeit, over a frown.

“Well?”

He growls something in response, not important. A curled lip suits her, cocky like a feral cat. His friends get crinkle-eyed smiles and pats on the shoulder. They got to link arms with her on the way to class and they get to hold her hands during hospital stays where she coos and kisses them better. Katsuki gets this, an exclusively mischievous shimmer like glass on the backs of her dark eyes. She’s swimming in that stupid leather jacket. “Well what.”

“Were you gonna knock or are we starting a rival party in the hallway?” Anika adjusts grips on her purse and decorations and wipes at her forehead. Where her fingers graze, sweat pills and pulls gently behind them off of her skin and patters to the floor where she directs it, but the balloons don’t love being jostled and Katsuki continues to hate the sounds they make.

He winces, “already tried.”

“And?”

“Music’s too loud.”

“Perfect, I’ll start setting up out here.”

“I sent a text,” he rolls his eyes and again lets the silence of the hallway descend as he rotates rankings and pearls in his mind.

“What’s wrong with you today?”

What’s wrong with him today. Hm. What? “Eh?” Katsuki blinks himself back into the hallway, back beside her and two dozen balloons, back in her perfume, back caught in a trap, looking, watching the shapes her eyebrows can make when she isn’t glaring—

Anika frowns, “you’re being a freak.”

“Fuck off.”

“Fuck you, what’s your problem? You’re extra quiet, get hurt on patrol?”

It’s time for this door to lose some hinges. Katsuki lets his phone drop back into the soup of his pocket lest it catches a loose spark and leans back, “I’m fucking tired— unlike the rest of you shits, I catch more than one villain a day.”

But it’s not enough, it’s not thrilling, he’s no longer interesting and Anika tucks a charged piece of hair as far behind her ear as it’ll reach before turning away. She knocks again and the vibrations of Mina’s party fill the silence.

“Whatever.”

The balloons are no longer charming and Katsuki’s losing his grip on his bag. He’s drowning, side by side and not trying to tread in the miserable hallway beside her.

Anika pinches her purse on her shoulder with her chin and fishes her phone from its depths while droplets of sweat pluck themselves from her skin to fall in a pretty ring around her. Irritated or glowing with joy, Anika always looks the same. Face of a hero, Katsuki supposes, even stranded in his company. She concentrates constantly, more with the bridge of her nose than anything else, crinkled asymmetrically between her eyes. She watches wet things and she is never wrong.

“Fucking Hanta—” she growls and pulls her phone away from her cheek to dial another number. “If you don’t—” But she doesn’t get to finish.

Katsuki’s hand jumps damp from his pocket and flies for red balloon strings as he turns. Anika startles, propelling her balloons even faster towards the spiked sprinklers above, half dropping her phone, and fully dropping the the sweat from her brow into an eye. The first pop is horrid in the silence. Like Katsuki’s heart could beat any faster. He jerks the bundle of strings down from the stucco ceiling and flies so much closer to her than he meant to, faces mirrored in sickly light— pop! The second comes quickly, worse, but not so much worse than the third— Pop pop! Four more bursts rattle the sticky hallway and Katsuki winces every time, but Anika only stares, one hand on her eye and the other still holding an ever-wilting and only partially floating bouquet, through the noise above them.

Mina’s door soars open, purple lights, music, burnt pizza, and he and Anika both turn, tucked into one another. Her hunched and biting back laughter and Katsuki grimacing, mid lunge for party decorations.

Kaminari grins as Katsuki’s bag fails— rips right off its soaked handle, plops to floor— and leans against the door he opened.

“Bombsquad’s here.”

Katsuki perches at the edge of the kitchen only just barely still in Anika’s field of vision. He’s miserable, obviously, and nursing his headache with a beer.

“Drinking it would help more.”

He glares before the words even leave her mouth, to his group of friends and Anika perched among them, sprawled out on Mina’s unfurnished floor. He grips the asahi pressed to his forehead a little too hard and its uncracked tab wheezes with pressure. He’s already finished two. Anika knows better than anyone what a lightweight he is and how much he hates it— how much he hates a lot of things these days.

Mina, Sero, Kirishima, Uraraka, Momo, Kaminari and some kids from old class-B cluster in the living room where a sofa should go and more importantly, in the crosswind between two windows. There’s a fire escape Katsuki keeps eyeing from his storm cloud, but Shinsou’s been out there smoking with half-n-half for the past hour. Drinks splash, groups laugh, and music floods the little one-bedroom in waves from genkan to linen closet. Anika slipped her phone in the aux line up when her friends finally pulled themselves away from go-fish long enough to let her and Katsuki in. It’s been a little less Party Rock Anthem On Repeat and slightly more Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits since. Smells like school. She lets Mina pull her in by the shoulder while she fills a smitten Kirishima in on details from her sidekick gig and an apparently psychic new neighbor.

Parties after work are like falling asleep in her parents’ backseat. The white noise of people she loves, though, there are fewer mcguyvered margaritas on family roadtrips. “Be right back,” Anika smiles into her friend's ear and kisses her cheek before rising on a mission for ice. Everyone’s distracted today. Maybe it’s the heat.

Katsuki growls at anyone who walks past and almost gave Deku a heart attack when he came out of the bathroom, so much so he splashed the blond with freshly washed hands and got kicked into the fridge.

“Can I reach for the freezer or am I gonna get a black eye?”

“Try me.”

Katsuki doesn’t crack as she approaches, but still moves to let her close.

“You know,” she coos and breaks the seal on crisp frozen air, “When a puppy’s too aggressive you’re supposed to play with their paws.”

“You fucking drunk?”

Anika smiles into the artificial breeze and directs six ice cubes out of their tray with a finger. Even Dynamight, elven in his rage, can’t be bothered to quip or fight today. Can’t even be bothered to go home. What planet did everyone ship off to without her? They can’t let guests in, can’t check their phones, can’t mix a decent drink or queue any good music— Why’d Mina throw this party anyway? Graduation was ages ago. Why did she need balloons twenty minutes before this was all supposed to start? Katsuki simmers beside her, resting his hips on the rounded edge of the counter.

“You feeling particularly territorial?” She drags an ice cube over the back of his hand as she closes the door and ducks slightly to avoid recoil. His forehead beer shrieks with more pressure but neither ice nor punches fly.

“M’not your dog.”

“Not with that attitude you’re not.” She plucks a floater from the counter and dumps it in the sink behind them. He’s got no bark today, nothing’s made him bite.

Katsuki glares over his shoulder into the small sea of people chattering and setting games up on the floor. He glows. Fairy lights fizzle at the base of his neck where sweat stains the ripple of back muscles and his cotton t-shirt. Every part of him is heavy and polished. He is intentional even with his back turned. A skull hoodie hangs in the entryway and Anika can pick out his shoes from thirty others because of how particularly he lays them together. She lifts her hips over the counter to sit. He’ll let her closer. He always does even if only to get in striking range.

“You’re soaked, short-fuse.”

“First day with eyes?”

Can he feel her eyes tracing his throat? His waist is so narrow compared to his shoulders that the hem of his shirt hangs slightly over his jeans, a black belt hugging milk skin in Mina’s obnoxious colored strip lights. Katsuki reeks of caramel. He finally turns back around. “Don’t look at me like that.”

Anika pretends like she hasn’t been watching and flicks the tap water on to fill her cup, “Like what?”

“Like you’re starving. I’m not in the mood.”

“You’re fucking delusional,” she huffs, nursing water, “You’re the mutt here not me. And I’ve been eating, unlike someone whose too focused on looking cool to join the goddamned party.”

“Not in the mood.”

“When are you ever.”

Katsuki’s beer finally cracks when he drops it on the counter. The two heroes hiss without a/c in an apartment they don’t realize is watching them. Always a fist fight, he is always just one wrong look away from snapping or bursting but never storming away and today is no different even if he tries to feign disinterest. He can’t pretend forever in their kiln for two. She’ll wash away the clay.

“Not starving like a dog you fuck, starving like the ocean. You’re breathing all my goddamned air so go back to your wasted friends.”

“I’m keeping one company right now.”

His jaw puffs as he grinds his teeth, “Just leave me alone.”

“You’re avoiding me.”

“Bump up a few ranks and suddenly you think you’re the people’s fucking princess—”

“Oi—”

“—you’re not the center of the universe tsunami.”

“Why’d you even come if you’re just gonna sulk in here away from everyone?”

“I’m doing an infinitely shittier and shittier friend a fucking favor being here and putting up with interrogation practice from the worst bad cop in the country wasn’t part of our agreement.”

Katsuki’s asahi sits four good steps behind him for how far he’s leaned into his frustration and Anika’s legs part to accommodate him at the sticky lip of the counter. His white knuckles go pink. It’s been two weeks since she’s seen him outside of a television screen and nine since they’ve been alone. Finals and a nasty burglary at their internship agency. The last two awake in a 3A study session and the first awake on the last day of school. Catching the sunrise, they’d both lied.

“You’re beating the shit out of anyone that comes into the kitchen, just go home if you hate it here so badly.”

“I can think of something,” he growls, closer, “that’ll make me hate it less.”

“m’not letting you kick Deku again.”`

He stops short of shouting but it’s too late to hide from her now. He forgot he was trying. “You got your ice now git, back out to sea or wherever the fuck you stir shit for a living.” Stevie fucking Nicks moans somewhere in the thrum of their friends and their friends and those friends’ terrible mixology skills as clear liquor stings every nose in the room and both of the kitchen monsters pretend like their ears aren’t hot with drink. From another party, another planet, Katsuki bobs under her spice just once, glaring— how could he not, she’s one breath away pressed back into the counter between his arms and curling her own fingers over his without looking away.

“Still soaked,” Anika hisses and a door slams somewhere as Katsuki snatches her wrist with Dynamight strength to keep her quirk from killing him.

Sparring with her is suicidal, the only way to win is in close quarters after Katsuki has enough ammunition hidden to hold her tight and detonate. He’s knocked them both unconscious fourteen times. She’s won conscious twice and tonight might make three because Anika’s grin explodes cheshire with her back on kitchen tiles and a dripping hand crushed at the wrist.

“Have it back,” she purrs and before she can flex her fingers, before Katsuki can lunge, someone whistles from the living room.

“You’re up, bombsquad.”

Suddenly the apartment is infinitely larger than it should be, stretching and winding with two bad tempers at one end and the rest of their old classmates ogling at the other, fingers on their noses. Shinsou pokes a head through the window and all the sweat drops from Anika’s hand to the floor.

The linen closet, the walk-in beside the bedroom door, hangs open in white light with Momo and Jiro scurrying out to much fanfare. Uraraka must have been the one who slammed the door open because she stands beside it now bashfully checking the wall behind it for holes.

“Nose went, sorry guys.”

Katsuki backs off before Anika can kick him and more quickly than he’s moved all night, reaches for his hoodie.

“Not so fast Kats!” Kirishima grins. He’s humoring Kaminari’s burnt pizza with one hand and rubbing his nose with the other on a makeshift cardboard stool beside the window. Doing a favor for a friend, huh? Anika slips off the counter when she understands, finally understands the whole weird evening. Shitty margaritas keep her from exploding and in fact help her reach out for a rapidly escaping Dynamight. “Katsuki!” Kirishima whines again, “Please!”

“I told you he wouldn’t!”

“Leave them alone,” Momo tries to soothe but Jiro covers her mouth and kisses the back of her palm.

“Hey,” Anika whispers because she knows if it’s anyone, he can hear her through white noise, even tossing on a jacket and kicking on his shoes. The crowd boos and she presses closer “Katsuki.”

“Fuck off! M’not playing juvenile drinking games.”

“Thought you weren’t drunk,” she pushes just a little too far and resists flinching when the hero jolts back around, crackling, snarling. Her hand lands on his chest instead of an arm when he pressed in and the force pushes her back.

“You knew. Fuck ev—!”

“I didn’t Kats—“

“Going home.”

“I’m—” she doesn’t want that, “I shouldn’t have teased—” and grips the fabric over his heart just a little bit tighter so he won’t leave without a fight. “It was too much. Can I just talk to you for a minute?”

“Seven minutes!” someone hollers from the living room and then wheezes from a blow to the head.

“Whatever, can we just talk for seven minutes? God knows when I'll see you after tonight.”

Katsuki’s frozen mid-hoodie to glare, hunched; damp little hands on his chest where he can’t hide his heartbeat. Anika wipes a running pearl from the curve Katsuki’s collarbone. No quirk this time. It’s faint but Sero murmurs into a bad drink, “Scared she’s gonna steal his secrets or sumthin and take his precious ranking.” There are some grumbles, nods, and Shinsou snorts and ducks his head back out. Right, suicide.

"Start the timer,” Dynamight growls.

It takes four seconds for Katsuki’s hoodie to hit the back wall (and whip Denki with the zipper) and for the kitchen monsters to cross the humming room towards the linen closet. “Seven,” he spits to the closest onlooker, Uraraka, who startles and juggles her phone in her hands a few times before getting a hold of herself. Katsuki slams the door behind his company without looking back and there’s an unspoken consensus that this wouldn’t have been such an excellent idea sober.

It wouldn’t have happened sober, it barely happened tipsy and Anika tries to gauge the difference between gin and water in her veins before fumbling for the lights. Immediately, the skin between her thighs is damp. The heat of such a tight space would be unbearable if it weren’t for a little stained glass window and the crosswind from under the door, but still, she considers in the dark, it’s miserable. Momo’s bodysuit was stained gray from sweat and Jiro wasn’t just pink from a kiss or two.

“They’re trying to kill us,” she huffs, and cracks the little window before pulling on the light. Katsuki beats her to it.

He’s a dick but he’s not belligerent, and more than anything he’s made to be a hero. He made himself to save people, his parents made him to love him and his friends love to have him. Anika loves to have him. Even if he takes up all the room in this box with his overworked chest and red glare, it shouldn’t matter how weird he’s acting and she shouldn’t be so childish.

“Short-fuse,” she sighs, and turns. Apologies suck, but she’s not a student anymore, she’s not a intern, she’s not even in college, she’s a hero, they’re grown they’re busy, and she’ll devolve forever into immature goads cos he’ll let her. They don’t have enough time anymore to be kids or be close or pretend. “Katsuki—”

He sighs too, and dips too far down for her to stop him, eyes closed, to brush his lips over hers. His exhale tastes like hops, warm oats in the second Anika gives herself to think before she raises a startled hand and swings, claps it perfect center, into Katsuki’s cheek. The whole affair is noisy like they’re two crabs boxing in a paper bag. He stumbles into a towel rack, clutching his face, Anika holding her own and both of them staring, both of them slack jawed, as someone turns her music down outside.

“What the fuck!” She squeals after getting a grip on the windowsill behind her.

He can’t back up any farther than the doorframe and with his back on wood Katsuki, barks “I could say the same!” holding tight to his red face.

“I— I was trying to a apologize first!”

“First?! You were gonna kiss me anyway but when I beat you to it I get a concussion!”

“No— well, wait— apologize before you, you could—!”

“Could what!”

“I was gonna explain!”

“You hadn’t even done a fucking thing yet what would you have explained?!”

“You— no, explain myself!” Seven minutes is an awfully long time Anika stares, fingers to her lips. She hadn’t thought about what to do after apologizing, or how badly she needed to kiss him. Needs to kiss him. “I was— I just, miss you.”

Katsuki howls before freezing, before his face drops from harsh lines to one smooth stare.

“I haven’t seen you! I don’t get to see you, at home, at work, and when I finally do you won’t even talk to me. You won’t—” Anika swallows and tilts her head side to side before trying to look back up. She fingers a short piece of hair by her ear, “You don’t like parties, you don’t like anyone but Kirishima I don’t know how I’m supposed to see you anymore and I finally get the chance and I act like a second-year, I— you— you were lying. I knew something was wrong— or you were thinking about something or— er— and I was just so excited you actually came, I would talk to you about anything, you could told me about paint drying, but you’ve been acting so weird all night and I just,” Anika heaves, her hand falls from her mouth and takes up the job of a fist, “I’m sorry.”

Katsuki flinches, slightly more wide eyed than sobriety would usually allow him, a foot or two away from one of his favorite people and the cling of her summer perfume. “You’re not an idiot,” he sighs.

“You’re not listening!”

“I’m always listening.”

“You’re never getting a fucking apology from me again.”

“I don’t want one.”

“Gun to my head.”

“I never want another, don’t apologize.” This closet is not up to code so Katsuki moves slowly to avoid splinters and another blow to the head.

“I shouldn’t have used my quirk,” Anika sneers, “I’m sorry.”

“Stop it.”

She pushes off the back wall, “M’sorry for teasing you about that dumb paper bag,” freckles and sweat mixing. She has never been wrong.

“Anika.”

“I’m sorry you’re stuck in here with me.”

Every thought is one inch closer, “I’m not.” Until Katsuki can lift his hands just and inch and her jaw is there waiting to fit perfectly into them.

“It’s your turn.”

“I’m not sorry.”

She sucks her teeth but lets him closer.

“I’m not sorry I kissed you, I’m not sorry we’re fighting—”

Her freckles shift with her cheeks and she wets her lips, “It’s hard unless we’re fighting, huh?”

“I like fighting with you,” he bites, hint of a smile, like he couldn’t possibly get the thought out fast enough. “I just, I don’t know how anymore. We don’t live together, we don't work together—”

Anika smiles back, “How long?”

“Two years.”

“How long left?”

“Five minutes.”

It’s enough, she traces the back of his clammy neck and dips into a kiss.

She always imagined him more timid than this, to kiss, a nerd too nervous to hold hands, but Katsuki presses as deeply as she’ll let him and they both fumble towards a wall. Four legs tangled, he holds the back of her head away from wood and glass and bites a lip to keep her close. Anika wraps her fingers in his tshirt to stay standing, suckling, kneading, begging for him to lose slightly more composure and make some noise for her. A tongue across his teeth gets her what she wants. Katsuki grabs her wrists and throws them over his shoulders so she has something to hold when he hoists her off her feet and onto the top of the step ladder.

“y’move too much,” he growls knowing she can’t hear him, knowing he might not have even said anything and melting a little when her tongue slips gently under his. He has to cup her cheeks to keep from falling over. He’s not close enough. Anika pulls him the only place he can still move, crumbling on top of her and poised on the steps of a shitty metal stool. He fits between her legs like a puzzle and she gasps into his mouth when he rolls too deep.

“Bad sound?” he startles and settles again when Anika shakes her head with her hands in his hair. Not bad, not drunk, not gentle, she wants to watch him fall apart but she’ll cherish a dark closet on a sticky night if that’s the best the universe can do on such short notice. He holds his weight as much off of her as he can in the tight space and the subtlety of his strength gets steam trickling from her ears.

He drags a thumb over the swell of her lip to catch his breath in the heat but she shudders and chases his hand with her tongue. God, if he was clammy before. Anika clutches his shirt and his wrist and for more than a second Katsuki skewers commons sense to the wall. She sucks just hard enough to pull the tip of his thumb past her lips. Too hot, it’s too hot, Katsuki is soaked, sweat floods the swell of his chest and drips between his knuckles. He doesn’t need to see to know what kind of face she’s making as she takes his fingers in her mouth and the thought stalls him just long enough— wet, swirling— to— tight— whimper. Katsuki snatches her jaw with his fist and buries his face in the damp of her neck. Salty, she trembles when he kisses her there and makes a frazzled sound when he growls.

“Don’t,” he groans with slightly more sense, “my quirk—"

“I’m waterproof.”

“Y’rnot bombproof.”

“Well don’t light a candle,” she grins into the dim and him with her, dragging his lips from her ear to her throat and sinking his teeth into the pulse of her perfume.

He likes the sound she makes when he bites even more so he does it again. Again, he pulls the fragile skin between his lips and soothes over the welts he makes with his tongue when her fingers start to dance on his chest. Between her lips and her collar bone he rises to kiss her and falls to bruise her on the path that makes her breathe loudest and when she finally has to cover her mouth he pauses and kneads harder. How quickly would her breasts warm in his fingers? How quickly would she—

“Katsuki,” Anika huffs above him and his eyes dart to hers, glowing black in the moonlight. “How long?”

“Don’t care.”

She drags her fingers over his forehead and claws through the front of his hair without another word. Her nails are heaven on his scalp. As much as he hates to look away, his eyes roll and she swallows, sinking off the steps and into the crook of his neck. Better, her lips are better than her nails and when her hair tickles his chin it’s all Katsuki can do not to dissolve around her. Anika works gingerly and she pulls the collar of his shirt down to reach the parts of him she wants. His ear, throat, the vibrating skin above his heart, all bloom in pink bruises while her nails rake his shoulder. He manages to drag his hands up her waist and bite his own tongue to stay quiet, but hardly more than that. Melt into her lips when she lets him. They sink together into a spot between stacked towels and a previously functional laundry horse and forget for the next however long that there will be things to talk about in the world outside of Mina’s linen closet. Forget sleep, forget work and shitty apartments, forget clothes— Katsuki's hands glide over wet skin and under the hem of Anika’s top. Every inch closer is the drum of her heart and her clumsy desperate fingers tugging at his belt loops in gasps caught between their lips.

“Alright, jesus!” Mina’s pop pink voice shrills in a sudden wash of light and fresh air and her kitchen monsters startle on the floor. “Party foul! No fucking in the closet.” Katsuki’s hoodie sails over Mina’s shoulder from the crowd and onto Anika’s head.

His tshirt is a v-neck in four different places and Anika’s hair spikes in every direction but the one that she styled it in after work. Black charcoal is smudged on all fours walls, on every clean sheet on the shelf, drips in streaks and fingerprints over the bruises at both of their throats and generally illustrates the whole incriminating scene.

“Happy?” Mina’s overliquored drink rolls her eyes for her and she turns back around to the stunned crowd, spilling a little onto Sero, “everyone happy? Can we please have normal parties now? One’s that don’t gamble with my security deposit.” She turns again, overshooting it, ignoring the hands Kirishima hovers right over the spot her head would land if she tipped over, “And you two, did we fix you or was was this a terrible idea?”

Katsuki blinks up. Anika tightens her lips and Shinsou pretends not to watch through the window but smiles nonetheless in a puff of smoke on the fire escape.

#rambles #annotations #my little barbie and ken doll im smashing them together to make them kiss #bakugou x oc #bakugo x oc #pomme i love youuu

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smalls-words · 3 years ago

Text

Deafening Silence

Summary: This is a prequel to Silence Speaks When Words Can’t, so go read that before you read this (even though, chronologically, this comes before it). Because of this, it’s got a lot of jumps in it :)

Pairings: ScarletWidow x Fem!Healer!Reader

Genre: Fluff and Angst

Warnings: Fainting/Passing out, light coma,

Requested: YES/no

Words: 2,922

A/N: I hate uni. That’s it, go read.

*not my gifs*

Like your normal days, the sun broke through the window and shone on your face, waking you up abruptly. Little spots danced between your eyes until they healed, making you sigh as you got up to get ready for the day.

You didn’t have much to do, but you really wanted to get it done - Wanda and Natasha were coming home, along with the rest of the team, but they didn’t give you the time that they would be back. So, you decided to get started early so that you could be prepared for any time.

You started in the kitchen, whipping up some cupcakes and cookies whilst following Wanda’s recipes. You knew that she had enchanted them so that only you, Natasha and herself could open them, but Natasha can’t cook to save her life, so it was really only you two.

You popped the cupcakes in the top oven and the cookies in the bottom oven. “FRIDAY, can you tell me when they’re done?”

“Of course, Ms L/N.” The AI responded.

You set out to decorate the living room, kitchen and dining room with as many ‘welcome home’ decorations as you could find, even printing some little figurines of them all with Tony’s 3D printer. You smiled at the mini versions of your girlfriends and placed them on top of the little tower you made, filled with sweet and savoury treats.

You collected the cookies and cupcakes when FRIDAY told you they were done and you had to wait to ice the cupcakes, not wanting the icing to melt. After the recommended time you found in Wanda’s notes, you set some aside and decorated the rest with some plain white icing.

Then, you went back to those cupcakes, dyed the icing, and took extra special care with the now red-and-black icing to make it swirl upwards in the way you knew Wanda did to make them perfect.

You put them in the fridge to let it all set whilst you piled the cookies onto several plates, getting chips and other snacks before you sat down on the couch.

Now, you had to wait.

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7 o’clock at night. You waited the whole freaking day, and now you felt like an idiot. You wasted all of the ingredients, Tony’s printer materials, the balloons, the decorations, and you sulked on the couch whilst you scrolled through your phone.

You smiled weakly at the sight of your girlfriends in your camera roll. Wanda, as per usual, had spilled something on her shirt and Natasha was ready to lick it off, but the witch’s power held her back as she grabbed a cloth instead. You chuckled as you remembered Natasha’s words, which you swore never to repeat.

With a stroke of need, you dialled Natasha, knowing full well she wouldn’t pick up.

“Y/N/N? What’s wrong, honey?”

You sniffled, confused. “Tasha?”

“Hi, baby. Are you okay? Is everything okay at the compound?”

“Yeah. Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine.” You tried to hide the evidence of your tears, but she knew better than that.

“We’ll be home in about half an hour, unless you want us to pick up dinner on the way home?”

“No! I mean, no, just… just come home.” You murmured, cursing yourself for sounding so desperate.

“Okay. Do you wanna say hi to Wanda?”

“HI Y/N/N!” The witch yelled through.

You chuckled softly. “Hi, my love.”

“How are you feeling? Was last night’s call helpful?”

You briefly remembered calling them, unable to get to sleep, and you nodded before you remembered you weren’t on FaceTime. “Yeah, it really helped, Wands. Thank you, both of you.”

You heard a playful ‘aw’ from Tony and rolled your eyes. “Shut up, Stark.”

“Rude!” He scoffed, but chuckles came from all around.

“We love you, Y/N, we’ll be home soon.”

“Bye-bye.” You muttered weakly, hanging up.

You pulled the blanket from the side of the couch on top of you and sighed happily, ready to be in your girlfriends’ arms once more.

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When you woke a few hours later to the sound of FRIDAY’s alert, you shot up and felt your stomach churning.

“Ms L/N, get to the medical room now.”

You sprinted down the hallway, not liking the feeling in your chest as it crept around your heart, squeezing it like it was the prey of a boa. You saw a pretty banged up Steve and Tony walk past and light touches to their arms healed them completely.

You needed your girls. Now.

You finally got to the medical rooms and saw them lying in side-by-side beds, horror running through you as you saw Natasha’s body spasm whilst the doctors tried to get her under control. You sped to her side and took her hand, only for Wanda to start crashing too.

“Everybody out!” You yelled over the commotion, the doctors questioning your methods until Thor came in and asked them to get out too.

You whipped around and pressed a hand to his chest, healing him too, before you took Natasha and Wanda’s hands. Wisps of green began to emanate from your conjoined hands as your knees shook, every ounce in your body fighting to both heal them and to keep yourself upright.

“Lady Y/N, it won’t work! You’ll kill yourself in the process, stop!” Thor begged, but you shook your head.

“If I die saving them, then it’s a worthy sacrifice. The world needs the Avengers.”

“But they need you.”

You shook your head and felt it get lighter and lighter. “The world… needs… them.”

You felt your knees hit the ground as that feeling around your heart constricted further, making it impossible to breathe until you let go of Natasha and Wanda’s hands, catching yourself before you could face plant into the cold tiles.

You heard them cough and splutter whilst you groaned on the floor, feeling two meaty hands lift you like you weighed nothing more than a feather. Their words made you recognise them as Thor’s hands, but two pairs of thin, nimble ones came to your chest and face.

“Y/N/N, STAY AWAKE, PLEASE!”

It sounded a million miles away, like you were drifting through space and someone was talking to you through the comms. You marvelled at the stars in your vision, finding constellations where there were none, and slumped into the bed previously occupied by Wanda.

“Wel… Welcome… home.” You muttered before you passed out.

Natasha and Wanda looked at your still form with complete fear and guilt running through them. Only hours ago, you had called them with tears evident in your tone and they had told you they would be home soon.

But Fury called them and they had to fight all over again, with half-full magazines and fatigued bodies, they were losing against the smaller, second mission. However, Thor summoned a bolt of lightning so powerful that it fried all of their enemies, leaving him with a few jets to commandeer and bring them all home. He had called in doctors by calling Maria, but he knew what would happen if you were alerted.

Now, it was their turn to wait.

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It took four days for you to wake up properly. You had faded in and out of your unconscious state, uncertainty and fear coursing through you but the one constant was seeing Natasha and Wanda by your bedside.

During those brief moments of consciousness, Natasha would be running her fingers through your hair whilst Wanda spoke to you softly, giving you words of encouragement and promises that they wouldn’t leave your side.

They kept their promises with every time your eyes opened, making sure they were awake to help you calm down or to ease your mind. Wanda monitored your unconscious state with her magic whilst Natasha’s eyes never seemed to stray from your vitals.

But now, you were fully awake without either of them there.

“F-FRIDAY?” You asked softly.

“Yes, Ms L/N?” She asked just as softly as your voice, not wanting to startle you.

“W-Where’s Tasha a-and Wanda?” You shivered underneath your blankets.

“I will alert them that you are awake. Unfortunately, you are not in a Stark bed, so I cannot help you warm up. I will alert Mr Stark about that.”

You nodded mindlessly and kept your eyes closed, the lights around you quite bright, and you only opened them when you heard two pairs of boots stop suddenly outside of your room.

“Y/N/N!” Wanda cried, hurtling towards you with a tear-filled hug whilst Natasha came to your side and held your hand.

“How are you feeling?”

“Tired, but I just had a four-day nap.” You chuckled weakly, but neither of them found it humorous.

Wanda sat further down on your lap and noticed how you shivered, with Natasha already on it considering your vitals were giving her a warning.

“Get off her, Wanda.” The Widow muttered.

The witch climbed off of you but never fully left you, still holding your hand, and Natasha brought you some more blankets.

“FRIDAY, can you ask Tony or someone to put some soup in the microwave?”

“Of course, Ms Romanoff.”

The two of them sat by your side but you could see the emotion on their face, looking down at your blankets as you cuddled up further into them.

“Why, Y/N/N?” Natasha asked, her voice broken on the question.

“You were dying. Both of you.” You answered, not looking at either of them.

“The doctors-”

“They weren’t even close to saving you.” You spat as you interrupted Wanda.

“I could feel you slipping away. Your bodies… they- they were thrashing on the beds, your eyes rolled back into your heads- do you know how terrifying that is? To see the two women in your life as nothing more than bodies flopping around like dying fish?”

“Thor told us that you said something about saving us, about how the world needs us. What about us needing you?” Natasha finally pulled your eyes away by holding your jaw.

“Hmm? Whilst you were using your life force to heal ours, did you even stop to think about that? About how broken we’d be if you weren’t here?”

“You would have had each other… You’d have been fine.” You murmured, pushing her hand off of your face.

“No, Y/N, we wouldn’t have been ‘fine’.” Wanda growled.

“Everybody says that when you lose someone you love, a piece of your heart goes with them. You know how many people I’ve lost. How many more pieces do you think I have?”

You hid under your blankets and closed your eyes, a thought creeping through your mind before you dismissed it.

But Wanda heard it. “Seriously? Wishing to go back to sleep and not having to deal with this? Y/N, that’s low.”

“I wanted you to come home!” You snapped, throwing all of the blankets off of you even though that was a hard task.

“I wanted you in my arms, safe at 7:30, when you promised! I spent an entire day getting the compound ready for a nice relaxed evening, but you decided to go play more heroes! I didn’t think I’d be here, sitting in a medical bed, arguing with you about how I nearly died saving you! The world doesn’t even know I exist, because I don’t have superpowers like you! I’m a healer! It’s my calling to heal the wounded! I can’t control it, even if I tried!”

You stood up and found a renewed strength in you as you ripped the wires off of your body and sent the machines into a cacophony of beeping.

“If you died, everybody would blame me for letting two of the best Avengers die! But if I died, nobody would bat an eyelash because evidently, I’m not that important!” You marched out of the room and ignored the way that Tony had brought your soup, only to come back and thank him softly.

“How are you feeling, kiddo?” He asked, walking with you.

“Dumb, stupid girlfriends.” You muttered, sipping on the soup as you subconsciously followed him into his lab.

He chuckled and sat down on his chair, leaving you to do the same on his wheeled stool. You shivered slightly and took another spoonful of soup, but froze when you felt something being placed on your back.

You watched as the suit built outwards and surrounded your body, sighing into the warmth of the heater. “Thank you, Tony.”

“Don’t worry about it. Those cupcakes you made were delicious, by the way. And the figurines? Those were cool.”

You smiled, happy to have your efforts acknowledged and appreciated. “Thanks, Tony. Can… Can I keep the suit? Just for now, ‘cause I’m cold?”

“Yeah, sure. You can ‘keep it’ keep it if you want. I don’t really use it since I’ve built a heater into all of my suits now.” He shrugged, watching you smile as you left.

You entered the kitchen and saw a small note on the last cupcake decorated with green icing, confused since you didn’t make any green icing. “For Y/N - if anybody eats this, we will kill you.” You read aloud, chuckling softly.

You flipped it over as you saw some writing on the back. ‘Y/N - please come and find us when you see this magical cupcake. Love, Tasha and Wands xx’. You blushed and put the note in your pocket before you abandoned your soup and took your cupcake.

You searched through the compound, holding your cupcake with both hands, and heard a familiar sound coming from your bedroom. You slowly walked towards it and hid against the wall, listening to the two voices inside.

“Hurry up, Wanda, she’s gonna be here any minute!”

“I’m trying to pick between green sheets and red sheets which is already stressing enough, so will you calm down?! God, it’s like the first night we became a throuple.”

You chuckled softly, remembering that night filled with lots of blushing, lots of stolen kisses, and lots and lots of affection.

“FRIDAY, where’s Y/N?”

“She’s outside.”

“Fuck!”

You stepped into the doorframe and almost burst out laughing at the scene in front of you. Candles along the bottom of the TV were lit whilst snacks, drinks and pizza were on the side table. Meanwhile, the bed was in shambles as Wanda’s magic turned the sheets green and Natasha was so swept up in the duvet cover that she had gotten lost.

“Wanda? Why’s everything quiet?” Natasha asked.

You snickered softly and watched her freeze, moving around the bed to help her out of the cover. You smirked as her cheeks turned bright red before you kissed them softly, turning to Wanda as you leaned on Natasha.

“Struggling to choose, my love? You know what my favourite colours are.”

She smiled softly and changed them to red and black, sighing in relief before she walked over to you. “I see Tony has had his fair share of time with you.”

You shook your head as you laughed through your nose. “You two get so jealous so quickly.”

Natasha’s arms laced around your waist and hummed at the belt buckle - it was both of their symbols layered on one another. “You’re our girl.”

You grinned and kissed her cheek until Wanda pulled you in by the belt and hugged you tightly. “Come on, it’s time for us to apologise.”

You shook your head and tried to move out of her arms, but her magic picked up the both of you and placed you in the bed. Natasha crawled in behind and pressed the symbol on your back, the suit folding away before she chucked it blindly into the room.

“Hey!” You barked playfully, only for her lips to seal over yours.

You pressed slightly against them as Natasha’s tongue swept across your bottom lip, but she pushed no further. Wanda soon replaced hers and you sighed satisfactorily into it, her lips leaving yours whilst she moved your head to rest on her chest.

“We’re sorry for getting mad at you, love. We shouldn’t have.” She murmured, beginning to twist your hair through her fingers.

“You are so important to us, dorogaya (darling), and we’d be devastated if we lost you. Please, just… you don’t have to go full throttle, okay?” Natasha kissed the back of your neck.

“Okay.” You sighed.

“Maybe Wanda can help you learn to control those urges to heal us. Hey, Wands?”

“Always.” She responded, kissing your temple.

“Now, who’s hungry?” You asked, gesturing to your cupcake.

Wanda hovered it in the air and cut it perfectly into three, licking the green icing off of your nose whilst Natasha licked it on your cheek, just out of reach of your lips.

“Stop licking me.” You grumbled, but they both chuckled.

“I think cuddles and movies are in order.” Wanda declared, making you grin with Natasha as she put your favourite movie on.

They fed you some slices of pizza and made sure you drank a lot of water before your eyelids became heavy and you struggled to keep them open. You felt soft touches on your cheek and looked over to see Wanda’s fingers creeping closer to your eyelids.

“Shut them, detka (baby). Tasha and I are not leaving you for a while.” She murmured, shutting your eyelids for you.

“But I wanna watch the movie…” You grumbled quietly.

“You can finish it in the morning.” Natasha snickered, gliding her fingers along your bicep before you fell asleep to the sounds of their heartbeats.

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