#dum dum against him in little ways so these kind of comments happen a lot except this time he actually means it genuinely :') and he doesn'

[wraithsoutlaws]

"Fuck you," he says again, but this time the words are cinched between a smile.

[artist-issues]

Birds do it, bees do it, educated fleas do it,

let’s do it, let’s 

REMAKE THE LIGHT FURY

Toothless used to be a realistic creature, designed to balance on the visual knife blade’s edge between appealing and terrifying. He borrowed his coloration from panthers and manta rays and his movement from cats because they are real animals that master that cute-fierce combo, too. He could look menacing and then loveable at the drop of a hat. 

Then in HTTYD 2 somebody hit him with the Puppy Stick. I haven’t seen any better explanation of the visual problems with Toothless from HTTYD 1 to HTTYD 3 other than this Reddit user’s, so we’re just going to skip trying. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/httyd/comments/qasmwo/toothless_head_comparison_by_durkishdragon/

Read that. Anyway. Let’s move on to the Light Fury.  Everyone’s talked over and over the problems with the Light Fury’s design. So I don’t think I need to go into depth with that, either. Suffice to say, I believe that the way a character is designed should reflect their purpose in the story. She was never meant to be a species that was exciting to learn more about, unlike the Bewilderbeast or the Night Fury. She was just meant for cute interactions with Toothless. I think her design, sad as it is, reflects that lazy story direction. 

BUT NOT OUR REDESIGNS. And mine is no exception! If I’m going to change the story structure of HTTYD 3 (and I am) then the Light Fury has to change, big time. 

First we’ll talk about the species. 

We all know there are more than one Light Fury visible in the third film, and that’s the idea I hinged my little “fix it” re-write of HTTYD3 on in this post. I’m not going to restate it, but a lot of it focuses on Hiccup and Toothless discovering a whole Fury Flock who has migrated out of distant, hostile lands and is resting near Berk on their way to the Hidden World.

This way, instead of the Love Interest Fury just serving as Catnip that makes Toothless act dippy and cuddly, they actually have a purpose—because they’re tied to a mystery. They’re the whole plot. This way, instead of Toothless waking through the woods and happening upon a single personality-bland version of himself with no build-up, the Light Furies are a whole community and species that the story spends as much time on as they did the Night Fury in the first film.  Anyway. So while our heroes are uncovering all the interesting quirks and hierarchy of the Fury Flock, we’ll do the same!

So without further ado—bum-ba-da-dum, let me introduce you to—

The Sky Fury! 

(Click for better view)

Yeah, okay, I know it’s a different name and not too terribly different a design, but hear me out below the cut

I don’t think that just because Toothless, is straight black with faintly darker markings (basically only visible in the first movie) that means every other Fury has to be one solid color either. And why should it be white? Most white animals in the wild who don’t live in snowy environments straight up die because of their lack of pigmentation. It makes them a target and it lets reptiles get sunburnt.

But we all know that white contrasted with Toothless’ black has a certain appeal. It’s more visually interesting than a samey-same color pairing between him and any would-be Love Interest. So I kept the white, like most re-designers do.

And then I thought, well, why would Furies have to worry about being spotted by enemies—they’re up in the sky all the time anyway. So instead of having the Furies be completely black and only able to blend in with shadows and the night sky, our Furies will be mottled.

Their markings will be more visible to let them camouflage against cloudscapes in the daytime—and just like black panthers are simply leopards with overwhelming black in their coats, Sky Furies are kind of like what Night Furies might look like if you could fade back some of that intense black and see the patterns underneath. 

 So our Sky Furies are mostly white, but with hints of blue and stormy gray underneath. The youngest Sky Furies are sky-blue around their horns—which, yes, they have horns and spiny spikes, not just smooth aquatic ridges.  I basically leaned into what the original design for the Light Fury was supposed to be; rougher like an axolotl, with influences from a naturally-pale master of camouflage in the wild like the Snow Leopard or Clouded Leopard. We keep all the potential for cuteness without losing the fierceness.

Because you can’t tell me this:

Is nailing the fierce-end of the spectrum as perfectly as THIS DID: 

So the Sky Furies are called Sky Furies because one, Light Fury is a dumb name. It sounds super made-up. Like they were really just trying to rhyme with “Night.” But “Sky” Fury indicates that there’s more to know about this type of Fury besides the fact that they’re associated with Toothless. 

A few things about the Sky Fury Species:

- Only their two largest ear-flaps can move.

- They are better swimmers than Night Furies.

- They can camouflage, but they can’t echolocate.

- They communicate by clicking more often than roaring or other vocalizations. This is why their Old Night Fury leader calls to them by clicking his back spines together, open and shut.

- They have a complex social hierarchy. In one Flock, the leader’s rule is always obeyed; unlike other Dragon species, Furies aren’t susceptible to being “controlled” by an alpha. (This explains why Toothless was able to block out the Bewilderbeast in HTTYD 2. And we can just say he just needed some practice doing it, since he didn’t grow up with his own kind.) They just obey the leader in charge.

- Sky Furies must migrate from the Hidden World to Grimmel’s Land every thirty years. It is an instinctual urge, like Sea Turtles going on land to give birth or Manta Rays migrating. Theory has it their first nesting grounds were on the land Grimmel’s people built their village on top of. Ever since then, Sky Furies and Grimmel’s Tribe have been at intense war. This leaves them with no tolerance at all for humans—in fact, they’ve begun viewing people as a particularly impressive part of their food chain.

- Sky Furies are strategic, team hunters. Rarely do they set out to hunt alone. Part of their social hierarchy is that the first Fury to strike prey (being the fastest) is generally the first to eat. If a Fury is eating alone, it is because that Fury is being punished or outcasted by the others. 

- Sky Furies have almost always been led by Night Furies, because Night Furies can echolocate and sense the underground routes to the Hidden World. In return for this, Sky Furies often hunt for their leader during the daytime hours, the same way lionesses hunt while male lions protects the group.  - Sky Furies sing! This is the only way they use their vocalization abilities, and they only do it when they feel safe. That’s all I’ve got for now. More art to come—more on the specific Love Interest Fury, too.

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression - Ep 45, radio version, August 2016 - Dobashi in Brazil, 'Crush the NHK' election broadcast, Shark movies.

Kaoru starts the show by commenting on how suntanned Joe looks. Joe says he attended Fuji Rock and got tanned. He spent three days watching live performances and had a great time. The weather was relatively mild, cool at night, no rain, so Joe says it was quite a 'comfortable' Fuji Rock. Joe asks Kaoru if he's getting a suntan yet. Kaoru says he hasn't got a tan at all. He has been spending all his time indoors song writing.

Kaoru then reminds listeners that its only three more days until the live special will be broadcast, and reads out the title of it again. Joe says its quite a rough sounding title. People will be intrigued by it. Kaoru then says he has recieved a message from Dobashi in Brazil, and proceeds to read it out..The message reads as follows: 'Hi to everyone at TFoE. Are you all well? Are you into 'Hiranabe Go'? (*Kaoru comments, 'We kinda are'*) At the time of this broadcast I am in the Southern hemisphere, in Rio de Janeio, Brazil. There may be people wondering why Tokyo Sports has come here. I've been requested to do Tokyo Sports style reporting here, but nothing dangerous enough to get us into trouble. Some of my articles are already published, so please, fans of Dir en grey, fans of Joe, fans of Kami, and fans of Hiranabe with thier butts out (*Did I get this right?? '平鍋の下半身出たファンの皆さん'...??😳*), please do go and pick up a copy of Tokyo Sports. There will also apparently be a live broadcast of this show on August 9th and I will join it from the other side of the world for just a little while. Security is so bad here, and I may be robbed during the broadcast, but I won't miss it! Everyone please listen'. Kaoru and Joe both say they are looking forward to it. Kaoru reckons it'll be about lunch time in Brazil when Dobashi joins them for the show. Just the kind of time he's likely to be busy with work.

Tasai joins them next, for the Tokyo Sports corner. Tasai goes back to the question of why Tokyo Sports is at the Olympics. He says that overseas, people see the word 'Tokyo' in Tokyo Sports, and often mistakenly assume that it must be the major sports newspaper in Japan (*It isn't actually considered a serious newpaper at all in Japan*). Once, when a Tokyo Sports journalist went overseas to report, a special reserved seat had been set up just for them. Kaoru says he can understand how such a misunderstanding could take place. If they, as Japanese people, heard of a newspaper with 'New York' in the title, they would assume it was pretty major. Tasai calls this, 'Tokyo Sports magic'. They laugh about how the people in Brazil might see Dobashi and think 'Wow, a Tokyo Sports reporter!', they probably assume he's rich.

Tasai's first news is about one of the contenders for the Tokyo Governor position, Tachibana Takashi, who represents the N Koku party (or The Party To Protect The People From The NHK). His election broadcast/pitch was pretty incredible, says Tasai. Joe watched it, so knows all about it, but Kaoru did not. Tachibana was originally an employee of NHK. He quit after leaking info about NHK's financial trouble to a gossip mag. When running for Tokyo Governor, he put out a 6 min televised election pitch, which was actually broadcast on NHK, in which he repeatedly called for the NHK to be destroyed. This has gained both supportive and critcal reactions from the public. NHK employees get a very high annual salary, which is paid for by the NHK fee imposed on the public. Even people with low incomes are hounded for this fee, which Tachibana thinks is questionable. In his pitch, Tachibana also raised the many crimes or wrongdoings which individuals related to NHK have been involved in, including the case of two NHK TV announcers who were having an affair, and were caught having sex in a car. Tachibana claims the NHK is trying to cover up this info. Kaoru wonders if Tachibana is holding some kind of grudge against the NHK.

Joe then mentions the documentary movie 'Candidates/立候補', which deals with the topic of bubble candidates in elections. This movie features Mac Akasaka who is also another bubble candidate in this Tokyo Governor election. Joe explains that a bubble candidate is a candidate who is not expected to recieve many votes (like Tachibana). He adds that in order to run in the election, any wannabe candidates have to first pay a fee of ¥3million. This is to try to avoid joke candidates from running, and to make sure the candidates who do run are doing so seriously. The movie in question deals with the idea of paying the fee whilst knowing you won't win, and the reasons for doing so. Joe says it may obviously just be for a bit of self promotion, but this is also actually a good way to put a message out to the public that would never normally get there through the mass media. At the same time, there is always the risk that you will come across as a joke, despite paying ¥3million. Its a risk you have to take if you run as a bubble candidate. Tasai adds that any candidate that recieves less than ten percent of the vote has to forfeit the money they paid. Joe says that most bubble candidates never clear this post, and they have the added burden of campaign costs. They may get a chance to speak out about what they want, but it costs. Tasai comments that criticizing the NHK publicly is actually a massive tabboo, so ¥3million is perhaps not so expensive if it means being able to say such things publicly. With the tv election pitch which all candidates get, you have 6 mins on national tv to speak the truth exactly as you see it. Tasai's favourite thing about Tachibana's pitch is that at the end of his speech, he proposed a kind of quiz asking viewers to guess how many times he had said, 'Crush the NHK!' during the last 6 mins.

Joe also mentions that the 6 min televised election pitch can also unfortunately be used as a means to deliver hate speech, which was seen in the pitch of candidate Sakurai Makoto, founder of the ultra-nationalist/far-right group Zaitokukai. Allowing candidates to speak thier mind directly comes with this risk. Joe then brings up the legendary election pitch by rock star Uchida Yūya, still available to watch on youtube today. (*Do check this out if you havn't already!*)

Tasai's next news is about the recent hit shark move, 'The Shallows' (Japanese title: Lost Vacation.), starring Blake Lively. The movie had quite a low budget, but has taken in huge amounts at the box office. Tasai asks Joe and Kaoru if they like shark movies. Joe says he knows someone at the Rolling Stone office who is a shark movie mega-fan. Shark movies have evolved a lot since 'Jaws', there are even movies about flying sharks etc out there now. Its proper b-movie territory. These days there is also a lot of shark merchandise, like shark backpacks etc.

Tasai goes on to say that shark movies are particularly popular with young women these days. The younger generations, particularly women, are not that interested in mainstream Japanese movies, but much more into horror etc. Kaoru didn't know that young women actually went out to watch movies much these days. Tasai says they apparently tend go as groups of three or so. Each of the three will then tweet to thier friends, and so popularity spreads. Kaoru comes to the realisation that women also actually like scary stuff. Tasai says (*I think*) that a scary movie is the place to go to find young women this summer, and Kaoru likens this to playing 'Hiranabe Go'.

To finish, Kaoru comes back to talk about the live special which will happen in 3 days. Joe admits a lot of his friends have asked him about it. After the last live boadcast, they all recieved a bit of a bashing. Kaoru doesn't know how it will turn out. Joe says they will look back over the last six months during it, and Kaoru adds that he will play some more of the new jingle entries for the last time. Finally, he plugs the Dum Spiro Spero tour and ends the episode.

Songs - Dir en grey/Lotus, ???/??? (*couldn't make this out*), Dir en grey/Utafumi

Back to radio top page

[spottedlekkudancer]

Lady of the Stars Part One - Contact

@paytonita @tranquility-or-chaos @inumorph 

THIS IS A SW/Witcher CROSSOVER. 

Geralt x Jedi!Reader

2.8K words

Originally planed on having 2 or 3 parts to this story but apparently I have diarrhea of the mouth and moved the plot too slow. So get ready to be strapped in for at least 4 if not 5 self indulgent parts. And feel free to send me all the questions you like. 

Warnings: Adult language, mentions of death, violence, and other adult themes.

By whim or by destiny light catches your attention though fluttering lashes. It kisses your cheek with warmth and the subtleness of a gentle dawn. After a moment the fog of sleep sheds from your brain. You adjust. The orange glow crackles at your nose and you realize that you are in more peril than the lingering caress of your dreams led you to believe. The pilot’s dash in front of you is consumed with flame.

“Crinking Hell! Dol'bfai!” You smack the Weequay to your right in an attempt to get his attention, but your hand meets nothing but the padding of your co-pilot’s chair. Heart dropping to your gut you look about the cockpit of your HWK-290. The leathery skinned man was in a broken bloody heap on the floor behind you. You might have felt bad if he wasn’t such E-chu-ta each and every day. If fact you couldn’t help but scold him mentally for not wearing his seat straps. “So much for ‘the experienced never falter’ line, Chuggnut.” You grunted, ejecting yourself from your own buckles to take care of the more pressing matter. 

You leaned over the Weequay smuggler’s body to get to the extinguishing hose and with a little effort you salvaged what was left of your controls. Outside your ship was another wreck all together. Fires were smoldering at every corner of your limited view from inside. You had half a mind to run out immediately, but thought better of it. If your ship was going to blow up it would have done so already you told yourself in a comforting manner. Sending your droids for damage control was the safer option on foreign planets. However, you couldn’t stay put forever. The damages weren’t going to evaluate themselves, moreover, the body of your partner needed to be dragged out before he started to stink. By the looks of things the atmosphere had to be breathable. Most planets with such green life gave off suitable levels of oxygen for humans. Whatever the case, you would have to risk it; your employer refused to provided vacuum suits or travel tanks. Too costly.

You were use to the miserly ways of the former pirate leader Hondo Ohnaka. You had been working with his smuggling cover company for half a decade now: ever since you ran from the Jedi training academy, or rather, Ben Solo. You didn’t know Solo to be a liar, in fact he had treated you like a little sister for all the years you had grown together, but when he told you and the others how Luke had turned on him you were too confused to chose between the two of them. Luke was your master, and Ben your friend. The force whispered something to you then. A soft encouragement to leave everything. You chose to listen; to not pick sides at all, and made a new life for yourself under an identity the Weequay stole for you. 

Once free of your hot metal cage it was clear that things were not as horrible as you imagined. You were safe from any fuel combustion’s or reactor leaks. The two DUM-series pit droids were clumsily scurrying about trying to put out the fire that was inching ever closer to your turret. It was also evident from the back that only one of Pathfinder’s two hyper-drive systems had taken on some heavy laser canon damage. Looked like the shielding component was scored too, but that wasn’t a necessity for getting back in the air.

“The kriff happen?” you weren’t fully talking to anyone, not even yourself. You had a vague memory of being cornered by Absolution, a First Order R-SD, and their TIE fighters on your way to a high bye delivery. But how, moreover where, you crash landed was still a mystery. You tapped the remote on your wrist. A projection fizzed in and out of view with vertical blue static. You must have knocked it out of order in the crash. Now you had no way of knowing what planet you were on or what it’s population consisted of.

“O-T!” The droid with the painted yellow stripe above his singular oculus ambled in your direction. “Once you get this mess under controls see if our Nav is still in tact. The job is a sham but we might be able to at least back track to base. I’ll go scout out the area for any nearby scarp yards. We aren’t getting off this durkload of a planet in this condition, that’s for damn sure.” O-T nodded and whistled a question in response. “Don’t know. Com link is out and I’m not able to check for life forms. If anything happens just lock yourselves in the ship 'til I get back.” You didn’t wait for the little droid to argue with you more as he usually would. It wasn’t likely you would be getting an extraction from Ohnaka Transport Solutions this close to First Order territory anyway. You were on your own.

You traveled 500 paces from your ship in each cardinal direction before you came to something of interest. Flowing SE to S was a small river bed. With noting more than a seemingly endless forest as your surrounding it was your best bet to finding civilization. For another hour you saunter down the unbeaten path until you felt night approaching. There was already little light beneath the canopy and you didn’t have the eyes of a cat, so with your wits and strength still about you you turned back. The rusted roof of your Corellian light freighter would have to suffice for the night.

The cacophonous sounds of shrieking and the boisterous gargling of goose like honks was your first indication that something was awry near your ship. The closer you got the more defining the racket became. Whatever the creature was, and you were sure it was some kind of animal, had to have a massive pair of lungs on it. 

With much disappointment you found your analysis to be correct. Thought the brush you could see some kind giant blue feathered lizard-bird striking at your dead co-pilot’s flesh. You cursed yourself for not burring the poor man right away, and true to your command your pit droids had barricaded them selves inside your transport. 

“Mother of …” You sighed to yourself. Your Jedi teachings told you to let the beast be, however, just hiding behind a tree all night while it desecrated the Weequay’s body didn’t feel right to you. Regardless you held yourself back from attacking the thing. It was just trying to survive after all, and if you didn’t have to get into a fight you didn’t want to. You were already stranded. Adding injury to that would not be wise. 

When morning came the feathered brute had not yet left; roosting atop your ship like it had always belonged there. 

Well if the giant critter wanted it, he could have it. In your groggy state you had little patience and didn’t want to be bothered with defending what you didn’t currently posses. You had everything you needed: canteen, provisions in your belt pouch, republic credits, and of course your trusty light-saber. Once you got what you wanted from the scrap shop you would deal with the overgrown pidgin.

“You’re alive.”

The voice of your pursuer was clear. This wasn’t part of your imagination. The force had bonded you and Solo again. “Careful Ren, you almost sound relived.”

Kylo scoffed. “Surprised is more likely." 

You stood and turned around. Were there was once endless forest now stood the masked Dark Jedi you both dreaded and longed to see. "How is it you keep your standards for me so low when I’ve evaded your every move." 

"I wouldn’t call narrowly escaping with your life an 'evasion’.” Gloved hands ringed rightly around themselves. Anger or worry built like a tumultuous storm inside of him: you couldn’t tell which. “How did you manage that Jump?”

“Jump?” The query slipped though your lips too quickly.

“Don’t remember? Maybe your not as well of as you look” Kylo straightened with pride. You were sure he was gloating to himself on his small victory. “My Knights had you cornered at the edge of a nebula. With no larger ship close enough to tractor you in I gave the order to immobilize you.”

“Why not just kill me?" 

It was an abrupt interruption that went unanswered. Kylo waited for you to calm yourself before continuing. Even now as a villainous "dark lord” he was patient with you. “We took out your Hyperdrive, Y/N. That jump should have been impossible.”

It was coming back to you now. You had prosperously led the TIEs to the cloud of gas and dust. You planed to enter into it blind and use the force as your guide. You figured the lot you were running from wouldn’t dare try to fallow. Instead your ship started to shake and spark as it tried desperately to hold against the onslaught. You panicked. You didn’t even complete the calculations before you pushed your freighter to enter hyperspace. You could have died. You could have been thrust into a star or another mass and exploded into dust.

Your stomach tightened. Dol'bfai was dead because of your rash behavior. He was in the middle of un-tethering a knot in his seat straps when you made that decision. You pulled out of it almost immediately, giving your best attempt at the “skipping” the other smuggler pilots did so often, but it was too late. You were entering the atmosphere of another moon or planet. There was not time to pull up, and you crashed.

If Kylo saw the tear you shed just then he didn’t bother to comment on it. “If you were with those goons of yours you could have planned better for that. You know as well as your father that every standard HAWK series come with two hyperdrives." 

You could have sworn you heard Kylo curse from beneath his helmet. His breathing was expeditious and heavy now; you cold feel his fury swarming in the force around you. 

"Cookie points to you if you are able to find me this time Ren. Even I don’t know where I am.” You teased rather lightheartedly.

This only pushed his buttons more. He gestured to you pointedly. “Oh don’t worry about that. I’ll bring you in myself if I have to.”

And with that your force connection faded. The experience left you feeling diminished and torn. Your past kept endangering the people around you. With a heaving breath and shaking knees you looked ahead to the southern half of the forest. You could dwell on these events all day if you’d like, but it would just be a waist of time. You needed to set your pity party aside and focus on getting off this planet before he really did find you. 

~~~ Two days had passed and you thanked the force that not one of them brought you any sign of the First Order. Your only gripe was that the town you had found proved your worst nightmares had come true. This planet was primitive. The citizens here weren’t even literate, moreover, building any sort of machinery. You were shit out of luck, money, and a plan.

  Was this punishment? You thought it might be far more often than you would like to admit. The force had never led you so astray before. What kind of design could it have for you now?

Your credits weren’t worth anything here but one tavern keeper in this shit stained town you did take a fancy to your Heart of Beskar necklace. You debated for a long while if you should give it to him in exchange for a few hot meals and a bed. It was the only thing you had to remember your birth family of after all. But after a particularly stormy night you didn’t have choice any longer. Not unless you wanted to freeze to death. It was hard to let go, but not as hard as it was each day that passed knowing your parents let you be raised by a stranger. 

Sure becoming a Jedi was a noble cause to enlist your child into, but unlike so many of your piers you did not ever go back home to your parents. Ben and the others always got to see their loved ones for a few weeks every so often, and yet you were kept locked away on the training camp with Luke year round. When asked Luke assured you that your parents were still alive; he even gave you their names and home planet. Even now after having found their old home and poppers grave you didn’t understand.

So to the inn keep you gifted your father’s old armor piece, and two nights stay was what he offered you in return. Not a fair trade by any means, however, how exactly were you supposed to explain the galactic value of Beskar to these simple people? 

A man dressed in bright colors played a 15 stringed instrument in the corner of the tavern. He was merry and boisterous; entertaining at the vary least. You pitied that the crowd this morning was not taking well to him. Half of them were hung over, the other half looked mean and dirty enough to scare a Dewback.

The Musician caught you staring at him. A smile brighter than the three suns of Helioss graced his features. You cringed internally and returned his gesture with a timid one of your own. Silently you prayed he wouldn’t goat you into some volunteer sing-song delights so publicly.  

The Man’s strut was so vaunt it had every patron staring at him as he made his way though the tables to presumably talk to you. You shrunk a little in your seat, not wanting this kind of attention. You had already drawn enough as it was with how oddly you were dressed; you didn’t need any more. He plopped down opposite you at the table. 

“So! How come the only person in this shit stick interested in my song is a pretty young woman like you?” He gave you almost no room to think of an answer before continuing his self serenade. “If it’s my corky charm or boyish good looks please don’t keep me waiting in sufferance to hear those sweet words leave your lips.” The line could have been considered smooth to some, however, the awkward and eager demeanor he carried was a little too much. You could see how it was putting off the rest of the room. 

The only response you had to offer was a perplexed smile. 

He rested his chin in the palm of his upturned hand. “Come on!” He whined enthusiastically. “Care to comment on the quality of my performance? I do love getting reviews from the public.”

You sighed though your nose and fiddled with the food in front of your. “Yes, well… I suppose we all yearn for validation. Don’t we?”

It was the bard’s turn to bewildered. He sat up stat tall in his bench now, brows furrowed, taking a briefer moment to ponder. “What’s your name?”

Your head tilted. “Where I’m from it’s rude to ask for someone’s name without offering your own first.” It was a plane way of throwing his question back at him; you weren’t looking to get overly acquainted with anyone if you could avoid it.  

“Oh!” He was beaming excitedly again. “Where is it you are from?!" 

You gave him an unblinking stare for what felt like a medium sized eternity. Clearly he was not accustom to taking non verbal ques. You decided to just give in to his delicate personality. "Florrum.”

“Ahh.” He nodded in a knowing matter. “Beautiful country.”

“Right.” He was pulling Bantha wool over your eyes in an attempt to impress you. It was arguably charming. 

“Where is that exactly? From here I mean.” The bard laughed nervously as he knocked his head playfully. “I get so turned around while mindlessly fallowing my muse on his travels.”

“Your Muse?” It was time to change the subject. 

“Oh hohoho! He is a man of Destiny, Heroics, and Heart Brake.” The man practically jumped out of his seat and with one leg propped up onto the bench he swung his instrument back front side. “Shall I play you a song about him?”

Head half in your hands you nodded. Your bashful nature told you you would regret this, but you didn’t have the heart to say no. 

He was taking his first heaving breath before starting to strum when another interrupted the musician, yanking him back by the shoulder. “Jaskier. We’re leaving.” The new man was hulking and clad in black studded leathers, with eyes of gold. He wasn’t old, but his hair was as silver as his blades. A striking appearance. Perhaps humans weren’t the only sentient species on this forsaken planet.

[hoffkk]

Done Wasting Time

A Brightwell Fanfic

Story By: @hoffkk

Prompt: Gimme a question to start, and I’ll give you a brightwell fic that ends in a kiss!

Question given: Do you want to get out of here?

Summary:  Malcolm is reminded by a recent case how unpredictable and short life can be. So, during a romantic walk through Central Park, he decides he's done wasting time and that forever starts now... or once Dani answers this one little question. Hopefully, Malcolm gets the answer he's looking for.

**********

“Do you want to get out of here?” Malcolm asked. It had been a long two days as they worked the murder of a bride killed the day before her wedding. The groom was gutted, going on about how he had wasted so much time, waiting to be promoted before proposing in order to give his love a better life and the wedding of her dreams. He had thought they had all the time in the world, except they didn’t. Malcolm found the whole thing completely tragic, and now that the case was solved, he was itching to get out of the precinct and spend some alone time with his own love. Dani and Malcolm had been dating a little over a year now, and every day was better than the last. Not to say, they didn’t have their issues. They had bad days along with the good ones, but they learned to lean on each other and talk out their feelings, especially after tough cases like this. So, when Dani said sure and suggested they take a walk through Central Park, he was happy to oblige. 

Entering Central Park West, the couple walked arm in arm, making their way aimlessly through the park toward Cherry Hill to admire the Cherry Blossom trees that were now in full bloom, signaling spring was officially here. The sun was beginning to set and the air was crisp and cool this evening, so there weren’t too many people ambling about. That made it much easier to relax and enjoy the multitude of pink and white flowers that surrounded them. Every so often a light breeze would sweep through, stirring the trees and giving off a sweet scent that smelled of lilacs mixed with vanilla.

Dani inhaled deeply and commented, “I love the park this time of year.”

“You know you said that this past winter and the fall before that.” Malcolm noted. 

“What can I say? Central Park is extraordinary in every season.” She shrugged. 

“There is something magical about it, isn't there?” He asked rhetorically, taking in the sounds of the birds chirping and how the sun's golden rays gleamed softly through the branches of the foliage around them, emphasizing the radiance of the woods that lined their path.

The conversation lulled as the couple walked on, enjoying the serenity of an evening walk. Eventually, they happened upon the Cherry Fountain, flowing with life and effervescent with excitement, then moseyed past it and down another pathway across the way that was lined with more cherry blossoms, azaleas, and forsythia. The latter was Dani’s favorite. She had a thing for yellow flowers. They could cheer up any person and brighten up any room like little pieces of handpicked sunshine. After a few more minutes, the couple found themselves at Bow Bridge, a brilliant piece of Grecian architecture made of cast iron. Every other bridge in the park was made of stone. This one was different.  Yet, somehow, it fit in and made sense in the middle of this great park. That’s why Malcolm loved it. He knew what it was like to be different, yet somehow fit... with both the team and with Dani. That’s why he made a point to visit this particular bridge every time he came to Central Park, and this time was no different as he walked Dani halfway across before stopping and taking in the view. Staring out across the lake, he noticed a single boat floating along, heading toward the city skyline that seemed to extend above the trees in the distance. The buildings were bathed in the glow of the sunset, a striking mixture of pinks, purples, oranges, and yellows swirling through the clouds. Malcolm raked his eyes over the scenic sight and sighed contentedly while Dani muttered, “It’s so beautiful.”

Turning to look at her, Malcolm took in the glimmer of the sun radiating against her bronze skin as a breeze lightly tousled her curls and replied, "Yeah, it is." Slowly, he moved his gaze back to the incredible view in front of him and proceeded to enjoy just how perfect this moment was. 

A few seconds later, Dani looked over at him and admired the blissful smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. She couldn’t help but blurt out curiously, “What are you thinking about?”

“The city.” Malcolm answered, still staring out into the distance. “There are 8.4 million people in this city, and somehow I found you.” On the last word, he turned to meet her eyes then finished, “That makes me feel pretty lucky.”

“I’m feeling pretty lucky too.” Dani replied then, after a moment, elaborated, “After all, you trusted me enough to let me in.”

“Yeah, well, you didn’t always give me much of a choice.” He reminded teasingly.

“It’s called tough love, Bright.” She quipped. “And believe me, you needed it.”

“No. I needed you.” Malcolm corrected, face completely serious. “I still do, and I always will,” Then, taking a deep breath, he added, “which reminds me, I have something for you.”

“Really? What is it?” Dani asked curiously. 

Malcolm didn’t reply. Instead, he unlinked their arms to reach inside the front inner pocket of his jacket. Then, with a little flourish, he dropped to one knee and held out... a lollipop. 

“Really a lollipop?” She queried. Malcolm did always have a flair for the dramatic, but this seemed a bit much. Even for him. I mean, it was just a piece of candy. 

“Look again.” He said softly, the corners of his lips quirking upward once more.

Glancing back at the small sucker, she noticed it was a lemon lime Dum Dum. That made her think back to an old case of theirs where Malcolm gave her the same lollipop. It was the first gift he ever gave her and still sat on her desk at work. The memory made her smile. However, this one was different. There appeared to be a silver band around the wrapper. Then, as Malcolm slowly rotated the lollipop to reveal the other side, her smile fell.  Dani was stunned as her eyes zeroed in on a two carat, emerald cut diamond, twinkling in the light of the setting sun.

“Malcolm, what—“ 

Cutting her off, he shrugged and grinned nervously, “I’ve always been a sucker for you, Dani. I’ve even been sucker punched by you. That’s just how amazing you are. You comfort me like no one else can but also aren’t afraid to smack me back into reality when I need it. Most importantly, you taught me that being myself is okay. From the very beginning, you never judged me or mistreated me because of who my father is or because of the trauma I’ve been through. You’ve always believed in me, been proud of who I am, and given me the love and support that I needed, first as a friend, then as my girlfriend, and now, I hope, as my fiancée... because I love you, and I’m done wasting time. I want to love and support you in return, not just for now, but for the rest of my life. So, Daniella Aurora Powell, will you marry me?”

Dani, who stood there still looking a little awestruck, beamed back at him as she nodded enthusiastically, “Yes. Yes, I’ll-

Instead of letting her finish, Malcolm hastily rose to his feet and pulled her flush against him, kissing her more passionately than ever before. It was short lived though due to the distracting applause from the pedestrians that happened to be nearby. Pulling apart somewhat abruptly, they glanced around, and Dani couldn't help but giggle while Malcolm’s cheeks changed color to match the local flora. Distracting him from his embarrassment, she eagerly held out her hand. Understanding Dani's signal, Malcolm lifted the lolly and carefully slid the engagement ring off of the candy and onto her finger. A rush went through him as he stared down at Dani’s left hand, seeing the ring in place. Then, high on excitement and drunk on love, Malcolm kissed her again, this time much sweeter and a lot longer, relishing the feel of holding his fiancée in his arms.

After a long moment, Dani pulled back to catch her breath and let her hands rest on Malcolm's shoulders. Using one to delicately brush a stray hair out of his face, she took in his euphoric expression and said, “It’s nice seeing you this happy. It's a good look for you."

"Yeah, well, If I look as good as I feel, then I must look like the happiest man alive." He asserted. "and I don't see that changing anytime soon... or ever."

"I'm glad to hear that. After all, you know what they say," she retorted cheekily, "Happy life, happy wife."

Malcolm's heart fluttered at her last word. He loved the way that sounded. So much so, that rather than correcting her on how the expression actually goes, he implored softly, "Say it again."

"Say what?" Dani returned, having a little fun with him. "Happy? Life?"

"Dani," Malcolm warned then more tenderly added, "please?" followed by a gentle kiss to the side of her neck.

The contrast of his warm lips on her skin in place of the cool air that had been there a second ago, made Dani quietly pull a sharp intake of breath through her lungs. Then, quickly collecting herself and gazing back into his sparkling cerulean eyes, she whispered, "Wife. I can't wait to be your wife."

With that, the flutter became a whole field of butterflies roaming his chest who only flew more erratically as he stroked her cheek with his thumb and replied, "And I can't wait to be your husband."

Once more, they shared a warm smile before, once more, sharing a kiss, a lingering, toe-curling kind of kiss. Not wanting to make a scene in the park, Dani ended the kiss sooner than either of them would have liked. Then, tucking her hand into the crook of his arm, she and her fiancé made their way to the nearest park exit, anxious to tell their friends and families the good news.

My Fiancé. My Husband. Dani thought to herself as she looked over at her hand that both wore the diamond ring and held tightly to the green lollipop. Then, shifting her glance to Malcolm who continued to exude joy with every step, she smirked. Yeah, she couldn't definitely get used to using those words. A lot.

[grownups-are-the-real-monsters]

Spider-Man: An Hour From Home

Summary: Peter Parker stops for gas on his way to a comic shop and after a quick Red Bull run at the station, the worst happens. He turns his key and his car is completely dead. 

Tony Stark gets a call from his son, who is completely stranded and has no idea where he is. (Modern - No powers, Peter is Tony’s son AU)

Ships: Tony/Steve 

Superfamily 

Word Count:  4,769

(I just had to get this out there ;)

Tony Stark never once saw future for himself that didn’t include some source of misery. Go back in time and ask any version of himself. It was a complete given. It was the one thing that never failed on him. If there was one thing in this world that he could count on, it was the feeling of steady depression. He hadn’t even noticed it was gone until, funny enough, he started to miss it. Maybe miss was the wrong word?-Until he realized he finally had the ability to count on something else. 

The house was quiet. Well, as quiet as it could be lately. The distant hum of machines were running-including Dum-E who was probably making a mess downstairs-and computers were sorting themselves out of one of his never-ending updates. This all provided a comforting static noise. If this had been a couple of years ago, there’d be nothing out of the ordinary. Tony was no stranger to being alone with his thoughts. 

But that was a different time. “I don’t like this.” He looked up suddenly from the phone he barely realized he’d been tinkering with. It flew from his hand and landed safely on the cushion next to him as he stood. He had never truly liked the silence but he used to be able to deal with it. But these days, it was just too 

“What’s got you in a twist, Tony?” 

His eyes landed on Steve who was stirring his coffee so painfully slow that it actually pained Tony to watch. Steve’s love for all things so home-y showed the strongest in small domestic moments of this nature and that was one of the many reasons Tony used to avoid them. “Who’s in a twist? I’m not in a twist.” He shrugged. However Steve just looked at him with that damn expression of his. The one that he made whenever he was about to meddle. He had to say, it was one of his least favorite Steve expressions. He wagged his finger as Steve carefully crossed the room to sit on the couch. 

“I’m really not. Wanna feel for yourself?” He let his arms extend into the chilly, air-conditioned atmosphere and wiggled his fingers. 

Instead of responding, Steve helped himself to one of Tony’s hands and tried to pull him back down on the cushion next to him. The landing wasn’t perfect but he did end up with a lap-full of Tony and that was the best way things could go wrong. 

“Well, if that was what you wanted...” Tony wiggled his eyebrows in that suggestive way that got Steve all hot under his skin like nothing else. “You could’ve just used your words, Steve.” With a final wink, Tony went in for a kiss. 

Steve was old fashioned. That was nothing new. But he swore just kissing Tony was an experience. The man never stopped putting on a show and when the venue was Steve’s mouth....Damn. He was always overcome with a tidal wave of feelings. Ever since their first, that feeling of utter relief and comfort never left him. It had been quite the journey to get where they were. Fighting with Tony felt like taking on the entire world but kissing Tony felt like coming home. 

“J.A.R.V.I.S. dim the lights-” 

“There’s an incoming call from Peter, Sir.” 

From over Steve’s shoulder, they could hear the sound of Tony’s phone ringing and echoing about the room. They moved perfectly in sync (as this had happened thousands of times). Tony hopped off of the taller man and went strolling on over to the phone. 

For a man usually so reserved (Which was the word Steve used to correct Tony whenever he called it being a prude), Steve looked obviously bummed out by this interruption. 

Tony let that go to his head right away. “You sit tight. Because you know what?” He puckered his lips with a thoughtful expression, walking backwards towards his phone while Steve looked at him with impatient eyes. “I just remembered something about Peter’s chemistry project that I’d like to talk to him about. Might take a while though so I hope your comfortable over there....all alone.” He wiggled his brow but turned before Steve could threaten to whip a pillow at his head. 

“Hey Pete-What is all that noise?” 

“What noise?-Oh sorry, I’m eating chips!” Peter swallowed just seconds after realizing his crunching was not just loud in his head. 

Tony rubbed the pads of his fingers against the bridge of his nose but felt no trace of actual annoyance. Just that strange feeling of fondness that always overwhelmed him when it came to his son. “Thank you for sharing your chewing with me and please take your time.” He wiped his hand across his chin as his smile grew. 

After some shuffling on the other end, his son spoke up once more. “So I was driving around-”

“Oh, you’re starting with an explanation. That can’t be good.” Tony leaned against the counter and threw a cautious look to his partner who was starting to walk over but he gently faced him with the palm of his hand to pause his worry. 

“I stopped for gas and went in to get a Red Bull but when I went to leave...” Peter trailed off and Tony could hear the sounds of him attempting to start his car but it wouldn’t catch. “It won’t start.” He chuckled awkwardly and then there was some more shuffling. “Oh-no.” 

“Oh-no? What Oh-no?” Tony waved his hand out in question, feeling a stronger flicker of the worry that was slowly coming over him. He could feel Steve hovering closer and closer to hear the voice of their son better. It was budging Tony closer to being claustrophobic with each inch. He was usually a very touchy-feely person but in times of stress or conflict, he could be a little too irritated by closeness. He scooted over despite his husbands obvious annoyance. 

“MJ and I have chemistry together-” Peter muttered sadly though Tony couldn’t figure the correlation there. 

“Well...I do hope you’re using protection for that chemistry.” He interrupted quickly. It was a joke firstly but...it was also something he and Steve were thinking of bringing up with their son anyway. He’d been spending a lot of time with that MJ. 

“Dad!” Peter’s voice went so high that it squeaked. Tony chuckled lightly. 

“Sorry bud, I was just makin’ sure. You’re hitting that age soon-”

“I don’t wanna talk about that right now!” Peter interrupted and he could nearly see his sons embarrassed face. He laughed a little more. 

“Anyway, what I was going to say was that MJ wasn’t in school today so I grabbed her chemistry homework for her. I gotta get it to her before it’s too late.” Peter’s voice was rushed and a little...anxious. Tony glanced at the clock. 6:00.  

“Where are you exactly?” He scratched behind his ear. 

The line went quiet for a few seconds. “Um...I don’t-um.” Peter’s voice was farther and much softer. “I’m not sure.” 

Tony was feeling a mixture of amusement and worry...and maybe a little guilty for the amused part. He could almost picture his son sitting in the lot of a gas station looking to find any street sign, squinted eyes because he neglected to wear his glasses. They were still sitting on the counter that he was currently leaning against but not for much longer. He picked them up and handed them over to Steve with a ‘What are ya gonna do?’ expression. 

Steve was always on Peter about the glasses and usually their son listened. But lately he’d been purposefully leaving the pair behind. “Send Pop your location through Google Maps.” He lightly smacked his partner and gestured for him to fetch his phone. 

“On it.” Peter muttered. 

As the time passed, he could hear the sounds of Peter talking to himself and Steve’s phone buzz. Tony resisted the urge to help Steve figure out how to work his phone because he had to learn himself. He took a quick peek at the man’s phone to confirm that they received it but didn’t look at it in full just yet. “Alright. Got it, bud. We should be there-Oh hold on...an hour away? Where were you going?” Tony interrupted himself when his partner held up his phone, pointing at the location. 

Peter went quiet before the storm. “I was trying to find this really cool comic book store because Ned’s Birthday is coming up. And he always gets the best stuff for mine, you know? Remember that year he got me the Lego Millennium Falcon? Anyway, I need to find the perfect thing for him and I heard this place was cool so I wanted to come check it out. I planned to get his gift but also scope it out to see if it was worth driving Ned there to make a day of it-” 

“Ok, ok. I got my answer.” Tony had to stop his kid before he talked himself to death but there was always the large part of himself that could listen to him for hours. And that was a big deal for him. 

‘The only person you listen to is yourself, Tony.’ 

He glanced over to where his partner was staring with confusion at his phone but as his eyes found him, Steve looked up. The man visibly...lit up when their gazes met. Steve’s expressions were always so vivid and telling. His eyes became much softer each time they connected with Tony’s. It warmed Tony like nothing else. And he found it extremely hard to believe that was the same man who once made that kind of comment about him. 

“I could just ask somebody to see if they have jumper cables...?” Peter suggested and Tony shook his head. 

“I’d rather you didn’t talk to strangers in that sketchy area, hang tight, Pete. We’ll be there as quick as we can.” He hung up the phone and found himself laughing. 

“He’s gonna be the death of me.” Tony swiped the pad of his thumb under his chin and swiftly took Steve’s phone. “He did kill the mood, after all.” He winked before turning to focus on the Map on his screen. The gas station was dumpy and small. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t dying to get their kid away from it as fast as possible. 

“We’re gonna have a heck of a time at that funeral though.” Steve attempted to join in on the ‘joking about sex’ only a handful of times in their relationship, it seemed. So Tony let that moment of laughter pass without teasing him for the use of the word ‘heck’. He’d save that for later. 

“And I can’t wait for that but first...” He waved the cell-phone about. Steve gladly stood and both men rushed for the front door. 

                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-”I know you haven’t met my Uncle Bucky yet but I promise you, that impression was spot on.” Peter had leaned his seat back and carelessly threw his feet atop the dashboard of his car. He stretched his arm out further to get a better angle for his phone while he spoke. 

The gas station that he was stuck at was actually pretty chill. The sun was low enough in the sky that the golden rays were showering him with warmth and it was a gift when it came to FaceTime lighting. 

“So are you just sitting in the gas station parking lot or...?” Ned squinted his eyes as if trying to look past Peter at the scenery. 

“Yeah, stuck next to the pump! Do me and favor and tell MJ that I picked up her homework but...” Peter looked at his backseat where the pile of work was sitting. He got a glimpse of a man glaring into his completely still car before parking at a pump that just opened. He then looked back to his friend. “Don’t tell her about this. I give her enough teasing material as it is.” He grinned, a slight blush creeping up his neck. Part of him almost wanted to tell her though. Teasing each other was kind of their thing, even if she was kind of a pro at it and he still struggled. But man did he love it. 

“It is your talent.” Ned chuckled. “Where were you going that’s an hour away, anyway? And why wasn’t I invited?” Ned popped a snack into his mouth and leaned back in his desk chair. Peter bit his lip while trying to think of an excuse. He was not very good at lying to his best friend. 

“Oh-uh...y’know. I was just going...to um...” Peter scratched behind his ear and tried to ignore Ned’s suspicious face.

Peter started on something but couldn’t find his footing during the sentence at all and Ned wanted to laugh. He knew his friend like the back of his hand. Peter...well he couldn’t lie to save the day. “Ok, You don’t have to tell me. I know it’s something for my Birthday.” Ned smugly smiled. 

“It is not!” Peter sat up straighter and tried to keep a hold on what little surprise he had left for his friend. “In fact, I forgot that was coming up.” He tried to piece together something to cover up his lying. He leaned back, trying to look cool and passive. 

“Anyone ever tell you that you’re a horrible actor, Peter?” Ned giggled and shook his head. He figured he might as well give up on prying the truth from Peter and wait for his surprise like a good friend. “Anyway, you wanna come over and watch ‘Return of the Jedi’ with me after school tomorrow?” They’d been re-watching the Star Wars movies over the last week for like the sixth time.

“Yeah! But don’t forget-” 

Just as Peter started to reply, his phone went completely black and died on him. He frowned and was forced to look at his own reflection. 

Man, his dads were gonna kill him for wasting his battery. They had no way to contact him now. 

And now he was all alone and bored. 

He missed Ned. 

Maybe he shouldn’t have spent the first twenty minutes of being stuck in the car trying to work up the courage to order a pizza. He wasted so much battery scrolling through Twitter while he had tried to decide. But he was starving and the gas station didn’t have anything that called to him besides the Red Bull. He wanted real food. But do they deliver to cars parked at gas stations? Probably not. He should’ve asked for Ned’s opinion. 

                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Should I FaceTime him?” Steve asked, nose pointed down at his phone while Tony drove. 

Usually he’d opt to be the passenger, liking any chance to relax. But he was a little anxious and driving would give him a little bit of control. He tried to peek at his partner and chuckled. “Yeah, why don’t you FaceTime him?” 

The car went quiet for a few seconds while Steve mumbled to himself. “I don’t know how. It’s this phone...It never works.” 

Tony’s eyes rolled so far back that he was surprised they didn’t fall to the back of his head. “Steve, sweetheart, darling, light of my life...-” He began with a wave of his hand “It’s never the phone. It’s always you.” He grinned madly. 

Steve furrowed his brows. “That’s not true. It just...” He looked down at the screen and sighed. “Ok, maybe that’s true but can you help me?” He held it out for his partner who tried to glance at it before his eyes returned to the road.

“At the next light, babe.” He rolled his lips together as Steve set his phone in the cup-holder and started tapping on his legs. He took this moment to be thankful it was just the beginning of Summer and the sun would be out for a while longer. Shining over their son for at least another hour or two. “He’s just an hour away, he’s fine.” He mumbled, knowing full well they were both a little worried. 

Peter was just fifteen-sixteen actually (He really needed to accept that he was growing up, huh?) and though the kid thought that was enough authority to act like an adult sometimes, that was far from the truth. 

“I mean, he is our kid. That’s how you know he’s fine. He’s smart, self-sufficient...he gets that from me.” Tony shrugged, reasoning more to himself rather than Steve. “But his endearing, puppy-dog kindness and naivety, that’s all you.” He snapped his fingers as the car rolled to a stop. The red-light reflecting in his eyes as he picked up Steve’s phone. 

“Oh, gee thanks.” Steve chuckled with a roll of his eyes. “He’s got the best of both of us.” He looked pensively out the window and folded his hands together. 

As the light flourished green, Tony had a thought he wouldn’t share. ‘Inside and out, the kid was better then both of them.’ And it wasn’t a purposefully self-deprecating thought or a knock towards Steve, not at all. It was just something he believed with his full-heart. Peter was the best of them. And that made him better. Steve knew it to be true just the same as he did. They were immensely proud of the kid. 

Steve slowly reached over and threaded their hands together as they rest on the cup-holders between them. 

“This is a driving hazard, Steve. I need both hands on the wheel.” He teased and gently tapped his fingers against the wheel. “I know I’m tough to stay away from but-” 

Tony had set the phone down on his lap as he started to drive again but it was in the process of calling their son. Only, he just noticed the call failed. 

“His phone must have died.” Tony mumbled with a frown and Steve reached over to grab it again. “I told him to put a charger in his car for emergencies.” He clicked his tongue. 

“That kid, I tell ya...” Steve was half-amused and half-worried. “He’s so smart, a little ditzy though.” Steve giggled, having fond memories of the boy sliding his phone down the stair railings or tripping over his own feet yet the next minute landing a back-flip perfectly. 

“Tell me, I’m the smartest guy you know, correct?” Tony leaned his hand over and gently thumped his palm against Steve’s thigh with a teasing smile. 

“I don’t know how your head fits in this car....” He tilted his head back and laughed “But, I’d say so. Yeah.” He crossed his arms and waited for Tony to finish. 

“Peter had his little friends over the other day-”

“Ned and MJ?” Steve asked.

“Yeah!” He gestured with his hands. They were good pals of their son. Tony actually liked them very much. They were both bright kids, he could see them having amazing futures ahead. “I couldn’t understand a damn thing they were saying.” He snapped with an expression that fully enhanced his point of astonishment. 

“That’s very humbling of you to admit.” Steve teased him and lightly pinched his arm. Tony rolled his eyes and turned the car. “But you’re spot on. It’s like they’re speaking another language.” He tried to recall some of his latest encounter with Peter’s friends. 

“It was all half-sentences and...” Tony trailed off and tried to think of some things he could actually pick out of the conversations. “Lots of laughing. So much laughing-” 

“-A lot of what I assume are references that go right over my head.” Steve added with a shrug and Tony reached over to grab his hand that somehow drifted from his grip. He thought about their boy having the time of his life, sitting in their home with his friends. He loved nothing more than seeing a smile on that kid’s face. That’s what he was working, living and breathing for. 

“This...” Tony’s eyes glazed over with deep-thought which could sometimes worry Steve. “This is not where I saw my life going. Not even close.” He shrugged. They were both very familiar with this conversation but Steve hoped to run further with it this time. He craved to know the full extent of his husbands thoughts on the subject. “But here it is.” He squinted in the rear-view mirror. 

“I think I always saw this kind of life-style for myself.” Steve spoke with earnest love in his voice that comforted yet annoyed Tony. “It’s you that’s the weird part for me.” He reached over and pinched him again. 

“Oh, That’s real nice, Steve. You been practicing your sweet talk just for me?” 

“I just mean...I never imagined...” Steve searched for words out on the road in front of them. 

“I got it.” Tony interrupted, his face genuinely understanding. 

Tony and Steve were very different people sometimes. It was hard to believe that they could become so much more. It was shocking to both of them when it inevitably happened. 

Tony wanted his little family to live in a world that he designed. A world where everyone was happy. And sometimes his dedication to the idea and the methods he used to get there drove them all crazy. Sometimes it felt like a dream that would have to go unfulfilled. And he couldn’t deny that it was a crazy idea. But Steve was just as crazy. He didn’t just want to go along with Tony’s dreams, no, he also wanted to help him with 100% dedication...even if it required challenging him. 

That was how Tony knew he was the one. 

Sure they could butt heads but...that was their thing. 

“I love you, you know.” Steve picked up their hands and lightly kissed the back of Tony’s hand with such and tender and loving energy that Tony nearly blushed.

“Yeah, I think when we got married, that was a big clue.” Tony smiled and squeezed his hand lightly while Steve rolled his eyes for what felt like the 80th time that day and maybe over the millionth time just since marrying Tony. 

They went silent again, just enjoying the tiny bit of calm driving. Lately they had been far too busy to enjoy the little things so it was a nice break from the usual life chaos. 

                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Tony and Steve each breathed a sigh of relief when they pulled into the Gas Station lot and saw their sons little car parked next to a pump. Peter’d done his fair share of hard work and earned the money for that car himself just like his parents had taught him (Although Tony had been insisting they spoil him ‘just this once’ & buy it for him because they clearly had the money and it’s what Peter deserved-but Steve kept him on track there) (And maybe they did secretly pitch in a little bit). 

Tony hopped out of the car quickly, ready to lecture Peter while Steve strolled over a little more relaxed. 

But not five seconds after getting out, Tony turned with an expression that made Steve’s stomach drop. “He’s not in the car.” 

“He’s not in the car-? What do you mean...” Steve’s heart started pounding in his chest as he tried to look into the vehicle himself like he didn’t believe Tony. “Where did he go-?” He didn’t mean to sound angry but it jumped out in his tone. 

“I don’t know!” Tony frantically answered with his own irritation and worry coming through clearly. The two of them stood there in bit of a shock before Tony pushed past to go ask around. Steve was about to follow but-

“Tony.” 

His husband turned and literal fire could be seen in his stare when his eyes fell upon their carefree son, strolling over to them from a ways down the street with a light grin and a shopping bag. Happy to see his parents. 

“Peter-” Steve began but Tony interrupted him (almost like it was a talent of his) and sped over to the boy. 

“What the hell were you thinking?” He narrowed his eyes and Peter frowned, stepping back a little like a kicked puppy. Peter opened his mouth but Tony wagged his finger in his face. “I’ll answer for you. You weren’t thinking. Clearly.” he gestured to the empty car. Steve took this as his opportunity to step in before Peter either commented on that over-used dad line or burst into a rant of an apology/excuse. 

“Pete. You nearly gave us both a heart-attack just now.”

“I was only gone for a few minutes and besides, I saw you guys pull up from across the street so it wasn’t like you were here very long-” 

Tony rubbed his hands against his forehead and groaned. Steve threw him a look to say ‘hold on a minute’. 

“You got stuck at some sketchy gas station for some time over an hour and we come to take you home and find you gone. We know your phones dead, so we had no way to contact you. How do you think that feels, son?” Steve crossed his arms and Peter rolled his lips together. 

“I just wanted to get something cool for Ned and the shop wasn’t too far, I thought I could walk over.” He shrugged and took defeat before digging in his bag. “Finally got that car charger though.” He could see his son hoping that might fix the situation a little. 

He could hear Tony start to pull out the jumper cables and get to work on starting that process. So Steve gave his son a little pat on the shoulder and a cross look before urging him to hop into his vehicle to get outta there. 

After a few minutes and some false starts, they got the car to start. Peter looked delighted at the idea of finally being able to leave. Steve got out from his passengers side (with some of Peter’s car garbage to toss) and made his way back to his husband. 

He leaned into the window, arms stationary on the ledge while he stood above him. Tony seemed particularity thrilled with this position. He grinned with a little tease. 

“I’m riding with the kid. You got a long lonely hour.” He took a few seconds longer to pat Steve’s thick arm and pushed him aside to get out. 

“Hey, it’s better than the lecture Peter’s gonna get. I’ll take it.” He shrugged and hoped inside. 

“Miss me.” Tony winked and threw up a peace sign before jogging over, opening Peter’s door and gently shoving him over to the passengers side. The boy knocked over an empty Red Bull can but managed to get into his seat safely. 

“Dad. I’m really sorry I made you drive all the way here and you’re right. I wasn’t thinking-” 

“Save it. I’m tired. I’m gonna turn the radio on and let that ride for the first twenty minutes or so of this drive...” He slid his hand smoothly in the air "And then we’ll talk. Gotta build up a good lecture anyway, y’know?” He gave Peter’s arm a quick pat, waved for Steve to go on and started to pull out. 

Only, the car made it just to the edge of the lot before it let out a few choice sounds and stopped once more. 

Peter’s eyes widened and his cheeks turned red with utter embarrassment. “Oh my god. I forgot to get the gas.” 

Tony sat up straighter and tried to hold in his laughter because he was still angry. But the boy could just be so...pure sometimes. “Tell me how, bud?” 

“I just-I went in to get the Red-Bull and I-” He shrugged and was wondering if it was appropriate to laugh as well. “I forgot.” 

As Steve circle the building to pull back in to see what the hell happened now, Tony pulled his son in for quick hug and ruffled his hair. “You’re something kid.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“Oh I know you are.” He nodded. 

                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter went straight to bed when they got home. The long lecture and the embarrassment of showing up to MJ’s house with his parents was fresh on his mind. 

Steve & Tony, however, finally got some time to get back to their activities. 

And the activities, as it turned out, somehow became drinking wine in the kitchen with some dumb, old sit-com on to make fun of.

Because that was life with a teenager. 

[fatandnerdy30]

The Itsy Bitsy Spider Chapter 2

Tony slammed through the opening, stopping short, and let his hands fall, but then barely heard the cry from his hand. "Oh shit, sorry kid. You okay?" He lifted his hand again and saw the little person nod, then heave. "Hey, no throwing up on my suit. You may be small, but it's still gross. We all here?" He looked at Steve and Natasha, saw them nod. "Okay, good. Initiating self destruct."

"Wait!" Peter yelled, looking up at the man in shock. "You can't! Sean's still in there!" "Who the hell is Sean?" Mr. Stark snapped, eyes boring right into Peter, who shivered. "He's a scientist...He was being held here against his will!" He looked to Ms. Romanoff, eyes pleading. "Please tell me if you saw him! He's got Red hair, and spoke with a Scottish accent!" Natasha was taken aback, but she shook her head. "There was no one in the labs that looked like that." Peter's relief was almost tangible, but then he tensed. Then that meant Sean was probably taken somewhere. He was the boy's only hope of ever getting back to normal. "No.." he sobbed. "Well, this has all been interesting, but I don't want anyone getting their hands on whatever's in this lab, so, once again, initiating self destruct in three.....two....one...And now we run." Peter held on as the wind-actual wind- rushed past him, the sun hitting his skin. The boy tried to breathe it in, but it was over in an instant before he was inside of a larger than life pane, the wind being cut off by the hangar closing, a large explosion shaking the jet. Mr. Stark walked over to a chair and threw himself on it, making the teen on his palm cry out as he slipped, managing to get his hands to stick to the man's chest. Again he felt eyes on him as he tried to get his breath, hands laying flat on the cold metal. "That was close," he breathed. "How the hell..." Mr. Stark's voice came from above Peter, who looked up to see the man staring at him with an odd look. The boy blushed, then brought his feet up, feeling them stick and he stood, waving his arms at the odd angle. "Okay, anyone else freaked out by this?" Tony asked, his hand waving to the circus act on his chest. "Very," Natasha agreed, watching the small thing begin walking down Tony's body to the arm rest. "That's better," Peter sighed. He stiffened and looked up to see three pairs of eyes staring at him. "Oh...um..." he scratched the back of his neck bashfully, feeling his face heat up. "I guess that was kind of freaky, huh?" They were all silent for a minute. "Uh, ya think?" Tony asked, tapping the reactor attached to his chest for his suit to crawl back into. "You basically defied the laws of every physics book in history. Explain." Peter started to open his mouth, but stopped when a man came into view. "Hey guys, how was the rest...what's the matter?" Bruce was very confused as to what everyone was looking at, until he followed their gazes to see a very small person standing on Tony's armrest. "Is that Scott?" he asked, coming closer to look, but stopped when he heard the tiny person scream, seeing them back up. "Apparently not. Who is it then?" "Tony found him in the labs along with the dead bodies of all the experiments being kept there," Steve said, not taking his eyes off the tiny thing. "There were at least eight of them killed, not including...him," he waved at the boy. "Oh man....I'm so sorry you had to see that, little buddy." The doctor took a seat next to Tony. "My name's Doctor Banner, but you can call me Bruce." Peter's shaking lessened once he heard the giant's name. This was Doctor Banner? There was no way. "The Hulk?" he asked suddenly, and his hands clapped over his mouth. "I-I'm sorry, Mr. Banner, I-I mean Doctor Hulk, wait.." His face flushed when he heard the large man chuckle and Tony snorted behind his hand. "Don't worry about it. That is the world's reaction too, then the running and the screaming," the man joked. The boy stood, and he could feel his heart about to explode out of happiness because, here in this very plane, were his childhood heroes in the flesh. He wished he'd had a pen...but then again, it would probably be bigger than him. "I-I've read all of your papers from Gamma Ray technology, to micro-plant biology! I'm a huge fan!" Bruce blushed and chuckled. "Well, thanks little one. I really thought there were no more people who'd actually read my papers." Peter was about to answer, when Mr. Stark crossed his legs, elbow crashing next to the boy, making him yelp at the closeness. "So kid, what are you? I mean, you look human, but, you know." He held up his and brought his palm close to the boy's head, fingers spread out. Peter had to shake himself from the vibrations of the man's arm and took a step back, tripping over a button. "Oof..ouch.." he rubbed his bottom. "I'm just a kid," he said, folding his legs, holding them close to his chest, laying his cheek on them. "I'm human, I mean." "There's no way," Steve began, his brows furrowed. "How old are you?" Peter looked up Mr. Rogers, flinching back from the look in the man's eyes. "F-fiteen," the boy stuttered. "I swear! I'm in high school!" "What's your name?" Tony finally asked, trying to get the kid away from tears. "P-Peter Parker." "Friday, run a scan on the name Peter Parker." "Yes, boss," the AI said. Peter was starting to get cold, his heart not beating fast enough to maintain his body temperature at this height and he hugged his legs closer, wanting to get closer to the man's arm, but hesitant at the moment. He caught the man staring at him, and looked away, trying to move to hide his face, exposing his arms. "What happened here?" Tony poked the boy's arm lightly, but that was enough to nearly push him back, his hands flying out, catching him and showing the man a lot more bruises. "That's from the IV's the scientists gave me," Peter turned his arms to look at the bruises, some of which were healing from the shots they gave him yesterday. "They didn't care if they hurt me they actually did it on purpose, to test my healing. I never really knew what was in the needles, but I heard snippets of something about 'spider DNA' or something, which gave me advanced healing, or at least that's what Sean said, Mr. Stark." Natasha snorted at the name Peter used for Tony, mouthing 'Mr. Stark' and making a face, to which said man flipped her off. "Bruce, think you can get a sample of his blood without killing him?" "Yeah, I'll just need one of your worker bots to help. And not Dum-E, that thing can start a fire just by standing in the same room as a match." "Match found," Friday informed the plane as they flew through the skies. "Displaying information." The plane dimmed and the holographic picture of the small teen was displayed, along with the missing persons file from... "Six months?" Tony's eyes widened as he looked down at the boy. "You were in that lab for only six months, and they were able to do all this to you?" Had it been that long? Peter didn't know, but it seemed like a good amount of time. "I-I guess," he said, looking down as Mr. Stark continued to look into his file. "Midtown School of Sciences and Technology, not bad, kid. Looks like you weren't lying. Oh, what's this?" Tony pointed to a picture of a very attractive middle aged woman. "May Parker. She your mom?" Peter shook his head, staring at the face of the woman he hadn't seen for so long. "N-no," he sniffled. "That's my Aunt May. She and my Uncle Ben took me in when my parent's died." Tony frowned. "She's married. Pity." That comment earned him a glare from Natasha. "And so are you, with a child. Watch it." "Yeah yeah, semantics. But, we'll bring you home, give you to your aunt and uncle, end of story." Tony sat back and closed his eyes. "Tone, I don't think that's a good idea," Bruce said. "I mean, look at him. What if the shock of seeing what he's become is too much on them? How would you feel if Morgan suddenly went missing, then she comes back the size of one of her dolls?" "First, do not bring Morgan into this, and second that would never happen because she has Iron Man as her father, and I would never allow that to happen." "But not everyone has a super hero for a father," the doctor argued. The billionaire stared at the doctor for a second then sighed disgustedly. "Fine, he can stay with us. But, once we find a cure or whatever, he's gone," he pointed at the boy beaming up at him. "You're healed, you're gone, got it?" Peter nodded. He couldn't believe it, he got to stay at the Avengers facility? This was going to be so awesome! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The jet landed softly on the landing pad. Bruce was the first to get up and stretch, his hands going miles into the air with a loud groan. "I need to hit the head," Natasha groaned as she walked off the plane, Tony rolling his eyes behind her. "Nice language!" he yelled, chuckling when she made a rude hand gesture. He glanced down at the kid sleeping on his arm rest. The man was at a loss. Yes, he knew how to hold a child, but not a child the size of a mouse. He sighed and poked the kid. "Hey, wakey time." Peter groaned and rolled over, shivering a bit. "Go 'way," he mumbled, swatting at the person trying to wake him. "I'm not ready for school." Stark chuckled. "I don't think you'll be ready for school for a while, Thumbelina. Come on." Being as careful as he could, Tony slid the boy into his palm held below the arm rest. When the teen fell, he gasped and Tony felt the sensation of his hands sticking to his fingers on bare flesh. It felt...weird. "Let go," he told the kid, shaking his finger. "S-sorry...I got nervous." Peter slowly relaxed his body and let go, falling into the man's waiting hand, a feeling of safeness radiating from his savior. "Where are we?" He felt the vibration of each of Mr. Stark's footsteps as he walked off the plane and into the sun, which made the teen smile. "We're home," Stark said thankfully. Suddenly a blonde head caught his attention and he smiled. "Hi honey, I'm home." "I see. How was your trip?" the woman leaned in, kissing her husband. "Exciting?" They started walking into the building together, Pepper not paying attention to anything but her husband's face. "Oh yeah, I even brought you something. Hold out your hand, but don't drop it!" He turned and waited for Pepper to give him her hand and dropped the boy into her waiting palm, hearing his cry as he fell. "Take him," he pointed to Peter, "to Bruce while I go say hello to my Morguna. Love you," he kissed the shocked woman's cheek and walked away. "Um..Tony, I don't...Tony!" Pepper could only stare at the tiny boy in her hand as he sat up, every move ticking her palm. "Um, hi," she said. Peter looked up after he'd gotten to his knees and let out a shocked gasp. "You're Ms. Potts! I mean, Mrs. Stark?" He didn't know anymore, he was still tired and his stomach hurt from hunger. "Um, it's Stark," she said. "I guess I have to bring you to Bruce's lab," she started walking, trying to make her footsteps as even as possible, but she didn't miss the look on the tiny boy's face. "What's wrong?" Peter shook his head, his hands sticking to the woman's hand, his eyes full of fear. "N-no more labs!" he stuttered, his voice shaking. "Please...don't let them touch me again!" He looked back at the woman who'd stopped walking, fear clearly written on his face. "I don't wanna go back into a lab, please." Tears began tracking down his face. Pepper was speechless, but then her mothering instinct took over and she brought the scared boy to her chest, giving him the best version of a hug she could, shushing the boy quietly. "It's okay," she soothed. "Bruce isn't a bad guy, I promise. And, if you don't want to be in his lab, we can tell him, okay? It's okay, stop crying, it's okay." She rocked back and forth, acting like she would whenever Morgan cried. Peter could smell Mrs. Stark's perfume, but also he could feel her heartbeat under him, and that, along with her voice sounding all around him, he could feel himself calming down. It felt just like when his Aunt would hold him and he had to smile at the memory, gripping the white silk shirt tightly. Finally his sobs became small hiccups and the woman pulled her hands away, the boy falling back into her cupped hands which folded around him, making him feel safe, protected. "Do you feel better?" she whispered, feeling better when the boy nodded. "Good. Come on, let's go get you something to drink first." She started walking again, occasionally glancing down at the passenger in her hands.

@letsbeinspiredby @sparrowrider @carttorchdeatth​ @6inchicon

[commentaryvorg]

Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 4.8

Be aware that this is not a blind playthrough! This will contain spoilers for the entire game, regardless of the part of the game I’m commenting on. A major focus of this commentary is to talk about all of the hints and foreshadowing of events that are going to happen and facts that are going to be revealed in the future of the story. It is emphatically not intended for someone experiencing the game for their first time.

Last time, as chapter 4 became Deadly Life, Miu was incredibly unsubtle about her murder plan, Shuichi apparently thinks Kaito is too invincible to possibly be dead, Gonta was a murderer and then a different Gonta was very confused and sad, Kokichi refused to let Kaito investigate with Shuichi for no actually decent reason, and Kaito made it very clear that he knows Shuichi can and should find the culprit even if it’s someone he believes in.

We left off right as the investigation proper began.

Shuichi:  “Kokichi. What do you want?”

This is Shuichi’s reaction to Kokichi first butting in to try and be his “partner”. He is so completely not about this.

Kokichi:  “It’s just… I hate lies so much that I tend to suspect others a lot.”

As I mentioned with a similar comment of his a while back, him hating lies is actually a somewhat true statement and not as paradoxical as it seems.

Kokichi:  “Kaito said he wouldn’t team up with you for this case, but I can’t trust those words. That’s why I’m keeping an eye out, in case he tries to bother you.”

Except that Kokichi knows Kaito isn’t the culprit and there’d be absolutely no harm in them working together, so really what this is is just Kokichi trying to jab at Kaito’s issues by making sure it gets made clear that hey, look, Shuichi can solve a whole case without you and you have nothing useful to offer him. Look at the way Kokichi calls Kaito a “bother”. He knows what he’s doing.

Kokichi:  “But I’ll help you as much as I can.”

And here he’s trying to make sure that Shuichi will in fact be able to solve the case and figure out that Gonta did it, because he wants the exact opposite of what Gonta wanted when he killed Miu.

It’s a little odd that examining Miu’s corpse only lets you see her from the side, and that the side view of her is the only one that’s added as a Truth Bullet, even though it’s pretty difficult to see her non-bloodshot eyes from that angle, which is relevant. The body discovery cutscene showed them quite clearly, but you don’t get to look at that again.

Shuichi:  (Some helmets have their cords plugged in, others have them removed…)

We can assume that one of the ones with them removed is Gonta’s, then, or else Shuichi would have noticed they were in backwards. Or he just didn’t actually check them all, but that seems unthorough of him not to do so.

Shuichi:  “Gonta… are you alright?”

Kokichi:  “Are you still depressed about Miu? C’mon, don’t be such a Debbie Downer.”

Gonta:  “…”

A very important thing to be aware of: Kokichi has absolutely no idea about Gonta’s memory loss. He fully believes right now that Gonta remembers everything about the murder and their mercy kill plan and is acting in accordance with that. So presumably him trying to tell Gonta to be less down is because he’s worried that Gonta being even more depressed than usual will make it obvious something’s up with him (even though he wants everyone to eventually realise Gonta did it, realising that too soon would be no ~fun~, right??). But nope, actually Gonta’s just such a sweet person that he’d be this depressed over another murder even if he had nothing to do with it.

Kokichi:  “Oh, Gonta, I wanna know what you think. Rare, I know, but who do you think is the culprit?”

This is also pretty telling as to what’s going on. Kokichi would never usually give a fuck about Gonta’s opinion on a case, since he has Gonta written off as a naïve idiot. He’s asking now because he wants to force Gonta to lie, to make sure that Gonta is still willing to lie and isn’t going to get cold feet about the plan.

Gonta:  “Why… Miu killed!? Gonta not understand… Gonta not understand anything…”

Poor thing, he’s so confused – they all sat down to do this complicated thing he didn’t understand that actually turned out to be just going to sleep, and then while they were all asleep Miu got killed for some reason? It doesn’t make any sense!

Kokichi:  “But Gonta doesn’t seem to be lying. I’m pretty sure he’s telling the truth. Well… I guess a big dum-dum like Gonta doesn’t have the brains to lie in the first place.”

He actually is telling us the truth right now even though you think otherwise, you dick. Since Kokichi believes Gonta is lying and knows everyone else is going to eventually realise it, this is another of his pathetically transparent attempts to convince everyone that absolutely nobody, not even someone like Gonta, is ever deserving of trust.

Kokichi:  “I’m so disappointed in you, Gonta. When I first met you, I thought you’d be more useful.”

YOU BELIEVE HE IS BEING USEFUL TO YOU RIGHT NOW YOU ASSHOLE

(If Gonta actually remembered then this would hurt him so much more than it already does.)

Kokichi:  “If you feel that bad about it, then stop blaming yourself. Help us find the culprit instead. This is the culprit’s fault anyway, so pull yourself together and help us, okay?”

AND SPEAKING OF THINGS THAT WOULD HURT GONTA SO MUCH MORE IF HE ACTUALLY REMEMBERED

I can give the whole “help us find the culprit” part a pass as Kokichi trying to make sure Gonta will act as though he normally would in terms of helping the investigation. Still, even that would be awful for a Gonta who’d already be at his limit just lying about his crime when he hates lying so much. Having to act on top of that like he wants to help them find the culprit when really he feels like doing that would achieve the opposite of helping them would be stressful and confusing as hell for him.

But… “This is the culprit’s fault anyway”? Literally two sentences after telling him not to blame himself? Fuck you, Kokichi. Fuck you.

I did have a whole rant written about how awful it is that Kokichi is being this deliberately cruel towards Gonta (which you’ll see an edited version of later this post, because it still applies in a different context), but then it occurred to me that this is probably not deliberate cruelty and is instead Kokichi deflecting his own guilt. It’s totally only Gonta’s fault that Miu’s dead, right? Kokichi didn’t murder her and doesn’t have anything to feel bad about, right?

But no, Kokichi absolutely did also murder Miu and should feel just as bad about it as Gonta does (or would do if he remembered). He deliberately took actions that he knew would lead to her death, that wouldn’t have led to her death if he hadn’t taken them, and she died as a result. The only way in which that is not murder for all intents and purposes is in Monokuma’s very literal definition of who the blackened is. The fact that Kokichi can’t take responsibility for his own goddamn actions and the pain they caused and is (hypothetically) making Gonta suffer even more in his attempts to run away from them makes him a pretty fucking awful person. Not quite as awful a person as he would be if he were doing this to be deliberately cruel, and also a more interesting character than if that were the case, but still a terrible person. Even if he’s only doing it out of cowardice and not just for the sake of being cruel, the end result is still cruelty. Or would have been, as far as Kokichi knows.

And, granted, this is in part caused by Kokichi being twisted by this killing game, and I don’t believe he would be quite as terrible under normal circumstances. That’s interesting in an out-universe sense, but that still doesn’t make it even remotely okay in an in-universe sense. Nobody else was twisted into this kind of assholery by the killing game – most of the others if anything became better people for it, not worse.

Shuichi:  (Now Kokichi is encouraging him?)

Shuichi can tell something’s off here because Kokichi is usually just treating Gonta like a tool and being a dick to him, not encouraging him. Little does he know that Kokichi is still being a dick to him, and even more of one than usual.

Shuichi:  (I really don’t know what Kokichi is thinking.)

Be glad you don’t, Shuichi, because if you did, you’d… well, you probably wouldn’t do much because you’re too passive. If Kaito knew what Kokichi was really thinking, though, man would he give him a piece of his mind about standing by his own actions and taking some goddamn responsibility.

Kokichi:  “Feel free to lie, of course. Exposing lies is the real pleasure of this game, after all.”

Kaito:  “Huh? What!?”

Shuichi:  “Kaito… just ignore him and talk to me, okay?”

I love how clear it is that Shuichi is just having absolutely none of Kokichi’s bullshit and certainly isn’t even remotely on board with the idea of Kokichi being his “partner”. He’s just an annoying hanger-on that Shuichi really wishes would go away.

Shuichi:  “And the body discovery announcement woke you?”

Kaito:  “Yeah, that’s right. I heard it and rushed back here.”

Kaito’s looking away with that pained expression on his face as he says this. This might be him remembering how terrified he was at the possibility of it being Shuichi or Maki.

Kaito:  “I said I’m not lying! Tell him, Shuichi!”

Kokichi:  “No, Shuichi. In order to find the truth, you can’t be biased.”

Shuichi:  “…”

…Sadly it appears that Shuichi agrees with Kokichi here. I have no doubt that he believes Kaito’s telling the truth, but he doesn’t reassure Kaito of that. Apparently he thinks it’s not very Ultimate Detective of him to be saying things with no evidence, and right now he’s very much in Ultimate Detective mode.

Monotaro jumps in to help get evidence from the computer, which Monophanie claims is against the rules… but I don’t think it is, especially since Monokuma doesn’t come and try to stop him. I think that even if Miu’s plan had succeeded, in which case Miu would have tried to lie about the computer’s settings and Monotaro wouldn’t have been co-operative, Monokuma himself would have made sure everyone got the computer-related information they need. It’s the same principle as why he provides the Monokuma Files – he needs to give everyone just enough information to make the trial fair for both sides.

Kokichi:  “He’s doing his best for his dead mommy! I-I’m so touched… WAAAAAAAAHHH!!!”

…Really, Kokichi? You really need to overexaggerate a reaction so that you can lie to yourself about your feelings regarding this? Apparently his lying to himself about his own feelings is going into overdrive if he’s doing this here with things only indirectly related to what he’s actually having feelings about.

Shuichi:  (Kaito. He logged out ahead of us… No, it couldn’t be him.)

I’m doing this bit before checking the poison bottle so that Shuichi’s certainty of Kaito’s innocence isn’t based on actual evidence (because it really doesn’t take much evidence to prove Kaito couldn’t have done it) and is purely him choosing to believe unflinchingly in his best friend. I like it better that way.

Kokichi continues to show his impressive deflecting skills in response to Keebo being upset about Miu’s death:

Kokichi:  “He told us he couldn’t cry even if he wanted to! He went so far as to stage his dramatic reaction.”

Because obviously if someone deliberately stages a dramatic reaction, that means they don’t really care about whatever they’re pretending to be upset about, not even in the slightest, right? And that’s definitely only something Keebo is doing, not him, of course. This is some recursive deflection right here.

Tsumugi talks about when she witnessed Miu and how she didn’t tell Shuichi right away because she thought she was mistaken.

Kokichi:  “You’re only saying you were ‘mistaken’ so you don’t have to feel as guilty.”

Tsumugi:  “Huh?”

Kokichi:  “If you had been *positive* it was Miu, then you could have done something sooner… You could’ve prevented her death, y’know?”

Tsumugi:  “Th-That…”

Kokichi is apparently being his usual dickish self and trying to make Tsumugi feel guilty. Joke’s on you, Kokichi – Tsumugi doesn’t actually give a fuck that Miu died and is probably quite happy it happened.

But really, Kokichi’s claim that she’s saying that to feel less guilty is yet more recursive deflection of his deflection of his guilt. Geez, Kokichi.

Kaito happens to butt in on this continuing conversation to ask for more details about them hearing Keebo’s voice, to the point that he hears about the part where Shuichi and Tsumugi ran outside and immediately encountered Gonta. This is a fact that he uses to argue for Gonta’s innocence in the trial, so it’s neat that the writers put in this bit to establish that Kaito knows this even though he wasn’t witness to it himself. It’s also very important that Kaito wasn’t personally witness to it himself and only hears about it second-hand.

Kokichi:  “What about it though? Did you notice anything?”

Kaito:  “…”

Shuichi:  (I suppose not.)

Ouch. Kaito’s making an effort to gather information and figure stuff out, though, even if he’s not able to draw any conclusions! That said, he hasn’t been managing to pay attention to every conversation Shuichi’s been having, because there are some gaps in his knowledge that will become apparent during the trial.

Kokichi:  “If there’s poison and tricks prepared, then of course I’d investigate them ASAP.”

Shuichi:  “Is that—”

Kokichi:  “Oh, it’s not so that I can use them. I check in case someone else uses them.”

I somewhat believe that. He definitely would want to know what tools everyone else has to use against him – since he’s so convinced everyone else is an awful backstabber who’s out to get him – so that he can be prepared and defend himself as best as possible. Of course, since he’s been planning his own tricks, he also definitely did check them for his own purposes, in case they’d be useful to him.

Since he checked the poisons in Shuichi’s lab, I wonder if he also checked all those murder files. Shuichi and Maki did discuss how the whole point of them was supposedly to give people ideas for murder plans, so that seems like something Kokichi would also want to be aware of. Which is to say, given that one bit in chapter 3 that implied Kokichi might have memories of watching the Danganronpa 1 anime, if Kokichi did check every single one of the files including the very first one, then that might also have helped him piece things together like he did early on in this chapter.

Kokichi:  “By the way, I should tell you what symptoms this poison causes… It causes a small blood vessel under the conjunctiva to expode… which makes the whites of your eyes turn blood red.”

The way this is worded, it almost sounds like the thing about the poison causing bloodshot eyes isn’t on the warning label of the bottle and is just something Kokichi supposedly happens to know about it. However, Shuichi states in the trial that that was in fact on the label, so I guess he read it himself to confirm Kokichi’s claim.

But that’s kind of a shame, because it’d be pretty interesting if that weren’t the case and the label truly said nothing about bloodshot eyes. That would mean that Kokichi is telling a lie here that supposedly proves Kaito’s innocence in order to get people to stop suspecting him and move on to other topics in the trial. Which would be exactly the kind of reason Shuichi uses lies in trials – to get people to stop fixating on whatever seems like the most obvious possibility by claiming that it’s not possible, so that they can start considering other options and get to the real truth. It would make sense for Kokichi to do that here, since he’s only claiming he thinks it’s Kaito to be a dick, and in actuality he wants Shuichi to eventually reach the truth.

It’d also be neat, if we imagine that the poison didn’t cause bloodshot eyes and that Miu had succeeded in killing Kokichi, to think that Shuichi himself might use that very same lie in such a situation. He’d unflinchingly believe in Kaito’s innocence, but there’d be no way to prove it and get people to move onto talking about the Virtual World other than to tell a lie like this. Maki could even also get in on the lie – the two of them together could insist that as an assassin and a detective they just happen to know that fact about this particular poison.

Kokichi:  “Nee-heehee… am I doing a good job? Maybe it’s time you acknowledge me as your partner.”

Yeah, you just did a really helpful job of proving Shuichi’s actual partner innocent, now Kaito can safely investigate with Shuichi again without any problems and you can fuck off. Right?

(…since this is the last thing in the computer room I’m checking before they head back to the Virtual World, that’s actually what happens, so, um.)

Shuichi:  “I thought I remembered you saying that you *didn’t* want to be my partner.”

Kokichi:  “Hm? Did I? Well, sometimes I lie without thinking about it.”

I still do not get what the point is of this apparent implication that Kokichi genuinely does want to be Shuichi’s partner and is jealous of Kaito being his friend. It simply doesn’t have any relevance to anything meaningful about Kokichi’s character or anything he does outside of this one bit in case 4, since the writing obviously can’t go anywhere with it once he’s convinced everyone he’s an evil asshole, and it actively hinders the fact that he doesn’t end up using Shuichi as his accomplice. Just, why.

Kokichi:  “…The Virtual World. We should go there again.”

So at first, Kokichi seems quite on board with being one of the ones to go back into the Virtual World to investigate.

Kaito:  “If we go back to the Virtual World, we might find some new clues. With those, I might be able to clear my name!”

Kaito really wants to try and clear his name himself. He definitely believes Shuichi would be able to do it for him anyway, but he doesn’t want to have to rely on Shuichi for that and wants to be able to prove his own innocence!

…But, uh, sorry, Kaito, Shuichi’s already proven your innocence with evidence just from this room. You could’ve done that too if you’d noticed more. You’re not very good at this investigation thing.

Nearly everyone decides to go back in there, except Maki, who wants to keep an eye on Monotaro’s computer investigation, and of course Gonta.

Gonta:  “Gonta… search this place some more. This no time to be sleeping.”

He’s so bewildered as to why everyone would just go to sleep during a murder investigation! This also rather strongly hints that he really does see it as just sleeping – if he remembered the Virtual World’s events, even if he considered them a weird dream, surely he’d be able to make the connection that maybe that has something to do with how Miu died and that’s why everyone’s going back into that weird dream place.

Kokichi:  “Then, I’ll stay here too.”

And the moment Gonta says he’s staying, Kokichi immediately changes his mind and decides to stay as well.

Kokichi:  “But I’m busy too, y’know? I have to watch Maki in case she tries to do anything deceitful.”

Nope. That’s not why. He’s staying to keep an eye on Gonta and make sure he doesn’t get cold feet and confess to everyone because that would ruin the ~fun~. Or at least, it’d ruin Kokichi getting to draw this out and therefore paint himself as an evil sadist.

(Also there he goes yet again trying to make people distrust Maki when everybody has trusted her and she has done nothing deceitful for over a chapter now.)

Maki:  “Deceitful?”

Kokichi:  “Well, you and Kaito are pretty close, so you might do something deceitful for him, right?”

Okay, slightly better argument than just “she’s an assassin therefore she’s a terrible person”, but still, not why he’s staying. And that argument should also apply to him needing to keep an eye on Shuichi for the same reason. Also, Shuichi has already proven Kaito’s innocence, why can’t he just mention this. (Because this is a game and the players need to figure things out for themselves.)

Kokichi:  “…Good thing Gonta’s here with me. Your glare is too scary to handle alone! Gonta would risk his life to protect me from a murderer!”

FUCK YOU, YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT SAYING THIS WOULD DO TO A GONTA WHO REMEMBERED BEING A MURDERER.

On the one hand, this is the kind of thing Kokichi would have said under normal circumstances of Gonta not being a murderer. On the other hand, this comment, unlike the previous one I was Not Okay about, doesn’t really make sense as being Kokichi deflecting his own guilt. So all he’s doing here is choosing to have zero fucking empathy with how Gonta would be feeling and refusing to even make the slightest effort to go a little easier on him. In this particular moment Kokichi’s not especially being a coward and focusing on protecting his own conscience, which you’d think might make him more capable of considering others’ feelings, but no. Kokichi only cares about himself here.

Kaito:  “Hey! If you keep saying messed up crap like that, I’m gonna kick your ass into orbit!”

…Kaito’s only saying this to defend Maki from Kokichi treating her like a murderer. If he knew what was really going on, he’d want to kick Kokichi’s ass into the next galaxy.

(I like the space theming of Kaito’s threats, by the way.)

Kokichi:  “I don’t like violence. The Ultimate Supreme Leader would rather sneak around!”

Yes and that’s exactly why you got someone else to do the violent dirty work of killing someone so that your conscience can remain totally clean because it’s not like you’re a murderer, right???? (You’re a murderer.)

Kokichi:  “So anywaaay… I’ll leave the Virtual World to you, Shuichi.”

Shuichi:  “…”

Kokichi:  “But I’m not exaggerating when I say this class trial can only be solved by you, okay? Your talent can save the useless people here, y’know?”

Kaito:  “Who you calling useless!?”

Oh hey, here we go. Kokichi’s praising Shuichi. Which is A Thing he’s going to be doing a lot during this case… and it isn’t really about Shuichi at all.

For this particular instance of this, Kokichi doesn’t specifically mention anyone other than Shuichi, whom he’s technically talking to, but Kaito’s reaction makes it clear who this is really targeted at. Kaito’s been secretly feeling more and more useless this whole chapter thanks to the fact that he’s dying and that Shuichi seems to have grown strong enough to not really need his help any more. Kokichi has apparently picked up on this, and every single bit of him stressing that Shuichi is the only person who can save everyone is really him jabbing at Kaito’s feelings of inferiority and jealousy and trying to hurt him. He’s going to be doing this a lot, and… I kind of love it, because this isn’t just about Kokichi being a dick – this is the writers caring so much about contributing to Kaito’s character arc in even the subtlest of ways.

So watch me count the number of times this happens! Kokichi already did this once at the beginning of the investigation last time when he stressed how it’s Shuichi’s time to shine now that somebody’s dead, making this Kokichi Doing The Thing Count: 2.

All of Kokichi’s awfulness towards Gonta since the murder (or at least what would have been awfulness if Gonta had remembered) can be put down to his issues and him trying to deflect his guilt about being a murderer, meaning that while he’s still ultimately being a terrible person, there’s no active malice behind it. (There very definitely isn’t any kindness behind it either, mind you.)  But this? This isn’t about deflecting anything. This is just malice.

Granted, the entire point of Kokichi’s plan with this case (or at least this is what he’s telling himself) is to deliberately be incredibly cruel to everyone by throwing Gonta’s life away so that people will be convinced by his lie that he’s a sadistic bastard who enjoys making people suffer. This is then in itself for the purpose of backing up his later lie that he’s the mastermind (which is actually a really minor and mostly unnecessary part of his overall plan that does not remotely justify two deaths and all this suffering, but we’ll get into that later). But him jabbing at Kaito here cannot be a part of that plan, because he’s being subtle about it. Most of the time he’s going to be praising Shuichi without even mentioning Kaito at all, which means that nobody is going to catch on to his intentions and go, “man, you’re being such a dick to Kaito, guess that helps prove you really are an evil sadist”. So that’s not the point of this. He’s trying to hurt Kaito purely for the sake of hurting Kaito.

Why is Kokichi trying to hurt Kaito specifically? Because he doesn’t like that Kaito’s philosophy about believing in people is so opposite to his and so he wants to be a dick to Kaito in particular, presumably??? Maybe he’s still bitter about Kaito calling him “naïve” last trial or something? Kokichi definitely seems like the kind of person who’d get mad because he can’t beat someone in an argument and deal with it by trying to get petty revenge on them in a different way.

And I feel like this is something most people would brush off as not that big of a deal even if they did pick up on the fact that all of Kokichi’s praising of Shuichi is actually targeting Kaito, because it’s Kaito, and he’s supposed to be tough and thick-skinned and not let this kind of thing get to him, right? But no – Kaito is a lot more emotionally vulnerable right now that he’d ever let on, and Kokichi knows that and is deliberately exploiting that just to try and hurt him, and it will get to Kaito far more than he’d like to admit.

---

[Next post]

[elcorhamletlive]

fandom: MCU (Alternate Universe - High School) ship: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark tags: Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Tooth-rotting fluff, Pining

Dear Journal,

Jarvis told me a journal could help when I can’t use my phone in class and I get bored because I already know everything the teachers are saying. So now I’m in Math class and I’m super bored, so I decided to write to make it seem like I’m taking notes.

Ms. Karen is looking my way right now. Let’s see if she buys it.

She bought it. Great. This class is already starting late because she took time out of it to introduce the new student, so I guess she doesn’t has time to check if I’m actually copying the equations.

The new guy is kind of funny. His name is Steve and he’s really small. I kind of like him already because now I’m not the shortest guy in our year anymore.

Great, the bell rang. Ttyl.

Book of Tony

Tony’s Declassified School Survival Guide

Death Note

Dear J,

Yeah, that works for me. I like calling you J. Not my best nickname, but it will have to do.

Today I’m in History class, and it’s been a really fun class. The new guy, Steve, sits right in front of me.

And, like, he’s definitely a huge nerd. Not in the sense that he gets good grades, because I don’t know if he does, but he’s always paying attention to the teacher’s every word. And he never talks during class (I don’t think he’s made any friends yet).

But today he talked. Because Hodge was picking on Banner, and then Steve just stood up and went right in front of the table and told him to stop. Just like that.

Hodge laughed, of course. But it was still pretty cool.

Dear J,

Here’s a list of all the things more interesting than this class right now:

Dum-E’s beeps when he manages to hose something.

Mold forming under the teacher’s table.

All the Star Wars prequels.

Steve Rogers’ socks.

(They’re, like, actual wool socks that go all the way to half of his calf. It’s like he deliberately set out to dress as an uncool loser. They have a pattern of little cows. It’s amazing.)

Dear J,

I can’t believe I’m writing this, but History class was awesome.

Get this: Steve got into a fight with Mr. Jenkins about Columbus. Because Mr. Jenkins had just finished reading a passage from a book about him, and he asked if anyone had any questions, and Steve just raised his hand and Mr. Jenkins was like, “Sure, go ahead, Mr. Rogers” (the teachers like Steve because he’s so quiet) and Steve just said “Why doesn’t it say anything about all the rapes and violence he committed?”.

I don’t think Mr. Jenkins likes Steve very much now.

Still, it was the most interesting thing to ever happen in his class in years. He should be grateful.

Dear J,

I thought about talking to Steve after class, to let him know I thought it was cool, what he did.

I don’t really go to the cafeteria during lunch, because since Rhodey graduated I don’t really have a table to sit. Eating alone suckssss.

I thought I could sit with Steve, maybe? Because he’s new, so I thought, he probably doesn’t know anyone yet.

But it turns out he does know someone. He sat at the table of this big dude named Bucky Barnes.

I’m eating at the informatics club right now.

Dear J,

A probably incomplete list of Steve Rogers’ socks:

plain black socks (my least favorite)

the ones with the cows I mentioned before (he seems to like those, he wears them a lot).

red and blue stripped socks (sometimes just one foot paired with another one from the list, usually the plain pair. not sure if political commentary or not)

blue socks with little stars

blue socks with little R2-D2s (by far my favorite)

The last one makes me wonder if he’s into Star Wars. Maybe he just thinks R2-D2 is cool, though, which is also a valid opinion.

I kind of want to ask, but he’s always with that Barnes guy. It’s hard to get a moment to talk to him.

Dear J,

Talked to Steve today right after Math class. Ok, actually I kinda ran into him, but then we started talking? I complimented his socks and everything. At first he thought I was making fun of him, but then I showed him a picture of my star wars Lego set and he believed it. We talked so much Ms. Hill had to tell us to shut up and let her start the class.

He’s really funny, J. I didn’t know he was funny.

Dear J,

Steve invited me to have lunch with them today. Ngl I was a little nervous – didn’t wanna talk to Barnes – but I met his friends, Sam Wilson and this girl, Sharon Carter, and it was actually kind of fun.

It certainly beats eating in the informatics room.

Dear J,

Yesterday at lunch, Barton sat with us. I didn’t mind it (Barton is ok, I guess) until he decided to make a stupid comment about Barnes and Steve. It was so fucking stupid. Just because Barnes gave Steve his fries. Like, are you in fifth grade?

I could’ve given Steve my fries. I wasn’t gonna eat them anyway. But Barnes offered first. damnit

Dear J,

Today Steve asked me to help him with his math homework. I said yes, I’d love it.

(Why the fuck did I say that? Like, sure, I could’ve said yes, but why did I say I’d love it? That’s such a weird thing to say.

Steve just smiled. But I bet he thought it was weird.)

Now I’m in last period, ignoring Mr. Coulson and getting all nervous because I’m supposed to go to Steve’s house after school.

What if say something stupid? Worse, what if I start rambling and I say something shitty and he gets mad? And am I gonna be a good teacher anyway? I always go off when I talk about Math, sometimes I don’t understand what I’m saying. What if Steve sits there, looks at me with those blue eyes they’re so blue, holy shit and I end up, like, talking about the Hodge conjecture or something? That’s not really date talk.

And is that even a date? Would Steve even want to have a date with me?

Ok, class’s over. Gotta go, J. Wish me luck.

Dear J,

Yesterday was AWESOME.

We talked a lot. I even told him about the Hodge conjecture after all!! And Steve said it was amazing I know this. He sounded like he really meant it (he always sounds like he means everything he says. It’s something in the way he talks).

Steve thinks he’s bad at math, but he isn’t. He just has a harder time with numbers. He’s actually super smart. And he’s so fun to talk to, J. He’s just so...

I don’t know if it was a date. We didn’t kiss or anything. But I had a great time. I hope he asks for help again.

Dear J,

He asked again!! I’m supposed to help him with his chemistry homework on Saturday. Again not sure if this is a date, but it’s so awesome.

Today at lunch there was something a little different with us. Barnes was there, sure, but I could barely notice his presence, and I bet Steve didn’t either. We were talking about what might happen to Kylo Ren in the next movies. I’m pro-redemption, he’s against it. We talked so much we didn’t even notice when the bell rang.

Anthony Stark-Rogers

Anthony Rogers

Anthony Rogers-Stark

Dear J,

Can’t really focus on writing lately. I’ve been just scribbling stuff.

(Don’t give me this look. You’re a journal, you can’t judge me.)

Dear J,

It’s been almost a week since I last wrote here. Feels a bit weird to write down what went on, honestly, but I’m gonna try. I missed writing in you.

So. Apparently, last time I scribbled those stupid names (so fucking stupid), I was grinning like an idiot, and Hodge started teasing me, asking me what was up. Of course, I can’t keep my mouth shut, so I snapped back at him and he got angry and he and his friends cornered me on the way out and took you out of my backpack and, I mean, you were there. They started reading aloud, laughing the whole time.

Steve was in the bathroom, so he only got to it around the ending, but he definitely heard enough. I was so fucking embarrassed, I couldn’t even think, I just grabbed you and ran away.

Now Steve keeps calling me and I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to answer him because I don’t want to hear him rejecting me, and I don’t want to have to apologize for writing all that stupid shit about him because I didn’t think anyone would read it! I just thought I was being dumb in my journal, alone, like it’s my God-given right as a stupid teenager in love with someone.

Yeah, there, I said it. No point in pretending anymore, I guess, since the whole school has probably heard it by now. I’m in love, and Steve isn’t, and now everyone knows and I just want to stay in my room for the rest of my life.

Dear J,

Barnes called me. I answered almost out of surprise, to be honest– I didn’t even know he had my number. He didn’t bother telling me how he got it, he just straight up started saying I needed to answer Steve before he did anything dumber. And then I said “you mean, before he does anything dumb” (I don’t normally correct people, but I wanted to be an asshole with him), but he answered: “No, idiot, he already did something dumb”.

And then I found out Steve got suspended.

Because he punched Hodge in the face.

I kind of didn’t have anything to say to that, so Barnes was just like “yeah, I know” and told me the whole story. Apparently, a few days after the mess, Steve went to Hodge, because he wanted to get Hodge to apologize to me (he’s a fan of impossible causes) and of course Hodge told him to fuck off and I guess he said something about me (Barnes didn’t know what it was because Steve refused to repeat) and then Steve punched his face.

And that’s. I mean, that’s the most awesome thing I’ve ever heard, right? So I told that to Barnes, and he was all like: “Of course you think that. You two idiots were made for each other”.

So I guess I don’t hate Barnes anymore.

And I’m calling Steve tonight. Wish me luck.

Dear J,

I’m writing this now in Steve’s room. He went downstairs to see if the popcorn was ready, and I thought I’d update you a little.

When I called him, yesterday, at first he was super shocked I was actually talking to him. I asked how he was, and I told him about my talk with Barnes (guess I should start calling him Bucky now?). He said he was fine, which is Steve speak for “Hodge totally punched him back”, so I wanted to see him, and he told me come over.

And… I’m here now, so you can guess how it went. We didn’t fuck or anything – Steve told me he’s never done it before with anyone, and when we do it I want it to be special, so special he never wants to do it with anyone else. But we kissed, and we kissed a lot, and let me tell you, we’d totally still be kissing if we didn’t have to stop and do other meaningless things, like breathing and sleeping.

Steve says he didn’t kiss many people before me, but he’s such a great kisser, J. He’s just- he tastes so good and his mouth is so soft and just… Yeah. Awesome. 10/10, would do it again (will do it again as soon as he gets back with the popcorn).

We talked about you, too. He said he thinks it’s "super cute", that I write in you – and then he flushed and started saying he didn’t mean to be condescending, which was super cute too. He says he’s not good at writing many things, mostly he draws.

He showed me a few of his drawings. I’m in a few, and there’s one of both of us holding hands, which was how the kissing started.

Now I’m listening to his steps coming up the stairs, so I better go. I’m so happy, J. I didn’t even know I could get this happy.

Dear J,

The best things about dating Steve Rogers, in no particular order.

Getting to see his socks’ drawer and pick out my favorites for him to wear on our dates (the R2-D2 pair is still the winner, but he’s got one with little stars he only wears at home that I kind of love because I’m the only one who sees it).

Eating his mom’s cookies.

Joining his mom in her efforts to make him eat more (and the way he frowns and gets all grumpy about it).

Watching him shoot angry glares at Hodge any time he breathes in my direction (I considered telling Steve to relax, but, honestly, I kind of love it when he does that).

Cuddling with him in bed while he watches this youtube video I found that proves Kylo’s redemption is inevitable.

Kissing the little freckles behind his ears and watching as he blushes all over.

The smile he’s gonna give when I show him this list.

Gotta go, J. Ttyl.

P.S.: It’s totally gonna be “Stark-Rogers”.

[slashersrus]

Jerome Valeska x Reader - Split Part 3

Reader grew up in the circus with Jerome. She has a split personality and Jerome helps her with it.

PART 1 PART 2 PART 4

"Right this way." A police office spoke, guiding Y/N and Jerome through the precinct until they came to an interrogation room. Pushing them in, they walked though the door, instantly spotting Jim, Lee and Mr Cicero.

"Hi Jerome, Y/N. Please take a seat. You know Mr Cicero from the show." Jim spoke once he saw them causing Mr Cicero to freeze. Y/N and Jerome sitting next to him, Jerome in the middle.

"Yes, sir." "Hello Mr Cicero." Jerome and Y/N spoke at the same time.

"Good evening Jerome, Y/N." The blind man spoke, turning and glancing in their direction.

"Do you know why your here?" Gordon spoke, looking between the three people sat opposite him.

"Did you find out who killed our parents?" Jerome leaned forward when he asked, acting clueless.

"You both killed your parents." Jerome and Y/N recoiled in shock at his words.

"Us?" Y/N's lip quivered as she spoke.

"You killed them in your trailer. Mr Cicero told you to scratch the Satanist stuff on the knife and throw it off the bridge." The bluntness in his tone shocked everyone in the room. Y/N no longer felt the same amount of sadness at killing her parents, Jerome had convinced her that she shouldn't be sad, they beat her. She still felt guilty at killing someone though. She let tears well in her eyes, trying to hide the fact she was guilty.

"Sir, that's absurd and-and offensive." Jerome stuttered, trying not to get caught.

"But it's the truth. What I don't know is why this man risked so much to help you. I think he's your father." Gordon smiled, the smile clearly fake. Y/N gasped at the statement as Jerome tried to deny it.

Jerome scoffed, shaking his head, "You don't know what you're talking about. My father was a sea captain." Y/N nodded along to Jerome's words, confirming them.

"Am I wrong Mr Cicero?" Gordon sighed.

"Yes." The short answer from Mr Cicero made Y/N doubtful, she stayed silent and let Jerome handle it.

"He was a sea captain. His name was Sven Karlsen. He died at sea." Y/N grew nervous seeing Jerome starting to get agitated, hoping he didn't break his act.

"What was the name of his ship?" Jim looked down, he actually looked regretful at having to revealing to Jerome who his true father was.

"He worked on a lot of different ships." Jerome shook his head, his tears close to falling down his cheeks.

"The one he went down in?" Jim asked, Y/N heart broke for Jerome as she realised he was speaking the truth.

"She never said." Jerome spoke sadly, shaking his head causing Y/N to grab his hand to comfort him, him squeezing her hand to show his appreciation of the gesture.

"We could do a blood test to prove I'm right. Takes only half an hour to get a fool proof result. Isn't that right Dr Thompkins?" He turned around, glancing at Lee who looked extremely uncomfortable at the situation

"Yes." She nodded, looking down sadly.

"Save yourself a needle."

"I do hate needles. I'm sorry Jerome." Mr Cicero spoke disheartened, Jerome tensed and slowly turned to face him as Y/N watched the interaction with wide eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Jerome questioned, his voice breaking, indicating to Y/N he was losing his act.

"He's right. I am you father."

"No, you're not. Why would you say that?!" Jerome shook his head, tears starting to fall down his face.

"You must have suspected the truth."

"You're not my father. My mother would never-" Jerome began only for Mr Cicero to cut him off mid sentence.

"Your mother was a cruel woman. She was often unkind to me, but she did once love me in her own way. And she loved you very much. That's why she gave you a better father." Mr Cicero spoke, reaching for Jerome's hands only for him to pull them away.

Dipping his head down, Jerome started to sob as Y/N sighed knowing he was going to reveal his true self. Insane laughter replacing his tears, Jerome looked up seeing the shocked faces of Jim and Lee before turning to Mr Cicero.

"My mother was a cold hearted whore who never loved anyone. And she'd never touch a pathetic old creep like you." He hissed, his voice returning to his usual cold, dark tone as Mr Cicero flinched at his words.

"All these years do you think I was kind to you because I'm such a good man? If I wasn't your father, would I have helped you as I have after what you did?" His words cause Jerome to look at Gordon, then Y/N, then back to Mr Cicero.

"My father. Hm. I'll be damned." He laughed, staring at Jim and Lee's horrified faces as Y/N fought to keep her other side from showing up, knowing it would make everything worse.

"Oh it's very funny," Jerome broke off laughing darkly before making drum movements with his hands, "BA-DUM-SHH. Looks like the bitch got me with a zinger in the end."

"Why did you kill your mother Jerome?" Gordon asked, a serious look on his face, forgetting about Y/N for the meanwhile.

Making dismissive hand gestures, Jerome spoke "Oh you know how mothers are. She just kept pushing. And I'm like, 'fine mom, be a whore. Be a drunken whore even. But don't be a nagging drunken whore.' You know? Don't come yell at me to do the dishes if you've BEEN BANGING A CLOWN IN THE NEXT ROOM! You know?" Jerome snapped, slamming his fist into the table before bursting into insane laughter.

"What about you?" Gordon finally asked Y/N, after Jerome's sinister laughter had ended, a tense atmosphere coating the room.

"She's innocent. It was me not her." Jerome hissed leaning forwards, wanting to prevent her from being locked up with him.

"Why did you kill your parents Y/N?"

Lifting her head to stare at him, she tilted her head slightly, "Oh, I didn't kill them. Well, not exactly."

"Y/N. Don't." Jerome warned, knowing she was close to breaking. He knew that if Gordon found out about her split personality then she would go straight to Arkham.

"If it wasn't you, then who did?" Gordon asked, ignoring Jerome's comment, focused entirely on the pale girl.

"She really wants to meet you. Won't stop nagging. I've been trying to hold her off since we entered the room. She's really angry." Y/N spoke the last part to Jerome, turning and facing him as he shook his head at her.

"Who is she?" Lee asked stepping forward.

Seeing her eyes flicker, Jerome grabbed her hand, trying desperately to protect her, "Don't."

"Mommy called me a bitch. Then my dear old dad hurled a bottle at my head. Poor little Y/N wouldn't do anything about it, so I did. It was fun." She smirked, keeping eye contact with Jerome the entire time.

"What?" Lee whispered confused and terrified.

"Y/N has a...how to put it? Split personality." Jerome turned to look at Gordon, explaining as Y/N kept her gaze on him.

"Can we go now? We were in the middle of something when you rang. Tut tut. You have no manners Jimmy boy." Y/N spoke, finally turning to look at a wide eyed Jim, Jerome grinning at her words.

"You're both insane. GUARDS!" He shouted just as Y/N pulled Jerome into a steamy kiss, making Lee turn away embarrassed.

"Take them to Arkham Asylum." He spoke, four guards pulling them apart and placing them in hand cuffs. Hurrying them away to be transported to Arkham Asylum, Jerome's eyes widened as he realised they would be in separate cells and when Y/N goes back to normal, she will wake up by herself not knowing what happened.

"Y/N!" He tried to grab her but the guards simply shoved him into the transport van, Y/N being shoved in after wards.

"Ah Arkham. I wonder what fun we'll have there?" She smirked at him, a smirk forming on his face as he leaned towards her.

"You're gonna need to try and not switch back. The other Y/N won't survive in there, you will. Don't worry dollface. I'll get us out." He winked and blew a kiss.

"Oh I don't plan on switching back for awhile, ginger." She grinned, blowing a kiss and leaning her head back against the side of the van.

They both sat, staring at each other as they thought about what the asylum would be like. One thing they knew however, was that nobody would split them up.

Nobody would ever split them up.

[letspretendiknowwhatshappening]

uhhh hi its that alpha!nat&bucky and omega!tony anon. anyway i just love the idea of a blushy and flustered tony and his tough exterior but super soft on the inside alphas. (btw i love that fic thing that you wrote about dum-e the cat and winterironwidow it was super cute) :)

Hello! I’m glad you liked my fic, and thanks for the great prompt! I loved the idea so much that I wrote a bunch of words that I hope make sense, since I haven’t had much practice writing a/b/o, and I hope you enjoy!

Tony stares down at the bouquet,eyes incredibly wide and a hot blush crawling up his neck and into his facewith the intensity that Pepper holds when playing monopoly against Rhodey – theintensity of a person working desperately not to die, since Rhodey is, by allintents and purposes, the master of monopoly.

The bouquet is beautiful, full of whitelilies, all of which shouldn’t be in bloom right now, making it an even bettertreat to look at, and the stems are tied together with a silver ribbon curledto perfection. He looks up from the petals and into Natasha’s face and takes adeep whiff of the scent of a very pleased alpha.

He had been working on Clint’sarrows, since Clint decided that he was going to see just how many arrows Petercould catch with his “spidey-senses” and managed to coat every single arrow inPeter’s webs before they were discovered, when Natasha arrived, making justenough noise to alert him politely, with the bouquet held in her manicuredhands.

She stares back at him, a smallsmile on her face, and says, “I heard they were your favourites.”

“I – they are, thank you,” hereplies, choosing to sniff the flowers in an attempt to hide his horrendousblushing, “How’d you hear that?”

“I have ways.”

“Of course you do. Do they involveinterrogating Rhodey on the ‘mushy’ stuff that he swore he wouldn’t getinvolved in?”

She leans against his workshoptable, one hip cocked, showing off the holster that Jan designed, and says,“Maybe, maybe we’re just very observant and saw how you looked at the flowersin the park before it got destroyed by Hammer’s crappy robots.”

“They are crappy!” Tony agrees, instead of focusing on the warmth growingin his chest at her explanation and the fire that is his once nice complexion.“They looked like they were designed by a drunk toddler, and I think one ofthem was made out of spare vacuum cleaner parts, too.”

“Nothing like your kids,” Natashareplies, glancing over to DUM-E and giving him a smile. DUM-E moves his arm upand down, agreeing, and the interaction makes Tony preen at having his alpha’sapproval. His heart melts, too, when Natasha waves to DUM-E and the bot wavesback.

“Plus,” Natasha shrugs, her smilegrowing as her eyes dart around his face and take in the blush, “You alwayssmell happier with flowers around.”

“I do? I thought I just smelledlike cinnamon and soot, from what Clint said.”

“Clint once fell headfirst into adumpster after tripping over his own shoelaces, so I’d take his words with agrain of salt.” She pushes off the table and leans in close, brushing a soft,barely-there kiss on his cheek, and murmurs in his ear, making him wish that heset the air-conditioning on high before she walked in, “You smell like sunshinewhen you’re happy.”

Natasha reaches out, running herhand down his hair and neck, pressing her wrist to his neck, then smiles evenwider, and adds, “Now I do too.”

She does, actually. Both she andBucky have started to hold his scent like how he holds theirs, but with moreintensity than other bonded couples and groups. Before he has the chance todissect her comment, she smiles at him, looking far too devious, and startstoward the door.

“Wait!” Tony calls after her, andshe pauses, glancing back. He jumps up and walks over, carrying the flowerscarefully, then leans down – because he istaller than someone, thank you very much– and kisses Natasha’s cheek and says, “Thanks, Tasha. I love them.”

Her eyes are bright when he pullsback, and she grins again, overflowing with smugness, then winks at him andwalks away, a certain swagger in her steps and her scent.

 His blushing continues, to hiscomplexion’s displeasure, the next day, when he walks into the kitchen in the morning.Sam sits at the table, bent over a notebook and oddly silent, seeing as howBucky stands at the sink, wearing a frilly apron with lace around the edges andlilac lettering that daintily spells out “No Bitchn’ in This Kitchen”. Normally,Sam would be annoying the hell out of Bucky for wearing it, and just for beingnear him, and Bucky would be giving back as good as he got, so Tony is a littlemiffed over the silence.

Bucky glances over when Tonyenters, and his usually blank face lights up, a change that only occurs whenNatasha and Tony are around, or when something embarrassing happens to Sam. Hesteps away from the sink and reaches out, brushing a hand against Tony’s neckand leaving traces of a familiar scent.

Tony smiles, ducking his head, andBucky leans down. He turns his head up, but Bucky leaves a kiss on his foreheadinstead. Tony pouts, pretending he doesn’t have the beginnings of an obviousblush, and Bucky simply laughs, running a hand through Tony’s hair.

“What’s wrong, doll?”

“I swear, you guys only do thisstuff to make me blush.’

“S’cause you blush so prettily, yaknow. You’ve got a cute smile, too.”

Warmth uncurls in his chest, buthe raises his nose to the air and says, “Stop that – stop that right now. I can’t have people seeing meas a mushy romantic – I am an avenger, a CEO, and an amazing person, and I willbe respected as such, and so will you.”

“Debatable,” Sam mutters, rippingout a sheet of paper and crumpling it up. He tosses it into the trash can andrestarts, scribbling furiously on the paper, continually glancing up to stareat the mug in front of him.

At the silence following hiscomment, Sam looks up and glances between them, taking in Bucky’s warning lookand the slight hurt on Tony’s face, then backtracks, adding, quickly, “Irespect you, Tony, always have andalways will, but not the cyborg hobo who still hasn’t learned what a haircut is.”

“Strong words for someonestruggling to sketch out a mug,” Bucky drawls, gently taking Tony’s hand in hismetal one and leading him to the table. He pulls a chair out and stands behindit, waiting for Tony, who huffs a breath and takes the seat, hoping that Samshows enough kindness to not mention how red his face is.

“Strong reply for someonestruggling to make pancakes without burning them,” Sam responds, frowning downat his paper.

“They ain’t burnt – they’reperfect!” Bucky grabs a plate off the counter and plops it down in front ofTony, revealing correctly cooked, if somewhat browner than usual, pancakes.

“Right?” He asks Tony, fidgetingslightly as his hands worry the edges of the apron.

Tony nods immediately and isrewarded with a bright smile and, finally, a kiss on the lips. Sam gags, towhich Bucky flips him off. He gathers up his papers and pencil, muttering,“I’ll get out before you two flood the place with even more of your grossscents.”

“Not gross!” Bucky calls afterhim, “You’re just jealous!”

Sam flips him off as he leaves theroom, the door swinging shut after him. Bucky pulls out the chair next to Tonyand sits down, wrapping an arm around Tony’s waist and holding him close. Hewaits, patiently, as Tony cuts off a piece and tastes it.

It tastes great, surprisingly,since Bucky hasn’t had much practice, and the omega part in the back of hismind preens at having a mate provide for him, even though they live in a timein which killing, hunting, and preparing food isn’t commonplace anymore.

“Well?” Bucky asks, shyer thanbefore.

“It’s great!” Tony says, andBucky’s face breaks out into a warm, blindingly bright smile.

 “Need any help, Peter?” Tony asks,after Peter lets out another disheartened, somewhat theatrical sigh.

“Hmm?” Peter glances up, a crayontucked behind his ear and some of the waxy colour pressed into his cheek, adifficult act to achieve. He shrugs, looking back to his schematics, and says,cautiously, “I’m good, just, uh, drawing some stuff, I guess.”

“With crayons?”

“Helps me differentiate betweenthe parts, and, uh, stuff – listen, Mr. Stark – Tony, Mr. Tony-”

“-Just Tony-”

“Tony,” Peter corrects himself,and he glances around the room quickly, scanning the entrances, vents, andwindows with the intensity usually held on the field. He leans in close, andasks, softly, “Are you, you know, uh, happy, with, uh, you know…”

“I really don’t. Some extra nounsand verbs would be helpful, bud.”

“You know…” Peter gestures towardTony, then outside the room, “With Natasha and Bucky and, you know,” Peter’sface heats up in embarrassment, making Tony cheer internally that someone elsehas just a hard of a time at hiding emotions like that, “The relationship and,their – their faces.”

“Their… faces. Listen, Petey-Pie,I’ll be honest here, I’m worried for you. Do you need to get your eyes checked?Because Tasha and Bucky are both incredibly attractive, and it’s not just theirfaces-”

“No!” Peter interrupts, waving hishands to try and cut Tony off, “No, not that, not that at all!”

Tony grins, but quiets down as thesmallest bit of the smell of wariness, a sharp-tinged scent, reaches his nose.He shuffles closer to Peter and says, “What do you mean, then?”

“Just, you know, you’re – you’reyou, and you’re nice and warm and, you know, kind. And, they’re both just…really intimidating and, just, tough,”Peter finishes, lamely. “Are they nice to you?”

Tony pauses for a moment,completely blindsided. He expected something about fraternizing hindering theteam, possible breakups ruining the dynamic, maybe something about the relationship set-up with two alphas andone omega, but he didn’t really expect that since Peter acts a lot kinder andsofter than other teenage alphas, but Tony didn’t expect this. He especially didn’t expect the way Peter sets his jaw, as ifhe’s two seconds from running off to fight Natasha and Bucky at the firstinstance of them not treating Tony right. In all honesty, it warms his heartand makes the back of his head cheer about the close-knit nature of the pack.

Instead of voicing any of thosethoughts, Tony nods, smiles helplessly, and says, “They’re amazing to me. I couldn’tbe happier.”

Peter stares into his face for amoment, then nods. He turns back to his schematics and takes Tony’s help,making the problem simplify faster than it would without his help, untilelevator door opens up and a pair of people enter the floor. Tony sits up andfinds Bucky and Natasha walking into the room, hand-in-hand, and smiles whenthey catch sight of him and smile back.

Natasha slows down as she surveysthe room, glancing between Tony and Peter, and asks, casually yet cautious, “Sowhat’s up, guys?”

“Nothing much, right Peter?” Tonyasks, bumping his shoulder into Peter’s.

“Nothing,” Peter agrees.

“See? The spider genius says so,so it must be true.”

“He’s just staying on his toescause of the lecture you gave him and Clint about the arrows,” Bucky comments.

Peter shoots Bucky a look ofabsolute betrayal, still stinging from Tony’s earlier disapproval. He gathersup his crayons and paper, accepts a quick side-hug from Tony, and leaves theroom, muttering something about fridge magnets – something Tony willinvestigate later with more focus – much, much later, based on how Natashaplops down next to him and runs a hand through his hair while Bucky sits on hisother side and wraps an arm around him.

“You made Peter sad,” Tony says,refusing to be distracted despite Natasha’s best efforts.

“I’ll apologize later,” Buckypromises, pressing himself even closer to them, somehow wrapping his armsaround both Tony and Natasha.

Tony rolls his eyes at the obviousdistraction, but leans into the embrace and Natasha’s hand, and wonders howPeter even got the idea that they weren’t kind to him.

[imaginetonyandbucky]

Without Words

Prompt: Can I please have some Bucky flirting with Tony almost all the time, and Tony who isn't aware at all? :)

Two projections are hurtling straight at him. Bucky raises the practise gun and takes them out in two clean shots without breaking a sweat. From the corner of his eye he spots a third racing up beside him. He grabs the rubber knife from his side, flips it, and brings it down hard through the projection. The fake enemy flickers and dies. Bucky stands and turns. He’s got the attention of the rest of the fake projection enemies. They hover in the air, create a formation, and then charge towards him across the room. Bucky smirks to himself and strides towards them, his focus intense. The formation breaks and tries to flank him, but he anticipates this. It’ll take more than that to catch him off guard. His body moves on instinct, all power and grace, and in a matter of seconds, every projected enemy is offline.

For a second, there is silence, and then Tony’s voice cuts across the open training room. “Oh. My. God.” He says, almost in disbelief.

Bucky turns and looks straight at him, and winks. “I aim to impress, doll.”

“I’m digging the murder strut. I mean that right there? Seeing you coming towards them like that, that’s enough to make the bad guys run back to their holes. Better than a Jericho ever was.”

“Murder strut?” Bucky asks, cocking an eyebrow and sauntering across the room towards Tony and the others.

“Yeah, you know. That thing you do. Your scary power walk. The one that says ‘head up I’m gunning for you.”

“I don’t murder strut,” Bucky says in mock horror.

“Yeah, you kind of do,” Steve agrees, setting his shield down. “But it works.”

(Watch out for the break!)

Bucky rolls his eyes, and luckily Tony moves on. “How’s the arm with the new tweaks?”  he asks.

“Much better. Response time is improved. Tac gear could use some work, though. It’s still a little restrictive,” he says, stretching out his shoulder. “I like a little restriction, but I can think of other places it’s better for than the battlefield.”  He gives Tony a look, but Tony doesn’t seem to notice. He just nods, and his fingers twitch a little like he’s looking for a console.

“Right. Come down to the workshop, we’ll try some new things. Wanted your feedback on some other things while we’re at it.”

Tony turns and walks away, muttering to himself, and Bucky can’t help but to just stare after him in bewilderment.

<hr/>

Okay, so he hadn’t meant to start flirting with Tony. Not really anyway. It had just kind of.. happened. Early on in his recovery, when Steve had been telling him stories of when they were younger, of their life before the war,  Steve had told him that he’d had a way with people, that he’d been ‘a bit of a charmer.’ Bucky hadn’t exactly believed it, not for a long time. Not until the day that they’d walked into a coffee shop and Bucky had left with a barista’s number on the side of his cup, a stunned look on his face, and a Steve that didn’t stop laughing for three blocks. So yeah, okay, he could be charming. But he really hadn’t set out to flirt with Tony. But Tony was funny, he was smart, charming himself, gorgeous, snarky. The flirting had evolved right alongside his crush, and by the time he’d realised that either was a thing, he’d gone and fallen head over heels for Tony.

Tony, who seemed completely oblivious that Bucky was flirting with him — which was ridiculous. It wasn’t like Bucky was exactly trying be subtle.

He was still shaking his head over it as he headed down to Tony’s workshop, freshly showered after training, sporting his favourite sweatpants and a sleeveless shirt. Tony waved him over as he entered, but didn’t take his eyes off the screen in front of him.

“Buckaroo. Come, take a seat. Tell me what’s wrong with your gear.”

Bucky pulls up a stool right beside Tony where he can easily peer over at whatever it is that Tony is working on.     

“The gear’s actually fine for the most part. I mean the new material you’re using is perfect.”

“But you were complaining about it,” Tony frowns.

“I just need it refitted, that’s all. I bulked up since we took measurements,” Bucky explains. Tony pauses and looks at him — really looks at him, studying the breadth of his shoulders and the muscle definition in his arms, eyes lingering. Bucky can’t help but flex a little. For half a second, he swears that he sees a hint of a flush on Tony’s cheeks, but the moment passes quickly and Tony turns and stares pointedly at his screens. Bucky can’t help but half rolls his eyes to himself.

Maybe this being ‘naturally charming’ as Steve calls him is working against him. There’s a chance that Tony thinks that this is just how he acts with everyone. Of course, there’s always the chance that Tony isn’t interested in him. But, he’s not willing to give up yet. Maybe it’s time to step up his game and make sure that Tony knows that he is the sole object of Bucky’s flirting.

He’ll find a way to get his point across.

<hr/>

It starts with the coffee.

He convinces JARVIS to be his co-conspirator. Whenever Tony is working down in the shop, Bucky has JARVIS alert him when Tony is starting to run low on coffee and starts grumbling about  wanting more. JARVIS gives him enough time to jump into action, scrambling to the kitchen to make sure there is always a fresh pot started just as Tony comes upstairs. More often than not, Bucky will strategically place himself in the kitchen or the common room so that he can see when Tony arrives, and casually start a conversation with him.

After the third day, he looks up from his spot reading on the couch to find Natasha looming over him.

“Just tell him, James.”

He doesn’t dignify that with a response.

The coffee and kitchen chatter end up going over well, so he moves on to phase two of his plan — the workshop.

It’s Tony’s space. It’s where he’s the most…  Tony . And it’s where Bucky first fell in love with him.

If Bucky’s being honest with himself — which is hard still, some days — he fell for Tony very early on after coming to the tower. Tony was something solid at a time that he was in turmoil, when Bucky wasn’t sure where he stood with himself, when he was trying to figure out where he stood with Steve, and when he had no idea what his place in the world was after HYDRA. But there was Tony. Tony, who was always straight with him. Who always said what he meant, who wasn’t afraid to crack jokes, to prod at him to see where the lines and the edges were. He had needed that.

By the time that Bucky had put himself back together again, Tony had become a fixture in his life. One afternoon when Tony had been finishing off the last of the fine tuning on his arm, Bucky had made a comment about putting himself back together. For the rest of the afternoon, Tony had called him ‘Humpty Dumpty’ until Bucky had pointed out that wasn’t the whole point, that Humpty Dumpty couldn’t be put back together. And he was doing much better than that, thank you very much Tony.

It had been the first time that Bucky had snarked back at him, and it had caught Tony off guard for half a moment before he burst out laughing and conceded the point that Bucky was clearly way better than Humpty Dumpty.

After that, something clicked between them, and they’d become fast friends in a way that neither of them could have anticipated.

A friend that Bucky fell harder for the more that he found himself.

So here he is, back in the workshop where everything arguably began, trying to make it clear that he is interested in more without coming right out and saying it. Words are a lot harder than actions, and Tony isn’t always the best at communicating either.

No. This is better. And at least this way, there’s less chance of him making things awkward between them by just coming right out and saying how he feels. What he needs is to communicate in way that Tony understands.

Tony has told him he’s always welcome to come down and hang out, so Bucky starts taking advantage of that more, and more. At first he tries to cover himself with stupid excuses — he has a question, he needs to fix something, he wants to visit DUM-E — until Tony calls him out on it.

“What, my company isn’t reason enough for you?” he asks one day after yet another excuse to come into Tony’s space. “I told you ages ago you could come down whenever you want. I’m starting to think you don’t like me.”

Bucky’s heart skips a beat and he takes this as a good sign. With a playful smile, he swaggers across the room. It’s not quite the ‘murder strut’ as Tony calls it, but he pours that same self assured smoothness into every step until he’s right up in Tony’s space. “Your company is always enough for me, doll,” he purrs, brushing his fingers along Tony’s arm. Tony stares up at him for a moment, wide eyed before he leans into the touch, almost without realising he’s doing it. Bucky almost leans in right then and there to kiss him. Their eyes meet, and his drop briefly to Tony’s lips, full and perfect. There is no way that Tony doesn’t know what he’s thinking, but before Bucky can make up his mind, the moment passes.

Probably for the best. For now. Not until he’s certain.

<hr/>

He’s down in the workshop every day now, at the very least long enough to pop in and say hi to Tony. It becomes so much a part of his routine that he still ends up going down even when Tony is away for a few days for meetings at the SI facility in California. After barely the first day, Natasha tells him off for moping around like a moody teenager, and Steve just looks at him sadly without saying anything. To hell with them both, at least DUM-E is nice to him.

On the first evening, he sends Tony a photo of him and DUM-E building a ‘sculpture’ out of spare bits of wire and metal.

Part way through the second day, he has JARVIS send Tony a video of Bucky handing DUM-E and Butterfingers lengths of foam and teaching them about jousting. Less than five minutes later, Bucky’s phone is ringing, and at the other end, Tony sounds like he’s struggling to catch his breath.

“I. Hate. You.” he says without an ounce of venom in his voice. “I just had to try and explain to a group of shareholders and investors that the reason I burst out laughing in the middle of a Q and A is because someone was teaching my robots how to joust.”

“Robot fights are legit Tony. I saw it on YouTube,” Bucky says as he flops himself down on the couch in the shop.

“Let me save you some time. DUM-E isn’t going to do well on that career path.”

“Everyone needs a hobby,” Bucky says.

“Jousting.” Tony repeats.

“We’re bored.” Bucky tells him. “You’re not here to entertain us.”

“If I promise to come back soon and save you, will you promise not to teach my bots any more bad habits?”

Bucky pretends to consider this for a moment, and then responds with a cheerful, “Nope. No promises.”

“You’re impossible. I’ll be home tomorrow.”

“I’ll tell DUM-E to finish his art project.”

Bucky hangs up the phone feeling significantly better and more hopeful. Maybe when Tony comes home, he’ll think about actually talking to him.

<hr/>

He throws that plan out the window almost as soon as Tony arrives back. He’s in the common area with Steve, Natasha, Sam, Bruce, and Rhodey who has popped by for a visit. Once Tony has dropped his bags and jacket and heads in to join them, Bucky is there to greet him. He leans into Tony’s space and bumps shoulders with him and Tony smiles at him, but there is something pinched there.

Maybe he’s just tired, Bucky rationalizes.

Later, when the group of them are settled in to watch a movie, Tony deliberately takes the seat on the couch next to Bucky, and Bucky nudges him gently, trying to make it clear that he’s okay with Tony being close in his space, but Tony doesn’t take him up on it. The entire movie, Tony is close enough that Bucky can feel his warmth, but they never touch, and Tony doesn’t make any move to lean in closer to him.  Bucky refuses to read into that.

Except that it doesn’t stop there.

Arguably, nothing between them has changed, they still spend all their time together, they’re still bantering and trading jokes, but there’s something off about it. Tony’s a physical and tactile guy, Bucky’s observed that about him. He constantly fidgeting, he has no qualms about being in people’s space. He’s always grabbing peoples arms or patting shoulders when he’s talking.

Except with Bucky.

Why hasn’t he noticed it before now?

Well okay. That makes it pretty damn clear. Tony is trying to make a point, that he doesn’t want what Bucky is offering, and he’s trying to be nice about it so things don’t get awkward. Bucky can take a hint. It stings, but he can deal. He’ll get over it.

It just might take some time.

The day he realises what’s happening, he doesn’t go to the shop at all.

<hr/>

He doesn’t want to lose the friendship that he’s developed with Tony, he values it and Tony far too much for that, but over the following few days, he can’t quite figure out how to conduct himself. He hasn’t realised just how much he’s been flirting with Tony until he tries to stop it. He catches himself all the time, giving Tony a look, or about to make an inappropriate joke. He doesn’t realise how much he touches Tony until he has to reign himself in. Tony has never pulled away from Bucky’s touches, or made any indication that he’s uncomfortable with them, but Bucky’s not going to be the guy. Tony’s not interested, enough said.

But it’s so damn hard. He can’t help but spend less time around Tony, and rationalise it to himself as being better, at least for now. At least until he can get his feelings under control.

It works. Right up until Tony decides it doesn’t.

“Alright what is it?” Tony says one evening after an awkward, stilted few minutes in the shop. He can’t just stop going to the shop all together, it’s too important to him, and to their friendship, which he’s trying to keep intact, god help him.

“What’s what?” Bucky asks, confused.

“All of this,” Tony says waving his hand at nothing in particular.

“You just gestured to all of me,” Bucky said flatly, barely feeling the joke.

“Yeah, exactly my point. You’ve been acting—” he makes some other kind of gesture that shouldn’t really make sense, but which Bucky understands. “Look, just tell me what I did wrong. Please Bucky.”

“What?” Bucky responds in surprise, “What you did? What, no. Tony. It’s nothing. You didn’t do anything.”

“You’ve been acting weird. And distant. So clearly I did something, and I just want to know what so I can fix it.”

No. No, this wasn’t how this was supposed to go. Bucky has been trying so damn hard  to not ruin what they have, and now he’s gone and done it anyway. He’d hoped they wouldn’t have to have this terrible, awkward conversation, but it looks like they’re going to have to after all. Bucky opens his mouth to say something, but before he can, Tony cuts him off, realisation dawning on him.

“Look, Bucky, I get that you’re not into me, okay? That’s fine. I swear, it’s fine. I get it, message received. So can we just forget this happened and go back to how things were? Please?”

Tony looks at him, vulnerable and pleading, and Bucky wants  to say something comforting, but his brain just short circuited and is rebooting.

“Wait what?” he asks, feeling like he missed something important. “You said-”

“Yeah I know what I said, can we forget about it?”  Tony snaps.

“No. No we can not.” Bucky informs him, moving quickly across the shop. Tony’s face twists into something distorted, and he looks like he’s about to spit out something vicious, as he does when he’s trying to protect himself.

“You said I’m not into you,” Bucky states, seeking clarification.

“Well, you’re not,” Tony shrugs.

“What the hell gave you the idea that I wasn’t?”  Bucky asks.

“Why would you be?”

“Why— why would I be? Tony, why the hell wouldn’t I be?” Bucky can’t quite believe what he’s hearing. “Have you completely missed the part where I have been trying to flirt with you and get your attention for weeks now?”  

“What?” Tony asks, his turn to be confused now. “No you haven’t. You’re just… you. You’re just being you.”

“Right. Because I always show off in training, for just anyone. And I always spend all my free time with everyone. And I always mope around the tower, and make art, and teach everyone’s robots how to joust because I miss them.”

“Well… when you put it like that,” Tony says, taken aback. “So, this entire time I’ve been so busy trying to hide the fact that I want you take you to dinner, and have lots and lots of sex all night, and spend the whole morning laying in bed together, that I completely missed the part where—”

“-- where I want the same thing?” Bucky asks. “Yeah. I guess so.”

He steps up right into Tony’s space and drops his hands to hold Tony’s hips, holding gently, but firmly. “Let me make this clear. Hey Tony, wanna go out with me?”

Tony stares at him in disbelief for half a moment, then cocks an eyebrow. “I don’t know. It’s possible you just mean going out as friends you know.”

Bucky resists the urge to roll his eyes, and leans in close enough that they’re nearly breathing the same air. He lets his eyes roam all over Tony, down the length of his body and back up. He makes a very pleased noise in the back of his throat so it’s completely unmistakable what he’s thinking, and says. “Nice shoes. Wanna fuck?”

For a moment, there is total silence between them, and then an instant later they both burst out laughing. Tony drops his head to Bucky’s shoulder, and Bucky presses his cheek to the side of Tony’s head, smiling.

“Okay, okay,” Tony manages between breaths. “Point made. Yes. Definitely yes. To both.”

[bright-molina]

Enchanting

Requested by @jugheadismyking 

I was wondering if I could request a Harry hook X reader  and have the reader as the daughter of Tiana/Naveen who has been kidnapped by Uma’s crew (instead of Ben). My idea was that Uma could force her to clean the ship while she's held captive and because she's a princess she starts singing/dancing as she cleans (insert lyrics from enchanted's "happy working song"). They could all be looking at her like wtf is going on, except for Harry who's kind of mesmerised and intrigued by her 

Characters: Harry Hook, Ben, Uma, reader (daughter of Tiana/Naveen)

Warnings: none 

Word Count: 1968

A/N: So this is a tad different from the original request where you are instead captured along with Ben. Also the italicized lines are song lyrics, the first set is Happy Working Song from Enchanted and the second set is Almost There from Princess and the Frog. Hope you enjoy it! *tags are always open!

@booktvmoviefangirl

You found it impossible to stand still. Granted, you could never really stay still at all but this time it was due to the fact that you had been kidnapped by pirates.

“We’re fine, Y/N” Ben tried reassuring you.

“Ben I don’t know if you understand this but there are pirates holding us hostage” You glared.

You and Ben had been best friends since you were kids. When you heard Mal had gone back to the Isle you knew you couldn’t let him go there by himself. Ben could be a little too trusting at times, a trait that wouldn’t sit well in the Isle of the Lost. You had followed him after Mal refused to come back. Your attempt to reassure him was ill fated, as it turned out. That was how you found yourself bound to a mast with rope on a pirate ship.

“Hey!” You called out towards the one who had taken you and Ben in the first place, Harry you heard Uma call him.

“Yes, Princess?” He mocked as he waltzed over to you. “You summoned me?”

You rolled your eyes at him and Ben gave you a ‘what the hell are you doing’ look.

“I want to talk to the Captain,” You’re words were unwavering. “I have a proposition for her”

“Do ya now?” Harry smirked as he stepped right next to you. He leaned against the post, his body just inches away from being draped over yours. “Well than I’ll pass the message on to her”

“I said I wanted to talk to Uma,” You argued. Harry smirked wildly when he heard the hesitation in your voice. You weren’t anywhere near as confident as you appeared to be. Without warning Uma appeared on the other side of you.

“I heard my name,” She spared a glance in Ben’s direction before looking back towards you. “What do you want, princess” The word came out of her in a patronizing voice.

“Untie me,” You continued before they had a chance to laugh. “I'll clean, make food, whatever you want. Anything is better than standing here”

“We do need someone to clean up below deck,” Uma contemplated for a few seconds before nodding in your direction. “Let her go” She told Harry. You didn’t miss when she told him to watch you, as an added precaution.

“Y/N,” Ben tried to stop you. He knew you were stubborn but this was something else entirely. You were about to leave his side while you two were hostages on a pirate ship. Having you out of his sight was not something he was okay with.

“Not so fast, princey,” Harry held his hook out threateningly. “Looks like your dearest friend prefers my company over yours”

Harry laughed when Ben struggled against the ropes before leading you down below the main deck.

Come and roll your sleeves up so to speak and pitch in, cleaning crud up in the kitchen as we sing along.

You couldn't help yourself. Singing as you worked was a force of habit. Whenever you were home you’d hum along to some random songs as you cooked with your mother. Your father would shake his head but smile at the sight of the two of you. Singing calmed your nerves and you weren’t about to stop, despite the fact that you were surrounded by pirates.

We’ll keep singing without fail, otherwise we’d spoil it.

That particular song you learned from one of your mother's friends, Giselle. She always seemed to find a way to see the best in any situation, something you had always admired. You didn’t fail to see the odd looks coming from everyone who walked by, not that you particularly cared.

How we all enjoy letting loose with a little la da dum dum dum. It’s such fun to hum a happy working song.

It started with you bopping your head to the melody. Then it escalated to tapping on any surface you could find. You were completely and blissfully unaware of a certain someone watching as you moved around the room.

You can do a lot when you’ve got such a happy working tune to hum

You spun around and yelped when you felt a hand take yours. It surprised you when you saw Harry smiling a real smile at you. You gave in and as he spun you around the room a few times. You couldn’t stop the joyful laugh that was bubbling in you from escaping.

Harry had been completely mesmerized when he looked up and saw you singing as you made your way around the room. He didn’t dare interrupt you though. You had caught the attention of most of the crew, the majority of them wondering why you were singing and not cowering in fear. Anyone who tried to stop you received a glare from Harry along with a threat.

“Is she always like that?” Harry had called towards Ben earlier who was only a few feet away now. Ben could hear you singing from where he was still tied up.

“It’s who she is,” He answered simply. He pretended not to notice the way Harry was smiling in your direction. He did however take note of how it wasn’t the crazy, evil filled smile. It was a kind one, one that held wonder and interest. He watched when Harry went up to dance with you. 

“Tell me, princess,” Harry started, refusing to let you go, still spinning you around the deck of the ship. “Why are you so,” He couldn’t think of the right word so instead he described it the only way he could think. “Princessy?”

“Princessy?” You laughed lightly. He smiled once more and shook his head in amusement.

“You know, with the singing and dancing and the cooking and cleaning. It’s so-”

“Stereotypical?” You finished his thought. You took his awkward pause as a sign that you had guessed right. “I don’t mind it, actually. My mom always taught me to work hard. And I mean at least I’m not one of the ones who’s all prim and proper. And trust me there are a fair share of those”

“Who’d you say your parents were again?”

“Tiana and Naveen,” You answered him. Before he could respond Uma popped up once more. You and Harry both quickly stopped dancing and stood to look at her.

“You’ll treat us to dinner then?” She smirked lightly. Never in a million years would she ever admit that she had been watching the two of you, amused at the sight of Harry playing nice with a princess of all people. Another thing she’d never admit was that although she hated Auradon and everyone in it she couldn’t help but admire you, if only slightly. “I hear Tiana’s Place serves the best food in Auradon”

“I’d be happy to give you and your crew a taste,” You agreed, secretly glad to have another task to complete. “On one condition,” Uma raised an eyebrow questioningly. “I want Ben to help me”

“Harry can help you,” Uma didn’t hesitate to throw the idea out there. She ignored the slightly shocked look on Harry’s face.

“It’s a lot of food. I need more than one person. Besides, Ben’s helped out my mom on more than one occasion. He knows what he’s doing”

“Fine. But don’t get any ideas or both of you are walking the plank” She gave in before walking away.

“That has never happened before,” Harry admitted to you as you both walked over to Ben. “I think the captain’s taken a liking to ya princess”

“I have to say,” Harry was the one sampling all the plates. He called it ‘a necessary precaution’ though you knew in reality he was just impatient. “This is amazing. Thank your mum for me, yeah princess?”

“That one,” You motioned towards the food piled on his plate that he was currently scarfing down. “Is actually a Maldonian recipe. My dad taught me how to make it”

“Either way,” He paused when you offered him a beignet. Instead of taking it he leaned over and took a bite straight from where you were holding it. You smiled softly when he moaned in delight as the food dissolved in his mouth. “I’m glad we nicked ya”

You couldn’t help but laugh at his comment. “Were you thinking about sharing the food with everyone else or not?”

“I guess I should, eh?” He left the room without a second thought. That was when you turned to check on the pot of soup Ben was mixing.

“Anything you wanna tell me?” Ben smirked in amusement despite the situation. “Because you and Harry Hook seem to be getting a little friendly”

“I’m a nice person,” You defended yourself with a roll of your eyes.

“Yeah, nice. That’s why you were dancing with him all over the ship and feeding him” Ben laughed when you slapped his arm.

“Shut up”

You and Ben were given a couple old and dusty mattresses to sleep on that night in thanks for the meal. You were still chained to one of the masts but considering who you were dealing with the mattresses were a grand gesture. The two of you sat in a comfortable silence. Suddenly Ben turned to look at you with a look of realization on his face.

“It’s you,” He smiled widely.

“Yeah?” You questioned him. “It is me?”

“No,” He smiled shaking his head. “I have an idea”

Needless to say Ben’s idea had actually worked. When Mal and everyone else showed up with the fake wand you did what Ben had told you to. You acted as the arbitrator between the two of them. You were completely surprised when they both agreed to let you speak. But it had worked. A month had passed since then and Uma, Harry, Gil, and the rest of their crew were the first Isle kids to be transferred to Auradon Prep.

You and Harry were on the rooftop garden of your mother’s restaurant. You and Ben had taken the liberty of treating them all, along with anyone else who wanted to join, to a meal at Tiana’s Place. Needless to say they all loved it. The stars were shining in the clear night sky, as they always did in Auradon. Without a word Harry took your hand, just as he had done on the ship before, and the two of you danced around the rooftop.

“Sing me a song, princess” He said softly. The first time he had called you that it had been more condescending than anything. But now every time he said it you knew it was with the utmost affection.

I’m almost there. People down here think I’m crazy but I’m almost there

You laughed as the two of you danced on the rooftop with the sound of all your friends echoing from downstairs.

There ain’t nothing gonna stop me now cause I’m almost there

Life was different on Auradon, Harry knew that for sure. But his favorite change was how he could easily walk around with you without people staring for the same reasons as before. He loved how the first time he walked around with your hand in his no one questioned it, they simply smiled at the sight.

I remember daddy told me, fairy tales can come true. You gotta make ‘em happen, it all depends on you.

It took you by surprise when Harry wrapped his arms around your waist and held you close to him. He wasn’t good at the whole speaking his emotions thing so he did his best to show you. He held you tight, not wanting to let you go. His actions were filled with nothing but love for you. And lucky for him, you understood completely.

[kaleenjackson]

Only One Love

Odnoliub - (Russian) Someone that has only one love in their life.

Summary: Thor dragging him to Stark Tower might just be the best thing for Loki.

Pairing: Bucky x Loki

Word count: 4,681

A/N: First off, thank you @howlingbarnes for letting me try. I actually managed to finish before the deadline. This is part of the Language of Love challenge. It is a Soulmate AU and very canon divergent. Thanks to my beta readers @reogni and @thegingerslytherin for their help and opinions.

Warnings: Some cursing, mild angst and fluff... I think

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He looked up from the book, wondering what was taking that idiot so long as he tried to ignore the terrible swirling feeling in the pit of his stomach. Checking to make sure he was still unnoticed, sitting alone on the park bench, he tried to adjust the strange collar he had hidden under his dress shirt. Waking up with that thing around his neck had been a shock. Almost as bad as the one he'd had a few years ago. If he regretted anything it was not escaping when he had the chance. Now he had to escorted everywhere, like a child. Glancing back down at the book in his hands he reread the translation for the strange word. Odnoliub, Russian, meaning someone who has only one love in their life. Of course it had to be love. Damn sentiment. Marks like the one on his left shoulder were rare. Some saw them as a gift, others a curse. It meant you would meet someone who would change you. Not something he was interested in. Love was a child's emotion, one he had never felt and one he certainly didn't want. He cared for a very select few people, but he didn't feel that urge to help, impress or even be truly kind to them. His eyes ones more surveyed the street. A man stood across from him, staring. An impulse to go to this man caught him off guard.

“Loki.” He nearly jumped at his own name.

“Are you alright?” Thor asked. “You seem unusually distracted.”

“I am fine. What did this sorcerer Strange know of my predicament?” His voice was cold as usual.

"He cannot help."

“Cannot or will not?” His tone sharpened.

“He cannot help Loki. If that collar didn't appear to be draining energy, perhaps he could but he would like to take it to utilize once you are free of it.” Thor placed his hand on the thin dark haired man's shoulder. “Now tell me, what has you so distracted that I surprised you?”

“It is nothing that concerns you, Odinson.” Loki looked to see the stranger had gone.

“You are not to be keeping secrets from me. That was your bargain with the Allfather.  You would make me aware of any and all things affecting you. I am well aware that you are displeased about this arrangement but-“ Loki cut the blond brute off.

“Seeing as I am no longer allowed to keep my own counsel.” He gestured at the book. “That cursed mark is from a Midgardian language. Now I know it's meaning and am trying to process what it means for me. The man who was staring at me from across the way then distracted me.”

“So, someone shall unfreeze your soul then.” Thor snorted a short laugh, reading the marked word. “I wish them luck as I do not envy their position.” He turned to leave.

“Are we not returning to Asgard? We have exhausted all those in this realm who might have had the skill to remove this infernal thing.”

“No. We have exhausted all of those you thought may have be able to help. Doctor Strange commented about it's mechanical appearance and an idea struck me.” Thor smiled. Loki didn't like that smile, it was too much like his own. “There is only one Midgardian who is capable of dealing with machinery like this.”

Loki stopped in his tracks. “No. Absolutely not. I will live with this collar, thank you.”

“Stark could help.”

“I am not going anywhere near that place. Heimdall! We are ready to return.” Nothing happened.

“You forget he cannot hear you because of that collar, and that you are still a prisoner Loki. I am simply trying to help you. You may not be my brother but that doesn't mean that the past millennium of being so didn't happen.” He looked like a kicked puppy. Loki might have felt a small pang of sympathy, of the desire to give in just to make him smile but he pushed it back down.

“They will kill me Thor. After what I did here and what they must go through everyday because of it, I doubt I would make it past the entrance hall.”

“Strange said the collar will likely kill you if not removed.” Now he had Loki's attention. “He told me that you are so deeply connected to you abilities that it draining that power is likely draining your very life force.”

“I do not like this, but if the choices are slow death or a quick one at least I have a small choice.” He spoke quietly.

Bucky sat quietly as the engineer poked at something in his metal left arm.

“Ok Iceman, what gives? Your freaking me out with this whole silent thing today.” Stark put his tool down and looked him in the eye. Well at his nose really but the intent was there and most people couldn't get past the strange distant look he had.

“I had a weird moment on my way back. Just trying to figure it out.”

“Well why don't you share with the class and maybe we'll understand.” Tony smirked as it was only himself and the decommissioned human weapon in the room. Well JARVIS and Dum-e were there too, but only one of them might have some insight. The other just had a fire extinguisher.

“Well, since I arrived here with my brain all fucked up and my arm seized I have had a quite a few things come back. One of those is that I have a soul mark on my back at the base of my neck.” He leaned forward so Tony could see it. “It's why I haven't cut my hair.”

“Is it a heart mark or mind mark?”

“I have no idea.” He felt his hair get moved and then a light finger move over the raised green symbols that hid just below the collar of his shirt. “I don't even know what language it's in.”

“So what about it has you so quiet then Barnes?”

“I'm not sure. I think I might have seen the person it connects me to on my way back from the coffee shop. Just some random guy, sitting on a park bench reading. Outta no where I get this crazy urge to go talk to him. I was about to move when it was gone. The guy had been startled by someone and the weird pull was gone.” Bucky looked at the other man with some confusion.  “I think it was my soul mark pulling me but I have no bloody idea.”

“Beats me. You're the first person I've known with one. So I have no clue.” Tony sat back. “You got anythin' J?”

“None of my searches have come back with any relevant information, Sirs. However Mr. Stark I should inform you that Thor and his brother are in the lobby looking for you.”

“The hell? Why'd he bring that psycho here?” Tony grumbled, getting to his feet. “Send ‘em to the common floor. I'm gonna find out what the hell he's doing here.”

“Tony. Wait! I'm still... strapped to the table.” Bucky watched as he marched out the door without ever looking back at the soldier.

“Anthony!” Thor bellowed cheerfully as Tony stepped out of the elevator. “It has been far too long my friend.”

Tony accepted the offer hug because, really, no gave better hugs than the Asgardian and sometimes you just have to accept affection.

“Hello again Stark.” Loki's cool voice quietly reminded them both why they were there.

“Reindeer Games. What the hell are you doing in my tower again? I thought you'd been locked up for the rest of eternity.”

“Indeed.”

“Loki has found himself in a bit of a situation. We were hoping you could help.” Thor stated.

“Okay, uh, why me?”

“Because, it appears to be a problem more in your skill set than anyone else’s.”

“Because no one else in this blasted realm seems to be able to help. Bunch of pathetic, feeble-minded, humans.” Loki snarled after Thor spoke.

“Loki, hold your tongue.” Thor snapped. Loki leaned against a wall, crossing his arms over his chest.

“So what's the matter with him?”

Thor looked at the raven-haired man who sighed and undid the top few buttons of his shirt. Around his neck was a rather mechanical looking collar that seemed to be attached to his skin.

“That looks painful. How'd you get that around your neck?”

“If I knew I might be able to get it off myself and yes it is quite painful.”

Tony immediately began looking the whole thing over. Humming and muttering as he did so. After a few moments he looked Loki in the eye.

“Getting it off may hurt, a lot. I think I can do it but why are you coming to me and not trying yourself?”

“Because it has dampened his abilities and we believe it may be slowly killing him.” Thor sighed.

“Holy hell. So this is sort of a right now kinda thing then eh?”

“Preferably, yes.” Loki rolled his eyes. All of this banter was wasting his time, possibly his life.

“Alright. I'm already setup in one of the labs. I think the tools there should work. Follow me you two.”

Bucky was playing on his phone when they arrived in the lab.

“What the heck are you still doing here Barnes?”

“Oh, I don't know Stark, maybe I'm still strapped to the fucking table.” Barnes snapped at the genius.

“Why didn't you say anything?” Tony asked but Bucky wasn't paying attention. That same strange pull had hit him again.

Loki felt the strong impulse to approach the man Stark had strapped to his work bench.

“Who are you?” Both asked in unison.

“Oh right, you were still being a murder puppet when Loki was here last. So uh, Loki this is Sergeant James Barnes, everyone just calls him Bucky and Buckaroo, This is Loki Odinson the guy who tried to destroy New York with creepy ass aliens. He's Thor's adopted little brother.”

“Laufeyson. Odin is NOT my father.” Loki corrected coldly.

“Well, I guess it's good to meet you Loki Laufeyson.” He offered his free hand to the pale man.

Loki stared at him for a moment before remembering it was a greeting. He shook the Sergeant's hand. “Yes, well, the same for James.”

Neither let go of the others hand right away.

“I prefer Bucky, if you don't mind Loki.” Loki raised an eyebrow. “Not a lot a good memories of my name rattling around in my brain.”

“Oh. I guess I understand that.” Loki's voice was quiet as he finally let go of Bucky's hand. “Why are you strapped to the table?”

“Oh. My arm's messed up and Stark's been fixin’ it for me.” He looked at the man mentioned. “Are you gonna finish with me before or after whatever you're doin’ for these guys?”

“After. He's kinda got a life sucking collar in that needs to get removed.” Stark finally unstrapped his arm. Loki was stunned when Bucky turned and revealed the metal appendage.

“Mind if I stay and watch? I've got no where else to be.” Bucky asked. Something about Loki was intriguing him. He really wanted the chance to talk with him.

“Well.” Thor spoke before everyone. “Loki is to be under supervision at all times so I can leave that to you Bucky. Think you can handle him?”

“Well, you have yet to beat me in sparring so yeah, I think I got this.” Bucky gave a charming smile. Loki looked away. He felt a now very familiar stirring, a strange pull towards the metal armed Bucky.

“I'm going to find Captain Rogers then. Loki, behave, please.”

Bucky watched as the black haired man rolled his green eyes at Thor as he walked out of the lab. He could still feel the pulling sensation. It hadn't subsided since Loki had stepped into the room. Bucky watched as Loki sat himself on the edge of the table.

“Okay asshole, I'm not that tall.” Stark glared at Loki who was now smirking. He was messing around with Tony and Bucky could see on his face that he enjoyed getting a rise out if the engineer. Loki slid off the table and sat next to Bucky.

“Is that more to your liking Stark?” His voice dripped with sarcasm.

“Much. Now can we loose the shirt and get your hair up out if the way?”

Loki sighed undoing the shirt and slipping it off. He didn't look at Bucky until he felt a cold metal touch on his hand.

“Here. Use it to put your hair up.” Again Loki stared at him and the odd little circle he held between his fingers. “I can do it for you if you want.” He was trying not to sound nervous. Loki nodded and Bucky gently put his hair in a half bun, flip thing.

“Thank you.” His voice was surprisingly soft.

“You're very welcome.” Bucky let his tone match the alien man's.

“Great. So now look up and don't move. I need to be able to see.” Tony picked up the tool he'd been poking Bucky with just moments earlier and began to look for a way in.

“When did this happen?”

“About a month ago. I woke up in my cell with it on my neck. No one came in, no one went past and I didn't wake once. The only thing that changed was a power drop right before I awoke.”

“So someone magicked it onto you? That's gutsy. You're one of the most dangerous beings I know...” Tony looked at both men. “I have two of the most dangerous people I've ever met in the same room and they aren't trying to kill me or each other. JARVIS record this. It's a miracle.” Tony waved his hands in the air and Bucky snorted a laugh.

“Why would we be trying to kill each other?” Loki inquired.

“He's Cap's best pal from before he became all Cap like.”

“Stark, what are you raving about?” Loki was actually starting to worry that he was letting a lunatic near his throat.

Bucky was still chuckling. “I knew Steve when we were kids. He was a tiny, sickly, little fella with far to much aggression. He let a crazy person and a doctor experiment on him and he got all, well, big.”

“That crazy person was my dad Barnes. Just ‘cause you killed him-“ Bucky jumped in.

“And I knew him during the war. He's the crazy one who flew the dumbass behind enemy lines to see if I was alive.”

“You killed Stark's father?”

“He killed a lot of people.” Stark stated with a cold edge. He moved to a tool box across the room. “Go ahead and relax for a moment Loki.”

“Really?” Loki looked at the soldier with a sudden interest.

“I don't wanna talk about. Don't ask.” Bucky stood up and moved away from the strange man.

“I think the tool I need is in another lab. I'll be back in a sec ‘kay?” Stark knew neither man was actually paying attention to him, he just needed an excuse to leave. He didn't want to be a part of this conversation.

“Oh, but I am so curious about you. Who you kill or attempt to kill can tell much about who you really are.”

Bucky scoffed. “So you and the loud blond man are from Norse legend, or at least that's what everyone told me when I met Thor the first time. You tried to destroy New York with aliens and according to Steve, you’re at least kinda scared of thunder. I have heard you called a trickster, a silver-tongued liar, a war criminal, a heathen god and a psychopath. Even some sort of monster from a world different than you appear to come from. So why in world would I tell you anything about myself?”

“I am everyone of those things and yet none of them. I have committed patricide defending the one I once called my father, then attempted to stop a war by destroying the planet that the blond buffoon had provoked against us. I was made the rightful king of my world by a woman whom I called my mother only to have that ungrateful bastard who once claimed to be my father take it from me. In fact he took everything from me in a matter of seconds, simply by revealing that I was a monster, one from the very tales I had been told in  my childhood. I was given the choice of death or living without life. I chose death but even that was stolen from me.” Loki dropped his head, then laughed darkly. The impulse to tell this stranger everything began to drive his mouth. “I was forced to come here with that army. I was told to bring an item you should be familiar with, a glowing blue cube, back for someone who I fear may yet come looking for me. They tried to make me their puppet. Indeed I wanted revenge on Odin but I knew Earth wasn't anything but a stepping stone back to Asgard. I had never intended to actually attack New York. When I did realize it would have to happen I knew how to make sure I was found and stopped before I did to much. I have killed far more than you, mortal. Just on Earth I caused 154 deaths at least. I am the cause of my mother's death.” He stopped. Bucky could hear his breath shaking for a moment. “At least I sent the things that killed her where she was. She defended Thor's lover and he was only a moment to late. He watched her die. I was not allowed to mourn and though I did not try to have her killed, I was blamed. They were just going to leave me in my cell until I awoke with this collar on.”

Bucky watched the pale man for a moment. He too felt compelled to speak.

“I was never a willing killer. I was drafted into World War 2 from the reserves. Taken prisoner in Germany, experimented on, rescued by Steve, went back into service along side him until I fell from a train during a fight. I survived the fall, was taken prisoner again, experimented on and tortured. It took them along time to make me submit. Then I spent fifty years as an assassin. I have killed civilians and heads of state all without any reason other than following my programming. Steve eventually managed to break the program. I was broken beyond repair but slowly I have put myself back as best I can. I remember the names and faces of every person I killed. From JFK to Tony’s parents. He almost killed me the day I told him. I almost killed myself when I remembered who his father was to me. A friend. At one point all I could really remember was what I had done.” Loki watched as Bucky sighed, looking at his feet, then looked up. “I learned to live again. I ended up sneaking in a window at one of Stark's mansions and scarin’ the hell outta him. My arm had totally seized and I couldn't fix it. Once he stopped screaming, he helped me. He brought me here and when he found out who I was to Steve, made sure I was well represented in court.”

“I thought you didn't want to speak of all this.”

“Well, you told me more than I think you meant to. I know it's only a fraction of your tale but the past ten years have had more impact on you than the other, what, thousand years. I guess I felt it was only fair that I explain why I am what I am.”  Bucky sat back down on Loki's left side.  “Just outta curiosity why do you have the word odnoliub tattooed in Cyrillic on your arm Loki?”

“You can read it?” Loki whipped his head around to stare at Bucky.

“Wait. You have a tattoo you can't read? Why do people do that? That's how you get a tattoo meaning slut when you wanted it to say chastity.”

Loki snorted, trying to suppress a laugh. After a shaky breath he said. “You know Russian?”

“Well yeah. That's where I spent most of the past 70 years. They kept me in Cryo in Siberia. So why get a tattoo in Russian if you don't know the language?”

“It's not a tattoo.”

For a moment or two the just stared at each other. Loki trying to figure out why he had admitted anything to this man who he hardly knew, let alone that he had a soul mark and Bucky was trying to understand what all of it might mean. He could read and speak Russian, but Asgardians had that Allspeak thing they could do. Why couldn't Loki just read and translate it himself that way?

“Okay, I have to ask. I don't know all that much about you or Thor or any of it but, why couldn't you read it yourself? I've watched Thor read ridiculously coded messages without a single issue.” Bucky couldn't look him in the eye.

“Allspeak doesn't work on soul marks. If you can read the language without magical aid then you can read it. I don't know why but that's what I was told when I asked.” Loki smiled at him unintentionally.

“Well what languages can you speak then?” Bucky asked. Loki could tell he was leading to something that he had yet to find the words to ask.

“Well Asgardian, obviously, English, a smattering of Nordic languages coming from the old Norse, a couple of Runic…” Bucky jumped at the word.

“You mean like runes?” He asked with a bright eagerness.

Loki picked up a small screwdriver that Tony had left out. Using it like a pen Loki scratched 4 thin symbols in the metal table. “It’s my name in runes. It was one of the ones I had to learn in order to do what your people call magic.”

Bucky stared at the scratches. Then at the man who put them there. “Can you read the runes on my back?” He asked before his mind had comprehended what was going on.

“You have runes on you back?” Loki tilted his head fascinated. “I can try. I mean there are a lot of different runic alphabets.” He suddenly felt rather like a child. He knew he had to get this right. That this was his only chance. He felt a warm hand on his give a gentle squeeze.

“I'm pretty sure you'll know it.” Bucky sounded strangely confident. What did he know that made him feel that, Loki wondered as he watched Bucky pull his shirt off. He admired the other man's muscular back for a moment before noticing the raised green symbols.

The soldier shivered slightly as he felt Loki's thin fingers and cool breath on his neck. His soft voice muttered things Bucky didn't understand as the finger traced a line under the words. Suddenly he heard Loki gasp.

“That is just… I mean it can't… it's the exact same.” Loki muttered as he sat back down next to the metal armed mortal. He felt emotions clogging up the tightly wound and fine tuned clockwork of his mind. Images flickered past his eyes. Walking into the room, the man across the street, the rack of books at the newsstand outside the sanctum, his own green writing on the other man's back, the shade of the red letters on his own mark and how it matched the star now visible on Bucky's metal left shoulder.

“What does it say?” His voice was very gentle, almost scared. Maybe even sounding like he was anticipating bad news.

Loki's voice shook as he spoke. “Someone who has only one love in his life.”

They locked eyes. Both knew now but neither could ask the other if he understood. Voices stuck in their throats, Loki surprised them both by moving first. Though he played cold he had always been sentimental and if he was true to himself for a moment he would have to admit, he had always hoped it was a heart mark. That he was meant to find love, to not be as alone as he felt. He didn't realize he had kissed Bucky until he felt the bigger man pull him closer, returning the kiss.

“I feel like I'm supposed to be in love with you.” Loki's voice sounded small and unsure, even to his own ears. “But I don't know what being in love is supposed to feel like.”

“To be honest. Neither do I. I know wanting someone and liking someone but I've never felt  what others have told me love feels like.” Bucky didn't look away from his soulmates green eyes and they didn't shift from the cold blue steel gaze that met them.

“Maybe this is why?” Bucky could feel him trembling. It was a lot for both of them.

“I will never fear you James… I mean Bucky… I mean…” Loki stumbled over his silver tongue.

“And I will always trust you Loki.” Bucky said. “I think Tony is probably waiting to finish working in both of us. We can finish figuring this out after I think.”

Loki kissed him again. The collar pulled painfully as he turned his head to do it a third time. “Probably a good idea.”

“JARVIS, you mind telling Stark we're ready for him?”

“Of course Sirs, and congratulations,I believe.” The AI spoke and Loki stared at the ceiling.

“Is that a person?”

“Nah. He's the computer that runs everything from my house to my suit. Not that I should really be telling you any of this, Spaceman.” Tony smiled, holding a larger screw driver. “So are you guys done being weird and almost threatening?” He winked.

“You were watching on a security cam, weren't you Stark?” Bucky smiled, Loki still half sitting on his lap.

“Well lets just say watching the two of you kiss freaked Thor out more than anything. He said two people as frightening as you are either a match made in hell or fate playing a truly cruel trick on one of us.” He pushed the screwdriver into a hole in the back of the collar and it clicked loudly. “Alright, uh Bucky, you need to leave. One of the things I read while I waited basically said you don't wanna be the one to hurt a person in front of their soulmate sooo…”

“I'll be outside apologizing to a pair of muscular, possibly angry blonds. Be gentle Tony, and don't do anything stupid Loki.” Bucky touched his shoulder as he left.

“So what now Stark?”

“Now I hope you don't kill me.” Tony said as he adjust his grip on the metal ring. “Oh and don't hurt Bucky. I actually kinda like having him around here.”

Thor and Steve grabbed Bucky when they heard the scream. He didn't stop fighting them until Loki stepped out to throw Thor the collar.

“I'm fine James. It's Asgardian, I knew it the moment I saw the internal structures. Give it to Strange if you wish, or maybe find out why it was used to try and kill me.” He snarled.

“Bucky, you still wanna get me to look at that sticky elbow?”

“I'm coming Stark. I promise we'll talk more about this later Steve but really, there isn't much anyone can do to change this. I would rather love him and only him than be alone, sleeping with almost anyone just to feel a bit of what I felt holding Loki.” Bucky smiled as he passed the green eyed blushing man.

“Oh shut up.” Loki rolled his eyes at Thor's grin as he followed Bucky back into the lab.

[mell-bell]

you are everything I want (but more than I deserve) - Part 2

PART 1

Darcy Lewis x Bucky Barnes

AO3

Words: 1724                        

Series Summary: The first time Darcy met her soulmate she shot him. A relationship could only go up from there, right? Not when you pair together an ex-Hydra assassin and a woman with a penchant for trouble that could rival even his best friends

Chapter: 2/10

Author’s notes: Finally posting the chapters I had on AO3 on here :D Hope you enjoy! 

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Bucky’s heart dropped as he watched the woman, his soulmate, race out of the room, away from him.

The gym fell into complete silence as everyone watched Bucky with bated breath. Natasha looked half pleased and half amused. Clint and Stark were glaring at Bucky. And Steve froze in shock.

After a few minutes of silence, it was Steve that ended up breaking the silence.

He reached out whacking Bucky in the chest, causing him to flinch back slightly as pain shot up his already healing arm, “That’s- shit. I mean, she is-woah.”

Bucky turned to Natasha and pointed out the door.

“Who was that?”

Natasha’s eyebrows quirked up, an amused smirk forming on her face, “Your soulmate, apparently.”

Bucky glared at her as Stark smirked, “That’s-“

Clint’s eyes widened as he slapped his hand across Stark’s mouth, “Nope. Um, that’s Darcy. Thor’s girlfriend’s former assistant. Our now PR director and honorary Avenger.”

Steve’s eyebrows shot up, “Ms. Lewis! She’s the lady that I’ve been texting, this past year about our public relations.”

Stark rolled his eyes, “Hence the title PR director.”

Bucky turned to Steve with wide eyes, “You’ve been talking to my soulmate!”

“I didn’t exactly know Buck!”

Without another glance at anybody, Bucky took off out of the room. After his soulmate.

“Well, who would have thought-.”

“Shut up Tony.”

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Darcy flew out of the gym in a panic. She looked over her shoulder, hoping no one would follow after her, but as she turned the corner she found a tiny piece of her wishing that her soulmate would race at her heels. Her heart was beating out of her chest, her brain racing at what had just occurred. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.

This was her soulmate. Soulmate meetings were supposed to be romantic. Like the movies. Like the celebrity stories. Like her parents.

Ever since her childhood, she had imagined so many different ways she would meet her soulmate. You shot me. Not once had it ever crossed her mind that she would shoot him with an actual gun.

She had shot her soulmate. Shot him. With a gun.

Darcy slammed into a wall with a pant, cursing herself for not listening to Natasha. She really did need to bring up her endurance. As she gasped to steady her breathing, pounding footsteps sounded down the hall and Darcy’s head shot up in alarm and without a second thought, she took off running again.

“Darcy!”

For just a moment she hesitated, her footsteps stumbling as she questioned why she was even running. This was her soulmate. She had been looking for them for years. She had been dreaming about them for years. Yet now that he was here, she found herself running away. And she didn’t know why.

As she rounded the corner she came up short, almost running head first into the wall in front of her. She had somehow run right into a dead-end. She looked around her heart racing. She swallowed hard and looked up at the ceiling in desperation, the sound of pounding footsteps getting closer behind her.

“Jarvis.”

“To your right, Miss Darcy.”

She swung around and caught sight of the vent on the wall. Within a second, she had it pried off the wall and quickly pulled herself up and into it, slamming it shut behind her.

“Thank you.”

“If you would like, you may follow the green arrows on the vent floor to the exit on your floor.”

The vent floor below her began to glow.

“Jarvis, have I ever told you how much I love you?”

“Every day, Miss Darcy.”

And Darcy began to crawl.

Once Darcy got back to her floor, she all but fell out of the vent with a sigh of relief. She wasn’t sure how Clint handled crawling through those things on a daily basis. Small spaces and Darcy did not mash well.

As she walked quietly through the common area on her floor, she peeked around corners relieved to find that she was alone. When she reached for the handle of her bedroom, she caught sight of something next to her. With wide eyes, she walked over to the once blank door just inches away from her own.

On it was a picture of Buzz Lightyear holding his detached arm in his hand.

Goddammit, Tony.

Her neighbor was her soulmate.

She reached out to touch the picture when a door slammed from the common room. With a startled yelp, Darcy ran across the hall and slipped into Jane and Thor’s room.

And that’s where she settled down for the rest of the night.

Her mind was racing. She still wasn’t sure what she was thinking. Or why she ran. So instead of facing her problems head on…. she ignored them.

And the thousands of texts she was receiving.

Natasha: малютка, we will talk about this tomorrow morning. 4 am.

Clint: hey babe, will you hold it against me if I give your soulman a stern talking to because I already wrote out a 14 page draft

Stark: yo hot stuff im not sure im cool with you being linked to mr murder but hey who am I to judge but make it known that I will let DUM-E set him on fire if he steps just one foot out of line

Bruce: I will fend as many people off as possible. Take as much time as you need.

Fury: Paperwork on Monday. I do not want to know the details.

Unknown: Ms. Lewis, it’s Steve Rogers. Captain America. Your soulmate’s- um friend. Bucky is a great guy and I hope you’ll give him a chance. He’s been through a lot. And he’s been waiting for you for such a long time.

Her soulmate was Bucky. James Buchanan Barnes. The Winter Soldier. Hydra Assassin. Captain America’s best friend. The hero she had learned about in her history classes in college.

The Howling Commands had been everybody’s favorite topic in college. And now she was bonded to one of them. She smiled. She couldn’t wait to meet him tomorrow. Her soulmate…

But tonight was her time to be alone. Tonight she was alone with her thoughts. Jane and Thor were on Asgard so the room was hers.

She quickly slipped into some pajamas she had stashed in Jane’s closet and settled herself onto the couch, flipping through the channels until she landed on one of her favorite shows. Ghost Adventures.

As the hours grew later, Darcy grew jumpier. As much as she loved this show, sometimes it got the better of her. Zak Bagan’s was currently provoking a “demonic entity” when a loud bang sounded at the door the same time a voice came through on Zak’s device. Darcy all but jumped out of her skin. She quickly leaned over and grabbed the baseball bat she had stashed under the couch and walked over to peek out the door.

Nothing.

She let out a little sigh, relaxing her arms, yet still keeping a firm grip on the bat.

“I’m going crazy. It’s nothing.”

She settled back down and continued the episode when she heard another noise. This time it was coming from the window. She had just grabbed the curtain to pull it back when the door slammed open behind her. She let out a scream and chucked the bat at the intruder, grabbing her taser out of her bra and shooting it without a second thought.

The intruder went down and Darcy’s eyes went wide as she recognized the man on the ground.

“Could you please stop shooting me?”

Darcy’s heart jumped as she shrieked, “I thought you were a ghost!”

The man pushed himself up, throwing her an incredulous look, “A ghost?!”

Darcy gestured wildly back to the TV behind her, Zak Bagan’s voice screeching out as he tried to communicate with spirits.

Bucky stood up fully, shaking his metal arm, still feeling the aftershocks of the taser.

“What the fuck kind of taser was that?”

Darcy looked sheepish, “Stark.”

“Ah.”

Then silence filled the room. Bucky eyes roamed over Darcy, taking in her Captain America pajamas and Chewbacca slippers, as she stood there trying to figure out what to say next.

“Ms. Darcy, Ms. Romanoff would like to speak to you.”

Darcy groaned, “Nope. No way. Tell her to mind her own damn business. And while we're at it….”

Darcy walked over to the closet and pulled out a broom. With a small smile at the perplexed Bucky, she put her finger on her lips asking him to be silent as she made her way over to the center of the room. She stepped up onto the couch and lifted the broom slamming it up into the ceiling.

A yelp and loud crash sounded from above and a few seconds later, a disheveled Clint’s head popped out of the ceiling’s vent.

“Fuck, Darcy!”

“You know I love you Clint so don't take this personally but please fuck off. Oh, and tell Stark to stop hacking into the room’s video feed. I’ve seen the camera light blinking for the past hour. He’s not gonna be able to get it to work. I already put up an encryption, it’ll take at least 12 hours for him to crack.”

Clint pouted to which Darcy rolled her eyes before pointing back toward his room.

“Fine.” He sulked, crawling back into the vent.

After a few seconds of silence, Darcy looked down at Bucky and motioned to her body, “Wanna give a girl a lift? I need to check and make sure he’s actually gone.”

Bucky’s eyebrow shot up as he silently stepped up onto the couch beside her. She held up her arms, her shirt rising a little. And as he placed his hands on her waist, his metal hand hit her skin and he flinched as he waited for her comment, but when she didn’t say anything, he slowly raised her up so that she could peek into the dark vent.

“We’re free!”

Bucky lowered her and she jumped down from the couch, dropping to lie back down against the fluffy couch pillows, her eyes closing with a relaxed sigh. Bucky stepped over her legs and stood awkwardly next to the couch.

Bucky cleared his throat, “So um, you can hack?”

One of Darcy’s eyes opened as she glanced up at the stiff looking man, “Nah. My computer skills started and stopped in my college computer science class. I bribed one of Stark’s tech guys. Plus Jarvis is on my side. Right man?”

“Of course, Ms. Darcy.”

“My specialties lie elsewhere.” Darcy winked.

“Specialties?”

“Need to know basis, sweetheart. You’ll find out in due time. Now sit down, you’re making me uncomfortable.”

But Bucky just backed up, “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, doll.”

“No no no no no. I meant your tenseness. You don’t make me uncomfortable. You look like a big teddy bear. Well, a teddy bear with a metal arm. But a teddy bear nevertheless. Now, sit. Please.”

Bucky nodded and slowly made his way over to the couch, settling on the complete opposite side. Darcy spun around sitting cross-legged facing him. She stared at him expectantly as he stared at her with wide eyes. And just when he went to open his mouth, his arm spazzed below him. The taser seemed to have lasting effects. Darcy grimaced as she bent over grabbing the Swiss army knife out of her boots that were resting beside the couch. She scooted closer and grabbed his arm, placing it in her lap. She pulled out the screwdriver from the knife, and poked at his arm with it, as he looked down with amusement.

“I hope you know, I have no idea what I’m doing. I could be making this even worse.”

Bucky offered her a wide smile and Darcy responded with one of her own.

“I’m… um- sorry I ran.”

Bucky’s eyes flashed, “No doll, it’s fine. Natural reaction when you find out your soulmate is a mass murder-“

Before he could even finish his sentence, Darcy whacked him across the head with a pillow, “Excuse you. You are not allowed to use the “m” word in my house. You’re a survivor and you’re mine and Hydra will have another thing coming if they ever try to hurt you again. Understood?”

“Yes. Ma’am.”

“Darcy.”

“Yes, Darcy.”

“Good. Now, is it James or Bucky?”

“Bucky.”

Darcy nodded and held out her hand waiting until Bucky placed his in hers, “It’s lovely to meet you Bucky.”

“Nice to meet you too, doll. So you aren’t afraid of me?”

Darcy’s eyebrow shot up, “You? No. I know everything you did wasn’t you. Fucking Hydra. They suck. They kidnapped me once. Those assholes. I tased like 15 of them.”

Bucky grabbed onto Darcy’s hand, her eyes jumping up to meet his, “You were kidnapped?”

“Yeah,” She waved it off, “Don’t worry I kicked ass. Natasha and Clint got me out in like a few days. No harm done.”

“Remind me to thank the team.”

Darcy’s eyes narrowed, “I can take care of myself.”

Bucky smiled, gesturing down at his wrapped up arm and still spazzing hand, “Yeah, I figured that out, doll. But you won’t always have a weapon on you.”

Darcy jumped up, “Alright. Get up.”

Bucky stood up and faced Darcy, who was bouncing on her toes excited, “Alright. Attack me.”

“Tomorrow. In the gym.”

Darcy sighed, “Fine.”

She flopped back onto the couch, Bucky settling down beside her, much closer than before.

“Now. Getting to know each other will continue in the morning. I’m too tired for a serious conversation. So we’re gonna watch the rest of Ghost Adventures. And then bed.”

As Darcy started another episode, Bucky watched with wide eyes, “These men…. they talk to ghosts?”

“Yes.”

“I think I’m going to like the television.”

Darcy smiled at him, grabbing onto his metal hand, “This is the start of a beautiful relationship.”

The hours passed and soon it was rounding 2 am. Darcy began to nod off, her head falling to rest against Bucky’s shoulder. Silently, he reached over the back of the couch and pulled down the blanket, lying it over an almost asleep Darcy.

“You know what I learned in college?” She muttered.

“What, doll?”

“About you guys. You and Steve. Dum Dum. Gabe. Jacques. Jim. Falsworth. All of you.”

“Mhm.” He smiled, “And I was your favorite?”

“Actually, Jacques was my favorite.”

“What!”

Bucky glanced down seeing a sleeping Darcy passed out against his chest. He pulled her closer and rested his head on top of hers, drifting off into sleep right behind her. 

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PART 3