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narrators-journal · 3 years ago

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The most dangerous game

I know I’ve been hella dead, but I return with my usual! Stano smut! I dunno why I adore writing these two so much, but I guess I’m attached, so yeah. Ya’ll get content.

CW: Predator/prey vibes, Xeno gets chased but there’s no real big acknowledgement of it.

It was likely because Xeno had developed a persistently wonky sleep schedule that he got so many night time jobs. That, he supposed, was why he was once again out at night hunting another Vampire, despite having told his boss of his run-in with a particularly pretty vampire. However, at the moment, Xeno somewhat wished he was dealing with Stan instead. At least with him he could rely on his need to flirt and toy with him to give him away. But no, the scientist wasn't hunting Stanley, but instead a completely different vampire who was proving his dislike for hunting the blood sucking monsters. Taking advantage of how dark the night was, the human's weaker vision, and whatever ninja techniques he had learned from the internet, the young vampire had hidden annoyingly well in the thick blanket of shadows and clutter on the streets. So, the white-haired college graduate was poking around at every rock and thicket of grass or bushes along the sidewalk before the boiling irritation in his veins got to be too much and he let out a mix of a groan and a scream like a tea pot. Stomping over to one of the few flickering street lights on the road, the hunter stood in the light and dug out his knife, then used it to slash at his stomach to fill the air with the alluring scent of fresh blood. With a pained hiss and the new wet feeling of blood dripping sluggishly down his pale skin, the trap was set, and all the hunter had to do was wait for the shallow cut to work its magic. Which, didn't take long. All Xeno had time to do was get one of his metal stakes from his pocket and extend it, then he was set upon by the vampiric ninja-wannabe. However, despite his skill at stealth, the vampire was young in both a human and vampire sense. Freshly turned at a young age, he'd become a problem because he had yet to grow out of his pubescent hormones quite yet, and giving him a predatory draw and increased strength had only encouraged him to turn hard into the bad boy persona. Sadly, being a new vampire wasn't all improvements. It also meant an increased hunger and little control of your newfound strength. Which is what had led the young man to be targetted by the monster hunter association, and swiftly wiped out by a stake through the throat via Xeno Wingfield. With a grunt, the monster hunter threw the freshly dead young man to the sidewalk, wincing at the burning and itching sting bending down to yank the stake from his throat brought to his stomach. For a moment or so, he felt bad for the creature. He'd been young, and he'd let his newfound powers obviously go to his head after a lifetime diet of anime and movies, the silver haired hunter could understand his over excitement, but he also had little to no patience for dumbasses who couldn't register that they weren't in Naruto. So, his sympathy was brief, and he was soon just dragging the young creature's corpse into some bushes and calling the cleaning crew to come collect him. Then. He spoke. "God damn, Doll. You're quite attractive when you're being lethal." Stan hummed, hopping down from his hiding spot in a nearby tree and giving the hunter a charming smile that he refused to admit brought a little heat to his face. "Oh, so you're just gonna become a full blown stalker now? Did you follow me from my house, or was this another 'coincidental' run-in." Xeno's words dripped with sarcasm and venom, but the vampire simply rolled his glacial blue eyes, "Actually, I'm here because I smelled fresh blood," At the mention of fresh blood, the scientist glanced down at his work shirt, spotting the tiny stain of blood his cut had left, "Oh." He inwardly winced at how disappointed he sounded, but tried to recover with a sniff, "I had trouble luring the bastard out. It was quite the shock for me to find out that not every vampire would want to chase me down and prowl around my house for the entire fucking night." Stan simply snorted, fishing out a pack of cigarettes and lighting one before he spoke again, �� "Nah, that's just my thing, doll," "Quit calling me doll! You have my name now, fucking quit." The vampire put his hands up in mock surrender, though his smirk didn't falter under the scientist's withering glare. For a moment, they simply stood in the cool night's darkness, the hunter with his arms crossed and dark eyes narrowed, and the vampire returning his malicious look with his own nonchalant, half-lidded one while he breathed whispy smoke from his dark mouth. Both men seemed to dare the other to say something or do anything, each looking for an excuse to make some sort of contact until the smaller male spoke again, "Are you expecting me to run away? Because I told you the first time we met, I'm not likely to do that," He huffed, but Stan simply shrugged, "I'm just messing with ya, doesn't matter to me if you run or not." He grinned more at the lightning fast moment of irritation on Xeno's face, but the hunter schooled his facial features back into their usual disdain-filled glare, only broiling with frustration on the inside. He hated this man's relaxed demeanor. He was a monster hunter, the tall, hypnotically pretty predator should be avoiding him at all costs. Yet here he was, needling at him as if he couldn't end him just as quickly as he had the younger blood sucker. Okay, well, not as quickly. Stanley had a good four inches on the monster hunter at least, and had a body that had been frozen at the prime of his life, toned and pruned like an artfully shaped shrub through the years into a gorgeous, powerful example of why humans were the apex predators of the world. Or, well, they were, but with his change into the more monstrous his status as the perfect predator had only increased. Stan was perfectly built to hunt humans. Not only did he have a supernatural magnetic beauty to him, but he'd been human, so he knew how humans behave first hand. He was a nightmarish wet dream. Xeno gave his head a good shake to banish those thoughts from his mind when he realized he was looking the vampire over with the hunger of a sugar baby sizing up their next piggy bank. "Hey, Xeno," Stan hummed, but the hunter refused to look back at the man, which he simply took as a greenlight to continue, "you wanna play our little game tonight?" The hunter snorted in response, staring off into the darkness while his cheeks cooled, "I thought you were only here to bother me, not play a game of fucked up tag," He said calmly, only looked back at the man when he heard him walking closer, only stopping when he was about two feet away, maybe within reach, a grin on his pretty face, "Well, I thought it'd be a bit more polite to offer that rather than just asking if I could drink your blood outright." he reasoned, amused at the edge of poutiness that he seemed to sniff out through the veil of aloof indifference the hunter spoke with. "No thanks to either offer, I don't want to be chased tonight." Xeno sniffed in response, simply adding a thicker layer of ill temper to cover how excited he was at the thought of being pursued a second time. The first time had, admittedly, given him a thrill, but he wasn't ready to voice such to the annoying vampire in front of him. However, Stan seemed to have picked up on his kryptonite from that first round, "But aren't you curious to see what happens when you add the scent of blood to the mix?" The purr in the man's voice annoyed Xeno immensely, but the thought of maybe learning just how sensitive vampire instincts were, and how quickly one would succumb to them. Obviously young vampires are more prone to being controlled by their need to feed, but Stanley isn't a new vampire, that curious voice mused, already setting Xeno on a very likely stupid and dangerous path, It'd be immensely helpful to know just how easy it is to bring out those base urges in him. If he's going to follow you around it's best to know what to avoid so he doesn't go feral. It further encouraged, stoking the flames of the scientist's natural curiosity until he hummed, "I suppose it would be useful for the association to know exactly what triggers a vampire to go into a frenzy of some sort. Fine." The vampire grinned at that, "You do know that I can't promise my feeding instinct is the only one that'll come to the surface," he pointed out, making Xeno blink and raise an eyebrow at him, "What? Why would any other instinct come into play?" turning red as Stan laughed, "Well, in simple terms, I find you too attractive to promise that when I catch you I'd only want to drink your blood~" Xeno's face warmed up more at that, getting huffy and tripping over his words in his rush to snap at him. "You can have a five minute head start, just like last time," he simply assured, "Just need a bit of blood, because your original scratch has closed," He laughed more when Xeno pulled up his shirt to see that his shallow cut from earlier had in fact begun to heal, no longer bleeding and instead beginning to scab over. The hunter only responded with a glare at that point as he plucked his knife from the sidewalk where he'd dropped it and wiped it off before leaving another cut along his stomach, this one a bit deeper than the first, but not enough to linger for more than a day or two. With that, Stan gave him a charming smile that showed his extending fangs, his blue eyes already getting a hungry gleam to them. So, without further conversation, Xeno took off down the street. The cuts on his stomach stung and itched more from his running, but he pressed on. His main concern was regulating his breathing and energy so that he could get as far away from the vampire as he could in his small window of time. Naturally, his plan wasn't to just run in a straight line and wait to be caught, not only would that likely be dangerous, as a vampire in a feeding frenzy was much more violent, but was less likely to fulfill the goal of bringing those deadly instincts to the surface at all. So, instead, he sought out other people, a crowded area, maybe a shop, that way it wasn't as easy for the predator to catch up to him. This is insanely stupid, that voice of reason finally spoke up, not only am I playing with fire by instigating an instinctual reaction, but I am woefully under prepared to run from Stan. He realized, filling his veins with icy terror when the weight of his situation fully sunk in, The first time we did this I barely survive on pure panic and him toying with me. If he really loses his shit and goes into a frenzy, I can't outrun him. The reality of the thought hurt, but it was sorely true. Despite all of his training as a monster hunter, Xeno had never been one for good cardio, namely in the stamina category. He relied on his wits and pure speed, not his ability to maintain those speedy response times or pace for long periods. but it's too late now, he reminded himself, thinking back to the way the vampire's fangs had extended so soon after he'd given him a fresh source of scent. Nope, he couldn't chicken out now. He had no choice but to stick to his plan and push the panic and fear aside. Instead, he simply focused on the route ahead of him and locked onto the light of a store further down the street, which he headed for instantly. The bright, artificial light blinded the pale scientist for a moment when he stumbled into the store, but he was swift to regain his barrings and dash down the aisles and through the crowds of night owls and whatnot that were still up at this hour. He knew that his five minutes had ended a minute or so before. Meaning he didn't have long before the vampire would be on his ass. So, thinking quickly, he swiped his hand over his wounds, then smeared the blood on his palm onto the tile flooring in an aisle. Once he had that down, Xeno ran off deeper into the store. He had very few places to hide. The bathroom was basically a dead end with no windows and only one door, he couldn't climb up the shelves or to the rafters in a timely manner, so he forwent that plan. Instead, he did the next best thing. leaving as distracting a trail as possible before bolting out one of the fire exits. "Shit," he wheezed when the fire exit triggered a screaming alarm through out the store. If Stan was in there, he'd definitely know he got out now, but that only meant the scientist had less time to think of such things. He had to focus on running. So, Xeno ignored the way his legs throbbed, and his lungs ached from gulping down the cold night air. He focused entirely on getting home, or at least to a more residential area. He could feel his limbs getting heavier, threatening more and more to give out with each step, but his grit his teeth and bared it until the threat became reality and the asphalt bit into his skin. And there he laid for a few seconds, gasping for air and scraping up as much energy as he could to push himself to his feet. As he did, he glanced back down the street, and sure enough. Stanley was coming out of the alley Xeno'd run out of, his glowing blue eyes locking onto the scientist in an instant. With another curse spat out through gritted teeth, Xeno took off again. His legs still screamed from exhaustion, and now his hands stung viciously from the fall, but he kept going. He could hear Stan closing in on him, which gave him a final burst of frantic energy that carried him to at least the park near his home before the vampire finally tackled him to the grass. The scientist could only wheeze in response, letting the vampire crush against him and push his face into his pale neck with a growl. That seemed to snap him out of the exhaustion cloud, and in an instant, Xeno was squirming and forcing himself up once again. The only way he managed it was because the vampire was taken by surprise, so he was able to slip from his grasp and scramble up, but he only got a few more steps before he had to lean against a tree for support so that his legs didn't crumble a third time. Then, just as quickly as he'd gotten away, Xeno was back in Stan's luke-warm arms, trapped against his needlessly heaving chest with his fangs hovering over his jugular once more. However, he didn't bite down. To the contrary, the feral vampire seemed to hesitate for a moment, seemingly weighing his options of what to do with the hunter before settling on a choice and swiftly switching to almost slamming him against the nearest tree. "S-Stanley!" The hunter wheezed, more surprised then anything, pushing back so that his face at least wasn't forced into the course bark and he could look back to try and see the blonde behind him. Said blonde was keeping him in place with a hand on one of his shoulders, looking Xeno in the eye and almost relishing the dawning realization that painted his pale cheeks before he used his free hand to hook into his pants and tug them down pretty roughly. Then, he was back at the man's neck, but this time he bit with his blunter teeth, sucking at the skin until Xeno's mewls and hums were pulled out and he was satisfied with the hickey he'd left. The scientist, meanwhile was a bit ashamed of how quickly he accepted the turn of events. He tried to save some face by muffling the noises bubbling in his throat, but Stan's mouth at his neck, paired with the way he ground his groin into his now-bear rear drug a few noises out. Though, it also bat back the fog of hormones and lust long enough for the hunter to realize that he was very likely to get hurt if he didn't intervene. So, he whined and reached up to tangle his fingers in Stan's messy hair, tugging at it until he finally relinquished his throat from the second hickey he was dedicated on leaving. Carefully, Xeno turned himself around with what little room he was permitted between the vampire's muscular chest and the much-less-forgiving tree. Once they were face to face though, the college graduate's brain no longer seemed to work, so, the two simply stood there, panting a bit from the chase, before he finally gave up on using words and instead simply sunk down to his knees. Keeping his eyes glued to the glowing blue pair above him as he went. Luckily enough for him, his actions at least intrigued the vampire, because he was allowed to tug his bottoms down just enough for his member to spring free, which earned him a noise somewhere between a growl and a hum. With Stan's pants down and his member now standing erect in front of him, Xeno hesitated. Should it matter if I'm any good at this sort of shit? I just need some sort of lubrication, and he shouldn't really care about anything beyond...mating, so surely he won't give a shit, right? He asked himself, puzzling over the predicament before Stan reached down to grab onto his shirt, reminding the scientist of his lack of patience. So, Xeno threw his insecurities to the wind and grabbed onto the base of the shaft so he could slip Stan's impatient member into his mouth. The vampire moaned in response, and Xeno took that as a sign that he'd bought a bit more time for himself. So, he slowed down, bobbing his head at a medium sort of pace to work himself up to taking as much of the length as he could, which, thankfully for him, was almost all of it thanks to years of speed-drinking coffee and energy drinks and eating at record speeds in college. He also found that once he actually got to moving, the embarrassment of his lack of skills faded away, and part of him simply enjoyed the groans he got out of Stan while he moved his lips up and down him at a steady pace. He simply continued to work him as much as he could until the vampire let out a little hiss and gripped onto the scientist's shirt until he pulled away and let his throbbing member go with a coy 'pop'. Suddenly, Xeno was yanked back to his feet and whirled around again to be slammed back into the tree. His pants were tugged down once more and his feet were kicked apart in rapid succession so the monster hunter only got a moment's break before Stan pushed into him. And while it hurt still, the white-haired man found that he didn't mind as much. As the vampire began thrusting into him, one hand clawing into his hip, the other on his shoulder, Xeno moaned out curses and did his best to grab onto the tree or Stan's neck to keep steady under the merciless thrusts of the blonde. It was shameful how hot his body got, but with how Stan was hitting that sweetspot within Xeno, his face back to being buried in his neck for more marks, Xeno couldn't care less. "Mmmm, fuck! ah, r-right there, please!" he plead, tangling his fingers back into Stan's hair as he moaned, giving another lewd noise when his pursuer did as he asked, swiftly learning that doing so got more needy noises from the hormone-addled hunter. With that, Xeno lost all coherency as euphoria further fogged his mind, and soon brought him to his peak with a whine of the vampire's name. Though, Stan didn't stop when Xeno came, he just kept thrusting into him, still flooding his pale body with more and more pleasure while his hot puffs of breath tickled his hickey-littered neck. The continued rough treatment was beginning to sting, but the edge of pain only seemed to bolster Xeno's pleasure back to its peak, pushing a second orgasm from him before Stan finally grew sloppy with his thrusts and soon gave one final movement before emptying himself into the hunter. After that, the monster hunter let himself melt against the tree, relying on Stanley to hold him up because he was on the verge of passing out after that night's activities. The last thing Xeno remembered was giving a thumbs up to what he assumed was the question 'are you okay'. Then, he let his exhaustion take him into dreamland.

#dr stone #drst #stanXeno #Stan x Xeno #monster au #scenario #vampire!Stan #Monster hunter!Xeno #not sfw

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thelastspeecher · 6 years ago

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Superheroes/Villains AU Filbrick shows up to try and bully stan into admitting he (Pops) was responsible for Stan's current success (or something) but it happens a couple of the other McGuckets besides Angie were home, visiting the grandkids/or nieces that weekend and they take care of him for Stan.

Day 01 Day 02 Day 03 Day 04 Day 05 Day 06 Day 07 Day 08Day 09 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14 Day 15 Day 16Day 17 Day 18 Day 19 Day 20 Day 21 Day 22 Day 23 Day 24Day 25 Day 26 Day 27 Day 28 Day 29 Day 30

Ohohohoho this was fun to write. Anon, this was such an amazing prompt. Love me some Filbrick getting his just desserts.

Word count: 1508

There was a knock on the frontdoor. Stan looked up from the blocks heand his daughters were playing with.

“Mind getting that, Ang?” heasked. Angie nodded and got up from the couch,where she had been reading a précis about her crew’s last score.

“It’s prob’ly my ma with thepower dampeners,” she said. Danny sneezed,spraying snowflakes over Stan.

“Not a minute too soon,” Stanmuttered. “Fire, I can handle. Snow? Not so much.”

“I know,” Angie said. There was another knock, this one moreinsistent. “I’m comin’!” While his fiancée went to get the door, Stanturned his attention back to his daughters. Daisy grabbed a block eagerly. Itburst into flames in her hand. Stan silentlytook the block back from her and stifled the fire. Daisy pouted. “Oh! Um, hello.”

Shesounds surprised. ��Must not be her mom.

“So you’re the poor girl my no-goodson knocked up,” a voice rumbled. Stan’sblood ran cold. For once, it had nothingto do with the frost spreading from where Danny was sitting.

“I- I beg yer pardon?” Angie saidpolitely.

“Don’t bother trying to cover forhim. I know he’s here, I know he got youpregnant from a one-night-stand, and I know he hasn’t even married you yet.”

“Look, sir, I- hey!” Footsteps stormed down the hall leading tothe living room. Stan looked up,dreading what he would see.

“Hey, Pops,” Stan saidweakly. Filbrick Pines scowled at him. “What- uh- what are you doing here?”

“I’m here because you neverbothered to tell me I had two granddaughters,” Filbrick said. Angie appeared behind him, furious.

“Mr. Pines, don’t do that,” Angiesnapped. Filbrick turned to faceher. “I’ll invite people in when I want to invite people in. Ya can’t barge in like that.”

“Hmph.” Filbrick looked back at Stan. “Figures you’d find someone as insolent asyou.” Angie’s eyes widened, thennarrowed. Stan started to panic.

Iknow that face. She’s gonna kick his assto kingdom come. As much as I’d like tosee that, I can’t let it happen. Whoknows what he’d do after a beating from her.

“Ang, wanna take Danny? I think she needs a change,” Stan said. Angie’s scowl deepened.

“All right,” she ground out. She walked over to where Stan and the girlswere sitting, picked Danny up, shot another glare at Filbrick, then marched tothe nursery.

“I hear you’re some big hero now,”Filbrick said to Stan. Stan swallowed.

“I dunno about big, but, yeah, I’ma hero.”

“Hmph. I’m not impressed.”

Figures.

“Show me my granddaughter,” Filbrickdemanded. Stan picked Daisy up andstood. Filbrick walked over. “What’s her name?”

“Daisy Leigh McGucket.”

“McGucket? She doesn’t even have your last name?”

“The other one does.”

“Hmph,” Filbrick huffedagain. Daisy was apparently picking upthe mood of the room, as she was being abnormally still and quiet. “She’s got more than ten fingers, like Stanford.”

“Yeah. She does.” Daisy abruptly hiccupped and burst into flames. Filbrick took a startled step back.

“She’s a super.” The snarl of disgust was identical to the onehe’d had when Ford’s power first manifested.

“So’s her twin.”

“Does her twin at least have auseful power?” Filbrick asked. Stanopened and closed his mouth, unsure of how to answer.

I don’t know what kinda power he thinks is useful. The only power I know he liked was Mom’s, ‘causeit made scams easier. But beyond that… The front door opened.

“Hello?” a voice called. Stan broke out into a cold sweat. “We were told to let ourselves in.”

Shit. Angie’s folks are here. This isn’t gonna end well.

“I’m in the living room, Sally,”Stan finally managed. Mrs. McGucketwalked into the living room, closely followed by her husband and youngest son.

Lute’shere. Why the hell is Lute here?

“I was tellin’ my daughter on thephone that these are much easier to use than they look,” Mrs. McGucket said,fiddling with what looked like two bracelets in her hands. She looked up. “Oh! You have a guest.”

“Pops, these are Angie’s parents,Sally and Mearl,” Stan said. “And Angie’stwin, Lute. McGuckets, this is my dad,Filbrick Pines.” A shadow crossed Mr.McGucket’s face, but was gone in a second. Stan suddenly remembered a conversation he’d had with Mr. McGucket theday Danny and Daisy were born.

“Stanley, what I just heard ya say was that yer father abused you. Is that correct? … Goodness gracious. That ain’t right.”

Ispilled about my childhood, and even though he was pissed at me, he went out ofhis way to be nice. He even stoppedthreatening to kill me for a hot minute.

“Ah, so yer my granddaughters’other grandfather,” Mr. McGucket said. His tone was diplomatic, his face carefully neutral, but his eyes stareddaggers at Filbrick. Filbrick glared atStan.

“I don’t know what Stan’s beentelling you, but-”

“But it’s enough,” Mrs. McGucketstepped in. Filbrick rounded on Stan.

“Stanley,” Filbrick growled. Stan’s heart began to race. All the memories of his childhood wereresurfacing, and it didn’t matter how many villains he beat up on a day-to-daybasis, his mom did that too, and she never-

“Ngah!” Daisy said happily,stopping Stan’s train of thought in its tracks. He stared down at his daughter. She was aflame again, attempting to set fire to Stan’s fire-proofclothing. Daisy grinned up at him. The blue eyes she’d inherited from Angiereflected the flames she’d inherited from him. Stan smiled back at her.

“Hey, sweetie,” Stan saidsoftly. He looked back at Filbrick,resolute.

Mom might not have done anything for me and Ford, but that doesn’t meanI have to fall into that, too. Daisyrested her head against his chest. I’m not gonna let Pops spit his poison in myhouse, in front of my daughter.

“Back off, Pops,” Stan snapped. “If you wanna be in my house, you can’t talkto me like that. Especially not when I’m holding my daughter. She’s a year old. She doesn’t need to be exposed to that kindof BS.”

“You impudent brat,” Filbrickspat. “Don’t talk to me like-” A vine suddenly wrapped itself around Filbrick’smouth, gagging him. Stan glanced over atthe hanging pot nearby. The ivy in it haddrastically increased in size, multiple tendrils sneaking over to whereFilbrick was standing. Stan looked atMr. McGucket. Mr. McGucket noddedsilently. Filbrick pried the vine offhis mouth. “How-” He gagged and collapsed to his knees,clutching his throat.

“I think it would behoove ya tolisten to yer son, Mr. Pines,” Mrs. McGucket said calmly, striding over toFilbrick. She crouched next to him, avicious smile curling the corners of her mouth. “If ya don’t, ya might have some trouble breathin’ in the near future. And, ah, ya may not be a scientist like mydaughter, but I think even you knowthat ya need to breathe to live.” Mrs.McGucket waved a hand. Filbrick gasped loudly. He stared at Mrs. McGucket.

“Sirocco,” he croaked. Mrs. McGucket beamed.

“Oh! You’ve heard of me! Well, in that case, you know that anyone whomesses with the man what will be my son-in-law in a few short months ain’tliable to survive those actions. I don’tbluff. And neither does anyone else inmy fam’ly.” Mrs. McGucket stoodagain. She took Daisy from Stan’s arms. Daisy giggled loudly and grabbed at herhair. “Aw, howdy, sugar-cube.”

“You all are insane!” Filbrickshouted.

“Hush, now,” Mr. McGucket saidcalmly. “There are children here. Don’t raise yer voice.”

“Stanley, you- villains-”Filbrick stammered. Stan raised aneyebrow coolly, letting his father splutter. “Fine. I’m out of this hellhole,”Filbrick finally spat. He stormed out ofthe house, slamming the door with enough force to knock down Angie’s frameddiploma hanging on the living room wall. Stan grinned broadly at the McGuckets.

“That. Was. Awesome!”

“I can imagine how satisfyin’ itmust be, fer someone who hurt ya so much to fin’lly get a bit of what hedeserved,” Mr. McGucket said, patting Stan on the shoulder. He was grinning as well, but it had a vicioustint to it.

“It was very satisfyin’ fer us aswell,” Mrs. McGucket said, playing with Daisy’s hands. “We don’t want that bastard anywhere near thegirls.”

“Amen,” Mr. McGucket said. Angie walked back into the living room withDanny. She looked around.

“Is he gone?”

“You betcha, junebug,” Mr. McGucketsaid. “We read ‘im the riot act andspooked him out. I doubt Filbrick willbe comin’ back anytime soon.”

“Aw, shucks,” Angie said. Stan stared at her.

“Why are you disappointed?”

“Well, I never got to take a shot at him.” Angie sighed. “Maybe next time.”

“Ang, if he ever shows up at thehouse again, you have my permission to do whatever you want to him.”

“I can do anything I want?”

“Anything,” Stan saidfirmly. Angie grinned evilly.

“Good.”

#why yes if Filbrick ever set foot in Stangie's house again #Angie would 100% kill him #she's a villainess who is fiercely protective of her family #ofc Filbrick is a goner if he tries to spread his bile into her home #Superhero/villain AU #Stangie #Stangie Family #Stanley Pines #Angie McGucket #Daisy McGucket #Filbrick Pines #Pa McGucket #Ma McGucket #NaNoWriMo 18 #my writing #ficlet #ask #Anonymous

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chronicbatfictioner · 6 years ago

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A Real Boy - Chapter 4

"I don't know about going to Bruce Wayne, Tim... I mean, Clark said he's... unhinged." Conner told him. "A non-magi who obtained magi powers and use it to do good behind a mask? Really? If I don't know consequences of my action and whatnot, I'd probably use my powers to like, rule the world or something."

"And do what with the world under your orders? Make them allow you eat french fries and milkshakes at every meal?" Tim retorted.

"Oh no, that's Bart. But I could, you know." Conner replied nonchalantly. "But fries and shakes should be every day meal, anyway, along with bacon. I don't see why not. And for the love of all things mighty, while we're on the subject: in bacon we trust. I don't understand the concept of vegan bacon. If it's called bacon, it should have been made of animal parts. If there's no animal in it, it's veggie chips."

"City people don't burn as much calories on daily basis as you do, farmboy." Jason quipped. "Or like a speedster. But anyway, matter at hand! We - or more specifically, I - don't see Wayne as dangerous, and as you've pointed out yourself, he's been trying to resolve the issues between the faes and other kinds for quite a good long time now."

"He still gets his magi powers through an exchange with the devil or something, and I don't like it." Conner pointed out.

"Actually, he didn't make exchanges. He trained for his magi. You know that there are plenty of loose magical powers everywhere, right?" Jason tested.

"No?" Tim and Conner replied in unison, in the same tone. "How does that work?" Tim wanted to know.

"People like your dad, Tim, when they denied their heritage, their... essence-- or their mana, if you'd rather; would depart their bodies and just... leave. Other people can catch it through years - if not decades - of extensive training and make it their own." Jason explained. "On people like Wayne, the manifestation of the magick won't be as strong as those who was born with it. But it's there."

"Your dad was a witch? I thought it was your mom..." Conner commented.

"No, she wasn't. She was... a fae, apparently." Tim told him hesitantly. Conner - like all of his other friends, never asked of where their parents came from. Tim knew of his friends' heritage, largely because he looked them up. But they had never asked for his, and he has never told. Heck, he had only found out that his dad was a magi and mom was a fae when Jason told him. He was not sure of how Conner would react.

"Oh cool," was Conner's reaction. Tension promptly left Tim's body as he released the breath he didn't even realize he was holding. Jason's hand pressed on his back helped, as Jason seemed to notice Tim's tenseness even before Tim did. "So anyway, when a homo-magi denied their heritage - what does that even mean? I mean how could you just go up and say, 'dude, what even is magick and I don't want it kthanksbye'? Isn't it like saying something along the line of 'hey, I'm not Asian' in spite of like, having actual Asian-origin parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and so on?"

"Yeeeah, not so much. The essence is not visible, right? Unlike your Asian or African or European heritage that can be seen through your hair, eyes, or skin color. It's more like..." Jason paused as he searched for a comparison. "I dunno... More like the wolf saying I'm not wild therefore I'm not a wolf, but a dog?"

"Oookay..." Conner glared at Jason contemplatively. "Weird, but I can actually digest that. Surprise. Okay, so someone like Tim's dad forsaken his essence, and said essence just do a free-flow around the world until someone like Bruce Wayne come around and snatched it?"

"That-- is the very short nutshell version of it. Like a single-nut's shell." Jason almost snickered.

"But it's not gonna be necessarily Tim's dad's essence?" Conner clarified.

"No, not necessarily." Jason confirmed. "That was just an example."

"So Bruce Wayne had actually trained and get his magick essence." Tim remarked. "Why him? I mean, there's got to be more people like him, right? People who has trained hard and earned magickal abilities."

"Yes and no. Yes, there are people like him who'd trained hard and get a magickal essence. But most of them would have sacrificed something - or someone - to get to where Bruce is. The best those others could do is maybe make a rabbit come out of a hat. Or lasers out of their fingers or eyes or whatever orifice they opted it to come out from. And I could only name a very small handful who would use it to protect others."

That logic Tim could understand. Nobody who lived in Gotham hasn't heard of Bruce Wayne, the metaphorical 'Prince' of Gotham. The only heir of Wayne family after five solid generations of money that built Gotham City. Bruce had lost his parents to murder that happened in a robbery gone bad when he was ten. And after a stint-slash-disappearing overseas, he reemerged in Gotham some years ago and stated right away that he was going to fix it. He has been pouring money and effort and support and all that is needed to rebuild Gotham from the slum it was once to the metropolitan city it is today.

The magi side of Tim, however, knew that the money and effort and support and planning were not the only things Bruce Wayne had given. Once upon a time, Tim had seen Bruce out at night, wearing a bat mask that covered half his face and cape that flowed around him menacingly. He was working in stopping magi-based crimes. The lore of the 'Bat-man' has been around since Tim was about three or four, and a few years ago, he had finally managed to see it on his own.

There were many monsters - to put it mildly - that were stopped by Bruce's alter ego before they could hurt their prey. Vampirical magis who had tried to use blood or other humans' life or fear to boost their powers; demonic misfits who only wanted to destroy and hurt others for their own benefit; miscreant goblins and hoarders who did not care for the non-magis in lieu of possession of random artifacts or cursed objects, and abandoned mystical beasts that needed to feed after they were discarded by their previous owners.

Yes, Bruce Wayne has done a lot of good for Gotham. But still, he was a warlock - someone who hunts magical beings and creatures. Even if he had - so far - done it behind a mask and only toward magis who abused their powers, Tim was a magi. Likewise with his teammates. Cassie's magick might be more... tolerable for Wayne, known for his association with Cassie's mentor, Diana Prince. But Rachel? Rachel was a full-on demon with a demon as her dad.

Which made it a not-good idea to cross path with Bruce Wayne, a warlock.

The only thing Tim would have asked, if he would ever cross Bruce Wayne in person - preferably in private, is why would he hide his face. It's not like the authorities would do anything to stop him if they knew it was him, anyway. A magi could probably tell right away who he was, mask or no mask. He was fooling no one in Tim's side of the world.

"Yeeeah, regardless. Clark said he's pretty hard on his stance against magickal things. Claimed he'd only used his abilities to contain rogue magicks. Personally, I'm not comfortable that you'd bring Tim to him. He's... he could find out about our gang." Conner argued.

"Annnd... your gang isn't exactly a 'bad kids' gang', anyway. What's your problem?" Jason countered.

"He doesn't sound like someone who could be reasoned with." Conner deadpanned.

"He's a Gothamite born and bred." Jason countered.

"Eh, he's got a point." Tim shrugged. Gothamites were not people to be reasoned with. They just do things or don't do things. "'Sides, that's kind of exactly what I'm like." he added.

"You can still be reasoned with," Conner argued.

"I'm also sixteen. Wayne is-- what? In his 30s? He's got to have a lot more experience and reasons why he can't be reasoned with. All I would need to do is talk to him and tell him of Jason's warning. It stands to reason that he'd never heard of anything like this if he doesn't have a familiar."

Conner sighed exasperatedly. "Fine," he eventually said. "But please remember, once Wayne knows of us, we may not be safe. So please, please, please, please leave the lot of us out of this."

"That's a lot of 'please'," Jason commented.

"That's to emphasize just how much I mean it." Conner retorted.

"Okay! Oh my goddess, you don't have to be dramatic!"

"Besides, who said he hasn't known about you all, yet?" Jason grinned impishly, and Tim felt like tossing the coffee pot to his head when Jason turned to him and warned. "Don't. Even."

Tim rolled his eyes. "Tell me his personality is generic and isn't an aspect of mine." he told Conner.

"No, you're a lot more fun and less sass." Conner replied, and then frowned; "...or is it more sass and less fun? Or more fund - with a 'd'? Anyway, no he's not like you."

"That's a relief..." Tim dryly remarked. "...at least I know that you think highly of my funding abilities."

"Hey, I'm just a poor farm boy." Conner replied, smiling sweetly.

"...so you relinquished your dignity to let Tim be your sugar daddy. Yay." Jason quipped.

The coffeepot came flying toward Jason's head manually, courtesy of Conner, and Jason cackled while avoiding it.

"Guys, really..." Tim sighed, glaring forlornly at the spilled coffee. Nary a drop of it had hit Jason, nor the pot that he had caught neatly. But there was a large line of coffee puddle across the living room now. "You two derps better clean that up, or I'll throw something bigger and heavier and magickal-er next!"

#Tim Drake #Jason Todd #Magi!AU #JayTim #Conner Kent #bruce weber #no-capeAU

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bevioletskies · 7 years ago

Text

i put a spell on you

characters: peter/gamora, peter & gamora & groot, guardians-centric

summary: groot was just a twig in a pot last halloween, so this year, he's determined to get the guardians to take him trick-or-treating.

word count: 12.5k

a/n: If you haven’t read the main fic, all you need to know is: a) the guardians attend a superhero school on earth, b) therefore they are in their early-to-mid 20s (except for rocket and groot), c) peter and gamora were fake-dating but are now dating for real, and d) they’ve been playing an “endless” game of twenty questions since they started fake-dating as a way of getting to know each other. very little of these plot points come up aside from the first one.

fic title is from the song i put a spell on you by nina simone.

ao3 | tag | masterpost

“I am Groot?”

Gamora let out a startled yelp of surprise, unceremoniously (and a little too suddenly for her liking) yanking her hand out of the front of Peter’s sweatpants, nearly tumbling off the bed in the process. “Aw, Groot what the he - heck?” Peter hollered, scrambling to pull his T-shirt back down over his exposed torso. “How’d you get in here?”

The little one, who was casually sitting on Peter’s desk, swinging his feet over the edge, gave a shrug of indifference, smiling at them both so innocently, completely unaware of what they had been doing, as if he hadn’t interrupted them. “I am Groot.”

“I dunno what you just said, but I hope that was an apology,” Peter grumbled, watching as Gamora turned away to hastily wipe her hand on the bedsheets. “Something wrong?” He quickly scanned Groot inquisitively, but he didn’t appear to be sick or injured. Peter frowned, eyes narrowing in suspicion. “Did Rocket send you? I swear, that guy has a weird fascination with catching us in the act - ” Gamora elbowed him before he could continue.

Groot stood, walking across the desk to point at the poster Peter had hung on the corkboard above its surface. “I am Groot.”

“The Halloween party? You can’t be serious,” Gamora said, straightening up. “Groot, it’s not exactly age-appropriate. There’s going to be alcohol served there. And inappropriate dancing that Peter’s going to fail at convincing me into doing.”

Pouting, Groot stomped his foot petulantly, nearly ripping the homework Peter had left lying out in the process. “I am Groot!” he whined.

Sighing, Gamora got to her feet, crossing the tiny bedroom to scoop him up and set him on her shoulder. “We’ll talk about this in the morning, okay? It’s past your bedtime and I have no patience for your antics right now.” He stuck his tongue out at her in response, tugging angrily on a loose strand of her hair. “Ow - hey! Don’t be like that, or I’m feeding you Chr’yllite larva for breakfast instead of pancakes.”

Peter laughed to himself as Gamora briefly left to put Groot to bed, leaning back onto the pillows. He was still a little annoyed about being interrupted - they hadn’t even managed to take their clothes off yet - but he couldn’t blame Groot for wanting to celebrate Halloween. The others had been curious about Terran customs and holidays as each one came and went, but in a way, this was Groot’s first Halloween, despite them having been here last October. He had just been a twig in a pot at the time, his mobility limited to wherever Rocket would set him down. Now that he was running around on his own two feet, his curiosity only grew stronger. They still wouldn’t let him go anywhere by himself, fearing he would accidentally get crushed in the crowds of people across campus, but they did take him out to see more places, hoping he would be familiar enough with his surroundings so that he could navigate by the time he was big enough to go out alone.

“Where were we?” Gamora slipped back in, firmly locking the door behind her, before crawling back onto the mattress. Her hands moved to push Peter’s shirt back up under his armpits, tracing a fingernail over his bare abdomen, her gaze seductive.

“Wait - before we continue - did we actually make Halloween plans yet?”

She raised an eyebrow at him before settling back to kneel on the bed, sitting firmly on her feet folded beneath her. “I assumed we were going to the party. We went last year, after all. You got completely wasted. I had to literally carry you back.”

“Oh, man. That hangover was the worst,” he chuckled, reaching to loosely tangle their fingers together, bringing them to rest on his stomach. “Y’know, maybe Groot’s onto something. Not the party, but we should do something else for him. Make his first real Halloween fun. It was one of my favorite holidays as a kid, maybe it can be his.”

“As long as we don’t give him too much sugar,” she warned. “I don’t think I have to remind you what happened when Mantis left him alone with a bag of her Twizzlers. We’re never going to get that puke stain out of the wood.” Gamora pulled her hand away from Peter’s, instead splaying her fingers across his pecs. In one fluid movement, she swung one leg over, bracing her knees against his hips, and lowered herself down against his front. “So. Did you want me to finish what I started anytime soon, or do you want to keep discussing our holiday plans?”

“Continue, please,” he murmured, cupping the back of her head so he could bring her in for a kiss. ______

“So, we’re in agreeance on the embassy job?” Peter blinked. “Guys? Hello?”

To his dismay, the only other person who seemed to be paying attention, as always, was Gamora. She was glaring daggers around the table on his behalf, and seemed all of five seconds away from pulling out an actual dagger. “HEY!” she barked.

Everyone jumped in their seats, looking up from their respective devices rather bewilderedly. “You tryna blow our ears out, girl?” Yondu grumbled, cupping a hand protectively over his own.

“Don’t test me, I’m still pissed about you trying to steal our money,” Gamora snapped, brandishing her pencil at him. “What is going on with all of you? The faster we finish this discussion, the faster you can return to your stupid phones.”

“But Janet posted something about there being a change of plans for Halloween this year,” Mantis explained, holding out her phone for Peter and Gamora to see. “To continue her efforts in unifying the campus and providing a more realistic college experience.”

“It looks quite interesting,” Drax added. “Participating in this ‘trick-or-treat’ business might be more desirable than getting as inebriated as we did last year.”

“Speak for yourself, that was a great time!” Rocket hooted, slamming a paw against the table in joy. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

“Is this really what we’re talking about right now?” Gamora swatted the phone away, somewhat regretting it when Mantis gave her giant puppy-dog eyes in response. “We can talk about Halloween after we finish our line-up for November. Did everyone write out their due dates like I asked? We need to schedule around Peter’s debate and my combat final, I know that much, but as far as I can tell, no one else has given me anything. You can’t blame me if we end up off-planet during your engineering practical exam, Rocket.”

“God, you’re such a mom,” Nebula sighed, slouching across the surface of the table as if her elbows had suddenly stopped working (they hadn’t, she had performed a maintenance check on her robotic arm just last night). “Why am I even here? I’m not on this team, as you all like to remind me so often.”

“Director Fury says you and Yondu might get an early Christmas present this year and become official Guardians before December if you’re good,” Peter reminded her. “Might as well get used to it, Nebula.”

“Present? I want no part of this team if all it consists of is sitting around, talking,” she sneered. “Not to mention the fact that your last mission went horrendously.”

“What are you even talking about? It was the smoothest job we’d ever had,” Gamora frowned.

“Exactly. That sounds so incredibly boring.”

“It kinda was,” Rocket admitted, as much as he disliked agreeing with Nebula. “I’ve gotten used to the whole ‘almost-dying-and-having-to-save-everyone’s-butts-’cause-I-gotta-do-everything’ deal. This time, the most excitement we had was when Drax got a papercut.”

“It was very unpleasant,” Drax nodded solemnly. “I’m not used to seeing so much of my own blood. Only the blood of my enemies.”

“Can we finish this sometime today? Please?” Peter begged. “We have a whole week off ahead of us, and I don’t wanna ruin it with more team meetings.”

“I’m sorry, Quill, did you have plans?” Yondu said sarcastically. “I swear, all you ever do nowadays is hang with your girl.”

“Am I supposed to not hang out with Gamora?” Peter said, furrowing his brow in confusion. He glanced over at her, but she only shrugged, as perplexed as he was. “Besides, I do have plans that you would know about if you actually checked the freaking group calendar for once. Rocket and I were gonna go check out the new ammo they shipped into SHIELD yesterday. They repurposed some of the old Chitauri weapons from the Incident, and we know alien tech way better than anyone else.”

Groot perked up. “I am Groot?”

“Yeah, I guess you can come too,” Rocket said, patting him on the back. Pleased, Groot made his way down the table to Mantis, hefting her phone out of her hand and dragging it back towards Gamora, pointing at the screen eagerly.

“Groot…” Gamora let out another groan, running her fingers through her hair. Honestly, she had never experienced hair loss problems before becoming part of this team, and now she felt as if she were shedding like a Mephitisoid going bald. “Come on, now. We can discuss our plans after we finish, okay? I know you’re excited, but if we don’t get this done, we’re never going to have time to get back to it later.”

His bottom lip wobbling, Groot reluctantly returned to his spot by Rocket. Finally, Peter and Gamora managed to get their friends back on track, though they were all a little grumpier than they had been five minutes ago. Everyone answered with short, terse responses, uncharacteristically agreed with everything Peter and Gamora suggested, and got snappy whenever they were asked for their real opinions. After finishing all the items on the agenda, Gamora called for a break, completely fed up at this point with everyone but Peter. Even Mantis was starting to get on her nerves, a rarity for anyone. Drax and Mantis went to get dinner going, while Rocket and Yondu retreated to the cockpit to do their weekly Friday check-in call with Kraglin.

Peter, on the other hand, sprawled out onto the couch, gesturing for Gamora to join him. “I have a headache,” he told her. “Wait, let me rephrase that. This team is a headache.”

“At least we got everything out of the way for next month,” she sighed, settling into his side. “If you can even call it that. Not a single argument out of anyone. Rocket agreed to an engine cleaning on a Saturday.” She laid her head on his chest, smiling a little at the sound of his steady heartbeat. At least Peter had become much more reliable in their time together. His tendency to get distracted by other things was starting to diminish in favor of keeping them efficient. “It’d be nice if someone other than you and I actually cared about investing time and effort into our job outside of the missions themselves. To be quite frank, we’d be in debt if I wasn’t constantly, actively looking for work.”

“Yeah, and all Rocket wants to know is how much we’re making. It’s never ‘what’ or ‘how’.” Peter shook his head in disappointment as he slung an arm around her shoulders. “And thanks, Gamora. I dunno if you hear that enough.”

“Honestly, I don’t. At least, not from the others. You're almost a little too complimentary sometimes, especially when you want something,” she teased, patting him affectionately on the stomach. “And the whole ‘mom’ comparison, that’s starting to bother me. I don’t mind it in relation to Groot, or even referring to you and me as the parental unit of this team, but it does feel degrading and dismissive at times.”

“Then ask them to stop,” he suggested. “Make ‘em know you’re serious.”

Gamora’s gaze traveled to the armchair across from them, where Groot was lying on his belly, idly kicking his feet in the air, while he was flipping through a picture book. It was the kind meant to be read to babies, so it was small in size, but it still looked relatively large compared to Groot, who was barely a foot tall. “I suppose he brings out a maternal instinct in me, one that I thought would have never existed in the first place, but I still don’t see how my other behaviors make me everyone else’s mother,” she continued.

Groot seemed to sense that they were talking about him, his head shooting up immediately, turning to look towards the couch. “I am Groot?” he asked hopefully. Peter paused for a moment, trying to translate, before patting his lap, indicating that he could join them. Beaming, Groot hopped down from his spot and skipped cheerfully across the floor, climbing up Peter’s leg so he could lie on his stomach.

“It’s a dumb stereotype, I guess. But you have to admit, you kind of always sound like you’re five seconds away from giving everyone a time-out,” Peter chuckled, running a gentle finger along Groot’s spine.

“So you think I should take a more relaxed approach? I wouldn’t know how,” Gamora admitted, reaching to scratch under Groot’s chin. The little one let out a satisfied sigh, snuggling deeper into Peter, his eyes sliding closed in contentment. “It’s hard to be patient with such aggravating individuals. I’m hardly ever mad at Groot or Mantis, but everyone else…”

“Hey, I didn’t hear my name on that list of yours,” he teased, pinching her arm playfully.

“Don’t pretend like you’re a saint, Peter, our last fight was only two days ago,” she retorted, swatting at him.

“I still maintain that SHIELD agent was definitely hitting on you.”

“And I still maintain that I can fight my own battles just fine, thank you,” she said with a huff. Groot stirred a little, sleepily drifting over into Gamora’s lap, before settling back down. “You really shouldn’t be so hostile to everyone who looks at me strangely.”

“He wanted to do more than look, trust me,” he mumbled.

“Okay, we’re not getting into this again. I’m not in the mood to argue with Groot sleeping on me,” she groaned. “Speaking of, Halloween. Let’s talk about what we’re doing, otherwise, the others are probably going to start a riot.”

“Well, like I said, we should do something for the kid,” Peter replied, a fond smile slowly spreading across his face as he observed Groot, who was sucking on Gamora’s thumb as he slept. It was an odd habit of his that he didn’t do with anyone else, but like anything Groot did, it was heart-meltingly adorable to witness. “We haven’t been spending a lot of time with him lately, what with the crapload of midterms we’ve been having.”

“That is why I was suggesting we go along with Janet’s new Halloween plans,” Mantis said smugly, appearing in front of them seemingly out of nowhere. “If you had looked at what I was showing you…” Relenting, Gamora held out her hand with a reluctant sigh, allowing Mantis to finally pass her the phone. “As you can see, Janet has decided to forgo her big party with alcohol and dancing, for something a little more school-friendly, since there are many underage students as well. Did you go trick-or-treating as a child, Peter?”

“Yeah, with my mom,” Peter nodded. At Mantis’s inquiring eyebrow, he added, “Honestly, I didn’t really...have...friends.”

“That’s a shame,” Mantis frowned, sitting on Peter’s other side. “Well, you have plenty now. Even if we annoy you sometimes.” She chewed her lip thoughtfully, her antennae drooping slightly in shame. “I am sorry if we have upset you - both of you - earlier.”

“If anyone needs to apologize, it’s certainly not you,” Gamora said reassuringly, reaching across to pat the other girl’s hand. “I’m still trying to correct Nebula’s attitude, and Yondu and Rocket could use a talking-to as well. They’re all improving, if a little slower than I’d like to see.”

“Speaking of Nebula, you two have been spending a lot of time together recently,” Peter added, gesturing at Mantis. “How’s it going with that girl you have a crush on?” He had admittedly been a little surprised when Mantis confessed a little while ago that she had romantic feelings for someone - socialization and cultural understanding were still difficult for her at times - but ever since then, he’d been trying his best to leave her be, allowing her to figure things out alone instead of attempting to insert himself into what was clearly an emotional situation for her.

“Those are two completely unrelated questions,” Mantis squeaked. “Nebula keeps telling me to use my powers on that person, but I do not find it very ethical. I am also too afraid of discovering the truth. How did you two do it?”

Peter and Gamora exchanged dubious glances before looking back at Mantis. “I don’t think we’re exactly sure, either,” Gamora confessed. “After all, we had quite a lot of misunderstandings and miscommunication. But I suppose it’s all in a day’s work for Peter,” she added teasingly.

“Hey!” he protested, though the wrinkle between his brows eased away when Gamora pecked him quickly on the cheek.

"I’m kidding,” she promised, though there was still a wink of mirth in her eyes. There was a sudden sound of crashing from up above, followed by Yondu hollering loud enough to rattle the ship. Sighing, Gamora set Groot back into Peter’s lap, getting to her feet. “I better intervene before they break something. I’d rather not spend our money on pointless repairs, after all. Mantis, maybe you and Peter could start planning for Halloween together in the meantime?”

“Sure,” Mantis smiled, turning towards her brother as Gamora left the room. “So, what exactly is this ‘trick-or-treat’?”

“Well, it’s a phrase you say when you go to someone’s door, usually,” Peter explained, gently bouncing Groot in his arms. “It doesn’t really mean anything, though people used to expect either a trick - a prank, or a treat - candy. It’s usually just for kids, and they’ll dress up in costumes, go in groups door-to-door. It’s mostly an excuse for free sugar.”

“Interesting,” Mantis said, her face lighting up at the sound of sugar. “It says on the invite that Janet has volunteers setting up booths and secret hidden places for students to get candy from. A mix of both a scavenger hunt and a campus-wide haunted house.”

Peter nearly jumped out of his seat in excitement, almost jostling Groot awake in the process. “Okay, that sounds freaking amazing, and we’re definitely doing that. I’m not even mad that there’s no dancing this time.”

“You almost fell over last year because you were sooo drunk,” Mantis reminded him. “You puked on Carol’s shoes.”

“Yeah, well, she’s mad at me for about a million other things, anyways, what’s vomit gonna do?” Peter shrugged sheepishly.

Once dinner was served, the ship was blessedly quiet for about two minutes before Groot gave up on the baby spoon the others had purchased for him, and instead began sticking his fingers in his mash. Gamora was itching to chastise him as she often had to do, but hesitated this time out of worry that the others were going to make fun of her again. She instead prodded Peter on the arm, hoping he would understand. He shot her a curious glance before realizing what she wanted.

“Groot, buddy, we got you that spoon for a reason,” Peter said gently, reaching to nudge Groot’s arms out of his bowl. “If you make a mess, I’m not reading Brown Bear to you tonight.” Groot let out a squeal of panic before picking up his spoon and vigorously digging into his food, shoveling it into his mouth a little faster than he needed to. “And slow down before you choke.” Gamora shot Peter a grateful smile before turning back to her own plate.

“So, did you reach a consensus on our holiday plans?” she asked, looking across the table at Mantis.

“Janet will be transforming the entire campus into what she is calling ‘Wasp’s Wicked Wonderland’. It is a mix of a festival, a scavenger hunt, and a haunted house,” Mantis recited. “I think it sounds very exciting. We have been so busy with school and missions lately, it would be nice to have some fun as a group.”

“It could not possibly be any worse than last year’s disaster,” Drax said, nodding in agreeance. “Remember when Quill - ”

“Oh, my god, why is it always me? Did we just collectively forget that Rocket drunkenly challenged Stark to a weapon build-off, which, by the way, not a thing, and also not a thing to do when you’re drunk, and then went around asking people if he could take their cellphones apart?” Peter exclaimed.

“And then got yelled at by both Potts and Hill at the same time? I still have my video recording of that on my phone, it was quite glorious,” Nebula smirked, leaning back in her chair a little.

“Well, I definitely won,” Rocket said, a little more defensively than he meant to, folding his arms. “It was like Stark wasn’t even trying.”

“That’s because he wasn’t, he was too busy hitting on me,” Gamora retorted, wrinkling her nose a little at the memory. Tony hadn’t meant any harm - to his credit, he had backed off the second she told him to go away - but it was so odd to think about it now, how different he had been, how different she had been. “So, are we in agreement? Would anyone like to not participate?” Her eyes immediately went to her sister, though to her surprise, Nebula didn’t say anything. She instead opted to push her vegetables around her plate slowly, staring into them intensely, as if she were willing them to tell her the right answer. “Neb?”

“Well, my other choice is to sit around on the ship alone, my favorite pastime,” Nebula mused aloud, stabbing at her peas more viciously than necessary. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Mantis pouting rather childishly in her direction. “But I suppose I can make an exception. Just this once. Otherwise, god knows you’ll bother me about it ‘til the end of my existence. Or yours.”

“That’s the spirit,” Peter said sarcastically. Gamora gave him a warning poke with the handle of her butter knife. “Yondu, how about you? You’ve been pretty quiet.”

“Sorry,” Yondu said immediately, and it was so unexpected that Peter didn’t even attempt to hide his stunned expression. “Kraglin was tellin’ me about how he’s strugglin’ out there, tryna get them other Ravager clans to help him build us up again, get some recruits. Ever since we lost a good chunk of his friends to the Black Order, it’s been...rough.”

“Has he considered - ” Gamora began, but Yondu cut her off, fierce.

“No,” he said adamantly. “He ain’t interested in being at this school. He’s damn good at what he does, especially now that he’s captain. He’s just been havin’ some difficulties, that’s all.” He glanced over to meet Peter’s sympathetic gaze. “And sure, Quill, I’ll be a part of this Halloween thing. But only ‘cause I’ll be pretty bored otherwise. And I’d like to get my mind off the whole Kraglin business.”

“Glad to hear someone else is as enthused as me,” Nebula said, setting her fork down. “Are we done with this discussion yet?”

“You got somewhere better to be?” Rocket countered.

“Away from you would be a good start,” Nebula sneered.

“Can we not do this tonight, guys?” Peter groaned, holding out his arms in precaution. Rocket tended to leap across the table to bite in the heat of his own anger. “I’m still not cool with how you were behaving earlier during the meeting, y’know.”

“Whatever you say, Dad,” Rocket snickered, grabbing his plate and heading into the kitchen. Nebula let out what sounded like an attempt to hold in her laughter - or maybe it was just a hiccup? - before she disappeared down the corridor, retreating to hide in her bedroom for the rest of the night as she always did.

Peter looked over at Gamora, perplexed. “Wow, okay, that does feel weirdly condescending.” She gave him a sympathetic shrug before standing to clear the table. ______

The weekend, for the most part, had the Guardians scattered across campus. As with all the students, the particularly grueling midterm season, paired with Halloween landing on a Tuesday, led to Director Fury making the generous decision to cancel classes for the entire week. He also suspected they had another alien invasion on the horizon, but that was another story.

Peter’s Saturday was spent at SHIELD with Rocket and Groot, evaluating the Chitauri weapons that even the highest-ranking SHIELD officials couldn’t figure out. Meanwhile, Gamora and Nebula managed to drag Drax and Mantis to the gym in hopes of doing a trial run for their future combat lessons. They had finally gone through all the mundane paperwork to get their fight clinic set up, and they decided it would be best to start fresh in January, at the start of the spring semester.

On Sunday, Peter found Yondu sulking in the Milano’s cockpit, where had also been hiding the previous day, and convinced him to join him on the loading bay so they could work on repairing the major issues that had come about as a result of their last mission. They had been working in companionable silence for about fifteen minutes before Peter couldn’t stay quiet any longer.

“If there’s anything I can do about Kraglin...or the Ravagers…” He trailed off, unsure of what else to say.

“They ain’t your responsibility, Quill, so don’t worry about it,” Yondu sighed. “I jus’ worry about them a little too much, that’s all.”

“It’s just...weird. I’ve never heard you apologize before,” Peter said half-jokingly. “I know I haven’t talked to Kraglin in a while, but he’s family, too. Tell him, if he needs anything from me, I’ll be there. Well, within reason. I’ve got my limits, y’know.”

“Don’t have to tell me,” Yondu snorted, poking at Peter with a wrench. “So...things are goin’ pretty good with your girl. Never seen you so smitten.”

“Aw, come on, are we really doin’ this right now?” Peter complained, yanking one of the damaged panels free. He let out a yelp when an electric spark flashed in front of his face. “You guys were the ones pushin’ so hard for us to be together so we’d stop being dumbasses and focus on other stuff, except now you won’t stop talking about it. Which one is it, Yondu?”

“Come on now, I already gave you all the speeches I got in me about love, boy. I jus’ thought it was interesting, seeing how diff’rent you are to how you were back before all this Guardians business,” Yondu commented, smirking. “You were quite the flirt when you were a young’n. Now, you’re a committed man. Ain’t nothing wrong with that. For what it’s worth, you’re a damn good pair.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Peter said, shooting Yondu a suspicious glance. He slid on his protective gloves and began poking around at the wires inside. He loved his ship inside and out, but sometimes, looking at her actual insides made him wonder how she managed to run at all. “Yeah, I guess I didn’t know what I was lookin’ for in a relationship so I never gave it an honest try. Then I met Gamora, and I realized it was a person and not a list of qualities, y’know? It was her I was looking for all along.”

“You two are sappy as hell,” Yondu chuckled with a shake of his head, passing Peter a pair of wire cutters. “And here, I thought, ‘Gamora, she’s a toughie, she don’t cry or laugh nearly as much as Quill. She ain’t the affectionate type’. But shit, I was wrong.”

“What type am I, then?” Both of them startled at the sound of Gamora’s voice, rotating slowly on their heels to see her standing right behind them, arms crossed. “Go on, Yondu, tell me.”

“I ain’t taking your bait, girl,” Yondu said, moving aside so she could join them. “But you keep Quill in check. God knows he needs it.”

“What is this, ‘pick-on-Peter’ week?” Peter bemoaned.

“More like your entire existence, I think,” Gamora teased, settling down and pulling the toolbox closer to her. “Anyways, the others have left for the day, and I figured you two could use the extra set of eyes and hands.”

“As long as you two don’t start slobberin’ on each other, I’m good,” Yondu shrugged. Peter and Gamora shot him scarily synchronized dirty looks before turning back to the task at hand.

A few hours later, Yondu left to grab them lunch, snarking about how he didn’t want to come back to any “funny business”, resulting in Peter flipping him the bird on the way out. “Hey, come on, none of that,” Gamora scolded, gripping his hands and pushing them back down into his lap, her fingers wrapping around his wrists. “The last thing we need to be doing when we have a week off school is antagonize each other.”

He hung his head, somewhat ashamed. “Yeah, yeah, I know, you’re right. It’s just, it’s been a good six, seven weeks since we got together, and they still won’t stop teasing us about it. It’s really freaking annoying.”

“I’m sure they don’t mean it negatively, you know how they are,” she replied. “Besides, just do what I do. Threaten to kill them if they don’t stop.”

He laughed, moving to pull her a little closer to his side. “Yeah, well. That’s your default for everything.”

“It’s worked so far,” she retorted playfully. “Though maybe I should try that whole ‘relaxed compliancy’ approach. Be nicer or something.”

“Hey, that wasn’t what I meant,” he frowned, squeezing her hand. “You’re awesome just as you are, Gamora. You’re a good leader and a good friend. And you are nice. Maybe not always in the traditional sense of the word, but you’re not the same ‘stab first, talk later’ person you were when we first met. Don’t go changing just to make us happy. Do it ‘cause, y’know, you want to.”

“Always with the compliments,” she smiled. “Thank you, Peter.”

“You two makin’ eyes at each other, of course,” Yondu grumbled as he made his way back up the steps of the loading bay, armed with take-out containers and plastic cutlery. “Dunno why I was expectin’ anything else.”

On Monday, the day before Halloween, Peter came to the sudden and rather idiotic realization that they had, in fact, never gotten around to discussing their costumes. “It’s the most important part, how the hell did I forget?” he exclaimed in the middle of a group study session. The other Guardians, who were sprawled across the Milano’s living space, with varying levels of concentration, all startled at the sound of his voice. Groot nearly tumbled off the armrest of the couch. “Costumes, guys! Costumes!”

“Well, it’s kind of too late,” Gamora pointed out. “It’s almost seven, and we won’t be able to head into the city in time before the stores close.”

“Then we do what I do best,” Peter grinned. “We improvise.”

Which was how the Guardians found themselves dragging out the contents of their closets into the living room and dumping it all out onto the couch, partially because they didn’t really feel like studying (though honestly, when did they ever), but mostly because placating Peter was the better choice over upsetting him. He had gotten really good at sulking.

“When I was a kid, I always had this dream about having enough friends to do a group costume,” Peter told the others excitedly as they all poked around through his rather impressive array of red leather jackets. “Like Peanuts, or The Breakfast Club, or Star Wars.”

“You have strange fantasies, Quill,” Drax commented, patting him on the back consolingly. “But we will indulge you.”

“Thanks, man,” Peter said, grinning easily. “Oh - we could totally do Star Wars.”

“Only you and Gamora have seen those movies, dude, so you’re gonna have to fill us in,” Rocket snarked, tossing a T-shirt at Peter’s head.

“I’m obviously Han,” Peter continued, ignoring Rocket’s beady-eyed glare. “Gamora’s Leia. I guess Groot would be a pretty good Chewbacca if he was bigger, but that’s okay, buddy, you can still be Chewie whatever size you are.” Groot blinked at him in confusion but smiled a little vacantly regardless. “Wait! Nebula! You’re totally Luke! You have the robot hand and everything!”

“Do you ever hear yourself speak, or is it just the sound of wind whistling between your ears?” Nebula drawled.

“I imagine it to be more like carnival music,” Drax suggested.

“Or crickets,” Rocket crowed delightedly. “Oh, I am liking this game!”

“If we’re done picking on Peter, can we move on and continue planning our costumes, or do I have to put in a recommendation for sensitivity training again?” Gamora snapped, patting him comfortingly on the shoulder. “Alternatively, I could also drag you all to the gym for a 6 AM combat session tomorrow.” She paused, turning to Mantis. “Except you, of course.” She shot a glare at the rest of the group. “I wasn’t aware one had to be an empath to have some tact.”

The others fell silent, exchanging guilty looks across the room. “Sorry, Quill,” Drax mumbled.

Sullen, Peter turned away from them, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “Listen, I know you guys are just making fun of me ‘cause it’s easy, but I’ve been leading this team for two years, and I’d like to think I’ve earned your respect by now.”

“And you have it, boy,” Yondu said fiercely. “You’re a damn fine leader. We’re just bein’ assholes, y’know.” The others nodded in agreement, but it seemed to be too late. Peter got to his feet, shrugging off Gamora as she tried to pull him back down.

“Think I’m done for the night,” he sighed. “I’ll see you guys in the morning. Happy freaking Halloween.” He turned and ambled off down the corridor, disappearing into his bedroom with a firm click of his door closing behind him.

“Great job, everyone.” Gamora stood as well, gathering both her and Peter’s clothes up in her arms. “Do you feel better about yourselves now? Was any of that necessary?”

She retreated to Peter’s bedroom (though really, it was their bedroom at this point), finding him to have already changed into his pajamas and crawled under the sheets like a small child, the Walkman sitting on the pillow, beside his head, the quiet strains of a REO Speedwagon song streaming through his headphones, which were currently situated around his neck.

Before Gamora could say anything, Peter spoke first in a near-whisper. “They’re just...the worst.”

“We really should properly punish them one of these days. Their condescending attitudes towards others, and us especially, is really getting on my nerves.” She set the clothes she was carrying aside, quickly changed into her own pajamas, and crawled in next to him. Threading her fingers through his hair, she smiled ruefully as he turned to bury his face in her neck. “Do you want to sleep now?”

“Nah, too early.” He rolled over onto his back, staring up at the ceiling restlessly. “Can you...can you just talk? Hey, tell me about what you did on Saturday, I never got around to asking you.”

“It wasn’t particularly interesting,” she said slowly. “Training...schoolwork...the usual.”

“I always like hearing about your day.” He removed the headphones, setting his Walkman aside, winding his fingers with hers between them on the pillow. “Did you beat Drax?”

“Of course I did. At least three times.” She grinned at the memory. “His surprised cry every single time he hits the mat is the soundtrack of my personal victory.”

He chuckled, ducking to kiss her shoulder. “That’s my girl.” They fell silent again, eyes locked, contemplating. “Listen, I don’t wanna deal with my crap tonight, I’m just...I’m tired. I wanna spend the rest of the night just hanging out with you. Okay?”

She nodded, sliding her hand underneath his jaw, her thumb tracing gentle circles along the stubble on his chin. “Alright. So, Mantis was telling me about this news article she found online while doing research for her paper on women in superheroism…” ______

The next morning, Gamora woke to find Peter wrapped rather tightly around her, unwilling to get out of bed and face their friends. The idea of celebrating Halloween together seemed to have crumbled apart, what with their increasing insensitivity as of late. “Why do you think that is?” Peter mused aloud. “Is it really just because of us being an...us?”

“Maybe, maybe not. Do we really want to delve into the depths of their minds? I’d rather not psychoanalyze anyone, especially before breakfast,” Gamora said, smirking slightly. “But we should make it clear that we won’t tolerate this any longer. There’s a difference between teasing and malice, and it’s time they learned their lesson.”

“I love it when you get vaguely threatening,” Peter said lowly, leaning in to kiss her.

“Oh, I’m not being vague about it at all,” she murmured against his mouth.

Before either of them could close the gap, however, there was a sharp knock on the door. “Breakfast is ready,” Mantis called, albeit a little timidly. “Could you please come out soon?”

A few minutes later, they emerged from the bedroom, fully dressed, only to find the others sitting neatly on the couch together, hands folded in their laps, except for Rocket and Groot, who were occupying the armchair with equally solemn posture. “Uh, are you guys staging an intervention or something? I’m weirded out,” Peter said, taking a cautious step back.

“We wanted to properly apologize to you,” Drax said gravely. “We have been quite unkind, more than usual as of late. My social blunders have become more and more apparent since we started living on Terra, but I did not realize they still had such a strong effect on you as well.”

“Yeah, we’re sorry about being huge dicks,” Rocket said, picking at his claws, eyes darting around nervously. Peter was getting the sense that Rocket had never really apologized before, never learned how. He might have never gotten attached to someone before the Guardians, someone that he would want to apologize to for hurting them. The guilt stirring in Rocket’s gut, the worry rattling around in his brain, was a foreign feeling to him. “I guess we just don’t know when to quit.”

“Like I said last night, Quill, we respect the hell outta you,” Yondu continued. “And you ain’t stupid, none of us really think that. You’ve got your quirks, but you’re smart. We wouldn’t let a dumbass be our leader, look up to him, believe in what he’s sayin’ and doin’.”

“Yeah, well, I just gotta know - why have you been even bigger jerks lately? Is it because of this?” Peter held up his and Gamora’s joined hands.

“We don’t see you as much.” He was surprised to see it was Rocket who had spoken, though he was still refusing to make eye contact. “We gotta get in all the jabs we can, keep the conversation goin’, even at your expense. Not like we get a lot of opportunities to talk anymore.”

“Then freaking say something about it instead of wasting your time belittling me,” Peter protested. “Be like, ‘hey, Peter, you wanna hang out?’. Not, ‘hey, Peter, you have a stupid face’!”

“It’s dumb of us, I know,” Yondu sighed. “But it worked when we was kids, too. You was always runnin’ around the ship, tryna talk to as many people as possible. You’d be there and gone in a flash. Best way to get you to stick around was to challenge you. But yeah, we pushed it too far this time. We’re sorry, boy.”

“I am too,” Nebula said quietly, never looking up from her lap. “You might be weird, but I suppose we...I...could be nicer.”

Sighing, Peter scratched at his temples. “Fine. Apology accepted. Just, tone it down, okay?”

“I think we have established that everyone here is terrible at talking to each other,” Mantis piped up, though not unkindly. “I feel...so much from all of you, all of the time, that I sometimes wish I could turn my brain off when I am here with you. But I do not want to say anything, since I know feelings are meant to be private. However, perhaps in the future, I should speak out of things get this bad ever again. Intervene, if you are all hurting each other in this way.”

“That would be great, Mantis,” Gamora nodded. “Are we all on the same page now?”

Peter turned into Gamora, gently clasping her wrist. “Hey, what about you?”

“What about me?” Now it was her turn to avoid his eyes.

“You deserve an apology too,” he said. It saddened him to see her thinking otherwise. “C’mon, Gamora.”

“Apologize for what?” Yondu called, though he looked apprehensive about asking at all. The two of them turned to the rest of the group, who looked afraid at the prospect of what they had done to Gamora. The last time she had gotten incredibly angry was when they returned from their trip to Missouri, and she had yelled at Yondu for attempting to steal the team’s hard-earned money until her voice had given out.

“The ‘mother’ comparisons are, admittedly, starting to get to me,” Gamora confessed, though she kept her head held high as she spoke. “I’ll accept the title in relation to Groot - his own referral to me as his mom makes sense, given the way I take care of him. But your attitudes towards my desire to keep this team running like a well-oiled machine are condescending and unhelpful, and I won’t stand for it any longer. Peter is the face of this team, and he may call our tactics and battle strategies, and he's vital to our success, but we all know that I make the majority of the so-called ‘boring’ decisions here - money and inventory, legalities, planning, organization. And I have no tolerance for your belittlement of my job, my role in your lives, or mothers themselves. So stop. Don’t make me demand your respect. I should already have it.”

Peter held back the urge to applaud - Gamora would probably backhand him on the spot for it - and instead elected to smile a little to himself in pride as the others balked in surprise. She shouted quite often, especially in battle - hollering about their stupidity or rash behavior, or some combination of the two, perhaps calling out warnings or orders, that sort of thing. But hearing her speak dangerously low, her voice dropping a full octave or so, was frankly when she was at her scariest, and he kind of loved witnessing it, providing it wasn’t directed at him.

Multiple apologies immediately began spilling from the others’ lips, their voices getting increasingly louder as they attempted to talk over each other, promising Gamora that they did, indeed, love and respect her. Even Nebula begrudgingly admitted that the team wouldn’t last a day without her sister’s meticulous, disciplined nature.

“ - we do respect you, Gam, we just - ”

“ - as I have said on multiple occasions, you are the fiercest warrior I have ever had the honor of knowing, and fighting alongside you is perhaps one of the greatest things I have gotten to do - ”

“ - you’re always yelling at us, except Quill, you just kind of flirt-fight with him now - ”

“ - c’mon, girl, you know you’re my favorite after Quill, even if you do get mad at me pretty much every single day - ”

“ - is it a foreplay thing? Wait, no, forget I asked - ”

“ - we would be lost with you, Gamora, and we appreciate everything you do for us, I promise - ”

“ - couldn’t think of a better person to be in charge, and take it from a guy who had to handle dozens o’ nasty Ravagers - ”

“ - I think I gotta drink some bourbon - hell, maybe motor oil - to get those images outta my head, geez - ”

“Okay, okay, I got it,” Gamora exclaimed, trying her hardest not to laugh at the sight of her teammates literally starting to climb over each other in desperation to gain her forgiveness.

“I think this calls for a group hug,” Mantis sing-songed, once the squabbling had finally died down. Nebula blanched a little at the suggestion.

Peter was the first to dive in, yanking everyone into his arms. It was a little difficult, attempting a group hug with people of varying heights (and varying levels of enthusiasm), what with Groot standing on Rocket’s head and accidentally squishing one of his ears in the process, and Nebula getting sandwiched between Drax and Yondu, much to her displeasure. They managed to hold the hug for a solid ten seconds before someone stood on someone else’s foot, and it delved into another chaotic mess of accusatory yelling.

“Well, it was nice while it lasted,” Peter sighed as he stepped back, watching as Mantis dove in between Nebula and Rocket before they could draw their weapons. “Hey, guys? Halloween? Are we still doing that, because we’ve got like...eight hours before it starts, and we have zero costumes.”

Gamora turned to examine the pile of clothes still strewn across the coffee table from the previous night, considering. “If it’s not too late, I think we can wrangle something together.” ______

“You are very lucky we are the same size,” Mantis said cheerily, stepping back to admire her handiwork.

“I regret agreeing to this.” Nebula slapped her hands away as she moved to smooth down her front. She was a little uneasy about Mantis touching her in any capacity, and not just because of her powers.

“Oh, don’t be a spoilsport, Neb.” Gamora was doing a poor job of concealing her giggles at the sight of her sister’s attire. “We’re all a little out of our comfort zone here, and it’s the best we can do on such short notice.”

“You’re wearing your boyfriend’s clothes, I wouldn’t call that a hardship,” Nebula growled in disdain, though she allowed Gamora and Mantis to push her towards the mirror. “This might be the worst thing you’ve ever made me do, and that’s saying something.”

“You girls ready?” Peter called through Gamora’s bedroom door. Grinning, Mantis grabbed Gamora and Nebula’s hands, practically yanking them out into the corridor in her eagerness to join the rest of their team. She immediately burst into hysterical laughter at the sight of the others.

Once the Guardians had realized they lacked clothes outside of their comfort zones - lots of leather, consisting of a mostly black and red color palette - the only ‘real’ costumes they could possibly accomplish was by doing a clothing swap. Peter looked the most normal among the guys, wearing his tightest black pleather pants, a tight white T-shirt with a black leather vest, and a shorter version of his red duster jacket, to emanate Gamora’s usual wardrobe. However, he was also sporting her utility belt and thigh holster, complete with the Godslayer by his side (“You don’t know how to wield my sword properly, Peter, so don’t you dare unsheath it from your belt.” “Was that a euphemism for something?”).

Drax and Yondu had exchanged clothes, resulting in Drax wearing Yondu’s leather waistcoat and his most dramatic floor-sweeping coat, which also boasted a rather enormously fluffy faux fur collar. Yondu had grumbled about not wanting to around shirtless - “now, the ladies may love the idea, but it’s damn cold out there and I ain’t looking to lose the hair off my chest!” “Ew, Yondu. Just, stop.” - so he was wearing one of the very few T-shirts Drax owned, along with baggy cargo pants, hefty steel-toed boots, and Drax’s dual knives.

Lastly, Groot and Rocket were the only ones left, being the most difficult to swap with in the first place. Instead, they elected to have Groot wear the uniform he had been gifted by the Ravager tailor during their last encounter with them, and then proceeded to sprout little white flowers and weave them into Rocket’s fur. “I am Groot,” he cheered when he was done, satisfied with his work.

“I do look pretty, don’t I?” The others had never seen Rocket preen so much before. It was a little unusual.

“My jacket looks so big on you, honey,” Peter murmured, his eyes glazing over a little in lust as he reached to settle his large hands on Gamora’s waist. She was also wearing his grey “Gear Shift” shirt, which fell to mid-thigh on her, over a pair of cargo pants. “Did you accessorize?” In lieu of answering, Gamora pressed the small button behind her ear to activate Peter’s collapsible helmet. He beamed as he watched it near-instantly assemble over her face, the large eyes washing him in red light as they glowed. “Damn. You look amazing.”

She deactivated it once more, patting him on the chest in thanks before turning to the others. “Are we ready to go?”

“I am Groot!” Groot shrieked excitedly, bouncing up and down on Rocket’s shoulders, much to the latter’s discomfort.

“Relax, kid, we ain’t even out the door yet.” ______

When they finally stepped out of the ship and left the landing bay ten minutes later (Drax had to go to the bathroom, Mantis had forgotten to give Nebula her gloves, and other mishaps that had become typical of any Guardians outing), the team couldn’t help but gasp in wonderment at their surroundings.

As always, Janet had outdone herself with decorating every last square inch of the campus, transforming it into the ‘wicked wonderland’ she had envisioned. Red string lights and spiderwebs dripped from the branches of every tree, casting an ominous crimson glow over everything beneath them. The pathways were lined with fake gravestones, each stenciled with a different student’s name and a darkly humorous cause of death (“Hey, there’s mine! ‘Accidentally danced right off the edge of a cliff’. Yeah, that sounds about right.”), along with the occasional pile of bones. There were statues and props of zombies, werewolves, vampires, witches, and other mythical creatures littered across the lawn, all smeared with fake blood. Police caution tape was draped over bushes, wound around doorknobs, and scattered across the ground in bits and pieces like confetti. With Tony’s help, Janet had also rigged windows and doors on many of the campus’s main buildings to suddenly open and slam shut, complete with flashing lights and shrieking sounds. Lastly, there was music playing through the speakers that hung from every lamppost, resulting in Peter bobbing his head enthusiastically to Monster Mash.

“This is so cool!” Mantis shrieked. “I have never seen anything like this before.”

“And the night has only just begun,” Peter said dramatically, holding out his arm for Mantis to take. Grinning, she looped her arm in his as he offered his other elbow to Gamora. She shook her head fondly before accepting it as well, and the three of them began leading the way.

Not even two full minutes had passed before Drax spoke once more, unusually shy. “Quill? Gamora? I have another few things I would like to tell you two, if you don’t mind.”

“What is it, Drax?” Gamora turned to look over her shoulder at him, then quickly regretted it. It was hard to take him seriously with Yondu’s ridiculous fluffy collar practically swallowing his entire neck.

“I realize that the majority of my social errors are a result of my tendency to be terribly blunt, thus making everyone feel as if I do not appreciate them or see them as equals. But I would like you to know that isn’t true,” he said earnestly. “You are both very good leaders, and good friends. I do not mean to undermine you in my honesty, but only to help you understand your flaws in order to better yourselves. But I see now that it is not a productive way of helping, and in fact, only furthers your anger. So, I shall endeavor to be less honest, and lie to make you feel better.”

“I don’t think that’s the exact takeaway you should be having here,” Peter said slowly. “But thanks, I guess.”

“Drax, Peter once told me that I should only change for myself, and not just to make other people happy,” Gamora said gently. “Perhaps that advice would suit you as well. And maybe, just...clarify your intentions the next time you tell Peter he’s pathetic.”

“Or, y’know, don’t call me pathetic,” Peter added. “That’d be cool with me, too.”

Drax brightened a little. “Thank you, Gamora. That does sound like the wiser path to follow.”

“Why’re we bein’ so sappy, we’re s’posed to be looking for candy,” Rocket complained. Groot, who was perched on his shoulder as always, nodded adamantly in agreement. “Though...I guess while we’re at it...I can’t imagine the team without you two, either. So I’ll try to tone down the dickishness. And for what it’s worth, I’m happy you guys are together. It was freaking miserable, watchin’ you two tryna pretend you weren’t crazy into each other. Took up a lot of our time.”

“The amount o’ times I had to kick your ass a little, get things goin’? That wasn’t so fun,” Yondu added. “We just...we miss ya both.”

“We’ll try our best to hang out with you guys more,” Peter promised. “Outside of missions and classes, that is.”

“This ‘trick-or-treating’ is a very good start,” Mantis said, squeezing Peter’s arm. “I do not think we have talked for this long without yelling at each other in a long time.”

“Nice change of pace,” Gamora agreed. She turned to look at her sister, who was skulking around at the back of their group, dragging her feet like a child being forced to see the dentist. “Don’t you think, Nebula?”

“Always so sentimental,” Nebula retorted, though there was a hint of a smile in her voice. “As I’ve said before, Quill really is rubbing off on you.”

“I would not like to picture Quill rubbing off against anyone or anything,” Drax said disgustedly.

“I am Groot?”

“For the last time, dude, I’m not explaining any of this until you’re older,” Rocket said, reaching to pat Groot on the knee.

They approached their first real destination soon after, the training center designed specifically for weaponry practice and obstacle courses. Like many of the other buildings across campus, it was drenched in red string lights, caution tape, and spider webs, with bloody handprints in the windows as they swung wildly open and shut.

“There has to be something in there,” Peter reasoned. “You guys ready?”

“Always,” Gamora said with a dangerous smirk.

Upon entering, they found it to be pitch black, only managing to navigate its darkened hallways by familiarity. Eventually, they reached the main shooting range, where all the weapons had been stowed and locked away as they always were. The training dummies, however, were mummified in toilet paper and covered in plastic spiders. “I am Groot,” Groot said, pointing.

“You’re right,” Rocket said, prodding one of the training dummies. “This one’s a little lumpier than I remembered. Someone gimme their pocket knife.” Groot let out a triumphant squeal as candy cascaded from the cut Rocket had made, spilling out onto the floor. “Good eye, Groot.”

The Guardians each took a generous handful, scooping it into their bags, before moving on to the obstacle course gyms. They were dimly lit, the sounds of their heavy boots echoing and bouncing off the equipment. “Split up into pairs?” Gamora suggested. “Go with your costume partner.”

Rocket and Groot immediately took off with an excited whoop, while Drax and Yondu shrugged at each other before disappearing. Mantis and Nebula, on the other hand, hesitated until Gamora shot Nebula another warning look. They slinked off sheepishly, vanishing into the darkness, before Peter and Gamora were finally ready to head out themselves.

The obstacle course wasn’t overly large - it was approximately the size of a regulation-sized basketball court - but with the walls of varying heights, ladders and ropes, and other apparatuses, it was something of a maze, especially when it was this dark. “I’m really glad we did this,” Peter whispered as he pulled a mini flashlight from Gamora’s utility belt. “This is super cool.”

“Can always count on Janet to go overboard,” Gamora whispered back, pointing at the greenish slime dripping all over the place. “I do hope for the janitors’ sakes that she paid them extra this week.”

They ran into other students on occasion - there was an awkward moment in which they came across Peter Parker attempting to do the upside-down kiss with Mary Jane, only to get his foot caught in the rope and beg her to stop laughing and help him get down - before finally finding a large potato sack full of candy underneath one of the climbing walls. Gamora used the comms on Peter’s helmet to privately call the other Guardians to join them.

“Oh, Twizzlers,” Mantis said happily. “This might be the best night of my life!”

The Guardians then moved on to the main gym, where skeletons had been set up at all the equipment - Drax had let out a laugh of delight at the sight of one particular skeleton at the rowing machine, posed halfway through a set (“The joke is that the skeleton has no muscles! He could not possibly row as much weight as I can!”). To their surprise, Nebula was the one who found the candy this time, hidden inside one of the empty lockers in an unassuming backpack. Peter and Gamora exchanged knowing looks as they watched her pass a packet of Nibs to Mantis almost immediately.

The science lab was dripping with some suspicious-looking plasma oozing from the ceiling, filling all of the beakers and test tubes that had been carefully placed on the lab benches. Somewhat disgusted, they all dug through the gooey substance with their bare hands, until Gamora managed to unearth a Ziploc bag from the emergency eyewash station. “And here, I thought Rand was getting more creative with where he was stashing his...recreational items.”

The lecture hall was where it got a little comical, watching dozens of students running up and down the stairs, half-crouching, half-crawling as they checked under the tables and bumping foreheads in the process. Nebula accidentally stepped on Jessica Jones’s foot, and both she and Jessica had to be physically hauled away by their respective sisters before it got nasty. “I wasn’t going to hurt her,” Nebula said a little too quickly.

“You know I never believe you when it comes to physical harm, right?” Gamora dug her fingers into Nebula’s arm. “You can’t lie to me, Nebula.”

The library was the most like a scavenger hunt of all the buildings the Guardians had visited so far - there was a book placed at the very front, open to a specific page, with certain words highlighted that spelled out the title of the next book they had to look for. They then had to locate that book, find another highlighted set of words inside, and so on. It was utter chaos, making the lecture halls look like a walk in the park, with students yelling to each other across the usually quiet library. Thor in particular was lecturing Loki for running around with a highlighter in an attempt to throw everyone off.

Eventually, Peter grew bored and stumbled off into his favorite section - the plush leather couches that he liked to nap on when the one on the Milano felt a little too rough for his liking - and threw himself down, only to be shocked by the sudden explosion of candy popping up from between the cushions. Gamora, who had been hunting him down, ran in after his startled shout, only to laugh at the sight of her boyfriend, buried beneath a mountain of Hubba Bubba. “Hey, honey. How do I look?”

“Majestic,” she replied, taking out her phone to snap a photo.

Three hours had passed before energy levels were beginning to dip, for some more than the others. As much as he didn’t like to admit it, Rocket was at a disadvantage, having the shortest legs, and was beginning to grow sore. He passed Groot to Gamora in an effort to make the walk easier for him. Groot immediately snuggled into her curls, cooing happily at being close to her.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” she asked him, reaching up to gently tap his cheek with her pinky finger. “I hope you aren’t too tired yet.”

“I am Groot,” he replied, nodding enthusiastically. “I am Groot?”

“Same here, though I can’t say I’ll be eating most, if any, of this candy,” she said, holding up her bag for him to see. “I have to keep my body running as efficiently as possible, after all. This much sugar would destroy my cholesterol.”

“I am Groot?” he chirruped, confused.

Gamora blinked. “I...I did understand you just now, didn’t I?” She used her free hand to cup his entire body, bringing Groot around to face her. “Well, I suppose we’ve spent enough time together. It would make sense that it would happen eventually.”

Peter, who had been chatting with Mantis a few feet behind them, jogged up to join in. “Hey, what’s going on?”

“I’m finally starting to understand Groot, I think,” Gamora said, smiling up at him. “Not just in the obvious way, like when he points at things, but...actual conversation.”

“That’s awesome!” Peter exclaimed, reaching to nudge Groot under his chin. “I bet you’ll be really happy when all of us can understand you, huh, buddy? It must suck, not being able to really talk with everyone yet.”

Groot shrugged, unbothered. It was nothing new to him, being understood by a handful of people at a time. He had learned how to communicate just fine without words. “I am Groot,” he replied. He reached for Peter, yawning as he did, nuzzling into his shoulder, eyes slowly drifting closed.

“Looks like he’s almost ready for bed,” Peter said softly as he slung his other arm over Gamora’s shoulders. “It’s kinda too early to call it a night, though. We’ve still got a few hours to go. What should we do?”

“We could rest for a bit, let everyone rest their feet before we head out again,” Gamora suggested. “In fact...Nebula and I have a sort-of hiding spot that we haven’t told anyone else about...until now.”

“Then lead the way,” Peter grinned. ______

All through the night...I'll be awake and I'll be with you…

“So,” Peter panted ten minutes later as he climbed the last set of stairs, a white-knuckled grip on the railing. “This is how you get to the top of Avengers Hall.”

“Technically, we most definitely aren’t supposed to be up here,” Gamora shrugged rather impishly. “But the Director’s seen us here before, and he doesn’t seem to care.”

“Gotta admit, this is a pretty nice view.” Yondu stepped out towards the edge, hands on his hips, as he gazed out over the campus. Despite the growing chill of the autumn evening, it looked incredibly warm, what with everything being bathed in an almost violently crimson light. “You never seen any other students up here?”

“The occasional classmate or two - Bobbi, Natasha, Elektra, the sort. But otherwise, no one as frequent as Nebula and I,” Gamora replied. She was the first to sit, slinging her elbows up over the middle railing as she had become so accustomed to doing.

Nebula slid in neatly on her right side, the leathers of Mantis’s outfits squeaking a little as she did. Peter settled on Gamora’s left, cradling a snoring baby Groot, still slightly out of breath from the incline of the stairway. “Don’t you get any exercise, what with my sister bossing you around?” Nebula said, the corner of her mouth quirking.

“Still used to jet boots and aero-rigs getting me around, thank you very much,” Peter pouted. Mantis and Drax sat on Peter’s left, while Yondu and Rocket were on Nebula’s right, squishing in close despite there being plenty of room. Nebula shot Yondu a dirty look, but couldn’t be bothered to threaten him any further. “So, better than last year’s Halloween?”

“Ask us when the night’s over, man,” Rocket snorted. “I’ll answer ya when I count up my candy stash.”

“Fair enough,” Peter nodded, smiling when Mantis moved to rest her head on his shoulder affectionately, careful not to jostle Groot. “How about you, Mantis? Enjoying yourself?”

“Very much so,” she said dreamily. Her antennae lit up, slowly arching forward as her eyes slid closed, deep in thought. “Wow. I think this is the happiest everyone has felt simultaneously in perhaps...ever.”

All through the night...this precious time when time is new...

“Really? That’s weird,” Rocket said, wrinkling his nose in confusion. “Woulda thought some of you’d be happier doing somethin’ else. Nebula, for example, being literally anywhere but here.”

“The rodent speaks the truth,” Nebula hummed.

Mantis shook her head, still grinning. “Do you not trust that I know what I’m talking about? We are all very happy.”

“What if you were to rank us from least happy to happiest, relative to each other?” Drax asked.

“Dude, does it matter?” Peter chuckled.

“It was just a question,” Drax said defensively. “I was curious about how specific Mantis could be.”

“I suppose it’s not the worst inquiry Drax has ever had,” Gamora whispered to Peter, causing him to giggle childishly into his hand. At the sound of Peter’s laughter, Groot stirred slowly, lifting his head up drowsily to look out at his surroundings.

“I am Groot?” he asked, pushing himself up into a sitting position on Peter’s shoulder.

“We’re on the roof of Avengers Hall,” Gamora answered. “Everyone’s getting a little tired, so we’re taking a break before heading out again.”

“Since when do you understand him so perfectly?” Rocket exclaimed, his ears flattening in suspicion.

“Since about fifteen minutes ago,” Gamora shot back. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“Guys, can we kill the animosity for like, ten minutes? Mantis just said we were doing pretty good,” Peter groaned, as Groot hopped from his shoulder to Gamora’s.

“I guess it’ll be good for the kid to finally have someone else to talk to for once,” Rocket admitted begrudgingly.

“I am Groot,” Groot said feebly, patting Gamora gingerly on the neck.

“You’ve been bothering us about this all weekend, and you want to go back already?” she asked, giving him a teasingly stern expression in response. “Someone didn’t take their afternoon nap after all.”

“We are not finished yet,” Mantis said, her lip wobbling. “Do we really have to go home now?”

“Gamora and I can take Groot back, tuck ‘im in. We’ll catch up with you guys later,” Peter offered.

“Oh, great, we know where this is going,” Rocket snickered, holding up a paw for a high five from Yondu.

“Dude, not what I meant. See you guys in half an hour, okay?” With that, he and Gamora stood, Groot in tow on Gamora’s shoulder, lazily twisted into the loose curls of her hair, yawning profusely. When Peter glanced over his shoulder to wave at the group, he couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Mantis and Nebula looking awkwardly at the sudden gap between them, shuffling closer, attempting to appear reluctant at having to do so.

Oh, all through the night today...knowing that we feel the same without saying...

“What is it?” Gamora asked once they were in the stairway. At Peter’s innocent “I-don’t-know-what-you’re-talking-about” expression, her eyes narrowed in frustration. “Come on, Peter, you can’t lie to me. You’re making a face.”

“I can’t be the only one super suspicious about our sisters hanging out together, right?” Once they reached the bottom of the stairway and walked out into the crisp evening air, Peter reached out to take Gamora’s hand. “I mean, think about it.”

“Mantis has told us both several times it’s not Nebula she has feelings for,” Gamora reminded him. “Would she lie to us?”

“You say that like it’s impossible,” he laughed. “But oh, man, could you imagine?”

“Considering Nebula has zero experience in romantic feelings - and I’m quite confident in saying that - this could only end poorly for Mantis,” she frowned, suddenly saddened on the other girl’s behalf. It was easy to think Mantis had control of her emotions, being an empath, but in reality, she had a difficult time understanding and processing her own feelings. If what Peter was saying was true, it was no wonder she was scared to delve into Nebula’s mind and see if there was any hint of reciprocity - she probably knew it was a lost cause, and didn’t want to disappoint herself. “It would make sense, though, considering how secretive she’s become lately.”

“I am Groot,” Groot mumbled into her shoulder.

“Mantis tells you things?” Gamora’s frown deepened. “We really should have a discussion about upending all our secrets onto you, Groot. This can only become a problem later on when we all know what you’re saying.”

“We should help them out,” Peter offered. “Mantis, at least. They’ve been complaining about us spending so much time without them lately, we should really do something nice. Start with our sisters.”

“I suppose,” she said, inhaling deeply. “If Nebula commits to being less confrontational, that is. She’s like a feral cat or a spooked kitten, with no in between. I doubt she’s emotionally ready for that sort of thing herself.” Looking away from Peter’s soft gaze, she murmured, “I didn’t think I would be, either.”

“Well, I’m not gonna pretend to understand Nebula the way you do,” he said thoughtfully. “But I think you’ve both come a long way already. Who knows, maybe she wants to give it a try, too. This could all totally be just speculation, though. Maybe I’m overthinking it.”

“That would be a first,” Gamora teased, standing a little on her toes to kiss him. She paused midway, her brow furrowing in sudden worry. “Wait - ”

“It’s okay,” Peter said, squeezing her hand. “You can make fun of me all you want, if that’s what you were thinkin’ about. I know you don’t mean it, either.”

“Still,” she said reluctantly, pecking him quickly on the corner of his mouth. “If our relationship isn’t built on trust and respect, then what is it worth?”

“Agreed, which is why I’m glad we’ve got that covered already,” he smiled, chasing after her lips for a proper kiss. “We’ve always got each other’s backs, a little banter ain’t gonna hurt. Come on, let’s get Groot to bed before he tells some exaggerated story to the others about how we made out in front of him.”

When they reached the Milano, Peter moved to open the door of the bedroom Rocket and Groot shared, only to hear the little one whining like a puppy, flailing his arms around on Gamora’s shoulder. “You can’t just change your mind like that, Groot,” she scolded.

“I am Groot,” he protested, pointing instead at Peter’s door. “I am Groot?”

“He wants to sleep in your room,” Gamora said, astonished. “Why - ”

“Our room,” Peter corrected, sighing. “Well, we could let him for just this one night. If we put this off any longer, the others are gonna wonder where we are.”

“I am Groot?”

“No stories, you said you were tired, remember?” Gamora poked his cheek as Peter moved to open the door and let them inside. Groot almost immediately leaped from Gamora’s shoulder onto the pillow with an excitable squeal, burrowing himself a little deeper, his large dark eyes gazing up at them both imploringly.

“What does he want now?” Peter lifted up one of the corners of the duvet and slowly lowered it down over Groot’s body.

“I am Groot,” he pleaded, using his little fingers to quite literally wrap themselves around Peter’s thumb.

“He wants us to stay until he falls asleep.” Gamora began unlacing her boots. “Well, the alternative is we leave now and he throws a fit, and I’d rather not spoil my good mood. You joining me?”

“You’re lucky you’re cute,” Peter told Groot with a chuckle, shucking his jacket and his shoes. The two of them crawled in on top of the covers, careful not to dwarf him, their noses nearly brushing his cheeks. Very slowly, Groot’s eyes fluttered closed as he yawned, mumbling nonsensical sounds under his breath. “Man, he’s adorable.”

“Arguably cuter than the Terran babies I’ve seen,” Gamora whispered, smiling. “Easier to bathe, too. Less surface area.”

Peter tried his best not to snort, though he was failing miserably. “We’re doing an okay job, right? Taking care of him?”

“I wouldn’t know what good parenting looks like,” she admitted. “But I’d like to think he would’ve complained by now.”

“I...am...Groot,” Groot mumbled sleepily, rolling over to bury himself into the soft down of the pillow. Gamora let out an oddly choked sound. Alarmed, Peter reached to touch her arm.

“Hey, you okay?”

“Groot said he loves us,” she breathed. Her eyes were glossy with unshed tears, fingers trembling as she slowly ran her thumb over Groot’s cheek.

Smiling, Peter leaned forward to press a gentle kiss on Groot’s forehead. “We love you too, buddy. And we’re here for you, always.” ______

“ - I told you this was gonna happen - ”

“ - I thought they were just gonna get up to some nookie-nookie - ”

“ - well, be glad they didn’t, now that we know Groot’s in here - ”

“ - please, we should leave them alone, we are all very tired anyways and we should go to bed - ”

“ - stop using your powers on us, girl, we don’t need you analytical-ing us - ”

“ - that is not a word, Yondu, and I meant the fact we have all been yawning the whole way back to the ship - ”

“ - will you all shut up already before they wake up and eviscerate us? Why are we standing around like a bunch of morons? - ”

“ - at least take me one photograph for posterity’s sake, I imagine this will be pleasing for them to look at - ”

“ - just do it quickly, and don’t take a million years to take one photo like you always do, Drax, it’s the worst - ”

“ - I’ll have you know my photography skills are quite adequate, thank you - ”

“Do you think they know we’ve been awake for the past two minutes?” Peter mumbled.

“Two more minutes, and I might have to revisit the idea of that 6 AM training session after all,” Gamora sighed, though she couldn’t help but smile a little to herself. This was more like it. These were the people she knew and tolerated. Okay, loved. The people she loved.

a/n: kinda wish i managed to get the star wars costumes in there since i've been thinking about that comparison for a while now, but i couldn't figure out what exactly to do with the others, so clothing swap it is. also, the "peter and gamora get no respect" plotline was originally going to be in the next fic, but i kind of want that one to be complete and utter fluff, so it ended up back here instead. i figured they could use another perspective from the co-dependent discussion they had in you make my dreams!

two new songs in peter's "for gamora" mixtape - the song playing while the guardians were on the rooftop was all through the night by cyndi lauper, and i imagine the song he was listening to while he was sulking was can't fight this feeling by reo speedwagon, mostly because that's my favorite reo speedwagon song haha

thanks for reading! likes and reblogs would be much appreciated, and feedback would be especially helpful. Also, i now have a WIP page that i'll be updating pretty regularly as i write, so in case you're wondering when the next one-shot is, i suggest you sneak a peek over there ;)

#starmora #peter x gamora #peter quill #gamora #groot #myfic #myfic: 20q #marvel #hell if i know what tags to use haha #anyways happy halloween fam!!#hope y'all have a good one

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dayawantstosleep · 5 years ago

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Burning Love- Witch AU Part 4

by dayawantstosleep July 28 2019

Part 4

Genre/Warnings: Mild Swearing

Word Count: 1,409

Pairing: Yoongi/Reader

Summary: I really probably shouldn’t have let Yoongi get drunk. And I shouldn’t have drunk the next day.

Yoongi woke up with a headache. He tried tugging on his blanket, but couldn’t find it. He wasn’t in his room, he was on the couch, with the clothes he had last night on. What he hell happened? Why wasn’t he in his bed? He put his shoes on and walked to the fridge. He vaguely remembered last night.

Ana and him were watching a movie, then Jimin came and he left with him to a party. He came to his shared apartment with Ana…and then what?

He drew a blank. He was gonna have to speak to Ana about is. His feet led him to her room and he knocked on her door.

“Who is it?” The voice of his roommate said.

“Your roommate.” The other side of the door was silent, until the door opened. The pain on his head persisted, making him clutch his head.

“Do you know what happened last night?” It was fast, but Ana’s eyes widen. It was a blink-or-you’ll-miss-it kind of moment.

“Yeah.” She crossed her arms and Yoongi prayed to God he didn't do anything stupid.

“We were watching a movie marathon, then Jimin picked you up for a guy’s day out. A few hours later, he dropped you off here, but you were completely wasted. Him and I talked and then he left. You hugged me and then passed out on the couch.” He furrowed his eyebrows. He vaguely remembered her on the couch with him.

“That’s it?” The brunette nodded and crossed her arms.

“I gotta get ready for my date. Bye now.” She closed the door in front of him. He let out a sigh and he instantly knew something was off. Something happened between them. Why else would she look so reserved? He’s been her roommate long enough for him to know that she always helped him out with his hangovers. But, she didn’t help him this time. He knocked on the door again.

“What do you want?” He heard Ana.

“You’re going on a date? With who?” The door opened a couple of seconds later. A red dress and black heels replaced her blue and pink pajamas.

“Jungkook.”

“WHAT???!!!” She frowned and glared at him.

“I thought you’d get over him by now. I mean, you caught him making out with Jimin. He’s a snake.”

“He’s one of you’re best friends Yoongi, how can you say that?”

“He hurt you. I knew how much he means to you and he hurt you. I swear if he hurts you again, I’ll kick his ass to Russia.” Her unwavering expression told him she was still mad. I guess, she forgave him.

“Thanks for you’re concern Yoongi. Jungkook and I talked when you passed out on the couch. He said Jimin kissed him and I didn’t believe him at first, but then…” The dreamy look on her face made him want to puke.

“Then he kissed me. Drunkly, I admit, but I could tell it was passionate. I’ll give him just one chance. If he blows it, I’ll forget about him. I’ll be fine Yoongi. Thanks for being my friend.” Friend? He felt the world around him crumble. Like that one time Namjoon broke the floor in their Blood Sweat and Tears shoot. He swallowed his pride and gave her a fake smile.

“No problem. Have fun.” He turned around and walked towards the couch. He should be happy for her, she finally had his attention. But, he wasn’t. His thoughts got interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Yoongi!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll get it.” He opened the door to be greeted by Jungkook. He looked flawless, as always in his suit and tie. A flower was on his a hands, which made Yoongi feel jealous. No doubt that flower was for Ana.

“Hello, Yoongi hyung.”

“Hello.” He turned towards the hallway.

“Ana! Jungkook’s here!”

“I’m coming!” Ana yelled back. He sighed and turned to Jungkook. He prepared his best death glare.

“I’ll say this once; if you hurt her, I will hurt you. I don’t care if its cliche AF, it’s happening, understood?” His expression was unwavering even as Jungkook nodded furiously. He heard

Ana’s footsteps and turned to her.

“Are you ready? You look beautiful.” Jungkook smiled at her. Yoongi wanted to wipe that smirk off him.

“I am, yes. We’ll see you later Yoongi.”

“Bye.” He smiled as both of them left him alone.

---

I opened the door to the apartment and almost tripped. I felt like I was floating. The only way I knew I wasn't was Jungkooks arms around my waist. The white walls of my apartment felt like they were grey.

“I think it was a bad idea to go out drinking.” I smiled at Jungkook.

"Since when do we have grey walls? Did Yoongi paint today?"

"The walls are white, Ana. Do you want me to help you sober up?" His face was laced with concern.

“Don’t worry. Yoongi will take care of me.”

“Yeah, alright.” Jungkook narrowed his eyes at me.

“What? Do I have something on my face?”

“No. It’s just that…Do you like me?”

“What? Of course I do. You’re my friend.”

“No. I mean, romantically?”

“I did. But, you’re with Jimn and I don’t want to ruin that.” He nodded in acknowledgment and pursed his lips.

“I see. Yoongi, there you are. I gotta go. Jimin’s waiting for me at the dorm.” He turned around and walked out the door. Yoongi closed the door and I felt myself smiling at one of my best friends.

“Yoongi-poo! You’re here!” He gave me a weird stare.

“And you drank too much.” He grabbed my hand and felt myself being led to the couch.

“I feel so sad Yoongi.” I sat on the couch, face in my hands.

“How come?”

“I don't think Jungkook likes me. He has Jimin, he doesn’t need me.” I tried holding my sob back.

“I’m sure, you’ll find someone.” I sniffled and turned to him.

“I want someone like you, Oppa. You’re nice and caring and my friend.”

“Yeah.” He looked at the floor.

“You’re always there for me. Like last night.” His head shot up so fast it made me dizzy.

“What happened last night?”

“I don’t remember much. My minds fuzzy.” Suddenly a bright light flashed, making me close my eyes and shield them with my hand. The lights int he room dimed and I saw Yoongi holding a cup of tea.

“Here.” He handed it to me and I took a sip of the warm liquid.

“Jimin came back with you. You were drunk and calling my name. It was cute. I got to see a side of you that I forgot existed.”

“Do you remember anything else?” I nodded furiously.

“Some parts. We kissed, made out and then I left to my room.” Yoongi's eyes widen and I felt weird. The room spun and I felt like thowing up. I ran straight, doubled over and puked. I wiped my mouth and resumed sitting ont he couch.

"I think imma go to bed. Luv ya Yoongles." I walked to a room and laid down on the bed. The room stopped spinning and I closed my arms.

---

The first thing I felt when I opened my eyes was pain. I held my head and groaned at the throbbing headache starting to form. I stood up from the bed and felt dizzy. I held the bed and saw the walls were light blue. My walls are white. This was Yoongi's room. I groaned and walked out to see Yoongi drinking something. I had a feeling the thing in the cup was coffee.

"Sleeping beauty finally woke up." I grunted and grabbed Yoongi's coffee.

"What happened last night?" I took a sip of his coffee and made a face.

"This needs more sugar, why do you like you're coffee bitter?"

"I dunno. I got used to it. Anyway, you went out with Kook, then came back drunk. You were sad because Jungkook liked Jimin, then I gave you tea. Oh and you puked on the flower pot." My eyes widen and I peered at the flower pot. A splash of green-ish bile was smeared all over the poor sunflower.

"The one Jimin gave me?" Yoongi nodded and I groaned.

"Jimin's gonna kill me for mistreating the plant he gave me." A white light enveloped the pot and in a flash the vomit was gone.

"Thanks, Yoongi." He grunted in response and I sat on the table.

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star-trekkin-across-theuniverse · 8 years ago

Text

Floating (Pt9)

Word Count: 2617 Author’s Note: I dunno. I wanted to post 2 chapters tonight. Tags: @medicatemedrmccoy, @from-kitten-to-kitsune @suzen23smith @outside-the-government @sistasarah-sallysaidso @nymphadora-blurryface @bluebird214

It’s weird the things you don’t realize you might miss until you find them in the kitchenette in your quarters. Things like oatmeal. In fact, as a kid, I hated oatmeal. And for most of my time at the Academy, I avoided it. But it became my staple on cold autumn mornings. And I woke up on Proxima B on a morning that felt like autumn. And then I found oatmeal in the kitchenette. I was sitting at the table, nursing my second coffee and savouring a bowl of oatmeal with real maple syrup on it when Leonard emerged from his bedroom, rubbing his hand over his face. His hair was sticking in every direction and his pajama bottoms were slung low across his hips. And he’d somehow mysteriously misplaced his pajama top in the night. I tried not to notice the definition of his pecs, and the whisp of hair running down his abs.

“There’s a pot of coffee,” I offered, looking back down at my oatmeal. I could still feel his lips on my forehead from the night before. The spot burned like I’d been branded with a scarlet letter. From the corner of my eye, I saw him pad toward the coffee maker. He sat down across from me. I could feel his eyes boring into the top of my head and looked up in question.

“Jim is my best friend,” he said. No preamble. No nonsense.

“I sensed that,” I acknowledged, and looked back at my oatmeal.

“I shouldn’t have kissed you,” he continued. “It was disrespectful to you and to Jim and -”

“It was my forehead, Bones,” I interrupted. “Yeah, it was unexpected, but it’s not like you threw me against a wall and stuck your tongue down my throat.” I deliberately ignored the tightening in my chest as I said the words.

“I just wanted to be -”

“If you’re only apologizing because you’re worried about Jim, you’re apologizing for the wrong reason,” I cut him off again. He scowled.

“That’s not the only reason.” He took a sip of his coffee and closed his eyes, a smile ghosting across his face. He looked at me again. “Good coffee, kid. That’s not the only reason. I crossed a professional boundary with you. It was inappropriate. Additionally, my actions could be misconstrued as hitting on my best friend’s girl and -”

“I’m not anyone’s girl, Leonard.” I held up my hand to stop him. His brow furrowed. “What? I’m not. Just like Jim isn’t my boy, I am not his girl.”

“Fine, his current female companion of choice. Is that better?” He arched an eyebrow. I chuckled under my breath.

“Actually, that sounds worse. Point taken. But please hear my point. You didn’t do anything wrong -”

“That’s what I’m trying to say.” It was his turn to interrupt. “I like you, kid. And I’d like to think we’ve become friends. I wanted to apologize on the chance you weren’t feeling as comfortable in our friendship.”

I laughed out loud. “Are we the two most awkward people in Starfleet?” I emptied my coffee cup and stood to get a refill. “You’re an amazing mentor. And I’m glad to have you as a friend too.” I leaned down and kissed the top of his head.

“What was that?”

“Now we’re even. Astonishingly unprofessional conduct from me. And while one of us is topless, no less,” I teased. “Now, if we’re done awkwardly apologizing for burdening one another with friendship, you should probably think about getting ready. Our first session starts in less than an hour.”

I must have looked tired when we got back shipside. Jim had requested we report to the bridge and report on the away mission. Which I thought was weird, considering it was just for education. Uhura signaled me as I was leaving the bridge and I stopped to chat with her.

“We’re past due for a girl’s night. Join us tonight at the cantina?” She asked. I smiled broadly.

“That would be great. Thank you for inviting me,” I agreed. Despite Leonard covering both our shifts for the day, I found myself in medbay at the desk. I wanted to log the education and what had worked. And what I thought would work better, should we plan to provide more inservicing on the same techniques. One thing led to another, and I found myself down a rabbit hole of research on other species’ anatomy, completely oblivious to the passage of time. I started when someone tapped my shoulder.

“Don’t forget about drinks in the cantina tonight,” Christine Chapel smiled, looking over my shoulder. “Oh, what is this?”

“I was just doing my log on the in-servicing Bones and I did, and I remembered an article I’d read about the possible function of the mull gland in Andorians. We know very little about Andorian anatomy and physiology because of the prohibition on autopsy, so I thought I would compare their anatomy to other species to see if there were any correlations and -”

“What does that have to do with gallstones?” Christine asked.

“Nothing really, except that if it serves a similar purpose, there may be a medical need for this procedure to be adapted to other species,” I explained. “And they were the first I thought of.”

“Give you one day of teaching, and suddenly you want to jump ship and become a research doctor,” she teased. I blushed.

“Not a chance. I love what I do. But I want to be better, and that requires finding better ways to treat my patients,” I laughed.

“The best way for you to treat your patients is to head down to the cantina with me and meet the other girls,” she insisted. I turned my PADD off and set it to charge before following her to the door. I turned back for a minute to see if Leonard was still in his office working on his logs. He was.

“Hold on a second, Chris,” I called as I darted back to the door and leaned in. “Thank you.”

“What for?” He asked.

“Having confidence in me,” I supplied. He smirked.

“That’s easy, kid,” he admitted. “Can you come in before Alpha in the morning?”

“Before?” I asked, curling my lip in distaste.

“I know you’re tired, Bryn, but I want to get started on the paperwork for your daughter,” he explained. I felt the hair on my arms rise and I nodded, a lump forming in my throat.

“I’ll be here.” I nodded.

“Girl’s night?” He asked, nodding toward Chapel.

“That’s the story.”

“I’ll have a hypo and a hot coffee waiting for you in the morning,” he winked. I laughed and shook my head. I had no intention of revisiting the hangover I’d had from graduation. I caught up with Christine at the door and we headed to the cantina together.

“Let me get this right, Spock got drunk off a hot cocoa?” I asked Uhura with a giggle. “I mean, I’d read that sugar was not awesome for Vulcans, but I didn’t believe it.”

“Seriously. I handed him the cup, he took two sips, and he was a mess,” she laughed. “He got a case of the giggles that wouldn’t stop. I had to confine him to quarters. If the captain had found out?”

Christine cackled. “Can you imagine. Poor Spock would have never lived it down.”

“Poor Spock, my ass,” Uhura laughed. “You weren’t the one who had to take care of him!”

“I don’t think it’s that funny,” Tarin interjected. “Scotty handed me a banana once, and it nearly killed me.”

“A banana?” Christine asked.

“I would die without bananas, it’s how I get almost all my potassium,” I added. “The replicated ones are horrible. I’ve been taking potassium tabs.”

“That’s the problem. The potassium counteracted the arsenic that is in my bloodstream, and it killed off a pile of my blood cells,” Tarin explained. I looked at Tarin blankly and then understood what she was saying.

“The cobalt that makes your skin blue! Of course!” I exclaimed. “I mean, we study the anatomy and physiology of a variety of species in med school, but sometimes it takes an actual interaction for everything to click.”

“I was so sick, and no one could figure out what it was. I think if Doctor McCoy hadn’t been so worried, he would have been gleeful about the opportunity to discover a new mysterious disease. But it was just the banana,” Tarin laughed.

“I’m amazed you’re laughing about it,” I commented. Tarin smiled.

“In hindsight, it’s totally funny. Who dies from eating bananas?” It was rhetorical, and she shrugged. “Apparently, Andorians.”

“You know, in the few years I’ve been with Starfleet, I’ve learned more than I thought was possible. And there’s still so much more,” Christine commented, lifting her glass. “Here’s to the final frontier.”

We all raised our glasses and clinked them in a toast, sipping from our various choices. I was trying to behave myself, truly. I’d allowed that I could have a single drink. It somehow turned into a few as we laughed and chatted. I looked down at the time on my comm and shuddered.

“Well, ladies, I have to turn in. I have an early meeting with Bones in the morning.” I rose. And then put my hand on the table while the room stopped spinning. “Well, shit. He was right.”

“Dr. McCoy said he’d be standing by with a hypo in the morning,” Christine explained. Everyone at the table laughed. I sighed and sat back down. A glass of water would probably be a good idea.

“Speaking of McCoy, you didn’t say how the training on Proxima B went,” Uhura probed.

“You mean you haven’t already read my report?” I teased. Uhura laughed and shook her head. “It was good. I was pretty nervous the first day, but it wasn’t awful. And we went out for pizza and beer. It was amazing.”

“You and McCoy?” Tarin clarified. I nodded. Uhura smiled and leaned across the table conspiratorily.

“That old dog. I didn’t think he had it in him!” She exclaimed. I squinted in confusion and then realized what she was implying.

“Bones? And me?” I was dumbfounded. “No, no. That’s not - “

“You do spend a lot of time together,” Christine offered. Tarin looked positively gleeful.

“This is ridiculous.” I threw my hands in the air in disgust. “I’m not in a relationship with -”

“You don’t need to be in a relationship!” Uhura interrupted. “As long as you can get along at work still, it’s just taking the edge off. Five years is a long time, and -”

“I am not sleeping with Leonard McCoy,” I snapped. “I respect him. I trust him. He’s my teacher.”

“There’s stranger bedfellows,” Tarin observed. “Someone has been sneaking around with the captain.”

“Shut up, who?” Christine gasped. I fought the urge to leap up and run.

“I’m not sure, I wasn’t really paying attention. But I saw someone sneaking out of his room the other morning,” she explained with a shrug. “I hope whoever she is, she realizes he’s not going to commit.”

“Kirk’s settled a lot since the Khan incident,” Uhura argued. “He might.”

“A captain’s only lover can be his ship.” Tarin wrapped the words in air quotes. “That’s what he told Sulu in the gym before we stopped on Earth. I think Sulu was questioning pursuing his own command.”

“Yeah, but he probably said that because Rand was lurking somewhere,” Christine offered. She turned to me to explain. “Janice is a yeoman in operations, and she was a little sweet on the captain. I think he was probably a little sweet on her too, but his first responsibility is always going to be to the ship.”

“Why isn’t she here tonight?” I asked.

“She’s back at the Academy doing officer’s training,” Uhura answered. “She’s the kind of person you’d want in command of a ship. She knows everything about everyone, right down to their food preferences. And she’s kind, and thoughtful without being a total pushover.”

“No wonder the captain was sweet on her,” I forced a smile. If there was ever a person in the universe that enjoyed hearing about their current lover’s past lovers, I’d never met them. I finished my water and pushed myself to my feet again, pleased to note I no longer had the spins. “I really am on my way now. Thanks again for inviting me.”

“You’re part of the gang now, Erikssen,” Uhura smiled. “No more invites, just the expectation that you show up regularly.”

“I’ll consider this a standing date then,” I laughed.

“Sure, if it doesn’t conflict with whatever is going on with McCoy,” she teased. I rolled my eyes and headed to the turbolift. Christine stepped in behind me.

“I didn’t realize how late it was. I’ve got a self-defense class in the morning,” she explained when I raised my eyebrow at her. We selected our floors and the turbolift closed. It stopped before I either of us wanted, and Kirk stepped on.

“Just who I was hoping to see,” he smiled, turning to face me. I blushed. I saw Christine’s eyebrow shoot up from the corner of my eye.

“Did you need medical attention, Captain?” I asked. His smile broadened.

“I wanted to discuss vaccines. The last time Bones gave me one, I had a bad allergic reaction, and he’s been putting off this new round of vaccinations. But, as I said before, I think I should be an example to the crew. I was hoping you would have some insight into potential reactions I should be looking for,” he explained. I nodded.

“Of course. I should have the information you’re looking for on my PADD,” I replied as the turbolift opened on my floor. Kirk followed me off and walked beside me. “I’d be happy to look it up for you.”

He smiled again. “I’m free right now?”

I stopped at my door and considered inviting him in. It didn’t take long to make up my mind. “By all means, Captain.” We stepped into my quarters, and the doors had barely slid shut when his hands were on me. He backed me into the wall, hungry kisses peppering my face. I laughed and dodged away.

“Jim, people know about us,” I began. He shrugged, pulling his top over his head.

“Don’t see that as a problem.” He leaned in and pressed his lips against my neck. “You never wear your uniform dress. You’re wearing your uniform dress.”

“I wasn’t working today. The dress isn’t practical for working in medbay,” I replied, pushed his shoulders away from me, and started across the room. “You wouldn’t have a problem with people knowing you’re sleeping with the new doctor?”

“Why would I?” He followed me to the sofa. I stopped to pull off my boots, and put my hand on his shoulder for balance.

“I don’t know. I guess because it’s unprofessional of us?” I dropped my boots on the floor. He took me in his arms again.

“How? I’m not your direct superior. In fact,” he paused and punctuated each of his words with a kiss somewhere on my face. “Ambiguous reading of the regs suggests I don’t command you at all. You, my delicious doctor, are entirely Bones’ headache.” He slid a hand up my hip and under my dress.

I laughed. “Is that so? My reading of the same regs suggests that -” He covered my mouth with his and pushed me down onto my bed.

“I love to debate with intelligent women, but it’s already late and time is precious tonight,” he murmured against my mouth.

#star trek fanfic #star trek fanfic with OC

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funkymeihem-fiction · 8 years ago

Text

Chapter 9

They finished the remainder of their meals, and Mei retreated to the back of the van for a round of baby wipes and fresh clothes without grease or bloodstains. The junkers had no such qualms and lazed about with the effects of the battle still evident all over them, the freshly-healed wounds still raw and red upon their flesh.

When she had cleaned up and returned to the campfire, Roadhog was gone. She glanced about, and finally saw the silhouette of his figure further down the canyon, tinkering with his motorcycle. “Oh no, did you tell Roadhog to leave again?”

“Wasn’t me this time, mate, swear it. Just left on his own. He does that. Says it’s the only time he gets any peace around me. But!” He gestured to the blanket next to him, the firelight illuminating his features eerily and really doing nothing to help his cause. “Figured you still might want to talk. We never got around to talkin’, last time.”

She scrunched her nose in hesitation, but quickly relented. With a nod, she slipped forward and settled down next to him, and didn’t protest when he went to drape his arm around her like before. “I suppose we never did finish our talk from before,” she said.

“Too roight. How you feeling, darl?”

“A little rough, to be honest. It’s been a while since I’ve been shot. I really shouldn’t complain, though, I’m very sorry for how you must be feeling after all that.”

“Me? Aw, this is nothing, I’ve had worse. Nothing keeps Jamison Fawkes down for long!” He thrust a finger into the air, then winced slightly and drew his arm back down. “Might take it easy for a bit, though. Still can’t get the taste of that ol’ drongo’s blood out of me mouth. Luckily, I came prepared.” He spat into the dirt before unlatching his flask of tea, taking a gulp before offering her a taste.

Just as before, she accepted and took a swig. Apparently today’s flavor was strawberry. “Oh, I love strawberry.”

“I know.”

“Do you have any more?”

“Oh-ho-ho, do I! See, I told Roadie that tea heist was worth the trouble, but the old blubberknuckle never wants any. Come on, let’s see what I got!” He sat up and scampered back towards to the van, returning with his own rucksack full of personal supplies. Within moments he had a pot of water boiling above their little campfire, and Mei watched with interest as he led her step by step on how he made his outback teas. It was really quite involved, and she was surprised at just how precise and delicate he could be with all his measurements, even if his measurement system consisted of an old tin measuring cup and he could only explain things not in numbers but ‘just above the dent here’ or ‘before it gets up to knuckle height here’. Apparently much trial and error had gone into his processes, but he remembered, tried again, and perfected. It was honestly fascinating to watch him work, dumping in flavor powders and sugar and measuring out the dried tapioca orbs and condensed milk levels.

She could easily imagine him doing much the same with his makeshift explosives, measuring gunpowder instead of sugar, twisting and fiddling with charges instead of flavored powders. And he had done this all with little to no education. He may have been crazy, but he also was crazy smart, in his own way. She knew of scientists and college-educated scholars who couldn’t work with chemicals the way he did. It made her wonder what he might have been capable of if he had the correct opportunities.

Moments later, she found herself holding a tin cup full of more strawberry boba tea, and Junkrat sitting back beside her with his own flask, other arm draped about her shoulders.

“And that’s why you -never- mix up your blue jars and your yellow jars, you end up with gunpowder black boba, and it don’t taste as good as you’d think it would!” he finished, apparently having rambled on with some story or other while Mei’s mind had wandered.

She glanced about before giving him a little grin. “I have an idea for it,” she said, before reaching to where her cryo-liquid canister and gun lay nearby. She twisted one of the release knobs, took aim with her gun, and with two little puffs of ice, their tea was nicely chilled as she passed it back to her companion. “It’s not really wasting ammo if it’s for an important cause,” she remarked slyly, a little thrilled with even the most benign naughtiness.

He grinned back at her, clinking his flask to her cup before pulling her back into his embrace and drinking deep. It was surprisingly nice to simply be relaxing with him; with Junkrat, of all people, something she never would have expected herself to be doing several weeks ago. Perhaps it was simply from bonding over several life or death situations by now, or seeing how much more easily he fit into his natural home than he ever had back at base, or just from simply spending time with him that didn’t involve exasperated sighs or patiently counting down until he would go away. She was almost getting…well, fond…of him. Of Junkrat. Jamison Fawkes.

“Mei? Mei! Oi, you’re dazey tonight, your head all right? Need to get another biotic pack?”

“No! I’m sorry, no. I’m fine, really, just have a lot on my mind. There’s been so much that’s happened since I arrived. It seems like every day something strange happens. Is it really always like this?”

“Nah, love. Maybe it’s just luck, but most days are usually spent driving or traveling, avoiding other junkers or trying to beat them to a score, and real long periods of nothing. You just seem to be getting all the exciting stuff, lucky you! This is way better than doing nothing! The real Aussie experience!”

She gave a little groan of disagreement. “My ribs think differently, thanks.”

“Thought your lil’ icicle move took care of that?”

“It does, to an extent. It basically cauterizes, but it certainly doesn’t mean it’s pleasant. And I don’t…really like doing it…”

“That why you always look weird when you come out of it?”

She furrowed her brows at him. “What do you mean, that I look weird?”

“I dunno. Not bad! You never look bad. But you got this look on your face when you come out. You look scared.”

“I don’t like to use the cryo-freeze until there’s no other option. And even then, I can only last for a few seconds before I need to get out. I know Winston and I designed it for longer capabilities but…I just can’t do it. I count the seconds until I can break it.” Mei looked down, feeling somewhat uncomfortable even speaking about it. “It’s a shame, I can’t use it like it’s supposed to be used but…I just can’t do it. Not after everything that happened.”

“Yeah, heard you was on ice for a while in the Antarctic. Brrrrr, I get cold just thinking about it! How long were you chilling out, anyway?”

“How old do you think I am?”

“That a trick question? This one of those things where I’m not supposed to ask a lady’s age because it’s rude and Ana will cuff my ear again?” Junkrat grumbled to himself, lifting a gloved hand to the side of his head and rubbing it as if trying to soothe a painful old memory. “That was my favorite ear, too. I swear it was all red for weeks.”

“No, really. How old?”

“Okay, I mighta peeked at your file. I was gonna find your birthday and then get you something real good, I mean ‘blow your socks off!’ kind of good. Maybe literally! Uh, hold on, you were in your thirties I think? A few years older ‘n me, so what? Not a problem, what good blue-blooded bloke doesn’t admire an older woman.” He wiggled his thick brows pointedly.

“I know my file says I’m 31. In a way, I’m 31. I mean, I feel 31 but, technically…”

“Huh?”

She coughed lightly. “I’m closer to 42.”

Junkrat’s eyes bulged, head tilting his head this way and that, and she could practically hear his mind buzzing as he processed that bit of information. He sputtered, for once seeming at a loss for words, then seemed to regain his senses and held up a finger pointedly. “42! Roight! Uh. Well! What…good blue-blooded bloke doesn’t admire an older woman?” he tried again. “Hooly dooly, that’s near on Roadie’s age. You don’t act like it. Or look like it. I mean, not that not acting or looking like Ol’ Pigface is a bad thing…”

She shrugged helplessly. “But in a way I’m still 31. But I was in that cryostasis pod for just over a decade. Isn’t that hard to imagine? Ten years going by while you’re asleep? But we never meant it to last that long. We thought we’d just be under for a few weeks, a few months, maybe. But then everything malfunctioned and even though I was preserved, ten years of my life went by and my body’s cells were still aging. Nobody would know it just by looking at me. But ten years of my life are gone, and I never knew them.”

“What’s that mean for you?”

“It means I’m over 41 years old, with the look and mind and everything else like I’m 31. But still, I’m 41. Because I lost a decade. Even if I live to be very old, I’ll die ten years before I should. I try not to think about it. I get very sad about everything if I think about it too much.”

“Yeah. You know, sometimes I think that too. Think I’ll survive long enough for the radiation n’ everything else to get me? Junkers don’t live real long, and if I start thinking of it, get this real bad feel in the bottom of my gut, like I drank a bad boba or something, but worse. Makes what’s left of me arm and leg bits hurt too, real strange. So I decided ‘to hell with it!’ and don’t much think of it at all. I like to focus on building or testing instead, put out a few good kabooms! Always brightens my day!” He offered her a lopsided smile, gold tooth gleaming.

“Is that why you don’t seem to care about all the danger you put yourself into? You don’t care? Do you want to die?”

“Tch! Of course not! That’s mad!”

“But it’s mad to be throwing bombs around and working with explosives and I mean, I’ve seen you fall asleep on top of one of your mines before. Any one of those could kill you.”

“Yeah, then I’d be dead, wouldn’t I? S’like, the big finality. Won’t have to worry about anything then, I guess. Besides, won’t be so bad if I die younger. It’s real likely I’ll die before the radiation withers or cold fevers can really hit me. Ooo, darl, I’ve seen what it does to you. Spooks me, the thought of living that old.” He let an exaggerated shudder run through him.

Mei sat up and gave him a hard look, dark eyes meeting gold. After a moment she merely shook her head and leaned back against him. “I don’t think I really understand you, a lot of the time. I’m scared to die young and you’re scared to die old? Do you think that means anything?”

“It’s funny, ain’t it? It’s all right, love, we don’t gotta agree on all the finer bits. Fuck knows it’s not up to us in the end. But…” He pecked his lips to the top of her head before resting his chin atop her. “Suppose I can try to stick around a bit longer since you need me for all these missions and whatnot, you know, keep an eye out for you. Let it never be said that Jamison Fawkes struck out early when Miss Mei still needed him! We got a lot to finish!”

She paused, trying to think of something that might lighten the mood, turn the conversation away from lost years and the impending death of the both of them. So she pondered his words for a moment, biting her lip, before commenting quietly, “Don’t worry. I’d never suggest that you finish early.”

Junkrat froze before grasping her by the shoulder, eyes wide as he pulled her back to look at her. “Did you just make a dirty joke?”

“Wha-no! No! Maybe! I just…I overheard McCree make a joke one time about-you know!” She buried her face in both palms.

“You did! You just said a sex joke! Blimey! I never thought I’d be alive for the day! Forget everything I said. I can die happy. I’m dyin’ right now.” He immediately flopped over onto her, letting his wiry form go limp across her as she struggled from the sudden weight. “Ya killed me, Mei. I’m dead.”

“ Wǒde mā ya! Get off, you’re heavy! You’ll be dead if you don’t get-…WAA!” She shoved against his chest, and and he immediately redoubled his efforts to drape over her.

“Making filthy sex jokes and threatening to kill me? I knew us junkers would be a real bad influence on ya.”

She gave up against the pressing weight of him. How did he manage to be both gigantic and scrawny at the same time? With an oomph, she collapsed onto her back onto the blanket with a little wince as her ribs protested, and Junkrat landed backward, sprawled across her stomach with his fists risen into the air in triumph. He twisted slightly, then finally lifted himself on one arm to loom over her, his eyes seeming to literally glow in the shadow from the firelight.

They were so close together. It had just been him teasing her, of course, the way he always teased her, combined with his simple inability to recognize personal boundaries. And she’d let it happen. She really should bring it to a stop; try to force him off her again, or tell him he smelled and shove him away, or scold him for possibly re-opening their injuries. She started to do just that, inhaling, but found she was merely holding her breath and saying nothing.

Mei stared up at him, mouth going unexpectedly dry. She just needed a moment, that was all. Her blood was singing because of simple adrenaline, the remainders of the a tough day and their impromptu wrestling match. Her arms were starting to wrap around him just in retaliation, to try and ready herself against his play, and the reason her fingernails were starting to scrape lightly at his flesh was because…she couldn’t think of an excuse for that one, nor one for why her other arm shifted up around his shoulders and her hand brushed the coarse sandy-blond locks of his hair.

He made a little desperate noise in his throat as he pulled himself half atop her, hands planting on either side of her shoulders. Something had changed between them. His eyes were dilated black rimmed with gold, and there was tension in his stance. After a moment she realized he was waiting on her, waiting for that scolding or for her to reject him yet again. When that rejection did not come, his eyes widened down at her, drinking in the way she looked with her arms looped around him, a black smear on one side of the her face that did nothing to conceal the charming flush of her cheeks, her hair tousled and messy on the blanket below, and how dark her eyes were, drawing him in…

There was a pause, the length of a heartbeat as they looked at one another, before his head dipped suddenly and his rough lips covered hers.

It had been years. Technically, it had been decades, though she had slept most of them away and could not remember them. The last person she had been with had been a member from another eco-point she had been visiting in Greenland. He had been blue-eyed and soft spoken and respectful, and they had taken refuge under a thick blanket together, enjoying each others’ warmth because it had been so cold out.

It was nothing like now. Now she was sweating in a desert, being kissed by a man who couldn’t be more different from her if he tried. He was as warped and strange as the land he came from, towering in height, his back hunched just to be able to reach her. He was lean with sinew and muscle and his body peppered with scars from a lifetime of hunger and bloodshed. She drew in a breath, and he smelled like sunlight and gasoline and smoke and it nearly choked her. Those strange amber golden eyes stared pleadingly into hers as he tried to kiss her again, his searing lips landing on her half-open ones. Hot breath exhaled across her face.

Another kiss. And then another. But when she still didn’t seem to react, his scorched brows furrowed and his expression was crestfallen, an apology choked in his skinny throat as he tried to untangle himself from her and draw away, gaze downcast.

He found he could not. Her fingers had latched themselves into the thin meat of his back, slowly curling against him and holding him there. He blinked and looked back to her, confusion and the beginnings of hope written on his features.

Mei swallowed audibly, and her voice came out as an embarrassing squeak before managing to whisper, “No, sorry. I just…didn’t expect…It was fast.”

His unique grin returned, though he still seemed unsure of where they stood. “S’pose I’m a pretty unexpected sort. Uh…mighta got carried away?”

To assure him otherwise, she tightened her grip around him and leaned upward, pressing her lips back to his. Junkrat’s expression melted into pure happiness, eyes drifting half closed as he positioned himself back over her and readily kissed her back. He was an enthusiastic kisser, as enthusiastic as he was with everything he did, and threw himself into it headlong. His head tilted to the side, lips still locked as he urged his kisses deeper, trying to taste her as his tongue slipped forward against hers. She was more shy, and her tongue darted back until several more kisses and a low moan reassured her, her mouth finally opening to his.

She wasn’t sure how long it went on. Time had simply stopped mattering to her fogged senses. There was nothing but the feel of lips and hands, one warm flesh and the other cold metal. She could have easily lost herself further, let herself be drawn in by the scent of smoke and the promise of more heat and more pleasure. His breath was getting faster, nearly panting, and even that was nearly drowned out by the way her heart pounded almost painfully against her ribs. She wanted nothing more than to draw him closer, lose herself in that heat and become part of it, and burn with it. She was only dimly aware of his long fingers slipping into the bottom of her shirt, slithering upward through the fabric, towards the swell of her chest…

She gasped against his lips, “Wait.”

He paused immediately, eyes opening with a questioning look. “Hnn? S’wrong?”

She reached down to still his seeking hand, starting to pull it from her shirt. “Jamie…I can’t.”

“Wot?”

“Not yet,” she answered gently, and tried to soothe him with another kiss to his chin.

He wasn’t the sort to ever hide how he was feeling, and made no effort to conceal the disappointment written on his features. He cleared his throat a little, nodding furiously as he pulled himself off her. “Gotcha. Okay. Did I do it wrong?”

She shook her head quickly, sitting up. “No, no, it was…it was nice. Really nice. I just think it shouldn’t be too fast. Roadhog might come back any second, and my ribs still ache a lot and you’re still hurt, and just, it’s been a while for me and I just…I suppose I need a bit of time. But nothing was wrong, please don’t think that.”

He looked somewhat relieved but still unhappy, managing a grin that was clearly half-hearted. “Roight. Well, don’t want to freak you out or nothing. And I guess I’m still not in tip-top shape…was really making me feel better, though. You liked it though? Really? Know I did.”

“I did too.” She glanced out at the rapidly darkening shadows beyond the fire before leaning to whisper in his ear, “A lot.”

His scrawny chest puffed out at that, clearly pleased with himself. “Well, guess we can put a pin in it until next time.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

“’Course!”

She gave his hand a little squeeze before pulling herself upright, dusting the sand from her rear. “I’m going to go get things ready for bed.”

He nodded. “Yeah, sure. I’m uh…gonna go do some things. Be back in a tick.”

She offered him a smile, his favorite kind. It was slow and genuine and made dimples just below the apples of her plump cheeks, her eyebrows perking just slightly above the crease of her eyes. It was very different from his own grin, with wide stretched lips and bared teeth that was more snarl than smile. Her smile was beautiful. He offered her a little wave, fingers wiggling before she turned and vanished into the back of the van.

“Fuck!” he gasped, though the expletive sounded more frustrated than angry. He leapt upright, the joint of his peg leg audibly squeaking, before hurriedly going to lope off beyond the dim light of the tiny fire, out into the shadows of the gully.

He passed by Roadhog, who was sitting by his motorcycle with a tiny booklight, reading quietly and guarding the entrance to their camp. Junkrat snorted and lifted his head, skulking past him and trying not to call too much attention to the severely noticeable and nearly painful tent at the front of his shorts. Roadhog didn’t even look up, but as he passed by, the larger man shifted slightly in his seat and rumbled a low, “Hope you’re being careful.”

Junkrat whirled upon him. “Oi, piss right off, wanker.”

Roadhog snorted a chuckle. “I don’t think I’m the wanker here.”

“S’fuckin’ crude, mate, that’s what that is. I’ll have you know, we had a brilliant time! I hit all the bases! First all the way through fourth!”

“There’s no such thing as fourth base.”

“Oh, there is! But I’m not gonna tell you shit about it, because she wants a proper gent, and I’m a proper gent, and proper gents don’t kiss and tell! Uh…I’m just gonna…go take care of some things real quick. Got some business.” He skipped a step and then turned and practically dashed out into the dark, desperate for a bit of private time.

“Don’t hurt yourself,” Roadhog advised, turning another page of his novel.

“Fuck off!”

Night had long since fallen but Mei, once again, found herself laying awake in her sleeping bag inside the van. She tried turning this way and that, tried sleeping on top of it, tried wadding up her hoodie for more of a pillow, but nothing seemed to help. Her ribs ached fiercely and her mind played the events of the day over and over again; the trouble back at Lucky's Station, the massacre in the canyon, their conversation about the time they'd never get back. Most of all it played that kiss. Or, kisses, plural. It wasn’t regret, not really. It had been warm and sincere and she kept wondering what would have happened if she’d not said to wait. Well, she knew exactly what would have happened, Jamison wasn’t exactly shy about that. And she really did need the time to think things through. Think about what all this meant…

For the past hour she had sat and listened to the hushed voices of the junkers outside, and by the sounds of it, they were starting to turn in as well as she heard the rustle of bed rolls. She rolled over to stare at the dull, torn-apart ceiling of the van for several minutes more before coming to a decision. She pulled her leggings back on, rolled up her sleeping bag, and rolled open the door.

The lantern immediately switched on outside, Junkrat blinking at her as she climbed down. “Mei? Somethin’ wrong?”

She looked over at him. He had already removed his prosthetics, the stump of his arm cut off just below the elbow and a suspiciously flat area beneath the blanket where his leg should have been. She shook her head quickly, lifting up the messily-rolled lump of sleeping bag in both arms. “No, no, I’m fine. It’s just not very comfortable in there. I thought maybe I’d try sleeping out here?” She glanced over at Roadhog, who was little more than an unmoving mountain atop his own bedroll, his back turned to her and offering no response. “If that won’t disturb anyone? I don’t want to be a bother.”

Junkrat’s usual grin spread back across his face as he gestured the remainder of his arm beside him. “Here! Yeah, clear spot right over here, real nice!”

“Thank you.”

“Just sayin’, you get cold in the night or anything, I am right here. Real good for warmin’ you up.”

She gave him a pointed look. “You are saying if I get cold. Me. Zhou Mei-Ling.”

“Okay. Okay, point taken. But, offer stands.”

Nodding, she went and dumped out her sleeping bag a polite distance away from the junker, trying to ignore his clear excitement. She couldn’t deny that her time with Jamison had turned from a kiss to full on making out, but she wasn’t quite ready for anything involving sleeping with the man, even in a literal sense. At least outside, the night air was cooler and fresher, and as the lamp switched off again, she rolled onto her back and stared up at the vivid array of stars overhead, above the stretching darkness of the canyon walls, just as spectacular as the first night she’d seen them. It was far nicer to be out here. Junkrat was muttering softly to himself in such a way that she couldn’t tell if he was asleep or not, while Roadhog’s breathing was a deep, steady rumbling baritone every time he breathed out.

With a contented sigh, she removed her glasses and tucked them next to her makeshift pillow, as the world above blurred before she closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep.

#meihem #junkmei #junkrat #jamison fawkes #mei #mei-ling zhou #roadhog #mako rutledge #australia #outback #adventure #fanfic

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theheaterishotjournals · 4 years ago

Text

06/16/2020

Statuses

Me: Alright, I guess? Feel stupid? I dunno. Numb? Depression numb? Sunflower Charlie: So tall. Daniel can’t even reach the top. 7′ now?? Gonna bloom soon. Sunflower George: Almost reaches Charlie. Rivals. Sunflower Miriam: 4 blooms! Gonna get more. Bees all the time, so cute. Yellow jackets, less cute. But good for pest control. Tomato: They’re starting to grow. More flowers coming. Needs pruning. Mint: Needs pruning. Keeps getting eaten by bugs. Money plant: After the sun burning, growing so many buds now. Growing nicely. Bigger pot?? Rubber Plant: Doing well. Pachira: Better now that the fan isn’t pointing at it. Palm: Surprisingly alive. Succulents: All good. Đậu Đen: She’s doing good. Healthy. God, I hope she ain’t pregnant.

Dear you,

Today I went to work, still depressed. Elliot was kind enough to ask how I was doing and give me advice. I love Elliot. I don’t care what the rest of the crew says. I’m thankful for him.

Ervin told me he had to call out on Friday as well. He has hypertension. He keeps eating red meat though. I’m worried about him. I wish he could stay forever but come August, a new rotation.

Jeff wore a new hat today. It was, like. A golf cap? Instead of his usual cowboy hat. It looked good on him! I also appreciate Jeff.

Did runs. Easy day. Picked up Hydrogen Sulfide detector. The jambalaya Daniel made was so delicious. I love that he helps me get my lunch ready. I love Daniel.

Daniel kept sending me pics of the kitten today. I was so excited to see her. The second work ended, I drove home and ran straight to her (after dealing with mail). She seemed so quiet and lazy. It got me worried. It surprised me to roll her over and see 12 toes on her hind legs. Daniel said not to worry, she was probably napping. I couldn’t help but worry. Worry’s my middle name. Thanks to anxiety. He was trying to get me to calm down and convincing me to eat.

While eating, I tried to calm down. Told him to put on spongebob. But I kept thinking about what I had read online. The lethargy. Kittens were supposed to have energy. Her gums looked white. She meowed weakly.

Daniel could tell I was worried. He went out and got Đậu Đen and brought her inside. We had her and her kitty meet. It looked like the kitty kept trying to rub up on her and Đậu Đen kept walking off. It made me cry, I thought she was trying to abandon her. Daniel calmed me down, saying I was just being reminded me of my childhood. Eventually, the kitten kept rubbing up on her mom and Đậu Đen kept licking her like crazy. I felt so much relief.

We watched the two. The kitten kept weakly going up on her mom. Đậu Đen licked her, ate, and would walk off. I was wondering if we should get the kitten back to Đậu Đen but she wouldn’t take her. We called a hospital earlier, the hospital said hard to tell if it was an emergency and that walk ins would end soon.

I still didn’t feel right. I looked up a 24 hour animal hospital. I told her she was weak. Then I thought about it and told Daniel to tell them the kitten seemed like she was breathing hard. They said it didn’t sound right. We loaded her up in the cat carrier and took her to the car.

Đậu Đen walked with us, we tried to see if she wanted to come in the car with us. She didn’t. I figured ‘cause she had the other two kittens to worry about. We made off to the hospital.

There was a car there before us. A white couple with a beagle. I noticed the girl wiping away tears. It was hard to see. I wondered if we were taking up valuable timer with our kitten.

The hospital staff quickly came out and retrieved the kitten. We waited in the car. They quickly called us and said they needed a $500 deposit to get some vitals up. No info on what was wrong. I took a deep breath. I made a lot of money now but $500 was still nothing to sneeze at. I looked at Daniel, he said it was my money. I thought about how I had $2200 in checking and $3k in savings. I said to go for it.

I took out my embroidery. We joked around. I listened to a podcast. I felt bad joking around while the girl in the car next to us was crying.

Daniel and I had decided to name the cat. Noticing she was polydactyl on her hind legs, she had 12 toes total. Daniel decided to dub her Doce, the Spanish word for 12. I had named Đậu Đen so it only seemed fair to have one with a Viet name and one with a Spanish name.

Another call. They took down some info, transferred me to the doctor for the low down. The doctor explained Doce had been infested with fleas. She was a tiny cat, less than 5 weeks. With not much blood to spare, the fleas had sucked her down to nearly nothing. She asked if I had fed her. I told her just sugar water that we fed with a plastic syringe like thing we had used to give Đậu Đen her antibiotics. Then some salmon/water cat treat. I was on the verge of tears telling her this. I thought the doctor was gonna get mad I couldn’t feed her enough.

The doctor merely asked if she ate those things. I told her she did, the cat had licked at them. I think it was a good sign, that it meant Doce still had some energy. The doctor said the kitten was in critical health, knocking on death’s door. It was a good thing we had brought her in. They asked if I was willing to care for the cat, I said I was. She transferred me to billing.

While we were on hold, I joked with Daniel I hope it wasn’t $2k, knowing how much I had in the bank.

The billing went down.

“The doctor would like to do this test, that is $200. Then a fecal test for parasites. Another $200.”

As she listed the items, my stomach dropped.

The kitten had to be in an oxygen tent. $500. Luckily, she was small so IV would be cheap. Cheap as in $130. Another several hundred for transfusion. Another several hundred for blood test.

It went on and on and my stomach was clenched.

“Total comes to around $2,008. Not including the $500 you had put in as deposit earlier. The complete total is $2,508. What would you like to do?”

Was it expectations? Was it my inability to turn people down? I said yes. But I mentioned that I did not have enough in the bank. The billing lady said I could apply for carecredit.

I immediately remembered the first time I applied for carecredit. I was making $9,000 a year. I had severe dental problems and the dental bill was $1,200. I cried at the dentist’s office. I couldn’t afford it. CareCredit gave no interest for up to two years if you could pay within then. I was so thankful, I thanked them profusely even if they had nothing to do with it.

I looked at Daniel. He shrugged and told me it was my money.

With no hesitation, I went on my phone and applied. We called billing. It was all good. The nurse loved Doce’s name. Everyone marveled at the credit limit I was given. I felt somewhat good and happy about that.

The hospital said we could go home. They handed us the bill. 4 weeks and 3 days, they estimated Doce’s age.

Daniel went to go get the bill. The couple next to us, I guess they were finally called to bring the dog in. The guy opened the girl for the girl, banged the door on my car. I saw her cradle her dog and hurriedly left. I couldn’t care less they banged my car. I was mad, briefly, like, hey, wtf. Pay attention. But I saw the dog. Remember my car was dinged up anyways. Felt bad I was upset. Told Daniel. He also didn’t care, he also saw how they felt about their dog.

On the way to get gas, I realized by the time we got home, I’d have nearly 0 hours to relax. I told him he couldn’t tell anyone I spent this much. He agreed. He could tell I felt ashamed. Told me it was my money. Not in a way he didn’t care. But that this was what I wanted to make money for. I wanted to care for others. I wanted to donate most of my money. I’m saving a cat and I was looking for a pet. This is perfect. I asked what if the doctor says the kitten belongs to her mom? He said he’ll try to ask the vet if there’s any way we can keep her. Since it seems she got infested with fleas. We’ll find a way.

I hope so. I hope we can keep her but I just want her to be happy and healthy.

I felt dumb and stupid and insane for dropping this much money on a stray cat I’ve just met. I had to talk to Nevi. Nevi calmed me down, said it wasn’t a waste. 12 years of a cat’s life, this was nothing. I saw my money and knew it wasn’t completely necessary for now. I budgeted for it. I saw the value of the money going toward the cat. He helps me so much. I love Nevi with all my heart as well.

I watered my plants. I couldn’t sleep. I should be sleeping right now for work tomorrow but I’m too energized and nervous.

I don’t believe in God, but Daniel saw me do the sign of the cross in the car waiting to hear back on the news for the cat. Even being an agnostic, I find comfort in believing in a higher power.

I told him he knows I don’t believe in God but does he think God sent the kitten to us? Knowing we could help her? That’s why Đậu Đen tried ot get us to see her kittens. That’s why she left the kitten with us? ‘Cause after the antibiotics, she felt better and she knew we could help her? Did she know? Did God send her right when we were looking for pets, not having one yet, so we had extra money to care for her?

Did believing in God make me feel less guilty about spending the money on her? I think it did.

I donated money earlier this week to grassroots organizations that supported BLM. I hope to keep donating more money to those organizations per paycheck.

I hope that everyone stays happy and healthy. That there’s more community resources. I hope Doce survives and we can take her home and show her to Đậu Đen and Đậu Đen can see how happy and healthy she is. I hope we can be a happy and healthy family.

I love Daniel. I love Nevi. I am going to stay up and do some craft work. I love Daniel even though he’s making me shower in fear of fleas and I hate him for that.

I go to tomorrow with hope things turn out well. And work goes out well. And Ervin stops listening to conspiracy theories and takes care of himself. I hope BLM works out and we get changes we need. I hope I get enough rest tonight so I can work well tomorrow so I can make money for the cats and for Daniel and for my future pet dog.

I hope for everyone’s health and happiness.

-Vi

#mental health #cats

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bishiglomper · 6 years ago

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My nephew's birthday party is this weekend... so we is still in cleaning mode

I've felt yucky the last 2 days. Just so tired. No amount of napping helped.

I've been jumping at the chance to go out with people to run errands and shit. The movement helps. It's difficult to move around because im so stiff, but it generates a few spoons.

I am so fucking slow. I used an electric cart at Wal-Mart tonight just so I could keep up with my sister. It's so pathetic. I'm not even limping as often. I just walk agonizingly slow.

When we were there a few days ago, I ran into my DM and his wife. I had a cart. So did his wife. (She had a leg brace on though) He kind of asked about it but all I really said was it was a long day (Which it was, like 12 hours out and about by then) and that I had health issues flaring up... He accepted that but. I was still embarrassed.

I just don't want people to see a chubby 20something girl on a cart and think "fat and lazy". Ugh.

I see heavy people on carts with seemingly no other issues and still sometimes wonder "are they using it just because it's easier?" Usually followed by the consideration that being overweight really does suck ass and comes with it's own problems. THEN comes the thought that maybe they're having a flare-up of sorts too. I feel bad for being judgy. I try not to. I've got a grandma that I care for while we're out though and sometimes it's hard to find a cart for her...

SO ANYWAY. I decided I had generated a few spoons and could do some light labor on the house tonight. I drank like half a pot of coffee lol. My sister declared that she would caffeinate and work tonight too. (its after 10-11pm mind you)

She organized the pantry. It didn't really do much in the way of getting the house company ready, but it was in SORE need of it. It's been in chaos for months. I think we got rid of dozens of expired shit. Like 3 years expired eheheh...

I did dishes. A very condensed card table full. There's like a 3 gallon tub filled with probably 80% of all our utensils.

I had to scrub. Each. And every. One. Then do another sinkload.

We are now down to a small pile of dishes that are rinsed of gunk but need a soap bath. And then 1/4 of a trash bag of more dirty dishes. AND THAT IS IT. THEN THE DISHES WILL BE DONE.

HALLELUJAH.

My back is killing me. My whole body is screaming. I'm also twitchy. That could be the caffeine, pain, low blood sugar, or weak muscles. Who knows. 8D

I DUNNO WHEN I STARTED BUT I ENDED AFTER 3AM. I'M SLOW AS SHIT BUT YAY ME.

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foreverlostinthesilence · 8 years ago

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I'm not Digiorno!

This so was so not good, and not in one of those oh-it’s-not-so-bad kind of ways either. This was more of a royally-fucked-if-you-so-much-as-twitch kinda things and Lux was running out of ideas when it came to her seemingly endless, and mostly, reckless escape strategies. In fact, her most recent attempt to hide herself from the hungry vampire stalking her around the apartment, had landed her literally stuck between a rock and a hard place, for she had somehow managed to cram her small body between the couch and the wall.

“I can smell your fear, Lux,” Blaze called out, his words loud and clear as he came through the doorway that separated the living room from the hallway, “And I can hear your heart beating so erratically in your chest,”

Lux swallowed the lump in her throat, panic and true fear bubbling to the surface at the same time. She truly stood no chance against the hungry vampire. Lux was nothing more than a human with a few, weird psychic abilities that only seemed to come out to play when it fit their schedule.

Blaze on the other hand, was nearly six feet, six inches of solid fucking muscle, but not in an overly bulked up kind of way. That still didn’t make his sheer size any less intimidating. Chances were good that he could probably snap her in half with nothing more than a thought.

“B, leave me alone,” She pleaded from her cramped space behind the couch, “I can’t stay squished back here forever and if I move, you’re gonna fucking eat me,” Lux peeked up over the back of the couch, feeling her lavender eyes peel wide as she caught sight of the beautiful male that was currently stalking her like wounded prey, “I really don’t feel like being tonight’s dinner on the run,” She deadpanned, “And I do mean that literally,”

Why, oh why, had she not listened to Keagan when he’d warned her against spending too much alone time with Blaze? Keagan had reminded her almost religiously of their roommates, er, blood lust.

Lux had come home to a mostly empty apartment and a note from her roommate saying that something had come up and she was out. She’d still had no idea what had driven the other female away, but Keagan had been her savior when she found herself drowning in rent and not to mention that Lux didn’t need an apartment that big for herself.

Her situation had come up in conversation one night when they stayed for drinks after his shift. Lux had known what Keagan was for some time, he’d actually made it a point to clear the air about who and what he was when they had first started talking. Their relationship had never been anything romantic, but it meant a lot to her that he’d trusted their friendship enough to share his secret. That same night, he had warned her about his roommate, explaining that he too was a vampire, although a different kind.

“And just what are you going to do to stop me?” Blaze growled suddenly inches from her face. She bit back a squeal of panic as her eyes latched onto his, their usual forest green had been replaced by a rich, nearly yellow shade of amber, meaning he was teetering on a very thin edge.

“B, come on,” She whimpered softly, pushing her back as far into the wall as she could, “This isn’t cool man, I’m the roommate, not Digiorno!”

Those eerie eyes watched her, the tips of those sharp, lethal fangs peeking out from beneath his top lip as it lifted in a sort of twisted smile, “You were the one foolish to move into an apartment full of vampires.” he purred, eyes leaving hers so that they could locate and lock onto that pulse that was beating so frantically against her throat that he could see the vein pulsating as the flesh thumped with each beat.

“On the condition that no one would eat me! Being your mid afternoon snack was not part of the agreement!” She risked a glanced to her right, wondering if she had enough room to slip out of the small space before Blaze made it off the couch to catch her.

“Well, maybe if you didn’t make this so easy, there wouldn’t be a problem,” He sneered, those eyes growing dark.

“Easy? I was walking out of the bathroom!” She nearly shouted.

“And you smelled so good,” There was a soft purr to those words as they rolled off his tongue.

Lux decided that it was now or never and dove for the small space that would let her crawl out from behind the couch and fly straight into the kitchen, deciding to take advantage of his brief moment of distraction.

She jumped from the floor, stumbled a few feet and then went crashing into the kitchen floor. Lux bit back a whimper as her knees and elbows cracked against the tile, though she was thankful that it hadn’t been her head.

“God damn it!”

She heard blaze hiss as she rolled herself onto her back before forcing herself back on her feet. Looking down at her knees, she let lose another string of curses as she realized that she managed to split a gash into one knee when she’s collided with the tile, “B! B! I’m sorry! Fuck!” She hobbled around the kitchen, looking around frantically for washcloth, a paper towel, anything thing to mop of the blood.

“Blaze! Just leave the fucking room!” She nearly shouted, stumbling back into the sink with a thud, one hand gripping the knee that was currently gushing a bright red stream down her shin.

Something in the air shifted suddenly, like some of the tension had melted away. Fortunately, that meant that Lux could now pull full, deep breaths of air into her starving lungs. Panic was still riding her, alongside that fear, but something had definitely changed, she could feel it.

“B?” She whispered his name, afraid to spook him as he became still, “Blaze, you okay?”

The large, dark haired male gave a sharp nod before taking a few steps forward. He dropped down on his knees before her, carefully pushing her blood stained hand away from the gash in her knee, “I promise not to bite you,” His voice sounded strained, his struggle evident as he only allowed himself to move closer to the cause of his internal torment, “I’m going to clean the wound and seal it,” With my mouth, went unspoken, not to mention the fact that he hadn’t made attempt to locate a towel to clean the mess up with.

Lux watched with wild eyes as Blaze lowered his mouth to the gash, the sensation of his tongue rubbing against the broken flesh both off and fascinating at the same time. Unable to pull her eyes away as he moved back from the wound that was now nothing more than a pink scar.

She continued to watch him, concern taking the place of the fear that she was sure had shone brightly in her eyes before. He looked like he was in pain as he pulled himself up from the floor, his knees a bit wobbly, the hand that was reaching out to grip the counter was shaking.

This hadn’t started out as her fault, but as Lux watched Blaze zombie himself around the kitchen, she couldn’t ignore that small bit of guilt that was dwelling in her gut.

“I’m sorry,” Lux mused softly as she carefully made her way to the coffee pot, pouring two cups before she turned to offer one to Blaze.

“What the hell are you sorry for?” A frown turned down those lush lips and Lux released a soft sigh, turning to add sugar and creamer to her mug.

“For being a constant temptation. I dunno B, we can’t be left alone together because every time that happens you try to eat me,” She gave her coffee a good stir before bringing the hot beverage to her lips, “Keagan warned me from the get go that things might get complicated,” She waved her hands between the two off them before softly adding, “At least like this,”

Blaze looked up at Lux from the rim of his coffee mug that he had happily accepted, “There are many different kinds of vampires Lux, some that kindle magic, some that can not only kindle, but feed on that magic. Then there are vampires who rely on the strength provided by human blood,” He paused, sipped his coffee with a sigh as he leaned against the counter with a sigh, “And then you have genetic fuck ups like myself. I need blood more often that most vampires of my lineage. No one could ever figure out the whys, but there are often times that my thirst simply can’t be quenched,”

Lux thought about what he was saying, tried to imagine what it would be like to be ravished by a hunger that you could never satiate.

“Feed from me,” She whispered, almost hoping that Blaze would miss her words, but he had super hearing, so that wasn’t likely. She didn’t wait for his rejection before she continued, “I mean, it only seems fair. I’m here, I’m human and you’re hungry. I know that that taste was just a tease, I can see it on your face,”

Lux watched his expressions filter through a bizarre mix of things before it sort of fell into something caught between a scowl and maybe disappointment, “You have absolutely no idea what you’re asking Lux,”

“Why does that even matter?” She asked a bit defiantly as sipped her coffee, “Less than ten minutes ago you were fully prepared to tear me out from behind that couch and take care of business. I’m offering you what you obviously need and now suddenly, you have a problem with that. Didn’t seem that way just a bit ago,”

Blaze blinked a few times, then he too found himself scrubbing a hand down his face before he began sipping his coffee in thought. After a few stiff moments of silence, in which Lux thought she was going to implode, Blaze finally spoke, “A vampire’s bite can become addictive, depending on the vampire. Some of us don’t possess the ability to alter the human mind while feeding, so we make up for it in other ways,” He paused again, like he was trying to compose himself, “My bite releases as sort of toxin into the body, making the person comfortable and relaxed while that toxin numbs the pain,” And then he paused again, only this time she wasn’t sure that he was going to start speaking again.

Lux took that moment to say her thoughts on the matter, “I’m not seeing the harm in helping you one time B. You’re home, I’m here. There’s no reason for you to continue to suffer, or do so while trying to find a viable meal when I am offering you just that,”

“All it takes sometimes is one bite Lux, and I don’t want to be the one responsible for turning you into a vampire junkie. That’s the quickest way to an early grave,” Blaze brought his mug back to his lips, sipping slowly, “I need a cigarette,”

Lux looked up, still trying to absorb the information that Blaze had just so willingly provided, “Mind if I join you?” Her words were soft, almost as if were afraid that if she spoke to loud she might spook him.

Blaze lifted a hand and motioned for the balcony door, pushing open the screen so that they could both step into the warm shade. He pulled two cigarettes free, lighting them both before handing one off to Lux, “It’s not that I don’t want your blood Lux,” Blaze exhaled a cloud of smoke, “It’s just that I can’t bare the thought of damaging you in that way. We’ve had our close encounters, but I honestly believe that I could stop myself before, well, you know.” Inhale, exhale, followed by another deep sigh.

Lux exhaled her own small cloud and tilted her head toward Blaze, studying that strong jaw and that narrow nose, and those oh so lush lips, “What if you didn’t have to bite me?” She asked suddenly, raising an eyebrow as a wicked idea struck her. She reached into the pocket of her jeans, removing the small knife she kept on her at all times. Lux reached out with one hand, grabbing Blaze’s free hand and turning it palm up before placing the knife into his hand, “You use this.” She stated calmly, “Then, there’s no biting and no risk,”

Blaze became transfixed by the blade that had just been placed in his hand. Lux was becoming completely logical with her argument, making it harder to refuse.

“Lux, this has bad idea written all over it. Are you sure about this?” Blaze’s stomach chose that moment to twist itself into a crippling knot, the craziness threatening to creep back in and take control. Meaning he needed to do this or get ghost before he really did something he’d regret.

Blaze dropped the butt of his cigarette to the porch, crushing it under his flip-flop as he took a few steps toward Lux, waiting for her to flick her own butt off somewhere before he stepped closer. He lifted one hand, taking her jaw between his fingers, lifting her head so that they were are to eye, “Are you sure about this Lux. Like, really, really sure? I mean it. I know this blade is sharp, but I’m not going to be able to make it not hurt,”

Lux gave a sharp nod, her resolve solid as she watched the struggle play out on that handsome face. He was slipping closer to the edge, she could see it in his eyes. She reached out and gripped his hand tightly, “Quit wasting time and do what you need to do. I’ll be fine, promise,”

Blaze tilted his head in acknowledgment, closing the distance between them before tilting her head back and to the side. With no warning, he popped the blade and pressed it to that tender flesh, watching the blood well to the surface before he quickly latched onto the wound, fighting the urge to break that flesh again but with his own teeth.

Lux let out a sharp gasp as she felt the blade across her skin, and then it was his mouth against her throat. The press of his fangs against her unbroken flesh while his mouth and tongue lapped and pulled, taking the sustenance that she had to offer.

“What the everloving fuck is going out here?!” Kieran nearly screamed as he stepped out onto the back porch only to find Blaze at Lux’s throat. Her fingers were dug into those broad shoulders like claws, her head back at an awkward angle as Blaze continued to drink.

“Blaze! What the fuck?!” Keagan shouted, stepping up behind the male where he placed both hands in his shoulders and tugged him back some.

Blaze looked at Kieran with wide eyes and bloodstained lips. Attention the turned down toward Lux, who he now cradled carefully in his arms, “I didn’t bite her,” He reassure Kieran as he started to walk back into the apartment so that he could lay Lux out on the couch. His fangs had not pierced her flesh, but was still possible that he’d taken too much.

“You shouldn’t be feeding from her to begin with,” Kieran scolded, looking down at the small female in the other male’s arms.

“I tried, you know,” Blaze grumbled, setting Lux down on the couch, wrapping a blanket around her tiny form before he turned to face Kieran, “I tried to tell her no, and I explained to her what my bite can do, and yet she insisted. She placed the blade in my hand Kieran. She feels like she’s the reason I can’t control myself and that’s not fair to her,”

Kieran let out a huff as he crossed his arms, blue eyes watching his best friend, “Taking her blood isn’t fair to her B,” His arms unfolded so that he could scrub his hands down his face as he tried to make sense of the mess he’d just walked into, “We promised her in the beginning that there would be none of that,”

Blaze fought the scowl tugging as his lips as he slowly lowered himself onto the couch beside the sleeping Lux, “I wasn’t in any position to argue with her Kieran. I chased her out of the hall, and then into the kitchen,” He propped his elbows on his knees, dropping his head into his palms, “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. She fell, and then there was blood. I told her no, I really fucking did,”

Kieran felt his brows draw downward as he watched Blaze beat himself black and blue. He covered the distance between himself and Lux, who looked oddly at peace in her slumber. Brushing his hand across her forehead, he looked up at Blaze, “She’s gonna be fine B,” He moved away from Lux and dropped down beside Blaze, draping an arm over the male’s shoulders, “I don’t mean to be so hard on you, but she’s human and sometimes, that’s scary,”

Blaze physically relaxed as Kieran sat down beside him, pulling him in close, “How did you get me to agree with this to begin with?” He laughed softly, glancing at Kieran.

“That was simple B, you’re not a monster, nor are you heartless,” He pressed a kiss to the other male’s lips, “She was in need and you weren’t going to turn her away any more than I was,”

Blaze returned that kiss with a small smile, “I can’t say no to you, you know that,”

Kieran laughed as he reached up to turn Blaze toward him, “I know it. Now, why don’t we go get something started for lunch? I’m sure Lux will be up shortly and I have a feeling she’s gonna be hungry,”

Blaze gave a nod of agreement, shifting so that he could get to his feet. He reached for Kieran hands, pulling the male up with him, “She’s a tough one,”

Kieran allowed Blaze to guide him off the couch, leaving Lux to rest as they started for the kitchen. As Blaze made a comment about Lux, he threw his head back and laughed, a deep, wholehearted sound, “I wouldn’t have let her move in otherwise,”

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