#felt something really powerful when I’d pull up in the early morning and my headlights would illuminate ‘DO NOT BACK OFF’ in a certain way

[zytes]

do not back off

[itzagothamcitysiren]

Welcome to the Family

So like, work as been so busy and I’ve either had no time to write or have been way to burnt out to write. I hoping I’ll be able to again tomorrow night because I have a cute idea for a one shot that I literally have been thinking about since last Thursday but just have had no time to write. 

Like You Imagined When You Were Young pt. 2

           Halley jumped off of the bed quicker than she had jumped back onto it, rushing to get to the door as she watched the doorknob start to twist, a soft knock being heard. Her heart pounding even though the voice suddenly calling out to them could be a hell of a lot worse.

           “Hey guys, dinner’s here,” Kori’s perky voice rang as she pushed the door open, peaking her head in like a mom would. “Oh.”

           Kori paused, looking from Halley to Jason. Jason had been the first one she saw, catching him lying in the girl’s bed with tussled hair and shirtless, the sheets covering his lower half. She quickly averted her eyes, seeing how he rushed to cover his, erm-uh, area, with his hands. She blinked looking up to Halley, seeing how frazzled she looked as well. She was standing in the middle of the room, between the door and the bed. She looked back at Jason and then back to the girl, already knowing what she walked in on.

           “Oh,” she repeated, this time more coyly, enjoying their blank stares. What was the earth phrase? Like deer’s in headlights? She smirked, giving Halley a teasing look before pointing between the pair of them as she slowly began to close the door. “Well don’t just stay there; get dressed. Like I said Dick and Wally are back with pizza.”

           Once the door was closed both teens didn’t make a move to do anything, mortified about what just happened. She had said it, she had said that it was too risky to too anything in the Tower, but did she listen to herself? Of course not, she caved and now they were surely going to face the wrath of Dick because there was no way Kori would keep this a secret.

           “Why didn’t she fuckin’ wait a second after knocking?” Jason shouted under his breath, being the first to speak. He flared his hands about, confused at how Kori didn’t grasp the concept. “You knock, then you wait until you’re told it’s good to come in.”

           “Because for whatever reason, she’d been on earth for almost a decade now but still doesn’t understand the earthly concept of knocking,” Halley found herself saying, rushing over to her mirror to straighten up her appearance.  

           She remembered when she lived here Kori was always barging into her room, always forgetting to knock. Back then she had nothing to hid but still felt that it was annoying and was glad when Dick talked to the alien about. He at least got her to agree on knocking before entering Halley’s room, so now she’d at least have some sort of notice.

           “Dick’s going to fuc-,”

           “Shush,” Halley quickly shushed him, not ready to come to terms with reality. “Kori likes me. She likes you. She wouldn’t purposely do anything to get us murdered.” She said, her voice sounding very trying.

           And for the most part, Halley had been right. Kori hadn’t purposely gone out of her way to make what she saw known but the Tamaranean also couldn’t help herself. The side looks she kept shooting the pair as they sat together during the team’s movie pizza night was enough to raise a few eyebrows; everyone knew when Kori knew something that they didn’t. It was also the fact that she had went out of her way to sit next to them, the area already crowded but Kori had pushed her way next to Halley which in turn made the younger girl push herself closer to Jason, thighs brushing against the other’s. Their blushes and Kori’s smirk not going unnoticed by Dick.

           It hadn’t stopped there either. The next morning during breakfast she’d questioned Jason how Halley slept, seeing that the girl was normally an early riser but hadn’t still not joined them for breakfast yet. Jason tried playing it cool, asking how he would know and doing everything in his power to avoid Dick’s harsh glare.

           The incidents weren’t even just with the two of them, after one particular trip to the grocery store, Dick questioned as he saw Kori drop a second box of condoms into their cart. She smiled playfully before shrugging him off with a wave of her hand, “If you don’t know by now than you truly are clueless, Dick Grayson.”

           The final straw been pulled a few days later while Dick had Halley with him running drills in the training room. Dick huffed as he blocked another hit by her feeling the sweat forming on his brow. He sidestepped her, sliding out his foot and tripped her. As she fell forward he reached out, grabbing her by the collar of her hoodie and jerked her backwards towards him.

           “What the hell is this?” He nearly choked, pulling her closer to him but not loosening his hold on her hood; if anything he pulled it tighter, showing off the skin on the side of her neck better.

           “What’s what?” She blew, not appreciating being choked still.

           “This! What is this?” Dick repeated but more forcefully.

           Halley craned her head up to look at him, unclear on what he was talking about. Dick’s glare intensified, jabbing his finger into her skin. It took another second until it clicked, feeling herself pale as it did. She remembered cursing at Jason the other night for biting her neck a little too hard. She normally would remember to check in the morning and apply make-up but she had totally forgotten, rushing to get to the training room.  She cursed herself again, knowing that Dick damn for well sure knew what a hickey looked like and couldn’t deny it and claim it to be something else.

           “I can explain,” Halley gapped, rushing to cover the mark with the palm of her hand.

           “Oh yeah? I’d love to hear this?” Dick cut her off, not giving her the chance to talk once he started. He was right; his hunch about them was right all this time. And worst of all they’d been hiding it from him; she’d been hiding it from him. “What the hell have you been doing? Why would you let Jason do this to you! You’re only sixteen! I knew you were sneaking around with him! Does Bruce know about this! Really, Jason? Jason of all-,”

           “Dick!” She shouted, pulling herself free and pushed him back from her.

           “No! I can’t believe you! I knew I shouldn’t have left you in Gotham again!” Dick shouted right back. “I can’t trust you; you’re still keeping secrets from me!”

           “You know what?” Halley narrowed her eyes dangerously at him. “I don’t owe you an explanation if this is how you’re going to act!” She pointed an accusing finger at him as she took a step back, planning to leave the room.

           As she turned her back to him, Dick reached out, grabbing her shoulder, once again. His hold on her was a little too tight for her comfort but Dick was hell-bent on not dropping this conversation this time. When she was jerked back again she flared her nostrils like a caged animal. Feeling a nerve snap in an instant she had Dick flipped over her shoulder and back on the ground in front of her. She gritted her teeth down at him, only to let her jaw drop seconds after.

           Dick kick Halley’s feet out from underneath her, twisting his body up and moving to pin her down.  He grunted as she fought against him, trying to tug her arms out from his grip, letting out a few grunts of her own. She was angry; she was flashing back to her training sessions with her father, remembering how hard it was to beat him once he had her down into a death hold.

           Letting out a scream of frustration, she knew she was better than when she was a little girl and that Dick wasn’t her father. She stretched her legs up, snaking them around his torso and heaved him to the side. Now flipping them so she was now pinning him down. She huffed when he fought back. He was close to flipping them back, using his heavier weight against her but failed when she quickly grabbed at his hair, almost desperately.

           “Stop acting like a child; we need to have an actual conversation.” He winced as she tugged, but didn’t relent.  He was clearly out of breath, as she continued to push against him. Grabbing her wrist and tried pulling her hands off of him, he heaved, “You can’t keep pushing me away.”

           “Stop acting like my father; you’re not my father, Dick.” She gritted right back, not loosening her hold, instead tightening it and flinging her legs up as they lay on the floor locked together on their sides.

           She wrapped her legs around his neck, choking him and pushing him back onto his back. She didn’t let up even as Dick seemed to freeze at her words. She didn’t know how long they stood like that but she felt her chest heaving as she stared down at his blank expression. She didn’t snap out of it until Dick tapped on her thigh, timing himself out. She caught her breathe, snapping out of whatever trance she had found herself in and quickly got off of him.

           She pushed herself away from him, embarrassed for reacting the way she did. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she rested her chin on them, sitting with her back turned from him. She could hear him sit up, breathing just as heavy as she was.

           “I know I’m not your father. I just-,” Dick said trying to find his voice as he rubbed his throat.

           “Then stop acting like it.” She spat, barely turning her head to look at him before jerking back away.

           “Halley, I just-,”

           “Care?” She questioned, quirking her head to the side, as if in disbelief. “I thought you did and I know deep down you do but lately it doesn’t feel like it. Ever since I moved to Gotham, we always just end up fighting. And I don’t get it; this was your idea! I’m just doing what you wanted me to do and I trusted you but it’s still not good enough; it’s just like with my father.

           “I didn’t have to be a Wayne.” Halley kept on going, finally feeling herself explode with all the pent up feelings she hadn’t fully realized she had pent up. “I could’ve been a Grayson; you could’ve adopted me instead of Bruce. But that’s not what you wanted and I get it; I totally do but this was your idea and you’re mad that I made myself a life in Gotham and that I actually really like Jason. You’re taking whatever you have against him out on me and I just don’t know how else to please you.”  

           Dick felt himself unable to find any words to say. He wasn’t good at this kind of confrontation or at least any form of confrontation directed towards him. He was wondering if this was how Bruce felt when he gave his old mentor an ear full before quitting and joining the Titan’s fulltime. If this was how it felt, part of him felt like calling him up and apologizing because this felt like shit.

           “Why do you hate him so much?” Halley simply asked finding her voice stronger than his.

           “I don’t hate him.” He said, finding it easier to address than her little speech against him.

           “It sure seems like you do.” She shook her head, still refusing to look at him.

           “Well I don’t.” Dick said firmly, sitting up straight. He pulled one leg up, bending it at the knee so he could rest an arm against it. Running his other hand through his hair, rubbing gentle where it still slightly stung from her pulling it, he let out a pained sigh. “I just- you don’t understand.”

           “Then explain it to me because he’s done nothing wrong towards you that warrants how you treat him.” Halley said, sounding ready to fight again. She jerked her body around, sitting to face him. “I don’t understand it. You gave up being Robin; why are you so mad that he’s Robin now?”

           “Yes, I gave up being Robin!” Now it was his turn to sound like he was ready to fight. Pressing forward he explained it to her, just like she had asked. “I had to give up being Robin because I was always working for Batman, not with Batman. He didn’t see me as his equal; he didn’t see me unless it fit him. It was great at first but it got lonely real quick. He made it known that he only cared about the mission.”

           “Then why did you trust me with him?” She felt herself softening, seeing how dark his facial features turned. “If he was that bad?”

           “Because he has a thing for helping kids who need it.” Dick looked down at his hands before gripping them into fists. “He was many things but he did help me. He helped me move on from my parent’s death. He helped me bring their murderer to justice. I have no clue what I’m doing with you, clearly. I just thought he’d do a better job than I could.

           “And I think he has. I’m proud of you,” Dick said, feeling his eyes somewhat water but bit them back. Looking up at the girl sitting on the side of him and went on, finally getting to say everything he wanted to say, “You’re doing really good work as Nightshade and you’re  off in school, doing really well from what Alfred tells me. You’re coming out of your shell, doing the school paper, making friends and now you have a boyfriend-,

           Dick almost wanted to laugh when he saw a blush reach her cheeks. Shaking his head and reaching out a gentle hand to rest on Halley’s shoulder. He let a quick smile grace his lips for a second when she didn’t pull or push him away.

           “Look, I know I’m not your father and I don’t want you to think that I’m trying to act like one. I’m whatever you need me to be. I just care for you a lot and want what’s best for you, okay?”

           Halley looked down from his gaze, feeling a lump in her throat. She moved forward, pulling herself towards him. She buried face into his chest, snugly wrapping her arms around his torso. No one had had said they were proud of her before or at least seriously. She remembered the time when Slade told her he was proud of her. He was joking of course, having said it after she had finally made her first sniper shot but only after failing a few missions in a row due to nerves. Dick actually meant it though, she knew he did. She could tell from the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes. He was actually proud of her; he truly cared.

           Dick smiled, lagging in his movements as it took a moment to process that she was hugging him. Knowing how rare hugs from Halley were, he let himself revel in it. He folded his own arms around her, nestling his head on top of hers. He missed being close with her like he had been before, feeling a connection with her he never felt with anyone else before. Dick let the moment soak in, hoping that this was the moment that they needed to go back to being partners in crime again.

           It hadn’t been until long after the moment was over and the two had separated had Dick decided he was going to go one step further. He found himself on the roof, having to use the Tower’s security systems to find them but he had eventually found both Jason and Halley hiding out on the roof. He was quiet as he approached, watching as they sat on the edge, laughing about something or other.

           He cleared his throat, gaining their attention and giving them an awkward nod. He saw Halley give him a confused look, unsure why he was there, whereas Jason looked miffed by his presence already. Dick moved forward, hands in his pockets as he did.

           “Mind if I have a moment alone with Jason?” He asked Halley.

           She gave him a slight look of concern with Dick responding with a chuckle. He gave her a sincere look, silently promising that he wasn’t here to fight. Halley had a somewhat hopefully look on her face now, wondering if their talk earlier was actually going to work. She had spent the rest of the morning wanting it to but also hadn’t wanted to get her hopes to high up. She got up giving Jason an apologetic look as he shot her a look of betrayal.

           “What did I do now?” Jason complained standing up and turning away from Dick once Halley was back in the Tower. Why did she have leave him alone with him, Jason thought.

           “You’re in love with her?” Dick said, sounding in the middle of a question and a statement. He completely ignored Jason’s question, moving to join him.

           “Excuse me?” Jason asked looking peeved; Halley hadn’t mentioned her and Dick’s conversation earlier and he had been completely thrown off by Dick light attitude he was carrying.

           “Halley. Are you in love with her?” Dick reiterated, swinging his leg off the edge to sit. He looked up at Jason, it being clear how the boy was already trying to either come up with some sort insult to shoot his way or some way to change the subject. Dick chuckled, looking out to the skyline of Jump City. “Its fine, I’m okay with it.”

           “You’re okay with it? Excuse me?” Jason looked at him in disbelief.

           “Yeah, I’m okay with it.”

           “I’m sorry, I don’t think I’m hearing you correctly-,”

           “Jason, you’re hearing me just fine, look-,”

           “Wow, who are you and what have you done to the real Dick Grayson?” Jason mocked a gasp, ending the chain of interrupting each other end and letting how bitter he was towards the former Robin be laced in his tone. “What do you want? Me to break up with her or something? Cause that’s totally cliché and not happening.”

           “I said I was fine with it.” Dick said, trying bit back his impatience “That’s not what I want at all.” Dick tried to reassure him but knew that the problems between them wouldn’t be fixed that quickly. He’d still try though. “I actually wanted to thank you.”

           “You wanted to thank me?” Jason said still clearly cautious, waiting for some sort of set up.

           “Yeah and apologize.”

           “Okay, no seriously? Who are you?”

           “I’m being serious, Jason.” Dick let out a deep chuckle. “Look I’m sorry I’ve been a jackass to you. We got off on the wrong foot and that was my fault, so this is me wanting to give us a clean slate.”

           Dick outstretched his hand, offering it for Jason to shake as a form of truce.  He watched as the younger boy just stared at it for a few seconds, making Dick feel as if he would just slap it out of the way. He wouldn’t put it past Jason to do such a thing, he didn’t really deserve Jason accepting his apology but he wanted to try, not just for Halley but for Jason himself.

           “This is weird,” Jason said, making a face but warily shook Dick’s hand.

           “Only if you make it weird,” Dick tried to joke, earning a scowl from Jason. At least it wasn’t a glare, Dick thought. It was progress and progress was good for now.

[lilacmoon83]

A Darker Curse

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 23: Whatever It Takes

Snow gazed through the window to the interrogation room and tried to calm her racing heart. She was trying to clamp down on her panic, as she refused to break down with Cora in the room. She wouldn't give her the satisfaction, but she was finding it increasingly difficult to stay calm as the moments passed.

Slowly, she felt a bit of it ebb away, as he put his arms around her waist.

"They're not taking Emma from us. If I have to move us into the woods or we have to live on the run, then that's what we'll do," he said. She sniffed.

"Never again Snow...she's not separating this family again," he promised, as he pressed a kiss to her hair. She turned in his arms and hugged him tightly, almost afraid that he was going to disappear. They looked at Gold, as he came out of the interrogation room with Neal.

"What happened?" Snow asked with bated breath.

"They offered me a deal. Three years with the possibility of early parole. It's not a bad deal for the charges," Neal said.

"You're taking it?" Snow asked in surprise.

"Of course he's not taking it," Gold answered for him.

"Papa…" Neal said with a sigh.

"No Bae...I told you that I am not losing you again," he snapped, as hobbled toward Cora.

"If he is taken away...there will be no where you can hide from me," he warned. She smirked.

"I look forward to any battle with you, Rumple...you always lose against me," she cooed.

"Not this time," he hissed, as he went back inside the interrogation room to represent Emma.

~*~

Emma sat in the interrogation room and waited for the Detective to start asking questions.

"Miss Swan...we have several surveillance tapes on record that show Mr. Cassidy pocketing goods, while it appears you are distracting the store proprietor," the detective said.

"That's what you're going with? Because in this video, it appears that Miss Swan is actually purchasing goods from the store clerk," Gold objected.

"That's a well known tactic with teams of thieves. One actually makes a purchase, while the other is stealing them blind," Michael argued.

"Hardly much to go to a jury with. Especially when the young woman you are attacking is just a young, single mother that has moved to a small town to raise her baby. A young mother who is now our town's deputy," Gold countered.

"Yes...a young, single mother. Raised by another single mother. I pulled your mother's file, Miss Swan," Michael said.

"You leave my mother out of this. She has nothing to do with any of it," Emma snapped, which made the detective smirk and Gold put his hand up to silence her.

"You know...it's not often in the digital age that I run across someone that hasn't left a digital footprint, but before 1983, there's no real record of your mother and when I ran her in the system, her papers came up as fake. Your brother's too. That makes them undocumented persons in this country and forged identities is also a criminal offense," detective Bishop said. Emma looked like a deer in the headlights at that information. She had never anticipated that this detective would have dug so deep into her mother's background.

"Miss Swan's mother is not on trial here," Gold interjected.

"But she could be," Michael warned.

"Mary Margaret Swan is not an undocumented person," Regina interjected, as she walked through the door.

~*~

Outside the room at the same time

"Oh Gods…" Mary uttered, as she realized that the documents she had managed to get for herself and August all those years ago were now in question.

"Dammit...this could be bad," August muttered to David.

"He's not taking Emma and he sure as hell isn't going to take you or Snow either," David hissed, as he pressed a kiss to his wife's head.

"Stay with her," he said, as he went over to talk to Regina, who was talking to Graham at the same time.

"We have to do something…" he blurted out.

"And I am getting ready to go in there now. I have a plan and part of it is this," Regina said, as Graham handed a badge to him. He was stunned for a moment and took the star in his hand.

"While Emma is embroiled in this calamity, I need help and Regina tells me that there is no one better to deputize than you to help protect this town," Graham said. David swallowed thickly, as the insecurities he still had from the abuse he had suffered gnawed at him and told him there was no way he was good enough for this. But he banished those thoughts and clipped the star to his belt. If wearing this badge meant finally getting to protect the people he loved, then he was eager.

"You can count on me and I think I might know of something that will help get rid of them. It's a bit outrageous, but if it sends them running for the town line, because it's too crazy for them to handle, then I'm good with that," he said. Regina smirked and walked past him to go into the room, but not before leaning close.

"Welcome back, Prince Charming," she said, as she burst into the room.

"Mary Margaret Swan is not an undocumented person," Regina interjected.

"Oh?" he asked.

"She's my step-sister and she escaped our town with Emma when she was a baby to save her life. She took August too and adopted him to protect him as well," Regina explained.

"And what exactly was she running from?" Michael inquired.

"My mother...the very woman that called you here. She's the real villain in all this and once again, she's trying to destroy my sister and her family. But now that I'm older and finally in a position of power...I'm not going to let her do it. Or you," Regina said.

"If she's an undocumented person in this country, one call to the correct government agency, and it will be out of all our hands," Michael replied.

"Really? You're going to call the Feds and get yourself kicked off your own case?" Regina questioned skeptically and he looked a little startled by that, as she had clearly called his bluff.

"Fine...give me one good reason why I should believe this story?" he questioned, as the door opened again and David stood in the doorway.

"Because...I was there for all of it. Emma's best chance was leaving this place, even if it killed me to see her and her mother go," David interjected. The detective looked confused.

"I'm sorry...who are you?" he asked.

"I'm Mary Margaret's husband...and Emma's father," he announced.

~*~

Outside the room at the same time

Snow gasped, as her husband dropped information that the people from outside their world wouldn't be able to understand.

"Charming...what are you doing?" she said in a worried tone. August chuckled.

"Yeah...we're not going anywhere, mom, because your husband is about to go all Prince Charming on their asses," he quipped.

"But...they'll never believe it," she replied.

"Oh, I don't think they'll have any choice," August said, as she listened to the spectacle.

"I'm sorry...you want me to believe that you're this young woman's father?" Michael asked, almost laughing at the idea of it.

"I don't care what you believe," David said, as he plucked a hair from his head and put it in an evidence bag that Regina handed to him.

"Take it and a sample from Emma. Have the hospital run it and I'm guarantee that it will prove it," David said.

"And even if I were to go test your DNA against hers...how does that change the fact that your supposed daughter is a potential suspect in several thefts?" Michael asked.

"It would definitely prove that there is obviously more going on here than you know and things you don't understand. And as for your case against Emma...if I had to guess, it's circumstantial at best. You just want to question her to see if you can get her to admit anything. I'm no stranger to interrogation tactics," David replied. He was bluffing a bit there, but he had a good amount of confidence in his ability to at least intimidate even the seasoned detective before him. And he could tell that his mind was doing gymnastics, as he looked between them. Emma was the perfect mixture of himself and Snow and the resemblance was obvious. No one bothered to look for it before, but now that it was on the table...it was hard to deny.

Greg studied the man with scrutiny and could see the resemblance between them. It was really weird, but then...that's why he was here. This town had popped into existence twenty-eight years ago and he knew that meant strange things were going on here. This might be the start of exposing it all.

"I'll take you up on that test," Greg spoke up and Michael looked at him in surprise. Emma shrugged and plucked a hair from her head

"Can we please get back to my questions for Miss Swan?" Michael interjected.

"Is my client under arrest?" Gold questioned. Michael gave him a hard look.

"Not at this time," he said reluctantly.

"Which means you really have only conjecture against her so without any hard evidence, then we are done here," Gold stated.

"Your son is still very much under arrest and he's spending the night in that holding cell. Then tomorrow morning, he's leaving for Portland with us," Michael hissed.

"I do have some questions for your mother, Miss Swan," he said.

"No...you don't. My sister-in-law, our new Mayor, just told you that she's native to this town," David responded.

"He's right...I can get the town Census if you'd like and I can assure you that my mother, the former Mayor who had a stranglehold on this town until now, is the real evil. She's ripped out more hearts than you can imagine," Regina added.

"Fine...but this isn't over. There is something rotten in this town and we're going to find out what it is," Greg said, as he and Detective Bishop left the room. Tia was about to follow them, but Gold and Regina cut her off.

"Not so fast...fairy," Gold growled. The blonde smirked.

"So you know," she said.

"Did you really think I wouldn't recognize you?" Regina asked.

"It doesn't matter," Tinkerbell replied.

"It does!" Regina exclaimed.

"Your mother ruined my life," she spat.

"Look around...she's ruined everyone's lives! But we're finally making progress against her. She's going down, so I'd like to know why you of all people would do anything to help her," Regina hissed.

"I'm not doing any of this to help her...believe me," Tinkerbell answered.

"Then why are you here, Tink? Cause I'd really like to know. I really thought we were friends," Neal interjected, as he stepped back into the room.

"You know Tinkerbell?" Emma asked.

"I was in Neverland for almost two hundred years. It's how I'm still alive," Neal replied. Emma's mind was a little blown at that, but then there was a lot she had never known about him before he came back into her life.

"Bae...I'm glad you're okay and that you got away," she said.

"Looks like you got away too," he mentioned and she frowned.

"Not exactly," she said, as Emma turned to her father. Emma wanted to listen in on that, but she took a moment to turn her attention to her father.

"Dad...are you sure that was a good idea? The DNA is going to match and it's not going to make any sense to them," Emma said.

"No...but it distracted them enough, especially that district attorney. He seemed pretty interested, which begs the question as to why. Seems like he might not be the only one that isn't what he seems," David replied. Emma had never thought about that and felt relief, as he hugged her.

"No one's taking you and your mother from me again," he promised, as he pressed a kiss to her hair, just as Snow came rushing into the room. She practically tackled him to the ground and he took her in his arms, as she crushed her lips against his.

As their lips parted, they started to hear things get pretty heated between Regina and the blonde detective that was really Tinkerbell, a former fairy.

"What do you mean...not exactly?" Neal asked. But his eyes widened, as he saw his father swing his cane at her. She dodged and David jumped in to diffuse the situation.

"Whoa...whoa...what are you doing?" he asked, but Rumple ignored the Prince.

"You're working for him," he growled in an accusatory manner.

"Not by choice...but it was the only way to get out of that hellhole," Tink replied.

"Working for who?" Regina questioned.

"Shit...please tell me you're not working for him," Neal said in exasperation.

"Someone better tell me who the hell you're talking about," Regina interjected.

"Pan…" Rumple hissed.

"Well...isn't that kind of obvious? I mean in the story I always heard...Tinkerbell kind of worked for Pan," Emma chimed in.

"Em...you of all people know that this world's quote, official story, is rarely on point," August reminded her and she shrugged.

"But nothing on Pan is in your book," Snow interjected.

"No...but I'm still the author and the pen tells me things," August said, as he met Gold's gaze and he sighed.

"Tell them...or I have to," he prodded. Gold glared at him and he shrugged.

"They're my family and every time I lie, it seems to come with more consequences than it does for a normal person," August added.

"Papa...do you know Pan?" Neal asked.

"Yes...he's my father," Gold announced, shocking them all.

"Your father?" Regina asked in disbelief.

"Isn't Pan a kid?" Emma wondered.

"Not really...he just looks like one," August answered, as they looked at Neal, whose mouth was ajar.

"I take it you didn't know that," Emma said.

"That...psycho is my grandfather?" Neal questioned.

"No...he stopped being my father when he abandoned me, so he's no grandfather to you. He's the worst...even worse than Cora," Gold said.

"Why would you work for Pan?" Neal asked in disbelief.

"Isn't it obvious?" Tinkerbell asked.

"Your freedom. The question is...what does he want in return? Because not even my pen is telling me what that is," August replied, as their eyes met, before hers finally flicked back to Neal.

"You should say your goodbyes, Baelfire. We'll be leaving for Portland in the morning," she said, as she prepared to leave. Rumple blocked her path and she glared at him.

"Out of my way, Dark One…" she hissed.

"You're not going anywhere, flea," he hissed back.

"Move...or I'll make sure you join your son in a jail cell," she threatened.

"If you think this is over...you have another thing coming," Gold replied, as he stepped aside and let her leave.

"What now?" Emma wondered.

"We work on a plan to make sure those detectives don't take either of you away," David replied.

~*~

Cora stared at the blonde detective through the glass and their eyes met, as she walked out into the office part of the station.

"Well, well...long time no see, Madam Mayor," Tink said smugly.

"Oh that's right...former Mayor. Unfortunately, you look none the worse for wear after your fall from power, but I'd say if the lynch mob in there has anything to do with it, you're going to be burning at the stake when they're done," she added, as Cora glared at the former fairy.

"That's definitely a bonfire that I'd bring marshmallows to," she joked, as Kathryn looked confused by the whole thing.

"Excuse me...who are you? And why would David claim that he's Emma's father? That's insane. And he keeps saying he's that little tramp's husband when he's really mine," Kathryn complained. Tink rolled her eyes.

"Whoa...you really did a number on this one I see," the blonde commented, as she brushed past her.

"Watch your back, Madam Mayor...you have made a lot of enemies and you might find a knife in it," Tink said, as she left the station.

"Cora…" Kathryn started to say.

"Shut up and follow me," Cora snapped, as the blonde obeyed.

"Where are we going?" Kathryn asked.

"I have something I must do to ensure that all my enemies will be destroyed," Cora answered darkly.

~*~

"So...what's our next move?" David muttered to Rumple.

"I think the real question is...how far are you willing to go to protect our families, deputy?" Rumple countered. David glanced over at Emma, Snow, and August, as they both exchanged hugs with his wife.

"Too far doesn't exist when it comes to them. What do we need to do?" David asked. Rumple smirked.

"Your little stunt with the DNA was a nice touch and it might be just the distraction we need. Depending upon how that goes, I'll know what we need to do next. For now...take your family home," he instructed. David nodded and put his arm around Snow. They exited the interrogation room, just as Cora was leaving with Kathryn following her like a puppy. By the way they were walking, it was clear they were off somewhere with purpose.

"What do you think they're going to try next?" Snow asked, with a slight quiver in her voice. Her normally strong exterior had been deeply shaken by these people's attempts to take her daughter away. But unlike so many times in the last twenty years, she wasn't facing adversity alone this time.

"I don't know and I don't care, because they can't tear this family apart again. She may have succeeded once before, but her time in power is over. She's going to lose this time," he promised. Snow turned and he pulled her into his arms, as she rested her head against his shoulder. His words, as always, gave her hope and comfort. But she also knew Cora. She knew she was desperate again and feared what it may drive her to do now.

"Let me take you home," he suggested and she nodded.

"Honey...are you coming?" she asked their daughter.

"Uh...I'll be along later. I think Neal and I are going to take little David to the park and spend some time with him, you know, just in case," Emma replied.

"We're not letting you go, princess...and if I know Gold like I think I do...he won't be letting his son go either," David promised. She nodded, as a few tears escaped down her cheeks and they hugged her between them.

"I love you guys," she said, as she felt her mom press a kiss to her forehead.

"We love you too, baby and we're finally a family," she said, as she took her daughter's hands in her own.

"Your father is right...there is no way in hell we are letting you go and that goes for Neal too," she promised. Emma nodded, as she watched him put their son in his stroller and then went to join him, as they left the station. The detective and the district attorney would be upset to find that they didn't put Neal in a cell when they returned to the station, but she couldn't be bothered to give a damn.

"How about you, sweetheart?" Snow asked, as she noticed her son's preoccupation.

"Yeah...I'll be home later too. I think there's a story to chase here," August replied.

"You mean with Tinkerbell," Snow deduced.

"There is a long, sordid story there and it stops at the point when Blue banished her," he said, as he scoffed.

"Another person screwed over by the benevolent Blue Fairy. I think she needs to know she's in good company," he said.

"You think you can find some common ground with her?" David asked.

"It's worth a shot. You know, I don't know a lot about Pan, but I do know that he's known to prey on lost people. Maybe she just needs someone to offer her a home, like you did for me, Mom," August said, as he looked at her.

"Me?" Snow asked. He smiled and gently hugged her.

"You once told me that all you wanted when you were on the run as a bandit was a home and that you found it when you met David," he reminded her.

"And then I found it with you," he added.

"I mean...I know I had Geppetto for a while and he was a good papa, but to be honest, I don't remember a lot of that. I was too young and the trauma of the night the curse was cast and what he did will always overshadow it all," he continued.

"He was scared, honey...don't be too hard on him," Snow admonished.

"You're kind for saying that, Mom...but regardless, I would have been a very lost little boy without you. I honestly don't know how I would have turned out if you hadn't come through the wardrobe after me," he said.

"What was taken from you...from you both was so unfair. You lost almost everything, but you gave everything to me," he replied, as Snow melted and hugged him tightly.

"I love you so much sweetheart," she gushed.

"I love you too, Mom and we were always okay, because you fought and worked so hard for us," he said, as he gazed down at her.

"But now...we no longer have to worry ourselves about you," he said, as he looked at David with a smile. Snow smiled shyly, as David slid his arms around her.

"No...you don't," she said.

"Anyway, maybe Tinkerbell just needs to know that Pan's way isn't the only way and that maybe she can find a home, instead of doing his bidding. Either way, there is a story here and I think it needs to be in the book," he said, as he left the station as well.

"Do you think all that is really about a story?" David asked her and she smiled.

"Definitely not, but I think I'll take you up on that offer to take me home," she replied. He smiled and kissed her tenderly, before leading her out to his truck.

~*~

As Gold stormed back to his shop, he was surprised when he ran into Lacey.

"Oh...there you are. I was actually on my way to the station. I...I heard about your son," she said.

"Well...whatever you heard isn't happening," he growled, as he brushed past her.

"You mean they're not taking him out of town?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, they're going to try and if they do...I will make sure it is the last thing any of them do," he said darkly.

"Let me help," she offered and he looked at her skeptically.

"You want to help me?" he questioned. She shrugged.

"You helped me by putting Keith in his place and I'd like to help you with whatever you need," she replied.

"I'm not a good man. If you want to work with me, you might see some very dark things," he warned. She smirked.

"Oh I'm counting on it," she replied. He wasn't sure whether to be excited by her attitude or sad. On one hand, Lacey being attracted to his darkness was inviting. But Belle had always been the opposite of that and therein kept him tied to his humanity. Either way though, he didn't have time for any of it.

"Come along if you so wish," he said, as she followed him with a smirk.

~*~

The more this day went on, the more confused Kathryn grew. Everything David had said and done at the station had confused her to her very core. He had told that detective that he was Mary Margaret's husband and Emma's father. It was absolutely ludicrous, but then he had gone and given them a DNA sample like it would be some sort of proof. It was impossible though. Complete and utter lunacy and yet no one else around him was treating it as such. Instead, the new Mayor Mills and Sheriff Humbert had rewarded his idiocy by giving him a deputy badge of all things. And if she hadn't felt like she was in the Twilight Zone before...she did now.

She had followed Cora to the old library, which had been locked and boarded up for years. Cora had pulled out an astonishingly large ring of more keys than Kathryn had ever seen and let them into the old building. Sidney Glass was there too and she had gotten into a hand cranked elevator with the former Mayor.

Now she was confused and terrified, for they had been lowered into a cavern beneath the library and it was pitch black.

"What...what are we doing down here?" Kathryn asked, as she finally found her voice.

"I need something," Cora replied vaguely, as she watched the woman look and stopped, as she leaned up against something.

"This...this doesn't feel like a wall. It...it feels scaly…" Kathryn said in a frightened tone, as she walked back from the mass that lay in the cavern.

"What...what is that?" she asked, as her eyes refused to believe what they were seeing.

"Never mind that! Get over here!" Cora hissed, as the other woman stumbled around the rocky outcroppings in the cavern, until she finally found Cora and stared at the object before them.

"A coffin?" Kathryn squeaked with a quiver in her voice. Cora smirked and gently ran a gloved hand along the dirty glass covering.

"A glass coffin," she corrected.

"This was once the answer to me getting everything I ever wanted," she continued.

"She was never supposed to be such a problem...but she rallied more love and support around her than even her distasteful mother ever could. But this was supposed to be her end," she said.

"She was supposed to sleep here eternally, her own body as her tomb. And he was supposed to be executed so he could never press the kiss of true love to her red lips," she continued.

"Then her suffering would have been eternal. She would never awaken, yet never die...she'd never be allowed to reunite with her true love and then my revenge would have been complete," she growled, as she thrust her hand through the glass and pulled out a small, velvet pouch.

"But they ruined it...they ruined my perfect revenge and now my perfect curse," she said, as she pulled a large black diamond out of the pouch and cruel smile curled on her lips.

"What is that?" Kathryn asked. Cora looked at her.

"The only way I'm ever going to get rid of all my enemies," Cora replied darkly.

[lexiepiper]

Yoooo @celestial-hieroglyphs Merry Christmas!!! Here’s your Christmas Truce, a bit early but I wanted to make sure it was done on time! I hope you like it.

(Also on ff.net, but the format goes funny every time I upload something so if it’s full of html I’m sorry)

Warmth

Characters: Danny, Valerie

Grey Ghost

Summary: High above the town, Danny hides from his problems... or at least he tries to.

-------

Danny dangled his legs over the edge of the clock tower, his fingers curling around the edge as his feet kicked in the empty air. A stiff wind tousled his hair and snapped his shirt against his body. The city lights glimmered beneath him, and the boy’s gaze automatically slipped over the white and yellow spots until they found the misshapen neon glare of the Fentonworks sign across town.

The low drone of a hoverboard buzzed through the night. Danny gripped the edge of the building tighter, leaning his body backwards until he was lying down with his feet still hanging in empty space. His view of the city was gone, replaced by the starry expanse above.

The sound of the board grew louder, and the halfa pointedly ignored the figure that flew over the edge of the building and hovered next to him.

“Get up.”

At least it wasn’t his mother.

When Danny didn’t move or respond in any way, the huntress shifted beside him, and suddenly his view of the stars was drowned out by a headlight beam shining directly onto his face. “Really?” he groaned, lifting an arm to block the light.

“Really,” she responded, “or I’ll knock you off the building.”

Danny sighed, closing his eyes and dropping the arm. “You do that then,” he mumbled.

For a moment, all he could hear was the wind and the motor of Valerie’s board. Then the light was gone, and he heard her suit retract with a mechanical whir before she settled beside him.

“Have you eaten anything?”

“Not since they forced me to drink a whole bottle of Gatorade,” Danny said.

There was the sound of a zipper followed by the click of plastic being set down on concrete, and the ghost boy’s stomach tightened with hunger at the sudden heady scent of spices. “You’re supposed to eat properly,” the huntress chided as Danny finally opened his eyes. “You can’t afford to be starving if some stupidly powerful ghost decides to attack.”

He sat up with a grunt, swinging his legs back onto the roof and sitting cross-legged in front of his friend. “My core’s not gunna burn out from one missed meal,” he insisted as Valerie continued to remove the lids from small plastic containers of steaming saffron rice and a couple of different curries. The aroma was overwhelming, and Danny scooted closer to her.

She snorted in response, stowing the lids beneath their respective containers to prevent them from blowing away. “I’ve seen what you’re like in battle after missing a meal,” she reminded him, “and fighting abilities aside, you Mum’d skin you if she knew you hadn’t eaten anything since lunch.”

Danny sighed, accepting a bowl and fork from his companion. “You didn’t have to get take-out though,” he said. “Indian’s expensive.”

Valerie shrugged. “I put it on Sam’s ‘ghost boy’ tab,” she responded. “You know she has it set up with pretty much every fast food joint around town, right?”

Danny felt his face heat up. “I only use it for emergencies,” he insisted.

“You haven’t eaten in ten hours,” Valerie snapped. “I’d say that’s an emergency.”

Danny chose not to comment further on the subject, and they fell into silence as he spooned rice and a generous helping of what looked like butter chicken into his bowl. After Valerie had served herself and they both started eating, she spoke again. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Danny shook his head around a mouthful, keeping his gaze firmly on the bowl in his hands. Ever since his secret had become common knowledge, talking was just something he couldn’t seem to face. The silence stretched, pressing against his thoughts.

He jumped when the building shuddered beneath them, the low, sonorous chimes of the town’s clock rattling the halfa’s skull. Valerie swore in between the peals, putting her plate on the ground and clapping her hands over her ears. Each fresh sound drove itself straight through their bodies, Danny’s core shuddering at the raw ripples of energy.

“How can you stand that?” Valerie demanded once the final note had faded, her voice louder than usual.

Danny shrugged, keeping his gaze on his meal. Besides a faint ringing in his ears which dissipated within seconds, the overpowering sounds had had little effect, even though the girl in front of him was clearly rattled; he could easily note her trembling hands in the gloom. His mood soured again at the reminder of his less-than-human features.

Valerie huffed as she reclaimed her bowl, opening her jaw wide and grunting in satisfaction as Danny faintly heard the crackle of ligaments stretching. “Sorry,” she said as their eyes met properly for the first time since her arrival, “just popping my ears.”

His gaze slipped away again, fixing itself on his food. “I should be apologising,” he mumbled. “That could have really hurt you.”

She snorted. “I’d be a pretty poor huntress if I was deafened by something like that.”

Danny twirled the fork through his rice, pushing it into mounds heavy with butter sauce. “Still, you can’t ignore the laws of physics.”

“I’m fine,” she insisted. “You’re the one who should worry about that much energy running through your core.”

“That wasn’t enough to hurt me,” he responded, taking a mouthful in an attempt to signal that he would rather eat than talk about himself right now.

Either Valerie didn’t get the hint, or she ignored it. “You know, you don’t need to act like that,” she chastised, voice gentle. “You … you’re not invincible, Danny.”

“I’m close,” he ground out, the handle of the fork digging into his palm. His brain screamed at him to leave, to just turn invisible and hightail it out of there, but the more rational side held him in place. Better to get the conversation over with out here, in the stiff evening breeze where he could breathe under the stars, instead of suffocating inside Valerie’s room or his parents’ lab or a similar space where his thoughts would stall and keep slipping back to claustrophobic thoughts and dark, awful spaces that he just couldn’t face right now…

“You may be close,” she said, her words snapping away from that intruding darkness, “but even if you can’t die, you can still be hurt.”

Danny’s eyes met hers before he could stop them, and the sheer stability of her gaze was something for him to cling to.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, his words snatched by the wind and flung away, out over the city’s lights. He didn’t even know why he said it, or who he was actually apologising to, but Danny knew that it was important for him to say.

Valerie’s shadowed face shifted into something soft, the small, hard lines that creased her brow melting away. “You have nothing to be sorry for,” she insisted.

Danny looked away as his stomach twisted, and he wasn’t sure if it was from hunger or the shame that burned through his gut. “I’m so weak,” he muttered. He needed to clarify this, to explain why he had run, why he just couldn’t do this anymore.

At the edge of his vision, her brow creased again. “You are not –”

“I fainted, Val!” he spat, feeling the metal fork warp in his tightening grip. He looked away, out over the lights that sparkled through the night. “It was just a di… a-a frog dissection video…” His breathing hitched, and Danny blinked as his eyes prickled. The wind pulled at his hair and he took a deep breath, holding it in as the wide sky above dragged him away from that still, stagnant room where he couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe…

A gentle touch snapped his gaze back into focus, and Danny stared as Valerie’s soft hand slid over his own, warm against his cold skin. “You’re bleeding,” she simply said, and Danny uncurled his fingers. Cuts had opened across his hand – thin, straight lines from the twisted, split handle of the fork. The blood welled black in the darkness, but the immiscible ectoplasm glowed like the neon sign above his home, garish in the gloom.

“Sorry,” he mumbled again, dropping the fork and closing his hand in an attempt to hide that awful, inhuman fluid, but it simply seeped through his fingers. The sight sent a shudder through his body, and Danny squeezed his eyes shut as tears slipped down his cheeks. The wind chilled them on his cheeks, and he knew Valerie would be able to see the glowing drops.

With a rustle of cloth and the sweet scent of her shampoo, Danny felt Valerie press against his side and rest her head on his shoulder. She was soft and soothing, her heartbeat sounding in his ears and her hair tickling his nose.

He sniffed, leaning into her touch. It was easier to feel safe like this, with the warmth of life nestled at his side. Danny glanced down at his hand, the stinging intensifying as he uncurled his fingers once again. The cuts were already clotting, the ectoplasm’s viscosity plugging the wounds far quicker than any human processes could work. In a couple more minutes the bleeding would stop entirely, and by morning the cuts would be almost gone.

“You don’t have to be so brave, you know,” she murmured into his shirt. “You could have left when we were warned about the video at the start of class.”

Danny shook his head, throat tight as he struggled to find the words to say. “I shouldn’t have to,” he choked. “I’ve fought all sorts of horrible monsters, and I’ve survived what nobody should ever be able to, but… but I can’t even handle biology class.”

Valerie hummed. “You know, what happened at school… that’s a very human response. What do ghosts do when they’re faced with things that bring up bad memories?”

Danny’s answer was quick and sure, tinged with a note of bitterness. “They blast it into oblivion.”

“Exactly, but you didn’t shoot the screen.”

“No, I just –”

“You fainted, just like a human would in a situation like that. You shouldn’t be ashamed when you’ve been through something that awful.”

Danny took a deep breath, her meaning finally clear. A siren started somewhere below and they sat there in silence for a moment, her breathing a rhythm that matched his extraordinarily slow heartbeat.

“Should you get that?” Valerie murmured.

Danny shook his head. “It’s an ambulance,” he clarified. The tones of the different emergency sirens were something he knew just as well as his own phone number.

They lapsed back into silence, such an unusual exchange already natural between the two of them. It had only been a few weeks, and inwardly, Danny berated himself for keeping things hidden for so long, from Valerie, from his parents, from the people around him… It was so much easier now that everyone knew, as he finally had support to lean on from all sides, even if it was just a friend who brought him food when he moped on top of the clock tower in the middle of the night.

“You have school tomorrow,” he murmured. “It’s late.”

“Stuff school,” Valerie grumbled into his shoulder, “I’m coming with you to your rehab appointment.”

Danny smiled into the darkness, wrapping his arm around her waist in a move that curled his toes anxiously. She didn’t pull away at the contact, instead snuggling closer into his side. “I’d like that,” he whispered.

“You’d better be able to do all the stretches this time,” she said, “and walk that hundred metres.”

He readjusted his positioning as she shifted, her fingers moving to press against the ridged scar through his shirt. “I’ll try,” he promised. “It’s hurting less every day.”

“Then maybe you can stop floating and actually start walking through school,” she teased, drawing her hand back.

Danny chuckled. “Now why would I do that? Flying’s so much easier.”

She nudged her elbow into his ribs with a playful huff. Danny simply pulled her closer against his side, tilting his head to it rested on top of hers. The wind gusted past them again, threatening to topple to plastic containers still spread out in front of them, and Danny closed his eyes with a sigh.

“Thanks, Val,” he mumbled.

“Anytime, Spooky,” she whispered back.

He kissed the top of her head and she sighed, nestling closer and snaking her arm around his waist. Peace settled over the two of them, and as the rising moon peered over the dark horizon Danny felt like he could finally breathe again.

[eldritchsardine]

BBRae Week 2018 Day 1: Can’t Help Falling in Love With You

Okay, I almost never use Tumblr and post my stories on FF.net, but I decided I’d put BBRae Week here too at least. If you’re interested in reading more of my shit, I’m on FF under the same name as here, Eldritch Sardine: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/6470409/

Warning: This story contains mature content, AKA lots and lots of smut. Proceed at your own risk.

It all happened so quickly, over in the blink of an eye, but at the same time the entire sequence seemed to occur in slow motion as he watched. The army of enemy robots crumpling beneath him as he let out a defeating roar, the flashing of lights from his teammates fighting alongside him, the concern he pushed aside over the lack of the man they had come to stop.

The short, cut-off gasp bringing his attention to her, just as the second crimson-coated blade emerged out of her stomach, dark, glistening red quickly following and contaminating her blue cloak.

So much red.

The black and orange clad man escaping mattered none as he screamed her name, screamed it again, and kept screaming until it was merely unintelligible noise exiting his mouth involuntarily, forcing his way through the wreckage and debris even as she fell, Red pooling and spreading out from her position.

Too much red.

Finally, an eternity too long, reaching her. Nearly slipping as he knelt by her side, cradling her head to look her in the eyes. Their usual royal purple had already faded, staring upwards, unfocused. Realizing that he was still yelling, though what he wasn't sure.

Hearing the combat continuing around him, and not caring. All that mattered was the girl whose hand he took up, holding tightly, as if to force her to stay with him, anchor her to this life. Not registering the faintest of squeezes back, only more red, transfered from her palm to his.

Screaming her name. Again. Her name. Three times. Four.

Watching as her eyes slid closed, and her breathing slowed, each inhale drawing more flesh along the blades still embedded in her body. Drawing more of the red.

Until the breathing stopped.

And the world stopped.

And he screamed. Screamed, and yelled, and wailed, and did not stop until he ran out of breath, and still then he continued.

Screaming.

As Beast Boy shot upward in his bed, gasping for air and sweating, he looked about, panicked. Once he realized the nightmare had been just that, he tried to slow his racing heart, taking deep, calming breaths and closing his eyes.

However, once he did all that he could see was her body, laying lifeless in his arms.

The changeling's eyes shot open, the irrational, uncontrollable terror returning.

Finally, he swung his legs out of his bed and made his way into the hallway, which he began to walk down. As he did, images of empty purple eyes, and that terrible red plagued him, flashing before him, spurring him faster until he was sprinting through the corridors, at last reaching a door that he stopped at, only to knock on it hard, desperately, frenzied. He wasn't sure what he was doing or why, but something about her had always seemed to cause him to lose control.

Each pound against its surface reflected his own crazed heartbeat, as the pictures replayed in his mind once again.

Holding her still form in his arms, watching her eyelids drift lower. Uncaring as her blood fell upon him, marring his skin and clouding his vision.

His fist came down on the door frame harder with each impact, until he was sure that his knuckles would bare bruises after. Not that he cared. He didn't feel a thing.

Her gaze seemed to lock onto his just before it faded altogether, and it was almost as if she were trying to speak, but couldn't find the strength.

He yelled her name as he pounded, until finally, finally, his fist hit air as the door opened.

He was greeted by the very gaze that had been haunting him, her glimmering amethysts now filled with confusion and reproach rather than that horrifying nothing.

Once he saw them, he couldn't help but freeze, as if a deer caught in the headlights, enraptured by their beautiful, and unmistakably alive, gaze. His heart had jumped into his throat, or maybe stopped completely. Or was it beating harder? He couldn't tell. He nearly collapsed, his knees almost giving out beneath him as he let out a sob of relief, before falling silent again, content to stare as he attempted to regain his basic functions.

Finally, she spoke. "...Yes?"

However, he seemed to have been struck dumb by her mere presence, relief, as well as something else, flowing through his very being. He swayed on the spot slightly, unsteady in his disarray.

"I... have you... sorry," he replied, finally able to speak, but stuttering over the words, unsure what they were even as they stumbled out. He paused, trying to collect himself, still pinned by her wondering eyes.

She merely raised an eyebrow, unaware of his turmoil. "Sorry? Did you do something worth apologizing for?"

He took a deep breath. "It's... it's late and you need to rest." He gestured weakly to her midsection, and the bandages that wrapped about her, hidden beneath her cloak and leotard.

The dark empath turned and glided back into the confines of her room, which the changeling took as an invitation to follow. She reached her bed and sat on its edge, looking up at him as he stood before her. In most cases he may have noted that she had actually allowed him in her room, and the close proximity she was also permitting, but not this time. "So, why were you trying to beat down my door? You're lucky the others are out on a mission, they wouldn't have taken kindly to being awakened by that."

He averted his gaze from hers, eyes searching for some sort of a distraction, or a savior around her room, suddenly self-conscious. "...I don't know." It was more or less the truth. He never seemed to be able to help himself when she was concerned.

"Beast Boy." Still he avoided her, as if that could help him elude the inevitable questions. "Garfield." His name brought his attention, and his eyes, back to her finally.

"It's nothing."

"Nothing doesn't bring you here this early in the morning to smash my door in," she replied, deep purple irises searching his emerald greens under an arched brow. The changeling shifted from one foot to the other under her stare. "Are you okay?"

Beast Boy ran a hand through his hair, scratching at it to give him something to do other than wilt beneath his companion's gaze. "I... just wanted to see you." Though it wasn't the whole truth, the admittance helped ease his distress, as Raven's expression softened in understanding.

"You don't need to worry about me." Her familiar, raspy voice soothed his nerves, and he found it much easier to meet her eyes. "I've almost recovered completely by now."

Beast Boy shook his head. "I just don't like you without your powers though. I mean, it's great that you're healing so fast, but to trade all of your of abilities for that until you're back to normal... I don't like thinking of you defenseless."

The ghost of a smile invaded Raven's expression briefly, before disappearing, so fast he couldn't be sure he wasn't seeing things as she glanced down at her stomach. "I would prefer to have two extra holes in my body for as little time as possible, thank you very much. A short reprieve from my powers is an acceptable price." She looked back up at him pointedly. "Now, are you going to tell me why you're really here or should I kick you out?"

He sighed, hardly at all surprised that she had seen right through him, once again waving a hand vaguely at her midsection. "I had a nightmare. About that. Only... you didn't..." his voice wavered off, clouded by emotion and unable to continue without once again breaking down.

However, she seemed to understand immediately. She always understood. Her hand reached up and found his, squeezed. She had never been one for words, and so she didn't speak, allowing the contact and her eyes to do so for her. I'm still here. Don't worry. I'm still with you.

He responded, also wordlessly. I know. I just don't know what I'd do without you. I can't even imagine... Unbidden tears flooded his eyes, threatening to overflow. He never cried. Except, it seemed, when she was involved. He couldn't control himself around her. He tried to turn his head away, but of course she saw them anyways.

He didn't have time to react before she stood and pulled him into a tight embrace, much like she had done years ago in the hallway outside, only this time he returned it, allowing her scent, her feel, her warmth to sooth his consciousness, drinking in her presence. She's still here.

They remained still, holding each other, for a time he couldn't know. It could have been seconds, or hours. He just knew that she was still alive, and still with him. Still.

Eventually however, he found that they had migrated to her bed, sitting at its edge as she had, still holding the other. He pulled back finally, looking into her eyes, awed at her mere being. Absently, almost without considering the action at all, Beast Boy lifted an arm and ran his fingers lazily through her soft indigo hair, threading it between his digits easily. Under other circumstances he would have been shocked at himself over the gesture, at this time it seemed the most sensible, fitting thing to do. The empath seemed to agree, tilting her head into his hand to accommodate the action.

Unbidden, he felt himself lean forward, almost as if someone else had taken the reigns over his functions, though he knew it was merely the usual loss of control he had around her.

Returning to the present, he watched as he drew nearer to her, and as she remained motionless, this time it being her turn to freeze. The only indications she was still conscious were her eyes, darting constantly around his face, and her breathing, which was steadily becoming more hurried and shallow. Excited.

Beast Boy paused just before her face, close enough to feel the air exiting her lips with each heavy exhale, and breathed in her air himself, savoring it as his nose brushed hers, drawing a shiver from the dark, mysterious girl, who was still staring at him through clouded eyes.

Finally he could no longer stand it, and lost all inhibitions as he so often did when she was concerned, and surged forward, closing the gap between them.

Her lips on his was a foreign feeling, though not unwelcome. In fact, it was the exact opposite, he quickly decided as she began to slowly return the gesture. Their mouths moved together, a slow, heated display of passion. It was reserved and not at all hurried, but still had him at a loss for breath and pressing in for more.

His hands went directly to her cheek and small of her back, both holding her steady against him and bringing her closer, just as she rested hers on his shoulders. He sighed into her mouth as her fingers weaved into his hair as he had to her earlier, though this time with a much different motive and affect.

He tightened the arm around her, wanting to eliminate any and all space between each other, and pressing her to him. She was much warmer than he had originally realized, and so soft. However, these thoughts quickly abandoned him as she responded, and all he could think of was the frantic motion of her mouth on his, how their lips molded to the other. She was somehow gentle yet forceful, commanding and reserved, all in ways that were purely Raven.

Then even this train of thought was quickly derailed and send careening off the side of a cliff as her hands pressed down on his shoulders, lifting her body enough to sidle forward, settling onto his lap in a way that had him pushing his hips up and into her, for the first time feeling that heat that seemed to beckon to him, bringing a gasp out of each of their throats.

The changeling's eyes had been shut since the moment they had connected, but he finally opened them slightly as he felt her move, as her cloak hit the floor and leotard began to peel back, still kissing him heatedly, revealing a plain black bra and...

...bandages, wrapped countless times about her midsection, bringing him unpleasantly back to reality.

He stopped abruptly, which in turn brought her pause in removing her uniform as her eyes looks back to his emerald greens, still fastened on her injuries. His hand reached out to delicately land on the surface of the bandages, feeling her warmth beneath them. He glanced up and met her eyes. She returned his gaze evenly, and the sight of her flushed, breathless face ignited something in him, barely restrained by what lay under his right hand, concern now overriding the uncontrollable fire of moments ago.

Her eyes contained a dark something, hidden behind a curtain of self control, though said covering seemed to be steadily deteriorating, and he knew that within a short time it would completely vanish, and then there would be no stopping what followed. He also suspected that a similar look was visible to her in his own eyes.

He smoothed his hand up and down the wrappings and debated stopping, or asking her what she would like, but was distracted by her motion.

When she first began to move with a slight wriggle of her hips, he thought it was merely an attempt to adjust her position atop him.

However, when the movements continued, becoming more pronounced and laced with intent, her clothed heat pressing into his crotch repeatedly and regularly, his eyes dropped downwards briefly, without a need to pose a question of the languid, deliberate stir of her body against his, before a heavier role of her hips forced him to give a low moan and brought his gaze back to her hooded deep purples, sharing a dazed look as she continued.

After staring into their depths briefly, jade on amethyst, he began to respond to the motions, pushing up and into her as she descended, drawing a surprised gasp from her lips, before they returned to his own with need.

Together, they moved against one another, her teeth biting down on his lower lip and pulling back as his tongue darted forward to tease hers, and before he could consider why or how this had come about or what the hell they were even doing, her hand was at his waistline, sneaking under his shirt and gliding upwards along his chest, clothe riding up with it and sending shivers throughout his body. Catching the hint, he regretfully broke their contact and reached for his top, pulling it upwards and off with her assistance, before tossing it aside without a care and reconnecting desperately to her mouth, pressing her heated body against his in the process.

He considered how far this was going to go, how far she wanted it to go, when an unexpected sensation of clothe moving against his chest distracted him, followed by her moving forwards once again, only this time with the feeling of nothing at all separating themselves, and his face reddened, breathing quickening even further.

He almost paused at the realization when he felt a hand at the hem of his pants. As she tugged blindly on the waistline, unwillingly to part his his mouth for even a second, she pressed forward in a way that had him instead leaning back to slowly lie down to accommodate her, mouth never leaving hers except to take short needed gasps for air, much as he wished he didn't have to, and forgetting all else but the feeling of her warmth, her skin, her body on his.

Once he was prone on his back, she crawled up his form to settle once agin over his hips, pressing downwards deliberately, and coaxing a heavy moan from both of their mouths, Beast Boy's face reddening as she did so, as he knew that the dark girl could feel him, feel how much he physically needed her in that moment pressing against her delicious heat.

But as she continued to push against him insistently, lustful gasps dripping from her throat at infrequent intervals, he found himself caught up in an alien wish to please, to give instead of simply receive, and he pushed upwards, flipping her onto her back and pressed down as she had done moments ago, before bringing his mouth to her jawline and neck, the quiet gasps and breathes caught in her throat all the reward he needed.

This time when her hands traveled to his waistline, he helped her, tugging down his uniform pants and green boxers hurriedly, before turning to hers, finally removing the remainder of her leotard and pausing at the view before him. Raven, breathless and flushed, eyes dark and her body bared to him, black panties the only piece of clothing left upon either of them, and all he felt was pure wanton need.

He descended upon her once again, this time lowering his mouth further to meet her left nipple, her responding moans music to his ears, further deteriorating the last restraints on his self control, nearly breaking completely upon the feeling of her core pressing into his twitching length, her flimsy underwear the only barrier between them. When she finally reached down to hook her fingers in her underwear and began pulling them down, her complete scent washed over him, and he had to fight every instinct in his body not to take her right then and here, somehow finding the willpower to wait once more, waiting for her confirmation.

However this seemed to be the opposite of what she was waiting for, as she rolled them over again, once more pressing into his body from above, looking down at him from her half-lidded violet eyes.

As he looked up at her, he couldn't help but wonder at the beautiful contrast of her features. The flawless pale ebony of her grey skin, interrupted by her dark eyes, purple irises still shrouded by that something that left him breathless, lavender hair framing her face perfectly, lining it in darkness. Her adorably small nose and cheeks were tinged pink and her lips were swollen, as her the many places his own had claimed along her neck and further below.

His gaze continued to fall, marveling at the perfection before him and he slid his hands up and down her deliciously pale legs, before his mind hit a blissful, heavenly blank as Raven slid against him, her slick heat against his hardness nearly too much to handle. As she continued the motion, he seemed almost mesmerized by the sight of her hot core sliding along his rigid length, nearly coating it in her desire.

Even though Beast Boy knew that they should stop, they should slow down, they should talk about this, he was only able to groan lightly as she slowly moved her hips against his own, and he could tell from that darkness in her eyes and the relentless motions of her body that she couldn't bring herself to pause either. He realized how blank and dumb he must look between his eyebrows raised helplessly and mouth hung open, unable to tear his gaze from her naked body and straddle, but couldn't bring himself to move or retaliate, hands gripping her thighs as she continued her ministrations.

When the dark girl finally raised herself up and her fingers found his incredibly rigid length to guide it towards her core, he let out a strangled gasp, one arm reaching up automatically to wrap about her body, bringing her in close to press her forehead to his, eyes sliding closed as she lowered, allowing him entrance slowly with a hiss, sopping folds parting to take him in, walls sucking him in further.

Overwhelmed by the sensation, his eyes open to see her beautiful face inches from his, flushed and covered in sweat, and completely, wholly, his.

As he was enveloped by her tight wetness, he was unable to stop himself from wriggling his hips upwards and further into the mind-numbing sensation, only to stop upon hearing a hiss and glancing back to her face, now twisted in pain. The changeling felt a rush of guilt at the sight, which finally gave him the willpower to regain his most basic functions. His hand found her jaw, cupping her face to look at her in concern.

"Are you okay?" His voice was quiet, barely a whisper, choked out between heavy breaths, yet still he was surprised he had the self control to get the words out.

The half demoness stared back, and rather than answer lifted her upper body to her previous upright position and planted her hands on his chest, forcing him to remain laid on his back. They shared a dark, drunken gaze briefly before his vision completely blanked and jaw slackened as she stirred her hips against his clumsily, lifting slightly and falling down, eyes closing and releasing a long drawn-out moan.

Raven repeated the motion with more sureness and accuracy, pressing down and into him further, slippery wet folds gripping his length as she did so, slowly rocking against him. Her expression melted away to be replaced by lecherous abandon as she pumped against him with a fervor which rocked the bed frame itself.

The empath continued to move, steadily gaining more rhythm and power with every stroke until she was slamming down into him with abandon, until he finally gripped her hips once again and snapped his own upwards and into her as she descended, watching as she let out a loud cry of surprise, all inhibitions lost without a second thought in their passion. Her eyes slid closed and mouth dropped open, head thrown back in a lecherous expression that flooded him with an alien sense of pride, because he was the one responsible.

The thought had him continuing to move even harder in an effort to see her usually so emotionless face show even more, to moan more, lose control more, give more. Together they found a rhythm and rocked back and forth, up and down, the sight and feel and sound maddeningly euphoric.

Until she pressed down on him with finality, halting his movement, arching back and crying out once again, her warmth squeezing him even tighter than before as she finished, and the sight roused his animalistic instincts, filled him with something feral, and he grasped desperately at her to tug her back down, until she was once again pressed against him, her breathless mouth on his. He grabbed her hips and bent his knees to brace his feet flat upon the bed at either side of her body for leverage, and he finally took control and began to rut up and into her.

Hard, fast, and brutal, he fucked her, vision obscured by her violet hair, allowing only flashes of her pale face twisted in helpless bliss, mouth hung open to let out moan after moan every time he impacted her body. His pace increased further, until he could no longer discern what he was seeing, high as he was off her scent, her sound, her body. Off her.

Her eyes found his once again, dazed purple locking on to drunken green, and her lips parted, gasps and moans escaping as they gazed at one another and his motions became more erratic, her expression more helpless.

His pleasure began to reach a dangerous peak, spiking in a way that he never would have dreamed possible, and he wrapped an arm around her back to pull her body flush against his and pressing his mouth to hers, and he was slamming into her as she hummed into his mouth. Loud, throaty moans and gasps tumbled from her mouth into his, only heightening his euphoria.

As he continued to pound into her body her body fell completely limp, overwhelmed by the overload of senses, slumping loosely onto his own, sticking to his sweat-coated skin. His pace increased as her head fell helplessly to the side, coming to rest on his shoulder as he pounded relentlessly into her, moans loud in his ear.

As the bliss overcame him, and it began to feel too good, too much, and he was swept away in the flood of pleasure he tried to speak, but found that the entire concept of language had eluded him, and he merely let out a guttural roar as he finally released into her, grinding mercilessly into her slick heat as he spilled out, mind wiping clean of any comprehensible thought to be replaced by that perfect, euphoric emptiness.

Once it was over, he merely stared into her eyes, and she into his. Both were breathing heavily, and flushed. Swear coated their bodies, causing skin to cling to each other's.

And though Beast Boy knew that they had just committed something they could never undo, crossed a line that could never be retracted, he couldn't bring himself to speak. And so, he merely gazed into her amethyst eyes silently, before pressing his lips once again to hers. This time it was much slower, much deeper, though just as passionate.

With that, he tightened his arms around her body and they slowly drifted off to the welcoming throes of sleep, lost in the comfort of each other's arms.

I promise my other submissions will have more substance lol, hope you enjoyed nonetheless.

-Eldritch Sardine

[green-eyeddragonfanfiction]

A Bump in the Road: Chapter 4

Summary:  Your life is perfect. It’s everything you want it to be and more… until a series of events makes it crumble around you. However, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and it comes from an unexpected source. You start your new job the Avengers compound. It’s a fresh start for you, with a surprise in store. Pairing: Bucky x Female!Reader Warnings: Swearing (as always) Word Count: ~2,054 A/N: @just-some-drabbles This is for JSD’s Rom-Com challenge. Fluff. Yes, that’s right, folks. Fluff.

Masterlist // Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

“You’ll see her again,” Steve said confidently.

Bucky scoffed, rolling his eyes at Steve. “And how do you know that?” he asked, obviously not believing a word Steve said.

Steve smiled broadly, nudging Bucky’s knee with his foot. “Call it a hunch.”

Your POV

Move In Day, Early in the Morning.

“Holy crap, this place is amazing,” Karen mumbled, leaning over the steering wheel to gaze slack-jawed at the buildings through her windshield.

“Agreed,” you mumbled, eyes as wide as saucers as you watched a quinjet take off. You tore your gaze off of the shining buildings to read the email they’d sent. “According to the guard at the gate and the map they sent me, the living quarters should be... to the right,” you said, looking up and pointing right at the fork in the road.

“Man, I’m so going to get lost on the way out of here,” Karen lamented as she studied the layout of the grounds.

You snorted. “You could always ask The Vision for help. I bet he’d be more than happy to point you in the right direction.”

“Oh no. That’s so not happening. I’m not asking Magenta Cyborg for directions,” she said, laughing at the very thought.

You tilted your head to the side. “I think he’s an android, technically,” you teased, grinning broadly.

“Doesn’t matter. Still not asking him for directions,” Karen said dismissively, rolling her eyes at you.

“Oh, there it is!” you said, pointing to the modern building a little farther down the road. “Wait, would you ask Captain America for directions?” you asked, curious.

“Yeah, of course!” she said, as though it had been a stupid question. She pulled into a parking spot outside.

“But not Vision?” you asked, brows knit together in confusion.

“Alright, we can talk about this later. Let’s get your stuff in your new place,” Karen said, rolling her eyes at your antics. “What floor and room number?” she asked as she stepped out of the car.

“Uhh...” you pulled out your phone and checked the email, eyes quickly scanning the text. “B6, room 603,” you informed her before shoving your phone back into your pocket.

“Shit,” came Karen’s voice from the back of the car.

“What’s up?” you asked, concerned. “Did something break?”

“We forgot the hand truck,” Karen said, resting her forehead against the car frame in defeat. “We have to carry all of this in by hand,” she groaned, staring dispassionately at the building entrance a hundred yards away.

You stared in horror at the boxes in the back seat and trunk. “We could... go back and get it? Or ask if they have one?” you asked tentatively. You didn’t feel like carrying each of these boxes from the car to your new room by hand. Some of them weighed a lot, and you and Karen weren’t exactly weight-lifting champions.

“Let’s ask if they have one, first,” she said confidently as she closed the trunk and locked the doors.

“Scuse me, are you ladies alright?” came a voice from behind you. You and Karen turned, and both of your jaws hit the ground.

Steve Rogers was standing before you, looking huge but shockingly normal in a [tight] t-shirt and sweats.

Movement behind him caught your eye and you leaned a little to the side to get a glimpse of the person standing behind him. When you recognized who it was, your eyes opened even wider in shock (which you didn’t think was possible).

It was your mystery man. “You!” you exclaimed, unable to form a complete sentence. When your eyes traveled from his face to his metal arm, you nearly fainted. He waved lamely back at you, blush creeping into his cheeks.

“Me,” he confirmed.

A Few Minutes Ago

Steve and Bucky’s POV

“Wait!” Bucky hissed, holding an arm out to stop Steve in his tracks. He yanked Steve behind one of the buildings, glancing worriedly over at the car parked outside of the residential building. Or, more accurately, the women standing next to the car parked outside of the residential building.

“Bucky?” Steve asked confusedly, following his line of sight over to the two women.

“That’s her!” he hissed, pointing animatedly at you, stress clear on his face.

“What’s who?” Steve asked, still clearly confused.

“That dame! Not the blond one on the driver side, the other one!” he whispered, pointing directly at you. “She’s the woman from New York! The one I spilled coffee on and took to Barneys!” he explained, anxiety clear in his voice. “What on earth is she doing here, Steve?” he asked his friend urgently.

“Wait, that’s the girl? The one you haven’t shut up about since you met her a couple days ago?” Steve asked, a look of understanding dawning on his face.

Bucky glared at his friend, but nodded. “Yeah, Stevie. That one,” he said peeking around the side of the building to look at you. He was so distracted by you that he didn’t see Steve walking towards you and Karen until he was already most of the way there. He flew into action, sprinting across the grounds in an attempt to get to Steve before he got your attention.

He was too slow.

“Scuse me, are you ladies alright?” Bucky heard him say. He skidded to a stop a few feet behind Steve and froze like a deer in the headlights when you and Karen turned around.

He watched as you and Karen gaped at Steve. Why wouldn’t you, after all? He was Captain America. Still, the sight made Bucky a little jealous. He felt himself stop breathing when your gaze slid from Steve to him.

He saw the exact moment when you recognized him, the spark of remembrance flashing across your eyes. Your eyes were almost comically wide at this point and you seemed to be having trouble forming words.

He felt his heart beat faster in his chest. He wasn’t wearing a jacket and his t-shirt revealed his metal arm. He wasn’t sure if-

“You!” you trilled, shocked. Bucky watched in horror as your gaze traveled to his left arm.

You looked like you were about to faint. He waved at you hesitantly with his right hand. “Me,” he confirmed simply.

This was not how Bucky thought today would go.

Your POV

Your felt faint. You grabbed Karen’s arm to steady yourself. Was the sky spinning? The sky couldn’t be spinning. It doesn’t do that.

Here was your mystery man, in the flesh. And he was The Winter Soldier, an Avenger.

Karen looked back and forth from you to Bucky and then to Steve before she smiled. “Excuse me, Captain Rogers? Could you help me find a hand trolley? We forgot ours back at my apartment. These two can start unloading the car while we search,” she said, throwing Steve a too-bright smile.

Steve, however, caught on smoothly.

“Yeah, of course. Follow me,” he said, nodding his head towards the building entrance.

You and Bucky watched as your blond-haired and blue-eyed traitor friends walked cheerfully inside, leaving the two of you alone next to the car.

You both looked at each other, frozen.

You decided to break the tension the exact same moment he did.

“I wanted t-” you began.

“I had no ide-” he muttered hesitantly.

You both snapped your mouths shut, giving each other apologetic looks before you started laughing. He joined in a half second later, his deep chuckle bringing heat to your cheeks.

“You first,” he insisted, smiling broadly at you.

You felt the tips of your ears heat up in embarrassment. “I, uh, wanted to say thank you for the other day. You didn’t have to do what you did and... I had a lot of fun,” you said quietly.

“You did?” he asked, unable to hide the surprise and excitement in his voice.

You nodded earnestly, genuine smile on your face from his reaction. The gossip and rumors didn’t get his personality right at all; He was earnest and kind, and you realized just how damaging the public opinion of him must be to his psyche. “I really did. I was... really sad when I didn’t get your name,” you said shyly, eyes glued to the ground.

“Me, too,” he said sincerely. You could hear the smile in his voice, making you look up and into those gorgeous steel blue eyes.

You felt your heart beat faster, threatening to beat right out of your chest. You realized you were leaning forward unconsciously and shook your head slightly, blinking a few times.

“You were saying something? Before I interrupted?” you asked quietly, determinedly looking away from his gaze. No one man should have that much power with eyes alone.

Bucky hid his disappointment when you looked away from him. “I had no idea you worked for the Avengers,” he said, motioning to the compound around him.

“Oh, this is a new arrangement. That interview I had? It was for the Avengers,” you said, smiling proudly.

Bucky’s heart pounded in his chest. That meant- “So you’re going to be living here?” he asked, nodding his head towards the boxes in the trunk.

You smiled and nodded, and you decided to test the waters a bit. “She took the keys with her and the car’s locked, so... If you’d be willing, I’d love it if you would show me around the base?” you asked hesitantly, eyes searching his carefully.

His smile was almost blinding and your heart fluttered in your chest. Yes, this man was too powerful for his own good. “I’d like that very much,” he said happily, unable to hide the way his eyes shone with excitement. He sobered a bit after a second. “But, first things first. What is your name?”

You laughed heartily at that. “(Y/N). (Y/N) (Y/L/N).”

He reached slowly and carefully for your hand with his metal one, gently gripping it in his hand, and brought it to his lips, brushing them lightly over your knuckles, eyes never leaving yours.

You were sure steam was coming out of your ears. It had to be.

“It’s a pleasure to formally meet you, miss (Y/L/N). My name is James Buchanan Barnes, but you can call me Bucky,” he said with a wink.

Yup, you were a goner.

“So you work with the victims of all kinds of disasters and relocate them and their families?” Bucky asked as you made your way back towards Karen’s car. He was impressed, to say the least.

“Well, it’s less natural disasters and more... terrorism and corrupt governments?” you reasoned, shrugging slightly. “Good people in bad situations, mainly caused by other people.”

“You’re amazin’, Doll,” he said, awestruck. You dedicated your entire life to helping people and it was... admirable, to say the least.

You looked away, embarrassed. “It’s... just the right thing to do,” you mumbled.

He laughed at that. “You sound just like Steve,” he said, smirking. “Speaking of...” he muttered, causing you to look up.

You were shocked. Not only were Steve and Karen waiting there, but seemingly half of the Avengers team, too. Wanda and Vision were talking with Karen who was smiling politely, but standing stiffly. Steve and Sam were talking animatedly about something you were too far away to hear, and Natasha was sitting patiently on the trunk.

“Dammit...” Bucky muttered under his breath. Of course they’d all stick their noses in this.

You let out a nervous squeak beside him, freezing in place at the sight of so many legends.

“You alright, (Y/N)?” he asked, eyeing you with concern.

You shook your head rapidly, wide eyes never leaving the group.

“They don’t bite, I promise,” he assured you easily. Then he seemed to reconsider his statement. “Well, Nat does, but only if you deserve it. Vision can be kinda blunt, but he’s not a bad guy. Sam makes a lot of jokes-” his voice promptly died in his throat when you reached for his right hand, lacing your fingers with his.

He looked down at you, surprised. You sought comfort from him, afraid of the heroes in front of you? Today must be opposite day, but he decided not to question it.

“Ready to meet ‘em?” he asked gently, giving your hand a reassuring squeeze.

You looked up at him, wide-eyed, trepidation clear on your face, and nodded.

Chapter 5

This series is finished, but if you want to be tagged in my other fics, check out this post! Sorry, but responses to this post asking to be tagged will be ignored, so send me an ask or like one of the taglist posts!

☕ Buy Me a Coffee! ☕

[onewheelneil]

Israel day 8

Today the plan is to head down south the the desert to play with some camels and sleep in some tents. Also more importantly is to see the holocaust museum and cemetery. I got up at 7 am because of the late night out and did my morning routine. Breakfast had waffles and the yummy bread pudding. The waffles were shit compared to my dad’s waffles so that was sad. I quickly ate up my portion and got my bags out to the bus. It was a big morning because a lot of tour groups were leaving including a Chinese one but they didn’t look like they wanted to speak to a foreigner so I left that alone. We all got on the bus struggled to count off with the hangovers and were on our way to the holocaust museum. As we pulled up I could see the interesting architecture of the area. The whole entire memorial is on 55 acres of land with a mountain (only 500 meters high but still considered a mountain in Israel). As we entered the memorial site we walked down a tunnel that opened up to a beautiful view of the surrounding area. It was beautiful to see before this deep emotional tour. We met our tour guide, a bubbly older man named Hershey, and he first showed us a model of the entire 55 acres of memorial. He then brought us outside before the entrance to the museum and showed us how all the trees planted were part of the memorial and had a plaque commemorating the person who planted it. They were both carab trees and they signified life as precious since the seeds all weighed the same and they signified the weight of diamonds and gold. Then he led us into the museum where we spent almost all of our time. One funny thing he mentioned was that the museum looked like a toberlone bar and it really did. The museum was organized in a really cool way that you had to zig zag back and forth across the main hallway into different rooms. Each room explained the holocaust from start to finish from how the Nazi party came to power to when the concentration camps were liberated. The place was very quiet except for tour guides talking into their microphones while everyone listened with a receiver. It was pretty crowded with people squeezing past each other but it made it like the experience of living in a concentration camp. We came up to an exhibit of a bunch of burned shoes that were once attached to the bodies of Jews that were burned in the camps. It was sickening to see but necessary to see what they experienced in these horrible conditions. We moved on to a video of Americans liberating a concentration camp but having to dispose of all the bodies left behind. It was absolutely vile how the Germans treated these innocent people. They were starving to the point where they were living corpses of skin and bone. Nothing more. The Americans liberated as much as they could but they didn’t come fast enough to save everyone and the looks in their faces in the video showed that so well. As we somberly watched the video the guide explained what was going on in his serious but never dull voice. For someone who does this tour probably several times a day he does so with as much empathy as his first. In the last room it showed 680 pictures of very memorable faces that died in the holocaust as well including an American Air Force member who was caught as a POW and killed for being Jewish. After leaving the museum we walked over the children’s memorial to remember the 1.5 million children who was killed during this holocaust. It was darkened hallway that reminded me of an infinity mirror room with lit lanterns in different spots but reflected enough times to signify all the souls lost just by children alone. It was very memorable and I will never forget the way the symbolized this horrific tragedy. After crying my way through all of this we thanked the guide for an unforgettable experience and our guide said a few words himself. After this deep emotional experience we headed on over to lunch. Once we left the grounds of the memorial it felt like a cloud burning away as everyone started chatting about how hungry they were. We arrived to a little mall area where I bought a chicken shawarma that I happily ate up. It was perfectly seasoned and had salad, hummus, tahini, mango sauce, pickles, and eggplant. This wasn’t the best shawarma wrap but it was still really good. Nothing I wouldn’t recommend. Afterwards I got some ice cream (chocolate and cookie dough) to help fill me up and cook me off. Lunch was only an hour so I just hung out with other sitting nearby talking about travels and other cool stories from our life. Eventually the time came and we all met up before heading to the next destination: Mt. Hertzel. It was a short bus ride over there. This mountain symbolizes all the lives lost from terror attacks in Israel. There are graves all over the place and all IDF soldiers have to be in full uniform when on this mountain. The soldiers told stories of terror attacks from recent times during this year. Not trying to push Israeli innocence and Palestinian evils but just showing the reality of terror attacks all over this land because we are Jews. Next they took us to a heavily decorated grave. The guys name was Michael and he was an American Jew who volunteered to be part of the IDF. He was a paratrooper and was remembered for his smile. He said there is nothing more I’d be willing to die for. He was shot on patrol by a terrorist at a house he was camping at. They then let us wander a specific part of the cemetery to look at all the graves there and look at the pictures. Once we had some time to look around one of the soldiers told us about a story of one of the soldiers buried there. He jumped on a grenade to save his other soldier’s lives. He did it for the idea that we should think of others above our own life. Then our guard that was on the trip to protect us told us about his best friend buried there and how he died. They were camped in a house and three terrorists surprised them which is unusual because usually they have intelligence of where all the terrorists are. They shot his friend in the neck and he died on transit to the hospital but our guard didn’t know that until he had finished his 18 day mission. It was very sad and almost everyone was in tears because we had never seen our beloved guard like this before with such raw emotion. We all comforted each other which was beautiful on its own way on the way to the bathrooms and then bus to go south to ride some camels. It was a 2 hour bus ride and with everyone’s emotions we got even closer. To pass the time I sat next to some people I got along with and started beat boxing soon enough we had a rapping party because one of the girls writes raps. The guard came back and we entertained him with a rap but he quickly went back to the front of the bus after that. We got to the Bedouin tents but actually didn’t have enough time to ride the camels so we will do it tomorrow morning. We got to the tent and picked a little mattress and sleeping bag before heading to the introduction. At the introduction a Bedouin guide told us about how the bedouins transformed over the years. It was really funny how the government and technology transformed these people lives. They used to be traveling tribes but had to settle and turn into villages. They had to get education and try to conform to city life. It was difficult for some of them but eventually they found a way to mix Bedouin culture with settled culture. Now they have a tourist camp for people like us to learn more about traditional Bedouin culture. Afterwards they introduced us to a traditional dinner of using pita to scoop up and eat rice and beef. You could also add hummus and cucumber and pickles as well. It was cool to see traditional eating habits with an Israeli twist. Afterwards we met to do some meditation/star gazing. We started walking into the dark with only red headlights to lead us. This was in order to keep our night vision. Once we got to our spot we spread out and sat in little groups or by ourself. We went through some good educational astronomy to find the North Star easier and other constellations. When we talked about the stars he had a laser pointer that he could point at the stars way easier. Once we finished talking about the stars we went through guided meditation to connect with ourselves. As we were looking up at the stars our guide played very peaceful music. He told us stuff to think about but my mind was totally focused on the stars I wasn’t listening to him at all. I saw about 5 shooting stars that night so that was awesome. As people listened or dozed off we became relaxed and open about our personal emotions. Once we were done meditating we shared our personal feelings with each other some emotional some humorous some educational about each other. It was very raw just like the rest of the day earlier. Many people shared and some people didn’t and it was all good. We all became a closer and cried a lot together today and I think it was the final push to bring us together as one family. We were out sharing and looking at stars for over 2 hours. A dog came by and started licking us all while we were trying to share so that was a little bit of a distraction. A couple of us had to pee so we walked away from the group to take care of that business. We then did a prayer for health for one of our members who had to go home early for her grandfather who was close to her and we wanted to do something nice for her. Then we made our way back to the campsite. We were getting ready to make a campfire when the staff leaders came up and told us that some people were missing stuff so to check our bags. Unfortunately some people had their stuff stolen while we were out including 500 sheckels and nice Bose headphones. They reported it to the police so they came over and interviewed them. It didn’t put a downer on the mood and the songs around the bonfire quickly resumed. It was a great moment and people from the other birthright came over and mingled. This went on until 1 am and beyond until I decided to hit the hay and get to sleep. Thanks for reading!

[notthetoothfairy]

Super Husbands

Summary: Blaine fails to mention what he’s really doing when he’s at the library “studying” night after night. But here’s the thing: Kurt already knows.

The title is very obviously a reference to the Flash/Supergirl song from the musical episode because, duh. :)

As always, beta’ed by my own personal superhero and superfriend @a-simple-rainbow. ♥

Rating: PG

read on AO3

Kurt didn’t plan on telling Blaine what he knows that night but one thing leads to another, and Kurt’s secret about Blaine’s secret is out. Blaine just can’t lie to save a life, though Kurt has got to hand it to his husband – he saves lives like no other.

He’s kept his mouth shut so far, figured Blaine would come to him eventually, but now that he’s caught him red-handed – well, black-handed, technically, since the color scheme of Blaine’s suit is blue and black – he just can’t go on pretending that he buys Blaine’s lies about studying late at the library night after night.

“What are you doing there?” Kurt asks, sleepily yet horrified, as he walks into the bathroom and watches Blaine pull off his cape and cram it into the washing machine.

“Kurt!” Blaine flinches, turning around with an end of the cape still in his hand. “I- I… um, I was trying on a costume for…” He looks lost for a second, and his eyes light up when he finally thinks of something. “Halloween! Um, yeah, for Halloween.”

“Blaine, it’s only March.”

“Never too early for a good costume fitting,” Blaine says quickly, shrugging for good measure. “I… I got a good deal on Craigslist.” He pauses. “I wanted to do something different this year.”

Kurt raises both eyebrows and gives his husband a pointed look.

“Kurt, just-” Blaine sighs, both hands clutching the cape tighter, a tell-tale sign that he’s nervous. “This is not what it looks like.”

“Oh, yeah?” Kurt asks, and glares at Blaine. “Because it looks like you are putting a mud-soaked cape in the laundry along with a suit that I plan on wearing to my NYADA graduation.”

Blaine’s eyes widen. “Mud? What mud? This is a black cape, Kurt, how would you even know there are stains when-”

“I know I can’t see the stains, Blaine,” Kurt says, exasperated. “I just know they’re there. Do you think I don’t watch the news?”

The news is the reason he wasn’t sound asleep already in the first place. There was a robbery in a museum downtown, and Kurt watched the city’s hero on the livestream as he chased the thieves through the stormy New York weather before he finally managed to catch them – one of them he dropped mid-flight right into a dumpster in a back alley, and also right into the arms of a waiting police unit, but the other struggled so hard he sent them both crashing into a muddy puddle, thankfully knocking the thief out in the process. Of course, the city was abuzz with excitements over the news that their favorite superhero once again succeeded in catching the bad guys.

Nightbird they call him.

Kurt calls him Blaine – who now gulps and frowns. The grip on his cape loosens, and it glides out of his hands into the washing machine.

“The… the news?” he asks carefully, as if he doesn’t know.

“Really?!” Kurt groans. He’s at the washing machine in two big steps and yanks the cape out of it. “You can stop playing games now, Blaine.” He puts the dirty cape in the sink and pours water over it. “I watch the news, I see the cape, I know for a fact you didn’t come in through the front door because you forgot your keys this morning and texted me to let you in later.”

It’s almost comical how much like a deer caught in headlights Blaine looks right now. Kurt rolls his eyes.

“Fetch me some vinegar and baking soda for the mud, will you?” he asks.

“Uh… sure…” Blaine looks distraught as he disappears out of Kurt’s view, and Kurt can’t help but chuckle to himself. He did not imagine having to tell Blaine that he knows about his alter ego to save a suit – well, two suits – but he plans on looking extra good on the day he graduates from NYADA, so he’s not compromising anything.

Besides, Blaine really stepped into this one. Who texts his husband that he forgot his keys when he can fly in through the bathroom window anytime he wants? Blaine doesn’t even know this, but Kurt keeps the bathroom window open at all times, especially during the night, just in case, even though he hates freezing his butt off in the shower and on the toilet.

The things he does for Blaine.

Still shaking his head and chuckling, Kurt is soaking the cape in water when Blaine comes back with the vinegar and baking soda. He gives Blaine the side-eye while he works his magic on the fabric.

Blaine, pale-faced and biting his lips, is clearly looking for the right words.

“So I blew my cover today, huh?” he finally asks.

Kurt snorts. “Today,” he echoes. “More like five weeks ago.”

“That was the first time I appeared on television!” Blaine protests.

“And?”

“And?!” Blaine sputters. “You’re telling me you knew all along, and didn’t say anything?!”

Kurt’s hands still on the cape. Turning his head slowly, he asks, “You’re telling me you were a superhero all along, and didn’t say anything?”

Blaine blushes. “Touché.”

“I don’t know how you thought you could slip this past me,” Kurt says, finally letting go of the frustration he’s felt since day one. “I’m your husband, Blaine.”

“That’s exactly why I felt like I had to slip it past you,” Blaine says, his warm eyes as earnest as Kurt has ever seen them as they look at each other. “I couldn’t involve you and risk losing you.”

Kurt opens his mouth and closes it, taking a second to phrase his next words right.

“And I had to risk losing you by not being by your side each night,” he whispers. “Do you know how hard that’s been? I was so close to stopping you the other night when you rushed out to fight that serial killer in New Jersey.”

Blaine watches him carefully. “Why didn’t you?”

“Because I believe in you,” Kurt says, shrugging nonchalantly despite the fact that he was worried sick that night and couldn’t breathe normally until he heard the unmistakable sound of Blaine landing on the bathroom floor carrying through to the bedroom. “And because I know you would have gone out there, anyway, I guess... I just wish you would have included me sooner so that I didn’t have to worry in silence.”

“Kurt…” Blaine’s eyes are watery as he reaches a hand up to his jaw. “I’m sorry, I just… I was so afraid I’d put your life at risk.”

“I know.” Kurt leans into Blaine’s palm. “We’re going to make this work.”

“We are,” Blaine agrees, and leans in to kiss Kurt on the mouth softly. Kurt melts into it, relishing the feeling of honesty and relief mixing into the kiss. When Blaine pulls away, he grins sheepishly. “So teach me how to get stains out of my suit properly so that I don’t endanger your clothes?”

Kurt giggles. “Were you really going to just wash your cape along with my other clothes hoping I wouldn’t notice?”

“Hey, I’m new to all this!” Blaine laughs. “I never played in the dirt as a kid, I was a really well-behaved goody two-shoes.”

“As opposed to now.” Kurt rolls his eyes affectionately. “You’re the vigilant hero of the city getting his cape dirty with mud. You could do worse.”

Blaine throws him a gentle look. “I really could.”

Kurt bites his lip into a fond smile, then elbows Blaine playfully. “Except with your superhero name, Nightbird,” he teases, smile turning into a smirk. “That’s really something.”

Blaine lets out an embarrassed squeak. “Kuuuurt,” he whines. “Don’t make fun of my alias.”

Blaine may be a real-life hero, but Kurt’s always going to be proud of his own superpower – making Blaine laugh and smile just like that.

“The nocturnal avenger,” Kurt says in a mockingly excited voice, waving his hand around and splashing water in Blaine’s face in the process.

“Oh my god, stop.”

“Admit it, you did it in honor of Pavarotti!”

“I didn’t!” Blaine protests before scrunching up his nose. “Okay, maybe a little. But it honestly sounded pretty good until you went and screwed it up just now, thank you very much.”

“That’s why you need someone to share this with, you know?”

Blaine makes a face. “Well, Sam didn’t have any complaints, so…”

Kurt stops goofing around and narrows his eyes at Blaine, not believing what he’s hearing.

“What did you just say?”

Blaine blinks at Kurt, clearly confused. “That Sam didn’t have any complaints?”

“Are you telling me that you told Sam and not me?” Kurt asks quietly.

“Uhm…” Blaine is clearly catching on now, looking from Kurt to the sink, back to Kurt and then to the sink again. “Is that done soaking because I really think we should move this along…”

“YOU TOLD SAM?!”

“Kurt, don’t freak out!” Blaine begs, cringing. “It was an accident, I swear! I found out I had powers when we had that trio reunion night with Tina a few months ago.”

“Great, so Tina knows, too,” Kurt mutters. Is he the only one not in the loop? “I’m feeling a bit left out here, Blaine.” He sighs, willing himself to pay attention. “So, Sam and Tina know.”

“By accident,” Blaine repeats, voice taking on an urgent tone. “When we went home from the bar, we saw a guy getting cornered in an alley… they were calling him names, Kurt.” Blaine shivers. “Like the ones they called me before they beat me up the night after Sadie Hawkins.”

“Blaine…” Kurt’s anger dissolves in an instant. He knows that night haunts Blaine, tortures him in his sleep sometimes. “Oh, Blaine, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Blaine looks up. “I suddenly felt so angry and… well, determined, I just ran towards them and started punching them, and then it happened.”

Kurt has seen it happen, too. The first time he did, on national TV, he couldn’t believe his eyes. There was his husband, in a suit and a cape and a mask, screeching at a villain so loudly that they tumbled backwards and then flying over to knock them out with force.

“I was so shocked, Kurt. I couldn’t process what happened. Sam and Tina had to tell me their side of the story to make me realize I didn’t just dream it.” He looks up, nodding to himself. “But I saved someone that night, someone like me all those years ago. And it felt so good. You know how I was so stuck lately, not knowing what I wanted to do with myself, not being happy with my performance major…?” Kurt murmurs a confirmation, too busy rubbing soothing circles into Blaine’s hands to say more. “I love performing but I really don’t think it can be a full-time job for me. And… that night I finally realized that there was something out there for me, something I needed to do more urgently. I want to help people, Kurt. It’s just not by making music or becoming a doctor or any other of my childhood dreams. I can actually do something now.”

“So you became Nightbird,” Kurt says, finally getting the whole picture. “And Tina and Sam…?”

“They help,” Blaine admits. “They know already anyway. They helped me with the costume, with headsets, with locating the bad guys… and Tina’s place is basically-” Blaine tilts his head with a frown. “Our lab, I guess? It sounds lame.”

“But it isn’t.” Kurt swallows his pride, focuses on Blaine’s pride instead. “You’re changing things, Blaine. You’re a hero. None of that is lame.”

Blaine breathes in deeply, turns his hands in Kurt’s and intertwines their fingers.

“So you’re not mad?” he asks timidly.

“No,” Kurt says firmly. “If I was before, it’s just because I didn’t know about any of this.”

“I really should have told you sooner,” Blaine says. “I just-”

“I know,” Kurt repeats. “Let’s be honest, I also could have said something sooner. But, you know, I thought I was playing it smart by just letting things develop the way they did. At least nobody’s gotten hurt yet.” He pauses. “Right?”

“Well, Tina actually broke her arm when she tried to help me on one of the first nights but other than that, all is good,” Blaine confirms. “We’re still kind of figuring it out.”

Kurt hesitates to ask. He’s afraid of the answer. But he pushes anyway, “Can I help? Get on the team? Be there for you, too?”

Blaine is hesitant as well, Kurt knows it by the way his eyes flit away ever so slightly.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” he says.

“But-” Kurt is ready to argue, ready to defend his choice and his abilities, but Blaine puts a finger on his lips.

“Hear me out,” he says. “I’m not saying you can’t because it’s not possible. If you really want to, I won’t stop you. But… promise me that you figure out your own career first? If it’s any consolation to you, I made Tina and Sam do the same thing. I don’t want you guys to become the team behind the hero… you need to be more than that. You’re all heroes, too.”

Kurt smiles. It’s such a Blaine response, and it reminds him of how supportive Blaine was when Kurt struggled with his college applications.

“Promise me you’ll keep thinking of your career as well?” he counters. “You can still make art and perform, if only as a hobby. It’s just – your powers shouldn’t be an obligation to give that up to be a full-time hero.”

“They’re not,” Blaine reassures him. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep my options.”

“Okay.” Kurt gnaws at the inside of his cheek. “And… speaking of your powers…” He trails off.

“I have no idea where they came from,” Blaine says immediately. “Maybe I’ve always had them, and that incident just brought them to the surface.”

“I was going to ask if you could show me,” Kurt says, grinning. “I’ve watched you on TV so many times. I really kind of want to see them in person.”

Blaine laughs, then looks at the sink. “It’ll look weird without the cape.”

“As if my husband flying through our bathroom isn’t weird in the first place.”

“Alright…” Blaine mutters, lifting off the ground like it’s nothing. He holds out his hand. “Want to join me?”

Kurt’s eyes widen. “Wow,” he gets out in awe. “Can I really?”

“Sure. Grab on.”

Blaine lifts him up, as if Kurt was nothing more than a feather. Kurt holds onto him tightly.

“This is incredible,” Kurt whispers. “You’re incredible.”

“Superhuman, I guess,” Blaine whispers back. “Hey, Kurt?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you, you know that?”

“Of course.” Kurt reaches up carefully to wind his arms around Blaine’s neck and kisses Blaine slowly, loving the feeling of complete weightlessness. “And I love you, Nightbird.”

Blaine hangs his head with a chuckle. “Not gonna lie, it really does sound weird when you say it.”

“Well, that’s what you get for not consulting your husband,” Kurt chastises playfully.

“I should have known that you knew,” Blaine replies. “You always know.”

“That’s because you’re not very subtle, Mister.”

“What?! I can totally be subtle.”

“Right.” Kurt laughs. “Like the day I knew my dad was driving me to my surprise proposal. Or when I totally knew you were going to serenade me with a marching band to ask me to get back together. Or-”

“Alright, alright, I get it.” Blaine lifts up both hands, and Kurt has to hold on tighter, before putting his hands back on Kurt’s waist and steering them back on the ground slowly. “You win.”

“And just for the record,” Kurt says, pointing a finger at Blaine’s mask. “That thing? Works for Green Lantern maybe but that wife of his must be blind. I knew it was you right away.”

“Ugh, don’t compare me to Green Lantern, Kurt-”

“But to be honest, it wasn’t even the face,” Kurt jokes, as he retrieves the cape from the sink and wrings it out. “You know how I really knew it was you?”

“How?” Blaine asks.

“I’d know that ass in spandex anywhere.”