#first time that I drew time baby let’s goo

[beartitled]

This would probably be the first universe where Bill and Time Baby would get along if they met one day..

[braveclementine]

What Do You Mean 'I Have To Stay?'

Warnings: None

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OC Elizabeth Lightwood. I do not condone any copying of this.

"Remember," Elizabeth listened as Bruce informed Steve, "You'll have to return the stones to the exact moment they were taken. Otherwise, we're still looking at a whole bunch of nasty alternative realities."

"Don't worry Bruce. Clip all the branches." Steve said, flipping the case down. Sam was standing beside him. Elizabeth and Bucky stood just a little further back.

"You know, if you want. I could come with you." Sam offered as the two walked away from Bruce.

Elizabeth felt irritated with the brace her arm was in. And also self conscious of the way the burns were on her face. Bruce had cleaned up much easier than she had. Her arm still hurt, but she was staying quiet about it.

"You're a good man Sam. This one's on me, though."

Bucky was holding Rose in his arms. Astrid and Halfdan were sitting on the benches nearby, holding the rest of the kids, though Sage and Delilah were in baby carriages. Bucky drew Steve aside, and Elizabeth pretended she wasn't listening. "Steve. . . are you. . . are you going back for Peg-"

"No." Steve murmured. "My family is here Buck. Not with Peggy."

Steve kissed Bucky's cheek and Elizabeth pretended that she hadn't heard. Steve smiled lovingly at her. "You gonna be a good girl till I get back Princess?"

"Don't tease." Elizabeth pouted up at him as he cupped her goo cheek. "I can't even have sex yet till the arm heals up."

Steve smirked, kissing her good cheek, and then the corner of her lips, then turned back to Bucky. "Don't do anything stupid till I get back."

"How can I? You're taking all the stupid with you." Bucky smirked, leaning forwards to kiss him on the lips, before lifting Rose a little higher on his hip. Then Steve stepped up onto the platform, which also contained Thor's hammer.

"How long is this gonna take?" Sam asked as Elizabeth watched Steve get into his white uniform.

"Still looks hot." She called out with a laugh. He glared at her.

"Don't tease. . . kitten. That ass'll be red when I get back." Steve smirked.

Bucky chuckled as she whimpered and pouted, "What have you done to that innocent cinnamon roll doll?"

"I think that's your fault." Elizabeth muttered. "He was like that when I bought him."

Steve glared at the both of them, "I can hear both of you."

"That's the point." They said together as Tony and Y/N walked up the hill, hand in hand. Everleigh and Morgan walked after them, Tony was holding Arlo in his arms.

Steve just shook his head, pointing a finger at them, "You're both trouble."

"Spank him first." Elizabeth pointed at Bucky. Bucky glanced at her. "Oh doll. . ."

Bruce sent Steve back before any more banter could happen.

"Hey." Tony said calmly and Elizabeth glanced over. "Let me check the arm."

"Now?" Elizabeth pouted again. She'd avoided the appointment for this reason.

"You skipped the appointment." Tony said. "Give."

Elizabeth sighed, turning and winced as Tony checked it. Tony gave her a knowing look, "Elizabeth. . ."

"More time." Elizabeth muttered, "Please?"

"The cells are not regenerating tissue." Tony said under his breath. "Elizabeth if you keep your arm like this, it's going to get infected and amputation will be necessary, perhaps higher up than it is now. I'm trying to keep you alive."

"I know." Elizabeth said sadly as Steve was returned by Bruce. She was also conscious that Bucky was listening in to everything she was saying. "I just wanted to keep my arm a little longer."

"I know. It's not like I'm looking forward to amputating you." Tony said. "Well, Shuri at any rate. T'Challa said they're creating a vibranium arm for you."

"Okay." Elizabeth nodded. "When?"

Steve walked down, the time travel version of his suit coming off. "This weekend." Tony murmured.

"Hey." Steve greeted them, touching the top of Elizabeth's head. "What are you doing here?"

"Getting things scheduled with Elizabeth on her arm." Tony said.

Steve glanced down at her and she went red, "Um, surgery."

"What-"

Suddenly, there was a strange noise behind them and they all turned to see something sort of. . . golden door being opened? Four strange looking guards in black came out. They looked almost like military personnel.

"Appears to be a standard sequence violation." The man in the front said, looking down at some sort of box while the rest just stared at him. "Branch is growing at a stable rate and slope. Variant identified."

"I beg your pardon?" Sam and Tony asked at the same time.

"On the behalf of variant authority I hereby arrest you for crimes against the sacred timeline. Hands up." The other three guards immediately charged their weapons in their hands.

Tony immediately stood in front of Y/N and his kids while Steve and Bucky closed in on Elizabeth. Sam went in front of the rest of the kids and Bruce slowly inched his way around to join them.

"Who?" Tony demanded.

The man looked at Steve. "Him."

"He didn't do anything." Elizabeth said, panicking.

"Last chance, variant."

"What did I do?" Steve asked, bewildered, slowly raising his hands.

"You have broken the time code by coming back to early from the past. You were supposed to stay in the past with Margaret Carter." The man said, approaching Steve.

"What do you mean 'I have to stay?' NO!." Steve said angrily, lowering his hands immediately for his shield. "You don't get to say where I go or who I'm with. I'm with my soulmate and wife and children. Nothing will change that."

The weapons buzzed then. Tony was now in his Iron Man suit, blasters off. Bucky had a knife in one hand, holding Rose in the other. Elizabeth called up a ball of turquoise energy. Y/N had a pistol in her hands as she body blocked her daughters- having been very taken with Morgan as well. 

They grabbed Steve's arms, trying to wrestle him to the ground.

"Leave him alone." Elizabeth snapped, twisting her body to the side, one leg up as she kicked him in the chin, sending him sprawling backwards. One of the guards grabbed her bad arm and she screamed, feeling her vision go black in pain. Next thing she knew she was on the ground, vision dotty.

"Leave her alone." Steve growled, tossing the guard that had gotten him pinned a little, shoving the guard that was on Elizabeth off. "Princess?"

"Doll?" Bucky asked in worry.

She was dazed though, black spots dancing across her vision. "Shit." She heard Tony said. "Her arm is bleeding." It felt like her arm was tearing. "Shit, some of the skins' torn! Guard me Cap."

She hissed in pain, feeling the ice freeze Tony put on it before hands were helping her sit up. She blinked several times, seeing Y/N holding Rose now. Bucky had one of the weapons in his hands, guarding her, Steve, and Tony.

Elizabeth struggled to her feet, leaning heavily into Steve as more guards poured out of the thing.

They started to surround everyone, or try too. Elizabeth couldn't see how they were fighting their way out of this one.

"Hold up!" A voice that shocked Elizabeth out of her magic rang out. She watched as Loki and a man in a brown suit came through. The man in the brown suit held up a hand. "This isn't a variant."

Elizabeth could feel her body shaking and she slowly took a few steps forward, "L-Loki?"

This wasn't like she had gone back in time. The Loki in front of her looked younger though. . . was he. . . she didn't understand.

"Hello pet." Loki smirked and the man in the brown suit nudged him, giving him a look.

"There was a miscalculation in the sacred time line. Mr. Rogers was meant to come back." The man in the brown suit said.

"But sir!" The man protested, looking confused. "The reason Margaret Carter doesn't have a soulmate is because Steve Rogers goes back in time to be with her. It's explicitly-"

"Listen, go back. Loki and I have this." Brown suit guy said. The four exchanged a look, but turned and went back in. "Sorry about that."

"I don't understand." Elizabeth said faintly.

"I'm a variant." Loki smirked, "As are you. Well, not you, you, another you."

"Loki." Another voice said sternly and Elizabeth's knees actually almost did collapse when she saw herself walk out of the portal behind. She smiled at herself. Elizabeth couldn't smile back. She felt Steve's hand on her waist.

Loki pursed his lips, "You know, only the fact that I've never technically been that Elizabeth's soulmate is the only thing stopping me from cutting your hand off for touching her Captain."

Elizabeth 2.0 nudged Loki in the ribs.

"I'm so confused." Y/N, Sam, and Tony said behind her. Bruce just gaped. Stephen looked extremely interested.

"Long story short." Brown suit guy said, tapping at something, "When you went back for the Tesseract, this Loki and Elizabeth escaped. So they're variants and they live at the TVA with me, which collects variants in a way. Works for the TVA, etc."

"So. . . you're not real?" Elizabeth asked, noticing Loki was looking over at her kids. Halfdan and Astrid stared at their father with wide eyes, slowly getting to their feet. For them, it was like losing their father less than a week rather than five years ago. They were probably wondering if he had faked his death again. 

"We have to get some of those." Loki said to her variant version of herself, who grinned. Then Loki said, "I am real, but I'm not your Loki. Your Loki is truly dead. You'd be surprised how many variants of me there are, really."

"So am I getting arrested or not?" Steve asked slowly.

"Not." Brown suit guy said. "Like I said. . . accident."

"Uh huh." Bucky said uncertainly, not lowering his defensive position.

"And Loki here really just wanted to let your Elizabeth know that they live happily ever after somewhere." Brown suit guy said. "You've got two minutes." Before that one walked into the portal. Her variant of herself went back too.

"Come here pet." Loki said quietly and Elizabeth stumbled forwards until she was standing in front of him. She felt one of his cool hands cup her face and he bent down to rest his forehead on hers. She closed her eyes, a tear falling down her cheek. "I love you." He whispered, "But, I'm gone. And so I'm glad you have two. . . well for heroes they're pretty good men. I think I like the brown haired one better though."

Elizabeth actually let out a shaky laugh at that.

"Live a long and happy life with them." Loki whispered, "And when it's all over, your Loki is waiting for you in Valhalla. I know he is. And who knows? Maybe those two will go with you too."

"Loki." Elizabeth whispered softly.

Loki smiled a little as he pulled away, thumb wiping her tears away, "Don't waste anymore tears on me pet. You have your own life to live now."

"Dad?" Astrid asked uncertainly.

"Not quite." Loki smiled, looking a little sad as he looked at them. "But close enough." He held his arms out and Astrid and Halfdan ran into them. He hugged them tightly. "Be good for your mom, alright? I love you two."

"We love you too dad." Astrid cried into his chest.

Loki and Elizabeth looked down one more time and then Elizabeth turned her attention to. . . well herself. The other variant smiled, "I'll take care of him."

"I know." Elizabeth laughed shakily. "I'm not worried about that. You're me after all."

Elizabeth watched Loki slip his hand into her variant self. Watched the three of them walk into the portal. Elizabeth stepped back and felt Bucky wrap her arms around her waist. It was dead silent for a moment, before everything grew to be too much, and she fainted.

🎃 :::::  🧡  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━  🧡  ::::: 🎃

"How is she?" You asked as you laid naked in bed with Tony.

"Just got out of surgery." Tony yawned, having been woken up when Steve had called him. "She's got an arm to match Barnes. Shuri apparently tried to make it hot pink. Steve wouldn't let her. It's black and gold like Barnes now. Twinning. Really taking the soulmate thing to the next level. Do you want to get a matching arc reactor?"

You laughed, "No way. I love you Tony, but I do not want that on my chest."

Tony pouted at you, before rolling over to press you down into the bed. "Why not? It's so sexy."

"On you." You retorted, smiling up at him.

Tony softened, cupping your face. "I really missed you Y/N. I'm so sorry."

You laughed a little, "For what?"

Tony looked away a little. "Well Pepper I guess for starters. It was. . ."

You laughed again, louder this time, "You want to be sorry for moving on? Tony. . . if I had been in your shoes, never in a million years would I have thought you were coming back after that. I don't know how quickly I could have moved on and thanks to Elizabeth, I never have to know." Here you gave him a pointed look, "but eventually I would have. You could've come back too, maybe, and I could've had another kid. Honestly. . . I'm kind've just glad it was Pepper and not some stranger."

Tony smirked a little and then sighed, "I guess it's a good thing I wasn't snapped. I was the one who figured it out."

"Modest as always." You teased, pushing him off you so that you could snuggle into him. "Besides, after hearing what happened on Titan, I think Strange knew that you would win. Like he said, one in fourteen million. He traded your life for the stone and Thanos kept his word, keeping you alive after the snap as well. The one person needed to finish this."

Tony was quiet for a moment and you looked up to see him staring at the ceiling. "No. . ." He said quietly. "If they had never come to me. . .Scott, Steve, Natasha. . . I wouldn't have done it on my own. And even when they did come to me. . . I still didn't want to." He paused and added quickly. "Not because I didn't want you and Arlo back. But. . . I thought there could be a chance I might die. I even recorded a video. . . and I thought if I died and we didn't succeed, then I'd just leave Everleigh without both parents."

"You did almost die." You whispered, tears pricking your eyes. "You almost tried to snap the universe."

"I thought I had to do it then or now." Tony sighed. He laughed then, "And I never even had the stones. That tricky magic of hers. . . but I'm glad. We all made it out alive."

It was quiet for a long time, thinking of those who didn't make it the first time. Pietro, Vision. And then you said, "Are they staying in Wakanda or coming here?"

"Wakanda I think." Tony answered.

It was quiet for a longer time and then you asked, "How about a vacation?"

[oh-surprise-its-me]

In the spirit of the spooky season, what Halloween traditions do Roy and Jamie have? Separately and later together 💜

They always go trick or treating with Phoebe of course!

Also be absolutely insane and Jamie leaps for slutty costumes. Keeley throws a party every year and the team goes all out.

But I wanna write about them married with a three year old who’s trick or treating for the first time!

(I don’t care if the uk doesn’t go as bonkers as the usa I refuse to google things!)

((Sorry this is a day late))

-

Roy fixes Carrie’s little cat hat. He knows she runs warm like Jamie but he can’t help but care. “Papa! Daddy! Candy soon!” Roy laughs and kisses her head. “Yeah baby. Candy soon.”

Jamie swirls behind Roy with a hand brushing over his back. “Okay bowl to leave out. Bag for Carrie costume for us. What am I missing.” Roy stands and picks up their daughter as he goes. “Photos.”

“Fuck! Photos!”

Carrie taps Roys face and leans in to whisper, “daddy said a bad word.” Roy snorts and nods. “You’re so right kitty cat. Daddy will put money in the jar.”

Jamie glares back at the two of them. “You two just want to see me go broke.” Roy grins. He reaches an arm out to bring Jamie closer. “No. Just want goo behavior.” He gently pinches Jamie’s ass when he says that. Jamie swats at his arm but leans closer to see the whiskers he drew on earlier. “You look cute Carrie. The perfect kitty.”

Carrie claps her hands and starts wiggling. “Candy! Candy! Candy!” Her to fathers laugh. “Yeah kiddo candy. But remember you’ve gotta hold our hands.” She grins up and then and leans her head forward for a kiss. “Kay papa.” Jamie grins at Roy. Their kid is incredible.

“Where’s your lightsaber Luke Skywalker.” Jamie jolts and springs back to the living room. “Daddy is silly.” Roy laughs and nods. “Yeah he is but we love him yeah?” “Yeah!”

Jamie comes back to his Han Solo, “ready fly boy?” Roy shakes his head at his husband but sets Carrie back on the ground. “Dani’s house then Colin’s right? Keeley said she’d meet us half way with Phoebe and Molly.” Carrie claps her hands at the mention of her aunts and cousin.

Jamie sets the candy out on the porch and smiles at the two of them. “Come on kiddo let’s go!” Carrie cheers and races toward him. She’s scooped up and put on his shoulders. Roy knows she probably won’t walk most of the night. Probably be carried the entire way until their friends houses.

Roy snorts at the fact they forgot photos. It’s fine they’ll take them with their family.

“Come on papa let’s go!!” Roy grins at the two. He can’t believe how cute they both are. It’ll be a good night.

[gurugirl]

Omg wait I just thought of Anna and Harry from don’t stand so close spoiling their baby for their first Christmas and Harry dresses up as Santa when he puts their presents out even though they’re too young to remember and is all cute and adorable as an experienced dad

-🍊

Thank you anon!! My first request to bring back DSSC Harry and Anna :) I hope you enjoy!!! 2.3k words

A Christmas one shot 🎁🎄🕯️

Warning: Smut & FLUFFFF

Don't Stand So Close Masterlist

Waking to my alarm was unusual. Normally Harry and I would be woken up by a little bouncy bean called James shouting and rambling words in his own made-up language.

I sit up and stretch my arms overhead, yawning. Harry’s not in the bed so my assumption is that he’s got James. Harry and I were up late the night before. James didn’t want to fall asleep. He’s been so excited with all the decorations and presents and lights. But when he finally did, Harry wanted to take advantage of us both being awake at the same time with James asleep. Many nights, one of us will conk out before the other. Whoever is dealing with James being put to bed will usually be the last to sleep.

So we both enjoyed an orgasm before passing out immediately upon Harry rolling off of me. I didn’t even have the energy to clean myself up.

Having a baby is exhausting but delightful.

James’ first Christmas he was too tiny to understand what was going on. But this one he is aware and knows something is exciting. Harry and I have done everything we could to make it magical.

I put my slippers onto my feet and walk into the living area to see Harry and James on the floor near the Christmas tree. Harry lifts his head and looks at me when he becomes aware of me, “Hey baby. Merry Christmas. Come look.”

I walk up behind James and kneel down to see what’s going on. James' chubby hands are holding a wrapped present. The wrapping paper is partly torn and wetted from James gumming and chewing at it. I sit down on my bottom and kiss the top of James' head and then pull at the front collar of Harry’s sweater to bring his mouth to mine. I slip him the quickest bit of tongue and he sputters a laugh when I let go of his collar. I laugh.

“What’s going on James? What have you got sweet boy?” I rub James' back gently and he makes his usual goo-laugh noise and squints his eyes in a joyful smile.

“He picked out that present to open first. I told him he had to wait for mom and he’s been so good.”

Harry and I watch James open up the gift. I honestly don’t even remember which gift this is as he’s working to get the paper off. But James doesn’t quite understand the concept of removing the paper to reveal the gift so Harry and I tear at little bits to help him. Eventually, the gift is on display and James screams in excitement, Harry groans and turns his head, and takes a deep breath. Lately, James has begun screaming at the top of his lungs anytime anything is a little exciting. He thinks it's funny but Harry and I have been trying to get him to not scream. It’s only gotten a bit more frequent, though. Especially during the Christmas holiday with the pretty Christmas tree and the twinkle lights.

I cover his mouth and kiss the top of his head. This only makes James laugh into my palm, his eyes closed in satisfaction at the reaction he drew from us, “James… please baby. That’s too loud,” I speak quietly. Harry squeezes my thigh and shakes his head in defeat.

The gift James opened is a set of play salt and pepper shakers. James has a little kitchen play set that my dad got him for his first birthday and it’s his favorite thing ever. He gets to pretend to be grandpa cooking at the restaurant. Though, I doubt he quite understands it all.

Harry removes the packaging from the toy and hands it to James. He grabs onto my arm to pull himself up, his nails pinching my skin as he does so, and he runs off into his bedroom to play with his kitchen set. I rub my arm and look down at it, “I should trim his nails,” I speak and look up at Harry.

Harry leans down to take my arm in his hand and kisses the spot, “There you go, Mommy.”

I laugh and take Harry’s hand into mine, bringing it up to my lips to kiss, “So sweet, Daddy. Thank you.”

Harry and I just sit for a moment while it’s quiet smiling at one another. It’s astonishing to me how James looks exactly like his father. I’ve seen many pictures of Harry from when he was James’ age and they’re identical. Light curly hair, big green eyes, dimples, a booming voice when excited, and James even has big feet and big hands already for a little guy. His head, hands, and feet are massive, even the doctor agrees.

It’s Christmas morning and today is going to be a busy one. My parents are coming over and they plan to stay the whole evening so we’ve set up the spare room for them. The spare room is actually James’ room now, but we kept the Queen sized bed in there for guests. James' crib bumps up to the foot of the bed.

Tomorrow my parents are taking James to Santa Land. Santa Land is like a little Christmas shop with Christmas trees and toys and decorations everywhere. There will be a man dressed as Santa and some elves and maybe some hot chocolate. We wanted them to wait to take him until after Christmas because hopefully there would be fewer people there. James is wild and active and cheeky. He’s a handful and Santa Land will only have him screaming, crying, running around like a banshee and begging for everything he sees, and then more screaming to top it off when he doesn’t get what he wants. So, for my parent’s sake, I’m hoping it’s not terribly busy.

Harry gets up and holds a finger out, “Forgot!”

I watch him disappear into the kitchen and come back a minute later with two steaming mugs. He sits back down next to me and hands me the hot coffee, “Mmmm… Thank you, my love. Merry Christmas,” I lean into him and kiss his jaw.

“Hope you enjoy it. It’s all you’re getting from me this year,” Harry chuckles at himself and sips his coffee.

I roll my eyes and take a sip. I honestly wouldn’t care if he hadn’t gotten me a single thing. I feel lucky and happy to have Harry in my life. James and Harry are my favorite things in the whole world and I just don’t feel like I need much else.

But, I know he’s gotten me several gifts because they’re under the tree wrapped up with a tag that tells me.

We tag team with James, showering, eating, and picking up all of James’ toys again (that we’d already put away but somehow James had managed to pull out every single toy he owns and scattered them over every inch of the house), washing dishes, and then James is down. He ran full speed, screeches and laughter, toys being tossed at the couch, and suddenly, he laid down and closed his eyes, and began to snooze.

Harry takes James to his crib and closes the door. James will sleep for a solid hour and a half. He’s a deep sleeper so as busy and wild as he is, I have been thankful for his consistent sleep and nap schedule.

I give Harry a hug and kiss his sweater-covered chest and look up at him, “My parents won’t be here for another two hours,” I smile slyly.

Harry puts his hands into my hair and dips down to kiss my forehead, “Is that so? What shall we do with all this free time, my love?”

Normally on a weekday when James goes down for a nap, Harry has already begun work and I’m writing an essay or doing a class assignment. I don’t know what possessed me to go for my Masters while having a one-year-old, but I did, and it’s not easy. But today, Harry and I have no work and no school, and a quiet house.

Harry takes my face into his palms and kisses my lips. Wrapping my arms around his neck I stand to my tippy toes and push myself up to him before he’s dragging me to the couch and climbing over me.

Harry lowers himself between my legs and pulls my leggings down to reveal that I’m not wearing panties. He hums and looks up at me and dives right in. It’s been a couple of weeks since Harry has eaten me out. He always tries for it, he did the night before even, but we’re usually so tired I encourage him to just fuck me so we can go to sleep. Sleep has surpassed sex as vital lately. As much as we both like sex, we’ve grown even more fond of sleep.

But that’s not to say we don’t have sex regularly. We get it on more than most parents, I think. I’ve talked to other moms and hearing about how they shun sex or aren’t in the mood or go without for weeks at a time is totally understandable. But with Harry and I, we’ve found ways to have sex as often as possible. Which isn’t as often as before James, but I’m very well taken care of, as Harry is.

The longest we’ve gone without sex was right after James was born. We waited for five weeks. The doctor said four to six. At four weeks I was ready to jump on his stick but Harry insisted we take one more week just to be safe. It was the quickest round of sex we’d ever had. Harry nutted so fast and I came quickly once he ate me out and then we passed out until James woke us up.

But now, we had some time to kill and Harry’s mouth on my pussy was feeling delicious.

It felt a bit like old times with Harry keeping his eyes on me as he licked up and down. He grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers together as he lapped away, his free hand holding my thigh down.

Harry still knows exactly what I need and the moment he slurped at my clit was when I couldn’t stop my moans, “Yes! Oh god…”

Harry smiled into my cunt and squeezed my hand as he brought me to orgasm.

I was also back on birth control for the time being. We talked about maybe having another baby but we needed some more time with just us and James before bringing in another little one. Harry’s age, though, is a bit of a concern as well. Technically he can produce sperm and get me pregnant until I’m too old to conceive but sperm production is much less at his age in general. It’s crazy to me how men can stay fertile (even if slightly less fertile) until old age. I had no idea until we had this discussion with our doctor. So, we decided we’d wait a bit. No rush and if we never have another baby that’s okay too.

I sat up and pushed Harry’s face away from my sensitive pussy, “Let me suck you off big guy,” I smiled at him and Harry rolled onto his back, putting his hands behind his head, stuffing a couch pillow under his neck so he could watch.

Harry’s cock is something I’ve gotten used to over the years. Big and long. Taking him down my throat is not as difficult as it was when we first started dating. Now I’m a pro. I still choke and gag, but I’m used to it. And I like it. But I only like it because it’s Harry and he’s worth it.

Harry’s whimpers and moans are my favorite sound. I love making him a mess and the way he looks at me when I’ve got my mouth wrapped around him just makes my heart sing. I don’t think I’ll ever hate giving him a blowjob.

“Baby… please… wanna be inside of you now,” Harry pushes himself up and I bring my mouth off of him.

Harry’s big cock feels so nice inside of me. It’s not long before he’s pounding away into me, my leg dangling off the couch, the wood frame creaking. I’m on my back and Harry’s railing me when he moves my legs to wrap around his waist.

“I’m gonna come, baby… I’m trying to hold it back but I’m so close,” Harry moans as he begins to quiver. I know he’s about to come because not only are his thighs shaking, but his cock is also twitching inside of me. I reach down to press my fingers over my clit and nod at Harry, “Come inside of me, Daddy.”

Harry closes his eyes and groans, his hips smacking into me and I gasp at how hard he’s pressing into me.

Harry starts to come and I feel it. His mouth drops open and he’s silent except for his panting. I speed up my fingers and feel the lightest little zip to my organs and I come with him. It’s not super intense but the orgasm is a sweet little release to top off the first one I had.

He collapses over me and kisses my face, “I love you so much. Such a good wife and a good mommy. Amazing…” Harry speaks his words against my cheeks and my neck where he’s kissing me all over. I laugh and tighten my legs around him and kiss him back.

I turn my head to check the clock and it’s only been twenty minutes since James went down for a nap. Harry lifts his head to look at me and then with a big grin he smiles down at me, “You know what that means?”

I nod as Harry rolls off of me and we both get up to go to our bed, pulling the blankets up over our naked bodies and fall asleep together for a yummy Christmas morning nap.

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[professorrw]

Don't Fake It

marvel masterlist

Pairing: female reader x Peter Quill

Request: peter starts getting frisky with the reader but shes tired and isn’t really in the mood. He would never pressure her or anything but she wants to make him happy and feels bad saying no, so she does it and fakes her orgasm just to get it over with. Later, he somehow finds out (or knew all along, you decide) that she faked it and of course his ego is bruised and he’s kinda annoyed, but also feels guilty she didn’t tell him how she felt. So the next night, she starts coming onto him and he makes damn sure she never fakes it again. Then after, she apologizes for faking it and it gets kinda fluffy because hes like “hey, its not good for me if you’re not having as much fun as I am. I have a right hand if i’m that desperate.”

Warnings: smut, 18+, fluff, faking an orgasm, protected sex, rough sex

A/N: Requests open, taglist open, inbox open! Please like, comment, and reblog!

Sleep was calling your name, digging its claws into you and dragging you into the dark depths of slumber. But there was something stopping it. That thing was Peter. He was wide awake and his sex drive was in full throttle. You weren’t feeling up to it though. The long day at work had taken a toll on you, and the only thing you wanted to do was go to sleep.

You loved Peter, everything about him. You didn’t want to deny him sex, especially when he was being so sweet about it. Your back was to him so he could cuddle you while you slept, but he started to kiss your shoulders and the part of your back that was exposed by your tank top.

“Mmm what is it baby?” you asked groggily.

“I want you,” he replied unashamedly. You could feel Quill shifting his weight behind you. He was peering over your shoulder, trying to look at you. He had missed you all day and you were finally home. What he didn’t know was that you were tired, and not in the mood.

“Oh really?” you mumbled.

“Mhm, I missed you today.” You couldn’t see him but by his sweet tone of voice you could tell that he was sticking his bottom lip out and giving you puppy dog eyes. You smiled and turned around, cupping his face in your hands.

"You know you're adorable right?" you teased.

He smiled, "I know, that's why you can't resist all of this." He wiggled his eyebrows, making you laugh. He was just too cute. You didn't want to tell him no.

When you stopped laughing he leaned in and pressed his lips to yours. The kiss quickly elevated, his hand snaking up your tight shirt and pressing heat against your lower abdomen. While your eyes were closed, sleep called your name once more, but you ignored it.

Peter pulled back for a minute and reached over to the night stand. He grabbed a condom and pulled his boxers down and put it on, tossing the wrapper back onto the table. He switched positions and crawled on top of you. His face drew closer and he kissed you while he pulled down your sweat shorts.

He got the lube too and squirted some on his covered dick and rubbed the leftovers around near your entrance. With dick in hand he guided his length into you, easing it in as to not hurt you. He let out a long sigh when he got to moving. At least he was feeling good, you thought. Peter was making you feel good too, but you were so tired that if it weren't for the movement you would have fallen asleep.

The pleasure wasn't building like it usually did. You wanted to cum, you wanted to show Peter that he was doing a good job. But you weren't feeling it, and you knew you weren't going to cum. You didn't want to hurt Peter's feelings so as he reached his peak speed and his head lolled back you moaned extra loud, "I'm gonna cum!"

"Me too," he groaned back. His hips pounded into you and his balls slapped against you as he came in his condom. You kept on moaning a little, acting like you had actually cum too.

Peter slowed then pulled out. He pressed a kiss to your forehead and went to the bathroom to clean up. He went to take his condom off and realized there was no cum on the outside of it. You said you had cum, but there wasn't anything other than lube on there. Quill didn't want to assume you had faked it, but he didn't want to ask right away either.

He threw the condom away and went back to your bedroom. You were already out cold, and when Peter saw he sighed and crawled into bed, completely dejected. He was embarrassed that he couldn’t make you cum, and a little annoyed that you wouldn’t just tell him. But he let those thoughts drift away so he could fall asleep.

The next morning you woke up early for work again. Peter was still asleep so you didn’t wake him and instead went about your morning routine. Three minutes before you needed to leave you wrote a little note on the refrigerator for him, “I hope you slept well hunny, I’ve already left for work by the time you wake up but I just wanted to say I love you and I’ll see you later <3”

About an hour later Quill rolled out of bed and dragged himself into the kitchen. He wasn’t a morning person by any means. The coffee machine beeped and he pushed himself off of the counter to pour himself a cup. He set his mug down on the counter and went to the refrigerator to get milk and creamer. Your note, which he noticed just then, made him stop mid pull. He shut the refrigerator and took the note off so he could get a better look at it. A tired smile spread on his face.

Then he remembered last night. It was odd that there wasn’t anything on his condom, and you didn’t get up to clean yourself off right after he did. Now that he thought about it, you went straight to sleep. How unusual. He pushed the thought aside and decided he would bring it up later. It wasn’t making him mad, but he was a little wounded that you had faked it, or if you even did fake it.

Lucky for you, work was slow and you got off early. On the way home you picked up lunch for you and Peter. It was in a way an apology for your tiredness last night and faking your orgasm, whether he knew about it or not.

Keys jingling together you unlock the door and step in with takeout in hand. “Quill I’m home!” you shout.

He power walks out of the bedroom and just about tackles you into a bear hug. You giggle and kiss his stubbled cheek. “I missed you,” you say into his ear.

“I missed you moooore,” he replies. “How was work?”

“Better than yesterday, I’ll tell you that. Plus I got off early, so that’s even better. I get to spend more time with you.” You kiss his cheek again and he smiles before setting you back down. The food gets set on the kitchen counter and you pull out the chinese you got. You hand Peter his usual order and take out your own.

There’s only the quiet sound of eating for a few minutes before Peter says something. “Y/N I need to ask you something.”

You look over at him. He rarely calls you by your first name. That means he’s being serious. “What is it?”

He wants to ask about your orgasm but you’re right in the middle of eating and he doesn’t want to interrupt you. He can just ask later, he thinks to himself. He thinks of something else to ask and quickly thinks of, “Can you pass me some soy sauce?”

You quirk an eyebrow at him but hand him a few packs and go back to eating.

Later that night, a few hours later, you were laying in bed doing nothing in particular. Thoughts of last night were filling both your heads. Peter was set on trying to ask you about it, and you were set on trying to make up for it.

The both of you were sitting up in bed and you set your phone down on your bedside table and leaned over. You set a hand on Peter’s bare chest and he instantly stopped what he was doing. His eyes shot to yours, a sly smile on your face. He could tell exactly what it was you wanted.

“Peter,” you whispered against his lips. Your mouth was an inch away from his and your eyes were drifting between his and his lips. He parted his mouth and leaned forward, capturing you before you could make a move. You were trying to take the lead, but he wasn’t letting you.

He overpowered you, flipping you around and putting you on your knees. His bulge was against your ass and he was rubbing circles against it. The intensity he was showing was like nothing before. Whatever it was that was riling him up you needed to find out. It would have to wait until later though, because your panties being dragged down your thighs was the only thing you could think of.

A condom and lube had already been taken out of the drawer, and Peter was putting them on. The room was silent other than the rustling of sheets and your heart hammering in your chest. Then there was the squirting of the lube and you knew it was about to come. The cold goo was smeared on your folds and slightly inside of them by Quill’s rough fingers.

His tip, covered by a condom, was right at your entrance in a second, and in just one more, it was inside you. Your whole body was pushed forward with the force that Peter was thrusting. You were moaning and panting, and he was smiling between his own groans. His goal was to make sure you never had to fake an orgasm again. And with the way things were going you wouldn’t need to.

“Oh- Oh my god!” The way he was slamming into you was so quick and hard the pressure inside of you was building like a balloon being blown up.

His hands were holding you and keeping you from falling over. If they weren’t you would have smacked into the headboard. You couldn’t stay on your hands any longer, you dropped to your elbows, back making a beautiful arch for Quill.

The unbearable speed was tiring Quill out, but it was also making his orgasm come even quicker. He grabbed your shoulders, giving himself even more leverage to thrust with.

Your knees were trembling, jelly below you. But you wouldn’t have to hold that position for much longer. That balloon inside you popped like too much air had been blown into it. Your walls clenched around Peter’s cock, and the cum he was searching for yesterday covered his condom. He kept his pace, legs killing him and pelvis hitting your ass.

He let out a loud groan, and cum leaked and squirted from his tip. He let go of your shoulders, seeing a red handprint there. He pulled out of you, your cum dribbling out when he did. He smiled, satisfied that he had done what he set out to do.

Your lower half ached and you all but collapsed onto your pillows. You flipped over and saw Peter above you, buttcheeks against the heels of his feet and catching his breath. You laughed just a little and he opened his eyes.

“What?” he asked.

“That was something else,” you admitted with a smile.

“Good.” He crawled onto his stomach and laid next to you with his head on his arms. You scooted over closer to him, laying on your back with your hands set on your stomach.

“Y/N,” he sat up, “last night,” he started.

“I already know what you’re going to say. I’m sorry. I should have told you. I was just super tired last night and I didn’t want to deny you.” You looked down at your stomach but Peter turned your face back to his with his thumb.

“It’s okay, really. I’m sorry I didn’t catch that you weren’t in the mood. If you ever don’t want to do stuff just tell me okay? I won’t be upset. Besides, it’s not good for me if you aren’t having as much fun as I am. I have a right hand if I get that desperate.” He waved his right hand and grinned.

You giggled, “I promise I won’t do it again.”

[cartierbin]

Hello can author-nim i really like your stories can i request a story for dilf-seungmin. Thank uuu🤧❤️

tysm baby.

『 pairing — seungmin x reader

genre — smut + dilf!seungmin fucking the hell out of his daughter’s best friend against the fridge

word count — 1.323k 』

smut under the cut !

“daddy! I need help please”. the two year old shouts from the bathroom, watching his feet dangle in front of him. It was a good thing the bathroom was right beside seungmin’s bedroom, he could always hear the smaller boy at 3am struggling for potty help like he was now. the father rolls over and rubs his face trying to wake himself up and gather enough energy to get out of bed. “I’m coming theo”. he groggily answers, wanting to just lay back down.

he enters the bathroom to see his son with his arms already raised up for his father to help him— which seungmin did and was glad that he barely made a mess this time. he washes his hands and carries him off to his room, tucking him in once more. “go back to sleep okay? you have school tomorrow”. Theo pouts a little at his father’s swift movements. he began to whine once seungmin reached the door. “daddy can I have kisses?”. he questions with a raised intonation and with the cutest pouty face that seungmin couldn’t say no to. he smiles at his adorable son nonetheless. giving him forehead and cheek kisses was just like giving them to himself, theo was a miniature version of him after all. “Is that better?”, he questions and the toddler nods his head yes before hiding under his blankets. seungmin touches the doorknob. “sleep tight theo. daddy loves you”, he giggles with the same laugh that made seungmin’s heart warm every time. “I love you too daddy”.

on his way to his bedroom seungmin forgot that he dismissed his normal routine of checking up on his daughter. mostly because she normally got annoyed with him when he did that since she was now a college student so she always ranted about how she needed her privacy. but seungmin couldn’t help himself. he wanted to make sure his baby was alright even throughout the night so he checked anyways. when he softly opened the door his heart dropped to the pit of his stomach at the sight. he forgot Ava invited one of her friends over tonight, one whom was currently touching herself underneath the blankets in the bed beside ava’s.

you didn’t even hear the door creak open, you were much too immersed in the explicit audios you were listening to, imagining it was ava’s dad who was touching you. you couldn’t help yourself it was late and Ava had gone to sleep and you were feeling hornier than usual these past couple of days. you’ve always had the biggest crush on mr. Kim and you wished things could go further than just a simple greeting between you two. your small whining noises crept from under the blankets and you hadn’t realized you mistakenly moaned his name before turning over for better angles. you met his shocked gaze while he was at the door. your heart began to pound dangerously fast as he started to quickly shut the door behind himself.

once he started walking down the hallway he tried his best to believe that he didn’t just see what he saw. he tried his to erase it from memory. he didn’t want to see you that way, you were his daughter’s best friend.

“mr. kim”.

he stopped in his tracks at the sound of you calling him from down the hallway. he swiftly turns around to explain himself. “listen you don’t have to worry I didn’t see anything and I’m not telling ava about any of this”. he meant what he said, he wouldn’t know what to do if his daughter found out about it. she’d probably freak the hell out. but seungmin was already freaking out with the way you approached him, your silk bed shorts riding up your thick thighs each time you took a step. unnecessary sinful thoughts flooded his head once he saw your body for what it truly was. you traced your fingers over his chest, nervous as hell but not regretting what you were about to ask of him. “mr.kim I want you to fuck me”. his breath caught in his throat at the question. he opened his mouth to speak but you were already loosening the buttons on your bed shirt and seungmin would be lying through his teeth if he said he didn’t want this. he instead clutched your wrist to prevent you from continuing. “stop it. I need you to go to bed”. you inched your face near his, grabbing his hand and shoving it directly inside your bed shorts. seungmin kept the same blank expression but when his finger tips felt your wet folds my god, was he crumbling. you pouted a little, trying to use your seductive skills the best way you knew how. “please. I’m too wet to go to sleep like this”.

“you need to—“. he couldn’t finish his sentence when you sunk his fingers deeper inside yourself and bit your lips. by now the bulge in his pajama pants was prominent. you reached the goal you wanted to reach. you made him hard. “please”. you begged again, sensing that he was already on the verge of giving in. blood rushed to his cock when he felt the way your slick coated his fingers. he was horny and now he refused to let this opportunity pass without sticking his dick inside you. he clutched the collar of your shirt and drew you closer with his eyes shading dark. he didn’t smile or anything, just a cold serious look that made you tremble under his height. “if I fuck you you better not tell ava. do you understand me?”. every cell in your brain rushed at the thought of him manhandling you the way you wanted. you quickly nod your head yes. “I understand I won’t tell please. just please”. he released you, chewing on the inside of his cheek before he sized you up with his eyes. he slid his hand behind the elastic of your shorts. “take these shits off”.

you followed instructions and kicked the fabric down your ankles. he grabbed you by your thighs and hoisted your body against his wrapping your naked legs around his waist. his wet lips pressed kisses on your neck and your cheeks flush an embarrassed red at how delicate they were. he walks just a few short steps before pushing your body against the cold fridge. your eyes hazed across the dark kitchen, not being able to be believe that it was mr.Kim who was finally kissing on you and touching you like this. that it was him who was slipping his fingers under your shirt just to play with your nipples. it was him who pulled his own pants down just to stick his hardened length inside your awaiting hole. your body froze in utter shock and your eyes grew as wide as saucers. he enjoyed it. It’s what he loved the most about sex, seeing the gaping mouths of those who couldn’t believe his cock was big enough to fill them until they couldn’t be filled anymore. your body immediately grew weak and his fingers began digging into the flesh of your thighs. his eyes were foreboding and bleak as they overcasted your smaller frame. his jaw clenched and his face was so close you could practically count his every pore. as soon as he started thrusting into you, you yelped, the number of his pores not even being a concern of yours anymore.

your mouth watered at how hard he made you clench around him, each time he snapped into you your body slammed against the refrigerator door. just by the way you whined underneath him he could tell how sensitive you were. he could tell that you thought this is what you wanted. he wrapped your hair around his knuckles and pinned his hand against the steel sheet metal behind you. you were entrapped under the heat of his gaze, it was either you forced yourself to look into his eyes or try to glance up pathetically at the ceiling. either way you felt intimidated, gaspy pleads never left your tongue. he raises your thighs higher around his waist and licks his lips. “you thought your little pussy could take my cock didn’t you?”.

your mouth remained agape and you exhaled perilously trying to say his name. each time you got out the first letter you choked up, unable to say more before he dick hit another spot of yours. he smirks at the mess he made of you. the stuttering, gasping, moaning ruin that you were. your clammy hands clutched his shirt while your eyes rolled to the back of your head in disbelief that something could feel so fucking good. “look at the way your pussy is creaming down my cock. Is it everything you thought it would be?”. he drops his hand down to cuff it around your ass while he hastens his pace a bit, sending a cereal box flying down the sides of the fridge. you nodded your head and continued trying to register all the sensations he made you feel. you’ve never pulsated so hard in your life. he flattens his tongue and grazes it up your chin until it was down your throat. he tongue kisses you roughly with disregard for how much saliva was dribbling down your bottom lip and his own. you moaned his name so loud and raunchy into the cavern of his mouth that he slapped the meat of your thighs hard and with a painful sting that made you want to rub it right after.

“you shut your fucking mouth. ava knows the sound of your voice when you call me that”. you make a gurgled noise as the fridge began vigorously shaking, sending another cereal box flying down the other side. he could tell just by dry sob in your eyes that you didn’t quite know what to do or say. you looked so cute he couldn’t help sucking your tongue again, all while you tried to suck his back without suffocating. he drunk every single one of your moans with fervor. you could feel the explosion of heat coiling in your belly once he pulled away with the thread of salvia that connected your mouth to his. “call me daddy”. your eyes swallowed him whole with unbridled lust and your mouth was parted desperate for air. your back arches further towards him. you looked so hopeless, like you could burst any second and the sight made seungmin’s dick swell inside you. you throbbed tortuously around his length, your hands finding purchase bunching up the fabric on his back.

. “gonna c-cum please—please you’re fucking me so hard daddy”. maybe it was the way your breasts jiggled when he was fucking you or the fact that your voice was so tiny when you moaned. either way, both made seungmin want to splatter his seed along your pussy walls. you could hear the bottles and glasses rattle inside the fridge as he fucked you until you were drooling down the sides of your lips. he gripped your ass harder when he was close, his ministrations becoming much sloppier as your own cum drizzled down his length. the tight wet feeling made his bones shudder. he figured since he fucked you that hard he might as well be respectful and dart his cum elsewhere which he did, directly onto the front of the fridge below you both. even then he continued his slow strokes, sending the rest of the cereal boxes slamming down on the counter beside it. your body went limp as soon as you came for the second time and you were grateful for his strength holding you against the surface. his chest heaved and he seized the collar of your shirt with his hand once more,

“if you tell ava I promise your pussy will never feel my cock again”

[nights-legacy]

Not That Easy!-Kirishima

                  First time trying to hold their hand. Does it go right or wrong?

       MHA Masterlist

        + Kirishima is a very energetic and lovable guy. So when it comes to his s/o he is no different. Although, he has kept himself reined in due to their relationship being so new and he didn’t know how she would felt about intimate actions. You on the other hand have been thinking about it just as much. You knew Kiri would most likely be alright with it but it still was nerve racking.

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

           Yells and whoops of cheers were heard around the area as Todoroki, Iida, and Tsuyu came back from a successful train exercise. I laughed and hug Tsuyu as they came back. She laughed with me and hugged me back tight. I then high fived Todoroki and Iida.

           “Okay, good run you three.” Aizawa sensei said not looking up from his info pad. “Okay Kirishima, Mina, and Midoriya up next.”

           “Good luck guys.” I said. I got a quick side hug from Midoriya and a peck on the cheek from Mina. Kiri walked up next and smiled at me. “Good luck Kiri.”

           “Thanks, baby.” He said before passing me slowly.

           “You two need to just kiss and get it over with. Your pining is even worse now that your two are dating.” Bakugo groaned. I blushed and turned away from him. He laughed out loud.

           “It’s not that easy. At least not for me.” I chastised. I turned back to look at him. He raised an eyebrow at me. I sighed. I hopped up on a concrete block and sat criss-cross apple sauce. Bakugo leant against the block with his arms crossed.

           “How is it not that easy?” He asked.

           “I-I don’t know! It just isn’t. I mean we haven’t even held hands yet!” I exclaimed, hiding my head in my hands. He hummed. I peeked out between my fingers. He was looking out over the area in front of us.

           “Well then, baby steps. You got to hold hands first. Are you ready for that?” He looked at me.

           “Yes.” I said after a few moments. “I really want too! I just…I don’t know. And I know Kiri would be all for it. There has been countless times where he has reached for my hand and then pulled back before he could grab it.”

           “Huh.” I pouted as he made a noise of confusion.

           “What?” I asked. He looked at me before looking at the training area. I followed his eyes to see Kiri having the time of his life it seems like.          

           “Shitty hair talks about you all the time. All this gushy stuff that in all honesty annoys the shit out of me, lets me know that he wants to do all that...intimate crap with you. So it surprises me that he has held back so much.” He admitted. “I know he’s respectful but he seems so excited.”

           “Really?” He nodded. Cheers drew our attention and I saw the group coming back. I watched Kiri as he was doing a happy dance and interacting with Kaminari. As if he felt me watching him, his head turned and his gaze met mine. He smiled a toothy smile before winking at me with a wave.

           “Goo-goo eyes.” Bakugo said. I turned toward him quick. He gave me a sideways glance. “He’s making his goo-goo eyes at you.”

           “L/N, Bakugo, and Jiro. You’re up next.” We hopped up and started that way. I walked up and went to pass by Kiri.

           “Good luck, baby.” He encouraged as I walked up.

“Thanks.” I smiled while I reached up and brushed my hand across his shoulder affectionately as I walked passed. Kiri’s eyes darted to my hand as I did touch him. I didn’t see his next reaction because I looked away blushing.

“Tsk.” I looked over at Bakugo who had a smirk on his face. He raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing there, L/N?”

“Shut up.” I muttered.

“What am I missing?” Jiro asked. She looked at us. Bakugo laughed.

“He’s teasing me about Kiri.” I told her. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Training went good for us but not as smooth as the rest of the teams. While we were fighting the assailant of the exercises, a piece of the building gave way under Bakugo and mines feet. We feel quite a few stories before landing rough and hard. We didn’t have any bad injuries but we were sore.

“Alright. That’s the end of today’s training. Also the end of the day, class has been granted an early out today.” There were cheers at that statement. We all started walking towards the locker rooms. “Are you alright, L/N.” I stopped and looked at Aizawa.

“Yes. I am just a little sore.” I said rubbing my arm where it was bruising.

“If it gets worse I want you to report to Recovery Girl. That goes for you too Bakugo!” Aizawa-sensei said louder across the yard. Bakugo threw up his arm in recognition without turning around.

“Yeah, yeah. I got it.” I chuckled before walking on. It took a little bit to get changed since most of my soreness and bruising was in my shoulders and knees. It hurt to bend at the joints. I got done and left saying bye to the other girls. I walked out and saw a couple of figures ahead of me. Bakugo and Kiri.

“Hey guys.” I called out and they turned towards me, stopping. They let me catch up. We continued on and they talked about stuff that I didn’t try to keep up with. I caught Bakugo’s eye and he motioned his head towards Kiri. My eyes widen and I shook my head. He gave me a bitch face before motioning again with a stern look.

“You know what, I left one of my notebooks and worksheets in the classroom. I’ll catch up with you two at the dorms.” Bakugo said, taking off towards the school building. I watched as he went.

“That’s strange, Bakubro forgetting something. Okay.” Kiri said. We continued on. We walked in silence for a few seconds before he spoke up. “Crap. Are you alright?” He jumped in front of me, walking backwards.

“Yes Kiri I’m alright. Bakugo was able to break our fall well enough.” I said. He signed if relief before his eyes darted to my cheek where there was a cut.

“But you’re all scraped and bumped up.” He pouted. “Maybe we should go to Recovery Girl. Just to make sure.”

“I am fine Kiri. I think I could tell if I wasn’t.”

“I know but maybe there is something that you are not realizing. Like the adrenaline is blocking something. Maybe…”

“Kirishima!” I yelled, reaching out and grabbing his hand to pull him to a stop. We both froze as we realized what I did. We both looked down at the action. I glanced at Kiri who was still staring at our hands. A gentle smile started to grow on his face. His grip on my hand started to tighten.

“Alright. I am sorry. I just don’t like seeing you hurt.” He said looking back up at me with puppy eyes. I smiled and gripped his hand back. I reached up and brushed a loose strand of hair off his forehead.

“That’s sweet of you but I promise I will let you know if I get the slightest bit of pain I can’t bear.” I told him. He nodded and brought our joined hands to his lips. He kissed my hand and let his lips linger.

“Thank you.” He whispered. He moved to my side and we started walking again. I looked down, mentally cheering in my head. “At least let look you over when we get back to the dorms. I know I at least want to get the cut that’s on your cheek cleaned up.”

“Yes. I think I can let you do that.” I giggle.

“And maybe you can help me convince Bakugo to be check over. He seems to listen to you best out of everyone in class. It’s a lot less likely that I’ll get my head chewed off if you help me.” I laughed and so did he.

“I will try my best but no promises.” I said while waving at a few other students that we passed on the way. I smile absentmindedly and looked off into the distance.

“What?” Kiri spoke up.

“Huh?” I looked up at him confused.

“You had this blushy, cute little face on. What were you thinking about?” He asked with a smile and one eyebrow raised.

“Oh nothing. Just that I’m really happy.” I said while setting my head on his shoulder while gripping onto his arm with my other hand. He continued smiling and set his head on top of mine.

“I am too. I’ve wanted to hold your hand for sooo long but I didn’t how you would feel about it. I didn’t want to force anything on you that you were not ready for. I just wanted it to be perfect.” He admitted, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. “Guess my little freak out and you having to snap me out of it wasn’t the most perfect scenario, right?”

“It may not have been the perfect scenario for our first time holding hands but I wouldn’t have it any other way because it was us. It was our of it happening and that is perfect to me.” I said looking him in the eyes. I saw admiration, joy, and excitement flash through his eyes all at once.

“Well then, if it was perfect for you, it was perfect for me. As long as you’re happy.” He flashed his pearly shark teeth.

“As long as WE”RE happy.” I corrected. He chuckled and nodded before bringing my hand up and kissing it swiftly.

“As long as we’re happy.“

[gumnut-logic]

Alan was bored.

It wasn’t often that he found himself with a lack of things to do. Life was generally busy with Thunderbird maintenance, rescues and backup duties.

Of course, he could always kill some zombies, but he was feeling restless. Gordon was off the island with Grandma so that didn’t help. Scott was buried in paperwork and John was still hiding on Five. Virgil had disappeared.

Wandering out onto the balcony, Alan eyed the pool a moment before throwing the idea out. Without Gordon it wouldn’t be anywhere near as much fun.

Maybe he could go for a walk. Scott had been nagging him to get into a more regular exercise routine and, hey, he hadn’t seen the other side of the island for a while.

Darting up to his rooms, he threw on some loose clothes, decent shoes and a hat. A quick note to John to say where he was going and he was out the back door and crunching gravel up the side of the mountain.

While he had no objection to the great outdoors, Alan had no particular preference for sun, surf or bush walking. Not that he didn’t love a splash in the ocean with his brother, or even a jog around the island with Scott, it was just that many of his interests lay in the confines of the virtual world.

Or space.

Part of him didn’t want to admit he was like Johnny, but he was in many ways, but where John adored seclusion, Alan loved people. Basically, Alan was happy doing pretty much anything as long as it was with someone, preferably someone he loved.

So, he would really be lying if he said he took his route at random. It wasn’t a conscious decision, more just what he knew was going to happen regardless.

Virgil had some favourite places on the island to sit and just be. Alan didn’t quite get it any more than he got John’s love of solitude, but he knew his brother liked it and he stored the information for when it was needed.

Today Alan wanted company, so he used the information he had at hand.

Clambering around on the rocky island was not for the faint-hearted. There was no doubt that he was getting a good workout just by going for a simple walk. His first stop was a small cliff beyond Thunderbird Two’s runway. It was Virgil’s favourite, just on the other side of the mountain. He could often be found here just staring out into the ocean thinking who knew what. The scene had been painted, scribbled and, in one case, mosaicked onto a table. This was definitely Virgil’s favourite place.

He wasn’t there.

But Alan still had his list.

Two more Virgil spots proved empty and Alan had managed to work up quite a sweat. He was beginning to wonder why he was even bothering when he caught sight of a figure almost completely hidden in a grove of palm trees.

Virgil sat on a rock, his sketchpad on his lap, completely absorbed in his art. He was up a cliff overlooking a good chunk of the island, the twin peak at an angle even Alan could appreciate.

Alan eyed the climb and with a deep breath began the trek to reach his brother. He kept quiet. The last thing he wanted to do was disturb him. That would be a good way to get his head ripped off. But if he approached from just the right angle, he should be able to see what Virgil was actually drawing.

It took actual rock climbing in a couple of places, but Alan eventually found himself situated behind his brother on top of the cliff, and as expected the view was breathtaking.

It was late afternoon and the entire side of the island was lit up by the sun. Gulls were wheeling in the air above the forested slopes, catching rising air. Far below, raw Pacific collided with the rocky shore in places and wrangled with reefs in others.

Virgil had certainly found a spot.

Quietly Alan made his way closer to his brother. Virgil drew on, showing no sign of knowing Alan was there. The cliff was a slope that had Alan descending towards his brother. Virgil was facing away towards the scenery, slightly hunched as he drew. Because of that slope, Alan was actually able to see his brother’s hand, this time his right, sketching pencil lines on the paper.

For a moment Alan was content to simply watch, but if he was honest with himself, he hadn’t come all this way just to spy on his brother.

“You do know it is rude to stare.”

Virgil’s voice was always soft yet possessed a strength that could be startling. Alan stiffened, annoyed at being caught so easily.

“What? Do you honestly think all that rock clambering would go unnoticed?”

“Dunno.”

His brother had yet to look up at him, simply continuing to sketch as he spoke. You gonna come and sit down?” Virgil held up a hand. “Just be very quiet, I don’t want you to disturb them.”

Alan frowned. “Who?”

But that hand didn’t answer, just beckoned him over.

Alan did what he was told and found himself sitting on that rock beside his older brother.

Virgil was scratching lines furiously onto the page, but the subject wasn’t what he expected. All that beautiful scenery and Virgil was drawing a haphazard pile of sticks?

Whispered. “They’re sea eagles. I’ve never been so close.”

Alan’s eyes darted from the sketchpad to a slither of rock a stone’s throw away from the edge of the cliff. The pinnacle stood alone and defied gravity almost to the point of disbelief. On its very top sat a huge nest. From this angle he could see the two chicks waiting for their parents to return.

Breathed out quiet. “Cool.”

Virgil was sketching madly and under his practised hand, one of the chicks slowly came to life. Simple line instinctively placed, shaded and shaped. It was a little mesmerising.

Alan, of course, had watched Virgil draw before. Amongst all the other things. His brother was usually fiddling with something. He had to have something in his hands, whether it was a pencil or paintbrush, piano or Thunderbird, Virgil tended to always have something playing between his fingers.

When Alan was little there had been many a Kansas winter night snuggled up by the fire, curled up beside his brother watching him draw. Sometimes he would dare him to draw outrageous things like Pedro the Peanut-Killing Pickle. There had been odd stories and scribbled down comics. Alan had even tried his hand under a little encouragement from his brother, but he didn’t have the enthusiasm that Virgil had for the art.

Besides, Alan was quite happy to just sit and watch. Rare quiet moments shared with his artistic brother.

They had been getting rarer and rarer.

“Can I sit with you, Virg?”

A brown eye with an arched eyebrow peered at him. “You’re already sitting.” The curve of a smile. “But sure. Just be quiet and don’t make any sudden moves.”

Respectfully whispered. “Okay.”

So, they sat for an unknown length of time. Virgil drew the second chick, and as one of the parent birds landed with the evening meal, its strong wings, talons and beak appeared on the page. Alan watched as the pencil lines grew darker, surer. Virgil switched pencils and they grew darker still, the birds emerging out of the page into three dimensions.

Down below the two chicks guzzled food from their parent.

A loud, awkward screech from above and another eagle was circling overhead, likely the other parent.

In the corner of the page, the bird quickly appeared, wings spread wide, soaring.

The quiet was amazing. Alan wasn’t one to sit still for any length of time, so perhaps he was missing the obvious, but the sound of Virgil’s pencil, the tease of the breeze and the call of the eagle above had only to compete with the waves far below and the rustle of the scrappy forest.

And a pair of squawking, complaining eagle babies.

Gordon would probably have loved this. His fish brother loved the sea, but he loved all the creatures contained in it even more. Despite this preference for water breathers, if you shoved a puppy or a panda in front of him, the man melted into a gooey puddle. Eagle babies would definitely be on the goo list.

“This is nice, Allie.”

“What?”

“Bit like old times, you sitting and watching me draw.”

Alan shrugged. “I’ve always liked to watch you draw. Guess we haven’t had as much time lately.”

The pencil paused. “Yeah.” His brother turned to look at him. “Well, it is good to see you out here. Nice to have your company.” A gentle smile.

“Anytime, bro. Kinda nice out here anyway.”

That smile grew a little before softening. “Well, unfortunately we have to head back now.”

“What?”

“I’ve got to pick up Gordon and Grandma.”

Alan checked his watch. Where the hell had the time gone? He’d been out here…three hours! “Wow, didn’t expect it to be so late.”

Virgil didn’t comment, just smiled a little more as he packed up his sketchbook and pencils.

Alan stood up and stared out across the ocean. A flicker on the surface of the water and he caught sight of a pod of dolphins frolicking in the swell. He stared.

“It’s amazing what you can see if you stop and look.” His brother’s soft voice so close to him made him jump.

“Virg, personal space.”

His brother snorted and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “I don’t think such a thing exists on this island.” That smile again. “Probably why John hides on Five.”

Alan grinned. “You’ve got a point.” And despite his earlier protest, he dropped his head against Virgil’s shoulder and for just a few more moments, they both tracked the dolphins as the cavorted past the Island.

“Can we do this again?”

“Sure.” Virgil slung his pack over his shoulder.

“Great.”

Silence fell, and they stood there a moment longer until Virgil squeezed a little and let go. “C’mon, sprout, time to clamber down the mountain.”

Virgil took the first few steps and Alan followed, throwing one last glance back at the nest now full of the entire family of sea eagles. A sharp beaked head turned in his direction and glared at him.

Alan couldn’t help but smile at the bird before he hurried after his brother.

-o-o-o-

[yamithediaperdork]

Christmas party or baby shower? (MHA)

Katsuki was never the most well behaved person at the best of times, this was a fact that his loving boyfriend and daddy dom Eijiro both knew and accepted.

But even he was taken back as after being woken up at 5 am sharp Christmas morning so they could open up presents, Just how much of a pain in the ass and whiny Katsuki could get with a combination of a lack of sleep and munching on sugary treats.

The only thing that had so fair saved Katsuki from getting a spanking of a life time and having his mouth washed out so much he'd be blowing bubbles until new years day was the fact that A: Eijiro took into account it had taken Katsuki until 1 am to fall asleep in the first place and B: the little guy was just SO adorable in his candy cane print thick diaper and sleeves green top with frosty the snowman on the front. Even then though, the little cutie pie was pushing it, such as his little stunt while Eijiro had been making lunch.

Being called away from the kitchen with a cry of 'Daddy I drew you a picture!' Eijiro was greeted by a poopie smell, not that he wasn't used to that with his boyfriend crapping himself more often then not.. but then froze as he saw brown smeared on the wall and brown all over Katsuki's hand.

"..You didn't!?!" Eijiro gasped, in shock and disgust.

"Whattt don't you like my pretty picture?" Katsuki asked then pointed at the house and the stick figures. "That's our place..and that's you.. this is mean.."

Pausing Katsuki went to slip his finger in his mouth, and got a loud gag of disgust from Eijiro who rushed over to grab his wrist.

"Katsuki! stop what d-" he started to ask, but Katsuki burst out laughing.

"it's just chocolate ya dork! did you really think I'd play with my own soft serve?!" Katsuki cackled.

Lifting his butt up, Katsuki showed Eijiro that small chocolate balls he'd sat on, with some wrapping paper under his butt to make the 'paint and smirked.

"Oh man, the look on your face! I can't even do it justice!" Katsuki giggled and snorted, then caught a look at Eijiro's face and all the mirth dropped from his.

"..Soo I'm thinking maybe that joke wasn't as funny as I thought, and after Lunch I should take a nice long nap." Katsuki said quickly.

"Read my mind!" Eijiro said, between gritted teeth, then lead Katsuki off to go and get washed up.

The prank was useful in one way: Eijiro had been on the fence about letting a certain cat out of the bag for awhile, but hadn't been able to make up his mind as he didn't wanna humiliate his widdle baby boyfriend.

Despite what Eijiro told him and Katsuki's own arrogance told him.. the blonds babyish habits and choice of undies and lifestyle had outed him to more then a few of their friends, who got the rest of the details from Eijiro in exchange for keeping up the lie that they didn't know so Katsuki wouldn't freak out.

The blond barely could handle the humiliation and embarrassment that Eijiro could dish out once he got going, and though his body showed how much he loved it, Katsuki's mind was stuck in toddler land for hours after a good little humiliation session (Usually ended with Katsuki going 'goo goo gaga' hands free.)

But act like a brat and get punished like one was Eijiro's motto for dealing with this, and he started to call up the friends who'd be coming over for a little Christmas party later.. telling them to bring the special gifts for Katsuki that he'd helped them get.

it would only be Izuku, Denki and Momo.. but Eijiro had a feeling that that's all it would take to have Katsuki in baby land till new years, if not a little longer.

'Heh, that would actually work out..we won't have to have a fight over who's the new years baby!' Eijiro thought and snickered.

in the middle of a dream where the stupid red nosed fucktard hadn't shown up so it was Katsuki in his diapers and reindeer sleeper stuck leading the sled for Santa.. The Blond whined and tried to swat away the hand gently shaking his back.

"heh, come on little guy..time to get up." Came Eijiro's voice, though Katsuki kept his eyes closed.

"No get up! sleep!" Katsuki grumbled, reaching around and snagging a large teddy bear and pulling it over his head.

"yes get up. come on little man." Eijiro said, easily taking the teddy and tossing it to the foot of Katsuki's toddler style race car bed.

"Five more minutes!" Katsuki tried.

"you've already said that twice.. if let you sleep in anymore there won't be time to change your diaper before the party." Eijiro said with a snort.

"Bah! I'm clean.." Katsuki grumble, then reached down, patting his butt and front to double check. "Yeah! so it's good." he grumbled.

"Alright but I did warn you..Five more minutes." Eijiro said, clearly delighted.

letting Katsuki drift back off to sleep, he wondered if he should of pointed out that meant no changing into one of his thinner daytime diapers, but then shrugged. that seemed more like a sleepy brat Katsuki problem, not his.

7 minutes later it was a whinny yawning Katsuki who was dressed in long sleeve shirt, red with Santa and some elf's on it and a pair of light grey sweats, his crotch and butt puffed out and the top of the diaper poking out, not that the sleepy blond seemed to notice or care as he gave half hearted waves to everyone as they showed up, nuzzling into Eijiro and trying to sneak back asleep though Eijiro was a step ahead of him.

Silently the four adults agreed to not say anything about Katsuki's clearly padded state till the blond noticed it himself, instead just making small talk as they gathered around the living room to chat and catch up.

Izuku, Momo and Denki had gone on to become full on hero's while Eijiro and Katsuki had opted for the private sector, renting themselves out as super powered bodyguards as needed though it was all on the level, but naturally the three hero's had the more exciting stories to tell.

Not that they were keeping Katsuki from trying to sneak off and get a few more minutes of sleep in, playing it off as he was just cuddling Eijiro. The redhead was wise to the trick however and sat Katsuki up with a smirk.

"I think I better go get someone a coffee or he's never gonna wake up." Eijiro said and wagged his eyebrows.

"oh, I didn't think Katsuki drank coffee." Momo giggled, sipping a tea. "Bad for little guys and all that.." She added with a wink.

case in point, Katsuki DIDN'T like coffee and never drank the stuff if he could help it. He would just get hot chocolate and play it off as coffee instead.

However hearing Momo's comment the diapered brat went wildly on the defensive.

"What!?! Of course I drink coffee! I drink like 2 pots a day! how do you think i stay awake and aware when working long hours?!? I'm a legend at coffee shops around here..or I was till they're coffee was so weak i started to make my own!" he ranted and huffed, snarling and wiggling around in his seat, clearly unaware how much he was crinkling as he did so and the others were biting the insides of their cheeks trying desperately not to burst out laughing.

"in fact, I make a pot of coffee, then use that coffee as the water to make anther pot, then use THAT coffee t-" Katsuki was saying, when Eijiro reached over and pinched Katsuki's lips shut with a expression that made it clear this wasn't the first time he'd had to shut the blond up this way, and he doubted it would be the last.

"Let me sum it up for all of you. he drinks coffee." Eijiro said, then let Katsuki's lips go as the blond glared at him. "Be good while I go and get your drink..failing at that, try to be less bad then normal."

"Hey!" Katsuki huffed and glared as Eijiro got up and walked away. "I can be good!"

"Really? I'll believe it when i see it." Izuku commented, taking a bite out of a Christmas cookie and smirking as Katsuki locked onto him with a death glare.

"Careful, if you attack him you prove him right." Denki warned.

Katsuki growled and crossed his arms, but managed to keep from attacking anyone as he muttered and grumbled away, making the guests laugh.

Getting in the kitchen, Eijiro decided since Katsuki was gonna put up such a epic fuss over him being a 'coffee drinker' that it would be indeed Coffee Katsuki got.

of course he knew this would backfire in a way on him since the little guy would be amped and wired for sound but figured it would be worth it as he got the brat 4 sugar and chocolate milk instead of white milk for the cup of Joe, slipping in some 'fart powder' as Katsuki called, it, though it was really fiber powder.

'not that he needs help pooting up a storm.' Eijiro thought with a smirk, coming back out.

Katsuki had the trey of Christmas cookies in his lap and was blowing a raspberry at the others as he walked back in and he paused.

"..Katsuki do you really wanna explain whats going on or do you wanna put the cookies back?" He asked.

"Um.. is that a trick question?" Katsuki asked.

"Put the cookies back or I'm taking back your game system extreme 6." Eijiro said, setting the coffee down and winking at the others.

"you wouldn't!" Katsuki said, a look of panic coming over his face and a muffled poot coming out.

"Try me little man." Eijiro said and held his hands open for the cookie tray.

"..I'm giving you the cookies because I don't want you to look bad in front of the others." Katsuki said, handing them over quick and picking up his mug, blushing.

"Mmmmhmm and I thank you for that." Eijiro said with a roll of his eyes as he set them back down on the coffee table and then took his seat.

Katsuki stuck his tongue out one last time when went to take a chug of what he assumed would be hot chocolate..and then his eyes bugged out and he gagged for a second, barely managing to swallow the coffee down as everyone looked at him.

"heh, what's wrong?" Denki asked.

"Yeah buddy, what's wrong?" Eijiro asked, snagging cookie and munching on it as Katsuki glared at him.

"I,...you.." Katsuki growled.

"Gee, if I didn't know better..I'd almost say Katsuki doesn't like coffee..but that can't be after how much you were boosting about the coffee you drink earlier." Momo said.

"unless of course..you were lying." Izuku added.

Katsuki huffed and glared at them all.

a honest brat would of admitted the truth. a smart brat would of claimed it was too weak and offer to go and make his own. But Katsuki.. took a big long drink, trying to just get it over with and prove what a big boy he was, even as coffee leaked down the sides of his mouth and dribbled down his chin.

"awww, somebody needs a bib! here, let me handle that." Momo said and used her quirk to make a white one with a blue trim and 'daddies little stinker' written in baby blocks on the front, then handing it over to Eijiro.

"awww look buddy! Momo made you a extra present!" Eijiro gushed as Katsuki pulled the mug away from his face, making faces and trying not to gag. "What do we say?"

"..I couldn't possibly accept that and whatever awesome gift you already brought me so I'm sorry but I'll have to refuse it because I only have one gift for you." Katsuki said, talking normally and then his speech speeding up as he started to bounce a little.

"Nonsense! I Insist that you accept it! you'll just get me two presents on my birthday ok?" She said and then snickered as it was clear to everyone that the sugar and caffeine was hitting Katsuki's system like a ton of bricks.

"No no no no nonononononononononono!" Katsuki said, sounding as if he was going on hyper speed but alas, even though he waved his arms around (having thankfully set his drink down) the bib was tied on nice and tight around his neck. "Ugh! Bib's are for babies and I'ma big boy!"

"oh of course. Totally a big boy." Izuku said, winking over to Denki, who snickered and smirked.

"Why don't you just sit back and relax and enjoy your cup of Joe. Once your finished we'll open up the rest of the presents." Eijiro chuckled then mentally added. 'Of course by then you'll likely be MAKING presents but ah well..'

Such was the price you paid for having a total big baby brat and dork for a boyfriend.

Feeling like his body was filled with energy, Katsuki couldn't sit still and was crinkling up a storm as he wiggled his butt around, slowly working the back of the jogging pants down as he did so, not that he could tell.

with the last of the god awful coffee in him, he scooted onto the floor and slid over to the Christmas tree, to snag the other's presents, not aware that his white diaper butt was semi on display as he wiggled it looking over the gifts and then smirking impishly.

"Momo gets her present first as a thank you fer the bib!" he declared, still wearing it and tossing it over to her.

"Awww, And here I thought I'd be first." Izuku said smirking.

"NOPE~ you git ta go last!" Katsuki coo'ed, then with a evil grin added. "Heck, Maybe you don't even HAVE a pres-"

"Katsuki, you know I still have the receipts to your gifts and CAN return them." Eijiro said, cutting the brat off before he dug himself in too deep.

"You wouldn't!!" Katsuki gasped, and a muffled fart was heard, getting laughs from everyone even as the bratty blond blushed. "Oh grow up, it's just a fart!" He huffed.

"I think I better take over handing out the gifts. why don't you go and sit and behave like a good boy." Eijiro said, coming over and disarming Katsuki's retort before it could leave his mouth with a head pat and hair ruffle.

Huffing and acting like he was doing EVERYONE a huge favor, Katsuki scooted his way across the hardwood floor on his shins and knees using his hands and climbed back up onto the couch.

"Let's do everything YOU wanna do!" He huffed.

"Glad you see it my way." Eijiro said and winked.

with the adult gifts handed out (Momo getting a new MP3 player, Denki getting a box of trading card from a series he was into as a kid and Izuku getting a baseball cap that was signed by every big name hero the duo could find) it was time for the happy couple to get their gifts.

Eijiro's just got a gift from all three in one go, a gift card for a local shop and he gushed over how handy it would come in with getting things for the house.

Katsuki had blushed and squirmed, since the shop in question was where they got his diapers from and Eijiro had been commenting about just how fast Katsuki seemed to go though them.

'but..there's no way those two things are related. you're sooo not busted. your a ninja! a diaper ninja!' Katsuki thought to himself, and was picturing himself in a Naruto type setting and throwing ninja stars when Eijiro snapped his fingers next to his face, Making Katsuki jump and wet himself.

"Jesus!!! Are you trying to give me a heart attack!?!" He yelped and glared, puffing out his cheeks.

"Well I tried saying your name 5 times but you were off in la la land." Eijiro said. "I figured you MIGHT wanna be paying attention when you opened up your gifts..but hey, I'm silly like that."

"...Smart ass." Katsuki muttered under his breath.

"what was that?"

"Nothing! Oh, I better not keep everyone waiting!" Katsuki said quickly, sweat dropping and snatching the nearest present and ripping it open, barley noting that it was from Denki.

whatever he had been expecting as he tore the paper away from the large present, it wasn't the night time lullaby player that boasted about how easy it was to hook onto a baby's crib or even a toddler bed..and how it played 5 different lullaby's.

"Oh wow, look at that little guy! No more fussing and trying to get to sleep at night for you anymore!" Eijiro coo'ed and smirked, patting Katsuki's head as the blond brat's mouth hung open in shock, some drool leaking out and going onto his bib.

"I..I.." Katsuki stammered and then shook his head. "I don't need this! this is for babies!" He said hotly.

"That's bratty baby for thank you Denki." Eijiro said and smirked, as Katsuki stood up and turned to face Eijiro.

"You hush! I'm NOT a bratty baby I'm a-" Katsuki was interrupted as Izuku leaned over and with one swift motion, tugged the pants down around Katsuki's ankles. "Big..big.."

"A big baby?" Izuku suggested, getting chuckles from the the others. "Relax Katsuki, we all know your Eijiro's widdle guy. it's frankly super cute." the green haired hero said and sat back in his seat.

"I..But..nooo! See I hid it so well an-" Katsuki started to say, but it was Momo who cut him off.

"Everyone's known for awhile. you really don't do a good job of hiding it. but like Izuku said, it's alright, it's cute. now be a good boy and sit down and open your next present." She said.

At lost of what to say or do, Katsuki nodded dumbly and took a seat, then as a after thought kicked his pants off from around his ankles.

"Uh-oh, Looks like he's soaked, Do you need to change him?" Denki asked, more out of legit concern then teasing.

Katsuki was too stunned to react or say anything, and the question wasn't addressed to him anyhow. It was Eijiro who asked a, but not before sticking a finger in the leg band of the diaper..a act that had Katsuki sucking on his thumb.

"Nah, he'll be fine. he's flooded them way worse then this before, right little guy?" Eijiro said/asked, then reached up and gently tugged Katsuki's thumb out of his mouth. "Ah ah ah, we've talked about this buddy..whats the rule?"

"N-No thumbs..in mouth..cuz..cuz little boys thumbs have lots of germs.. and..and.." Katsuki said in a slow almost toddler like state.

"Holy crap..did we break him?" Momo asked, raising a eyebrow.

"Nah, he's coming down from the caffeine and when he's super embarrassed he gets like this." Eijiro said, tugging Katsuki in close to him, and giving him a one armed hug. "we might have to just put him to bed though. He'll open your gifts later guys, we don't wanna push him too much further when he's like this or he'll go total baby for a good day or so and we're suppose to visit Mitsuki tomorrow."

"awww ok. well let me know how he likes his T-E-D-D-Y B-E-A-R." Izuku said, reasonably sure that Katsuki could spell at the moment.

"Heh, and if he likes his new S-L-E-E-P-E-R from me." Momo said, getting into the game.

Katsuki felt like he should argue that he could spell, that he knew what the gifts were.. but truthfully he was having a hard time figuring it out at the moment and just nuzzled into daddy, feeling small but safe and warm all over..then a lot warmer around his butt.

"Heh, I guess Katsuki wanted to give you all one last present before he went night night!" Eijiro said. or at least that's what Katsuki thought he said, he was too busy going back to sleepy land to care.

The end.

[mikauzoran]

Lukadrien: Zebras Can’t Change Their Stripes: Chapter Ten

Read it on AO3: Zebras Can’t Change Their Stripes: Chapter Ten

The days slowly passed and coalesced into weeks which gradually became months, and, still, nothing seemed to be happening romantically between Marinette and Adrien.

“I wish they would just get it over with already,” Luka groaned, letting his forehead thunk against the table in the pub. “It’s killing me having this hang over my head.”

Marc grimaced as he reached out and patted Luka on the shoulder. “Luc, we all love you and want to support you, but I think your dwelling on losing Marinette and Adrien to each other has reached an unhealthy level.”

“You’ve been on about it for five months now,” Jacob sighed into his Bourbon.

Josie took another shot of Tequila and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Honestly, I don’t think you have anything to worry about when you and Adrien are already practically married.”

Luka blew out a snort. “Josie, it’s not like that between us.”

“Sure, it’s not,” she scoffed. “And I guess you and Adrien tell other people ‘I love you’ all the time too?”

Luka’s face flushed. “Those are platonic ‘I love you’s.”

“What about the handholding?” Jacob challenged, weighing in on the matter. “You didn’t hold my hand that much when we were dating, but you and Adrien are always walking around holding hands or linking pinkies.”

“It’s…platonic,” Luka insisted, trying to keep his wits about him as his friends ganged up. “Adrien is a really tactile person. Holding his hand helps him feel grounded.”

Marc cleared his throat, setting his limonade aside. “I usually stay out of this kind of thing…”

Luka deflated, knowing that all was lost if Marc were eschewing his neutrality.

“…but you and Adrien kiss each other on the cheek an awful lot for it to still be considered platonic, Luc. Adrien doesn’t interact with us like that. Maybe you should start to consider that it’s not totally platonic on his end either,” Marc gently suggested, not wanting to push too much but feeling like desperate measures were warranted after so much time had passed with Luka continually chasing his own tail.

“And what about the way you two are always snuggling and nuzzling each other?” Josie chimed in with a fresh attack (and none of Marc’s subtlety or finesse). “And the nose touches? Friends don’t touch their noses together like that.”

Luka winced, straightening up to grab his glass of water and sip at it sullenly. “I’ve told you before. Adrien was kept isolated from other people until he was thirteen, and he was raised in an abusive, affectionless home. He’s not very good at determining what’s socially acceptable, he sucks at boundaries, and he’s deplorably touch-starved. You can’t judge his feelings by his behavior according to normal societal standards.”

“Maybe not,” Marc agreed, “but we can compare Adrien’s behavior towards you with Adrien’s behavior towards others. While he is affectionate with us, it’s nowhere near as affectionate as he is with you.”

“You should ask Nino,” Jacob suggested, leaning forward to grab a slice of bread from the basket in the center of their table.

“I witnessed Adrien licking Nino’s cheek the other day when they were baking together,” Luka grumbled. “I don’t think Adrien’s affectionate behavior indicates much else besides the fact that he’s comfortable with me.”

There was a brief stretch of discontent silence filled by the mumble of the other pub patrons before Jacob spoke up again:

“But you told me a month ago that you and Adrien had started having sleepovers. That’s got to mean something, doesn’t it?”

Marc and Josie both whipped their heads around to gawk at Jacob and then Luka.

“Wait. What?” Marc choked.

“You and Adrien hooked up?!” Josie gasped.

“No-no-no!” Luka set his glass down so that he could frantically wave his hands to accompany his denial. “No. Not like that. He just—I was just—One night we were lying on his bed watching a movie, and we started to fall asleep, so I was going to get up and go to my own room, but he said to just sleep there, and…and I was so tired that I did.”

Josie arched a skeptical eyebrow. “And then what?”

Luka’s gaze dropped to the table. “And then the same thing kept happening? Though, recently, he’s been asking to sleep in my bed from the start, so…I don’t know. He likes snuggling, and he doesn’t like being alone. When we were teenagers, he used to use me as a body pillow all the time when we hung out and he spent the night. The bed sharing and the snuggling aren’t really new.”

“It’s just different now that there’s no Juleka or Rose or Capitaine to walk in on you if things start getting spicy,” Jacob snickered.

Luka reached out and smacked the bassist soundly on the arm. “It’s not like that. It would be criminal to make a move on Adrien. He trusts me.”

“Maybe we’ll all get lucky and he’ll make a move on you first,” Marc sighed, picking up his limonade and taking a long pull on the straw, lips puckering at the sweet and sour tang of the drink.

“Amen,” Josie clucked. “At any rate, you and Adrien need to sit down and have a ‘define the relationship’ conversation before you drive the rest of us nuts. This has gone on far too long, and I’m starting to consider having an intervention.”

“Josephine,” Marc warned lightly as Luka growled, “Don’t you dare. Things are still a little unstable for Adrien, and he needs to be able to feel safe in his own home. Don’t you dare tell him about my feelings and take that peace of mind away from him.”

Josie let out an enormous sigh, putting her hands up in surrender. “Luc, you’re such a martyr. It kills me.”

Jacob reached out and rested a hand on Luka’s forearm. “Honestly, I don’t think you’re giving Adrien enough credit. He’s a tough guy. I don’t think he’ll spook if he finds out how you feel.”

Luka bit his lip. “…I’m more concerned about him feeling indebted to me and pressured to try to pay me back, honestly.”

Jacob winced and gave Luka’s arm a supportive squeeze. “Yeah. Okay. That’s legit.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about him feeling obliged to return your feelings,” Josie added softly, all teasing and belligerence gone from her voice.

“I agree,” Marc seconded, putting a hand on Luka’s shoulder. “I genuinely think that Adrien is interested in you.”

Luka hung his head and shook it. “Thanks, guys, but…I just don’t know. I’m still too beat up over Marinette to put my heart out there again and risk what’s left of it getting pulverized.”

Josie opened her mouth to say something supportive, but she caught sight of a familiar blonde entering the restaurant over Luka’s right shoulder and snapped to attention, warning her friends, “Look sharp, Gents. Baby Boi incoming.”

Marc and Jacob casually withdrew their comforting hands from Luka so as not to draw suspicion, and Luka nearly vibrated in his seat from the sheer willpower it took not to turn around and stare.

Adrien entering a room always took his breath away, and Luka was afraid the raw emotion written on his face if he turned to watch would be too obvious.

“Hey guys!” Adrien greeted as he closed in on their table. “Mama-Marc…Jojo…Jacques.” He went around the table anticlockwise, giving each of their friends a set of air kisses to the sides of their cheeks.

He received a warm welcome of hugs and kisses and claps on the back in return.

When he got to Luka, Adrien sank down into the chair that had been saved for him on Luka’s side of the table and shone a brilliant smile on his roommate.

“Hey, You,” Adrien breathed, voice soft and intimate as his eyes bubbled with warmth and affection.

“Hey.” Luka internally swooned.

That smile, those eyes, and that tone of voice always did him in.

Adrien topped it all off by leaning in and placing a whisp of a kiss on Luka’s cheek, lingering for a breath and making Luka dizzy.

Luka mentally chided himself for being such a lightweight in love, but Adrien seemed to know how to effortlessly press all of Luka’s buttons.

Adrien drew back with a coy smile, holding Luka’s gaze for just a second before turning to the rest of the gang.

“Sorry I’m late. We got a last-minute order for two-hundred macarons, so things were a little crazy, and Tom needed me to stay later to clean up, since the macaron order put us behind.”

Even as Adrien’s attention was on the other three, his arm snaked around the back of Luka’s chair possessively, proving that Luka was still, at least subconsciously, on Adrien’s mind.

It was the little things like that that gave Luka a torturous glimmer of hope.

“No worries,” Marc assured with his usual golden retriever smile. “Sorry work was so hectic.”

“Yeah, you’re good. Luc already ordered for you, so it’s not like you held us up or anything,” Josie informed with a wink and a sly smile.

“No harm done,” Jacob confirmed, giving Adrien’s arm a light punch. “Sorry work sucked.”

Adrien turned back to Luka with a face glowing in gratitude. “You ordered for me? Thank you so much.”

Luka’s ears started to burn like dry leaves. “I got you the vegetable tart and Evian to drink. I hope that’s okay.”

Adrien nodded, stressing, “That’s perfect. Just what I wanted.”

He then peered curiously at Luka’s glass.

“And what are you having?”

Luka rolled his eyes in fond exasperation. “Water.”

Some days Luka thought it was sweet that Adrien cared so much about Luka having a healthier relationship with alcohol; some days Luka felt like a child being supervised.

But then Adrien smiled his most innocent smile at Luka, and Luka’s mild irritation vanished.

“I’m really proud of you, you know?” Adrien metaphorically cut the final string keeping Luka suspended over the shark tank.

Luka was a goner, completely turning to goo at Adrien’s praise.

“I’m so proud that you’re staying sober despite hanging out with those two lushes.” Adrien quirked his head at Jacob and Josie who burst into peals of slightly tipsy giggles.

Luka gave his eyes another roll. “They are enough to drive a man to drink, aren’t they?”

“Be nice, Luc,” Marc scolded even as he chuckled at Josie and Jacob’s expense.

“It’s okay,” Josie snickered. “I mean, it is true.”

Jacob shrugged good-naturedly and took another sip of his Bourbon. “So, what else did you do today besides bake macarons, Adrien?”

Adrien blew out a sigh, leaning back in his chair. “Today was kind of busy. I had business and acting classes back-to-back, and then I went for my therapy appointment before heading to the bakery for my shift.”

Josie let out a long whistle. “You really did have a jampacked day. Just thinking about it makes me tired.”

“It wasn’t so bad.” Adrien tried to reassure her. “My schedule was a lot worse as a teenager with school and modeling and all of my extracurricular activities.”

Josie groaned. “Don’t remind me. I had almost forgotten about how much I want to hit your father over the head with a clipboard.”

“I don’t know how you managed so well,” Marc confessed, grabbing a slice of bread from the basket as he slowly shook his head in wonder.

Adrien’s cheeks colored as he smiled bashfully, trying to convince them, “It really wasn’t that bad.”

“Yes, it was,” Jacob snorted.

“You’re just that amazing,” Luka whispered—perpetually in awe of Adrien—as he leaned in to press a kiss to Adrien’s cheek.

“Hm?” Adrien didn’t quite hear Luka over the cacophony of the pub and turned to ask him to repeat what he had said.

As a result, the kiss intended for Adrien’s cheek ended up on the corner of his mouth.

Luka pulled back with a start, and the two stared at one another in disbelief for a moment.

It was like the first time Adrien had kissed Luka on the cheek on his way out the door. Back then, they had both pulled back and stared for a beat before deciding that cheek kisses goodbye and hello were now something normal that they did.

A hush seemed to fall over the entire pub as Luka waited for Adrien to spring back in alarm.

Instead, Adrien’s initial surprise thawed into a content smile, and he slowly, intentionally moved forward. He pressed the softest, lightest, sweetest kiss to Luka’s lips, and it was absolute perfection.

Luka’s entire body tingled as he applied just the smallest amount of pressure back.

In truth, he wanted to dive right in and drown in Adrien, but this, now, was enough for the moment.

Adrien gradually pulled away and gave Luka another dazzling smile before turning back to the rest of the band.

“So, what did I miss? What were you guys talking about before I got here?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Josie interjected. “Nuh-uh. Not so fast. What was that?!”

Adrien blinked and tipped his head to the side. “What?”

Jacob let loose a short burst of laughter. “Don’t ‘what’ us. You know what. What was that?!”

Adrien looked to Luka (who was currently no help because metaphorical fireworks were going off in an epic display in his brain) and then shrugged.

“Nothing. Obviously, just an accident.”

“Pft!” Marc looked away to avoid spraying his friends with spittle as he was caught off-guard by a skeptical laugh.

“Right. An accident,” Josie scoffed.

Adrien shrugged again unflappably. “He was obviously aiming for my cheek. It’s not a big deal. It’s only a big deal if you make it a big deal, and I’m not going to.”

Josie glared at her uncooperative adopted little brother. “Right. Well. It just so happens that before you got here, we were talking about you and your very good just-a-friend Marinette.”

Adrien’s brow pinched into a miffed frown.

Josie’s lips quirked upward into a smirk as she felt she’d regained control of the situation. “How is your just-a-friend Marinette?”

Marc cast a surreptitious glance Luka’s way to ascertain whether Luka was okay with the topic of conversation, but Luka was still in a delirious daze over the kiss and didn’t seem fazed.

“Marinette’s fine, thank you,” Adrien replied cordially, stubbornly digging in his heels and refusing to let Josie win their ongoing contest of wills.

Josie’s eyebrow arched impishly. “Is she still just a friend, despite the fact that you work at her family bakery and her father wants to adopt you as heir?”

Adrien rolled his eyes, leaning in to grab a slice of bread. “Yep. She’s still just a friend. Thanks for asking.”

He took an unconcerned bite of the sliver of baguette.

“Are you sure?” Jacob chimed in with an air of amusement. “Not only does Tom have you set to take over the family business, but Marinette’s got you working modeling her designs too. Does Marinette know you two are just friends?”

“Yes,” Adrien answered emphatically. “Marinette and I are definitely on the same page about our relationship. Working for her family is just a matter of convenience. They’re friends doing me a favor because not a lot of people are comfortable hiring Adrien Agreste, and, I mean, I have to put myself through school somehow.”

Though, Adrien had often thought that he wouldn’t mind becoming a baker. He enjoyed the work, and Tom had such a passion for it that it was hard not to catch his enthusiasm. But it wasn’t like Adrien was going to tell his bandmates that because it would only give Josie and Jacob fodder with which to tease him.

“Not to split hairs over trifles, but isn’t Luka putting you through school?” Marc hummed, raising his straw to his lips.

“Et tu, Marc?” Adrien groaned at the implicit betrayal.

Marc shrugged, shooting Adrien a sheepish smile.

“I’m going to pay him back someday,” Adrien asserted. “Once I’m a famous actor…or successful business owner or something. I’m not sure which one of my degrees is going to be profitable first, but I’m going to pay him back as soon as I can.”

Jacob dropped his joking tone and rested a hand on Adrien’s arm. “Relax. We know you will.”

Further discussion on the topic was interrupted by the arrival of the meal.

 The pub wasn’t far from their flat, so, after saying goodbye to the gang, Adrien and Luka walked home hand in hand. They released their hold on each other when they reached the apartment building and had to proceed one by one up the narrow flight of stairs to the third floor.

As Luka finished locking up behind them, he bit his lip and hesitated before remarking, “…So…about that kiss…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Adrien assured as he shrugged off his coat and hung it on the coat tree next to the door. “It’s not a big deal.”

A thought hit Adrien like a bolt of lightning, and he whirled around to study Luka’s expression. “Unless I made you uncomfortable?”

“No!” Luka’s voice thundered in the quiet apartment, and he cleared his throat and lowered his volume before continuing levelly, “No, kissing is good. I wasn’t uncomfortable.”

“Good,” Adrien exhaled in relief, the sudden burst of tension gradually dissipating from his body. “I’m glad I didn’t screw anything up.”

Luka’s tone turned soft and fond. “No. You’re perfect, Perfect Fifth.”

“I don’t know about that,” Adrien chuckled, stepping in to carefully unloop the scarf from around Luka’s neck.

Luka’s cheeks flushed at the intimate gesture combined with Adrien’s proximity. He hoped Adrien might mistakenly attribute Luka’s rosy cheeks to the cold.

“Hey,” Adrien whispered.

Luka quirked an eyebrow, brain refocusing on Adrien—every blink of his eyelids, every twitch of his muscles.

Adrien licked his lips and looked up at Luka with an expression filled with raw vulnerability. “May I sleep with you tonight?”

Luka’s stomach flipped, and he had to fight to tamp down his visceral initial reaction. “O-Of course. …Why do you ask? Is something wrong?”

Battling back shame, Adrien nodded. “It’s dumb. I know I shouldn’t be upset about it, but there was this jerk at the bakery today who had a bone to pick with my father and took it out on me instead.”

Luka’s fingers curled into fists, and his teeth sank into his bottom lip. His body started to tremble as instant rage ignited within him.

Adrien took Luka’s hand and gently undid the fists one by one, a grateful smile hovering on his lips.

“Shh. I’m fine,” he promised. “Tom let the guy have a piece of his mind, and Sabine told him he wasn’t welcome at the bakery anymore, so it was fine, but—”

“—That’s not fine,” Luka hissed, pulling Adrien into a protective embrace. “It’s not.”

Adrien let himself go slack, relaxing into Luka’s arms. He’d been longing to retreat there all day, and finally being wrapped up in the safety and warmth he’d craved felt exquisite.

“Orpheus,” he breathed, surrendering himself to be cared for and fussed over.

[kanonsarchivedblog]

Tokyo Nights

Word Count: 1821 Rating: E Ships: Many! (Rengoku/Mitsuri, Rengoku/Uzui/Wives, Rengoku/Giyuu…) Genre: Smut Author's Notes: I have no excuse. There aren't any triggers in here (that I'm aware of?)- so enjoy this shameless smut. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Privacy was a blessing, something not often received at home. The compound was busy near constantly with the bustle of relatives, of young hopeful slayers training beneath their sensei, of younger brothers stuck to one’s side like glue. It wasn’t that Kyojuro was upset that he didn’t have privacy- no, quite the opposite! He enjoyed having company, enjoyed having people around him and having something to do. But times like these, privacy was, indeed, a blessing.

The hotel was nice- one of the newer ones in Tokyo that had a private onsen attached. It was perfect for couples wanting to escape for a night or two- or for weary Hashira who needed a place to rest and recuperate. Somewhere out there, Tengen walked with his wives, exploring the city to their heart’s content before their own mission would begin within a few weeks’ time. They’d invited him to go along, seeing as how he had no current mission in progress- and he’d agreed! It’d been too long since he’d last been to Tokyo.

But now? Now, he was tired- but not enough to sleep. A strange electric current felt as if it were running through his veins, making him antsy, too warm despite the chill in the air outside. He huffed, finally tugging off his yukata, a sigh of relief slipping free as the cool air of the room graced his form. He fell back upon the bed- a raised bed! They were popular in the west, apparently. It was soft- softer than he’d expected, no harsh tatami mats beneath. Perhaps he could invest in one for his room? That would be nice.

Eyes sliding shut, he felt his body relax into the mattress. Oh, this was nice- very nice. Outside, the sound of laughter drifted to his window, though it was distant. His mind drifted to the events of the last three days- of the laughter shared, of the joy that filled him. Tomorrow, they will head back to their respective compounds. Tonight, Tengen would retire with his wives to their room-

Beside his own.

Kyojuro tried to swallow, but found his throat to be dry. Was he coming down with a fever? To be so warm- he shook his head as he sat up, hands reaching up to run through his hair, untangling the wild mane. An image flashed before his eyes- of a larger hand gripping the hair at the base of his head, tilting his head back, holding him there as a hungry mouth pressed to his own, the kiss demanding, making his knees feel weak. Red and gold hues blinked hard once, twice, before he shook his head. That had been the first night they had been here.

“Too much to drink,” he murmured out loud, even though he knew he’d only had one glass of sake and Tengen hadn’t even drank anything. He knew that the girls had only a glass of a red wine- though Hinatsuru had white instead of red. How they’d brought him back to their bedroom, four pairs of hands wandering across his body. How Suma had settled on his lap, her hips grinding down as Tengen settled behind him, his hands broad, strong, palms smooth despite the heavy blades he carried.

Kyojuro gave a harsh shake of the head, as if attempting to clear the images of his past endeavor from his mind. Instead, his mind drifted to another endeavor- of much smoother skin, of soft hips and a softer voice. Of whines of his name, begging for him to go “harder, Kyo, please- you feel so good in me, so full, so deep- don’t stop, don’t stop, please!” Oh, how he’d enjoyed that encounter- especially with how she’d settled atop his lap and tried to ride, but he ended up having to take control.

Who knew Mitsuri liked to have her hair pulled? He hadn’t, not until that night.

Cheeks flushed a healthy red, he poured himself a glass of water before downing it in a few long drinks. Tired- that’s all. He was just… Very tired! He needed to rest! Yet when he settled back on the bed, a hand drifted low, palming at himself. “Already?” He muttered, brows furrowed inward as he grasped his half-hard cock. Huh. “Traitor,” he spoke to his own body as he released himself before sitting up. He reached over, taking hold of the extra pillows to stack them against the headboard.

Uzui wouldn’t be back for a while longer- and it wasn’t often that he was able to just take time for himself.

His head tilted back as he settled in, a small hum slipping free as his hands wandered slowly. He was proud of his physique; he’d worked hard to get to this point. A gasp escaped as his fingers pinched at a nipple before brushing his thumb over it, as if to soothe. Now that he was embracing this sudden urge, his mind was running wild- giving brief glimpses of those he’d found attractive. Of the time Giyuu had managed to pin him down during a sparring session, his hips pressing down into his own, the normally docile sapphire hues bright and wild, a breathless grin on his lips-

Of Sanemi pressing close against his back, trying to get ahold of Giyuu who was being held back by Tengen, the way he’d felt so solid and had growled in his ear. Oh, that had ended up in a fun few nights when Kyojuro was alone in his room, face pressed into his pillows, gasping out Sanemi’s name like a prayer while his hands worked himself over.

Of the time when Obanai had unintentionally walked in on him in the shower- and then refused to leave since Rengoku couldn't “see me, so this is okay, I’ll be quick.” He’d needed to change his bandages- Senjuro had spilt water on them, and Obanai hated the feeling of damp bandages. Kyojuro had been so close, too, when he’d walked in. He’d covered the moan he had let free when the door opened with a loud yawn, though he still wasn’t sure if Obanai had believed it to be a yawn. He hated to admit, but he hadn’t stopped stroking.

A groan slipped free as his hips rutted into the air, searching for a touch that wasn’t there. He could calm down, get dressed, and take a trip to one of the Tea Houses that Tengen had mentioned visiting before- with his wives, even. That was scandalous- but the idea was tempting. Too tempting, but that meant getting up, and he didn’t want to get up, not with how hard he was now.

Fiery gaze opened slightly, glancing down at himself- “Oh, fuck.” he whispered, eyes widening in surprise at how hard he’d become. He was leaking already, a drop settled against his stomach. Moving without realizing, his hand raised to his lips, fingers slipping past as a groan fell free. When was the last time he’d been this worked up? Especially after having been with someone only three nights prior? He couldn’t remember, but god, it felt nice to have something in his mouth.

Would be better if it was 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦- anyone. He let the digits slip from his mouth to reach down, grasping himself and moaning at the feeling. His hips shifted, meeting his hand with each downward pull. “Yes, yes-” he whispered, head falling back against the pillows once more. Makio had gone down on him three nights ago; she’d been good. Wickedly good, her mouth hot and the suction just right. “Please, don’t stop,” too goo, too good-

He had to slow his hand, chest rising and falling quickly. Too quickly- oh, he didn’t want this to end just yet. No, not as his mind brought forth such a lovely idea- something that Tengen had brought up. The idea of Tengen settled between his thighs and Suma on his cock, Hinatsuru on his face. But his mind, those images changed- Tengen still between his thighs, but it was not Suma riding him. No, it was dark hair, his head tilted back as he rode, gripping at Tengen’s arms. “Just like that, Tomioka, just like that,” he murmured, lost in his fantasy.

If he were home, he’d have something to fill himself with- but alas, he was not, and didn’t feel like taking the time to prep himself. That meant stopping, and sweet Buddha, he did not want to stop. He could picture the feeling well enough- hell, he 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 what it felt like. Tengen was large- larger than himself in length and girth, but that was no big surprise. Tengen in general was a big man. Of course he’d be big.

Oh his face- oh, his sweet kohai would sit, so shy and nervous! How she’d tremble with every flick of his tongue against her clit, how she’d watch the way Giyuu’s face would contort, how he’d be begging for Kyo to go deeper- but Tengen was in charge here. He’d set the pace for them all. Kyojuro was just there to be used for their pleasure- that’s all. He could almost feel how Mitsuri would clench her thighs around his head, could picture so easily how her head would fall back, her hands clutching at her chest as she would sob. She was a crier-

He knew that from experience.

“There-” he gasped, hand speeding up around himself. Close, so close. “Don’t stop, baby- yes, god, just like that, just like that- Tengen-fuck!” He jolted, hand stilling for a moment as his orgasm took him by surprise. His eyes were screwed shut, blood roaring in his ears so loudly he never heard the door open, shut- didn’t hear the footsteps that came closer.

Only when a hand cupped his cheek and drew him into a deep, hungry kiss did he realize who had entered his room. Uzui- alone, but he had a key to his room. Of course he would have come to check on him. He slowly released himself as Tengen kissed him almost lazily before he pulled back. “I’d been calling your name for a few minutes- figured you’d gone to bed until I heard…” He trailed off, gesturing to Kyojuro’s current state.

“I- apologize. I hadn’t even heard you over myself!” He joked, shifting to cover himself- only for Uzui’s hand to reach out and grasp his wrist. He blinked, head tilting in a rather owlish manner.

“We leave in the morning,” Tengen began as he settled onto the bed, free hand reaching down to undo the ties of his yukata, “but I wouldn’t mind one more night of pleasure. That is, if you don’t?” He paused, ruby gaze drifting to Kyojuro-

Who looked ready to explode. A smile crooked the shinobi’s lips. “That’s a good boy,” he murmured as Kyojuro leaned forward, grabbing at his face and drawing him in and down for another biting kiss.

[platoniclokiimagines]

Hey I love your blog so much it has become my safe place! Could you write something where reader is recovering from a restrictive eating disorder and loki is there for her? Im there myself and support from my favorite character would be warmly welcomed 💙

A/N: Normally this would be at the end of this little section, here, but I wanted to put this first because I would like to very much apologize for this being so beyond late. I hope that you’re still here, still reading this blog, and still finding solace in Loki. Disordered eating is something that I’ve been struggling with for the past several years, too, and I know how difficult it can be to come back from that. I appreciate you entrusting me and my Loki to help comfort you, and I hope you know that you are never never never alone. Stay strong, dear one. We’re rooting for you.

WC: 1367

TW: eating disorder, eating disorder recovery // Please please PLEASE do not read this if you do not think that this is something that you can handle.

You’d been staring at the open refrigerator for what feltlike hours, and you were certain you would have stayed there for several more,if you hadn’t heard the soft voice behind you.

“Y/N?”

You didn’t turn around; you didn’t need to, to recognize theperson speaking.

Loki had been the best, when it came to helping you throughthe steps to recovery after you’d admitted how much trouble you’d been havingeating, and they had been doing everything that they could to make the entireprocess on you as easy as possible. They sat with you when you were strugglingto eat, they made you your favorite foods to eat in hopes you’d take even justa couple of bites. They were with you through it all.

In short, they had been a blessing, and you were gratefulthat they were being so kind and understanding in a time where you just neededthe support of someone who cared about you.

“…come on. I’ll fix you some tomato soup. Nice and easy, andwarm.”

They patted you on the back gently, and you mustered up aweak smile as you closed the refrigerator and watched them start digging aroundfor a pot and a can of soup.

“You could just make it in the microwave, you know. ‘sfaster,”you pointed out as you hefted yourself onto a barstool on the opposite side ofthe kitchen island.

“Perhaps, but then I wouldn’t have nearly as much time totalk to you while I make it.” Lokismiled at you then, and you smiled a little more as well, watching as theyturned the stove on and got the soup all ready to heat up just how you likedit, some salt, some pepper, and just a bitof mint, which you’d convinced them ‘enhances the flavor.’

Once they got it simmering, they turned around to face you,leaning back against the counter, close to the stove so they could stir everyso often.

“How are you feeling?” Loki asked it not entirely hesitant, but with obvious concern thatyou might take ill to the question itself, but you only shrugged a bit.

“Bad food day.”

Loki nodded. “That’s okay. It happens sometimes, yeah? Andthat’s okay. Maybe the soup will help a little. Just a few bites, that’s all.And if you want more, then that’s great, but if not, that’s alright, too. Wecan save it for later.”

You nodded and smiled weakly, but it was a struggle. Lokimade it all sound so easy and reasonable, and while you appreciated that theywere handling it that way, it still made you wish that you could get yourself to be that reasonable.

“Hey… Where’s your mind at?” This time, Loki spoke muchsofter, and when you looked back up at them, you found they were watching youintently, brow furrowed as they looked at you, and you heaved a sigh, knowingit would do neither of you any good to lie.

“I just… wish I could get my own brain to think that reasonably.”

Loki nodded slowly, and set down the spoon they were holdingas they moved to lean across the kitchen island so they could place a hand overyours, and for a long moment, they stood there in silence, as they tried to workout what they wanted to say.

“…I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now. And Idon’t want to tell you that anything that you’re feeling is bad or wrong oranything like that at all, because I’m not you, and I don’t get to decide that.But what I can tell you is that…everything that you are feeling isvalid. No matter what anyone else says, or what you say, or even what your ownmind says. It’s tough to be tormented by your own thoughts. That I can relate to. But that doesn’t meanthat you aren’t capable or deserving of good things. Even if it doesn’t feellike that right now, maybe it won’t forever. But I’ll be right here with you,every step of the way, to remind you. You’ll find yourself again, in time. Andit will be a glorious day when youdo. But for now, doing your best is more than enough, and I’m so proud of youfor doing all the hard work that you’re doing.”

You swallowed thickly, finding yourself unable to look atLoki and instead focusing on the pattern of the marbling beneath your hands. “Whatif I relapse again?”

“…then you relapse. And we start back from step one again.That doesn’t mean that you’ve failed. Not in the least. It means you’re still fighting. And that will always beadmirable.”

You nodded a bit, but you still couldn’t look up at Loki,not with the way you could feel the tears welling up in your eyes.

“…is there even a point in trying?”

Loki squeezed your hand gently, and then let go, only tocome around to where you were sitting, kneeling in front of you and taking yourhands so that you were left with no option butto turn on your seat so that you could face them.

“Of course there’sa point. There’s always a point.” Loki held your hands tightly, making surethat you were still looking at them before they continued again. “There are somany things you have left to experience. So many sunsets, and rainstorms, and…trips to the beach with the rest of the team, where you get so sunburned youcan hardly move the next day, and… evenings curled up on the couch with thatbook you’ve read so many times you could probably recite it word for word.Laughing at Thor when he gets caught up in regaling battle tales, and makingfun of Rogers for not understanding where a popular reference came from. Warmcups of tea on late nights… Norns,rainbows and little puppies and babies laughing so whole-heartedly that itmakes you laugh.”

Just the thought ofthat was enough for you to give a watery little laugh, and that was really whatLoki was hoping for, and they smiled along with you, grateful for even just that much from you.

“…we need you herewith us, Y/N. Me, Thor, the rest of the team. We all need you. And we care about you, and we want you to be happy andhealthy, and we’ll do everything that we can to remind you of that, I’ll do everything I can to remind youof that. We’ll take it one day at a time. Just… don’t give up on us yet, okay?Don’t give up on us.”

You sniffled, rather gracelessly, and gave a hiccupping littlesob of a laugh as you nodded a bit. “…one day at a time.”

Loki nodded, and squeezed your hands gently one more time beforestanding up so that they could properly hug you, smiling a bit when youreturned the hug just as fiercely.

“…we’re going to get through this, Y/N. We will. I promiseyou.”

You nodded against their shoulder, and after a long while,drew back, rubbing at your eyes with your sleeve. “…I really needed to hear… all of that.”

“I know. That’s why I said it.” Loki grinned a bit, just cheeky enough to make you smile, aswell, and you couldn’t help but to laugh. “I bet that soup is warm enough foryou, now. We’ll get that in a bowl for you, and get you a nice glass of water. Andwhen you’ve had however much you want, we’ll have a nice little spa day, yeah?I’ll even let you put that horridblack goo on my face that hurts when you take it off.”

“…a face mask?”

Loki only waved their hand dismissively, focusing on ladlingthe soup into a bowl for you, and you smiled a little more, the last bit ofapprehension melting away, at least for now, as you watched them work with suchcare. You weren’t so sure youdeserved them, but gods, were you glad to have them.

“…you’ve got yourself a deal.”

[littlelovelyspiderling]

The Competition

I’d say oops part 3 but these are so fun to write and bring me such joy that I’m gonna stop apologizing for it haha

The avatar gang competes to see who can get Zuko to laugh first. Adorableness ensues.

word count: 8116

__________________________

“Zuko doesn’t emote much, does he?”

Katara was staring at the young Fire Nation prince as she said it. He was lying against Appa, fully asleep even though the sun had only set an hour ago. She had noticed that, if circumstances permitted it, Zuko tended to rise and fall with the sun, waking at sunrise before anyone else to meditate in the soft morning glow, then nodding off quickly after the last whispers of light had vanished behind the horizon. Perhaps it had something to do with fire benders’ dependency on the sun: the way it fueled their strength and abilities, just as she drew power from the moon. 

Whatever the reason, it was amusing—the way he conked out like a baby polar leopard long before anyone else in the group had even considered turning in for the night. 

Sokka scoffed, tearing eagerly into a strip of salmon jerky. “Are you kidding me?” he said between bites. “The guy yells every other sentence that leaves his mouth. How is that not emotive?”

“He does have a bit of a temper,” Aang admitted, shooting an anxious glance in Zuko’s direction before continuing. “But it’s something he’s told me he’s working on. I think being angry is like his base temperature, so we should try to be patient with him.”

Aang grinned enthusiastically. Katara shook her head. 

“I know he’s good at expressing his anger. I guess I meant emoting in more...positive ways. He barely ever smiles, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard him laugh before.” She stared at him sullenly. “Do you think he’s all right?”

The rest of the group followed her gaze to the slumbering teenager. The campfire in the center of their circle rose and fell with his steady breathing. 

“He does have a lot going on, what with the having to betray his nation and leave his home and help Aang defeat his dad and all,” Toph pointed out. “But I think you’re reading this wrong, Katara. Maybe Zuko just doesn’t express happiness the same way we do. Maybe it’s more subtle.” She popped a berry into her mouth. “But that doesn’t mean he’s not enjoying being here with us.”

Katara crossed her arms in thought. “Yeah,” she conceded. “Maybe.” She turned back to the group with a line between her eyes. “It just...makes me sad. It’d be nice to see him be unsubtly happy for a change, wouldn’t it? I know all of your laughs and smiles by heart at this point. I feel like I’ll never know him completely until I recognize his.”

The only times Zuko ever flagrantly expressed himself were when he was shouting angrily about something or shooting awake from another horrendous nightmare, drenched in a cold sweat with tears shining in the corners of his eyes. Happy emotions were restricted to tiny smiles that vanished in a heartbeat and the slightest lift in his otherwise level voice. Katara wondered what kinds of hardships he’d endured to make him this way. What cruel forces had forged him into the teenager that slept by their side—a person who shrunk from joy like it was dangerous, poisonous. 

Aang sprung to his feet suddenly, making the others wince in surprise. “Ooh, ooh!” he exclaimed excitedly. “I know what to do! We should have a competition!”

The group sat in silence for a moment. “A...competition?” Sokka parroted, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah!” Aang cheered, pointing at the still-sleeping Zuko. “Whoever can get Zuko to laugh first wins!”

The gang exchanged a look of confusion and intrigue. It was such a silly proposition. 

“And I mean really laugh,” he elaborated. “Like, Sokka-after-Toph-inhaled-fire-flakes laugh.”

Sokka burst into giggles at the mention of the incident while Toph frowned at her feet. “Oho man, that was the best!” he cackled, wiping his eyes.

“Yeah, like that!” Aang continued exuberantly. “For the next few days, all of us should try to make Zuko do the Zuko-equivalent of that. And whoever gets him to do it first wins!”

Katara grinned at the idea. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t imagine what Zuko’s laugh might sound like. She needed to hear it firsthand, which would clearly require creativity on their end. Her mind was already grasping for potential leads. 

“I like it,” she decided. “Are there any rules?”

Aang tapped his chin in thought. “Hmm. No telling Zuko about the competition or what we’re trying to do. That’ll spoil it. We also have to take turns trying to make him laugh—as in, you can’t try something once then immediately try something else; everyone has to go again before you get to take another stab at it. And everyone has to witness it happening and agree on the winner for it to count.”

Sokka stretched his arms over his head with a smirk. “Well then, the rest of you might as well duck out now. Everyone knows I’m the king of gut-busting jokes and sarcasm. Sokka’s got this in the bag.”

“The Air Nomads are famous for having great senses of humor,” Aang retorted cheerfully. “I’ve got an entire cultural heritage of making people laugh on my side. Don’t count me out just yet.”

Katara rolled her eyes. “You guys are so conceited. Always thinking your hilarious wit is the answer to everything.”

Aang and Sokka shared a puzzled scowl. “What’s your plan then, Miss Anti-Humor?” Sokka asked. 

Katara colored. “Um, w-well—” Her eyes darted around their campsite before landing on Momo. She scooped the lemur off the ground and placed him on her head. “I’ll make him laugh with fun! See? Fun!”

Momo warbled lazily as Sokka shook his head. “You’d best leave this to the experts, Katara. Fun hasn’t ever exactly been your thing.”

Momo leapt off her head as Katara pouted. “We’ll see,” she grumbled.

“What if none of us find a way to make Zuko laugh?” Toph inquired. “What happens then?”

“Those sound like the words of someone who is going down!” Sokka cried triumphantly. Aang shrugged. 

“Then I guess we just keep trying.”

Toph pursed her lips before hinting a smile. “All right. I’m in.” She polished off her handful of berries. “Oh, and I’m one hundred percent winning this thing.”

“That’s the spirit!” Aang said. He pumped his fist in the air. “The competition begins at daybreak tomorrow!”

The group settled in for the night, brainstorming their own series of elaborate, laugh-inducing schemes to test out in the morning. Zuko slept soundly, unaware of what awaited him once he woke.

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

“You seem distracted.”

Aang blinked, his focus snapping back to the tranquil cliffside and the scowling fire bender standing in front of him.

“Oh, uh, distracted?” he said, balling his hands at his sides with an innocent smile. “No, I’m not distracted.”

“Then get it right this time,” Zuko snapped, assuming a low stance. “Kick up, recenter, then punch out. Fire comes from the breath, so exhale at the peak of your move, not a second too early or late.”

Zuko demonstrated the action again, thrusting his foot in the air, reclaiming his balance, then jabbing his fist forward, flames gliding and shooting with his movements in perfect harmony. A burst of fire exploded from his knuckles at the end of the move, sending a wave of heat washing over Aang.

Aang winced back and swallowed. “Right. I’m sure I’ll have it down in no time.” A smile seized his features. “But before I do that, I have a surprise for you!”

Zuko’s fierce expression shifted to puzzled. “What?” he said, relaxing out of his solid stance for a moment. 

“Wait right there!” Aang said, then darted away, disappearing behind Appa. Zuko huffed, crossing his arms against his chest. 

“If you’re trying to bribe me out of today’s lesson, it’s not going to work. You still have five sets of fire lunges to get through.”

“It’s not a bribe!” Aang’s voice insisted from afar, echoing down the cliff side. “It’s just a token of appreciation—you know, for joining the group and being such a wonderful firebending teacher.” 

He reappeared with a giant grin on his face and his hands hidden behind his back. The rest of the gang sat around their campsite, looking unusually interested in Aang and Zuko’s training session. 

Zuko scanned the avatar warily as he approached. Aang stopped a few feet back, chipper as always. 

“Are you ready?” he asked, smiling wide.

“I guess,” Zuko deadpanned. 

Aang extended his hands forward, revealing his gift. “Ta-da!” he exclaimed.

Zuko blinked. It was...a cake. Of some sort. A small, round pastry with some kind of red jelly in the center. It was surprisingly professional-looking, especially considering they were out in the woods with no markets or ovens nearby. 

“I baked it for you with firebending!” Aang explained. “I even flavored the center with fire gummies so it’d taste like home.”

Zuko was taken back by the thoughtful gesture. This all felt largely unwarranted. “Um,” he said, scratching the back of his head. “Thanks? I guess?”

Aang held it out eagerly. “Go on, try it! It’s an old Air Nomad recipe. It’s really good!”

“I’ll try it after we’re done training,” Zuko said, re-assuming his power stance. “Now then—show me the move I just demonstrated for you.”

“Aw, come one,” Aang whined. “Just one bite! Please? I promise you won’t—”

Aang staggered forward suddenly, tripping over his own foot. He hoped it didn’t look too staged—like falling with the cake in his hands hadn’t been his plan all along. The alarm that crossed Zuko’s expression indicated his performance was a success. Zuko tried lunging forward to help him, but it was too late—with a yelp, Aang face-planted into his culinary creation, splattering cake and jelly at the prince’s feet. 

A beat passed where Zuko just stood there, mouth agape. Then the rest of the group exploded into hysterical laughter, gripping their stomachs and doubling over themselves.

“Ohokay, that was pretty good,” Sokka admitted between giggles.

“Look at Twinkle Toes, starting things off strong,” Toph agreed.

Aang lifted his face out of the cake, letting the goo and batter slip off for a moment to enhance the effect. At the very least, he expected a smile to cross Zuko’s lips. Instead, he just looked startled. 

“Aw, man,” he said, offering him a hand. “Are you okay?”

Behind the layer of flattened pastry, Aang frowned. “Yeah, of course,” he said. “I just tripped.”

“Sorry about the cake. It, uh, sounded like you worked hard on it.”

The others were still cackling like hyena bats behind them. Aang swiped his hand across his cake-covered face bemusedly. It didn’t make sense. Why wasn’t Zuko laughing?

“But don’t you think it’s funny?” he asked. “That I, you know, tripped and fell face-first into it?”

Zuko narrowed his eyes. “Do you...want me to think it’s funny?”

“Kinda! I don’t know. Everyone else does.”

The firebender wasn’t sure how to respond. “You worked hard on something, and now it’s ruined. That’s already bad enough. I didn’t want to make you feel worse.”

Aang couldn’t believe how spectacularly his plan had failed. Everything had gone perfectly except for Zuko’s reaction. This might be harder than he thought. He dropped his face back into the cake, groaning in defeat. While the others continued giggling, Zuko placed his hands on his hips.

“Let’s, uh, break from training for today. We can pick up where we left off tomorrow.”

Aang gave a halfhearted thumbs up as the prince walked away. Zuko: 1, Aang: 0.

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

It was around lunch time when Sokka made his move. The rest of the group watched in anticipation as the next competitor approached their target. 

“Hiya, Zuko!” Sokka greeted him. The teen sat by the fire pit with the others, eating a bowl of soup. 

“Hi...Sokka,” he addressed him hesitantly, popping the spoon out of his mouth. “Can I help you?”

Sokka jabbed his index finger into the air. “As a matter of fact, you can! I have a very important question to ask you.”

Zuko shot dubious looks at the other members of the group before sitting up a little straighter. “Okay,” he said. 

Clearing his throat, Sokka broke into a grin. “Why are firebenders always the slowest runners?”

Zuko thought on it for a moment. A frown wrinkled his features. “We are?”

“Because they get too easily burnt out!” Sokka howled, laughing wildly at his own joke, slapping his knee and hugging his belly. Zuko just stared at him, blinking his strikingly golden eyes. A few seconds later, the tiniest of smiles lifted one corner of his mouth.

“Oh, I get it,” he said. “That’s funny.”

Toph, Aang, and Katara giggled softly behind their hands—more out of pity than anything else. Sokka gawked.

“Wait—that’s it?”

Zuko tilted his head slightly. “What’s it?”

“I spent all night coming up with that joke!”

“I said it was funny,” Zuko said defensively.

“If you thought it was funny, why didn’t you laugh?”

Zuko downed the rest of his soup and shrugged sheepishly. “I’m...sorry?”

The rest of the gang snickered into their palms. Sokka groaned.

“Wait, wait—one more chance,” he pleaded, more to the others than to Zuko. Zuko had no idea why it was suddenly so important that he found Sokka’s jokes hilarious. Recovering part of his trampled dignity, Sokka coughed, then tried again.

“What do you get when you dunk Momo in a pitcher of lemon juice?” 

Zuko sighed, leaning back with his hands folded behind his head. “Gee, I don’t know, Sokka. What do you get when you dunk Momo in a pitcher of lemon juice?” 

Sokka’s eyebrow twitched crossly. Patronizing, much? “Lemurnade,” he muttered out. “You—you get lemurnade.”

At that, Aang cracked up, his laughter ringing like a bell. “Haha! Good one, Sokka!”

Sokka hung his head. “Thanks, Aang,” he mumbled, then sulked away, heavily chagrined. Zuko watched him go, feeling like he’d done something wrong.

“What’s his deal?” he asked the group. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Toph assured him, stifling a snort. “That’s just Sokka being Sokka.”

Zuko furrowed his brow. Was it just him, or were all of them acting...strange? It felt like they were paying more attention to him than normal, and hanging on his every response to their interactions like it was life or death. Around these guys, he preferred to fade into the background rather than be center stage; they were all such good friends, and they had so much history together, whereas he...well, they had history, all right, but not exactly the good kind. He found he was perfectly content listening to them talk from the sidelines, only joining the conversation when he was directly addressed. 

After lunch, the group headed to a nearby stream to wash off and cool down. Zuko stood at the edge of the riverbank, watching Momo paw at the minnows in the shallow pools between the reeds, when Katara tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey Zuko,” she said, looking artificially high-spirited. “You want to see something fun?”

Zuko gave her a questioning look. “Fun?” he repeated, turning to face her. What is with everyone today? He hunched his shoulders. “Um...okay.”

Zuko didn’t know what he was expecting her to do—propose some kind of group activity, show off a new waterbending move, maybe—but it certainly wasn’t her placing both hands on his chest and shoving him full-force into the river. The prince yelped and flailed, teetering frantically on the edge of the bank before tipping backwards and dropping into the water with a splash. Zuko resurfaced a few seconds later, his wet hair sticking to his face, his eyes wide. Immediately, the group erupted into a chorus of laughter, making the firebender blush.

“W-what on earth, Katara?” he stammered, slicking his hair back so it wasn’t falling in his eyes. “What was that for?”

“For fun, of course!” she exclaimed nervously, as if she was trying to convince herself. “Wasn’t that fun?”

“Not really!” he growled. He clambered up the riverbank, griping and grumbling the whole time, steam rising off his thoroughly soaked clothing. The others continued to giggle at his dripping, disheveled appearance. “What part of that was supposed to be fun?”

“I thought it was pretty fun,” Sokka chuckled from the opposite side of the river. Zuko reddened beneath their stares and quickly turned away, crossing his arms tight to his chest.

“Sorry, Zuko,” Katara said. “Here.”

Using her bending, she pulled the water out of his clothes so he was dry again. Zuko scratched at his wild mess of hair, eyeing Katara thoughtfully.

After a pause, Zuko made a rash decision. His arms jerked forward before he could talk himself out of it, pushing Katara into the river, making her fall faster than she could react. She hit the water with a shriek, sending waves in every direction. The rest of the group gaped.

“Hey!” Katara gasped as she broke the surface, hands balled into fists. Zuko smirked.

“I take it back. You’re right, Katara. That is pretty fun.”

The others laughed again, and Katara eventually joined them, drawing the water from her hair and flinging it playfully at Zuko. Zuko flinched back with a smile, but that was the closest she got: still no progress on the laughing end. Not even the tiniest giggle.   

It looked like The Water Tribe siblings had struck out as well.

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

Toph’s decision to strike at night had been her plan from the start. Laughter always flowed more organically after dark, after all. The more tired you were, the more funny things seemed—even things that arguably weren’t that funny in the first place.

The light from their campfire gilded the group in an orange sheen. Zuko blinked sleepily, watching the flames lap toward the night sky, his golden eyes reflecting the glow in an arrestingly brilliant way. She waited until his heartbeat began to slow before executing her plan. While Sokka studied a map of the Fire Nation, Katara charted the stars, and Aang scratched Momo’s tummy, Toph rose to her feet.

“Watch this,” she said out of nowhere. Then she pounded her heel into the ground, causing the earth underneath Sokka to jump up like a spring, shooting him high into the air. Sokka screamed in surprise, bounced between the branches of a nearby tree, then crashed to the ground with a grunt. 

Katara and Aang’s jaws dropped open. Spitting and sputtering, Sokka scrambled to his hands and knees in a befuddled fury. “Toph!” he screeched, leaves and twigs sticking out of his hair.

Toph busted out laughing while everyone just stared. When she realized no one else was joining her, her giggles gradually petered away. 

“What? You guys didn’t think that was funny?” 

“It was certainly...surprising?” Aang ventured to say.

“A bit violent, though,” Katara added.

“A bit?” Sokka cried, wagging his arms through the air. “She catapulted me into a tree!”

Toph snorted. “Well I thought it was hilarious. Zuko?”

All eyes turned to gauge the prince’s reaction. They were stunned to see his body slack and his head lolled to one side. Their resident firebender was out cold, sleeping peacefully. 

With a huff, Toph flopped to the ground. “Are you kidding me? That was some of my best material!”

“Wow,” Aang mused, resting his chin on his kneecaps. “I can’t believe how big of a bust today was.”

“Seriously! I laughed at everything everyone tried with him! All of us are objectively hilarious, but still nothing!” Sokka jabbed an angry finger at Toph before she could respond. “Not you, Toph. I’m going to be picking bugs out of my hair for weeks!” He slumped to the ground, gazing at Zuko through the flickering tongues of the fire. “Man! What’s it gonna take to get this guy to laugh?”

Toph shrugged. “Maybe I was right. Maybe laughing just isn’t the way he expresses happiness.”

“That can’t be true,” Katara stated indignantly. “We’ve just got to keep trying. Maybe in Fire Nation culture, royalty aren’t allowed to laugh or something, and he’s still stuck in that mindset. All we need to do now is find the right way to draw him out of it.”

“First dancing is outlawed, now laughing?” Sokka slapped his forehead. “Why is the Fire Nation so obsessed with destroying all things fun?”

Toph swirled her finger in the air. “Or maybe you’re all just not as funny as you think you are.”

While Sokka viciously protested Toph’s proposal, Aang narrowed his eyes and stuck out his bottom lip. “If we’re determined to make Zuko laugh, we have to find out what he thinks is funny. Perhaps his sense of humor is just different from ours.” Aang smiled at his friends. “Don’t worry, guys. I have a plan.”

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

Zuko yawned and rubbed his eyes as he strolled up the quiet hillside. The grass shivered in the cool breeze and the sky was a painting of pinks and purples and blues. 

Morning meditation was a drag sometimes, but it helped him clear his head, reorient his senses, and tame his inner fire. Plus, after his haunting betrayal in Ba Sing Se, it was one of the only ways he could still feel connected to his uncle. Uncle was the person who taught him the value of disciplined meditation—a practice he hadn’t realized wasn’t widely exercised among firebenders until he was older. Rather, it was actually an Air Nomad tradition Iroh had picked up and passed on to his nephew. 

Sticking to his uncle’s mindful regime didn’t make Zuko feel better about what he’d done, but...it was something. A small memento to Iroh’s unconditional kindness and wisdom that he could maintain, even if he never got the chance to redeem himself.

As Zuko rounded the crown of the hill, he was surprised to see smoke rising from their campsite. The others were usually still asleep by the time he got back. He heard chatter and the sound of something hissing over the fire. A wave of smells washed over him that was oddly familiar—warm, spicy, nostalgic. 

“Zuko!” Aang cried once the prince stepped into view. The sleepy prince was shirtless and wore pants that cut off just above his kneecaps. He tended to run hot, being a firebender and all, so it wasn’t an unusual sight. The others popped up excitedly and grinned, as if they’d been waiting for him.

“What’s going on?” Zuko asked, kneading the heel of one hand into his eye. He sniffed the air and frowned. “Are you...cooking jook?”

“Yeah! And ash banana bread!” Katara presented a hefty portion of each for him. “Aang swung by the market at the base of the mountain and found all the ingredients.”

Zuko blinked at the offering then between his four friends. “This is Fire Nation food,” he said.

“Is it!” Sokka agreed. “Well, our attempt at it, anyway.”

“You guys hate Fire Nation food,” Zuko continued skeptically. “Why are you making it?”

“Just because we hate the Fire Nation doesn’t mean we hate all Fire Nation food,” Toph said, wrinkling her nose. “Although, I think I’ll pass on the jook.”

Sokka took a large bite of banana bread. “And even if we did hate it, it doesn’t matter. You like Fire Nation food, right?”

Zuko hadn’t realized how much he’d missed the delicacies of his country until now. After weeks of eating nothing but what they could forage and hunt in the wild, his stomach ached for an authentic taste of home. 

“Yeah,” he finally answered, still unsure what all this was leading to.

“Great! Because we made this for you!” Sokka slurped up a spoonful of jook and smiled wide.

Warily, Zuko accepted the bowl and the bread from Katara. He didn’t know what to say, other than—

“Why?”

Aang cocked his head to one side. “Why what?” he asked. 

“Why...did you make this for me?”

The group exchanged a look, like that was the silliest question they’d ever heard. Toph chuckled. 

“Because we like you, stupid. You're our friend, and we like doing things that make you happy.”

The words floated around his head for a while before seeping into his brain. Once they did, Zuko’s face flushed warm and pink. “Oh,” he said. He gazed into the steaming bowl in his hand. It looked just like the kind Uncle made for him. Where is all this coming from? he wondered. Was it something I did or said? This slew of kind gestures felt so undeserved and foreign, especially coming from the people he’d spent a significant portion of time terrorizing. A few moments later, a shy smile lifted the corners of his lips. 

“Well, thanks. I’m touched.”

“Here, sit,” Sokka said, scooting over to make room. Zuko sat down beside him and took a sip from his bowl. He brightened delightedly. 

“It’s great,” he said. Not as good as Uncle’s, he conceded; Iroh had a much heavier hand with the ginger. But still great—better than he could ever make. He fidgeted beneath all their attentive stares. “You guys didn’t have to do this.”

“It was a lot of trouble,” Sokka admitted, earning a whack from Katara. He winced, rubbing the fresh bump on his head. “But—ow—we were happy to do it.”

Aang floated into a sitting position on Zuko’s left, landing beside him like a leaf drifting delicately to the ground. “Speaking of happiness, I’ve been meaning to ask you: can you remember the hardest you’ve ever laughed in your life?”

It was a very bizarre and random inquiry, and didn’t seem at all like a natural segue in the conversation. But that appeared to be a theme among the avatar gang, so Zuko played along.

“Um,” he began, shifting to cross his legs on top of each other. “The hardest?” He grasped for a memory from his youth, but it was all so distant and fuzzy. Whispers and sprinkles of laughter buried beneath years of fear and obedience. Eventually, he shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe when I was little, with my mom. Or maybe with Uncle.”

He went back to his jook, thinking he’d satisfied their curiosity. Katara leaned toward him impatiently. 

“Maybe that’s too specific. How about the happiest you’ve ever been? When was that?”

Zuko lowered the bowl from his lips and eyed Katara curiously. “The happiest I’ve ever been?” he repeated back. 

“Yeah! Like, what period of your life would you consider the most joy-filled?”

Another unexpected question. This was getting weirdly personal. He could sense there was an end goal to all this prying, but he had yet to pinpoint it. Zuko ran the back of his hand across his mouth. 

“Uh...well...again, I’m not sure.” He thought hard about it for a few seconds, trying to recall an era of his life when he’d felt happy—truly happy, for an extended length of time. “I guess I remember moments of being happy, but...not entire periods. Working at the Jasmine Dragon with Uncle was nice while it lasted. But even then, it felt kind of forced.” He nibbled at the ash banana bread. It was warm and cinnamon-y and tasted like autumn. He swallowed and hinted a smile. “But being here, helping you guys...I’d say this is the happiest I’ve ever been. Because for once in my life, I know I’m doing the right thing.”

The statement was small but sincere. As his words sunk in, the group mirrored his smile tenfold. They shared knowing looks with one another, each with the same thought in their head. So this is Zuko’s version of happy. It’s definitely different, definitely subtle, but it’s him—and it’s genuine.

Maybe Zuko didn’t laugh loudly or smile all the time. That didn’t mean he was sad or broken. He just had his own way of expressing joy. And that was okay. It was reassuring to know that Zuko was in a good place, even if he didn’t show it as obviously as the rest of them did. The competition wasn’t over yet—that was a given—but if they continued to fail, at least they knew it wasn’t because Zuko was upset or discouraged. 

“Aw, Zuko—ya big softy,” Sokka teased, poking him in the ribs. To his surprise, the prince jerked away from his touch, a small yelp escaping him. Zuko turned to him bewilderedly, eyes wide. Oops, Sokka thought. Had he hurt him by accident? Maybe he had an injury he didn’t know about. He’d nearly made him drop his jook. 

“Oh, sorry,” Sokka said. “Are you okay?”

Zuko clenched his jaw. “Y-yeah,” he answered quickly, rubbing at his rib cage. “You—sorry, you just startled me.” 

He appeared flustered suddenly, like he was hiding something. Maybe he’d wounded himself in a really embarrassing way and didn’t want anyone else to find out about it. Sokka looked to the others for insight, but none of them seemed to have noticed Zuko’s weird reaction to his touch. 

“This startled you?” he inquired suspiciously, poking him again, lower this time. Zuko responded the same way as before, flinching and squeaking like he was being electrocuted. But as Sokka watched his expression change, he realized he wasn’t wincing or grimacing in pain. Instead, a grin flashed across his face, bigger and brighter than he’d ever seen, then vanished a second later, smothered by a look of shock and anger. 

“Quit it!” he snapped, hopping to his feet. He pursed his lips to keep them from turning upright. 

Sokka recognized his response. He’d seen it from the kids in their Water Tribe village as they wrestled playfully with their mothers and one another. Katara, too, when they’d played as children. A devious smile gradually spread across Sokka’s face. No way, he thought.

The rest of the group looked at Zuko confusedly but shrugged it off. He yelled a lot—it wasn’t anything new. Now was Sokka’s chance.

“Aang, let’s go. Time for your firebending lesson. We’ve got a lot to catch up on.”

He was talking rapidly, eager to abscond this situation before it escalated any further. Aang let out a disappointed groan.

“Okay,” he murmured, floating to his feet. Sokka stood with him.

Oh no you don’t.

As Zuko turned to leave, Sokka ran up behind him, wrapping his arms around his midsection. 

“Sorry—one more time. This startled you?”

With fiendish glee, he dug into his torso, wiggling his fingers into his belly and sides. Zuko yelped and flailed, not anticipating the surprise attack. He tried to pry Sokka’s hands away, but the Water Tribe teen was stronger than he looked. His flustered sputtering transformed into stifled squeaks. Two seconds later, the dam finally broke.

“Ahahaha!��� Zuko belted out, grappling at Sokka’s hands as they clawed at his tummy. “S-Sohakka! Whahat are you doohooing?”

“Winning this competition, that’s what!” Sokka exclaimed. He poked and prodded at his ribs, making Zuko thrash and giggle. 

“Hahahagh! Gehet off me!”

Zuko broke Sokka’s hold and wrenched out of his grip, staggering forward so fast he fell to the ground. He rolled onto his back and scrambled a few more paces away, staring up Sokka in disbelief, blushing violently.

“W-what is wrong with you?” he stammered, hugging his stomach protectively.

It took a moment for everyone to register what had just transpired. But as soon as it did, shock and delight sprawled across all of their faces. 

“You…”

“Did he just—?”

“Oh man! You did it!”

“Yeah I did!” Sokka cheered, striking a pose. “Told you I was gonna win this thing! Bow down to your champion!”

“Win what thing?” Zuko growled, his face still tinted pink. He stood up nervously, scowling between them. “What’s going on here?”

“We’ve been playing a game to see who could get you to laugh first,” Aang explained. “None of us had ever heard you laugh before, so we wanted to try to make you do it. And now we finally have!”

“You mean I have,” Sokka corrected him smugly.

The idea that they’d spent the past twenty-four hours committed to hearing his laugh puzzled him. Why did it matter what it sounded like? It wasn’t particularly important or helpful information to have. Why did they care so much about something so trivial? The situation was odd and embarrassing yet strangely heartwarming. But mostly embarrassing. Zuko hunched his shoulders crossly.

“That’s what all this weirdness has been about? Why didn’t you just tell me what you were doing?”

“Because we wanted it to happen naturally!” Katara said, throwing her hands in the air. “But apparently none of us are funny enough for your taste!”

The group giggled. Zuko wasn’t sure what to say. A smirk touched Toph’s lips.

“Huh. I never would’ve thought to try tickling you.” She placed her hands on her hips. “I guess I just didn’t expect the Grumpy McGrouchy Pants prince of the Fire Nation to be ticklish.”

“And that laugh!” Sokka snickered. “Have you guys ever heard anything so adorable?”

Heat boiled to the surface of Zuko’s skin. “I’m not…!” he began, but he had no idea where he was going with this. For people who claimed to be his friends, they sure liked humiliating him and making him blush a lot. With an angry huff, he turned away. “Whatever. I’m going fishing.”

As he started to leave, Katara, Aang, Sokka, and Toph shared a wicked grin, locking down their next course of action without exchanging a single word. Sokka moved first, dashing after him and hooking his elbows underneath Zuko’s armpits, making the prince start.

“Hey!” he cried, struggling against his hold.

“You’re not what, Prince Zuko? Not ticklish, or not adorable?”

Zuko burned inside and out. He tried to throw Sokka over his shoulder, but the other teen planted his feet and hoisted Zuko off the ground, taking all of his leverage with him. He kicked and floundered, feeling small and ridiculous.

“Let me go!” he demanded.  

“Either way, we’re obliged to prove you wrong.” Sokka beamed at the others, voice laced with mischief. “Get him, guys!”

Zuko opened his eyes to find Katara, Aang, and Toph approaching him, smirking with fiendish delight. This cued the prince to fight even harder to escape, his legs flailing through the air. 

“Besides, we only got to listen to you laugh for a few seconds,” Katara pointed out, curling her fingers into claws. “I’ll need to hear it a little longer than that to memorize it.”

“And to determine just how adorable it really is!” Aang added. 

There were a lot of things Zuko had dreaded facing after joining the avatar’s gang. His dark past, the Fire Nation’s tyrannical cruelty, his plethora of failures and mistakes. This, however, had not been one of things he’d had in mind. 

Zuko considered heating up his hands just enough to make Sokka release him, but he didn’t want to betray the trust he had only just recently earned from all of them. If he accidentally burned another person on their team, he’d never forgive himself. 

Though perhaps that’d be worth avoiding the mortifying predicament he currently found himself in. 

“W-wahait!” he yelped, giggly dread amassing in his belly. He kicked in their direction to keep them from getting any closer. “Stay back!”

Sokka wrestled to keep the squirmy prince still. “Toph, a little help?” he called. 

Toph grinned and thrust her palms toward the sky. Two hands made of earth rose up from underneath Zuko and grabbed hold of his ankles. As she lowered her hands back down, the earth hands moved with hers, dragging his legs toward the ground then morphing into a pair of rock bonds encased around his feet, keeping them firmly trapped in place. 

Oh no. Zuko wriggled and wrenched, but there was nowhere for him to go. Unless he firebent his way out, he was defenseless. 

Before he could voice any more protests, Katara closed the space between them, her hands reaching his torso and scuttling up his bare sides. Zuko jolted and gasped, a giant smile lighting up his whole face despite his attempts to squash it.

“Ahahaheehee!” he giggled, squirming and shifting to try to get away. It was no use. Her fingers needled his exposed midsection freely and mercilessly, driving the sensitive prince absolutely nuts. The blush in his cheeks bled down his neck. “Wahait—mmheh—ehahaha!”

“Not ticklish at all, I see,” Katara said smugly. “And certainly not adorable, no.” She scribbled her nails all over his belly, parroting his endearing smile. It was so big and radiant and happy—a hundred times more so than she ever could’ve imagined. His laugh was another matter entirely—bright, bubbly, hysterically shrill. Far too cute for the human language to articulate. Plus, outrageously contagious.

“Stahahap it!” Zuko cackled, tugging uselessly at Sokka’s arms. The boy’s grip was like iron. Katara ignored him, testing and teasing every inch of his twitchy torso, kneading his tummy and pinching his sides and fluttering her fingers underneath his rib cage. He couldn’t believe how much it tickled, or how wild his own laughter sounded. None of them had realized how loud and uncontrollable Zuko’s laugh could get until now—including himself. 

Two hands on his ticklish belly were already enough to drive the giggly prince out of his mind. Of all days to meditate shirtless, why did he have to choose today? But then, to his horror, two more hands joined the fray, drilling into his hip bones with diabolical intensity and precision. Zuko bucked and squealed, his laughter reaching an entirely new caliber. 

“Ahahahaha!” he bubbled, shaking his head from side to side. “NohohahahAang!”

Zuko thought out of everyone present, the avatar would be the one to approach this situation with the most mercy and compassion. Boy, was he wrong. The airbender attacked his weak points like he’d been trained in the ancient art of tickle torture—as if tickling was a fifth element, and he’d already more than mastered it. 

“I can’t believe we went a whole day trying to be funny to make you laugh when all you needed was a little tickling!” Aang chirped cheerfully. “I also can’t believe you made us go this long without hearing what your laugh sounds like. It’s so cute and happy! Why don’t you do it more often?” 

If Aang expected Zuko to reply, he wasn’t making it easy. He furrowed his brow and stuck out his tongue as he explored the prince’s sensitive midsection, working in tandem with Katara so that every tickle spot on his torso got a turn being poked and squeezed and stroked. Zuko couldn’t stand another second. 

“Guhuhuhuys!” he howled. This was a nightmare. Things couldn’t possibly get any worse. He had to make them stop.

“Try tickling his ribs!” Sokka suggested suddenly, grinning with malicious glee. “He was super jumpy when I poked them before!” 

“Ooh, good idea!” Aang said. He skittered his hands up his sides then shook them viciously into his rib cage, making the poor teenager squawk.

The universe just loved proving him wrong, didn’t it?

“NOHOHAHA!” he bellowed, throwing his head back, nearly hitting Sokka in the face. “Gaha! Youhou—jerherherherks! Ahahaaa!”

The gang giggled along with him without slowing their attack. “Hey, there’s the Zuko we all know and love,” Toph chuckled. She sat on top of his buried feet and began skating her nails against the backs and caps of his knees, drawing feathery circles into the sensitive skin and causing goosebumps to shoot up his legs. It was gentler than Aang and Katara’s cruel tickle tactics—a fact he had to be grateful for—but still contributed significantly to his overall state of flustered, twitchy hysteria. 

“Aw, look at you, Prince Zu-Zu! So smiley and giggly and squirmy!” Katara bunched up her hands and spidered her nails against his belly button, making Zuko shriek and thrash like a little kid. “I can’t believe we were ever afraid of your adorable little face! If only we’d known back then how easy it is to defeat you! Just a couple tickles here, a few pokes there…”

She moved her hands across his tummy while she spoke, wiggling her fingernails as they dragged along his skin, cooing at him the entire time. Meanwhile, Aang was absolutely wrecking his ribs, grinding his knuckles ruthlessly into the bone. 

“Right? He’s cuter than a baby turtle duck!” 

“No wonder his uncle adores him so much,” Toph agreed.

Zuko wanted to disintegrate. The relentless teasing was just as cruel as the six hands tickling him to pieces. He’d never been taunted or tickled to this extent before, and the only thing he could do about it was blush tomato-red and laugh himself silly. He didn’t consider himself to be that sensitive of a person, seeing that no one had really tickled him since he was a child, but the avatar and his crew were doing a pretty good job convincing him otherwise. At this point, his entire body was bright pink and sizzling like a space heater. 

“PLEEHEASE STAHAHAP!” Zuko begged, hiccups leaping from his throat and puncturing his endless giggle fit. No point in trying to retain some shred of dignity—every last drop had already been spent. “I CAHAN’T TAKE AHANYMOHOHOREHAHAHA!”

“Aw, but this is so fun,” Sokka pouted playfully, poking at his neck with the fingers that could reach. “You sure you can’t take just a little more?”

“We haven’t even tickled your armpits yet!” Aang protested, immediately shoving his hands under his arms and wiggling his fingers against the hollows. It was a welcome break for his ribs, but also gave him giggly whiplash.

“AHAHAHACK!” Zuko squirmed helplessly, tears welling in the corners of eyes. He barely had the strength to even writhe in place anymore. “IHI’M—GOHONNA—DIHIHIHIE!”

Katara’s hands slowed to a halt against his sides, granting him a sudden rush of relief. “Okay, maybe we should stop,” she said, smiling sympathetically. “He does look pretty wiped.”

“He’s not going to die,” Toph assured the others with a chuckle. She took her hands off his knees. “Still, that’s probably a good idea.”

The absence of Katara and Toph’s tickling gave Zuko the chance to catch his breath a little. The relief was astronomical. Aang, however, had yet to let up, keeping the prince twitchy and giggly with his rib cage and underarm torment. 

“EhahahAang!” Zuko wheezed, wriggling helplessly. “Pleehease!”

Aang smiled wryly. “All right, I’ll stop,” he conceded, worming his fingers between each individual rib. “But first, you have to admit out loud that you’re adorable, because I’m still not convinced you believe it. Say that, and I’ll stop.”

Zuko thought it impossible for things to get any more embarrassing than they already were. Wrong again. Being disowned by his father and banished from the Fire Nation hadn’t been as humiliating as the past five minutes. Now this?

The group grinned at him expectantly, waiting. Zuko shook his head.

“B-buhut—I—” he stuttered out between giggles. Then Sokka dug his hands into armpits, making him squeal with laughter and shrink into himself.

“No excuses!” he demanded playfully. “Go on! Say it!”

Zuko tried to thrash out of Sokka’s grip now that it wasn’t so tight, but Sokka still had a strong enough hold on him to keep him trapped—even while he was tickling him. He buried his face into his shoulder to hide his goofy smile and flushed cheeks. 

“Ahaha! Youhou’re—s-soho—meahean!” To think that he used to be the one considered cruel and evil. Ponytail Zuko had nothing on these diabolical tickle monsters and their degrading requests.

A moment later, Katara started squeezing his sides again, causing Zuko to twist and yelp. “We’re mean? But look how happy we’re making you! If anything, you should be thanking us.”

Toph wiggled her fingers against the middle of his tummy. “We’re waiting, your highness.”

It was too much. He couldn’t bear it any longer. He needed this to end.

“OHOKAHAHAY!” he cackled, squirming and hiccuping and craving the sweet escape of death. “IHI’M—I ADMIHIHIT IT!”

“You admit what?” Aang asked, grinning innocently as he revved up his rib tickling to a maddening ferocity. Oh, he was so getting them back for this.

“GAHAHA! FIHIHINE! I’MAHAHAHADORHORABLE!” He ducked his head, blushing brighter than their campfire. “NOHOW STAHAHAHAP! PLEEHEEHEASE!”

The group laughed and cheered at his miserable defeat, then finally ceased their attack. Katara and Aang stepped back as Toph freed his feet and Sokka released him from his grip. Zuko was left standing in the center of the team, panting and giggling dazedly, guarding his torso with his arms held tight to his skin. His whole body tingled and burned. His face hurt from smiling so much.

“Well, you heard it here first, folks—Zuko is adorable, and he knows it!”

“And he can laugh! Like, actually laugh!”

“I guess he can express happiness the same way we do. You just have to push the right buttons.”

“Was that emotive enough for you, Katara?”

Zuko was at his wit’s end. Again, with the teasing? Couldn’t these guys give him a break? He was never going to hear the end of this for as long as he lived. Giggling breathlessly, he sunk to his hands and knees, making his friends flinch. 

“Whoa,” Katara exclaimed. “You all right there, Zuko?”

For a moment, the team worried that they’d gone too far, that they’d somehow broken Zuko by making him laugh for what might’ve been the first time in his life. Zuko doubled over himself, wheezing dazedly.

“Uhuhugh…” he whimpered, voice muffled. “Y-you’re...gohonna...pahay for that…”

The group let out a sigh of relief. If he still had the strength to threaten him, that was a good sign. 

“Don’t worry, Prince Zu-Zu,” Sokka said, patting him on the back. “Having a cute laugh doesn’t make you any less intimidating.”

“It’s nice to know that you can laugh though, even if you don’t do it very much.” Katara smiled somberly. “I was worried something was bothering you, or that you weren’t happy here with us. That’s why we started this whole silly competition in the first place.”

After a pause, Zuko slowly lifted his face from his lap. His cheeks were still rosy, but he was beginning to tame his breathing. 

“But if that’s just not how you normally express yourself, that’s okay.”

The prince sat back on his haunches, still seething with humiliation, but to a semi-reduced degree. He didn’t think he’d ever fully understand the way this group functioned, why they garnered such delight out of poking fun at him and each other, why they were so concerned and endeared with his behavior and emotional expressiveness. But it was clear they cared about him, however bizarrely they chose to demonstrate it. 

“I...I am happy here,” Zuko eventually ventured to say, his voice still shrill and brittle. Hearing it out loud made him blush some more, but he continued. “I wasn’t trying to make you think otherwise. I’m just…” he swallowed. “Weird. And bad at...stuff.”

The gang snickered. “Yeah you are,” Toph said, hugging his arm. “And we love you for it.”

The firebender blinked and hinted a bashful smile. Aang placed his hands on his hips. 

“Who knows! Maybe you just forgot how to laugh for a while, but now we’ve reminded you!”

To everyone’s disbelief, a chuckle escaped Zuko, short and authentic. “Maybe,” he said. 

Then, an instant later, he shot to his feet. “But don’t ever do anything like that to me ever again! I’ll burn down this entire hillside and run back to the Fire Nation if you even think about it!”

Flames rose from his clenched fists as he glared daggers into each of them. But Aang just laughed.

“Sure you will,” Aang teased, fluttering his fingers against his side. Zuko winced and smiled, then whirled on him with a growl. 

“Touch me again, and I’ll have you doing fire lunges until you puke.”

Aang shrunk away with a nervous chuckle, folding his hands behind his back. “R-right. Sorry, Sifu Hotman.”

If anyone noticed that Zuko started laughing more after that, whether it was at Aang’s antics or Sokka’s jokes or Katara’s ridiculousness or Toph’s sass, they thought it best not to point it out. Now that he’d started emoting more positively, they didn’t want to shy him away from it. It was still small and fleeting, but it was progress from absolutely nothing. Perhaps they had helped the Fire Nation prince rediscover his laugh after all. 

But that didn’t stop them from poking and teasing him whenever the urge hit. While his everyday chuckles and giggles were great, nothing compared to the sound of Zuko’s wild, bubbly, tickle-induced laughter. And unless he firebended at them to get them to quit, they didn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. 

[pterodactylterrace]

Guys Like You Chapter 6

Title: Guys Like You

Chapter: 6

Chapter Summary: More of a filler chapter, not much Henry, I’m sorry.

Rating: 18+

Warnings: Mentions of abuse, pregnancy, poor self image, bad coping mechanisms, low self esteem.

{Prologue} {Chapter 1} {Chapter 2} {Chapter 3} {Chapter 4} {Chapter 5}

"I already told you, Faye! I don't want anything to do with this!"

"So because I want to keep my babies, you're leaving me? Is that what you're trying to tell me, David?"

"Yes! Shit, I knew you were dumb, but seriously!"

"Excuse me?"

"Are you deaf too, whore? How do you even know I'm the one that knocked you up? You've slept with just about every guy in town!"

"Get the fuck out."

"Don't come crying to me later! You're nothing without me! No one is ever going to want you. Especially once you have kids. Who the hell wants used goods? Have fun living a life of regret!"

Faye jerked awake, her head spinning as she tried to catch her bearings. Did David really leave her just like that? Sure he wasn't the greatest, but he had never lashed out like that before. At least not where anyone else could witness it.

No. David's gone. He has been gone for almost four years now. New life. Starting over. It's all in the past now.

Have to get the baby up before the sitter comes. Work is coming up soon. Life goes on.

"Briar, what are you doing on the floor?" Faye chuckled, crouching down next to her daughter, curled up on her pillow by her bed.

"I'm a puppy." Briar yawned in explanation, holding her arms up to be lifted, promptly licking her mother's cheek as soon as she was up.

"Briar, we talked about licking people."

"I'm not Briar, I'm puppy."

"Ok then, puppy, no licking people. Now what do you want for breakfast?"

"Puppy food."

"Cereal it is."

Feed the toddler, quick shower, get dressed, throw her hair up away from her face, wait for the baby sitter, hugs and kisses goodbye, then off to work. The usual routine she had settled herself into.

Feed the baby, because she's hungry and she comes first.

Shower, because she probably has some sort of mystery goo on her from the toddler.

Get dressed, avoid the mirror.  No one wants to be reminded of how much they've changed. The softness she wasn't used to around her lower stomach, hips and thighs. Her breasts no longer as perky as they used to be. The stretchmarks competing with her tattoo's for attention.

Then, the hardest part of the day. "Ok, Briar, Mrs. Anderson is here. Mommy has to go to work. I love you."

"I love you too, Mommy." Briar responded, hugging her mother tight and kissing her cheek before she was sat back down.

"Have a nice day, Miss Warren."

"I hope she's not too much to handle."

"Never is."

Some days, Faye likes to pretend she's ok. Like she has a handle on things. Like she knows what she's doing and not just blindly stumbling through her life while trying to do right by her daughter.

Other days, she would absently push her sleeves up and her eye would catch on the black lines decorating her forearm, just below her elbow. Some days she's reminded that life is a bitch, and you can't always get what you want. On those days she tried to stay out of her own head, though that rarely worked.

She could slap on a smile with the best of them, but she could never force it to reach her eyes. Her face always remained an open book, free for anyone to read. The past creeps up on you. There's nothing you can do to stop it some days. On a bad day, the ghosts of the past will haunt your mind, echoing the worst days of your life into the void of your shattered heart.

"No one is ever going to want you!"

"You're nothing without me!"

"Who wants used goods?"

"I'm sorry, Miss Warren. There was nothing we could do."

Over and over on a seemingly never ending loop, reminding her of the darkest times in her life.

Why would anyone want her? She's not the same hot twenty six year old she used to be. She was soft. She was saggy. She would never be as attractive as she used to be. Anyone in their right mind would turn around and run once they realized how much she had let herself go.

Days like today were best spent keeping people at a distance. Tell them some story about being tired. Avoid anyone that is going to call her out on her obvious lie. Therein lies the problem with dying your hair obnoxious colors. Among a sea of blonde and brunette, powder blue tends to stick out and make it almost impossible to vanish.

Lie your way out of it. Survive another day. Tomorrow might not be better, but at least it won't be the same.

"Mommy, you're back!" The sweetest sound she could hear all day.

"I always come back, my little love." Faye assured, kissing her daughter's head.

Need to care for the baby. She comes first. She deserves the world. Play time. Dinner time. Bath time. Story time. Bed time. The same after work routine she had established months ago when she decided to drop everything and run.

Her daughter thought the world of her. She would do anything to see her smile. She would wear the stupid costume. She would pretend to be a horsey. She would let her daughter use her as a jungle gym. She would make the same dinner again for the third night in a row for her.  So what if she soaked the bathroom floor during bath time? She was a mermaid, and she wanted to show off her tail. Story time, always an adventure with her imaginative little girl. What world would they find themselves in today? Dinosaurs? Princesses? Mythology? A rhyming book?

Ah, yes of course. Her current favorite, the book about the dinosaur cleaning his room. She was a girl obsessed with dinosaurs at the moment.

"Mommy, where's my Papa?" Briar asked, staring intently down at the page depicting a mother and father watching the dinosaur throw away paper scraps.

"Don't worry about him, sweetheart. He wasn't a nice man." Faye explained, resting her cheek on her daughter's head.

"Can I have a new Papa?"

"Maybe someday, sweetheart."

"Can Spider-man be my new Papa?"

"Why do you want Spider-man to be your new Papa?"

"He's my boyfriend!"

"That's not how it works, silly. If he's your boyfriend, he can't also be by boyfriend! Pick another hero!"

"Batman!"

"Well, he is rich." Faye mused, Briar giggling happily. "Now it's time for bed, my love."

"Ok, Mommy. I love you!"

"I love you too, Briar." Faye whispered, kissing her forehead. The nightlight was switched on and the door was left cracked open, just in case. Now for her seldom used free time.

Should she sketch some more? Finish that painting she started forever ago? Ever since she started a "real" job, her art had fallen by the wayside. She was too drained to do much after work and caring of her daughter.

Maybe some drawing will lift her spirits and keep the nightmares at bay tonight. But what to draw? Not in the mood for still life. Brain too fried for something straight from her imagination. Her usual model was sleeping, and her last few self portraits had been a serious blow to her ego. She just drew what she saw in the mirror. Then, when she was finished, she decided she should have worn more clothing before she drew herself. What was supposed to boost her confidence and empower her as a woman instead left her wondering when exactly she developed that roll when sitting in that position.

"Fuck it. I'm drawing a moose." Faye grumbled to herself, turning the page from her self portrait to a blank sheet. Half an hour later when she was trying to remember what a moose's antlers looked like, she finally picked up her phone. Seven unread messages? That seems like a lot. When was the last time she looked at her phone? Oh yeah, when she got home, five hours ago.

All from one person. So she wasn't ignoring everyone at least. Seven messages, all from Henry. Shit. That's not good.

Are you ok?

You seemed off on set today

You didn't even talk to me

Did you at least make it home alright?

Can you send me a sign of life?

I'm sorry if I upset you or something. Can you please talk to me? I'm genuinely worried.

Please?

Well, fuck. Here she was playing unicorn apocalypse with her daughter, and this poor guy was worrying himself to death.

Sorry, I was drawing a moose

Perfect way of saying "I wasn't ignoring you" while also avoiding his persistent questions about her wellbeing. The good old 'drawing a moose' excuse. Works every time.

I think your moose aged me by ten years. Are you ok?

Just had a bad day

Anything I can do to help?

Squeeze me until I stop struggling and my spine snaps

That's called 'murder' Miss Warren

I knew there was a name for it

Is there anything I can do for you that involves less prison?

Nah, if you're not going to take me out, then I'm not interested

I'm not going to take you out by murder. I will take you out on a date.

Faye froze, staring at her phone. He was just playing around, like he always did. No way he was serious. Henry liked to flirt, and she wasn't about to throw herself at him over a joke. She had more dignity than that. So how does she respond? She can't just ignore him, and taking forever to respond is going to give the impression that she was freaking out over what he said.

She was completely freaking out over what he had said, but he didn't need to know that. Was he just looking to get laid or something? Probably. He had gotten pretty close the last time he had been over. There's a difference between dating and screwing, though. He was probably just looking for someone to fuck while waiting for a woman worth his time to come along. Faye was broken out of her thoughts by her phone going off again, alerting her to a new message. Didn't he know she was busy having an existential crisis?

If you're free on Sunday you can come over and show me that moose your working on

*you're

Smart ass

Sunday?

I'll have to see if Mrs. Anderson can watch Briar

Bring her along. She keeps asking me about Kal

Pretty on brand for her

Sunday?

Sunday.

Sunday. What to wear on Sunday? He was probably looking for a little something something for his time, so something slutty? She got rid of all her slutty clothes after she had Briar in a fit of self hatred toward her new mom bod, so that was out. Besides, he wouldn't have invited Briar over too if he was looking to get laid.

So what does one wear on a casual 'date' these days? She had until Sunday to figure that out.

Tag List:  @Xxxkatxo @Weallhaveadestiny

[maxineswritingcenter]

You Saved Me - Derek Hale x fem!reader - Part 31

---------       

 I lunged for him, aiming for his neck. Michael lunged too, fangs bared and dripping with saliva. The problem with him was that he was so used to fighting like a human. He was so used to having the upper hand with all these tonics and poisons. But now, those could hurt him too. 

He grabbed my arms, thinking that I was some little girl that could be held down by him. 

No more. 

I slammed my head against his forehead and clawed at his shoulder, tearing fabric and skin. Then, kicking him into the wall, the dry wall caving in under the sheer force. He came back, and drew a hand back. He missed the first time, but the second blow hit my face. Nails cutting through my cheek, blood splatter on the wall behind me. The shock and pain made me back away and hold my face. He stopped and kneeled down to look at me, the cocky son of a bitch. 

"(Y/N/N), come with me and this all has to stop. No more hurt. No more fear. Come with me and the pain stops." I looked up slowly, feeling the blood trickle down my face. My eyes were drawn to the closet, where I could hear Nicholas crying under the blanket. 

Training with Talia was harder than I thought it would be. She never used claws or teeth, she never left bruises but it was exhausting. In a defensive exercise, I had been struggling to defend myself against her blows and the one I missed put me down on the floor. 

“Get up.” She ordered, getting in a stance again. 

Overwhelmed, I started to cry, “I don’t wanna do this anymore.” I whimpered. 

Talia crouched down, lifting my face to look at hers, “My love, you can’t give up.” She said, “Someday you’re going to be in a life or death situation. They may tell you that it will all stops if you give in, but you can never give in. You can never let them win. You are strong. You are a phoenix. And you will rise from the ashes and never back down.” 

I looked up at Michael through the blood and tears of my vision, "My pain...” I breathed out, “My family's pain ends with your head on a stick." I roared and high-kicked him in the jaw, sending him spinning to the ground. Not without his claws catching my collar, my sweater in shreds. I couldn't even feel the pain, it was all adrenaline. I had to save Nicholas. I would not let him get his hands on my baby. 

Michael groaned in pain, panting. I walked to the bed and grabbed a post, ripping it from the frame, splinters and nails flying across the room. While I wasn't looking he had crawled to the gate and somehow broken it in half with his boot. He was going to reach inside. 

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" I rushed forward and grabbed his shoulder, throwing  him on his back and stabbed the post through his chest. Right into his heart. I glared at him, breathing heavily. He looked shocked, blood staining his teeth, but then he started to laugh. 

"MOMMY!" Nicholas cried. I looked at him, tears and blood on his face. But not his blood. Mine. I looked down and heard sizzling, and the smell of burning skin. Michael was holding a silver knife, the knife dipped in yellow wolfsbane. 

"Looks like the lines end here, darlin." He said weakly. His hands dropped from the knife. I closed my eyes, knowing I was killing myself. I slowly pulled the knife out, the plant starting to burn my hands and inside, before plunging into Michael's forehead, killing him instantly. I watched the evil drain from his eyes, a watery huk was his last breath.

I stood, not feeling the pain until a moment later. Groaning, I felt my eyes burning red, slowly transforming back. I stumbled back until I hit a wall and leaned against it, pressing my hand to my fatal wound. I rested my head against the wall and looked around. It was a mess. The room that Derek had built was in shambles. But this could be fixed. Me? I don’t think that I could get through this. From the silence I heard downstairs, they were gone... but I didn't know who was dead. 

"Mommy..." Nicholas whimpered, trying to climb over the barrier. 

"No, baby, stay there." I said calmly, "Everything's going to be fine." 

“But you're hurt." I sighed, knowing I couldn't just say I was fine. 

"Yeah, I’m hurt." Tears started building in my eyes, knowing this was how I was going to leave my baby. Scared and hurt. I just had to reassure him somehow.

“I love you so much, baby. So, so much. More than anything in the world-" I started to cough into my hand. When I pulled it away, it was covered in a mixture of blood and black goo. This was really it. Before... before it wasn't as important as it is now. I wasn't just leaving behind friends and family, now I'm leaving them all behind with Nicholas. He was a little boy who couldn't possibly understand what just happened. I barely understood what just happened. I knew I had to call someone, while I was still conscious. 

Grunting from the movement, I pulled my phone out of my pocket. The screen was cracked but it still worked. I held back a scream as the poison was spreading through my system. I fumbled with the buttons until I got the private line, hitting the speaker.

"Lachlan speaking."  His voice filled the room, "What's going on, (Y/N), is Nico alright?” He said after he heard Nicholas crying in the background. 

“Lach, Michael went rouge, he's not who he said he was-"

"We know, (Y/N), he left a note before he left, taking an entire pack with him. Where is he?" 

"I killed him." I groaned, coughing again, "He got me with yellow wolfsbane."

He paused, "(Y/N), the team is almost to your location, stay with me." The burning was slowly subsiding, now I just felt cold.

"It's too late..." I whispered, smiling weakly, “Just promise to watch out for him. He needs you now.” The phone slipped out of my hand and onto the floor. The last thing I heard was Lachlan shouting at me.  

DEREK

After the last beta fell, Derek couldn't help but be reminded of his own pack. His betas. His family. His friends. All gone. Panting heavily, he collapsed on the floor of the depot, slowly closed his eyes, hearing the screaming from upstairs.   

-

Slowly, Derek’s eyes fluttered open. He looked around, seeing dead bodies surrounding him. He groaned as he sat up, the first thing he could see was Peter on the floor facing away from him. Peter had taken a lot of damage for him, he was grateful. 

"Peter...." He called weakly. No answer. Derek sat up too quickly and groaned, the betas claws had cut deep, hopefully not enough to do damage. His side hurt too, but had no idea why. One by one, his senses were coming into focus. And the alarm in his head went off when he heard loud sobbing coming from upstairs. 

Nicholas.

His son’s crying was coming from the back room of the depot where he assumed Michael had taken (Y/N) during the fight. 

"I'm coming...." He said, grunting and stumbling to his feet. Making his way to the staircase. His voice was getting weaker and strained from screaming. 

"It's okay... I'm coming." Derek leaned against the wall half way through the hallway. He looked down at his red shirt, there was a large dark red stain that was still tender to the touch. His body was slowly trying to heal itself, harder than ever before. 

He finally got to the doorway and took in the damage in front of the door. Michael was dead on the floor, a bedpost shoved through his chest and a silver knife in his forehead. 

"Daddy!" Nicholas whimpered. His attention was brought to the closet, the gate had been broken. His tiny face was covered in tears, snot, and blood. The blood splattered across his face made Derek panic, terrified at the thought that he had been hurt. He fell to my knees in front of the gate, the carpet plastering itself into the wounds on his knees. 

Breaking away the remainder of the gate, he took his son into his arms, holding him close. Nicholas buried his face into Derek’s shoulder, wailing and sobbing.

Derek looked around the room. There was a hole in the drywall in the shape of a body being thrown, the bed was broken, finally when he got to the other side of the room, he had to tear his eyes away. He found her slumped against the wall, blood pooling around her.

The love of his life. 

With one arm holding his son, he scrambled across the floor to come to her side. 

“(Y/N), can you hear me?” His voice cracked. He reached out, lifting her head up. There were scratches across her cheek that were leaking blood and black. 

“Come on, sweetheart.” His words were mumbled with tears, his vision blurring. Her heartbeat was nearly undetectable. 

“Please.” He swallowed thickly, “You can’t leave me, I can’t lose you again. I just got you back. We’re gonna be a family, remember?” His lip trembled, “I can’t-... I can’t do this without you. I need you.” 

Suddenly, her eyes cracked open and a smile pulled at her lips. Derek grinned, pressing a kiss to her forehead. But just as he pulled his lips away, he felt his whole body go cold. Her eyes were closed again and her last breath slipped from her lips. 

“No...” He shook his head, “No. No!” He cried, “I’m supposed to save you. That’s what I do! Please, you can’t go. I need you.” He could feel Nicholas’ little hands, pulling on his shirt, tears soaking into the fabric. 

Booming from downstairs made him turn, hurried footsteps followed. Derek stood up quickly, holding Nicholas close, standing in front of (Y/N)’s body to shield her. 

Soon, a team of paramedics came in, but unlike any paramedics that he had seen before. Their uniforms were burgundy. They rushed to him a with stretcher in hand. 

“Alright crew, alpha female,  Aconitum anthora in her system from our intel. Get the torch and push ten cc’s Epinephrine stat.” The leader said, “We need to get her heart started.” Derek was carefully moved out of the way, brought to the other side of the room. 

“We need to get you looked at, sir. Please come with us.” The medic said. 

“You’re gonna save her, right? You have to.” Derek stared back at the other medics that were pumping (Y/N) with adrenaline and starting to cut open her side to burn away the wolfsbane in his system. 

“Miss (Y/L/N) is our top priority, Mr. Hale. She’s in good hands.” He nodded, “We already have your uncle getting assessed downstairs. Now we need you to come with us to get you looked at and make sure the child is alright.” The medic started to lead Derek out of the room.

“I can’t leave her, she needs me.” 

“Sir-” 

“I can’t leave her again.” He sounded broken, and he was. The worst part of this was he couldn’t feel the medics cutting her open to burn away the wolfsbane. He couldn’t feel them pumping her full of adrenaline. 

“Mr. Hale, I can’t imagine how you feel right now. But you need to get your son out of the room, he doesn’t need to be here for this.” 

Derek turned his head and looked at his child, still sobbing loudly, now coughing and screaming. He was going to make himself sick. (Y/N) wouldn’t want him to be in here, he needed to get him out. Protect him.

Derek nodded, starting to walk out of the room. But his son started to squirm and struggle. 

“Mommy!” He cried, “MOMMY!” He thrashed, reaching back towards his mother’s body, “I want my mommy! I want MY MOMMY!” Fighting back tears of his own, he carried the little boy out of the room, away from (Y/N). 

Maybe for the last time. 

-

Back at the Stilinski house, everyone was still on edge. There was still no word from the paramedics if (Y/N) was okay, or even alive. Derek still couldn’t feel anything. The only thing he could say to describe the feeling was numb. Like being left in an ice bath. He was sitting on the couch, with his son on his lap, she looked around the room.

Sheriff Stilinski was making calls to Melissa McCall to meet the paramedics at the vet clinic so she could help. Stiles wasn’t talking to Derek, the anger he had was tangible in the air. Lydia was at his side trying to calm him down, but getting Stiles angry and calming him down was not an easy task. He was still holding Nicholas in his arms, he was trembling and playing with his fingers. Puppy dog and his blanket were covered and blood and needed to be washed of his mother’s blood. 

Knocking at the door made everyone stare. The knocking was urgent and whoever was on the outside wanted in. The sheriff hung up the phone, walking towards the door with a hand on his gun. He opened up the door slightly. 

“Can I help you?” 

“My name is Lachlan, I’m a friend of (Y/N).” The voice said from outside the door. When Nicholas heard the voice, he jumped from Derek’s lap and ran to the door. 

“Lachlan!” His little hands pulled at the door, the sheriff opened it and watched Nicholas run out the door. The man from outside the door came into the house, hugging onto his son tightly. 

“I came as fast as I could, kiddo.” He said, pressing a kiss to the top of the boy’s head. Derek stood up, coming to meet the newcomer in the middle of the living room. The man met Derek’s eyes, a sad smile on his face. 

“Mr. Hale.” His accent was thick, thicker than the one his son had, “I’ve been anxious to meet you. If only the circumstances were better.” 

“You’re McLeod?” Derek asked, he got a nod in response, “You assigned Him to her?”

Lachlan glanced at Nicholas who’s little sniffles echoed through the room, “I did.” 

Derek glared, “If you weren’t holding my son-” 

“I know.” Lachlan closed his eyes and sighed, “If I could go back, I would. I thought that she was safe. That they were both safe. I guess...” He looked up, “I was so focused on making them both happy. Living in the fantasy that I finally had a family after losing mine. I was blinded.” Derek turned away from Lachlan, walking to the picture window in the living room. 

From what he had been told, Lachlan had a tragic story that wasn’t unlike his own. To be honest, Derek wasn’t totally sure that he wouldn’t have been blinded by family. 

-

Soon, Nicholas had fallen asleep and had been taken upstairs by the sheriff. This left Derek, Stiles, and Lydia with Lachlan. Scott had started making his way back from SoCal to help. This meant Stiles’ rage had been placed on someone else. 

“Ya know,” Stiles finally spoke, loosening his tie, “I’ve seen a lot of things in my life. I’ve known death intimately.” He stood up from his chair, Lydia following behind, “But I’m tired. We fought for years for our lives, our families, to bring (Y/N) and my nephew home. She trusted your judgement, she trusted you with her life and her son’s life. I don’t care if you were blinded by ‘family’.” He air-quoted, “As a leader, you should have looked in closer. You should have done more. And if she dies, I’m coming after you next.” 

Lachlan averted his eyes away from Stiles, holding his head in his hands. Stiles walked out the door, slamming it behind him. Lydia watched as he walked and looked at Derek. 

“I think you should talk to him.” She said, “You’re the only other person who she’s close to. I’m gonna go upstairs and check on Nicholas.” Derek nodded, following Stiles outside. 

- 

Derek found Stiles sitting on the curb, staring out into the void. His arms crossed over his knees. When he heard Derek walk up, he wiped his face to hide tears that had fallen. Without a word, Derek sat beside Stiles and sighed.

STILES

Stiles glanced at the werewolf beside him. At first he had been angry with him, angry that he didn’t protect her from that son of a bitch. But then what that Scottish guy came in, that’s where the anger had been directed. He wanted to say more. He wanted to yell and beat the living daylights out of him, werewolf or not. 

He knew Derek was hurting just as much as he was, maybe more.

“Did (Y/N) ever tell you about the time we went to the beach?” Stiles asked. Derek glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and shook his head. 

Stiles hummed and looked up at the clouds, “I was probably six or seven. We went to Laguna Beach for a day trip. My mom was still my mom and my dad was happy. We brought (Y/N) with us because I didn’t want to go anywhere without her. I just thought she was so cool.” He smiled, “She was older than me and she was stronger and faster than anyone we knew. I guess I know why now. And she actually wanted to hang out with me. She wanted to be my friend.” 

He licked his lips, “Anyway, my parents were up further on the beach and we were down near the shore. We were collecting seashells and rocks in a bucket that she carried because I wasn’t strong enough. Then these kids came up to us, they were probably in sixth grade or something. They took the bucket from her and dumped it on my head. Hurt like hell because we had some decent sized rocks in there and I had some cuts from broken shells.” 

He chuckled and shook his head, “(Y/N) went absolutely feral. She attacked them, screaming bloody murder. Throwing sand and poking their eyes and punching them. My dad had to pull her off of one kid, still punching and kicking. Then the kid called her a bitch. And that set me off so I punched him in the nose. We got in so much trouble when we got home. When her dad asked why she would do such a thing she said: ‘Because they hurt my Stiles. They hurt my best friend and they deserved what they got’.” Stiles wiped a few stray tears away and looked at Derek. 

“I told myself that day that I would follow her to the ends of the Earth if she asked me to. Because I knew that we would do anything for each other.” He let out a shaky breath, “She’s done so much for me and now I might never get a chance to tell her how grateful I am. I don’t know if I’m ready to say goodbye.” 

-

ONE WEEK LATER

DEREK

"Are you sure you want to do this?"  Sheriff Stilinski watched Derek intently over his cup of coffee, "I just think Nicholas might be happier near family." Derek had just told the sheriff that he would be moving his family further out of town, having spent the last year and a half rebuilding his family home. It was finished before schedule and move in ready. 

Derek hummed, looking over at the little boy in the living room, playing with his trucks. Making little car noises with his mouth and crashing them together. 

"I want to raise him in my home. I don’t want to be a sad place anymore." 

Both of their attentions were brought to the front door with Scott walked in. 

"Uncle Scott!" Nicholas grinned and jumped up in his arms. The alpha laughed and hugged him tight. 

"There's my little guy." He ruffled his hair before setting him back down again. He made his way into the kitchen and lowered his voice, "He seems okay, how's he been?"

“He's been better.” Derek huffed, “Deaton gave me some stuff to help with his nightmares." He leaned back on the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. 

"I can't imagine what he went through. He's only a little kid." Stiles finally spoke up from the other side of the fridge, "And I guess that explains what this purple gunk is.” He held up a vial of purple liquid, swirling it around, “Be sure to take this with you." He grimaced.

"Has he said anything about Michael?" Scott asked. 

"I explained to him that he was a bad guy the best way I could. He’s still confused though. It’s gonna take some time for him to fully wrap his head around it. Whenever I ask if he wants to talk about it he says he wants time for himself and he lays in (Y/N)’s bed with the covers up.” He glanced towards the little boy, “He’s been waking up in the middle of the night screaming for her. McLeod said that he would be getting him into the best therapy care money can buy. He starts next week.” 

"Does he know about..." He started to ask, we all went silent, the only sound was Nicholas in the background. 

"No, he doesn't. Not yet." 

"How can you just not tell that his mo-"

"Because he's been through enough, Scott." Derek glared. Scott was about to say something but was cut off by Stiles. 

"That's why we called you here. Her friends already flew back, they all went to visit her. That's what we're gonna go. We're going to the hospital to pick up her stuff and then go to the cemetery before they leave." He said, not looking at anyone. Stiles really hadn't taken this well.

"Oh.." Scott said, "Well, I'll have mom meet us in the room. We should head over there." 

"Nico, let's go." He called to the little boy. Nico looked up and got to his feet, grabbing his freshly cleaned Puppy Dog. 

They went out to the front of the house. Derek had just closed Nico’s door after buckling him into his car seat when Scott came up to him.

"Where's Peter?" Scott asked, taking hold of the passenger door handle.

Derek shrugged, "He's going to meet us at the cemetery. He doesn't like hospitals." 

--------------

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PARTY FAVOURS I CHAPTER 35

💖first time reader click here💖

Reader and Eddie going on their mission. They're all morons, okay? Some canon-typical violence, bad guys being bad guys. You guys can see that I treat the fighting plot points as total crack, right?

Eddie Brock was pissed, at the Avengers mostly - for not telling him of my accident - but also at me, for the fact that I didn't call him sooner. Venom had taken over at some point, eager to participate in my plan - and it I was being honest, my uncle's space boo was the one I had relied on to participate in the mayhem that was to be caused to finally let my family breathe in peace.

The Avengers wore various expressions of guilt when an angry Eddie stormed the tower, berating them for not getting into contact with him when I was in danger. Venom growled at them, too, just the right amount of teeth and drool for Tony to quickly usher me out to 'take a walk, have some fun, build a snowman' with uncle Eddie and Venom. It was almost too easy, too predictable. The guilt that reared it's ugly head was stomped down by me and two glasses of whiskey in Eddie's rented Airbnb as I went into the fine details of my plan.

Both I and Eddie were equally surprised when Venom dropped their sarcastic, angsty teenager attitude and approached the topic with maturity, giving valuable input. The goth space goo was much, much smarter than their first impressions showed. I belatedly remembered their remark about being an apex predator species... Scary.

The plan was pretty simple.

Eddie was a professional investigative reporter and an unregistered mutant, his files being hidden so deeply due to the alien nature of the symbiote that it was unlikely that underground gangs would have any idea as to who he truly was. His involvement with SHIELD was buried under so much red tape, even Coulson himself had very little idea about Eddie's body-mate.

My uncle would sniff around the mutant underworld, just enough to catch a whiff of the mercenary's whereabouts. It should be enough if he was as famous as Natasha claimed him to be. And if it wasn't enough... I'd be bait. I doubt that the merc knew the box has been retrieved and secured; every now and then, I still caught chatter about the SHIELD agents trailing me catching a person sent to monitor me. They weren't even trying to hide that hard.

I had my suspicions SHIELD was indirectly using me as bait, too, and both Eddie and Venom were inclined to agree with the notion. Over beers and ridiculous amount of chocolate cake, a third side of the operation Baby Thief had been formed. SHIELD played their own game, the Avengers and SI threw a ridiculous amount of resources on their own and then there was me and Eddie, two halves of a whole idiot.

For once, the plan didn't go south immediately off the bat. Eddie and Venom got the information - there was a lot of uproar in the mutant community, rumours about an artifact that would let them assume their rightful place in the world, pushing the pesky humans off their pedestal. I definitely supported mutant rights - but the common notion that violence was necessary to achieve the recognition of said rights didn't sit well with me at all. Eddie agreed with me, his own curiousity pushing him to dig deeper into the situation.

My uncle could be a brilliant investigative reporter with the proper motivation and his significant other at the side. I could never tire of Venom's stories: each and every time they saved Eddie from making a clown out of himself was remembered, documented and brought up at the quickest available opportunity. I haven't laughed so hard in months.

The positives of our plan? We got a hot trail and enough information to know about the mercenary's whereabouts. We possessed the manpower needed to off him in record time, Venom eagerly offering his digestive system for our convenience.

The negatives? We'd need to bring me. Apparently there was a hefty bounty on my pretty little head and the merc himself had given up trying to chase me, hiring a bunch of muscle to do the legwork for him instead. The mercenary, a man who went by the nickname Cadre, was an ex-shield agent, who knew enough to successfully avoid the organisation following hot on his heels.

And neither SHIELD, nor Tony nor Eddie knew who had ordered the retrieval of the artifact. The mysterious person had deep pockets: all of the men were supplied with high grade weaponry and the mutants participating in the missions had equipment specifically tailored to their powers.

Perhaps, I wasn't as clever as I wanted myself to be. There was something big and ugly brewing and the bounty on my head was just the tip of the iceberg. But what was done, was done, and Venom was looking forward to a hefty meal and we set the date of Eddie "kidnapping" me in a few days time.

I hoped I'd make it home for Christmas.

The biggest surprise was that nobody suspected anything. Not even Natasha's watchful eye and inherent knowledge of shit about to be stirred - somehow, Nat always just knew those things - had revealed itself and that's how I knew it was absolutely necessary for me to be successful. There was no room for failure. In the day before my planned trip to Cadre's lair, I forced the team into a movie night and took extra time with everybody, seeing as even the most cheerful people - Thor and Wanda - walked around with sullen faces for most of the time. Perhaps, deep down, I knew that chances of my plan going awry were pretty damn high.

It felt like I was leaving for war. And perhaps, I was. The nervous, anxious energy increased as the hour X drew closer and I couldn't hide it anymore. My insomnia wore Tony's face: I could see his disappointment as clear as day, but I figured he'd forgive me for the betrayal eventually. Every single thing I hid from my newfound family made me feel a traitor. Unfortunately, there was simply no other option.

That afternoon, Eddie picked me up from the tower and drove me to one of the hideouts that belonged to Cabre. He'd tied my hands together and blindfolded me, all for show of course, whilst Venom briefly connected with my body to induce a drowsy state of mind. I didn't actually mind to be drugged and was way more wary of the symbiote's effects on my body but the space pudding extended his tentacles so quickly, I barely had the time to even swear at them.

To my (and their) surprise, it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. In my hazy state, I briefly head Venom growl that I could be a decent short-term host if something would to happen with Eddie; I did not know how that information made me feel but did not disregard it completely. I was out of my depth on this one yet marched on towards the danger with grim determination.

"Here's the girl," Eddie's voice penetrated through the curtain of chemicals that Venom had dosed me with; I was tossed none too gently on what felt like a mattress, the landing haphazard but not painful. Venom must've dulled my pain receptors, too. "Where's our money?"

I was unceremoniously groped, my face examined by a man with ice-cold hands. Whatever he found, he deemed it satisfactory. "I'm impressed," He whistled. "We've been trying to get her for months. Care to share how you achieved this?" The strange man sounded suspicious.

"WE HAVE OUR OWN TRICKS," Venom's deep voice filled out the room like thick smoke and I just knew that the man who had been groping me was twitching in discomfort. "SO?"

"Alright, alright," The man mumbled, voice unsteady. My drowsiness slowly began to recede and I finally could focus my eyes somewhat; Eddie was partially obscured by the writhing, onyx mass of his symbiote and the man was dialing up the phone, speaking in a rapid-fire dialect I did not know. "Cabre will be here in an hour. Care for a beer?" Just like that, the man was obviously attempting to placate Eddie.

"HOT CHOCOLATE," Venom announced flatly and I had to struggle to hold back my laughter at the image of a seven feet tall tentacle monster sipping hot cocoa from a tiny porcelain cup. My nerves had me feeling ten types of way, as usual, and props to Ven making me unable to speak. I would have already killed myself by running my mouth ten times over.

The hour passed by with me floating in my mindsphere, Eddie loudly playing Candy Crush on his phone and Venom consuming ridiculous amounts of hot chocolate. It was absurd and the eerie calm was beginning to make me suspicious; I had expected... More. Threatening thugs with guns, experiments, blood tests and physical violence. Instead, the man who met with Eddie was sitting with a vacant, bored expression as he practiced card tricks in the corner furthest away from Venom.

Finally, a knock on the door forced all of us to pay attention to the newcomer. It was a tall, massively built man in his early forties. His face was covered in scars, narrow red lines that looked like small cuts; one of his eyes was completely black while the other was blue. He looked like the man at the coffee shop but at the same time, nothing like him at all.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," His voice was low and quiet. If not for the heavyweight weapon hanging over his shoulder, I would have considered him to be one of those men who only look threatening but actually are gentle giants. With steps too quiet for a man his size, he approached me, crouching down to look me in the face. "Hello, child. I've been looking for you for a long time. It's a shame we had to meet this way," He removed the strands of hair sticking to my face. For all purposes, his touch could have been considered fatherly. "Richard, bring the money." With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the man who was babysitting me and Eddie and he promptly disappeared behind the steel door.

"Hello," Eddie briefly shook his hands with Cabre after the merc left me alone. I noted Venom had disappeared into the reporter's body completely. "We are Venom," Eddie introduced himself (they introduced themselves?).

"Cabre," The Merc watched my honorary uncle with a sharp eye, taking note of Eddie's lack of weapons, his worn clothes and the shaggy hair, the bags under his eyes. "Tell me, Venom, what do you know of this child?"

"Not much," Eddie shrugged, convincingly. "Just that the Avengers picked her up for some reason and locked her up in Stark's tower. We're guessing she didn't like it much 'cuz she kept sneaking out and trying to shake off the tail. Had to go through quite a few SHIELD agents to get to her," Just like we agreed, Eddie spoke with slight disdain towards Tony and SHIELD, making sure to let Cabre believe he was on the mutants' side. "We just need the money, man. Not many people will hire us," To top it up, Eddie spread his arms, showing his skin ripple and move on it's own prominently under his ratty t-shirt. Atta boy!

Cabre appeared to have bought the lie, chuffing sympathetically, before pulling out a tablet and typing on it. "Well, not for long. My superiors have found an artifact that, if unlocked properly, will render most of the technology suppressing mutant powers useless. They won't be able to get rid of us that easily anymore."

Eddie nodded eagerly, for all purposes appearing to be ecstatic about the news. "Yeah, heard some rumors here and there. Well, you and your superiors know where to find me. I could always go with some extra cash," He scratched his head, carefully watching Cabre's fingers dance on the keyboard. "What's the kid got to do with it anyway? Seems like an ordinary spoiled brat to me," Eddie threw me a look, blinking twice. The fatigue and wariness, courtesy of Venom, had begun to recede quite some time ago; with Eddie's signal, I knew the shitshow was about to start very soon.

Eddie was smart, however, finding out the bits of information SHIELD hadn't bothered to disclose to me. The residue that the cursed box had left in me was removed, so I could not understand why SHIELD was still guarding me. There had to have been another reason, a reason that neither of us knew for sure.

Cabre paused his typing. "We've been watching her for years. She's a genius. We were hoping she could help us solve a few problems..." The merc paused to rub the bridge of his nose. "We tried to get her to come willingly but her parents forbade her from it. My superiors suggested to use the artifact but something malfunctioned." For all purposes, Cabre was looking apologetic. "I am not overly fond of kidnapping children but some things just need to be done." With that, the man turned around, landing his eyes on me. "Glad to see you're up and about." Something about his smile was unnatural, forced, malicious.

"Charmed to meet you," I sat up, dazed and confused about the turn of events. The things he was saying, they didn't add up. I hadn't received any requests for my participation in ANY kind of project, illlegal or not. No scholarships, no internship offers. Something was very, very wrong.

As soon as Cabre's back was turned, Venom enveloped Eddie, turning themselves into the seven feet tall outer space monstrosity I had seen on the first day. Their combined form was terrifying - but Cabre's fingers merely twitched at the rapid change of the situation as he took slow steps towards me. "Hmm," His voice still quiet, he once again crouched in front of me. "You fought us off once but we are many. There is nowhere to run, child," Cabre's eyes began to darken, his speech turning flat.

I recognized the speech pattern, recalled the expressionless, vacant face that stared at me. Cabre was infected with the Legion from the cursed box; I hadn't prepared for that, hadn't even regarded that, thinking the little epic speech the demon had given me was a mere intimidation tactic. Fear bloomed within me, opening it's jaws like a hungry Venus flytrap but I refused to succumb to it, clenching my fists against the waves of paralyzing terror.

Venom made a confused growling noise behind me, extending a tentacle to push Cabre away; with a sickeningly wet splat, their whole form collided with the opposite wall, sliding down it like a puddle of misshapen goop. "MORSEL, GET OUT." The symbiote growled, reforming itself back.

"Silence, beast!" Cabre shrieked, unstrapping his weapon and aiming it at Venom. No bullets came out as he pressed the trigger but my ear started ringing, eyes watering as the whole form of the symbiote began to morph and ripple. Pained groans and whines came from them. A sonic gun?

"Screw you, man," I attempted to draw Cabre's attention to myself by kicking out a leg towards the gun, disrupting his arm briefly. Things were going to shit faster than a party full of teenagers and alcohol. "Fuck you, listen, FUCK YOU!" I knew antagonizing people was my best skill and that's what I did, figuring the time needed for Venom to reassemble themself could be acquired if Cabre was pissed off enough at me.

The backhand hurt, not going to lie. I saw stars from that one sloppy hit the possessed merc delivered to my face. The adrenaline rush allowed me to stay somewhat coherent and just like that time when I was trapped in my nightmares, I dove for Cabre, winding myself around him as both of us landed on the floor in a heap of limbs.

Despite my best hopes, Venom remained a puddle of black on the floor. I saw something shiny attach itself to Eddie's chest; apparently that something prevented them from combining into one again. My smaller size proved to be a great advantage; I remembered Venom's words about being a suitable short-term host and with a shriek, I placed my palm into the nearest piece of symbiote I could reach, my vision being obscured by blackness a second later.

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