#honestly thought they were about to soft launch a ship for a new show

[theside-b]

Takamatsu Aloha & Takato Okura

[colormeyondublue]

Chapter 11: Clear The Air

Chapter 10 Here - Chapter 12 Here

Several days go by, and Yondu doesn’t see much of you. What happened with Trenvik really damaged what confidence you had aboard the Eclector. This really took it’s toll on you both mentally and physically. You feel violated. The event could have been worse, but that Chorak still took something away from you. Although you really can’t pin down what that something is, you just feel helpless and weak. Kraglin has been bringing you meals while you work from your cabin. He stops by three times a day, and a few times in between just to check up on you. The two of you have gotten pretty close over the past few days. There is a soft knocking on your door, and Kraglin pokes his head inside after punching in your key on the number pad.

“Hey, I gotcha some tea. I wasn’t sure if ya’d be hungry yet, but I thought at least somethin’ warm might be nice.” He approaches your desk and sets the cup down, steam gently rising from the top.

“Thanks, Kraglin. Tea does sound nice.” You don’t really move or say much else. The silence begins to get tense, and Kraglin taps his thumbs together.

“So…ya think ya might wanna take a walk with me today? We don’t have to go far, and the guys are all off ship, nobody is around – promise.”

“Off ship? Where are we?” You ask, rather surprised.

“Cap’n wanted to take the boys out for a little break. He brought us to our usual place, Contraxia. We usually do that after a big score. That client paid us real well for them jewels ‘n stuff we took from Johpar. We’ll be sittin’ pretty fer a while.” He smiles.

“Contraxia?! Oh, god.” You roll your eyes and bring your palm to your forehead. You know a little about this planet, your boss used to talk about it when you were slow at the pawn shop. All you know is that there’s hookers, and drugs, and tons of booze.

“Ya know this place?” Kraglin asks with one eyebrow raised.

“I’ve never been here, but I know of it. My old boss used to talk about this planet. I’ve heard all I need to know.” You roll your eyes and play with the tag on the tea bag.

“Oh. Well, we don’t have ta leave the ship if ya don’t wanna. I just think it would be good fer ya ta get outta this room. You’ll go nuts in here!”

“Where’s Yondu?”

“I think he’s at a bar down there with Tullk, Oblo and some of the others.”

You sigh and sip your tea. You really don’t like the idea of Yondu being down there. Trust was something that the two of you hadn’t really had a ton of time to work on, but he did save your life the other day, so why wouldn’t you trust him to be faithful? I guess it’s good for morale. The Captain does need to be out with his men.

“How about this - I finish my tea and get dressed, and you can take me down to that disgusting excuse of a planet and show me around a little? But absolutely no brothels! Deal?”

“Deal! Go ahead and get ready and I’ll meet ya down at the docking bay in 20?”

You laugh lightly at his excitement and playfully nudge him. “Sounds good…” Just before he gets to the door you stop him. “Hey, Kraglin? Thank you…for making sure I was okay and checking up on me these past few days. What happened with Trenvik…it really did something to me, ya know?”

“Don’t mention it. Yer one of us. But more than that, ya make the Cap’n real happy. That makes me real happy. Cap and I go back a long ways, and ya mean a lot to us both y/n.” He smiles gently and nods, and disappears out your door.

You get dressed in a clean set of leathers and throw a coat over top with a black scarf. Unless anything has changed, you remember your boss talking about how it snows on Contraxia year-round. You find your mind wondering back to Kraglin again as you lace up your boots. Ya know, Kraglin is such a great guy. If he wasn’t so damn shy, he wouldn’t be single. Poor guy. You smirk at the thought.

~~~

You and Kraglin touch down on Contraxia and you both walk toward the bars and brothels in the snow. The streets are lit with loads of neon lights and signs. You notice there are a few restaurants and tattoo shops too.

“Hey, I think the Cap’n and the guys are at that bar over there.” Kraglin points to a larger metal building with a sign on the side that seems to be in a language you can’t read.

“Uh, Kraglin? Can we just…not go in there?”

“Why? Did ya wanna go somewhere else?” He asks, confused.

“Yeah, that would be great. I just don’t really want to see the Captain yet.”

“Are you two okay?”

“I think so, it’s just…something else happened before you guys went to Knowhere.” You rub your arms from the cold. “Is there somewhere else we can go to talk about it? Somewhere quiet?”

“Uhh, sure. There’s a little coffee place at the end of the road here.”

“Coffee?!”

Kraglin laughs loudly at your reaction. “Yeah, coffee. We do have some Terran things out here, ya know. We don’t have much, but coffee has definitely gained popularity over the years. There’s even some little farms that grow that stuff on Xandar. Just ‘cause ya ain’t seen other races on yer planet, don’t mean we haven’t stopped by ta look around."

“Woah…I had no idea. That’s really cool. A little unnerving, but cool. Remind me to ask you more about that later. I need coffee! Let’s go!” You grab Kraglin’s hand and hurry down the street toward the shop.

The two of you enter the coffee shop, and find a seat near the window. After your drinks arrive, you speak up after taking a few sips.

“Okay, so before you guys left the ship, I kinda said something to the Captain I maybe shouldn’t have...not yet at least.”

“What kinda’ somethin’”?

You hide your face behind your hands and sigh. “I might have accidentally told the Captain that I loved him, among other things. Truthfully, I do – ya know, love him. But he didn’t say much of anything back and I panicked.” You don’t hear a reply for a few seconds. You drop your hands to see what horrific expression Kraglin has on his face. To your surprise, there isn’t any expression, he is just nonchalantly drinking his coffee.

“He told me.”

“What?! He told you?!”

“Yeah, he told me. To be honest, I wasn’t all too surprised. You Terran’s have a thing about love. You’d be surprised how alike Terrans are to us Xandarian’s. We have a thing about love too. That’s something Quill and I always had in common. We understood each other, I guess that’s why we got along so damn well.” He finished with a smile.

“Okaaay, so what else did he say?”

“Look y/n, yer my friend, and I care about ya a lot. That’s why I think you ‘n the Cap’n should talk about it. I will say that he ain’t mad or put off, but he just ain’t used to it. The Cap’n hasn’t had the most fantastic life. Love ain't never really been apart of it neither. Just be patient with him is all.”

After a few minutes of silence pass, Kraglin speaks up again. “Maybe ya should talk to him tonight? Just clear the air and see where things go?”

A light laugh bubbles up to your lips and you look at him, not surprised. “Since when did you get so good at relationship advice?”

Kraglin just shrugs. “Honestly, couldn’t tell ya. Maybe I’m just level headed? Dunno.”

“You really shoudn’t be single, ya know that?” You tease.

“I had a girl a long time ago. But, bein’ a Ravager makes relationships hard. Unless another girl just falls from the stars onto our ship, I don’t see that being in the cards fer me.”

“Yeah, well, if things can turn around for Yondu, I’m sure they can for you too.”

~~~

Back at the bar, Yondu couldn’t really get into the celebration spirit. Your frightened expression from the other day in your office wouldn’t leave his mind. The men were beyond happy with their payday, and super drunk. Sex bots were everywhere, and it was all he could do to keep them off of him. He eventually decides to just leave. He gets up from his stool, and Tullk taps his arm.

“Hey, ya alright Cap’n?”

“Yeah, yeah ‘m fine. Just tired, gonna head out.”

“We’ll see ya later then?”

“Yeah, sure.” He replies as he’s walking out the door.

Yondu heads back to the Warbird so he can call Quill. He’s got to know what to do. Quill is Terran, and he’s…younger. Maybe he’ll have some kind of advice on how to handle this.

He sits down and taps a few buttons on the console. The screen beeps for a few moments and then an image pops up. He sees a large grayish green looking man with bright red tattoos.

“Oh, Hello Yondu. Are you looking for Quill?” Before he can answer, Drax turns and yells behind himself. “QUILL! Your father is on the communicator! He needs to speak with you!”

Yondu leans his face onto his fist and rolls his eyes. These “Guardians” are really somethin’…

From the distance, Yondu can hear Peter yell back, “My Father? What the heck are you talkin’ about Drax?” Peter comes into view and see’s Yondu’s unamused expression on screen. “Oh, hey ol’ man, what’s up?”

“I got somethin’ I need ta talk with ya about, but it seems like yer a little busy.”

“Nah, it’s fine. I was just helpin’ Rocket with some plans for a new blaster that launches explosives! We just left Xandar, we were picking up some supplies. What did you need?” Quill asks.

“This ain’t an easy thing ta talk about…do ya think ya could go to another room er somethin’? I don’t need everybody hearin’ all about it.”

Peter’s expression turns a mixture of concerned and awkward. “Uhh…yeah sure. Is everything okay?” he moves Yondu’s transmission onto a handheld communicator and heads to the back of the ship. He enters his quarters and closes the door. “Okay, shoot.”

Yondu takes a deep breath, and exhales slowly to try and calm his nerves. “Long story short, Krags and I hired a new Terran girl to help with record keeping, transmission logs and mission details and stuff. We’ve gotten close over that time and now, well…she’s ma girl.”

“Woah! Yondu! She’s really Terran?! That’s so awesome man! I always knew you had it in you. What’s her name?”

“Her name’s y/n, and she’s really somethin’. I never met anyone like her. She’s really special ta me, but there’s somethin’ else I need to ask ya.”

“Okay…”

“The other day we made a stop out at Knowhere to sell some stuff, and she said somethin’ ta me. We both kinda panicked, but I think it might’a been my fault. See, she told me she loved me, but she said it so casually and it came out so natural soundin’. I didn’t expect it at all, and I didn’t exactly say anything back. She freaked out and ran off. Now, I don’t know what ta do! Is that normal fer Terrans?”

“Wow, okay. That’s a lot to unpack. So, let me ask you this. Do you love her?”

“Well, see that’s the other thing I need to ask ya. I don’t exactly know what that is. Boy, I ain’t Terran, and I ain’t no good with this love stuff. I figured, with ya bein’ Terran ‘n all, you might know what it means ta love someone and maybe ya’d know if that’s what y/n and I have.” Yondu’s expression turns sheepish, and he rubs the back of his neck as he waits for Peter’s answer.

“Oh, that’s easy! Love is something that happens between two people, and it’s a feeling that is super strong. You feel like you can do anything – unstoppable almost. Some people say it makes you feel like you’re floating, like you could almost fly. There’re loads of movies about love I remember from being a kid. The point is, you’d do anything to see them smile, you want to always make sure they’re happy and cared for. Gamora is in a similar boat with you, but we work on it.” Peter’s smile grows at the mention of Gamora.

“Well shit…” Yondu stares at something on his control council. “Okay, so yeah…I think that about pins it down.”

“So, you love her?” Peter asks.

“Heh, yeah boy, I guess I do.”

“Alright, well there you go! Look man, love is supposed to be easy. That’s not to say that you won’t have any disagreements or the occasional fight. That’s normal, but let go and just try to fall in.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. So, I guess all that’s left ta do is go tell her. Right?”

“Right.” Peter crosses his arms confidently and glances off screen. “Anything else you need? Rocket sounds like he’s getting pissed. I want to make sure he doesn’t blow something up or break anything.”

“Yeah boy, that’s it. But listen, thanks. I was at ma wits end over here.”

“No problem, Yondu. Now go tell her!” Peter laughs.

“Alright, alright. I’m goin’!” Yondu ends the call, and heads off the Warbird to find you.

Yondu starts to make his way back to the bars when he notices you and Kraglin walking to his smaller M-ship. The captain makes his way toward you in the snow, and you stop short.

Kraglin notices you stop. “Ey, it’s okay. You should talk to ‘em. I’ll see ya back on the Eclector?” He says as he reassuringly pats your shoulder.

“Yeah, okay.”

“Comm me if ya need anythin’.”

Kraglin walks past Yondu and nods, and he boards his small craft. You stuff your hands in your pockets and watch Yondu approach you.

“Hey, uh…” he starts. “I was wonderin’ if we could talk? Things have been a little off since the other day. Can I take ya back to the Warbird?”

“Yeah, I think that would be fine. We do need to talk.”

As the two of you walk to the Warbird, Yondu throws his arm over your shoulder to pull you closer. The warmth and weight of his arm makes your heart flutter. The feeling of security and safety brings a quiet smile to your face. Yondu glances at you from the corner of his eye and smiles too. It’s at this point he remembers what he is about to do. Anxiety strikes him in the chest and he can feel his heart begin to race. He swallows, and closes the door to the M-ship after you step inside with him.

You take a seat in the copilot chair and wait for him to speak first.

“Y/n, there’s somethin’ I been thinkin’ about and I really need to get it off ma chest. The other day, in yer office…well…” he looks down at the floor and begins to pace. “What I’m tryin’ ta say is – shit…this is harder than I thought it was gonna be.”

You get a bad nervous feeling in the pit of your stomach. Yondu can’t seem to find the right words and he’s pacing the ship even further. He’s going to break up with me, oh my god, he is about to break up with me. You can feel tears beginning to form, and he turns to face you. Your thoughts have apparently been written all over your face.

“Oh, no. No darlin’ it ain’t like that. I swear on all the stars, it ain’t nothin’ like that. Look, when ya told me ya loved me the other day, I didn’t know what ta do. No one has ever told me they loved me before. I wadn’t sure what love even meant, let alone how ta love somebody else. Love ain’t exactly somethin’ I’m used to. But now, I think I understand – at least a little.” He takes your hands and pulls you to your feet. With deep pull of breath, he finally gets the courage.

“I love ya too sweetheart. I do. No woman has ever made me so damn crazy before. Ya get inside ma head, make my hands all shaky, and when ya look at me ma heart races out of ma chest. I can’t even begin ta tell ya how outta the norm this is fer me. Heh.” His crooked smile shows how unsure he is. But you can tell that he means every word. You don’t have any words for him in return. His confession was more than you expected, so you pull him toward you for a tender kiss. He wraps you in his strong arms and returns your kiss happily. You both get so lost in each other that you almost forget to breathe. You break away from him and gingerly bite your lip.

“So…now what?” He asks.

“Well, now, we just keep doing what we’re doing. Build and grow, one day at a time. Don’t worry, I’ll show you how.” With a smirk, you head toward the dining area of the ship to get some water.

“Y/n, there’s somethin’ else I been thinkin’ about. What do ya say we make another stop? The crew will be well off for a while, and we have some downtime ahead. I have an idea I’ve been sittin’ on fer a while.”

“Sure, what’s your idea?”

He takes a seat next to you and taps on the table a few times. “I was wantin’ ta take ya back ta Terra fer a visit. Maybe we could find yer family. I know how much ya miss ‘em, and it would bring ‘em some closure. I can imagine they’d be thrilled ta know yer safe…and I wouldn’t mind meetin’ ‘em. If ya think it’d be alright?”

“Back to Earth!? Are you serious?! Yondu! Yes, yes! Oh my god, I can’t believe it!!” You jump into his arms and kiss him excitedly. “It’s been so long. I’d love to show you where I grew up and, well, my family might be a bit shocked – but they’ll get over it.”

“Alright, then. It’s a done deal. I’ll let the crew finish up their…merriment, and we’ll get headed that way.”

In the back of his mind, Yondu knows this is a huge risk. There is chance you’ll find your family, and you might want to stay. If he takes you back to your home, he could lose you forever. However, he understands now, that he’d do anything to make you happy. Even it that happiness takes you away from him.

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

HASO, “Approaching Countdown.”

Had to write this at work today, so sorry it is short. 

The GA chairwoman stood in the oppressive muggy heart of Earth. She really hated it, it made her skin itch and her eyes sting, there wasn’t enough water in their atmosphere to actually cause her any harm, but there was definitely enough of it to make her very uncomfortable. A part of her had hoped that it might rain, forcing her to stay off world for the weather formation, but these humans knew what they were doing and had scheduled the launch for a cloudless day.

She looked up at the yellow earth sun and sighed. The humans had been very excited to invite the GA delegations out to view the launch. Humans were generally very excited to show anyone they could their dangerous past, and looking at the thing that was passing for a spaceship, she could not see how it would get more than a few inches off the ground, much less out of orbit. Supposedly they had dipped into very rare rocket fuel reserves to even do this as it required fossil fuel.

Fossil Fuel!

Let that sink in for a moment.

Liquified dead plant and animal remains mixed with liquid oxygen and some sort of oxidizer. She wasn’t sure what that last part meant, she wasn’t a rocket scientist. She sighed again, personally she wished she didn’t have to be here, for she doubted the launch was going to go as the human expected. In all reality her nerves were shot and she wished that she could just pass out for the next few hours and forget where she was. Everything was out of her hands anyway. Her orders had been given and now all she could do was wait.

She stood in the heat not too distant from her array of human bodyguards,dressed in dark suits and wearing dark glasses to cover their eyes. Somehow they managed to look more intimidating than normal humans did frowning, missing the characteristic tooty smile she had grown to associate with humans.

Shehad spent far too much time with Admiral Vir it seemed.

She sighed at the thought of him and shook her head.

Every time she tried to think about something else, it just circled back around to him. She tried not to think about it, taking a very deep breath.

There was some shuffling behind her and she turned slowly on her knuckles feeling the concrete grinding below her hands as she did. Two Tesraki and one other Rundi stood behind her having been let through by the human guards, who still eyed them with some measure of suspicion.

“Everything is in place, Chancellor.”

She nodded her head once.

“How many?”

There are at least thirty patrolling the borders of the trajectory zone. They will know as soon as he breaches orbit.

“And our engineers?”

“We are having trouble gaining access, but we are still working on it.”

“You better hope that we can.”

She lifted her head towards the sky where she could see the faint line of the moon against the blueness of the sky.

“We better hope.”

***

Captain Richard’s palms were very sweaty. He tried to wipe them discreetly on his pants or more accurately a onesie the scientists were calling a “Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment. So like a Onesie with tubes in it. He glanced sidelong over to where Admiral Vir was sitting staring at the antique space suit equipment laid out before them. 

He tried not to make it look like he was staring, but he totally was.

Admiral Vir wasn’t much older than him, maybe by a year or two, but that was part of what made being in the same room with him so strange. Every time he, or probably anyone, though of an admiral, they generally thought of some stuffy grey haired fat guy who sat behind a desk and gave orders. But…. this guy…. Well he was nothing like that at all. He was young and stupidly fit, and sure he had some white hair appearing at his temples, but his hair was blond enough you only noticed it in certain light.

And he was very personable, that was the first thing Richards had noticed.

The man knew how to work a room. He was funny, and despite being intimidated by his status, he found himself forgetting constantly that this guy wasn’t someone cool he had just met out at the bar. 

As if he could sense someone looking at him, Admiral Vir turned around theappriture of his mechanical eye adjusting slightly. He grinned in a very un-admiral way, “This is so friggin awesome.” The man looked like he was about to jump out of his boots, “Just look at this stuff-” He grinned some more dancing from one foot to the other, “Happiest damn day of my life and I’m wearing a diaper.”

That got the rest of the shuttle crew laughing which then devolved into a discussion about the pros and cons of diapers versus the new suit catheters. There was a surprising split on the discussion as the group of men talked, a conversation that was only broken as a group of scientists stepped in to help them with their suits. The process was rather tedious, the suits were bulky and cumbersome, nothing like the neat, sleek and comfortable suits used on regular ships.

Stepping into the pants of the suit they had to hold their arms up as the upper portion was lowered into place over their heads while others hurried in to pull on their arms and then help them fit into the gloves. He ducked his head as the communications cap was placed over his head. They would be wearing the full suit into orbit, though they would be allowed to take it off on the journey over. A journey which would take roughly three days or more to complete. One of them would stay in orbit while Admiral Vir and Richards himself took the lunar module down to the surface.

It was all supposed to go very smoothly from here.

Once suited up he couldn’t help but be reminded of when he was a child ready to go sledding with his siblings, in his massive snow pants and puffy jacket, waddling across the floor with his arms held out to either side.

He honestly hoped he looked cooler than he felt.

Admiral Vir might have been able to pull it off if he wasn’t nearly skipping, which seemed pretty improbable in the massive ass snowman suit.

Glancing out the long windows and into the horizon, he could see crowds of people set up in the distance. Head was a teenager when the Enterprise Launched, standing in an awed crowd as the massive behemoth hauled herself into the sky. He remembered the thrill, and he remembered the fear as he watched it go higher and higher and higher.

He remembered that day as one that led him to where he was now, and couldn’t believe it.

***

 The UN president stood at her lectern feeling a soft breeze blow through her hair. Today was a good day, or at least it was shaping up to be a good day. She had two folders sitting under the lectern like she always did during times like this. One of them was green and one of them was red.

The red one was sitting on top.

She glanced over to where the GA president stood and scowled slightly. She had always thought the little creature was kind of ugly looking like an ant. She had never liked bugs, or bug like things of any kind, which she found to be a common trait among aliens, Drev, Vrul, Gibb, Rundi, Burg.

She looked up at the sky neck stretched out sunning herself in the bright morning.

She could see the rocket in the distance held up on its platform. Admiral Vir would be moving into place now. Most people would see this only as some sort of historical recreation act, but PR analytics suggested that, if the Admiral succeeded, approval rating in the GA would go up almost 3 percent. Human and alien relations had been rockier than most people would like to admit. If Admiral Vir were to fail, the failure would likely shock the aliens senseless, and if he died. It could completely break down human/alien relations for the foreseeable future.

They were on the cusp of cooperation or war, and any single event could push them in that direction.

Relations might have already broken down if it wasn’t for Admiral Vir.

The president reached down a hand brushing the tips of her fingers over the red folder.

***

Jade examined the rocket from the inside of her decontaminated engineer’s suit. She was busy going over final checks before the craft was launched. Personally she thought it was a bad idea. There was no reason to go and do something so dumb when they had perfectly viable technologies available at their fingertips. Of course, she understood the value and importance of major historical events, but that didn’t mean they had to reenact them. I mean it's not like anyone ever wanted toreinaced the titanic or the Berlin wall, or burning down the library of Alexandria, but for some reason some yahoos wanted to strap themselves to a rocket inside a tin can and fly into space.

Using the same EXACT design from TWO THOUSAND years ago.

Might as well start using steam locomotives to get around.

She inched her way along the scaffolding catwalk  just a few hundred feet in the air. She didn’t mind heights, butcher wasn’t stupid, and would enver risk herself unecissarily. She examined the bolts holding the ship together passing a critical eye over each and every one of them. If just a single one of them got loose, it might potentially pull the whole panel off. If that happened, the launch trajectory might destabilize and they could begin to spin into the ground and explode.

Off in the distance she heard an alarm calling her down from above.

She would need to leave soon, and so tucked her clipboard under one arm and began to climb down one of the ladders towards the distant ground.

It was then that she noticed something strange. She didn’t know why she noticed it, it was so small, and she was in a hurry but…. There was something…. Strange. She glanced over and squinted towards the strange reflection.

The siren continued to blare.

She should really go.

She started to descend but then.

“You might want to check that again.”

She nearly leaped out of her skin at the voice turning on the spot and pitching ackwards with wide open eyes nearly falling over the rail as she came face to face with a porcelain white face and wide black eyes like pools of onyx. For a second she almost screamed assuming she had gone insane, but then paused as she saw the figure floating before her a gravity belt around it’s waist, and hundreds of white ribbons streaming from it’s back.

A starborn!

She had seen a documentary mentioning them, even with a few images, so she knew who it was. She also knew that they could read minds.

It wasn’t supposed to be able to speak, but this one was wearing translation gloves, and spoke sign language rather fluently.

“You might want to check again.” It repeated

“But I-”

“The Admiral is expecting an attempt on his life, and the best way to do it would be to sabotage the shuttle. You will want to help me because if the Admiral dies, my daughter will be very upset.”

She opened her mouth then closed it, not sure how to respond but eventually turned back to the shuttle and leaned forward pointing to the side of the rocket, “That, right there, can you float over and take a look. The creature floated past her, billowing like smoke as he eased over. He pointed, “This?”

“Yes.”

He touched it.

“Can you feel it/” She wondered.

“It doesn't feel like the rest of the ship though I cannot say how.”

“Keep looking around, I need to call in-”

“NO!”

She frowned hand halfway to her mic.

“Don’t tell them, we don’t want them to know that we have found anything.

She wasn’t so sure about that, but she didn’t feel like pissing this thing off, so reached to her mic, “Mission control this is Engineering, i'll need a postpone on the launch while I finish off my checklist. This is taking longer than I anticipated.”

“Roger that.” mission control responded.

The sirens stopped a moment later as she urged the Starborn forward to prod at the spot. There wasa soft peeling noise, and after a moment, she watched as the creature came away with a strip of tape.

He floated over to her and she examined it. That shouldn’t have been there, this was not the heat resistant sort of tape they used, and it certainly wasn’t something they would have bothered to put on the outside of a ship. The only thing it seemed to do was match the paint color.

She leaned forward glancing at the side of the shi. If this had gone up during exit it would have burned off, and that would reveal. 

The loose bolt underneath. Just like she feared.

She could fix it and ordered the starborn to do so following the instructions in her head. After that she ordered him to take her vest camera and fly around the outside of the rocket. She had noticed based on the way the light interacted with the tape as compared to the finish of the rocket’s exterior. 

If only she had someone who was good at distinguishing subtle color, and then she remembered.

She called the starborn back.

“Go, get a Drev and hurry back here. I’ll try to stall them.”

[itsthemoofacewriting]

Zoro doesn’t flirt

I wrote my first ZoNami story just over a year ago and I wanted to post something around that time again (okay, so I’m actually late. This was originally planned for the 25th) to celebrate the milestone!

Sanji being jealous is a guilty pleasure of mine but I also like him being a total bro and matchmaker. Like yeah, he’ll nudge Zoro in the right direction, but he’ll also make fun of him whilst he does it. Takes his shots where he can get ‘em.

Summary: Roronoa Zoro, the fearsome pirate hunter, bounty of 320,000,000, does not flirt.

Except he totally does, and it takes a guy talk with Sanji of all people for him to admit it. Kinda. Rating: T

This can also be found on AO3 and FFN. 

Enjoy.

“It’s adorable, you know,” Sanji trailed off, interrupting the silence in the kitchen. He didn’t turn to look at Zoro, who he knew was at the table behind him, he just carried on drying the dish in his hands. But he knew it would be enough to engage the other man.

There was a brief silence and Sanji wondered for a moment if he was wrong, but then Zoro was grunting at him.

“What was that?” Sanji threw over his shoulder, still not turning. He’d heard Zoro just fine, knew that grunt was for him to elaborate, but he knew it’d get under his skin. He can almost see the scowl that would inevitably be on his face without having to turn around.

“What’s adorable?” Zoro bit out and his tone’s suggesting he knows that whatever Sanji’s about to say is going to piss him off.

Sanji turned then, deciding that he wanted to see Zoro’s face for what he was about to say. His previous thought was right, there’s apprehension but also irritation rolling off of Zoro from the kitchen table where he’s sat.

“Your attempts at flirting with Nami-san.” Sanji’s lips curling into an infuriating smirk.

Zoro’s face went blank and Sanji’s almost disappointed at the lack of expression, felt like he’d been cheated out of his prize for a second before Zoro’s lips are curling downwards to match the deep scowl forming on his face

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Zoro said it with such conviction that to the untrained they would believe him, but Sanji did know him.

He could see right through it.

“Oh so your little scene at the table this morning during breakfast wasn’t flirting?”

Zoro looked incredulous. “It was an argument! What kind of idiot are you?”

“Normal people don’t enjoy ‘arguments’-” Sanji made air quotes then and Zoro’s grinding his teeth at being mocked- “or seek them out with the person that is apparently ‘the devil itself’,” Sanji finished.

“I do not enjoy them!” Apparently all Zoro has in his arsenal is denials and it’s all the confirmation Sanji needed. Sanji just wondered how long he’d be able to keep this up before it ended it an all-out brawl.

You can only corner a wild animal for so long…

“Only because you lose all the time, but you love the attention. Everyone can see it.”

Teeth clenched? Check. Knuckles white and gripping his sake? Check. Tense? Check. Silent? Check.

He’d achieved that sooner than expected.

Time to deliver the final blow.

Sanji dramatically sighed and turned to the side, to face away from Zoro. He looked at him from the corner of his eyes as he said:

“Roronoa Zoro, esteemed pirate hunter, whose name brings fear to those that hear it,” he has to resist gagging as he said it, no doubt adding to Zoro’s already inflated ego. It’s all worth it though with his next words, “can’t flirt like a grown man. It’s kind of pathetic really.”

The response is immediate, Zoro’s chair falling back with a clang on the hardwood floor as he shot to his feet, his hands reaching to rest on the hilt of his swords.

“You wanna go, is that it?”

“Running from the conversation like a coward? Poor Nami-san, having to deal with a brute like you,” Sanji goaded, even though he was already pushing away from the counter to take a step towards Zoro. “A brute with no flirting skills or ways to woo a woman.”

“I don’t flirt!”

Before anything could escalate further, the kitchen door’s swinging open and the very person they’re talking about entered. Zoro’s throwing him a foul look which screamed ‘keep your trap shut’. Sanji ignored it as his eyes zeroed in on Nami.

“Nami-san!” Sanji greeted cheerfully as she walked towards him, paying no mind to Zoro at the table or the fight about to break out. From the table, Zoro’s watching her like a hawk.

“Sanji-kun,” Nami greeting back, but left it at that as she stood in front of the fridge, fingers gracefully sliding around the combination lock with practiced ease to reach in and retrieve a drink.

“Nami, grab me one too,” Zoro called over to her just as she was about to close the fridge. Sanji frowned at his lack of manners but Nami beat him to it.

“What’s the magic word?” She teased; the fridge door still cracked open. Only Sanji, Nami and Robin knew the combination and between Sanji and Nami, Zoro had a higher chance of getting a drink relatively easily with her… and he could flirt with her, of course.  

He snorted before firing back, “I’ll remember that when you start barking orders.”

And just like that, it was like Sanji wasn’t even in the room anymore. They were both swept up in their bickering (flirting) that he was now openly watching the scene before him and neither took notice. He wasn’t even subtle about it; he’d put his pan down, his arms crossed and leaned back on the counter to watch the show.

It was an interesting watch.

You could tell a lot more with these two with what was said physically than verbally. And right now it’s screaming in the quiet kitchen. The way Nami’s leaning over Zoro where he’s sat, berating him as he moved the beer just out of her reach, despite her being nice enough to bring it over.

“How old are you?” Nami complained as her fingertips brushed the bottle, then Zoro’s moving it out of reach again.

“Sounds like loser talk right there,” he laughed and it sounded cold and cruel, at least to Sanji’s ears anyway, but his expression held a softness that is normally reserved for her (and Chopper, but that’s a given at this point).

To anyone else that wasn’t on this ship, it’d look like they were genuinely arguing. Both frowning now that Nami’s reclaimed her drink and voices gradually growing louder in their verbal ping pong match, but behind that, you could see Zoro’s eye lighting up as he leaned in as they went back and forth. He was enjoying this and Sanji was instantly reminded of that little boy that wouldn’t leave the girl alone, despite saying he didn’t like her. Except that girl enjoyed it too and gave as good as she got.

And then Zoro brought Sanji’s metaphor to life and actually tugged on Nami’s braid. He wasn’t even keeping up with their conversation anymore, it moved so quickly sometimes, so he’s not sure why Zoro did it. But it brought a blush to Nami’s face that has Zoro smirking in triumph before they’re launching into a new argument, one he does take interest in because she’s giving him shit about his hair and he wanted some of that material for later.

It seemed after all of that, Nami had come out the victor on their verbal spar but Zoro wasn’t one to go down easily. He got up and crowded into her space, something that wasn’t hard as they’d already been leaning into each other, and the atmosphere thickened as the space between their faces started to disappear and even Sanji held his breath- even though he wasn’t directly involved. It looked like he was going to kiss her, the way he was staring her down, his gaze flicking around her face, and despite inwardly thinking about how lame that would be (where’s the candlelight dinner?), he would still begrudgingly admire it because he honestly had no idea where Zoro suddenly got the balls from after all his pussyfooting.

That thought quickly came shattering down, along with the atmosphere, when he instead swiped the drink from her hands and took a long swig, his own drink abandoned next to him on the table. Sanji wanted to groan because honestly, what an idiot, but he stayed silent just so he could see how this played out.

It played out pretty much how Sanji expected.

Nami looked stunned and then in the next moment outraged, probably not at him drinking her drink (he’d seen them share many times before- something he might bring up, actually, when this had finished), but at being one upped. Sanji had seen her face just moments ago, she’d expected something far different from that, and no doubt the embarrassment was washing over her now.

She spluttered a few times, mouth trying to form words until she gave up. When no words appeared, she huffed instead, flicked her braid over her shoulder and turned on her heel to storm out of the kitchen.

Zoro grinned viciously as he watched her leave, his gaze straying much further south than it probably should.

It’s silent in the kitchen after the door closed, Zoro’s gone back to drinking his own drink and ignoring Sanji like their previous conversation hadn’t happened.

As if Zoro’s getting off the hook that easily.

“So… you don’t flirt, huh?”

Zoro doesn’t grace him with a response, at this point what can he say? Can hardly keep denying it after that show, so he settled for glaring at him fiercely instead. Something that didn’t affect Sanji in the slightest. He’d survived his biological brothers growing up, this is nothing.

“It’s…. giving as good as I get.” Zoro finally settled for, but even he doesn’t look convinced at that one.  

Sanji gave him a bland look. “So flirting?”

Zoro’s face is pinched painfully and it’s because he’s boxed into a corner. There’s no way to escape the inevitable and with a tight jaw he’s admitting, “Fine. I’m ‘flirting’.” He added the air quotations sarcastically, half giving in but still being stubborn and Sanji begrudgingly accepted that. Anymore pushing and it really will end in a fight.

“So, now that we’ve established you are flirting- don’t give me that look shithead, you are, and you know it-” Sanji pointed his finger as him but Zoro didn’t give anything other than a sour expression so he continued- “what’re you going to do about it?”

There’s a long pause and it’s because Zoro’s currently warring between continuing the stubborn streak and giving in.

For once, he picked the right direction, because they both knew Sanji would keep going until he gave anyway.

“I can’t believe I’m talking to you about this,” Zoro muttered and sighed, running his hand through his hair trying to stall. “I have a plan; I’m doing things at my own pace.”

“Any chance this plan happens before we find One Piece?”

“I don’t want to rush anything.”

“Strange, you’re not normally such a coward. If anything, you rush in like a moron.”

“You can stand there and pretend all you like but you’re no different, pervert.”

Sanji rolled his eyes in response. But then, a thought came to mind, something that Zoro had said just before was bothering him and it sounded far too vague. “Hang on, just to be thorough, what exactly is your plan?”

Zoro shrugged as he responded, “Wait for the right moment.”

What an idiot. Truly. Nami must have done something in her past life to be stuck with him. He’d pray for her.

“That’s not a plan!”

“I don’t plan anything normally and it turns out alright,” Zoro said simply.

“You can’t just fight and stumble your way through this, you idiot!”

Zoro turned to him then, placing his empty drink to the side. “Alright then self-proclaimed ladies’ man, what plan do you have? Huh?”

Sanji opened his mouth to respond but Zoro interrupted-

“I swear, if you say candlelight dinner.”

Sanji’s shoulders sagged and Zoro’s laughing nastily.

“Oh, not so easy is it? And you call yourself a lady’s man, really is all hot wind in the end, huh?”

As much as Sanji knew how to get under Zoro’s skin, it unfortunately worked the other way around and Zoro’s comment has Sanji biting down his temper, his leg begging him to stop holding back. So instead, he chose to ignore that, be the bigger man. And maybe soothed himself with the thought of hiding one of Zoro’s weights later.

Sanji pushed away from the counter to distract himself, walking through the kitchen to open the fridge. He could hear Zoro playing with his drink behind his back, even though it’s empty and then Sanji’s grabbing another drink before walking over to the table. He placed it down in front of Zoro but doesn’t let go as he reached for it.

Zoro raised an eyebrow at the gesture.

“I don’t know what you’re really worried about and don’t deny that you’re not, but Nami’s interested.” Then he’s releasing the drink for Zoro to take.

Zoro’s gave him a sharp look. “She say something?”

Sanji took a step back to lean on the counter in the dining room. “She doesn’t have to. When you have people skills, you can see these sorts of things. Maybe add it to your to do list, along with playing with your swords.”

Zoro snorted then and for the first time since he entered the kitchen, it’s not in anger, or annoyance but in amusement and Sanji’s chuckling as well. Maybe not at his own words but at this situation. He never would have put money on his evening ending up like this.

They’re back in silence again but that’s fine, because Sanji’s pretty sure he’s got his point across. Zoro had half-heartedly admitted he was flirting and that he was going to do something about it. Good enough.

But then Zoro surprised him by speaking, offering up information that wasn’t asked for.

“I don’t want to ruin what we have.”

Sanji’s almost speechless and his face is flabbergasted by Zoro’s quiet words. Something that he quickly got under control because if Zoro saw it, he would get cagey instantly and that would be the end. He’d never be able to touch on this again.

For a second, he hesitated, unsure what to say. He didn’t think Zoro was capable of doubting himself. He was normally such a smug bastard. This didn’t sit right with Sanji and its then that he found the words.

“I didn’t realise Perona was around, maybe it was those two years you spent with her. You sound like you already lost. How depressing.” It’s tough love but he’s sure that’s what’s needed. Then again, he wasn’t sure it was possible for him to give Zoro anything else.

Zoro said nothing and that doesn’t seem like a good thing either. He dug deep for the next one, “You can’t move forward if you don’t move at all.”

“You get that from a fortune cookie?”

Snark is better than silence, even if it does piss him off. “Seemed to work, what does that say about you?”

They’re glaring at each other now and they’re just about to tip over the edge when a weird look crossed Zoro’s face.

“Wait, why are you sticking your nose in anyway? You’re nosey at the best of times but this is a step too far for you.”

Oh shit. Time’s up. Play it cool.

“Like you said, I’m being nosey.”

Zoro’s eyes narrowed. “Bullshit-” and cruel smirk crossed Zoro’s face as he leaned back- “you’re pushing too hard and don’t think I don’t see your twitching leg. You’re holding yourself back.”

“I care about Nami-san and, unfortunately, you’re a part of that now.” Good save, Sanji, go with that. He mentally clapped himself on the back.

“Kinda sounds like you care about me too.”

“Don’t push your luck.” Sanji pointed a finger at him threateningly but it did nothing other than add to the infuriating expression on Zoro’s face. It’s superiority and it grinds Sanji.

“What other explanation would you like to give it? Why not just talk to Nami if it’s for her.”

God damn it. What a prick. He refused to say anything and that’s all Zoro really needed to hear as he chuckled and finished the last of his second drink.

“It’s painful to watch you two dance around each other,” is all Sanji supplied. It basically confirmed what Zoro said but he’s not saying anything other than that. He refused.

“That bad?” Zoro grimaced.

Sanji smirked. “There’s currently a betting pool.”

Zoro groaned loudly, head tipped back. “Fucking course there is. Meddling idiots, the lot of you.”

“She won’t say no. Well, as long as you ask like an adult and not pull on her hair like a child.” Sanji shook his head. “You literally did it earlier too, where did you pick this up from?”

“Got her attention, didn’t it?” Zoro looked far more satisfied than he deserved to look.

“I don’t want to badmouth Nami-san, but she normally has such exquisite taste, so I really wonder what happened here.” Sanji’s hand wafting in Zoro’s direction.

“Seriously though, stop hanging around. I know you’re worried about your friendship but give Nami some more credit-” Sanji paused, mulling over whether to say anything further, was this going too far? Ah, screw it, he got this far- “She won’t say no.”

Zoro gave him an assessing look, like he was trying to see if the other man was messing with him before he nodded, “Got it.” He stood from his seat then, apparently done with the conversation once and for all.  

Sanji stopped him before he could turn to leave, “Let’s agree to never do this again.”

“Agreed.”

And just because Sanji’s an absolute shit that cannot resist, “Unless, of course, you need advice about sex because you look hopeless in that department.”

“You piece of shit!”

And his time was truly up then, something that Sanji welcomed because he was actually starting to feel friendlytowards the moss head.

“What do we have here? Bro bonding and I wasn’t invited?!”

Both Zoro and Sanji whipped their heads towards the new voice, stopping dead in their tracks and gaped. Because there stood Franky in the doorway of the kitchen, one hand on his hip and the other lifting his glasses, like he couldn’t believe the sight in front of him.

How either of them missed him they weren’t sure, nor did they know just how long he’d been standing there… or what he’d heard.

“We are not bonding!”

“What’s wrong with you.”

--------------------------

Sorry to ZoSan shippers, no hate whatsoever, but in my eyes, they have such brotherly sibling energy. I’d wanted to write this for a while.  

As always, forgive any errors.

Happy new year everyone!

[buckysbitch107]

The Angel On His Shoulder | Steve Rogers x Guardian Angel!Reader

Summary: You met Steve and Bucky at a young age. The three of you did everything together, up until the two boys went to war. You’re a badass, so of course you became a nurse and helped out wherever you could, even got to see Steve and Bucky a few more times. That of course wasn’t enough, so you became the first female Howling Commando. Unfortunately, when the Howling Commandos heard a plan of an attack on the base you were stuck at while tending to wounded soldiers, they were too late. Steve found you, a pretty cliché moment if you did say so yourself. Which you did. After you died in his arms, and after Bucky “died”, Steve crashed the plane into the arctic. Little did anyone know, you became his guardian angel, and saved his life once or twice in the process. Now, as he wakes up 67 years later, you have a few words to say.

Requested by: @wintersoldierslut

Warnings: Swearing, Threats, A bit of Self Depreciation, Mentions of Smut.

Word Count: 2.1K

A/N: I tried my best on this one! It was a little hard to figure out at first, and I kind of made the reader like Castiel and Gabriel in Supernatural. Hope you guys enjoy, and remember requests are always open!

The soft light greets Steve as he slowly opens his eyes, staring at the ceiling before deciding to take in his surroundings. He looks around the small room, immediately noticing almost everything wrong with it, that fact putting him on edge.

“Am I dead?” He whispers, mainly to himself, not expecting anyone to answer.

“No, but you should be.” His head whips around to the dresser next to the bed, where you are seated, kicking your feet in the air. “And so should I, but the afterlife works in mysterious ways. I really still don’t understand it and I’ve been stuck in it for 67 years.”

“(Y/N)?”

“Yes?”

“How are you here?”

“If I didn’t already know, I’d ask the same for you.”

“Okay then, how am I here and how are you here?” Steve asks, fully sitting up in the small bed and turning so his feet are on the ground and his head is facing you.

“Well, after I died in your arms, pretty cliche if I do say so myself and I did at the time, I became your dumb ass’s guardian angel and-”

“Wait, how can you swear?”

“Number one, moo. Number two, same way you can.”

“I thought angels couldn’t cuss?”

“You do realize how many times they explicitly explain sex in the bible, right? Now back to what I was saying before I was rudely interrupted,” You pause again, making sure Steve’s mouth is shut before continuing. “I became your guardian angel, and when you said you were putting the plane in the ice, DIDN’T THINK YOU MEANT PUTTING YOURSELF IN THE ICE TOO!”

“It was the only way!” Your expression instantly morphs into one only described as ‘are you fuckin kidding me’.

“There were multiple windows. Right in front of you. And next to you. And probably behind you. I didn’t get a great look at the ship, as I was too busy SAVING YOUR ASS!”

“Alright, I get it. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you, now, you’re probably wondering where you are.” You speak, gesturing to the honestly confusing room the two of you are in.

“Yeah…” He trails off, looking at everything a little closer. The puke green and blinding white walls, the weird decor, the radio playing a game the two of you attended with Bucky.

“Welcome to the future. 67 years in it, to be exact. HYDRA lost, by the way.”

“Spoiler alert.”

“Well, I’m so sorry, Mr. Captain America, sir. I thought you’d want to know that you didn’t have to jump right back into the suit. Speaking of Captain America, a weirdly dressed lady is coming in like five seconds, so I gotta bounce. Call me if you need me!” And with a snap of your finger, you disappear. As you said, five seconds later, a woman dressed in a very bad copy of what would be a 40’s nurse/agent/he doesn’t even know at this point outfit.

“Good morning.” She says, her voice having a weird perkiness that makes him honestly want to vomit. And that’s where it all goes wrong.

~~~

“You’re a laboratory experiment, Rogers.” Tony spits, looking him dead in the eye. You appear in the corner of the room, only to Steve of course, but that doesn’t matter. You are fuming. Steve can almost hear the steam pouring out of your ears, and he barely moves his hand to signal you to stop moving towards Tony. He looks at you out of his peripheral vision, and he slightly smirks, as to not communicate to Tony that he’s smirking because of him. 

‘You’re cute when you’re angry. Always have been.’ He thinks, barely catching Tony’s next sentence.

“Everything special about you came out of a bottle.”

“You think I’m cute when I’m angry? Well, get ready, cause I’m about to be fuckin gorgeous.” You mutter, snapping your finger to disappear before reappearing behind Tony. Steve is about to respond to Tony when you tap lightly on the man’s shoulder, Stark turning around before becoming very confused.

“(Y/N) (Y/L/N)-”

“Oh, so you know who I am?” You hiss, fire practically burning in your eyes, causing the playboy to slightly shift back. “Listen here motherfucker. I haven’t made a promise in 67 years, but I’m promising you this.” As you start moving forward, both Tony and Steve slowly start stepping back to avoid your wrath. “You spit another goddamn word out of your mouth about how Steve is nothing, how Steve is just an experiment, I will end each and every person in this room, except for him. And I will do so smiling while I bathe in your blood. Do you understand me?!” The man nods and you slightly back away, a look of awe on Natasha’s face.

“Woah. I thought you were just something from storybooks.” She mumbles, making a sense of pride run through your veins.

“I lied, she’s safe too. I like her.” Natasha smiles while Tony gains a little more confidence and decides to speak up once again.

“CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!”

~~~

“Not helpful!” You yell, throwing three Chitauri warriors off of you.

“Sorry!” Thor yells. You continue shooting and stabbing Chitauri warriors, occasionally helping one of the Avengers.

“Why is she here?” Tony asks, speaking through the coms in your suits.

“Because Fury sent me out here!” You respond, fighting off another few foes. 

“They keep coming from the huge flying things!” Steve yells, meaning the Chitauri Leviathan floating above you guys. You sigh before turning to the man, giving him a grim look before coming up with an idea. 

“Launch me, off the shield, get ready to catch me.”

“Um, okay.” He quickly launches you, giving you enough momentum to get plenty of feet up in the air. At that exact moment, a Leviathan flies towards you. You pull out your knife, driving it through the chest of the beast before the momentum forces you forward, dragging the knife through its chest and all the way down to it’s “tail”.

“Falling, Falling, FALLING!” You scream, praying that someone catches you. Thankfully, you land in Cap’s arms, giving him a small smile before hopping out.

“Let’s finish kicking these alien asses.” You mumble, already running back into the fight.

~~~

After the Battle of New York, Stark threw a massive party to celebrate. Sure, it was for the newly formed Avengers, but Fury was already talking about adding you to the initiative. So, there you sit, comfortable on one of the couches surrounding the windows looking out onto New York City, the other avengers scattered on the remaining couches and chairs. You take a large sip out of the bottle of beer in your hand, and you nearly choke on the liquid as Thor starts talking.

“Y’know, you and Lady (Y/N) would make an excellent couple.” He booms, talking to Steve, but having everyone hearing it. A glimmer of hope rises in your chest, almost immediately being crushed as Steve laughs it off as a joke. You laugh along, trying to ignore the slight tightening in your throat. You sit there for a few more minutes, the air full of silence before you stand up and excuse yourself from the party.

“You okay?” Steve asks, a concerned look on his face. You nod quietly before answering.

“Yeah, just tired.” You mumble, walking up the stairs to the elevator, taking it up to your temporary room. You walk in, closing the door behind you, flopping on the bed with tears in your eyes. Tears stream down your face as you think back to the conversation downstairs, how Steve laughed off Thor’s comment. You continue to quietly sob into your pillow until a knock sounds at the door, causing you to shoot up and wipe your eyes quickly.

“Hey,” Nat speaks, walking into your room and closing the door behind her.

“Hey” You whisper back.

“You love him, don’t you?” She asks, sitting down on the edge of your bed. You simply nod, the woman in front of you laying a hand on your knee. “You don’t see it, huh?”

“See what?”

“He loves you too.” At this comment, you shake your head, letting out a short laugh before looking up at the ceiling and back to her.

“He doesn’t love me. Steve’s not that stupid.” You mumble, wringing your hands together.

“What do you mean?”

“Has he showed you the compass yet?”

“Compass?”

“Steve keeps a compass in his back pocket. On the top part, is a picture of Peggy Carter. She’s older now, obviously, but he’s still in love with her. He took one look at her, and I was simply in last place. It’s just what I have to accept.”

“Oh sweetie-”

“Guardian angels aren’t supposed to fall in love.”

“You were in love before you died, right?”

“I’ve been in love with him since we met, Nat. Not exactly something I can shake.” She offers you a small smile and a hug before she stands up, leaving you alone to figure things out. What you both didn’t realize, was that Steve had come up to talk to you, stopping outside your room once he heard you and Nat talking. He heard everything you said. Nat doesn’t notice him, turning the other way down the hall. Steve walks in, startling you, seemingly coming out of nowhere.

“Before you ask, I heard everything.”

“Oh-”

“I love you too.” He blurts out, surprising the both of you. Your jaw drops open, and he starts profusely blushing, slightly stepping backward before you stand up, grabbing his hand in yours.

“Are you telling the truth, or are you just saying it.”

“I’m 100% serious.” You smile and your eyes flick to his lips, his eyes seemingly doing the same. The two of you slowly lean in, Steve taking the extra step and pressing his lips against yours. He smiles into the kiss, wrapping his arms around your waist before pulling you closer, your hands resting on his chest. He pulls away first, pressing his forehead against yours, giddy smiles on your faces.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“I have a question.” You whisper before he kisses you again, moving his mouth down to kiss your jaw and neck

“Hmm?” He hums, the vibration tingling against your throat.

“If I was naked right in front of you, what would you do?”

~~~

“What a lovely little mess I made.” You whisper, looking at the array of hickeys and lovebites across Steve’s chest.

“I’m not done with you yet, sweetie.”

“Oh, I hope not.”

Permanent Tags: @wintersoldierslut​ @breakmy-bedbarnes@stuckys-hot-dogs​ @andreasworlsboring101@yaxamarvel @donutloverxo

Just a reminder that all requests are open! My masterlist is in my bio, so you guys know who I specialize in, but really I do anyone y’all request. As I’ve mentioned, nothing is too fluffy, angsty, smutty, or gorey for me. I mainly write Marvel and its characters/actors. I can also write some characters from other things, you just have to ask! Also please let me know if you want to be a part of the Permanent Tags! But please, for now,

Call me Emily

[kinetic-elaboration]

July 17: 2x26 Assignment: Earth

Finally finished up S2 of TOS yesterday. That was... a rough episode tbh. I’m just gonna say it: back door pilots are bad! They’re bad. If I wanted to watch that other show, I’d watch it.

Wow, they’re just really jumping right in, huh? “Here we are, on a routine mission into the past, using a time travel method that we invented nbd.”

Investigating desperate problems in the year 2020...2016.... no wait 1968.

Ooh, Spock in the transport room today. Does he have a whole extra random station there? That’s so weird; I’ve never seen that before. It’s like hidden in the corner.

Cat!! Cat!!

What a good actor. I’m still bitter that wikipedia has a whole section about the casting for “Isis the cat” that talks entirely about the human who played Isis for 2 minutes and nothing about the talented feline actor. Where did they find her? How did they teach her to act?

She has a lot of thoughts about Kirk.

I wrote down “Scully, you’ve got to see this” in my notes and I’ve already forgotten what it refers to lol. Some moment that I thought would fit well with my favorite x-files meme.

Change history, you say? Spock is intrigued. ...Admittedly, Spock is often intrigued.

“What if it turns out you’re an invading alien from the future?” Honestly...let him invade. You’re not supposed to be here anyway.

I’m pretty insulted by this. The aliens went through all this trouble to help in 1968...where are our alien helpers NOW?

The cat straight up attacked his face.

Kirk is so fond of Spock being fond of the cat.

“It’s a lovely animal. I feel myself strangely drawn to it.”

Kirk is way too confused by Seven--an allegedly human person with super-human abilities that he says come from aliens--and yet, he’s met Charlie X so??? Is this not the same?

Kirk’s got the whole crew checking in on zoom.

(I actually do like this sequence of him getting video calls from different parts of the ship.)

“Weren’t orbiting H-bombs a huge problem in 1968?” Looks at the camera like he’s on The Office. Not the subtlest bit of writing in the “social commentary” genre. I do say this with love, though. I always enjoy when they comment on contemporary problems.

“He has a totally perfect body.” Lol don’t distract these two bisexuals.

[soft meowing]

“The prisoner has escaped.” The way this is shot, it looks like he’s talking about the cat.

Hmm, I do love the decor. Very 60s. This honestly immediately feels like a different show, and a much more dated show; even when the Enterprise time travels, it tends not to time travel to... office space.

Love the little sounds the computer makes.

So is Isis supposed to be one of the fancy aliens? It’s never explained but one must assume she is.

Aw, he’s petting her paw.

So I assumed the cats sounds are real, but just dubbed. They’re not lol. Which I guess isn’t surprising: this cat makes a lot of noises! They were provided by a human voice actress.

Damn.... I want a secret bookshelf that turns around to reveal a super computer with a big screen. “Computer... play Netflix.”

That’s what Seven does in his spare time.

The computer is an AI. “Beta 5 snobbery” lol.

Where are OUR alien overlords to stop US from destroying ourselves before WE can mature into a peaceful society?

This is really masterful exposition lol. Not forced or awkward at all.

ST sure does love the snooty female computer trope.

“Get us the proper costumes.” Yes, get Spock his Requisite Hat.

Omicron IV....that’s one of the names they use in Futurama lol. Such nerds.

Another excellent Spock Hat.

I love Seven’s various IDs. Great style. I wish my driver’s license looked like those.

“Who do you think you are?” He hasn’t decided yet. That’s why he was shifting through his IDs.

Seven is not smart lol. Like, he should have figured out way faster that this lady isn’t one of the Alien Overlords. He asks her the code question, she doesn’t understand it, and he... assumes she’s just really in character? Dude, that’s what the code questions are for!!! To help you identify people! Otherwise you could just straight up ask: are you an alien?

Instead he’s like “oh, you silly alien, you’re playing with me,” and then is forced to trap her, reveal his whole mission, and ultimately ensnare her in his plan.

I want that typewriter. Voice recognition typewriter.

"My incompetence has made you aware of very secret devices." Well at least he knows.

Trained cat!

The alien overlords were killed in a random car accident. That’s ironic.

Oh look, a real rocket!

Brown pants + short sleeved shirt + tie is such a Classic 60s look.

This security guard doesn’t think it’s weird that this random dude has a cat with him? Is this part of Isis’s alien power?

Except for the part where it’s a weapon, it’s pretty cool to see all this build up to, like... launching stuff into space. Exciting.

Isis likes to be on shoulders. Just like Little Guy.

New hat for Spock. His outer wear hat, and now his fancy hat. There is something to be said for this ep, and that is Kirk and Spock in suits.

Amazing how they literally launched rockets with computers that old. Like seeing the big bank of primitive computers is totally wild. We put people on the moon that way! Amazing.

“Meow.” Lol, Isis is stressed so she’s speaking like a cat. That’s a pretty funny joke actually.

Seven is so incompetent. If he’d just let the Enterprise help, Scotty could have fixed that rocket issue in like 3 seconds.

Lol everyone’s just pulling Gary through space. Now on the Enterprise. Now in the office.

Why does this computer have a hug black screen if it only displays images on the small white circle?

"Spock and  I in custody. Main characters, doing nothing, knowing nothing, totally useless and irrelevant. I have never felt more helpless." Literally what is even the point of them today? Does Spock even have lines outside of “I like the cat”?

Isis is jealous of Roberta. Is she.. in a relationship with Seven lol?

Uhura is listening to everyone in the world. She probably has a universal translator on, but I do feel like this scene implies she just...understands all the languages.

So now the warhead is armed and heading to somewhere vague... in other words, everyone has collectively made the situation worse.

....Or this was Seven’s plan all along? To scare people into ceasing to be so careful with nuclear weaponry? As someone who knows humans better than this guy, I think this is a dumbass plan.

“That’s why so many people in my generation are kind of crazy and rebels.” Same, sweetheart.

Really this is just a story about bad communication. If Seven had told Kirk his plan upfront, Kirk would have helped him. And if Kirk weren’t so insistent on involving himself in something just because he happens to be somewhere he probably shouldn’t be, we wouldn’t have this issue either. The hubris of everyone.

Overall, just a really forced narrative imo.

Or that’s how it was supposed to be lol. The Irony of time travel. By it’s nature, everything has already worked out.

Kirk and Spock are like “You’re welcome. Peace out.”

Honestly... Isis was the only good part. Such a talented cat actor!! Or trio of cat actors, I guess. Had to do all those stunts and stuff.. .amazing. I also liked the concept of Isis. How she turned into a human later just to troll Roberta. How she’s never really explained--one must assume, an alien? Plus I pretty much never get tired of human + animal teams where the animal makes animal noises and the human just understands and answers in English.

As a stand alone sci fi concept...it was okay. Kinda dated by now. The alien tech was nifty and Roberta could have grown on me. Maybe even Seven, though he left a lot to be desire. That said, the narrative relied a lot on people getting in each other’s way for no reason, which I find very frustrating.

But as a Star Trek episode....no. The main characters were just nuisances on the side lines!! I’m not even sure what Kirk’s mission here was--to try to figure out what Seven was doing? And stop him if necessary? But he never really decided if it was or not, until the point where not trusting him would basically cause a nuclear war? I don’t know, I found it all very frustrating. The melding of the original show and the spinoff was not smooth.

If I were watching this in 1968, I’d feel very cheated. THIS was the season finale? That’s it? I don’t even get a real Star Trek episode and now I have to wait months for anything new?

And what I get after all that waiting is Spock’s Brain?? I’d be tempted to quit. If I had a tumblr in 1969 I’d be writing multi-paragraph rants about how the best show on television has completely nose-dived lol.

But then there’s The Enterprise Incident, which is one of the best episodes... I don’t know, man. It’s a conundrum. I’ve only seen maybe half of season 3 but from what I remember it’s very uneven: some of the best eps (The Enterprise Incident, For the World Is Hollow, Day of the Dove) mixed in with some of the worst (Spock’s Brain, The Paradise Syndrome), plus some that are good concepts but shoddily executed (The Way to Eden). So we’ll see what I think about it when I see it all in one piece, in air date order.

[abundanceofsoph]

SkyFire 3: Chapter 2

New York & Saturday Night Live: April 2017    

Word count: 4.8k

SkyFire 3 MASTERLIST

Sorry it's been so long since the last chapter but I'm finally back at work after 75 days in lockdown. Updates will probably be a bit more spaced out than they were in Parts 1 & 2 but please know that I am still working away at it and I already have so many future chapters planned out that I'm really excited for.

This chapter is a bit of a long one and I thought about splitting it in half but figured you deserved the treat after waiting patiently.

Don't forget to leave a comment if you're enjoying the series and let me know what you think.

>Instagram posts

By the time Aurora woke up Monday morning, Harry’s side of the bed was cold, and he had long since left for the day. Since he would be appearing in multiple sketches on the upcoming episode of Saturday Night Live, he was needed for rehearsals all week. Aurora was thankful that she and the rest of the band weren’t needed until Friday and instead she was able to sleep in. Their flight had arrived in New York well after midnight and by the time they made their way to the tower they had both decided to head straight to bed. Aurora was fairly certain her father would have still been awake, working in his lab but she was far too tired for a reunion after hours on a plane.

Once she managed to roll herself out of bed and get dressed for the day ahead, Aurora made her way down the hall to the open plan kitchen/living area of the penthouse with its wide, floor to ceiling wall of windows looking out over the sprawling expanse of Central Park. Both Tony and Steve were sitting on the stools at the kitchen’s island bench, waiting for their daughter to wake up. Steve had seen Harry earlier that morning as he was leaving, and Steve had been coming back from his early morning run. Both he and Tony were eager to have their daughter home for an entire week and while Steve was happy to sip on his tea and read the morning while they waited, Tony was practically vibrating in his seat with barely contained excitement. Steve’d had to stop him twice from having JARVIS ‘accidentally’ wake Aurora up, so Tony was unsurprisingly the first out of his seat when she finally appeared.

Aurora was grinning widely and broke into a fit of giggles as her father rushed over and lifted her off the ground in a crushing hug. Despite having seen each other only two weeks ago, the craziness of the wedding hadn’t really allowed them much time to just hang out together and prior to the wedding they had spent a solid 5 months apart given the last minute changes to their Christmas plans in the wake of Johannah’s death.

“Missed you Dad,” she said, returning the tight hug.

“Missed you too Kiddo,” Tony replied, finally setting her back on her feet and allowing her to cross the room and fall into Steve’s arms.

The small family spent the entire day together, watching a movie and then moving down to Tony’s workshop in the afternoon so that he could work on a prototype for Stark Industries while Steve and Rori sketched on the sofa. It was reminiscent of how they had spent many evenings shortly after Rori first came to live with her fathers, the memories of those long nights brought a soft smile to her face as she sketched Dumm-e and Butterfingers, where they were attempting to help Tony, but instead were causing more problems than they were able to solve. Harry found them all there when he arrived back to the tower later that evening, grinning excitedly as he launched into his recounting of his first day with the SNL cast.

xXx

Since first meeting her father’s childhood best friend, James ‘Bucky’ Barnes, three years ago, Aurora had slowly come to see him as a member of the family. For the first year that they had both lived in the tower together, they had coexisted amicably but had been far from friends, nothing close to the way Aurora was with the rest of the team. Even as her relationship with Sam had flourished quickly as he acclimatized to life as an Avenger she had struggled to be around Bucky. He hadn’t held her distant behaviour against her, knowing that while most of the team had been able to separate the actions of the Winter Soldier from Bucky himself, Aurora had struggled to accept into her home the man who had tried, on several occasions, to assassinate one of her fathers. Following the Columbia Shooting, she had surprised him by seeking him out during her recovery and their friendship had bloomed after her amputation surgery. Now, many years later Bucky easily filled the role of another uncle in Aurora’s life, a shift that had made Steve overwhelmingly happy.

It was late Tuesday afternoon and Steve went in search of his daughter, having not seen her since they’d shared lunch together. He expected to see her in the workshop with Tony, however his husband said he hadn’t seen her since breakfast. With the help of JARVIS he finally found her on one of the lower floors, the one shared by Sam, Bucky and Rhodey when he was in town. She was in the living room sitting across the table from Bucky, a game of Battleship between the pair. Steve suppressed a chuckle as he joined the pair, well aware by now of how much his best friend and his daughter enjoyed playing a variety of tabletop games together. Many arguments had been started over a game of backgammon or canasta.

“Who’s winning?” he asked, pulling up a chair beside Aurora and throwing an arm around her shoulders.

“I’m kicking his ass,” she smiled.

“She’s getting cocky,” Buck replied, “and it’s going to backfire on her in a minute.”

“Of course it is,” Aurora said, her tone dripping in sarcasm.

The game continued for a while, Aurora cheering and taunting when she sunk another of Bucky’s ships, mocking him mercilessly when he continued to miss her own turn after turn.

“I don’t understand why you always beat me,” he moaned when she won. “I mean surely your luck has to run out eventually.”

“It’s not luck, Bucky,” Rori laughed. “It’s about strategy and reading your opponent and I hate to tell you, but you are entirely predictable.”

“I’ll have you know I’m an excellent battle strategist,” Bucky retorted.

“Apparently you’re not,” Aurora bit back, a wide smile gracing her face. Steve let out a loud peel of laughter at their bickering.

“Excuse me,” JARVIS interrupted. “Miss Stark, you requested that I alert you when young Mr Styles returned to the tower.”

“Thanks J,” Rori replied, kissing her fathers’ cheek and jumping to her feet, ready to head towards the elevator.

“Miss Stark?” Steve asked.

“He said that Dad programmed him to call me that and no marriage certificate is gonna change it,” Rori explained with a roll of her eyes. “Dad could probably get him to stop but honestly I like it. I didn’t get to be a Stark for very long so it’s nice to be one when I come home.”

“You’ll always be a Stark, bug,” Steve promised, returning the kiss on her cheek and watching as she left the room in search of Harry on the upper floors of the Tower.

“Enjoying having her home?” Bucky asked.

“Absolutely,” Steve answered. “I miss her when she’s not here. Tony does too, even if he won’t admit it. She grew up too fast on us.”

“Can’t have been easy not meeting her until she was practically all grown up,” Bucky pointed out.

“No, you’re right,” Steve agreed. “Sometimes I wish we’d got to raise her, but I’d also never want to have taken away any of the time she got with her mom.”

“You and Tony ever think of having another kid?”

“We’ve talked about,” Steve said. “It’s not very easy process. The worlds come a long way since the 40’s Buck, but it’s still hard for two men to adopt. It certainly doesn’t help that we’ve got such dangerous jobs.”

“Guess that makes sense,” Bucky replied. “Never known you to back down from something just because it’s hard or because someone tells you no, though.”

“You might have a point there. Seems we’ve managed to accidently adopt Peter over the years so maybe we’re just meant to keep collecting teenagers.”

xXx

Something Aurora loved about the city was the way that New Yorkers didn’t care about anyone around them. Everyone was busy getting from one place to another and had very little time or care to look at those surrounding them on the crowded sidewalks. Aurora could easily wander the streets without being hassled as she went about her day. Occasionally a tourist would recognize her, but more often than not, a large pair of sunglasses and a hat pulled low would hide her enough to avoid all but the most astute fan. She wore a loose oversized cardigan which hung over the tips of her fingers completely concealing her prosthetic hand as she headed through the streets of midtown Manhattan, her hands full of shopping bags as she walked back towards Avengers Tower. She could have halved the time to get home by taking the subway, but the weather was nice, so she enjoyed the walk, reaching the towers lobby a little after 2 in the afternoon.

By the time she stepped out of the elevator and into the penthouse, she noted Steve, Clint and Bucky sprawled out on the sofas in front of the tv. She dropped her shopping bags onto the floor and launched herself onto the sofa cushion next to Steve, curling herself into his side as his arm fell around her shoulders, hugging her tightly against him.

“Where’ve you been all day?” he asked.

“Went shopping,” Rori explained.

“Do I want to know?” he asked with a soft chuckle.

“I bought wigs.”

“Why on earth are you buying wigs?” Clint butted in.

“Because with the tour coming up,” Rori said, “I want to try out some different hair colours, but I’ve never bleached my hair before and I’m honestly terrified of ruining my hair. So, wigs.”

“Do we get a fashion show?” Steve asked.

“Maybe later,” she mumbled, yawning widely before resting her head back against Steve’s shoulder and staring, glazed eyes at the tv.

xXx

The following day, Sam found Rori sitting alone against one of the large windows, hugging her knees tightly against her chest as she stared out over the city.

“Hey, you,” he said as he took a seat next to her on the floor. “You ok?”

“Yeah I’m good,” she replied, her voice soft and a little distant, her gaze remaining on the view spread out beneath them.

“Remember when you promised me you wouldn’t lie about how you were feeling,” Sam reminded her.

She sighed, her shoulders sagging and her head leaning forward to rest against the cold glass. “I had a panic attack last week,” she mumbled.

“When you got home to London?” he asked.

She shook her head. “On the last day of our honeymoon. This thunderstorm came rolling in out of nowhere the day before we flew home, and I just freaked out and ruined everything. I thought I was getting better.”

“You are getting better,” Sam argued. “This is the first panic attack you’ve had in months. That’s a huge improvement.”

“But I thought they were gone,” Rori sobbed. “I was just starting to feel normal again but I’m never going to be like I was.”

“No, you’re not,” he agreed. “I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but PTSD isn’t something you just get over. It’s going to be with you for the rest of your life, but that doesn’t have to mean there’s anything wrong with you and I’m sure Harry didn’t think you ruined the trip.”

“Of course he didn’t, he’s Harry,” she said. “He’s always so supportive and just wants to help me through it. It’s not even really about last week,” she admitted. “It’s more about what it says about the rest of the year. The rest of my life. When Harry asked me to join his band, I was terrified that somehow, I would do something to ruin it all, like that somehow my prosthetic would malfunction, and I’d ruin a show. Now I’m wondering what will happen if I have a panic attack at a show? There are so many things that can go wrong, and he’s worked so hard for all of this. I’ll never forgive myself if I do anything to damage that.”

“What happens if Mitch slips over in the rain and breaks his hand and can’t play the guitar? What if Sarah gets the flu and has to sit out a few shows? What if something happens with Adams kids and he has to leave the tour?” Sam asked. “There are so many what ifs and things that can go wrong but did you notice how none of those things had anything to do with anyone’s disabilities? There are things in your life that are going to be more challenging for you than they would have been if you hadn’t been shot. You can’t let that stop you from living. I’m sure Harry and Jeff have all kinds of plans in place for what happens if one of you gets sick and can’t perform, so maybe you should talk to them about your concerns and you can have some plans in place and that will help with the anxiety of it all.”

“You know I really hate when you’re right Sam,” Aurora mumbled, the corners of her lips twitching.

“I know,” he smirked. “But one of these days you’ll learn to accept that I’m never wrong.”

Aurora stuck her tongue out at him before letting out a tired sigh. “I’m just so exhausted. Like, my brain just never stops stressing over these tiny little things and it’s so exhausting to constantly be worrying about everything. I mean Christ, I chipped my nail polish at lunch and it’s all I’ve been able to think about for the last few hours which is ridiculous because who cares if my nail polish is chipped, but I’m going to be on live tv in two days and what if they want a shot of my hands while I’m playing and it’s not like I have time to go get them redone now.”

“Why not just tell the camera operators not to set up that shot?” Sam asked, always the rational voice.

“Yeah,” Rori nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

Having said his piece, Sam stood up after giving her shoulder a quick squeeze and then walked away, leaving her to think about what he’d said. She was still sitting on the floor beside the window deciding how to bring her anxieties to Harry without adding to his already full plate when Nat appeared beside her. “Heard you could do with a manicure,” she said.

She extended her hand, helping Aurora up off the floor and then led her to the elevator and down to her personal floor. Nat didn’t press Aurora to talk as they settled down in her living room and set about removing the chipped polish from the nails of her right hand. Rori was grateful for the silence, not sure that she had the energy to carry a conversation but also glad that she wasn’t alone. Where others in the tower felt that they needed to distract her from her anxiety, it was always Nat that provided what she needed without her ever having to ask. Her thoughts whirled in her head as Nat applied the new pale yellow polish to her nails in slow, methodical strokes, Sam’s advice echoing in Aurora’s ears.  

“You seem stressed,” Nat finally said as she finished the topcoat on the last nail.

“Just nervous about the show on Saturday,” Rori replied softly. “Live TV doesn’t leave any room for error.”

“I’m sure you’ll all do great,” Nat promised with a warm smile. “Now lay back and I’ll do a face mask and help you relax. You’re way too tense for a 22 year old.”

Aurora did as she was told without argument, laying back and closing her eyes as Nat spread the cool clay over her face and then she started massaging her long fingers into Rori’s scalp. Once the mask was finished and Nat had cleaned it away with a warm cloth, she set about rubbing moisturizer onto Rori’s face, soothing the pinched muscles between the younger woman’s brow until she fell asleep under Nat’s hands.  

When Harry arrived back at the tower a little over an hour later he found most of the team in the penthouse, however his wife was conspicuously absent from the group. He asked JARVIS if she was downstairs in either of the studios, his brow furrowing when the AI informed him that she was in Agent Romanoff’s private quarters and he headed for the elevator.

Nat was sitting on the other sofa across from where Rori was sleeping peacefully, a book in hand when JARVIS’ voice filled the room and she was thankful that she had asked the AI to lower its volume when Aurora had fallen asleep.

“Mr. Styles is requesting access to your floor Agent Romanoff,” JARVIS announced in a hushed whisper.

“Tell him to come in,” Nat replied in an equally soft tone.

A few moments later, the elevator doors opened at the end of the hall and Harry strolled into the room, his eyes immediately falling to his sleeping wife. “Hey,” he whispered to Nat. “Everything ok here?”

“She was getting a bit anxious about Saturday, so we had a bit of a spa day to help her calm down,” Nat explained.

Harry nodded and then headed over to the sofa, sitting on its edge next to Aurora’s hip and reached out to trace his hand along her cheekbone. “Rors?” he soothed. “Time to wake up love.” As she began to stir, Nat left the room allowing the couple to have some privacy.

“You’re home,” Rori mumbled, her voice thick with sleep and a soft smile lifting the corners of her lips. “Missed you today.”

“Heard you had a bad day,” Harry said, pulling her up and into a tight hug. “Sorry I wasn’t here.”

“S’ok,” she replied as she pressed her face into the crook of his neck. “Just got in my head a bit and spiralled.”

“Feeling better now?”

“Much,” she promised. “Always feel better when you’re here.”

“Mitch text me about 20 minutes ago that their flight landed so they’ll be here soon. Wanna come upstairs with me? Think Steve’s cooking a massive dinner.”

Aurora nodded her head and laced her fingers through Harry’s as the headed for the elevator doors.

xXx

Aurora tried to hold back her anxiety as she walked through the door with Harry, Jeff and the rest of the band Friday morning. She knew she was doing a poor job of it when Harry squeezed her hand tightly in an attempt to comfort her. She was angry at herself for her nervousness, knowing that she had performed on bigger stages in front of live audiences in the past, but she couldn’t seem to overcome the fear that she would make a mistake that would make Harry look bad. She could always deal with embarrassing herself, but the idea of screwing up everything that Harry had worked for was what truly made her terrified.

The set was a blur of activity and Harry led them down the halls towards the set where their equipment had been set up. Sarah headed straight to her drum kit and the boys picked up their guitars while Rori and Harry walked over to where the keyboards where a grand piano was waiting for her.  

“You look like you’re going to be sick babe,” Harry said. He kept his voice low, whispering in his wife’s ear as she sat down on her bench seat, not wanting draw anyone’s attention to their conversation. “I know you’re going to nail this. Just gotta trust me.”

“I know,” she replied. “God anxiety is such a bitch.” Harry chuckled at her little outburst and then he kissed the top of her head before walking over towards the microphone stand.

They spent the rest of the day running through the two songs they would perform the following evening. They discussed the lighting and camera set ups, making sure that everyone in the band and the crew knew exactly where they would stand and which way the equipment would move during the live broadcast. Occasionally they would take breaks for Harry to go work on the sketches he would be appearing in or they would stop so that Aurora could remove her prosthetic for a while. In the year since she had started wearing the prosthetic hand, Tony and Peter had redesigned the original many times, constantly upgrading and improving it’s coding to make it easier for her to wear for longer periods of time. Despite these upgrades, she still found it hard to wear for too long and after about 4 hours of prolonged use she would start to get horrible tension headaches from the transmitting device she wore behind her left ear. It was for this reason that the majority of their soundchecks were happening on Friday so that Aurora wouldn’t be required to play before the show was ready to go to air. She was always uncomfortable whenever plans had to change in order to accommodate her disability, but Harry had  assured her repeatedly over the course of the week that it was not a big deal and that they wouldn’t have been needed much on Saturday afternoon anyway, so it wasn’t even that much of a change to the schedule.

By the end of the day, Aurora was exhausted. They had taken plenty of breaks throughout the day, but she knew that she had definitely pushed herself, never wanting to be the one to call for a break and know she was paying for it. She had her prosthetic off and stuffed into her bag before they even reached the car that would take them all the few short blocks back to the tower.  She sat in the back seat beside Harry and let her head fall against his shoulder, closing her eyes for the quick 10 minute drive.

“You alright love?” Harry asked quietly as they pulled up in the underground carpark of the tower.

She hummed in response, letting him lead her out of the car and into the waiting elevator. “Just tired,” she promised. “It was a long day.”

“It was,” Harry agreed, his arm wrapped tightly around her waist. “Went great though. Think tomorrow’s going to be amazing.”

Aurora wasn’t the only one who was tired and after such a long day of rehearsals, everyone in the band was happy to return to the tower, the inviting smells of dinner greeting them as they stepped out of the elevator to see the entire team crowded around the dining table, waiting for them. Aurora’s eyes lit up as she saw Peter at the table and immediately rushed over to him, pulling him out of his seat and into a hug, her exhaustion evaporated in the wake of seeing him again for the first time since they’d arrived back in town.

“God, where have you been all week?” she asked.

“Sorry been busy with school and patrols,” Peter replied. “I usually only have time to come over Friday nights and on the weekends.”

“Lucky we’re not leaving till Monday then,” Rori smiled. “Otherwise I wouldn’t get to spend any time with you at all. Now talk to me, how’s it feel to almost be finished with High School?”

Harry watched them with an amused smile as they sat next to each other, talking excitedly about Peter’s upcoming graduation and which colleges he had been accepted to. They barely stopped talking throughout the entire meal, completely oblivious to anyone else at the table. Harry hadn’t spent a great deal of time around Peter, given how much time he had spent on the road with One Direction or off filming Dunkirk while Aurora had still been living in the tower full time, but it didn’t really take a lot of time to understand why Tony, Steve and Rori had all rushed to absorb Peter into their little family. He was such a nice kid, always energetic and excited about anything going on everyone’s lives and he was joy to be around. He had so seamlessly fit into the family dynamic that everyone considered him a Stark in all bar name. Harry had once asked Rori about his place in the team, and she had smiled brightly, explaining how happy she was that while she and Steve had always had their art to bond over, she was relieved that Tony now had someone that could keep up with him in the lab and that he could teach Peter and watch him improve. She’d always wanted a little brother and now she had one in Peter. Tony and Steve had already experienced the emotional minefield of establishing parental roles without stepping on the memory of Rori’s mother, to it had been so easy for them to find a way to fill those same roles with Peter over the last few years without diminishing May’s place in his life or erasing the importance of Peter’s parents. The Avenger’s had always been a messy, happy, found family, and with the addition of Peter and May, and then with Mitch, Adam and Sarah, the family just seemed to keep expanding and Harry could see how much Aurora loved having each and everyone of them crowded into the penthouses dining room.

xXx

Saturday was a blur of activity and rushing around, and before Aurora realised someone was yelling that they were going live in 10 minutes. She was sitting out of the way with Sarah on one side of her and Adam on the other, waiting for their time to perform. Harry was off getting ready for the first sketch and they had a small tv hanging on the wall nearby so that they could watch the show while they waited. The first half of the show went off without a hitch and all four of them simply tried to keep out of everyone’s way until a technician came over to heard them towards the set. They were all situated behind their instruments by the time Harry joined them and he quickly ducked over to Rori for a good luck kiss before taking his place at the mic stand and waiting for the signal to start. One of Aurora’s knees was bouncing beneath the piano and there was a slight tremor in her right hand as she closed her eyes and took a few deep breathes on the darkened set. She tuned out the camera’s and the studio audience, her attention narrowing down to her instrument and Harry a few steps in front of her as she began the opening chords of the song. For a few brief seconds her piano was the only sound as the lights began to lift, and Harry’s voice rang out through the studio. As they hit the pre-chorus Rori and Sarah added their voices to the mix and then all of the other instruments joined as they entered the chorus. All of Aurora’s nerves disappeared as Harry belted out the lyrics of the chorus, and in the brief moment right before the second verse he turned, catching her eye and winking before returning to the microphone. In the final lines of the song, right in the middle of the most difficult notes, Aurora heard Harry’s voice falter and he missed a line. She tried to hide a grimace, knowing that he would be kicking himself for slipping at the end of the song. The moment the camera’s cut away she was at his side, arms wrapped tightly around his waist and he pecked her lips quickly. She attempted to comfort him before he was quickly whisked away to change into the costume for the next sketch.

By the time they returned to their little set for their second song Harry appeared to have shaken off the slip up and everyone, including Aurora, was buzzing with adrenaline and ready to go with their second performance. This time the grand piano was gone, and Aurora’s keyboard was positioned behind Harry’s spot at the centre of the stage. With all the sketches out of the way, Aurora watched happily as Harry allowed himself to enjoy the performance. As they finished the song and the audience cheered, Harry quickly pulled his guitar strap over his head and walked over to where Rori was seated behind the keys. He cupped her cheeks in his hands and kissed her softly. “That one was for you my love,” he whispered as their lips separated.

“So proud of you,” she whispered in reply. “You absolutely killed it tonight.”

NEXT CHAPTER

OR CONTINUE READING ON AO3

[soldierswar]

It’s Been A Long, Long Time

40s!Bucky X OC

Bucky X Reader

Fluff/Angst

Plot: Bucky Barnes falls in love with the most amazing girl he had ever met in the 1940s shortly before being deployed to war. Now, in the 21st century, he knows that he will never see her again, and isn’t sure if he will ever love, or could love ever again. But one day, he runs into you...Her complete doppelganger. 

NOTE: Can we pretend that the song ‘It’s Been A Long, Long Time’ came out earlier in the 40s than in 1945? Okay, thanks.

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Bucky

           I got the news. The inevitable.

I was to be deployed in a week.

           It wasn't a shock in any way, shape, or form to me. I knew that it was a matter of time before we had orders sent to us. It was what I signed up for.

           But to Zelda? It hit her like a tidal wave.

           When I told her, she was speechless. The only thing that she could do was sob in my arms.

I did the best I could to comfort her; to look into her hazel eyes and brush the tears away from her rosy cheeks, and tell her that everything was going to be okay. But there was nothing I could do to convince her.

           “Please don’t go,” she sobbed as she wrapped her arms around my torso tighter and tighter. She held on as though the sheer force of her grip could take it all away. To outweigh orders. To end the war.

And for a moment...I hoped that it could.

           “I’m sorry, love,” I whispered on the top of her head.

Oh God, how I would miss her. How I'd miss the sweet smell of her perfume; or how her dark chocolate-brown hair bounced when she shook her head. And I would especially miss the way her beautiful face would illuminate when she smiled. That smile alone could launch a thousand ships.  

           And despite the desperate tears and sadness written all over her face, she was still the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.

           It may have been a month since I met her at the front of a Brooklyn café, but I was sure that I loved her. Part of me thought, or rather…hoped that she felt the same. Maybe it didn’t matter at this point.

           But I hoped that it did.

           “What am I going to do without you?” she asked pulling away to attempt to compose herself.

           “We can still write,” I suggested, hoping that she wouldn't suddenly get angry with me for having to leave her. And I wanted to reassure her that I still wanted her in my life.

           “You promise?” she sniffled, wiping her face.

           How could she ask me that question?

Did she not know about the absolute torture I would be feeling to not see that smile every day? To hear that laugh? Or the sound of her sweet, and kind voice?

           “So we have a week, right?” She asked putting herself together. The slight tremble in her voice indicated that she was suppressing the need to cry with all of her might.  

           “We do.”

...

We spent our last few days…the last few moments that we could possibly have together running around Brooklyn. She took me to her favorite parks; I took her to my favorite restaurants, and she showed me her favorite bookstore. When we arrived, she grabbed a whole stack and bought all of them

before I even had a chance to see what she was doing as I browsed.

At the end of that particular day, she walked into my apartment and set the books on my bed telling me that they were actually for me.

They were books that she held so dearly to her heart, and she wanted me to have my very own copies so that I would think of her as I read every page, sentence, and word.

           “Now you’ll know what to talk about when you write to me,” she stated.

I held that stack of books and told her that I couldn't wait to finish the whole stack. I would never forget the excitement that her smile held.

It was as though me reading those books while I was away was the equivalent to me taking a piece of her heart along with me. And in the best way possible, I was sure that I was.  

           On our last evening together she invited me to her place. It was a small, but beautiful space.  

The walls were plain white, but to our right, there was an intricately decorated with a wall designated for artwork. Another wall was for her large bookshelf filled with a vast collection of books, and the other wall that wasn’t designated for her bed was where a record player stood next to an open chest filled with records. She always spoke about how much she loved music. When she decided to move into her place, her father passed on his collection to her.

           She walked over to the record player and set the needle down to start the music. She then pulled me close to her so that we could dance.

           “You have to dance with me to at least this song,” she ordered softly.

           I unreservedly obliged.

           We swayed, and held each other close listening to the lyrics that resonated so deeply between us.

           ‘Kiss me once, and kiss me twice, and kiss me once again; it’s been a long, long time.’

           It was a beautiful song. One that I would play over and over again in my head thinking about this particular moment on our last evening together.

           We spent more time talking with the music in the background and then would sporadically get back up to dance once again. Before we knew it, it was already one o’clock in the morning.

"Zelda, doll," I said with her head resting upon my chest.

           “I think it’s time for me to go.”

She pulled away, and her face dropped faster than I had ever seen before. She carried pure fear in her eyes, and tears began to form rapidly.  

           “No,” she croaked.  

           “I know, love.”

She paused as though she were pondering something.

"Will you stay with me tonight?"

Her eyes expressed her plea more than her voice did.

           “Zelda, I don’t know—”

"No, I don't mean...I didn't mean," she stuttered.

"I mean, I want to just...Not until you come back to me."  

It wasn't.

I looked down into her big, teary eyes wondering how it was possible to say no.

I pulled her closer to me and kissed her tenderly.

           “Okay,” I whispered against her soft, pink lips.

We went under the covers and wrapped our arms around each other. We were nothing but content laying silently under the blankets in a cocoon of body heat.

We were content with the calming sound of our symbiotic breaths. Content with the occasional soft kisses exchanged. Content with the new, but certain exchanges of the words ‘I love you’.

There was no denying what we felt about each other.

           Before she faded away into a deep sleep, I whispered once again,

"Zelda. I love you."  

           And before she fell asleep she drowsily replied,

           “I know.”

           I would never forget that day.

You (Modern time).

You walked out of your favorite bookstore with a bag full of new books.

           You really did feel some mild form of shame about the fact that you spent so much money that you didn’t really have on books. Especially on books that you had already read a million times, and could easily just get from the library for free.

But you could never deny that something was gratifying about owning it yourself.

You loved books; and when you meticulously set them on your bookshelf, they stood proudly like golden trophies. That, and you just loved that extra kick of dopamine your brain released whenever you added to your collection. You were basically a shopaholic for books…And music…And movies. Mostly books and movies.

           As you walked down the streets of Brooklyn, you accidentally ran face-first into someone. Something that you guessed was pretty inevitable considering the fact that you were too busy looking down at your phone trying to find the next song to play on Spotify. (Oops).

He was tall, and since his torso was hard as a rock, you could tell that he was very muscular before even cautiously looking up at him.  

You weren't sure what kind of reaction you were expecting. Maybe a, "Watch where you're going, bitch." Or a, "Fuck off." But what you weren't expecting was this down at you in an odd manner. Looking was actually a bit of an understatement. He was glaring.

"I'm sorry, I—" You attempted not to stutter, or look too intimidated.

This guy looked really tough. He was tall and had broad shoulders, had a light beard going on, and his hair was long enough to cover his ears. But he had these piercing blue eyes. Kind eyes.

Frankly, if it weren't for those eyes, you would be afraid that if you angered him enough, he would probably beat you up with a thumb.

But he wasn't angry. (Thank God.) He just seemed…Shocked? Like he was looking at a ghost.

You decided to reason that this guy was probably just hard to read, and he just thought you were some clumsy asshole.

           “Zelda?” He asked. (Definitely recognition. But in a crazy person way.)

           ‘Who the hell is Zelda?’ you thought to yourself.

           And why did he think that Zelda was your name?

           "I…Who?" You stuttered, still not knowing that to think about this him.

           “I’m sorry, I just…You look a lot like,”

           “Zelda?” You interrupted, raising an eyebrow.

           “I mean, I have no idea who she is, but she’s definitely not me.”

           You tried your best not to sound like a bitch. You tended to come off that way to new ones.

            "You must have me mistaken for someone else, my name's Y/N," you said, outstretching your hand to shake his.

He looked not quite convinced that you were telling the truth. (Like at all.)

           You were starting to wonder if you had a twin that you were separated from at birth. Now your main concern was to have a stern talking-to with your parents.

           Despite the impromptu interaction, you didn’t feel weird about it. Well, you felt weird about it, but not about him anymore. In fact, you felt oddly calm around this weirdo.  

Maybe it was because he wasn’t looking at you like a creep, or like some fuckboy using that line as an excuse to get you into bed within the next two hours. His eyes expressed

shock, and awe all at the same time.

           Honestly, you kind of felt bad that you weren’t Zelda. Zelda was a pretty cool, old, and elegant name if you could say so yourself. It made you think about Zelda Fitzgerald, the oh so troubled wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

"I'm sorry that I'm not her," you said sincerely still staring into those striking eyes that belonged to a man that looked nothing but broken.

                       “No, I mean it’s nowhere near your fault,” he replied.

           “I’m sorry to bother you, uh, Y/N you said it was?”

You nodded.

           “Yeah.”

           “Well, I’ll let you get on with your day,” he said quickly.

When you both made your way in opposite directions, you realized that you didn't even get his name?  

Did it matter? Why did you suddenly want to know?

Wow, Y/N nice going.

When you turned around, he was already gone.  

You guessed that you would probably never know.  

…

           Okay, you had to know.

You could not stop thinking about him for whatever reason. Why could you not stop thinking about him?  

           You decided eventually to get proactive about it.

But you realized that it would be a little trickier than you would have liked it to be. It wasn't as though you crossed paths with him on some internet dating website and you could just look him up by name, or photo.  

You rationalized that if he was around that area that one time, maybe you’d cross paths with him again if you just lingered around there at approximately the same time. He hardly seemed lost, so maybe he was familiar with the area. Well…From what you could gather. (You were too busy looking at your phone to truly notice those types of details.) Fortunately, your plan worked in your favor because you were off work by that time.

           So, you spent a few afternoons hanging out in that one little area of Brooklyn. It wasn’t as though you hadn’t spent a lot of time there. You loved it. It hardly felt as though you changed anything with your routine. But because you were on the hunt, you just had to keep your eyes peeled for that someone.  

           There was a café down the street, a bookstore, a record store, and a beautiful live-show theatre. You spent countless hours and days in that little oasis not too far from your loft apartment.

           On the third day, you finally spotted him. He sat alone in the outdoor dining area of that little café reading a book.

You walked up to the short gate that separated the café from the sidewalk right next to where he was.  

           “Well, well, well if it isn’t—”

You paused. You forgot that you didn't even get his name.  

           He jolted and turned to you. That same heart-melting look in his eyes came back the second he looked at you; accompanied with a warm smile. If you didn’t know better, you could have sworn that he might have been happy to see you.

           “You like this place?” you asked.

           “It’s been one of my favorites for a long time,” he replied warmly.

He then nonchalantly invited you to sit on the chair across from him. So, you stepped over the gate and sat yourself down.

           He set his book down on the table.

           'The Sound and the Fury'.

           “That’s a good one,” you pointed out.

"I bought it yesterday. I'm almost halfway through it. A friend of mine suggested it."

           You saw the way his face changed with that fondness in his eyes.

           “Zelda?” you inquired.  

You really wanted to smack yourself on the forehead for just blurting her name out like that. Who were you to presume the intimate parts of his life?

           But he stayed calm. Not only that, but his lips started to curl into a little smile.

           “So, who is this girl?” you asked.

You were pretty sure that you had legitimately proven yourself to be an idiot.  

           He raised an eyebrow.

"I mean if she looks so much like me to the point where you almost didn't believe I wasn't her, the least I could do is…Well…I don't know."  

           He looked somewhat amused. And you were pretty sure that he was just about as confused about your ramblings as you were.

           “I’m sorry,” you apologized no longer wanting to smack yourself but to hide your face in your hands.

"I'm overstepping. I'm totally overstepping, aren't I? I mean, you can just tell me to fuck off any time now."  

           He chuckled and shook his head.  

           Gosh, why did he have such an amazing smile?

           “No, it’s fine,” he replied.

You hoped that he meant it and wasn’t just trying to be nice. But, you had to admit that there was something genuine in the way he looked at you.  

You ended up sitting at that table talking for at the very least two hours.

You were surprised at how comfortable you were with him considering the fact that you were strangers. But he just made it so easy. You already felt as though you could call each other friends.

Even so, he wasn’t exactly what one called an open book. You could tell that there a lot that he was holding back. Granted, he had only met you not that long ago. Who were you to think that he was going to spill all of his deepest, darkest secrets in one afternoon?

He got around to asking you about your interests; what you liked to do when you wandered about the city, what kind of books you enjoyed reading, movies you loved watching, or any type of music you liked. And he listened as though he were soaking up every single word.

When you asked him about what he liked, you learned that a lot of his artistic tastes were very vintage. Honestly, you didn't expect that from the muscular, leather jacket wielding guy that wore one leather glove. But who were you to judge a book by its cover?

He seemed like a bit of a lonely guy. Like a guy who didn't normally seek company. Yet, he didn’t seem to mind spending time with you; a complete stranger. In fact, you were almost certain that he enjoyed your company just as much as you enjoyed his.

“So…” you asked nervously.  

“Zelda.”

“Zelda,” he repeated.

He no longer seemed too reserved to talk about her. He seemed to want to talk about her.

“She was a lot like you,” he replied.

"Well apparently I look like her," you pointed out.

“I mean, sure. You look exactly like her. You’re this eerie spitting image of her. But it’s not just your looks,” he stated.  

“You talk like her. Your smiles are identical, and she carried the same enthusiasm about things that she was excited about when talking about the same interests that had had just spoken about.”

Something you learned early into the two hours that you had spent together. The more he opened up, the more you were curious you were. The more answers you got, the more questions it would leave you with.

“You miss her, don’t you?”

He nodded and smiled, but his eyes carried all of the pain and sadness that he felt thinking about her.  

“She was a very special person.”

You both paused, taking in his statement.

“Once again, disclaimer,” you said, breaking the silence.

“You can at any time tell me to fuck off if you get annoyed with me and my ramblings, but I have to ask."  

He laughed, and then cleared his throat.

“You seem like you still really love this girl, right?”

He stared at you, waiting for you to finish your point.

"Well, if you feel so strongly about her, have you considered trying to find her? Maybe reconnecting?"

He shook his head.

“I did actually,” he replied and proceeded to take a long sip out of his third cup of coffee.

“The thing is, we weren’t separated because we wanted to. It couldn’t be any more opposite than that. There were just…There were just complicated circumstances that came up where we had to be apart for a while. Because of it, we eventually lost touch.”

He paused, and you didn’t push for much more.

You could see the torment in his eyes growing and taking over. You wondered if just sitting in front of him made it worse.

"I looked for her."

His eyes were then concentrated on the table as he continued his story.

“I even found her. She um…she got married. Had a couple of kids, lived a good life it seemed.”

He seemed as though he were genuinely happy for her. Happy with a simultaneous feeling of melancholy.

"But unfortunately, she died a couple of years ago."

You suddenly regretted ever bringing her up. How could you? How could you make him have to relive something like that? You were such an idiot.

“It’s okay,” he told you, placing his hand atop yours.

“Wow,” you sniffled.

“Here you are comforting me. How pathetic.”

“No need to feel sorry,” he told you while brushing his thumb against your hand.

The feeling of his warm hand on yours gave you a sense of calm that you had never felt before from a simple touch. And it was from someone that you had only gotten to know for a few hours.

"You know, Zelda and I met here." He pointed to the corner to your left.

“Right there.”

You smiled as though the memory were your own. You wondered what they talked about. If he approached her, or if it was vice versa the same way that you did.

Was it love at first sight? Or was it something that grew and flourished through time before everything turned to crap?

"Sir, Ma'am?" said the waitress.

You jumped, not even realizing that she was there.

“Sorry to break this up, but we’re actually about to close.”

She was so sweet and seemed genuinely apologetic.

“Oh my gosh,” I gasped looking down at my watch.

“I had no idea.”

Bucky left cash on the table for her, which was certainly more than the coffee would cost. And he told her to keep the rest.

When you both got up, you made your way to the doorway.

“Y/N?” he asked.

Your heart skipped a beat. What was he going to ask? What was he going to say?

“I-um…” he stuttered.

“Can I see you again?”

Okay, your heart skipping a beat morphed into full-on butterflies.

You let out a nervous exhale and gave him a big smile.

“I’d love to.”

Epilogue

           One year you had been together. One year. And you could honestly say that through the ups, and downs it had to be the best year of your life.

As you grew closer, and as time went on, you both learned a lot about each other. He may have opened up little by little, but eventually, you got to know all of him.

Stories that he had told you when you were in the early stages of your relationship unfolded into scrolls upon scrolls of information to unpack behind one little story he told you. For example; Zelda was dead because their relationship was in the 1940s, and they were separated because he went to war.  

It took a while to get to that point though. For him, it was the scariest thing in the world for him to tell you about his dark past. He thought that as soon as he unfolded the truth before you, you would run away in terror. But by that point, you had seen his heart. You knew who he was, and the person that you met was all that you cared about.

A lot of insecurity wasn't all about him and his past. You had had your fears about the relationship as well.

There were moments where you went into a panic because of his past with his previous love. You feared that he was in love with you because he was still in love with her. The only thing that brought you two together was because for whatever reason in ways you would never understand, you were the spitting image of her. You were quite literally her doppelgänger. (You even did a DNA test to see if she was anywhere in your genealogical history. The answer? Niet.)  

But eventually, Bucky made it clear that that was only the thing that initially brought you two together.  

"That day at the café," he once said while holding you after you fell into a complete frenzy.  

           “That day I began falling in love with you. No one else.”

           No one else.

He never even spoke about her anymore. And he showed all of the love in the world that any human could show another to you.  Your love for one-another was undeniably solid, no matter what.  

           “Y/N?” Bucky asked as he held you in his arms under the warm sheets.

           You pulled yourself up higher to bring your face closer to his exposing your bare chest.

(Not that he was complaining.)  

           “You know I love you, right?”

You nodded and planted a soft kiss along his jawline. Something you knew sent shivers down his spine.  

He brought his cool, metal hand to your chin and raising it slightly so that you were staring deep into his beautiful eyes.  

           “Marry me,” he whispered.

           Before you could even fully process the words that came out of his mouth, you responded with an immediate,

           “Yes.”

           …

           That night, you spent the eve together in that one small part of Brooklyn where you had first met. It was summer once again.

           As you walked around, you could hear music in the distance.

           “Let’s check it out,” you urged.

Because his hand was tightly attached to yours, he had no real choice but to follow.

           As you approached the area, you saw many couples holding each other closely, swaying to an old song on the cobblestone. A song that was most definitely from his era.

You brought him over to where the like illuminated over all of the couples and wrapped your arms around his neck. He followed by setting his hands on your waist and began to softly sway you side to side.  

All you heard in the background was the music in the background like white noise as he stared at you like that first time. In awe.

" Kiss me once, and kiss me twice, and kiss me once again," you sang along in whispers.

And he did.

           He kissed you once. Kissed you twice, and kissed you once again for a long, long time.

[queenbirbs]

the way home | Ch. 2 | Edward x MC

Pairing: Edward Mortemer x MC

Word count: 1,977

Summary: In which traveling to the past is only half the battle; or: Elena finds her way back.

Warnings: language, some violence 

Read from the beginning or continue on Read on AO3

Tag list: @writinghereandthere

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Throngs of people breeze through the streets of the port town, unfazed by the stacks of boards and pallets of bricks that block sections of the main route. 

The hurricane’s damage is much more obvious this close: swatches of roofs torn away, replaced with makeshift sheets of tin, the steeple of a nearby church gone, with only splinters remaining. Elena recalls the story about how she saved her home from a hurricane and hopes that she hasn’t arrived too late. Having wasted time doubling back to her buried bag and stowing away the clothes she arrived in, she hurries through the packed streets as best she can. The new boots pinch at her feet with every step. It would be nice, she bemuses, if she could keep her clothes with her when she travels back in time. 

“Would’ve saved me a fortune,” she mutters, navigating around two men haggling on the price of a goat. 

Complaints aside, she loves the feel of the silk vest against her skin, of the fresh leather across her hip where her new sword gleams in its holster. She even bought a cavalier hat, excusing its purchase with the protection from the sun it offered. 

It’s nice to be back, to resume her role as Elena McTavish, infamous pirate. The years of holing up in her sister’s apartment or Robert’s hotel rooms, scouring documents and scrolling through endless message boards for time-traveling artifacts was no life to call her own. The occasional trip to Calgary or Edinburgh or New Orleans to hunt down a lead was the closest she ever came to a real adventure back home.  

Up ahead, she spots the tavern and winds her way through the crowd to reach it. The inside is as dimly lit as any other pub she’s been to, no matter the century. Ignoring the jeer of a drunken man near the door, she makes her way to the table Robert has commandeered near the back. His new attire fits him well, colored dark as to blend in with the shadows -- just as he likes. He slides a mug to her before launching into his update. 

“I found us a ship. Decent crew. They need four extra hands.”

Elena sips at the ale and raises her brow. “Did you tell them that the two of us are just as good as four men?” 

“Aye, that I did.” A smirk flashes behind his mug. “They agreed to take us aboard. I told ‘em that we’re interested in finding an associate who’s likely to be farther north. As it so happens, that’s where they’re headed for a trade route.”

“Did they know anything about--”

“You know as well as I do that Edward has made enemies -- none as big as the Admiral, but enemies nonetheless. I thought it wise to keep mum about who exactly we’re looking for, especially when they’re our ride out of here.”

Elena frowns, though she dips her head in acknowledgement to his point. “I asked the ladies in the shop, but they didn’t recognize his name. This port gets its fair share of traffic.”

“Aye, we’ll have better luck with the smaller islands.” After a subtle glance at the other patrons, Robert leans over the table and drops his voice to a mumble. “I managed to find a few of my old contacts. Both of them said the same thing: that he’s offering a bounty of sorts for information on you.”

She takes a slow sip of her drink and attempts to act nonplussed. “When did they hear about this bounty? Recently, or…?” 

“Within the last three months. So, that tells us that he’s in the area.”

“Yeah,” she sighs, unable to hide the daunting weight to her words, “the area of one million square miles.” 

“Oi.” He nudges her arm, bringing her sour gaze up from her mug and back to him. “The hardest part is over. We made it back -- and this time, hopefully, for good. Don’t beat yerself up. I told you that I’d stick with you until we find him, and I will.” 

Elena settles in her chair, holding back the relieved sigh that’s building in her chest. She doesn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing how much that means to her. 

On their first return, he’d all but left her in the dust when the wormhole they used spit them out in a church in Salvador, down on Brazil’s coast. When their time ran out and they were both sucked back to the future a few weeks later, the leopard had changed its spots, so to speak, and Robert admitted his own faults with trying to go at it alone. 

“How do you manage to slip back into the accent so well?” she asks, unsubtly changing the topic at hand. 

“Helps if you learned to do so in the first place. When you first showed up, you hardly attempted to assimilate. Didn’t help you any when you waved yer mobile about.”

“Says the man who stuffed gunpowder into little tubes and tried to pass it off as an original idea? And it’s not my fault that I ended up being put on trial! Edward was the one who broke the Code by letting me come aboard.”

Robert shrugs off her point, hiding his grin behind the glass. 

“We would’ve shot you first, if that’s any consolation.” 

“Honestly, as someone who swam half a mile in a dress, it is.” 

 ------

Adjusting the sails alongside Rhodes, the ship’s boatswain, Elena looks out across the deck of the Little Death and to the green spot on the horizon. 

The ragtag crew welcomed them with somewhat open arms, more desperate than anything else to have help running their sloop. It didn’t hurt, of course, that Elena and Robert knew their way around boarding and pillaging merchant ships. On their journey from Santo Domingo’s port, they manage to pin down two ships along Hispaniola's southern shore, and then another as they pass by Tortuga, long abandoned by the buccaneers that ran it during the mid-seventeenth century. After stopping briefly in the West Indies to gather more crew, they head north into Great Britain’s territory. The islands here are smaller, clustered together within twenty to sixty nautical miles of each other.  

“Sail ho!” someone cries from up in the crow’s nest. “Got a brig comin’ ‘round to starboard!” 

Along with everyone else, Elena eagerly searches the expanse of water. The Red Duster flag fades into view soon enough. She frowns at the British merchant vessel, turning the ugly flare of disappointment into fierce determination when she boards it twenty minutes later. 

The merchant crew is really no match, she finds, after tying several of the men together with their own twine. Captain Delaney, a chiseled man without a single ounce of humor in his entire body, gets right to business with giving his crew orders on what to plunder. 

“Montgomery and Lear, supplies!” he shouts. 

Snapping into action, Elena and Robert disappear down the ladder and into the ship’s hull. It had been his idea, of course, to use fake surnames. There was no need for their temporary crew to know their real names, especially with the rumor of a reward for--

“McTavish!” a voice blurts from the darkened corridor. 

Her step falters; she knocks her shoulder against the wall before righting herself.

“Keep moving,” Robert hisses in her ear, brushing past to hide her from immediate line of sight. 

“Shut up!” Rhodes demands over the sickening slap of skin on skin. 

“What if it’s--”

“It’s not,” Robert cuts her off, bending down and shoving a crate of supplies into her lax hold. “If it were, they’d call you by yer given name.” He moves about the room as he speaks, pitching his voice below whoever is outside calling for her. “Don’t look at them. Make them think they’re just confused.” 

Shifting the crate in her grip, Elena nods her head. “Got it.” 

“C’mon.” He dumps a smaller box on top of hers in an effort to hide her face. “If the captain wants more’n this, he can send down another--”

“Elena McTavish!” the voice cries again when they exit the room. “I know it’s you -- it’s me, Doyle! Officer Doyle! Please, you can’t let them kill me!” 

Behind her mountain of supplies, Elena rolls her eyes at his begging. Robert’s nudge at her back urges her to ignore the man. Their path is blocked by other members of the crew waiting their turn to return to the deck, leaving her at the mercy of Doyle’s pitiful wails. “I -- I have a family, now, a wife and a little boy. Please, you have to tell them to let me go!” 

“Oi!” Rhodes knocks him back against the wall with a kick to his ribs. “What did I say?” 

“I’m sorry, please, I’ll -- I just -- Elena, please, I helped you when--”

“For god’s sake, shut up!” she snarls. She turns on her heel to face him, but Robert blocks her with his own bulky crate. “We aren’t going to kill you, you idiot. And my name isn’t McTavish. I’ve never met you before in my life.”

“I don’t understand. Please, Elena, you’re my only hope! You can vouch for--”

“Rhodes?” she calls down the corridor. 

The sharp thunk of skull meeting wood echoes through the small space. Her lungs seize, unable to see the damage for herself as guilt races through her. 

“You’ve a soft heart, Rhodes,” another of their crew says with a smirk. “I woulda done more’n knock him out.” 

Elena clenches her jaw against the grating noise of laughter. Robert joins in, adding his own insult that gets them going once more. Adjusting his load, he reaches down and pats her arm, nodding at the question in her eyes. She welcomes the breath of relief that fills her lungs. 

After they leave the merchant ship behind, Rhodes approaches her out on the deck. He drapes his arm around her shoulder in a casual gesture. Elena decides to ignore the gaze he seemingly has trained on her breasts. 

“I thought your name was Elena Montgomery?”

“It is,” she scoffs. “Moron mistook me for some poor lass, I guess.”

“Hmm. Poor lass indeed,” he agrees. 

Glancing up, his face tightens around a grimace before his smirk springs back. His hand squeezes her shoulder for a beat before he moves off with a wink.

“God, could he be any more obvious?” she asks without bothering to look up from her task.

Robert grunts in agreement, chuckling under his breath.

“Aye, he’s probably considering what he could buy himself with that many pieces of eight.” 

“How many, exactly?” Elena questions, curious. 

“Six-hundred, according to my contacts.” 

Her jaw drops a fraction before she snaps her mouth closed. “The same payout as losing an arm, depending on a ship’s Code. Which is, I imagine, what Edward’ll do if Rhodes here threatens you to get that coin.”

“That’s…” she trails off, still trying to move past the sum. 

“Not his best play, I’ll give you that.” He tips his head to the side in consideration. “But it keeps mouths moving, keeps people looking.” 

Finishing off her last knot, Elena shifts to lean against the railing. She could corner Rhodes when night comes and threaten to slice his balls off if he tells anyone else -- but then that would be all the convincing he would need. Keeping her head down is probably the best way to go about it, but that runs the risk of him feeling brave enough to pull a stunt on her down the line. 

“Dead men tell no tales,” she recites in a sing-songy tone. 

Robert steps up to join her at the railing and crosses his arms, glaring out over the deck at the man in question. 

“Leave him to me.”

[incorrectly-quoted-queers]

Ooo Ooo Ooo!!! Shakarian dancing in the rain and saying their first I love yous!!!!!!

I like this lots, especially since my Anya Shepard Femshep is an ex-ballerina. I am so hyped, thank you for the prompt! It’s sooooo cute

It kinda got out of control but oh well!!!

....

The last time she had been on Anhur, it wasn’t a great memory. Her new unit had been sent there to keep an eye on the racial unrest between the Batarians and humans on the planet. She spent half of it stressed and lonely, the other half still mourning the unburied squad on Akuze. 

But fuck, was the planet beautiful. Late night walks across the city gardens, staring up at the stars, were the thing that kept her floating. And the first time she felt an Anhur rain on her skin, Anya found a secluded park bench and cried for the first time since her friends died. 

Then she got transferred to Captain Anderson’s ship and she became the Commander everyone needed her to be. 

While it wasn’t a paradise, Anhur was dear to her heart. And today was supposed to be special, too.

Of course, though, the rain wasn’t exactly agreeing. 

Tucked under a large tree, Anya was cuddled up close to a carapace she knew very well, his arm resting lazily behind her back, her arms crossed over her knees. As the water poured from the skies, masking them under the boughs, it was so heavy and thick, Anya Shepard sighed. 

There went her wholesome date idea. Leaning into Garrus’ shoulder, Anya said, “Sorry that the date’s ruined.” She snorted and threw her arms out, gesturing at the wet landscape around them. If she didn’t laugh, she might’ve been frustrated enough to cry, so that was definitely off the table. “Typical that I try to show off my favorite planet and instead it starts raining.” 

“When has a mission ever gone quite right?” Garrus met her eyes, those bright blue irises of his one of her favorite views in the galaxy. He was doing his smirk thing, where he was being snarky and sarcastic to try to cheer her up. Anya hated it, but it worked every time. He shrugged and chuckled, adding, “Granted, this is a date, not a shoot-off with mercs, but hey...” The Turian cocked his head sideways, looked around like trying to find some silver lining. “At least it’s pretty, underneath all the....wetness.”

Again, Anya found herself snorting out a laugh before bumping his shoulder with hers. “Thanks for pretending this is still a good date.”

Behind her back, his talons grabbed her waist and squeezed. “Every date with you is a good one.”

“Has a single one not ended in disaster?” Rolling her eyes, she did add, “I mean, it’s not mercs this time, but still.” 

Garrus didn’t seem to have an answer for that. He didn’t have to. They were meant to have a romantic little nature walk and to head to her favorite spot and dance in the moonlight. It was embarrassing and cheesy, but finding new places to dance was sort of their... thing now. And she couldn’t even override the bittersweet aftertaste of Anhur without everything going sideways. 

There was something beautiful about this place, that it was somewhere where she fell apart and got her first glimmers of hope back in her life. But Anya brought Garrus here because she wanted to like it even more. 

Instead, they were idiots, hiding under a tree. Frowning into her palm, Anya exhaled before rubbing her neck and asking the obvious, “What are we supposed to do now?”

After a thoughtful, still moment, Garrus stood up and said, “What we came here to do.”

“Garrus, I don’t think this starlight waltz on Anhur is going to work when it’s pouring.” 

“Says you.” She didn’t know what this idiot was up to. She opened her mouth to ask him what the hell he was doing, but he was faster than her. 

And with a swift, gentle grab of her hand, he pulled her up off the ground and into the rain. 

When the lukewarm rain hit her face, Anya squeaked in surprise. “Oh my god!” On instinct, when he launched her up here, her hands grabbed onto his shoulders. But not his talons were on the small of her back, holding her close. Anya couldn’t help but sputter, “You’re insane.” Then, she caressed his cheek with his hand and was the practical one here. Because no matter how cute whimsical rain-dancing was, she knew Turian physiology by now. “You’re going to get a cold.”

“You’re worth it.” He pressed his forehead to hers, a soft, easy gesture that they’d picked up from Turian customs and made their own. For Turians, it was a sign of trust, letting people that close. But for them? It was a promise. 

Garrus pulled her free hand to his own and, using his stupid, handsome smirk to his advantage, said, “Now get to the dancing part, ballerina.”

Even though every bone in her wanted to stay the responsible one, it was in her nature when it came to her team, she couldn’t resist that damned smile of his. Anya took the lead and started twirling them around the soaked courtyard, side-stepping left and right and giggling as her bigger steps made waves of water ripple at their feet. 

Years ago, when they started this dance of theirs, Garrus somehow had three left feet instead of two. Her toes were always getting stepped on and he was so self-conscious. But here, dancing in the rain?

He was no professional, but he was taking her breath away and sweeping her off her feet. But maybe it was because she was laughing so hard she could barely breathe. 

After more dancing than she’d done in years, and the edges of her dress were making miniature rainstorms with each twirl, they collapsed back under the tree.

And if almost on cue, Garrus sniffled. 

With a sigh, Anya wiped his already dripping nose with her sleeve (fuck that jacket anyway) and said, “I told you that you’d get sick.”

Normally, Garrus took sniffling very seriously. Turians weren’t good patients, and even more so hated colds. The one time he caught the flu, Chakwas had to practically restrain him and every three minutes she kept getting texts about him being pissed about isolation, feeling chilly, and how he would kill Grunt for giving it to him. 

It was cute, honestly, especially when she got to torment him about it.

But today, he was still smiling and his talons moved to play with the ends of her hair. Anya’s breath caught in her throat. Garrus shook his head and said, “Did you see you out there, though?” Then his eyes flicked to hers and he looked overwhelmed, in a way she hadn’t seen before. 

Scratch that. She did. The first time he looked at her after thinking she’d been two years. It was like seeing her alive after losing her. “I just want to see you smile like that again. With everything going on...”

Anya scooted closer and nodded. “I know.” She pulled his free talon into her lap and ran her fingers across the creases, the knuckles, until she couldn’t help but twine her hand with his. Though she wasn’t even looking at him, she couldn’t shut up the smile creeping onto her lips. “To think, a Turian was willing to dance in the rain just to make me smile.”

Twirling a large, wet collection of strands around his talon, he said, all smug: “A rare sight indeed. You should feel honored.” 

“Fuck yes I do. You’re shivering.” Anya moved closer, trying to share her body warmth with her stupid, cold, wonderful Turian. But there was more to it, this swelling in her chest she felt before on Anhur, but this time it didn’t hurt. This time, it was a beacon of warmth in the cold autumn rain. 

Before she’d dare to chicken out, because she couldn’t keep fighting this war without telling him, Anya looked up in Garrus’ eyes and admitted, “I love you, you know, Garrus Vakarian.”

His eyes widened a little before he coughed. “I didn’t know. But I like knowing.” She almost started laughing at the thought of him not knowing. Of all things, Anya was pretty sure she’d always been tragically obviously about it. He buried his talon in her hair, though, pulled her face closer to his, and pressed their foreheads together. “I love you, too, Anya Shepard.”

And then they promised the human way, mouths pressed together, too. 

While Anya could spend forever under this tree, basking in the glow of loving someone and being loved, she could feel his chest shiver again under her palm. 

Pulling away, Anya cocked her head towards the city.. “Now let’s get you somewhere warm. If I learned one thing from your bitching on Noveria, it’s that Turians do not like the cold.” Anya stood and pulled Garrus up from the ground. With expressive, waggling eyebrows, she promised, “We can even get you cuddled up in our hotel room with extra blankets and the heater turned up.”

Garrus slung an arm around her shoulder with a contented noise. “Mmm. Now I really love you.”

Raising an eyebrow, Anya peered at him and asked, “Oh? You didn’t really love me before?”

“Can you blame me? Promises of warmth takes romance to a whole new level for a Turian.” 

“Sure it does, big guy.” 

And they walked back to their room, cuddled close, giggling about all their stupid banter, making every little touch and promise that made them smile.

[heartschoicegames]

Heart’s Choice Author Interview: RoAnna Sylver, “Dawnfall”

Find true love and family with a pirate crew at the ends of the universe, where aliens, ghosts, and portals open the space between worlds...and your heart. You are a Navigator, one who creates and guards portals from one dimension to another, wary of the liminal sea between them.

Your universe is made of two worlds: one contains the magic-infused world of Zephyria, and the other, the dystopian space station Eclipse. The worlds are balanced, until one day, an explosive disaster, a deadly energy storm, and an infamous pirate—the Ghost Queen—upend your life and plunge you into a race to save both worlds.

Dawnfall is a 232,000 word interactive romance novel by RoAnna Sylver,  one of the first set of games releasing with the launch of Heart’s Choice. I sat down with the author, RoAnna Sylver, to talk about writing interactive romance. Heart’s Choice games release December 2nd.

Dawnfall has frankly an insanely wonderful setting for a romance game. Tell me about the aliens, the pirates, the ghosts, and the alien-pirate-ghosts.

Hi there! I’m so glad you think this sounds fun! Yeah, Dawnfall is weird as heck, and that’s one of the things I love about this story. It’s weird in a way I don’t think we’ve seen much of before. I really just tried to put in everything I find fun or interesting, and that I’ve always wanted to write. Dawnfall started out as a total brain-candy project, and runs on pure Rule of Cool. Pirates? Yes. Magic? Yes. A slice of cyberpunk? Hell yes. Eerie ghosts and faerie-tale influences and memory-sharing potions? Giant bird people? The power of rock n’roll? Yes, yes, yes.

And also everybody’s dateable, and in a couple cases, dating each other. We weave a tangled web, but I think it’s a pretty badass and spectacular web.

You seem to really neatly straddle the genre fence here with a romance and sci-fi/fantasy. What was challenging about cramming all of that into one game?

Thank you so much for saying that. I’ve always adored SFF, and there’s so much in this genre-collection, so many extremes and concepts and contrasting colors, that I couldn’t limit myself to picking just one to play with. This weird game-book is kind of a love letter to fantasy and science fiction and haunted house stories and cyberpunk adventures—I thought a lot about the Disney movie Treasure Planet for its genre-blending beauty, and the Bioware game Mass Effect for its array of fascinating, multidimensional alien cuties to interact with and date… and then turned it up to eleven.

I guess you’d expect the challenge to be in making it all fit together/be “believable,” but I kind of threw that out the window. I don’t expect anyone to find it ‘realistic’ (setting-wise anyway; I tried to make every character ring true of course), and I don’t really care if someone thinks it’s silly, or doesn’t take it seriously. It is silly in a lot of ways. DAWNFALL is a giant ridiculous queer space magic pirate adventure, and the only goal is fun. If you have fun, I’ve done my job, and there should be something fun in here for everyone.

Did you have a favorite NPC you enjoyed writing most?

Honestly I love them all so much in different ways, and I know them so well by now it’s really second nature. Their voices come so easily and they’re all so much fun. The Queen’s swagger is awesome though, and her mental voice/mannerisms probably come through especially clearly. I love Zenith’s vulnerable moments when xie lets xir guard down and lets go of the need to entertain or please. I love Averis’s journey and growth from cute wibbly nerd to a confident swashbuckler (who is also still a cute wibbly nerd). I love how deeply Oz feels, how strongly he loves and remembers and honors memory, and how unafraid he is to show softness and warmth. And I love a certain spoilery ghost-babe and how they’re so full of joy at the beauty of life.

I do want to give special mention to Aeon, though. This is a story about connection, and I wanted to show that sibling bonds are every bit as important and strong as romantic or any other. I also wanted to show a complex, multidimensional antagonist figure who holds heartbreaking secrets along with authority, and is genuinely trying to do what she thinks is the best thing, and wants what’s best for you, the PC, even if you might not always agree. Her balance between being so emotionally guarded and determined and unyielding, while hopefully being extremely easy to read and tell what she wants and fears and loves—spoiler: you; she loves you!—was a challenge I hope I pull off.

…Also I enjoy any time Vyranix gets his pompous feathered ass handed to him. I think we all know a Vyranix, or at least of one, and it’s always fun to take them down, even in fantasy.

Who would you be romancing as a player?

I’m gonna say “everyone,” and here it won’t actually be cheating, because you can romance everyone! At once! In varying degrees/relationship dynamics and attractions. You don’t see a lot of polyamory-friendly games or books or anything really, and this is an incredibly important thing for me. The second I got the idea for Dawnfall I knew it had to let players romance anyone they wanted and show polyamory in a realistic, healthy light. I’m also a-spec (asexual and aromantic), and having not just good representation but being actively included and welcomed and celebrated in fiction is so huge too.

Dawnfall is a romance of course, being part of Heart’s Choice, but one of the single most vital elements for me is making it inclusive for aromantic and asexual players and player-characters. Essentially, I wanted to write a romance that didn’t penalize players for not experiencing the attractions the way we’re otherwise expected or required—and I’m so grateful that my amazing editors and community not only accepted but supported everything I was trying to do here. (It’s so refreshing not to have to fight for inclusion and freedom. It shouldn’t be, but it is.)

And that’s where the concept of “Heart-Stars” and “Same-Feathers” came from. I’ve never seen anything honor queerplatonic relationships like I’m trying to do here, and I want everyone, of every sexuality and attraction, to feel like they have a place here and can experience this adventure without limits. And I wanted to show that it’s a very normal thing, hence this being the same for the human characters as well as alien. (One of the nonbinary characters being human is also no mistake. I love me some wild alien genders, but there are tons of awesome nonbinary humans too!)

…That being said, I think I gave Averis most of my anxiety-issues, and would really just like to curl up with Oz and watch The Great British Bake-Off. That sounds like a perfect night in my books.

What were some of the things you found surprising about the game-writing process?

Coding was definitely the biggest learning curve. I’d never coded anything before in my life, and it’s such a new skillset to learn, entirely different from any kind of writing I’ve ever done. Sometimes it felt rewriting my brain, which did not at all do this intuitively—and also sometimes like I bit off much more than I could chew (first game ever being not only a huge piece of interactive fiction, but a polyamorous romance with aro and ace possibilities, and so many more variables than expected!), but it’s been worth it. Entirely. If my writing makes anyone feel seen and accepted and invited to have fun as they are, it’s worth every bit of struggle.

Also, oddly, interactive fiction is in some ways easier for me than writing a plain old book! Probably because I love AUs so much, and every choice in a game is like writing a tiny AU of the story, so I get to do the same scenes several different ways. My ADHD-brain finds something about this extremely satisfying, most likely because it somehow feels more like multitasking! Several stories in one, and if I like two ideas, I don’t have to pick just one to write!

Honestly though, I think the most surprising part is just being done, and…that I could do this at all. It was so huge, and took so long, and I learned so much, and every day I’m just kind of going “who the hell am I?” about doing all of this. I’m proud of it. I did a cool thing. And trying to get better at saying that.

And, what are you working on now?

I always have about 8 active projects going at once (which shouldn’t come as a surprise after last question!), but my next interactive fiction game is with Tales/Fable Labs! It’s shaping up to be a Dawnfall-sized project, but a little faster-moving and action-y.

It’s called Every Beat Belongs To You, and it’s a romantic thriller that feels like Twin Peaks meets Mr. Robot, with a smattering of Repo: The Genetic Opera. A creepy Pacific Northwest town with a secret (and a rash of ritualized murders), a super-slick medical research company whose flagship product is a 100% perfect synthetic heart, a mysterious new-age group, and a sister who went missing just before discovering how it’s all connected. Also five simultaneously-dateable (including ace and aro ships!) cuties of varying genders! Who will you trust with your heart?

I’m very excited about Everybeat, which should be just as queer, polyam, exciting, and weird as all my stuff! Aside from that, I’m working on Stake Sauce Book 2, its companion f/f vampire series Death Masquerade, and Chameleon Moon Book 3. I’m not always working…sometimes there are videogames, and sleep. But I really hope to have a lot more fun things to share soon!

Oh, and depending on how this weird, fun thing goes, I do have some ideas for prequel Dawnfall stories; maybe games, maybe books, but the ideas are there. The world—worlds, really—is so huge, and I’m not done playing in it yet! I also have some character art drawn, and I want to do a lot more of them. It’s another way to show love.

So thank you so much! I really hope Dawnfall is as fun to everyone to read/play as it was for me to write. I can’t wait to share it with you!

[summahsunlight]

Pathways, a series of drabbles

Title: Friendship

Word Count: 2014

Pairings: Kes/Shara, Luke/Sela (OC)

Characters: Kes, Shara, Luke, Sela (OC), Poe, Kaleb (OC), Evelyn (OC)

AO3/Master List

Poe, Kaleb and Evelyn meet for the first time.

Yavin IV, 8 ABY

Nothing exciting ever happened on Yavin IV.  Which was perfectly fine for his retired military parents, but for little Poe Dameron, it was the most boring place in the galaxy to live.  It was hard when you only had the native wildlife as your friends. Poe was certain that other children his age, on more populated planets, had each other to play with.  He wasn’t stupid; he knew that he probably had more freedom to roam his home planet than most kids and his mother always tried to make it up to him by taking him up in her A-wing.

Poe glanced up at the blue skies, his brown eyes watching as the clouds swept by.   His mother had indulged his love of ships and flying since the moment he could talk.  Someday, he was going to blast off this rock, he was going to go to flight school, he was going to become a pilot—perhaps the greatest pilot the galaxy had ever seen.

It was getting late in the day and he knew if he stayed out in the jungle much longer, well, his parents would start to worry.  They might have let him have free range of the jungle, but that didn’t mean they worried less about him.  Poe looked down the path towards the ranch, and smiling, took off in a run, leaping over unearthed tree roots and grabbing onto low hanging vines.  He laughed with delight as his feet left the ground, as he flew through the air on the vines.    He landed just at the edge of the Damerons’ property and blinking into the bright sunlight realized there was ship parked in the nearby clearing—a ship that he did not recognize.

Visitors were also rare for the Damerons, being on the far reaches of the Outer Rim and it was not time yet for their supply order to be delivered.  Poe’s brow furrowed as he sprinted towards the front porch, curiosity getting the best of him.  His mother had the windows open, letting the warm jungle breeze move through the house. Creeping under one of those windows he could hear voices.  Papa, and Mama, of course, but there was another woman and man, and their voices were not familiar to him.  However, the way his parents were talking to the couple, Poe guessed that they knew Kes and Shara.

There were questions about how the Damerons had been since they both had mustered out of the military, questions about life on Yavin—Papa and Mama answered them, with laughs and happy sighs; they loved the peace here, they loved being with their son.  

And there were more questions, from Papa, on where their friends were going to stay while the Temple was fixed up and their new house was built; a small silence, and then the man asked if Kes and Shara could take them in… but only if his family wouldn’t be a burden to Papa and Mama…

“Of course, you can stay here as long as you like, Luke,” Shara exclaimed.  “And you’d never be a burden!”

“How long do think it will take for the Republic to send those supplies to get that Temple up and running?”Kes asked.

“Hopefully not long,” the man replied in a soft, warm tone. “After all, no one has lived in some of those temples for thousands of years.”

Poe lifted himself onto his tiptoes and peeked into the window.  Seated at the dining table with his parents was the man, Luke, who wore a black tunic and pants, and one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen in his young life.  If angels existed, Poe imagined they would look like her.  She had long copper brown hair, pulled back in a loose bun and in her lap, a baby girl slept, peacefully.  A little boy with sandy brown hair moved about her legs, munching on a fresh koyo fruit, the juice dripping down his chin.

Shara chuckled and used a cloth napkin to wipe his chin clean. Her brown eyes shined brightly watching the small child move around her table. “Poe gets just as messy when eating koyo fruit.  I think you and he are going to become great friends, Kaleb.”

Kaleb simply smiled at his mother and reached for more koyo fruit.  Poe’s tummy grumbled, reminding him that he had not eaten any lunch yet. After breakfast, he’d taken off to the jungle, to get lost in his adventures—to defeat the Empire in his X-wing.  Now that the Empire had been thoroughly defeated by Poe, he was hungry.  He thought about leaving his hiding spot and going inside so he could enjoy koyo fruit with the other little boy, but the woman was asking after him.

“Where is Poe?” the woman inquired, looking around the house.

“Probably half-way up a Massassi tree right now,” Kes said with a warm chuckle.  “Always exploring that boy, with his head in the clouds.”

“He tried taking my A-wing up the other day, on his own,” Shara added, with a shake of her head. “Had it in pre-flight mode and everything, all on his own.”

Luke glanced in his direction and Poe dashed out of sight. He was incredibly proud of himself for getting the A-wing into pre-flight mode all by himself, and he was sure he would have gotten it to launch if his mother had not found him. “Smart boy,” the man said, with a soft laugh.  “Sounds like he’ll make a great pilot one day, Shara.”

Poe beamed with pride from his hiding spot. His mother and father would tell him he could be anything he wanted, but they never acknowledged he’d make a great pilot. Poe surmised his mother never said it because she didn’t want to upset his father; Kes hated the idea of his son joining the military and becoming a fighter pilot.  The former Pathfinder wanted a different life for his son.

Inside the house, Poe heard the scraping of chairs on the floor.  Kes was telling Luke that he’d walk him down to the Temple and they could reminisce about old times while they checked for repairs that needed to be done before his students moved in. Poe jumped from the front porch and hid in the bushes his mother had planted, watching as Kes and Luke left, walking down the path towards one of the old, abandoned Massassi temples, recanting stories of their days fighting in the Rebellion and how they both had hated the cold on Hoth.  He watched them go before he climbed back onto the porch and then slipped in through the front door.

Shara heard him and turned to smile at her son.  “There you are.  Come here, little pilot, there’s some people I want you to meet.”

Poe gazed across the room at the woman.  The baby girl in her lap had woken up and was now eating some koyo fruit as well.  The little boy, Kaleb, was leaning against the woman’s leg, his blue eyes watching the older boy, cautiously.   Poe shifted his gaze to the baby; her cheeks pulled into a warm smile and he couldn’t help but smile in return at her.

“I don’t think we have to worry about the children being friends, Sela,” Shara said, ruffling her son’s hair.  “Looks like Evelyn already likes you, Poe.”

“I think we’re all going to like the much quieter life here on Yavin then on Hosian Prime,” Sela replied. She gave her daughter a kiss on her head and put the little girl down.  “Too much chatter and invasion of privacy in the Capital.  Don’t get me wrong, Shara, I knew what I was signing up for when I agreed to marry Luke—you don’t marry the hero of the Rebellion and start a family with him without the holonet breathing down your neck.  But stars, it was really starting to affect the children.”

Shara frowned, watching as Evelyn wandered over to Poe, her sticky fingers holding out some fruit to him. “We might be living in the far reaches of the galaxy, but we still get the holonet; their obsession with your children, and Leia, disgusts us.”

Sela ran her fingers through Kaleb’s hair.  “It’s why Luke wanted to leave; a quiet place to raise our family but also to rebuild the Jedi.”

Poe tore his eyes away from Evelyn, not caring that her sticky little fingers had latched onto his. He’d only heard stories of the Jedi, from some of the older men down at the colony, and his mother would often tell him tales of Luke Skywalker. Luke.  “Are you Skywalkers?” the boy asked, eyes shifting towards Sela.

“Not just smart, Shara, but insightful,” Sela said with a smile that lit up her whole face. “Yes, we’re Skywalkers. I hope you don’t mind we came to live here.”

“You’re going to live here?” Poe questioned; brow furrowed in curiosity. Why would anyone want to live here? Nothing happened on Yavin IV. It was a boring place.

“Luke needs a place to train new Jedi,” Sela answered him, honestly.  “Do you think you can show Kaleb around? Show him all the fun places to play?”

“Sure. Can he climb trees? Those are the best places to play. You can pretend to be fighting against the Empire up there.”

“He can’t climb trees—yet—but I bet you can teach him.”

Brown eyes met blue ones. Poe had never actually taught anyone, anything.  But if it meant having a friend and not just the woolamanders, well, Poe was going to try to teach Kaleb how to climb trees. He felt a tug on his arm and Evelyn let out a little cry as she stumbled over her small feet.  She fell on her bottom and large tears rolled down her cheeks.

Poe glanced between Shara and Sela, a look of guilt and remorse passing over his young face. He didn’t mean to hurt the little girl; he had completely forgotten that she was even standing with him and holding his hand.  He had just gotten so excited at the thought of having real friends…  “I’m sorry!” he gasped.  “Did I, did I hurt her? I didn’t mean to hurt her!”

Sela picked Evelyn off the floor and wiped her baby’s tears.  “You didn’t hurt her,” she assured the little boy. “She’s just learning how to walk and she’s a little unsteady on her feet.  She scared herself more than actually hurt herself.”  She gently touched Poe’s curls.  “You’re a sweet boy.”

“As sweet as they come,” Shara said, handing him a bowl of koyo fruit.  “Poe, do you think you can take care of Kaleb and Evelyn for a few moments, while I help Sela bring their things into the house?”

“Yes, Mama,” Poe said, munching on his koyo fruit.  He watched as Sela placed Evelyn on the floor.  Immediately she started to cry when Sela left her sight.  

Cautiously the little boy sat down next to the crying baby.  Poe smiled at her, softly.  “It’s okay, your mama will be right back.”  He held out some fruit to Evelyn.  Her big blue eyes looked towards where her mother had gone, and then at her older brother, who was lounging over the chair, just watching.   “Here, Evie,” he said, giving the little girl a nickname that would stick with her well into adulthood. “You can have some of my koyo fruit.”

Evelyn tentatively grabbed the fruit he offered, her cries not as loud or persistent.  She finished her piece and then reached into his bowl for more.  Poe continued to smile at her and talk to her.  By the time his mother and Sela returned, both Evelyn and Kaleb were sitting with Poe on the floor—the bowl completely empty.

Poe turned his smiling face up towards his mother.  “See, Mama, I took care of them. We’re friends now!”

Somehow, Shara knew that they would always be friends, the three of them, and that they would always take care of each other.

[keenerparkerstark]

All I see is green (3/?)

Ship: Harley Keener/Peter Parker

Summary: Peter Parker feels on top of the world! Getting good grades in high school, spending time with Tony Stark (!!!) on his weekends, and at night, he roams the city as the hero known as Spider-Man! Everything changes when a new student shows up at Midtown who seems determined to take it all away from him.

AO3 | FF.net

Peter was glad for the first time in his life that his aunt had such a hectic work schedule, as she wasn’t there to witness him slam the door dramatically on his way in. The vase on the cabinet by the door swayed dangerously and Peter gave it a warning glare, before sinking to the ground, head in his hands. He tried to ignore the insistent buzzing of his phone by sliding it as far away from him as possible without actively throwing it, but the sound still penetrated his oversensitive ears. 

He knew Tony was calling him, and he knew why. But seeing as that was about the only thing he was certain of in this situation, he didn’t feel prepared to face the music and actually answer his phone. He furiously wiped at his eyes, refusing to let more tears fall, as his sadness and disbelieve slowly turned into anger. Tony had apparently not even thought about him when he gave this boy a personal recommendation for Peter’s high school, and didn’t bother telling the boy about him either. He didn’t blame Harley, not really. He understood that his story must be unbelievable: a random, completely uninteresting scholarship student from Queens has somehow turned into Tony Stark’s personal intern? It was as crazy as it sounded, and the only way Peter could think of to justify it was to tell the truth, which… Well, that’s simply not an option in this scenario.

He felt himself shiver as he tried to keep his breathing in check and looked towards the clock near the coat hangers. 4.15 PM. Standing up with a determined huff, he ripped open his backpack, and went into his room, taking out his familiar red-and-blue suit and disposing of the bag somewhere along the way, already hearing his aunt’s disapproving voice in his head at the mess he was making. He closed his bedroom door behind him with a slam and started undressing frantically as he glanced out of the window for his safest and most covert way out.

His name is Peter Parker, and he is a kind, funny boy who Tony hired to be his intern because he had been in need of help at the time. Or so Tony said, at least. Harley tried to stop the wobbling of his chin as he stared at the floor of the car. Next to him, he could see Tony in the driver’s seat, his hands folded, almost as if in prayer, around his cell phone, which was pressed against his forehead, his head bent forward.

“I’m really sorry…”

Tony’s head shot up at Harley’s whispered confession, but the latter couldn’t bring himself to face him. The guilt seemed dead set on devouring him from the inside out, his stomach aching and his heart throbbing. I didn’t know, I didn’t know, I didn’t know…

“No, kid, don’t be, I’m…” Tony’s voice trailed off as he sighed. “You didn’t know.”

“I know,” Harley choked out, as everything that had happened today, all the anxiety about a new school, his worries about his mother and sister, his high hopes of finally being liked at a school with kids just as nerdy as he was, his budding friendship with a bully, his anger about Peter’s lies… it all came out at once and took form in shuddering sobs. “I didn’t know, but that doesn’t excuse- It doesn’t- I…” Suddenly, strong arms pulled him in tightly and his tear-stained face was pressed against a warm chest. He smelled expensive cologne, coffee and motor oil and hiccupped as he pressed in closer.

“This is on me, Harles,” Tony whispered in his ear, as his large hand stroked comfortingly over the teen’s hitching back. “I should have told you about Peter, but more importantly…” He took his hands off Harley’s back and placed them on his shoulder, softly pushing the reluctant boy away from him to look him in his eyes.

“I should have realised that you were hurting. I have taken responsibility for you. I have promised your mother that I would take care of you and I honestly couldn’t have been blessed with a better, cooler and smarter kid, Harley.” This made the corners of Harley’s mouth lift up slightly and Tony rewarded him with a gentle smile. “I’m not sure what I’m doing, honestly, I’m just improvising here, and if I wasn’t emotionally broken before, the whole situation with…” He took a deep, shuddering breath. “With Cap certainly made it a done deal, but that won’t stop me from trying. I’m here for you, Harley, to talk to, to yell at, to punch, to hug, whatever you need, okay? I know we’re both a little out of our comfort zones here, but we’re two super geniuses! I’m sure together we’ll be able to figure out how this family thing works.” Harley felt relieved, almost as if Tony had seen straight through his skull into his brain and had, one-by-one, eased his fears and worries. He realised that, no matter how much he hated Peter for allegedly doing it, he had put Tony on a pedestal and had neglected to acknowledge how human the man really was. This conversation must have taken a lot of courage and energy for Tony to initiate, and Harley felt his chest fill with all kinds of warm feelings.

“Thank you, Tony,” he smiled, placing as much genuineness in his voice as humanly possible, hoping to convey even the slightest bit of the relieve he was feeling. The gratitude in Tony’s answering grin told him he succeeded pretty well.

“Boss.” FRIDAY’s voice sounded from the console of Tony’s car, and his entire form seemed to snap back into attention. “I have just received note from Karen that Spider-Man has just started patrol.”

“Woah, Spider-Man?” Harley couldn’t help but exclaim incredulously, wiping at his face with the sleeves of his shirt. “You have contact with Spider-Man?”

“Yeah, I look out for him,” Tony muttered off-handed, distracted by something on his phone. “Listen, Harles, I’m going to drive you home to the compound as fast as I can, and then I need to go help out Spider-Man, okay?” He held up his phone, flashing a map with a red dot moving rapidly across. “Superhero business, you know?” Harley nodded, and put on his seatbelt, leaning back against his seat as Tony started the car. He wondered what was going on with Spider-Man that got Tony distracted from finding Peter Parker, which he had seemed so determined to do earlier.

Peter had been swinging uselessly around the city for about an hour when his HUD lit up with an incoming call.

“Karen, please-”

“I’m sorry, Peter, FRIDAY is pushing the call through.”

“Hey, Pete!” Peter let his clearly audible sigh be the only response to his mentor charismatic greeting. “Okay, so you’re pissed at me.” The teen chose to swing up to the rooftop closest to him, and sit down on the edge, his legs swing off of it. His head was already aching with the implications of the phone call, and the situation as a whole.

“How’s Harley Keener, Mr. Stark?” Peter could hear the thrusters come progressively closer until he heard the familiar, metallic clunk of the armour landing, and opening.

“Harley’s good,” a soft voice behind him spoke. “Quite upset that he mistreated somebody he met in school today, actually. It wasn’t really his fault though.”

“I know,” Peter responded, not trusting himself to face his mentor. He still felt the stabbing pain in his chest that could either be cardiac arrest or betrayal.

“I fucked up, Peter.” His voice was now right behind him, and he could hear where Mr. Stark sat down behind him. “I fucked up really bad. I somehow thought that having you meet Harley in this manner might make it easier for you to accept that I have kept him from you all this time, and vice versa. You both mean the world to me, and I guess part of me was afraid of having the individual parts of paradise that is spending time with you in the lab, and spending time with Harley in his workshop, would be going if I let it into other aspects of my life. That’s why you haven’t met Pepper, or Rhodey either. I feel like I’m just constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, and…” Mr. Stark trailed off and Peter’s enhanced hearing could hear the rattling breath in his lungs.

“I’m just making excuses for something inexcusable, though. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Harley. I’m sorry I didn’t tell Harley about you. I hurt you both tremendously in the process and I wish more than anything that I can do it over. Please, don’t hold this against Harley, though. He’s a wonderful kid, who has been through a lot in a short amount of time, and he was honestly only trying to look out for me.” A silence fell over the pair as they sat there. Peter was deep in thought, considering every word spoken by his respected mentor. It all made perfect sense, it truly did, but then why didn’t it make him feel any better? Why did his chest feel so tight, his stomach still so acid-y.

“I hear you, Mr. Stark,” Peter heard himself say, as he stumbled to his feet, swaying dangerously over the edge of the building in the process. “But I need time. I’ll see you around.” Without waiting for any response, Peter launched himself off the roof, and caught himself by smoothly shooting a web to the next building over.

“Your heart rate is elevated, and you seem in distress,” Karen’s soft voice spoke in his ear, breaking through the insistent rush of wind. “Are you okay, Peter? Are you upset with Mr. Stark?”

“I’m not sure, Karen,” he responded honestly. “I just need some time for myself.”

[fluffy-ships]

A darker shade of green pt. 2

"Where is she?"

"For the last time, I don't know", Matt answers for what seems to be the thirteenth time he has had to repeat himself to Keith, who has been asking one hundred and one questions on his teammate's whereabouts. Though Matt is thoroughly annoyed with Keith's tedious questions, he can't blame him and can understand why the paladin is furious and worried. Keith was the paladin who found Matt in his gruesome state with a bloody weapon and bloody clothing. Keith was the paladin who saw the wide hallway littered with galra bodies surrounding their murderer. Keith was the paladin who went onto the enemy's ship just to find that the one he sought for was missing.

When he discovered the massacre in front of him and didn't see Pidge nearby, Keith figured the worst. Immediately, he activated his bayard sword and launched himself towards Matt with an intent that was based off of pure instinct. Matt froze in confusion before realizing that the red paladin's main strategy was "kill first, questions later"; he then snapped out of it to defend himself.

The battle between the two boys (which consisted of Keith trying to murder Matt while Matt tried his absolute hardest not to die) would have escalated dangerously if it weren't for Shiro and Hunk entering the scene at the right moment. It took Hunk's huge arms and Shiro's calming voice to stop the fight.

Shiro-- being the most emotionally stable-- decided to search the galra halls for the missing green paladin. Though he covered a lot of ground he was still unable to find Pidge. Not her bayard. Not even her helmet. He assumed that she was taken by the enemies and that she was still in full armor. "I guess we'll just have to track her", he concluded, feeling somewhat guilty for not entering the ship with her.

After Shiro's sweep of the ship, the four boys headed back to the altean castle where Allura, Lance, and Coran waited. Hoping for good news but later found out that the exact opposite was true.

Hours and hours later, the alteans and the rest of the paladins sat Matt down for questioning.

"Well, do you have an IDEA of where she is", Keith continues, snapping Matt out of his bored trance.

Matt looks out the grand windows of the castle's control room. The constellations do not tell him what time it is, but his body says it's past midnight. He sighs and looks up at Keith and the rest of the crew, but says nothing.

Receiving no answer from Matt, Keith gets ready to hit him with another question (or with his fist) when Coran puts a hand on his shoulder. The fiery paladin gives him a stern look, but Coran gives a charming reassuring look in return.

"That will be enough, red. As Lance always says, 'we all need our beauty rest'," Coran chirps with a smile.

Keith softens, but is still willing to make an argument, "But what about Pidge! She could be anywhere! Aren't you worried about her!"

"Of course I am", Coran puts both hands on the smaller boy's shoulders, "and we all know she's smart cookie and can manage herself for a while. PLUS, me and Allura and Shiro almost never sleep, so we'll be searching for her while the rest of you rest. Does that make feel any better, Keith?"

"Yeah, I guess", Keith relents, still quite tense. Slowly he backs away from the rest of the group to take Coran's advice, but not before giving Matt one final warning glance. Lance follows after Keith with a yawn and a nod to the crew while Hunk fetches Pidge's computer, most likely to do some hunting himself.

When the younger paladins were in their respective rooms, Shiro steps in front of Matt.

"Matt...", he begins but is quickly cut off.

"Look Shiro", Matt pleads. "I know I seem all nonchalant about this, but I promise you I'm just as worried as you guys are. I mean, it's my baby sister for fucks sake-"

Shiro puts a hand up to stop him. "I get it. No need to explain yourself." He kneels beside where Matt is sitting and gives him a soft smile, "As Coran just explained to Keith, we'll be up for a while trying to find Pidge."

Matt sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. "I know its just- like... I didn't see another galra ship close enough to our area to even attempt kidnapping Pidge. And half of the fleet retreated when they saw that they had no chance against the lions and-", Matt stares off into nothing, tears swelling in his eyes.

Shiro nods, understanding. "I get it. It doesn't make sense to me either."

There is a long pause.

"The galra are known for their tricks", this time Allura speaks, turning away from whatever altean gadget she was toying with. "They can easily manipulate their enemies by torturing them or blind sidding them or mind controlling or-". Allura pauses abruptly and goes stiff. She slowly looks up at Matt as if he is some new horrifying species that she discovered.

Matt returns the same look. "Or what, Allura?"

The Princess glances at her royal advisor, who also shares a horrified look. She swallows, "Or by luring."

Matt jumps out of his seat and immediately starts to pace the room, realizing what she's indicating. He can feel his heart trying to escape his ribcage and his lungs are short of oxygen. Trembling fingers begins to pull at his hair as he tries to keep himself from hyperventilating. Repeatedly, he quietly mumbles "no no no no no, dear God please no" as if it could reverse time. As if it could erase he had done.

Matt was bait.

Matt was bait for his little sister to take, and they knew she would fall for it.

Now they have her. Goodness knows what they're doing to her.

And it was his fault.

"Matt, hey, Matt?", a soothing voice invades his thoughts along with a cool hand pressed against the back of his neck. "Matt, it's going to be okay."

Matt shakes his head and pushes Shiro away, focusing on Allura. He runs another hand through his hair, licks his chapped lips and speaks in between breaths, "So you're telling me that I ...that I put this on Pidge? I-I'm the one that put her...in this situation...I-". Matt's insides fill with a guilty rage. He turns away from teary-eyed Allura and puts a hand over his mouth.

"I'm not implying that you are at fault", Allura tries but Matt still seems unconvinced. "You could not have known what the galra were planning, you were tricked-"

"I was stupid."

"You had no idea-"

"But I could have known! If I hadn't gotten caught, we wouldn't be in this situation!" Matt is practically yelling, more at himself than at Allura. "Even after that, I still don't remember a damn thing that happened! Not only did I put Pidge in danger, but I put everybody on this ship at risk! " He resumes his pacing and mumbling, showing obvious signs of not wanting any form of affection. Still, Shiro decides to quietly walk towards him and pull him into a hug; one so passionate that it would hard for Matt to get out of. The smaller boy sinks into the larger one's arms and chest, letting out soft sobs and apologies.

"It's fine", Shiro soothes and rubs the back of Matt's head. "It's going to be fine, we'll find her soon."

"But how?" Matt murmurs, barely audible.

Shiro sighs. "I'm assuming Pidge still has on her paladin armor since I didn't find it on the ship. Inside of her suit is a tracking device just in case a paladin gets lost, we'll locate her from there."

Matt nods at the reassurance, but then stops short, remembering a vital item to the team. "What about her lion?"

Matt can feel Shiro's breath hitch. "Did- did the galra not take Green?"

Matt suddenly removes himself from Shiro's embrace, excitement in his eyes. "The cloaking device! The one she put on her lion!" He turns to Allura and Coran, who seems to be following his train of thought. Coran starts to focus on some sort of contraption that zooms in on the darkness outside of the ship, the same ship Matt was captured on comes to view on the wide screen above. The advisor confirms that it's safe to retrieve the lion.

"But there is a problem", he points out. "The lion only allows her assigned paladin inside, and we can't just simply lure her to the castle with treats. This mission will be difficult."

"Or maybe not, Coran", Allura states, eyeing Matt curiously. "The lion is able to temporarily allow another worthy of occupying her space, but only if they fit the part." Allura takes a step closer, Matt can already see where this is going. "Matthew..."

"No", Matt retorts before Allura can finish her request.

"It only be until we find Pidge", Coran pitches in.

"I can't do it! Its like betrayal!" Matt thinks they are asking the unthinkable, the undoable (not a word, apparently, but okay).

"Matthew, please", the black paladin faces Matt with a face of both iron and tenderness. "You must pilot the green lion."

He knew what was coming, but hearing it out loud makes his eyes water. The boy drops to his knees, wishing this nightmare would end.

(There will be a part three [for those who care]. Sorry it took so long, I'm a procrastinator. I also apologize if this may seem boring, I'm honestly pulling straws right now, but please enjoy this...its my first time [that's what she said])(Anyway if you have any suggestions for another fic [voltron related or not], don't be afraid to tell me) ( thank you to my two followers lol)

[sandstonesunspear]

Anniversary

Sanvers, Alex-centric

Found a prompt chart for Pride Month and figured I’d try my hand at it. I’m a day behind because life. Parings are random.

AO3

Alex had started planning hers and Maggie’s first wedding anniversary months ago. She had it all planned out: she was going to take Maggie to Verdant Garden, an upscale vegan/vegetarian menu that Maggie had said she wanted to try, go for a walk around town, and then finish the night off making love with her wife. Alex had even gone as so far to put in forms for 24 hours worth of leave so that she could have the night and following day with Maggie.

All that planning was why, when a rookie agent announced that there would be nothing to worry about because it was going to be an easy night, Alex nearly decked him.

-

“What did you just say, Schmidt?” Alex asked, her voice dangerously low.

“Uh, I said that it was going to be a pretty chill night,” he said. “I mean, there’s no one on our radar and—”

“Schmidt,” Alex interrupted. “Stop talking. Right. Now.”

His brow furrowed in confusion before he took a look at the faces of his fellow agents. They all looked torn between wanting to kill him or cry. He clammed up.

Alex sighed. “Alright people, call your partners, significant others, or what have you,” she said. “We’re in for a long night.”

“Agent Danvers, I don’t understand what’s going on,” Schmidt started. “There’s nothing—”

He found himself cut off by a fist to the face that produced a loud, meaty thwack with a small crunching sound underneath. His body hit the ground with a thump. He was out.

Everyone stopped what they were doing to see Vasquez shaking out their hand. They looked extremely unhappy.

“Erin flies in tonight,” they said when they noticed everyone’s eyes on them. “I was planning on picking her up from the airport.”

Nods of understanding were shared.

Alex looked down at the fallen agent and then to Vasquez. She pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Alright, Demos, get Schmidt to the medbay,” she said tiredly. “Vasquez, go down to R&D and have them scan your hand to make sure you didn’t break anything and then get it stitched up.”

She looked at the rest of her agents. “The rest of you, grab your gear and make sure you’re ready to move at the first—”

Klaxons began blaring.

“Sound of an alarm,” she finished before let out a harsh breath. “Let’s move!”

-

“One Kordovan my left nonexistent nut!” Alex heard Vasquez yelling angrily through the comms, over the sounds of thunder rifles and the occasional grenade explosion.

Alex shared that anger. Intel had said that there was a rampaging Kordovan down by the docks. What they had failed to mention was that it wasn’t just one Kordovan, it was a pack of them. That information disconnect was what led to their current situation.

Alex and her team were pinned behind shipping containers as they worked to contain the pack. It wasn’t working. Bullets deflected from their hides and full powered shots from Alex’s space gun only seemed to make them angrier.

Alex fired off another shot and then dove for cover as a meter long spike was launched her way.

“Anyone know what’s in these shipping containers?” she yelled into her helmet mic.

“Uh, let’s see,” Winn said. “Cars, lumber, and oh shit.”

That didn’t sound good.

“Oh shit? What do you mean by oh shit?” Alex demanded.

A loud, earthshaking explosion rocked the docks. Alex glanced over her shoulder.

“Winn, please tell me that wasn’t what I think it was.”

“If you’re thinking that it was about a thousand gallons of oil that just went up, then yeah, it was.”

Alex thunked her head against container.

“Wonderful.”

-

Three hours later, Alex and her team were limping back into the National City headquarters. It had taken an intervention an improvised rocket launcher made out of an Audi (how exactly Vasquez had managed to make it while under fire was beyond anyone’s understanding), but the Kordovan pack was finally secured. The dock was a smouldering ruin, but no one was dead, so Alex was going to mark it down as a win for tonight.

“Anderson, go with Demos and make sure the Kordovans are checked in,” Alex ordered tiredly. “The rest of you, feel free to get cleaned up or just head to the medbay.”

Multiple, “Yes, ma’am’s” rang out before everyone went their separate ways.

Alone in the locker room, Alex finally collapsed onto the bench with a groan. She pulled her phone from her vest and checked it over. She winced when she saw the number of notifications she had. There were two missed calls from Verdant Green, no doubt letting her know that she’d missed the reservation. Alex could feel her mood plumet even further when she saw that she had 6 missed calls from Maggie and a bevy of texts to boot.

Sry I missed your call, was in interrogation. Don’t worry about the reservations, I’ll see you at home :)

I just saw the news, are you still on sight?

P sure I saw Vas on the news. Was that a rocket launcher? When ur back, them I want one.

Alex smiled when she saw the last text Maggie sent. It was a running joke between the two of them.

“Glad to see you’re still in one piece, Danvers,” a voice said.

Alex startled, hand going for her gun. She blinked with she saw Maggie leaning against the doorway to the DEO locker rooms with a bag of takeout in her hands.

Alex cleared her throat. “Actually, it’s Danvers-Sawyer,” she corrected, a cheeky grin crossing her lips. She tilted her head. “Not that I’m unhappy to see you, babe, but I thought you’d be at home?”

Maggie gave her wife a look. “I saw the news, Alex,” she said. “If you honestly thought I was going to wait at home, then you need to go to the medbay and get your head checked.”

Alex had the decency to look slightly abashed.

Maggie pushed off the doorway. “I figured that since we didn’t make those reservations at Verdant Green, I might as well bring dinner to you.” She straddled the bench across from Alex and pulled out the boxes of food. She handed Alex a pair of chopsticks.

Alex took them and opened a box of orange chicken. “I’m sorry that I made us miss the reservations,” she apologised.

“Don’t be, I’m a cop, Alex, I get it.” Maggie gave Alex a lopsided grin that showed off her dimples. “It happens.”

Alex stabbed a piece of chicken. “Yeah, well, it’s all Schmidt’s fault,” she grumbled.

Maggie raised an eyebrow. “Schmidt, the new kid?” she asked. Alex nodded. “What’d he do?”

“Said tonight was going to be an easy night. Asshole.” Alex had a scowl on her face just thinking about it.

“Ah.” Maggie understood that all too well. “Well, it did have at least one positive outcome.”

“Yeah?” Alex raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

Maggie took a bite of her lo mein. “I got to have a date with you in full tactical gear.” Her smiled turned positively salacious. “Have to say, Agent Danvers-Sawyer, you look hot in it.”

Alex could feel her turning red. Even after all their time together, Maggie still had the uncanny ability to make her blush with ease.

Maggie chuckled and leaned forward, pressing a soft kiss against Alex’s lips before she could say anything in response.

“Happy anniversary, Alex,” she murmured.

Alex smiled. She pressed her forehead against Maggie’s. “Happy anniversary, Maggie.”

[hairringtonsteve]

two ships passing in the night.

(billy hargrove x reader)

request: remember me w/ Billy? 💕 (from dating prompts: Leave a “Remember Me” in my ask, and I’ll write a drabble about one character trying to get another to remember them)

summary: reader is home for the holidays, and meets an old enemy (ish). turns out late night diner talks aren’t the worst thing in the world. 

word count: 2,568

warning: there are mentions of abuse in here. nothing detailed, but it’s mentioned.

part ii. part iii.

The holidays are a lot of things, but after high school, they went on another level of special for you. You’d ended up missing your friends and family a lot more while you were at college, so a couple of weeks at home was on par with heaven for you - even in your junior year.

You’d been home for a couple of days by that point. The first day home had been spent in your bed catching up on all of the sleep that you’d missed out on during the fall semester. The second and third day, however, had considered of the party crowding into your house, Dustin and Steve making hundreds of cookies while the rest tried to steal any amount of cookie dough that they could.

It was weird, being older. The kids were growing up, all but Will having grown taller than you (Will was as tall as you now, and you had no illusions that in a year, you’d be the shortest one). Nancy and Jonathan were in college as well, due back within the next few days. Steve had - to the frustration of his father - decided to stay in Hawkins and join the police force to work alongside Hopper.

“Who else is going to save his old ass when the weird shit hits the fan again?”

So it had been nice to see them all again, the pain in your chest abating a little the longer you were all together.

You loved your family and spending time with them, but with the party, it was different. Shared trauma, and all that.

Eventually, though, everyone ended up heading out. Lucas and Max had talked of going to the movies, while the rest of them were heading to their various homes. Except Mike, who was taking El home himself.

(The thought of him driving disturbed you on a whole other level.)

Once they’d all left, you shrugged on your coat and shoved a hat on your head, wincing as you stepped outside. The cold stung your face, but you tried not to pay much attention to it. Hawkins Main Street was calling to you, and you’d be damned if you didn’t go.

From the time that you’d been a child, you’d always loved walking into town, late at night in December. It was like your own private Christmas lights show. String lights were strung from street lamp to street lamp, with wreaths shaped as bells and Christmas trees lined the pole lights. The storefronts were all individually decorated to the owner’s preference, but most had Santa and presents in some form or another.

You’d just made it into town, your hands shoved deep into your pockets when you heard someone calling your name. You froze at the sound of the voice, trying to place it.

“Y/N! Y/L/N, is that you?” You turned around slowly, furrowing your brow as your gaze settled on the man approaching you. The voice reminded you of Billy Hargrove, but the man in front of you…

He had short hair - no mullet in sight - and was grinning easily at you. Sure, towards the end of your senior year, Billy hadn’t been bothering you anymore, but that was due to Max almost taking a nail-ridden bat to his crotch.

“Uh, yeah? Do I know you?”

“You don’t remember me? Do I look that different without the mullet?”

Your eyes widened. Holy shit, it was Billy Hargrove.

“Nah, I just didn’t recognize you without you harassing me and my friends.” You raised your eyebrows at him as he looked down at his shoes. His lips pressed together into a thin line as he looked back towards you.

“I was a pretty big dick to you, huh?”

“You were a bigger dick to Lucas Sinclair. And your little stepsister.”

He let out a sigh, nodding his head slow a couple of times.

“I know I was. I had a lot of shit going on, but that doesn’t excuse what I said. Or what I did. I’m, uh, I’m sorry, Y/N.”

You stared at him, your gaping mouth resembling a fish. It had been around three years since all of that had happened. People could change in that amount of time, but Billy Hargrove? Really?

“What the hell happened to you?”

He barked out a humorless laugh, ducking his head once more before taking in a deep breath, and letting it out through his nose.

“You wanna grab some coffee?” You furrowed your brow, giving him a look that made him chuckle. “It’s kind of a long story, and I’m starting to freeze my ass off.”

After a moment of consideration, you gave him a sharp nod. Without another word, you headed down the street towards the new little diner that had sprung up while you were off studying. It wasn’t that special, but it was open twenty-four hours and was close by.

The two of you made it in without a single word spoken to each other. You went to the far back booth, sliding in as you looked at him under the fluorescent lights. He looked older, but out of the orange-y glow from the street lights, it was easier to recognize him. He opened his mouth as he sat down, but you shook your head.

“I’m gonna need coffee for this.”

He smirked a little at your words, settling down across from you. The older waitress ambled her way over, giving the two of you a warm smile.

“What can I get the two of you?”

“I’ll have a coffee and a slice of pecan pie, please?” You grinned at her before looking to Billy as he ordered the same. He turned his attention to you as she left, quirking his brow in a silent question.

Can I begin?

You returned his look with one of your own.

Not yet.

Within a couple of minutes, the waitress had returned, coffee and pie on the tray. Billy waited patiently, watching as you took a small sip of your coffee and gave him a nod.

“So, you know I left when I turned eighteen,right?” You gave an affirming hum, taking another sip of the coffee. “I ended up back out in California, and uh, got into a fight with this guy. Real fucking big guy. We beat the shit out of each other, and I hit him a little too hard.” There was a pause. “In the end, I get hit with six months jail time, if I agree to go to therapy and anger management counseling once I’m out.”

You kept quiet, but your mind was racing. It was almost too much to comprehend. Billy Hargrove had actually gone to jail - and  had willingly gone to therapy. Wow. After a beat too long of silence, you ask, “you learn anything from therapy?”

“I learned a ton. Apparently, kids that have abusive fathers tend to have pretty short fuses. Not that that excuses anything, but… you know… it explains some shit.” He kept his eyes on you, almost inspecting your bland expression. It was as though he’d been waiting for some sort of reaction. When you didn’t give him one, he sat back in his seat, nodding slow. “So you already knew, then, that my dad beat me?”

“Yeah, Max told me about it after you’d left.” Billy looked down at his coffee mug, hands wrapped around it as he sighed. “He didn’t hit her. After you left. He’s a prick, don’t get me wrong, but he never laid a hand on her.”

You weren’t sure why you told him that. Reassuring Billy Hargrove wasn’t something that you’d ever thought that you would do. He offered you a soft smile in gratitude.

“I know. After I got out, Max and I ended up taking on the phone. Not a lot. Just a couple of times a year.” He lifted the coffee to his lips and took a sip. “Thanks for looking after her. She’s a good kid. I was just too pissed at the world to see it.”

“She is a good kid. It’s hard to believe that she’s actually growing up,” you mused, smiling at the memory of Max’s scowl as she skateboarded around the street just a few years ago.

Billy watched you as you laughed softly, smiling a mirror of your own.

“So what about you, Y/L/N? What have you been doing for the last three years?”

That question launched a conversation that last until well after midnight. You talked about what you were studying at college, and what the party had been up to, and what your plans are for the holidays. And Billy just sat there, asking you questions and listening intently and honestly?

It was nice.

“Holy shit, it’s late,” you laughed, glancing up at the clock that hung above the door to the kitchen. “I think I might need to head home.”

By that time, you both were on your fourth cup of coffee, and had finished your second slice of pie.

“You want me to walk you home?”

Despite the growing up that he’d done over the years, you still hesitated. It was difficult to reconcile the Billy that sat before you with the one that you’d known your senior year. Seventeen year old Billy would have tried to make a move on her while they walked. This Billy… she wasn’t sure. The cocky, self-assurance was still there. She’d caught him messing with his hair twice when he thought that she hadn’t been looking (she had been looking. a lot.). He laughed like he was barking, and she’d spotted the cigarette carton in his coat pocket. His mannerisms were still the same.

But the angry, controlling air that had surrounded him at seventeen wasn’t there anymore.

“Sure.”

The two of you slid on your coats once you stood up, you reaching for your wallet only for Billy to tap his finger against your wrist.

“My treat, Y/N. Call it a peace offering.” You looked up at him, your heart beating a little faster when you realized just how close he was to you.

“Then I pay next time.” You hadn’t even thought about the two of you hanging out beyond that night, but the words flowed easily. Too easy, really. But then Billy’s entire face lit up, and it was making it hard for you to regret saying it.

“That sounds good to me,” he murmured, his lips curling into a smirk. You rolled your eyes at him, muttering something about shutting up or you would make him shut up, to which his smirk grew even wider.

After he’d paid and covered the tip, the two of you headed outside. You pulled your hat over your ears, trying to guard against the chill in the air. Billy walked closer to you than he had earlier, his arm brushing up against yours with each step that was taken.

It was quiet as the two of you walked. There was a light dusting of snow on the streets and sidewalk, while larger piles were littered against the curb. Dustin had mentioned a pretty big snowfall a week or two ago on the phone. You glanced up at Billy, blaming your red cheeks on the cold as he looked down at you.

“So, why were you even walking around anyway? It was kind of late, don’t you think?” Billy asked, his hands going deep into his pockets as the wind picked up. You inched closer to him, the warmth from his arm brushing against  yours a welcome feeling.

“I always liked Hawkins at night around this time of year. It’s pretty, with the lights and all,” you said with a shrug of your shoulders. “Besides, it’s been kind of hectic. The party’s been at my house for the past two and a half days, pretty much. I missed them, but the quiet’s nice too.” You paused for a moment, thinking of something. “Did you move back here? Or are you just visiting for the holidays?”

“I’m just visiting. Some old guy is letting me rent his apartment over December and January for cheap if I take care of his cat for him.”

You wanted to ask why he wasn’t staying with his family, but the answer seemed kind of obvious to you.

“Do you have somewhere to go for Christmas?” He ducked his head, shaking it slowly as his tongue darted over his lips, wetting them despite the almost guaranteed drying with that wind.

“You worried about me or something?” For the first time that night, there was a hint of that edge in his voice from all those years ago.

“I’m just curious, Billy. That’s all.”

“Well, good. I don’t need your pity.” You rolled your eyes. There it was, that pride of his rearing its head.

“It’s not pity. Pretty sure that I lost the ability to pity you when you were about to beat the shit out of Lucas. I just… It’s got to suck, coming back and still not -” You cut yourself off, struggling to find the right words that would convey just what you were trying to say.

“Max wanted me to come. Wants to make amends, or some shit. So uh, she’s coming to the apartment Christmas day sometime. So we can talk.”

“You’re staying for two months because she wants to make amends?”

“My therapist said that it was a good idea, that it’d help somehow. I mean, I get it. I fucked up a lot when it came to her, and how I treated her. I just want to make it right, I guess.”

The two of you fell quiet after that, with Billy staring straight ahead and avoiding any eye contact with you, while you couldn’t help but glance at him over and over again. He wanted to make things right. It was mind blowing.

You reached your house faster than you’d expected to, the porch light emanating a warm glow that beckoned you in. Billy followed you up to the porch, leaning against the railing as you fished in your pocket for your house key. Once your fingers wrapped around the cool metal, you stepped towards the door and put it in. It slid in easily, but you didn’t turn the handle. Instead, you turned around to face Billy.

“You fucked up a lot whenever we were younger. But you’re not a dickhead now, Billy. You’re kind of a decent person.” The two of you stared at each other for a few seconds, neither of you making a move. Billy was the first to break, a small - almost shy - smile easing across his lips.

“You’re not so bad yourself, Y/N.” He took a step towards you, then another, until he was forced to look down at you. “I guess I should head home, then.” He leaned down towards you, and you’d never admit it, but your breath caught in your throat. His lips landed against your cheek, warm against your cold skin. Your heart was doing double time, beating so hard you thought it come right through your chest. He lingered for a second or two longer than necessary, eventually pulling away with a small smile on his face. “G’night, Y/N.”

You stared at after him as he headed down the steps, blinking in shock as he walked away.

“Night, Billy,” you called, causing him to turn and give a quick wave of his hand. You waited until he was a little ways down the road before you headed inside, heart still pounding the entire time.

Well fuck.