#how are you gonna tell me what’s clearance and what’s not when EYE work here hello. i organized that clearance wall myself. i would know!!!!

[livvyofthelake]

cup that i’ve used for my stupid chai lattes too many times that i nor the dishwasher can ever seem to wash thoroughly enough that there isn’t a faint residue of tea in it i can taste every time i try to put water in it now.

[bloody-bee-tea]

Beetober 2024 Day 19 - Wasting

Hitoshi can’t do this anymore.

It’s been three weeks since he ran into Bakugo by chance, three weeks after five blissful years of silence and now Bakugo is everywhere. And it seems he’s deliberately searching out Hitoshi as well, because whenever they cross paths, there’s a triumphant little smile on Bakugo’s face—one that does not make him hot, Hitoshi refuses to admit that—before he barges right into Hitoshi’s personal space and starts pestering him.

And sadly the circle isn’t broken today.

“You should go back to training,” Bakugo says as his greeting, roaming his eyes over Hitoshi’s body. “You need to get back into the swing of things if you want to get anywhere.”

“There’s no swing to get back into and there’s nowhere I want to get,” Hitoshi sighs out, completely exhausted by the constant badgering. “I am right where I want to be.”

“Bullshit,” Bakugo almost spits out and there’s a fire blazing in his eyes. “The only other person who wanted to be a hero even more badly than Deku and me was you. There is no way you’re happy where you are. No fucking way.”

Hitoshi slumps where he stands, a deep weariness draping over him and he lazily blinks at Bakugo.

“Did it ever occur to you that maybe this is what I want to do? That things simply changed for me and I am happy where I am?”

Bakugo sneers at the mere suggestion.

“You’re better than this. You can do so much more. You just gotta work hard and you’ll make the fucking rankings in no time.”

Hitoshi hates to admit it but something about Bakugo’s insistent and unwavering faith in him warms Hitoshi down to the core. The thing is just that Bakugo has it all wrong because Hitoshi is a hero, just an underground one, and there is no way in hell he’s ever going to show up in any rankings, ever.

Not in the public ones, anyway.

There are rankings for underground heroes and Hitoshi is already so high up on those that it’s almost unbelievable, and there are only two other heroes outranking him but that is because they have been in the business for double the time Hitoshi has.

He’s gonna get them eventually, he knows that, especially with how more and more undercover missions come his way, more dangerous ones and ones that take months at a time.

Hitoshi’s gonna make the top, no matter what.

“Did I fucking lose you somewhere?” Bakugo snaps out, startling Hitoshi back into the here and now and Hitoshi lets out a weary sigh.

He wishes he could just shut Bakugo up, tell him exactly what kind of work he’s doing, but his entire existence is buried under so many NDAs that Hitoshi really fucking can’t. Bakugo might be one of the top ten, but he’s not allowed to know that Hitoshi is in any way affiliated with any kind of hero work.

He simply doesn’t have the clearance for it, and isn’t that kind of laughable.

“I’m tired,” Hitoshi simply gives back when Bakugo continues to glare at him and Bakugo scoffs.

“What? Police working you to your bone?” he asks and Hitoshi shrugs.

It’s a good cover, especially because he does consult for the police during kidnappings and hostage situations occasionally.

“Just didn’t sleep well,” Hitoshi mutters back, caught off guard by the sudden concern on Bakugo’s face but it’s not as if he can tell him that nightmares from his last mission keep him up at night.

“You need to work out more, tire yourself out, you moron. Come to my agency, I can get you a training plan,” Bakugo grumbles and it almost doesn’t sound like a threat but an offer so it takes Hitoshi a moment.

“I’m not going to train with you or at your agency,” Hitoshi firmly tells him because one, he already gets enough training as it is, two, there is no way in hell he’s going to let Bakugo train him for anything and three, if his handler catches him anywhere near one of the more popular agencies Hitoshi is dead meat.

“How do you keep finding me, anyway?” Hitoshi belatedly asks because he makes sure to alternate the routes he takes so as to not lead anyone close to his home or his preferred haunts but Bakugo always finds him effortlessly.

“I’m just good like that,” Bakugo shrugs, clearly completely confident in his abilities and Hitoshi hates that he kind of has to agree with him.

Not that he would ever say that out loud.

“Well, don’t be. I don’t want to see you again,” Hitoshi tells him right as he walks past Bakugo who thankfully doesn’t follow him but that doesn’t mean he lets him leave quietly.

“Come to my fucking agency!”

Hitoshi simply waves over his shoulder before he gets out his secure phone to text his handler.

Get someone to predict where I go. Dynamight keeps finding me and if he can, others might be able to as well, he shoots off and then submits himself to feeling watched basically 24/7.

The things he does to keep his identity hidden.

~*~*~

Dynamight must have bugged you, agents can’t keep up with you, is the answer he gets four days later after two more encounters with Bakugo and now that’s just insane.

So the next time Bakugo seeks him out, Hitoshi confronts him.

“Did you fucking bug me?” he asks, shoving Bakugo as soon as he’s in reach but Bakugo only blinks at him.

“Why the fuck would I need to do that?”

“You keep finding me!”

“That’s because you’re goddamn predictable,” Bakugo shoots back, though there is a smug smile on his face.

Now, Hitoshi knows for a fact that he is not predictable, because he makes it a point not to be and his handler confirmed he’s damn good at it, too, so Bakugo is spewing utter bullshit.

“How do you keep finding me?” Hitoshi presses out and Bakugo must realise that this is no longer just teasing because his face smooths out.

“I don’t know, I just do. I didn’t bug you and I don’t have anyone following you.”

“We didn’t run into each other for five years, what the fuck is going on?” Hitoshi whispers and he almost fears that the universe is playing a trick on him.

There is no other explanation for it, because he believes Bakugo. As crazy as that might sound.

“Well, can you just stop finding me?” Hitoshi asks after a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose, because he can’t deal with this.

“Beats me,” Bakugo shrugs but he does walk away. “Offer to train still stands,” he calls over his shoulder before he vanishes and Hitoshi groans when he feels a new headache setting in.

Just what he needed today.

~*~*~

Hitoshi has no clue how it happens but he has coffee with Bakugo twice a week and they meet for dinner at least once. Always on accident.

It’s irrational and stupid and could honest to god endanger his entire career and yet they somehow end up at the same shop this afternoon again and then find themselves at the same table, too.

This is so stupid.

“I can’t believe this,” Hitoshi groans out just as Bakugo sits down opposite of him and he’s almost scared to pick his head out of his arms when he hears Bakugo slide something over the table to him. “What’s that?”

“Use your fucking eyes, moron,” Bakugo says, explaining absolutely nothing and so Hitoshi moves just enough to be able to make out the word ‘apprenticeship’ before he drops it back down with a groan.

“Absolutely not. Will you fucking drop it?”

“I would if you wouldn’t fucking waste your life away,” Bakugo snaps out and he sounds seriously angry. “You’re wasting your talent. You could be a damn good hero and yet here you are, rotting away. What the fuck happened to you? Where did all your goddamn ambition go?”

“Away, Bakugo. It happens sometimes, so just let it rest.”

Going by the way he works his jaw, Bakugo is not going to let it rest.

“It doesn’t have to be with me,” Bakugo says as he taps the flyer still on the table. “There are a number of other heroes who are good at what they do. My phone number is in there, give me a call when you find your fucking backbone.”

With that he slides out of the booth and leaves Hitoshi and his rapidly cooling coffee alone, for which Hitoshi should be grateful.

Instead he just feels tired.

~*~*~

“In how much trouble am I going to get if I just tell Bakugo I’m an underground hero?” Hitoshi asks as he barges into his parent’s home and immediately he has both their undivided attention.

“So much,” Yamada immediately says and Aizawa nods.

“Too much. Sit. Explain.”

Hitoshi doesn’t so much as sit but flop down on the couch, burying his head in the cushions and hoping that they might just smother him.

“What’s going on, Toshi?” Yamada asks as he gently cards his fingers through Hitoshi’s hair and Hitoshi can feel himself melting into the couch.

“Bakugo is going on,” he mutters and Yamada snorts, while Aizawa sits down on the ground, near Hitoshi’s head.

“What’s he doing?”

“Being an annoying, supportive prick,” Hitoshi grunts and forces himself to turn around.

He can’t quite find the strength to sit up, but this has to do.

“That—sounds like a pretty accurate summary of Bakugo, actually,” Yamada decides as he moves around the couch to sit at the other end, placing Hitoshi’s legs in his lap.

“He’s trying to figure out where you work?” Aizawa asks and Hitoshi snorts.

“I wish. Then he’d know I’m a hero and he would stop pestering me.”

“Pestering you about what?” Aizawa not so patiently asks and Yamada shuts him up.

“No, wait, wait, full stop. Since when are you talking to Bakugo, anyway?”

“That’s the entire problem, papa! I’m not! I don’t even know how this happened. One day he spots me in the streets and next I know, he’s everywhere. I swear to the gods, he has a sixth sense for me, because it doesn’t make sense otherwise. Our own agents can’t follow me or predict where I go and yet Bakugo is there, always. It’s driving me insane.”

“What does he want from you?”

“He wants me to become a hero,” Hitoshi whispers out and there is still enough of that jaded, hurt child left in him that the mere sentiment makes him feel warm.

He could have needed Bakugo’s unwavering faith ten years ago.

“He keeps making all these offers; wants me to train in his agency, wants me to do an apprenticeship, offers to connect me to people. It’s insane.”

“That—doesn’t sound like Bakugo at all.”

“He keeps going on about how I’m wasting my potential, how I could be so much more than I am. I really fucking want to tell him but my handler won’t let me,” Hitoshi complaints, because he’s had this talk with his handler several times already but no dice.

“Wow, Bakugo must really think a lot of you,” Yamada mutters out and Aizawa hums.

“You want to tell him?”

“I want him off my back,” Hitoshi gives back but Aizawa levels him with a look.

“You sure about that?”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I think what your dad is trying to say is that this sounds a little bit like boy problems,” Yamada not-at-all helpfully chimes in and Hitoshi freezes.

“What the fuck.”

“I mean, come on. You come in here, just to complain about a boy. A boy, who as far as I understand it, goes out of his way to not only find you but also places his considerable faith in you. Bakugo’s expectations for others are almost as high as those for himself and if he thinks you can meet them then that certainly means something.”

“Oh no,” Hitoshi mutters out, completely horrified to realise that maybe all the meetings at coffee shops and their weekly dinners could have been dates. “Oh no, fuck no.”

“No, how am I just realising this or no, I hate Bakugo and don’t ever want to see him again?” Yamada asks for clarification and Hitoshi is completely mortified because it’s the first.

Fuck, how can it be the first?

“I guess that’s your answer right there,” Aizawa amusedly says as Hitoshi buries his face in his hands and lets out a groan as if he’s dying.

“This can’t be happening,” he mutters, because it can’t but maybe it is.

Maybe Bakugo’s unwavering faith in Hitoshi wore him down. Maybe spending time with Bakugo hasn’t been the worst. Maybe meeting him is a highlight of every given day and maybe Hitoshi is completely and utterly fucked.

“I can’t believe I actually like meeting him.”

“You like him. Of course you like meeting him.”

“He thinks I’m a fucking slob who only occasionally does consulting work with the police, I have no fucking chance.”

“From what I’m gathering from your breakdown here is that Bakugo is going out of his way to meet you and trying to get you back to something that meant the world to you. That doesn’t sound like someone who doesn’t care.”

“You’re not allowed to be logical about this,” Hitoshi accusingly says, but of course Aizawa is unfazed.

“What do you want to do about it?” Yamada asks and that, at least is something Hitoshi can answer.

“Nothing. I already talked to my handler, I’m not allowed to tell Bakugo anything. And if I’m not allowed to do that, I’m not going to do anything. That’s not a basis for a relationship.”

Fuck, even saying that word makes Hitoshi go hot all over.

“I’m going to call in a few favours,” Aizawa decides as he gets up, leaving for his office before Yamada or Hitoshi can say anything.

“You think he’ll have any luck?”

“There are very many people who owe him one,” Yamada shrugs and sinks down deeper into the couch. “Seems like we’ll have to wait. Movie time?”

“Sure,” Hitoshi shrugs, because that might take his mind off Bakugo and that’s really all he wants right now.

He can come to terms with his feelings later.

~*~*~

It’s well into the second movie when the printer in Aizawa’s office starts to go off and Hitoshi and Yamada share a glance.

It seems as if Aizawa has gotten somewhere with his favours if he needs to print something and anticipation makes the tips of Hitoshi’s finger tingle.

All for naught, because it takes another hour before Aizawa comes out, a seriously frightening stack of papers in his hands.

“What is all of this?” Hitoshi warily asks as Aizawa dumps them into his lap.

“These are all the papers Bakugo needs to sign for you to be able to tell him that you’re a successful underground hero.”

Hitoshi blinks.

“All of these papers, just for that?”

“All of these papers, just for that,” Aizawa agrees. “If you want to talk to him about your agency or less classified mission details you’ll need to put him down as your confidant as well as medical proxy.”

Hitoshi immediately flushes because—well. That’s usually reserved for family and spouses and Bakugo really is neither and Hitoshi hates that the thought is tempting, still. He could just put Bakugo down as his confidant, have him sign even more papers and then be able to rant to him about his fucked up missions.

“Oh, he’s thinking about it,” Yamada whispers out and even Aizawa seems pained.

“Bakugo, really?” he asks, something he clearly wanted to do all this time and Hitoshi fights the urge to stick his tongue out at him.

“Yeah, well, apparently loud blondes are the way to go for us,” he snipes out as he gathers the papers together and gets up as Yamada sputters to the side.

“Thanks for this, dad. Seriously.”

“Whatever,” Aizawa says with an eyeroll but there’s a small smile on his face and Hitoshi darts in for a quick hug before he turns around to Yamada.

“Do let us know how it went,” Yamada pleads and Hitoshi nods, already fishing his phone out of his pocket.

He saved Bakugo’s number even though he never did end up sending him a message but it takes no time at all to type a short one out.

Meet me here, now. S. H. is all he sends, with his home address attached and he waits just long enough to see that it’s marked as read before he deletes everything again.

He might be excited, but he’s not stupid and he does like his job. He’s not going to jeopardize it just for Bakugo, even though the thought is tempting.

Fuck you, is Bakugo’s reply shortly after, and then a second message: omw.

“Alright, gotta go,” Hitoshi calls out, rushing to get his shoes on and then he’s out of the door without even hearing his parents wishing him good luck.

He makes it to his place before Bakugo, so it gives him some time to fret over this entire thing, but his spiral is interrupted when someone knocks at his door and Hitoshi rushes to open it.

“This better not be a booty call,” Bakugo grumbles as he pushes into the apartment and Hitoshi’s brain briefly shuts down, before he finds his footing.

“Why, you wouldn’t have come for that?” he asks, once his higher brain functions come back online and Bakugo only scoffs, which is not a no in Hitoshi’s opinion.

“What the fuck do you want?”

“I want you to read all of that and then sign them,” Hitoshi says and points to the towering stack of papers on his table.

Seriously, the amount of paperwork that goes into this is insane.

“The fuck is this?” Bakugo mutters as he sits down on the couch, pulling the papers closer and Hitoshi sees how his eyebrow rise higher and higher. “What is going on?” he finally asks after skimming the first page and Hitoshi mimes zipping his mouth shut and throwing the key away before he points at the papers again.

“Unless you sign these.”

Bakugo looks between the stack of paper and Hitoshi several times before he nods seemingly to himself and gets to reading. He takes it incredibly seriously, for which Hitoshi is thankful because not even he knows what’s in the fine print of these papers, but he guesses if Bakugo accidentally breaks any of the NDAs he’s about to sign he can kiss his career goodbye.

It takes Bakugo ages to go through all the pages and Hitoshi is a nervous mess the entire time but finally, finally Bakugo puts his signature on the last paper and Hitoshi lets out a sigh of relief.

“So what is all this bullshit about?”

“I’m an underground hero and I’m ranked third on our own ranking boards, so I’m kind of good at what I’m doing,” Hitoshi blurts out almost immediately and then he can finally relax.

“What the fuck,” Bakugo says after a lengthy pause and he sounds seriously angry, which makes Hitoshi wary. “Was it funny letting me make a fool out of myself all this time?” he then snaps and Hitoshi sits up, pinning him with a glare.

“This—” he points at the papers “—did not come cheap. I’m not allowed to talk about any of this shit. My parents know because they are my parents and that’s it. I had to go in several times because you kept finding me when not even our own agents could. They did a sweep of my entire apartment and I had to change my phone three times because you kept finding me. Aizawa had to call in a lot of favours for me to be able to tell you even that much because my handler is adamant that you don’t get to know. I couldn’t tell you shit, not before this. And I’m taking my job seriously, Bakugo.”

Bakugo works his jaw for a moment longer before he finally deflates.

“As you fucking should,” he admits and rubs a hand over his face. “Underground, huh? Makes sense, stupid of me not to consider,” he mutters and Hitoshi shrugs.

“It works best for my quirk. Aizawa got me in and then things just took off.” He pauses briefly. “I’m not allowed to talk missions with you, or about my agency. Just—if I vanish without warning, I’m—working.”

“Working,” Bakugo repeats with a nod and then leans forward. “So now what? You did this to make me back off? Finally annoyed by me assuming the worst of you?”

“Charmed that you even had any kind of faith in me, more like,” Hitoshi shoots back, “and kind of hoping that with this out of the way we can finally talk about other shit during our—” he almost says dates but bites himself off at the last possible second. “Meetings,” he finally finishes lamely and going by the smirk on Bakugo’s face he knows exactly what Hitoshi wanted to say.

“Fine,” Bakugo says as he gets up and Hitoshi freezes completely when he’s suddenly right in his space. “I’ll find you for our next date,” he whispers, way too close to Hitoshi already and yet Hitoshi is still surprised when Bakugo’s lips brush over his.

The contact is brief, fleeting, and by the time Hitoshi comes back online, Bakugo is already out of the door.

“I hate you,” Hitoshi yells after him because what the fuck was that but the only answer he gets is the closing door.

At least until his phone chimes in his pocket.

Tell me about it over coffee is the message he finds and yeah.

Hitoshi thinks he will do exactly that.

[casspurrjoybell-33]

Wreckless - Two long weeks

*Warning Adult Content*

Emmett

I have seen almost nothing of Finnegan for two weeks.

I woke up to blow jobs a couple of mornings which let me tell you, I am not complaining about but he's been at the office sixteen to eighteen hours a day.

We managed to squeeze in miniature golf and dinner last Saturday and a really nice fuck and game time on Sunday between his work stuff but that was it.

Last night I woke up at three am, noticed he wasn't in bed and found him in his office doing a tele-conference... in Chinese... he never stops.

It's Thursday evening and he promised me via text today that he'll be home by eight so we can eat dinner together.

Slacker, only working fourteen hours today.

I have no doubt that he'll be up in the office afterwards but at least we can have a conversation and I can see how he's doing.

I'm going all out, roasting a chicken and making baked potatoes with all the fixings.

I even have dessert although I bought that, I have a job too.

At 8:16 p.m. he walks in the door and just stands there.

He's taking a few deep breaths as I walk over.

"Need some help?"

"Please."

I slowly take off his jacket and hang it and then remove his tie.

He didn't even loosen it when he left the office.

That done I go to work on his shirt buttons.

"Long day?"

He just nods, he's completely exhausted and mentally fried and it physically hurts me to see him this way.

I've seen that look in my friend's eyes, buddies from another time and another life and it's scary.

Some people don't come back from it.

He puts his hand on my shoulder to step out of his pants and I lead him to the couch and wrap him up in a blanket before turning on the TV and finding him a cartoon.

I give him the remote although I doubt he'll bother changing it, he'd have to care and for that he'd have to focus.

I check dinner and get him a drink, he's been on a lemonade kick since he got back from Michigan.

He drinks a bit and I put it on the coffee table for him before pulling him into my arms.

"I've got you Finnegan... it's okay."

I don't know how he's going to get through weeks or maybe months more of this.

"Emmett?"

"What is it?"

"I'm sort of done, I mean they're starting construction Monday. That's not done, not nearly done but it's a big stepping stone. A lot of progress. I had to get funding and permits and a contractor. Schematics, blueprints, clearance from the inspectors. God, the mess."

He's too tired to even be as coherent as usual.

My poor boy. 

"That's a huge accomplishment darling, I'm proud of you."

I probably couldn't have done all of that in a year, much less two weeks.

"I should be here, I should but Megan says I should take a vacation and see the ocean."

I love Megan... she's my favorite person.

"Absolutely, how long can you get away for?"

One day is a lot of driving and not a lot of beach although I've done it once... two days works.

Three is much better and four is actually a nice vacation.

"I don't know. How far is it? Could I come back to the office?"

Is he kidding?

"Not every morning. If you're talking Rehoboth it's two and a half, three max."

"No I meant like once. I have a thing Tuesday so we could leave Wednesday but if I can come back we could go on Sunday? I can't believe I'm saying this, it's asinine for me to leave right now. Can you get some time off? It's no notice but I can talk to Tristan. He might be able to put a good word in for you."

That's a lot to take in.

"Even though that would be a funny conversation, I'll talk to Peter. So leave Sunday morning, come back here Tuesday and then go back when? Thursday morning?"

He's curled up in a little ball and has his head on my lap.

Maybe he's half cat because he's practically purring as I run my fingers through his hair.

"We could do Wednesday afternoon if everything goes okay. No promises."

"Okay and then come back when? You gonna want to be in the office the next... Monday?"

"Honestly depends how much time you can get off work and how everything goes. Might be able to stay longer, may end up never going back Wednesday. Sorry, we're going to have to play it by ear."

He's not being elusive on purpose, his life is a firestorm right now so I'm not bothered.

"Darling, you desperately need a vacation so I will make it work. It's going to be hard to get a room but I'll get online after dinner and see what I can find."

"Emmett... I have a Megan. I'll have her do it tomorrow. I have to be on-site Saturday to do a final walk-through but I can do the rest of it from the beach for a few days. It smells really good in here, I'm starving."

Shit, I forgot to set the timer.

I jump up, sticking a pillow under his head and yes, it is definitely very done.

The skin is crispy and the leg moves easily which my mother always taught me was the sign it's done.

I have to melt the cheese and serve it up and voila, dinner is served.

"Come on back, darling."

He shuffles over and I know it's because he's exhausted which is awful but it's also adorable.

"How about I give you a massage and a nice BJ after dinner?"

"That sounds heavenly. I'm exhausted but I have a few things to do after that lovely offer. Don't let me crash."

I want him to actually get a good night's sleep but I will remind him because whatever he needs to do may be time sensitive.

I'm supposed to be taking care of him but how can I when he's never here?

At least he's getting a good meal into him, maybe after he's in bed I'll whip up some chicken salad with the leftovers and pack him a lunch.

It'll be nice not worrying about him so much tomorrow.

I'll even put a silly note in and a box of Yoo-Hoo.

That'll brighten his day.

"I'll take care of everything tonight, you can relax Finnegan."

[saltysodacracker]

January 4th, 2024.

10:08pm quality control.

I want to tell the story of how I got an entire new 1,000 credit for lululemon for free. There is a policy within in the store where if your leggings are pilling or have some kind of manufacturing flaw. Like the threading comes undone, or whatever it maybe they have to give you an exchange and give you a new one. Doesn’t matter what the product is. I kept these leggings for nine years that did not even fit and got to pick out new ones that fit and in a new different colour. Some of the clothes I even bought on clearance, but were valued significantly higher than what I actually paid for them. So knowing this simple hack I never will buy another brand of clothing but this brand for that reason. I have a lifetime warranty on my clothes. They might be 98$ for a pair of pants, however 10 year later and worn out they are still valued the same… At that rate your saving a crap ton of money. This is why people need to stop supporting fast fashion like SHEIN, urban planet, Walmart, and Ardene among others. Even thrifting something is better than supporting companies that are literally linked to sweat shops. On top of that maybe consider is it better deal to pay 5 bucks for a shirt that is really bad quality and maybe get a month use out of it or save that 5 bucks up for a few months and buy a nice top that has the quality to back up the price? For me it is quality over quantity. I do not want a lot of anything anymore even clothes. There are some girls I have seen on the internet that collect huge unnecessary quantities of the same jacket different colours or the same brand and have many wallets just different colours. While there is nothing wrong with that, to me as a consumer I really think it is a waste of money. It also seems super selfish to me to have too much of anything.

With that all being said, I wanted to share a story that happened to my cousin who works for Lululemon in a very large city. She said she was running the till and in any store they have they don’t have enough people working the tills or space for all the people. My cousin watched this guy come into the store and look at some pants and checked out the different variety of colours. He found a pair of pants he liked and looked my cousin dead in the eyes from across the store and said out loud, “I should run out of here with these, but I am just gonna walk,” and he proceeded to steal these 100$ pants right in front of everyone and there was nothing anyone could say or do about it. This really baffled me. But they are taught that if someone wants to steal from them to just let them and not engage or chase after or even call the police. She has only been working there 5 months and she has seen this happen probably 12 times she said in those months. Well what does the company do? Who pays for the pants? We the loyal consumers do. So essentially the more people steal the more the clothes go up in price or get taxed harder. If you do purchase from them get your money worth and recycle the pants for new ones. Why not? If they are going to ruin it for the honest people that pay the price a person should get a free pair regardless. Either way I am going to support them even though the founder was extremely racist and called the company Lululemon for the reason that certain cultures can’t say the name because of how many l’s are present in the name. He found it funny that when they would try to say the word they would mess it up every single time they attempted at it.

Besides all this I just think the fashion industry as a whole is super interesting based on how much something costs and how economically useful the product is. Some high fashion like Prada, I am so unsure as to why some people would pay such a high price for something that is not only ugly, but not even remotely useful. That kind of ties into the idea of what is art and how much art should cost. It can be a scribble on a piece of paper and stupid people will pay millions for something so ugly that a toddler could have created even better.

Just think about what you are purchasing in any light as a consumer. Is it worth the price you are paying? Is it morally acceptable? Do you think you will use it more than once? These and many more factors I consider before I purchase anything that has to do with fashion, accessories and even decor. Sometimes I even ask myself instead of paying a lot of money for something especially a brand name, can I in good faith create this with my own hands? Would it be cheaper to source my own materials? Can I make the quality any better than it already is?

[the-eclectic-fox]

Convention Etiquette

First day of comic con down! Lots ...lots happened today. Good and bad ...mostly not great.

But one thing that happened all day that pissed me off to the point I actually blew up at the guy, was, every time there was someone at my table looking, he would call to them and draw them away from my table. Even if I was talking to them. Don't. Fucking. Do. That. Shit. It happened ALL DAY. So finally I'd had enough and I got in the guys face (he was twice my size and twice my weight but I've been awake for 43.5 hours). I, actually managing to bite my tongue and not yell or swear but said "Hey Bud, can you do me a favor? How about WAITING until the people are done looking at my table before calling them away. I paid just as much as you did to be here." He stuttered and tried to argue so I just raised my voice and said "THANK YOU." Then, my sarcasm got the better of me and when he let a customer pass my table before talking to them I applauded and said "there, was that so hard?" And probably louder than I needed to ...

So I got the stink eye the rest of the time ...

I got him black listed so I still think I came out on top.

Artists are a community. You do not compete, you do not bully, you do not shame, you do not steal. You build up, you help, you support. If people come to me and are looking for something that I don't have but have seen, I will direct them there. Hell, I bought a bunch of prints from an artist (like, a professional artist - more pro than my amateur ass) and he thanked me for supporting him like 5 times, like sweetie, it's what we do! Your work is stunning so take my money and start telling me all about how you created it! (He published books with work from like frigging Ramon Perez)

In new comic con tradition I got some new tattoos, which if I get the chance to stream this coming week you will get to see them! I'm slowly getting all my fingers tattooed. I have very high pain tolerance (I'm a ginger with neurological damage, my body has a weird relationship with pain) and my friend has a very light touch (I always recommend him to people with low pain tolerance or scared first timers) so the first few passes feel like nothing. And it's so nice cause like an hour before that his wife ran up behind me and humped my ass (I would explain my friend group ...but I really can't ...the worst is when she did it, I had to look and see who it was because so many of my female friends greet one another that way) and then I talked with him about art, comics, and how much bullshit AI art is. It was amazing, and how I started my day.

It was mostly down hill from there. To block the glaring sun they put up curtains ...but the curtains covered the vents for the AC. SO basically - a sauna. But my system has been a little messed up so my hands were like ice and trembling non-stop while the rest of me was overheating and sweating.

No one was buying anything and we were almost completely dead the entire day. We talked to a lot of people and NO ONE is impressed this year. The weather was beautiful and there was a fair going on not far from it so that really killed us. I'm hoping that the new trend of Sunday's being busier continues on because the asshole beside me left (not because of me, he was only there today anyways) and the Art Director specifically gave me the table to spread out to for Sunday so I'm gonna put all my clearance out and make it look nice.

I hope tomorrow is a better day but I'm starting to lose faith in Comic Cons in general (not just the local one).

[xpeachesncream]

how many drinks? | one shot (jjk)

summary: the question is - how many drinks would it take for you to sleep with your bestfriend?

pairing: jjk x reader

genre: (18+) college au, dance group au, bestfriends/bestfriends with some benefits au | fluff, smut, sprinkle of angst

words: ~12.2k

warnings: cussing, mature language/implied sexual content, kind of crack-y, dancer!jk to fulfill my needs, unprotected sex, sprinkle of dirty talk, fingering, sprinkle of a handjob, slight biting, nails digging into skin, oc almost gets taken advantage of/forced into doing things she doesn’t wanna do, rough handling, song kang is in this too because i’m also a hooch for him but he’s an ass here, alcohol consumption, intoxication, mentions of blunts/smoking, house parties, cuddling, kissing/makeout sessions, straddling, breast/nipple play, hickeys, fucking on the edge of the bed, multiple orgasms, fingering, licking/neck kisses, oral (f. receiving)

note: one shot title is taken from miguel's song ‘how many drinks’ + a couple of things--

both hoseok and jimin’s piece mentioned below are inspired by real-life pieces my old dance mentor has choreographed and taught. this is the inspiration behind hoseok’s couple piece; this is the inspiration for jimin’s piece

i’m a hooch for all three of them in this video

enjoy imagining koo and oc dancing part of their couples piece like this 🥺

"Y/N." You picked up Jungkook's call as you sat at your desk in your dorm room. You had been finishing up your bio homework until the interruption came blaring through on your headphones.

"Yes?"

"Can I nap in your room?"

"The fuck I look like? A hotel?" You snorted.

"Yeah, a 5 star at that with how good you take care of me." He tries to butter you up, causing you to roll your eyes.

"You're lucky I like you."

"Yesssssssss!" You hear him faintly exclaim on the other line. "Be there in a sec."

"You know my doors are always unlocked." Which, it was true. So many of your friends had decided to live off campus that you and your other bestfriend [and beloved suitemate] were probably the only few left on campus. And that meant people were constantly in your room, hanging out or using both of your rooms, [with permission] or the couches in the shared living room space of your suite as a place to nap. College, amirite? Why the fuck would you lose your parking spot to go back to your apartment when you have friends who lived right on campus? You weren't just good for smuggling free food from the cafeteria to your broke ass, struggling off-campus friends.

Sooner or later, you're greeted by a fluffy, black-haired Jungkook, looking like his shit must have air-dried with how wavy and voluminous it was. He swings your door open so aggressively that you jump a bit in your seat, swinging off your headphones like you weren't even expecting him. You watch as he flings himself onto your neatly made bed like he hasn't felt a bed in years.

"Ugh, yes." He moans as he belly flops onto your bed and stays in that position.

"When's your next class, you little baby?"

"In like an hour or so, I don't know." He says sleepily. "Wake me up, please?"

"Sure." You realize it's Wednesday, and he definitely has Ecology lab later at 3:00PM. You figured you'd wake him up by 2:30 just to give him enough time to groggily walk his ass back over to the science building.

You and Jungkook weren't really close before college. It was moreso that you knew of each other since high school because of mutual friends. You'd see him at parties and he'd see you, but it was never more than the casual hi and bye and small talk. Maybe the occasional comments on facebook pages and the likes on pictures on instagram. But foreel, other than that, that's as real as your friendship got for awhile. You didn't mind it though, you were good with your set of friends and he was good with his. A lot of your friends attended the same university as you two and then your groups intertwined even more. 

But, it wasn't until the past couple of months or so where you both unexpectedly got really close - simply just by talking more and being around each other more. You both had similar interests and Jungkook wasn't the most vocal in his group, but with you, he seemed to talk endlessly. He loved comics and he loved raving to you about Marvel and DC superheroes. He loved to draw, and he'd draw you things every now and then - his most recent being you as a scientist superhero saving the world from overgrown malaria-infected mosquito monsters. It was the cutest thing you had ever seen, and you tacked it against your cork board near your desk. Then, small things like that turned to bringing you food or boba, being stuck at the hip where he'd only go to a certain place on campus if you were there; texting each other inside jokes and funny ass tweets all day turned to facetime sleepover calls and then late hangouts eventually turned to actual sleepovers in your bed, where he'd drape his arm around while you both slept but it never escalated into anything more than that in bed. Although he did fucking hate your medium-sized Olaf plushie that took shelter on your bed - he'd always hike it across the room and talk about how annoying he is and how he's always taking his spot. You never understood it, really.

And then soon, it turned to small displays of affection behind closed doors, where Jungkook would hold you close. Hold your hand if you two were in the room watching a show, or movie. Small kisses exchanged. Big kisses exchanged, making out sessions. But, that was literally it. Nothing else. No sex. No pressure. Lots of unspoken feelings, obviously, but you weren't gonna be the one to bring that up. Because you were comfortable, and if anything, you didn't wanna ruin what you guys already had going.

Like, is this a friends with benefits thing? Maybe? Maybe not? It was hard to label it because it's not like you both determined so, it kind of just fell together that way. And there was really no pressure to fuck every single time you got affectionate. It was cute, sweet. And no one really knew it was like that behind doors - possibly your suitemate Kass and her boyfriend, Jimin, but that's only because you shared the dorm suite with her. Jimin was also one of Jungkook's roommates and his really good friend, so whenever they had slept over on the same night, it was pure and utter chaos. But honestly, if Kass and Jimin hadn't been around you two much, they most certainly wouldn't have the idea.

Whatever it was, it was a comfortable closeness that you both experienced and appreciated. However, the both of you were afraid of discussing what this really was, afraid it'll ruin the dynamic. The atmosphere. Having to come to terms of what it might, or might not be. Neither of you can fully admit that you like the other. Although, it got hard. People did lightly tease you two because you both always looked for each other and were stuck by the hip out on campus.

Oh, well. Bottom line is that you liked your relationship where it was at, but it doesn't mean you haven't thought about the what if's. Jungkook was insanely attractive, and it's no lie that girls swarmed him left and right on campus, but he didn't give a shit [either he didn't give a shit or he was dumb as hell?]. Okay, rewind — to be fair, he would have a fling or two, flirt once or twice. He'd tell you so and so was cute and that they've hung out or texted, but that's it. He just wasn't necessarily looking for anything cause he too enjoyed where he was at with everything.

It doesn't take long before Sleeping Beauty is snoring face down on your bed, looking like Patrick Star with the way he's sprawled out. But, you continue to do your work until it was time to wake him. You gently shake him, his puppy eyes looking back at you after being face down all nap.

"Class time."

"No." He groans. "Can't I just stay here with you?"

"No, dude. Get to class." You chuckle. "You already skipped last week."

"Yeah, but this is a new week Y/N."

"Jungkook." You almost say in a scolding manner.

"Fiiiiiiine." He whines as he shoots up and hops off from your bed. "Are you going to our party on Friday?"

"I said I'd think about it right?"

"Yeah, like on Monday. It's Wednesday."

"And I'm still thinking about it." You snort, making him pout.

"Just come for a little bit."

"Why? You know parties aren't my thing and you'll be too drunk anyways. I'll end up wanting to go right the fuck back home as soon as I step outside."

"I'd like to be drunk and have you there. It'll be more fun!" He pouts as he holds your hand and swings it back and forth.

"I mean, to be completely honest, I'll probably end up going because of Kass anyways."

"Because of Kass." He rolls his eyes. "Oooookay. Not because of you, Jungkook, no." He says sarcastically, brows furrowed.

"Ew. You're such a fucking whiner. Leave." You laugh, throwing an empty water bottle at him.

"I'm kidding." He chuckles. "Wanna grab dinner with me after practice?"

"Sure. If you pay." He groans

"Fine. I'll see you later." He puckers up his lips to blow you a kiss, which you automatically reject by giving him a look before turning your attention back to your homework. You were hoping he'd offer to go to In-n-Out because you were craving that #2 with animal fries and a neapolitan shake, plus there was a Target in the same plaza that you wanted to drag him to for new pens and clearance sale shopping. And you wouldn't even warn him about it. He would tag along, no question.

Hoseok stands in front of the mirrors in the studio, pacing back and forth as your dance group learned a couple of 8-counts from this new piece he had been brewing up. Apparently, it was supposed to be a couples piece but he wasn't sure if he was going to keep it that way. He watched to see if this would be better as a group, or if he should stick to his original plans.

Your college dance group was a small group formed by people with pure, genuine interest and love for modern hip hop choreography. Hoseok was the dance lead, with Jimin being the back up lead. The group came together, taught each other pieces, taught workshops for those interested on campus and performed at the various talent shows and productions the school had throughout the year. It was just your group's way of showcasing your talents, something you all purely enjoyed, and it was nice to see the love and support given by the audiences.

"Okay, run that from the top one more time please. We'll take break after, swear." Hoseok chuckles and gives Jimin the cue to start the song back at the starting point. Jungkook makes a funny face at you as he huffs and puffs, trying to catch his breath from the last time you went through the counts.

"Ew." You giggle, slightly pushing him aside. Miguel's How Many Drinks begins to blast through the studio speakers, Jungkook doing his best to sing along and match his tone all while focusing on his steps. Once you're done going through the counts, the music continues to play, Jungkook twirling over to you just to sing—

"Cause I ain't leavin' aloneeee, I feel like I could be honest, babe." He spins to your other side. "We both know that we're grown, that's why I wanna knooooow - how many drinks will it take you to leave with meeeeEEeeeE?"

"You can give me all the drinks in the world and I swear I still wouldn't." You snort, making him frown and click his teeth.

"Too bad that's not really how you act when I ask to sleep over, though." Silence as you stick your tongue out at him. Cause, yeah. You really do tell him to sleep over without hesitation. You loved his company, you can’t lie. "Yeah, fraudulent as hell. I never taught you that." He jokes.

"Shut up, Jungkook—"

"Okay!" Hoseok says, clapping his hands. "This'll be a couple piece. I honestly think it'll work better that way, just like I envisioned it. I'll work with the couple to clean this up before the performance, but to whoever isn't casted for this, Jimin still has a piece to teach the rest of you, so don't feel discouraged!" Hoseok chuckles a bit, giving the rest of the group a small smile. "So with that being said - Y/N, Jungkook, I want you two to do this piece."

"Ouuuuuuuu." Jimin teases you from the sidelines, causing you to put up your middle finger.

"We won’t let you down, cap." Jungkook swings his arm around you.

"I'll teach you the rest of the piece next practice so we can start polishing it up and making it clean before the talent show."

"Sounds good with me." You flatly say, even though 100%, you're pretty excited for many reasons. One, you had been wanting to do a solo or couples piece for awhile, and two, your partner was Jungkook. Your best friend, your ride or die, the dude you've spent so much time with and gave your affection to behind closed doors. It made you giddy just thinking about it, even if you'd blatantly lie to his face later on when he'd tease you. And Jungkook felt the same. You missed the way he subtly bit on his bottom lip when you were named his partner, just so he wouldn't smile too big in front of you.

After practice, you egg him on enough to agree to take you to In-N-Out, without hinting at the plan you had drafted out in your head earlier.  The plan that says you're gonna drag his ass to Target afterwards and he had no choice but to come along.

"Y/N, you liar." He groans. "You said you weren't gonna go to Target." He pouts as you follows behind you anyway.

"Kook, I literally just need to get one thing."

"What's the one thing that you couldn't get on your own time?"

"I don't know, I'll have to find out when we get in there." You giggled, causing him to groan again. "Plus, we're here already. Killing two birds with one stone."

"Ah shit, I suppose I can get some bottles for the party."

"Yeah, make yourself useful Jungkook."

"Yeah, make yourself useful Jungkook, aheh." He mocks your tone and does that really weird and ugly ass laugh that dudes always do when they try to mock girls, however, you ignore it because you've just stepped into Target and bitch, this was Disneyland to you. Heaven. Paradise.

"Hm, what are we drinking on Friday?" He says his text outloud as he follows you around the dollar section where you begin to pick up really unnecessary items that you're probably just gonna store away in or around your desk somewhere.

"Should be holy water because you all need it."

"Mmm, I don't know, I don't think they have that but we can check." He responds ever so seriously, causing you to chuckle.

"How many people are you expecting?"

"Honestly, I don't even know. We said we'd keep it to close friends only. I don't really have any friends, so that's all on them."

"Ah, makes sense as to how the entire class was invited." You fire back sarcastically. "Your upstairs neighbors are really gonna have a blast."

"They're invited too."

"You guys are so dumb." He laughs when you hit him against the chest. After walking a bit, the two of you head towards the alcohol aisle, Jungkook grabbing what his arms will allow him to grab since alcohol is a little cheaper here than other grocery stores. "Isn't there a limit as to how much alcohol you can buy?"

"I don't see anything anywhere." He hauls about 4 big bottles back to the cashiers. "Besides, I'm giving them business compared to Safeway and those other grocery stores."

"Grab the coupon at least, genuis. It could save you some money." You take off the coupons from the three bottles.

He looks down at the coupon attached to the 4th bottle. "Sign up today and get 2% cash back on every bottle you buy." He snorts after reading the coupon outloud. "More like sign up today and get 2% cash back turnt." He looks at you. "This doesn't sound like a coupon, miss. Where's the ‘get 5 dollars off’ bullshit?"

"2% cash back turnt? Really?" You furrow your brows at him and hand the coupons to the cashier. "Here. God, maybe you shouldn't be hosting parties with your roommates."

"Maybe not." He holds his bags, even grabbing onto yours as you both walk out to his car. He turns up the radio, the both of you singing along to the songs coming through. When he pulls up to the lot of Edgehill Village, he parks in someone else's marked spot only because it's technically next to your door and he doesn't anticipate to stay long. But honestly, that never goes as planned. He grabs your bag from the trunk, silently following behind you as you unlock your door to an empty suite - just as you expected. Kass was most likely at Jungkook’s, spending the night with Jimin, and you'd be alone for the night. It didn't matter to you though, the peace and quiet was always nice.

"You sure you're gonna be okay here alone?" You nod.

"Yup. It's kind of nice actually." You lean forward onto your bed since it's raised a little higher than usual with bed risers, and open up your laptop. Jungkook sets your Target bag down and wraps his arms around you from behind, planting a kiss on your cheek and on your jawline.

"You sure you don't want me to sleep over? Cuddles sound nice."

"It sounds like you want to."

"Only if you want me to." He nuzzles his head against your neck, waiting for your response.

"Kook, please." You chuckle. "If you wanna sleepover, then go ahead."

"Yesssss! I do."

"Well you need to find parking, or else the person that owns that parking spot will be highly upset."

"You got it, captain. Pull up a movie!" He says, dashing out of your room to move his car. He's most likely going to come back in another 5 minutes, being that the only free parking at this time of night is probably on the other end in the gym's lot, or somewhere on the streets [if he got lucky].

And so that 5 minutes sure does go by before Jungkook is breathing heavily when he walks into your room, duffle bag swung over his shoulder with a big, dorky ass smile on his face.

"I'm back!"

"I see." You snort, still going through the movies.

"Hey, let's run through what Hobi taught us first."

"Ugh, I'm so tired though."

"Cooooome on, just once." He pulls you by the hand, his body pressed against yours as his his other arm wraps around your waist. "Please." His puppy dog eyes look down at you, causing you to push him away because fucking hell, that shit makes you weak. Makes the pussy throb just a lil, you know? Christ.

"Only if you watch 10 Things I Hate About You."

"Sure, I don't mind." He pulls up the song on your laptop. The both of you face the mirror in front of you, careful not to hit each other since you had such limited space to fully move around. Running through it once was a full blown lie, being that you both are doing it for almost 5-6 times before you're laughing at how out of breath you already are. You're so out of it and winded by the last time around that you accidentally hit Jungkook in the face, causing him to whine and stumble off to the side.

"Oh shit!" You laugh. "I'm so sorry, Kookie!" You run over to cup his face. "Are you okay? You good?"

"Shit, Y/N. You have a heavy hand." He keeps his hand against his cheek.

"I'm sorry." You lean in to plant a kiss on his cheek, but Jungkook being Jungkook, he looks to the side to have his lips meet yours instead. He picks you up in one swift motion, your legs wrapped around his torso as he sits you on your bed, your hands still cupping his face. And honestly, you really wanted him. You've always wanted him since this whole thing started. God, he was attractive to you - every little thing about Jungkook was a fucking weakness, but you weren't gonna let up first. Not tonight. The scar on his cheek, his soft, fluffy hair, his toned body, his muscular ass arms, the way he held onto you when you both slept, the way he kissed you.

Lord, he was truly going to be the death of you.

Before the kiss could get any deeper, you smile into it and back away, keeping your gaze on the small, dazed smile Jungkook has on his face.

"Can we watch now?" You ask, subtly biting onto your bottom lip.

"Yeah, good idea."

"Actually, after all that, I need to shower first."

"Can I join?" His eyes light up.

"Sit your ass down. You can go after." You laugh as you hop off the bed, grabbing your pajamas for a quick shower. You literally take 10 minutes, walking back into your room with wet hair and an oversized shirt and shorts underneath. Although you had been completely comfortable with Jungkook, the both of you have never really seen each other fully naked like that. Whenever he slept over, you were both always fully clothed. You've seen him hop out of the shower and come in shirtless, but that's probably about it. You start to brush your teeth as he rummages through his emergency duffle bag full of shit that he holds in the trunk of his car, grabbing a fresh pair of clothes to change into after his shower. You already know his ass is gonna use your shampoo for everything because he loves the smell of it and always talks about how good your hair smells.

While waiting for him, you slip yourself under your covers and pull the laptop closer to you, scrolling through your phone aimlessly to see what's new on instagram. Which, is absolutely nothing, so you let out a dissatisfied sigh.

"Ready!" He comes in, tossing his towel aside and shutting off the lights to crawl into your bed with you.

"You smell just like me." You chuckle.

"It's great, isn't it?"

"Your hair isn't bothering you?" You run your hand through his incredibly wet hair as he shakes his head.

"No, I'll be good."

"Okay." He wraps his arm around you to pull you onto his body, the movie already off to a start. As the movie goes on, you find yourself getting sleep as both of your bodies sink deeper into the sheets, Jungkook still not letting you go. The laptop rests on his belly, while your head is on his chest, his heartbeat the one thing putting you to sleep pretty quickly. He's comfortable, just as you are. He's warm, you're warm. He's content, you're content. You drift off to sleep while he continues to watch, knowing your bodies will be pressed tightly against each other in the morning.

"Kook there's so many fucking people here. The cops are gonna come and shut this down quick." Jungkook shrugs.

"Oh well, wasn't my idea." He snorts. "Shot?!" He hands you a shot that you take with ease, feeling like you aren't drunk enough for all this shit and all these people. "Atta girl."

"Yuck, though." You slightly make a sour face as you feel the warmth trickle down your throat and into your stomach.

"Heeeey, whyyyyy do you look so FaMiliaR?" This girl asks Jungkook in a weird, flirty tone, where every other consonant goes up and down. She's obviously really fucking drunk and out of her mind because for one, she definitely goes to the same school as you two, and she has definitely been in class with Jungkook before.

"Oh uh, my name's Justin Bieber. I used to sing from time to time." He says nonchalantly with you furrowing your forehead at him because what kind of response did he just give her?! What did he just tell her? You're so embarrassed that you slowly turn on your heel and walk out of the kitchen as you hear him sing One Less Lonely Girl hella out of tune, with the girl completely smitten over his drunk ass.

"Where's Jungkookie?" Kass asks as she sits on Jimin's lap.

"Over there, pretending to be Justin Bieber apparently."

"Oh, nice. You don't come across that often." Jimin says sarcastically. "Are you staying here tonight?"

"Yeah, stay here tonight, with Kookie." Kass wiggles her eyebrows, her cheek resting on top of Jimin's head. "It's not like that's anything new."

"Um, I'd rather much be back in the dorm."

"That cold, lonely place? When you could be here, in such a pretty apartment with such a pretty boy?" You shake your head at her.

"Unbelievable." You mutter. Suddenly, an incredibly tall man walks into the apartment, reaching about 6'1 and almost hitting the ceiling with his tall ass. You've never seen him before, but he walks in with Hoseok and Namjoon and for whatever reason, you can't peel your eyes off of him. "Woah, who's that?"

"Who's what?" Jungkook finally comes to your side after being Justin Bieber for a good minute or so, his eyes following yours. Who was he and why were you looking at him so intensely?

"That's Kang! You've never met him?" Jimin says, doing a slight nod to greet him as he passes by. Kang and his fine self looks up at you, a small smirk creeping up at the corner of his lips as he continues through to the kitchen behind Hoseok and Namjoon. "He's a transfer and on the basketball team."

"He's fiiiiine." You and Kass swoon over him a bit, Jungkook giving you a look.

"He's alriiiight. I've seen better."

"Shut up, no one asked you." You lightly punch him on the side, making him lightly groan while Jimin and Kass laugh. The rest of the party, you suddenly have a goal to find out more about Kang and see what he's about because you and Jungkook weren't official. You both didn't really know what this was, but one thing you knew for sure was that it wasn't anything exclusive. You wouldn't bring it up, so wouldn't Jungkook - so was this really something all that meaningful?

Whatever, you didn't wanna keep going in circles about it.

Jungkook fucking hates it though, and he's honestly really jealous that you're suddenly trying to be all cute and woo the new, tall, handsome [but he's not really that fucking handsome to Jungkook for christ's sake] basketball player. Jungkook almost wants to mock his every move and how suavé he is, almost looking like a try hard with the way he's leaning against the wall and talking to you.

Wait— he's talking to you?! You were literally right next to him 2 seconds ago.

"What the fuck?" He squints, trying to make sure he's actually looking at you.

"You're so full of shit." Jimin laughs.

"What are you talking about?"

"Why don't you just admit that you like her and stop being childish about it?"

"I don't like her. She's just my bestfriend."

"Um, okay?" Jimin snorts. "When you sleep at her place every chance you get and vice versa? When she has a ton of your shirts and hoodies in her own fucking closet? When you always get so affectionate with her in the dorm? Sure, you don't like her."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do, you've done it in front of me and Kass before but you both tried playing it off. I don't understand you two."

"Well, I don't like her. She obviously doesn't either with the way she's trying to be all up on him." Jungkook glares at you, his teeth biting the rim of the cup harshly as he brings it to his lips to take a sip.

"Whatever, I'm just saying dude. Probably better to be straight up about it than not."

"Kaaaaaaay." Jungkook responds sarcastically, trying to play off how butthurt he was right now. Cause yeah, he did fucking like you. He was just scared to admit it though because of reasons like this - the fact that you possibly didn't like him back killed him. The fact that you could possibly be using him to feel wanted, needed. It made his stomach turn.

He just really liked you, and god, did he want to be the one in your bed tonight. Whether or not that ended up in sex, whatever. He just wanted to be the one to touch you, be on you.

Meanwhile, Kang was attractive as hell and ouwee, were you feeling him tonight. You were, you really were - except, you could literally feel the holes Jungkook was burning through you from across the room. You'd occasionally glance over due to how distracting it was, Jungkook literally have no shame with eyeing you, almost glaring at you, from across the apartment.

"Is it too forward if I ask for your number already?" Kang licks his lips, his teeth lightly piercing his bottom lip as he looks down at you.

"No." You smirk at him, taking his phone to put your number in.

"We should kick it soon. I'd love to hang out with you and get to know you better."

"Yeah, just let me know when." You blush, until you're suddenly pulled out of your daze by a loud 'ahem,' the loudest throat-clearing you have ever heard in your life. You turn to see Jungkook making his way back over to the shots, knowing damn well he's calling you over. "See you around?" Kang winks before he tips his cup to you and gives you a single nod.

"Sure thing, cutiepie." You bite onto your bottom lip, making your way over to Jungkook at the shot station, instantly pinching his arm.

"What the fuck?"

"Nobody was calling you over." Jungkook smirks.

"Shut the fuck up, yes you were. I know that was you clearing your throat like that."

"I'm sorry, does it bother you?" He blinks cutely, tilting his head to the side. "Besides, why come over here when you're too busy with your man?"

"Are you jealous?"

"Why in the hell would I be jealous, Y/N? Do you." The words sting you, even though part of you still wants to believe that Jungkook may actually like you. All you can do is sigh and brush it off, placing your cup down in front of him as he pours himself another shot. "You sure?"

"Just give me the damn shot." You say, making it your 7th.

And the 7th turns into 8, 8 turns into 9, 9 turns into 10. And at 10, you're pretty fucking drunk even as the party is starting to die down by the time it's close to 2am. All 10 were a good combination of shots and mixed drinks.

10 drinks.

10 drinks is what it took for you to lay in Jungkook's bed at the end of the night, hands tangled in his fluffy hair as your makeout session intensifies by the minute - all due to this sexual tension, frustration, whatever the hell it was brewing between you two after all this time. The both of you are drunk as hell, and it's pretty evident with the way you can still taste the alcohol on his tongue, both sloppily touching up on each other, kisses getting wetter, clothes coming off like there's no tomorrow.

"Wait, are you sure?" Jungkook says, about to unhook your bra.

"Jungkook, god, just fuck me." You plead drunkily, the room spinning around you. He continues to unhook your bra, tossing it across the room where your other clothes lay, peppering kisses along your neck before licking up a stripe to meet your lips again. He hooks his fingers across the band of your panties, tugging them down and letting them get lost within his sheets. You take this as leverage to tug his boxer briefs down, already stroking his hardened member the moment you come into contact with it. The sad thing is that you both are so fucking drunk, you can't even appreciate the fact that you both are naked in front of each other for the first time ever.

You can't even come to terms with the fact that you both are about to fuck each other and cross that boundary completely.

But, hell, what do you care? You were drunk. You got a cute guy's number. You're getting dick at the end of the night.

"Oh shit, Y/N." He moans into your mouth as he feels you stroking him. "Need to feel you." He quickly runs his finger down your fold, slipping in two digits to pump them in and out, quickly prepping you for his dick.

"Hnnng--Kook." You bite onto your bottom lip as your eyes shut close momentarily, your head digging deeper into the pillow the more he tries to stretch you out. "Want you inside of me."

"I got you." He says. You almost whine at the loss of contact until you feel his tip poking at your entrance. He slowly continues to slip himself inside of you, Kook letting out a small groan while your mouth was left open, a soundless moan releasing before you hiss and take in all of him. He fills you up so well, so completely. He was so big that you felt full, bloated, with him being inside of you the way he was.

"Ohhhhhgod." You whimper as he starts to steady his pace, the lewd noises of his cock slipping in and out of your wet pussy filling his room - god forbid if Jimin or their other roommate Yoongi heard this right now. It would be nothing short of pornographic.

"You're so wet. Is that all for me?" He says, causing your eyes to roll to the back of your head as he begins to aggressively thrust into you.

"Y-yes." You whine.

"Say it again."

"All for you, Kook."

"I fucking thought so." He drunkily responds as one hand grips onto your hips tightly, the other in your hair as he digs his head back into the crook of your neck, his tongue messily licking near your jaw before he nibbles onto your earlobe.

"Hmmmmgggh, Jungkook. Fuck." You moan as you start to work your hips upward into his, your clit rubbing against his pelvis, causing the pleasure to pool quickly within the pit of your stomach. It causes goosebumps to pierce through the surface of your skin, your hands gripping tighter on his hair. "You're-you're gonna make me cum. Faster." You plead. He does just so, hammering into you, the sound of his hips slamming into yours bouncing off of the walls.

"Ahhh—Y/N." He groans.

"Just like that, just like that, just like that!" You repeat, your clit feeling incredibly stimulated by the way it rubs against his skin while he fucks into you. "Oh shit! Jungkook!" You moan loudly, biting his shoulder as you feel yourself trembling hard in his grip, your orgasm taking over your entire body.

"Shit, shit, shit—Y/N, Shiiiit." He says into your neck, followed by more curses and groans as you feel him coat your walls warmly. He stays inside of you until the both of you come back down to normalcy, your breathing becoming more regulated. He slowly slips himself out, plopping next to you on the bed, but doesn't welcome you into his arms.

The night goes on, the both of you sleeping on your own sides of Jungkook's bed, not really saying a word to each other. Because the both of you, although still pretty drunk, are more aware by the time it's over and it's become so clear how fucked up this got.

You were hurt. Completely hurt. Because you didn't expect Jungkook to just fucking ghost you after that night. You wanted to talk about it, maybe come to the conclusion that you two should just distance yourselves from each other to figure this out, even if it would hurt you a lot to do so.

No.

That morning, Jimin and Kass had to take you back to campus because Jungkook had darted out of his room, nowhere to be seen until later that night. The next week or so, there were no texts, no calls. No visiting your dorm, no asking to sleepover.

Nothing.

Just radio silence, white noise, if you will.

The one thing he could come up with was a stupid response to your text when you finally caved and asked what you did wrong mid-week.

Something along the lines of 'what do you want me to say, Y/N? do you want me to force myself to feel a certain way?'

Followed by a 'i'm sorry, fuck. that came out really wrong' even though you thought it came out perfectly fine. You understood loud and clear.

Even though this wasn't really an exclusive thing, or even a 'thing' if we wanna be straight up, you still couldn't help but feel like Jungkook had just dumped your ass with no explanation and you were still waiting for that explanation to come, whether it would or not. And because of this, you started to see Kang, hangout with him more often. He even took you out on a dinner date and you really enjoyed his company. He seemed genuine, caring, supportive - even if a lot of the basketball boys were the complete opposite. He was different, you liked to think.

And so you stand in front of the mirrors in the dance studio, you and Jungkook awkwardly running through the piece with Hoseok watching, confused as to why all of a sudden the two of you have this weird tension going on. It hasn't entirely ruined the couple piece, but it hasn't brought it together, either. The both of you could barely look at each other, barely get into the movements, the emotions behind the motions. Hoseok had to correct a few things, his 'pah pah pah's' echoing in the room constantly with how many times you and Jungkook had to be set straight for your sloppy steps today.

"Okay, I'm not saying it's bad, cause it's not. But can you both please act like you at least like each other or something? What's going on with you two? You aren't normally like this." Hoseok says, coming down to a crouch in front of the mirrors.

"Nothing, we'll do better. Don't worry." You brush off the entire question with your quick response. Jungkook looks at you, his hands on his hips, lightly frowning at how much you're distancing yourself even though he knows its entirely his fault for running from his feelings and not being honest with you.

"Okay, let's do it from the top." The music starts, you getting into the piece without making any eye contact with Jungkook. Even the steps that cause you to be close and near Jungkook, you look anywhere but his eyes, and your touch is light, trying your hardest not to let any feelings pass through the motion. Hoseok is a little more pleased this time around, but it still doesn't sit right with him, so he lets you two take a break while he heads to the other studio to check on Jimin and the rest of the group.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

"Jungkook, you don't get to ask me that." He sighs and runs his hand through his hair, not sure if he should continue on or not.

"Y/N—"

"Save it, and let's just get this over with, okay? I don't wanna be here just as much as you." Your words cut him deep because dear, you have gotten him completely misunderstood and yet, he still can't speak. He still can't talk about his feelings. He still can't save this even though he wants to, even though he loathes seeing you the way you are with Kang.

"I never said—"

"Kay, ready? Let's run this full out and make it a good one so we can call it for today." Hoseok says, clapping his hands to hype you two up somehow. The music starts and you're finally able to get into the steps. The emotions. And god, it's only because you're so hurt by your own bestfriend. You're hurt that he fucked you so good, and then dipped. You're hurt that he couldn't even face you the day after. You're hurt that after all this time, he made it seem like you still didn't matter enough - at least enough for an explanation, for some kind of reasoning, conversation, behind what just went down between the both of you. Between what has been going down between the both of you.

Besides the stupid ass responses he gave you through text.

You get so into your feelings that you don't even realize you're tearing up by the time the piece is over, and Jungkook catches it even though you face away from him as soon as the music cuts out.

"Nice, okay! That was so much better! Let's pick it up next session, yeah? We'll keep cleaning it up. Thanks guys!" Hoseok says. You immediately head towards the wall, grabbing your things to avoid any confrontation from Jungkook, but he grabs your arm as soon as you slip through the door.

"Y/N, wait. Stop."

"Let me go." You yank your arm from his grip.

"Why are you crying?" He stops in front of you, his hands placed on your arms to prevent you from moving any further.

"I'm not." You blatantly lie while you aggressively wipe away the stragglers coming down.

"Really? Just gonna lie like that?"

"Why do you care? You haven't said shit to me all week." You snap back, and Jungkook is taken aback from the tone in your voice. You remove his hands from your arms, and take one last look at him before shaking your head and walking off.

Next mistake? He doesn't come after you.

This was a waste of fucking time. If he truly cared about you, he wouldn't let you hurt like this.

You let out a deep sigh before clutching onto your things and walking back to your dorm. The walk from the gym/fitness center was damn near on the other end of campus compared to your dorm. It would be a good 10 minute walk if you really took your time. A good 10 minutes to ponder on your thoughts.

Yes, you liked Jungkook. You really liked him. Having sex with him solidified those feelings even more. How could you not have feelings for your bestfriend after all the moments you've shared? Was it your fault for assuming that? Was it your fault for walking through that door when it seemed to be completely open for you?

"Sup." Kang comes out of nowhere, pulling you out of your thoughts. He swings his arm around your shoulder, gently pulling you closer to his body.  "Just got out of practice?"

"Sure did." You give him a toothless smile. Yes, he was attractive as hell. He always will be. But, even with the time you spent together, the date he took you on, he still couldn't make you feel the way Jungkook has been able to make you feel.

"How was it?"

"Um, it was alright. Nothing new really, just cleaning up the piece before the show. You're going right?"

"Why wouldn't I?" He smiles down at you. "Listen, I don't know if you've heard, but there's another party tonight."

"A party? It's Wednesday." You snort.

"Yeah, I mean, one of the boys on the Lacrosse team is throwing it at his family house because his parents will be gone. Wanna come? I'll pick you up. We don't have to stay for long." You looked at your watch.

"What time is it at?"

"Like 9ish?" Enough time for you to shower and get a quick dinner in your belly. Why the hell not? You were caught up for the week. You didn't have any pressing assignments that were due asap.

"Sure. I'll come."

"Cool. See you later then?" He says, about to part ways with you. You simply give him a nod before walking deeper into Edgehill village. You hoped you wouldn't regret this tonight, and you really hoped he meant it when he said you two didn't have to stay for long. You drag yourself into your room, seeing Kass' door wide open, revealing her packing up her duffle bag.

"Hey, where are you headed during the middle of the week?"

"My two classes got cancelled for tomorrow so me and Jiminie are heading out for a mini getaway for our anniversary." You cross your arms and smile. "He's just gonna catch up on shit when we get back I guess." She laughs.

"That sounds cute. I hope you have loads of fun this weekend, babe."

"What are you gonna do?" Kass and Jimin were obviously aware of everything happening between you and Jungkook being that they had to be the ones to take you home. They never pressed on it though, knowing you both were still pretty upset about how things were playing out. They figured you two would eventually work it out, but until then, they would just sit back and keep their mouths shut. You two were being completely stubborn, but it wasn't their relationship to fix.

"Well, there's this party Kang wants to take me to tonight."

"The Lacrosse party? Messy." She laughs. "Be careful, but also have fun, yeah? I still don’t know if I trust him.”

"Yeah I know."

"Tell me how it goes!"

"I will." You wave her off as you head into your room and shut the door. You figured you would just grab dinner on campus to avoid spending more money than you should; after all, dinner seemed to be pretty bomb tonight. You didn't mind going alone, sometimes Namjoon would join you, asking for you to bring him a plate of food while he does the hard job of sneaking inside the cafeteria through the back door. He usually waits for you at a free table and ends up staying there to have dinner with you, updating you on how life has been, how school has been. Sometimes Hoseok would join you, too. Either way, you didn't mind if no one joined. It was nice to have dinner by yourself from time to time.

You get there on time to be able to grab some food, eat quietly and head out before the cafeteria gets way too busy for your liking. You slip into the shower and throw on a mini skirt, a crop top and a denim jacket, lightly fluffing your hair in the mirror and adding a dab of lip gloss to your lips before Kang is calling you to tell you he's outside your dorm. He's wearing something similar to your color palette, however, you don't make much out of it since this also wasn't really an exclusive thing and you sure as hell weren't going around telling people you and Kang had a thing going on.

To him, you two might be a thing. You've definitely overheard people talking about you two in passing.

To you though, you two definitely weren't. And it was a big fuck you to Jungkook for that.

The house is packed from end to end already, and you're surprised being that it has barely hit 10 minutes since the party was expected to take off. Kang is having to park down the hill, allowing you to hop onto his back for a quick piggy back ride up until you reach the front of the house. There's people already fucked up out on the lawn [you figured they fucked themselves over during their pre-game session cause that shit really happens from time to time], either laying there drunkily or yacking on a free patch of grass.

Gross.

Messy, indeed.

Some people are posted, smoking blunts and offering it to people who were passing by. You and Kang both pass up on it, the idea of not knowing where it has been not sitting right with you. You both head straight to the bottles, taking shots and downing mixed drinks to chase it with so that you can catch up with majority of the crowd. Kang has his arm around your shoulder throughout the night, keeping you close to him, even when he's getting pretty drunk. You realize he's a little more handsy than usual, a little more touchy than you expected him to be. It doesn't bother you for a minute, until he really tries to hike up your skirt while you sit on his lap. You gently shoo his hand away, playing it off while he nuzzles his head against your neck.

"Let's go upstairs, babe." He says, the pet name sounding incredibly off coming from him. Maybe you were drunk, maybe you really just weren't in the mood. It just didn't sound cute, if that even makes sense?

"Okay." You respond stupidly, not wanting to cause a scene at a lacrosse party. You intertwine your fingers with his as he leads the way up the stairs, eyeing the doors as they come into view. He leans forward towards each door, making sure it's clear before opening it. You assume he finally finds one that he's satisfied with when you catch the small smirk that grows at the corner of his lips when he turns the door knob and brings you inside. He pulls you into a deep, rough kiss, one that doesn't even allow you to breathe and process what the fuck is even going on. You can't get into it for the life of you, no matter how hard you try to back away. "Wait, wait."

"What's wrong, baby? Isn't this what you wanted?" He says, kissing down your neck as he drops his jacket to the floor. He gently pushes you onto the bed, his hands traveling up your skirt as you lay there trying to push him off.

"Wait, stop." He doesn't listen. He continues until his hands are literally hooking onto your panties, his finger swiping down your clothed folds. You try fighting him off, but he's way stronger than you. He continues to be aggressive, forcefully trying to shove your panties down until you muster up all the energy you have to finally push him off of you completely. "Stop!"

"What the fuck? I thought you wanted this?"

"Who the hell said that?"

"Are you serious? The way that you're dressed and the way that you look at me. The way you approached me at your friend's party - isn't it all because of this? Because you wanted me? Why are you backing out now?"

"Jesus, get over yourself." You stand, fixing your skirt back down. He furrows his brows at you before his hand grips your arm tightly, shoving you against the wall.

"The fuck, you can't just leave without giving me anything. I brought you here to this party."

"Let me go! You're fucking sick. No one even told you I wanted this to go down. I don't know who you think you are, but you need to get yourself together and stop assuming every pussy is yours to take." He attempts to pin you, his hand holding up both of your hands against the wall while the other tries to pull up your skirt. Someone accidentally opens the door, distracting him and giving you leverage to shove him off and get the fuck away. You dart down the steps, fixing your skirt as you head outside and away from the house.

Fuck, you're far from campus. And Kass and Jimin aren't around.

God.

You groan and run your hand through your hair as you continue to walk down the hill and into the neighborhood to get as far away as possible from that house and that gross ass dude. He was literally just like the rest of the basketball team. You've heard stories and they weren't nice. Looks like he was trained well already, and that shit was sad. What a waste. A beautiful human being with such a nasty, sick mindset. You hoped other girls hadn't fallen for his shit.

Ugh, it sends shivers down your spine. Bad shivers.

"Hello? Y/N?"

"Kook, can you come pick me up please?"

"Yeah, yeah. Of course. Where are you?"

"I'll drop my location. Please hurry." You say, looking back to make sure your coast was clear. You drop the pin into your text thread with Jungkook and sit on the curb until his arrival. It's getting pretty chilly out, and the denim jacket you're wearing fails to provide you with the warmth you're looking for. Sooner or later, Jungkook is pulling up, damn near hopping out before he can shift the gear into park.

"You okay? What happened?" He says, opening the door for you before rushing over to the driver's seat.

"Nothing, can we just go back to your place?" He nods silently, and doesn't press any further after hearing your tone. He watches from his peripherals how you fiddle with your fingers and constantly reach to pull your skirt down even though he doesn't think there's any other way you could pull it down even more. He watches as he parks the car on the curb in front of his apartment how you simply undo your seatbelt and hop out to walk straight into his apartment. He watches as you welcome yourself into his closet and pick out some clothes for you to change in.

You were hurt, and his blood boils thinking about who could've done this and what they could have possibly done.

I mean, no. He knows who did this, but the question was what exactly did he try?

He hears the shower turn on, then quickly get turned off after a good 5 minutes. You had stepped in for a quick body shower, using Jungkook's bodywash just to rid yourself of feeling gross. Feeling gross from being shoulder to shoulder all night long, people breathing down your neck. Kang touching you inappropriately. You slip into Jungkook's clothes, his scent wrapping around you entirely. When you head back into the room, Jungkook has his headset back on as he faces his computer, logging back onto his game of League of Legends. You silently toss your dirty clothes to the side of his room, making a mental note to grab it tomorrow morning and toss it straight into the laundry.

Straight into a fire, perhaps. But you loved those clothes so much, it was unfortunate it'd have such a horrible memory to go with it.

Jungkook slowly removes his headset again and removes himself from his game before he heads over and sits on the edge of his bed. You simply look at him, pursing your lips tightly together to prevent yourself from crying.

But he can tell.

"What happened Y/N?" The question triggers you, making you cry into your hands as he sits there, dumbfounded and worried at how he can fix this and make you feel better. "Look, you don't have to tell me all the details but please tell me how I can help. At least tell me if I need to beat Kang's ass." He says, pulling you into his arms.

"He tried to fucking take advantage of me." You mumble as you remove your face from your hands.

"He did what?" He manages to ask even though he has a hard time swallowing the lump that formed in his throat. He already assumed you had placed him in the same category as Kang even though he never intended to take advantage of you. He really took that night as something special [even drunk], and he never meant to make you feel like you were a used object. Not like Kang.

"He-he," You sniffed. "He tried to force me into having sex with him. He took me upstairs at that lacrosse guy's party or whoever the hell it even was, and he started to aggressively kiss me. And then he tried to force my panties down and touch me there, and—"

"Okay, please don't go on or else I'll literally go over there and tear his ass apart right now. I promise you." He says sternly, his jaw clenching tightly. "God, fuck. I'm so sorry Y/N. I can't apologize on his behalf but fuck, you didn't deserve that." He uses his sweater to wipe your tears.

"I don't even know why I'm crying, this shit isn't even worth it." You groaned. "It's just overwhelming to process, I guess."

"That's okay." He says, letting out a sigh as he brushes his hand through your hair and continues to wipe the stragglers falling from your eyes. "Anything I can get you right now?"

"No, I'm probably just gonna go to bed." He nods. "Thank you for picking me up."

"Of course. You know I'll always be there." He says. You slip yourself into his sheets, watching as he makes his way back to his desk. But fuck, the only thing you needed right now was him. You didn't want this distance anymore, and you just wanted to be comforted in true Jungkook fashion.

"Wait."

"Hm?" He hums as he has a hand placed on the  head of his chair while he turns to you.

"Can you just lay with me?"

"Yeah." He says, shutting off his computer before making his way over to you in the dark. You feel him slip in next to you, his arm snaking around your shoulders so he can pull you close and onto his chest. "Better?"

"Yeah." You say, shutting your eyes as you listen to his heart beat.

"Y/N."

"Yeah?"

"I never meant to take advantage of you, or make you feel like I used you that one night." Silence. "It was dumb of me, but I just— I had trouble coming to terms with my feelings. I was scared that you wouldn't feel the same way, but I thought fuck it, at least you would know, right?"

"What are you talking about, Kook?" You ask, close to a whisper.

"I'm saying that I really fucking like you, Y/N. No, that's not right." He curses himself. "I-I uh, I'm in love with you. And I don't know if I messed this up already with the way I acted, god I hope not, but you at least deserve to know that I truly do value you and that you mean alot to me. That night, even though we were pretty plastered, it meant a lot to me. It was more than just sex and I'm sure you felt that too." He waits for your response as his fingers rake through your hair. "Please say something, anything."

"I feel the same way, Jungkook. You're an idiot for running off, but I couldn't even stay mad at you. You just know how to hit my soft spots and I can never say no to it. Can never turn my back on it." He presses a kiss against the top of your head.

"Fuck, I'm really glad to hear that cause I don't know what I would have done besides cry if you rejected me." You playfully hit his chest.

"You're annoying." You jokingly say as you chuckle.

"I'm sorry. I really am. I never wanted to hurt you."

"It's okay." You look up to press your lips against his before laying back down.

"And Kang better be fucking glad you're pressed against my body right now because I'm still looking to beat his ass."

"He's not even worth it." Is the last thing you say before you find yourself drifting into a deep sleep, in the comfort of Jungkook's arms.

"You two feeling okay? Nervous?" You and Jungkook shake your heads. "Good, you guys got this. You've been looking amazing during practice, the audience will love you two, no doubt. Just remember to show emotions through expressions and hit every beat sharply." Hoseok nods in unison with the both of you.

"Got it, thanks Hobi." You smile at him toothlessly. You and Jungkook patiently waited for your turn backstage, the talent show already off to a wild and fun start. So many students came by to showcase their talents - from beatboxing, open mic, freestyling [like Yoongi did], dancing, singing, you name it. It was always a fun time at the talent show, and it was always nice to see people getting love for the shit they loved to do.

"You're up next." Hoseok says. "I'll be in the front row. Kick ass and have fun!" He says as he rushes off towards the opposite end to head back out to his seat in the theater.

"Ready?" Jungkook holds out his hand for you to take.

"I think so." You playfully respond as the backstage crew is rushing out the previous talent and rushing you two in to take your places on stage. The lights pick up as soon as the music starts, Kang's big ass head already in full view for you. He's definitely not smiling, no, he has a look of pure disgust because he simply couldn't get what he wanted from you.

And boy, who's fault was that? Not yours, no sir. It was his fault for thinking he had it like that.

But anyways, you're feeling the music, you're feeling the piece because you're dancing with your bestfriend and there wasn't this grey area anymore. It was easier to get into the motions, to get into the feeling, especially when things felt right between the two of you.

And God, what else is more attractive than Jeon Jungkook hitting his 8 counts so smoothly, with just enough umph to make it pop but make it pop cleanly.

Yo, please. I beg. Send some help. You could literally melt on stage.

The moments where Jungkook has to be close to you, where he has to touch you - you let him, and you touch him with meaning. You don't stray away this time because you have no reason to. The crowd is cheering, lots of 'ou's' and 'aw's' erupting from various places in the theater.

"Pretty lady." Jungkook whispers in your ear as the move requires his hands to be placed on your hips for a quick moment. You hear him slightly singing along to the song as he parts from you, causing you to blush.

Sooner or later, the couple piece is over and the song is transitioning to Jimin's piece, you and Jungkook rushing off the stage so the next group can take their positions. Jimin wanted to test his limits, creating a piece a little different than his usual taste - Chris Brown's Came to Do begins blaring through the theater speakers. You immediately jump into Jungkook's arms once you both reach backstage, the both of you immensely happy and pumped that you got through the piece without messing up one step or beat. It went so smoothly that Hoseok was standing in the front row, clapping and cheering in typical Hoseok fashion. You intertwine your fingers with his, slipping through the side door to catch Jimin's piece on stage. You and Jungkook are cheering them on, always impressed by the shit your friends can come up with. You both loved dancing, but you couldn't even imagine coming up with your own pieces to teach people.

That night after the show, everyone heads to a nearby restaurant for dinner with everyone. You all take up almost an entire section of the restaurant, splitting two long tables to accommodate the entire group with doubled the waitresses to take your orders. You settle for water, splitting an abnormally huge and filled deep dish pizza with Jimin, Kass and Jungkook. It was a good day, a good night, everyone at the table happily eating and chatting it up over dinner. You turn down any drinks because to be honest, drinks lowkey make you queasy just from the thought of how much you drank at Jungkook's apartment, plus the added bonus of that party Kang took you to. Jungkook declines as well, knowing he has to drive you back safely.

Jimin and Kass head back to the apartment because Yoongi says he's gonna hang out with Joon And Hoseok for a bit, and they warn you and Jungkook that things may get loud so the both of you decide to really stick to the plan of bringing you back to the dorm. Jungkook does his usual routine of dropping you off first before finding parking around campus. You hop in the shower and come out in Jungkook's oversized crewneck that he left in your closet, forgoing the shorts because you certainly thing that at this point, he'd love to see you in his sweater and panties.

And he does. He smiles as he pulls you close, his hands traveling up your sweater, only to find out that you literally don't have shit on besides some cute little boyshorts. He feels himself hardening in his pants quick because he's incredibly attracted to you and everything about you, always has been, always will be.

"You did amazing tonight." He says, gently kissing your forehead.

"You did too, partner." He gives you a slightly shocked look.

"Is that all I am to you? Your dance partner?"

"Yeah, why? Were you expecting more?" You joke as you smile up at him.

"Yeah, I was."

"Oh?" He gently swoops you up into his arms, your legs wrapped tightly around his torso as he sits you on the bed, his hands resting on your thighs while you continued to hold him around the neck. "Care to tell me what you were expecting?"

"Well, you know, my best friend—" He presses a kiss against your lips, thumbs gently rubbing circles against your hips. "My girlfriend."

"Hm, say that again?" Your fingers are gently playing with the ends of his hair, your lips barely grazing his.

"My girlfriend." He says closed to a whisper, kissing you softly. The kiss deepens quick, Jungkook's tongue lining your bottom lip as his way of asking for permission to take it further. You gladly take it and let him in, your tongues instantly fighting for dominance. Your fingers travel up his hair, tugging ever so slightly just to let him know you want more. That you need more.

And he gets that.

His fingers hook onto the band of your boyshorts, tugging them down and letting them fall down your legs and onto the floor. He breaks the kiss momentarily, his brown, puppy dog eyes looking straight into yours.

"Hey." He says, brushing the hair out of your face.

"Hm?"

"I know I said the last time was special, and it was. It is." He corrects himself. "But, I wanna do right by you this time around. So, is it okay if I keep going? Are you comfortable?" He asks properly, since the two of you are both sober and perfectly coherent, aware of your surroundings and the fact that you'll be seeing each other fully naked in a few minutes.

"Yes." You respond. "Yes, I want you to keep going. I want you. This." He simply nods, bringing his lips back onto yours. His hands climb up your sweater and gently gives your breasts a good squeeze, earning a small moan from the both of you. His other hand begins to travel down to your pussy, two long fingers slowly probing your entrance and causing your breathing to hitch.

"You okay?" He asks lowly. You nod, biting onto your bottom lip as you tilt your head back and rest on your hands, no longer able to keep up with the kiss due to all the pleasure starting to pile up deep in your core. Jungkook starts of slow, his head now buried into the crook of your neck as he works his digits upward, tickling at the right spot.

"Ohhhh, Kook." You mewl as his tongue swipes across the surface of your neck, biting gently beneath your jaw. He begins to pick up the pace, the sounds of him finger fucking you filling up the room entirely.

"Fuck, you're so wet baby." He groans into your neck.

"I'm gonna cum." You whine, teeth almost piercing through your bottom lip in between your whimpers.

"Need to taste you." He removes his fingers and sinks down in between your thighs, gripping onto them and pulling you just a teensy bit more off the edge of the bed so he can get a good angle. The sight of his eyes looking up at you in between your legs is to die for, and the sight alone is enough to make you cum. But, you hold on, you ride out for a little longer - feeling Jungkook's tongue swipe in and out of your folds before he's sucking endlessly on your clit.

"Ahhh, fuck, wait, Jungkook!" He slightly smiles while eating you out, signaling that he's not stopping even if you beg him to. "Hnnng—shit!" You moan loudly as you feel yourself toppling over the edge, your body shaking in Jungkook's grip. You twitch every time he continues to suck gently on your sensitive nub, letting you ride out the rest of your high. He comes back up to your lips, the taste of your own cum lingering on it as you kiss him deeply.

"You taste so good." He says, back to twirling your nipples in between his fingers.

"Wanna feel you." You fiddle with his jeans, undoing his belt and sliding the rest down as much as you could. Jungkook gets out of his shirt and tosses it aside before helping get the sweater above your head. His eyes glow at the sight of your bare body in front of him, wanting to do nothing but please you and please you well.

"God, you're so perfect." He places kisses down your collarbone, to the surface of your breasts before quickly swirling his tongue around your perked buds. You moan as you tug down onto his boxer briefs, immediately stroking his hardened member while he tended to you. Jungkook was a fucking beauty himself - his soft hair, his perfectly toned body, his long 'thick in all the right places' dick.

"Please." You plead. "I want you inside of me." You whimper, causing Jungkook's breathing to hitch when you slightly tighten your grip at the base of his shaft. He gently pushes your hand aside to take over, lining himself up at your entrance. He inserts the tip, watching your eyes roll to the back of the head as he slowly sinks into you.

"Mmmmmgod." He moans. "So tight for me, baby. So fucking wet and tight." He repeats, close to a growl. Your moaning begins to pick up, matching the pace of his thrusting. You're still on the edge of the bed, Jungkook keeping you steady by gripping your thighs tightly. He marvels at the sight of your titties bouncing up and down with every thrust, hissing and shutting his eyes momentarily to keep himself grounded and to prevent himself from coming too quickly. Cause god, he can literally blow any second now.

"Jungggggkooook, yessssss!" You moan loudly, whining even at this point with how good he feels fucking into you at such a fast pace. You're feeling slightly sore already from him hammering into you, but nonetheless, it builds more pleasure for you and you want nothing but to reach your high again. "I-I'm coming!" Jungkook moans in unison with you when he feels your walls pulsating against his cock.

"Such a good girl for me." He says, slowing his pace. The creamy sounds of Jungkook's cock slipping inside and out is music to the both of your ears. He finally gains the courage to remove himself, sitting next to your spot on the edge of the bed and pulling you onto his lap. You swing a leg over, your hands resting on the nape of his neck while you sink yourself lower onto his length. Your mouth opens to let out a moan, but the best you can do is let out a hiss. It feels too fucking good that you can't even process it thoroughly. Jungkook pushes your lips down onto his by grabbing your neck, his other hand guiding the movement of your hips as you roll into him.

"Mmmggg—Jungkook." You whimper in between kisses. "You feel so fucking good, god. You're gonna make me cum again."

"Yeah, cum for me. Cum all over me. It's yours." He grunts, his hands guiding you to work him faster. Your movements are getting sloppier, and you feel your wetness starting to coat his pelvis. He doesn't give a fuck though, and neither do you. This shit feels too good for you to worry about the mess you're making on him.

"Cum with me please." He moans at the sound of you whispering into his ear.

"Faster, baby." He says, almost making you cry at how awfully close you are to unraveling. You tug onto his hair, your head buried deep into his neck as you try and suck onto the surface, trying to find an outlet, some kind of release, until you let go. You suck harshly as you coat his cock with your cum, leaving a purple mark right at the base of his neck. You continue to ride out your high, rolling your hips sloppily as Jungkook finally lets himself go, his moan bouncing off of your walls as his seed fills you up warmly.

You stay in your position, slowly raising your head to cup his cheeks and kiss him deeply once more.

"Fuck, I love you." He says slightly pulling away.

"I love you too." You giggle.

"Didn't actually need any drinks to do this now, did we?" Jungkook jokes, softly pinching your hip.

"Shut up."

"Damn, you both couldn't even at least try to be quiet?!" Jimin yells from outside the door.

[favefandomimagines]

Give Me A Reason to Stay (b.b.)

Summary: the battle is over, you can finally breathe. but will bucky give you a reason to stay with him in Louisiana? 

AN: inspired by the finale of tfaws! so potential spoilers and obvs i’m gonna include some angst (stark!reader)

You finally caught a moment to breathe after what felt like years of fighting. After so long of going from one disaster to the next, you could finally stop and pause. Actually enjoy life for once. 

Since your father died, you never stopped moving. Being CFO of Stark Industries, helping Wanda escape the authorities after her grief induced episode and then Sam and Bucky called you for help. It never seemed to stop. 

But, after Karli died and the rest of the Flag Smashers gone, you could take your well deserved pause. At least for a little while before your inherited work called. 

Sam invited you to come to his home town in Louisiana for a celebration of sorts and you couldn’t say no. Him telling you that Bucky was going to be there was also a selling point. 

You and Bucky had a complicated history. You helped Sam and Steve stop him and HYDRA and then went on the manhunt for him. Even after finding out he killed your grandparents, you were still there. You understood that it wasn’t Bucky’s mind, just his body. You were there in Wakanda and helped set him free from his trigger words. 

But nothing ever progressed from the stolen looks, the longing glances and the quick touches. The amount of times Bucky Barnes saved your life and threatened others who tried to hurt you, you thought he felt something for you. But the nagging feeling in the back of your head told you that you were wrong. 

At the celebration, the many neighborhood kids were gathered around you as you created stars in your hands, almost like your own personal galaxy. The kids thought it was magic and you rather liked that perspective on your powers. 

Bucky and Sam were talking with Sarah and some other neighbors but Bucky couldn’t focus on the conversation when he was too busy watching you. 

Your smile was so wide that he thought it could light up a city block. You looked genuinely happy, a look he hadn’t seen on you in a long time. It was refreshing and your happiness made him happy. 

“You’re being creepy.” Sam commented, nudging the super soldier. “What?” Bucky asked. “You’re staring.” Sam said. “I-I was not staring.” He stammered. “You so were. Just tell her how you feel already. I can assure you she feels the same way.” Sam told him. “I can’t just tell her.” Bucky rebutted. “Yes, yes you can. What are you afraid of?” Sam asked.

The 106 year-old man paused for a moment as he continued to stare at you. “I can’t be the one that causes her more pain.” He said. Sam furrowed his eyebrows at Bucky’s answer. “She’s been through too much already. Losing Natasha, watching her father die, the nightmares she has. I’m not back to myself yet and I can’t cause her anymore pain.” Bucky explained. 

The conversation was cut short when you approached the two men. “I’m so sorry, Sam. Pepper just called and said the donors are pulling out of the eco-friendly power source project we’re working on. She needs my help fixing it.” You told them. 

“Do you really have to go?” Sam asked. “Unfortunately. Pepper says she can do it on her own, she did it before I was old enough but since my name is still attached to the company, I have to go. Board meeting at 9 tomorrow.” You explained. “I’ll go grab Sarah, she’s going to insist on giving you leftovers to take.” Sam said, giving you a nice smile. 

You turned to Bucky who was very quiet since you walked over. “So, you’re really going back?” He asked you. “Yeah. Unless you give me a reason to stay.” You answered honestly. And rather boldly.

Bucky wanted to say something so bad. He wanted to tell you that he loved you and wanted you to stay with him there but the words didn’t come out. And if he was already feeling bad before, the look on your face broke his heart. 

You gave him a tight lipped smile, a small head nod before you walked away from him. He watched as you slapped a fake smile on, say goodbye to Sarah and Sam before leaving the party rather quickly. 

“What the happened with Y/N?” Sarah asked approaching Bucky. “Nothing. She just had to go.” Bucky lied. Sam saw right through it obviously. Something had happened between you and Bucky and he was determined to find out and play cupid. 

“What really happened?” Sam asked. “She asked me to give her a reason to stay. And I didn’t say anything.” Bucky answered. “Come on, man. You love her, she loves you. Y/N wouldn’t give you the time of day if she couldn’t handle your baggage. You need each other more than you want to admit, Buck.” Sam said.

Bucky sighed and cursed himself for letting you go. “Okay, what do I do?” He asked. “Go to New York. Pull a rom-com move and crash that board meeting and tell her that you love her.” Sam answered.

And Bucky did just that. He got on the first flight to New York and came up with a whole speech in his head for what he was going to say to you.

He made it at the nick of time and was surprised he still had security clearance to the building. When he arrived to the correct floor, he saw Pepper standing in the hallway.

“Bucky, I didn’t expect to see you here.” She said to him. “Where’s Y/N? I need to talk to her.” Bucky said. “She’s in the conference room, preparing for the meeting.” Pepper answered.

Bucky practically ran to the conference room and almost broke down the door.

“B-Bucky?” You questioned. “I love you, Y/N. You asked me to give you a reason to stay and I was scared. Scared that I’d cause you more pain and you don’t deserve that after what you’ve been through. But I can’t deny that I love you anymore.” Bucky confessed.

You were at a loss for words, not really expecting a love confession from Bucky Barnes. “You love me?” You questioned quietly. “Yes. I love you.” He said. “Come back to Louisiana with me. We can start over, have the life we both deserve. Or, I can come back here and you can still help Pepper run Stark Industries. I don’t care as long as I get a chance at a life with you.” Bucky added.

“You really mean that?” You asked. “I really do mean that.” He answered. He watched you intently as you processed everything Bucky had just told you.

You looked down at your presentation notes before you picked them up and folded the papers in half. “Friday, can you bring Pepper into the conference room please?” You asked the AI. “Of course, Ms. Stark.” It said.

You and Bucky waited in a tension filled silence when the door opened. “What’s going on?” Pepper asked. “I think it’s time I sign those papers.” You told her.

Pepper smiled widely at you, happy that you were choosing yourself over the company for once. “It’s about time.” She commented. “I’ll go get them drawn up.” She added before leaving the room.

“Wait what papers?” Bucky asked. “I’m giving every aspect of the company to Pepper. I’ll no longer be listed as an executive for Stark Industries. Which means, I can go anywhere I want for as long as I want.” You explained.

“You mean-“ Bucky started. “I’m going to Louisiana with you. For however long you’ll have me.” You interjected. Bucky laughed lightly as he made his way over to you, cupped your face in his hands and kissed you deeply.

It was a feeling you both had been waiting for and it was one that was definitely worth the wait. You had been putting off your personal life out of fear it wouldn’t work but now you just wanted to be with each other. No matter what happens down the line.

“And if it wasn’t obvious, I love you too.” You said once you parted. “I’d hope so, doll.” Bucky replied.

—

You and Bucky approached the large gathering of people with food in your hands, saying your hellos and giving out hugs and handshakes.

“There you two are! I was wondering if you’d ever show!” Sam scolded you two. “What do you expect? We’re newlyweds.” You laughed. “And it’s about damn time it happened too.” Sarah commented.

You sat down at the picnic table, Bucky resting his flesh hand on your thigh. You stared down at the ring on your finger quite fondly and thought of your dad. Hoping he’d be proud of letting the company go three years ago and living your life to its fullest.

“Aunt Y/N! Can we see the stars again?” Cass asked with all of his friends behind him. “Can’t say no to a future leading astronomer now can I?” You teased the boy. You got up from the table and stood a few feet away, creating the stars with your hands like you had years prior.

Again, Bucky watched you fondly but this time he wasn’t pining after you, hoping he’d build the courage to tell you how he felt. He was watching you as his wife and as his future.

“You really do love her, don’t you?” Sam asked. “Yeah. I really do.” Bucky answered, a smile adorning his face. “You’re going to be amazing parents.” Sarah added. “Parents?” Bucky questioned. “Oh no she hasn’t told you yet.” Sarah said, standing up from the table.

“Is Y/N,” Bucky started. “Am I what?” You asked. Bucky turned to you and rose from his seat so he could stand eye to eye with you. “Are you pregnant?” He asked.

You looked behind him and glared at Sarah before staring back at Bucky. “Yeah, yeah I am. You’re gonna be dad James Bucky Barnes.” You told him with a watery smile.

Just the thought of bringing a child into the world with Bucky made you more emotional than you thought possible.

“I’m gonna be a dad?” Bucky questioned. You nodded your head and Bucky scooped you up in his arms and if felt like everything was falling into place.

After 109 years of not having an ounce of peace or feeling as if he was a monster and a burden, he was getting the life he had always dreamed of. And he got to do it all with you.

[parkersbliss]

hey could i request a kaz fic with prompts: 001, 007 and 041? pleasee let it end in fluff i can’t bare angst after your last fic lol <3

yes ofc ofc, kaz fluff for you

Dead Man | K. Brekker

prompts: 001: “Why do you care?” 007: “Give me one good reason.” 041: “I cant stand the sight of you in someone else’s arms!”

Masterlist | Taglist | Prompt List

—

Kaz wasn’t a jealous person. That’s what he tells himself, but he believes it’s far from true. Then again, he didn’t have to believe it to be true. He seems to lie to himself a lot. He’s also noticed he seems to lie a lot more when you’re involved.

His favorite lie would have to be, I’m not in love with (Y/N). He definitely was.

But Kaz Brekker was too prideful to ever admit that. Being in love gave you a weakness, and Kaz was not weak. Far from it, actually. He was the most feared man in Ketterdam. There was a reason he was successful, and that was simply because he didn’t have a weakness.

Well, a weakness that people knew about.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Jesper asked, casting a sideways glance at you.

Kaz rolls his eyes, slamming his hands down on the table. “Unless you have a better one, I suggest you shut up.”

Jesper opens his mouth to object, but he shakes his head and shuts up.

Good, he knows better.

“Looking good is a Jesper talent, isn’t it?”

Jesper straightens his back and his jacket, brushing his thumb against his lip. “Why yes, it is.”

“Then I don’t see the problem. You just have to do it with (Y/N).”

You nod, bumping shoulders with the Zemeni boy. “Yeah, we could be a great power couple.”

Jesper laughs nervously, looking at Kaz and seeing the slightest hint of murder in his eyes. There was nothing wrong with the plan except the part where Jesper has to play your boyfriend when Kaz has the biggest crush on you known to man. Jesper knew better than to get in his way. He would really prefer to keep his life than get his head chopped off with a single look.

“You both know your target?” Kaz asked.

You and Jesper nod.

“Good. Get in, get the info and get out. No gambling and no drinking.” He points an accusing finger at Jesper. “I don’t think I have to explain that to you, (Y/N). Any objections?”

Jesper shakily raises his hand. “Yes, so why can’t you go as (Y/N)’s boyfriend?”

Inej looks to Jesper with raised eyebrows. “Are you serious right now?”

“I just think that they would make a more convincing couple!”

“Jesper,” Kaz said lowly, and he knows he’s in for it. “When I say you’re posing as (Y/N)’s boyfriend, you are posing as her boyfriend. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal,” Jesper squeaks.

Kaz pulls back, slapping his cane on the ground and leaning his hands on it. When Jesper doesn’t move, he rolls his eyes, “Well, get to it!”

“Right!” Jesper said, scrambling to get out of the room.

“He seems awfully nervous,” You said.

“I’ll go check on him,” Inej said, passing by you with a smile.

That leaves you and Kaz.

“You were a bit harsh on him, don’t you think?” You asked.

Kaz shrugs. “Not really. It’s Jesper.”

“I think you scared the poor boy half to death.”

Kaz raises a single brow at you. “I don’t see an issue. He still has half to go.”

You let out a soft chuckle, and Kaz swears his heart stops for just a moment. He could listen to it forever.

“Is there a reason you’re so adamant about him being my fake boyfriend?”

“He’s the best choice.”

“Right.”

“You beg to differ?”

You shake your head, “Not at all.”

Kaz knows you did, but he doesn’t say anything. “You should get ready.”

You nod, “Yeah, I should. I’ll see you after, boss.”

…

“Wow,” Jesper said, offering his arm to you. “You look dazzling.”

“I learn from the best,” You wink, looping your arm through his.

Kaz’s lips are pursed into a straight line, and Jesper will be grateful when he’s out of his sight and range.

“Inej and I will be across the street. You know what to do if it goes south.”

“Sure do, Boss,” Jesper replied, eager to leave.

Kaz nods, stepping back, and you both enter the club. He leads you towards the bar and takes a seat. You stand next to him, scanning the crowd for the target.

“Put your arm around my waist,” You hiss to Jesper when you spot him.

“I don’t know about that,” Jesper laughed nervously.

“Jesper.”

“Okay!”

He slips an arm around your waist, nervously looking around to ensure Kaz can’t see. When he’s sure he’s safe, he relaxes a bit more. Everything goes smooth as you wait for your target to come over. You didn’t want to lure him in case that made you both more suspicious. It takes longer than both of you want, but eventually, he makes it to the only open seat in the bar; the one next to you.

He orders a few shots and Jesper makes the first move. “Rough night?”

He groans. “You have no idea.”

“Try me.”

“I’m Archer,” The target said, but of course, you already knew that. He was working for a Mercher, who rumor had it - recently imported something worth millions. Kaz wanted to know what it was and if it was worth it.

“Roman,” Jesper grinned, sticking out a hand.

“And what about this pretty lady?”

You gave him your fake name with a smile as you shuffle closer to Jesper.

“Boss is treating me like shit,” Archer groans, taking a shot. Jesper offers to pay for more. The tipsier he got, the more he would spill. “We got this new import the other week, been on high security since. Doubled my hours, didn’t double my pay.”

“New import? What could be so valuable?”

Archer shrugs. “I have no idea. Not allowed to tell, anyway. Sorry bud.”

“That’s a damn shame.”

Archer leans in, alcohol evident in his breath and you almost choke. “Between you and me, I think it’s some new weapon from Novyi Zem.”

There it was.

Jesper raises his brows. “Do you know what kind?”

“Some kind of gun, or guns.”

Jesper leans back. “Huh. I assume he keeps them in the back.”

Archer shakes his head. “No, he’s too cautious with this. He keeps in the vault in the basement.”

“A vault? Must be worth a lot.”

“Top security clearance. He has it scan his eyes, then his fingerprint and a password to get in.”

“My god,” Jesper laughed. “That’s a lot.”

Archer takes another shot. “You’re telling me.”

You don’t say much, playing the part of dumb arm candy. Your eyes wander the club when you spot a familiar face. He’s walking towards you.

You take a deep breath, turning your head to Jesper. You lean in to whisper, “We got someone coming towards us. He knows us. We need to hide.”

“How?”

“Kiss me.”

“You are out of your mind,” Jesper hisses. God, if Kaz found out, he would be dead in seconds.

“It’s that or death. I promise I don’t bite.”

“Are you two okay?” Archer asked.

Jesper coughs, pushing you off. “Yes, the misses it just eager to get home.”

Archer nods. “I see. I should get going too.”

Jesper lets him. You already got enough information.

“Jesper,” You whisper, tugging on his coat.

He was a dead man either way.

He grabs your face, kissing you with his eyes closed. It doesn’t mean anything to either of you. It’s just the difference between life and death for now. He can see the person leave out of the corner of his eyes. He’s about to pull back when a cane slams the bar floor. Jesper jumps back.

He is so dead.

Kaz's eyes blaze with something much more than rage, and Jesper doesn’t doubt it’s for him.

“Kaz,” you breathe out.

“We’re done here.”

Jesper stands up from the bar, letting go of you. “Yes, we are.”

He practically runs out of there, leaving you with a very pissed-off Kaz.

“Are you okay?” You asked.

He ignores you and walks away.

“Kaz?” You shout, catching up with him.

“What?” He snaps, never looking at you as you walk back to the slat. Jesper was gone, probably hiding somewhere. Inej was covering for him, but Kaz pays no mind.

“We got the information. Why are you so mad?”

Kaz throws open the door to his office, standing behind his desk and finally looking up. “You want to know why I’m so mad?”

“Yes!”

“Because you kissed Jesper!”

“What?” You asked. You couldn’t understand why he was so mad about that. He was the one who assigned him as your partner. “Why do you care?”

It’s not meant to come off rude, you just didn’t understand.

Kaz purses his lips and looks the other way. He can’t bring himself to say why; he won’t admit his weakness.

“Give me one good reason,” You beg. “I’m not mad at you, Kaz. I just don’t underst-”

“I can’t stand the sight of you in someone else’s arms!”

That’s not what you expected. However, it makes your stomach do flips. You swallow the butterflies.

“Then why did you partner Jesper and me together?” You asked softly.

Kaz sighs, “I thought I could prove to myself that I wasn’t in love with you by seeing you with him.”

You snort. “And how did that work out?”

“It didn’t.”

“So what are you gonna do about it?”

Kaz can hear the mischief in your voice. He’s expecting rejection, but you sound happy.

“I think I’m going to admit that I’m in love with you,” he said, turning back around to face you.

“Well, that’s good,” You grin, grabbing his coat and pulling him the slightest bit closer. He doesn’t pull away. “Cause I’m in love with you too.”

[layce2015]

The Mandalorian (Din Djarin x Female!Reader)

Chapter 15: The Believer

Previous Chapter / First Chapter / Next Chapter

At the Karthon Chop Fields, the prisoners were working on all of the large scrap metals that surrounded them when a guard droid comes up to one of them. "Inmate three-four-six-six-seven." The droid said as he goes up to Mayfeld, who doesn't respond.

"Inmate three-four-six-six-seven." The droid said and Mayfeld groans. "What? What?" Mayfeld asked, annoyed, as he turns to the droid, raising the goggles to his forehead. "Inmate three-four-six-six-seven, descend and receive new instructions." The droid said and Mayfeld puts down his drill, climbs down and walks towards the droid.

"Can't you see I'm busy?" He asked as he gestures at the scrap pile behind him. "Inmate three-four-six-six-seven, please salute Marshal Dune." The droid said and Mayfeld looks over and sees Cara walking up to him.

"I remand prisoner number three-four-six-six-seven to my custody." Cara said to the droid. "Affirmative." The droid said to her before turning to Mayfeld. "Inmate three-four-six-six-seven, please follow Marshal Dune to transport." He said and Cara turns and walks off.

"Somebody gonna tell me what's going on?" Mayfeld asked the droid. "Let's go! I've got a job for you." Cara said as she continues to walk. Then the ankle restraint on Mayfeld's leg comes off and he looks down at it, shocked. "Inmate three-four-six-six-seven, please follow Marshal Dune." The droid ordered but Mayfeld doesn't move.

"Wait, where is she takin' me?" He asked. "Inmate three-four-six-six-seven, you have three seconds to comply with your new directive." The droid threatens as he holds up his baton, which starts to electrify. "Okay! All right, all right." Mayfeld said, jumping back, then he goes to follow Cara.

"Hey! You gonna tell me where you're takin' me?" Mayfeld asked Cara as he catches up with her but she doesn't answer. "Hello? I mean, it's a common courtesy, a common courtesy to tell somebody where it is that you're takin' 'em. I don't think that's so hard to ask, do you?" Mayfeld said as they come up to the Slave I and Fennec and Fett, now with his armor buffed out and cleaned, walk out of the ship.

Mayfeld stopped for a second once he saw the two then let out a sigh of relief. "Oh. You know, for a second, I thought you two were this other couple." He said with a smile of relief just as Din and (y/n) walk out of the ship.

He looks up and his smile fades once he sees them. "Mayfeld." Din greets once he and (y/n) walk up to him. "Hey, Mando. Long time." Mayfeld said as he smiles, nervously. "What, you and your friend came here to kill me?" Mayfeld asked him.

"All you need to know is I bent a lot of rules to bring you along." Cara said. "Why am I so lucky?" Mayfeld asked her. "Because you're Imperial." She replied. "Hey, that was a long time ago, all right?" Mayfeld said. "But you still know your Imperial clearances and protocols, don't you?" (Y/n) asked him. Mayfeld looks at them, shocked, just as the group turns and heads into the ship, he soon follows suit.

"We need coordinates for Moff Gideon's cruiser." Din informs Mayfeld once they get seated inside the ship. "Moff Gideon?" Mayfeld asked before he scoffs. "Yeah, forget it. Just take me back to the scrapyard. I'm not doin' that." Mayfeld said and Cara rolls her eyes. "They have their kid." Cara said as she nods towards Din and (y/n).

"The little green guy?" Mayfeld asked, taken aback. "Yeah. The little green guy." Cara confirms. "So...I help you guys get him back, you guys let me go?" Mayfeld asked as he looks between Din, (y/n) and Cara. "That's not how this works." Cara said.

"Well, then what's in it for me?" Mayfeld asked. "You get a better view." Cara said and Mayfeld sighs as he thinks for a moment. "All right, but here's the thing. I can't get those coordinates unless I have access to an internal Imperial terminal. I believe there's one on Morak." He said.

"Morak? There's nothing on Morak." Din said. "It's a secret Imperial mining hub, okay? If you can get me there, I can get you the coordinates." Mayfeld said and everyone shares a look before Din reaches over to the console and presses a button. "Fett, punch in the coordinates to Morak." He said. "Copy that." Fett said as he does just that and the ship takes off.

"I did an initial scan of the planet. This is what you're talking about, right?" Fett asked as he shows a hologram map of Morak to everyone. Then he zooms in on what looked like a large dam. "Yeah, that's the refinery right there." Mayfeld said as he nods. "Wonder what they're refining in there." Fennec mutters. "Looks like rhydonium. Highly volatile and explosive." Fett said.

"Yeah, kinds like this one, huh." Mayfeld chuckles and Fett turns to him with a stern look, making the smile disappear off of Mayfeld's face. "They have anti-aircraft cannons protecting it." Fett said once he turns back to the map. "And a platoon of security forces." Fennec adds.

"So we go in quiet. Let's go get a closer look." Din said and Fett nods and he steers the ship into Morak.

"I'm not gonna need long inside, so once I get the coordinates, you guys gotta get me the hell out of there." Mayfeld said. They had landed on a nearby spot and watched a large tank-like vehicle had drove by in the dirt road below them.

"You get to the roof. I'll drop in and pull you out." Fett said. All right. Mayfeld and I will swap out for the drivers in the tunnel." Cara said. "As much as I'd like to take a road trip with Rebel-dropper here, that's not gonna work." Mayfeld said. "Oh yeah? Why's that?" Cara asked him.

"Well, because these Remnant bases are set up and run by ex-ISB. If you get scanned and your genetic signature shows up on any New Republic register, you're gonna be detected, and it's guns out." Mayfeld informs. "You sure do know a lot about Imperial Remnants." Cara said, suspiciously.

"Hey, if you wanna accuse me of something, then just say it." Mayfeld snapped at her. "We don't have time. Fennec will go." Din said. "No, I'm wanted by the ISB. I'll trip the alarm, too." Fennec said and Mayfeld raises his hands up in exasperation. "Fett?" (Y/n) asked as she turns to Fett. "Let's just say they might recognize my face." Fett said.

"Great, so it's me goin' in alone." Mayfeld grumbles. "No way. The minute he gets inside, he'll tip 'em off. He'll be a hero." Cara said. "Hey. This wasn't my idea. I'm doin' you guys a favor." Mayfeld argues. "Deal's off. I'm takin' him back." Cara said.

"Then I'll go." (Y/n) said.

"I'll come too." Din said and (y/n) turns her head to him.

"Hey, buddy, I'm might be good at fast-talking, but I don't think I can explain away a guy in a Mando suit to Imperial guards. So, unless you're gonna take off that helmet, or let your friend go alone with me, it's gonna be me goin' in alone. Or say goodbye to your little green friend." Mayfeld said. "You're not going alone. I'm coming with you. But I won't be showing my face." Din said.

Another large tank vehicle starts to make its way through a tunnel when Cara, Din, Mayfeld and (y/n) jumped on top of the vehicle. They get to the entrance hole and Cara drops in it and takes out the three guards that were inside and slows the vehicle down to a stop.

"Oh my God, this guy reeked. His gloves are still wet." Mayfeld groans as he puts on one of the guards armor while Cara kept as lookout. Then (y/n) comes up from around the vehicle, now in the new armor, and started to put the helmet on her head, holding a duffle bag, just as Din comes around the corner wearing the Stormtrooper armor as well, also carrying a duffle bag.

"Look at this. Oh, the shame." Mayfeld laughs as he looks at Din. "Now, that right there is worth the price of admission." Mayfeld said. "Wish I could say it looked good on you, but I'd be lying." Cara jokes. "Just make sure you take out the rooftop gunners, or we're never getting out of here." Din said. "I got you." Cara said then Din and (y/n) set the bags down. 

"Take care of these. Keep 'em safe." (Y/n) said. "I will." Cara said. "Hey, guys. Still on the clock." Mayfeld said and Din and (y/n) make their way towards the entrance of the vehicle. "What would they say on Mandalore?" Mayfeld teased Din before he looks over at (y/n). "First time I've seen you wear a helmet. Gotta say, you're prettier without the helmet." Mayfeld said but (y/n) ignores him while Din clenched his fist for a moment.

"It's a shame you're not comin' along with us. You got such a sunny disposition. Can't imagine how much fun you are in one of these." Mayfeld said to Cara as he gets inside the tank and puts on his own helmet.

Din gets inside of the tank then helps (y/n) in as Mayfeld looks around the console. "What's goin' on here? Power coil, motivator...Oh, there we..." Mayfeld mutters and he pushes some buttons and the engine starts to come on. "Ah, there we go. There we go!" Mayfeld exclaims as Din gets into the seat next to him and (y/n) takes the seat that was against the wall.

"And we are off." Mayfeld said as he pushes a lever up and the tank starts to take off. Then Mayfeld looks over at Din. "So how's it feel? Huh?" Mayfeld asked him but Din doesn't respond. "I mean, c'mon, man, you still get to wear a helmet, right?" He asked but Din still doesn't respond while (y/n) looks between them.

"All right, you know what? I'm takin' this thing off. I can't see anything." Mayfeld said as he takes off his helmet then he looks over at (y/n). "Why don't you go ahead and take yours off, sweetheart." He said. "If I'm as pretty as you say I am, then I better not. Don't want you distracted to the point where we crash and burn and die." (Y/n) snaps and Din holds back a chuckle from this as Mayfeld laughs. 

"Oh, haha, very funny, princess." Mayfeld said. "I don't know how you people wear those things. And by you people, I do mean Mandalorians." Mayfeld said but Din shakes his head slightly and they sit in silence for a few moments.

"Feel better when it's off." Mayfeld said as he gestures to the helmet but Din turns his head, slowly, towards him as if to say shut up before he looks ahead of him.

"Juggernaut Four, you're running hot. Be sure to watch your cargo heat limits and speed." A man's voice said through the comms. "Copy that, Three. We hit a couple of bumps. Thanks for the heads-up." Another male voice said just as they started to pass some other tanks that looked like they blew up.

Mayfeld then looks at the console where the heat limits were and could see that it was at the low green. "Don't worry about the rhydonium. As long as you drive steady, you'll get us to the refinery." Din assures Mayfeld just as they come up on a small village with some kids playing on the road.

Mayfeld reaches up and blares the horn and the people started to clear off the road. "Yeah. Empire, New Republic." Mayfeld said as they pass by the people, who were all glaring at them. "It's all the same to these people. Invaders on their land is all we are. I'm just sayin', somewhere someone in this galaxy is ruling and others are being ruled." said Mayfeld as they pass the village.

"I mean, look at your race. Do you think all those people that died in wars fought by Mandalorians actually had a choice? So how ate they any different than the Empire?" Mayfeld asked but the two hunters don't respond, which made him scoff.

"If you were born on Mandalore, you believe one thing, if you're born on Alderaan, you believe somethin' else. But guess what? Neither one of 'em exist anymore." Mayfeld said as he looks between the two then shrugs. "Hey, I'm just a realist. I'm a survivor, just like you two." He said.

"Let's get one thing straight. We are nothing alike." Din said, firmly. "I don't know. Seems to me like your rules start to change when you get desperate. I mean, look at ya. You said you couldn't take your helmet off, and now you got a Stormtrooper one on, so what's the rule? Is it that you can't take off your Mando helmet, or you can't show your face? 'Cause there is a difference." Mayfeld points out and (y/n) looks between the two and started to think over what he said.

"Look, I'm just sayin', we're all the same. Everybody's got their lines they don't cross until things get messy. As far as I'm concerned, if you can make it through your day and still sleep at night, you're doin' better than most." Mayfeld said.

"Control, this is Juggernaut Three. We're comin' up on some route interference." A voice said in the comms when they heard a beeping sound. "Control, control! We need a new...." the voice started to say, panicked, but then he screams and the comms link ends.

"What was that?" Mayfeld asked, worried. "Please stand by for reroute." A woman's voice said then seconds later an explosion happens some miles ahead of them. "Juggernaut Four has been destroyed." The woman's voice said as (y/n) stands up and walks up to the middle of the men. "Destroyed?" Mayfeld said, panicked. "The rhydonium is still stable." (Y/n) said.

"Juggernaut Five, maintain speed and course. Proceed with caution. Re-routing course, stand by." The woman said. "Proceed with caution? Is she serious?" Mayfeld asked, panicking again.

"Control, this is Juggernaut Three. Requesting...." another man's voice started to say but then it sounded like someone was chanting something, loudly, behind the guy. "Abort! Abort!" The man's voice before he screams and a second explosion happens ahead of them.

Mayfeld speeds up a bit and steers away to avoid the burning remains of one of the Juggernauts when a small ship comes up next to them with some Alien pirates. One of the pirates jumps on the side, which made Din, Mayfeld and (y/n) look over.

"What the hell was that?" Mayfeld asked and Din looks at the console to see a camera had come on and he could see the Pirates. "Pirates. Keep driving. (Y/n) and I will take care of it." Din said and he stands up and opens the window and fires at the one that was on the side.

Then a second pirate goes to jump on but Din fires and hits him straight into his chest. "Are you seriously shooting a blaster near rhydonium?" Mayfeld exclaims as (y/n) starts to climb the latter to the hatch on top.

"They've got thermal detonators." Din said. "Terrific." Mayfeld said, sarcastically. "Just keep it steady." (Y/n) said as she opens the hatch and sees the pirate on the roof. "Get these guys off of us! Get 'em off!" Mayfeld shouts as the pirate opens a hatch to the rhydonium and pulls out a detonator.

But before he could place it on, (y/n) shoots him and he falls off and the detonator goes off under one of the other pirate's ship, killing them. Mayfeld goes as fast as he can but had to slow down as the limits were starting to get high.

"They're trying to blow the rhydonium." (Y/n) informs. "You think? You should've left me in prison!" Mayfeld shouts and (y/n) started to leave and close the hatch but then she noticed more pirates were coming.

She sighs and gets up on the roof. "Need some help, Mando." She said and he climbs up just as some of the pirates jumped on the tank. The two hunters fire their blasters and kills a few until their blasters ran out of ammo.

The remaining pirates charged at them and the two throw their guns at a couple of them, hitting them in the face. Din fights with one while (y/n) fights another until they kick both of them off, one of them rolls off to the front and gets run over.

Another pirate comes up and grabs (y/n) while another whacks his large spear at Din's arm, meanwhile another pirate was trying to open the hatch to the rhydonium. (Y/n) kicked then used the back of her head at the pirate's face and tosses him to the side as Din punches his attacking pirate and tossed him aside as well.

The last pirate was trying to open the hatch but Din grabs the spear and chucks it at the pirate, impaling him and knocking him off. Another ship full of pirates began yelling at the two just as Din turns to the front. "Mayfeld! Pick it up. Drive faster!" He yells and Mayfeld picks up the speed which almost there made the two hunters stumble but they each grab the others hand for balance

Then the alarm about the rhydonium started blaring after speeding for a couple of minutes. "I don't think faster's a good idea!" Mayfeld shouts and he slows down, which made them stumble again. "What are you doing?" (Y/n) shouts as the pirates catch up and a few get on the roof.

(Y/n) punches one in the stomach and Din kicks another and grabs the pirate's staff and used the end of it to hit the pirate in the face. (Y/n) punches and kicks the pirate that attacked her and throws him off just as Din does the same with the other pirate.

Then three more jump on and one starts charging at them with their spear but Din holds out his right arm to (y/n) and she locks her left arm around his and Din brings her around as she raises her feet up and kicks the pirate right in the face, making fall back and drop his spear.

She lands on her feet and they unlocked their arms from each other as more pirates jump on. (Y/n) grabs the spear that one of the pirates dropped and used it on one of the oncoming pirates while another goes after Din.

Din knocks off the pirate but he hangs onto the side while another charges at him and knocks him down. (Y/n) swings the spear around at another pirate then gets down on her knees and swipes the pirates feet which made him fall on his side and (y/n) kicks him off.

She turns around and saw that Din was pinned down by two pirates, one hanging off the side holding down Din's arm and the other on top of Din and choking him. She runs at the pirate on top of Din and swings the spear like a bat and hits the pirate across the face as Din gets up and kicks the one hanging off the side off of it completely.

(Y/n) punches the pirate a few times then holds her hand out to do something when the pirate was blown back and rolled off on the front and was run over. Surprised, (y/n) looks down at her hand, wondering if she used this Force power that Ashoka told her about until she heard a beeping sound.

Her and Din turn to see a pirate had opened the hatch and placed a detonator on the rhydonium then jumped back on his ship. "Dank farrik!" (Y/n) growls as Din runs towards the hatch, grabs the detonator and throws it and it explodes, killing the remaining pirate ships.

The blast from the explosion blew Din and (y/n) back a couple of feet until (y/n) fell on her back then grunts in pain a second later when Din landed on his back on top of her. "Sorry." He said. "It's okay." She groans as they get close the refinery. 

"Uh, Mando, I gotta stop. I can't cross at this speed." Mayfeld shouts as (y/n) and Din sit up. But through the smoke about four more pirate ships emerge out and all of them had detonators. "Seriously?" (Y/n) mutters, exasperated, as Din sighs. The ships get closer as Din gets up, holds his hand out to (y/n) and helps her on her feet.

The two get into a stance when some tie-fighters come in and shoot all of the ship and the Juggernaut makes it over the bridge. Then some Stormtroopers come up and shoot the stragglers as Din and (y/n) make it back inside the tank.

"Never thought you'd be happy to see Stormtroopers." Mayfeld said. "You can say that again." (Y/n) mutters as she takes off her helmet, takes a breath and wipes the sweat off of her brow.

The troopers and other workers cheer as they make it inside and stop the vehicle. Mayfeld stops the engine and he and the two hunters get out as they are greeted with cheer from the troopers. "Okay. All we gotta do is find a terminal." Mayfeld said and the trio walk among the cheering crowd and towards this large doorway.

"It's probably in the officers' mess." He whispers and they make it over to the mess hall and Mayfeld glances inside and sees in the far left corner there was a terminal. "There it is." He whispers to the others. "Good luck." Din said and Mayfeld goes towards the entrance of the mess hall, stops once he sees someone then turns back around.

"I can't go in there." He said. "Why not?" (Y/n) asked, confused. "That's Valin Hess." Mayfeld said as he gestures to the man that was sitting in one of the tables to the right. "Who?" Din and (y/n) asked. "It's Valin Hess. I used to serve under him." Mayfeld replied. 

"Will he recognize you?" Din asked him. "I don't know. I was just a field operative, but I'm not takin' the chance. It's over." Mayfeld said as he starts to walk off but Din stops him. "Let's just do this quick and we can get out of here." He said. "I can't do it, okay? We have to abort. I'm sorry." Mayfeld said and he starts to walk off again but Din stops him again.

"No. We can't. If we don't get those coordinates, we'll lose the kid forever." Din said and Mayfeld shakes his head. "Give me the data stick." Din said. "It's not gonna work. In order to access the network, the terminal has to scan your face." Mayfeld said and (y/n) sighs and was about to speak up until Din said. "Give it to me." And he takes the data stick and walks off. "What? Di...Mando, No!" (Y/n) whisper shouts at him but he ignores her as he walks on.

Din walks in the mess hall then heads over to the terminal as Mayfeld and (y/n) stay to the side of the doorway. He places the data stick in and it comes on and begins to scan Din but then it blinks red. "Error, error. Facial scan incomplete." The robotic female voice said and Din, quickly, looks over at Hess then back at the terminal.

"Ten seconds to system shutdown. Ten, nine, eight, seven..." the voice said and Din takes off his helmet, which made (y/n) gasp and her eyes widen. From the angle she was at, all she could see was the back of his head with his slightly curly dark hair. "He did it..." she whispered as Din takes the stick out then presses some buttons and the scanner comes back on and scans his face.

"Facial scan complete." The robotic voice said and Din puts the data stick back in and presses some more buttons. "Trooper!" Hess calls out but Din ignores him as he continues to get the information of Moff's cruiser.

Hess then gets up and starts to walk towards Din. "Mayfeld." (Y/n) whispers to Mayfeld, with worry. Mayfeld looks over to see Hess going to Din then he sighs at this.

"Hey, trooper!" Hess shouts and Din closes his eyes, exasperated, for a moment as the terminal dings. Then he grabs the stick and turns to Hess, which let (y/n) see his face, completely. Her heart leapt at the sight of seeing his face, she knew she shouldn't look at him but she couldn't help to look at how handsome he had become.

"You really haven't seen his face before, have you?" Mayfeld asked. "Not since we were kids." She replied.

"Pay attention when a superior addresses you." Hess said to Din. "What's your designation?" He asked Din. "Transport crew." Din replied in a soft gruff voice. "What?" Hess asked as if he didn't understand what he said. "My designation is transport copilot." Din replied, a bit louder.

"No, son. What's your TK number?" Hess asked and (y/n) and Mayfeld share a worried look. "My TK number is..." Din said, not sure what to say as Hess watches him then Mayfeld walks in the mess hall, (y/n) following close behind him.

"This is my Commanding Officer TK-593, sir. I'm Imperial Combat Assault Transport Lieutenant TK-111, sir. And this is his is Executive Officer TK-221, sir." Mayfeld said as he and (y/n) comes up next to Din, (y/n) standing right next to Din and Mayfeld stands next to her.

"I'm afraid you'll have to either speak up to him a little bit or talk to her to have her translate since his vessel lost pressure in Taanab." Mayfeld said as Din looks over at them. (Y/n), nervously, glances at him but darted her eyes away from him.

Hess looks back over at Din then asked, loudly. "What's your name, Officer?" Din looks at him and raises an eyebrow at him then Hess looks at (y/n) as if she held the answers. "We just call him Brown Eyes, sir." (Y/n) said then she turns to Din, looking into his eyes. "Isn't that right, Officer?" She asked, loudly, as she tried her best to not sound, nervous, and Din looks at her then nods.

"Let's go fill out this TPS reports, so we can go recharge the power coils." Mayfeld said, loudly, and (y/n) grabs Din's arm and they start to walk away but then Hess speaks up. "You're not dismissed."

The trio stop and (y/n) tightens her grip on Din's arm before they turn around to Hess. "You the tank troopers that delivered the shipment of rhydonium?" Hess asked. "Yes, sir." Mayfeld and (y/n) said. "Yes, sir." Din said at a bit of a delay and Hess walks back in front of the trio and looks them over.

"Well, you three managed to be the only transport today to deliver their shipment." Hes said and the trio started to feel a bit nervous then Hess places one hand on Mayfeld's shoulder and his other hand on Din's shoulder. "Come with me, hmmm? Let's get a drink..." Hess said then he turns to Din. "Brown Eyes." He chuckles and he walks over to the table.

Mayfeld looks at Din then follows Hess. Din looks over at (y/n), who sensed him staring at her and looks up at him. They share a look and the corner of (y/n)'s lips twitched up a bit before her and Din go over to the table.

"So what shall we toast to, boys and girl?" Hess asked as he pulls out some cups and a bottle of a drink. "I can blather on about To health or To success, but I'd like to do somethin' a little less rote." Hess said as he pours the trio a drink then he turns to Din. 

"Where you from, Brown Eyes?" Hess asked him but before Din could reply, Mayfeld speaks up. "How 'bout a toast to Operation Cinder?" He asked and Hess smiles. "Now there's a man who knows his history." Hess said. 

"No, I don't just know it. I lived it. I was in Burnin Konn." Mayfeld said as Din and (y/n) look over at him. "Burnin Konn? That was a hard day. I had to make many unpleasant decisions." Hess said. "Yes, you did. Entire city gone in moments, along with everybody in it. We lost our whole division that day. Man, that was like 5-10,000 people." Mayfeld said.

"Yep." Hess mutters. "All heroes of the Empire."

"Yeah. And all dead." Mayfeld sneered.

"Well, it's a small sacrifice for the greater good, son." Hess said as (y/n) and Din both shake their heads at Mayfeld to not do anything stupid. 

"Depends on who you ask, don't you think?" Mayfeld asked. "What you gettin' at, trooper?" Hess asked, smiling. "All those people, the ones who died, was it good for them? Hmm? Their families? The guys I served with? Civilians, those poor mud scuffers, died defendin' their homes, fighting for freedom. Was it good for 'em?" Mayfeld asked Hess and Din and (y/n) turn their heads to Hess.

"But we've outlasted them, son. They're eatin' themselves alive. The New Republic is in complete disarray, and we grow stronger. You see, with the rhydonium you've delivered, we can create havoc that's gonna make Burnin Konn just pale by comparison. And then they're gonna turn to us once again." Hess said and Mayfeld looks down, bites his lips then nods with understanding.

Hess then leans forward and clasps his hands together as he looks at Mayfeld. "You see, everybody thinks they want freedom, but what they really want is order. And when they realize that, they're gonna welcome us back with open arms." Hess said, smiling, then he grabs his cup and raises it.

"To the Empire." Hess said. Mayfeld chuckles softly, then pulls out his blaster and shoots Hess straight in the chest. Din and (y/n) were taken aback by this then looked over at Mayfeld, shocked.

They look around as other troopers saw this as well. Before anyone could do anything, Mayfeld shoots the ones in the hall while Din goes over to Hess, takes his blaster and shoots at one Mayfeld missed while (y/n) ducks.

Then the hunters look over Mayfeld, who reached over and grabs Din's helmet. "You did what you had to do." He said and hands the helmet to Din. "I never saw your face." He said and he turns his head away as Din looks down at the helmet then over at (y/n).

She stares into his brown eyes for one more moment then runs her eyes over his face before she smirks and winks at him. At that moment, she walks off to one of the dead troopers and grabs a blaster from them while Din takes the helmet and puts it on.

"Security to main commons." A voice over the speaker said as more troopers come in. The trio began to fire at them then Mayfeld turns to the windows. "This way!" He shouts and they jump on the edge. "Ready? Go!" Din tells them and the trio kick one of the blinds back and kept firing at the oncoming threat.

They duck under some blinds then make it over on the side. Some troopers started to come out but Fennec and Cara shot at the ones the trio couldn't get to as the trio get to the top. "C'mom, let's move, boys." (Y/n) said as they climbed up on a ladder. "What the hell you think I'm doin'?" Mayfeld gripes as they get to the roof and see the Slave I coming.

They run across the roof and shoot at the oncoming troopers as the ship flies over them then stops on the other side of the roof and opens the hangar to them. They jump on the ship and it starts to take off.

"Hand me that cycler rifle." Mayfeld said and (y/n) hands it to him. Mayfeld steady his aims on one of the Juggernauts then fires at it, causing an explosion. Then he turns to the two. "We all need to sleep at night." He said to then and he walks off while Din and (y/n) share a look before they go in deeper of the ship and the hangar door shuts.

Fett's radar beeps and he looks down to see that some tie-fighters were following him. "We got company. Hang on." Fett tells the trio as they get into their seats. He steers a hard left then he flips a switch and drops a bomb on them and he takes off.

Later, Fennec and Cara come up to the Slave I after it landed and see Mayfeld walking out with Din and (y/n), who were back to wearing their normal armor. "Well, looks like it's back to the scrap heap." Mayfeld grumbles as Fennec goes into the ship.

"Thank you for helping." Din said, appreciatively. "Yeah." Mayfeld mutters. "Uh, good luck gettin' your kid back." He said to the hunters then he turns to Cara. "All right, Officer, take me back." he said as he holds his arms out. "That was some nice shootin' back there." She compliments. "Oh, you saw that? Yeah, that, uh, that wasn't part of the plan. I was just gettin' some stuff off my chest." He said and Cara shakes her head then turns to Din and (y/n).

"You know, it's too bad Mayfeld didn't make it not alive back there." She said. "Yeah, too bad." Din said as (y/n) nods. "What are you talkin' about?" Mayfeld asked, confused. "Looked to me like prisoner number three-four-six-six-seven died in the refinery explosion on Morak." Cara said and Mayfeld looks between them.

"Does that mean I can go? Huh? Cause I will." Mayfeld said and (y/n) gestures for him to go. "All right." He said as he starts to walk away. "You get the coordinates on Moff Gideon?" Cara asked Din and (y/n). "We did." Din replied. "What's our next move?" She asked and Din and (y/n) share a look.

"Sir, you should see this." An Imperial officer said to Moff once she arrived on the deck. She turns to the table and switches on a full body hologram of Din and (y/n). "Moff Gideon. You have something we want. You may think you have some idea what you are in possession of, but you do not. Soon, he will be back with us. He means more to us than you will ever know." Din threatens as (y/n) stood next to him, her arms folded across her chest.

Moff Gideon glares at the two until the hologram message ends and looks down as he decides on his next plan.

Back at the Slave I, (y/n) was sitting in a seat by herself, looking down at her hands, when Din walks in then turns to Fennec and Cara, who were standing nearby. "Can you give us a moment?" He asked them. They nod and leave the two hunters alone as Din walks up to her.

She raises her head at him and frowns slightly. "I know what you're gonna say." She said and Din tilts his head at her. "You're gonna go on about how you broke the Creed and Mayfeld and I shouldn't have seen your face. Get all grumpy about it but...you did what you had to do." (Y/n) said and Din looks at her.

"Plus you didn't give me enough time to speak up and say I'd go." She said. "I'm not mad about that." Din replied and (y/n) furrows her brow, confused. "I'm just...upset that I didn't get to show you my face on my own term." He replied and her eyes widen at this. "Your own term? Y-You mean...?" She started to ask and Din nods.

"I was wanting to show you after we were done with all of this." He said. "Why?" (Y/n) asked, confused. "Because I care about you." Din said and he takes her hands and then placed them on his helmet and guides her fingers underneath the helmet.

"You sure you're okay with this?" (Y/n) asked him. There was a pause before Din says. "I trust you." 

(Y/n) let's out a breath that was a mixture of a chuckle and a sob before she curls her fingers around the edges of the helmet. It let's out a hiss and she lifts it up as he sets his arms down his sides.

She slowly lifts it up, first seeing his chin then his lips, where a mustache was adorn above his top lip. Then his nose and his eyes which were staring right at (y/n). Once the helmet was off completely, the bangs of his curly dark hair flopped on his forehead, (y/n) sets the helmet aside then looks back at him.

They stare at each other for a few moments before (y/n) speaks up. "Hi." She said, softly. "Hey." He greets back and she smiles then she raises her right hand and places it on his cheek. He closes his eyes at this then raised a hand, placed it over hers then turns his head and kissed the palm of her hand.

He turns his head and opens his brown eyes to her, which made her giggle. "What?" He asked. "Nothing, Commander Brown Eyes." She teased, making him sigh and roll his eyes at this. (Y/n) removes her hand off of his cheek then placed it on his chest as he cups her face in his hands. He stares at her for a moment before he leans in and kisses her, she kissed him back.

Her hands moved up to his neck then her fingers snaked up into his dark hair as he removes his hands off of her face. He then wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her closer to him, their lips continued to move in sync with each other. They break the kiss for a second as they tilt their heads in the opposite direction and continue on with the kiss, acting like they were making up for lost times.

After a few moments, they stop to catch their breathes and lean their foreheads against each other. "Din..." she whispered, softly, and he smiles at this. He pulls his head back a bit and looks her over again. "Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum." He said and she smiles at this. "Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum." She said and he gives a smile to her.

She turns and grabs his helmet then turns to him. "I really mean it, Din. With or without the helmet." She said as she holds up his helmet to him. He looks at the helmet then at her before he leans in and gives her a slow, passionate kiss.

After they share the kiss one more time, (y/n) lifts up the helmet and starts to put it back on his head. Once the helmet was back on, (y/n) smiles again at him before she speaks up.

"Now, let's go get our kid back."

(A/n: Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum means I love you.)

@that-one-spn-girl @avatarkanemi @reiya-djarin

[henrys-little-princess]

Play With My Hair?

hi darlings!! here is my second fic for my 100 followers celebration bingo!! this one is for august walker and I'm sorry it took so long to get out but here it is!!

i actually ended up getting two of the same requests for this one lol! (ig we are all on the same page here) -xo poppet :)

august walker x female!anxious!reader, rated g!

warnings: anxiety and implications that someone is after the reader and august

word count: 1.1k

tag list: @thereisa8ella @myloveforhenrycavill @lharrietg @little-brattyangel

August paced around the tiny safe house again and again, each pass causing your stomach to churn a little more. He wouldn't tell you why you were both there. He hadn't said much of anything actually. Aside from storming into your shared room this morning and saying in a clipped tone that you needed to pack essentials as quickly as possible because a plane would be there in fifteen minutes to take you to a more secure location, you had no idea what was going on.

You knew that you probably didn't have clearance to know what was happening, or that August was just hiding it for your own safety, but you would have appreciated knowing what was happening.

Clearly whatever it was was distressing August greatly. You just wanted him to sit down and take a breath, this much stress could not be good for him. There had been a frown etched permanently in his usually smooth brow since this morning when he'd told you to start packing.

"August," you called.

He showed no sign of hearing you, too trapped in his own head. His hands were clasped behind his back, ever the smart looking gentlemen, even when he was stressed.

"Auggie," you called a little more loudly this time. But not even the nickname that he usually griped about to no end made him break his concentration.

You felt tears begin to cling to your Y/E/C eyes. What was going on? Why were the two of you there? Was someone looking for you? Were you going to die?

"August," you choked out around a half sob.

Hearing the emotion in your voice was finally what snapped him out of his concentration and his head whipped up to look at yours, the hard lines in his face softening when he saw how scared you looked.

"What is it, sweetness?" he asked, his voice low and concerned. You loved that you were the only person he dropped his hard exterior for. It made you feel special.

"What's happening?" you asked in a small voice.

"You know I can't tell you that," he sighed, placing one of his strong hands on your arm. You noticed for the first time that his tie was hanging loosely around his neck and the top button of his shirt was undone. That was completely unlike him. Usually he was immaculately put together, even in the most tense of situations. Your stomach did another flip.

"But-" your voice cracked and suddenly there were tears running down your face. August immediately squished next to you on the chair you were sitting on, his large body half hanging off of it awkwardly as he hugged you to his chest, placing his chin on top of your head as you sobbed into his shoulder.

"It's okay," he murmured. "The both of us are gonna be just fine, sweetness. It's only for a few days and then we can go home."

You nodded into his thick shoulder, clutching at his dress shirt. You were aware that you were wrinkling it and that he was going to probably be annoyed about that later, but that didn't matter right now.

"We're not- not gonna die?" you hiccuped against him.

"No, sweetness," he said calmly, his tone almost resigned. "And you know I'll protect you."

He pulled away from you, but still kept his hand on your arm. You knew that August wasn't the best at showing comfort or emotions, but he did try. And usually what he did offer was enough, but not today. Not when you were still terrified out of your mind and he had gone back to pacing across the terribly worn carpet.

Needing to do something with your hands, you walked over to your small suitcase and opened it, taking out everything that you had packed and refolding and reorganizing it as you tried desperately not to cry again. August was holding it together. You could too.

Although admittedly, he was trained for these situations. You were not.

You made your way through your own suitcase and went over to the small bed in the corner. You pulled off the bedding and put it back on, still looking for a way to release your nervous energy. As you put the blankets back on the bed you noticed that it was really a small bed, smaller than you had initially thought. You and August would definitely be cuddling tonight. Although given the circumstances you thought that that might be a good thing.

You heard August walk up behind you just as you finished. You heard him fidget for a moment before he spoke.

"Are you alright, Y/N?"

"Yeah," you lied, still not looking at him. "Why?"

"You only organize like this when you get nervous," he said, placing a strong hand on your arm.

You were silent as you fought down your tears again. August didn't need to be worrying about you when he was thinking about both of your safety. You didn't even know what threat you two were up against.

"What do you need?" He asked softly.

"I know you're a hard ass, but could you play with my hair?" the words tumbled out of your mouth unprompted and you slapped your hand over your mouth reflexively. You couldn't believe that you had actually just said that!

August laughed though. A wonderful, musical sound that you didn't hear often enough and one that felt wildly out of place in the tiny, outdated safe house. It calmed your nerves immediately. "Of course I can, sweetness," he said softly, his hand already coming up to tangle in the strands and he guided you over to the bed.

He pulled you against him, so that your head was huddled against his chest instead of resting on the lumpy mattress. His long fingers worked through your hair tentatively, still shy even after all the years you'd been together.

He kept running his hand through your hair in an almost repetitive motion, careful not to cause too many knots as the tips of his fingernails scratched at your scalp.

You had just begun to fully calm down, your breathing slowing to match his when he spoke up.

"Am I doing it right?" he asked sheepishly. You weren't looking at his face but you could imagine the cute way that his mustache was stretching as he smiled.

"Yeah, Auggie. You are," you giggled at his uncertainty. God, he was so cute sometimes.

"Don't laugh at me," he grumbled. "I've never done this before!"

"Well good thing we're working on that now, huh Auggie?" you giggled again.

"And don't call me that!" he groaned. "I'm too much of a hard ass for a nickname like that."

"A hard ass that plays with his girlfriend's hair," you mused. Your banter had made you forget the situation at hand. It was just you and August.

"I might be a hard ass," he laughed. "But I'm never too much of a hard ass to play with your hair."

[doctorstethoscope]

The Right Chapter Nine || Aaron Hotchner x Fem Reader

Hello and happy Tuesday besties! ICYMI, I posted a bit of smutty goodness for all of you 18+ folks here. If you’d like to be added to my general Hotch fic taglist please let me know! 

Read previous chapters of this fic here! 

contains: canon-typical discussion of violence, food mention, therapy, cuddling. 

wc: 2k

When you woke up the next morning, there were flowers in a vase on your bedside table. You’re smiling before you’ve even wiped the sleep away from your eyes, grabbing the sticky note that was stuck to the vase. 

“Would’ve sent these to your desk, but figured that wouldn’t go unnoticed by a team of behavior experts. Hope they made you smile anyways. -AH

An expert on behavior and he was only hoping that he could make you smile, you laughed to yourself, rolling out of bed and finding Aaron in the kitchen with a mug of coffee, packing Jack’s lunch. 

“When did you find the time to do that, Hotchner? Don’t you ever sleep?” You asked, and he looked up at you, breaking out in a smile. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” He shrugs, looking back down to his carrot slices as you cross the kitchen in pursuit of a cup of coffee. He places the knife down and tugs you closer to him by the palm of your hand so he can drop a kiss to the top of your head. It makes you feel warm all over. You hear the insistent smacking of small feet on hardwood and step away from Aaron in an instant, not wanting to be caught by Jack. 

“Morning bud,” Aaron calls across the kitchen. Jack responds with a yawn, which makes you giggle. He smiles at you. 

“Are you gonna have to go catch bad guys again?” He asks. “I missed you and dad.” 

“Oh little man, we missed you too! We probably won’t get called away today but I can’t say for sure. If dad and I come home tonight, do you want to have a special movie night so we can all spend some time together?” 

Jack nods ferociously, and practically starts buzzing with excitement. “Can we watch monsters inc?” 

“Oh, that’s one of my favorites!” 

“Dad?” Jack looked to his father for confirmation. 

“Of course, bud. But you’d better eat all of these carrots I’m packing in your lunch if you want a treat.” Aaron smiled at Jack, who agreed easily. “Come on, we don’t want to miss the bus.” He said, ushering Jack out the door with a Danimals and an orange while you finished getting ready. You were struck for a moment by how easily you had slid into the Hotchner boys’ morning routines, and you realized that you would miss it once you found your own place. But it was for the best-- you hoped that you and Aaron would be serious enough to consider living together, but you didn’t want to force it too early in the relationship and cause problems. 

When Aaron comes back, you’re dressed and ready to head off to work. He grabs his briefcase and suit jacket off of one of the chairs at the kitchen table. 

“D’you eat?” He asked as he pulled his jacket over his arms.

“I had coffee. I’m not a big breakfast person.” You tell him, surprised that he hasn’t already noticed this about you.

“Grab a fruit.” He tells you. 

“Did you eat?’ You ask him, and the tips of his ears turn pink. “Yeah, that’s what I thought, Hotchner. Why don’t you grab a fruit.” You teased, tossing him an orange from the bowl and tucking a banana into your purse as you stepped out the door, with Aaron locking up behind you. He wrapped his free arm around your waist as the two of you walked to the car.

“I have something to tell you, and you’re going to be mad at me.” Aaron confesses about halfway through your drive to work. 

“Ah, so that’s what the flowers were about.” You said facetiously. 

“No, the flowers were from your boyfriend, this news is from your boss.” He clarifies. 

“Oh?” You asked, needing him to explain more. 

“You’ve got a psych eval this morning.” He confesses and you groan. 

“Ugh, Hotch, really?” 

“Even if we could ignore what happened with Josh-- which, for the record, you shouldn’t-- you were held hostage by an unsub.”

“For like, twenty minutes!” You interrupted him. 

“It’s bureau policy, dear. There’s nothing I can do about it.” 

“And you can’t just say that you gave me the psych eval and I passed?” 

“No,” he tells you, sighing. “For us to be together, we need to keep everything above board. Hopefully no one starts on a warpath when we decide we’re ready to share this, but if they do, I don’t want to give them any reason to undermine your professional credibility by arguing I gave you special treatment.” 

You’re a little bit stunned by Aaron’s use of “when” rather than “if.” It’s not in a bad way, of course-- it’s actually, really, really good, to hear that he’s just as in it as you are, even if you hadn’t expressed it very well yet. The idea that he’s already thinking about the future-- even if it is your professional future, not exactly a white-picket-fence kind of future-- gives you butterflies. You realize you’ve waited too long to respond when Aaron speaks up again. 

“I understand if that’s a lot for you to take on, or if that makes you rethink things. I wouldn’t hold it against you if you decided this wasn’t worth the potential professional issues.” He adds nervously, clearing his throat. You reach over and put a hand on his thigh. 

“I think you’re worth the risk,” you smile at him, and watch him release a breath he didn’t know he was holding. 

 “Thanks for coming in,” Laura, one of the FBI’s resident psychologists said as you settled into the couch in her office. You err on the side of politeness and decide not to point out that you didn’t really have a choice. 

“Not a problem,” you smiled at her. 

“So how are you feeling?” She asked. 

“I’m good. I’m happy to be back at work, and to get my field clearance back. I’ve missed it.” You tell her.

“That’s right, you’d been removed from the field for a head injury.” She said, peering over your file. “Service related?” 

“No, I fell down a flight of stairs,” you lied, hoping she couldn’t read you as easily as Aaron could. 

“Hmm, so you travelled with the team even though you weren’t cleared for field work?” She asks, and you’re pretty sure you’re not imagining the judgement in her tone. 

“I didn’t go into the field. I stayed at the police station, in compliance to orders from my doctor and from Chief Hotchner. Unfortunately, the field came to me,” you attempted to make a joke. She didn’t laugh. 

“Was it not possible for your duties to be completed from Quantico?” 

“No, it wasn’t. The behavioral analysis unit works as a team-- we’re able to determine profiles as successfully as we do because we collaborate. My efforts, and the work of my team, would have been severely hindered if I had stayed behind.” You answer mechanically, trying, and most likely failing, to not sound defensive. “I fail to see how that’s relevant to my experience with Alec Gordon.” 

“I’m just trying to determine if you’re engaging in a pattern of self-endangering or careless behavior.” Laura answers honestly.

“I can assure you that my attitude regarding my work and the work of my team is anything but careless.” You bite back.

“You came back to work very quickly after your concussion.” She says, and it’s not a question, so you don’t take the bait. “Any particular reason for that?” 

“I felt ready to return, and Chief Hotchner was willing to accommodate my need to work partial days until I was fully recovered, so on the advice of my physician I returned to work on a modified schedule.” 

“Agent, I don’t need to tell you that withholding information in our session or on the forms you filled out prior to our appointment today, will only hurt you.” 

“With all due respect, I haven’t withheld anything and I resent the implication.” 

“Very well, agent. I will have a complete evaluation sent to your supervisor by the end of the business day.” 

“Thank you for your time,” you smiled, trying to make it look real. 

“The door is always open, agent.” 

“So, you kind of beat me to the punch this morning,” Aaron tells you as you’re walking out of the office together. 

“What are you talking about?” You asked.

“Well, the flowers were a part of my master plan to get you to agree to come to dinner with me tonight, but it seems you’ve made other arrangements with my son.” He smirks at you as you both climb into his SUV. 

“I guess now you know where you stand in the ranking of Hotchner boys.” You tease him. 

“It won’t get me ahead of Jack, I know, but will you let me take you out to dinner tomorrow night?” 

“Aaron,” you laughed. “You don’t need to take me out to dinner.” 

“Yes, I do.” He tells you.

“We already live together. You’re going to have dinner with me regardless of whether or not we eat it at a restaurant.” You tell him, gesturing to his place as he parked the car.

“Maybe so, but you’ve already decided that we won’t be living together much longer. I care about you, and I want to spend time with you, and I’d like to take you out to dinner.” He said, shifting to face you now that the car was stopped.

You rolled your eyes fondly, feeling yourself blush. “I’ll allow it.” 

“God, it’s like pulling teeth,” Aaron muttered sarcastically, breaking out into a grin as you laughed.

You both got out of the car and headed inside, where Jess and Jack were working on a puzzle at the kitchen table. 

“Dad!” Jack says, looking up to see his father and abandoning the puzzle, launching himself into his father’s arms. 

“Hey, buddy. Did you have a good day?”

“Yes, and I ate all my carrots so that I could have a special treat while we watch Monsters Inc.” 

“He’s been waiting to tell you that all afternoon,” Jess laughed, standing up from the table and crossing to you to give you a hug. When Haley died, you and Jess got a lot closer, through Jack. “It’s good to see you,” she says as she squeezes you. 

“You too.” You smile. “I’ve got to go change into my special movie night clothes,” you smirked, leaving Jess, Jack and Aaron in the kitchen.

“Jack, why don’t you go put on your pajamas, and we’ll start the movie in a little bit?” Aaron suggested, and Jack scampered off towards his room. 

“Do you plan on ever telling that girl how you feel about her, or are you just going to look at her like she hung the stars in the sky for the rest of your life?” Jess asks Aaron bluntly. 

“I can’t possibly be that obvious.” 

“Aren’t you literally a behavior expert?” 

“It’s being handled, Jess.” He assures her with a quick grin as you emerge from your room in soft flannel pants and a tank top. 

“Do you want to stay, Jess? We’re just gonna order a pizza and veg out.” 

“I wish I could. But you kids have fun.” She said, looking between you and Aaron. Jack comes running out of his room to give his aunt a kiss goodbye and you all settle on the couch. 

Jack inserts himself in the middle of you and Aaron on the couch, a slice of pizza on a paper plate in front of him with the promise of ice cream later on. Aaron’s arm rests across the back of the sofa and his hand plays gently with the hair at the nape of your neck. You tilt your head in his direction, pulling Jack into your lap so you can scoot closer as the movie plays on. Jack falls asleep before you can even get him his ice cream, and you take the opportunity to rest your head on Aaron’s shoulder, his arm wrapping around your shoulder and tracing comforting patterns into the skin of your upper arms until the credits roll.

[dontcare77ghj]

Inked

Natasha x reader x Wanda

"You know those cause cancer, right?" Mal asked, entering your office. "And you're gonna stink out your office."

"The window's open." You shrugged, exhaling slowly and sending the smoke out the open window. "And you and I both know, cancer isn't something I'm scared of."

"Yeah, yeah, death licks your boots." Mal rolled her eyes, blowing a strand of blue hair out of her eyes. "Anyway, I'm going on break, Blaine's with a customer, and we've got a walk-in."

"I'll handle it." You promised, putting out your cigarette. "You going to pick up Erin?" You asked the younger girl.

"Yeah, I'm gonna drop her off with a neighbor. May offered and wouldn't let me refuse." She told you.

"Well, here. Get Erin something sweet for me." You said, shoving a twenty into her hands.

"Y/N, I can't." Mal started, trying to give you the money back.

"I insist." You cut her off. "I want to be her favorite aunt." You shrugged, forcing her to curl her fingers around the money. "Go, get your kid, and give her a hug for me."

"Will do, boss." She nodded before leaving.

"Hi, welcome to SkinPolish. How can I help you?" You asked, entering the main room to see the back of a man. He was looking over the walls of the store but turned at your entrance.

"Just so you know, I'm not here to get stabbed a thousand times," Clint told you with a grin.

"I think your day job provides you with enough of that." You joked, wrapping your arms around him. Clint chuckled as he returned your hug, pulling you close. "It's been too long, geezer."

"I know, you've got at least four more tattoos since the last time I saw you, you hoodlum." Clint teased you.

"It's been two years, Clint. Some of us had to change our identities." You reminded him, pulling back. "What are you doing here?"

"I need your help." He told you.

"Blaine, watch the shop." You said without taking your eyes off the man before you.

"You got it, Y/N!"

"Follow me." You told Clint. You led Clint out of the front of the store and into your office. "Clint, I left when SHIELD fell. I handed in my clearance and took off." You said, lighting another cigarette. "I'm not doing any more work for them."

"Don't be like that." Clint groaned, sitting on your desk. 

"First off, get the fuck off my desk. Where are the manners Laura shoved down your throat? And secondly, I can't come back. Fucking HYDRA was running SHIELD for years, and none of us knew. All our information was in their hands. Who knows what they took? I have people I care about, Clint. I can't risk anyone's lives." You told him.

"I'm not asking you to do anything for SHIELD. I'm asking you to help the Avengers." Clint explained.

"Even better, a more public job." You scoffed. "Clint, we're friends. We've been through a lot. I get why you're here, but why the fuck would I risk the people I care about for another mission?"

"Argentina." He said simply.

"That is a dick move, and you know it." You groaned, finishing your smoke.  

"I do know it, but I have to use it. We need your help." Clint said, rising from your desk to stand in front of you. "We need your help, kid. I wouldn't be asking if I had another choice." 

"Fine." You relented after a minute. "When do you need me?"

"Tomorrow," Clint told you. "I'll pick you up." He added before going to leave.

"You don't know where I live." You protested.

"Yeah, I do." Clint corrected you. "I'll see you at nine." He said, and with that, he was gone.

"Fuck me." You sighed, rubbing your hand across your face.

"Remind me why I agreed to this again?" You asked, watching as the Avengers Compound grew closer through the window.

"Because you love me," Clint responded cheekily.

"Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart." You rolled your eyes. "You never even told me what I'm needed for."

"Briefing's in half-hour," Clint told you. "Which gives you enough time to get acquainted with everyone." He added as the car slowed to a stop.

"You know how I feel about crowds of people." 

"It's not a crowd. It's the team and Maria. You're fine, kid, I promise." He said.

"Fine, let's get this over with." You sighed, unclicking your belt.

"Avengers!" Clint called as the two of you moved further into the maze of a building. "I have a surprise for you all!" 

"Is it a unicorn?" A male voice asked as you both entered what looked to be a meeting room.

"Even better. Gentlemen, and Wanda,"

"Smooth Barton." A redhead coughed.

"This is Y/N L/N." Clint continued his introduction. "A specialist in all fields, especially disguise, and the only reason we might do our job today."

"Oh, so I'm doing your work for you again, Barton? Nothing's changed, I see." You commented. 

"Hey! That's not true! Name one time that's ever been true!"

"I can list fifty off the top of my head." You said, raising a brow at him.

"I can add sixty-seven to your list." The redhead piped in. "Natasha Romanoff." She introduced herself.

"Pleasure Agent Romanoff." You smiled. "C'mon Barton, formal introductions, please."

"Yeah, Barton. Introduce us." 

"Y/N, this is Tony, Steve, Bruce, Thor, and Wanda." Clint gestured. "Are you all satisfied?"

"Not particularly, since you still haven't told me what you need my help for." You said, crossing your arms.

"You haven't even told her that. Jesus Barton." Wanda snorted.

"I was getting to that. I was waiting for you all to meet." Clint whined. 

"Well, we're met." You said, taking an empty seat beside Natasha. "C'mon, what am I doing here?"

"There's a gala tonight," Natasha said, handing you a file. "A man named Jayden Reeds is going to be in attendance. Reeds has stock in several large companies, but that's just a front. Reeds actually has ties to HYDRA and deals in human trafficking. From what we've gathered, Reeds kidnaps people who will seemingly not be missed. They're then delivered to HYDRA bases around the world and never heard from again."

"Am I here to kill him? Because I can get behind that." You said, shaking your head.

"Wait till you hear the rest," Clint told you.

"There is a possibility Reeds also has his own collection. He's been spotted with several women who have all disappeared shortly after."

"What's the connection between them?" You asked.

"They're all French brunettes."

"So let me guess, my job is to go undercover tonight and see if he takes the bait. And when he does, I bring him in."

"Bingo Boingo," Tony told you.

"Well, I guess I better find a long sleeve dress. Oh, and maybe a wig."

"You know, if I didn't know better, I would have assumed your accent was real myself," Wanda commented later that night.

The mission had gone as smoothly as could be. Reeds had fallen for your act believing you to be a young French brunette on vacation in America's busiest city.

You hadn't even needed to corner him as he'd followed you into a woman's bathroom with two other men. 

You hadn't given any of them a chance to move or say anything before you had them unconscious on the ground.

Now you were heading home, still decked out in your gala gown, with Natasha, Wanda, Clint, and Tony.

"It's not that good. No matter how much I practice, even my Italian's better than my French." You shrugged.

"Not that good?" Tony snorted, glancing at you in the rearview mirror. "Sweetheart, if I weren't engaged and I met you in Paris, I'd take you back to Hotel Plaza Athenee and show you a time."

"Cute, Starky boy, but you're not my type."

"I'm everyone's type."

"Sorry, hon, but I like women." You told him. "This is my stop." You added as Tony pulled over.

"You live here?" Natasha asked, looking around the neighborhood in distaste. You could understand her aversion to the area. Any one of your neighbors would move in an instant if given the choice.

"Yep." You said, unclicking your belt. "Been here since SHIELD crashed."

"Did SHIELD pay this bad?" Tony questioned you.

"SHIELD pay wasn't great, but it was something. I saved most of it, but a lot of it went to making sure Y/N Smith, the tattoo artist from the wrong side, wasn't connected with Y/N L/N, SHIELD agent." You shrugged. "Didn't see a point in moving after." You added. "This was fun. We should do it again sometime." You said, sliding out and holding the door open.

"We'll give you a call if we need someone to do all the work for us." Clint nodded.

"Great. Come by the shop if you ever want a free tattoo. Clint knows where it is." 

A part of you was sure you wouldn't see any of the team again. They led much more busy lives than you did, and their schedules were forever changing.

So imagine your surprise when Natasha and Wanda entered your shop the next day just to simply chat. And they continued to do so for a week. Sometimes Clint would come, Steve had popped in for a few minutes while on a run, but Natasha and Wanda visited every day. 

On the seventh day, the two came in at one in the afternoon with Tony.

"Hey, Tony. I didn't know you were coming to lunch with us." You said, continuing to lock up the shop. "I'll be ready in a couple minutes."

"Great, but there's been a slight change of plans," Natasha said, watching you closely.

"As long as foods still involved, I won't be too bothered." You shrugged.

"Food is involved. It's just going to take us a while to get to it." Tony cryptically informed you.

"Guys, I'm running on twenty minutes of sleep and caffeine. Please, no cryptics." You sighed, narrowing your eyes at the three.

"Relax, we're not trying to hurt your head." Tony chuckled. "We have something to tell you."

"But first, step this way, away from any possibly hidden weapons," Natasha said, gesturing you forward. "No-one should get a knife to the head because they shocked you."

"Haha." You rolled your eyes, walking forward. "For the record, I did that once. And Clint caught it." You added. "What did you three do?"

"Technically, Tony did it," Wanda said, pointing a thumb at the billionaire.

"Real smooth, Sabrina." Tony scoffed. "Alright, yes, I did this, but I did it out of pure kindness."

"Did what?" 

"I've had all your stuff moved out of your apartment. I've had it moved into a spare room in the Compound," Tony announced. 

"Put it back, Tony." You demanded, crossing your arms. "My things aren't yours to touch."

"You live in a shitty neighborhood." Tony defended himself. "You have eight security systems of your own just to keep yourself safe. You won't find a new place of your own volition, so I found one for you."

"Tony, you moved my things into the Avengers Compound." You sighed. "I'm not an Avenger."

"Yet." Tony cut you off. "You are more than qualified to join the team. The way you helped us the other night, the way you took those men out and got the information quicker than we would have done. You can be an Avenger."

"I'm not risking those closest to me." You shook your head. "I gave up Y/N L/N when I left SHIELD. I have people in my life now, civilian people, who could get hurt because of me."

"Than don't let them," Natasha said. "I've been through your records, know how many people you helped and protected. Protect those you love just as you did all the strangers. You can still lead this life as well as one where you can protect people again."

"At least try temporarily," Wanda suggested. "Give it a month trial period and see if you can remember what it feels like. If it doesn't work out, you don't have to do anything you don't want to. And if it does work, you can join our team. Please." She added, giving you puppy dog eyes.

"Fine. A trial period." You sighed, pushing your hair back. "But no more using those eyes. It's evil, and you know it." You said, pointing at the witch.

"Yes, she does." Natasha smiled, putting her arm around her girlfriend's waist. "C'mon, there's a car waiting to take us back to the Compound."

"Where Tony ordered lunch," Wanda added, putting her hand out to you to take.

"At least he did one thing right." You joked, taking her petite hand.

"Hey!"

You had been staying at the Compound for almost a month. There were four days before the end of your trial period, but you hadn't made your decision yet. 

There was still a part of you that thought it would no longer be safe for the civilians in your life if you joined the team. If you entered the Avengers, you might have to give up this identity and everything and everyone that came with it.

But there was something about being around the team that ignited a spark within you. A spark you long thought had burned out. You longed for adventure, for that adrenaline rush that came with being undercover and the pride you felt at helping someone. 

You were torn between two worlds. Torn between two personalities.

"Jesus Christ, you smell like an ashtray," Natasha complained as she suddenly appeared by your side. You snapped out of your daze just in time to see Natasha take the smoke out of your hand and take a drag for herself.

"Didn't know you smoked." You commented, watching her exhale the smoke slowly.

"I don't. Not anymore." Natasha shook her head. "Just couldn't resist."

"Don't expect me to kiss you until you brush your teeth," Wanda said, skipping into the room and crossing her arms as she stared at the two of you. "I want a tattoo." She announced, staring you dead in the eye.

"Okay. Do you want me to find a parlor for you in the morning? I have a couple friends who owe me a favor or two." You suggested.

"No, I want you to do it," Wanda told you firmly. "As soon as possible if you would." 

"And you're sure about this?" You asked, raising a brow. "You're sure you want a tattoo and that you want me to do it?"

"Yes." She nodded.

"Alright, then. Follow me." You said, leading the two back into the Compound and into your room.

"You have a gun and inks in your room?" Natasha asked, looking your makeshift parlor over.

"Yep. Set it up the night I arrived, gave myself this the next." You said, lifting your shirt to reveal the healing tattoo on your hip.

"Geez, you know most people drink a bottle of scotch to welcome themselves to a new place? Not give themselves a tattoo." Natasha informed you.

"Probably." You nodded, beginning to set up your station. "Okay, Wanda, what did you have in mind?"

"I want the words, 'Ty namnogo bol'she' to wrap around my wrist," Wanda said, tracing around her thin wrist with her finger.

"Alright, I can definitely do that. But you might have to write it down for me. My Russian's not that great." You informed her.

"We'll have to work on that," Natasha said as Wanda began to write it down.

"Alright." You began after Wanda handed you the spelling. "Let's get started."

"I love it." Wanda smiled, watching as you gently wrapped her wrist. "It's perfect." 

"I like to do my best." You grinned, putting the last of the tape down. "Make sure that stays moist. And do not scratch it under any circumstances." You instructed her as you began to shove your equipment away in plastic tubs.

"You need a better system," Natasha commented. "Yours is kind of a mess."

"I'll update my system when I change this room around." You said, looking around the nearly bare room. Everything you owned was in plastic tubs or bags. You hadn't been bothered to unpack yet.

"Does that mean you're planning on staying?" Natasha asked. "Have you made your decision yet? To join the team or not?"

"Not yet. I'm still trying to decide." You sighed, leaning against the wall. "I like not giving a shit. I like waking up in the morning and paying too much for a shitty cup of coffee. I like going to work and being around people who've never had to see the shit we have. I like not having to feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders, but I miss it. 

I miss being a part of a team. I liked saving people. I enjoyed going on missions, creating new personas to get what I needed done. I miss being around people who've seen the shit I have. Who know what the weight of the world feels like. 

Now I don't where to go. What I need more in my life." You told them.

"We told you, you don't need to pick one world," Wanda said, standing from her stool. "You can still save people and drink over-priced coffee. You can still be with people who share your trauma and be with those who don't. You don't have to pick one world."

"Can we help your decision along by us asking you out to dinner?" Natasha asked, breaking your pensive silence.

"Excuse me?" You asked, for once being taken aback by another person. "I think I went temporarily deaf there. Can you repeat yourself?"

"Let us take you on a date," Natasha repeated slowly. "We were thinking about dinner and wine and then a night at the opera." She said, causing your nose to scrunch up without thought.

"She's kidding." Wanda giggled. "Actually, we were thinking we get a couple beers, order a pizza, and watch a movie in our room."

"Can I pick the movie?" You asked her.

"With your crappy taste, no." Wanda shook her head.

"Okay, now she's kidding," Natasha said, taking three steps forward to stand beside her girlfriend. "Of course, you can pick the movie."

"And this wouldn't hurt your relationship?" You asked tentatively. "I wouldn't ruin what you already have?"

"You could only add." Wanda smiled.

"So, what do you say? You wanna go on a date with us?" Natasha questioned you.

"I'd love to."

"Go away.” You groaned, rolling away and under the covers into Natasha’s body.

“Wakey, wakey. Up and at ‘em you two.” Wanda ordered, pulling the blankets off the pair of you. 

“Wanda!” 

“Both of you will forgive me when I tell you I have coffee.” Wanda rolled her eyes, sitting on the bed beside you.

“The overpriced kind?”

“What other kind is there?” Wanda asked. “C’mon sit up or no coffee for either of you.”

“Alright, alright, we’re up.” Natasha said, sitting up with you on her chest. “Thank you, sweetheart.” 

“I love you.” You groaned after taking the first sip of your steaming beverage.

“Are you talking to me or the coffee?” 

“Can’t it be both?” You shrugged before grabbing her hand and kissing her palm softly.

“As long as there’s love for me too, it can.” Natasha told you.

“I love you too, Nat.” You promised, kissing her collarbone.

“After today’s meeting, I want you to give me a tattoo.” Natasha announced. “I don’t care where is is, but I want ‘YA zasluzhivayu lyubvi’.” She told you. 

“Alright then. I like this plan.” You smiled, looking up at your girlfriend. “You know I think I’m due for some new ink myself.”

“What are you gonna do?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you can choose for me.” You shrugged. “I trust you both, always.”

Once, you left SHIELD and it’s lifestyle behind. And then one day Clint Barton walked into your shop and brought you back into it. 

He brought you back to the life you missed and brought you to Natasha and Wanda.

Remember all Taglists are open as are requests. 

Taglist

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Natasha Romanoff Taglist

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@imnotasuperhero

[charming-charlie]

Washed Away pt. 5

Title // Washed Away pt. 5

Pairing // Evan Buckley x Reader

Warnings // Mentions of death and a missing kid.

Summary // Who knew hanging out with Buck and Christopher for a day would lead to a life or death situation?

Word Count // 2.5k

Prompt // Hi! Can i request a fic where you were with Buck & Christopher when the tsunami hit? They could be dating or crushing on each other. If nothing comes to mind, then it’s completely fine to ignore this request! Have a nice day!’

Author’s Note // This is the final part of the Washed Away series. || Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4

Tagged List // @aprildecker-blog​​​ @coffeewithoutcaffeine​​​ @daddysfavoritesexkitten​​​ @chenfordlove​​​ @comeasyoudar​​​ @carnationworld​​​ @averyhotchner​ @evanbuckos​​

The sun had set. The day was over, but that doesn’t mean the situation is. You and Buck had been wading through the water for hours, heading to the last place someone said they saw Christopher.

Exhaustion was starting to settle in. You were sore all over too. It felt like you just finished running up and down a flight of stairs non-stop while carrying a bookbag full of weights. Your shoulders hurt, your legs felt like they were going to give out any time soon, and your body was so dehydrated from soaking up and drinking in a lot of saltwater that you pretty much felt delirious.

Finally, civilization was within reach.

A makeshift help spot was set up near the bakery where you and Buck were headed. Water bottles were being passed out and you reached out to grab one. How could something so common look so precious, like it was made of gold?

You twisted off the cap and downed half of it in three big gulps and handed the rest of it to Buck. He finished off the water, nearly gasping for breath by the end. He was exhausted too. You didn’t even know how long you two were walking and the little help was most appreciated.

The people around you looked worse for wear. You couldn’t imagine the struggles they went through to try and save themselves or what their story could be. You were sure it was similar. Everyone lost someone or something in the tsunami and you knew it was going to be hard to get over that.

Then again, did you really want to?

The whole event gave you a new outlook on life and appreciate what you have. You didn’t appreciate your job enough, but you were grateful now. You were a school nurse and you realized you love those kids that you looked after. You loved Christopher, having seen him and checked on him many times thanks to his worrisome father, and it would break your heart to never see that little boy again.

Now is not the time to think about those things. You didn’t know for sure. Let’s not focus on the what ifs.

For a moment, Buck swore he saw Christopher. He saw a little boy clinging to the leg of some woman, and he let out a relieved sigh, only for his eyes to play tricks on him. It wasn’t Christopher at all.

“Mister, are you okay? You’re bleeding,” a nearby passerby said, and Buck glanced down at his hand.

Sure enough, he was.

There was a cut of some kind, and the two of you didn’t even realize it. You frowned, mentally kicking yourself and cursing yourself out for not realizing Buck’s injury. The ex-firefighter sat down, looking worse for wear and you grabbed his hand carefully while examining it.

You ripped off a strip of your shirt to use as a bandage and Buck’s eyes sort of glazed over. Due to his adrenaline, he probably wasn’t feeling any pain.

“What am I gonna do?” Buck whispered as you tended to him, “how am I gonna tell Eddie?”

You said nothing, because you knew whatever you did say wouldn’t exactly be helpful. However, you were there. Side by side, you were there with Buck and Christopher today and everything Buck did was for that little boy. You never seen someone care so much the way Buck does. He has such a good heart and for once, you were hoping against hope that things would work out in his favor. He didn’t deserve this.

After a bit of a break, including some water to get both of your heads on straight, you two were back to the grind. This time, you didn’t have to walk for long.

There was an old mall or hospital, you couldn’t be sure, that somehow turned into a makeshift triage center not too far from where you and Buck were. The two of you practically dashed over to the building and its tents, being careful since there wasn’t a lot of strength left between you.

Buck was looking in the beds, glancing around for anyone that even remotely passed Christopher. You hijacked a few clipboards, searching for Christopher’s name anywhere you can but you both came up empty.

“Eddie dropped Christopher off with me,” Buck began talking to you and you could hear the defeat in his voice. It sounded like he was fighting the feeling of giving up, but he was on the cusp. “He thought it would get me out of my apartment and… out of my head. And you know what I did? I brought him to the pier. I had him, I kept him safe. And then the three of us were on top of the ladder truck and the water receded, and for a moment I felt like I got this. I had you, I had Christopher, and we would be fine. And now Christopher is gone. We checked everywhere. And now I realize I failed. I’m a failure no matter how you look at it.”

You could hear your heart cracking as you listened to him, and you knew nothing you said would change his mind. He was beating himself up over this situation. He did everything he could, and he was still handed the short end of the stick.

Finding Christopher at the makeshift hospital was the last bit of hope he had and now it was gone. You could see the defeat that wavered in his voice and how it hid behind his eyes.

And if that didn’t help the situation, there was Eddie Diaz, tending to a few patients himself. He wore blue latex gloves, had the navy fire uniform on, and was directing a few people into the hospital. Buck nearly choked back a sob as the realization of what to do next was hitting him faster than a wall of bricks.

He had to tell Eddie, and you were going to be right by his side when he did.

However, Buck dashed behind a white tent, pulling you along with him. Turns out he wanted to hide instead of face Christopher’s father.

“Buck,” you said slowly. Your voice was hoarse from lack of water and from shouting Christopher’s name all afternoon with Buck. You felt like your vocal cords were ripped to shreds at this point, but you soldiered on. Now was not the time to accept defeat. “You have to tell him.”

“How?” Buck answered as he looked at you. His hand slowly slipped into your own, and you squeezed his fingers tightly. “How do you tell your best friend that you lost his son?”

“He’s his father. You have to tell him that Christopher is missing,” you said, knowing this was the only chance he had right now.

Buck shook his head, not wanting to hear it. “No, I need to keep looking for him. I need to find him.”

One of your hands instinctively went up to the side of Buck’s face, caressing him lightly. You still couldn’t believe the man in front of you wasn’t giving up just yet, even though maybe he should. You hated the train of thought you were currently on, but Buck was exhausted, and he lost some blood. Plus, it didn’t help that he was severely dehydrated, much like yourself. The two of you were in no condition to continue searching. You probably wouldn’t make it if you tried. You both needed to rest up and regain your strength.

“Buck,” you heard the voice before you saw who it belonged to and your head whipped around to see Eddie. The man was heading outside to continue helping and he looked a bit surprised to see his best friend standing there. Then his eyes fell on you, and the look of surprise seemed to double. “Nurse Y/N, what are you both doing here? Are you okay? Wait, where’s Christopher?”

There was no time to prepare a giant speech. Eddie Diaz was right there in front of you both, and it was now or never. You let go of Buck as you turned to face the father of one of your favorite patients, ready for what was about to happen. This was a conversation you were dreading, and you couldn’t imagine the internal conflicts Buck must be going through as he mustered up the courage to say what happened.

“Eddie…” Buck interjected in between Eddie’s many questions, and the army vet stopped talking.

For a moment, the two best friends stared at each other, like Buck was hoping Eddie would get the hint without saying anything, but you knew that would be the cowardly way out. If there was one thing you learned today, it was that Buck was not a coward. Not now, not ever.

“Me and Christopher… we were at the beach, and I swear to you…” Buck was choking on his words and you squeezed his hand again for support.

Eddie was nodding, trying to understand, but the look on his face was heartbreaking. It was like if he didn’t hear it, it wouldn’t be true.

“I tried… and I just… but I… Eddie, I just don’t know how to say it. Um, he… he um…” Buck couldn’t get through it. He was stumbling over the words and Eddie’s eyes were brimming with the threat of tears as Buck tried to get the words out.

What made it even worse was that Eddie couldn’t even look at Buck. The army vet was looking behind his best friend, like he needed to avoid eye contact with what Buck was saying.

“Christopher?” Eddie questioned softly, like he needed clearance on what Buck was saying, but your gaze followed Eddie’s. A woman had stepped off a truck, carrying a small child. Your heart almost stopped, and you pulled on Buck’s arm to get him to stop talking.

Eddie slowly walked past you and Buck, and he approached the woman. Slowly, Buck turned around to follow Eddie feeling like this was Eddie’s way of coping with denial.

“Christopher?” Eddie called again, and like music to your ears, you heard the little boy shout for his dad.

The woman was carrying Christopher the entire time, bringing him to safety. Tears exploding out of your eyes once you realized what was going on and you stole a glance at Buck. Buck looked elated, like he was about to cry from relief as well. Christopher was alive and in Eddie’s arms, and there was no greater feeling than that.

“Buck, what happened to you?”

Suddenly, the fire crew of Station 118 popped into view. You didn’t know them personally, but you could venture a guess who from all the stories Christopher was told you during his visits to your little office at the school.

Captain Bobby Nash stood in front of the two of you, and he looked deeply concerned. He looked back and forth from you to Buck before asking, “Are you two okay?”

However, your exhaustion was caving in, along with Buck’s. The two of you practically collapsed to the floor and the fire family scrambled to hold onto both of you. That was the last thing you remembered, passing out next to Buck in the arms of his old crew.

It took a while, but the city was in clean up mode. You and Buck had a nice, extended stay at the hospital, hooked up to fluids and oxygen before given a clean bill of health. You were discharged first, since Buck had some lacerations that needed stitching up but the two of you texted nonstop while he regained his strength.

You went back to your job as the nurse at the elementary school, although you also became sort of a guidance counselor to the kids. Turns out, when you were checking for lice or fevers, they needed someone to talk to and you could just relate to them in a way. You were a familiar face in all the chaos, someone they needed to hold onto in order to make sense of things.

Christopher’s appointments never stopped either. In fact, they seemed to be increasing, only because Christopher wanted to talk to you and hang out with you.

“Honestly Eddie, he’s doing fine,” you spoke to Eddie on the phone about his son. You were sitting at your desk, making your daily calls to parents and Eddie Diaz was no stranger to the phone calls. “He’s in good spirits. Nothing is wrong with him, he’s pretty perfect.”

“You know, I never got to thank you,” Eddie’s voice crackled in your ear, “for what you did. Christopher told me how you and Buck saved him, and you have no idea how much I appreciate that.”

The two of you hung up, although there was promises of talking tomorrow. Talking to Eddie was a recurring thing in your life at this point, and you could use the stability.

“Knock knock,” a head peeked into your office, “these came for you.”

The secretary opened your door and placed a bouquet of colorful roses on you desk. There was a white card attached, looking strikingly clean in the middle of the rainbow of flowers.

You pulled off the card and it only said two words.

Come Outside.

Curiously, you stood up and grabbed your stethoscope, draping it around your neck. You never went anywhere without it now, and you weren’t sure what kind of situation you were getting yourself into. You rounded a corner and pushed open the heavy steel door that led to the front of the school. There, standing in all his glory, was Evan Buckley with the most beautiful smile you had ever seen.

“Thank you very much for the flowers,” you said as you smiled at him in return. “Why didn’t you tell me you were out of the hospital. I would’ve sent you some breakfast or something.”

“That’s part of the surprise. So, surprise!” Buck said happily as he approached you.

You just smiled at him, letting his arms snake around your waist as he hugged you tightly. Your arms draped around his neck and it felt so good. It felt familiar.

As you pulled away, you were greeted with something else. Buck, with no hesitation whatsoever, leaned in and captured your lips in a sudden and welcomed kiss. It was all you wanted, all you were waiting for, and you let yourself melt into his arms as he kissed you with such force and determination, you knew you would be a puddle of goo by the end of it.

“Let me take you out on a date,” Buck whispered against your lips, his lips brushing over yours with each and every word, “a real one this time. Just me and you.”

Your heart felt like it would leap out of your chest and you couldn’t manage to bring any words out. Instead, you nodded as you leaned in to kiss him again.

This was all you wanted. You’ve never been happier. You finally had the moment you wanted with Buck and now, a date on the horizon. With your luck, it would be the first of many, you were sure of it. There was no way you were going to let this man go, ever.

[ashintheairlikesnow]

Hope: The Smuggler

A continuation on this little piece I posted a couple of days ago. Just something small knocking around inside my mind. 

CW: Escaped pet whumpee, BBU, guns, scarring, referenced past torture, ~mysterious world-building references~

“Allie!” Gyasi hops down from the truck, the tread of her work boots crunching into the rock salt scattered over the road to melt the ice. 

Snowflakes are already starting to drift down, landing in Gyasi’s hair and laying white and beautiful against her black braids pulled back low at her neck. They melt a moment later, but it’s definitely snowing a little more than it was a half an hour ago, and Allie’s sure there’ll be another big buildup tonight. 

Allie’s mouth always goes a little dry when Gyasi is in town, and she has to lock her knees not to have them wobble as she gives her most welcoming smile. “Welcome back, Gya.”

“Always a pleasure.” Gyasi crushes her in a hug. The other woman only comes up to Allie’s nose, and still she feels sort of helpless at every touch. Funny, how she’s the deputy head of security for Hope, and still someone as slim and slight as Gyasi can make her fall to pieces. “I got a team of  six this time, all names you know. We’re going in with seven rescues and a couple libbers with pretty big felony convictions about to come down, hopefully coming back with a metric fucking ton of insulin, plus the usual other shit.”

“Great.” Allie has to clear her throat to keep her voice from coming out husky and trembling. She pulls back from the hug, looking over the truck. The man sitting in the passenger seat gives her a wave, and after a second Allie remembers him, too - Charlie or Chuck. Another truck pulls up behind that, and then a van. “We’ll be sending you in one vehicle at a time. Once we get clearance the first makes it through, we’ll send the next.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know how it goes. Rescues first-” Gyasi points to the van. “Then our libbers go in the truck. Chaz and I’ll bring up the rear.”

Right, Chaz. Allie always forgets his name. 

“And if you’re caught-”

“I know, Allie-cat. I was never here, there’s no road through the woods, we snuck through an hour east of here.” Gyasi reaches up to pat the side of her face, and Allie wonders if she’s just going to black out one day when Gya does that. “We didn’t give you away the last time one of us got picked up, we won’t this time, either. Trust me.”

“I try to,” Allie says, voice softening a little. It’s hard, to be soft - her life has been one of needing to always be sharp-edged, ready to kill or fight on command. Softness came only after she made it here, and even then only with time. “You know I try to trust you, Gya.”

“Well, try harder, because I’m trustworthy.” Gyasi laughs, deep and rich, and then her eyes shift to the side. Her smile, wide and bright, starts to fade slightly. It returns a little faded, unsure. "We have a watcher, Al.”

“What?” Allie turns to look over her shoulder, instinctively tensing at the possibility of a threat - and then relaxes. “Oh. He’s, uh. He’s shy. That’s our new kid, he came up from Florida.”

“Oof, what a long trip.”

“You’re not wrong. Leslie said he needed to be in No Man’s Land, although she refused to say why. Come on over here, kiddo!”

If Gyasi tops out with her hair not quite high enough to touch Allie’s nose, Esteban doesn’t even clear her shoulders. He’s a skinny, short thing, drowning in a huge canvas winter coat he’d arrived in. His cheeks and the tip of his nose are bright red from the cold he’s still getting used to, and he’s got big thick black gloves on, a woven knit cap pulled down to cover his ears, dark brown curls sticking out all around it, brown eyes sparkling.

Leslie had left him with fleece-lined jeans, heavy socks and a promise to wear two pairs with his boots, all the sweaters you could imagine, and strict admonitions not to try and go without gloves just because some of the others who’ve been here longer do.

His breath puffs out in front of him as he jogs over from where he’d been lurking at the side of the admin building (well... it’s really just Brock’s house). “H-hey, Allie.”

"You look frozen, Esteban.”

“It’s not so bad,” Esteban says, cheerful as always, even as his nose looks like Rudolph on a bad day. “I’m getting used to it. I wanted to watch the trucks! Who is this? Are these new people like me?”

“Oh, I’m not like you,” Gyasi says, without judgement, but Allie still sees Esteban’s shoulders hunch a little under his layers, catches the embarrassed flush that darkens him even under the cold. “Gyasi Templeton’s the name. I run meds, mostly. And people.”

“Run...?” Esteban’s curiosity overcomes his mood, and he turns to look at the two trucks and the big van, then back at Allie. 

“I’m a smuggler,” Gyasi announces happily. “I smuggle.”

“Right.” Allie points to the van first. “Her group does runs to Canada through here. Meds, runaways, pet lib groups. Other stuff that it might be hard for us to get hold of on this side of the border, Gya’s group can bring through here.”

“Technically, we go through there.” Gyasi points, gesturing to the forest just visible at the horizon, the soft smudged line of dark green and brown. “It’s a bumpy road, let me tell you, halfway up a fucking mountain and back, uh.. you said Esteban?”

“Yeah,” Esteban’s replies, shyly, half-hidden behind Allie. “That’s my name.”

“You pick it out?” Gyasi’s not really that interested, just making conversation. Allie can see her distraction - she’s in a hurry to get moving, hoping to make it through the trees before nightfall and the snow make things too difficult or dangerous and force them to wait it out. 

Esteban, though, doesn’t seem to notice. “Yes! Dr. Osmond let me choose my own name, he was very kind to me. He was very kind.”

Allie swallows, jaw setting into a firm line, shoulders tensing. She, after all, has seen what the kids hands look like under those gloves. Scarred and with one pinky permanently bent, one of his other fingers doesn’t even close. 

“No, he wasn’t,” Gyasi says, and she glances back at the truck, with its engine still rumbling. 

“What?” Esteban blinks. 

“Nobody kind has a runaway Boxie who goes this fucking far to get away from them.”

Esteban looks away, something shifting in his expression. Allie, as a rule, doesn’t give a fuck about sob stories. She has her own, and she’s heard so many on top of that. She stopped letting them sink into her skin a long time ago. But she finds herself wondering what Esteban’s expression - wistful, sad, but oddly bittersweet, too - could possibly mean. 

“Ethan wasn’t nice,” He mumbles. “But Dr. Osmond was, in the lab where I was first.”

Then he gives Gyasi and Allie another bright smile, but it’s more brittle than it was before. “Nice to meet you, ma’am,” He says politely. 

Allie frowns, though. “The lab, Estenban? You mean Facility, right?”

“The lab,” Esteban says patiently. “In the Facility. Where I grew up. I’m gonna go, it’s getting cold.”

“Wait, what do you-”

“Later, Allie.” He bumps his shoulder lightly against Allie’s arm as a kind of farewell, and crunches his way back out of the road and onto the sidewalk, heading in the direction of the adjustment house, the first place anyone stays until they’re ready to settle down.

Allie watches him go, a chill settling into her chest.

What lab? Where he grew up? Leslie said he came out of some exec’s house. And the exec sure wouldn’t be a doctor... 

“Cute kid,” Gyasi says, startling Allie back out of her thoughts. “But we have a contact waiting for us at an auto shop in Nick’s Island. Next time we’ll get coffee, right, Allie-cat? And you’ll finally watch Clue with me?”

Allie feels something flutter in her chest. Esteban’s odd mysterious statements forgotten, she quickly nods. “Will do, Gya. Stay safe.”

“I never stay safe, it’d ruin my fun.” Gyasi crushes Allie briefly back into another hug, and then climbs back up into her truck, settling back in. “Let them know we’re going through, we’ll be there in ten or fifteen.”

Allie’s already pulling out her radio. “Your escort’ll be ready for you when you hit the path. You already paid up?”

“Yeah, I paid Brock half direct. You’ll get the other half of your cut when we come back.”

“Right. Half in cash, half in meds.”

“Same as always. See ya, Allie.”

Gyasi’s truck rumbles away, the second truck and then the van following after it. Allie radios the group working the road through the woods today, but her mind keeps going back to Esteban. Dr Osmond. A lab. Where I grew up.

Now what in the hell does that mean?

-

@finder-of-rings @burtlederp @astrobly @doveotions @whump-tr0pes @symphony-of-greys @orchidscript @boxboysandotherwhump @whumptywhumpdump @wildfaewhump

[marvelsbetch]

Peter Parker’s field trip part 2

March 7th

Peter's POV

I woke up peacefully to Friday playing Highway to Hell and telling me it was 6:30am and I needed to get up for school. Concerned for Wade's sleeping I quickly told Friday to be quiet and that I was up, I obviously didn't want to wake him at such a cruel hour.

Stumbling out of my room in a sleep filled haze, almost walking into the door frame and tripping over my shoes, I made my way to the kitchen to find Pops trying to cook breakfast and silently arguing with Thor who put his hammer in front of the fridge yet again, Loki really is a bad influence on the God.

"Uncle Thor please move the hammer so I can have breakfast. Please." I requested giving him my puppy dog eyes knowing he can't resist them.

With a small grunt Thor moved his hammer and set it on top of the kitchen counter out of people way. Pops sent me a grateful look before pulling eggs, milk and cheese out of the fridge to make Captain America's famous omelette. I smiled slightly and moved to sit on one of the bar stools at the island counter and watched slowly as all the Avengers plus Loki, T'Challa and Shuri were woken up by the amazing smell. All but my boyfriend who could probably sleep through an earthquake, hurricane and tsunami all at once. It's a gift.

-1 hour later-

After breakfast I got ready to just come back here, grabbed my back, kissed my now awake boyfriend goodbye, hugged my Dads goodbye and made my way to the car with Happy prepared to take me to school. On the way Happy gave me a lecture on how I was basically representing Dad and SI so I should be on my best behaviour. It was boring and in all honest, I'd heard it before on the field trip to the zoo we have last month, that didn't end well in all honesty. It's better left saying some monkeys escaped and it totally wasn't my fault.

"Right Kid. We're hear, I'll pick you up tomorrow from here so message me when you're on your way back to school." He told me, I could tell he was going to miss me but I could also tell he was looking forward to the extra one hours sleep he was going to get tomorrow from not needing to drop me off.

"Bye Happy. Tell everyone I'll miss them. See you tomorrow and I'll give regular update and text you if anything happens." I told him before exiting the car and walking up to Ned who was waiting outside the bus ready for me.

"Hey man. You looking forward to the surprise field trip?" Ned asked as we stepped onto the bus.

"Not really. I'm gonna miss everyone at the tower. Wade arrived last night as well so I'm not gonna see him for like another two days." I sighed as we sat down next to each other in the middle of the bus.

"Hey penis. I know what the field trip is and you're gonna be in so much shit." Flash tainted as he passed us.

"Steve wouldn't be happy with your language." I mumbled so only Ned heard. We both giggled a little but everyone was soon quietened down by Mrs Robbins shouting at us.

"Okay so before we leave we must take role call to see who's here." She explained and started reading names off of her sheet. Everyone responded with a simple yes miss and everything was going well until she got to my name.

"Patricia Parker!" She yelled and looked directly at me. I simply ignored it and continued to stare out of the window until she shouted it again louder.

"Come on Penis just answer. Don't try and stall this." Flash huffed from the back of the bus.

"Fine. Peter Parker is here." I told her emphasising the work 'Peter'.

"What ever." She grumbled going back to role call.

-30 minutes later-

As we were driving I noticed a lot of places, it took a few seconds until it finally clicked as to where we were going. Stark Industries. Over night. Oh dear.

“Right kids. We're going to be there in roughly 5 minutes so please get you begs sorted, make sure your areas are clean and you have everything with you." Mrs Robbins told us from the front of the bus.

"I bet you'd recognise this way from your internship, if it was real." Flash sneered as if it was going to affect me.

Soon we pulled into the visitor parking lot and exited the car. I was slightly shaking with anxiety especially when Happy and two other security guards, Johnson and Stone (I don't know their first names) walked over to us and started running through the security guidelines.

"And finally and type of bullying or intolerance towards anyone inside this building with not be tolerated and the person doing it will be kicked out immediately. That could be in 10 minutes or at 2:00 in the morning. It will not be tolerated." Happy finished giving me a look that said 'I know something you don't know I know'. Shit.

"Okay now that that is out of the way with, follow us." Happy said leading us inside the lobby of the building by swiping his security card.

“Okay we're gonna give you all access passes. These are the lowest of the 10 levels you get get so basically all you can use them for is the toilet. We have a strict no re-printing policy and a display policy. In other words you must always have your pass on display on your outer most layer of clothing, if it's lost then you will be searched and escorted out of the building if it is not found. Let that be a warning to everyone." Johnson explained as Stone started handing out the passes, glossing over me, Ned and MJ of course, until everyone had them.

Me, Ned and MJ all had to pull out our avenger themed cards. Mine was half and half Iron Man and Captain America cause there my dads. Ned's was a combo of everyone's as he couldn't decide which one he preferred. MJ went for Nat cause MJ liked the fact that she, and Pepper, could control all of us and was the only girl original Avenger. MJ admires her as a icon for women.

"Okay everyone scan your passes as you walk through the scanner like this." Stone demonstrated as he scanned his pass and walked through the scanner with his hands out.

"Logan Stone. Security level clearance:8. No unauthorised items." F.R.I.D.A.Ys voice announced.

"Now all of you do it." Happy instructed.

Everyone started going through the scanner, Flash being the most smug as his level 1 clearance was announced, until it got the the final three. Me, Ned and MJ. MJ decided to go first, F.R.I.D.A.Y announced her name, level 9 security clearance and the fact she had no unauthorised items with her. Next was Ned, F.R.I.D.A.Y announced his name, level 9 security clearance and the fact he had no unauthorised items. Next was me, I was dreading it.

"Come on Patricia, just admit your internship is fake now and save us all the trouble." Flash shouted over everyone making Happy stop and glare at him. He was about to make a move towards Flash but I put my hand out and stopped him.

"Just leave it Hap. He's not worth cancelling whatever Dad's got planned." I told him in a low voice trying to be unheard.

"He says one more thing and I'll knock him out." Happy threatened.

"I have no doubt you will." I sighed and decided I stalled enough. I quickly scanned my card and walked through the scanner with my hands up like everyone else.

"Peter Stark-Rodgers, level 10 security clearance. No unauthorised items. Mr Stark-Rodgers has already been informed of your arrival. Thank you for using the front entrance." F.R.I.D.A.Ys robotic but slightly sarcastic voice announced.

The tour started off normal. One of the actual interns, Owen, greeted us and me separately. We were quite good friends as he was one of the people to help me when Wade asked me out, I will be eternally grateful to him.

"Okay, our first stop on this tour is the avengers museum. You will be allowed to take photos but please refrain from touching anything as they could activate. Everything thing in this room is the real deal except a few things. We will also be trying to lift Thor's hammer in this room with him there of course." Owen explained. So, this is where Dads plans begin.

We walked into the museum and was greeted with 3 main area. Original Avengers, later added Avengers and Avengers associates. Then, I saw a red and blue display. Spider-Man has his own display IN THE LATER ADDED AVENGERS SECTION. Did this mean Dad wanted me to be an Avenger? What's going on? Did Fury know about this?

Ned grabbed my hand and led me to the display cases where I saw my old suit and computers next to replicas and photos of my current ones. This is so cool.

“Spider-Man is the latest mighty hero to join the Avengers in their mission to protecc the Earth and Asgard. Spider-Man has been described my many to be funny, witty and charming. He the only Avenger to have not revelled his identity yet but we are sure he will in due time. Fun facts about Spider-Man:

He is afraid of Spiders ironically,

He's a complete Daddy's boy,

He made his first suit himself,

He lives with Tony and Steve Stark-Rodgers,

And finally, he can rival Tony Stark-Rodgers levels of Sass." Ned read from the information

I silently groaned at the second fun fact knowing full well Dad was just trying to boost his ego. Oh well, it's kind of hard not to be true.

"Oo Penis Parker checking out the exhibit on his 'friends'." Flash sneered putting air quotes around 'friends'.

"Right, come along people. We have an exclusive lecture with Dr Banner on Gamma radiation and how it affects the human body. Everybody make and orderly que and and we can make our way there." Owen informed and instructed.

We all qued up with me and my friends at the back and started to walk towards the elevator to go to Bruce's lab. Once we found ourselves outside of the lab the reality of the situation set in, we're going to be talking to my Uncle Bruce. While no one in the class knows he's my Uncle and I'm with my Bully and Transphobic teacher. I dread to think what's about to happen.

"Okay kids. Be very polite and respectful, we don't want a code Green." Owen instructed before knocking on the door and waiting for Bruce to open it as Owen didn't have high enough clearance to open the door.

After a minute of waiting and no sign of Bruce Owen knocked again but to no avail. I knew that Bruce was working on a new project last night so it's highly likely he's asleep so I stepped forward, security card in hand and swiped it for entrance.

"Peter Parker, access granted." F.R.I.D.A.Ys voice sounded from above the door way.

I opened the door slowly and saw Bruce asleep on the couch. Motioning for everyone to give me a minute I creeped into the room to gently wake him up.

"Uncle Bruce, you have to give my class a lecture. Uncle Bruce wake up." I said softly and gently shook him awake.

"What? Peter? Aren't you supposed to be in school?" Bruce asked slowly sat up.

"I'm on a field trip and you're supposed to give a lecture to my class. They're all outside but you fell asleep." I informed him.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry. Ask them to give me a minute and I'll be mostly ready. Thanks Pete." Bruce replied scrambling to clean up a little bit and get sorted.

"He'll just be a minute." I informed my class while exiting the room waiting for Bruce when I heard Uncle Clint shifting in the vents. Oh no, this has been planned.

“Hello Midtown. Sorry for the delay, life of a stressed scientist. I'm sure most of you know what that's like. Come in, take a seat and please excuse the mess." Bruce greeted and opened the door wider for us to enter.

We all shuffled into the highly cluttered room and sat down in one of the fold out chairs set us in the centre of the room infront  of three dry erase boards. Uncle Bruce started his lecture but I soon tuned him out as I had heard it all before.

"Peter!" Clint yelled popping his head out from the vent with a grin on his face.

"Barton." I said in a monotone voice to hopefully convey my disinterest in whatever he was planning.

"I was asking if I could go into your room to borrow some silly string. Tony fucked with a few of my arrows and I'm not happy about it. I was literally shocked!" He shouted the last sentence making me wince and cover my ears.

"Yes you may but only one can. I need the rest for Loki cause he's the only one out of all of you that hasn't had a string attack yet. Hopping to change that soon." I informed.

"Cool. I'm taking the blue one. Bye, see you later." He waved before disappearing back into the vents and crawling away.

"He has this all planned doesn't he?" I asked Uncle Bruce signing slightly.

"Sorry kid." He smirked and continued with his lecture despite people only being focused on gawping at me.

Soon after that his lecture was finished and we moved on. Owen took us to a more general development lab where people started their testing to see if it was possible and worth perusing. As soon as we entered I was greeted with Shuri running towards me and hugging me tightly.

"Shuri, you literally saw me last night. Why are you hugging me so tightly?" I asked smiling slightly.

"I still missed you. Brother has been boring but these labs are very interesting, still they would be more so with you here." She told me pulling away and looking at my astonished class.

"Hello children of Midtown High School. I am Shuri Princess of Wakanda and this is my brother, the king." Shuri introduced smiling at everyone's shocked faces.

"I can introduce myself sister." T'Challa told her.

"Now you know how I feel." She told him smirking before walking off to see one of the experiments happening in the room.

We looked around the lab for a little while, I helped a few people with equations and how to improve their testing. Shuri and I shouted memes and vines at each other from across the room. Flask and Mrs Robbins glared at me any chance they got.

"Right Children, it's time for lunch. You've been privileged enough to have lunch on the level 7 balcony right near the landing pad. Please be calm and sensible and respectful of the employees eating there." Owen explained and lead us up to the eating deck.

Once there I immediately noticed Uncle Thor and Loki waiting around the corner obviously looking for me. They truly planned this. Anyway, me, Ned and MJ all walked over to an empty table and they took out their lunches when I noticed I left mine in the kitchen this morning. Shoot.

"Peter!" I hear Thor yell as he and Loki walk around the corner with his arms out.

"Hello Thor. To what do I owe the pleasure?" I asked jokingly formally.

"Does one need a reason to visit his favourite nephew?" Thor asked bringing me into a hug, possibly crushing everyone of my ribs in the process, while Loki stood awkwardly to the side.

"If your all going to embarrass me can I ask you a favour in return?" I asked the brothers.

"Of course Peter! Anything for my nephew!" Thor all but yelled and clapped me on the back.

"Yeah, I left my lunch on the kitchen counter today. Could you possibly run up and get it for me please." I requested when a flying object fell from the sky.

My lunch.

"YOUR WELCOME!" I heard Sam yell from above us.

"THANKS BIRD BRAIN!" I yelled back at him and sat back down as the table, Thor and Loki soon following.

"Peter, I was wondering later if you could help me with my magic. I've been trying to work on my long distance aim and I think you'd be the perfect person to practice with." Loki asked shyly, he still isn't comfortable with all of us yet but he's made loads of progress.

"To hit or to avoid?" I jokingly asked earning a slight laugh out of the giant.

"To miss. I'll place the object I want to hit next to you and 'throw' a spell at it. If you're next to it it gives me more motivation to not hit it." Loki explained.

"Yeah sure I'll do that. What time were you thinking?" I asked.

"Well, you're class is staying the night and tomorrow day so maybe we could find time tonight or tomorrow night." Loki said making me realise my entire class has witnessed this entire encounter. For frick sake.

"Peter!" The deep voice of Bucky yelled from the doorway to the balcony.

My entire class looked in shock as I hugged good bye to the Gods and James 'Bucky' Barnes walked over to me with a bag and an apron saying 'Kiss the cook' on it. Once he was within range I could smell the contents of the bag. White chocolate and caramel cookies. My favourite.

"I made cookies and thought you might like some while they're hot." He explained handing me the beg witch I immediately accepted and took a cookie from.

"Thank you Uncle Bucky." I said but it was muffled by the whole cookie I shoved into my mouth. Classy.

"Hey you said you'd wait for me!" I hear my boyfriend shout appearing at the doorway and running towards me with his arms spread.

"I said I was leaving in one minute and you could come if you wanted. I never said I'd wait for you cause I know how long you can take." Bucky complained to Wade who crushed me into a hug and kissed my lips briefly.

My entire class and teacher were stunned at this point. Every single jaw, except Ned and MJ's, was on the floor. When Wade kissed me I could faintly see from the corner of my eye my teacher so red and angry. Close minded female dog.

"I've not seen you all day how are you?" Wade asked pulling away.

"I'm fine, you saw me less than a few hours ago. Not much changed." I told him smiling a little and pulling him into another kiss. I did this to annoy my teacher but mainly because I just loved to kiss my boyfriend. Sue me.

"I know but anything could happen while I'm not there. I love you too much to allow anything to happen to you." He said to me after a solid 40 seconds of kissing.

"Right well, I'm gonna go back upstairs. Wade, you can stay with Peter as long as you keep your hands to yourself." Bucky warned before walking off back into the tower and Me and Wade sat down with me on his lap.

After a few minuets the shock wore off and people started whispering and pointing at me and Wade. Nothing I didn't expect if I'm honest but it's a lot more annoying than I thought it would be.

“I love you Wade." I said putting my head on his chest and eating my cookies.

"I lub you too Pete." He responded making me giggle a little. "And you're ass that will be mine tonight." He whispered seductively into my ear and gently grabbed my ass.

"You two make me want to be sick." MJ joked making a disgusted face at us before continuing with her lunch.

"Right everyone, we have ten minutes before we need to move on." Owen warned.

To be continued...

[pro-fangirls-unsocial-life]

You’ll do wonderful with anything you write! But to help jump start your writing (as I know very well), Angst 14 & Fluff 11!!! ❤️❤️ - @snippy-tano

Thank you so much @snippy-tano for the inspiration! Although... I got a little carried away so here you go! A whole fic for you! 

Stitched Together 

Kix x Reader

Warnings: Blood. Mentions of injury and the treatment of that injury. Mentions of death.

You can find the prompt list here.

“Can you shut up for once in your life?” and “I think I’m in love with you.”

 You were running. The sun beating down on you as you ran through the camp toward the med tent.

 The transmission had come in while you were on your break. You had just been about to settle down for your first sleep in days after it looked like the campaign had started to calm down when your communicator beeped. It was from Jesse.

 Kix was injured. We are bringing him back to camp now.

At that, you instantly jumped up and put your boots back on as fast as you could. Now, with the med tent in sight, you saw Jesse and Hardcase carrying Kix between them on a small stretcher.

 The armor on his left side was shattered from his leg all the way up to his shoulder. He was covered in the tan dust that was constantly surrounding you on the planet and you could see blood seeping from one of the cracks in the armor around his middle.

 You ran up to the entrance of the tent, holding open the flap for the two carrying Kix inside.

 “What happened?”

 Jesse grunted as he and Hardcase lifted Kix onto one of the raised beds. “Seppies got word of our location. Kix here was working on a shinie when a charge landed near them. He threw himself onto of the kid to protect him instead of—”

 “What did you expect me to do,” Kix said with a wince as his right arm went to grip at his side. “I wasn’t just gonna leave the kid there!”

 You started to carefully examine Kix’s midsection, making sure that you were clear to take off his armor without doing any more damage.

 “And that is very admirable,” you said, quickly continuing your search, “but you’re the best medic that we have and one of the only senior field medics. We can’t afford to lose you.”

 “I can’t afford to lose you,” you thought, something tightening in your chest just thinking about not having Kix by your side anymore.

 “Oh, quit it with that,” Kix breathed out, his jaw clenching at the effort. “You’re just as good of a medic as me. Besides, it’s only superficial. You’re not going to get rid of me that easily.”

 You rolled your eyes and smiled. Kix never was one to see the downside in anything.

 You heard Jesse start to laugh as he quipped something back at Kix, when your eyes landed on the piece of armor that was sticking into Kix’s side, blood still gushing from the wound.

 “Oh, kriff…” You meant to only say it to yourself, but your voice was just loud enough that the others could hear it.

 The tent went silent, all eyes turning to you.

 “What,” Hardcase asked. “What is it?”

 You leapt up, pointing at one of the junior medics that was awaiting your instruction. “Get me the surgery pack and the armor removal kit.”

 You rushed over to one of the storage bins and opened the drawer, grabbing a numbing agent, a sedative, and a blood cleanser.

 “Why,” Kix asked, his voice laced with pain and confusion.

 You walked back over to the bed, prepping the sedative as you looked at his face that was covered with pain. “A piece of your armor is stuck inside you and is still attached to the rest of your chest plate. Every time you breathe, it opens the wound more and you lose more blood.”

 Kix’s eyebrows shoot up in a mock laugh. “Oh, is that all,” he said sarcastically.

 “Shut up Kix! This isn’t a joke.” You stuck the sedative into his neck as the junior medic walked back into the room and handed you the armor removal kit. You then suck the numbing agent into his neck, telling the junior medic to prepare another one for his side once you get his armor off.

 He smirked, his head tilting toward you. “Oh, I don’t know. It’s kind of funny to be the patient and know everything that is going to happen.” He blinked his eyes a couple of times, the sedative starting to take effect. “First you are going to have to cut off the armor around the affected area. You’re supposed to give five inches of clearance on either side, but I usually make it bigger to give me more room.” His words start to slur as the numbing agent makes its way through his bloodstream and the crease in his brow starts to loosen. “Then you are going to scan to make sure the piece hasn’t pierced any organs, but that takes time and blood flows quickly.”

 You give him a hard look before you start cutting the armor around his midsection, being careful to avoid his small movements beneath the armor as he breathes. You can see the shard in his side open the wound a bit more, causing more blood to spill out.

 “Then,” he continues, his words all melding together, “you’re gonna have to get the piece out and stich up the wound and stop the bleeding.”

 You finish cutting the armor and carefully pull the piece from its place. “I know what I’m doing Kix. Trust me.”

 He keeps going, not paying attention to what you just said. “Course, I’ll probably be dead from blood loss at that point anyways.”

 You grab the second numbing agent from the medic, sticking it into the flesh a little ways away from the wound. “Don’t say that. You’ll be fine.”

 “S-just the truth,” he mumbles. “Most men with somthin’ like this don’t make it past the scanning.” You see his head loll toward Jesse out of the corner of your eye. “S-because the armor shard usually does too much damage on the inside.

 You grab the scanner, running it over the area slowly trying to keep your hands steady. “Damnit Kix! Can you just shut up for once in your life and listen to me! You’re going to be fine!”

 You see Kix look at you out of the corner of your eye, wishing that you could see his face.

 “You have to be,” you whisper.

 Taking a deep breath, you keep running the scanner over the area, worry creeping up your spine as you slowly see the results filling the screen. “Jesse,” you snap out harder than you intended.

 “Yeah,” he asks quietly, not knowing how to respond to everything he has just heard.

 “Get him talking about something else. Nothing that will make him too excited. I don’t need him moving. The sedative is going to take just a couple of more minutes to work.”

 Jesse steps forward, crouching down so that he is almost eye level with Kix. “What should I talk about?”

 “Anything, just get him off of this conversation.”

 “Alright,” he says, apprehension in his voice. “Hey Kix, remember that seedy diner we found last time we were on leave? The one a couple of levels below 79’s? The one that had those burgers you loved?”

 The scanner beeps in your hand. You look at the screen, holding your breath as you read the results.

 No internal injuries found. Organs intact and functioning at 100% efficiency.

 You breathe out a sigh of relief, hearing Kix reply.

 “Yeah!” He is talking slow, struggling to form coherent words as they all slur together. “I loved that place. And I loved those burgers.”

 You pick up the surgery tools from the kit, starting to take the piece of armor from his side. You motion to the junior medic whispering for him to be ready to hand you the stitching equipment.

 Right after you finally pull the huge, four-inch-long piece out of Kix’s side, you see him moving, his arm coming up to point at Jesse with a big dopey grin on his face. “And I love you guys so much. You guys are the best brothers a guy could have.”

 You look over at Jesse as you press gauze to Kix’s side, sopping up some of the blood before you start the stiches. “Keep him still Jesse.”

 Kix’s head moves to look at you at the sound of your voice, the grin still on his face as Jesse lightly holds his arm down at his side. “And you,” he slurred out. “I think I’m in love with you.”

 Your jaw drops open, your task at hand leaving your mind for a fraction of a second before you turn back to your work feeling a deep heat rising on your face.

 You see Kix turn back to Jesse out of the corner of your eye. “Y/N is really the best. I love them so much. They’re just so nice and -kriff- so gorgeous. I just wanna sweep’em of their feet and kiss’em like it’s the last thing I do.”

 His voice starts tapering off, the sedative finally overpowering his will to stay awake.

 “Jesse?” His voice is groggy and barely above a whisper.

 “Yeah, Kix?”

 “This’s gotta be our secret m’kay? You promise not to tell Y/N?”

 You look over at Jesse, his head looking between you and his brother before he settles on Kix, a soft smile gracing his face. “Yeah vod. I promise.”

 Kix hums. “Thanks, vod. You really are the best.”

 You take a deep breath, looking at the blood-soaked gauze in your hand as everything that just happened rushed through your head.

 You couldn’t think about that right now. You had a job to do and you were going to make sure that you could see Kix after this, regardless of what had just happened.

 You shook your head and took another breath before holding your hand out to the medic and taking the needle before pulling the gauze away from the wound and beginning your work.

*******************************************************************************************

It had been a couple of hours since you had finally finished with Kix. You were able to close his wound without any issue and his vitals had been stable ever since. And, according to your scans, the blood cleanser was working perfectly.

 You still hadn’t had a break since then, having to tend to the rest of the men who were injured when the rest of the group got back. There had been quite a few major traumas as well as the usual minor injuries.

 But now, after the last of the men had been taken care of, the tent was silent. It was strange to have so much peace in the atmosphere after such a long period of pure chaos but you were just glad that you could finally check on Kix again.

 All of the scans were the same as they were before. He was stable, and when you checked the stitches on his side, they were holding up beautifully.

 You gave a sigh of relief before turning to one of the screens across from Kix’s bed, your back turned to him. Once you had everything logged in your datapad, you turned to leave so that you could go sit by the entrance in case any late-night injuries came in.

 “You know,” you heard from behind you, “if you keep working without sleep, you’re going to kill yourself.”

 You whipped around, seeing Kix smirking at you from where he lay on the bed.

 “Kix!” You rushed over to him, quickly glancing at his vitals monitor again before looking at his face. “How are you feeling?”

 He groaned, bringing his right hand up to rub his face. “Like I was blown up and then drugged. Which I think have worn off.” He looked up at you with a mischievous smile. “How much would I have to bribe you for another stim?”

 You chuckled and sat down, reaching behind you to grab one that you had already set out for when he was due for another shot. “Don’t you know it’s against the rules to bribe medical staff for drugs,” you teased as you gently angled his head so that you could inject the medicine into his neck.

 He grunted slightly at the feeling, but quickly relaxed once you pulled away. “You won’t go ratting me out, will you?”

 You laughed. “I promise.”

 At your words, Kix’s eyes widened, his body tensing before he winced and forced himself to relax again. His eyes now found place on his hands in front of him, which were now fiddling with the edge of the blanket he was under. He cleared his throat. “So, um… Did I say anything? While I was going under? Or-or was that just all in my head?”

 Your eyes widened in realization and you felt your face begin to heat up as you remembered his admission. “You, you um… May have said some things while you were going under.”

 He looks up at you briefly, an embarrassed look on his face. “Did I say what I think I said?”

 “Uh… yeah,” you said sheepishly. “But I know that the meds can make people say things that they don’t mean, like when we had to put Echo under on the last campaign?” You chuckled at the memory, clearing your throat as you realized Kix was still listening. You got up and began slowly backing away from his bed. “But anyways… I-I’ll just go, and we can forget that it ever happened. I know that you didn’t mean it and I don’t want things to get awkward. “

 You turned around but immediately felt a hand around your wrist. “Y/N, wait!” You heard Kix groan in pain and turned around to see him hunched forward so that he could stop you.

 “Woah, woah, woah! Take it easy! You’re gonna tear your stitches if you do that!” You lightly pushed on his chest to get him to lie back onto the bed.

 “Y/N, I-“

 “Now hold on,” you said, your mind switching into doctor mode. “I need to make sure you didn’t tear your stitches.”

 You lift up his shirt, and carefully inspect his side, checking for any sign of damage. Your hands grace over the skin just around his wound as you work in silence.

 After what feels like an eternity, you pull away and turn around to grab a bacta patch. “The stitches look fine, but the area around them is looking a little more inflamed than it should. I’m going to put a bacta patch on it just to be safe.”

 You pull apart the package, and once again silently begin working. You concentrate on the wound, being as gentle as possible as you place the bacta on Kix’s warm skin.

 “It wasn’t just the drugs you know.”

 His voice pulls you from your thoughts as you finish securing the patch in place with medical tape.

 You look at him, eyes wide as he stares right back at you. “What?”

 “What I said. It wasn’t just the drugs.” He reaches to his side and pulls your hand from there up to his chest, tenderly rubbing his thumb over your knuckles. “I’ve been trying to figure out a way to tell you for the longest time, but I just never knew how. I guess taking away my filter and thinking that I wasn’t going to see you again just… made my brain have to say it.”

 You don’t know what to say. Your skin was buzzing under his touch and you could feel your face getting hotter and hotter as your heart pounded in your chest.

 He continued. “I know you probably don’t feel the same way, but I just had to tell you. I needed you to know, even if just for a moment, that I love you.”

 “I do,” you blurt out.

 “What?”

 “I… I do feel the same way.” You start to smile as you see Kix’s eyes light up. “I never thought you would reciprocate, so I never said anything. But I do. I love you.”

 Kix smiled, bringing his hand that was not holding yours up to cup your face. His thumb ran over your cheek as he gazed at you with pure admiration. “Can I kiss you?”

 You sucked in a breath and smiled as you bit your bottom lip slightly between your teeth. You nodded and closed your eyes as Kix guided you forward.

 You felt your lips softly collide with his as your noses lightly bumped each other.

 As his lips moved against yours, it was tender and gentle and over far too soon.

 You both pulled back just enough so that you could look into each other’s eyes before bringing your foreheads together.

 “I love you, Y/N.”

 You smiled. “I love you too, Kix.”

 You then leaned forward and pressed another light kiss to his lips, feeling him smiling.

 “Well, I guess I don’t have to pretend to keep that secret anymore.”

 You whipped around, finding Jesse smugly standing in the doorway.

 “Shut up Jesse,” you said as you started getting up.

 You turned back to Kix, giving him a light peck on the lips and squeezing his hand. “I have to get back to work, but I promise that I will keep coming in to check on you.”

 He smiled at you squeezing your hand. “Don’t work too hard cyar'ika.”

 You smirked, picking up your datapad. “When have I ever taken it easy?”

 Kix chuckled and rolled his eyes. “I know. But just know that I am going to force you to take a three-day nap once I’m healed and can work again.”

 You laughed, feeling your eyes droop at the mention of sleep. “You have no idea how much I am looking forward to that.”