#i forgot how much more annoying he gets once he’s assigned to the x files

[fitzykreiner]

and fuck spender too!

oh yay, i’ve gotten to the point in my x files rewatch where diana shows up 🙄

[bambisworlds]

needy little girl

simon was trying to finish paperwork before his next special forces assignment, but it was proving difficult to focus since bambi was visiting him on base. she's the ultimate distraction (1,155 word count)

*bambi is my oc, click on my pinned 'about my blog' post to learn more about her :)

content warnings, mdni 18+

f!reader, bambi!oc, needy!reader, bookworm!reader, established relationship, masked!simon, thigh riding, p in v, unprotected sex (don't do this), creampie, use of "Daddy" (three times), use of "good girl" (twice), let me know if forgot anything x

my masterlist

When Bambi asked to visit Simon on base for a few days, he knew having her around would be a struggle. Not because she annoys him, but because he can't keep his fucking hands off of her, the same way she is with him. 

Simon was in his office, pouring over files about his next extraction. He was extremely behind; this was supposed to be done this morning. But, this morning, he was busy fucking Bambi into the mattress, so he didn't have the time to finish his paperwork.

He hoped their morning romp would sate Bambi for the rest of the day, and himself for that matter, so he could focus on his work. But he was wrong. 

Bambi sat in the chair across from his desk. She nibbled on her bottom lip as she subtly glanced up at him every once in a while. She had a romance novel in her hands and a smutty one at that. The kind that made you rub your thighs together and set it aside so you could handle your own desires. She was subtly staring at his mask while subconsciously licking her lips.

"I can feel you starin' sweetheart," Simon said, not looking up from his paperwork. "Focus on your book, baby; I'll be all yours again in a few more hours." He says, still focused on the files before him. 

"I can't read the book. The book is the problem." She huffs, crossing her arms in defiance.

Simon glanced up at her, setting down his pen. "What's wrong with it? Is it written badly?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing beneath his mask. "It was on your list of books you wanted; that's why I got it for you."

"No, it's not bad." She says, looking back down at the book. "It's excellent, actually." She says softly, rubbing her thighs together. 

Simon catches the subtle movement of her thighs and smirks knowingly, "I see, it's one of your smutty books." He chuckles, "Let me guess, it's turned you into the needy little girl I love so much?" He asks. Bambi couldn't see his smile because of his mask, but she could tell he was from his tone and how his eyes lit up. Bambi nods timidly, still rubbing her thighs together. "How about you hop on my thigh and make yourself feel better." Simon proposes, and Bambi perks up with an eager nod.

Simon leans back slightly in his chair, "C'mere, sweetheart." He encourages her as she crawls onto one of his muscular thighs. Unable to resist, he dipped his fingers beneath her skirt to see how wet she was. She was soaked. "Poor thing," he tuts, rubbing her clit through the fabric of her panties for a few moments before pulling away. Bambi pouts as he withdraws his hand, for a moment thinking he is going to finger her. "Don't pout. I have work to do," Simon says firmly, turning back to the files on his desk. "Don't just sit there starin' at me; my thighs waiting."

Bambi huffs and starts to roll her hips, rubbing her clothed cunt against his cargo pants. Simon hums in approval, his free hand resting on her hip as she grinds against him. Bambi whimpers, wanting his hands elsewhere,  "Don't get greedy on me now," Simon warns, his thumb rubbing circles on the underside of her breast. Bambi whines and halts her movements, pouting at Simon. He sighs and sets down his pen, "Knew you'd do this to me," he mutters in mock annoyance, abruptly lifting her ass onto the edge of the desk and pushing her back down against the solid wood, "Such a needy fucking girl," he grits as he hastily undoes his belt. 

Bambi whimpers, spreading her legs wide on the edge of the desk, "Need you all the time, Si," she whines.

"I know, sweetheart, you just need Daddy to take care of you," he says as he yanks her panties down her legs once his own pants and briefs are shoved down to his ankles. Bambi nods pitifully in response as Simon drags his cock through her slick folds. His free hand lifts up towards Bambi's mouth. She obediently spits on his palm, and he brings his hand down to rub the spit over his impressive length. 

Simon moans in approval as he sinks his cock into her, sliding in without resistance from how wet she was. Bambi moans as well, gripping the edge of his desk, "Let's take care of this needy little pussy," Simon says as he sets an unforgiving pace, Bambi's body jostling on the desk with each smack of his hips against her thighs.

Bambi's mouth drops open with desperate moans, her head tilting back on the desk, repeating 'thank you Daddy' on a loop as he plows into her. "Such a good girl, thanking her Daddy," Simon grunts, continuing his unforgiving pace. The legs of the desk begin to scuff on the floor, but Simon barely registers it. He was practically drunk off of Bambi's cunt. Bambi moaned and squealed each time he bottomed out inside her, her tits bouncing beneath her pink sweater from the impact. Simon was laser focused on watching his cock move in and out of her, her delicate folds spreading open with each thrust of his girthy dick. 

Pens began to roll off the desk, and a picture frame of him and Bambi toppled over as he continued to slam into her. His files were long forgotten, hidden underneath Bambi's enticing figure. The papers were likely tearing and ripping, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Simon moaned and grunted with each thrust; his mouth dropped open beneath his balaclava as he lost himself in her sopping cunt. "Best fuckin' pussy in the world," he moans.

Bambi's mewls grew progressively louder, converting into high-pitched squeals and squeaks as the desk creaked ominously beneath her, her orgasm building rapidly within her. She sobbed desperately as she came, her body trembling wildly atop the desk. Her hands moved around blindly for something to grab onto, knocking things off the desk in the process. Simon practically whimpered as he felt her squeeze him, his grip tightening on her hips that would surely leave a bruise.

"Fuck!" Simon cried out as he followed suit, seemingly forgetting that the halls outside his office were filled with soldiers. He slammed into her one final time, grinding his pelvis against her as he released into her cunt. Simon moaned in bliss, his head falling back as Bambi's walls continued to spasm and contract around his cock. His hips moved on their own accord with a few shallow thrusts before he finally stilled. 

He panted heavily, looking down at Bambi, "Are you gonna be a good girl and let me do my work now?" he asked firmly. Bambi nodded, his cum beginning to leak out around his cock and onto the desk.

if you have any requests including the people on my masterlist please comment them below any of my posts or in my submissions!! (check here: about my blog  to see what things i'm not comfortable with in regards to requests <3)

[vemuabhi]

Wish Over a Fountain

Hello this was inspired by @daonepiece art. I am linking it here (click) I had so much fun writing this. I hope you like it.

Crocodile X Reader

Word count : 3K

Warning: none. Its fluff

Likes/Votes, comments are really appreciated.

"I really want a boyfriend", you thought as you looked at the annoying couple walking on the street. Actually they weren't annoying but... you were just feeling grumpy at that moment.

You were sitting on the bench which was beside the fountain, in the park.

Remembering the myth that your friend told you about, you placed your hand in your pocket and took out a coin. Gripping the coin in your hand you walked towards the well. You closed your eyes tightly and wished.

'I want a responsible and a nice guy to be my boyfriend please', you thought before throwing the coin in the fountain.

A month passed by with absolutely nothing happening and you forgot about that fountain wish. But there was an arrival of a new boss, who apparently bought your company.

You sat down and opened your laptop. "Sir Crocodile", you typed and started to research who your boss was. As soon as you saw his pictures, your eyes opened wide. He was absolutely stunning. Very handsome.

You read about him and saw that he was a millionaire. 'I was living under a rock I guess', you thought as you read about him more.

On the day of arrival, everyone held bouquets and champagne. But you on the other hand, held the brown wooden box, which looked neat and classy.

The boss entered and everyone gave presents to him and he took them with a small smile, while he gave them to his secretary.

Hurriedly he went to his room as his secretary followed him with all the gifts in his hand.

Along with everyone you started to resume your work. Then unexpectedly, the phone on your desk rang. It was none other than the secretary who called you to come into the boss's cabin.

Nervously fiddling with your sleeves you entered the cabin of Sir Crocodile.

He had a the huge pile of gifts, yours included, beside his desk as he kept checking the paperwork. 'Already in work mode huh... must be a workaholic', you thought.

"I believe you are Y/N", he spoke and you took your attention position. He didn't even glance at you.

"Yes sir. Its me"

"Okay. I've already read most of the employees works and now Im thinking of speaking to you", he said as he looked into his drawer.

"Okay sir. So what can I do for you", you didn't know what the hell was going on or why he called you. Your palms started to sweat like crazy.

"I looked at yours and I found that...", he stopped and looked in another drawer. Trying to find something. The tension was going to roof level for you. But you maintain your calm.

"Sir, are you looking for something?", you asked as he looked at you for the first time.

"Ah, its nothing... I was just checking for my Cigar", he said running his hand through his hair.

"Oh. Pardon me sir. I think, you would like this", you said as you walked towards the gifts and took the brown wooden box in your hands, while his gaze stayed on you.

You turned towards him and gave him the box. He placed the paper in his hand down and took the box. He careful analysed it and opened it. It had cigars, which he liked.

He smiled as he looked at it. He took one cigar and thanked you. Placing the cigar in between his lips, he lit it using his golden coloured lighter. You didn't know if it was actual gold or not.

He looked at you again and said, "Like I was saying, I really liked your work" Giving you a peace of mind.

"Thankyou sir", you said with a smile.

"I want to ask you something", he took a puff and continued, "I want to know if there are any problematic clients. I wanna get rid of them as soon as possible", he ended.

"Oh. If you are asking about clients like that, we do have so many sir. Each group has some of them"

"Is that so... I want to you to, collect the list and get it to me", he ordered.

"Sure sir. I'll get you the list. So when do you want me to get it for you", you asked for which he replied with a simple tomorrow.

A few days passed and the new boss was actually wonderful. He got rid of the problematic clients and got new clients in their place. For which everyone was very grateful.

You slowly developed a crush on your handsome boss and tried to work harder taking him as the inspiration.

One night everyone left except for you. You wanted to finish the presentation and then leave. So you stayed back and made it. Little did you knew that the boss was also there.

"Y/N", you almost jumped up because of the sudden appearance of your boss beside you. He wasn't wearing his coat like usual, instead he had it over his shoulder as his fingers neatly held it from falling down. His hair which was usually set back, was now a bit messy. He was looking younger with his hair on his forehead. 'Damn. He is looking fine'

"Oh my! Sir you are here, I didn't know that", you said as you tried to calm your fast beating of your heart.

"Yeah. So... why are you still here? Its already 12", he said looking a bit worried as his fingers ran through his hair to set them back again like usual.

"What the hell?", you stopped admiring your boss. Looking at the time it was indeed 12. This means you missed your last train. The prices of cab are so high and you really hated to take a cab. Now as it was 12, the prices would make your wallet cry.

"Oh no... god", you sighed and slumped back in your chair.

"Why were you here?", he gained your attention once again.

"I was making this Presentation for tomorrow's meeting. So I kinda stayed back and worked on it", you showed him the file you were working on.

"You could have made it tomorrow", he said but he curiously leaned in to get a clear view of it. Looking at it carefully he placed his hand on the mouse to scroll calmly.

But you were freaking out. There was three reasons for that. One being what he'd say about your work, two that you had to sleep in the office and three him being close to you.

He was not touching you, had appropriate space, but still you could notice his cologne mixed with a slight sent of cigar. It felt... comforting and soothing for some reason.

"Y/N", his voice made you to come back to reality.

You looked at the screen. He pointed some mistakes which needed to be solved before presenting. You quickly realised what was wrong and began to correct it. He pulled a chair from the side and sat on it while you worked. He guided you on how to change some points.

Soon you two didn't even realise, but its already been an hour. After it was done he ruffled your hair and said, "Well done. I really like it".

"Thankyou for helping me sir", you blushed at his compliment. He got up from the chair and placed his coat on his hand.

"How are you going home?"

"I actually am thinking of staying in the office or else", you sighed and continued, "take a cab".

Both the options are horrible but the second was even more terrible.

He exhaled and said, "follow me", with that he started walking. You hurriedly got up and walked behind him.

"What happened sir. If you don't like it I'll not stay in the office", he suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at you.

"Its not because I don't like it. Its because its really uncomfortable to sleep here", he said and walked again.

"Then, I'll take a ca-"

"Just come with me", he interrupted you and you just followed him.

He walked towards his car and said, "come with me. You can stay at my house"

"Oh no. I don't want to be a burden"

"Your house if far. Thats why you are having second opinions about going in a cab. And its... really late. Its not that safe. So you are coming with me", he didn't even look at you and walked towards his car.

Yes he was right. You didn't want to take a cab home. And you didn't want to stay in office either.

You remember the last time you stayed there. The eerie silence made you half scared to death. But you still fell asleep. And saved money for cab.

You shook off those thoughts and went ahead and sat in the car. The car was well maintained. It looked like it was brand new. The jet black colour made it even more elegant while the golden coloured handles gave it a royal elegance. The seats were super comfy and the car was really cool.

There was absolutely no traffic and the ride was super smooth. The night lights seemed so beautiful. The ride was silent but it wasn't awkward. You looked out the window to see the beauty of the city. It was calm and seemed really pretty.

In 15 minutes, the car reached a high class building. The car was parked and you both got down. Crocodile lead you to a apartment door. He typed a number on the number lock and opened the door.

Entering the room you were met with a very elegant and beautiful house. The house was absolutely lovely. The tiles were cream colored and the walls were grey in color.

"Get in", he commanded and you obliged. As soon as you both got near the couch suddenly a big dog jumped on Crocodile. Crocodile chuckled as he started to pet the dog. That was beautiful. You thought it was a sight to see but then another dog came and then another... and another... and... in total there were 6 dogs.

6 dogs of totally different breeds just snuggled with crocodile. He patted every dog and then turned to look at you.

"Sorry to intrude sir but, I never knew you liked dogs", you said with a smile. His cheeks turned pink as he cleared his throat.

""You can use the 3rd room to sleep for the night", he said and you bowed.

'Was he flustered just now?', you thought as you went to the room assigned as crocodile kept the dogs busy, but a pug started to follow you.

You opened the door and saw that it was a huge room. It had the same grey Aesthetic to it but it was beautiful. The bed was neat and had white covers on it.

You removed your coat and hanged it on the coat hanger. You walked towards the curtain and opened it, only to see a stunning night view of the city.

The big door which was also a way to enter the balcony was very clean as if no one never touched it. Or someone cleaned it spot less. There was no way you could afford a place as beautiful and classy like this.

Then a bark made you to come back to reality. You turned and saw a small pug with big bright eyes staring at you. It was so adorable. You said hi to it and closed the curtains. You patted its head and then the dog left the room. You began to remove your belt and placed it on the desk beside the bed and plopped on the soft bed. It was so fluffy and amazing.

As soon as you closed your eyes, you fell asleep. The next morning, you woke up to something which felt like water on your cheeks. You opened your eyes to the same pug giving you morning kisses. Apparently you forgot to close the door and it came back. You chuckled and took him your arms. You looked at the time and it said it was 7am.

With the dog in your arms you left the room, only to find Crocodile on the couch with some dogs sleeping on him and other just roaming around the couch. He still was wearing the same clothes as yesterday as you.

You noticed how long and slender his legs were. The pug in your hands jumped and ran towards the couch and jumped onto Crocodile and slept on him.

You almost stopped a nosebleed because that was freaking adorable. Another dog started to lick crocodiles face and he woke up.

He woke up and patted its head lovingly. He turned his head to the side which faced you. His eyes opened wide with his cheeks turning 10X times red.

"Wha- What are you looking at? Go and get ready. We need to leave", he said which made you to run and do what he ordered.

You knew he said it because he was embarrassed as you saw him like that.

You quickly took a bath and again wore the same clothes before getting out.

You found Mr. Crocodile wearing a new suit and coat. With the dogs still playing around the house. You approached him and he looked at you and didn't say anything for few seconds. He actually thought you'd wear his clothes in the closet like the other people who come over. But you didn't.

But then instructed you to follow him. He took his keys and walked. Then suddenly the pug tugged on your jeans and you noticed it. You patted his head and waved bye to him. But as you were walking again it suddenly walked before you in a dangerous position. You managed yourself from stepping on the pug but you you couldn't help but to fall as now you lost your balence. You had your boss before you. He turned to look at you but it was too late.

You fell on top of him. You immediately got up and stuttered an apology.

He got up and dusted his suit but didn't scold you. "Its fine. Just be careful", he said as he walked towards the door and opened it. With a slight blush on his cheeks. You walked with him and towards the car and got into it.

"Not a word about what happened with the dogs", he said with his cheeks still pink.

"My lips are sealed", you said earning a sigh in return.

After reaching the office, your team gave the presentation of the project to your superiors and Sir Crocodile. Who already saw this already. But still listened to you.

The project was approved which really made your team very happy.

That evening your team went for celebrating the success of the project. You all drank, ate food and went home in a cab.

The next day, you woke up, with feeling the kisses of a dog on your cheek. You smiled and patted its head.

Looking at the room, it was the spacious and big bedroom in which you slept yesterday. Was yesterday repeating again? You didn't knew but you went to the living room to see if your boss was on the couch. He wasn't. So it wasn't yesterday.

"Maybe a dream", you thought and pinched your cheek very harshly. But the pain you felt was real and this was real. Why the hell did you again end up in your boss's apartment?

"Its not a dream you idiot", you heard a horse voice say to you.

Turning around you saw your boss in the coming to the living room with a coffee.

"Sir why am I in your house again?", you asked him as he approached you. The pug jumped from your hands and walked towards the couch.

Handing the cup to you, he sighed, "So you don't remember. Just like I thought", he said and walked towards the couch. You followed him.

"You were so drunk that, you called me, your boss instead of a cab and told me to pick you up from that bar", he ended.

'Should I dig a hole and die already?', you thought as you mentally slapped yourself.

"As your house was quite far away and I thought it would be best to bring you to here", he said sipping his coffee.

"Im really sorry for bothering you sir. Im so embarrassed", you said as you covered your face with your free hand.

"Just make sure that you won't drink till you lose your senses"

"Okay sir"

"Now drink the coffee before it gets cold"

"Thankyou", you said as you sipped the coffee.

You looked at the time and it was already 11 am. "OMG! Its already 11", you said but he calmly said, "Its Saturday"

You managed to embarrass yourself, Again...

But still, you received a smile from sir crocodile. It was enough for you.

Crocodile thought about the previous night when he carried you to his car as you spoke gibberish.

"You idiot. Don't ever drink like this. You are lucky because Im a good person", he said to you even though you didn't listen.

He was about to start the car then you said, "Hey man, I need to tell you something about my boss", you leaned closer to him.

He curiously listen to you on what you were about to say. "My boss he is so inspiring and is supportive of his employees. He is a good person", he smiled at what you said and you continued, "I have a crush on him and he has sexy legs. I don't know why I didn't notice them", you said and dosed off, leaving Crocodile blushing a red shade of crocodile. He leaned back in his seat and covered his face with one of his hands while the other stayed on the steering wheel.

"No one made me get flustered like you did", he said because he knew you were also sleeping.

Little did you know that the same day you wished for a boyfriend, he witnessed you wishing it.

XOXOXOXO

i hope you liked this. Crocodile fluff was so fun to write. I absolutely enjoyed writing for it.

Like/Vote, comment, Share/reblog if you like it.

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[stardust-walker]

Undying Fidelity

(Loki X Sigyn!OC)

Summary: Sigyn is feeling v stressy and depressy after Loki dies. She volunteers to return to 2012 New York with Tony, Steve, Scott, and Bruce. Her reasons weren’t selfish, she promises. Chaos ensues. Big dorks. 

My first time writing for any fandom besides TWD but this idea has been in my head since the Loki trailer came out and I couldn’t shake it so here it is lmao.

Sigyn had felt like the world moved in slow motion from the moment the life had left Loki’s body. The snap had only made things worse. It had been 5 years since she had seen pretty much anyone other than Thor and sometimes the residents of New Asgard. She kept to herself more often than not. 

It was almost ironic how Loki had spoken of undying fidelity shortly before his life had been snuffed out. Meanwhile her own undying fidelity had seemed to leave her cursed with never-ending grief.

The talk of time travel had gained her interest almost as soon as the idea was pitched to the team. Asgard was an option but she knew that wouldn’t be the best option for her. Odds were that in the time they would send them back to, the residents would still think that she was dead.

Her heart had done a funny sort of flip-flop as they talked about heading back to New York. Her stomach sank even lower as an image of Loki was pulled up on the screen.

“So Sigyn will come to Asgard with myself and the rabbit,” Thor began to announce.

Her brown eyes drifted over to where Rocket had, once again, slapped himself on the forehead in frustration. “As much as I would love to go back to Asgard, I believe my skills are needed in New York.”

“You sure that’s such a good idea there, Frosty?” Tony quirked an eyebrow. 

“Are you sure it’s such a good idea to have two Hulks in one place? No offense, Bruce.”

“She’s right.” Steve spoke up, “I know what you’re thinking, Tony, and it won’t happen.”

Sigyn locked eyes with Tony for a moment before the older man relented. “Fine. But any funny business and I’m leaving your ass back in 2012.”

~

She hated travel. Whether it was through space or time, it all sucked to her. All the hair on her arms seemed to stand up inside of the suit as she shared one last worried look with Thor before they were off. Something was different about hurtling through space when you were a lot smaller.

“We all have our assignments,” Steve began as Sigyn stood up straighter and began to glance around. She knew he was around but more importantly she could feel him again.

A loud roar jolted her from her thoughts as she took a step closer to the men she had traveled with. There was the Hulk. Or the old Hulk. However time travel worked, there was the previous Hulk from that time smashing up a car like his life depended on it. 

A small smirk crept onto her face as she caught the embarrassed look that Banner had on his face. That was the champion she had seen back on Sakaar. A total wild animal. 

This Bruce, however, didn’t seem to have any of that in him anymore. Sigyn’s head tilted slightly as the rest of them watched the green man try to get back into how he was before. “Well, he’s a little confused..” She muttered.

“But he’s sure got the spirit.” Tony joked. “Let’s roll.”

Sigyn didn’t even have to ask where they were going. Sure, they had talked about it in the plans but she felt like she was almost in a trance as she scurried after Tony and Scott as Steve split off from them with a flash of a reassuring smile.

~

After not using her magic for what was probably years, she was surprised that she didn’t stumble as she landed inside the Stark tower right after Tony. As she slipped behind the stone wall to hide from their old selves, she couldn’t help but sneak a peek. Did her hair really look like that from behind? Ew.

“If it’s all the same to you,” her heart leapt into her throat, “I’ll have that drink now.” Tony gripped her arm a little too hard. Her eyes narrowed as she shot him a look.

The 2012 version of her let out a quiet snort of laughter. She remembered the look that Natasha had shot her. “What?” She heard herself say. 

“All right, get him on his feet.” The younger Tony Stark ordered. “Uh-uh. Not you, princess. Come on, Point Break. Get him up. We can all stand around posing up a storm later. By the way, feel free to clean up.”

“Wow I almost forgot how much of an ass you were, Stark,” Sigyn hissed through gritted teeth.

“At least I had style. Speaking of! Mr. Rogers, I almost forgot. That suit did nothing for your ass.�� Tony shook his head in mock sympathy. 

Steve practically sounded like he was rolling his eyes. “No one asked you to look, Tony.”

Sigyn raised an eyebrow and shrugged in agreement as she caught sight of Captain America. That suit really was terrible. 

“I think you look great, Cap. As far as I’m concerned, that’s America’s ass,” Scott called out over the line.

“C’mon.” Sigyn whispered, “No one likes a...kiss ass.” She smirked as Tony shot her an appreciative look.

“Who gets the magic wand?” Nat asked.

Thank god that Tony knew his way around Stark tower more than anyone even after years of not living there. Sigyn’s eyes narrowed as she watched the Hydra agents in disguise begin to file into the apartment from their new hiding place.

A laugh nearly slipped out as she watched Loki transform into Steve from across the room. “I mean honestly,” he joked as he turned back into himself, “how do you keep your food down?” 

“Shut up,” Thor snapped as he placed a lock over Loki’s mouth. 

“I wish I could tell you dearest,” she heard herself say as she watched the scene unfolding in front of her. In spite of Loki being in chains. A prisoner. She watched herself grab him gently by the arm to lead him into the elevator with Thor almost like when they used to walk through the gardens together. “But then I would have to kill you.”

Tony’s grasp on her shoulder pulled her out of the moment as he pulled her back towards the window. The plan flooded back into her mind as she began to plummet backwards towards the ground. She let out a grunt as she was finally able to regain her own balance to drift back towards the ground without Stark’s help.

“What’s-a matter, Frosty? No knight in shining metal armor today,” Stark joked. 

“You burn my hair with those flaming feet of yours and you won’t make it back to the future,” she hissed through gritted teeth as the small green embers flickered from her own fingers as she continued on a quick course back to the ground. 

~

“Looking fresh, Stark,” Sigyn mumbled as she walked up beside Tony in her own security outfit. The only difference was her long blonde hair hung out from under the helmet. “Almost didn’t recognize you without the extra few inches of metal.”

“That really hurts me, you know. I would think for someone so old you would want to be a little nicer to the younger gen-ow!” Tony rubbed his arm as he received a hard pinch. 

“Shut up. Here we come,” she swallowed hard as she spotted herself again out of the corner of her eye. She walked side by side with Loki with her head held high. It was amazing how she could walk like that when she remembered how she’d felt. She had known that Loki had pretty much signed his own death sentence and yet still she walked beside him with pride. He was her husband and she was loyal to him. It was her gift and her biggest curse. 

“Thumbelina, do you copy? I’ve got eyes on the prize,” Tony chirped into the ear piece. 

“I’m going inside you,” Scott whispered back after a moment. Sigyn’s eyebrows shot up as she shot an amused glance at Tony. 

Sigyn flashed him a delicate smile. “I didn’t realize I would learn so much about your personal life today, Mr. Stark.”

“Quiet down, Glinda. We don’t want Elphaba to hear you.”

“May I ask you where you’re going?” Pierce’s voice made her skin crawl as she watched him approach the group. 

“A bit of lunch and then Asgard,” Thor answered cheerfully.

“Perhaps a stop for gas. I hear mileage on the Bifrost is killer these days,” past Sigyn cooed as she shot a look back at Loki over her shoulder. 

Pierce stood up a little straighter. “I’m going to have to ask you to turn the prisoner over to me.”

Sigyn could almost feel her throat close up all over again as she watched herself take a defensive step back towards Loki. Her hand came to rest a mere inch away from the handle of her knife.

Tony whispered beside her, “Easy, Sig. We know how this goes, right?” He paused. “I see what you mean by the whole fidelity thing though but the victory thing?”

“Hush!” She hissed back as she watched Loki turn slightly with an annoyed look in his eye. The woman turned to face the other way quickly as chaos seemed to be breaking out behind them again. Pierce had always been an asshole that much was sure. She wished she could’ve said she were surprised when she found out he was Hydra all along. Her stomach churned as more thoughts raced through her head of what they would have done to her husband if they’d gotten a hold of him in the first place.

Sigyn squeezed her eyes shut tight as she heard the crackle through the ear piece and a different sort of chaos broke out. “Oh my gods! Stark,” she heard her own panicked voice and the two of them turned to see herself abandon Loki and reach a hand out to steady Tony.

“Aw, you do care.” 

Sigyn resisted the urge to punch Tony in the chest for good measure. Her heart leapt as the suitcase with the tesseract spun towards them. Her pulse quickened as Tony leaned down to pick up the case and her gaze wandered for just a moment. Loki had noticed. 

“Good job, meet me in the alley,” Tony mumbled as he began to quickly exit the building. She was just about to take a few steps to follow when another explosion happened. Except it wasn’t so much of an explosion as it was a rampaging green monster busting down a door.

“Oh shit,” she hissed through her teeth as she skittered back. Stark landed at her feet with a groan but a softer noise drew her attention. A soft tinkling noise and her gaze flickered to the case. The tesseract. 

Time seemed to stand still again as Loki glanced over his shoulder and locked eyes with her. A confused look crossed the upper portion of his face for a moment before he glanced back towards the chaos ensuing over past Tony. He had noticed.

With one last look back at her, he knelt down to pick up the tesseract. She thought she heard Tony grunt something but her feet carried her quicker than she could ever remember running before. 

Just as Loki stood again, Sigyn came within one step of him. The sudden noise behind him made him turn once more. She gritted her teeth into a grimace as she placed both her hands on the tesseract. Sigyn fully intended to yank the damned thing right out of his fingers but before she could, she felt a strange sensation. A wall of blue and black smoke engulfed the pair of them.

She hated space travel.

~

Loki landed in the sand with a loud grunt despite the muzzle still over his mouth. The tesseract was still in his grasp. Had he even really seen what he thought he had?

A loud scream echoed through the air around him. His eyebrows raised as another portal seemed to open in the sky right above him. A figure all in black fell through it; arms flailed and legs kicked as the ground seemed to raise to meet them.

Another loud grunt left Loki, this time a more pained one as the smaller figure landed right on top of him. 

Quickly, the woman rolled to the other side and let out a quiet groan as she pulled the helmet from her head. With a fluid movement, the black object was tossed aside into the sand before she flopped back onto the sand. A grunt beside her alerted her to the presence of the man. Without even a glance to the side, she reached over and pressed a hand to his mouth to deactivate the muzzle. 

“Lovely of you to drop in, Sigyn,” Loki coughed as he took a deep breath.

Sigyn let out an annoyed grunt. “A pleasure, as always.”

Loki caught her gaze out of the corner of his eye as he rose to a sitting position. “You should have just let me take it,” he hissed through his teeth.

Sigyn let out a heavy sigh as she sat up and shrugged off the heavy black bulletproof vest and jacket she wore. “And let you cause more chaos and destroy more cities?”

Loki glanced over at her. A nearly imperceptible look of nervousness crossed his face before he smirked at her. “Who says that’s what I was going to do with it.”

Sigyn rolled her eyes as her gaze flickered forward to a small group of people that were moving slowly towards them. “I would like to think I know you better than you know yourself. Whatever you do, we’re in this together now.” She wasn’t about to lose him again. Not so soon.

“I’m positively touched,” he cooed.

“Til death do us part, darling.” And even after.

[flourgirl]

When We First Met

Part I of “The Unbelievers” series

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Summary: You’re the new intern at Stark Industries and you’ve made it your mission to figure out just how Peter Parker became Mr. Stark’s favorite.

Word Count: 2.5k

Warnings: A slow burn with a few curse words thrown around.

A/N: This fic helped drag me out of my writer’s block, so I really hope you guys like it! Happy reading <3

“Have you been talking for a million years? Did I go deaf because you're burnin' my ears? Spare the details, it's unnecessary I got places to be and people to see” -It’s Not All About You, Lawrence

The first time you met Peter Parker, he was actually tolerable. It was your first day at Stark Industries, and you had just gotten your job assignment as Pepper’s assistant’s assistant. In other words, you were about to spend your days making coffee runs and changing out ink cartridges. 

“Hey, uh, do you need some help?” he had asked as you struggled to carry two boxes of printer paper all the way to the copy room on the other side of the building.

“Yeah, for sure,” you huffed, not being able to see who your savior was over the stack of boxes. When he took both of the boxes out of your arms, you were met with his dopey grin and wavy, brown hair.

He’s cute, you thought. But all you dared to say was, “Thank you so much. I felt like I was about to die.”

The two of you shared a laugh at your dramatics before you continued walking.

“No problem. I was headed this way, anyway,” he replied nonchalantly. You caught yourself staring at how light he made the boxes seem. He must’ve been a lot stronger than his baggy, oversized sweatshirt made him look. “Are you new? I’ve never seen you around before.” 

Peter had to slow his pace down a lot to let you catch up to him. He wasn’t used to taking casual strolls around the office, always having to run over to wherever Mr. Stark was at a moment’s notice.

“It’s my first day, actually,” you admitted, offering him a weak smile. You weren’t much of a conversationalist, especially not when it came to cute guys who looked that good in sweatshirts with dorky math jokes printed across the front of them. “Are you an intern, too?”

“Yeah! I’ve been working here since I was fifteen,” he told you, leaning against the doorway of the copy room. “But I don’t do anything too important. Mostly just fly under the radar and do what Mr. Stark tells me to.”

Your eyes widened. “Whoa, you work directly with Mr. Stark? You must be one important guy.”

Peter blushed, not knowing how to backtrack out of the hole he had just dug for himself. “Uh, not really. We’re not like friends or anything. It’s just, Mr. Stark knows about all of my science fair projects and—”

“You aren’t making yourself sound any less impressive,” you interrupted, crossing your arms and narrowing your eyes at him as he set the boxes down on the counter. “So, Einstein, who are you?”

“Parker. Peter. Shit, sorry, it’s Peter Parker. I have to go now. Bye!” he blurted out, running from the room before you could even tell him your name.

A girl who looked about your age slipped into the copy room, startling you out of your confused state. “Were you just talking to Peter Parker?”

“Uh, yeah. Why?” you questioned, hoping she’d have some sort of explanation for why he acted the way he did.

“He’s basically Mr. Stark’s surrogate child,” she said, sipping one of the many coffees that she was carrying. “I’m Grace, by the way.”

“Y/N. What do you mean by ‘surrogate child?’”

“It’s like, everywhere Mr. Stark goes, so does Peter. That thing with you and him was basically the first time any of us had ever seen him next to a printer, and he’s only talked to a handful of us once or twice. Guess he’s just too busy being the golden boy to associate with the less important interns.”

Of course. The first chance at a cute office romance that you get is squashed by the fact that the guy you like is an antisocial jerk. But that’s not how he seemed to you, so why was his reputation with the other interns so bad?

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

It had been one week since you started working, and every day you learned more and more reasons why everyone hated Peter Parker. He didn’t make coffee runs and nobody had seen him at an intern meeting in the last year. And yet, somehow, he was the CEO’s favorite. It was annoying, to say the least.

You actually hadn’t seen Peter around ever since you had first met, which only helped to confirm the rumors that he’d rather eat lunch alone than be forced to talk to any of you. You hated that even when Grace or anyone else wasn’t dragging Peter through the mud, you were still thinking about his stupidly adorable Queens accent and whatever the hell he could be doing that was so important.

Of course, the next time Peter decided to grace the cafeteria with his presence was when Mr. Stark had just arrived back from a business trip to Germany. Figures that he would take his favorite on the trip of a lifetime. Your bitterness grew as you imagined Peter relaxing in the company’s private jet, but it wasn’t until he held up the elevator that you really started to hate him.

“Hey,” he panted, slipping into the elevator just before the doors closed. Once again, your hands were full, this time with a stack of folders meant for Pepper to look over. “You’re that new girl. Sorry, I don’t think I got your name.”

“You didn’t,” you noted, turning to look away from him in the hopes that he’d get the message. You weren’t interested in giving him the time of day.

“Did I do something to upset you?” He rubbed the back of his neck while he waited for the answer that you didn’t plan on giving him.

The awkward silence between the two of you was starting to feel especially long when the worst thing possible happened. Loud creaking noises came from the elevator shaft, shaking the two of you as the cables screeched to a halt.

“You have got to be kidding me!” you groaned, setting the files down to press the emergency call button. You had luckily never actually had to use one of these things, but that also meant that you had no idea how to work it.

“Hi, I’m here with another intern and we’re currently stuck in the elevator on the west wing, between floors four and five. Could you send someone over to get us out, please?” You pleaded into the little phone, bitterness lacing your voice.

“What do you mean it’ll take two hours? What do you expect us to do, sit here and play checkers?” You could feel your face heating up as you panicked over the fact that you were going to be stuck in this metal death trap for a while.

Peter walked over to you, leaning against the wall of the elevator to take over the conversation before your attitude extended the wait to three hours. You begrudgingly handed the phone over to him.

“Hey, could you put Mr. Stark on the line?” You couldn’t hear what the person was saying, but you could guess that it wasn’t very positive.

“Well, tell him it’s Peter and…” He looked at you, mouthing for you to give your name.

“Y/N,” you muttered, continuing to pace back and forth as the tiny box that you two were stuffed in started to feel smaller and smaller with each minute that passed.

“Y/N. Five minutes? Alright, thank you so much, Alice! Have a great day.” You were irritated by his effortless charm with others, despite how awkward you knew him to be.

“Um… thank you.” You rubbed your arm awkwardly.

“Are you okay? You seem a little on edge.”

“I’m fine! I just… really need to get out of here.” You wanted to keep pacing back and forth, but you were too busy hyperventilating to think about moving your legs. Peter watched as your eyes started to water, not sure about what he could do to make you calm down.

He stepped closer towards you, which only made you feel even more anxious than you already were. You didn’t want him to see you like this.

“Y/N,” Peter whispered, wrapping his arms around you. You looked up at him in surprise, your eyes probably red and puffy from crying.

“What are you doing?” you sobbed, leaning in closer to him. It was comforting, but you were so embarrassed that you were crying in the arms of a complete stranger.

“Well, uh, I know that hugging someone can release endorphins, more specifically dopamine and serotonin, that calm them down. And it relaxes the muscles, and I know that when babies hear their mom’s heartbeats they feel better, so I just thought—”

“Peter.”

“Yeah?”

“Please stop talking.” You leaned into the hug, taking in the clean smell of his sweater and how warm he was. Little by little, your breathing slowed down.

“Okay,” he agreed, holding you tighter, one of his hands gently stroking your hair in the comfortable silence that had filled the elevator.

You almost forgot about where you were when the elevator jolted upwards, causing you to wriggle out of Peter’s grip and pick your files back up off the ground. When the doors opened, you scrambled out without a word.

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

“Hey, Mr. Stark,” Peter began, fiddling with one of the many decorations around Tony’s office. “I… I think that, maybe, I should be doing, you know, more intern-y things around here.”

Tony cocked an eyebrow, looking up from his computer screen. “Let me get this right, kid. You’re asking me to give you random tasks to do around the office?”

“Uh, yes?” Peter answered, unsure if he had just made a big mistake or not. His confidence was dwindling by the second.

“Now, why on earth would I do that? What if we need Spider-Man for a mission, but Peter Parker is too busy getting some jackass down in HR a peppermint mocha latte?”

“Well, I mean… I just… Some of the other interns are getting kind of mad that you don’t make me run errands or come to any of their meetings, and I’m just worried that they’re getting a little bit too suspicious that I’m always with you and—”

“If I say yes, will you please stop rambling?” Tony groaned, returning to finish typing whatever Peter had just interrupted.

“Yes,” Peter squeaked. For once in his life, his inability to stop talking had been beneficial.

“Fine. Here, go sit downstairs and take the staples out of these packets. And then re-staple them.”

Peter immediately perked up again, excited to be someone other than Spider-Man to Tony. “Right away, Mr. Stark. Thank you so much! Bye!” He quickly ran out of the office and downstairs to where he knew some of the interns liked to have their lunch breaks.

“Is that Peter?” you heard Grace ask in between bites of her panini. Your head perked up to see his head tilted down, making only his soft brown curls visible from where you were sitting.

You squinted, wondering what kind of task had him so engrossed, and why he was sitting over here. He never sat here, especially not while you were eating lunch. Carlos, who interned in accounting, glanced over at Peter before taking his seat across from you.

“Parker sure does seem interested in removing staples all of a sudden,” he laughed, unwrapping his tortilla wrap from its aluminum foil. 

You couldn’t believe it. He was just pretending to be doing something. “That’s it? You’ve got to be kidding me.” Before your friends could stop you, you were marching over to Peter’s table, tapping your foot as you waited for him to notice you.

You cleared your throat, finally catching his attention. “Hi, Y/N,” he grinned, looking back down to meticulously bend back the small metal arms of the staple, freeing the sheets of paper from each other.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Taking out staples.”

“Is this some kind of joke? Some weird way of you proving that Mr. Stark totally doesn’t give you special treatment or something?” Peter got nervous, realizing how quickly you had caught onto his ruse. He needed a way to distract you and fast.

“You, um, you look pretty today,” he told you, not even looking up to meet your cold stare.

A blush started to spread across your cheeks when you realized what he had said. Surely the quick glance he had just given you wasn’t enough for him to actually know what you looked like today.

“Nice try, Parker. You barely even looked at me. Showering me with false compliments isn’t going to stop me from figuring out what the hell you’re actually up to around here.” You countered, satisfied that his plan wasn’t working as well as he wanted it to.

“Didn’t need to look. You’re pretty every day,” Peter replied calmly. He didn’t even realize what he was saying until it had come out of his mouth. It was true. He thought you looked nice every time he saw you, but you didn’t seem to take his compliments very well, and so he never told you.

But you didn’t know that he actually meant it. He’s just messing with you, you reasoned, regaining your composure.

“Whatever,” you huffed. “Just some advice: next time, you should try to come up with something better than taking out the staples of packets that clearly never had any problems in the first place.” 

He peered up to see you turn on your heels and walk back to your friends, who had been carefully watching the two of you this entire time.

“Was that a lovers’ quarrel?” Carlos teased as you sat back down. You rolled your eyes at him, and Grace giggled at your insistence that nothing was going on between you and Peter.

“Yeah, it looked like things were getting a little hot and heavy,” she added.

“Shut up, you guys. We definitely are not lovers,” you assured them, digging back into your grilled cheese.

“Sure. So if there’s nothing going on, then why did Yuri tell me that he saw you guys making out in the elevator on the security cameras?” Carlos asked, making you snap your head at him mid-bite, your eyes widening.

Fucking Yuri. All of those security interns were just nosy and power-hungry, but you’d have to deal with him another time.

“We were not making out! We were just stuck in the elevator and—”

“You guys decided to have a romantic embrace?” Grace questioned, only further exasperating you. “Come on, Y/N, just admit it. You have a crush on Peter.”

“No, I don’t! I wouldn’t date Peter if he were the last guy on the planet,” you yelled, suddenly aware of how loud you had become. 

You looked around the room to see many confused faces staring back at you, including Peter’s, which had a frown on it.

You watched as he collected his stack of papers and walked out of the room, staring so hard at the floor that he almost ran into two women who were walking by.

“Geez, Y/N. We were only joking. It’s okay,” Carlos said, holding back a laugh at your little scene.

“You guys suck,” you huffed, settling down to hopefully enjoy the rest of your lunch break in peace. 

You needed to forget about the way that Peter had looked at you just a minute ago, full of hurt and disappointment. He didn’t actually care, you thought to yourself, even though you weren’t quite sure if that were true.

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

Taglist: @hommyy-tommy @itsgonnabeohtay @alltimekyn @allycat449-blog @greatpizzascissorstaco @dummiesshort @parkerpeterparker2004 @letssee2468 @yourbiggestspiderfan @orangesodafoam @alytavzla

P.S.: Please shoot me an ask or a reply if you’d like to be added to (or removed from) the taglist!

[just-someone-who-likes-to-write]

Prince Nuada x Clingy!Reader

(Requested by Anonymous: Could you do a nuada x f reader where the reader is really clingy and likes being held but is really self conscious about it and thinks that nuada would get annoyed so she distances her self from him, and maybe she’s worried about her weight and like being a burden. Anyway I love your work. )

(A/N): My apologies for any delays, it took me a while to think of a good and interesting idea that would fit the request, but here it is and I hope you and others would enjoy it. and thank you I’m glad you like what I have done of work so far.

Warning: Verbal bullying, slight body hatred, fluff, grammatic errors.

Word Count: 3,563

You sighed deeply as you typed boredly into the computer, Mr. Manning had told you to prepare some documents for him that he probably was too lazy to do it himself.

 "I am stressed by Hellboy."

 Was always his excuse. But you never said anything because while there are agents who go on exciting field missions you are the rest who has to stay down here doing the boring stuff. You were trained to hold and shoot a gun in case of emergencies but other than that you were just an office worker. Pressing the last key you leaned back with a tired sigh as you watched the machine print the papers.

 "Another day?"

 You turned your head to see your college look up from her own paperwork and smile at you. You smiled back at her as you massaged the bridge of your nose.

 "Yeah…" You answered. "I used to think that he just finds me by coincident and assigns me to such work… now I know he is choosing me by name to do his work."

 "(Y/n) we all know that you are the best at what you are doing, even if it was just some paperwork." She said making few in the room let out a murmur of agreement.

 "Thanks guys." You said bashfully. "But sometimes I wish I could… go out there and do something instead of just sitting here all day and night."

  A few laughs broke into the room that made you furrowed your brows.

 "What did I say?"

 "We know that the only reason you want to go out there is so you can work beside your prince charming." Said your friend making even more laughter and for you to blush in embarrassment.

 It wasn't a secret that you and prince Nuada become a couple but it was quite the surprise that Manning himself had to come to you and confirm that it wasn't some kind of silly office rumors. Even you still couldn't believe that the handsome and intimidating prince had actually asked you to be his lover, it surprised you for many reasons. First, from what you have learned he hated humans with passion yet he still asked you a human to be with him. Second, he was a deadly warrior that even agent Hellboy is struggling against him, while you were a simple office girl whose only experience with weaponry was through a shooting range and is still not that good. and lastly, Despite being an elf Prince Nuada was very handsome…and you… you don't feel the same thing about yourself.

 "(Y/n) can you tell me your secret?" Another girl asked.

 "My secret?" You repeated confused.

 "Yeah, how did someone like you score someone like Nuada?"

 You raised your brows surprised by the girl's blunt question, who didn't seem notice the harsh stares the other were given her. The question did sting you but not liking confrontation you just answered her.

 "I don't know honestly…" You shrugged. "The first time I met the prince was because Manning told me to interview him so we have a file of him, then we started to meet by coincident in the hallway, a few small talks and I guess one thing led to the other."

 "And why did you agree to be his lover?" She continued asking.

 "Why shouldn't she?" Your friend asked her in a hostile manner. The girl just shrugged not caring for glares around her.

 "I'm just saying, I mean look at her." She pointed at you. "She spends most of her days in the office working and eating, she never cared for her appearance yet the prince chooses her to be his lover."

 "Maybe because the prince isn't a shallow person like yourself."

 You bit your lower lip as you tried your best to ignore the two girls going back and forth. You collected the papers after they were finished, not caring to check if they were in order or not. you just put them in the file, stood and walked out of the room ignoring the calls of your friend behind you. After being far enough from your shared office you stopped and opened the file to try and organize some of the papers unaware of the figure creeping up behind you. You let out a startled sound as you felt arms slowly wrap themselves around your waist, you snapped your head to the left and you could see the familiar smirk of the elven prince.

 "You scared me." You said with a small giggle as you allowed yourself to relax in his arms. you always loved the feel of his touch.

 "My apologies." He purred into your ear as he nested his nose in the crook of your neck and inhaled your scent, which made you shiver.

 You forgot your work, the papers and the possibility of an angry manning. You just wished you to stay there in the elf's arms forever. You only have been together for a few months how did you get addicted to his touch so fast?... You didn’t know. All you knew is that you wanted to take every chance you have to fell him. If you have passed each other by coincident in the hallway you would ask you to accompany you to wherever you are going,  whether it was to do an errand of yours, to join you for lunch in the cafeteria or even for a small walk outside the base.

 "What do you have there?"

 The question pulled you out of your thoughts and you looked down at the papers in your hands remembering what were you supposed to do in the first place.

 "Just some documents that Manning had asked of me." You said with furrowed brows.

 "I could tell from your reaction that the word "Asked" isn't true."

 He didn't show it but you could tell under that calm façade the prince was very angry at how Manning is working you to the bones. Nuada went as far as voicing his disapproval to Manning after becoming his lover, which the old man had responded to by stuttering in fear and promising to take it easy on you. You could have stopped him, you could have lied and said how appreciated you feel when Manning does such a thing, that you feel important. But you didn't. You loved the way Nuada would comfort you afterward too much to give up. You became addicted to his attention and still wanted more. You turned your head to him your (E/c) eyes meeting his golden once.

 "Would you like to come with me to deliver them?" you asked with a smile.

 "it would be my pleasure." He answered with a grin.

 He released his hold on you, then stood beside you and offered you his arm like a gentleman, you of course quickly accepted his offer and hocked your arm to his as you held the document close to your chest by your other arm. As you made your way through the hallways almost everyone moved away from your way. It always was hard to have to endure the stares of the other agents, it made you weary forcing you to evert your eyes and look down, but it never made you want to stop being close to Nuada.

 "I will be waiting for you out here." He said as he slowly released your arm from his, which you frowned at.

 "Why?" you asked. "You can come with me in I'm only giving this document and I'm finished."

 "I don't wish for you to get in trouble became of me, and from what I have learned that that human is able to find errors in everything even if it didn't make sense."

 You were about to think of how thoughtful he was of you before he added.

 "I don't think I will be able to restrain myself from punching him in the mouth."

 That made you laugh, which caused him to smile. You gave him a quick kiss on the check before excusing yourself to walk into Manning's office. When you walked in you found the man staring into the computer and judging from the sound of people laughing and a man saying jokes it was probably another late-night host show that talked about the seeing of Hellboy with him in it to "Debunk" the existence of the red creature. You just rolled your eyes in annoyance, having confirmed that he did indeed have time to find these documents himself but was too busy watching himself.

 "I think the camera made my nose look bigger." He said as he lightly brushes his hand over his nose.

 "Narssassit." You bit your tongue allowing yourself to only think of the comment and not voice it.

 You walked to his table ignoring the concern of his nose, and not so gently slammed the documents into the table making the man jump. You gave a fake smile.

 "Here are the documents that you would have easily gotten from your computer, which you are too busy watching TV shows from, and taken my time." You said passively as you kept that smile. The man just swallowed a lump at being caught and just said quite thank you as he pulled the file closer to him.

 As you watched Manning open the file and look them over you couldn't help but fidget in your place and glance over your shoulder to the door every once in a while wanting to leave already.

 "Is Nuada out there?" You turned back and saw Manning look at you from the file. You blushed in embarrassment at being caught.

 "Yes." You answered bashfully. Manning didn’t seem to care as he looked back to the papers.

 "He seemed to come with you a lot here." he pointed out. "Does he ask you to come with you here?"

 "Hmm… Sometimes…?" You answered unsurely and surprised by the sudden question. "It's mostly me who asks him to come with me."

 "And isn't he… irritated…by that?" He continued asking.

 "Pardon?"

 "Prince Nuada always seemed to come here only in 2 cases…" he abandoned the document and focused on you. "Either he was reporting on a mission or being dragged by you her."

 "Dragged?" you repeated feeling offended. "I never forced Nuada to come with me."

 "But you did ask him to come with you." You were taken it back by the sudden interrogation.

 "What do you-"

 He cut you off.

 "Miss (Y/L/n) I can understand that having a boyfriend is a lot of fun to you women." He said making your frown deepen. "But let us not forget that Nuada is an elven prince, He is balancing between taking care of his people and paying for his crimes by helping us protect humanity. And now he has to please a girlfriend who clings to him at every second."

 "I…I'm not clingy…" You stuttered.

 Mannings answer for you this time was him turning the Computer screen to you which still had him talking to a host, but then he pressed a few buttons and it showed different security footage of you meeting up with Nuada and convincing him to come with you or you going along with him. You bit your lip in shame. Were you truly clingy? If so why didn't Nuada say anything? Was he just being nice and keeping quite? Is he in stress because of you? Was he secretly bother by your actions?

 "As I said Before Miss (Y/L/n) I have eyes everywhere."

 ---

 Nuada doesn't know what he had done wrong. Ever since coming out of Manning's office, you have been acting strange, he tried to get you to talk of what was bothering you but you only brushed him off and smiled saying "Nothing is wrong", which was an obvious lie. The next day he had waited for you as always, he could have come to you and see for himself if you were free of your work yet but didn't in fear of causing you trouble. Nuada waited and waited, but you didn't show up. In the end, he couldn’t take it anymore and decided to go and find you himself, when he got there and didn't find you he asked those who were in the room of your whereabouts.

 "We thought she was with you?"

 That wasn't right,

 He then started to search around the base for you, it took him a while but he found you talking to another person. It was probably over some work but he didn't care as he walked towards you, he was calm but on the inside, he was upset with you. When you noticed him to had a look of worry and fear that you tried to hide it behind a smile. You excused yourself saying how much work you still have, he understood but said how he wants to spend some time with you later but you refused, saying how you don't have time. He then asked about tomorrow but you said that you will have a lot of work in the next few days and don't know when you will be over. Before he could ask any more questions you left.

 That's when the distancing began. He tried to catch you at every opportunity in your office, in the cafeteria and even tried chasing you through the hallways but you always managed to slip between his fingers.

 One day Nuada made his way to your office to try and catch you and this time make you say. But he stopped in his place when he heard your name being uttered by your friends.

 "I'm just saying, she has been acting weird lately." One of them said. "It's hard to lie to the prince's face whenever he came asking about her, he seemed genuinely concerned for her."

 His brows furrowed at that, did you tell your friends to lie to him? why would you do that?. Angry slowly bubbled in him, he was ready to march in and confront them but her stopped when another said.

 "Maybe she finally realized that she and the prince don't look together and want to break up for his own good."

 What?

 "(Y/n) and prince Nuada look cute together!" your friend defended. "Why is everyone refusing to see that? She is happy with him and he seems pretty happy with her, people need to stop giving her a hard time because of it."

 "Excuse me…" He interrupted making the entire room grow did silence, there were a few faces that paled in fear but he ignored them all and focused on the female human who was defending you. "Could you elaborate for me what is truly bothering my (Y/n)."

 ---

 You sighed deeply as you got out of the library that you have been hiding in most of your time. You wanted nothing more than to throw yourself in Nuada's arms for comfort and maybe even take a nap. A deep frown crossed your face as you stared at your reflection on one of the conference windows.

 "What does he see in me?" You mumbled to yourself. "I'm not pretty, I'm clingy…I'm no good at all."

 "You are beautiful..." A familiar voice said that made you jump. "From the outside and inside. But that's only a part of why I wanted you."

 You could hear him walk closer to you but you didn't dare to run away this time. You have reached your limits. Hugging yourself you waited patiently for the prince who didn't deny you as his hands wrapped around you and pulled your back against his chest. You couldn't help the shiver that went through you or the blissful sigh to escape you. You really missed him.

 "Why are you running away from me?" He asked pulling you away from your thoughts.

 When you looked up you see his golden eyes staring at you, you could see in his eyes that he already knows, but wanted to hear it from you. You took a deep breath before looking down at his arms wrapped around you.

 "I…" You struggled to find the right thing to say. "I… didn't want to burden you…"

 "Burden me?" he repeated and you nodded.

 "You are not only an agent of B.P.R.D, but you are also the crown Prince of the Bethmoora clan." You said almost proudly fro him. "Even though you didn't take your place as a king yet you still look after your people as one, which I could tell is not an easy thing."

 He stayed silent wanting you to continue which you did.

 "I noticed how I have been keeping you to myself which was selfish of me. I always wanted you around me, to hear your voice and feel your touch."

 You could feel his arms tighten around you in a possessive manner, you didn't mind that.

 "And don't let me start with your beauty…" You said with a sad chuckle.

 "Enough." He said sternly making you tense, afraid that you said something that bothered him.

 Nuada released his hold from you, fear filled your heart that he truly was having enough of. He stood in front of you and gently with his hand he lifted your chin forcing you to look up to him. His brows were furrowed in disappointment.

 "Have I indicated feeling burdened by you?" He asked.

 "…You didn't but that doesn't mean-"

 He interrupted you and continued asking.

 "Have I ever pulled away from your touch?"

 You didn't answer.

 "Have I ever showed any hint of when I am with you?"

 You didn't answer. Nuada averted his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself, a look of worry crossed your face as you looked down but he only lifted your head again.

 "With me you keep your head held high, uncaring of those around you, only think of me." He said firmly but you could still hear the hint of care behind it.

 "One important thing you need to know about me (Y/n)." hearing your name made a shiver run down his spine.

 "I am not afraid to voice my displeasure. If I didn't find you beautiful I wouldn't have complimented you every minute I see you for it or even come near you in the first place. If I was feeling burdened I would have voiced it to you, if I found your want for attention irritating…as Manning said I would have said something…"

 The mission of Manning made your eyes widen. How did he know?

 "However…" He cupped your face with his hand, his thump rubbing your cheek, his eyes filled with affection towards you. "I find it quite adorable whenever your eyes would light up with joy you see me, or when you desire my touch it makes me feel wanted by you."

 His words made your heart skip a beat.

 "When you became busy with work I became angry because your attention was not on me." He confessed. "now isn't that selfish of me?"

 "Maybe…" You answered a small blush crossed your face. "But I don't mind it."

 "And I don't mind you fondness."

 Nuada smirked at your words before wrapping one arm to bring you closer to him and then leaned in kissing the middle of your forehead with adoration.

 ---

 You lifted your head high as you made your way through the hallways alone not caring for the stares that followed you. After talking with Nuada nothing can ruin your mood.

 "(Y/n)!"

 Or maybe someone could.

 You thought sorely as you forced yourself to turn around and face a panting Manning who seemed to have been running after you. He stood and leaned forward to take a few breaths, you waited patiently wanting to get this over with already.

 "Yes, Mr.Manning?"

 "I…*Pant* … I wanted to apologize…"

 "Pardon?" You raised your brow in confusion. After calming himself Manning stood straight and looked at you with a furrowed brows.

 "I wanted to apologize for …uhh… for what has accrued between us that day." He began. "I shouldn't have given you a bit of advice that you didn't need… whatever happens between you and Nuada is your business and no one should have a say in the matter but the two of you…and I also apologize for hurting your feelings in any way."

 You would be surprised by his words and probably would thank him for seeing his mistake. However, while he was saying all that you noticed the way his body was fidgeting in its place as he looked around franticly. You suppressed an eye roll, understanding why he was being so thoughtful and polite towards you.

 "What did Nuada do to you?" you asked with a none amused look.

 "He walked into my office and slashed my table in half." Manning answered straight forward.

 "Ah, I see." You nodded.

 "Just tell please tell him that I apologized as he told me and I promise to never ask you for documents I could already get myself." He said trying to look strong but you could hear the quivering in his voice.

 "I will." You said with a smile and nod that he returned before turning around and going back to where he came from still looking around for the Elven prince.

 You also turned around and continued your walk this time feeling more powerful than ever.

--- 

I hope you all enjoyed this story and if you did don’t be afraid to request, and those who are already requested before don’t worry your request is in the making.

[daily-dose-of-imagines]

ᴀɴ ᴜɴʟɪᴋᴇʟʏ ᴘᴀʀᴛɴᴇʀ | ᴍᴏᴅᴇʀɴ ᴄʀɪᴍᴇ!ᴀᴜ 𝘋𝘳. 𝘚𝘛𝘖𝘕𝘌 | [ꜰᴏʀᴇɴꜱɪᴄꜱ ꜱᴘᴇᴄɪᴀʟɪꜱᴛ!ꜱᴇɴᴋᴜ x ᴅᴇᴛᴇᴄᴛɪᴠᴇ!ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ] ᴅʀᴀʙʙʟᴇ

Here’s a one-shot for my best leek boy~! As you can most likely tell-- I absolutely adore any sort of show that deals with the realistic and understanding of human decomposition and how the forensics teams work~ So I decided to do a little twist with a modern AU~! I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did writing it ;; and as always, thank you all for your love and support for our blog~!

» » Admin Ko

An aggravated sigh filled the empty void of white. The figure that stood near the stacks of unfinished paper work couldn’t help but run a hand through his silver and green hair as he lazily flipped through the stacks of paper awaiting to be filled in with his chicken scratch.

Despite having chosen this career, he couldn’t deny the blatant hatred he had for filing out the mountains of paper work that was undoubtedly tied to it. Ishigami Senku, a renowned forensics specialist at such a young age, had to admit that despite how much he wanted to avoid and honestly burn the hoard of paper, that it was most definitely vital in his line of work.

After all, no matter how much he enjoyed being able to complete experiments on the human body and testing new theories, he had to at least make up for the sheer horror and grotesque methods he choose to come exhibit during his trials.

“Tch...I wonder if I can pawn this off to Chrome... hehe perhaps with the right convictions I’ll get him to do it all for me~.”

A devious grin graced the young specialist as he began to shift the paperwork from his desk to his apprentice’s desk. A soft melodic tune escaping his pursed lips as he casually whistled the troubles away as he admired his handiwork. 

“Hello? Is Ishigami in?”

The new voice that filled the cramped and bright space had the male in question quirk an eyebrow up as he slowly cocked his head. Scarlet hues quickly began to dissect and analyze the new body as the person in question merely stared back at him with a curious gaze of her own.

“...mmmm....garbs are too tattered and clearly worn in....dark circles around the eyes....lack of physical appeal to the opposite gender...a detective?”

“Hey! I heard that! What the hell do you mean by lack of physical appearance?!”

Immediately, irritation flitted through her veins at the blunt and uncaring tone that left the male’s voice. Despite having been warned about his careless and aloof personality, she hadn’t exactly expected to be ‘insulted’ within the first couple of minutes with meeting the estranged specialist.

“What brings you here detective? As you can see I’m quite...busy, so I’d rather you cut to the chase rather than try to argue with me.”

Again, a mere shrug off his shoulders as he lazily began to pick at his ear. The lack of care and desire to even properly greet her grated against her nerves as she fought the urge to walk over and rip the multicolored leek colored locks out of his annoying head.

“I-- god I’m not even going to bother. I’m here to introduce myself to you. Believe it or not Ishigami, but we’re going to be much more...acquainted.”

“Oh? I’m intrigued. Explain to me what you mean pea-brain.”

“P-Pea-brain--” 

Another aggravated inhale. 

“T-To put it simply ‘you short leek’ I’ll be visiting your office frequently. The cases I’ve been assigned will have me practically in and out of your office constantly, and I would appreciate your expertise and help in completing and solving these cases.”

“Ah, you’re insinuating the sudden uproar of with the murders popping up throughout the city. Haven’t gotten any leads, have you detective?”

“N-No-- as I said I just received the case---”

“Well no point in trying to solve them if you’re trying to make friends with me. Tell you what pea-brain, if you’re able to come up with some interesting new evidence that even the veteran detectives can’t find, I’ll consider partnering up with you.”

A twitch to her right eye. One that she could feel and was almost certain that it was noticeable as the cocky grin that graced the other’s lips beamed straight at her. The first thought that came to her mind was: insufferable. How had she been given such a ‘privilege’ to work with such an experienced forensics specialist? Even she didn’t know. At this point, she wished she could take back the enthusiasm she showed for the case.

“Well? What’ll it be pea-brain?”

Again, she reviewed his words in her head. The choices that were lain before her only had a headache slowly work it’s way up as she felt the sudden strong desire to have a drink after her shift ended for the day.

“...Fine. I’ll take on your stupid challenge.”

“Excellent~. Do make sure it’s something worth my time Detective~.”

With a wave of his fingers being the last thing she saw, she immediately rushed out of the office back to the hallway before letting out an aggravated yell. Completely unaware of the mirthful scarlet eyes that kept watch on her retreating back as he made his way over to his desk.

“Hmmm...let’s see just who you are detective.”

»»————-　★　————-««

A week had passed. The information she gained only seemed to multiply in her face as she sat her desk. The stacks of paper work and empty coffee cups that littered her car and desk seemed to be all too telling to her associates as to how hard she was working on the case.

Taking a deep breath and leaning back into her chair, she couldn’t help but stare up at the ceiling as she allowed her eyes the much needed break from staring at the black and white texts along with the grotesque mutilated bodies that were photographed at each crime scene. 

A light chuckle escaped her lips as she reminisced on her first visit to one of the many crime scenes when she was first assigned to the case and found how terrifying it was that she now was practically immune to the sights and smells now. Of course, the motive and reasoning behind each murder had her stomach swirl with disgust and unprecedented rage, but even then she couldn’t do much besides look.

“What exactly are the motives...why are there so many?”

Closing her eyes, she allowed her mind to briefly rest. A brief run through of all the images of the bodies and words mindlessly ran through as she soaked up the information she had tried to observe when she had first started for the day.

Though as she thought back to the photos, she couldn’t help but furrow her brows at the strange pattern that continued to show up. Quickly sitting up, she rummaged through the photos and theories that the rest of the detectives on the case had come up with.

It was without a doubt something sinister. Tragic even, and many had considered it to be a large organization. A cult even.

“But...even for a cult...a lot of these are premeditated, yet hold such strange religious symbolism...what exactly--- maybe?”

Jumping out of her seat, she found herself rushing towards the forensics lab. The weariness that once plagued her body now gone as she felt a surge of adrenaline run through her body at the sudden information that ran through her mind. 

Finding the familiar and dreaded door, she pushed her way in. The sight before her practically comical as she almost forgot what was on her mind. Ishigami sat atop what seemed to be his assistant. Two cotton swabs placed against the male’s nostrils as screams of pain escaped from the brown haired male.

“Wake up and smell the ammonia. We have paperwork Chrome~.”

Though as dark burgundy eyes finally met her own adrenaline filled (e/c) ones, he couldn’t help but slowly pick himself up as the man named Chrome pulled the cotton swabs out of his nose before kneading at the abused airways.

“Oh? Looks like the pea-brain stopped by. What did you find out---”

“What if this is all an elaborate plan?”

“...Okay, explain?”

“The cult-like activity. The multiple killings. Sacrifical pawns. The strange messages? What if...it’s a preparation for something big? A doomsday sort of attack?”

“A demand for a rebirth for the country then. That’s what you’re saying? Even so, why is that a theory?”

“The positioning and contents of the bodies. I know you did the autopsies, you saw what the bodies were filled with Ishigami.”

“Tch...you’ve got some brain cells that’s for sure pea-brain. You’re correct, each body was filled with something that coincided with the corrupt society we live in. Even then--”

“What if...the people involved aren’t cultists, but people in the higher ups with position of power?”

The silence that filled the room had her heart quicken in pace as she watched dark scarlet eyes shift to the files that laid messily across his desk. A low chuckle escaping the male as he slowly returned his gaze to her.

“Well that means we’re going to have to look into this a little more then. Won’t we, partner?”

[neerasrealm]

awesome! can i please request friends to lovers with cody boi and demisexual!y/n? 🥺👉👈

YOU’RE IN LUCK I’VE BEEN WORKING ON MY CODY LORE RECENTLY. hopefully I did alright- I’m kind of inexperienced with writing demi characters so I apologize if I got something wrong.

"Oh, sorry."

Your hand brushes against another as you reach for the chemistry book you need for your assignment. You grab it and look up at the other person. He's taller than you and has pale skin and honey-brown hair that hangs over one of his green eyes, which blink at you. He scratches at an old, jagged scar on his jaw. 

"You gonna read that?"

"Well duh," you frown at him. "I have an assignment to do." 

"Ah." He nods, glancing aside. "What's your major?" 

"Chemical engineering." You tilt your head at him. "You?"

"Pharmacology." He replies. You arch your brow. If he was studying pharmacology wouldn't you have seen him around campus? Then again- your college is pretty big so...maybe you just forgot his face. He steps back away from you, putting his hands in his hoodie's pockets. "Enjoy the book." He says in a bored tone before turning and walking away. 

------

"Hmm…"

Once more, you're looking for a very, very specific book. For another assignment. A group one. "Uggghhh…" you mutter to yourself. You do not want to be that one guy who doesn't do any work and drags the group down. You already have one of those. As you step out from behind a bookshelf your eyes absently scan the long reading table before-

Wait.

You turn back and squint. The book! It's right there! And being read by...a pale skinned boy with honey-brown hair and green eyes. You glance around for a moment before walking over and taking a seat across from him.

"You gonna read that?"

He looks up at you, seemingly surprised. His eyes widen with realisation, and the smallest of smiles curls up his lips. "...well duh." You smirk and laugh a little bit. He sets the book down and tilts his head at you. "You get that assignment done?"

"Barely." You reply. "Now I got a group project to do."

"Ew." He wrinkles his nose in disgust. He glances from you to the book his hand is resting on. The book you need. "...what're your plans for after college?" He asks, trying to sound casual, but the question sounds like he’s inspecting you.

"A bio engineer. You?"

He blinks in surprise. "Same, actually. Specialising in curing diseases."

"Huh! I was gonna do the same. I wanna help develop medicines."

He looks at you for a moment, then smiles a bit. He closes the book and slides it over to you. "Good luck on the assignment." He says before standing up and walking away. You watch him leave with a small, curious smile. 

----

"God that professor drives me crazy…" one of your classmates mutters as they walk past you. You can't help but agree. 

Stepping outside you wrinkle your nose. It's raining. Great. And all you have is a thin jacket with no hood. A breeze blows by, and it feels like it's going straight through your clothes. You shiver. 

"Hey." A familiar voice grunts beside you. You look up in surprise and are greeted by a taller boy in a hood wearing blue goggles. One of his eyes is obscured by honey-brown hair. He reaches up, grabbing the goggles and pulling them down. Green eyes blink down at you. 

"Oh, hey." You tilt your head at him. "Book boy."

He smirks a bit, tossing his head to the side like he's mimicking you. "Is that my name?"

"Well you never told me your name."

He blinks in surprise, like he hadn't even realised he'd never told you his name. Or forgotten. You suppress a laugh. "Oh." He says. "I'm Cody. But my friends call me X."

"Why?" You ask, smiling a bit. He opens his mouth to reply, then closes it again, like he's stumped. 

"It's my favourite letter?" He finally answers. You laugh loudly. 

‘’Alright, X,’’ you smirk at him. ‘’Did you need something? Another book?’’

‘’Huh? Oh- nah.’’ he scratches at the scar on his jaw. ‘’I saw you out in the rain and uh-’’ he pauses, reaching into the brown satchel thrown across his side. He searches around in it, the contents jingling and clinking until he pulls out a folded up umbrella. ‘’I brought you this.’’ You blink in surprise. You reach out and take it. ‘’But I want something in return.’’

‘’Huh?’’

‘’One, I want my book,’’ he toys with the strap of his goggles as he speaks. ‘’And two...I wanna take you for coffee.’’

You arch your brow. ‘’...why?’’

‘’I think you’re neat.’’ he shrugs. ‘’I don’t talk to people much. And you have a similar major so…’’

You hesitate. It isn’t the first time a guy you don’t know well has asked you for coffee under the pretense of ‘you’re just neat’. You pause. He looks at you, seemingly disinterested. Like it doesn’t matter if you say yes or no. 

‘’...sure.’’ you finally say. ‘’But you’re paying.’’

He wrinkles his nose. ‘’I’ll pay the tip.’’ he says. ‘’Sixty percent.’’

------

‘’Hey, y/n!’’

You look up as you step outside your lecture hall. Cody runs towards you, shaking his honey-brown hair out of his eyes. You smile brightly at him as he stops in front of you. Cody has been warming up to you over the past few weeks. He meets you after classes, walks you to your dorm or gets coffee with you, and always, always follows you to the library. He’s...odd. Initially he was standoffish, like he didn’t really care about your company all that much, but as you’ve spent time together he’s opened up a lot more. He’s excitable, and wildly passionate about all sorts of things. But mostly science- which suits you. He helps a lot with writing papers. 

‘’Hey X.’’ you greet him. You walk past him and he trails after you. ‘’How was your day?’’

‘’Fine.’’ he says. ‘’Professor Harrison is still annoying.’’

‘’Ugh- so glad I don’t have his classes till next week…’’ you sigh. ‘’Glad it’s Friday, huh?’’

‘’Yeah.’’ he smiles a bit. 

‘’You got plans for the weekend?’’

‘’Huh? Oh, uh...not- not really. Just- research…’’

You glance over your shoulder and smile at him. ‘’You wanna come over for a bit tomorrow?’’

‘’Co-come over?’’

‘’Yeah. We can hang out, watch a movie or something.’’

‘’...you want me in your house?’’

‘’Well it’s not really a house but- yeah.’’ you smile at him. ‘’What? I can’t invite my friend over to hang out?’’

His bright green eyes seem to shimmer. ‘’Friend?’’ he asks, excitement leaking into his voice. You nod, smiling a little bit. He’s funny when he’s excited. He beams wide. ‘’S-Sure! Yeah, I can postpone my research!’’

-----

‘’Knock knock!’’

You get up off your couch and move over to the door. Opening it, you’re greeted by honey-brown hair and green eyes beaming down at you. ‘’Hey y/n.’’ Cody chirps, shifting on his feet. You step aside to let him in. He walks inside quickly, holding coffee in each hand. He puts down the coffees and rummages through his satchel. ‘’I brought you snacks, and some books I thought you might like. Oh! I also bought you a spare USB, since you almost lost yours last week. You can back your files up on this one just in case-’’

‘’Cody.’’ you interrupt. He looks over at you. ‘’You...didn’t need to get me all of this.’’ you frown. You only invited him over for a movie- why all the stuff? 

‘’...I wanted to help.’’ he murmurs. ‘’I know you like coffee, so I thought you’d like some. Then I thought we’d need snacks for the movie, and then I passed the library and remembered the USB thing so I-’’ he fiddles with his hands. ‘’Isn’t that what friends do?’’

‘’...Cody,’’ you say. He stares at you. ‘’You’ve never had a friend before, have you?’’

He hesitates, then shakes his head. ‘’Not really.’’ he shrugs. ‘’Nobody was ever interesting enough to talk to,’’ he glances aside. ‘’But...you’re different. I dunno how but- you are.’’

You fold your arms, looking at him for a few moments, then exhale gently. ‘’...you’re really weird, X.’’

-----

‘’Hey y/n?’’ 

‘’Huh?’’ you look up from the cheap chinese takeout the two of you ordered. It has become a routine for the two of you to hang out on weekends. And during the week. Cody meets up with you almost every day, and the days he doesn’t he’s...completely impossible to reach. Like he dropped off the face off the earth. But you don’t mind too much.

‘’What do you think of human experiments?’’ his eyes stare into you. You blink.

‘’If they’re safe, then yeah. If it clears animal testing first I think human testing should begin, if the correct safety procedures are taken.’’

He nods. ‘’Yeah, yeah but…’’ he taps his fingers on the table for a second. ‘’Sometimes we need to disregard those protocols. That’s a fact, right?’’

‘’...yeah?’’ you tilt your head, confused.

‘’So what if we used bad people for those experiments? Like death row criminals. It would speed up the process.’’

You blink for a moment. ‘’I mean-’’ you think for a moment. ‘’I dunno…’’ you look away. ‘’Why are you asking me this?’’

‘’No reason.’’ Cody looks back at you and shrugs. ‘’The topic came up in class earlier and it just crossed my mind.’’

----

‘’Knockknocknockknocknockknockkno-’’

You yank open your door and glare up at the person in the doorway. ‘’It’s three in the mo-’’ you pause. The tall, rude person in your doorway is breathing heavily through a gas mask. Their head is lowered, their face obscured by honey-brown hair. They cough.

‘’Sorry for wakin’ you.’’ he grunts. He leans up off the doorway and stumbles forward. You catch him quickly.

‘’Cody?! What the fuck?! Is that you?!” 

"Yeah…" he coughs a bit and grips your shoulders for support. "I got in a fight…"

You pull him over to your couch. He collapses onto it and groans. You pull off his gas mask and goggles and look at his face. It seems to be okay- because of the gas mask probably. Good protection for his face. 

"Where does it hurt?" You ask quickly.

"They fucking kicked me in the gut." He mutters back. He coughs a couple times. "H-Hey, did I drop my baseball bat…?"

"Baseball bat?" You stand up and look over at your door, which is still open. A baseball bat with nails sticking out of the head leans against the doorway. You move over and grab it, closing the door. "Why do you have this thing?"

"Self defense." He grunts back. "Can you get me some ice?"

"Sure, sure yeah."

------

"So like…" Cody looks up from his cereal as you speak. He's been staying in your dorm for the past few days, recovering from getting beat up. "Does this happen...often…?"

He looks at you. "Why would you think that?"

"Because you have a weapon for self defense and you have a scar on your jaw." You point at him. He palms at the jagged scar on his jawline. 

"Oh." He says. "This one isn't from a fight."

You frown and tilt your head. "It isn't?"

"I was in a car accident when I was eight." He says. "My parents died in it. I didn't."

You blink, completely taken aback. "Shit- really?" You suddenly regret all the curious looks you've given that scar over the past while. "That's horrible- I'm sorry dude."

He waves you off. "It's nothing." He murmurs. It's quiet and awkward for a while before he speaks again. "I got a lot more scars from the crash. You wanna see?" He grins at you. You break out into a smile.

"...oh heck yeah I do."

-----

‘’Hey y/n?’’

‘’Huh?’’ you look up from your laptop and over at Cody, who’s laying on his back on your bed, staring at the ceiling through his blue goggles. He doesn’t answer for a moment. 

‘’How long have we been friends?’’ His voice is small and thoughtful. Maybe even sad. You frown.

‘’Like….six months. Why?’’

‘’That’s a long time.’’ he muses, sounding surprised. He turns and looks at you. ‘’...I trust you.’’

‘’You trust me?’’

‘’Yeah.’’ he looks at the ceiling again. ‘’I trust you. A lot. I’ve never really- had a friend before...but I trust you.’’ he turns to you again. ‘’I’m glad I met you, y/n.’’

‘’...what sparked that?’’ you ask gently. Cody shrugs.

‘’Dunno. Was just thinkin’ bout stuff…’’ he’s quiet for a while. ‘’You ever think about how chickens are descended from dinosaurs so technically dino nuggets are dinosaur meat?’’ he breaks the silence. 

‘’PFFFFF-’’

----

‘’Hey! y/n!’’ 

You look up just in time to see Cody sprinting towards you from the other side of the campus. His gas mask is on, even though he doesn’t seem to be coming from the campus’s lab, as are his goggles. His hood falls down, exposing honey-brown hair. You walk quickly toward him and he stumbles towards you, then doubles over gasping for air. 

‘’Uh- you oka-’’

‘’HEY! YOU!’’ 

You look up quickly and see a campus security guard sprinting towards the both of you. Your eyes widen and Cody grabs your wrist. ‘’Canttalknowjustrun!’’ he hisses before sprinting off again with you in tow. You yelp as you’re yanked across campus, in between buildings, and off the grounds entirely. Eventually, you’re yanked into an alleyway and the two of you lean against the wall, panting and gasping for air. You flop your head against your shoulder and stare at him. 

‘’Cody…’’

‘’Y-yeah?’’

‘’What the fuck?!’’

He gulps and looks at you. ‘’I...may have pissed off the security guard.’’

‘’How?’’

‘’I uh-’’ he pauses, looking at you. It’s silent for a few moments and he sighs. ‘’I’ve...been lying to you.’’

‘’Huh?’’

‘’I don’t actually attend your college,’’ he murmurs. ‘’I...graduated years ago. I’m just some- homeless dude who hangs around the campus sometimes for fun.’’

You stare at him. ‘’What...the fuck…?’’ he doesn’t say anything. ‘’Why would you lie to me?!’’

‘’Because I…’’ he shrugs. ‘’I didn’t want you to think less of me...I just wanted you to treat me like anyone else...like- a friend…’’ he sighs. ‘’...I’m sorry…’’

You stare at him for a few moments, then sigh gently. You lean off the wall and pat his shoulder. ‘’I don’t think less of you because of any of this,’’ you murmur. ‘’I’m hurt because- well...I thought you trusted me.’’ His head snaps to you, staring in surprise. ‘’It is weird that you hang around on campus yeah but- you’re not a creep. I know you’re not. You just- wanna be accepted. Right?’’

He pauses, staring at the ground. ‘’...yeah. I do.’’

‘’Then I accept you.’’ you hesitate for a second, then hug him gently. His arms cautiously and gently wrap around you. ‘’And you’re staying with me, okay? I don’t want you on the streets anymore. You don’t need to get hurt.’’

"...okay." he murmurs. "...thanks."

------

"I'm home!"

"Y/n!" Cody rolls over onto his stomach and grins at you from his spot on the couch, which is also basically his bed now. "How was your lecture? Learn anything interesting?"

You shrug off your backpack and walk over to the couch. Cody curls up to make room for you as you sit down. "It was alright." You murmur. Cody shifts around and leans against you, smiling up at you. He's cute, you'll admit. Like an excited puppy. Always happy to see you. You reach over and pat him. He moves his hand up and grabs your hand, squeezing it in his. He stays there for a few moments, staring up at you fondly before he withdraws his hand. 

"Here." he grabs the remote from the other side of the couch using his socked feet, then grabs it with his hands before passing it to you. You take it and lie back, flicking through channels idly. You glance at him. He's still staring at you. 

"You need something?"

He shakes his head. "Nah." He turns back to the tv. "I just like your face."

You smirk. "Thanks. Yours too."

------

"Uuuggghh…"

You sit up and bury your face in your hands. You're stressed. Extremely so. This damn assignment is impossible! You can't figure it out. At all. You're just about ready to give up. 

"Y/n?"

You look up and see Cody crouched near your bed where you're sitting. He looks up at you with his best puppy eyes. "I think you need a break." He murmurs. He reaches up and takes one of your hands in his, pulling it down and tugging it. You sigh, push your laptop away and lie down so you're facing him. 

"Fine." 

He smiles and reaches into his pocket, pulling something out. Your favourite candy bar. "Here," he holds it up to you. "To get your energy back."

You take it and smile. "How'd you know it's my favourite?"

He smiles. "Lucky guess." That's a lie. Definitely. He climbs onto your bed and lays down beside you. You look at him while munching on your chocolate.

"Cody," you ask tiredly. "...what do you do when no matter what you can't find the answer?"

He blinks, then frowns. "I keep going," he answers. "I try to change something every time and peace together the answer. I work outside the box, break the rules…" he frowns and looks down. "...four hundred and twenty three times."

"Huh?"

He looks up at you, surprised. "Oh! Uh- it's nothing. I just remembered this one experiment I did...heh...took me four hundred and twenty three tries to get it right..." he seems suddenly fidgety and- maybe even sad.

"Damn." Your eyes widen. "What was the experiment?"

"...nothing important." He smiles at you. He reaches over and pats your cheek a couple times. "Now, cmere. You're taking your break in cuddle-town."

You squint at him. "...cuddle-town."

"Yep!" He lifts his arm up for you. "Cmonnnn...you know you wannaaaa."

You give him a stern look. Then a smile curls up your face and you laugh. "Alright, alright. I'll bite." you scoot closer to him and let him hug you tight. He smells of chemicals and takeout. It's a weird smell, but welcoming. He hums happily. "...Thanks X."

"No problem." He chirps back, nuzzling his face into your hair.

-------

"You made a mistake."

"Huh?" You're curled up against Cody, doing your homework. Part of your course is a mandatory math class. Ugh. Your back is resting against his front while you do your work. His arms are wrapped around you, hugging you gently. Not the most conventional position for math homework, but a damn comfy one. 

His arm moves from around your hip and points at the paper you're writing on. "You need to multiply here. Not subtract. Then you'll get a minus, but you'll have to change the signs so your answer would be…" he pauses for a moment. "Minus X to the power of four over three Y to the power of six."

You blink and frown for a couple moments. "Oh!" You cross out your mistake and correct it. "Like that?"

Cody nods. "Exactly." His arm winds around you again. You smile a bit.

"How are you so good at math?" You ask. He shrugs.

"Studied my butt off in highschool and learned everything twice as fast as everyone else." He says with a laugh. You snicker.

"Why?"

"Wanted to prove that I could do it." He murmurs. He leans down and presses his face into your hair. He's probably sniffing it but you choose to ignore that because math homework is hard. "...why did you decide to become a scientist?"

"I wanted to help people." You murmur. He hums in thought.

"Why?"

You shrug. "It's the right thing to do, isn't it?"

He's quiet for a moment. "yeah," his hand runs up your stomach. "I guess it is."

-----

"I wanna take you somewhere."

You look up at Cody. "Okay," you say. "Where?"

"...dinner."

"Dinner where?"

"Downtown. Somewhere you like. Somewhere fancy." 

You smirk at him a bit. ‘’Alright...when?’’

‘’Right now. Today.’’

You blink in surprise and look at the clock on the wall, then him. ‘’We’d have to get ready like- right now.’’

‘’Okay.’’ he stands up like it’s nothing. ‘’Go get ready.’’

Cody’s sudden wanting to eat out is odd. He’s always been happy with takeout and your own cooking, so why he suddenly wants to go out is- odd. But you’re not complaining. The restaurant he brings you to is nice, and even though he’s suddenly fidgety and a little on-edge, he’s still his regular, cute self. Spending time with him is something you enjoy deeply. Why else would you have let him live with you? He’s like your best friend- maybe even something more. While the two of you are leaving the restaurant his hand brushes against yours and he ever so carefully entwines his hand with yours. Okay yeah. It’s definitely something more.

Instead of walking home, the two of you end up walking to a nearby park. It’s a peaceful night. A little cold, but Cody’s hand feels warm and comforting. He stops suddenly, and turns to you. You stare at him.

‘’y/n?’’

‘’Yeah?’’

He hesitates. ‘’Do you…’’ he glances aside. ‘’...do you like me?’’ his body language is nervous, but his tone is full of forced confidence. 

‘’Of course I like you.’’ you tilt your head at him. ‘’...you’re acting weird. What’s wrong?’’

He looks surprised for a moment. He quickly collects himself and gulps, glancing aside. ‘’I…’’ he fiddles with his hands. ‘’It’s...nothing, y/n. Just- forget it. I’ll take you home.’’

‘’Wait-’’ you stop and step toward him, grabbing his wrist. He stares at you in surprise. You yank him toward you, intending to pull him into a hug but- you yank too hard and Cody stumbles into you, making you, in turn, stumble backwards into a tree. You’re left leaning against it, with Cody leaning over you, staring down in surprise. It’s deathly silent for a few tense moments before a smile curls up his face. He snorts, then laughs, then falls against you giggling. You slowly crack up with him and reach up, gripping his arms as the two of you giggle at absolutely nothing. He lifts his head up and smiles at you. His face is only inches from yours. He’s so close you can see the lighter speckles in his green eyes and individual strands of his honey-brown hair. His features are soft. Welcoming. ‘’Cody,’’ you murmur. ‘’...I do like you. A lot.’’

‘’Huh?’’ he seems completely taken aback by this. ‘’Really?’’ he doesn’t sound like he quite believes you. You chuckle.

‘’Yes.’’ you smile up at him. Slowly, you reach up and cup his face in your hands. ‘’C’mere…’’ you murmur, pulling him down to you. You close the gap and kiss him gently. He tenses up, a quiet gasp of surprise escaping his mouth. Slowly, he leans into the kiss, kneading against you. He feels warm. Comforting. Safe. You shiver as he reaches down, grabbing your hip with one hand. The two of you pull away and stare at each other. It’s silent. You can feel his warm breath against your face. 

‘’y/n?’’ he breaks the silence. You look up at him. ‘’...I love you.’’

A smile curls up your face. You grab him and pull him down for another kiss. ‘’I love you too.’’ you giggle. He grins and wraps his arms around you, squeezing you tightly. He lifts you up in his arms and nuzzles into your shoulder. You giggle and grip his shoulders as he swings you around until he stumbles and falls back. The two of you yelp out in surprise as you fall onto the grass. Cody is still holding you tight, staring up at you with a wide smile. You smile down at him lovingly and comb your hand through his honey-brown hair. ‘’I love you too…’’ you murmur once more.

[ankkalinna]

My Duck Comics Secret Santa2019 Gift for @paperino-protection-squad who wanted Tamers of Nonhuman Threats and X-Mickey crossover and some stuff about Donald’s different identities. I hope you enjoy!

Word Count: 4600

Donald had been in a bad mood ever since he woke up, and hearing the voice of the person he hadn't really thought of in years really didn't make his trip to the grocery store any better.

”Donald! Hey, it is you!”

Donald turned towards the mouse. ”Hey. It is you.”

He shuffled in place a bit, awkwardly regretting the blatant unenthusiasm in his tone. ”So. Long time no see.”

”Yeah.” Mickey nodded.

An awkward silence fell.

”We should do lunch sometime,” Mickey said. ”To catch up.”

Before Donald could reply he continued: ”Why not right now, actually?” He looked at his watch. ”I'm free. Do you have anything?”

Donald did not. He was, as one might say, between jobs at the moment.

But telling Mickey that...

He paid attention to the mouse's suit. It wasn't expensive, nothing that made it look like he was trying to overcompensate, or that he was throwing money away.

It was neat, well put together. Paired with a nice watch that implied he had a bit of an extra money to get himself something nice. Not too expensive. Then again, Donald's idea of expensive was 'I could not justify spending money on this when there are three sets of school supplies to buy'

The mouse had always radiated self-confidence and had this annoying successful aura to him...

He is probably doing well, Donald thought bitterly.

Out loud he said: ”Sorry, I'm really really busy now.”

He couldn't help adding: ”An important career... thing. A thing. Yeah. I got opportunities. Bye.”

…

Donald woke up to an alarm.

He struggled up. ”Not now Uncle Scroo-”

Wait.

That sound was his TNT alarm.

He pulled it out of his closet. It had been a long time. He even sometimes forgot he had this gig. His life was so full of being The Duck Avenger, and Doubleduck, and Scrooge's slave, and a parent-

But this job had a big difference compared to all of those.

It paid.

And it paid well.

Donald saluted the image on screen. ”What's up I'm awake!”

…

In half an hour Donald had dragged Fethry out of bed, shaken him awake with a ”The world needs us!” and gotten him into the TNT headquarters for briefing.

”Welcome, Agents,” The Head started. ”We have measured outstanding levels of extradimensional portal radiation somewhere around or near Duckburg.”  He pointed at the image on screen. ”We have reason to believe this person is involved-”

”I just ran into him!” Donald pointed at the screen at the file image of Mickey Mouse. ”Now that you mention it he was maybe acting a bit odd.”

”I'm sure it's fine,” Fethry said. ”And what do you mean portal radiation anyway? It's all fine...”

”Really?” Katrina Kolik said, ignoring Fethry and focusing her attention on Donald. ”Maybe it'd be for the best if you tried to dig up some more information.”

Donald saluted. This sounded like an easy job.

”Okay,” he said.

It might even be nice, seeing an old friend and reminiscing a bit.

…

Donald smiled at the mouse sitting in front of him in the small cafe. ”So, it's nice to meet up like this-” He took a sip from his latte. He wasn't sure why he had suggested an overpriced coffee shop.

It had felt like something Mickey would fit in, he supposed.

”And so lately I have been doing more work at the paper, writing a column on bee-keeping,” Mickey said. ”Of course I keep being pulled back in but at the moment I really would prefer a more stress-free life with everything going on. Maybe I will return to being a police consultant at some point.”

”A-ha.” Donald lifted his drink to his beak and pretended to drink. The cup was tiny and he was dreading the bill already. He had to make this one cup last for as long as possible.

”I remember you being a reporter too?” Mickey asked.

”Not in a while,” Donald sighed. ”Uncle Scrooge outsourced his clickbait journalism to some trained ferrets. I was shining coins for him but-”

He hesitated. He had fallen asleep at the job after a hard night's work patrolling the city as the Duck Avenger. A row had happened. Donald couldn't remember if he had been once more sacked or if he had quit. Not that it mattered. He'd grovel back there at some point anyway.

Not that Mickey would have to know any of that.

”I had other opportunities, so I quit.”

That was basically true anyway. His work as the Duck Avenger took a lot out of him and without having to get up for work he had been putting even more hours in crime fighting.

Mickey leaned in. ”An exciting job?”

”Nothing big,” Donald said. ”I can't talk about it much. Because uh- I still don't know if it will actually happen.”

But he seemed a bit... Impressed.

Donald smiled, feeling a bit better.

Now then-

”So, I don't know how much I should be talking about this gig I got,” Donald said. ”I had to sign a non disclosure agreement. It's big.”

He had technically signed a contract for TNT. Or less signed anything and more had his biometric data scanner into the system with the implication that if he let anything slip the Organization would 'deal with him' presumably in a way that'd include being teleported into space.

”Say no more. I get it.”

Donald frowned, hoping Mickey would have been a bit more curious and tried to dig up more information out of him. Probably he didn't think it was actually anything cool. Nothing that could measure up to his interesting life.

”Yeah it must be pretty important job you do. With the police and stuff,” Donald said.

”Like I said, not in a while. I'm taking it easy now. Anyway, I'm good at keeping secrets, so if you want to talk-”

Donald was just trying to think how to approach the subject or try to find out anything when he was interrupted.

”Hello!” Fethry popped up from behind a potted plant and patted Donald's shoulder. ”Here you are, my dear colleague. Have you taken a good look at the charts?”

Donald stared at Fethry. And the obviously fake beard he was wearing.

Fethry winked.

”No,” Donald told him. ”Anyway I was bu-”

Fethry pulled up a chair and joined the two. ”Say no more, pardner!”

He winked at Donald again, batting his eyelashes at him. Donald glared.

”Nice to meet you...” Mickey said.

”Doctor... George.” Fethry shook his hand. ”I'm Donald's colleague. Nice ta meet ya'll mah dude.”

So now he was also doing an accent of some kind. Great.

”Yes and I'm sure Mister George is very busy!” Donald said.

”Nono, not at all.”

”So?” Mickey asked. ”Is this Doctor George from your new job?”

Donald got up.

”Yes. And he was just leaving.” Deciding Fethry would not take the clue he took his arm. ”In fact we are leaving.”

…

”What was that about?” Donald asked.

”I thought I'd help you,” Fethry said. ”To sneakily get information out of him. I once saw this documentary on interrogation. The trick is to spot things called 'micro expressions'”

He poked Donald's bill.

”For example right now your macro-expressions are saying 'I am angry' but your micro expressions are saying 'wow cool.”

”And tell me, is being dressed as a hobo santa part of the process?”

”I told you what I was doing! I was getting a whole bad cop good cop thing going on!”

”You told me? When?”

Fethry looked at him like he was pulling his leg. ”Just now. Come on I used Morse code.”

He winked again. ”See? Come on now Don, we have a system. I think I explained it to you.”

”You were... blinking Morse code at me..?”

Fethry patted his back. ”I knew you'd catch on! Eventually. It's great this connection we have. Almost makes it okay I have to keep quiet about the secret mission Katrina Kolik gave m-”

He slapped his hand over his mouth.

Donald gave him a glare. ”A what?”

Fethry fidgeted. ”Nothing!”

Donald took hold of his shoulders and shook him. ”What did she give you? Some assignment I'm not part of?”

Fethry glanced around. He leaned in conspiratorially.

”Top Secret.”

”Fethry...”

Donald crossed his arms.

”Okay so. Remember when we were kids and we used to climb this tree and that one time you threw my favourite hat on the roof?”

Fethry looked at Donald expectantly.

Donald stared at him. ”I have no idea what you are talking about.”

A relieved smile spread on Fethry's face. ”That was a test! I had to test it was really you. Of course you never threw my hat onto the roof you wouldn't be mean like that-”

”Fethry I am losing my patience here!”

Fethry looked around and slapped his fake moustache on Donald.

”Here, wear this just in case as I explain. So, the TNT organization maybe thought, just a bit, that you might have been replaced with a clone or be unreliable for some other reason.”

”What?”

”Shhh!” Fethry shushed him. ”Apparently Mickey got involved in something weird. And not just him. Someone else you know-”

”Who?”

”The Duck Avenger.”

…

Donald never had done something like this before.

He was very good at compartmentalization. He just had to.

He was Donald Duck.

A single parent, minimum wage worker, the nephew of the world's richest man, a boyfriend, a rockstar, a reporter, a Caballero, a superhero, a tamer of nonhuman threats...

And the top agent of The Agency.

He usually did his best to keep all of the different facets of his life far apart.

But TNT was looking into the Duck Avenger and Donald Duck's connection with him.

Boundaries were starting to break.

He had to know what was going on.

So Donald locked himself into his closet and pulled out his Agent Phone. The one he only ever took from its lock box for Agency missions.

The mechanical voice spoke out. ”Please identify yourself.”  

Donald stood a bit straighter and spoke into the device, slipping into this role. ”Agent Doubleduck.”

”Scanning. Please hold still.”

After the face and fingerprint scan the phone opened.

”Welcome, Agent Doubleduck. Please state your inquiry.”

”I need to get into the TNT organization database.”

”Scanning. Please stand by.”

”Hurry up...”

Finally the files from the TNT mainframe were pulled up on the tiny screen.

”As we cannot be certain of the level of personal involvement Agent Duck has with Mr Mouse it is recommended Agent D.Duck is not informed of the details and instead is let to interact with Mr Mouse under supervision from Agent F.Duck while our other Agents track down the anomaly- I knew it!”

With shaking hands Donald clicked the folder.

He sighed in relief. Apparently they weren't aware he was the Duck Avenger. The document focused on his superhero persona as a separate entity.

And they weren't even all that interested in him as a person it seemed. Apart from a few cases where he had interacted with otherwordly threats TNT didn't seem to much consider the Duck Avenger. Not their jurisdiction.

Except-

The file mentioned Fantomius. It seemed TNT was very interested in the connection between the two.

Donald clicked on his file.

”Warning. Security level insufficient.”

Donald frowned.

Giving up on that he pulled up the details on the latest briefings instead.

Contact 'M' has informed us about the possibility of a Level Omega threat.

Donald skipped the paragraph that got into the technical details he had no hope of understanding. It was big and spooky just like everything TNT dealt with (also apparently 'adularescencent'). He skimmed over the report until something caught his eye.

Fantomius's aka John Quackett's connection to the painting 'Land of the impossible' must be investigated further.

Land of the impossible... Donald had seen that phrase before-

“Doubleduck? What are you doing?”

Donald bit his bill. He had been careless.

The image of Kay K filled the screen of his phone. “You better have a good explanation for this.”

Donald looked her in the eye. “I do.”

“Is it Agency business?”

Donald had a feeling she already knew the answer. “No.”

“I should report you trying to use the Agency resources for personal reasons.”

Donald looked her in the eye. “You should. But I am asking you not to. This had nothing to do with the Agency.”

Kay examined his face. Eventually she nodded. “I'll pretend I didn't see anything. Be more careful this time, Agent Doubleduck.”

The image cut off. Donald sighed in relief.

A hand grasped his shoulder.

Donald let out a surprised quack before his secret agent instincts caught up with him and he pinned the other figure to the wall.

He stared at the intruder.

”Fethry?”

”Hey, you never told me you were a secret agent!” Fethry sounded hurt.

Donald let go.

”Sorry. I really need to go.”

”Well me too actually I'm still busy with things like distracting you-”

Fethry slammed his hands over his bill.

Donald sighed. ”TNT told you?”

Fethry shook his head. ”No but I can't tell you who. It's a secret.” He mimed zipping up his beak. ”I promised.”

Donald was about to call him out as a terrible liar. Of course it was TNT. But he wasn't too keen on bringing it up again when he himself had been caught up in a compromising position.

Deciding he could explain it away later as a job he had gotten from Uncle Scrooge, Donald pushed it away from his mind for now.

”It's okay. You stay here and keep up the good work of distracting me.”

Fethry gave him a look.

Donald smiled. ”I'll be fine.”

He opened the closet door. As he did so it only then occurred to him the door had been locked and somehow Fethry had gotten in anyway.

No time to think about that.

…

The Duck Avenger stared at the familiar ruined manor. Villa Rosa. It had been so long...

He shook his head. No time to dwell in nostalgia.

He jumped to the ruins. Once this mansion had belonged to the gentleman thief. Now it lay in ruin. (Thanks Gladstone)

The Duck Avenger had returned there for a few times. He had thought he had solved all of the mansion's mysteries.

He wasn't alone.

The Duck Avenger hid in the shadows as two TNT agents walked past.

One of them pulled out a scanner. “I lost the trace again. I don't think it's nearby.”

The other one examined a crumbling wall before kicking it. “Let's keep at it.”

The Duck Avenger frowned. They better not destroy the mansion any further.

He shook his head. At least it seemed like he was on the right track. TNT knew Fantomius had hidden something supernatural nearby and had decided to keep their Agent Donald out of it.

A smile played on his bill. Unlike those guys he had a pretty good idea where to actually look.

He returned to his car and pulled out his scanner. He should have done this sooner. Done a thorough search. Well, no time like the present.

He turned the scanner Gyro had made him on and watched as an image was drawn onto the screen.

If he remembered correctly, large parts of the mansion were hidden underground...

But those were pretty thoroughly searched. But if he had been Fantomius he would have had other hideouts nearby.

He pulled up the satellite image. He had come to Villa Rosa before but this time he had more information.

Remembering the 'Land of the Impossible' had been mentioned in Fantomius's diary he had re-read it. And yes, the last entry mentioned Land of the Impossible, something Donald had previously assumed referred to maybe an another country John and Dolly had fled to once their situation had turned too dangerous in Duckburg.

But with the knowledge he now had it all made so much more sense.

The details mentioned in the last entry were not veiled references to their new home across the globe.

It was instructions for finding something much closer to Villa Rosa.

Duck Avenger moved swiftly through the night.

The mansion grounds had been searched both by him and uncle Scrooge in search of Fantomius's secrets (and treasures) before. Most of what Dolly and John had stolen had never resurfaced, and Duck Avenger knew there had been some other secret vault for stolen artwork. A hidden gallery. Both he and Scrooge had searched it before but had found nothing.

But if he was right the diary was pointing him towards the countryside surrounding the mansion.

Eventually he spotted an overgrown well and landed his car. He looked down. According to the scanner the well was surprisingly large. The Duck Avenger set his rope onto the ledge and started to descend into the darkness only lighted up by his belt-buckle lamp.

There was a sudden snap and he plummeted down-

And landed in a puddle.

He struggled to the dry land. He looked up, the night sky visible from the well. Had his rope cut off accidentally..?

He dried up his cape, surveying his environment. It seemed the bottom of the well was attached to a large room with a door on the other side.

He moved there and opened up the door.

And barely managed to avoid the net coming down.

Duck Avenger nudged the decrepit old net with his foot. Traps.

So he was on the right track.

He opened the door and gasped at the collection in front of him.

So this was where Fantomius had collected his loot. The paintings and statues were arranged in the vault- no, a private gallery.

So, where was the painting he was looking for?

When he saw it he knew immediately he had found it.

The Duck Avenger had never considered himself an art critic. If he saw a portrait that looked realistic it was Good Art as far a he was concerned.

But as he looked into the painting he felt... He supposed it was like seeing something for the first time.

The artwork was rough and definitely not realistic.

But the winding mountains and forests that were painted with merely the implication of a brush seemed so much like something more. Like it was a twisted mirror of the world itself. Even the colours on it seemed to shift in the light, as if alive.

He tore away his gaze and turned the frame around. On the back there was an envelope.

And in the envelope, a letter.

To whom it may concern.

I fear everything has its end and our adventures as the Phantom Thief and his dashing partner in crime are not different. Now after our identities have been leaked I fear it's best for us to go. So, we will put everything in order, leave my inheritance as Fantomius behind, and step into the new unexplored world.

-John&Dolly

The Duck Avenger examined the painting.

Had they really-

”Donald!”

The Duck Avenger turned to see Mickey.

”What are you doing here?”

And how did he know?

Mickey took a step forward. ”You don't know how dangerous that thing is! Please quietly set it down-”

”Why would I?”

Duck Avenger suddenly had the strongest feeling he was being watched.

Swiftly moving the painting under his arm he pulled out his Freeze-gun and pointed it at the mouse.

”Did you come alone?”

Mickey hesitated.

”Please, Donald. That painting is a gateway to a different world, it has been active lately, and we don't know if-”

Duck Avenger could feel the energy radiating from the painting before he saw the portal open.

It was as if the reality itself shifted, the painted landscape stretching out until the chamber surrounding them was indistinguishable from the artwork.

”Donald!”

He was tackled into the dusty floor just before the insect-like leg could spear him.

Duck Avenger recovered fast, pushed Mickey away, and aimed his Freeze-gun.

But he hesitated. Would it work?

No time to wonder. He had to act before whatever that was could get through the painting. He pulled the trigger.

The creature did not freeze.

Instead it let out a screech that made both him and the mouse fall down.

Duck Avenger could see more of the spider-like monster emergence. It turned its hungry eyes to him.

”Hey! Over here!” someone called.

The gaze of the monster left the Duck Avenger and he took the chance to kick at the creature.

“Go for the eyes! It's a Shadowland Arachnobeast they don't like it when you poke them in the eye!”

The Duck Avenger acted fast and threw his Freeze-Gun at the eyes.

As it connected, the monster wailed.

It retreated back into the painting, reality bent back into the shape.

And then it was over.

Duck Avenger turned to the tall figure who had come to their aid.

A figure who seemed to be some kind of a hairy beast man.

Mickey lifted his hands up.

”So, I think everyone here owes someone an explanation.”

…

Mickey sat next to Donald. ”So.”

Donald nodded. ”So.” He finished putting away his Duck Avenger costume in the trunk of his car. If he was going to Car-can memory erase Mickey he had to appear just the normal old Donald Duck.

”Have you been involved in this kinda stuff for long?” Mickey asked finally.

Donald shrugged. ”I keep busy.”

Mickey patted his shoulder. ”Don't worry buddy I will keep this a secret.”

Donald looked him to the eye.

”I know you will.”

He thought back to the Car-can in his pocket. It would be easy...

But no.

”So, are you planning to wipe his memory?”

Donald turned around to face the tall hairy creature. ”No!”

Mickey gave him a look.

”I did maybe think of it,” Donald admitted. “-but I decided... Maybe not.”

Donald eyed the tall man. ”Anyway, I don't think we have been introduced. Are you related to that Archeologist guy Mickey hangs out with sometimes?”

”The name's Pipwolf.” He offered a hand.

Donald shook it.

”I'm a werewolf.” He tapped his nose. “That's how I helped Mickey here track you down. Scent. I was looking into this missing portal painting stuff and asked for my good friend Mickey for help.”

“The only lead he had was this Fantomius guy who had likely stolen the painting from the previous owner,” Mickey said. “And Duck Avenger who Pipwolf suspected was a rogue occupant from the Land of the Impossible. He asked my help in tracking him down and some research pointed me to his 'best friend'”

Donald nodded. “Me.”

Something dawned on him. “So you didn't run into me in Duckburg by accident?”

“No,” Mickey admitted.

Pipwolf sighed. ”This will be such a mess. I want to give Manny my report and then head off as far away as possible. I mean, she likes her bureaucracy... Two unaccompanied guests? Who have been loose in the Land of the Impossible for decades?”

”Poor guys,” Mickey said. ”You don't know the kinds of creatures there are, Donald. Two unprepared people? I fear they didn't stand a ghost of a chance.”

”I wouldn't be too sure of it,” Donald grinned.

Mickey gave him a look. ”Maybe you're right. And yes. Maybe you do know what it's like...”

Pipwolf clapped his hands. ”Anyway! I will head off. And no it's not just because I want to avoid Manny. I have a real reason. I need to check up on a Guest. He keeps wandering off. Nice duck though.”

And then, before Donald had time to ask more questions, he was gone.

”Let me guess, Pipwolf headed off before I could ask him to explain what was going on.”

Both Mickey and Donald turned to face the speaker.

She turned out to be an albino mouse.

Accompanied by Katrina Kolik and The Head of TNT.

Donald quickly saluted.

”At ease, Agent,” Katrina said. ”I want you to meet Manny. She is something of a colleague.”

”Oh?”

The albino mouse nodded. ”Even in our world, the Land of the Impossible, there needs to be rules. And people who enforce them and take care of...” She eyed Donald. ”Problems.”

Donald gave her his most innocent look.

”He won't be a problem,” Mickey said.

”We will vouch for him,” Katrina stated briskly.

Manny reached out her hand. “The painting.”

Donald looked at Katrina.

She nodded. “It's her jurisdiction. Better give it to her.”

Donald did so. Manny examined the painting.

“Ah yes. Just like I thought. It's a stable two-way portal. It seems some creatures wandered to the other end in my world and activated the portal.”

“Something tried to get through,” Mickey said. “Luckily it was too big to fit.”

“I see. By the way,” Manny turned to face Mickey. “How did you find this so fast?”

Mickey shrugged. “Donald here had a hunch.”

“Good job, Agent Duck,” Katrina said. “Although I wonder how exactly. I could swear that was classified information.”

“Uh. I was lucky?” He couldn't help adding: “I did sort of hear you thought I was unreliable.”

The Head of TNT looked embarrassed. “Maybe we jumped into conclusions. We got a tip from our contact in the Land of the Impossible here.”

“Perhaps I could have been more specific,” Manny admitted. “Our two organizations tend to avoid stepping on each other's toes. I didn't give out much information since I figured it was none of your business. I told them Mickey had a connection to us and that was all they needed to know.”

“Well, no harm done, eh?” Donald said. “You really should talk more. Communicate.”

Mickey patted his shoulder. “You're right. For starters, you might want to start by telling me what this whole TNT thing is.”

The Head turned to him. “TNT or the Tamers of Nonhuman Threats is an organization dedicated to keeping Earth safe.”

“And you're a member?” Mickey asked.

Donald nodded. “Yeah.”

He sighed. No use trying to keep things secret now. ”I guess saying I live a double life would be underselling it.”

”It's really amazing. That you can do that all. I am barely even involved with detective work and this... And I feel I'm overly stretched a lot... I don't even have custody of my nephews full-time.”

”You don't know the half of it. I have tried so hard to keep everything separate...” Donald sighed.

“That sort of a thing seems to cause more problems than anything,” The Head said. “Perhaps TNT and Manny's people should work together more. Cultivate a healthy working relationship.”

“Sounds good,” Mickey said. “Hey Donald, how about we meet up every now and then and share information?”

He saw Donald's expression. “I'm not going to drag you in into anything new. No new duties, just friendly banter between friends.

Donald wasn't all that certain. He had a suspicion this wouldn't be the last time he'd be dragged into trouble relating to this Land of the Impossible business.

But, he supposed, that was what it was like being Donald Duck.

He sighed. “That would be lovely.”

[that-witch-bastard]

A spy for hire

Sophie Nicholson takes matters into her own hands.

PART ONE

Bucky x OC

Description: A freelance spy goes off the grid to resurface in a HYDRA facility. She aims to take the organization down, but before she does that, she finds out the truth about Sgt James B. Barnes.

Word count: 1601

Warnings: HYDRA!Bucky, undercover!HYDRA!OC, slow burn, injury, Soldating, minor character deaths

italics - journal entries

normal letters - action

If they find this journal, I’m dead.

On the other hand, if I die without having written everything down, it will all be for nothing. My name is Sophie Nicholson. I’m a freelance special agent. I trained to be an expert in combat, espionage, intelligence, languages. Now I do jobs for hire, some for the good guys, some for the not-so-good guys. About two years ago I got my hands on a classified file, concerning something called Zimniy Soldat. The Winter Soldier, also known as the Asset. The file described the physical change all the Assets had to go through to become a weapon in the hands of HYDRA. Contrary to popular belief, HYDRA didn’t end with the death of Johann Schmidt but lived inside SHIELD like a parasite. I heard some rumours going about the intelligence community, but I never really believed them. I’m on my own, so I make my own decisions. Not having anyone to love, anyone for HYDRA to use against me is my biggest strength. I’m not just going to mess with HYDRA, like so many before me tried to do. It doesn’t work. I’m going to end it.

Something happened on the outside, in the real world. I can hear them talking in the corridors. One of the Soldat failed. I didn’t know which one, I didn’t even know it was possible. I know everything they did to those people. I worked to make the process less and less efficient over the years. I was undermining HYDRA’s work, destroying them from the inside. Still, watching the helpless victims of a monstrous crime killed me little by little. How they trained them, armed them, made them forget everything and everyone they had ever known. When the first process was finished, they would freeze them until they had need of them. Assassination after assassination, death after death, bombing after bombing, the Assets would wreak havoc upon the already fragile world.

The brutes who were here longer than me were higher up the chain of command and were the ones who chose the Soldiers to do hits were the worst people I had ever met. And I’ve met a lot of people. I have never seen them or talked to them, but I knew. At the very beginning of my so-called work at the facility, I noticed that one of the Soldiers was an apparent favourite of those sadists. He wasn’t special, the others could have done everything he did just as well, some of them even better. About six months ago I found out the poor creature’s name and story.

He was one James Buchanan Barnes, captured after storming a train containing Dr Arnim Zola, back during WWII. He was, or so the records said, one of the Howling Commandos, led by Steven Grant Rogers, also known as Captain America. That was just plain weird. My supervisors must be great fans of irony. He became the focus of my work here. I am hoping to get him out. The comms in my ear beeped in code. I must go now.

  They have brought Sgt Barnes back from the outside, from a mission. He was sitting in the prepping chair, a dozen people fussing over him. His left arm, made of Vibranuim, was being mended. Something wasn’t right. His expression was confused.  It shouldn’t be. The agents and doctors were equally confused. I wasn’t. He must have been the one who failed at a mission. Would it be too big a leap of faith to say that he was remembering?

“The man on the bridge. Who was he?” – he asked. A voice answered, “You met him on an assignment earlier this week”. He was standing with his back to me, I didn’t know who he was. “But I knew him”, said James, pouting.

Fireworks were off in my head. Yea! He was remembering. My work is a success.

The man who answered him sighed and told the assistants to “prep him”. They put something to bite on in the sergeant’s mouth.

That was my cue. Quick as a cat, I whipped a gun out of my thigh holster (hidden under my lab coat) and shot almost all the people in the room. As could be expected, they shot back. I rolled under a table and kept shooting until there were only two people left in the room. Me and the Winter Soldier. During the commotion I caused, I recognised the new man. It was Alexander Pierce, the head of HYDRA. How I wish I would have shot him. I would have saved the world a mountain of trouble. I put my gun away and ran over to Sgt Barnes. I took the plastic out of his mouth.

“Come on, we need to go” – he only looked at me, his eyes unfocused. I shook his shoulder, at which he grabbed my arm and locked his eyes with mine. A definitive “don’t”.

“Sgt.Barnes, we need to leave. Now!” – his grip tightened. I had to convince him to leave with me. I didn’t want to give him orders.

“Bucky!” – I yelled – “Come on, if they find us here, we’re dead” – blinding pain shot up my left arm, I heard a sickening crunch. He broke my arm!

I hate myself for what I did next, but there was no other way. I didn’t want him to get his memory wiped, all my hard work would mean nothing if he forgot again. I put so much effort into destroying the memory wiping machinery. But we had to run, so I did exactly what Pierce did.

“Soldat, otvedi menya v angar”

He got up and I thought he was going to kill me, but no. He grabbed my legs and slung me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He ran through what seemed to be an endless corridor, into an elevator. With his metal finger, he pressed one of the buttons. Had it not been for the blinding pain radiating from my left arm, I would have been laughing.

There I was, carried like a bale of hay by one of the most dangerous men in the world and the elevator is playing one of those annoying songs they play in the elevators. The ride ended with a ding. Luckily, the hangar was empty. In the far corner, I spotted something distantly resembling a helicopter. I learned how to pilot those when I was 12.

“Podpisyvaytes’ na menya” – I led him to the helicopter. I kept reassuring myself, that I was doing it all for the greater good. I was getting him out, I was helping.

We got to the chopper and I climbed inside. He stood out there, unmoving, dangerously focused. Not a good sign. I was crying by then.

“You’re really making me do this? Idi vnutr’” – He sat in the back. I started the engine and flew out. I had no idea where I was, but I had a plan. I switched into autopilot and leaned in the back to search for a first-aid kit. I needed to stabilise my arm, then I could navigate. I had a flat in Bucharest, I spoke Romanian and so did my passenger. I didn’t know what to do next. I just wanted to get him out of there.

I didn’t find the kit, but James did. I half-smiled and made to grab it, but he wouldn’t give it to me. With his raspy voice, he said:

“You can’t do it with one hand” – and without further ado, he started to clean my wound. He stabilised it with two sticks and wrapped it with a clean bandage. A perfect paradox.

I was so surprised, but at the same time so grateful, that I let him do it. He was right. I couldn’t have done it alone. After he finished, he put the kit away and sat down with his head buried in his palms. Not for long, though. I was checking my emergency backpack for spare ammo when he got up, slid the door open and jumped. I screamed. The altitude was 1500 ft. I calmed down after a bit. He was trained to do this, he’s not going to die. At least not from the jump. I could finally see where we were. It must have been DC. Three helicarriers were taking off the ground. There was fighting. I took the wheel and steered right, into the biggest mess. I was a good pilot, I wanted to see what was going on, maybe even help.

I didn’t get to do any of that. My tail was shot off by someone. I was going in circles, the ground much closer than I would have liked. I knew I would die if I didn’t do something. My mind was working at a lightning speed. I couldn’t jump. I’d die. No parachute. I vaguely remembered that in the HYDRA choppers there was a secret cryochamber hidden underneath the back seats. But it was designed for the Soldat, my mortal body couldn’t take it. There was only one way. I grabbed for my backpack. There, hidden in the lining was a syringe, containing HYDRA’s newest invention. I managed to swipe it one day. It was some sort of growth serum, it made you stronger, quicker, more durable, so to speak. Without thinking much, I shot myself up with it. Almost at once, my whole body was burning. The only logical thing to do was to crawl into the cryochamber and freeze. The last thing I felt before the chopper exploded was relief and pleasant cold.

[loading99percent]

Exclusive 2/3

Pairing: LYJ x OC (Melanie/Li Xiangjun) || CXK x OC (Serena/Jiang Yingyue) Genre: slice of life, college!au, fluff Word Count: 4,901 Summary: Lin Yanjun openly flirts with Melanie, yet she’s tired of his games and can’t take him seriously. Cai Xukun and Serena chill on a daily, but there’s gotta be more than that between them. Eventually enough, the boys just want the girls exclusively to themselves.

part one.part two.part three

Warning: matured content as in college related stuff. swear words. NOT MOBILE FRIENDLY! not sure why, but it has all the breaks and stuff while on a desktop. (teach me if mobile is different and it can be done!)

Part 2! Not sure if you guys enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it, but hey it is what it is. Sorry if you guys get confused with the usage of names here and there. I wrote it and am too lazy to go back and like change them and so it is what it is. LOL Anyways, so yeah, this is part 2 of 3 and happy reading! kthxbai, Admin Lia~

After helping Xukun complete practically almost everything on his list, Serena finally entered her second class of the day. She waited for the rest of her group mates to join her, but none of them showed up as the rest of the class filed in. Serena wondered if there was a memo about something and she missed it as everyone was gathered in their respective group.

The professor finally arrived and began recapping their last session two days ago shortly afterwards. Serena anxiously looked about her hoping that at least one of them would show up. After telling the class to continue with their group work, the professor went through his files before calling out Serena's name. Serena became alert and slowly made her way towards the front of class.

"Yes, Mr. Hung?" Serena asked once she was besides his desk.

"I'm sure you have noticed that your group members aren't here, correct?" Mr. Hung stated as Serena nodded. "Well, Miss Jiang, I'm sorry to inform you that Mr. Song Shuijiao, Mr. Wang Youchen, Mr. Zhang Jinming, Mr. Jiang Dahe, and Mr. Liang Hi have all been expelled from Langfang since yesterday."

Serena's eyes widened with disbelief at the fact that five of her group mates were expelled and would no longer be attending school.

Mr. Hung continue on. "As for Mr. Li Xinyan, he has been dismissed due to serious medical reasons." He shot Serena a sympathetic look. "I know that it wasn't easy being paired up with a group of males, but I knew you handled it well. It's just the concern that you're the only member of your group now."

"So, what's going to happen to my grade then? Do I continue it solo?" Serena asked a moment later.

"No, Miss Jiang. I have decided for you to team up with my other class where another group is also doing the same topic. You'll work with them to receive your final grade for your last group assignment for my course."

"Does that mean I'll have to attend that class instead of this one?"

"Yes, you will. I know we're already in the second semester of the school term year, but it's the only way you'll pass this class for attendance. It's a Tuesdays and Thursdays class and it's at two-forty. Will that clash with the rest of your schedule?" Mr. Hung asked as Serena tried to recall her weekly school schedule and shook her head afterwards. "No and it's fine. Thank you, Mr. Hung."

He smiled at her. "No problem, Miss Jiang. Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow instead."

"Yeah, tomorrow. Bye."

Serena bid the professor goodbye before returning to her seat to gathered her things and left the classroom soon after. She was planning on returning back to the Nu Chi Phi house to take a nap, but she felt the vibration of her phone and answerd the call after looking at the caller ID.

"Hey, BinBin?" Serena answered her friend, Zheng Ruibin.

"Aren't you supposed to be in class instead of answering my call?" Ruibin questioned instead.

"I was, but something happened." She answered while walking off in a random direction. "What do you want?"

"Well, NaNa, I have a favor or two to ask of you."

"Is it for the stupid scavenger hunt that I-P-T is doing?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"I just do. So what's the favors?"

"Well, we wanna use you in our photos."

"We as in...?"

"Jeffrey and I."

"Go figure." Serena rolled her eyes despite making her way towards a familiar direction. "I'll meet you guys at the basketball court at the park then."

"Thank you, NaNa!" Jeffrey thanked her from the background as Serena chuckled. "You're welcome. See ya."

"See you in a bit." Ruibin said before hanging up.

"Why am I being so nice today and it's not even noon yet?" Serena mumbled to herself after letting out a tired sigh as she headed towards Xinfan Park.

Melanie had just sat down in her seat when she was surrounded on both sides by her two friends, Qin Fen and Han Mubo.

"Guys, I just sat down. Can you give me a minute?"

"No." The duo answered as Melanie groaned. "You guys are so annoying. What do you want?"

"You already know what I want." Qin Fen answered with a smug look while wriggling his eyebrows as Melanie cast him a disgusted look. "Gosh you sound greasy and I knew you were secretly a little pervet. Don't do that again."

"If you give me what I want, then I'll leave you alone."

"Dude, you can practically ask any other girl to do what you're asking me to do. So go do it."

"It's not the same. They're expecting a date or something afterwards. You don't think of that of me."

"I wonder why, but that's not my problem. Besides, there are other Nu Chi Phi members who aren't like that. Hell, you could've asked Junyi, Zixuan, or Qiuyan to help you guys out instead of me."

"Qiuyan already helped me with three and both Junyi and Zixuan each helped me with two. All three said they wouldn't help me anymore than that." Mubo informed as Melanie rolled her eyes. "You guys seriously need to go find some more female friends. It wouldn't be that hard since you guys have quite a bunch of fangirls."

"Like I mentioned earlier in case you forgot-"

Melanie interrupted Qin Fen. "I didn't forget."

Qin Fen continued like he didn't get interrupted. "They don't want to be just friends, Jun." Qin Fen clarified as he cast her a look. "How many times do we have to keep reminding you this?"

"When you guys stop bothering me about stupid shit."

"That was uncalled for." Mubo stated with a look as Melanie shrugged while casting them an annoyed look. "It's whatever. I'll only help you guys two times, but that's it because I've done so much for you guys last time and I regret it." She glared at Qin Fen. "And you better have bought me a new bra already. Like forreals, Fen."

"I got you, JunJun. I got you." Qin Fen beamed as he set a white rectangular box onto the table. "You're welcome."

Melanie's eyes lit up as she inspected the present while slowly opening the gift. Melanie went to check the tag, but frown upon seeing the incorrect size while shutting the box and passing it back to her friend.

"What's wrong? You don't like the color?" Qin Fen asked worriedly as Melanie shot him a look. "The color's fine, but it's the wrong size, Fen."

"How can that be? I double checked."

"It's the same size as the one that you tried to give me that wasn't even mine. You're hopeless."

"Haha, I knew it." Mubo laughed while pointing a finger at Qin Fen. "I told you that wasn't her size."

"Shut up." He blankly stared at the box. "What should I do with it?"

"Give it to one of your fangirls." Melanie mused as Qin Fen elbowed her with a sheepish look. "Stop."

Jeffrey was currently serenading to Serena as they held hands, but her other free hand was slightly shielding her face from the camera's view. When it was over Serena quickly removed her hand from Jeffrey's and glared over at Ruibin who pulled Jeffrey's phone down to look at Serena amusingly.

"Are we done now?"

"Depends. Do you want to continue?" Ruibin smiled at her as Serena shook her head with a frown. "No. I basically did like fifteen of those on the list and even doubled them for the both of you. Took like two hours for some dumb reasons on your guys' part." She then placed a hand on her stomach while making a cute pout unconsciously. "Plus, I'm hungry and it's way passed lunch time."

"Then let's go get some late lunch then since our precious NaNa is hungry." Jeffrey suggested as he swung an arm around her shoulders with a playful smile as Serena slightly nudged him. "Didn't you want to try that 99 °C Bakery Cafe a block from here?"

"OMG, yes, Jeffy, but you're buying as the favor you owed me." Serena grinned as she looked at Ruibin. "And the favor from you, BinBin, is that you can owe me is getting that Totoro bedroom set."

"You live in a dorm room. You sure you want it?" Ruibin asked unsure as Serena nodded. "It's for my room back home. I ain't using that here."

"I mean, Jeffrey's richer than me, are you sure you don't want him to get that for you and I pay for lunch?"

"Oh, you right, you right." Serena nodded. "Jeffy pays Totoro and BinBin pays for lunch. Set and done. Let's go."

The trio began heading towards the bake shop.

"Off topic, but about NiNi," Jeffrey began, "How is she and Yanjun?"

"Nothing since NiNi just hates being involved with his dumb shit."

"Well, NaNa, a little birdie told us that Yanjun had NiNi become his pretend girlfriend again so that one of his crazy stalker fangirl could back off a few weeks ago." Ruibin explained with a small smile while placing a hand upon Serena's lower back to steer her out of the other people's way as they crossed the cross-walk.

"By little birdie, you mean your girlfriend, also known as Qi Yandi, also known as one of Nu Chi Phi's member gossiper, right?" Serena chuckled as Ruibin shyly laughed and nodded. "Yeah, something like that."

"Also, Ziyi told me that NiNi almost beat Yanjun up, but he prevented her from doing so." Jeffrey added upon remembering it.

"Yeah, she almost did. Actually, she's still pissed about it all because she was used three times for Yanjun's selfishness, but mainly she's just done with the other girls who were involved and wants to put out a restraining order on them."

"Dang, what did they do? Do you guys need protection?" Ruibin asked and offered as Serena shook her head. "Thanks. I'll ask her about it. But anyways, the girls keeps calling her names and what not, but when NiNi is about to confront them and shit, they run off scared."

"We can talk to Yanjun about it." Jeffrey offered. "Since we know him and he's definitey trying to stop using NiNi in those situations."

"I mean you could, but who knows how that will go since NiNi said she'll slap the shit out of Yanjun if he did it again. Anyways, these girls just talk a lot of shit, but won't do nothing. NiNi can handle that bit."

"I'm pretty sure it has to do with you guys being a part of Nu Chi Phi." Rubin stated with a knowing smile as Serena laughed. "Somewhat, but they're also part of Epsilon Nu Sigma."

"Ah, E-N-S, the crazy and party-goers sorority house." Jeffrey recalled as he affectionately patted her head. "Don't worry. They're all bark and no bite."

"I know. I've dealt with a lot of them without embarrassing my house, too."

"It's because you're a low-key N-C-P member and they don't know it." Ruibin remarked nudging her as she nudged him back. "It's because I do enough to stay under the radar from the public, but enough to get noticed by the sorority house to stay a member."

Serena then locked arms with her friends and hurried them along. "Anyways, guys, let's forget that. Let's get food instead because I'm hungry and I have a tutoring session in like an hour."

After bidding her two friends goodbye once they finally got what they wanted on the list, Melanie casually made her way to her next class. She settled herself towards the back of the classroom. She brought out her materials to review for the practice test on Monday. If she did super well on the test, then the teacher would allow for the practice test to help bump up their grades to replace a previous test that they scored poorly on.

Too focused on the reading material, Melanie didn't notice Zhangjing joining her and placing a dual boba cup near her. It wasn't until she felt a poke to her side and slowly turned to look at a smiling Zhangjing.

"I'm not talking to you." She stated while returning back to reading again as Zhangjing rolled his eyes. "Don't be so dramatic. My peace offering is your favorite drink."

Zhangjing pushed the drink closer to her and Melanie automatically took a hold of it to drink both flavors before putting it down again. "I'm still not gonna forgive you for your stupid antic with Yanjun this morning."

Before he could defend himself, Melanie shot him a look. "And don't try to say you couldn't come, because I saw your fast ass run off."

"You knew I was there?"

"Of course. Your broad back is so obvious."

"Wow, Xiangjun. Thanks for attacking my figure. You're a great friend."

"I never said we were friends, You. Zhang. Jing."

"Seriously, you're so rude, dude. I even pay for you whenever we eat hotpot together." Zhangjing scoffed as he angrily sipped on his own boba drink.

"Psh, it's because we made an agreement." Melanie reminded him while sipping on her own. "You pay for hotpot night and I pay for dinner hangout night." She then shot him a look. "Besides, Zhangjing, we do hotpot like three to five times a month while we do dinner hangout once or twice a every so well. Now think about that."

"Okay, fine. You win. My bad and I'm sorry."

"Gosh, you're such a little brat, I swear." Melanie commented with a smile as Zhangjing playfully stuck his tongue out at her.

The duo were later joined by Yanjun and another friend, Lin Chaoze, to who Melanie greeted the latter happily.

"Chaoze! Hi." She stood up to the hug the male as he returned the gesture and taking the seat on her other side. "Hi, Xiangjun. How are you today?"

"I'm good. You?" Melanie totally ignored Yanjun when he opened his arms ready for a hug from her, but she sat back down causing the male to slightly glare at her behavior towards him while he sat on the other side of Zhangjing.

"Lin Yanjun, zero. Li Xiangjun, nine thousand and one." Zhangjing muttered mischievously as Yanjun mocked laughed at him before glaring and reminding him of his little threat. "One eye open tonight, Zhangjing."

Zhangjing turned away to finish his boba. Yanjun glanced at Melanie to see that she was too busy talking to Chaoze about the upcoming test so he focused his attention on to the teacher who entered at that moment.

The tutoring sessions were being held on the first floor of the school's library in its own designated area. Today, along with two other tutors, Serena was tutoring seven of her fellow schoolmates in various topics.

"You write this word like this. That way the sentence flows better." Serena spoke in Thai to Huang Shuhao who was a Thai transfer student.

"Ah, okay. Thank you." Shuhao smiled at her as he erased his previous answer and replaced it with what Serena had told him.

"I mean, you can work with Sunnee a lot better since she's more fluent in Thai than I am."

"Oh, it's okay. I also don't want to disturb her."

Serena chuckled and patted him on the back. "I'm sure she would rather helped you with than deal with math right now. I'll go get her for you, Shuhao."

'Okay, thank you, Yingyue."

"You're welcome. Just wait a moment."

Serena made her way over to Sunnee who was teaching Sun Fanjie and Huang Ruohan an algebraic formula with no luck. The two girls switched places with Sunnee mouthing a quick 'thank you' before rushing to help Shuhao. Serena chuckled with a shake of her head before asking the two boys what they were exactly having issues with.

Once she helped them out she made her way over to Zhu Yiwen who beckoned her over.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Ying Zhiyue needs help with his academic schedule next year," Yiwen began to explain, "And since you've worked with him the most throughout our tutor sessions, you think you could help him sort it out for the next school term?"

"Oh, yeah that's fine with me." Serena agreed while looking around for Zhiyue, but didn't spot him. "Did he already go down to registration?"

"Yeah. He just left to go talk with an advisor. I'm not sure when he'll return, but I'll let him know you'll agree to help him."

"Okay, cool, Yiwen. I should be free Friday afternoon if he's available."

"Got it. I'll keep you posted, Yingyue."

Just then, Serena felt her phone vibrated. She ignored it at first since it was only a text message, but when it vibrated several more times she went on ahead to check it out. She received several messages from her sorority's president, Qiang Dongyue, and upon scanning the last one it was telling Serena to report to her right now.

Class was about to end in less than half an hour when Melanie received a message from Dongyue. Contemplating if she should leave now or wait a few more minutes when she realized that she had friends in the class and that they could fill her in later. Melanie patted Chaoze and Zhangjing on the shoulders while asking them to message her later if she missed something as she gathered up her things.

Yanjun held out a hand for a high-five him which Melanie high-fived him unconsciously after passing by him causing Yanjun to grin at her in satisfaction. Melanie rolled her eyes at him, but quickly left the classroom and made her way towards the Nu Chi Phi house.

When Melanie neared the house she ran into Serena as the two looked at one another curiously while pointing at one another.

"Don't you have tutoring right now?"

"Aren't you supposed to be in class at this time?"

"Dongyue messaged me." They chorused at the same time while entering the house and making their way to the conference room.

"Hello, ladies." Dongyue greeted them with a smile as she motioned for them to sit as the duo did so with the rest of the sorority council. "We apologized in advance if you're missing on anything academic-releated."

"Take a breath and slowly exhale. It's nothing bad or serious, so don't stress about that." Kimberley, the vice-president, chuckled as the treasurer, Lucia, smiled. "Yeah, it's only to discuss about attendance for the social gatherings this school term and we're doing it by roommates."

Both Serena and Melanie relaxed and looked at their fellow sisters calmly awaiting permission to speak when prompted to.

"Anyways, Melanie," The secretary, Yamy, began with a grin, "You've done well in attending all the events that Nu Chi Phi has hosted thus far and have been invited to as well. And for that, we're awarding you this set for doing an outstanding job."

Dongyue stood, walked around the table, placed the small box in front of Melanie, congratulated her, and then returned back to her seat. Melanie then opened the small box and her face lit up upon seeing the new bracelet and necklace insignia set of Nu Chi Phi's symbols for this year.

"Thank you!" Melanie beamed as she closed the gift and put it into her bag.

"Now, Serena," Yamy began with a gentle look in Serena's direction, "We know you wanna be low- key and we're okay with that."

"Yeah, like super low-key under the radar type." Kimberley added with a laugh before speaking again, "But we would appreciate it more if you attended one more event before the school term's over."

Lucia nodded in agreement. "We acknowledged the fact that you do do your part as a fellw sister of Nu Chi Phi and haven't caused us any scandals or embarrassment since being with us." She then cast a look at her fellow council members. "Still..." She trailed off as Dongyue continued instead.

"As president of Nu Chi Phi, I'm ordering you to attend one more social event as per socializing with those around you not in Nu Chi Phi. Plus, you will actually need to stay for more than an hour. Not just make appearances to several attendees and leave soon afterwards." Dongyue smiled as Serena made a face causing everyone else in the room to laugh. "You don't have to mingle much, just chill or relax and eat the good food. Just stay for a bit passed an hour and you're set."

Serena nodded. "Alright, will do, Dongyue."

"Think of it this way, Serena, by joining a sorority you're committing yourself to a lifetime of network connections." Melanie nudged her friend as Serena nudged her back. "I know. You've been telling me this since you made me pledged Nu Chi Phi."

The others laughed before dismissing the girls as the two roommates headed up to their shared room to relax since they didn't have any other classes to attend for the rest of today. Serena had dozed off and so missed the calls and text messages due to her phone being on vibrate. Melanie had just returned from the bathroom when she saw her phone light up and went to answer it.

"Yo, wassup, bro?" She answered coolly causing the other person on the other line to laugh. "Sup, Melanie. You and Serena busy?"

"Well, Ziyi, Serena just fell asleep, but I can wake her up if you want me to."

"Do it!" Melanie heard another voice yelled through the phone. "Is that Xiao Gui with you?"

"Yeah." Ziyi confirmed. "Anyways, I mean if you don't mind. Xiao Gui and I are on our way to the I See Darling amusement park if you guys are down."

"Hell yeah. Just the two of you?"

"Mhmm. Xiao Gui basically forced me."

"I did not!" Xiao Gui yelled through the phone again. "But come join us, Xiangjun, and bring Yingyue along, too!"

"Alright. We'll see you guys in a bit." Melanie agreed. "Just let me convince Serena to come."

"Gotcha. Just message me." Ziyi told her with a chuckle.

"Will do. Bye."

"Bye."

Serena found herself sitting in-between Xiao Gui and Ziyi on the viking ride so that she couldn't escape with Melanie sitting on Ziyi's other side. The quartet held onto one another for dear life as the ride went back and forth. Of course, Serena had wanted for them to sit on the edge since it would make the ride more thrilling, but Ziyi refused and they ended up in the center of the ride instead. Once the viking came to an end, they all got off of it with Xiao Gui holing onto Serena's shirt.

"Ugh, Xiao Gui, I'm not gonna run away." Serena stated for the nth time today. "You don't gotta worry."

"I dunno." Xiao Gui answered a bit wary. "I remember the last time you said that to me, you also ditched me to ride alone on the roller coaster."

"Because I had to pee."

"Yeah, that's what you said, but you came back with a big ass corn dog and didn't share it with me."

Serena rolled her eyes. "Because you weren't hungry."

"I was lying." Xiao Gui admitted as Serena shook her head. "Gosh, you're hopeless."

"Anyways, what do you guys wanna do now?" Ziyi asked trying to direct the conversation somewhere else.

"Let's eat. I'm hungry." Melanie suggested as she pointed to one of the food stalls. "A corn dog sounds really good right now."

"Xiao Gui's paying since his bitch ass forced us to come here." Serena declared with a laugh as Xiao Gui shot her a weird look. "Dafaq? You think I'm made of money or what, Yingyue?"

"Guys, I'll pay if it gets you two to stop fighting." Ziyi intervened as Serena shook her head vigorously. "Nah, bro. Don't do that. Make Xiao Gui pay for our meal for once since he's always freeloading and shit."

"This bitch. Fight me, Ying." Xiao Gui said as he annoyingly bumped his chest against Serena's side as she pushed him away with a roll of her eyes. "Ain't gonna fight you, dipshit. Calm down."

"Hey!" Melanie snapped her fingers together while clicking her tongue. "Stop fighting like little kids. Sheesh, can't take you two anywhere."

"Psh, I didn't want to come in the first place." Serena reminded her. "I wanted to sleep instead."

"Bro, you sleep like all the time. Be more productive, lazy ass." Xiao Gui stated as Serena elbowed him. "Get outta here before I throw your ass into the gold fish pool, you big-mouthed frog."

"These two." Ziyi shook his head at his friends' bickering while smiling as Melanie sighed beside him a bit annoyed. "Och, I swear these two act like they grew up together when they only met like last year."

Ziyi placed an arm around her shoulders as he led them towards one of the food stall. "Let them fight, Melanie. I'll buy you that corn dog."

"Oh, please and thank you. I only ate oatmeal and a grilled chicken sandwich today."

"Then I'ma buy you a whole meal. Can't let my home girl starve."

"Thanks. I'll get you next time, Ziyi."

Both Melanie and Serena were given piggy back rides from Ziyi and Xiao Gui, respectively, on their way back to their sorority house down Greek row.

"So why are we doing this again?" Serena asked as she wanted to walk on her own while feeling uncomfortable with stares from the others.

"For the scavenger hunt, dummy." Melanie answered reminding her friend. "Weren't you listening before we agreed to do this."

"No."

"What else is new?" Xiao Gui snorted with a laugh as Serena tightened her hold around his neck causing Xiao Gui to choke out his words. "Ack, loosen up your hold, girl."

"Stop talking shit then."

"I'll stop when you start being nicer to me."

"Isn't allowing you to piggy back me, nice enough, brat?"

"Are you two done arguing over there?" Ziyi asked the two as the duo replied in-synced in a playful manner. "No."

"You guys are so childish." Melanie stated with a laugh as both Xiao Gui and Serena blew her each a raspberry.

When they neared the Nu Chi Phi house that was when the girls got off of the boys' back.

"OMG, about time. It was starting to ache." Xiao Gui held his back making a face as Serena rolled her eyes and playfully pushed him away. "Shut up or I'll get Bu Fan to hit you in my place."

"Don't you dare, Yingyue." Xiao Gui's eyes became alert as he cautiously looked around him. "I've dealt with him too much today. I don't need more."

"Mmhmm."

"Seriously, you guys fight like siblings." Ziyi remarked with a chuckle. "You sure you guys weren't separated at birth?"

"Nah, bro." Melanie dismissed the topic. "Don't bring that up or they'll start arguing again."

"Ugh, whatever." Serena threw a hand in the air to dismiss the whole situation. "Forget y'all. I'ma sleep now. Bye."

Before she could actually make her escape, Ziyi took the hem of her shirt to prevent her from leaving.

"Just let me go." She whined as everyone laughed while Ziyi pulled her closer and locked her under his embrace. "Just hang out for a bit more."

"Why? You guys already got enough stuff for your list from me."

"It's about attending another event." Melanie informed Serena as Serena looked at her warily before shifting it to the two males. "What about it?"

"Saturday night we got a little karaoke thing going. You down?" Xiao Gui asked with a smirk. "Or nah?"

"Hell nah. I ain't down."

"Don't be like that. You'll get to witness me and Ziyi have a rap battle."

"And so?"

"Don't be so stubborn." Ziyi told her while squeezing Serena a bit as she made a face at him. "I feel like it's a trap."

"You think everything is a trap." Melanie remarked with a roll of her eyes as Serena glared at her. "Because it usually is whenever you're involved and it's not Dongyue or the others doing when it's concerning the sorority. For you it's plain entertainment of my misery."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Melanie feigned aloofness as Serena scoffed. "Sure you don't, but fine, whatever. I'll go. Just let me go, Ziyi."

Ziyi smiled as he playfully held onto her longer while squeezing her causing Serena to squirm within his grasp before letting her go.

"Ugh. I hate when you do that." Serena huffed as she fixed her shirt.

Ziyi smirked while ruffling her hair. "Don't lie. I know you secretly like it."

Serena stuck her tongue out at him in response.

"Anyways, just make sure to bring a plush doll on Saturday night for karaoke." Xiao Gui reminded the two females.

"Why?" Melanie asked with a questioning brow.

He shrugged. "Something about a raffle or something. I don't remember. Gotta ask Zhou Tengyang about that."

"Well, we gotta go." Ziyi informed them. "We still got stuff to do before the scavenger hunt ends in a few hours."

The quartet bid one another goodbye with the girls entering their house and the boys walking back in the direction to their house of Iota Phi Theta.

[lassluna]

Los Angeles Fairy Tales (1/?)

A/N( Lucifer and Once Crossover, may be more, may have a plot, who knows? Thank you for all the reblog encouragements of “DO IT” and “write the thing” from: @trueromantic1 , @randomramblings473 and @captain-swan-jones. 

I also had a bit of proofreading from ruhi and svenja on the CS Writing Hub on Discord to make sure Maze was in character. I don’t know their names here...)

Chapter 1: Maze Makes a Friend

Maze didn’t like humans. She’d grown used to them, but he had trouble dealing with certain aspects of them.

They were needy and fragile things. Maze was a demon; she didn’t do well with fragile things. She often forgot this when chasing down skips. On occasion, she broke a bone or two. It was becoming a problem according to Chloe. They thought she was using ‘excessive force’ on her catches.

“The only reason that no one has tried to charge you with anything is that none of your perps want to confess to getting beat up by a girl smaller than them.” Chloe told her one night over wine. “So you need to be more careful, try to be gentler.”

Gentler. Chloe was telling a demon to be gentler. It would be laughable if Chloe believed she was in fact a demon.

Maze rolled her eyes. She was created not to be gentle.

Linda tried to teach her to be patient and nurturing last month; she said it could help let go of some of her anger. Linda still didn’t understand that it wasn’t anger that made her violent, it was stupid people. Linda gave her a fish to take care of.

Trixie confiscated her fish, for what, Maze didn’t know, she was trying to be patient, but it wasn’t doing anything. She was just trying to make the thing do something, she was just poking it, with a knife, but it was only a little knife.

Trixie named it Bubbles, and hid Bubbles in her room.

It was a ridiculous assignment anyway.

So Linda gave Maze a different one to help teach her ‘people’ skills to fit in better. Linda told Maze to make a friend, sounded simple enough.

So Maze started looking. She tries the person she gets coffee from when she’s on a stake out, but her voice is too high pitched and all she talks about is if some guy likes her. It made Maze want to hit her.

There was this cop guy that emailed her the newest batch of dirt bags to hunt down, but he kept calling her ‘missy’. Maze was no missy. Instead of telling him all the things Linda coached her to say to a new friend, she told him that if he called her missy one more time, she’d decapitate him with his stupid emails.

So that guy was out.

There were a handful of other people she tried, but they didn’t seem too receptive, and Maze wasn’t too interested either. Maze decided that this assignment was also stupid.

She already had friends. Lucifer, Linda, Chloe, Dan, Amenadial. She didn’t need anymore. But Linda shook her head.

“Someone new.” She insisted. “Someone not connected to Lucifer, your own friend.” Lina explained. “You say you want a life outside of Lucifer, to be on your own, well this is a good step towards that.” Maze hated it when Linda was right.

Maze had pretty much given up, ready with a rant about how she couldn’t possibly befriend another human, how they were just too self-involved and weak for her to have to deal with. The whole point was to teach her to be gentler with her catches, and getting her pissed off by idiots, was not going to help.

She tried to forget about it and catch her recent dirt bag. A thief by the name of Tom Martin, the ass had robbed a jewelry store; put the owner in the hospital for no good reason. Just to assert macho dominance, Maze rolled her eyes looking the file over.

See? This was what made Maze exert a little bit more pressure than she needed to.

Maze stared from her car, waiting for him to come out of the restaurant, she preferred catching her prey in her element, the dark alleys or parking lots, and it usually prevented civilians from screaming.

She looked up, seeing the guy staggering out looking like he’d had one too many with a blonde woman besides him. Maze smirked; she got out of her car and quietly crept behind the couple. She’d push between them and arrest Martin. She promised herself that she’d only break his leg if he tried to run.

Maybe.

However, before she got a chance, the blonde moved. She took the hand that was around her hip and twisted it behind the guy’s back, slamming him into the car she was walking him towards.

“Call me Missy one more time, I dare you.” She hissed, pulling her cuffs from her side and cuffing him. It made Maze stop in her tracks in intrigue. She smirked at the sight. “Back to jail with you.” She said, pulling the guy up. The blonde caught her watching.

“It’s not what it looks like.” She said with a tired sigh. “He’s a criminal, skipped out on his bail.” She assured her.

Maze nodded. “Oh I know sweetheart.” He said, coming close. “First time someone beat me to a catch.” She praised, looking the blonde over, she didn’t look too tough, but Maze new better than anyone that looks could be deceiving.

“Well I deserved it for letting this creep feel me up for a half hour.” She complained. Maze chuckled. There was no way she’d have that patience for that. She’s more of a predator sort of bounty hunter.

The blonde smirked. “And it won’t be the last I get.” She said confidently, shoving the guy into the back of her car. Maze chuckled. The blonde was returning Maze look with her own. Maze could tell when she was being sized up. She returned a smirk.

“You think.” She smirked. “You got lucky this time blonde.”

Blondie rolled her eyes. “We’ll see.”

Maze made her way back to her car, not even upset that she lost her skip. She thought she might have possibly a new friend.

X

Apparently the blonde in the Yellow Volkswagen wasn’t wrong, she spotted her at least four of her skips that week. She was good.

She didn’t just honey trap them, she hunted almost methodically, going to all the best places for dirt bags to lay low, the second she spotted them, she took off after them like a demon out of hell.

It was awesome.

X

“Talk to her.” Linda encouraged when she met her for her weekly session. She looked happy, almost proud of her. All Maze had said was that she might have found a human that wasn’t completely annoying. “Do you remember what I told you about how to make a new friend?” She asked. Maze nodded.

“Be friendly, talk about common interests, open up to her.” She recited in a bored tone. It honesty wasn’t that difficult.

“Just not too much, no demon stuff.” Linda corrected.

“Be a good listener; invite her to go for drinks.” She continued. It was how she became friends with Chloe after all.

Linda nodded. “Good. What did you say her name was?” Linda asked.

Maze hadn’t, she hadn’t even asked for the blonde’s name, just that she was a bounty hunter like her and didn’t take crap, so Maze asked around, most people hadn’t heard of her, apparently she’d only moved to LA a few days prior to Maze meeting her. IT meant Maze would have to do this the old fashioned way.

She found her rallying a pair of guys with handcuffs.

“Need a hand?” She asked approaching. She vaguely recognized the men, no one of any particular interest.

“And split the check, no way.” She snapped, pushing them to their knees, dialing her police contact, whoever that was.

“I don’t need you money.” Maze promised. “Just know that not many of the cops like to come down for pick up, you might be a while.” She looked skeptical.

“I’m Mazeken, but my friends call me Maze.” She introduced. “Best Bounty Hunter in LA.” She said smugly.

“For now.” The blonde quipped back. “I have a knack for finding people.” She said. Maze shrugged.

“We’ll see.” She said. “So do you want that help or not?” She shook her head.

“I got this.” She said stubbornly. Maze frowned.

“What do you do besides catching dirt bags?” She asked, switching gears. The blonde shrugged.

“They keep me busy.” She mused. “Looks like the cops got here after all.” She said just as a blue and white police car pulled up.

Maze frowned; this was harder than Linda made it sound.

X

She was being nice, being kind, being what a good friend should be.

It repulsed her, but she was trying.

She tried to invite her for food, nope, she wasn’t hungry, she tried sharing her past work experience at a bar, Lux. She tried complaining about her roommates, (Chloe snored). She got nothing in return. No sharing of stories, no attempts at being her friend. It was like talking to a wall.

Linda encouraged her to keep trying, that sometimes people need to get used to the idea of something before they accept it, but it was really, really hard for her, Maze didn’t do nice, so it was taking everything out of her to be that.

Maze asked if there was a way to make someone your friend. It would save her a lot of trouble right about now.

Linda assured her she couldn’t, all Maze could do was extend the hand of friendship and hope she takes it.

The last straw when she brought her coffee. The blonde looked at it and shook her head. “Thanks, but I don’t drink coffee.”

Who doesn’t like coffee?

Maze was done. She dropped the coffee on the ground.

“Look, I don’t know what backwater town you came from, but I’m done.” She snapped, seemingly surprising the blonde. “I like you, you seem way cooler than most of the mortals I run into, so I wanted to be your friend, but now, no way, not interested.”

The blonde looked at her in surprise, but Maze didn’t care. He turned around and walked away.

“Maziken?” The blonde called out. She stopped. “That place you used to work, Lust?”

“Lux.” She corrected.

“I was hoping to get a drink tonight.” She said casually. “Is it good?”

Maze turned around with an uninterested look.

“The new bartender isn’t half bad.” She said. Lucifer was out on a stakeout with Chloe, otherwise there was no way Maze would bring her around Lux.

“Want to join me? I can tell you about this one time I was a cashier at a grocery store as a kid.” She said, leaning against her bug. “But right now I have a skip to catch.”

Maze smirked. “Sure.” He said, looking uninterested. “But only if I catch mine in time.” She said.

“Ken Fisher?” The blonde asked. Maze nodded.

“Winner buys drinks.” She said with a competitive edge.

“You’re on.” Maze agreed.

“Swan.” The blonde supplied. “Emma Swan.”